Manga like TEAM PHOENIX

Hi no Tori

Also known as Phoenix.

Status: Cancelled
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance , Sci-Fi

"All things are born and all things die. That is the law of heaven." According to legend, the Bird of Fire called the Phoenix is the eternal spirit of life, death and rebirth. She oversees the cycle of reincarnation and the rising and falling of civilizations and species. Those who can obtain her blood will be granted eternal life, while to others she can grant infinite wisdom, or eternal suffering. Throughout history, from the dawn of civilization to the extinction of the human race, those human souls touched by the Phoenix have hunted her over and over in multiple reincarnations, and their actions in one life determine or reflect the sins and sufferings of other lifetimes.



Note: This is an incomplete series due to Tezuka's death.

Tags: Philosophy , Reincarnation , Episodic , War , Historical , Mythology , Time Skip , Achronological Order , Environmental , Dystopian , Anachronism , Space , Coming of Age , Primarily Adult Cast , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Cyberpunk , Gods , Tragedy , Body Swapping , Post-Apocalyptic , Robots , Aliens , Anti-Hero , Artificial Intelligence , Fugitive , Revenge , Satire , Love Triangle , Age Regression , Amnesia , Ensemble Cast , Clone , Swordplay

Ribbon no Kishi

Also known as Princess Knight.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Taking place in a medieval fairy-tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of young Princess Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne (as women are not eligible to do so). This deception begins as soon as she is born, as her father the King announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumon, is an evil man who would repress the people if he were to become king, and because of this the King will go to any length to prevent him from taking over.



Tags: Gender Bending , Shoujo , Magic , Tomboy , Female Protagonist , Swordplay , Fairy Tale , Mythology , Pirates , Royal Affairs

Tetsuwan Atom

Also known as Astro Boy.

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Mecha , Sci-Fi

In the distant year 2003, Japan is a technological utopia, and robots are everywhere. One such robot, Tobio, was built by the brilliant Dr. Tenma to replace his dead son. But when it soon becomes apparent that Tobio is an imperfect copy of his departed child, Dr. Tenma throws him out. He is rescued from the scrap heap by the benevolent Professor Ochanomizu, a crusader for robot civil rights. Now the little robot, renamed Astro Boy, is given a mission to defend Japan and the world from all manner of sinister threats. Using his seven super-abilities and 100,000 horsepower worth of strength to battle evil, Astro hopes to set an example to the world of the good which all robots are capable of.

Tags: Robots , Episodic , Shounen , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Space , Politics , Aliens , Time Manipulation

Dororo

Also known as Dororo.

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

A samurai lord has bartered away his newborn son's organs to forty-eight demons in exchange for dominance on the battlefield. Yet, the abandoned infant survives thanks to a medicine man who equips him with primitive prosthetics - lethal ones with which the wronged son will use to hunt down the multitude of demons to reclaim his body one piece at a time, before confronting his father. On his journeys the young hero encounters an orphan who claims to be the greatest thief in Japan.

Like an unforgettable road movie, Dororo reaches deeper than its swashbuckling surface and offers a thoughtful allegory of becoming what one is, for nobody is born whole



Tags: Demons , Youkai , Swordplay , War , Coming of Age , Samurai , Rural , Anti-Hero , Historical , Meta , Shounen , Ghost , Crossdressing , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Gender Bending , Disability

PLUTO

Also known as Pluto.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mecha , Mystery , Psychological , Sci-Fi

In an ideal world where man and robots coexist, someone or something has destroyed the powerful Swiss robot Mont Blanc. Elsewhere a key figure in a robot rights group is murdered. The two incidents appear to be unrelated...except for one very conspicuous clue - the bodies of both victims have been fashioned into some sort of bizarre collage complete with makeshift horns placed by the victims' heads. Interpol assigns robot detective Gesicht to this most strange and complex case - and he eventually discovers that he too, as one of the seven great robots of the world, is one of the targets.



Tags: Seinen , Robots , Artificial Intelligence , Detective , Police , Tragedy , Urban Fantasy , Philosophy , Politics , Foreign , Anti-Hero , Memory Manipulation , Real Robot , Ensemble Cast , Amnesia , Conspiracy , War , Noir , Anachronism , Post-Apocalyptic , Male Protagonist , Cult , Suicide , Cyberpunk , Agender

Jungle Taitei

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

In a jungle in Africa right on the equator there was a white lion, Panja, who was called the "Emperor of the Jungle." But Panja is killed by a hunter. His wife, the Queen of Jungle, who has been caught by the hunter, gives birth to the son of Panja on a ship bringing them to a zoo. She names her son "Leo" and has him escape from the ship, saying, "Go back to Africa and become the successor of your father." Then a storm comes and the ship is overturned, and sinks with the Queen on it. Leo is washed up on the beach of a port town in the Arabian Peninsula, not Africa. This is where Leo's long adventure begins.

Tags: Animals , Foreign , Shounen , Circus

Black Jack

Also known as Black Jack.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Among adult readers in Japan Black Jack is Osamu Tezuka’s most popular achievement, and perhaps the most close to the creator’s heart, as Tezuka considered entering the medical field—majoring in medicine in college—before devoting his life to comics. Black Jack is a genius surgeon who never acquired his license due to his clashes with the medical establishment. He is hired out by anyone willing to pay his exorbitant rates and is perceived as a heartless rogue because of his enigmatic nature and antisocial manner. But as readers will soon discover, that is not the whole story.



Note: Won the 1st Kodansha Manga Award in the Shounen category in 1977.

Tags: Episodic , Male Protagonist , Medicine , Work , Shounen , Ghost , Philosophy , Meta , Tragedy

Magma Taishi

Also known as Ambassador Magma.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mecha , Sci-Fi

It’s a battle for the fate of Earth between a space invading army lead by the ominous being named Goa vs. Earth’s defender, Magma, the giant robot—and Mamoru, a news reporter’s son, that’s caught right in the middle. Can Mamoru team up with Magma to save the planet?



Tags: Shounen , Super Power , Aliens , Robots , Super Robot , Tokusatsu

Mitsume ga Tooru

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

To learn about his roots, Sharaku must investigate the mysterious ruins that a long-lost civilization called the Three-Eyed Ones bequeathed to him. In his worldwide search, which takes both him and Chiyoko Wato to locations like Arizona, Easter Island, and Mexico, Sharaku deciphers ancient scriptures and uses gadgets he invents to help solve (or start) problems and mysteries.

Sharaku is frequently bullied for his childishness, and as such the story is also about how he fights back when the x-shaped bandage that covers his third eye is removed. Behind the bandage is hidden Sharaku's malicious third eye, and the boy's hidden evil genius emerges when it can see. Sharaku's rivalries with teachers or students are occasionally developed into major plot points.

Note: Winner of the 1st Kondansha Manga Awards (1977) in the shounen category.

Tags: Shounen , Urban Fantasy