The Best Manga that Don’t Have an Anime (Yet)

RuriDragon is something of an iconic manga due to how it blew up on launch and then tragically vanished.

The story follows Ruri, a normal schoolgirl who wakes up one day to find she has horns poking out her head.

Her mother calmly explains that she's actually half-dragon, which comes with all sorts of hilarious complications.

While very much a comedy series, RuriDragon has a charmingly normal, slice-of-life story. Much of the series focuses on Ruri's positive relationship with her mother and friends, who all think she's super cool with her new abilities.

RuriDragon was released to universal acclaim back in June 2022, but then went on indefinite hiatus after just two months and a handful of chapters.

However, RuriDragon has finally returned this year! If the series can build enough chapters, this series will surely be lined up for some kind of anime adaptation.

Akiko Higashimura is a popular mangaka behind the cult classic anime Princess Jellyfish. However, many fans argue that her best work is this autobiographical tale about a young girl forging her manga career.

Kakukaku Shikajika follows a young Akiko Hayashi who has very detailed dreams about writing manga in high school and marrying her favourite voice actor.

However, joining an art class led by the hardline Kenzou Hidaka, who has no interest in manga, opens her eyes to new challenges.

Many readers see Blank Canvas as a more realistic and heartfelt version of the hugely popular shonen Bakuman.

Perhaps now is the perfect time for a new, female-led anime series about the hopes and realities many people experience in their relationship with manga and anime.

Blue Box is one of Shonen Jump's freshest series, combining a traditional sports story with teen romance.

The series follows Taiki, a middling badminton player, and his upperclasswoman Chinatsu, a popular basketball star.

A twist of fate forces Chinatsu to move in with Taiki's family as her parents leave the country. Taiki is determined to get closer to her by matching her ambition and getting himself to the nationals.

Blue Box has been nominated for various upcoming manga awards since it was first published in 2021. It has also garnered a strong international following on MANGA Plus.

Note that since this was written, a Blue Box anime has officially been announced!

There have been fans calling for an adaptation of Yotsuba to for years.

However, the mangaka Kiyohiko Azuma (who also created Azumanga Daioh) believes that the unique atmosphere of this charming slice-of-life would be lost in an anime, hence no adaptation yet for this great series.

The series follows the fun-filled adventures of Yotsuba Koiwai, a young girl living in a new city. The chapters follow her and her friends on various small adventures as the child discovers the world.

As you can imagine, it’s a story filled with all the charm and innocent laughs you would expect.

One of the most exciting seinen manga of the last few years, Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You offers an identity-shifting twist on the classic worker's romance with genuine adult leads.

Sasaki is a salaryman ground down by his work for an exploitative company. However, he finds salvation in the cheery demeanour of a cashier at the local supermarket named Yamada.

After arriving late and missing Yamada's shift, he is invited to the smoking area around the back of the store by Tayama, a confident and mischievous woman who noticed Sasaki's affection for the cute cashier.

Unbeknownst to Sasaki, Tayama and Yamada are the same person. Initially annoyed that Sasaki didn't recognise her without her uniform, Yamada decides to play on his obliviousness.

Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You won the Next Manga Award's Web Manga category in 2022, following in the footsteps of Kaiju No. 8, The Dangers in My Heart and Spy x Family, all of which have since received anime adaptations.

Boys love and girls love anime and manga are fairly common, but finding series that genuinely and compassionately deal with LGBTQ+ issues can be rare.

Shimanami Tasogare is one of the very best, and as Japan and the world opens up a little more, perhaps we’ll see this story given more light in future.

Our Dreams at Dusk follows Tasuku Kaname, a high-school student considering suicide due to fear of being exposed as gay. However, when he sees someone jump off a building and survive, he is knocked out of his thinking.

Tasuku ends up forming a relationship with the person, known as Anonymous – a non-binary individual that runs a meeting house for people with similar problems.

The series is an exploration of various issues that the LGBTQ+ community faces. With a host of characters from across the spectrum, this touching seinen manga shines a spotlight on lived experiences.

If you're a fan of over-the-top action comedies, this series is definitely worth checking out.

Kindergarten Wars revolves around the world's safest kindergarten where various prominent global leaders send their children. The school hires criminals as teachers to keep them safe, offering them reduced sentences if they can care for the kids.

The story primarily follows Rita, a former assassin who's mainly working at the kindergarten in the hopes of finding a boyfriend.

Kindergarten Wars perfectly blends cute character designs with heavy, blood-splattering action to create an awesome comedy. The series has drawn some comparisons to Spy x Family, partly because they're both produced by the famous editor Shihei Lin.

Could Shonen Jump+ be about to deliver us another heartwarming action comedy anime?!

This shoujo manga is a modern retelling of the classic fairytale with added supernatural elements. It’s a wonderful blend of romance and the supernatural that would make for a truly beautiful anime if ever created.

Tetsu Misato is a young, timid boy who takes a job as a cleaner in a famous mansion at the top of a hill. While there, he meets Shizu Karasawa, a young girl living alone in a small building at the end of the garden.

Tetsu and Shizu get to know each other, and Tetsu slowly learns about the mysterious illness that leaves Shizu confined to her building. When strange supernatural phenomena begin to happen to Shizu, Tetsu’s left wondering how much he really knows her.

The series is quite small, spanning only 26 chapters. That’s perhaps one reason why no anime has been created yet. Still, we can live in the hope that more great shoujo manga get adaptations in future!

Spirit Circle is another of those manga that is easy to overlook, but when you dig deeper, actually contains so much more than the sum of its parts.

This action-comedy follows Fuuta – a boy with a birthmark on his cheek who can see ghosts – and Kouko, a girl with a scar on her forehead accompanied by a ghost.

Kouko declares Fuuta to be her sworn enemy and attacks him with a weapon known as the Spirit Circle. After previous incarnations of himself flash before his eyes, Fuuta is tasked with discovering his and Kouko’s shared past to understand why they are enemies in the present.

The series was nominated for one of Japan’s biggest science-fiction awards in 2017 alongside the acclaimed and already adapted manga Erased.

Spirit Circle has been praised for its entertainment value but also a deep and complex plot that engages even the most experienced sci-fi readers.

There’s something special about romance stories that make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Umarekawattemo Mata, Watashi to Kekkon shitekuremasu ka (Will you marry me again if you are reborn?) is one of the best examples of this and would surely make for an incredible anime experience.

The story is told by an elderly couple as the husband, Toranosuke, is bedridden in a hospital. He and his wife, Kaoru, reminisce about their life spent in love with each other, from childhood sweethearts through to adulthood.

As their time nears the end, the question is asked, but they both know the answer is a resounding yes.

Many who have read this manga said that they cried after every chapter. You can’t help but feel this would make for a special 13-episode anime at some point in the future.

Related: Great Manga Guaranteed to Make You Cry