Kajiwara, Ikki

Chiba, Tetsuya

Joe Yabuki has learned how to toughen up and stop trusting others after a troubling youth spent bouncing between orphanages and fending off bullies. After finally escaping the cycle of violent temporary homes, Joe adopts a delinquent lifestyle in the streets of San'ya, a slum in Tokyo. He makes his way through the world with his fists, picking fights with anyone he pleases.

Danpei Tange, a washed-up and alcoholic former boxing coach, notices Joe's animalistic combat ability and attempts to mentor the wild teenager. Despite developing an explosive relationship, the two form a close bond and rely on each other to look after the other homeless children in San'ya.

Unable to abandon his destructive habits, Joe is arrested for petty crimes. In jail, he meets and fights with lifelong friends and rivals, including the boxing prodigy Tooru Rikiishi. Continuously challenging Rikiishi to fights, Joe is knocked out time after time due to his savage brawling style failing in the face of Rikiishi's controlled boxing technique. But eventually, Joe stuns his rival with a knockout blow, earning Rikiishi's respect and the promise that they will one day meet again inside the professional ring.

Finding a reason to live within boxing, Joe takes life head-on with a new purpose. As he rises through Japan's amateur and professional boxing scenes, he contends with painful loss and increasing injury. Joe's passion for fighting is all-consuming, and he grapples with the idea that a life without boxing may not be one worth living.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ashita no Joe

Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow

あしたのジョー

Tezuka, Osamu

From time immemorial to the age of space colonization, there is one legend that has stayed unchanged in every history book—the tale of the immortal bird Phoenix. A being whose blood is said to grant eternal life or wisdom, the radiant figure ensures the continuation of sentient life in the universe as it oversees human civilizations and their development.

Yet, mankind remains a slave to its habits; from happiness and sorrow, to wrath and love, a myriad of emotions continue to play an integral part of human life. Simultaneously, time and time again, certain beliefs and agendas persist over the centuries to disturb the fragile equilibrium of the world's preordained nature and principles. It appears that fate, with its dynamic variables, can manifest itself in many ways—and oftentimes exhibits a bizarre sense of humor.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Note: This is an incomplete series due to Tezuka's death.

Hi no Tori

Phoenix

火の鳥

Adachi, Mitsuru

Touch is a shounen story about two twin brothers, a pretty girl next door, and that good old pastime of baseball. The manga was written by one of the most well known manga-ka out there, Adachi Mitsuru in the early 80's (1981-1986). He's a wonderful writer who tends to write stories that are related to baseball and Koshien, the stadium where the All High School Baseball Tournament is held.

(Source: MangaProject)

Touch

タッチ

Black Jack is an "unregistered" doctor with a clouded, mysterious past. He works with his little assistant Pinoko (who has a massive crush on the doctor), dealing with medical cases not very well known, which can be strange, dangerous, or not known at all. But he is a genius, and can save almost any of his patients' lives (as long as they have the money for it, that is), and is known to many around the world, especially to those of medicine and science. He's a man of science himself, and does not believe much until he has seen it, yet it is many times he is surprised by love and nature often overpowering the science he bases his life in.

(Source: ANN)

Black Jack

ブラック・ジャック

Nakazawa, Keiji

1945, Japan. Gen Nakaoka is a spirited six-year-old boy who lives with his poor yet loving family in wartime Hiroshima. As the second World War rages on, Gen's father Daikichi stands among the few outspoken who are opposed to the emperor and stand for the innocent civilians bearing the brunt of the war. However, in a society with nothing but feverous support for their nation, Gen and his family are ostracized as traitors. Unbeknownst to them, a terrible fate awaits the people of Hiroshima...

One quiet morning, the US forces drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In an instant, the city is completely destroyed, leaving thousands dead and many more exposed to radiation. Though Gen manages to survive the blast, he finds his life irreversibly changed. Regrouping with what's left of his family, Gen must now grapple with starvation, destitution, and an unsympathetic public who see survivors as little more than disease-ridden beggars.

Based on author Keiji Nakazawa's real-life experiences, Hadashi no Gen follows Gen and his fellow survivors in their struggle to survive in post-war Hiroshima. Gen resolves to soldier on with unwavering determination, while never forgiving those who caused the atrocity, never forgetting the pain of the bomb, and never letting his spirit be broken by the tragedy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hadashi no Gen

Barefoot Gen

はだしのゲン

Hara, Tetsuo

Buronson

One day, a wanderer appears out of the wasteland to bring justice to the guilty and hope to the people—a warrior named Ken, a man who bears seven scars upon his chest and holds the secret of a mysterious martial art known as Hokuto Shinken, the Divine Fist of the North Star!

(Source: VIZ Media)

Hokuto no Ken

Fist of the North Star

北斗の拳

Nagai, Go

Soft-hearted Akira Fudou has always been somewhat of a pushover. When he reunites with his childhood friend, Ryou Asuka, in a fateful encounter, Ryou reveals to him the terrifying reality of his father's research: demons exist and are planning to claim possession of the earth once again.

Eager to help his friend save humanity, Akira agrees to attend Black Sabbath, a party filled with depravity and corruption, to attempt to merge with a demon. A near-death encounter causes him to unify with Amon, a demon feared amongst even his own kind. Together they form Devilman, a combination of Amon's strength and Akira's pure heart.

After uniting with Amon, Akira begins to fight against the demons with his newfound power, desperate to stop the downfall of all human civilization.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Devilman

デビルマン

Yamato Keisuke, a promising freestyle swimmer, and Ninomiya Ami, a talented diver, are the offspring of two rival families owners of confectionery shops. Two generations ago, Grandfather Ninomiya came up with an idea for an owl-shaped cake, but Grandfather Yamato quickly raised to the challenge and thought of a similar cake—but in Yamato's the owl had ears. Because they're priced the same, Yamato's extra ears were crucial, and that made the business of the Ninomiya confectionery suffered. Grandfather Ninomiya then fell ill worrying about his shop. Before his death, his last words were "I was killed by the Yamatos," and since that moment the two families have been sworn rivals. 

(Source: MU)

Rough

ラフ

Matsumoto, Leiji

Tetsurou Hoshino is a young street urchin who desperately wants to replace his human body with an android body, which would grant him immortality and the social freedom the androids have. Normally this is incredibly expensive but it has long been rumored that if you board the Galaxy Express headed for the Andromeda Galaxy, at the end of the line is a planet where they are given out for free.
After seeing his mother murdered by an Android Count, he has no reason to remain on his home planet and nothing to hold him back. Now, not only seeking the android body of his dreams but also a way to avenge his loss, he begins to search for a way to board the train alone.

Then he meets Maetel, a mysterious woman who offers him a ticket aboard the train if he will be her companion for the journey.
Their journey will take them to planet after planet, each strange and new, and each stop along the way being an opportunity for Tetsurou to reflect on being human, human actions, and the prospect of immortality. During their travels Tetsurou and Maetel meet, amongst others, Emeraldas and Harlock.

Ginga Tetsudou 999

銀河鉄道999

Takemiya, Keiko

In the far future, humans have destroyed their homeplanet, Terra, by carelessly messing with the environment. In order to preserve the life of their homeland, Terra, humans have evacuated this world in order to spread life unto other planets. Humanity, now ruled by a super computer that controls the birth of children, sees the emergence of a new human race called the "Mu," whose telepathic powers have alarmed the System running all of humanity. The Mu, now hidden from the rest of humanity, have one dream, to return home, to Terra...

(Source: ANN)

Terra e...

To Terra...

地球へ…

Shougo is a young man who has a problem with love, not just in humans but even with animals. He is even compelled to kill animals that show each other affection, which lands him in a mental hospital. During therapy, he has a vision where he meets a goddess that dooms him to fall in love with the same girl over and over again, but one of them will always die before they can truly be together.

Apollo no Uta

Apollo's Song

アポロの歌

Saitou, Takao

An inexplicable catastrophe plunges Japan at the bottom of the sea. A boy survives misfortune, but he has been abandoned in a land surrounded by seas on all sides. His effort to stay alive compels him to sharpen the wit, and that nothing he learned in school is useful for staying alive.

12 Manga Like Okaeri Suiheisen