Japanese Readers Pick Most Moving Manga
Japanese entertainment magazine Oricon has published the results of its survey of 900 Japanese men and women ranging in age from 10 to 40 of the most emotionally moving manga they’ve ever read.
The top five combined results were:
01. One Piece
02. Slam Dunk
03. Honey & Clover
04. Fruits Basket
05. Baby & Me / Sunadokei / Touch (three-way tie)
The top five choices from women were:
01. One Piece
02. Slam Dunk
03. Fruits Basket / Honey & Clover (tie)
05. Sunadokei
The top five choices from men were:
01. Slam Dunk
02. One Piece
03. Touch
04. Maison Ikkoku
05. Doraemon
Really?
Source: Tokyograph
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So One piece is at the top eh…
Leaving aside Slam Dunk, Sunadokei and Doraemon and have read all the others and….
One Piece being at top seem very accurate to me, there may be less popular more moving titles undoubtedly, but One Piece is very moving alright; I was in tears the whole volume about Robin’s past, and I was as much in tears as all the strawhats crew was when the Merry Go finnally got its well deserved rest in the bottom of the sea.
From the “Really?” at the bottom it sounds like you might be a bit incredulous regarding the results. shows like Slam Dunk, One Piece, and Touch are pretty legendary and don’t seem out of place to me. (I will admit I am a slam dunk fanboy though). Some of the others aren’t as obvious. I’m curious which results elicit that particular response.
Personally, I cried while reading Nami’s, Chopper’s, and Vivi’s arcs as well as the Skypiea one (One Piece). For me at least, Oda-sensei excels at really drawing out empathy for his characters. Both Fruits Basket and Hachikuro brought me to tears as well, although with Furuba’s case, it was mostly happy tears. Maison Ikkoku did not, but I did enjoy reading it. That said, I’ve yet to read a manga that has moved me as much as certain visual novels (nakige) have.
Confession: while other, cooler kids were experimenting with drugs, booze, and sex during high school, I had Maison Ikkoku. Every month I’d pick up a modest pile of comics inevitably end up reading them the same day…except Maison Ikkoku. I savored it because I knew that by the time I was done, I’d have to wait another month for the next 2 chapters.
For an impressionable youth, Maison Ikkoku provided a frighteningly relative source of solace. Back then, I would think to myself, “I am so like Godai.” Of course, now I wonder what the hell I was thinking because I’m not and never was anything like Godai. At the time, though, I felt as if I was part of the story.
Ah, youth.