Manga like Ore to Akuma no Blues

SHIORI EXPERIENCE: Jimi na Watashi to Hen na Ojisan

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music

Shiori was once a guitarist in a light music club in high school, but her first live performance was dashed when her brother ran away from home with a lot of debt to become a musician in Tokyo.

A decade later, Shiori is now a high school teacher, leading a boring, uneventful life and paying off the debt... till she runs into the ghost of none other than a famous guitarist Jim-you-know-who.

A story of a 27-year-old woman on her way to a music legend begins here.

Tags: Band , Ghost , School Club , Seinen , Coming of Age , Teacher , Female Protagonist , Tomboy , Anachronism , Rock Music , Delinquents , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast

Billy Bat

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

The story is set in 1949 and follows Japanese-American comic book artist Kevin Yamagata as he draws the popular detective series "Billy Bat" for "Marble Comics." When he learns he may have unconsciously copied the character from an image he saw while serving in occupied Japan, he returns to Japan to get permission to use Billy Bat from its original creator. Upon arriving there, however, he becomes embroiled in a web of murder, cover-ups, and prophecy that all leads back to Billy Bat.

It is soon evident, however, that the truth of Billy Bat's nature is far larger than Kevin could ever guess, spanning millennia and across the world.



Note: Won the Max und Moritz Prize for "Best international Comic" in 2014.

Tags: Drawing , Historical , Time Manipulation , Seinen , Philosophy , Conspiracy , Politics , Ensemble Cast , Urban Fantasy , Travel , Foreign , Achronological Order , War , Time Skip , Primarily Adult Cast , Police , Religion , Male Protagonist , Dystopian , Ninja , Guns , Swordplay , Anachronism , Espionage , Nudity , Terrorism

BECK

Also known as BECK.

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

For the first 14 years of his life, Yukio Tanaka has been one heck of a boring guy. He has no hobbies, a weak taste in music, and only a small vestige of a personality. He yearns for an exciting life, but his shy, and somewhat neurotic personality make him his own worst enemy. Little does he know that his life will be forever changed when he meets Ryusuke Minami, a wild and unpredictable 16 year-old fresh from America, who happens to be in a rock-and-roll band named after his Frankenstein-like patched dog—Beck.



Tags: Band , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Rock Music , Primarily Male Cast , Shounen , Foreign , Heterosexual , Work , Female Protagonist , Crime , Love Triangle , Bullying , School , Mafia , Guns , Swimming , Martial Arts

BLUE GIANT

Also known as Blue Giant.

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

Dai lived a normal high school life in Sendai: a city of hot summer days and rainy nights. Between basketball, part time jobs, and an uncertain future, something was missing. And that thing was music. With his days in senior year running out, Dai swears a heartfelt vow: “I’m gonna be the best jazz player in the world.”

But what do you need to be the best? Talent? Effort? A lucky break? Or maybe just a deep, pure love for music, and too much stubbornness to know when to quit.



Note: Nominated for the 22nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Tags: Seinen , Band , Jazz Music , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Bar , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Ensemble Cast

#DRCL midnight children

Also known as #DRCL midnight children.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Horror , Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural

As Mina struggles to find her place as Whitby School’s first and only female student, a devilish horror is unleashed upon the academy and its unsuspecting students: Count Dracula. However, when this unspeakable evil lays claim to her beloved Lucy Westenra, Mina stands ready to join forces with her fellow students and fight against it with everything she has.

Loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula.



Notes:
Nominated for the Eisner Awards in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia and the Best Adaptation From Another Medium category in 2024.
Chapter count includes one extra chapter.

Tags: Vampire , Historical , Seinen , Cosmic Horror , Classic Literature , Urban Fantasy , Female Protagonist , Primarily Teen Cast , Foreign , Gore , LGBTQ+ Themes , School , Primarily Male Cast , Nudity , Dissociative Identities , Gender Bending , Tragedy

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

Blaster Knuckle

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Fantasy , Horror , Supernatural

Take yourself back to the 1880s where the KKK is thriving and the African American community lives in fear. The African Americans don't fear the KKK simply because they beat, rape, and kill them. No. They fear the KKK because the KKK eats them. They are the aptly named man-eaters, a kind of mix between werewolves and vampires. They consume human flesh, can shapeshift into various forms, and are practically immortal. Only one man, an ex-heavyweight boxer named Victor Freeman, dares to stand up to them. Equipped with a small arsenal and a set of modified brass knuckles, can our hero defend his people and avenge his past?

Tags: Foreign , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Guns , Historical , Gore , Politics , Conspiracy , Boxing , Vampire , Urban Fantasy , Fugitive , Revenge , Crime , Slavery , Zombie , Body Horror , Tragedy , Travel , Criminal Organization , Nudity , Cowboys , Primarily Male Cast

RaW Hero

Also known as RaW Hero.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Ecchi , Slice of Life

Just remember this. In this world of ours… the first to die are those without guts. A portion of humanity has obtained special abilities, and two groups emerge in conflict. On the side of justice are “heroes.” On the side of villainy are “monsters.” For Chiaki, however, all that matters is finding work to support his younger brothers. But when a simple train ride to his latest interview takes a perverse turn, his sense of right leads him down an unexpected and uncomfortable path! From the mind of Prison School creator Akira Hiramoto comes a raw new story of a man caught between good and evil, lies and truth—and light and shadow!

Tags: Gender Bending , Male Protagonist , Crossdressing , Nudity , Espionage , Seinen , Work , Mixed Gender Harem , Superhero , Henshin , Tokusatsu , Drawing , Cosplay , Age Gap , Animals , Love Triangle

White Tiger: Byakkotai Seibukaitaku Tan

Also known as White Tiger.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure

It's the Meiji Era in Japan, a time of unrest and civil war. The people of Aizu have been defeated and their way of life is threatened. Their only hope for survival lies in… America? Read this deep and thoughtful story about what it means to try to keep your culture in a new place full of people who don't understand it.



Tags: Historical , Male Protagonist , Foreign , Guns , Revenge

Vagabond

Also known as Vagabond.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama

At seventeen years of age, Miyamoto Musashi--still known by his childhood name, Shinmen Takezo--was a wild young brute just setting out along the way of the sword.

In the aftermath of the epic Battle of Sekigahara, Takezo finds himself a fugitive survivor on the losing side of the war. Takezo's vicious nature has made him an outcast even in his own village, and he is hunted down like an animal. At this crucial crossroads in Takezo's life, an eccentric monk and a childhood friend are the only ones who can help him find his way.



Tags: Swordplay , Seinen , Samurai , Historical , Philosophy , Travel , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Martial Arts , Tragedy , Survival , Cultivation , Biographical , Gore , Rural , Heterosexual , War , Outdoor Activities , Ghost , Agriculture , Classic Literature , Fugitive , Language Barrier , Nudity , Afterlife ,