Top Death Game Manga Recommendations

Jujutsu Kaisen

Also known as Jujutsu Kaisen.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Supernatural

Although Yuji Itadori looks like your average teenager, his immense physical strength is something to behold! Every sports club wants him to join, but Itadori would rather hang out with the school outcasts in the Occult Research Club. One day, the club manages to get their hands on a sealed cursed object. Little do they know the terror they’ll unleash when they break the seal…



Notes:
- Ranked 1st in Japan's Bookstore Employees Top Manga of 2018.
- Nominated for the 25th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2021.
- Nominated for the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen Category in 2019.

Tags: Urban Fantasy , Super Power , Demons , Shounen , Tragedy , Male Protagonist , Monster Boy , Youkai , Martial Arts , Magic , Body Horror , Dissociative Identities , Gore , Death Game , Primarily Teen Cast , Cosmic Horror , Battle Royale , Ensemble Cast , Urban , Body Swapping , Sadism , Philosophy , School , Cult , Surreal Comedy , Anthropomorphism , Assassins , Slapstick , Time Manipulation , Swordplay , Time Skip , Nudity , Femboy , Transgender , Exorcism , Curses

Jeonjijeok Dokja Sijeom

Also known as Omniscient Reader.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy

Back then, Dok-Ja had no idea. He had no idea his favorite web novel 'Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse' was going to come to life, and that he would become the only person to know how the world was going to end. He also had no idea he would end up becoming the protagonist of this novel-turned-reality. Now, Dok-Ja will go on a journey to change the course of the story and save humankind once and for all.



Tags: Survival , Post-Apocalyptic , Full Color , Death Game , Gods , Meta , Male Protagonist , Denpa , Tragedy , Found Family , Astronomy , POV , Time Loop , Cosmic Horror , Suicide , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Battle Royale , Isekai , Swordplay , Body Horror , Adoption , Dragons , Age Regression , Parody , Trains , Crossover , Demons , Angels , Afterlife , Terrorism , Female Protagonist , Zombie , Super Robot

HUNTER×HUNTER

Also known as Hunter x Hunter.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Comedy , Fantasy

Gon might be a country boy, but he has high aspirations. Despite his Aunt Mito's protests, Gon decides to follow in his father's footsteps and become a legendary Hunter. The Hunter hopefuls begin their journey by storm-tossed ship, where Gon meets Leorio and Kurapika, the only other applicants who aren't devastated by bouts of seasickness.

Having survived the terrors of the high seas, Gon and his companions now have to prove their worth in a variety of tests in order to find the elusive Exam Hall. And once they get there, will they ever leave alive...?



Tags: Shounen , Super Power , Cultivation , Ensemble Cast , Travel , Male Protagonist , Primarily Male Cast , Urban Fantasy , Revenge , Tragedy , Assassins , Philosophy , Chimera , Battle Royale , Death Game , Anti-Hero , Politics , Crime , Gangs , Coming of Age , Martial Arts , Gore , Conspiracy , Lost Civilization , Ships , Video Games , Card Battle , War , Mafia , Animals , Full Color , LGBTQ+ Themes , Demons , Time Manipulation , Transgender , Virtual World , Amnesia , Reincarnation , Cannibalism , Samurai , Asexual , Kemonomimi

Shuumatsu no Valkyrie

Also known as Record of Ragnarok.

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

The story begins when the gods call a convention to decide whether to let humanity live or die, and settle on destroying humanity. But a lone valkyrie puts forward a suggestion to let the gods and humanity fight one last battle, as a last hope for humanity's continued survival. 13 gods will fight against 13 human champions in one-on-one battles to decide whether humanity lives or dies.

Tags: Gods , Mythology , Death Game , Survival , Historical , Super Power , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Cultivation , Gore , Wrestling , Samurai , Assassins , Cheerleading

GANTZ

Also known as Gantz.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Ecchi , Horror , Psychological , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

Tokyo teens Kei and Masaru are killed by a subway train but awaken in a room with an ominous black orb that gives them weapons, suits and orders. Fighting bizarre alien monstrosities in a deadly game, will they win their freedom or die for the final time?



Tags: Survival , Seinen , Gore , Aliens , Tragedy , Death Game , Urban , Guns , Cosmic Horror , Nudity , Philosophy , Super Power , Ensemble Cast , Heterosexual , Terrorism , Vampire , Assassins , Female Harem , Youkai , Dinosaurs , CGI , Trains

Deadman Wonderland

Also known as Deadman Wonderland.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi , Supernatural

The inmates of this insane penitentiary fight for survival every day to provide entertainment for the masses, and terrifying secrets lurk in the shadows. Ganta is determined to survive Deadman Wonderland and clear his name, but the price may be his soul…



Note: Volume 12 contains 6 short side stories, which counts as 1 whole chapter.

Tags: Death Game , Body Horror , Prison , Super Power , Gore , Dissociative Identities , Tragedy , Torture , Male Protagonist , Dystopian , Shounen , Philosophy , Suicide

Jagaaaaaan

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

Shintarou Jagasaki, who is a neighborhood police officer, lives with his girlfriend while working a job that is killing him slowly with annoyance. It looks like he will end up marrying soon and live a boring life with a nuclear family - a grim future for a guy with dreams! One such day, a mysterious monster appeared on the train and he suddenly can shoot with his right hand like Master Buppanatsu, the eggplant mascot of his city!

Tags: Aliens , Super Power , Seinen , Anti-Hero , Tragedy , Gore , Monster Boy , Philosophy , Primarily Adult Cast , Post-Apocalyptic , Dystopian , Revenge , Terrorism , Male Protagonist , Nudity , Detective , Police , Dissociative Identities , Shapeshifting , Body Horror , Conspiracy , Cosmic Horror , Heterosexual , Bullying , Gender Bending , Body Swapping , Kaiju , Mythology , Transgender , Death Game , Drugs

Imawa no Kuni no Alice

Also known as Alice in Borderland.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Horror , Psychological , Supernatural , Thriller

Eighteen-year-old Ryohei Arisu is sick of his life. School sucks, his love life is a joke, and his future feels like impending doom. As he struggles to exist in a world that can’t be bothered with him, Ryohei feels like everything would be better if he were anywhere else. When a strange fireworks show transports him and his friends to a parallel world, Ryohei thinks all his wishes have come true. But this new world isn’t an empty paradise, it’s a vicious game. And the only way to survive is to play.

Note: Chapter count includes 22 side story chapters.

Tags: Tragedy , Death Game , Survival , Philosophy , Battle Royale , Urban , Male Protagonist , Amnesia , Gore , Afterlife , Shounen , Gambling , Isekai , Alternate Universe , Dystopian , Anti-Hero , Primarily Adult Cast , Revenge , Guns , Heterosexual , Transgender , LGBTQ+ Themes , Martial Arts , Parkour , Mahjong , Gods , Nudity

Tomodachi Game

Also known as Tomodachi Game.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological

Play a game that costs a lot of money with your best friends! The key to clearing the game is "don't doubt your friends." However, one betrayal raises suspicion, and the game becomes a psychological warfare! Money or friends?

The ultimate intellectual game manga that shakes people's hearts has been born!



Note: Includes 2 extra chapters.

Tags: Anti-Hero , Death Game , Male Protagonist , Battle Royale , Revenge , Shounen , Tragedy , Yandere , Gambling , LGBTQ+ Themes , Card Battle , Ensemble Cast , Poker , Adoption

LIAR GAME

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Psychological

Wishing she would live up to the ideal, Kanzaki Nao's father named her thusly for “honesty”. Nao has more than lived up to her father's wishes--even exceeding them and earning the label of "a foolishly honest girl". This makes Nao the least qualified candidate for the high stakes 'Liar Game', where winning requires deceiving the opponent out of their money and losing means receiving massive debt. However, that doesn't stop a box containing a hundred million yen in cash and a card informing her of her participation in the game from arriving at her doorstep, nor does it stop her from being promptly tricked out of the entire sum of money. Upon hearing that a genius swindler, responsible for the bankruptcy of a major corporation, is being released from jail, Nao goes to the swindler, Shinichi Akiyama, to enlist his help. With that, the two are drawn into the dark, greed-filled, and deceptive world of the Liar Game.

Tags: Gambling , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Cult , Ensemble Cast , Death Game , Transgender , Bullying , Conspiracy , Coming of Age

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria

Also known as The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Psychological , Romance , Supernatural , Thriller

Kazuki Hoshino treasures nothing more than his ordinary life, and March 2 should have been an ordinary day. The arrival of a transfer student, the mysterious Aya Otonashi, shouldn't have shattered the world he knows. He's never seen this girl before in his life, but she says she's met him thousands of times--and declares war on him for a crime he can't even remember... As the truth begins to unravel, nothing is as it seems, and at the heart of it all is a wish powerful enough to change everything...



Tags: Anti-Hero , Tragedy , Philosophy , Urban Fantasy , Male Protagonist , Time Loop , Dissociative Identities , Achronological Order , Time Manipulation , Bullying , Yandere , School , Battle Royale , Heterosexual , Primarily Teen Cast , Memory Manipulation , Amnesia , Death Game , Gore , Body Swapping , Shapeshifting , Baseball

Usogui

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Psychological , Thriller

There are gamblers out there who even bet their lives as ante. But to secure the integrity of these life-threatening gambles, a violent and powerful organization by the name of "Kakerou" referees these games as a neutral party. Follow Baku Madarame a.k.a. Usogui (The Lie Eater) as he gambles against maniacal opponents at games—such as Escape the Abandoned Building, Old Maid, and Hangman—to ultimately "out-gamble" and control the neutral organization of Kakerou itself.

Tags: Gambling , Male Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Seinen , Crime , Anti-Hero , Martial Arts , Philosophy , Memory Manipulation , Death Game , Amnesia , Poker , Mafia , Tragedy , Gore , Fairy Tale , Guns , Terrorism

Tenkuu Shinpan

Also known as High-Rise Invasion.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Horror , Mystery

High-school girl Yuri suddenly finds herself on the rooftop of a high-rise building. She's trapped in a bizarre world surrounded by skyscrapers, where a masked man cracked open a man's head with an axe before her eyes. The original author of "Ajin," Tsuina Miura works in collaboration with Takahiro Oba, the artist of "Box!", to bring you this thrilling skyscraper suspense!

Tags: Death Game , Survival , Suicide , Female Protagonist , Amnesia , Battle Royale , Gods , Ensemble Cast , Alternate Universe , Super Power , Gore , Shounen , Guns , Memory Manipulation , Cosmic Horror , Yuri , Dissociative Identities , Swordplay , Dystopian

Kakegurui

Also known as Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler -.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Mystery , Psychological

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent-the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling?

At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!



Tags: Gambling , Card Battle , Female Protagonist , School , Poker , Primarily Female Cast , Anti-Hero , Death Game , Primarily Teen Cast , Twins , School Club , Ojou-sama , Villainess , Drugs , LGBTQ+ Themes , Shounen , Yuri , Slavery , Idol , Bullying , Male Protagonist , Unrequited Love

Mirai Nikki

Also known as Future Diary.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery , Psychological , Supernatural , Thriller

Yukiteru is a lonely student whose only hobby is the daily diary he keeps on his cell phone. But Yukiteru has a secret that nobody knows about...his cellphone can tell the future! Now a vicious game of survival is about to begin among twelve future diaryholders - with the winner crowned god of the new world!



Tags: Battle Royale , Yandere , Shounen , Death Game , Time Manipulation , Male Protagonist , Survival , Alternate Universe , Gods , Skeleton , Tragedy , Gore , Urban , Crime , Bisexual , Urban Fantasy , Heterosexual

PSYЯEN

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Adventure , Romance , Sci-Fi

"Save me!" Those were Sakurako Amamiya's last words to her friend Ageha Yoshina before she mysteriously went missing. Now Ageha's on a quest to find her. He's convinced that the mythical Psyren Secret Society has something to do with the recent rash of disappearances. And now he seems to be caught up as a player in their very deadly game...



Note: The chapter count includes six bonus chapters.

Tags: Shounen , Dystopian , Super Power , Heterosexual , Isekai , Death Game , Urban Fantasy , Post-Apocalyptic , Male Protagonist , Time Manipulation , Adoption , Twins , Dissociative Identities

Singwa Hamkke Level Up

Also known as Level Up with the Gods.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy , Supernatural

“Maybe Inner Gods can never defeat Outer Gods…” so thought Yu-Won Kim, a plucky, high-ranking warrior, after a bitter defeat. But Yu-Won is too tenacious to give up. His loss becomes the dawn of a new journey as a returnee. With renewed determination, Yu-Won starts back from where he began, smashing monster after monster and relearning his skills before taking on the Tower once again. But can he fight his way through the tutorials and level up once more, or will his conquest crumble before him?



Tags: Gods , Full Color , Male Protagonist , Mythology , Time Manipulation , Magic , Survival , Death Game , Age Regression , Post-Apocalyptic

Pick Me Up!

Also known as Pick Me Up.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Adventure , Fantasy

1-Star heroes are just fodder for learning a boss' attack patterns. That was Seojin Han's philosophy when playing the notoriously difficult game Pick Me Up. But after being transported into the game as one of those 1-star heroes, he's got no choice but to rise in rank and defeat the player controlling him and his party. Can a gacha game character hope to defeat a player akin to being his god?



Tags: Survival , Isekai , Death Game , Male Protagonist , Full Color , Video Games , Anti-Hero , Swordplay , Assassins , Magic , Goblin , Gore

BTOOOM!

Also known as Btooom!.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Ecchi , Psychological , Romance , Sci-Fi

Sakamoto Ryuuta is an unemployed 22-year-old who lives with his mother. In the real world, there may be nothing really special about him, but online, he's one of the world's top players of the combat game "BTOOOM"!

One day, he awakes in what appears to be a tropical island, though he has no memory of how or why he has come to be there. While wandering around, Ryuuta sees someone and calls out for help. The stranger responds by throwing a bomb at him! Now Ryuuta realizes both that his life is in danger, and that he has somehow been trapped in a real-life version of his favorite game! Will Ryuuta be able to survive long enough to figure out how and why he ended up here?



Tags: Battle Royale , Survival , Video Games , Seinen , Male Protagonist , Gore , Conspiracy , Death Game , Hikikomori , Age Gap , Tragedy , Female Protagonist , Nudity , Slavery , Suicide , Robots

Darwin's Game

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Mystery

An unknowing Sudou Kaname is invited to try out a new mysterious mobile app game called Darwin's Game, but later realizes that he's in for more than he's bargained for when he finds out that there's no way to quit the game.

Tags: Male Protagonist , Battle Royale , Death Game , Shounen , Super Power , Alternate Universe , Post-Apocalyptic , Survival , Time Skip , Gangs , Guns , Crime , Assassins , Gambling , Isekai , Aliens , Yandere , Time Manipulation , Gore , Body Horror