What is this genre all about? Beam me up, Scotty! Space stations (think Death Star) also count. Basically, this category is to tell if the setting takes place onboard a spaceship in space. This category is not applicable if the spaceship lies on a planet and never actually gets into space.
We present you the list of Shipboard manga you should read right now.
Try our anime quiz: Anime Characters Guessing Quiz/Game
Top 19 Shipboard manga you should read right now. [2026 List]
- 19. Uchuu Kyoudai
- 18. Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen-mochi Datta no de, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei Toshite Jiyuu ni Ikitai
- 17. Planetes
- 16. Sidonia no Kishi
- 15. Babylon made wa Nankounen?
- 14. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga
- 13. Kanata no Astra
- 12. Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Herlock
- 11. 11-nin Iru!
- 10. Leviathan
- 9. Uchuu Senkan Yamato
- 8. Terra e...
- 7. A-A'
- 6. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
- 5. Uchuu Senkan Yamato
- 4. Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Aratanaru Tabidachi
- 3. Star Trek: The Manga
- 2. Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen-mochi datta no de, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei Toshite Jiyuu ni Ikitai
- 1. Cobra
19. Uchuu Kyoudai
One night in 2006, when they were young, the two brothers Mutta (born 1993) and Hibito (born 1996) saw what appeared to be a UFO heading for the moon. They decided that night to both become astronauts and travel out into space.
In 2025, Hibito has become an astronaut, and he's going to go to the moon. Mutta ended up following a more traditional career path with an auto development company; however, Mutta just ruined his career through a violent altercation with his boss. Now, not only has he lost his job, he appears to be blacklisted in the entire industry. Maybe this is a rare opportunity for Mutta to once again chase his childhood dream and become an astronaut like his little brother!
Space Brothers is currently publishing and has Chapters. It is also Known as: 宇宙兄弟, Uchu Kyodai
18. Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen-mochi Datta no de, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei Toshite Jiyuu ni Ikitai
When I woke up, I found myself inside a spaceship.
I guess you guys think I’m talking nonsense here, but I also have absolutely no clue about what exactly happened to me.
I was really close to completely losing it, but fortunately, I managed to notice that this place was really similar to the world featured in a game I was playing recently.
Am I dreaming? Nope, it’s no dream. Maybe I actually got sent to a different world or something?
But didn’t those things usually involve getting sent to a magical world with elves, dwarves, dragons and whatnot?
In any case, I don’t know what caused this, but I guess I’ll just have to suck it up and live properly in this world from now on.
It’ll be okay. I got my trusty spaceship so I can probably make some money. It’ll work out! It has to!
This is the story of a man abruptly thrown into space along with his private spaceship. He runs around with it and saves damsels in distress along the way, flirts with said damsels, earns money as a merc-for-hire and uses his gaming knowledge to work his way into living freely and easily.
When I Woke Up, I Got the Strongest Equipment and a Starship, so I Went and Became a Mercenary in Order to Live as I Please while Aiming for a Detached House is currently publishing and has Chapters. It is also Known as: 目覚めたら最強装備と宇宙船持ちだったので、一戸建て目指して傭兵として自由に生きたい, Я очнулся, будучи пилотом сильнейшего космического корабля, а потому решил стать межгалактическим наёмником, When I Woke Up, I Got the Strongest Equipment and a Spaceship, so I Went and Became a Mercenary in Order to Live as I Please while Aiming for a Detached House, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!
17. Planetes
Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor's affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job.
Planetes has finished publishing and it has 27 Chapters. It is also Known as: プラネテス ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ, Planetes
16. Sidonia no Kishi
Outer space, the far future.
A lone seed ship, the Sidonia, plies the void, ten centuries since the obliteration of the solar system. The massive, nearly indestructible, yet barely sentient alien life forms that destroyed humanity’s home world continue to pose an existential threat.
Nagate Tanikaze has only known life in the vessel’s bowels deep below the sparkling strata where humans have achieved photosynthesis and new genders. Not long after he emerges from the Underground, however, the youth is bequeathed a treasured legacy by the spaceship’s coolheaded female captain.
Meticulously drawn, peppered with clipped humor, but also unusually attentive to plot and structure for the international cult favorite, Knights of Sidonia may be Tsutomu Nihei’s most accessible work to date even as it hits notes of tragic grandeur as a hopeless struggle for survival unfolds.
Knights of Sidonia has finished publishing and it has 78 Chapters. It is also Known as: シドニアの騎士, Knights of Cydonia, Cydonia no Kishi
15. Babylon made wa Nankounen?
Follow the intergalactic adventures of a man traveling the stars with a mission: to bone the hottest girls the universe has to offer while uncovering the mysteries of his forgotten past.
(Source MU)
How many light-years to Babylon? has finished publishing and it has 32 Chapters. It is also Known as: バビロンまでは何光年？, Babylon made wa Nankounen?
14. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga
TNG Goes Manga! Untold stories from one of the most renowned science fiction franchises in history, interpreted through Japanese-style sequential art, truly takes the crew of the USS Enterprise where they've never gone before!
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga has finished publishing and it has 4 Chapters. It is also Known as: Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Manga
13. Kanata no Astra
What starts as a pleasant class trip to a planet five light-years away becomes a nightmare survival trip to get back home.
In the year 2063, interstellar space travel has become the norm. What sort of adventure awaits on the new frontier?
It's the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldn't be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship…
Astra Lost in Space has finished publishing and it has 49 Chapters. It is also Known as: 彼方のアストラ, Kanata no Astra
12. Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Herlock
In the future, humanity has achieved a vast starfaring civilization, but is slowly and steadily succumbing to ennui or despair, often due to defeat and subjugation by a foreign invader. Rising against the general apathy, Herlock denies defeat and leads an outlaw crew aboard his starship Arcadia to undertake daring raids against Earth's oppressors. Their primary oppressors are the Mazone, a race of organic plant-based alien women who explored Earth in the mythic past and are now back to reclaim it.
Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection has finished publishing and it has 25 Chapters. It is also Known as: 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック, Space Pirate Captain Harlock
11. 11-nin Iru!
The elite Cosmo Academy attracts applicants from every stellar nation in the galaxy. One young hopeful is Tadatos Lane, an orphan esper from Terra. The final stage of the academy's entrance exam is a perilous mission simulation aboard an actual derelict starship. The applicants depart for the ships in groups of ten, but when Tada's crew arrives on the Esperanza, they are horrified to discover that they now number eleven. As the test progresses, things go awry and the atmosphere grows increasingly tense. The crew members begin to suspect sabotage, and Tada appears to be the likely culprit.
They Were 11 has finished publishing and it has 4 Chapters. It is also Known as: 11人いる!, They Were Eleven!, Juuichinin Iru!, Unicorn no Yume, 6-gatsu no Koe, 10-gatsu no Shoujo-tachi
10. Leviathan
In the depth of galaxy, the Leviathan, a huge spaceship, floats adrift. When wreckstrippers get isnide, they find a diary of a schoolboy, Kazuma, relating the events that happenned in the guts of the ship... While reading it something seems obvious : a survivor from the disaster is hiding somewhere in the maze of the ruins !
Years before, the young Kazuma was in a middle of a schooltrip to Earth. The party comes to an end when unknown explosions destroy a part of the hull of the vessel ! Now the passengers are trapped in the middle of nowhere... The teenager and his friend Fubata then assist to a conversation between their teacher and a maintenance robot : the supplies in oxygen is not enough to make it until help arrives... The only hope for survival is a cryogenic chamber in the heart of the metal giant. However, it wan only contain one person... Unfortunately for the students, the teacher quickly understands that he has been heard. It is the beginning of a bloody fight to keep the secret !
Leviathan has finished publishing and it has 15 Chapters. It is also Known as: リバイアサン, Leviathan (KUROI Shiro)
9. Uchuu Senkan Yamato
The third and last out of three Yamato mangas published in 1974, serialized in Terebi Land and created by Yuki Hijiri. This short manga tells the alternative story of the first season of Space Battleship Yamato.
Space Battleship Yamato has finished publishing and it has 6 Chapters. It is also Known as: 宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Space Battleship Yamato
8. Terra e...
In the far future, humans have destroyed their homeplanet, Terra, by carelessly messing with the enviorement. In order to preserve the life of their homeland, Terra, humans have evacuated this world in order to spread life unto other planets. Humanity, now ruled by a super computer that controls the birth of children, sees the emergence of a new human race called the "Mu," whose telepathic powers have alarmed the System running all of humanity. The Mu, now hidden from the rest of humanity, have one dream, to return home, to Terra...
To Terra... has finished publishing and it has 28 Chapters. It is also Known as: 地球へ…, Toward the Terra..., Towards the Terra..., Terra he...
7. A-A'
A volume of short sci-fi shoujo stories all featuring a new race of humans called Unicorns. The major theme in all of the stories are about human emotions. As the characters in the story try to interact and relate to these Unicorns who lack a lot of the natural emotions humans normally feel.
A, A Prime has finished publishing and it has 4 Chapters. It is also Known as: A-Prime, A, A Prime, A Dash, A'
6. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu
In humanity's distant future, two interstellar states—the monarchic Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets Alliance—are embroiled in a never-ending war. The story focuses on the exploits of rivals Reinhard von Müsel and Yang Wen Li as they rise to power and fame in the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is currently publishing and has Chapters. It is also Known as: 銀河英雄伝説, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, LotGH
5. Uchuu Senkan Yamato
Created by Akira Hio nearly in the same time as the original Space Battleship Yamato, this version contains re-imagined story focusing on war with Gamilas, instead of voyage towards Iscandar.
Uchuu Senkan Yamato has finished publishing and it has Chapters. It is also Known as: 宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Space Battleship Yamato
4. Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Aratanaru Tabidachi
Manga adaptation of the third movie, created by Akira Hio.
Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Aratanaru Tabidachi has finished publishing and it has Chapters. It is also Known as: 宇宙戦艦ヤマト 新たなる旅立ち, Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage
3. Star Trek: The Manga
A collection of stories in which the crew of the Enterprise faces many challenges, including warrior-robot pilots turning to pillaging for thrills and machinery attempting to take control of the Enterprise.
Source: Tokyopop
Star Trek: The Manga has finished publishing and it has Chapters. It is also Known as: Star Trek: The Manga
2. Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen-mochi datta no de, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei Toshite Jiyuu ni Ikitai
Sato Takahiro was an ordinary office worker and hobbyist gamer until the day he woke up on a spaceship–one that strangely resembled a craft from a favorite space-shooter game. With a decked-out ship, a crew full of babes, and a fantastic universe to explore, he’s going to make the most of his good luck and create the life he’s always dreamed of!
Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! is currently publishing and has Chapters. It is also Known as: 目覚めたら最強装備と宇宙船持ちだったので、一戸建て目指して傭兵として自由に生きたい, When I Woke Up, I Got the Strongest Equipment and a Spaceship, so I Went and Became a Mercenary in Order to Live as I Please While Aiming for a Detached House
1. Cobra
The series features the infamous space-pirate Cobra who was once forced to hide from enemies by surgically altering his face and erasing his own memory. At the start of the story he is living an ordinary life but after using a dream-machine he starts to regain his memories. Reunited with his android partner Lady Armaroid and his old ship Tortuga, he now faces foes both old and new. The first, and most well-known of the manga stories sees him encountering the Royal sisters whose bodies hold the map to a great treasure.
Cobra has finished publishing and it has Chapters. It is also Known as: コブラ, Space Adventure Cobra
