Manga like Ping Pong

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 , Delinquents , Athletics , Fitness , Philosophy , Wrestling , Bullying , Meta

3-gatsu no Lion

Also known as March Comes in Like a Lion.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Rei Kiriyama is a child prodigy. Rei Kiriyama is also an orphan who lives alone in an empty apartment. Rei Kiriyama is a teen working in an adult's world. Life is complicated for Rei. He's an up-and-coming shogi player on the verge of turning pro, but he has no homelife, or much of a life period, outside his board game, but thankfully with the help of some life-long friends he has an opportunity start all over again.



Notes:
Winner of the Grand Prize at the 4th Manga Taishou Award in 2011.
Winner of the 35th Kodansha Manga Award in 2011.
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2014.
Winner of the Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2021.

Tags: Coming of Age , Family Life , Philosophy , Rehabilitation , Seinen , Shogi , Found Family , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Iyashikei , Board Game , Food , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Age Gap , Adoption , School Club , Love Triangle

Kokou no Hito

Also known as The Climber.

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

Transfer student Buntaro Mori starts his first day at his new school already on the administration’s radar. He’s withdrawn and sullen, and the teachers are just waiting for him to explode. When his annoying classmate Miyamoto promises to leave him alone forever if he climbs to the top of the school, Mori eagerly takes up the challenge and shocks everyone when he makes it all the way to the roof. Flushed with the victory of his first successful climb, Mori can’t resist the lure of the local peak, despite warnings from more experienced climbers about the risks of climbing alone. But Mori doesn’t care. A little danger is nothing in the face of his new obsession.

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

Sunny

Also known as Sunny.

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

The story of an orphanage, the children who live in it, and the beat-up old Nissan Sunny 1200 which provides them with a means of escape from their boring everyday lives.

Note: Winner of the Best Manga of the Year award at the 2016 Shogakukan Manga Awards.

Tags: Family Life , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Child Cast , Seinen , Estranged Family , Tragedy , Autobiographical , Adoption , Rural , Episodic , Cars , Delinquents , Heterosexual , Baseball , 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

Ashita no Joe

Also known as Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow.

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

A young drifter named Joe Yabuki wanders through the slums of Tokyo, but when the local ruffians try to give him a hard time he teaches them a rough lesson with his fists. The spectacle sparks a gleam in the eye of an old drunk who happens to be watching—Danpei Tange, a failed boxer and former coach who sees something special in the boy. He pleads with Joe to train with him off, but the cocky young fighter brushes him. Later, though, when Joe is arrested and put in a juvenile detention facility, he realizes that he’s going to need to hone his raw fighting skills if he wants to survive. Thus is born a partnership that might just take Joe all the way to the top…



Tags: Tragedy , Boxing , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Rehabilitation , Urban , Orphan , Class Struggle , Anti-Hero , Disability , Athletics , Shounen , Primarily Male Cast , Delinquents , Prison , Foreign , Historical , War , Yakuza

GOGO Monster

Also known as GoGo Monster.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Slice of Life

Third grader Yuki Tachibana lives in two worlds. In one world, he is a loner ridiculed by his classmates and reprimanded by his teachers for telling stories of supernatural beings that only he can see. In the other world, the supernatural beings vie for power with malevolent spirits who bring chaos into the school, the students' lives, and nature itself.



Tags: Coming of Age , Chuunibyou , School , Philosophy , Primarily Child Cast , Seinen , Male Protagonist

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 , School , LGBTQ+ Themes , School Club , Tragedy , Transgender , Bisexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Crossdressing , Suicide , Gender Bending , Nudity , Tomboy

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 , Heterosexual , Rehabilitation , School Club , Tragedy , Philosophy , Unrequited Love

Hyaku M.

Also known as 100 Meters.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Sports

He was born fast. He had nothing else, only the ability to run fast. It gave him "a place at school" and "a bridge between friends." That was all the boy had. Then he met another boy who ran to forget the hardships in life. He was not fast by any means, but he had passion. The passion was infectious, and he gradually came to feel the same excitement. But that was the beginning of the "abnormality." The mad dash for that "100m"— Note: Chapter count includes 2 extras.

Tags: Athletics , Shounen , Primarily Male Cast