Manga like BLUE GIANT

BECK

Also known as BECK.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

For the first 14 years of his life, Yukio Tanaka has been one heck of a boring guy. He has no hobbies, a weak taste in music, and only a small vestige of a personality. He yearns for an exciting life, but his shy, and somewhat neurotic personality make him his own worst enemy. Little does he know that his life will be forever changed when he meets Ryusuke Minami, a wild and unpredictable 16 year-old fresh from America, who happens to be in a rock-and-roll band named after his Frankenstein-like patched dog—Beck.



Tags: Band , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Rock Music , Primarily Male Cast , Shounen , Foreign , Heterosexual , Work , Female Protagonist , Crime , Love Triangle , Bullying , School , Mafia , Guns , Swimming , Martial Arts

Sakamichi no Apollon

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

Nishimi Kaoru has moved from city to city and school to school because of his father’s job. So the first day at his new school was just routine for him. Being intellectual and the new transfer student, he has always been seen as an outcast and all Kaoru had to do was bear it until the next time he moved. But things were slightly different this time. First, he started to get close to the class president, Mukae Ritsuko, and, secondly, unlikely as it seemed, grew closer to Kawabuchi Sentaro. Sentaro was infamous for getting into fights, skipping class and was an overall bad boy. Strangely enough, the three of them find common ground in music, namely jazz, and Kaoru finds himself actually enjoying the new town.

Notes:
Includes 8 extra chapters.
Won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga.

Tags: Band , Josei , Historical , Heterosexual , Coming of Age , Love Triangle , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Jazz Music , Rural , Age Gap , Time Skip , School , Tragedy , Religion

SHIORI EXPERIENCE: Jimi na Watashi to Hen na Ojisan

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music

Shiori was once a guitarist in a light music club in high school, but her first live performance was dashed when her brother ran away from home with a lot of debt to become a musician in Tokyo.

A decade later, Shiori is now a high school teacher, leading a boring, uneventful life and paying off the debt... till she runs into the ghost of none other than a famous guitarist Jim-you-know-who.

A story of a 27-year-old woman on her way to a music legend begins here.

Tags: Band , Ghost , School Club , Seinen , Coming of Age , Teacher , Female Protagonist , Tomboy , Anachronism , Rock Music , Delinquents , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast

Ao no Orchestra

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Music

Hajime Aono was a prodigy violinist until he grew jaded with playing the violin due to personal reasons. Now in his third year of middle school, he struggles to decide his academic path. One day in school, he meets Ritsuko Akine, a hotheaded novice violinist who wants to enroll in a high school with a distinguished orchestra club. When he finds himself getting closer to Ritsuko and being brought back to the world of violinists, time starts moving again for him.

This is the beginning of a youthful drama where sounds and hearts alike resound in harmony.

Tags: School , Musical Theater , Seinen , Rehabilitation , School Club , Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Classical Music

Ore to Akuma no Blues

Also known as Me and the Devil Blues: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Horror , Music , Mystery , Psychological

Legend has it that if you take your guitar and stand at a crossroads at the witching hour, the devil will appear. He’ll grab your instrument, play a song, and hand it back to you. You’ll walk away an expert bluesman, but you’ll have to pay the price: your immortal soul.

The year is 1929. Deep in the Mississippi Delta, a young man named RJ dreams of becoming a bluesman. RJ is a simple farmer who can barely play guitar, but when he takes a midnight stroll, his life is forever changed. A phantasmagoric reimagining of the life of legendary blues great Robert Johnson, Me and the Devil Blues follows the journey of a man who really did sell his soul to the devil. Why not come along for the ride?



Note: Won the 2009 Glyph Comics Awards in the Best Reprint Publication category.

Tags: Seinen , Historical , Body Horror , Male Protagonist , Musical Theater , Foreign , Anachronism , Travel , Demons

Piano no Mori

Also known as Forest of Piano.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music

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.



Tags: Seinen , Foreign , Musical Theater , Teacher , Male Protagonist , Band , Gangs , Family Life , Gender Bending , Classical Music , Crossdressing , Classic Literature

Blue Period

Also known as Blue Period.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

The studious Yatora leaves a dry life of study and good manners behind for a new passion: painting. But untethering yourself from all your past expectations is dangerous as well as thrilling…



Note: Nominated for Manga Taisho Awards in 2019, Kodansha Manga Awards in 2019 and the 24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2020. Winner of the 13th Manga Taisho Awards. Winner of the General Manga category of the 44th annual Kodansha Manga Awards.

Tags: Drawing , Coming of Age , College , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Educational , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , School , School Club , Tragedy , Transgender , Bisexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Crossdressing , Gender Bending , Suicide , Nudity , Tomboy

Dance Dance Danseur

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Romance , Slice of Life , Sports

Junpei is happily snoozing away during his sister's ballet recital when a male ballet dancer steps onto the stage. Moved by the strength and skills the dancer displays, the boy discovers his love for this art.

But after a certain tragedy happens, he vows to leave his past behind and turn into the epitome of manliness. What will he do when his love for ballet reignites?!

Tags: Dancing , Male Protagonist , Seinen , Foreign , Heterosexual , School , Disability , Amputation , Crossdressing , Love Triangle , Primarily Teen Cast

Hameln no Violin Hiki

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Fantasy

Pandora's Box led a cursed existence. Through the curiosity of a woman, evil was unleashed and very nearly covered the world in darkness. Miraculously, humanity managed to seal Maou Kestra back into the box, but only with immense sacrifices. Even without their lord, the demons are still a formidable force that has only grown stronger with time, locked in the abandoned capital of the North, Hameln. Fifteen years have passed since that fateful battle...

Enter Hamel, a travelling minstrel who is so self-centered that he'd sooner cook his guardian crow (and family friend), Oboe, than go hungry for even a minute. Welcome to the world of music and hilarious insanity that is the Violinist of Hameln. Watch as Hamel takes cheap shots at his opponents and bashes pigeons with his giant violin and turns them into dinner.

How WILL the world be saved from Maou Kestra (it's a pun for orchestra, if you haven't noticed) with a hero such as this?

Tags: Shounen , Demons , Parody , Magic , Slapstick , Classical Music , Dragons , Male Protagonist , War , Angels

Solanin

Also known as Solanin.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Slice of Life

College graduates struggle to cope with the real world. Music offers refuge in this modern manga with an American attitude. Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Shigeo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.



Notes:
The chapter count contains an epilogue published in October 2017 as part of the new Japanese volumes edition release.
It was nominated for the 2009 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan.
It was nominated for the 2009 Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material.

Tags: Coming of Age , Band , Seinen , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Found Family , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Family Life , College , Urban , Rock Music , Office Lady , Nudity