Manga like Jun: Shotaro no Fantasy World

Kono Yo no Owari e no Tabi

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Fantasy , Horror , Psychological

Every morning a man wakes up, gets dressed, and heads to work, returning home in the evening to go to sleep. Feeling suffocated by the mundanity and repetitiveness of life, the man takes a detour on his way to work one day. But after being swept up in a tide of piracy, cannibalism, and bizarre religious sects the man starts to wonder: was his boring old life so bad after all?

Tags: Denpa , Cosmic Horror , Philosophy , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Travel , Survival , Dystopian , Cannibalism , Gore , Foreign , Primarily Adult Cast , Heterosexual , Language Barrier , Nudity , Slavery , Cult

Ultra Heaven

Also known as Ultra Heaven.

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

In the future, any mood you want is just a pump away. People flock to legal “pump bars,” where licensed medical professionals, known as bar doctors, prescribe their customers the perfect pharmaceutical blend. But when the standard dosage isn’t enough, our protagonist, Cub, turns to an unauthorized source. The results have to be seen to be believed. Rendered in a richly-detailed, clear-line style, this psychedelic sci-fi manga tears apart the basic fabric of reality. What is the truth and what is a dream?

Tags: Drugs , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Dystopian , Philosophy , Alternate Universe , Cyberpunk , Nudity , Tokusatsu

Asteroid

Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sci-Fi

Take me to the end of the world... said Blaise Cendrars.
Come on, I'll take you, says Keiichi Koike.
He takes you on a trip through time and space to the end of the world that is also but the beginning of it all...

Background:
An unfinished, text-less narrative that was first published in Gekkan Agama between 1989 and 1991. The first two chapters were then re-published in Art Publisher's Error magazine in 2000, after which the first eleven chapters re-appeared in the initial three issues of MHz magazine published by Magazine Five in 2006. The manga was never collected and released in a tankoubon.

Tags: No Dialogue , Mythology , Travel

Palepoli

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Psychological , Supernatural

Palepoli goes beyond the framework of standard four-panel manga and views its structure in new ways. Actually, Furuya knew nothing of conventional manga styles and methods when he started Palepoli. As a result, he created something that bore little similarity to other manga.

Note: A portion of Palepoli (26 pages) was featured in Secret Comics Japan by VIZ Media on July 6, 2000.

Tags: Meta , Surreal Comedy , Parody , Seinen , 4-koma , Gore , Body Horror , Nudity

Aoi Mangakyou

Status: Finished
Genres: Music , Slice of Life

Aoi Mangakyou (青いマン華鏡)
Ishinomori is riding on a train to Sendai when he sees a boy near him with a blue kaleidoscope. Reminded of how he used to like them, he asks the boy to borrow it. With a glimpse, he begins to understand what made him the mangaka he is...
Boku no Norakuro (ボクののらくろ)
An essay manga where Ishinomori discusses the impact Norakuro left on him in the post-war period.
Karakou Monogatari (カラ公ものがたり)
The story of the life of a little crow who is nursed and taken care of by a group of siblings against all odds.
Boku no Heya ni wa Beethoven no Death Mask ga Atta (ぼくの部屋にはベートーベンのデス・マスクがあった)
Ishinomori reminisces about his relationship with Beethoven and music, as well as his time at Tokiwa-sou with Fujio Akatsuka.
Tokiwa-sou no Charumera (トキワ荘のチャルメラ)
Ishinomori and Akatsuka (as Akamori and Ishizuka) once more star as the focus, this time covering their experiences with the changing times, highlighted with the advent of instant ramen.
Tokiwa-sou Monogatari (トキワ荘物語)
A silent reflection of Ishinomori's memories at the legendary apartments.
Ogawa no Medaka (小川のメダカ)
Further along in time, Ishinomori is now a father of two. Concerned about his sons' wellbeing, he tries to instill values in them by having them appreciate nature.
Tezuka Osamu-shi no Itta Hi (手塚治虫の逝った日)
A short manga in which Ishinomori thinks back to many things regarding Tezuka—and what him and the rest at Tokiwa-sou best knew him for.
Kaze no You ni… …Se wo Hashirisugita Mushi (風のように…　…背を走りすぎた虫)
After Tezuka has passed, Ishinomori assesses his interactions and relationship with Tezuka, as well as considering what it means to have a present and future without him.

Tags: Philosophy , Autobiographical , Drawing , Anthology , Classical Music , Classic Literature

Plastic Girl

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

"My eyes were covered by Daddy so I wouldn't know the way. My mouth was gagged and my ears were plugged by Mommy so I would hear and speak no evil. Daddy forbade me from smiling so I wouldn't have dreams and hopes. Mommy spawned me...so I would bear all her sins."

Tags: Full Color , Female Protagonist , Nudity , Body Horror , Gore , Tragedy , Cosmic Horror , Pregnancy , Primarily Child Cast

Kurayami Dance

Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Mystery , Psychological

Undertaker by day, biker by night, Kaido Wataru dreams of one day riding at an unsurpassed speed. But the moment he finally reaches 300 kmh, a terrible accident sends him into a 3-year coma. When Wataru awakes, he finds that the Japan he once knew is long gone. Now followed by an otherworldly creature and equipped with a mysterious transplanted eye, Wataru embarks on his very own road movie...

Kurayami Dance is a manga based on the original draft for Shadows of the Damned, which was a loose adaptation of Kafka’s The Castle.

Tags: Seinen , Dissociative Identities , Suicide , Anti-Hero , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Surreal Comedy , Time Skip , Male Protagonist , Meta , Assassins , Motorcycles , Revenge , Afterlife , Bullying , Time Loop

Garden

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy , Horror , Psychological , Sci-Fi

"Garden" is a collection of Furuya Usamaru's “indie” shorts that were published in Comic Cue, Manga Erotics and GARO respectively. The title is obviously a reference to Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, with the first story being a homage to said painting. The other stories range from absurd comedies to fantasy to horror. It’s a very eclectic mixture, but make no mistake: artistically, Garden might just be Furuya’s most accomplished work after The Music of Marie.

Tags: Body Horror , Seinen , Tragedy , Religion , Cosmic Horror , Ero Guro , Anthology , Gore ,

Sekishoku Elegy

Also known as Red Colored Elegy.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Seiichi Hayashi produced Red Colored Elegy between 1970 and 1971, in the aftermath of a politically turbulent and culturally vibrant decade that promised but failed to deliver new possibilities. With a combination of sparse line work and visual codes borrowed from animation and film, the quiet melancholy lives of a young couple struggling to make ends meet are beautifully captured in this poetic masterpiece.

Uninvolved with the political movements of the time, Ichiro and Sachiko hope for something better, but they're no revolutionaries; their spare time is spent drinking, smoking, daydreaming, and sleeping--together and at times with others. While Ichiro attempts to make a living from his comics, Sachiko's parents are eager to arrange a marriage for her, but Ichiro doesn't seem interested. Both in their relationship and at work, Ichiro and Sachiko are unable to say the things they need to say, and like any couple, at times say things to each other that they do not mean, ultimately communicating as much with their body language and what remains unsaid as with words.

Red Colored Elegy is informed as much by underground Japanese comics of the time as it is by the French Nouvelle Vague, and its cultural referents range from James Dean to Ken Takakura. Its influence in Japan was so large that Morio Agata, a prominent Japanese folk musician and singer songwriter, debuted with a love song written and named after it.

"I wanted to live like Sachiko and Ichiro; to have aspirations even while living stoically and humbly." --Morio Agata



Tags: Seinen , Drawing , Heterosexual , Work , Nudity , Suicide , Primarily Adult Cast

Ryuujin Numa

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

Compilation of six Ishinomori's one-shots published between 1957 and 1964.

The stories are collected in the following order:
Ryuujin Numa [ 龍神沼 ]; (1961)
Yoru wa Sen no Me wo Motteiru [ 夜は千の目をもっ ]; (1962)
Mizuiro no Hoshi [ 水色の星 ]; (March 1962)
Kiri to Bara to Hoshi to [ きりとばらとほしと ]; (1962)
Kaigara no Yousei [ 貝がらの妖精 ]; (1964)
Ryuujin Numa no Shoujo [ 竜神沼の少女 ]; (1957)


Tags: Anthology , Rural , Shoujo , Vampire , Gods , Dragons , Suicide