Horror is a popular genre across media, and in the realm of anime and manga, there have been several influential titles. Junji Itō is famous for his ability to create haunting horror titles, but since their emergence, Itō's horror titles have enjoyed various forms of adaptation over the years.
Despite the quality of certain horror manga, they, like Itō's works have had to wait extremely long to be adapted, and some may never see the bright light of an anime adaptation. Here are some of the best horror manga yet to be granted an anime adaptation.
I Am a Hero (2015)
This slow-building zombie series was adapted into a live-action which was released in 2016. The series follows 35-year-old Hideo Suzuki, a manga assistant whose life isn't going according to plan. His low-paying job is the least of his worries, as he is also plagued by hallucinations and low self-esteem.
Things change forever when a strange virus turns people into zombies, plunging the world around Hideo into an unprecedented level of chaos. The manga is a slow burn, and the descent into the apocalypse is interesting as the manga builds into it by slowly, but once the cat's out of the bag, the manga becomes a major thriller with an unusual protagonist.
Jagaaaaaan (2017)
Shintarō Jagasaki is a jaded neighbourhood police officer who is tired of his monotonous life. He often fantasizes about shooting people who annoy him with his gun, much like the eggplant mascot of his resident Buppa Town, Master Buppanasu. He also plans on marrying his girlfriend, but he lacks a lust for life until one day, he witnesses a gruesome murder committed by a monstrous man. The creature also kills Shintarō's partner, before turning his gaze towards Shintarō himself.
Just as he accepts death, Shintarō finds himself firing a mysterious projectile from his finger, with his arm assuming a strange new form. An owl watching the developments explains that the monstrous man was affected by Mad Xenopus, dangerous parasitic frog-like creatures that take over their hosts and cause profound changes to their physical form. Shintarō is initially disinterested in the Xenopus; however, when one of them takes over his fianceé, he vows to eliminate them and ensure the survival of humankind. This horror, written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrated by Kensuke Nishida, has shōnen elements that make it exciting, but also has various horror elements like intense gore and body horror which can be haunting in certain contexts.
Killing Morph (2017)
One day, on the busy streets of Ikebukuro, Madoka Murasaki witnesses a masked murderer's grotesque killing spree. As one of the few survivors of the massacre, she is haunted by him, with his murderous gaze etched into her mind. Dubbed "M" by the news and mass media, the killer is soon apprehended and tossed into solitary confinement; however, despite his detainment, his murderous rampage does not end as Madoka sees him in various places, initially assuming herself to be delusional.
However, Madoka is all but delusional, and M's reign has just begun. Killing Morph is a thrilling horror that makes use of supernatural elements to increase the stakes by making a murderous villain who can seemingly be in several places at the same time.
Blood on the Tracks (2017)
The author of Blood on the Tracks, Shūzō Oshimi, excels at creating suspense and having a massive payoff in his thriller-horror manga. Blood on the Tracks follows the story of a regular middle school boy who lives with his parents. His mother is extremely doting and overprotective, traits which, as the story progresses, take on more extreme and violent forms.
A certain incident alerts Seiichi to just how dangerous his mother's affection can be, and the trauma and psychological damage from witnessing his mother's actions causes huge disruptions in Seiichi's life. Both Seiichi and his mother grow more and more unstable as the story progresses, with his mother's severe lack of remorse for her actions being a defining aspect of the discomfort the story elicits.
Fort of Apocalypse (2011)
This is a unique zombie apocalypse story written by Yū Kuraishi and illustrated by Kazu Inabe that begins in a junior detention facility. The protagonist, Maeda, having been framed for murder, is admitted to Cell 4 of Shōran Academy Juvenile Detention Centre. While detained, the inmates are protected from the chaotic outside world, which has descended into chaos as a virus has turned the masses into zombies.
The virus eventually lands at Shōran Academy when a van carrying infected inmates crashes into the facility, exposing the inmates inside to the horrible virus turning people into flesh-eating zombies. Released all the way back in 2011, Fort of Apocalypse boasted a unique zombie storyline, complete with linguistic references to the Haitian origin of the zombie concept.