Book picks similar to
WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?, Vol. 1 by Akira Kareno
light-novel
light-novels
fantasy
manga
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...
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Land of Sand
Makoto Inoue - 2003
When they arrive, they discover two brothers, Russell and Fletcher Tringham are using the Elric brothers' names to continue their father's research in the alchemic lab run by town leader Mugear. While Edward and Russell argue and fight over the name, the two younger brothers talk.
Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 1
Toshio Satou - 2017
The story starts with him departing from his hometown, which just so happens to be located right next to...one of the most dangerous dungeons in the world?! Lloyd may think of himself as powerless, but when he goes to the city that serves as the starter town for adventurers, the difference between him and everyone else couldn't be starker!
Infinite Stratos: Volume 1
Izuru Yumizuru - 2009
With this power, women have seized complete control of all political, social, and economic ventures; leaving men to the fringes of society, made to tend to the whims of their now, female overlords. That is until Orimura Ichika, the sole male found to have IS piloting ability, is thrust into the spotlight, and enrolled at the prestigious IS Academy. Stuck in the middle of a female-dominated population, Ichika sets out to prove men still have a place in this world. Little did he know, he is just the thing these women have been looking for.
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.
So I'm a Spider, So What?, Vol. 1
Okina Baba - 2015
I used to be a normal high school girl but in the blink of an eye, I woke up in a place I've never seen before and-and I was reborn as a spider?! How could something that's nothing more than a tiny spider (that's me) possibly survive in literally the worst dungeon ever? Are there no rules? There should be some rules! Who the hell is responsible for this? SHOW YOUR FACE!
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Volume 01
Saiko Takaki - 2007
From the darkness of fallout, mutants and a race of vampires known as the Nobility have spawned. They rule the weak with no remorse. Once bitten by a Nobility, one is cursed to become a member of the undead. Villagers cower in fear, hoping and praying for a savior to rid them of their undying nightmare. All they have to battle this danger is a different kind of danger -- a Vampire Hunter.
The Boy and the Beast (light novel)
Mamoru Hosoda - 2015
But Ren slips a little farther than he meant to, tumbling into the beast world of Jutengai! He ends up with a new name--Kyuta--and a new life learning the way of the sword as the apprentice of the bear Kumatetsu. Kumatetsu's got problems of his own, though, and the boy and the beast may have more to learn from each other than they realize. But the boy's arrival in the realm of the beasts has put both their worlds in danger, and they're going to need more than life lessons to face it!
Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Vol. 1
Yu Godai - 2011
Six tribes battle in the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a grim world of demons and evil powers that block entrance to the promised land, Nirvana.
Arifureta Zero, Volume. 1
Ryo Shirakome - 2017
Oscar Orcus is considered a third-rate Synergist by most people. He spends his days peacefully, working so he can send money back to an orphanage. All that changes when the whirlwind that is Miledi Reisen storms into his life. Miledi sees the hidden potential in Oscar, and invites him on her journey to defeat the gods. Oscar wants no part of any journey, and he refuses. But Miledi is persistent, and the situation changes drastically when the orphanage he wants to protect is attacked. In the end, what will our unlikely hero decide?
Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1
Kiiro Yumi - 2008
The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of local governments, form a military group to defend themselves--the Library Forces!Iku Kasahara has dreamed of joining the Library Defense Force ever since one of its soldiers stepped in to protect her favorite book from being confiscated in a bookstore when she was younger. But now that she's finally a recruit, she's finding her dream job to be a bit of a nightmare. Especially since her hard-hearted drill instructor seems to have it in for her!
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.
Apollo's Song
Osamu Tezuka - 1970
Just ask the young cynic Shogo, who sinned against love. Electroshock therapy was only meant to bring him face to face with his own violent misdeeds, but instead landed him in the court of a stern goddess. If the encounter was a hallucination, then it's a hallucination that starts to encroach on reality in this unforgettable tale penned by manga-god Osamu Tezuka and inspired by Greek myths of divine unforgiving. Sharing with his longer work Phoenix the themes of recurrence and retribution as well as the spirit of high invention, Apollo's Song explores the meaning of love and the consequences of its absence. Shogo's mother is a bar hostess, his father could be any one of a dozen of her regular patrons. Growing up, he learns nothing of genuine love and tenderness, and when he witnesses his mother in the nearest approximation of which she's capable--lustful embrace--he receives a merciless beating soon afterwards. Shogo comes to hate the very notion of love. But goddesses, who are neither the Buddha nor Christ, do not excuse misfortunes of upbringing. Apollo's Song reaches Olympian heights of tragedy as the story proceeds from a boxcar bound for a Nazi concentration camp to a dystopian future where human beings are persecuted by an ascendant race of their own clones. Will Shogo ever attain redemption, or, like the human race itself, will he have to relearn the lessons of love forever? Is it better to have loved and lost if the heartbreak must recur eternally?Love, propagation, nature, war, death--Tezuka holds his trademark cornucopia of concerns together with striking characterizations, an unfailing sense of pacing, and of course, stunning imagery. Though marked by a salty pessimism, this unique masterpiece from Tezuka's transitional period is also unabashedly romantic--and, at times, profoundly erotic. Combining a classic tale of thwarted love with cognitive ambiguities reminiscent of the work of Philip K. Dick, Apollo's Song is guaranteed to plumb new depths of the human heart with each rereading.
Wolf's Rain, Vol. 1
BONES - 2003
But some survivors lurk among the humans by mentally cloaking their animal bodies. One white wolf, Kiba, scours the land for the scent of the Lunar Flower that will lead them all to Paradise...
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1
Dojyomaru - 2016
After he presents his plan to strengthen the country economically and militarily, the king cedes the throne to him and Souma finds himself saddled with ruling the nation! What's more, he's betrothed to the king's daughter now...?! In order to get the country back on its feet, Souma calls the wise, the talented, and the gifted to his side. Five people gather before the newly crowned Souma. Just what are the many talents and abilities they possess...?! What path will his outlook as a realist take Souma and the people of his country down? A revolutionary transferred-to-another-world administrative fantasy series starts here!