Manga like Goze Hotaru

Mushishi

Also known as Mushishi.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. They are known as mushi—creatures that came into being shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze. They still exist parallel to our own lives and can only be seen by a select few. As a mushishi, Ginko is one of the few who are aware of their existense, and this young man with a sardonic smile roams from place to place with the knowledge and skill to aid those unwittingly affected by mushi.



Note: Won the Excellence Prize for Manga at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2003 and the Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga in 2006.

Tags: Travel , Episodic , Environmental , Youkai , Seinen , Mythology , Rural , Iyashikei , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Urban Fantasy , Historical , Work , Demons

Tongari Boushi no Atelier

Also known as Witch Hat Atelier.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: she wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch … until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem...



Notes:
Nominated for the 11th Manga Taishou Award in 2018.
Won the Daruma d'Or at Japan Expo in 2019.
Won Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia at the Eisner Awards in 2020.
Won the Best Manga Award at the Harvey Awards in 2020.

Tags: Witch , Magic , Found Family , Memory Manipulation , Female Protagonist , Teacher , Drawing , Coming of Age , Revenge , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Female Cast , School , Medieval , Conspiracy , Primarily Child Cast , Tragedy , Politics , Dragons , Disability , Seinen , Philosophy , Spearplay , Rehabilitation , Foreign , Travel , LGBTQ+ Themes , Amnesia , Iyashikei , Boys' Love , Twins

Akane-banashi

Also known as Akane-banashi.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama

Rakugo--the ultimate form of storytelling, where everything in a story is expressed with just your body and words. Shinta and his daughter Akane have been seduced by this wonderful form of classical entertainment. Having observed her father strive to pass the shin'uchi rakugo test, Akane will take her own steps into this unique world!



Tags: Rakugo , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Acting , Primarily Adult Cast , Work , Shounen , Found Family , Family Life , Revenge , Time Skip , School

Sousou no Frieren

Also known as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy

The adventure is over but life goes on for an elf mage just beginning to learn what living is all about.

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. With the great struggle over, they all go their separate ways to live a quiet life. But as an elf, Frieren, nearly immortal, will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to terms with the mortality of her friends? How can she find fulfillment in her own life, and can she learn to understand what life means to the humans around her? Frieren begins a new journey to find the answer.



Notes:
Winner of the Grand Prize at the 14th Manga Taisho Awards.
Nominated for the 25th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
Placed 3rd at the 7th Annual Next Manga Award.

Tags: Magic , Elf , Travel , Philosophy , Female Protagonist , Time Skip , Episodic , Demons , Iyashikei , Kuudere , Tragedy , Shounen , Fairy Tale , Medieval , Dungeon , Time Manipulation , Food

Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi

Also known as The Elusive Samurai.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure

Set in feudal Japan in between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, our hero Houjou Tokiyuki is a boy on the run that history all but forgot! When the Kamakura shogunate is overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji, Tokiyuki's family and standing are viciously taken away from him, and he must flee to the far reaches of the land to survive and seek out his revenge!



Tags: Samurai , Shounen , Historical , Surreal Comedy , War , Ninja , Archery , Fugitive , Urban Fantasy , Male Protagonist , Swordplay , Anachronism , Gore , Suicide , Primarily Male Cast , Found Family , Primarily Child Cast , Tragedy , Religion , Ghost , Time Skip , Body Horror , Gods , Female Harem , Spearplay , Disability , Polyamorous , Biographical , Tomboy , Scat , Demons , Heterosexual , Ensemble Cast , Cannibalism

Hanashippanashi

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life , Supernatural

A collection of short stories about supernatural occurrences that take place in our everyday…

Note: Chapter count includes 2 extra chapters.

Tags: Seinen , Episodic , Anthology , Mythology , Denpa , Surreal Comedy

Majo

Also known as Witches.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

On a visit to the capital of a small country in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affections is Mimar, a young man who works at a bazaar–yet despite her attempts, he doesn’t notice her. Back at home in England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame, and “the secret of the world,” she returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest. This story is just one of many in this dramatic collection, which features tales of witchcraft across the globe and even in the far reaches of outer space.



Note: Won the Excellence Prize in the Manga Division at Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004.

Tags: Witch , Anthology , Magic , Philosophy , Environmental , Seinen , Foreign , Female Protagonist , Urban Fantasy , Mythology , Primarily Female Cast , Gods , Body Horror , Nudity , Denpa

BOZEBEATS

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Supernatural

A "priest expelling demons action" story that centers on a priest (bōzu) who lives alone on a strange mountain, when he meets a young man who was raised by wolves.



Note: Includes a special one-shot.

Tags: Demons , Shounen

Mushi Musume

Also known as Insect Girl.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Fantasy

In a world where humans and insects are in conflict with each other, Mashiro heads for the mountains to eradicate the insectoid menace. There, he runs into a mysterious girl named Yuren, who lives with her mother on this hazardous hill riddled with bugs. Mashiro is shocked by this fact, but, perhaps, there is more to Yuren than meets the eye...



Tags: Shounen , Male Protagonist , Female Protagonist , Monster Girl , Shapeshifting , Rural