Manga like Sunny

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

Tekkon Kinkreet

Also known as Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White.

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

Orphaned on the mean streets of Treasure Town, lost boys Black and White must mug, steal and fight to survive. Around them moves a world of corruption and loneliness, small-time crooks and neurotic police officers, and a band of sadistic yakuza who have plans for their once-fair city. Can they rise above their environment?

Won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan for the Eisner Award in 2008.



Tags: Seinen , Gangs , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Urban , Denpa , Yakuza , Primarily Child Cast , Mafia , Orphan , Nudity

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 , School , Primarily Child Cast , Chuunibyou , Seinen , Philosophy , Male Protagonist

Takemitsu Zamurai

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Early one New Year's morning, the rounin Senou Souichirou appears in Edo's Katagi tenements.

Initially, the inhabitants regard him with fear and suspicion: Kankichi, the carpenter's son, thinks he may not be human; the neighbourhood cats remark that he reeks of blood. But soon Souichirou pawns his sword, and, with a bamboo replica at his waist, settles down to a quiet life as the neighborhood school-teacher.

Months pass, and all appears to be well. But trouble will not leave the Katagi tenements alone...

Notes:
Won the Grand Prize at 15th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2011. Includes one extra chapter.

Tags: Seinen , Male Protagonist , Swordplay , Samurai , Historical , Ghost , Coming of Age , Martial Arts

Chiisakobee

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

A new interpretation of Yamamoto Shuguro’s period novel Chiisakobe, transplanting the Edo era in the original with a modern setting. A young carpenter, Shigeji, who lost his parents and his father’s building company called Daitome in a fire, swears to himself he will rebuild the company according to the words of his father, Tomezoh, “What is important for people throughout the ages is humanity and strength of will”. He hires Ritsu, who has no place to go, as an assistant at Daitome. Some children from an orphanage, who lost their home, also show up at Daitome. The bearded young carpenter’s decision to take over his family’s business is a drama filled with the milk of human kindness.

Tags: Seinen , Family Life , Classic Literature , Found Family , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Love Triangle , Surreal Comedy

Louvre no Neko

Also known as Cats of the Louvre.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural

The world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris contains more than just the most famous works of art in history. At night, within its darkened galleries, an unseen and surreal world comes alive—a world witnessed only by the small family of cats that lives in the attic. Until now…



Tags: Animals , Seinen , Foreign , Work , Anthropomorphism , Urban Fantasy , Primarily Adult Cast , Coming of Age , Urban , Cosmic Horror , Tragedy , Mythology , Time Skip

Aoi Haru

Also known as Blue Spring.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This dark and intense drama is set in a boy's high school where Kujo becomes the official leader of a gang. Kujo must constantly defend his position by playing a dangerous rooftop game with the other boys vying for his position. This manga has also been made into a film which has shown in various festivals throughout the world.



Tags: Delinquents , Coming of Age , Gangs , School , Yakuza , Seinen , Anthology , Guns , Mahjong

No. 5

Also known as No. 5.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Thriller

A science-fiction thriller set in a powerfully imagined multicultural future landscape that resembles the current Middle East, NO. 5 is the latest work from the acclaimed creator of BLACK & WHITE, Taiyo Matsumoto.

No. 5 battles against the forces of the Rainbow Council. In a world that has become 70% harsh desert, the Rainbow Council of the International Peace Keeping Forces, a team of super-powered global security guardians, have a growing crisis on their hands. No. 5, one of their own and known within the council as their top marksman, has left his post and gone rogue.

It's up to the other guardians to track him down--but No. 5, with his mysterious companion Matroshka, won't go down without a fight.



Tags: Philosophy , Anti-Hero , Military , Post-Apocalyptic , Conspiracy , Tragedy , Super Power , Politics , Desert , Crime , Ensemble Cast , Revenge , Superhero , Travel , Meta , Seinen , Achronological Order , Fugitive , Cult , Twins , War

Aoi Uroko to Suna no Machi

Also known as Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand.

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

After her normal, happy life shatters, Tokiko and her father move to a small seaside town to live with her grandmother as sixth grade starts. There, the sound of the waves brings back a distant memory from when she visited seven years ago, a memory of almost drowning in the sea and being saved by a merman. Are there really mermaids in that sea? Tokiko adjusts to her new life in the small town as she holds out hope of once more meeting the merman who saved her.

Note: Contains an extra chapter.

Tags: Josei , Rural , Coming of Age , Coastal , Iyashikei , Female Protagonist , Primarily Child Cast , Mermaid , School , Gods , Religion

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 , Meta , Wrestling , Bullying