Best Supernatural Manga of 2008

Keima Katsuragi is a high school student better known online as the "God of Conquest," the man who can obtain the heart of any dating sim girl. In his opinion, real life is an awful game; three-dimensional girls are annoying and false representations of how a real girl should be. One afternoon, while taking a break from cleaning duty, he stumbles across a strange message that goads him to conquer a girl. On a whim, he accepts, and his consent summons a girl named Elucia "Elsie" de Lute Ima, a denizen of hell tasked with capturing runaway spirits that have festered in girls' hearts. Keima is shocked and tries to escape, but Elsie tells him that failure to fulfill the newly formed contract will result in the termination of his life! Tasked with capturing the runaway spirits, Keima uses his expertise and knowledge of dating sims to obtain the hearts of girls in real life.

Nanami Momozono is a high school student who has a lot on her plate. Her father had evaded his enormous gambling debts by escaping town, which resulted in his daughter being evicted by the debt collectors. As Nanami muses about her future, she runs into a man hanging onto a tree to escape a dog. She rescues him and tells him about her current situation, prompting the man to offer her his home. He believes that Nanami is more suited than him to be the "Master" of the house, and thus she takes him up on his offer. Upon arrival, however, Nanami discovers that said house is actually a dilapidated shrine. She is about to double back when a fox familiar and two shrine spirits stop her, mistaking her for their former master Mikage, the land god of the shrine. Upon realization, Tomoe—the fox familiar—leaves the shrine, refusing to serve Nanami. After a series of events leaves Nanami in grave danger, she summons Tomoe and seals a contract with him to earn his subservience. Now a human land god, Nanami must face new daunting tasks, menacing adversaries, and her handsome and hot-headed familiar.

Japanese-American Kevin Yamagata now authors the renowned detective comic book "Billy Bat" after serving in the Allied Forces in World War II. But as his series becomes a massive hit, Kevin discovers that his famed character, Billy Bat, already existed before within a Japanese comic. Worried that he may have unconsciously copied something he saw during his time there, Kevin returns to Japan to find Billy Bat's original creator and seek permission for him to use their character. However, as he traces back Billy Bat's roots, he finds himself unraveling a dark and twisted history of murders that somehow involve the character he thought he created.

A young woman, by some strange occurrence, was left to die alone in the former building of Seikyou Academy. Mysteriously, there is one person who can see her in ghost form: Teiichi Niiya, a freshman. Now they both seek to find out the reasoning behind her death, and what could have caused it.

Rikuo Nura appears to be an ordinary middle school student. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. In reality, the young boy has one-fourth of youkai blood and is the heir to a large clan of youkai led by his grandfather, Nurarihiyon. As a small child, he was told that youkai often perform evil deeds, leading to his reluctance to succeed the Nura Clan and doing whatever he could to avoid his destiny. During the night, Rikuo undergoes a transformation into a fearsome youkai who resembles Nurarihiyon in his prime. Realizing that he can use his power to protect others, he accepts his inheritance, aiming to unite all the youkai factions across Japan and establish his own "Night Parade of a Hundred Demons."

Perverted youth Issei Hyoudou's dreams seem to come true when the beautiful Yuuma Amano asks him out on a date. But when she reveals her identity as a fallen angel and tries to kill Issei, his death seems imminent—until an upperclassman named Rias Gremory rescues him. When he wakes up again, she reveals herself to be a devil. In order to save Issei, she reincarnated him as one of her kind, making him her new servant. This turn of events thrusts Issei into the world of the supernatural. As he is introduced to the various devils in the Occult Research Club at his high school, he must learn to adapt to this new world filled with devils and fallen angels. Setting his sights on becoming powerful, he must decide what is truly important to him as he comes to realize that the life of a devil is not an easy one.

Aspiring little sorceress Ran Uruma feels frustrated as she frantically searches for her favorite pair of shoes. Despite her being just an elementary school child, those particular shoes allow her to transform into the body of an adult. Ran teems with magical potential but has yet to learn how to control it. Knowing this, her beast sorcerer brother, Jin, hides the shoes until she completes cleaning their house. Ran's mother, Shizuka, is one of the most powerful sorceresses to exist and must live far from home to look after the city. Head of their family and all sorcerers, Zen is also often away attending business and has to leave Jin in charge of the household. Ran can be quite difficult to handle, and only a single pair of eyes is not enough to keep tabs on her every mischief. With the freedom she gets while no one is restricting her, Ran explores the magical abilities that drive her toward many fascinating adventures.

Sakura Ichiko is a 16-year-old girl who leads a charmed life and is blessed with beauty, brains, and health. She has an abundance of "Happiness Energy," which can make people happy, but at the cost of absorbing all the "Happiness Energy" from her surroundings. She has caused the energy balance of the world to become unbalanced and because of this, she becomes the target of a Poverty God named Momiji. Momiji goal is to remove Ichiko's power of absorbing other people's Happiness Energy and to return all the energy she has taken to its rightful place.Included one-shot: Volume 1: Kaette Kudasai. (Binbougami ga! pilot)

Shaman King Kanzenban is a reprint of the original Shaman King series but with differences including the addition of new chapters (which changes the chapter numbering). The releases also included 16 special bonus chapters called Shaman King Remix Track.Note: This entry will only contain the extra chapters included in this edition. Please see here for more information.

Ten years ago Fujiwara noticed he had a power to see multicolored auras surrounding people's bodies. Ever since then he's been having a weird dream about a war with cats. One day he meets a mysterious girl, that, after being picked on by crows and fallen from a tree, goes to search for her lost hat. Later that day, Fujiwara finds himself in a daydream, being attacked by the same cats he fights at night.

The girl Yomi—a creature without legs—leads through a world of horror, which slumbers in the midst of everyday life and only lies in wait to pounce on the unsuspecting. Anyone who is foolish enough to engage in it terrible things will happening!

Inaba is a sleepy countryside town that has recently been the center of a string of mysterious serial murders. While his parents head abroad for work, Souji Seta moves into the town to live with his uncle for the year. He enrolls at Yasogami High School, where he is placed in the same class as the bold Chie Satonaka, the rowdy Yosuke Hanamura, and the refined Yukiko Amagi. The four quickly become friends and begin to hang out after school, where Chie asks Souji if he has ever heard of the "Midnight Channel"—a channel one can view on their turned-off TV when they are alone at midnight during rainy weather. It is said that while staring at one's reflection on the screen, their soulmate will appear instead. Believing it to be an urban legend, Souji, Chie, and Yosuke decide to tune in at the stroke of midnight, when they witness a classmate of theirs appear on the screen. When the same classmate ends up being the next victim in the serial murders, the three of them realize that the mysterious Midnight Channel is somehow involved. As the police struggle to find any leads, Souji and his new friends decide to investigate the mystery themselves, beginning a search that takes them not only across Inaba, but also into a mysterious parallel world beyond the TV.

In the original timeline of Rozen Maiden, shut-in Jun Sakurada chose to wind up the sentient Rozen Maiden doll Shinku and help her participate in the Alice Game, a contest between the dolls. But if Jun had chosen not to wind her up, his life would have been very different. In an alternate universe, Jun has grown up and is in college, but he is gloomy and still bears the scars of his hikikomori past. While working at a bookstore, he finds a weekly book series called "How to Make a Girl," which includes a spring to wind a doll. When he arrives home that night, the next volume in the series is waiting in his apartment, along with a case for the doll and some parts to make the fifth Rozen Maiden, Shinku. But once he has most of the pieces, the books stop coming, and he receives a letter revealing publication has stopped. The letter also states that to get the rest of the doll parts, he will have to retrieve them from a place called the N-Field. As if things weren't strange enough already, he begins to receive emails from his younger self, asking for his help in defeating the malicious seventh doll, Kirakishou. So with an incomplete doll, Jun enters the N-Field, unaware of the events that will unfold.

A Campione—a Godslayer—is a supreme ruler. Since he can kill a celestial being, he can therefore call on the sacrosanct, divine powers wielded by the gods. A Campione—a Godslayer—is a lord. Since the power to kill a deity is in his hands, he therefore looms over all mortals on Earth. A Campione—a Godslayer—is a devil. For all mortals who live in the world, none can hope to match their power. Kusanagi Godou, a 16-year-old boy who played in the senior league as catcher and fourth hitter when he was in junior high school. However, an injury put an end to his future in baseball. During the spring break of his third and last year, he got involved in an adventure and ended up slaying one of the Heretic Gods, Verethragna. Thus, he became the youngest and seventh—Campione. Now that he is a Campione, a godslayer, the young Godou must defeat the troublemaking gods, with the help of his followers!

Tough, lazy, money lover, yet beautiful high school student named Shin Bia. While she's thinking about the era's she suddenly falls into that ancient time period! She had to transform into an elegant lady and while she's there she faces quite an obstacle.

A grim reaper decides to spend time with his next victim, Ren Ohba, for a few days before she is scheduled to die. Ren, the student council president at her school, speaks harshly to her subordinates for the sake of performing her job efficiently. The grim reaper, however, can read her mind and knows that, in her head, Ren secretly has many kind things to say. After a first encounter, he possesses Ren and forces her to vocalize her inner thoughts, so that others will know how much their student council president actually cares for them before it is too late. When she realizes that she is not in control of her own speech, he leaves her body and formally reintroduces himself. Since he has no name to go with his title, Ren calls him Ai. Ren threatens him with a weapon for violating her privacy, but rather than flinch away, Ai welcomes her to try killing him. He reveals that not only is his job boring, but it also reinforces his loneliness; after all, no one is happy to receive a visit from a grim reaper. Out of compassion, Ren promises to always stay by Ai's side and be the person he can talk to, though she does not understand that his presence means her death is imminent.Includes the one-shot "0.3 Byou Lunch (0.3秒Lunch)" originally published on Dec 15, 2007.

1. Kamisama no Sonata 2. Mahoroba no Yobigoe 3. Ipaasha 4. Taiyou mo Wasure Sasete

Tokyo Butei High school—It was a special school where armed detectives, also known as "Butei" are being brought up. Tooyama Kinji is a sophomore student who has the unique body which activates a "super mode" when it was stimulated by "something." He tries to hide it to others in order to live a peaceful life. But trouble came to find him when he became a victim of a bombing incident, where he met the Butei high "Assault" department elite, Aria H. Kanzaki.

Ice Blue Sin (Main Story) In the hours of twilight, an intrepid Day Class girl sneaks into the most forbidden place on campus – the Moon Dormitory of the Night Class students. While these scions of vampire aristocracy do not usually take note of humans, Fuka was warmly received and even invited back among them. Something about her has got the Night Class talking, and when one becomes bewitched by the darkness, there can be no turning back... Season of Transience (Extra Story) Born into a distinguished vampire hunter family, young Zero is destined to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors,. Used to the safety and security of training with his master, the arrival of a senior disciple soon opens his eyes to the harsh reality that is the life of a vampire hunter. Before Cross Academy beckons, this one event shall forever reshape the boy's childhood and turn his eyes jaded to the world.

Mirai Fukuin is a side story of Kara no Kyoukai novel series. It includes two stories and three short manga chapters taking place after the events of the series. Möbius ring It's about two psychics, Seo Shizune and Kuramitsu Meruka, who can foresee the future. Shizune was sick of her predictable boring life and Meruka became a professional bomber taking advantage of his supernatural power. When Shizune met Mikiya and when Meruka met Shiki, their immutable future started to change. Möbius link Taking place ten years after the events of Kara no Kyoukai, Mana Ryougi, Shiki's daughter, spends the day with Kamekura Mitsuru. Manga shorts 01_feline - Shiki takes care of a cat for Mikiya. 02_daylight - Fujino Asagami helps a friend of one of Kirie Fujou's victims get over her death. 03_say grace - Shiki asks Mikiya out on New Years.

Little Busters! story revolves around the main protagonist Riki Naoe, a young male high school student. When Riki was a child, his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. What saved him was a group of three young boys and one girl his age who referred to themselves as the Little Busters—a group dedicated to fighting evil and preserving justice. The leader of the Little Busters was Kyousuke Natsume who had a younger sister named Rin. The other two members of the Little Busters were Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa, who are rivals despite being friends. They took Riki out and played together with him during his time of need, effectively making him the fifth member of the Little Busters. In time, Riki really enjoyed playing with them, and his grief over his parents gradually faded away. When the story begins, Riki and his friends are seemingly in their second year of the high school they attend, except for Kyousuke who is in his third year. They still hang out together, and enjoy their school life.

Japan, 1000 years from now. Humanity, which has acquired the telekinetic power called "Juryoku," fears the legendary abominations called "Akki" (Fiends) and "Gouma" (Karmic Demons), but has built a peaceful society. However, a group of children previously under the school's strict control, as a result of violating a certain rule, have suddenly descended into a nightmare! The false peace crumbles away, as a fantastic archive tells them the truth of humanity's bloodstained history?