Manga like Helter Skelter

Kasane

Also known as Kasane.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Psychological , Supernatural , Thriller

Kasane's face is so hideous, you couldn't bear to look twice at her—and her ugliness has forced her to walk a harsh path in life. But her mother left her something: a tube of lipstick. The power of this lipstick will change everything about her downtrodden life.



Note: Nominated for the 8th Manga Taishou Award.

Tags: Shapeshifting , Acting , Body Swapping , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Bullying , Revenge , Anti-Hero , Denpa , Crime , Rehabilitation , Urban Fantasy , Torture , Disability , Primarily Female Cast , Heterosexual , Coming of Age , Incest , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Magic , Survival , Philosophy , Love Triangle , Mythology , Yandere , Prostitution , Time Skip , Suicide , School Club , School

pink

Also known as Pink.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama

Pink is a manga about a Japanese girl named Yumi, a beautiful girl in her early 20s. During the day, Yumi works as a regular office lady, but by night, she works as a prostitute. Yumi needs her two jobs to make ends meet. She also needs the extra income to feed her unusual pet, a crocodile, which she keeps in her apartment. Working in an office is quite normal for young Japanese women, but keeping a pet crocodile, and being a prostitute makes Yumi stand out. In truth, few girls are like Yumi, however, many readers can empathize with her. Young women love their "something," symbolized by her pet crocodile, and they can also identify with Yumi's "wild at heart" nature.

Tags: Josei , Prostitution , Female Protagonist , Nudity , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Primarily Adult Cast , Animals , Office Lady , Work

Shibou to Iu Na no Fuku wo Kite

Also known as In Clothes Called Fat.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

From the pen of Moyoco Anno comes a stunning tale of self-image and self-loathing. In Clothes Called Fat details the lives of young women earnestly revealing the struggles women may have with their bodies and sexuality.

Noko appears to be living a great life, she's got a good job and a loving boyfriend, but beneath a thin veneer is a young woman who is struggling with her self-image and self-confidence as she fights to keep her weight down. To Noko, being 5 pounds overweight means being miles away from happiness in her lovelife and in her work-place.



Tags: Josei , Female Protagonist , Denpa , Bullying , Office Lady , Primarily Adult Cast , Nudity , Time Skip , LGBTQ+ Themes , Yuri

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

fetish

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

Bokura no Koudaina Sabishisa (僕らの広大なさびしさ)
Love Letter
Sully Lily no Subete (シュリ・リリィのすべて)
Kuukou (空港)
Fetish

Tags: Josei , Anthology , Tragedy , Unrequited Love , Nudity , Age Gap , Heterosexual , Crime , Clone , Primarily Adult Cast

Iguana no Musume

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

A collection of five one-shots:

Iguana no Musume (イグアナの娘 | Iguana Girl)
A high school senior without self-esteem thinks she's an iguana. Her mother claims that whenever she sees Rika, she sees an iguana instead of a real human. Because of this, Rika has never received or was shown any love by her mother. Rika's younger sister Mami has been getting all of the love and attention by the mother.
Catharsis (カタルシス)
Gogo no Hizashi (午後の日射し)
Gakkou e Iku Kusuri (学校へ行くクスリ)
Yuujin K (友人K)

Tags: Anthology , Female Protagonist , Family Life , Josei

Aku no Hana

Also known as The Flowers of Evil.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Romance

The story opens as middle school student Takao Kasuga receives an F on a math test. But he doesn't even seem to notice because he's too engrossed in surreptitiously reading Beaudelaire's The Flowers of Evil. And the day goes downhill from there. In a moment of weakness, he finds and takes home the gym clothes belonging to sweet, pretty Nanako Saeki on whom he has a major crush. Unfortunately for Takao, there's a witness to the theft: Nakamura, who has a huge chip on her shoulder and a sadistic streak.

As the saga unfolds, we see Takao struggling to decide whether to confess or cover up his misdeeds at the same time that he tries to win over the girl of his dreams, and avoid the blackmail attempts of Nakamura, his new ”BFF.”

Smart, funny, and emotionally engaging, The Flowers of Evil introduces a character who's not a hero, but just an ordinary teenager in search of true love and real friendship.



Note: Includes 1 extra chapter.

Tags: Coming of Age , Psychosexual , Philosophy , Denpa , Rehabilitation , Love Triangle , School , Classic Literature , Tragedy , Time Skip , Male Protagonist , Bullying , Sadism , Shounen , Suicide , Writing , Urban , Heterosexual , Blackmail , Female Protagonist , Rural , Nudity , Crossdressing

River's Edge

Also known as River's Edge.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Haruna Wakakusa and Yamada become friends after she saves him several times from her boyfriend's constant bullying. Through him she gets to know Kozue Yoshikawa, a fellow student who also models professionally. The three emotionally stunted teens' lives briefly yet intensely intertwine for one semester before splintering from the aftereffects of one disastrous night. For both Wakakusa and Yamada, their emotional awakening fosters an unlikely friendship between the two battered souls.

Tags: Coming of Age , Tragedy , LGBTQ+ Themes , School , Josei , Female Protagonist , Bullying , Bisexual , Nudity , Drugs , Gore , Heterosexual , Yuri

LOVE VIBES

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance

Shouji has a girlfriend but is seeing Mako on the side. Unable to continue pretending she feels less for him than she does, she breaks it off with him. Shortly before that happens, Mako is hit on by Mika, who tells Mako that she's interested in both men and women. Mika wants to pursue a relationship with Mako, but is Mako's relationship with Shouji really over?

Tags: Yuri , Bisexual , Josei , Love Triangle , Female Protagonist , LGBTQ+ Themes , Primarily Adult Cast , Cheating