8 Manga About Music and Musicians

Yukio Tanaka is a middle schooler with no hobbies or passions, and leads a pretty boring, run-of-the-mill life. But then one day, he meets Ryusuke Minami, a cool high schooler who has just returned to Japan after living in New York for many years. Ryusuke turns out to be a talented guitarist, and he soon inspires Yukio to take up the guitar as well, and then to eventually join his rock band, Beck. The series follows Yukio through his journey growing not just as a musician, but as a person as well through his relationships with Ryusuke and the other band members.

After the death of his beloved mother, teenage piano prodigy Kōsei Arima stops playing music and instead spends all his time simply being with his friends and not focusing his energy on anything in particular. But after meeting Kaori Miyazono, a daring young violinist, Kōsei begins to open his heart to music again. I can’t give you too many more details for fear of spoilers, but just be forewarned that this one’s a major tearjerker!

Dai is a pretty typical high school student — he’s trying to balance his classes, basketball, and part-time jobs. But his real passion is jazz. Ever since he saw a jazz concert a few years back, Dai has been enamored with the genre and has vowed to become the greatest saxophone player, practicing alone every day along the riverbank on his way home from school. Will Dai’s passion and doggedness lead him to achieve his dreams? An extremely well-received anime movie adaption of Blue Giant was just released in February of this year in Japan, and hopefully it will be receiving an international release soon!

Yutaka Aoi, a talented boy soprano who has just entered middle school, joins the school choir after being moved to tears hearing them rehearse. He begins to form friendships with his fellow choir members as they practice and participate in competitions. But not all is smooth, as many of the choir members face various challenges, including Yutaka, who must navigate puberty and his voice changing. By the same creator behind Our Dreams at Dusk, this series is a wonderful coming-of-age story highlighting how it feels to be in a transitional stage in life.

Zhuge Liang Kongming was a skilled military strategist in ancient China. In real life, Zhuge Liang passed away after falling ill at camp while on a military expedition. In this quirky manga series, his final moments on his deathbed are reimagined and he prays to be reborn in a peaceful world. And, incredibly, he suddenly finds himself, with his youth regained, in the middle of a Halloween parade in modern Japan! He meets an aspiring singer named Eiko Tsukimi, and quickly adapts to his new life, finds his existing tactical skills to continue to be of use as he takes on the role of Eiko’s strategist.

Setsu, a teenager from Aomori, decides to drop out of high school and move to the big city of Tokyo after the death of his grandfather leaves him feeling empty. He brings along his shamisen, a traditional Japanese string instrument, which his grandfather, a famous shamisen player himself, had taught him to play. A chance meeting with Yuna, a young woman who is trying to achieve her dream of becoming an actress, helps put Setsu in a position to continue living in and attend school in Tokyo, and further develop his skill with the shamisen. This is an excellent manga to give readers a taste of a type of music they may be less familiar with.

Haru is a graphic designer who has been assigned to design the CD jacket for Eddie Astley, a popular musician. As Haru and Eddie begin to get to know each other from spending time together for the project, Haru gradually develops a better understanding of who Eddie really is underneath his haughty exterior. This charming BL story is a standalone, so it’s a perfect pick for those looking for something short and sweet. Additionally, the creator mame march has experience in art direction for the music industry, so the depiction of Haru’s job comes from a place of authenticity, as well as love for that world.