Darwin's Game

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One of life's darkest and most reveal questions is, "What are you willing to kill for?" For some people, it's impossible to imagine a situation in which they would take another life. For others, they might be able to list a price, but without being in the situation, there's no way to be sure if they could do it. In death games, participants find their price: it's usually a large sum of money and, of course, their own life.

In death games, participants usually find themselves in the same predicament: kill or be killed. And while some participants join the games willingly, many find themselves forced to play the game. Not all death games are made the same, of course. Creators of death games constantly find more and more interesting ways to force the participants to rack up the body count in the most gruesome manner.

aka "don't let your kid read this alone" manga, or "why the F is this Shounen?" manga.
If you can't stand gore or dangerous/extreme mental body of thought, don't try these.

I have a stack with the opposite: Seinen with little gore:
https://myanimelist.net/stacks/2036

(Also thanks to ryzxgum)

Okay so my favorite niche sub-genre of manga is the ones where the cast has to kill each other or participate in some sort of sick and sadistic game. I have read most of these, but it is my favorite so I figured I should share with the world, enjoy!

All manga that fit the "Death Game" criteria. You can also look for the anime version.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Manga with tactical fights/strategic battles that are not determined by strength or numbers but how they use what they have available to them, using their knowledge/cunning to outsmart their opponent, exploiting weakness, planning beforehand or quick thinking in the heat of battle and using what's in their immediate surroundings to their advantage.

Not all included manga are at the same level when it comes to tactical fights/strategic battles and while the majority of fights are tactical and the battles strategic there are some that are not.

1 title per series

Some of my personal favorite manga that are underrated/underappreciated or are regarded highly but nobody seems to mention. Some manga lack an audience in the west while others struggled with translations during the times of publishing, however every manga listed is amazing and truly works of art that need more attention.

Below are similar manga I've strung together if you enjoy any manga in a category check out the other works as they are similar.

Manga that take power systems to new levels: world trigger, ajin, dorohedoro, kamisama no iutoori 1&2, psyren, karakuri circus

Psychological manga that will rock your brain: usogui, bokutachi ga yarimashita, kokou no hito, billy bat, blame!, freesia, i am a hero, imawa no kuni alice, ikigama

Supernatural graphic seinen: hellsing, drifters, priest, gannibal, Kouya ni Kemono Doukokusu, dorohedoro, ajin, Souboutei Kowasubeshi, Keyman

message me on instagram @omartin.22 if you have any recommendations

Mangas where protagonists gamble with their lives.
𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒?

If you spend a decent amount of time in the animanga community, you've probably heard most of these in passing. These are the popular manga that ended in 2023.

The qualifications for getting in is by being in the 15-20k+ range for overall stats, disqualifying oneshots. I might also add some sequels or spinoffs for popular series(like my 2024 list), though that's up in the air.

Speaking of the 2024 list, from simple observation, there are more entries this time compared to 2024. However, as the years go by, the stats will go up, and there's probably going to be more manga racked up for the 2024 list.

Any corrections or suggestions to any of my lists are more than welcome!

Link to 2024 list: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/53288