Sorry for spamming you guys with posts, lol. I'm just kinda excitable today. Too much caffeine, maybe? Or too many hosts? >_>;

I'm looking for philosophical manga. Where, like, issues of life and death are seriously thought about and occupy a main part of the manga's plot and/or the characters' preoccupations. You know, the sort of manga that actually makes you realize things about the nature of life that you hadn't necessarily thought about before - something that's deep and intellectual and thought-provoking.

It may feature adventure or action or romance, but none of those things should be the MAIN focus of the manga; instead, the main focus should be some sort of philosophical/psychological issue that can then affect other aspects of the plot.

Examples:

Eternal Sabbath - Explores the nature of consciousness.
Monster - Explores the philosophy of ethics, agency and determinism.
Homunculus - The philosophy of identity and symbolism.
Kiseijuu - Explores human versus non-human ethics and what really defines a human being or an "intelligent life-form".
Himitsu - Again, ethics and consciousness.
Pluto - What does it mean to be "alive"? The philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.

Any others like this? As you can see, I have plenty of seinen up there, but I'm not sure about philosophy playing a major part in other genres. I'm curious to see if it does. Like, maybe in josei? Anyway, please help me broaden my scope. Thanks. 🙂

Here are some threads that might help with the psychological part:

Psychological

Psychological

Psychological horror

Psychological horror

Psychological/ supernatural

You can bump.

I would suggest Eden. Really good.

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Here's some you might like.

Freesia
Eden
Historie
Believers
Endo Hiroki Tanpenshuu
Sanctuary
Bakuon Rettou
Hoshi no Koe
Nijigahara Holograph
Jiraishin
Planetes

Far-off places with sweet sounding names.

Oooh. OOOH. That's a lot of lovely stuff for me to sink my teeth into! Thanks so much!

Skyhigh
Dorohedoro
Bokurano

This week's favorites:

• Golden Kamui

ççççççç[Ô.Ô] tsutopodus© will eat your manga and steal your cats!

Bokurano, Narutaru (anything by Mohiro Kitoh really)
Ghost in the Shell
Monster has a lot of stuff regarding Nihilism
National Quiz
Parasyte

Full Metal Alchemist -- One of the rare shounen mangas that tackle ethical themes.
Mushishi -- About man learning to accept the frightening and incomprehensible side of nature.
Real -- About a boy who reexamines what makes his life worth living after becoming a paraplegic.
Shin Angyo Onshi -- Explores moral ambiguity and the nature of truth. Good people do bad things, and bad people do good things. Characters are forced to reconsider their actions.
Solanin -- About a group of bored, aimless young college grads who gradually change their outlook on life.
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou -- Imagines the memories of human life left behind in a postapocalyptic world.

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Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

I would like to add Dolls. It also tackles ethical themes.

And the Record of a Fallen Vampire.

I would suggest Immortal Rain (shoujo) with a bit of psychological, deals with reincarnation. Evangelion, probably heard of that one. Made in Heaven is psychological as well, its a tragedy, follows how can one dispose human character through research in AI (deals with inhuman test trials and ethics).

I don't know if it really falls into this catagory, but Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer always struck me as a manga that waxes philosophical every now and then.

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