Interest Stacks

The most well known epic samurai manga. This is the story of Miyamoto Musashi, the sword saint. Beautiful art, deadly duels and deep philosophy. This seinen manga has it all.

Manji is an immortal swordsman. He sets out to defeat the Itto-ryu, an upcoming martial arts school to help out a girl called Rin. This manga has lots of fights and gore. The plot thickens later on too.

A light intriguing manga drawn by Taiyo Matsumoto. Hence the unique art. Sou is a simple samurai living in Edo. He is polite to neighbors and friendly with the kids. He can talk to cats too. And his sword.
Then a murder occurs in the neighbourhood,and the plot thickens. Highly recommended. Light read.

After reading this you’ll probably thank your lucky starts that you aren’t a samurai. This manga opens with a bold statement- “Japananese samurai society was successful because it was made up of lots of masochists and a handful of sadists.”
This manga shows how authority can corrupt a man. When your master asks you to kill your friend for no reason, will you do it? Murder, torture, rape, everything is allowed for the deranged samurai lords.
Humans are just flesh with feelings, take that away, and we are just flesh. That’s the theme of this manga. Dark, lots of gore.

A true classic. You cannot make a list about chanbara (samurai culture) without mentioning Lone Wolf and Cub.
This is a long running, episodic manga about a samurai executioner to the shogun. He gets framed, his family killed. And now he travels the land with only his little son, and his sword. The fights are unique every chapter.

Sugimoto is a super durable soldier. He just won’t die. This story takes place in Ezo, in post Meiji restoration period. Sugimoto hears about a hidden treasure of the Ainu tribe, so he teams up with Asirpa, a young Ainu girl.
They meet lots of comrades on the way, lots of killing and backstabbing. We see fighting, mystery, cooking, and naked male butts in equal amounts in this manga. Comedy, adventure.

If you want an action packed manga with the “secret moves” and near death sequences.....read Gamaran. It has over 200 chapters, and fights on EVERY SINGLE PAGE.

A one-shot about the last days of the Shinsengumi.

The most underrated manga on this list! Ichigeki tells the tale of a group of peasants who were USED by the samurai to do their dirty work. It is highly realistic, and based on true events. It depicts the harsh reality of the life of the peasants vs the samurai. This is a deep read, and very interesting historical fiction. Like a Kurosawa movie.

What if a modern day doctor is sent back in time to Edo? How will he manage his patients? Which famous personalities might he meet? Read this amazing manga to find out.

A lone samurai, with unstoppable skill, roaming the land of Japan. This classic is still interesting to read. It’s a shonen more than seinen.

What if a modern day cook gets sent back to the times of Oda Nobunaga? How will he influence the world with his culinary skills? Another highly underrated manga.

A comedy set in a future with aliens. But Gintoki is still insistent on carrying a sword.

Similar in plot to Nobunaga’s chef. Somebody gets sent back in time of Oda Nobunaga, BUT he looks just like Nobunaga!! How will this noob unify the country? Very interesting, and the manga sticks close to historical facts.

A mystery set in the Edo period. Our Mc is a strong samurai, too shy for his own good. This story should be read in one go. Highly recommended.

A historical fiction by Iwaaki Hitoshi(Parasyte, Historie). Short manga about a girl who wants to be a samurai to give back to the man who saved her. Manga goes into details regarding Nobunaga, Takeda and Tokugawa.

A comedy about an American who comes to his home country of Japan. And he says he is a samurai. Fun, light read. You might get sentimental at the end.

How will two kids survive in the olden days with a dark society around them? By the sword, of course.

This manga lets you indulge in supernatural ninja, samurai fights that will blow your minds. Just fighting.

This is a historical fiction set around the Shinsengumi. It was really interesting, but then it stopped publishing. Still worth a read.

Zatoichi is a famous Japanese tale of a blind masseur who kills the wrongful samurai. Worth a read.

A classic tale by Osamu Tezuka. It is the story of Hyakkimaru, how he was born of 48 parts, and his journey to understand himself. And more importantly, survive.

Lady Snowblood is a tale of revenge. If Quentin Tarantino wrote a manga like Kill Bill, this would be it.

This feels like a history book, more than a manga. But I love history books! So I like this. It is a biography of the One-eyed dragon, the daimyo of Owari— Date Masamune.

This is one of the most dark and depressing manga that I’ve read. Tell me what is a samurai without war? Jobless. Hungry. And if he isn’t willing to compromise and adapt, well.....the hunger will kill him more painfully than the sword.

Read this manga while listening to some jazz. Or better still, go for the anime. In this case the anime is better. The manga is good too. Simple plot, samurai fighting.

Pure simple plot.....keep fighting till you become the one. The samurai with the afro is our protagonist, he fights to avenge his father. And nothing can stop him. Short, fast read.