A beginner's guide to Manga

Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami

High school student Yuji Itadori, joins a secret organization of Jujutsu sorcerers to eliminate a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna—of whom Yuji becomes the host.

Komi Can’t Communicate by Tomohito Oda

Shoko Komi is overwhelmingly popular, beautiful and elegant—and has a severe communication disorder. She manages to befriend Hitohito Tadano, an exceedingly average schoolboy, who resolves to help her reach her goal of making 100 friends.

Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endo

Twilight, aka Loid Forger, is a spy who is tasked with “building a family” for his mission to ensure world peace—he just doesn’t know that the girl he adopts as his daughter is a telepath, and the woman he agrees to marry is an assassin. Cue the shenanigans!

Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Denji is an impoverished young man whose life turns around when he gains the ability to transform his head and arms into chainsaws. He joins the Public Safety Devil Hunters, a government agency focused on fighting against devils whenever they become a threat to Japan, which happens about as frequently as you’d expect in a world where a guy can have a chainsaw head.

Bungo Stray Dogs by Kafka Asagiri, Sango Harukawa

Weretiger Atsushi Nakajima becomes a member of the Armed Detective Agency where he joins others gifted with supernatural powers to accomplish different tasks including running a business, solving mysteries, and carrying out missions.

Fun fact: The literal translated title is “Literary Stray Dogs”—the series was based on the idea of gathering multiple famous late authors and poets, and drawing them as young adults and teenagers with supernatural powers.

Tokyo Revengers by Ken Wakui

Takemichi Hanagaki goes back in time twelve years to when he was in high school in order to do everything to prevent the death of his ex-girlfriend, who has died in the present due to a dispute involving the Tokyo Manji gang.

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

An epic tale of the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, in search of the mythical treasure known as the "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.

One Piece was released in 1997 and has been collected in over 100 volumes and counting. There’s a running joke amongst manga readers that you’ve either read One Piece or you haven’t—and if you haven’t then it’s too late to start, but all those who have read it swear by the series.

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Set in a steampunk world, two alchemist brothers are looking for the philosopher’s stone to restore their bodies after a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life. This one has topped manga lists for years—expect action scenes, philosophical references, and characters you can’t help but root for.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War by Aka Akasaka

A psychological rom-com where student council president Miyuki Shirogane and vice president Kaguya Shinomiya are both too proud to confess their love for each other, leading to all sorts of shenanigans from multiple schemes hatched to make the other one show their affection.

Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya

Orphaned Tohru Honda meets members of the Souma family, who are possessed by the animals of the Chinese Zodiac and cursed to turn into animal forms when they are hugged by someone of the opposite gender. As she grows closer to them, she resolves to break the curse and heal their emotional wounds.

Horimiya by HERO, Daisuke Hagiwara

Kyouko Hori is the perfect mix of beauty and brains, while Izumi Miyamura is meek and distant to his classmates—but they both have a secret side that they don’t show to others. An everyday story of opposites attract and how people have more in common than we might expect.

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

Set in a world where humanity is forced to live in cities surrounded by enormous walls that protect them from giant man-eating humanoids known as Titans; Eren Yeager vows to exterminate the Titans after they cause the death of his mother.

Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge

A samurai-inspired story where teenager Tanjiro Kamado strives to become a Demon Slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister Nezuko was turned into a demon. Give it a try if you’re into action as well as scenes that give you the feels.

Haikyuu by Haruichi Furudate

The story follows Shoyo Hinata, a boy determined to become a great volleyball player despite being only 163 cm (or 5’4”) tall. He joins the Karasuno High School volleyball team with the goal of winning Nationals.

Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP

Elementary school student Sakura Kinomoto discovers magical powers after accidentally freeing a set of magical cards. Now she must retrieve the cards, each of which grant different abilities, to prevent catastrophe.

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You by Karuho Shiina

A slow and sweet high school love story between Sawako Kuronuma, who has always been shunned and misunderstood because of her resemblance to The Ring’s Sadako, and sunny, cheerful Shouta Kazehaya, the most popular boy in class.