Best Manhwa With Ghost Protagonists

Summary

• Some ghosts in manhwa are protagonists with love interests.
• Ghosts may need help solving their deaths to move on.
• Spectral romances and supernatural love are common themes.

Usually, when something spooky is going on, it’s a problem that needs fixing. If it’s a haunted house, its resident ghost will need to be satiated to move on, busted to un-haunt the place, or the people inside will have to get out ASAP before they meet a fate worse than death. But sometimes they can be friendly, love interests, or even the protagonists of the story.

Not that “protagonist” means “hero” or “good guy/gal/etc.” They just happen to be the focus of their tales, going on their adventures or getting tied up in one caper or another. It happens frequently in manga and Western comics (remember Casper?), and it’s a common occurrence in manhwa as well.

9

Killing Honey

Anime-Planet Score: 3.07/5 Stars

• Creator: Seone
• 50 Chapters
• Available in English on Pocket Comics

There’s no harm in killing time with Killing Honey, so long as readers are prepared for its bloody opening. A young woman called Sue is murdered in her own home by an unknown assailant. Without any key clues left, her home is cleaned up, cleaned out, and put back up for sale, where it gets a new tenant.

A man called Mana moves in, and discovers Sue is still lingering in the place. She can’t move on until her murder is solved, so the two try to figure out who’d kill her for what reasons, while trying to live together. It sounds simple enough, until the two begin getting feelings for each other. Sue can’t “live” without knowing her killer, but moving on without Mana becomes a harder prospect as time goes on.

8

The Ghost Doctor

Anime-Planet Score: 3.81/5 Stars

• Creators: Haenal Lee (story), Kim Hyeongsa (art)
• 195 Chapters
• Available in English via Tapas

Ghosts can pass through solid objects, which means they can rarely make proper tactile physical contact (not without tricks anyway). So, when Dr Aclé died in the 1950s, their days of making use of their medical knowledge were over. Or so they thought. Decades later, a cocky med student called Mujin ends up grabbing her old scalpel. Through its mystical connection to her, it brings her back as The Ghost Doctor.

Together, they make a formidable team, as Mujin’s bravado and Aclé’s smarts help them breeze through the medical exams and save lives in the process. At least until their rising reputation begins catching the wrong kind of attention. From doctors who think Mujin is some sole medical prodigy, or mafia agents who want to use him, the duo’s fate hangs in the balance.

7

Our Classmate Sookgyung

Anime-Planet Score: 3.81/5 Stars

• Creator: Haemil
• 103 Chapters
• Fan Translations only

Usually, a ghost lingering in one place is a reason to stay far away, or to call an exorcist. Things are a little different in Our Classmate Sookgyung. Legend says the titular Sookgyung was a student at Gwido High School who went missing. Then, days later, they reappeared as a ghost and began haunting their old classroom ever since.

So, for 27 years, students and faculty members at Gwido have been working around the ghost, trying to keep things as normal as possible, until Sookgyung became as part of the classroom as the desks. But when transfer student Han Daewoon tries to make friends with her, unaware of her story, things begin to change.

6

A Night To Remember

Anime-Planet Score: 3.83/5 Stars

• Creator: Gwa-in
• 30 Chapters
• Fan Translations only

As Killing Honey shows, spectral romances aren’t uncommon in manhwa. But if readers prefer something more on the boys’ love side, they could give A Night to Remember a try. It starts right from the ghost’s POV, as he wakes up one day at his grave where, week after week, he finds his grave visited by the same man.

Unable to recall his name, his past life, who the man is or why he’d visit his grave, he decides to find out the answers for himself. He gets his chance when he possesses the body of Scott Taylor, a man killed in a car accident. Functionally, he’s alive again, but now he must adjust to his new life as Taylor, including getting to know his boyfriend Jade, while trying to figure out his old life.

5

Sweet Spooky Darling

Anime-Planet Score: 3.98/5 Stars

• Creator: Byutt
• 78 Chapters
• Fan Translations only

Killing Honey also isn’t the only manhwa about finding supernatural love in a new home. Sweet Spooky Darling sees comic creator Yuzu Woo get more than she bargained for when she moves into a new apartment. It turns out to be haunted by Taeil Jung, a young man who died on the premises way back when.

Yuzu tries ignoring him, going through her daily routine as per usual. But Taeil is easy on the eyes, and quite a sweetheart too, if a little weird thanks to his new ghostly form. Over time, he ends up haunting more than the apartment, as he finds a place in her heart too. But can love between the living and the dead last?

4

My Boo

Anime-Planet Score: 4.07/5 Stars

• Creator: Jeongsoo
• 3 Volumes, 46 Chapters
• Available in English via LINE Webtoon

Also known as Transparent Cohabitation, My Boo went straight for the pun in its main title. Yet its tale is more melancholic than the similar Sweet Spooky Darling. Its main man, Go Yoon, lived and died alone in his apartment, and has been left by himself as a ghost in his old home ever since. But after three years of isolation, he finally gets some company.

His old home gains a new tenant in So Yeori, a young woman who’s been able to see ghosts since she was little. She considers it a curse and has tried to ignore any specter she sees. But on learning of Yoon’s struggles, she agrees to spend a year with him, where she learns she has more in common with Yoon than she thought.

3

Not For The Faint Of Heart

Anime-Planet Score: 4.13/5 Stars

• Creator: Bopul
• 13 Chapters
• Fan Translations only

In real life, people are more likely to come across actors playing ghosts than the real deal. Like in Not for the Faint of Heart, where Joon Sungwan plays a ghost in a haunted house attraction to pay off a broken laptop. Usually it wouldn’t pay enough, but people keep quitting the position because they think they’ve seen a real ghost on the property.

It’s just Joon’s bad luck that he finds the real deal. The ghost is called Ahn Jaeyoung, and he happens to take a liking to Joon. So, he makes a proposal. He’ll help Joon keep his job by scaring the customers, and in return Joon will be his boyfriend and fulfill his three wishes while in their “contract relationship.” Though it may not remain “contract only” for long.

2

Jack: The American Ghost

Anime-Planet Score: 4.26/5 Stars

• Creators: Ji-Hye Han (story), Jeong-eun Ahn (art)
• 101 Chapters
• Available in English on Tapas

In life, Jack: The American Ghost was Jack Bland, a hit musician who died before his time. In post-life, he now haunts his old, decrepit mansion, which gained notoriety over the years as “Jack’s Ghost House.” If anyone can last two weeks within the place, they’ll win $1 million if they don’t flee or meet their own tragic end in the process.

Things change when Go-Eun Ma comes to stay. Back in Korea, she was the gloomy daughter of two parents who ran a haunted house attraction. But it’s since fallen on hard times. She hopes to save the place by traveling to America and claiming the cash prize, no matter how scary Jack or his mansion can get. However, as time goes on, she and Jack may find something more valuable than money.

1

Ghost Teller

Anime-Planet Score: 4.28/5 Stars

• Creator: QTT
• 91 Chapters
• Available in English via LINE Webtoon

Ghost Teller is a tricky one to include, as it’s an anthology series with different stories that have different leads. Yet they’re told in-universe by ghosts, led by the Grim Reaper himself, who essentially act as the main characters. Their stories aim to prove that, as scary as ghosts can be, humans can be far scarier.

Their fears, foibles, and vices can drive them to do things that ghosts couldn’t even fathom. Particularly as their stories often reveal how the storyteller went from being a loving husband, a little kid, or a pop idol, into a ghost. In relating their tales to their fellow specters, they find some therapeutic relief. Particularly as their killers got what was coming to them too.