too hard to really choose only 5 out of all my favorite mangakas but I guess in terms of art and story, I'd say the top 5 mangaka are

Oh Great! (tenjo tenge, air gear, majin devil, etc, etc, etc...)
Kaori Yuki (angel sanctuary, count cain)
Miura Kentaro (Berserk)
Yang Kyung-Il (Shin Angyo Onshi, Island, Zombie Hunter)
Toume Kei (Hitsuji no Uta aka Lament of the Labs, Sing Yesterday For Me, etc, etc, etc...)

My top 5:

FUJISAWA Tohru
ARAKAWA Hiromu
ADACHI Mitsuru
KONOMI Takeshi
TAKAHASHI Rumiko

im not to well cultured about mangaka's but the one who does nana, para kiss.... i think her works are amazing although her stories are a bit depressing, but the fashion in them are also AMAZING

also nicky lee is really goo, she wrote youth gone wild and the one which are both really good reads. the art and fashion is really good in them also the story line keeps you guessing

and finally the one who did hana yori Dango(sp?) her lastest manga , cat street is really good. the story line is one which i have never read in typical shoujo but it works amazingly well and for thouse who didn't like HYD, the mangaka has matured hugely in her works and would recommed cat street.

these are the one which stand out for me.

cool, people have posted here! gotta go update the polls soon

In no particular order...

Hiroaki Samura
Yabuki Kentaro
Oh! Great
CLAMP
Takeshi Obata

Masakazu Katsura
Oh! Great
Takehiko Inoue
Takeshi Obata (If he's the one who did Death Note and Hikaru No Go)
Adachi Mitsuru.

In no particular order:

Endo Hiroki
Oh! Great
Yang Kyung-Il & Youn In-Wan
Adachi Mitsuru
Inoue Takehiko

ahh..it's really hard to limit them to 5 >_>

Well, here I am, I'm back again
From the Deadlands I descend'
back from the dead, back from The End
'I'm here to take Revenge!

Here are mine in no particular order:
CLAMP - love the art more than the plot tho 😛
Kazuya Minekura
Yamane Ayano
Shimizu Yuki
Fujiyama Hyouta

Urasawa Naoki
Fuyumi Souryo
Taniguchi Jiro
Hiramoto Akira
Yamamoto Hideo

"They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm." - Dorothy Parker.

CLAMP (of course!)
Hinako Takanaga
Mikiyo Tsuda / Taishi Zaou
Yuu Watase
Yaya Sakuragi
Haruka Minami / Kazuka Minami
Touko Kawai
Kazuya Minekura
Yamato Nase

Sorry, I just had to put ten 😀

Honorable mentions:
Yukine Honami
Sanami Matoh
Matsuri Hino
Honjou Rie

I switched them around 😀 ...

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Minekura Kazuya: the best mangaka ever imo. Don't even try to argue.
Samura Hiroaki
Those two are way above the others.

Yamane Ayano
Asami Yuuko/Obata Takeshi
Naono Bohra
I may have forgotten some but as I'm supposed to choose 5, it only made it a little bit easier. 😃

Tsukuba Sakura
Ikeymada Gou
Tithe Kubo
Masashi Kishimoto
Peach-Pit

[img]http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9625/konnichiwascanlationsvs2.jpg[/img]

damm, now i'll have to update the rating again sometime

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haruta nana, minami maki, maki youko, mizuto aqua, kawamura mika

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