Manga Comics on Fishing in Japan

Manga, comics, is one of the most important cultural treasures Japan has. Since the modern first series comic books were published around 1900, there have been literally thousands of them written.

Of course, there are a lot of manga contents relating to fishing.  

In this blog, I will introduce you to some of the famous fishing related manga stories. The selection of titles is done by a mixture of a higher number of issues they published (reflecting popularity) and the variety of contents (to show the depth of fishing in manga.) 

Note; the titles of each comic may not be the registered titles in your country. Since each country has different ways of putting titles, this blog shows the roughly translated titles with Japanese originals.

History of manga comics

As an introduction to manga, please let me show you the history briefly.

In the beginning of manga history, it was drawn to promote the political dogma (pro and contra government,) in the late 19th century. Learning from the caricature of western world, many Japanese drawings or pictures were related to political topics. Apparently, this western style met with the traditional Ukiyo-e style drawings which had been developed in the Edo period, and it made Japanese comics take their own path. During this time, these drawings were only one-page which includes the balloons with people mentioning something. Soon after, someone came up with the idea to place multiple pictures in a page and build the story with these series of pictures. Later on, Japanese manga has been brushed up with the influence of American comics etc. Developing further, these one-book-stories turns into a series of books with a longer enriched story. It brought the bright success of Anime, cartoon films in Japan. Though the origin was targeting mainly adult readers, now it attracts the young and the old, with various interests. 

Fisherman Sampei (釣りキチ三平 )

First published in 1973. There are 65 books of different episodes published. In addition to the main 65 stories, there were several side stories that were published as other comics.

The basic plot is that Sampei, a young boy living in the Tohoku region, is experiencing various kinds of fishing. The basic styles of local fishing are taught by his grandfather, which made him a genius fisherman, and later on he experiences the new styles and exotic (foreign country) fishing with his adult friend. 

The smallest target he fished was Tanago (Bitterling), and the largest was probably the Marlin.

The biggest attraction of this story is that this genius fishing boy is trying to get his target fish, such as the monster fish mentioned in a local mythical story, with his ingenuity and creativity.

The Daily Report of a Crazy Fisherman (釣りバカ日誌）

This is the story of a Japanese salary-man. To hear it sounds boring, but what makes it interesting is that he is a crazy fisherman. He is always thinking about fishing in his office. And the story makes it even more interesting that this man comes to know one fishing friend who happens to be the president of his company. 

This manga story was first published in 1979, and since then 113 books have been issued. Because of its popularity, the movies (not anime movies) were in the show, to make 22 movies in total. 

With the bubbling Japanese economy, a lot of people became interested and engaged in leisure activities. For a salary-man, his life became much more stable or, in other words, boring, and there are hobbies to fill their spare time. With such an atmosphere, this manga gained popularity. 

Super Fisher Grander Musashi (スーパーフィッシンググランダー武蔵)

Since it was published in 1996, it gained good popularity to publish 10 books and to produce a TV anime series. 

This was a story about a boy, who had moved to a countryside area from a big city, to find fishing. Then he became better and gained good fishing skills. This manga followed his skills getting better from famous adult anglers (some of them reminds us of the real existing famous anglers,) and showed he competed with rival anglers. In its plot, there were many special weapons, i.e. lures, and it intrigued the goods-loving Japanese fishermans. It produced some of the special colors and these lures were sold in shops.  

It described mainly the lure fishing or black bass fishing, which was booming in the 1990’s. Gaining its momentum in the prosperity of the fishing industry, manga and TV series became a good success. It is said that 2.3 million copies of manga were sold under this title. The famous angler, Mr. Hajime Murata, was involved in the production of it as a technical advisor. And it is why the character of the fishing guru looks similar to this famous man. 

Mr. Doren, the Fisherman (Mr. 釣りどれん)

This is another manga from the middle of 1990’s. It became popular with its contents to introduce techniques of black bass fishing, backed by the huge interest in lure fishing at that time. 

The story started with a boy moved into a new town, to be in the new high school. In his search for interesting club activity to join, he mistakenly joined “Bass-get club” which is a fishing club though he had thought it was a basketball club. To explain this mistake, in Japanese language, a basketball club is called “basket club,” whose pronunciation is similar to “bass get club.” for him. After he joined this fishing club, he learned fishing step by step. His learning of fishing basics are well described and it was one of the reasons why this comic was popular then.

Fisherman Nagare (釣り屋ナガレ)

It was published first in 2008. Since then, 11 books were out in the book shop. The story was about a boy who was traveling all around the nation fishing, selling the caught fish and information to fishermans. He has a special ability to see underwater well using his left eye. Each episode goes around this boy teaches the way to fish and help others to catch their targets. It brings some human drama while introducing the techniques of fishing. 

The character building is done in a modern Japanese manga way. There is a main character with some extraordinary ability, which you wish to have, and this character is using this ability to contribute to other people. Often this character is unrealistically young, but it may work well for readers to devote themselves into (you know, everyone was a child once.) And the related sub characters are reflecting the human side or daily living side, for the main character to solve the stress or burden of these sub characters.

Diary of our Days at the Breakwater (放課後ていぼう日誌)

This manga started in 2017. In it, a group of high school girls enjoys fishing, on an imaginary southern island in Japan. The story starts with a girl moved into the seaside town surrounded by nature, from a big city. Even though she has no interest in outdoor activities, she happens to join the fishing club, with the influence of her new friends. In this story, the main characters learn the importance of friendship and nature surrounding.

Although the Japanese fishing market is predominantly the matter of men and boys, there are about 20% of female fishermans (fisherwomen.) Mangas like this and the following ones could help get the attention from the various demographic groups. 

It published 11 books and was made into one anime movie.

Slow Loop (スローループ）

Among hundreds of modern fishing mangas, this is a rare kind as it is taking fly fishing as the main activities of characters. 

In this manga started in 2018, the story went on with two girls as main characters. It started when a girl, who was taught fly fishing by her dead father, was doing fly fishing in the sea. Then, she met another girl of the same age, who  showed her interest in fishing. The story developed further after they realized that they were to become sisters, as their parents would get married. It treats the family drama and its interaction with fishing as their activity around it.

8 books of this manga have been published so far. It shows the depth of fishing culture that fly fishing can be treated in such comic contents. 

Fishing, food and Love in the Tranquility (釣りとごはんと恋は凪)

This is a love story of a girl, who learned fishing from her boyfriend. Along with her life with apparently calm private relationships, they enjoy fishing and eating the catch. The story starts to twist as a lady comes close to her boyfriend. 

Many people see this manga to know that fishing involves a nice fish meal and that you can actually catch them by yourself. From the fishing industry point of view, such content is very nice to encourage the female to start fishing.    

It started in 2018, and 15 books were published.

Fishing Girl (つりこまち)

A high school girl, who was born as a daughter of a deceased fishing shop owner, was helping her shop with her grandmother. With this environment, she was a fishing expert by herself. She had become a fishing champion when she was 9 years old. Then her dream was to become a world champion, catching the big fish.

 

But by the time she became a teenager, she had been forgetting her dream. The story evolved when a girl from the U.S.A. visited her to become a better fisherman like this high school girl. This American girl’s dream was to be a world champion. And it reminded her of the dream again, in her teenage life.

Its first story was published in 2023, and it is still continuing.

There are literally over a hundred manga comics, relating to fishing. There are various ways to treat this leisure activity in the content. Some are showing the detailed fishing techniques, some are taking as a topic relating to a meal, and others are relating it even to private or love stories in their plots.

I assume this rich variety is reflecting the depth of fishing culture in Japan. 

Am I missing some of your favorites? Please tell me which one is your one?