Manga like Saikyou Densetsu Kurosawa

Ashita no Joe

Also known as Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow.

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

Joe Yabuki is a troubled young man who runs away from an orphanage. Wandering through the Tokyo slums, he meets former boxing trainer Danpei. Joe is later arrested and goes to a temporary jail where he fights Nishi, his future best friend, ​and leader of a group of hooligans. He and Nishi then go to a juvenile prison miles away from Tokyo. There Joe meets Rikiishi, a former boxing prodigy, and a rivalry develops between them. They face each other in a match in which Rikiishi dominates Joe until the latter hits him with a cross-counter, resulting in both being knocked out. This inspires the other prison inmates to take up boxing. Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again.



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

Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji

Also known as Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Ne'er-do-well Kaiji Itou's shiftless existence is suddenly rattled by a visit from the yakuza. Burdened by debt and resentment, Kaiji is coerced into gambling for his worthless life. As the stakes grow higher and the rules become increasingly more bizarre, Kaiji must finally take the future into his own hands!



Note: Won the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1998.

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Survival , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , Death Game , Card Battle , Yakuza , Class Struggle , Tragedy , Nudity

Holyland

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological

Yuu is a high school kid who doesn't really fit anywhere. To find a place he can belong, be accepted, he will do anything. However one thing leads to another and he is forced to fight to keep his place, his holyland.

Tags: Martial Arts , Gangs , Delinquents , Philosophy , Boxing , Bullying , Male Protagonist , Educational , Seinen , Drugs , Suicide , Tragedy , Meta

Nikaidou Jigoku Golf

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sports

Susumu Nikaido, 35 years old, has failed to win a pro golf tour card for 10 consecutive years, even with support from his club. What awaits him in the future is heaven... or hell... as he refuses to give up the dream of becoming a professional golfer.



Tags: Male Protagonist , Golf , Super Power , Time Skip , Tragedy , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Suicide , Time Manipulation , Idol , Food

Wanitokagegisu

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

A night-shift guard with pretty much no social life, working in a mall, who often works out at the top of the mall with only his panties on. One night he finds a wishing star and wishes for friends. For good and bad, his current life style is about to change by the people he meets.

Tags: Hikikomori , Seinen , Tragedy , Work , Denpa , Male Protagonist , Yakuza

Tobaku Datenroku Kaiji: 24-oku Dasshutsu-hen

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

The continuation of the Kaiji series, picking up immediately after the end of One Poker Hen.

One Poker has been concluded, with Kaiji emerging as the victor and claiming the 2.4 Billion Yen as a prize! But now, a new problem arises... how can the Asian Trio take it with them with Kazuya's Black Suits gathered right outside the entrance of the warehouse?!

Chapter count for this arc begins at 255 in the original tankoubon.

Tags: Fugitive , Survival , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Seinen , Gangs , Cars , Crossdressing , Primarily Adult Cast

Tobaku Hakairoku Kaiji

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

After Kaiji's showdown with Chairman Hyoudou at the Starside Hotel, he's forced into labour at an underground mine. With his meagre daily wage, he'll be working for decades to repay his debt unless he does something about his miserable situation. Kaiji decides to wager his earnings in an underground dice game for a ticket to get out of the mine for a limited period of time. But even if he surfaces, he only has one chance to win it big: by challenging the unbeatable pachinko machine nicknamed "The Bog."

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Survival , Slavery , Primarily Male Cast , Male Protagonist , Prison , Tragedy , Torture , Primarily Adult Cast

Arigatou

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Ecchi , Psychological , Slice of Life

A depressing story about how a Japanese family's life goes wrong: an immoral protagonist, her sister who was gang raped before, her alcoholic mother who later devoted her life to a cult, and her father who lost favor with his company... full of sexual content and highly violent.

Tags: Family Life , Nudity , Bullying , Seinen , School , Gore , Delinquents , Cult , Crime , Tragedy

Boys on the Run

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Sports

The story is about how and why a guy goes from a worker at a dead-end job to becoming a boxer.

Tags: Seinen , Male Protagonist , Work , Boxing , Nudity , Delinquents , Love Triangle , Disability

Ore wa Mada Honki Dashitenai Dake

Also known as I'll Give It My All...Tomorrow.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Shizuo Oguro is living his dreams… sort of. A complete waste of a human life until now, forty-year-old Shizuo breaks free from the corporate rat race and charts himself a fairly random and new career course: to become a published manga artist. Sure, he lacks the talent, discipline, or any other skill necessary to become a success in the manga industry—but that's not enough to stop Shizuo!

Tags: Seinen , Drawing