Top Criminal Organization Manga Recommendations

Boku no Hero Academia

Also known as My Hero Academia.

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

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…



Note:
- Winner of the 1st Next Manga Award in the Print Category in 2015.
- Nominated for the 8th Manga Taisho Award in 2015.
- Nominated for the 40th Kodansha Manga Award in the Shounen Category in 2016.
- Chapter count includes a bonus chapter included in volume 10 “Tsuyu-chan no Kerokero Nikki“.

Tags: Superhero , Super Power , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Boarding School , Ensemble Cast , Terrorism , School , Urban Fantasy , Cultivation , Coming of Age , Crime , Anti-Hero , Criminal Organization , War , Revenge , Primarily Male Cast , Urban , Tragedy , Politics , Gore , Drugs , Age Regression , Heterosexual , Body Horror , Fugitive , Animals , Guns , Tomboy , Bisexual , Yandere , Yakuza , Nudity , Robots , Memory Manipulation , Rescue

Sinui Tap

Also known as Tower of God.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Mystery

Bam, who was alone all his life has entered the tower to chase after his only friend, Rachel, but how will he survive without having any special strength or power?
"What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever you desire—it's here."



Chapter Notes:
- Season 1 contains a prologue and 78 chapters.
- Season 2 contains a prologue and 337 chapters.
- Season 3 contains 235 chapters


Tags: Super Power , Ensemble Cast , Full Color , War , Conspiracy , Male Protagonist , Magic , Tragedy , Travel , Cultivation , Time Skip , Politics , Memory Manipulation , Space Opera , Martial Arts , Anti-Hero , Battle Royale , Kemonomimi , Philosophy , Artificial Intelligence , Trains , Necromancy , Terrorism , Gore , Afterlife , Meta , Primarily Adult Cast , Slavery , Found Family , Female Harem , Goblin , Criminal Organization , Long Strip , Time Manipulation

Kagurabachi

Also known as Kagurabachi.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Fantasy

Young Chihiro spends his days training under his famous swordsmith father. One day he hopes to become a great sword-maker himself. The goofy father and the serious son--they thought these days would last forever. But suddenly, tragedy strikes. A dark day soaked in blood. Chihiro and his blade now live only for revenge.



Note:
- Winner of the Tsugimanga 2024 Award in the Print Manga Category.
- Winner of the 4th Magademy Commitment Award.
- Nominee of the 70th Shogakukan Award.

Tags: Swordplay , Urban Fantasy , Revenge , Shounen , Male Protagonist , Magic , Mafia , Yakuza , Gore , Gangs , Anti-Hero , War , Tragedy , Time Skip , Torture , Criminal Organization

Bungou Stray Dogs

Also known as Bungo Stray Dogs.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery , Supernatural

Having been kicked out of the orphanage, a despairing young man by the name of Atsushi Nakajima rescues a strange man from a suicide attempt--Osamu Dazai. Turns out that Dazai is part of an armed-detective agency staffed by individuals whose supernatural powers take on a literary bent!



Tags: Urban Fantasy , Detective , Super Power , Mafia , Crime , Male Protagonist , Classic Literature , Fugitive , Seinen , Primarily Male Cast , Gods , Tragedy , Work , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Orphan , Anti-Hero , Philosophy , Terrorism , Conspiracy , Gore , Swordplay , Assassins , Found Family , Criminal Organization , Suicide , Vampire , Monster Boy , Police , Guns , Torture , Circus , Sadism , Time Manipulation , Tsundere , Shapeshifting , Animals

Banana Fish

Also known as Banana Fish.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of "Papa" Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash's older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa's insatiably ambitious hands--and it's exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx's acquaintance...



Tags: Mafia , Tragedy , Gangs , Conspiracy , Noir , Drugs , Primarily Male Cast , Crime , Revenge , Criminal Organization , Ensemble Cast , Anti-Hero , Fugitive , Coming of Age , Shoujo , Delinquents , Urban , Foreign , Male Protagonist , Politics , Guns , Primarily Adult Cast , Adoption , Orphan , Tanned Skin , Assassins , LGBTQ+ Themes , Boys' Love , Police , Cars , Bisexual , Photography , Classic Literature , Heterosexual , Time Skip , Prison

Raise wa Tanin ga Ii

Also known as Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance

Yoshino grew up as the yakuza princess of the Osaka Somei crime family. Everyone left her alone due to her sharp gaze and mobster ties. But when her grandfather signs a truce with the Tokyo-based Miyama crime family, she’s offered for betrothal to the Miyama leader’s grandson, Kirishima. At first, Kirishima seems amiable and polite–but when he shows his dark side, he proves to be more disturbing than any gangster Yoshino has ever met. This engagement is sure to be a wild ride for a tough yakuza princess and her twisted yakuza prince!



Note:
- Winner of the 4th Next Manga Award in the Print Manga Category in 2018.
- Nominated for the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the General Category in 2022.

Tags: Yakuza , Crime , Urban , Mafia , Female Protagonist , Seinen , Heterosexual , Criminal Organization , Gore , Arranged Marriage , Yandere , Ojou-sama , Male Protagonist , Feet , School , Bisexual

Academy Wijangchwieopdanghaetda

Also known as The Academy's Undercover Professor.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy

Machiavelli and Gerrard are just one of the many names the new professor of Ceoren Academy uses to disguise his identity, and now he can add one more to his list, Professor Ludger Cherish. The real Ludger Cherish dies on board a train during a terrorist attack, making him the perfect target for a new identity. Little does the new professor know, Ludger Cherish was involved in something deep and secret. The new Professor Ludger has to be careful to not get caught by the school and the dangerous secret society.



Tags: School , Teacher , Conspiracy , Magic , Full Color , Male Protagonist , Criminal Organization , Espionage , Anti-Hero , Swordplay , Acting , Foreign , Isekai , Reincarnation

Pocket Monsters SPECIAL

Also known as Pokémon Adventures.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Fantasy

Red is just a normal kid living in the rural Pallet Town, when he decides to go out on his own adventure, along with his rival since childhood, Green. In this world of Pokemon, he makes many friends, humans and Pokemon alike. However, all is not well. Team Rocket is trying to capture Mew, a very rare Pokemon, and is performing experiments on other Pokemon, trying to increase their power. Red and his friends must battle against Team Rocket to stop their cruel experiments and unlock the secrets of Pokemon.


Tags: Travel , Animals , Primarily Child Cast , Ensemble Cast , Coming of Age , Proxy Battle , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Tomboy , Criminal Organization , Urban Fantasy , Creature Taming , Video Games , Kids , Gangs , Tragedy , Coastal , Ojou-sama , Cult , Detective , Slapstick , Super Power , Time Skip , Time Manipulation , Estranged Family , Shapeshifting , Acting , School , Environmental

Gokurakugai Sanban-doori no Ken

Also known as Gokurakugai: Trouble on Third Avenue.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Fantasy

Sister Tao and Al are a pair of "trouble-shooters", independent odd-jobs men working in a red light district for whoever can pay. Then a little girl tries to pick Al's pocket...

Tags: Crime , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Shounen , Gangs , Mermaid , Urban , Shapeshifting , Animals , Guns , Urban Fantasy , Criminal Organization , Work

Hero Killer

Also known as Hero Killer.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Supernatural

The world is in constant turmoil, with constant wars breaking out between Heroes and Villains. Gifted with supernatural abilities, one lone girl sets out on a bloody path for revenge against the injustices of the world she lives in. With the constant clashes between titans, no one is safe. If no one is willing to protect the innocent, who are the real heroes, and who are the real villains? What truly separates one from the other?



Tags: Female Protagonist , Revenge , Full Color , Anti-Hero , Super Power , Tragedy , Superhero , Martial Arts , Conspiracy , Survival , Memory Manipulation , Gore , Swordplay , Primarily Adult Cast , Urban Fantasy , Shapeshifting , Vampire , Dystopian , Criminal Organization , Twins , War , Long Strip

Toshokan no Daimajutsushi

Also known as Magus of the Library.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy

A story about a poor boy swept away by a kind library mage and the (literal) magic of reading, Magus of the Library is a beautifully-drawn, spirited fantasy adventure, like a Fullmetal Alchemist for all ages!

In the small village of Amun lives a poor boy named Theo. Theo adores books, but because of his pointed ears and impoverished life, he isn’t allowed to use the village library. As he endures the prejudice and hatred of the village, he dreams of going where such things don’t exist: Aftzaak, City of Books. But one day, Theo chances to meet a Kafna—a librarian who works for the great library of Aftzaak—and his life changes forever…



Tags: Politics , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Primarily Female Cast , Elf , Magic , Travel , Religion , Adoption , Philosophy , Writing , Language Barrier , Dragons , Desert , Fairy , Bullying , Tanned Skin , Environmental , Kemonomimi , Nekomimi , Slavery , Conspiracy , Espionage , Criminal Organization , Dinosaurs , Pirates , Time Skip

Koroshi Ai

Also known as Love of Kill.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Romance

She’s a professional hitman. And he…is also a professional hitman. And she’s his target. Caught in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, will she fall first…or will he?



Notes:
-Chapter count includes 14 extra chapters.
-The manga originally ended on January 14th, 2023 on the Comic Gene magazine. Epilogue chapters started being published in this same magazine from May 15th, 2023 to February 15th, 2024.

Tags: Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Assassins , Gore , Urban , Mafia , Kuudere , Criminal Organization , Guns , Female Protagonist , Heterosexual , Tragedy , Orphan , Male Protagonist , Yandere , Adoption , Age Gap , Amnesia , Suicide , Shoujo

Bupaeui Saje

Also known as Cleric of Decay.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Action , Fantasy , Supernatural

Not all job classes are created equal! Marnac was pulled into a game while trying to play as one of its worst job classes, cleric of decay. Now he’s the only cleric of the Order of Decay, serving a goddess who’s been reduced to an animated hand that repeats the word “MURDER!” Will the Order’s last cleric become powerful enough before the prophecy of “the end” comes true?



Tags: Male Protagonist , Full Color , Religion , Gods , Isekai , Swordplay , Long Strip , Anti-Hero , Cult , Demons , Criminal Organization , Magic , Dungeon , Gore , Female Harem

Bakuon Rettou

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Psychological

In the 80s, the parents of Kaze Takashi move to a quiet area of ​​Tokyo in order to save the young man from the bad influence of his friends. In class, Takashi does not take long to make new friends and they soon invite him to meet with their gang, the Zeros. Takashi comes to love motorcycles and gets involved with the gang. What has he got himself into and is he ready to face the consequences?

Tags: Gangs , Delinquents , Coming of Age , Motorcycles , Seinen , Autobiographical , Tragedy , Bullying , Criminal Organization , Yakuza , Drugs , Anti-Hero , School , Class Struggle , Prison , Revenge , Nudity

Ouritsu Mahou Gakuen no Saikasei: Hikongai Agari no Saikyou Mahoushi, Kizoku Darake no Gakuen de Musou Suru

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama , Ecchi , Fantasy , Romance

"Magic." A sacred mystery usable only by those chosen. One day, a child from the slums named Arus finds he has the power to use magic. A sorcerer by the name of Genos Willzard learns of his talent and raises him, turning him into the greatest of assassins. One day, Genos gives him an order: To enroll at the Magic Academy...!?

Tags: Magic , Assassins , Male Protagonist , Seinen , School , Guns , Nudity , Heterosexual , Polyamorous , Criminal Organization

Dungeon Ssibeomeongneun Artifacts

Also known as Dungeons & Artifacts.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy

A dungeon-guiding gig goes sideways for explorer Stetch Atelier when the prince who hired him tricks him into activating a fatal curse. But instead of staying dead, Stetch is resurrected by a sentient artifact that offers him a deal that may help him get his revenge. To hold up his end of the bargain, Stetch sets off on a long journey of raiding dungeons, slaying monsters, and making new enemies and friends along the way.



Tags: Dungeon , Magic , Revenge , Full Color , Male Protagonist , Elf , Primarily Adult Cast , Gods , Heterosexual , Criminal Organization , Long Strip

Ojou to Banken-kun

Also known as A Girl & Her Guard Dog.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Drama , Romance

Isaku never asked to be the daughter of a yakuza boss, but when her parents died in a car accident when she was 5, her gangster grandfather took her in and raised her as part of the clan. After years of being avoided by her schoolmates because of her family ties, Isaku is finally ready to make her high-school debut, live a normal life, and maybe even find love...until loyal family servant and Isaku's dedicated guardian, 26-year-old Keiya, enters high school right alongside her and vows to protect her from all of the above! Now she's got a chain-smoking, pistol-wielding knight-in-shining(?)-armor to deal with, and navigating high school besides? What's a young lady to do?!



Tags: Yakuza , Shoujo , Age Gap , Gangs , Heterosexual , Female Protagonist , School , Primarily Adult Cast , Guns , Volleyball , Assassins , Urban , Criminal Organization , Cohabitation , Slapstick

Durarara!!

Also known as Durarara!!.

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

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE DOWNRIGHT WEIRD.

The Ikebukuro district in Tokyo is full of interesting people. A boy longing for the extraordinary. A hotheaded punk. An airheaded pseudo-stalker. An information broker who works for kicks. An underground doctor who specializes in truly desperate patients. A high school student infatuated with a monster. And a headless rider on a pitch-black motorcycle. Their story may not be a heartwarming one, but as it turns out, even weirdos like these sometimes fall in love.



Tags: Gangs , Ensemble Cast , Urban Fantasy , Achronological Order , Yakuza , Otaku Culture , Delinquents , Motorcycles , Mythology , Mafia , Dullahan , Female Protagonist , Criminal Organization

Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari

Also known as The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Kirishima Tooru is the right-hand man of the Sakuragi crime family. For him, the job is a perfect excuse to let his violent instincts run wild, earning him the nickname “the Demon of Sakuragi”. It seems like nothing will stand in the way of his vicious nature. But then one day, he receives an assignment like never before from the boss—babysitting his daughter! This is the heartwarming (or is it bloodcurdling?) story of a little girl and her yakuza caretaker!



Tags: Josei , Yakuza , Family Life , Delinquents , Anti-Hero , Found Family , Mafia , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Criminal Organization , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes

Sahyeong Jiphaenggwan

Also known as The Executioner.

Status: Hiatus
Genres: Action , Drama , Fantasy

A hero should never kill anyone, not even the worst of villains. Gangyu could never understand why his team of heroes lived by those words, but he tried his best to do the same… until the villain who wiped out his squad killed his brother in prison. Gangyu breaks his vow and enters Ruculus with permission to kill as the prison’s executioner. Now, he must fight his way through the villains to kill the worst of them all.



Tags: Anti-Hero , Revenge , Criminal Organization , Male Protagonist , Magic , Prison , Full Color