Mangas with global cultural impact
Cultural phenomenon mangas that have become global household names over the years. All of these series have defined or impacted the animanga culture globally, in one way or another. From international movie releases, live-action adaptations, and instantly recognisable titles, these are the mangas to read if you want to sound like you know what you're talking about. Mainstream? Starter pack? Maybe, but they're pop culture icons for a reason. Believe it!
Suggestions and discussions welcome!!
created by superllaine
last updated April, 2026
![ドラえもん 1 [Doraemon 1]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1182703676i/1315744.jpg)
Comments
So happy to see FMA here 🦾! It's my top anime and manga of all time 🤭. Great list, I'm deffo checking out the ones I'm unfamiliar with ♥︎♥︎!!
I have framed FMA fanart on my wall, all the manga, and the full series on DVD. Needless to say my wife and I both love the series.
That's so cool! My dad had the 2003 version on DVD so I watched it when I were quite young, and he showed me some of brotherhood about a year later. I will be getting my hands on all the manga, and hopefully be like yourself one day with my own physical FMA collection 🦾!
I was in middle school when it first released, so I grew up on the 2003 version. FMAB came out while I was in college. There are a few episodes from the 2003 versions I prefer to the newer anime, but I’m so glad they made an anime to follow the manga storyline.
Of course, FMA is a must on this list!! It's consistently in the Top 3 animes on myanimelist, and within the Top 10 for the manga category. At a glance, it gets overshadowed by a lot of its louder shonen friends, but it's actually the most consistently revered series ever, even up to this day. It's wonderful and I have so much admiration and respect for this absolute banger of a series 🥹💖
The way I was obsessed with Ouran High School Host Club and Fruits Basket when they first came out. 😭
it's a staple to the shojourney 🙂↕️ fun fact: I nvr finished ohshc bc i was too big of a HikaHaru fan 😔💔
Omg I liked Hikaru with Haruhi too! 😭
ouuu this is the peakiest list of peak manga i’ve ever seen 🤩🤩🤩
AAAAAAAA thank you!! I was a little worried about this one, I've seen a couple of manga lists around but I wanted to put together a list of series that people either will know or should know of!!
yes! you’ve covered both older and newer ones that have definitely made their impact
such an amazing list!! love seeing that both older but also more recent manga have made such an impact in the animanga world and that we get to see this genre evolve 🙂↕️
aaaaaa thank you!! recent mangas have been the more difficult ones to add to this tbh just because the bar for "impact" is higher now with the surge of anime culture popularity
I honestly think you've made a pretty good selection!! every one of these is pretty iconic
ooo love this!! may i make a few suggestions? 🫣 hunter x hunter, tokyo ghoul, chainsaw man, inuyasha, and nana?
of course!! I was actually considering all these too and told myself I'd add them when someone brings them up.
except for chainsaw man(csm), i think, and i would love to know your input on this! chainsaw man would fall under modern series for me (late 2010s). I'm just a bit more critical of how popular a modern series should be, to be considered a "global phenomenon". this is purely because the bar has been raised because of accessibility thanks to netflix. I can't tell if the very recent csm movie is a hit because anime is on the rise or because it really is just that good and impactful. I thought about this with frieren and dandadan too, but of course those two don't have global movie releases for additional support for their case.
no i agree with you! i was debating myself whether to include it and was mostly going off the fact it had an international movie release. i think it’s definitely made a mark and has been largely well-received but time will tell!
I added it! I was just discussing with my best friend about it and we do also think it's just uphill for it from here, with the movie's success. Hopefully anyway, so fingers crossed!
Oooh what a lovely list! Nostalgia hit me right into the face! 🥹
Aaaaaa, I'm so glad!! That's exactly what I was aiming for, for the classics!! Titles that remind you of your childhood/teenagehood before you even understood what animangas were (":
Hey, so the Evangelion manga and the Cowboy Bebop manga are both adaptations - the anime came first and the manga are basically just tie-in media. Both put their own spin on things and aren't, imo, the best reflections of the good qualities of either series.
Thanks for this shout!! I considered this too, actually, and it's why I refrained from putting in Spirited Away and Your Name. in here. Will take them out so it's more consistent! Curious on your take for Pokémon and would love your opinion. For that franchise, it's video games first, then manga, then anime. Do you think it should be kept here or nah?
I'd honestly keep Pokémon off it since its impact is probably more known as a video game series and TTRPG and it's always had the force of Nintendo behind it to propel its popularity. It's no doubt that the anime fueled its popularity in the US in the 90s but I think it would probably still be in league with Mario and such without the anime and manga.
Pokémon gets the boot, and on a toy-first technicality Digimon will too.
Ahhhh I’m just getting into manga so I can’t wait to start some of these!! Thank youu for such a great list 😮💨
If you need some recs, lmk!! This list has a variety of genre with different levels of accessibility, so if you need something narrowed down for picks I'm more than happy to point you to some!!
Would "Ranma 1/2" meet the requirements of this list? For me personaly it would fit right in because the whole list represents my childhood 🥰
you're so right, i've added it! it's not the rumiko takahashi I grew up with but I definitely heard about it growing up 🙂↕️
💜💜✨️✨️💜💜
amazing list, soooo glad to see fellow manga lovers 🫶 to many more gateway manga to come! a ton of these i’m guilty of watching the anime only but I would love to read through the entire list.
I admit I watched the anime rather than reading the manga with quite a few of these. Clearly I should go back and fix that!
