Top 10 Manga Series Recommendations for Newcomers

Japan is an amazingly weird place, and it’s not just because of the Wasabi flavoured KitKat. Manga are Japanese comics, but unlike Western comics, they don’t just revolve around superheroes but can be about anything from drama, to detective, to horror and even business or romance! There’s definitely a manga out there that’s just right for you! So if you want to expand your literary horizons or you’re a long time fan and just browsing, read on for our Top 10 Manga.

One-Punch Man

Superheroes only work because of supervillains, Batman’s got Joker and Superman has Lex Luthor but what if there was a superhero so powerful, that he could beat any villain with one punch? They’d be a literal One-Punch Man, and that’s the main idea behind this manga! But being so overpowered has its own price! Can Saitama, our protagonist, find an opponent who can challenge him and give his superhero career some meaning or will he simply go through villains like paper in an endless, existential haze of swashbuckling lethargy?

Attack On Titan

In a post-apocalyptic world, humans have been forced to retreat into their walled cities in order to defend themselves against the Titans. The Titans are these giant, humanoid creatures who relentlessly attack and eat humans without remorse. An uneasy peace is swiftly broken as a giant 60 meter Titan (bigger, even by Titan standards!) attacks and breaches the outer walls throwing everyone into a panic. Eren and his sister Mikasa and friend Armin enlist in the military to help fight back these monstrosities and avenge the death of his mother. But soon it is revealed that there is more to these Titans than meets the eye!

Tokyo Ghoul

Ghouls are usually depicted as fiendish, flesh-eating zombies, but in some cases, ghouls have the ability to shapeshift into the person they last consumed. Tokyo Ghoul takes this last point and adapts some poetic license. The result is a fascinatingly complex world of Ghouls, Half-Ghouls and humans, with the ghouls living in secret, side-by-side with humans whom they must eat to survive. Ken Kaneki survives what can only be called the worst-date-ever, when his date turns out to be a ghoul who tries to eat him! Ken ends up becoming a half-ghoul who must now hide his identity from his friends for fear of his life and integrate with a complex ghoul society with its own hierarchy!

Captain Harlock

It’s the future, and the Earth is just a squalid, wasteland composed of hedonists and people too poor to leave the planet. The Mazon, a plant-based lifeform who look like beautiful women, threaten what little life is left on Earth and Earth’s main fleet is stationed to protect Big Earth (A New Earth). With no order hope in sight, the legendary, swashbuckling Captain Harlock is seen as Earth’s only real protector against the Mazon, even though he is seen as an outlaw by Earth’s government! Captain Harlock has thrilled the world since 1977, this modern re-telling is an instant classic! I mean, its pirates, in space!

Death Note

A Death Note is a notebook used by Shinigami death gods, by writing a person’s name in the notebook that person dies. Light Yagami comes across one of these mystical Death Notes (dropped by a rogue god for the sake of his own twisted entertainment) and Light dedicates himself to ridding the world of evil by using the Death Note’s power. What follows is a tale which blurs the lines between good and evil, as Light tries to stay ahead of an investigation, led by legendary detective L, hunting him down while at the same time being pulled into a world of spirits. For when your goal is to rid the world of evil, surely the ends will justify the means?

Orange

If you received letters claiming to be from the future, you’d probably dismiss them as a joke. But when these letters start to accurately predict the future you might start to take them quite seriously, quite fast! Naho, our protagonist, starts to receive these letters on the day she begins the 11th grade. These letters implore Naho to look out for and take care of a new boy Kakeru who transferred from Tokyo so she can prevent her future self’s “biggest regrets.” But what could these regrets and mistakes be, and how will this affect the budding romance between Nako and Kakeru?

Black Butler

Victorian London makes a terrific backdrop for a dark fantasy novel! Earl Ciel Phantomhive part of a prestigious noble family and he is tasked with solving crimes in London’s seedy underbelly. He is the Queen’s right-hand man, or rather boy (twelve years old to be precise) and he has made a pact to find and exact revenge on those who tortured him and killed his parents. Sebastian is Ciel’s butler and helps the boy fulfil his royal duties, hunt down his parent’s murderers and even have time to prepare a dinner party. But beware, because there’s a reason why people always suspect the butler!

My Hero Academia

Superheros and superheroines usually only form a very small part of a population, in the world of comics. But this particular Manga takes the concept of superheroes and their statistical demographics and flips it. Now, 80% of the world’s population has superpowers! Superheroes and supervillains fight and battle on every street corner, people would need to be educated on how best to use their powers, it’s like a Marvel and DC battle royale! Izuku Midoriya happens to be a reluctant member of the 20% but wants to be a hero more than anything. He almost resigns himself to his fate until he encounters All Might, the greatest hero of them all!

Fairy Tail

Not many stories choose to focus on the less glamorous characters, I mean wizards are supposed to be bastions of power hurling balls of fire at their foes. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to get motion sickness or eat like a starved pig. But such is the case with young Natsu from the Fairy Tale guild, and when he encounters a celestial wizard called Lucy the pair form the oddest of adventuring parties, bent on uncovering illegal dark guilds, slay demons and discovering their ancestry to stop the forces of darkness!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Family disputes are a part of everyday life, who has to take out the trash or do the dishes or how to deal with an ancient mask that turns people in the vampires. Young Jonathan Joestar finally meets his adopted brother, Dio, who for some inexplicable reason, seems to have an axe to grind. Dio seems to derive sadistic pleasure in seeing his new brother suffering, but eventually, Dio’s real reasons for hating Jonathan are soon brought to light! Dio and his attempts at world domination must be stopped!

Just diving into a new Manga can be daunting, especially if you’ve never read a Manga before. Hopefully, our list has piqued your curiosity! So if you’re in the mood for a different kind of reading experience, why not take a gander at some of the finest literature from the land of the rising sun? With such a wide choice of genres, topics and plots, Manga has something to suit everyone’s tastes!