All About Anime and Manga

As I hit publish on this post, I reached a massive milestone: 1,000 published posts on this site. That is a lot of words, journeys, thoughts and discussions. My blog has been in the works for quite a few years and is a passion project and devotion to the various forms of storytelling.

I thought, what better way to celebrate this moment than to dedicate a post to the series that share this same spirit of longevity, those with 1,000 or more additions to their name.

This post has been quietly brewing since I hit 898 published posts. The idea had been rolling around in the back of my mind for a while, and once I saw the 1,000-post milestone on the horizon, I knew I had to do something special. Since I’ve got over 100 active drafts in progress (yes, really~!), I decided to prioritise this one and give it the spotlight it deserves.

So here it is: a cross-cultural exploration of long-running comics and animation that have crossed the 1,000 mark, whether in chapters, episodes, or strips, and the enduring passion that fuels them.

In This Post, I’ll Cover:

• What Qualifies a Series for This List?
• Anime
• Manga
• Manhwa
• Manhua
• Webtoons

Future posts will dive deeper into the specific series listed below. I didn’t want to overload this milestone post with too much detail all at once.

What Qualifies a Series for This List?

To be included in this “1 000 and More” celebration, a series must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• 1 000+ chapters (for manga, manhwa, manhua, or webtoons)
• 1 000+ episodes (for anime or donghua)
• 1 000+ strips (for 4-koma or webtoon dailies)
• Combined franchise totals, when relevant (e.g. sequel series, reboots, or connected timelines)

Anime

Japan has been producing television animation since the 1960s, and the broadcasting landscape there created the perfect conditions for series to run for an almost absurd number of episodes. A lot of the longest-running anime are children’s series and domestic comedies that air weekly or daily, building up episode counts over decades the way coral builds a reef, slowly, consistently, without any dramatic announcement. Then there are the adventure series that got there through sheer story scale and audience loyalty. Both kinds are on this list, and if you want the full breakdown, I will go into detail in Anime with 1 000+ Episodes.

The standout: One Piece

If I had to point to a single anime that captures what it means to earn a high episode count rather than just accumulate one, it is One Piece. It started broadcasting on 20 October 1999 and crossed 1 000 episodes in November 2021 (I was so happy I was there for it), a number almost no story-driven anime has ever reached. Eiichiro Oda planned the ending before writing the first chapter, and the series has been moving toward it ever since through some of the most ambitious world-building in the medium. More than 25 years in, and it still feels like it has somewhere to go.

The full list of anime with over 1 000 episodes

• Sazae-san
  • 7 700+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A domestic comedy about the Isono family navigating everyday life.
  • It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running animated television series in the world.
• Nintama Rantaro
  • 2 300+ episodes | Ongoing
  • Three young ninja students at a feudal-era academy are largely terrible at being ninjas, which is the entire point and most of the comedy.
• Ojarumaru
  • 1 917 episodes | Ongoing
  • A young Heian-era prince accidentally ends up in modern Japan and has to figure out contemporary life with the help of a local family.
• Oyako Club
  • 1 818 episodes | Completed
  • A long-running domestic comedy aimed at younger viewers, following a family through the small dramas of daily life.
• Doraemon (1979)
  • 1 787 episodes | Completed
  • The original run of the beloved series about a robotic cat from the future who helps a struggling boy named Nobita with an endless supply of futuristic gadgets.
• Doraemon (2005)
  • 1 300+ episodes | Ongoing
  • The reboot series carried the same premise forward for a new generation, with updated visuals and fresh storylines.
• Sore Ike! Anpanman
  • 1 700+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A superhero whose head is made of bread fights off villains while helping those in need.
• Kirin no Monoshiri Yakata
  • 1 565 episodes | Completed (largely lost)
  • A daily educational short-form series for children covering trivia and general knowledge. Sadly, most of it no longer exists in any archive.
• Monoshiri Daigaku Ashita no Calendar
  • 1 498 episodes | Completed
  • Another daily educational series from the same era, covering a wide range of general knowledge topics for children.
• Kirin Ashita no Calendar
  • 1 498 episodes | Completed (largely lost)
  • A companion educational series from the Kirin broadcast family, also covering daily trivia segments. Also largely lost to time.
• Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi (1976)
  • 1 494 episodes | Completed
  • A long-running anthology adapting traditional Japanese folktales and regional legends for television.
• Hoka Hoka Kazoku
  • 1 428 episodes | Completed
  • A warm domestic comedy following a Japanese family through everyday situations across several decades of broadcast.
• Chibi Maruko-chan
  • 1 400+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A semi-autobiographical comedy set in 1970s Japan, following the perpetually daydreaming third-grader Maruko through school and family life.
• Crayon Shin-chan
  • 1 250+ episodes | Ongoing
  • Five-year-old Shinnosuke causes endless chaos for everyone around him. The comedy is sharper than it looks.
• Detective Conan
  • 1 186+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A teenage genius detective is shrunk to a child’s body and has to solve cases under an assumed identity while searching for a cure.
• Pokémon
  • 1 300+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A young trainer named Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu travel the world catching and battling Pokémon across nine regions over 26 seasons, before the series transitioned to new protagonists Liko and Roy in 2023.
• One Piece
  • 1 155+ episodes | Ongoing
  • Monkey D. Luffy and his crew sail a world of pirates and ancient secrets in search of the legendary One Piece. One of the great ongoing stories in any medium.
• Sekai Monoshiri Ryoko
  • 1 006 episodes | Completed
  • An educational travelogue for children, presenting geography and culture through animated journeys around the world.

Franchises that qualify by combined total

A few anime universes do not hit 1 000 episodes in any single titled series, but they cross the threshold when you count the full connected run. Since franchise totals are part of my qualifying criteria, all four of these belong here.

• The Naruto verse
  • 1 013 episodes combined | Ongoing
  • The story follows Naruto Uzumaki from a lonely outcast dreaming of leading his village to eventually becoming the Seventh Hokage, with Boruto continuing the generational story.
• Pretty Cure (Precure) franchise
  • 1 067 episodes combined | Ongoing
  • Running since Futari wa Pretty Cure premiered in 2004, the Pretty Cure franchise has released a new titled series almost every year since, each with a new cast of magical girl heroes. Follow ordinary girls as they transform into warriors of light to fight a dark enemy threatening their world, with friendship and emotional bonds driving every arc
• Gundam franchise
  • 1 058 episodes combined | Ongoing
  • The original Mobile Suit Gundam launched in 1979 and eventually spawned dozens of TV series and OVAs across multiple timelines and continuities. Compiled counts of TV episodes and OVAs across the franchise reach approximately 1 058 entries. It is one of the most expansive animated universes Japan has ever produced.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise
  • 1 069 episodes combined | Ongoing
  • The connecting thread across every series is the card game — competitive duelling where the stakes escalate from personal conflict to the fate of reality itself. Each series introduces a new era and protagonist while keeping the game mechanics at the centre.

Manga

Japanese manga serialisation has produced some of the longest continuous comics in the world. Weekly magazines like Shonen Jump and Big Comic Original have been running for decades, and certain series have simply never stopped. Most of the titles here are either gag comics built around repeatable daily or weekly formats, or long-running sports and action series that generated their length through sheer accumulated story. The numbers involved are genuinely staggering. I will go through all of them properly in Manga with 1 000+ Chapters.

The standout: KochiKame

KochiKame: This is the Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump for exactly 40 years, from 1976 to 2016. It produced 1 960 chapters across 201 volumes before concluding in September 2016, in the same issue that marked Jump’s 50th anniversary. The series followed the irreverent, perpetually broke officer Ryotsu Kankichi through endless slapstick situations, and its presence in Jump for four decades made it a cultural anchor for the magazine.

The full list of manga with over 1 000 chapters:

• Cooking Papa
  • 1 718 chapters | Ongoing
  • A salaryman who privately excels at cooking shares meals and recipes across decades of wholesome weekly chapters.
• KochiKame
  • 1 960 chapters | Completed
  • The landmark Jump comedy about the perpetually scheming police officer Ryotsu Kankichi.
• Dokaben
  • 1 814 chapters | Completed
  • A beloved baseball manga following the heavy-set catcher Taro Yamada across five series that span high school, professional, and all-star levels of competition.
• Minami no Teiō
  • 1 691 chapters | Ongoing
  • A loan shark drama about a menacing but quietly principled moneylender navigating the underground financial world of Osaka.
• Asari-chan
  • 1 738 chapters | Completed
  • A gag manga about the mischievous, tomboy primary schooler Asari and her comic situations with family and friends.
• Hajime no Ippo
  • 1 506 chapters | Ongoing
  • A shy, bullied boy finds purpose and confidence through boxing and begins a slow, hard climb toward the world championship. Still running after more than 35 years.
• Kinnikuman
  • 1 502 chapters | Ongoing
  • A superhero wrestling comedy following the bumbling alien hero Kinnikuman with increasingly outrageous championship bouts.
• Grappler Baki
  • 1 369 chapters | Ongoing
  • A martial arts series following Baki Hanma’s obsessive quest to surpass his monstrous father across multiple sub-series.
• Edomae no Sushi
  • 1 328 chapters | Ongoing
  • A long-running cooking manga centred on the craft and tradition of Edo-style sushi preparation.
• Tough
  • 1 320 chapters | Ongoing
  • A martial arts action series spanning three named entries, following successive generations of the same fighting family through increasingly brutal competition.
• Nijitte Monogatari
  • 1 254 chapters | Completed
  • A drama serialised in Weekly Post for 25 years, following characters through shifting relationships and social circumstances in modern Japan.
• Shizukanaru Don: Yakuza Side Story
  • 1 238 chapters | Ongoing
  • A comedy-drama about a yakuza boss living a secret double life as a completely ordinary underwear salesman.
• Silver Fang
  • 1 186 chapters | Ongoing
  • A dog adventure series beginning with a bear hunt in the mountains.
• Oishinbo
  • 1 100 chapters | Indefinite hiatus
  • A food journalist explores Japanese and international cuisine through episodic stories, with each chapter built around a specific dish or food philosophy.
• Detective Conan
  • 1 159+ chapters | Ongoing
  • The manga source of the anime follows Shinichi Kudo through over a thousand cases across nearly 30 years of serialisation.
• One Piece
  • 1 135+ chapters | Ongoing
  • Still building toward the ending Oda planned and released into the depths of the ocean (thanks, Live-Action).
• Haguregumo
  • 1 039 chapters | Completed
  • A samurai drama about a wandering swordsman and reluctant father figure in Edo-period Japan.
• Captain Tsubasa
  • 1 026 chapters | Ongoing
  • A football manga following the gifted Tsubasa Ozora from childhood prodigy through professional and international competition.
• Golgo 13
  • 1 000+ chapters (est.) | Ongoing
  • A stoic professional assassin accepts contracts from governments and criminal organisations around the world.

Manhwa

Korean digital comics, or manhwa, publish in a long vertical scroll format designed for mobile reading, and the best-known platform is Naver Webtoon. A handful of series have sustained long enough runs to crack 1 000 chapters. I am putting together a dedicated Manhwa with 1 000+ Chapters post that goes into more detail on each of these.

The standout: Denma

Denma is the kind of science fiction that earns its length. It combined humour, deeply political world-building, and interstellar conflict across more than 1 400 characters on Naver, maintaining an enormous cast without losing the thread. It is one of the most ambitious Korean webcomics ever completed, and it deserves far more international attention than it has received.

The full list of Manhwa with over 1 000 chapters

• Denma
  • 1 400+ episodes | Completed
  • A space opera about a courier trapped in a child’s body, navigating a dangerous universe of corporations, cults, and psychic conflict.
• The Sound of Your Heart
  • 1 200+ episodes | Completed
  • An autobiographical comedy in which the creator’s exaggerated family and daily life become the raw material for increasingly surreal and physical gag episodes.
• The Amazing Siblings
  • 1 000+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A gag-heavy webcomic centred on the chaotic daily interactions between a pair of siblings.
• Gaus Electronics
  • 1 000+ episodes | Completed
  • A workplace comedy about the eccentric, dysfunctional employees of a struggling electronics company.
• Don’t Let Go of the Mental Rope
  • 1 000+ episodes | Ongoing
  • A slice-of-life comedy about family life, parenting, and the small everyday absurdities that accumulate into something relatable.

Manhua

Chinese manhua have exploded in both volume and length over the past decade, largely because the cultivation fantasy genre, namely xianxia and xuanhuan, adapts directly from web novels that already run to thousands of chapters. The release schedules are fast, the source material is enormous, and the result is a growing list of comics with chapter counts that rival even the longest manga. I have a Manhua with 1 000+ Chapters post in the works that looks at this in depth.

The standout: Martial Peak

Martial Peak adapts Momo’s web novel of the same name, which itself runs to over 6 000 chapters and is one of the longest cultivation stories ever written. The manhua follows Yang Kai from the lowest rung of his martial arts sect all the way to the absolute peak of the cultivation world — a journey that took over 3 800 chapters to complete. It is the longest verified manhua by chapter count and one of the longest comics in any language currently available to read.

The full list of Manhua with over 1 000 chapters

• Martial Peak
  • 3 862 chapters | Completed
  • A martial artist begins at the very bottom and fights his way across an immense world toward the ultimate peak of cultivation.
• Apotheosis
  • 1 402 chapters | Completed
  • A young man from a fallen noble family discovers he has been converted into an extraordinary living weapon and must use that to survive a cultivation world.
• Versatile Mage
  • 1 181 chapters | Discontinued
  • A high school student wakes up in a world where magic is real, and discovers he can wield multiple elemental types at a time when most people can only use one.
• Rebirth of the Urban Immortal Cultivator
  • 1 000+ chapters | Completed
  • A powerful immortal is reborn into his own past in the modern world and uses foreknowledge to rebuild his strength from scratch.

Webtoons

The series that have reached 1 000 episodes here are almost all short-format comedy and gag strips that update frequently, which is how they accumulate at the rate they do. I will be covering these in a dedicated Webtoons with 1 000+ Chapters post.

The standout: Safely Endangered

Chris McCoy’s Safely Endangered reached 1 040 episodes and became one of the most distinctive English-language comedy series on the platform. Every episode is a single absurdist joke: cheerful art, completely unexpected punchline. There are no recurring storylines, no character arcs, no escalation — just more than a thousand individual gags delivered with a consistent voice. That is a harder thing to sustain than it looks.

The full list of Webtoons with over 1 000 chapters:

• Bluechair
  • 1 210+ episodes | Ongoing
  • Shen’s semi-autobiographical gag strip follows a cartoon version of the creator through daily life, with dry humour and expressive minimalist art.
• 3-Second Strip
  • 1 333 episodes | Ongoing
  • BAE Jin-soo’s rapid-fire gag comic delivers quick comedic punchlines across three panels, updated with extraordinary consistency.
• My Giant Nerd Boyfriend
  • 1 000+ episodes | Ongoing
  • An autobiographical slice-of-life comic by Fishball about her daily life with her extremely tall, detail-obsessed boyfriend.
• Adventures of God
  • 1 000+ episodes | Ongoing
  • God, Jesus, and various divine figures navigate the absurdities of modern life with very human failings and very poor decision-making.
• Safely Endangered
  • 1 040 episodes | Completed
  • Dark absurdist single-panel comedy. The art is cheerful. The punchlines are twisty.

Writing this post took longer than almost anything else I have published here, which feels appropriate. Reaching 1 000 is not fast work in any medium, not for Eiichiro Oda, not for Osamu Akimoto, and not for a blog that takes its time with things it loves.

The detailed posts are coming. If any of these series are on your reading or watching list, I would genuinely love to know which ones.