Highlights
- Manhwas like Deadlife, Dead Days, and All Of Us Are Dead offer unique and thrilling takes on the zombie trope, captivating readers with their creative stories and accessible art.
- TACIT and Hive present post-apocalyptic worlds where humans are up against mindless creatures, providing readers with a sci-fi and action-packed experience.
- My Daughter Is A Zombie and Surviving Romance take a lighter approach to the zombie genre, infusing comedy and romance elements into their stories, offering a refreshing and entertaining twist.
Ah, the Zombie trope— it somehow never loses its charm. That’s precisely why the same old theme keeps making creative and successful comebacks. Every demographic enjoys it and is genuinely very thrilling to witness. After all, what person wouldn’t find themselves captivated by a highly improbable fictional scenario where the world is taken over by a virus that turns humans into violent, flesh-eating monsters, leaving only a handful of “chosen ones” to fight them off? It’s all very exciting.
Manhwas are particularly creative when it comes to the zombie trope. They mix and match different themes and come up with the coolest, most intricate stories ever. Some of these hit so hard with the public that they even get adapted into mega-hit Korean dramas. Their art (with their thankfully colored panels), plot, and accessibility contribute to the ultimate well-rounded entertainment experience.
8 Deadlife
MyAnimeList Score: 6.73
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Writers |
Lim Jinguk (Art), Hooressha (Story) |
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Status |
Completed |
Deadlife is a 2018 manhwa with 103 chapters under its belt, and it kicks off with a bang. It ventures into the less-explored topic of “intelligent zombies” existing in a zombie apocalypse.
Kim Seung Hoon, an asthmatic high school student, finds himself trapped in his school alongside other students when a zombie outbreak occurs. They hold hopes of being rescued from the massive hordes of zombies patrolling outside the school building but have not had any luck yet. Sadly, a seemingly “intelligent” zombie crashes a massive truck through the metal gates guarding the school, allowing all the wild zombies outside to pour in. Amid all the chaos and panic, Seung Hoon gets left behind and bitten. He transforms into a zombie, but, unlike the typical ones, he can still think, sense, and move consciously.
7 Dead Days
MyAnimeList Score: 6.83
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Writers |
DEY (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
Dead Days is an older entry that dives into the psychological impact of a zombie apocalypse on a survivor. It was published in 2014 and ended after 61 chapters. It’s a relatively quick read but does a great job of portraying human vulnerability in a hopeless situation.
It revolves around various stories, each depicting different people and their coping mechanisms in a zombie outbreak. The first story features a 16-year-old kid barricaded in his room in an apartment complex, with his infected mom going rampant outside. After four days without food and water and on the verge of giving up, he spots a girl around his age in the adjacent apartment complex, willing to lend him a hand.
6 All Of Us Are Dead
MyAnimeList Score: 6.87
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Writers |
Joo Dong-geun (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
Manhwa and drama fans have most likely heard about All of Us Are Dead before. It was a super popular K-drama that hit the screens in 2022. Its corresponding manhwa was published way before in 2009 and ended in 2011 with 130 total chapters. It may even be considered one of the classics.
The story of All of Us Are Dead unfolds at the premises of Hyosan High School, a seemingly normal school with seemingly normal students and staff. Unbeknownst to everyone involved in the story, this high school was on the verge of becoming the epicenter of one of the most deadly viruses to ever hit the world, changing their lives forever.
5 TACIT
MyAnimeList Score: 7.07
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Writers |
Kim Dazzi (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
TACIT is perfect for people who enjoy unique art. It’s a sci-fi, action, and adventure manhwa that centers around a post-zombie-apocalypse world. It was first released in 2021, and after 85 chapters, it had its final run in 2023.
TACIT centers around a reckless young girl called Ruby who lives in a survivor camp with her father, Bevrian. Ruby is out on one of her little adventures one day when she comes across a boy with pale skin and white hair. While initially suspicious of him being a zombie, she eventually realizes that he’s completely normal and lets him in the survivor camp with her. From that point on, a series of unfortunate events prompt Ruby and her father to leave the camp in search of answers.
4 Hive
MyAnimeList Score: 7.08
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Writers |
Kim Kyusam (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
Hive is a 2014 manhwa that had a four-year run. It ended in 2018 with 243 chapters under its belt. While this manhwa does feature a virus that turns humans into “mindless violent creatures,” it approaches the concept very differently.
Lee Eun Sung is an average office worker with a deadbeat job and a horrible boss. The sole motivations that drive him to go to work each day are his daughter and wife. However, on one very normal day at the office, Eun Sung Lee and his colleagues get attacked by a colony of giant human-sized wasps. Those who survive the wasps’ cannibalistic rampage end up turning into hive-centric zombified beings.
3 My Daughter Is A Zombie
MyAnimeList Score: 7.55
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Writers |
Lee Yunchang (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
For something as serious as undead hordes being unleashed on humans and driving them into extinction, My Daughter Is a Zombie has a surprisingly light take on it, providing a much-needed respite from the usual gore. It’s a comedy manhwa that was released in 2018 and ended in 2020 after 90 chapters.
South Korea has just been hit by a zombie virus, and now everyone around Su Ah is transforming into one. Her father decides that the safest way to avoid all the havoc would be to move in with her grandmother. However, on the very perilous (and ridiculously hilarious) journey there, Su Ah gets bitten by a zombie and is infected. Her father now has to hide her and take care of her, even after the virus has been eradicated. It’s comedy gold!
2 Surviving Romance
MyAnimeList Score: 7.84
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Writers |
Lee Yeon (Story & Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
Do not be fooled by this manhwa’s cutesy art and apparent romance plot, it’s not what it seems. Surviving Romance is a reincarnation-romance turned zombie-thriller that catches its readers off-guard in the best way. It was released in 2021 and wrapped up with 101 chapters in 2023.
Eun Chaerin is isekaied into her favorite romance novel, and she’s perfectly content with it. Because of how obsessed she was with the said novel in her previous life, she has all its events memorized by heart. However, on the day she thinks she will get a confession from the novel’s male lead, Jeha, things veer in an unexpected direction. Instead of a confession, she gets attacked by a zombified version of Jeha!
1 Sweet Home
MyAnimeList Score: 8.26
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Writers |
Kim Carnby (Story), Hwang Young-chan (Art) |
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Status |
Completed |
Sweet Home is another manhwa that got adapted into one of the most famous K-dramas of 2020. The first chapter of the manhwa was published in 2017, and after a three-year run, it concluded in 2020 with 141 chapters. While Sweet Home doesn’t explicitly use the word “zombie” to describe its creatures, their traits are essentially the same.
It follows a shut-in 18-year-old, Cha Hyun Soo, who lives alone in apartment 1410 of the Green Home apartment complex and spends his days playing video games and lazing around. However, Hyun Soo eventually starts displaying strange symptoms that cause him to have excessive nosebleeds and hallucinations. At the same time, he witnesses people in his apartment complex turn into strange flesh-eating monsters. He, with a group of survivors, has to now fend for himself against these monsters and survive.
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