Manga like Kakukaku Shikajika

Blue Period

Also known as Blue Period.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

The studious Yatora leaves a dry life of study and good manners behind for a new passion: painting. But untethering yourself from all your past expectations is dangerous as well as thrilling…



Note: Nominated for Manga Taisho Awards in 2019, Kodansha Manga Awards in 2019 and the 24th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2020. Winner of the 13th Manga Taisho Awards. Winner of the General Manga category of the 44th annual Kodansha Manga Awards.

Tags: Drawing , Coming of Age , College , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Educational , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , School , School Club , Tragedy , Transgender , Bisexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Crossdressing , Suicide , Gender Bending , Nudity , Tomboy

Bakuman.

Also known as Bakuman。.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishing world?



Tags: Drawing , Work , Meta , Shounen , Writing , Educational , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Otaku Culture , Tomboy , School , Tragedy

Sabishisugite Rezu Fuzoku ni Ikimashita Report

Also known as My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness.

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

A hugely popular comic on Pixiv, My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness offers readers an honest and heartfelt look at one young woman’s exploration of her sexuality, mental well-being, and growing up in our modern age.



Note: Includes 1 extra chapter.

Tags: Autobiographical , Non-fiction , Coming of Age , Female Protagonist , Family Life , LGBTQ+ Themes , Rehabilitation , Yuri , Disability , POV , Psychosexual , Philosophy , Drawing , Primarily Adult Cast , Primarily Female Cast , Survival , Achronological Order , Urban , Nudity , Full Color , Denpa

Look Back

Also known as Look Back.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Fujino is a fourth grader who draws a manga strip for the school newspaper. Her art makes her the star of the class, but one day she's told that Kyomoto, a student who refuses to come to school, would also like to submit a manga for the paper...



Note: The one-shot was compiled in a special volume, released on September 3, 2021.

Tags: Drawing , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Primarily Female Cast , Hikikomori , Shounen , Coming of Age , Work , Meta , School , Primarily Child Cast , Philosophy , Rehabilitation

Kuragehime

Also known as Princess Jellyfish.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Tsukimi Kurashita has a strange fascination with jellyfish. She’s loved them from a young age and has carried that love with her to her new life in the big city of Tokyo. There, she resides in Amamizukan, a safe-haven for girl geeks who regularly gush over a range of things from trains to Japanese dolls. However, a chance meeting at a pet shop has Tsukimi crossing paths with one of the things that the residents of Amamizukan have been desperately trying to avoid—a beautiful and fashionable woman! But there’s much more to this woman than her trendy clothes! This odd encounter is only the beginning of a new and unexpected path for Tsukimi and her friends.



Note: Chapter count includes 10 extra chapters

Tags: Josei , Female Protagonist , Fashion , Crossdressing , Foreign , Love Triangle , Heterosexual , Otaku Culture , Language Barrier , Primarily Adult Cast , LGBTQ+ Themes , Found Family , Urban , Makeup , Age Gap , Drawing , Male Harem , Gender Bending , Animals , Coming of Age

Arte

Also known as Arte.

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

The story takes place in 16th century Florence during a time when women were relegated to the role of wives and caretakers, a young noble girl named Arte dreams of being an artist’s apprentice. One day she stumbles on the workshop of the eccentric Maestro Leo who decides to accept her as his student. Follow Arte on her journey as she discovers the joy and struggles on the path to becoming a maestro.



Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Seinen , Drawing , Primarily Adult Cast , Work , Coming of Age , Time Skip , Estranged Family , Unrequited Love , Fugitive , Orphan , War , Medieval , Prison , Royal Affairs , Arranged Marriage , Pirates

Metamorphose no Engawa

Also known as BL Metamorphosis.

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

Ichinoi, a 75-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a Boy's Love manga one day…and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there–Urara, a seasoned BL fan–notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.



Notes:
Winner of the New Face Award from the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2019.
Nominated for the 12th and 14th Manga Taisho Award in 2019 and 2021.

Tags: Otaku Culture , Female Protagonist , Josei , Primarily Female Cast , Boys' Love , Iyashikei , Coming of Age , Drawing , Elderly Protagonist , Urban , Heterosexual

Shoujo Nemu

Status: Finished
Genres: Fantasy , Slice of Life

Shoujo Nemu tells the moving story of Nemu, a young girl who dreams of becoming a manga artist. Even though people couldn’t tell because of her shyness, Nemu possesses extraordinary talent, but it’s not until her encounter with Goro, a veteran manga artist plagued with self-doubt, that she begins to realize the true nature of her passion. What follows is an unusual friendship that ends up changing both their lives.



Tags: Drawing , Seinen , Animals , Anthropomorphism

Umi ga Hashiru End Roll

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Slice of Life

Umi ga Hashiru End Roll centers on a 65-year-old woman named Umiko, who is grieving the recent loss of her husband. She goes to a movie theater for the first time in decades, and there she meets Kai, a university student majoring in film. Umiko becomes really interested in the audience's reactions during the film, and Kai notices. Afterward, Umiko invites Kai back to her house. When Kai then asks her, "You're someone who's interested in making films, aren't you?", Umiko realizes her feelings. From there, she dives into the world of filmmaking.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Filmmaking , Photography , Primarily Adult Cast , College , Elderly Protagonist , Shoujo , LGBTQ+ Themes , Iyashikei , Asexual , Aromantic

Gekiga Hyouryuu

Also known as A Drifting Life.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance , Slice of Life

Over four decades ago, Yoshihiro Tatsumi expanded the horizons of comics storytelling by using the visual language of manga to tell gritty, literary stories about the private lives of everyday people. He has been called "the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics" and has influenced generations of cartoonists around the world. Now the visionary creator of "The Push Man and Other Stories" and "Good-bye" has turned his incisive, unflinching gaze upon himself. Over ten years in the making, "A Drifting Life" is Tatsumis' most ambitious, personal, and heart felt work: an autobiographical bildungsroman in comics form.Using his life long obsession with comics as a frame work, Tatsumi weaves a complex story that encompasses family dynamics, Japanese culture and history, first love, the intricacies of the manga industry, and most importantly, what it means to be an artist. Alternately humorous, enlightening, and haunting, this is the masterful summartion of a fascinating life and a historic career.



Tags: Drawing , Historical , Autobiographical , Non-fiction , Tragedy , Work , School , Seinen