Gantz/1


Hiroya Oku - 2000
    What a waste! And yet somehow they're still . . . alive? Or semi-alive? Maybe it's reanimated . . . by some kind of alien orb with a nasty message . . . "Your lives are over. What you do with your new lives is up to me!" And what this orb called "Gantz" intends to do with their lives is make them play games of death, hunting all kinds of odd aliens, along with a bunch of other ordinary citizens who've recently met a tragic semi-end. The missions they embark upon are often dangerous. Many die-and die again.This dark and action-packed manga deals with the moral conflicts of violence, teenage sexual confusion and angst, and our fascination with death.Hang on to your gear and keep playing the game, whatever you do; Gantz is unrelenting.* Gantz has been one of the most popular adult anime in recent years with over 175,000 copies sold!* Dark Horse makes Gantz available in English for the first time with its U.S. debut.* Gantz has been running weekly in the Japanese magazine Young Jump, which has a circulation of over 1 million.Each volume comes shrink-wrapped and carries an 18+ content advisory.

Battle Royale, Vol. 01


Koushun Takami - 2000
    As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.

MPD Psycho, Vol. 1


Eiji Otsuka - 1997
    Enjoy the 11-volume MPD-Psycho series for all of its absurd twists, sci-fi touches and inventive torture scenes, but you’ll also be mesmerized by the plethora of odd conspiracies and case files found in Otsuka and Tajima’s uncontrollable, urban horrorshow. In MPD-Psycho Volume 1, police detective Kobayashi Yousuke’s life is changed forever after a serial killer notices something "special" about him. That same killer mutilates Kobayashi’s wife and kick-starts a "multiple personality battle" within Kobayashi that pushes him into a complex tempest of interconnected deviants and evil forces. Earning praise for its consistently shocking plotlines and Tajima’s clean, arresting art style, MPD-Psycho is the manga event of the decade!

Attack on Titan, Vol. 1


Hajime Isayama - 2009
    Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming humankind, but the sudden appearance of an enormous Titan is about to change everything...

Claymore, Vol. 1: Silver-eyed Slayer


Norihiro Yagi - 2002
    Claymores are half-humans, half-demons who willingly transformed themselves by mixing their blood with monster's blood. Claire, nicknamed silver-eyed killer, is such a powerful Claymore, she can slay a Yoma using only one hand. But she must constantly struggle to keep from becoming a monster herself.

Parasyte, Volume 1


Hitoshi Iwaaki - 1990
    They descend from the skies. They have a hunger for human flesh. They are everywhere. They are parasites, alien creatures who must invade - and take control of - a human host to survive. And once they have infected their victims, they can assume any deadly form they choose: monsters with giant teeth, winged demons, creatures with blades for hands. But most have chosen to conceal their lethal purpose behind ordinary human faces. So no one knows their secret - except an ordinary high school student. Shin is battling for control of his own body against an alien parasite, but can he find a way to warn humanity of the horrors to come?

Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 1


Jinsei Kataoka - 2007
    Ganta Igarashi, a middle school evacuee, has finally begun to live a normal life... that is, until the day 'Red Man' appears at his school and Ganta's fate is changed forever.

Berserk, Vol. 1


Kentaro Miura - 1990
    Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Berserk asks for no quarter - and offers none! His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.

Hellsing, Vol. 01


Kohta Hirano - 1998
    Yes, it's hard to believe in this day and age.... but really, isn't this the true age of monsters?Enter Hellsing, an agency, long in tooth, with the experience, know-how, and...er...equipment to handle the problems that arise when vampires, ghouls take on these dark forces. "What equipment?" you may say. How about another vampire, and a big pistol loaded with special silver bullets? That oughta do the trick.Hellsing the long-awaited manga is finally in America, thanks to Dark Horse Comics and the folks at Digital Manga, and you're gonna love it. Come get some smart-ass gore and action as only Japan seems to produce, in that crazy "non-Western" formats the kids seem to love. And nice and thick at over 200 pages!

Black Jack, Vol. 1


Osamu Tezuka - 1977
    From monstrous facial afflictions to organ transplants using live donors, no case is too strange, no client too unsavory, no operation too risky for Black Jack.

Blame!, Vol. 1


Tsutomu Nihei - 1998
    He wanders an endless labyrinth of cyberdungeons filled with concrete and steel, fighting off cyborgs and other bizarre silicate creatures. Everyone is searching for the Net Terminal Genes, but no one is quite certain what kind of power they contain. The answer may lie hidden among the scattered human settlements of this vast and desolate future world.

The Drifting Classroom, Vol. 1


Kazuo Umezu - 2004
    While parents mourn and authorities investigate, the students and teachers find themselves somewhere far away...somewhere cold and dark... a lifeless, nightmarish wasteland in which their school stands like a lone fortress. As panic turns to terror, as the rules start to fall apart, a sixth-grade boy named Sho and his friends must fight to survive in an alien world...

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vol. 1


Yoshiyuki Sadamoto - 1994
    1, contains a Japanese sound FX glossary plus special bonus commentary by series mecha designer Ikuto Yamashita, as well as the famous "confession letter" written by director Hideaki Anno in the months before the original TV series premiere that laid out his deeply personal motivations to make Evangelion.

Akira, Vol. 1


Katsuhiro Otomo - 1984
    The science fiction tale set in 2019 in Tokyo after the city was destroyed by World War III, follows the lives of two teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, who have a consuming fear of a monstrous power known as Akira.

Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1


Yutaka Nanten - 1999
    Spinning off from the anime story line seen on Cartoon Network, the manga series hooks readers with the same combination of sci-fi action, crazy comedy, and a twist of old-school hipster cool. This black-and-white miniseries, released in the 100% Authentic Manga format, is perfect for fans of the Cowboy Bebop anime.