I read a lot of manga; most it mediocre. Every once in a while I come across manga that I feel is undervalued and a few years ago I found one, well actually two. All-Rounder Meguru (ARM) and Eden: It's an Endless World! (Eden) - both by Hiroki Endo.
To understand why I like ARM and Eden you need to understand Hiroki Endo. To learn more about Endo one would probably turn to his Wikipedia page, but all they would find are a list of his works, when he was born (Nov 3, 1970), and his alma mater (Musashino Art University). His personality is best understood from (at least for someone who only reads English) are his twitter feed, short stories, and blurbs from the ends of paperback volumes. To me he comes off as a writer who is love with writing and his characters. This can be see in ARM, whose focus is on the members of Fighter's Brew gym and their various competitors in mixed martial arts matches. Endo characters stand by the fact that they don't really stand out. They come off as people you would expect to meet outside; having dreams and goals like us, and like us they don't always try their hardest to acheive those dreams. Sometimes the characters just dream about having a life defining goal; something that I can definitely relate to.
ARM is set in the 'real' world, with no elements of science fiction or fantasy, characters don't even have some sort of defining unique skill. The most 'special' thing about few of the characters are often things as normal as their flexibility or height. While the setting is conducive to the characters being this way characters are treated the same in Eden, which is set in a dystopic late 90s/early 00s. With a more fantastical setting the characters were still grounded. Characters from all backgrounds were included, prostitutes, government officers, regular citizens, minorities who were almost genocided, their murderers and many more. While some of their backgrounds were abnormal their motivations were not. They act like real people, making mistakes, living as though they'll never die, and trying their best to survive they best they can.
What really sets Endo apart in my eyes is his global perspective. Characters come from all over the world and they don't act like steorotypes of their ethnicity/contry of origin. In ARM, where most every character is Japanese, there are some foreigeners who are treated like everyone else. In one part an american girl is participating in a ju-juitsu tournament and she is not treated as a spectacle. She is just a person ... who is in Japan. This stands out so starkly from Eyeshield 21 (another manga by a different author) where Americans (and specifically African Americans) are treated as though they are not normal. They were treated almost like super humans due to their larger stature. Endo treats all of his characters as real people, he doesn't shame them for being weak or for being bad. The kindness and appreciation he has for his characters is something that you don't see other authors doing, not that they need to or should. But it makes his stories unique, and when I read them brings me a sense of gratitude for the world around me.
I finally had the opportunity to finish reading All-Rounder Megeuru. It was a very anti-climatic ending, climaxing with Meguru fighting for the all Japan Amateur Shooto Cup. Immediately after the fight the manga cuts to daily life. The fight wasn't the most important thing, it was the relationships the Meguru built with the people in his gym, school, and home. The ending felt good; I am thankful that I had the opportunity to read something that I could relate to so deeply.