Samurai and manga are two fantastic flavors that complement each other well. For nearly 50 years, samurai have been the heroes of popular and highly renowned series. The finest samurai manga of all time, including both classic and current releases, is listed below.
As a reason, the genre often displays a deep love for history and the warrior spirit, topics that make for ageless series, as seen by the fact that our list dates all the way back to the 1970s. Manga shows the genre’s power and capacity to appeal to a wide range of groups of fans.
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Best Samurai Manga Like Vagabond
15. Kurogane
In a quest for vengeance, young samurai Jintetsu sets his sights on avenging his father’s murder. But when he discovers that his father’s killer is a corrupt government official, Jintetsu becomes a fugitive. Fate intervenes when his shattered body is rescued by Genkichi, a brilliant outcast inventor. Genkichi bestows upon Jintetsu a new, unbreakable steel body and a sentient sword, arming him to confront both the ruthless gang terrorizing his town and the mobster responsible for his father’s demise. Yet, amidst his transformation, Jintetsu grapples with the loss of Otsuki, the woman he left behind. Can steel armor truly shield him from the weight of his sorrow?
14. Totsuidekita Yome ga Aisouwarai Bakari shiteru
Enter the world of a samurai whose wife always wears a mysterious, seemingly fake smile in his presence. If you seek a serene and thought-provoking samurai manga, this one is sure to captivate your senses.
13. Laughing Under The Clouds
Set during the Meiji period, this series explores the construction of the unbreakable Gokumonjou prison in the center of a vast lake, designed to combat rising crime rates. The Kumou brothers, including eccentric family leader Tenka, wild yet honorable Soramaru, and mischievous Chuutarou, serve as the ferrymen to the prison. Unbeknownst to them, their true mission lies in preventing the resurrection of the deadly “Orochi,” a serpent-like beast that appears once every three hundred years. As the monster stirs again, the Kumou family must find strength in their smiles to confront this ancient evil beneath the ever-cloudy skies of Oumi.
12. Scarlet Empire: The Swordsman’s Journey Through Time
Kotetsu Miyasaka is a high school student with a natural ability for kendo. His brother Yayoi, who has always been under Kotetsu’s shadow, enlists at a different school to fight alongside Chihiro Kawase. During the fight, however, Kotetsu travels through time to the Bakumatsu era, the final years of the Edo period. He is caught by Souzou Sagara, the leader of a roushi band, and joins forces with him.
11. Drifters: Warriors Beyond the Veil
At the dawn of the Edo era, the samurai Toyohisa Shimazu is engaged in a violent conflict with the legendary Tokugawa dynasty in order to secure the Shimazu clan’s successful retreat.
After his whole unit is slaughtered, Toyohisa manages to single-handedly force the enemy to withdraw—at the risk of mortally injuring himself. He walks out of the battlefield depressed, only to find himself in a white corridor, where he is promptly slammed into a door. He awakens in a new world, where he meets “Drifters,” other renowned warriors who died and wound themselves in the same world. Together, they harness their past lives’ wisdom and experience to take over an empire and confront an unknown evil power intent on annihilating humanity.
10. Kaze Hikaru
In the turbulent Bakumatsu revolution, Sei Tominaga disguises herself as Seizaburo Kamiya, a young boy, to join the Shinsengumi and avenge her family’s tragic fate. A tale of valor, honor, and sacrifice unfolds in this gripping samurai saga.
9. Kubikiri Asa
There are few good stories in a prison world, and this is the world of Kubikiri Asa, the Shogun’s beheader and master samurai. The world is filled with wrath, greed, and bloodshed. A world filled with depravity and sin. If he can retain his calm, one man can make things right.
This is a story of epic proportions, of sword studies steeped in history and dreadful intent, of blood rivers, painful screams, bondage, torture, and the evil inherent in human failing. Samurai Executioner is a striking blend of darkness and fire, fine lines, and a fine man in the face of human decay, written by the acknowledged masters of the worldwide medium of manga.
8. Saraiya Goyou
Akitsu Masanosuke is a masterless samurai, but his naive, quiet character has caused him to be fired. He becomes a bodyguard for Yaichi, the charismatic head of a gang known as “Five Leaves,” because he is hungry and desperate. Masa begins to think that Yaichi’s goals are not what they appear to be while being troubled by the gang’s sinister activities.
7. Peace Maker Kurogane
Peace Maker Kurogane tells the story of Ichimura Tetsunosuke, a Choushu Domain boy who had to see his parents being slaughtered right in front of his eyes.
This is a manga that you should certainly check out. Ichimura Tetsunosuke, on the other hand, lacked the desire, force, and courage to eliminate whoever threatened Shinsengumi’s peace.
6. Shigurui
Tadanaga Tokugawa, Japan’s sadistic rulers, has ordered Japan’s first martial arts tournament with actual swords. The one-armed Gennosuke Fujiki fights the blind and lame Seigen Irako. Even his most devoted servants find the event a joke and the fighters’ disabilities an insult to their status.
5. Katanagatari: The Quest for Legendary Blades
Shikizaki Kiki, a skilled swordsmith, made 1000 blades long ago, and among his twelve last works, the legendary deviant blades stand apart. These swords are among the best in Japan, each with its own unique traits.
Forward several decades and you’ll find Yasuri Shichika and his older sister Nanami living on an isolated island.
Togame: A lady with long, white hair and the ability to strategize joins Shichika on a journey to acquire the twelve swords. They must engage in tough battles with the blade wielders while learning more about themselves and their true desires and goals.
4. Blade of the Immortal
Yaobikuni Manji is a legendary swordsman in feudal Japan, renowned as the “Hundred Man Killer” for murdering one hundred men. A nun implanted bloodworms in Manji’s body that can cure practically any wound. Soon after, Manji encounters Rin Asano, a 16-year-old girl who asks Manji to help her kill her parents.
3. Rurouni Kenshin
He was feared as the most vicious murderer of all the rebels when he was known as Hitokiri Battousai. In order to atone for the lives he murdered, Kenshin has pledged never to kill again.
Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai, continues to struggle to ensure that the principles he fought for are still worth the lives sacrificed to bring in the new era. The Meiji era has begun, but peace has yet to be achieved.
2. Gintama
Japan is abruptly overrun by alien monsters known as “Amanto” during the Edo era. Despite the samurai’s best efforts, the Shogun quickly sees that their efforts are hopeless and decides to surrender. This is the start of a tense relationship between the Shogunate and Amanto, which leads to a nationwide sword ban and the death of the samurai spirit.
One odd guy, however, wields a wooden sword and refuses to abandon his samurai title. Gintoki Sakata does different odd jobs around town to make ends meet now that his type is no longer needed. They manage the Yorozuya company with his self-proclaimed apprentice Shinpachi Shimura, the terrifying extraterrestrial Kagura, and a big dog named Sadaharu, often getting tangled up in all sorts of weird and amusing antics.
1. Vagabond
Shinmen Takezou is a wild, rough young man in 16th-century Japan. His combative behaviour has earned him the wrath and terror of his community. He and his best buddy Matahachi Honiden join the Toyotomi army, hoping for fame. The two buddies barely make it out alive at the Battle of Sekigahara.
Musashi Miyamoto is one of Japan’s most known swordsmen. The two friends enrol in the Toyotomi army, hoping for fame, but when the Toyotomi suffer a catastrophic loss at the Battle of Sekigahara at the hands of the Tokugawa Clan, the buddies barely make it out alive.
