I’ve always been a big fan of manga and have been reading a variety of different manga and manga series. While I’m usually torn more towards horror manga, I also love well-written manga.
I’m not merely talking about the plot or the story of a manga here, but also about themes, characters, twists or the general presentation of the story.
For this list, I gathered together 24 well-written manga anyone needs to read. I’d also like to give a spoiler warning since I want to discuss why I added these titles to the list.
Ikigami by Motoro Mase is set in a dystopian future. A strange law is in effect, the National Welfare Act, under which certain citizens between the age of eighteen and twenty-four are selected to die for their country.
Twenty-four hours before they die, they get sent an Ikigami, a notification informing them about their impending death.
Kengo Fujimoto, our protagonist, is a government messenger responsible for the delivery of Ikigamis.
The manga’s mostly told in episodic fashion, and centers on the people who receive an Ikigami. We’re shown how they react to the terrible news and how they spend their last day. While some of them accept, others wallow in despair and a few even rebel against it and try to change their destiny.
Ikigami presents a scenario that’s nothing short of terrifying. And yet, it also makes the manga quite thought provoking. It’s interesting to see how all sorts of different people react to the terrible news.
It’s the stories of those people that makes Ikigami such a well-written manga. They are unique and realistic, at times heartfelt and beautiful at others poetically beautiful.
While the art might not be the best, and the time we spent with most of the character is limited, it doesn’t mean Ikigami isn’t a well-written manga. Some of the short, often only a few chapters-long stories, are better than other, much longer tales.
Overall, Ikigami is a manga very worth reading. It’s interesting and not a bit thought-provoking and it makes you wonder how you’d spend your last day on Earth.
Ji-Hoon Jeong’s The Horizon is amongst the most depressing, yet beautiful manhwa I’ve read. While it’s not a manga, I still included it in this list of the most well-written manga because I think it deserves more attention.
In a world ravaged by war, a young boy witnesses the death of his mother. Before long, confused and stunted, he decides to walk the road towards the horizon.
It isn’t long before he meets a little girl and from then on, the two of them travel together.
The Horizon is the depressing, showcasing the brutality of war and the world in its aftermath. It’s a dark story, and, at times, one that gets almost a bit too dark.
The manhwa features some fantastic art. It’s often raw and gritty, sometimes simplistic at others, detailed, but always beautiful.
The Horizon comprises only twenty-one chapters, but it’s the perfect length. There’s a limit on how long you can keep up the gloomy atmosphere before it dissipates.
One of the greatest feats The Horizon accomplishes is the showcasing of raw emotions via the art. The entire style becomes grittier, rougher, and distorts completely when emotions spiral out of control. It’s a feat I’ve seldom seen in a manga, and The Horizon does so masterfully.
The Horizon is a hidden gem. It’s an unforgiving and depressing tale, one that showcases the brutality of war, and especially its aftermath. It’s a fantastically well-written manhwa one I urge anyone to read.
Anyonefamiliar with the works of Inio Asano knows they are famous for being depressing. Oyasumi Punpun is no different, but it’s an extremely well-written manga.
It’s the story of Punpun Onodera, an eleven-year-old boy. His life is fine, but changes when a new girl, Aiko, joins his class. Soon, Punpun has to learn how fickle relationships can be. We also learn more about Punpun, his family, his friends and watch how a shy little boy is consumed by darkness.
Punpun’s life is filled with problems. While it’s one of the best and most well-written manga I’ve read, it’s not an easy read. We experience Punpun’s romantic troubles, alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety. Yet, it’s the raw, gritty details in this manga that showcase how even the smallest things can influence us. It’s a relatable story. We’ve all experienced our share of misery and we all can relate to Punpun on some level.
The manga gives us multiple glimpses of Punpun’s life. In the earlier chapters, he’s a little boy, then a high schooler and ultimately a young adult.
Punpun is a mature manga, featuring its share of nudity and adult themes, but they are merely there to make us uncomfortable.
The same is true for Oyasumi Punpun’s cast of characters. They all suffer from problems and are all damaged to a degree. This is not a story of perfect people. No, it’s a story of real people. And similarly to the characters in Oyasumi Punpun, we all have our share of problems.
And yet, Oyasumi Punpun is an extremely well-written manga. It’s a depressing, deep story, yet it never becomes misery porn. No, it’s a thought-provoking tale, one that showcases how easy it is to fall into darkness.
Holyland by Kouji Mori is not only one of the best martial arts manga out there but also a well-written manga.
It’s the story of Yuu Kamishiro. After being bullied and abused, he turns to boxing and trains a single punch. He does so for an extended period, and finally takes to the streets to find his Holyland. After fighting street thugs, he soon builds up a reputation and becomes known as the ‘thug hunter.’
The reason I consider Holyland such a well-written manga is not for its plot, however, but for its characters. In essence, Holyland is a coming of age story, one driven by its characters. Instead of revolving around a general plot, the manga focuses more on character development.
Yet, the manga isn’t solely about Yuu. During his time out in the streets, he makes friends, but also enemies. Each one of them is as carefully developed as Yuu himself, especially Masaki Izawa and Shougo Midorikawa.
The biggest problem about Holyland, however, comes with its form of story-telling. It focuses almost entirely on character-development and uses street fights as a vessel. For this reason, the plot itself becomes rather repetitive.
Even though it didn’t deter my enjoyment of the series. It’s a fantastically well-written manga in terms of character-development. If you’re looking for a well-written manga about martial arts, read Holyland.
Annarasumanara by Ha Il-Kwon is yet another manga, but I still included it on this list. It’s extremely well-written and one of the most heartfelt and beautiful stories I’ve ever read.
The story centers on Yoon Ah-ee, a high school girl and a magician living in an abandoned theme park. Yoon is living in poverty. Her life comprises studying, working and taking care of her sister.
Eventually, after rumors of the mysterious magician spread, she stumbles into the theme park and visits him. It’s this visit that changes her life forever.
The manhwa centers on a variety of themes. The central one of those is growing up and living up to your own expectations and that of others. This theme is brought into conflict with the question of what happiness and life are about.
And yet, those are only two of a multitude of themes. Others include parental pressure, understanding yourself, and social expectations.
Magic is another important theme, but while it often showcases magic tricks, it’s more about the magic of life itself.
Annarasumanara is a story of real, genuine people, all with their own problems and genuine emotions. It’s a story that looks at life, at growing up and the questions we all encounter. And it might also be a story of magic and the question if magic can be real.
It’s a quick read, comprising only three volumes, but it’s very well worth reading. It’s a fantastic story and one of the most well-written manhwa I ever read.
Shuuzou Oshimi’s Chi no Wadachi is one of the most well-written manga I read in recent times. It’s a psychological masterpiece centering on abuse, trauma and manipulation.
Seiichi Osaba is a normal young boy. Yet, there’s one thing in his life that’s a bit strange, his mother. She’s overprotective of her son.
While it’s strange, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary. That is until Seiichi and his family go on a hiking trip. It’s there that a certain incident should change his life and that of his mother forever.
The manga might start out simple, even ordinary, but as it continues, we watch as things spiral out of control and become crazier and crazier.
What makes Chi no Wadachi such a well-written manga is the attention to detail and the way the story is told. It’s an extremely slow paced manga, but this slow pace adds a lot of tension and suspense. There are a lot of still shots, focusing on facial expression and emotions. Sometimes entire chapters are dedicated to nothing but a single interaction between two characters.
The manga’s art plays a huge part in it. Chi no Wadachi looks stunning and unique. At times, pages are sparse, others they are dense, almost oppressively detailed. Yet, it always helps to set the mood.
At first glance, the story might not appear too deep. It’s, however, the way it’s told, the way we experience it, that makes it special. Chi no Wadachi is an extremely well-written manga, one you can’t help be unsettled about.
If you’re looking for a psychological manga, one told uniquely and coming with stunning art, I urge you to read Chi no Wadachi.
Naoki Urasawa’s famous for his mystery manga. My favorite amongst his works is 20th Century Boys, which I consider one of the most well-written manga of all time.
The manga’s plot centers on Kenji endo and his friends.
Kenji’s a normal guy, working at a convenience store, but his life changes when he learns of the suicide of his former friend, Donkey. Incidentally, a cult lead by a mysterious figure, known as Friend, becomes popular in Japan. It isn’t long before Kenji realizes this cult is not only related to Donkey’s suicide, but also to him and his childhood.
From this point onward Kenji sets out to reunite his childhood friends and to learn the truth.
While conspiracy plots are nothing new, and neither are those about saving the world, 20th Century Boy’s stands out by how the story is told.
The sense of mystery and the foreboding atmosphere never let up. With each new development, new questions appear. What I especially enjoyed was the inclusion of different time periods. Many times, the manga takes us back to Kenji’s childhood to showcase certain events and reveal new pieces of the puzzle.
The manga comprises three arcs. The first is set at the end of the 20th century, the second in the year 2014 and the last during the Friend Era.
Amongst those arcs, the first two are masterfully told and amongst the best of the entire mystery manga genre. It’s during the third arc where things become a bit too strange and quality dips a little. It’s not bad, but it feels a bit detached from the rest.
Overall, 20th Century Boys tells a fantastic story and is amongst the most well-written manga of all time.
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is one of the longest-running most popular manga of all time.
It’s manga about hunter, who are essentially treasure hunters with various privileges. If you want to become a hunter, you have to pass the Hunter Exam.
Our protagonist, Gon Freecss, is a young boy who wants to be a hunter and takes part in the Hunter Exam. This exam makes up the first arc of the manga and introduces us to a majority of Hunter x Hunter’s main cast.
I consider Hunter x Hunter a well-written manga for various reasons. The first is the introduction of Nen, Hunter x Hunter’s equivalent of super powers. Yet, Togashi wasn’t satisfied by merely creating super powers. Instead, he created an elaborate system with rules and restrictions.
Another are the characters. The protagonists are all likeable, but it’s the antagonists I came to enjoy. Hisoka is one of the most bizarre characters I ever came upon and Chrollo, and the Phantom Troop, are extremely interesting.
While some of Hunter x Hunter’s arcs can be weaker, it’s the Chimera Ant arc that stood out to me.
There was, of course, Meruem, who served as a fantastic and well-written antagonist. The second was the presentation of the last part of the arc, the Palace Invasion. It was fantastically done and in many ways broke conventions in the way it was told.
Yet, it’s not only the Chimera Ant arc that stood out to me. The York New arc, as well as the newest the Succession Contest arc are both well written in their own right.
Overall, Hunter x Hunter is one of the best shonen manga out there, and one of the most well-written manga.
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo might be the most influential manga of all time. It spawned one of the most influential anime of all time, and also the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre.
Akira’s set in the dystopian, futuristic city of Neo Tokyo. It’s a cyberpunk hell hole in which technology and skyscrapers go hand in hand with poverty and biker gangs.
Shoutarou Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima are two such bikers. They are best friends, but also bitter rivals. When Tetsuo tries to prove himself by pulling a desperate stunt, he sets into motion a chain of events leading to the awakening of Akira.
Akira is a story of government conspiracies, secret experiments, but most of all, one of megalomania.
It starts out as a story set in Neo Tokyo, featuring drug orgies and gang fights, but it soon shifts to government conspiracies. Among all this, however, Tetsuo stands out, an edgy teenage boy, a chilling and tragic character, who finds himself in possession of immense powers.
The story of Akira evolves, however. While the earlier volumes center on government conspiracies, the latter volumes are more post-apocalyptic, set in a derelict world.
The story-telling itself, however, is always brilliant and is always engaging. It’s for this reason I consider Akira such a well-written manga.
All of this is presented to us in Katsuhiro Otomo’s stunning art. Be it the dystopian cyberpunk hell that’s Neo Tokyo or its derelict ruins, it’s always shown in fantastic detail.
While Akira might have its share of problems, it’s still one of the greatest and most-well written manga of all time. It’s a stunningly beautiful cyberpunk masterpiece I recommend to any fan of manga.
Shigurui by Norio Nanjou and Takayuki Yamaguchi is one of the best and most well-written manga I ever read.
The story centers on a proclamation by the daimyo Tadanaga Tokugawa. He wants to hold a martial arts tournament with real swords and fights to the death.
The very first fight of the tournament is between the one-armed Gennosuke Fujiki and the lame and blind Seigen Irako. And yet, Shigurui doesn’t show us the result of their fight. Instead, the rest of the manga focuses on the backstory of those two characters and what led to their fight.
Shigurui’s a beautiful manga to look at and features some of the medium’s finest art. Characters, backgrounds and nature are rendered in beautiful detail while fights are ripe with gore and brutality, rendered in stunning detail.
What makes Shigurui such a well-written manga, however, is its depiction of samurai culture. Many manga often romanticize it, showing samurai as ideal and honorable fighters. Shigurui, however, sheds light on its unforgiving nature and the many lives lost because of it.
Shigurui’s a character driven manga, focusing on the paths of the two protagonists. It’s interesting, however, that there’s no distinction between good and bad. Instead, there are merely shades of grey. Both characters have their flaws and by following them along, we come to witness the true evil of the story, samurai culture itself.
The entire manga gives of a feeling of depression. It’s a story about the sword and how it forces people into a life of servitude and obedience under the guise of honor.
Shigurui is one of the best and most well-written manga in the samurai genre and in general.
Hideo Yamamoto’s Ichi the Killer is one of the most depraved manga I ever read. And yet, for all its sickness, for all its brutality, it’s also one of the most well-written manga out there.
Ichi the Killer centers on two characters. One is Ichi, the titular killer, the other is Kakihara, a twisted and insane yakuza. After Kakihara’s boss vanishes, he sets out on a brutal search to find him. This search brings him into bloody conflict with other yakuza groups, but also leads to a confrontation with Ichi.
Ichi the Killer is a depraved, sick story, featuring copious amounts of violence and a variety of disturbing incidents. And yet, the manga isn’t merely a gore fest. No, it’s a carefully developed, deeply psychological story that centers on a variety of themes. The most prominent is that of the interplay between sadism and masochism, but others included are childhood abuse, manipulation and identity disorder. The manga mixes all those together into one of the most brutal, but also most compelling and well-written manga of all time.
It’s a fascinating work, one that succeeds so well not despite, but because of its showcasing of raw violence. The characters in Ichi the Killer aren’t real people. Instead, they are the most depraved members of society, those who mingle in its dark underbelly. It shows them to us, shows us what they will do, how far they go and filters none of it. And all this violence is used to not only tell but also underline the story that’s told.
Ichi the Killer is a brutal, fucked up and often downright disgusting manga. At the same time, however, it’s one of the most well-written manga of all time.
Yasuhisa Hara’s Kingdom is my favorite historical and military manga and I regard it as one of the best and most well-written manga of all time.
Kingdom is set during the Warring States era of China and depicts its unification under the state of Qin. This makes it a work of tremendous scope and even with almost 700 chapters, the story is nowhere near done.
The story begins with a rebellion against the soon to be king of Qin, Ei Sei. During these events, our protagonist Shin, a young servant boy, becomes involved in the matters of state.
From this point onward, we follow Ei Sei on his path to unify China and Shin on his path to become a Great General under the Heaven.
Kingdom is a well-written manga for a variety of reasons. There are the large-scale battles that were common during the Warring States era. Those battles are presented in stunning detail. While they are bloody and full of action, the manga puts a lot of emphasis on outlying the strategies and tactics employed.
While Shin is out fighting large parts of the story, focus on Ei Sei, the power struggles at court and the politics between the Warring States.
A manga as long as Kingdom also features a vast cast of characters. While Shin, our protagonist, is rather clichéd, many others are complex and interesting. There’s Ei Sei, Ryu Fui, General Ou Ki and of course, Riboku.
While Kingdom’s a historical manga, it often takes liberties to dramatize events. The first arc of the manga is by far the weakest. Once we reach the first large-scale battle, however, the manga truly shines.
Overall, Kingdom is the best and most well-written historical and military manga I’ve read.
Manabe Shouhei’s Yamikin Ushijima is a dark manga, one that presents us with the world of illegal money lending. It’s among the best, most well-written crime manga there are.
Our protagonist, Kaoru Ushijima, is a yamikin, an illegal moneylender. He offers loans with an interest rate of fifty percent, which is to be paid back within ten days. One has to wonder who’d accept such outrageous conditions, but if you believe this manga, there are many people who do. It’s those who gave into their vices, are drowning in debt, or who are amongst the dregs of society.
In earlier parts, the manga centers on Ushijima as he makes sure people pay him back and often takes from them all they have, using any means possible.
Where the manga truly shines, however, is in its later parts. When the manga focuses less on Ushijima, but more on the people who come to his office. These stories are as well-written as they are depressing. There’s a sad sort of interest in seeing what ultimately drives people to his office.
Many of the characters in this manga aren’t sympathetic, and one’s hard pressed to feel sorry for them. Some tales, however, are heartbreaking, showing just how quickly can end up in a downward spiral.
Yamkin Ushijima-kun is great because it’s so realistic. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes we have bad luck, and there are always people out there who are preying on the weak.
It’s a dark, fascinating manga that sheds light on the dark underbelly of society.
While there are a lot of manga centered on crime, few portray the dark side of society and Yamikin Ushijima-kun. It’s a dark, depressing but extremely well-written manga.
I enjoy mind game manga and Shinobu Kaitani’s Liar Game is amongst the best the medium offers.
The story centers on Kanzaki Nao. She’s an incredibly honest girl. One day, she finds herself a contestant in the Liar, a game of deceit with stakes in the hundreds of millions.
Before long, Nao is tricked, but soon finds help from the genius swindler Akiyama.
The reason I think Liar Game is such a well-written manga is because of the games. They start out simple, but as the manga progresses, they get more and more complex.
While the games themselves are interesting, it’s the many tricks, ploys and strategies characters use that make them so great. It’s a delight to watch them out-play each other repeatedly over their course.
This was most prevalent during the Contraband Game and the Musical Chairs game. These two were absolutely outstanding. This, of course, wasn’t merely because of the games, but also because of the characters.
Most characters in Liar Game are there to represent a certain character type and to be out-played by Akiyama. During the Contraband Game, however, we’re introduced to Yokoya and during Musical Chairs, Harimoto. Both of them were a match for Akiyama, and the games featuring them were interesting and reached new levels of suspense.
Overall, Liar Game is an absolutely brilliant and well-written manga. It features a variety of complex games, strategies and characters. It’s well worth reading and probably the best mind game manga out there.
Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is one of the darkest and most well-written manga I ever read.
It tells the story of Tobio Masubuchi and his three friends, Isami, Maru and Paisen. When Maru gets beaten up by the delinquents of a neighboring school, the friends hatch a plan for revenge.
What was planned to be nothing but a prank turns into deadly reality and their normal, average lives end.
It’s fantastically well-written manga that centers on a variety of psychological themes, but the most prevalent is that of guilt and redemption. The reliance on these themes makes Bokutachi ga Yamashita one of the darkest and most depressing manga I ever read.
It’s an entirely unique manga, unlike anything I ever read before. The plot is ripe with tension, but more than that, it makes you uncomfortable on a deeply psychological level.
The story-telling and plot are great, the pace is fantastic, but what makes this manga so good are the characters. Bokutachi ga Yamshita is a work that’s entirely character driven. And yet, the characters in Bokutachi ga Yamshita aren’t heroes. Instead, they are normal, everyday people. They are immature, weak, and never thought about the consequences of their actions.
It’s extremely interesting to witness how they handle the events taking place in that manga, but more so to see the psychological and emotional toll it takes on them.
It’s a realistic tale that shows that in real life there are no magical endings. No, life goes on and you’ll have to live with the consequences of your actions.
Bokutachi ga Yamashita is a fantastically dark, suspenseful and well-written manga. It presents us with a deep look into the human psyche.
Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto is a manga set in a dystopian Japan. In this society, a law has been passed which legalizes retaliatory killings. Should a loved one be murdered, you may take justice into your own hands or hire someone to do it for you.
Our protagonist, Kano, works at an agency that specializes in carrying out retaliatory killings.
Reading this, one might think Freesia a manga bout bloody retaliatory killings. Instead, however, the manga focuses much more on the targets of these retaliatory killings and their personal stories. These stories are often very well-written, make us sympathize with them and their end often tragic.
Freesia’s setting is dark, gloomy and depressing and the manga is populated by a cast of the broken, damaged and mentally ill.
Kano himself suffers from hallucination, memory failure and schizophrenia. What makes Freesia such a well-written manga is the way his mental illness is presented to us. We aren’t merely witnessing how Kano acts. No, we see the world through his eyes. It makes the entire manga incredibly surreal and weird. Often, you might wonder just what’s going on and what’s real and what isn’t.
And yet, Kano isn’t the only character who suffers from mental problems. Many others suffer from delusions or hallucinations in their own right. As with Kano, many of these distorted views of reality are presented to us at face value. It’s only when reality’s revealed to us we truly understand what’s going on.
Freesia is nothing short of brilliant. It’s a dark, depressing work, but also an extremely well-written manga. It showcases mental illness in a way I’ve not seen before.
You sometimes come upon certain works that contain glimpses of absolute brilliance. One such tale is Kenji Tsuruta’s adaptation of Shinji Kajio’s story, Omoide Emanon.
The story centers on a young man who’s returning home from his travels and a beautiful young woman he meets on a ferry. She introduces herself as Emanon and the two of them hit it off.
During dinner, she tells him her story, a story that’s unbelievable.
I don’t know what it is about this manga that makes it so great. There’s this warm, solemn atmosphere about it, the way our characters meet and how they talk that’s just so natural.
I don’t know what makes this manga so great. It might be the warm, solemn atmosphere, the way the characters meet, or the reason the young man returns home. It’s a mixture that’s strangely fitting and relatable.
And yet, Emanon stands out. She’s a realistic, yet beautiful character. She’s charismatic, yet ominous. Her portrayal is simply perfect.
The reason I consider Omoide Emanon such a well-written manga is the emotional impact it conveys in its few chapters. I’ve read many other manga, much longer than Omoide Emanon, but few impacted me similarly.
Omoide Emanon doesn’t tell much of a story. Instead, it merely gives us a glimpse into the life of two characters who met by chance.
And yet, at times, it’s the small things in life that stay with us the longest. Read Omoide Emanon, and it might just become one of them.
Onani Master Kurosawa by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota proved to be one of the biggest surprises in the entire manga medium.
Kakeru Kurosawa, our protagonist, is a fourteen-year-old student. Each day, once classes are over, however, he heads to a seldom-used school bathroom and masturbates.
When he notices how his mousy classmate Aya Kitahara is bullied by one of the popular girls, he takes revenge into his own hands by doing what he does best.
It isn’t long before Kitahara figures out he’s behind the incident and blackmails him to do the same to other girls who bullied her.
The earlier parts of Onani Master Kurosawa are more humorous and are often considered a parody of Death Note. In time, however, the manga changes, matures and becomes an inspiring coming-of-age tale.
What makes it such a well-written manga is not only the way the story’s told but also its characters. Kurosawa is one of the best-rounded, believable and eventually likeable characters I’ve ever come upon. While he starts out as an anti-social pervert, he develops tremendously over the course of the manga.
It’s this development that’s incredibly well done. He’s also an extremely relatable character, one we come to get to know intimately. We not only see what’s happening or how he feels, no, we come to understand him. It’s this intimacy and his character development that makes this such a well-written manga. The same is true for many of the side-characters who are as complex and realistic as Kurosawa.
Onani Master Kurosawa is without a doubt one of the best, most well-written manga out there, telling a sweet and complex coming-of-age story.
Shinichi Sakamoto’s The Climber is one of the most beautiful and well-written manga I ever read.
Buntarou Mori, our protagonist, is a lonesome and solitary teenager. When a classmate challenges him to climb the school building, Mori accepts without hesitation. It’s at this moment that his passion for climbing is awoken.
From here on out, Mori climbs more and more mountains.
The Climber is a work heavily focused on dedication and perseverance, showcasing that if you work hard enough, you can do anything.
It’s the story, the presentation that makes The Climber such a well-written manga. One might think it’s a manga about climbing, but it’s one about character. The Climber is hugely character-driven and focuses more on Mori’s development than anything else.
Mori has problems and can’t relate to other people. As he continues to climb and overcome mountains, however, he also overcomes his problems. This dualism is fantastically well done.
The art in The Climber is among the best in the medium. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, presenting us with stunning page-spreads of mountain ranges.
It’s full of glimpses of poetic beauty. Many panels are dedicated to nothing but Mori climbing. There’s no need for dialogue. No, the visuals speak for themselves. It’s a thing of beauty, one that makes The Climber such a fantastic and well-written manga.
And yet, it goes even further. Many pages contain metaphors, allusions and literary passages. It gives the entire work a feeling of profound joy and character. And yet, it never feels pretentious.
The Climber is an outstanding work of beauty. It’s not merely a manga about climbing, it’s a character-driven coming-of-age story. While the manga can be a heavier read, it’s never an unpleasant experience. No, it’s always beautiful.
Akira Hiramoto’s Me and the Devil Blues is a manga that retells the life of Robert Johnson and the American South.
Our protagonist, Robert, is a dabbling musician who wants to learn how to play the blues. He’s not good at it, but one day he hears an urban legend. Should you play at a crossroads at night, the devil will visit you. In exchange for your soul, he’ll make you genius blues player.
When Robert does what the legend says, his life changes forever.
Me and the Devil Blues is an outstanding a well-written manga. It comes with an art style that’s gritty, but very detailed, making it one of the most beautiful manga out there.
The setting of the manga, the American South, during the 1930s is extremely well done. One can see the deep division between white and black, giving the manga a unique, western feeling.
Another fantastic element of the manga is its characters. RJ’s a great protagonist, but he’s a character more thrown into events than choosing them. Clyde Brown is, in my opinion, the best character in the manga. Many of the side-characters are well developed in their own right, but the best among them is without a doubt Stanley McDonald.
The best part about Me and the Devil Blues, however, is the atmosphere. I’ve never read another manga so loaded with tension and as suspenseful as Me and the Devil Blues. There are entire chapters that don’t let you catch your breath. It’s this atmosphere, this tension that makes it such an incredibly well-written manga.
Me and the Devil Blues is a hidden gem and one of the most suspenseful, well written-manga of all time.
Vineland Saga by Makoto Yukimura tells the story of Thorfinn Karlsefni, son of Thors. He’s part of a mercenary group led by a man named Askeladd. It’s revealed that Askeladd is responsible for Thor’s death and Thorfinn only joined his group to get revenge.
After this introduction, we learn that the Danish prince Canute has been taken hostage. It’s here that the shrewd Askeladd hatches a plan, one that should change their lives forever.
Vinland Saga is without a doubt one of the best and most well-written manga of all time.
The manga’s set in the 11th century and focuses on Vikings. While the manga takes some liberties, it feels incredibly realistic and doesn’t shy away from portraying the atrocities of the times.
Vinland Saga is full of brutal battles, featuring gross and gratuitous violence. And yet, the manga isn’t merely a story of brutal wars and battle. It’s the story of Thorfinn. For long parts, the manga tells a calm and gloomy story as it focuses on Thorfinn feelings of guilt and his regrets. It’s these parts I came to enjoy the most.
The reason I consider Vinland Saga such a well-written manga, however, is because of its characters. Thorfinn starts out as a quiet and efficient killer who lives only for revenge. Over the course of the story, however, he grows tremendously and becomes one of the most complex manga characters of all time.
The greatest character in Vinland Saga is Askeladd. He’s amongst the greatest manga characters of all time and if you read Vinland Saga, you will find out why.
At times Vinland Saga is brutal and violent, at others calm and quiet, but it’s always a well-written manga and a fantastic read.
Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond is based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. It tells a romanticized version of the life of Musashi Miyamoto.
The manga centers on Shinmen Takezou. After joining the battle of Sekigahara, Takezo is declared a wanted criminal. After a long hunt, he’s caught, strung up at a tree and left to die. Before long, he’s freed by the monk Takuan, who gives him a new name, that of Musashi Miyamoto.
From here on the manga focuses on his travels and his pursuit of the sword to become ‘Invincible under the Heavens.’
Vagabond is absolutely gorgeous to look at and features some of the best art in the entire medium.
Since Vagabond’s a samurai manga, it features a lot of stunning battles. While they are gory, blood and disturbing, the violence is never glamorized and rendered in stunning detail.
The reason I consider Vagabond such a well-written manga is because of its characters. Musashi starts out as a demon child, but develops tremendously over the course of the manga. He matures into a calm, philosophical man, one who questions what it truly means to be invincible.
As much as the manga’s the story of Musashi Miyamoto, it’s also the story of Sasaki Koichiro, another brilliant swordsman of the time. Long parts of the manga are dedicated to Koichiro and his life. These parts are as interesting and well-written as those featuring Musashi.
The story-telling in Vagabond is another thing I enjoyed. Over the course of the manga, we often switch from Musashi to Koichiro, or even Matahachi, showing us each character’s unique path.
Overall, nothing much needs to be said about Vagabond. It’s one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time.
Rest in peace Kentaro Miura, thanks for sharing your gift with the world.
Berserk is one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time.
It’s a dark fantasy manga telling the story of a man with a sword as tall as himself out on a quest for revenge. That man’s Guts, the Black Swordsman, who s hunting for demonic beings known as apostles.
Berserk might appear a simple story, nothing but the tale of a man fighting monsters. And yet, one couldn’t be more wrong. Berserk is an incredibly complex and well-written manga. This is especially prevalent during its second arc, the Golden Age, in which we learn much more about Guts’ past, but also get to know Griffith.
It’s during this arc, we learn just how complex these two characters and their relationship is. Kentaro Miura did an amazing job at showcasing it, testing and ultimately severing it.
It’s because of these two characters, their interactions, their goals and wishes that I consider Berserk such a well-written manga.
While Berserk is known for its amazing characters, it’s most popular for its art. Kentaro Miura was one of the greatest manga artists of all time. There are scarcely few manga who can compare to Berserk when Kentaro Miura was at its best. There are often more details on a single page of Berserk than in entire chapters of other manga.
What I came to enjoy the most was Berserk’s monster design. The apostles are absolutely gorgeous and terrifying to look at. They are nothing short of beautifully grotesque monstrosities.
Berserk is one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time. It’s at the peak of the medium and anyone interested in manga should read it.
Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal is my favorite manga of all time.
The story centers on Manji, the infamous ‘Hundred Men Killer.’ As punishment for his deeds, an eight-hundred-year-old nun placed bloodworms in his body, rendering him immortal. As atonement for his crimes and to free himself from the curse of immortality, Manji resolves to kill one thousand evil man.
The manga’s story truly starts, however, when Manji meets Rin Asano, a sixteen-year-old girl. She begs him to help her in a quest for revenge against the man who murdered her parents. This man’s Kagehisa Anotsu, the leader of the Itto-Ryu.
From this point onwards, Manji travels with Rin to help her.
The manga’s premise is simple, but becomes more complex over time as various factions are introduced.
The reason I consider Blade of the Immortal such a well-written manga is because of its characters. Both Rin and Manji develop tremendously over the course of the manga, but many other characters are as excellent. Anotsu Kagehisa is one of the greatest, most complex characters in the entire manga, but so are Taito Magatsu, Makie Otono-Tachibana and, of course, Shira.
The biggest testament to the manga’s writing is that there’s no real distinction between good and evil. Every character has their own circumstances, goals and reasons. While Anotsu Kagehisa is the story’s chief antagonist, it’s only because Manji and Rin are our protagonists.
The high point of the manga is the outstanding fights. They are brutal, tense, full of suspense and amongst the best of the entire medium.
Overall, Blade of the Immortal is an amazing samurai manga and one of the most well-written manga of all time.
Kazuo Umezu is one of the biggest names in manga. He’s often called one, if not the most influential horror manga artist of all time.
His works, including God’s Left Hand, Devil’s Right Hand and The Drifting Classroom, are vastly popular. While many of them are weird, bizarre and outlandish, none of them are as weird as Fourteen. It’s a manga that’s defined by the word weird and is one of the most surreal and outlandish works I’ve ever come upon.
Fourteen is a manga set in a twisted and futuristic version of Earth. Our protagonist, at least for the first part, is Chicken George. He’s a hyper-intelligent chicken mutant who grew in a chicken production factory.
He declares he’s going to take revenge on humanity for their abuse of not only nature, but also animals.
As weird as this premise sounds, the manga itself is far, far weird and utterly ridiculous. Fourteen is one of the strangest, most surreal apocalypse stories I ever read. Sure, there’s Chicken George, but the manga’s full of so many strange things. He seems almost normal in contrast. The mange features green babies, a T-Rex-shaped space ship, all plant life dying and being replaced by props and even an alien invasion.
Kazuo Umezu presents all of this madness in his typical art style. It’s old-fashioned, simple and even ugly. Yet, it also shines, especially in the depiction of the strange futuristic earth or when disaster strikes.
Fourteen is an insanely bizarre and weird manga. It’s a surreal, almost nonsensical experience. And yet, I had a blast reading it, if only for how creative, surreal and stupid it was.
Go Nagai’s Devilman was released in the early seventies and is the oldest manga on this list. It’s a strange dark tale and one of the weirdest manga I ever came upon.
The manga tells the story of Akira Fudou. After his friend Ryo Asuka learns of the existence of demons and the danger they present, he hatches a plan. He reasons that a human with a good heart might not only be able to control the demon possessing them, but might also use its power to fight them. The plan succeeds, Akira becomes possessed by the powerful demon Amon and can now transform into Devilman.
Given its premise, one might assume Devilman to be a simple, straightforward manga, but it’s much, much weirder. It centers on a variety of topics and soon shows that not only demons can commit evil.
The story of Devilman is weird. The tone and themes change markedly throughout the manga. While it starts off simple, the plot goes completely overboard in its later half. It’s a strange, beautiful mess that’s all over the place. It makes it almost apparent that even Go Nagai wasn’t sure what he wanted Devilman to be.
The weakest point of the manga is the art. It’s old-fashioned and cartoony. While this strange style can shine in certain regards, it’s never truly good.
In the end, Devilman is a weird manga, one of the weirdest I ever came upon. For all its faults, however, I still consider it a classic, one any manga fan should read.
If you’ve looked at my list of the best manga of all time, you notice that I’m a big fan of the works of Manabe Shohei. Dead End is a surreal and weird manga, but it’s for those reasons I love it so much.
Shirou, our protagonist, is a construction worker leading a simple life. All this changes when he stumbles upon a mysterious, naked girl named Lucy. Tragedy strikes when he introduces her to his friends. After leaving the apartment for a few minutes, he finds Lucy missing, his friends dead and a mysterious man standing amongst the carnage.
Before Shirou can react, the man safes him from an explosion and urges him to flee into the sewers. Down there, Shirou meets another strange man. From here on out, the story starts, as Shirou gathers a rag-tag group of characters he supposedly knows from his past.
Dead End’s premise might sound strange, but the manga gets progressively weirder the longer it goes on. While it starts out as more of a thriller, it slowly introduces more fantastical elements before becoming downright surreal.
Manabe Shohei’s art style adds a lot to the strange feeling of this manga and can be best called unique. While backgrounds are gritty and detailed, his characters stand out for a different reason. They look much more realistic, but this design makes them also appear somewhat ugly. It takes a while to get used to this style, but it’s not bad.
Dead End is one of the most surreal and weird manga I ever read. If you’re a fan of raw, gritty and surreal works, this manga won’t disappoint.
While many of his works can be described as weird, Gyo is his weirdest.
Gyo is the Japanese word for fish. If you think you’re prepared for what’s coming, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s one of the most absurd and weird manga I ever came upon.
Tadashi, our protagonist, goes on a vacation with his girlfriend, Kaori. She’s extremely sensitive to smells and one day complains about a disgusting, rotten smell. It isn’t long before the two of them find the source. It’s a fish, skittering through the apartment on robotic legs.
This fish is only the first of many other sea creatures, including sharks, to emerge from the depths.
When the two of them return to Tokyo, the manga’s story turns into a full-fledged apocalypse. Millions of sea creatures on robotic legs flood the city and spread the so-called death stench.
Gyo is a story like no other and one of the most creative works I’ve come upon. And yet, the manga has its flaws. The biggest is Junji Ito trying to explain the origin of the strange, robotic legs. While Gyo is an absurd story, Junji Ito’s explanation makes it downright ridiculous, almost silly.
The strongest points about Gyo are the fantastic art and the outlandish visuals. Especially the later parts of the manga are a horrific delight when bloated, disfigured humans shuffle through fog-covered streets.
While I have my problems with Gyo’s story, its sheer creativity and fantastic artwork make it worth reading for any fan of surreal and weird manga.
Franken Fran is another fantastically weird manga. At times it can be disturbing, at others more satirical, but each chapter is weird.
The plot of the manga follows a girl named Fran. She was created by a brilliant surgeon and after he vanished, she’s taken over his work.
Franken Fran is an anthology of short, disturbing tales all involving Fran. Each chapter features another strange and unique incident she gets involved in.
Given that Fran’s a surgeon, most chapters depict medical and surgical procedures. These are presented to us in all their detail and are disturbing and unsettling to look at. What makes this even worse, however, are the results, which are often nothing short of horrific.
While Franken Fran is a horror manga, quite a few of its chapters are more satirical or humorous in tone. Yet, even those chapters are full of disturbing imagery.
Franken Fran is a weird manga, one that can be quite disturbing. Some of the manga’s chapters can be weaker, but when Franken Fran is at its best, it’s an outstanding work.
Lychee Light Club is not only a disturbing but also an extremely weird manga. It’s reminiscent of the erotic gore work of Suehiro Maruo, and thus it’s full of explicit imagery and gore.
The plot of the manga tells the story of the members of the Lychee Light Club. Over two years, the club’s members created a robot called Lychee, which they programmed to bring them young girls.
The club, however, is anything but normal and its members have no problem committing many atrocities, including torture, mutilation, and even murder. Things get out of hand when their leader Zero becomes increasingly paranoid. This sets into motion a set of events that should lead to the club’s dire end.
Lychee Light Club is a manga that features a lot of disturbing imagery, copious amounts of gore, but it’s also an extremely weird manga.
The entire atmosphere of the manga’s surreal, the behavior of the characters almost comically psychopathic and there’s, of course, Lychee, the robot.
It’s a great read for those who are looking for a weird manga featuring lots of unsettling imagery and gore.
Chainsaw Man is one of the most brutal and weird manga I ever read. It’s created by Fujimoto Tatsuki, who’s also known for his work, Fire Punch, an equally weird manga.
Chainsaw Man tells the story of Denji. He’s a simple young man who lives in a shack with his pet devil, Ponchita. He earns a living killing other devils for the yakuza. Devils are demons who escaped from hell and who wreak havoc on Earth.
When he’s killed by the yakuza, Ponchita fuses with his body to keep him from dying. This also allows him to transform into Chainsaw Man.
Before long, he catches the eye of the Public Safety Bureau and becomes an official devil hunter.
Chainsaw Man can be stupid, even ridiculous, but it’s also one of the most unique and creative manga I ever read. It’s full of strange imagery and brutal fights featuring violence galore and some of the best action I’ve ever seen.
What makes it such a weird manga is its characters and the various devils that appear throughout the story. They are as outlandish as they are scary to look at. Each one features a unique design and comes with powers that are as strange as they are terrifying.
Chainsaw Man is without a doubt one of the most creative manga I ever read. It features a unique, yet beautiful art style, fantastic action and a story that’s both weird and gripping. It’s a fantastical read and I recommend it to anyone.
I don’t know what it is I like so much about Keep on Vibrating by Jiro Matsumoto. It’s the only adult themed manga on this list and features sex, violence and a lot of surreal imagery.
Keep on Vibrating comprises only seven chapters, but they are all unique. The very first chapter of the manga is one of the weirdest and most surreal pieces of work I’ve ever witnessed. It’s the perfect introduction to the style and works of Jiro Matsumoto.
What makes Keep on Vibrating such a weird manga is the sheer surreality of the scenarios depicted in it. One chapter centers on a naked artist who might or might not hallucinate a man with a horse head. Others follow children wearing gas masks as they are playing in a shoddy, warn-torn world, a police officer trying to find a serial killer or a bizarre rendition of a Groundhog Day scenario.
All of this is presented in Jiro Matsumoto’s unique art style. It’s gritty, almost sketchy, but helps to bring forth the strange atmosphere of his world. There’s a strange contrast prevalent in Keep on Vibrating. While the imagery, the world and what’s happening are often disturbing, the dialogue is as mundane as it can be. It only serves to increase the surreal and unique feel of this work.
Keep on Vibrating is without a doubt an extremely weird manga. It’s different from anything else I’ve read, but there are glimpses of genius to be found here.
MPD Psycho by Eji Otsuka and Shouu Tajima is a complex psychological manga featuring copious amounts of shocking imagery.
It’s the story of a detective named Kazuhiko Amamiya who suffers from multiple personality disorder. Over the course of the first chapters, we witness as Amamiya investigates various sick murder cases.
In time, however, it turns into a truly weird manga when a complex, at times confusing, overarching plot is introduced. This plot is not only related to Amamiya, but various other characters and involves an ominous woman known as Lucy Monostone.
While the manga is full of shocking imagery, it’s also a highly psychological thriller.
What makes it such a weird manga is not only the plot but also Amamiya’s unique condition. While the manga’s always interesting and full of suspense, keeping up with his different personalities and their aims can be hard.
Even though I enjoyed this manga. It’s a sick, twisted and dark manga, but it features one of the most complex and interesting plots I’ve come upon. If you’re a fan of weird manga and dark thrillers, read MPD Psycho.
You sometimes come upon a piece of work that makes you wonder what you just experienced and why you enjoyed it so much. This statement fits Soil by Atushi Kankeo to the point. It’s an incredibly weird manga, most likely the weirdest on this entire list.
The story of the manga centers on Soil New Town. When a family vanishes without a trace, two detectives are called to investigate. They are quite the special characters to say the least. At first, the case appears a routine one, but as the manga continues, the story becomes nothing short of surreal.
Soil is a manga that’s as different as it is refreshing. The manga’s so full of weird ideas and surreal imagery, one can’t help but be impressed by it. Yet, this weirdness is also one of Soil’s biggest problems. The manga’s more an exercise of the surreal than a coherent story. This becomes especially prevalent in the latter half when the manga’s strangeness goes completely overboard.
Soils art is as unique as the manga itself. At first it might appear simplistic, even amateurish, but after a while one can see it as what it is, different and unique. This art especially shines in the depiction of the weird and surreal place Soil New Town becomes.
Soil is an incredibly weird manga, but it’s worth picking up for this exact reason. There are few manga as surreal. The only thing that comes close to the sheer random madness of Soil is Uzumaki by Junji Ito.
If you’re looking for a surreal and weird manga, you won’t be disappointed by Soil.
Hotel by Boichi is one of the greatest collection of one-shots I ever read.
Each chapter of this weird collection features Boichi’s outstanding and beautifully drawn art. While the individual stories vary in quality, I enjoyed all of them.
While none of the stories in this manga are related per se, one can still find some thematically links about all of them.
The first chapter featuring the titular Hotel and the AI controlling it is already weird enough. Things get out of hand in chapter three and four. They feature some stellar visuals, but the stories depicted are as weird and surreal as they can get.
Yet, all those chapters are rendered in beautiful detail. Chapter five stands out especially. While it doesn’t feature much of a story, it’s drawn in stunning full color.
Apart from Keep on Vibrating, Hotel is the only other collection of one-shots on this list of weird manga.
It’s a fantastic experience. Some stories in Hotel are emotional while others are more surreal or even funny. They are, however, all interesting.
Hotel is a weird manga, a quick read, but well worth the time spent because of Boichi’s outstanding art.
Jagaaaaaan by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Kensuke Nishida is another strange and weird manga.
It tells the story of Shintaro Jagasaki. He leads a normal, boring life and works as a police officer. One day, when escorting home a drunk on a train, he bears witness to an office worker growing increasingly madder. Eventually, the man turns into a monster and beings mauling the train’s other passengers. Jagasaki’s able to take out the creature by shooting a beam from his hand. He soon learns that not only the office worker, but he too is a fractured human. From this point onward, Jagasaki uses his new powers to hunt down and take out other fractured humans.
Jagaaaaaan is a weird manga, one full of outlandish characters, disturbing scenarios and grotesque monsters.
What makes this manga stand out is the fantastic art by Kensuke Nishida. It’s most prevalent in the many fractured humans we see throughout the series. Their design is as outlandish as it is creative.
Yet, Jagaaaaaan is such a weird manga for a variety of reasons. First are its characters. Jagasaki is a weird, but so are many other members of the cast. They include a fun-loving, psychotic nihilist, a man obsessed with justice who wants to be a hero and a young man who transforms into and takes over the life of a young girl.
Jagaaaaaan is as strange and weird a manga as it sounds, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s full of action, features lots of gore, but also many other unsettling events.
There’s an atmosphere to this manga, an air surrounding it that makes it so surreal and unique. Jagaaaaaan is a fantastic manga, one I truly enjoyed.
Gantz is one of the most insane and weird manga of all time and I love it.
It’s the story of Kei Kurono. One day, he and his childhood friend Masaru Katou die in a tragic train accident. This, however, is only the start of the story because soon after the two of them awaken in what appears to be a Tokyo apartment. In there they find a group of other people, but also a black sphere called Gantz. It soon informs them that their lives are over and they are now tasked with hunting down aliens who live hidden amongst humans. Soon after, they are teleported outside and the first of many brutal missions begins.
Gantz is a gritty and brutal story full of glorified gore and fluid action. It depicts an extremely weird scenario, one underlined by the often outlandish aliens.
The greatest part about Gantz is the fantastic art. Each mission is action-packed and fights are rendered in stunning and beautiful detail. These missions are always brutal. Many of the participants don’t know what’s going on and become nothing more than cannon fodder. They are torn apart, shredded to pieces and even devoured by aliens.
Yet, it’s not only the premise that makes Gantz such a weird manga. Gantz’s entire world and the events depicted are nothing short of crazy. We bear witness to severe bullying, rape, a mass shooting, and even vampires. It’s nothing short of beautiful madness.
While the manga can be ridiculous at times, the plot nonsensical, it’s one of the greatest action manga of all time featuring a set of fantastic characters.
Anyone familiar with the works of Q Hayashide knows her manga are weird, extremely weird. Dorohedoro is no different. No, it’s without a doubt one of the weirdest manga I ever read.
While it’s set in a grim dark world full of gore and graphical violence, it’s also full of humor. There’s an air of lightheartedness about the carnage we witness that makes reading Dorohedoro an entirely surreal experience.
It’s the story of Kaiman, an amnesiac with the head of a reptilian. He lives in the derelict city of Hole which is connected to the Sorcerer’s World. The inhabitants of this world are magic users and often visit Hole to test their powers. As a result, many of Hole’s inhabitants are transformed, mutilated or even murdered.
Kaiman believes a magic user caused his condition and thus hunts them down relentlessly to figure out who he is.
As weird as this premise sounds, the manga itself proves to be even weirder. Describing the plot of Dorohedoro is a thing of impossibility because of the sheer creativity and originality that went into it. It’s a work of surreal madness.
The same is true for the characters. Be it the transformed inhabitants of Hole or the outlandish characters populating the Sorcerer’s World, they are all weirdos in their own right.
Yet, as weird as Dorohedoro is, it’s also beautiful. Both the surreal Sorcerer’s World and the run-down city of Hole are rendered in stunning detail.
Dorohedoro is a weird manga, one full of beautiful art and brutal, graphical violence. It’s a dark and twisted story, one full of increasingly disturbing events, yet presented in almost comedic lightheartedness.
Not much has to be said about Dorohedoro. It’s a surreal masterpiece.
Homunculus is an extremely weird manga by Hideo Yamamoto, the creator of Ichi the Killer. While Ichi the Killer is disturbing, Homunculus is nothing short of surreal.
Susumu Nakoshi is a young, homeless man living in his car. One day, he encounters a young medical student, Manabu Ito, who researches the process of trepanation. When asked, Nakoshi agrees to become his test subject and undergoes the procedure.
As if this premise wasn’t weird enough already, the result of the operation proves even weirder. When Nakoshi looks at people with only his left eye, he sees distorted versions of them. These versions soon become referred to as homunculi.
Over the course of the manga, the story becomes progressively weirder. There are, of course, the homunculi who’re weird in their own right. What makes the manga even weirder, however, is the story itself and the many psychological themes it features.
Homunculus’ plot can almost be called unpredictable. It’s more a character study than a story and slowly turns into a man’s descent into madness.
Hideo Yamamoto’s art is fantastic. It features many disturbing scenes, yet others which are surreal, almost abstract. The greatest part about this manga, however, is the grotesque homunculi.
Homunculus is one of the most surreal and weird manga I ever read. It features two extremely complex characters, an entirely unique scenario and an unrestrained narrative.
It’s a surreal, and creative masterpiece, one any fan of weird manga should read.
Freesia is the second manga by Jiro Matsumoto and it’s an even weirder manga than Keep on Vibrating, yet for different reasons.
It’s set in a dark, dystopian version of Japan where a law is passed which legalizes retaliatory killings. Should a loved ones be murdered, you may take justice into your own hands, or hire someone who does it for you.
Kano, our protagonist, works for an agency which specializes in retaliatory killings. One might assume Freesia’s a bloody manga about retaliatory killings, but it focuses more on the personal stories of the targets than action. This makes us sympathize with them, and their end a tragedy in its own right.
Freesia’s Japan is a dark, gloomy place, one filled with a perpetual feeling of depression. It’s a story that’s populated by nothing but broken, damaged and mentally ill people.
This is more than true for Kano. He suffers from schizophrenia, hallucination and memory failure. What makes Freesia such a weird manga is how it presents this to us. We don’t merely see how Kano acts. Instead, the manga shows us the world he sees. It’s a surreal world, one that makes no sense and makes us wonder just what we’re seeing.
Yet, Kano isn’t the only member of our cast who suffers from mental problems. Many others seem to suffer from delusions of their own. Similar to Kano, these are presented to us as real and it can often cause confusion. It’s only when we understand what’s going on that things become clear to us.
Freesia is a brilliant work, one that showcases mental illness different from any other manga I’ve read. It makes it a surreal, irritating and weird manga, but also one I loved reading.
Onani Master Kurosawa by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota can be translated as Masturbation Master Kurosawa. As you can tell from the title, it’s a weird manga, one I loved reading.
When I first heard about it, I was intrigued by the title, but assumed it would be nothing but a big, perverted joke. Instead, it turned out to be one of the greatest, most heartfelt stories ever.
Kakeru Kurosawa, our main character, is an anti-social loner. What makes him special is a peculiar habit. Once classes are over, he retreats to a seldom-used bathroom at school and masturbates.
When he witnesses the bullying of his timid, mousy classmate Aya Kitahara by one of the popular girls, he takes revenge into his own hands, by doing what he does best.
It’s this scenario, this idea that makes Onani Master Kurosawa such a weird manga. Yet, while it starts out as a humorous, perverted tale centered on masturbation-based justice, it gradually evolves and becomes more serious.
It turns from a perverted tale into a sweet, inspiring coming-of-age story that tackles a variety of topics.
Another reason I love it so much was Kurosawa himself. While he starts off as a rather perverted individual, he turns into one of the most likeable and believable characters ever.
Onani Master Kurosawa is, without a doubt, a weird manga, but it turned out to be one of the biggest surprises ever. By now, I consider it one of the best manga I ever read.
Kamisama no Iutoori and its sequel by Kaneshiro Muneyuki are two of the weirdest manga of all time, but some of my absolute favorites.
It’s a death game manga, and one of the best the genre offers.
The story begins with Takahata Shun. He’s a normal high school student and is incredibly bored with his life. This boredom ends when his teacher’s head explodes, a Daruma doll appears, and the very first death game in the series begins.
As the manga continues, we’re introduced to a set of fascinating characters and bear witness to a variety of incredible weird death games.
Yet, it’s not only the games who are weird, many of the characters featured in this manga are weird as well. The two most notable examples are Amamiya and Ushimitsu.
What I loved the most was how the manga handled its characters. It was never shy about killing them and does so at the most unexpected moments. It’s often the case that we’re introduced to a new character only to witness their demise soon after. There’s this unforgiving atmosphere to the manga, but also a strange sense of humor.
While the art in the first part isn’t the greatest, it improves vastly in the second part. Near the end, many of its panels and page spreads are absolutely gorgeous to look at.
Overall, I had an absolute blast reading this weird manga and enjoyed it immensely. It might not be for everyone, given how weird and surreal it can be, but if you like death games, this magna is as good as it gets.
With a title like that, one can already expect that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki is a weird manga.
While Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was always a weird manga, featuring vampires, Aztec super humans and Nazi cyborgs, things became truly bizarre when stands were introduced.
They first appeared in its third part, the much-beloved Stardust Crusaders. It’s here, where stands first appear. They are a manifestation of a person’s life force, take on the form of an ethereal figure and possess superhuman powers.
One might assume that so-called stand-users are akin to superheroes, but one couldn’t be more wrong. The powers of stands are as weird as the manga itself. They can take on the form of game consoles, transform people into snails or even turn back time, amongst other things.
While all parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are weird to a degree, Part 6: Stone Ocean has to be the weirdest.
The story follows Jolyne Cujoh, the daughter of Joutarou Kuujou, the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders. After she’s framed for murder, she’s sent to Dolphin Street Jail. It soon becomes obvious that a disciple of Dio Brando framed her, and her incarceration is only a small part of the man’s true plan.
Jojo’s Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean features an assortment of weird characters, enemies and stands, but its ending is by far the weirdest event in the entire manga.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a fantastic series of weird manga. It’s one of the longest running manga of all time, but also one of the best. Any fan of weird manga and manga in general should check it out. It’s well worth reading.
Reading Ultra Heaven was an experience like no other. It’s a psychedelic manga and one of the most stunning works in the entire medium.
The manga’s set in a dystopian future. In this world, feelings can be artificially created and be consumed as drugs.
Kabu, our protagonist, is addicted to these types of drugs. Before long, however, he learns of a new illegal substance, one called Ultra Heaven. When a man offers to sell it to him, Kabu accepts.
What follows is one of the craziest, most creative depictions of a trip I’ve ever seen. The visuals, the art and the presentation are unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed.
What makes Ultra Heaven such a great, but also weird manga, is the art. We’re presented with a gritty setting and detailed characters, but that’s not what makes it special. It’s the way it showcases drug usage and the hallucinations that come with it.
Most manga are presented by usage of organized, rectangular panels. Not so Ultra Heaven. No, it breaks this convention entirely. When Kabu suffers from an altered mind, be it by drugs or later meditation, the shapes of panels distort, similar to his mental state. Organized panels turn into twisting spirals, start running into each other or become nothing but pure chaos. It gives the entire manga a disorienting, surreal, and almost crazy feeling, but perfectly showcases what’s going on.
While the first and second chapter are weird enough, things go absolutely crazy in the third chapter. Before, the manga focused on drugs, drug usage and the resulting trips. In chapter three, the manga focuses on meditation and the mind altering effect it can have.
Ultra Heaven is a manga like no other. It’s without a doubt an incredibly weird manga, but also a visual masterpiece.
Tsutomu Nihei’s one of my favorite manga of all time and Biomega is one of my favorite works of his.
Unfortunately, Biomega is often overshadowed by its predecessor Blame! and its successor Knights of Sidonia who are both very popular. Yet, I think Biomega is a manga deserving of a lot more attention.
Following his cyberpunk masterpiece Blame!, Biomega is like it in many ways and features many similar elements.
One mega-corporations featured in the story is named Toha Heavy Industries, the manga features a dark-haired, superhuman protagonist, it features lots of high-tech and cybernetic horrors, and it comes with all of Nihei’s grand architectural world-building.
But Biomega isn’t just a carbon copy of Blame!, it’s also vastly different in many other ways.
It’s a fantastic and creative manga that pushes Nihei’s visual story-telling even further than Blame! It features Nihei’s usual dark and gritty style and the insane action so common in Blame! However, Biomega drives those things even further.
Biomega is an insanely fast-paced cyberpunk, zombie apocalypse manga full. It’s as weird and insane as it sounds, but the second half of the manga gets even weirder.
Biomega’s plot is hard to describe. The manga’s plot is as weird as it is surreal. At the outset of the story, most of the world population has turned into drones, who are basically zombies, because of the spreading N5S virus.
It’s soon revealed that the Data Recovery Foundation (DRF), a mega corporation, and its subsidiary, the Public Health Service (PHS), are trying to continue the spread of the virus to transform humanity.
Opposing them is Toha Heavy Industries, another mega-corporation who sends out synthetic human agents, one of them Zouichi Kanoe. He’s tasked with finding Ion Green, a young woman who’s adapted to the N5S virus.
Toha Heavy Industries searches for her and other people who have adapted to the N5S virus hoping to find a cure and to save the world.
And thus Zouichi, and Toha Heavy Industries find themselves in conflict with the DRF, the PHS and their many forces.
Similarly to Blame!, Biomega features an apocalyptic setting. Again, we don’t witness the world before the apocalypse. Instead, we’re thrown right into it and witness a derelict world devoid of normal humans and populated by twisted and disturbing drones.
Over the course of the manga, however, the setting changes radically.
While the first half of the manga is set on a dark, gritty and futuristic version of Earth, the second half of the manga is set on an entirely different world.
It’s a shift that makes sense in the story, but it’s strange, nonetheless. It’s such a radical shift that not only the setting, but even the nature of the plot changes. The entire manga becomes less dark, grim and gritty and much less fast-paced.
Like many of Nihei’s earlier works, Biomega is a highly unique manga that’s not for everyone. It’s a story told more via visuals than via dialogue, extremely fast paced and full of action.
An old saying goes, a picture says more than a thousand words, and it’s no more true than in the works of Tsutomu Nihei and especially Biomega.
Biomega is another example of a story being told via the setting and visuals. There’s no exposition, no explanations and instead we’re thrown right into a zombie-apocalypse.
Similarly to Blame! there are entire chapters with almost no dialogue. Yet, Biomega differs from Blame! in one major aspect, the pacing.
Biomega’s pacing is insanely fast, almost too fast and most of it is presented to us via visuals.
There’s always something happening, the story is always moving forward. There are no slow, somber chapters like in Blame!, at least in the first half of the manga, and this can make it hard to understand what’s going on.
Even dialogue is faced-paced, lines are omitted and only people’s reaction are shown to us. It’s an interesting choice, but it never confuses since we can always tell what was said before or what question was asked.
An example is when a certain character gets infected. We don’t see Fuyu telling her she’s infected or what happened to her, instead we only see her reaction and understanding of it.
This makes Biomega such a fast-moving manga. It feels almost like Nihei was reluctant to use dialogue, and wanted his visuals and his setting to speak for himself. While it might sound strange, it works in case of Biomega and makes it such a unique experience to read.
As in other works of Nihei’s, the world-building is done mostly via visuals.
What makes Biomega’s world-building so special is that the manga’s set in two vastly different worlds.
The first part of the manga is set in a futuristic version of the world. Yet, with the apocalypse setting in, it’s a derelict, bleak and ruined place.
It’s a world full of claustrophobic cities and complex urban sprawls.
The apocalypse is almost feasible, since the world is an empty place. As Zouichi and other characters travel through cities, they are almost completely empty, only populated by drones.
It’s a vast technological wasteland, devoid of anything in it but giant structures and military installations. This bleak atmosphere is even more feasible than in Blame!
After the first half, the manga’s setting changes radically and the second half of the manga stands in stark contrast to it.
What used to be the dark, futuristic cityscapes of a future earth are replaced by unique bio-mechanical environments that look more grown than built. It’s a world reminiscent of such works as Nausicaä teeming with strange bio-mechanical horrors.
It’s a world that appears almost like a fusion of nature and the artificial, one that looks more plantlike, almost organic. We see giant structures reminding us of bones, holes akin to pores and the many life forms Zouichi encounters appear like parasites.
This strange mixture of the biological and the technological also shows in the many inhabitants of the world, be it humans or other organisms.
And yet, this second half is more reminiscent of Blame!. The manga now takes place in a strange new world of immeasurable proportions, where humans have to survive against terrible odds.
Yet, what both worlds have in common is Nihei’s attention and focus on grand design. In the first part of the magna, it’s visible in the many gigantic cities, high-tech complexes and military structures.
This goes more out of hand in the second half. The new world has a width of only 100 kilometers, but a length of 4.8 billion kilometers, essentially stretching out from Earth to Neptun.
It’s this dual-setting that makes Biomega such a unique, but also strange manga. Both worlds, however, are rendered in beautiful detail and are given a lot of attention.
Biomega is weird, way weirder than Blame! and it shows in its assortment of characters. These include our main characters, Toha Heavy Industries synthetic humans, but also immortals, a woman who’s able to use ESP to understand and learn anything in an instant and a talking bear.
The synthetic humans, Zouichi and Nishu, are very similar to the cast of Blame!. Zouichi is pretty much a replica of Killy. He’s neigh immortal, has superhuman strength and abilities, can heal himself after receiving severe damage, and can go long periods without the need to drink or eat. The major difference, however, is Zouichi’s showcase of emotions. As opposed to Killy, Zouichi, at least in certain scenes, shows strong emotional responses and seems to care about other people.
Yet it’s not only the synthetic humans who are badass. Each one of them has an AI companion who is integrated into the motorcycles they drive. This allows them to use their own assortment of weapons, including a railgun and tentacle like chais that can help them attack, move and even shield them from serious impact.
Kozlov the talking bear while a weird character is a great addition to the cast. Against early assumptions, however, he’s not merely there for contrast and comical relief, no he’s much more important to the story than anyone would expect.
The antagonists, including the aforementioned woman with ESP, are also great, are interesting as well, but aren’t featured heavily. Yet, their clear, sociopathic ambition and grand plan makes them more interesting than those of Blame!
Nihei’s manga, especially his earlier works, don’t follow conventional story-telling tropes. His stories are often confusing and sometimes ambitious.
While Biomega starts of simple and straightforward, it soon becomes confusing and hard to follow. This can in part be attributed to the incredibly fast pacing in which large parts of the manga are told.
Similarly to Blame! much of the story and its backgrounds are only revealed as we read on. Important details are given to us sparely and we have to put them together on our own.
Yet, if you read carefully, and follow what little dialogue there is, you will understand the story almost completely. The motifs of the DRF, Niardi’s plan, her conflict with Narain and even what lead to it are all revealed.
However, Biomega might be a manga that needs to be read twice. It’s a weird piece of work and especially the second half can be very confusing.
While Biomega is a cyberpunk manga, it could very well be categorized as a horror manga as well.
There’s, of course, the plot. The N5S virus outbreak is akin to a zombie-apocalypse, and the many twisted and distorted drones are horrible to look at. This is also true for the many antagonists. The DRFs Patrol officers look as if they are straight out of a horror movie. The PHS task force is reminiscent of execution squads, and the many transformations are as horrible as they are fascinating.
Yet, that’s not all.
Nihei’s horror also manifests in its setting. While Zouichi and others visit vast cities, they are almost completely abandoned and empty. It gives the entire manga a moody feeling, one of isolation and claustrophobia.
In the second half, the world is a dangerous and alien place, and once more, a world in which normal humans are almost meaningless and unimportant. This world is so big that distances become meaningless and time is measured not in months or years, but in centuries. It’s a horrible wonderland of immeasurable proportions.
I want to take some time to talk about the many themes in Biomega. The first theme, of course, is a cornerstone of cyberpunk. We don’t have countries anymore, we merely have giant cityscapes and the world is controlled by giant megacorporations, fighting each other.
While Toha Heavy Industries is benevolent and wants to save humanity, the DRF is the polar opposite. At the outset of the story, they declare themselves the world government and plan on infecting all of humanity with the N5S virus.
The evolution and the ascension of humanity are another theme. Over the course of the story, we learn why Niardi, the DRF’s overlord, wants to infect humanity. She essentially wants to wipe out normal humans and build a new world with only those who are immune and have adapted to the virus.
Another important theme in Biomega is that of immortality. One of the major conflicts in the manga is one of pro-immortality against pro-mortality.
The Big Switch is how I’d like to refer to the change that occurs between the first and the second half of the manga.
While the first half of the story represents us with cyberpunk in all its glory, what comes after chapter 27 is entirely different.
It’s not only the setting that changes radically but also many other elements of the story. The general pacing slows down, the plot changes, but with it also the elements that are used to tell it.
The second half of Biomega almost feels like a different manga. As outlined before, it can almost be called a genre shift. What started out as an apocalyptic cyberpunk manga is now more akin to a fantastic travel set in a setting that’s a mixture of cyberpunk and biopunk.
This Big Switch is one of the weirdest occurrences of its kind I’ve ever witnessed in a manga. While many manga comprise different art styles and their settings evolve, I’ve never seen one as rapid and radical as the one in Biomega.
It doesn’t ruin the manga, and it even makes sense in terms of plot, but it’s still extremely weird and can be very frustrating to some readers.
Similarly to his masterpiece Blame!, Biomega’s art is full of vast expanses and gigantic structures. Yet, even though his style depicts this unfathomable scale, it’s always incredibly detailed. This makes Biomega a delight to experience.
As opposed to Blame!, however, Biomega is much darker in its depiction and feels dirtier and sketchier, especially in its first half. This adds a lot to the atmosphere and the apocalyptic setting of the manga.
Gigantic Proportions are a staple of Tsutomu Nihei’s work and Biomega doesn’t disappoint.
The Earth depicted in the first half of Biomega is a dark and surreal place. It seems to comprise nothing but towering cities connected by impossibly long highways.
What’s interesting about Biomega is that while it’s said in the future, many of the cities showcased have a distinct gothic look to them. They don’t look like the gigantic, pristine megastructures made of steel we’re used to from Blame! Instead, they look unorganized and wild.
Buildings are crowding together, almost pushing against one another. Every space between them is taken up by streets, pipes and cables. These pipes and cables are going everywhere and sneak around buildings in an almost chaotic fashion.
This strange futuristic, yet gothic architecture gives the cities of Biomega an almost organic style and makes them appear something that was grown rather than built.
And yet, these densely constructed cities are bleak and empty. Everything’s deserted, almost derelict, and we rarely see any people.
All of this gives Biomega a strangely eerie and claustrophobic feeling.
Biomega is a dark manga, one that seems much darker than Blame! It gives the entire work an almost oppressive, gloomy atmosphere. Yet, it’s more than fitting for a story such as Biomega.
Cities are broken down, dark and their specific gothic design and color choice make them reminiscent of giant haunted houses. What adds to this feeling is Tsutomu Nihei’s personal style. While his art is sharp, many of Biomega’s cities feel as if they have no hard outlines, adding to the general feeling of isolation and desolation.
Biomega is a dark manga. Tsutomu Nihei uses lots of heavy blacks to depict the desolate, apocalyptic Earth. In many of these pages, black is not only the dominant color but also the dominant feeling. There’s a murky darkness that lays over the entire manga and adds so much to the atmosphere and general feeling.
Similarly to Blame!, Tsutomu Nihei once more relies on strong contrasts between white and black. This is most prevalent in his use of negative spaces to convey light and huge explosions.
What’s most interesting about Biomega, however, is the switch that happens in the second half of the manga. While black is the most dominant color, the second half is dominated by white. This visual changes and change in color usages adds to the general change the manga goes through in its second half.
The character design in Biomega is reminiscent of that in Blame! What’s interesting about Biomega is that while the art, and especially the setting, is sketchy and dirty, character are often refined and detailed.
It’s most prevalent in the character of Zouichi. He might drive a futuristic motorcycle, but apart from that, he appears very similar to Killy, the main character of Blame! It’s not only his appearance but also his demeanor and weapons.
The DRF and especially their various cybernetic horrors are similar to the silicon life. However, their design and especially their transformations look more biological and organic than anything else.
The same can be said about the drones. While they are basically zombies, Tsutomu Nihei makes them truly disturbing and nightmarish to look at. They came with strange growths, elongated limbs, and are twisted and deformed. It gives them less the appearance of general zombies, but more of that of weird mutants. They are horrible delight to look at.
While Tsutomu Nihei’s earlier work Blame! had its fair share of horror, Biomega features much more.
The world of Biomega is ripe with body horror. We’ve got the horribly distorted drones, the cybernetically enhanced humans and even twisted and mutated biological monstrosities.
A great design choice is that of the DRF’s patrol officers. Their masks and aprons give them a distinct design, one reminiscent of butchers or even serial killers in slasher movies. And, of course, they are as deadly as they look creepy.
Biomega features a lot more horror though. Gore and violence are much more prevalent here than in Blame! People are being shot and torn apart, their heads are exploding, and we witness copious amounts of blood. It gives the manga a brutal feeling, one more reminiscent of a horror manga than a science-fiction or cyberpunk one.
Biomega is a manga that’s insanely fast paced and full of action. Its pace is much, much faster than almost any other manga I’ve ever read.
This pace adds a lot to the action. It’s often ramped up, fast, depicting only the most important details and over before you know it.
Instead of detailing fights or action-sequences, they are often shown in short, high-paced panels. At times, Biomega skips entire fights. We’re only shown the outset, and skip right to the end a few panels later.
However, this can be a tad bit confusing. There’s almost too much going on in some chapters. This is especially prevalent when Zouichi makes his way back to the Toha Heavy Industry’s headquarters. It is here that he takes on an entire battalion of fighter planes and even a carrier, and takes them down in only a handful of pages.
Yet, this doesn’t mean that the action in Biomega is bad. By now means, it’s kinetic, gory, and insanely fast paced. What we see, however, is absolutely fantastic.
I mentioned the Big Switch before in terms of story and setting, but it’s also prevalent in the art and visual style of the manga.
The first half of Biomega follows a more realistic style. It’s set on Earth, even if it’s a derelict and desolation version of Earth. Most of the human characters look like actual humans or humans who have been modified.
In the second half of the manga, all that changes. As the setting becomes more fantastic, so does the style. The world is now populated by strange mechanised humans and biotechnological creatures that look almost entirely organic.
This, however, is most prevalent in the visual style of the manga changing. While black dominates the first half of the manga, the second half is dominated by white spaces. It also feels less sketchy, dirty and claustrophobic. Instead, it feels almost clean, fantastical and similar to Blame! impossibly large.
What’s also interesting to see is that this change in style is not only one in terms of colors but also in character design and general style. Tsutomu Nihei’s style changes vastly between the beginning and end of Biomega.
It’s near the end of Biomega when certain areas and characters are depicted one can see the first outliers of his style in Knights of Sidonia. It’s an interesting transformation to behold, one that also adds to the change in setting and story. Yet, I have to admit that I’m more a fan of Tsutomu Nihei’s grim dark worlds and setting and less a fan of his more recent, lighter style.
While I consider Biomega a visual and action-packed masterpiece, there are still some problems with it I want to discuss.
The first is, of course, what I call The Big Switch. It’s such a strange choice, almost a complete switch in terms of setting, story and visual style. While it makes sense in terms of the story, it’s still something that while make you wonder what exactly is going on.
The biggest problem I have with it, however, is that many important characters from the first half of the manga aren’t coming up anymore. There’s Nishu, but also Kahdal Spindal, who unfortunately never appear again.
Another problem with Biomega is that, it just moves too fast at certain times. In some chapters, the manga throws so much at you it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on.
The last problem is once more Tsutomu Nihei’s way of story-telling. We’re thrown into an apocalyptic world, ravaged by a deadly virus without knowing what’s going on. There’s no backstory, no exposition, and no explanation. Once more, Tsutomu Nihei only reveals what’s going on by bits and pieces and the occasional, very short flashback. This can make Biomega hard to read and harder to understand. Similarly to Blame! I only could grasp the entire story on my second reread.
While Biomega has some problems as outlined here, it’s still one of my favorite manga of all time. It’s an insanely high-paced, action-packed cyberpunk-horror masterpiece that I’d recommend to anyone who likes the work of Tsutomu Nihei, visual story-telling or weird science-fiction manga.
If you want to read Biomega, I recommend ordering it on Amazon:
Blame! is the debut series of Tsutomu Nihei, a science-fiction cyberpunk manga artist. He’s among the best and most talented manga artists out there and his art can compare to the best in the entire medium.
Blame! is one of my favorite manga of all time. It’s unique, beautiful, awe-inspiring and at times brutal. The manga stands out for its amazing setting, the stunning action scenes, but also the many gorgeous and disturbing cybernetic horrors that populate it.
It tells a dark, futuristic story that depicts a world in which technology is running amok and has created one of the most unique settings ever created.
The world of Blame! is a typical cyberpunk setting, depicting a world of fascinating high-tech but at the same low-life for all its inhabitants. Many other cyberpunk tropes fit Blame! as well, but the manga also features many instances of biomechanics and bio-punk.
Tsutomu Nihei was an architecture student before he became a manga artist. This knowledge of architecture is one reason Blame! is so unique and impressive. We constantly see grand, awe-inspiring buildings and massive architectural wonders. Blame!’s world isn’t just huge, it’s immeasurable and mind-boggling gigantic.
The plot of Blame! is relatively simple. Killy, our main character, wanders the world of Blame! only known as the City in search of a human with Net Terminal Genes. A person like this could access the Netsphere, stop the chaotic growth of the City and stop the Safeguard from destroying what remains of humanity.
Over the course of the manga, we follow Killy on his journey through the world of Blame! and witness his interaction with the many other inhabitants of the City.
Blame’s world is dark and beautiful, chaotic and depressing and dangerous and brutal. It’s a wondrous, technological wasteland.
Blame! is a cyberpunk manga set in the far-future, but it’s also set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia.
The apocalyptic event was the loss of control over the City and thus over the builders and the Safeguard. There’s also the infection and devolution of humans and at the time of the story, no one with Net Terminal Genes remains.
The dystopian elements are clear at first sight. The surviving humans don’t amount to much when compared to the other cybernetic horrors inhabiting the City. They huddle together in small pockets of society and constantly have to fend for survival. Another aspect is the Netsphere, an advanced virtual reality which allows people to upload their consciousness. People with the Net Terminal Gene already did so, leaving the real world or base reality, as it’s called in Blame! behind.
Blame!’s setting is entirely unique. It’s a world devoid of any natural elements. There are no forests, no normal ground and no mountains within the megastructures. Instead, everything we see in Blame! are buildings and constructions, many of which are of mind-boggling size. The City is a chaotic amalgamation of titanic architecture whose dimensions are entirely unknown to any of its dwellers. It’s essentially labyrinthine, futuristic dungeon.
Over the course of the manga, we learn more about the insane size of the City. At one point, Killy stumbles upon a single room the size of Jupiter inside the City. In the prequel NOiSE, we learn the Moon was the first celestial body incorporated into the City. It’s stated by the writer Tsutomu Nihei that the City is the size of a Dyson Sphere, meaning it stretches as far as the orbit of Jupiter.
Even now, however, the City continues to grow and is endlessly constructed by so called builders, autonomous robots. Since no human is possible to access the Netsphere, no one can communicate with the builders and so they just keep on increasing the size of the City.
There are, however, some interesting details and concerns about the City. It’s so massive that its sheer size defies the law of physics. A construction the size of a Dyson Sphere would inevitably collapse into itself. Yet, this seems to be solved by certain gravitational controllers inside the megastructure which manipulate gravity itself and keep the City from destruction.
Another interesting tidbit is the sheer amount of materials. We learn, over the course of the story, that many celestial bodies have been harvested as raw materials. Even then, there wouldn’t be enough raw materials for a construction the size of the City. It’s implied, however, that builders can convert energy into matter, are using some sort of antimatter or can simply conjure matter into existence.
The City is one of the most unique and interesting settings I’ve ever come upon in manga.
As mentioned before, humans don’t have it easy in the City. Many of them have to fight for survival and do so in various outposts and pockets of civilization. Some are smaller, others, however, like the Capitol, are bigger.
Many of the humans our main characters encounter look different from one another. Some are taller, others are smaller. The reason for this is most likely because of the often mentioned infection, devolution, and mutation. What they all have in common, however, is that they look pale, emaciated, even sick. These changes are also the reason that people aren’t carrying the Net Terminal Genes anymore.
The Safeguard was originally a security system to protect the Netsphere from unauthorized access and protect humans with the Net Terminal Gene. The Safeguard still follows these instructions, but by now hunts down and kills anyone without Net Terminal Genes.
Other dwellers of the City are the Silicon Life, cyborgs who have their own goals, are independent from the Netsphere and want to keep the chaotic growth of the City going. If humanity would regain control over the City, and thus the Safeguard, they’d most likely use them to destroy the Silicon Life. And thus they want to keep the current status quo intact.
The last important fiction is the Governing Agency, which is basically the AI administration in charge of protecting the Netsphere. They are the ones who task Killy with finding a human with Terminal Net Genes to stop the chaotic growth of the City.
Blame! is a highly stylistic and unique manga, but that also means it’s not for everyone. The manga is mostly told via visuals and has very little dialogue.
With Blame! Nihei pushes the entire manga towards the visual side and his story is told not by dialogues or conventional narration, but almost entirely by visuals.
Blame! is a grand example of virtual story-telling and of a work in which a setting drives the narrative. In Blame!, the narration is told via the setting and not the other way around.
It’s this reason that makes Blame! so special and unique because it succeeds at telling a story primarily through the art.
Many parts of Blame! comprise nothing but silence. We watch as Killy travels on through futuristic wastelands, desolation and massive derelict buildings.
There’s scarcely any dialogue in Blame! but often it’s unnecessary. A great example is Killy’s gun, the Gravitational Beam Emitter. Instead of telling us how it works and how powerful it is, Nihei shows us multiple panels of how destructive a single shot is. Another one is the City itself. We know it’s chaotically and continuously growing, but we’re never told how huge it is. Instead, Nihei conveys this entirely through the visuals. There are countless panels in which we’re shown a bird’s-eye view of Killy as he wanders through buildings and past constructions of mind-boggling proportions.
Another great way about Blame!’s specific way of story-telling is that the manga’s never bogged down by needless explanations. We don’t get long-winded explanations about how the world of Blame! works. Instead, we merely witness the stunning, bizarre and nightmarish effects of the technological wonders Nihei conjures. Blame! is all visual.
This visual story-telling also influences the pacing of the manga, which lends itself especially well to the many action-sequences of the manga.
Nihei’s fantastic at world-building and Blame!’s a masterclass in world-building.
We know right from the very first chapter that Blame!’s a world that’s unfamiliar, dangerous and even alien when compared to our own. As we watch Killy’s travels, we soon realize that the City is entirely different from our world and it gives us a feeling of alienation.
All this is only possible by the insane, futuristic technology that exists within the City. This technology, however, is never explained, we just see it. Blame! happens so far in the future and everything can be explained by technology, but technology that not even the cast of characters truly understands anymore.
A lot of the technology we witness is the stuff of dreams or nightmares. This is most prevalent in the arc about Toha Heavy Industries. It’s here we learn that teleportation, time travel and even traveling to parallel realities is possible. All that, however, is hinted at to be caused by yet another of Nihei’s strange, futuristic technologies going haywire.
What’s true about technology is also true about the many factions and the mythology of the world. We only learn more about the City and its inhabitants in bits and pieces and have to put together the entire story on our own. All of it is vague, however, at times confusing, but it adds so much more to the mystery of the story and the atmosphere.
The main characters in Blame! are stoic, quiet badasses that almost never twitch when they get hurt.
This is truer for Killy than for everyone else. As he wanders the City he barely ever utters a word. That changes when he meets up and continues to travel with Cibo, but there’s still very little dialogue compared to other works.
When reading Blame! one soon learns that Killy isn’t a normal human being, and it’s later revealed or at least hinted at that Killy, similar to Dhomochevsky and Iko, is a provisional Safeguard. Even then, his past is hazy and we never learn much about him apart from what we witness of his mission.
Many of the human characters we encounter are badasses in their own right, and one can clearly see the toll survival has taken on them. We never encounter someone who’s truly happy or truly beautiful. No, this is a dark, depressing and dangerous world and it shows as much in its setting as in its characters.
While the manga comprises various arcs within their own specific parts of the megastructure, Killy’s overall quest ties it all together.
Because of the special way Blame! is told, the manga can be confusing. There’s little dialogue and no exposition.
This is especially the case at the beginning of the manga when we don’t know what’s going on. We merely follow Killy as he wanders the City through several almost unconnected chapters.
The story only gets more engaging when Killy reaches the Capitol and meets up with Cibo.
Even then, the reader has to always put things together on their own as information is revealed slowly and only bit by bit over the course of the manga. Once one gets used to Nihei’s style of story-telling, however, the story is almost straight-forward.
And yet, Blame! might still be a manga you have to read twice. When I read Blame! for the first time years ago, I was entirely lost when I reached the ending. On my second reread, however, all was much clearer and the plot now made sense.
The passage of time is something that matters little in the world of Blame! We don’t know how much time passes as Killy travels from location to location.
It’s only occasionally that we get a measure of time for an elevator ride or the time it takes for Killy to fully repair and those numbers, similar to the size of the City, are mind boggling.
An elevator ride through a megastructure takes about a month, his reconstruction after being heavily damaged takes years. The same is true for other characters and other parts of the story. Dhomochevsky, for example, has been fighting the Silicon Life under Davinelulinvega for approximately three-hundred years before Killy and Cibo arrive at the unofficial megastructure.
This treatment of time only helps to add to the mystery of the world and makes the City seem even more unfathomable and immeasurable.
The sheer size of the City makes the passing of time almost irrelevant, especially since Killy’s is almost always seen to be traveling on foot. We don’t know how long he’s been wandering the City, but estimations point not just at centuries or millennia, but at dozens of millennia.
What’s interesting about Blame! is also the question of who the antagonists are. The more we learn about the world of Blame!, however, the more we discover that there are merely different factions opposing one another.
At first the Safeguard is the primary antagonist. We discover, however, that the Safeguard is merely a security network out of control which was originally responsible for protecting the Netsphere from unauthorized access.
The Silicon Life fits the term antagonists the closest, but even they are merely fending for survival in the City. It’s their goal to keep the current status quo, afraid that should humanity regain control over the City and the Safeguard, they’d be wiped out.
It’s even revealed in Blame² a sequel that the Silicon Life as Killy as ‘the calamity,’ the one responsible for their race almost going extinct.
The Governing Agency wants to find a Net Terminal Gen simply to stop the growth of the City and to regain control of it.
While we watch the story from the eyes of Killy, it appears, of course, that the Safeguard and the Silicon Life are the prime antagonists of the story. If we take a step back, however, we learn that all that’s happening is caused by mismanagement and the chaotic stage of the ever-expanding City.
Blame! is one of the greatest manga’s I’ve ever read in terms of visuals. As mentioned before, I believe that Tsutomu Nihei is an artist who can rival the best in the genre. Be it his world or his various cybernetic horrors, Blame! is a marvel to look at.
The moment you start reading Blame! you realize that this manga’s different from others. Even in chapter 1, we already get to see the grand architecture of mind-boggling proportions so common to Blame!
You can clearly see that Tsutomu Nihei studied architecture and that he knows about the construction of buildings. It’s this knowledge that sets Blame! aside from other works.
There’s a sense of scale in many of Tsutomu Nihei’s panels that really showcases the insane proportions of the immeasurable City. Yet, all those constructions are as bleak as they are vast. Many times we can’t even make out the end of these constructions, as they seem to go on forever.
Many times, we see Killy in front of a backdrop of immeasurable proportions or we see him only as a small unimpressive dot as he walks vast metal plans, climbs giant buildings, or wanders a bridge that continues further than the eye can see.
And yet, as gigantic as Tsutomu Nihei’s creations are, they are still insanely detailed. This attention to detail is especially prevalent when we get a closer look at the locations Killy travels. Technological gadgets, machines and many other elements of the City are rendered in stunningly beautiful detail.
It’s this mixture of mind-boggling proportions and attention to detail that truly brings forth Nihei’s world and truly immerses you in the story.
An interesting detail to note is that Blame!’s world isn’t a unified one. In one chapter, we see Killy traversing an amalgamation of high-tech constructions or a futuristic cityscape. In others, he’s ascending winding corridors, unending staircases or what looks like gothic castles. At times, these constructions look almost organic, almost like something that grew instead of being built.
Tsutomu Nihei’s style is rough, almost dirty, especially in earlier chapters. His imagery comprises a lot of line work which lends itself fantastically to the more derelict and ruined areas of the City.
The many different details of the City are brought forth by a heavy reliance on shadows and shading.
Blame!’s entire visual style is one of the stark contrast between light and dark. Empty spaces are generally held in lighter colors while interiors, especially tunnels, caves and staircases, are conveyed via deep blacks.
What’s special about Tsutomu Nihei’s style is his usage of negative spaces to convey light or huge explosions during action sequences. This makes them a marvel to look at and helps to bring forth what’s happening.
Killy’s design is an interesting choice. He’s wearing all back, no special armor and seems to be almost understated in a world as strange as Blame!’s. The same can be said about the rest of the cast, however. Cibo, Sanakan and also Dhomochevsky are all dressed similarly.
This is a stark contrast from the other inhabitants of the City who all have a distinctly different look from one another. The Electrofisher’s armor, the Silicon Life in general, but also the exterminators of the Safeguard.
Blame’s world is a harsh and dangerous one and as mentioned before, you can truly see it in the design of the many humans. Almost all of them look pale, sick, malnourished and depressed. They look hardened, emotionless and you can see just how much they went through.
What’s interesting to note is the aforementioned contrast of light and dark also applies to many of the character designs. The interior structure of the exterminators seems to be black, while their faces and outer parts are white. The same is true for the many Silicon Life, who generally have white, human faces, but distorted, black, metallic bodies.
One could even say that the color palette of a character shows their alignment. The most dangerous beings, like Schiff, or the armored Silicon Knights, are held entirely in black. Mensab and Sue, two arguably lawful individuals are held in almost pure white.
Our main characters, especially Killy, are almost all morally gray and thus are a mixture of black and white.
While Blame!’s world is one of futuristic high-tech, many of its elements look strangely biological.
This is especially true for the many cybernetic monstrosities Killy encounters, the exterminators of the Safeguard and the Silicon Life. They clearly look mechanical or robotic, but at the same time, they all have a distinctly organic look to them. This is especially true when new Safeguard units are synthesized. The entire process has a sort of biological look and feel to it.
The many cybernetic horrors that populate the City are all fantastic, disturbing and outlandish to look at.
While the normal, level 1 exterminators look terrifying, they all look identical to one another and appear more like drones than anything else. Higher-level exterminators, however, look amazing. There’s the ‘siren’ Safeguard Killy encounters when climbing the tower, the high-level exterminator at the end of the story, but also Cibo after fusing with the level 9 Safeguard. They all have a distinct, almost angelic look to them with rings, haloes, and even wings. It’s an interesting design choice that only serves to make them creepier.
The Silicon Life has some of the most fantastic design I’ve ever seen in a science-fiction magna. They come in a variety of forms and design, employ a variety of weapons and wear a variety of armor. Some are even heavily distorted, sprouting additional limbs or parts.
Their design is throughout the book terrifying and disturbing, but they are a marvel to look at and are rendered in beautiful detail. Their design is reminiscent of the strange organic-inorganic art of H. R. Giger.
Blame! is full of frantic action which is always shown in stunning detail. Each of panel of it is fantastic to look at.
Many of the action sequences in Blame! are devastating, insane in scale and bright forth mass destruction. At other moments, however, they are more intimate and showcase fantastic close-range encounters.
There are also action scenes in Blame! that are clearly created for style alone. This is most prevalent in the Toha Heavy Industry arc, which features Seu, the protector of Mensab who appears as a knight in shining white armor wielding a sword. When he fights Ivy and when he fights the guards of the Central AI, it gives the action the air of a fantasy manga and not that of a science-fiction one. One thing has to be said, however, those fights look absolutely amazing!
I always loved science-fiction, but especially the more futuristic and outlandish scenarios. Blame! was everything I was looking for.
It combines fantastic and unique world building with breathtakingly beautiful visuals. The art is incredible and shines because of its technical drawings and Tsutomu Nihei’s knowledge of architecture.
While Blame!’s setting is a post-apocalyptic dystopia, it’s one so strange and fresh it’s unique. It’s a tale of technology run amok which manifests in the ever-growing, chaotic City and the out-of-control Safeguard. Things go even so far as to include time travel, mass-scale teleportation and even parallel realities.
What I came to love the most, however, were the many creatures, especially the higher-level exterminators and the Silicon Life, who spice the manga up with a fair bit of horror because of their design and simply look gorgeous.
An interesting little detail is that Blame! never becomes preachy, never a discussion of the topics it showcases. Instead, it simply conjures up a nightmarish vision of our future, one unlike any ever seen before.
While most of Blame! is full of weird imagery, crazy action, and Killy’s stoic demeanor, there are some human and tender scenes. At one point, Killy and Cibo discover a cloning machine which is forever creating clones and which Killy promptly destroys. At another point, Killy saves a Dry Man child and later destroys the cooperation’s docks after he realizes that the transporter he was on was transporting Dry Man ready for organ harvesting.
Those minor events never detract from the atmosphere, but are instead merely there, but they help to flesh out Killy a bit and give him at least some semblance of emotion.
There are, however some problems with Blame! While I love the action scenes in the manga, some of them can be hard to follow because of the abundance of gigantic explosions caused by Killy’s Gravitational Beam Emitter.
Another problem can be the style of story-telling and the story overall. It makes for a somewhat different, confusing reading and can be hard on first-time readers of the manga, making it almost necessary to read the manga more than once.
While I enjoyed the weird and outlandish technologies at play, I think Tsutomu Nihei went a bit too far during the Toha Heavy Industry arc and makes it one of the most confusing ones to follow and understand.
And yet, even with this criticism, I still think Blame! is an absolute visual masterpiece. It’s not something to be simply read, but it’s something to marvel at and to be immersed in.
Blame! is a manga with an intensely dark and brooding atmosphere, a unique setting which is portrayed by vast, colossal structures and frantic action sequences.
I’d recommend Blame! to anyone interested in visual story-telling, people who are fans of science-fiction and anyone who loves cyberpunk.
If you want to read Blame!, I recommend buying the complete set of the Master Edition released by Vertical Comics:
As a writer, I’ve always read novels, even at a young age. Another medium that was always close to my heart was manga, especially the seinen genre. While I also enjoy shonen manga, as you can see from my list of the best shonen manga, I usually prefer the seinen genre. I love stories that are more mature and convey deeper themes. That’s why I decided to share my list of the best seinen manga with you.
This is, of course, a personal list, so some popular or acclaimed titles might not be part of it. I also like to give a spoiler warning. While I’m not trying to give major plot points away in my review, it might be unavoidable.
But now, here’s my list of the 48 best seinen manga anyone should read.
Manabe Shohei is one of my favorite mangaka of all time. Dead End is one of his weirder manga, but one I thoroughly enjoyed and consider one of the best seinen manga.
Our protagonist is a man named Shirou who works as a construction worker. His life changes when a naked girl named Lucy falls into his life. After introducing her to his friends, he leaves the apartment only to come back to find Lucy gone and his friends slaughtered.
In the center of the carnage stands a mysterious man who saves Shirou from an explosion. He urges him to flee into the sewage system where Shirou meets another strange.
From this point onward Shirou gathers a rag-tag group of weird characters he supposedly knows from his past to figure out what’s going on.
While this premise already sounds strange, things only get weirder as the manga continues.
Dead End starts out realistic, more like a thriller, but over time it introduces more fantastical elements. It’s those elements that make the manga such a surreal and weird experience.
The reason I enjoyed Dead End so much was in large parts because of the characters. They are all absolute badasses.
Manabe Shohei’s works feature a very special art type. It’s unique and takes some time to get into. The backgrounds and surroundings are rendered in gritty detail. Yet it’s the characters that stand out the most. They are more realistic than other manga characters, but their unique design also makes them uglier than usual manga characters. This, however, is one reason I consider Manabe Shohei’s works so unique.
Dead End is a weird and surreal manga, one worthy to start this list of the best seinen manga with. If you’re looking for a raw, gritty and surreal thriller, you should definitely give this one a try.
Usogui by Toshio Sako is a manga about mind games and gambling and one of the best seinen manga of all time.
It’s the story of Baku Madarame who’s known as the Usogui, the Lie Eater and the many deadly gambles he takes part in.
Those games are watched over by the referees of Kagerou, a powerful organization which makes sure that all games are carried out satisfactorily and all best are paid.
Usogui gets crazy right from the start. After a brief introduction to our protagonist, we enter our very first death game. From here on out, things only get crazier.
The reason Usogui is such a fantastic manga is the games. They can be complex, but are never impossible to understand. A lot of times it’s not even the games itself the manga focuses on, but the many psychological tricks and ploys the characters employ to win them.
I also truly enjoyed the characters. Our protagonist Baku is the type who never shies away from a death game and who isn’t scared to confront overwhelming odds. Kaji starts out as a normal guy, and more a stand-in for the reader. Over the course of the manga, however, he grows as a person and eventually becomes a talented gambler himself.
The art might be a bit of a let-down, at least early on. It starts out rather simplistic and doesn’t stand out much. The longer the manga goes on, however, the better the art becomes and in later parts it’s downright fantastic.
Usogui is also one of the longest series on this list. The manga comprises a multitude of arcs, spanning over 500 chapters in total. However, it’s worthwhile reading it.
I had a lot of fun reading Usogui and I think it’s one of the best gambling and mind game manga out there. While so of the scenarios and games depicted are unconventional and extreme, I still enjoyed the suspense and tension. Usogui is one of the best seinen manga and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in gambling and mind games, especially the extreme kind.
Motor Mase’s Ikigami is set in a dystopian future. Under a strange law, the National Welfare Act, certain citizens between the age of eighteen and twenty-four are selected to die for their country.
Twenty-four hours before they die, they receive an Ikigami, a notification informing them of their fate.
These Ikigamis are delivered by government messengers, like our protagonist, Kengo Fujimoto.
Ikigami’s story is told in episodic fashion, showing us how different people react to the terrible news of their impending death and how they spend their last days. While some accept, others throw themselves into despair.
The manga also focuses on Kengo, who slowly develops his own doubts of the National Welfare Act.
Ikigami’s premise is as interesting as it is terrifying, making it one of the most thought-provoking and best seinen manga out there. It’s interesting to witness these different scenarios and people presented to us. Some storylines are heartfelt and beautiful while others are poetically tragic.
It’s those different episodes that make Ikigami so good and made me add it to this list of the best seinen manga.
The biggest problem with a manga such as Ikigami are the characters. While some are well done, and we can truly feel for them, they are never around for long.
Ikigami’s art is serviceable and does what it needs to do, but it’s rarely more than average. Some pivotal moments, however, are rendered in beautiful detail and.
I enjoyed Ikigami a lot and I think it’s worth reading for almost everyone out there. While it’s a more episodic manga, it’s also a deep and thought-provoking one. I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d spent my last day.
I first read Eiji Otsuka and Shouu Tajima’s MPD Psycho a few years ago. Back then, the manga was relatively new with only, but it still stayed on my mind.
A year ago I revisited it and enjoyed it even more. By now I consider it one of the best seinen manga out there.
MPD Psycho isn’t for everyone though. It’s a complex and confusing psychological manga with a lot of scenes of shocking violence.
It’s the story of Kazuhiko Amamiya, a man suffering from multiple personality disorder. He works as a detective and solves multiple violent crime cases and sick murders.
The result is presented to us in all their twisted and sick glory. That’s why this manga is not for the faint of hard, and goes almost too far.
MPD Psycho’s art is clean and very detailed and features some of the most realistic character design I’ve ever seen.
What I’ve mentioned so far might make the manga sound like a slaughter fest, but it’s far from it. It’s a highly psychological manga that develops over time as a complex plot related to Amamiya’s post is revealed.
Yet, the more complex the manga becomes, the more confusing it grows. This is in part caused by the mystery of the plot, but also by Amamiya’s different personalities. It is tough to keep up with them and what they seem to aim for.
And here we come to the biggest problem with this manga, the personality shifts. At times, it’s hard to understand what’s going on or which personality is in charge.
Another problem is the aforementioned copious violence which might be off-putting to some readers. We can see bodies that have been dismembered, cut apart or heavily tortured.
MPD Psycho is a twisted and dark manga with deep psychological themes and a complex plot. If you like thriller manga and if you like dark, twisted stories, I highly recommend it to you.
When I first read Soil by Atsushi Kaneko, I didn’t know what I’d just read. And yet, I enjoyed the manga immensely and consider it one of the best seinen manga out there.
Soil differs from anything else I read. It’s weird, probably the weirdest manga on this entire list.
The manga’s set in Soil New Town and details what happens when a family vanishes without a trace. Yokoi and Onoda, two detectives, are tasked with uncovering what happened. What seems like a routine case quickly gets out of hand as more details about the town and the missing family are revealed.
Soil’s art is very different and takes some getting used to. At first it might appear simplistic, amateurish even, but if one’s willing to read one, one realizes that it’s a very deliberate and unique style. This art shines the most when it showcases the bizarre events happening in Soil New Town. The more surreal the town becomes, so does the art.
The characters in Soil are realistic, complex and all stand out from one another. You won’t find any clichéd characters here. Instead, most of them act like realistic people and are heavily flawed. However, those flaws can be a bit overdrawn, especially in the character of Yokoi.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Atsushi Kaneko created those eccentric characters to add to the overall odd atmosphere so prevalent in the manga.
Soil is a manga that is filled to the brim with weird things. One has to be impressed. It makes it different and refreshing and an entirely surreal and unique experience.
This, however, is also one of the biggest problems with the manga. Soil, especially in the latter half, feels more like an exercise in weirdness than a coherent story. Atsushi Kaneko adds more and more weird elements, making it almost impossible to understand what’s going on anymore.
This is most prevalent in the ending. It isn’t so much an ending as it is another question. I found some interpretations on the internet, but most of them are nothing but mere guesses.
While I think Soil is flawed from a storytelling point of view, I can’t help but recommend it to everyone. It’s one of the most surreal and weird experiences I ever had in manga.
If you’re looking for a manga that’s different, and you enjoy surreal imagery, read Soil, it’s one of the best seinen manga in that regard.
It took me a while to decide if I’d include Inio Asano’s Oyasumi Punpun in this list. The more I thought about it, however, the more I had to admit that it’s one of the best seinen manga of all time.
If you’re familiar with Inio Asano’s work you can already tell that this won’t be your everyday manga. No, his works are famous for being depressing.
Our protagonist, Punpun Onodera, is a normal eleven-year-old boy. His life is fine, but that soon changes. First Punpun meets Aiko, the new girl in glass and quickly comes to learn how fickle relationships can be. Over the course of the manga we learn more about Punpun, about his family and friends and watch as this shy little boy turns down a dark path.
Oyasumi Punpun is a depressing manga. Punpun’s life is filled with romantic problems, family issues, alcohol as well as depression and anxiety. It’s one of the best manga I ever read, but it’s far from an easy read. There many raw, gritty details that showcase how even the smallest of things can influence us. That’s what makes Punpun so relatable. Each one of us has experienced his share of misery, and each one of his can, on some level, relate to Punpun.
Over the course of the manga, we get multiple glimpses into Punpun’s life. At first as a little boy, then as a high school student and ultimately a young adult.
Punpun’s art comes with Inio Asano’s unique style. It’s a beautiful manga, drawn more realistically, but also grittier and gloomier. This style adds a lot to the overall, depressing atmosphere of the manga.
The most interesting thing about the manga is that Punpun and his family aren’t drawn as people. Instead, they are drawn as comical, bird-like beings. At first, this confused me, almost made me drop the manga, but I soon realized why this was the case. It was an obvious choice by Inio Asano to better convey Punpun’s emotions and reactions and to make him stand out more amongst the realistic setting.
While Punpun is a major manga, featuring its fair share of nudity, there’s never any fan service. The only reason for nudity and sex is to make us uncomfortable.
There are a lot of characters in Punpun and many of them are damaged. The manga isn’t trying to present us with likeable, good-hearted characters, but with real people. No one is perfect and no one would be an ideal protagonist, and it’s the same with Oyasumi Punpun’s characters.
I enjoyed the earlier parts of Punpun the most. It was the innocence so prevalent during those parts, but also the feeling, the knowledge that it would all go downhill. Later on, especially during the last arc, the story felt almost too dramatic. Before, the story always felt real, was always relatable, but during the last arc, things spiraled out of control far too much. It’s for that reason I consider the last arc of the manga its weakest.
Another problem was the story’s deviation in later arcs and the focus on side-characters. I think Punpun’s friends are interesting characters, but the time spent with them almost felt like filler.
Punpun can also feel pretentious and self-indulgent. While I don’t mind a mangaka discussing deeper themes and conveying his own reasoning, it fell flat at times and seemed to be there only for the sake of being there.
And yet, Oyasumi Punpun is a fantastic manga and one of the best seinen manga of all time. It’s deeper and more depressing than most other works I’ve read, but also much more realistic.
If you want to read a story, that will make you uncomfortable and depressed, Punpun is exactly that. However, it’s not merely misery porn, it’s a thought-provoking read, one that shows how easy it is to fall into darkness.
Battle Royale is one of my all-time favorite movies. When I learned there was a manga adaption, I had to check it out. It’s not without flaws, but I still consider it one of the most disturbing and best seinen manga of all time.
The manga adaption by Masayuki Taguchi and Koushun Takami is, of course, a retelling of the original novel. However, it spends much more time on the individual characters, exploring their backstory and adding details here and there. The manga also alters the source material occasionally to make things more dramatic.
The story of Battle Royale is simple. Each year a class is selected for the titular program and the students have to kill themselves until only one remains.
When his class is chosen for the program, our protagonist Shuuya Nanahara makes it his goal to get off the island without taking part in the game.
Battle Royale features one of the most disturbing settings of all time. Forcing students, even friends, to kill each other to survive is sick, and the manga doesn’t sugarcoat things either. Instead, it focuses on showing us how different people would react to a situation such as this. While some give into despair, others set out to win at all costs.
What I enjoyed the most about the manga was the many additional details we learned about each character. However, the manga also overdramatized a lot of the events. In typical manga fashion, fights are over-the-top and often last entire chapters.
Battle Royale’s art does a great job in showing us the gruesome reality of the situation and doesn’t shy away from depicting gore in glorious detail. However, sometimes it feels a bit too copious, similarly to the sexual themes depicted. The art, however, is always good.
Still, Battle Royale has its share of problems.
The biggest one lies in the design of the characters. It’s frankly said, extremely unrealistic. While the students are supposed to all be of the same age, around fifteen, some of them look like they are no older than ten, while Kawada looks like a man in his thirties.
The formulaic approach to tell the story is also a problem. The manga follows a simple concept. It introduces a character, shows us his or her backstory before they are, ultimately, killed off. It gets old quickly.
The last thing is the aforementioned over-dramatization. The movie and the novel aim to make things realistic and confrontations rarely last more than an instant. In the manga, however, things often get out of hand and we witness characters fighting on after being shot, or even disemboweled. It goes a bit too far.
This doesn’t mean that Battle Royale is a bad manga, it’s just realistic. This, however, didn’t deter my enjoyment. No, I still consider it one of the best seinen manga out there.
If you’re a fan of the movie Battle Royale and want to dive deeper, I highly recommend this manga. The same is true if you’re a fan of death games or manga featuring kill or be killed situations.
Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto is a retelling of one of the most popular classical manga of all time, Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka.
I never read Astro Boy and when I started reading Pluto I didn’t know, the manga was inspired by it. It made reading it quite a different experience.
The manga begins when one of the seven most advanced robots in the world, Montblanc, gets murdered.
Gesicht, another one of the seven most advanced robots working as a detective for Europol is sent to investigate. Before long he uncovers evidence of a plot to destroy all the world’s most powerful robots related to a mysterious entity known as Pluto.
When Gesicht realizes that the murder couldn’t have been committed by a human, the story soon gets more interesting.
Naoki Urasawa is most famous for his manga 20th Century Boys and Monster, but Pluto is another fantastic manga by him. It’s a great mystery manga and clearly one of the best seinen manga out there. The story follows Gesicht as he uncovers a world-wide-plot.
At Pluto’s center, is the relationship between robots and humans. This is especially important because Gesicht himself is a robot.
Even though, the boundaries between humans and robots have become more and more fleeting, we witness many examples of anti-robot hate. It shows that not all is well in the futuristic world of Pluto.
Pluto’s impressive plot is one reason I considered it one of the best seinen manga. Many times the gripping mystery kept me guessing what was going on and I couldn’t help but read on.
Once again Naoki Urasawa reveals his mastery of storytelling and plot development. Many manga use new characters and events to move a plot forward. Not so Naoki Urasawa. Plot is a more intimate story, much more reliant on dialogue and interaction between characters.
Gesicht himself is a very complex character. Even though he’s a robot, he’s still haunted by his own demons.
The biggest problem with Pluto is one I’ve also encountered in his other works, namely that the story reaches its peak during the middle of the manga. It’s unfortunate, but the later volumes feel a bit lacking compared to the earlier ones.
Now don’t get me wrong, Pluto is still an amazing mystery manga and one of the best science-fiction manga out there. It’s set in a fantastic, futuristic world and features an intriguing mystery. If you’re a fan of mystery manga or the other works of Naoki Urasawa, I urge you to read Pluto.
What makes Holyland such a fantastic manga are the characters and the way the story is told by them. From the moment you start reading the manga you can feel how lost Yuu is and how desperately he wants to find a place for himself.
At its core, Holyland is a coming of age story. Yet, it’s not a one man story. Yuu makes friends, but also enemies and many of them are as carefully developed as Yuu himself. The most notable examples are the characters of Masaki Izawa and Shougo Midorikawa. They too have their reasons for being out in the streets and they too are shunned by normal society.
Holyland isn’t without his faults. A lot of times, fight scenes are interrupted by explanations about the techniques employed. This often stops the flow of battles and makes it harder for them to be enjoyed.
Another problem is that Holyland is entirely character-driven. It focuses more on character development than plot. Since Holyland is a manga about street fights and action, things soon become repetitive.
It didn’t change my opinion of the manga much however and I still consider it one of the best seinen manga of all time.
When you start reading Holyland you quickly notice that the art, while unique, is also old-fashioned. It’s the type of style that takes a while to get used to, but it soon develops its own charm. This art stands out especially during the battles which are all rendered in fluid detail.
Holyland is a fantastic martial arts manga. While the story isn’t too deep, it makes up for it with amazing characters, great development and a relatability. Every one of us can understand how hard it is to find our own place in this world.
Holyland is one of the best seinen manga I ever read in terms of character development and I urge anyone interested in martial arts to give this manga a try.
Minetaro Mochizuki’s Dragon Head is an apocalypse manga.
After surviving a violent train wreck that saw many of his classmates killed, our protagonist Teru encounters two other survivors, Ako and Nobu.
While the three of them try to escape the train tunnel, the lack of light and food slowly impacts their psyche.
Eventually they make it outside, only to learn that a massive catastrophe has happened and the outside world might hold even more dangers.
Dragon Head’s major selling point are its characters. They are realistic and act like normal people thrown into a disaster. These characters are afraid; they lash out and might even go crazy.
The same is true for the story. There’s constant suspense and a prevalent feeling of hopelessness that never wavers. The more you read of Dragon Head, the more you wonder if there’s even anything left for our main characters.
Dragon Head is the best apocalypse manga I ever read. It’s a thrilling experience and the manga never takes a break. Instead, the world seems to become more and crazier the longer it goes on.
When it comes to the art, Dragon Head is fantastic. The world, the backgrounds and the general destruction are something to marvel it. Dragon Head’s destroyed world is presented to us in all its terrifying and depressing glory. It’s this beautiful, detailed rendering of an apocalyptic world that makes it stand out amongst other, similar manga.
In later parts, however, Dragon Head drags on a bit too much. Instead of a general plot, the manga heavily relied on character introspection. And yet, one has to wonder if it was done on purpose. The world is ending, so what is there to do anymore?
Another, bigger problem was the ending. The manga was simply over and we are left without a resolution and with no clear answers.
Even though it has its faults, Dragon Head still presents us with one of the best and most realistic depictions of the end of the world in the entire medium.
If you want to read a manga about survival and disaster, about destruction and the end of the world, Dragon Head is exactly what you’re looking for.
Shuuzou Oshimi’s Chi no Wadachi is a psychological masterpiece and one of the best seinen manga I’ve read in recent years. It’s a manga that focuses on trauma, abuse and manipulation.
Our protagonist, Seiichi Osaba, is a typical young boy. There’s one thing, however, he’s often made fun of, his overprotective mother. While she’s acting strange and a bit extreme, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary.
Until a certain incident changes Seiichi’s life and the way he thinks of his mother forever.
Chi no Wadachi might start out simple before it spirals out of control and becomes crazier and crazier.
The pacing of the manga is slow, however, but it’s slow for a reason. Entire chapters might be dedicated to the interaction between two characters. This slow, almost stifling way of storytelling adds a lot of tension and suspense.
There are a lot of moments and slow shots filled with suspense, so much so that it’s almost oppressive. The more I read on, however, the more I was drawn in and eventually got used to this style of storytelling. This focus on even the smallest of details makes Chi no Wadachi so great.
The art is yet another reason I consider this manga to be amongst the best seinen manga of all time. It looks stunning and gives a lot of focus on facial details. Some pages of the manga might be sparse, others dense, but it always helps to set the mood of the story. Where the art truly shines is during the many big page spreads.
Chi no Wadachi’s story might not sound too deep. What makes it so good is the way it’s told, the way we experience it. You can’t help but be disturbed by the portrayal of a toxic, manipulative mother and a young, insecure boy trying to please her.
The slowly, gloomy and depressing atmosphere of the manga might be a problem to some. The same is true for the suspense and tension, which might be a bit too much.
Overall, I think Chi no Wadachi is a fantastic psychological manga, one that’s told in rather unique fashion and truly worth reading.
I was drawn in by Ouroboros by Yuuya Kanzaki the moment I started reading it. When I finished it, I had to admit that I’d just read one of the best seinen manga of all time.
The manga tells the story of Ryuuzaki Ikuo, an investigator for the Shinjuku Police and Tatsuya Danno, a member of the yakuza.
When the two of them were children, they lived in an orphanage under their caretaker, Yuiko. Their happy life ended when the two of them witnessed her murder.
Ouroboros, similar to other manga, begins in a more episodic fashion, showcasing Ryuuzaki and Tatsuya, working together to solve various crime cases.
For most of its run time this episodic nature continues, but the general plot tying it all together becomes more and clearer as we learn more about the man they are after.
Ouroboros soon become one of my favorite manga about crimes and conspiracies. It might develop slowly, but the manga is never a boring read.
This overall plot is clearly the manga’s strongest point. Yukio’s murder is a mystery, one that becomes more and more complex and throws you off repeatedly.
Ouroboros’ art is enjoyable enough, but never truly outstanding. One thing I truly enjoyed was the realistic design of the characters. It helped to keep the story grounded in reality.
Our two protagonists were both interesting and complex. Yet, I’d have loved to see more of Tatsuya Danno and his underworld shenanigans, since he was, at least to me, the more interesting of the two.
There are also a lot of side-characters in Ouroboros, which are all interesting and well-developed in their own right.
My only problem with the manga was the overabundance of twists near the end. Things deteriorated a bit too much and became a little too clichéd near the end.
The manga kept me engaged throughout the entire run, however, and I truly enjoyed it and especially the setting.
The reliance of a more episodic nature might daunt some and so might be the first volumes of the manga that reveal little about the overall plot. If you like those parts, however, you’ll love the rest.
Ouroboros is clearly one of the best seinen manga in the crime and underworld genre.
I’m a big fan of manga featuring the underworld and Sanctuary by Buronson and Ryoichi Ikegami was right up my alley.
It’s the story of two men who want to change Japan. One is Akira Houjou, the other Chiaki Asami. The two of them feel Japan is stagnant and set out to push the country into a new age to create their very own sanctuary.
To accomplish this, the two of them set out on different paths. While Asami aims to become Prime Minister, Houjou sets out to seize control of the underworld.
The best thing about Sanctuary is this dualism of the plot. One part centers on politics, the other on organized crime.
Over the course of the manga, our two protagonists encounter various adversaries. Some are ambitious hot-shots and yakuza bosses others are hardened politicians and diet members.
Sanctuary is a fun, suspenseful ride. I guess I’m a fan of power fantasies and Sanctuary is among the best of them. What makes things even more interesting is that Sanctuary, mostly, is grounded in reality.
Now while Sanctuary was interesting and kept me reading for the plot, it was also really cool. Many of the characters are absolutely amazing and pure badasses.
The art in Sanctuary is typical for the 90s, but not bad. Characters look professional and badass at the same time and many of the wide shots are gorgeous to look at.
The biggest issue with Sanctuary is the aforementioned realism. While Sanctuary is set in the real world and aims to be realistic, it slowly becomes more and more unbelievable. And yet, while many of the political intrigues and twists were unrealistic, I still had a great time following them. This is in large parts because of Isaoka who was probably the best character in the entire manga and a fantastic adversary.
Things spiraled out of control near the end. It was still enjoyable, and I wanted to see how things ended, but by then I’d long abandoned the idea of realism.
Another problem is the depiction of woman. Sanctuary is a manga centered about manly characters and any woman who are there are prostitutes, sex objects or serve as love interests to our main characters.
Still, I had a great time reading Sanctuary. It reminded me of certain over the top gangster movies or polit-thrillers. It might not be too realistic in the long run, but it sure is a lot of fun. Asami’s plotline is full of suspense while Houjou’s is full of action. This combination makes Sanctuary one of the best seinen manga I ever read. If you are into crime manga and political intrigue, you could do worse than to read Sanctuary.
Tokyo Ghoul is a manga created by Ishida Sui and is another long and vastly popular series. It’s by many considered one of the best seinen manga of recent years.
The manga tells the story of Ken Kaneki. He’s a reserved college student who encounters a beautiful young woman named Rize at a café. The two of them bond over their love for books.
Unbeknownst to Kaneki, Rize is a ghoul and driven by her hunger for human flesh attacks him.
Ghouls are creatures with superhuman powers who mingle amongst humans and need to feed on them to survive.
Kaneki miraculously survives the encounter and is saved by Dr. Kanou. He soon learns, however, that he’s now part ghoul and can’t stand normal food. He finds refuge at Anteiku, a café and a safe house for ghouls.
Over the course of the story, we are introduced to a plethora of interesting characters and learn more about ghouls.
Early on the story focuses on Kaneki, how he comes to terms with his new life and the characters he encounters. The story takes up steam however, as newer and more dangerous threats are introduced.
The manga’s continued in a sequel called Tokyo Ghoul:re which expands the plot and the world of Tokyo Ghoul.
Tokyo Ghoul’s art is one of its biggest selling points. The manga has both fantastic creature design and character design. Backgrounds look fantastic and the entire manga is filled with a gloomy dark atmosphere. Ishida Sui accomplishes this with his inky art style, which is perfect in setting the mood.
Another thing I greatly enjoyed were the many battles. Especially the various weapons and the ghoul’s kagune showed some fantastic design. And yet, sometimes the battles could be a bit confusing. This is mostly the case in Tokyo Ghoul:re where the battles are on a larger scale and lots of people are involved.
Tokyo Ghoul’s characters are a tough point for me. I grew to like some of them while I disliked others. Kaneki, our protagonist, is one of the prime offenders.
Early on he’s a shy, reserved boy, but over the course of the manga and after certain significant power-boots he quickly becomes a force to be reckoned with.
Another thing is his edginess. Sure, Kaneki had some bad things happening to him and he’s clearly going through some serious trauma, but at times it feels a bit too much.
The characters I enjoyed the most were supporting characters like Arima, Urie or Amon.
Another glaring problem of Tokyo Ghoul comes from its most prevalent theme, that of the tragic past. Over the course of the manga, we find out that a large part of the main cast suffers from this trope. I understand that the world of the ghouls and the CCG is a dark and brutal one. And yet, this seem is so common that it ultimately weakens its impact. Before long, I felt myself merely shrugging when another character’s tragic backstory was revealed, thinking, same old, same old.
Now those are of course not the only themes in Tokyo Ghoul. One I came to enjoy was the dualism of the two sides, the CCG and the ghouls. Neither side is truly good or evil.
While I enjoyed Tokyo Ghoul for all of its run, I found myself most invested in the earlier parts. Here the difference between ghouls and humans was still the most important part.
All of those flaws, however, don’t make Tokyo Ghoul a bad series. No, I enjoyed it a lot and I still believe it’s a fantastic manga and one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Tokyo Ghoul stands out for its gorgeous art, its battles and the fantastic design of creatures and weapons. I recommend this manga to anyone who’s looking for a darker, more complex and brutal manga.
Most of the time, I don’t enjoy comedy manga. So at first I was wary about One Punch Man by Yusuke Murata and One. I quickly came to realize, however, that it’s one of the best seinen manga at what it does.
The manga is centered on a single gag. Imagine a character is so strong he can defeat any enemy with a single punch.
This character is Saitama who sets out to become a hero and joins the Hero Organization. He soon becomes bored when he realizes just how strong he is and searches for a real challenge.
That’s basically it for the premise. It might sound simply, even silly, but it sure is a lot of fun.
As the manga continues, the story shifts more to the many side-characters introduced and their individual struggles. It presents a nice contrast to Saitama’s powers and is often used for comedic purposes.
The high point of the series is clearly the art which shines most during the various battles. One Punch Man is easily at the top of the medium in terms of art. The monsters are extremely detailed and fantastic to look at.
From the premise one might think that most battles are over quickly, but many focus on other characters. It’s often only in the end when Saitama shows up and ends things in a single blow.
The side-characters in this manga are fantastic, too. A favorite of mine is King, the world’s strongest man. I often laughed out loud when he was involved in the story.
One Punch Man features a plethora of characters. Some are more comical, others more serious, but they are all likeable. Another favorite character of mine is Garou.
What makes this manga, however, is the humor. As simple as the premise is, it never loses its charm. The art also adds a lot to this. Saitama is often depicted as a small, unimportant bystander before he’s shown as an absolute badass when he finally takes action.
One Punch Man has quickly become one of my favorite seinen manga of all time and is one of the best action and comedy manga out there. It’s extremely entertaining, a lot of fun and offers some of the best art in the entire medium.
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys is one of the greatest mystery manga of all time and one of the best seinen manga ever.
I read this manga years ago and it’s one of the first manga that comes to mind when I think of the best seinen manga.
The manga tells the story of Kenji Endo and his friends. At the end of the 20th century, Kenji is working at a convenience store.
The story takes up steam when he learns of the suicide of one of his friends, Donkey. At the same time, a cult, led by a figure only known as Friend, becomes more and more popular. Before long, Kenji realizes that this cult and the ominous figure of Friend are related to his childhood.
To find out more about the cult and Friend Kenji reunites with his childhood friends to find out the truth.
Naoki Urasawa’s art might appear simple at first glance. His mastery of the craft becomes clear, however, in his characters. Every single one of them has his own personality and is recognizable at first glance, even when the manga switches to different points in time. Backgrounds are very detailed and a pleasure to look at.
The reason 20th Century Boys is so good is because of the mystery, the relationship between the characters but also the way the story is told.
Conspiracy plots are nothing new and neither is saving the world. Yet, the way the story unfolds is masterfully done. What I loved the most was the inclusion of different timelines and the showcasing of childhood events. It was extremely well done, never confusing and helped to learn more about the various main characters.
20th Century Boys comprises three major arcs. The first is set during the end of the 20th century, the second in the year 2014 and the last during the 3FE, the third year of the so-called Friend Era. Included in all this are various flashbacks to the 60s and 70s when Kenji and his friends were children.
Of all those arcs, the last one, the Friend Era, was my least favorite.
The first two arcs of the manga were some of the best I read and I consider them to be some of the best in the entire mystery manga genre. They are masterfully told and you will guess repeatedly what’s going on.
The last arc, however, felt almost detached and too different from what had happened before.
Another pet peeve of mine is how so many people are in on the conspiracy. It almost feels as if our protagonists are not fighting against a conspiracy, but against the rest of the world.
Those problems, however, don’t change my opinion of the manga. 20th Century Boys is a fantastic manga. Because of its complex story and the way it’s told it is clearly one of the best mystery manga and seinen manga of all time.
The most visually stunning was chapter five, which was drawn in stunning full colors and was absolutely beautiful. This, however, was in contrast to the story, which was barely there.
My favorite amongst the collection was chapter one, which featured the titular hotel and even made me tear up a little.
There are few collections on this list of the best seinen manga, but I feel that Hotel truly deserves to be named here. The stories featured here might be emotional, others might be surreal, but they are all interesting and rendered in beautiful and stunning detail.
Hotel is a great read, and with only five chapters a quick one. It stands out, however, because of Boichi’s absolutely outstanding art.
I’m a big fan of science-fiction and especially cyberpunk and Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro is one of the best manga the genre offers.
Ido, a scientist, uncovers the remains of cyborg girl and restores her. She’s lost her memory, she he names her Alita and gives her a new cybernetic body.
From here on out, the story follows Alita as she finds her way in this new world. Over the course of the manga she changes from an innocent, almost childlike character to a battle-hardened badass.
The art is merely serviceable at the outset of the series, but improves in later parts. Where it stood out was during the many battle scenes. While the battles in Battle Angel Alita are intense, they are always fluid. This was most prevalent during the fantastic motor ball arc.
Battle Angel Alita is set in a gritty, post-apocalyptic world. Especially the city of Scrapyard, was a fantastic cluster of machines, factories and rubble. More so, it’s a cesspool where the worst criminal scum and cybernetic freaks gather.
Alita herself was an interesting main character, and I enjoyed her character development. She’s not your standard protagonist. Her story is more about finding her way in the world, more character-driven and about her than following a general plot.
Ido, too, is a complex character and his relationship with Alita can be seen as one between father and daughter.
The manga’s villains are a lot of fun too, especially the deranged bounty hunter Zapan who later turns into a full blow psychopath.
What I enjoyed were the deeper themes present in the manga. Battle Angel Alita toys with such things as the meaning of life, finding your own way and uncovering who you are, but it’s never shoved into your face and always part of the story.
The manga, however, is not free of flaws. The most obvious one is the art. It’s decent enough, but never truly stands out. The city of scrapyard and the general post-apocalyptic setting is beautifully done, but many of the characters feel unrefined and, at times, even cartoonish.
Some characters are also a bit overdrawn and to on-the-nose.
This is also true for Alita. I enjoyed her character growth a lot, but she’s still immature and arrogant for most of the story.
Still, Battle Angel Alita is an entertaining cyberpunk, science-fiction manga and among the best seinen manga I read. If you’re a fan of science-fiction or post-apocalyptic settings, you could do worse than to read Battle Angel Alita.
Some manga stand out because of their characters or their plot, others because of the world they create. Made in Abyss by Akihito Tsukushi is an example of the latter.
The titular Abyss is one of the most beautiful and stunning worlds ever created. I only read this manga recently, but I almost instantly fell in love with the abyss.
The manga tells the story of Riko, a young girl who lives in the town of Orth which is built around the abyss. The abyss is a giant chasm that has never been fully explored.
Riko is the daughter of a White Whistle, a famous cave raider who explored the abyss. After her mother’s disappearance, it’s Riko’s dream to become a White Whistle as well.
The story begins when Riko uncovers a robot boy called Rengu on an expedition to the abyss. She believes this encounter to be orchestrated by her mother and soon Riko and Rengu descend the abyss to find her.
Made in Abyss is a manga that can be best described as a mixture of science-fiction and fantasy. Its world is populated with various strange and bizarre creatures as well as interesting characters.
What makes this manga so good is the fantastic art. It’s amongst the most beautiful manga I’ve ever seen and clearly amongst the best seinen manga in that department. The level of detail used to illustrate the abyss is insane.
Early on the story starts out as lighthearted, especially because of the age of the characters. The deeper our protagonists descend into the abyss, though, the darker and more disturbing the story becomes.
The abyss has this overwhelming feeling of dread surrounding it. There are not only the bizarre creatures populating it but also the ‘curse of the abyss.’ This curse manifests when a person ascents from the depths of the abyss. The further one descended, the more painful it becomes, and eventually a return from the abyss becomes impossible.
One of the biggest problems with Made in Abyss are its characters. I’m not a huge fan of very young characters in manga. It makes me wonder why the author chose for Riko and Rengu to be that young.
Is it to relate to the adventurous feelings we all had as children, or was it a done as a contrast to the dangerous and alien world that is the abyss?
While I think this choice is strange, it didn’t deter my enjoyment of the series. The world building in Made in Abyss is excellent and each layer of the abyss serves to be more interesting than the last.
It’s a beautiful manga, one of the most beautiful I’ve ever read and presents its readers with one of the most unique settings ever.
I urge everyone to give this manga a try. It’s clearly one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Jagaaaaaan by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Kensuke Nishida is definitely one of the weirder manga on this list.
It tells the story of Shintarou Jagasaki, a young police officer who’s frustrated with his quiet and boring life.
On another boring day, he and his partner escort home a drunk man. On the train, they witness an office worker transforming into a twisted monster. The creature beings tearing apart the other passengers, but is ultimately defeated by Jagasaki with a bream he shoots from his hand.
Jagasaki quickly learns that the man was a fractured human, and he himself is one as well.
Fractured humans come into being when so-called frenzied frogs infest a normal person with a strong desire. When these people experience strong emotions and give into their desires, they transform into monsters. Some, like Jagasaki, however, are able to resist this temptation.
From this point onward; it’s Jagasaki’s task to hunt down fractured humans.
As crazy as this premise sounds, Jagaaaaaan proves to get even crazier as it goes on. As crazy as it is, however, I still consider it one of the best seinen manga I ever read.
I enjoyed the idea of people’s desire, causing them to become monsters. It adds a certain depth to an overall very weird series.
What stands out the most about Jagaaaaaan is the outstanding art. Kensuke Nishida’s art is fantastic throughout the board. I especially came to enjoy the monster design. Many of the fractured humans have a fantastic and horrible design.
The high point of the series are the battles. Over the course of the manga, Jagasaki becomes more and more powerful and as he does his own transformation becomes more impressive to look at. What starts out as nothing but a handgun soon turns to a rival and later even crazier things.
Having read Muneyuki Kaneshiro’s Kamisama no Iutoori and its sequel, I knew the author’s tendency for weird characters. Jagasaki is no different. He’s quite the weirdo, and we know it right from the first chapter. And yet, there’s something realistic about his frustration with life, something relatable. Over the course of the manga, however, Jagasaki changes and slowly turns to someone who values the people by his side.
The many side characters in Jagaaaaaan are interesting as well. Many are fractured humans, like Jagasaki. While some of them are more normal, it’s the crazy ones who are truly interesting.
What’s important about Jagaaaaaan is that it’s a mature manga, so it’s got its fair share of explicit content. The manga isn’t shy to present us with gore, nudity and sex.
One criticism I have with the series is the pacing. While the first chapter works well to introduce us to the setting and premise, I still think it was a bit too rushed. This, however, is only a minor criticism.
Jagaaaaaan is a weird and twisted manga, but a great one. It’s full of action, gore and its share of depraved acts, but never just for the sake of it. Even though Jagaaaaaan is a horror manga, and one of the best in the genre in recent years.
For all its disturbing and depraved content, I still enjoyed the manga a lot and consider it one of the best seinen out there.
If you’re looking for a weird manga, check out the first few chapters or the first volume of Jagaaaaaan. If you enjoy those, you will enjoy the rest of the manga.
What makes it special is that all those stories are only a few pages long. They don’t focus on plot, but are rather short, creepy incidents involving ghosts or supernatural entities.
Each chapter comprises several incidents all center on a certain topic. It can be a location such as a hospital or a concept like uninvited guests.
It might sound strange that Fuan no Tane doesn’t have a plot. But this is exactly why the manga works so well and is one of the best at what it does.
Fuan no Tane doesn’t set the scene or introduces characters, but only presents us a creepy incident. Because of this, the manga can fully devote itself to being creepy and scary.
The art is unique and sketchy, which helps to underline the general atmosphere. It is, however, not outstanding and can’t compare to some of the better manga on the list.
Fuan no Tane is definitely not for everyone. It’s a special type of horror, one that doesn’t bother with plot or characters and thus might alienate readers.
If this is what you’re looking for, pure scares, then Fuan no Tane is definitely worth your time. I consider it one of the best manga in the horror genre and one of the best seinen manga.
Knights of Sidonia is Tsutomu Nihei’s longest series to date. It can best be described as a mecha-space manga. If one’s familiar with Nihei’s earlier works, one might notice a diversion from his usual style of storytelling, one might even call it mainstream-friendlier.
What’s the same, however, is his outstanding art and his complex world-design.
While I don’t think Knights of Sidonia is as good as Blame! or Biomega, it’s still one of the best seinen manga of all time.
The manga tells the story of Nagate Tanikaze. He lives aboard the Sidonia, a spaceship that fled after earth was destroyed by the Gauna, a powerful alien species. These Gauna are still in pursuit of the Sidonia and attack it relentlessly.
For most of his life, Nagate Tanikaze has lived in the depths of the ship without contact with other human beings.
The story begins when he finds his way to the populated portions of the ship. There it quickly becomes clear that he has innate abilities as a fighter pilot. And thus, he becomes the pilot of a Gardes, giant mechs designed to fight the Gauna.
As I mentioned, Knights of Sidonia is more mainstream than Nihei’s other series. Many of his earlier works had a dark and gritty feel to them and were gloomy and quiet.
Knights of Sidonia differs from them, at least to a part. While the fights are still presented to us in a gritty and dark atmosphere, the rest of the manga feels much more conventional. People living on the Sidonia have fun, hang out, joke around or fall in love.
Even though, Knights of Sidonia still looks and feels like a Nihei manga. His architectural design is still as grand and ambitious as always. The alien Gauna are rendered in beautiful detail and are entirely unique. Later in the mange we even encounter entities that remind us more of the silicon life from Blame!
While Knights of Sidonia features lighter elements, it’s still a seinen manga. Death is an everyday occurrence and so are destruction and danger.
My biggest quarrel with the series is the ending. It feels strange and a bit too happy and even cheesy.
For most its time, however, Knights of Sidonia is still one of the best space opera manga out there and definitely one of the best seinen manga.
If you’re a fan of space or Tsutomu Nihei, you should definitely check it out.
Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira is one of the most influential manga of all time. It spawned the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre and also one of the most influential anime movies of all time.
It’s held in very high regard and many fans consider it to be one of the best manga ever created.
The story is set in the dystopian cyberpunk city of Neo Tokyo. It’s a futuristic hell that combines technology and skyscrapers with poverty, revolutionaries and biker gangs.
Our protagonists are two bikers, Shoutarou Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima. The two of them are best friends, but also bitter rivals. One day, Tetsuo pulls a desperate stunt to prove himself and sets into motion the events that lead to the awakening of Akira, a secret government project.
Akira’s story is one about government conspiracies, secret experiments and megalomania.
What makes Akira one of the best seinen manga is Katsuhiro Otomo’s fantastic art. It brings to life the dystopian hell that is Neo Tokyo in all its detail. We can see cracks in streets and buildings, rubble in dirty corners or marvel at high-rising skyscrapers.
We can especially see Katsuhiro Otomo’s mastery in the later chapters when he presents apocalyptic destruction in all its glory.
The characters’ visual design is also fantastic. They all look stunning and unique. The same, though, can’t be said for their personality. Many characters seem more like arch-types than actual people.
Tetsuo is an edgy teenager who wants to be at the top while Kaneda is a badass biker boy.
Tetsuo is clearly the more interesting of the two, especially in earlier chapters. He’s scary, almost chilling, but remains tragic and even sympathetic.
One of the biggest problems in Akira, however, is the story. The manga is often more style than anything. While I love to watch the massive destruction caused by psychic powers, none of them are ever clearly established.
I enjoyed Akira the most when it focused on biker gangs, drug orgies, and government conspiracies. It’s also here that the cyberpunk elements and the dystopian setting come to shine the most.
None of those flaws ruined Akira for me. Having read Katsuhiro Otomo’s other works and watched the movie version of Akira, I knew what I was in for. I knew it wouldn’t be a hard-science-fiction manga. What I wanted to see was outstanding art, a cyberpunk setting and a storyline about a crazy megalomaniac. That was exactly what I got.
Does Akira deserve the hype it gets? In my opinion, yes and no. Akira’s massive influence on the manga and anime genre can’t be overstated, but similar to other pivotal works it doesn’t truly life up to its reputation.
Still, in terms of art and setting, Akira more than holds up. Katsuhiro Otomo’s art is gorgeous and amongst the most detailed in all of manga.
Once you look past the almost one-dimensional characters and the sometimes lackluster plot, you get to experiences some of the greatest art and one of the best cyberpunk settings in the entire manga.
While I think Akira is flawed, I still consider it among the best seinen manga of all time.
There are weird manga, and there is Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida. While the manga’s set in a dark, grim and brutal world, it’s still full of absurdist humor.
The manga is set in the city of Hole which is connected to the Sorcerer’s World. This connection has made the city the perfect testing ground for magic users.
Magical atrocities are a daily reality for the people living in Hole.
Our protagonist Kaiman, a man with a reptilian head and suffering from amnesia, believes himself to be another victim of magic users. Together with his female friend Nikaido, he hunts them down to find out what happened to him and who he really is.
This premise might be weird, but the story only proves to get much, much weirder over the course of the manga.
There is, however, a strange dualism to Dorohedoro. It mixes death, carnage and gore with comedy and lightheartedness. It’s a strange mixture that’s unlike anything I’ve read before.
Another thing praiseworthy about Dorohedoro is the art and the world its set in. The decrepit city of Hole and the surreal Sorcerer’s World are both beautiful to look at.
The same can be said about the cast of characters. They are all unique, be it the disfigured inhabitants of Hole or the outlandish magic users populating the Sorcerer’s World.
The most interesting thing about the cast of characters is that neither are presented as good or evil. Instead, Dorohedoro is a morally gray mush and almost all of its characters are likeable.
Early on the story centers on Kaiman, but we soon learn that he’s connected to both the city of Hole and the Sorcerer’s World. Dorohedoro’s plot is as strange as its presentation and one of the most original and creative ones I’ve read.
While Dorohedoro is often lighthearted and even humorous, it still features copious amounts of blood and gore. The longer the manga continues, the more outlandish, brutal and horrific the overall story becomes.
Dorohedoro is without a doubt one of the most original manga I ever read. And yet, one can’t help to wonder if all its weirdness and complexity is just there for the sake of it.
I urge anyone to read Dorohedoro. While it’s often humorous and lighthearted, make no mistake, this manga is not for the faint of heart.
Still, Dorohedoro is one of the best manga seinen manga I’ve ever read and anyone who’s interested in horror and especially surreal manga should check it out.
Shigurui by Norio Nanjou and Takayuki Yamaguchi is a samurai manga, but one of the best and most brutal the genre offers.
The story begins when the daimyo Tadanaga Tokugawa proclaims to hold a martial arts tournament with real swords and fights to the death.
The first fight is between a one-armed man, Gennosuke Fujiki and the blind and lame Seigen Irako. And yet, the manga doesn’t focus on the tournament, instead it focuses on the backstory of our two companions.
Shigurui’s high point is clearly the fantastic art. Characters, backgrounds and nature are beautiful and gore and brutality are rendered in stunning detail.
It’s not the art however, that makes Shigurui special, but its depiction of the brutal and unforgiving nature of samurai culture. In other manga, and media it’s often romanticized. Shigurui, however, doesn’t shy away from showing that it was despicable and the cause of many lost lives.
The most interesting thing about Shigurui is that it doesn’t distinguish between good and evil. The author shows the flaws of both characters and we come to understand that the true evil here is samurai culture.
Women in this manga are nothing more than attachments to samurai. They can be abused and exploited as seen fit and we witness it too in the form of Lady Iku and Mie Iwamoto.
Shigurui’s entire story gives of a feeling of depression. None of what we witness is good. There’s only the sword that forces people into a life of servitude and obedience in the guise of honor.
The manga’s plot is largely character-driven and showcases our character’s lives and how they were eventually driven to become mortal enemies.
And here the problems with Shigurui start. In later parts, the manga seems to lose focus and drags on a bit too much. An entire arc of the manga is also dedicated to two characters that have no relation to our protagonists and is brought to no resolution.
The reason for this is simple, however. The manga is based on a novel featuring the tournament held by Tadanaga Tokugawa. This novel itself features not only the fights but also the backstory if all the contestants. This begs the question if the manga was cut short and originally wanted to feature the entire tournament and all its contestants.
This might also explain the ending. While I thought it was a perfect ending for our protagonists and handled the overall themes satisfactorily, it still felt rushed.
Make no mistake, though, Shigurui is still a fantastic, brutal story. It features interesting characters and gives us a realistic view of samurai culture.
I regard Shigurui not only as one of the best seinen manga of all time but also one of the best samurai manga ever created. Anyone who’s interested in samurai culture and brutal fights should check this one out. It is, however, not for the faint of heart.
Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima might be the oldest manga on this list of the best seinen manga. This samurai manga is, however, an absolute classic and proved to be one of the most influential manga of all time.
The manga tells the story of Ittou Ogami. He was once the Shogunate’s chief executioner, but was framed for treason by the Yagyuu Clan. He was forced to flee with his young son and now lives as an assassin for hire, known as Lone Wolf and Cub.
Early on, the story is told in episodic fashion, featuring various assassination carried out by Ittou Ogami. Over the course of the manga, however, we learn more about our protagonist, his back story and the reason for his travels. Ittou Ogami has only one purpose, to get revenge against the Yagyuu Clan.
Lone Wolf and Cub is a fantastic manga both for its overall plot, but also for the many episodic stories told. Many of those are extremely well done, and convey more depth and emotion that many other, much longer manga.
While the art is old-fashioned, it’s still excellent. It’s gritty and realistic and lends itself perfectly to a traditional samurai story.
The best part is, of course, the many battle scenes. Even today, almost fifty years after the manga was published, they still hold up and make Lone Wolf and Cub one of the best sword fighting manga out there.
I also really came to like Itto Ogami’s character. At first he might seem like a cold-blooded assassin, a demon even, but we soon learn that he’s a much more nuanced character.
Lone Wolf and Cub might not be for everyone. It’s old-fashioned art and realistic presentation makes it different from other, flashier samurai manga.
And yet, it’s without a doubt one of the best seinen manga and samurai manga of all time. If you’re a fan of traditional Japanese stories and samurai manga, go check out Lone Wolf and Cub.
And now we come to one of the most graphical and most disturbing manga of all time, Ichi the Killer by Hideo Yamamoto. Incidentally, it’s also one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Hideo Yamamoto has really outdone himself when creating Ichi the Killer. While his older work is strange too, Ichi the Killer is batshit insane.
Ichi the Killer is the story of two men. One is Ichi, an ominous figure who kills his victims brutally. The other, is Kakihara, a deranged yakuza. When Kakihara’s boss vanishes, he tries to find him at any cost. Before long, he figures out what happens and begins his search for Ichi, which eventually leads to a confrontation between the two.
Ichi is nothing for the faint of heart. It’s a mature and graphical manga that features violence, torture, sexual abuse, rape and murder.
While Ichi relies on graphic violence, it’s no mere gore feast. Instead, it’s a psychological tale that explores various themes.
The most important one is that of sadism and masochism, but Ichi also features things such as identity disorder, childhood abuse, manipulation and much, much more. Yamamoto Hideo mixes all of those together and created one of the most deranged and best seinen manga of all time.
This, however, is what makes Ichi the Killer work so well. It doesn’t filter. Instead, we are subjected to the deepest depth of human depravity.
That’s what I enjoyed the most about Ichi the Killer, the mixture of brutal violence, over-the-top and insane characters and deeper themes. Over the course of the manga, there are quite a few twists and turns as we get to know our two protagonists. This is most prevalent in the character of Ichi, who’s much more complex than anyone would’ve guessed.
Ichi the Killer’s art is both unique and simplistic. One of the most notable things about the manga are overdrawn facial expressions that show the mental state of characters. Another thing is the violence which is shown to us in stunningly disturbing detail.
The driving force of the manga is clearly its two protagonists. Ichi and Kakihara are almost opposites which also serves to make the manga more interesting than it already is.
I already mentioned the brutal violence, and it can be a bit much. There are certain scenes that are quite disturbing and rough. The plot too, has some problems, namely that a few details are left unexplained or are unrealistic. Still, it didn’t deter my enjoyment, and it’s to be expected from a manga as insane as this one.
Ichi the Killer is definitely not for everyone. If, however, you can stand the brutal violence and the disturbing subject-matter, you’re treated to one of the best seinen manga out there. At its core, Ichi is an amazing psychological thriller.
Kingdom created by Yasuhisa Hara is one of the most popular historical and military manga of all time.
I had always heard good things about Kingdom and read it last year. I enjoyed it tremendously and think it’s one of the best seinen manga in its respective genres.
The manga’s story is set during the Warring States era of China. It details the events that led to the unification of China under the state of Qin.
During a rebellion against the soon-to-be king of Qin, Ei Sei, a young servant boy gets entangled in the matters of state. This young servant boy is Shin, our protagonist.
It’s from this point onward that Shin follows his path to becoming a Great General under the Heaven to help Ei Sei unify all of China under his banner.
The scope of Kingdom is grand and I think it’s one of the most ambitious projects in all of manga. Kingdom is currently close to 700 chapters long, and it’s far from over.
Kingdom’s focus is clearly on the large-scale battles that were common during the Warring states era. Those battles are presented to us in stunning detail.
During those battles we can witness armies numbering in the tenth or even hundreds of thousands. The greatest part of Kingdom’s battles isn’t scale, it’s the presentation of tactics and strategies. The manga goes into extreme detail when explaining the various engagements, as well as the tactics and strategies used.
Kingdom doesn’t solely focus on battles, though. Another important plot-point is the power struggle between Ei Sei and Ryo Fui, the Chancellor of State who plants to overthrow Ei Sei and become king himself.
As much as I loved the large-scale battles of Kingdom, I also came to enjoy the matters of state with all their intrigues.
In later chapters, Kingdom also illustrates the important events that take place in all the different states.
Kingdom’s scope is grand and the story that is told is fantastic, especially for someone who’s interested in history. For this alone it deserves to be added to any list of the best seinen manga.
Kingdom’s art is merely average at the beginning. During the very first arc, it was decent enough to get the job done, but nothing outstanding. As the manga continued, the art improved. Large-scale battles were detailed and the giant, walled cities of ancient China are a joy to look at.
A manga is grand as Kingdom also has a vast cast of characters. Some of these are truly fantastic, for example Ei Sei, Ryu Fui, General Ou Ki and Riboku.
There are also characters who I wasn’t as fond of. One of them is unfortunately, our protagonist Shin. Raised as a servant boy together with his friend Ri Hyou, the two of them dreamed to become generals in China and often sparred together.
These sparring matches and his natural talent somehow make Shin a force to be reckoned with. Over the course of the first arc, he not only battles against, but wins against experienced swordsman and hardened assassins.
This theme continues for the rest of the manga and Shin’s martial prowess feels unrealistic.
Shin’s characterization is also quite clichéd. He’s your typical hotheaded, young man who aims for the top because it’s the top. And yet, his young man is always recognized by those around him for his greatness. It, frankly said, feels forced.
Often, this isn’t too important though. Sure, Shin is the manga’s protagonist, but the focus is clearly on the general plot and the large-scale battles and the politics. We might witness the battles from Shin’s point of view, but the focus isn’t solely on him, but always on the overall battle.
The worst part of Kingdom, however, is the very first arc. During the Sei Kyo Rebellion arc, his faults are most glaring and the story is at its weakest. Early on, Kingdom doesn’t feel like a seinen manga, but more like a typical shonen manga.
This changes, however, when Chancellor Ryo Fui returns to court and when we enter our first large-scale battle. It’s from here on out that Kingdom proves to be one of the grandest and best seinen manga of all time.
A word of warning though, while Kingdom is a historical manga, it takes some liberties with the source material. This, however, shouldn’t be too surprising.
The problems outlined didn’t deter my enjoyment and once I was done with the first arc, I truly grew to enjoy Kingdom. If you decide to read Kingdom, make sure you read on until the very first large-scale battle. It’s here that Kingdom truly shines and becomes one of the best seinen manga.
The world of illegal money lending is a dangerous place. The people in Manabe Shouhei’s Yamikin Ushijima-kun get used, betrayed, tortured or even lose their life.
If you enjoy darker and more twisted stories, than this manga is perfect for you. It’s amongst the best crime manga out there and one of the best seinen manga I ever read.
Kaoru Ushijima, our protagonist, is a moneylender who offers cash loans. However, his loans are special, they have an interest rate of fifty percent and are to be paid back within ten days. Now, the first thing you might wonder is who’d take such an outrageous loan. Apparently there are many people, if you believe Yamikin Ushijima-kun. It’s people who are drowning in debt, who gave into their vices or simply the dregs of society.
The manga follows Ushijima on his path as he makes sure people pay him back and he takes from them all they have. Ushijima uses any means possible to get his money back, including prostitution, identity theft and extortion. He’s even willing to set the occasional example for those who think they can get away.
Yamikin Ushijima-kun is a realistic, grounded story that shows us the worst of humanity. Here we can see how deep you can fall and in just how much trouble you can get. There are no monsters here, no killers, there’s only people’s own mistakes and their desperation.
While most of the episodic stories end with characters in a terrible place, there are some rare glimpses of hope. They might feel a bit out of place in a manga such as this, but they make the manga much, much better.
And yet, most of the depicted stories are without a doubt tragedies.
We soon learn, however, that Ushijima isn’t the only bad guy out there. Over the course of the manga we see other people, people far worse than him.
What makes this manga so dark is how realistic it is. We all make mistakes in our life. Sometimes we have bad luck. And there are always people out there, who are preying on the weak.
Make no mistake, this manga isn’t meant to glamorize, it’s meant to be unpleasant. It focuses on the underbelly of society, the dark sides and does so in a fascinating way.
Manabe Shouhei’s art isn’t as refined as that of other manga. It’s gritty and almost dirty, but it’s exactly right for a manga such as this. The world of Yamikin Ushijima-kun isn’t a pleasant or clean world, no it’s a dark, gritty and dirty world.
The character design is unique, but many characters aren’t exactly pleasing to look at. But again, this helps to set the tone.
Many of the characters in this manga aren’t likeable. Our protagonist Ushijima is all business and has no scruples taking from people as much money as he can. And yet, you often come to root for him and not for the many other characters.
In later arcs, though, the manga’s focus shifts. Ushijima and his plots aren’t a focus anymore, instead it’s the stories of other people. It’s here that Yamikin Ushijima-kun truly shines. I enjoyed the earlier chapters a lot, but it was the later, longer arcs that I truly came to love. It’s here that the manga’s at its best and truly becomes one of the best seinen manga of all time.
It’s extremely interesting to follow people along, see the lives of different people and to witness what eventually drives them to Ushijima’s office.
Most of those characters aren’t sympathetic, and one’s hard pressed feeling sorry for them, but there are some fates that are truly heartbreaking.
Yamikin Ushijima-kun is a fascinating, dark manga that showcases the underbelly of society in all its glory.
While there are many crime manga out there, almost none portray the dark side of society just like Yamakin Ushijima-kun. It’s definitely among the best seinen manga out there, and well worth the read.
I love Gantz by Hiroya Oku. It’s one of the most insane manga I ever read.
One day, our protagonist Kei Kurono and his childhood friend Masaru Kato die in a tragic train accident. Soon after, they awake in a Tokyo apartment where a group of people, as clueless as them has gathered. In the room’s center sits a giant sphere called Gantz. It explains to them they now have to hunt aliens living among humans and are soon after teleported to a different location.
And thus begins the first of many brutal alien hunts.
With over 400 chapters, Gantz is one of the longest manga on this list. It’s well worth the investment though, especially since Gantz is high on action and, often, low on dialogue.
Gantz is a brutal, gritty series about people hunting aliens. It’s ripe on fluid action and glorified gore, and it’s exactly this that makes Gantz so good. The action and the violence are among the best in the entire manga genre, especially later when the scale and the danger seem to increase exponentially.
Yet, what makes Gantz stand out is not only the action and violence, it’s the sheer absurdity of the premise and the outstanding art. Each character is detailed and unique. The same goes for the aliens, who all have a fantastic design.
Gantz is a battle manga, and it knows it. Battles are amazingly drawn, the action is fluid, and the violence is brutal. The best part, however, is that the enemies aren’t cannon fodder. No, it’s the humans who often end up being torn apart and killed off. Death is normal in Gantz and characters die, many characters die.
While I love the action in Gantz, what truly made me appreciate it was its protagonist. Kurono starts out as an unlikeable and egoistic teenager. He’s the type of character that you almost can’t help but hate. As the manga progresses, however, he develops tremendously, grows as a person and eventually becomes the leader of the Gantz team. Whenever I think back to reading Gantz, the first thing that comes to mind is Kurono’s character development.
However, Kurono isn’t the only fantastic character in this manga. Almost all the supporting characters are fantastic in their own way and many of them have their own traits and abilities.
There are, however, some serious flaws with Gantz I’d like to point out.
Gantz is long, and I while reading I often had the feeling that Hiroya Oku as experimenting. There are quite a few plot points or even entire subplots that are never truly resolved and are just left hanging.
Another is the world of Gantz. The alien missions are dark, brutal and unforgiving, but so is the real world. We bear witness to severe bullying, rape, brutal violence and even a mass shooting.
The biggest problem I had with Gantz, however, was the last mission and the ending. The plot didn’t feel planned out anymore and felt almost as if Oku was making things up on the fly. Near the end Gantz turned very weird, and it’s never truly explained what was going on before the manga was brought to a rushed ending. I understand what Oku wanted to say, but it all happened too fast.
This, of course, doesn’t mean Gantz is a bad manga. No, it’s a fantastic manga. Gantz is a weird, brutal gory mess featuring some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in manga. The same is true for the monsters and their design.
While the plot can deteriorate a little, I still consider Gantz one of the best seinen manga of all time. Gantz is a series about hunting aliens, and during those missions it’s at its absolute best.
Shinobu Kaitani’s Liar Game is my favorite mind game manga of all time and also one of the best seinen manga of all time.
The story starts when Kanzaki Nao, an incredibly honest girl, suddenly finds herself a contestant in the Liar Game. It’s a game where you have to deceive and trick your opponent with stakes in the hundreds of millions.
It isn’t long before Nao is tricked and loses her money. When she finds out that Shinichi Akiyama, a genius swindler, is released from prison, she sets out to get his help. After initially rejecting her request, he soon helps her out and turns the first round of the Liar Game around.
What makes Liar game so good are the different games. They might appear simple early on, but over the course of the manga they get much more complex and interesting.
Liar Game is one of the best manga out there for anyone who’s interested in clever mind games and psychological ploys.
Even more interesting than the games themselves, are the many tricks and strategies used by our protagonist. It’s incredibly fun to watch them as they out-play each other repeatedly.
Liar Game’s art is good enough, but never outstanding. The characters are all rendered uniquely and the locations are nicely designed, but all of it is merely serviceable. One thing I found a bit annoying, however, were the over-exaggerated reactions of characters.
Another problem with Liar Game are its side characters. Many of them seem to be only there to represent a certain character type. Apart from a select few such as Yokoya and Harimoto, none of them are a match for Akiyama. Once the aforementioned characters show up, however, the manga becomes much more interesting and reaches new levels of suspense. It’s especially because of the games featuring them that are outstanding and truly make Liar Game one of the best seinen manga.
What might also alienate some readers are the explanations of many of the games. They can become drawn out and overly complex.
There’s also the ending which I found anti-climactic and which felt to me as if the manga was cut short.
Still, I enjoyed Liar Game immensely. While some of the earlier games are easy enough, things get truly interesting during the Contraband Game. It was during this game that my mind was literally blown by the sheer complexity and the many strategies used.
Liar Game is absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a complex mind game manga.
I came upon Bokutachi ga Yarimashita while searching for other works of Kaneshiro Muneyuki. When I started it, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. Soon enough though, it turned out to be one of the darkest and best seinen manga I ever read.
The manga centers about Tobio Masubuchi and his three friends Isami, Maru, and Paisen. Most of their days are spent leading an average life. Things change when Maru’s beaten up by delinquents from a neighboring school. Together the friends hatch a plan to get revenge.
What was nothing but a little prank quickly turns into deadly reality and their normal lives end.
Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is a fantastic manga about psychological themes such as guilt and redemption. It’s also one of the darkest and most depressing manga I ever read.
Reading this manga was one of the most unique experiences I ever had. It’s a story ripe with tension, but more so one that makes you uncomfortable on a deep psychological level.
What this manga succeeds at the most is the storytelling and the plot. It keeps you engaged throughout the entire run and the pacing is fantastic.
The art is pretty good, but it truly shows in terms of facial expressions and the showcasing of the characters’ emotional state.
However, what truly makes this one of the best seinen manga of all time are, without a doubt, the characters. The story of this manga is entirely character-driven. But here’s the major difference with Bokutachi ga Yarimashita, the characters aren’t heroes; they are normal everyday people. Hell, they are weak and immature, the type who don’t think about the consequences of their actions.
It’s extremely interesting to see these people handle the situation they find themselves in and of course the psychological and emotional toll it takes on them.
Bokutachi ga Yamashita not only presents us with topics such as guilt and redemption but also friendship, love, and life itself. It’s a deep character study and there’s no magical ending here. Life goes on and at the end, our characters have to live with the consequences of their actions.
It’s a fantastically dark and suspenseful manga. Reading Bokutachi ga Yarimashita was an experience for sure. It presents its reader with a deep look at the human psyche.
It’s clearly amongst the best seinen manga and was probably the best manga I read last year.
Homunculus is another manga by the creator of Ichi the Killer, Hideo Yamamoto. While it’s not as brutal and disturbing as Ichi the Killer, it’s much, much stranger.
Homunculus tells the story of Susumu Nakoshi, a homeless man living in his car. One day he encounters Manabu Ito, a young medical student. Manabu is doing research about a process known as trepanation, the drilling of holes into the human skull, and asks Nakoshi to become his test subject.
Nakoshi eventually agrees to undergo the procedure. From then on, he’s able to see distorted versions of humans, the titular homunculi.
Homunculus is not only one of the most unique but also one of the best seinen manga of all time. Yet, it starts out interesting, but it soon becomes very strange.
The manga deals with various themes, such as vanity, trauma, identity disorder and materialism, to name a few.
Homunculus features its fair share of disturbing scenes, both violent and sexual, but also other scenes that are uncomfortable on a deeper, more psychological level.
The story of this manga can almost be described as a slow, but steady descent into madness.
It’s because of this that the manga often feels unpredictable. Right from the beginning we can tell that something’s off about Nakoshi and after the trepanation it becomes more a character study than a straight plot.
What I loved the most about Homunculus was the art and the strange story it told. For those two reasons alone, it’s a worthy addition to a list of the best seinen manga of all time.
The art is abstract disturbing at others, but it’s always detailed.
Our protagonists, Nakoshi and Manabu, are both interesting in their own way, and are both complex and flawed people. Over the course of the manga their interactions are masterfully done and slowly, but steadily reveal more. Neither of the two is a clichéd character, and the same can be said about the various side-characters featured in the story’s course.
It’s near the end, though, that Homunculus derails and turns from a deeper psychological story to one of surreal insanity.
To me, the biggest problem with the manga is the ending. It stayed on my mind for a long while, but I still can’t say what I truly think about it.
Homunculus is a psychological masterpiece and one of the most unique and surreal manga I’ve ever read. It’s a deep, psychological story that features some of the most complex characters I ever came upon.
For the sheer creativity alone, and for its psychological themes alone, this manga is well worth reading.
Freesia is a manga I go back to repeatedly. It’s a weird, surreal story and one of the best seinen manga I ever read.
The manga is created by Jiro Matsumoto, the creator of Keep on Vibrating.
Freesia is set in a dystopian Japan plagued by war. In this society, a new law has been passed, one that legalizes retaliatory killings. This means you’re legally allowed to kill someone who murdered a loved one or hire someone to do the job for you.
Kano, our protagonist, is a man who works for an organization that specializes in retaliatory killings.
This manga’s story isn’t pleasant, and it presents us with a set of horrible and insane people.
Freesia’s world is a dark and cruel one, a gloomy one, and there’s a dark, depressing feeling prevalent throughout the entire work.
The art in Freesia isn’t pretty to look at, but it doesn’t want to be. The style is unique. It’s raw, gritty and unpolished. Backgrounds are detailed while faces are often simplified. It’s an interesting contrast that feels oddly fitting for a story such as this.
The cast of this manga is full of broken and damaged people. One can almost tell that Jiro Matsumoto discarded the idea of presenting us well-adjusted, sane people.
Kano, our protagonist, suffers from schizophrenia, delusions and memory failure. Yet, Kano understands that it’s not the world, but he who’s crazy.
Other members of the cast suffer from similar problems, the most prevalent being delusions and hallucinations. This shows in the manga itself. Sometimes scenes don’t appear to make sense, or appear strange, until we learn the truth about what’s really happening.
Freesia might appear to be a story about retaliatory killings, but it focuses more on personal stories. It gives us insight into both our main characters and the people they are tasked to kill.
This helps especially in fleshing out the extras, the targets of the retaliator killings. It makes these characters sympathetic and turns many of the killings into tragedies of their own right. It also shows us that the world is not black and white, but nothing but morally gray. This is another reason I consider Freesia one of the best seinen manga.
The world of Freesia isn’t safe, and atrocities are committed daily. Our characters too, are far from normal. Most of them are mentally ill and some even snap over the course of the story.
And yet, we never learn much about this world. The war is nothing but a backdrop, a reason for all the misery that’s happening.
It’s similar for our main cast. We’re only shown glimpses of their past, but we never truly learn who they really are. This, however, isn’t too much of a problem, since Freesia is mostly concerned with Kano and his point of view of the world.
Freesia might be a tough read for some people because of the prevalent theme of mental illness. It can confuse and irritate and cause scenes that are downright surreal.
This manga is dark, gloomy and depressing and clearly not for everyone. However, Kano’s portrayal, his delusions and hallucinations make it a surreal and unique experience and one of the best seinen manga I ever read.
If you’re looking for a dark and surreal story, read Freesia.
Junji Ito’s my favorite horror mangaka of all time, and I regard his horror collection as one of the greatest works of Japanese horror.
Most of the collection comprises one-shots, but there are also longer works in here. One is Ito’s adaption of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the other one of his most popular works, Tomie.
Junji Ito’s Tomie tells the story of a high school girl who gets murdered and dismembered. This, however, only proves to be the beginning of the tale because Tomie shows up the next day as if nothing happened. Soon enough the true horror in this tale is revealed. Tomie is a special type of being, one able to regenerate any injury and replicate from the smallest part. To add to this, she’s of entrancing beauty and drives every man into a senseless obsession about her and ultimately mad.
The story of Tomie is told in episodic fashion, but she’s never the protagonist. Instead, she’s always an enigma, always an evil.
This collection contains some of Ito’s best work. My favorites amongst those many stories are The Long Dream, Hanging Balloons, Lingering Farewell, Lovesick Dead and My Dear Ancestors.
Ito’s work stands out because of his unique and beautiful style. He’s a master at what he does.
Body horror is a common theme and his characters are often distorted and twisted, presenting the reader with gruesome imagery, violence and gore. Yet, Ito’s work stands out the most for his character reactions, especially their faces. Wide eyes, terrified faces and distorted expressions are rendered in stunning detail
Another element that makes Ito’s work stand out is the page turn. Ito’s a master of it and often ends a page with a character’s shocked or terrified expression. It’s only on the next page, after the page is turned, that he reveals the reason.
Ito’s stories often feature characters going mad, toying with things they don’t understand or giving into their desires.
These character’s, however, they aren’t heroes. Instead, they are nobodies, mundane people like you and me, going about their normal life only to stumble into horrific situations. Yet, these situations are often caused by things as mundane as his characters. Instead of monsters or killers, Ito’s stories feature things such as dreams, love, hair or even musical records who turn into deadly enigmas.
Junji Ito is in my opinion Japan’s best horror mangaka. If you’re horror fan and you want to enjoy the horror genre at its best, I urge you to read the works of Junji Ito.
There are certain stories that contain glances of absolute brilliance. Kenji Tsuruta’s Omoide Emanon is such a story and one of the best seinen manga of all time. It’s a beautiful short little story based on the novel by Shinji Kajio.
The story features a young man who’s returning home after his travels. On a ferry he meets a beautiful young woman. She introduces herself as Emanon and the two of them get to know each other.
While they have dinner together, she tells him her story.
There’s something about this manga. It has this warm, solemn atmosphere about it. It might be the way our protagonists meet or why the young man returns home, but it’s all strangely fitting together.
Omoide Emanon’s art is beautiful, and it paints a beautiful picture of a beautiful story. The characters are rendered very realistic. Emanon stands out especially. She’s beautiful and charismatic, but also ominous.
While it’s a short manga, barely a volume long, I’m surprised how many emotions were packed into it. This short little tale had more of an emotional impact on me than many other, much longer series.
However, sometimes it’s the smaller things in life that stay on our mind the longest. If you read Omoide Emanon, it might very well become one of these things.
Onani Master Kurosawa or Masturbation Master Kurosawa is a manga created by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota. I honestly thought a manga with a title like that wouldn’t be any good. Yet, after reading, I consider it one of the best seinen manga I ever read.
I first found out about the manga on an image board. Finding out what the title meant, I thought I knew what I was in for. Nothing but a big perverted joke. Still, I was intrigued and before long I realized I was entirely wrong.
Our protagonist is Kakeru Kurosawa, a fourteen-year-old, anti-social loner with a very special habit. Once school is over, he heads to a seldom-used bathroom at school to masturbate.
Before long he notices how the timid Aya Kitahara is bullied by two of the popular girls in class. He takes retribution into his own hands by doing what he does best.
Kitahara eventually figures out he’s the culprit and not only confronts him, but blackmails him to do the same to other girls who’ve crossed her.
This is the start of a strange, but heartfelt coming-of-age story.
The manga starts out humorous, and its earlier parts are often seen as a parody of Death Note. Over time, though, it gradually changes and becomes a sweet, inspiring story that tackles various serious topics.
Onani Master Kurosawa’s art gives a lot of emphasis on characters, bringing their expressions to life with its careful shading and its sketchy style. Backgrounds, however, are often simple and uninspired. The art is good enough to get the job done, but it’s never outstanding.
The manga truly stands out because of its character. Kurosawa is a well-rounded, believable and likeable character. It was surprising to me how a character who’s called the Masturbation Master can be so well done. This, of course, is mostly because of his development over the course of the manga.
Kurosawa is relatable and we as the reader get to know him intimately, no pun intended. We not only see what’s going on, or how he feels, no we come to understand him. It’s this intimacy that elevates Onani Master Kurosawa to one of the best seinen manga out there.
Almost all the important side-characters are as complex and realistic as Kurosawa. They might not develop as much as him, but they too change and we get to understand them as well.
What might be off-putting to some readers is Kurosawa’s fantasies. They can be disturbing, but one has to remember that he’s a teenager. Apart from those parts though, there’s no cheap fan service throughout the rest of the manga.
Onani Master Kurosawa proved to be one of my biggest surprises in manga. I thought it was nothing but a perverted joke, but it turned out to be one of the best seinen manga I ever read. It’s a sweet, well-told coming of age story I urge anyone to check out.
Tsutomu Nihei’s Biomega is a mixture of science-fiction, cyberpunk and zombie apocalypse. This manga is as weird and crazy as it sounds. It’s for this reason and many others that I love it and regard it as one of the best seinen manga of all time.
It’s the story of the synthetic human Zouichi Kanoe and his AI companion Fuyu Kano. Biomega begins when they are sent to retrieve a human that’s immune from the N5S virus.
All who get infected by the virus are changed to drones, disfigured, zombie-like creatures.
The story soon takes up steam though, as more characters with different agencies are introduced. The most notable of those, Niardi, the leader of the DRF.
Biomega is a typical Nihei manga. It features a futuristic world, characters who aren’t fully human and lots of cyberpunk action.
As is always the case with the works of Tsutomu Nihei, the art in Biomega is gorgeous. It’s raw and gritty, featuring stunning and wide-reaching architecture and various cybernetic monstrosities. Nihei’s art is enough to make Biomega one of the best seinen manga.
Biomega’s creature design is also fantastic. There are the drones, who are reminiscent of lifeless robots, but are clearly biological. The many other creatures featured in Biomega are depicted in all their stunning detail and their transformations are delightfully horrible to witness.
The same, of course, is true for our protagonist Zouichi, and fellow synthetic human Nishu. Both are absolute over-the-top badasses. Their motorcycles, their outfits and their weapons are all incredibly well done.
What made Biomega stand out from other works by Nihei is the pacing. Many chapters of this manga comprise nothing but action, some of which are incredibly fast-paced. This action is almost always over-the top, but it’s well-done, fluid and you’ll always know what’s going on.
Similarly to Nihei’s other works, especially Blame!, Biomega scarcely uses dialogue, and the story is often told via stunning visuals. More so in Biomega, making it almost impossible to make a clear division between the art and the story.
What I love so much about Biomega is the scope, the craziness and the creativity of the work. I’ve seldom read a manga similar to it.
The fast-pacing of Biomega’s story is a double-edged sword though. At times things are moving forward too quickly, giving you almost no time to breathe or think about what’s going on. Biomega’s second part, however, is where things get completely out of hand. It could almost be a different manga.
While the first part is a fast-paced cyberpunk story set in an apocalyptic world, the second part is more reminiscent of a cyberpunk-fantasy story. It’s almost as if Nihei’s trying to fit way too much into a six volume long series.
And yet, it never deterred my enjoyment of the manga. The art, the action and the many twisted cyberpunk creatures we get to see easily make up for the above weaknesses.
While the story’s weird, sometimes lackluster, I was still stunned by Biomega as a whole and consider among the best seinen manga.
I recommend it to anyone who likes the other works of Tsutomu Nihei, science-fiction and cyberpunk.
Smuggler is another manga by Manabe Shohei, but it’s much shorter than his other work featured on this list.
Our protagonist Yosuke Kinuta, a failed actor with a massive debt, is forced to work as a smuggler and becomes part of a corpse disposal crew.
Trouble brews when the crew becomes involved in a mob war. Even worse, are the two Chinese assassins joining the fold.
I consider Smuggler, as short as it is, one of the best manga in the crime and thriller genre.
The action is fantastic and the characters are great throughout the board. Yosuke stands out amongst the rest of the cast by being relatable and the only member of the cast who seems to be normal and not entirely mad.
My favorites, however, were the leader of the corpse disposal crew and the assassins, who are all absolute badasses.
While there are occasional scenes of subtle humor, this is a dark and serious story.
I think Smuggler can be best described as a story similar to movies by Tarantino or Guy Richie. It’s a crime story featuring crazy events, over-the-top characters and scenes that pack a heavy punch.
Manabe Shohei’s personal style isn’t for everyone. It’s detailed and well done, but his characters are rendered strangely uniquely. Their distinct facial features make them look more realistic than the characters in other manga, but also somewhat ugly.
While it’s an interesting style, it’s not for everyone and I can see people disliking it.
Smuggler is a hidden gem that’s definitely not for everyone. It’s a disturbing and amazing thriller that’s fantastic throughout the board. It features memorable characters, stunning action and some absolutely amazing moments. At only five chapters, it might be one of the shorter manga on this list, but I still consider it one of the best seinen manga of all time.
The Climber by Shinichi Sakamoto is one of the most beautiful manga I ever read.
I’m not a fan of sports manga and so I was reluctant to read it. Once I did, however, I discovered one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Our protagonist, Buntarou Mori, is a lonesome and solitary teenager. He gets interested in climbing when a classmate challenges him to climb the school building. Mori accepts without hesitation and it’s in this moment that his passion is awoken.
When Mori’s introduced, you feel like he doesn’t care about anything. After climbing the school building, however, he changes completely and appears like a different person.
As the story of The Climber continues, Mori climbs more and more mountains and gets to know other characters. Yet, he’s always a loner.
The thing I loved most about the Climber was the showcasing of dedication and perseverance. It’s almost as if the manga says that if you push and work hard enough, you can do anything.
I also enjoyed the story of the manga immensely. At first glance, one might think it’s a manga solely about climbing, but it’s also one about character development. The story in the Climber is hugely character-driven and shows Mori’s development as a person. Mori’s got problems. He’s someone who can’t seem to relate to people, but as he overcomes more and more mountains, he also overcomes more and more problems. This dualism of the story is fantastically done.
Death is another theme prevalent in this manga. Mountain climbing is a dangerous sport, and The Climber makes it no secret. And yet, death is never dramatized, never show as an over-the-top struggle, no it’s haunting, depressing and natural.
The art in this manga is among the best in the medium. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, often presenting us with stunning double pages of mountain ranges. These are rendered in excruciating detail and a delight to look at.
One thing that makes the Climber stand out amongst other manga is the glimpses of poetic beauty. Throughout the manga, many panels are solely dedicated to Mori climbing. There’s no dialogue, instead the manga speaks through its visuals alone. It’s a thing of beauty, one that elevates The Climber to one of the best seinen manga of all time.
And yet, it goes even further. The Climber adds metaphors, allusions and even literary passages and quotes. It gives the entire work a feeling of joy and character, but never feels pretentious. The Climber is clearly a piece of art.
While it’s an outstanding work, it’s also not free of fault.
The very first problem is the change of tone. The manga was originally written by two people. When its writer left, Sakamoto Shinichi, the artist, continued it on its own. It’s at this point that the focus of the manga changes. It’s not so much about sports anymore, but becomes an atmospheric and visual character study.
This manga is for and foremost the story of Mori Buntarou. We might witness other characters coming into his life, some of which are well-developed, but the focus is clearly on Mori. This focus on a single character might daunt some readers.
Another problem is the frequent time skips. Some are only a few days long, others will span weeks or even years. This can make the manga somewhat confusing. It didn’t deter my enjoyment too much and was well handled, but you might wonder what happened.
The Climber is a work of beauty. It’s not solely a manga about climbing. It’s rather a character-driven coming-of-age story. While this might make for some heavy reading at times, it’s never an unpleasant experience.
The Climber is without a doubt one of the best seinen manga of all time, one I’d recommend to anyone.
Me and the Devil Blues by Akira Hiramoto is a manga that retells the life of Robert Johnson and set in the American South.
You might wonder how a manga such as that might work, but I can tell you it’s an absolutely fantastic manga.
Robert Johnson, our protagonist, is a dabbling musician. He wants to learn how to play the blues, but he’s no good at it. One day, he hears of an urban legend: if you play alone at a crossroads at night, the devil will visit you. He will take your soul, but for it, he will make you a genius blues player.
One night he tries exactly that and from then on his life changes forever.
Me and the Devil Blues is fantastic. The art in this manga is outstanding. It’s gritty, but very detailed, creating a very personal style that’s nothing short of beautiful.
Another is the setting. The South in the 1930s is well depicted. We can see the deep-seated division between white and black and also the many blues clubs so popular during the time. This gives the entire manga a very realistic and western feel.
The characters in this manga are all well done. RJ is an interesting protagonist, one who’s more thrown into the events taking place than choosing them himself. Clyde Barrow is, in my opinion, the best character in the manga and serves as a great companion to RJ.
There are also many side-characters in this manga, the best amongst them is the enigmatic Stanley McDonald.
What I came to enjoy the most about Me and the Devil Blues was the atmosphere. This makes it one of the best seinen of all time. I’ve seldom read a work that’s so heavy with suspense. The entire manga and its story are loaded with tension. There are certain parts, or even entire chapters, that don’t let you catch your breath. It’s outstandingly well done.
The one thing I have to criticize is the beginning. Even after multiple re-reads, I’m still confused about what’s actually going on.
Me and the Devil Blues is a hidden gem I think few people know about. Its western feel, its heavy suspense and outstanding art make it one of the best seinen manga of all time.
I’ll urge anyone who likes manga to give this one a try. It’s well worth it.
Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga is one of the best seinen manga of all time. Art, story, characters, this manga is fantastic in all departments.
Our protagonist Thorfinn Karlsefni, son of Thors, is part of a mercenary group led by a man named Askeladd. We soon learn that Askeladd is responsible for Thor’s death. It’s getting revenge that makes a young Thorfinn join Askeladd’s group.
After this brief introduction, the manga takes up steam when the Danish prince Canute is taken hostage. Askeladd quickly puts together a plan that should change their lives forever.
Vinland Saga is manga focusing on Vikings and Viking culture set in the 11th century in Europe. It’s a brutal time and we witness rape, plunder and murder.
The manga takes, of course, liberties, but it feels very realistic.
Makoto Yukimura’s art is stunning and it can rival the best seinen manga of all time. The first volume is already fantastic to look at, but the art serves to only get better. Vineland Saga is without a doubt one of the most beautiful manga of all time and brings to work 11th century Europe in stunning detail. What I loved the most are the many shots of towns, cities and farmsteads. It really helps to bring the story to life.
Being a manga about Vikings, there are, of course, a lot of battles. These are all around brutal. The violence is blunt, gross and gratuitous, but it never feels over the top or unrealistic.
And yet, Vinland Saga isn’t a story about brutal wars and battle, it’s the story or Thorfinn. There are long parts that tell a clam, gloomy and quiet story. While I enjoyed the battles immensely, it’s those quieter parts I came to love the most. It’s here that the story and the characters truly shine.
The characters in Vinland Saga are among the best in the entirety of manga.
Thorfinn starts out as a quiet and efficient killer and we can feel the rage burning inside of him. He lives for nothing but his revenge.
As the story progresses though, Thorfinn grows tremendously and serves to become one of manga’s most complex protagonists.
My favorite character in Vinland Saga, however, is Askeladd. He might be my favorite manga character of all time and if you read Vinland Saga, you’ll find out why.
Many other side-characters are well-developed in their own right. Einar comes to mind, and so does Hild, or even Sigurd.
Thorkell is another fan favorite, but I never truly warmed up to him. He’s fun and his over-the-top character is based on an actual legend. Still, the way he acts most of the time makes him feel like more of a comic-relief character than one to be taken serious.
There isn’t much more that needs to be said about Vinland Saga. It’s an outstanding manga, both when it’s brutally violent, but also when it’s quieter and calmer. It’s a fantastic read and truly deserves to be called one of the best seinen manga of all time. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue is based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa and tells a romanticized version of the life of Musashi Miyamoto. It’s a fantastic samurai manga and one of the best seinen manga of all time.
At the beginning of the story we get to know a young man, Shinmen Takezou, who wants to become a great swordsman. He and his best friend Matahachi Honiden enlist as part of the Toyotomi army.
They barely make it out alive and after returning home, Takezo is declared a wanted criminal. After he’s caught, he’s strung up at a tree and left to die. He’s freed by a monk named Takuan Soho and given a new name, Musashi Miyamoto.
From here on, the manga details his life as he travels the land in pursuit of the sword to become ‘Invincible under the Heavens.’
The most prevalent is the art which is absolutely gorgeous and even among the best manga in terms of art, few can compare to Vagabond.
Vagabond is a samurai manga, so there are a lot of battles. All of them are stunning. They are brutal, gory and disturbing. Limbs and heads are cut off, guts are sent flying, and it’s all presented to us in gorgeous detail. This explicit content, however, is never glamorized and instead shown in an almost matter-of-factly fashion.
And yet, Vagabond isn’t solely about action. Many of the battles are more reliant of suspense and tension, about making the right move at the right time.
Vagabond’s art truly comes to shine in the design of its many characters. Each character in the manga is depicted in realistic detail and they are all unique to one another.
What makes Vagabond so enjoyable are its characters. Watching Musashi’s travels and seeing him battle various opponents is an absolute joy. Musashi is not the only character featured in this manga, though. There’s also Sasaki Koichiro, another great swordsman of the same era, and this manga is as much his story as that of Musashi.
As we follow Musashi’s and Koichiro’s story we also get to know a plethora of other character and almost all of them are similarly complex and interesting.
The most enjoyable part of Vagabond was the introspection we get about each of those characters. The manga gives us glimpses into all of them, their emotions, desires and fears, without ever painting them as good or evil. No, they are all just people living by the sword.
The storytelling in Vagabond is another thing I enjoyed immensely. While it’s the story of Musashi Miyamoto, long parts are dedicated to Koichiro and Matahachi. It makes the manga more refreshing and lets us get to know every character’s unique path.
One of the best things about Vagabond is Musashi’s development. While he starts out as a demon child who only wants to fight, he matures into a calm man, one questioning what it means to be invincible.
This also showcases in his battles. At first he’s nothing but a reckless use throwing himself into battles, but slowly turns into someone who picks his battles and uses finesse rather than raw strength to win. It’s fascinating to see him turn from a bloodthirsty and amoral warrior to one that’s philosophical. It’s one of the many reasons I consider Vagabond one of the best seinen manga out there.
Vagabond is great throughout the board, but the story can drag on a little. This is especially noticeable in one of its later arcs.
The spiritual and philosophical moments in the series are another problem. I usually enjoy the inclusion of these themes and many times it’s insightful and beautiful, but at others it can come up as pretentious.
Still, Vagabond is definitely one of the greatest accomplishments in manga history. It combines fascinating characters and character development with some of the best art I’ve ever seen.
I recommend Vagabond to anyone who’s interested in manga, even those who might not be fond of samurai culture or samurai manga. Vagabond is at the top of the entire medium and it’s clearly one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Keiichi Koike’s Ultra Heaven is a stunning piece of art and the most psychedelic manga I’ve ever read. It’s a manga unlike any I’ve read before and was an entirely unique experience.
Set in a dystopian future, it describes a world in which all feelings can be artificially created by the right type of drug.
Our protagonist Kabu is addicted to those drugs. Eventually, he stumbles upon a man who tells him of a new, illegal substance, one called Ultra Heaven.
From here on out, Kabu and the reader are in for the craziest, most creative trips I’ve ever read.
Dystopian societies are nothing new. Even the idea of artificially creating feelings via drugs is a concept seen before in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
The reason I consider Ultra Heaven one of the best seinen manga is not the setting or the story, but the art. The setting is gritty and detailed, characters look realistic and locations are detailed. Yet, where the art truly stands out is during trips, hallucination and mediation.
While manga panels are usually rectangular and organized, Ultra Heaven breaks those conventions. While Kabu’s having a trip or suffers from an altered mind, the shapes and panels are distorted and twisted to show the character’s mental state. Panels become twisting spirals and start running into one another, showcasing absolute chaos. It’s a surreal, almost disorienting feeling that shows perfectly what’s happening in the manga.
I’ve seen nothing similar and I don’t think there’s another manga out there that’s deconstructing the medium’s visual rules in a way similar to Ultra Heaven.
Ultra Heaven features a variety of themes, the most prevalent being consciousness and the transcendent to different states of mind or being.
At first, this is showcased by drugs, but later meditation is used similarly.
Ultra Heaven’s cast of characters, however, is limited. There’s our protagonist Kabu, who’s an addict and a small-time dealer trapped in his own world. The second main character is his female friend, a neo-hippie who uses technology to reach a higher state of consciousness.
Yet, Ultra Heaven has problems. Ultra Heaven doesn’t so much have a plot as it is a slice-of-life story about an addict.
The biggest problem, however, is that the manga seems to never have been finished. It comprises only three chapters, but those are longer than what one’s used to. A lot is condensed in those chapters, making following the plot confusing and overwhelming. It’s not that you don’t understand what’s happening, it’s that nothing is ever explained. This becomes even more prevalent in the last chapter that focuses on meditation. It’s almost as if we get a mere glimpse in this chaotic, strange world and are left with just that.
Yet, those things don’t make Ultra Heaven bad. I think this sort of presentation is exactly what Keiichi Koike wanted the manga to be. A wild, unrestrained ride down into one’s consciousness.
Ultra Heaven is without a doubt a visual and creative masterpiece and one of the greatest seinen manga ever made. It’s unfortunate that so few people know about it.
I’d recommend Ultra Heaven to anyone who’s interested in drug culture, strange visuals and manga who are weird and surreal.
Uzumaki by Junji Ito is one of the most famous horror manga of all time, a horror masterpiece and without a doubt one of the best seinen manga of all time.
Manga can be a strange medium and there are many disturbing and bizarre tales out there. Few, however, are as unique and weird as Uzumaki.
Uzumaki is a three volume epic and tells what happens in the small coastal town of Kurouzu-cho that’s infested by spirals.
Over the course of the story, our protagonists Shuuichi Saitou and Kirie Goshima stumble upon one freakishly scary incident after another, all involving spirals.
The very first chapter details how Shuuichi’s father’s obsession with spirals turns to madness. It ultimately comes to a terrifying conclusion which is presented to us in one of Uzumaki’s most popular pages.
What elevates Uzumaki above many other horror manga is not the story, but the art and creativity behind it.
Ito’s imagination is incredible and disturbing as he shows chapter after chapter. The inhabitants of Kurouzu-cho are warped and twisted into various spiral shapes, always with dire results.
While Ito’s art is always fantastic, he’s at his best in Uzumaki. His unique style helps to bring forth his dark imagination and presents the horror in ghastly detail.
The curse of the spiral is dire, and Ito is sure to present us with blood, gore and twisted bodies.
As always, Ito’s characters are presented as gloomy with over-exaggerated facial expressions when they experience true terror. This strange style of character presentation really helps to set the mood for the entire manga.
What makes Uzumaki one of the best seinen manga and helps it stand out so much, is the unique premise. Uzumaki isn’t a story about monsters, killers or even a feasible antagonist. There’s only a concept, the spiral that lingers over Kurouzu-cho and our protagonists as an omnipresent curse.
While Uzumaki has an overarching storyline, most of it is told in episodic fashion. The first volumes are an anthology of spiral-related incidents all witnessed by the same protagonists and happening in the same town.
In these chapters we encounter hair, snails, doomed lovers and even pregnancies all tainted by the curse of the spiral. Every single one of these incidents is unique and terrifying.
It’s only in the third volume that Ito brings the story together and drives the narrative to a conclusion as he reveals the true Lovecraftian nature of the curse.
Kirie is more a vessel to give us insight into the surreal hell of Kurouzu-cho than an actual character and thus her actions and her continued presence in town can appear strange and illogical.
The episodic nature of storytelling is another problem. In each chapter we get to know new characters and often they will be gone by the end. This makes it hard to get emotionally invested in them and ultimately makes their fate less impactful to the reader.
The third volume is weaker than the rest. Ito’s blend of horror works best when it’s left unexplained. It should be witnessed, but not necessarily understood. Uzumaki’s ending, while satisfying in its own right, ultimately weakens the manga a bit.
Uzumaki is a must for any horror fan out there. It’s one of the greatest accomplishments of the horror genre and one of the best seinen manga of all time. Ito’s type of storytelling and his characters might not be for everyone, but his art and creativity are outstanding. Uzumaki is definitely a must-read for any horror and seinen fan.
Tsutomu Nihei’s Blame! is one of the best seinen manga of all time and also one of my all-time favorites.
Blame! is a science-fiction, cyberpunk epic that follows Killy as he travels the City. He’s on a mission to find a human with net Terminal Genes. A person like this could gain access to the so-called Netsphere, a computerized control network. It would allow them to stop both the chaotic growth of the city and Safeguard who’s exterminating the remains of humanity.
Blame!’s most amazing aspects are the art and the world building.
The city is a technological and architectural wasteland, made up of mega-structures of mind-boggling proportions. The world showcased in Blame!’s many distant shots of Killy, barely visible amongst the backdrop, are epic in proportion. Tsutomu Nihei presents those to us in many huge panels and panel spreads. It gives off both a feeling of awe and one of disorientation.
Not only Blame!’s world stands out but also the various creatures populating it. There are cyborgs, the Safeguard, the Builders and various other technological and cybernetic horrors. All of them are unique and terrifying in their own right. The detail in which they are rendered is absolutely outstanding. I often caught myself being impressed by and staring at Nihei’s creations before I could read on.
In terms of art Blame! is one of the best, if not the best seinen manga I’ve read.
Blame! is full of action and it’s showcased in stunning detail. The action often features enormous explosions, but also intimate battles.
Yet, Blame! contrasts this action with the aforementioned calmer, somber shots of Killy traveling against the backdrop of the city.
The storytelling in Blame! differs from other manga. Dialogues are sparsely used and there’s rarely a semblance of a typical plot. Blame! much like other works by Nihei, uses visuals to convey a story.
Blame! comprises multiple acts, all connected by Killy’s overarching quest for a human with Net Terminal Genes. Each of these arcs is fantastic in their own right and features interesting characters and antagonists.
Because of this visual style of storytelling, Killy’s character can seem to lack compared to other protagonists. He’s a somber character who travels the city quietly until he meets Cibo, our second protagonist.
As we learn in the story’s course, we learn more about both of them, but this is less in terms of character development. Instead we get more details about who they are.
Blame! also has some problems. The action can often overwhelm, especially because of Killy’s Gravitational Beam Emitter. It’s a weapon that causes mass destruction, giant explosions and battles often descend into chaos.
The biggest problem with Blame! is the story. As I mentioned before, the story is more episodic, with each arc focusing on different pockets of humanity. It’s only the last arc that focuses fully on Killy’s quest and it’s here where things get confusing. Instead of a clear ending, we’re presented with yet another mystery to add to an already huge list.
While Blame! might lack in the story department, it’s worth reading for the art and world alone. It’s an outstanding, visual masterpiece and for that alone deserves to be called one of the greatest seinen manga of all time.
In terms of art and world building, there are very few manga that can compare to Blame! I highly recommend this manga to anyone, but especially to fans of science-fiction, technological horror and cyberpunk.
Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is probably the single best seinen manga of all time. It’s not just the art, the story, but the themes and narrative that make it stand out. Berserk is a dark fantasy manga featuring lots of action, gore, incredible manga design and two of the most complex characters in all of manga.
Berserk tells the story of Guts, the ‘Black Swordsman,’ on his quest for revenge against monsters known as apostles and the ominous man known as Griffith.
The manga might appear simple at first glance. Our protagonist Guts wields a giant sword and fights monsters and humans alike who get in his way.
That’s true for the first arc of the manga, the Black Swordsman arc. Before long, we learn more about Guts and we catch glimpses at what a complex and nuanced character he really is.
The Golden Age arc gives us more information about Guts and about his connection to Griffith. Both of them are incredibly complex and unique characters. While they differ from one another, they are both drawn to each other. Berserk does an amazing job showcasing, exploring, testing and ultimately severing their relationship.
Another thing I love is the dualism of these characters, their symbolism and how they appear to the people around them. Guts, our protagonist, is wearing mostly black and known as the Black Swordsman, while Griffith, the antagonist is shown in all white and appears almost angelic.
It’s these two characters and their relationship alone that puts Berserk above most other manga and already makes it one of the best seinen manga.
While Berserk starts off as a simple revenge story it becomes a much more personal narrative during the Golden Age arc. Yet, the longer Berserk continues, the grander it becomes. The story includes foreign invasions, Christian fanaticism and even magical creatures and powers.
Berserk’s world is cruel and dark place, one much darker than one would expect. War and atrocities are the norm and Miura isn’t shy to showcase them. We not only witness battles and war but also murder, rape, torture and senseless slaughter.
This violence and gore is always greatest when Guts is involved. We see him cut down anything in his path, be it humans, knights in full armor or monsters. Guts are flying, people are dismembered, decapitated or torn to pieces.
While Berserk is already outstanding in terms of characters and story, the main reason for its popularity is its art. Berserk almost transcends the medium, becoming less manga and more a piece of art. Few manga out there can compare to Berserk and you can often find more details in a single page of Berserk than entire chapters of other manga. For its detailed and outstanding art alone, Berserk deserves to be on this list of the best seinen manga of all time.
What I love the most is the monster design. Berserk’s apostles are absolutely gorgeous to look at in all their unique horror. They are beautiful, grotesque and disturbing.
The single biggest problem with Berserk is the release time. While the art of Berserk has improved throughout the years, the manga’s release has slowed down massively. Berserk was originally released at a pace of two volumes per year. In the last years though, there’s barely a handful of chapters a year. It’s a shame, especially considering that the story of Berserk isn’t nearly done.
Another problem is the quality of the first arc, especially during the first chapters. They simply don’t hold up to later parts of Berserk. Our anti-hero protagonist Guts is almost a villain himself and takes out apostles who are comically evil.
This, however, only serves to elevate the Golden Age arc even higher. Many fans consider it the high point of Berserk and one of the greatest arcs in manga history.
Berserk is nothing short of art. The manga gets dark, very dark, but it’s a masterfully told story. When Berserk is at its best, almost no other manga can compare.
During its first arc Berserk might not appear the masterpiece it is, but if you read on, you will be surprised by how good it is.
I can’t recommend Berserk enough and it truly is one of the greatest seinen manga of all time. Anyone who’s interested in dark fantasy, horror or manga should read Berserk. It’s at the peak of the medium and as good as it gets.
Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura is my favorite manga and, in my opinion, the best seinen manga of all time.
It’s an action-packed story in the guise of a samurai manga, but rarely explores themes of honor or samurai code.
It tells the story of Manji, the infamous ‘Hundred Men Killer.’ To punish him for his deeds, an eight-hundred-year-old nun, Yaobikuni, placed bloodworms in his body. This renders him immortal and able to heal almost any wound.
To atone for his crime and free himself from the curse of immortality, Manji resolves to kill one thousand evil men.
The story takes up steam when Manji meets Rin Asano, a sixteen-year-old girl, who asks him for help against the man who killed her parents.
This man’s name is Kagehisa Anotsu, and he’s the leader of the Itto-Ryu sword school.
Manji decides to travel with Rin in search of the members of the Itto-Ryu and Anotsu.
While Blade of the Immortal’s premise is simple, the plot gets more complex over time as new faction are introduced, but never strays far from a revenge story.
What truly solidified Blade of the Immortal as one of the best seinen manga of all time are its characters. Our protagonists Rin and Manji go through significant amounts of character development. Yet, they aren’t the only excellent characters in this manga. Blade of the Immortal features a wide cast of fantastic characters. Anotsu Kagehisa is without a doubt the most interesting character in the entire manga, but there are also Taito Magatsu, Makie Otono-Tachibana and of course, Shira.
We get to know these side-characters, learn more about their motifs and backgrounds and all of them receive the same amount of character development. Sometimes I even caught myself being more interested in certain side-characters than our protagonists.
The biggest testament to the manga’s greatness is the nonexistent distinction between good and evil. Everyone has their own circumstances, ideals and reasons to fight. Manji and Rin are our protagonists and this alone makes Kagehisa Anotsu the story’s antagonist.
However, there’s one exception. Blade of the Immortal features one of the craziest antagonists in seinen manga history.
What I also came to like about Blade of the Immortal are the depiction of female characters. Female characters are often relegated to the role of love interests and damsels in distress, not so in Blade of the Immortal. The manga features quite a few female warriors, especially Makie Otono-Tachibana and Hyakurin.
One can say that all characters are badass and look damn cool. There are minor side-characters in Blade of the Immortal whose backstory is more intense and interesting than other manga’s protagonists.
While the setting in Blade of Immortal is populated by samurai and ronin, it’s not your typical samurai manga. While other samurai manga focuses on such topics as samurai code, honor, or ponder philosophical questions, Blade of the Immortal is a raw, gritty and brutal revenge story.
Even more interesting is that characters seldom speak in samurai lingo. This is especially true for Manji and many of the Itto-Ruy members, who act and curse like contemporary street punks or gangsters.
Another point that makes this such an outstanding manga is the art. Blade of the Immortal is one of the absolute best manga in the arts department. While Hiroaki Samura’s style is gritty and sketchy, it’s also very detailed. Every character in this manga looks great and unique.
The world of Blade of the Immortal is beautiful and gives us a detailed view of traditional Japan.
The high point of the manga is, of course, the fights. Blade of the Immortal features some of the best fights I’ve ever seen. They are brutal. People are torn apart, massive amounts of blood are shed and limbs and guts are flying. Yet, the violence, with one exception, is never over the top, instead it serves to showcase the brutal nature of sword fights.
The action in Blade of the Immortal is easy to follow and never confusing. This, however, doesn’t mean that fights are simple or boring. They are some of the best and most intense I’ve ever seen.
Perhaps it might seem that Manji’s immortality might lower the stakes, but that’s not the case. It gives him an advantage, but it’s often one he needs to even have a chance of making it out alive.
The only flaw some people might have with Blade of the Immortal might be the place. The early chapters and volumes are arguably the manga’s weakest. Once Manji and Rin set out to take revenge, however, it’s almost flawless to ride until the end.
Nothing more needs to be said about this manga. Blade of the Immortal is one of the best seinen manga out there and one that will keep you engaged until the end. It stands out in terms of characters, character development and, of course, fights.
Blade of the Immortal is absolutely amazing and anyone interested in manga should check this masterpiece out.
Manga’s a medium that’s always been close to my heart. I love nothing more than to read an excellent book, but I’m also a big fan of manga. There’s something enticing about the medium. I guess it’s because manga don’t just tell a story, but enrich it with stunning and creative visuals. Over the years, I’ve read countless manga. I’m usually more drawn to the seinen genre and more mature stories, but there are quite a few shonen series I hold dear. That’s the reason I decided to share my personal list of the best shonen manga with you.
I know well that some popular or acclaimed series might not be part of this list. The reason is that I either didn’t enjoy them all too much or I haven’t read them.
As always, I’d like to give a spoiler warning. I’ll try not to give too much of a manga’s story away in my review, but it might be unavoidable.
Here’s my list of the best shonen manga anyone should read.
Air Gear by Oh! Great is a weird manga, one I wasn’t sure I should include in this list.
To say I have a bit of a hate-love relationship with this manga would be an understatement.
Air Gear is the story of Itsuki Minami, the toughest kid at Higashi Junior High School. One day, he leads his school to victory over a group of punks connected to gangsters. With trouble brewing, the Noyamano sisters come to his aid and teach him a powerful skill. This skill should introduce him to a terrifying new world, the world of Air Treck.
Air Gear is a mix of various genres. Those who are familiar with Oh! Great will know what they are in for. It can be best described as an action shonen with a focus on sports and gratuitous fan service.
I personally think Air Gear shines most in its earlier parts. The introduction to Air Treck as a sport is well handled and interestingly done. What I especially enjoyed was the formation of AT teams and the various challenges our protagonists had to overcome in earlier chapters. It’s simple, mindless fun, coupled with over-the-top action.
The best part about Air Gear and the sole reason I’m including it in this list is the outstanding art. Few manga can compare to Air Gear when it’s at the top of its game.
Environments are detailed, characters have a distinct look and many of the skills and techniques are rendered in stunning detail. The high point of the series is without a doubt the many battles. It’s a glorious delight to watch them unfold in all of their madness.
The characters in Air Gear are a mixed bag. While they are almost all likeable, most of them are rather bland. The best thing one can say about them is that they are all pretty cool. There are some, however, like Kazu who develop over the story, but those are rare exceptions.
Air Gear, however, has some serious flaws. The first is the gratuitous fan service. It’s something to be expected from a series categorized as Ecchi, but Air Gear went a bit too far. Almost any woman in this manga is sparsely dressed and rendered in provocative details.
By far the worst part of Air Gear, however, is the story. It starts out as a typical battle shonen focusing on fights between AT teams. Over the course of its run though, the story becomes more complex and turns into a convoluted and nonsensical mess. While this might be typical for the shonen genre, Air Gear becomes downright ridiculous.
The same is true for the many techniques. This is a series about roller-skates. Yet, characters can use all sorts of superpowers, going as far as to resurrect the dead using their Air Trecks. Even worse, the author tries to explain it all via science and ends up making things even more ridiculous.
Now, as nonsensical as the story is and as crazy as the powers are, I still enjoyed Air Gear for most of its run.
The art is outstanding and the battles are action packed and over the top. Those are the reasons anyone should read Air Gear for.
Overall, I think Air Gear is worth a look, especially for fans of Oh! Great’s work. For the art alone, it deserves an addition to this list of the best shonen manga.
Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto is a manga that’s many things. It’s weird, unique, ridiculous, but most of all its miserable.
The world of Fire Punch is a frozen wasteland. All this was caused by the Ice Witch. This new ice age brought out the worst in humanity, leading to cults and violence.
Agni and Luna are two orphans, blessed with powerful regenerative powers. What little peace they have ends when an army commander named Doma passes through their small community and incinerates the village and its inhabitants.
Doma’s flames, however, can never be extinguished. Because of his regenerative powers, though, Agni isn’t incinerated, and instead remains alive. After conditioning himself to withstand the flames pain, Agni travels the frozen wasteland to get his revenge on Doma.
Anyone familiar with the works of Tatsuki Fujimoto will know what they are in for. As mentioned before, Fire Punch is ridiculous. It’s not because of Agni’s special condition, though. The plot of the manga itself as well as the many characters Agni encounters are as weird.
Yet, Fire Punch is a story that thrives on misery. Especially the earlier parts of the manga are ripe with cruelness, making it feel edgy and almost nihilistic.
That’s until we encounter Togata, one of the weirdest manga characters of all time. Togata is a movie maniac who grew up with and lives through movies and the stories they told. The moment Togata encounters Agni, she decides to shoot her very own movie with him as the main character.
What happens now is that the manga turns meta, poking fun at its plot and events. Togata becomes almost a stand-in for the writer, explaining plot points and developments and how they should go. The story becomes twisted, clichés are dismantled and the entire manga becomes an anti-thesis and a joke of itself.
While Togata’s arc makes up only part of the manga, it’s here where Fire Punch is at its strongest and at its weirdest. It feels almost like a satire.
In later parts, however, Fire Punch returns to its roots and we return to a miserable story in a miserable wasteland.
Overall, the plot of this manga is all over the place. Its part dark revenge story, part satire, part deeper musing on the human condition all held together by Agni’s quest for revenge.
I felt that especially in later parts; the manga wanted to be deeper, more philosophical, but it didn’t succeed. Instead, it felt dark for darkness’ sake before it culminated in one of the strangest endings I’ve ever witnessed.
The art is clearly the high point of the manga. Fujimoto has a unique and sketchy style that lends itself perfectly to the frozen, desolate wasteland the manga’s set in. It helps to bring forth the prevalent, dark and somber atmosphere of the manga.
All in all, Fire Punch is one of the weirdest, most unique manga I’ve ever read. It’s as experimental as a manga can be. It’s dark, edgy and completely ridiculous, but also one of the best shonen manga I ever read.
Should you read Fire Punch though? I’d say yes. While it’s a story that will most likely make you miserable, it’s also fantastically unique.
If you’ve checked out my list of the best 75 manga of all time, you know I’m a big fan of samurai manga.
Gamaran by Nakamaru Yousuke is a samurai manga that’s all about action and battles.
Set in the Edo period, it focuses on a succession tournament held by the Daimyo of the state of Unabara. The contestants are his sons, each given the task to find a martial artist to represent them in the tournament. These martial artists are then to fight until only one survives to decide who will become the new Daimyo.
Naoyoshi Washitsu, one of the Daimyo’s sons, sets out to find the legendary thousand man slayer Kurogane Jinsuke. Arriving at the dojo, he finds only his son, Gama. After witnessing him fight, however, Naoyoshi asks Gama to fight for him. Gama agrees, but, of course, he’s got his own reasons to partake in the tournament.
The story of Gamaran is as easy as it can be and centers entirely on the tournament.
I read Gamaran a couple of years ago and enjoyed it for what it was. It’s one thing and one thing alone, action. There are no complex plot points, no romance, there are only fights. It makes Gamaran almost an archetypical shonen battle manga, but an enjoyable one. The best thing about Gamaran is that’s sincere about what it is and doesn’t try to be more.
The art in Gamaran is good, but overall, not outstanding. Where it truly shines is during the many battles. Fights are drawn neat and clean and you always understand what’s going on.
The fights in Gamaran are intense, but more realistic than those in other, similar manga. There are seldom unnecessary long fights, instead they are over quickly. It makes this much more intense, but also allows for many fights, styles and weapons to be showcased.
And there’s a lot of them. All together 31 martial artists take part in the tournament, each using different styles and weapons. I love that the author explained the ins and outs of all of them, without ever bringing the action and intensity to a hold.
The weakest point of the manga is the story. For the first part it’s almost non-existent and follows Gama as he wants to be stronger.
There are some developments in later parts, but none of them are outstanding or surprising. It almost feels as if the story is merely a vessel to convey fights.
Gamaran, at least to me, is still one of the best shonen manga featuring samurai and swords fights. While the story’s not too deep, and almost non-existent, the action and the battles are excellent.
If you’re looking for an action-packed battle shonen that doesn’t want to be anything else, I recommend reading Gamaran.
Imagine you’re not only framed for murder, find yourself in a violent prison power struggle, but you also have to survive a zombie apocalypse.
That’s the premise of Apocalypse no Tori by Yuu Kuraishi and Kazu Inabe. Our protagonist Yoshiaki Maeda thought his life couldn’t get much worse when he was convicted and sent to Shouran Academy Juvenile Detention Center. While the detention center is amid a violent power struggle, a zombie apocalypse has thrown the outside world into chaos. Soon enough, however, a van carrying infected humans crashes into the prison and brings the threat to the unsuspecting inmates and employees.
In my opinion, Apocalypse no Tori is one of the best zombie manga and one of the greatest shonen manga out there.
While the manga might sound clichéd and not too interesting from the premise, I was surprised by how unique and fresh it was.
The art is pretty good, well above average. All the main characters look unique and have distinct personality and style.
Where the art stands out though, was in its depiction of the zombies. Apocalypse no Tori wasn’t satisfied by portraying walking corpses. Instead, it twists them into nightmarish creatures more akin to ghastly monsters than the zombies we know from other media. This fresh take on the zombie genre makes the manga so much better, much more disturbing and also rather unique.
The characters in this manga, especially our four main characters, are great throughout the board. While Yoshiaki might be a rather clichéd protagonist, his three companions are all fantastic characters. I came to enjoy all of them uniquely and they make for some great interactions.
We also learn more about them throughout the story and every character grows throughout the manga.
Unfortunately, Apocalypse no Tori was cut short and one can see it. It was clear that the manga was set up for a longer run and thus the ending feels rushed and rather unsatisfactory.
Another criticism is the dialogue. While the interactions between our main characters are enjoyable, it could get a bit tiring and boring.
Overall, Apocalypse no Tori is one of the best shonen manga out there, not only for its fresh take on the zombie genre but also because of its fantastic characters. Read it, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
Getbackers by Shin Kibayashi and Rando Ayamine is another manga I read years ago but enjoyed immensely. To me, it’s one of the best shonen manga I ever read.
Our two protagonists Ban Mido and Ginji Amano are two young men working as a retrieval team, the titular Getbackers.
Over the course of the manga, the two of them take on various tasks and missions to get back items lost by their clients.
GetBackers starts off in typical shonen fashion and might appear like another, run-of-the-mill shonen manga. This is especially noticeable during the first two arcs, which merely introduce our protagonists.
Things get much more interesting when Dr. Jackal appears. He’s not only the first worthy adversary our characters encounter but also a twisted and insane individual that should become a reoccurring character.
The manga really takes up steam, however, when the Infinity Fortress is introduced.
The art of Getbackers doesn’t start out too good. While it gets much better and more detailed over the course of the series, it never reaches the quality of other series. Still, I thought it was rather pleasant to look at.
What I came to enjoy the most were the various settings, especially the ominous Infinity Fortress.
While Ban and Ginji were interesting characters, I often found myself more interested in the secondary characters. One example is the crazy, over-the-top Dr. Jackal or the people of the Infinity Fortress.
GetBackers is of course foremost an action manga, and I came to enjoy the battles and the action a lot.
As many other series though, GetBackers is not perfect. The first problem is the many historical and mythological references in the series. While I usually enjoy different takes on these topics, here they felt shoehorned into the plot and only there to make it appear deeper and more complicated than it is.
The biggest offender in GetBackers is a trope typical to shonen manga I’ve grown to dislike a lot. It’s antagonists of earlier arcs becoming friends or allies as soon as the arc is over. It always feels cheap. Characters taunt, threaten and fight each other over multiple volumes only to end up forgiving each other and becoming friends in the end. It’s, frankly said, frustrating and lowered the emotional value of one of the best arcs in the manga.
Even though, I still consider GetBackers a worthy addition to this list of the best shonen manga. It’s a great action-packed series with a cast of interesting characters and some truly fantastic settings. If you’re looking for a long-running action series, you could do worse than to pick up GetBackers.
Before there was Hunter x Hunter, Yoshiro Togashi made a name for himself with his supernatural fighting manga Yu Yu Hakusho. While the lesser known of the two series, I still consider it one of the best shonen manga of the 90s.
The series revolves around fourteen-year-old Yuusuke Urameshi who’s brought back to life after a tragic accident. From then on he works as a spirit detective, tasked with solving various paranormal mysteries. From here on out, Yuusuke battles and befriends various demons.
Yu Yu Hakusho was clearly inspired by Akira Toriyama’s shonen masterpiece Dragonball. Yet, I came to enjoy Yu Yu Hakusho in its own right. While Dragonball focused on popular mythology and martial arts, Yu Yu Hakusho was more about the occult.
While I enjoyed Yuusuke’s character and his troublemaker-like nature, my favorites were Kurama and Hie. Still, I came to like most of the characters in this manga.
The story of Yu Yu Hakusho is as typical as it can be for a shonen. The spirit detective arc starts of rather slow before it pits Yuusuke against various demons with increasing stakes.
Yu Yu Hakusho truly shines during its Dark Tournament arc. As a fan of tournament arcs in shonen, I came to really enjoy this one. I especially loved Toguro, who I think is by far the best antagonist in the entire manga and also one of its best characters.
The most interesting part of Yu Yu Hakusho is its world. While most shonen of the time were rather uninspiring clones of more successful series, Yu Yu Hakusho focused on the occult and demons and created a rather compelling setting.
Yu Yu Hakusho is not perfect, however, and its age shows mostly in the art. The art is merely average, and it doesn’t improve much throughout its run.
While the manga’s art and its slow beginning might not make it look like much, if one gives it a chance, one gets to experience one of the best shonen manga of the 90s.
Well, Bakuman is here to show you how! It’s created by no other than Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba who are the duo behind Death Note.
It’s the story of two young men, Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Tagaki who decided to draw manga together. The story of Bakuman chronicles their success and their struggles to get serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.
In its essence Bakuman is a battle manga, a battle manga about who can draw the best manga and make it to the top.
Bakuman’s story is simple, yet compelling. Two young men want to make it to the top of the manga world. As simple as it sounds, the complicated it is. There are twists and turns, as well as different adversaries that stand in the way of our protagonists.
Bakuman is a fantastic manga, and I especially liked to learn more about the intricacies of the manga industry. We learn right from the outset that the manga industry is a tough industry. So hard, in fact, that Mashiro’s uncle died from overworking himself just a few years before the outset of the story.
This theme stays for the rest of the manga. Bakuman is an optimistic, positive manga, but it’s not shy to show the harsh reality of the manga industry. Weekly schedules are hard to keep, the danger of being dropped is always looming and other mangaka can easily outshine you.
Yet, it’s those intricacies that make Bakuman so interesting. As a writer myself, I was drawn in instantly and wanted to learn more about the ins and outs of the manga industry.
The cast of characters in Bakuman is fantastic. While it’s a story about Takagi and Mashiro’s quest, the manga dedicates a lot of time to all the other characters. Two of my absolute favorites were the eccentric genius Eiji Niizuma and the weird Kazuya Hiramura.
Another thing that makes Bakuman out is the art. Each character is rendered in beautiful detail and looks distinctly different from the rest of the cast. The settings, too, are beautifully crafted. We see the crowded, chaotic workspaces of mangaka, the offices of Shonen Jump and various parts of Tokyo.
The art impressed me the most, however with the different manga the cast of Bakuman are drawing. Those manga are presented to us readers and they are all unique and showcase various art styles. It’s incredible and truly shows Takeshi Obata’s mastery of the craft.
Yet, all is not well with Bakuman. One of the major problems for me was the love story between Mashiro and Azuki. It’s the typical ‘love at first sight’ cliché that I’m not fond of. While it develops into a compelling romance, I was never truly invested in it.
Another problem is Azuki herself. She’s a major character, yet she’s relatively flat and uninteresting and seems to serve as nothing but a pretty face and our protagonist’s love interest.
Overall, Bakuman is an extremely unique and extremely interesting manga with an equally interesting cast of characters. It’s this uniqueness, the story it tells and especially the outstanding art that makes it one of the best shonen manga.
The Promised Neverland is not only one of the most popular but also one of the best shonen manga of recent years.
I discovered it a couple of years ago when it was still relatively new and I absolutely loved it.
The story features on a young girl named Emma who lives at an orphanage with all her other foster siblings. Life’s happy. The caretaker is kind, but there’s a single rule that’s set in stone: the kids aren’t ever allowed to leave their home.
The truth about the orphanage is quickly revealed, however, when Emma follows one of the other children that’s supposedly been adopted. She learns the orphanage is a farm, created to raise human livestock as food for demons.
From here on out, Emma and her foster siblings make plans on how to escape the orphanage and the demons.
As the story continues, we learn much more about the lore of the world and the demons who control it.
The art in Promised Neverland is fantastic. I especially loved the contrasting design between the children and their home and the ominous, terrifying demons.
The characters in this manga are well rounded and likeable. While Emma was not a bad protagonist, I came to enjoy Rei the most by far.
The biggest problem I had with the manga was the extensive cast of characters who all seemed important but were never truly developed.
Another problem of the series was the steady decline after its first arc. The story was clearly at its best during the Jailbreak arc. Everything that comes afterwards feels like an afterthought. The plot seems incoherent because of too many time skips and especially the ending feels rushed and even illogical.
Now it doesn’t make for bad reading, but it’s just not as good as the first arc of the manga.
Overall, I still came to enjoy Promised Neverland as a whole and I still think it’s one of the best shonen manga of recent years. However, the later parts of the story are nowhere near as good as the first arc. Still, it’s worth a read.
Devilman by Go Nagai is the oldest manga on this list. Released in the early seventies, the manga will soon be fifty years old.
While Devilman is old, it’s a strange and dark series and even received a new adaption by Netflix in 2018.
Devilman is the story of Akira Fudo. In the world of Devilman, powerful demons exist who are far stronger than any human. Akira’s friend Ryo Asuka, who learned of the existence of devils, reasoned that a person with a good heart might control a demon possessing them. His plan works and Akira becomes possessed by the powerful demon, Amon. From then on, Akira is the only one standing against the hidden demons who plague humanity.
To be honest, I was wary when I first found Devilman. The old-fashioned art style and the rather simple premise made it seem like a run-of-the-mil manga featuring superpowers. It turned out, however, that I was wrong, and Devilman proved far weirder and better than I expected.
The story of Devilman is dark. While it earlier focuses on Akira fighting demons, its themes soon shift, to show that not only demons are capable of evil.
However, Devilman’s story is weird. The manga’s tone shifts throughout the work and makes it seem that even Go Nagai wasn’t sure what he wanted Devilman to be. It’s a strange, beautiful mess that must be experienced. It’s the type of story one shouldn’t look at too deeply. Devilman’s plot is weird, makes no sense or goes completely overboard. This, however, is something that is both positive and negative.
The weakest part of Devilman is the outdated, simple and cartoonish style. It’s a strange art style that takes some time getting used to, but it shines in certain regards. Yet, the art is never good, it’s just less bad at certain times.
The characters of Devilman are as simple as its premise, and rather stereotypical. Akira is your typical shonen hero who suddenly finds himself with superhuman powers. Ryo on the other hand, is his darker, mysterious friend. There’s also Miki, Akira’s love interest, but she as much merely there to serve this position and less a character in her own regard.
Another glaring issue in Devilman is the pacing. The earlier chapters happen in sequence and tell a relatively simply story. In later parts, however, Devilman often includes time skips, sometimes with no exposition, making it hard to follow the story. It almost feels as if Go Nagai wanted to convey solely the major events of his story.
One of the major points of discussion in terms of Devilman and the reason I rate it so highly is the ending. The sheer weirdness and craziness the story goes to is absolutely fantastic and makes for one of manga’s most memorable endings. Be warned, however, it’s the type you either hate or love.
Overall, Devilman is pure madness. While it starts out normal, it soon develops into a mess that has to be witnessed. However, as crazy as it is, there are moments of brilliance here.
If you enjoy older manga and you enjoy weirder, more experimental plots that go far off the rail, Devilman might be for you. In my book, at least, it’s one of the weirdest and best shonen manga I ever read.
Goth by Kenji Ooiwa is a manga based on the novel by Otsuichi. It was one of the first horror manga I ever read.
Goth is the story of two high school students, Itsuki Kamiyama and Yoru Morino, who are both fascinated by gruesome murders.
Overall, Goth is a relatively short manga, no longer than five chapters, but it still holds quite a few surprises for its reader. It mostly features various murder cases that our two protagonists become involved with.
What makes Goth stand out from other, similar manga, are its characters. In horror manga, we usually encounter normal people who are thrown into horrible situations. In Goth, our two protagonists are far from normal, not just because of their fascination with the darker things of life.
The art in Goth isn’t bad, but not outstanding. Where I think it shines the most is in the depiction of the outlandish and gruesome scenes of violence. Goth isn’t for the faint of heart and isn’t shy from depicting its violence in glorious detail.
However, Goth is relatively short, and the manga suffers for it. Itsuki is an apathetic, twisted person, but we never learn more about him. It makes him appear shallow and edgy, more so as the story continues.
The same is true for the overall plot. Each chapter tells a different story, giving each individual story and the characters it features almost no room to breathe and develop.
Overall though, Goth is very enjoyable, especially for people who enjoy darker tales and manga that stay a bit from the norm.
While I’m sure feelings of nostalgia are involved, I still consider Goth one of the best horror and best shonen manga I ever read.
Dragonball by Akira Toriyama is probably the most popular shonen manga of all time and is by many fans seen as the godfather of shonen. Having watched the Dragonball anime as a teenager, I recently read the manga.
Now Dragonball was a favorite of mine back in the day, but its appeal has waned since then.
Dragonball follows the adventures of Son Goku from childhood through adulthood. In his adventure he searches for the seven Dragon Balls who can summon Shenlong, the whish-granting dragon and battles stronger and stronger adversaries.
Dragonball is a typical battle shonen manga and if it were to be released today, it most likely wouldn’t have the same cultural significance. Back then though, Dragonball was fresh and was one of the first manga that would popularize the shonen genre.
Yet, when most people think about Dragonball, they think of Dragonball Z, of energy blasts and super powerful enemies. This wasn’t always the case, though. Dragonball started off with a young Son Goku going on wacky adventures with Bulma in search of the seven Dragon Balls.
Especially in earlier parts, Dragonball was much more reliant on wacky humor on gags. It was only over time the series got more serious.
The characters in Dragonball are also very typical for the shonen genre, especially Goku. Goku loves to fight and eat, is naïve and not very smart.
The rest of the cast, while charming, hold little in terms of character and development. They serve either as friends and companions to Goku, gag-characters or adversaries. One of the worst things to me was that many characters that one came to like throughout the series, like Tenshinhan or Kuririn, were relegated to nothing but extras in later arcs.
The art of Dragonball was the high point of the series for me. The world of Dragonball is beautiful, characters all have great and unique designs and it’s all brought to life by Toriyama’s personal style.
The art shines especially during the many battles, who are all well drawn, and the action is always fluid. It’s downright fantastic.
Now Dragonball, as I outlined before, has its flaws, some more grating than others.
The first is the evolution of the story. The grander and more epic in scale the series became, the more of its original charm seemed to be lost. Dragonball starts off being about adventures, but soon focused on battling strong and stronger antagonists. Even the fights changed and relied less on pure martial arts and more on planet destroying energy blasts. While the series was still exciting, I grew to miss the earlier parts, like the various World Martial Arts Tournaments.
The biggest flaw of the series, however, were the Dragon Balls themselves. They can grant any wish, even bringing the dead back to life and thus, death, as dramatic as it’s depicted, has little to no consequence in later parts of the series.
Another flaw, at least in my opinion, is the last arc, the Buu Saga. While it has some interesting elements, the arc is by far Dragonball’s weirdest. Some might enjoy the wackiness and strangeness of it, but to me, there were many parts I didn’t enjoy, and it left me with very mixed feelings.
Overall, Dragonball as a whole is a very enjoyable manga, especially in earlier parts. The biggest problem is that Dragon Ball was a pioneer of the genre and one of the most influential manga of all time. It was new at the time of its release, but is now dated, has often been replicated and even surpassed.
Still, Dragonball, with all its flaws, is still one of the best shonen manga of all time and anyone who likes shonen manga should read it.
Aku no Hana, also called The Flowers of Evil by Shuuzou Oshimi, is a psychological manga I read only recently, but enjoyed immensely.
It’s the story of Takao Kasuga, a shy middle school student with a love for books, especially Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal.
One day, Takao forgets his book at school and finds the fleshy worn gym clothes of his crush, Nanko Saeki. Acting upon impulse, he steals them.
The event, however, was witnessed by Sawa Nakamura, an insolent and unpleasant girl who now threatens to reveal his secret.
Aku no Hana took a bit to grow on me, but the more the story developed and the more outrageous Sawa’s demands became, the more I was drawn in by the story.
I’m usually not the biggest fan of high school settings. They are all too common and often feature similar plotlines. Yet, Aku no Hana showed me it was an entirely different story right from the get go.
Aku no Hana is a coming of age story, one about puberty, but most of all, one about being lost in society. What starts out as a story of psychological bullying soon gets out of hand, turns bizarre and eventually outlandish.
What I liked most about Aku no Hana were the characters and the way they interacted. It becomes clear quickly that this is a story about flawed characters. All three of our protagonists suffer from their own problems and the manga presents them to us in beautiful detail.
Yet, Aku no Hana isn’t just a story about characters. It features a lot of deeper themes, deeper discussions. It’s about grief and longing, about puberty and love, but also about society and what it means to be a part of it or stepping away from it.
The world of Aku no Hana is beautiful. The art is one of its biggest selling points. Characters are rendered in beautiful, yet realistic detail. Where the art stands out the most, however, is in the showcasing of emotions and atmosphere. There’s a strange beauty to the mad and despairing characters.
It’s also interesting to see how the world grows darker and more twisted, the darker the story becomes.
One of the most divisive points about Aku no Hana is its second part. Some people don’t seem to enjoy it very much. It’s less outlandish, less fleshy and more mature, centering more about the consequences, trauma and making sense of the world. To me, it was a beautiful continuation and eventually conclusion to the story.
The only point of criticism I have for the manga is the way things spiraled out of control. Things started off with bullying and demands, but they went out of hand and, at least in my book, went a little too far. It was strange and unrealistic.
Overall, Aku no Hana is a fantastic psychological manga and one of the better manga I read in recent years.
If you’re looking for a deeper, more symbolic manga, I highly recommend it. Aku no Hana is definitely one of the best shonen manga with deeper themes out there.
Do you like manly man and action? Do you like blood, gore and martial arts in a post-apocalyptic setting?
Well, then First of the North Star or Hokuto no Ken by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, might be exactly right for you. It’s probably the manliest manga of all time.
Fist of the North Star is set in a world that has been devastated by nuclear war. In this post-apocalyptic world, the weak are ruled by the strong and the only thing of value are the dwindling reserves of food and water.
In this world, we get to know Kenshirou, a mysterious wanderer who travels the land and fights evil using the deadly martial art Hokuto Shinken.
Fist of the North Star is one of the most influential shonen manga of all time and one of the most popular manga of the eighties. Similar to Dragonball, it set many standards that are still used today.
However, Fist of the North Star, has been far outshined by other series, namely Dragonball, as well as the series it inspired, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. But make no mistake, First of the North Star is still one of the best shonen manga of all time.
The art in Fist of the North Star might seem typical for its time period, but it’s not bad and improves throughout the entire run. It’s well shaded and detailed.
Action and violence are rendered in glorious detail, making it a delight to watch Kenshirou’s many battles.
What I came to enjoy the most was the rendering of the desolate, post-apocalyptic setting and the outlandish characters who populate it.
And as I mentioned before, Fist of the North Star is a manly manga. Almost all the men are rendered as testosterone fueled masses of muscle who do many things and occasionally shed manly tears. It’s glorious for what it is.
Yet, the manga is not solely about manly man fighting grandiose battles. While the manga seems simple, even shallow at first, the storyline soon becomes deeper and more ambiguous.
However, the series never feels like a full, coherent story, but more like episodes that are loosely related. This becomes especially prevalent in the later parts of the story which feel almost unnecessary and needlessly overblown.
Now First of the North Star is predominantly an action battle manga so a good part of the characters are nothing, but one-dimensional extras.
Some characters stand out, like Rei and Mamiya and also the antagonist Raoh, who proves to be an excellent foil and a very interesting character.
The one character who stands out the most is Kenshirou, but he does so oddly. He’s more vessel for the story than true character. Most of the time the consequences of his actions are only depicted by how they affect other characters. Kenshirou himself remains stoic for most of the manga. He seems to fight his way through the wasteland, taking care of evil and is often depicted as an ideal figure and a sort of savior of the wastelands. It doesn’t ruin the manga though.
Overall, I enjoyed Fist of the North Star a lot. I’m a big fan of post-apocalyptic settings and the world of First of the North Star is one of the best depictions I’ve seen in manga.
While I’m usually a fan of deeper, more complex stories, Fist of the North Star is just all around fun. It’s glorious to follow Kenshiro and see him take out the scum of the wasteland with his outlandish martial arts.
First of the North Star is not as popular as other shonen manga from the same period, but it’s definitely one of the best action manga and of the best shonen manga of all time.
If you like action, manly men and manly tears, give this one a try, you won’t be disappointed.
I’m a big fan of science-fiction and cyberpunk and Tsutomu Nihei and his works have always been close to my heart.
Aposimz is his newest work, set in an artificial world by the same name.
After the people lost their war against the inner core of the planet, they were left behind on the surface, where they struggle against aggressive automatons and the terrible frame disease.
Our protagonist is Etherow, a young man who encounters Titania, a young woman in pursuit of soldiers of the Rebedoan Empire. After helping Titania escape, Etherow’s home gets destroyed, and he gets badly wounded. However, he soon finds himself transformed into a regular frame, a sort of highly advanced cybernetic organism. From then on, he vows to help Titania and to take revenge on the Rebedoan Empire.
The story feels rather formulaic, but it stands out by Nihei’s way of telling it.
While many of Nihei’s earlier manga, especially Blame! and Abara heavily used shadows and darker colors, Aposimz seems to be the polar opposite. The entire manga is mostly held in white and lighter, whiter shading. This makes it both an entirely new, yet strangely familiar experience.
The strange world of Aposimz is more resembling a nuclear winter than the dark, grim technological labyrinth of Blame!. Yet it shares the same feeling of isolation so prevalent in Nihei’s work.
However, the focus on lighter colors and shading and the wide, empty spaces so common Nihei’s work might take some time getting used to.
I also love the world Nihei created. It’s a land of legends and traditions, of tribalism, but also a vast empire. It’s this world and its rendering that’s clearly the high-point of the series.
Yet, as is so often the case with Nihei, many, if not all, elements of the world are never truly explained. Their origins are mysterious and we as readers are left in wonder similar to the people who populate the world.
However, all is not well with Aposimz. It falls in line more with Nihei’s newer work Knights of Sidonia than his older, grittier work.
With the world of Aposimz is dark and hopeless, the story and characters make it feel less so. It feels more like a shonen adventure set in one of Nihei’s worlds than a story by Nihei.
The characters are rather weak, too, which is nothing new for a manga by Nihei. Yet, Aposimz continues the trend of Knights of Sidonia in being more character driven than world-driven like Blame!
Ether, as well as Titania and later Keisha, all feel rather one-dimension. They want revenge against the empire and that’s it. The same is true for most villains. Many of them are blank slates, who serve as foils for our protagonists.
It makes it hard to feel for them and relate to any of them.
Overall, I still enjoy Aposimz, but not as much as Nihei’s earlier, grittier and darker stories. It’s a manga that stands out for its unique and detailed art, its complex and strange world and its action. In that way, it’s a typical Nihei manga and for that I love it.
If you’re enjoying Nihei’s work, or strange science-fiction worlds, read Aposimz. While the story and characters aren’t its biggest selling point, the art and world alone make it one of the best shonen manga of recent years.
Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki is one of the best shonen manga in the samurai genre. It tells the story of Hitokiri Battosai, who’s infamous for being a killer during the Bakumatsu War.
This, however, is not a story of the Bakumatsu War. Rurouni Kenshin starts of years afterwards and Hitokiri Battosai is now known as Himura Kenshin, a wandering samurai. He turns out to not be a bloodthirsty killer, but a kindhearted soul, haunted by guilt for what he’s done. He’s sworn to never kill again and thus wields a reverse blade katana.
The route to redemption is never an easy one and Kenshin repeatedly runs into people who hold a grudge against his alter ego Hitokiri Battosai.
The manga features multiple arcs, beginning in Edo where the story is more episodic, slowly introducing us to the main cast. Where the series truly becomes one of the best shonen manga of all time, is during its second arc, the Kyoto arc. It also introduces us to one of the most notable antagonists in the entire samurai manga genre, Shishio Makoto.
Rurouni Kenshin stands out most for its deeper themes. Kenshin is a man who seeks redemption and who wants to escape his past, yet seems unable to do so. The central question is if he’ll ever be able to bury his alter ego as Hitokiri Battosai.
The first thing one notices about Rurouni Kenshin is the art. It can appear simplistic and old-fashioned and might take some time getting used to.
Rurouni Kenshin is a fantastic samurai manga, featuring some fantastic action and a wide cast of interesting and memorable characters.
The series is a great read for those who are not only looking for a good samurai manga, but for a deeper shonen manga, featuring some complex characters.
How weird can a series by the Chainsaw man be? Well, it can be seriously weird. It’s another manga created by Fujimoto Tatsuki, the man behind Fire punch, so you already that you’re in for a crazy manga.
Denji is a man who fights devils. For that he transforms into a creature whose head and arms resemble chainsaws.
He started out working for the yakuza as a devil hunter, but was soon scouted by the Public Safety Bureau and became a licensed devil hunter.
Chainsaw Man might be ridiculous, even stupid, but it’s still one of the best shonen manga I read in recent years.
Now what makes Chainsaw Man so interesting? First there’s the sheer uniqueness and creativity that went into it. There’s of course the devils, demons who escaped hell and wreak havoc on earth. Their design is often nothing short of stunningly horrific.
The plot might start out simple, but as you read on, it becomes more complex and you ask more questions. However, this manga is by Fujimoto Tatsuki, so the overall atmosphere is dark, unforgiving and even depressing.
As surreal and weird as Chainsaw Man is, it’s a strangely enticing read. You’re slowly drawn in by the plot, by the devils, the characters and the general madness that is Chainsaw Man.
Denji, our protagonist, might appear simple and dumb at first, but we actually see him change in later parts of the story. Other characters, including Power and Higashiyama, are both complex in their own right.
Yet, the most intriguing character of all is Makima, the beautiful intelligent leader of their team who seems to be surrounded by more mysteries than anyone else in the manga.
What truly made me consider Chainsaw Man as one of the best shonen of all time, was the unique art. Chainsaw Man’s world and the characters are rendered in gritty detail. Fujimoto Tatsuki’s style has an odd charm really fits a story as abstruse as Chainsaw Man. Yet, it’s still very sketchy and it might take some time getting used to.
And now I want to come to the best part of Chainsaw Man, the fights. Chainsaw man features some of the most brutal and stylish fights in all of shonen manga. There’s blood, violence and carnage, as one can imagine given the nature of our protagonist. However, it’s not just Denji who stands out, there are also the devils and their various and outlandish powers.
Chainsaw Man can be best described as a work of beautiful madness. It’s fun, others emotional and at others it fills you with a sense of despair.
Reading this manga was a unique experience. It’s different from almost any other manga out there. I urge anyone who’s interested in weird shonen manga to give this one a try. However, it might not be for everyone.
Dr. Stone is one of the more recent additions on this list, but man is it great. It’s created by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi and its premise couldn’t be simpler. Rebuilding human society from the Stone Age with all the modern knowledge. It’s this premise alone that makes Dr. Stone unique and in my book one of the best shonen manga of recent years.
The story begins with a mysterious light petrifying every single person on Earth. Thousands of years later our protagonists Taiju Ooki and Senkuu awaken from this state.
Senkuu is a genius who knows pretty much everything about science and makes it his goal to restore the world to what it was like.
Dr. Stone stands out not only because of its premise though, but because of its art. Boichi is an amazing artist, and it’s a marvel to look at anything in Dr. Stone. Be it characters, animals, the world or even Senkuu’s creations, they all look stunningly beautiful.
Where Dr. Stone truly shines and what makes it one of the best shonen of recent years is the focus on technical progression. It’s a lot of fun and also interesting to see Senkuu create pretty much anything from scratch. It’s one of the most enjoyable and satisfying reads I had in a while.
Yet, Dr. Stone goes further than many other similar manga. While most other manga featuring a similar premise focus on survival, Dr. Stone focuses on establishing society and on technological progress. Technology outshines everything here. The characters, the world, even the plot are all there for us to marvel at Senkuu’s many creations.
At first Senkuu only builds tools and weapons, but before long he creates electricity and even automated factories.
There are, however, two major problems I have with Dr. Stone. The first are the characters. While they are all likeable, none stood out too much to me or were too interesting. They are almost all defined by a single trait, a single skill that makes them important for the progression of the story.
Another problem is the humor which I also didn’t enjoy in Boichi’s other work, Sun Ken Rock. It relies mostly on two things, facial expressions and comical renderings of the characters. While it was funny at first, the repetitive nature soon made it annoying.
To sum it up though, those are only two minor flaws of one of the best new shonen manga. Dr. Stone is still a lot of fun, and the focus on scientific advancement makes it stand out among many other titles.
I love manga about mind game and Tomodachi Game by Mikto Amaguchi and Yuuki Satou is one of the best shonen manga in this genre.
Our protagonist Yuuichi Katagiri and his four friends are kidnapped one night and are forced to take part in the titular game. It’s revealed that one of them stole the class money to enter the game to rid themselves of a massive debt that has now been put on all of them.
While Tomodachi Game starts out simple and generic, it takes up steam after its second game when a bigger, more complex plot is revealed. The same is true for the games. They start out relatively generic, but soon get much more interesting.
What made Tomodachi Game stand out the most though, was its protagonist Yuuichi. He’s not your typical good-hearted protagonist, no, he’s a much darker, more twisted person doesn’t shy away from ruthless methods to win.
It’s Yuuichi’s unique character and the art that renders his psychotic facial expressions in great detail that make this series stand out so much.
Tomodachi Game might take a while to truly shine, but when it does, it becomes an interesting manga with a different type of protagonist and some great games. Read it, but don’t give up too early. It might not appear as much early on, but it gets much, much better.
There aren’t many manga out there that are as fun as Tokyo Manji Revengers by Ken Wakui. It was one of the most enjoyable and best shonen manga I ever read.
Our protagonist Takemichi Hanagaki has hit rock bottom. Thinking things couldn’t get any worse, he learns that his childhood sweetheart, Hinata Tachibana, was murdered by the Tokyo Manji Gang.
He’s still wondering where things went downhill when he suddenly travels twelve years to the past. Back then, he was still in a relationship with Hinata and he realizes that he’s now got a chance not only to save her life but to change the future altogether.
Tokyo Manji Revengers already gives us an interesting premise. Namely, that of going back in time and being able to redo your regrets. What makes this such a great shonen manga though isn’t the plot but the characters.
Each character in this manga is unique and likeable, apart from the obvious antagonists.
It’s also interesting that everyone except our protagonist is a badass and skilled fighter. Unusually, it’s the protagonist of a shonen manga who’s the top fighter or becomes the top fighter, eventually. Not so Takemichi, he’s the polar opposite. He’s weak, he cries a lot, and this never changes throughout the manga. However, it also made Takemichi a more grounded and more realistic character. His position is not so much to be another fighter, but to be the heart of the group, its voice of reason.
While I think it’s the characters that make this manga, the plot is by not. Especially Takemichi’s time travel shenanigans make it much more enjoyable. There are also a lot of twists and turns in this manga, but it was never something that annoyed me. I stand by my opinion that this is easily one of the best shonen manga out there, featuring cool characters and a lot of fantastic action scenes.
The art of this manga is pretty good too, but where it truly stands out is in terms of characters. Each character has his or her own design and they all stand out among one another. This is especially prevalent because Ken Wakui gave each one a different hairstyle, style of clothing and accessories.
My only problem with the series was the age of the characters. Most of the plot takes place when Takemichi is a teenager, no older than fourteen. However, these young teenagers, still from violent street gangs, fight each other and even end up killing one another. I understand shonen characters are often young, but Tokyo Manji Revengers goes a bit too far.
Overall, this is the only problem I have with this manga. I consider Tokyo Manji Revengers one of the best shonen manga out there. Any fan of shonen manga who just wants to have a series with fantastic characters that’s all around fun should read it.
Darwin’s Game by Ginko and Yuki Takahata is another shonen manga that features death games. To me, however, it stood out amongst a plethora of other, similar manga.
Kaname Sudou, our protagonist, signs up for a mobile game called Darwin’s Game. Before long a man dressed as a mascot follows and eventually attacks him. Things only get more interesting as we’re introduced to more characters and Kaname learns more about Darwin’s Game.
What made this manga so great was our protagonist. Kaname might start out typical, but he soon becomes much more ruthless. It’s enjoyable to see someone going all in who’s not afraid to kill.
While the rest of the cast is likeable enough, some characters are underdeveloped and almost none of them are as interesting as Kaname.
And now we come to the major part of a death game manga, the games itself. At first, they seem to be nothing more than standard death matches, but as the story continues they become much more interesting. The same is true for the plot.
While the plot might not seem too innovative, it’s still fun to read and gives you enough to think about. Especially newer arcs extend the world of Darwin’s Game and its story, making the manga far more interesting.
Darwin’s Game also features some good art which truly shines during death games and battles. These battles are intense and rip with action. What adds a lot of suspense during battles are the so-called Sigils, special powers characters receive the moment they enter Darwin’s Game.
While Darwin’s Game doesn’t redefine the genre, I still think it’s a great read and one of the best shonen manga out there. It adds enough unique elements to a common setting to make it fresh, fun and engaging.
If you want to read a shonen manga about death games, you could do much worse than to read Darwin’s Game.
Crows by Hiroshi Takahashi is one of the older manga on this list, but I still consider it a fantastic read.
It’s a martial arts manga about delinquents and its one thing before anything else: fun.
As a fan of Takashi Miike’s movie Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2, I was delighted that the movies were based on a manga, albeit featuring other characters.
The story starts off with Harumichi Bouya’s transfer to Suzuran, a school filled with delinquents and known as Crows High.
Bouya soon learns that many people tried to conquer all the gangs in Suzuran but no one ever succeeded. Of course, from this day onward Bouya sets his sight on nothing less. Things, however, never go as they are planned and as the plot continues warfare between various gangs in the area breaks out.
As a martial arts manga, Crows’ focus is clearly on one thing and one thing alone, the fights. What surprised me, however, were the characters. They are all unique and all stand out in their own, unique way.
The thing I appreciated most about Crows was that it did exactly what it promised. It’s a great delinquent battle manga that doesn’t try to be more than that. It’s refreshing to find a series that’s simple and fun.
The art in Crows might not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s an older series, and it has a typical 90s look to it. While it’s not bad, it’s different and takes some time getting used to.
Another thing that annoyed me about Crows was the complete absence of, well, all authority figures. Delinquents clash in the middle of the city, beat each other senseless and no one intervenes. There’re no teachers, no police, nothing.
Overall, Crows isn’t a deep series. Sure, it has its tragic and dramatic moments, but it’s a series about delinquents who beat the living hell out of each other.
On that note, Crows delivers, and it delivers well. It’s one of my favorite delinquent manga and one of the best shonen manga out there. I especially recommend it for people who are looking for a more lighthearted fighting manga about delinquents.
Claymore by Horhiro Agi is a dark fantasy manga. It tells the story of Clare, one of the titular Claymores.
The manga is set in a medieval world, populated by Yoma, monstrous beings with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. It’s the Claymores who are tasked with killing them.
As usually the case with manga, Claymore starts out in episodic fashion before the main plot is slowly introduced. Clare’s tragic past and her relationship to Teresa and the ominous being known as Priscilla are revealed.
The story, while intriguing, isn’t the manga’s biggest selling point. What makes Claymore one of the best shonen manga of all time is its world and the monsters populating it.
Landscapes are rendered in beautiful detail, cities look stunning and the monster design is among the best and most creative I’ve ever seen. Claymore stands among the best manga in terms of art.
Claymore features a lot of battles, however, they can be hard to follow and their locations can feel uninspired. The beautiful world of Claymore is hardly ever used.
Another thing I found rather uninspiring was the prime antagonist. Priscilla is made out to be an impossibly strong being, but we never see much of her. She’s nothing but an ominous presence out there and only becomes important in a few select parts of the manga.
The biggest problem of Claymore is its ending. Some revelations felt questionable. They explained the world and the existence of Yoma, but it all felt a bit too much like a Deus ex Machina device.
Nonetheless, Claymore stands among the best shonen manga and is one of the best dark fantasy manga out there. While it’s not without flaws, it’s well worth the read, especially for its breathtaking art.
Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama is one of the most popular shonen manga of all time.
The story similarly to Claymore is set in a dark, fantastical world. All humanity is restricted to a single city surrounded by multiple, concentric walls. This city is the last bastion of humanity. All other humans have been eradicated by the titans.
Eren Yeager, our protagonist, is a young military recruit who gets the power to turn into a titan. From then on Eren and his fellow recruits join the survey corps and try to find a way to the defeat the tians for good. This, however, is only the premise of a story that becomes much grander in scale.
I absolutely love the setting of this manga. I’m a big fan of stories set in confined or restricted spaces. The idea of all of humanity constantly under siege in a single city is extremely interesting.
While the premise of Attack on Titan is relatively simple, the story gets much more interesting as it goes on. The more we learn about the titans, the more we learn how they are connected to the city and also the rest of the world.
Attack on Titan’s art is a divisive topic. The manga starts out as subpar in quality. Hajime Isayma, however, improves tremendously and from volume six onward it becomes one of the better drawn manga out there.
The landscape as well as the wide shots of the city are nothing short of gorgeous. The art truly comes to shine during the battle scenes, though. They are intense, especially do to the unique weapons used by the survey corpse. The action is brutal and fast-paced, but never confusing and drawn with a lot of attention to detail. This makes Attack on Titan one of the best shonen manga in terms of battles.
What I really loved was the appearance of the titans. They aren’t twisted monsters, but look more like dim-witted, simplistic humans. It’s their empty, smiling faces and their lack of emotions that make them so outlandish and creepy.
One of the major problems I had with the series, was the tonal shift in the later half after certain revelations happened in the series. While the scale of the story increased a lot, I felt that the sense of mystery and survival that was so prevalent earlier get lost unfortunately.
Attack on Titan is a long manga, but it’s well worth the read. It’s an interesting and intriguing story with a cast of memorable characters. It’s these elements that made Attack on Titan shine and elevate it to one of the best shonen manga I’d wholeheartedly recommend to anyone.
If you’re looking for a complex, action-oriented manga in a fantastic setting, Attack on Titan might be what you’re looking for.
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is one of the longest, most popular and best shonen manga out there.
To be honest, Hunter x Hunter had to grow on me a bit. I enjoyed the first arcs, but it was much later that I truly came to enjoy it.
Hunter x Hunter is a manga about hunters, who are basically treasure hunters with a lot of privileges. To become one, you have to pass the Hunter Exam, a series of hard challenges that only one in a hundred thousand can pass.
Gon Freecss is a young boy who wants to become a hunter to find his father and signs up for the Hunter Exam. Over the course of the exam, Gon meets various other participants who soon become Hunter x Hunter’s main cast.
The Hunter Exam arc was a typical shonen arc. Things got much more interesting when Togashi introduced the Nen system, which allowed people to manifest superhuman powers. Introducing this system made Hunter x Hunter much more interesting.
The divers cast of character in Hunter x Hunter is likeable throughout the board. What I came to love was the dynamic between Gon and Killua. Their adventures together solidified Hunter x Hunter as one of the best shonen manga for me.
I also really loved the antagonists, especially Hisoka who’s one of the most bizarre characters ever. The phantom troop, and notably Chrollo, their leader, are another group of extremely interesting characters. Later on, during one of Hunter x Hunter’s most celebrated arcs, we’re introduced to one of the greatest antagonists in shonen manga history.
While I consider Hunter x Hunter one of the best shonen manga, it’s not without fault.
A divisive topic is the manga’s art. I’m surprised how Yoshihori Togashi can be both extremely good, but also extremely bad. The manga features some incredibly stunning panels while others are almost scribbles.
The quality of the arcs is another problem. Some arcs, like the York New arc and the Chimera Ant arc are outstanding while others feel rather boring and dragged on for way too long. Hunter x Hunter felt like a strange mixture between brilliance and boredom.
The biggest problem to me, however, was the exposition and the dialogue. I have no problem with dialogue-heavy manga, but Hunter x Hunter’s dialogue often felt unfocused and even unnecessarily long.
The problems with the exposition are most prevalent in the newest arc, the Succession Contest arc. While I’m stunned by its complexity, the sheer amount of explanation and exposition can be overwhelming. I didn’t struggle to make sense of what was going, but there might have been better and more concise ways of conveying it.
Overall, Hunter x Hunter is one of the most enjoyable and best shonen manga I’ve read. While it has its weak moments, it more than makes up for them by some other, brilliant parts.
If you want to read one of the most fun and best shonen manga out there, give Hunter x Hunter a try.
This changed when I stumbled upon Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kaneshiro. At first I was skeptical, but after I read the first few chapters I was intrigued and soon came to absolutely love it.
Blue Lock is one of the best shonen manga I’ve read in the last year.
Blue Lock’s story is relatively simple. After an analysis it’s revealed that the Japanese National Team misses one thing, a great striker. An eccentric coach named Jinpachi Ego is hired by the Japanese Football Association and puts together a program held at Blue Lock, a prison-like facility.
It’s there that three hundred talented strikers from all over Japan will fight against one another. The sole winner of Blue Lock will then become the new striker of the national team.
Our protagonist, Yoichi Isagi is one such striker who enters Blue Lock.
Now Blue Lock is a soccer manga, and I’m neither a fan of soccer nor of sports manga, so why did I like Blue Lock so much? The characters, the art and the sheer amount of tension so prevalent throughout the manga’s various games and tests.
The art by Yuusuke Nomura is absolutely breathtaking and can rival the best shonen manga in the arts department. It’s sharp, vivid and highly engaging. Some panels and pages are simple exceptional.
What I came to love the most was the rendering of raw emotions and power. Characters are shown with distorted faces, with glowing eyes and auras around them. It’s the type of art you usually see in over the top battle manga. It’s this art that makes Blue Lock so great.
What I also enjoyed were the characters. They are across the board likeable and unique. My favorite is Meguru Bachira, who’s such a quirky, yet amazingly likeable character.
While Blue Lock’s a plot-driven manga a lot of focus is put on Yoichi and his quest of self-discovery at Blue Lock. Yoichi isn’t your typical overpowered shonen protagonist. Instead he’s often worse than others and the story focuses on him catching up to them. It’s a prevalent theme in Blue Rock that Oichi has to discover more about his unique play style and inherent talent. This only serves to make the manga more interesting.
One thing one might want to criticize about Blue Lock is the sheer level of play many of the characters showcase. They are high schoolers, yet they can showcase world class plays. While it’s unrealistic, it didn’t deter my enjoyment at all.
Blue Lock is definitely one of the best shonen manga released in recent years, be it sports or otherwise. It’s not just the plot, or the characters, but especially because of the exceptional art. Even if you’re not a fan of sports manga, check out Blue Lock.
Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso is a manga featuring death games in my opinion one of the best shonen manga the genre offers.
Ryohei Arisu, our protagonist, does anything he can to avoid thinking about the future. One night when he’s hanging out with his friends Karube and Chota, they see fireworks. A sudden, blinding explosion follows and soon they find themselves in a different world, the Borderland. Here they are forced to either take part in deadly games or die.
I’m a big fan of clever death games, but the manga still exceeded my expectations.
The manga’s so interesting because of the nature of the death games. There’re various types of games that vary in difficulty. This makes the games more suited to certain people than others. Some games rely on physical prowess while others require intellect.
These games are, throughout the board, interesting and enjoyable to watch and can be quite brutal and unforgiving.
Alice in Borderland’s art is fantastic. The Borderland itself and the various game locations are stunning to look at. The most attention, however, was given to the characters. All of them look unique and are well developed.
The one I came to enjoy the most, however, was our protagonist Arisu. The primary reason was because of how realistic he was. While he’s smart and resourceful, he’s not a genius. Arisu’s also not the type to fight his enemies in ruthless fashion. No, he’s more of a somber character and there’s a deep-set melancholy surrounding him. Yet, that only makes him more interesting and complex.
The side-characters are also interesting in their own right and almost everyone has their own backstory and develops over the course of the story.
In later parts, the manga can get a bit out of hand when the story is told more from the point of view of various individual characters. While they are all interesting, it makes the manga almost episodic in fashion.
The only problem I had with Alice in Borderland was the ending. I think it worked well enough, and there really wasn’t a better way to end it. Yet, it felt slightly anti-climactic.
Overall, Alice in Borderland is probably one of the best manga for anyone who’s interested in death games. I always think back to it and consider it one of the best shonen manga of all time.
And here we have another manga about death games, Kamisama no Iutoori by Kaneshiro Muneyuki and its sequel. With death games, this manga is as good as it gets, but it’s also very weird.
Kamisama no Iutoori Ni is one of my favorite manga of all time and also one of the best shonen manga ever.
Takahata Shun is a normal high school student who’s utterly bored with his life. That changes when his teacher’s head explodes and a Daruma doll appears. This sets in motion the very first of the many death games in this manga.
Over the course of the series, we’re introduced to other interesting characters and often very odd games.
The sequel series introduces us to a new set of characters, but it eventually ties in with the first part’s story.
The one thing I enjoyed the most about the manga was that it wasn’t shy killing of characters. We’re often introduced to new characters, are shown their backstory only for them to die soon after.
One of the strongest points of the series is the protagonists. I truly came to love all of them, especially the more deranged members of the cast. It’s these characters that truly cemented the manga as one of the best shonen of all time. My favorite character without a doubt is definitely Ushimitsu.
While mana of the games in the series are rather simple, their execution makes them so enjoyable. Yet, the games differ from those in other manga. Kamisama no Iutoori’s games are nothing but surreal, but that also makes them more exciting.
In the first part, the art by Akeji Fujimura might not be all that great, but it truly comes to shine in the second part. Especially the later parts of the series are absolutely gorgeous.
The artist can also render suspense fantastically. This is especially prevalent in one of the best, if not the best, chapter in the entire manga when Shun Takahata’s plotline is brought to an end.
The second part is much longer than the first, but this also means there’s more time spent on the individual games. In most cases this is a fantastic thing, but sometimes they can drag on a little too much.
One thing I often hear criticized is the ending. I guess it’s the type you either love or hate; I loved it.
Overall, I had an absolute blast with this series and enjoyed it immensely. It’s without a doubt one of my favorite manga of all time and probably one of the best shonen manga out there.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki is one of the most popular manga of all time, especially because of its recent, outstanding anime adaptions.
It’s one of the longest running manga series with over one-hundred volumes and is currently in its eight story arc.
The series started out rather typical and the first part featuring Jonathan Joestar was reminiscent of other popular manga of the time, for example Fist of the North Star.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure truly came to shine in its third part, Stardust Crusaders. It wasn’t just the story; it was the introduction of Stands. Stands are a physical manifestation of a character’s life force, taking on the form of an ethereal figure who possesses various superhuman powers.
While my favorite is Part 7: Steelball Run, one can’t deny the genius of Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable.
The earlier parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure were all set on the grand stage, about saving the world from the dangers of Dio Brando and the Pillar Man. Diamond Unbreakable, however, is set in the small town of Morioh.
Our protagonist is Josuke Higashikata, the illegitimate child of Jospeh Joestar.
The story begins with Jotao Kujo, the previous arcs protagonist showing up in town in search for an artifact called the Bow and Arrow which can create Stands.
However, this quest is only the beginning of Part 4 and serves as nothing but an introduction. It’s only after the first act of Part 4 that the story’s real antagonist, the ominous Yoshikage Kira is introduced.
Diamond is Unbreakable is without a doubt one of the best shonen manga of all time. What makes it so interesting is the intimate setting. Gone are the days of grandiose, global adventures and instead all of Part 4 is set in a small town.
It’s this intimate setting that makes Part 4 stand out. Another fantastic thing are the characters, most of them either normal people or high schoolers.
Yet, what truly makes Part 4 is the principal antagonist. Yoshikage Kira is a fantastic and well-written character and one of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’s most notorious antagonists.
The art in Diamond Unbreakable is also fantastic and stands apart from earlier story arcs. It’s here that we can see the evolution of Araki’s art style. It starts out similar to Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, but slowly evolves and becomes more unique, bizarre and feminine, an art style that should dominate later parts of the series.
It’s also in Part 4 that Stands are truly used to the best of their ability. Pure combat Stands are seldom used, instead Araki presents us with a wide variety of the weirdest powers, making battles much more interesting.
Overall, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the best and longest running manga series of all time and Part 4: Diamond Unbreakable is one of the best if not the best shonen manga of all time.
As a writer, I’ve always been a big fan of storytelling. While I love to read books and stories published online, I’m also a big fan of manga. It’s a medium I’ve always held dear. There’s something special about it. I guess it’s because the best manga aren’t simply telling a story, but it’s also providing you with stunning visuals.
I can’t say what makes manga stand out so much to me. While I’ve read hundreds of manga, I’ve never gotten much into the medium of comic books. It might be the cultural difference, or the stunning variety of different stories told. Whatever it is, I feel that the best manga out there are stunning works who can tell unique stories and bring them to live with fantastic art.
That’s the reason I created a list of the best manga of all time that I uncovered throughout the years. While there are some vastly popular titles on this list, I’m sure there are some hidden gems that few people might have heard about.
However, this is a list of manga I’ve read and enjoyed, so some of the most popular or most acclaimed manga might not be part of this list because I haven’t read them yet or I didn’t enjoy them as much as other people.
I’d also like to give a spoiler warning. I’ll try to not go too much into detail about the plot points, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.
So, here’s my list of the 75 best manga of all time anyone should read.
Let’s start this list with a samurai manga. Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki is one of the best samurai manga and one of the best manga of all time.
Rurouni Kenshin chronicles the story of Hitokiri Battosai, a man who’s infamous for his deeds as a killer during the Bakumatsu war.
He’s now known as Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai. As opposed to the rumors, Himura is not a bloodthirsty killer, but a man who did what he did because of his own convictions. Now that the war is over, he’s haunted by guilt and has sworn never to kill again. Kenshin wishes to atone for the lives he took. If he’s forced to fight, he does so with a reverse blade Katana in order to not kill his enemies.
The route to redemption, though, is not an easy one and, Kenshin often runs into people who are interested in his past or who hold a grudge against him.
Rurouni Kenshin is a manga with multiple arcs, starting out in Edo where it follows a more episodic nature, introduce a wide cast of characters.
The series truly shined in its second arc, the Kyoto arc which introduces Rurouni Kenshin’s most notable antagonist, Shishio Makoto.
What makes Rurouni Kenshin one of the best manga and makes it standout between other, similar manga are the deeper themes it features. It’s Kenshin’s drive for redemption and his wish to escape the past he can’t seem to.
The manga centers on whether Kenshin will be able to keep his vow. Can he bury his past as Hitokiri Battosai? And as more and more adversaries are introduced, we come to worry that it might never be possible.
One of the biggest downsides for me was the art which, at least in my opinion, looks a bit old-fashioned and simplistic, at least when compared to other manga on this list.
Overall, Rurouni Kenshin is a great samurai manga with some fantastic action and interesting characters. That’s where Rurouni Kenshin truly shines and is elevated to one of the best manga of all time.
Rurouni Kenshin is a great read for anyone who’s looking for a good samurai manga featuring complex characters and some deeper themes.
Blue Heaven by Tsutomu Takahashi is a short, two-volume thriller manga set on the titular luxury liner Blue Heaven. I’ve really enjoyed this manga and I think it’s one of the best manga at what it does.
The manga starts with the departure of the Blue Haven, but the story begins when a wrecked ship is discovered in the middle of the ocean. On board are signs of horrible bloodshed and only two survivors are discovered. One of them is in terrible condition, the other, Ri Seiryuu, seems fine, considering the circumstances.
Soon enough, the latter of the two escapes his confinement, mingles among the passengers, and starts killing them indiscriminately. Before long, things spiral out of control when another set of ominous characters learns about the murderer on board. From here on out, things get brutal and Blue Heaven turns into a violent hell.
I already mentioned that I enjoyed the setting, but I also like the crazy characters in this manga. Especially a certain rich family of psychopaths make the playing field onboard quite a bit more interesting.
Blue Heaven is rather simple in terms of story. There’s a murderer aboard a cruise ship and things get out of hand. This might be the reason the manga’s so short. It’s regrettable because I enjoyed everything about it. There was such great potential to the setting. I feel this manga could’ve been much longer and the escalating nature of the plot was a bit too rushed.
The thing that makes Blue Heaven one of the best manga in my book is the pacing, the simple, yet twisted story line and the many intense moments it has. There’s never a dull moment in this manga.
Blue Heaven is a manga I’d recommend to fans of thriller stories and those who are looking for a fast-paced, action-oriented story that still offers some depth.
7 Seeds by Yumi Tamura is a post-apocalyptic manga set in the distant future after humanity was wiped out when a giant meteorite collided with earth.
To make sure humanity would overcome this calamity, the 7SEEDS project was created by the government. Five sets of seven young man and woman were selected, put into cryogenic sleep and awoken long after the catastrophe was over.
7 Seeds’ story follows the members of each of the five teams, showcasing their experiences and how they manga to survive in this new, dangerous world.
I read 7 Seeds many years ago. While I had some initial doubts, I came to love it and regard it as one of the best manga I ever read. What I enjoyed the most was the setting and the premise of having to survive in a world that’s completely different from your own.
What makes 7 Seeds one of the best manga is the survival aspect. It’s well done and handled realistically. Characters have to search for water, work to get food, and find shelter. It’s the simplest, yet most important things that are always overlooked in other, similar manga.
Another great thing are the characters. They are very divisive and realistic. Over the course of the story, many of them show significant character development and it’s enjoyable to watch them grow under the circumstances.
However, those divisive characters are the first problem I had with 7 Seeds. This program was designed to make sure humanity would survive, but this bids the question why our characters were chosen. Why did the government chose random teenagers suffering from depression and anxiety issues over hardened survivors or scientists? Well, for the sake of the plot of course. It’s a big plot hole, but one I was willing to overlook as the story continued.
The huge cast of character in 7 Seeds is a double-edged sword. As outlined in the premise, there are five sets of seven people. We get to know all of them, witness their struggles, survival and even death. This means there are a lot of different characters and a lot of different plotlines. While it serves to tell unique and interesting storylines, it also can get a bit overwhelming. Later on, the manga also focuses more on the interaction between these characters and less on the initial problem of survival. However, things never reached the point of setting up a new society. I’d have loved to see that.
The biggest issue I had with 7 Seeds was the art style. It’s rather simple and in my opinion, a bit old-fashioned and reminiscent of older manga. It takes some time getting used to and to some it might be a deal breaker, since the art doesn’t improve throughout the course of the manga.
Overall, 7 Seeds is a great complex survival and one of the best manga in this genre, but it can be a bit overwhelming. I’d recommend anyone to check out the first few chapters or the first volume. If you enjoy those, you’re sure to enjoy the rest.
Most of the time we see manga from the point of view of the good guy, or at least someone who’s morally gray. That’s not the case in Shamo by Akio Tanaka, and this serves to make it one of the best manga at what it does.
At age sixteen our protagonist Ryo Narushima snaps and brutally murders both of his parents. After this event, he’s convicted and set to a reformatory.
There Ryo learns karate from a jailed man sent to the reformatory. This man, Kenji Kurokawa, recognizes Ryo’s talent and starts teaching him the specifics of self-defense.
Since Ryo was a minor at the time of his crime, he’s released after only two years. After his experiences in prison, he swears to survive, gain more strength and never be a victim again.
At the core Shame is a martial arts manga and one of the best manga of the genre. However, it differs from others regarding its protagonist. Ryo is a deprived and despicable character, essentially the villain of the story. If he needs money, he takes it. If he fights, he fights dirty. That’s what makes Shamo so interesting. The best way to describe Ryo would be as a gangster or street thug.
Yet, Shamo doesn’t glorify the life of an outcast. No, it shows that Ryo’s life isn’t a good one. He doesn’t have many friends or acquaintances, and the few people that surround him are shady and gladly take advantage of him.
At the end of the day, he can’t do much about it because of his past and because society seldom gives criminals a second chance. That’s why Ryo has to do what he has to do, and he isn’t shy about doing it.
The art in Shame is pretty good. It’s gritty, it’s raw, and it’s often realistic. However, while it’s good, it’s not outstanding, at least compared to some of the best manga in that department.
My biggest problem with Shame is the later part of the story. The first half of the manga is fantastic and showcases Ryo’s despicable character and the things he does. However, it loses steam in the second half. The introduction of concepts such as Ki and sword fighting makes it a very disjointed experience.
Shamo is at its best during the first half. It’s here that it shines as one of the best manga in the martial arts genre, especially because of its unique protagonist. After that, though, it’s unfortunately a steady downwards path.
It’s still worth a for its unique perspective, but don’t be afraid to put Shamo aside once you don’t enjoy it anymore.
Rating and describing City of Darkness was tough. While I enjoyed it immensely, it has some glaring issues I can’t ignore.
It’s one of the few manhua on this list, but I still think it serves to be mentioned in a list of the best manga of all time.
The title of the manhua comes from Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, which was also known as the City of Darkness.
City of Darkness is the story of a young man, Chen Luo Jun, who’s a member of the triads. One night, he’s betrayed by his boss and loses everything. From here on out, he makes his way to the City of Darkness.
Over the course of the story, Chen makes new allies, fights new enemies, and we’re introduced to a large cast of characters populating the underground world.
The biggest selling point of City of Darkness and the reason I’m including it in this list of the best manga, is the fantastic, detailed and colorful art. There’s few manga or manhua that can compare to it. It’s this art that makes the battles in this series so enjoyable, and since this is an action manhua, there’s a lot of them.
Those battles are the second reason I recommend people to give this series a look. They are suspenseful, stunning and extremely well drawn.
As good as the presentation is, however, there are quite a few flaws as I’ve mentioned above.
The story is, overall, very simplistic and typical for a manhua like this. It doesn’t deter my enjoyment though since City of Darkness is foremost a pure action manhua.
My biggest problem with the story is that it follows one of the most annoying concepts in fiction. Enemies of former arcs often become allies in the succeeding one. This always feels like a sort of cheat, almost as if all the emotions, the tension and the battles of prior arcs were meaningless. It gets especially bad when we learn about the sympathetic backstory of a character we thought of as nothing but a crazy psychopath before he joins the main cast.
While most of the characters in this manga look cool and are badass, there’s not much in terms of character development. What little there is, barely scratches the surface.
Another personal issue I had with City of Darkness was the pacing and the way the story is told.
The pacing in this manga is all over the place. At times the story is rather slow before it goes into overdrive, jumping right back into the action and introducing new developments before you know what’s going on.
The story in City of Darkness is often told via a narrative voice that explains what’s happening in the story. This makes reading it a strange experience. It feels almost like reading a novel. Often it’s even the case of telling us what characters are feeling or thinking instead of showing it via the visuals.
Now, all of this might paint City of Darkness in a poor light, but it’s far from it. It’s inclusion in this list of the best manga is well deserved.
Overall, I had a blast and enjoyed City of Darkness tremendously. It’s an action manhua that pitches cool and badass characters against each other, presented in outstanding art. If it comes to action and art, City of Darkness delivers and it delivers well.
Dead End is the first manga by Shohei Manabe on this list and a manga I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s also one of the weirder titles on this, but still one of the best manga I ever read.
Dead End introduces us to Shirou, an ordinary construction worker living a mundane life. All that changes when a naked girl, Lucy, falls into his life. He decides to introduce this mysterious woman to his buddies, but has to leave the apartment for a few minutes. When he returns Lucy is gone, his friends are slaughtered and a strange man is waiting for him in the middle of the carnage.
The stranger saves Shirou from an explosion and urges him to flee into the sewage system. Down there, Shirou meets yet another mysterious stranger.
From here on out, the story centers on Shirou’s attempts of figuring out what’s going on, as he gathers a rag-tag group of characters he supposedly knows from his past.
As if this premise is not already strange enough, things only get stranger over the course of the manga. Dead End starts out like a thriller story, but soon introduces more fantastical elements. That’s what makes reading Dead End such a weird and surreal experience, but that also makes it so interesting.
What makes Dead End one of the best manga are the characters. They are across the board portrayed as over-the-top badasses that can do insane feats.
The art, as so often in the works of Shohei Manabe, is unique and takes time getting used to. The backgrounds and surroundings are gritty, but where it truly stands out is for the characters. They are drawn strangely and uniquely. While it makes them more realistic, it also makes them uglier than usual manga characters. Yet, this only serves to make Shohei Manabe’s art stand out so much.
Overall, Dead End is a weird and surreal read, but at least to me, it clearly deserves a place on this list of the best manga. If you want a raw, gritty and surreal thriller manga, give this one a try.
Usogui by Toshio Sako is one of the best manga that focuses on mind games and gambling. However, not the type we usually see in manga like this.
Our protagonist is Baku Madarame who’s know as the Usogui, the Lie Eater. The story centers on the many deadly gambles that Baku takes part in.
Related to those games is the powerful organization known as Kagerou, whose referees make sure that the games are carried out satisfactorily and that all bets paid once the game is over.
The one thing to know about Usogui is that it gets crazy right from the start. We’re treated to a brief introduction of our protagonist, cementing him as a genius gambler and a man who knows what he’s doing. Right after those initial chapters the very first true death game begins and from here on out things only prove to get crazier.
What makes Usogui one of the best manga in this genre is the games themselves. While they can be quite complex, they are not impossible to wrap your head around. No, most of the time you understand what’s happening well enough and the manga centers more on psychological tricks and mind games related to the games.
Another thing I enjoyed was the characters. Baku is a fantastic protagonist, one who doesn’t shy away from death games and who doesn’t seem to get scared when confronted with overwhelming odds. Yet, there’s also Kaji, a normal guy who runs into Baku at the outset of the series. He starts out as more of a stand-in for the reader, but throughout the series he develops quite a bit and becomes a talented gambler in his own right.
One point that might be a bit of a let-down is the art. The art in Usogui starts out as rather simplistic and doesn’t stand out much. However, it improves a lot over the course of the story and truly shines in later parts.
A word of warning though, Usogui is one of the longest manga on this list with more than over 500 chapters in total.
In the end, I had a great time reading Usogui and I think it’s one of the best manga about gambling and mind games out there, even if some games and scenarios depicted can be a bit unconventional.
Chainsaw Man by Fujimoto Tatsuki is weird, seriously weird. It’s probably one of the strangest manga on this list, yet it’s still one of the best manga I’ve ever read.
Just imagine, if you will, a man who can transform into a creature whose head and arms resemble chainsaws. That’s Chainsaw Man.
His name is Denji. He’s a simple man, living in a small shack, killing devils for the yakuza to pay off his debt. Devils are, for simplicity’s sake, demons who escaped from hell. He’s fighting them by using his pet devil Ponchita as a weapon.
When he outlives his usefulness, the yakuza decide to get rid of him. Unexpectedly, Ponchita fuses with Denji’s body, keeping him from dying and giving him the powers of the chainsaw devil and allowing him to transform into Chainsaw Man.
He soon catches the eye of official devil hunters and is forced to work for the Public Safety Bureau killing devils.
Chainsaw Man is ridiculous, at times even stupid. Especially Denji, our protagonist, appears to be nothing but an idiot. Yet, there’s something about this manga that makes it interesting. It’s the sheer uniqueness and creativity that makes it one of the best manga of all time in my book.
There’s of course the devils, creatures who escaped from hell and who wreak havoc on Earth or grant humans their powers. Some of their designs and powers, especially in later parts of the manga, are stunningly creative and horrific.
The plot of this manga is simple at first, but the longer you read on, the more complex and interesting it becomes. There’s an overall dark and unforgiving atmosphere about this manga which seems to be an overarching theme of Fujimoto Tatsuki’s work.
Yet, as surreal and dark as Chainsaw Man is, it’s a strangely enticing read. As you continue reading, you’re drawn in by the overall plot and you want to witness more of the madness that is Chainsaw Man.
The characters in Chainsaw man are all quite interesting and unique. While Denji seems to be simple and dumb, he grows on you, especially in later parts of the manga. His companions Power and Higashiyama are both interesting in their own right.
The most interesting character, however, is Makima, the mysterious, intelligent and beautiful leader of their team.
The fights in Chainsaw Man are stylish and brutal. There’s a lot of blood and violence, as one can guess from the unique nature of our protagonist. What makes the fight in this manga so interesting and great are the various different devil powers.
Where Chainsaw Man’s elevated to be part of this list of the best manga is because of its unique art. The world, the characters and devils are rendered in beautiful, yet gritty detail. It’s a style that’s unique to Fujimoto Tatsuki and oddly fitting for the abstruse story you’re about to witness. However, it’s a very sketchy style and needs some getting used to, as is often the case with manga who are rather unique.
Overall, Chainsaw Man can be best described as beautiful madness. At times it can be funny, at others emotional, but overall it’s a crazy, surreal and brutal ride. While Chainsaw Man is crazy, though, it’s also damn good. It’s gory, painful, and it will leave you with a burning feeling of despair.
Reading this manga was an entirely unique experience. It’s something that I haven’t read before and that I have to include in a list of the best manga. I urge anyone to try it, but it’s the type of manga that’s definitely not for everyone.
Blood and Steel by Jingfu Qiao and Meng Ma Gong Zuo Shi is a manhua about martial arts, one that I enjoyed immensely and just have to include in this list of best manga.
Our protagonistis a young martial artist called Yan Heng who’s a member of the Qincheng group of martial arts. One day, the Qincheng are attacked and destroyed by a member of the Wudong group. Yan Heng is saved by a man named Jing Lie, known as the Wudong Hunter.
Bound by a similar motif, the two men set out on a road of revenge against the Wudong.
Blood and Steel is a typical martial arts manga of the Wuxia genre. What made it stand out to me wasn’t so much the characters, but the amazing art.
Blood and Steel is beautiful, the characters are gorgeous and fight scenes are rendered in extreme detail. I was honestly surprised by how well the series looked and it’s easily among the most beautiful works on this entire list.
What made me add Blood and Steel to this list of best manga were the fight scenes and the way they are done. In many martial arts, manga fights are presented in an over-the-top way and drawn out to last forever, but not in Blood and Steel. Fights are brisk and quick. It makes them much more realistic and at the same time more interesting.
However, there are also problems with Blood and Steel, namely with the characters and in terms of story progression. This is a story of revenge. However, many times, it seems morals and proper conduct of fights is held as the highest motif. It gets to the point of letting enemies escape instead of getting revenge because fights didn’t start on fair footing. It can get a bit frustrating after a while.
To me personally, though, it didn’t deter my enjoyment of Blood and Steel much. While the story might not be the greatest and most unique, it’s the art and the fights that made me read on.
If you’re looking for one of the best manga or manhua in the martial arts genre, you could do much worse than pick up Blood and Steel.
The core premise of Dr. Stone by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi is simple, rebuilding humanity from the Stone Age with all the knowledge of the modern age. That alone is what makes Dr. Stone so different from anything I’ve read before, and a great addition to this list of the best manga.
The manga starts off when a mysterious light shines on Earth and petrifies every single person. After thousands of years, Taiju Ooki and his friend Senkuu are among the first to reawaken from this state.
Senkuu is a young man with a vast knowledge of pretty much everything related to science, and he soon sets out to restore the world to what it used to be.
The art in this manga is top-notch and it can be ranked among the best manga in terms of art alone. Characters, animals and the entire world are all rendered and drawn in beautiful detail.
The character’s in Dr. Stone, however, isn’t its selling point. Especially Senkuu and Tsukasa, who serves as the antagonist throughout the first part of the manga seem almost too defined in their stance. However, they are both likeable and interesting enough.
Where Dr. Stone truly shines is in the development of various tools and the technological progression. While I’m sure things are simplified and results happen too quickly, it’s still a lot of fun and very interesting to see Senkuu create pretty much anything from scratch. It’s satisfying and enjoyable.
What sets this up as the best manga in my book is the premise and the way it was realized. There’s a lot of survival manga out there, but none focus on the establishing of society and technological advancement. In Dr. Stone, however, it’s the major theme of the manga. Technological development outshines everything else. The characters, the world, and even the plot all seem secondary and merely a means for us to witness Senkuu’s steady progress.
In the course of the manga Senkuu starts out building small tools and weapons, but soon he experiments with chemistry, sets up electricity and even a factory.
The only major problem I have with Dr. Stone is one I also found in Boichi’s other works, for example, Sun Ken Rock. It’s his type of humor. His humor is simple, over the top and childish, most reliant on facial expressions and comical renderings of characters. It gets old quickly and after a while; I didn’t find it funny anymore. Instead, it grew to annoy me.
Overall though, Dr. Stone is clearly one of the best manga in recent years. It’s a lot of fun, and the focus of scientific and technological progress makes it stand out a lot.
Keep on Vibrating by Jiro Matsumoto is the only truly adult themed manga on this list of best manga, and boy is it a piece of work.
It’s a collection of one-shots, some interconnected, others standalone depicting explicit sex, violence and all sorts of sheer and utter insanity. So a word of warning, this is not for the faint of heart and those easily disturbed.
The very first story should show you what you’re in for. It’s all about explicit sex and a fair share of violence. Needless to say, the plot of the individual stories is abstruse and makes almost no sense.
Yet, there’s something about Keep on Vibrating, about the sheer surreal insanity of it that makes it so enticing and one of the best manga I’ve read.
The art is shoddy and unique, gritty and dark. The backdrops are often disturbing, depicting a grim world, while the dialogue in this harsh world is often as mundane as can be. It creates a rather unique experience.
The plot, at least what little there is, is downright weird. Yet, there are some rare glimpses of genius here and there. It’s the sheer creativity and imagery the author brings forth in this work that makes it so outstanding.
Keep on Vibrating is one of the weirdest and most graphical, but also one of the best manga I’ve read. It’s also vastly different from anything else. It’s an experience for those who are looking for something more explicit and surreal.
Ikigami by Motoro Mase is a manga set in a dystopian future in which a strange law, the National Welfare Act, is in effect. Under this law, certain citizens between the age of eighteen and twenty-four are selected to die for their country.
Twenty-four hours before they die, they are informed via a notification, called an Ikigami, from government messengers.
Our protagonist Kengo Fujimoto is one such government messenger.
The story of Ikigami is mostly episodic, but it has an overhanging plot about Kengo’s own doubts of the law.
Most of the screen time, however, is spent with the people who receive an Ikigami, showing us how they react to this terrible news and how they spent their last day. Some accept, others rebel, and yet others throw themselves into despair and try to change their destiny desperately.
It’s an interesting and, frankly, terrifying concept, but it also made Ikigami one of the most thought-proving and one of the best manga I’ve ever read. Yet it’s so interesting to see the different scenarios and types of people Ikigami presents to its readers. There are some truly great storylines in this manga, some heartfelt and beautiful, others poetically tragic.
To me it was those different episodes that made Ikigami so good and made me add it to this list of the best manga.
One problem, though, is the characters. It’s obvious that most of the characters in this manga will only be around for a few chapters at most. While some are extremely well done, and we can feel for them, the time we spend with them is, ultimately, cut short.
The art is average, but realistic. It’s serviceable and does what it needs to do, but for the most part that’s it. There are some beautiful scenes during pivotal moments, but those are rare and in-between. However, they create a pleasant contrast, showcasing the emotional weight and importance of these scenes.
Overall, Ikigami is one of best manga out there, one that I enjoyed a lot and that’s worth reading for pretty much anyone. It’s interesting to read those little scenarios, and it makes you wonder how you would spend your last day.
The Horizon by Ji-Hoon Jeong is one of the most depressing and sad manhwa I’ve ever read, yet it’s also beautiful. Even though it’s a manhwa, it makes a great addition to this list of the best manga.
The Horizon is set in a world ravaged by war. A young boy witnesses his mother’s death. Lost and confused, he walks the road towards the horizon.
When he enters an abandoned bus, he meets a little girl and from then on then two of them travel together, always towards the horizon.
The Horizon is honestly one of the most depressing works I’ve ever read. It shows the gritty and unforgiving darkness of war and its aftermath.
The story is dark and I feel at times it gets a bit too dark for the sake of being dark, but that’s my opinion.
As dark and unforgiving as most parts of the story are, it ends on a positive note, showing us that there’s always hope as long as there’s love.
What made The Horizon stand out to me though, and why I added it to my list of best manga, was the art. It’s raw, it’s gritty, yet beautiful. At times it’s simplistic, at others detailed. There’s a lot of brutal content here, but it’s never glamorized, never there for any other reason than that to showcase how bad the world of this manhwa has become.
What I love the most was how the artist can convey emotions via the art. The art becomes grittier, rougher, and distorts all together when a character’s emotion spiral out of control.
At only 21 chapters, the Horizon is a quick read. However, I think it’s the perfect length for this story. If it would’ve been any longer, it would’ve most likely dragged out the gloomy atmosphere and weakened the story’s emotional impact. As it is, it’s the perfect length for the story, it wants to tell.
Overall, The Horizon is a hidden gem, that’s very fitting for a list of the best manga. It shows us a world at war from the perspective of those least involved. It’s dark, brutal, unforgiving and most of all, sad. I’d urge anyone to read it, but if you don’t like sad or depressing content, you better skip this one.
I started reading MPD Psycho by Eiji Otsuka and Shouu Tajima a long time ago. Back then I only read part of it, but the manga stayed on my mind because of its graphical imagery.
It was only a year ago that I continued reading it, and I loved it as much as I did when I first discovered it. That day, it had solidified itself as one of the best manga of all time. Yet, this manga’s not for everyone. It’s complex, confusing, and it features many scenes of shocking violence.
MPD Psycho is the story of Kazuhiko Amamiya who’s suffering from multiple personality disorder.
The manga starts out as a more episodic detective story in which Amamiya or one of his many personalities solve violent crimes and sick murder cases.
That’s where a lot of the graphical and shocking imagery comes in. Many of the cases are odd, twisted, and their results are quite sick to look at.
The art in this manga is clean and detailed. Much of the violence and many of the crime scenes are rendered in intricate detail. It can make it a stomach turning pleasure to look at them.
Another great thing is the realistic character design. Japanese people truly look like they are Japanese.
Yet, MPD Psycho is not a slaughter fest and not a collection of mindless gore. Instead, it’s a highly psychological series and one of the best manga in the genre. As the story progresses, things slowly come together. The story develops from episodic cases to and an overarching, complex plot related to Amamiya’s past is slowly revealed.
The more complex the plot becomes, the more confusing it gets as well. There’s of course the overarching mystery of the plot, but also the nature of our protagonist. At times it can be tough to keep up with his different personalities and what they are aiming for.
This is the biggest problem with MPD Psycho. The shifting personalities can make you unsure what is going on and who’s in charge at a time.
Another thing that can be off-putting to some readers might be the sick, gracious violence depicted. People are dismembered, cut apart, twisted or tortured, and the results are presented to us.
Overall, MPD Psycho is a twisted, dark manga with a complex plot and deep psychological themes. If you’re interested in dark, complex thrillers, MPD Psycho is clearly among the best manga the genre offers.
You sometimes read something and once you’ve finished it, you have no idea what you just read, but you enjoyed it immensely. This is exactly the case with Soil by Atushi Kaneko, and that’s why I think it’s one of the best manga of all time.
There are many weird manga out there, and then there’s Soil. This manga differed from anything I’d read before.
Soil is set in the town called Soil New Town. One day a normal family vanishes without a trace. Two detectives, Yokoi and Onoda, are sent to investigate what happened. While the case looks like a routine one, things soon get stranger and weirder as more details about the town and events taking place there are revealed.
The art in Soil is quite unusual and takes some time getting used to. It might appear simplistic or even amateurish at first. If one’s willing to invest the time, though, one realizes that the art is unique. The characters are rendered in detail and all stand out from one another. Yet, where the art in Soil shines is when things get stranger. As the entirety of Soil New Town becomes more and more surreal, so does the art.
Soil’s characters are realistic and complex. There are no clichéd characters to be found. Instead, most of the characters we encounter act like actual people. Yet, while the characters are realistic, they are also heavily flawed. This is especially the case with Yokoi, who comes up as an extremely unlikeable human being.
One has to wonder what Atsushi Kaneko’s choice was to present us with such characters. Maybe he wanted to add some more eccentric characters to his cast, or they were created to add to the overall atmosphere and oddness so prevalent in this manga.
As I mentioned before, Soil is different and quite refreshing. There are so many weird things in this manga one has to be impressed by the mangaka’s creativity. Soil is such a surreal and unique experience, it’s one of the weirdest, yet best manga I ever read.
This weirdness though leads us to the biggest problem with Soil. It’s more an experience in sheer and utter weirdness than a coherent story. Especially the latter half of the manga just keeps getting weird and weirder. There’s still a story left, but Atushi Kaneko keeps adding so many new, weird elements that you’ll give up on trying to understand what’s going on.
This also shows in the ending which doesn’t seem to be much of an ending or at least, it’s too confusing to make sense off. One can find some explanations on the internet, but they are merely guesses and interpretations.
Overall though, Soil is worth picking up and a great addition to a list of the best manga of all time. It’s such a weird and surreal manga that can’t be compared to anything. The only other manga I can think of that comes close to it might be Uzumaki by Junji Ito.
So, if you’re looking for something surreal and different, give Soil a try.
At first I wasn’t sure if I would include Oyasumi Punpun by Inio Asano in this list. Yet, when I thought about it, I had to admit that Oyasumi Punpun is one of the best manga and one of the greatest, dramatic coming-of-age story of all time.
It’s written by Inio Asano, and if you’re familiar with his work, you should know what you’re in for. His work is dark, depressing and raw, and Oyasumi Punpun is no exception.
Oyasumi Punpun tells the story of Punpun Onodera, who’s a normal eleven-year-old boy at the outset of the story.
All seems well with Punpun, but we soon learn how much is wrong with his life. At the outset of the story, Punpun meets Aiko, the new girl in class. It’s here that he has to learn just how fickle relationships can be. However, we learn more about Punpun, his parents and family and have to witness how a shy little boy becomes reclusive and turns down a dark path.
In the course of the story Punpun’s life is filled with family issues, romantic problems, sex and alcohol and of course depression and anxiety.
To state that Punpun is depressing is an understatement. While Punpun was one of the best manga I read, it was also one of my toughest reads. There were so many parts, so many raw, gritty details that showed just how much someone can be influenced by even the smallest of things. All this makes Oyasumi Punpun so realistic and relatable. We all have experienced dark things and we all can relate to Punpun on a personal level.
The story of Oyasumi Punpun is told via different arcs, giving us glimpses into his life as a boy, during high school and finally a young adult.
The art in Punpun is beautiful, especially because of Inio Asano’s unique style. It’s drawn more realistic, but also grittier and gloomier than other manga. It’s this art that adds so much to the overall atmosphere and solidifies Punpun as one of the best manga ever.
What’s interesting is that Punpun and his family are not drawn as people, but as comical, bird-like beings. Yet, it’s only us, the reader who sees them as such. It was an obvious choice, most likely to have a better way to convey Punpun’s emotions and reactions and to make him and his family stand out from others.
Oyasumi Punpun is also a very mature manga, containing nudity, but never as fan service. It’s only there to make you uncomfortable and to increase the overall dark and gloomy atmosphere.
Many of the characters in Punpun are, for lack of a better word, damaged in their own ways. They aren’t presented to us likeable, but to be real. We aren’t perfect and none of us would be an ideal protagonist, and neither are the characters in Punpun.
Of the different parts, I enjoyed the earlier parts of Punpun the most. There was a certain innocence to it, and the feeling that things would only go downhill from here. Yet, it wasn’t as overdrawn as in the last arc. It was this arc that was a bit too dramatic. The story always felt part real and part relatable, but everything got too out of hand and became too crazy to identify with anymore. So, I felt that the final arc of the manga was the weakest.
Another thing I didn’t enjoy was the time spent with other characters. While I thought Punpun’s friends were all interesting, it felt almost like filler content that moved us away from the more interesting narrative related to Punpun.
For all its psychological, deeper and more complex themes, Punpun can feel a bit self-indulgent and pretentious. I guess it comes with the topic matter and the mangaka’s wish to discuss, give insight and convey his own reasoning. At times, though, it fell flat and seemed to be there just for the sake of being there.
Still, Oyasumi Punpun is one of the best manga and worth reading for anyone who’s looking for a deeper, more depressing and realistic story.
Oyasumi Punpun is among the best manga out there at what it does, at making you feel uncomfortable and depressed. Yet, it’s still a great read, thought-provoking read, just don’t expect it to be joyful experience.
Tomodachi Game by Mikoto Yamaguchi and Yuuki Satou is one of the manga mind game manga on this list, a genre I absolutely enjoy.
The story starts off with Yuuichi Katagiri, a young man who values friends over everything. He works hard to save money for a high school trip, but soon after the class money is stolen and suspicion falls on two of his friends.
That same night, Yuuichi and his four best friends are kidnapped and forced to play the titular game. It’s revealed that one of his friends has a massive debt and stole the class money. The reason was to get into the Tomodachi Game and to win money.
Tomodachi game starts out very simple, and especially during the first few chapters it might appear as rather generic. The first game, and even the second game, doesn’t stand out too much. It’s during the aftermath of the second game, though, that the manga takes up steam and reveals a much bigger plot.
That’s where things become interesting, and the manga becomes one of the best in its respective genre. It’s not only the plot, though, that gets more interesting, it’s also the games.
The art in this manga is pretty well done and enjoyable. Where it stands out is the rendering of Yuuichi’s facial expression at various moments.
And here we’re at the core of this manga, its protagonist Yuuichi. He isn’t your typical goody-two-shoes protagonist, but a much darker person than originally thought. He doesn’t shy away from twisted or ruthless methods to win, making him stand out against other protagonists. I think it’s much thanks to Yuuichi’s personality that this manga is among the best.
Overall, Tomodachi game is an interesting and unique manga with some great games and a unique protagonist. It might not appear all too interesting early on, but if you give it some time, it gets better, a lot better.
Shin Angyo Onshi by In-Wan Yoon and Kyung-il Yang is a dark fantasy manga and of the best manga the genre offers.
Angyo Onshi are government agents charged with killing corrupted government officials and bringing justice to the people of Jushin.
The story revolves around Munsu, one such agent who still keeps up his work even after the destruction of Jushin.
Similar to other manga, Shin Angyo Onshi starts off more episodic, as Munsu travels the land, continuing his duty. After a while we learn more about Munsu, the Angyo Onshi, and what caused the destruction of Jushin. An overall plot is revealed and we learn that there’s more to Munsun’s travels.
The biggest selling point of the series is the outstanding art, the fantastic characters and the great story.
The art throughout the entire series is nothing short of amazing and rivals the best manga out there. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful work.
Almost all the characters, protagonists and antagonists are interesting and their motifs are understandable. The manga even takes a step back from painting any of the characters as either good or bad. Instead, it makes us understand both sides.
Standing out the most is Munsun. He’s more of an anti-hero who doesn’t shy away from using questionable methods to fulfill his goals. He’s a complicated character and might seem cruel and ruthless, but overall it’s enjoyable to follow his journey.
Shin Angyo Onshi is among the best manga the fantasy genre offers, and it’s a delight for anyone who enjoys gritty, dark fantasy.
Tokyo Maji Revengers by Ken Wakui is one thing above all else, a lot of fun. It’s one of the most enjoyable and best manga I read in recent years, featuring some cool characters and an interesting premise.
It’s the story of Takemichi Hanagaki, a young man who’s at an all-time low. When he thought it couldn’t get much worse, he learns that his ex-girlfriend from his youth, Hinata Tachibana, was murdered by the Tokyo Manji Gang.
While he wonders where his life went all wrong, he suddenly travels through time and ending up twelve years in the past. During that time he was still in a relationship with Hinata and he realizes that he’s now got the chance to change the future and save her.
The premise of the manga is already interesting, if a bit odd. It’s an idea, however, that many people can relate to in theory. It would be fun, or at least interesting, to go back in time with the knowledge of how the future would turn out.
What made this one of the best manga to me wasn’t the plot, but the characters. They are across the board likeable, except for the obvious antagonists.
Pretty much everyone, except for our protagonist, is an absolute badass and a great fighter. Takemichi, on the other hand, is almost their polar opposite. He’s weak, and he cries a lot. Yet, this creates a bit of diversity between him and the other members of the cast. It makes him more realistic and more grounded.
However, this might not be for everyone. A lot of criticism of the series stems from Ken Wakui’s characterization of Takemichi. Now, weak characters are a popular trope in shonen manga. Yet, those characters often grow throughout the series and, ultimately, become the strongest. Takemichi, though, doesn’t get stronger in a typical sense. He never becomes a good fighter, but he’s an extremely sympathetic and likeable character. His position in the group is not that of another fighter, but its heart and voice of reason.
The overall plot of Tokyo Manji Revengers is interesting and enticing. The adventures of our band of character and Takemichi’s time travel shenanigans are a lot of fun.
There’ are a lot of twists in this manga, but it was never something that deterred my enjoyment. I stand by my opinion that this is one of the best manga, featuring cool characters with a lot of fantastic action and fight scenes.
The art of Tokyo Maji Revengers is also fantastic. Every single character has his or her own design, making them stand out among others. Ken Wakui’s made it a specific choice to give each character a different hairstyle, clothing and accessories to make them all individual.
Backgrounds and general world design are also well done, and the world looks alive and realistic.
The only problem I have with Tokyo Manji Revengers is the age of the characters. Most of the story is spent when Takemichi is a young teenager, no older than fourteen. Yet, our characters form violent street gangs, fight each other and even end up killing each other. It’s not believable at all. We even get flashbacks of them forming the Tokyo Manji Gang when they had just entered middle school.
I get that shonen characters are often pretty young, but Tokyo Manji Revengers is taking it a bit too far.
However, that’s my only real problem with the story. As I said though, it’s a common trope in shonen manga and it didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Tokyo Manji Revengers is one of the best manga out there because of its unique time-travel plot and its fantastic characters.
Just be warned, the protagonist Takemichi is more of an emotional, grounded character and not a badass.
The movie Battle Royal is one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ve also devoured the novel and when I found out there’s a manga, I had to read it too. While there’re some flaws with it, it still holds up as one of the most disturbing and best manga.
The manga by Masayuki Taguchi and Koushun Takami is a retelling of the novel, but it goes even deeper, exploring the back story of each student and adding additional details here and there. It also takes some liberties and alters the source material to make certain events more dramatic or add additional developments.
Battle Royal is the story of the titular program. Each year a class is randomly selected, placed in a remote area, and the students are forced to kill each other until only one remains. It’s, in essence, a survival of the fittest.
Our protagonist Shuuya Nanhara and his class are forced to take part in this very program. Instead of fighting, he makes it his goal to get off the island without playing the game.
Battle Royal is a great retelling of one of the most disturbing settings ever. Being forced to kill your classmates and friends to survive is nothing short of sick. The manga doesn’t sugarcoat things. Instead, it gives you a glimpse into the insane situation and shows us how different people react to it. Some throw themselves into despair, others choose to give up right away, and then there’s those who will play to win.
I enjoyed this retelling of the story and the many additional details we learn about the characters. While the movie and the novel conveyed events realistically, the manga is often overdramatized.
Many of the fights are shown in an over-the-top fashion and last entire chapters. Yet, I didn’t mind it in the least because they were well done.
The art in Battle Royal does well to show us the gruesome reality of the situation, showcasing emotions, breakdowns and of course gore in glorious detail. At times it feels almost a bit too copious. The same can be said about the sexually charged imagery. Overall, the art of this manga is great and is one of the reason I think this is one of the best manga of all time.
While I enjoyed the manga immensely, I also have to admit that it has its flaws.
The first and most notable problem is the inconsistency in character representation. All the students are supposed to be in the same class and about fifteen years of age. Yet, some of them are drawn as if they are no older than ten, while others, most notable Kawada, appear to be in their thirties.
Another thing is the rather formulaic approach of storytelling. Battle Royal follows a simple concept. We’re introduced to a new character, we witness their backstory and their demise. While it’s nothing too frustrating, it gets old.
As I mentioned before, things are a bit overdramatized. In the novel and movie, most confrontations lasted mere moments. After all, those were kids going against one another and not battle-hardened veterans. Yet, somehow, these kids can survive being shot, disemboweled or terribly hurt and can fight on.
However, it doesn’t mean that Battle Royal is a bad manga. On the contrary, I still consider it one of the best manga I read.
I’d recommend Battle Royal to anyone who’s fan of the movie and who wants to dive a big deeper. However, the manga is also a great read for any fan of death games, survival manga and kill or be killed situations.
I started to read Tower of God by SIU years ago, but I come back to it again and again to see more of the characters, learn more about the world and find out how the story continues. While it’s a manhwa, I still added it to this list of the best manga.
Tower of God starts out simple. We get to know our protagonist Twenty-Fifth Bam who was all alone until he met Rachel, a girl set on climbing The Tower.
After Rachel vanishes, Bam enters The Tower on his own to meet her again. He learns that his entry in The Tower is not normal and that he’s deemed an Irregular. Thus starts the story of Tower of God.
Climbing The Tower is no simple feat. Each floor has tests that Bam has to pass if he wants to continue his climb. However, this is not only the story of Bam, but a vast cast of characters.
In later arcs, the story is expanded, as we learn more about the different factions populating the tower, the people at its top, and of course The Tower itself.
At the start the art of Tower of God is decent enough, but as time goes on, it gets much better. By now, the art is still simple, yet beautiful and somehow different from what one’s used to and gives the manhwa a unique beauty.
What I enjoyed about Tower of God were the characters, at least initially. They were all unique and likeable. However, later on there are a few too many characters and it’s easy to get lost among the gigantic cast. It seems the author isn’t so much interested in character development, but increasing the cast and throwing in new characters.
It didn’t detract from my enjoyment, but it can get a bit overwhelming and, ultimately, leaves you unattached to most of them.
The biggest issue I have with Bam. He starts out as a likeable underdog, but soon becomes your typical, overpowered shonen-archetype. It was a bit of a shame.
Another glaring issue I have with Tower of God is the plot. While it seems contained and simple early on, it keeps growing and growing and getting more and more complex. This wouldn’t be a problem, but in Tower of God, it seems almost a bit too unrestrained. With each new floor and each new arc, we get to know new characters, fresh developments happen and new mysteries come up.
Sure, the series is still very entertaining and I still consider it among the best manga or manhwa I read, but a lot of times, you feel almost a bit lost what’s going on and where the story is going.
Still, Tower of God is a great read. I enjoyed the earlier parts, called Season 1 the most because here things were simpler and our protagonist appeared to differ from other shonen protagonists. All this changed in season 2.
I guess to me, the most interesting part in Tower of God is The Tower itself, the different floors, the tests and not the overarching plot. I’m a big fan of detailed settings and to me, many of the best manga have great world-building.
Overall, Tower of God is fun, interesting and unique, but not for everyone. Still, I urge you to give it a try and see if you’re enjoying it.
Pluto by Naoki Urasawa is a retelling of Osamu Tezuka’s manga Astro Boy. Astro Boy itself is one of the most popular classical manga of all time, and its influence on the entire medium cannot be overstated.
When I first read Pluto, I had no idea that it was inspired by Astro Boy. This made it an different experience for me.
The story begins with the murder of the popular and world-famous Swiss robot called Montblanc, one of the seven most advanced robots in the world.
The robotic Europol detective Gesicht, another one of the seven most advanced robots, is sent to investigate. He soon uncovers evidence of a mysterious entity only known as Pluto and a plot to destroy all the world’s most powerful robots.
Things get much more interesting when Gesicht realizes that the murder couldn’t have been committed by a human.
Before I read Pluto I knew Naoki Urasawa from his famous work 20th Century Boys, another one of the best manga of all time, and he has lost none of his talent since. Pluto is a great mystery, seinen manga, one of the best manga in the genre, that follows our protagonist Gesicht, as he tries to uncover a world-wide plot.
At the center of Pluto is the relationship between AI and humans. Yet, in Pluto, a world in which humans and robots co-exist is already a reality, making those questions much more pressing. Especially since our protagonist Gesicht is a robot himself.
Not all is well in Pluto’s futuristic world. We see many examples of anti-robot hate; we see robots being mistreated or even destroyed. At the same time, however, the boundaries between humans and robots, between living, feeling being and inanimate object, aren’t set in stone anymore.
What makes Pluto one of the best manga I’ve read are the story and the characters. I was stunned by how well the plot was developed. It’s a gripping mystery that keeps you guessing and wondering what’s going on.
Naoki Urasawa is a master in terms of plot development and storytelling. In other manga, the plot is moved by introducing new characters and by new events happening. Pluto, however, is a more solemn, more intimate story. Here it’s the dialogue, the interaction between characters, that drives the plot forward.
As typical in the works of Naoki Urasawa, our protagonist Gesicht is complex, not just because he’s a robot, but because he’s got his own problems and is haunted by his very own demons.
The only problem, as is often the case with Naoki Urasawa’s work in my opinion, is that the story peaks around the middle point.
The series in its entirety is a great read, but I feel the last volumes can be a bit lacking compared to the earlier half of the manga.
At only eight volumes, Pluto is much shorter than Naoki Urasawa’s other works, but it s a great read.
Pluto is an amazing manga, one of the best manga in the science-fiction and mystery genre. It presents us with a dark, futuristic world, great characters and an intriguing mystery plot. If you’re a fan of Naoki Urasawa, Astro Boy or science-fiction mystery, I urge you to read Pluto.
Darwin’s Game by Ginko and Yuki Takahata is another one of the best manga featuring death games that stood out to me among a plethora of similar titles.
It starts out when Kaname Sudou signs up for a mobile game called Drawin’s Game, unbeknownst to what he’s getting into. Soon enough, he’s followed and attacked by a weird person dressed as a mascot. From here on out things only get more interesting as Kaname meets new characters, learns more about Darwin’s Game itself and decides to fight, rather than hide.
What made this manga so enjoyable was Kaname himself. He started out rather typically, and during his first encounter with another player he flees rather than fights. Soon enough Kaname accepts the game and becomes quite good at it and also quite ruthless. It’s enjoyable to see someone going all in like that.
The rest of the cast is also quite likeable. There was almost no character that I didn’t like, however, some characters are quite underdeveloped. All of them have their own unique design, though.
The games in Darwin’s Game start out as death matches, but soon they become more interesting and grander in scale. The same is true for the story.
And here we have another good point about the series, the story. While it might not be innovative, it’s still an enjoyable read and leaves enough mystery to keep you guessing what’s going on.
The art in Darwin’s Game is detailed and well done, but truly shines during battle scenes. The battles in Drawin’s Game are ripe with action, intense and suspenseful. I think it’s because of the addition of Sigil’s, special powers that characters receive that made this one of the best manga I read.
Overall, Darwin’s game doesn’t redefine the genre, but it adds enough interesting elements for it to be fresh, fun and engaging. The story itself is also interesting. Especially the newest arcs add a lot of new developments and make you wonder what direction the manga is going to.
If you’re looking for a great death game manga than Darwin’s Game is exactly what you’re looking for.
Holyland by Kouji Mori was a manga I found by accident some years ago, but I was thrilled I found it. It’s one of the best manga in the martial arts genre out there.
It’s the story of Yuu Kamishiro, a boy who’s abused and bullied by his peers and doesn’t seem to fit in with society. Out of desperation, Yuu stops going to school and starts training a single boxing punch all on his own.
Once he’s ready, he goes out into the streets in search for his very own Holyland. Out there, he’s fighting street thugs and builds a reputation for himself as the ‘Thug Hunter.’
However, he soon learns that this new name has stirred quite a bit of attention and soon many people seek him out.
What makes Holyland so great, is that it’s entirely realistic. There are no superpowers or unrealistic attacks. There’re only fists, kicks, and blood.
Where Holyland truly shines and what I think makes it one of the best manga are the characters and how the story is conveyed by them. You can feel how lost Yuu is, how desperately he wants to carve out his own little place in the world.
In its essence, Holyland is a coming of age story. Yuu makes new friends, but also new enemies as the story continues. Yet, Holyland isn’t a one man story. There are a lot of characters all as carefully developed as Yuu and all equally interesting, notably Masaki Izawa and Shougo Midorikawa. Every single character in Holyland has their own reasons for being out in the streets, to linger at night and all have been shunned by normal society.
Holyland isn’t perfect, however. At times the author goes a bit too in-depth with explanations of techniques during fight scenes. It can stop the flow and keep you from being truly invested in the fight scenes.
Another problem is the story’s premise. Holyland focuses on character development, so the overall plot is rather thin. It’s a story about street fights and action scenes. After each fight, a new enemy awaits and more fights are to be had.
It didn’t deter from my enjoyment and I still consider Holyland one of the best manga of all time, but it can get a bit repetitive after a while.
Another thing is the art. While it’s unique, it’s also a bit old-fashioned, which you’ll notice right away. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once one does, it develops its very own charm. Where the art stands out is during the fight scenes. They are all fluid and well done and a joy to read.
Overall, Holyland is a great, character driven martial arts manga. The story might not be too deep, but it makes up for it because of it’s amazing characters and a deep-routed familiarity and relatability. We can all understand the dilemma of trying to find a place to fit in.
Holyland is one of the best manga on this list in terms of character development, and I urge anyone interested in martial arts to check it out.
Crows by Hiroshi Takahashi is yet another one of the best manga in the martial arts genre. While Holyland was realistic and character-driven, Crows is one thing and one thing foremost: fun.
I first got interested in Crows after watching Takeshi Miike’s movies Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2. It was years later that I uncovered that the movies were based on a manga, albeit featuring a different set of characters.
Crows is the story of Harumichi Boya, who transfers to Suzuran. Suzuran is a high school filled with delinquents and known as Crows High.
From here on out, Bouya wants to conquer the school and become its number one fighter. Of course, things don’t go as planned and soon enough warfare between all the gangs in the area breaks out.
The best thing about Crows are the fights and the characters. All the characters are unique and stand out in their own way and are a lot of fun.
What I appreciate most about Crows is that it does what it promises. It delivers a fun delinquent manga, but doesn’t try to be more. It’s refreshing to find a series that’s simply fun.
One of the lower points of the series is the art. Begin an older series it has a typical 90s look and feel to it. It’s not bad by any means, but it has a style that takes some getting used to.
Another thing I always found weird about Crows is the complete absence of teachers or any sort of law enforcement. Delinquents simply clash in the middle of the city, beat each other senseless and no one intervenes, no police is called, nothing.
Overall, Crows isn’t too deep a series. It has its tragic and dramatic moments, but most of all it’s a series about delinquents, brawls and street fighting.
On that note Crows delivers and delivers well, making it one of the best manga to read if one’s looking for a more lighthearted manga about delinquents.
Dragon Head by Minetaro Mochizuki is an apocalypse manga, and it’s a crazy ride from beginning to end.
It all begins with a violent train wreck. Teru, our protagonist, has to watch many of his classmates die right in front of his eyes before he discovers two other survivors, Ako and Nobu.
They try their best to escape the tunnels, but the lack of light and food starts to impact their fragile psyche.
When they make it out, they realize that the outside world has changed and might hold even more dangers than the tunnels.
Dragon Head stood out to me because of its realistic characters. They seem like living, breathing humans with genuine emotions and act how normal people would act during a disaster. They panic, they are afraid, might lash out or go crazy. That’s simply realistic given the situation they are in.
Another great point is the story, the dire hopelessness that hangs over it all as our characters strive on and on. The longer you read on, however, you wonder if there’s even anything left to strive for.
Dragon Head is a thrilling experience, and probably the best manga in depicting a real apocalypse. There’s no moment in which the manga takes a break. Instead, there’s constant suspense hanging over our characters as the world seems to go crazier and crazier.
It’s without a doubt the art in Dragon Head that makes it one of the best manga, though. While one can see that the manga’s from the 90s, the art style is great. The most amazing accomplishment, however, is the world, the backgrounds and the general destruction. It renders a destroyed, hapless world in all its terrifying, depressing glory. It’s a detailed, beautiful rendering of a destroyed world that stands out amongst many other similar manga.
The only problem I have with Dragon Head is that things drag a little the longer it goes on. There wasn’t much focus on an overall plot anymore, instead we got more and more introspection about the characters. Maybe all of this was done on purpose, though. After all, if the world’s ending, where do you go? What do you do? Maybe this hopelessness, this aimlessness, was at the core?
Claymore by Norihiro Yagi is a dark fantasy manga and the story of Clare, one of the titular Claymores.
The manga is set in a medieval world in which Yoma exist, monstrous beings with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. It’s Claymores like Clare who are tasked with killing them.
Clare, however, is a low-ranking Claymore out on a quest of personal revenge.
The story starts off in episodic fashion with Clare dispatching Yoma before we’re slowly introduced to the main plot. We learn about Clare’s past, her caretaker Teresa, and the ominous being known as Priscilla.
This story, while intriguing, isn’t the manga’s biggest selling point. It’s the world and its monsters that make Claymore one of the best manga of all time.
The landscape is rendered in beautiful detail, cities look amazing and the monster design is among the best and most creative I’ve ever seen. Claymore clearly stands among the best manga in terms of art.
As an action-based manga Claymore features a lot of battles, however, they can be a bit hard to follow, and the locations in which the battles take place are a bit uninspired. The world of Claymore is breathtakingly beautiful, but all these locations are hardly used.
Another thing I didn’t enjoy too much was the principal antagonist. She’s made out as an impossibly strong being, yet we don’t see too much of her. She’s almost nothing but an ominous presence that looms out there and only becomes important near the ending.
And here we have one of the biggest problems with Claymore, the ending. Some revelations at the end of the manga were a questionable choice. They explain the state of the world, but to me they were nothing but a cop-out.
Nonetheless, Claymore stands among the best manga in the dark fantasy genre and features some of the best art out there. It’s well worth the read.
Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama is one of the most popular and one of the best manga of all time.
The story’s set in a dark, fantastical world. All of humanity is crowding together in a single city protected by massive walls. This city is the last bastion of humanity who’s been eradicated by the titular titans. These titans feed on human beings and kill them indiscriminately.
Our protagonist Eren Yeager is a young military recruit who gets the powers of turning into a titan himself. From then on, Eran and his fellow recruits and members of the survey corps fight the titans and try to defeat them for good.
What I enjoyed most about this manga was the setting. I love stories that are set in confined spaces. I really like the idea of humanity restricted to a single city constantly under the threat of being destroyed.
The premise of Attack on Titan is simple, but the story gets more interesting as time goes on. We learn more about the titans, their history, and how they are connected to the city.
The art in Attack on Titan is one of the most divisive topics.
During the very first chapters, the art isn’t pretty. It’s in all honesty, barely average if that. Yet, Hajime Isayama improved a lot and in volume three the art improved and from volume six onward it became one of the better drawn series out there.
The scenery, especially the wide shots of the city, are gorgeous. Where it really shines, similar to other action-oriented manga, is during the battle scenes. They are beautiful to look at, intense and unique because of the unique weapons employed by the survey corps. The action is brutal and fast-paced, yet drawn fluidly with a great attention to detail. This makes Attack on Titan one of the most unique and one of the best manga in terms of battles.
What I enjoyed the most was the appearance of the titans. They aren’t ghastly, twisted human beings, but look more like dim-witted, almost simplistic humans. It’s their lack of emotions, their empty, smiling faces that make them so outlandish and creepy.
Still, the art in the early volumes of Attack on Titan is definitely a weak point.
Attack on Titan is also another, longer manga, but it’s well worth the read. It’s an engaging and interesting story that features its share of memorable characters. These elements made Attack on Titan one of the best manga out there and one I’d recommend to everyone.
If you’re looking for a unique and complex action-oriented manga with a fantastic setting, Attack on Titan might be what you’re looking for.
Annarasumanara by Ha Il-Kwon is another manhwa, and one of the most beautiful and heartfelt stories I’ve ever read. Even though it’s a manhwa, I wanted to include it in this list of best manga to shed some light on it.
The story centers on a magician living in an abandoned theme park. His magic’s supposed to be real, and whenever people visit him, he shows it to them. Yet, he’s always asking if they believe magic is real beforehand.
Our protagonist is Yoon Ah-ee, a high school student who doesn’t believe in magic anymore. She’s living in poverty and her life comprises nothing but studying, working and taking care of her younger sister.
One day, he stumbles into the abandoned theme park and eventually visits the mysterious magician. From here on out, her life changes forever and one of the best manga or better manhwa begins.
Annarasumanara is a great, heartfelt story that ponders on quite a few different topics.
A central theme is that of growing up and living up to your own expectations and those of the people around you. Another theme is the question of what life and happiness are truly about.
There are other themes the manhwa touches on as well. It’s those of social expectations, parental pressure, understanding yourself and what you want in life or what you’re willing to give up to be happy.
While magic is a central theme in this story, we soon learn it’s not so much about magic tricks, but more about the magic of life itself. It’s the beauty we see as children, the magic that seems to get lost when we grow up and wish to get back.
The art in Annarasumanara is strange, almost abstract, yet unique. However, it’s not just there for the sake of being different. It has also meaning to the overall plot.
The characters in Annarasumanara are all very believable, even if they might not appear so at first. It’s a story of actual people and genuine emotions, and maybe just real magic as well.
With only three volumes, Annarasumanara is one of the shorter reads on this list of best manga, but one I’d recommend to anyone.
Another interesting point is that this manhwa inspired me to write one of my most popular and well received stories to date I Catfish a Different Girl Each Night. It wasn’t so much the plot, or the central themes that inspired me, but part of the initial premise.
Chi no Wadachi by Shuuzou Oshimi is one of the best manga I read in recent times. It’s a psychological manga about drama, abuse and manipulation.
The manga is the story of Seiichi Osaba. He’s a typical young boy. He’s got friends, a crush, and he’s got loving parents. His mother, however, is extremely overprotective, and he’s often made fun of for their close relationship. While strange, and a bit extreme, it doesn’t seem too big a concern.
This all changes during a certain incident that puts in motion a series of events that will change Seiichi’s life and the view he has of his mother forever.
The series starts out simple, but quickly spirals out of control and just keeps getting crazier and crazier.
However, the pacing of this manga is slow and slow for a reason. Chapters seldom include many events. At times they show us nothing more than the interaction between two characters. Yet, it’s this slow progression, this stifling movement that adds so much to the tension and suspense.
At first the suspense might seem a bit oppressive. There were many slow shots, many glimpses at something, but the more I read the more interesting I got. Eventually I got used to this specific style of storytelling. It’s this focus on even the smallest details that makes Chi no Wadachi one of the best manga I’ve read.
The art in Chi no Wadachi is another reason I consider this among the best manga out there. It’s absolutely stunning, focusing on intricate facial details, a lot of them being smiles. The art can be sparse at times, dense at others, but it always conveys the mood of the story. What’s truly beautiful though are the many big page spreads.
While the story doesn’t seem too deep, it’s the way it’s told, the way we experience it that makes you feel what’s going on. A lot of times I was disturbed by the portrayal of an insecure young boy trying to please his mother. At other times I was stunned at her toxic manipulation and just how far she took things.
The biggest problem with the manga might be the slow, gloomy and solemn atmosphere. The overhanging suspense and tension so prevalent in this manga can be a bit oppressive, especially in the earlier chapters.
However, if one reads on, and gets used to the unique slow style of storytelling, one is in for one of the best manga in recent years.
I discovered Ouroboros by Yuuya Kanzaki only recently, but the moment I started reading it I was drawn in by its great storyline. Once I was done, I couldn’t deny that I’d just read one of the best manga of all time.
Ouroboros is the story of Ryuuzaki Ikuo and Tatsuaya Danno. While Ryuzaki is an investigator for the Shinjuku Police, Tatsuya is a member of the yakuza.
Long before the start of the story, the two of them lived happily in an orphanage under their caretaker, Yuiko. All this ended when the two boys witnessed her tragic murder.
The manga starts of simple and more episodic with the two of them are working together to solve various crime cases.
This episodic nature continues for most of the manga’s story, but the overall plot tightens and becomes more prevalent as the two of them learn more about the man who they are after.
I really enjoyed Ouroboros. It’s one of the best manga about crime and conspiracies. While it develops slowly, it never gets boring.
The overall plot is interesting and engaging and it’s also the strongest point of Ouroboros. Yukio’s murder is a mystery, one with many twists and turns that will throw you off again and again.
The art in Ouroboros was very enjoyable. It’s good enough to be interesting, but never truly outstanding. What I enjoyed the most was that many of the characters were drawn more humanlike. It’s something I enjoyed, and that helped a more grounded story like this.
I also came to like our two protagonists. Both of them are very interesting and complex. I wished, however, there would’ve been more of a focus on Tatsuya Danno since he’s, at least in my opinion, the more interesting of the two.
There’s also a fair share of side-characters who are all interesting and either likeable or detestable.
The only real quarrel I have with the story is that the twists became a bit too much near the end and some revelations were rather clichéd. It didn’t deter my enjoyment of the series, though.
Overall, Ouroboros was a manga I found really engaging and had a lot of fun with, but that’s also because I enjoy settings about crime and the underworld.
The episodic nature of Ouroboros might be daunting to some, and the beginning of the manga is a bit shy to give us more about the overall story. If you enjoy those parts, though, I’m sure you’ll love the rest.
Ouroboros is clearly one of the best manga about the police, crime and deep-routed conspiracies.
Sanctuary by Buronson and Ryoichi Ikegami was one of the best manga I ever read and exactly to my liking. It’s a fantastically dark thriller and yakuza manga.
Sanctuary is the story of two men, Akira Houjou and Chiaki Asami, who want to change the course of the nation of Japan. In their opinion Japan is stagnant, corrupt and ruled by old men who’ve accepted the status quo. The two of them set out to push Japan into a new age and to create their very own sanctuary.
To accomplish this, the two of them aim to conquer Japan through two different routs. Houjou ventures into the underworld to seize control of the yakuza while Asami aims to become Prime Minister.
What makes this manga such a great read is the alternation between the two major plots, one centered on organized crime, the other on politics.
There’s of course an extensive list of adversaries both Asami and Houjou encounter. These reach from ambitious hot-shots and fellow yakuza bosses to diet members and champions of the establishment.
This dualism makes the manga so much more enjoyable. Whenever one story loses a bit of steam, the writers switched to the other one and throw in a fresh development, new ploy or twist.
To me Sanctuary was a suspenseful, but fun ride. I really enjoy stories about power fantasies, and Sanctuary is among the best manga featuring those. What makes it even better, is that it’s grounded in reality. I was very intrigued to follow our protagonists’ climb to the top.
There were enough conflicts to keep me reading and to keep the plot interesting. Overall though, what Sanctuary is most of the time is really cool. We have a ton of characters who are just absolutely amazing.
The art in this manga is on point as well. While it has a typical 90s feel to it, characters look both extremely professional and badass at the same time. Wide shots, backgrounds and even rooms are often rendered in beautiful detail.
My biggest issue with Sanctuary, however, is realism. While the yakuza plotline is a rather typical climb to power that is farfetched, but albeit realistic, Asami’s political rise wasn’t. Yet, while the political shenanigans, the intrigues, plans and twists, were unrealistic, I still had a great time reading them. Especially Isaoka was one of the best character in the entire manga and an outstanding adversary.
However, things spiraled out of control the closer the manga got to the end. I was still enjoying things for what they were, wanting to see how Sanctuary would play out. By then, however, I’d long abandoned the idea of realism.
Another fact that some readers might not enjoy is the depiction of women in this manga. There’s really only one important female character, and she serves as Houjou’s love interest. Almost all other women depicted are prostitutes or sex objects.
Overall, Sanctuary was still a lot of fun in the way certain over-the-top polit-thrillers or gangster movies are. It might not be too realistic and it might not make sense all the time, but man is it a great read. There’s a lot of suspense, a lot of action and a lot of badass characters, making Sanctuary one of the best manga I’ve read. If you’re into crime stories or political intrigues, give this one a read.
Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida is another long running and vastly popular series and by many considered one of the best manga of all time.
It’s the story of Ken Kaneki, a reserved young college student who loves to read. At a café he encounters Rize, a beautiful young woman who seems to share his love for books.
Rize, however, is a ghoul and driven by her hunger for human flesh, she soon attacks Kaneki. Ghouls are creatures who look just like humans and mingle between them. However, they have almost superhuman powers and need to feed on humans to survive.
After his encounter with Rize, Kaneki is rescued by Dr. Kanou but soon learns that he’s now part ghoul and can’t stomach normal food anymore. He seeks refuge at a café called Anteiku, which is a safe house for ghouls.
As the story progresses, we learn more about ghouls, different members of Anteiku, and other groups of ghouls.
The story starts out slow, focusing on Kaneki and his new life, but we’re slowly introduced to more characters and their relationship to one another. Eventually, the story gets more interesting as new threats are introduced. Especially, the sequel Tokyo Ghoul:re ends up expanding the plot and the world of Tokyo Ghoul vastly.
The art in Tokyo Ghoul was the biggest selling point for me and made me appreciate it as one of the best manga of all time. Tokyo Ghoul is beautiful and comes with both great character and monster design, fantastic backgrounds and an overall gloomy and dark atmosphere. I can understand that this art style is not for everyone, though. It’s especially the inky panels that help in setting the mood and make for some beautiful scenes.
I also loved the battles in Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re. I loved the attacks, the brutality, and especially the design of the kagune. However, I have to say that battles can be a bit confusing. This is most prevalent in later parts, especially in Tokyo Ghoul:re. Battles are on a larger scale, with large numbers of people being devoured, beheaded or disemboweled before the bigger players step in. These battles tended to not only be confusing, but became a bit repetitive in the long run.
The characters are interesting enough, with quite a few bing likeable, while others are not. One of the prime offenders to me was Kaneki. He starts off as a shy, reserved boy, but after a certain significant event he gets a huge power-boost and is suddenly a force to be reckoned with. Now Kaneki had his share of horrible things happening, and it’s clear that he went through some serious trauma. However, this feels like a mixed bag between honest characterization and edginess for edginess’ sake. I felt strongest for some of the supporting characters. Arima was great, and so were Urie and Amon.
One of the most prevailing themes in Tokyo Ghoul is that of a tragic past. Almost everyone of the main cast suffers from this trope. The world of ghouls and the CCP is a dark and brutal one. Yet, it ultimately grew old and lessened the impact. I felt myself invested in the characters in the first part, but later, instead of making you feel for characters, you sort of shrugged their tragic backstory off as more of the same.
There are, however, a lot of fantastic themes in Tokyo Ghoul. I enjoyed the dualism of the two sides. Neither ghouls nor the CCP are innocent, but they are also not truly bad.
The story of Tokyo Ghoul was overall enjoyable, but I still found it to be at its best in the early parts. It was here where the difference between the world of ghouls and humans was still an important plot point. While Tokyo Ghoul:re started out similar, it later dissolved into a different story before it came to a rushed ending.
Now, all of those flaws don’t make Tokyo Ghoul a bad series. No, I had a great time reading it, and think it’s one of the best manga. But for that reason, I also felt it necessary to discuss some of its flaws.
To me Tokyo Ghoul stood out for its fantastic art, the battles and the creative design of the members of the CCP and the ghouls. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a darker, more brutal and complex horror manga.
I’m usually not a fan of gag or comedy manga. Most of the time they don’t click with me. One Punch Man by Yusuke Murata and ONE, however, is different. Based on the web comic by the same name, it’s one of the best manga at what it does.
One Punch man is foremost a manga centered on a single gag. What if a character was so strong, he could defeat every enemy with a single punch?
This character’s name is Saitama. He joins the Hero Organization to put his strength to good use. Before long, however, he becomes bored with it all and throughout the manga hopes to find a real challenge.
That’s mostly it for the story, at least early on. However, as silly and simple as it sounds, as much fun it is.
Later on, the story focuses more on the various side-characters and their individual struggles, which adds a nice contrast to Saitama’s power.
What makes this series shine is the art, especially during battles. It’s easily one of the best manga on this list in terms of art alone. The various monsters are rendered in gorgeous detail and look impressive.
Battles might not sound like much, but they are often extremely interesting because they focus more on the effort of other characters before Saitama takes action and ends things in a single blow.
The characters are another thing that adds so much to this manga, mostly comedy. A favorite of mine is King, the world’s strongest man. Every scene involving him is outstandingly funny and often makes me laugh out loud.
Yet, there’re more characters, some serious, others comical as King, but throughout the board they are all enjoyable, fun and unique. Garou is another example of a fantastic character.
The biggest selling point in One Punch Man, however, is the humor. With so simple a premise, one would think it loses its charm quickly, but it never does. The art also adds a great deal to it, often depicting Saitama as a small, unimportant bystander. That is until he takes action. Then he’s rendered as an absolute badass and depicted in glorious detail.
One Punch Man is one of the greatest action and comedy manga out there and to me one of the best manga of all time. While the story’s not the deepest, it’s insanely entertaining, a lot of fun, and comes with some of the best art the medium offers.
20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa is one of the greatest mystery manga of all time and has become vastly popular.
I read this manga years ago, but it was one of the first manga that came to mind when I thought of creating a list of the best manga of all time. It’s easily at the genre’s pinnacle in terms of storytelling.
20th Century Boys is the story of Kenji Endo and his friends. The story begins shortly before the end of the 20th century. Our protagonist Kenji Endo works at the family’s convenience store and is getting by. Things change when he learns about the suicide of one of his childhood friends, Donkey.
Things turn stranger when a new cult led by a figure only known as Friend becomes increasingly popular. It’s not long before Kenji realizes that there’s much more to this cult and that it’s somehow related to his childhood. Kenji reunites with his childhood friends and together they try to figure out the truth about the cult, the figure known as Friend. and to stop the end of the world.
The art in 20th Century Boys might appear simple at first glance, but it’s because of Naoki Urasawa’s unique style. His mastery of the craft becomes especially prevalent when one looks at the characters. Every single one of them has a distinct personality, making them recognize even when the manga switches to different points in time. Backgrounds are very detailed and pleasurable to look at.
What makes this one of the best manga I ever read are the big mystery, the characters, their relationship, but most of all the way the story is told.
While a conspiracy plot and having to save the world is nothing new, the story is told so well that one can’t help wanting to know more. What stood out to me the most was the switching between different timelines. It’s done extremely well, reveals a lot more about our various characters, but never confuses you.
Overall, the story is told in three major timelines, first during the closing of the 20th century, then 2014 and during the 3FE, the third year of the Friend Era. However, there are also various flashbacks to the time when Kenji and his friends were children during the late 60s and early 70s. The third timeline, the Friend Era, was my least favorite part of the manga.
During the first two timelines, 20th Century Boys was easily my favorite mystery manga and one of the absolute best manga of all time. It was masterfully told and had enough twists and turns to keep you guessing what was going to happen. Yet, the story of the Friend Era felt a bit detached from it all. It felt strange and much too different from what was going on before.
Another minor problem is how many people seem to be in on the conspiracy. The story pits our characters against new troubles and fresh developments. It almost gives the story a feeling of our main cast fighting against the rest of the world.
It didn’t deter my enjoyment much when reading, but it makes you wonder a little. How is one mastermind able to conspire with and control so many people?
Yet, it doesn’t change my opinion of the manga. As a whole it was a fantastic work and while I didn’t enjoy the last part as much as those before, it wasn’t bad by any means.
20th Century Boys is a great mystery, seinen manga that stands out because of its complex plot and the fantastic way the story is told and presented. It truly deserves to be called one of the best manga of all time.
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is one of the longest, most popular shonen manga out there and also one of the best manga I ever read.
To be honest, Hunter x Hunter had to grow on me a bit. While I enjoyed the first arcs, it was much later in the story that I truly enjoyed it.
Hunter x Hunter is a manga about hunters who are, for simplicity’s sake, licensed treasure hunters with a lot of privileges. To become a hunter, you have to pass the so called Hunter Exam, several hard challenges that only one in a hundred thousand can pass.
Our protagonist Gon Freecss is a young boy who wants to become a hunter so he can find his father and signs up for the Hunter Exam. During the exam Gon gets to know many of the fellow participants who soon become the main cast of Hunter x Hunter.
As I mentioned before, the series took a while to grow on me. The Hunter Exam arc felt like a typical shonen arc. Things got much more interesting when Yoshihiro Togashi introduced the Nen system that allowed users to manifest superpowers. This Nen system is one of the most interesting parts in Hunter x Hunter since it serves as a foundation and a restriction for a character’s powers.
The protagonists in Hunter x Hunter are likeable throughout the board. What I enjoyed was the dynamic between Gon and Killua in the arcs they spent together. It was incredibly enjoyable to see those two friends go on adventures together, and it solidified Hunter x Hunter as one of the best manga.
I also greatly enjoyed the antagonists of the story. Hisoka is such a strange and weird villain. The phantom troop and notable their leader Chrollo are also an extremely interesting group of characters. And later on, during one of Hunter x Hunter’s most celebrated arcs, we are introduced to one of the greatest antagonists in manga history.
However, while I think Hunter x Hunter is one of the best manga out there, it isn’t without its flaws.
There’s first the art. I’m surprised how Yoshihiro Togashi can be so good at times and so bad at others. There are panels that are incredibly stunning, especially during certain fights. I couldn’t help but be awed by how detailed the art was. Yet, there are other panels or entire chapters that are almost nothing but scribbles. Overall though, the art is serviceable and decent, but apart from a few instances, it doesn’t stand out.
Another problem is the quality of the arcs. While some arcs are outstanding, like the York New and Chimera Ant arc, others feel rather boring and dragged on for so long I couldn’t wait until they were over. It almost feels like Hunter x Hunter is a strange mixture between brilliant and unique storytelling and boredom.
And now we come to the most daring problem I had with Hunter x Hunter, the exposition.
Hunter x Hunter often goes out of hand with explanations and dialogue. While I have no problem with dialogue-heavy manga, Hunter x Hunter’s plethora of words can feel a bit unfocused and almost unnecessary.
This is most prevailing in the newest arc, the Succession Contest arc. I was both stunned by the complexity, but also a bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of explanations and expositions. I didn’t struggle to make sense of it, but I feel there would’ve been better and more concise ways of explaining things.
Overall, Hunter x Hunter is one of the most enjoyable shonen manga with some brilliant moments that more than make up for certain weaker parts of the series. If you want to read a good fun shonen and one of the best manga of all time, give Hunter x Hunter a try.
I’m usually not a fan of sports manga and not too big a fan of shonen manga.
I stumbled upon Blue Lock when I was looking for other manga writen by Muneyuki Kaneshiro since I enjoyed their other works. At first I was skeptical, but after I read the first couple chapters I was drawn in by this manga. After reading it for a while I came to absolutely love it and consider Blue Lock one of the best manga I read in the last year.
The story of Blue Lock is relatively simple. After an analysis, it’s found out that the Japanese National Team misses one thing, a great striker. The Japanese Football Association hires an eccentric coach named Jinpachi Ego. He puts together a program held at Blue Lock, a prison-like training facility. There three hundred talented strikers from all over Japan will be pitted against one another. The sole survivor of Blue Lock will become the new Striker of the national team, while anyone else will be banned from joining the team forever.
Our protagonist Yoichi Isagi is one such striker who enters Blue Lock.
As I said, I’m not a big fan of sports manga and I’m also not the biggest fan of soccer. So why did I continue reading Blue Lock? Because of the art, the characters and the sheer amount of tension during many of the different games and tests.
The art by Yuusuke Nomura is outstanding and can rival the best manga in the arts department. It’s sharp, vivid and highly engaging. Some panels and pages or exceptionally well drawn, especially during key events in games. The artist can render raw emotions and power in fantastic detail. The overall style of this magna is amazing. Characters are often shown with glowing eyes, auras and faces distorted by sheer physical strain. It’s the type of art you’d usually see during over the top battle manga featuring fights to the death. It’s simply amazing and makes the entire manga so much more enjoyable.
Another thing I loved were the characters. They are all extremely well done, have their own unique character, but are throughout the board likeable. My favorite might just be Meguru Bachira, who’s such a quirky, yet amazing character.
What I enjoyed the most, however, was Yoichi and his quest of self-discovery at Blue Rock. Yoichi isn’t an overpowered shonen protagonist, instead, he’s often worse than other characters and it’s up to him to catch up to them. It’s a constant theme throughout the manga, and Yoichi slowly grows as he discovers more about his own play style and inherent talent. It not only keeps things interesting, it also keeps you on the toes during many of the games.
Now, in a manga such as this, there’s bound to be some unrealistic things. In Blue Lock, it’s mostly the level of play the characters showcase. All the characters in Blue Lock are high schoolers, yet they showcase world class plays.
While it’s a bit unrealistic, it didn’t deter my enjoyment at all.
Overall, I think Blue Lock is one of the best manga that came out in recent years, sports or not. It’s because of its great cast of characters and especially because of the fantastic art. Even if you’re not a fan of sports manga like me, check out Blue Lock.
C.A.T. by Fung Chin Pang is a short manhua I found by accident a long time ago. It was, as far as I know, unfortunately never finished. Still, what’s there is just too good to ignore. I truly think C.A.T. is one of the best Manhua or manga out there.
The story centers on a young woman known only as CAT. She was taken in by a group called the SFP Project. While there, she was severely abused before she could escape. Trained by a group of assassins, she’s now out to take revenge on the men who abused her.
Another part of the story centers on a man known as Alvas, who’s become the head of the CIA and plays his very own game with the rest of the world.
The story isn’t fully fleshed out unfortunately because the manhua was never finished.
What makes C.A.T. so amazing is the absolutely breathtaking art which can rival the best in the entire medium. It’s reminiscent of Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura, another one of the best manga of all time.
Each panel is beautiful, and the author’s style lends itself perfectly to the many action scenes in C.A.T. They are rendered in fluid and dynamic motion and look simply stunning.
This art also shows in the characters. Every character is well designed and drawn with full attention to detail. Cat starts out as a typical killing machine out for revenge. However, as short as the manhua is, the author can still make her a rather complex character.
The adversaries she meets throughout the manhua have some impressive design of their own, but aren’t much more than typical adversaries.
The only other characters who stand out are Hao Long and Alvas, but unfortunately we don’t spend enough time with them.
Still, C.A.T is a refreshing little Manhua that I enjoyed immensely and that stood out to me because of the great art and the fantastic fights. With only two available volumes it’s relatively short, but I still consider it among the best manga I’ve read and think it’s well worth the read.
Hotel is a fantastic collection of one-shots all drawn by the artist Boichi, who’s one of the best manga artist out there.
Each of the chapters is beautifully drawn and features Boichi’s outstanding art, but the content of the stories varies a little. There were none I disliked, but some are better than others.
While the stories are standalone, there are some thematically links between them. The first two stories for example seem to be set in the same world.
Things get really strange in chapters three and four who are a lot more surreal and weird than what came before.
Chapter five was drawn in full color and is breathtakingly beautiful, however, there isn’t much of a story to be found there. Still, it stands out among the rest because of the stunning full color art.
My favorite chapter was the first one though, featuring the titular Hotel, and it made me tear up a bit near the end.
Hotel is one of the few collections of one-shots on this list, but I really think it deserves its spot as one of the best manga. Some of the stories featured in Hotel are emotion while others are surreal and funny, yet all of them are interesting.
Hotel is a great, quick read that stands out from other, similar collections because of Boichi’s outstanding art.
Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro is one of the best manga in the cyberpunk and science-fiction genre out there.
The story starts off with the scientist Ido, who discovers the remains of a cyborg girl. She’s lost all her memories, but he takes it upon himself to restore her. He names her Alita and gives her a new cybernetic body.
From here on out we follow Alita as she finds her way in this new world and develops from an innocent, childlike character into a battle-hardened badass.
At the start of the series, the art is merely serviceable, but it improves in later parts. The art shines especially during the many fight scenes. There are quite intense, but motions are always fluid and you know what’s happening at all times. This was most notable during the motor ball arc, which was fantastically done and one of the best manga arcs I’ve read.
The setting of Battle Angel Alita is also well done. I really came to love the gritty post-apocalyptic world and especially the city of Scrapyard who’s a gloriously mad cluster of machines, factories and rubble.
Scrapyard can be best described as a cesspool swarming with the worst criminals and cybernetic freaks imaginable.
As for characters, I have to say that Alita was a well-done protagonist, at least for the most part. I enjoyed her character arc and her development a lot.
What makes her so interesting is that she’s not your standard hero protagonist. The entire story is about her finding her way and her place in the world. While there’s of course a plot, Battle Angel Alita is more character driven than anything else, more about Alita herself.
Yet, other character are also well done. Ido for example is a complex character. His relationship to Alita can be best described as a sort of father-daughter relationship, but it’s not free of its flaws.
The villains in this manga are a lot of fun. The one who stood out to me the most was Zapan, a bounty hunter who later turns into a full blown psychopath.
There are also some deeper themes in this manga. What’s great is that they aren’t shoved into your face. There are clear themes like the meaning of life, finding your way and uncovering who you really are.
Battle Angel Alita is not free of flaws, though. The most blatant one is the art, which is decent at first. While the setting is grim and the city of scrapyard is well designed, the character design can be a bit unrefined. This causes many of the robots and cyborgs to look a bit cartoonish.
Another problem is that some characters can be a bit overdrawn, which is especially apparent with a character who appears later in the story.
The same is true for Alita. While his is a manga bout her growth and her changing throughout the story, she can be a bit immature and arrogant.
Overall though, Battle Angel Alita is a well-paced, entertaining cyberpunk, science-fiction story and one of the best manga I ever read. I recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of science-fiction, post-apocalyptic settings and, of course, cyberpunk.
There are some manga out there who stand out because of their intricate and interesting characters or the story they tell. Others stand out because of the world they created. Made in Abyss by Akihito Tsukushi is a stark representative of the latter.
The Abyss is one of the most captivating and beautiful places ever created in manga. I only found out about this manga recently, but it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the abyss.
Made in Abyss tells the story of a young girl, Riko, who lives in the town of Orth. Orth was built around the edges of a giant chasm, called the abyss, which has never been fully explored.
Riko herself is the daughter of one of the most famous cave raiders, or White Whistles as they are called, who disappeared years ago. Riko herself dreams of becoming a White Whistle.
Her life changes when she meets a robot boy called Rengu. Believing this encounter to be caused by her mother, the two of them decide to descend the abyss.
Made in Abyss is a dark mixture of fantasy and science-fiction that features a fascinating setting populated with various strange and bizarre creatures.
What makes Made in Abyss one of the best manga of all time is clearly the art. It’s absolutely beautiful and insanely detailed. It’s no understatement to say that Made in Abyss is more beautiful than almost all other manga out there.
While the story of Made in Abyss appears lighthearted at first, especially because of its characters, it grows darker and more disturbing the further our protagonists descend.
There’s a feeling of dread related to the Abyss that can’t be understated. It’s an alien world, not only populated by alien creatures but also strange characters. And let’s not forget the ‘curse of the abyss’ which makes descent easy, but an ascent painful and almost impossible once a certain depth is crossed.
The biggest problem I have with Made in Abyss are the characters. Our protagonists are two kids who descend into an alien and dangerous world. I really can’t say I’m fond of the trend in manga to employ very young characters as protagonists. One has to wonder about this choice. Was it to rekindle the adventurous feelings we all had as children? Or was it done as a contrast to the alien world and to make the horror so much more horrible because it happened to children?
All in all though, while this choice was a bit strange to me, I still enjoyed the series immensely. Especially since the world and the world building were so interesting.
Overall Made in Abyss is easily one of the most beautiful and one of the best manga I’ve read. It presents us with one of the most unique and amazing settings ever. I urge anyone out there to read this manga, it’s truly worth it.
Jagaaaaaan is another manga written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro.
It’s the story of a young police officer known as Shintarou Jagasaki. He isn’t too fond of his life and is quite frustrated with how boring it is. This changes during a train ride when he’s escorting home a drunk man.
An office worker grows increasingly madder before he transforms into a twisted monster and starts tearing apart the other passengers. Jagasaki defeats the being by shooting a beam from his very own hand. He soon learns that the man was a fractured human being and that he himself is one as well. It’s now Jagasaki’s task to hunt down other fractured humans.
Fractured humans came into being when a rain of frogs descended upon Tokyo. These frogs infested humans with strong desires. While some of them give into their desires and are thus transformed into monsters, others, like Jagasaki, can resist temptation.
The story of Jagaaaaaan is crazy and continues to get crazier as it goes on, yet, as crazy as Jagaaaaaan is, it’s also one of the best manga I’ve ever read.
What I enjoyed was that people’s desires caused them to become monsters. It adds a bit of a deeper theme and shows that one shouldn’t blindly give into desire.
The first thing that stands out about Jagaaaaaan is the art by Kensuke Nishida. It’s fantastic throughout the board, and enough to warrant Jagaaaaaan’s addition to this list of the best manga. The faces of characters and their emotions conveyed via distorting them are amazingly done.
What’s also great is the character design and especially their transformation into twisted monsters.
The fights in Jagaaaaan are something to marvel at. Jagasaki’s own transformation becomes increasingly more powerful and impressive to look at as the manga goes on. It starts with a simple finger canon, but soon his entire arm turns into a weapon and later on things only turn to get more insane.
With characters, Jagasaki is really interesting. Anyone who read Kamisama no Iutoori and its sequel knows that Muneyuki Kaneshiro has a hang for weird characters. Jagasaki’s a weird as shown in the very first chapter. However, that also makes him much more realistic and unique. Who of us isn’t frustrated with their life at times? Over the course of the manga Jagasaki develops, going from a sort of loner with a rather twisted goal to someone who can appreciate and value the people by his side.
As for side-characters, there are some truly great ones, many of those being fractured humans like Jagasaki. While some are more normal, it’s the ones who are a deranged and crazy who are more interesting.
The first thing one should know about Jagaaaaaan is that it features its fair share of explicit content. There’s violence, there’s gore, and there’s nudity. While sex isn’t common, it’s still shown, and the manga isn’t shy to show sexual abuse committed by a certain, despicable character.
One little criticism I have is the pacing. Things take up more steam early on, almost as if the writer wanted to get as much of the crazy premise out of the way in the very first chapters of the manga. It works well and introduces us right away to the crazy world of Jagaaaaaan. However, it still feels a bit rushed.
Overall, Jagaaaaaan is a weird, twisted, but great manga if one’s willing to give it a chance. There are some depraved acts and some quite heavy gore during battles, but it never is there just for the sake of it. And, after all, Jagaaaaaan is horror manga and one of the best manga the genre offers released in recent years.
For all the disturbing and depraved things portrayed, it’s so much fun at others one can’t stop reading.
Try Jagaaaaaa, if you’re looking for something a bit weird. If you enjoy the first couple of chapters, stick to it, it will only get better.
Solo Leveling is a manhwa by Sung-rak Jang based on the web novel of the same title by Chugong. It’s recommended everywhere these days, and many people include it as one of the best manga or manhwa out there.
When I first started reading Solo Leveling, I was skeptical and couldn’t help but roll my eyes at it. The world-building seems almost too simple, and the story didn’t appear that great to me.
Yet, as I read on, there was one thing above all else that stood out to me and made me enjoy it: the art. Solo Leveling looks stunning.
The reason I love reading Solo Leveling so much is for the fights and the action, and there’s plenty of it.
The story is relatively simple. So-called gates appear around the world, connecting it to a world of monsters. At the same time, ordinary people were given superhuman powers and became known as hunters. From then on these hunters fought the monsters who appeared from these so-called gates.
Our protagonist, Jin-Woo Sung, is one such hunter, however he’s know as the ‘World’s Weakest Hunter,’ since he’s pathetically weak compared to others.
After a certain mission goes terribly wrong, he awakes in the hospital with a quest log in front of him. From here on Jin-Woo Sung can do quests, level up and become stronger, a feat only he’s able to do.
Solo Leveling is basically a typical zero to hero power fantasy. Yet, it handles this well enough, as we witness Jin-Woo changing from a weak underdog to a force to be reckoned with. Overall though, the story isn’t outstanding.
It was interesting to see Jin-Woo himself changing and becoming a bit of a darker character himself.
There are some fresh revelations and hints at a bigger, overarching plot in recent chapters. Still, the story feels more like a vessel to show us a cool protagonist and some outstanding fights.
And thus we come to the main part of Solo Leveling, the fights. Fights are the gist of Solo Leveling, and they are rendered in beautifully outstanding detail. As often in manhwa, Solo Leveling is fully colored. Yet, it goes beyond many others in terms of sheer detail. It’s no understatement to say that Solo Leveling can stand up to the best manga out there in terms of art.
As for characters, Jin-Woo Sung is likeable enough, but I felt his growth was a bit too fast. I’d have liked to watch him struggle and overcome challenges for a bit longer. However, he’s relatively powerful, relatively early on and from then on defeats almost all enemies with ease.
In later parts Solo Leveling also focuses more on other characters who are all interesting and a lot of fun in their own right. It also helps to expand the story and the world. Still, most of the time those characters are there to struggle against monsters before Jin-Woo comes in to save the day.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with this. Solo Leveling is fun, the art is fantastic, and the action is incredible. The plot, however, as of now at least, is pretty standard. If Solo Leveling is one thing, it’s fun and definitely among the best, if not the best power-fantasy series out there.
Fuan no Tane is an anthology of very short horror stories, never more than a few pages long.
It stands out among other horror manga by focusing entirely on being scary and creepy.
There’s no plot in Fuan no Tane. It’s a collection of creepy incidents involving ghosts or supernatural entities. Each chapter of the manga contains a few of these incidents, all centered on a specific theme. It might be a location, such as a school or a hospital, or a concept such as uninvited guests.
At first, it might appear strange that there’s no plot, but that’s also what makes Fuan no Tane work so great and one of the best manga at what it does.
It doesn’t waste any time on introducing characters, setting the scene or giving us a plot. Instead, we go right to the creepiness. That’s how it keeps up the scariness and creepiness factor all throughout without taking a step back.
The art in this manga is good and the unique, more sketchy style helps to underline the creepy moments, but it’s not outstanding as the art in some of the best manga in terms of art on this list.
Overall, Fuan no Tane is a special type of horror manga one that not everyone will like or enjoy. It’s the fact that the writer didn’t bother with a plot that might alienate some readers or make them downright frustrated.
If you’re, however, looking only for glimpses, only brief incidents or scenes of scares and creepiness, then this one’s for you.
Tsutomu Nihei is one of my favorite mangaka of all time.
Knights of Sidonia is his longest series to date and can be best described as a mecha-space manga. While it diverts from his usual style of storytelling, it still features his outstanding art and complex world-design. However, Knights of Sidonia feels more mainstream-friendly than his older series.
However, I still think Knights of Sidonia is one of the best manga in the science-fiction and space genre.
It’s the story of the titular spaceship Sidonia and a young man named Nagate Tanikaze.
The Sidonia fled into space after earth was destroyed by powerful aliens known as Gauna who are still in pursuit of the Sidonia, relentlessly attacking it.
Nagate Tanikaze has been living most of his life in the depths of the ship without contact to any other human beings. One day, however, he finds his way to the populated portions of the ship.
Because of his natural talent as a fighter pilot, he quickly becomes the pilot of one of the Gardes, giant mechs designed to fight the Gauna.
The first thing one notices about Knights of Sidonia is, like I mentioned before, that it’s more mainstream than his other series.
Blame!, Biomega, and many of his other works had been dark, gloomy, gritty and quiet.
Not so Knights of Sidonia, at least not overall. We still got the gritty, dark atmosphere when the stories about fighting the Gauna. However, there’re chapters in-between featuring more conventional storytelling. We’ve got normal conversations, people hanging out, joking around, falling in love and much more.
However, Knights of Sidonia still feels like a Nihei manga. We’re still presented with his grand architecture, the mega structures, the fascinating alien Gauna, and later on entities that remind us of the cyborgs in Blame! It’s because of these elements I consider Knights of Sidonia one of the best manga, especially in terms of art.
Of course, Knights of Sidonia is still a seinen series. While it has lighter elements, death is still an everyday occurrence and so are destruction and danger.
The biggest problem I have with Knights of Sidonia is the ending. Without spoiling too much, I felt Nihei wrapped things up in a too-happy and even somewhat cheesy way.
However, while I was a bit disappointed by the ending, the rest of the manga is still one of the best manga and space operas out there, especially in more recent years.
If you’re a fan of space manga, definitely check out Knights of Sidonia.
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo is one of the most popular and influential manga of all time, spawning not only the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre but also one of the most influential anime of all time.
Many people hold the manga in very high regard and think of it as one of the best manga of all time.
Akira is set in the city of Neo Tokyo which was erected on the ruins of Tokyo after it was destroyed in 1988 by a mysterious explosion. Neo Tokyo is your typical dystopian cyberpunk hell that fuses future technology and giant skyscrapers with biker gangs, poverty and revolutionaries.
Our protagonists are Tetsuo Shima and Soutarou Kaneda, two bikers who are best friends and bitter rivals. When Tetsuo tries to pull a desperate stunt to prove he’s Kaneda’s equal, he sets in motion the awakening of Akira, a secret government project.
At the core Akira is a story about government conspiracies, secret experiments and megalomania.
The greatest point about Akira and what makes it one of the best manga is undoubtedly the art. While the character design is great, but where it truly shines is in the depiction of the shady dystopia that is Neo Tokyo. The dirty corners, the cracks in buildings and streets and even the rubble are all rendered in Katsuhiro Otomo’s unique and insanely detailed art-style. It’s a marvel to look at.
Especially in later parts, when the story turns into a full-blown apocalypse, the destruction is presented to us in glorious detail.
While the character design in Akira is great, the characters leave things to be desired and appear almost as arch-types than actual characters.
Kaneda is a badass biker boy and our protagonist, while Tetsuo is an edgy youth with anger problems who desperately wants to be at the top.
Of the two, Tetsuo is clearly the more interesting though. Especially in earlier chapters, he comes up as a scary, almost chilling character, while he remains somewhat tragic and even sympathetic.
Another problem is the story. It’s more style than anything. Don’t get me wrong, I love the clashes of psychic powers, the destruction of the city and everything that’s happening. Yet, powers are never clearly established. This is especially prevalent in later chapters when Akira dissolves into a power struggle between psychic superhumans.
I enjoyed the earlier volumes of Akira the most. It’s here that the story focuses more on biker gangs, drug orgies, and government conspiracies. This is also where the dystopian setting with all its cyberpunk elements truly shines.
Did the aforementioned flaws ruin Akira for me? Not in the slightest. Having read Katsuhiro Otomo’s other work Domu – A Child’s Drea and having watched the movie version of Akira, I didn’t expect it to be a piece of hard science-fiction. I knew powers would most likely be unexplained and not be set in stone. What I came for was the outstanding art, the setting, and a storyline about a crazy megalomaniac. And that’s exactly what I got.
Does Akira live up to the hype it so often gets and the high ratings it receives? Yes and no. Akira had a massive influence on the manga and anime genre. Yet, as with other works pivotal to subgenres or movements, they rarely live up to their reputation.
However, at least in terms of arts and setting, Akira holds up. It’s still beautiful and one of the best and most detailed manga of all time. If you can ignore the lackluster plot and the almost one-dimensional characters, you fill find some of the greatest art and one of the best cyberpunk dystopias in the entire medium.
Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida might be one of the weirdest manga I’ve ever read. It’s set in such a dark, grim and brutal world, yet it’s full of humor.
It’s a surreal tale set in the city of Hole, which is connected to the Sorcerer’s World, a world populated by magic users. Because of this connection, the city of Hole has become a testing ground for magic users who visit it and test their powers on the city’s denizens.
Murders, mutilations, transformations and other atrocities are a daily reality for the people of Hole.
But there’s Kaiman, an amnesiac with the head of a reptilian who’s immune to magic. Believing himself to be another victim of magic users, he goes after them relentlessly to figure out who he really is and what happened to him. In his quest, he’s helped by his female friend Nikaidou.
The premise of the story is already weird enough, but it only serves to get weirder and more surreal as the story goes on.
However, as grim and dark as the story appears, it mixes death and carnage with comedy and lightheartedness into a whole that just works. It’s this odd dualism that made Dorohedoro unlike anything I’ve read and elevates it to one of the best manga.
Yet, there’re more reasons to praise Dorohedoro. One of them is the art. It’s both outlandish and absolutely gorgeous. Both the run-down, decrepit city of Hole as well as the weird surrealism of the Sorcerer’s World are rendered in gorgeous detail.
The same is true for our cast of characters. On one side we have the transformed and disfigured inhabitants of Hole and on the other side the outlandish characters who populate the Sorcerer’s World.
What’s interesting is that no side is painted as good or evil. Both are simply there, in a morally gray mush, and all the characters are equally likeable and unique.
In the beginning the story centers on Kaiman and his quest, but the more we learn, the more we learn about an overall plot that connects Kaiman, the city of Hole and the Sorcerer’s World. Describing this plot and the world of Dorohedoro is a thing that’s almost impossible because of the sheer creativity and originality that went into it.
While Dorohedoro has a lighthearted, surreal and at times humorous atmosphere to it, it still doesn’t shy away from gore and blood. The further the story continues and the more outlandish it becomes, the more brutal and horrific the events featured are.
Overall, Dorohedoro is one of the most unique, original and best manga I’ve read. However, one gets the feeling that it’s often weird for weirdness’ sake and that the story is complicated for complication’s sake.
Dorohedoro is a manga that anyone should check out. Be warned though, it can be quite heavy on gore and even though its goriness is hidden behind a curtain of humor, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Still, it’s one of the best manga of all time and a series that anyone interested in horror, weird and surreal manga should check out.
Shigurui by Noria Nanjou and Takayuki Yamaguchi is one of the most brutal and best manga in the samurai genre.
It starts with the proclamation of the twisted daimyo Tadanaga Tokugawa to hold a martial arts competition with real swords featuring fights to the death.
The manga starts with the first fight which pits a one-armed man, Gennosuke Fujiki, against the blind and lame Seigen Irako. However, we don’t see the result of their fight just yet, instead, the entire manga features on the backstory of our two contestants.
The high point of the manga is the art. Shigurui looks fantastic and renders its gore and brutality in beautiful detail. Throughout the entire run of the manga, the art is outstanding. Characters, backgrounds and even nature are a joy to look at.
What makes Shigurui stand out as one of the best manga is not only the art, but the very real depiction of how brutal and unforgiving samurai culture really was. In other media, it’s often romanticized and depicted as honorable. Shigurui, though, doesn’t shy away from showing that it was in essence despicable and the cause of many lost lives.
What’s interesting to see is that Shigurui makes no clear distinction between protagonist and antagonist. Instead, the author focuses on the flaws of both characters and on the unforgiving nature of samurai culture.
The women in this manga are treated terribly. They are almost always abused and become nothing more than simple attachments to samurai to be exploited as seen fit. This is most evident in the characters of Lady Iku and Mie Iwamoto.
The entire story of this manga is overshadowed by a general atmosphere of depression. There’s nothing good here, there’s only the sword and the life it forces people into. It’s one of servitude and obedience shrouded in the guise of honor.
Shigurui is a manga that’s less plot driven and more character driven. It showcases our protagonists’ lives and their quest for revenge.
However, here the problems start. Things become a bit tedious later on, and the manga dragged on a bit too much.
There’s also an entire arc about two characters that have no relation to our protagonists that’ brought to no resolution. This, however, is because the manga’s based on a novel about the tournament held by Tadanaga Tokugawa. The novel itself features all the fights and backstories of the contestants. One has to wonder if the manga was cut short and was originally going to feature the entire tournament.
This might also explain the ending. While I thought the manga ended perfectly and conveyed its overall themes satisfactorily, one can’t help but feel that it was a bit rushed.
Overall, Shigurui is a fantastic, brutal story, featuring two great characters and giving us a realistic and unforgiving look at samurai culture without glamorizing it.
To me, Shigurui is one of the best manga of all time and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in samurai manga and brutal fights. A word of warning though, this manga is not for the faint of heart and its story is as tragic as it is depressing.
Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima is one of the oldest manga on this list, but also one of the best and most influential manga ever created. This samurai manga is rightfully considered a classic of the medium.
Lone Wolf and Cub details the life of Ittou Ogami, who was once the Shogunate’s chief executioner. His life was ruined when he was framed for treason by the Yagyuu Clan to steal his position. Being forced to flee with his young son, he travels as an assassin for hire and thus they become known as Lone Wolf and Cub.
In the beginning the manga is told in episodic fashion featuring the different assassinations Ittou Ogami carries out. As the manga continues, we soon learn more about our protagonist, about his back story and that his travels serve one purpose and one purpose alone, to get revenge against the Yagyuu Clan.
What makes Lone Wolf and Cub one of the best manga is not only the overall plot, but that each of the individual, episodic stories stand their ground. They are conveying depth and emotion rarely found in other, much longer works.
Being from the 70s, the art of the manga might appear old-fashioned, but it’s still excellent done. It’s simple, yet gritty and realistic, giving it a unique style that’s very fitting for a traditional samurai story.
What stands out the most, however, are the action sequences. They are incredibly well done and look fantastic even today, making this one of the best manga in terms of sword fights.
What I also really enjoyed was the character of Ittou Ogami. While he might appear as a hardened assassin, almost like a demon, he’s shown as a father who cares deeply for his son. It was this dualism and the many other nuances we witnessed about him that showed me just how complex and multi-layered a character he was.
Overall, Lone Wolf and Cub might not be everyone’s cup of tea. The style is old-fashioned and the overall story and presentation are done realistically. It isn’t as flash as other samurai manga, and the art, while well done, is also simpler than that in modern manga.
Still, it’s without a doubt one of the best manga of all time and worth checking out for any fans of traditional Japanese stories and samurai manga.
I mentioned before that I’m usually not a big fan of comedy manga, but Gokushufudou by Kousuke Oono is pure gold.
It’s the story of Tatsu who was formerly known as Immortal Tatsu, a legendary yakuza who retired from his position and become a househusband.
Now, of course, mundane household tasks have their very own challenge, but that’s not all there is to Gokushufudou.
The entire manga is drawn and presented to us with the intensity of a usual crime or battle manga. Buying vegetables for dinner at a bargain is drawn with a suspense and tension usually reserved for life and death situations. Meeting old rivals is shown as a dramatic clash that might explode into violence only for them to engage in a cooking challenge and see who can garner more likes on Instagram.
I think the art is absolutely perfect and makes this one of the best manga coming out in recent years. Showing normal, mundane tasks and a daily household routine in such a suspenseful and over-the-top way is absolute genius. More so than that, the art is clean, well drawn and often beautiful.
There characters are fun and of course as ridiculously overdrawn as you’d expect them to be in a comedy manga. We run into various characters from Tatsu’s past, who are all similar to him and are trying to make an honest living. But whenever Tatsu meets any of them, it’s always depicted as if they were still out in the streets.
Gokushufudou is without a doubt one of the funniest manga I’ve ever read, and the fantastic art style helps so much to make this manga utterly ridiculous.
I highly recommend Gokushufudou to anyone who wants to have some good laughs and witness some incredibly stupid situations. It’s truly one of the best manga in the comedy genre of all time.
Ah yes, Ichi the Killer by Hideo Yamamoto, one of the most graphicl and most disturbing manga of all time. However, it’s also one of the best manga I’ve ever read.
Hideo Yamamoto has outdone himself. While he did some strange work before, Ichi the Killer is a story in which almost every single character is batshit insane.
Ichi the Killer is the story of the titular killer named Ichi, an ominous figure who always kills his victims brutally. His adversary is Kakihara, a deranged yakuza. After Kakihara’s boss vanishes, all hell breaks loose as he tries to find his boss. Once he figured out what happened to him, he searches for Ichi himself. This eventually leads to a confrontation between the two.
As I mentioned, Ichi the Killer is a mature and graphical manga. It features violence, torture, sexual abuse, rape and murder. To say this is not for the faint of heart might be an understatement.
But Ich the Killer is no mere gore feast, it’s a psychological story that explores various themes, making it one of the best manga of all time.
The most predominate one is that of sadism and masochism. Other themes include identity disorder, childhood abuse, manipulation and much, much more. All of those are mixed into one of the most deranged manga of all time.
But that’s what makes Ichi the Killer work. Ichi doesn’t filter. It shows us the deepest depth of human depravity and the darkest underbelly of society.
I really enjoyed Ichi the Killer. For both, it’s raw depiction of violence, for the over-the-top and insane characters, but also for its story and the many deeper themes. There are quite a few twists and turns as we continue to explore our two protagonists deeper. Especially Ichi is a vastly more complex character than we’d have ever thought.
The art in Ichi the Killer is somewhat simplistic, but unique. It often comes with overdrawn facial expressions that show the mental state of characters. It also features its violence in glorious detail.
The protagonists, Ichi and Kakihara, who are the driving force behind the manga couldn’t be more different. The two of them are almost polar opposites. Which helps to make the manga even more interesting than it already is.
We already talked about the violence which can be a bit much and even if there’s a reason for it, certain scenes can be rough. Another flaw is that a few details about the plot are left unexplained or are a bit unrealistic. It didn’t deter from the manga’s enjoyment, though.
Overall, Ichi the Killer is a mature manga that features quite a few disturbing scenes, but it’s also one of the best manga out there. If one’s up for a more disturbing and depraved story ripe with graphical content, Ichi is at its core an amazing, psychological, thriller manga.
Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara is one of the most popular and highest rated historical and military manga out there.
Having heard about it for so long, I finally read it last year and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. By now, I consider it one of the best manga of all time.
Kingdom is set in the Warring States era of China and aims to detail the unification of China under the state of Qin.
Our protagonist is Shin, a young servant boy who becomes entangled in the matters of state during a rebellion against the soon-to-be king of Qin, Ei Sei.
From here on out, Shin sets out to become a Great General under the Heavens and help Ei Sei to fulfill his dream of unifying China.
Kingdom is a manga that aims to encompass a scope that’s almost unfathomable, and it shows in its sheer length. At over 600 chapters, the manga is still far from being done.
The focus of Kingdom is on the large-scale battles that took time during the Warring States era and it shows them in incredible detail.
We are treated to large-scale battles between armies numbering in the tenth or even hundreds of thousands. What makes Kingdom so great, though, is its showcasing of tactics and strategies. The manga does extremely well detailing the various engagements, tactics deployed, strategic finesse used and isn’t shy to show to overall brutality of the battles.
However, there’s another important plot happening, one that details the events at the court of Qin. It’s a power struggle between Ei Sei and Ryo Fui, the Chancellor of State who aims for the throne himself. While I enjoyed the immense battles in Kingdom, I grew to absolutely love the matters of state with its intrigues.
Kingdom also showcases, especially in later parts, the pivotal events happening in different states.
Overall, the scope of this manga is as grand as it gets, and the story and plot are told fantastically. For this alone, it’s well fitting for this list of the best manga of all time.
The art in Kingdom starts out merely average. Especially during the first arc, I thought it was decent enough, but not outstanding. However, this changes in later parts. The large scale engagements are rendered in stunning detail. Another thing is the giant, walled cities of ancient China who are absolutely impressive and a marvel to look at.
For characters, the manga features a large cast of diverse characters and some who are outstanding like Ei Sei, Ryo Fui, General Ou Ki and Riboku.
But that’s also where the bad parts of Kingdom start, with our protagonist Shin. He used to be a servant boy, raised together with another boy named Ri Hyou. The two of them had the dream of becoming the greatest generals in China and had countless sparring matches together.
This, and his natural talent, somehow made a young servant boy a force to be reckoned with. During the first arc, Shin can not only defeat hardened swordsman but also trained assassins.
This theme continues throughout the entire manga and Shin shows a level of martial prowess that’s, frankly said, unrealistic. He’s always at the center of the battle, always throwing himself into the fray, cutting through tens if not hundreds of enemies.
Another thing I didn’t enjoy about Shin was his clichéd characterization. He’s a young hothead who’s not smart and aims for the top because it’s the top. However, during the entire course of the manga, he’s always recognized by those amazing characters we encounter. It all feels a bit forced.
However, while Shin is the protagonist, the focus of Kingdom is clearly on the overall plot, the large-scale battles and the politics. Of course, we witness many of the battles from Shin’s point of view, or at least in large parts. The focus, however, is always on the overall battle.
Another thing I have to criticize are the first few arcs. They are, at least in my opinion, the worst part of the manga. It’s during the very first arc, the Sei Kyo Rebellion arc, in which Shin’s faults are most glaring. It’s also here that the story, while interesting, feels more like a shonen manga.
All this changes when we enter the very first, large scale battle and when Chancellor Ryo Fui appears at court.
Kingdom, while a historical manga, takes some liberties, however, this shouldn’t surprise anyone.
However, the problems outlined are mostly minor, and I enjoyed the bigger, overarching plot tremendously. If you decide to pick up Kingdom, you want to read on until the very first large scale battle. Those are what truly make Kingdom interesting and make it one of the best manga of all time.
The world of illegal money lending is a dark, dark place. In the world of Yamikin Ushijima-kun by Manabe Shouhei people get used, betrayed, tortured and even lose their life. This manga is dark, and it’s twisted. However, at times I enjoy stories that are darker and I think Yamikin Ushijima is as good as it gets. That’s why I believe it’s one of the best manga of all time.
Our protagonist Kaoru Ushijima is a money lender offering cash loans with an interest rate of fifty percent to be paid back within ten days. Who would take such an outrageous loan? As it turns out, there are quite a few people. It’s the dregs of society, those who are drowning in debt, or who gave into their various vices.
The story follows the antics of Ushijima as he makes sure people pay him back and take from them all they have. Ushijima isn’t shy to use prostitution, identity theft or extortion and even sets the occasional example for those who think they can get away without paying.
Yamikin Ushijima-kun is, mostly, a realistic, grounded story that shows us the worst of the worst. It’s showing just how deep you can fall and in how much trouble you can get. The dangers in this manga aren’t coming from monsters or killers, but from your own mistakes and your own desperation.
You seldom find hope in this manga. Most of the episodic stories end with characters in the worst place possible after having all their money taken from them. Still, there are a few glimmers of hope that might feel out of place in this manga, but that makes the experience even better.
Still, most of the stories can be described as tragedies, as misery and trouble pilling up on people until there’s no way out.
However, Ushijima isn’t the only scum out there, and in the manga’s course we get to know people who are far worse.
Yet, what makes it so much worse, is the realism of the tale. Making mistakes in life, accumulating debt or having terrible luck are a reality in our world and so are people who prey on the weak.
Yamikin Ushijima-kun is a manga that’s meant to be unpleasant. It showcases the dark underbelly of society and does so in a fascinating way. It’s this focus on the dark sides of society that make this one of the best manga out there.
Manabe Shouhei’s art is different and unique. It’s not as refined as other manga and can be best described as gritty and almost dirty. But for this type of manga, it’s more than fitting. It helps to set the tone. This is not a pleasant world, not a clean world, no, this is a dark, gritty and dirty world.
As in Manabe Shouhei’s other manga, the characters are unique, but aren’t necessarily the nicest to look at. But once more this helps to set the tone. Overall, the art serves to keep the manga grounded in reality.
As for characters, there’s seldom anyone who’s likeable. Ushijima isn’t a good guy, he’s all business, taking as much money as he can. Still, often, you come to root more for him than anyone else.
Things get a bit different in later, longer arcs when the focus shifts from Ushijima to other characters and outlines their journeys in this dark world. I felt the manga got even better in those longer stories. While I enjoyed the earlier chapters immensely, it’s these longer stories that truly made Yamakin Ushijima-kun one of the best manga of all time to me.
It’s a fantastic read to tag along and see the lives of different people and uncover the reasons that will eventually bring them to Ushijima’s office.
While one’s hard pressed to feel sympathetic to most of them, there are some fates that are truly heartbreaking. But as I said before, there are also some stories that end in happier ways.
Overall, this is a fascinating and dark manga that will keep you reading and wanting to see more of the underbelly of society.
There are many crime manga out there, but I feel none portray it just like Yamakin Ushijima-kun. While it can occasionally be more sensational than realistic, it’s still one of the best manga out there.
Gantz by Hiroya Oku is insane, but that’s also the reason I love it so much.
The manga tells the story of Kei Kurono. One day he and his childhood friend Kato die in a tragic train accident when trying to save a homeless man. Following this accident, the two of them awake in a Tokyo apartment in which a group of other people, as clueless as them, have gathered. The center of the room is taken up by a black sphere called Gantz. It explains to them it’s their job to hunt down aliens living among humans. Soon after, they get teleported to a different location and the first of many brutal alien hunts begins.
Gantz is another longer manga with almost 400 chapters, but it’s well worth the investment. It’s also a story high on action and, at least most of the time, low on dialogue. This makes Gantz, for its length, a relatively short read.
At its core, Gantz is a brutal, gritty series about people hunting aliens, presented to us in fluid action and glorified gore. And Gantz that’s what makes Gantz one of the best manga of all time. The alien hunts and the action, especially in later parts when the scale and the danger keep increasing.
One of the major reasons Gantz stands out among many other, similar action-oriented manga is not only the weirdness of the premise but also the amazing art. Characters are drawn detailed and all have their own style. The aliens, too, are unique and their design is fantastic.
Gantz is full of action and battles, and each one of those is drawn and illustrated amazingly. The action is fluid; the violence is brutal, and the enemies aren’t just cannon fodder. No, it’s almost always the opposite. It’s the people who are sent to hunt them down who are the cannon fodder. Death is normal in Gantz, and not just for the peculiar rival in Gantz room.
Another thing I really loved about Gantz were the characters. First and foremost, I like to mention Kurono. He starts out as an unlikeable, egoistic teenager that almost anyone will hate. Over the course of the story, though, he shows tremendous character development and changes into an entirely different reason. It’s a delight to see Kurono grow gradually and eventually become the leader of the Gantz team. Whenever I think about Gantz as one of the best manga of all time, Kurono’s character is one of the first things that comes to my mind.
Many of the other supporting characters are cool and unique and quite a few of them have their own special traits, way of fighting and powers.
However, Gantz isn’t free from problems. As much as I consider Gantz as one of the best manga of all time, I have to admit that it also has some serious flaws.
Gantz is a long manga, and I felt that Hiroya Oku loves to experiment with things and loves to add new things to his manga. The problem is that some of these things are left hanging. There’s an entire subplot about vampires who conflict with the Gantz team. For a while they are quite significant to the story, that’s until they aren’t and the entire plot point is dropped.
Another reason is the portrayal of the world in Gantz. While one expects the missions to be brutal, dark and unforgiving, the normal world in Gantz isn’t much better. We’re experiencing severe bullying, rape, brutal violence and in later parts even a mass shooting.
The most problematic thing to me, however, was the last mission and specifically the ending. I felt like things weren’t really planned out anymore and the author just came up with the story on the fly. Things turned very weird near the end, even for Gantz, with no proper explanation to what was going on. After that, the manga was brought to a close with a rushed final. I kind of understand what the writer wanted to go for, but it was all a bit too strange and happened too fast.
Overall though, Gantz is an amazing manga. It’s a weird, insane, brutal and gory mess that has some of the most exceptional action scenes I’ve ever seen in manga. It also features some of the coolest, most interesting monster design. Even though the plot can get a bit out of hand and sometimes makes no actual sense, I still consider Gantz one of the best manga of all time. At its core, Gantz is a series about people hunting down aliens, and that’s where the series is at its absolute best.
Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani is my favorite mind game and psychological manga of all time, and I also consider it one of the best manga ever written.
It’s the story of an honest girl named Kanzaki Nao who becomes a contestant in the Liar Game, a game with stakes in the hundreds of million of yen. The goal of the game is to deceive or trick your opponent and steal their money.
Kanzaki gets promptly tricked and loses all her money. Upon hearing that a genius swindler, Shinichi Akiyama, is being released from prison, she sets out to enlist his help. After initially rejecting her request, he helps her. As it turns out, though, this was only the very first round of the Liar Game.
Liar game is so good because of the various different games. While they are simple in the beginning, things soon get much more interesting. Liar Game truly comes to shine in its later, longer arcs.
This is probably the best manga for anyone who’s looking for intelligent and clever mind games and psychological tricks.
What’s even more interesting than the games themselves is how well they are constructed. Even better than those are the various tricks and strategies employed by our protagonists. It’s a delight to watch them out-play and trick each other with nothing but the force of their mind.
The art in Liar Game is serviceable, but not outstanding. The locations and games, however, are nicely designed and the character all look unique.
One thing to notice though is the over-exaggerated reactions and emotions of characters. It feels unnatural and over the top.
Characters, apart from the protagonists, are often uninspiring and almost caricatures of themselves, only there to represent a certain character type. Most of the time they are rather simple and no match for Akiyama. That’s until we get to know some more clever adversaries like Yokoya or Harimoto. When they show up, Liar Game becomes so much more interesting and the games reach a new level of suspense and tension. The games featuring those characters are absolutely outstanding and solidified Liar Game as one of the best manga I ever read.
At times, though, Liar Game has some troubles, most of all with its many side characters. They aren’t just simple, but often act like utter idiots. Their reactions are often overdrawn to the extreme and panels with all of them gawking at Akiyama with wide mouths almost become the norm.
Another thing that might alienate some readers are the explanations of the games which can become a bit drawn out and overly complex.
There’s also the ending, which I thought was a bit simple and anti-climatic. It almost felt like the manga was cut short.
Overall, I had an absolute blast with Liar Game. While some earlier games are easy to grasp, things turned truly good when it was time for the Contraband Game. It was here that so many twists, turns and new strategies were introduced, my mind was blown.
Liar Game is truly one of the most thrilling and best manga out there.
Bokutachi ga Yarmashita was a manga I found when I had a look at the other works of Kaneshiro Muneyuki. At first I didn’t know what to think about it, but as I read on it turned out to be one of the darkest and best manga, I’ve ever read.
The manga is the story of Tobio Masubuchi and his three best friends Isami, Maru and Paisen. They spend most of their days leading an average, undisturbed life. One day, they get into trouble with some delinquents from a neighboring school. After Maru is beaten up, they decide to take revenge.
Once they’ve decided what to do, they put their plan into motion. What was meant to be a prank, however, turns into deadly reality. As a result, their normal, mundane lives end.
Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is a fantastic psychological manga bout guilt and redemption. It’s also one of the darkest, yet most realistic manga I ever read. There’s just this dark, gloomy and depressing atmosphere hanging over the entire work.
It was one of the most unique experiences I had in manga. There was an underlying tension throughout the whole manga that makes you uncomfortable on a deeply personal level.
The storytelling in this manga succeeds on every level. The pacing is fantastic, the plot is great and keeps you engaged from beginning to end.
In terms of art, this manga is pretty good, but I feel it’s fantastic and unique with facial expressions and using them to showcase the emotional state of characters.
However, it’s not the art that makes this one of the best manga of all time. The best part about it is without a doubt the characters. The entire story of this manga is driven by characters. These characters aren’t heroes, but are realistic and normal day people. If you want to go further, they are weak, immature and materialistic, the type who doesn’t think about the consequences of their actions.
It’s those people who somehow have to handle the situation they’ve got themselves in, and we can see the toll it takes on them.
While the characters are interesting and realistic, they aren’t necessarily likeable or sympathetic. However, I felt that’s not what Kaneshiro Muneyuki had in mind. No, he wanted to present to us with normal people.
The manga toys not only with the concepts of guilt and redemption, but also friendship, sanity, love and life itself.
There’s also no magic ending here. As with real life, people have to live with the consequence of their actions and some do better while others do worse.
Overall, Bokutatchi ga Yarimashita is a fantastic, dark, suspenseful and psychological manga. Reading this was an experience like any other, but it presented me with a deep look into the human psyche. It’s clearly one of my best reads last year and one of the best manga of all time.
Homunculus is another manga by Hideo Yamamoto, so you know what you’re in for. It’s not as brutal and disturbing as Ichi the Killer, but it’s way, way weirder.
It’s the story of a young man, Susumu Nakoshi, who lives as a homeless man in his car. He encounters a young medical student, Manabu Ito, who’s doing research about the process of trepanation, the drilling of holes into the human skull. He proposes to Nakoshi that he’s looking for test subjects on which to perform trepanation.
After a while, Nakoshi agrees to undergo the procedure. Once it’s over, Nakoshi learns he can now see distorted versions of humans when looking at them with his left eye. These are the titular homunculi.
Homunculus is one of the most unique and best manga I ever read. While it starts out interesting, it becomes very strange after a while.
It’s a psychological masterpiece which deals with a variety of themes, such as vanity, trauma, identity disorder, materialism and many other things.
There’s a fair share of disturbing scenes, both violent and sexual and even more scenes that are just uncomfortable on a different, much deeper, psychological level.
Overall, the story of the manga can be best described as a slow, but steady descent into madness.
Homunculus almost feels unpredictable. Even from the outset, one has to wonder what’s going on with Nakoshi. After the trepanation, after he sees visions, the manga appears more a character study than to follow a straight plot.
The greatest things about Homunculus are without a doubt the art and the weirdness of the story. It’s for those reasons alone that I’ll always consider it one of the best manga of all time.
The various humunculi, the symbolic representation of people’s trauma and Nakoshi’s very own madness are masterfully done.
The art can be abstract at times, disturbing at others, yet it’s always detailed and serves to brilliantly outline what’s happening.
Our two protagonists are very interesting. Nakoshi and Manabu are both complex and flawed characters. Their interactions and the things we learn about them are very interesting throughout the story. I can honestly say that neither of the two is in any way clichéd and the same holds true for any of the side characters.
However, near the end, the manga derails in a variety of ways and what felt as a controlled effort of a deeper psychological story turned into one of surreal insanity.
The biggest problem I had with Homunculus was the ending. It’s something that will stay on my mind for a long while, but I can’t say what sort of ending it was. It was, to say it in the best way, entirely ambiguous.
Overall, Homunculus is a very unique and surreal manga. It’s a psychological tale, one that presents us with some of the most complex characters, but that’s also unrestrained in its narrative.
Still, for the sheer creativity that went into it and for the psychological themes alone, I can’t think of it as anything else as one of the most surreal, yet best manga of all time. It’s absolutely worth reading.
Alice in Borderland by Haro Aso is another manga about death games and in my opinion one of the best manga the genre offers.
Our protagonist Ryohei Arisu does anything he can to avoid thinking about the future. One night when he’s hanging out with his friends Karube and Chota, they see fireworks.
After a sudden, blinding explosion, they find themselves in a different world. They are now in Borderland, a world in which people are forced to either take part in deadly games or die.
As a fan of clever death games, I knew this manga was right up my alley.
What makes this manga more interesting is that there are different types of games that vary in difficulty. Each type of game is specifically suited for different people. There are games that require intellect, while others rely more on physical fitness.
The reason I think this is probably the best manga the death game genre offers is this variety of games.
The games are throughout the board interesting and enjoyable to watch and quite brutal and unforgiving.
I really liked the art in this manga. The Borderland itself and the various game locations are all stunning to look at.
The most attention however was given to the characters. You’ll notice that all the characters look unique and are well designed. You can clearly see their emotions just from their expression.
I really enjoyed most of the characters in this manga. Arisu was a great protagonist since I thought he was rather realistic. He’s smart and resourceful, but he’s not a genius. There’s also a deep-set melancholy surrounding his character. He’s not the type to fight his enemies in ruthless fashion, and not the type who’ll keep fighting until it kills him. No, he’s a more somber character. Yet, it’s this that makes him more complex and interesting.
Most of the side character are also likeable and interesting, and almost every single one of them has their own backstory and many of them develop as characters throughout the course of the story.
The manga goes a bit out of hand in later parts when the story is told from the point of view of individual characters. While most of them are interesting, like I said, it also makes keeping up with them tougher.
The only problem I had with Alice in Borderland is the ending. I think it worked well, and there wasn’t much of a choice to do it differently. Yet, it still felt anti-climactic.
Another problem, like I mentioned before, is the number of characters introduced in the second half of the story. On one hand, it allows Haro Aso to explore how different characters handle the games, but it made the magna almost episodic.
Overall, though, those are merely minor complaints. Alice in Borderland is a probably one of the best manga for anyone who’s interested in manga about death games or general survival manga.
Freesia is another very weird, almost surreal manga. Yet, I find myself going back to it again and again because it’s one of the best manga I ever read.
It’s another manga by Jiro Matsumoto, the creator of Keep on Vibrating, so can already tell that this one’s going to be weird.
The story of Freesia is set in a dystopian Japanese society that’s at war and passed a law that legalizes retaliatory killings. Should a person you love be murdered, you are legally allowed to kill them or hire someone to do the job for you.
The manga centers on Kano, a man who specializes in these types of retaliatory killings, and the other members of his agency.
Freesia is not a pleasant story. It presents us with horrible people, insane people who are doing a job that’s not honorable.
There’s a dark, depressing feeling that lingers over this manga. Freesia’s Japan is a dark place, a gloomy place and most of all, a cruel place.
The art in Freesia is unique. It’s not pretty to look at, but it doesn’t want to be. The drawings are raw, gritty and unpolished. While the backgrounds are often detailed, faces are simplified. It brings forth an interesting contrast, one that’s very fitting for the entire story of the manga.
Freesia is a manga full of broken and damaged people, maniacs and utter madmen. It’s almost as if the writer abandoned the idea of having sane, well-adjusted people as members of his main cast.
Our protagonist Kano is insane, suffers from schizophrenia, hallucinations, delusions and memory failure.
Yet, throughout the story, Kano understands that it’s not the world, but he himself who’s crazy and tries the best to change himself. Other members of the cast suffer from similar ailments or turn out to be downright psychopathic.
Most prominent among all members of the cast are delusions and hallucinations. That’s the reason the manga appears so strange at times, and why scenes don’t seem to make much sense until we understand what’s really going on.
The manga’s premise makes it sound like it’s about the act of retaliatory killings, yet it focuses more on the personal stories of our main cast and the people they are tasked to kill. This can make Freesia somewhat episodic, but the mangaka can give us solid backstories and motifs for the targets of retaliatory killings. It makes them sympathetic, makes us feel and care for them. This makes many of the killings tragedies in their own right. This unique way of presenting them to us elevates Freesia from a black and white view and makes the entire manga nothing but a morally gray mush. This is one of the reason I consider Freesia to be so good and why I think it’s one of the best manga out there.
Freesia is set in a world that’s not safe. Japan is at war, atrocities are committed daily and our cast of characters are mentally ill and some might even snap in the story’s course. This also means that the manga can be heavy in violence and gore.
However, much of the setting isn’t explained. The war is never more than a backdrop, nothing but the reason for all the misery happening in Freesia’s world.
The same is true for most of the main cast. We near learn all too much about their past, only get glimpses here and there. Yet, it’s not a big problem, as we experience the story mostly from Kano’s point of view.
Something that might be tough on people are the mental issues, delusions and hallucinations so prevalent in the series. As I mentioned before, it can be quite confusing, irritating or downright surreal.
Overall, Freesia is a manga that’s not for everyone. It’s a dark, gloomy and depressing world, populated by people who suffer from various mental issues. However, that’s what makes Freesia such an interesting and unique read. The portrayal of Kano and his delusions and hallucinations make Freesia a truly surreal experience and one of the best manga out there. I’d recommend Freesia to anyone who’s looking for a dark and surreal story.
I mentioned before that I’m a big fan of manga about death games and Kamisama no Iutoori by Kaneshiro Muneyuki and its sequel are as good as it gets. It’s also really weird.
It’s one of my favorite manga of all time and I think it’s also one of the best manga ever.
The story starts with Takahata Shun, a normal high school student who’s utterly bored with his life. All that changes when his teacher’s head explodes and a Daruma doll appears. This strange event is only the outset of the very first death game in this manga.
As the series continued, we’re introduced to other interesting and often very odd games and some unique and fascinating characters.
The sequel series starts off with a new set of characters, but eventually ties in with the story of the first part.
What I enjoyed about this manga was that it wasn’t shy in killing of characters. Many times a new character is introduced or their backstory is revealed only for them to die soon after. No one is truly safe in the world of Kamisama no Iutoori.
One of the strongest points of the series are its protagonists. I came to like all of them, and especially the more deranged members of our cast. It’s these characters that cemented Kamisama no Iutoori as one of the best manga of all time.
Some of the characters also develop vastly over the course of the series. The most notable one is Ushimitsu who became my favorite character in the entire series.
The games throughout the entire series are often simple, but their execution is as weird as it is enjoyable. While other manga about death and mind games feature mostly realistic games, Kamisama no Iutoori’s games are almost surreal. What’s interesting is that many of the games have some sort of twist. There’s always a certain way on how to win them that our cast has to figure out over its course.
In the first part the art by Akeji Fujimura might not be that great, but in the second part of the series it becomes much better. Especially, the later parts of the series are absolutely gorgeous with some pages and spreads who are absolutely gorgeous.
I also love how the artist can create suspense only with the art. This has created one of the best manga chapters of all time, in which Shun Takahata’s plotline is brought to an end.
The second part of the series is much longer than the first one. This also means that there’s more time spent on the individual games, which is a fantastic thing, but sometimes things can drag on a little.
One thing I often hear criticised about the series is its ending. I think it’s one of those you either like or hate; I loved it.
Overall, I had an absolute blast with this series and enjoyed it immensely. It’s without a doubt one of my favorite manga of all time and one of the best manga ever.
When it comes to horror Junji Ito is my favorite mangaka of all time, and his horror collection is probably one of the best works of Japanese horror ever.
Ito’s horror collection comprises terrifying one-shots, but also includes one of his most celebrated works, Tomie, and an adaption of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If you want to know more about Junji It’s work, you can check out my article on my favorite Junji Ito stories.
Tomie is the story of a high school student who was murdered and her body dismembered. However, this is only where the story starts. The next day, Tomie shows up to class as if nothing happened. We soon learn the true horror of Tomie. She can regenerate from any injury and replicate herself from even the smallest part. As if that’s not enough, she’s of entrancing beauty that drives any man to a senseless obsession over her that ultimately drives them mad.
Tomie is told in episodic fashion with each story featuring a different set of characters. The most interesting part here is that Tomie is never the protagonist. She’s always the enigma of the story.
There’s a plethora of other fantastic stories to be found in Junji Ito’s Horror Collection. There’s Lingering Farewell, Long Dream, My Dear Ancestors, The Lovesick Dead, Town Without Streets and my personal favorite Hanging Balloons.
What makes Ito’s work stand out so much is his unique, beautiful art style. He’s a master of the craft and a master of horror who’s created some of the best manga in the horror genre.
His stories are ripe with gruesome imagery, violence and gore. Body horror is a common theme in his work and people are distorted, twisted and changed into ghastly abominations. Yet, Ito’s horror truly shines in the reactions of his characters, their faces. We can see their wide eyes, their terrified expressions, their screaming, distorted faces are all rendered in fantastic detail.
Ito’s also a master of the page turn. He often ends a page with a character’s expression of sheer and utter terror, but only reveals the cause on the next page. It’s famous for these mini-cliffhangers.
Many of Ito’s stories feature people being driven mad, giving into their desires and obsessions or toying with things beyond their understanding.
What’s interesting about Ito’s characters is that they aren’t heroes. They are often mundane nobodies, going about their normal life before they stumble into horrific situations. Yet, Ito’s horror is seldom about monsters or killers. Most of his work features normal, mundane things like dreams, love, hair or even musical records who are turned into deadly enigmas.
Overall, I think Junji Ito’s one of the best, if not the best Japanese horror mangaka. If you are a fan of horror and want to experience the best manga in the horror genre, check out the works of Junji Ito.
There are sometimes short little tales containing a glance of absolute brilliance. Omoide Emanon by Kenji Tsuruta is one such tale and one of the best manga of all time. It’s a short, but beautiful little tale based on the novel by Shinji Kajio.
It’s the story of a young man who’s returning home from his travels on a ferry. He encounters a beautiful young woman who introduces her as Emanon. The two of them talk and have dinner together.
During dinner, she tells him an unbelievable story about herself.
I don’t know what makes this manga so special. There’s the atmosphere. It’s a warm, solemn atmosphere that’s so prevalent in the entire tale. Maybe it’s the way our two protagonists meet, or the reason the young man returns home. It all fits together perfectly.
Omoide Emanon is beautifully illustrated, presenting us with realistic characters and paints a beautiful picture of a beautiful story. Especially Emanon stands out, she’s rendered in beautiful detail, is a very charismatic, yet somewhat ominous character. The author could capture her perfectly while painting a realistic image of her.
What makes Omoide Emanon one of the best manga out there are the emotions it packs into its short, single volume. It had more of an impact on me than many other, longer manga.
It’s merely a glimpse into the life of our two characters, nothing but a chance meeting.
However, at times, it’s the smallest of things that stay on our mind the longest, and if you read Omoide Emanon, it might become one of these things.
Onanie Master Kurosawa or Masturbation Master Kurosawa by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota is a manga that has no reason to be as good as it is with a title like that. Yet, I consider it one of the best manga I read.
I first learned of this manga’s existence on an image board, and from the title I thought I had it all figured out. This was going to be nothing but a big, perverted joke. Being intrigued by the weird title and what I heard about it, I read it. Before long I noticed that I’d been entirely wrong and Onanie Master Kurosawa was one of the greatest and most heartfelt stories I’d ever read.
Our protagonist is the fourteen-year-old Kakeru Kurosawa. He’s an anti-social loner with a peculiar habit. Each day, after school’s over, he locks himself into a seldom-used bathroom at school and masturbates.
One day, he witnesses two of the popular girls in class bullying the timid and mousy Aya Kitahara. While he’s usually not riled up over such matters, he takes retribution into his own hands, by doing what he does best.
Eventually, though, he’s confronted by Kitahara, who figured out that he’s the culprit behind. From then on, she blackmails him to do the same to her other bullies.
It’s the start of one of the strangest, yet most heartfelt coming-of-age stories.
While Onanie Master Kurosawa starts out as a more humorous tale, it gradually changes into a more serious one. It’s a sweet, inspiring story that tackles a variety of serious topics.
The art in Onanie Master Kurosawa isn’t the best, but it does a good job at showing the characters’ expressions with its sketchy style and careful shading. However, while there’s a lot of emphasis on characters, the backgrounds are often rather simple and uninspired.
The best part about this manga is without a doubt its protagonist. Kurosawa is one of the best-rounded, believable and likeable characters ever. It’s crazy, how a character who’s referred to as the Masturbation Master can be so great, but it’s true. It’s mostly attributed to his character development. He’s an entirely different person by the end of the manga.
The best thing about him, however, is how relatable he is and how intimate the reader gets to know about him, no pun intended. The manga doesn’t merely tell you what’s going on, or how he feels, but it makes you truly understand him. This intimacy between reader and protagonist elevates this to one of the best manga.
Yet, it’s not only Kurosawa who’s a well done character. Almost all the side-characters who play a bigger role are complex and realistic. While they don’t develop as much as our protagonist, they too change or we get to know more about them.
One thing that might be off-putting to some readers are the depictions of Kurosawa’s fantasies, which can be a bit disturbing, but I guess he’s just a teenager. What’s great, on the other hand, is that apart from these few scenes there’s no cheap fan service.
Overall, Onanie Master Kurosawa was one of the biggest surprises in manga. What I thought of as nothing but a perverted joke turned out to be one of the best manga ever. It’s all-around great and I urge anyone to check it out.
Biomega is another manga by Tsutomu Nihei and can be best described as a mixture of science-fiction, cyberpunk and zombie apocalypse, at least during the first half. And yes, this manga is as weird and crazy as it sounds. That’s why I love it so much and think it’s one of the best manga of all time.
Biomega tells the story of Zouichi Kanoe and his AI companion, Fuyu Kanoe, who’s integrated in his motorcycle. The story starts out when they are sent by Toha Heave Industries to retrieve a human that’s immune from the N5S virus, which is spreading rapidly across the world.
The virus changes all who’re infected by it into disfigured zombie-like beings known as drones.
From here on out, however, the story takes up steam, as more characters with different agencies are introduced, notably the DRF under leadership of Niardi.
Biomega is a manga in the typical fashion and style of Tsutomu Nihei. It’s set in a futuristic world with characters who aren’t truly human and lots of cyberpunk madness.
The art, as in other works of Nihei, is gorgeous. Biomega is raw and gritty, with wide-reaching and detailed backgrounds, crazy architecture and crazy cybernetic monstrosities. It’s this art alone that elevates Biomega to one of the best manga out there.
The creature and character design in Biomega is done fantastically. The drones are clearly biological entities, yet their lifelessness becomes clear at first sight. The many cybernetic monstrosities are rendered in stunning detail, and their transformations are incredibly well done.
The same is true for our protagonists, especially Zouichi and Nishu, who are absolute badasses. They themselves as well as their motorcycles and weapons have an incredible design. Biomega simply looks badass and cool.
What makes Biomega different from other works by Nihei is the sheer pacing of the manga, at least in the first half. The manga consists almost entirely of action, and some of it is insanely fast-paced. However, the action is still fluid, you still know what’s going on even if it’s almost a bit too over-the-top.
As typical for his works, dialogue is sparse. Biomega, like Blame!, is told via visuals. It’s almost impossible to make a division between the art and the story of Biomega. One doesn’t work without the other.
What I enjoyed the most and the reason I think Biomega is one of the best manga of all time is the sheer craziness and creativity.
However, the fast pacing and overall storyline are a double-edged sword. Things are going a bit too fast and the story gets out of hand in later parts of the manga. The second part is set in an entirely different setting, and the atmosphere of the story changes completely.
It’s this division that makes Biomega such a weird manga. While the first part reads more like a fast-paced apocalypse set in a cyberpunk world, the second half shifts more towers a cyberpunk-fantasy story.
The ending is strange too. While it brings the story to a close, it’s also so different from earlier parts that it feels like a different manga.
Overall, Biomega has its problems. The characters are somewhat shallow and the plot tries to fit too much into a manga of only six volumes.
The art and the action, however, easily make up for those weaknesses. While the story is weird and at times lackluster, it never deterred my enjoyment. No, I was stunned and consider Biomega one of the best manga out there.
I wholeheartedly recommend it to any fans of science-fiction and cyberpunk.
Smuggler is yet another manga by Manabe Shohei. It is much shorter than his two other works featured on this list, but it’s also my favorite manga of his.
Our protagonist Yosuke Kinute is a failed actor with a serious debt problem. To pay off his debt, he has to work as a smuggler and become part of a corpse disposal crew.
Of course, there’s trouble brewing when the crew gets involved in a mob war and two deadly Chinese assassins join the fold.
When Yosuke makes a serious mistake later in the manga, he’s a terrible price to pay for it.
Smuggler is absolutely amazing and one of the best manga out there in the thriller and crime genre. It also features its fair share of fantastic action.
The characters are great throughout the board. There’s of course Yosuke who’s the most relatable, and one of the few people in this entire cast who isn’t a madman.
The characters I came to like the most, however, were the assassins and the leader of the corpse disposal crew. They are all absolute badasses in their own right.
There’s even the occasional scene with subtle humor which helps to lighten the mood, but never ruins the overall feel of this being a serious story.
Smuggler can be best described as a story akin to that in movies by Tarantino or Guy Richie. It’s a crazy crime story that features over-the-top characters, but also has scenes that pack a heavy punch.
The art in this manga is detailed and well done, but once again, features Manabe Shohei’s personal style. Characters are rendered unique and even strangely, with distinct facial features that make them look more realistic, but also a bit ugly.
As unique and interesting as the art in this manga is, it’s not for everyone there’ll be some who dislike it.
Overall, I think Smuggler is a gem of a manga that not many people know about. However, it’s not only for that alone that I featured it in this list of the best manga of all time. It’s an amazing and disturbing crime story that’s fantastic throughout the board and features a couple of truly memorable characters and some amazing scenes.
Smuggler also inspired me to write my story Express Delivery Service, which I admit is more an adaption of Smuggler than an original story.
The Climber by Shinichi Sakamoto is a beautiful, beautiful manga.
I’m usually not a fan of sports manga as I mentioned before, so I was reluctant about starting this manga, but the Climber is one of the most beautiful and one of the best manga of all time.
It’s the story of Buntarou Mori, a lonesome and solitary teenager.
His interest in climbing starts when he’s coerced by a classmate to climb the school building. Without hesitation, he begins and makes it to the top. From here on out, his passion is woken, and he’s always searching for new peaks and new goals.
Mori’s transformation right at the beginning is interesting to see. The moment he gets introduced, he gives off the feeling of someone who doesn’t care about anything. Then, suddenly, after he climbed the school building, his entire expression changed. He looks like an entirely different person. And, honestly, one can imagine how he feels at that moment.
Over the course of the story Mori climbs more and more mountains and gets to know other characters, but he still appears as a loner most of the time.
What I came to love about The Climber was the portrayal of dedication and perseverance. If you push and work hard enough, anything is possible, it seems to say.
Another was the story. As much as this is a manga about climbing, it’s also a manga about character development. The Climber is hugely character-driven, and it shows us how Mori develops as a person. He’s got his own problems, he can relate to people, but as he overcomes more and more peaks he also slowly overcomes his personal problems. It’s incredibly well done.
I also enjoyed how the manga portrayed death. Mountain climbing is dangerous and people die. Yet, The Climber never dramatizes it, never presented it in an over-the-top emotional struggle. Instead death is haunting, depressing and natural.
The art in the Climber is some of the best I’ve seen in the entire medium. It’s absolutely breathtaking. There are double pages of beautiful mountains rendered in excruciating detail, with snow and weather masterfully added to them.
What I found most impressive and what clearly makes The Climber one of the best manga of all time, were the brief glimpses of poetic beauty. Mori is a quiet person, he doesn’t talk a lot and many panels are spent watching him climb. But the manga can speak through art, showing us Mori’s psychological struggles with visuals alone. It’s a thing of beauty.
The Climber goes even further though, by adding metaphors, allusions and employing literary passages from poems and quotes. It gives the manga this feeling of joy, of character that one’s not used to in the medium. Yet, it never feels pretentious. The Climber, more so than most other manga and many of the best manga out there, is a piece of art.
However, while The Climber is an outstanding manga, it still has problems.
The first is the change in tone early on. Originally the manga was created by two people, but then the writer left and Sakamoto Shinichi, the artist, decided to continue it on his own. From this point on, there’s a clear change in structure going from a sport manga to an atmospheric and visual character study.
While there are some characters who are well developed, this is the story of Mori Buntarou, so while other people appear and join into his life, the focus is always on him. Which might be daunting to some readers.
The last thing that might be a problem to some people is the frequent time skips. Some might only be a few days or weeks long, others will skip years. It can be a bit confusing or it can make you wonder what happened in the meantime. It did little to deter my enjoyment, though, since they were generally well handled.
The Climber is a manga I’d recommend to anyone. It’s simply a work of beauty, a coming-of-age story nestled in the guise of a mountain climbing one.
And that’s the core of The Climber. It’s not solely a manga about climbing, but a psychological, character-driven one. It can make for some heavy reading, but in the case of The Climber, it’s not a bad thing.
It’s truly one of the best manga of all time, and I urge anyone to read it.
How could a retelling of the life of Robert Johnson set in the American South ever work in a manga? Well, absolutely fantastic!
Me and the Devil Blues by Akira Hiramoto is one of the best manga ever created.
It’s the story of Robert Johnson, a dabbling blues musician who wishes nothing more than to play the blues. However, he’s no good at it. He learns of an urban legend that states that if you play alone at a crossroad at night; the devil comes to take your soul. In exchange, however, you will become a genius blues player.
Unsatisfied with his life, he tries just that one night and his life changes forever.
Me and the Devil Blues is praiseworthy in many ways. The first is definitely the outstanding art of the manga. It’s one of the most beautiful manga I’ve read and comes with a very personal style. It’s gritty, but it also has a lot of attention to detail.
The next is the portrayal of the South in the 1930s. It’s well done, presenting us with a deep-seated division between white and black. The depiction of blues clubs seems very realistic. Overall, the entire manga has a very realistic and western feel to it.
Another thing I came to love were the characters in this story. RJ is a great protagonist who’s more thrown into events than choosing things himself. Clyde Barrow is a fantastic addition to the cast and in my opinion the best character in the entire manga.
Other side characters, especially Stanley McDonald, are also extremely well done. There are no wasted or shallow characters in this entire manga.
What I loved the most though, and what made this one of the best manga I ever read, was the feeling of suspense that hung heavy over the entire work. Especially in later parts, you almost can’t catch your breath for chapters at a time. This suspense and tension will keep you on your toes all throughout the manga.
The one thing that was a bit confusing to me was the beginning of the story, and even after multiple re-reads, I’m still somewhat confused about what happened.
Overall, Me and the Devil Blues is a hidden gem of a manga. Because of its themes and its western feel, it’s entirely unique. It’s an absolutely stunning piece of work.
Me and the Devil Blues is one of the most unique and one of the best manga of all time and I urge anyone, regardless of taste, to read it.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki is one of the most popular manga right now, most likely because of its outstanding anime adaptions released in recent years.
It’s also one of the longest running manga series of all time spanning far over one-hundred volumes and is currently in its eight overall story arc.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure started out relatively normal, and its first part featuring the story of Jonathan Joestar was reminiscent of other manga of its time. The art and overall style can be compared to that of First of the North Star, another vastly popular manga of the time.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure truly started to shine with its third part, Stardust Crusaders. Not only because of the story, but because it introduced Jojo’s most important and unique element, Stands. Stands can be best described as a physical manifestation of a character’s life force taking on the form of an ethereal figure and who possess various superhuman powers.
I enjoyed almost all parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Aventure unanimously and consider the entire series as one of the best manga of all time. My favorite, however, is Part 7: Stellball Run.
It depicts a cross-country horse race across the entire United States with a grand prize of five million dollars starting in San Diego.
Our protagonist is Johnny Joestar, a crippled former horse racer who comes to watch the start of the race. There he encounters a man called Gyro Zeppeli, a racer with two steel balls at his waist. After a dual in which Gyor uses fantastical powers, Johnny touches one of Gyro’s steel balls and feels power surging through his legs, allowing him to stand up again. Wanting to learn the secret of the steel balls, Johnny decides to compete in the race.
Stellball Run is the culmination of all that Hirohiko Araki has done before. It’s not farfetched to call it a masterpiece, and it’s without a doubt one of the best manga ever created.
The world of Stellball run is like the other parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, populated with some of the most amazing and unique characters in all of manga. Stands are once more a central concept, and Hirohiko Araki’s creativity shows by coming up with strange and creative powers.
Where Stellball Run stands out is not only in the battles but also in the entire scenario and the overall story. Battles in Jojo are often different from those in other manga. Stellball Run is no exception, and Hirohiko Araki comes up with utterly weird and creative adversaries and Stands.
What makes Stellball Run so unique even for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is the setting, the horse race. While our characters fight adversaries, and have to uncover an overall plot, they are still continuing on their way to win the Stellball Race. This makes the manga so much more interesting and creates multiple layers of tension and suspense.
The art in Stellball Run is absolutely perfect in all fields. The characters and Stands are rendered in Hirohiko Araki’s usual style, and battles are amazing to look at. However, Stellball Run is, overall, much more detailed than former parts.
The characters are throughout the board interesting and complex and offer interesting depictions of well-known characters from earlier parts in the series, notably Diego Brando.
Overall, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the best manga of all time, and, at least in my opinion, Part 7: Steel Ball Run is its best part. There’s nothing that stands out in terms of negativity. It’s just this good.
I’d recommend it to any manga fan, regardless of preferences and interests.
Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura is without a doubt one of the best manga of all time. Be it the art, the story or the characters, this manga is fantastic throughout the board.
It tells the story of Thorfinn Karlsefni, son of Thor, whose part of a mercenary group led by a man called Askeladd. As we find out in the story, it’s Askeladd who’s responsible for Thor’s death and Thorfinn joined his group to one day get revenge against Askeladd.
The story takes up steam when Askeladd learns that the Danish prince Canute has been taken hostage. He hatches a plan that will change their lives forever.
Vinland Saga is a historical manga set in the 11th century Europe focusing on vikings and viking culture. As you can guess, it’s brutal. We see vikings pillaging villages, rape, plunder, and murder. There’s no mercy.
While there are some liberties taken in terms of characters and stories, Vinland Saga feels, overall, realistic.
The art in Vinland Saga is absolutely fantastic and can rival the best manga of all time. It starts out great in the first volume and only improves further. By now, it’s one of the most beautiful manga out there and absolutely outstanding. 11th century Europe never looked that good. I love the realistic and detailed look of all the towns, cities and farmsteads we see throughout the manga. It all brings the story to life and makes it more believable.
One of the best parts of Vinland Saga are of course the battles. They are as brutal as you can imagine. They are blunt, gross and at times gratuitous, but most of all, they are brutal. Yet, the battles always feel real, never unrealistic. I guess it’s what you can expect from a story centered on war and conflict.
However, Vinland Saga isn’t just a story about brutal wars and battles. For long parts the manga tells a calm, gloomy and quiet story. It’s often those quieter parts hat I came to enjoy the most. Examples are Thorfinn and Einar working hard and becoming friends, or the preparations for a large expedition. It’s during those parts that the story truly shines. It might also be because it’s a clear contrast to the brutal battles so prevalent in the story.
All the characters in Vinland Saga are great and might honestly be the best part of an already fantastic work.
There’s our protagonist Thorfinn who starts off as a quiet, efficient killer, more an assassin than a true viking. We can feel just how burned out and dead he’s inside. He’s there, witnessing all those atrocities and ignores them, not seeing them and not caring about them. All he cares for is revenge.
However, as the story progresses, he receives tremendous character development, and becomes one of the most complex manga characters I’ve ever seen.
Askeladd might be one of the best manga characters ever, and I simply can’t find enough praise for him.
There are other side-characters later on who are all well-developed and complex in their own right, like Einar, Hild or even Sigurd.
The only character I have a bit of a problem with is Thorkell. He’s enjoyable, no doubt, and seems to be based on an actual legendary viking. Still, his over-the-top antics and the way he’s acting make him almost a comic relief character.
Overall, Vinland Saga is outstanding. It’s a story I came to love for both its brutal violence and the later, quieter arcs. It’s throughout the board a delight to read, even if there are some parts that are over-exaggerated. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.
Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue is a romanticized retelling of the life of Musashi Miyamoto, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. It’s one of the absolute best samurai manga and one of the best manga in general.
The story starts off with Shinmen Takezou, a wild, young man who wants to become a great swordsman. Together with his best friend Matahachi Honiden, he enlists as part of the Toyotomi army.
The two of them barely make it out alive. After returning home, he becomes a wanted criminal. After he’s captured, he’s strung up at a tree and left to die. Saved by a monk named Takuan Soho, he’s freed and given a new identity, that of Musashi Miyamoto.
From here on out he travels the land in pursuit of the sword with the goal of becoming ‘Invincible under the Heavens.’
Vagabond stands out from other manga in many ways.
The first is the art which is absolutely gorgeous and among the best the medium offers. Even among the best manga in terms of art, scarcely few can compare to Vagabond.
Another great thing are the stunning battles and since this is a samurai manga, there’s a lot of them. Many of them are brutal, gory, and even disturbing. Limbs, guts, and heads are sent flying in the heat of battle and it’s all rendered in stunning detail. However, this explicit content is never glamorized, but always presented in a matter-of-factly fashion.
Yet, there are also battles in Vagabond that aren’t so much about pure action, but comprises tension and suspense, about making the right move at the right time.
The art in Vagabond also comes to light in the character design. Every character in this manga is distinct from one another and they are all depicted detailed and realistically.
It’s those characters that add a lot to the enjoyment of Vagabond. It’s a delight to follow Musashi on his travels as he meets and defeats his various enemies. However, he’s not the only character we get to know. As much as Vagabond is the story of Musashi Myamoto, it’s also the story of Sasaki Koichiro, another great swordsman of the same era.
Still, it’s not merely the story of those two. There’s of course Matahachi, who comes up frequently and who’s out to make a name for himself as well, albeit in a less reputable fashion.
During Musashi’s and Koichiro’s travels we also get to know a plethora of characters who are mostly similarly complex and interesting.
What I really enjoyed was the introspection we got about each character. We get a glimpse into all of them, their emotions, desires, fears, but without painting them as good or bad. No, they are just people living by the sword.
I really enjoyed the storytelling in Vagabond. While we often follow Musashi, there’re long parts dedicated to Koichiro and others to Matahachi. This form of storytelling makes the manga more refreshing since we get to know every character’s unique path and learn more about them.
Another thing I enjoyed a lot was Musashi’s character development. He starts out as a brutal demon child who wants nothing more than to fight, but later becomes a calm man, questioning what it truly means to be invincible and wonder about the path he’s been following.
This coincides directly with the way he fights his battles. He turns from a reckless youth, to someone who learns how to pick his battles, to use finesse and his head to win, rather than relying on pure martial prowess. This turn from bloodthirsty and amoral, to an almost philosophical warrior and artist, is one of the most fascinating and engrossing developments in manga. It’s one of the many reasons I consider Vagabond among the best manga out there.
While Vagabond is great throughout the board, the story can drag on a bit. It’s especially noticeable in one of the later arcs.
Another problem is the spiritual and philosophical moments in the series. While I usually enjoyed them and found most of them insightful and beautiful, they can also come up as pretentious.
Overall, Vagabond is one of the greatest accomplishments in manga. The art is gorgeous, and it presents us with fantastic characters and some stunning character development.
This is a manga I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone, even those who might not be interesting in samurai culture or samurai manga. Vagabond is at the top of the entire medium and one of the best manga of all time.
Ultra Heaven by Keiichi Koike is an absolutely stunning piece of work and the psychedelic manga I’ve ever read. It’s an entirely unique experience and unlike anything I’ve read before.
Ultra Heaven is set in a dystopian future in which all feelings can be artificially created by just the right drugs.
Our protagonist Kabu is a man who’s addicted to these drugs. He stumbles upon a man who reveals a new, illegal substance, called Ultra Heaven.
From here on out, Kabu, and the reader, are in for a trip. Ultra Heaven is one of the craziest, most creative manga I’ve ever read.
While dystopian societies are nothing new, I loved the idea of artificially created feelings via drugs. It’s a concept I’ve only ever seen in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
What makes Ultra Heaven one of the absolute best manga I’ve ever read is the art. The locations are detailed, characters are realistic, and the setting is gritty and believable. Where Ultra Haven stands out though is during the trips and the hallucinations during meditation.
Panels in manga are usually rectangular and organized. Ultra Heaven breaks those conventions. When Kaub has a trip or suffers from another form of altered mind, the shape of those panels twists and distorts to accommodate the character’s mental state. We’re presented with sheer chaos, twisting spirals and panels running into one another. It gives you an almost surreal, disorienting feeling, but lends itself perfectly to what’s happening in the manga.
I’ve seen nothing like it, and I’m not sure there’s any other manga that can compare to Ultra Heaven’s sheer deconstruction of the medium’s visual rules.
Many themes come to play in Ultra Heaven. The most prevalent, however, is that of conciousness and the transcendence to different states of mind or being.
Drugs being one way to get there, but later in the manga, meditation is used in similar fashion.
There aren’t many important characters in Ultra Heaven. There’s Kabu, an addict and small-time dealer who’s trapped in his own world. His female friend is a perfect example of a neo-hippie who’s using new technology to reach a higher state of conciousness.
There are, however, some problems with Ultra Heaven. The first is the general plot. There really isn’t much of one to be found here. It’s almost a slice-of-life story about an addict.
The biggest problem, however, is that the manga was cut short or never finished. Yet, in the three chapters there are we’ve got so much going on, condensed and presented to us in a weird and confusing way. It’s not that it’s hard to understand what’s going on, it’s more that there’s so many things that come up without an explanation. Especially later on when the story’s set in the meditation center.
Those things, however, didn’t deter my enjoyment of the manga. After all, I feel that’s exactly what Keiichi Koike wanted it to be, a wild, uncontrolled ride down into the depth of one’s conciousness.
Ultra Heaven is a creative and visual masterpiece and one of the best manga of all time that unfortunately few people know about. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s interested in weird visuals, drug culture, or generally more surreal and weird manga.
Uzumaki is the most famous work of Japanese horror mangaka Junji Ito, an absolute horror masterpiece and one of the best manga of all time.
Manga can be a strange medium. There are many bizarre and disturbing tales out there, but few are as unique as Junji Ito’s Uzumaki.
Uzumaki is a three volume epic that tells the story of Shuuichi Saitou and Kirie Goshima and what happened to the town of Kurouzu-cho who’s infested by spirals.
In the story’s course they stumble upon one freakishly scary incident after another, all involving spirals.
The very first story details Shuuichi’s father’s descent into madness as his obsession with spirals grows more and more out of control until it comes to a terrifying conclusion in one of Uzumaki’s most popular pages.
What makes Uzumaki so great is not the story, it’s the art and creativity behind it.
Junji Ito’s imagination is incredible and disturbing. The townspeople of Kurouzu-cho are twisted, warped and changed until they represent the spiral in various ways, always with dire results.
Ito’s art is always great, but in Uzumaki he’s at the top of his game. His unique style, with its simple, yet clean black-and-white drawings, brings forth his strange and dark imagination with all its minute details.
Ito isn’t shy to present us the terrible results of the spiral’s curse. Blood, gore and twisted bodies are everywhere in this manga.
Uzumaki also comes with Junji Ito’s very unique character design. People often look gloomy and their facial features are over-exaggerated when they experience true terror or are changed in strange and grotesque ways. It helps to set the mood for the entire manga.
What makes Uzumaki stand out so much from other horror manga and makes it one of the best manga out there is its premise. There’re no monsters, no killers, no feasible antagonist. There’s nothing our protagonists can fight, nothing to run from. The only thing there is, is a concept that lingers over the town of Kurouzu-cho in the form of an omnipresent curse.
Uzumaki is mostly told in episodic fashion. The first two volumes are more akin to an anthology of strange, spiral-related incidents happening in Kurouzu-cho, all witnessed by the same characters.
We encounter hair, snails, someone twisting their body to resemble a spiral or doomed lovers. Yet each one of these incidents is unique and terrifying in their own right.
It’s only in its third, and ultimately weakest volume that Ito brings the entire story together and drives the narrative to a conclusion as the true Lovecraftian nature of the curse is revealed.
There are of course a few problems with Uzumaki. The first and biggest problem lies in Uzumaki’s protagonist. Kirie is less character and more vessel to give us insight into the surreal hell that Kurouzu-cho becomes. Thus, her actions and her continued presence in the town can appear strange.
Another problem can be the episodic fashion of the story. We often get to know new characters, but most of them will be gone by the end of the chapter. It makes it hard for the reader to get emotionally invested in them and might ultimately dampen the impact of their fate.
Lastly, the last volume is weaker than the rest. I often feel that horror, especially Junji Ito’s blend of horror, is best left unexplained, to be witnessed, not understood. In Uzumaki, Ito gives us an explanation, an ending, and while it’s satisfactory in its own right, it ultimately weakens the manga a bit.
Overall though, Uzumaki is a manga that I’d recommend to any horror fan out there. I think it’s one of the greatest accomplishments in manga and one of the best manga of all time, be it horror or not. Junji Ito’s way of storytelling isn’t for everyone, but his art and creativity are outstanding. For that alone, Uzumaki is worth reading.
Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei is without a doubt one of the best manga of all time and one of my absolute favorites.
It can be best described as a science-fiction, cyberpunk epic.
Blame! follows the character of Killy as he travels The City on his mission to find a human with net Terminal Genes. Such a person could access the so-called Netsphere, a computerized control network. This would allow them to end the chaotic growth of the city and stop the Safeguard from exterminating what remains of humanity.
The most amazing things about Blame! are the art and the world building.
The city is a labyrinth of concrete and steel of gigantic proportions. It’s a technological and architectural wasteland, made up of mega-structures of mind-boggling proportions. This size is showcased in many wide, distant shots in which Killy is barely visible amongst a backdrop of epic proportions. The city is vast and endless and Tsutomu Nihei showcases it in his many huge panels and page spreads. It gives off an overwhelming feeling of being lost and disoriented. Yet, our protagonist Killy travels on undeterred.
Yet, it’s not only the world that stands out but also the creatures populating it. Blame!’s world is populated by cyborgs, the Safeguard, the Builders and various other technological and cybernetic horrors, all unique and terrifying in their own right. The art and detail used to render those beings is absolutely outstanding. Sometimes I couldn’t help but stare at some of them for a while before reading on because I was so impressed by them.
Blame!’s art is among the best, if not the best I’ve ever seen. This art alone, with its mindboggling proportions and all its horrific creatures, makes Blame! one of the best manga of all time.
Blame! is a manga packed with action which is showcased in stunning detail, often featuring enormous explosions, but also intimate battles.
While Blame! features a lot of action, it contrasts it with the aforementioned calmer shots of Killy’s travels against the backdrop of the city.
Blame!’s storytelling differs from many other manga. There’s rarely any dialogue, rarely any semblance of a typical plot. Instead Blame!, as other manga by Tsutomu Nihei, uses his visuals to tell most of the story.
Blame!’s story is divided into several arcs, all held together by Killy’s overarching quest for a human with Net Terminal Genes. Yet, each of those arcs can stand on their own and feature interesting characters and antagonists.
Since the story is mostly told via visuals, Killy’s character lacks compared to other protagonists. He’s mostly quiet, steadily traveling through the city before he meets up with Cibo, our second protagonist.
Yet, there’s more to both of them and in the manga’s course we learn more about them, but it’s not much in terms of character development. Instead, it gives us a few more details about them and who they are.
Blame! of course isn’t free of problems. The action can be overwhelming. Killy’s Gravitational Beam Emitter is a weapon that causes mass destruction and giant explosions, which often causes battles to descend into chaos.
Another thing is Blame!’s story. Early on, the story focuses more on individual arcs, featuring various pockets of humanity. It’s only in its last part the story focuses on Killy’s quest. It’s here that the story gets confusing and we’re left with not so much a clear ending, but another mystery to add to an already huge list.
Even though Blame! can be lacking in the story department, it’s worth a read alone for the outstanding art and the world it’s set in. It’s an absolute visual masterpiece, and for that alone it deserves to be named as one of the best manga of all time.
There are very few manga who can compare to Blame! in terms of art and the unique world it depicts. This makes it a delight for fans of science-fiction, technological horror and cyberpunk.
I highly recommend anyone to give this manga a try.
Berserk by Kentaro Miura is probably the single best manga of all time. It’s not just in terms of art, or story, but Berserk’s themes and narrative that make it standout among a plethora of others. It’s a dark fantasy manga with lots of action, gore, incredible monster design, but also two of the most complex characters in manga history.
Berserk is the story of Guts, the so-called ‘Black Swordsman’ on a quest for revenge against demonic beings known as apostles and an ominous man known as Griffith.
At first glance, Berserk might appear to be a simple story. Our main character Guts is a man with a sword as tall as he is who fights his way through giant monsters and humans alike.
This might be true for the very first arc, the Black Swordsman arc, but soon we find out how much more there is to Guts and just what a complex and nuanced character he is.
It’s during the Golden Age arc we learn more about Guts, his backstory, and his connection to Griffith. Both Guts and Griffith are incredibly complex and unique characters, vastly different from one another, yet drawn to each other. The manga does a fantastic job exploring their relationship, testing and ultimately severing it.
I also love the dualism of their character, their symbolic representation, and how they appear to other people. It’s interesting to see that our protagonist Guts is shown mostly in black and titled the Black Swordsman, while the antagonist Griffith is always shown in white, appearing angelic and presented to us as a savior.
These two characters and their relationship alone elevates Berserk above most manga and is already enough to make it one of the best manga of all time.
The story of Berserk evolves and becomes more complex the longer we read on. What starts off as a simple revenge story becomes very personal as we experience the Golden Age. Later on, the story’s scope expands vastly, including foreign invasions, Christian fanaticism, and magical creatures and powers.
The world of Berserk, however, is a dark place, much darker than what we’re used to. It’s a world full of war and atrocities and Kentaro Miura isn’t shy presenting it to us in all its details. We don’t just witness wards and battles, we also witness murder, rape, torture and senseless slaughter.
However, the violence in gore is always greatest when Guts is involved. We can see him cut through anything it its path, be it monsters, humans or knights in full armor. We see guts flying, people being dismembered and decapitated or torn to pieces.
While Berserk shines in terms of character and story, its greatest part is without a doubt the art. Berserk almost transcends the medium, especially in later parts. It’s less a manga and more a piece of art. There are few manga that can compare to Berserk when Miura is at the top of his game. If you look at the art in Berserk, you can find more details in a single page or even panel than in an entire chapter of a different manga. That’s how outstanding and detailed the art is. For this alone, for its art, Berserk is nothing short than one of the best manga ever written.
My favorite part of Berserk is the monster design. The apostles in Berserk are absolutely gorgeous to look at and very unique. They are both beautiful, but also grotesque, disgusting, yet terrifying.
The one and only, but ultimately biggest problem with Berserk is the slow release time. Throughout the years, as the art in Berserk improved, the manga’s release also slowed down massively. In its earlier years, Berserk was released at a steady rate of two volumes per year. In recent years, though, we barely get a handful of chapters per year, if that. It’s a shame, really. Considering that the story of Berserk isn’t done by a long shot, one wonders if Kentaro Miura will ever finish the manga.
Another slight problem is the quality of the first arc. If we compare it to later parts of Berserk, it doesn’t hold up. It’s almost clichéd. We follow our anti-hero Guts, who’s almost a villain in its own right as he takes down apostles who are almost comically evil.
Yet, this only serves to elevate the Golden Arc age, which too many is one of the greatest arcs in manga history and ends with one of the most disturbing finals I’ve ever witnessed.
Overall, Berserk is nothing short of art. As dark as the manga can get, the story is masterfully told. And when Berserk is at its best, few manga can compare.
At first glance it might not appear the masterpiece it truly is, but if you read on, you will soon be blown away by how good it is.
I really can’t recommend Berserk enough, and it’s for this reason that I consider it as probably the best manga ever written. Anyone interested in dark fantasy, horror or manga in general should check out Berserk. It’s at the peak of the genre and as good as it gets.
Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura is my favorite manga and also one of the best manga of all time.
It’s an action packed battle manga that comes in the guise of a samurai manga, but it rarely explores themes such as honor or samurai code.
Blade of the Immortal tells the story of Manji, an infamous swordsman know as the ‘Hundred Men Killer.’ As punishment for his deeds, the eight-hundred-year-old nun Yaobikuni placed bloodworms in his body, rendering him immortal and making him capable of healing almost any wound.
To atone for his crimes, Manji resolves to kill one thousand evil men. Soon after his promise, Manji meets Rin Asano, a sixteen-year-old girl who asks Manji for help in revenge against the man who killed her parents.
That man is Kagehisa Anotsu, the leader of the Itto-Ryu sword school.
From here on out, Manji and Rin travel the land in search for the members of the Itto-Ryu and Anotsu.
The premise of the story is quite simple, but the plot gets more complex over time as new factions are introduced.
What makes Blade of the Immortal one of the best manga of all time is without a doubt the characters. There are of course our protagonists Manji and Rin. Both go through a significant amount of character development, and Manji is an absolute badass. However, Blade of the Immortal features a plethora of amazing characters. There’s Anotsu Kagehisha who’s one of the most interesting characters in the entire manga. Other fantastic characters include Taito Magatsu, Maki Otono-Tachibana, but also Shira. Many of the side characters in Blade of the Immortal receive the same amount of character development as we get to know more about them, learn more about their motifs and background. At times, I found myself more interested in side-characters than our protagonists. That’s how amazing the characters in this manga are.
The biggest testament to this is that there’s no clear division between whose good and whose evil. Each character has their own circumstances, ideals, goals and reasons to fight. It’s simply the fact that we follow Manji and Rin and their side of the story that makes Kagehisa Anotsu the antagonist.
Yet there’s one clear exception. There’s one character in Blade of the Immortal who’s one of the craziest antagonists I’ve ever seen in manga. Anyone who’s read the manga most likely knows who I’m talking about. For those who haven’t you’re in for a treat, a disturbing and insane one.
Another great point about Blade of the Immortal are the female characters. In many manga female characters are often relegated to the role of love interests or damsels in distress. Blade of the Immortal is, mostly, an exception to the rule. There are many female warriors in this series who are absolute badasses in their own right, especially Makie Otono-Tachibana and Hyakurin.
Overall, if one thing can be said about the characters, it’s that they are all badass and look damn cool. Hell, there are side characters who are only in for a handful of chapters whose backstory is more intense than your usual protagonist’s. That’s how good Blade of the Immortal is.
Now I want to have a few words about the setting. While Blade of the Immortal is a manga about samurai, ronin, and sword fighting, it’s not your typical samurai manga. As opposed to other samurai manga, Blade of the Immortal doesn’t ponder the samurai code, honor, or spend time on philosophical questions. Instead, it’s a raw, gritty and brutal revenge story.
While the story is set in the Edo period of Japan, against a historical backdrop, characters seldom speak in Samurai lingo. Especially Manji and the Itto-Ryu cuss, curse and insult one another in the way contemporary street punks or gangsters would.
The second big point that makes Blade of the Immortal one of the best manga of all time, is the outstanding art. Blade of the Immortal features some of the best art I’ve ever seen. The style is gritty and sketchy, but very detailed, and the characters all look great and unique throughout the board and absolutely badass.
The background and the world are fantastically drawn and show us a detailed view of traditional Japanese towns, cities and landscape.
Since this is a battle manga, I have to talk about the fights in this manga. They are probably some of the best I’ve ever seen. Fights are brutal. People get torn to pieces, blood and guts are flying. However, the violence is never just there for violence’s sake, with maybe the exception of one character. It’s always there to showcase the brutal nature of sword fights and fights in this manga.
However, the greatest thing about the battles is that they are never confusing. The flow of the action is easy to follow, and you’ll always understand what’s going on. This doesn’t mean that fights are simple. On the contrary, Blade of the Immortal showcases some of the best and most intense battles ever seen.
Now one might think that Manji’s immortality lowers the stakes in battles, but this is seldom in the case. One can’t argue that Manji has an advantage, but it never serves to make the fights easy. Manji often has to fight with all he got to even have a chance of making it out alive.
Blade of the Immortal is an outstanding manga, one of the best manga the entire medium offers.
The only problem some people might have with it is the pacing. The beginning of the manga is arguably its weakest point, and it takes a good thirty chapters before the main story really gets going. From then on, it’s an almost flawless ride throughout till the end. There’s one arc, however, that’s unrelated to the main story and drags on a bit too much. However, that’s nothing but a minor complaint against an outstanding work.
Overall, there’s nothing more to be said about Blade of the Immortal. It’s one of the best manga out there and one that will keep you reading until the very end. Blade of the Immortal stands out in terms of characters, as well as character developments and fights. It’s completely amazing. That’s the reason I decided to put Blade of the Immortal at the top of this list.
Anyone interested in manga should check this masterpiece out.
