Manga like Ayako

Ningen Konchuuki

Also known as The Book of Human Insects.

Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Thriller

"Human Metamorphosis," a satirical Manga depicting human society compared to the insect world, focuses on the life of a devious woman. Tomura Toshiko, who is said to be a genius, is a rising star writer. Her novel wins the Akutagawa Prize for the best novel of the year. While she attends the award ceremony, another woman named Usuba Kageri commits suicide in another place. It turns out that Kageri and Toshiko used to live together, and the awarded novel was copied from Kageri's transcript. Toshiko is like a parasite: approaching talented people one after another, squeezing everything out of them and stealing their works for her own fame. Behind her success story, she has her secrets.

Tags: Anti-Hero , Revenge , Seinen , Psychosexual , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Writing , Bisexual , Assassins , Male Harem , Nudity , Crime , Economics , Tragedy , Acting , Noir , Urban , Suicide , Yuri , Foreign

MW

Also known as MW.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Thriller

Michio Yuki has it all: looks, intelligence, a pedigree as the scion of a famous Kabuki family, a promising career at a major bank, legions of female admirers. But underneath the sheen of perfection lurks a secret with the power to shake the world to its foundations.

During a boyhood excursion to one of the southern archipelagos near Okinawa, Yuki barely survived exposure to a poison gas stored at a foreign military facility. The leakage annihilated all of the island’s inhabitants but was promptly covered up by the authorities, leaving Yuki as an unacknowledged witness—one whose sense of right and wrong, however, the potent nerve agent managed to obliterate.

Now, fifteen years later, Yuki is a social climber of Balzacian proportions, infiltrating the worlds of finance and politics by day while brutally murdering children and women by night—perversely using his Kabuki-honed skills as a female impersonator to pass himself off as the women he’s killed. His drive, however, will not be satiated with a promotion here and a rape there. Michio Yuki has a far more ominous objective: obtaining MW, the ultimate weapon that spared his life but robbed him of all conscience.

There are only two men with any hope of stopping him: one, a brilliant public prosecutor who struggles to build a case against the psychopath; the other, a tormented Catholic priest, Iwao Garai, who shares Yuki’s past—and frequently his bed.



Tags: Seinen , Politics , Conspiracy , Crossdressing , Primarily Adult Cast , Torture , Urban , Crime , Psychosexual , Religion , Nudity , Boys' Love , LGBTQ+ Themes , Bisexual , Espionage , Suicide , Age Gap , Zoophilia

Adolf ni Tsugu

Also known as Message to Adolf.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Romance

A graveyard in contemporary Israel has an unlikely visitor. The elderly gentleman from Japan, a former news correspondent, lays a bouquet of flowers at the tomb of one Adolf Kamil. For he remembers the tale of three Adolfs: Kamil, a Jew who grew up in Kobe, Japan, the son of a baker; Kaufmann, only child of a German consul stationed at that port city and his Japanese wife; and the Fuhrer with whom the Far Eastern nation made common cause.

Note: Won the 10th Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 1986.

Tags: Historical , War , Military , Torture , Fugitive , Espionage , Tragedy , Seinen , Travel , Foreign , Time Skip , Politics , Language Barrier , Guns , Suicide , Disability

Barbara

Also known as Barbara.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Romance , Supernatural

Wandering the packed tunnels of Shinjuku Station, famous author Yosuke Mikura makes a strange discovery: a ragged hippie who can quote French poetry. Her name is Barbara. He takes her home for a bath and a drink, and before long Barbara has made herself into Mikura’s shadow, saving him from egotistical delusions and jealous enemies. But just as Mikura is no saint, Barbara is no guardian angel, and Mikura grows obsessed with discovering her secrets, tangling with thugs, sadists, magical curses and mythical beings – all the while wondering whether he himself is still sane. Written in 1973 and 1974 and inspired by the classic opera “Tales of Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach, Barbara may be Tezuka’s most psychological and unsettling work, shattering the fine line between art and madness with masterful precision.



Tags: Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Writing , Memory Manipulation , Male Protagonist , Philosophy , Nudity , Witch , Suicide , Meta

Utsubora

Also known as Utsubora - The Story of a Novelist.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery

The story begins when Aki Fujino, a beautiful girl who the novelist Mizorogi knew, dies under mysterious circumstances. Then a girl appears before Mizorogi, and although she introduces herself as Aki's twin sister Sakura, her true identity is a complete mystery. As Mizorogi's past ties with Aki come to light, people begin to suspect him of plagiarism. Mizorogi's life spirals deeper into darkness as his editor and the police probe further into Aki's death and Mizorogi's connection with her.



Tags: Suicide , Writing , Twins , Age Gap , Nudity , Josei , Tragedy , Meta , Detective , Bisexual , Male Protagonist

Billy Bat

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Supernatural , Thriller

The story is set in 1949 and follows Japanese-American comic book artist Kevin Yamagata as he draws the popular detective series "Billy Bat" for "Marble Comics." When he learns he may have unconsciously copied the character from an image he saw while serving in occupied Japan, he returns to Japan to get permission to use Billy Bat from its original creator. Upon arriving there, however, he becomes embroiled in a web of murder, cover-ups, and prophecy that all leads back to Billy Bat.

It is soon evident, however, that the truth of Billy Bat's nature is far larger than Kevin could ever guess, spanning millennia and across the world.



Note: Won the Max und Moritz Prize for "Best international Comic" in 2014.

Tags: Drawing , Historical , Politics , Time Manipulation , Philosophy , Conspiracy , Ensemble Cast , Urban Fantasy , Seinen , Travel , Foreign , Achronological Order , War , Primarily Adult Cast , Time Skip , Police , Male Protagonist , Dystopian , Anachronism , Religion , Espionage , Nudity , Terrorism , Ninja , Guns , Swordplay

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Onikakushi-hen

Also known as Higurashi WHEN THEY CRY: Abducted by Demons Arc.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological

After moving into the quiet town of Hinamizawa, Maebara Keiichi spends his days blissfully in school often playing games with his local friends. However, appearances can be deceiving. One fateful day, Keiichi stumbles upon news of a murder that had occurred in Hinamizawa. From this point on, horrific events unfold in front of Keiichi, as he soon learns his close friends may not be all that they seem. Based on the amateur mystery game by 7th Expansion, the story is told in a series of different scenarios.

Onikakushi is the first in a series of manga following the different scenarios of the Higurashi games. It focuses on Maebara Keiichi's arrival to Hinamizawa.

Tags: Conspiracy , Rural , Memory Manipulation , Male Protagonist , Time Manipulation , Gore , Tragedy , Mythology , School Club , School , Crime , Shounen , Denpa , Yandere , Gods

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Himatsubushi-hen

Also known as Higurashi WHEN THEY CRY: Time Killing Arc.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological

After moving into the quiet town of Hinamizawa, Maebara Keiichi spends his days blissfully in school often playing games with his local friends. However, appearances can be deceiving. One fateful day, Keiichi stumbles upon news of a murder that had occurred in Hinamizawa. From this point on, horrific events unfold in front of Keiichi, as he soon learns his close friends may not be all that they seem. Based on the amateur mystery game by 7th Expansion, the story is told in a series of different scenarios.

Himatsubushi is the fourth in a series of manga following the different scenarios of the Higurashi games. It focuses on Akasaka Mamoru, a police investigator from Tokyo and his visit to Hinamizawa a few years before the murders.

Tags: Rural , Shounen , Tragedy , Police , Conspiracy , Mythology , Denpa , Mahjong

Glass no Shiro no Kiroku

Also known as Record of the Glass Castle.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Sci-Fi

IMMORTALITY, AT WHAT COST?

In the Glass Mansion, a family has been frozen in cryosleep for 20 years under the orders of their patriarch. When the oldest son Ichirou awakes, he struggles to accept the reality that he has slept away 20 years of his life. Ichirou plans to exact revenge on those in his family that stole his life from him. As Shirou, the youngest brother, attempts to stop Ichirou, he becomes aware of the dangerous side effect of cryosleep that led to its national ban years ago. How far will Ichirou fall, and will Shirou be able to stop him? In Record of the Glass Castle, Osamu Tezuka tackles the great quandary of immortality at the cost of humanity, in a different, much darker light than he often does in his better-known masterpieces like Phoenix. In this tale, the search for humanity seems more hopeless than ever, tangled in hatred, greed, and lust. This one volume series is a must-read for the fans of Tezuka’s dark side, as well as those who can appreciate a story that won’t spell out all the answers.



Tags: Seinen , Tragedy , Revenge , Fugitive , Crime , Nudity , Incest , Time Manipulation , Prison

Oyasumi Punpun

Also known as Goodnight Punpun.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Slice of Life

Meet Punpun Punyama. He’s an average kid in an average town.
He wants to win a Nobel Prize and save the world.
He wants the girl he has a crush on to like him back.
He wants to find some porn.
That’s what he wants, but what does he get…?



Tags: Coming of Age , Seinen , Tragedy , Philosophy , Denpa , Suicide , Psychosexual , Urban , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Anti-Hero , Time Skip , Fugitive , Surreal Comedy , School , Cult , Meta , Work , Nudity , Gods , Body Horror , Love Triangle , Ghost