10 Best Lovecraftian Manga That Feel Absolutely Cursed

It’s impossible to talk about modern fiction without mentioning the influence of H.P. Lovecraft. The iconic designs of his monsters and the themes accompanying them have been used in countless stories over the years, horror or otherwise, and even in stories that aren’t focused on the supernatural, his themes of the alien and the unknown are still pervasive.

The themes and overall hallmarks of H.P. Lovecraft are prevalent in all forms of fiction, and anime and manga are no exception. Manga has always been an excellent medium for supernatural horror stories, and whether it’s through character designs or in how they execute horror elements, many excellent manga do a great job of utilizing the themes and imagery that made H.P. Lovecraft one of the most influential authors in history.

The legacy of Lovecraft’s work cannot be understated, and a few manga have done an incredible job of adapting his unique style into wholly unique stories.

10

Nyaruko: Crawling With Love Has A Hilarious Take On The Lovecraft Mythos

Published in Miracle Jump; based on the light novel by Manta Aisora

In Manta Aisora’s Nyaruko: Crawling with Love, all the horrific creatures of H.P. Lovecraft’s works are real, but in this series, they’re all goofy, adorable, humanoid aliens. Nyaruko, the real-life Nyarlathotep, is an agent of the Space Defense Agency sent to Earth to deal with alien traffickers, and while there, she’ll find herself getting immersed in anime culture and trying to earn the love of Lovecraft enthusiast Mahiro Yasaka.

Nyaruko: Crawling with Love is nothing like a typical Lovecraftian story, but it’s a fun read, nonetheless. Not only is the comedy always on point and still manages to hold up after over a decade, but the anthropomorphism of Lovecraftian beings into cute anime characters always gives Nyaruko: Crawling with Love a great sense of parody. Overall, it’s a thoughtful and lighthearted love letter to H.P. Lovecraft, and even people who aren’t fans of his work can get a lot out of it.

9

Mieruko-Chan Is Horror Comedy At Its Finest

Published on Comic Walker; written by Tomoki Izumi

Tomoki Izumi’s Mieruko-chan stars Miko Yotsuya, a high school girl with the ability to see ghosts and spirits, but always pretends not to see them because of how much they horrify her. Nevertheless, Miko’s abilities still lead to her being involved in one supernatural event after another, many of which put her and others at great risk of physical and spiritual harm.

Mieruko-chan does a great job of playing into the themes of a Lovecraftian story. Not only are the monster designs consistently horrific and often include tentacles, Mieruko-chan also does a great job of emphasizing the horror element of dealing with things the human mind can’t possibly comprehend, something that’s always at the core of a great Lovecraftian story. Despite leaning into comedy, Mieruko-chan always knows when to flex its horror roots, and that makes it great for any fans of H.P. Lovecraft.

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8

Dark Gathering Is The Perfect Fusion Of Horror & Action

Published in Jump Square; written by Kenichi Kondo

Kenichi Kondo’s Dark Gathering follows Keitaro Gentoga, a college student who gained the ability to sense spirits after being cursed by one as a child. Keitaro just wants to live a normal life, but a tutoring job brings him into contact with Yayoi Hozuki, a young girl with similar supernatural abilities who uses them to capture and enslave violent spirits so Yayoi can eventually defeat the spirit that stole her mother’s soul, and much to Keitaro’s dismay, he gets dragged into the dangerous and horrifying battles she undergoes for her mission.

Horrific imagery is a big part of a good Lovecraftian story, and Dark Gathering has that in spades. Every chapter of Dark Gathering features horrific character designs and body horror for every monstrous spirit that appears, all of which is further emphasized by Kenichi Kondo’s incredible artwork and paneling. Dark Gathering never fails to sell itself as one of the best horror manga around, and that perfectly plays into the core of Lovecraftian fiction.

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7

Delicious In Dungeon Excellently Pivots Into Cosmic Horror In Its Final Act

Published in Harta; Written by Ryoko Kui

Ryoko Kui’s Delicious in Dungeon opens with the adventuring party of series protagonist Laios being wiped out by a dragon and Laios’ sister, Falin, being eaten alive. What’s left of Laios’ party must hurry back through the dungeon to revive Falin, but they lack the funds a party would normally need to do so. Laios’ solution, much to everyone’s chagrin, is for them to eat the monsters they encounter in the dungeon, although for Laios, it’s less a survival tactic and more a dream of his he finally gets to fulfill.

While Delicious in Dungeon is mostly a straightforward fantasy comedy, its final arc deals with Lovecraftian themes thanks to the main villain, the Winged Lion. While initially presented as just a powerful monster, the Winged Lion is actually the physical personification of the dimension of mana that feeds on desire, and once he starts taking an active role in the plot, horrific and esoteric imagery almost always accompanies him. That sort of alien and incomprehensible characterization is very Lovecraftian, and it makes Delicious in Dungeon great for any fans of the genre, even if there isn’t a lot to see.

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6

Attack On Titan Perfectly Uses The Horror Of The Unknown

Published in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine; written by Hajime Isayama

Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan is set in a world where the remnants of humanity have spent a century living behind giant walls to protect themselves from giant monsters called Titans. When the Titans finally break through the walls one day, the young Eren Yeager, forced to watch his mother being devoured by a Titan, swears to kill every last one of them, and his journey to do so reveals truths about himself and the world he never could have imagined.

While Attack on Titan might not appear to have a lot of Lovecraftian elements, it actually does a great job of playing into the genre. Not only do the Titans often provide some truly horrific imagery, but the alien nature of the Titans in Attack on Titan and how seemingly invincible they are is very in line with Lovecraftian stories, as those tend to involve beings who are horrific by existing on an incomprehensible scale compared to humanity. Those elements become less prevalent over time, but they never fully go away, and Attack on Titan is all the better for it.

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5

Dandadan Never Fails To Sell The Horrific Nature Of Its Story

Published in Shōnen Jump+; Written by Yukinobu Tatsu

Yukinobu Tatsu’s Dandadan stars Momo and Okarun, two teenagers who believe in ghosts and aliens, respectively, but not the other, and an attempt to prove the existence of both leaves the two of them with supernatural abilities. Momo and Okarun, along with an ever-growing group of people with similar abilities, must now continually fight off alien and supernatural threats, during which a romance between the two of them slowly begins to develop.

Dandadan is a fairly new manga, but it still does an incredible job of delivering horrific imagery. Not only does it feature some of the best art of any manga in recent years, but Dandadan’s striking character designs and style of horror always works to emphasize the horrific and incomprehensible nature of its monsters, something that’s always a key component in the best Lovecraftian fiction around. The series always does an incredible job of showcasing how horrifying the unknown can be, and the scale at which it does only ever seem to escalate with each new story arc.

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4

Tomie Did A Great Job Kickstarting Junji Ito’s Mastery Of Horror

Published in Monthly Halloween & Nemuki; Written by Junji Ito

Junji Ito’s Tomie is an anthology series centered around Tomie Kawakami, a mysterious and beautiful girl who can always be identified by her black hair and the beauty mark under her left eye. In reality, Tomie is a monster of unknown origin who drives people insane with their obsession with her until she’s killed by her thralls, only for Tomie to come back by either regenerating her body or infecting someone with her blood and turning them into a clone of her and starting the whole process over again simply because it amuses her.

Tomie was the work that kickstarted Junji Ito’s legendary career in horror fiction, and like many of his stories, there are very clear Lovecraftian elements at play. Not only does every story in the anthology feature truly gruesome and haunting imagery from its titular villain, but the way that Tomie is characterized as an alien being whose mere existence drives people mad is pure Lovecraftian, as that sort of writing is very common in H.P. Lovecraft’s works. Tomie might not be the most polished of Junji Ito’s works, but it’s still a masterclass in horror over 30 years later.

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3

Soul Eater Perfectly Explores The Idea Of Pure Madness

Published in Monthly Shōnen Gangan; written by Atsushi Ohkubo

Atsushi Ohkubo’s Soul Eater is set in a world where people called Meisters work in tandem with people who can transform into weapons to hunt down monsters around the world. Among those monsters, the most dangerous are the ones who can infect people with madness on both a physical and mental level, with one monster, the Kishin Asura, radiating such madness that his very existence can infect the entire planet.

While Soul Eater might be a largely standard shōnen manga, it still incorporates a lot of elements of Lovecraftian fiction. Soul Eater, like H.P. Lovecraft’s works, makes a recurring theme out of madness and beings who instill it into others just by existing, and it’s to the point that the final battle is all about sealing away the main villain before his madness infects the world. Several characters in Soul Eater even directly reference Lovecraft by being called “Great Old Ones”, so it was very clearly an influence on the writing, and that was handled to tremendous effect.

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2

Gou Tanabe Perfectly Adapted One Of H.P. Lovecraft’s Best Stories

Published in Comic Beam; based on the novella by H.P. Lovecraft

Gou Tanabe is a mangaka with a penchant for monster stories who, while having created several original works, is best known for his adaptations of various stories by H.P. Lovecraft. One of his most famous adaptations is the adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness which, just like the original novella, tells the story of explorers in Antarctica uncovering an ancient civilization older than humanity and the bizarre beings who called it home.

At the Mountains of Madness is one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most iconic stories, and Gou Tanabe did a perfect job of bringing it to life. The incredible detail of Gou Tanabe’s artwork not only captures every intricacy of H.P. Lovecraft’s ingenious horror writing, but it also does an amazing job of modernizing how so many iconic monsters would be expected to look. Gou Tanabe is hardly the first person to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’s work into comic form, but he’s arguably the best person to ever do so.

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1

Berserk Is Still A Masterclass In Fantasy Horror

Published in Young Animal; created by Kentaro Miura

Kentaro Miura’s Berserk tells the story of Guts, a man who was forced to watch someone he once revered kill all of their friends to join the demonic God Hand and physically and emotionally destroy the woman he loves. Now, wielding a giant sword that’s more like a giant hunk of iron, Guts travels the world hunting the God Hand and their Apostles to get his revenge, all while the world slowly becomes twisted by the God Hand’s various plots.

Berserk has had one of the most enduring legacies of any manga, and the Lovecraftian horror elements of its world have played a big part in that. Not only are the designs of the God Hand and Apostles both horrific and alien, but Berserk’s exploration into how its monsters damage the world simply by existing is incredibly Lovecraftian, especially with regard to the scale at which it happens. Add in a consistently gorgeous art style over the past 40 years, and Berserk easily stands as one of the best Lovecraftian manga, if not the best.

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