Manga: Your Favorite Mangaka

[Munsu]

Just wondering who your favorite mangaka's are. Currently I would say my favorite is Adachi Mitsuru. He's not my favorite because he has drawn my favorite mangas, but whenever I get bored and got nothing to read, I can always pick any of his titles and I'm sure that they will entertain me with a fairly good story, some comedy, some love triangles, and some nice sports action.

Some of my favorite titles from him have been:

Touch
H2
Katsu!
Cross Game
Rough
Nine

[Ryllharu]

I'd have to say it's between Ken Akamatsu and Ai Yazawa. I consistently like their works and I can usually re-read them a couple of times. Both have really great artwork, and good-to-excellent storylines.

Akamatsu's method for putting in highly detailed backgrounds (or erasing enough space and drawing characters on top of them) has always made his series really stand out. Take a look at the first few chapters of Negima if you don't know what I'm talking about. I started reading manga with Love Hina. Sure, both the major series are filled with ecchi, but they do a good job. There are not many mangaka around who can write an original story and give good character development to 30 separate characters, though in Negima, he's only covered around 20 thoroughly so far.

As for Yazawa, her characters are really detailed, particularly clothing, with occasional reverts for comedic effect. Her stories go really in depth into the characters, giving them some pretty rough experiences to get through. The series are of course written for girls, but she does take it seriously and makes them deal with more mature issues to appeal to adults too.
Her works that I follow are: NANA, Gokinjo Monogatari, Paradise Kiss and Tenshi Nanka ja Nai.

[Munsu]

Shit, I'm a fucking idiot... though I like Adachi a lot, he's really not my favorite. My favorite is the great Naoki Urasawa. He writes awesome mysteries, the most awesome and real characters, great plots and drama, and I love his character designs. Monster, Yawara!, Happy, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto... don't really need to explain my decision, just awesome mangas all the way around.

[masamuneehs]

i don't read much manga. But, of the ones I do, there is no doubt in my mind that Berserk is the most epic and awesomest of them all.

Ergo, vis-a-vis Kentaro Miura is my favorite mangaka.

I not only adore his drawing abilities, but the story he weaves is truly one of the best tales I've heard ever.

[mage]

He's my favorite as well. Berserk is amazing.

[kAi]

Kentarou Miura easily.
His art is phenomenal, his story telling is one of a kind.

and 2nd would be Tohru Fujisawa, creator of GTO, Rose Hip Rose/Zero, etc.

[bagandscalpel]

He's my favorite as well. Berserk is amazing.

Amen. My fondness for that series stems so far that I pray for Miura's good health every now and then.

[Munsu]

Bumping this to add a couple of people that I'm really enjoying series from. First one is IM Dal Young, and currently he's the one I'm reading most from. His series include Black God, Aflame Inferno, Freezing, Onihime VS, The Legend of Maian, Zero, and Unbalance x Unbalance.

Another one I'm liking is Segawa Masaki, with series such as Onikiri Jyuzo, Basilisk, The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan. I've only read Onikiri and a bit of Basilisk, but I really like his art.

[Everon]

Takehiko Inoue, mangaka of Slam Dunk and Vagabond. I really enjoy his work, as he does has very clean approach to motion. It makes all of his action sequences very translatable into a single fluid scene.

Ookubo Atsushi - His art style comes across distinctly in Soul Eater, but most notably (for a nerd like me) are his references to Lovecraft and various other literature scattered here and there.

Tanabe Yellow - A mangaka that actually makes shounen battles never feel dull. She does a great job balancing and weaving together different plots and backstories. Every Arc of Kekkashi is introducing something new.