It’s National Share a Story Month, and I want to recommend some of my favorite seinen manga. The first graphic novel I picked up was Captain Underpants as a young kid. It wasn’t a particularly engaging comic, with generic storylines and a comical art style, but it skyrocketed my enjoyment of graphic novels. The first manga I read was One Piece, and I also read it as a young kid. From there, I became a manga reader. I love seeing the different art styles between artists and how they decide to tell a story.
Since my introduction, I’ve read many manga and discovered that most of the ones I like are in the seinen genre. At the time, I didn’t know seinen was even a genre. The word translates to “youth” or “young adult,” because of that, the genre has stories targeted toward young adult men. Of course, that doesn’t mean only young adult men can enjoy them. Everyone can enjoy or relate to the characters in these stories, which is the hallmark of a perfect story.
Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki
Aliens with drill-like heads arrive on Earth. They dig into the heads of their victims through the ears or the nose and take over their bodies. Shinichi, a 17-year-old high school student, is a victim of one of these aliens. However, the alien makes a mistake and burrows into his arm rather than his head. This leads to the pair retaining their own intellects and personalities. The two of them form an unlikely duo, and together, they encounter other parasites, revealing more about the aliens.
Parasyte was one of those manga that took me by surprise. I didn’t expect to see such a genuine bond between a human and an alien who attempted to take over said human’s body. Shinichi and Migi are two characters that form a tight bond despite having only one thing in common: survival. I adored the connection they created, and every chapter left me wanting to read another because I had to know what happened next.
Holyland by Kouji Mori
For the record, I am not a fighter. I have never been in a fight, and I don’t watch professional fighting in any capacity. But this manga made me want to join a boxing gym and learn to fight. Yuu Kamishiro is a bullied high school student who finds peace in the world of street fighting, a place he calls his Holyland. The manga follows him as he maneuvers through the mean streets of fighting.
Kamishiro’s struggle is relatable as he finds solace in a dangerous place. I would wager that everyone has found a similar feeling in dangerous or unhealthy vices. Of course, he is different from us because he’s the main character, but I don’t think it subtracts from being able to relate to him. He finds purpose in his Holyland and connects with friends, rivals, and a love interest. He bounces back from his struggles and always gets back up after being beaten, this time determined to win.
Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara
Kingdom is a manga series that is a fictional adaptation of the Chinese Warring States period. Several characters in the story are based on historical figures. However, the plot follows a fictional character named Xin, a slave in a poor village. He dreams of becoming a Great General and leading armies into battle.
Xin, or Shin in other translations, is one of my favorite protagonists because he is resilient. He grew up without parents and only had one friend who died serving as the king’s lookalike. When he was old enough to be enlisted, he found a father figure in the different generals he served under. Unfortunately, each of them died, leaving Xin more and more alone each time. However, his resilience pushed him through. The current chapters show Xin as a proud general, leading thousands of men into battle, and I love seeing the man he became.
Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura
I love fictional Vikings and stories with evolving characters, so Vinland Saga is naturally one of my favorite stories. It follows Thorfinn on his rage-fueled quest for revenge against the man who killed his father. After gaining his revenge, he finds himself working as a slave and dreams of visiting and settling in the peaceful lands of Vinland.
While this story begins as a quest for revenge, it’s the aftermath of the revenge that drew me into it. It starts with Thorfinn as this rage-fueled killer who manages to, in a way, get his revenge. At that moment, he remembers his father’s words and what kind of man his father wanted him to be. The evolution and change that he goes through are powerful. It’s a complete change to who he was, and he struggles to stay true to his new convictions.
20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa
In 1969, four young boys found an empty field and created a hideout they called their secret base. It was a gathering point for their friends to share manga, pornographic magazines, and listen to the radio. The boys also came together to create the Book of Prophecy, in which they defend the world against invading aliens. Fast forward to the late 1990s, Kenji, one of the four original boys, runs a convenience store and discovers that one of his childhood friends committed suicide, but he doesn’t believe it was a suicide.
This story is full of mystery and suspense. Unsurprisingly, the suicide of Kenji’s friend wasn’t an actual suicide. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. As Kenji begins to dive deeper into the mystery of his friend’s death, he finds things that resemble the Book of Prophecy he helped write as a kid. It’s a strange journey through memory lane for Kenji as he digs up things from his past. It made me think about how sometimes it’s impossible to completely remove yourself from things in your past. No matter how far you run, your past can and will catch up to you.
These five stories resonate with me because of the tales they spin. The main characters all experience some kind of change that forces them to reevaluate their lives, and I think that’s why I like these stories so much. I love reading about characters who change, either willingly or not. It’s something I struggled with in my own life: finding who I am and changing into the person I want and need to be. That’s my favorite part about humanity: we can change.
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