Crafted for a slightly more adult audience thanthe typical shonen manga, seinen encompasses a wide range of media that isn’t limited to one specific genre. Manga belonging to this category can be romance, slice of life, action, or even horror. They’re just written for a more mature audience in general.
A year of progress for many within the entertainment world, 2024 has seen more manga published than ever before. Narrowing down the most compelling and interesting manga of the year can be difficult when the catalog is so full, but truly great manga stand out from the crowd one way or another.
8Kikori’s Otherworldy Tales
Simple but Charming Isekai
Kikori’s Otherworldly Talesis asimple but charming isekaithat doesn’t shove the fact that it’s an isekai down your throat, rather reveals the details of the main character’s backstory in small snippets. The world ofKikori’s Otherworldly Talesis gritty, but the characters that the main character encounters are, for the most part, kind and warm people who do their best to help him as much as possible.
The main character ends up as a mage, and exploring the magic system through him is an interesting endeavor. Admittedly, the world that the manga is set in is also quite interesting, with bits of lore and story organically revealing interesting facts that hook the viewer into that realm.
7My Fiancee Is So Mean
Love Was Never Dead
An arranged marriage plotlinewhere both the characters are actually in love with one another but can’t communicate properly,My Fiancee Is So Meanis by no means a revolutionary idea. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining. In fact, it stands on the shoulders of its predecessors and utilizes the tropes of the genre to better the story as much as possible.
Romance is a hard genre to write, and specific subtypes of the genre call to different kinds of people, making niche communities that largely stay within their beloved space.My Fiancee Is So Meanmanages to integrate many tropes simultaneously, creating a beautiful blend that is sure to appeal to a wider audience without losing the charm of the subgenres that it utilizes so well.
6Kaijuu Kamui
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Kaijuu Kamuiis a manga set in a world where the world has started to come acrossgiant monsters that seek to destroy civilization, and most, if not all, of their weapons fail to stop them. Airplanes are thrown at the monsters, missiles are launched, and bombs of all variety are exploded, all to little effect. Finally, the nuclear option is explored, barely managing to contain the catastrophe.
Utilizing the very monsters that attempt to annihilate humanity, the military creates a unit that can be controlled via a direct neural connection, which is given to the main character, a particularly talented pilot whose mission in life is to fight against the invading Kaijuus. The story is very obviously influenced byNeon Genesis Evangelion, but it is done quite well.
5Demon Lord of “Yashiro”
Cute and Wholesome
The demon lord is real, and they are ready to wreak havoc on the world, destroy civilization, and get up to all thecomically evil things that demon lords get up to,as soon as they can convince this modern office worker to undo their seal.
Demon Lord of “Yashiro”follows a simple yet charming working woman who goes through all the trials and tribulations that a normal worker would, but has to deal with the reality of cute chibi all-powerful demon lord attempting to earn her favor. This manga is a light-hearted comedy with the punchline of most jokes being a cute demonic girl acting both cute and demonic at the same time. In other words, it is peak.
4Two Rabbit Exorcists
Gorey and Action-Packed
Obviously inspired by the world ofChainsaw Man,Two Rabbit Exorciststakes all the best elements ofthe demon hunting trope, adds a certain drama to the mix, and mixes everything alongside some stunning mood-fitting art that makes for a fantastic read.
The story follows two exorcists who go around, well, exorcising evil spirits, all in an attempt to find the evil spirit that caused a disaster in their past. One is ready to move on, while the other is stuck in the past, vying for revenge. The dynamic between these two characters and the clash of their respective ideologies makes this a particularly interesting manga to read.
3Ice Core Meteoria
Steampunk Coming-Of-Age Story
Steam technology has a kind of charmthat has bewitched people across the ages, with steampunk imagery becoming a central part of the collective consciousness.Ice Core Meteoriacrystallizes that exact mania to build a living breathing world and crafts an interesting story within that setting.
The story follows a simple miner who studies diligently, hoping to reach the higher strata of society and pay back his benefactor. He encounters a mysterious creature while mining with his coworkers and gets drafted into a high-tech research institution where he attempts to climb the ladder with his intellect and hard work.
2Death Preparation Hero
The Melancholy of a Dying Breath
When the hero finishes his journey, defeats the demon lord, and gets to live out his happily ever after, the world doesn’t stop moving. In fact, humans age, and the hero is no exception. Nearing an age where he feels he doesn’t have long to live anymore; the main character ofDeath Preparation Herosets out on a final quest to tie off all the loose ends he’s left over his many years of adventuring and deal with all the hazardous treasures he’s gathered as well.
The simple art of the manga bellies a beautifully melancholic and moving story that focuses on the “Shuukatsu,” i.e.,Death Preparation, of a hero in the last stages of his life. With this premise, the story takes the viewer on a journey that they are not likely to forget soon.
1Tonari No Jii-san
Eerie Horror Vibes
Tonari No Jii-sanis adisturbing horror mangathat captures the feeling of loneliness and the eerie horror of knowing that something is wrong, with everyone around you completely oblivious to the wrongness of the world.
The manga has incredible art, a fantastic vibe, and showcases everything that a horror manga should strive to be. It is inarguably going to be a sensation when the story gathers more steam and people start finding out about it in a few months.
