Drawn to the Fire

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)

Grand Blue Dreaming

After moving out on his own to a seaside town, Iori Kitahara makes a college debut he never anticipated. A new chapter of his life unfolds, full of diving with beautiful girls and shenanigans with a gaggle of lovable bastards! Idiot-expert Kenji Inoue and au naturel authority Kimitake Yoshioka bring you a glorious college tale filled with booze-fueled antics! (Source: Kodansha USA)

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)

Kengan Ashura

Since the Edo periods of Japan, gladiator arenas exist in certain areas. In these arenas, wealthy business owners and merchants hire gladiators to fight in unarmed combat where winner takes all. Tokita Ohma, nicknamed "Ashura", joins these arenas and devastates his opponents. His spectacular ability to crush his enemies catches the attention of the big business owners, including the Nogi Group chairman, Nogi Hideki. (Source: Comikey) Note: Includes 24 extra chapters.

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.

Eyeshield 21

Wimpy Sena Kobayakawa has been running away from bullies all his life. But when the football gear comes on, things change—Sena's speed and uncanny ability to elude big bullies just might give him what it takes to become a great high school football hero! Enjoy all the bone-crushing action and slapstick comedy that this heartwarming coming-of-age story has to offer. (Source: VIZ Media)

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)