Shoukoku no Altair
Altair: A Record of Battles

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The Kodansha Manga Award (講談社漫画賞, Kōdansha Manga Shō) is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Not historically accurate, very minimal to no fantasy.

Time period ranges from around 400BC to the early 20th Century.

Berserk for instance, would not qualify due to its prominent fantasy setting.

All entries are set in Historical Europe or a very similar setting. Vagrant Soldier Ares qualifies as it takes place in a setting very similar to ancient Rome.

Worldbuilding - "the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe." These kinds of manga are usually set in a fantasy and/or sci-fi world, and excel at establishing & showcasing the rules/history/economy of their fictional universe. List was created through collective data from multiple websites of people's answers as to what manga are considered to have great world building.

Manga depicting the daily life/religion/historical events/just culture overall of different parts of the world.

Doesn't include Japanese culture since most of the manga have a Japanese setting anyway.

Manga set largely outside East Asia, but on Earth.

Ranges from countries to mythology.

Manga featured in a bundle during January 2019.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Manga with tactical fights/strategic battles that are not determined by strength or numbers but how they use what they have available to them, using their knowledge/cunning to outsmart their opponent, exploiting weakness, planning beforehand or quick thinking in the heat of battle and using what's in their immediate surroundings to their advantage.

Not all included manga are at the same level when it comes to tactical fights/strategic battles and while the majority of fights are tactical and the battles strategic there are some that are not.

1 title per series

Do not interpret this list as "reccomendations for series as good as good as Berserk," because you won't get that! But if you like knights, swords and castles and occasionally magic and appreciate those things on an aesthethic level, then you'll find things to enjoy.

Some of my favorite manga that contain real life figures or take place in a historic setting

Some interesting manga centered around (or set in the backdrop of) war between nations in and around (an analogous version of) the modern era, with a slight emphasis towards the late modern period and beyond. I'll try my best to include a good amount of variety of locations / settings.

I curated this list based on the amount of discourse each of these stories presents about the historical context of a war, or makes considerable effort to deliver storylines that depict war strategies or the lives of combatants or an explanation of national politics.

I will try not including sequels, prequels, or spin-offs in this list, unless they are significantly different in nature to the original, in an effort to avoid repetition or bias towards any particular stories.

Sorted in alphabetical order.

Manga with beautiful/aesthetically pleasing (character) art that’s detailed, on the realistic side, and clean & polished, bringing to life characters and creating a good sense of setting. Effective composition & panelling are taken into account too.

Distinctiveness in style is not considered here but in the “Distinctive & captivating art styles” stack: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/36747

Stack notes:
- I’ve read, am reading, or PTR but have looked through parts of (denoted by “*initial impression”) the listed mangas; stack will be updated accordingly
- Max 2 entries per artist (I’m exercising self-restraint, but safe to assume that other works by the same artist are worth checking out)
- No prequels/sequels included

*BL (boys love) version of stack: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/36752

Manga, light novels, oneshots... with great art styles (probably)

Just as it says in the title, the comic's main focus is war. The worldbuilding should also be expansive. Has a hint of kingdom-building too.

Court intrigue means political games in a feudal monarchy and aristocracy-based setting similar to Game of Thrones's political machinations. The court intrigue theme is usually part of the historical or fantasy genre.

Isekai/reincarnation in a novel or video game world isn't allowed. The isekai/parallel world has to be diegetic (has to be real in the story and not a novel or video game world created by a human).

Time travel in the same body is okay.