Recently it was pointed out to me that I don’t have a huge amount of manga content on my blog. This is strange as I love manga and tend to read it even more than I watch anime. I also spend a lot of time researching and recommended manga as part of my job as a librarian, and try to keep up with the latest trends in the industry and reader tastes.
Adding manga content to this blog is long overdue, and now it’s time to change that! In addition to ensuring that I create more manga related content on the blog, I also want to rectify this lack of manga content with a new series focused on great and important manga works. In this ten part series I will be looking at various genres and common themes within manga, and highlighting ten works that I feel best represent them.
While these lists are not meant to be comprehensive, I want it to be a varied and a thorough starting point for both new and experienced manga readers. To do this I’m going to make sure these lists aren’t too long or overwhelming as I could go on nearly forever about great manga content. I also will be making sure that most of the titles listed are or were available in a legal, physical, and English language form.
In order to accomplish these goal I will be limiting each of these lists to ten titles, meaning that many amazing works will be absent. I will also be limiting these lists to one work per creator per list as certain mangeka (such as Junji Ito and his horror manga) could easy dominate one or more categories.
Please feel free to share your own favorite manga titles in the comments for each entry as I’m always looking for new and interesting books to read. I hope you enjoy reading and learning something new about manga from this series.
Shonen
Shonen manga is genre that is typically aimed at a young male audience. That doesn’t mean though that it is a genre that has restricted readership. Shonen’s board stories about conflict, friendship, and the battle of good vs. evil make it easily accessible to a variety of people. Because of these strong core themes the popularity of Shonen has transcended age, gender, and even nationality. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Shonen offers something for almost everyone.
While Shonen has existed for a long time and in a variety of forms it has always had a distinct style while remaining versatile enough to reflect the changing culture and interests of its readers. As a result Shonen might actually be the biggest and most popular of manga’s demographic based genres. Many Shonen series have been smash hits outside of Japan, and have topped manga sales in the United States and other countries.
1. Astro-Boy: Without Tezuka there would be no manga industry, and without Astro-Boy shonen wouldn’t be what it is today. While Shonen manga is purported to have existed since 1895 long before Tezuka was even born; Tezuka’s works revolutionized the genre during post war period turning it from a propaganda tool to a thriving genre. His most famous series Astro-boy is iconic in Japan, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone there that doesn’t know about this series or Tezuka’s legacy.
Astro-boy stars Atom a boy created by Dr. Tenma as a replacement for his son. Unsatisfied with his creation Tenma soon abandons Atom, and he is taken in by the kindly Professor Ochanomizu who acts as his father. Atom then begins his battle again criminals, alien’s menaces, and rouge robots using his super strength, flight, and robot arsenal to stop them from causing trouble and to protect the earth. This series is well known not only for establishing many of the core tropes used in Shonen works such as the battle between good vs evil, but also for Tezuka’s vivid imagination and exploration of how we treat one another and the concept of sentient technology.
2. Dragon Ball: Another icon of Japan and Shonen manga is Goku and the Dragon Ball series. Dragon ball is a great series for those who would love to see characters grow up, and the world they live in grow with them. It starts out as a light adventure comedy based on the Chinese tale of the Journey to the West before becoming more serious, and martial arts and super powered based as the series goes on. Dragon Ball follows Goku as he grows up, powers up through difficult training, and fights increasingly threatening menaces to earth and the universe.
Dragon Ball’s story format had a huge influence on Shonen manga, and helped to establish the tournament style story. This formula is still popular often used today in Shonen series. Many modern shonen staples of such as characters constantly powering up to take on bigger and bigger challenges, huge cosmic super powered battles between good vs evil, an emphasis on friendship, and a plucky ambitious lead are directly influenced from Dragon Ball. Series such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Black Clover, and Fairy Tail (just to name a few) all owe a huge amount to Dragon Ball.
3. Case Closed: While most shonen manga is based around fighting, Case Closed shows that those fights need not be physical to be engaging. Case Closed is all about Shinichi (in the English translation Jimmy) Kudo, a teenage detective who is shrunk down to a child by a secretive evil organization. Despite being turned into a kid Shinichi disguises himself and continues his fight against crime through the use of various devices, while also searching for the one’s responsible for his transformation.
While Case Closed has many differences from traditional shonen manga, the crime fighting of Kudo still involves many classical shonen elements including a group of friends, a mission to fight against evil, and a young male protagonist. Despite lasting 101+ volumes Case Closed is a series that continues to go strong thanks to its stand out and stand-alone story style. Case Closed is a wonderful mystery series that has great writing, interesting characters, a powerful respect for all sorts of mystery novels, and is endlessly enjoyable for those who love a good mystery.
4. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: The adventures of a family of super powered posing muscular people battling evil through time, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is well…Bizarre. While Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has continued to be popular in Japan, in the United States Jojo has recently seen a major spike in interest thanks to the recent anime adaptions. The Jojo series covers constant battles between good vs evil placed very loosely in a variety of historical periods and settings. It’s creatively designed dynasty of muscular protagonist’s face off against equally muscular and memorable villains.
What sets this series apart from a Seinen (a manga aimed at an older male audience) manga like Fist of the North Star is that it features far more whimsy and a much lighter tone that borders on camp, despite also containing plenty of muscular characters and violence (staples of 80’s Seinen manga). Jojo is designed to be a thrilling and fun ride of a series less interested brutality, and more interested in strange super powers, over the top action, and strange poses. It is also is set apart due to Araki’s extreme attention to detail through his extensive research of manga and film theory. For those interested in shonen manga I would also highly recommend his Manga in Theory and Practice which talks a lot about his work process.
5. Yu Yu Hakusho: It was hard to select which of Yoshihiro Togashi series to include on this list. Originally I was going to give the nod to Hunter X Hunter for its incredible world building, but I feel the characters and the completeness of Yu Yu Hakusho gives it the edge in this category. The story of a young delinquent named Yusuke who is thrown into Spirit World law enforcement; Yu Yu Hakusho has an edge to it that many shonen series lack.
Yu Yu Hakusho not only has an excellent sense of world and action, also portrays a more complex sense of characters and relationship then in many Shonen titles. Unlike most protagonists Yusuke is portrayed as a delinquent and a cynic, making his eventual transformation into a hero exciting and unexpected feeling. For those who like series with strong characters and a world building Yu Yu Hakusho will not disappoint.
6. One Piece: It is impossible to talk about Shonen without talking about One Piece. One Piece is the top selling manga series of all time in Japan. It didn’t get this popular by accident though. One Piece is an epic following Luffy a kid with stretchy powers, and his odd pirate crew as they journey to find the fabled One Piece treasure and make Luffy into the, “King of the Pirates.”
One Piece stands out not only for its epic length, but also for Oda’s distinct style of design. If you look at any character or setting from One Piece it becomes immediately clear that Oda drew it. On top of all this Oda is also known for answering questions from fans in a fun and engaging way. This unique feel has helped One Piece to stand the test of time as an incredible Shonen epic outlasting many of its contemporaries, while still being a wildly popular series.
7. Ranma ½: Ranma ½ is one of my favourite manga series of all time. Even if this weren’t the case though it stands out as a very important title. Ranma was created by Rumiko Takahashi one the few women known for writing shonen series. Takahashi focuses on blending a variety of themes into her stories including romance, action, horror, sexuality, and most importantly in the case of Ranma comedy. Though she has written many monumental shonen works I feel that Ranma is most exemplary of her personal style.
Ranma focuses on the title character as they and their Genma father arrive at the Tendou Dojo owned by Soun and his three daughters. It is soon revealed though that Ranma and their father have been cursed by a magic spring. Ranma now turns into a girl and her father to turns into a panda when exposed to cold water, and they transform back when exposed to hot water. Ramna ½ features a number of themes including: martial arts action, zany comedy, and romantic conflict between Ranma, their arranged partner the youngest sister Akane, and the many suitors eager to claim Ranma or Akane for themselves. Ranma ½ is a fun and exciting read filled with imagination, and with a great sense of character and engaging plots.
8. Demon slayer: The current major hit shonen in the United States, Demon Slayer is well worth checking out. Mixing traditional Japanese folk tales about demons and Shonen action Demon Slayer stands out as a unique series. Demon Slayer stars Tanjiro Kamado, a young man whose family is killed by the powerful demon Muzan Kibutsuji. The only remaining member of his family Nezuko is transformed into a demon by the attack, which motivates Tanjiro to train and become a demon slayer so that he can defeat Muzan and return his sister to her human form. Demon Slayer’s combination of tradition horror, difficult obstacles, and epic battles have made it well worth checking out.
9. XXXholic/Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles: It’s hard to separate XXXholic and Tsubasa Reservior Chronicles as both tie into each other. Both series are also excellent, and include some of CLAMP’s (an all women manga collective) best art and storytelling. XXXholic follows the growth and development Kimihiro Watanuki a highschooler who can see spirits that ends up working for the witch Yuko at her shop. Yuko’s business involves solving problems for spirits and making wishes come true with Watanuki soon being drawn into her work and world. Tsubasa starts with Syaoran the son of an archeologist who is in love with his kingdom’s princess Sakura. A disaster soon strikes though, and Sakura’s soul is torn apart. Syaoran travels to our world where he meets up with Kurogane and Fai who are adventurers from other dimensions. Together they go on a quest to try to find the pieces of the Sakura’s missing soul which are scattered throughout other dimensions with the help of a cute dimension hopping mascot.
Both these series are connected by Yuko who helps the adventurers on their quest, and by Watanuki who often checks in with Syaoran and Sakura. Both stories focus on the growth and develop of the characters, as well as the complex and exciting worlds they live in or travel to. This is especially true of Watanuki who learns more about spirits, the value of friendship, and magic while becoming more and more attached to Yuko and her mission. This character growth gives these series a depth not found in many other Shonen works.
10. Death Note: Death Note is a strange series. Unlike most series which follow a heroic and plucky (often male) young character trying to better their world, Death Note instead focuses on Light Yagami a scheming cruel genius who tries to bend the world to his will. In order to carry out his mission Light uses a death god’s notebook which allows him to kill any named person, and begins to target criminals with his new powers.
Light’s violent mission to rid the world of crime doesn’t go unnoticed for long, and soon the world’s greatest detective nicknamed L is on the case trying to find and capture the mysterious killer with the help Light’s own father who works for the police. What follows is a brutal cat and mouse game between the two as L tries to confirm the killer’s identity, and Light tries to determine L’s real name so he can kill him. Death Note stands out as a unique detective shonen series with tons of interesting twists and turns, and a villain as the main character.
Secret House of Anime 