Best full color manga

Key insights

• Several full-color manga series feature great art and worldbuilding, such as Nanbaka, Dragon Ball, and Also Spoke Rohan Kishibe.
• These visually powerful manga combine action, drama and humor to create unique and powerful stories in full color.
• Fans of manga classics like Yu Yu Hakusho and Akira can experience a new, vibrant reading experience in full color.

Full-color manga are hard to come by, but there are some series worth reading if fans know where to look. Across all genres and stories to tell, several series have incredibly good art, quality worldbuilding, and most importantly, great use of color for visual storytelling.

From a retired Yakuza trying to make the most of his new life as a husband to an all-time immortal classic that every manga fan should read at least once in their life. These full-color manga are a feast for the eyes for anyone who loves the eighth art.

Updated November 27, 2024 by Lucas Simons: With the latest developments in the manga and anime industry, we have seen many changes, including the increasing popularity of The Way of The Househusband and the reemergence of Dragon Ball thanks to the release of Dragon Ball Daima. Many fans look up to these manga and others wonder which full-color manga they should start reading. Well, we've rounded up a few additional suggestions to add to the list, including a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure spin-off, which has become one of Araki's best works and is also available in full color.

1 Nanbaka

A prison story with a satirical background

• First published date: October 13, 2013
• author: Futamata Shō
• Genres: Comedy, Action, Drama, Satire

Visually powerful, neat, polished art, and a strange but wholesome story of prison survival: these are the things readers should expect when reading this series, and let me tell you, the full-color version edited by V is tremendously good .

The combination of action, drama and silliness makes it quite unique, especially since the author keeps throwing in some references to shounen culture in the middle. Scene after scene, Futamata proves that he is a wild and brave artist, managing to create something truly impressive despite sometimes lacking direction. But that's part of the series' charm.

2 Dragon Ball

An all-time classic

• First published date:
• author: Akira Toriyama
• Genres: Action, Comedy, Shounen, Martial Arts

Dragon Ball and its follow-up series (Dragon Ball Z And Dragon Ball Super) have shaped entire generations with incredible adventures of bizarre characters written and designed by Akira Toriyama. I had the pleasure of reading it again after so many years, now in full color, and I must say: it brought back many memories of my childhood.

The truth is that Dragon Ball lasts forever, and as the torch passed from Toriyama to Toyotaro, the series has never been in better hands. With Dragon Ball Daima Now that the book has gained a significant number of new followers from the younger generation, perhaps this is a good time for readers to pick it up again, this time in full color.

3 Thus spoke Rohan Kishibe

A spin-off full of JoJo's authorial goodness

• First published date: July 7, 1997
• author: Hirohiko Araki
• Genres: Action, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Art

This canonical spin-off of the JoJo series is based on Diamon is Unbreakable, the first time we met Rohan Kishibe, a manga artist and author with the ability to see other people's thoughts, past, present, future and innermost desires read a book. When Araki created this series, he had to do so under strict editorial constraints in which he published his flagship product and could not directly call it a spin-off.

So he took inspiration from old detective and mystery series (particularly Hitchcock's work) and decided to make Rohan an omniscient narrator for the series. This gave the whole thing a very special and circuitous narrative that turned out to be amazing when combined with the colorful and very detailed art. Definitely worth a read if not because you're a fan of JoJo, maybe just to enjoy a great series.

4 The way of the househusband

A Yakuza becomes the perfect husband

• First published date: 02/22/2018
• author: Kōsuke Ōno
• Genres: Action, Comedy, Slice-Of-Life

The most dangerous Yakuza to ever roam the streets of Japan, known as the Immortal Dragon, is about to meet his maker when he is found and nursed back to health by an employee named Miko. Out of gratitude for saving her life, he decides to take care of her, but knowing nothing other than violence and housekeeping, he resorts to the latter and becomes the perfect househusband.

An incredibly hilarious story about a Yakuza trying to fit into the shopping cart-strewn lives of ordinary Japanese housewives, with a masterfully crafted sense of humor and many, many misunderstandings that spice up the plot. The way of the househusband The full-color version is worth reading as it highlights the vibrant new lifestyle of main character Tatsu, who takes on the role of a law-abiding citizen while retaining his own personality and fashion sense (i.e. he still dresses like a gangster). .

5 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

The epic of a family and their fight for justice across generations

• First published date: January 1, 1987
• author: Hirohiko Araki
• Genres: Shonen, Seinen, Action, Battle Manga, Fantasy

From burly Hamon user Jonathan Joestar to youngest Stand user Jodio Joestar, the JoJo family has evolved greatly over the course of the series. And that also applies to the incredibly bizarre fight scenes. Therefore, it is only fitting that this manga be read in color. With an unprecedented composition and overwhelmingly charged backgrounds JoJo's Bizarre Adventure The series is a must for every battle manga fan.

These series feature some of the most bizarre characters fans will ever see, and they carefully tread the fine line between satire and action drama in a unique and flamboyant style. Everyone JoJo The fan has their favorite version of the series, and every new reader is sure to find their own as they browse through this nine-part overarching saga.

6 Parasyt

They blend in with us, but they are here to replace us

• First published date: November 22, 1988
• author: Hitoshi Iwaaki
• Genres: Horror, Psychological, Action, Gore, Sci-Fi

If ever there was a more suitable manga to colorize, this would be it Parasyt. With a dark and gritty background design and a strong focus on body horror, this manga tackles some really gory themes. And while it's also quite philosophical and has deep and meaningful moments, it also relies heavily on its visual impact. It makes sense that a colored version of this series was created.

The strong bond between Shinichi (the MC) and Migi, a strange creature that sits in his right arm, is now depicted in its full glory, with soft pastel tones in the front and strong, sombre hues in the background. And of course there's plenty of crimson splatter throughout, although the gore content is moderate considering there are far more vicious series in this genre. In other words, Parasyt is ideal for horror fans who want to read in full color without losing too much of the atmospheric sense of doom that characterizes horror manga.

7 Yu Yu Hakusho

The story of a criminal with a strong sense of justice who becomes a supernatural detective

• First published date: 12/10/1992
• author: Yoshihiro Togashi
• Genres: Shonen, Action, Supernatural, Adventure

The life of a Japanese school delinquent with a heart of gold ends abruptly when he tries to protect a little boy from being hit by a car. He is brought back from limbo by Koenma and used as a spiritual detective and medium. Reimagined in full color, this supernatural action shonen looks more vibrant than ever. Some of the best scenes from Dark Tournament and Three Kings truly showcase the greatness of this all-time classic series.

Seeing Kurama's transformation in full color for the first time is breathtaking and shows the difference between his human and demonic sides. Kuwabara's battle against the sacred beast Byakko is another great moment that can be seen in a new light in full color. Yu Yu Hakusho There may already be its own Netflix adaptation, but nothing beats reading the original work page by page and experiencing the entire Togashi saga in color.

8 Akira

In a dystopian future, a government experiment goes terribly wrong

• First published date: December 20, 1982
• author: Katsuhiro Otomo
• Genres: Science fiction, dystopia, action, drama, tragedy, cyberpunk

Visually striking, breathtaking, eerie and a cautionary tale with a clear message: never lose control of your humanity or else. Akira is one of the most iconic manga of all time, depicting a dystopian cyberpunk future in which humanity has lost its morals to the point of no return. Amidst this corrupt society, a group of misfits fight for a lost cause, unaware that they are being manipulated by a sinister villain who wants only one thing: power beyond human limits.

Neo-Tokyo appears vibrant and gloomy at the same time, using abstract colors as a visual narrative device to complement the story's cyberpunk world-building, balancing the decay of society with the advancement of technology using the power of high contrast bright tones with matt, darker shades. Akira is a timeless masterpiece and worth reading for all fans of science fiction, cyberpunk and transhumanism.