Sports & Guts

A baseball manga that bets everything on a father-and-son destiny and an impossible pitch. It defined the sports-and-guts genre itself.

A boxing gekiga following Joe Yabuki, a boy out of the doss houses, until he burns out. When Toru Rikiishi died, a real funeral was held for him.

A high-school baseball ensemble centred on Taro Yamada. Precise match drawing built an era of the baseball manga across a long run.

Middle-school baseball, in which ordinary players become strong through work. An honest sports story with no flash, still highly regarded.

The ordinary girl Hiromi Oka throws herself into tennis under a hard coach. It fused sports-and-guts with shojo manga and shaped much of what followed.

Boxing with finishing blows that detonate. It brought superhuman staging into sports-and-guts, and became the template for the author's later work and for shonen battles.

Twin brothers and the girl next door, Minami. It swapped the heat of sports-and-guts for monologue and empty space — the emblem of Shonen Sunday in the 1980s.

The ball is my friend. Tsubasa Ozora's football story, which influenced top professionals abroad and drove football's popularity in Japan.

The daily life and competitions of Yawara Inokuma, a judo prodigy. A light-footed seinen sports romance that caught the air of the bubble years.

Ippo Makunouchi, once bullied, grows up through boxing. Careful drawing of matches and of training has kept it loved for decades.

The delinquent Hanamichi Sakuragi discovers basketball. It updated the genes of sports-and-guts with realism and set off a basketball boom in Japan.

The death matches of Baki Hanma, a fighter in search of being strongest. Excessive anatomy and a fighting theory of its own have earned it a cult following.

Baseball and a four-way tangle between childhood friends. Adachi's summing-up of the youth-baseball romance.

Goro Honda's life in baseball, from childhood to the majors. The representative long-form sports story following one player's whole career.

The boy Hikaru and Sai, a ghost from the Heian court, take on the world of Go. It turned an unglamorous subject into fights you could not look away from, and set off a Go boom among children.

A hot-blooded teacher rebuilds a baseball team full of delinquents. Sweat, tears and youth won it a wide following.

The prodigy Ryoma Echizen and middle-school tennis. Escalating special moves and beloved characters opened sports manga to a new readership.

Koyuki, an unremarkable middle-schooler, meets the prodigy guitarist Ryusuke and joins the band BECK. It made readers believe in sound they could not hear, and brought the heat of Western rock into a Japanese boys' magazine.

The quick-footped Sena Kobayakawa takes on American football. An unusual sports manga that carried a minor sport on sheer drawing and strategy.

Eijun Sawamura, a pitcher growing up in a famous baseball club. A serious baseball manga that takes the tension of fighting for a position seriously.

Rei Kiriyama, a lonely young shogi professional, recovering through the game and through other people. Delicate psychological drawing lifts shogi into human drama.

Chihaya and her friends staking their youth on competitive karuta. Shojo manga fused with sports-and-guts, and the cause of a karuta boom.

Kuroko, the shadowy sixth man, and the Generation of Miracles playing basketball. Presentation borrowed from ability battles brought fresh air to sports manga.

The small Shoyo Hinata takes on high-school volleyball. Precise match drawing and a large ensemble made it the representative sports manga of the 2010s.

Asakusa the setting obsessive, Mizusaki the charismatic reader-model, and Kanamori who handles the money, take on making anime to build the strongest world. The imagined images erupt straight onto the page, and the pleasure of making things comes through whole.

Yatora, who does everything competently, is struck by a single painting and enters the world of art-school entrance exams. It faces the pain and the joy of betting your life on what you love, and turned art into a youth sport.

A ruthless project to raise the world's most selfish striker. Values that overturn the usual team-first sports story won over a new generation.