Manga like Ashita no Joe

Hajime no Ippo

Also known as Hajime no Ippo: Fighting Spirit!.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Sports

Makunouchi Ippo has been bullied his entire life. Constantly running errands and being beaten up by his classmates, Ippo has always dreamed of changing himself, but never has the passion to act upon it. One day, in the midst of yet another bullying, Ippo is saved by Takamura Mamoru, who happens to be a boxer. Ippo faints from his injuries and is brought to Takamura boxing gym to recover. As he regains consciousness, he is awed and amazed at his new surroundings in the gym, though lacks confidence to attempt anything. Takamura places a photo of Ippo’s classmate on a punching bag and forces him to punch it. It is only then that Ippo feels something stir inside him and eventually asks Takamura to train him in boxing. Thinking that Ippo does not have what it takes, Takamura gives him a task deemed impossible and gives him a one week time limit. With a sudden desire to get stronger, for himself and his hard working mother, Ippo trains relentlessly to accomplish the task within the time limit. Thus Ippo’s journey to the top of the boxing world begins.



Tags: Boxing , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Ensemble Cast , Coming of Age , Heterosexual , Bullying , Delinquents

SLAM DUNK

Also known as Slam Dunk.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Sports

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...



Tags: Basketball , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Shounen , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Delinquents , Rehabilitation , School Club , Tragedy , Philosophy , Unrequited Love , Heterosexual

Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa

Also known as The Legend of the Strongest, Kurosawa!.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Psychological

Kurosawa is sick and tired of his boring, ordinary life growing old as the less popular site foreman in Anahira Construction. The turning point comes when his 44th birthday comes along, and no one remembers or celebrates with him. Realizing he lived a life without drive or purpose, Kurosawa tries to go past his comfort zone to turn his life around. Will his newfound shenanigans help him or hurt him when he gets caught up in fights with delinquents?



Tags: Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Delinquents , Bullying , Seinen , Work , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Homeless , Urban , Satire , Nudity , Samurai , Bar , Age Gap

Ping Pong

Also known as Ping Pong.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sports

Makoto “Smile” Tsukimoto and his friend Yutaka “Peco” Hoshino have been playing table tennis since they were kids, but as they enter high school, they find that the game has changed. Seeing potential in them that they themselves don’t fully realize, the coach recruits them for the school team. Bringing out their best will mean challenging the top players from rival schools in the summer tournament, including an ace Chinese exchange student who almost made the Olympic team. With the pressure on, can Smile and Peco take the heat and make it into the finals?



Tags: Table Tennis , Coming of Age , Seinen , Philosophy , Tragedy , Coastal , Male Protagonist , School Club , Teacher , Primarily Male Cast , School , Primarily Teen Cast , Bullying , Language Barrier , Urban , Time Skip

ZERO

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

Goshima is a boxer who has held the world championship title for years and never once lost a match - thus earning himself the nickname 'Zero'. His coach, Araki, describes him as 'a flower that blooms only within the ring'. But with his 30th birthday approaching, everyone begins to question Goshima's worth. Thus he decides to look for the ultimate opponent to give him his final match.

Tags: Seinen , Boxing , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Language Barrier

Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daishou

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama

This monumental manga became the driving force behind Shonen Jump, the tough kid boss of the neighborhood, Mankichi Togawa, uses his fighting skills and charm to find friends as he takes on the bad guys and the big shots who control Japan's financial world. This series, which was followed enthusiastically by the youth of the time, blazed the trail for a new class of readers. This work embodies the spirit of the magazine Shonen Jump. It had a major influence on the authors who followed. In 1969, it became the first Shonen Jump work to be turned into animation, and in 1971 it was turned into a live action film.



Tags: Delinquents , Gangs , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Rehabilitation , Economics

Real

Also known as Real.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sports

A motorcycle accident, bone cancer, a speeding truck crashing into a boy on a stolen bicycle--tragic life-changing events turn the worlds of three young men upside down. These three very different personalities have only one thing in common--their passion for basketball.



Note: Won an Excellence Prize for manga at the 2001 Japan Media Arts Festival.

Tags: Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Disability , Male Protagonist , Seinen , Rehabilitation , Basketball , Tragedy , Primarily Male Cast , Athletics , Fitness , Delinquents , Philosophy , Meta , Wrestling , Bullying

Rikudou

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Sports

Riku experienced a lot of pain and tragedy in his early life. After his father's death, a former-boxer Yakuza man taught him how to do a basic punch, and that punch saved his life when he had to defend himself from his mom's drug dealer. He ended up taking the drug dealer's life, marking him as a killer. Criminals continued to come after him, leading to more tragedy for the people who attempted to care for him. All of this drove him to ask that same former boxer to teach him to become stronger, which led him to a rundown gym, his door to the world of pro boxing!

Tags: Boxing , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Ensemble Cast , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Yakuza , Prostitution , Gore , Time Skip

BLACK-BOX

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

His father is doing time for murder. His brother was arrested for murder. The second son of the family, Ryoga Ishida, is under suspicion of being involved with his brother. Under his fathers order he takes on his boxing pro test.

Tags: Seinen , Boxing , Primarily Adult Cast

Kokou no Hito

Also known as The Climber.

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Psychological , Sports

On his first day of transferring to a new high school, a loner named Mori Buntarou, is cajoled by a classmate into climbing the school building. Despite knowing that one misstep could send him spiraling to his death, he moves forward, and upon finally reaching the top, Mori experiences a sense of fulfillment. That feeling, which seems to be telling him, "You're alive!" gives birth to an adrenaline for rock-climbing.

Tags: Outdoor Activities , Coming of Age , Mountaineering , Seinen , Travel , Tragedy , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Survival , Hikikomori , Wilderness , Classic Literature , Time Skip , Fitness , Suicide , Anti-Hero , Dissociative Identities , Foreign , Delinquents , School , Nudity , School Club