Anime and manga have had a sibling relationship for as long as the former has existed. Even some of the earliest anime like Astro Boy were manga adaptations. In the modern day, due to its stronger share-ability and promotion, anime usually receive far more notice and popularity than their manga counterparts.
Unfortunately, this means that a lot of gems in the manga world get generally ignored until they have an anime adaptation to help boost their popularity. Here are a few manga series that are yet to receive anime, but are more than worth reading regardless.
8 Super Smartphone
Super Smartphone had an unfortunately short run in the pages of Shounen Jump. This series saw several people receive ‘super smartphones’ that could search up any information, save anything about the phones, their owners, and other specific people. This resulted in a battle royal-esque contest breaking out between the smartphone users.
The mind games in this series were genuinely interesting, as the main character went up against a wealthy, narcissistic businessman, and managed to keep up using only his intelligence. It was unfortunately caught quite short though.
7 Dai Dark
Anyone who’s read or watched Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro knows what to expect from this manga. Hayashida’s grimy art style and weird combination of humor and gore makes their work quite iconic in its own right.
Whereas DHD is full of magicians, Dai Dark is a thrilling space adventure in which a young man, Zaha Sanko and his robotic friend Avakian journey in search of the person who cursed his bones to make them grant wishes. Sanko is the type of character who can massacre a whole ship and then gleefully steal their bones, making him constantly entertaining.
6 Dandadan
Momo Hayase is a young girl who has always believed in spirits due to her spirit medium grandmother. Ken Takakura meanwhile, thinks the supernatural is ridiculous, and instead passionately believes in aliens. After a chance meeting, the two go on to discover that they were both right.
Dandadan’s strongest features are its art, and the synergy of its protagonists. The series renders anatomy as good as it gets in manga, whether it’s in the middle of serious battles or gag scenes. Momo and Ken’s constant bickering is also quite endearing. There is however, a sexual assault scene in the first chapter that might put some readers off.
5 Sentai Daishikkaku(Go! Go! Loser Ranger!)
The success of the Super Sentai series is hard to fully describe. Those who recognize the multicolored spandex from Power Rangers might have some idea, but the ‘tokusatsu’ genre is much bigger than even its most famous member.
Sentai Daishikkaku plays off the pervasiveness of tokusatsu tropes, putting the audience in the shoes of one of the many disposable minions. This minion manages to gain self awareness, and hatches a plot to take down the heroic Dragon Tamers once and for all. The series has amazing art, and real tension. It’s a must-read for any tokusatsu fan.
4 20th Century Boys
Where sci-fi manga are concerned, 20th Century Boys is easily one of the most highly acclaimed series ever published. The story spans several decades, following several different people united across time by the desire to stop the enigmatic cult leader, Friend.
Bizarrely, 20th Century Boys has received 3 whole live action movies, adapting most of the original story, but has yet to receive any animated adaptations. While a high budget anime would give this story the modern day recognition it deserves, the manga itself is still more than worth reading.
3 Origin
Dr. Stone is quite well known to anime fans, but one thing the anime could never capture is the sheer weight of the manga’s art. Boichi is quite well known as an artist for his signature art style that renders the human body in more detail and depth than most manga could ever hope to do.
Before working as the artist for Dr.Stone though, Boichi created Origin, a sci-fi story starring a humanoid robot on a mission to eliminate the rest of his kind. The manga is very cinematic, with wild set pieces and sequences that can get anyone excited.
2 Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction
Oyasumi Punpun is infamous for being one of the most emotionally draining manga ever written. Despite how it might seem, its author Asano Inio isn’t just consumed by depression. This is abundantly clear in one of his later works, Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction (D4).
D4 is set against the backdrop of an ongoing alien invasion, yet focuses on two schoolgirls living surprisingly normal lives. It’s a visually stunning and emotionally resonant series, which is thankfully set to receive an anime, although it is unknown when it will be released.
1 Usuzumi No Hate
Newly released in 2022, Usuzumi no Hate is a seinen series that follows a young girl exploring a post-apocalyptic world. For unknown reasons, she’s immune to the poisonous substance that wiped out most of humanity, and is thus tasked with erasing the contagion and rescuing survivors, one house at a time.
The series only has a few chapters at the moment, but from page one nails a solemn, lonely atmosphere that makes any shred of life feel truly special. The unnamed protagonist meets several entities in her journey, and each is more interesting than the last.