Over 300 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 15 Popular Manga Creators Reveal Their Favorite Series
Voting Rules
Vote up the creator favorites that surprised you the most.
One of the cool things about manga is that it exists on a continuum. Many of the famous mangaka whose works we love were inspired by earlier works. Without Akira Toriyama, we probably wouldn't have One Piece or Naruto. Without One Piece and Naruto, we might not have My Hero Academia.
For this list, we're bringing you the manga and anime creators whose works had that kind of influence. Whether you want to know a little more about the history of your favorite series or just find it heartwarming to see creators give credit where credit is due, there's a lot that's worth learning about.
Jujutsu Kaisen creator Gege Akutami got their first taste of manga through Bleach.In a joint interview with Bleach's creator Tite Kubo, they said:
"When I was in fourth grade, my older brother would always buy Weekly Shonen Jump. However, he never let me read the issues he bought since he was very possessive of his belongings. One day when he wasn’t around, I secretly opened an issue and it happened to be the one Bleach debuted in. That first chapter was so impressive, it made me realize just how incredible mangaka are. I’ve been hooked ever since."
This experience led them to not only write poetry about Bleach itself, but to eventually create their own manga which was heavily inspired by Bleach's themes.
Besides Bleach, they're also a big fan of Hunter x Hunter and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
If Hideaki Sorachi had never created Gintama, Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer might not exist either. In a touching note published in 2018, Gotouge gave Sorachi a shoutout. They said:
"Sorachi-sensei, thank you for your hard work. Gintama was the reason I decided to send my work to Jump. Thank you".
Both series do a great job of blending humor and drama, though Gintama leans much further into comedy than Demon Slayer does.
Sui Ishida is best known for his seinen manga Tokyo Ghoul. But his favorite manga is the shonen series Hunter x Hunter, which he deliberately modeled his own art style after. Though HxH is aimed at a younger audience than Tokyo Ghoul, it can still get pretty disturbing.
Ishida showed his love for Hunter x Hunter by writing a prequel that illustrated his interpretation of Hisoka's childhood. Togashi recognized the chapter, but it's not clear whether it counts as HxH canon. Either way, it's a clear sign of Ishida's devotion.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a surreal, bombastic series that's been running since 1987. Attack on Titan's creator Hajime Isayama, who was born the year it debuted, names it as one of his favorite series.
While the two series are different in many ways, both are known for unexpected twists, characters with wild powers, and settings outside of Japan.
Dragon Ball is perhaps one of the most influential shonen manga in history. Without it, we wouldn't have some of the more important classics of the medium - including One Piece. When asked about the manga that was most important to him, Eiichiro Oda said:
"I mirrored many traits and tropes for Luffy off of Son Goku. By far the manga that inspired me the most was Dragon Ball and I think the same could be said for many other mangaka. But the simple fact is, if there was no Dragon Ball, there would be no One Piece."
In 2014, Kohei Horikoshi burst onto the shonen manga scene with his wildly popular series My Hero Academia. His work was greatly influenced by other shonen manga. He's namedNaruto, One Piece, Akira, Tekkonkinkreet, and Boys on the Run as personal favorites.
According to Horikoshi, Naruto is the greatest manga ever made. It had a huge influence on both his childhood and on his work as a manga artist. Kishimoto responded to those compliments by praising Horikoshi's work.
While Horikoshi's highest praise seems to be for Naruto, he also expressed some serious love for One Piece. In 2002, long before he became a manga artist, Horikoshi submitted One Piece fanart to Usopp's Gallery Pirates, a segment that is published in each volume of the One Piece manga. His art appeared in Volume 23.
