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Believers
Believers (ビリーバーズ Biriibaazu) is a Japanese seinen manga by Naoki Yamamoto and is his first weekly serial manga created entirely without the help of any assistants. Believers was first serialized in Weekly Big Comic Spirits between May and November 1999 and is published in two tankōbon by Shogakukan. The plot to Believers revolves around themes of sexual desire and the line between dreams and reality. While Believers contains many scenes of graphic sexuality, the sex and nudity is used intellectually and not merely as fan service.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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58 people want to read
About the author
Naoki Yamamoto
121 books13 followersNaoki Yamamoto ( 山本直樹 Yamamoto Naoki) is a male Japanese manga artist. In his early years, he also used a pen name Tou Moriyama (森山 塔?) as well as Mori Touyama (塔山 森?) for his adult-oriented works, but nowadays he no longer uses it.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 7, 2015
I really find this as a psychological thriller, perhaps creepier but not as dark as Satoshi Kon's "Perfect Blue" flick (which, what? Resembles "Black Swan"?). However, it reminds me of a lot of '90s crazies, like the video game phenomenon and the Jim Jones massacre. Pretty interesting as a whole, actually.
April 20, 2024
Trovo sempre molto interessanti le storie attorno all’idea che il sesso sia qualcosa di sporco e da evitare.
In questo primo volume l’autore ancora non rende chiaro il motivo di questa astinenza dai beni “terreni” come il cibo lavorato (es. salsa di soia) e dai beni “carnali”, l’unica cosa chiara è che i tre protagonisti devono sottostare alle direttive di un maestro piu elevato di loro spiritualmente.
Le persone che continuano a vivere secondo le norme sociali vengono viste ed etichettate come inette.
A tratti ricorda molto “I Terrestri” di Murata Sayaka.
In questo primo volume l’autore ancora non rende chiaro il motivo di questa astinenza dai beni “terreni” come il cibo lavorato (es. salsa di soia) e dai beni “carnali”, l’unica cosa chiara è che i tre protagonisti devono sottostare alle direttive di un maestro piu elevato di loro spiritualmente.
Le persone che continuano a vivere secondo le norme sociali vengono viste ed etichettate come inette.
A tratti ricorda molto “I Terrestri” di Murata Sayaka.
September 8, 2025
in believers if you commit the sin of lust they put you chest-high in a hole in the ground (but they won't prevent you from digging the hole right next to the person you were sinning with)
a little dissatisfied by the ending, but it's probably dream symbolism. or maybe yamamoto thought it was fine to cram all of that into the last three chapters
a little dissatisfied by the ending, but it's probably dream symbolism. or maybe yamamoto thought it was fine to cram all of that into the last three chapters
February 6, 2017
Author is a kind of genuine I think. His drawings and stories are awesome. This book is one of his works about "sex and religion". Human is weak and stupid, however we have to love. I felt so by this book
May 11, 2020
read years ago but I wonder if GR will give me interesting recs based on this
December 26, 2022
Weird edgy porn
January 10, 2024
The ending was good. Up until that, things were creepy. Cultist and their faith can be very weird sometimes..
June 13, 2012
Originally posted here.
Honestly, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to review this. Since it's my policy to review everything, I considered reading all but the last chapter and then quitting, but that's lame, so here goes. I chose to give this brief series a try because the description up there sounded fascinating. Creepy cult? I am in. The story started out boring and creepy, then it got weird and creepy, which is where it stayed.
What the Mangafox description leaves out (but the Goodreads description I didn't check until later doesn't) is that this cult is built pretty much solely around renunciation of sexual desires. So, here I am, reading along and suddenly BAM fairly graphic sex every couple pages. Seriously. The first few chapters were just these three people on an island, two men and one woman, apparently following the directive of some leader. They are reliant upon deliveries for food and orders, but they don't necessarily come in a timely fashion, so they worry a bit about food.
Mostly what they do is discuss their dreams every day. This manga is trying to say something about dreams and sex, but I really have no clue what. If they have bad, impure dreams, the punishment is to be buried chest deep in the sand and left there for a while. This is all that had really happened. Then some drunkards land their boat on the island, wreak havoc and try to rape the woman. The girl runs off and the men shoot the interlopers. The 'chairman' of the island stays to cleanup the mess and the other guy goes to check on the woman, who confesses to having been turned on by her attempted rape. She is shamed. To make her feel better, he's all 'oh hey, check out my erection,' so that she'll know she's not the only dirty person around. Obviously, she feels guilty for giving him impure thoughts, so she has to give him a blow job.
And that's basically what this manga is, though it expands to include the chairman, who has all sorts of kinky purification rituals in mind. Why did I keep reading? Well, for one thing, it was really short. If there had been any more volumes of this, I wouldn't have bothered. I also really wanted to learn more about the cult. Why do they sit with their feet pressed together? How did this group get started? Why are they all here? How do they have control over this island? What's the world like outside the island? Well, thankfully, that stuff does get explained, but, seriously, I didn't get it. I feel like the manga would have benefited from a bit more balance between to the crazy and the conclusion that explained how all of this came about.
I really don't know what to make of this at all. On Goodreads, it actually has a really high rating, so I suppose there aren't too many people like me stumbling across it with no clue what it's about. This is my third seriously unfortunate manga in a row. I hope I read a good one soon. This might be up your alley if you like reading creepy, mind-bending things with lots of sex.
Honestly, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to review this. Since it's my policy to review everything, I considered reading all but the last chapter and then quitting, but that's lame, so here goes. I chose to give this brief series a try because the description up there sounded fascinating. Creepy cult? I am in. The story started out boring and creepy, then it got weird and creepy, which is where it stayed.
What the Mangafox description leaves out (but the Goodreads description I didn't check until later doesn't) is that this cult is built pretty much solely around renunciation of sexual desires. So, here I am, reading along and suddenly BAM fairly graphic sex every couple pages. Seriously. The first few chapters were just these three people on an island, two men and one woman, apparently following the directive of some leader. They are reliant upon deliveries for food and orders, but they don't necessarily come in a timely fashion, so they worry a bit about food.
Mostly what they do is discuss their dreams every day. This manga is trying to say something about dreams and sex, but I really have no clue what. If they have bad, impure dreams, the punishment is to be buried chest deep in the sand and left there for a while. This is all that had really happened. Then some drunkards land their boat on the island, wreak havoc and try to rape the woman. The girl runs off and the men shoot the interlopers. The 'chairman' of the island stays to cleanup the mess and the other guy goes to check on the woman, who confesses to having been turned on by her attempted rape. She is shamed. To make her feel better, he's all 'oh hey, check out my erection,' so that she'll know she's not the only dirty person around. Obviously, she feels guilty for giving him impure thoughts, so she has to give him a blow job.
And that's basically what this manga is, though it expands to include the chairman, who has all sorts of kinky purification rituals in mind. Why did I keep reading? Well, for one thing, it was really short. If there had been any more volumes of this, I wouldn't have bothered. I also really wanted to learn more about the cult. Why do they sit with their feet pressed together? How did this group get started? Why are they all here? How do they have control over this island? What's the world like outside the island? Well, thankfully, that stuff does get explained, but, seriously, I didn't get it. I feel like the manga would have benefited from a bit more balance between to the crazy and the conclusion that explained how all of this came about.
I really don't know what to make of this at all. On Goodreads, it actually has a really high rating, so I suppose there aren't too many people like me stumbling across it with no clue what it's about. This is my third seriously unfortunate manga in a row. I hope I read a good one soon. This might be up your alley if you like reading creepy, mind-bending things with lots of sex.
November 20, 2011
Believers is a rather short take on the effects over-trusting faith or ideals can have on one’s mind. It starts as a simple depiction of how three people try to find enlightenment on a deserted island, as part of a religious group that seeks to create an utopia of the mind. It may sound corny or blunt preachy propaganda at first but in fact it is not. It mostly focuses on the mentality of the three characters and their slow decent to an imaginary world, made up by too much isolation from reality. It is quite a bit of everything, comedy, drama, erotic, psychological, so in theory it is a story most can read (but not children as it has really sexual and violent moments).
One thing that is noteworthy is the total lack of narration from a narrator that is not in the main cast. That alone makes every word to be internal monologue around someone’s mentality and it looks great. Another major bonus is the complete lack of demented backgrounds, despite the characters seeing things all the time. The setting remains normal-looking all the way, despite being about madness and ascending of the mind to higher planes of existence. Thus what you are allowed to see is always simple, yet in the minds of the characters it means a lot more symbolically-wise. This is a very rare mix of presenting things that made me love the art, despite not being too detailed or artistic. Direct and meaningful seem to beat cool or grim allusions this time.
Story and Characters are one and the same. Although only two volumes long and with a premise you can describe in only three sentences, the manga manages to deliver a powerful take on the trappings of overthinking your problems to the point of losing touch with reality. I have read many stories where the characters lose themselves in a virtual reality of a videogame but never by just being too alone on an island. So it manages to be great without becoming too much of anything. The fine line between castaways, religious zealots, hikikomoris, and the sort. The ending is both clear and psychological at the same time, thus it leaves a lot to think about without becoming too predictable or corny.
In all, this may not become a masterwork for most as it is short and not crazy enough, but it sure is a great read that manages to cram in only two volumes enough material that most manga need ten times more space to do so and usually the result feels worse. It is recommended to all fans of psychological stories that don’t expect complete mindfucks.
One thing that is noteworthy is the total lack of narration from a narrator that is not in the main cast. That alone makes every word to be internal monologue around someone’s mentality and it looks great. Another major bonus is the complete lack of demented backgrounds, despite the characters seeing things all the time. The setting remains normal-looking all the way, despite being about madness and ascending of the mind to higher planes of existence. Thus what you are allowed to see is always simple, yet in the minds of the characters it means a lot more symbolically-wise. This is a very rare mix of presenting things that made me love the art, despite not being too detailed or artistic. Direct and meaningful seem to beat cool or grim allusions this time.
Story and Characters are one and the same. Although only two volumes long and with a premise you can describe in only three sentences, the manga manages to deliver a powerful take on the trappings of overthinking your problems to the point of losing touch with reality. I have read many stories where the characters lose themselves in a virtual reality of a videogame but never by just being too alone on an island. So it manages to be great without becoming too much of anything. The fine line between castaways, religious zealots, hikikomoris, and the sort. The ending is both clear and psychological at the same time, thus it leaves a lot to think about without becoming too predictable or corny.
In all, this may not become a masterwork for most as it is short and not crazy enough, but it sure is a great read that manages to cram in only two volumes enough material that most manga need ten times more space to do so and usually the result feels worse. It is recommended to all fans of psychological stories that don’t expect complete mindfucks.
April 7, 2013
Absurd, absurd dan absurd. Sempat mempertanyakan kembali derajat keabsurd-an saya sendiri karena baca komik ini. Smuty, weird people, salty, lust, brainwashed. Antara mikir dan ehm..
Damn. Ah, entahlah
Damn. Ah, entahlah
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews