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

Yamada, Takatoshi

After making a serious mistake in his work in Tokyo, talented surgeon Goto Kensuke is invited to take charge of the only clinic on the small island of Yonaguni, Okinawa. It is difficult to get competent doctors to serve on this remote island, and the islanders are now used to traveling for hours via boat for proper medical care. Despite seeming weak and unreliable (he gets very seasick, and does not have a driving license), he wins over the skeptical islanders with his skill and dedication. Some children of the island make a flag for his clinic, but get his name wrong. Thereafter he is known by all as Koto.

Dr. Kotou Shinryoujo

Dr.コトー診療所

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

Umino, Chica

Takemoto lives in a run down student apartment, where his greatest worry is when he'll next be able to afford to eat meat and whether he'll get to class on time. Although he's away from home and living on his own, Takemoto is far from finished growing up. Along with his crazy cast of friends, Morita, Mayama, Yamada, and Hagumi, Takemoto sets out to discover life and his true self.

(Source: VIZ Media)

Included one-shots:
Volume 10: Sora no Kotori, Hoshi no Opera

Hachimitsu to Clover

Honey and Clover

ハチミツとクローバー

Shimamoto, Kazuhiko

In this story set in the early 1980s, a young man dreams of becoming a renowned comic writer in years to come. His name is Honoo Moyuru. He has no money, only a dream. Then, he feels overwhelmed by his lack of ability, and buys some sake, although he has no head or stomach for alcohol. This is a tortured elegy for any dashing young art student who spends his days careening around in burning ambition.

Aoi Honoo

アオイホノオ

Ikuemi, Ryou

Included one-shots:
Volume 4: Akai Tsuki no Hanashi
Volume 6: Kiss Me Quick

Barairo no Ashita

バラ色の明日

Kuramochi, Fusako

The story takes place in a small village with only a total of six children. All these people frequent the only school in the village and Soyo, in the second year of college, is the eldest of them. But one day, happy day for this group of children will be affected by the announcement of the arrival of a new student! The excitement was at its height, but when Osawa finally arrives in Tokyo, Soyo is surprised: far from the image she had made​​, Osawa is a pretentious and self-confident boy. Yet a strange feeling awakened in her. Gradually, faced with the reality of life, but also the past and the secrets of their parents daily Soyo and others will change, and they will discover what it means to become adults.

[Written by toast69]

Tennen Kokekko

天然コケッコー

Karube, Junko

Kimi no Te ga Sasayaiteiru

君の手がささやいている

Ousaka, Mieko

The story follows a fantasy writer and her dog.

Eien no Nohara

永遠の野原

Yukimura, Makoto

Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor's affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job.

(Source: TokyoPop)

Planetes

プラネテス ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ

Mori, Kaoru

It's the turn of the 20th century, and Victorian era England plays host to a poignant and emotional saga of love between two individuals of thoroughly different societal standing. Working class maid Emma and  wealthy aristocrat William Jones find themselves falling for one another despite their allotted positions in life, and it is their persistent efforts to traverse the dangerous minefields of wealth, power, and staunch tradition, that provides the gripping emotional drama of Kaoru Mori's Emma. The rigid social structures of the time and the disapproving elite, including but not limited to William's own family, seek to keep the lovestruck pair apart due to their heavy condemnation of this breach of proper conduct. But despite their best attempts to resist one another, William and Emma's relationship deepens, and their feelings for one another prove to be stronger than the harshest of judgments.

From the author of the acclaimed series Otoyomegatari, comes this impassioned tour de force of two individuals who strive to never give up on their love. But will William and Emma's relationship fall prey to the slew of unforeseen ordeals that rise up to challenge it, or will they get their happy ending after all?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Emma

エマ

Taniguchi, Jiro

Fourty-eight-year-old salaryman Hiroshi Nakahara accidentally takes the wrong train to Tokyo after a business trip in Kyoto. He decides to accept his situation and sit back when he learns that the train is headed toward his hometown in Kurayoshi.

As he walks the streets of his childhood neighborhood, Hiroshi realizes how significantly the place has changed in the 20 years since his mother died. While visiting her grave in the Genzen Temple, he is transported back into the body of his 14-year-old self. Retaining the memories and wisdom of his middle-aged mind, he is now an eighth grader in junior high school.

Hiroshi's regained youth enables him to escape the reality of being an adult man with a wife and two daughters. Unaware how to return to his original time, he begins to relive his adolescence. During his time travel, Hiroshi attempts to uncover the reasons for his father's abandonment of the family in hopes of understanding him and his actions.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Manga Like Tasogare Ryuuseigun