My Top 10 Manga of All Time

There are manga I love because they are beautifully drawn. There are manga I love because the story is incredible. And then there are manga that somehow become attached to a particular period of my life.

Those are the ones that matter the most to me.

A manga can remind you of who you were when you first read it, what you were worried about at the time, what you dreamed about, or even how much you've changed since then. Some of these are masterpieces. Some are simply stories that I happen to love. A few probably wouldn't even make another person's top 100.

And that's exactly the point.

Here are my Top 10 Manga of All Time.

10. Kimi ni Todoke

Let's start with something wholesome.

Kimi ni Todoke is technically categorized as a romance, but I think calling it simply a romance sells it short.

Yes, the central relationship is incredibly sweet. Sawako and Kazehaya are one of those couples that make you want to scream into a pillow because they are just too precious. But what I love most about Kimi ni Todoke is that it's really about a girl figuring out life.

Friendship. Love. Confidence. Misunderstandings. Growing up. Learning how to communicate with other people.

Sawako is such an earnest and genuinely kind character that it's almost impossible not to root for her. She doesn't have some extraordinary superpower or an elaborate character gimmick. She's just trying her best to understand the people around her and be understood in return. And that's what makes her so lovable.

I also really appreciate that the manga doesn't treat friendship as some secondary thing that exists only until the romance begins. The relationships Sawako builds with her friends are just as important to her growth as her relationship with Kazehaya.

There is something incredibly warm about watching these young people slowly figure out who they are and what they mean to each other. Sometimes you don't need a complicated story. Sometimes you just need something that makes your heart feel a little warmer.

9. Saint☆Young Men (Saint☆Oniisan)

Sometimes I read manga because I want to think about life. Sometimes I read manga because I want to question the nature of humanity. And sometimes I just want to laugh my ass off. That's where Saint Young Men comes in.

The premise alone is hilarious: Jesus and Buddha are roommates living together in modern-day Japan. What makes the manga work, though, is that it doesn't rely solely on the absurdity of the premise. The humor comes from seeing these two enormous religious figures deal with extremely ordinary everyday problems. And the manga is surprisingly wholesome about it.

There is something incredibly charming about watching Jesus and Buddha go shopping, hang out, worry about money, and generally experience modern life like two slightly unusual roommates. I don't think I've ever needed to understand every single joke to enjoy it. There's just something about the whole situation that makes me smile.

Whenever I want something funny and comforting, Saint Young Men is one of those manga I can pick up without hesitation. It never disappoints. And honestly, sometimes that's all you need from a manga.

8. Fire Force (Enen no Shouboutai)

One of the things that immediately grabbed me about Fire Force was the visual style. The characters look cool. The fights look cool. The fire powers look cool. Everything looks cool. And yes, sometimes that's a perfectly valid reason to love a manga. But Fire Force has more going for it than just stylish action.

Atsushi Ohkubo created a fascinating world built around spontaneous human combustion, specialized Fire Force companies, religious mythology, and a much bigger mystery lurking underneath everything. As the story progresses, the world becomes increasingly strange and ambitious, and I really enjoyed discovering how all the pieces fit together.

The action is another huge highlight. Fire is such a visually dynamic power that Ohkubo gets a lot of mileage out of it, and the manga panels can be incredibly expressive. And then there are the characters.

Shinra is fun, ridiculous, determined, and surprisingly easy to root for. The supporting cast also gives the story a lot of personality. Fire Force is one of those more recent manga that reminded me why I still love picking up a completely new series and thinking, "Okay, this is really cool."

7. My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia)

There are some manga that you finish and think, That was a great story. And then there are manga where finishing the story feels like saying goodbye to a period of your own life. My Hero Academia is the second kind for me.

I started reading it around the time I enrolled in university. And then I kept reading it. Through university. For years, My Hero Academia was simply there. I watched the characters grow while I was growing up myself. That's probably why the ending hit me harder than I expected. It wasn't just the end of a manga I had been following for years. It felt like the ending of a chapter of my own life.

There were times when I was exhausted, uncertain, or questioning myself, and My Hero Academia somehow gave me a little bit of strength to keep going. At its heart, the story is about what it means to be a hero. Not necessarily the strongest person. Not necessarily the person with the greatest talent. But someone who chooses to help others.

Deku's journey resonated with me for that reason. He starts as someone who desperately wants to be a hero but doesn't believe he has what it takes. Watching him slowly grow into someone who can inspire other people was incredibly satisfying.

Was My Hero Academia perfect? No. But I don't need it to be. It was part of my life for a very long time, and that makes it special in a way that ratings and reviews can't really measure.

When it ended, I wasn't just saying goodbye to Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki, and everyone else. I was saying goodbye to the version of myself who started reading it all those years ago.

6. Gachiakuta

This is the newest manga on my list, and honestly, I'm still discovering exactly how much I love it. But I'm having a lot of fun doing so.

Gachiakuta immediately caught my attention with its visual style. The character designs are fantastic, the world is strange and imaginative, and there is a rawness to the artwork that makes the whole thing feel different from a lot of other current manga. I love manga that makes me stop on a page just to look at the artwork. Gachiakuta does that.

The world-building is another big reason I'm hooked. The idea of a society that literally throws things—and people—away creates a fascinating foundation for exploring class, prejudice, waste, and the value we assign to things and people.

But honestly? Sometimes I don't want to overanalyze it. Sometimes I just want to read the next chapter because the characters are cool as hell. And that's where I am with Gachiakuta right now.

I'm genuinely excited whenever a new volume comes out. It's still too early for me to know whether it will ultimately become one of my all-time favorites, but it's already earned its place on this list. Ask me again in ten years. Maybe it will be number one.

5. Nana

Nana is probably the manga on this list that I appreciate differently now than I did when I first read it.

When I was a teenager, I didn't really get it. Or maybe I should say: I wasn't ready for it. I didn't necessarily enjoy it as much as I thought I was supposed to, and a lot of the emotional complexity went over my head. Then I got older. And suddenly, Nana started making a lot more sense.

That's one of the things I love about certain stories. You don't always meet them at the right time. You can read the exact same manga at fifteen and twenty-five and come away with completely different feelings.

The characters in Nana aren't idealized versions of young adults. They're messy. They make selfish decisions. They hurt each other. They fall in love. They become dependent on other people. They make choices that you desperately wish they wouldn't make. And the older I get, the more I understand why. Life doesn't always give you a clear right answer.

Sometimes people make decisions based on fear, loneliness, insecurity, or simply because they don't know what else to do. That's what makes Nana so emotionally complicated. It doesn't feel like a story about perfect people experiencing perfect romance. It feels like a story about people trying—and sometimes failing—to figure out what they want from life.

Maybe that's why I appreciate it so much more now.

4. Bakuman.

If Nana is a manga I understand better as I get older, Bakuman is a manga I return to when I start questioning what I'm doing with my life. And that probably tells you everything you need to know about why it's so high on this list.

Bakuman follows two teenagers who decide they want to become manga creators. It sounds like a straightforward inspirational story. And in some ways, it is. But what I really love about Bakuman is that it doesn't romanticize the pursuit of a dream. Working hard doesn't guarantee success. Having talent doesn't guarantee success. Sometimes you can work harder than everyone else and still lose. Sometimes someone simply happens to be better than you. Sometimes your idea isn't good enough. Sometimes the market doesn't care. Sometimes you give everything you have to something and it still doesn't work. And weirdly, I find that incredibly inspiring.

Because Bakuman doesn't tell you, "If you work hard enough, you'll definitely win." It tells you something much more realistic: You have to decide what is worth pursuing even when there is no guarantee that you'll succeed. There will always be people who are more talented than you. There will always be someone who is more successful. There will always be someone who seems to be moving faster. Comparing yourself to them can drive you crazy. What matters is figuring out what you want and following your own path. That's something I have to remind myself of from time to time.

Whenever I start questioning my career choices or wondering what I'm actually trying to achieve, I like coming back to Bakuman. It reminds me why I started. And sometimes that's exactly what I need.

3. Slam Dunk

If we're talking about sports manga, Slam Dunk belongs in the conversation. But what makes Slam Dunk special to me isn't just the basketball. It's everything surrounding it. Friendship. Rivalry. Sportsmanship. Ambition. Failure. And those difficult choices you have to make when you're young and suddenly realize that your life is actually going somewhere.

Take Hanamichi Sakuragi. He starts out as an obnoxious delinquent who gets involved with basketball for a pretty ridiculous reason. And then something changes. He starts caring. He starts practicing. He starts wanting to become better. And, perhaps most importantly, he starts discovering what it means to be part of a team. That's what I love about the story.

Basketball isn't just a vehicle for cool matches. It's the environment where these characters grow. They have different personalities, different goals, different talents, and different reasons for playing. Some want recognition. Some want victory. Some want to prove something. Some simply love the game. And watching those motivations collide is what makes the matches so compelling. Slam Dunk also understands something important about being young: you don't always know what you're doing with your life.

Sometimes you stumble into something by accident. Sometimes you discover a passion unexpectedly. Sometimes you have to choose between what you thought you wanted and what you actually want. And sometimes the people around you help you figure that out. That's why Slam Dunk has remained one of my favorite sports manga. It isn't really just about basketball.

It's about growing up.

2. Fullmetal Alchemist

I love the anime adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist. I really do. But the manga has a special place in my heart that no adaptation can replace. Because Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the first manga I read that made me seriously think.

I was still a teenager when I first encountered it, and I wasn't expecting a shonen manga to make me question things like war, nationalism, morality, sacrifice, the value of human life, and what people are willing to do in the name of a greater cause. But it did.

The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is built around alchemy, but the story is ultimately interested in something much more complicated: what happens when human beings believe they have the right to play with forces they don't fully understand? And then it goes even further. It asks what happens when governments use people as tools. What happens when soldiers are ordered to commit terrible acts. What happens when we reduce complicated human beings to enemies, numbers, or political objectives. As a teenager, I probably didn't understand all of those themes completely. But they stuck with me.

And as I got older, I realized that Fullmetal Alchemist had quietly influenced the way I looked at the world. Especially when it came to war and the news. That's a pretty remarkable thing for a manga to accomplish. Of course, it's also just a fantastic story.

Edward and Alphonse's relationship is the emotional core, and their journey gives the story an incredible sense of purpose. The action is exciting, the characters are memorable, and the world-building is exceptionally well constructed.

But for me, what makes Fullmetal Alchemist special is the fact that it didn't just entertain me. It changed the way I think. And I don't think I'll ever forget that.

1. Berserk

There was really only one manga I could put at number one. Berserk.

It's dark. Very dark. Sometimes extremely dark. And yet, somehow, it is also one of the most beautiful manga I've ever read.

Kentaro Miura's artwork is on another level. Some of the panels don't even feel like manga panels. They look like illustrations you could hang on a wall. The amount of detail is ridiculous. The monsters. The armor. The landscapes. The expressions. The sheer scale of some of the scenes. You can spend several minutes just staring at a single page. But beautiful artwork alone wouldn't be enough to make Berserk my number one.

It's the storytelling. Guts is one of those characters whose journey stays with you long after you put the manga down. He's angry. He's traumatized. He's stubborn. He's often self-destructive. And yet, despite everything that happens to him, he keeps moving forward. That's what I find so compelling about Berserk.

It's not really a story about overcoming darkness once and becoming happy forever. It's about continuing to live when life has given you plenty of reasons not to. And the manga isn't afraid to explore some incredibly uncomfortable ideas along the way—trauma, obsession, revenge, ambition, betrayal, loneliness, love, and the terrible things people are capable of doing to each other. But there is also friendship. There is love. There is loyalty. There are moments of genuine tenderness. And those moments matter precisely because the world of Berserk is so brutal.

The darkness makes the small moments of humanity feel brighter. That's probably the biggest reason I love it. Berserk isn't beautiful because its world is beautiful. It's beautiful because it finds humanity in an incredibly ugly world. And then Miura draws it better than almost anyone else ever could.

There are manga that I love more because they're fun. There are manga that make me laugh more. There are manga that I would recommend more easily. But if you ask me which manga feels like a genuine work of art, Berserk is my answer.

It's my number one.

Honorable Mentions

Of course, putting only ten manga on a list like this is borderline cruel. There are plenty of series that could have made the cut depending on the day. Monster, 20th Century Boys, Vagabond, Dorohedoro, Death Note, Haikyuu!!, and many others deserve a mention.

But that's the problem with a top ten. Eventually, you have to stop. And honestly, I think that's what makes these lists fun. A great manga isn't just something you read. Sometimes, it becomes part of who you were when you read it. And sometimes, when you return to it years later, you discover that while the story hasn't changed... you have.