Jigokuhen: Aru Jigoku Eshi no Kokuhaku
Panorama of Hell

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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

A collection of amazing 1 volume manga that can be read in under 1 hour, for anyone wanting a quick but fulfilling read.

Horror mangas that have 5 or less volumes.

Manga that has a unique style that you won't see to often.

Actually this is my favorite manga series list. MAL rules don't allow personal lists

Gothic type mangas

Part 4: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/32193
Part 6: [SOON]

I try to collect as many manga as possible that are only one volume long.
Please check the genres before reading!

- Note: I haven't read every single one of them. It's a small collection for those who love short manga.
-Note 2: I might add an entry twice. I try my best to add only entries I haven't added yet.

brief, underrated works that stand out to me visually or thematically
key themes: gore, boy's love, youth, despair
most of these contain on-page sexual assault and other extremities
still a work in progress!

Manga from the indie publisher Star Fruit Books that are in the MAL database.
Star Fruit Books specialize in self published (doujin) manga, small press manga, josei and horror manga - all of which are very special and not the kind you would usually see getting licensed in English.
Since some of their manga are self published or small press, some are not available on MAL. So this list will have only the ones that are on MAL. I will update this list every time a new title from their catalogue is added, or a new one that is on MAL's DB is announced.

On a personal note, they are one of my favorite English manga publishers. Their catalogue is yet to disappoint me, and I think they have potential to become a big thing. You see the amount of love they pour into their manga, and how each of their manga is full of passion.

This list will contain both digital only and in-print manga, as well as upcoming releases that are yet to be released.

Relatively obscure manga that will most people expand their taste.

These are series you can read all within a single volume! All genres/demographics!
None of these series are OOP (out of print) and can be easily purchased at a local bookstore.

• Omnibus releases are not considered one volume and are instead counted by tankoubon release.
(VIZ MEDIA released Tomie in a single hardcover book; Japanese release has 3 volumes).
• Sequels or spinoff series are not included.

always open to more suggestions to fill this stack up!

- Weebookey <3

Just a list of Shojo and Josei manga that began publishing before 1990 that have been officially published in english, although some are Out of Print or from defunct digital publishers and thus are no longer legally available.

I can't seem to add this one, but Sign wa V!/The V Sign! (1969) was officially published as well (https://myanimelist.net/manga/125803/Sign_wa_V)

This one isn't in the MyAnimeList database, but Pairazahda/Pairazada (1984) is legally published and available digitally in english (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07757Y1X9?ref_=dbs_m_cmx_rwt_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks)

(database entry: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series/yrzhtz5/pairazada)

Some Pre-1990s Shojo stories without database entries from Moto Hagio were published in the English Anthology "A Drunken Dream and Other Stories". These include Angel Mimic/Tenshi no Gitai (1984), Autumn Journey/Aki no Tabi (1971), and Girl on Porch with Puppy/Pochi de Shōjo ga Koinu to (1971). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Drunken_Dream_and_Other_Stories)

Himitsu no Akko-chan was published in Japan in a Bilingual English edition intended to be an english-learning aide to japanese people.

The Shojo stories Plus 1 (1986) and Purple (1985) from Ciao magazine were published in english in Animerica Extra's Short Program Volume 1 Anthology which was later released in its own collected volume in the US (https://myanimelist.net/manga/1443/Short_Program).

This is a list of the shojo and josei that has been licensed by Star Fruit Books. Some may be Out of Print or unavailable now. Some titles are Doujinshi that were created by mangaka who frequently publish Shojo and/or Josei manga. Horror is the majority of their Shojo/Josei catalog interestingly.

Some titles not included in the MAL database published by Star Fruit Books:

Drunks
Look Into My Eyes
From Far, Far Away
I'll Quit Traveling . . .
The Horrors of Noroi Michiru
Tatarism
Wonder House of Horrors
The Blood Red Boy
Grin Grin Grin (??? no idea for this one, but the art seems reminiscent of shojo)
The Fantasy Ends Today

I tried to compile an extensive list of the English Licensed Shojo and Josei manga titles where romance is a sub-plot at best, if present at all (many of these don't have any romance present).

Part 2-Fantasy/Supernatural: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57092
Part 3-Sci-fi/Historical/Mystery: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57098
Part 4-Cute Stories: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57096
Part 5-Character dramas/Modern Real-life Japan: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/57100