I absolutely love reading about and looking for the most obscure manga I can find. And I'm not talking about the regular "hidden gems", I'm talking about stuff that you've never seen anyone else talk about. So what's the most obscure thing you own?
What is the most obscure manga in your collection?
DiscussionI just took a college course on the history of manga and we talked about In Clothes Called Fat.
Omg I need to take a course like that
A school frozen in time was a great read. Picking it up every release date was amazing. Cliff hangars everywhere. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn’t read it. Only like 5 vols too
Dang I just saw this for sale at my local half price books. Might need to go back now
Some of those sound really interesting! I'll definitely check those out
Oh alichino had pretty and unique art hyper detailed.
A School Frozen in Time was such a brilliant series.
Four Shojo Stories
Has the reprint happened already?
Also most things moto hagio are way underratted so good.
I think by virtue of owning a physical copy of it in English, it's not gonna be very obscure lol
But out of all the manga I own, I think that'd be O-Parts Hunter.
Not necessarily. Some older manga managed to be released in English but didn't sell so well and were mostly forgotten to time. Off the top of my head, Steam Detectives as well as Goku Midnight Eye. Most haven't heard of those.
Oh don’t get me wrong, there’ll still be plenty of obscure manga, especially when early on publishers would have NO IDEA if something might be successful.
I meant moreso by virtue of me owning a physical copy, haha.
Ah gotcha lol
Taiyo matsumoto stuff, dude is super underappreciated imo
Im reading number 5 rn and it feels like a fever dream, i hadnt been feeling this captivated by such an amazing worldbuilding and storytelling since i read Nausicaa
It's so good, I got thru vol2 before 3 came out, need to finish it soon. Also if u haven't read tekkonkinkreet yet, now's the perfect time since viz finally rereleased it, that one's his masterpiece imo
His best series imo
Underappreciated? I see his stuff here all the time
For a mangaka that I'd easily put in my top 5 maybe even top 3, it's not nearly enough
YSK: Frequency of detection is unequal to sentiments of appreciation.
I was gonna say Tekkonkinkreet but I see Taiyo is already the top comment lol
Honestly, I don't think he's that obscure
Just finished Sunny. Was my favorite manga of 2023! Matsumoto is the best.
Underappreciated by casual readers for sure, but he's very well known at the same time. I always recommend his stuff!
That’d either be Appleseed or Millennium Snow
I've never really looked into Appleseed, but I do remember seeing a dvd for the 1988 OVA at comic con once I think
Fair. The manga is an abandoned series because other projects and loss of notes. I’d consider myself very lucky for finding half a volume in Dutch secondhand. It smells like cigars!
I'd think Orion or Black Magic from Shirow would be more obscure than Appleseed.
If it's something that you don't see in stores I'd have to say A.i Love you
If we are discussing manga I don't hear people talking about it's Usotoki Rhetoric
i own the complete set of 1995 short manga series called "dolls" by yumiko kawahara and i've never ever seen anyone talk about it before let alone own it!
That series is such a bop! Everyone who is in to pet shop of horrors should read dolls
Nobody ever talks about Tamamo-chan's a Fox!, and I've yet to see anyone here that owns it. Really funny though; I wish it got an anime.
I have it and I read it last year. Tamamo-chan is a fox is cute, but story is based too much on actual japanese mythology and it came almost educational and not enough fluffy.
Tbh, a whole lot of things in my collection can pass under that category unless you really dig in the media, but i'll list Just a few
Ill boy Ill girl by NisiOisiN, even though he Is Crazy famous for Monogatari, i never ever Hear about this other manga online
Smile down the Runaway, an interasting read if you are curious or interasted to know how the fashion world works
Won't list them all, but i feel like Any Gekiga title Is obscure unless you know about Gekigas in the First Place
Mother Parasite, the best way to describe It Is to compare It to Blood on the track, but way more fucked up
Noroi to Seishun, It's written by a new mangaka and It's a collection of her early/debut works, She got talent though
Brynhildr in the darkness, It had a lot of potential, mistery and the usual "WTF Is going on" feeling Lynn Okamoto Always has in his series, the ending part Is a bit too rushed, the artstyle improved a whole lot
Kaina of the great snow Sea, It's a new ongoing manga wrote by Nihei and so far so It looks interasting, so i'm surpised people don't talk about It considering how much Blame Get's praised around the internet
i’ve noticed just bc ppl like smth by 1 author doesn’t mean they will want to read their other works (there are some exceptions tho like takehiko inoue, naoki urasawa, and CLAMP) or necessarily like all of them (for example some ppl like look back and goodbye eri but not chainsaw man)
I have Akira but it’s the Epic Comics edition that was digitally colored and released in 38 issues. It’s my favorite way to read the comic and the coloring is amazing. It’s easily the crown jewel of my comic and manga collection and I’m due for a reread.
I have the french edition of these!
Love Murder Basketball (incredibly depressing and disturbing)
Princess Princess (pure stupidity, but fun)
The Great Catsby (random volume I got for $1. Probably won't bother getting the rest)
The Warehouse (thriller manhwa)
Kabuki (reincarnation BL series)
Not the slightest bit obscure but never seen on here:
A lot of Kaori Yuki's stuff. Alice in Murderland, Demon From Afar, and her one-shots. There's no English release of those, so not surprising.
The Ai no Kusabi BL novels. Got the first three, very unlikely I'll ever find the rest at an affordable price.
Literally anything Raijin Comics published.
Bomber Girl, Bow wow watta, Guardian Angel Getten/Mamotte Shugogetten, The Barefoot Climber, The First President of Japan, Revenge of Moulfon, Hana no Keiji, and Fist of the Blue Sky to name almost all of them.
They're are great titles :).
I still remember the disappointment I felt when I realized Bow Wow Wata volume 3 was never going to be released all those years ago. I have been holding out hope for a license rescue.
I was also gonna say Bomber Girl 😂 Absolute trash tier imo, but it’s a fun time for how short is is!
You couldn't be more right
In my collection probably Le Chevalier d’Eon or Bus Gamer.
There’s a couple. The number one that I’ve never seen anyone talk about is “Once Upon a Glashima”. I found it used at a Hastings in my old town and it’s a one volume manga from one of my favorite artists.
Next would be Afterschool Charisma, One Fine Day, Milkyway Hitchhiking, and Vampire Doll Guilt Na Zan. Fairy cube is another obscure one that has people scratching their heads if I ever ask if they’ve heard of it.
Petshop of Horrors and Strain
Ooh, I LOVE Petshop of Horrors!! I have every volume, and several of the sequel Petshop of Horrors Tokyo. I eventually have to continue collecting Tokyo, but it'll get to the point where it's the Japanese ones only since it's not fully translated.
Yokai Rental Shop - four volumes and highly overlooked. Needs an anime.
I got 3 volumes of the old English version of Urotsukidoji. I guess that's my rarest gem
Dusk maiden of amnesia (I read it in french). Tbh I'm not entirely sure how (or why) I ended up by the series but I currently have books 1 to 6
不思議の国の少年アリス
Perfect World, and the light novel Sabuki Bisko, Seaside Stranger idk if this is really not mainstream or not it’s hard to find around my area at least but Natsume Yuujincho (Natsume’s Book of Friends) Black and White
Zombiepowder, figured it would go nice with my bleach box sets
Yeah, more ZombiePowder fans.
I feel like +Anima is my most obscure series, though I've seen it in some collections on here.
I also have the Gurren Lagann manga which I don't think I've seen here?
Yarichin Bitch Club... That's obscure. And Weird... BL/Yaoi, SuBLime.
I started Boy's Abyss (Ryo Minenami) I like the 'Shuzo Oshimi'-ish vibe. I find it somewhat more sexual than Inio Asano's works would be... It comes sealed... but is most certainly not an Erotics ( Viz Sig), many triggers!
Some of my most obscure manga (other than ザ・グレイトバトルIII (The Great Battle III) from my other comment) include:
Ballet Mecanique (Senno Knife)
Bastard!!
Blood Plus: Kowloon Nights (which I haven't read in ages, but I think it might be a light novel?)
Cats of the Louvre
Chronicles of the Grim Peddler
Devilman Vs. Hades
Gaia (Hollow Press)
Ghost & Lady
Goku Midnight Eye
Hino Horror (vol #1 and #6)
Kamo (OEL published through Tokyo Pop)
Kindaichi Case Files
Lament of the Lamb
Mantis Woman (Senno Knife)
No. 6
Petshop of Horrors and Petshop of Horrors Tokyo
Pupa (which is a LOT different than the anime)
Samurai Crusader
Sazan & Comet Girl
Secret Comics Japan
Seraphic Feathers
Shadow Lady
Silent Mobius
Steam Detectives
Strain
Total Eclipse of Eternal Heart
Trinity Blood
Ubel Blatt
Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea (wish the second half of the story was made into a volume, I'd buy it even if it wasn't translated)
Waq Waq
And I'm sure these aren't even all of my obscure ones, but the ones I'm thinking of off the top of my head. (Edit, added one)
Total Eclipse was great!
Oh definitely! It was one of those few manga that I didn't read first and got based off a suggestion. Definitely worth it.
I have volume 1 of Seraphic Feather, not sure if I should continue or not. I know it isn't fully published in English but I've considered getting the rest of the remaining volumes.
Oh man, I had a suspicion it wasn't fully translated. I have volumes 1-5, got them extremely cheap from a Bullmoose after somebody brought them in. I mean, I kinda like it. It's got some charm. It's one of those, it's worth finishing if you have the money and can find them cheap. Otherwise, it feels like just having the first volume might be a nice commodity. I know I'll probably slowly collect the rest eventually, granted I can get them cheap. Who knows, maybe I'll do what I plan to do with Petshop of Horrors Tokyo and collect the remaining Japanese volumes lol
Will consider. As for collecting the Japanese volumes alongside the English, I've done this with Narutaru and might do the same with Apocalypse Zero, totally worth it for the sake of collecting if you care enough about the series.
Tekken Chinmi. Was translated and sold in the west in 90s-00s
Wandering Island
Probably Animeta.
Last I checked it didn't even have a MAL score
I just checked and apparently it does now lol
I have vol 1 and 2 of 7 billion needles. I got priced out of 3&4 so I'll probably never finish it.
I have a ton that never finished.
Aside from those, off the top of my head…
Planet Ladder was the first series I collected.
Made in Heaven vol 1, literally no discussion of it online and only a handful of reviews
I think the most obscure manga I have is "Twilight of the dark master". It's from early 2000s and I have not seen many people talk about it.
Another fairly obscure one I have is Velveteen & Mandala, but I have seen that one in a few collections before
Narutaru Shadow Star. Same author as Bokurano. It’s so old that it’s printed from right to left and unfortunately censored and discontinued 💔 wish it got a proper rerelease but it’s way to obscure now
Dragon's Heaven. A pretty obscure mecha manga with unique art.
Oh yeah, I remember hearing about the OVA on youtube!
Holy crap, I didn't know it had a manga! I only knew about the OVA. Mind sharing a pic? That's so cool!
I can take a look, it's in storage!
Probably my pulp manga (dance till tomorrow, heartbroken angels, voyeur, etc) Aqua Knight or You're Under Arrest! Pixy Junket as well!
Chocomimi
Omg, the art is super cute!
Samurai deeper kyo, not the most obscure manga but definitely hard to find for some copies.
Raqiya: The New Book of Revelation. By Masao Yajima art by Boichi. Super cool over the top action packed wild story. I dont see it in anyones collection
I own volume 1 of Sanctuary by 'Buronson', with art by Ryouichi Ikegami. And I also have all 4 volumes of Mai The Psychic Girl, art by Ikegami again.
I read Sanctuary years ago online and it blew me away, it's like a political/yakuza game of thrones. Badly needs a reprint with a fresh translation.
I highly recommend "The Voynich Hotel". It's only 3 volumes as well so an easy read.
Coppelion, i've never seen anyone else have it (tho it only has a japanese physical print and i think it is no longer being printed), and i know i'm definitely the only one who talks about it on here, so sorry for that btw lol
I don’t see anyone talk about devils candy. Truly an outstanding manga in both story and artwork
Probably No Guns Life, I only have the first volume which I bought on a whim
Maybe it won't be so obscure to some of you but here is what I'd consider obscure in my collection.
Showa - Shigeru Mizuki - Not that obscure but not nearly talked about enough same with his seminole work Gegege No Kitaro.
Our Dreams at Dusk - Yuhki Kamatani - Possibly my favorite LGBTQ manga it's just a wonderful perfect neat lil 4 volume story.
Arm of Kannon - Masakazu Yamaguchi - only 3 volumes into this one, it's a bit tough to find volumes for sale but listings arent non existent. Really gruesome but pretty art. The story has me hooked. The first few pages of volume 1 are essentially hentai if that helps to sell anymore of you haha.
Soul to Seoul - Kim Jea Eun - need to read this myself, bought all the volumes over time at various used book sales so there seems to be a decent amount of volumes that were printed and circulated yet ive never seen anyone buy or own this manwha let alone talk about it.
Golgo-13 - Takao Saito - An absolute smash hit in Japan, Golgo is almost entirely ignored in the west at least to my personal perception feel free to correct me if you've got any data. I got so lucky to get ahold of a full set once upon a time but I know they are extremely out of print and hard to find these days so that is likely a reason why.
Yokohama Kaidaishi Kikou- Hitoshi Ashinano - I absolutely adore this series it is one my all time favorite manga and anime, ive loved it for years. I am so happy I can now finally own it physically and am equally thrilled to see the resurgence in popularity that is coming with the new printing. Not so obscure anymore!
a few more obscure ones in my collection
Vaizard - Michiro Yoshida MAICO 2010 - Toshimitsu Shimizu Treasure Hunter -Hitoshi Tomizawa Beet The Vandal Buster - Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada
I have Golgo 13 in three of the attempts to bring it over - the original graphic novels published by Leed in 1986, the two floppies that were video game tie-ins, and then the Viz run. I would like to see more, but at least the Viz run had the wonderful background/commentary provided by Carl Horn, including what soap he prefers. I am primarily a shojo/josei reader but I just adore this series.
Twin Spica, Eternal Sabbath and Firefighter Daigo for me.
Probably crisis girls- found it recently and really enjoyed it but I can’t say I recommend it to the average person- it’s weird & it’s not anything groundbreaking. That said I found it to be fun! If ya saw it mentioned I made a post recently showing some of the stuff I got last year that I deemed “unusual”… but some titles aren’t exactly obscure (like the clamp stuff for example) but I think that one certainly is, if admittedly understandably so. This past year I started taking chances weird stuff irl instead of just reading more popular stuff & found it really fun so I might post more weird things I find this year too! I’ve already seen several things people have mentioned here in this thread for sale & cheap irl… collecting obscure stuff sometimes saves you a little money too hehe
I have that too I thought it was cute
Just got the whole series for Christmas but Alice in Murderland. Only took me 6 years to obtain
Probably Dog Ningen.
Very obscure and a good read!
The Walking Cat: A Cat's-Eye-View of the Zombie Apocalypse (Omnibus Vols. 1-3)
Maria Holic. I love this series so much and cant recommend it enough. Most websites categorize it as "yuri" but this couldn't be farter from the truth. There is no romance in this story, it is 100% comedy and that comedy is its greatest strength. The anime is great too.
Black Gate, Rose Guns Days, Versailles of the Dead, Yokohama Station are some obscure ones I enjoy - I unhauled a bunch more cuz they weren't great so probably obscure for a reason.
Omg Versailles of the Dead stan reporting for duty! I feel like no one has ever heard of Kumiko Suekane.
Return to Labyrinth. The series was given to me as a present and it’s protected for the reason that I expect it to become a collector’s item eventually.
wow, the cover art and the actual manga sure differ in style and quality a lot XD
No kidding right? The movie’s a legendary cult classic though and I doubt this will go back into print.
Gonna be honest, I've never seen labyrinth. But it looks like something that would be right up my alley, so I totally should
Watch it for Bowie in tights if for no other reason.
I remember picking that up in a bookstore a long time ago, thinking wow the cover art is beautiful and then opening it up to see something different.
I mean, I don't see anyone ever mention Kagerou Daze at all. I have the entire manga collection, but is not necessarily rare though.
Junk Force
Murder princess
Huh, it wiped out what I wrote when I included a pic. This is ザ・グレイトバトルIII (The Great Battle III), a spin-off parody manga crossover featuring Kamen Rider and several others, including a short scene with Godzilla playing baseball
Oooooh, that sounds fun!
I don’t know if I’d exactly call it obscure, but out of everything in my collection I’d probably say Golden Time.
Most of the stuff I collect is super mainstream and all, but I do have the first three volumes of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney manga. They’re not adapting any cases from the games, they’re all original and appear to take place some amount of time after the third game. They’re fun reads! Unfortunately the series is out of print so you can only get them through resellers, but I enjoy it a lot!
No guns life I think is the most obscure I own I've heard no one talk about aobi guess it counts
The closest to obscure i have is tekkon kinkreet and mw but arent nearly as obscure as you would think, mw (osamu tezuka) was a clear influence on monster.
Utsubora and The strange tale of panorama island are two unique stories to say the least
I own a physical copy of Metamorphosis, so…
Pycho Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami. It’s a prequel to the anime.
Samurai 8
Japan by Kentaro Miura
Cage of Eden
Raqiya by Boichi. It was his first series published in English by One Peace Books, and it looks like the print runs were very small, so not many copies exist.
Or
Love To-Lie-Angle. Only a single volume of the series was printed by Pecchi Books, which is like a sub imprint of DMP thats basically defunct now. Very few copies even seem to exist.
Idk if it is really obscure, but I have both volumes of Inio Asano’s What a Wonderful World. I don’t see that in a lot of people’s collections.
My Girlfriend is a T-Rex as well as Crazy Food Truck. I don't think I've ever seen T-Rex mentioned anywhere, and I can only remember one time someone talking about Food Truck.
Ikigami by Motoro Mase and At The Mountains of Madness and The Hound and Other Stories by Gou Tanabe
In my collection? Oyasumi Punpun
Definitely MPD Psycho
idk if it is underrated but bloom into you. It is my most favorite manga and I had found it completely randomly.
stuff by Rumiko Takashi, surprisingly not that common considering how well known she is
Usamaru Furuya's Where the Boys Are is a manga I haven't heard anyone talk about in real life or online, probably since it's fairly recent, and it's by one of my favourite mangaka, so I had to get it.
I wanted to say Shintaro Kago's The Ultra Power Mongol Invasion, too, but I actually got it because I saw it on my friend's manga shelf and asked about it, so I have been talking about it with someone.
I guess "H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness" by Gou Tanabe
Not really obscure but battle angel alita and the last order
Not really obscure
But battle angel alita
And the last order
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Murcielago is 100% the most obscure I have. Another good one I've got is Slasher Maidens
Drrrr!! (Durarara) I don't see many mention the manga like that
I think it would be demon slayer stories of water and flame, it’s not really a hidden gem or rare manga but it’s definitely something people don’t talk about and that’s probably because it’s a side story Lmao
Rn berserk
chi no wadachi (blood on the tracks)
Dai dark, it’s the same other as dorrehdorro!
Chainsaw man
My favourite obscure manga
im gonna say Rooster Fighter if only because it's impossible to find high quality english scans online past a certain point despite there being several official english volumes. plus it's just a fun series
chainsaw man
Honestly, the more I see chainsaw man mentioned, the less I want to read it XD
It’s pretty great if you like action shonen comedy and stuff like that. If you’ve read jjk it’s like that but deeper characters, I guess. And yeah, I get it and I’m sorry to fuel the fire but I encourage you try it
Yeah, I know. One of my friends is a fan too so I should probably give it chance at some point
👍
Again sorry to annoy you further about it lol
It’s fine lol! I’m sure it’s a great series
Yup but it can drive you away when it’s recommended to you so much but I just had to recommend since it’s my favourite manga (or top 2)
it's one of the best but it's definitely not obscure. one of the most popular manga in recent times
it’s frickin peaks bro
now that chainsaw is out it's not obscure anymore but i've had fire punch from before chainsaw man blew up
Blood on the tracks for sure
I'm so sorry, but... wat...? Oshimi is considered one of the more prolific manga writers of current times. No shade towards you, I just struggle to see them being obscure.
Probably teacher x student Yuri anthology? But that feels kinda cheating. Plus my collection is almost all in Japanese, so I have a ton without English versions anyways, like sora no manimani
Ravages of time
According to MAL, The Two Faces of Tomorrow.
https://anilist.co/manga/44871/ReverseEnd/
I bought this in a rightstuf clearance sale for $2. I have never read it and probably never will tbh
first 10 volumes of King of Hell by Ra In-Soo. Its OOP now but its actually pretty damn good and funny but ive never seen someone even mention it
Hachune Miku's Everyday Vocaloid Paradise probably lol i have 2 volumes
The only ones I own I never see sold at work (multimedia store) are MegaMan NT Warrior and the Edgeworth (Phoenix Wright) manga series, but they're both huge Capcom games, so I don't know how much we can classify that as "obscure". I also used to own DNAngel, but that got an anime too. There's gotta be much rarer stuff.
Definitely not as niche as some of these, but due to Its limited prints "I Am Hero" is a pretty rare one to see people talk about.
A Man Called Pirate. A three volume series that tells the dramatized version of the life of Sazo Idemitsu adapted from a book and later film of the same name. I work for Idemitsu and was gifted a set, I'm honestly not sure if it was ever really sold in the West. It's kind of neat, like a super high effort piece of corporate propaganda
Probably Short Cuts. Definitively an acquired taste.
I always assume if I know about it it can't really be obscure lol
I guess Kouya ni Kemono Doukokusu, Japanese only
Imomushi - Suehiro Maruo
I'm not sure if it's obscure really, but I have a couple volumes of this newer series that no one seems to talk about called "The Darwin Incident". Honestly though, it kind of makes sense that no one does, because it's not that good
Be very afraid of kanako inuki. I’ve seen maybe one other collection that had it and I never hear about it. It’s a collection of short horror stories released in 2022 but I don’t know how old the stories themselves are, it was interesting at some parts.
Not overly obscure, but certainly under-appreciated. I have a few of Jiro Taniguchi’s works, they’re very, very enjoyable and tranquil.
Heartbroken Angels or Even a monkey can draw manga. Both have great humor and are kinda weird which helps make them obscure to most.
The Comico releases of Robotech may be number 1, although I don't know if you can classify them as "manga" in the literal sense. They were first published in 1985, and don't get referenced a lot any longer with Robotech/Macross as they're no longer considered canon.
Others I would consider obscured is I have near the complete runs of both Maxion and Time Traveler Ai. They're both written by Takeshi Takebayashi. Maxion is a supernatural love triangle series with Urusei Yatsura vibes, and Time Traveler Ai was most known in it's heyday for the MC being based off the adult actress Ai Ijima who passed away in 2008. I really like Takebayashi's artwork and it's a shame none of his material has ever received an anime.
I have issues of Club 9 which also rank up there pretty high on obscurity. It was written by Makoto Kobayashi who also wrote What's Michael? (about a cat which is basically if Garfield were made in Japan). Club 9 is a seinen series about a girl from Akita who travels to Tokyo and ends up working as a hostess.
7 Billion Needles is probably the most obscure title I actually own the whole set of. Aposimz might be a bit obscure I guess, but Nihei is pretty popular in the west now.
A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, The Royal Tutor, and Heaven’s Design Team.
Gingitsune, I even have the art book that was available only for limited time(which was stupidly expensive to import, and took months to arrive lol). And also The Polar Bear Yakuza vol1 I bought on whim while browsing cdjapan.
I have several candidates. I think I'm gonna go with three old single volumes with subtitles this time:
Dragon Wars: The Tale of Lufiak Duell
Shion: Blade of the Minstrel
Midaresomenishi: A Legend of Samurai Love
Ryuko. Less than 2k views on yt videos about it, no MAL page, 80 reviews on amazon. Obscure for a good reason, though it has Really nice covers
Idk
Finlandia White Witch Ginga Franchise
Those are some manga that I doubt aren't a thing outside Finland
Aqua Knight for sure. Pretty good 3 volume series but it's sadly never had a release outside of Japan that doesn't have inverted artwork
I've never seen Juvenile Orion or Crescent Moon in anyone else's collection. They're both fantastic manga.
Mikako-san by Machiko Kyou, but that's in Japanese admittedly (there is a fan translation, though). Highly recommend it if you are into melancholic seinen or slice of life. It's extremely good.
I have this discontinued X-Men shoujo manga 😂
Two stand out to me that I have and never see mentioned/discussed. One is Ten Ken by Yumiki Shirai and the other is the two volumes that have been done of Katsuya Terada's The Monkey King.
Separately I usually don't see mention of mangaka works in western comic collections or anthologies referenced often. Some of that wouldn't fit the manga description but it is fun to see places.
Mitt liv i Japan. Only released in Swedish and Japanese, highly recommend for Swedish millennials
Based on a different post a month or two ago, apparently, my Cowboy Bebop complete manga box set that I bought almost 25 years ago is rare.
There's a Manga called Chunchu. I only have 1 & 2, but I liked it. Then there's Kubo's other child that got discontinued called Zombie Powder 🥲
Collected edition of Pineapple Army. I picked it up from eBay randomly for around $30 a few years ago since I’m a fan of Urasawa.
Osamu Tezuka’s “Vampires”… in French
The most obscure in my collection is probably after-school bitchcraft. Never seen anyone else have it
Not obscure exactly but I own a Japanese copy of Black Clover volume 35 that I actually bought on release day from the Shonen Jump store in Shibuya. Those release versions also include an ad for the movie so it’s probably the “rarest” manga I have.
Edit: rare for someone living in the US that is
I know for a fact majority of y’all don’t have “Stravaganza: The Queen in the Iron Mask” or “Tokyo Interstellar Immigration” or “The Girl with the Mega Fists”
Some of my manhwas Angel Cup, Chronicles of the Cursed Sword. Some oops like bizenghast, translucent and dragon knights.
Eden: It's an Endless World is really good. Expensive as hell though, and was canned after vol. 14. Fifteen through 18 can be found translated online though. I'd just read the whole thing digital. I was fortunate enough to piece together a set just before the price exploded.
TekkonKinkreet is also amazing.
The most obscure I've got, which I really wouldn't even call obscure, is Torture Princess. It's not bad at all. It's a 3 volume omnibus. There's no more to it.
i wouldnt say theyre obscure but some ones i dont see talked about much
opus
buddha
witches
i also got this cool little viz manga sampler that i havent seen anywhere outside of when i got it
KitaKoga by Takanori Yasaka. It was published only in Monocle magazine, one chapter at the end of each issue of the magazine during its first few years, as far as I know. I don't have a complete set, but it's possible to collect it still from used editions of previous Monocle magazines.
I’ve never seen anyone else have the Ace Attorney manga on their shelves.
I suppose Ubel Blatt since it's out of print (I'll never finish the run though)
Or maybe the HP Lovecraft retellings by Gou Tanabe
Shion Blade of the Minstrel, some of the most insane manga artwork I’ve ever seen. Beautiful Viz Spectrum Edition volume too!
I have a Japanese volume of Kanata Kara (From Far Away, in english).
I'd really like the english volumes but theyre goddamn near impossible to get.
I'm not sure if it's obscure but I've never really seen anyone else have it in their collections. Kilala Princess it's a very cute romance with Disney princesses from the earlier 2000s.
Not too sure if it counts since I think it's considered manhua and not manga, but I have a historical fiction book about the origins of tea in Taiwan. It's all in Mandarin (traditional which I can't fully read yet) and I have not seen any English translations online or otherwise.
I don’t really have any obscure stuff, but the most obscure is World Trigger.
I dunno if they’re really obscure, but some I own that I don’t hear people talk about/see in other collections are Alichino, A School Frozen in Time, Blank Canvas, O Maidens in your Savage Season, The Delinquent Housewife, In Clothes Called Fat, Sakuran