They exist in the most unexpected places—be it within your eyes and ears, under the floor and roof of your house, or in the trees and flowers in your garden. They are everywhere, and yet nowhere, at the same time. Are they alive or not? Perhaps it is more apt to say they are beings who transcend the concept of life and death itself...

They are mushi.

Some wreak havoc in the lives of humans; others bring them deliverance from suffering. Mushi are neither good, nor evil: for just like any other creature, they are merely striving to survive in this harsh, competitive world.

Ginko, a lone wanderer with a reclusive personality, offers help and guidance to those plagued by mushi. This is the tale of his travels and exploits in a wondrous world populated by these mysterious entities.

Awards
- Excellence Prize for Manga at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival (2003)
- Kodansha Manga Award - General Manga (2006)
- 9th place on Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs List of Best Manga.
- The anime adaptation further won grand prizes in the categories of Television Series and Best Art Direction (for Takashi Waki) at the 5th Tokyo Anime Awards held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair in 2006.

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 four stories are about the everyday life of a couple living together with their pets.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.

Note: Won the Shogakukan Manga Award (examination committee special) in 1992.

Compilation of short stories:

Hotel since A.D. 2079:
It’s an updated version of 'Hotel – since 2079' (korean version) with a different ending. A computer continues to live on in order to complete a mission in a world where all life, including Mankind, has gone extinct. This is a record of those 27 million years of its heroic struggle.

Present:
Hanako suffers from a terrible disease. After awakening from a deep slumber, Hanako has only three days to live. During those three days, her husband, Takao, must endure a heart-breaking experience, knowing that the person Hanako really loves isn't him.

It was all for the tuna:
Tunas went extinct and Jun Shiozaki will do everything possible and imaginable to bring them back. A perfect mix of Sci-Fi and Humor.

Stephanos:
Set in modern-day Japan, our main character Noriko finds out that she is pregnant with her lover Matsumura’s baby. He, however, is an important doctor with a family and everything already. Noriko wants to have the baby, but Matsumura says that it’s actually a rapidly growing cancer and that they have to remove it immediately. It might also be neither of these things…

Diadem:
A quest for freedom led by Lilith.

Note: Won the Gran Guinigi 2011 for the Best Short Story for It was all for the tuna.

From Tenshi-Tachi:

Takuma and Mayu's story began when they were only 8 years old. During his childhood, Takuma was constantly hospitalised due to his heart condition. He soon became friends with Mayu, the daughter of the doctor in charge of his case. Day by day they grew closer and closer. However, the summer when Takuma was 8, he made a promise to Mayu that he couldn't keep... Their story unfolds as they grow older and their bond gets stronger...

This manga received the 53rd Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo manga.

Extras:

• V.01 - Motto Ikitai...
There is a ghost looming in a hospital. Two little kids, Mayu and Takumi, are now scared after listening to the ghost story from a nurse. Was the story told by the nurse true or not? The kids decide to find out.

• V.07 - The Things I Want

• V.11 - Kare wa Ike mo Shinai Sarukoen wo Mezasu

From Del Rey:
Every letter the mailman delivers brings a new chance at love. With wit, humor, and mystery George Asakura leads us through a series of brief tales of affection, rejection, miscommunication, and connection that are sure to charm the romantic inside you.

A Perfect Day for Love Letters received the 29th Kodansha Manga Award for shoujo manga in 2005 (shared with Oi Piitan!!).

In a school of delinquents, there's one student that hates guys who pick on the weak, and his name is Kunio. He's as strong as they come, but unfortunately he's also lazy and perverted. Can Kunio win all of his challenges and survive the crazy antics of his opponents?

Ore wa Otoko Da! was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for children in 1995.

From MangaProject:
This is the story of Alpha Hasseno, an Alpha 7 M2 series robot. Left by her owner, she appears and acts fully human while running a small coffee shop named Cafe Alpha. It is a light-hearted story about the people Alpha comes into contact with behind the backdrop of a futuristic country-side in Japan. As we meet Alpha, she makes a shopping trip to Yokohama.

Note: Won the 2007 Seiun Award for Best Manga.

They arrive in silence and darkness. They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites, alien creatures who must invade - and take control of - a human host to survive. And once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose: monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, creatures with blades for hands. But most have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. So no one knows their secret - except an ordinary high school student. Shinichi is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite, but can he find a way to warn humanity of the horrors to come?

Won the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga and the Seiun Award for Best Comic of the Year in 1996.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru portrays the tale of two step-brothers - Jeremy and Ian, as they strive to discover their separate paths towards redemption.
Jeremy, a sensitive but outgoing 17 year old, is delighted to hear the news of his neurotic and excitable mother's remarriage to a wealthy British man. However, much to his horror, his sweet-talking new step-father Greg, soon begins to exhibit a disturbing trait...he is a sadistic pedophile and loses no time in making Jeremy his target. Months of horrific, systematic abuse drives Jeremy to desperation; he sabotages his step-father's car with the hope of eliminating him. The resulting accident, however, kills his mother along with Greg.
Jeremy's shocked and guilt-stricken behaviour arouses the suspicions of Greg's free-spirited son, Ian. He unearths enough evidence to tie his step-brother to the crime; but in doing so, also discovers the details of Greg's sexual abuse of Jeremy.
Caught in a moral dilemma -- between punishing the criminal and atoning for his father's sins, Ian soon finds himself haunted by lust for Jeremy. Is it lust...or love? He wonders whether he shares his father's proclivities, but finds himself helpless to resist being drawn into a passionate and painful relationship with Jeremy.

Note: Won the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award Excellence prize in 1997.

Kirari Tsukishima is a beautiful young 14 year old. One day, she encounters a turtle stuck in a tree. She saves the turtle, but then falls after saving it. An idol from a famous group called SHIPS saves Kirari. Kirari falls in love with him at first sight. Kirari now wants to become an idol like him. She discovers that being an idol is not all fun and games, and that in order to persevere in both her love and career, she must overcome any challenges that fortune has in store.

Kirarin Revolution won the 2007 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga

Eighteen-year-old Mutou Kunimitsu sees how political injustice is committed all the time and that the government is profiting from the poor and labor class. So, he decides to change all of Japan. Here starts the legend of the man later known as the "Japanese Don."

Won the Kodansha Manga Award for Shounen in 2003.

Adventures of Gin the dog and his quest to defeat the bear, Akakabuto. This manga received the 1987 Shogakukan Manga Award for best sh?nen series.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru portrays the tale of two step-brothers - Jeremy and Ian, as they strive to discover their separate paths towards redemption.
Jeremy, a sensitive but outgoing 17 year old, is delighted to hear the news of his neurotic and excitable mother's remarriage to a wealthy British man. However, much to his horror, his sweet-talking new step-father Greg, soon begins to exhibit a disturbing trait...he is a sadistic pedophile and loses no time in making Jeremy his target. Months of horrific, systematic abuse drives Jeremy to desperation; he sabotages his step-father's car with the hope of eliminating him. The resulting accident, however, kills his mother along with Greg.
Jeremy's shocked and guilt-stricken behaviour arouses the suspicions of Greg's free-spirited son, Ian. He unearths enough evidence to tie his step-brother to the crime; but in doing so, also discovers the details of Greg's sexual abuse of Jeremy.
Caught in a moral dilemma -- between punishing the criminal and atoning for his father's sins, Ian soon finds himself haunted by lust for Jeremy. Is it lust...or love? He wonders whether he shares his father's proclivities, but finds himself helpless to resist being drawn into a passionate and painful relationship with Jeremy.

Note: Won the first Osamu Tezuka Culture Award Excellence prize in 1997.

Sayoko is a newly transferred student: gifted with rare beauty and mysterious and magnetic charm, she captures every student's attention. Among them, the introverted Yuiko and the grumpy Mari become friends with Sayoko, while Ryou, a known womanizer, wastes no time and tries to hit on her, unleashing his girlfriend's rage.

Note: Won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo in 1983.

From Shoujo Crusade:

"If you read a message to the east aloud while you pour hot chocolate into a cup, a fairy of love will appear to fulfill all your desires!" It says so on the heart on a cup that Kaede has just bought. Said and done! Mirumo has arrived to change her life!

This manga series was awarded the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award and the 2004 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.

In the year 1863, a time fraught with violent social upheaval, samurai of all walks of life flock to Kyoto in the hope of joining the Mibu-Roshi--a band of warriors united around their undying loyalty to the Shogunate system. In time, this group would become one of the greatest (and most famous) movements in Japanese history... the Shinsengumi!

In 2003 Kaze Hikaru won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo.

From Viz:

Orphaned on the mean streets of Treasure Town, lost boys Black and White must mug, steal and fight to survive. Around them moves a world of corruption and loneliness, small-time crooks and neurotic police officers, and a band of sadistic yakuza who have plans for their once-fair city. Can they rise above their environment?

Won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan for the Eisner Award in 2008.

A twisted old man, gifted with extrasensory powers, silently holds sway over an entire block of apartments. The occupants are puppets for him to control. Life is his to give...and to take. But suddenly there is a new voice in his head, and before he knows it, a young girl with her own battery of psychic abilities has arrived to challenge him! Soon, the sprawling complex becomes a battleground between two minds possessing incredible, unimaginable power.
Note: Won the 15th Seiun Award for Best Comic (1984).

Monster weaves the riveting story of brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a famous surgeon with a promising career at a leading hospital. Tenma risks his reputation and promising career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate.

A string of strange and mysterious murders begin to occur soon afterward, ones that professionally benefit Dr. Tenma, and he emerges as the primary suspect. Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing depiction of the underbelly of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller.

Note: Won the 46th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category.

The continuation of Miiko Desu!
This time, Miiko is in the fifth grade, and the stories have become more exciting!

This series received the 1996 Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.