Japan Reviewed
There is no shortage of articles recommending manga because it is finished. On its own, that is not much of a reason.
Plenty of series end. What I wanted to know was something else: once you get to the last page, do you ever want to go back to the first one?
These are three I have read in Japanese and gone back to more than once. They are in my own order of preference. I do not spoil any of the endings.
Who this is not for
- Anyone looking for an ongoing series — all three of these are done
- Anyone wanting a comprehensive ranking — there are three
- Anyone who wants the plot summarised, or the ending explained. Not here
Start here
Best first manga
Fullmetal Alchemist
Conventional in shape, and it never falls apart. The safe recommendation.
Best human drama
Slam Dunk
You do not need to care about basketball. It is not really about basketball.
At a glance
| Attack on Titan | Fullmetal Alchemist | Slam Dunk | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volumes | 34 | 27 | 31 |
| Its strongest quality | Mystery and setup | Structural control | Human drama |
| What you feel reading it | I need to know | I want to finish this | I want them to win |
| Plotting | Complex | Tightly built | Relatively simple |
How I picked these
Three tests. It has to be finished. I have to have reread it. And the reread has to give me something.
One thing to be clear about: I read all of these in Japanese. I cannot tell you anything about the English translations. What I am judging is the stories.
Attack on Titan
Thirty-four volumes. There are two ways to read it.
It looks very simple at first. Humans are fighting giants. That is the whole premise.
Then the questions start. What are the titans? Why is humanity inside the walls? What is outside them? And every time one of those gets an answer, the answer produces a new question.
That chain is why I keep going back to it. The first read is following the story. The second is reading early scenes already knowing what they will turn out to have meant, and the same pages are not the same pages.
The other thing: as it goes on, good and evil stop being useful categories. Both sides have something they believe is right, and those beliefs are what collide. What stays with you afterwards is less the fighting than the uncomfortable questions underneath it — about war, about inherited hatred, about how history gets told by whoever survived it.
What works
- Densely set up. The second read is a genuinely different book
- Refuses the simple version of who is right
- Thirty-four volumes telling one story, not several
What to know first
- How the ending lands varies enormously from reader to reader
- The early art is visibly rough
- Thirty-four volumes is real time and real money
Best for
- Readers who like thinking while they read
- Anyone buying with a reread already in mind
Not ideal if
- Anyone who wants to finish a series feeling good
- Anyone who would rather try something short first
Check it on AmazonVolume 1. There is no official box set covering all 34
Fullmetal Alchemist
Twenty-seven volumes. The one I recommend first.
Reduced to its shape, this is an ordinary adventure manga. Someone travels, meets people, fights stronger opponents, gets better.
Underneath that there is a second story about nations, about war, and about what things cost. The rule the series is built on — that getting something means giving up something of equal value — is not just a magic system. It comes back as a question, over and over: what are you willing to lose for this?
What impresses me every time I reread it is how little is wasted. A minor character from the early volumes matters at the end. The author knew where this was going and got there. In long serialised manga that is rare.
The antagonists get the same care. They are not obstacles standing between the hero and the finish; they want things, for reasons. That is what gives the book its weight.
What works
- Holds together to the last page. The setup pays off
- Easy to read and genuinely serious at the same time
- The antagonists are as interesting as the leads
What to know first
- The early art is rougher than the later art
- It swings between comedy and real cruelty, sometimes fast
Best for
- Someone reading their first manga
- Anyone who does not want to be let down at the end
Not ideal if
- Anyone tired of the conventional adventure structure
Check it on AmazonAll 27 volumes, plus a novel, in one box set
Slam Dunk
Thirty-one volumes. Not really a sports manga.
You do not need to know anything about basketball. More to the point, basketball is not what you end up reading it for.
Hanamichi Sakuragi starts as a complete beginner. He does not know the rules. He does the boring drills. He gets slightly less useless, then useful, then necessary. The progression is patient and easy to follow, which is most of why it works.
But it is not a story where effort simply produces victory. Better opponents are better. Talent is unevenly distributed. People get injured. Teams argue with themselves. What the series is actually about is carrying on anyway.
The games are unusual too. In the middle of a match you get someone's history, what they are carrying, where their confidence goes when it goes. So what you are watching is not the score — it is what happens to this person.
And it is not only Sakuragi. Rukawa, Akagi, Mitsui, Miyagi, and the players on the other side of the court all have their own reasons for being there. Which one you like changes what the book is.
One thing worth knowing going in: the way it closes divides people. Some readers feel it stops while the story still looks like it has somewhere to go. That is deliberate rather than a series being cut short — but knowing that in advance changes how the last volume lands.
What works
- Needs no knowledge of the sport whatsoever
- The supporting cast and the opposition are fully drawn
- Never pretends effort guarantees a result
What to know first
- Its ending is unusual and will not suit everyone
- The early comedy runs long before it finds its subject
- The least rewarding of the three to reread
Best for
- Readers who come for characters changing over time
- Anyone who has always skipped sports manga
Not ideal if
- Readers who want something to analyse
- Readers who need a clean, conclusive finish
Check it on AmazonVolume 1. There is no official box set — the 31 volumes are sold individually
So which one
- If you only read one — Fullmetal Alchemist. It will not let you down
- If you are buying to reread — Attack on Titan. The second pass is a different book
- If this is your first manga — Fullmetal Alchemist, then Slam Dunk
- If sports manga has never appealed to you — Slam Dunk. It is not about the sport
Questions
I have watched the anime. Is there a point in reading it?
Yes. With Attack on Titan especially, going back through the setup at your own pace is a different experience. With Slam Dunk, the anime does not cover all of the manga, so the rest of it is only in print.
Which is shortest?
Fullmetal Alchemist, at 27 volumes.
Are all three fine for a beginner?
Fullmetal Alchemist and Slam Dunk, yes. Attack on Titan is the most structurally complicated of the three, so it is a reasonable one to save for second.