Best Supernatural Manga of 2004

In the American Old West, the world's greatest race is about to begin. Thousands line up in San Diego to travel over six thousand kilometers for a chance to win the grand prize of fifty million dollars. With the era of the horse reaching its end, contestants are allowed to use any kind of vehicle they wish. Competitors will have to endure grueling conditions, traveling up to a hundred kilometers a day through uncharted wastelands. The Steel Ball Run is truly a one-of-a-kind event. The youthful Johnny Joestar, a crippled former horse racer, has come to San Diego to watch the start of the race. There he encounters Gyro Zeppeli, a racer with two steel balls at his waist instead of a gun. Johnny witnesses Gyro using one of his steel balls to unleash a fantastical power, compelling a man to fire his gun at himself during a duel. In the midst of the action, Johnny happens to touch the steel ball and feels a power surging through his legs, allowing him to stand up for the first time in two years. Vowing to find the secret of the steel balls, Johnny decides to compete in the race, and so begins his bizarre adventure across America on the Steel Ball Run.

By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a "kekkaishi"—a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori's got some other demons to battle: an addiction to sweets and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty 16-year-old neighbor and childhood friend, Tokine Yukimura, is also a kekkaishi, but their families are feuding over who is the true practitioner of the art.

Mikado Ryuugamine is a young boy who craves the abnormal and supernatural, but his quiet life in the countryside offers no opportunity for adventure. With some encouragement from a childhood friend, Mikado moves to Ikebukuro, a lively downtown district in Tokyo. However, the naïve boy may be in for a lot more than he bargained for. Ikebukuro is home to a host of strange individuals, such as a monster of a man dressed in a bartender's outfit, a sadist who sells information for fun, and an underground doctor with an odd infatuation. But the most unusual of them all is the legendary "Black Rider," a headless being who silently rides through the night on a pitch-black motorcycle. When Mikado witnesses this urban legend on his first night in the city, his initial excitement triggers a thrilling but deadly sequence of events, affecting numerous others throughout the city.

All Miharu Rokujou wishes for is a simple life. Unfortunately, he soon learns that he is in possession of a sacred and secret ninja art, the "Shinra Banshou." With this ability, Miharu is more likely to become the king of the hidden world, Nabari, than remain a normal high school student! He must also deal with daily attempts against his life and, ironically, his sensei's efforts to convince him to join the nindo club. Having this "omnipotent" ability will test Miharu's chances of survival, and the world of Nabari is his only hope.

Mashiro Ichijou, an attractive and popular high school student, has always lived his life as a boy. However, nobody notices that deep down, he resents the fact that his body is half female. He has decided to conceal his femininity from those around him, while in reality, he is insecure about who he is supposed to be. One day, an unfamiliar nurse asks Mashiro to follow her to the school's infirmary in the basement—an office that has never existed until now. Little does he realize that the moment he steps into the mysterious room, he will never be capable of returning to being the person he was before. As he struggles to find his true identity, Mashiro must face the disquiet in his own heart, all while protecting himself from the prying eyes of his classmates. Slowly but steadily, the unbecoming truth of the world is laid bare: all its lies and deceit engulfed in nightmares that only unfold in broad daylight.

Charley, a cyborg vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work, is the thrall of the local vampire playboy Johnny Rayflo. As the two fight crime—and each other—hilarity, violence and sacrilege ensue! But can Charley resist his own desperate cravings for blood? Find out as the devilish duo go up aginst a childlike vampire princess, a mysterious branch of the Unitarian Church...and one another.Included one-shot: Volume 2: Zoul Half

History isn't Tokidoki's strong subject. He's even forced to do make-up work at a high-tech history museum to bring up his failing grades. After losing an eye to a virtual reality monster in an Edo period simulation, he finds himself unable to leave the game. Could it be real?

Count D has opened his petshop again, this time in Tokyo's Shinjuku! For those who haven't read Petshop of Horrors, Count D's Petshop is a place where one can find animals from the most ordinary housepets to savage predators to mystical beasts that should belong only in legends. Customers often find that their new pets change their lives more than they expect, fulfilling their dreams, or realizing their nightmares.

Set in 2100 A.D., where video games feel 99% like real life. Follow Feng Lan in her adventure as the first player to play as the opposite sex in the VRMMO "Second Life" to prove to her brother that she can beat the game without using the "female benefits." But after she offends her family in a pvp match and even meets her real life friends and acquaintances in-game, can she continue to keep herself out of trouble by keeping her identity a secret?

Akira Nikaidou is a typical slacker high school student who thinks he has a normal life until a mysterious man called Shirogane appears and tells him to meet him at the school that night. He is skeptical but goes anyway...and gets attacked by a shadow monster! Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted, and that Akira must become a shin, a creature of the shadow world, in order to help restore the balance.

When Hina hits a homerun ball and goes to get it back she realizes she has damaged a shrine with the baseball. When she touches the object inside the shrine the object is absorbed into her and she becomes the shrine's god. Now she is protected by the shrine's guard dogs, Shishi and Koma. Along the way she meets other spirits, guardians, and the legendary nine tailed fox.