Author Archives: dakazu

Ping Pong

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Ping Pong

A sports manga about two teenager athletes who interact with rivals and friends though competitive ping pong.

We’ve done a Retrospective on this series and covered the anime adaptation.

An absolute modern manga masterpiece. You have some of Taiyo Matsumoto‘s best work when it comes to dynamic paneling. The simple yet understandable nicknames of the characters and their relationships. The friendship, rivalry and trust between Smile and Peco is perfectly paced and a joy to read. I also highly recommend Masaaki Yuasa directed anime series as well.

Available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

Giant

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Giant

A sports manga about Japanese slugger Mitsugu Kyoho who makes one last ditch effort at becoming a professional baseball player by entering the minor leagues.

I finally got around to reading this fun series by Yoshihiro Yamada. I’m a big fan of Yamada’s stuff and really enjoyed his other sports manga Decathalon. Yamada is the master of over-the-top facial reactions and they work perfectly as Kyoho knocks baseball so hard they fly out of their cow hide. This is an entertaining read as you see Kyoho struggle facing tough opponents despite his huge size. Highly recommend this if you prefer non-shonen sports stories that don’t go on for over thirty volumes.

~dakazu

Kenshiro ni Yoroshiku

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Kenshiro ni Yoroshiku

A manga about a young man who is inspired by Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star and trains hard to take revenge on the criminal who ruined his life. But instead of being able to kill with acupuncture, all he has become a top rate massage therapist.

It’s not surprising that Jasmine Gyuh‘s follow up to Back Street Girls is something as ridiculous as a massage therapist hell bent on revenge. I think it’s hilarious that Kodansha is publishing this manga directly referencing Fist of the North Star, which is a famous manga from another publisher!

The best thing about this book is that the target of revenge turns out to be dying from cancer so the massage therapist has no choice but to use his massage powers to save the criminal’s life so he can eventually get to killing him with pressure points. A hilarious series but I don’t know how Kodansha will get around the references to Fist of the North Star and publish this in English.

You can read it online in Japanese on Comic Days.

~dakazu

I Love You So Much, I Hate You

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I Love You So Much, I Hate You

A manga about a romantic affair between a new employee and her married superior.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

This is nice and sweet. Since most yuri titles are about high school romances, it was refreshing to see this one about adults in a forbidden romance. The artist Yuni mentions that she loves yuri stories about adults and it shows. I also appreciate that despite this being an affair narrative, it has a happy ending.

Available in English from Yen Press.

~dakazu

One Operation Joker

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One Operation Joker

A comedy manga about Batman turning into a baby so the Joker decides to take care of him and raise him.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

While the premise sound amazing and hilarious, the execution of this manga is a bit lacking. The comedic focus is on how parenting is difficult so Joker changes his murderous ways to try and raise Batman the right way. It feels like they’re changing Joker’s character too much for the sake of this manga’s gimmick. I got the sense that the writer Satoshi Miyagawa was basing his Joker on the 2019 Joker film which doesn’t really match with other characters like Harley Quinn appearing later. But I did like how artist Keisuke Gotou draws such a cute baby Batman. All in all, this is probably still the best serialized manga based on Western Comics right now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it put out in English from Kodansha or DC in the future.

You can read it online in Japanese on Comic Days.

~dakazu

359 – State of Shonen 2 with Ryan aka RUSH – Dr. STONE

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359 – State of Shonen 2 with Ryan aka RUSH – Dr. STONE

This week dakazu and Darfox are joined by their friend Ryan(RUSH) who has been helping out with content on our YouTube channel! Ryan joins us to tell us about discovering anime through Toonami and reading One Piece in the Shonen Jump issues he bought at Blockbuster! Then we dive into the current story arcs on Ryan’s reading list of popular shonen manga, such as Dr. STONE, Black Clover, Tokyo Revengers, and more!

Save 20% off Manscaped products by using our discount code: MANGAMAC

Continue reading →

Furin Shokudou

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Furin Shokudou

A manga about a salaryman who eats local delicacies whenever he goes out on business trips. He always meets a married woman while eating and it leads to them having a steamy one-night affair.

It think this manga is conceptually really gross. It’s one thing to tie food with sexual appetite like Zange Meshi but specifically about this guy who always cheats on his wife every chapter with a different woman? Not something I’m really interested in reading. Later on the creator Masakazu Yamaguchi switches things up by focusing on a newbie salaryman and a career woman but the series formula doesn’t change. A business trip leads to a local meal leads to adultery. However, this series is super popular in Japan. It’s over eighteen volumes long now and there’s even a live-action drama. I can understand the appeal but I don’t personally like it myself.

~dakazu

Zange Meshi

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Zange Meshi

A food manga where a husband cooks meals for repentance whenever he angers his wife.

This manga is alright. I would be remise not to mention it’s so very clearly a commercial piece of entertainment made to appeal to the male gaze. The wife is an ultra busty woman who cutely pouts when she’s mad but always forgives her husband when he feeds her delicious food. There lots of fan service but I just looked past it and focus on the scrumptious food instead. If anything, the series is thirty chapter in and things are getting stale pretty quick with how the husband keeps messing up something almost every chapter. Hatsumi Kodama focuses some stories on some side characters which helps but they always return to the husband appeasing his wife. I’ll keep reading for now but they could stand to do something to really shake up the formula.

It’s available to read in Japanese online on Comic Days.

~dakazu

Yorimichi Ale

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Yorimichi Ale

A manga about a retired movie director who goes out drinking craft beer with an up and coming young actor.

We’ve discussed this on a previous episode.

Love this. Not only is there a manga that introduces craft beer, there is a underlying BL romance as the young actor is attracted to the director. I’m not a fan of craft beer myself but all the drinks presented in the series look delicious so I might track some of them down.

You can read it online in Japanese on Comic Days.

~dakazu

Yaiteiru Futari

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Yaiteiru Futari

A food manga about a newlywed couple who live in different cities due to their jobs. They enjoy their limited time together by grilling up different recipes outdoors.

A food manga that focuses on grilling that’s good! I will say the initial premise seems a bit forced. The couple meet over a dating app but when the guy gets transferred to a far city the lady immediately proposes they get married? I get that creator Shiori Hanatsuka wants to do that slow burn of adults getting to know each other but it all seemed very sudden. But regardless of the setup, the series has a really relaxed tone that makes for some lighthearted reading. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kodansha decides to release this in English someday.

You can read it online in Japanese on Comic Days.

~dakazu