Manga with Kafkaesque themes
Manga
Stories inspired by the Russian author Frans Kafka, which depict themes of: Social alienation, Doomed worlds, metaphorical rebirth and shedding of skin, impossible to achieve goals, and impossibly large forces that the protagonist cannot oppose and is often controlled by.
This list has only the mangas I've personally read, feel free to suggest more entries
This list has only the mangas I've personally read, feel free to suggest more entries
Manga, ? vol, 1989
Me:-
Author:8
Often depict themes of arranged fate. The main character is forced to fight his entire life because of the conditions of his birth and the choices of those above him
Read Manga
Manga, 34 vol, 2009
Me:-
Author:6
Show fights against almost unkillable monsters, protagonist is forced to lose his home and his family because of a war and a fate that is imposed on him since birth
Manga, ? vol, 2018
Me:-
Author:6
Protagonist has been in debt his entire life and is incapable of getting out of his shackles, always being forced to be in a cycle of violence because of his circumstances
Manga, 14 vol, 2011
Me:-
Author:9
Protagonist is forced to become a monster and a societal pariah, is constantly being pushed around by organizations that are way bigger than him
Same applies to the sequel Tokyo Ghoul RE
Same applies to the sequel Tokyo Ghoul RE
Manga, 37 vol, 2000
Me:-
Author:5
The group of protagonists is taken out of their normal life ad forced to fight against enemies they know nothing about, by a mastermind that they never see
Manga, 27 vol, 2001
Me:-
Author:6
The protagonists are forced to become half monsters by a nameless organization and then have to fight between themselves for motives that are unknown to them
Manga, 8 vol, 2016
Me:-
Author:10
Protagonist loses his family and is forced to life in torture, then begin seeking revenge in a post apocalyptic world
Manga, 10 vol, 1997
Me:-
Author:9
Protagonist walking through an impossibly large world filled with purposeless buildings and almost no life
Manga, 13 vol, 2012
Me:-
Author:10
Protagonist tries to understand the mysteries of her own world and is forced to gradually lose her humanity
Manga, 17 vol, 2012
Me:-
Author:7
The protagonist discover that he is a member of a race that is constantly being hunted by the government, and must now abandon his former life to hide
Manga, 10 vol, 1989
Me:-
Author:10
The titular monsters are presented as servers of the planet, born with the purpose of stopping humanity's rampant destruction of nature, but are ultimately powerless because of their difference in numbers compared to humans. Protagonist is forced to become one of these monsters and lose his emotions
Manga, 10 vol, 2015
Me:-
Author:6
Protagonist becomes a vampire, and is now forced to be in constant hiding from nameless organizations that want to experiment on him
Manga, 6 vol, 2014
Me:-
Author:10
The two protagonists walk through a world that has long been devastated by war and has almost no life any more
Manga, 15 vol, 2000
Me:-
Author:6
A group of regular students are forced by the government to kill each other in a televised program
Manga, ? vol, 2021
Me:-
Author:8
The protagonist and his friend are turned into monsters against their will and now have to fight in a war that they don't fully understand
Manga, 2 vol, 2021
Me:-
Author:6
Protagonist goes back in time in order to spread happiness, but is forced to realize that by bettering someone's life, he will always make someone's else worse
Manga, 11 vol, 2003
Me:-
Author:10
The protagonist is a middle-aged man who became a corporate worker and never achieved anything meaningful, and now tries to make his mark in the world despite his lack of talents
Manga, ? vol, 2021
Me:-
Author:7
Protagonist is forced to participate in a fake conflict his whole life for the sake of perpetuating a war which must go own to generate money
Manga, 2 vol, 1995
Me:-
Author:8
The protagonist of an ultra violent manga meets his own author and comes to realize that his life is fake
Manga, 13 vol, 1996
Me:-
Author:8
A broke protagonist inherits the debt of a person he barely knows and is forced to participate in death games for the amusement of the rich class
Manga, 1 vol, 1995
Me:-
Author:7
Protagonist is a model, forced to make progressively more aggressive plastic surgeries in order to maintain her beauty and status
Manga, ? vol, 2024
Me:-
Author:8
Shows a small group of survivors in a ruined world that is full of unkillable human-hunting monsters
Manga, 2 vol, 2024
Me:-
Author:7
Depict the life of an assassin in a crime-ridden city, trying to escape the unending cycle of violence
