From ANN: What with humans killing, exorcising, and otherwise getting rid of them all the time, monsters and demons have become endangered species. Someone has to look out for them, and that's what Yamada Shintarou is training to do- he's going to become a monster guardian. Armed with a two-by-four and a talking rabbit, he goes out to fight the demon hunters, hoping to defeat enough of them to get his monster guardian license. It is while he is doing this that he meets Nao, a normal (if unusually pretty and violent) high school girl, and instantly falls in love... with her neck. Now Yamada has a new mission in life: to protect Nao, and keep anyone- monster, ghost, demon hunter, or otherwise- from getting in the way of his view of her nape.

[From Kotonoha]: Published by Kodansha in 2002 and awarded the prestigious Tezuka Cultural Prize, Fumiko Takano’s The Yellow Book is one of those rare works which you enjoy reading in order to feel the tender familiarity that arises between the protagonists and yourself. This collected volume was named after the longest of the four stories that it contains: a drama about an adolescent girl who falls in love with Roger Martin du Gard’s saga, Les Thibault. The remaining stories capture various fragments of everyday life with tenderness and humor. Through the kaleidoscope of its feminine views, The Yellow Book touches the readers heart by attending to what, in sum, makes up life—the little things of our every day.

A girl who can rent a house for 40,000 yen a month (that's really cheap and it's impossible in Japan now) but it comes with a weird condition...

Ichimonji Musashi is a very effeminate boy who is determined to live up the the manly name his father gave him, but on the day of this proclamation, he walks in on Ichinoki Chizuru, the manager of a maid cafe, while she's naked and falls in love. The only problem is Chizuru hates men! After Musashi is forced to work as a maid for her, she becomes "convinced" that if he can become a "girl among girls" she will accept his love. Just when Musashi vowed to be manlier!

2050, Tokyo. The sixteen year old, special gifted police detective Kyouko Karasuma works for a special devision in the Asakusa Police Department. Her rather abnormal cases involve: she's fighting against Oni, Tengu and other monsters from the Asian myths and legends. The modern art by the character designer of Speed Grapher works very good with the action-heavy story line and the overall art improves with each volume. -Bakaupdates

Kugaya is a teenager who lives with his aunt, Sakuri. The kendo coach at his high school, Narugami, has been after him to join the kendo team; but when he meets the new girl, Takemi, his life takes a supernatural turn and he is thrust into an epic battle with the demonic "Intruders". Reincarnation... buried memories... the Holy Sword... "Himuka"... and the Clan of the Swordsmen... it's all too much for a high school student to bear!

From Tokyopop: Imprisoned for a thousand years, eighty-eight fabled beasts seek resurrection from their world so that they can unleash their wrath upon present-day Japan. And a band of young warriors would love nothing more than to let loose these beasts so that they can feast upon the human world. The only thing preventing civilization's annihilation is the Girl of Water, who is lost in the human world--without any memory of who she is! As the elemental warriors continue their search for her, they cross paths with another of their kind: Ishigami, the Man of Earth. However, Ishigami is one who wants to stop the dreaded resurrection...

Kaji Ryusuke is a second son of a great politician. However, his father and brother both pass away from a car accident. Now, those who supported Ryusuke's father want Ryusuke to carry on the family business as a politician. At first, Ryusuke tries to get out of the responsibility, but he eventually enters an election to become a politician. This manga will view Japanese politics from Kaji Ryusuke's viewpoint.

- Kagura Mai - Otokotachi no Mahae

Hiro is a high school student refusing to go to school after a traumatic run-in with the local bullies. But his feeble life is forever changed when, one day, he applies online for a new gadget called "JUNK".

Guided by visions of La Pucelle (the name given to Joan by followers), Emil seeks to unite France under the divine rule of the King. In her quest, Emil goes to the same places Joan had traveled through, and gains her own followers in the process. However, Emil is opposed by the dauphin Louis, a brute enforcer who fears no divine power and wishes to make his own bid to rule the country. Joan is ComicsOne's first all color comic book. The publisher recommends this book for readers over 15 years old.

A peek at the life at a Shinto shrine, mostly centered around one Satomi Shinjirou, who's on the path to becoming a priest after his brother skipped out on that. Kind of a love story (there are several of those in it, actually), but it's more about the people who work at a modern-day shrine and the circumstances they have to deal with. It's even somewhat educational at times. But don't tell anyone.

"Jesus. Teacher, healer, savior. The story of one of the most revered figures in human history is revisited in this full-length graphic novel, featuring breathtaking full-color art by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the creator of ""Joan."" This faithful adaptation of the New Testament text follows Jesus from his days at Calvary to the time of the Crucifixion and beyond. "

The mountain gods have sent down a punishment to the people of Japan. An owl by the name of Minerva. All who fall under this owl's gaze die, their eyes spurting out blood. One man stood up to the owl, a famous hunter by the name of Uhei, however just as he was about to loose the finishing bullet, he was interrupted by the American army taking the owl into their care for study. Thirteen years later, an American warship crashes into a Tokyo harbor, and all the men on board are dead, their eyes bleeding. The owl has been freed, and it now rampages throughout Tokyo, killing at random and in mass amounts. The American government has decided that only Uhei, the man who nearly killed the beast before, can help them. So they send the Delta Force and CIA out to see just how the bird can be brought down...

[Taken from Tokyopop]: Miho, a woman of beauty, intelligence and temper, comes to Cheju Island to teach school and is immediately flung into a world of terror and the supernatural. A demon attacks her and she is saved by the chance appearance of a mystery man with seemingly only one mission... demon killing.

From Viz: All alone except for her loyal mutt Lupin, 18-year-old Suguri moves from the countryside to the big city to find a career and a new life! In her first job at a pet store, she meets an assortment of quirky dogs and even stranger owners. What she lacks in retail experience, she makes up for through her natural rapport with all things wagging and fluffy! [taken verbatim from the blurb of the English volumes]

Five short stories. - Inu wo Kau (Raising a Dog) - Soshite Neko wo Kau (And Then, Caring for a Cat) - Niwa no Nagame (View of the Backyard) - Sannin no Hibi (Three People's Days) - Yakusoku no Chi (Promised Land) The first one tells the death of an old dog, hence the title. The last one is a bit similar to a later work of the author, Kamigami no Itadaki. Inu wo Kau won the Shogakukan Manga Award (examination committee special) in 1992.

Amamiya Shinnpei has been saving up every penny he can for the past three years while working at a car repair shop ever since he finished junior high. Finally, he saved up 1,000,000 yen to take back his stepsister from family relatives. He reunites with his sister after three years and they start living together. However, their newly started lifestyle is ruined by troubles that continue to occur.

When a boy's divorced mother returns from America, she brings a blonde haired girl. "She is your sister," she says, and we are going to live together.

This is a biography of the famous Buddhist monk Ikkyu from the late Hisashi Sakaguchi. Set in 14th century Japan, Ikkyu must learn to live and excel as a monk, despite the fact that his father is the emperor. His intelligence and purity help him succeed, but he continues to get the short end of the stick in life. Can Ikkyu perservere in his quest for spirituality in spite of everything that is set against him?

28 years earlier, there was a plane crash in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture. The barrier that the Kobo Daishi, Kukai had created to seal away the demons was destroyed in crimson flames... Present day, Oniwakamaru, King of the Yokai, appears inside the body of pure and innocent Tachibana Hitori!!

[From Manga-Sketchbook]: Female assassins mix sex and death in a pair of hard-boiled well-drawn film-noir stories of love and murder. From Baka-Updates: Two linked stories, both revolving around a deadly female assassin. In Hotel Harbour View, a Japanese expatriate in Hong Kong spends his time drinking whisky, photographing a high class prostitute and waiting for death at the hands of the assassin he knows is coming for him. In Brief Encounter, a notorious Parisian assassin is himself marked for assassination and his hunter is no stranger to him.

From Tokyopop: To what distance would you go for your one true love? In the midst of an alien invasion, Mikako joins the resistance, leaving behind the one young man she loves. As she goes deeper into space, Mikako's only connection with her boyfriend is through cell-phone text messages. The war rages on and years pass, but Mikako barely ages in the timelessness of space while Noboru grows old. How can the love of two people, torn apart by war, survive?

Side stories serialized exclusively in 4-Koma Nano Ace.