What this genre is
Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA and Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell. Dense drawing and a sense of the city ending are what made Japanese comics known abroad as MANGA.
Seinen — about this band: Manga for adults, born out of gekiga. Realism, society, work, science fiction.
Connections
Three kinds of line: direct evolution, influence, and born in reaction against.
↓ Flowed into this
↑ Grew out of this
Key works
Tetsuro and Maetel travel the galaxy in search of a mechanical body. Lyrical science fiction, an episode at a time, and the emblem of the 1970s anime boom.
The exploits of the space pirate Cobra and his Psychogun. An early Japanese space opera in the American-comics mould, and very popular.
An old man and a girl fight with psychic power in a housing estate. Meticulous drawing and quiet destruction renewed Japanese science-fiction manga.
Psychic power and a collapsed Tokyo drawn with overwhelming skill. The cyberpunk monument that turned MANGA into a word the world uses.
A thousand years after a vast industrial civilisation fell, in a far future menaced by the Sea of Decay and its insects. The seven volumes go well past the film, and make an epic full of questions about life and civilisation that good and evil cannot settle.
Motoko Kusanagi and her public-security unit in a cyberised society. A worldwide cyberpunk classic questioning the borders of information, body and consciousness.
A book of prophecy made up in childhood turns out to connect to a real conspiracy. Nostalgia for boyhood and an enormous mystery kept readers gripped.
Near-future science fiction about the people who collect debris in orbit. A lyrical masterpiece that draws both the reality of space development and the inner life quietly.
A chaotic world where sorcerers and the residents of the Hole cross paths. Detailed, deformed world-building and black comedy have earned it devoted fans.
Young people wake in a Japan after a meteor strike, and have to survive. Sixteen years and 35 volumes of apocalyptic science fiction inside the shojo form, and a Shogakukan Manga Award.
Naoki Urasawa's remake of The Greatest Robot on Earth from Tezuka's Astro Boy. A weighty masterpiece on robots and war.
Two brothers who want to be astronauts. Dreams and setbacks drawn with adult realism, and admired by people actually working in space.
The struggle around the ajin, a new kind of human that cannot die. Cold-blooded battles of wits and action made it a seinen hit.
Senku rebuilds a world where humanity has turned to stone, using science. A new angle — winning through science — brought intellectual excitement to a boys' magazine.
Seinen — walk the band
Genres in the same band, in order of year. You are at the highlighted one.
- 1957 Gekiga↓
- 1967 Seinen Magazines↓
- 1970 Historical Gekiga↓
- 1982 SF & Cyberpunk（you are here）↓
- 1983 Gourmet Manga↓
- 1983 Business Manga↓
- 1990 Social Drama↓
- 1991 Gambling & Outlaw
All genres
About this entry
Genre boundaries are drawn where the network of manga happens to concentrate, not by decree. Years are approximate. Where opinions differ, this page says so rather than picking a winner.