Written and illustrated by the mangaka Yukinobu Tatsu, Dandadan is a hilariously thrilling series that combineshigh-quality comedy, the supernatural, and the occult into one big adventure. The series follows the central characters: Momo Ayase, a high school girl who believes in the reality of ghosts but not aliens, and Ken Takakura, nicknamed Okarun, her classmate, who believes in the existence of aliens but not ghosts.
The story takes a quick turn when both characters, after an unlucky encounter, decide to make a bet to disprove the other’s beliefs. The bet becomes meaningless when the pair realises that aliens and ghosts exist. What begins as nothing more than a speculative bet snowballs into full-blown alien adventures andsomewhat occultic exorcisms. However, this piece concerns other mangas, which, although different, possess apparent similarities with the Dandadan series. Therefore, below are the best manga out there, just like Dandadan.
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.0 / 5
Undead Unluckpresentsan unlikely taleabout two unlikely people. The story revolves around the central characters: Fuuko Izumo, an unlucky girl who accidentally kills people due to an ability called Unluck, and Andy, a man who wishes to die but somehow can’t. The duo meet in an unlikely encounter and end up using each other as test subjects, mainly with Andy on the receiving end due to his obsession with death.
However, things get complicated when the pair discover a secret organisation is hunting them. Targeted by an unknown organisation for whatever reasons, Andy’s death plans are put on hold until they can find whoever put a target on their backs.
9Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.4 / 5
Toilet-bound Hanako-Kunfires off on all its supernatural cylinders in this comedic tale. The series focuses on the mysterious Hanako-Kun, one of the most famous mysteries of the ‘Seven Mysteries’ of the Kamome Academy: the legend of the ghost of a young girl who haunts the girl’s bathroom and can supposedly grant any wish her summoner wants.
The story’s protagonist, Nene Yashiro, tries to test the rumours and summons Hanako to fulfil her wish for love. However, a slight problem exists: the Hanako that appears before she is a boy, not a girl. After a confusing interaction between the pair and a mistake out of frustration, Hanako-Kun and Nene’s fates are bound together. Thus, an unlikely adventure into the supernatural of Kamome Academy begins.
8Dorohedoro
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3 / 5
Comedy and horror do not come better than in theDorohedoroseries. The story takes root in thepost-apocalyptic cityof Hale, a town where the efficacy of magic can only be measured by how many people it can kill or disfigure. The series revolves around the central character, Kaiman, a regular human with the head of a lizard due to the curse of an unknown sorcerer.
Determined to break his curse, Kaiman teams up with his friend, Nikaido, to search for the one responsible for his lizard head. However, undoing a curse is a lot harder than it is to do one. With no memories of the person responsible, Kaiman finds biting off the heads of others to be better than simply asking strangers whether or not they are responsible for his curse.
7Blood Blockade Battlefront
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.9 / 5
Blood Blockade Battlefrontpresents a post-apocalyptic world where the supernatural and the unexplainable are the norms of society. The story takes place in unsurprising Hellsalem’s Lot, formerly New York City, which houses all of the unthinkable and the unimaginable. The protagonist, Leonardo Watch, is a teenage boy with a photography hobby whose life could be considered normal even by Hellsalem’s standards.
However, Leonardo’s normalcy gets thrown out the window when he somehow receives the “All-seeing Eyes of The Gods” at the price of his sister’s eyesight. Desperate to help his sister retrieve her eyes, Leonardo finds his way into Hellsalem’s Lot to look for help, leading him to Libra. This organisation specialises in undertaking requests like Leonardo’s. However, what starts as a simple plea for help snowballs into a series of adventures that sees Leonardo join the organisation and, most importantly, help his sister.
6Platinum End
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.5 / 5
Platinum Endfollows the sad but curious life of its protagonist, Mirai Kakehashi, a young boy who has led a pretty miserable life following the death of his parents and suffering abuse from his relatives, of whom he is in their care. Due to having no positive attachments to anyone in his life, Mirai attempts on the evening of his middle school graduation but is saved by a girl, Nasse, who claims to be his guardian angel and has come to give him happiness.
After saving him, Nasse grants Mirai supernatural powers that come with a chance to become the new god. However, to become the new god, he must defeat all other god candidates like himself in 999 days. What was supposed to give him happiness quickly turns into a scrappy survival battle royale between himself and the other candidates vying for the position of god.
5Gantz
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.1 / 5
Gantzpresents a rather unsettling narrative and not in the funny kind like we are used to in Dandadan. The series revolves around the protagonist, Kei Kurono, a somewhat cynical and cocky high school student with a surprisingly low amount of regard for others. However, even more surprising is when he is convinced by his friend, Kato, to save a homeless drunk on the subway tracks. Kei’s good deed receives an instant reward when he and Kato are both beheaded by the oncoming train.
Death, however, is far from the pair, as they awaken to a mysterious room, overshadowed by the presence of a mysterious black sphere known as Gantz. This begins the nightmare of their existence and the hellish Gantz game, a game in which the participants are tasked with eliminating aliens in battles. The catch, however, is that the participants' lives are worth next to nothing. Therefore, Kei and Kato must find ways to survive, even if it’s the last thing they do.
4Choujin X
Choujin Xexplores the supernatural alongside the ordinary in this thrilling series. The story follows the trouble-ridden lives of best friends Tokio and Azuma, who manage to do everything together. While Tokio always seems like the odd one out, Azuma seems the more assured one.
However, they have just one rule: don’t mess with the Choujin. Unfortunately, the pair run into one, and things get even worse when Tokio somehow turns into a choujin himself and grows a beak. It turns out that being a superhuman creature is not as cool as it sounds. Tokio must find a way to hide his new appearance from his family while also trying to find a way to deal with the increase in mysterious incidents around the town.
3Mob Psycho 100
Mob Psycho 100is on the lighter note of the supernatural genre while maintaining action levels only a few mangas can dream of. The series presents a world where psychokinesis is really a norm and follows the life of the central character, Shigeo Kageyama, also known as Mob, as he learns of his psychic abilities from a very young age but struggles with controlling them.
By trying to impress his long-time crush, Tsubomi, Mob becomes an apprentice of the self-proclaimed exorcist Arataka Reigen, who is nothing more than a con artist. Reigen exploits Mob to stay in business, but his psychic powers are so vast that he runs the risk of going on a rampage should he be provoked enough. With an unrequited love interest and the daily routine of psychic monsters, Mob runs a faster risk oflosing control of his emotionsand powers.
2Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Manbrings the horror of devils and evil to life. Unlike Dandadan, the series focuses all its attention on the devils, precisely the Chainsaw devil. The series revolves around the protagonist, Denji, who only wishes to live a happy and peaceful life with a girl he likes. However, his reality could not be any farther from this, as he has spent most of his life as a hunting dog for the Yakuza after inheriting a mountain of debt from his father.
Alongside his pet devil, Pochita, Denji kills devils for a living, that is until the Yakuza decide he has outlived his usefulness and brutally murdered him. Unexpectedly, Pochita merges with Denji, who is on the brink of death and grants him the power of a chainsaw devil. Denji quickly kills off his enemies, but in the aftermath of his rampage, he gets a job atthe Public Safety Bureauas a Devil hunter. With not much of a life going for him, Denji accepts the job and the new life it comes with.
1Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisenpresents a world where the supernatural/occultic is layered over regular society, and the lines that separate both seem to get blurryer by the day. In a world where supernatural monsters classified as Curses are rampant, the only effective measures against these monsters are powerful humans known as Jujutsu sorcerers. The story follows the enigmatic Yuuji Itadori, who plunges head first into the jujutsu world after he somehow contrives to consume a finger ofthe most powerful curseand jujutsu sorcerer in history, Ryoumen Sukuna, in a bid to protect himself from a curse.
By doing so, Yuuji unwittingly releases Sukuna into the world once again, as the latter finds him a suitable host. While Yuuji can confine Sukuna to his body, housing Sukuna places a target of execution on Yuujis back. A target that he can only escape with the help of Satoru Gojo, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the current era.
