Category Archives: dakazu’s reading

Various manga dakazu’s read with some commentary

Musume e ~Shourai Shinitaku nattara Koitsu wo Yome~

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Musume e ~Shourai Shinitaku nattara Koitsu wo Yome~

A collection of stories from Shinya Suzuki about raising his daughters.

I really glad Shinya Suzuki got the opportunity to make this series for Jump+. He explains in the beginning how after finishing he hit series Mr. Fullswing in 2006 he was muddling about without getting another series going. He started a blog during this period and eventually put up a manga titled “Dear Daughter, If you feel like dying in the future read this”(same title of this book) which gained a lot of buzz and praise online. This led to this serialization of auto-biographical comics focused on themes of raising children and family care.

These comics are thoughtful, heartfelt, and most importantly very funny.
Suzuki’s strength as a manga artist comes from his comedy chops and low-brow comedy to boot. Case in point, he introduces his wife as someone with thick eyebrows and even thicker poops and draws himself being thrown outside naked for revealing such secrets. Regardless of thick poops, Suzuki is extremely open about his frustrations and anxieties he has towards his children as a parent. It’s wonderful to see that he doesn’t shy away from mistakes he’s made so he can learn from them for the better.

This is a great auto-biographical series about raising kids. And thick poops.

~dakazu

Jyaken San Wa Sugu Bureru

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Jyaken San Wa Sugu Bureru

A manga about a brother who’s life gets turned upside down when his sister finds a demonic sword she wants to keep. When the sword comes alive everything becomes a slapstick comedy in this world of fantasy, magic, and smartphones.

A long, long time ago I talked about a Dragon Quest V fanfiction manga adapatation Katachikubi dashita ossan no ato tsuketara tenkuu no tsurugi wo mitsuketa. It was a hilarious and beautifully drawn but was never finished. Well the reason it was unfinished was the artist Nikiichi Tobita started this series! While I’m sad I won’t get to read more Katachikubi dashita ossan no ato tsuketara tenkuu no tsurugi wo mitsuketa, I’m very happy for Tobita to have a paying job. Tobita is such a good artist it’s actually helps with the contrast to really silly slapstick antics the characters are going through. This is a really fun series and I look forward to reading more.

~dakazu

Futari Ashita mo Sorenari ni

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Futari Ashita mo Sorenari ni

A comedy manga about a couple who just start living together.

This is such a cute manga! I just love the dynamic between these two that creator Suzuyuki has made. They tease each other and sometimes get in arguments but blush over every sweet gesture their partners do for them. In the first chapter the guy accidentally ate his partner’s milk flan but refuses to admit to the crime. Later the woman tries to catch him in the act by pretending to be asleep but he kisses her and leaves a pile of milk pudding with an apology beside her. That’s just just too cute and wholesome!

It’s currently serialized on Kurage Bunch.

~dakazu

Shuttle Eyes

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Shuttle Eyes

A sports manga about a teenager son of a sports chiropractor who is invited to play badminton after watching a world junior match and predicting every move of the athlete.

Pretty decent sports series. It had the standard setup where the main character has a unique skill that allows him to have a great advantage despite being a complete beginner of the sport. In this case it was perceptive vision from his background observing his father’s therapy work being applied to badminton. Unfortunately Ren Hamahara‘s art and story here didn’t win popularity in Young Jump and it ended in 4 volumes. I enjoyed it but it wasn’t particularly special so I have to agree with the results.

~dakazu

Boku to Sanbon Ashi no Chiyonpi

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Boku to Sanbon Ashi no Chiyonpi

A manga about manga artist Doragon Odawara‘s three-legged miniature pinscher Chiyonpi.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

My cousin told me about this manga last year and I put off on reading it for a long time because I knew it would make me cry. And it did. I cried a lot thinking about my beloved basset hound Maddy who passed away in 2014.

Crying aside I was surprised to read such a touching tale from Odawara because he’s usually known for crude comedy manga filled with dirty jokes. In this book he covers his own insecurities that led him to owning a dog and the surgery that left Chiyonpi with three legs. Odawara unique cartoony art really matches the funny and heartwarming tales of a manga artist and his beloved pet.

~dakazu

Junjo Sentai Virginias

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Junjo Sentai Virginias

A comedy manga about the powerful Pure Heart Sentai Squad Virginias who will lose their powers if they lose their virginity. The new Pink ranger is interested in the 33 year-old Red ranger because she is actually 28 herself.

This is a cute comedy by Taro Fukuoka about misunderstandings and it works due to the short chapter length. It actually became funnier as I read it because there is almost no development between Red and Pink. I appreciated how they would break the 4th wall to point out how there might be even negative development. I also really liked how the villains were super supportive of Red and just really friendly with Virginias. The evil leader of the villains moonlights as a cute girl and ultimately decides not be be the evil leader because they enjoy being cute. It’s simple and lighthearted fun.

Currently running on Jump+.

~dakazu

Arata Primal: The New Primitive

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Arata Primal: The New Primitive

A manga about Arata, a teenager born with a strange aura that causes electronics around him to break. Unable to use modern technology, he’s learned primitive survival techniques that end up saving the day when part of the town is time warped into the primeval past.

We’ve discussed this manga on Darfox Dabbles.

This series is A LOT. It’s overly dense with the plot narrative. There are multiple mysteries on why everyone was warped into the past and why Arata can’t use electronics. Arata himself doesn’t have any social skills because he was derived of human interaction due to his strange condition. There’s plenty of shonen dramatic moments where he learns to grow as a person and learn how to interact with others without being awkward. But all of that is pretty cliche stuff which didn’t really impress me. Nothing here in this series was really unique besides the primeval era survival themes and even that isn’t that different from other survival stories you’ve seen before. Katsutoshi Murase‘s art is good but that ends up being moot because the story Daisuke Oikawa has written isn’t engaging. Everything was needlessly complicated and since this series was canceled the final chapters just dump all the lore on you. When I read it my eyes glazed over and I just flipped to the happy ending to be done with it.

Available to read on MANGA Plus.

~dakazu

Rising Sun R

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Rising Sun R

The sequel to Rising Sun. The series continues to follow Ikki Kai in the Japanese Self Defense Force as he enters training for Ranger courses.

Since I enjoyed Rising Sun I was looking forward to checking out this sequel. Unfortunately this manga seems to be copying the original series focus on Ikki training. The only change is that he’s no longer a fresh new recruit but a now a new recruit for the Rangers.

The original Rising Sun covered some interesting aspects from the training of these Japanese soldiers, specifically the unique manner their shooting training was handled. Since creator Satoshi Fujiwara himself went through the JSDF boot camp, there was a nice bit of realism to the training. I’m unsure if Fujiwara did Ranger training but I didn’t get the same feeling here. That and the story centered around Ikki training again, I wasn’t as engaged with this book. I’ll pass on continuing to read it.

~dakazu

BL Metamorphosis

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BL Metamorphosis

A manga about a friendship between a high school girl and a seventy-year-old woman over their appreciation of Boys Love manga.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to see a wholesome and appropriate relationship between an adult and teenager in a manga. Since so many of these end in an inappropriate romantic relationship I loved seeing Kaori Tsurutani setup a genuine friendship between Urara and Ichinoi. And while Urara’s section of the narrative is a common story about a teen ashamed of her interests, it’s really unique to read about a fully realized senior citizen.

I highly recommend this. Available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment.

~dakazu

Onnanoko no tame no Strip Gekijou Nyumon

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Onnanoko no tame no Strip Gekijou Nyumon

Manga artist Korin Nao‘s introductory guide manga to Japanese strip theaters for female patrons like herself.

This manga is fantastic. Not only is does Korin Nao recount her own experiences getting into strip theaters, she also meticulously explains the proper manners and etiquette patrons need to follow. Nao interviews longtime patrons, lighting technicians, and the dancers themselves. And everything is drawn in an adorable cute style by Nao. Her more simplistic art style is perfect for drawing the naked dancers without being graphic.

You learn how different Japanese strip theaters are compared to American strip clubs from reading this book. Strip theaters in Japan are much closer to a cabaret style performance that ends with poses of full frontal nudity. There’s also much more audience participation with some patrons accompanying the dancers by playing tambourine or throwing ribbons when the dancer strikes a pose. It’s all really interesting to read about.

I also loved how Nao gained an appreciation for the beauty of different body types from seeing many different dancers at different strip theaters. It’s great to see how manga like this can cover a more adult topic without focusing on simple titillation.

~dakazu