This manga exploration centers on stories of spirits and monsters, not all of them bad. In fact, some of these spirits are friends and allies! Both of these stories have deep character development since both of them are longstanding series so whichever you pick will engage you along their sometimes perilous journey.

InuYasha

Kagome Higurashi, a high schooler in Tokyo, finds a trip down a well in her family shrine brings something stranger than Wonderland: Kagome finds she has traveled almost 500 years into the past. On top of that, she runs into a half-demon named Inuyasha who tells her she actually has a magical jewel inside of her. When a monster attacks Kagome, she accidentally causes the Shikon Jewel to split into numerous pieces, and now they need to get them all. If she doesn’t, an evil demon named Naraku might gather them all to use for nefarious purposes! Kagome, Inuyasha, and friends they acquire along the way journey to stop this from happening.

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Takashi Natsume has a problem: he can see spirits, a power that runs in the family, most recently in his grandmother Reiko. When his grandmother passes, she gives to him the Book of Friends, a tome that lists the various spirits she has under her possession. Now the spirits—some of which are evil—want off the list and to be free. One of these spirits, named Madara, decides to help Takashi as an advisor and protector, even though he wants the Book himself. The two venture forward in freeing the good spirits in the book while containing the evil spirits who want the book for themselves!

Natsume’s Book of Friends has twenty volumes currently published, with Volume 21 on the way soon. InuYasha has fifty-six volumes in its longstanding run, some of the episodes on DVD, and even has a movie!