Manga like Hyouge Mono

Saraiya Goyou

Also known as House of Five Leaves.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama

Masterless samurai Akitsu Masanosuke is a skilled and loyal swordsman, but his naïve, diffident nature has more than once caused him to be let go by the lords who employ him. Hungry and desperate, he agrees to become a bodyguard for Yaichi, the charismatic leader of a group calling itself “Five Leaves.” Although disturbed by the gang’s sinister activities, Masa begins to suspect that Yaichi’s motivations are not what they seem. And despite his misgivings, the deeper he’s drawn into the world of the Five Leaves, the more he finds himself fascinated by these devious, mysterious outlaws.



Tags: Historical , Seinen , Samurai , Male Protagonist , Gangs , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Detective , Fugitive , Swordplay , Found Family , Oiran , Police

Golden Kamuy

Also known as Golden Kamuy.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Drama

In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.



Note: Won the 9th Manga Taisho Award in 2016 and the 22nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2018. Nominated for the 20th and 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and the 40th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2016.

Tags: Historical , Conspiracy , Military , Outdoor Activities , Seinen , Politics , Ensemble Cast , Educational , Surreal Comedy , Food , Travel , Found Family , Gore , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Survival , Guns , Revenge , LGBTQ+ Themes , Language Barrier , Anti-Hero , Slapstick , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Crime , Male Harem , Snowscape , Trains , Prison , Animals , Male Protagonist , Nudity , Swordplay , Disability , Archery , Suicide , Tanned Skin , Transgender , Twins , Cannibalism , Zoophilia , Heterosexual , Yakuza , Time Skip , Dissociative Identities , Crossdressing , Wilderness , Indigenous Cultures , Gender Bending

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Also known as Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This multi-generational epic dives deep into rakugo, a rich form of Japanese storytelling theater. Small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "The God of Death," which the master Yurakutei Yakumo performed for Yotaro during his time in prison. After his release, he goes to Yakumo's theater and pleads to be made his apprentice. Yakumo reluctantly accepts, but Yotaro quickly finds the world of rakugo is complex and grapples with a growing bond with Yakumo's ward, Konatsu. Meanwhile, the two young people bring reminders of Yakumo’s own inescapable past.



Note: Won the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards for Best General Manga and the New Creator Prize of the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017.

Tags: Rakugo , Josei , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Acting , Family Life , Love Triangle , Work , Afterlife , Suicide , Yakuza , Oiran , Tsundere , Crossdressing , War , Adoption , Heterosexual , Elderly Protagonist

Oooku

Also known as Ôoku: The Inner Chambers.

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

In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country's men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen by seventy-five percent. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected. And the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the shogun's Inner Chamber...



Note: Won an Excellence Prize at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival and a special prize at The Japanese Association of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy's fifth annual Sense of Gender Awards in 2005. Won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural the Grand Prize in 2009 and the 56th Shogakukan Manga Award in Girls' Category in 2011. Was nominated for the first annual Manga Taishou in 2008.

Tags: Tragedy , Pandemic , Matriarchy , Historical , Heterosexual , Politics , Shoujo , Male Harem , Primarily Adult Cast , Suicide , Ensemble Cast , Incest , Samurai , LGBTQ+ Themes , Royal Affairs , Swordplay , Military , Bisexual , Religion , Espionage , Boys' Love

Hidamari no Ki

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Edo, 1855, in the Hill of the Three Hundred district: Japan's isolationist foreign policy has been lifted, and the era of the Bakumatsu has begun. The samurai Ibuya Manjiro, 26 years old, has just begun his career as low-ranking retainer to the minor daimyo Lord Matsudaira. Tezuka Ryoan, 29, a disciple of Dutch medicine, has just been accepted as a student at Teki Academy in Osaka. Each has a temper to go with his talent, and in a time of brewing upheaval the two are not slow to find trouble, which brings them together in spite of their mutual dislike. Tezuka is called in one night to sew up Ibuya after an illicit duel; a few weeks later, Ibuya finds himself the only thing standing between Tezuka and a gang of swordsmen sent by the head of medicine for the Shogunate.

Note: Won the Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga in 1984.

Tags: Seinen , Medicine , Historical , Swordplay , Samurai

Nobunaga no Chef

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Drama

Ken, a modern age chef, finds himself in back in the 16th century during the warring states period. Lacking any recollection of who he once was or how he arrived to such a time, he only has his knowledge and skills in cooking to rely on. But as he gains reputation for his incredible food, who else would come to demand his services than Oda Nobunaga himself.

Tags: Time Manipulation , Seinen , Historical , War , Food , Male Protagonist , Amnesia , Primarily Adult Cast

Shigurui

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Horror

The story begins in 1629 Shizuoka during Tokugawa Tadanaga's rule. The daimyo staged a tournament where the participants fought with real steel Japanese swords rather than bokken, against his vassals' strong objection. The story revolves around the first match between the one-armed swordsman Fujiki Gennosuke and the blind samurai Irako Seigen and deals with the circumstances that led the two to participate in Tokugawa's tournament.



Tags: Tragedy , Swordplay , Samurai , Gore , Nudity , Disability , Heterosexual , Revenge , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Historical , Primarily Adult Cast , Martial Arts , Philosophy , Cannibalism , Love Triangle

Taiyou to Tsuki no Hagane

Also known as Steel of the Celestial Shadows.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Romance , Supernatural

It is said that a samurai’s spirit rests in their sword—and Konosuke can’t even pick one up thanks to a cruel curse that repels anything made of metal that gets near him. Destitute and hopeless, he decides to end it all. But when a beautiful and mysterious woman saves his life and his soul, it is the beginning of Ryudo’s journey into a strange world of magic that exists a step away from his own.



Tags: Samurai , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist , Curses , Urban Fantasy , Super Power

Kenrantaru Grande Scène

Also known as The Magnificent Grand Scene.

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

Kanade, a girl gifted with an observing eye and an ability to get things done. This is the story about her journey discovering the beauty of classical ballet and the joy of dancing. From the popular author that brought us Vanitas, comes a romantic story that makes the beauty of classical ballet come alive.



Tags: Dancing , Coming of Age , Primarily Female Cast , Female Protagonist , Shounen , Foreign , Travel , Language Barrier , Classic Literature

Watashi wa Rikyuu

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama

A story about Japanese tea.

Tags: Seinen