Dragon Ball

Soul Eater

Maka is a scythe meister, working to perfect one particular scythe until it is good enough to become Death's Weapon -- the weapon used by Shinigami-sama, the spirit of Death himself. As if that wasn't unusual enough, her scythe is a demon scythe called Soul Eater, which can change form from a scythe to a human-looking boy. In order to make Soul Eater powerful enough to be Death's Weapon, he must eat the souls of 99 humans and 1 witch. Along the way, the two of them face many different challenges, including a cat witch named Blair (who happens to have a thing for Soul) and a teacher who's been turned into a zombie (and wants him to join her!). Her fellow students, like the shadow ninja weapon meister named Black Star who always needs to be the center of attention, aren't much help, either. It'll be a miracle if Maka even survives, let alone manages to make Soul Eater into the Death Scythe. (Source: Yen Press) Note: Includes four extra chapters.

Shangri-La Frontier

Second year high school student Rakuro Hizutome is interested in one thing only: finding "shitty games" and beating the crap out of them. His gaming skills are second to none, and no game is too bad for him to enjoy. So when he's introduced to the new VR game Shangri-La Frontier, he does what he does best—min-maxes and skips the prologue to jump straight into the action. But can even an expert gamer like Rakuro discover all the secrets that Shangri-La Frontier hides...? (Source: Kodansha USA)

EDENS ZERO

Eleven months after the grand finale of Fairy Tail, master mangaka Hiro Mashima is back with a great adventure beyond imagination! All the steadfast friendship, crazy fighting, and blue cats you've come to expect... IN SPACE! A young boy gazes up at the sky and sees a streaming bolt of light. The friendly, armor-clad being at his side tells him gently, "That's a dragon." The fact that he's joking isn't important. What's important is the look of wonder on the boy's face... and the galaxy-spanning adventure that's about to take place! Join Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail, Rave Master) once more as he takes to the stars for another thrilling saga! (Source: Crunchyroll)

Overlord

What do you do when your favorite game shuts down? Momonga decided to stay logged in right up until the very end. But when the servers go dark, he finds himself transported into the game world--and he's been transformed into his skeletal avatar from the game, awesome magical powers included! But what if he's the villain of his own story? (Source: Yen Press)

Daemons of the Shadow Realm

In a remote mountain village under the watchful eyes of two stone guardians, the young Yuru contentedly lives off the land while staying close to the only family he has left—Asa, his precious twin sister. Asa, meanwhile, carries out a mysterious “duty” on behalf of the village while locked in a cage. Why is Asa a prisoner? And what other secrets does Yuru’s otherwise idyllic home hide? (Source: Square Enix) Note: Won 2nd place in the 2023 Next Manga Award in the Print Manga Category.

One Piece

One Piece is the biggest pirate saga ever put to manga, and it earns the title. Monkey D. Luffy is a rubber-limbed optimist with one dream: to find the legendary treasure called the One Piece and become King of the Pirates. To get there he builds a crew — a swordsman, a navigator, a cook, a doctor, and a growing family of misfits — and sails a world of impossible islands, corrupt empires, and rivals who each carry a dream as loud as his own. Beneath the cartoon energy is a startlingly deep world and a theme the series never lets go of: freedom, and what people are willing to risk for it. Arcs that start as goofy escapades routinely end in tears, and Eiichiro Oda has been paying off setups two decades in the making. Here's where our franchise view helps: One Piece is both a still-running manga and a massive anime, and this page keeps them grouped in reading order so you always know where one picks up from the other. It's a commitment — but ask any fan, and they'll tell you it's the good kind.

My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia asks a simple question in a world full of superpowers: what does it take to become a hero? In a society where roughly eighty percent of people are born with a "Quirk" — a unique superpower — Izuku Midoriya is one of the powerless few, and he wants to be a hero more than anyone alive. When the world's greatest hero sees that determination and passes his own power to Izuku, he earns a spot at U.A. High, the school that trains the next generation of pros. It's a love letter to superhero comics filtered through shonen sincerity, and its secret weapon is the cast — an entire class of aspiring heroes with distinct powers, dreams, and insecurities, plus villains who force the story to ask what "heroism" really costs. The best fights aren't just about winning; they're about who these kids choose to be under pressure. The manga's story is complete and the anime is the easiest, most energetic entry point. If you grew up on superheroes, this is the series that captures why they mattered — Go Beyond, Plus Ultra, and all.

One-Punch Man

One-Punch Man takes the entire superhero power-fantasy and detonates it with a single joke: what if the strongest hero alive were so overpowered that nothing was a challenge anymore? Saitama trained until he could end any fight with one punch — and got exactly what he wished for, along with a crushing boredom no victory can cure. Bald, unbothered, and secretly the mightiest being on the planet, he shuffles through a world of monster attacks and hero rankings looking for one opponent who can make him feel something again. The genius is that it's both a razor-sharp parody and, whenever it wants to be, a genuinely jaw-dropping action series — the fights around Saitama are enormous, and the artwork (in the webcomic-turned-manga by ONE and Yusuke Murata) is astonishing. His deadpan indifference only makes the spectacle funnier. The Murata manga is the visual showcase; the anime's first season is one of the best-looking adaptations ever made and a perfect introduction. Come for the punchline, stay for how beautifully a series can send up its own genre while outclassing most of it.

Pokémon

A young boy named Satoshi embarks on a journey to become a "Pokémon Master" with his first Pokémon, Pikachu. Joining him on his travels are Takeshi, a girl-obsessed Rock Pokemon Trainer, and Kasumi, a tomboyish Water Pokémon Trainer who may have a crush on him. Satoshi and Co. end up traveling through various regions, including Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto, and then enter the Pokémon League competitions there. Along the way, they run into many confrontations with Musashi, Kojirou, and Nyarth, a trio of Pokémon thieves who are apart of an evil organization called "Team Rocket". But everytime Team Rocket try to do their evil deeds, they fail thanks to Satoshi and his Pokémon. (Source: Anime News Network)