Ok guys, I can’t stand it anymore.
Why there isn’t an updated list of alternative manga recommendations anywhere online yet?
Fuck this shit!
I love underground manga but it’s too hard to find good suggestions and updated lists. And with “alternative manga” I mean those really different, obscure, weird, extreme and experimental japanese comics that only a few non-japanese people from all over the world will ever read and appreciate.
These are surreal avant-garde manga such as the ones published in alternative japanese magazines and anthologies like Garo, AX and COM. Even a few Gekiga artists could be still considered alternative today.
These are manga created by crazy authors like Takashi Nemoto, Sasaki Maki, Imiri Sakabashira, Jiro Matsumoto, and Shintaro Kago. These could be comics in the heta-uma, ero-guro, ironic-guro genres.
I’m tired to spend hours and hours just to find a few new interesting manga, there isn’t a proper resource to learn about new volumes and alternative mangaka published in english, or even in french, italian or spanish. There was once a great thread on Anime News Network forum with good recommendations, but it’s not updated anymore.
On Wikipedia’s entry for Alternative Manga there are just a few authors such as Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Yoshiharu Tsuge, who could not even be really considered “alternative” by today’s standard (but still hugely important for the evolution of japanese comics).
Crowdsourced lists as the ones from Goodreads are laughable, just a few titles and not many really obscure manga.
There are some great articles about the history of alternative manga on blogs and websites such as The Hooded Utilitarian, stuff by Ryan Holmberg on The Comics Journal, ComicsBeat, the awesome translation of Manga Zombie, a few ones in italian by Piero Livigni and video recommendations in italian by Gekigemu, but still not enough suggestions and slow updates for new (and old) volumes published in America or Europe.
What can I do?
Well, I can create a place (this post in my blog) in which to recommend all the best alternative manga that i know, keeping an updated list for every time I find a new one and ASK FOR YOUR HELP!
Below you can find the most updated list ever for alternative manga published outside of Japan, thanks to publishers like Picture Box, Drawn & Quarterly, Hollow Press, Viz, Taco Che, Lezard Noir, Coconino, Canicola and many more.
If you know other volumes that should be in this list, PLEASE ADD A COMMENT BELOW or SEND ME AN EMAIL! This is important, there are hundreds of readers out there who LIKE YOU and ME need help to find new interesting comics.
Here’s what will be considered as “alternative manga” in this list:
- Less known Japanese comics officially translated and published outside of Japan.
- The most interesting Manga and Mangaka originally published in Garo, AX and COM
- Experimental comics by japanese authors, with non-standard drawings, spastic stories and weird characters
- Really obscure manga with original ideas
- Less known manga with historical importance for the evolution of japanese comics outside of the mainstream ones.
- I may list a few manga only available with fan-translations and scans if they are a "must read" for alt-manga fans.
I’ll keep this list updated every time i find something new and when you’ll suggest something interesting!
It took many hours, weeks, years to create this list, so if you’d like to thank me you can just buy these manga from my Amazon associates links, it’s free for your but it will help me a lot!
Alternative Manga by Anthologies
Title: Secret Comics Japan
Authors: Junko Mizuno, Hironori Kikuchi, Yuko Tsuno, Yoshitomo Yoshimoto, Kiriko Nananan, Shintaro Kago, Makoto Aida, Benkyo Tamaoki, Usamaru Furuya
Published in: English
Buy from:
Title: USCA ユースカ English edition
Authors: NISHIMURA Tsuchika, SHINZO Keigo, MIYAZAKI Natsujikei, TANIGUCHI Natsuko, MOTO Hideyasu, BRIDGE SHIP HOUSE, Zajirogh, KASABE Tetsu, KATSUHIKA Keita, HIRANO Ryo, SANUKI Naoya, Yoshie, OTA Motoyuki, KAMODA Jun, error403.
Published in: English
Buy from:
Title: AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga
Authors: Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Imiri Sakabashira, Kazuichi Hanawa, Yusaku Hanakuma, Akino Kondoh, Shin'ichi Abe, Takashi Nemoto, Osamu Kanno, Takao Kawasaki, Ayuko Akiyama, Shigehiro Okada, Katsuo Kawai, Nishioka Kyodai, Takato Yamamoto, Toranosuke Shimada, Yuka Goto, Mimiyo Tomozawa, Namie Fujieda, Mitsuhiko Yoshida, Kotobuki Shiriagari, Shinbo Minami, Shinya Komatsu, Einosuke, Yuichi Kiriyama, Yunosuke Saito, Tomohiro Koizumi, Seiko Erisawa, Shigeyuki Fukumitsu, Kataoka Toyo, Hideyasu Moto, Keizo Miyanishi, Hiroji Tani, Otoya Mitsuhashi, Kazuichi Hanawa.
Published in: English, French
Buy from:
Title: Sake Jock - Comics from Today's Japanese Underground
Authors: Imiri Sakabashira, Naoto Yamakawa, Kiriko Nananan, Nekojiru, Yasuji Tanioka, Yoshiharu Mitsumoto, Naoki and Shunichi Karasawa
Published in: English
Buy from:
Title: Comics Underground Japan
Authors: Ebisu Yoshikazu, Toma Masakazu, Takashi Nemoto, Carol Shimoda, Hanawa Kazuichi, Tanioka Yasuji, Suehiro Maruo, Yamada Hanako, Migiwa Pan, Muddy Uehara, Hideshi Hino, Nekojiru and Yamano Hajime.
Published in: English
Buy from:
Title: Canicola (1 - 12)
Authors: Yasaku Hanakuma, Yuiki Yokoiama, Naoyuki Tsuji and many more
Published in: Italian, English
Buy from:
Alternative Manga by Authors
Author: Takashi Nemoto
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Imiri Sakabashira
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
- The Box Man
- Nekokappa (french only, but it's mostly a wordless comic)
- Sake Jock - Comics from today’s Japanese Underground
- AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga
Author: Sasaki Maki
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
- Ding Dong Circus
- Charivari - Sasaki Maki Anthologie (coming 2018? French only, but it's mostly a wordless comic)
Author: Yusaku Hanakuma
Published in: English, Italian, Spanish
Recommended manga:
- Tokyo Zombie
- Canicola 8 (italian version has english translation at the bottom)
- AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga
Author: Tetsunori Tawaraya
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Seiichi Hayashi
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Usamaru Furuya
Published in: French, English
Recommended manga:
- Palepoli (french only, english fan translation available)
- Short Cuts
- Secret Comics Japan (a few pages of Palepoli are translated in english here)
Author: Makoto Aida
Published in: French, English
Recommended manga:
- Mutant Hanako (french only)
- Secret Comics Japan (small part of Mutant Hanako is translated in english here)
Author: Kikuchi Hironori
Published in: French, English
Recommended manga:
- Nirvana-Man (french only)
- Mademoiselle Takada (french only)
- š! #27 'BFF'
- š! #8
- š! #5 After Snowfall
- Secret Comics Japan (a few pages of Nirvana Man were translated in english here)
Author: Yoshiharu Tsuge
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
- Screw Style (japanese only? english translation available)
- L’Uomo Senza Talento (italian and french only?)
Author: Suehiro Maruo
Published in: English, French, Italian, Spanish and more
Recommended manga:
- Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show
- Ultra-Gash Inferno
- New National Kid
- The Strange Tale of Panorama Island
- Comics Underground Japan
- AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga
- and many more
Author: Shintaro Kago
Published in: English, Italian, French, Spanish
Recommended manga:
- Enciclopedia delle Kagate (only in italian?)
- Uno scontro accidentale sulla strada per andare a scuola può portare a un bacio?
- Fraction
- Super-Conductive Brains Parataxis
- Secret Comics Japan
- Super Dimensional Love Gun
- Dance Kremlin Palace (only in japanese, english fan translation available)
- and many more
Author: Jiro Matsumoto
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
- Velveteen and Mandala
- Tropical Citron (fan translation only?)
- Joshi Kouhei (fan translation only?)
Author: Tadao Tsuge
Published in: English, Italian
Recommended manga:
- Trash Market
- Slum Wolf
- Alla Deriva. La Mia Vita in Barca (italian only?)
- Radure Sconfinate. La Mia Vita in Barca (italian only?)
Author: Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
- Midnight Fishermen
- A Drifting Life
- The Push Man and other stories
- Le Lacrime della Bestia (italian only?)
- and more
Author: Taiyo Matsumoto
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
- GoGo Monsters
- Tekkonkinkreet (Black & White)
- No. 5 (incomplete in english, fully published in french, english fantranslation and scans available)
Author: Toyokazu Matsunaga
Published in: English, Italian
Recommended manga:
- Il Castello del Drago (italian only?)
- Bakune Young
Author: Takashi Kurihara
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Cornigule (french only, but not many dialogues, mostly drawings)
Author: Oji Suzuki
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
- A Single Match
- Bleu transparent (french only)
- Vaste le ciel (french only)
Author: Shin'ichi Abe
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Un gentil garcon (french only)
- Les amours de Taneko: suivi de Vengeance (french only)
- Une bien triste famille (french only)
- Paradis (french only)
Author: Toshio Saeki
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Rêve écarlate (french only, but it's basically an artbook, mostly drawing)
Author: Masahiko Matsumoto
Published in: English, French, Spanish
Recommended manga:
- Cigarette Girl
- Gekiga Fanatics (french only, italian version soon)
Author: Jiro Ishikawa
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- C'est comme ça (french only)
Author: Hideo Azuma
Published in: English, French , German
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Shotaro Ishinomori
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Eros X SF (french only)
Author: Kazuo Umezu
Published in: English, French, Italian
Recommended manga:
- The Drifting Classroom
- Cat Eyed Boy
- Je suis Shingo (french only?)
- Fourteen (fan translation only?)
- and many more
Author: Atsushi Kaneko
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Junko Mizuno
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Yuichi Yokoyama
Published in: English, Italian, French (most comics are wordless, so it doesn't really matter)
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Hajime Ueda
Published in: English, Italian, more?
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Chiyomi Hashiguchi (Nekojiru)
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
- Sake Jock - Comics from Today's Japanese Underground
- Comics Underground Japan
- Nekojiru Udon (french only, english fantranslation available)
- Nekojiru Manju (french only, english fantranslation available)
Author: Tatsuhiko Yamagami
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Les vents de la colère (french only)
Author: Shinobu Kaze
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
- Violence Became Tranquility (Heavy Metal magazine #36, March 1980)
Author: Gajo Sakamoto
Published in: English
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Robin Nishi
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Mind Game (french only, there's an anime version in english)
Author: Iou Kuroda
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Akino Kondoh
Published in: English, French
Recommended manga:
- Eiko (french only?)
- Les insectes en moi (french only, italian version soon)
- Nothing Whatsoever All Out in the Open
- AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga
Author: Shigeru Mizuki
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Bonten Tarô
Published in: French
Recommended manga:
- Sex and Fury (french only)
Author: Junji Ito
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
- Dissolving Classroom
- Uzumaki
- Horror Comic Collection
- Museum of Terror
- Gyo
- Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories
Author: Hideshi Hino
Published in: English, Italian, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Shiriagari Kotobuki
Published in: Spanish, French
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
Author: Daisuke Igarashi
Published in: English, French, Italian
Recommended manga:
- Saru (french, italian only?)
- Spirit in the Sky
- Children of the Sea
- Hanashippanashi - Patati patata (french only?)
Author: Daisuke Ichiba
Published in: Spanish
Recommended manga:
- El Suicidio del Amor (spanish only? mostly drawings without words?)
Author: Susumu Katsumata
Published in: English, French, Italian (soon)
Recommended manga:
Buy from:
#################################
If you know more alternative, avant-garde, experimental manga published outside of Japan that should be added to this list, please leave a comment below or send me an email, we NEED YOUR HELP!
Many of these manga are or will be shown in this video series (in italian):