A look back at the best manga of the 1970s, giving readers some of the first horror, science fiction, sports, and harem series in the medium.
The 1970s was an important decade for manga, marking a paradigm shift and introducing some of the best stories the medium has to offer. While manga series in previous decades were mostly children’s stories that focused on action and adventure, the 1970s introduced and popularized series for the teenage girl demographic (shojo), as well as more ‘mature’ stories for the adult male demographic (seinen).
While manga wouldn’t gain widespread popularity in the West until a couple of decades later, the ’70s set the stage for what was to come in the future, giving readers some of the first horror, science fiction, sports, and harem series in the medium. 10 The Drifting Classroom
Release Date: 1972
Creator: Kazuo Umezu
No. of Volumes: 11
The Drifting Classroom tells the story of a sixth-grade boy named Sho Takamatsu. One day, when Sho and his classmates are at school, an earthquake hits, and the entire school gets transported into a post-apocalyptic future. The teachers and students are forced to survive in this desolate wasteland and fend for themselves.
Considered a classic in the horror manga sphere, The Drifting Classroom carefully balances zany, over-the-top moments with bloody, gruesome imagery, a style which has gone on to influence the works of other horror manga artists like Junji Ito. 9 The Poe Clan
Release Date: March 1972
Creator: Moto Hagio
No. of Volumes: 5
The Poe Clan is a classic shojo manga that follows the lives of a group of ‘vampirnellas’ — vampires who possess eternal youth and beauty. The story mainly focuses on Edgar and Marybelle Portsnell, two siblings who were turned into vampirnellas when they were teenagers.
Along with The Rose of Versailles, The Poe Clan paved the way for more mature and complex stories in shojo manga, with its gothic horror elements and beautiful exploration of the tragedy of immortality, as well as the relationship between the two male vampires giving readers an early taste of the shonen-ai/boys’ love genre. 8 Urusei Yatsura
Release Date: September 24, 1978
Creator: Rumiko Takahashi
No. of Volumes: 34
Possibly the first harem comedy manga, Urusei Yatsura is about an unlucky and lecherous high schooler named Ataru Moroboshi, whose life turns upside down after an alien race called the Oni invade the Earth. Through a series of unfortunate events, Ataru accidentally proposes to the alien princess Lum, who accepts and moves in with him, much to his chagrin.
