What's the deepest, most thought-provoking, most memorable or most moving one-shot you've ever read? (From any genre.)

We've all got different things that we think make a good one-shot, but for me, I think MEMORABILITY is the most important thing; it has to be very deep and has to make me really think or feel in ways that I never had before. Philosophical depth is what I like best, I suppose. Just as poetry is the most condensed use of language, I think that the best one-shots are those that intensify an incident or story by condensing it or compressing it - the intensity-to-page ratio is much greater than in a full-length manga, because the same message has to be conveyed in a much shorter space.

I'm hoping to find some amazing one-shots through this thread - the diamonds and gems that often get overlooked. This is different from the Best One-Shots thread, though, because that was a general recommendation thread. I want to focus on the most intellectual/powerful/deep one-shots - the ones that make you go, "WOW, that was deep!" or "That made me cry!" - something that really got you to think or feel in a new way or on a really deep level. I also want people to discuss their recommendations, not just name something in a hit-and-run way. Lol. Well, ideally, anyway. 🙂

Please note that by "one-shot" I mean a short story that IS NOT A COMPLETE MANGA, but is only chapter-length and can be read as an independent story all by itself.

Here are my favorites according to genre...

Best Seinen One-Shot: The Crows, the Girl, and the Yakuza. It's a bit on the long side for a one-shot but is really stunning. Seriously, you must read this. It is so moving and thought-provoking... I was really moved when I first read this like two years ago, and I still remember it and re-read it, so you can see what an amazing one-shot it is since it's stayed in my mind for so long. I always cry at the end. embarrassed

Best Josei One-Shot: Hanshin. Two conjoint twins struggle with the quest for their own identities. So unnerving and thought-provoking! A study of how inseparable hate and love can be... This story is so mind-blowing that I keep re-reading it over and over.

Best Shounen One-Shot: Hello Baby. I actually think there's proabably a better shounen one-shot out there (pls. recommend!), but this is the most memorable one I came across in the genre. The pointlessness of human life and the fragility of trust - who knows what lies we live with, without even knowing it? I recommend the Illuminati scanlation, 'cause their translation of the ending is better.

Best Shoujo One-Shot: Forever Honey. The best tear-jerker ever! There's really nothing else I can say about this without spoiling it, lol. Sorry!

Best Shounen Ai One-Shot: X+Y. Makes more sense when read in the context of the earlier story in the same volume, but you can still read it by itself if you're up for a challenge. 🙂 It's a marvelous and brilliant mixture of science fiction and gender-bending romance, and I recommend it highly. A powerful message conveyed in Hagio Moto's expressive style... Lol and I love the sci-fi jargon. But that's just my secret fetish. >_> PLEASE, seriously read this even you never read BL, it's like no other BL you've seen. Trust me. It won the Seiun Award in 1985, so you can imagine how original it is! (The award is given yearly to the best science fiction published in Japan. And I do mean the BEST.)

Best Yaoi One-Shot: "Life of the Machine" from Prince of Monster. Amazing philosophical depth... Again, read this even if you don't usually read yaoi; the yaoi isn't really the point here and almost isn't there, for that matter - the story is just about a disturbed and conflicted genius scientist... who happens to be gay. The real issues here are issues of "artificial" intelligence versus "natural" intelligence, identity versus duality, mortality versus immortality, truth versus pretense, etc. Very, very deep. I love this to death.

Best Shoujo Ai One-Shot: That's Why I Sigh. SO AWESOME! This is the only shoujo ai story I've ever read that's from a guy's point of view! So original! And really, really lovely and absorbing given that it's only around 50 pages. It's about this playboy who finally finds love - in a lesbian! Obviously, his romance is doomed from the start, since she won't even look at him - but he changes for the better because of his feelings for her, and she changes for the better as well. This really made me look at my own past and realize that even the relationships that didn't work out... were good for me, weren't they? And that love doesn't have to be requited to be meaningful. Really a memorable one-shot that can change your perspective on things. 😃

Best Yuri One-Shot: Sweet Lovin' Baby. This one-shot is kind of like a Rubik's Cube... at least for me. Maybe because I have trouble parsing certain emotional situations - I don't know, I'm weird that way. On the surface, this one-shot is about a girl befriending an older lesbian couple and idolizing them, without realizing that they have problems of their own... But somehow, this is also a study of so many subtle things - the role of women in society, acceptance vs. rejection, the endurance of love, attachment vs. attraction, literary inspiration, etc. Really amazing and somehow, even though it's such a "simple" story, I keep thinking new things about it every time I read it. Somehow, parts of it feel like a Woody Allen movie - if Woody Allen wrote lesbian stories in Japan. 😉

So those are my "deep" one-shots from every genre! Please recommend yours - from any genre at all. Lol.

Quote from tartufo

I actually think there's probably a better shounen one-shot out there (pls. recommend!), but this is the most memorable one I came across in the genre.

Then you may like Island (KOMI Naoshi) 🙂
Personal favourite:
Ikioku - The Cooler Half - altruism will save the world!

Oh, I agree with Hanshin. It's beyond amazing.
Hm, other than the ones you've mentioned, what are the deepest ones I've read?

She Got Off the Bus at the Peninsula
Visitors: Not exactly deep, perhaps, but it makes you think. The way it builds is really well-done.
Slow Down
Summertime from Dahlia no Obi: Really great. But saying any more would be giving it away.

I'll add Birthday, too. It's a little cliche in a Chicken Soup for the Soul way and it's not particularly deep, but it's a very successful tearjerker.

Nearly all of Kotonoha's oneshots are great.

Hotel
Present
Kon no ki Konoha
Yep. 😃

Edit: Ack! You didn't want hit and run away. x___X.Haha.
Well, I thought those three were the ones that actually made me stop and think after I read it. (Manga usually doesn't do that to me 🤣 ) It IS definitely thought-provoking. And so far, these three are the only one-shots that I still remember the story..

Edit 2: This is a good thread! I can find new one shots too read. +___+

Have you read Kon no Ki Konoha?

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__ I'll have what she's having... please~♥

White Clouds ;_________;
The Cat Ritual and Sanpol and Krezol from Keep on Vibrating always touch me for some reason.
The Family Zoo one of my favorite comedies and its surprisingly deep too.
Watching TV All the Time Makes You Stupid
Pochi's Place

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Quote from purple716

Is there any manga where the male lead has an illness known as stomach ulcers.Yaoi are fine top.

Winter Walk - Sakai Kunie
Shinon - TAKAMIYA Azuma
Kaze ni Chiru Hanabira - HIMEGI Mika

They are all shonen-ai or yaoi. Really beautiful and gives something to think.

How is Family Zoo deep in any fathomable way? =/
I can't fathom any.
I personally don't find it very funny either, but each to his own.

Kon no Ki Konoha is nice, but it's identical in plot to the main story of Hotarubi no Mori E and I like the latter better.

Allumage (OKAMOTO Lynn)
Love Story, Killed (TAKAHASHI Shin)
Island (KOMI Naoshi)

!!!!!!

You people are AMAZING. Wow, thank you so much for participating in this thread! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm actually going to go and read every one of your recommendations so that I can return with actual responses to each of you. 🙂

Please, keep them coming!

There are some nice ones mentioned here, so I'll named a few that haven't been:

Because Goodbyes Are Coming Soon - There was something in the way it was told that was just so sad.

Chou ni Naru Hi. - You at The End specifically

The Love Letter Not that hardcore, but <3. Perhaps a precursor to Kunieda Saika's BL works? I don't know, I love it though.

Flowers (NIHONBASHI Yoko)

Mukashi no Hanashi - There are a couple here.

The Nightmare of Fabrication

Brigit's Supper

Violet Blossoms

Saber-Tiger

Dead Flowers

City in the Sea

Itsutsu no Hako no Monogatari - The Setting Sun ;__;

Sorry if some don't fit your requirements, and the fact that I didn't really discuss them all~ d:

Oooh! I've got more. x3
Some might not think these are amazing, but I thought they stood out from most of the one-shots I read :
Bannin
Cool Lady 🤣
Witch of The Flower Forest
Akazukin to Yasashii Ookami
The Sea Where The Siren Lives
Always Together

If I go into shoujo, these would probably be it:
Non-chan to Watashi
Ibara no Majutsushi
Otogibanashi no Fude

I thought this one was okay:
Children Can't Choose Their Parents
Explanation:
I wanted to explain this one because most people who've read it think it's disturbing and that you should pass it up.If I were you, I suggest you don't! xDD It's pretty interesting if you look at it in different ways.And OH YES is it powerful >:'D In an eerie way.

Edit # 1,000,000: How could I forget Dokuhime..TT^TT

Edit # 1,000,001: Ack! Dokuhime isn't a one-shot?! 😲
Whoops. x__X

Edit # 1,000,002: Just to be fair, like the others, I'd like to take back Bannin..LOL..I just realized it's not a one-shot that Tartufo wants.

For me these were the ones i enjoyed
Sonezaki Shinjuu
Negaigoto 300000 km/s
well if parts apply try
Love Letter (SEO Kouji)

Falling into the darkness would actually do me good.Spending eternity dreaming and wandering

The Willow Tree by Hagio Moto

I'm seconding :

• Slow Down and Hanshin also by Hagio Moto
• Summertime by Ooshima Yumiko. Philosophical oneshot is Ooshima Yumiko forte, unfortunately she is very under-appreciated in english speaking world. Some anime and movie adaptations of her works are floating on the net (with english subtitle), such as The Star of Cottonland, Kinpatsu no Sougen (Across a Gold Prairie), and Gou-Gou Datte Neko de aru.

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Quote from MasamiAkane

Dead Flowers

This one isn't a one-shot. Although Dead Flowers consists only of two chapters, which were serialized within two days, actual one-shot must be only chapter-length, just as tartufo has stated.

In addition to shounen one-shots recommendations: The Dolls House. Simply and touching.