I’ve always been a big fan of manga and have been reading a variety of different manga and manga series. While I’m usually torn more towards horror manga, I also love well-written manga.

I’m not merely talking about the plot or the story of a manga here, but also about themes, characters, twists or the general presentation of the story.

For this list, I gathered together 24 well-written manga anyone needs to read. I’d also like to give a spoiler warning since I want to discuss why I added these titles to the list.

Table of Contents

• 24. Ikigami
• 23. The Horizon
• 22. Oyasumi PunPun
• 21. Holyland
• 20. Annarasumanara
• 19. Chi no Wadachi
• 18. 20th Century Boys
• 17. Hunter x Hunter
• 16. Akira
• 15. Shigurui
• 14. Ichi the Killer
• 13. Kingdom
• 12. Yamikin Ushijima-Kun
• 11. Liar Game
• 10. Bokutachi ga Yamashita
• 9. Freesia
• 8. Omoide Emanon
• 7. Onani Master Kurosawa
• 6. The Climber
• 5. Me and the Devil Blues
• 4. Vinland Saga
• 3. Vagabond
• 2. Berserk
• 1. Blade of the Immortal

24. Ikigami

Ikigami by Motoro Mase is set in a dystopian future. A strange law is in effect, the National Welfare Act, under which certain citizens between the age of eighteen and twenty-four are selected to die for their country.

Twenty-four hours before they die, they get sent an Ikigami, a notification informing them about their impending death.

Kengo Fujimoto, our protagonist, is a government messenger responsible for the delivery of Ikigamis.

The manga’s mostly told in episodic fashion, and centers on the people who receive an Ikigami. We’re shown how they react to the terrible news and how they spend their last day. While some of them accept, others wallow in despair and a few even rebel against it and try to change their destiny.

Ikigami presents a scenario that’s nothing short of terrifying. And yet, it also makes the manga quite thought provoking. It’s interesting to see how all sorts of different people react to the terrible news.

It’s the stories of those people that makes Ikigami such a well-written manga. They are unique and realistic, at times heartfelt and beautiful at others poetically beautiful.

While the art might not be the best, and the time we spent with most of the character is limited, it doesn’t mean Ikigami isn’t a well-written manga. Some of the short, often only a few chapters-long stories, are better than other, much longer tales.

Overall, Ikigami is a manga very worth reading. It’s interesting and not a bit thought-provoking and it makes you wonder how you’d spend your last day on Earth.

23. The Horizon

Ji-Hoon Jeong’s The Horizon is amongst the most depressing, yet beautiful manhwa I’ve read. While it’s not a manga, I still included it in this list of the most well-written manga because I think it deserves more attention.

In a world ravaged by war, a young boy witnesses the death of his mother. Before long, confused and stunted, he decides to walk the road towards the horizon.

It isn’t long before he meets a little girl and from then on, the two of them travel together.

The Horizon is the depressing, showcasing the brutality of war and the world in its aftermath. It’s a dark story, and, at times, one that gets almost a bit too dark.

The manhwa features some fantastic art. It’s often raw and gritty, sometimes simplistic at others, detailed, but always beautiful.

The Horizon comprises only twenty-one chapters, but it’s the perfect length. There’s a limit on how long you can keep up the gloomy atmosphere before it dissipates.

One of the greatest feats The Horizon accomplishes is the showcasing of raw emotions via the art. The entire style becomes grittier, rougher, and distorts completely when emotions spiral out of control. It’s a feat I’ve seldom seen in a manga, and The Horizon does so masterfully.

The Horizon is a hidden gem. It’s an unforgiving and depressing tale, one that showcases the brutality of war, and especially its aftermath. It’s a fantastically well-written manhwa one I urge anyone to read.

22. Oyasumi PunPun

Anyonefamiliar with the works of Inio Asano knows they are famous for being depressing. Oyasumi Punpun is no different, but it’s an extremely well-written manga.

It’s the story of Punpun Onodera, an eleven-year-old boy. His life is fine, but changes when a new girl, Aiko, joins his class. Soon, Punpun has to learn how fickle relationships can be. We also learn more about Punpun, his family, his friends and watch how a shy little boy is consumed by darkness.

Punpun’s life is filled with problems. While it’s one of the best and most well-written manga I’ve read, it’s not an easy read. We experience Punpun’s romantic troubles, alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety. Yet, it’s the raw, gritty details in this manga that showcase how even the smallest things can influence us. It’s a relatable story. We’ve all experienced our share of misery and we all can relate to Punpun on some level.

The manga gives us multiple glimpses of Punpun’s life. In the earlier chapters, he’s a little boy, then a high schooler and ultimately a young adult.

Punpun is a mature manga, featuring its share of nudity and adult themes, but they are merely there to make us uncomfortable.

The same is true for Oyasumi Punpun’s cast of characters. They all suffer from problems and are all damaged to a degree. This is not a story of perfect people. No, it’s a story of real people. And similarly to the characters in Oyasumi Punpun, we all have our share of problems.

And yet, Oyasumi Punpun is an extremely well-written manga. It’s a depressing, deep story, yet it never becomes misery porn. No, it’s a thought-provoking tale, one that showcases how easy it is to fall into darkness.

21. Holyland

Holyland by Kouji Mori is not only one of the best martial arts manga out there but also a well-written manga.

It’s the story of Yuu Kamishiro. After being bullied and abused, he turns to boxing and trains a single punch. He does so for an extended period, and finally takes to the streets to find his Holyland. After fighting street thugs, he soon builds up a reputation and becomes known as the ‘thug hunter.’

The reason I consider Holyland such a well-written manga is not for its plot, however, but for its characters. In essence, Holyland is a coming of age story, one driven by its characters. Instead of revolving around a general plot, the manga focuses more on character development.

Yet, the manga isn’t solely about Yuu. During his time out in the streets, he makes friends, but also enemies. Each one of them is as carefully developed as Yuu himself, especially Masaki Izawa and Shougo Midorikawa.

The biggest problem about Holyland, however, comes with its form of story-telling. It focuses almost entirely on character-development and uses street fights as a vessel. For this reason, the plot itself becomes rather repetitive.

Even though it didn’t deter my enjoyment of the series. It’s a fantastically well-written manga in terms of character-development. If you’re looking for a well-written manga about martial arts, read Holyland.

20. Annarasumanara

Annarasumanara by Ha Il-Kwon is yet another manga, but I still included it on this list. It’s extremely well-written and one of the most heartfelt and beautiful stories I’ve ever read.

The story centers on Yoon Ah-ee, a high school girl and a magician living in an abandoned theme park. Yoon is living in poverty. Her life comprises studying, working and taking care of her sister.

Eventually, after rumors of the mysterious magician spread, she stumbles into the theme park and visits him. It’s this visit that changes her life forever.

The manhwa centers on a variety of themes. The central one of those is growing up and living up to your own expectations and that of others. This theme is brought into conflict with the question of what happiness and life are about.

And yet, those are only two of a multitude of themes. Others include parental pressure, understanding yourself, and social expectations.

Magic is another important theme, but while it often showcases magic tricks, it’s more about the magic of life itself.

Annarasumanara is a story of real, genuine people, all with their own problems and genuine emotions. It’s a story that looks at life, at growing up and the questions we all encounter. And it might also be a story of magic and the question if magic can be real.

It’s a quick read, comprising only three volumes, but it’s very well worth reading. It’s a fantastic story and one of the most well-written manhwa I ever read.

19. Chi no Wadachi

Shuuzou Oshimi’s Chi no Wadachi is one of the most well-written manga I read in recent times. It’s a psychological masterpiece centering on abuse, trauma and manipulation.

Seiichi Osaba is a normal young boy. Yet, there’s one thing in his life that’s a bit strange, his mother. She’s overprotective of her son.

While it’s strange, it’s nothing too out of the ordinary. That is until Seiichi and his family go on a hiking trip. It’s there that a certain incident should change his life and that of his mother forever.

The manga might start out simple, even ordinary, but as it continues, we watch as things spiral out of control and become crazier and crazier.

What makes Chi no Wadachi such a well-written manga is the attention to detail and the way the story is told. It’s an extremely slow paced manga, but this slow pace adds a lot of tension and suspense. There are a lot of still shots, focusing on facial expression and emotions. Sometimes entire chapters are dedicated to nothing but a single interaction between two characters.

The manga’s art plays a huge part in it. Chi no Wadachi looks stunning and unique. At times, pages are sparse, others they are dense, almost oppressively detailed. Yet, it always helps to set the mood.

At first glance, the story might not appear too deep. It’s, however, the way it’s told, the way we experience it, that makes it special. Chi no Wadachi is an extremely well-written manga, one you can’t help be unsettled about.

If you’re looking for a psychological manga, one told uniquely and coming with stunning art, I urge you to read Chi no Wadachi.

18. 20th Century Boys

Naoki Urasawa’s famous for his mystery manga. My favorite amongst his works is 20th Century Boys, which I consider one of the most well-written manga of all time.

The manga’s plot centers on Kenji endo and his friends.

Kenji’s a normal guy, working at a convenience store, but his life changes when he learns of the suicide of his former friend, Donkey. Incidentally, a cult lead by a mysterious figure, known as Friend, becomes popular in Japan. It isn’t long before Kenji realizes this cult is not only related to Donkey’s suicide, but also to him and his childhood.

From this point onward Kenji sets out to reunite his childhood friends and to learn the truth.

While conspiracy plots are nothing new, and neither are those about saving the world, 20th Century Boy’s stands out by how the story is told.

The sense of mystery and the foreboding atmosphere never let up. With each new development, new questions appear. What I especially enjoyed was the inclusion of different time periods. Many times, the manga takes us back to Kenji’s childhood to showcase certain events and reveal new pieces of the puzzle.

The manga comprises three arcs. The first is set at the end of the 20th century, the second in the year 2014 and the last during the Friend Era.

Amongst those arcs, the first two are masterfully told and amongst the best of the entire mystery manga genre. It’s during the third arc where things become a bit too strange and quality dips a little. It’s not bad, but it feels a bit detached from the rest.

Overall, 20th Century Boys tells a fantastic story and is amongst the most well-written manga of all time.

17. Hunter x Hunter

Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi is one of the longest-running most popular manga of all time.

It’s manga about hunter, who are essentially treasure hunters with various privileges. If you want to become a hunter, you have to pass the Hunter Exam.

Our protagonist, Gon Freecss, is a young boy who wants to be a hunter and takes part in the Hunter Exam. This exam makes up the first arc of the manga and introduces us to a majority of Hunter x Hunter’s main cast.

I consider Hunter x Hunter a well-written manga for various reasons. The first is the introduction of Nen, Hunter x Hunter’s equivalent of super powers. Yet, Togashi wasn’t satisfied by merely creating super powers. Instead, he created an elaborate system with rules and restrictions.

Another are the characters. The protagonists are all likeable, but it’s the antagonists I came to enjoy. Hisoka is one of the most bizarre characters I ever came upon and Chrollo, and the Phantom Troop, are extremely interesting.

While some of Hunter x Hunter’s arcs can be weaker, it’s the Chimera Ant arc that stood out to me.

There was, of course, Meruem, who served as a fantastic and well-written antagonist. The second was the presentation of the last part of the arc, the Palace Invasion. It was fantastically done and in many ways broke conventions in the way it was told.

Yet, it’s not only the Chimera Ant arc that stood out to me. The York New arc, as well as the newest the Succession Contest arc are both well written in their own right.

Overall, Hunter x Hunter is one of the best shonen manga out there, and one of the most well-written manga.

16. Akira

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo might be the most influential manga of all time. It spawned one of the most influential anime of all time, and also the Japanese cyberpunk subgenre.

Akira’s set in the dystopian, futuristic city of Neo Tokyo. It’s a cyberpunk hell hole in which technology and skyscrapers go hand in hand with poverty and biker gangs.

Shoutarou Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima are two such bikers. They are best friends, but also bitter rivals. When Tetsuo tries to prove himself by pulling a desperate stunt, he sets into motion a chain of events leading to the awakening of Akira.

Akira is a story of government conspiracies, secret experiments, but most of all, one of megalomania.

It starts out as a story set in Neo Tokyo, featuring drug orgies and gang fights, but it soon shifts to government conspiracies. Among all this, however, Tetsuo stands out, an edgy teenage boy, a chilling and tragic character, who finds himself in possession of immense powers.

The story of Akira evolves, however. While the earlier volumes center on government conspiracies, the latter volumes are more post-apocalyptic, set in a derelict world.

The story-telling itself, however, is always brilliant and is always engaging. It’s for this reason I consider Akira such a well-written manga.

All of this is presented to us in Katsuhiro Otomo’s stunning art. Be it the dystopian cyberpunk hell that’s Neo Tokyo or its derelict ruins, it’s always shown in fantastic detail.

While Akira might have its share of problems, it’s still one of the greatest and most-well written manga of all time. It’s a stunningly beautiful cyberpunk masterpiece I recommend to any fan of manga.

15. Shigurui

Shigurui by Norio Nanjou and Takayuki Yamaguchi is one of the best and most well-written manga I ever read.

The story centers on a proclamation by the daimyo Tadanaga Tokugawa. He wants to hold a martial arts tournament with real swords and fights to the death.

The very first fight of the tournament is between the one-armed Gennosuke Fujiki and the lame and blind Seigen Irako. And yet, Shigurui doesn’t show us the result of their fight. Instead, the rest of the manga focuses on the backstory of those two characters and what led to their fight.

Shigurui’s a beautiful manga to look at and features some of the medium’s finest art. Characters, backgrounds and nature are rendered in beautiful detail while fights are ripe with gore and brutality, rendered in stunning detail.

What makes Shigurui such a well-written manga, however, is its depiction of samurai culture. Many manga often romanticize it, showing samurai as ideal and honorable fighters. Shigurui, however, sheds light on its unforgiving nature and the many lives lost because of it.

Shigurui’s a character driven manga, focusing on the paths of the two protagonists. It’s interesting, however, that there’s no distinction between good and bad. Instead, there are merely shades of grey. Both characters have their flaws and by following them along, we come to witness the true evil of the story, samurai culture itself.

The entire manga gives of a feeling of depression. It’s a story about the sword and how it forces people into a life of servitude and obedience under the guise of honor.

Shigurui is one of the best and most well-written manga in the samurai genre and in general.

14. Ichi the Killer

Hideo Yamamoto’s Ichi the Killer is one of the most depraved manga I ever read. And yet, for all its sickness, for all its brutality, it’s also one of the most well-written manga out there.

Ichi the Killer centers on two characters. One is Ichi, the titular killer, the other is Kakihara, a twisted and insane yakuza. After Kakihara’s boss vanishes, he sets out on a brutal search to find him. This search brings him into bloody conflict with other yakuza groups, but also leads to a confrontation with Ichi.

Ichi the Killer is a depraved, sick story, featuring copious amounts of violence and a variety of disturbing incidents. And yet, the manga isn’t merely a gore fest. No, it’s a carefully developed, deeply psychological story that centers on a variety of themes. The most prominent is that of the interplay between sadism and masochism, but others included are childhood abuse, manipulation and identity disorder. The manga mixes all those together into one of the most brutal, but also most compelling and well-written manga of all time.

It’s a fascinating work, one that succeeds so well not despite, but because of its showcasing of raw violence. The characters in Ichi the Killer aren’t real people. Instead, they are the most depraved members of society, those who mingle in its dark underbelly. It shows them to us, shows us what they will do, how far they go and filters none of it. And all this violence is used to not only tell but also underline the story that’s told.

Ichi the Killer is a brutal, fucked up and often downright disgusting manga. At the same time, however, it’s one of the most well-written manga of all time.

13. Kingdom

Yasuhisa Hara’s Kingdom is my favorite historical and military manga and I regard it as one of the best and most well-written manga of all time.

Kingdom is set during the Warring States era of China and depicts its unification under the state of Qin. This makes it a work of tremendous scope and even with almost 700 chapters, the story is nowhere near done.

The story begins with a rebellion against the soon to be king of Qin, Ei Sei. During these events, our protagonist Shin, a young servant boy, becomes involved in the matters of state.

From this point onward, we follow Ei Sei on his path to unify China and Shin on his path to become a Great General under the Heaven.

Kingdom is a well-written manga for a variety of reasons. There are the large-scale battles that were common during the Warring States era. Those battles are presented in stunning detail. While they are bloody and full of action, the manga puts a lot of emphasis on outlying the strategies and tactics employed.

While Shin is out fighting large parts of the story, focus on Ei Sei, the power struggles at court and the politics between the Warring States.

A manga as long as Kingdom also features a vast cast of characters. While Shin, our protagonist, is rather clichéd, many others are complex and interesting. There’s Ei Sei, Ryu Fui, General Ou Ki and of course, Riboku.

While Kingdom’s a historical manga, it often takes liberties to dramatize events. The first arc of the manga is by far the weakest. Once we reach the first large-scale battle, however, the manga truly shines.

Overall, Kingdom is the best and most well-written historical and military manga I’ve read.

12. Yamikin Ushijima-Kun

Manabe Shouhei’s Yamikin Ushijima is a dark manga, one that presents us with the world of illegal money lending. It’s among the best, most well-written crime manga there are.

Our protagonist, Kaoru Ushijima, is a yamikin, an illegal moneylender. He offers loans with an interest rate of fifty percent, which is to be paid back within ten days. One has to wonder who’d accept such outrageous conditions, but if you believe this manga, there are many people who do. It’s those who gave into their vices, are drowning in debt, or who are amongst the dregs of society.

In earlier parts, the manga centers on Ushijima as he makes sure people pay him back and often takes from them all they have, using any means possible.

Where the manga truly shines, however, is in its later parts. When the manga focuses less on Ushijima, but more on the people who come to his office. These stories are as well-written as they are depressing. There’s a sad sort of interest in seeing what ultimately drives people to his office.

Many of the characters in this manga aren’t sympathetic, and one’s hard pressed to feel sorry for them. Some tales, however, are heartbreaking, showing just how quickly can end up in a downward spiral.

Yamkin Ushijima-kun is great because it’s so realistic. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes we have bad luck, and there are always people out there who are preying on the weak.

It’s a dark, fascinating manga that sheds light on the dark underbelly of society.

While there are a lot of manga centered on crime, few portray the dark side of society and Yamikin Ushijima-kun. It’s a dark, depressing but extremely well-written manga.

11. Liar Game

I enjoy mind game manga and Shinobu Kaitani’s Liar Game is amongst the best the medium offers.

The story centers on Kanzaki Nao. She’s an incredibly honest girl. One day, she finds herself a contestant in the Liar, a game of deceit with stakes in the hundreds of millions.

Before long, Nao is tricked, but soon finds help from the genius swindler Akiyama.

The reason I think Liar Game is such a well-written manga is because of the games. They start out simple, but as the manga progresses, they get more and more complex.

While the games themselves are interesting, it’s the many tricks, ploys and strategies characters use that make them so great. It’s a delight to watch them out-play each other repeatedly over their course.

This was most prevalent during the Contraband Game and the Musical Chairs game. These two were absolutely outstanding. This, of course, wasn’t merely because of the games, but also because of the characters.

Most characters in Liar Game are there to represent a certain character type and to be out-played by Akiyama. During the Contraband Game, however, we’re introduced to Yokoya and during Musical Chairs, Harimoto. Both of them were a match for Akiyama, and the games featuring them were interesting and reached new levels of suspense.

Overall, Liar Game is an absolutely brilliant and well-written manga. It features a variety of complex games, strategies and characters. It’s well worth reading and probably the best mind game manga out there.

10. Bokutachi ga Yamashita

Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is one of the darkest and most well-written manga I ever read.

It tells the story of Tobio Masubuchi and his three friends, Isami, Maru and Paisen. When Maru gets beaten up by the delinquents of a neighboring school, the friends hatch a plan for revenge.

What was planned to be nothing but a prank turns into deadly reality and their normal, average lives end.

It’s fantastically well-written manga that centers on a variety of psychological themes, but the most prevalent is that of guilt and redemption. The reliance on these themes makes Bokutachi ga Yamashita one of the darkest and most depressing manga I ever read.

It’s an entirely unique manga, unlike anything I ever read before. The plot is ripe with tension, but more than that, it makes you uncomfortable on a deeply psychological level.

The story-telling and plot are great, the pace is fantastic, but what makes this manga so good are the characters. Bokutachi ga Yamshita is a work that’s entirely character driven. And yet, the characters in Bokutachi ga Yamshita aren’t heroes. Instead, they are normal, everyday people. They are immature, weak, and never thought about the consequences of their actions.

It’s extremely interesting to witness how they handle the events taking place in that manga, but more so to see the psychological and emotional toll it takes on them.

It’s a realistic tale that shows that in real life there are no magical endings. No, life goes on and you’ll have to live with the consequences of your actions.

Bokutachi ga Yamashita is a fantastically dark, suspenseful and well-written manga. It presents us with a deep look into the human psyche.

9. Freesia

Freesia by Jiro Matsumoto is a manga set in a dystopian Japan. In this society, a law has been passed which legalizes retaliatory killings. Should a loved one be murdered, you may take justice into your own hands or hire someone to do it for you.

Our protagonist, Kano, works at an agency that specializes in carrying out retaliatory killings.

Reading this, one might think Freesia a manga bout bloody retaliatory killings. Instead, however, the manga focuses much more on the targets of these retaliatory killings and their personal stories. These stories are often very well-written, make us sympathize with them and their end often tragic.

Freesia’s setting is dark, gloomy and depressing and the manga is populated by a cast of the broken, damaged and mentally ill.

Kano himself suffers from hallucination, memory failure and schizophrenia. What makes Freesia such a well-written manga is the way his mental illness is presented to us. We aren’t merely witnessing how Kano acts. No, we see the world through his eyes. It makes the entire manga incredibly surreal and weird. Often, you might wonder just what’s going on and what’s real and what isn’t.

And yet, Kano isn’t the only character who suffers from mental problems. Many others suffer from delusions or hallucinations in their own right. As with Kano, many of these distorted views of reality are presented to us at face value. It’s only when reality’s revealed to us we truly understand what’s going on.

Freesia is nothing short of brilliant. It’s a dark, depressing work, but also an extremely well-written manga. It showcases mental illness in a way I’ve not seen before.

8. Omoide Emanon

You sometimes come upon certain works that contain glimpses of absolute brilliance. One such tale is Kenji Tsuruta’s adaptation of Shinji Kajio’s story, Omoide Emanon.

The story centers on a young man who’s returning home from his travels and a beautiful young woman he meets on a ferry. She introduces herself as Emanon and the two of them hit it off.

During dinner, she tells him her story, a story that’s unbelievable.

I don’t know what it is about this manga that makes it so great. There’s this warm, solemn atmosphere about it, the way our characters meet and how they talk that’s just so natural.

I don’t know what makes this manga so great. It might be the warm, solemn atmosphere, the way the characters meet, or the reason the young man returns home. It’s a mixture that’s strangely fitting and relatable.

And yet, Emanon stands out. She’s a realistic, yet beautiful character. She’s charismatic, yet ominous. Her portrayal is simply perfect.

The reason I consider Omoide Emanon such a well-written manga is the emotional impact it conveys in its few chapters. I’ve read many other manga, much longer than Omoide Emanon, but few impacted me similarly.

Omoide Emanon doesn’t tell much of a story. Instead, it merely gives us a glimpse into the life of two characters who met by chance.

And yet, at times, it’s the small things in life that stay with us the longest. Read Omoide Emanon, and it might just become one of them.

7. Onani Master Kurosawa

Onani Master Kurosawa by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota proved to be one of the biggest surprises in the entire manga medium.

Kakeru Kurosawa, our protagonist, is a fourteen-year-old student. Each day, once classes are over, however, he heads to a seldom-used school bathroom and masturbates.

When he notices how his mousy classmate Aya Kitahara is bullied by one of the popular girls, he takes revenge into his own hands by doing what he does best.

It isn’t long before Kitahara figures out he’s behind the incident and blackmails him to do the same to other girls who bullied her.

The earlier parts of Onani Master Kurosawa are more humorous and are often considered a parody of Death Note. In time, however, the manga changes, matures and becomes an inspiring coming-of-age tale.

What makes it such a well-written manga is not only the way the story’s told but also its characters. Kurosawa is one of the best-rounded, believable and eventually likeable characters I’ve ever come upon. While he starts out as an anti-social pervert, he develops tremendously over the course of the manga.

It’s this development that’s incredibly well done. He’s also an extremely relatable character, one we come to get to know intimately. We not only see what’s happening or how he feels, no, we come to understand him. It’s this intimacy and his character development that makes this such a well-written manga. The same is true for many of the side-characters who are as complex and realistic as Kurosawa.

Onani Master Kurosawa is without a doubt one of the best, most well-written manga out there, telling a sweet and complex coming-of-age story.

6. The Climber

Shinichi Sakamoto’s The Climber is one of the most beautiful and well-written manga I ever read.

Buntarou Mori, our protagonist, is a lonesome and solitary teenager. When a classmate challenges him to climb the school building, Mori accepts without hesitation. It’s at this moment that his passion for climbing is awoken.

From here on out, Mori climbs more and more mountains.

The Climber is a work heavily focused on dedication and perseverance, showcasing that if you work hard enough, you can do anything.

It’s the story, the presentation that makes The Climber such a well-written manga. One might think it’s a manga about climbing, but it’s one about character. The Climber is hugely character-driven and focuses more on Mori’s development than anything else.

Mori has problems and can’t relate to other people. As he continues to climb and overcome mountains, however, he also overcomes his problems. This dualism is fantastically well done.

The art in The Climber is among the best in the medium. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, presenting us with stunning page-spreads of mountain ranges.

It’s full of glimpses of poetic beauty. Many panels are dedicated to nothing but Mori climbing. There’s no need for dialogue. No, the visuals speak for themselves. It’s a thing of beauty, one that makes The Climber such a fantastic and well-written manga.

And yet, it goes even further. Many pages contain metaphors, allusions and literary passages. It gives the entire work a feeling of profound joy and character. And yet, it never feels pretentious.

The Climber is an outstanding work of beauty. It’s not merely a manga about climbing, it’s a character-driven coming-of-age story. While the manga can be a heavier read, it’s never an unpleasant experience. No, it’s always beautiful.

5. Me and the Devil Blues

Akira Hiramoto’s Me and the Devil Blues is a manga that retells the life of Robert Johnson and the American South.

Our protagonist, Robert, is a dabbling musician who wants to learn how to play the blues. He’s not good at it, but one day he hears an urban legend. Should you play at a crossroads at night, the devil will visit you. In exchange for your soul, he’ll make you genius blues player.

When Robert does what the legend says, his life changes forever.

Me and the Devil Blues is an outstanding a well-written manga. It comes with an art style that’s gritty, but very detailed, making it one of the most beautiful manga out there.

The setting of the manga, the American South, during the 1930s is extremely well done. One can see the deep division between white and black, giving the manga a unique, western feeling.

Another fantastic element of the manga is its characters. RJ’s a great protagonist, but he’s a character more thrown into events than choosing them. Clyde Brown is, in my opinion, the best character in the manga. Many of the side-characters are well developed in their own right, but the best among them is without a doubt Stanley McDonald.

The best part about Me and the Devil Blues, however, is the atmosphere. I’ve never read another manga so loaded with tension and as suspenseful as Me and the Devil Blues. There are entire chapters that don’t let you catch your breath. It’s this atmosphere, this tension that makes it such an incredibly well-written manga.

Me and the Devil Blues is a hidden gem and one of the most suspenseful, well written-manga of all time.

4. Vinland Saga

Vineland Saga by Makoto Yukimura tells the story of Thorfinn Karlsefni, son of Thors. He’s part of a mercenary group led by a man named Askeladd. It’s revealed that Askeladd is responsible for Thor’s death and Thorfinn only joined his group to get revenge.

After this introduction, we learn that the Danish prince Canute has been taken hostage. It’s here that the shrewd Askeladd hatches a plan, one that should change their lives forever.

Vinland Saga is without a doubt one of the best and most well-written manga of all time.

The manga’s set in the 11th century and focuses on Vikings. While the manga takes some liberties, it feels incredibly realistic and doesn’t shy away from portraying the atrocities of the times.

Vinland Saga is full of brutal battles, featuring gross and gratuitous violence. And yet, the manga isn’t merely a story of brutal wars and battle. It’s the story of Thorfinn. For long parts, the manga tells a calm and gloomy story as it focuses on Thorfinn feelings of guilt and his regrets. It’s these parts I came to enjoy the most.

The reason I consider Vinland Saga such a well-written manga, however, is because of its characters. Thorfinn starts out as a quiet and efficient killer who lives only for revenge. Over the course of the story, however, he grows tremendously and becomes one of the most complex manga characters of all time.

The greatest character in Vinland Saga is Askeladd. He’s amongst the greatest manga characters of all time and if you read Vinland Saga, you will find out why.

At times Vinland Saga is brutal and violent, at others calm and quiet, but it’s always a well-written manga and a fantastic read.

3. Vagabond

Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond is based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. It tells a romanticized version of the life of Musashi Miyamoto.

The manga centers on Shinmen Takezou. After joining the battle of Sekigahara, Takezo is declared a wanted criminal. After a long hunt, he’s caught, strung up at a tree and left to die. Before long, he’s freed by the monk Takuan, who gives him a new name, that of Musashi Miyamoto.

From here on the manga focuses on his travels and his pursuit of the sword to become ‘Invincible under the Heavens.’

Vagabond is absolutely gorgeous to look at and features some of the best art in the entire medium.

Since Vagabond’s a samurai manga, it features a lot of stunning battles. While they are gory, blood and disturbing, the violence is never glamorized and rendered in stunning detail.

The reason I consider Vagabond such a well-written manga is because of its characters. Musashi starts out as a demon child, but develops tremendously over the course of the manga. He matures into a calm, philosophical man, one who questions what it truly means to be invincible.

As much as the manga’s the story of Musashi Miyamoto, it’s also the story of Sasaki Koichiro, another brilliant swordsman of the time. Long parts of the manga are dedicated to Koichiro and his life. These parts are as interesting and well-written as those featuring Musashi.

The story-telling in Vagabond is another thing I enjoyed. Over the course of the manga, we often switch from Musashi to Koichiro, or even Matahachi, showing us each character’s unique path.

Overall, nothing much needs to be said about Vagabond. It’s one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time.

2. Berserk

Rest in peace Kentaro Miura, thanks for sharing your gift with the world.

Berserk is one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time.

It’s a dark fantasy manga telling the story of a man with a sword as tall as himself out on a quest for revenge. That man’s Guts, the Black Swordsman, who s hunting for demonic beings known as apostles.

Berserk might appear a simple story, nothing but the tale of a man fighting monsters. And yet, one couldn’t be more wrong. Berserk is an incredibly complex and well-written manga. This is especially prevalent during its second arc, the Golden Age, in which we learn much more about Guts’ past, but also get to know Griffith.

It’s during this arc, we learn just how complex these two characters and their relationship is. Kentaro Miura did an amazing job at showcasing it, testing and ultimately severing it.

It’s because of these two characters, their interactions, their goals and wishes that I consider Berserk such a well-written manga.

While Berserk is known for its amazing characters, it’s most popular for its art. Kentaro Miura was one of the greatest manga artists of all time. There are scarcely few manga who can compare to Berserk when Kentaro Miura was at its best. There are often more details on a single page of Berserk than in entire chapters of other manga.

What I came to enjoy the most was Berserk’s monster design. The apostles are absolutely gorgeous and terrifying to look at. They are nothing short of beautifully grotesque monstrosities.

Berserk is one of the greatest, most well-written manga of all time. It’s at the peak of the medium and anyone interested in manga should read it.

1. Blade of the Immortal

Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal is my favorite manga of all time.

The story centers on Manji, the infamous ‘Hundred Men Killer.’ As punishment for his deeds, an eight-hundred-year-old nun placed bloodworms in his body, rendering him immortal. As atonement for his crimes and to free himself from the curse of immortality, Manji resolves to kill one thousand evil man.

The manga’s story truly starts, however, when Manji meets Rin Asano, a sixteen-year-old girl. She begs him to help her in a quest for revenge against the man who murdered her parents. This man’s Kagehisa Anotsu, the leader of the Itto-Ryu.

From this point onwards, Manji travels with Rin to help her.

The manga’s premise is simple, but becomes more complex over time as various factions are introduced.

The reason I consider Blade of the Immortal such a well-written manga is because of its characters. Both Rin and Manji develop tremendously over the course of the manga, but many other characters are as excellent. Anotsu Kagehisa is one of the greatest, most complex characters in the entire manga, but so are Taito Magatsu, Makie Otono-Tachibana and, of course, Shira.

The biggest testament to the manga’s writing is that there’s no real distinction between good and evil. Every character has their own circumstances, goals and reasons. While Anotsu Kagehisa is the story’s chief antagonist, it’s only because Manji and Rin are our protagonists.

The high point of the manga is the outstanding fights. They are brutal, tense, full of suspense and amongst the best of the entire medium.

Overall, Blade of the Immortal is an amazing samurai manga and one of the most well-written manga of all time.

Manga’s a medium that has always been close to my heart. You can see so in my lists of the best horror manga, seinen manga, shonen manga and the best manga of all time.

It’s the mixture of great, sometimes weird and outlandish stories combined with fantastic visuals that makes the medium so enticing.

While there’s a plethora of different manga out there, I’ve always enjoyed works that are weirder, stranger, or downright surreal.

That’s why I put together a list of 20 weird manga that any manga fan should read.

Table of Contents

• 20. Fourteen
• 19. Devilman
• 18. Dead End
• 17. Gyo
• 16. Franken Fran
• 15. Lychee Light Club
• 14. Chainsaw Man
• 13. Keep on Vibrating
• 12. MPD Psycho
• 11. Soil
• 10. Hotel
• 9. Jagaaaaaan
• 8. Gantz
• 7. Dorohedoro
• 6. Homunculus
• 5. Freesia
• 4. Onani Master Kurosawa
• 3. Kamisama no Iutoori and Kamisama no Iutoori Ni
• 2. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean
• 1. Ultra Heaven

20. Fourteen

Kazuo Umezu is one of the biggest names in manga. He’s often called one, if not the most influential horror manga artist of all time.

His works, including God’s Left Hand, Devil’s Right Hand and The Drifting Classroom, are vastly popular. While many of them are weird, bizarre and outlandish, none of them are as weird as Fourteen. It’s a manga that’s defined by the word weird and is one of the most surreal and outlandish works I’ve ever come upon.

Fourteen is a manga set in a twisted and futuristic version of Earth. Our protagonist, at least for the first part, is Chicken George. He’s a hyper-intelligent chicken mutant who grew in a chicken production factory.

He declares he’s going to take revenge on humanity for their abuse of not only nature, but also animals.

As weird as this premise sounds, the manga itself is far, far weird and utterly ridiculous. Fourteen is one of the strangest, most surreal apocalypse stories I ever read. Sure, there’s Chicken George, but the manga’s full of so many strange things. He seems almost normal in contrast. The mange features green babies, a T-Rex-shaped space ship, all plant life dying and being replaced by props and even an alien invasion.

Kazuo Umezu presents all of this madness in his typical art style. It’s old-fashioned, simple and even ugly. Yet, it also shines, especially in the depiction of the strange futuristic earth or when disaster strikes.

Fourteen is an insanely bizarre and weird manga. It’s a surreal, almost nonsensical experience. And yet, I had a blast reading it, if only for how creative, surreal and stupid it was.

19. Devilman

Go Nagai’s Devilman was released in the early seventies and is the oldest manga on this list. It’s a strange dark tale and one of the weirdest manga I ever came upon.

The manga tells the story of Akira Fudou. After his friend Ryo Asuka learns of the existence of demons and the danger they present, he hatches a plan. He reasons that a human with a good heart might not only be able to control the demon possessing them, but might also use its power to fight them. The plan succeeds, Akira becomes possessed by the powerful demon Amon and can now transform into Devilman.

Given its premise, one might assume Devilman to be a simple, straightforward manga, but it’s much, much weirder. It centers on a variety of topics and soon shows that not only demons can commit evil.

The story of Devilman is weird. The tone and themes change markedly throughout the manga. While it starts off simple, the plot goes completely overboard in its later half. It’s a strange, beautiful mess that’s all over the place. It makes it almost apparent that even Go Nagai wasn’t sure what he wanted Devilman to be.

The weakest point of the manga is the art. It’s old-fashioned and cartoony. While this strange style can shine in certain regards, it’s never truly good.

In the end, Devilman is a weird manga, one of the weirdest I ever came upon. For all its faults, however, I still consider it a classic, one any manga fan should read.

18. Dead End

If you’ve looked at my list of the best manga of all time, you notice that I’m a big fan of the works of Manabe Shohei. Dead End is a surreal and weird manga, but it’s for those reasons I love it so much.

Shirou, our protagonist, is a construction worker leading a simple life. All this changes when he stumbles upon a mysterious, naked girl named Lucy. Tragedy strikes when he introduces her to his friends. After leaving the apartment for a few minutes, he finds Lucy missing, his friends dead and a mysterious man standing amongst the carnage.

Before Shirou can react, the man safes him from an explosion and urges him to flee into the sewers. Down there, Shirou meets another strange man. From here on out, the story starts, as Shirou gathers a rag-tag group of characters he supposedly knows from his past.

Dead End’s premise might sound strange, but the manga gets progressively weirder the longer it goes on. While it starts out as more of a thriller, it slowly introduces more fantastical elements before becoming downright surreal.

Manabe Shohei’s art style adds a lot to the strange feeling of this manga and can be best called unique. While backgrounds are gritty and detailed, his characters stand out for a different reason. They look much more realistic, but this design makes them also appear somewhat ugly. It takes a while to get used to this style, but it’s not bad.

Dead End is one of the most surreal and weird manga I ever read. If you’re a fan of raw, gritty and surreal works, this manga won’t disappoint.

17. Gyo

Junji Ito is one of my favorite manga artists of all time. If you’re interested in his works, I urge you to check out my article on his style and themes, or my list of the best Junji Ito stories.

While many of his works can be described as weird, Gyo is his weirdest.

Gyo is the Japanese word for fish. If you think you’re prepared for what’s coming, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s one of the most absurd and weird manga I ever came upon.

Tadashi, our protagonist, goes on a vacation with his girlfriend, Kaori. She’s extremely sensitive to smells and one day complains about a disgusting, rotten smell. It isn’t long before the two of them find the source. It’s a fish, skittering through the apartment on robotic legs.

This fish is only the first of many other sea creatures, including sharks, to emerge from the depths.

When the two of them return to Tokyo, the manga’s story turns into a full-fledged apocalypse. Millions of sea creatures on robotic legs flood the city and spread the so-called death stench.

Gyo is a story like no other and one of the most creative works I’ve come upon. And yet, the manga has its flaws. The biggest is Junji Ito trying to explain the origin of the strange, robotic legs. While Gyo is an absurd story, Junji Ito’s explanation makes it downright ridiculous, almost silly.

The strongest points about Gyo are the fantastic art and the outlandish visuals. Especially the later parts of the manga are a horrific delight when bloated, disfigured humans shuffle through fog-covered streets.

While I have my problems with Gyo’s story, its sheer creativity and fantastic artwork make it worth reading for any fan of surreal and weird manga.

16. Franken Fran

Franken Fran is another fantastically weird manga. At times it can be disturbing, at others more satirical, but each chapter is weird.

The plot of the manga follows a girl named Fran. She was created by a brilliant surgeon and after he vanished, she’s taken over his work.

Franken Fran is an anthology of short, disturbing tales all involving Fran. Each chapter features another strange and unique incident she gets involved in.

Given that Fran’s a surgeon, most chapters depict medical and surgical procedures. These are presented to us in all their detail and are disturbing and unsettling to look at. What makes this even worse, however, are the results, which are often nothing short of horrific.

While Franken Fran is a horror manga, quite a few of its chapters are more satirical or humorous in tone. Yet, even those chapters are full of disturbing imagery.

Franken Fran is a weird manga, one that can be quite disturbing. Some of the manga’s chapters can be weaker, but when Franken Fran is at its best, it’s an outstanding work.

15. Lychee Light Club

Lychee Light Club is not only a disturbing but also an extremely weird manga. It’s reminiscent of the erotic gore work of Suehiro Maruo, and thus it’s full of explicit imagery and gore.

The plot of the manga tells the story of the members of the Lychee Light Club. Over two years, the club’s members created a robot called Lychee, which they programmed to bring them young girls.

The club, however, is anything but normal and its members have no problem committing many atrocities, including torture, mutilation, and even murder. Things get out of hand when their leader Zero becomes increasingly paranoid. This sets into motion a set of events that should lead to the club’s dire end.

Lychee Light Club is a manga that features a lot of disturbing imagery, copious amounts of gore, but it’s also an extremely weird manga.

The entire atmosphere of the manga’s surreal, the behavior of the characters almost comically psychopathic and there’s, of course, Lychee, the robot.

It’s a great read for those who are looking for a weird manga featuring lots of unsettling imagery and gore.

14. Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man is one of the most brutal and weird manga I ever read. It’s created by Fujimoto Tatsuki, who’s also known for his work, Fire Punch, an equally weird manga.

Chainsaw Man tells the story of Denji. He’s a simple young man who lives in a shack with his pet devil, Ponchita. He earns a living killing other devils for the yakuza. Devils are demons who escaped from hell and who wreak havoc on Earth.

When he’s killed by the yakuza, Ponchita fuses with his body to keep him from dying. This also allows him to transform into Chainsaw Man.

Before long, he catches the eye of the Public Safety Bureau and becomes an official devil hunter.

Chainsaw Man can be stupid, even ridiculous, but it’s also one of the most unique and creative manga I ever read. It’s full of strange imagery and brutal fights featuring violence galore and some of the best action I’ve ever seen.

What makes it such a weird manga is its characters and the various devils that appear throughout the story. They are as outlandish as they are scary to look at. Each one features a unique design and comes with powers that are as strange as they are terrifying.

Chainsaw Man is without a doubt one of the most creative manga I ever read. It features a unique, yet beautiful art style, fantastic action and a story that’s both weird and gripping. It’s a fantastical read and I recommend it to anyone.

13. Keep on Vibrating

I don’t know what it is I like so much about Keep on Vibrating by Jiro Matsumoto. It’s the only adult themed manga on this list and features sex, violence and a lot of surreal imagery.

Keep on Vibrating comprises only seven chapters, but they are all unique. The very first chapter of the manga is one of the weirdest and most surreal pieces of work I’ve ever witnessed. It’s the perfect introduction to the style and works of Jiro Matsumoto.

What makes Keep on Vibrating such a weird manga is the sheer surreality of the scenarios depicted in it. One chapter centers on a naked artist who might or might not hallucinate a man with a horse head. Others follow children wearing gas masks as they are playing in a shoddy, warn-torn world, a police officer trying to find a serial killer or a bizarre rendition of a Groundhog Day scenario.

All of this is presented in Jiro Matsumoto’s unique art style. It’s gritty, almost sketchy, but helps to bring forth the strange atmosphere of his world. There’s a strange contrast prevalent in Keep on Vibrating. While the imagery, the world and what’s happening are often disturbing, the dialogue is as mundane as it can be. It only serves to increase the surreal and unique feel of this work.

Keep on Vibrating is without a doubt an extremely weird manga. It’s different from anything else I’ve read, but there are glimpses of genius to be found here.

12. MPD Psycho

MPD Psycho by Eji Otsuka and Shouu Tajima is a complex psychological manga featuring copious amounts of shocking imagery.

It’s the story of a detective named Kazuhiko Amamiya who suffers from multiple personality disorder. Over the course of the first chapters, we witness as Amamiya investigates various sick murder cases.

In time, however, it turns into a truly weird manga when a complex, at times confusing, overarching plot is introduced. This plot is not only related to Amamiya, but various other characters and involves an ominous woman known as Lucy Monostone.

While the manga is full of shocking imagery, it’s also a highly psychological thriller.

What makes it such a weird manga is not only the plot but also Amamiya’s unique condition. While the manga’s always interesting and full of suspense, keeping up with his different personalities and their aims can be hard.

Even though I enjoyed this manga. It’s a sick, twisted and dark manga, but it features one of the most complex and interesting plots I’ve come upon. If you’re a fan of weird manga and dark thrillers, read MPD Psycho.

11. Soil

You sometimes come upon a piece of work that makes you wonder what you just experienced and why you enjoyed it so much. This statement fits Soil by Atushi Kankeo to the point. It’s an incredibly weird manga, most likely the weirdest on this entire list.

The story of the manga centers on Soil New Town. When a family vanishes without a trace, two detectives are called to investigate. They are quite the special characters to say the least. At first, the case appears a routine one, but as the manga continues, the story becomes nothing short of surreal.

Soil is a manga that’s as different as it is refreshing. The manga’s so full of weird ideas and surreal imagery, one can’t help but be impressed by it. Yet, this weirdness is also one of Soil’s biggest problems. The manga’s more an exercise of the surreal than a coherent story. This becomes especially prevalent in the latter half when the manga’s strangeness goes completely overboard.

Soils art is as unique as the manga itself. At first it might appear simplistic, even amateurish, but after a while one can see it as what it is, different and unique. This art especially shines in the depiction of the weird and surreal place Soil New Town becomes.

Soil is an incredibly weird manga, but it’s worth picking up for this exact reason. There are few manga as surreal. The only thing that comes close to the sheer random madness of Soil is Uzumaki by Junji Ito.

If you’re looking for a surreal and weird manga, you won’t be disappointed by Soil.

10. Hotel

Hotel by Boichi is one of the greatest collection of one-shots I ever read.

Each chapter of this weird collection features Boichi’s outstanding and beautifully drawn art. While the individual stories vary in quality, I enjoyed all of them.

While none of the stories in this manga are related per se, one can still find some thematically links about all of them.

The first chapter featuring the titular Hotel and the AI controlling it is already weird enough. Things get out of hand in chapter three and four. They feature some stellar visuals, but the stories depicted are as weird and surreal as they can get.

Yet, all those chapters are rendered in beautiful detail. Chapter five stands out especially. While it doesn’t feature much of a story, it’s drawn in stunning full color.

Apart from Keep on Vibrating, Hotel is the only other collection of one-shots on this list of weird manga.

It’s a fantastic experience. Some stories in Hotel are emotional while others are more surreal or even funny. They are, however, all interesting.

Hotel is a weird manga, a quick read, but well worth the time spent because of Boichi’s outstanding art.

9. Jagaaaaaan

Jagaaaaaan by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Kensuke Nishida is another strange and weird manga.

It tells the story of Shintaro Jagasaki. He leads a normal, boring life and works as a police officer. One day, when escorting home a drunk on a train, he bears witness to an office worker growing increasingly madder. Eventually, the man turns into a monster and beings mauling the train’s other passengers. Jagasaki’s able to take out the creature by shooting a beam from his hand. He soon learns that not only the office worker, but he too is a fractured human. From this point onward, Jagasaki uses his new powers to hunt down and take out other fractured humans.

Jagaaaaaan is a weird manga, one full of outlandish characters, disturbing scenarios and grotesque monsters.

What makes this manga stand out is the fantastic art by Kensuke Nishida. It’s most prevalent in the many fractured humans we see throughout the series. Their design is as outlandish as it is creative.

Yet, Jagaaaaaan is such a weird manga for a variety of reasons. First are its characters. Jagasaki is a weird, but so are many other members of the cast. They include a fun-loving, psychotic nihilist, a man obsessed with justice who wants to be a hero and a young man who transforms into and takes over the life of a young girl.

Jagaaaaaan is as strange and weird a manga as it sounds, but it’s also a lot of fun. It’s full of action, features lots of gore, but also many other unsettling events.

There’s an atmosphere to this manga, an air surrounding it that makes it so surreal and unique. Jagaaaaaan is a fantastic manga, one I truly enjoyed.

8. Gantz

Gantz is one of the most insane and weird manga of all time and I love it.

It’s the story of Kei Kurono. One day, he and his childhood friend Masaru Katou die in a tragic train accident. This, however, is only the start of the story because soon after the two of them awaken in what appears to be a Tokyo apartment. In there they find a group of other people, but also a black sphere called Gantz. It soon informs them that their lives are over and they are now tasked with hunting down aliens who live hidden amongst humans. Soon after, they are teleported outside and the first of many brutal missions begins.

Gantz is a gritty and brutal story full of glorified gore and fluid action. It depicts an extremely weird scenario, one underlined by the often outlandish aliens.

The greatest part about Gantz is the fantastic art. Each mission is action-packed and fights are rendered in stunning and beautiful detail. These missions are always brutal. Many of the participants don’t know what’s going on and become nothing more than cannon fodder. They are torn apart, shredded to pieces and even devoured by aliens.

Yet, it’s not only the premise that makes Gantz such a weird manga. Gantz’s entire world and the events depicted are nothing short of crazy. We bear witness to severe bullying, rape, a mass shooting, and even vampires. It’s nothing short of beautiful madness.

While the manga can be ridiculous at times, the plot nonsensical, it’s one of the greatest action manga of all time featuring a set of fantastic characters.

7. Dorohedoro

Anyone familiar with the works of Q Hayashide knows her manga are weird, extremely weird. Dorohedoro is no different. No, it’s without a doubt one of the weirdest manga I ever read.

While it’s set in a grim dark world full of gore and graphical violence, it’s also full of humor. There’s an air of lightheartedness about the carnage we witness that makes reading Dorohedoro an entirely surreal experience.

It’s the story of Kaiman, an amnesiac with the head of a reptilian. He lives in the derelict city of Hole which is connected to the Sorcerer’s World. The inhabitants of this world are magic users and often visit Hole to test their powers. As a result, many of Hole’s inhabitants are transformed, mutilated or even murdered.

Kaiman believes a magic user caused his condition and thus hunts them down relentlessly to figure out who he is.

As weird as this premise sounds, the manga itself proves to be even weirder. Describing the plot of Dorohedoro is a thing of impossibility because of the sheer creativity and originality that went into it. It’s a work of surreal madness.

The same is true for the characters. Be it the transformed inhabitants of Hole or the outlandish characters populating the Sorcerer’s World, they are all weirdos in their own right.

Yet, as weird as Dorohedoro is, it’s also beautiful. Both the surreal Sorcerer’s World and the run-down city of Hole are rendered in stunning detail.

Dorohedoro is a weird manga, one full of beautiful art and brutal, graphical violence. It’s a dark and twisted story, one full of increasingly disturbing events, yet presented in almost comedic lightheartedness.

Not much has to be said about Dorohedoro. It’s a surreal masterpiece.

6. Homunculus

Homunculus is an extremely weird manga by Hideo Yamamoto, the creator of Ichi the Killer. While Ichi the Killer is disturbing, Homunculus is nothing short of surreal.

Susumu Nakoshi is a young, homeless man living in his car. One day, he encounters a young medical student, Manabu Ito, who researches the process of trepanation. When asked, Nakoshi agrees to become his test subject and undergoes the procedure.

As if this premise wasn’t weird enough already, the result of the operation proves even weirder. When Nakoshi looks at people with only his left eye, he sees distorted versions of them. These versions soon become referred to as homunculi.

Over the course of the manga, the story becomes progressively weirder. There are, of course, the homunculi who’re weird in their own right. What makes the manga even weirder, however, is the story itself and the many psychological themes it features.

Homunculus’ plot can almost be called unpredictable. It’s more a character study than a story and slowly turns into a man’s descent into madness.

Hideo Yamamoto’s art is fantastic. It features many disturbing scenes, yet others which are surreal, almost abstract. The greatest part about this manga, however, is the grotesque homunculi.

Homunculus is one of the most surreal and weird manga I ever read. It features two extremely complex characters, an entirely unique scenario and an unrestrained narrative.

It’s a surreal, and creative masterpiece, one any fan of weird manga should read.

5. Freesia

Freesia is the second manga by Jiro Matsumoto and it’s an even weirder manga than Keep on Vibrating, yet for different reasons.

It’s set in a dark, dystopian version of Japan where a law is passed which legalizes retaliatory killings. Should a loved ones be murdered, you may take justice into your own hands, or hire someone who does it for you.

Kano, our protagonist, works for an agency which specializes in retaliatory killings. One might assume Freesia’s a bloody manga about retaliatory killings, but it focuses more on the personal stories of the targets than action. This makes us sympathize with them, and their end a tragedy in its own right.

Freesia’s Japan is a dark, gloomy place, one filled with a perpetual feeling of depression. It’s a story that’s populated by nothing but broken, damaged and mentally ill people.

This is more than true for Kano. He suffers from schizophrenia, hallucination and memory failure. What makes Freesia such a weird manga is how it presents this to us. We don’t merely see how Kano acts. Instead, the manga shows us the world he sees. It’s a surreal world, one that makes no sense and makes us wonder just what we’re seeing.

Yet, Kano isn’t the only member of our cast who suffers from mental problems. Many others seem to suffer from delusions of their own. Similar to Kano, these are presented to us as real and it can often cause confusion. It’s only when we understand what’s going on that things become clear to us.

Freesia is a brilliant work, one that showcases mental illness different from any other manga I’ve read. It makes it a surreal, irritating and weird manga, but also one I loved reading.

4. Onani Master Kurosawa

Onani Master Kurosawa by Katsura Ise and Takuma Yokota can be translated as Masturbation Master Kurosawa. As you can tell from the title, it’s a weird manga, one I loved reading.

When I first heard about it, I was intrigued by the title, but assumed it would be nothing but a big, perverted joke. Instead, it turned out to be one of the greatest, most heartfelt stories ever.

Kakeru Kurosawa, our main character, is an anti-social loner. What makes him special is a peculiar habit. Once classes are over, he retreats to a seldom-used bathroom at school and masturbates.

When he witnesses the bullying of his timid, mousy classmate Aya Kitahara by one of the popular girls, he takes revenge into his own hands, by doing what he does best.

It’s this scenario, this idea that makes Onani Master Kurosawa such a weird manga. Yet, while it starts out as a humorous, perverted tale centered on masturbation-based justice, it gradually evolves and becomes more serious.

It turns from a perverted tale into a sweet, inspiring coming-of-age story that tackles a variety of topics.

Another reason I love it so much was Kurosawa himself. While he starts off as a rather perverted individual, he turns into one of the most likeable and believable characters ever.

Onani Master Kurosawa is, without a doubt, a weird manga, but it turned out to be one of the biggest surprises ever. By now, I consider it one of the best manga I ever read.

3. Kamisama no Iutoori and Kamisama no Iutoori Ni

Kamisama no Iutoori and its sequel by Kaneshiro Muneyuki are two of the weirdest manga of all time, but some of my absolute favorites.

It’s a death game manga, and one of the best the genre offers.

The story begins with Takahata Shun. He’s a normal high school student and is incredibly bored with his life. This boredom ends when his teacher’s head explodes, a Daruma doll appears, and the very first death game in the series begins.

As the manga continues, we’re introduced to a set of fascinating characters and bear witness to a variety of incredible weird death games.

Yet, it’s not only the games who are weird, many of the characters featured in this manga are weird as well. The two most notable examples are Amamiya and Ushimitsu.

What I loved the most was how the manga handled its characters. It was never shy about killing them and does so at the most unexpected moments. It’s often the case that we’re introduced to a new character only to witness their demise soon after. There’s this unforgiving atmosphere to the manga, but also a strange sense of humor.

While the art in the first part isn’t the greatest, it improves vastly in the second part. Near the end, many of its panels and page spreads are absolutely gorgeous to look at.

Overall, I had an absolute blast reading this weird manga and enjoyed it immensely. It might not be for everyone, given how weird and surreal it can be, but if you like death games, this magna is as good as it gets.

2. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean

With a title like that, one can already expect that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki is a weird manga.

While Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure was always a weird manga, featuring vampires, Aztec super humans and Nazi cyborgs, things became truly bizarre when stands were introduced.

They first appeared in its third part, the much-beloved Stardust Crusaders. It’s here, where stands first appear. They are a manifestation of a person’s life force, take on the form of an ethereal figure and possess superhuman powers.

One might assume that so-called stand-users are akin to superheroes, but one couldn’t be more wrong. The powers of stands are as weird as the manga itself. They can take on the form of game consoles, transform people into snails or even turn back time, amongst other things.

While all parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are weird to a degree, Part 6: Stone Ocean has to be the weirdest.

The story follows Jolyne Cujoh, the daughter of Joutarou Kuujou, the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders. After she’s framed for murder, she’s sent to Dolphin Street Jail. It soon becomes obvious that a disciple of Dio Brando framed her, and her incarceration is only a small part of the man’s true plan.

Jojo’s Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean features an assortment of weird characters, enemies and stands, but its ending is by far the weirdest event in the entire manga.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a fantastic series of weird manga. It’s one of the longest running manga of all time, but also one of the best. Any fan of weird manga and manga in general should check it out. It’s well worth reading.

1. Ultra Heaven

Reading Ultra Heaven was an experience like no other. It’s a psychedelic manga and one of the most stunning works in the entire medium.

The manga’s set in a dystopian future. In this world, feelings can be artificially created and be consumed as drugs.

Kabu, our protagonist, is addicted to these types of drugs. Before long, however, he learns of a new illegal substance, one called Ultra Heaven. When a man offers to sell it to him, Kabu accepts.

What follows is one of the craziest, most creative depictions of a trip I’ve ever seen. The visuals, the art and the presentation are unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed.

What makes Ultra Heaven such a great, but also weird manga, is the art. We’re presented with a gritty setting and detailed characters, but that’s not what makes it special. It’s the way it showcases drug usage and the hallucinations that come with it.

Most manga are presented by usage of organized, rectangular panels. Not so Ultra Heaven. No, it breaks this convention entirely. When Kabu suffers from an altered mind, be it by drugs or later meditation, the shapes of panels distort, similar to his mental state. Organized panels turn into twisting spirals, start running into each other or become nothing but pure chaos. It gives the entire manga a disorienting, surreal, and almost crazy feeling, but perfectly showcases what’s going on.

While the first and second chapter are weird enough, things go absolutely crazy in the third chapter. Before, the manga focused on drugs, drug usage and the resulting trips. In chapter three, the manga focuses on meditation and the mind altering effect it can have.

Ultra Heaven is a manga like no other. It’s without a doubt an incredibly weird manga, but also a visual masterpiece.

Tsutomu Nihei’s one of my favorite manga of all time and Biomega is one of my favorite works of his.

Unfortunately, Biomega is often overshadowed by its predecessor Blame! and its successor Knights of Sidonia who are both very popular. Yet, I think Biomega is a manga deserving of a lot more attention.

Following his cyberpunk masterpiece Blame!, Biomega is like it in many ways and features many similar elements.

One mega-corporations featured in the story is named Toha Heavy Industries, the manga features a dark-haired, superhuman protagonist, it features lots of high-tech and cybernetic horrors, and it comes with all of Nihei’s grand architectural world-building.

But Biomega isn’t just a carbon copy of Blame!, it’s also vastly different in many other ways.

It’s a fantastic and creative manga that pushes Nihei’s visual story-telling even further than Blame! It features Nihei’s usual dark and gritty style and the insane action so common in Blame! However, Biomega drives those things even further.

Biomega is an insanely fast-paced cyberpunk, zombie apocalypse manga full. It’s as weird and insane as it sounds, but the second half of the manga gets even weirder.

Table of Contents

• Biomega – Plot
• Biomega – Setting
• Biomega – Story-Telling Conventions
• Biomega – Visual Style
• Criticism

Biomega – Plot

Biomega’s plot is hard to describe. The manga’s plot is as weird as it is surreal. At the outset of the story, most of the world population has turned into drones, who are basically zombies, because of the spreading N5S virus.

It’s soon revealed that the Data Recovery Foundation (DRF), a mega corporation, and its subsidiary, the Public Health Service (PHS), are trying to continue the spread of the virus to transform humanity.

Opposing them is Toha Heavy Industries, another mega-corporation who sends out synthetic human agents, one of them Zouichi Kanoe. He’s tasked with finding Ion Green, a young woman who’s adapted to the N5S virus.

Toha Heavy Industries searches for her and other people who have adapted to the N5S virus hoping to find a cure and to save the world.

And thus Zouichi, and Toha Heavy Industries find themselves in conflict with the DRF, the PHS and their many forces.

Biomega – Setting

Similarly to Blame!, Biomega features an apocalyptic setting. Again, we don’t witness the world before the apocalypse. Instead, we’re thrown right into it and witness a derelict world devoid of normal humans and populated by twisted and disturbing drones.

Over the course of the manga, however, the setting changes radically.

While the first half of the manga is set on a dark, gritty and futuristic version of Earth, the second half of the manga is set on an entirely different world.

It’s a shift that makes sense in the story, but it’s strange, nonetheless. It’s such a radical shift that not only the setting, but even the nature of the plot changes. The entire manga becomes less dark, grim and gritty and much less fast-paced.

Biomega – Story-Telling Conventions

Like many of Nihei’s earlier works, Biomega is a highly unique manga that’s not for everyone. It’s a story told more via visuals than via dialogue, extremely fast paced and full of action.

Visual storytelling

An old saying goes, a picture says more than a thousand words, and it’s no more true than in the works of Tsutomu Nihei and especially Biomega.

Biomega is another example of a story being told via the setting and visuals. There’s no exposition, no explanations and instead we’re thrown right into a zombie-apocalypse.

Similarly to Blame! there are entire chapters with almost no dialogue. Yet, Biomega differs from Blame! in one major aspect, the pacing.

Biomega’s pacing is insanely fast, almost too fast and most of it is presented to us via visuals.

There’s always something happening, the story is always moving forward. There are no slow, somber chapters like in Blame!, at least in the first half of the manga, and this can make it hard to understand what’s going on.

Even dialogue is faced-paced, lines are omitted and only people’s reaction are shown to us. It’s an interesting choice, but it never confuses since we can always tell what was said before or what question was asked.

An example is when a certain character gets infected. We don’t see Fuyu telling her she’s infected or what happened to her, instead we only see her reaction and understanding of it.

This makes Biomega such a fast-moving manga. It feels almost like Nihei was reluctant to use dialogue, and wanted his visuals and his setting to speak for himself. While it might sound strange, it works in case of Biomega and makes it such a unique experience to read.

World building

As in other works of Nihei’s, the world-building is done mostly via visuals.

What makes Biomega’s world-building so special is that the manga’s set in two vastly different worlds.

The first part of the manga is set in a futuristic version of the world. Yet, with the apocalypse setting in, it’s a derelict, bleak and ruined place.

It’s a world full of claustrophobic cities and complex urban sprawls.

The apocalypse is almost feasible, since the world is an empty place. As Zouichi and other characters travel through cities, they are almost completely empty, only populated by drones.

It’s a vast technological wasteland, devoid of anything in it but giant structures and military installations. This bleak atmosphere is even more feasible than in Blame!

After the first half, the manga’s setting changes radically and the second half of the manga stands in stark contrast to it.

What used to be the dark, futuristic cityscapes of a future earth are replaced by unique bio-mechanical environments that look more grown than built. It’s a world reminiscent of such works as Nausicaä teeming with strange bio-mechanical horrors.

It’s a world that appears almost like a fusion of nature and the artificial, one that looks more plantlike, almost organic. We see giant structures reminding us of bones, holes akin to pores and the many life forms Zouichi encounters appear like parasites.

This strange mixture of the biological and the technological also shows in the many inhabitants of the world, be it humans or other organisms.

And yet, this second half is more reminiscent of Blame!. The manga now takes place in a strange new world of immeasurable proportions, where humans have to survive against terrible odds.

Yet, what both worlds have in common is Nihei’s attention and focus on grand design. In the first part of the magna, it’s visible in the many gigantic cities, high-tech complexes and military structures.

This goes more out of hand in the second half. The new world has a width of only 100 kilometers, but a length of 4.8 billion kilometers, essentially stretching out from Earth to Neptun.

It’s this dual-setting that makes Biomega such a unique, but also strange manga. Both worlds, however, are rendered in beautiful detail and are given a lot of attention.

Characters

Biomega is weird, way weirder than Blame! and it shows in its assortment of characters. These include our main characters, Toha Heavy Industries synthetic humans, but also immortals, a woman who’s able to use ESP to understand and learn anything in an instant and a talking bear.

The synthetic humans, Zouichi and Nishu, are very similar to the cast of Blame!. Zouichi is pretty much a replica of Killy. He’s neigh immortal, has superhuman strength and abilities, can heal himself after receiving severe damage, and can go long periods without the need to drink or eat. The major difference, however, is Zouichi’s showcase of emotions. As opposed to Killy, Zouichi, at least in certain scenes, shows strong emotional responses and seems to care about other people.

Yet it’s not only the synthetic humans who are badass. Each one of them has an AI companion who is integrated into the motorcycles they drive. This allows them to use their own assortment of weapons, including a railgun and tentacle like chais that can help them attack, move and even shield them from serious impact.

Kozlov the talking bear while a weird character is a great addition to the cast. Against early assumptions, however, he’s not merely there for contrast and comical relief, no he’s much more important to the story than anyone would expect.

The antagonists, including the aforementioned woman with ESP, are also great, are interesting as well, but aren’t featured heavily. Yet, their clear, sociopathic ambition and grand plan makes them more interesting than those of Blame!

The Story

Nihei’s manga, especially his earlier works, don’t follow conventional story-telling tropes. His stories are often confusing and sometimes ambitious.

While Biomega starts of simple and straightforward, it soon becomes confusing and hard to follow. This can in part be attributed to the incredibly fast pacing in which large parts of the manga are told.

Similarly to Blame! much of the story and its backgrounds are only revealed as we read on. Important details are given to us sparely and we have to put them together on our own.

Yet, if you read carefully, and follow what little dialogue there is, you will understand the story almost completely. The motifs of the DRF, Niardi’s plan, her conflict with Narain and even what lead to it are all revealed.

However, Biomega might be a manga that needs to be read twice. It’s a weird piece of work and especially the second half can be very confusing.

Horror

While Biomega is a cyberpunk manga, it could very well be categorized as a horror manga as well.

There’s, of course, the plot. The N5S virus outbreak is akin to a zombie-apocalypse, and the many twisted and distorted drones are horrible to look at. This is also true for the many antagonists. The DRFs Patrol officers look as if they are straight out of a horror movie. The PHS task force is reminiscent of execution squads, and the many transformations are as horrible as they are fascinating.

Yet, that’s not all.

Nihei’s horror also manifests in its setting. While Zouichi and others visit vast cities, they are almost completely abandoned and empty. It gives the entire manga a moody feeling, one of isolation and claustrophobia.

In the second half, the world is a dangerous and alien place, and once more, a world in which normal humans are almost meaningless and unimportant. This world is so big that distances become meaningless and time is measured not in months or years, but in centuries. It’s a horrible wonderland of immeasurable proportions.

Themes

I want to take some time to talk about the many themes in Biomega. The first theme, of course, is a cornerstone of cyberpunk. We don’t have countries anymore, we merely have giant cityscapes and the world is controlled by giant megacorporations, fighting each other.

While Toha Heavy Industries is benevolent and wants to save humanity, the DRF is the polar opposite. At the outset of the story, they declare themselves the world government and plan on infecting all of humanity with the N5S virus.

The evolution and the ascension of humanity are another theme. Over the course of the story, we learn why Niardi, the DRF’s overlord, wants to infect humanity. She essentially wants to wipe out normal humans and build a new world with only those who are immune and have adapted to the virus.

Another important theme in Biomega is that of immortality. One of the major conflicts in the manga is one of pro-immortality against pro-mortality.

The Big Switch

The Big Switch is how I’d like to refer to the change that occurs between the first and the second half of the manga.

While the first half of the story represents us with cyberpunk in all its glory, what comes after chapter 27 is entirely different.

It’s not only the setting that changes radically but also many other elements of the story. The general pacing slows down, the plot changes, but with it also the elements that are used to tell it.

The second half of Biomega almost feels like a different manga. As outlined before, it can almost be called a genre shift. What started out as an apocalyptic cyberpunk manga is now more akin to a fantastic travel set in a setting that’s a mixture of cyberpunk and biopunk.

This Big Switch is one of the weirdest occurrences of its kind I’ve ever witnessed in a manga. While many manga comprise different art styles and their settings evolve, I’ve never seen one as rapid and radical as the one in Biomega.

It doesn’t ruin the manga, and it even makes sense in terms of plot, but it’s still extremely weird and can be very frustrating to some readers.

Biomega – Visual Style

Similarly to his masterpiece Blame!, Biomega’s art is full of vast expanses and gigantic structures. Yet, even though his style depicts this unfathomable scale, it’s always incredibly detailed. This makes Biomega a delight to experience.

As opposed to Blame!, however, Biomega is much darker in its depiction and feels dirtier and sketchier, especially in its first half. This adds a lot to the atmosphere and the apocalyptic setting of the manga.

Gigantic Proportions

Gigantic Proportions are a staple of Tsutomu Nihei’s work and Biomega doesn’t disappoint.

The Earth depicted in the first half of Biomega is a dark and surreal place. It seems to comprise nothing but towering cities connected by impossibly long highways.

What’s interesting about Biomega is that while it’s said in the future, many of the cities showcased have a distinct gothic look to them. They don’t look like the gigantic, pristine megastructures made of steel we’re used to from Blame! Instead, they look unorganized and wild.

Buildings are crowding together, almost pushing against one another. Every space between them is taken up by streets, pipes and cables. These pipes and cables are going everywhere and sneak around buildings in an almost chaotic fashion.

This strange futuristic, yet gothic architecture gives the cities of Biomega an almost organic style and makes them appear something that was grown rather than built.

And yet, these densely constructed cities are bleak and empty. Everything’s deserted, almost derelict, and we rarely see any people.

All of this gives Biomega a strangely eerie and claustrophobic feeling.

Art, Colors and Shading

Biomega is a dark manga, one that seems much darker than Blame! It gives the entire work an almost oppressive, gloomy atmosphere. Yet, it’s more than fitting for a story such as Biomega.

Cities are broken down, dark and their specific gothic design and color choice make them reminiscent of giant haunted houses. What adds to this feeling is Tsutomu Nihei’s personal style. While his art is sharp, many of Biomega’s cities feel as if they have no hard outlines, adding to the general feeling of isolation and desolation.

Biomega is a dark manga. Tsutomu Nihei uses lots of heavy blacks to depict the desolate, apocalyptic Earth. In many of these pages, black is not only the dominant color but also the dominant feeling. There’s a murky darkness that lays over the entire manga and adds so much to the atmosphere and general feeling.

Similarly to Blame!, Tsutomu Nihei once more relies on strong contrasts between white and black. This is most prevalent in his use of negative spaces to convey light and huge explosions.

What’s most interesting about Biomega, however, is the switch that happens in the second half of the manga. While black is the most dominant color, the second half is dominated by white. This visual changes and change in color usages adds to the general change the manga goes through in its second half.

Character Design

The character design in Biomega is reminiscent of that in Blame! What’s interesting about Biomega is that while the art, and especially the setting, is sketchy and dirty, character are often refined and detailed.

It’s most prevalent in the character of Zouichi. He might drive a futuristic motorcycle, but apart from that, he appears very similar to Killy, the main character of Blame! It’s not only his appearance but also his demeanor and weapons.

The DRF and especially their various cybernetic horrors are similar to the silicon life. However, their design and especially their transformations look more biological and organic than anything else.

The same can be said about the drones. While they are basically zombies, Tsutomu Nihei makes them truly disturbing and nightmarish to look at. They came with strange growths, elongated limbs, and are twisted and deformed. It gives them less the appearance of general zombies, but more of that of weird mutants. They are horrible delight to look at.

Body Horror

While Tsutomu Nihei’s earlier work Blame! had its fair share of horror, Biomega features much more.

The world of Biomega is ripe with body horror. We’ve got the horribly distorted drones, the cybernetically enhanced humans and even twisted and mutated biological monstrosities.

A great design choice is that of the DRF’s patrol officers. Their masks and aprons give them a distinct design, one reminiscent of butchers or even serial killers in slasher movies. And, of course, they are as deadly as they look creepy.

Biomega features a lot more horror though. Gore and violence are much more prevalent here than in Blame! People are being shot and torn apart, their heads are exploding, and we witness copious amounts of blood. It gives the manga a brutal feeling, one more reminiscent of a horror manga than a science-fiction or cyberpunk one.

Action

Biomega is a manga that’s insanely fast paced and full of action. Its pace is much, much faster than almost any other manga I’ve ever read.

This pace adds a lot to the action. It’s often ramped up, fast, depicting only the most important details and over before you know it.

Instead of detailing fights or action-sequences, they are often shown in short, high-paced panels. At times, Biomega skips entire fights. We’re only shown the outset, and skip right to the end a few panels later.

However, this can be a tad bit confusing. There’s almost too much going on in some chapters. This is especially prevalent when Zouichi makes his way back to the Toha Heavy Industry’s headquarters. It is here that he takes on an entire battalion of fighter planes and even a carrier, and takes them down in only a handful of pages.

Yet, this doesn’t mean that the action in Biomega is bad. By now means, it’s kinetic, gory, and insanely fast paced. What we see, however, is absolutely fantastic.

The Big Switch

I mentioned the Big Switch before in terms of story and setting, but it’s also prevalent in the art and visual style of the manga.

The first half of Biomega follows a more realistic style. It’s set on Earth, even if it’s a derelict and desolation version of Earth. Most of the human characters look like actual humans or humans who have been modified.

In the second half of the manga, all that changes. As the setting becomes more fantastic, so does the style. The world is now populated by strange mechanised humans and biotechnological creatures that look almost entirely organic.

This, however, is most prevalent in the visual style of the manga changing. While black dominates the first half of the manga, the second half is dominated by white spaces. It also feels less sketchy, dirty and claustrophobic. Instead, it feels almost clean, fantastical and similar to Blame! impossibly large.

What’s also interesting to see is that this change in style is not only one in terms of colors but also in character design and general style. Tsutomu Nihei’s style changes vastly between the beginning and end of Biomega.

It’s near the end of Biomega when certain areas and characters are depicted one can see the first outliers of his style in Knights of Sidonia. It’s an interesting transformation to behold, one that also adds to the change in setting and story. Yet, I have to admit that I’m more a fan of Tsutomu Nihei’s grim dark worlds and setting and less a fan of his more recent, lighter style.

Criticism

While I consider Biomega a visual and action-packed masterpiece, there are still some problems with it I want to discuss.

The first is, of course, what I call The Big Switch. It’s such a strange choice, almost a complete switch in terms of setting, story and visual style. While it makes sense in terms of the story, it’s still something that while make you wonder what exactly is going on.

The biggest problem I have with it, however, is that many important characters from the first half of the manga aren’t coming up anymore. There’s Nishu, but also Kahdal Spindal, who unfortunately never appear again.

Another problem with Biomega is that, it just moves too fast at certain times. In some chapters, the manga throws so much at you it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on.

The last problem is once more Tsutomu Nihei’s way of story-telling. We’re thrown into an apocalyptic world, ravaged by a deadly virus without knowing what’s going on. There’s no backstory, no exposition, and no explanation. Once more, Tsutomu Nihei only reveals what’s going on by bits and pieces and the occasional, very short flashback. This can make Biomega hard to read and harder to understand. Similarly to Blame! I only could grasp the entire story on my second reread.

While Biomega has some problems as outlined here, it’s still one of my favorite manga of all time. It’s an insanely high-paced, action-packed cyberpunk-horror masterpiece that I’d recommend to anyone who likes the work of Tsutomu Nihei, visual story-telling or weird science-fiction manga.

If you want to read Biomega, I recommend ordering it on Amazon: