Text by Lukas Satriadi Prabowo

From the likes of Makoto Shinkai (creator of Your Name / Kimi No Nawa and Weathering With You), Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli to Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan and Koyoharu Gotouge’s Demon Slayer, anime is becoming more and more mainstream. This is in part possible because of huge streaming services that keep picking up hit anime and recommending it to us. Most anime came from manga before they were actually being expanded or adapted into an anime. This adaptation comes with some drawbacks.

While anime does give us vivid pictures of what’s happening, sometimes the production studio cut some contents off from the manga due to various reasons. Few usual reasons are anime time constraints (anime runs around 20-30 mins usually), some contents that are not suited for the intended audience and stories that are too heavy for the audiences (meaning changing the stories to a lighter tone than the manga). These drawbacks are quite enough for some fans of the series to check out the manga version as it offers an original look of the series.

With that, here are some manga recommendations that we personally like. From great drawing, great writing to great flow and great storyline. Read on if you’ve tried your hands on a couple of anime and wanted to try your hand on a manga.

1. Slam Dunk – Takehiko Inoue, 31 volumes; 276 chapters

A manga about basketball and character growth told with beautifully drawn characters and even moments. Takehiko Inoue is able to capture the heat of basketball and also the somber feeling of losing. He is also able to capture the emotion of each character well in the close up shots of their face – the determination in the eyes of Hanamichi, the proud face of the captain Akagi. The drama is beautifully written with a knot of funny jokes. Really one of the best there are.

2. One Punch Man – One & Yusuke Murata, Currently ongoing at 173 chapters

This light-hearted manga centers around a superhero that stands at the pinnacle of power, but nobody realized his strength. You may wonder what’s the fun of reading this manga if the main character can’t develop further, but the strength of this manga lies in the supporting character and the detailed drawing of Yusuke Murata. Imagine 2 pages of detailed city drawing with a superhero flying about in one scene and in the next you find yourself rooting for the plain superhero to try and defeat a villain then the next page will get you to laugh away the intensity by giving you a humorous dialogue and drawing. One & Yusuke Murata clearly delivers their best in this manga

3. Attack on Titan – Hajime Isayama, 34 volumes; 139 chapters

This series was already a big hit when Hajime Isayama published the manga, and was made further with its anime being available on Netflix. This series tells the story of a different earth where giant man-eating creatures roam the earth and human lives in a city barred by giant walls to keep them safe. This is one of the best examples of good anime adaptation, since MAPPA really delivers truthfully and really is able to depict what the manga is telling. If you’ve already watched the anime, read the manga and try a different experience of Hajime Isayama’s chilling world.

4. Beck – Harold Sakuishi, 34 volumes; 103 chapters

You may have seen a couple comic or illustration depicting music but this manga is on a whole another level. A series telling a story about an average teen that by chance meet with a prodigy guitarist that have a band and aims to play at huge music festivals. You’ll be like a roadie, watching the band called Mongolian Chop Squad perform studio rehearsal session, from venue to venue and finally a music festival. Harold Sakuishi is able to encapsulate the feeling of awe when watching someone perform through his drawing alongside the drama of forming a band that will last. 

5. I Am A Hero – Kengo Hanazawa; 22 volumes

This manga may be hard to read at first since the first few chapters really drop you off without many explanations. It tells a story about a guy with a low-paying job and a hallucination problem that got his life changed because of a zombie outbreak. Kengo Hanazawa draws you in slowly, at first using his realistic drawing and then with his character development with a good amount of action and drama flair. A great one if you like zombies and good character development.

6. Uzumaki – Junji Ito, 3 volumes

Like how Stephen King is famous for writing horror, Junji Ito maybe is his equivalent in Japan. In Uzumaki, Junji Ito tells a story of a couple that lives in a village that is cursed by a pattern: spiral. The slow reveal of how the curse works and changing them into something grotesque will give you shivers and nightmares because of how vividly Junji Ito draws them. With images like that, no wonder this manga is considered one of the best with only 3 volumes