Manga like Ningyo no Mori

Inuyasha

Also known as InuYasha.

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

Kagome is a modern Japanese high school girl. Never the type to believe in myths and legends, her world view dramatically changes when, one day, she's pulled out of her own time and into another! There, in Japan's ancient past, Kagome discovers more than a few of those dusty old legends are true, and that her destiny is linked to one legendary creature in particular--the dog-like half-demon called Inuyasha! That same trick of fate also ties them both to the Shikon Jewel, or "Jewel of Four Souls." But demons beware...the smallest shard of the Shikon Jewel can give the user unimaginable power.



Tags: Demons , Youkai , Shounen , Historical , Kemonomimi , Found Family , Reincarnation , Heterosexual , Isekai , Revenge , Time Manipulation , Shrine Maiden , Female Protagonist , Love Triangle , Male Protagonist , Body Horror , Nudity , Curses

Mushishi

Also known as Mushishi.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Slice of Life , Supernatural

Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. They are known as mushi—creatures that came into being shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze. They still exist parallel to our own lives and can only be seen by a select few. As a mushishi, Ginko is one of the few who are aware of their existense, and this young man with a sardonic smile roams from place to place with the knowledge and skill to aid those unwittingly affected by mushi.



Note: Won the Excellence Prize for Manga at the 7th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2003 and the Kodansha Manga Award for General Manga in 2006.

Tags: Travel , Episodic , Environmental , Youkai , Seinen , Mythology , Rural , Iyashikei , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Urban Fantasy , Historical , Work , Demons

Jigoku Kurayami Hana mo Naki

Also known as Hell Is Dark with No Flowers.

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

Seiji Tohno sometimes sees the people around him as monsters. It's a curse that has driven him to a life of despair...but all that changes one evening when he stumbles across a bewitchingly beautiful boy in a huge European mansion. The boy introduces himself as Shiroshi Saljou, and before he knows it, Seiji has agreed to become Shiroshi's part-time assistant. It turns out that Shiroshi's "proxy service" is to consign yokal-possessed sinners to Hell, which will bring Seiji face-to-face with an unimaginable host of horrors!

Tags: Youkai , Urban Fantasy , Detective , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Rehabilitation , Episodic , Suicide , Work , Gore

Poe no Ichizoku

Also known as The Poe Clan.

Status: Finished
Genres: Supernatural

The Poe Clan: a race of undead that feeds on the energy of the living, whiling away the centuries in a village of roses where time and geography have no meaning. Circumstances lead to a brother and sister, Edgar and Marybelle, being initiated into the clan too young, and therefore doomed to live out eternity forever on the brink of adulthood, until a wooden stake or a silver bullet should cut them down. In this groundbreaking manga, through three immortal adolescents and the mortals whose lives they touch, Moto Hagio explores what it means to live and to die, to have loved and to have lost.



Tags: Vampire , Shoujo , Achronological Order , Foreign , Historical , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Boys' Love , Fugitive , Estranged Family , LGBTQ+ Themes

Ningyo Ouji

Also known as Mermaid Prince.

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

A collection of stories:

1-2. Ametsukigahara (アメツキガハラ); Wings 2014-11, 12

Yuki no Hi (ゆきの日); Wings 2014-06

4-6. Ningyo Ouji (人魚王子); Wings 2015-08~12
Mugi moves to an island in southern Japan, but he can't get used to it. That's why Matori, his classmate, won't leave him alone for a second. One night, Mugi spends the night at Matori's house. That's when her grandmother tells him a story about sirens who are able to fulfill any wish...

Tags: Shoujo , Anthology , Female Protagonist , Coming of Age , Rural , Heterosexual , Mermaid , Surfing , Nudity , Coastal

School Ningyo

Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Supernatural

Two girls go hunting for mermaids to win their true love. Featuring very untraditional mermaids.

Tags: Primarily Female Cast , Mermaid , Shounen , School , Episodic , Urban Fantasy , Yuri , LGBTQ+ Themes , Transgender , Age Gap

Shirahimeshou

Also known as Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Supernatural

Legends say that when it snows, it is because the snow princess is crying. A collection of five tragic tales, all connected by the bond of snow. Shirahime-syo is CLAMP's tribute to traditional Japanese form and storytelling.



Tags: Tragedy , Shoujo , Mythology , Gods , Anthology , Historical , Fairy Tale , Snowscape

Sora Tobi Tamashii

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

Ubusuna (産土, Birthgrounds)
The story of a mystical creature that makes pottery.

Sora Tobi Tamashii (そらトびタマシイ, Spirits Flying in the Sky)
It's about a girl who is cursed by an owl, and begins to fuse with a chicken spirit she killed by accident. But then she meets a girl just like herself, who helps her become normal again.

Kuma Koroshi Kami Nusumi Tarou no Namida (熊殺し神盗み太郎の涙, The Tears of Bear-Slayer and God-Stealer Tarou)
It's a story about a boy called the "Bear Killer", who meets a girl who has been chosen to become the guardian deity of her village.

Suna-kake (すなかけ, Covered in Sand)
The story of a young girl who meets a girl with a mysterious disease while on a trip to the ocean.

Le Pain et le Chat (The bread and the cat)
The story of a baker who decides to care for a girl whose parents have left her.

Imada Fuyu (未だ冬, Still Winter)
It's about a man who climbs a mountain that belongs to the gods, and is not made for man to climb.

Tags: Seinen , Anthology , Magic , Monster Girl , Mythology , Body Horror , Rural

Genjuu Chousain

Also known as Mythical Beast Investigator.

Status: Finished
Genres: Adventure , Drama , Fantasy , Mystery , Supernatural

In the whole world there lay a mythical creatures which have their own ecosystem and can’t be considered part of the food chain. They also have supernatural powers and live together with humans. Ferry is one of the professional investigator, who researches the connection between the creatures and humans and is called a Genjuu Chousain (Mythical Beast Investigator). The story starts when a flying reptilian dragon (Wyvern) is attacking a village, and a Girl dispatch on the quest to research and investigate Wyvern and other mythical creatures.

Tags: Shounen , Magic , Female Protagonist , Animals , Mythology , Witch , Monster Boy , Tragedy

Tomie

Also known as Tomie.

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

Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man, and drive them to murder as well, even though the victim is often Tomie herself. While one lover seeks to keep her for himself, another grows terrified of the immortal succubus. But soon they realize that no matter how many times they kill her, the world will never be free of Tomie.



Notes:
While a collection of mainly independent short stories, Tomie was originally published as Volumes 1 and 2 of the Ito Junji Kyofu Manga Collection. This entry is for the standalone release of Tomie first published in February 2000 with previously unreleased chapter "小指/Little Finger".
Later collections such as the 'Complete Deluxe edition' by Viz combines this and the sequel entry Tomie: Again for a total of 20 chapters.
The short story “Painter” has been adapted in the first part of episode 9 of Ito Junji: Collection.

Tags: Body Horror , Monster Girl , Gore , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Episodic , Male Harem , Yandere , Urban Fantasy , Demons , Nudity , Succubus , Bullying , Cannibalism , School , Shoujo