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

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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

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This week's favorites:

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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.



Last edited by Odette at 1:32 pm, Apr 4 2009

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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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