Most manga fans are familiar with Weekly Shonen Jump, which has been running strong since 1968 and has shaped much of modern anime culture. The magazine is home to global juggernauts like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, and My Hero Academia. Its stories often lean into fast-paced action, flashy power-ups, and iconic rivalries that have helped define what shonen means for millions of readers worldwide. But while Jump tends to dominate the spotlight, Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday has quietly built a legacy of its own. Running since 1959, it takes a different approach. Its series often grow over time, while characters mature and plotlines evolve at a natural pace.
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Over the years, it has introduced readers to unforgettable stories about everything from teenage detectives to quiet sports journeys. These manga were written to be timeless classics, rather than catering to trends or chasing quick sales. If you’re ready to explore outside the usual lineup of shonen manga, this list of the best Weekly Shonen Sunday manga is a great place to start. Each of these ten manga has earned its place here through strong writing, memorable characters, and a kind of quiet excellence that defines Weekly Shonen Sunday.
10) Psychic Squad
Psychic Squad ran for over 16 years and slowly evolved into something much deeper than its lighthearted start. The story focuses on three young girls with powerful psychic abilities who work under a government agency trying to manage superpowered individuals. At first, it plays like a quirky action comedy filled with jokes and over-the-top antics. But as the story progresses, it starts asking harder questions.
It explores how society treats people who are different and what happens when power is both a gift and a burden. The characters grow up in real time, and the shift from childhood mischief to serious emotional stakes feels natural. Psychic Squad keeps its charm but never stays in one place for too long. It is funny, thoughtful, and unexpectedly moving by the time it reaches the finish line. And for readers who stick with it, the payoff is absolutely worth it.
9) The Law of Ueki
The Law of Ueki is a battle manga that does things a little differently. It starts with a middle schooler named Ueki who is chosen to represent a candidate in a bizarre tournament where the winner becomes the next god. Each contestant is granted a strange ability. Ueki’s power is that he can turn trash into trees. It sounds ridiculous, but the way he uses it is anything but.
This series is all about creative thinking and quiet conviction. Ueki is not flashy or loud, but he is always clear on what is right and wrong. The fights are strategic instead of explosive, and the story keeps raising the stakes without losing its sense of humor. What makes it work is how honest it feels. It is silly, sure, but it never talks down to you. This key component makes The Law of Ueki the kind of series that surprises you with how smart and heartfelt it really is.
8) Hayate the Combat Butler
Hayate the Combat Butler is the kind of series that refuses to be boxed into one genre. It begins with Hayate Ayasaki, a teenager left with a massive debt after being abandoned by his parents. By chance, he ends up working as the personal butler for Nagi, who is a wealthy girl with a wild imagination. What follows is part romantic comedy, part action spoof, and part slice-of-life chaos with constant surprises.
At first read, the manga feels like pure comedy. The story pokes fun at anime clichés and never shies away from absurd setups. But over time, it grows into something more. Characters start to evolve, their feelings shift, and you begin to see the weight behind the humor. Hayate the Combat Butler might seem like a light read, but it finds a way to slip in real heart when you least expect it. It is clever, unpredictable, and surprisingly emotional.
7) Be Blues!
Be Blues! ran for over a decade and built something pretty special in the world of sports manga. It follows Ryuu Ichijou, a promising young soccer player who suffers a major injury just as his career is taking off. But what could have been the end of his dream becomes the start of a longer, tougher journey. From rehab to rebuilding his skills, Ryuu works to return to the pitch and prove he still belongs at the top.
What makes this series stand out is its quiet patience. It does not rush the comeback. You feel every step with Ryuu through his doubts, his grit, and the pressure to perform in a world that moves fast. The soccer is realistic, but the heart of the story is in the relationships and the slow burn of personal growth. If you are looking for a grounded, long-haul sports story, this one delivers with real emotional payoff.
6) Karakuri Circus
Running from 1997 to 2006, Karakuri Circus follows a boy named Masaru, who suddenly becomes the target of a group trying to steal his inheritance. He is saved by a martial artist and a mysterious woman who controls life-sized puppets. That setup alone is wild, but the story goes way deeper, pulling in secret histories, dark experiments, and themes that get surprisingly heavy.
The art is intense, the pacing is wild, and the tone constantly shifts in a way that somehow works. You will find circus acts, body horror, and tragic backstories all in the same arc in a way that entertains and stuns you at the same time. It is not an easy series to summarize, but once it grabs you, it does not let go. All in all, Karakuri Circus is messy in the best way. It is passionate, unpredictable, and full of heart, even when it gets a little weird.
5) Major
Major ran from 1994 to 2010 and gave readers something rare in the form of a coming-of-age story told through the world of baseball. It follows Goro Honda from the time he is a little kid swinging a bat to his years as a professional athlete. Along the way, he deals with loss, injury, pressure, and the kind of dreams that do not always go as planned.
The manga covers profound themes such as growing up, figuring things out, and pushing through when life throws you a curveball. Goro is not perfect, and that makes you root for him even more. The baseball scenes are exciting, but it is the emotional moments that hit hardest. The result leaves Major as the kind of series that quietly builds momentum and then sticks with you long after it is over. If you have ever chased a dream, this sports manga will hit home.
4) Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
What more can be said that hasn’t already been mentioned about Weekly Shonen Sunday’s critical darling, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End? Beyond selling 30 million copies since its 2020 debut, it’s won over fans’ hearts, kept people waiting on the edge of their seats during its hiatuses, and any news related to new chapters is among the hottest updates in the industry. The manga follows the eponymous elf mage, Frieren, after her heroic journey alongside three companions to save the world, where her constant awareness of the ephemeral nature of human life had her cautious to grow attached. But after the passing of Himmel the Hero, one of her companions, she finally realizes that this is a lesson on treasuring those close to herself, instead of taking them for granted, and sets out to see Himmel once more from beyond the grave.
While Frieren’s old party quickly dwindles and ages before her eyes, she takes their lessons to heart and even takes on an apprentice, Fern, along her journey to Aureole. With former companion Eisen’s pupil, Stark, joining the adventure, and more along the way, Frieren’s story is a powerful humanist epic showing the value of life and individual life stories, no matter how fleeting they may be. It’s too soon to tell whether it stands atop the best Weekly Shonen Sunday manga of all time, but at the very least, it deserves a place among them, and has been adapted into a series that’s rapidly ascended MyAnimeList’s rankings to be considered the best anime of the modern era; no mean feat.
3) Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura is the kind of series that feels like organized chaos in the best way. It ran from 1978 to 1987 and introduced readers to Ataru, a disaster-prone teenager, and Lum, the alien princess who decides she is in love with him. From that point on, things spiral into nonstop comedy, with wild characters, strange sci-fi twists, and nonstop misunderstandings.
This series helped set the tone for modern romantic comedy manga. The pacing is fast, the jokes land more often than not, and the characters are way more complex than you expect at first. It is loud, colorful, and genuinely unpredictable. Even now, Urusei Yatsura stands out because it does not follow any rules. It makes you laugh, but it also gives you something to think about. For a lot of people, this was their first taste of Rumiko Takahashi’s genius, and it still holds up.
2) Inuyasha
Inuyasha is a fantasy adventure manga that ran from 1996 to 2008. It made a huge impact during that time. The story follows Kagome, a girl from modern-day Tokyo, who falls into a well and ends up in feudal Japan. There, she meets Inuyasha, a half-demon with a complicated past. The two of them then set off to recover the pieces of a powerful jewel, facing monsters and old wounds along the way.
The fights in the manga are exciting, but it is the relationships and themes of trust, betrayal, and redemption that define the story. Characters grow slowly but meaningfully, and the romantic tension never feels rushed. For many readers, Inuyasha was their introduction to manga, and it continues to hold a special place because of how real it made its fantasy world feel.
1) Detective Conan (Case Closed)
Detective Conan started way back in 1994 and has been going strong ever since. It follows Shinichi Kudo, a teenage detective who gets turned into a child after crossing paths with the wrong people. Taking on the new name Conan Edogawa, he continues solving tough cases while secretly trying to bring down the organization behind it all. Over the years, the series has published more than 100 volumes and built a reputation as one of the most iconic mystery manga out there.
What really makes it stick is the balance. Each chapter is a clever little puzzle, but the characters grow and change along the way as you get to know them like friends. This results in the kind of story that rewards long-term readers and never feels like it is running in circles. Which is why, even after decades, Detective Conan still has something new to offer. That is rare, and it is why fans keep coming back.
Weekly Shonen Sunday has an astonishing array of great manga from across the decades, and while some didn’t feature this time around (sorry, Komi Can’t Communicate), what would your top 10 be? Let us know in the comments below!
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