Yandere characters in anime and manga are known for destructive and obsessive behavior toward the ones they love. The Japanese term "yandere" describes characters who are so lovesick they border on the psychotic, ironically often to the detriment of their loved one.
They are typically violent and wildly unpredictable, offering a psychological thriller and toxic romance. If you're a fan of the popular archetype, here are five great manga to read starring yandere.
Happy Sugar Life
A psychological thriller manga, Happy Sugar Life stars Satō Matsuzaka and Shio Kōbe who meet and quickly become roommates in Satō's apartment. Satō falls in love with Shio and feels an obsessive need to protect her by keeping her locked away in their apartment to ensure her safety.
While Satō acts nice in public to earn money, she resorts to violence and commits crimes as a means to protect Shio. Not only is Satō a perfect example of the yandere archetype, but Happy Sugar Life includes several other yandere characters as well. Shio and her older brother, Taiyou, also exhibit troubling and toxic behavior while accepting violence as a means to an end.
Death Note
While Death Note stars a maniacal antihero named Light Yagami, it's Misa Aname who gives this manga its yandere reputation. Misa becomes obsessed with Light's 'Kira' persona before she even knew his true identity. Secretly possessing her own Death Note, Misa uses it to kill anyone who opposes Kira to aid him from the shadows.
When Light and Misa finally confront each other and she discovers the secret behind Kira, she becomes more lovesick and obsessed with Light. Despite trying to protect him from potential threats, Misa often risks exposing him as Kira due to her reckless behavior. She is willing to kill anyone and sacrifice everything to protect Light and earn his love and affection, despite the fact that Light has none to give in the first place.
Future Diary
Future Diary stars an antiheroine with psychotic tendencies, earning her the nickname "Yandere Queen." After Yuno Gasai suffers a tragic childhood of being locked away by her mother, she locks up her parents in retaliation and forgets to feed them until they die.
As she works to move on from her twisted past, she encounters a classmate named Yuki Amano who suggests they get married in the future. Yuno takes his words seriously, becoming obsessed with Yuki to the point of violently threatening other girls who try to get close to him. With Yuno's psychotic episodes and drastic mood swings, it's no wonder that Future Diary is a must-read manga for yandere fans.
Stepping On Roses
Sumi Kitamura is the poor protagonist of Stepping On Roses who desperately needs money to care for her brother and the adopted children he brings home. When her brother's debt collectors show up and threaten to sell her younger siblings into slavery, she goes to the red light district to earn money. There, she encounters a handsome rich man named Soichiro Ashida who offers to pay her to marry him. With the promise that he'll buy her anything she wants and financially support her siblings, she agrees to the arrangement and they swear to not fall in love with each other.
However, Sumi's childhood friend Nozomu Ijuin gets angry and obsessive when he hears about the marriage, since he had already fallen in love with her. Nozomu uses drastic and toxic measures to force Sumi to rely on him, like evicting her adoptive family and making them homeless until she has no choice but to ask him for help. As a male yandere love interest, he even kidnaps Sumi in an attempt to make her his as their relationship grows more complex and twisted.
Paperweight Eye
Paperweight Eye stars a college student and doll maker named Marie. She makes dolls out of loneliness, creating them to represent her memories and hopes for the future. When she puts them on display in an exhibition, they are suddenly stolen and she tries to find the culprit. Marie soon runs into Kahrel, who kidnaps her and takes her to his manor against her will. Kahrel commands Marie to create dolls for him in exchange for her freedom to leave the manor. However, he soon becomes overprotective and possessive by claiming she's his and no one else can have her. Paperweight Eye will appeal to those looking for a yandere male lead in fantasy romance.