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Devil's in the Lunch Deals Manga Review
This tale of an outcast goddess of death who makes delicious food and tries to do good deeds as penance for being, you know, a goddess of death, is prickly and weird, and I think I love it.
― Fairytales play a significant role in human society. They stand in as simplistic moral education, tales of punishment and reward. They are also expressions of psychological and philosophical experimentation. Fai...
Oshi no Ko Volumes 9-12 Manga Review
It’s painful to read this flawed yet sympathetic character slide further towards self-destruction, but that’s all part of the dark appeal of Oshi no Ko.
― For readers wanting to catch up on the manga story after the point where the anime adaptation's second season left off, volume nine is the place to start. Oshi no Ko's anime maintains close fidelity to its manga source, and the four volumes covered...
Gizmo Riser Volume 1 Manga Review
When the system is designed to keep you at the bottom, there is no other way to go but up.
― This series checks all the boxes for “shōnen bildungsroman/Hero's Journey tale built on a foundation of social inequity that is actually about the cool gear.” Kuro is a slave among slaves. He's beaten and mocked by a man who claims Kuro as property, with no hope in sight, except for the very brief glimpses he...
Kowloon Generic Romance Volumes 9-10 Manga Review
While everyone else around her remains prisoners of their own regret, pulled into Kowloon like insects by a pitcher plant, Kujirai deserves to fly free, away from this place.
― Being a Kowloon Generic Romance fan is suffering. Since I last reviewed volumes 7 and 8 back in November 2024, only two further volumes have been published in English, with the eleventh due at the end of May 2026. The only bri...
GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! Manga Series Review
GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! is for the people who want to see a grown, tax-paying adult revel in petty revenge on everyday annoyances.
― Let's just be honest with ourselves: Broadly speaking, manga and anime are full of goody-two-shoes protagonists. They're usually teenagers. They tend to have selfless personalities or goals, and there's usually some element of needing to stop a superpowered bad guy for anyon...
Wandance Volumes 8-10 Manga Review
Kabo gets closer to the beat, but the distance between him and dance is growing.
― One of the most delightful things about Wandance is that it continues to buck narrative trends repeatedly. In other sports/club stories, the focus would be on the way the team seems to lack cohesion, while one character or another fails to live up to their promise. Here, people do well sometimes and not so well other t...
Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku Box Set Manga Review
At times, Gabimaru’s surprisingly vulnerable, and even a little adorable – like a white-haired, fluffy murder-puppy.
― It's telling that the Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku manga is unavailable to read directly on the Shonen Jump app, at least not on Apple devices. It can only be read digitally via the Shonen Jump website. This is no doubt due to the manga's much higher-than-average (at least for Shonen ...
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Volumes 7-10 Manga Review
Building on earlier information and seemingly throwaway comments and characters, the story continues to delight as it pushes its characters to develop in meaningful ways.
― One of the strengths of Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun is that it rarely lets anything become a one-off joke. Ameri's surprisingly demure alternate self in volume six not only makes Ronové look even more ridiculous, but it als...
Food Diary of Miss Maid Volumes 1-4 Manga Review
Despite it being about food, whether or not this manga will have you eating well is something up for debate.
― Oftentimes, my dinner is the biggest highlight of my day. I get so hungry that my appetite becomes insatiable, resulting in that moment mid-afternoon where I inevitably scroll through whatever food porn comes across my YouTube home feed (we're up to taking up a good third of the page). There...
Oshi no Ko Volumes 3-8 Manga Review
This is a dark, haunting revenge tale with a side order of unsettling insights into the murkier side of the Japanese entertainment industry.
― Oshi no Ko is what Kaguya-sama: Love is War's author Aka Akasaka did next, this time delegating artistic duties to Scum's Wish creator Mengo Yokoyari. Those expecting another light-hearted romcom are likely to be surprised: this is a dark, haunting revenge tal...
Kill Blue Volumes 3-5 Manga Review
Even if Fujimaki’s love of sports gets in the way at times, these three volumes of Kill Blue still make for a fun read.
― This trio of manga volumes rises and falls on its sportsy aesthetic. It's here where you can really, really tell Kill Blue was penned by the same mangaka who did Kuroko's Basketball (Tadatoshi Fujimaki), and he's definitely not gunshy about showing off his roots. He's got characte...
Ace of the Diamond Volumes 1-5 Manga Review
If there’s one thing that shines through in these first five volumes, it’s how much creator Yuji Terajima loves baseball.
― Do all sports manga about scrappy kids from tiny teams in the middle of nowhere start the same? It can certainly feel like it at times, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Ace of the Diamond is just Ao Ashi with baseball instead of soccer or [insert name here] with baseb...
You Can't Be In a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends! Chapters 1-47 Manga Review
It's a miracle that I didn't hate MY childhood friends by the time I sat down to write this review.
― We're all familiar with the childhood friend trope, right? Often, this is an element or subtrope of a larger trope that a slice-of-life or romantic comedy series revolves around. For example, a childhood friend may be one of the girls in a harem or the main love interest in a slow-burn romance. Howev...
Dangers in My Heart Volumes 1-8 Manga Review
Where Kyotaro is prone to over-thinking and wrongly attributing negative motivations to others, Anna is almost pathologically open, and endearingly quirky.
― It's telling that author Norio Sakurai uses the German loanword “karte” instead of “chapter” for every installment of her most famous manga, The Dangers in My Heart. It's used in Japan to refer to a hospital inpatient's medical chart. Second-yea...
Baki The Grappler Volume 7-8 Manga Review
When beating the crap out of other people just isn’t enough, Baki turns to a giant ape for help getting stronger.
― Narrator Disclaimer: Baki The Grappler is not intended to illustrate martial arts in any meaningfully realistic way. Check with your doctor before continuing physical activity with broken bones and ruptured limbs. Baki The Grappler is a primer in unrealistic bloodsports. It's both amazi...
BEASTARS Volumes 5-22 Manga Review
This is not a series that will make it clear everything will be all right, as it doesn't offer solutions to its problems, even by the very end.
― BEASTARS is such a fascinating series on paper, with themes and setups that are beginning to seem more commonplace. Using anthropomorphic, furry characters as an allegory for real-world issues can have mixed results, especially when the separation between s...
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 7—Steel Ball Run Volumes 1-5 Manga Review
Steel Ball Run is easily Jojo’s most bizarre adventure yet.
― Even by Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (JJBA) standards—which, to be clear, is an absurdly high bar to clear—Steel Ball Run (SBR) is absolutely, positively, aggressively, relentlessly, and lovably capital-W Weird. As vast as it is, the world of manga simply doesn't get wilder than this. Dare I say, SBR is easily Jojo's most bizarre adventure yet...
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Volumes 2-6 Manga Review
Iruma’s early adventures fully coalesce in this set of volumes with its shorter arcs.
― It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that, since Ameri's father's name is Henri, her name is almost certainly meant to be Amélie. That's really neither here nor there, but it does add an interesting extra layer to one of the major plotlines in this set of volumes: Ameri is a closet shoujo manga fan. N...
MARRIAGETOXIN Volume 2-11 Manga Review
For a series with the word TOXIN in the title, this series is anything but TOXIC.
― When I reviewed the first volume of MARRIAGETOXIN, I wrote it off as a fairly solid action series with a very lovable lead. The idea of a socially awkward yet incredibly capable assassin willingly throwing himself into harm's way for the sake of protecting his sister was a solid setup, and I very much thought that the...
Always a Catch! Volumes 2-5 Manga Review
At its heart, this is a romp of a story about an atypical young lady bulldozing her way through the world.
― If I had to sum Always a Catch up in the easiest way possible, I would say that it's May I Ask for One Final Thing? but with a heroine who is as goofy as possible. Like Scarlet, Maria “Mimi” Annovazzi is as strong as she can be and has an incredible skill for punching people, but she lacks Sca...
MAO Volume 23 Manga Review
While Sana remains conspicuous in her absence, they now know where Daigo has been: in Natsuno’s eyes.
― Nine hundred years is a long time to go without answers. All of the former members of the Goko Clan have done their best with their unexpected time in the world, but none of them have had any true notion of why they continued to live – or even what truly caused the downfall of their group back in t...
Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord Volumes 4-6 Manga Review
Wealth and magic can make life easier, but making friends can save the world.
― In Volume 1-3, we were presented with a kind of manga The Sims scenario, as Van gathered around him people willing to help him transform this “unnamed” village into a prosperous town. In Volume 4-6, the story continues to build on Van's blueprints, as the town builds defenses, weapons, and a military capable of wielding t...
Trigun Maximum Manga Review
The world Vash lives in is so well fleshed-out in its manga incarnation, and the stakes for survival of its populace much higher.
― You know when you've been overdoing something when aspects of it begin to bleed into your dreams. So it has been the past few weeks for me and Trigun. Not too long after closing my eyes, my mind is filled with images of spiky-haired red-trenchcoat-wearing gunslingers, cr...
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Volumes 10-13 Manga Review
After the first-class mage examination, mighty demons take on Frieren and Denken in both the present and the past.
― Frieren: Beyond Journey's End continues to surprise and entertain and has established a process to do so. Every large arc will require Frieren and Fern to understand magic just that much better. They will come up against their own limitations and analyze their enemies' weaknesses. Star...
I Want Your Mother to be With Me! Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
This is ultimately a story about recognizing that you don't have to stubbornly tackle everything on your own.
― Being a single parent is never easy. Raising a child demands a lot of time, expenses, and responsibilities that most couples would find difficult to manage. But being a single parent means that you're trying to fill all of those responsibilities by yourself, which naturally comes with sacri...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 8-10 Manga Review
To find the perfect match of food and wine, we must travel the world and try new things, then come home and appreciate the familiar.
― Twice in Volume 9, someone rolled their eyes at someone else's melodrama during the big showdown, and I was 100% there for it. It actually made me like the whole story better. The first half of this arc is spent redeeming Chef Mikasa, the accomplished French chef whos...
Firefly Wedding Volumes 2-4 Manga Review
With richly detailed art and well-considered characters, Firefly Wedding is a traffic accident that you can’t look away from.
― If the first volume of Firefly Wedding set off warning bells in your head with its harsh story and themes of unwilling marriage and sexual predation, you may want to skip the rest of this series. It is hard to think of another ostensible romance that has as many flashing red...
Touring After the Apocalypse Volume 4-6 Manga Review
Everyone is dead, everything is destroyed, let’s go on a road trip!
― In the early volumes of Sakae Saito's post-apocalyptic landscape bike tour, we met Youko, a young human, and her companion Airi, an artificial humanoid of some kind, who are traveling around Japan on a Yamaha XT225, known as the Yamaha Serow. This small motorcycle allows for off-road and street riding. With no people to repair infr...
Hana-Kimi Omnibus Volumes 4-6 Manga Review
It’s got its ups and downs for certain, but this omnibus of the beloved shoujo manga mostly remains a fun read.
― After a slow start, what better way to kick things up than with a school festival? Here we have arrived at one of the more exciting parts of Hana-Kimi's early phases. It approximates itself towards a tournament arc with the way it opens up; what better way to show off than by having the h...
Wandance Volume 6-7 Manga Review
Is it enough to feel the beat and dance, or does everything need words, too?
― Since Ichirin won their first team competition, by the rules of manga, it is time for a humbling loss. Once again, Wandance bucks the trend. The Ichirin dance team, led by On-chan and the only other male member, Iori, who has a lot of experience in dance battles, shows up and does surprisingly well. Iori takes the individu...
Fire Force Volumes 11-20 Manga Review
There’s a certain point one comes to when reading Fire Force where it’s best to set aside one’s critical faculties and be swept along by the pyroclastic silliness.
― In my recent review of Fire Force volumes 1-10, I lauded Atsushi Ohkubo's apparently final manga series for its accomplished art, excellent character design, goofy humor, and exciting battles, while expressing frustration at the intrusiv...
Wash It All Away Volume 2-5 Manga Review
Near the gleaming beaches of Atami, a small cleaning service can ensure that your clothes are just as bright.
― This manga, written and illustrated by Mitsuru Hattori, has a relaxed, somewhat distanced feel, even as we run around town with Wakana. The narrative is trying to do several things at once, and some of those things it does well, while others feel like a dissonant note to the whole. To begin...
White Note Pad Manga Review
White Note Pad is a story that demands introspection.
― Tomoko Yamashita is adept at writing stories that explore humanity. Although not many of her works have been translated into English, the two anime adaptations she's garnered – The Night Beyond the Tricorner Window and Journal with Witch – both amply demonstrate her thoughtful exploration of identity, gender, and sexuality alongside complex emot...
Baki The Grappler Volumes 5-6 Manga Review
This is a manga in which a thirteen-year-old bulks up by eating and training so effing hard he hits galaxy brain mode and bulks up in ways that are impossible.
― Having defeated Kureha Shinogi, despite the man's intimate knowledge of the human body gained at the cost of dozens of other's lives, Baki almost immediately seeks his next fight. He's spotted fighting 100 delinquents at once, knocking out o...
My Death Flags Show No Sign of Ending Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
Kazuki is a very boring, nothing character that is strictly driven by his survival and he needs to spend most of the story riding a very thin line.
― On the one end, I do appreciate a series that really likes to just cut out all the fat. When Death Flags starts, we don't get any set-up or preamble about our protagonist's past life or how he found himself in the circumstances that he does. He just wak...
My Awkward Senpai Chapters 1-104 Manga Review
What starts as comedic social awkwardness soon becomes an example of someone that is a workaholic and plagued by a deep fear of emotional dependency.
― I always find it at least a little bit funny when a series portrays an incredibly capable person in a field that requires a lot of social interaction only for the twist to be that they actually have no social skills whatsoever. Maybe there are some pe...
Fire Force Volumes 1-10 Manga Review
Fire Force has so many other positive aspects that it seems absurd that the author should want to torpedo his chances of a wider audience by so prominently featuring such prurient, out-of-place fan-service.
― Man's fascination with fire dates back to the primeval ages. Fire on demand was one of the very first technologies, and its transformative effects, once harnessed, led directly towards the machi...
Hana-Kimi Omnibus Vols. 1-3 Review
The beloved shoujo manga still maintains its charm after thirty years, even if the narrative reveals a few old cracks here and there.
― Towards the end of Hana-Kimi's second volume, Hisaya Nakajo wrote that before Hana-Kimi's success, she never penned a story that went beyond six chapters. She might not have expected her manga to achieve such international popularity either, even as she hastily drew ...
Kaya-chan Isn't Scary Volumes 2-4 Manga Review
It’s not quite as good as its most obvious sibling, Mieruko-chan, but it’s still a fascinating take on the ghost story.
― When I reviewed the first volume of Yuritaro's Kaya-chan Isn't Scary manga for the Manga Guide, I said that it was basically Mieruko-chan but in kindergarten. That holds true for the next three books, as the milder elements are gradually overshadowed by the horror, only deepening ...
Rooster Fighter Volume 1-8 Manga Review
For a series that could be boiled down to super chickens taking down demons that threatened humanity, the artwork goes so much harder than expected.
― It took me a while to really figure out how I could articulate what makes Rooster Fighter so appealing. At first, I thought it was just the absurdity of its premise because it's a simple yet effective setup for what I thought was going to be a more com...
Wandance Volume 4-5 Manga Review
Wandance really gets you moving.
― Kabo and Hikari are both driven to get better as dancers. Club President On-chan, trying to entice Iori back to the club in the hopes that he'll step up as president next year, agrees to take the club to a dance battle. Kabo gets to bond with the only other guy in the club, and we get to learn the difference between street, house, and break dancing. I absolutely lov...
Search and Destroy Volume 1-3 Manga Review
Kaneko’s art is so sharp it looks like it was drawn with a scalpel.
― “Why are you so… angry?!” So every opponent asks of the vengeful Hyaku immediately before their violent dismemberment at her rage-filled hands. Hyaku, it turns out, has a lot to be angry about. Like her namesake Hyakkimaru, protagonist of Osamu Tezuka's classic Dororo, Hyaku's infant body parts were sacrificed and replaced with pro...
Girl Past the Filters Volume 1 Manga Review
When the girl next door turns out to be your sexy selfie idol, and falls butt-first into your face, you know you’re in a manga comedy.
― This manga was the manga-est of all manga volumes I have read in the past year. Not a single thing that happens actually happens, but they all happen here, one after the other, to create a suggestive sit-com of manga situations. Narumi, who was traumatized for tryin...
Plus-sized Misadventures in Love! Volume 1-3 Manga Review
This went from being a story I was cautious about to a story that I think needs to be told more.
― Plus-size representation in media is very rare, and it's even more rare when it is positive representation. Anime doesn't have the best track record with displaying people of more unique body types in flattering ways, so making a plus-size person the literal face of your entire manga is admirable on its...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 6-7 Manga Review
This manga about the perfect marriage of food and drink finally finds the perfect marriage of character and plot.
― Now that we are in the middle of this sequel to Drops of God, the story is really hitting its stride once again. Shizuku lost the first round (to prove himself worthy of the challenge of identifying the “Drops of God”) to Issei, saved a local western-style izakaya from competitors and j...
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Volumes 5-9 Manga Review
The journey can be more important than the destination, but a journey can also be its own destination.
― Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is structurally one of the very best manga I have ever read. The story is simple. More than two decades after the death of Himmel the Hero, Frieren, an Elven mage, takes to the road once again, this time accompanied by Fern and Stark, students of her dear friends. Alo...
Dead Account Chapters 1-120 Manga Review
After reading Dead Account, I think this work is going to be my new go-to example of “shonen slop,” but that being said, this is pretty good slop.
― I think a person's enjoyment of Shizumu Watanabe's Dead Account will mostly boil down to their ability to tolerate characters talking like Redditors nonstop. On its surface, Dead Account promises a deeper examination of the growing intersection between s...
Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord Volume 1-3 Manga Review
For this reincarnated salaryman, a life as an unwanted noble’s son is a ticket to a new beginning, but an easygoing life is a long way off.
― Human creativity is unendingly interesting to me. We are in an unprecedented time of stories that start in incredibly similar ways, and yet, each story is different enough for us to warrant taking time to tell you all about it. Today, we are speaking of the fir...
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Volumes 1-6 Manga Review
Soft, slow, and sweet, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be-Wife is mostly a nice bit of reassurance that, despite what the news may tell us, the world isn't completely horrible after all.
― It can sometimes feel like not a lot of romances start at the very beginning or go beyond the couple getting together. Either we meet them when they're already fully involved with each other or leave them at that...
Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl Manga Review
If you’ve been reading manga for a while, chances are you’re familiar with the basic set up of Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl.
― Norito Asaduki's Ren Arisugawa Is Actually a Girl is an interesting work. Not so much for anything it does within its text, but because of its place within fiction broadly today. It's a digitally published manga in a vertical format, which would suggest that it's a work p...
Jujutsu Kaisen Manga Series Review
The story becomes impenetrably incoherent to anyone without a PhD in Akutami’s fictional curse mechanics.
― What is it about recent big shonen hits that involve their protagonists engaging in cannibalism? My Hero Academia was bad enough, with Izuku Midoriya inheriting All Might's quirk by ingesting his hair. Then comes Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuji Itadori gobbling down Ryomen Sukuna's mummified finger to ga...
A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation Volumes 1-10 Manga Review
While I wouldn’t quite classify A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation as iyashikei isekai, there are definitely enough elements of that peaceful genre to make a decent case for it.
― Most isekai fiction in recent years relies upon one of a few set formulas, with nearly all of them taking a person from our world and depositing them in another, typically game-based fantasy realm. (The presence of RP...
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Manga Series Review
Vigilantes breaks the spin-off mold by shattering expectations, at times rivaling or even exceeding its progenitor manga.
― Spin-offs often come with the expectation that they're mere money-grabs, cynical exercises in milking popular franchises. Plenty of popular shonen manga receive short-lived spin-offs, most often comedic or episodic in nature, and they're rarely essential reads, even for die-hard...
You And I Are Polar Opposites Volumes 2-7 Manga Review
The story does a lot with setting up expectations, flipping them on their heads, but then making the reason for why they were flipped on its head different than what you would originally expect.
― One thing that caught me off guard about You and I are Polar Opposites was just how quickly our main couple got together. It's very rare nowadays to have a slice of life comedy romance where the two main le...
Tease Me Harder: A Sweet and Kinky Romance Volume 1 Manga Review
I never thought that I would use the word "wholesome" to describe an adult BDSM story, but here we are!
― I never thought that I would use the word "wholesome" to describe an adult BDSM story, but here we are! As a person who practices BDSM, I've always been quite unsatisfied with how it is portrayed in the media. It always seems to come from the perspective of people who genuinely don't understand t...
The 13th Footprint Volume 2 Manga Review
If I could just figure out the message behind all of the fires, I feel like I’d be a step closer to solving the mystery, and that’s either a brilliant use of a red (hot) herring or a carefully seeded clue.
― How do the puzzle pieces fit together? Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, unraveling a mystery story involves finding the ways the nubs and gaps line up, and in many cases, we find ourselves ...
HOOL!GAN'S Volume 1 Manga Review
Alchemy may not turn lead into gold, but in Hool!gans it turns a lot of people into dust.
― Well, that sure was a lot of things exploding. Sometimes it even had a reason. But “reason” and “plot” take a second place here to “all hell breaking loose.” Lee Heartrib is an orphan. Saved on the street by the alchemist head of the Antilia
Family mafia, Lee is irresponsible, lazy and dedicated to the goal of...
Tales of the Hundred Monsters Next Door Volume 1 Manga Review
This is how you write a book about yokai.
― This is how you write a book about yokai. Yokai are, of course, the supernatural given form. Monsters of our own imaginations, mysteries of daily life, the strange, the unusual, the scary, who are assumed to have their own whims, and their own rules. Throw in a little non-linear storytelling that breaks all its own internal structure, then wind it up and le...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 4-5 Manga Review
When you’re a baseball player, wine tasting is just like a baseball game
― Let's get the most important thing over with first. After reviewing Volume two and three, I did get my Comté cheese. I paired it with an affordable Côtes du Rhône red wine, fig crackers, and greens. It was delicious. Thank you for asking. Issei would have sneered. Or not. In these volumes, Shizuku enters the Tokyo Food and Win...
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk Volumes 2-8 Manga Review
In the Clear Moonlit Dusk feels like the sort of series I ought to be enjoying more than I am, which is an awkward position to be in.
― Mika Yamamori has proven over the course of her English-released series that you can't predict where her romances are going to go. Write off purportedly no-chance rivals at your peril and make assumptions about the trajectory of the story at your own risk; Yamamori i...
Touring After the Apocalypse Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Even after destruction, Japan’s tourist destinations are worth visiting.
― Upon reading Touring After The Apocalypse manga, I was immediately struck with a sense of familiarity. We've probably all read a few manga in which two girls scavenge for food and shelter after the end of the world, so my initial thought was that it felt like Girls Last Tour, with the same melancholy inevitability. More than t...
Wandance Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Wandance is a high-energy, competitive activity manga utilizing the world of dance in an effective and mesmerizing way.
― If everyone is always questioning themselves, then why do they feel bad for doing it? Crippling anxiety is totally relatable for pretty much everyone I know. Which is why it is both so common as a manga plot driver and weird that it's a real thing that we feel bad about in life. I...
The Moon on a Rainy Night Volume 1-7 Manga Review
This fun slice of life manga offers us a blueprint for a more inclusive world.
― In Volume 1 of The Moon On A Rainy Night, Saki meets Kanon. She's instantly intrigued by this apparently aloof beauty in what appears to be a pretty standard Yuri romance story. Saki is the traditional cheerful girl whose energy will change the intense loneliness of the traditional Japanese beauty, in what is still one o...
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? Volume 1 Manga Review
Killed Again, Mr. Detective? isn’t quite as good as it ought to be.
― As they say in the musical Gypsy, you've gotta have a gimmick. That feels particularly true for the mystery genre, where authors have been trying to outdo each other with quirky detectives since Hercule Poirot and his magnificent moustaches entered the scene in 1920's The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Over the years, fiction (manga ...
Gunsmith Cats Omnibus Volumes 1 and 2 Manga Review
There are multiple reasons why Sonoda’s Gunsmith Cats keeps getting re-published, and why it remains one of my very favorite manga of all time.
― Kenichi Sonoda's unmistakable art style helped fuel my initial intoxication with anime and manga. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, along with Appleseed's Masamune Shirow and Akira's Katsuhiro Otomo, Sonoda's perky girls with enormous eyes and gravity-defy...
Baki The Grappler Volume 2-4 Manga Review
The art is both better and more violent with each volume. Expect punches that carve up the body like knife-edged cannonballs.
― After Baki's initial appearance and victory in his first “official” match, this story settles into an ever more hyperbolic tale of unregulated fighting. In each subsequent volume, Baki will be matched with an opponent whose skills are unreasonable, whose strength is demonic,...
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze Volume 1 Manga Review
Shindou-kun's Tight Squeeze may not be the most creative romance manga out there, explicit or otherwise, but if you're looking for a spicy good time, it more than fits the bill.
― I've read most of Seven Seas' releases under its Steamship imprint, in no small part because I've crusaded for years on the concept that those of us who were little girls reading Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura are now ad...
Drops of God: Mariage Volume 2-3 Manga Review
Who will find the blue-eyed white sauvignon blanc?
― We last left Shizuku and Issei facing a challenge from a secret cabal of wine experts whose self-appointed role is to preserve Yutaka Kanzaki's true goal – the perfection of the “mariage” of wine and food. In Volume two, to be seen as worthy of the challenge of finding “The Drops of God,” Issei and Shizuku must first pass a preliminary test, consis...
Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
While I wouldn't call this a villainess story, Francesca does seem to view it as such by the end of the second volume.
― Touko Amekawa is no stranger to writing strong heroines who set out to get what they want. You may recognize her as the author of 7th Time Loop, a story about a young woman named Rishe determined to use her memories of her previous six lives to make her seventh one end the cycle of...
Baki The Grappler Volume 1 Manga Review
The fighting is utterly ridiculous, but so much fun, it is hard not to be entertained by this modern-day Lancelot whose strength is as ten because his heart is pure.
― This year at the American Manga Awards, Ashita no Joe: Fighting For Tomorrow won a very well-deserved Classic Manga Award. This post-war bildungsroman of a young man discovering himself through boxing is a moving tale. Now, we also hav...
May I Ask for One Final Thing? Volume 1 Manga Review
Sometimes you just want to see a perfectly prim Victorian-style lady haul back and beat someone's face in, all safely within the realm of fiction.
― By this point in pop culture history, we've probably all sat through as many villainess denunciation scenes as we can stomach. The story beats are as familiar as the back of your hand – the prim and proper, highly-ranked fiancée of a prince or similarly ...
Mansect Manga Review
Mansect is way too gross out for me to feel comfortable freely recommending it to any horror-lovers out there.
― Have you ever read a manga and thought, “Oh, this one's for the sickos (complimentary)”? Because those were exactly the words that immediately appeared in my head upon finishing Mansect. Originally published in 1975, this classic horror manga isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to i...
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition Volume 1 Manga Review
To hear Hiroja and original series creator Osamu Nishi talk about it, it seems that at least half of the entire point was Hiroja’s desire to draw everyone in natty suits.
― Alternate universes aren't just the stuff of fanfiction anymore. Or rather, they never have been; it's just that a lot of early fanfiction is rarely referred to as such. But how else would you describe 19th-century American humori...
Blade Girl Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
Blade Girl boldly sprints off of e-readers and onto the page, but can this print-on-demand release keep up?
― Back in April, I reviewed the first volume of Moare Ohta's Teppu—one of three initial offerings from the newly established Kodansha Print Club program. While I was thrilled to hold a copy of Ohta's underground classic in my hands, the quality of that print-on-demand release left me wanting. A...
Spider-Man: Shadow Warrior Manga Review
What the book lacks in story, it certainly makes up for with its creative artistic direction
― The world of common book superheroes is extremely malleable. For the most part, you can take a lot of traditional superheroes and put them into any unconventional setting. While you might need to jump through some logical leaps of why a character is in a completely different land or dealing with completely ...
Clevatess -Majū no Ō to Akago to Shikabane no Yūsha- Manga Review
Even though Clevatess isn't covering new ground in these first handful of chapters, I was surprised at how invested I was by the time I reached my chapter quota.
― The presence of dark fantasy stories is vast. It feels like I have read stories that have tackled your typical fantasy setting from every angle. I've seen it tackled from the perspective of kings, children, the hero, and, in this case, the...
Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right Manga Volume 1 Review
Everything is focused on Luna and her day-to-day school life with her willing blood-bag Ootori.
― Vampires and anime, eh? An eclectic selection of anime shows feature vampiric protagonists, from the classic (Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing) to the more recent, but superb (Call of the Night), and the appallingly dreadful, best left forgotten (Vlad Love). Worryingly, the manga Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck R...
SANDA Volume 1 Manga Review
This is a series about how the innocence of children has become so coveted to the point of becoming perverse, so what better person to set things on the right path then Santa Claus himself.
― From the creator of BEASTARS comes a series about the mythological creature known as Santa Claus. I didn't know what to expect when I read that out loud, but it's about as wacky and zany as you would expect from...
Mechanical Marie Volume 1 Manga Review
Only one volume in, I’m already rooting for Marie and Arthur’s future happiness together.
― With an absurd premise that requires suspension of disbelief on several levels, Mechanical Marie is nevertheless a delightfully sweet and funny high society romcom that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, leaving me eagerly anticipating not only the remaining five volumes in this short series, but also ...
Brain Damage Manga Review
If you like Junji Ito, it’s a good time to discover Shintaro Kago as well.
― All short story collections are mixed bags. That's not a pejorative statement about short stories by any means; it's simply the nature of the beast. Brain Damage, a collection of four horror tales by manga creator Shintaro Kago, defines this tendency. When it's good, it's very good, playing with horror and comedy in equal me...
Kill Blue Volumes 1-2 Manga Review
By its second volume, Kill Blue isn’t quite as good as it started.
― There are a lot of stories about second chances spanning all demographics of manga, anime, and light novels. In most of those cases, the protagonist of the story desperately wants a chance to go back and fix a mistake or rectify a problem, and many others wallow in the nostalgic notion that life was somehow better in high school. Bu...
Farewell, Daisy: Jun Mayuzuki Short Story Collection Manga Review
Mayuzuki’s sheer unpredictability and gleefully ribald storytelling are a breath of fresh air.
― Jun Mayuzuki is one of my current favorite manga authors, mainly for her most recent work on the still-ongoing Kowloon Generic Romance (the excellent single-season anime adaptation concluded only last season). I jumped at the chance to review this collection of her early manga work, some of which predate ...
Double the Trouble, Twice as Nice Volume 1 Manga Review
In its first volume, Ichino's series is a lot of silly fun, utilizing familiar genre beats and making them enjoyable, even if they're nothing new.
― Ryo Ichino's Double the Trouble, Twice as Nice is, more or less, a combination of two familiar manga romance tropes: the adult who turns into a child and the hot guy pet. English-language readers will probably best remember them from Matsuri Hino's MeruP...
Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi's High School Baseball Collection Manga Review
Mitsuru Adachi’s short and sweet baseball anthology is an absolute home run!
― While piecing together Slam Dunk's English publication history last year, I spoke with a few industry veterans about the challenges faced by sports titles in the North American market. One of those experienced pros was Ed Chavez, the publisher of Denpa. As we chatted about these sports-specific hurdles, Chavez and his team...
Tower Dungeon Volume 1 Manga Review
Nihei’s eye for composition shapes many scenes with bizarre yet effective angles that truly conjure an air of terrifying verticality.
― I can only imagine that Tsutomu Nihei recently got into roguelike fantasy RPGs, and that must have inspired his latest manga, which is in many ways quite different from his usual work. Best known in the west for Blame! and Knights of Sidonia, his manga tends to be fu...
I Wanna Be Your Girl Volume 1 Manga Review
This is a nuanced story that deftly explores what it means to become an ally while diving into the teenage trans experience.
― Over the years, I've seen imprints come and go—most often because they were founded on half-cocked ideas that just didn't have the opportunity to fully form. With the release of Ink Pop's first manga title, Umi Takase's I Wanna Be Your Girl, I believe this brand-new imprint h...
Teppeki Honeymoon Volume 1 Manga Review
Sakae and Ena's relationship walks a very fine line in this book.
― Meca Tanaka is no stranger to shoujo manga – she debuted in 1998 and has been consistently creating manga ever since. Teppeki Honeymoon is the latest of her works to be translated into English; Viz released both Meteor Prince and The Young Master's Revenge, Tokyopop translated Pearl Pink back during the publisher's first incarnation,...
Alternative [Self Liner Note] Manga Review
For those of you who love 90’s alt rock, this one-shot manga might prove to be your cup of (pennyroyal) tea.
― This one-shot manga fell into my lap because, well, of course it would. I love guitars, I love anime and manga about guitar players. And when you've got 90's grunge music thrown into the mix, you've got the most obvious pick in the world. Manga creator Chiaka Yagura's Alternative [Self Liner...
Yaiba Omnibus 1 Manga Review
While the anime is great looking enough that I imagine it'll be most people's preference for experiencing this series, the manga has just enough of its own strengths to be worth checking out on its own.
― With the new Yaiba anime currently on air, and quickly proving to be one of the most impressive looking action shows of the year, the folks at Viz Media have also seen fit to release the original ma...
Senpai no Kohai Manga Review
Hanakage Alt’s Senpai no Kohai is, in its slender volume, a beautifully sweet love story.
― Sayuri knows that it's hopeless to fall in love with a straight woman. That's an academic consideration, of course, when in her final year of college, she fell head over heels for Risa. The adorable first year consumed all of Sayuri's thoughts, no matter how hard she tried to avoid them, and when she graduated...
Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man Volume 1 Review
In this, Spider-Man and Ultraman are kindred spirits, and I'm not quite sure what I expected their connection to be but I like this angle as a way to bridge these two very different characters.
― Ultraman: Along Came a Spider-Man is a solid start for an Ultraman and Spider-Man that hits most of the notes you would expect. The premise here is simple enough and totally in keeping with crossover tales o...
Spider-Man: Kizuna Manga Review
Spider-Man: Kizuna is a rather cartoony story, but succeeds at highlighting the appeal of Spider-Man in a traditional Japanese manga.
― With great power comes great responsibility! These words permeate throughout most, if not all, Spider-Man media, as it is the very mantra of the character himself. The ethos of Spider-Man revolves around a perfectly normal guy being pushed into situations where he is...
I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class Volume 1 Manga Review
There’s the potential for a stronger story if the rest of it can continue leaning into the exploration of social expectations that this first volume presents, and it’s planted enough seeds that I think it could get there.
― Although I enjoy my share of high school rom-coms, I'll admit that I was a bit wary of this one going in. While you can't always tell much about a series based on its title, light...
Unico: Awakening and Unico: Hunted Manga Review
This story is like a child's imagination come to life.
― Osamu Tezuka is a legend in the world of animation and manga. Not only is this man responsible for some of the most iconic series of all time, but his stylistic influences can still be felt to this very day. Many of his franchises, like Astro Boy, continue to persist into the modern day with adaptations or re-creations. So when I heard that one...
Nue's Exorcist Volume 1 Manga Review
Nue’s Exorcist is the sort of book that’s more fun the less you think about it.
― The history of the nue is long in Japanese yokai lore, dating back to at least the Heian period, when it was described in Heike Monogatari as a chimera-like creature composed of bits and pieces of snake, chicken, tiger, tanuki, and monkey. Different variations on the theme followed, but manga fans may best know it as th...
Spacewalking With You Volume 1 Manga Review
This American Manga Awards nominee is an unflinchingly honest and compassionate look into the lives of two neurodivergent teens just trying to get through life.
― Recently, I've found myself searching for works that leave me with a sense of catharsis—stories that send me through emotionally wrought tunnels and leave me coming out of it like I'd just gotten something off my chest. Thanks to a strong r...
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