Manga Madness: The Top 20 Manga Series for Teens

So, I've been working on a grant proposal for a Manga Madness event for the Fall Semester. This event would have our students vote on their favorite manga series each month. The series that win each round of voting would get an additional volume added to our collection and ultimately, the winner of the manga showdown will get extra volumes collected during the Spring Semester. Think of it like March Madness, but with manga series fighting it out for the top spot.



As I worked on this grant, I had to figure out which manga series should take part in the event. After a month or so of sleuthing, I came up with a list of candidates.



The main source of information on the best manga was MyAnimeList. It's a great website for keeping up with all things anime and manga-related (and also allows you to keep track of the anime and manga you watch/read). Using MyAnimeList's Top Manga as a starting point, I then looked up the Amazon reviews of the top one hundred or so manga to see if there was a difference of opinion on each manga's appeal. For the most part, everyone agreed that certain series were the best.



Now, half of those series on my initial list were for mature audiences, but I wanted to create a list that people in the Kid Lit arena could use (librarians, writers, etc.). So I cut out the more mature series and put together a list of the Top 20 Manga for Teens. Most of these aren't the most recent manga series, but they are ones most everyone agree are the golden stars of the manga scene.



So, without further ado about nothing, here's the list:


Top 20 Manga for Teens

Each entry has the following:
Title (Percentage of 5-Star Amazon reviews; MyAnimeList Score [out of 10]; and Genres)
Shounen is written for teenage boys.
Shojo is written for teenage girls.

Fullmetal Alchemist (79%; 9.13 Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Shounen, Military)
Slam Dunk (90%; 8.97 Genres: Comedy, Drama, School, Shounen, Sports)
Yotsuba&! (88%; 8.90 Genres: Comedy, Shounen, Slice of Life)
One Piece (84%; 9.00 Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Shounen, Super Power)
Death Note (85%; 8.81 Genres: Mystery, Drama, Shounen, Supernatural, Psychological)
Rurouni Kenshin (91%; 8.72 Genres: Action, Drama, Historical, Samurai, Shounen)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (100%; 8.67 Genres: Action, Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Space, Military)
Ouran High School Host Club (91%; 8.63 Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School, Shoujo, Harem, Gender Bender)
Your Lie in April (88%; 8.76 Genres: Drama, Music, Romance, School, Shounen)
Horimiya (87%; 8.64 Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen, Slice of Life)
Skip Beat (82%; 8.72 Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (91%; 8.55 Genres: Action, Mystery, Drama, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Psychological)
Dengeki Daisy (88%; 8.56 Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo)
Lovely Complex (88%; 8.55 Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School, Shoujo)
Bakuman (87%; 8.52 Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shounen)
Kamisama Kiss (86%; 8.58 Genres: Comedy, Demons, Fantasy, Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural)
Black Butler (85%; 8.58 Genres: Action, Demons, Mystery, Fantasy, Historical, Shounen, Supernatural)
Magi (84%; 8.56 Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen)
Noragami (80%; 8.61 Genres: Action, Fantasy, Romance, Shounen, Supernatural)
Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (78%; 8.68 Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen)