Who is your favorite mangaka?

Aion

Aion

Time-Traveller
Thread stolen from MAL.


Fujisawa. I'll be the first to admit that he handles drawing school girls and handling perverted comedy better than anything else, but he can also create some of the most endearing, best developed characters in existence. He got the balance perfect in his masterpiece, GTO, by inserting emotionally moving content but, rather than having the series as a whole be a massive downer, the various arcs always ended on a happy note, with him also inserting his humour along the way.

I could read all of his work without any effort being required. In terms of what I can read translated, I've read everything at this point. The majority of his work isn't 9-10/10 material but all of it has Fujisawa's trademark, 'best drawn school girls ever' artwork and general fun factor. He's a God in my mind.


In terms of more intelligent and 'deep' stories, Endo offers everything else I require. Truly, Endo is an amazing all-round mangaka. He can handle action better than shounen artists; he's clearly well eductated and intelligent enough to touch subjects most avoid; he has no issue mixing genres together and his artwork is of the highest quality, his erotic/nude art being a sight to behold. Eden - his full-length series - shows that he has flaws, the main him avoiding doing what others would do without needing to be told and generally making life hard for himself, but he isn't far from perfection.

Platform, a two chapter short in his Tanpenshu collection, moved me more in 130 pages than anything else has in multiple volumes. Fujisawa has my #1 spot because his efforts are impossible not to enjoy, but there's no denying that Endo is superior to Fujisawa objectively.
 
Art & story:
Hiroki Endo
Kentaro Miura


Story:
Yoshihiro Togashi
Hitoshi Iwaaki
Naoki Urasawa

Fujisawa's stories are very realistic.

EDIT: Forgot Mohiro Kitoh. Oh shout out to Tite Kubo for being the best troll possible, it's not like anyone reads Bleach for the story anymore though... right?
 
Hitoshi Ashinano and Kenichi Sonoda. Like most things in life, I can't pick one over the other, I want both for different reasons.

Ashinano because although there is no real 'plot' to YKK, his snapshots of life in a dying but peaceful world remain some of the most simple, moving commentaries on what it is to be alive, er... even if you're a robot. YKK is all about the human experience, but looks at it through the eyes of the robot Alpha, someone who is almost, but not quite human. Which, when you think about it, could be said of any fictional character. But with Alpha (as well as the other robots she meets) that's part of who she is from the start. The stories of YKK are about feelings, about experiences. There's no real point to be made, nor is there really anything to understand or explain, YKK is great simply because of how it makes you feel. Ashinano's artwork is also unique and just as careful, thoughtful and calming as his writing.

Sonoda because Gunsmith Cats is exciting. It's flat, static text and images, yet it's exciting. Really exciting. You don't know what's gonna happen when you turn the page... a car could flip over, someone could catch a bullet, a bomb could go off - and usually you as a reader don't expect it or know what the hell is going on at the time. You're on the same page as the characters and it's rare that you have any more insight than they do. It is, truly, the best action film never made. They couldn't hope to make a film this exciting. His characters can be a little 2D but it's all about the action and the presentation, and no-one can touch Sonoda for action sequences or character design.
 
Go Nagai, because:

1. He has great mecha and character designs
2. What he makes is pretty funny, epic or provocative
3. The characters and stories he writes are always interesting
4. He's the grandfather of magical girls, mecha and ecchi
 
Osamu Tezuka, and just like with ilmaestro's opinion, it's not even a close call. Tezuka basically invented manga and all other mangaka owe him an incredible debt. His work is (almost) uniformly brilliant, he always has something to say and he is exceptionally original with his stories. His deliberately cartoon-ish character designs contrast very well with the extraordinary detailed beauty of his backgrounds. He's also perhaps the most prolific mangaka that's ever been; I struggle to think of any genre he hasn't worked within. He's a genius and I doubt we'll see anything like him again :]
 
Laram said:
I don't remember his name :p, but I like the style of author of Freesia.
Click to expand...
Jiro Matsumot. He has a FF's Nomura feel to his art.

I'd have to agree with CG, considering I've been watching Tezuka's animes for the good part of the last two decades, althought I've only started reading his manga about 5 years ago, when I've see the first volume of Princess knight published. Then Buddha and Adolph folllowed and by then, I was hooked.

I don't list his works between my all time favourites, simply because there were nothing that changed my life, but he is the author that delivered more entertaiment and amazement to me in anime or manga form so far.
 
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