Here at Recommend Me Anime, we don’t do manga series in our recommendations, just anime. However, that doesn’t mean that anime fans don’t also like to lie in bed and read a few good chapters of manga every now and then.
And besides, where do many good anime series come from in the first place – The pages of manga.
If you want to read some good psychological manga, and want to be someone who can potentially say you enjoyed a good series before it was all cool and animated, then check out these great psychological manga recommendations that don’t have anime adaptations – yet.
Best Psychological Manga With No Anime
Goodnight Punpun
This is the tale of Onodera Punpun, a young Japanese boy that is growing up. However, while it shows him in four stages of his life, this is no happy tale.
It rips the mask off your happy slice of life fairy tale adolescence.
20th Century Boys
Kenji Endo works at a convenience store, but when he discovers a childhood friend of his committed suicide, it prompts him to look further into it.
He discovers that his dead friend was associated with a cult leader called Friend. Not only this, but he seems to be targeting Kenji as well as many of his friends from the past.
He now must figure out how his past is connected to this cult and what they want.
Liar Game
Nao was named for her honesty, and she has lived up to it. However, her foolish honesty makes her a poor participant for the Liar Game, a game where you deceive others to win big or lose big.
Yet, that doesn’t stop a box full of cash and a participation card from arriving at her door. After promptly being swindled of this money, she seeks the help of a genius swindler that was just released from jail.
Yomawari Sensei
This is the story of Mizutani Osamu, a high school teacher that spends his nights on patrol in Yokohama City.
He recounts his twelve years spent watching out for the youth that wander the streets at night to escape from their various issues.
The Embalmer
Shinjuurou Mamiya works as an embalmer in Japan, a profession that comes with a large amount of stigma.
Outcasted by his community, Mamiya has gained a tremendous amount of insight into death and what it truly means to live.
A Trail of Blood
Seiichi Osabe considers himself a normal middle school boy. He has friends, a crush on a girl, and parents who love him. However, his overprotective mother causes others to call him a mama’s boy.
While he doesn’t think her behavior is unusual, a certain incident opens his eyes to the true dangers of her affection.
As he tries to break free from her grasp, he comes to find out that his life is not as normal as he thought.
MPD Psycho
Kazuhiko Amamiya is a detective, but he also has multiple personality disorder.
Will his many variant personalities help him solve some of the most brutal and twisted cases that come his way or is there something more complex going on?
Life
Struggling with studying for her high school entrance exam, Ayumu asks for help from her friend. Unfortunately, their friendship breaks down when she actually gets a better score than her friend.
The loss of the friendship is so painful, she decides to get a fresh start at a new high school, but will her new friends give her what she needs or cause her to spiral deeper?
Eden: It’s an Endless World
After a pandemic kills 15 percent of the world population and cripples many, the secret organization Propater takes over control of the world government.
Propater tries to capture a boy and girl immune to the virus and raised in an old virology research center, but they escape. 20 years later, the boy, now the largest drug lord in South America, begins his fight back against the tyrannous Propater.
Bloody Monday
Fujimaru Takagi lives a rather unassuming life, but actually is a hacker responsible for exposing high profile, corrupt individuals.
However, with a virus that kills its victims in three hours looming on the horizon, he is pulled into the Public Security Intelligence Agency by his father to help stop this virus from being let loose with his skills.
The Climber
Transferring to a new school, Mori is solitary by nature. In an attempt at bullying, his classmates convince him to scale the school building, which he does.
After an exhilaration climb, he has awakened a new passion in life – the sport of rock climbing.
Kasane
Before her mother died, Kasane was given a tube of lipstick and told if times ever got hard, she should wear it and kiss whatever she desires. However, is this lipstick a blessing or a curse?
Freesia
In an alternate version of Japan, a law has been passed that legalizes retaliatory killings.
This means if someone killed your loved one, you can legally kill or hire someone to kill them. This is the story of one such contract killer and the jobs he takes.
Detonation Islands
After moving to a new school, Kazei Takeshi is invited by a motorcycle enthusiast he met to hang out with his gang. Eventually joining this motorcycle gang, called the Zeros, Takeshi comes to love motorcycles himself.
However, joining this gang means more than just enjoying the open road. He finds that he has to deal with increasingly violent issues to defend their pride.
Homunculus
Susumu Nakoshi is a middle-aged man that likes to spend his free-time in a park full of homeless people. One day, he is approached by an eccentric man that is looking for test subjects.
This man is practicing trepanation, a procedure in which a hole is drilled into the skull, and claims that Nakoshi would be the perfect fit.
Initially refusing, he decides to take the man up on the offer after his car is towed in return for 700,000 yen in payment.
While the procedure goes well, it initially has no further results. However, eventually Nakoshi begins to have his perception distorted to the point where he sees a homunculus in every person he meets.
More Manga Recommendations
There are literally thousands of more psychological manga series out there that haven’t been animated yet. Do you have any more manga recommendations? Let psychological manga fans know in the comments section below.
