A manga about a young man who’s family serves the Great King Enma as wardens who hunt down fugitive souls and send them back to hell.
Yet another series that came and ended quickly in Weekly Shonen Jump. It’s unfortunate but understandable given the daunting task of trying to win popularity against other Jump behemoths like One Piece and Black Clover.
Apparently creator Natsuki Hokami worked shopped this series with a prototype called Higuma no Te. I’ll try and check it out to see if anything was different.
A manga about 2 astronauts who crash land on an alien planet divided into a society of humanoids and talking frogs.
I really enjoyed this book. Keigo Shinzo has a distinct art style that makes his characters unique. They have more rounded faces that gave this series a very warm look that works well with the alien setting.
The story follows the plight of Takaichi who desperately wishes to escape the planet and return home but finds himself attracted to a female humanoid. He ends up having a crisis of conscience when he learns the true relationship between the humanoids and the frogs which was entertaining to experience.
A manga about a red oni boy who desperately wants to make friends and his blue oni brother.
Another wonderful manga by Sakumo Okada. Love the premise of this one. The dynamic between the brothers is well setup. The red oni Arata can’t make any human friends because red oni give off an aura of disgust. His brother Izumi can make human friends but is ostracized from the oni world because blue oni are considered tools by red oni for their special healing powers.
The way the story progresses with Izumi learning more about his blu oni background and Arata befriending his bully is equally humorous and touching.
A great premise with excellent complex character relationships. Recommend it.
A boxing manga about a man who enters the world of boxing randomly to discover his talents make him a diamond in the rough.
I like this manga. The art was decent but the boxing scenes never had a sense of fluidity to the motion. The story was also pretty rote but it was enjoyable enough that I kept reading. Too bad the series ended prematurely with only 3 volumes.
Interesting note is that creator Shinji Imaizumi made another boxing called Kami-sama wa Southpawin 1988. The adopted son of the protagonist from that series appears as the Japan Featherweight champion in this manga so I guess this is considered a sequel series. Maybe he wanted to tap into old nostalgia for another shot at a boxing series but it looks like that didn’t help him. A shame.
A manga about a no control fastball pitcher teaming up with a catcher who’s known as “Death” for destroying the lives of pitchers.
This wasn’t a bad manga by any standards but unfortunately it failed to reach any popularity in Weekly Shonen Jump so it got canceled after 11 chapters. KAITO had found moderate success with the previous Lacrosse manga Cross Manage so trying for another sports manga wasn’t a bad choice. I think that Jump audiences are pretty adverse to sports manga unless it appeals to female readers. This is proven by the success of Haikyu!! and The Prince of Tennis.
KAITO would go on to their current love story Blue Flag, which is excellent, so all’s well that ends well I suppose.
Fun fact. The baseball team featured in Buddy Strike appear as the high school champions in Blue Flag.
A manga about a stone manga artiste who starts dating a cosplay loving otaku girl.
This is a strange manga about an even stranger romance. I loved it.
Jun Hanyunyu has an amazing ability to convey emotion and human reactions with unique perspectives in his panels. He constantly uses strange low angle or fish eye lens shots that were really fun to read. The strange relationship journey the two main characters go on is great. There was a lot of serious comedy because the characters were 100% serious about what their motivations but they came off as humorous to the reader.
Making the male a manga artiste who’s obsessed with rocks is a great hook for a character. He suffers many obstacles before arriving at a point where he can continue his pursuit as a manga artiste and love at the same time. My only complaint was that the story included some sexual assault against the main female character and I wish Hanyunyu didn’t resort to such a rote scenario as the final challenge the two lovers have to face.
Loved it and I’ll be looking into more works by Jun Hanyunyu.
A manga about a genius hacker who battles against criminals.
Yet another manga that ended it’s run quickly in Weekly Shonen Jump. While the premise was interesting I thought the characters and storylines were pretty weak so I was not surprised about it getting cancelled. I wonder if author Tomohide Hirao and artist Mizuki Noda should break their pairing and try working with others because this series is pretty forgettable.
A manga diary by legendary Tetsuya Chiba about his current life and how his family escaped from China back to Japan post World War II.
A wonderful new manga by the famous Tetsuya Chiba who created Ashita no Joe. Although each chapter is only 4 pages the entire book is colored. It was equally interesting to read about Chiba’s hardships fleeing through China and his interactions with other famous manga artists through their golf club.
A manga about a high school pitcher who time travels back to 1959 to teamup with his grandfather to become national champions.
As far as sport manga go I’m enjoying this one. Mixing baseball with historical context of how the sport was back in 60′s Japan is an interesting twist. It almost feels like an isekai storyline as main character Natsu possesses modern baseball techniques that overwhelm his opponents. It just started it’s run in Weekly Shonen Sunday and I’m happy to have a new manga that I can look forward to.
Decent sci-fi horror series. The art work by KAZAANA is decent but I think the story from Showshow Kurihara is a little rough. Kurihara is known for his seinen works like the Uramiya Honpo series and I think they struggled a bit with making an engaging shonen storyline. This series was only 3 volumes and I can’t help but feel it was canceled due to lack of popularity.
