Horror manga is actually one of the smallest genres in the medium, though it has become incredibly popular in recent years. With mangaka like Junji Ito becoming a huge hit in pop culture and fan-favorite anime series like Tokyo Ghoul and Parasyte, horror manga is getting a bit more notoriety from audiences all over the world.
However, a lot of horror manga are more on a psychological level or are gory masterpieces filled with yandere or dark themes, which leaves the horror genre as a wide umbrella that has very little actual horror within. For example, popular isekai anime Re: Zero is sometimes considered a horror series even though most horror fans would never lump it in with the genre. Here are 10 of the scariest and eeriest monsters in actual horror manga.
10 Parasyte
Parasyte is one of the manga and anime series that started the fascination with horror in the genre, and the monsters within this series are truly horrifying. In this manga, parasites from another planet come to invade earth and take over human hosts in order to eat.
In a miscalculation, the main character of the series ends up getting chosen as a host, but his parasite ends up attaching itself to his hand rather than his brain. The two form an unlikely bond in which they must protect one another in order to survive and defeat the horrors invading the world. The parasitic humans are truly horrifying and will do just about anything to consume and perpetuate their kind.
9 The Licking Woman
The Licking Woman was created by famed horror mangaka Junji Ito and it is probably one of his most disturbing stories. In a small town in Japan, there have been reports of a woman running around the streets at night, licking anyone she comes in contact with. Her tongue is large and extremely weird, and, whenever she licks someone, they end up being poisoned shortly after. If not treated quickly enough, the poison can kill.
The Licking Woman features some truly horrific panels, and the details of her tongue alone are the stuff of nightmares. This short story will make you reconsider walking home alone at night.
8 I Am A Human
This zombie-themed horror manga is not the run-of-the-mill zombie apocalypse story. The zombies are utterly grotesque and somehow brought to life in the black and white pages of the manga in a way more mortifying than what most anime could capture. The zombies in this story are utterly horrifying and end up mutating over time to become even more grotesque.
On top of that, the main character becomes a bit deluded and starts seeing things that aren't there. His mind creates truly horrific cosmic horror monsters that look straight out of a Junji Ito story.
7 The Hanging Balloon
The Hanging Balloons, also known as The Hanging Blimp, is another popular Junji Ito story with a truly horrific plot. In this story, giant human heads with long ropes attached to them and nooses at the end start invading Japan, desperately searching for the human that their face belongs to.
The balloons seem to share the same voice and memories as their human counterpart, but they have only one goal: to kill their human. This story is truly horrifying because it seems like there is no end, no escape. The balloons will do anything and wait however long is needed to in order to claim their prey. If they don't look scary now, just wait until there's a body hanging from their rope.
6 Seeds Of Anxiety
Seeds of Anxiety (Fuan no Tane in Japanese) is a horror manga consisting of 16 chapters. This manga has a number of utterly terrifying creatures that are brought to life through the artist's art style. Sometimes, the creatures will have dramatic black detailing to make the creatures look utterly horrifying, but other times they will be simply drawn that make them equally as scary.
This manga is filled with tiny one-shot stories of unfortunate characters wandering into true horrors. It will make readers think about just how easily they can be one of the characters in this story.
5 Mimi's Ghost Stories
Mimi's Ghost Stories is a compilation of six short stories that all revolve around a young woman named Mimi. Mimi is a pretty normal girl who just keeps managing to find herself in these surreal and horrifying situations.
In the first story, "The Woman Next Door," Mimi lives next to a mysterious woman, clad in black and always hiding every part of herself behind gloves, scarves, and glasses. One day, Mimi catches sight of the woman to discover some pretty inhuman like qualities. The only thing is, the woman catches sight of Mimi back. Each of Mimi's tales just makes it feel like she is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and each story in this collection is truly horrifying.
4 Parlor Woman
Parlor Woman, also known as Zashiki Onna in Japanese is a truly horrifying tale because of how real it all feels. This story doesn't have any horrific monsters, it just has a very tall and creepy woman. The woman is a stalker, and, after what is a very dumb maneuver, the main character ends up giving the stalker the key to his house and becomes entangled with her to the point where she has now focused her sights on him.
The way the woman is drawn is truly horrific and is reminiscent of some of Junji Ito's work, especially his short story, "Fashion Model." This story covers the very real experience of being the subject of obsession and what the woman does in order to keep the main character to herself.
3 The Human Chair
The Human Chair is a short story illustrated by Junji Ito but based on the story of the same name by Edogawa Ranpo. Though the chair isn't exactly a monster, it will completely leave readers traumatized to ever sit in a lazy boy chair again.
This story is about a young woman who goes to a furniture shop in search of a comfortable chair so that she can write without pain. The furniture store owner ends up telling her the twisted tale of a woman who had purchased a chair for the same reason only to discover that an obsessed man had found a way to sit within the chair under the woman. This story gets incredibly creepy very fast, and the last panel will leave a chill down your spine unlike any other.
2 Kouishou Rajio
This story is an anthology of extremely short horror stories, some that connect, but many that don't. The stories are so short that they have a similar feel to "one sentence horror stories." The horrors are never explained, but every single monster in this manga is truly and utterly horrifying.
It plays on the audiences' fears, things horror fans may think of randomly, such as someone lurking in the dark. Many of the stories are so short that readers don't even know what happens to the innocent bystanders who act as the main characters after the horror panel is revealed. It acts as a great introduction to jump scares in manga and will leave readers totally horrified.
1 Hideout
Hideout seems to be an underappreciated masterpiece. This horror story is so well drawn that readers will feel the utter darkness that envelops the characters. The inking in this story is superb and almost seem like incredible works of photography rather than manga.
The story follows a man who gets himself lost in a cave after killing his wife, but he isn't alone in the cave and something truly horrifying is keeping him there. The art difference between the cave dwellers and the main character is so strikingly different that it will make all readers feel like they just got locked in the cave, as well.