Heaven's Door

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A selection of titles from the gekiga scene, a short-lived yet influential artistic movement that flourished during the 1960s to the 1970s and maintains a prominent underground presence today. While mostly known as a pioneer of cinematic paneling and close attention to realism, it would be more accurate to consider gekiga as a counterculture. Surrealistic, autobiographical, and experimental works emerged as an alternative to the Tezuka school of aesthetics and paved the way for other artists to different modes of expression.

This is in NO WAY a comprehensive list and should be treated more as a starting point for diving into this movement. There are so many more important artists and titles in the scene that MAL unfortunately does not have entries for, and probably never will. Since I can't speak Japanese, there may also be some titles that I am unfamiliar with. The 50-title limit doesn't help either, but I hope this gets you started in this often-unexplored side of manga.

Note: Not all of these titles are available in English.
11/04/2022 Updated to include more underground artists.

If you enjoyed this interest stack and want to learn more about gekiga, feel free to check these other outlets:
The MAL Gekiga Club
Taniguchi Scanlations
Habanero Scans
Illuminati-Manga
Hox Scanlations
Stinky Scans
Ryan Holmberg's translations
Star Fruit Books
Glacier Bay Books
Koenji Shawn Reviews
The Comics Journal
Breakdown Press
Drawn and Quarterly
New York Review Comics
AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga

Manga you've most likely never heard about but deserve to be seen more.

While not all of them might suit your taste, they have at minimum some memorably unique aspects to them.


Not sorted in any particular order.

Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/8784

A stack containing anthology manga series.
Anthology; a collection of artistic works or stories that have a similar form or subject.

You can not argue
Read all of it!

anthology = "a collection of artistic works that have a similar form or subject"

there is no common theme or genre for every entry of this stack, but the majority of them are dramas. some are pretty dark as well, so please make sure to check on that before starting them (i think there is a guro one as well so).

as of now the manga here are pretty random, but i plan to sort them a bit after reading more anthologies. until then i it's easier to have them all in one place

This is the Masterson Stack. A list featuring chaotic manga. Or alternatively manga that is a little bit off. A treasure trove of madness.

Welcome to a world of Pessimistic joyrides, Existential terrors, Psychosexual nightmares, Nihilistic fever dreams & Surrealism with some comedy in the madness. I hope you enjoy your time here.

Most Recent Addition to the Stack: Himizu

Most Frequently Featured Authors: Usumaru Furuya, Shuuzou Oshimi, Keiichi Koike & Tatsuki Fujimoto

This list was unlisted as it was deemed "Opinionated and not topical" when this is not true at all. Things can be on this list even if I don't personally enjoy them, I don't know if it was a bot or a person, but this was a false unlist. It just so happens I tend to like this type of stuff, but the list exists to have an accessible list of weird shit, not for me to talk about what I enjoy.

No longer using MAL, so the list here wont be updated anymore. I do however have a version of this list on my Anilist that i update, so go check that out if your'e interested.

From psychedelic/trippy stories to overall unique and bizarre reads, this stack definitely has the "wtf" factor. Read at your own discretion 🤓

Manga that are not very long that you can read in one sitting.
Lots of short story collections, 1-8 Volume series, and oneshots. One sitting does not mean a short time mind you.

I binge read most of these in one sitting. But not all of them. However i will include ones that i think could probably be read in one sitting.

Manga that share their that have the same title as other, unrelated manga.

List of manga reviews in the blog https://dissidenciapop.com/

pretty self-explanatory.
Manga from the alternative manga magazine Comic Beam that have been officially published in English. Since Comic Beam has a broader audience than most alternative manga magaziness, it's arguable whether it should be considered one, but I still included it. It would be updated every time a new one is announced/comes out. Hope to update it as many times as possible!!
If I forgot something, please let me know.

If there are any other magazines you would like me to do this for, please let me know. Would love to know if you make some lists like this yourselves, I would add them to the links!

Links - Stacks for alt manga from other magazines:
AX - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62676
Comic Beam - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62679
Comic Cue - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62678
Garo - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62675
Ikki - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62680
Manga Erotics F - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62682
Torch - https://myanimelist.net/stacks/62677