Best Seinen Mecha Manga

Highlights

• Mecha is a prevalent genre in anime, with popular franchises like Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion originating from anime originals.
• While mecha manga are rarer, there are still plenty of options available for fans who enjoy both mecha and manga.
• These mecha manga series offer unique takes on the genre, such as high school girl robots in Joshikouhei and a psychological thriller twist in Bokurano.

Many mecha stories originate from anime, with major mecha franchises like Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion starting as pure anime originals. Mecha is a big presence in anime, and seasonal anime watchers can expect to see a couple of shows a year representing the genre.

Mecha manga are much rarer in comparison, especially those that aren’t outright adaptations of mecha anime. Still, there are plenty of options for mecha fans who also like to enjoy manga. Here are the best mecha manga that fans may enjoy.

8 Front Mission: Dog Life & Dog Style

MAL Score: 7.30

• Written & illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki
• Published in Young Gangan
• 10 volumes

The United States of the New Continent and the Oceania Cooperative Union have spent the last twenty years in an uneasy cease-fire. Huffman Island is a territory owned by both powers, making the place especially tense once the threat of war begins to rear its head. Akira Matsuda is a journalist on Huffman Island, one of many who might have to deal with a coming war.

Front Mission: Dog Life & Dog Style is a mecha manga based on the first game in the Front Mission mecha RPG series. Fans of the games might enjoy seeing a different perspective on a familiar story and setting.

7 Joshikouhei

MAL Score: 7.46

• Written & illustrated by Jiro Matsumoto
• Published in Monthly Comic@Bunch
• 7 volumes

Forced to deal with an interdimensional threat, humanity begins deploying the cutting-edge Assault Girls – giant robots that look exactly like high school girls. The soldiers who pilot the Assault Girls are a mix of personalities, and every second spent in them erodes their minds more and more.

Joshikouhei is a bizarre take on the mecha concept, with the robots looking like high school girls instead of the usual mecha designs. It’s good fun for those who want something outside the usual norm, though it is quite explicit as well.

6 Atom: The Beginning

MAL Score: 7.52

• Written & illustrated by Tetsuro Kasahara, supervised and concept work by Tezuka Productions, Makoto Tezuka, and Masami Yuuki
• Published in Monthly Hero’s and Comiplex
• 19 volumes

Umataro Tenma and Hiroshi Ochanomizu are brilliant students from Nerima University, who are working together on artificial intelligence. They manage to make a robot with a personality, but their laboratory lacks the funds for further research. To gain funding, they decide to have their new robot participate in Robot Wrestling.

Atom: The Beginning is a story posited as a prequel to the legendary Astro Boy series written by Osamu Tezuka. While the series has plenty of homages to the original series, it slowly starts to diverge from the original timeline, evolving into a different narrative.

5 Shin Mazinger Zero

MAL Score: 7.59

• Written by Yoshiaki Tabata & illustrated by Yuuki Yugo; original story by Go Nagai
• Published in Champion RED
• 9 volumes

While researching the various uses of “Japanium” and the Photon Energy it releases, Juzo Kabuto’s lab is attacked by the evil Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura. To protect his lab against their robot, Juzo sends his grandson Kouji out in Mazinger Z to defeat them.

Mazinger Z is the foremost father of the super robot genre, and Shin Mazinger Zero is a manga rewritten as a companion to a remake of the original anime known as Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact! Fans of mecha anime should check this series out to experience a bit of the genre’s history.

4 Knights Of Sidonia

MAL Score: 7.72

• Written & illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei
• Published in Monthly Afternoon
• 15 volumes

Nagate Tanikaze trains hidden away in a section of the great ship Sidonia, one of many ships carrying the remnants of humanity. When he is discovered, he is selected to be a Garde pilot to protect the ship from the Gauna, a race of shapeshifting aliens that have plagued humanity for centuries.

Knights of Sidonia is yet another science fiction adventure from the mind of Tsutomu Nihei, otherwise known as the creator of Blame! Fans of unconventional mecha stories with a side of romance should give this series a try.

3 Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt

MAL Score: 7.80

• Written & illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki
• Published in Big Comic Superior
• 22 volumes

During the One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Republic of Zeon, a storm brews in the Thunderbolt sector, a part of space littered with debris and home to frequent electrical discharges. As the battle between the Federation and Zeon grows worse, a rivalry forms between Federation soldier Io Fleming and Zeon sniper Darryl Lorenz.

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is a mecha manga set in Gundam‘s Universal Century. It is an original story not written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, but fans of the Universal Century should still enjoy this hectic space war manga.

2 Bokurano

MAL Score: 8.07

• Written & illustrated by Mohiro Kitoh
• Published in Monthly Ikki
• 11 volumes

While at a summer camp, fifteen children discover a strange man living deep within a cave. He asks the children if they want to play a game, and shows them a giant robot. The children accept the task of piloting the robot and fighting against mighty opponents, not knowing what price they’ll pay.

Bokurano is a psychological thriller disguised as a mecha manga. While climactic battles against mighty creatures are a big part of the story, the manga also focuses on the mentality of the various pilots as they get ready to pilot the robot.

1 Neon Genesis Evangelion

MAL Score: 8.58

• Written & illustrated by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
• Published in Monthly Shonen Ace and Young Ace
• 14 volumes

Shinji Ikari is called in by his father, Gendo Ikari, to pilot the Eva Unit 01 against the invading angels that are threatening the peace of Tokyo-3. Shinji is reluctant to obey his estranged father, but when he sees that another’s life is on the line, he resolves to get in the robot.

The Neon Genesis Evangelion manga is an adaptation of the original anime series. Fans of the original anime might check this manga adaptation out to see what has been changed or done differently.