Manga is a sizable component of Japanese culture and plays a significant role in its narrative. All kinds of stories are told in the manga, but mystery stories make up a good portion of the genre. Popular mystery shows with a long history, like Detective Conan, are huge franchises.
Whenever a manga becomes popular enough, talk about adaptations frequently arises, with anime adaptations being the most prevalent (and well-liked) choice. For one reason or another, many manga series do not, however, receive anime adaptations. Here is some excellent mystery manga that unfortunately has not been animated.
1. 20th Century Boys
Another of Naoki Urasawa’s numerous mysteries, and perhaps his most ambitious, is 20th Century Boys. A middle-aged man named Kenji Endo formerly had aspirations of becoming a singer, but he is now caring for his niece Kanna while working at the family business. After hearing of his death, Kenji discovers the strange person known as “Friend,” a cult leader who is growing powerful. Unexpectedly, Friend’s gestures and symbols make him think of the video games he and his pals used to play as kids. While the suspense around Friend’s identity grows, the plot explores science fiction and the supernatural.
2. The Summer Hikaru Died
A relatively recent series, The Summer Hikaru Died only began serialization last year. Throughout the series. Yoshiki and Hikaru are the closest friends in a small rural community. Since they were young children, they have never been apart, and despite their differences, their friendship has remained strong. Yoshiki, however, is forced to accept the loss of the person he previously referred to as a friend when Hikaru changes one day and is replaced by something unearthly. Yoshiki must deal with the horrifying and world-altering events that threaten his village, which is a mixture of mystery, tragedy, and cosmic horror.
3. Billy Bat
One of Naoki Urasawa’s masterpieces, a manga artist who specializes in writing mysteries, is Billy Bat. Japanese-American cartoonist Kevin Yamagata learned in 1949 that an image he witnessed while serving in Japan accidentally served as the basis for his well-known comic book character Billy Bat. He decides to travel to Japan to ask the character’s original inventor for permission to use the character, but he ends up caught up in several crimes and investigations that all appear to be connected to the famous figure. The plot combines the extraordinary character drama that Urasawa is so well renowned for with nefarious intrigue.
4. Homunculus
A mystery series called Homunculus explores the paranormal and occult. Susumu Nakoshi is a homeless person who is doing his hardest to stand out from the other homeless people by living in his automobile. Nakoshi eventually consents to a young medical student’s offer to pay him money to drill a hole in his brain. While the surgery initially has no noticeable effects, Nakoshi eventually starts to see “homunculi,” aberrations in everyone he encounters. Though it’s darker than typical manga, with certain passages veering into psychological horror, the topics it explores are undoubtedly intriguing.
5. Pluto
Another manga by Naoki Urasawa is called Pluto, and it is based on a plot developed by famed manga creator Osamu Tezuka for his epochal series Astro Boy. One of the World’s Greatest Robots has been slain in a world where robots are almost at a point where they resemble humans. Gesicht, a robot investigator who is regarded as one of the World’s Greatest Robots, is assigned to the case. Through his investigation, Gesicht unearths a deadly plot that calls into question how humans and robots should interact. With Urasawa’s distinctive storytelling style, this tale becomes a mystery, rife with intrigue and tragedy.
6. Do Not Say Mystery
Another relatively recent manga series, Do Not Say Mystery debuted in 2017. During his morning routine, Totono Kuno, an ordinary college student, is interrupted by police who tell him that he is a key suspect in the killing of one of his classmates. More evidence implicating Totono in the crime worsens the situation, but he might be able to escape thanks to his unexpectedly good deductive reasoning abilities. The figure of Totono Kuno, who can deconstruct a person simply by studying their actions and inferring their background, is a big draw to the series.