Dandadan

Dandadan, by Yukinobu Tatsu, meshes the genuinely unnerving horror imagery from the best page-turns in a Junji Ito story alongside some of the funniest rom-com situational humor I’ve ever read. Dandadan is a story about Momo Ayase (the most popular girl in high school, who believes in ghosts), and Ken Takakura, (the school’s biggest nerd, who believes aliens exist). Momo and Ken become besties after inciting a schoolyard dare in which the two have to stake out a haunted site and disprove the existence of the paranormal. Unfortunately, the pair discover they’re both right in the most unfortunate way possible: by getting abducted by aliens and having a ghost steal their private parts.

If you found Denji and Aki’s nut-cracking requiem to Himeno touching, Dandadan is going to be right up your alley because it packs even more of that kind of humor within each of its bizarre yokai-hunting adventures while dishing out just as many heartfelt moments between the pair and their monsters of the week.