Castlevania (/ˌkæsəlˈveɪniə/), known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about vampire hunters, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early systems to modern consoles, as well as handheld devices such as mobile phones. The franchise has expanded into other media, including comic books, an animated television series, and several spin-off video games. Castlevania Current…
Attack on Titan (Japanese: 進撃の巨人, Hepburn: Shingeki no Kyojin, lit. “The Advancing Giants”) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by three enormous walls that protect them from the gigantic man-eating humanoids referred to as Titans; the story follows Eren Yeager, who vows to exterminate the Titans after a Titan…
Grappler Baki (Japanese: グラップラー刃牙, Hepburn: Gurappurā Baki), known as Baki the Grappler in North America, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Champion from 1991 to 1999 and collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by Akita Shoten. The story follows teenager Baki Hanma as he trains and tests his fighting skills against a variety of different opponents in deadly,…
Fullmetal Alchemist (Japanese: 鋼の錬金術師, Hepburn: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, lit. “Alchemist of Steel”) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix‘s Monthly Shōnen Gangan shōnen manga anthology magazine between July 2001 and June 2010; the publisher later collected the individual chapters into twenty-seven tankōbon volumes. The steampunk world of Fullmetal Alchemist is primarily styled after the European Industrial Revolution. Set in the early 20th century, in a fictional universe in which alchemy is…
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (鬼滅の刃 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a demon slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister Nezuko turned into a demon. It was serialized in Shueisha‘s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020, with its chapters collected in twenty-three tankōbon volumes….
Jujutsu Kaisen (呪術廻戦) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gege Akutami, serialized in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 2018. The Jujutsu Kaisen chapters are collected and published by Shueisha, with seventeen tankōbon volumes released as of October 2021. The story follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he joins a secret organization of Jujutsu Sorcerers in order to kill a powerful Curse named Ryomen Sukuna,…
One Piece (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha‘s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 101 tankōbon volumes as of December 2021. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit….
Dragon Quest, previously published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Yuji Horii. The games are published by Square Enix (formerly Enix), with localized remakes and ports of later installments for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch being published by Nintendo outside of Japan. With its first game published in 1986, there are eleven main-series games, along with…
Hunter × Hunter (stylized as HUNTER×HUNTER and pronounced “hunter hunter”) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It has been serialized in Shueisha‘s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since March 1998, although the manga has frequently gone on extended hiatuses since 2006. Its chapters have been collected in 37 tankōbon volumes as of November 2022. The story focuses on a young boy named Gon Freecss who…
Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is told in two parts—the first set in Naruto’s pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based…
Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 3, 1984 to June 5, 1995, when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing. The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from September 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995. Between December 4, 2002 and April 2,…
A fairy tale, fairytale, wonder tale, magic tale, fairy story or Märchen is an instance of European folklore genre that takes the form of a short story. Such stories typically feature mythical entities such as dwarfs, dragons, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, mermaids, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy tales…
