Highlights
- Naoki Urasawa is a versatile manga creator known for his intricate, long-form mystery epics.
- Urasawa's bibliography boasts standout masterpieces in a variety of genres, including action, adventure, sports, and mystery.
- His works, such as "Monster" and "20th Century Boys," are acclaimed for their dark, rich storytelling and captivating character arcs.
Widely praised and regarded as an all-time great creator in the manga medium, Naoki Urasawa has been wowing readers for more than 40 years now. Best known for building intricate, long-form mystery epics, Urasawa is a versatile talent who has plied his craft on a variety of genres.
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Starting work predominantly as an artist, Urasawa gradually began pulling double duty, writing his own scripts and quickly impressing critics, readers, and his fellow creators alike. His first major breakout success came with 1986's Yawara!, a popular series that ultimately proved to be a vast departure from the darker, more fantastical stories he has become best known for. A master of sharp dialogue and smooth paneling, Urasawa is arguably without equal in the manga world as a colorful, grand-scale storyteller, stringing together diverse plots often spanning enormous amounts of time and events. With such a rich bibliography to boast of, there are plenty of standout masterpieces from the seinen maestro.
Updated January 9, 2024 by John Cunningham:Due to the wide array of impressive works from Naoki Urasawa over the years, this list has been extended by four entries. These new entries highlight some of his earlier works, one of his more polarizing, experimental efforts, and a well-regarded adventure series that enjoyed a very popular anime adaptation in the '90s.
10 Pineapple Army Is A War-Focused Thriller
Original Magazine: Big Comic Original
- Genre: Action
- Volumes: 8
- Demographic: Seinen
Urasawa served as the artist for this action-packed series from the '80s. Pineapple Army focuses on Jed Goshi, a Vietnam War veteran of Japanese-American heritage who raises hell as a deadly Green Beret.
By the time readers meet Goshi, he’s retired from his special forces days and also has a back catalog of mercenary work to his name. Now sharing his extensive knowledge of combat and warfare with others as a highly paid trainer, Goshi makes for a compelling study and deconstruction of a traditional tough guy protagonist. With neat line work from Urasawa and globe-trotting storytelling from writer Kazuya Kudo, this underrated gem is a fine piece of old-school action manga.
9 Master Keaton Sports A Compelling, Multi-Talented Protagonist
Original Magazine: Big Comic Original
- Genre: Adventure, mystery
- Volumes: 18
- Demographic: Seinen
This mysterious piece of eclectic storytelling follows the titular Taichi Hiraga-Keaton. An archeologist, SAS member, and insurance investigator, there’s never a dull moment with Hiraga-Keaton.
Urasawa created this colorful series in tandem with Takashi Nagasaki and Hokusai Katsushika. Its popularity saw it enjoy a six-year run as well as an anime courtesy of Madhouse. Balancing often heavy themes of family and adulthood with a thrilling sense of adventure and danger, Master Keaton is a fine example of the potential of the adventure genre in the manga medium. Most intriguing of all is the titular hero's obsession with discovering a mythical ancient civilization in Egypt, adding a sense of intrigue to the lore and world-building of the series.
8 Mujirushi: The Sign Of Dreams Is An Eclectic Mystery Series
Original Magazine: Big Comic Original
- Genre: Mystery
- Volumes: 1
- Demographic: Seinen
Urasawa’s love of mysteries is on full display in this frequently surreal tale. Beyond the mysterious aspects of the plot, though, Mujirushi is a curious break from Urasawa’s standard storytelling tropes.
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Brimming with offbeat humor and satire, the series focuses on Kamoda, a factory owner whose life completely unravels after attempting to dodge his taxes. Kamoda gets a second chance when he joins the bizarre France Research Institute, a seemingly supernatural organization that gets him caught up in a dangerous heist. Overall, it’s a curious, colorful, and left-of-center piece from one of manga’s most esteemed creators.
7 Happy! Is A Bleak Sports Drama
Original Magazine: Big Comic Spirits
- Genre: Sports
- Volumes: 23
- Demographic: Seinen
This surprisingly gritty sports drama saw Urasawa use tennis as a backdrop for all manner of troubling themes. The series zeroes in on Miyuki Umino, a prodigious tennis player.
Far from a standard sports success tale, though, Umino’s life is one of hardship and loss. After her parents’ deaths, she must balance taking care of her siblings and dealing with an enormous family debt to the Yakuza. Her situation with the infamous organized crime syndicate constantly sees her on the cusp of being forced into a harrowing life of prostitution if her tennis victories don’t make up the numbers. A sad, thoughtful series sporting compelling character arcs and mature themes, Happy! sees Urasawa in dark form.
6 Yawara! Is A Good-Natured, Slice Of Life Sports Comedy
Original Magazine: Big Comic Spirits
- Genre: Coming-of-age, sports
- Volumes: 29
- Demographic: Seinen
A humorous coming-of-age take on the sports genre, Yawara! follows the complicated judo journey of titular high schooler Yawara Inokuma. Despite her longing to enjoy a more run-of-the-mill high school experience, her legendary judoka grandfather is determined to send her all the way to Olympic glory.
A naturally gifted judo practitioner, Inokuma's grandfather is training her with success at the 1992 Olympic Games in mind. The story touches on several tropes of the sports genre but does so in a light-hearted, thoughtful manner. Urasawa takes great care in developing the psyches of his two lead characters, ensuring their dysfunctional bond remains engaging and often moving. A curious subplot involving Inokuma's parents provides the series with some missing person mystery as well, ensuring the colorful series has a little something for everyone. One of Urasawa's most comedic efforts, Yawara! is a likable tale of competition and maturation that readers can enjoy in its entirety.
5 Billy Bat Manages To Give An Apocalyptic Look At The Comics And Manga Industries
Original Magazine: Morning
- Genre: Mystery
- Volumes: 20
- Demographic: Seinen
This unconventional murder mystery series is as much about the trials and tribulations of work in the comic book industry as it is about an all-important ancient scroll that can lead to world domination. Set in 1949, this engaging mystery thriller follows a comic book artist who discovers his beloved Billy Bat series may have been ripped off from artwork he saw in Japan.
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Needless to say, his decision to head over to Japan to receive permission to continue using the image from the original artist leads to all manner of increasingly fantastical situations. The lighter, more eccentric tone of the series initially proved to be a bit jarring with longtime fans of Urasawa's typically darker, more sinister narrative tone and style. Embracing an old-school comic strip style for scenes with the titular Billy Bat character, the series blends high-concept conspiracy theories with thoughtful meditations on pop art and storytelling. Throughout the series' eight-year run, it never failed to dizzy readers with its near-endless number of twists and turns, earning high praise in the long run for its thrillingly unpredictable storytelling and character arcs.
4 Asadora! Mixes History With Kaiju Terror For A Thrilling Epic
Original Magazine: Weekly Big Comic Spirits
- Genre: Mystery
- Volumes: 8
- Demographic: Seinen
As is so often the case with Urasawa's finest efforts, Asadora! dives head-on into the realms of mystery. Along the way, the series also provides readers with a full biopic of the titular character Asa Adora from her post-WWII formative years up to the present day.
In 2020, Tokyo is besieged by an enormous monster. In 1959, young Adora is kidnapped and later caught up in the infamous Typhoon Vera, the worst tropical storm in Japanese history. The science fiction elements of the story take a backseat for the most part, with Urasawa focusing heavily on historical drama as the mysterious monster looms large in the background. In Adora, the series boasts a fiery, likable lead protagonist whose life story plays out in an effective, thoughtful fashion. Along the way, the budding mystery of the kaiju threat to Japan simmers below the radar, building a suspenseful sense of dread. Overall, this grand-scale sci-fi mystery is Urasawa at his genre-blending best.
3 Pluto Provides A Revolutionary Reimagining Of Astro Boy
Original Magazine: Big Comic Original
- Genre: Mystery
- Volumes: 8
- Demographic: Seinen
Urasawa's penchant for twisted murder mysteries was applied with startling effect to the iconic Astro Boy series with the thrilling Pluto. Named after one of Astro Boy's big bads, the series follows a robotic Europol investigator on the case of a series of grim human and robot homicides.
In an increasingly high-stakes race to catch the killer, it becomes apparent that the world's top seven most elite robots are the top targets. The blend of compelling themes regarding robotic rights and the dynamic between humans and machines, as well as a police investigation, makes for an absorbing piece of mystery fiction. As a reimagining of an earlier, classic work, Pluto is an incredibly original, somewhat under-the-radar effort, completely breaking away from the style of the original whilst managing to maintain many of its key sci-fi tropes and concepts.
Unsurprisingly, the series racked up plentiful acclaim, with both fans and critics still unpacking its countless references, symbolism, and character traits two decades after it first arrived on the seinen scene. With an anime confirmed to be on the way, now is the perfect time to give this one a go.
2 20th Century Boys Is A Wild, Multi-Generational Thriller
Original Magazine: Big Comic Spirits
- Genre: Mystery
- Volumes: 22
- Demographic: Seinen
Another multi-decade-spanning mystery thriller from the top-selling manga master here as childhood memories from the '60s play into defeating a deadly menace at the turn of the 21st century. A seinen thriller livened up with apocalyptic sci-fi themes, 20th Century Boys quickly proved to be a hit upon its debut in October 1999.
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Giant robots, plots to assassinate the Pope, and the Triads all come into play in an increasingly chaotic storyline that sees four childhood friends attempt to take a stand against a cult leader with a mysterious connection to them. The antagonistic Friend has since become an icon of manga villainy with uncovering his true identity proving to be an obsession both for protagonists such as Kenji Endo and for the reader. The series' popularity sparked the aptly titled 21st Century Boys sequel in 2006. While not quite as enormous in scope and plotting as the original, the sequel remains a must-read for fans of the series. A modern manga classic, 20th Century Boys is a thrillingly imaginative effort.
1 Monster Gives Readers One Of The Darkest, Richest Mystery Thrillers In Manga History
Original Magazine: Big Comic Original
- Genre: Mystery, crime
- Volumes: 18
- Demographic: Seinen
Urasawa's seminal psychological thriller first hit the shelves back in December 1994. Zeroing in on Germany-based brain surgeon Kenzo Tenma, the story follows his increasingly horrific journey after deciding to save an injured youngster instead of the mayor after a brutal massacre.
Needless to say, the youngster and his twin sister are not standard people, and their backstory makes for chilling human experimentation-focused fare. This engrossingly grim series was a smash hit with readers almost immediately upon release. The complex narrative, suspenseful atmosphere, and lead character arc are all among the finest ever put into manga. The anime series, first aired a decade after the manga's initial release, only continued the series' popularity and growing legacy, ensuring it acquired more fans than ever before. Boasting one of the most effective and thrilling finales in manga history, this iconic, endlessly quotable series is a must-read for all manga lovers.