While it's not news that Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen top sales charts, some manga bestsellers are surprising titles.
No one would be surprised to learn that Chainsaw Man is a manga bestseller, or that Junji Ito remains a perennial horror fan-favorite. Shonen fans know how hard it is to collect mid-series One Piece and Naruto volumes, and it's not news that Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen top sales charts.
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Within American bookstores, other trends are slightly more surprising. While currently airing anime always see a boost in manga sales, other mangas become surprisingly reliable sellers through sheer force of will and the aid of Booktok buzz. New and current fans alike keep publishers busy, buying out the reprints of these comeback hits and ensuring these cult classics fly off bookstore shelves.
Banana Fish isn't new but it's certainly beloved. The BL-leaning action series first debuted as a manga in the late '80s, but an anime adaptation in 2019 helped introduce the series to a new legion of fans.
The trouble is, publishers have mostly dropped the ball on the renewed interest in Banana Fish. Volumes such as 16 and 14 aren't for sale anywhere and resell for several hundred dollars when they do appear. Until the demand mysteriously drops or publishers catch up with the fervent demand, Banana Fish fans are in for real-life heartache in addition to the heartache that makes the story so resonant.
While most people think of Japan when they hear manga, more and more Korean manwha are taking audiences by storm and are marketed the same way as their Japanese counterparts. Notably, Solo Leveling is a frequent bestseller in both its manwha and light novel form. Boosted in part by the full-color illustrations and online hype, Solo Leveling needs almost constant restocking.
Other Korean series have begun to proliferate in bookstores, too. Hellbound has a Netflix tie-in that will surely boost sales, and The Abandoned Empress sells steadily to shojo fans who are branching out into broader series.
It's not surprising that Mo Dao Zu Shi is popular. The series has been a smash hit all across the world and its live-action counterpart, The Untamed, broke viewing records across China. The author's follow-up series, Heaven Official's Blessing, streams on Netflix. Seemingly almost on their own, danmei (BL) author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu has helped Chinese light novels gain a foothold in the West.
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In December of 2021, the first English novelizations of Heaven Official's Blessing (The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation and Scum-Villain's Self-Saving System) usurped three slots in the top ten of NYT Bestsellers' list in one fell swoop. It was a particularly successful entrance into the market.
In many bookstores, manga has begun to be separated based on content. Plastic-wrapped series in need of censoring have a shelf of their own and are marked with parental advisory stickers. These series often contain explicit sexual content which is more offensive to the average American shopper than the violence that manga is known for.
Booksellers shelving in the censored book section will notice an amusing and annoying trend. Yarichin B**ch Club, an explicit BL series, is often shorn from its wrapping and abandoned by readers who can't bring the books home where their family might see them. Yarichin B**ch Club is certainly a popular manga, outselling arguably better BL series and popular mainstream series too.
Nana is impossible to collect in English these days, more or less out of print apart from volumes 1 and 21. Any time Nana is back in warehouses, it doesn't stay there for long. A whole new generation is embracing Nana's gut-wrenching coming-of-age story.
Hopefully, publishers will step up to the plate to ensure this seminal classic continues to reach the audience it always has.
Blue Flag doesn't have an anime adaptation yet, which is surprising for booksellers. The slice-of-life drama series is written with such grace and nuance that it deserves all the heartfelt critical acclaim it gets. Unfortunately, many volumes fall in and out of print even as they're trending online, and Blue Flag's 8 volumes aren't easy to purchase all at once.
It's good to see a series like Blue Flag in demand. Blue Flag depicts characters of all sexual orientations who are all caught up together in friendship and love. Blue Flag feels real in a way that few mangas do.
Style over substance is often a criticism that anime receives. However, in the case of Hanako Kun, that hasn't deterred fans in the slightest. Hanako Kun currently has 12 volumes published in English, and the series continues to sell steadily even two years after the anime aired. Hanako Kun is especially popular with younger teens who admire its cartoonish art style and urban legend reimaginings.
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There's no denying that the art is fantastic and the characters are beautifully designed, and middle school ghost stories will always be a hit with younger audiences.
Link is a fantastic video game protagonist, but not one especially known for his characterization. A character who stands in for the player, Link's defining traits include his affection for Zelda, his borderline muteness, and his habit of breaking things that don't belong to him.
Despite this, Zelda's manga adaptations sell with steady persistence. People simply can't get enough of Hyrule, no matter the format.
I Hear The Sunspot is a BL series with tons to offer, including representation of deafness, realistic storytelling and characterization, and a steady slow burn romance that is as gratifying as it is heartwarming. It deserves the accolades it has received, and it's received many.
Few BL series are actually a series, often compiled into just 1 or two volumes. I Hear The Sunspot is among a new generation to push past this limitation and reached five excellent volumes before its conclusion.
Oyasumi Punpun is a series that haunts all who read it, and Solanin is sometimes read in college courses alongside graphic novel classics like Maus and Watchmen. Mangaka Inio Asano has essentially managed to build a reputation as a mainstream artist, someone who's not afraid to delve into the darkest aspects of humanity.
One might think such a bleak outlook on the world might deter readers, but that's far from the case. Girl On The Shore, Nijihara Holograph, and Goodnight Punpun sell out regularly. By word of mouth or reputation, Asano's works captivate readers who are looking for the bracing solace of realism.
NEXT: 10 Manga That Actually Fixed Their Anime's Mistakes
Leah Thomas is an acclaimed author of young adult novels. She currently lives just south of Tokyo, Japan.
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