Author Archives: dakazu

A Drifting Life

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A Drifting Life

An autobiographical manga about Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s journey to becoming a manga artist and being a leader in the gekiga-style manga movement.

I finally checked out this wonderful book recommended by our co-host Seamus. I’m a huge fan of Manga Michi and other memoirs about the golden age of manga creators in the 1950′s to 1960′s. However I wasn’t aware of how the gekiga style was popularized in western Japan so this really entertaining to read through.

The only part that bothered me was Tatsumi’s relationship with a young high school girl. While I appreciated his honesty about what happened it still wasn’t great to read about.

If you have any interest in how the greats like Takao Saito started then I highly recommend this series.

~dakazu

216 – Triple Dip 31 – Starving Anonymous, Scum’s Wish, The Fable

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216 – Triple Dip 31 – Starving Anonymous, Scum’s Wish, The Fable

On this episode we check out 3 more manga for another Triple Dip! Seamus picks the ultimate unrequited love story of Scum’s Wish, darfox with the crime drama about a legendary hitman in The Fable, and dakazu brings the grotesque horror of Starving Anonymous!

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Devily Man

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Devily Man

A manga about a low ranking demon with a pure heart that teams up with a young boy genius to exploit corrupted adults and take their dirty money.

You can see hints of a really interesting story here with the mystery of the young boy’s motivations and the juxtaposition of the demon being the moral center of the duo but this series was canceled after only 16 chapters. It’s another unfortunate example of a young manga artist put into the Weekly Shonen Jump meat grinder of new releases. It makes me wonder if series like these would have had better success in Weekly Shonen Sunday or Weekly Shonen Champion instead.

~dakazu

The Garden of Words 

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The Garden of Words 

A manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s anime film about a teen who wants to become a shoemaker befriending a young woman he meets in a pagoda on rainy days.

We’ve talked about this movie on an episode a long time ago. It’s a gorgeous film but we really weren’t fans of the whole teacher/student romance because it’s super cliche and gross. I checked out this manga adaptation but I felt it didn’t really change my opinion of the story.

I’d recommend checking out the movie as long as you’re OK with a story about a teacher/student stuff. It should be interesting to see some of Shinkai’s themes that are carried over into Your Name.

~dakazu

Binzo

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Binzo

A manga about an idol otaku who becomes a zombie while still retaining his human intellect.

I rather enjoyed this despite the overused zombie genre. It was interesting to see the main character figuring out how to control his zombie powers and I really liked how they immediately set up another smart zombie serial killer as an antagonist. The story also follows the actions of the government which makes sense considering a zombie out break is happening.

The art style is very similar to Hiroshi Takahashi. Almost so that I was surprised when I realized he wasn’t the artist. 

I’m slightly torn that it was only 4 volumes. Short enough that it didn’t overstay it’s welcome but also felt that there could’ve been more stories to explore.

~dakazu

Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko

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Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko

A manga about a town being terrorized by a vampire with a fishbowl head and girl in a school swimsuit who dives into a victim’s blood to save them.

Yeah, the concept of this story is crazy but it somehow works. I will say all swimsuit stuff is definitely fan service but if you can look past that you have a uniquely different take on monster hunting. Youichi Abe must specialize in creating these supernatural horrors with a twist as he’s also done Vanilla Spider.

A bizarre but surprising enjoyable book.

~dakazu

Dagashi Kashi

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Dagashi Kashi

A manga about a strange girl obsessed with children’s snacks who tries to get the son of the owner of a rural candy store to take over her father’s business.

This series ended earlier this year and I’m really surprised it lasted this long. I read it when it started in 2014 but the concept of comedic stories revolving around a particular brand of candy ended up getting pretty stale in the long run. I also wasn’t a into the fan service with Hotaru’s character, especially in the anime series.

If you have a nostalgia or interest in Japanese candy you’ll probably enjoy this series if you can look past the T&A.

~dakazu

Gohoubi Gohan

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Gohoubi Gohan

A manga about an office lady who treats herself to a delicious meal once a week.

What a cute little series! I liked Tomoko Komo’s adorable character designs a lot. It’s nice to see a food manga that covers a wide variety of tasty treats. They range from extravagant lobster curry to simple instant yakisoba.

Very similar to Wakako Zake.

~dakazu

215 – Ode to Kirihito part 2

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215 – Ode to Kirihito part 2

This week we wrap up our Retrospective review of Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka!

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Inugami Kai

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Inugami Kai

A manga about a boy who befriends a mysterious talking dog that uses retracting forehead blades to fight other creatures.

So apparently this is a recent re-release of the original Inugami series that originally ran in the 90′s, which explains some of the dated artwork.

I personally thought this was alright. My main complaint was that the animal creatures using transforming blades and tentacles really seem like they’re aping off of Parasyte. The story setup also seems similar as both have the benevolent alien creature pair up with a human friend.

If you liked Parasyte then you might enjoy a similar story with this one.

~dakazu