Manga like Garden in the Closet

Shimanami Tasogare

Also known as Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare.

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

Not only is high schooler Tasuku Kaname the new kid in town, he’s also terrified that he’s been outed as gay. Just as he’s contemplating doing the unthinkable, Tasuku meets a mysterious woman who leads him to a group of people dealing with problems not so different from his own. In this realistic, heartfelt depiction of LGBT+ characters from different backgrounds finding their place in the world, a search for inner peace proves to be the most universal experience of all.



Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Coming of Age , Found Family , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Ensemble Cast , Transgender , Crossdressing , Agender , Boys' Love , Asexual , Suicide , Rehabilitation , Aromantic , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Yuri

Boys Run The Riot

Also known as Boys Run The Riot.

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

High schooler Ryo knows he’s transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. He can’t tell his best friend, who he’s secretly got a crush on, and he can’t tell his mom, who’s constantly asking why Ryo "dresses like a boy." He certainly can’t tell Jin, the new transfer student who looks like just another bully... The only time Ryo feels at ease is when he’s wearing his favorite clothes. Then, and only then, the world melts away, and he can be his true self. One day, while out shopping, Ryo sees an someone he didn't expect: Jin. The kid who looked so tough in class has the same taste in fashion as him! At least, Ryo has someone he can open up to - and the journey ahead might finally give him a way to express himself to the world.



Note: Includes the one-shot "Light".

Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Transgender , Fashion , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Philosophy , Bullying , Work , Seinen , Primarily Teen Cast , School , Primarily Male Cast , Urban , Drawing , Photography , Found Family

Niku wo Hagu

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Chiaki Ogawa, a "meat-handling" YouTuber, has been living with deep worries he can't express to his father.

Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Transgender , Male Protagonist , Outdoor Activities , Coming of Age , Shounen , Family Life , Nudity

After School Mate

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

Family, friends, himself... Rika is frustrated by his inability to gain understanding of the gender difference between his body and mind, and one day he gets into a fight with his mother and runs away from home. There he meets Satsuki, a boy who can share his feelings of not being understood... The two meet and confront the issues they have been running away from... A coming-of-age drama that questions "individuality"!

Tags: Transgender , LGBTQ+ Themes , Shounen , Primarily Male Cast , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Estranged Family , Unrequited Love , School

Kimi to Uchuu wo Aruku Tame ni

Also known as Spacewalking With You.

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

Kobayashi just can’t focus—not on studying, not on work—and the adults in his life think he’s in danger of becoming a worthless dropout. Then, one day, a strange new presence arrives in his class: an energetic and naïve kid named Uno. Kobayashi saves Uno from getting scammed, and that close encounter launches a new friendship. Uno’s definitely a space cadet, but Kobayashi can’t help admiring the way he floats through life, and before he knows it, he might start feeling his feet lift off the ground, too…



Notes:
Winner of the 17th Manga Taishō in 2024.
Ranked 6th in the 3rd Crea Late Night Manga Awards in 2024.
Ranked 3rd in the 2024 Da Vinci Book of the Year ranking.
Ranked 1st in the Men's Division of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2025 guidebook.
Nominated for the 49th Kodansha Manga Award in the General category in 2025.
Ranked 3rd in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2025.
Ranked 4th in Freestyle Magazine's "The Best Manga 2025" ranking in 2025.
Winner of the Emotional Resonance Award at the 4th Magademy Awards in 2025.
Nominated for the Best New Manga award at the 2025 American Manga Awards.
Winner of the Freeman Book Award for Young Adult Literature in 2025.
Selected for the SLJ Best Books of the Year list in 2025.
Selected for the Top 10 of YALSA's 2026 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list in 2026.
Nominated for the 50th Kodansha Manga Award in the General category in 2026.
Nominated for the 30th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2026.

Tags: Disability , Male Protagonist , Seinen , Astronomy , Rehabilitation , School Club , School , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Delinquents , Primarily Male Cast , Work , Primarily Teen Cast

Tamon-san no Okashi na Tomodachi

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

Osaka, present day. Utsui, a high school senior, is raised in a queer family, in an environment where loving whomever you choose is more than accepted. She herself, however, struggles with her inability to experience romantic love. Among the people passing through her home, she becomes attached to Tamon, a strange person who is in the habit of conversing with supernatural beings that only they can see. In response to Utsui’s call, a mysterious little creature who is Tamon’s friend appears... but it has forgotten its own name.

Tags: Seinen , Aromantic , LGBTQ+ Themes , Female Protagonist

Moebana

Also known as Moebana.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

High-schooler Tsukumo Fukakusa is obsessed with an anime about human characters based on flowers. He secretly enjoys looking at the flower arrangements displayed in front of the back entrance of his school. Then, one day, his knowledge of flowers is noticed by the ikebana club, who suddenly recruit him! This otaku, guided by his favorite idol character, enters the world of flower arranging! Thus begins this ikebana youth drama!



Tags: School Club , Male Protagonist , Time Skip , Otaku Culture , School , Coming of Age , Shounen , Twins , Kuudere , Crossdressing

Bokura no Shikisai

Also known as Our Colors.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Set in contemporary suburban Japan, Our Colors is the story of Sora Itoda: a sixteen-year-old aspiring painter who experiences his world in synesthetic hues of blues and reds, governed by the emotional turbulence of being a teenager. He wants to live honestly as a young gay man in high school, but that is still not acceptable in Japanese society. His best friend and childhood confidant is Nao, a young woman whom everyone thinks is (or should be) his girlfriend; and it would be the easiest thing to play along—she knows he is gay but knows, too, how hard it is to live one's truth in their situation.

Sora's world changes forever when he meets Mr. Amamiya, a middle-aged gentleman who is the owner and proprietor of a local coffee shop, and who is completely, unapologetically out as a gay man. A mentorship and friendship ensues, as Sora comes out to him and agrees to paint a mural in the shop, and Mr. Amamiya counsels him (platonically) about how to deal with who he is. But it won't be easy. Mr. Amamiya paid a high price for his freedom of identity, and when a figure from his past suddenly appears, it becomes a prime example of just how complicated life can be.



Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Seinen , Found Family , Coming of Age , Drawing , Male Protagonist , Natural Disaster , Unrequited Love , Age Gap , Coastal

Villain

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

"I'm sure we freak them out just by holding hands."

Orio Azuru is a young man who doesn't understand his gender. In this town, "he"—Midou Renri—is the freest, the one he fell in love with...or so he should have. Brought to you by Fujita, the creator of Wotakoi, the much-famed vocaloid song "Villain" is remade into a manga overflowing with heartbreak and excitement.

How will their tale of love go in an era where we wish to see such stories?

Tags: Transgender , Agender , LGBTQ+ Themes , Bullying , Delinquents , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Teen Cast , Family Life , Seinen , Estranged Family , Boys' Love , Urban , Denpa

Fukakai na Boku no Subete wo

Also known as Love Me for Who I Am.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Romance

Mogumo is a cute but lonely high school student who just wants a few loving friends. Fellow student Iwaoka Tetsu invites Mogumo to work at his family’s café for “cross-dressing boys,” but he makes an incorrect assumption: Mogumo is non-binary and doesn’t identify as a boy or a girl. However, Mogumo soon finds out that the café is run by LGBT+ folks of all stripes, all with their own reasons for congregating there.



Tags: LGBTQ+ Themes , Transgender , Agender , Coming of Age , Estranged Family , Found Family , Crossdressing , Seinen , Work , Restaurant , Femboy , Maids , Body Image , Cosplay , Love Triangle , Yuri , Boys' Love , School , Makeup , Suicide