Shaman King

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.

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball follows the adventures of Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven mystical orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls for their own desires. Along the way becoming the strongest warrior in the universe. Part II of Dragon Ball is also known as "Dragon Ball Z" in North America. Note: Includes one extra chapter.

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.

Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man is what happens when a shonen battle series stops pretending it has any manners. Denji is a broke teenager drowning in debt, kept alive by his chainsaw-devil pet Pochita — until a betrayal fuses them into a creature who can pull a cord in his chest and turn into the Chainsaw Devil. Recruited by a government devil-hunting agency, he discovers his dreams are almost insultingly small: food, sleep, and maybe someone to touch him. The horror around him has other plans. Tatsuki Fujimoto writes it with a manic, unpredictable energy that swings from grotesque body-horror to deadpan comedy to sudden, genuine heartbreak, often in the same chapter. Nothing is safe and no one is protected by plot armor, which is exactly why it hooks so hard. The manga's first arc is complete and its second is ongoing; the anime adaptation covers the early story and is the gentlest way in. Read or watch — just know that Chainsaw Man is at its best when you have no idea what it's about to do next. It rarely does.

Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo throws Edo-period Japan and modern hip-hop into the same blender and somehow makes it look inevitable. From the director of Cowboy Bebop, it follows three travelers thrown together by chance: Mugen, a wild, breakdancing swordsman with no rules; Jin, a disciplined ronin who's his complete opposite; and Fuu, the teenage waitress who ropes them both into helping her find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." The story is a road trip, and like the best road trips it's really about the company. Each episode is a self-contained detour — graffiti artists, baseball games, doomed love affairs — scored to turntable beats that have no business fitting a period piece and fit it perfectly. The swordplay, when it comes, is loose and lethal and unforgettable. It's a complete 26-episode journey with no franchise homework attached, which makes it one of the easiest classics to recommend. If Cowboy Bebop is jazz, Champloo is the mixtape — looser, younger, and every bit as stylish. Watch it in order and let it wander; getting there is the whole point.

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.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Demon Slayer is a story about exactly what its title promises: killing demons, and the price of doing it with your humanity intact. Tanjiro Kamado is a kind-hearted charcoal seller whose family is slaughtered by a demon while he's away — all except his sister Nezuko, who survives, but turned into a demon herself. To find a cure and avenge the rest, Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corps, mastering the sword and the breathing techniques that let ordinary humans stand against creatures that heal from almost anything. Its runaway success is easy to explain once you see it move: Ufotable's adaptation turned the sword-fighting Breathing Styles into some of the most gorgeous action ever animated, and Tanjiro's relentless compassion — he grieves even for the demons he's forced to kill — gives all that spectacle a beating heart. The manga tells a complete, self-contained story; the anime is the showstopping way in and the reason the franchise became a global phenomenon. Whether you read or watch, start at the beginning — Tanjiro's first steps into the Corps set up everything the later, larger battles pay off.

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.