In my Bartender post, Jeffry asked me what other psychological mangas are good reads. And as I was typing a response, I soon find that this might be better as a post of it’s own, since I’m also interested in hearing some suggestions myself. But here are some that I have read before.
1. One Outs – Many people have already mentioned this one. It’s by the same author as Liar Games. It focuses on the psychological aspects of baseball (although it does use tricks in other places too). It’s a bit too exaggerated, and baseball mangas were never that interesting to me. But it was a good read nevertheless.
2. Kurosagi - Another one that many have mentioned. It’s a manga that focuses on cons and laws. It’s a bit difficult to read since it involves alot of legal terms and sometimes it is hard to get the full picture. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I can see a niche for this manga.
3. Monster - Perhaps one of the best psychological mangas out there. Unfortunately, it was a bit too confusing for me to grasp the whole story. The story starts with a doctor saving a child who he shouldn’t have saved, and then it involves Nazis. Yes, it’s weird like that, but if you’re into psychological stuff, this is a must-read.
4. 20th Century Boys – By the same author as Monster. It’s not “that” psychological; it’s more like a suspense manga. But I have to recommend this since it’s one of my all-time favorites. The story is engaging and interseting, albeit it gets a bit lame towards the end (felt like the story got out of hand and it became too hard to tie up all the loose ends).
5. Gamble Fish – Relatively new manga. It’s about gambling different games, and it emphasizes how “gambling” changes the way a game is played. It’s not that great, and the story’s wacked, but it’s interesting in it’s own way. I don’t highly recommend this, but some may like it.
6. Doubt – A relatively short manga. A group of kids plays a cellphone game called “Rabbit Doubt”. In the game, there’s a wolf, who kills other players (rabbits) one by one, and the rabbits have to figure out who the wolf is (kinda like Mafia). To no surprise, people really starts dying.
7. Lost+Brain (thanks jimjim)– kinda like deathnote where the protagonist tries to take over the world. this time tho, through hypnotism.
8. Suicide Island (thanks jimjim) – very psychological. everyone who fails committing suicide is taken to an island where they can attempt to commit suicide over again.
9. Ikigami (thank – Raysen_ht) People are injected with a time bomb when they are born, and are randomly chosen to die. The governament knows who will be the next dead person a couple of days before, and they send an Ikigami (a note) to him/her/family saying that that person has 24h to live. Its about the choices one can make when they learn they are going to die.
That’s about all the ones I can think of off-hand that is related to psychology. Please feel free to recommend them in the comments and I will add them to this list when I see it.
Thanks!!
