Nicole. Pet Shop of Horrors Collector’s Edition volume 1 on a green background.
Happy April Fool’s Day!
It’s April Fool’s, and as I do every year, I’ll be discussing some manga series I enjoyed recently that have very little to no focus on romance. I enjoy doing this once-a-year feature, as there are many mangas out there that are fantastic even when they don’t focus solely on romance. That being said, I can’t promise that these series are 100% romance-free, of course.
This year, I decided to recommend some horror mangas. These are all widely different stories—each featuring a unique style, atmosphere, story, and overall feel. I mostly just tried to find horror manga that I personally found enticing, which seems to mostly be things that are on the more unsettling, psychological, and mildly disturbing side. I don’t really enjoy shock-factor horror or series with too much gore.
Before I jump into this year’s recommendations, I want to quickly give a two honorable mentions to two horror series that I previously recommended:
Firstly we have Ghost Hunt, which I reviewed in my April Fool’s post of 2024. I won’t give a full review here because of that, but I do want to say this supernatural horror series is one of the first ghost-themed mangas I ever read and it was quite a memorable one. There’s no other manga like it—highly recommended.
Next I want to mention Phantom Tales of the Night from my April Fool’s post of 2025. This dark fantasy horror series is beautifully illustrated and tells a variety of different creepy, disturbing stories—often featuring body horror. It’s such an engaging read!
Now then, let’s jump into this year’s new horror manga recommendations!
1. The Summer Hikaru Died
Author: Mokumokuren
The Summer Hikaru Died Yen Press page
The Summer Hikaru Died is an excellent coming-of-age story and supernatural horror manga that follows a teenage boy named Yoshiki Tsujinaka, who has been suspicious of his friend, Hikaru Indo. This suspicion is actually what starts the entire series—with Yoshiki asking Hikaru who he actually is.
It turns out, some sort of supernatural creature with a consciousness has taken over Hikaru’s body, and now lives each day as a strange version of Hikaru. Nobody else seems to have noticed this, and now Yoshiki agonizes each day over what to do and what to think of the situation.
Many people mistakenly see this series as a BL, but from what I can tell, the manga is more focused on the supernatural elements and horror than any actual romance, outside of some tension. There is, however, some queer representation in this series, and this is part of what makes this manga series a coming-of-age story in many aspects.
The supernatural horrors of this series are not overshadowed by any romantic tension you may find within the story. This series has some bizarre, disturbing imagery and concepts that are strange, creepy, confusing, and so, so intriguing. I’ve really enjoyed the series so far, as it has such a fresh premise and engaging plot that is shrouded in mystery and suspense.
This series is already pretty popular and has a really great anime adaptation, but if you still haven’t tried it out for yourself, you are really missing out!
2. Pet Shop of Horrors
Author: Matsuri Akino
Pet Shop of Horrors Seven Seas Entertainment page
Recently I read the first volume of Pet Shop of Horrors. This is a horror series that originally started back in 1994 in Japan and 2003 in America. As a horror manga newbie, I had never even heard of it, but it has recently gotten a “collector’s edition” reprint through Seven Seas Entertainment.
I had seen some discussion about it online, so I picked up the first volume when I spotted it in the bookstore! The cover is really weird and colorful, so it was an exciting purchase.
The series follows a unique character called “Count D,” who runs a mysterious pet shop in Chinatown, Los Angeles. Many wealthy customers enter the shop looking for something unique and exotic, which Count D always seems to deliver.
Many of his strange “pets” take on humanoid appearances, and they always involve three rules in their adoption contract. If the new owner breaks any of the rules, the pet shop holds no liability for anything that happens as a result.
Each chapter seems to follow individual stories for each new customer / pet owner, and their experience with their new unique “pet.” As you may have guessed, many come to experience the strange consequences of not following the contract’s rules.
These seemingly unrelated short stories are all connected properly throughout the series thanks to the introduction of Leon Orcot, a local cop who is suspicious of the pet shop. He visits often to try and get dirt on Count D, and serves as a bit of a comedic character. I didn’t expect this series to have humor, but towards the later end of volume one I was really enjoying the jokes.
I can only describe Pet Shop of Horrors as a very bizarre yet enjoyable reading experience. It captures your attention with an absolutely stunning art style and the creation of characters that seem to have been pulled directly from the mangaka’s colorful imagination. If you like all things weird and mysterious, you should check this series out.
As for “horror” elements, Pet Shop of Horrors doesn’t really feel “scary” per se, but perhaps you could consider the combination of strange creatures and gruesome death of many characters disturbing enough.
Although you can’t say this series is at all realistic with the magical, fairytale-like creatures, there’s still something very human about the darkness found lurking in each chapter. There’s no true villain in this story, and the characters typically meet their end due to their own emotions and desires.
Overall, I found the series really intriguing and look forward to reading more of it!
3. Mermaid Saga Collector’s Edition
Author: Rumiko Takahashi
This horror manga series is a collection of connected short stories about a young man named Yuta, who is immortal. He gained his immortality by eating the flesh of a mermaid and therefore has lived for hundreds of years, traveling and meeting many different people.
This series is labeled as a horror, which is accurate given the disturbing plots of these short stories. Many of them are made up of very gruesome, bloody fights caused by human greed—mixed with fairytale-like creatures and legends of immortality.
I will say, Yuta is quite popular with the ladies, but I wouldn’t necessarily call this series a romance. Yuta has his own individual goal, and romance isn’t going to get in the way of that.
These stories vary in setting, as Yuta lives for a pretty long time and doesn’t stay in one place. I particularly liked the latter half of the series, where the setting becomes more modern (at least in terms of when the manga was released) and starts to take on a bit more of a mysterious vibe. Overall though it’s a great series with some interesting stories that all follow a connected theme.
I do also want to mention that this is another one of Takahashi’s works where nudity or partial nudity (particularly for women) is pretty common, in case that sort of thing really bothers you.
4. The Liminal Zone
Author: Junji Ito
The Liminal Zone Viz Media page
Since I’ve become more and more interested in horror manga as of late, and decided I should try some series by the “master of horror manga” Junji Ito! I had seen some of his art before and even heard about the anime adaption of his works, but never really took the time to try any of it for myself.
The Liminal Zone was the first series I decided to jump into, simply on a whim. This manga is a collection of short stories with seemingly no connection. I have to say, Junji Ito is praised for his art for good reason. It’s detailed, interesting, and downright disturbing. The stories themselves are delightfully strange and super weird.
However, I unexpectedly found some aspects of the short stories in The Liminal Zone hilarious. (Spoilers here): Like the poor husband in the first story, “Weeping Woman Way,” who was bewildered by the group of women crying hysterically. Or in “Madonna,” when Maria walks past a strange girl outside, just licking a rock statue, haha.
Anyway, the all of the stories were pretty interesting and well illustrated, but in terms of actual horror, I think “Madonna” was particularly disturbing. “The Demon King of Dust” was also pretty gross and creative, haha. I draw the line when it comes to topics like in “The Shells of Manjunuma,” though… it’s a bit too much for me.
I also read Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories, but I have to say I think I enjoyed The Liminal Zone more. The concepts of “Used Record” and “The Long Dream” were pretty interesting to me, though. Regardless, my impression so far is that Junji Ito’s works are insanely weird, visually disturbing, and very unique in terms of horror. I’m looking forward to reading more of his works!
5. 6000 (The Deep Sea of Madness)
Author: Nokuto Koike
I left this particular recommendation for last because unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a disappointment, but I still think the manga differentiates itself well in terms of horror manga—and there were still a lot of aspects I really liked about it… so let’s talk about it!
When I saw this manga series recommended online, I knew I’d be interested in it as someone who is both terrified of and enthralled by the deep sea. Unfortunately, there is no official English translation for this series.
The story follows a group of scientists and engineers as they live and work in an underwater facility 6000 meters below the surface of the sea. This special facility had been made to withstand extreme pressures, but all operations within the facility had been ceased for three years, as some sort of accident had occurred there previously.
However, a new company now owns the facility, and this company decided to restart the facility’s operations. The manga starts by introducing a man named Kengo Kadokura, who is getting ready to start his new assignment at this unique facility (and freaking out a bit over it). He and a fresh group of other workers descend to their jobs to get the facility running once again.
As you would expect, things start going wrong rather quickly. Not only do the workers bicker and struggle to work together due to their own personal biases about nationality and status (the white-collar individuals vs the blue-collar individuals), but they also can’t seem to ignore the mystery and uncertainty surrounding the accident that happened there three years ago—which nobody seems to have the answers for.
Emotions begin to run high as machinery and technology continuously malfunction. Everything starts going awry, even to the point where people start hallucinating and acting wild. The horrors of the deep sea don’t take long to show themselves!
This interesting series portrays horror in a unique way by combining themes of the dark and unsettling deep ocean with people going mad over their small, claustrophobic space and fear of the unknown. The unclearness of the “accident” that happened years ago keeps the workers distrustful of the new management, and before long some strange and horrible things begin to happen inside the facility.
While I don’t want to spoil too much of what happens in this series, you can expect to see some gruesome art of blood, corpses, and other disturbing imagery. I think the manga did a superb job in these aspects; however, what I enjoyed the most about this series is the high-tension atmosphere that never allows you or the characters within to relax.
I’m big on ghost stories and things of that nature, and this story delightfully utilizes that supernatural feel alongside other horror elements. The mix of haunting hallucinations, gore, paranoia, and a setting full of phobias really brings a unique feel to this horror manga series.
The art style is also very suitable to the tone and feel of this entire series. Not only is it very detailed at times, but the mangaka also utilizes dark tones very well. It really supports the unnerving feelings found in the plot, especially if you have a fear of the ocean, dark spaces, or tight spaces.
Unfortunately, I think this short series is at its best in the beginning, as once we start to learn about the cause of the conflict and horrors within the facility, it was a bit underwhelming and also a bit random, in my opinion. (Major spoilers): It has to do with religious ceremonies, particularly inspired by Aztecan gods and the like, which I wasn’t really expecting at all and felt wasn’t really fitting for the story.
On top of the underwhelming climatic reveal, I also felt the character building was poor, although luckily that didn’t matter too much for this series. I do think the horror and story could’ve been more impactful had there been more focus on the characters individually, but with how short this series is, I don’t think those elements would’ve had much time to shine.
I originally had high hopes for this aspect of the manga at the beginning (especially for the female characters, who seemed cool and capable), but the focus sort of shifts more on panic and conflict rather than the characters themselves. I was especially disappointed by the ending for the female characters.. (more spoilers here) particularly one character who is reduced to a random partially nude panel after death. Boooo!
However, despite the unexpected cause of the main conflict and slightly rushed ending, I still enjoyed this manga. The overall creepy, claustrophobic vibe and skillful artistry really hold this manga together, and so I’d still recommend it overall if you’re okay with a less-than-perfect ending. It’s not too long of a read, either!
Final Thoughts
I hope you have enjoyed this horror manga recommendation list! I am still pretty new to horror manga, so I don’t really know what is considered mainstream or popular. These are just some random horror series that I have enjoyed within the last year, and wanted to talk about! If you’re a newbie like me, I hope you were able to find some new series to read.
Although my site usually focuses on romance (with an exception for April Fool’s day) I do try to explore a range of genres in those romance manga recommendations! If you’re okay with some spooky romance reads that may not necessarily be horror, try out Even If You Slit My Mouth or The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions.
And of course, if you need a nice wholesome reset after reading any of these horror mangas, feel free to cleanse your soul with some of the more fluffy romance mangas I have recommended on my site! (♡°▽°♡)
