From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone

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.

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)

Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter looks like a boy's adventure and turns out to be one of the most inventive, ruthless stories in all of manga. Gon Freecss is a bright, preternaturally capable kid who sets out to become a Hunter — an elite, licensed adventurer — in order to find the father who left him to chase that same life. Passing the deadly Hunter Exam is only the first door; beyond it lie tournaments, criminal syndicates, and a superpower system called Nen with rules deep enough to sustain some of the genre's greatest battles of wits. Yoshihiro Togashi refuses to coast. Just when it feels comfortable, the series pivots into darker, more complex territory — the merciless Chimera Ant arc alone is regarded as a high-water mark for the entire medium — and its villains are among the most memorable ever drawn. It's a shonen that thinks harder than almost anything around it. Two notes: the manga is famous for its long hiatuses, and the 2011 anime is a superb, complete-feeling entry point covering its major arcs. Start with either — Hunter x Hunter is a masterclass in never doing the expected thing.

Dorohedoro

In a city so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they're hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they'll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of "cleaners" into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds. (Source: VIZ Media) Note: Includes 23 side stories titled "Extra Evil" and the side story "The Lizard Head and the Magic Whistle."

Fullmetal Alchemist

Alchemy tore the Elric brothers’ bodies apart. Can their bond make them whole again? In this world, alchemists are those who study and perform the art of alchemical transmutation—the science of manipulating and transforming matter. They are bounded by the Law of Equivalent Exchange: in order to gain something, one must sacrifice something of equal value. In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armor. Equipped with mechanical “auto-mail” limbs, Edward becomes a state alchemist, seeking the one thing that can restore his and his brother’s bodies...the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. (Source: VIZ Media) Note: Includes eight extra chapters.

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.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

As players of Monster Hunter and Dungeons & Dragons know, the slime is not exactly the king of the fantasy monsters. So when a 37-year-old Tokyo salaryman dies and wakes up in a world of dragons and magic, he's a little disappointed to find he's become a blind, boneless slime monster. (Source: Kodansha USA)

Fairy Tail

Cute girl wizard Lucy wants to join the Fairy Tail, a club for the most powerful wizards. But instead her ambitions land her in the clutches of a gang of unsavory pirates led by a devious magician. Her only hope is Natsu, a strange boy she happens to meet on her travels. Natsu’s not your typical hero—he gets motion sickness, eats like a pig, and his best friend is a talking cat. With friends like this, is Lucy better off with her enemies? (Source: Kodansha USA) Note: Includes four extra chapters.