Manga Wiki
Reference entries for the works themselves and the people who make them — what a series is, when it ran, where it was serialised, and who drew it.
Series
- 20th Century Boys1999 · 22 volsA group of middle-aged friends realise that a cult threatening the world is enacting an apocalyptic scenario they invented as children.
- A Bride's Story2008In nineteenth-century Central Asia, a young woman is married to a boy eight years her junior, in a richly drawn portrait of family life along the Silk Road.
- A Distant Neighborhood1998 · 2 volsA middle-aged man wakes in his fourteen-year-old body in the 1960s, months before his father disappeared, and wonders whether he can change what happens.
- A Drifting Life1995 · 2 volsYoshihiro Tatsumi's autobiography in comics: a young artist in postwar Osaka, the rental-book market, and the invention of gekiga.
- A Silent Voice2013 · 7 volsA boy who bullied a deaf classmate in primary school tries, years later, to find her and make amends.
- Akira1982 · 6 volsIn a rebuilt Tokyo after a catastrophic explosion, a member of a teenage biker gang develops uncontrollable psychic power, with consequences the city cannot contain.
- Astro Boy1952A robot boy built by a grieving scientist becomes a hero in a future where robots and humans have not yet agreed on what they owe each other.
- Attack on Titan2009 · 34 volsHumanity survives behind enormous walls against man-eating giants, in a series that steadily reveals its horror premise to be a story about nationalism and inherited atrocity.
- Azumanga Daioh1999 · 4 volsFour-panel strips following a group of high-school girls and their teachers through three years of school, in a comedy built almost entirely on timing.
- Bakuman2008 · 20 volsTwo high-school boys set out to become manga creators in Weekly Shonen Jump, in a series about the magazine, written for it.
- Banana Fish1985 · 19 volsA teenage gang leader in New York investigates a mysterious drug that destroyed his brother's mind, and forms a bond with a young Japanese photographer's assistant.
- Beastars2016 · 22 volsAt a boarding school for anthropomorphic animals, a timid wolf in the drama club struggles with his instincts after a herbivore student is killed.
- Berserk1989A mercenary carrying an enormous sword pursues revenge across a brutal medieval fantasy world, in a series widely regarded as the high point of draughtsmanship in manga.
- Black Jack1973 · 25 volsAn unlicensed surgeon of impossible skill takes outrageous fees and impossible cases, in short medical stories about what a life is worth.
- Blame!1997 · 10 volsA near-silent figure walks through an endless self-building megastructure searching for a genetic key, in a work told almost entirely through architecture.
- Bleach2001 · 74 volsA teenager who can see ghosts inherits the powers of a soul reaper, in a series whose visual style and character design outrun its plotting.
- Blue Lock2018 · 35 volsAfter a World Cup failure, Japan locks three hundred teenage strikers in a facility designed to produce one supreme egotist.
- Cardcaptor Sakura1996 · 12 volsA schoolgirl accidentally releases a set of magical cards and must recapture them, in a magical girl series known for its warmth and its design.
- Chainsaw Man2018An indebted teenager merged with his chainsaw dog-devil takes work as a government devil hunter, wanting almost nothing beyond food, sleep and being touched.
- Chihayafuru2007 · 50 volsA girl discovers competitive karuta, a fast card game built on a classical poetry anthology, and sets out to become the best player in Japan.
- Cyborg 0091964Nine people from around the world are kidnapped and turned into cyborg weapons by an arms syndicate, and turn against their makers.
- Death Note2003 · 12 volsA high-school student finds a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it, and begins executing criminals — pursued by a detective who is his equal.
- Delicious in Dungeon2014 · 14 volsAdventurers too broke to buy supplies descend a dungeon by cooking and eating the monsters in it, in a fantasy that takes its own ecology seriously.
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba2016 · 23 volsAfter his family is killed and his sister turned into a demon, a boy joins an order of swordsmen in the hope of restoring her humanity.
- Devilman1972 · 5 volsA gentle teenager merges with a demon to fight an invasion of demons, and watches humanity turn on itself in one of manga's darkest endings.
- Domu: A Child's Dream1980 · 1 volsIn a vast suburban housing estate, a series of deaths turns out to be the work of a senile old man with psychic powers, until a small girl stands up to him.
- Dorohedoro2000 · 23 volsA man with a lizard's head and no memory hunts the sorcerer who cursed him, in a filthy, funny, violent city with a world of magic next door.
- Dr. Slump1980 · 18 volsAn eccentric inventor builds a super-strong robot girl in a village full of talking animals and aliens, in Akira Toriyama's first hit.
- Dragon Ball1984 · 42 volsA martial arts adventure about a boy with a tail searching for wish-granting orbs, which became the template most subsequent battle shonen was built against.
- Fire Punch2016 · 8 volsIn a frozen world, a man who regenerates endlessly is set on fire that will never go out, and lives on only for revenge.
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End2020 · 14 volsAn elf mage outlives the party she saved the world with, and sets out to understand the people she never bothered to know.
- Fruits Basket1998 · 23 volsAn orphaned girl moves in with a family cursed to transform into zodiac animals, in a shojo drama about abuse, obligation and the difficulty of leaving.
- Fullmetal Alchemist2001 · 27 volsTwo brothers maimed by a failed attempt to resurrect their mother search for a way to restore their bodies, uncovering a state conspiracy built on the same forbidden science.
- Galaxy Express 9991977 · 18 volsA poor boy boards a space train with a mysterious woman to reach a planet where he can be given a free machine body and live forever.
- GeGeGe no Kitarō1960A one-eyed yokai boy born in a graveyard protects humans from the more dangerous spirits of Japanese folklore.
- Ghost in the Shell1989 · 1 volsA cyborg officer leads a covert police unit through cybercrime and politics, in a future where the line between a mind and its body has blurred.
- Gintama2003 · 77 volsIn an Edo period occupied by aliens, a lazy ex-samurai runs an odd-jobs business, in a comedy that turns serious whenever it chooses.
- Golden Kamuy2014 · 31 volsA Russo-Japanese War veteran and an Ainu girl hunt for hidden gold in early twentieth-century Hokkaido, chased by soldiers, convicts and a ghost of the Shinsengumi.
- Goodnight Punpun2007 · 13 volsA boy drawn as a crude cartoon bird grows up through family collapse, first love and mental illness, in one of the bleakest works in mainstream manga.
- Haikyu!!2012 · 45 volsA short boy with an enormous jump joins a fallen high-school volleyball team, in a sports manga about how a team is built.
- Hikaru no Go1998 · 23 volsA sixth-grader is possessed by the ghost of a Heian-era go master, and the game neither of them can let go of becomes his life.
- Honey and Clover2000 · 10 volsStudents at a Tokyo art college fall in love with the wrong people and try to work out what to do with their lives.
- Hunter x Hunter1998A boy sets out to find his absent father and becomes a licensed Hunter, in a series whose rigorous power system is widely treated as the genre's best.
- Inuyasha1996 · 56 volsA modern schoolgirl falls through a well into feudal Japan and joins a half-demon to recover the shattered fragments of a sacred jewel.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure1987A family saga told in separate parts, each with a new JoJo, a new era and a new kind of fight, built around the visible spirits called Stands.
- Jujutsu Kaisen2018A student swallows a cursed finger and becomes host to a powerful spirit, entering a sorcery institution whose adults are as much the problem as the curses.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War2015 · 28 volsTwo proud student council members are in love and refuse to confess, each scheming to make the other say it first.
- Kingdom2006A war orphan sets out to become the greatest general under heaven, in a historical epic about the unification of China by the state of Qin.
- Knights of Sidonia2009 · 15 volsA thousand years after the Earth's destruction, a vast seed ship flees alien monsters, and a boy raised underground becomes one of its pilots.
- Look Back2021 · 1 volsTwo girls who love to draw manga, one confident and one reclusive, become partners and then go separate ways, in a long one-shot about making art.
- Magic Knight Rayearth1993 · 6 volsThree schoolgirls on a field trip to Tokyo Tower are summoned to a magical world to save its princess, and discover the truth of the role they were given.
- Maison Ikkoku1980 · 15 volsA struggling student falls for the young widowed manager of his run-down boarding house, in a slow, funny romance that grows up with its characters.
- March Comes in Like a Lion2007 · 17 volsA teenage professional shogi player, orphaned and alone, is slowly drawn into the household of three sisters who feed him.
- Monster1994 · 18 volsA Japanese surgeon working in Germany saves a boy's life, then discovers years later that his patient has become a serial killer — and sets out to undo what he did.
- Mushishi1999 · 10 volsA wandering specialist treats illnesses caused by mushi, primitive life forms most people cannot see, in quiet episodes set in rural Japan.
- My Hero Academia2014 · 42 volsIn a world where most people are born with superpowers, a boy born without one is chosen to inherit the ability of the greatest hero alive.
- Nana2000 · 21 volsTwo young women with the same name meet by chance and share a Tokyo flat, in a josei drama about ambition, dependency and the friendships that do not survive them.
- Naruto1999 · 72 volsAn orphaned ninja outcast, host to a sealed monster, works toward acceptance and leadership in a village whose history is considerably uglier than it teaches.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind1982 · 7 volsA princess of a small kingdom navigates war and ecological collapse in a poisoned far-future world, in a work considerably darker and more complex than its film adaptation.
- One Piece1997A young pirate with a rubber body assembles a crew and sails an ocean world in search of a legendary treasure, in what became the best-selling manga series ever published.
- Ōoku: The Inner Chambers2004 · 19 volsA plague kills most of Japan's men, and the Tokugawa shogunate is ruled by women served by a harem of men, in an alternate history spanning two centuries.
- Paradise Kiss1999 · 5 volsA high-school student studying for exams she does not care about is recruited as a model by fashion-school students, and finds a future she never planned.
- Ping Pong1996 · 5 volsTwo childhood friends on a high-school table tennis team, one gifted and careless, one gifted and withdrawn, find out what they want from the game.
- Planetes1999 · 4 volsIn the 2070s, a crew of orbital debris collectors clean up the junk of the space age, and one of them dreams of going much further.
- Pluto2003 · 8 volsA robot detective investigates the murders of the world's most advanced robots, in a reworking of a classic Astro Boy arc as an adult political thriller.
- Ranma ½1987 · 38 volsA martial artist cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water is engaged against his will, in a fast, chaotic action comedy.
- Real1999Three young men whose lives have been broken in different ways meet through wheelchair basketball.
- Sailor Moon1991A clumsy schoolgirl discovers she is the reincarnated guardian of a lost kingdom, in the series that reshaped the magical girl genre around a team.
- Silver Spoon2011 · 15 volsA city boy escaping exam pressure enrols at an agricultural high school in Hokkaido, and learns where food comes from.
- Slam Dunk1990 · 31 volsA delinquent joins his school basketball team to impress a girl and discovers he is good at it, in the series that made basketball popular in Japan.
- Solanin2005 · 2 volsA young office worker quits her job and pushes her musician boyfriend to take his band seriously, in a short, precise story about the years after university.
- Solo Leveling2018The weakest hunter in the world gains the ability to level up like a video game character, and stops being weak.
- Spy x Family2019 · 15 volsA spy assembles a fake family for a mission, not knowing his adopted daughter reads minds and his wife is an assassin.
- The Apothecary Diaries2017 · 14 volsA pharmacist sold into service at an imperial rear palace solves poisonings and court intrigues while trying to avoid promotion.
- The Drifting Classroom1972 · 11 volsAn entire elementary school is torn out of time and dropped into a ruined future wasteland, and the children must survive on their own.
- The Poe Clan1972Two boys who will never grow older drift through two centuries of European history as members of a clan of vampires.
- The Rose of Versailles1972 · 10 volsA woman raised as a man commands Marie Antoinette's guard in the years before the French Revolution, in one of the most influential shojo manga ever drawn.
- To Your Eternity2016An immortal being sent to Earth takes the forms of the things it meets, and learns what it means to be human by losing the people who teach it.
- Touch1981 · 26 volsTwin brothers and the girl next door share a dream of the national high-school baseball tournament, in a romance about what is left unsaid.
- Tower of God2010A boy enters a tower that grants any wish at its summit, chasing the girl who left him behind to climb it.
- Uzumaki1998 · 3 volsA small coastal town is slowly consumed by an obsession with spirals, in Junji Ito's best-known horror work.
- Vagabond1998A fictionalised account of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, following a violent young man's long attempt to become something other than a killer.
- Vinland Saga2005A Viking boy raised on revenge grows into a man who renounces violence entirely, in a historical epic that turns from war story into something considerably stranger.
- Witch Hat Atelier2016A girl discovers that magic is not inborn but drawn, and becomes the apprentice of a witch in a world that keeps that secret.
- Yawara!1986 · 29 volsA teenage judo prodigy who wants nothing more than an ordinary life is trained by her grandfather for the Olympics.
- Yotsuba&!2003A small adopted girl encounters ordinary things — a swing, a bicycle, rain — for the first time, in a comedy about noticing the world.
- Yu Yu Hakusho1990 · 19 volsA delinquent dies saving a child, comes back as a detective for the spirit world, and fights his way through the demons of the human and spirit realms.
Creators
- Ai Yazawa矢沢 あいThe creator of Nana and Paradise Kiss, whose fashion training informs one of the most influential visual styles in modern shojo and josei.
- Aka Akasaka赤坂 アカThe creator of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War and writer of Oshi no Ko, known for comedy built like a strategy game.
- Akimi Yoshida吉田 秋生The author of Banana Fish and Our Little Sister, whose work ranges from New York crime to quiet family drama.
- Akira Toriyama鳥山 明The creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, whose clean, design-led drawing shaped both manga and Japanese video game art.
- Chica Umino羽海野 チカThe creator of Honey and Clover and March Comes in Like a Lion, who writes depression and warmth in the same panel.
- Chugong추공The Korean web novelist whose Solo Leveling became the source for the most commercially successful webtoon of its era.
- CLAMPクランプAn all-women creative group that began as a doujinshi circle and became one of the most commercially successful and visually influential forces in shojo manga.
- Eiichiro Oda尾田 栄一郎The creator of One Piece, who has sustained a single weekly series for nearly three decades and produced the best-selling manga of all time.
- Fumi Yoshinagaよしなが ふみThe author of Ōoku, Antique Bakery and What Did You Eat Yesterday?, a sharp observer of gender, food and everyday power.
- Gege Akutami芥見 下々The pen name of the creator of Jujutsu Kaisen, known for a rigorously constrained curse system and for refusing to protect major characters.
- Go Nagai永井 豪The provocateur behind Devilman, Mazinger Z and Cutey Honey, who invented the super robot and pushed shonen manga into violence and taboo.
- Hajime Isayama諫山 創The creator of Attack on Titan, whose plotting turned a survival horror premise into a study of nationalism and inherited atrocity.
- Haruichi Furudate古舘 春一The former volleyball player from Iwate whose Haikyu!! redefined the modern sports manga.
- Hayao Miyazaki宮崎 駿An animation director who also produced Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, a manga considerably darker and more politically complex than his films.
- Hideaki Sorachi空知 英秋The creator of Gintama, a self-deprecating comic writer who kept a gag manga running in Weekly Shonen Jump for fifteen years.
- Hirohiko Araki荒木 飛呂彦The creator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, whose Stands and fashion-plate poses reshaped the shonen battle.
- Hiromu Arakawa荒川 弘The creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, known for tightly planned long-form structure and for drawing on a farming background in her later work.
- Inio Asano浅野 いにおThe creator of Goodnight Punpun and Solanin, known for photographic backgrounds, cartoon figures, and unsparing treatment of depression.
- Jang Sung-rak장성락The Korean artist known as DUBU who drew Solo Leveling, widely regarded as the high point of webtoon action illustration. He died in 2022.
- Jirō Taniguchi谷口 ジローThe quiet master of literary manga, author of The Walking Man and A Distant Neighborhood, and one of the most admired manga artists in Europe.
- Junji Ito伊藤 潤二The former dental technician from Gifu who became the best-known horror mangaka in the world.
- Kamome Shirahama白浜 鴎The illustrator whose Witch Hat Atelier brought the detail of European book illustration into manga.
- Kanehito Yamada山田 鐘人The writer of Frieren, who built a fantasy series around what happens after the quest and around timescales that do not match.
- Kaoru Mori森 薫The author of Emma and A Bride's Story, celebrated for some of the most detailed drawing in contemporary manga.
- Katsuhiro Otomo大友 克洋The creator of Akira and director of its film adaptation, whose architectural precision reshaped how comics render cities and destruction.
- Kazuo Umezu楳図 かずおThe godfather of manga horror, creator of The Drifting Classroom, whose screaming faces terrified generations of Japanese children.
- Kentaro Miura三浦 建太郎The creator of Berserk, whose draughtsmanship is widely regarded as the technical high point of the medium.
- Kiyohiko Azumaあずま きよひこThe creator of Yotsuba&! and Azumanga Daioh, and one of the medium's most precise comic timers.
- Kohei Horikoshi堀越 耕平The creator of My Hero Academia, who fused American superhero comics with Weekly Shōnen Jump serialisation across a decade-long run.
- Koyoharu Gotouge吾峠 呼世晴The creator of Demon Slayer, who ended the best-selling manga in Japan at 23 volumes and has published almost nothing since.
- Leiji Matsumoto松本 零士The creator of Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock, whose romantic visions of space shaped Japanese science fiction.
- Makoto Yukimura幸村 誠The creator of Planetes and Vinland Saga, known for heavily researched settings and for stories that reverse their own premises.
- Masamune Shirow士郎 正宗The Kobe-born author of Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, whose dense, annotated science fiction shaped cyberpunk worldwide.
- Masashi Kishimoto岸本 斉史The creator of Naruto, known for strong world design and for antagonists whose grievances the story treats as legitimate.
- Mitsuru Adachiあだち 充The master of the quiet sports romance, creator of Touch, H2 and Cross Game, whose characters say least when they feel most.
- Moto Hagio萩尾 望都A founding figure of the Year 24 Group, whose The Poe Clan and The Heart of Thomas brought new depth to shojo manga.
- Muneyuki Kaneshiro金城 宗幸The writer of Blue Lock and As the Gods Will, who specialises in high-concept survival premises with an argumentative streak.
- Naoki Urasawa浦沢 直樹A seinen author known for intricately plotted long-form thrillers, and one of the most reliable recommendations for readers arriving from prestige television.
- Naoko Takeuchi武内 直子The creator of Sailor Moon, whose fusion of magical girl conventions with a combat team reshaped the genre.
- Natsu Hyūga日向 夏The novelist behind The Apothecary Diaries, who built a court mystery series around pharmacology and a protagonist uninterested in being elevated.
- Natsuki Takaya高屋 奈月The creator of Fruits Basket, who used a light supernatural premise to write seriously about family abuse and inherited obligation.
- NekokurageねこクラゲThe artist of the most widely read manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries, serialised in Monthly Big Gangan since 2017.
- Osamu Tezuka手塚 治虫The doctor turned cartoonist whose postwar work set the vocabulary of modern manga and of television anime.
- Paru Itagaki板垣 巴留The creator of Beastars, whose animal boarding school made a debut series into an international hit.
- Q Hayashida林田 球The creator of Dorohedoro, whose grimy, crowded, joyful pages are among the most distinctive in contemporary manga.
- Riyoko Ikeda池田 理代子The author of The Rose of Versailles, who brought European history and political tragedy into shojo manga.
- Rumiko Takahashi高橋 留美子The creator of Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma ½ and Inuyasha, and one of the best-selling manga artists in history.
- Ryoko Kui九井 諒子The author of Delicious in Dungeon, whose fantasy builds whole worlds from the logic of everyday life.
- Satoru Noda野田 サトルThe Hokkaido-born creator of Golden Kamuy, whose research into Ainu culture set a new standard for historical manga.
- Shigeru Mizuki水木 しげるThe creator of GeGeGe no Kitarō, war veteran and historian in comics, who made yokai a fixture of Japanese popular culture.
- Shōtarō Ishinomori石ノ森 章太郎The prolific creator of Cyborg 009 and Kamen Rider, a Tokiwa-sō alumnus who shaped both manga and tokusatsu television.
- SIUSIUThe Korean creator of Tower of God, who has written and drawn a single sprawling webtoon weekly since 2010.
- Taiyō Matsumoto松本 大洋The author of Ping Pong, Tekkonkinkreet and Sunny, whose loose, distorted drawing gave manga one of its most distinctive styles.
- Takehiko Inoue井上 雄彦The creator of Slam Dunk and Vagabond, and one of the few artists to move convincingly from clean commercial linework to brush-led painting.
- Takeshi Obata小畑 健An artist who works exclusively with separate writers, best known for Death Note, and unusually skilled at making stationary characters compelling.
- Tatsuki Fujimoto藤本 タツキThe creator of Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch, whose film-literate structure and tonal instability made him the most imitated new voice in shonen.
- Tatsuya Endo遠藤 達哉The creator of Spy x Family, an action artist who spent a decade in near-obscurity before a comedy made him one of Japan's best-selling authors.
- Tite Kubo久保 帯人The creator of Bleach, among the strongest character designers of his generation and a distinctive user of negative space.
- Tsugumi Ohba大場 つぐみThe pen name of the writer behind Death Note and Bakuman, whose real identity has never been publicly confirmed.
- Tsukasa Abeアベ ツカサThe artist of Frieren, whose spare line and heavy use of empty space keep a series about mourning from turning sentimental.
- Tsutomu Nihei弐瓶 勉The creator of Blame!, an architect by training who tells stories through built space rather than dialogue.
- Yasuhisa Hara原 泰久The Saga-born former systems engineer whose Kingdom became the defining war epic of contemporary manga.
- Yoshihiro Tatsumi辰巳 ヨシヒロThe Osaka artist who named gekiga in 1957 and spent his career drawing the lives that children's manga left out.
- Yoshihiro Togashi冨樫 義博The creator of Hunter x Hunter and YuYu Hakusho, whose rigorously constrained power systems are widely treated as the genre's best writing.
- Yoshitoki Ōima大今 良時The creator of A Silent Voice and To Your Eternity, who writes about communication failure and refuses easy forgiveness.
- Yuki Suetsugu末次 由紀The author of Chihayafuru, a fifteen-year josei epic that made a classical card game into one of manga's great sports stories.
- Yuki Urushibara漆原 友紀The author of Mushishi, whose quiet supernatural stories are rooted in the landscapes of rural Japan.
- Yumi Hotta堀田 由美The writer of Hikaru no Go, who took up the game as an amateur and turned it into one of Jump's most unexpected hits.
- Yusuke Nomuraノ村 優介The artist of Blue Lock, who draws football as psychological horror and is the main reason the series works.
Also in the reference: numbered sets, the groups manga count by — the Four Emperors, the Hashira, the Gotei 13.