Basically a thread to voice your opinion about the various manga localization companies in North America? Who are your favorites, who do you dispise the most? so yeah you can do what you wan't a top 3 or top 5 list, just a brief summary about the various companies...whatever.
anyway, for me I'd say my top 5 manga companies would be...
#5 Seven Seas: I don't own many manga from them, but the quality is pretty good from what I can tell.
#4 VIZ: Why, well for fairly obvious reasons, VIZ has all the SJ & Shonen sunday titles, they have alot of classic & modern manga I like, and while they may mess things up from time to time, their a decent company overall (And they give me my Case Closed Manga. 
)
#3 Yen Press: why, Quality, I only buy about 5 or 6 series from yen, but they have done a good job with em all as far as I can tell, nice binding, nice lamination on the covers, and good translations. Yen may be hit n miss for me with acquistions, but when they do get somthing I like,I know its in good hands.
#2 Udon: Well as a Capcom Fanboy, its only logical I would have them on my list somehwere, lol. They have done a great job with all the video game artbooks, and the Megaman & Street Fighter mangas. Not to mention their slowly re-printing the classic sci-fi manga Silent Mobius..which I plan to get eventually (hopefully.)
#1 Kodansha Comics: I know what your thinking, why make the new kid in town #1 on my list..well like viz, its all about the TITLES. Almost all of the series KodaUSA has announced or saved I have some level of interst in (ecspecially Sailor Moon), I also think their the best bet for getting omnibus reprints of Rave Master, since they are Handling Mashima's other works (Fairy Tail Monster Hunter Orage.) Koda has just started, but man have they started out with a BANG! I just hope they can keep it up!
as for the others, I don't buy many Bandai manga, so I can't properly judge them, but the few I do have from them are of decent quality. DMP/Darkhorse have afew titles im intersted in, but I've heard mixed reactions about the quality of their products...deffinantly plan to Get Trigun Maximum & Hellsing eventually though, aside from that dont care for the company much they seem to be to obsessed with bringing over.."erotic manga" you know yaoi, hentai & what not.
and finally... as mean as it sounds still kind of glad Tokyopop isn't still around to mess up manga and release poorly laminated & bound books. And still Miss Broccoli (even if all I bought from them was Disgaea.)
so yeah, thats my rant..how about the rest of you, what are your thoughts on the various manga publishers in the U.S.
#1 Vertical, Inc: Gotta give it to the company with the guts to bring over so many Osamu Tezuka manga, I'm a sucker for the classics. They often use cliff notes to explain cultural differences and such, which is always a plus. ( if somehow they are listening, please release Jungle Emperor Leo ( aka Kimba ) )
#2 Viz: Simply because of selection.
#3 Dark Horse: Would be higher on the list if not for the fact that I'm only interested in Berserk, and their prices are usually kinda high for my tastes.
Honorable Mention: Yen Press for their Manhwa releases, I hope they last long enough to release some really great series, I know their magazine went digital which isn't a good sign.
I can't comment on Kodansha, because I haven't purchased anything from them yet, which will change later this year with their release of Sailor Moon and Sailor V.
I tottally forgot about Vertical, lol. Yeah I'm interested in getting the Tezuka stuff they have eventually as well, may also check out Chi's lol.
And yeah I agree Darkhorse/DMP are kinda pricy compared to the others.
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For me:
1. Yen Press: I buy like 70% of my manga from Yen. They just seem to license a different sort of title...stuff with smatterings of moe. Like Sunshine Sketch, K-On, Higurashi and such; all sorts of otaku favorites. Plus I love them for making light novels financially sustainable and printing some darn good light novels.
2. Seven Seas: License rescuing Gunslinger Girl will forever make me love them. Plus, I like how involved Arnold is with the online community, posting in forums and taking feedback and such.
3. Vertical: Just from pure quality and class. Although I'm still sore over how they changed, and ruined, the covers of 7 Billion Needles from the original Japanese covers.
4. Dark Horse: They also have a feel of quality , but their titles don't appeal to me as much.
Kodansha I've never even bought anything from, so I can't say. Same with Viz...and I'd like to keep it that way.
I don't buy manga hardly since most of my money goes towards video games and anime, but I do say I love Yen Plus since they have Maximum Ride, Kuroshitsuji, and Pandora Hearts. According to Barnes and Nobel they are steadily releasing PH which is a plus since thats how I will be supporting this wonderful series since NIS won't dub the anime.
I also love Bandai's manga since they have the Code Geass, Tales of the Abyss, and Gundam 00 spinoffs <3
Viz is alright when it comes to their shoujo manga I guess, but I'm still pissed off greatly at their business model of if it don't sell well we will drop it after the first volume or right near the end of the series or right before the good part.
Tokyopop had a few good titles too like Fruits Basket, Togainu no Chi, and PeaceMaker Kurogane (which I should be receiving volume 4 in the mail here in a couple weeks)
1. Dark Horse. They don't butcher manga
Viz is just there for me. I can't really rank other companies because they don't release titles I want to purchase.
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I pretty much buy only viz and Dark Horse. Viz has a lot of series I like, making it the bulk of my manga collection. With Dark Horse, I mainly bought Star Wars comics until I found they published Trigun/Maximum and Hellsing.
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My list: #4 Kodansha: They've now got several of my favorites but I've yet to see a release that I know is 100% their's. The volumes I've seen so far were one's that were coming from Del Rey before the GREAT CHANGE. I'm waiting to see what they do and also waiting to see if they die like most of the attempts by the Japanese to directly enter this market. Plus I'm still pissed at them for causing some of the titles I was reading that were lower selling but still decent to apparantly be dropped into the ether.
#3 VIZ: Sure, they're the biggest and best selling but they're also the worst about censorship and have virtually nothing I want to buy. Why are they #3? Simply put, they are more reliable than most of the other companies and do decent translations as far as I can tell. I can expect the company to be here later. (Thanks for dying Tokyopop! I still had money for you!)
#2 Seven Seas: Personally, I'd rather not buy from them after they screwed me out of multiple titles I wanted and killed their light novel line before even trying to sell the series I thought would be the better sellers. However their decision to FINALLY release Strawberry Panic's third light novel volume and to license rescuse Gunslinger Girl make me want to be a bit forgiving. I'm not so easily won over though and while I know they do very good work usually, (see He Is My Master for some screwed up printing) they aren't a company I trust. Their quality when they do put something out is generally quite good but I just don't really trust them.
#1 Yen Press: I'll just open by quoting because this is almost exactly my own view:
And they've done what Seven Seas blundered the worst in my opinion, Yen Press is putting out a sustainable light novel line! Book Girl is a franchise I doubt any other publisher would have tried and getting to read Spice and Wolf is just great. I wish they'd license the Strike Witches light novels and get the Familiar of Zero license now that Seven Seas has proven ineffective.
So far for me, Yen Press has been reliable, very high quality and has put out fantastic seriies.
The other companies out there are either not ones I buy from or just not deserving of mention. (Bandai, your glaring errors and typos are especially sucky.)
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Lets see for me it would have to be:
#5: Dark Horse Manga
While the company itself isn't bad, I just own the fewest from them, save for my horror manga (One Missed Call 1+2 and the Ring Series)
#4: Kodansha Comics
The reason this is so low for me, is because I don't own anything from them yet. Sure I plan on picking up Sailor Moon volume 1, hopefully at NDK, if not on its release day. However as far as in my collection right now, there is really isn't much to compare it on.
#3: (Tie) Yen Press and Digital Manga Publishing
I honestly cannot decide which one I like more. Both have some really good titles, on the Yen Press side we get Black Butler, and Higurashi: When they Cry, as well as license rescues like Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba &! not to mention they are the newer publishers of a lot of clamp stuff. While DMP has a lot of great manga too. Itazura na Kiss as well as Vampire Hunter D, are just a few, plus they probably have the largest repetoire of yaoi and BL manga
#1: ViZ and imprints
I probably own more ViZ manga than any other company on the market right now. It wins in my mind under quantity and quality of what they produce. Of course you have your powerhouses Bleach, Naruto, One Piece ect. However you get lesser known titles like Hot Gimmick, Absolute Boyfriend, Cross Game, and Switch from them as well. They are in my mind probably (now) the biggest manga company on the market.
However I have to give honorable mention to
The three manga studios in my collection that no longer exist
Tokyopop (I still want Your and My Secret volume 8 darn it! XP)
CMX (for giving me probably the only way I will read Shin-chan)
and
Broccoli Books (For giving me Galaxy Angel and Disgaea manga)
Also have to give kudos to Bandai for releasing manga of titles they have. It makes for nice bundle sometimes
(well worth the anime purchase too)
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1. Viz - What can I say? 75% of my collection is pure Viz!
2. Kodansha Comics USA - For bringing some awesome titles like Sailor Moon, Fairy Tail, Tokyo Mew Mew, Love Hina, and others to the US in style!
3. Yen Press - They have a wide variety of stuff that I like to read.
Those are all the companies I regularly buy from (I own some Tokyopop manga, but they're long gone now!)