Top 10 Horror Manga of 2000
1. Dorohedoro
In a city so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they're hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they'll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of "cleaners" into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.
(Source: VIZ Media)
Note: Includes 23 side stories titled "Extra Evil" and the side story "The Lizard Head and the Magic Whistle."
2. Gantz
Tokyo teens Kei and Masaru are killed by a subway train but awaken in a room with an ominous black orb that gives them weapons, suits and orders. Fighting bizarre alien monstrosities in a deadly game, will they win their freedom or die for the final time?
(Source: Dark Horse)
3. Battle Royale
Under the guise of a "study trip," a group of students from Shiroiwa Junior High School in the fictional town of Shiroiwa (Kagawa Prefecture) are gassed on a bus. They awaken in the Okishima Island School on Okishima, an isolated, evacuated island. They learn that they have been placed in an event called the Program. According to the rules, every year since 1947, 42 third-year high school students are isolated, and each student is required to fight to the death until one student remains. Their movements are tracked by metal collars around their necks, which contain tracking and listening devices; if any student should attempt to escape the Program, or enter declared forbidden zones, a bomb will be detonated in the collar, killing the wearer. If no one dies in a 24 hour time period, there will be no winner and all collars will be detonated simultaneously.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Note: The TokyoPop version was extensively rewritten by Keith Giffen which eventually led to contradictions and plot holes in the later volumes. TokyoPop rereleased the series in 5 omnibus volumes under the name "Battle Royale: Ultimate Edition" from October 16, 2007 to February 10, 2009.
4. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Your body is their business! Five young students at a Buddhist university, three guys and two girls, find little call for their job skills in today's Tokyo... among the living, that is! But all that stuff in college they were told would never pay off-you know, channeling, dowsing, ESP-gives them a direct line to the dead—the dead who are still trapped in their corpses and can't move on to the next reincarnation.
The five form the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service: whether suicide, murder, accident, or illness, they'll carry your body wherever it needs to go to free your soul!
(Source: Dark Horse Comics)
5. Kamen Rider SPIRITS
A lonely and bleak-spirited police officer named Taki Kazuya works in America, though the fires that once drove him seem to have burnt out. A supernatural attack on children - his friends - revives the fire that once burned brightly within! Together with the help of Kamen Rider 1, Hongo Takeshi, he drives off the threat. However, he learns that there is a greater threat looming on the horizon and sets out to find Kamen Rider 2, Ichimonji Hayato.
Kamen Rider Spirits is the continuation of the classic Kamen Rider story - a shounen action adventure that tells the tale of upstanding heroes and their fight against evil!
6. BioMeat: Nectar
Japan was in need of food. Bio-engineers had the solution, BioMeat. A thing which feeds on everything but glass and vinyl. In return they produce a endless supply of food. One day a BM escapes into the city. What will happen with a killing machine on the loose?
7. NOiSE
The Bible has its Genesis.
The Matrix has The Second Renaissance.
BLAME! has NOiSE.
Through the eyes of police force member Susono Musubi, this one-volume prequel gives readers a glimpse of the world before the Netsphere went haywire. Witness the events that threw the technologically advanced society into chaos: the cancerous growth of the Megastructure, the birth of the parasitic lifeforms called Silicon Creatures, and the development of the ruthless killing machines known as the Safeguards.
Also included in the compilation is Tsutomu Nihei's debut work BLAME which served as the prototype of the acclaimed 10-volume series, BLAME!.
8. AMON: Devilman Mokushiroku
Fear runs rampant throughout Tokyo with the revelation that demons in fact exist amongst us. Paranoia and the darker side of humanity boils onto the streets as people turn on one another, suspecting that anyone could in fact be a demon hiding in human clothing. Amidst the growing tensions, tragedy strikes Akira causing his mind to snap, retreating into his subconscious, allowing his Devilish alter-ego Amon to break free from Akira's cage of flesh and wreak havoc on both human and demons alike.
9. Model
Jae is a Korean student who came to Europe to study art. Things aren't going her way, but she's determined to make it. One night, her friend Melissa brings a drunk guy to her apartment and asks if he can stay there for the night. Jae doesn't like it, but agrees. That night she has a dream that the drunk guy drinks her blood...which, of course, turns out NOT to be a dream.
Jae is surprisingly unafraid of the vampire, Michael, and starts to paint his portrait. The two strike an unusual deal: if Jae allows the vampire to feed on her, he will pose for her. His beauty and alluring preternatural energy could be exactly what Jae needs to finally succeed as a painter.
(Source: Tokyopop)
Note: Contains 4 extra chapters (vol.1, 3, 4)
10. Paranoia Street
An inept detective and his sidekick are forced to leave a city overfilled with detectives in search of work. This series covers their journey through each uniquely bizarre town as they vaguely attempt investigations into strange phenomenon.