Few genres are quite so subjective as Horror. Fear is intensely personal, and what touches one person may seem meaningless to another. As such, there are a wide variety of subgenres under the general horror umbrella. This is most apparent in the medium of manga, which hosts tales of bloody monsters, psychological thrillers and everything else in between.
What are the best Horror manga as of 2025?
What makes a good horror manga is an equally subjective question. Do you like to be grossed out by graphic imagery? Is mental torment and anticipation more important? How do you feel about a bit of comedy for the sake of contrast? The following attempts to offer a variety of stories that are undisputed classics, regardless of personal tastes.
Uzumaki
Junji Ito is perhaps the most iconic horror manga creator working today. Indeed, many have likened him to Stephen King in sheer variety of his output and how many of his manga have been adapted for other media. Uzumaki, named for the Japanese word for “whirlpool” or “downward spiral,” is widely considered to be his greatest work.
Set in the seaside town Kurouzu-cho, Uzumaki centers around a teenage couple; Kirie Goshima and Shuichi Saito. Both of them have noticed odd events in their town. These are tied to the symbol of “the black vortex” and a mystic curse.
At first the story unfolds as an anthology, with each chapter detailing some citizen of Kurouzu-cho fallen under the dark influence of the symbol. Pregnant women acting like mosquitos, the dead rising from the grave, and people being transformed into snails are only some of the horrific events that occur. This leaves Kirie and Shuichi seeking the center of the spiral and a way to end the horror.
Monster
Dr. Kenzo Tenma is a skilled surgeon at the top of his profession. However, he disagrees with his administrators’ policy of prioritizing the treatment of the rich and the powerful over more seriously injured poor people. This belief is put to the ultimate test when he refuses to treat the mayor before a young boy named Johan following a public massacre. While he does not lose his job, his career stalls, his engagement is broken, and he becomes a pariah among his colleagues.
Years later, the people responsible for Dr. Tenma’s downfall start to turn up dead. He learns that their killer is Johan, now a young man, who chose this as the way to repay the doctor who saved his life. Now the prime suspect for Johan’s crimes, Dr. Tenma goes on the run to clear his name and stop the young serial killer. As a result of that, he also uncovers a decades-old plot to create the perfect assassin.
Comparable to The Silence of the Lambs, Monster is equal parts horror manga and thriller. Beyond Johan’s crimes and his nightmarish origins, the story also explores Dr. Tenma’s breakdown over the evil his ethics have unleashed. Naoki Urasawa also examines the age-old philosophical question of whether murder can be a moral act if it saves lives.
I Am a Hero
Zombie apocalypse stories are one of the more popular subgenres of horror in the 21st century. There is wide variety, with themes of body horror, survival horror, and psychological torment in the wake of societal collapse. However, I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa is unique in offering a Japanese perspective on the usual formula.
The story centers around Hideo Suzuki; a 35-year-old manga artist and self-described loser. However, when the zombie apocalypse begins, Hideo is ahead of the game thanks to his ownership of a shotgun. This is noted as unusual in Japan, which has much stricter rules regarding gun ownership. Unfortunately, despite his weaponry, Hideo is torn between his desire to help people and his own innate cowardice.
I Am a Hero challenges most of the cliches of apocalypse fiction and zombie stories in particular. Beyond the realistic examination of how a viral outbreak in Japan creating zombies would play out, Hideo presents a different sort of anti-hero than is typical of the genre. Throw in a variety of zombies and a human villain who is even worse than the undead and you have one of the most unique horror manga ever.
Kasane
Kasane Fuchi has never had an easy life. She grew up in the shadow of her glamorous mother, who was a famous actress. She was constantly bullied in school, but dreamed of becoming a famous actress. Unfortunately, her looks and her lack of confidence eliminated any possibility of a career on stage. That changed with a gift from her mother; a tube of lipstick that gives Kasane the power to take on the appearance of anyone she kisses.
Armed with this, Kasane sets out to win the career she dreamed of all her life. More, she uses her new power to seek revenge upon her bullies. However, Kasane is soon struggling with issues of identity and the fear that the lipstick truly has turned her into someone else. Or something else.
Many horror manga creators have explored the expectations society places on women. However, none have done so quite as effectively as Daruma Matsuura in Kasane. What makes the story particularly effective is how sympathetic the title character is. We want to see her succeed, because of how relatable her torment is and how casually evil her bullies are. This feeling remains even as Kasane sinks into depravity in her efforts to live up to her new image.
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is notable as the only book-length story published by H.P. Lovecraft during his lifetime. The story centers around a nameless academic narrator, who travels to the titular town. He came to investigate reports that many of the town’s citizens were arrested and forced into concentration camps. The truth, however, is far stranger.
The narrator determines that Innsmouth is far from abandoned. However, most of the town’s inhabitants have an odd look about them, possessing narrow heads, flat noses and bulging eyes. The town is also dominated by odd buildings and a strong fishy smell. However, the longer the narrator stays to investigate the town, the more familiar everything seems to become.
While Lovecraft’s work has been adapted into other media before, manga artist Gou Tanabe perfectly captures the weird essence of the Cthulhu Mythos. Tanabe adapted other Lovecraft stories into manga, but his version of The Shadow Over Innsmouth is widely considered the best. No less an authority than Junji Ito declared it a great adaptation. Indeed, he claims that he gave up on his own plans to adapt Lovecraft into a serialized manga because it would not equal Tanabe’s work.
How we picked the best Horror manga
The chief concern in compelling this list of the best horror manga was to offer a variety of titles. Care was taken to avoid favoring any particular creator. An effort was also made to explore a wide variety of subgenres within the larger lexicon of all things spooky. This seemed appropriate given this was meant to be a general list, rather than one focused on zombies, vampires, or any other kind of unearthly menace.
