Good adult manga?

[danzibr]

I'm interested in some good adult manga. And by adult manga I do not mean manga with nudity. Take Terra Formars. That's a very adult manga (and anime now, I suppose), but has almost no nudity. Berserk is *very* adult with a bit of nudity, but the nudity is not a highlight by any means.

To be a bit more specific... the setting isn't too important. Sci-fi, present-day, straight up fantasy are all fine. It's just I've read a lot of shonen stuff in my day, and I'm looking to branch out to things with more mature happenings.

EDIT: Blade of the Immortal. That's another adult manga with no nudity.

Also, just for more info, I'm 27, have a wife and 2 young kids. Just kind of tired of seeing everything G and PG.

[pendell]

Have you checked out Lone Wolf and Cub ? It is quite adult manga and quite good. There ARE explicit sex scenes occasionally, but it's occasional as part of the story.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[VariSami]

I would say that Battle Angel Alita should fit the criteria, for sure. It explores quite deep themes and does not abhor showing brutality. If I remember correctly, there are also a few well-developed relationships. It would thus be my primary recommendation.

Also, some of the older shounen series might fit. By this, I mean Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Admittedly, they are not deep per se. In this regard, Alita and Berserk, for example, have a clear edge. However, they do showcase acts of brutality as well as emotions well beyond what one would expect from (most) concurrent shounen series. I am well aware that even shows like Naruto and One Piece are actually full of monstrous villains if analyzed enough but they lack in realism. For example, as a small spoiler, in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the first villain attempts to take over as the heir to a noble family and schemes to make the rightful heir look bad in comparison. This includes burning the latter's dog alive as well as sexually harassing his love interest.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Akira's a good choice, but being the classic that it is, you probably know it. Gantz is also fun, at least, for a while.

[thorgrim29]

The black lagoon manga is pretty good. It has a few more story arcs then the "fantastic) anime. Fullmetal Alchemist is I guess a teen story, but it's very well done and uses almost none of the cliches of the genre

[Metahuman1]

I've heard wonderful things about Spice and Wolf if you've not caught that yet. It's very slice of life and intellectually driven, and very, very NOT sword and sorcery or action oriented in spite of a medieval fantasy setting.

[Terraoblivion]

Terra Formars is adult? I thought it was just very violent and edgy.

Also, as excellent as Spice and Wolf is the manga is considered very easily the worst version of it, so I'm not sure that's a particularly good recommendation either. Although, it is good enough as an anime and light novels that even the worst version can be really good.

Anyway, I'm going to go in a completely different direction. A Lollipop or a Bullet is excellent and very much adult. Not a lot of violence shown, nor any sex or nudity. It is very dark, but that's not what makes it adult. What makes it adult is that it takes the situation seriously and doesn't revel in the darkness, also that it is quite staggeringly realistic in the specific form of darkness. Mostly though, it's just really good, but like literally everything else ever made teens can read it too. It's about a poor girl with a dead father and a hikkikimori older brother living in a rural backwater in Japan and who just wants to graduate so she can go join the JSDF to get away from it all when a clearly deeply traumatized girl transfers into her class. And really, it's only two volumes long so explaining more would spoil everything and that's generally frowned upon. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, it's a much more emotionally harrowing read than conventional dark and edgy literature.

Another good manga I'd say is rather adult is Solanin. It's about trying to find your bearings as a recent college graduate and sorting out what to do with your life as an adult. While not exactly cheerful, it's not terribly dark, instead focusing on a sense of aimlessness and uncertainty that I imagine everybody who has reached their twenties can relate to. It has a big, fat omnibus volume release.

Amano Shuninta's work is also some of the more adult romance I've read. Not because it's extremely sexy or racy, it's just usually about adults and have the complications that a more mature understanding of romance entails, even in the ones the ones that are pure comedy. Also, she manages to occasionally write jokes about sex that don't seem like the kind of thing 12-year olds snicker at.

[Tengu_temp]

I suggest Pluto - written by Naoki Urasawa, who's a very good choice if you're looking for adult manga in general, it's a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" Astro Boy story, but from another character's point of view. It's a great, science-fiction detective story, and while knowledge of Osamu Tezuka's works helps, it's not at all necessary to enjoy it.

[LibraryOgre]

Have you checked out Lone Wolf and Cub ? It is quite adult manga and quite good. There ARE explicit sex scenes occasionally, but it's occasional as part of the story.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

I'd add Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin to those.

[Math_Mage]

Hm. Monster--though the anime might be better, I wouldn't know. Vinland Saga. Holyland. I'm having some trouble identifying what counts as 'adult'.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I suggest Pluto - written by Naoki Urasawa, who's a very good choice if you're looking for adult manga in general, it's a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" Astro Boy story, but from another character's point of view. It's a great, science-fiction detective story, and while knowledge of Osamu Tezuka's works helps, it's not at all necessary to enjoy it.

I keep being reminded that I need to look into this one.

I'm familiar with Urasawa through the anime adaptation of his manga Monster, which is an intense crime suspense story about a brain surgeon who's hunting a serial killer. I've picked up some of the manga, and so far, the anime is proving to be an excellent adaptation.

Makoto Yukimura's Vinland Saga veers a little bit into the shounen side in parts (a touch of over-the-top action in an otherwise realistic setting), but is a gritty, drama-strong story about a viking boy's vendetta in the name of his slain father. Of course, I wouldn't say that it's a shounen series by any stretch, especially as the story develops... (it's currently releasing hardcover compilations in English, and is roughly halfway released via that format) It's definitely not all about the fights--there's some neat interviews in the American hardcover release where he talks about how it contains strong commentaries on violence--that definitely shines through in the story. Violence and death and the horror of it all, very strong themes.

He also made the excellent manga Planetes, which is about space exploration in the near future. Tons of powerful character change and relationship development. Highly recommended, although I have to finish it...the last two volumes are hard to get ahold of.

EDIT: Hey, whaddya know! Double ninja!

[Terraoblivion]

Of course, I wouldn't say that it's a shounen series by any stretch, especially as the story develops...

It's quite an interesting case. It started out running in a shounen magazine, then switched to a seinen one. Of course, that was after seven months, but still.

Not that manga demographics aren't weird as hell. Especially shounen. Pretty much anything can be filed as shounen. There exists at least one "shounen" magazine that internal documents from the editorial staff says primarily targets women in their twenties and some targeting preteen kids normally covered by kodomo manga and several aimed at men in their twenties. All filed as shounen. It all comes down to what some corporate executives thought would sell best, rather than any real relationship with either the audience or the editorial line and since shounen is massively more popular, a lot of stuff gets labeled as it.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Apocalypse Meow (which is the American name, if you want the original name look it up - it's got an expletive) is a manga about Vietnam. Aside from the fact that everyone is an anthropomorphic animal based on nationality, I hear it's a pretty realistic story about the war.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Apocalypse Meow (which is the American name, if you want the original name look it up - it's got an expletive) is a manga about Vietnam. Aside from the fact that everyone is an anthropomorphic animal based on nationality, I hear it's a pretty realistic story about the war.

So kind of like Maus in a way?

[Forrestfire]

May not be "adult" enough, but I will always suggest The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. It's sorta like a mix between a shounen and a character study, very well-written, with a great plot, good action, and wonderful characters.

Another one that tows the line between more mature stuff and teen stuff is one I found and archive binged recently called Holyland, a very grounded martial arts manga with some nicely realistic takes on bullying, depression, and the ramifications of fights between high schoolers.

[Moak]

Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura is a very good manga that isn't very known, but is magnific (IMHO).

A well developed story that goes about politics and yakuza through the eyes of two friends, that want to change Japan.

Also, F by Noboru Rokuda. Superficially is the story of a country boy who want to became a F1 pilot. But... is much more. Politics, ethical and emotive development... it start "simple" and grow up more and more. In the spotlight, the history about car and Gunma (the protagonist)... in the background, movement about the difficulties of being a no-one, good developed consequences about trauma.

About a more "simple" and direct series (but I think is more shonen?) there is Spriggan, and no, AVOID the strange movie. I speak of the manga. It's self contained, speak about "mysterious artifact" and their management, and power struggle between nation with the ARCAM (the society where the protagonist works) who tries to limitate the possibile disasters from their misuse.

[Brother Oni]

Sanctuary by Sho Fumimura is a very good manga that isn't very known, but is magnific (IMHO).

A well developed story that goes about politics and yakuza through the eyes of two friends, that want to change Japan.

While I agree it's very good, it fails the gratuitous nudity test by quite a bit and since it's drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami, this is in pretty much photorealistic detail.
Other than that, it fits the OP's criteria pretty much perfectly.

Mai the Psychic Girl: a bit more action/adventure orientated, but otherwise is fairly mature.

Ghost in the Shell, which follows the cases of Public Security Section 9, a government counter-terrorist unit set in a near future cyberpunk world.

Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind: a cautionary tale about war and ecology set in a post apocalyptic world.

Maison Ikkoku: not sure whether this one applies as it's quite slapstick comedy, but does explore some fairly mature themes (eventually - it's a long manga) about a recently widowed woman and her tenant student who's fallen in love with her.

[deuterio12]

I would suggest Liar Game for something where the main characters not are young students or action people.


Basically there's this shady organization that gets people into big debts and then makes them compete against each other in large-scale games that rely on the ability to lie to your opponents, and that may seem simple at first glance, but can actually become quite complex.

It's extremely well written and doesn't rely on mystic powers/sci-fi/kung-fu to advance the plot, simply mental challenges that could happen in real life. It's also almot reaching conclusion of the series.

[Math_Mage]

I would suggest Liar Game for something where the main characters not are young students or action people.


Basically there's this shady organization that gets people into big debts and then makes them compete against each other in large-scale games that rely on the ability to lie to your opponents, and that may seem simple at first glance, but can actually become quite complex.

It's extremely well written and doesn't rely on mystic powers/sci-fi/kung-fu to advance the plot, simply mental challenges that could happen in real life. It's also almot reaching conclusion of the series.

Oh, yeah, seconded. I was going to recommend that, but held off due to some ridiculous concern that it wasn't adult enough. Just...keep in mind that it's the most plot-driven manga out there, and that means less character depth. Can't play chess if every piece is on a transformative character arc...though you might be surprised with a promotion here and there.

Vagabond and Feng Shen Ji are a couple more, by the by.

[Broken Crown]

Seconding Maison Ikkoku. Haven't read the manga, but the anime is one of my all-time favourites. No supernatural or sic-fi elements, relatively few wacky hijinks – just a really good story about the growth of the characters and of their relationship.

For something a little more action-packed, consider Gunsmith Cats. It's about bounty hunters versus the Chicago underworld. Lots of guns and cars, it's very Hollywood Action Movie in style. Some scenes are rather squicky, though, and the ending is a serious downer.

[Tengu_temp]

May not be "adult" enough, but I will always suggest The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. It's sorta like a mix between a shounen and a character study, very well-written, with a great plot, good action, and wonderful characters.

I consider L&BH to be a shonen manga for a seinen audience, if that makes any sense. And yeah, it's wonderful. Probably the best manga I've ever read, in fact.

[Moak]

While I agree it's very good, it fails the gratuitous nudity test by quite a bit and since it's drawn by Ryoichi Ikegami, this is in pretty much photorealistic detail.
Other than that, it fits the OP's criteria pretty much perfectly.

Really? I don't remember it, but I believe in you... and it speak volumes about the story, I think. The story captivated me so much that I red all the volums overnight.

And love all your other suggestion

[Yora]

Monster should have been the very first reply to this thread. Everyone told me it was amazing and you want to read the whole thing in one go. Then I read it and it was just that good that I read it in one night and the next morning. And pretty much everyone else who read it because of the high praise seems to love it, too.
Maybe there are some people who don't love it, but the chance to not enjoying it seems too low not to try it.
One thing I personally love about it is that it's the most realistic depiction of early 90's Germany I've ever seen in a work from another country. (Except for a 10 year old boy named Dieter. I've never heard of a single kid named Dieter in my generation. )

Vinland Saga also is very good. Eventually I found it a bit exhausting, but I think that was still 150 or so chapters in. Something to at least lookat to see if you want to continue with the whole thing.

I am also on of the people who think Elfen Lied is really good. I can understand if people don't like it, but I think the extreme violence and brutality is really there to support a meaningful story. It's meant to be unpleasant, not as immature fun or being provocationaly offensive. Just like Monster, it's tough stuff and certainly not for everyone, but I think it's a quite good story about madness and cruelty. (Though I recommend staying awy from the anime, it doesn't seem to have gotten the message and is more like a romance story with fountains of blood.)

Further, I am a big fan of Ghost in the Shell. The anime are amazing and in many ways quite different and even of a higher quality. But I still recommend reading the original material, at best even before watching any of the anime.
Appleseed seems to be set in the same world a few generations later. It's more action and less thinking, but also quite good.

[Brother Oni]

Really? I don't remember it, but I believe in you... and it speak volumes about the story, I think. The story captivated me so much that I red all the volums overnight.

There's that scene with Mr Tokai... actually most scenes with him really.

Asami where he ends up in a threesome with a prostitute on the orders of his boss with his boss. It's as sordid as it sounds, but it serves an important plot element of emphasising how far the second protagonist is willing to go to achieve his aims, and the general corruption of the 'old guard' of politicans he's attempting to replace.

Appleseed seems to be set in the same world a few generations later. It's more action and less thinking, but also quite good.

Appleseed is a different setting to GitS - I didn't mention it as GitS explores the same sort of questions, only in much better detail.


Other suggestions:

Kerberos Panzer Cop is another political thriller featuring an alternate history post WW2 Japan. The first act was loosely adapted into the Jin Roh anime.

Thirding Lone Wolf and Cub.

[Man on Fire]

People brought up Monster and Pluto, then I'll add another Urasawa masterpiece - 20th Century Boys. It's fantastic series that stars as a criminal thriller about guy who stumbles upon dangerous cult that seems to be using ideas he and his friends developed as kids for nefarious purporses. And then it goes into pretty unexpected direction
It's also refreshing how, in a way, villains are using what is mostly greatest strength of the heroes - power of friendship. Only taken to a very creepy conclusion.

Another author worth looking into is Mohiro Kitoh with two titles that both start like typical shonen stories of their genre, and then go into utterly horrifing, depressing direction.
One is Narutaru a mons series about 12-years old girl who finds a wierd starfish-like creature and takes it home. She thinks it's begining of fun adventure. Things go so utterly, horribly wrong on so many levels it's impossible to imagine.
Another is Bokurano, super robot manga about group of kids who stumble upon some guy who offers them to participate in a game. Later it turns out they singed to pilot giant robot. One after another they will pilot it in battle with other machine to protect the Earth

Spoiler: there is a catch

Show

If you win your battle, you die. Series is more or less about how each of the children deals with the fact they are soon going to die.

Kitoh doesn't shy away from nudity, even of clearly underage characters, but it's not done for fanservice, but more to creep you out. Also, he has thing thing that even if character is naked, he draws them without genitalia.

Works of Juni Ito - horror author, several smaller horro anthologies, some short series - Uzumaki, Hellstar Remina and Tomie might be most notable. People also recommend Gyo but personally I think it's horrible.

As somebody said, older shonen series might work. Both Fist of the North Star and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are soild choices, but let me add another book to it. Title that pretty much is shonen only because there was no seinen genre when it was coming out. Go Nagai's Devilman. It's brutal, dark story that can be horribly depressing at times. Doesn't shy away from nudity through and can be quite grotesque, but once it gets it's gear going, it goes all the way. If you like it you might also try the spinoff - AMON: the Darkside of Devilman and Darkside of Devilman: Strange Days.

Blue Heaven is a three-volume long thriller about serial killer getting let loose onexclusive transatlantic cruise ship and a racist psychopath who tries to use the situation to get Asians and white people on the ship to kill each other. Short, but brutal and to the point.

Works of Jirou Taniguchi are worth mentioning. Ikar, a collaboration between him and European comics legend Moebius, is about mysterious bo who can fly, very melancholic science-fiction. Samurai Legend is political drama set in samurai times. Distant Neighbourhood about middle-aged businessman who wakes up in body of his child self at the time of his childhood and tries tu use this trip in time to stop his father from living the family. the Quest for the Missing Girl is about member of mountain rescue team who goes to Tokyo when daughter of his dead friends dissapears and stumbles upon underage prostitution ring. The Ice Wanderer and Other Stories is a collection of short stories.

Zetman is a manga take on superhero, keept in very dark sauce. It's about two boys - Jin, who has mysterious, monstrous power and Kouga, who uses his family money to become hero of justice he always dreamed to be- and their battle with monstrous creatures called Players. While not shying away from nudity, it is pretty good at analysing the failings of typical superhero idealism while, at the same time not being preachy about it. Also, it has fantastic art.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Oh! I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one, given it's popularity in the general manga thread a year or two back, but Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is pretty damn amazing. Lots of deconstructionist things going on. (The hero is a terrible misanthrope and when he learns he has to save the world, he wants nothing to do with it; he purposely tries to walks in on the heroine; the heroine, the one who gives him and other their powers, just wants to destroy the world herself; etc.) It's got romance, comedy, and action, and I don't know why anyone really wouldn't like it.

[Terraoblivion]

Oh! I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one, given it's popularity in the general manga thread a year or two back, but Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is pretty damn amazing.

Two people have already.

[Dragonus45]

I suggest Pluto - written by Naoki Urasawa, who's a very good choice if you're looking for adult manga in general, it's a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" Astro Boy story, but from another character's point of view. It's a great, science-fiction detective story, and while knowledge of Osamu Tezuka's works helps, it's not at all necessary to enjoy it.

Can I toss is another recommendation from the same Mangaka 20th Century Boys. Its a timeless classic.

[Razade]

A lot of the ones mentioned are fairly popular ones but there's a real good swath out there no one's touched on.

Rainbow: Follows the lives of Post WW2 Prisoners from Incarceration to release and beyond. Real character driven and pretty heart warming with plenty of drama to keep it all going.

Oyasumi Punpun: This one is a trip, and you'll have to come to your own conclusions on what it's about but it's worth the read.

Shamo: Another story about a prisoner and his life outside of the system. Heavily sports focused as things get on, mostly karate and boxing but there's more than enough storyline to make it interesting.

Parasyte: I'm not sure if you'd call this "Adult" but it's pretty good for a "Horror" Manga.

Yongbi: A little Shounen-y but really really good. Story is engaging, characters are well written and overall the whole thing holds out well. Details a "historical" world in Korea about a wandering swordsman. Lots of humor too which admittedly can be a little juvenile some might say, had me cracking up though.

[deuterio12]

Seeing some of the suggestions around here, I'm gonna recommend "Blame!" as well.

It's kinda of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, except instead of a destroyed wasteland, there's this gigantic high-tech city that seems to never end, even if you try to go up or down, filled with robots with different degrees of sentience, cyborgs, mutant experiments, cyborg mutant experiments, and stranger stuff.

The main character is searching for Net Terminal Genes, a (possibly) extinct genetic marker that allows humans to access the "Netsphere", a sort of computerized control network for said high-tech city. Since without those genes, not only you're unable to acess the city's services without hacking, the city will also deploy killer bots to hunt you down if you do anything more advanced than just trying to hide and survive. There's indeed several isolated communities hidden among the colossal buildings that the main character meets in his journey, each having their own techno-life style.

I would say the manga's main theme are "what has science done?", and "Technology can be pretty nice and stuff, but take care not to become completely obsessed with it".

Another is Bokurano, super robot manga about group of kids who stumble upon some guy who offers them to participate in a game. Later it turns out they singed to pilot giant robot. One after another they will pilot it in battle with other machine to protect the Earth

Also known as "Evangelion: now with 10x more depression!"