A Beginner’s Guide to Seinen Manga

Have you ever wondered where the popular manga trope of a hardened warrior partnered with an innocent child came from? Welcome to the manga that started it all. Kazuo Koike has collaborated with many different artists over the years, and his works are iconic for a reason. He even launched a school for future manga creators and writers — graduates of which included Hideyuki Kikuchi of Vampire Hunter D fame and Rumiko Takahashi, who you’ll meet shortly. As for Lone Wolf and Cub, the premise revolves around a former Shogunate executioner who, after an egregious betrayal, throws away his samurai honor and becomes an assassin-for-hire — all while planning his violent, bloody revenge. As for the innocent child? None other than his young son.

The earliest seinen manga series featured stories about yakuza, criminal organizations, and people with legally dubious occupations. Originally launched in 1968, Golgo 13 follows its titular character, a mysterious professional assassin, on his various assignments. If you like your protagonists to be stoic men who don’t talk much and always get the job done, this is the manga for you. While this series does have an English-language adaptation, it’s still being serialized in Japan (yes, still!) so think of VIZ’s release as a curated selection.

There are very few characters in all of anime and manga more iconic than Lupin III. As you can probably surmise by the name, the series focuses on the grandson of Arsene Lupin, the thief protagonist from Maurice Leblanc’s novels. And if you’ve ever wondered about the origin of anime and manga’s particular brand of femme fatale, her name is Fujiko Mine. She’s Lupin III’s sometime rival, sometime partner, and sometime lover. Lupin III has been unavailable in North America for several years, so it’s wonderful that Seven Seas has released this edition of his best heists.

Naoki Urasawa has created some of the best seinen manga titles. Monster is the now-classic thriller about a brilliant surgeon who made a choice to save a life — a choice that would change his future forever. It’s also a future that becomes even further complicated when that boy whose life he saved becomes a serial killer.

One of most successful manga creators in history, Rumiko Takahashi is best known for her shonen series, Inuyasha and Ranma ½. In Maison Ikkoku, she veers from the fantastical for a contemporary romantic comedy. What’s it about? The burgeoning relationship between a young man who’s failed his college entrance exams and the young widow who takes over the management of the boarding house where he lives.

If you’ve never read a manga by CLAMP, you are in for a treat! This all-female team of mangaka has created some of the most interesting works across the entire format. Chobits introduces us to humanoid computers known as persocoms. Protagonist Hideki Motosawa finds one such persocom abandoned and tossed away in the trash. He takes her home, and what follows is an exploration of the relationships between humans and machines.

RPG-inspired fantasy is a staple of manga across all categories. Delicious in Dungeon takes that common premise and gives it a twist. After a dungeon raid goes awry, a group of adventurers falls apart. They lose their supplies. Some members leave. And even more importantly, their group’s mage is trapped in said dragon’s stomach. The remaining group’s members decide to go rescue her, but without supplies and food it’ll be tough going. That’s where the idea of eating monsters found in the dungeons comes in.

Set in the distant future, life as we know it on Earth no longer exists. Instead, a new species has appeared: a sentient race of humanoid jewels called the Lustrous. Against a backdrop of constant battle against the Lunarians who’d like to harvest the Lustrous for their own personal use, one gem too fragile to join the fight begins the task of chronicling the history of the world and their people.

If My Hero Academia is a straightforward and earnest take on the superhero genre, One Punch Man is a satirical one. Saitama was once a regular man who’s since become so strong that he can defeat all enemies with a single punch. You’d think this would bring him joy and make him the most famous superhero in the world. This could not be further from the truth.

If you’ve already read One Punch Man and are looking for more manga like it, here are some recommendations.

Although Gangsta is more accurately described as a gritty thriller, its science fictional elements stem from the super soldiers who slash and dash across its pages. The story begins with a pair of mercenaries-for-hire, the charming maverick Worick and Nicolas, a descendant of one of those previously mentioned super soldiers. As the manga unfolds, however, a conspiracy engulfs the pair, their associates, and the city in which they live.

Ken Kaneki is just your average college student until a blind date goes horrifically awry, and he awakes to find himself transformed into part-ghoul. He soon discovers the existence of the monstrous ghouls, their conflicts with each other, and the secret war between ghoul society and the human race.

Not all seinen manga feature serious, intense plot lines. Many, in fact, are slice-of-life stories. Mushishi takes that episodic approach and adds a dash of the supernatural. In this manga, mushi are lifeforms that exist throughout nature. Unfortunately, most people can’t see them, so their presence is often perceived as supernatural. This is where mushi masters come in — people who can not only see mushi but also interact with them.

In a familiar set-up, Tsukasa Taira is a normal university student. One night, however, she’s attacked by a friend who, alas, is a vampire. Don’t worry, though. She’s rescued by Yuki Anzai, a dhampir who works for a task force specializing vampire-related crimes. That would be where it ends, but Tsukasa and Anzai have an undeniable attraction to each other. And that’s a big problem, given Anzai’s vampiric nature.

Sports manga is not just the purview of shonen. All Out focuses on the world of high school rugby. You might be wondering why the series is considered seinen instead of shonen due to the characters’ ages. Again, demographic is determined by what magazine a manga is originally serialized in. But even so, here savvy readers will also notice the deeper, more nuanced portrayals of relationships and characters’ lives than typically found in shonen.

Shuzo Oshimi likes sharing his brand of his psychological horror with us. No one else can build so much dread via the most innocuous panels. This manga tells the story of Seiichi, a regular boy who comes from a normal loving family. But as the series unfolds, we soon learn that his family may not be so normal, and his mother is not someone you want to make angry.

High school students Hanabi and Mugi seem like the perfect couple. They have a secret, though. Hanabi is in love with her homeroom teacher, who is in love with someone else — the school’s music teacher, in fact. And Mugi? He’s in love with said music teacher. Because their respective loves seem hopeless, the two teenagers make pact to date each other, only to break things off when, and if, their feelings are ever reciprocated.

As the aforementioned Delicious in Dungeon suggests, there’s a strong gourmand tradition in seinen manga. In The Drops of God, we take on wine. When his estranged father — a renowned wine critic — dies, Shizuku Kanzaki travels to the family home to hear the will. There, he learns he can only receive his inheritance if he correctly identifies 13 wines.

Student council president Miyuki is the school’s top student. Vice president Kaguya comes from a wealthy family. They make the perfect couple. There’s only one problem. They can’t admit their true feelings for each other out of pride. So instead, they scheme to make the other one confess their love first. It is, shall we say, a mess.

Takehiko Inoue is unarguably one of the best mangaka alive today. Best known for his other basketball manga Slam Dunk, Real introduces us into the world of wheelchair basketball. And while we do see people training for and playing in games, the manga’s true focus is exploring the ways in which people are marginalized and ostracized by society.

Kamome Shirahama made a huge splash with her manga, Witch Hat Atelier. In this series, she introduces us to unlikely friends: angel Eniale and devil Dewiela. If you loved Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens and want more hilarious, episodic comedy, give this one a try.

If you love gorgeous, detailed art, pick up this manga immediately. Set in the late 19th century along the Silk Road, A Bride’s Story follows various young women and their relationships with the men who become their husbands. The heart of the story, however, revolves around Amir, a sweet, ultra-competent woman many people consider past marrying age (she’s 20) and her much-younger husband, Karluk.