5. Kensuke Nishida
The writer and artist of the manga series, I Am a Hero in Nagasaki, Kensuke Nishida is an up and coming mangaka. One of the three spinoff series of the I Am a Hero series by Kengo Hanazawa, I Am a Hero in Nagasaki follows a photographer Yamada. Suffering from a form of Anthropophobia, Yamada and his former classmate Nirei Aya try to live on Hashima Island, under threat by zombie and humans. Nishida is currently the artist on the Jagaaaaaan manga series.
4. Sakurai Gamon
Gamon is the illustrator and writer of the Ajin manga series. The original writer Tsuina Miura quit early in the manga’s creation and Gamon continued without him. Gamon an avid gamer loves to incorporate gaming references into his manga. Ajin is a seinen manga series that focuses on those resistant to death, Demi-Humans. Kai Nagai is killed during a traffic accident, he survives to reveal that he’s a demi-human. Kei must navigate a world that hates what he is.
3. Atsushi Okubo
Okubo is the author and artist of Soul Eater and Fire Force. He was an assistant for Rando Ayamine on the GetBackers series. He also created work for the Lord of Vermilion video game and character designs for Bravely Default. He won a contest at Square Enix’s magazine Gangan with his first series B.Ichi. He began Soul Eater in 2004, ending in 2013. In 2015 he began his current series, Fire Force.
2. Shinichi Sakamoto
One look at Sakamoto’s artwork you instantly know why he’s one of the best mangakas. The realism in his artwork is unreal. One of the manga series that illustrates his best work is Innocent and Innocent Rouge. The story is a dark seinen series focusing on a family of executioners in France during the French Revolution.
1. Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama is the one of, if not the greatest mangaka of all time. The creator of Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z manga series that collectively have sold over 300 million copies, Akira Toriyama is credited with popularizing Shonen. He’s also the inspiration for many of the manga artists I featured on these lists. Dragon Ball Super is his current series. His art style can be seen as simple and childlike. However, I think that’s what makes his art so impactful. Hirohiko Araki once said that Toriyama’s art style is best typified as “Realism and signification oppose each other like water and oil, but is possible to use both at the same time.”
Well, that’s all the mangaka artists that I considered among the best. I know that can’t possibly be ALL of them. Any suggestions of who can make a future top 5 mangaka list? Let me know.
3 thoughts on “The Final 5 Top Manga Artists (so far)”