Welcome to the Cup of Tea’s Best Books of the Year, where I list the best of the best books I read this year.
I may be late in listing this category but it’s never too late to talk about comics and graphic novels. My interest in the graphic novel format has increased and I am not the only one who thinks that way. Mangas and graphic novels have increased in popularity over the years and 2023 saw a huge uptick of new and diverse stories that will truly stand the test of time. I read a lot of great comics that did just that and I am excited to share that list with you.
But I am not the only one! When I talk about mangas and graphic novels, I can’t do it alone so of course I asked my friend and manga expert, Joe Pascullo to give his choices of the best manga and graphic novels of 2023. So here are our top picks!
Joe’s Best Picks
Show-ha Shoten! by Akinari Asakura and art by Takeshi Obata
Brought to life by the beautiful illustrations of Takeshi Obata (of Hikaru no Go, Death Note, and Bakuman fame), Show-ha Shoten! is a great look at how the comedy world of Japan works, and just how difficult it is to rise to the top of that particular industry. One of our teen protagonists, Azemichi, is a fantastic writer of jokes, which he submits regularly, albeit anonymously, to TV & radio shows. They’re always incredibly well-received, but Azemichi has major stage fright, and lacks the courage and resolve to actually be upfront with people about his comedy endeavors. Our other lead, Higashikata, has a wonderfully magnetic personality that could make him a natural comedian. However, coming up with actual material is far from his strong suit. When the two boys decide to combine their respective talents, they’ll stop at nothing to become the the #1 sketch comedy team in all of Japan!
Goodbye, Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto
Fujimoto seems to do is crank out the hits! From Chainsaw Man to last year’s standalone tearjerker Look Back, Fujimoto produces dramatic quality seemingly every time out, and Goodbye, Eri is no different. In middle school, Yuta’s mother had an illness she was dying from. So, for Yuta’s birthday, she gives him a camera, and asks him to shoot videos of her so that he can still see her when she does in fact die. Years later, Yuta uses this footage to make a tasteless movie for his high school festival and gets bullied relentlessly because of it. Right when he decides he can’t take it anymore, and decides to end his life, a mysterious woman named Eri approaches him, and tells him she actually liked his movie, but that it could use some adjustments. Yuta decides to put his trust in Eri and continue on living his life in this emotionally rich story.
Akane-banashi by Yuki Suenaga and art by Takamasa Moue
One of the true breakout hits this year in manga, Akane-banashi was an absolute joy to read! Akane has never loved anything as much as she loves watching her rakugo (a style of verbal entertainment found in Japan) performing father ply his trade. And although he’s very talented on the stage, his performances for the most part don’t seem to draw in large attendance numbers. When Akane’s father decides to give up on rakugo for a more steady career (and paycheck), Akane is crestfallen. She knows that many folks put her father down during the time he was a rakugo-performer, and this likely contributed to him withdrawing from that life. So Akane decides to take up rakugo herself, to prove to everybody just how great the art of rakugo really is!
Heart Gear by Tsuyoshi Takaki
From VIZ Media comes this solid sci-fi title about what happens to the Earth after World War 3! Humanity is basically gone, and the planet now resembles a wasteland. The beings that largely populate the Earth now are known as “gears”. Gears are androids that have been assigned their purposes by humans (when there actually were an abundance of them). One of the few humans remaining on Earth is a little girl named Roue, who is under the care of a pair of gears named Uncle Zett and Chrome. Zett was solely programmed long ago to be a peaceful, academic gear, while Chrome was never programmed at all. When Zett loses his life due to the inability to defend himself after a confrontation with an evil combat gear, the once program-free Chrome comes in to save the day. When Chrome & Roue discover that there may be a chance Zett can be revived back to life, the two become dead set on making this dream a reality!
Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop Original Story by FlyingDog and Art by Imo Oono
Perhaps you’ve seen this film on Netflix? Yen Press in 2023 brought us the manga adaptation of the romance/drama film, as well as its light novel adaptation too. We have a couple of teens in rural Japan, both of who have their difficulties when it comes to communicating. A boy named Cherry wears headphones regularly to dissuade others from talking to him,and gets nervous whenever a scenario arises that requires him to exchange dialogue. He feels most comfortable talking in haikus over a messenger app called Curiosity. Our other teen lead is also a Curiosity-user, a girl known as Smile. Smile, a famous live-streamer on Curiosity, is extremely self-conscious about her buck teeth, and feels entirely uncomfortable ever showing her entire face to people. When the two meet, they begin to confide in one another, and help with the insecurities that they are both dealing with. But with Cherry and his family about to move away, what will happen to the pair’s budding romance?
The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren
Absolutely chilling story that will without a doubt leave you wanting more. 6 months ago, Hikaru went missing in the mountains for a week’s time. He’s back now…or is he? His best friend Yoshiki suspects that the version of Hikaru he’s hanging out with currently is not the real one. There’s just too much that’s different about him since he resurfaced. And Yoshiki is absolutely correct. “Hikaru” confirms to Yoshiki that this is the first time he’s ever gotten the opportunity to live as a human, and is borrowing Hikaru’s body (and personality) to live out this dream. “Hikaru” doesn’t want to have to kill Yoshiki, but assures him that he will should he spill the beans about this development. While at first Yoshiki’s fine with the arrangement, strange occurrences begin to happen around town, and signs are pointing towards “Hikaru” being their root cause. Yoshiki loves (loved?) Hikaru, but has to decide whether or not putting up with this current carnation of his former friend is too dangerous to continue…
Glitch by Shinya Shima
Fans of this mangaka’s intriguing series Lost Lad London will undoubtedly find pleasure in this supernatural mystery. Minato and their younger sister Akira have moved to a neighborhood (and new school) with their mother. When Minato sits down in class, they begin to see strange, digitized images that can’t be explained. Minato believes the high school may be haunted, until their younger sister’s friends tell them that what they’re seeing is something of a “local feature” to this town. Some people in this neighborhood can see what are known as “glitches”, some can’t. In addition to this, Minato and Akira learn about some other strange phenomena that are happening around town. The crew decides to start up an Investigation Club in order to get to the bottom of just what’s going on!
My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku by Nico Nicholson
Let’s take a trip back to the 90s with 42-year old single mother Megumi Sato. While Megumi notes that anime & manga are on the mainstream radar here in the 2020s, she remembers that this certainly wasn’t the case a few decades prior when she was younger. Flashing back to 1995, Megumi was 17 years old, a transfer student, and desperate to conceal her otaku fandom from her classmates. She meets class president Masamune Kaji, and not long after begins to develop feelings for him. When she asks Masamune what his opinion is when it comes to otakus, and the answer is one that’s less than favorable, Megumi makes it her mission to try and lift the otaku curse she believes folks in that 1990s society possess with regards to romance!
Takopi’s Original Sin by Taizan5
Talk about a dark book. Takopi’s Original Sin is certainly a heavy read, a standalone that’s not for the faint of heart. Entities from Planet Happy (known as “Happians”) are on a quest to spread happiness all throughout the universe. One of the aliens named Takopi makes their way to Earth, where they meet a mightily depressed girl named Shizuka. Takopi believes that in short time, they’ll be able to simply make Shizuka’s depression go away, and all will be right in her world. This ends up being a gross underestimate on Takopi’s part, as things only take a turn for the worse once they arrive in Shizuka’s life. Things really begin to take a turn for the worse when Takopi gets involved inside Shizuka’s days at school. Will Takopi ever be able to turn Shizuka’s life around?
The Darwin Incident by Shun Umezawa
And finally! Winner of the prestigious 2022 Manga Taishō award (one of the biggest manga awards in Japan), The Darwin Incident (another title not for the faint of heart) finally arrived stateside in English in 2023. And wow, what a ride this book is! We’ve got Charlie the humanzee, a hybrid born of a chimpanzee and a human. Living with his adopted parents in Shrews, Missouri, Charlie’s about to embark on high school for the first time, and just wants a quiet, ordinary life. But unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen. When an ecoterrorist organization tries to recruit Charlie to their ranks by absolutely any means necessary, Charlie isn’t only going to have to navigate relationships with his fellow classmates. He’s going to have to skirt the line between life and death.
My Picks
Frontera by Julio Anta and Jacoby Salcedo
A beautiful story combined with amazing artwork makes for one important and poignant story. For readers who like diverse and realistic stories, they will definitely want to pick this one up. You can’t help not being connected with Guillermo’s story, especially how relevant it is at the moment. This is tale that you will remember for a long time.
Heartstopper Vol. 5 by Alice Oseman
I can’t get enough of Nick and Charlie! With every volume that examines their budding relationship, my heart continues to be touched and smile getting bigger. And this latest volume is no different. Here we find Nick and Charlie deal with scary question: what will happen to their relationship when Nick goes off to uni?
Sí, Se Puede: The Latino Heroes Who Changed the United States by Julio Anta and illustrated by Yasmín Flores Montañez
Meet the unsung Latino rebels, artists, and activists who changed the United States–from Dolores Huerta to Desi Arnaz to Lin Manuel Miranda–in this bold and entertaining graphic history. (Credit: Ten Speed Graphic)
The Great British Bump Off by John Allison and illustrated by Max Sarin
Allison comes with another humorous and entertaining story that he always brings into his stories, and this new one adds the love of cooking, sprinkled with murder, along the way.
Two Graves Volume 1: Wish You Were Here by Genevieve Valentine and illustrated by Ming Doyle & Annie Wu
This is a fantastic retelling of the ever so popular myth and folklore, “Hades and Persephone.” Every time I read a new story of these two gods, my opinion and understanding of the myth are shown in a new light, and this retelling is no different. Combined with great storytelling and detailed and beautiful illustrations, you have another absorbing, haunting story.
Radiant Pink, Volume 1: A Massive-Verse Book by Meghan Camarena and Melissa Flores and illustrated by Emma Kubert
When Eva – a video game streamer who is secretly the superhero RADIANT PINK – is invited to the biggest charity stream event of the year, she sees her chance to use her platform for good. But when a surprise attack sends her hurtling across dimensions, Eva will have to rely on everything she has to make it home in one piece. (Credit: Image Comics)
Gospel by Will Morris
This was a great graphic novel to read. It dives in on how we tell stories to one another and how it gets passed down from one person to the next. And tie it with the Protestant Reformation was a nice touch and made this historical story more thought-provoking and relatable. But not only was the story great to read, the artwork was wonderful to look at and made the story come to life.
The Dead Lucky, Volume 1: A Massive-Verse Book by Melissa Flores and illustrated by French Carlomagno
San Francisco is changing. Tech consortium MORROW is buying up land, to make the city of the future; their peacekeeper robots loom on every corner. Wherever Morrow isn’t, the local gangs are. Either way, it’s getting harder and harder for regular people to live. Bibiana Lopez-Yang is changing too. The incident in Afghanistan that killed her platoon let her control electricity – and left her haunted by the ghosts of those she lost. With her new powers and some unlikely friends, Bibi builds a robot of her own to fight back against Morrow and save her city. But against an enemy this powerful, it won’t be enough to be good. She’ll have to be lucky. (Credit: Image Comics)
New Masters by Shobo Coker and illustrated by Shof Coker
Nigerian brothers Shobo and Shof Coker, present New Masters, a groundbreaking blend of science fiction, adventure, drama, and vibrant Afrofuturism. In a striking vision of West Africa under the thumb of alien colonizers, a motley crew of outcasts find themselves caught up in a power struggle for control of an ancient artifact with immense power. (Credit: Image Comics)
Kaya, Book One by Wes Craig
Kaya, a young girl with a magic arm and a fighting spirit is tasked with delivering her little brother to a far away safe harbor. There he’s destined to find the answer to overthrowing the all-powerful empire that destroyed their home. Starting out on their journey, they’ll face lizard-riders, monstrous beasts, and secrets that could tear brother and sister apart. (Credit: Image Comics)
The Sad Ghost Club Volume 3 by Lize Meddings
When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, what happens next changes everything. Because that night, they leave the party and start the The Sad Ghost Club – a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don’t belong. (Credit: Hachette Children’s Group)
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