Fresh Manga Picks for December
It's egg nog season again, and you might be exhausted from spreading holiday cheer (or avoiding it like the plague).
When you're hanging out with the family this winter, let your new best friend, The Manga Box, tag along. They won't judge even the most embarrassing family traditions, like your Aunt Mable's homemade holiday perfume. (No one needs another vial of that perfume, Aunt Mable. We know you just rename the same recipe every year. You aren't fooling me again. I'm not 8 years old).
If you're ready to take a break from your Aunt Mable, we've got the perfect manga to warm you up for sweater weather ❄️
Jump to a Category
⚡️Manga for Hopeless Romantics
⚡️Manga for Thrill Seekers (Horrors & Thrillers)
⚡️Manga for Feel Good Fans (Comedy & Slice of Life)
⚡️Manga for Adrenaline Junkies ( Action-Adventure)
Fresh Picks for December
For Hopeless Romantics
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 01
Rating: Mature (Adults Only)
Story and art by: Yuu Toyota
Recommended for fans of: Romance, BL/Yaoi, Comedy, Fantasy
Read this if you're in the mood for: A cute and funny twist on office romance
It's complicated: A thirty-year-old virgin gets more than he bargained for when his newfound magical power reveals he's the object of his male coworker's affections!
Adachi, a thirty-year-old virgin, discovers he has the magical power to read the minds of people he touches. Unfortunately, the ability just makes him miserable since he doesn't know how to use it well! And to make matters worse, when he accidentally reads the mind of his very competent, handsome colleague, Adachi discovers the guy has a raging crush on none other than Adachi himself! Things are about to get VERY awkward!
NEW! The Two Lions
Rating: Teen (13+)
Story and art by: Nagisa Furuya
Recommended for fans of: Drama, Romance, School Life, BL/Yaoi
Read this if you're in the mood for: A heartwarming, wholesome, and beautiful story of opposites falling in love
Opposites attract in this friends-to-lovers Boys’ Love tale!
Not long after he starts university, friendly, big-hearted Junpei runs into the very unfriendly Leo. As they speak, Junpei learns that they went to the same high school and that Leo was the “Demon Lion” feared back then as a secret gang leader. After those days spent as a lonely, misunderstood high schooler, Leo escaped to a faraway college to make new friends.
Junpei becomes his first and vows to help Leo make more, but are his feelings for Leo stronger than friendship?
Restart After Growing Hungry (Sequel)
Rating: Teen (13+)
Story and art by: Cocomi
Recommended for fans of: Romance, Slice of Life, Boys' Love
Read this if you're in the mood for: A touching romance about the journey to self-discovery
The direct sequel to Restart After Coming Back Home, the touching Boys' Love romance that inspired a hit live-action film!
Mitsuomi and Yamato fell for each other beneath the endless, unchanging countryside sky. Now, as the days go by in the small town where Mitsuomi was born and raised, and the foundling Yamato made his home, the two men are searching for the shape of their own happiness.
For Thrill Seekers
NEW! Island in a Puddle 1
Rating: Older Teen (15+)
Story and art by: Kei Sanbe
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Supernatural, Drama, Thriller
Read this if you're in the mood for: A psychological thriller of family and survival in a terrifying underworld
The latest manga series from Kei Sanbe, the master of suspense behind Erased, plunges an innocent young boy into Tokyo's criminal underworld, as he fights to keep his younger sister alive, and to return his soul to his own body!
A CHILDHOOD IN THE UNDERWORLD
Minato’s tiny apartment might as well be on a deserted island. Despite being in elementary school, it falls on his shoulders to care for his little sister Nagisa, who never stops asking when their mother will make one of her infrequent visits home. One day when she stops by, their mother takes them to an amusement park, only to give Minato some cash and leave them on the Ferris wheel. However, as they reach the top of the ride, lightning strikes their car—but what Minato finds when he awakens is not the grim tragedy he expected...
NEW! The Hellbound Vol. 1
Rating: Older Teen (15+)
Story, art, and design by: Yeon Sang-Ho, Choi Gyu-Seok
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Thrillers, Manhwa
Read this if you're in the mood for: Intense and heart-pounding horror
Available for the first time in English! Experience the heart-pounding horror of The Hellbound volume one by Yeon Sang-Ho, director of the international hit and cult favorite film Train to Busan and cartoonist Choi Gyu-Seok, creator of the acclaimed webtoon Songgot.
Fear and panic spread as a sinister phenomenon marks individuals for certain death.
One day, you will receive a message from an unknown sender. The message will only include your name, the fact that you are going to hell, and the time you have left to live. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide—no escape. When the time counts down to zero, supernatural beings manifest to condemn you to hell. As the nation falls into unrest, a new religious sect begins to interpret the bizarre occurrence as the will of the divine. Could this be a sign of something grander—a blessing in disguise, a holy reckoning, or an evil curse? Amid social chaos and increasing hysteria, the people must find a way to survive this inexplicable terror.
Now a Netflix series!
Deserter
Rating: Older Teen (15+)
Story and art by: Junji Ito
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Supernatural
Read this if you're in the mood: A hauntingly strange story collection of Ito's earliest work
An ever-increasing malice. A mind-numbing terror. The seeds of horror are sown in this collection of Junji Ito’s earliest works.
A vengeful family hides an army deserter for eight years after the end of World War II, cocooning him in a false reality where the war never ended. A pair of girls look alike, but they’re not twins. And a boy’s nightmare threatens to spill out into the real world…
Night of The Living Cat Vol. 01
Rating: Teen (13+)
Story, art, and design by:
Hawkman, Mecha-Roots
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Comedy, Fantasy, Dystopian
Read this if you're in the mood for: An cat-astrophe of viral proportions
A new horror/comedy about adorable threats in a post-apocalyptic world!
A virus spreads across the world, transforming all humankind into wild, slavering, furry beasts: cats, to be precise. Those few survivors who remain human take refuge in the dark corners of the earth as they fight back against the feline horde. Kunagi, a man with no memory of his past yet a deep knowledge of cats, struggles to hold on with only his wits and a will to survive.
Yet the virus transmits merely through cuddles, and Kunagi finds kitties so hard to resist! Is his willpower strong enough to withstand this hair-raising cat-tastrophe?
NEW! Be Very Afraid of Kanako Inuki!
Rating: Older Teen (15+)
Story, art, and design by: Kanako Inuki
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Comedy
Read this if you're in the mood for: Crying tears of laughter...and fear
From the mind of Japan’s “queen of horror manga” comes a short story collection sure to put a grin on your face and send a chill down your spine. Survive six of the author’s hand-picked scares, plus original commentary from the author.
Fans of Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, and Mermaid Saga, your collection isn't complete until you're very afraid of Kanako Inuki!
The six hair-raising stories selected for this collection feature an array of unnerving characters and scenarios brought to life in Inuki’s signature art style, in the tradition of Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, Shintaro Kago, and Junko Mizuno.
For Fantasy Lovers
SINoALICE 01
Rating: Mature (Adults-Only)
Story, art, and design by: Yoko Taro, Takuto Aoki, Himiko, Jino
Recommended for fans of: Horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Dystopian
Read this if you're in the mood for: The manga adaptation of a gory RPG that blurs the line between fantasy and reality
With creative direction and world-building by the inimitable Yoko Taro, the mind behind the NieR and Drakengard universes comes...
SINoAlice, a gorgeous and gory mobile RPG that blurs the line between dreams and reality, fairy tales and fact!
Everything about Alice—her family, her friends, her life, even her crush—is ordinary, no Wonderland to see here. But lately, her dreams have been anything but ordinary. While asleep, she finds herself interrogated by two creepy marionettes, their glass eyes peering into the darkest corners of her heart.
“What is it you desire?”
“What is it you wish to visit upon the world?”
Try as she might to ignore the dreams, Alice is drawn into their violent, twisted universe. As greed and desire begin to warp the ordinary reality she knows, Alice is thrust into a dark game of slaughter made for fairy-tale heroines who’ll stop at nothing to bring their creators back to life!
NEW! SHWD Vol. 1
Rating: Older Teen (15+)
Story and art by: Nagata Kabi
Recommended for fans of: Yuri/GL, Action-Adventure, Supernatural Fantasy
Read this if you're in the mood for: An office romance meets buddy cops meets yuri horror!
A hardboiled yuri tale about two special agent women fighting supernatural horrors!
Special Hazardous Waste Disposal (or SHWD) has a mission to destroy mysterious biological weapons left behind after the last war. Though SHWD mostly hires men, their newest recruit, Koga, a buff female operative, is assigned to Sawada, the only other woman in the Tokyo branch. Before long, Koga finds herself falling for Sawada, whose powerful psyche compliments Koga’s big muscles. Together, the unlikely duo must confront monsters beyond their wildest nightmares.
NEW! Tokyo Aliens 01
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Story and art by: NAOE
Recommended for fans of: Dystopian Fantasy, Action-Adventure, Sci-fi
Read this if you're in the mood for: An thrilling sci-fi fantasy
This thrilling sci-fi fantasy series welcomes you to Japan, a top ten destination for extraterrestrials looking for refuge, relaxation, a good time, or just to raise a little hell!
Join one unsuspecting Tokyoite as he discovers that intergalactic tourist relations can prove to be a lot more dangerous than they seem!
Shiny new high school first-year Akira is as ordinary as they come. He's awkward, has terrible grades, and loves manga. In fact, the only thing that really sets him apart from his peers is his staunch determination to follow in his late father's footsteps as a police officer.
But fate has its own plans for Akira. After witnessing a ferocious battle unfold between two strangers with unusual powers on the train—one of whom looks a lot like the tall, dark, and handsome kid in his grade—he finds himself kidnapped...by none other than an alien!
And as if being thrust into the occasionally violent and always complicated relations between humans and aliens wasn't mind-boggling enough, nothing can prepare Akira for learning the truth about his beloved father...
For Feel-Good Fans
NEW! Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 1
Rating: Teen (13+)
Story and art by: Negi Haruba
Recommended for fans of: Action-Adventure, Sci-fi Fantasy, Comedy
Read this if you're in the mood for: An anti-hero Power Rangers-style adventure!
Attention kaiju and sentai fans! From the creator of The Quintessential Quintuplets comes a new "anti-ranger" action-comedy that'll make you root for the alien invaders! Perfect for fans of Kaiju No. 8 and Power Rangers.!
For Adrenaline Fans (Action-Adventure)
NEW! Dragon Ball Super Vol. 17
Rating: Teen (13+)
Story by: Akira Toriyama
Art by: Toyotarou
Recommended for fans of: Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Shonen, Comedy, Battle
Read this if you're in the mood for: Classic super hero battles with equal parts action and comedy
Jump into Goku's latest adventure in this beloved classic Shonen!
Ever since Goku became Earth’s greatest hero and gathered the seven Dragon Balls to defeat the evil Boo, his life on Earth has grown a little dull. But new threats loom overhead, and Goku and his friends will have to defend the planet once again in this continuation of Akira Toriyama’s best-selling series, Dragon Ball!
The battle between Granolah, Goku, and Vegeta continues on planet Cereal. Despite this battle being fueled by the lies and manipulation of the Heeters, Granolah’s burning drive for revenge has him convinced that this is a fight worth dying for—and that’s exactly what the Heeters want.
Sensing something is amiss, Vegeta begins to piece together the mystery of why Granolah hates the Saiyans so much. But will he be able to figure out the truth in time? And will Granolah even be willing to listen?!
NEW! ATOM: The Begining Vol. 1
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Story and art by: Osamu Tezuka, Tetsuro Kasahara, Masami Yuuki
Recommended for fans of: Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Mecha
Read this if you're in the mood for: An enthralling prequel to the world-famous Astro Boy series
ATOM: The Beginning is an aesthetically striking series that blazes its own trail and also speaks to fans of the iconic Astro Boy and God of Manga Osamu Tezuka.
It’s a story chock-full of both heart and humor for fans of action-packed science fiction, robots, and manga. ATOM: The Beginning is an original manga based on the God of Manga Osamu Tezuka’s world-famous series Astro Boy. It works both as a prequel to the original series, telling the stories of the developers of the artificial intelligence that would eventually give birth to the iconic Atom, and as a stand-alone sci-fi manga about the turbulent lives of two robotic engineering students and their latest revolutionary project: the unassuming yet insanely strong A106, or “Six.”