The manga market in Japan is a real industry. There are hundreds of stories published every year — and that number is constantly growing, as there is always a new title reaching the pages of magazines. Not to mention those works that are released directly to the internet and that help make the entire Japanese publishing sector an unparalleled power.
And of course we think about One Piece, Dragon Ball, Kimetsu no Yaiba and other successful manga, but the truth is that this sea of publications also hides some obscure and even bizarre things. We know how the imagination of Japanese authors can be very peculiar at times and this is very clear when we look at some works.
Whether because of a very peculiar premise or unusual situations, there is no shortage of examples of bizarre manga for you to know — or, at least, to know about their existence. So, to prove that imagination really has no limits, the Canaltech listed the 7 most bizarre manga from Japan.
7. Rooster Fighter
There are two very classic structures within shounen manga in Japan: hero stories (like One Piece e Dragon Ball) and those that are reinterpretations of sports or games, such as the Pokémon e Beyblade, for example. And, in the middle of these two extremes, we have the curious Rooster Fighter.
As the name itself makes clear, the manga is focused on a fighting cock that travels through Japan using all his skill gained in illegal rings to do justice and save the world from mutant demons. More than that, he seeks revenge and has sworn to eliminate every single one of these monsters since they killed his sister.
The manga is a huge parody of these two narrative styles and it does it very well from the figure of Keiji. He is the classic protagonist of a badass shounen, with the simple detail that he is a very bad looking rooster. And he plays with every cliché possible, including the chicken allies he finds and even unrequited romances.
It’s so bizarre it’s sensational. And, incredible as it may seem, Rooster Fighter was published in Brazil.
6. Fairy!!!!!!!!
Sport is another very popular genre in Japan, with several manga exploring different modalities and in the most varied ways. However, Fairy!!!!!!!! decides to create his own game and does it in a very unique way: a war of butts and boobs.
The manga published by Shounen Sunday Comics explores this fictional sport in which girls compete in bikinis on a platform in the middle of a swimming pool. The goal is simple: knock the opponent into the water. However, for this, they can only use blows with the aforementioned body parts.
Needless to say, the comic has a very appealing tone, but it becomes comical because of the bizarre – especially when the characters use their special moves with their butt.
5. Saint Young Men
Leaving perversion aside, let’s go to the other extreme—holiness. In the end, Saint Young Men imagine a somewhat unusual situation: what would happen if Jesus Christ and Buddha returned to today’s world and decided to share an apartment in Tokyo.
It is a very unusual comedy that accompanies the duo of protagonists as they try to hide their identities and seek to understand modern society. This puts them in very particular situations that play with the images of these deities. While Buddha is someone very calm and peaceful, Jesus is someone who does not hide his love for humanity – even in a slightly exaggerated way.
Saint Young Men is a manga that may shock part of the public for the less than serious way in which it treats the central figures of Christianity and Buddhism, but which has been very well accepted by the public since it began to be published, in 2006, and even got a version in live action. Part of that is in the good humor of the situations the heroes are placed in.
4. Midori Days
Incredibly, masturbation is a recurring theme in manga in Japan and Midori Days uses a recurring joke on the topic as its main starting point. You know the saying that an onanist’s right hand is your best friend? In this story, that’s literal.
The plot is centered on the troublesome boy at school who, because of his bad reputation, ends up having a rather pathetic love life. Living only in the solitude of five against one, behold, he wakes up one day and discovers that his right hand has taken the form of a girl. More than that, she says she has always loved him.
And the manga revolves around this bizarre relationship, showing how the troubled and somewhat disturbing beginning turns into a beautiful and almost romantic friendship.
3.Oretama
Another masturbation-themed manga, this time with a more fantastic feel. In Oretama, we learn that the Queen of Terror has been trapped inside the testicles of an ordinary boy — all for the sake of humanity. Therefore, she cannot relax at any time, at the risk of releasing this demonic entity.
As if that weren’t enough of a problem, a young demon is sent to Earth with a mission to unleash this absolute evil trapped between the hero’s legs. Thus, the boy is tempted in every possible way to throw everything out at the same time that this little devil sees his deadline getting shorter and shorter.
2. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
Em Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, it’s not just the name that’s bizarre. Everything around this manga is impressively unique. After all, how else to define a story in which humanity lives under the dictatorship of the bald, commanded by a bald tsar who started a huge crusade against all hair in the world.
And it is in the midst of this reign of horror that the hero Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo appears, a rebel who not only has hair but also faces the army of evil with a strange ability to control the hairs in his nose.
Did you find it bizarre? Well, know that it’s not over. The protagonist has some allies as peculiar as himself, like a teenager capable of turning his farts into a weapon. It’s a business at an absurd level of insanity and randomness.
1. Ore no Kokan wa Bishoujo Datta no ka
The original name of Ore no Kokan wa Bishoujo Datta no ka it means absolutely nothing to us—and maybe that’s just as well. After all, a manga called “Turns Out My Penis Was A Pretty Girl” might be too shocking.
The proposal is exactly what the title suggests. One fine day, a high school student wakes up without his penis. In fact, he discovers that the organ has turned into a very cute girl his age who starts to accompany him on a daily basis. And, just as in Midori Dayswe have the troubled development of this more than peculiar relationship.
As is to be expected, Ore no Kokan wa Bishoujo Datta no ka is a comedy that appeals to the absurdity of the situation and that brings moments that only an insane proposal like this could offer. The best example of this is that the girl always appears in the paintings with a very suggestive silhouette that resembles her original form.
