Shonen manga are some of the most popular out there, with iconic series like Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, and many others reaching fans from all over the world. With a series like One Piece going on for as long as it has, it's easy to forget that most other series, even the really popular ones, don't last nearly as long.
A lot has changed in the shonen manga world in the last 10 years. Plenty of amazing manga have come to an end following impressive runs. With that in mind, these are the ones that stand out as the best shonen manga to have ended within the last decade.
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Call of the Night
When disillusioned Ko Yamori starts wandering out at night, he encounters a vampire named Nazuna Nanakusa. Intrigued by Nazuna's way of life, Ko decides to become a vampire himself, but he can only do so if he's bitten by someone he has genuine feelings for.
Call of the Night has an interesting premise, with the supernatural elements giving it all the hallmarks of a classic shonen rom-com. The series ran for just under 5 years and managed to win fans over with a great cast of characters and a fun setup. But the ending was a little divisive, with some feeling that there wasn't much payoff for 200 chapters' worth of story.
Nisekoi: False Love
One of the biggest Weekly Shonen Jump series during its run, Nisekoi follows in the footsteps of other popular WSJ rom-coms like Kimagure Orange Road, Video Girl Ai, Ichigo 100%, To Love-Ru,and more.
Nisekoi focuses on the son of a major Yakuza family named Raku Ichijou. Raku is forced to fake being in a relationship with the daughter of a rival gang so that the two families will stop fighting. But Raku already promised to marry his childhood friend years ago, despite not remembering who she is or what she looks like. Raku is determined to find out, with a special keepsake, a locked pendant, his way of finding out who the mystery girl is. As you'd expect, both Raku and his fake girlfriend, Chitoge, can't stand each other, and making things more complicated is that Chitoge is revealed to have a key that may open up Raku's locket alongside two other girls. Nisekoi focuses on Raku's relationship with each heroine, but also presents an interesting mystery that's fun to try and figure out as you progress through the series. Unfortunately, many found the ending to be predictable, with some fans unsatisfied with the conclusion.
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
Food Wars! Is the most high-stakes cooking manga you'll ever read. The series focuses on a young culinary prodigy named Soma Yukihira, who, after finding out that his father is closing their family run reastaurant to take on a different job, is convinced to enroll in the elite Totsuki Culinary Academy, where students test their skills by challenging each other to intense cooking competitions. With Soma set out to surpass his world-class chef dad, he works towards beating out Totsuk's top young chefs.
Food Wars! Is a really fun series with some amazing-looking food to keep you hungry throughout every chapter. The manga ran for an impressive 318 chapters, but some felt like what they got was a rushed conclusion, and others who were more invested in the series' romance were disappointed as well.
Noragami: Stray God
One of the most underrated anime of the 2010s, Noragami is a series that many wish would get another season, even though it's been over a decade since season 2 ended. But while fans hoped for a new anime adaptation, the manga continued on, with Yato, Hiyori, and Yukine's journey finally coming to an end in 2024.
Unlike many long-running shonen, it seems that Noragami's ending satisfied most fans. The manga ran for nearly 15 years, and while expectations were high, Adachitoka managed to stick the landing and gave fans something they could look back on fondly.
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Bleach
One of Weekly Shonen Jump's 'Big 3' back in its heyday, Tite Kubo's Bleach is one of the most recognizable manga of the 21st century. With Kubo's unique style and aesthetic, Bleach stands out from its contemporaries with striking visuals to go along with some of the most iconic moments of the 2000s.
Bleach's ending felt a little rushed, with Kubo's health potentially playing a factor in it. It had some highlights for sure, but the consensus among fans is that the series somehow dropped the ball as it was winding down. Thankfully, the Thousand Year Blood War anime has been doing a great job at adapting the manga so far, and with any luck, the anime can flesh the finale out a little more and give the series a proper send-off.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Demon Slayer is a bit of an anomaly as far as popular Jump series go. Ufotable's adaptation of the manga is one of the most popular anime around, with the Infinity Castle movie breaking records and earning praise for its incredible animation and story. But while the anime is currently going strong, the manga has been over and done with for half a decade.
The Demon Slayer manga ended right as the anime really started to take off, with chapter 205 releasing months before the incredibly successful Mugen Train movie came out. Fans familiar with the manga have known how Tanjiro and Nezuko's story will end for years. The Demon Slayer manga's ending wasn't bad, but some felt a little sudden. Still, it was a satisfying conclusion that many can't wait to see get animated.
Gintama
It might not have been part of Jump's 'Big 3', but Gintama was an iconic 2000s manga, with the series' heavy focus on absurd, slapstick comedy to go alongside some genuinely well-written serious moments and great character development, making it stand out from other titles serialized at the time.
Gintama moved around a bit before it finally ended in 2019, going from WSJ to Jump Giga, and then its own specialty app. When it was finally time to say goodbye, fans felt mostly satisfied with the series' conclusion, which is something that can't be said for many popular series that came before and after it.
My Hero Academia
When a series gets as big as My Hero Academia became throughout its run, you know that fan expectations are going to be all over the place. One of the most successful shonen series of the 2010s, My Hero Academia drew in fans with a lovable underdog protagonist and an incredibly strong supporting cast.
Overall, fans were split on My Hero Academia's ending. Some fans were unsatisfied with how Deku's story played out, feeling that the series failed to live up to what it had set up for him earlier on in the manga, while other fans were mostly satisfied with how Horikoshi handled Deku's hero career after the final war.
Jujutsu Kaisen
With the anime still going strong and the spin-off/sequel, Modulo, currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, Jujutsu Kaisen's star is shining just as bright as it was when the manga was still running. Ending the same year that My Hero Academia did (what a rough year for Jump and its fans), Jujutsu Kaisen's finale suffered from the same pitfalls that most battle shonen do.
Many of the criticisms levied towards JJK's ending are similar to those of many of its predecessors that were met with similar reception. Things felt rushed, some characters felt underutilized, and certain elements were just underwhelming. It's hard to say why so many popular shonen (particularly Jump) titles have these polarizing endings. It could be that fans set their expectations too high, giving mangakas an impossible standard to meet. Or it could be that the magazines just push their creators too hard and leave them burned out by the time things are set to conclude.
Attack on Titan
The Attack on Titan manga reached levels of popularity that most series will never touch during their runs. Hajime Isayama managed to create an interesting, albeit grim, story with characters that fans grew to love and become attached to. It seemed that no character was off-limits when it came to death and tragedy affecting them. That, coupled with AoT's amazing worldbuilding and twist-heavy narrative, had readers incredibly invested in what would happen to not only Eren, Armin, and Mikasa, but the rest of the cast and the island of Paradis itself.
The manga's ending was one of, if not the most controversial in recent memory. Isayama took some major swings with both the narrative and character development, and while many appreciated what he was trying to do, others just didn't gel with it. You'll still find some pretty heated discourse surrounding the series' finale today, and even though some long-time fans were unsatisfied with it, the fact that people are still talking about it and genuinely discussing it shows that Isayama did a good job with the series' conclusion after all.