A sports match feels like a concert. Every single person on that field, on that stage, has something specific to do. If they do it wrong, if they don’t focus on their task, everything will eventually crumble. For it to work like a well-oiled machine, every player has to do their job. When you’re reading these best sports manga, you will encounter drama, emotion, surprises, friendships, but you will also find characters who have done everything in their power to play their favorite sport. Sports manga are huge. If they’re not making an action anime, they’re making sports anime. I think they’re the next best thing to mac and cheese, because I grew up watching sports, and I love them. I also enjoy finding manga about sports that aren’t so popular. We’ve seen basketball, we’ve seen tennis, we’ve seen baseball. But what about skating? What about ballroom dancing? Competitive sports are all around the world, and it’s a joy to find them on-page as well. Be it as an anime or as a manga, sports make you feel so many different things. One minute you’re in shock because your favorite character just made the greatest play ever and the next you’re crying because they lost. If you want more similar content, check out this list about sports manga and anime. It follows Yoichi Isagi, a high school student, who decides to join the soccer program to lead Japan to a victory in the World Cup. Karuta is a very competitive sport. It’s also really beautiful. If you don’t know how this is played, karuta is a traditional Japanese card game that involves two players and a card reader. The players must clear the cards of their opponent’s board before they clear theirs. You’re wondering what the card reader is saying, right? They’re reading poems. And the players must find the ending of the poem first before their opponent. Ace of the Diamond is your typical story of boy leaves small town to go to the big city to train with the best. But what’s endearing about it is the characters who are introduced. Eijun Sawamura, a boy with a very unusual changeup pitch, wants to become the Ace of his high school team. But before that happens, he has trials to conquer and teams to beat. Crimson Hero follows Nobara, a 15-year-old girl with a passion for volleyball. When she transfers to Crimson Field High School expecting to play in their team, she finds out that the team has been disbanded! With the help of her sister and her friends, she manages to reinstate it and recruit some new players in the process. You see ballroom dancers start from a very young age, right? Not for Tatara Fujita. He fell in love with dancing in high school, but many say he’s already too old to find a partner. Watch Tatara learn to dance, compete, and find the future he has always wanted. This story is different than the rest in this list, because most of the other ones have a main character who already is very good in their sport. But when it comes to Tsukushi Tsukamoto, his character is very frail, weak, and doesn’t play well. But his determination will motivate his team to win championships. This story follows Sena and his football team at his high school. He gets recruited by the team’s captain because Sena knows how to run. And fast. But because they’re afraid other teams will want to take him away from them, they protect his identity by wearing a helmet with an eyeshield, so no one can recognize him while playing. Be part of Sena’s story and how he went from a nobody to a champion. On his first day of high school, Kenji Gion meets a tall guy named Iwashimizu. They both join the rugby team, even though Gion is on the short side. But rugby is a game where each player has a job to do. It doesn’t matter if they’re short or tall: if they don’t do it correctly, the team crashes down. Meet Maya in this adorable tale of partnership and dreams. When she put on the skates for the first time, she made an impression on a man who decides to scout her right there and then. He wants to make her Shun’s partner, but Shun refuses to do so. He has some secrets of why he doesn’t want a new partner, making it hard for Maya to achieve her dreams. It follows Yuki Machida, the manager of her school’s basketball team, who has a big crush on the captain. At the same time, there is Sho Naruse, a student who is a year her junior, who also decides to join the basketball team.
