Curated playlist

Manga adapted into films

Battle Angel Alita begins when a doctor sifting through a garbage dump finds a living cyborg head and torso and names her after his dead cat. The same list holds other manga with sharp openings. In Dororo, a daimyo trades his newborn son's body to 48 demons. In Tetsujin 28-go, a ten-year-old inherits his dead father's giant war robot. In Tokyo Revengers, a part-timer shoved off a subway platform lands twelve years in the past. Each began as Japanese manga, and each has been adapted into film. Crayon Shin-chan kept going after creator Yoshito Usui died in 2009.

Akira (manga)Akira was the first comic in the world to be colored digitally. Steve Oliff colored the American edition of the manga.
JoJo's Bizarre AdventureJoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a manga by Hirohiko Araki that fills 139 collected volumes as of March 2026. By August 2023, more than 120 million copies were in circulation, which places it among the best-selling manga ever printed. Yet the…
InuyashaIn the manga Inuyasha, a dying priestess orders her own body burned along with a sacred jewel.
NarutoOn the night Naruto was born, his father sealed a nine-tailed fox inside him. He grew up scorned by the village.
One PieceOda sealed the truth about One Piece's treasure in a box and sent it to the ocean floor.
Ranma ½Ranma ½ is a Japanese manga by Rumiko Takahashi about a teenage martial artist whose body changes with the temperature of the water that touches him. Ranma Saotome has trained in fighting since early childhood. He spends the series hunting…
Berserk (manga)Kentaro Miura's manga Berserk kept going after he died in 2021. His friend Kouji Mori now supervises the story.
Fist of the North StarAn editor's used-bookshop find led to the manga Fist of the North Star.
The Rose of VersaillesWhat if the commander of the Royal Guard at Versailles were a woman? The manga The Rose of Versailles asked it in 1972.
Battle Angel AlitaA doctor digging through a garbage dump finds a living cyborg head and torso. He names her Alita, after his dead cat.
Sailor MoonSailor Moon, the Japanese manga written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi, has sold over 46 million copies worldwide. That makes it one of the best-selling manga series in history, and one of the best-selling shōjo series. The story opens…
DoraemonDoraemon, the hero of a Japanese manga series by Fujiko F. Fujio, is a robotic cat with no ears. Robotic mice chewed them off, and he has feared mice ever since. The same sadness drained his original yellow color and left him blue. That…
Case ClosedCase Closed, a Japanese manga series by Gosho Aoyama, had more than 270 million copies in circulation worldwide by January 2023. That makes it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It runs in Weekly Shōnen Sunday, a magazine…
Astro BoyAstro Boy, a robot boy, was built to replace a dead son and then sold to a circus. His creator rejected him.
Captain Harlock (manga)Captain Harlock is a space pirate who refuses to accept his civilization's slow collapse.
Rurouni KenshinThe hero of Rurouni Kenshin carries a sword with its blade turned backward.
Black ButlerIn Black Butler, a demon ignores a cult's summoning and answers a twelve-year-old boy's call instead.
Attack on TitanAttack on Titan's giants began with a drunk customer at an internet cafe.
Fullmetal AlchemistTwo brothers try to bring their mother back in Fullmetal Alchemist, and lose a leg and a whole body.
Bleach (manga)The manga Bleach began with a drawing of a kimono. Its artist had just had his previous series canceled.
DororoA daimyo in the manga Dororo trades his newborn son's body to 48 demons. The boy's mother sets him adrift on a river.
Cardcaptor SakuraCardcaptor Sakura begins when ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto accidentally opens a book in her basement. The book was made by a sorcerer named Clow Reed, and it holds a set of magical cards that now scatter into the world. Unless she gathers…
Initial DInitial D is a Japanese street racing manga written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno, and its hero starts each day delivering tofu. Takumi Fujiwara is a high school student. For years he has made those early morning runs in his father…
Fairy TailFairy Tail, a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima, had 72 million copies in print by February 2020. That figure places it among the best-selling manga series of all time. Its hero is Natsu Dragneel, a wizard who roams a…
GintamaGintama opens with a joke about its own page count. In the very first chapter, a character finishes a short fight and complains that it lasted only one page. The hero, Gintoki, snaps back: "Shut up! One page is a long time for a manga…
Naruto (TV series)The anime series Naruto opens on Naruto Uzumaki, a young orphan ninja who wants nothing more than recognition from his peers. His dream is to become the Hokage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Nobody around him takes that…
YuYu HakushoYuYu Hakusho begins with a 14-year-old street brawler named Yusuke Urameshi shoving a young boy out of the path of a car. The boy lives. Yusuke does not. It is an uncharacteristic act of kindness from a teenage delinquent, and it kills him…
Crayon Shin-chanWhen Crayon Shin-chan creator Yoshito Usui died in 2009, the manga did not end. His team began a new manga.
Ashita no JoeDid boxer Joe Yabuki survive his final fight in the manga Ashita no Joe?
Tetsujin 28-goIn the manga Tetsujin 28-go, a ten-year-old boy inherits his dead father's giant war robot.
Tokyo RevengersIn Tokyo Revengers, a part-timer shoved from a subway platform lands twelve years in the past.
Death NoteA plain black notebook sits at the center of Death Note, a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. Anyone who writes a person's name in its pages ends that person's life within seconds. In Tokyo, a…
Hajime no IppoHajime no Ippo opens its hero's boxing life with a test involving falling leaves. A professional boxer named Mamoru Takamura sets a bruised high school boy a task. Catch ten leaves from a tree at the same moment, with a single week to…
Cobra (manga)The manga Cobra opens with a bored office worker who asks for a dream and remembers a hidden life.
Lone Wolf and CubA one-year-old crawls toward a sword instead of a ball in Lone Wolf and Cub.
Revolutionary Girl UtenaRevolutionary Girl Utena begins with a teenage girl in a boys' school uniform who raises a sword to win another girl's hand. Her name is Utena Tenjou, and the prize is Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious student known as the Rose Bride. Anthy is…
Hunter × HunterHunter × Hunter, the Japanese manga series by Yoshihiro Togashi, is spoken aloud as "hunter hunter," because the multiplication sign in its title makes no sound. The doubled name came from a television variety show called Downtown, where…
Higurashi When They CryHigurashi When They Cry is a Japanese murder mystery, released as a dōjin soft visual novel by the circle 07th Expansion. It opens in June 1983, when a boy named Keiichi Maebara moves to the village of Hinamizawa and befriends five girls.…