Shōnen stories likeDragon Ball,My Hero Academia, and the like can be fun, but they can sometimes get old. Not every problem can be solved with a heavy punch, a power-up, and “MY FRIENDS!”.Seinen mangais aimed at teens and older readers and often tells stories with more mature themes and content.
It can cover many genres too, like fantasy (Berserk), sci-fi (Ghost in the Shell), or mystery thrillers (Erased). However, just as not every shōnen manga gets an anime, some seinen series get left behind on paper too. Whatever the reason for that, here are a few popular entries that currentlyhaven’t been adapted to animation.
Updated on Jul 06, 2025, by David Heath:In the time since this list was last updated, there hasn’t been any fresh news. All the old entries here are still print-only, or have been adapted to anything but anime. There are still plenty of likely candidates, likeChōjin XandSpirit Circle, but there’s always a chance a more left-field choice likeThe Old Frontier Knight Bard LoenorSolanincould get the nod.
This list has received a few more top seinen manga without anime adaptations, and it’s been rearranged in order of MyAnimeList (MAL)scores. In addition to helping readers gauge the entries' qualities, they also show how popular seinen manga can be with readers. Perhaps it’s because of its more mature focus, but their storytelling and art quality often come highly rated. This list’s best choices are as close to MAL’s perfect 10 score as they could be.
24Maka-Maka
MyAnimeList Score: 7.19
As gentle as some stories can be, seinen manga can be mature in other ways. This list has plenty of domestic dramas, psychological horrors, violent action stories, etc.Maka-Makainstead tells an adult story without shying away from adult content, so to speak. Created by Torajirō Kishi forPent-Japan Special, it’s about two women who, despite their differences, develop a strong bond with each other.
Nene has a love of fashion and likes to socialize, yet she’s also insecure and clingy. While Jun is a cocky artist who skips uni classes, smokes, and is a general delinquent. The two click over their shared interests and trust issues, but also in their contrasts, as Nene likes how forthright and independent Jun is, and Jun loves Nene’s approach to creativity. It’s a romance where the storytelling is as engaging as the scenes are titillating.
23Chōjin X
MyAnimeList Score: 7.41
Tokyo Ghoulcreator Sui Ishida’s other original manga started in May 2021 and has had an irregular schedule on theTonari no Young Jumpwebsite since then, alongside a brief run inWeekly Young Jumpfrom the end of 2021 to early 2022. So, chances areChōjin X’s lack of anime is due to a lack of material at the moment. There are only five tankobons released, with three in English, and more chapters waiting for collection.
The Chōjin are super-powered humans who have destroyed much of Japan, including Yamato Prefecture, which leads Azuma and Tokio to attempt to make a living. When the two are cornered by a Chōjin, they try taking a drug to turn themselves into superhumans. While it doesn’t work on Azuma, it does work on Tokio, who now has to learn how to use his powers against the other Chōjin while hiding them from his friends and family.
22The Old Frontier Knight Bard Loen
MyAnimeList Score: 7.57
If Guts' journey is still ongoing inBerserk,The Old Frontier Knight Bard Loenfollows a warrior whose journey is almost over. Bard Loen had developed a reputation as the People’s Knight, helping others and serving the noble Tersia Family for years. They want to reward him with riches and prestige but, with no family of his own save his students, Bard decides to retire and go on one last journey, seeking a quiet place to take his final rest.
Things aren’t quite that simple, as new threats turn up to challenge the Tersias and their daughter Aidra, whom Bard helped raise from birth. So, his last journey ends up beginning the start of a new adventure. For people burnt out on flashy isekai tales,Bard Loenwill be a relief. It has a little magic to spice things up, but it’s otherwise a mature, touching tale with realistic sword battles and intriguing world-building.
21I Am A Hero
MyAnimeList Score: 7.66
Drama is all well and good, but how about a horror story? Kengo Hanazawa’sI Am a Herois about Hideo Suzuki, a 35-year-old manga assistant suffering from low self-esteem and hallucinations. He feels stuck in a rut with no place in the world, just as the world ends. Japan is struck by a viral outbreak that turns people into homicidal cannibals. With only a shotgun in his hands, Hideo tries to escape Tokyo and the zombie-like hordes.
He meets some uninfected people along the way and learns the hard way what it takes to survive. It’s kind of likeThe Walking Dead, but it goes further as the virus does more than turn people into zombies. The series ran from 2009 to 2017 inBig Comic Spiritsand also had 3 spin-offs set in Osaka, Ibaraki, and Nagasaki. None of which became an anime. However, the prime series did become a live-action film in 2016.
20All You Need is Kill
MyAnimeList Score: 7.76
Hiroshi Sakurazaka and Yoshitoshi Abe’s light novelAll You Need is Killhas been adapted to nearly every medium except animation. Originally published in Super Dash Bunko in 2004, their work got turned into a manga byMoriarty the Patriot’s Ryōsuke Takeuchi andDeath Note’sTakeshi Obata, a Western graphic novel by Nick Mamatas and Lee Ferguson, and a Tom Cruise action movie, asEdge of Tomorrow.
Inspired by an online gamer recounting how they restarted a game after dying to improve their play, Sakurazaka’s story sees new United Defense Force soldier Keiji Kiriya die in a skirmish against alien invaders called Mimics. Except he then wakes up at the start of that day’s events. Caught in aGroundhog Day-esque time loop, Keiji has to find a way to break the cycle and live beyond his first day in battle.
19Blood On The Tracks
MyAnimeList Score: 7.98
Some fans might recognize this manga from SuperEyepatchWolf’s YouTube video essay “The Manga That Breaks People.” Others might recognize its creator, Shūzō Oshimi, as the one behind the equally grimFlowers of Evilmanga. Whether it’s one, the other, or both, people can expectBlood on the Tracksto be more chilling than its title lets on. All because Seiichi Osabe’s ordinary life takes a turn for the worse when he goes on a family hiking trip.
After his cousin Shigeru nearly knocks him off a cliff edge, his mother retorts by throwing him off a taller one when no one aside from Seiichi is looking. It becomes the first sign of a personality disorder that sees her become more obsessed with controlling her son under the guise of protection. The strip reached its climax on September 8th, 2023, so readers can now experience Seiichi’s struggle from beginning to end.
18Solanin
MyAnimeList Score: 8.21
Solaninran for a year inWeekly Young Sundayin 2005 and follows two university graduates wondering what to do with their lives. Meiko works as an Office Lady to pay off rent, while Taneda provides illustrations for a press company. Tired of the drudge, they take a chance on Taneda’s band to break their routine and embark on a more exciting, unpredictable future…with disastrous results. Like most of Inio Asano’s work, it never got turned into an anime.
However, it did get turned into a live-action movie in 2010. It was the breakout film for director Takahiro Miki, who managed to capture the strip’s feelings of melancholy and frustration in a convincing fashion. So, perhaps an anime version ofSolaninwould feel redundant by comparison. Miki also directed live-action versions ofAo Haru Ride,Love Me, Love Me Not,and, curiously enough, Robert A. Heinlein’s sci-fi novelThe Door into Summer.
17Eden: It’s An Endless World!
MyAnimeList Score: 8.22
Hiroki Endo’s sci-fi story ran inMonthly Afternoonfrom 1997 to 2008 and most of it made it westwards via Dark Horse Comics. While fellowMonthlystrips likeVinland Saga,Oh My Goddess!and evenYokohama Kaidashi Kikōgot animated series and OVAs,Eden: It’s an Endless Worldstayed in print and had to make do with critical acclaim from publications likeWizardmagazine andNewtype USA.
That said, its premise fits modern times better than the 2000s.Edentakes place in a world that’s been ravaged by the Closure Virus. 15% of humanity was killed off, and many more were left disfigured. Elijah Ballard is one of the few who are immune to the virus, and he has to grow up in a post-apocalyptic world where he has to oppose the multinational Propator Foundation and join mercenaries to save his family.
16Shiori Experience: My Plain Self and an Odd Old Man
MyAnimeList Score: 8.40
One of the topics seinen manga often deals with is the failure of big dreams. It’s something a lot of older readers can relate to, as they may have hoped to become star athletes, big-name actors, top scientists, etc., only to end up in a desk job, retail, or as a nameless researcher.Shiori Experiencetells a similar story of Shiori, a young girl whose band looked promising, but had their dreams of performing live dashed when her brother ran off to Tokyo to go solo, leaving Shiori with his debt.
A decade later, Shiori is now a teacher, still trying to pay off the rest of her brother’s debt. But hope is not lost when she bumps into the ghost of Jimi Hendrix! With his help, Shiori’s life is about to get more colorful and musical. He isn’t the only music legend to turn up, as Shiori has also met the posthumous likes of Kurt Cobain, Prince, Janis Joplin, and Brian Jones, a founding member of the Rolling Stones.
15Holyland
MyAnimeList Score: 8.45
IfOur Dreams at Duskis a little too sweet, this manga will give readers something with some edge. Kōji Mori’sHolylandran inYoung Animal, the same magazine that publishedBerserk, throughout the 2000s. Its lead character, Yū Kamishiro, is an outcast abused by his peers at school. Frustrated, he drops out and takes to the streets, where he feels more at home. There’s something about the lawless brutality that clicks with him. He sharpens his fighting skills, particularly one boxing-style strike, and makes a name for himself as the ‘Thug Hunter’.
As he gets stronger with each beaten competitor, he feels he’s getting close to his peak: his ‘Holy Land’. The series never got turned into an anime. Yet it did become a live-action TV drama—twice. Once in Japan for 13 episodes in 2005, then in Korea in 2012 for 4 episodes. Mori is now in charge ofBerserk, taking over for the late Kentaro Miura, so this would be a good strip forBerserkfans to check out to see how his storytelling compares.
