Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto franchise began as a manga series; it was divided into two major parts, which roughly correspond to the Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden anime adaptations. Naruto is definitely one of the best and most popular manga series in the history of the genre and here is a list of the 20 best manga like Naruto you need to read.
1. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Original Run: May 9, 2016 – present
Number of Volumes: 16
Since his father became Hokage and holds the highest office in the village of Konoha, Boruto Uzumaki, son of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga, lives in his shadow. Always seeking to attract the attention of the latter, he took the firm resolution to surpass him. But the life led by high-flying ninjas is punctuated by complex missions and rigorous training, he will also learn the hard way that becoming the best ninja is not an easy task.
In the company of Sarada Uchiha, the daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno and Mitsuki the son of Orochimaru, Boruto will therefore discover the universe of ninjas, as well as its foundations.
2. One Piece
Original Run: July 22, 1997 – present
Number of Volumes: 101
Twenty-two years after Gol D. Roger’s execution, the interest in the One Piece treasure is waning. Many have given up on it, some even wonder if it really exists. Although pirates are still a threat to the locals, the Navy has become more effective in countering their attacks on all four seas: East Blue, North Blue, West Blue, and South Blue.
However, this change did not deter Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy, from wanting to become the successor to the legendary Roger. He will thus set off on an adventure, giving himself the first objective of creating a crew in order to reach the Grand Line sea, where the fever of the “great wave of piracy” continues to rage, and where many big names in the piracy are in pursuit of the One Piece, supposed to be on the last island of this great sea, Laugh Tale.
3. BLEACH
Original Run: August 7, 2001 – August 22, 2016
Number of Volumes: 74
The 15-year-old high school student Ichigo Kurosaki has had the ability to see ghosts since childhood. One day he meets the shinigami Rukia Kuchiki who is hunting a hollow. Seriously injured during the fight, she is forced to transfer her powers to Ichigo to defeat the hollow in her stead. Until Rukia recovers, Ichigo must now do the work of a shinigami.
Rukia enrolls at Ichigo’s school and moves into his closet. Over time, the two become friends. Since Rukia Kuchiki has exceeded her stay in the human world, Rukia is forcibly returned to Soul Society by her stepbrother, the commander of the 6th Division of the Gotei 13, Byakuya Kuchiki, and his lieutenant, Renji Abarai, where all deceased souls, including the Shinigami reside.
4. InuYasha
Original Run: November 13, 1996 – June 18, 2008
Number of Volumes: 56
During the Sengoku period, a half-demon (hanyō) named InuYasha steals the Shikon Pearl (Shikon is not in original; Jewel of the 4 souls or the Sphere of the Four Spirits in the Castilian anime adaptation) with the aim of using it to become into a full demon (yōukai).
However, her plan is foiled by a priestess named Kikyō who, on the verge of death from a very serious wound, using the last of her strength, shoots a sacred arrow at him, nailing him to the sacred tree (Goshinboku); leaving him paralyzed and asleep for 50 years. Minutes later, the priestess, before dying, asks that his body be burned along with the jewel.
5. Dragon Ball
Original Run: December 3, 1984 – June 5, 1995
Number of Volumes: 42
This anime tells the story of Son Goku, a little boy who is very good at martial arts, and who has a mysterious monkey tail. He meets a young woman named Bulma, and the two go together in search of the Dragon Balls (seven magic crystal balls which allow, if they are united, to invoke the dragon Shenron, then offering to grant the wish of the one who pronounces a specific formula in front of him), meeting many adversaries along the way (most of them being competitors in the quest for the famous balls, often with selfish or even evil intentions), some of whom later become allies, such as Yamcha or Ten Chin Han.
6. My Hero Academia
Original Run: July 7, 2014 – present
Number of Volumes: 33
The story is set in a world where, due to a genetic mutation, evidenced in the first place by the lack of a joint in the little toe, mankind has obtained the ability to develop superpowers called Quirks, which manifest themselves in children. by the age of four: it is estimated that around 80% of the world’s population own a Quirk.
There are infinite types of Quirks, and it is extremely unlikely to find two people who possess the exact same power, unless they are closely related. These particular abilities have allowed the development of a new category of people: the Heroes, who confront the individuals devoted to evil who use the Quirks for selfish and criminal purposes, commonly known as Villain. Additionally, Heroes who choose to exercise heroism on a professional level are recognized as Pro Heroes.
7. Jujutsu Kaisen
Original Run: March 5, 2018 – present
Number of Volumes: 18
Yuji Itadori is an out-of-the-ordinary high school student who lives in Sendai with his grandfather. Despite his innate talent for sports, he refuses to join the sports team due to his aversion to athletics. Instead, he chooses to join the occult research club, where he can relax and leave school by 5 pm to visit his grandfather in the hospital.
While on his deathbed, his grandfather invites him to “always help others” and recommends that he “die surrounded by people”. After his grandfather’s death, he meets Megumi Fushiguro, a sorcerer who informs him of the existence of a high-level cursed talisman in the school Yuji attended. Meanwhile, his friends from the occult club, in possession of the talisman, open the seal placed on it and attract all the curses in the school on them.
Reaching the school but unable to defeat the curses due to her lack of magical powers, Yuji swallows the finger (the true form of the talisman) to protect Megumi and her friends, becoming the host of Ryomen Sukuna, a very powerful curse. Despite being possessed, Yuji is still able to maintain control of his body.
As a curse, Yuji should have been executed, but thanks to Gojo Satoru (the most powerful and responsible sorcerer of the first-year alumni at the Tokyo Institute of Occult Arts), the upper echelons of the world of witchcraft agree to postpone the execution. until he has absorbed all 20 fragments of Sukuna’s soul (i.e., her 20 fingers), so as to definitively exorcise the curse.
8. Hunter × Hunter
Original Run: March 16, 1998 – present (on hiatus)
Number of Volumes: 36
Twelve years before the start of the story, Ging Freecss abandoned his son Gon in the hands of his aunt Mito on Whale Island. Gon, who always believed that his parents were dead, discovers one day thanks to his father’s apprentice, Kite, that he is still alive and has become one of the best hunters, elite individuals and accredited for tracking of secret treasures, exotic beasts, and even other individuals.
Motivated by this revelation, Gon decides to leave his home and take the Hunter Exam, a series of challenges that seek to test the skills, survival, and teamwork of its participants.
9. Demon Slayer
Original Run: February 15, 2016 – May 18, 2020
Number of Volumes: 23
In Taishō-era Japan, Tanjirō Kamado is the first child of a family of coal merchants whose father has died: to support the family, he sells charcoal in the village below the Mountain. Despite the difficulties of life, they manage to find little happiness in their daily lives. One day, due to rumors circulating about a man-eating demon hanging around after dark, he is forced to spend the night with a Good Samaritan in the village.
Only, everything changes on his return when he detects, thanks to his keen sense of smell, a strong smell of blood: he rushes home and finds his family massacred.
10. Samurai Champloo
Original Run: January 26, 2004 – September 25, 2004
Number of Volumes: 2
Fuu, a 15-year-old girl, worked in a tea house until it was destroyed after a violent three-way fight between Mugen the wanderer, Jin the wandering samurai, and the bodyguards of the son of the Daikan of that village. At the end of the match, Mugen and Jin are arrested to be executed the next day. Fuu helps them escape in exchange for their help finding the “samurai who smells like sunflowers”.
Despite agreeing to the deal, Mugen and Jin are always trying to take each other down, in an almost professional rivalry. Both samurai have a blurred past. Thus, the story narrates their travels between sidewalks and dark passages, and how they fix the messes they get into.
11. BURN ☩HE WITCH
Original Run: August 24, 2020 – present
Number of Volumes: 1
The story takes place in “Reverse London”, a city hidden in the shadow of London, scarred by the damage caused by dragons, creatures invisible to most humans and causing enormous problems in a world which nevertheless has them. seen living together.
A third community is linked to the first two: the wizards, forming a group called Wing Bind, with among them Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole whose main objective is to protect the inhabitants of the city from the sudden threat that are these dragons and to find a common understanding between them.
12. Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon
Original Run: September 25, 2021 – present
Number of Volumes: 1
Some years after the events of InuYasha, Sesshōmaru’s four-year-old daughters Towa and Setsuna flee a fire in the forest where they live until the two are separated by a vortex that transports Towa into the modern age, where She is adopted by Kagome Higurashi’s family and raised by her younger brother, Sota.
Ten years later, Towa is reunited with Setsuna, who (alongside Moroha) traveled to modern times through the power of the Tree of Ages after a battle against a yōkai. During their time apart, Setsuna became a demon slayer, and finds herself working for Kohaku, but she has no recollection of her past or her relationship to Towa.
In order to restore Setsuna’s memories, they embark on an adventure accompanied by her cousin Moroha, who is the teenage daughter of Inuyasha, and Kagome Higurashi, who also does not remember her parents. During their journey, the girls discover that they own three of the seven Nijishoku Shinju which have powers as comparable as the Shikon no Tama, so Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha must also solve the mystery in relation to the aforementioned pearls.
13. Fairy Tail
Original Run: August 2, 2006 – July 26, 2017
Number of Volumes: 63
One day, Lucy Heartfilia, a 17-year-old girl specializing in celestial spirit magic, runs away from home and travels to the kingdom of Fiore to fulfill her dream of joining the Fairy Tail guild. Along the way, she meets Natsu Dragneel, a young man who is looking for Igneel (a dragon who raised him as an adoptive father in his childhood), and who travels accompanied by her best friend, a talking cat named Happy.
Shortly after their meeting, an impostor of Fairy Tail’s “Salamander” appears in Fiore, and Lucy, believing that she is a member of said guild, decides to follow him even though his intention is to sell her as a slave. Natsu rescues her and reveals that he is the real Salamander, since he has the abilities of a Fire Dragon Slayer (that is, specialized magic to kill dragons, which is characterized by its antiquity).
After this, he offers her to join Fairy Tail and she accepts. Once she arrives at the guild, Lucy meets Erza Scarlet, a magician specializing in armor and sword retooling, as well as Gray Fullbuster, an ice-creating mage. From then on, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza and Happy form a team to go to the different missions that exist in the guild, which they offer in exchange for a reward whose value varies depending on the degree of difficulty of the mission.
14. Black Clover
Original Run: February 16, 2015 – present
Number of Volumes: 31
When humanity was about to fall to an ancient demon, a single wizard saved it and defeated it. Later that wizard became a legend and was named Wizard King. After that event, the Clover Kingdom enjoyed peace through generations of wise men and nine subordinate magical orders. Asta and Yuno are orphans who were raised together from birth after being abandoned at a church orphanage in Hage, located in the forgotten area of the Clover Kingdom at the same time.
In a world where everyone has Magical Power, whose ability to control it comes naturally: Asta is the only person born without magic, leading him to train physically as compensation. In contrast, Yuno was born a prodigy with immense magical power and the talent to control it. At the age of 15, Asta and Yuno have the ability to become magicians known as Magic Knights by receiving their respective grimoires, with which all magical power is channeled.
15. Gin Tama
Original Run: December 8, 2003 – June 20, 2019
Number of Volumes: 77
The story takes place in Edo —the old name by which the city of Tokyo was known—, which has been conquered by strange extraterrestrial beings called “Amanto”. The samurai of that time fought against the invaders, but the Amanto defeated them and forbade all people in the city to carry swords.
The play centers on the adventures of a silver-haired samurai known as Gintoki Sakata, who helps a teenager named Shinpachi Shimura save her sister from a group of aliens who wanted to make her part of a brothel. Impressed with Gintoki, Shinpachi decides to become his apprentice and work with him as a freelancer in order to pay Gintoki’s monthly rent.
16. Fullmetal Alchemist
Original Run: July 12, 2001 – June 11, 2010
Number of Volumes: 27
In the land of Amestris, where Alchemy is elevated to the status of universal science, two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, live with their mother, Trisha Elric, whose husband, Van Hohenheim, left years before. The latter dying from an illness, the two young children try to bring her back thanks to alchemy, defying the law which formally prohibits human transmutation.
Edward, the eldest, loses his left leg and his little brother loses his whole body. Ed sacrifices his right arm by sealing the soul of his little brother Alphonse in armor. Edward then enlisted in the army at the age of twelve as a State Alchemist, passed the exam, and obtained his alchemist name, the Fullmetal Alchemist.
With the advantages linked to the status of State alchemist and their research, the two brothers seek, at the risk of their lives, the philosopher’s stone that would restore their lost bodies.
17. One-Punch Man
Original Run: June 14, 2012 – present
Number of Volumes: 24
Saitama is an unemployed, depressed young man with no deep purpose in his life. One day, he meets a crab man who is looking for a young boy “with a chin split like an ass” in his words. Saitama ends up meeting this young boy and decides to save him from the crab man, whom he manages to beat with difficulty.
From then on, Saitama decides to become a superhero and trains for three years very seriously: 100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 abs and 10 km of daily running and there are no heating or air conditioning conditions. At the end of his training “so intense that he loses his hair”, he notices that he has become so strong that he can now beat all his opponents with a single punch.
18. Soul Eater
Original Run: May 12, 2004 – August 12, 2013
Number of Volumes: 25
Several young students from Shibusen School are learning to become Meisters. This school was founded by Master Shinigami (the God of Death), on the one hand with the aim of training young meisters with their demonic weapons, which can take human form, to mow down souls; on the other hand to prevent the Great Devourer, who nearly engulfed the world in despair and madness, from being reborn again.
The goal of the meisters is to swallow 99 corrupted human souls and one witch soul to their weapons, in order to gain access to the rank of Death Scythe. Unfortunately achieving this goal is not so simple, and many obstacles will stand in the way of the protagonists.
19. Blue Exorcist
Original Run: April 4, 2009 – present
Number of Volumes: 27
The world of Blue Exorcist is made up of two dimensions that oppose each other like two faces of mirrors. The first is the world in which human beings live, Assiah. The other is the world of demons, Gehenna. Normally, travel and even any form of contact between the two is impossible. However, demons can pass into this world possessing everything that exists within it.
Satan is the god of demons, but there is one thing he does not have: a vessel in the human world powerful enough to contain him. To this end, he fathered Okumura Rin and Okumura Yukio (but only Rin inherited Satan’s powers, Yukio being too weak), his sons, from a human woman, but are the latter in line with his plans, or should they become something else?
After killing the guardian father Fujimoto, in an attempt that should have allowed Rin to return to the demon world, he gives him a dream: to become an exorcist to defeat the god of demons.
20. Jujutsu Kaisen 0
Original Run: April 28, 2017 – July 28, 2017
Number of Volumes: 1
Yuta Okkutsu is haunted by the spirit of Rika, his childhood friend who died 6 years earlier and is now cursed because they both vowed to get married when they grow up. He meets Satoru Gojo, a sorcerer under whose leadership he joins the Tokyo institute of occult arts, so that he can learn to control Rika and fight evil beings at the same time.
