Best Full Color Manga

Key Takeaways

• Several full-color manga series offer great art and worldbuilding, such as Nanbaka, Dragon Ball, and Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe.
• These visually powerful manga blend action, drama, and humor, creating unique and impactful stories in color.
• Fans of manga classics like Yu Yu Hakusho and Akira can experience a new vibrant reading experience in full color.

Full-color manga is hard to come by, but there are some series worth reading if fans know where to look. Throughout all the genres and stories to tell, several series have incredibly good art, high-quality worldbuilding, and most importantly, a great use of color for visual storytelling.

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

Updated on November 27, 2024, by Lucas Simons: With the latest developments in the manga & anime industry, we’ve had a lot of changes among which we can spot 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 are looking up to these mangas, and others are wondering which Full Color Manga they should start reading. Well, we’ve come up with a few extra suggestions that are added to the list, including a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Spin-Off that has become one of the best works of Araki and is also available in Full Color.

1 Nanbaka

A Prison Tale, With A Satirical Setting

• First publication date: October 13, 2013
• Author: Futamata Shō
• Genres: Comedy, Action, Drama, Satire

Visually powerful, neat, polished art, and a strange but wholesome tale of prison survival: those are the things readers should expect when reading this series, and let me tell you, the full-color version edited by V is tremendously good.

The combination of action, drama, and goofiness makes it quite unique, especially since the author constantly mixes up some strikes to the Shounen culture in the middle. Scene after scene, Futamata proves that he is a wild and daring artist, and manages to create something truly impactful, though sometimes lacking in direction. But that’s part of the charm of the series.

2 Dragon Ball

A Classic Of All Times

• First publication date:
• Author: Akira Toriyama
• Genres: Action, Comedy, Shounen, Martial Arts

Dragon Ball and its subsequent series (Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super) have marked entire generations with incredible adventures of the 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 gotta say: It brought back many memories of my childhood.

The truth is Dragon Ball is eternal, and as the torch passed hands from Toriyama to Toyotaro, the series has never been in better hands. With Dragon Ball Daima harvesting a considerable number of new followers from the younger generations, perhaps this is a good time for readers to pick it up again, this time, in full-color.

3 Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe

A Spin-Off Full Of JoJo’s Author Goodness

• First publication date: 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, the first time we met Rohan Kishibe, a Manga Artist and Writer with the Stand Ability to see other people’s minds, past, presents, futures, and innermost desires, like reading a book. When Araki created this series, he had to do so under strict measures by the editorial group where he was publishing his flagship product, and couldn’t directly call it a Spin-Off.

So, he took inspiration from old sleuth and mystery series (particularly Hitchcock’s work) and decided to turn Rohan into an omniscient narrator for the series. This gave it quite a particular and roundabout narrative, and this, combined with colorful and highly detailed art, turned out to be amazing. Definitely worth a read, if not for being a fan of JoJo, perhaps for the sole pleasure of enjoying a great series.

4 The Way Of The Househusband

A Yakuza Becomes The Perfect Husband

• First publication date: 2-22-2018
• Author: Kōsuke Ōno
• Genres: Action, Comedy, Slice-Of-Life

The most dangerous Yakuza who has ever roamed the streets of Japan, known as The Immortal Dragon, is about to meet his maker when he is found by a salarywoman named Miko and nursed back to health. In appreciation for saving her life, he decides to take care of her, but since he doesn’t know anything but violence and housekeeping, he goes for the latter and becomes the perfect househusband.

A tremendously hilarious story about a Yakuza trying to blend in among the shopping cart-riddled life of the regular Japanese housewives, with a masterfully crafted sense of humor, and many, many misunderstandings that give spice to to the plot. The Way of the Househusband full-color version is worth reading since it emphasizes the vibrant new lifestyle that the main character, Tatsu, as he assumes the role of a law-abiding citizen, while also keeping his own personality and fashion sense (aka still dresses like a gangster).

5 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

The Epic Of A Family And Their Fight For Justice Over Generations

• First publication date: 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 Jodio Joestar, the JoJo family has evolved greatly throughout the continuity of the series. And so did its incredibly bizarre fighting scenes. So, it is only appropriate that this manga is read in full color. With an unparalleled composition, and overwhelmingly charged backgrounds, the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series is a must-read for every fan of battle manga.

These series have some of the most quirky characters fans will ever see, carefully walking the thin line between satire and action drama in a unique and flamboyant style. Every JoJo fan has his favorite iteration of the series, and every new reader will surely find their own when browsing through this nine-part overarching saga.

6 Parasyte

They Blend In Among Us, But They Are Here To Replace Us

• First publication date: 11-22-1988
• Author: Hitoshi Iwaaki
• Genres: Horror, Psychological, Action, Gore, Sci-Fi

If there was ever a more appropriate manga to be colorized, that is Parasyte. With a gloomy and dark world background design, and heavily focused on body horror, this manga deals with some seriously gory topics. And though it is also quite philosophical and has deep and meaningful moments, it’s also heavily reliant on its visual impact. It makes sense that a colored version of this series was made.

The strong bond between Shinichi (the MC) and Migi, a strange creature lodged in his right arm is now depicted in its full glory, with pastel soft tones in the front, and strong gloomy shades in the background. And of course, there’s plenty of crimson splatter everywhere, though its gore content is moderate considering that there are far more vicious series in the genre. In other words, Parasyte is ideal for horror fans looking to read in full color, without losing too much of that atmospheric sense of doom that is quite characteristic of horror manga.

7 Yu Yu Hakusho

The Story Of A Delinquent With A Strong Sense Of Justice Becoming A Supernatural Detective

• First publication date: 10-12-1992
• Author: Yoshihiro Togashi
• Genres: Shonen, Action, Supernatural, Adventure

The life of a Japanese school delinquent with a golden heart ends abruptly while trying to protect a small boy from being hit by a car. He is brought back from the limbo by Koenma and designated as a spiritual detective and medium. Re-imagined in full color, this supernatural action shonen looks livelier than ever. Some of the best scenes from the Dark Tournament and the Three Kings arc now truly display the magnificence of this all-time classic series.

Seeing Kurama’s transformation for the first time in full color is breathtaking, and showcases the difference between his human and demonic 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 might have its own Netflix adaptation already, but nothing is better than reading the original work page by page and experiencing the full-length of Togashi’s saga in color.

8 Akira

In A Dystopian Future, A Government Experiment Goes Terribly Wrong

• First publication date: 12-20-1982
• Author: Katsuhiro Otomo
• Genres: Sci-Fi, Dystopian, Action, Drama, Tragedy, Cyberpunk

Visually impactful, breathtaking, sinister, and a cautionary tale with a clear message: never lose grip of your humanity, or else. Akira is one the most iconic manga of all time, which describes a dystopian cyberpunk future where mankind has lost morality to the point of no return. Amid this corrupt society, a group of misfits fights for a lost cause, not knowing that they’re being manipulated by a sinister villain who only wishes for one thing: power beyond human limits.

Neo-Tokyo looks lively and dark at the same time, with the use of abstract color as a means of visual storytelling to complement the cyberpunkish worldbuilding of the story, balancing the rot of society with the progress of technology using the power of high-contrast bright tones with dull darker shades. Akira is a timeless masterpiece, and one worth reading for all fans of sci-fi, cyberpunk, and transhumanism.