Japan: As Viewed
By 17 Creators
by various
Fanfare/Ponent Mon

Single volume anthology of short stories by Japanese artists about their hometowns and by visiting French artists.

Lone Wolf & Cub
by Kazuo Koike
& Goseki Kojima
Dark Horse

Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s classic 28-volume historical epic about a rogue samurai father and his son.

Astro Boy
by Osamu Tezuka
Dark Horse

Osamu Tezuka’s robot Pinocchio, now being reissued in double-book compilations ahead of his big movie next year.

Black Jack
by Osamu Tezuka
Vertical

Tezuka’s scarred super-surgeon-for-hire, now in an unflipped and complete series.

Phoenix
by Osamu Tezuka
Viz

Tezuka’s unfinished masterpiece about the firebird and its promise of immortality.

Ode To Kirihito
by Osamu Tezuka
Vertical

Compelling 800-page single-volume drama about the medical and moral issues behind finding a cure for a disease which turns humans into beasts.

Barefoot Gen
by Keiji Nakazawa
Last Gasp

Keiji Nakazawa’s memoir of his boyhood survival of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its terrible aftermath, six of ten volumes translated so far.

Good-Bye
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Drawn & Quarterly

Dark short stories about modern Japanese society by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, founder of gekiga or "dramatic picture" comics. The third volume in an on-going reprint series edited by Adrian Tomine.

The Drifting Classroom
by Kazuo Umezu
Viz

Kazuo Umezu, the Stephen King of manga, created this 11-volume chiller about schoolkids transported to a terrifying wasteland.

Naruto
by Masashi Kishimoto
Viz

Masashi Kishimoto’s ongoing saga (33 volumes and counting) about a feisty, fox-spirited ninja trainee.

Bleach
by Tite Kubo
Viz

Also from Shonen Jump, Tite Kubo’s serial about a teenage boy who becomes a sword-wielding Soul Reaper.

Love Hina
by Ken Akamatsu
TokyoPop

Naru is the only boy living in an all-girl dormitory on this 14-volume teen rom-com by Ken Akamatsu.

Death Note
by Tsugumi Ohba
& Takeshi Obata
Viz

Two prodigies, Light and ‘L’, play a complex cat-and-mouse game of wits across 12 volumes.

Guru Guru Pon-chan
by Satomi Ikezawa
Del Rey/Tanoshimi

Satomi Ikezawa’s love story between a young man and his dog Ponta, who transforms into a girl, complete in 9 volumes.

Emma
by Kaoru Mori
DC/CMX

A lowly housemaid and an upper-class gent fall in love in Victorian London, 7 volumes by Kaoru Mori.

Antique Bakery
by Fumi Yoshinaga
DMP

Fumi Yoshinaga’s 4-volume story of passions and secrets between the men at a popular patisserie.

Papillon
by Miwa Ueda
Del Rey

Miwa Ueda of Peach Girl fame shows how a school counsellor helps an "ugly duckling" twin find true love.

The Walking Man
by Jiro Taniguchi
Fanfare/Ponent Mon

A city dweller finds calm and contemplation in nature in Jiro Taniguchi’s elegant vignettes.

Hell Baby
by Hideshi Hino
Blast Books

Hideshi Hino’s tragi-comic horror about an abandoned freakish child.

Dragonhead
by Minetaro Mochizuki
TokyoPop

Young survivors of a train crash struggle to make sense of a devastated Tokyo, 9 volumes by Minetaro Mochizuki.

Berserk
by Kentaro Miura
Dark Horse

Baroque, over-the-top heroic fantasy with warped devil-slayer Guts, by Kentaro Miura, 28 volumes and counting…

Old Boy
by Garon Tsuchiya
& Nobuaki Minegishi
Dark Horse

A man inexplicably imprisoned for ten years seeks answers and revenge in the manga which inspired the hit Korean movie, 8 volumes.

Warren Buffet:
An Illustrated Biography Of The World’s Most Successful Investor
by Ayano Morio
John Wiley

A biography of the financial wizard by Ayano Morio.

With The Light
by Keiko Tobe
Yen Press

A mother’s experiences raising her autistic boy by Keiko Tobe, two big volumes so far.

Me & The Devil Blues
by Akira Hiramoto
Del Rey

A fictionalised, fantastical biography of Delta Blues icon Robert Johnson by Akira Hiramoto.

Disappearance Diary
by Hideo Azuma
Fanfare/Ponent Mon

Hideo Azuma’s good-humoured account of disappearing from his family and work and living rough.

Town Of Evening Calm, Country Of Cherry Blossoms
by Fumiyo Kouno
Last Gasp

The moving story of a radiation victim’s tragic decline by Fumiyo Kouno.

Yotsuba&!
by Kiyohiko Azuma
ADV

Charming tales of life through a little green-haired girl’s eyes by Kiyohiko Azuma.

Tokyo Zombie
by Yusaki Hanakuma
Last Gasp

Schlocky sick humour and social satire about the living dead by Yusaki Hanakuma.

Faust
edited by Katsushi Ota
Del Rey

An anthology of illustrated short fiction and full colour manga.

Red Colored Elegy
by Seiichi Hayashi
Drawn & Quarterly

A classic recovered from 1971, Seiichi Hayashi’s tortured romance between two struggling young commercial artists.

Bat-Manga:
The Secret History of Batman in Japan
by Chip Kidd
Pantheon

Batmania was massive in 1960s Japan, including these original, official manga by Jiro Kuwata, reprinted for the first time.

Yukiko’s Spinach
by Frédéric Boilet
Fanfare/Ponent Mon

Frenchman in Tokyo Frédéric Boilet’s autofiction reportage about an affair with his Japanese muse.