152 reviews in this genre
by Yuugo Kobayashi
A review of Yuugo Kobayashi's Aoashi — ongoing in Weekly Big Comic Spirits. Ashito Aoi, a rough soccer talent from rural Ehime, is scouted into Tokyo's FC Tokyo youth academy. The series is about learning what modern soccer actually is — through a boy who sees the entire field and has to be taught how to use what he sees. Titan Comics' English edition is ongoing.
by Shinji Kawaguchi
Monkey Turn follows Hasegawa Kouji, a young man who enters the world of competitive motorboat racing (kyotei) — Japan's unique professional boat racing sport — and fights to master the dangerous, technical, and thrilling 'monkey turn' technique.
by Tsukasa Oshima
Shoot! follows Toshihiko Tanaka, who joins a high school soccer team to fulfill the dying wish of his childhood friend — and finds himself in a sport he barely knows, at a club that was legendary before it collapsed, trying to rebuild something worth the promise he made.
by Takao Yaguchi
Sanpei the Fisherman follows Sanpei Mihara, a fishing-obsessed boy in rural Akita who travels Japan pursuing the perfect catch — learning about fish, rivers, and people along the way in one of manga's great nature-and-sport series.
by Masahito Soda
A review of Capeta, Masahito Soda's 32-volume motorsports manga about a poor boy whose road-paving father builds him a kart from scrap, and the lifelong rivalry that pushes him from karting toward Formula racing.
by Shin'ichi Ishizuka
Gaku: Minna no Yama follows Habu Gaku, a volunteer mountain rescue worker in the Japanese Alps, and the climbers he saves — or tries to save — as he demonstrates the specific combination of skill, knowledge, and relentless positivity that his work requires.
by Wataru Watanabe
Yu's review of Yowamushi Pedal — an anime otaku who rides his mama-chari to Akihabara every week is discovered by competitive cyclists who realize he has elite climbing ability without knowing it.
by Shinji Morisue (story) / Hiroyuki Kikuta (art)
Gamba! Fly High follows Takeru Fujimaki, a boy with extraordinary natural talent who joins a gymnastics club and discovers that natural ability, without discipline and the right people around you, is not enough to reach the Olympics.
by Shiro
Aoi Yukimura is a high-schooler with social anxiety who used to love climbing mountains with her father as a child. Her loud childhood friend Hinata drags her back into hiking. Across 26 ongoing volumes, the manga follows them up real Japanese mountains while taking Aoi's anxiety as seriously as it takes the trail conditions. Unlicensed in English.
by Takashi Hashiguchi
Yu's review of Yakitate!! Japan — Kazuma Azuma has supernatural hands warm enough to activate yeast perfectly, and his dream is to create a national bread for Japan; the series applies shonen battle manga structure to competitive bread-baking with completely committed absurdist comedy.
by Naoki Urasawa
Yu's review of Yawara! — Yawara Inokuma is the granddaughter of a legendary judo master who has trained her since childhood to be a world champion; she has extraordinary talent and absolutely no desire to compete; what follows is her journey toward the Barcelona Olympics despite her own resistance.
by Akio Chiba
Captain follows four generations of captains at a weak downtown middle school baseball team — starting with Takao Taniguchi, a former bench player mistaken for a star, who trains himself half to death rather than admit the truth.
by Shinji Mizushima
Dokaben follows Taro Yamada, a gentle giant who starts out in his middle school's judo club before becoming the catcher who carries Meikun High School to Koshien. Shinji Mizushima's classic ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 1972 to 1981.
by Yuu Koyama
Horiguchi Genki is six years old when his mother dies. His father — a former pro boxer fallen on hard times — raises him in a gym among other fighters. Then his father dies too. Yuu Koyama's 28-volume boxing manga from the late 1970s follows Genki from childhood through his career as one of the great post-Ashita no Joe boxing manga. Unlicensed in English.
by Tetsuya Chiba
Ore wa Teppei follows Teppei, a wild boy raised in the mountains who comes to the city and discovers judo — a story about raw talent meeting structured discipline, and what happens when someone who has never been constrained learns to choose constraint.
by Akio Chiba
Play Ball follows Koichi Tani, a key player from Captain, into high school at Sumiya High — a sequel that shifts perspective and asks what happens to the supporting cast after the captain's era ends.
by Masami Kurumada
Ring ni Kakero follows Ryuji Takane and his sister Kiku through a boxing journey that begins in realism and evolves into one of manga's most spectacular supernatural combat series — the bridge between sports manga and the battle shonen that followed.
by Daisuke Higuchi
Yu's review of Whistle! — Sho Kazamatsuri was cut from his elite school's soccer team for lacking talent; he transfers to a school where he can actually play and works relentlessly to become a real player; the series follows his growth from the team's weakest member to something more.
by Satoru Nii
Yu's review of Wind Breaker — Haruka Sakura transfers to Furin High School because of its reputation as the toughest school in the area; he discovers the students there protect their town, not terrorize it, and that strength has a different purpose than he thought.
by Satoshi Ikezawa
Circuit Wolf follows Yuya Fubuki, a lone-wolf street racer in a white Lotus Europa who climbs from public-road duels all the way to Formula 1 — the 1970s Weekly Shonen Jump manga that personally lit the fuse on Japan's supercar boom.
by Makoto Kobayashi
Judo Club Story follows Sanshiro Fujimaki, a high school freshman who joins the judo club by mistake and discovers — against his will and better judgment — that he is genuinely good at judo.
by Nobuhiro Sakata (story) / Kosai Oshima (art)
Kaze no Daichi follows Koichi Iino, a self-taught golfer working as a caddy who rises through professional golf — a manga that treats golf with more psychological seriousness than almost any other sports manga treats its subject.
by Shoji Gatoh (Story) / Kengo Matsumoto (Art)
Yu's review of Wanna Be the Strongest in the World! — Sakura Hagiwara is a member of the idol group Sweet Diva; after an altercation with a professional wrestler, she decides to enter women's professional wrestling herself; the series follows her training and career through the sport she is entirely unprepared for.
by Tomo Takeuchi
Yu's review of Welcome to the Ballroom — Tatara Fujita has no goals and no passions until he stumbles into a ballroom dance studio, sees what competitive dance actually looks like, and decides this is the thing he has been missing.
by Shinji Mizushima
Dai Koshien is Shinji Mizushima's dream crossover — a sequel to Dokaben that pulls Yamada Taro and heroes from his other baseball manga into one summer Koshien tournament, climaxing in an 18-inning semifinal for the ages.
by Tatsuya Hiruta
Kotaro Makaritoru follows Kotaro Shindo, a karate expert at a Japanese high school whose combination of martial prowess, persistent cheerfulness, and complete obliviousness to normal social rules makes every school day into an event.
by Satoru Ozawa
Submarine 707 follows the crew of a Japanese Self-Defense Force submarine as they engage in underwater warfare against an enemy threatening international shipping — one of the first manga to treat submarine combat with genuine technical authenticity.
by Mitsuru Adachi
Twin brothers Tatsuya and Kazuya Uesugi live next door to Minami Asakura. Kazuya is the baseball genius. Tatsuya is the slacker. Minami's dream is to see one of them pitch at Koshien. Then volume 6 happens, and Mitsuru Adachi's 1981 baseball manga becomes the work that defined Japanese sports manga forever.
by Kotoko Ayano / Ayano Yamane
Yu's review of Tsurune — Minato Narumiya was an archer until target panic (a release disorder) ended his ability to compete; in high school, he joins the kyudo club and works through his anxiety with a new coach and teammates, trying to find the clean release again.
by Ikki Kajiwara / Noboru Kawasaki
Kyojin no Hoshi follows Hyuma Hoshi, whose father — a former baseball player who never achieved his dream — has raised him from childhood to be a star pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants, through training that borders on abuse and produces a player who may be the greatest — at tremendous personal cost.
by Mamoru Sasaki (story) / Shinji Mizushima (art)
Koshien Fujimura was named after the stadium by his baseball-obsessed grandfather. He wants to attend Meiwa High — the elite baseball school — but fails the entrance exam. He goes to Nanba High instead, where the baseball club is a wreck. He has one pitch: a straight fastball. The series follows him reaching the stadium he was named for. Co-created by writer Mamoru Sasaki and artist Shinji Mizushima (1970–1975), 28 volumes, won the 19th Shogakukan Manga Award. Unlicensed in English.
by Fujiko Fujio A
Pro Golfer Saru follows Sarugami Mitsuru, a young boy raised in the mountains who has developed an almost supernatural golf ability — and who enters the professional golf world with a combination of wild talent and complete ignorance of its conventions.
by Masanori Morita
Rookies follows Koichi Kawato, a young teacher transferred to Futakotamagawa High School who discovers a baseball club suspended after a violent incident — and decides, against all institutional advice, to coach them back to the Koshien.
by Ikki Kajiwara / Ko Inoue
Samurai Giants follows Bangai Ban, a wild, untrained pitcher from rural Japan who joins the Yomiuri Giants and develops an extraordinary but physically destructive pitch — competing at the highest level while his arm deteriorates from the very technique that makes him exceptional.
by Kouji Seo
Yu's review of Suzuka — Yamato Akitsuki moves to Tokyo to live at his aunt's apartment complex and immediately falls for his neighbor Suzuka Asahina, a high school track prodigy who is completely closed off emotionally; the series is a romantic sports manga about the difficulty of loving someone who isn't ready to be loved.
by Moare Ohta
Yu's review of Teppu — Natsuo Ishido is a natural athlete who has won everything she has tried without effort and resents every second of it; when she meets a girl who fights MMA with genuine passion despite not being naturally gifted, Natsuo joins an MMA gym to find out what it means to want something.
by Ikki Kajiwara / Naoki Tsuji
Tiger Mask follows Naoto Date, a professional wrestler trained by a criminal organization to be a heel — the villain of the ring — who defects from the organization and becomes a hero, knowing that the organization will send increasingly dangerous opponents to punish his betrayal.
by Shinji Mizushima
Absan follows Yasutake Kageura, a sake-drinking slugger for the Nankai / Daiei / SoftBank Hawks who entered as an undrafted pinch-hitter and retired 37 years later at 61, a 107-volume baseball manga by Shinji Mizushima that ran for over four decades.
by Shiro Tozaki (story) / Norihiro Nakajima (art)
Astro Kyudan follows nine superhuman ballplayers — all born at the same instant, each marked with a baseball-shaped birthmark — assembled to fulfill the dying dream of pitcher Eiji Sawamura. Across 20 volumes and only three games, baseball stops being a sport and becomes a war you bleed for.
by Shinji Mizushima
Dokaben Super Stars-hen is Shinji Mizushima's professional-baseball continuation of Dokaben, sending Yamada Taro and his generation of free agents into two brand-new Pacific League expansion teams in 2004 — and pulling characters from across Mizushima's whole baseball universe onto the same diamond.
by Machio
A comprehensive review of Slow Loop — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Co Moroboshi
Yu's review of Softenni — five high school girls join the soft tennis club in a comedy that uses sports as an excuse for increasingly absurd situations; honest about being more comedy than sports, but the tennis sequences are handled with genuine care.
by Hisaichi Ishii
Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! is Hisaichi Ishii's newspaper 4-koma comedy featuring a parody version of real Seibu Lions player Koji Tabuchi — gentle, self-deprecating, perpetually optimistic baseball humor that ran for years and turned Tabuchi into a beloved cultural figure beyond his actual batting average.
by Sumika Yamamoto
Ace wo Nerae! follows Hiromi Oka, an ordinary first-year who falls in love with tennis and gets pulled into the brutal, devoted coaching of Jin Munakata — a 1970s shojo classic about a coach who is dying, a player he refuses to let stay ordinary, and what it costs to be the one person someone believes in.
by Asano Rin
Yu's review of Scorching Ping Pong Girls — Agari Kamiya is the best player at her middle school ping pong club until Tsumujikaze Koyori transfers in and shows her what it looks like when someone plays with pure, overwhelming love for the sport.
by Takehiko Inoue
Yu's review of Slam Dunk — a delinquent who has never played basketball joins the school team to impress a girl, and discovers that he might actually be a natural genius at the game.
by Masahito Soda
Subaru follows Subaru Miyamoto, a young dancer with extraordinary natural talent for ballet — raised after her mother's death by her older brother, trained by demanding teachers, and driven by an internal compulsion to dance that nothing, including injury and loss, can fully extinguish.
by Shinji Mizushima
Dokaben Pro Yakyuhen takes Yamada Taro and his old high school rivals into the real NPB — Seibu, the Hawks, Orix, Lotte, the Giants — and famously got Shinji Mizushima sued by an actual pro pitcher over one panel.
by Shinji Mizushima
Kyudo-kun follows Kyudo Narao, a young pitcher from Osaka with natural talent and a deep connection to the game through his father — a baseball story about inheritance, pressure, and what it means to throw yourself completely into what you love.
by Yuuki Iinuma
A comprehensive review of Robot x Laserbeam — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Ritz Kobayashi
Yu's review of Saki — a high school girl named Saki Miyanaga has an uncanny ability to always score exactly zero in mahjong, and when a mahjong club recruits her, the national high school mahjong tournament becomes the backdrop for increasingly supernatural competitive drama.
by Takao Yaguchi
Tsuri Kichi Sanpei follows Sanpei Mihara, a fishing-obsessed boy from rural Japan whose passion for the sport takes him to rivers and lakes across the country — a long-running celebration of fishing, rural life, and the particular kind of patience that comes from watching water.
by Shinji Mizushima
Yakyuukyo no Uta follows an aging pitcher for a fictional Tokyo team as he fights to stay in the game, but the series is best remembered for introducing Yuki Mikami — Japan's first fictional female professional baseball pitcher — into a sport that had never imagined her.
by Naoko Takeuchi
The Cherry Project follows Asuka Chieri, a middle-schooler who can copy any figure skating move after seeing it once but skates with no emotion — until Tsuzuki, a former junior champion, launches a secret plan to make her his pair partner. Naoko Takeuchi's early shojo work, two years before Sailor Moon.
by Haruichi Furudate
Haikyuu!! follows Hinata Shoyo, a volleyball-obsessed boy who is short for the sport, and his journey from disastrous first tournament through the complete arc of high school volleyball with the Karasuno High team — one of the most celebrated sports manga of its generation.
by Katsuhito Kawai
Obi wo Gyutto ne! follows a group of friends who form a judo club at their new high school — a sports manga that balanced competitive judo with genuine friendship and romantic comedy across 30 volumes.
by Natsuko Houchi
Ore-tachi no Field follows Sho Kamiya from youth soccer through professional football — a realistic soccer manga that traced the J-League era from its inception and followed its protagonist through the complete arc from child enthusiast to professional player.
by Sagu Aoyama / Tinkle
Yu's review of Ro-Kyu-Bu! — high school basketball player Subaru Hasegawa is suspended from his team and takes up coaching an elementary school girls' basketball team to pass the time; the team is talented and determined, and Subaru discovers he cares more about coaching than expected.
by Nihonbashi Yoko
Shojo Fight follows Neri Oishi, a girl with exceptional volleyball ability who carries the shadow of her older sister — a psychologically complex sports manga that ran in Young Magazine and refused the conventional shonen sports template.
by Atsushi Kagurazaka
A review of Taisho Baseball Girls, the historical manga about a group of girls who form a baseball team in 1920s Japan to challenge a boy who dismissed women's abilities.
by Takeshi Konomi
Yu's review of The Prince of Tennis — a tennis prodigy returns from America at age twelve and joins his middle school tennis team, where his special techniques and mysterious potential turn the Japanese junior tennis world upside down.
by Takehiko Inoue
A comprehensive review of Over the Top — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Taiyou Matsumoto
Yu's review of Ping Pong — two high school table tennis players, one a prodigy who loves the game and one who hates to lose, move toward a tournament while the manga asks what it means to devote yourself to something.
by Makoto Kobayashi
1-2 no Sanshiro follows Sanshiro Azuma, a goofy high-school athlete who blunders through rugby, judo, and finally professional wrestling — Makoto Kobayashi's Kodansha Manga Award-winning Weekly Shonen Magazine comedy from 1978 to 1983.
by Osamu Ishiwata
B・B (Burning Blood) is Osamu Ishiwata's 31-volume Weekly Shonen Sunday classic — a boxing manga that starts with a trumpet, detours through a killing, and ends with the hero as a bare-fisted mercenary on a battlefield. Winner of the 34th Shogakukan Manga Award.
by Daisuke Nishikawa
Five is Daisuke Nishikawa's basketball manga from Weekly Shonen Champion — a more subdued, character-driven approach to high school basketball than Slam Dunk's spectacle, with a five-player team whose dynamics were the actual subject.
by Akira Sakuma
Haruka 17 follows Haruka, a high school girl pursuing an idol career — Akira Sakuma's Big Comic Spirits drama that showed the industry's mechanics with the same seriousness sports manga show their sports.
by Mio Murao
JaJa is Mio Murao's motorcycle manga following Ena, a young woman whose passion for vintage motorcycles takes her into restoration, racing, and the broader culture of motorcycle enthusiasts — 17 volumes of detailed, loving treatment of bike culture.
by Jiro Taniguchi
Kamigami no Itadaki is Jiro Taniguchi's 5-volume adaptation of Baku Yumemakura's mountaineering novel — Fukamachi, a journalist following the trail of a possibly-found camera that may prove George Mallory reached Everest's summit in 1924, with a Japanese alpinist's parallel obsession driving the story.
by Shinobu Kaitani
A comprehensive review of One Outs — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Rumiko Takahashi
Yu's review of One Pound Gospel — Kōsaku Hatanaka is a genuinely talented featherweight boxer with one catastrophic flaw: he can't stop eating, constantly missing weight for his fights; Sister Angela, a young nun, becomes his most unlikely source of encouragement; Rumiko Takahashi's compact boxing comedy with a warm central relationship.
by Tsuyoshi Yasuda
Over Drive is Tsuyoshi Yasuda's 17-volume cycling manga from Weekly Shonen Magazine — Mikoto Shinozaki's transformation from frail beginner into competitive racer through his high school cycling club.
by Toshimitsu Matsubara
Rikudo follows Riku Akama, a boy whose abusive father destroyed his body and life — until boxing becomes the unlikely path through which he tries to reclaim something. A 22-volume Young Jump series whose darkness exceeded almost all boxing manga before it.
by Masami Kurumada
Ring ni Kakero 2 is Masami Kurumada's sequel to his 1977 boxing classic — the next generation of Kurumada's punch-as-cosmic-force boxing universe across 26 volumes of operatic Super Jump action.
by Mitsuru Soda
Shakariki! follows Teru Nojima, a high school cyclist whose obsession with climbing — going up, faster, harder, with everything he has — defines his approach to the sport. Mitsuru Soda's 18-volume cycling classic that helped establish the genre in shonen manga.
by Sho Naruto
Wataru ga Pyun! follows Wataru Aizawa, a baseball prodigy whose impossible speed — both running and pitching — defines his rise through Japanese baseball — a 53-volume Monthly Shonen Jump epic that ran for over 20 years.
by Shō Futamata
A comprehensive review of Nanbaka — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Takeshi Konomi
Yu's review of New Prince of Tennis — the sequel to The Prince of Tennis; Ryoma Echizen and Japan's top middle school tennis players are invited to a U-17 national training camp where the high school players are even more powerful and the tennis becomes increasingly divorced from physical reality; the sequel escalates the original's supernatural sports to maximum extremes.
by Norio Sakurai
Yu's review of Mitsudomoe — Yabe Satoshi is a new teacher at an elementary school; his class contains the Marui triplets: Mitsuba, who is manipulative and vain; Futaba, who is incredibly strong and fixated on the physical; and Hitoha, who is terrifying to everyone around her for reasons she doesn't fully understand; the series follows his attempts to manage a classroom that manages him instead.
by Mitsuru Adachi
Yu's review of Mix — set in the same world as Touch, following the Tachibana brothers (stepsiblings by a blended family) as they pursue Koshien at the same high school where the legendary Uesugi brothers once played; Adachi's most recent long-form baseball manga.
by Asato Shinonome
Yu's review of Megalo Box — in a future where boxing is enhanced by mechanical exoskeletons, an undocumented fighter called Junk Dog challenges Megalonia, the world championship tournament; manga adaptation of the 50th anniversary Ashita no Joe project about a fighter with nothing to lose.
by Shuichi Shigeno
A comprehensive review of MF Ghost — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Horumarin
Yu's review of Medabots — Ikki Tenryo competes in Robattle tournaments using his Medabot Metabee, a customizable robot built from medal-powered parts; the manga that launched the Medabots franchise is a tight competitive action series structured around robot customization and tournament battles.
by Takuya Mitsuda
Yu's review of Major 2nd — Daigo Shigeno is the son of Goro Shigeno, the baseball legend from the original Major series; Daigo lacks his father's exceptional talent and must find his own relationship with baseball; a sports manga about the difficulty of living in a great person's shadow.
by Takuya Mitsuda
Yu's review of Major — Goro Honda is the son of a professional baseball player; when loss defines his childhood, baseball becomes how he carries his father forward; the series follows Goro from little league through professional baseball across 78 volumes, one of the longest complete sports manga stories ever told.
by Haruhisa Nakata
Yu's review of Levius/est — the sequel to Levius; Levius Cromwell continues competing in Mechanical Martial Arts as the sport's underground and political dimensions become unavoidable; Nakata expands the world-building and deepens the character work while maintaining the exceptional European-influenced art style.
by Haruhisa Nakata
A comprehensive review of Levius — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Tadatoshi Fujimaki
Yu's review of Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game — the sequel to Kuroko's Basketball follows the Generation of Miracles as they face Jabberwock, an American street basketball team, in an exhibition that becomes genuinely dangerous; the reunion story for the main series cast.
by Hiroaki Igano
Yu's review of Knight in the Area (Area no Kishi) — Kakeru Aizawa is a timid soccer boy who manages his school's soccer team while his older brother Suguru is a genuine prodigy; after a life-changing accident, Kakeru discovers that the potential his brother always believed in was real; a long-running soccer manga with genuine emotional stakes and technical depth.
by Amyuu
Yu's review of Kono Oto Tomare! — Chika Kudou joins the nearly-disbanded koto club to honor his grandfather's legacy; the club recruits unlikely members and works toward national competition; a music sports manga that treats competitive traditional instrument performance with the same structure as competitive athletics.
by Daichi Sorayomi
A comprehensive review of Keijo!!!!!!!! — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Homura Kawamoto / Toru Naomura
Yu's review of Kakegurui — Hyakkaou Private Academy determines student hierarchy through gambling; transfer student Yumeko Jabami arrives and reveals she is not playing for money or status but for the pure pleasure of risking everything, which systematically dismantles everyone who thought they were in control.
by Mitsuru Adachi
A comprehensive review of Katsu! — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Yabako Sandrovich (Story) / MAAM (Art)
Yu's review of How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? — Hibiki Sakura, a high school gyaru worried about weight gain, joins a gym with the intention of losing some pounds; she finds the gym populated by muscle-obsessed regulars, a personal trainer with suspiciously good looks and suspicious enthusiasm, and a fellow student who turns out to be a serious competitive bodybuilder; the series is structured around actual exercise instruction embedded in comedy.
by Yoichi Takahashi
Yu's review of Hungry Heart Wild Striker — Kyōsuke Kanou is a soccer prodigy who quit the sport because of his older brother's overwhelming talent; when he joins a struggling team and meets a dedicated coach, he rediscovers his hunger for the game; a return to pure soccer manga from the Captain Tsubasa creator.
by Kawada
Yu's review of Hinomaru Sumo — Ushio Hinomaru is smaller than the minimum size requirement for professional sumo but is the most gifted sumo wrestler anyone has seen; he joins his high school sumo club and aims for the title of Yokozuna through sheer talent and complete refusal to accept limits.
by Kouji Mori
Yuu Kamishiro was bullied through every year of school. He teaches himself a single boxing jab from a paperback textbook. He goes out at night to face his bullies on the street — and discovers, for the first time in his life, something he is actually good at. The street becomes his Holyland. Kouji Mori's 18-volume seinen examines what fighting means to a person who has only ever been hit.
by Nyoijizai
Yu's review of Harukana Receive — Haruka Oozora arrives in Okinawa to live with her cousin Kanata; Kanata played beach volleyball until she stopped; Haruka, tall and athletic and enthusiastic, convinces her to play again; they train to compete in the beach volleyball circuit.
by Yumi Hotta / Takeshi Obata
Yu's review of Hikaru no Go — Hikaru Shindo discovers a haunted Go board inhabited by the spirit of a Heian-era master; the spirit possesses him during games; Hikaru gradually discovers his own passion for Go and his desire to surpass the ghost that started everything.
by Kosuke Hamada
Yu's review of Hanebado! — Ayano Hanesaki is a badminton prodigy whose mother abandoned her to pursue professional coaching; her rediscovery of badminton and her psychological transformation across the series makes this the most psychologically complex badminton manga ever published.
by Naoki Urasawa
Yu's review of Happy! — Umino Miyuki had no interest in tennis until her brother Yuuichi's gambling debt threatened the entire family; to pay it off she must reach the top of the professional tennis circuit; Naoki Urasawa's tennis manga about a woman who becomes a professional athlete not out of passion but out of necessity.
by Haruichi Furudate
Haruichi Furudate's 45-volume volleyball manga (2012–2020) about Hinata Shoyo, Kageyama Tobio, and Karasuno High climbing from a forgotten prefectural team to the national stage — and then jumping forward years to find out what it means to keep playing after you stop being a high school student. Complete in English from VIZ Media.
by George Morikawa
Yu's review of Hajime no Ippo — a bullied high school boy is saved by a professional boxer, discovers he has a natural gift for the sport, and begins the long road to becoming a champion.
by Ryousuke Ryuura
Yu's review of Girls und Panzer — in a world where operating tanks in competitive combat is a traditional martial art for girls (called Sensha-do), Miho Nishizumi transfers to Ooarai Girls High School and finds the school has restarted its long-dormant Sensha-do club; she must lead a team using tanks from a dozen different nations against schools with much stronger programs.
by Masaya Tsunamoto / Tsujitomo
Yu's review of Giant Killing — Takeshi Tatsumi, a player who disappeared from Japanese professional soccer and became a legend coaching a small English team, is hired to rescue East Tokyo United from the bottom of the J-League; a soccer management drama that treats the tactical and human sides of sports organization with equal seriousness.
by Shizuru Seino
Yu's review of Girl Got Game (Power!) — Kyo Aizawa's father enrolled her as a boy in an all-boys school to fulfill his basketball dreams for her; forced to room with the team's ace player Chiharu, she tries to maintain her disguise while genuine basketball ability and complicated feelings complicate everything.
by Riichiro Inagaki (story) / Yusuke Murata (art)
Yu's review of Eyeshield 21 — a timid errand boy with the fastest legs in school gets press-ganged into American football and has to become a running back without anyone learning his name.
by Naoshi Arakawa
Yu's review of Farewell My Dear Cramer — Sumire Suo and a roster of overlooked players join Warabi Seinan's weak girls' soccer team under a former Nadeshiko Japan coach, and learn how to lose 0-21 and still keep playing.
by Hiroki Yagami
Yu's review of Dear Boys by Hiroki Yagami — a basketball team suspended after its captain punched the coach, down to five players, gets one stubborn transfer named Aikawa who drags them back toward the Inter-High. The manga is unlicensed in English; only the anime ran as Hoop Days.
by Yuji Terajima
Yu's review of Diamond no Ace — a loud, raw country pitcher transfers to powerhouse Seido High and has to claw his way toward the ace number behind a teammate who is simply more talented. One of the most patient, technically honest baseball manga ever drawn.
by George Asakura
Yu's review of Dance Dance Danseur — Junpei Murao buried his love of ballet after his father died because boys are supposed to be tough. Then a girl named Miyako and a strange, brilliant dancer named Luou pull it back out of him. George Asakura's seinen about what it costs a teenage boy to dance.
by Tsuyoshi Yasuda
Yu's review of Days by Tsuyoshi Yasuda — Tsukushi Tsukamoto has no soccer skill, no athletic gift, and a history of being bullied; what he has is a refusal to stop moving, and that refusal carries him onto one of Japan's strongest high school soccer teams.
by KAITO
Yu's review of Cross Manage by KAITO — Sakurai is a burned-out former soccer prodigy with a leg injury who gets dragged into managing his school's girls lacrosse team by the relentless Misora Toyoguchi. A short, warm Weekly Shonen Jump sports manga about finding your place when you can no longer be the star.
by Mitsuba Takanashi
Yu's review of Crimson Hero — Nobara Sumiyoshi is the eldest daughter of a family that runs a traditional Japanese ryotei and is expected to inherit it. When her mother cancels the girls' volleyball club at her new school, Nobara runs away from home, becomes the live-in dorm mother for four boys on the school's volleyball team, and fights to rebuild a girls' team from nothing.
by Mitsuru Adachi
Yu's review of Cross Game — Ko grows up next to the four Tsukishima sisters, loses Wakaba in fifth grade, and spends seventeen volumes chasing the dream she left behind at Koshien.
by Yoichi Takahashi
Yu's review of Captain Tsubasa — Yoichi Takahashi's 37-volume soccer classic that sparked Japan's football boom, following prodigy Tsubasa Ozora from a schoolyard duel to the national stage.
by Yuki Suetsugu
Yu's review of Chihayafuru — Chihaya Ayase meets competitive karuta as a child through a transfer student named Arata, builds a club in high school, and spends 50 volumes chasing the title of Queen while Taichi chases her. A sports manga where classical poetry is the field of play.
by Sou Musashino
Yu's review of Burning Kabaddi (Shakunetsu Kabaddi) — Tatsuya Yoigoshi, a soccer prodigy who swore off sports, loses a bet and gets dragged into the kabaddi club, where one player holds their breath, raids the enemy half, and has to escape before they run out of air.
by Takehiko Inoue
A review of Buzzer Beater — Takehiko Inoue's full-color, sci-fi basketball manga where Earth's human team takes on the alien-dominated Intergalactic League.
by Asa Higuchi
Yu's review of Big Windup! (Ookiku Furikabutte) — a control pitcher with crippling anxiety joins a brand-new high school team and learns to trust the catcher calling his pitches. By Asa Higuchi.
by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (story) / Yusuke Nomura (art)
Yu's review of Blue Lock — after Japan's World Cup failure, a strange coach locks 300 high school strikers in a facility and tries to grow the world's most selfish striker. Only one walks out as Japan's best.
by Yuji Shiozaki
Yu's review of Battle Club — Mokichi joins Swan Academy's wrestling club to get close to Tamako and ends up dragged into a world of real grappling technique, rival schools, and the underground NOB tournament. A 6-volume seinen wrestling comedy from Yuji Shiozaki, creator of Battle Vixens, loaded with both genuine sport and relentless fanservice.
by Takao Aoki
Yu's review of Beyblade — Tyson and the Blade Breakers battle through a Beyblade World Championship with spinning tops that house bit-beasts based on Japan's Four Symbols. A CoroCoro toy-tie-in manga that earns its drama through Kai's Black Dranzer arc and a final clash with Tala.
by Mimana Orimoto
Yu's review of Bakuon!! — Hane Sakura sees a girl ride a motorcycle to school, joins the Okanoue Girls' High motorcycle club, and falls into a world where which brand you ride is your entire identity. A comedy that loves motorcycles too much to ever take them lightly. No licensed English manga edition yet — the Japanese release is the only legitimate way to read it.
by Masahiro Totsuka / Aguri Igarashi
A comprehensive review of Bamboo Blade — plot, characters, art style, and whether it's worth reading.
by Hikaru Katsuki
Yu's review of Baby Steps — Eiichiro Maruo is a straight-A high schooler who takes obsessive notes on everything. When he wanders into a tennis club, he applies the same analysis to the sport and discovers that data and discipline can hang with raw talent — all the way to the professional tour.
by Keisuke Itagaki
Yu's review of Baki the Grappler — Baki Hanma trains obsessively to defeat his father Yujiro, the Strongest Creature on Earth, through the Maximum Tournament and the Most Evil Death Row Convicts arc. A fighting manga that pushes martial arts past physics into pure operatic excess.
by Yugo Kobayashi
Yu's review of Ao Ashi — Ashito Aoi is recruited to the Tokyo City Esperion youth academy with a rare gift: he can see every player on the field simultaneously. But his coach already knows he is not a striker. The best soccer manga in English.
by Asao Takamori / Tetsuya Chiba
Yu's review of Ashita no Joe — Joe Yabuki claws out of the postwar Tokyo slums, is found by a broken-down trainer, and turns boxing into a way to burn himself completely. From Rikiishi's fatal weight cut to the white-ash final scene, this is the manga that taught the whole genre what cost means.
by Hiroki Endo
Yu's review of All-Rounder Meguru — Hiroki Endo's 19-volume shoot-wrestling manga about Meguru Takayanagi, an ordinary teen who chases pro MMA and keeps losing to his tattooed childhood friend Takashi. A combat-sports story that treats winning and losing with brutal honesty.
by CLAMP
A review of CLAMP's Angelic Layer — 5 volumes in Monthly Shōnen Ace. Misaki Suzuhara arrives in Tokyo and discovers Angelic Layer, a competition game where small battle dolls fight under the mental and physical direction of their owners. Dark Horse Comics' English edition is complete.
by Nobuyuki Fukumoto
Yu's review of Akagi — a 13-year-old wins a game of chicken by driving off a cliff, stumbles into an underground mahjong den, and demonstrates a genius for the game that comes from one terrifying place: he genuinely doesn't care whether he lives or dies. Nobuyuki Fukumoto's 36-volume psychological thriller, climaxing in the blood-stakes Washizu match.
by Shiori Amase
Yu's review of All Out!! — Gion Kenji is 159cm and furious about it; Iwashimizu Sumiaki is 190cm and terrified of his own strength. They both join Jinko High School's struggling rugby club and learn that rugby is the one sport that has a place for exactly who they are.
by Yuji Terajima
A comprehensive review of Ace of Diamond — Sawamura's yips, Chris's broken shoulder, and the most technically honest baseball manga I've ever read.
by Takeshi Hinata
A review of Ahiru no Sora — a 149cm boy who promised his dying mother he'd win, joining a basketball club run by delinquents. Plot, characters, and whether it's worth reading.
by Kyoko Ariyoshi
A girl from Hokkaido fights to become a world-class ballerina in the manga that defined ballet shojo.
by Iketani Rikaco
A review of Ten Dance, the BL manga about two competitive ballroom dancers — one Latin, one Standard — who partner up for ten dance competition and fall for each other.
by Mitsuru Adachi
Mitsuru Adachi's longest baseball manga (1992–1999, 34 volumes). The title means '2 Heroes, 2 Heroines' — pitchers Hiro and Hideo, manager Haruka and childhood friend Hikari. After Touch's iconic tragedy, Adachi returned to baseball with a longer, lighter, but no less affecting story. Unlicensed in English; widely considered one of his three best works alongside Touch and Cross Game.
by Mitsuru Adachi
A review of Nine by Mitsuru Adachi — the 1978 baseball manga that established his signature style of interweaving sports and romance, a precursor to Touch and H2.
by Chikako Urano
A review of Attack No. 1 — Chikako Urano's 1968 volleyball manga that founded the sports-shoujo genre, gave Japan the line 'tears come, because I'm a girl,' and turned a recovering transfer student into a national team ace.
by Mitsuru Adachi
A review of Mix: Meisei Story, Mitsuru Adachi's return to baseball manga set in the same world as Touch — quiet, funny, and deeply good.
by Tadatoshi Fujimaki
A review of Kuroko's Basketball — the Shonen Jump sports manga about a nearly invisible player who was the phantom sixth member of the legendary Generation of Miracles team.
by Nakibokuro
A review of Battle Studies, Nakibokuro's brutally honest baseball manga set at DL Gakuen, a powerhouse high school modeled on the author's real years inside PL Gakuen's notorious baseball dorm.
by Tetsuyuki Asakawa
A boxer with a glass jaw decides to keep fighting anyway — and discovers the cost of refusing to quit.
by KyoAni (original), Kōji Ōji (manga)
A review of the Free! manga adaptation of the KyoAni swimming anime about competitive swimmers reconnecting after a falling-out.
by Tenya Yabuno
A review of Inazuma Eleven, the manga adaptation of the football RPG game where soccer moves have elemental powers and alien invasions are stopped through the beautiful game.
by Mikoto Amagi
A review of Forget Me Not Battery, the Weekly Shonen Jump baseball manga about a pitcher who was once the best in the country but has lost all memory of his baseball years.
by Mitsurou Kubo (story and manga)
A review of the Yuri!!! on ICE manga — the figure skating sports manga accompanying the landmark anime about a Japanese skater and his Russian coach.
by Yayoi Ogawa (original), Nao Hinachi (manga)
A review of Skate-Leading Stars, the anime companion manga about a figure skater who transitions from individual to synchronized skating.
by Yongseok Jo
A review of Windbreaker — the Korean cycling manhwa about a delinquent-looking teen who finds purpose and belonging through competitive cycling.
by Taku Sakamoto
A review of Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun, the football comedy manga about a nationally talented striker who is also an extreme germaphobe.
by Takehiko Inoue
A review of Real — Takehiko Inoue's adult basketball manga about wheelchair basketball players and the full weight of living with disability, grief, and athletic ambition.