Captain Tsubasa

Blue Lock

Blue Lock reimagines the sports manga as a survival game, and aims it straight at the striker's position. After a humiliating World Cup exit, Japan's football federation launches a radical, ruthless program: lock three hundred of the nation's best high-school strikers in a facility and pit them against each other to forge the single most lethal goal-scorer in the world. Lose your duels and you're eliminated — your dream of ever playing for Japan gone for good. Yoichi Isagi is a smart but unselfish forward who has to unlearn everything polite about his game and discover the ego a great striker needs. That's the show's real subject: the arrogance, hunger, and individual brilliance that team sports usually train out of players. It's football as a battle royale, and it's electric. The manga is ongoing and the anime brings its high-voltage duels to the screen. Whether or not you follow the sport, Blue Lock hooks you on the psychology of wanting to be the best — and being willing to leave everyone else behind to get there.

Haikyu!!

Haikyuu!! is the volleyball manga that convinced millions of people they loved volleyball. Shoyo Hinata is short — far too short for the net — but he can jump like nothing anyone's seen, and he's obsessed with the sport ever since watching a tiny ace called "the Little Giant" on TV. In high school he's forced onto the same team as Tobio Kageyama, the gifted, dictatorial setter he considers his rival, and the two have to turn their clashing styles into a partnership if their club is ever going to reach nationals. Haruichi Furudate makes every match feel enormous — the rallies are tense, the strategy is real, and the huge ensemble of players, on both sides of the net, is written with so much care that you end up rooting for the opponents too. It's less about winning than about the joy and grind of getting better with people you'd run through a wall for. The manga tells the complete story and the anime is widely considered one of the best sports adaptations ever made. Even if you've never watched a real match, Haikyuu!! will have you on your feet.

Slam Dunk

Hanamichi Sakuragi's got no game with girls--none at all! It doesn't help that he's known for throwing down at a moment's notice and always coming out on top. A hopeless bruiser, he's been rejected by 50 girls in a row! All that changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, Haruko, and she's actually not afraid of him! When she introduces him to the game of basketball, his life is changed forever... (Source: VIZ Media)

Blue Box

Taiki Inomata is on the boys' badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He's in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn ... And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth! (Source: MANGA Plus)

Chihayafuru

Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game. Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways! (Source: Kodansha USA) Notes: - It won the 2nd Manga Taisho Award and the 35th annual Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shoujo. - It was nominated for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2016.

Air Gear

Ikki Minami is a junior high school student with a dream—to become the best Air Trek rider in town. It won’t be easy, as he faces a lot of competition from boys and girls alike. What is Air Trek? Just the latest craze that involves taking a two-wheel inline skate and adding a motor, suspension, and a shock absorber to enable the wearer to execute the wildest, wackiest, most aggressive moves you can imagine. Ikki has a lot to learn as he fights his way to the top in this wild, sexy manga from the creator of Tenjho Tenge! (Source: Kodansha USA)

Initial D

Only the fearless survive in the white-hot world of street racing, as teams take on dangerous roads in the shadow of Mt. Akina. Behind the wheel of the mysterious "Ghost of Akina" is Takumi, on his way to becoming the greatest racer ever. (Source: TOKYOPOP) Note: the chapter count includes six extra chapters published in volumes 2, 3, 30, 33, 39 and 48.

Hikaru no Go

After stumbling across a haunted Go board, irresponsible Hikaru Shindo discovers that the spirit of a master player has taken up residence in his consciousness. In his pursuit of the "Divine Move," Fujiwara-no-Sai awakens in Hikaru an untapped interest and genius for the game, and soon the schoolboy is chasing his own dream--defeating the famed Go prodigy Akira Toya! (Source: VIZ Media) Note: There are 197 chapters total in the original release.

Cross Game

Cross Game is a moving drama that is heartfelt and true, yet in the brilliant hands of manga artist Mitsuru Adachi, delightfully flows with a light and amusing touch. The series centers around a boy named Ko, the family of four sisters who live down the street and the game of baseball. This poignant coming-of-age story will change your perception of what shonen manga can be. (Source: VIZ Media)