The Unwanted Undead Adventurer Manga Volumes at a Glance — Series Structure and Count
Here’s the full picture:
- Japanese manga volumes: 13 (ongoing)
- English manga volumes: 12
- Japanese publisher: Overlap, under their Gardo Comics imprint (an imprint is a brand name a publisher uses for a specific line of books)
- English publisher: J-Novel Club (sole licensed English publisher)
- Serialization: Comic Gardo+ (previously Comic Gardo) — the manga is serialized, meaning new chapters are published one at a time in a manga magazine before being collected into the bound volumes you buy off the shelf
- First volume release: May 2018 (Japan)
- Latest Japanese volume: Volume 13, released August 8, 2025
J-Novel Club is the only source for official English translations of this manga.
The Creative Team
The manga is based on the light novel by Yu Okano (丘野優). A light novel is a Japanese prose fiction format — think of it as a short novel, usually with a few illustrations, that’s distinct from both Western novels and manga. The manga adaptation features art by Haiji Nakasone (中曽根ハイジ), with character designs by Jaian (じゃいあん). In manga production, it’s common for different people to handle different roles: the original author writes the story, the manga artist draws it, and a character designer creates the visual look of the cast that the artist then works from. Nakasone’s artwork does a fantastic job capturing both the dungeon atmosphere and the sometimes darkly comedic reality of being an undead adventurer trying to act normal.
The Premise
For anyone coming in fresh: Rentt Faina is a veteran adventurer who has spent a decade stuck at the lowest rank in his local adventurer guild — an organization in this world that registers, ranks, and dispatches adventurers on quests and dungeon expeditions. He’s not untalented — just unlucky and lacking the right opportunities. One fateful dungeon dive goes horribly wrong when he encounters a dragon on a floor where no dragon should be. He dies.
Then he wakes up. As a skeleton.
Rather than despairing (well, after some initial despair), Rentt decides to do the only thing he knows how: keep adventuring. His goal is to evolve through progressively stronger undead forms until he can pass as human again — all while hiding his condition from the guild and the people he cares about.
The series naturally divides itself into story arcs — self-contained narrative segments within the longer series — based on two parallel progression tracks: Rentt’s undead evolution (what kind of monster he currently is) and his adventurer rank progression (his standing in the guild’s ranking system, which determines what jobs and dungeon floors he can access). These two threads weave together beautifully, and they give the manga its structure across the volumes.
Story Arcs by Volume — Rentt’s Undead Evolution
One of the most satisfying things about The Unwanted Undead Adventurer manga volumes is how clearly the story progresses. Rentt’s physical transformation gives you a visible marker for how far you’ve come in the series. Here’s how the arcs break down.
Volumes 1–4 (Approximately) — Death and Rebirth as a Skeleton
The opening stretch of the manga covers what is arguably the most compelling hook in the series: Rentt’s death, his resurrection as the lowest tier of undead, and his desperate scramble to survive.
As a skeleton, Rentt is fragile. He can’t speak. He can’t show his face in town. He can barely fight the weakest dungeon monsters. Everything that made him “Rentt Faina” — his identity, his guild registration, his relationships — is suddenly inaccessible. All he has is a decade of adventuring knowledge trapped inside a body made of bones.
These early volumes establish the world’s systems in a way that feels natural rather than forced. The adventurer guild operates on a strict rank system — think of ranks as tiers that determine what missions and dungeon areas an adventurer is allowed to tackle — and Rentt was stuck at the bottom for years. Now, ironically, his undead condition forces him to start even lower, but with a completely different kind of growth path ahead of him.
The most important relationship introduced early on is with Lorraine Vivie, a scholar and mage who was one of Rentt’s few close friends before his death. She’s the first person who learns what happened to him, and her reaction — a mix of academic fascination and genuine concern for her friend — sets the emotional tone for the whole series. Lorraine is not just a support character; she becomes Rentt’s primary ally and the person who helps him understand the rules of undead evolution.
These volumes are heavy on dungeon crawling — the process of exploring dangerous underground labyrinths, fighting monsters, and collecting rewards, a concept borrowed from tabletop role-playing games. Rentt has to figure out how to fight, how to earn money, and how to interact with the guild, all without revealing that he’s a walking pile of bones under a cloak. There’s a dark comedy to it that the manga handles well, balancing genuine tension with moments of absurdity.
Volumes 5–9 (Approximately) — Evolving Through Higher Undead Forms
As Rentt defeats monsters and absorbs their essence, he evolves into progressively more powerful — and more humanoid — undead forms. This is where the series really hits its stride.
Each evolution brings new abilities but also new complications. The more human Rentt looks, the more he can interact with society — but the more scrutiny he faces. A skeleton can hide under heavy armor and a cloak. A more humanoid undead has to explain why they never eat, why their skin is the wrong color, why they react strangely to certain stimuli.
The middle portion of the series expands the scope significantly:
- Dungeon challenges escalate as Rentt pushes into deeper floors. The monsters get nastier, the environments get more dangerous, and the story starts revealing that the dungeon system itself has mysteries Rentt never suspected during his decade as a low-rank adventurer.
- Guild rank examinations become a major plot driver. Rentt isn’t just trying to survive — he’s actively trying to advance through the adventurer ranks, which means formal tests, supervised missions, and interactions with guild officials who might notice something off about him.
- Political intrigue starts creeping in. The adventurer guild isn’t a simple job board — it’s an institution with factions, rivalries, and power dynamics. As Rentt draws attention (both for his unusual abilities and his mysterious background), he gets pulled into conflicts that go beyond “kill monsters, collect loot.”
- The tension around his secret builds steadily. More people start asking questions. Some are suspicious, some are curious, and some are dangerous. The manga does a strong job of making Rentt’s concealment feel like a ticking clock rather than a static status quo.
What makes these volumes work so well is that Rentt’s growing strength never feels cheap. He doesn’t just power up and steamroll everything. Each new form comes with trade-offs, each rank advancement requires genuine effort, and the story respects the fact that knowledge and experience matter as much as raw power.
Volumes 10–13 (Approximately) — Rising Stakes and Expanding World
The most recent volumes of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer manga push the story into territory that the early dungeon-focused chapters only hinted at.
Rentt’s growing power has consequences. He’s no longer just a curiosity or a minor anomaly — he’s becoming a figure that dangerous factions take an interest in. The world beyond the dungeon and the local adventurer guild starts to open up, revealing broader political and supernatural conflicts that Rentt’s unique situation makes him relevant to.
Without spoiling specifics, the recent volumes deal with:
- External threats that go beyond individual dungeon monsters. Rentt’s existence as an undead who retains human intelligence and morality puts him at the intersection of several competing interests.
- Deeper worldbuilding around the nature of undead, the history of the dungeon system, and the magical foundations of the setting. The series has been slowly building toward revelations about why Rentt’s evolution is possible at all, and recent volumes start paying off that setup.
- Expanding character dynamics as Rentt’s circle of allies and acquaintances grows. The series has always been character-driven beneath its adventure surface, and the later volumes give more room for those relationships to develop.
The series is ongoing as of the latest Japanese release (Volume 13), so there’s more story to come. The manga serialization in Comic Gardo+ continues, meaning future collected volumes are expected.
A note on volume boundaries: The approximate volume ranges above reflect the general pacing of the story arcs. Exact arc boundaries don’t always line up neatly with volume breaks — a story arc might begin partway through one volume and conclude partway through another. If you’re reading sequentially from Volume 1, the transitions will feel natural.
Where the Light Novel and Anime Stand
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer didn’t start as a manga. It began as a light novel by Yu Okano, and the manga by Haiji Nakasone is an adaptation of that source material.
This matters for readers because the light novel is further ahead in the story than the manga. If you read all 12 available English manga volumes and want to know what happens next, the light novel can take you there. Both the manga and the light novel are published in English by J-Novel Club, so switching between formats is straightforward.
The Anime Adaptation
A TV anime adaptation aired in early 2024, produced by CONNECT and running for 12 episodes (January through March 2024). The anime covers the early portion of the story — roughly the events of the first few manga volumes.
If you watched the anime and want to continue with the manga, most viewers find that starting around Volumes 3–4 puts you near where the anime leaves off, though starting from Volume 1 is always worthwhile since the manga includes details and scenes the anime condensed or skipped. Either approach works depending on how much overlap you’re comfortable with.
The manga’s art adds a lot to the experience, particularly in dungeon environments and action sequences. Nakasone’s detailed work on each page brings an atmosphere that complements the story well.
Content Advisory
The series involves character death, dungeon violence, and undead horror elements. The tone is more adventure-focused than graphic — it’s not gratuitous — but readers sensitive to dark fantasy themes or parents considering the series for younger teens should be aware that the premise involves dying, reanimation, and combat throughout. It falls within the range typical for action-oriented manga aimed at older teen and adult audiences.
Which Edition Should You Buy — The Unwanted Undead Adventurer Manga Volumes
Let’s keep this simple, because the buying options for this series are actually pretty straightforward.
J-Novel Club is the exclusive English publisher for both the manga and the light novel. There are no competing editions, no publisher conflicts, no “which translation is better” debates. J-Novel Club is your one and only option for official English volumes.
Current Availability
- English manga volumes: 12 currently available
- Publisher: J-Novel Club
- Japanese manga volumes: 13 (ongoing)
Manga vs. Light Novel — Which Should You Start With?
This comes down to personal preference:
Start with the manga if:
- You prefer visual storytelling
- You want to see Rentt’s undead forms and evolutions rendered in detail
- You enjoy dungeon environments and action sequences as drawn pages
- You’re coming from the anime and want a familiar visual format
Start with the light novel if:
- You want to read the complete story so far (the light novel is ahead of the manga)
- You prefer more inner character thoughts and worldbuilding detail
- You read quickly and want more narrative content per volume
- You plan to catch up and don’t want to wait for manga volumes to adapt the light novel
One important distinction: light novels are prose books with occasional illustrations, not comics. If you’re expecting manga-style artwork on every page, the light novel is a different reading experience — closer to a novel with a few pictures than a visual medium. Many fans enjoy both formats, but knowing the difference upfront saves any confusion.
For most newcomers, the manga is the easier entry point. The art is excellent, the pacing is well-suited to the story, and you can always switch to the light novel later when you’ve caught up.
If you’re ready to start, the first volume of the manga is the natural place to begin — it sets up the premise cleanly and gives you a clear sense of whether the series is for you.
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
Format and Pricing Notes
J-Novel Club releases are available digitally. For readers who prefer physical copies, checking availability at major retailers is your best bet, as stock can vary. Individual manga volumes typically carry a retail price in line with other English-translated manga — expect standard manga volume pricing at the cover price listed by the publisher.
J-Novel Club’s digital platform also offers a subscription model where members can read newly translated chapters as they’re released, before those chapters are bundled into a collected volume (the finished book you’d buy at a store). If you’d rather read along as chapters come out instead of waiting for each full volume, it’s worth looking into.
With 12 English volumes available, starting from the beginning is a meaningful investment of both time and money. That said, the series rewards binge-reading — the undead evolution hook keeps you turning pages, and the volumes are paced well enough that the commitment doesn’t feel like a slog.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many manga volumes of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer are there?
There are 13 volumes in Japanese and 12 volumes in English as of the most recent releases. The series is ongoing, so more volumes are expected.
Is The Unwanted Undead Adventurer finished?
No. The manga is ongoing and continues to be serialized in Comic Gardo+. The light novel source material is also still in progress, so there’s plenty of story left to tell.
Who publishes the English edition?
J-Novel Club publishes both the manga and the light novel in English. They’re the sole licensed English publisher for this series.
Does the anime cover the full manga?
Not even close. The first anime season (12 episodes, early 2024) covers only the early portion of the manga. If you enjoyed the anime, there’s a lot more story waiting for you in the manga volumes.
Should I read the manga or the light novel?
Both are great. The manga has excellent artwork and is the more visual experience. The light novel is further ahead in the story and offers more narrative detail — but remember, it’s prose with occasional illustrations, not a comic. Many fans read both, starting with whichever format appeals to them and switching to the other when they want more. There’s no wrong choice here.
Is this a traditional isekai?
Not exactly. In a typical isekai story, a character is transported to or reborn in another world entirely. Rentt doesn’t go to another world — he dies and is reborn as an undead in his own world. The series shares a lot of common ground with isekai stories (adventurer guilds, rank systems, progressive growth in power, dungeon mechanics), but the “undead evolution” twist and the fact that it’s set in Rentt’s original world give it a distinct identity. If you enjoy isekai-style fantasy but want something with a slightly different flavor, this is a fantastic pick.