Bookish Item | 2019 Favorite Reads – Graphic Novel/Manga edition

This is the first of our 2019 Favorite Reads posts. You can expect a lot of these blogposts in the coming days where we share all kinds of lists about the last year. Today I’ll share my favorite graphic novels and manga with you all. So let’s get into it!

15. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina vol. 1: The Crucible – Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
4 stars

To complete my top 15 I could only pick one 4 star read, and it was pretty hard to pick that one haha. So this might have been influenced by my recent rewatch of the Netflix show of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This was a very dark graphic novel and I enjoyed it a lot. It took a different turn than the tv show and I’m excited to see where it all is going. I will definitely continue on with this series.

14. Mooncakes – Suzanne Walker
4,5 stars

This is the only ebook on this list! I got an eARC earlier this year and read it right away. It was nice reading a standalone graphic novel for once, and in contrast to some other standalones this was a nice and contained story. I appreciated the balance between world building and plot and think that was quite well done. The art work was wonderful and it was a perfect Halloween read.

13. Fables vol. 2: Animal Farm – Bill Willingham
4,5 stars

After starting this series last year, I picked up the second volume early in 2019. It was great being back in this world and I felt like we got more of the bigger story compared to the first volume. It’s nice knowing this series is finished, so I have an end in sight. However, it’s a pretty big series so I have quite some volumes to go haha.

12. Gangsta 4 – Koshke
4,5 stars

This is an adult manga series and I believe it’s ongoing. I’m halfway through at the moment and I love the feeling of being able to catch up with the series. This manga series takes place in a super interesting world, and I love the gangster/mob setting. We got some shocking twists and I can’t wait to read the next couple of volumes.

11. Yona of the Dawn 1 – Mizuho Kusanagi
4,5 stars

This is the start of an ongoing manga series and while there are a ton of volumes, I’m happy I started this one. I really enjoyed this first volume, even though there wasn’t anything surprising about it. You can tell this first volume is setting us up for the story, but I was okay with that. I like where we are going and I hope to get started on the next 30 volumes soon haha.

10. Death Note Black Edition Vol. 2 – Tsugumi Ohba
4,5 stars

I finally started this series and pretty quickly got the second volume from the black edition (the regular third and fourth volume). This volume took some turns I didn’t see coming for a million years and I couldn’t put it down. I love the story and I’m excited to find out where the story will go in the next volumes. This is pretty suspenseful and I’m not sure who’s side I’m on!

9. The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Kore Yamazaki
4,5 stars

I finally got this one and I’m glad I read it this year. Another first in an ongoing series, but luckily it’s not yet as big as Yona of the Dawn for example. There is also an anime I plan on watching once I’m a couple of volumes in. I really enjoyed the world and I can’t quite predict which way this story is going.

8. Blackbird – Sam Humphries & Jen Bartel
5 stars

Look at that cover! That is definitely what drew me into this one. I also really enjoyed the story, it’s pretty different from anything I’m used to. The ending is quite open so I truly hope there will be more volumes after this one but I haven’t seen anything about it yet. I’m still very glad I picked it up though!

7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Jordie Bellaire
5 stars

This was such a fun read! I haven’t seen all of the Buffy tv show but I did watch the first season. And you can so clearly pick out all the characters in this one. They did a great job on the art and I’m glad they didn’t change the look of the characters. It was a lot of fun  and I’m looking forward to the publication of the second volume.

6. Saga vol. 5 – Brian K. Vaughan
5 stars

I’m so happy I continued with this series! This is my favorite volume so far and I have the next 4 volumes ready to be ready. I’m happy I waited a bit so I don’t have to wait as long for the authors to continue with the series because everyone tells me the ninth volumes ends with a bang. Let’s hope the next four volumes of this wonderful space story are are great as volume 5.

5. Fruits Basket 1 – Natsuki Takaya
5 stars

I never expected to love this one as much as I did! This manga series is so cute but also manages to make me cry every now and then. I have 10 more double volumes to go (I’m reading the collector’s editions) and I hope to collect them pretty soon. This feels like a contemporary story with a little fantasy twist and I’m loving it!

4. The Promised Neverland 3 & 4 & 5- Kaiu Shirai
4,5 stars / 4,5 stars / 5 stars

One of my all time favorite manga series! I love these kids to death and I’m so scared for them haha. The fifth volume was probably my favorite so far, it was pretty different from the previous ones and I’m so excited to learn more about this world in the coming volumes. I believe this is a MG series but I would highly recommend it to everyone!

3. Fence vol. 1 & vol. 2 – C.S. Pacat
4,5 stars / 5 stars

An actual contemporary story! I love this story and these boys so much! The fact that its all about a fencing team at a boarding school makes it a wonderful setting. But the story itself is just great. And I still can’t believe I haven’t read the third volume yet haha, but I plan on reading it this January! The second volume ended on a cliffhanger and I have no idea what will happen next.

2. Witch Hat Atelier 1 – Kamome Shirahama
5 stars

One of the last books I read this year. And one of the reasons I’m so glad we’re doing these lists in January instead of December. I read this one with a big grin on my face all throughout the story and I immediately ordered the next volumes that are out in English. There will be a couple more coming out this year and I hope I can keep up to date with this magical series.

1.Heartstopper 1& 2 – Alice Oseman
5 stars / 5 stars

Can you actually believe I put a contemporary series in the number one spot?! There are only two contemporary stories on this list and they made my top 3 haha. But this series has a magical romance in it <3. I read the first volume on Valentines Day and it was the perfect read for it. These boys are so cute and precious and I’m looking forward to the third volume!

That was my favorites list for the graphic novels and manga I read this year! Did any of your favorites make it to my list? Any recommendations? Come talk to me in the comments!

9 thoughts on “Bookish Item | 2019 Favorite Reads – Graphic Novel/Manga edition

  1. These all look amazing, awesome post! I should really read more Graphic novels/manga! Especially since I love Buffy, Anime etc.. !! Love this one, these all sound brilliant!??

    1. Thank you! I had a great reading year for Graphic Novels and Manga, so many great ones. Hope you find some good ones to pick up <3

    1. Thank you! I LOVE Fence, highly recommend it. I’m mostly focussing on series I started this year but I’m always on the look out for good new ones 😀

    1. Thanks! Yes Heartstopper is definitely worth the hype <3 I think you’ll really enjoy Fence!

  2. So many amazing books!!! I will never stop loving and shouting about Saga and Heartstopper ❤ Blackbird has me super intrigued and I didn’t know there was a Sabrina graphic novel?! (I mean, aside from the original Sabrina/Archie comics of course)

    1. Thank you! Agreed, everyone should pick up Saga and Hearstopper! I think the comic predates the show, but they slapped a new cover on it because of the show. I loved it either way though, and just finished the novel that is a prequel to the show <3

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