If you want one manhwa like Death Note, read Bastard. It's finished, it's short, and like Death Note it runs on a secret: a boy who knows exactly who the killer is and can't say it. If what you loved was Light staying a step ahead because he knows more than everyone else, try Omniscient Reader. If it was the psychology, Dr. Frost.
One honest caveat first. Nothing in manhwa really copies Death Note's core, a genius killer and a genius detective trading moves through what each one knows. Readers asking for it on Reddit hit the same wall; in an r/manhwarecommendations thread about a series pitched as "death note in manhwa form," one of the top replies said "the mindgames are no where near death note." So each pick below matches one part of the formula, and we say which part.
Death Note itself is manga, not manhwa: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's series ran from December 2003 to May 2006 and fills 12 volumes. VIZ's summary is the whole hook: Light Yagami finds "a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god," and "Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies."
Manhwa like Death Note at a glance
| Pick | What it shares with Death Note | Length | Status | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bastard | A secret only the hero and the killer share | 94 chapters | Finished | WEBTOON, Seven Seas print |
| Omniscient Reader | A hero who wins by knowing what's coming | 308 episodes so far | Ongoing, on a break | WEBTOON |
| Dr. Frost | Reading people as the main weapon | 264 chapters | Finished | WEBTOON |
| Weak Hero | A cold, calculating lead you can't fully root for | 268 chapters | Finished | WEBTOON |
| Killing Stalking (18+) | Two people locked in a game of who knows what | 71 chapters | Finished | Lezhin, Seven Seas print |
| Sweet Home | Dread built in a closed space, same team as Bastard | 141 chapters | Finished | WEBTOON |
Chapter counts are AniList's, except Omniscient Reader's, which is the latest English episode on WEBTOON; the platforms number their episodes a little differently.
1. Bastard: the closest manhwa like Death Note
Bastard (cover via WEBTOON).
Kim Carnby wrote it and Hwang Young-chan drew it, and it ran on Naver Webtoon from 2014 to 2017. Seven Seas, which publishes it in print, sums up the setup: Seon Jin is "A sickly disabled boy" who keeps a very dark secret: "there's a serial killer in his house…and it's his father!" The father has "long forced Jin to serve as his accomplice," and the story turns when "his high school crush winds up as his father's next target."
Here's why it's first. Death Note's best chapters are two people who each know more than they say, with the reader seeing both sides. Bastard builds the whole series on that. Jin knows what his father is, his father knows Jin knows, and nobody else knows anything. The difference is power: Light holds a notebook that kills, Jin holds nothing but the secret.
It also comes up when Death Note fans ask for themselves. In the r/manhwarecommendations thread "Looking for manhwas that's similar to Death Note", one reply was just "Bastard," and another suggested "Escape Room, Bastard."
One thing to know: Naver rates the Korean original 18+, so expect real violence. It's complete on WEBTOON in English.
2. Omniscient Reader: the hero who knows how the story ends
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Korean volume 1 (cover via AniList).
WEBTOON's description: Dokja was an office worker whose only interest was a web novel called "Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse," and "when the novel suddenly becomes reality, he is the only person who knows how the world will end." The webtoon adapts singNsong's web novel, with art by Sleepy-C.
This is the pick for the part of Death Note where Light stays ahead because he has information nobody else has. Dokja's edge is the same kind: he's read the plot. The big difference is tone. ORV is a survival action epic with a huge cast, not a two-person duel, so expect fights where Death Note had conversations.
Status matters here. The English WEBTOON edition reached Episode 308 on June 1, 2026 and is on a season break with a note that "Omniscient Reader will return!" That's a lot to read, and it isn't finished. Our ORV review covers whether it's worth the length.
3. Dr. Frost: psychology as the weapon
Dr. Frost (cover via WEBTOON).
Our newest addition to this list, suggested by a reader in a Death Note thread while admitting it's a different kind of story. WEBTOON describes the hero as a "College professor by day, and bartender by night," a psychologist who "solves the puzzles of the human mind one by one." Its creator, JongBeom Lee, wrote on the series page that "I studied psychology and have been working on Dr. Frost for ten years."
It doesn't have Light's villainy or L's chase. What it shares is the pleasure of watching someone read people better than they read themselves. In the same Death Note thread, one reader put it fairly: if you want "a manhwa based on pshycology and how human behaviour and mind work you should try dr frost but it isnt remotely similar." We'd read it in exactly that spirit. It ran on Naver from 2011 to 2021 and is complete on WEBTOON in English.
4. Weak Hero: a lead whose methods are hard to defend
Weak Hero (cover via WEBTOON).
Weak Hero, by SeoPass and Razen, is a school action series, not a thriller. WEBTOON's pitch: the school is "run by tyrants," and then Gray arrives, "small in stature," whose "calculative and brutal fighting leaves unsuspecting opponents lying on the floor begging for mercy."
It's here for one Death Note quality: a protagonist who's colder and smarter than everyone around him, and who uses violence the story doesn't fully excuse. Gray isn't a villain the way Light is, but he's built so you're never quite sure you should be cheering. It's finished, and our review has the full verdict.
5. Killing Stalking (18+): the darkest version of the game
Adults only. AniList marks Killing Stalking as adult content and tags it for torture, rape and gore, and Seven Seas sells it as "The Mature-rated Boys' Love horror webtoon from Lezhin." Skip this entry if that's not for you; the other five don't need it.
Koogi's series won the grand prize in Lezhin's second World Comic Contest. Seven Seas' setup: Yoon Bum, "a scrawny and quiet man," has a crush on Sangwoo that grows into an obsession, "and he breaks into Sangwoo's home. But what he sees inside is not the Sangwoo of his fantasies."
The Death Note link is the shape of the game: two people who each hold dangerous knowledge about the other, with no one coming to help. The story follows the victim, not the killer, and it's far more brutal than anything else here. It ran from 2016 to 2019. In English it's on Lezhin and in print from Seven Seas.
6. Sweet Home: dread at a bigger scale
Sweet Home, Korean volume 1 (cover via AniList).
Sweet Home comes from the same pair behind Bastard, Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, and started seven months after Bastard ended. WEBTOON's setup: after a family tragedy, a reclusive high school student moves out "only to face something much scarier: a reality where monsters are trying to wipe out humanity."
It's the loosest fit here. There's no mind game at the center, just survivors in an apartment building who don't fully trust each other. We'd read it if Bastard landed and you want more of that team's dread. If it's the monster survival you like, our manhwa like Sweet Home list goes further.
Our best thriller manhwa list ranks more cat-and-mouse stories, including some that aren't about a villain hero at all.
Best Thriller Manhwa →
Our take: the villain-protagonist gap
Death Note's rarest ingredient is a hero who is the villain, knows it, and believes he's right, with the story tracking his logic all the way. Manhwa mostly doesn't do that. Sangwoo in Killing Stalking is a killer, but the story belongs to his victim. Gray in Weak Hero hurts people, but the story stays on his side. Jin in Bastard lives with a killer and isn't one.
So we'd set expectations this way: Bastard gets you the secret-keeping tension, Omniscient Reader the information edge, Dr. Frost the mind-reading. None gets you Light. If it's specifically a god-complex villain you're after, the honest answer may be another Death Note reread.
How we checked this
On October 15, 2026 we checked every pick's status, chapter count and credits against AniList, each English series page on WEBTOON and Seven Seas, Naver's page for Bastard, VIZ's Death Note page and two r/manhwarecommendations threads. We haven't read all six series; the premises come from the publishers, and the "why it's here" notes are our editorial comparison. This update added Dr. Frost, fixed Bastard's WEBTOON link and Killing Stalking's chapter count, and dropped The Horizon, whose chapter count we'd listed wrong.
Last reviewed: October 15, 2026
Related Reading
- Bastard manhwa review: our full verdict on the top pick.
- Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint review: whether ORV is worth its length if you start now.
- Weak Hero review: our verdict on Gray's story from start to finish.
- Sweet Home review: the Bastard team's monster series, judged on its own.
- Manhwa like The Promised Neverland: more series where children try to outthink a threat they can't fully see.
- SSS-Class Revival Hunter review: a hunter who can copy other people's abilities and goes back in time when he dies, if you want rules-based scheming with action.
- Best system fantasy manhwa: our long list of series built on game-like rules, for readers who liked Death Note's rulebook more than its crimes.
- Best manhwa to read in 2026: our wider list across every genre.
References
- Death Note on VIZ: official English publisher and series summary.
- Bastard on WEBTOON and Seven Seas
- Omniscient Reader on WEBTOON
- Dr. Frost on WEBTOON
- Weak Hero on WEBTOON
- Killing Stalking on Seven Seas (18+)
- Sweet Home on WEBTOON
- AniList: status, chapter counts and dates for every pick.
