# The 15 Best Underrated Manga

> Cult favorites that never got a big anime push or a Jump-sized fanbase, yet quietly win over everyone who finds them.

*By YPB Team · Published October 22, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-15-best-underrated-manga*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Witch Hat Atelier** — score 1000/1000
   Kamome Shirahama's richly drawn fantasy about a girl learning magic through drawn spells.
2. **Wandering Son** — score 833/1000
   Takako Shimura's sensitive story of two transgender middle schoolers coming of age.
3. **Dorohedoro** — score 642/1000
   Q Hayashida's grimy fantasy about a man with a lizard head searching for his identity.
4. **Sunny** — score 577/1000
   Taiyo Matsumoto's autobiographical story of children in a foster home.
5. **Undead Unluck** — score 500/1000
   Yoshifumi Tozuka's action series about a girl who brings misfortune and a man who cannot die.
6. **Children of the Sea** — score 500/1000
   Daisuke Igarashi's luminous ocean fantasy about a girl raised by dugongs.
7. **Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju** — score 500/1000
   Haruko Kumota's drama of two rakugo performers across decades of postwar Japan.
8. **Kowloon Generic Romance** — score 409/1000
   Jun Mayuzuki's melancholy romance set in a nostalgic, crumbling Hong Kong district.
9. **Ping Pong** — score 409/1000
   Taiyo Matsumoto's kinetic sports manga about two rival table tennis friends.
10. **Dai Dark** — score 300/1000
   Q Hayashida's gonzo sci-fi action comedy about a wandering mercenary and a crime-ridden galaxy.
11. **A Sign of Affection** — score 300/1000
   Suu Morishita's romance about a Deaf college student and a traveler who learns to sign.
12. **Planetes** — score 300/1000
   Makoto Yukimura's grounded sci-fi series about debris collectors in Earth orbit.
13. **Silver Spoon** — score 300/1000
   Hiromu Arakawa's agricultural school comedy that makes farm life gripping.
14. **Mushishi** — score 0/1000
   Yuki Urushibara's episodic tales of a wanderer who studies mysterious life forms called mushi.
15. **Ōoku: The Inner Chambers** — score 0/1000
   Fumi Yoshinaga's alternate-history epic where a plague has turned Edo-era Japan's gender roles upside down.

Tags: comics, japan, manga, underrated