Manga like OPUS

Billy Bat

Also known as Billy Bat.

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

It’s 1949 Los Angeles, and Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese American comic book author, is drawing his bestselling character, Billy Bat: a quick-witted detective who is, unsurprisingly, a cartoon bat. Everything is going well for Kevin until he discovers an unfortunate truth: He may have unintentionally plagiarized his beloved character from a drawing he once saw in Japan. Devastated by the news, Kevin returns to war-torn Japan to find the drawing’s original artist . . . but the character’s origins turn out to be far older and more perplexing than he had ever imagined.



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

Tags: Drawing , Historical , Time Manipulation , Seinen , Conspiracy , Philosophy , 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

AKIRA

Also known as Akira.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Horror , Psychological , Sci-Fi

Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by a blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, making him a target for a shadowy agency that will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like the one that leveled Tokyo. At the core of the agency's motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear of an unthinkable, monstrous power known only as Akira.



Tags: Dystopian , Cyberpunk , Post-Apocalyptic , Military , Seinen , Tragedy , Super Power , Male Protagonist , Philosophy , Body Horror , Gore , Survival , Delinquents , Drugs , War , Anti-Hero , Gangs , Motorcycles , Cult , Coming of Age , Afterlife , Terrorism , Crime , Nudity , Reincarnation , Bullying , Basketball

Ultra Heaven

Also known as Ultra Heaven.

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

In a world where all feelings are artificial and where everyone is a potential drug addict, nothing is really changed: the excess is near at hand and very few substances are considered dangerous and put under a strict control by a hygiene office which has full power on the drug addicts who are in extreme condition.

The main character is Kabu, a little peddler and heavily addicted. Used to any kind of hallucinogenic trip, he is able to feel
the happiness through the ecstasy of the drug, while at the same time hypocritically hating who gave birth to the society that forced him the excess. After an overdose caused by mixing two incompatible drugs, he spends his days looking for stimulants until the encounter with an enigmatic man who offers him a new kind of illegal substance: Ultra Heaven.
From that moment, his incredible journey begins, where dreams and reality are fused in an undivided world, causing him hysterical and joyful reactions and unrestrained pains.

But what really is Ultra Heaven and who's really behind it? Who is the guru who is promoting the meditation as a powerful way to influence the whole universe surrounding us exploiting the quantum theory?

With the help of a special amplifier helmet, Kabu starts a trip into the deep and hidden layers of his conscience, diving into a nightmare he would never discover...

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

Look Back

Also known as Look Back.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Slice of Life

Fujino is a fourth grader who draws a manga strip for the school newspaper. Her art makes her the star of the class, but one day she's told that Kyomoto, a student who refuses to come to school, would also like to submit a manga for the paper...



Note: The one-shot was compiled in a special volume, released on September 3, 2021.

Tags: Drawing , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Hikikomori , Primarily Female Cast , Shounen , Coming of Age , Work , Meta , School , Philosophy , Primarily Child Cast , Rehabilitation

Doumu

Also known as Domu: A Child's Dream.

Status: Finished
Genres: Horror , Psychological , Supernatural

A twisted old man, gifted with extrasensory powers, holds silent sway over an entire block of apartments, its occupants puppets for him to control. Life is his to give...and to take. But suddenly there is a new voice in his head, and before he knows it, a young girl with her own battery of psychic abilities arrives to challenge him. Soon, the sprawling complex becomes a battleground between two minds possessing incredible, unimaginable power.

Note: Won the 15th Seiun Award for Best Comic (1984).

Tags: Seinen , Tragedy , Police , Detective , Gore , Super Power , Guns , Ghost , Urban Fantasy , Suicide

20 Seiki Shounen

Also known as 20th Century Boys.

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

Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns. This is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world.

For Kenji, a simple convenience store manager who once dreamed of becoming a rock 'n' roll musician, a host of memories from his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.



Tags: Coming of Age , Ensemble Cast , Politics , Seinen , Achronological Order , Dystopian , Fugitive , Conspiracy , Cult , Found Family , Pandemic , Time Skip , Post-Apocalyptic , Terrorism , Male Protagonist , Detective , Philosophy , Cosmic Horror , Female Protagonist , Dissociative Identities , Tragedy , Musical Theater , Historical , Augmented Reality , Police , Robots , Cute Boys Doing Cute Things , Transgender , Foreign , Time Manipulation , Homeless , Nudity , Twins , Urban , Rock Music , Drugs , Crossdressing

World Apartment Horror

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Horror , Mystery , Supernatural

World Apartment Horror (ワールド アパートメント ホラー)
Manga adaptation of Otomo's self-directed live-action film of the same name.
A bumbling Yakuza member is sent to rid an old and rotten apartment block of its foreign occupants, but finds it a lot harder than expected when he discovers an evil spirit still resides there.

Okyakusama (お客様, Visitors)
Waira (わいら)
Joyful Bell

Tags: Demons , Seinen , Urban Fantasy , Youkai , Anthology , Swordplay , Ghost , Satire , Samurai , Historical

Yume no Kaseki: Kon Satoshi Zentanpen

Also known as Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon.

Status: Finished
Genres: Psychological , Sci-Fi , Slice of Life , Sports , Supernatural

Dream Fossil is a collection of 15 short stories by critically hailed anime auteur Satoshi Kon. The stories were serialized in a variety of magazines in the 1980s and provide a rare glimpse into the early stages of Kon’s uniquely compelling style of storytelling. Buds of dreamlike themes and imaginative worldviews that would blossom in Kon’s later animated works are readily apparent in flights of fancy anchored by knowing, empathetic portrayals of human nature.

Carve
Horseplay
Baseball Brats
Summer of Anxiety
Focus
Day has Dawned
Kidnappers
Guests
Waira
Picnic
Beyond the Sun
Joyful Bell
The Desert Dolphin
The Adventures of Master Basho
15-16. Toriko - Prisoner



Tags: Seinen , Police , Dystopian , Cyberpunk , Ghost , Anthology , Baseball , Coming of Age , Post-Apocalyptic , School

Bakuman.

Also known as Bakuman。.

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

Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishing world?



Tags: Drawing , Work , Meta , Shounen , Writing , Educational , Coming of Age , Male Protagonist , Heterosexual , Otaku Culture , Tomboy , School , Tragedy

Majo

Also known as Witches.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Supernatural

On a visit to the capital of a small country in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affections is Mimar, a young man who works at a bazaar–yet despite her attempts, he doesn’t notice her. Back at home in England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame, and “the secret of the world,” she returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest. This story is just one of many in this dramatic collection, which features tales of witchcraft across the globe and even in the far reaches of outer space.



Note: Won the Excellence Prize in the Manga Division at Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004.

Tags: Witch , Anthology , Magic , Philosophy , Environmental , Seinen , Foreign , Female Protagonist , Urban Fantasy , Mythology , Primarily Female Cast , Gods , Body Horror , Nudity , Denpa