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After her life takes a turn for worse shortly after dropping out of college, Kabi Nagata becomes depressed and develops an eating disorder. She feels immense pressure from her family to be a "normal" and productive person, along with an acute desire to belong to a community. Despite attempts to solve these problems, she struggles to resolve her pain, and her situation worsens. At 28 years old, Kabi contacts a lesbian escort service. She imagines this event as a rite of passage into adulthood she has been avoiding for so long. And while this experience does not turn out to be exactly what she was expecting, it proves critical to Kabi's reimagining of her life. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Akiko Hayashi has soaring but strangely specific dreams: to make a successful manga debut while still in school, have her favorite actor star in its adaptation, and end up marrying him. However, she is far from having the motivation or skills to realize these hopes. When a friend introduces her to an unorthodox, backstreet art class taught by the strong-armed Kenzou Hidaka, called simply as "sensei," Akiko decides to enroll, expecting an easy ride and an automatic improvement in her art skills. To her chagrin, what she gets is something else entirely—a tough, demanding, and uncompromising teacher with absolutely no interest in manga. But when Akiko takes up Sensei's challenge of an intense schedule, she comes to recognize how much he cares about his students and forms a close bond with him. With Sensei's guidance, Akiko learns what is necessary to become a successful mangaka as well as what it means to be an adult. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Famed horror manga artist Junji Itou loves nothing more than to stand and admire the fresh white wallpaper, gleaming floors, and smell of his brand-new house. But his happiness is short-lived when his fiancée, A-ko, reminds him of her plan to bring her cat Yon into their new abode. As an avid dog person, Junji experiences chills down his spine whenever he recalls Yon's uncanny face and a seeming skull on his furry coat. When A-ko also decides to adopt another cat, Muu, to keep Yon company, he fears that all hell will break loose. With Yon and Muu's arrival, the wallpaper is quickly covered in shiny, protective sheets; the floor is marred with scratches; and the stench of the litter box hangs heavy in the air. The two cats become quick friends, and—to Junji's surprise—endear themselves to the new cat owner as well. As they grow closer, the manga artist begins to believe that living with cats may not be so bad after all. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jealous of other people successfully moving forward in life and constantly eaten away by her insecurities, Kabi Nagata finally musters the courage to leave her parents and move into a new apartment alone. Unfortunately, she struggles to adapt to this new lifestyle and begins to contemplate her newfound feelings of loneliness, including her estranged relationship with her mother and what it means to love and be loved. As the psychological pressure mounts, her resolve waivers. From her family to love, Nagata attempts to overcome her tumultuous past and heal the wounds that afflict her. No matter how broken she may be, she does her best to move forward. [Written by MAL Rewrite] Included one-shot: Volume 2: Chika-chan no Yuuutsu

On October 10, 2016, Ryousuke Nanasaki married the love of his life, Ryousuke. But the time leading up to this day was anything but easy. Feelings of self-hatred, heart-wrenching breakups, and coming out to his family—it was all an uphill battle. Based on the autobiographical web essay of the same title, Boku ga Otto ni Deau made follows Nanasaki's life and his journey to discover a happy ending together with his husband. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Chii and her husband are like any other happily married couple, except for one thing: Chii was assigned male at birth. Chii details her autobiographical account of growing up with gender dysphoria and ultimately deciding to transition in her early adult years. Shortly after Chii starts transitioning, she meets a man who is instantly enamored by her, and although he is surprised when Chii eventually tells him she used to live as a guy, he still wants to go out with her. As Chii continues to transition, her boyfriend supports her through the process, culminating in their marriage once her transition is complete. (Source: Hachimitsu Scans)

Over four decades ago, Yoshihiro Tatsumi expanded the horizons of comics storytelling by using the visual language of manga to tell gritty, literary stories about the private lives of everyday people. He has been called "the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics" and has influenced generations of cartoonists around the world. Now the visionary creator of "The Push Man and Other Stories" and "Good-bye" has turned his incisive, unflinching gaze upon himself. Over ten years in the making, "A Drifting Life" is Tatsumis' most ambitious, personal, and heart felt work: an autobiographical bildungsroman in comics form. Using his life long obsession with comics as a frame work, Tatsumi weaves a complex story that encompasses family dynamics, Japanese culture and history, first love, the intricacies of the manga industry, and most importantly, what it means to be an artist. Alternately humorous, enlightening, and haunting, this is the masterful summartion of a fascinating life and a historic career. (Source: Drawn & Quarterly)

Kabi Nagata's downward spiral is getting out of control, and she can't stop drinking to soothe the ache of reality. After suffering from unbearable stomach pains, she goes to a clinic, where she is diagnosed with pancreatitis—and is immediately hospitalized. A new chapter unfolds in Kabi Nagata's life as she struggles to find her way back to reality and manga creation in the wake of her breakdown. (Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

Honda is a skeleton, but more importantly, she is a bookseller. And she'll tell you from firsthand experience that the job of a bookstore employee is more challenging than it may seem to the average customer. Alongside her equally eccentric coworkers, Honda constantly deals with the stressful requirements of the bookselling industry. From the drama of receiving new titles without their bonus material to the struggle of providing quality service to customers who speak a different language, the work of a skeleton bookseller never ends. Nevertheless, despite the hardships she faces, Honda thoroughly enjoys her job and strives to bring the best book selections and service to her customers. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Souin Gyokusai seyo! is a "semi-autobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of World War II." Mizuki drew from his own experiences as a soldier in that war to depict the horrors of battle. On an island at the end of 1943, Japanese soldiers are obliged to commit suicide in order to save the honor of their country. (Source: ANN, bdangouleme.com)

Oku Hiroya tells in this manga what inspired him to draw GANTZ, and his love of Sci-Fi movies.

Hideo Azuma was born 6th February 1950 in Hokkaido. He moved to Tokyo where he was assistant to Rentaro Itai and debuted in manga in 1969. Throughout the 70´s and 80´s he produced a large body of work in many genres including the comedies FUTARI TO GONIN (Two People and Five) and YAKEKUSO TENSHI (Desperate Angel), the Science Fiction Seiun (Japanese Hugo) Award winning FUJOURI NIKKI (Absurd Diary) and is also known as the father of Lolicon manga. But the pressures told and, in 1989, he ran away from his responsibilities and went homeless. After this experience and his eventual return to normal life, he then repeated the cycle in 1992, this time becoming a gas pipe layer in another town. Later, in 1998, his alcoholism was so bad that he was forced into rehab. This book is his expression of those three periods of his life told, not in a deep or depressed way but, as befits his nature, in a buoyant and cheerful cartoon art and is a welcome addition to the "personal manga" genre. In 2005, SHISSOU NIKKI (Disappearance Diary) was awarded the Grand Prize from the 9th Japan Media Arts Festival Manga Division and the Excellence Price at the 34th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards. (Source: ANN)

The manga is based on a dramatic tragedy diary written by Aya Kito, published shortly before her death. The diary, a true story based on her own life, was originally written in first person. It is about a girl coping with her teenage life along with a degenerative disease. She keeps a diary of not only what she does but how she feels and the hardships she must endure. Initially, the diary's purpose was for Kito to chronicle impressions she had about how the disease was affecting her daily life. As the disease progressed, however, the diary became Kito's outlet for describing the intense personal struggles she underwent in coping, adapting, and ultimately trying to survive her disease. As she notes in one entry, "I write because writing is evidence that I am still alive." (Source: Wikipedia)

Autobiographical essay manga from Kabi Nagata surrounding her struggles with her eating disorder and binge-eating.

My Kitty and Old Dog is a collection of short, heartwarming, and episodic stories that describe the relationships between the old poodle Nang-nak, the cute kitten Soondae, and their loving owners. Some stories are autobiographical—telling the artist's own experience with his pets—while others are told from the pets' point of view in an interesting, fresh, and innocent take on storytelling. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

A historical story using Ghosts to explain the life times of the reign of Emperor Hirohito. Comic Showa-shi describes an era of upheaval and impoverishment in Japanese history, beginning with the Tokyo Earthquake in 1923, and covering the financial panic, the Great Depression, the March 15th Incident, and other events up until the Manchurian Incident in 1931. (Source: Volume 1 cover)

Porn actress Nazuna Nonohara looks back on the tragic life that has led her to where she is today. She discusses the hardships she has faced in her domestic life—specifically the sexual assault she faced at a young age at the hands of her stepfather, and the time her older brother raped her. The impact of these horrific events has left Nazuna androphobic—terrified of men. Dansei Kyoufushou Datta Watashi ga AV Joyuu ni Naru made no Hanashi is a true story based on the experiences of the mangaka, who shares a name with the main character. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

After graduating university, Yuuna spent several years going through the motions and working an office job. Until one day, while in pursuit of an essential missing piece of her life, she receives a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which opens up new doors for her. As she takes on medical treatments and tries out new makeup and outfits, she sees just how lonely and difficult the process of transitioning can be. But in 2015, when Yuuna travels to Thailand for her gender-affirming surgery, the support of her siblings, new strangers, and documenting her experience through manga helps her begin to heal in more ways than one. Told in an honest and, at times, humorous tone, this memoir is a blend of manga and detailed prose that does not shy away from sensitive topics, such as suicidal ideation, transphobia, and the simultaneously harrowing, yet joyous, experience of gender-affirming surgery. (Source: Kodansha USA)

In this new autobiographical manga following My Wandering Warrior Existence, Kabi Nagata has quit drinking in an attempt to get healthier—or she's trying to, anyway. Her former struggles with alcohol led to pancreatitis and a serious hospitalization, and now she has no choice but to give it up. Follow the author as she details the quest to improve her health during a global pandemic. (Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

The experiences of author, Tatsuta Kazuto, a former laborer at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

In this story set in the early 1980s, a young man dreams of becoming a renowned comic writer in years to come. His name is Honoo Moyuru. He has no money, only a dream. Then, he feels overwhelmed by his lack of ability, and buys some sake, although he has no head or stomach for alcohol. This is a tortured elegy for any dashing young art student who spends his days careening around in burning ambition.

Mizuki takes another chapter from his life to create Nonnonbaa, a story about a boy in the 1930s who is introduced to the world of Japanese folklore by a old neighbor woman. (Source: ANN)

Honey & Honey is a realistic look at an adult lesbian couple living in Japan; to be precise, it's autobiographical. The artwork is simple, but hopefully the plot (and the information the manga imparts) will be enough compensation for those who don't like that style of drawing. This manga is similar to Plica, though it's not a 4-panel manga. (Source: Lililicious)

This intimate manga anthology is about the struggles and triumphs of individuals learning to navigate daily life with a developmental disorder. The comics follow the stories of nine people, including: a junior high dropout finding an alternate path to education; a former "troublesome" child helping kids at a support school; a so-called problem child realizing the beauty of his own unique quirks; and a man falling in love with the world with the help of a new medication. This inspiring volume illustrates their diverse anxieties and finding self-empowerment in a world not quite built with them in mind. (Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)