Summary
- Embrace the dark side of romance in these manga with taboo themes like obsession, abuse, and unrequited love.
- Explore the twisted world of 'yandere' characters and violent love stories that don't always have happy endings.
- Dive into the complex relationships and mature themes of these manga, from body swapping to childhood abuse and trauma.
For every piece of fiction that delves into the joys and positive emotions love can bring, there's a series that explores the dark side of romance. Love can inspire people to be kind, selfless, and noble, but it can also lead to unhealthy behaviors like stalking, manipulation, and self-destruction. Unsurprisingly, the 'yandere' is an almost omnipresent character in these stories.
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Unlike traditional romance manga, dark romances typically don't feature happy endings for the main couple, and there's a ton of misery involved for both parties. Other stories may have a more optimistic outlook, featuring a couple who struggle to be together in a harsh and unforgiving universe.
7 Future Diary
Murderous, Yandere Love Interest and Tons of Gore
- Release Date: January 2006
- Creator: Sakae Esuno
- No. Of Volumes: 12
Future Diary tells the story of Yukiteru Amano, a lonely, insecure high-schooler, and Yuno Gasai, a classmate who's obsessively in love with him. They both get embroiled in a 'survival game' by the God of Space and Time, Deus Ex, who has pitted 12 random people against each other in a battle royale to determine his successor.
Future Diary is largely responsible for popularizing the 'yandere' character type with Yuno Gasai. Yuno is willing to kill anyone who she believes stands in her and Yukiteru's way. Along with exploring her twisted version of love, the series features characters with extremely dark backstories and a ton of violence and nudity.
6 Black Bird
Bloody, Supernatural Romance
- Release Date: July 2006
- Creator: Kanoko Sakurakoji
- No. Of Volumes: 18
Black Bird follows Misao Harada, a teenage girl who can see supernatural creatures known as 'Ayakashi'. She finds out she's the 'Senka Maiden', a human with special blood, which has made her a target for the ayakashi like Kyo Usui, head of the Tengu clan and Misao's childhood friend. Kyo wants to claim Misao as his bride since her blood is key to his clan's power.
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Misao gets caught in the net of ayakashi politics and her complicated feelings for the possessive Kyo, with her status as the Senka Maiden further putting her life in turmoil. Black Bird has the feel of a vampiric romance, with gorgeous artwork illustrating the dark world of the ayakashi.
5 Mars
Bullying, Child Abuse, and Self-Harm
- Release Date: February 1996
- Creator: Fuyumi Soryo
- No. Of Volumes: 15
Critically acclaimed for how it handles various controversial issues, Mars is about the relationship between a quiet artist named Kira Aso and a rebellious motorcycle racer named Rei Kashino. The two fall in love after Kira requests Rei to model for her and find solace in each other through their troubled pasts.
Mars explores several dark and mature topics, including suicide, sexual assault, bullying, and murder. The manga has been adapted into a live-action Taiwanese drama, a Japanese drama, and a movie.
4 Inside Mari
Body Swap Plot with Psychological Thriller Elements
- Release Date: March 2012
- Creator: Shuzo Oshimi
- No. Of Volumes: 9
Inside Mari is just one of many dark explorations into the human psyche created by Shuzo Oshimi. It follows a lonely gamer named Isao Komori who wakes up in the body of his crush, Mari Yoshizaki, a high-school student. Not knowing how this happened or where the real Mari is, he decides to live as her.
Isao, as Mari, learns to navigate Mari's relationships, secrets, inner thoughts and struggles as a woman. Inside Mari has a more realistic take on the body-switching trope, with a shocking ending to top it all off.
3 Bitter Virgin
Childhood Abuse and Trauma
- Release Date: February 2005
- Creator: Kei Kusunoki
- No. Of Volumes: 4
Bitter Virgin is an intense seinen series that's a lot more 'mature' than what its artwork would suggest. High-schooler Daisuke Suwa is a womanizer who's put off by only one girl - the 'sweet virgin' Hinako, who seems to have a distaste for men. In a church, one day, Hinako confesses to having faced years of abuse by her stepfather to Daisuke, mistaking him for a priest.
Daisuke begins seeing Hinako in a different light after this event and begins to empathize with and develop feelings for the troubled girl. The two eventually grow closer as the story progresses.
2 Scum's Wish
Unrequited Love and Unhealthy Relationships
- Release Date: September 2012
- Creator: Mengo Yokoyari
- No. Of Volumes: 8
Scum's Wish follows Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya, two high schoolers who enter into a loveless, physical relationship to deal with their unrequited crushes. Hanabi is in love with her older childhood friend and Mugi is in love with his teacher.
The two agree to use each other to satiate their physical desires while keeping their emotions out. 'Unrequited love' is a common theme in romance manga, but Scum's Wish realistically explores the pain involved in such a situation, with the two main characters going along with a happy facade and engaging in unhealthy behaviors.
1 The Flowers of Evil
Codependent Relationships and Blackmail
- Release Date: September 2009
- Creator: Shuzo Oshimi
- No. Of Volumes: 11
Named after Charles Baudelaire's famous poetry collection, The Flowers of Evil tells the story of Takao Kasuga, a bookish high schooler who's obsessed with Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. He is blackmailed into a 'contract' by a girl named Sawa Nakamura after she catches him stealing his crush's gym clothes.
The rest of the series follows Kasuga as he tries to deal with his infatuation with Nanako Saeki amid Sawa's humiliation and torture. The manga touches on a number of taboo topics related to adolescent sexuality and was adapted into a rotoscoped anime in 2013 and a live-action film in 2019.
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