📖 Best Manga of 2025
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1
Dandadan
Comedy Horror Sci-Fi Shonen - Yukinobu Tatsu - Shueisha (Shonen Jump+) - 04/07/2025 - 16+ Momo Ayase believes in ghosts but not aliens, Ken Takakura, nicknamed Okarun, the opposite: a dare between skeptics drags them into a whirlwind of vengeful spirits, alien abductions and sudden powers, forcing the two to face ever stranger threats together.
Dandadan established Yukinobu Tatsu as one of the most original voices in contemporary shonen, serialized since 2021 on Shueisha's digital app Shonen Jump+. The story begins from an almost offhand premise: high schooler Momo Ayase, convinced ghosts are real but skeptical about aliens, dares her classmate Ken Takakura, nicknamed Okarun, an ufology enthusiast who doubts the paranormal, to prove which of them is wrong. When each is confronted with proof of the other's belief, a vengeful spirit for Momo and an alien abduction for Okarun, Tatsu overturns their certainties and forces them into a reluctant alliance against increasingly outlandish threats, as both discover unexpected supernatural powers of their own. The manga's defining trait is its seamless blend of genuine horror, with unsettling creature designs rooted in Japanese folklore, teenage romantic comedy, and unrestrained science fiction complete with spaceships, superpowers and tokusatsu-style battles. Tatsu's artwork, dynamic and able to swing between comedic deformation and panels of authentic horror tension, has grown sharper with every volume, reaching an almost cinematic quality in its most elaborate action sequences. Alongside the two leads, medium grandmother Seiko Ayase and former rival Aira Shiratori, who becomes an ally after awakening her own powers, broaden an ensemble cast handled with unusual care for emotional growth. The series has earned wide critical praise for balancing such disparate genres, winning over readers who would normally steer clear of both horror and straightforward shonen action. The anime adaptation by Science Saru, its first season airing in autumn 2024 and a second in summer 2025, dramatically raised the title's international profile. Season two's debut triggered an immediate spike in print manga sales that turned into a genuine publishing boom over the course of the year. According to Oricon's rankings, Dandadan ended up as the third best-selling manga in Japan in 2025, with three separate volumes, eighteen, nineteen and twenty, landing in the year's top fifty best-selling tankobon, confirming the direct link between the anime's success and that of the original comic.
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10votes
2
Chainsaw Man
Dark Fantasy Action Shonen - Tatsuki Fujimoto - Shueisha (Shonen Jump+) - 06/05/2025 - 18+ Asa Mitaka, a high schooler marked by family tragedy, unwillingly becomes the host of War Devil Yoru, forced to share body and will with a capricious entity while facing devil hunters, fanatical cults and the ghosts of her own past.
Chainsaw Man, created and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, has spanned two very different editorial phases: its first part, published in Weekly Shonen Jump between 2018 and 2020, introduced Denji, a young devil hunter who fuses his body with chainsaw devil Pochita, in a story steeped in poverty, violence and a desperate wish for an ordinary life. Since 2022 the series has continued on the digital app Shonen Jump+ with a second part centered on Asa Mitaka, a high school student who becomes the unwilling host of War Devil Yoru, forced to share body and consciousness with a capricious, dangerous entity. Fujimoto keeps his signature style intact across both phases, sudden pitch-black humor, graphic violence that is never gratuitous but always serves the story, and characters who swing without warning between the grotesque and the deeply human. Volume eighteen, released in spring 2025, collects chapters where the conflict between Asa, Yoru and the forces unleashed by the Chainsaw Man Church reaches a new peak of tension, confirming the author's knack for alternating quiet character beats with sudden action set pieces. Fresh fuel arrived for the publishing phenomenon in September 2025 with the release of Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze Arc, adapting the arc of the same name from the series' first part with top-tier animation produced by MAPPA. The film topped Japan's box office charts for weeks and performed strongly in the United States as well, pulling new readers toward the original manga. The result was a surge in print sales that pushed the series past thirty million copies in circulation, a milestone confirming Chainsaw Man as one of the most talked-about and profitable shonen properties of 2025, generating conversation among longtime readers and newcomers drawn in by the film alike.
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9votes
3
Kaiju No. 8
Shonen Action - Naoya Matsumoto - Shueisha (Shonen Jump+) - 04/09/2025 - 16+ Kafka Hibino, part of the crew that clears kaiju remains from battlefields, is swallowed by a small monster and discovers he can turn into a kaiju himself while staying human in mind, forced to hide his secret from his own comrades.
Kaiju No. 8, created and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto, concluded in July 2025 after five years of free serialization on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ app, closing with chapter 129 the story of Kafka Hibino, a thirty-two-year-old cleanup worker who, after being swallowed by a small kaiju, discovers he can turn into a kaiju himself while keeping his human mind and feelings intact. From its debut the series stood out for choosing a disillusioned adult protagonist, far removed from the hopeful teenager typical of shonen, giving real depth to themes of delayed dreams and second chances arriving when they seemed impossible. Around Kafka, Matsumoto builds a solid cast, from captain Mina Ashiro, his childhood friend, to Third Division colleagues like Reno Ichikawa and Kikoru Shinomiya, giving the anti-kaiju Defense Force its own internal politics of rivalries and alliances. Matsumoto's art favors tactile, physical violence, with memorably designed monsters and combat sequences that stay dense yet legible, while the writing alternates tight action beats with a growing exploration of the emotional cost of the protagonist's dual nature. The final chapter, released on July 17, 2025, closes the story with a deliberately open epilogue: after a long coma following the decisive battle against Kaiju No. 9, Kafka wakes up in a Japan under reconstruction, keeps his powers and returns to his comrades, while the identity of the mysterious Kaiju No. 8 remains a state secret that keeps fueling public curiosity. Volume sixteen, released on September 4, 2025 and collecting the final chapters, served as the closing act of a publishing run that largely avoided the excessive padding common to many hit action series. The anime adaptation, which considerably widened the series' international audience well beyond Japan, turned the manga's conclusion into one of the most discussed and closely followed events in Japanese comics throughout 2025, underscored by heavy media attention and the popularity polls Shueisha organized to celebrate the end of its serialization.
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8votes
