Best Shounen Series

best shounen series that manages to draw you in with its action and adventure. Volume one only please.
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154 books · 580 voters · list created April 29th, 2010 by Angel♥ (votes) .
Tags: manga, shounen
88 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


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Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by [deleted user] (new)

Wow, this list is so riddled with shoujo, shounen-ai/yaoi, and books that aren't even manga. Looks like it's time to clean up.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

That should be better. Let me know if I missed anything!


message 3: by Nicole (last edited Dec 31, 2012 11:56AM) (new)

Nicole Wednesday wrote: "That should be better. Let me know if I missed anything!"

Black Lagoon, Monster, Berserk, Dogs: Bullets & Carnage (and Dogs: Prelude), and Basilisk are seinen, and Cardcaptor Sakura and X are shoujo.


message 4: by Kristen (new)

Kristen Can anybody give me a good argument for Cardcaptor Sakura being on a shounen list? Otherwise I'm going to remove it.


message 5: by [deleted user] (new)

About the only things I can think of are action and the English dub was originally focused on Syaoran. However, I do agree it doesn't fit.


Darkwing Meta Knight Anime.......!!


message 7: by João (new)

João No Fist of the North Star AND no Eyeshield 21 = no serious shounen list. But I saw that right away when I saw GTO and Slam Dunk so low...
Also, there are a lot of seinen titles in the middle.

The top is absurd. Bleach, Naruto are below-average quality. And Fairy Tail is one of the worst series ever written. What are those pseudo-things doing above the 30th place? Can't even guess.


message 8: by Selena (new)

Selena João wrote: "No Fist of the North Star AND no Eyeshield 21 = no serious shounen list. But I saw that right away when I saw GTO and Slam Dunk so low...
Also, there are a lot of seinen titles in the middle.

The ..."


Because the people who have voted so far haven't read them or don't like them? If you find something that isn't on the list that should be, vote for them. Simple as that. The other people voting may not be old enough to remember Fist of the North Star (I only know of it through AMV Hell parodies), and maybe not everyone agrees with what you think are the best shounen series. Lists are a bit of a popularity contest, so there's not much control the creator has over the list itself. You should take it less as a "this list sets the order of best of the best in stone" and more as a "people consider the things on this list to be among the best, and order just shows how many people agree (not necessarily which series is better than the others)"

Also, some seinen titles are marketed State-side or in other countries as shounen for one reason or another, while some shounen titles are marketed as "seinen," so perhaps some of the titles that shouldn't be on this list were simple mistakes by non-Japanese readers. If you find a manga that isn't shounen on the list, just leave a comment with the title and I'm sure they'll be removed.

And I have to disagree with you on Fairy Tail being one of the worst series. I happen to really enjoy that series as a parody. It's certainly not the best series I've ever read (it's one of my favorite shounen titles, though), but then again, I've read some really bad series too (try the manga for The Vision of Escaflowne, and you'll see what I mean).


message 9: by Manuel (new)

Manuel Urbieta hey
bros


message 10: by Dana (new)

Dana Salman Wow, I was surprised and pleased to see Darren Shan even on this list, and as high as it is. It's not even originally a manga, but it's still a beautiful piece of work.

Oh and of course Full Metal Alchemist is top! Who does not love it?


message 11: by Dana (new)

Dana Salman P.S should Death Note even be on this list? It's more psychological thriller than shounen isn't it?


message 12: by Nicole (new)

Nicole Shounen is a demographic rather than a genre, and it's usually determined by the magazine a series is published in. Death Note was published in Weekly Shounen Jump, so it's both psychological thriller and shounen. :)


message 13: by Dana (new)

Dana Salman Serene wrote: "Shounen is a demographic rather than a genre, and it's usually determined by the magazine a series is published in. Death Note was published in Weekly Shounen Jump, so it's both psychological thril..."

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification. I hadn't known Death Note was published in Jump, that's interesting. I just found it odd because on the surface Death Note looks nothing like your basic shounen manga, nor does it have any of the standard cliches you find in other shounen (which is why it's so good ;)


message 14: by Shadowjac (new)

Shadowjac Serene wrote: "Wednesday wrote: "That should be better. Let me know if I missed anything!"

Black Lagoon, Monster, Berserk, Dogs: Bullets & Carnage (and Dogs: Prelude), and Basilisk are seinen, and Cardcaptor Sak..."

Just fixed it.


message 15: by Modith (new)

Modith Wickramasinghe Isn't School Rumble a shojo manga?


message 16: by Shadowjac (new)

Shadowjac Modith wrote: "Isn't School Rumble a shojo manga?"

School Rumble was originally published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine, therefore its shonen.


message 17: by Shadowjac (new)

Shadowjac Just removed several seinen manga such as Gantz, Vagabound, Prison School, and Hellsing.


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