The 23 Best Psychological Thriller Manga of All Time

Mind games, unreliable narrators and moral dilemmas drive every story here. Some are cat-and-mouse classics; others creep up slowly.

1. 1
   Death Note

   Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's battle of wits (2003–2006) between a student with a killing notebook and the detective L.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Monster

   Naoki Urasawa's thriller (1994–2001) about a surgeon hunting the charismatic killer whose life he once saved.
   792pts
3. 3
   My Home Hero

   Naoki Yamakawa and Masashi Asaki's crime thriller, launched in 2017, about a father who kills his daughter's yakuza boyfriend.
   550pts
4. 4
   As the Gods Will

   Muneyuki Kaneshiro's survival manga (2011–2017) in which students face lethal children's games.
   550pts
5. 5
   Billy Bat

   Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki's conspiracy thriller (2008–2016) about a cartoonist and a mysterious bat image.
   498pts
6. 6
   Alice in Borderland

   Haro Aso's survival thriller (2010–2016) about players forced into deadly games in an empty Tokyo.
   440pts
7. 7
   Tomodachi Game

   Mikoto Yamaguchi and Yuki Sato's manga, launched in 2013, in which friends are pitted against each other in psychological games.
   440pts
8. 8
   Liar Game

   Shinobu Kaitani's manga (2005–2015) about an honest student forced into high-stakes games of deception.
   440pts
9. 9
   Inside Mari

   Shuzo Oshimi's psychological manga (2012–2016) about a recluse who wakes up in the body of a girl he stalked.
   440pts
10. 10
    Summertime Rendering

    Yasuki Tanaka's time-loop mystery thriller (2017–2021) set on a small island haunted by doppelgangers.
    372pts
11. 11
    Usogui

    Toshio Sako's gambling and lie-detection thriller (2006–2018) centred on the gambler Baku Madarame.
    372pts
12. 12
    Kakegurui

    Homura Kawamoto and Toru Naomura's manga, launched in 2014, set at a school ruled by high-stakes gambling.
    372pts
13. 13
    Kaiji

    Nobuyuki Fukumoto's gambling thriller, launched in 1996, about a debt-ridden man in deadly games run by a loan-shark empire.
    372pts
14. 14
    Blood on the Tracks

    Shuzo Oshimi's psychological thriller (2017–2023) about a boy and his suffocatingly possessive mother.
    372pts
15. 15
    Erased

    Kei Sanbe's time-travel mystery (2012–2016) in which a man returns to his childhood to stop a serial killer.
    293pts
16. 16
    Real Account

    Okushou and Shizumu Watanabe's thriller (2014–2019) about social media users trapped in a deadly online game.
    293pts
17. 17
    One Outs

    Shinobu Kaitani's baseball manga (1998–2006) driven by the mind games of a gambling pitcher.
    293pts
18. 18
    Talentless Nana

    Looseboy and Iori Furuya's thriller, launched in 2016, about a girl secretly sent to kill her superpowered classmates.
    293pts
19. 19
    Platinum End

    Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's thriller (2015–2021) about humans chosen by angels to compete to become God.
    293pts
20. 20
    MPD Psycho

    Eiji Otsuka and Sho-u Tajima's crime thriller (1997–2016) about a detective with multiple personalities hunting serial killers.
    293pts
21. 21
    Pluto

    Naoki Urasawa's murder-mystery reimagining (2003–2009) of an Astro Boy story arc.
    200pts
22. 22
    20th Century Boys

    Naoki Urasawa's conspiracy thriller (1999–2006) about childhood friends confronting a cult leader called "Friend".
    200pts
23. 23
    The Promised Neverland

    Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu's thriller (2016–2020) about orphans planning an escape from a sinister farm.
    0pts

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