Manga has a lot of genres, one of them includes mental illnesses and psychological genres. The stories of manga with such genre are psychologically rich, and will make anyone depressed. Depression has always been a sensitive topic, and with these manga recommendations, one finds himself to relate with the struggles of the main character. I hope whoever is fighting depression finds himself/herself a good manga recommendation to get some hope from the respective characters!
Most manga depict the struggles and psychological torment a character has to go through. Such stories might make us depressed but at the same time, they are interesting too. We get some hope from the characters and can relate to them to some extent. So, without further ado now, I’ll introduce you guys to some Manga About Depression.
Table of Contents
Note: You can look at the MCs and think hey, you don’t need to be sad! You’re awesome! Please make sure to use these words for yourself too! ^^
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Table of Content
Manga that will make you sad
11. FullMetal Alchemist
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
7/10 |
14/20 |
6/10 |
27/40 |
First off, we have FullMetal Alchemist. Who hasn’t heard about this manga? It surely has been one of the oldest yet legendary manga of all time. All around the world, it has been loved by many people! If you haven’t watched it, let me tell you what happens in it. The story of FullMetal Alchemist is set in the 20th century, in a fictional universe. In this universe, science or alchemy is extensively practiced. The story mainly focuses on the journeys of our main characters, Edward and Elric.
They are brothers and their main goal is to get the philosopher’s stone, so that they can restore their bodies. Restore their bodies? Well, yes! After failing at trying to save their mother, they lost their bodies or limbs.
The main depressing part comes when Edward’s beloved brother lost his physical form and was nothing inside an armor. Yes, he lost his limbs. Edward then could see his clear-cut goal of restoring his brothers’ original form. That’s it, if you guys are interested in this plot, you better give it a read.
10. Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
8/10 |
14/20 |
6/10 |
28/40 |
This manga is also known to leave a deep impact on its readers. In fact, it has been adapted from a Korean novel. In this manga, the main character is a pianist who has been trying to hurt himself multiple times. On the other hand, we have a female lead named Juri who’s taken to prison by her aunt where there are ruthless murderers.
They get death sentences by the law. It’s that place where she meets a mysterious man named Yuu who tried to kill three people. I know just by reading the plot, you guys are wondering why there are a lot of things going on? It’s surely a depressing manga where a mother’s enmity and a brother’s death leave a huge impact on our main character, Juri.
What will happen next? Will Juri be able to survive after all of the things she has encountered so far? Her brother’s death was enough for her and yet her mother isn’t making her life any easier. Sounds really messed up, right? If you’re into stories like these, you better start reading it.
9. Yona Of The Dawn
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
15/20 |
7/10 |
31/40 |
Next on the list, we have Akatsuki No Yona. Yona is the one and only princess of the Kingdom of Kouka. She’s living a perfect life with perfect clothes, cosmetics, an emperor who loves her, sweetest sweets, and whatnot. She has a crush on one of her cousins named Soo-won. Soo-won is the type of guy every girl would want to marry. He has the finest face shape, physique, and style.
What I’m trying to say is that he’s the dream guy of many girls out there. If you have read this manga, I’m sure you’re understanding what I’m trying to say. Anyways, Yona has this void where she feels lonely at times, her perfect life shatters to pieces when her cousin, Soo-won, murders her father. Now, she doesn’t have a loving emperor as her father and her crush just betrayed her. So, that’s a lot going on, right?
Will Yona take revenge for her father’s death? Will she lose hope and be disappointed in Soo-won or will she forgive him? She’ll surely be an idiot if she forgives that guy. Honestly, the storyline was pretty good at the start but when Soo-won thought of murdering her father, everything went wrong!
8. Real
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
15/20 |
7/10 |
31/40 |
Now, we have Real. In this manga, we learn about the past of three boys who are interested in basketball. Not going to lie, this is a pretty depressing manga. These boys lead a hard life since their past wasn’t easy or nice to them.
One of the boys named Nomiya has no future at all since he’s a high-school drop out. In his past, he crippled over a girl he was inviting for a bike ride. However, she died in a traffic accident. So, that left a really deep impact on him. On the other hand, we have Togawa. He used to be a talented sprinter. He strove to become one of the best. However, due to some circumstances, he ended up in a wheelchair and finds it hard to play basketball now. The third boy named Takashi who thought of himself as a proud and elite student, is now unable to move from his chest down.
This story is pretty depressing since it tells us about physical inability and inferiority complex too. So, if you think you can digest such stories, you can give it a read!
7. I Want To Eat Your Pancreas
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
16/20 |
7/10 |
32/40 |
Hey, no need to worry about the title. This story is pretty depressing and I remember it made me cry a lot, like A LOT! There’s an animated film based on this manga too. So, if you’re more of an anime-watcher, you better watch it. And if you’re into reading, you can read its manga collection. Now, let’s talk about the plot of this manga.
The story revolves around a girl named Sakura Yamauchi who’s suffering from a chronic disease. She has this fatal pancreatic disease and doesn’t have much time left to live. Though these manga/anime really make us realize that life is short and we should have no regrets when we leave this world.
Just like that, Sakura comes across an aloof and loner boy with whom she wants to spend her last days with. They both spend a lot of time together. I warn you there’s a sad ending to this manga. I hope you won’t cry. But if you want to, you should definitely read this one, why? Because it’s legit!
6. Your Lie in April
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
16/20 |
7/10 |
32/40 |
Who hasn’t heard about this masterpiece manga? It’s OSTs, storyline, art, and everything is just too good! But I would recommend you guys to watch the anime since you won’t be able to hear the violin & piano (unless you play it on your phone). The story revolves around a piano genius who isn’t able to play piano the right way due to a very traumatizing event that occured in his childhood. However, presently, he’s forced to perform with an eccentric girl named Kaori.
Both of them spend a lot of time together due to their musical practices. Just like that, they end up falling in love. She has her own secret that sometimes makes her sad. Okay, we all have to agree that we’re all hiding a secret deep inside us which haunts us at times. But hey, guess what?
We’re pretty strong for keeping up with it and our mean thoughts. Our main character lost his mother and that made him not want to play the piano again. It gets hard even when you were recommended a song by someone and they have some bad memories with you. You just don’t have the guts to listen to that song again and refresh your memories. Isn’t that right?
5. We Were There
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
16/20 |
7/10 |
32/40 |
Nanami Takahashi is a teenage girl who is in her first year of high school. She hopes to make a lot of friends. However, there’s a very popular boy who takes all the attention. Nanami first dislikes him due to his delusions. But that’s not it, she ends up falling in love with him. The guy on the other hand, is still not over his girlfriend who died sometime ago. That got dark pretty quickly, right? Just like that, the story is pretty twisted. I won’t spoil it further for you guys. If you guys are interested, you should better give it a read. I’m sure you’re going to love it.
We all tend to get sensitive talking about people who are no longer in this world. Some of us feel guilty for not being able to treat them well when they were alive. I am just saying that, it’s going to be alright, there are other people like us who feel the same about that. So, don’t be sad!
4. A Silent Voice
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
17/20 |
8/10 |
34/40 |
A Silent Voice is one of the best anime movies and manga of all time. If you haven’t watched or read it, what are you doing with your life? The story for this manga is pretty simple, the girl named Shouko Nishimiya is unable to hear. It mainly focuses on her everyday life at high school and how this one brat named Shoya Ishida makes her life harder by trying to hurt her when all she wanted from him was his friendship. Sounds wholesome yet messed up, eh?
Imagine you want to be friends and you can’t speak or let them know about your feelings, how would that feel? Pretty depressing for me. So, be grateful and if you’re still hesitating about opening up to someone despite being able to speak, you’re ungrateful (no attacks intended). The art, storyline, and the impact of this anime is just speechless.
3. Oyasumi Punpun
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
17/20 |
8/10 |
34/40 |
Oyasumi Punpun is a manga known to depress us. I don’t know but there’s this vibe about this manga which just gives off very depresing vibes. Anyways, if we talk about its storyline, the story revolves around an 11-year-old boy named Punpun Onodera who’s a hopeless romantic. When he turns into an adult, he falls in love with a girl and then realizes how hard is it to actually maintain a relationship.
One day, Onodera comes across his father hurting his mother. The sad part is that he always looked up to his father. Then he realizes that those people whom he looked upto were not impressive at all.
2. Clannad
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
9/10 |
18/20 |
8/10 |
35/40 |
Call me old-fashioned or whatever. But can we talk about how Clannad depressed us all? The deep storyline just left us all overwhelmed. Isn’t that right? If you don’t know about its storyline, let me tell you. It revolves around Tomoya Okazaki who’s a third year student and frequently fights with his dad after he got into an accident, turned to gambling, and became an alcoholic. The life of Tomoya Okazaki isn’t easy, he has to study and at the same time, he has to put up with such a dad. His mother died in his childhood leaving his dad to raise him. So, I’m sure it wasn’t easy on our boy. If you’re interested in this storyline, you better give it a read!
1. Attack On Titan
| Impact | Plot | Art | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
|
10/10 |
20/20 |
10/10 |
40/40 |
Attack On Titan, who hasn’t heard of this manga? It is such an intense manga honestly. With perfect art style, an intense storyline, good action, and psychological themes it leaves you in a dark void. We all know Eren Jaeger, right? Our boy looks depressed than ever. He lost his mother right before his own eyes. His mother was eaten by a titan. That was the moment Eren lost his mind and decided to avenge his mother’s death.
The concept of titans and humans fighting against one another during this catastrophe will make you depressed more than anything, especially the stories of the soldiers. So, this manga is pretty lit and legit. If you haven’t already read it, you better should! I’m sure you’re going to love it for its intense theme!
Which Manga Have You Read?
That’s it for Manga About Depression. I hope you guys found your recommendation. Do let us know in the comments below what you think about our list? Share it with your friends to ask them about their opinion on the list. Also, you can vent in the comments below about anything, we’ll hear you!
