There are many ways to consume content, but manga have become an increasingly popular way to digest some of the most creative and ambitious stories that are currently being told. Manga indulges in eclectic genres that tell stories that appeal to a wide range of audiences, but it’s often the shonen series material that makes the biggest impression. The shonen genre is designed for young boys and often prioritizes frenetic combat.
One of the joys with manga is that series sometimes run for many years, if not decades, and can tell a deeply thorough narrative. Shonen manga result in some of the longest-running titles in the medium and there are many worthwhile series to check out.
10 Fullmetal Alchemist’s Touching Sibling Saga Lasts Nearly A Decade (2001-2010)
There’s a growing trend in the shonen genre where siblings need to work together to overcome adversity, often with the rest of their family being in some degree of danger.
Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist manga is set in a world where a powerful form of magic known as alchemy is possible, only Edward and Alphonse Elric wind up greatly impaired (albeit in wildly different ways) after an alchemy experiment goes wrong. The two set out to not just repair themselves, but bring honor to their family as well as fight some highly powerful magic users along the way.
9 The Prince Of Tennis Tells A Gripping Sports Saga Over Nine Years (1999-2008)
Something that really helps manga stand out over Western comics is that there are many shonen series that revolve around a wide array of sports, whether that's ping-pong, synchronized diving, or in this case, tennis. Takeshi Konomi's The Prince of Tennis details a 12-year old tennis prodigy's ascent through the championships as he acclimates to a new life.
Ryoma Echizen is a fantastic and lovable protagonist that it's easy to get behind. The premise may seem limited, but Konomi's manga ran for nine years from 1999 to 2008.
8 Dragon Ball’s Manga Has Been Running In Some Form Since The ‘80s (1984-1995; 2015-Ongoing)
The Dragon Ball franchise is one of the most popular shonen series outside of Japan and its universal success helped bring a lot of newcomers over to explore new shonen manga series. Dragon Ball’s popularity is well deserved and Akira Toriyama’s series about Goku’s growth into a remarkable fighter who goes on to transcend the planet helps establish many modern shonen tropes.
The original Dragon Ball manga ran for 11 years from 1984 to 1995 which in itself is impressive. However, Dragon Ball Super’s manga continues the story and it started in 2015 and is still currently running.
7 Naruto’s Maturity Into Dangerous Ninja Takes 15 Years To Tell (1999-2014)
Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto is still a very popular shonen series and it continues to live on today through its sequel successor, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which approaches the franchise's universe from a totally different angle. Naruto Uzumaki is a great hero who makes a fantastic ninja.
Kishimoto also cleverly breaks the narrative up into two halves that have Naruto at opposite ends of his teen years, which helps the narrative evolve. For 15 years Naruto’s journey as a ninja continued to develop in Kishimoto’s manga and it’s arguably still getting revisions in Boruto.
6 Bleach’s Manga Doesn’t Bungle Its Story & Helps Build A Shonen Classic (2001-2016)
Out of all of the big shonen series where fighters blast supernatural energy at each other, it often feels like Tite Kubo's Bleach gets the short end of the stick.
The story of Ichigo Kurosaki who grows into an honorable Soul Reaper is hardly an original premise, but the anime gets lost in so much filler that it actually kills the series and hurts its reputation. Kubo's manga is far superior and even though it takes 15 years it at least gets to finish its story.
5 Gintama Is The Funniest Of Shonen Manga & It Just Can’t Say Goodbye (2003-2019)
Some manga series are designed with a sprawling and epic scope in mind, while others naturally transform into something bigger than expected. Gintama beautifully eschews the typical action tropes of the shonen genre with Gintoki and his band of freelancers, but it also contains beyond brilliant parodies and dissections of the medium as a whole.
There are few series that are more engrossing and hilarious than Gintama and it expertly balances these extremes. This long-running manga has only just recently come to an end and finally concluded its story.
4 Luffy’s Ultimate Pirate Adventure In One Piece Is Over 20 Years In The Making (1997-Ongoing)
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece has made a big name for itself not just as a manga, but also as an anime series with nearly 1000 episodes. The daunting amount of One Piece anime content manages to pale in comparison to the manga, which started back in 1997 and is still running.
Luffy’s growth into a skilled pirate master has been remarkable and the series has leaned into helpful structural techniques like time skips to help the characters and stories progress. Oda seems to have an ending in mind for the manga, but it’s still a little ways away from happening.
3 Baki The Grappler Is A Grueling Fighting Drama With No End In Sight (1991-Ongoing)
Competition and cutthroat tournaments lead to some of the most electric arcs in shonen manga and Keisuke Itagaki's Baki the Grappler is a series that consists almost entirely of those dramatic and combative confrontations.
Baki Hanma is a determined underground fighter and the series shows his domination and struggles on the circuit as well as the exceptional fighters that surround him. It's easy to get lost in Baki's story and distinct art and it’s grown from a fun ‘90s title to a foundational classic that’s nearly 30 years old.
2 Hajime No Ippo Weaves The Perfect Boxing Story (1989-Ongoing)
The boxing genre is particularly popular in both sports manga and anime. It's an intimate form of competition that creates tense stakes both in the ring and during solitary training. There are some radically different takes on boxing, but George Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo is a classic that doesn't complicate the formula.
The manga looks at teenager Makunouchi Ippo as he begins his boxing career and progresses in a significant way. Morikawa has allowed Hajime no Ippo to grow since its debut in 1989 and it's been running for over 30 years since.
1 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Has Evolved & Amazed For Nearly 40 Years (1983-Ongoing)
It’s remarkable that Hirohiko Araki has been working on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure for close to 40 years. Some mangaka work through several series over multiple decades, but Araki has focused solely on JoJo and it’s helped make the manga become such a unique hit.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure tells one large story about the Joestar family, but it’s been split up into eight smaller stories that can largely function on their own. The evolution of Araki’s storytelling and art style since his beginning in the 1980s has been incredible to witness and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is still running strong.