BLAME! and so on
An art book of Tsutomu Nihei illustrations from his manga and other collaboration projects.
This thing is fantastic and a must have item if you’re a Tsutomu Nihei fan. Some of my favorite stuff was his fantasy architecture series he did called Megalomania.
It even contains commentary about every individual piece from Niehi himself. Some of his comments like “This was a mistake” or “WTF is this” are hilarious.
~dakazu
Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi
A manga about a man who is accidentally summoned into a fantasy realm. He decides to use his special skills of a dimensional shopping to access food items from his home world to make a living cooking. Unfortunately that cooking attracts the legendary beast Fenrir who demands they form a pact that will involving getting 3 meals a day from the man.
This might be an isekai story but it focuses on food so I checked it out and I’m really glad that I did! I really like the mix of modern food in fantasy worlds. It’s also down well in Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World.
There’s a lot of typical isekai troupes here, such as the man’s net supermarket ability allowing him to purchase salt and pepper cheaply and then selling that at a high price in this fantasy world. Also, like a lot of isekai stories the main character has to be very cautious about revealing his powers in fear of them being taken advantage. However they subvert many of those overpowered skills by sharing that advantage with his Fenrir partner. Instead of having a single overpowered protagonist, the fighting is handled by the beast and the human focuses on making delicious meals. That dynamic between these two were really enjoyable and I like their relationship a lot.
I look forward to keep checking this series out.
~dakazu
Shokuryou Kyoushitsu
A horror manga where an evil creature is stalking students in a classroom and eating them.
I’ve read multiple manga about a students turning to fear and hysteria over an unknown killer within their group so the basic premise for this series wasn’t anything special. However the artwork on this one is really good. The creature has a horrific design and the violence and gore are very disturbing right from the beginning. I ended up checking out all 3 volumes mostly based on the strength of artist Renji Kuriyama.
If you’re a fan of horror then this one might be worth your time.
~dakazu
Scum’s Wish
A romance manga about a high school couple who sexually confide in each other for either of their unrequited love.
We did a full retrospective on this series that you can listen to. I really, really liked this manga. Mengo Yokoyari’s beautiful artwork only goes hand in hand with her ability to realistically display adolescent love. Just about every character has a terrific arc that fleshes them out.
However I personally HATE the epilogue Scum’s Wish decor and wish it never existed!
~dakazu
Sporting Salt
A manga about a high school student who dreams of becoming the best sports doctor in the world.
Yet another series that failed to make a mark in Weekly Shonen Jump. The art style really reminds me of Reborn! and I wonder if creator Yuuto Kubota was inspired by Akira Amano or even worked as an assistant under them.
Based on what I’ve seen I feel like slice of life series just don’t fair well in Jump unless they’re a romance or comedy or have some supernatural element that sets them apart.
This was regrettably unremarkable.
~dakazu
229 – Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection part 2
On this episode we continue our review of Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection with stories about Toru Oshikiri, a scary doll, unfortunate face clamps, and the Ito family dog Non-non!
Continue readingNature Jimon
A manga about real life Japanese TV personality Jimon Terakado and his almost bizarre obsession with food, bug hunting, and survival.
Man I love this manga. It entertains by being informative to an almost ludicrous level. Jimon is no doubt a strange guy. He loves wagyu beef enough to get a breeder’s license and will school you in the proper way to eat Korean BBQ. His eccentric personality shines through in this series and Jimon himself explains everything from great places to eat to the intense length he and his friends go hunting for stag beetles.
I’ve only read a couple volumes but I’d love to track down the rest!
~dakazu
Yuube wa Otanoshimi Deshita ne
A manga about a man who invites a member from his Dragon Quest X guild to be his roommate but didn’t know they were a girl.
This manga is a pretty simple sitcom setup as the guy and girl now have to adapt to living with each other. Nothing really interested me about this series except that it’s filled with non-stop references to Dragon Quest X! Many chapters introduce various aspects of the game and information about MMORPG culture in general. It almost feels like a straight up commercial. Reminds me a lot of the Netflix series Dad of Light.
This wasn’t bad by any means but I don’t care about Dragon Quest X so it’s just not for me.
~dakazu
Gal Gohan
A food manga where a teacher befriends a gal and teaches her how to cook.
Not really a fan of this one. The focus was less about food and more about fan service. Lots of up-skirt and cleavage shots. I think Marii Taiyo draws very cute characters and a kinda liked the personality of the main girl but they’re heavily pushing for a romantic relationship between this teacher and student which I really am not a fan of.
This manga is just really not for me. Will be available from Seven Seas Entertainment.
~dakazu
Buzzy Noise
A manga about a young man who’s simple life of work and creating music is suddenly turned upside down by a neighbor who comes into his life.
I’ve seen this manga in Big Comic Spirits for a while and finally had a chance to sit down and check out the first volume. Right off the bat I was really engaged because of Jun Mutsuki’s distinctive art style. The story of a reclusive genius getting discovered in the music industry is actually pretty rote and nothing significant. However the wonderful art kept me interested to read more.
I’ll definitely keep an eye on this series from now on.
~dakazu