Author Archives: dakazu

Busa-men Gachi-Fighter

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Busa-men Gachi-Fighter

A manga about a man who is sent to a fantasy RPG world to relive his ruined life. He joking uses the exploit of lowing your physical appearance to get bonus status points and ends up becoming a super overpowered god.

This seems like another typical novel based male empowerment fantasy as the gimmick of being ugly makes you godlike is equal parts gross and stupid. However I was surprised that after the protagonist realizes he’s immortal, he slyly uses his powers to help his fellow teammates. Constantly trying to hide his god-like stats from them and help protect them. The more I read of this I liked.

I’m willing to stick with it for now. Hopefully it won’t devolve into the typical harem style story of most lite novels.

~dakazu

Tokyo Ghoul:re

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Tokyo Ghoul:re

I’m happy to say that in the end I really enjoyed Tokyo Ghoul:re. Sui Ishida’s confusing dramatic panel layouts ended up growing on me in the end. I was surprised that the ending was a happy one because they were setting up the finale to be tragic. Still liked it though.

I will definitely watch the 2nd half of the anime coming this fall. Maybe Ishida can get back to writing more of THE PENISMAN (no, it’s not a joke and it was actually really good)

Available through VIZ.

~dakazu

Blaster Knuckle

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Blaster Knuckle

A manga about an ex-Heavyweight Boxer fights against the KKK who are secretly demons that devour African Americans in the Wild West.

This book is trying so hard to be Berserk it’s hilarious. The hero’s secret weapon is a modified gauntlet that shoots shotgun shells on impact. Sound familiar?

After this series ended in 3 volumes, Shizuya Wazarai went on to make an awesome gladiator manga called Kentou Ankokuden Cestvs which is so much better. Kinda sorry to see he started off with a blatant copy of Berserk.

~dakazu

Sono Musume, Musashi

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Sono Musume, Musashi

A sports manga about a former middle school ace female volleyball player, Musashi Kaneko, who gets roped back into the sport by the high school volleyball team captain Ritsu Koga.

Although the story initially focuses on Musashi rediscovering her interest in volleyball, the later half of the series dives deep into her seniors who suffered abuse the hands of their previous violent coach. The trauma that each character carries afterwords is laid out well and handled with lots of nuance. I really enjoyed Ai Tanaka’s storytelling that dived into the psyche of these athletes as they brought their rivalries to a climactic final match.

I still think Shojo Fight is my favorite volleyball manga but this one is great as well. Also at 3 volumes it’s short and sweet!

~dakazu

Smokin’ Parade

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Smokin’ Parade

A manga about a boy who joins a squad of hunters who use prosthetic limbs that transform into weapons to hunt down body-part transplant patients gone berserk called Spiders.

This manga is done by the same creative team that did Deadman Wonderland and it shows.Just replace weapons made from blood with prosthetic limbs. It’s overly stylized and full of violence and gore just like Deadman Wonderland.

If you’re a fan of Deadman Wonderland you’ll probably love this. I personally don’t care for Kazuma Kondou’s excessive gore so I got bored of this real quick.

~dakazu

Complex Age

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Complex Age

A manga about a 26 year old office lady who hides her hobby of cosplaying from her co-workers. 

I liked this manga quite a lot! The story addressing the stigma against adults doing cosplay was unique. The ending is very bittersweet and I don’t fully agree with the message but I really loved how interesting Yui Sakuma made Nagisa’s character.

It’s available in English from Kodansha Comics and I recommend you check it out!

~dakazu

205 – Saikyo Selections 11 – Doraemon

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205 – Saikyo Selections 11 – Doraemon

This week we take a look at the beloved children’s manga icon, Doraemon! Will Seamus and darfox find anything to enjoy in this manga for kids?

Continue reading →

Vanilla Spider

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Vanilla Spider

A manga about a teenage boy with no presence who hunts alien creatures with a faucet pipe to protect the girl he’s stalking.

I’ve talked about Youichi Abe’s other manga Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko before and this is another book with a similar concept of teenagers fighting against evil creatures with a mix of everyday items and gory monsters. 

I really enjoy the way Abe uses white lines against black clothing to create shadows in his artwork and the designs of his monsters are always creative and creepy looking. I’ll make sure to check out other manga by him in the future.

~dakazu

Yaomori no Elie

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Yaomori no Elie

A manga about a young man who starts working for a produce distributor to help sell the food farmers grow to the grocery stores.

This is a first for me as I haven’t seen a manga that focuses solely on distributing produce. You learn a lot about the plight of both farmers and produce stores that struggle to make ends meet.

I enjoyed seeing a manga cover something different and liked it!

~dakazu