By Vivi Romeo
The future-past can mean a few things, but overall, this sci-fi subgenre will combine some aspects of historical aesthetics/technologies with futuristic elements. Often the technology of future-past sci-fi surrounds spaceships and extraterrestrials, but it can also be conceptual or even metaphorical: personal, gendered, and investigative. Think the steampunk genre or the Hunger Games books. Sometimes a book is future-past because it was written in the past and we can’t help but read it as a dated image of the future. Sometimes a book is future-past because it imagines a world where cowboys do shootouts in space. Sometimes a book is future-past because it imagines the 1930s but with contemporary gender politics (or, you know, aliens).
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
In Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist, alchemist brothers Ed and Al Elric are left physically disabled after failing to resurrect their mother. When the military comes knocking, 15-year-old Ed – jaded, vengeful, and seeking an elusive Philosopher’s Stone in order to restore his and his brother’s bodies – agrees to become a state alchemist. Ed and Al’s investigation brings them into explosive contact with a world haunted by superhuman “homunculi” and state sanctioned genocide, and their connection to the terrors of the past and present is far closer than it appears.
In Fullmetal Alchemist, life is governed by the principle of equivalent exchange – and the Elrics must continuously decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to discover the truth. Whether you’re looking for fast-paced action, slapstick comedy, mystery, romance, or something that makes you think, this manga has it all! This is a perfectly complicated book for a sure-to-be-complicated year (and, of course, one that ultimately has a happy ending).
xxxholic by Clamp
Clamp is a group of female manga artists who have published over fifteen works since 1989, and none for me shine as brightly as xxxHolic. This manga was my introduction to the concept of the multiverse, and the rabbit hole of Clamp’s intertwining universes is one that I love to fall into again and again.
xxxHolic is the story of Kimihiro Watanuki, a high school student who is haunted by visions of spirits and the supernatural. In a fateful encounter, he stumbles upon the wish-granting workshop of space-time witch Yūko Ichihara, who agrees to get rid of his spiritual problems if Watanuki becomes her errand boy.
This manga combines fantasy and science fiction in new and imaginative ways, while also guiding readers through discussions of mental and physical health alongside complex questions surrounding wants, needs, and love of many different forms. Like Watanuki’s ghosts (but way more enjoyable!), this work is sure to stick with you for a long time!
To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Ōima
From the creator of A Silent Voice, To Your Eternity is one of the newer manga on this list. Our story begins with a heavenly orb created by some watchful but unknown figure, which is then cast down to earth to do one thing: learn.
Nicknamed “Fushi,” this immortal orb slowly gains sentience and learns what it is to be alive through lasting and impactful connections with humans and animals alike. Fushi transforms its body into those it has loved as a way to both remember and grant a second chance to those that have passed too soon, and moves through the world as an endearing student of everything. This manga is a perfect read for the wintertime – cozy but thoughtful and surprisingly action-packed, you won’t want to put it down!
Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow
On an arid desert planet in a galaxy far, far away, Vash “the Humanoid Typhoon” has big hair, big plans, and a big heart! He’s also got a bounty on his head and, notorious for somehow causing the destruction of entire settlements without leaving any bodies behind, is the first individual to ever be classified as a natural disaster.
Originally published from 1995-1996, in this classic space Western, Vash grapples with Mad Max-style mercenary crews, saloon shoot-outs, alien plants, a tagalong duo of insurance agents, and his own strict moral code. Trigun will have you laughing, crying, admiring increasingly weird weaponry, and wondering what, exactly, it means to be a “good” person.
No. 6 by Atsuko Asano and Hinoki Kino
No. 6 is a comic very near and dear to my heart. Originally a Japanese novel series published between 2003 and 2011 and adapted into a manga that ran from 2011 to 2013, No. 6 is reminiscent of all the best dystopian fiction (The Giver, The Hunger Games, Brave New World, etc.) that you read in school.
In the year 2013, Shion is a boy recently granted access to the gifted students program of the caste-based city called No. 6, and whose intelligence grants him and his single mother elite status. On the night of Shion’s twelfth birthday, he meets Nezumi, or “Rat,” a young fugitive who sneaks into his bedroom window. Rat vanishes before the sun rises, but Shion’s decision to shelter him and tend his wounds costs him everything. Their fateful reunion occurs years later, when Shion is a 16-year-old sanitation worker who has discovered a terrible secret, and Rat must become his handsome and condescendingly affectionate knight in raggedy armor. Not to be overdramatic, but their relationship is a reminder for me that, sometimes, love can save the world. Or parts of it, at least.