Sui Ishida's hit manga series Tokyo Ghoul soon inspired an anime adaptation of the same name, and went on to become one of the best-selling manga titles of the 2010s. The dark seinen story stars Ken Kaneki, a bookish college student who finds himself thrust into the violent world of ghouls after he becomes a half-ghoul himself.
Tokyo Ghoul has elements of urban fantasy, vampire-style gothic undertones, a deep mystery and much more, but longtime fans of the franchise can enjoy some other seinen manga titles or seinen-style shonen series in a similar vein. These stories, like Tokyo Ghoul, often feature gritty and morally gray antiheroes who fight for survival in dark worlds.
Chainsaw Man Features A Monstrous Hero Fighting Other Monsters
Author Tatsuki Fujimoto has made waves in the manga world with dark but intriguing series such as Fire Punch and the Look Back one-shot, but his biggest claim to fame is the seinen-style shonen series Chainsaw Man. This series is also set to be adapted into an anime soon, with a trailer already available.
Chainsaw Man fits the "monster hunter" archetype, taking place in a world where monsters, or devils, stalk the streets and brutally massacre humans with impunity. Some of them are small and easily dispatched by devil hunters, who sometimes fight alongside devil partners of their own.
The story's hero is Denji, a down-on-his-luck boy who, in a moment of desperation, fuses with his tiny chainsaw dog devil pet Potchi and becomes the part-devil Chainsaw Man. He agrees to work as a devil hunter in exchange for keeping his life and token pay, pushing himself to the limit with his gory chainsaw-based fighting style. Like Tokyo Ghoul's Kaneki, Denji is a tamed monster who lives in a world where there are few clear "good guys" and "bad guys."
Berserk Is The Apex Of Dark Fantasy Manga
The late Kentaro Miura launched his legendary Berserk manga in 1989, and it soon became an icon of the dark fantasy genre worldwide. Berserk has it all: impactful and heartbreaking drama, stunning and creative illustrations, a compelling story with gripping characters, exciting action sequences and more than a few timeless themes of revenge, love, ambition, betrayal and healing. The series' future is unclear in the wake of Mr. Miura's passing, but there is more than enough exciting material for Tokyo Ghoul fans to try out.
Berserk is the tale of Guts the mercenary, who endures great hardship with betrayal, destiny, monsters and war. He is on a quest for vengeance after his former boss, the charismatic Griffith, sacrificed almost everything to become a dark god. Tokyo Ghoul fans should enjoy Berserk's gritty fantasy action and its vicious antihero who, like Kaneki, struggles with his inner darkness, especially after he dons the Berserker Armor. This armor makes him strong, but it eats away at his body and soul alike in the process.
Elfen Lied Is A Story Of Misunderstood Monsters
Lynn Okamoto's original Elfen Lied manga -- and its anime adaptation -- are more colorful and cartoony than Tokyo Ghoul, but the actual story is just as dark and has remarkably similar themes. Elfen Lied imagines a world divided into two, between the paranoid humanity and humanoid "others" who just want to live -- and are willing to kill to secure their own place in the world.
Those "others" are Diclonius, beings who have the power to create vector arms to control the world around them, or just tear people apart. The main Diclonius in the story is a girl named both Lucy and Nyu, which describes her two personalities. Nyu is gentle and childlike, unaware of her true powers. Lucy, however, is vicious and cynical, having killed many people in a desperate attempt to find her place in a world dominated by humans. Her only human friend, Kouta, wants to help her, but Lucy might be his worst enemy as well as his best friend.
Jujutsu Kaisen Explores Curses In A Dark Modern World
Jujutsu Kaisen is another seinen-style shonen story and remains ongoing, with tens of millions of manga volumes sold as of this writing. Containing a lot of overlap with both Tokyo Ghoul and Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen takes place in a gritty world where monsters and mayhem are the norm. Curses are the physical manifestation of humanity's negative emotions, and they range from misshapen demonic creatures to intelligent humanoids who dream of world domination.
The story's hero is Yuji Itadori, an athletic boy who accidentally became the vessel of Ryomen Sukuna, the almighty king of curses. Now, Yuji must collect the rest of Sukuna to prevent his return, but at the same time, Sukuna may grow powerful enough to overwhelm his human host and become the greatest threat the world has ever seen. Jujutsu Kaisen's protagonist is a hero with the powers of a villain, making him much like Ken Kaneki.
Attack On Titan Features A Monstrous Antihero
Attack on Titan's anime is set to return in 2022, though Hajime Isayama's original manga has already been completed. This is a story of politics, paranoia, war, man-eating giants called Titans and international conflict. The plot's scope steadily expands as the world and its lore are unveiled bit by bit. Attack on Titan seems like a zombie survival story with plus-size monsters at first, but it soon becomes a whole lot more.
Tokyo Ghoul fans may appreciate Attack on Titan's antihero, Eren Yeager, most of all. Like Kaneki, Eren was once an ordinary boy who became corrupted by the horrors around him, resolving to fight monsters by becoming one himself -- and in more than one way. His father Grisha turned him into the mighty Attack Titan, and then Eren absorbed two more Titans before launching a campaign to forcibly rid the entire world of his perceived enemies across the continents. Attack on Titan's hero has become the ultimate villain.
