Horror manga is always incredibly popular, especially so during Halloween season, when everyone is looking for something to scare them or to spend a little time being creeped out by something. Japanese horror has changed the landscape of the genre in a lot of ways, with remakes of Japanese horror films like The Ring and The Grudge becoming go-to examples of some of the scariest films out there.
And Japanese manga doesn’t mess around either, with tons of different approaches to body horror, monster stories, and psychological thrillers. Fans of horror manga can score their favorites on MyAnimeList, making it clear which horror manga are giving people the most willies at the moment.
10 Alice In Borderland: 8.36
Alice in Borderland is an isekai manga with a pretty devastating twist. While most isekai stories involve a main character getting into the plot of the place where they’ve landed and casually trying to find a way back to their own time, Alice in Borderland has the characters landing in a world where they’re forced to participate in difficult and deadly games. If they refuse to participate, they’re simply killed. The characters have to both survive the games and find a way home, making for a tense story.
9 The Promised Neverland: 8.38
The Promised Neverland is a manga about a group of children brought up at an orphanage. They seem to live a pretty happy life there, with attentive and affectionate adults and enough space around the farm to roam free. They all dream of one day leaving the orphanage to start their own lives. But then they find out a terrible secret: that the Grace Field House where they live is just a farm, and they’re the livestock, being raised to feed the demons that roam outside its grounds.
8 Parasyte: 8.40
Parasyte is a monster and body horror manga in which a teenage boy’s body is infiltrated by a creature called a Parasite, which attempts to take control of his mind.
The two begin a life of cohabitation, with the Parasite living in his right arm, and together, they battle against other Parasites as they try to attack those around him. The creepy art, which is sometimes very simple and other times rendered in incredible detail, is definitely enough to give anyone the willies.
7 The Garden Of Sinners: 8.50
The Garden of Sinners is an early Type-Moon series that is set in an alternate universe to the Tsukihime and Fate/stay night series. The story follows a young woman who has had a terrible accident that left her in a coma and which has given her an ability to see the death of a person or creature. While this definitely means there are paranormal aspects to the story, a lot of the horror actually revolves around psychological and character drama, along with some pretty heavy and adult topics.
6 Umineko When They Cry: 8.51
Umineko When They Cry is a part of the When They Cry visual novel series and was adapted into a manga. The story is both a murder mystery and thriller, with a group of characters being trapped together on an island. Slowly, they’re murdered one by one, and it’s up to the reader to determine how the murders are happening. Similar to Until Dark, there are clues to what has happened and whether or not a person is committing these murders or some kind of supernatural force might be responsible.
5 Tokyo Ghoul: 8.54
It’s no surprise that Tokyo Ghoul is on this list, as the series is one of the most popular to come out in the last decade. The story takes place in a world where humans and ghouls coexist, though ghouls feed on humans so they are not cohabitating peacefully. Ken Kaneki, the main character, hates ghouls but also finds himself becoming one. The story that follows, in which he tries to hold onto his humanity while also using his ghoul powers to protect his friends, is classic horror story material.
4 Dorohedoro: 8.62
Dorohedoro is an action comic as much as it is a horror one. Much of the horror that takes place in the series comes from the massive amounts of violence that happens throughout it. The tale follows a man who can’t remember his past whose head has been changed into that of a reptile by a sorcerer. He travels the world trying to recover his memories and stay alive in a bizarre world full of sorcerers and conspiracies against his life.
3 Attack On Titan: 8.63
Attack on Titan definitely took the manga and anime world by storm when it began. The series is absolutely terrifying, and for that reason, definitely deserves its spot on this list. The world is held hostage by Titans, creatures with no skin who attack and eat humans.
Eren Yeager finds he can become a Titan, helping in the fight against them. But this leads to serious questions about the nature of humanity and what a person is willing to do, and who he’s willing to sacrifice, to win a war.
2 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 7: Steel Ball Run: 9.22
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a long-running series that has seen a lot of different plots with a lot of different protagonists (all in the family Joestar). In this case, the story follows Johnny Joestar as he enters a continental race starting in San Diego and ending on the east coast. In true Jojo style, he crosses paths with devastating enemies with immense powers, and the unique, iconic Jojo art style definitely ramps up the creepy factor of every encounter.
1 Berserk: 9.34
It’s no surprise that Berserk ranks so high on the horror manga chart for so many readers. The story is a classic, and few have been as long-running as this 1980s series or had so many adaptations over the years. Guts, whose life begins in tragedy (he’s found by the hanging body of his dead mother as an infant and spends his childhood training to be a killer), has spent his days killing demons and trying to get revenge on the person who has forced him into this life.