5 Horror Mangas That Deserve Our Attention — Nope, I’m Not Talking About Junji Ito
No plot spoilers, I promise!
Growing up, my primary entertainment was books and mangas. Our old bookshelf cracked from the sheer weight of the material my sister and I accumulated over the years, especially mangas of different genres — from Shōnen to Shōjo to crime and mystery. Our expensive collection* consists of Slam Dunk (1990–1996), Naruto (1999–2014), The Kindaichi Case Files (1992-present), Orange (2012–2017), and many, many more.
Sadly, the trend of buying physical manga copies has rapidly died down over the years with the proliferation of sites which allow online reading for free — or at a much lower price per chapter. WEBTOON, a wildly popular Korean comics site which only releases works online, is one such platform. Many fan favourites have even been adapted into award-winning Korean dramas. They include Love in the Moonlight (2016), What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim? (2018), and Itaewon Class (2020), just to name a few. Fortunately, horror-thriller webtoons have also been gaining more deserved attention recently with the release of webtoon-adapted series such as Strangers From Hell (2019) and Sweet Home (2020), an upcoming thriller-horror series soon-to-be released on Netflix.
*Each book was around SGD6.50. Our Naruto collection of 77 volumes costs around SGD500 — I am using the dollar value of the 2000s so it should be more in current value.
THE HORROR
Whenever anyone mentions “horror manga”, the name Junji Ito would probably be the first to pop into mind. While Junji Ito’s works undoubtedly set a gold standard for the horror genre, I believe there are many other talented artists out there who deserve our attention. So, in the spirit of paying homage to the great history of Japanese manga, I will only be focusing on the works of Japanese mangakas.*
As I am not a fan of horror involving the supernatural (spirits or devils), my recommendations will not include horror of that sub-genre. Rather than mindless horror with cheap scares, I prefer those which balance the right amount of horror and gore with some deeper explorations of the human condition.
*This is not to say that non-Japanese mangakas do not deserve our support. I share horror-thriller webtoon recommendations on social media too! Check out the webtoon list at the end of this article if you’re interested.
Alright, I’ve been going on for much too long. Without further ado, let’s dive right into my horror recommendations!
1. Parasyte 寄生獣 by Hitoshi Iwaaki (1988–1995)
No horror manga collection is complete without Parasyte. This is such a brilliant classic it should be on the list of every manga reader even if horror is not their cup of tea.
The story’s main character is a high school boy named Shinichi Izumi. One night, worm-like alien creatures — Parasytes — descend upon Earth, invading human brains to control them as hosts. Fortunately, Shinichi was able to prevent a botched attempt of a Parasyte, Migi, to enter his brain. Migi instead burrows into Shinichi’s right arm, laying dormant whilst awaiting his chance to take over. However, before Migi can put his plan into execution, the pair encounter other Parasytes, forcing them to work together to survive. Because of his newfound abilities, Shinichi feels compelled to save the human race and enlists Migi’s help to fight the Parasytes.
On top of its charming vintage watercolour art style, the story is beautifully conceptualised and written with several interesting philosophical questions in mind. The clever personification of Parasytes makes certain that readers will find themselves deeply empathising with the Parasytes’ wish to survive and co-exist with humans in harmony. However, in making humans the sole food for Parasytes, Hitoshi Iwaaki complicates the problem of co-existence and positions the two groups in direct opposition. This brilliant setup artfully foregrounds our collective fear of being an inferior species whilst simultaneously exploring the notion of humanity in the face of extraterrestrial threat.
The touching character arc surrounding the character of Reiko Tamura (a Parasyte) is definitely one of the shining moments which perfectly highlights the competing forces of the Parasytes’ alienness and their learned humanity. Reiko’s character development as a Parasyte-human can also be used as a contrastive lens upon Migi’s struggle with his own identity as a diminished Parasyte. Shinichi and Migi’s unique predicament raises further important moral questions—What does it mean to co-exist? Do other species, intelligent or otherwise, deserve to live just as much as humans do?
As strong evidence of its brilliance and popularity, Parasyte has been adapted into an anime series as well as two live-action movies. Personally, I am not a big fan of the adaptations but you would be making a huge mistake if you dismiss the original manga!
Themes: humanity, environmental destruction, survival, identity
2. Fort of Apocalypse アポカリプスの砦 by Kazu Inabe and Yuu Kuraishi (2011–2015)
Forget Highschool of the Dead, this zombie manga is unlike any other zombie mangas. I should give a fair warning though — the zombies and other creatures depicted in this manga are downright disturbing. I would know, because I had nightmares reading this.
The story centers around a boy named Maeda Yoshiaki who gets falsely accused of murder and sent to Shouran Juvenile Detention Center. He shares a cell with Iwakura, Yamanoi, and Yoshioka, a violent crew with a bad reputation even amongst the worst. Unbeknownst to them, the world outside the facility has turned into a zombie-infested wasteland. In an unfortunate turn of events, a prison van crashes into the facility and a zombie stumbles out, infecting the prison population and plunging Yoshiaki’s crew into a fight for humanity’s survival.
Apart from its run-of-the-mill zombie apocalypse storyline at the start, the unpredictable twists and turns that follow will leave you on the edge of your seat. This manga delivers everything you could ever wish for in a zombie-infested dystopian world and so much more. I initially made the mistake of dismissing the main characters as typical frivolous teenagers, but as the story progressed, their unique personalities shined through and I found myself liking them a lot. Their character arcs were interesting and different, and I loved that the authors spent time developing each character and injecting emotional depth into their individual backstories. The last thing I would have expected was to be crying over a zombie manga!
While the themes explored in this manga are typical of any zombie story, the authors managed to reinvent diverse horror elements and repackage them into fresh ideas. I was pleasantly surprised to see traces of World War Z (2006) and The Girl with All the Gifts (2014) interpreted in an interesting way that supported and elevated the story.
Remember to do some mental preparation before you start, because this manga is the textbook definition of horrifying — cue grotesque images of the human-dog.
Themes: humanity, survival, extinction, new world order
3. Hito Kui ヒト喰イ by MITA and Oota Youkan (2015–2017)
Hito Kui is a perfect blend of horror elements with a strong psychological thriller plot. I chanced upon this when it first came out and was immediately HOOKED. The fact that this is not a very popular manga is absolutely mystifying to me.
The story takes place in a world where inexplicable mass deaths are occurring throughout the city. The only similarity between each death is the time at which the victims drop dead. In a bad twist of fate, trainee doctor Akira Sasaki finds himself “trapped” in a dungeon ruled by a man-eating monster — Hitokui. As other humans get slaughtered and eaten alive in succession, Sasaki realises that this dungeon is the cause of the mass deaths in the physical world and desperately fights to bring an end to this horror.
Hito Kui is psychological horror at its finest. Its characters are exquisitely designed to create suspense so palpable you will find yourself just as confused and jumpy as Sasaki. What’s brilliant is that MITA was able to convert a fresh concept into an engaging one by scattering bite-sized clues throughout the story for readers to gather and decipher. This clever setup explains why I found myself frequently flipping back to reread dialogues and scrutinising every action for potential clues — a demanding intellectual exercise even for seasoned fans of psychological thrillers!
As a flawless complement to the story, Oota Youkan’s art possesses a raw yet polished charm to it that is fitting to the genre. His particular style of art makes gory scenes almost pleasant without diminishing the quality of the horror conveyed. You can probably understand what I’m trying to say just by looking at the art on this book cover!
There are 10 volumes in total but sadly I can’t seem to find any completed versions online — the manga community is really sleeping on this one. Guess you’ll have to do some serious digging if you wish to read this!
Themes: survival, deception, betrayal, identity
4. Hakaijuu ハカイジュウ by Shingo Honda (2010–2017)
If you’re mainly looking for gore, look no further! This manga made a huge (traumatic) impression on me because the art is so amazingly detailed and the monsters are absolutely terrifying. Shingo Honda really means business — this manga hits hard right from the get-go.
The narrative concept that Shingo Honda introduces in this manga requires a complete suspension of disbelief on the reader’s part. Just when you thought things could not possibly get any worse, they do.
The story begins rather innocently with the introduction of a classic love triangle involving the main protagonist, a high school boy named Akira Takashiro, and his two childhood friends. Things appear all fine and dandy until suddenly, an intense earthquake causes Akira to be knocked unconscious. When he awakes, Akira realises to his horror that huge man-eating monsters have emerged from the ground and the city has fallen. As the national military rushes to put up barricades to contain the monsters, Akira finds himself on a mission to save his friends and humanity from extinction.
Hakaijuu is a straightforward story with several hidden surprises. The few plot twists that Shingo Honda planted throughout the story were rather shocking and fun. Horror fans will most definitely appreciate the extremely detailed drawings of various grotesque monsters and scenes of gore at which I constantly found myself flinching at. His boundless creativity and ability to reinvent the monster horror sub-genre into something so jaw-dropping undoubtedly makes him an unparalleled horror mangaka of his own right. Moreover, how can anyone resist a horror manga with a strong female character?!
If I had to complain, I would say that I was hoping for more character development and emotional depth. Although there were some touching moments, I didn’t feel like they were explored well. But hey, this manga is about fighting monsters, and the monsters are really freakin’ epic, so I’ll cut the author some slack.
Just like Fort of Apocalypse, this manga requires me to extend a fair warning to potential readers. There are some scenes I will never, ever forget — a high praise for any horror mangaka.
Themes: survival, extinction, humanity, conspiracy, new world order
5. Higanjima 彼岸島 by Kōji Matsumoto (2002–2010)
Damn, check out that terrifying book cover. This is one of the few horror works which has remained stuck in my mind since and returns to haunt me every once in a while.
The story kicks off with the main protagonist, Akira Miyamoto, still struggling to come to terms with his brother Atsushi’s disappearance two years ago. One night, Akira finds an unconscious woman outside his apartment. The woman claims Atsushi is alive and trapped on Higanjima Island, a place inhabited by vampires. To save his brother, Akira enlists the help of his close friends. Upon arrival, Akira’s crew is immediately captured by the vampires but fortunately, they manage to escape and meet with Atsushi. Soon, Akira’s crew finds themselves on a critical mission to thwart the vampires’ evil plans.
Get yourself ready to feast on the bloody spectacle of epic battles with vampires and enormous “blood monsters”, which are essentially mutated vampires with heightened abilities — just look at that thing on the book cover. It’s clear Kōji Matsumoto’s creative juices were running wild during the creation of these hideous man-eating creatures!
Though the art may seem crude and unrefined, this particular style adds a macabre sense of messiness which nicely complements the grim atmosphere. I could tell that Kōji Matsumoto put careful thought into creating each character, and I enjoyed the complicated relationship between Akira and Atsushi, as well as the emotional depth that other side characters brought to the table. It was also interesting to see the character development of Akira as his loyalty and resolve get tested in difficult situations.
I was initially reluctant to include this title in the list because of its sexualised content, but I’ve thought about it and remembered some of the glowing qualities that compelled me to finish this manga in the first place. So, word of advice, just ignore the sexualised elements and read on!
Themes: friendship, kinship, survival, identity, new world order
Bonus: Starving Anonymous 食糧人類 by Kazu Inabe, Yuu Kuraishi and Kengo Mizutani (2019)
Monsters, monsters, monsters! This monster horror manga is drawn and written by the same authors of Fort of Apocalypse. If you enjoyed that, you will devour this!
One day, high school students Ie and Kazu are on the bus home from school when, suddenly, they are hit with a mysterious gas. The pair pass out and wake up to find themselves aboard a truck packed full of human bodies. To their horror, they see living humans sawing frozen corpses into pieces. As Ie and Kazu attempt to escape from this nightmare, they realise they are trapped in a human slaughterhouse that serves man-eating monsters.
In this fictitious world, humans are at the bottom of the food chain and are subjected to the demands of gigantic man-eating monsters. At first glance, this may seem like just another monster horror manga, but to dismiss this so easily would be doing a huge disfavour to the important underlying messages that the authors are trying to convey. An interesting social commentary emerges when we compare this imaginary world with our own — how are we treating our animals in slaughterhouses? Are humans entitled to mistreat other living creatures just because we are “superior”?
As expected of Kazu Inabe and Yuu Kuraishi, the art is superb and the story is interesting. It is a straightforward horror story that serves fantastic gore whilst dispensing important moral lessons to readers. The character dialogues and interactions with monsters are cleverly crafted to convey a simple yet powerful message—humans are the monsters in the eyes of other animals.
Honourable Mentions (Japanese Horror)
- Hideout by Masasumi Kakizaki (2011)
- I Am A Hero by Kengo Hanazawa (2009–2017) — film of the same title released in 2016
- Kiriko by Shingo Honda (2014)
- Mōryō no Yurikago by Kei Sanbe (2010–2012)
- The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu (1972–1974) — film of the same title released in 1987
Have you noticed that many horror or thriller mangas (3 of the 5 mangas above) feature main characters named Akira? A popular kanji for Akira is 明, which means bright, intelligent, or clear — having a protagonist who symbolises new beginnings is always a good choice!
You’ve reached the end of the article! Hope you enjoyed my horror recommendations and as usual, do send me any recommendations you may have and I’ll add them to my reading list! (For real, anything is welcome.)
As promised, here is a list of amazing horror-thriller webtoons you should definitely check out!
Horror-Thriller Webtoons You Shouldn’t Miss
- Bastard by Hwang Youngchan and Kim Carnby (2015–2017)
- DEAD DAYS by DEY (2014–2015)
- DEEP by TOWOO and Kim Tae Heon (2014–2015)
- Distant Sky by Yoon In-wan and Kim Sun-hee (2014–2015)
- Friday: Forbidden Tales by Bae Jinsoo (2015–2016)
- Hell is Other People by Kim Yong-ki (2018–2019)— Netflix series titled Strangers From Hell streaming online now
- HIVE by Kim Kyu-sam (2014–2018)
- #Killstagram by Ryoung (2020) — ongoing
- Now At Our School by Joo Dong Geun (2009) — Netflix series titled All of Us Are Dead to be released in 2021
- Sweet Home by Hwang Youngchan and Kim Carnby — Netflix series of the same title to be released in 2020
- Tales of the Unusual by Oh Seongdae (2014–2019)
