Obana, Miho

Sana Kurata, a child actress, faces many problems in her classroom, including a major one - her bullying classmate, Akito Hayama. Sana's outgoing and friendly nature leads her to work towards correcting all of the problems around her. Her 'meddling' irritates Hayama but at the same time captivates him, just as Hayama's gloomy nature irritates Sana and compels her to change him. As these two opposites attract each other, they face many hardships which bring them closer to a mutual understanding.

(Source: ANN)

Kodomo no Omocha

Kodocha: Sana's Stage

こどものおもちゃ

Morita, Masanori

Professor Kawato is the new Japanese teacher in the ill-famed Futagotamaga high shool, whose baseball club is composed by thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions for causing a brawl during an official match. Now that the suspension is over, the only club's members left are interested only in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under professor Kawato's guidance, they discover a new dream called Koushien. The road to Koushien is far from easy, as they have to get back in shape, to learn how to play baseball and to win everyone else mistrust, including the principal's and other professor's one, with only a few months available. Sweating and fighting, the baseball club will find his determination and strength, as they proceed towards their dreams, while Kawato's enthusiastic and non-conventional ways slowly change the attitude of everyone near them.

(Source: ANN)

Rookies

ROOKIES

Kio, Shimoku

It's the spring of freshman year, and Kanji Sasahara is in a quandary. Should he fulfill his long-cherished dream of joining an otaku club? Saki Kasukabe also faces a dilemma. Can she ever turn her boyfriend, anime fanboy Kousaka, into a normal guy? Kanji triumphs where Saki fails, when both Kanji and Kousaka sign up for Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture.

Undeterred, Saki chases Kousaka through the various activities of the club, from costume-playing and comic conventions to video gaming and collecting anime figures—learning more than she ever wanted to about the humorous world of the Japanese fan...

(Source: Del Rey Manga)

Genshiken

げんしけん

Horiguchi, Yukiko

Anda, Sadanatsu

The Cultural Research Club is an eclectic bunch: a pro wrestling fanboy, a goofy ditz, a master of snark, a laid-back jokester, and a total girly-girl. Their peaceful teenage lives are turned upside-down, however, when they suddenly and inexplicably start swapping bodies with each other. At first it's all wacky hijinks... but then things get a little too personal. Boundaries are crossed, and dark secrets come to light—secrets that threaten to destroy the very foundations of their friendship. Who—or what—is causing the body-swap phenomenon? Will it ever stop? But most of all... can their club survive it? Find out in the hit ensemble dramedy light novel from award-winning author Sadanatsu Anda!

(Source: J-Novel Club)

Kokoro Connect

ココロコネクト

Suenobu, Keiko

Ayumu Shiiba has always struggled when it comes to her grades but decides to study even harder so that she can go to Nishidate High School with her best friend, Yuuko Shinozuka. When the results of the entrance exams came out, it turns out that Ayumu herself passed, but unfortunately, Shinozuka did not. Consequently, Shinozuka reveals everything she had felt about Ayumu—nothing but resentment.

Depressed that her closest friend has now deserted her, Ayumu finds a way to make her temporarily forget the loneliness: self-injury. As a result, she chooses to be alone and quickly becomes an outcast at her new school, refusing to socialize with anyone. Yet when her classmate Manami Anzai suddenly befriends her, Ayumu's world seems to brighten—but little does she know that something more horrible would start coming her way.

Life is the story of a certain girl's isolation, a tale filled with despair and persecution enough to bring any person to the brink of insanity. However, only the strongest will find the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how impossible the odds may seem.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Life

ライフ

Emura

Makoto Amano wants to become an actor, but his stern father has decreed that the only way Makoto can pursue his dream is to spend the last two years of high school as a girl! He quickly makes friends with popular tomboy Ito Miura, another drama enthusiast at this new high school and the only student to find out his secret—but are they more than pals?

(Source: VIZ Media)

W-Juliet

Wジュリエット

Yumeka, Sumomo

In middle school, Ichinose Kimitaka taught his friends how to play basketball. Despite his experience with the sport, his friends quickly outmatched him in skill. After an incident brought on by his frustration and jealousy, he was crushed to overhear those same 'friends' discussing how they wished he'd just kill himself.

On his way to toss out his special basketball shoes, he met a girl who was just as frustrated, throwing her own dancing shoes away. She was so tall, and her hands and feet are so large, that she had been rejected from her chosen hobby of Spanish dancing. He urged her to give basketball a try, and the two exchanged their shoes instead of throwing them away.

As he enters high school, Kimitaka learns that meeting him changed that girl's life for the better, and she is now a happy, social basketball player. Will Kimitaka be able to find the courage to make new friends and pursue his own talents?

(Source: MangaHelpers)

Tetsugaku Letra

鉄楽レトラ

Tatsumi, Yoshihiro

Over four decades ago, Yoshihiro Tatsumi expanded the horizons of comics storytelling by using the visual language of manga to tell gritty, literary stories about the private lives of everyday people. He has been called "the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics" and has influenced generations of cartoonists around the world. Now the visionary creator of "The Push Man and Other Stories" and "Good-bye" has turned his incisive, unflinching gaze upon himself. Over ten years in the making, "A Drifting Life" is Tatsumis' most ambitious, personal, and heart felt work: an autobiographical bildungsroman in comics form. Using his life long obsession with comics as a frame work, Tatsumi weaves a complex story that encompasses family dynamics, Japanese culture and history, first love, the intricacies of the manga industry, and most importantly, what it means to be an artist. Alternately humorous, enlightening, and haunting, this is the masterful summartion of a fascinating life and a historic career.

(Source: Drawn &amp; Quarterly)

Gekiga Hyouryuu

A Drifting Life

劇画漂流

Gaku, Keito

Ryou Watari is a boy born in the body of a girl. Rejected for being a "tomboyish girl" and a transgender boy, he cannot confide in anyone and suffers in the prison of his own skin. Subtly, he expresses his genuine self through a buzzcut and secret purchases of boys' clothes.

However, Ryou's life changes when Jin Satou joins his class. Jin is laidback, fearless, and straightforward. He is not ashamed of his interests, nor does he care about others' opinions. For the first time ever, instead of envy, Ryou feels admiration. After running into Ryou in a men's fashion store, Jin proposes the unexpected: they should start a clothing brand together.

Overwhelmed and afraid, Ryou confesses everything to Jin. To his surprise, Jin is fully accepting. Honored to have his first genuine friend and a trusting partner, Ryou agrees to set their business in motion. Recruiting a photographer and collaborating with talented outcasts, the boys prepare to express themselves through fashion and change the world—one step at a time.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Boys Run the Riot

ボーイズ・ラン・ザ・ライオット

Asano, Inio

Punpun Onodera is a normal 11-year-old boy living in Japan. Hopelessly idealistic and romantic, Punpun begins to see his life take a subtle—though nonetheless startling—turn to the adult when he meets the new girl in his class, Aiko Tanaka. It is then that the quiet boy learns just how fickle maintaining a relationship can be, and the surmounting difficulties of transitioning from a naive boyhood to a convoluted adulthood. When his father assaults his mother one night, Punpun realizes another thing: those whom he looked up to were not as impressive as he once thought.

As his problems increase, Punpun's once shy demeanor turns into voluntary reclusiveness. Rather than curing him of his problems and conflicting emotions, this merely intensifies them, sending him down the dark path of maturity in this grim coming-of-age saga.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Oyasumi Punpun

Goodnight Punpun

おやすみプンプン

Kuzumi, Taiyou

Uma Musume Cinderella Gray is a spin-off title of the Uma Musume project by Cygames. It follows Oguri Cap through her time at Kasamatsu Training Center Academy and on her journey of becoming a legendary horse girl.

(Source: MU)

Uma Musume Cinderella Gray

ウマ娘 シンデレラグレイ

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]

12 Manga Like Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made