My Favorite Unlicense Shoujo and Josei Manga of 2013

This seems like a pointless list for me to make because most of the unlicensed manga I love I make into Crimson Flower projects. So I thought I'd talk about some of those and a few titles that are on my radar. I'm limiting this list to shoujo and josei since the only non-shoujo/josei title I bought was "Kerberos in the Silver Rain". All right, so lets get on with it!

Favorite New Series/Oneshot Compilation of 2013

1. "Baraou no Souretsu" by Aya Kanno
2. "Kanojo ni Naru Hi" by Akane Ogura
3. "Haikyo Shoujo" by Tsukiji Nao
4. "Lip Smoke" by Mai Nishikata
5. "Hanaibara" by Mio Kawahara (currently being worked on for CF) 
6. "Kanojo ni Naru Hi -- Another" by Akane Ogura
7. "Boku no Hitsugi de Bansan o" by Nari Kusakawa
8. "Kisu ni Renzoku" by Yuu Toyota
9. "Honjitsu, Akane Hiyori" -- Today's Weather is Akane by Yui Sakuraba (planned for CF in 2014)
10. "Jinrou Chronicle" by Lay Mutsuki

Notes:

"Hanaibara" -- An illustrator, Hassuku Yanase,  moves into a country house his eccentric grandfather left to him.  Living in the house are an erotic fiction writer, Soyogo Muro,  and his younger sister, Kanako Muro, who he uses as his model for his works.  Yanase decides to be the illustrator for Soyogo's latest work. (Okay, technically this is seinen since it ran in Avarus).

"Today's Weather is Akane" -- Akane promises to marry Shu when he returns from abroad. Akane is expected to continue on her father's traditional Japanese restaurant, but when Shu returns, he wants to open a Western style restaurant instead.  Meanwhile, Akane's father bought Natsuhiko, who is ALWAYS irritable, into the family business for the obvious reason... heh-heh... It's a typical historical shoujo love triangle, but it's very done well while keeping the drama to a minimum. This is a wonderful easygoing short series that I hope CF will bring to you all in 2014.

Honorable Mentions:

• "Anniversary" bu Yu Uemori
• "Bread and Butter" by Hinako Ashihara
• "Princess Ledahlia" by You Higuri

Favorite Oneshots of 2013 (Translated this year)

1. "Boushi no Ue no Oka" by Nao Tsukiji
2. "Puzzle" by Morie Satoshi
3. "Tosagare Renren" by Nari Kusakawa
4. "Blushing Boy MacArthur" by Lammy Uchimiya
5. "Kutsunashihime" by Akanatsu

The most fun project I worked on this year -- "Lovely Vampire Weddings". The artwork was too lovely and the stories were infectiously sweet.

I know many of your have the chance to read a lot more unlicensed titles that I did, so please share some of the glorious finds on you favorite list.

My Favorite Licensed Manga of 2013

Here's the list the licensed manga from this year I read and I liked the most.  This isn't a best manga list. I feel in no way capable of making those kinds of judgements, nor do I read much of anything that experts would consider "best".  Actually, I was hard pressed to name any new licensed manga I really liked this year, so these are the works I sorta enjoyed, but I can't say I'm cheerleading for any of these series.  The ongoing and other manga I read, though, I loved.

I decided to separate licensed manga from unlicensed manga, so I'll start with licensed stuff first.  The lists are in alphabetical particular order.

My favorite new manga of 2013

• "Another" by Yukito Ayatsuji and Hiro Kiyohara
• "Ayako" (the super spy half of story) by Osamu Tezuka
• "Heart of Thomas" by Moto Hagio
• "Inu x Boku SS" by Coco Fujiwara
• "Utsubora" - The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura
• "Vinland Saga"by Makoto Yukimura (Hubby's pick)

Disappointing new manga of 2013

• "Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz" by QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru
• "Are you Alice" by Ikumi Katagiri and Ai Ninomiya
• "Crimson Empire"by QuinRose and Hazuki Futaba
• "Knights of Sidonia" by Tsutomu Nihei
• "Midnight Secretary" by Tomu Ohmi
• "Pink" by Kyoko Ozaki
• "Sweet Rein" by Sakura Tsukuba"
• "Wolfmund" by Mitushisa Kuji

 Favorite ongoing and other manga I read in 2013

• "Blank Slate" by Aya Kanno 
• "Bride's Story" by Kaoru Mori
• "Olympos" by Aki
• "Skip Beat" by Yoshiki Nakamura
• "The Betrayal Knows my Name" by Hotaru Odagiri

Series I dropped in 2013

• "Attack on Titan" by Hajime Isayama
• "Dawn of the Arcana" by Rei Toma
• "Dengeki Daisy" by Kyousuka Motomi 
• "Kamisama Kiss" by Julietta Suzuki
• "Oresama Teacher" by Izumi Tsubaki
• "Vampire Knight" by Hino Matsuri

My Ten Favorite Anime Series of 2013

It's the end of the year, so it's time to make summary lists! Here's my list of my 10 favorite anime series of 2013. It's too hard for me to rank them, so I'll just put them in alphabetical order.

1. Arpeggio of Blue Steel -- I thought this was going to be some brain dead moe harem show, but I really fell in love with all the ship/girls personalities and Gunzou.
2. Blast of Tempest -- The endless string of twists kept me on the edge of my seat to the end. I loved the bromance and the romances too.
3. Gargentia -- Chamber!!!! Enough said.
4. Hataraku Maoh -- I love all Maoh show. This one had the best mix of humor, romance, and adventure of all the Maoh shows this year.
5. Kyoukai no Kanata -- Despite the crap ending, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of series. I hope there's a manga that explains the ending better.
6. Red Data Girl -- This was my favorite low key show.  I like the gentleness of the characters and the romance.
7. Servant x Service -- All of the characters in this series were golden.
8. Silver Spoon -- It was funny and I learned a lot about farming. Too bad the first season was only 11 episodes. I think we annoyed the neighbors the most laughing at this series.
9. Unbreakable Machine Doll -- Raishin!!! Enough said. (Nobody wins the "Raishin" drinking game.)
10. Valvrave -- The best animated space opera train wreck ever. It was the next "Lelouche". I wonder what will be the next "Valvrave". L-Elf forever.

I can't do a worst list because there are countless anime that I could not get past the first episode.