Summary
When it comes to comics, manga, manhua, and any other similar medium, good art can go a long way. The story matters in the long run, but if the artist can deliver it with some great, evocative imagery, they can turn even the quietest moments in comics into a memorable one. Let alone the big, climactic scenes.
It’s a tricky thing to manage, especially on a tight deadline. Which is why many of manga’s most impressive displays of penmanship tend to be in the more mature genres like seinen and josei, where many strips are released monthly instead of weekly. But even in the more rapid-paced world of shōnen manga, readers can find some stunningly beautiful art, like in these standout strips.
1Blue Lock
Giving Readers Soccer In Style
It’s only fitting that the beautiful game has some beautiful art to go along with it.Blue Lockfocuses more on the inherent drama of soccerthan realism, like its contemporaries, which Yusuke Nomura emphasizes in his panels. Characters burn with auras as they approach the ball, their eyes flash as they spot their chance to strike, and they blaze with bad intent as they go after rival players.
Flavoring scenes with artistic license has been a part of sports manga since the days ofAshita no Joe. Though few do it with the aplomb and attention to detail thatBlue Lockdoes, with its dynamic use of shading and speed lines. It’s been compared toBleachin that it tries to make its scenes look as cool as possible, even if the story behind it is more rote by comparison.
2Dan Da Dan
Supernatural Phenomenon Drawn Phenomenally
Dan Da Danhas a host of inspirations, though given it’s a sci-fi horror strip about a UFO enthusiast/spook skeptic and a ghost hunter/alien non-believer discovering both are real, they’re ironically more down-to-earth. On top of using classic Japanese urban legends, readers can spot links toUltraman,Sadako Vs Kayako,and Junji Ito’s horror strips.
Having cut his teeth working as an assistant on artistic powerhouses likeChainsaw ManandHell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, it’s perhaps no surprise that Yukinobu Tatsu’s penmanship is equally on point. Its paranormal perils aren’t particularly pretty, often rivaling Ito’s more nightmarish creations. Yet they and the rest of the strip are rendered with such fine details, designs, and angles that they’re always a visual treat.
3Bakemonogatari
Gorgeous and Gruesome in Equal Measure
If readers didn’t get enough pretty-yet-horrifying imagery fromDan Da Dan, they’d get more fromBakemonogatari. Oh! great’s adaptation of Nisio Isin’s light novel also sees a seemingly ordinary teen taking on the supernatural, though it’s more focused on its scares and mysteries compared toDan Da Dan’s teetering between intentional scares and goofy comedy.
Which also means Oh! great’s monster designs are as impressive visually as they are stomach-churning. They’re Lovecraftian in that they’re hard to describe. They have to be seen to be believed. Yet they’re contrasted by some impressively arranged panels that bring out the mystery in its story, the drama in its scenes, and the beauty in its characters.
4Akane-banashi
Bringing Rakugo to Life
Some strips benefit from taking more artistic license with their storytelling approach. Otherwise,Akane-banashiwould be about a woman in a room telling stories. The titular Akane is following in her father’s footsteps as a rakugoka, someone who tells lengthy comedy stories with only their acting skills and a fan to evoke its action. It’s a traditional form of Japanese theater, albeit one with its own ups and downs, as the manga shows.
Yuki Suenaga’s art captures the domestic drama of Akane’s struggle to avenge her father’s expulsion from the Arakawa school. But it shines the most in its evocative imagery, turning Akane and her rivals into their rakugo characters as they speak. Ordinarily, it’s a cute manga with pretty artwork and designs. At its peak, it’s an artistic tour de force full of life and character that readers should check out.
5Fist Of The North Star
The Power of Soul in Manga
The artist behindFist of the North Star, Tetsuo Hara, popped up in the news recently whenhe gave his thoughts on AI artto GoetheWeb.jp. In short, he said AI art falters because it’s not “prepared to die.” It doesn’t struggle or suffer to make its art the very best it can be. Without that dedication, it has no soul, which is the opposite of Hara’s approach to art (“I want to please all the readers with a picture that has that soul in it”).
It’s a fitting outlook, given thatFotNSis all about struggle. The manga is infamous for its blood, violence, exploding heads, and evil villains who were already dead. Yet Hara depicted it all so cleanly, with nary an inked line going amiss, and a composition that brings out the drama in each scene perfectly. Whether it’s grisly or pretty, Hara’s art inFotNSshows plenty of soul in its details.
6Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Bizarre Yet Beautiful
Every artist’s style evolves, though some changes stick out more than others. For example, Hirohiko Araki’s work inJojo’s Bizarre Adventurehas changed so much over its 38+ year run it’s hard to imagine he’s the same guy behind both the loose approach to human anatomy inPart 1: PhantomBlood, and the more elaborate and proportional looks ofPart 7: Steel Ball Run.
Yet they all show how he mixes his influences. Readers can see where he took inspiration from Tetsuo Hara, classical sculptures, prog rock album covers, and Antonio Lopez’s fashion paintings, among others. Together, Araki blended those sources into works that show the dedication of a Hara piece, the flair of a fashion magazine shoot, and the bizarre look of a Roger Dean painting.
7Death Note
Manages to Look Dark in the Light
LikeDan Da DanandBakemonogatari,Death Notecontinues the trend of beautiful but scary art, as for a generation of anime-loving goths and gothic enthusiasts, Takeshi Obata’s style on the series was the one to go for. His Shinigami, particularly Ryuk, were as malevolent and death-metal as they looked, but his true monster was a normal guy with a fancy notebook.
Obata’s panels did a great job of capturingLight’s descent into megalomania, along with his growing paranoia. But his covers are also rich in detail, maintaining a dark atmosphere with their iconography (scythes, skulls, crosses), while often being brightly colored. All the while making sure Light sticks out from the crowd in his strait-laced uniform, an abnormal guy wearing the most average fit among his goth-chic supporting cast.
8Slam Dunk
All Thrills With No Frills
This list wouldn’t be complete without some Takehiko Inoue art. The man may be more famous in the West for the luscious looks of his seinen strip,Vagabond. But he’s more famous in Japan for producingSlam Dunk, which becamethepremier manga for basketball enthusiasts, and got many more readers to give the game a try.
UnlikeBlue Lock’s artistic license, Inoue stuck to the fundamentals of basketball, illustrating them to the best of his abilities to get the drama and storytelling out of the sport. Their dribbles, blocks, and slam dunks look powerful enough on their own thanks to Inoue’s realistic style. Not only did they look fantastic, but they also looked like something a player could put off if they put in as much effort as their characters.
