Murder Mystery is a self-explanatory subgenre of thriller manga. Thriller is a unique and dark side of the anime and manga world which is achieving new heights with every passing year. Everyone knows Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, and we have loved watching them for all these years.
The manga industry always takes a step further and things far beyond! There is an exceptional abundance of brilliant Thriller manga, especially murder mystery mangas, with new concepts and mind-blowing stories.
With the great success of murder mysteries like Death Note and Monster, fans are excited to know what more this genre can offer.
Nonetheless, the writers didn’t disappoint fans and presented us with a variety of mangas to read. Today, we list the best Top 10 Murder Mystery Manga: Thriller Full of Surprises!
1. Death Note
Death Note is by far the best murder mystery manga that I read. It is the symbol of glory for this genre and the first recommendation for all explorers. Light Yagami, a high school student, and son of a detective, is a genius with a mind far superior to his classmates.
He was never interested in gossip and other things that a normal kid is interested in most. He was enlightened!
One day, he found a notebook named Death Note on the grounds of his high school. A death note is a tool used by shinigami (creatures assigned the task of guiding the soul after death) to take the life of humans.
Ryuk, a shinigami, misplaced his Death note and dropped it into the human world. With the identification like name and face known, a person can kill anyone with a death note. Light started killing the criminals as a kind of justice using death notes.
L is a detective with worldly connections and a brilliant mind who started investigating the mysterious deaths.
Death note is the story of a battle between two geniuses trying to find each other identity with the interference of shinigami and whatnot! If you are new to this genre, then Death Note is highly recommended to watch.
2. Monster
Someone is killing people ruthlessly with no patterns or reasons at all. Kenzo Tenma is a young Japanese brain surgeon who is working with his heart and soul to save people indiscriminately. Once, he came across a teenager case, shot in his head and barely alive.
On the same day, Mayer also came in attendance, who he wasn’t able to save. The boy was saved but mysteriously vanished, and some hospital staff were found dead.
The doctor lost his respect and reputation after this incident. The story shifts to 9 years in the future when Kenzo meets the boy again in some mysterious murder situation.
Who is this boy? Why does the doctor decide to destroy what he once saved? Who is the Monster?
3. Case closed
If you are not so much interested in dark mangas but still love thrillers, then Case Closed is just what you need. It is the story of a high school detective Shinichi Kudo who sometimes helps cops to solve mysterious cases.
Once, he was pursuing a criminal group, also known as the black organization, and got caught in the process. He forcefully consumes some chemicals that are supposed to kill him, but instead, they shrink him to the size of an elementary school boy.
He manages to slip through the black organization and starts investigating their closed case. He also enrolled in an elementary school and found the creator of the chemical there. What information does she have? Do they ever return to their original state? Find out by reading Case Closed.
4. Bloody Monday
Fujimaru Takagi, an exceptionally brilliant hacker, is a high school kid who was hired by the secret services to decode a chip. His father was also a high-ranking officer in the Third I (Secret Services).
His father told him that their agent was killed in Russia, and the only confidential information he was able to save from his killer was all in this chip. The secret agent was on a mission to get the intel on the Russian massacre, also known as the Christmas Massacre.
As the story progresses, things get more complicated. Fujimaru’s father was accused of killing his superior, and new terrorist plans for Tokyo were revealed named Bloody Monday.
An assassin was also sent to retrieve the chip from Third I. She goes undercover as a teacher at Fujimarus High School. Now he has to decode the chip, and there is no one he can trust.
5. The Kindaichi Case Files
The Kindaichi Case Files is filled with Murder mysteries. Hajime Kindaichi is not good at studies but has a good eye for criminal cases and solutions. Murder mysteries have always fascinated him from childhood.
He was encouraged by his friend and followed the path of his liking. Hajime met a highly skilled detective once, which left a deep impression on him. It was revealed further in the story that Hajime Kindaichi is the grandson of the famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi.
The story will hook you to itself, and the cases solved by Hajime Kindaichi are worth reading.
6. Psychic Detective Yakumo
Yakumo Saito was born with a red eye, which allows him to see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. He uses his abilities to talk to them and fulfill their unfulfilled desires so that they can proceed to the afterlife.
But many were killed mysteriously, leaving false and misleading leads for the police. Yakumo Saito helped the copes as a Psychic Detective to reveal the truth of so many mysterious murders.
In his investigation, he also finds some cases where the murders were forced by some evil spirits. These are the cases that only our young Saito can solve. Read how Saito saves her friend from the ill-doings of spirits using his abilities to their full potential.
7. Detective School Q
Detectives have to solve all kinds of cases, from murder mysteries to missing cats! And that’s what Kyu Renjo learns in Detective School Q.
Detective School Q is a school where young and aspiring detectives are trained. The school was made by non-other than Morihiko Dan, the most decorated detective in all the Japan.
Morihiko Dan and his students solve many cases along the storyline, many of which are murder mysteries. They chase Pluto, a very smart organization that commits crimes in very subtle ways and uncovers the truths that are hidden from society.
8. Neuro: Supernatural Detective
This one is something different! Neuro Nogami is a demon from another world with the power to feed on solved mysteries. He eventually feeds on all the mysteries in his world and is now hungry for more. That’s why he ventures to the human world to find the solved or to be solved mysteries to feed on.
Hiding his identity from the outside world, for obvious purposes, he interacts very less with humans. A 16-year-old high school girl, Yako Katsuragi’s father, was mysteriously murdered. The police closed his case by giving the reason for his death to be suicide.
But Yako knows that was not the case. Neuro: Supernatural Detective is the story of Yako teaming up with Neuro and a private detective to solve the mysteries of her father’s murder.
9. Bungo Stray Dogs
The mentor of the protagonist is again a detective named Atsushi Nakajima. Atsushi once found a kid drowning in the river and saved him. He found out afterward that the kid was not drowning but trying to commit suicide.
Osamu Dazai is a young boy who can become a white tiger in the moonlight. He was kicked out of his orphanage because he could transform. Roaming the streets, hungry and near death, he decided to commit suicide by drowning in the river.
Atsushi keeps him as his disciple and starts investigating cases with the help of Osamu’s abilities. They find many others with abilities like Osamu on their journey. Working with a person with ability, Atsushi was targeted by Port Mafia and was put a bounty on his head in the black market.
10. Terror in Resonance
Two young high school students were part of a secret experiment at Rising Peace Academy. Rising Peace Academy was brainwashing orphan kids to become human weapons.
Nine and Twelve are one of those human weapons that steal the blueprints of the atomic bomb and try to threaten the whole of Tokyo. They asked the people of Tokyo to solve a riddle to save their lives or die.
Honorable Mentions
Tsugou No Ii Mesu Tachi
This is an 18+ doujin.
