Naoki Urasawa has created some of the greatest manga of all time, but with so many amazing series, where do you start—or what should you read next? I’ll break down every Naoki Urasawa manga released in English, share what I love about each (spoiler-free), and help you find the series that sound most interesting to you.
If you love deep dives like this, be sure to check out the Junji Ito Manga Guide and Inio Asano Manga Guide if you are interested in their works as well. And if you prefer video and would like an inside look at all of Naoki Urasawa’s manga, check out my guide on YouTube below.
Before we get into each series, what is it that makes Naoki Urasawa one of the best creators?
First, he’s a master storyteller. His pacing is deliberate yet gripping—he guides you without spoon-feeding every detail, giving just enough to keep you intrigued while still leaving you guessing until the very end. I do want to note that his works often start with a slow burn, taking their time to set the stage and develop characters—but trust me, the wait is always worth it. His stories pay off and his ability to masterfully craft twists and turns keeps his stories interesting and unpredictable. When it comes to reveals, he is one of the best.
What I love most, though, is how deeply researched and lived-in his worlds feel. He grounds his stories in real locations and historical settings, making them feel authentic. His characters are just as believable—flawed, deeply human, and emotionally complex in a way that invests you in their stories.
Urasawa is best known for his suspenseful, mystery-driven series, but he’s also a master of sci-fi. Whether he’s exploring artificial intelligence, a deadly game of cat and mouse between a doctor and a killer, a group of kids unraveling a conspiracy, or a young girl caught in a kaiju mystery, his complex themes, rich backdrops with personal, character-driven stories are one’s I always look forward to reading.
On top of that, he masterfully weaves different timelines together, showing how the past influences the future and every action has a ripple effect. Cause and effect is often a core theme in his works.
His series often revolve around pivotal moments—both in his characters’ lives and the world around them. They face impossible odds, wrestle with inner demons, and deal with the weight of their choice, and many of his series have a post-war backdrop. That emotional depth, combined with his intricate stories and characters, is what makes Urasawa one of the best of the best.
Now that we’ve talked about what makes Urasawa’s works so special, let’s dive into his manga. He has seven titles released in English so far—20th Century Boys, Monster, Pluto, Asadora!, Master Keaton, Mujirushi, and Sneeze: Naoki Urasawa Story Collection—all published in the U.S. I’ll be going through each one spoiler-free and sharing who I think they’re best suited for.
20th Century Boys
20th Century Boys and its sequel 21st Century Boys has everything I love—doomsday cults, giant robots, and conspiracies—so I had a feeling I’d enjoy it, but I didn’t realize just how much. Years later, after finishing it, it’s still one of my all-time favorite manga.
While it’s a sci-fi story with out-of-this-world elements, it feels incredibly real thanks to its characters. I’ve always loved stories about a group of friends unraveling a mystery, like It, but what really makes those stories work is the group dynamic. If you’re a fan of It or The Goonies, you’ll probably love 20th Century Boys because the cast is incredible.
The story follows an adult cast who experienced something unbelievable as kids, and because of that, the series jumps through different timelines. When done poorly, this could be confusing, but Urasawa structures it in a way that makes everything easy to follow while making the mystery even more thrilling and impactful.
If you love twists, interesting mysteries, and stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, 20th Century Boys, which you can collect via the singles or the Perfect Editions is a must-read. But if you’re looking for something even darker with a psychological thriller twist, then Monster may be more for you.
Monster
Monster is one of manga’s best psychological thrillers that follows a deadly game of cat and mouse between neurosurgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma and a true monster. But beyond that, it’s about people coming together to right wrongs, overcoming inner demons, and how even the smallest choices can have unimaginable consequences.
Framed for murder by the very person he saved, Dr. Tenma is on the run from the authorities while trying to uncover the truth about the monster he once operated on. Like all of Urasawa’s works, Monster masterfully weaves multiple timelines together, showing how the past shapes the future and how each event connects like pieces of a puzzle.
The series takes its time building up, but every detail has a purpose. Urasawa’s pacing keeps you constantly engaged, dropping just enough information to pull you in while keeping you guessing until the very end. And while Monster is a thriller at its core, it also explores deeper philosophical and psychological questions—what truly makes someone a monster? The person themselves, or the ones who created them?
It’s one of the greatest mystery and psychological manga ever released and an absolute must-read, especially if you enjoy series like Death Note or the manhwa Bastard. You can collect Monster via the Perfect Editions now.
If you want to learn more, check out the full spoiler-free review of Monster.
Pluto
While Monster is a deep psychological thriller, Pluto takes Urasawa’s storytelling into the realm of sci-fi. Pluto is Naoki Urasawa’s take on Astro Boy’s The Greatest Robot on Earth arc—and it’s one of my top sci-fi manga to date. And if you’re wondering if you can pick this up without having knowledge about Astro Boy, you definitely can.
So at first, Macoto Tezuka—son of Osamu Tezuka, the Father of Manga—rejected Urasawa’s proposal. But after meeting him, he agreed—on one condition: Urasawa had to match his father’s genius and create something entirely new. And that’s exactly what he did.
Pluto transforms the classic story into a gripping mystery where the world’s greatest robots are being hunted down by an unknown killer. But instead of following Astro Boy—known here as Atom—the story focuses on a robot detective whose emotions and interactions make him feel deeply human.
Urasawa takes Astro Boy’s themes of human-robot relationships and pushes them even further, exploring the discrimination robots face and what happens when the line between human and machine is blurred. In a world shaped by war, Pluto is a heartbreaking, thrilling, and thought-provoking read that questions what it truly means to be human.
While it’s a respectful retelling, Pluto also breaks the mold, offering something both familiar to Astro Boy fans and entirely fresh. It’s one of the most striking and unforgettable sci-fi manga ever made. Best for fans of: Blade Runner, Alita, Origin, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, and sci-fi stories that explore AI and what it means to be human.
Asadora!
Following Pluto, we have Naoki Urasawa’s latest ongoing series, Asadora!, a mysterious adventure with a tone unlike anything he’s done before. Like much of his work, it highlights ordinary people doing extraordinary things, but this time with a more coming-of-age feel.
The story starts by foreshadowing a major event in Tokyo, then jumps back to 1959, where we meet Asa, a young girl growing up in Port Nagoya. Overlooked in her large family, she’s determined to prove herself. But when a typhoon strikes, she crosses paths with Kasuga, a former pilot-turned-burglar, leading to an unlikely partnership.
Asadora! is part mystery, part historical fiction, and part kaiju story, all set in post-war Japan. The war’s impact lingers—not just on veterans like Kasuga, but also on younger characters like Shōta, a boy pressured to achieve the Olympic dreams his family lost. Urasawa’s strength in character writing is on full display, and while the story explores heavy themes, Asa’s compassion and optimism make this series feel warm and there are many heartwarming moments in this one as well.
The artwork is stunning, from detailed landscapes to expressive characters, with beautiful colored pages at the start of each volume. While Asadora! is still ongoing, it’s already shaping up to be one of his best stories with a great cast, and knowing Naoki Urasawa, there are sure to be plenty of twists ahead.
Master Keaton
This next one, Master Keaton is a bit different from Naoki Urasawa’s other works. It’s more episodic and academic than his other works, which is something to keep in mind, but it’s also one of his more enjoyable, albeit specific, works, blending mystery-solving and adventure with a touch of Indiana Jones.
The story follows Taichi Hiraga Keaton, an insurance investigator with an unconventional background—he’s the son of a Japanese zoologist and an English noblewoman, educated in archaeology, and a former SAS operative. His unique skill set allows him to travel the world, uncovering buried secrets, solving cases, and outmaneuvering criminals. Each chapter introduces new places, people, and customs, making it feel more like a travelogue-style adventure rather than a single, overarching narrative like Monster or 20th Century Boys.
As with Urasawa’s works, the volumes are beautifully designed, featuring glossy map details and gold text, making them stand out on the shelf.
Whether or not Master Keaton is for you depends on how much you enjoy Keaton himself and his adventures. If you’re into well-researched series, history, archaeology, and a protagonist who teaches as much as he investigates, it’s worth checking out.
Sneeze
Sneeze by Naoki Urasawa, a short story collection featuring eight stories.
I personally love short story collections like this—quick, self-contained ideas that feel like bursts of creativity. Naoki Urasawa himself describes them as a sneeze—short, spontaneous, and unexpected. While I wouldn’t recommend Sneeze for newcomers to his work, if you’re already a fan of Urasawa, it’s a great collection that gives insight into him as a creator.
Some stories, like The Old Guys and Musica Nostra, feel personal—musing on his love for folk music and how manga artists listen to music while they work. Others feel like classic Urasawa—like Throw Toward the Moon!. It has his signature mix of heart and mystery.
What makes Sneeze special is the commentary at the end, where Naoki Urasawa reflects on his inspirations—kaiju, superheroes, slapstick comedy, and his love for the 60s and 70s. It really does feel like a collection of everything that shaped him as a storyteller, making it a great read if you are an Urasawa fan.
Mujirushi
After Sneeze, a collection of Urasawa’s short stories, we have Mujirushi, which is one of his shortest works at just 264 pages, collected in a single volume.
It follows Kamoda, a well-meaning but hapless man who’s always looking for an easy way out. When a tax audit wipes him out, his wife leaves for a luxury cruise without him or their daughter, Kasumi. Desperate to bounce back, Kamoda throws his money into a business selling masks of a U.S. presidential candidate, only for the election to take an unexpected turn, leaving him drowning in debt and stuck with a warehouse full of useless masks.
That’s when he crosses paths with the Director, an eccentric art collector who offers him a chance to turn his luck around. From there, Mujirushi takes a sharp turn into a bizarre, high-stakes adventure filled with Urasawa’s signature suspense—but this time, with a more whimsical, offbeat tone. Despite being short, there’s a lot packed into its 264 pages. It moves quickly, and at times, it does feel rushed, but given Kamoda’s frantic situation, this whirlwind pacing makes sense.
The payoff isn’t as strong as Monster or 20th Century Boys, and it doesn’t quite have the time to flesh out its ideas in the way his other series do, but I was still impressed with how everything tied together in the end.
I wouldn’t recommend Mujirushi as a first Naoki Urasawa manga, but if you’re already a fan of his manga and want to experience something different from him, it’s worth checking out.
Best Naoki Urasawa Manga for Beginners
After reading all of Urasawa’s series and having time to sit with them, I think Pluto is the best place to start if you are completely new to his series. At just 8 volumes, it’s a short yet densely packed series that distills everything that makes Urasawa such a master of storytelling.
It’s a mystery-driven, emotionally powerful narrative that blends philosophical depth, complex character work, and political intrigue, all set against the backdrop of war and exploring interesting concepts, like artificial intelligence.
Despite its length, Pluto never feels rushed—it’s complex, suspenseful, and hits just as hard as Monster or 20th Century Boys. In my opinion, it’s the perfect gateway into his works.
That said, Monster and 20th Century Boys are must-reads if you want the full Naoki Urasawa experience.
- If you love psychological thrillers or intense cat-and-mouse games, go with Monster. It’s his darkest, most suspenseful work, featuring one of the best hero-villain rivalries in manga. Dr. Tenma is an amazing protagonist, but it’s the antagonist—one of the most chilling and enigmatic figures in all of fiction—that truly makes this story unforgettable. This series is collected in 9 Perfect Editions (18 volumes in total).
- If you prefer sprawling conspiracy stories with a group of individuals working to unravel a deep mystery, 20th Century Boys is the way to go. It seamlessly shifts between past and present, using its multiple timelines to build an intricate, large-scale story that’s as exciting as it is emotional to read. The series is available in 11 Perfect Editions.
If you’re hesitant about committing to a long series, Pluto is an my recommendation—it gives you everything Urasawa excels at in a compact yet deeply satisfying way. But if Pluto doesn’t hook you, please don’t stop there. Both Monster and 20th Century Boys are well worth the investment, and once you get into them, I hope you’ll see why Naoki Urasawa is one of the greatest storytellers in manga.
If you enjoy those three, definitely dive into his other series—Sneeze, Master Keaton, Mujirushi, and of course, his latest Asadora!—for more if they sound interesting to you.
Naoki Urasawa is one of manga’s best, creating stories that, while they take time to build, are some of the most rewarding you’ll experience. His works explore human nature through a lens only he can, and he’s created some of the best series in manga. I only hope we get more of his works in English—especially Billy Bat, which deserves a release.
If you love deep dives like this, be sure to check out the Junji Ito Manga Guide and Inio Asano Manga Guide if you are interested in their works as well.
