Highlights
- Seinen genre in manhwa offers mature, realistic themes for young male adults, unlike other genres. Expects sophisticated plotlines and depth.
- Top seinen manga picks like ‘Preta’ and ‘King Of Eden’ dive into horror, suspense, and human evil with captivating storytelling.
- Series such as ‘The Live’ and ‘Threads Of Time’ explore dark fantasy, time travel, and brutal survival games with unique twists.
The manhwa community has several leading genres that appeal to varying audiences. However, the seinen genre is on the rise and is usually popular within the Japanese anime and manga community. The seinen genre is a demographic indicator targeted mainly at the young male adult audience.
Due to the nature of its specificity, the genre boasts more sophisticated plotlines from more realistic perspectives as compared to other genres. Unlike other genres, the seinen genre has its roots deeply inserted in reality as it tries to convey more mature and developed central themes from a fictional vantage point. Therefore, below are the top picks of the genre from the manhwa side of entertainment.
9 Preta
Anime-Planet Rating: N/A
- Authors: DD
- Release Years: 2012-2016
- Genres: Horror, Suspense
Preta brings the nightmares and horrors of the night to life in the visual treat of a series. The series revolves around a man who watches his pregnant wife get kidnapped by an unknown creature. Desperate to rescue his wife, he throws himself down the sewers in pursuit of her captor.
What follows is a series of horrifying secrets the man will encounter beyond the darkness of the sewers in connection to the creature’s origin, relating to a top-secret North Korean research that went wrong. It remains to be seen if this desperate man can rescue his wife while simultaneously revealing the truth about this mysterious creature.
8 King Of Eden
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.7 / 5
- Authors: Nagasaki Takashi, Lee Sang-Cheol
- Release Years: 2014-2018
- Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
King Of Eden explores the depth and maliciousness of human evil, concentrated explicitly on one point, and in this case, one man. The series unfolds from the massacre of an entire village in Andalusia. The culprit, however, is just one man, impossible to capture and detain.
In a world reeling from the effects of a zombie apocalypse, crawling with monsters, and having been shed of blood once before, the arrival of one more force of evil doesn’t seem a big issue. This evil, however, is unlike anything the world has ever seen.
7 Peak
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.0 / 5
- Authors: Hong Seong-Su, Im Gang-Hyeok
- Release Years: 2011-2014
- Genres: Action, Drama
Peak focuses on the central character, Ryu Yeon-Seong, a twenty-one-year-old adult just about to start compulsory military service in the ROK army. Alongside four other colleagues, Ryu is assigned to the mountain police rescue unit of Mt Bukhan, just outside Seoul.
The crew, expecting more challenging assignments, think their new postings will be a walk in the park, and they will have nothing to do. However, nature has harsher plans for Ryu and his crew, and soon, they will find out how much more difficult those plans are.
6 Jack Frost
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.6 / 5
- Authors: Go Jin-Ho
- Release Years: 2005-2014
- Genres: Action, Comedy, Horror, Supernatural
Jack Frost explores the supernatural through the life of the central character, Noh-A. Transferred to a new school, it is only natural for the first day to be daunting. In Noh-A’s case, her first day couldn’t get any more bizarre as she is literally decapitated but wakes up in one piece after the help of a mysterious doctor.
Noh-A quickly realises that not everything is as it seems at her new school, Amityville High, and paranormal forces are the order of the day. To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, Noh-A may be forced to ally herself with the school’s most dangerous and possibly unreliable Jack Frost.
5 Banquet Box
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.7 / 5
- Authors: Choe Jong Hun
- Release Years: 2009
- Genres: Drama, Mystery, Psychological
Banquet Box presents a twisted psychological game that takes place among five young people and brings to the fore past events of their lives long forgotten. The series revolves around five ex-classmates who are suddenly knocked unconscious and kidnapped.
The five of them awaken inside a shipping container with no means of escape and no knowledge of why they were kidnapped. Suddenly, hearing a mysterious voice, the five are asked to recall their lives of sin and past mistakes and repent for them. Only upon repentance will they be set free.
4 The Live
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.0 / 5
- Authors: Heuk Ain, Heo Seongmoo
- Release Years: 2020-2023
- Genres: Action, Drama, Fantasy
The Live follows the relatively empty life of the central character, Yoonjae, who leads a rather useless life following the gruesome murder of his wife and daughter. While wallowing in depression and pity, his journal suddenly reveals a message implying that Yoonjae can see his family again.
Suddenly, Yoonjae is pulled into a parallel world where humans are considered ‘Players ’ in a game of brutality and survival, where only the last one alive will have his wish granted. Given the chance to reunite with his, Yoonjae is determined to be the last one remaining by any means necessary.
3 Threads Of Time
Anime-Planet Rating: 3.9 / 5
- Authors: Noh Miyoung
- Release Years: 1999-2003
- Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Threads of Time explores a tale of identity torn between the distant past and an unavoidable present of a young boy who is the only one capable of traversing the halls of time to find out who he is supposed to be. The story is centred on the high school student Moon Bin Lee, who has difficulty sleeping as he battles the constant nightmare of being stranded a thousand years into the past, chasing what seems like a dark-haired girl into the darkness of his dream.
Before long, Moon Bin is overwhelmed by his dream to the point where he cannot tell who he is and cannot differentiate from which era time he is from. Moon Bin is caught between two influential and contrasting eras of time, and it remains to be seen if the collision of his life will ultimately consume him.
2 Annarasumanara
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.2 / 5
- Authors: Ha Il-Kwon
- Release Years: 2010
- Genres: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Annarasumanara tells the story of Yoon Ah-ee, the protagonist who has always believed in magic as a child and wanted to follow her dream of practising as a magician. Hit with the stinging reality of poverty over time, all of her dreams fade into the distance as she constantly battles having to provide daily necessities for herself and her sister in the absence of their parents.
Ah-ee’s life, however, drastically changes when she accidentally wanders into an abandoned theme park and encounters the magician rumoured to be able to perform real magic. After their fated meeting, what follows is an unfolding of renewed conviction of belief that allows Ah-ee once more to follow jer seemingly faded dreams and make them a reality.
1 Leviathan
Anime-Planet Rating: 4.3 / 5
- Authors: Noh Miyoung, Lee Gyuntak
- Release Years: 2018-2022
- Genres: Action, Fantasy
Leviathan peers into the eventuality of a post-apocalyptic world, should it ever become a reality. The series is set on an Earth struck by a comet approximately a century prior. The result was the sea levels rising beyond control to the point where dry land can no longer be found on the earth, and civilisations have been lost to rising waters. The remainder of humankind now lives aboard ships that sail over the endless seas.
The story revolves around the siblings, Bota and Lita, who lose their father to the dangerous monsters beneath the waters. With no family left and nowhere to go, the pair are miraculously found and taken in by Kana, the legendary harpoonist. Although their lives regain a hint of normalcy, what lies ahead is like nothing they have ever experienced.
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