Manga like Caravan Serai: Tuz to Sahar

Marginal

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Sci-Fi

In the year 2999, only eleven cities still survive on Earth. The climate has changed drastically, and a biochemical apocalypse has made women extinct. For centuries, the male population of Earth has survived by depending on only one woman, called the Holy Mother, whose ova are harvested to create genetically engineered children. By now, any concept of a world in which women exist as ordinary people is long gone. Society has re-structured itself around all-male families, and gay relationships have become the norm.

At the beginning of Marginal, the Holy Mother is assassinated by a terrorist known as Grinja. The government in power doesn't want to start a mass panic, so it pretends that the Holy Mother has only shed her vessel, and that she will be miraculously "reborn" in the near future. The public, which is superstitious and devout, believes this easily. Only government officials know that behind the scenes, there is a frantic effort to create a new being with an XXY chromosome -- a male capable of giving birth. (This is a BL misrepresentation of an actual phenomenon known as Klinefelter's Syndrome.)

The manga's story revolves around one such boy -- Kira, the product of a genetic experiment, who becomes involved in a three-way relationship with Grinja, the aforementioned terrorist, and Ashijin, a young man who calls himself Kira's owner. A complex plot and flawless world-building make the story irresistible, and Kira's search for freedom is as symbolic as it is gripping.



Tags: Boys' Love , Dystopian , Religion , Terrorism , Post-Apocalyptic , Primarily Male Cast , Shoujo , Clone , Desert , Slavery , Amnesia , Nudity

12-ji no Kenryokusha

Also known as The Twelve Hour Ruler.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Romance

One day, Koyuki, a girl who works at a tavern in the port city of Salim, is saved from the advances of a feudal lord by a pair of twin princes, the cool and collected older brother Eleven and the free-spirited younger brother Twelve. After they invite her to the palace, Koyuki begins to learn the truth and destiny of the Empire. A royal fantasy revolving around the myths of the desert empire Orchis!!



Tags: Josei , Desert

Tenmaku no Jaadugar

Also known as A Witch's Life in Mongol.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama

In the harem of the Khan, wisdom is beauty.

The time: the thirteenth century. The place: Yeke Mongol Ulus, the greatest empire the world has ever known. The woman: Fatima, hailing from Persia, where medical technique and scientific knowledge have been perfected beyond all precedent.

Fatima's desire for a stage where she can put all her knowledge to work has brought her to the palace of the Mongols, where she falls under the wing of Töregene, the sixth wife of Ögedei, the second Great Khan—a mighty woman with complicated feelings about the direction of the empire. These two women are the axle upon which the politics of the palace, and soon the very world, will turn...



Notes:
Ranked 1st in the Women's Division of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023 guidebook.
Ranked 5th in the 16th Manga Taisho Awards in 2023.
Ranked 5th in the 17th Manga Taisho Awards in 2024.
Winner of the Overseas Work Award at the 2024 Bucheon International Comics Festival.
Nominated for the Best New Manga category at the 2025 American Manga Awards.
Winner of the Grand Prize in the Comic Division at the 55th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards in 2026.

Tags: Historical , Female Protagonist , Foreign , Josei , Revenge , Espionage , Biographical , Kingdom Management , Indigenous Cultures , Slavery , War , Educational , Desert , Royal Affairs , Military , Politics , Tragedy , Arranged Marriage , Orphan , Conspiracy , Time Skip , Travel , Religion

Sarah

Also known as The Legend of Mother Sarah.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi

Orbiting serenely above a long-ago poisoned earth, the last bastion of human civilization is the space colonies. After a terrorist attack, the colonists are forced into exile on the blighted planet below. In the confusion, a young mother is separated from her family and is flung into a bleak, uncertain future...

But Sarah will not rest until she finds her children. Katsuhiro Otomo has explored the dark side of the psyche with Domu and the corruption that comes with absolute power in Akira. Now Otomo has set his sights on the enduring power of hope. Welcome to The Legend of Mother Sarah. This volume collects all eight issues this compelling series, one of the finest ever produced.



Tags: Post-Apocalyptic , Desert , Female Protagonist , Survival , Tragedy , Dystopian , War , Environmental , Space , Terrorism , Fugitive , Seinen , Nudity

Sunabouzu

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama , Sci-Fi

After a nuclear war turns most of the Earth into desert wastelands, surviving humans had used the sands in order to survive. One of them is a professional mercenary named Sunabozu, who makes a living by hiring himself out to anyone who needs his talents.

Tags: Seinen , Desert , Dystopian , Conspiracy , Gangs , Military , Anti-Hero , Post-Apocalyptic , War , Guns , Steampunk