Let us begin this list with a literal dark series. Battle Royale is well known in the manga and film world as being a visceral story of government control and horror on the level of psychological/gore. Starting off as a novel, Battle Royale shares a situation with Bloody Monday throwing teens into a deadly game of survival, but in this case on a whole new level. Now we shall help you better understand why this is easily one of the best manga series of all time and a great fix after Bloody Monday’s story ends.

In an alternative modern day Japan, once every year a random high school schoolers are put into a deadly game thanks to the government’s ideologies and controlling ways. Following Shiroiwa Junior High’s Class B, we see firsthand students having to kill each other till one victor survives. Kazuo, our main character within the story must survive against those he once thought of as his classmates and friends all while learning the truth behind how these games work. With beautiful and gore filled illustrations done by illustrator Taguchi Masayuki and a wonderfully crafted story by Mangaka Takami, Koushun leads to one of this generation’s best manga series ever. Now go forth and read this survival tale of Class B, you’ll thank us later.

While Bloody Monday may have moments of crises as characters struggle to stop nefarious plots against mankind, it also has romantic elements with some of the main characters of the series. Embedded into this mystery and horror plot is a tale about a young woman who deals with various issues from death to murder. Motto Ikitai is a literal collogue of genres that meld to create a beautifully crafted story one that mimics the complexities that is Bloody Monday’s plot. Despite this, you may wonder what is Motto, Ikitai and is it really worthy of being on this list. Honey’s Anime has got you covered with that without spoiling anything obviously.

Mayumi has learned at an early age that life doesn’t hold your hand especially after her parents died in a terrible car accident. Several years passed and Mayumi sister ends up entangled in an odd slew of incidents where people lose body parts without suffering death or blood loss. Mayumi finds herself teaming up with her sister’s ex-boyfriend to solve these cases before any more damage can be dealt, but the question remains is he truly innocent or is there more to this story than either can imagine. As stated before this amalgam of a story will remind you heavily of Bloody Monday as Mayumi solves this case of horror and mystery like, trust us sometimes horror can be just not knowing what awaits on the next page,

Manhole in many ways is the more realistic take of Bloody Monday. Instead of teenagers dealing with biological attacks and murder cases, we have a group of adult detectives who must face the issues at hand. Tsutsui Tetsuya crafts a very adult like world that harkens to older cop dramas from both film and television. This is all done while having a very rich manga feel. The characters themselves such as the main lead Mizoguchi Ken have very realistic art to further keep the readers glued to the page of this short but sweet three volume work.

While Manhole may seem so far from Bloody Monday’s obscene tale of a hacker versus hidden threats, the whole biological concept in Manhole has a more real sense of plausibility. Characters feel realistic and the plot moves at a nice pace allowing readers to understand what is going on without much issue but still having that mystery element to keep them guessing. By the end of Manhole you’ll be left feeling satisfied seeing the conclusion of the detective’s battle against small leads and following the clues that lead to the eventual surprises and twists that will cement a place of being an honest to god great murder mystery story. We will say the ending, without spoiling anything because that would destroy any great murder mystery, was very surprising. All in all Manhole will be a story you’ll enjoy and feel by the end as if you finally removed the manhole over you showing you finally the truth hidden from the dark plot.

Now most of this list so far has dealt with various issues similar to Bloody Monday in terms of organized terrorism and biological outbreaks. However, Emerging deals solely with what would happen if Japan was dealt the blow of a viral outbreak in today’s culture. Sekiguchi, Onodera and Misaki are character we see dealing with the reality of this happening. People are dying and getting affected around them leaving them trying to survive and deal with the way people would react. With all this being said however, what is actually so impressive about Emerging exactly? Glad you asked, let us examine that further.

Emerging is, at heart, a true horror experience. As the main characters deal with the weird virus and its effects, the reader will have to deal with several emotions most likely going through them. Readers will be asking where did the virus come from, how can it be cured, and is this really what would happen in the modern age? Hokazono Masaya really created a true horror story that isn’t about demons or creatures but an actual real life possibility of viral scales. Emerging looks very impressive too as it uses people who can almost be straight from modern day life. At the end of the day, readers will probably feel just a tad more paranoid when seeing someone cough nearby after reading this manga. You don’t have to thank us for that extra bit of paranoia either, you’re welcome.

Have you’ve ever played a game of who’s the spy? The game is simple, you and others pick an occupation or job while one of you is considered a spy and it’s up to the others to figure that out before time runs out. Bloody Monday has some very detailed moments of who is good and who is bad and Doubt is even more similar however minus the viruses. Crafted by the mangaka Tonogai Yoshiki you may wonder how can a game called rabbit doubt be mystery or psychological? Well, we will explain why don’t judge everything by how it sounds.

In a modern day Japan, there’s a game going around called Rabbit Doubt. Players assume the role of either rabbits or the wolf. The rabbit is simple, survive. Meanwhile the wolf’s job is to work its way into the rabbit groups and tag them out. However, our story changes greatly when we follow a group of friends who are forced to play an advanced version of the game by playing in reality and the wolf murders one of the people. Now the friends will have to play a deadly version of this normal game otherwise they will find themselves dead and out of the game permanently. If you want a horror story that isn’t labeled as one because it messes constantly with your sense of who’s who, then you’ll enjoy Doubt greatly…who knew a simple game could be like this?

Concluding this list of manga like Bloody Monday is a title known by many but still missed by some. Liar Game by Mangaka Kaitani Shinobu takes the elements of Bloody Monday and meshes them more into a game scenario. While on paper, Liar Game seems to be just a big story of telling lies to cause others to lose money, the simplicity is a nice illusion to the dark tale of a cruel money game. Nice illustrations that have a unique style and a decently long story make this a good manga to wrap up this list. Now sit down and read why Liar’s game is so well known in the manga world.

Kanzaki Nao is thrown into a game called the Liar Game. Players are given a large sum of money and through whatever means must fool others into spending that money. Nao didn’t ask to be a participant but was thrown into this game and immediately loses to another player. Akiyama Shinichi, an ex con who uses dubious tactics to win against a whole organization, ends up meeting Nao and the two work together to take down other players. However, can she trust him in a game all about mass deception? You’ll have to read the story for the answers. Fans of Bloody Monday’s mystery game will love this series as it plays a similar game of who can you trust…