This Week in Anime

Anime News Network's Summer Manga Reading List

Chris and Coop searched their shelves for your next manga beach read!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.

@RiderStrike

@BWProwl

@LucasDeRuyter

@vestenet

Coop
School's out for summer, Chris! With folks of all ages out and about, and looking for something to do, it's the perfect time to revisit a classic library pastime—the summer reading list!

And while the recently announced American Manga Awards nominees already make for a solid stack of books to work through, I'm sure we've got more than a few titles of our own to recommend! Be they the ideal summer longread for younger audiences or tales of hot and sweaty affairs for mature readers.

Chris
That's "hot and sweaty" metaphorically, Coop. I'll be damned if I leave my air conditioning in this summer heat. You're right that there's a whole lot of reading material to recommend while iceboxinging it in here, wrapped up another round of contributing to the Manga Guide last season, so I've a few of those titles bouncing around in my head still. Plus the others just did that great run-down on queer manga recommendations, so we might as well keep the reading rainbow going with a broader selection. We'll probably be including some queer titles in our picks as well, because we are us.

Translation: I just finished an advance review copy of BLACK BLOOD and I still want to gush about this hot cyborg man and his cute boyfriend a little.

Oh, air conditioning... How I'd love to install you without a plague of mosquitoes finding their way inside. That reminds me, if you're making do with twenty fans like I am, I'd always recommend visiting your local library. Outside of the obviously adult titles that wouldn't be found there, most libraries have a great selection of manga. If they don't have what you're looking for, you can probably get it through their Interlibrary Loan Program. That's how I'm currently working through Naoki Urasawa's Pluto.

I might even have a few classics on my list already... Not all the smash hits in my backlog are ones that I need to wrap up eventually. I hate to say, but this might be worse than my Blu-ray stack, man.

I'm sure you'll be fine. How long could it take you to catch up on Dragon Ball? I'm sure that'll be as breezy as Lucas' and my plan to get through all of the Kochikame anime!

Maybe this can work like the backlog-clearing Christmas gifts we give on the other seasonal side of this column. Reading puts the 'fun' in 'fundamental' when it's not a homework assignment, after all. Still, I must at least motivate myself to catch up on some of my faves that have anime versions coming in another season or two. Case in point: Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games.

It's a fantastic series about a personal favorite subject matter that I'm shamefully several volumes behind in.

I feel like comparisons with the manga version will be essential for Young Ladies, necessitating this reading assignment. The manga uses its own fictional, in-series fighting game to explain different concepts and techniques on its terms. It'll be interesting to see how they translate that to prebuilt mechanics in Street Fighter 6 (and how many of those concepts will be outmoded by that game's next balance patch).

More than that, I'm hoping the Young Ladies' anime version can capture this manga's unhinged energy. It's very much in the same spirit as the recent Rock is a Lady's Modesty, and I for one am overjoyed that "private school girls doing unfitting activities in inglamorous ways" is an emergent genre.

We need some pop-offs, man! If there isn't a LowTierGod joke or two, what are we doing?!

I'm curious to see how the specifics of the anime's production morph the original work. To quote the great Masao Maruyama from our recent interview, "If anyone has a deep love for a certain manga and wants to see the same thing on-screen, they would be better off by just reading it." For me, an adaptation's conversation with the source material often makes both works way more memorable. Which brings me to Chiho Saitō's manga version of Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Ah, more required reading ahead for my ongoing GQuuuuuuX journey, I see.

Rose Bride?! I barely knew her!

As you can probably tell from the lengthy conversation I had with Steve earlier this year, I love the original anime series and the drama that's hidden within the darkest corners of Ohtori Academy. Compared to the series, the manga is more of a buttoned-up affair. While both generally follow the same beats (especially in the manga adaptation of Adolescence of Utena), there's just enough difference between these versions that I feel that there's an intentional degree of cross-textual conversation going on, which was probably intentional on the part of Chiho Saitō, Kunihiko Ikuhara, and the other members of Be-PaPas.

The recent anniversary manga, After the Revolution, feels like the big convergence point of this conversation, pulling at elements of every Utena project to reflect on the series' legacy. It's not the anime, but Saito's manga is filled with gorgeous art and plenty of food for thought if you're all in on Utena. VIZ recently re-released their immaculately premium Utena manga box set, which I heard was incredibly hard to come by until this reprint. Like Kodansha USA's Tomorrow's Joe release, it's one of the nicest sets I've had the privilege of owning... And it comes with some lesbians to throw up on your wall if so desired.

I had Symphogear bath posters adorning my shower for years, I'd certainly be brave enough to rock something like that, far more tasteful and relevant to the broader yuri culture.

Seriously, though, I like it when time and interest allow publishers to put out seriously stacked versions of seminal works like that. It puts me in the mind of Kodansha's big "Complete Collector's Editions" of A Silent Voice from a few years back. All luxurious hard binding with glossy pages and bonus interviews, these were a real treat.

Not to mention the famously dense editions of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin they released back in their Vertical days.

In case you needed some more GQuuuuuuX reading to do.

The ride never stops! Moreover, all that puts me in mind of a more recent release and my next nomination for this summer's reading list: Viz's long-awaited fancy English release of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run.

Speaking of alternate-universe shenanigans.

Nyo-ho, I see what you did there!

Steel Ball Run had been built up a lot for me by fellow JoJo fans over the years, with some caveats that it allegedly took a bit to get going. Concerning those expert opinions, I'm not sure what they're talking about, since this horse race hits the ground running as far as I'm concerned.

It's very "back to basics" for JoJo in the sense of "What if Hirohiko Araki had written something in the space of the first couple parts with all the knowledge and experience he built up over the last six entries?" The result is already a wild ride with some really interesting dual-protagonist synergy between Gyro and Johnny.

Indeed, Viz has done well, finally making the multigenerational Joestar epic available in their handsome hardcover editions. This also works alongside the anime comparison point we've already touched on: The adaptational sensibilities of each JoJo part have been debated (Hey, Stone Ocean!) and there's never going to be anything that can touch Araki's original artwork, especially as the saga goes on. And with Steel Ball Run having its own anime recently green-lit, that means now is the perfect time to get out in front of the pack before we see precisely how david production is gonna handle animating all those horses.

Fingers crossed that they've taken the time to create the greatest team of horse animators the industry has seen since the '90s.

I have a confession to make, Chris. I lied about JoJo being the series to load up on for a marathon read. It's actually this little manga by this guy from Kagoshima. I think his name is Takehiko Inoue?

Just a passing shout out, it's not like I spent months digging into the series' publication history or anything. You know, I was tempted to recommend Satoru Noda's Dogsred. But if I can only pick one sports manga for this list, it has to be Slam Dunk. THIS is the perfect series to burn a summer on, especially if you're interested in acquainting yourself with one of the medium's greatest living talents.

Throughout thirty-one volumes, this seemingly simple story about a punk who joins the school basketball team to win a girl's heart evolves into a passionate love letter to the sport itself. Slam Dunk isn't afraid to dive deep into what makes shooting hoops such a key part of the cast's lives—even if they're not wearing a Shohoku jersey. I'm generally not much for sports, but the passion presented on every page won me over so quickly.

I need to see how those volleyboys have built upon the Slam Dunk foundation one day. Speaking of evolution, readers are sure to notice how Inoue's artistic and storytelling prowess grows throughout the series' run. Earlier volumes feature an art style that is vaguely reminiscent of Tsukasa Hōjō's City Hunter (which Inoue was an assistant on), but Inoue's art gradually comes into its own with explosive gusto.

Legacy series like that have a lot to check out, with a lot of different avenues to do so. As an alternative, for my entry in the PE column of this summer assignment, I'm giving folks a short, but intense workout with Martial Master Asumi.

Kawada's tale of a reluctant MMA fighter was unfortunately canceled just four volumes into its run, which was too bad on account of how much promise it was showing. Appropriately for the sport, the hits in this series look like they hurt! And there's underlying family drama powering the whole arc that I feel really would have been served well had it gotten to go for more rounds. It's also got the character Nao Okiba, who I like for... ...reasons.

If Teppu showed us anything, it's that people like the idea of being knocked out by buff girls.

But on that note, it is interesting how both MMA series seemed to hit a snag just as they were about to hit the next level. It makes me wonder if MMA is prone to a specific form of sports manga curse in Japan...

It's an odd pity, and could certainly make for an interesting avenue of analysis by any book clubs that pick up series from this list! I say as if irreverent chat-format anime column recommendation lists are how anyone picks out books for their bunches.

To cater to that, I will bring some prestige to my offerings and stay sports-adjacent as well. The English release of Shin'ichi Sakamoto's The Climber is coming out. It's not quite on the level of polish as the inimitable Innocent or #DRCL, but Academia encourages checking out authors' earlier, formative works as well.

I'm sure she'll insist we put a pin in his creepier works for a Halloween reading list. #DRCL is a trip.

Sakamoto's output is so storied that I'd recommend any of his manga currently available in English for your summer reading. Innocent in particular is a great pick when any time is a perfect time for révolution.

It all gets intense, with a boatload of content warnings in some places, but there's nothing else like it. There's a reason my response was "Where has this been all my life?" when I stumbled into Sakamoto's stuff a couple of years ago.

I've seen Archipel's interview with Sakamoto from a while back, so you've got my interest.

Speaking of another artist, Archipel spoke with, the next recommendation on my list is Yuriko Akase's Sazan & Comet Girl. Released in a single omnibus by Seven Seas, the title follows the titular duo as they embark on a galaxy-spanning adventure filled with romance, mystery, and plenty of heart! And it's fully painted in watercolor.

A few years ago, I randomly came across the omnibus in a local bookstore, and I ended up falling in love with it. While its mysterious story beats and wacky vibes are reminiscent of Castle in the Sky and the works of Akira Toriyama respectively, Sazan still feels like an adventure all its own. At its core, you've got a cute and fun love story that is fully given the artistic room to go all out. In the Archipel video, Akase and her editor shared that they'd conceived the book as if it were a feature film. That approach rang true to me, as I kind of look at my Sazan & Comet Girl omnibus as if it were an '80s anime classic that lives on my Blu-ray shelf. That said, I'd love to see a film adaptation! The bones are there!

I'll have to add it to my summer reading list! It's nice to have projects like this helping to turn us onto manga we need to get to, old and new. It puts me in the mind of series out there in the recommendation space that I've heard others in our sphere talk up, I just haven't made time for them myself. These include nominees from those Manga Awards like Inuhiku Doronada's Spacewalking With You and Mokumokuren's The Summer Hikaru Died, the latter of which has an imminent anime adaptation and merited a mention in our cohorts' column earlier this week!

See, I'm fair, I'm giving reading assingments to myself!

You must read Spacewalking With You... It's been a bit since a manga resonated with me on such a deep level, specifically what it was like going through school as a neurodivergent kid and not necessarily knowing it. It's a masterful and compassionate depiction of what it's like to be the easily distracted kid who falls asleep in class all the time or the kid who is desperately trying to hold it together until they get home. I've been those kids. I've had meltdowns where the world feels like it's explosively falling in on you. I'm just glad to see there's a book that is so compassionate about these topics and the communities we build to support each other in our toughest moments. Especially for teens who can point to a real example of how they feel.

Everything everyone's told me about Spacewalking With You makes it sound like a strong time! People are bound to continue talking about it this season, with the Manga Awards, so I've got the time for me to check it out and see how it earned that nomination. I've already read several other manga on that list (and even recommended them here!)

Granted, the power of prestige makes for one solid side of recommendations, but you gotta have stuff that appeals to the baser side of things. So I'll start to wrap things up by bringing back that BLACK BLOOD book I mentioned at the start. Because sometimes your sex ed reading assignment should also include hot cyborg sex.

This one's not out at the time of writing this column, but will be by the end of the month.

The adult side of manga is rife with recommendations. Big ups to doujin publisher Irodori for bringing over niche material in that realm like the positively adorable Loving Living VR: A Jobless G.I.R.L.'s [Guy IRL] BL.

See, I told you I'd get around to our own coda to the queer manga column eventually.

I think it's neat the way manga reading list recommendations can lead you to just as much insight about the people doing the recommending as you get about the works and their authors themselves. Your past couple of recommendations have honed in on relatability as a defining factor, for instance! No two reading lists for people are going to be exactly alike, but that's one thing that makes manga, and comparing tastes and takes, such a strong summer pastime!

And by comparing notes like this, who knows? Maybe you'll find your next favorite, dear reader.

Happy reading!

• Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saitō (Viz Media)
• Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution by Chiho Saitō (Viz Media)
• Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue (Viz Media)
• Sazan & Comet Girl by Yuriko Akase (Seven Seas)
• Spacewalking With You by Inuhiko Doronoda (Kodansha USA)
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Kodansha USA)

Chris' Summer Manga Reading List

• Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games by Eri Ejima (Seven Seas)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run by Hirohiko Araki (Viz Media)
• Martial Master Asumi by Kawada (Viz Media)
• The Climber by Shin'ichi Sakamoto (Viz Media)—or anything from Sakamoto
• The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren (Yen Press)
• Spacewalking With You by Inuhiko Doronoda (Kodansha)
• BLACK BLOOD by Hayate Kuku (Seven Seas)