The best full color manga

Key things

• Several full-color manga series feature great art and world-building, such as Rohan Kishibe's Nanbaka, Dragon Ball, and Then Spoke.
• These visually powerful manga combine action, drama, and humor to create unique and compelling stories in color.
• Fans of classic manga like Yu Yu Hakusho and Akira can experience a new vivid reading experience in full color.

Full-color manga is hard to come by, but there are series worth reading if fans know where to look. For all the genres and stories that can be told, several series have incredibly good art, high-quality world-building, and most importantly, great use of color for visual storytelling.

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

Updated on November 27, 2024, Lucas Simons: With the latest developments in the manga and anime industry, we've had a lot of changes, among which we can see the rise in popularity of The Way of The Househusband and the re-emergence 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 come up with a few more designs to add to the list, including 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 Setting

• Date of first publication: October 13, 2013
• Author: Futamata Shō
• Genres: Comedy, Action, Drama, Satire

Visually strong, slick, 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 V-edited full-color version is tremendously good.

The combination of action, drama, and goofiness makes it something unique, especially when the author keeps mixing in some Shounen culture jabs in the middle. Scene after scene, Futamata proves that he is a wild and daring artist, and can create something truly impressive, even if he sometimes lacks direction. But that's part of the show's charm.

2 Dragon Ball

An all-time classic

• Date of first publication:
• Author: Akira Toriyama
• Genres: Action, Comedy, Shounen, Martial Arts

Dragon Ball and his subsequent series (Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super) have marked generations with the incredible adventures of quirky 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 is eternal, and with the torch passing from Toriyama to Toyotaro, the series has never been in better hands. WITH Dragon Ball Daimo is garnering a significant new following among younger generations, perhaps now is a good time for readers to pick it up again, this time in full color.

3 Thus spoke Rohan Kishibe

Spin-Off full of authorial JoJo goodness

• Date of first publication: July 7, 1997
• Author: Hirohiko Araki
• Genres: Action, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Art

This canon spin-off of the JoJo series is derived from Diamon is Unbreakable, when we first met Rohan Kishibe, a manga artist and writer with the ability to tap into other people's minds, their past, present, future, and innermost desires, such as reading a book. When Araki created this series, he had to do so under the strict measures of the editorial group where he published his flagship product, and he could not directly call it a Spin-Off.

So he took inspiration from old detective and mystery series (especially Hitchcock's work) and decided to make Rohan the omniscient narrator of the series. This gave it quite a concrete and circular story, and that, combined with the colorful and highly detailed art, turned out to be amazing. Definitely worth a read, if not a JoJo fan, maybe for the sole pleasure of enjoying a great series.

4 The husband's journey in the household

Yakuza becomes the perfect husband

• Date of first publication: 22/02/2018
• Author: Kosuke Ohne
• 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 a mercenary named Miko finds him and heals him. In appreciation for saving her life, he decides to take care of her, but knowing nothing but violence and housekeeping, he goes after the latter and becomes the perfect house husband.

An extremely hilarious story about a Yakuza trying to fit into a shopping cart riddled with the lives of ordinary Japanese housewives, with a masterfully crafted sense of humor and lots and lots of misunderstandings that add spice to the plot. The husband's journey in the household The full-color version is worth a read as it highlights the lively new lifestyle of protagonist Tatsu, who takes on the role of a law-abiding citizen while maintaining his own personality and sense of fashion (aka still dressing like a gangster).

5 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

An epic about a family and their fight for justice for generations

• Date of first publication: 1-1-1987
• Author: Hirohiko Araki
• Genres: Shonen, Seinen, Action, Battle-Manga, Fantasy

From the bulky Hamon user Jonathan Joestar to the youngest stand user Jodia Joestar, the JoJo family has evolved significantly throughout the series' continuity. And so are his incredibly bizarre fight scenes. So it's only fitting that this manga be read in full color. With a unique composition and a tremendously charged background JoJo's Bizarre Adventure the series is a must-read for any fighting manga fan.

Featuring some of the most unique characters fans will ever see, these series carefully walk the fine line between satire and action drama in a unique and flamboyant style. Each JoJo fan has their favorite iteration of the series, and every new reader is sure to find their own as they scroll through this nine-volume overarching saga.

6 A parasite

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

• Date of first publication: 11-22-1988
• Author: Hitoshi Iwaaki
• Genres: Horror, Psychological, Action, Gore, Sci-Fi

If ever there was a more appropriate manga to color, this is it A parasite. With a grim and dark world background design and a heavy focus on body horror, this manga deals with some seriously gory themes. And while it's also quite philosophical and has deep and meaningful moments, it's also heavily reliant on its visual impact. It makes sense that a color version of this series was produced.

The strong bond between Shinichi (MC) and Migi, the strange creature ensconced in his right arm, is now shown in its full glory, with pastel soft tones in the foreground and strong somber hues in the background. And of course, there's plenty of crimson splatter everywhere, though its gore content is moderate considering there are much more sinister series in the genre. in other words A parasite it's perfect for horror fans who want to read in full color without losing too much of the atmospheric sense of doom that's so characteristic of horror manga.

7 Yu Yu Hakusho

The story of a delinquent with a strong sense of justice who became a supernatural detective

• Date of first publication: 10-12-1992
• Author: Yoshihiro Togashi
• Genres: Shonen, Action, Supernatural, Adventure

The life of a Japanese school delinquent with a heart of gold comes to an abrupt end when he tries to protect a little boy from being hit by a car. Koenma brings him back from limbo and designates him as a spiritual detective and medium. Remastered in full color, this supernatural action shonen looks more alive than ever. Some of the best scenes from the Dark Tournament and the Three Kings arc now truly showcase the magnificence 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 demon side. Kuwabara's fight against the sacred beast Byakko is another great moment that can be seen in a new light when read in full color. Yu Yu Hakusho it may already have its own Netflix adaptation, but there's nothing better than 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 horribly wrong

• Date of first publication: 20/12/1982
• Author: Katsuhiro Otomo
• Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Action, Drama, Tragedy, Cyberpunk

A visually stunning, breathtaking, ominous and cautionary tale with a clear message: never lose your grip on your humanity or anything else. Akira is one of the most iconic manga of all time, depicting a dystopian cyberpunk future where humanity has lost its morals to the point of no return. In the midst of this corrupt society, a group of misfits fight for a lost cause, unaware that they are being manipulated by a sinister villain who desires only one thing: power beyond human possibility.

Neo-Tokyo feels vivid and dark at the same time, using abstract colors as a visual storytelling device to complement the story's cyberpunk world-building, balancing the decay of society with the advancement of technology through the power of high contrast. light tones with matte darker shades. Akira is a timeless masterpiece worth reading for all fans of sci-fi, cyberpunk, and transhumanism.