Category Archives: dakazu’s reading

Various manga dakazu’s read with some commentary

Kami-sama no Iu Toori

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Kami-sama no Iu Toori

A manga where people are suddenly forced to play games of life or death with bizarre creatures in a battle to become the new god of the world.

A staple of the death game survival genre that became super popular in the 2000′s. These manga are all about pitting humans in horrible games similar to the SAW horror movies. It’s a gruesome genre where 90% of all characters die.

This title ran in Bessatsu Shonen magazine and was so popular that after it’s 5 volume run, they started a sequel series in Weekly Shonen Magazine that became a powerhouse. This original series is still pretty good and many of the characters here appear again in the sequel series.

Unfortunately this prequel is not officially licensed but you can read all of As the Gods Will: The Second Series available from Kodansha comics.

~dakazu

Sachi no Otera Gohan

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Sachi no Otera Gohan

A manga about a 27 year old office lady named Sachi who regains her love of food after befriending a group of men who work at a Buddhist temple.

This is a cute series! I liked how it introduced Buddhist cuisine as something you can make at home and enjoy. The story is pretty simple with Sachi being the audience surrogate for someone learning about all the different recipes.

Another solid food manga!

~dakazu

Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama

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Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama

The sequel to The Prince of Tennis where an all-star group of the Japanese middle school tennis players are brought to an Under-17 training camp to prepare for the U-17 World Tennis Cup.

As a long-time The Prince of Tennis fan I have to say this very clearly.

This is not worth reading.

I think Takeshi Konomi has either gone off the deep-end or spent too much time listening to his own song; this sequel series takes everything over-the-top about The Prince of Tennis and multiplies them 10-fold.

Endless 2-page spreads of various characters posing instead of playing tennis? CHECK

A slew of new characters who never look like their actually under 17? CHECK & CHECK

Every character using special moves that defy physics while literally going super-saiyan? CHECK & MATE

Shit is ridiculous and not in a good way. It’s kinda sad to see the series downfall.

Go read the original and pretend this doesn’t exist.

~dakazu

Kemono Jihen

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Kemono Jihen

A manga about a group of half-demons who form an investigation team that specialize in dealing with paranormal cases. The newest member is a half-demon named Kabane who possesses incredible regeneration powers but was raised with no emotions.

I really liked this series. I didn’t know this was being done by Sho Aimoto who did Hokenshi no Shinigami, a moderately successful manga that ran in Shonen Jump.

While I like the protagonist, his shtick of starting with no emotions and gradually learning them as he interacts with his peers and enemies is nothing original. But when it’s done well with interesting side characters and solid art, I can’t complain about it. It actually makes me really excited to read some more!

~dakazu

Tokyo Revengers

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Tokyo Revengers

A manga about a man who time travels back and forth from the past to infiltrate a gang that’s responsible for killing his ex-girlfriend in the future.

I’m a huge fan of Ken Wakui’s Shinjuku Swan series. He cut his teeth on seinen manga so I was surprise when switched to shonen stuff after that one ended. His first project Dessert Eagle was alright but ultimately didn’t land the mark. This follow up series is doing much better and I’m enjoying it a lot.

My favorite part is how the protagonist Takemichi constantly jumps from the past back to the future. Lots of variance from the butterfly effect drastically changes the future, sometimes for the worst. Since Shijuku Swan was essentially in the delinquent/gang genre, Wakui feel very much at home drawing all these gang battles.

Really enjoying everything so far and glad Wakui is enjoying success.

~dakazu

Alice & Taiyo

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Alice & Taiyo

A manga about a shy song writer teaming up with a talented singer to take over the world with their music.

Another new manga that came and was quickly canceled in Weekly Shonen Jump. I personally think it just wasn’t interesting enough to capture the attention of the Jump audience. A shame because the art work was pretty good and I like slice of life stories about music.

This definitely felt like something the editors took a chance on and unfortunately it failed.

~dakazu

Naraku no Hitsuji

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Naraku no Hitsuji

A manga about a vlogger who starts making a young prostitute a subject of his streams only for them to pick a fight with the mob.

Finally got to finish this series and I really liked how it ended. The vlogger originally subjects the prostitute to abject humiliation and suffering. He takes advantage of this girl who has no self worth but in her eyes he is the first person who’s even treated her as a human. It’s an ugly tale of horrible misguided motivations between these two who struggle with themselves.

As the story progresses he fights against his desire for revenge against his friends who betrayed him and the mobster who humiliated him and his growing feelings towards her. I won’t spoil the ending but I was very satisfied at how everything ended up playing out.

While this story is filled with terrible things I could appreciate how they served a purpose and didn’t feel like a cheap plot device for exploitation. They also take a realistic approach to problems of modern silent observers.

~dakazu

Soshite Boku wa Gedōman ni Naru

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Soshite Boku wa Gedōman ni Naru

A dramatized autobiography by Shinji Hiramatsu about starting his career as a manga artist.

This one is really unique because Shinji Hiramatsu is covering his own life but he’s clearly taking some liberties the narrative to paint this picture of a young manga artist who falls into darkness after creating violent manga. While there are other real manga artists who appear in the story, Hiramatsu has changed the names of all editors from Shueisha he worked with. There are some really over-the-top scenes where Hiramatsu himself is literally butting heads with the editors who antagonize him. Because of this I ended up looking at this series as more of a work of fiction than an actually autobiography.

~dakazu

Hibiki – Shousetsuka ni Naru Houhou

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Hibiki – Shousetsuka ni Naru Houhou

A manga about a 15 year old genius girl who changes the literary world with her writing talent and often volatile personality.

I’ve heard a lot of buzz around this series last year when it was adapted into a live-action movie. Finally got around to reading it and was floored by how good it was.

Although the story is centered around literary works and awards, it’s clearly not the focus. It’s all about Hibiki and her ‘give no fucks’ personality. She’s a fascinating character who’s incredibly straight forward. Some thug threatens her with and empty threat and she doesn’t hesitate to break his finger. Reporters try to get a scoop on her personal life and she follows them back to their home and openly threatens their family. She’s a sociopath by all standards yet there’s something so refreshing about a person who isn’t bogged down by social standards of society. She does what she wants and that’s how she lives her life. I was completely enthralled to see what she would do next as adults keep trying to use her talent for their own gain, only to have Hibiki completely blowup in their faces.

I will say the artwork is simple but the story is so good that I’m going to be following this series from now on.

~dakazu

Bokutachi ga Yarimashita

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Bokutachi ga Yarimashita

A manga about a group of friends who accidentally set off a large explosion that kills a group of thugs they were trying to prank.

We covered this in a triple dip episode last year.

This series is a very slow burn. You spend the whole first volume just following the main guys goofing around and then getting targeted by these punk. Things really start rolling in the aftermath of the explosion where each guy deals with the guilt of what they’ve done in different ways. Watching them struggle with themselves and each other while avoiding the watchful eyes of a detective made for a really thrilling story. Everything ramps up to a final conclusion that is one of the best endings I’ve read for a series like this.

I’d personally love to see this brought over by Kodansha but given the subject matter it might be impossible. Still worth checking out in my opinion.

~dakazu