14 Sai
A manga about a humanoid chicken named Chicken George born inside a futuristic chicken manufacturing plant.
I remember finding this randomly in my brother’s room. It was my first experience with Kazuo Umezu manga and I have to say it positive. I thought the famous ‘Umezu face’ looked pretty stupid and the story wasn’t scary but just really weird. I’ve gone back to the series as an adult and can now appreciate the artwork. I still think the story is more strange than scary though.
~dakazu
Pink Royal
A manga about a high school girl who is mysteriously transported to a world filled with monsters and villains from sentai shows that she must fight after transforming into a Pink Ranger.
This manga might seem like it has an interesting premise but rest assure, is just some real edgelord shit. The opening chapter features a bunch of women who are violently slaughtered until the protagonist realizes she can transform into a Pink Ranger. If the gore wasn’t an indicator, there are also excessive shots of bodysuit cameltoe all over the place. This really feels like gross fetish fuel in way too many ways to be anything of substance. Like, even less than GANTZ.
Hard pass.
~dakazu
Metamorphose no Engawa
A manga about a 75 year-old lady befriending a 15 year-old girl over Boys’ Love manga.
We’ve discussed this series on a recent episode.
This series is fantastic. I just adore stories that bridge generational gaps and create genuine relationships. There’s such a good setup to get this odd couple to start opening up to each other. The granny tells the girl she enjoys BL because she just wants to cheer on the boys but I felt the same way about these two.
Seven Seas Entertainment will be releasing an English edition in April 2020. I can’t wait for it.
~dakazu
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun
A manga about a poor boy who gets sold by his parents to a demon lord and now he must attend demon school while hiding the fact that he’s human.
A pretty fun series. It runs in Weekly Shonen Champion and it’s something I read but don’t pay too much attention to. The anime adaptation is doing it wonders by really enhancing the characters and the comedy. It’s definitely a case where the anime is adding a lot to the manga.
~dakazu
ORESUKI Are you the only one who loves me?
A manga about a high school boy who tries to secretly manipulate his childhood friend and the student council president into falling in love with him but utterly fails. In turn he’s manipulated by the basic looking library aide who says she’s in love with his scumbag side.
This manga is on Jump+ but I never paid much attention to it. After watching the anime I am 100% aboard because I couldn’t stop laughing at all the great jokes. This series really takes a lot of typical romance troupes and flips them into hilarious punchlines. Even the protagonist who at first seems like a complete shallow bastard turns out to have an actual good side to him.
~dakazu
Hiyokko Ryourinin
A food manga about a woman who runs a cooking class for children.
This was such a heartwarming read! I really like how the series starts off with a genuinely positive relationship between the main character and a young boy who wants to cook for his single father. It seems like the story might pursue a possible relationship between this father and the woman but I didn’t find anything wrong with that.
If anything I kinda felt like this book was suggesting that a woman in the kitchen who can cook was the best thing possible but the young boy who quickly becomes a good chef on his own counterbalances that. I might have to read more to see if it truly pursues some sexist stereotypes. Otherwise I’d say this is an absolutely adorable manga.
~dakazu
Sen wa, Boku wo Egaku
A manga about a college student who’s lost his family to an accident who befriends a master of ink wash painting and beginning his own journey as an artist.
This recently started in Weekly Shonen Magazine and I’ve been really enjoying it so far. It’s an adaptation of a novel by Hiromasa Togami and the theme of sumi-e paintings work perfectly within the black and white manga medium. Artist Atsunori Horiuchi masterfully recreates these ink wash pieces within the panels that are so lovely to look at. The story also does a great job conveying how artists emotions and intent are so represented in their work.
Title is also perfect as it translates to “The lines, they draw me”. Works on multiple levels.
~dakazu
Beast Complex
The precursor to BEASTARS. Each chapter focuses on the relationship between a different carnivore and herbivore pair.
Reading this you can really tell that Paru Itagaki had everything figured out before she started BEASTARS. There’s so much thought put into this world she’s created. You can almost tell through these little vignettes that Itagaki just wants to share this complex animal society and the interesting stories she can craft here. I love it.
~dakazu
KoLD8: King of the Living Dead
A manga about young survivor during a zombie apocalypse who gains the ability to command the living dead.
We’ve discussed this series on a previous episode.
This was serialized in Jump+ but ended abruptly without finishing the story. I suppose it couldn’t be helped because it was pretty mediocre by all standards so it was most likely canceled.
I enjoyed Pageratta‘s previous manga called Hinmin Choujin Kanenashi-kun but I was mostly just shocked how they decided to jump from a lighthearted comedy to the horror genre. Apparently there’s an epilogue that’s only in the final volume and I wouldn’t mind reading it just to see what happened.
~dakazu
Yuko Sae Tatakaeba
A comedy manga about a high school girl who gets recruited into a tournament between demons but doesn’t care to be involved despite her natural omnipotent abilities.
Great premise. I love how this series takes the shonen battle troupe from something like Zatch Bell! and turns it on it’s head. There’s such good odd couple comedy with the demon who wants to fight so badly and the dense girl who just wants to go to school. Even when rivals appear she defeats them handily but doesn’t finish them off because she thinks the tournament is a simple game. This is one of the few series I follow in Weekly Shonen Sunday and it’s gimmick hasn’t gotten old yet.
~dakazu