Manga like Himitsu: Top Secret

What is Himitsu: Top Secret about?

Status: Finished

It's the 2060s, and Japan has perfected the "MRI System," a piece of neurotechnology that, when given the brain of a person who died within the past 48 hours, can analyze the visual memories contained within; even being able to give scientists a look into what the deceased saw in their final moments. Needless to say, this is a highly regarded – and greatly feared – method that has been placed under stringent restrictions and is only authorized for use by a special police unit, Section Nine, for the investigation of baffling or high-profile crimes.

Aoki Ikkou is a talented newbie who has just been assigned to Section Nine. He initially has qualms about delving into people's most private moments and analyzing their darkest fears and fantasies, but as he settles in with his teammates and warms up to his boss, the highly intelligent Maki Tsuyoshi, he becomes more and more competent at his job.

Though quick to develop pride in his career, Aoki still struggles to balance his family relationships and love life with his demanding workload, further complicated when he's drawn into the dark past and murky circumstances surrounding the outwardly cool and self-controlled but internally tormented Maki.

Note: Won an Excellence Award for manga at the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2011.

Tags: Tragedy , Shoujo , Police , Primarily Male Cast , Detective , Crime , Male Protagonist , Episodic , Conspiracy , Gore , Espionage , Suicide , Nudity , Primarily Adult Cast , Urban
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Here is a list of Manga similar to Himitsu: Top Secret

Yuureitou

Yuureitou

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Romance , Supernatural

In the 1950s, an old woman was brutally murdered on the face of a clock tower by her adopted daughter. Two years later, the clock tower is known as the 'ghost tower' and it is supposedly haunted. Through an unusual series of events, a young NEET man named Amano Taichi is attacked by someone or something in the same clock tower, and finds himself bound to the clock face to be killed in the same way as the old woman. Luckily for Amano, he doesn't meet the same fate. He's rescued by a mysterious person who claims his name is Tetsuo.

Tags: Seinen , Noir , Transgender , Historical , Conspiracy , Tragedy , Crime , Detective , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Anti-Hero , LGBTQ+ Themes , Crossdressing , Boys' Love , Body Horror , Bisexual , Body Swapping , Nudity , Adoption
Where to read?
Monster

MONSTER

Also known as Monster.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological , Thriller

Everyone faces uncertainty at some point in their lives. Even a brilliant surgeon like Kenzo Tenma is no exception. But there’s no way he could have known that his decision to stop chasing professional success and instead concentrate on his oath to save peoples’ lives would result in the birth of an abomination. The questions of good and evil now take on a terrifyingly real dimension.

Years later, in Germany during the tumultuous post-reunification period, middle-aged childless couples are being killed one after another. The serial killer’s identity is known. The reasons why he kills are not. Dr. Tenma sets out on a journey to find the killer’s twin sister, who may hold some clues to solving the enigma of the “Monster.”



Tags: Seinen , Conspiracy , Tragedy , Philosophy , Twins , Amnesia , Fugitive , Noir , Foreign , Male Protagonist , Memory Manipulation , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Detective , Ensemble Cast , Police , Medicine , Time Skip , Crossdressing , Suicide , Achronological Order , Adoption , Assassins , Torture , Gore
Where to read?
MPD Psycho

Tajuu Jinkaku Tantei Psycho

Also known as MPD Psycho.

Status: Finished
Genres: Mystery , Psychological

Police detective Yosuke Kobayashi's life is changed forever after a serial killer notices something "special" about him. That same killer mutilates Kobayashi's wife and kick-starts a "multiple personality battle" within Kobayashi that pushes him into a complex tempest of interconnected deviants and evil forces. Earning praise for its consistently shocking plot lines and Tajima's clean, arresting art style, MPD-Psycho is the manga event of the decade!



Tags: Detective , Clone , Male Protagonist , Dissociative Identities , Police , Seinen , Body Horror , Terrorism , Anti-Hero , Nudity
Where to read?
Trace

Trace: Kasouken Houi Kenkyuuin no Tsuisou

Also known as Trace.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery

A crime suspense story set in a forensic laboratory where specialists work to uncover clues from seemingly insignificant bits of trace evidence. The story begins when Sawaguchi Nonna, a rookie forensic researcher, meets Mano Reiji, the man who solved her parents' murder case.


Tags: Work , Crime , Medicine , Seinen , Police , Revenge , Primarily Adult Cast , Bullying
King in Limbo

Limbo the King

Also known as King in Limbo.

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

It's been eight years since the pandemic in which a deadly sleeping sickness claimed millions of lives. After a serious injury cost him a leg (and, nearly, his life), Petty Officer Adam Garfield retires from active service in the U.S. Navy. But his plan to focus on his family and physical therapy is shattered when he receives secret word that the sleeping sickness has returned, and it's his job to bring back the mysterious man who helped cure it by diving into people's memories—a man known by the codename "King."



Tags: Josei , Male Protagonist , Pandemic , Foreign , Military , Disability
Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit

Ikigami

Also known as Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery , Psychological

Dear Citizen: Thank you for your loyalty. You've no doubt noticed that the world is a troubled place. People are apathetic, lazy, unmotivated. You've probably asked yourself: WHY ISN'T ANYTHING BEING DONE TO STOP THIS SYSTEMATIC DECLINE?

Rest assured that measures are being taken. Beginning immediately, we will randomly select a different citizen each day who will be killed within 24 hours of notification. We believe this will help remind all people how precious life is and how important it is to be a productive, active member of society.

Thank you for your continued attention and your cooperation and participation...
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT...TO DIE IN 24 HOURS!



Note: Was nominated for the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2009.

Tags: Seinen , Episodic , Politics , Dystopian , Conspiracy , Philosophy , Crime , Drugs , Revenge , Tragedy , Nudity , Homeless , Band , Gore
Where to read?
The Embalmer

Shigeshoushi

Also known as The Embalmer.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological , Romance

Shinjyurou Mamiya is an embalmer, a profession seen as "unclean" in Japan. Shinjyurou has accepted the life of an outcast amongst most people; to him it is a job and nothing more. He has gained an exceptional understanding of death and its consequences, as well as what it means to live. Mitsukazu Mihara brings us another psychological masterpiece in several thought-provoking volumes, the first alone of which explores the meanings of beauty, love and loss.



Tags: Josei , Philosophy , Medicine , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Episodic , Work , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Urban
Stigmata: Seikon Sousa

Stigmata: Seikon Sousa

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Supernatural

Asako Minami has a "unique constitution." He senses the lingering thoughts of murder victims, and experiences the circumstances under which they died with his own body in a reaction similar to stigmata. This proves useful in solving difficult cases with the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Investigations Unit Six. Asako's partner is the reserved Superintendent Kuroiwa Hiroto, rising through the MPD ranks despite doubting his own abilities.

Note: This volume was serialized in seinen magazine Grand Jump Premium. The manga has been revived as Stigmata: Aikon in BL magazine .Bloom.

Tags: Police , Seinen , Detective , Gore , Urban Fantasy , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Episodic , Crime , Boys' Love
Where to read?
Yasha

Yasha

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery

Arisue Sei is a youth who lives alone with his mother on an outlying island of Okinawa. Though his mother is quiet and fears being conspicuous, they were living happily. But on a certain day, that tranquility is suddenly destroyed. Sei's mother is killed by a group of mysterious men, and he is taken captive. What kind of secret does he have!?

Tags: Shoujo , Conspiracy , Twins , Male Protagonist , Fugitive , Super Power , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Primarily Male Cast , Crime , Revenge , Terrorism , Pandemic , Politics , Guns , Bisexual , Boys' Love , Medicine , Assassins , LGBTQ+ Themes , Work , Adoption , Orphan
Where to read?
Otherworld Barbara

Barbara Ikai

Also known as Otherworld Barbara.

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

Tokio discovers a phantom island named Barbara. Then there’s a mysterious and missing geneticist, an eccentric clergyman, a grieving grandmother granted temporary youth, a psychologist killed by a freak tornado… Hagio offers a sci-fi explanation for these seemingly random paranormal elements, and makes it all matter with believable characters in complex and subtle relationships.



Note: Winner of Japan's Science Fiction Grand Prize award in 2006.

Tags: Josei , Age Regression , Family Life , Cannibalism , Ensemble Cast , Memory Manipulation , Alternate Universe , Aliens , Male Protagonist

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