Any sort of book ranking this year was obviously going to reward highly Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. It’s hard not to look at its record-breaking success and simply write off everything as a cakewalk for Koyoharu Gotouge’s series, including the upcoming TV manga general election. Nevertheless, some other Jump series did get a feature in the manga category of Da Vinci’s Book of the Year 2020, including SPY x FAMILY and One Piece.
Obviously, coming in at number one in Da Vinci’s Book of the Year 2020 was Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. That much goes without saying. Number two went to What Did You Eat Yesterday?, the BL manga from Fumi Yoshinaga that has always proven popular. Sitting at number three and number four, however, are two surprising entrants: SPY x FAMILY and One Piece by Tatsuya Endo and Eiichiro Oda, respectively. Number five is occupied by Do Not Say Mystery by Yumi Tamura.
Well, well, well. To see SPY x FAMILY race up to number three after just over a year of publication is quite surprising. It featured in the rankings last year, but not in the top five; Tatsuya Endo was interviewed and drew significant attention. Now, continued sales success has translated into a stronger showing. Well done!
Meanwhile, One Piece’s star has seemingly fallen a little bit. In 2019, it took the number two spot; in 2018, it came in number three. One can only speculate as to if this is more to do with other popular series pushing it down into the number four spot, or whether discontent from some sections of the fan community about the current direction and visual presentation of the series has translated into less votes. Da Vinci’s Book of the Year is not decided by sales, but the responses to reader surveys.
It should be noted that the Da Vinci magazine is mainly marketed towards women, hence why BL and josei series tend to rank highly. Nevertheless, this is also the magazine that organizes the Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards, which has correctly identified SPY x FAMILY as an up-and-coming manga in the past. So, their rankings are always worth paying attention to.
Another series that has seemingly disappeared from the top five is Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan, which came in third place last year. Is this a sign of the changing times? Probably.
You can find out the full Book of the Year 2020 results in the January edition of Da Vinci magazine, out now.