Category Archives: dakazu’s reading

Various manga dakazu’s read with some commentary

T-Dragon

Posted on by

T-Dragon

A manga about a group of soldiers who shrink to 1/100 of their size in order to capture an alien organism that is spreading a deadly viral epidemic throughout Japan.

Welp, it sure feels like their reaching for ideas with this one. It’s basically Honey, I Shrunk the Kids mixed with monsters battles. The shrunken humans even benefit super strength just like Antman.

The main character has an origin story of being a jilted teenager who vows to cure the epidemic after his younger brother gets infected. He’s recruited to join a special soldier unit, shrink down to capture the aptly named Tiny Dragon alien. As you’re introduced to his teammates you’re basically just waiting for each of them to meet a gruesome fate during the fighting. This is thematically similar to Hakaijuu and even has similar art designs. There wasn’t really anything that really impressed or interested me so I probably won’t keep reading.

~dakazu

Mama wa Tenparist

Posted on by

Mama wa Tenparist

A manga by Akiko Higashimura about raising her son.

This is an amazing series so if you have any admiration for Akiko Higashimura I’ll just leave you with this one tidbit so you’ll be convinced to check it out for yourself.

In an attempt to ween her 2-year-old son from breastfeeding, Higashimura drew Duke Togo from Golgo 13 on her boob to scare him…

…it didn’t work.

~dakazu

Astra Lost in Space

Posted on by

Astra Lost in Space

A manga about a group of teens on an interplanetary camping trip who get transported into distant space and must work together to travel back home.

I found the manga after I watched the first episode of the current anime and was really shocked at how good this was. The story wasn’t unique at the beginning but the characters were lively and there were a lot of funny jokes that broke up the more dramatic parts of the story. Of course it made total sense to me when I learned this was done by Kenta Shinohara who’s worked on Sket Dance. I really should have realized it from Shinohara’s character designs but his perfect blend of comedy and drama made this shorter sci-fi series a great read that had some really original twists towards the end.

I will note that there is a character revealed to have dual sexuality and this series skirts with some potential misrepresentation but I thought it wasn’t explored enough to offend or be positive. But that’s just my take though.

I definitely recommend it and it’s available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

Naniwa Meshi Gurashi

Posted on by

Naniwa Meshi Gurashi

A manga about a man who ends up moving from Tokyo to Osaka to become a share house superintendent where he befriends the residents through local street foods of Osaka.

Man this one was great! I love food manga and having one focus sorely on Osaka street foods is fantastic because I had no knowledge of any of them. Satoshi Hatano does a wonderful job of mixing feel good stories about various characters overcoming life problems with delicious looking meals. I get hungry every time I read it.

~dakazu

JUNI TAISEN: ZODIAC WAR

Posted on by

JUNI TAISEN: ZODIAC WAR

A manga adaptation of the light novel where 12 warriors representing the animals of the zodiac enter a battle royale where the winner will be granted a wish.

I ended watching the anime for this when it came out but I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed the story. A lot of the plot meandered with the backstory of each warrior when they were about to die so that mostly ruined any element of surprise for most of the plot. I particularly thought the character designs were ridiculous and those same designs are used here by Medaka Box artist Akira Akatsuki. Akatsuki is a good artist and his battle scenes are pretty good but like I said the story by Ishin Nishio is pretty meh. If you want to experience this story I think you’re better off watching the anime.

~dakazu

Kimi ga Bokura wo Akuma to Yonda Koro

Posted on by

Kimi ga Bokura wo Akuma to Yonda Koro

A manga about a boy with amnesia who is forced to uncover his past as a violent bully by his victims.

I’m really not sure what this series is trying to do…

Well, I do but I don’t like it or care for it.

Takashi Sano has created a story where this protagonist slowly learn about his past as an awful person. The mystery and driving force of the story is the reveal of what he did that lead to the death of a girl he was supposedly in love with. The only problem is that everything about this bully’s past is so vile and despicable that when the truth(that didn’t make much sense) was revealed I didn’t care to sympathize with him at all. The series is still on-going but because of this I don’t care what happens to him or the guilt he’ll have to live with after what he’s done. Nothing will be worth reading about.

Screw this guy.

~dakazu

Mother Ghoul

Posted on by

Mother Ghoul

A manga about a group of female students who have shipwrecked on an island filled with horrific lizard creatures.

This one ended up being pretty good. I didn’t really get much out of this manga until I read past the first volume. The survival of the girls is told parallel with a fairy tale that explains the lore behind the islands origins, which leads to some really gruesome revelations. The story delves into some Lord of the Flies stuff with one group of girls having an almost cult-like delusions about their situation. Kiku Sugawara‘s solid art work helps carry all of this into a decent horror series. I’ll keep reading more for now.

~dakazu

Ichigeki

Posted on by

Ichigeki

A manga about a group of country peasants who are recruited and trained to become an assassination squad against the Satsuma during Bakumatsu era Japan.

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Jiro Matsumoto that’s this grounded in reality. It doesn’t come close to the strange psychological nature of his other works like Freesia or Joshi Kohei. I assume this is because the writing is handled by Yoshio Nagai.

Matsumoto’s brutal violence fits extremely well with the historical setting of feudal Japan. It honestly might be the easiest of his series to recommend for newcomers.

~dakazu

Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler

Posted on by

Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler

A manga biography by Shigeru Mizuki about the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler.

Another power non-fiction work from Shigeru Mizuki. I was really impressed with Mizuki’s ability to seamlessly mix his cartoony characters with realistic backgrounds. There’s extreme attention to detail as Mizuki also recreated many famous photos of Hitler but through his own unique drawings. The subject matter is tough to read at times but this book handles these events with a serious tone that you’d expect from a history novel.

~dakazu