Best Manga By Go Nagai, Ranked

Kiyoshi Nagai, who goes by Go Nagai, is the manga artist and creator behind some amazing works in the anime and manga industry. With over 55 years of experience, he has made quite an impression and is known for his works in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and even erotica.

Some readers may not know about him, but he is the brains and creator behind Devilman and became known as the pioneer of mecha manga with the release of Mazinger Z. Devilman was released in 1972 and has had many adaptations, the most famous being Devilman: Crybaby. Go Nagai has unsurprisingly attained fame and recognition at home and abroad for his wonderful works. His works are known to be gruesome and often sexually explicit, so many of the following works are for mature audiences only.

8 Cutie Honey

Cutie Honey is a magical girl manga that follows the life of Honey after the Panther Claw organization murders her scientist father, Dr. Kisaragi. Determined to get revenge for her father, she discovers that she is not fully human as she has an android device inside her, which allows her to transform.

With seven different transformation forms, Honey becomes Cutie Honey and sets out to destroy the Panther Claw organization, a group of female cyborgs who want to use the rare device Dr. Kisaragi planted in Honey for their wicked and selfish agenda.

7 Kekko Kamen

This manga follows the adventures of Mayumi Takahashi as she secretly takes on the superhero form of Kekko Kamen. Mayumi is a student at Spartan Academy. At this school, female students are easy targets for male teachers, who sexually humiliate girls over their slightest errors.

But Kekko Kamen comes to the rescue, as she always steps in before these teachers can carry out their sick advances. Even more ironic is the fact that Kekko Kamen is naked, and the only piece of clothing she wears is a mask that covers her face. She moves naked because it distracts most of her opponents, making it easy for her to defeat them.

6 Dororon Enma-kun

This 1973 manga features comedy, horror, and supernatural elements. It tells the story of Enma, a fire demon who comes to the human world to capture the demons that fled from the underworld. These rogue demons are causing trouble in the human world, and Enma has been tasked by the King of Hell to catch them so that the problems can stop.

With the help of Yukiko Hime and Kapaeru, Enma forms the Demon Patrol. Kaperu is in charge of locating the demons, while Yukiko, an ice demon, helps Enma take the demons down.

5 Demon Lord Dante

This gruesome manga was released in 1971, but did not get an ending until 2002, when Go Nagai revisited and remade it. It tells the story of Ryo Utsugi and his encounter with the supernatural. Dante is a powerful demon lord who kills and devours Ryo, a vulnerable high school student.

Dante, in his new form, begins to cause trouble in the city and is determined to destroy humanity. But Ryo’s mind takes over, and he begins to learn the truth about Dante, God, demons, and angels as he tries to protect himself from demonic forces.

4 Mazinger Z

Created by Professor Juzo Kabuto to fight against evil, Mazinger Z is a powerful mecha that Professor Juzo leaves with his grandson Kouji before he gets killed off by his enemy, Dr. Hell. Mazinger Z had a significant influence on the mecha genre for anime and manga.

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According to Nagai, he loved Tetsuwan Atom and Tetsujin-28 as a child, and aimed at creating something similar but very different. He was able to do that with Mazinger Z by introducing the concept of a human pilot controlling a robot (mecha). This concept blew up, with many works adopting this concept.

3 Violence Jack

This post-apocalyptic manga paved the way for its genre. As the pioneer, many famous works (anime, manga, and even video games) like Berserk, Fist of the North Star, No More Heroes, and so many more have cited inspiration from Violence Jack.

Just like other works by Go Nagai, it has disturbing amounts of gruesome, brutal, and sexual content. Nonetheless, it tells the survival story of humanity after experiencing a destructive earthquake and a volcanic eruption. Peace seems farfetched as humans strive to survive against the leadership of warlords and biker gangs. Not long after, a giant man who turns out to be Jack shows up and fights off their opposing force.

2 Getter Robo

Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa own the mecha manga Getter Robo, which became a full-blown mecha franchise with multiple manga and anime sequels. Professor Saotome created the robots known as Getter Robo with the intention of using them to perform deep space exploration.

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With the Dinosaur Empire invading the world, Professor Saotome repurposes this machine to help humanity fight these dinosaurs with human-like features and prevent them from taking over Earth. Alongside the Getter Robo, Professor Saotome recruits three boys, Ryoma, Hayato, and Musashi, to pilot other Getter machines that transform into robots.

1 Devilman

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This dark fantasy manga is Go Nagai’s most famous work. It came into the limelight in 1972, containing explicit content. It follows the story of young Akira Fudo as he becomes a Devilman. Amon possesses him, and as well as the basic rule of possession works, Amon is meant to have control of his body. However, the reverse is the case, and Akira instead merges with Amon; hence, he becomes Devilman.

Akira's aim now is to defeat the other demons. Facing so many obstacles, he is able to kill some demons with the help of Amon’s powers, but unfortunately for him, as events unfold, he is unable to complete his mission, and humanity becomes extinct.

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