Which manga do you think has the worst cover and spine design?
DiscussionI blame Kodansha for this one. Other region’s releases look much better. Edit: I'd like to also add my opinion that Kodansha, before they change their logo, has the worst spines out of the currently functioning publishers in English. Since they changed their logo, they have been upping up their game a little bit, I will give them the credit haha.
AOT mangas look super pretty here in germany. Gotta agree that the english version looks horrible
It just hit me ,I think they meant to make them look like a wall
In other languages the spines are more fun :)
I picked up the first Japanese volume and it’s sick, plus is has the thicker cover with the lip
Agree
Happy Cake Day
Honestly the presentation is so ugly. I love AOT but I don’t have a strong interest in getting the singles for this reason.
Covers go so hard tho
happy cake day
Code geass *not my pic
That is actually horrible, looks like several different spinoffs of the same series when it isn't even
Yeah, bandai spines are just... fucked. The Eureka Seven spines are bad too, but thankfully they only put out 6 volumes
These are absolutely disgusting and even if I liked the series my OCD would NEVER let me have these on my shelf.
I don't even have ocd but I hate looking at this
Yikes
The Japanese editions are soo much more sleeker and uniform, tbf Bandai was one step out of the Manga industry when they put those out, soo legit almost had no passion in producing them.
attack on Titan (English)
AOT of course
The English version of Btooom!
The original Japanese made it look like game boxes for the xbox. The English version changes the fake branding for "games" that does not look like a logo for a console. Even if they had to change the logo at least they could try to make it more believable.
I have to give a special shoutout to Tokyopop.
I feel like most manga collectors these days have been spared from Tokyopop's horrible covers, spines, and paper quality, but anyone who's been around since the 00s understands the struggle.
The giant red logo is the one thing I don’t like. .Hack//, Sakura Taisen, and Pita Ten didn’t have horrible spines outside of the logo.
Edit: oh but for current spines I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess of an Otome, but the Boys Love Me Anyway! Is one of the worst spines from Tokyo pop or anyone in general.
I don't care for the giant red logo. I don't even care much about how they'd stamp the red logo on reprints of books that was first release without it. What I hate, though, is that they'd re-design the alignment of the spine for the red logo. Initial D vol 1-11 looks atrocious if you're not actively trying to get the matching spines.
Is that the one where it's just a single color? I feel like recent Tokyopop spines are worse than before
I do actually like my Sgt Frog Tokyopop spines though
I thought D.N. Angel's spine looks fine. Although if they got rid of the red logo it might look even prettier.
The logo doesn't bother me as much as the paper quality. I have a series that was first printed in 06** and the paper is stained and really rough. I have older manga that doesn't look or feel like it at all. Very weird.
Worst spines: One Piece single volumes from Planeta Comics (Spain) and Fujimoto mangas from Norma (Spain)
Such a shame cause the english covers and spines are some of the best out there
I’ve never seen the One Piece Spanish spines, I just looked… dear god how can you even tell that’s One Piece? It looks awful. This is worse than I expected
A lot of the shoujo beat spines are a white background with a read title. Bland, boring, and gets a little confusing if you go to a shop and they don’t organize them.
This is my answer too like skip beat, nana
so glad skip beat has an omnibus for that reason. just wish the paper weren’t so thin on the latest prints. i’m not sure why nana doesn’t have an omnibus yet aside from being on hiatus
Vampire knight spine and covers are so bad. It might just be because I dislike vampires tho
The new Sailor Moon print has that thin pink line on the side of the spine always tricking me into thinking it's a misaligned print.
I think the spines for Nana and a lot of other shojo beat titles are ugly. Nana is particularly bad since “Nana” is such a short title. Every Nana reprint I’ve seen is horrible misaligned and uneven too. Amazing series though, I’m just glad to own it.
What, I quite like the spines on Nana. You got some nice character art, the shades of red/pink are coordinated and look lovely against the white. Reminds me of strawberries and cream. And I think that shorter titles look better on spines. Yeah, the spines on my set are misaligned but that's just poor quality control.
Yea, actually, Nana sold me BECAUSE of the spine lol. Been slowly buying and only have 5 volumes left to go, but I've only read the first Vol.
Also, is it just my shit luck or does Nana seems to be inconsistent with the width trim sizes? Like, some volumes physically sticks out more than others when I push them in.
Luckily the trim sizes on mine are more or less the same, (although I feel like my vol 12 and 17 are slightly wider). But I'm not surprised that the quality control is going down. At least the Nana reprints as far as I can tell are US/Canada prints. I've been less fortunate with Italy reprints from other series.
I will say, the character art added to the bottom of the spine somewhat makes up for the lame title font
Fire Force single spines. Those white spines with red stripes are loud as hell. The omnibus edition looks so much better with the connecting character art
Also Mob Psycho 100 volume 4 for being the only white spine (barring the reigen spinoff)
I'm a proud kiss him not me enjoyer. absolutely HATE them spines tho.
For the spines, MHA.
Why?
Idk if it’s just me but it looks really disjointed with everyone being a different random colour, also each one having a different coloured title. At least with something like Dorohedoro where all the spines are different colours, they’re all in a similar palette and all the text is the same colour. The same applies for the One Piece spines
I dunno if it is just Fujimoto choosing a quirky design to go with or something because the English version basically follows the Japanese design.
EDIT: I replied to the wrong thread, but I'll leave it here anyway to preserve my foolishness.
Fujimoto doesnt write any of those series.....
Oops, I replied to the wrong thread!
Covers not too sure, but the US spines for AoT are awful
Tokyopop's spines... Omg like Dekoboko sugar days is the worst offender I've ever seen, the cover is so cute and then you turn it and the spine is just diabolically ugly like an actual eye sore
The Japanese JJBA volumes, it’s a cancerous purple
The One Piece 3 in 1 editions have the worst covers in my opinion. Love the series and the convenience of the editions but just have 3 volume covers slap together looks ugly as fuck.
THIS
I'm gonna get cooked but I really don't like how 80% of Bungo Stray Dogs covers are just slight variations of the same cover. More solo covers, please
MHA (spines, they're so ugly)
Battle angel alita spines (Kodansha). Covers are fire.
Obligatory AOT spines
Niche choice: Tekkonkinkreet viz pulp singles (not the front), particularly the back. The color of the font clashes with the covers color so that you can barely read the back of it.
I've always hated the big red blob on tokyopop manga too.
Pretty much most Kodansha titles. They have some of the worst spine designs in NA.
Which ones? I think FT and SDS have good spines
Out of their hundreds of series, theres maybe two dozen that are actually good.
Ohh which ones do you like
shonen note is one of their great ones imo, but that’s probably bc it was an easy task (the spines were already great in japan)
Any long running WSJ/VIZ manga that released in the 2000s with like 8 different Shonen jump logos
pokémon adventures…. went through imprint changes 3 times. vk to perfect square to just nothing, like requiem of the rose king. so now all my old ones have weird disjointed logos bc different arcs were published out of order, and then all the new ones (not many) have no logo. looks amazing!! kekkaishi has this issue too but at least they all have a logo on them
I love the art for Dr Stone but I’m not a fan on how the cover design wraps around the spine making all the volumes look busy and different.
In terms of spine I’d say aot singles
Definitely Attack On Titan for me
English Komi Can’t Communicate spines are just awful! Most old Tokyopop covers aren’t my favorite. They’re not bad, they’re just bland.
The German version of Deadman wonderland. The English and Japanese Versions look so much better
I personally think that the single volume spines for Fullmetal Alchemist are pretty ugly, the covers are great though
Flowers of Evil for sure!! Looks like they couldn’t decide which design to go for. Main reason I sold the single editions to rebuy the complete editions because of how hideous the spines are..
Akame ga kill , they're pretty bland , and no one asked but gintama volumes are probably my favourite
Any manga from SuBLime
My Hero Academia for spines only, the covers on the other hand are so amazing
Cells at work spines are pretty boring tbh
Toriko Vol 18 💀
Given
Banana fish
Honestly I don’t think the aot single aliens are ugly. I like them they stand out with that color
the kings beast spines. the covers are beautiful but the spines look like shit
The kings beast spines. the
Covers are beautiful but
The spines look like shit
- nokouhai
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The English chainsaw man spines I don’t like but the covers are nice
What? They arent that bad tbh. Its just a basic SJ spine. What dont you like about it.
I just don’t like the images for whatever reason
i don’t like them much either. i think they make the spines look messy. but also them not being there would make them look empty bc they have an extra inch on the jp vols
I hear this a lot but I love the Chainsaw man spines lol
I love chainsaw man and the covers are amazing but I just don’t like the spikes for whatever reason
I also dislike the spine design. I haven't gotten around to reading CM yet, so idk if it's a theme from the story; but it's the pointy thing that looks like an arrow near the volume number, and the SJ and Viz logo. I just feel like it's ugly af.
What bothers me the most about it is that every volume uses a gold colored arrow above the volume number, but uses a different color each volume for the ones near the SJ and Viz logo. If they'd either use gold for all, or change the gold to match the other color, that would look so much better.
I just don’t like the image designs. I’ve never noticed the whole arrow thing but yeah that’s also not visually appealing the more I look at it
I just realized... the arrow thing, when putting the volumes together, it's the blades on a saw lol. That's actually really cool, but the way they went about using the colors still makes it ugly.
Yeah
its the reason i refuse to buy physical copies despite liking the series so much
why do they have to be SO ugly??
Not a fan of the Call of The Night spines.
I had to see what I had out of my collection that's my least favorite. And I have to go with Hell's Paradise. The spines are fairly cohesive as a set, and I am rather partial to the individual color scheming. However, without accompanying artwork, the design feels mostly like a vomit of colored typeface. Not a fan of that.
Same here
I can think of a few. Spy x family, mha, Delicious in dungeon, Noragami, Attack on titan and blade of the immortal singles.
I actually quite like Spy x Family’s. I think it more the colour I like than the actual design though haha
Yes Its the colours for me. I really dont like the green
That’s fair enough. World would be boring if we all liked the same thing haha.
This exactly. The color sticks out so bad on my shelf
I'm actually a little surprised at noragami. Is it the shifting colors and lack of art?
the colours are pretty bad imo. I like vol 1 but i dont like the vibrant colours like vol 3,4,7,11,12,13,14,18
Fair, I'm pretty open to most designs and colors lol. I really like the watercolor style for the covers
Spy x Family isn't too bad. Simple yes, but I can see where the design can be slightly disliked
Hold up, boti singles have amazing covers. I hope you're referring to the spines.
yea the spines I didnt read the question properly. The covers are amazing but the spines are pretty bad
don't know if this is an unpopular opinion bc I haven't seen it said before but I think that Crazy Food Truck spines are naaasty
I think they look okay. What do you not like about them?
imo the highlighter yellow makes them look out of place next to virtually any other series you put them next to on the shelf. also don't dig the font at all
Comparing it to my other manga with yellow spines, it really does look like a highlighter lol
Spines for English Choujin X
why?
It looks like it’s blurry, especially from afar, its really disappointing.
maybe you just need glasses
you might have to zoom in, ht there’s these lines that make it appear blurry. Plus it’s just disappointing compared to the Japanese ones which I have, so I can show you if you want. I just wish they did something cooler, like with Tokyo ghoul. I take a design class and this is just lazy. Anyway, it’s just my opinion at the end of the day.
I guess I see where you're coming from, but I have to have my face less than 10 inches from my book shelf to see those
Kaguya-sama Love is War.
Kaguya has some great cover art but the decision to wrap it around the spine was bad one. On the shelf it's just random colors and blobs of skin tone.
It’s hard to read the title half the time. Don’t know why I’m getting so many downvotes.
Crazy you’re getting downvoted. I wholeheartedly agree
Correct answer!
the first few were fine but starting at like vol5 they start getting skin tone blobs and covering the font. i mean at least you can still tell it’s kaguya sama tho
For volume covers, it has to be HxH. There’s like 3 good ones and most range from mediocre to terrible.
For spines, it’s probably mha and one piece for how variably colored they are. Honorable mention to my berserk singles that are from different times of dark horse so it’s very ugly.
You're so wrong for this
Which opinion
HxH covers are great especially for a series from '98
I wouldn’t say the time it’s from indicates anything about volume cover quality. Volume 11 is the best cover and I’d give it a 9/10, and give 37, 34, and 25 like a 7.5/10. The rest get a 5/10 or less, with volume 8 being one of the worst covers of all time.
The standard of art in manga/anime in the 90s vs now is not even comparable. So of course you have to hold them to a different standard as with all older media
Of course there's older series that went above and beyond the standard but if you compare hxh art to any other series from the time the covers are great
I agree, Chrollo was done so dirty on vol 8 💀 Dat face lol. However, I kind of like vol 28 even though the characters on the cover don't really resemble how they look in the manga.
Not exactly the worst but I’m not a fan of Elfen Lied’s covers and spine design
Gantz for me
What?? Gantz has the best. Are you talking about the singles or the omnibus
Omnibus I hate the size/shape idk sorry
It looks so nice with the black and red and it’s pretty average size and shape idk what you mean
Idk it looks like a square to me lol I like Sig type books the best for their shape n size sorry to disappoint
berserk maximum edition. available in a few countries, with very colourful covers and spines, not the most fitting for that story
Bro hasn’t seen the aot spines 😭
English Vinland Saga omnibus. I really don’t like the spines and the covers are ok
Soul Eater hardcovers, and it's not even close. I refuse to buy them because that yellow looks so bad and unnatural (if that even makes sense). I'll just stick with the singles.
Side note, I love the JJK spines but if you end up with a mix of print editions (like USA or Italy) you end up with the red block with the volume number being way off center and it's gotta be one of the most annoying things in my collection, along with Viz logo changes.
Pretty much any soft cover Omnibus
Vagabond???
Naruto
imo the spines for jojo should’ve (specified parts 1-3)
Pretty wild take and I hope you’re only referring to the Jojonium edition. I can see you maybe not liking the plain look to those, but if you’re talking about the deluxe editions of part 4 and 5 you’re crazy!
4 and 5 are definitely my favorites! i mainly met those before it as they look totally different from the new ones imo
The difference mainly comes by just how crazy the Jojo’s release schedule was. Originally Viz only released Part 3 as singles, but that got paused halfway due to issues and it was a fiasco before they were eventually able to complete it. Later on they decided to re-release 1-3 in the Jojonium collection so they kept those all uniform. Since there was a demand for the later parts they kept the same hardcover, but went for a deluxe design.
ahhh that makes sense, thank you for taking the time to inform me! it would be cool if they upgraded those original models to newer ones though but i doubt it
I agree. I love the series, but as is I’m only collecting parts 4 and onward because I prefer that design. That and I didn’t find the earlier parts as enjoyable.
It’s funny bc I’m the opposite. I think the gaudy design works for JoJo, but I much prefer the look of 1-3.
I don’t know if I’d say it’s the worst, but I really dislike Blood on the Tracks’ spines
I like the design, but I do wish the lettering lined up. What do you not like?
Edit: Actually upon re-examining, it would have been cool if they all had the same design as volumes 10 & 11. I love how those two look together.
Yeah there’s a couple that look like they fit a theme and then it’s a clash with the next, the covers are great, I just don’t think the spines go together well
Your Lie in April
The panini Mexico design have a better spine in my opinion
you’re wayyyy off base here icl
Attack on titan singles
Ngl I’m not a fan of dr. Stone spines
attack on titan english release.
Maybe it's just because they are so old, but the English Tokyopop release of Kare Kano just varies so much in colour and logo between volumes. It just doesn't look great and I have never seen a set that looks uniform (but they also don't look different enough that it seems like the variance was a thought out choice by the publisher)
Worst spines aka the ones that annoy me most in my collection is love & lies, it's super basic but the colours don't go and not in a good way and kodanshas inability to make their volumes a consistent height has resulted in a mess 🤣
For spines, I have to go with the English release of Berserk; the brown rust is just awful, and the font they used for the numbers just feels like they used the default font on the editing program.
The German Version of Jojos Bizzare Adventures it is to big for it to not be a hardcover and the spines are horrible and break when you try to read them and the Design is super lame just every Part has a different color and they cost to much (for german Manga prices).
a lot of late 2010s-early 2021 tokyopop titles have garbage spines with impact font & the giant logo, and their covers have some of the art obstructed to advertise that logo
suBLime is on thin ice for bad graphic design because they will sometimes have the title on a stripe that obstructs both cover & chapter art… and the spines all look the same
early shojo beat is on slightly thicker ice for similar but less drastic reasons. i wish a few current shojo beat series had more colorful spines, but that’s a minor gripe because at least snow white with the red hair exists, i guess.
ppl saying aot … just be glad you don’t read shojo or bl (unless you do…lol)
also pls don’t cook me too hard for this but i don’t like when the art on the spine is just … blocks. i like pokémon adventures and from far away bc they at least tried to stylize it. on golden kamuy and nana it looks messy
Saiyuki Hardback
This is going to sound nit-picky but I don’t like how Viz makes some colors duller compared to the original Japanese versions, if you look at Japanese chainsaw man volumes they’re all so vibrant and colorful while they’ve all mostly been toned down in the English version, for example the neon green “blood” in volume 1 of csm or banana fish covers/spines that are basically brown atp, the original ones were such a nice and bright yellow
Kakegurui is one of my favorite series of all time but I hate the cover art. I understand it but I hate it
Aot has the worst spines but some amazing covers