In Giant Killing a ragtag bunch from East Tokyo are struggling in Japan's top football league. The team is going through an abysmal spell right... more>> now where they are nearing the bottom of the table and have lost 5 matches in a row. The losses haven't done much to team morale, because it was already low. Fan support, on the other hand, is looking bleak. In the world of football, once the fans turn on a team the end is near. Teams don't recover. Coaches are fired, players are sold, and teams drop to lower divisions where profits often prevent them from ever being successful against even mediocre top division teams. East Tokyo United, ETU, can only blame their coach right now. And Coach is ready to give up this next game to prove to his team and fans, that against the biggest club in the nation he can make this team win. <<less

Tea for Universe, Tea for Life. It's the Sengoku Era, a time when warring daimyou usurped each other constantly. There was a man whose soul was overtaken by the ways of tea and material greed as he worked his way up toward greater power and status. His name was Furuta Sasuke, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. With his world broadened by the genius Nobunaga and with the spiritual insight learned from Senno Soueki, Master of Tea, Sasuke travels the road of the Hyouge Mono, or comical fellow. ... more>>

To live or not to live. For power or for the arts. That is the question

Received Excellence Prize in Japan Media Arts Festival (2009) <<less

This is a story about a piano, pitifully abandoned in the woods, and a young boy, Kai, who grew up playing it as his favorite toy. While Kai cannot even read sheet music, one day, he meets Shuhei Amamiya, an aspiring child pianist who transfers schools from Tokyo, and their music teacher, Sosuke Ajino. Ajino was also once a gifted pianist, until a tragic accident stole his promising future from him forever. Each from a different background, the trio's personalities gravitate to one another and rebound. All the while, the piano sits patiently, awaiting a hand to play it.... more>>

Note: Received the Grand Prize for best manga at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2008. <<less

It is the year 2025, and NASA has announced the crew members–including Japanese astronaut Hibito Namba –of the first mission to live on the moon for an extended period. Meanwhile, in Japan, Hibito’s auto designer older brother Mutta Numba is despondent after losing his job. Although the two brothers have followed vastly different paths, their respective destinies begin to move and merge as the result of a vow they exchanged as boys. ... more>>

Note: Was nominated for the Manga Taishō in 2009 and 2010. Won the award for best general manga at the 56th Shogakukan Manga Awards and at the Kodansha Manga Award (shared with ) in 2011. Won the Reader Prize of the 18th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize 2014. <<less

Growing up in the late 16th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezō is shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. Running away from home with a fellow boy at age 17, Takezo joins the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the Battle of Sekigahara. However, the Tokugawa win a crushing victory, leading to nearly three hundred years of Shogunate rule. Takezo and his friend manage to survive the battle and afterwards swear to do great things with their lives. However, after their paths separate, Takezo becomes a wanted criminal and must change his name and his nature in order to escape an ignoble death.... more>> style="line-height: 40px;"> Note: Won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2000. Won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002 and was nominated for the 2003 Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category. <<less

Kachou Kousaku Shima is the first in a number of Japanese manga series about a fictional salaryman named Kousaku Shima, a Japanese white-collar worker who devotes his life to his company, Hatsushiba Electric. At the start of the long-running series, Shima Kousaku is a kachou, or section chief, of a huge conglomerate, Hatsushiba Electric. He is later promoted to buchou (division chief) and eventually promoted to manager and executive-director, at the end the president of comapny, and with each promotion the title of the series changed as well. And last it is "Shachou " Shima Kousaku, which means "President Kousaku Shima".... more>>

Won the 15th Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1991 (tied with ). <<less

Pregnancy is not a disease, so insurance does not apply. Obstetric treatments do not treat injuries or illnesses, so an obstetrician is not normally needed during the birth of a child. Still, obstetricians are needed because anything can go wrong during a pregnancy. A mysterious pianist at night, obstetrician Kounotori Sakura faces the many challenges and drama that come with giving birth to another human being.... more>>

Note: Was nominated for the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2015. Won the 40th Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 2016. <<less

In the year 200X, a Japanese fleet consisting of 3 vessels leave on a mission to South America. After encountering a storm, the ship JDS Mirai find itself without its escorts and in the year 1942, traveling towards the island of Midway to face the American fleet in one of largest battles in naval history. The crew of the Mirai must decide whether or not to change the course of history by involving itself in WWII.... more>>

Won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 2002. <<less

Billy Bat is a comic-in-a-comic and the real protagonist is a Japanese-American artist named Kevin Yamagata who draws Billy Bat for "Marble Comics".... more>>

Shortly after they transition to the artist in his studio with his assistant, two actual detectives, who look like Laurel and Hardy in Dick Tracy era suits and trench coats, knock on the door and appropriate Kevin's room for the purpose of conducting surveillance on a room in an adjacent building. One of the detectives, the skinny “Laurel”, sees Kevin's work and it turns out he's a Billy Bat fan. The other chubby "Hardy" detective picks up a page and says that the characters look familiar and accuses Kevin of translating an old "Jap" comic.

As Hardy remembers the comic he thinks Kevin is ripping off, we make another Urasawaesque time jump to 1949 Tokyo.

Note: Won the Max und Moritz Prize for "Best international Comic" in 2014. <<less

After living in Tokyo for two years, Natsuko returns to her hometown to visit her sick brother, who seeks to make the best sake from... more>> some legendary rice... If only he could find some... <<less

Zaizen Takashi passes his entrance exams at the top of the heap, and starts his first year in junior high school at Dojuku Gakuen, a 130-year old, highly advanced institute of higher education. The day after the entrance ceremony, "the secret" of the school is revealed to him, which concerns the existence of an "investment club," consisting only of the top student from each of the 6 grades.... more>>

Its club members have a mission. They must invest from a capital of 300-billion yen and yield a profit of 8%, which is their annual goal. This is why Dojuku Gakuen, boasting the highest standards of education in all of Japan, is tuition free. <<less

Shio Houkigi runs an aromatherapy salon by day, but has another occupation by night. She runs "Striped Sheep," a service that provides relief to women... more>> who have a hard time falling asleep without a man by their side. <<less

Prior to the 2020 Education Reform, “our man” is coming back! He’s the legendary attorney Sakuragi Kenji, who will waltz back to the fallen Ryuzan... more>> High School where the students’ academic aptitude is plummeting. In opposition to apathetic students and “The Empress” (Representative of the Chief Director) who wields overwhelming authority, he will start a revolution along with Mizuno, his former pupil. Part 2 of Dragon Zakura, the legendary “manga that will help you pass the University of Tokyo entrance exams” — which helped change the landscape of Japan’s university entrance exams — is here at last! Rest assured, entering the University of Tokyo is going to be a cinch. <<less

Bookish and naive, Angelo da Canossa is unprepared for life as a student in a university that hums with tension and intrigue in Renaissance Italy. Will his innocence remain intact when a chance encounter with the charismatic Cesare draws him ever deeper into the darker side of the Renaissance?... more>>

Souryo Fuyumi collaborated with a Dante scholar while creating Cesare, in order to portray Renaissance Italy as accurately as possible. <<less

Miyamae Haruka, 22, is a soon-to-be graduate and at first glance a very unremarkable looking young woman. No one will even stop to help her up when she falls and each time she applies for a job, she's blithely passed over. Things are getting desperate and if Haruka cannot get a job soon, she may become known as a jobless university graduate -- a very unenviable title for any young graduate to bear.... more>>

So Haruka decides to lower her expectations. She goes to apply for a job she found on an ad and is shocked by how flippant the interview is. Little does she know, the job she really wanted is already taken and she is now interviewing for a spot as the newest idol... who is supposed to be 17 years old!

And so begins the birth of a new idol, Haruka 17, and follows the adventures and ordeals Haruka must go through as her star rises. She discovers that the world of an idol can be sleazy, terrifying, and a cruel competition. With the positive and negative relationships she develops with the other people around her, she begins to discover herself as well. <<less

Tateishi, who works in accounting at a snack making company, has a secret. That secret is the existence of his cute lover that he's had... more>> since yesterday. Why keep it a secret, you ask? Because his lover is his unyielding colleague from the planning department of the same company: Mitsuya! <<less

When 30-year-old Kenta meets stoic graphic designer Chihiro, he sears her cool exterior with his passion for barbecue! Now, after a flash of a courtship,... more>> they're newlyweds! Though their jobs keep them apart, they still have weekends together to grill, and fine meat isn't the only thing heating up in this sizzling relationship! <<less

Keiichi Oda, a tired office worker, commutes back and forth from work, and on his way he periodically stumbles upon Madoka's apartment window where she runs a ramen shop... later an okonomiyaki shop... later, an ice fishing hole... later, a sauna... later, a climbing wall...... more>>

Who is this mysterious, silent and pretty woman? Where the hell does she get all this stuff from? Why does she always beckon Oda? And why is she so damn stubborn about it all!?

Be prepared to have your concept of "multitasking" challenged!!! <<less

Hatsushiba Electric president Kiichi Nakazawa, who has been Shima’s mentor since Nakazawa was Shima’s boss in the sales division, transfers Shima to Hatsushiba Trading, the firm’s affiliate, to keep Shima from being involved in a factional power struggle that seems sure to erupt within the company when Nakazawa resigns from his post.... more>>

Shima starts off as the representative executive director, making a deal with a wine producer in France. He flies between Japan, France and England to find the best wine and to sell cases at the best price possible. As always, Shima gets help from various attractive women – his subordinate Kumiko, with whom he has had a long, ongoing affair; Kumiko’s mother, who has a broad network of rich people around the world; and a mysterious hostess at a cosy Shinjuku bar who knows who’s who in the wine business.

NOTE: Published in dual-language (English and Japanese). <<less

Kenji Sakuragi is a poor lawyer and ex-motorcycle gang member looking for an opportunity to boost his career. His chance finally comes with the nearly bankrupt and notorious Ryuuzan High School, referred to as "baka gakkou" (stupid school) by some. There, he sets up a special class that aims to prepare students to take and pass the entrance exam of Toudai.... more>>

Won the Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga in 2005. <<less

Don’t miss a romcom manga like no other! In an office romance, there’s a fine line between sexy and awkward … and that line is where Asako—a woman who sweats copiusly—met Koutarou—a perfume developer who can’t get enough of Asako’s, er, scent.... more>>

Asako’s living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she’s ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company’s lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what “that smell” is, she’s terrified … but could it be … that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Yae … does she like him?

The hilarious ups and downs of an office romance at a personal care products company are the subject of this sexy, strange romp. Sweat and Soap combines the odd-couple chemistry of Wotakoi, the “too real!” workplace comedy of Aggretsuko, and a heavy dollop of office steaminess! <<less

In the afterlife, there exists Heaven and Hell. Hell consists of the Eight Greater Hells and the Eight Cold Hells, which are further divided into 272 subdivisions. Spearheading the seemingly endless, multifarious affairs in this gargantuan Hell is but one Fierce God, King Enma's first aide, Hozuki. Between this cool-headed sadist and his colorful band of peers, every day is a riot in Hell! And though this book might make Hell seem like a happening place, please try to behave during life!... more>>

Note: Nominated for the 2012 Manga Taishou Awards. <<less

China 2 A.D.: The corrupted Han Dynasty has thrown the entire country into chaos. Peasants revolt against the government. Into such an age, the ruthless and infamous hero, Cao Cao Mengde is born. Destroying old customs and values, he tries to unite China, with a band of promising and intellectual followers, handpicked for their individual talents and potential. Generally thought a villain, Cao Cao Mengde is portrayed as a hero in this story, which focuses on what kind of person he actually was. ... more>>

There are two other protagonists: Liu Bei Xuande and Sun Quan Zhongmou. Liu is a man of high morals and infinite potential. His servant, Zhuge Kongming is a mysterious man, who helps Liu to become a king who is loved by millions. Sun is the third descendant of the Sun family. A young and immature king also comes into the picture, creating more chaos. This is a Tale of the Three Kingdoms ("Sanguozhi") in which these three men rage war throughout China.

Note: Republished under Gokuatsu - "Beyond the Heavens" after the anime started airing. Every three volumes are combined into a single volume.

Won the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1998 (tied with ). <<less

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