The image we have of Shōnen Jump generally brings to mind heroes and epic battles. And we sometimes forget that this famous magazine also has another signature: laughter. Some, more than others, know perfectly how to lighten the mood with absurd scenes, crazy characters, or hilarious dialogue.
#10 Sakamoto Days – Yuto Suzuki
Sakamoto, a former hitman, has traded his weapons for a quiet family life and a local convenience store. But his past always catches up with him, often in the most unlikely moments, which creates hilarious scenes: silent fights so as not to wake the baby, shootouts behind the instant noodle aisles... The graphic style accentuates the burlesque expressions and the eccentric enemies sometimes follow one another in a completely absurd way.
#9 Gag Manga Biyori – Kōsuke Masuda
This manga doesn't follow any rules. Each chapter is a surreal parody, often incomprehensible, always delirious. In the blink of an eye, we go from a hysterical teacher to a god who wants to open a karaoke bar. The pace is ultra-fast, the drawings intentionally crude, and the humor is based on total nonsense. It's a cult reference for absurd Japanese humor. However, it is reserved for readers who like experimental and unpredictable humor.
#8 Beelzebub – Ryūhei Tamura
Oga, a feisty high school student, unwittingly becomes the "daddy" of the demon king's son. The demon baby, Beel, is cute, naked, but ultra-powerful. He electrocutes Oga at the slightest annoyance. While fighting against rival countergangs, Oga must then manage diapers, bottles... and infernal threats. The supporting characters, each one crazier than the last, reinforce this atmosphere of comic chaos.
#7 Sket Dance – Kenta Shinohara
This little-known gem features a Sket Club that helps the students at its high school, in its own way. This initiative leads to zany missions, like finding a missing giant mascot or training an amateur rapper for the oral exam. The humor is based on group dynamics: Bossun the naive idealist, Himeko the big-hearted brute, and Switch the geek who speaks via a voice synthesizer.
#6 Witch Watch – Kenta Shinohara
From the same author as Sket Dance, Witch Watch brings together Morihito, a taciturn ogre, and Nico, an enthusiastic apprentice witch. Add to that clumsy curses, uncontrollable spells, and eccentric familiars. Here, the humor lies in the discrepancy between the apparent seriousness of magical folklore and the lightness of the situations. Each chapter alternates between supernatural gags and nods to other Jump manga.
#5 Mashle: Magic and Muscles – Hajime Komoto
In a world where magic reigns, Mash, unable to perform it, uses his muscles to cheat in a system designed for wizards. He opens locked doors by smashing them, solves magical puzzles by pulverizing them... The author loves to twist Harry Potter tropes, with a very visual, almost cartoonish humor.
#4 Me & Roboco – Shuhei Miyazaki
Bondo dreams of a high-performance robot maid, but receives Roboco, a defective, muscular, noisy and uncontrollable model. She breaks everything, eats everything, talks too loudly... This manga is a firework of references to Jump, animation, and science fiction clichés. It's absurd, energetic, non-stop, and wildly engaging.
#3 Dr. Slump – Akira Toriyama
Before Dragon Ball, there was Dr. Slump. Professor Senbei creates Arale, a robot who looks like an adorable little girl. But she is endowed with colossal strength and a completely eccentric mind. The Penguin Village, where everyone is weird, becomes the scene of wacky gags, failed inventions, philosophical dinosaurs, and incompetent cops. Toriyama has a field day with visual jokes, slapstick, and childish, yet effective, wordplay.
#2 One Piece – Eiichiro Oda
One Piece owes its success not only to its adventure, but also to its humor: extreme facial expressions, absurd dialogue, visual gags... Luffy acts like a brilliant idiot, Usopp invents increasingly grotesque lies, Brook makes skeleton jokes repeatedly. Even the most epic fights incorporate a comic touch.
#1 Gintama – Hideaki Sorachi
Nothing is sacred in this manga. Indeed, the author parodies Dragon Ball, Naruto, Japanese dramas, modern society and even his own publishers. Gintoki, a lazy sugar-addicted hero, surrounds himself with a crazy cast: Kagura the gluttonous alien, Shinpachi the moralistic otaku and Hijikata the mayonnaise-addicted cop. Even in serious arcs, humor is never far away.
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