Miura, Kentarou

Studio Gaga

Guts, a former mercenary now known as the Black Swordsman, is out for revenge. After a tumultuous childhood, he finally finds someone he respects and believes he can trust, only to have everything fall apart when this person takes away everything important to Guts for the purpose of fulfilling his own desires. Now marked for death, Guts becomes condemned to a fate in which he is relentlessly pursued by demonic beings.

Setting out on a dreadful quest riddled with misfortune, Guts, armed with a massive sword and monstrous strength, will let nothing stop him, not even death itself, until he is finally able to take the head of the one who stripped him—and his loved one—of their humanity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Included one-shot:
Volume 14: Berserk: The Prototype

Berserk

ベルセルク

Urasawa, Naoki

Kenzou Tenma, a renowned Japanese neurosurgeon working in post-war Germany, faces a difficult choice: to operate on Johan Liebert, an orphan boy on the verge of death, or on the mayor of Düsseldorf. In the end, Tenma decides to gamble his reputation by saving Johan, effectively leaving the mayor for dead.

As a consequence of his actions, hospital director Heinemann strips Tenma of his position, and Heinemann's daughter Eva breaks off their engagement. Disgraced and shunned by his colleagues, Tenma loses all hope of a successful career—that is, until the mysterious killing of Heinemann gives him another chance.

Nine years later, Tenma is the head of the surgical department and close to becoming the director himself. Although all seems well for him at first, he soon becomes entangled in a chain of gruesome murders that have taken place throughout Germany. The culprit is a monster—the same one that Tenma saved on that fateful day nine years ago.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Monster

MONSTER

Yukimura, Makoto

Thorfinn, son of one of the Vikings' greatest warriors, is among the finest fighters in the merry band of mercenaries run by the cunning Askeladd, an impressive feat for a person his age. However, Thorfinn is not part of the group for the plunder it entails—instead, for having caused his family great tragedy, the boy has vowed to kill Askeladd in a fair duel. Not yet skilled enough to defeat him, but unable to abandon his vengeance, Thorfinn spends his boyhood with the mercenary crew, honing his skills on the battlefield among the war-loving Danes, where killing is just another pleasure of life.

One day, when Askeladd receives word that Danish prince Canute has been taken hostage, he hatches an ambitious plot—one that will decide the next King of England and drastically alter the lives of Thorfinn, Canute, and himself. Set in 11th-century Europe, Vinland Saga tells a bloody epic in an era where violence, madness, and injustice are inescapable, providing a paradise for the battle-crazed and utter hell for the rest who live in it.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Included one-shots:
Volume 23: Sayounara ga Chikai node (For Our Farewell Is Near)
Volume 25: "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" Collab Bangai-hen (Assassin's Creed x Vinland Saga)

Vinland Saga

ヴィンランド・サガ

Inoue, Takehiko

Tomomi Nomiya, former captain of his high school's basketball team turned delinquent, decides to drop out of school after he is crushed by the guilt of ruining a young girl's life in a traffic accident. As he dedicates his free time to helping her, he stumbles upon Kiyoharu Togawa, a former sprinter who has lost the use of his right leg and now plays wheelchair basketball as an alternate outlet.

After challenging Kiyoharu to a one-on-one game, Tomomi is completely defeated. Inspired by this encounter, he realizes that he can't let his love for basketball die so easily and decides that he will do what he can to help others while striving to become a professional player. Meanwhile, Hisanobu Takahashi, Tomomi's replacement as the high school's team captain, gets into an accident and finds himself permanently paralyzed below the waist. Real tells the touching tale of these three young men as they struggle to overcome their disabilities and inner conflicts in order to achieve their dreams while igniting a passion that will bring them together.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Real

リアル

As the 20th century approaches its end, people all over the world are anxious that the world is changing. And probably not for the better.

Kenji Endou is a normal convenience store manager who is just trying to get by. But when he learns that one of his old friends going by the name "Donkey" has suddenly committed suicide and that a new cult led by a figure known as "Friend" is becoming more notorious, Kenji starts to feel that something is not right. With a few key clues left behind by his deceased friend, Kenji realizes that this cult is much more than he ever thought it would be—not only is this mysterious organization directly targeting him and his childhood friends, but the whole world also faces a grave danger that only the friends have the key to stop.

Kenji's simple life of barely making ends meet is flipped upside down when he reunites with his childhood friends, and together they must figure out the truth of how their past is connected to the cult, as the turn of the century could mean the possible end of the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

20th Century Boys

20世紀少年

Umino, Chica

Rei Kiriyama is an extraordinary shogi player. Among the few elites to have gone professional as a middle school student, he is considered a genius. But what lies behind his prodigious facade is a teenage boy who suffers immense pressure from both his family and from the high expectations from the shogi community. Rei moves out to live a more independent life away from his family, but his unorganized lifestyle and unsociable personality show no signs of improvement.

However, in a twist of fate that will prove to be a turning point in his life, Rei encounters the Kawamoto sisters—the motherly Akari, the passionate Hinata, and the energetic Momo—who take great care of him. 3-gatsu no Lion tells the story of Rei as he reshapes his melancholic life and picks up the courage to begin facing the problems he evaded during his past.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

3-gatsu no Lion

March Comes in Like a Lion

3月のライオン

Sakamoto, Shinichi

Through pain and arduous effort, one can reach the top of the world. Standing where no man has ever set foot before, there is an exhilarating feeling of success. This is what Mori Buntarou trains, works, and lives for.

His climb to the top starts when he transfers to a new high school. Despite his lonesome and solitary nature, Mori's classmates persuade him to climb the school building. Without a harness or hesitation, he begins his scale to reach the top. Edging past the point of no return, he halts when he is faced with a final intimidating obstacle—a horizontal overhang. Adrenaline courses through him, and Mori jumps for the final hold at the summit.

From there, he casts his eyes upon something that he normally would not have seen—another peak, another goal. With an awakened passion and newfound purpose in life, Mori explores the breathtaking sport of rock climbing.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kokou no Hito

The Climber

孤高の人

Tsurumaikada

Becoming an ice dancer was not what Tsukasa Akeuraji had aimed for when he decided to take on the figure skating world. However, it is where he ended up, as he "started too late" to follow his true solo-skating dreams.

For years, he was content with being a shell of his former ambitions—that is, until he met a little girl in whom he saw himself. Inori Yuitsuka, a fifth-grader so desperate to skate that she practiced in secret, had visited Tsukasa's rink with her mother to ask for lessons. She was branded as useless by everyone around her, told it was "too late" for her to begin, and that catching up to other skaters was impossible.

With a newfound conviction and unwillingness to let another passionate skater go down the same road as him, Tsukasa takes on the responsibility of coaching her and promises to make Inori a medalist.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Medalist

メダリスト

Koyama, Chuuya

"A big brother must always stay ahead of his younger brother. That is my responsibility as the older sibling"—these are the words that have always motivated Mutta Nanba to try his best when it came to his younger brother, Hibito. So naturally, in the summer of 2006 when the Nanba brothers witness something strange in the night sky, Hibito declared that he would become an astronaut and travel to the Moon, while Mutta countered with the affirmation that he would go to Mars. That was the promise they made to each other.

Now in 2025, while Hibito is working with NASA and preparing to become the first Japanese to land on the moon, Mutta has been fired from his job in an automotive development company. Having difficulty finding another job, Mutta is given a lifetime opportunity when he receives a letter from JAXA—the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency—telling him that he has been accepted to participate in the next astronaut selection. As if fate has given him a chance to fulfill the promise he made all those years ago, Mutta undertakes the difficult challenge of going to space.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Uchuu Kyoudai

Space Brothers

宇宙兄弟

Yamaguchi, Tsubasa

Second-year high school student Yatora Yaguchi is bored with his normal life. He studies well and plays around with his friends, but in truth, he does not enjoy either of those activities. Bound by norms, he secretly envies those who do things differently.

That is until he discovers the joy of drawing. When he sees a painting made by a member of the Art Club, Yatora becomes fascinated with the colors used in it. Later, in an art exercise, he tries to convey his language without words but instead through painting. After that experience, Yatora finds himself so invested in art that he decides that it is what he wants to do for a living. But there stand multiple obstacles in his way: his parents who are hesitant over his unique choices, his more experienced peers, and the study of a subject much deeper than he initially expected.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Blue Period

ブルーピリオド

Abe, George

Kakizaki, Masasumi

Six minors (16 or 17 years) answering to the nicknames of Joe, Mario, Suppon, Baremoto, Heitai and Kyabetsu are put into a reformatory for offences such as aggravated assault, swindle, flight, etc. Their stay in hell begins immediately. Accommodated by a doctor paedophile, they are placed under the monitoring of a despotic and brutal crew. Companions of cell of certain Sakuragi (called Anchan), the tension flares up between the band of buddies and their new "friend."

A brawl breaks out and our six prisoners are done rossés by mysterious young man thanks to his boxing talent.

The story will not only follow the lives of these seven characters surviving in their hellish environment, but also their disillusions due to the rejection by the outside world and by their close relations. This is about the extraodinary and invincible friendships between these young men.

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

RAINBOW 二舎六房の七人

Fukumoto, Nobuyuki

Itou Kaiji is a bum who steals car emblems and slashes tires on what seems to be a regular basis. This routine changes one day when he is paid a visit by a man in a trench-coat. Once the two get talking, it seems that the visitor (Calling himself Endou) is a debt collector. The reason for his visit is an unpaid loan which Kaiji had previously co-signed for a work-mate (Furuhata Takeshi). The original loan was 30000 yen and once Takeshi had disappeared, the loan then fell on Kaiji.

Kaiji is then told of a way to clear the interest compounded debt (which stood at 3,850,000 yen), which involved getting on a boat with others in his position. Once on the boat the debtors would then have to gamble with loaned money, which would end with a few winning, and others getting into deeper debt and having to work to pay of their debts. After some coercing kaiji accepts a position on the boat, in order to clear himself and make a bit of money as well...

(Source: AniDB)

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