This article contains a discussion of rape and other intense sexual themes.
There might be plenty of goodmangato read, but unfortunately, there are just as many bad manga, as well. Whether it’s a bad art style, lazy or otherwise awful storytelling, or some combination of the two, some manga just fail to strike a chord with people for one reason or another, and in many cases, it’s easy to see why.
Bad manga are surprisingly easy to find, but in many cases, a manga’s quality can go beyond simply being bad. Even a bad story can have some artistic merit and will ultimately be harmless, but some manga take things further to have no discernible merit and be downright offensive, and it ends up being thatsome manga are so terrible that there’s absolutely nothing to be gained from reading them. A few manga like that especially stand out, as it’s hard to understand why they were written and why they were approved for publication at all.
8Nice Prison
Manga By Tatsuya Suganuma; Serialized In Weekly Shonen Jump Since 2025
Tatsuya Suganuma’sNice Prisontakes place in Nobanashi Prison, a prison whose guards have all lost control since the arrival of the mysterious super death row prisoner. The super death row prisoner has united the entire prison under his rule, and the only one with the courage to stop him is Horo Mitsuboshi, a man who’s been in prison since birth and has an odd idea of what makes someone a model prisoner.
Gag manga are always hard sellsbecause of how complicated comedy can be, andNice Prisondoesn’t make things any easier for itself by simply being another story whose style of comedy is just characters reacting to something goofy, a style that often has nothing to do with the prison setting, either. Add in an art style that’s largely unpleasant to look at, and despite how new it is,Nice Prisonis one of the unfunniest manga to ever be published inShonen Jump.
7Ichigoki’s Under Control!!
Manga By Seiji Hayashi; Serialized In Weekly Shonen Jump 2022-2023
In Seiji Hayashi’sIchigoki’s Under Control!!, Kai Ichigoki’s plans for a normal life are suddenly upended when an Eastern lowland gorilla escapes from the zoo and beats him to death. To save Ichigoki’s life, Misao Chisaki, Ichigoki’s mad scientist friend who accidentally shrunk herself down to the size of a doll, turned Ichigoki into a glitchy cyborg that she pilots like a giant mech, thus completely upending any chance Ichigoki had of living a normal life.
While Seiji Hayashi had found success with his previous series,I’m From Japan, his art and comedy stylings didn’t translate well toIchigoki, which often came off as a visual and narrative mess that tried too hard to be funny. Ultimately, it was another gag manga that nearly everyone immediately turned on, and in the end,Ichigoki’s Under Control!!was canceled so quickly that it’s undeniably one of the least successfulShonen Jumpmanga in recent memory.
6Super Ball Girls
Manga By Muneyuki Kaneshiro And Akira Hiramoto; Serialized In Big Comic Superior Since 2022
Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Akira Hiramoto’sSuper Ball Girlsstars Eita Ichiyoshi, a man who’s grown far too accustomed to the mundanity of his life for his own liking. Everything changes when Eita finds a mysterious super ball, however, as not only does the ball mutate into a beautiful woman with superhuman abilities, but she creates even more women like her whenever she kisses someone, thus throwing Eita into a chaotic new life as the eponymous Super Ball Girls threaten to take over the world.
Super Ball Girlsis a manga built almost exclusively around fanservice and fetish fuel, and while that isn’t inherently bad, the depths to which the story goes with it just make it uncomfortable to read, none of which is helped by Eita being largely unlikable and the story being so nonsensical.Super Ball Girlsgoes too far with its fetish material to be fun to read, and the fact that it’s written by the author oftheBlue Lockmangamakes that even more disappointing.
5Jujika No Rokunin
Manga By Shiryuu Nakatake; Serialized In Magazine Pocket Since 2020
Shiryuu Nakatake’sJujika no Rokuninstars Shun Uruma, a boy who was the victim of intense bullying that escalated to his bullies killing his parents and putting his brother in a coma. From there, Uruma vowed to get revenge for his family, and after years of training from his grandfather, a retired assassin, he finally has the skills to kill his former tormentors as painfully as possible.
Revenge fantasies are incredibly common, but not only isJujika no Rokuninfar more unpleasant to read than most because of its excessive gore and rape, but Uruma being so inconsistently written often makes him hard to root for, especially when the story deigns to make his and his friends’ lives as miserable as possible.Jujika no Rokuninis an utterly miserable story due to its graphic and narrative content, and it’s surprising that it’s found as much success as it has.
Rui Tsukiyo and Soken Haga’sRedo of Healerstars Keyaru, a healer enslaved by a sadistic hero party who spent four years drugging and raping him simply because they could. After defeating the demon king, however, Keyaru’s healing powers get a tremendous boost and even allow him to go back in time, and he’ll use this new chance to get revenge on everyone who wronged him, starting by brainwashing the evil princess Flare into being his obedient sex slave.
It’s one thing forRedo of Healerto be a dark revenge fantasy with excessive amounts of rape and violence, but despite Keyaru committing countless acts just as horrendous as his former abusers’, if not worse, the story makes the odd decision to treat him as the hero at every turn.Redo of Healeris one of the worst stories a person can read because of its gross understanding of morality, and it’s easy to see why it’s become so controversial.
3U19
Manga By Yuji Kimura; Serialized In Weekly Shonen Jump In 2017
Yuji Kimura’sU19takes place in a future where Japan has been taken over by the Adult Party, a government party that treats children as second-class citizens while giving adults all the power. Eiji Kudo has rejected the Adult Party from day one, and when his childhood crush, Akari, is drafted into their new eugenics program, he joins a full-fledged rebellion with his newly discovered power called Libido.
With its poor pacing, uninteresting characters, and nonsensical writing and worldbuilding,U19was a very typicalShonen Jumpmanga doomed for failure, and sure enough, it was canceled after 17 chapters. What makesU19special, however, is thatU19’s cancellation led to the creation ofthe “U19 Club”, a term forShonen Jumpmanga canceled in under 19 chapters, and the sheer hilarity of that puts it above other manga that are probably objectively worse.
2Lady Red
Manga By Akira Toriyama; Serialized In Super Jump In 1987
Lady Redis a three-page manga byAkira Toriyama ofDragon Ballfame. With her city infested with crime, a mild-mannered office worker quits her job to become the superhero Lady Red, but she has no fighting skills to speak of, and after getting raped twice, she gives it all up to become a prostitute.
The intention withLady Redwas to be a parody of superhero stories, with it even reading left-to-right like a comic book, but it doesn’t work because of how much it tries and fails to make comedy out of rape and for its utterly depressing ending, all of which is completely out of line for Akira Toriyama and his typically lighthearted style.Lady Redis the worst thing Akira Toriyama has ever written, and it achieving that dishonor with so little content says a lot.
1Cheat Slayer
Manga By Homura Kawamoto And Aki Yamaguchi; Serialized In Monthly Dragon Age In 2021
Homura Kawamoto and Aki Yamaguchi’sCheat Slayerrevolves around the Rebels Against God, a group of people who were reincarnated in a fantasy world with overpowered abilities and tasked with saving it from the demon king. What most people don’t know is that the Rebels Against God are actually despicable people who use their powers to do whatever they want, and when a man named Lute learns that the hard way from watching one kill and rape his friend, he’ll do whatever it takes to destroy them and expose their crimes.
Edgy, cynical deconstructions of theisekaigenre aren’t anything special these days, butCheat Slayerwent much further with it by making the villains very explicit references to the protagonists ofpopularisekaistorieslikeSword Art Online,Overlord, andThe Saga of Tanya The Evil, and because of that,Japanese fans andisekaiauthors hatedCheat Slayerso much that it was canceled after a single chapter. There’s never been a case of a manga being that hated, and it makes it the clearest example of amanga so bad that it never should have been made.
