By virtue of being a visual medium, one of the biggest factors that goes into a manga’s reception, especially shōnen manga, is its artwork. Whether it be art with a unique style or genuinely gorgeous, a manga’s visuals are always the first thing that draws readers in, and in many cases, people will keep reading something just for the artwork, even if the story falls flat.
Good art is almost always a major factor in a manga’s reception, especially for shōnen manga, as the most popular genre is also the one where competition is harsher. While there are manga that can succeed on the merits of their stories, alone, more often than not, a shōnen manga needs to have artwork that’s creative or simply gorgeous to look at to win over fans and critics, and how well a manga succeeds at doing so can often decide whether they’ll be canceled.
Fortunately, there are plenty of shōnen manga that do a great job with their artwork, and a few of them, in particular, are especially worth noting.
10 Manga With The Best Art
These ten manga stand out for their dazzling and gorgeous art.
10 Kinnikuman’s Artwork Is Still Improving After Over 40 Years
Manga by Yudetamago; published by Weekly Shōnen Jump & Shu Play News
Kinnikuman is focused on, naturally, the adventures of Kinnikuman, a bumbling superhero of sorts who tries and fails to protect Japan from monsters and other dangerous villains, or at least he never does it with his dignity intact. The manga started as a parody of the Ultraman franchise, but it gradually shifted gears towards being a wrestling manga with a unique mythology that’s only ever gotten more detailed over the years.
Kinnikuman and its various spinoff stories have been running on and off for over 40 years now, and the artwork has only gotten better with age. Yudetamago’s art style has continually evolved with each new story, and by the time of the 2011 revival series, Kinnikuman’s use of bold linework and dynamic paneling and shading has made it one of the most consistently gorgeous manga around. This kind of art has also been perfectly replicated for the upcoming Kinnikuman anime, and with any luck, that will lead to more people recognizing its strengths, worldwide.
9 Fist Of The North Star’s Artwork Defined Musclebound Characters In Manga
Manga by Buronson & Tetsuo Hara; published by Weekly Shōnen Jump
Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s Fist of the North Star takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where chaos reigns supreme and people have long adapted to the mentality of kill or be killed. The only shining light in the world is Kenshiro, the surprisingly emotional master of Hokuto Shinken, the world’s greatest martial art, and the only one who fights for the innocent wherever he goes, even if his fights revolve around his sordid past.
Fist of the North Star has long been one of the most iconic manga of all time, and the art plays a big part in that. Befitting the martial arts themes and elements of the story, Fist of the North Star is filled to the brim with gorgeously rendered muscular characters against highly detailed backgrounds, and even after so many decades, every chapter is beautiful to look at. Fist of the North Star’s artwork is incredibly iconic and often the subject of homage and parody, and it’s easy to see why that is from day one.
8 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Has Slowly Evolved Into An Art And Fashion Statement
Manga by Hirohiko Araki; published by Weekly Shōnen Jump & Ultra Jump
There are plenty of great manga that have used Fist of the North Star as inspiration, and one of the ones with the best art is undoubtedly Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The generational epic tells the tale of the Joestar family, all of whom can have “JoJo” as a nickname, as they repeatedly get involved in increasingly bizarre adventures. Their fights with evil have spanned not only generations, but entire timelines, as well, and at nine parts, it’s not slowing down, anytime soon.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure once wore its Fist of the North Star inspiration on its sleeve, but that ended up evolving into something far greater. Hirohiko Araki’s art always had a penchant for classical art and modern fashion that made every character stand out, and decades later, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s art is instantly recognizable. The incredible detail of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s art has always been a major selling point to the point that Hirohiko Araki has done official collaborations with fashion brands, and it’s easy to see why.
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7 Dandadan’s Art Redefines What’s Possible For A Weekly Serialization
Manga by Yukinobu Tatsu; published by Shōnen Jump+
For a more recent shōnen manga with great art, one of the best around is undoubtedly Yukinobu Tatsu’s Dandadan. Dandadan stars Momo Ayase and Okarun, two teenagers obsessed with aliens and the supernatural who end up permanently changed by an encounter with both, with both teens gaining supernatural powers. Momo and Okarun work together and with others to get them back while fighting any supernatural threat they come across, all as a budding romance begins to develop between the two.
Dandadan has only been around for about three years, but its art is already leaps and bounds above some of its competitors. Every chapter of Dandadan features incredibly detailed and expressive artwork, right down to the angles and paneling, and what makes it even more impressive is how Yukinobu Tatsu can be so consistent with his art on a weekly schedule. No other shōnen manga to come out in the past few years has been as visually impressive as Dandadan, and the upcoming Dandadan anime is bound to sell that point even further.
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6 Blue Lock Proves That Even Sports Manga Can Have Incredible Art
Manga by Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yusuke Nomura; published by Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Another fairly recent shōnen manga with incredible artwork is Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura’s Blue Lock. Following Japan’s failure at the FIFA World Cup, eccentric sports analyst Jinpachi Ego is hired to come up with a way to push Japan into stardom. The method he comes up with is Blue Lock, a grueling training regimen to turn one of 300 strikers into the greatest striker and egoist in Japan, and anyone who fails the program will be barred from playing soccer for Japan for the rest of their lives.
While discussions of art in shōnen manga are typically reserved for action stories, Blue Lock shows just how gorgeous any genre of manga can be. Not only is the linework and paneling always great to look at, but Blue Lock constantly features pages and spreads with gorgeous fluid artwork that often straddles the line between realistic and surreal, making for some of the most striking imagery in any shonen manga right now. Every chapter of Blue Lock is great from a visual standpoint, and it’s no wonder that it managed to become the best-selling manga of 2023.
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5 My Hero Academia Does A Great Job Of Constantly Topping Its Visuals
Manga by Kohei Horikoshi; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump
Weekly Shōnen Jump has always been home to some of the best manga a person can read, and one series with incredible artwork is Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia. In a world where nearly everyone has a superpower called a Quirk and superheroes are no longer a thing of fiction, Izuku Midoriya stands out as one of the few people to be born without a Quirk. Nevertheless, Izuku still wants to be a hero, and after a chance encounter with his idol, All Might, Izuku will be on his way to becoming the greatest hero ever.
My Hero Academia is one of the biggest manga to come out in the past decade, and its artwork has played a big part in that. Very befitting its superhero themes, My Hero Academia always features vibrant and fluid art for its characters and fight scenes that make everything come alive down to the last detail, and as the final arc has shown, Kohei Horikoshi is still finding ways to go above and beyond with how massive in scale his art tends to get. With such incredible artwork combined with its amazing storytelling, it’s no wonder that My Hero Academia became one of the defining franchises of modern anime.
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My Hero Academia
In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the “One-For-All” quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.
4 One-Punch Man Pushes The Boundaries Of What Manga Can Do
Manga by ONE & Yusuke Murata; published by Tonari no Young Jump
ONE and Yusuke Murata’s One-Punch Man is a digital manga based on ONE’s original webcomic. Feeling like his life is going nowhere, former salaryman Saitama decides to make something of himself by training to become a hero. Three years following his training, Saitama has gained incredible super strength, but it’s come at the cost of two important things: Saitama’s intense training made him go bald and he’s become so powerful that he beats everyone in one punch, thus making his superhero career incredibly boring.
Yusuke Murata is an incredible artist who is very keen on experimenting with digital technologies, to the point that he recently founded his animation studio. In One-Punch Man, Murata has been constantly pushing the boundaries of what a manga can be in the digital world, be it with gorgeous colored pages or with incredible animated panels. The massive scale with which One-Punch Man’s fights happen always works to further emphasize the quality of the art, and as such, it always features some of the best visuals and choreography of any manga.
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3 One Piece’s Visuals Have Made Every Chapter A Delight To Read For Almost 30 Years
Manga by Eiichiro Oda; published in Weekly Shōnen Jump
For more traditional shōnen manga with great art, one of the best stories to look at is Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece. In a fantastical world caught up in the Great Age of Piracy, series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy dreams of setting sail on an adventure, building a crew, and eventually becoming King of the Pirates. With his body made of rubber from eating the Gum-Gum Fruit, however, it’ll hardly be the most straightforward adventure, especially as Luffy and his friends continually run afoul of pirates and Marines, alike.
One Piece has long been the most popular manga in the world, and its stellar artwork has played a big part in that. One Piece’s art always does a great job of alternating between cartoonish goofiness and more serious, action-packed illustrations, and that dichotomy has done wonders to make it stand out as a series that can always more than deliver on any scene, no matter the mood. Add in Eiichiro Oda’s consistently great color spreads, all of which have been collected into numerous books of their own, and One Piece’s art ranks among the best of any shōnen manga.
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One Piece
Created by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a multimedia franchise that began as a manga series and follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as led by Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy, an enthusiastic pirate with a thirst for adventure, is afflicted by a mysterious curse that gives him various powers he uses to protect himself and his friends. The manga eventually gave way to the anime series, with the two being some of history’s longest-running anime and manga series. Along with over fifty video games made over the years, the series entered the live-action world with Netflix’s 2023 adaptation.
- Created by
- Eiichiro Oda
- First TV Show
- One Piece
- Video Game(s)
- One Piece: Unlimited World RED , One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 , One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 , One Piece: World Seeker , One Piece Odyssey
2 Dragon Ball’s Smooth And Refined Visuals Made It The Most Iconic Manga Of All Time
Manga by Akira Toriyama; published by Weekly Shōnen Jump
Sometimes, a story can have great art simply by playing to the basics, and no other manga exemplifies that like Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball is the classic genre-melding story about Son Goku, an innocent boy who loves to fight and gradually gets involved in conflicts on a universal scale. Every arc makes use of themes of science fiction, fantasy, or a combination of the two, and the action always excellently combines well-choreographed martial arts with bombastic superpowered combat.
While many shōnen manga receive praise for their complicated and highly detailed art, Dragon Ball stands out for the opposite reason. The artwork in Dragon Ball is always very simplistic, especially by modern standards, but by emphasizing the basic elements of anatomy and fight choreography, Dragon Ball’s art ends up with a level of craft and fluidity that most modern manga can’t even grasp. Akira Toriyama is often recognized by his peers as one of the best and most influential artists in the field, and for a good reason.
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Dragon Ball
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
- Created by
- Akira Toriyama
- First TV Show
- Dragon Ball
- Latest TV Show
- Super Dragon Ball Heroes
- First Episode Air Date
- April 26, 1989
- Current Series
- Dragon Ball Super
- Video Game(s)
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 , Dragon Ball FighterZ , Dragon Ball: The Breakers , Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission , Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z , Dragon Ball Xenoverse , Dragon Ball Z Kakarot
1 Konjiki No Gash!! Is One Of The Best Manga For Gorgeous & Horrific Imagery
Manga by Makoto Raiku; published by Weekly Shōnen Sunday & Birgdin Board Corp.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a shōnen manga that stands out for the incredible detail put into its artwork is Makoto Raiku’s Konjiki no Gash!! Also known as Zatch Bell!, the series stars the arrogant boy genius Kiyomaro Takamine who meets Gash Bell, an amnesiac boy sent by his father to help Kiyomaro make friends. As it turns out, however, Gash is one of 100 demon children fighting for the position of Demon King, and Kiyomaro is Gash’s partner who allows him to fight with powerful lightning magic against any demons whom they cross paths with.
Despite the simplistic premise, Konjiki no Gash!! easily has some of the best artwork of any shōnen manga. In addition to the high quality of the character designs and fight scenes, Konjiki no Gash!! and its sequel series, Konjiki no Gash!! 2, always features incredibly detailed artwork for the biggest spells and its repeated use of horrific and grotesque imagery, all of which makes it stand out in the best of ways. Konjiki no Gash!! might not have the recognition of other stories, but Makoto Raiku’s incredible artwork easily gives it some of the best art in a shōnen manga.
