Plenty of excellent Japanese manga series and light novels will get adapted into an anime, and in many cases, this will cause a huge spike in a manga series’ popularity. A major example is Demon Slayer – the beautifully rendered anime really brought the series to life in a way not even the original manga could.
However, plenty of other manga series haven’t yet made it onto the small screen as an anime, and this keeps some of them in total obscurity. Anyone who’s caught up on all the biggest titles in manga and anime is encouraged to explore the furthest corners of the manga industry and find some wonderful hidden gems that are long overdue for an anime adaptation.
10 Love In Focus
Love in Focus is a very short but charming romantic comedy/drama manga series that may appeal to fans of Komi Can’t Communicate and Horimiya. This short manga series stars the high school girl Mako, a passionate amateur photographer who moves to a new school and joins their photography club.
All seems well at first, until Mako takes photos of a dark-haired boy with glasses, a boy who sternly objects to being photographed. Mako finds him fascinating, but it won’t be easy to win his heart or solve the personal problem plaguing him.
9 The Gods Lie.
The Gods Lie. is a one-volume manga series by author Kaori Ozaki. It’s a short and surprisingly dark drama manga featuring a few young characters who slowly realize over time that adults are not always who they seem to be, and life is full of disappointments.
The Gods Lie. ends on a bittersweet note, with protagonist Natsuru and his new friends Rio and Yuuta trying to hang onto the life they built for themselves in a miserable shack of a house. If The Gods Lie. became an anime, it would do well as an animated movie.
8 Golden Sheep
Golden Sheep is another obscure manga series by author Kaori Ozaki, a prime example of Ozaki’s flair for teenage angst and drama in an everyday setting with relatable characters. This seinen manga follows the heroine Tsugu Miikura as she returns to her hometown after 6 years, where things are now very different.
Tsugu reunites with her old friends, but drama and tension may keep them apart, including some incidents of bullying. Still, the friends had once buried their written wishes here in town, a memento of their childhood friendship, and it may not be too late to fix things.
7 Even If You Slit My Mouth
Even If You Slit My Mouth has strong supernatural elements, where many classical Japanese monsters and creatures are alive and well in the 21st century. For example, the slit-mouthed woman Miroku is on the prowl, but then she meets Koichi Sano and gets engaged to him.
Miroku’s life soon becomes a bizarre combination of supernatural antics, her younger brother’s possessive feelings, and Miroku’s own blossoming romance with Koichi, her fiancé. Even if You Slit My Mouth has plenty of material for a 12-episode anime, too, and rom-com fans would love it.
6 Don’t Blush, Sekime-San!
Don’t Blush, Sekime-San! is a charming little romantic comedy manga series that will definitely appeal to fans of Komi Can’t Communicate and Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible. If the Kubo manga can get an anime, then perhaps its cousin Sekime-San will too in the coming years.
Protagonist Takano Riku is a perfectly ordinary high school boy who befriended his sweet classmate Kaede Sekime, who’s a total dandere with a heart of gold. The original manga had an anticlimactic ending, but an anime adaptation could change that in the span of 12 episodes or so.
5 Sakamoto Days
Sakamoto Days is a semi-obscure manga that is better-known than some underrated titles, but it’s certainly not as prominent as Jujutsu Kaisen or My Hero Academia. The Sakamoto Days manga is an action/comedy series starring Sakamoto, a hitman who retired from crime to become a convenience store owner.
Sakamoto just wants a peaceful life, but assassins and thugs from the criminal underworld keep finding and attacking him, so it’s up to Sakamoto to fight them off and defend the peace. This series would make for a great short anime with one or two 12-episode seasons to its name.
4 You And I Are Polar Opposites
You and I Are Polar Opposites feels loosely similar to My Dress-Up Darling, though without the same focus on cosplay and PG-13 fan service. Polar Opposites may be an obscure hidden gem without an anime, but it still has lots to offer to any reader who stumbles upon it in the Manga Plus app.
Tani, the male lead, is a quiet kuudere boy who prefers a stable and logical lifestyle, but he still can’t resist the charms of his playful, carefree classmate Suzuki. Even if that girl is Tani’s total opposite, he can’t deny his attraction to her, and they have all kinds of fun exploring everyday life together.
3 ‘Tis Time For “Torture,” Princess
The humor manga series ‘Tis Time For “Torture,” Princess is fairly obscure and is mainly found via the Manga Plus app, a great resource for finding hidden gems. This goofy fantasy manga depicts a blonde princess who got captured by the demon lord, and she’s subjected to “torture” every day.
The princess is never actually harmed. Instead, the demon lord’s agents tempt her with delicious food in exchange for vital information. The princess’s only real “torture” is facing the daily dilemma of choosing mouth-watering snacks or keeping her kingdom’s secrets safe.
2 Excuse Me Dentist, It’s Touching Me!
Even the title Excuse Me Dentist, It’s Touching Me! is laugh-out-loud silly, and the actual story and art also deliver. This wacky, off-beat comedy manga series stars the tough-talking mobster Takuma Kurosumi, who visits the dentist and learns how filthy his teeth really are.
His dentist, at a glance, is a slender lady named Tomori Shirayuki, but she is actually hiding a few secrets that will totally change Takuma’s daily life in a hurry. If Excuse Me Dentist ever got an anime, it would definitely turn a few heads and stand out in whichever anime season it made its debut.
1 Magu-Chan: God Of Destruction
Magu-Chan: God of Destruction is a highly underrated comedy manga starring a charming, innocent girl named Ruru and her bizarre pet, Magu. Ages ago, Magu was a massive Lovecraftian monster, but he has since been revived as a cartoony little critter with barely any powers.
Magu keeps trying to act tough and cool, but he can’t help being a cuddly knockoff Pokemon, and he soon gets used to being Ruru’s pet and friend in the modern era. Things will get even weirder when other monsters like Magu appear, many of whom Magu personally knows from eras long past.