People are drawn to sports for various reasons. Some admire the discipline, work ethic and leadership characteristics you can gain. Others like the teamwork, comradeship, and satisfaction from being part of something bigger than yourself. Sports manga is great at focusing on these highs and lows and the emotional impact it has on a team or individual. Here are some of the best sports manga you can read.
Blue Box
Blue Box is a wholesome romantic sports manga that will melt your heart. Taiki Inomata has a burning passion for badminton but fully acknowledges he has a long way to go before he can contemplate nationals. He develops a crush on the girl’s basketball team captain, Chinatsu Kano, after seeing her hard work and determination for the sport.
Chinatsu’s parents are moving away for work, leading her to move into Taiki’s family residence. Many slice-of-life moments help develop the main characters’ bond, with the story heavily emphasizing pursuing your passions. An anime series from TSM Entertainment is also coming out later this year, 2024.
Ace the Diamond
Ace the Diamond is a quintessential manga to read if you love baseball. Eijuin Sawamura is a fiery baseball player with a unique pitching style. However, he tends to make mishaps, often costing his Junior High School baseball team matches. From a stroke of luck, he is scouted by Takashima Rei, who gives him a scholarship at Seidou High School.
After persuasion from friends and family, he takes the offer. The art style here is superb, making the movements and the small details on the panels stand out. If you like a realistic depiction of sports, you’ll love Ace the Diamond.
Grand Blue Dreaming
Grand Blue Dreaming is a comedy sports manga that is great to read when you’re looking for something lighthearted. The story follows Iroi Kitahara, who has decided to live at his Uncle’s dive shop called the Grand Blue now that he is becoming a college student. Iroi has dreams of meeting girls, but he runs into a group of guys called Peek-a-Boo, the college’s diving club, who regularly like participating in alcoholic escapades (even more than diving).
After a bizarre chain of events, Iroi joins the club. But there is one big problem – he can’t swim. His cousins step in and help him learn how to dive. If you enjoy manga series like The Kawai Complex Guide to Manors and Hostel Behaviour and Prison School, then you will like Grand Blue Dreaming.
Wandance
Wandance is hands-down the best hip-hop dance manga out there, as it has some fantastic art panels and harbours a beautiful coming-of-age tale where we see the characters grow and mature throughout the story. The series follows Kaboku Kotani, a high school basketball player who subconsciously prefers keeping to himself as he does not want to bring attention to his stutter. One day, he sees a fellow student, Hikari Wanda, dancing magnificently without a care in the world. Inspired by her dancing, he decides to join the dance class and, with little time, becomes one of the only first-year students to be enrolled in an upcoming dancing competition.
However, this makes him question whether his dancing skills are good enough to compete. Wandance is probably the least known entry on this list, but the manga series will be getting an anime adaptation next year, in 2025, from Madhouse and Cyclone Graphics.
Real
Written by the creative mind of Takenhiko Inoue, who also created Slam Dunk, Real is an unapologetic and realistic depiction of wheelchair basketball. The story rotates between three characters’ perspectives, who all individually deal with their own form of hardships and barriers. These characters’ daily lives slowly interweave with each other as they begin to learn and grow from one another.
Real is a powerful series; it doesn’t shy away from sensitive themes and fully explores each character’s trials and tribulations. But it also shows the character’s determination to pursue the sport they adore, regardless of the obstacles they must overcome. The art is also stellar, which helps convey the emotion behind some truly impactful scenes. You will find it hard not to become engrossed and invested in Real’s distinctive storytelling.
Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow
Ashita no Joe: Fighting might be a manga that first came out in the ’60s, but its footprint still transcends to this day, as many anime and manga series reference its impactful ending. In fact, earlier this year, in 2024, it was announced that the manga series would get an official English translation 56 years after its original release. The story follows Joe Yakuki, a delinquent orphan with a jaded perspective who only looks out for himself. A former boxer, Danpei Tange, witnesses Joe’s fighting instinct and offers to train Joe as a boxer.
However, it’s only after a stint in prison and forming a rivalry with ex-boxer Tori Rikiishi that Joe decides to take boxing seriously, and his relentless pursuit to become a professional boxer begins. The series is incredibly character-driven and shows the consequences that can arise from participating in the sport. Simply put, Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow is a classic that you must read.
Blue Lock
Although the Blue Lock anime adaptation adapts the source material well, there is still a charm to the Blue Lock’s manga series, which makes it an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a new sports manga. Japan suffers a soul-crushing defeat at the FIFA World Cup tournament. As a result, Japan decided to open an extreme and ruthless regime program called the Blue Lock, created to make and cultivate the best soccer striker in the world. But, anyone who fails this elite training program will never be able to represent Japan.
The series is not necessarily about soccer, although it obviously plays a vital part in the storytelling. It’s more about exploring the robustness and mindset that professional athletes have to indoctrinate to ensure they are undoubtedly the best in their discipline.
The Climber (Kokou no Hito)
The Climber might not be what you expect from a typical sports manga, as the series is geared towards older audiences and delves into isolation and depression. The story follows Buntaro Mori, a high school student who feels more at ease in solitude, away from others, and only feels content whenever climbing. A teacher who also enjoys climbing encourages him to join the climbing club. However, the series quickly transitions into Mori’s older life, exploring his professional ambition to climb K2’s East Face mountain.
The spectacular illustrations depict the sport’s brutality as we witness the physical and psychological strains. The writing is outstanding and has such an impactful ending that it’s guaranteed to stick with you many months after reading. The Climber is a severely underrated manga series, which you should check out if you’re looking for something with a more mature tone.
Haikyu!!
Haikyu!! is arguably one of the most successful manga series of all time, and there is a good reason for that, as the series has admirable characters, excellent storytelling, and, most importantly, showcases an earnest depiction of the sport volleyball. The plot follows Shoyo Hinata, who massively adores volleyball but is convinced his height will halt any chance of him playing the sport professionally. One day, he watches a volleyball game, with one of the players being deemed “The Little Giant”.
This ignites Hinata’s ambition to play volleyball, and he creates a team with his friends. But in their first match, they suffer a crushing defeat, and Hinata promises to beat Kageyama, one of the players in the rival team. Hinata later enrols at Karasuno High School and joins their volleyball team, only to discover Kageyama is also part of the lineup. One of the most likeable aspects of Haikyu!! is you never quite know which team will win the match, and some of the outcomes are somewhat surprising, adding massive suspense to every game.
Slam Dunk
Slam Dunk is a flat-out phenomenal manga series and is regarded in many people’s eyes as one of the best sports manga ever to exist. The story follows a delinquent high school student, Hanamichi Sakuragi, who usually has no luck with the ladies. But he starts talking to a girl at school who enquires if he’s interested in basketball due to his physical height. Sakuragi pretends to be interested in basketball when he actually has a massive disdain for the sport, eventually leading to a dispute with the school’s basketball captain.
The series has a lot of comedic rhythm as Sakuragi doesn’t know the rules for basketball, leading to many humorous moments. These segments are also fantastic for readers who are not so familiar with the sport, as you’ll learn some of these fundamentals simultaneously with the protagonist. The characters’ interpersonal bonds with each other are also incredibly in-depth, making the teamwork scenes more impactful and helping you connect with these characters.
What are some of your favorite sports manga? Let us know in the comments below!
Published: Sep 11, 2024 06:45 pm