Dragon Head 1

by Minetarō Mochizuki

The end of everyone was just the beginning… Minetaro Mochizuki’s classic 90s head-trip disaster manga is now in print!

EXPERIENCE THE MIND-BENDING MASTERPIECE LIKE NEVER BEFORE

The end of everyone was only the beginning…

Teru and his high school class are returning from a field trip when a catastrophic something derails their train, burying them in a tunnel and killing nearly everyone aboard. Among the hellish heap of mangled bodies Teru discovers two survivors, but their nightmare has only just begun. Trapped in unending shadow with sudden, violent earthquakes shaking their sanity, the three must find a way to escape to the outside world and make it back home—if home still exists…

An award-winning, terrifying tour de force by Minetaro Mochizuki, the manga giant whose seminal story Hauntress first introduced the horrors of stalking to the Japanese public and who penned the manga adaptation for Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, this gripping spinechiller digs deep into the darkness lurking just beneath the surface of society and the bloody cost of survival amidst apocalyptic ruin.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Graphic Novels

564 pages, Paperback

Published December 16, 2025

About the author

Minetarō Mochizuki (望月峯太郎) is a manga artist. He is best known for his apocalyptic thriller series Dragon Head (ドラゴンヘッド Duragon Heddo), as well as the comedy series Mai Wai. Mochizuki has also written one-shot manga such as Zashiki Onna.

Reviews

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nobody’s coming to save us! It’s like a nightmare… God has deserted… us…"

What would you do if your train derailed and you were trapped in a dark tunnel with only two other people? Your classmates are all dead and the only way to survive is to find a way out. Would you be able to survive? Or would you waste away as you slowly lose your mind?

This manga hits right out of the gate and never eases up. You think things are finally getting normal and then something off the wall happens. Didn’t know what was around the corner and I love books like that. It keeps you guessing and I’m still trying to piece this together.

Cannot wait for the second installment because I need to know what the hell is going on!!

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

After enjoying Mochizuki's Hauntress release earlier this year, I was excited to see Dragon Head has now followed suit in new omnibus editions. This series is what Mochizuki is best known for, and while I definitely understand its appeal, there's a few things that give me pause and made me not enjoy it as much as Hauntress.

But first, what does it do well? Without question, Dragon Head captures an unimaginable sense of dread as its characters find themselves in a living nightmare. Their struggles, fears, and resilience shine through as they try to piece together some semblance of life in an apocalyptic scenario. This is a thrilling, heart-pounding read and I really felt like I was rooting for the main characters. This was an easy and fast read, and I made it through the first volume in one sitting even after a slumpy couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, there are still plenty of things that I wish were different with the story.

First, there is a profound weirdness with its depictions of female characters. This varies from just being biologically unsound (Ako seems to feel physical relief from her period after she puts on a pad) to off putting (constant reminders of how women aren't capable of strength), to profoundly uncomfortable (sexual assault that is excessively depicted made worse when she tries to protect her attacker later). While these attitudes might not necessarily be the author's, it doesn't feel like it adds to the narrative in any way or is saying anything meaningful about these issues.

Second, while this might be resolved in further volumes as the plot progresses, there's a significant problem with the setting being an isolated caved-in tunnel. Everything is dark, rocks, and small pinpoints of light, and the visuals feel repetitive. That's a glaring problem in a visual medium. When Nobuo donned his elaborate makeup I almost wondered if the mangaka was just looking for excuses to draw something different.

Third, while I did sympathize with our lead characters, I wasn't particularly engaged by them. That was definitely a highlight to Hauntress and I was a little disappointed how generic both of them felt. The plot definitely takes a forefront to the story and there's very little character writing to explore.

I would still recommend this manga to horror or thriller fans, with the caveat that it does feel dated in some important respects and to be mindful of that. I would not read this if you are sensitive to depictions of sexual violence.

Thank you to Kodansha for my ARC provided through Netgalley.

[Liv Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m struggling a bit with how to rate this. as a whole, i really enjoyed it and was intrigued the entire time i was reading. i was almost immediately curious what was going on and i still am following the cliff hanger it ends on. i think a big reason i liked it was that i am always compelled by disasters and find that reading/learning about them has always been something i really enjoy. i think this manga created suspense and dread really effectively and successfully scratched the disaster itch. HOWEVER there are things in this that are problematic and unnecessary and do show the age of when this was originally written. i definitely didnt love these things and wish they could’ve maybe been updated/removed since i really dont think they added anything. but overall i did still enjoy this a lot and i am intrigued to read following volumes

thank you netgalley for the arc!

[Kelsey Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this manga for me to review.)

Absolutely fantastic! Judging by some of the imagery in this manga, I am convinced I have heard of this before. But I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. Horrific in a gripping, realistic way that I don’t see in manga enough. I picked it up and read it in one sitting.
I’m not sure the characters could survive EVERYTHING that’s thrown at them throughout the plot, but it makes things gripping for sure.
I highly recommend this one for fans of “The Drifting Classroom” or even something like “Barefoot Gen.”

[Mella aka Maron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Kodansha and Netgalley for the early review copy!

I LOVE disaster manga. They are so terrifying and insane and creepy. This one is no exception. The pacing is great and it’s so easy to read. I think this volume is at least 3+ of the original volumes and it’s got a great cliffhanger. I’m super intrigued to keep going.

[Juniper L.H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a manga that was originally released between 1994-1999, and apparently is getting a re-release. I had read it a few years ago and took the opportunity to revisit it when I saw it come up on NetGalley (ironically, I actually confused it with a different apocalyptic manga where people were trapped underground that I originally read around the same time, which was better, hah!). This volume contains about 25% of the total series so I assume that there will be 3 more coming out to follow.

This is a hard one to rate. There are good things and not-so-good things to say about it. In essence this is a story where a disaster happens and then every time you think its gotten as bad as it can get something worse happens. I think appropriate expectations for any reader going in would be helpful. Its like if “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” was written by a horror author, given an R-rating, and they omitted all the pleasant parts.

The Good Parts:
-The artwork. The panels are very detailed and there is a lot going on. It is realistic (sometimes unfortunately) and well done.
-The vibes were on point, in the kind of awful way that you want for this kind of story. It’s full of terror and hopelessness and certainly feels like ground zero of a disaster.
-This is a psychological horror, and it does a great job if accomplishing that goal. People losing hope, people going crazy, Lord of The Flies style breakdowns, all that good stuff.
-I suppose parts are an inspiring tale of resilience? IDK I’m sure you can put that kind of a spin on it.
-The story was engaging in a cant-look-away-from-the-car-crash kind of way. I like disaster/horror stories, and this one was definitely that. It keeps you reading, is what I mean.
-If you read the whole series there is a good relationship between the protagonists that I quite enjoyed.

The Negatives:
-A little bit too much awful, you know? It just starts to get a little bit much when it’s a constant marathon of suffering.
-Spoilers: Trigger warning. In the midst of all the awful stuff there is several instances of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault, of minors. In this volume the UNDERAGED GIRL is depicted (cause it’s a GRAPHIC novel) partially nude and “things happen”. I think this is noteworthy because honestly some people like myself don’t really want to see that and for me this hurt the rating; particularly because it was not necessary for the plot/story in any way and could have just as easily not been included.
-I hate the ending. This isn’t in this particular volume, but I have to say that it was wildly unsatisfying after everything we went through. Can not recommend based on this ending (but maybe some folks will like it).
-Doubling down on the ending; you don’t always get resolutions or explanations, but wow this one certainly embraced that concept.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC. This honest review was left voluntarily.

[Miky · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25✨️

TW: Bullying, Death, Confinement, Sexual Assault, Violence, Blood

I'm ashamed to admit that, as a horror and disaster manga enjoyer, I did not know about Dragon Head until now. Being an avid reader of older manga, I do love it when they get republished, granting the opportunity to younger readers to discover them.

Dragon Head is a post-apocalyptic disaster manga, with its primary focus on the situational horror instead of the classic shock-based horror. We are watching three teenagers trying to survive in a blocked tunnel after their train got derailed during a surprise earthquake that might actually be more than it meets the eye, our three young characters being the only survivors.

With elements that remind you of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies", Dragon Head manages to portray the symptoms of cabin fever pretty accurately, with one of our main characters sliding into madness, another one experiencing high levels of anxiety and survivor's guilt, and the third one stepping into the role of the adult and trying to keep everyone safe.

There were two things that I utterly disliked and they absolutely need to be mentioned. There is one scene when we are seeing an underage girl, bare-chested, lying unconscious, while an underage boy is on top of her, self-stimulating. Even if this is further clarified that it was another way to show how this specific character is slowly losing his mind, it did not sit right with me, especially considering that the scene changes absolutely nothing in the story, it felt like it was added purely for shock-value. The other thing that I found disturbing was that the other character that was treated poorly, maybe even the worst, in the entire narrative, is their professor, who is a black man. I did not understand why the only black character was treated the way he was treated, and i do feel that when a manga is republished, it's necessary to go over the story and remove sensitive stuff that serve no purpose. You can have a horror/dystopian story without needlessly abusing POC and female characters.

Other than that, the art style is beautiful. It does bring out the nostalgic 90s feeling, the sensation of suffocation is marvelously presented, and the volume finishes in a cliffhanger that definitely makes you wonder what comes next for our characters and whether or not they'll succeed to survive.

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SPOILER: Considering the way the story evolved, I kept thinking that maybe there was actually a volcano eruption. I might continue to read the following volumes only to see if my hunch was right
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I did not know that Minetaro Mochizuki also adapted Isle of Dogs into a manga, so that will be my soon-to-read since the animation is one of my favorites


Thank you, NetGalley, Minetaro Mochizuki, and Kodansha Comics, for providing me with an advanced copy of the manga in exchange for my honest review.

[Jose Villanueva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Vertical Comics for the ARC!

Overall, I think I enjoyed this manga but it definitely had its problems; some bigger than others.

"Dragon Head," follows a high school student whose class is in an accident when their train is derailed in an underground tunnel. The cause of the accident is unknown but it's left him stranded in this tunnel looking for answers, survivors and a way out.

Ok, the premise is great. I don't mind a slow burn, but this reeeeally dragged. This was over 550 pages and I feel like it could've been half of that. Once we end up in the tunnel, we basically stay there, walking around, asking the same questions for quite a while. When new characters are introduced, the conflict between them becomes monotonous and neither of them are given any depth. Which leads me to a much bigger problem.

I understand this was written a long time ago but the way the female high school student was written, and drawn, really just left me feeling uncomfortable. The fact that these are high school KIDS creates a barrier on what feels appropriate to illustrate and what to "leave off screen." There was one scene in particular that I really feel like should not have been drawn. In a tunnel that is pitch black, it would've been too easy to just cut to a black panel with text only to let the reader know what was happening. It felt like the artist just wanted to draw a high school girls body and that's a pretty gross choice to make.

Again, I know that may be bordering on a rant, I understand it was a different time, I understand culture changes and evolves, but I couldn't write a review without mentioning it because it did impact my reading experience negatively.

There was enough of a story, a hook and a cliff hanger to keep me curious as to what will happen next but this manga did trip over itself a bit and has left me conflicted as to whether or not I'll continue on with the series. As a stand alone introduction to this series, I feel like the character work for anyone who wasn't the main character really fell flat. I finished this all in one sitting, which I do think means something, but again, if you're going to give this particular manga a try, take note of the mentioned caveats.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teru is enjoying a trip back home from a school trip with a train full of high school students. Everything is fun and games until the train derails and Teru finds himself in a train full of dead students. Fortunately, he finds two other survivors. Or maybe I should say, “fortunately”. Because when the hope of survival starts to diminish, the insanity rises.

They are trapped in a tunnel. Both ends closed. A train full of the dead. Supplies are running short.

“Dragon Head 1” is a graphic novel collection of part of a story from the 1990s revitalized with new translation and lettering. The key part of that sentence is “part of” because with nearly 600 pages, apparently, the adventure is just beginning.

This graphic novel grows in intensity. At first you will feel sorrow for Teru and the other two survivors. But the anxiety level just keeps getting amped up as you turn each page. This story is so well done. You can feel the madness growing in some of the characters.

The language can be a bit rough, but that is not the most disturbing aspect. There is a scene that involves an unconscious female survivor. Her breasts are exposed (disturbing in general, but even more troubling with the age of the subject) and what happens to her is beyond words. To me, it makes you worry about the mindset of the author to think of this.

Other than that scene, it is a thriller not to be missed. But my issue is that that scene should either be cut out or cause you to skip this graphic novel.

[Audrey S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars
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Dragon Head is the story of a disastrous underground bullet train crash where survival against the elements and the survivor’s own minds becomes harder and harder. Three students survive the crash and try to survive long enough to escape only to find their situation becoming more and more dire. You can definitely see parallels to Lord of the Flies with these three teenagers, only that there is even more horror for them to get through.
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I’m very surprised this is categorized as YA because it depicts teenage nudity and the sexual assault of a minor. I would definitely bump up its rating to at least 16+. While not gratuitous, it is disturbing. I will say I was relieved that the assault was at least shown to be a disgusting act that only added to the trauma Seto was experiencing in the underground (when it comes to manga from the 1990s, it’s really a toss up).
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But this isn’t just a singular disaster manga. As the story goes on, we see just how much devastation these kids still have to face and you really question alongside them the will to survive, the will to keep going on. And I think in finding that will, that desire to survive despite what feels like insurmountable odds… that’s what makes good horror and I definitely enjoyed where this first volume took us.
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This manga was horrifying and deeply unsettling, but not in a way that felt like it was trauma p0rn for trauma p0rn’s sake.
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*I received an eARC from Kodansha Comics | Vertical Comics & NetGalley. All opinions are my own*

[Siina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragon Head is surely nasty and interesting. Not my cup of tea usually, but somehow this is awesome and no wonder this won the 21st Kodansha Manga Award in 1997. The manga began in 1995 and it's still, hmm, something else? The main character is Teru Aoki and he is returning from a class trip by train and when the train gets inside a tunnel all hell breaks loose. There's massive earthquake and the tunnel collapses trapping the only three surviving kids in the tunnel. Everyone else is dead and it seems it's not only the tunnel...more like the end of everything. The setting is very credible sadly so and the characters are credible teens too and it's wonderfully annoying at times. The setting is well constructed and it's hard to tell where this is going and that's the best part!

The art looks good, yeah, slightly 1990s, but it's not all that bad. Oddly enough the manga feels newer than 1995. The atmosphere is suffocating and depressing, which is so well done. I never knew I'd like something like this. Dragon Head is interesting and creepy - at the same time it's very humane. I'm happy older series get translations too.

[Ellie’s Cosy Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Vertical Comics and NetGalley for the ARC. I really enjoyed this manga, I managed to inhale it during one evening.

I’m not sure how the author managed this, but during the whole reading experience I felt very claustrophobic and tense. Which, how else would you feel whilst be trapped in the underground? I loved the mystery in the entirety of the manga, only seeing a glimpse of the reality of the world at the end.

It’s very interesting how the author managed to make 7 days+ trapped in a tunnel to be very entertaining. I give them props for this. The tension between all 3 characters is insane, disturbing and uneasy

However, sad to say, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters. Nobuo seemed to lose his grasp on reality very quickly, to a point where it just seemed a bit overdone. Ako is unreasonably angry at the other characters for very reasonable reactions, making her seem quite the hypocrite. Teru is quite idiotic, leaving Ako on her own with a dangerous individual. But at the end of the day, they are high schoolers, so maybe it’s accurate.

Overall I did enjoy this manga, I’m desperate to see what world Ako and Teru has stepped into and what awaits them.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

2/5 stars

I’m going to preface this with saying that I’m probably not the target audience for this. I’m not a huge fan of apocalypse stories, but I do like survival stories, so I figured I may like it. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, the art style is very evocative and it does a great job of conveying the claustrophobia and terror. That was kind of the problem; it felt almost like it was dark (not literal darkness, but dark in tone) just for the sake of being dark. It’s like Lord of the Flies on steroids, and I thought Lord of the Flies was overly dark/gruesome as well.

Basically, I was interested in the concept, but repulsed by the events taken in this volume. It was just too much for me. When one of the three survivors jerks off onto the unconscious female survivor and claims he was “putting his scent” on her I wanted to drop the book right away. I did finish it; it’s just very much not my kind of story. Those who like grimdark may enjoy this more.

[Cassiereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75-4

This was high tension from the very first page and really kept my attention. It was morbid and just the right amount of strange.

A group of high school students are on a train for their school trip when things suddenly take a nightmarish turn. Trapped underground with the train in ruins, the survivors try to escape and find out what has happened to them.

There were a lot of things I loved about this, such as the art and ominous feeling throughout the entire volume. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next.

But, there were some negatives that I think attributes to the time this was written (1995ish). There is a short non explicit SA scene that was completely unnecessary.

I hope the future volumes stray away from things like that because the plot was genuinely interesting and the way this volume ended has me eager to read the next one!

Thank you Kodansha for the ARC via netgalley!

[Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bleak, dark, and horrific! Dragon Head follows Teru, a high school student, who is returning from a field trip with his classmates when a disaster happens. The train he's becomes buried in an underground tunnel. He finds two other survivors, Nobuo and Ako, but tensions soon rise. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this manga! It was dark, depressing, and full of terror. Just when you didn't think things can't get worse, they absolutely do. I enjoyed the artwork. The design for Nobuo's face paint was really cool. I do wish that SA scene was not included, but I'm glad it wasn't dragged out or too graphic. I think it ended on a great cliffhanger. It left me with wanted more! I will definitely pick up volume 2 when it comes out! 

Thank you, NetGalley and Kodansha Comics | Vertical Comics, for the ARC. 

[georgie⁎⁺˳✧༚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha/Vertical Comics for access to this advance copy.

TW: sexual assault.

As a horror manga fan, I'm so happy to see some old horror manga come back into English print that isn't just Junji Ito's catalogue. I first read Minetaro Mochizuki's Hauntress manga many moons ago, and it gave me the heebie jeebies for life! Never got around to Dragon's Head, so when this popped up on Netgalley, I clicked so fast. SO happy it's being re-published, this is going to be a weird one that's for sure. Very happy it's being condensed into larger volumes. English translation looks fine, type setting is good, and cleaning is good. I have no complaints! Can't wait to have the physical copy in my hands to compare.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dragon Head Volume 1 is interesting, but a bit silly at times.

The fact they're teenagers trapped in a subway system, or rather, a sealed mountain tunnel, after a freak accident is a compelling setup. We have three very different people who have to survive being isolated in complete darkness. Of the survivors, Teru, Ako, and Nobuo, one goes completely insane. Nobuo, the bullied classmate, quickly descends into paranoia and creating gruesome rituals among the corpses. Others get scared, like Teru and Ako, as they struggle to maintain their own sanity while facing the terrifying, unpredictable threat of their mentally broken companion. Each has their own task, but survival is the big one for them all. Sometimes scary, sometimes goofy, but always interesting. A 3 out of 5 stars.

[East of Reality · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is … certainly something. Three students are the only survivors of an underground train crash, surrounded by dead bodies and darkness. With food and water running out, the dark surrounding them, and the constant heat, an already tense situation begins to get worse. Much worse. This is a slow burning descent into fear, rage, and desperation with excellent pacing and art that ends in a cliffhanger.

It was absorbing enough that I sped through it in less than an hour, and frustrating in that I want to know what happens next. Needless to say I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next volume.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Astrophel R · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25/5
Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha comics for an arc. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the classic gorey thriller vibe and the art style, but unfortunately this wasn't for me. Maybe I'm just being that friend that's too woke or whatever, but it felt weird to me that the two characters who seem to get treated the worst were a black man (who died pretty much instantly), and a young woman. Also the fact that one of the first chapters was called "Her Handicap" and it was about Seto having her period was wild (also I guess putting on a pad cures period cramps in this world??). I know it's an omnibus of an older series, but I still found it frustrating.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a manga from 1994 and it shows. The story centers around three teens (two boys, one girl) who are on a school trip when their train catastrophically crashes and they're trapped in a caved in tunnel. The concept is interesting, but the actual plot drags and visually, it's not terribly interesting. The female character is sexualized constantly, and it features a sexual assault scene that's overtly graphic for no reason (other than titillation). The one character descends into madness near instantly, which just felt silly to me. There needs to be a more subtle transition and rising tension. There's just a lot of teenagers screaming and drawings of rocks and darkness.

[Sarah Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three teens struggle to maintain sanity and survive as they're trapped under ground after a bullet train derailing kills dozens, with a rescue unlikely as the world outside also seems to have its issues...

While there are ways this manga feels a little dated in its style, this still holds up quite well as psychological horror. Be warned, there is sexual assault.