Author Archives: dakazu

Plus-Sized Elf

Posted on by

Plus-Sized Elf

A manga about an Elf and other fantasy supernatural beings who need help slimming down after losing weight.

This manga is 100% fan service. Don’t let the tips about losing weight fool you. The concept of this manga is to have chubby female versions of various RPG fantasy beings in tight clothing. I can see the appeal of this series but after 1 volume I was personally alright with never picking this up again. I’d rather read something with more substance that isn’t so blatantly fan service.

This is available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment.

~dakazu

Ramenya no Yome

Posted on by

Ramenya no Yome

Super cute manga about a wife who works to support her husband’s dream of starting a ramen shop.

I loved the chibi art style of this manga and the lighthearted story presented 4-panel style. In between chapters the husband and wife would review real ramen joints from Japan!

~dakazu

Rin to Cheer.

Posted on by

Rin to Cheer.

A manga about high school freshman Rin who aspires to be a male cheerleader like his older brother was. He helps rebuild his school’s cheerleading squad and gathers other members.

What a great manga with a positive message about breaking stereotypes and social norms. Not only does Rin have to fight against the stigma of being a male cheerleader, he deals with a difficult situation at home. Rin’s brother ran away  after their mother rejected him as a transwoman and now she’s obsessed with keeping Rin “manly” and opposing his dreams of cheerleading. By the end of the story Rin is able to convince her that cheerleading is his passion and gets her to reconnect with his brother. There’s also another character that’s dealing with her romantic feelings for her female best friend. Lots of LGBTQ+ issues are addressed throughout this manga along with what masculinity means in society.

A short and sweet series. It ran in Young Jump so I hope VIZ will consider bringing it over.

~dakazu

Kyou no Yokohama-ka

Posted on by

Kyou no Yokohama-ka

A manga about Ryoichi Yokoyama’s family life.

I liked Yokoyama’s Sengoku Comiket and I also liked this. Yokoyama has a great sense for comedy and I loved all the funny anecdotes about his kids and wife. Stories like how his son being super critical of his manga was hilarious. 

I recommend his work and I’m interested in tracking down some of his wife’s manga as well.

~dakazu

204 – One Shot 15 – Nijigahara Holograph

Posted on by

204 – One Shot 15 – Nijigahara Holograph

On this episode we review Inio Asano’s Nijigahara Holograph! Will dakazu, Darfox, and Seamus be able to decipher this strange story?

Continue reading →

Itadaki! Nariagari Meshi

Posted on by

Itadaki! Nariagari Meshi

A food manga about a delinquent who decides to use his hobby of cooking to rise up in ranks at his school. 

The mix of yankee fighting wtih food seems super odd at first but Hiromasa Okujima’s great drawings make it work. It’s also filled with funny reactions from the other delinquents who get “knocked out” by delicious flavors.

A fun read!

~dakazu

Koori no Joou

Posted on by

Koori no Joou

A manga about shy high school girl who follows a classmate to the ice rink and finds out he’s a figure skater. She becomes interested in figure skating herself and decides to pursue it as a career.

It’s been a while since a read a shojo manga but this one was pretty alright. Artwork was nice and the story was pretty standard. 

The only thing the threw me for a loop was that they end up ditching the main protagonist after 2 chapters and focus on a completely different girl for the rest of the 2 volume series. The other girl wasn’t bad or anything but why setup the story with a character just to dump them so quickly? Weird.

~dakazu

Magical Girl Site

Posted on by

Magical Girl Site

A manga about a middle school girl who’s granted magical powers through a strange website so she can take revenge on her bullies. Eventually she meets other magical girls and is wrapped up in a conflict between them and the website managers who have nefarious intentions.

This is made by the same creative team who did Magical Girl Apocalypse and is a spinoff of that series. While I ended up dropping Magical Girl Apocalypse, Magical Girl Site has been a pleasant surprise. Both the anime and manga start off real rough with brutal bullying scenes but after that the story picks up and I was very entertained reading this book.

It’s still on going and I’m following it for now. However, if they go into time-travel/alternate universes like Magical Girl Apocalypse I might end up dropping this as well. We shall see.

~dakazu

Makanai-kun

Posted on by

Makanai-kun

A food manga about a college freshman who stays in a house with his 3 older female cousins and cooks their meals.

The presented recipes aren’t bad but for a food manga the food looks very plain and unappetizing. Also I wasn’t a fan of the weird sexual tension between these cousins. I say pass on this one.

~dakazu

Pro Golfer Saru

Posted on by

Pro Golfer Saru

Fujiko Fujio A.’s sports manga about a monkey-like genius golf boy.

I remember reading a few Saru manga in my childhood and recently got to revisit them. Looking at them now it’s pretty crazy how a series about an alcohol loving monkey boy was marketed as a children’s manga.

Regardless, I was actually really impressed with Fujiko A’s artwork. He uses a lot of shadows and inking in both characters and background speed lines to give this simple children’s manga a more gekiga style. But the designs of the Saru’s golf rivals look so cartoony that I laughed.

I read more of Fujiko F. Fujio’s manga growing up so it was nice to revisit Fujio Fujiko A.’s work instead.

~dakazu