Best Action Manga of 1990

The utopian metropolis of Zalem soars high in the skies, its presence dominating the horizon. Beneath it is the noxious underbelly known as The Scrapyard, where the city stockpiles all of its waste. Living amongst the vast heaps of garbage are humans and cyborgs, surviving by any means necessary. Daisuke Ido, a doctor specializing in cyborg repairs, finds the head of a young female cyborg while scavenging a pile of old android parts. Proceeding to build her a new body, he names her Gally. Upon activation, Gally does not seem to remember anything about her past life. Nonetheless, she does not seem to mind as long as she stays by Ido’s side. However, she soon discovers that Ido has a side job as a hunter-warrior, a bounty hunter working for The Scrapyard’s government. Despite Ido’s warning, she decides to become one herself, awakening her forgotten knowledge of fighting techniques. Equipped with newfound strength, Gally is determined to fight through the alleys of The Scrapyard and beyond, retrieving fragments from her past to rediscover her true identity.

Fourteen-year-old thug Yuusuke Urameshi spends his days skipping school and causing trouble for the adults in his life. Yuusuke regularly engages in street brawls against rival Kazuma Kuwabara and ridicules his childhood friend Keiko Yukimura. Filled with self-loathing and the burden of an alcoholic mother, Yuusuke sacrifices it all in a split-second decision—he tackles a small child out of the way of an oncoming car, losing his life in the process. Spirit guide Botan intervenes, allowing Yuusuke to see how the people in his life react to his death; he is moved by the emotional ruin his loss causes his mother, Keiko, and even Kuwabara. Additionally, due to his death's heroic nature, he receives an opportunity to return to life from the Spirit World ruler's son, Koenma. Koenma hires Yuusuke as a "Spirit Detective" and tasks him with solving a series of increasingly challenging paranormal mysteries. Battling and befriending demons such as the beautiful Kurama and hostile Hiei, Yuusuke further develops and utilizes his skills as a fighter. But as dark forces move in the Underworld, Yuusuke struggles alongside his companions to defend everything he took for granted.

Suzuran is a school where the misfits of society congregate. Known as Crows, the students lack a promising future; they establish their place in the world only by using their fists. In this violent culture, physical strength remains the be-all and end-all amongst teenagers with nothing else to live for. Suzuran maintains its set hierarchy, but such a system fails to unite all involved in a common goal. While there are those at the top, Suzuran has no single leader. Enter Harumichi Bouya, an unethical teenager with little intellectual capability. As a typical delinquent, Harumichi loves to fight and takes on any adversity with his physical prowess. Now at Suzuran, Harumichi aims to prove himself and reach the very top of the vicious society he has been thrust into.

Eikichi Onizuka and Ryuuji Danma are members of infamous biker gang, Oni Baku. When not out riding around, they can be found in school, trying to pick up young women. This is the story of the young Onizuka, who would later become the greatest teacher in Japan.

On the dangerous streets of Chicago, Rally Vincent not only runs a gun shop under the name GunSmith Cats, but also lives on the edge of the law as a bounty hunter. With razor-sharp shooting skills and driving finesse worthy of the most thrilling Hollywood chases, Rally plunges into a world of ruthless mobsters and powerful criminals with scores to settle that put her life on the line. Every mission tests her limits, but it's the moral dilemmas that threaten to break her own code. Fortunately, Rally isn't alone. Beside her is a group of loyal companions, including Minnie-May Hopkins: an explosives expert whose turbulent past contrasts with her energetic personality and sharp humor, complementing the pragmatic Rally. Along with trusted allies like Becky and Roy, these bonds go beyond the professional, offering her stability in a world where any mistake can cost everything. GunSmith Cats isn't just raw adrenaline and intense shootouts; it's a meticulous portrayal of firearms and muscle cars, each depicted with obsessive precision and details, along with a great selection and variety. Kenichi Sonoda crafts a gripping tale of crime and friendship, packed with explosive action reminiscent of classic action films, but balancing harsh realities with heart. In a world where morality is blurred, sometimes the only thing left is to trust your trigger—and the ones who have your back.

Ushio to Tora centers around the travails and battles of Ushio Aotsuki, who is constantly being stalked and aided by a gigantic, supernatural and sometimes invisible tiger-like monster. Ushio's family maintains a Shinto temple in Japan, where ~500 years ago, his samurai ancestor battled that same tiger to a standstill, and eventually trapped him against a rock using a blessed spear called the "Beast Spear," which in addition to its intrinsic formidability as a weapon, can also endow its wielder with the martial ability of the ancestor who originally wielded it. Ushio accidentally unsealed the cave Tora was trapped in. Initially, Ushio refuses to remove the spear pinning Tora down, but Tora's unsealed presence summons various monsters who wish to fight him, and by extension Ushio. Ushio is forced to free Tora, who would like to eat Ushio, but dares not since Ushio keeps the spear close by. The series focuses on their relationship, interspersed with battles against mythological foes, and with Tora's attempts to grapple with modern life.

After pilfering as many valuables from a band of thieves as she can carry, Lina Inverse—self-proclaimed beauty and genius sorceress—departs with the gift of a fireball into the heart of her unwitting patrons’ campsite and continues on to Atlas City with dollar signs in her eyes. Before she can get very far, a horde of the surviving bandits ambushes Lina with vengeance on their minds. But sooner than she can put these one-dimensional goons out of their misery, a gallant wandering mercenary enters the scene, mistaking Lina for a damsel in distress. Lina gladly plays the role and lets the swordsman, Gourry Gabriev, do all the work for her. Soon enough, however, she comes to regret her decision, as Gourry insists upon his honor on escorting Lina the rest of the way. The thought sends shivers down her spine, but when the original owners of her stolen goods come to take them back, Gourry proves more valuable than anything of theirs. Figuring out that whichever item they seek is being tracked via magic and that some big names are attached to what is quickly becoming quite the scandal, Lina realizes that something far more precious than money has fallen into her hands.

MazinSaga is a manga written and produced by Go Nagai between 1990 and 1998; currently on going again, it's the summa of Nagai's works, for the complexity of the plot and the treated thematic content. Mazinsaga tells the story of the young Koji Kabuto, university student who finds himself having to collect the fruit of the researches of his father, physicist of world-wide reputation who died in mysterious circumstances. The boy is thus given a powerful artefact, Mazinger Z, the Armor of God.