Category Archives: dakazu’s reading

Various manga dakazu’s read with some commentary

Land of the Lustrous

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Land of the Lustrous

A manga about humanoid gem beings who inhabit Earth in the far future where the youngest gem Phosphophyllite is looking to find their purpose in life.

I always skimmed through this series in the issues of Afternoon I would pick up and I’d think it looked unique but I never bothered to read it until the anime adaptation. I loved the anime and I actually prefer it to the manga.

My main complaint with the manga is the same complaint I have for books like Trigun Maximum and Tokyo Ghoul:re. Sometimes you can’t understand what’s happening because their paneling and layouts can be too confusing.

Now that I’m a fan of the series I read the newest chapters but I still think it looks confusing from time to time.

~dakazu

Shin Kazoku Keikaku

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Shin Kazoku Keikaku

A manga about a single mother working as an escort who starts a relationship with a porn director.

I talked about Taeko Uzuki at length on a recent episode. Although this series is fiction, it’s shocking to think that the majority of the events that take place are based on real life accounts that Uzuki went through. And there are some rough things that happen to the mother in this series.

The most impressive thing about this manga is the honesty and realism to the story. You can easily believe what the characters are going through, even though some of their reactions are over the top for the sake of comedy. It gives more agency to the plights and struggles of the mom in particular.

I highly recommend Uzuki’s Ningen Karimenchu to learn about her life and her triumphs.

~dakazu

Ningen Karimenchu

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Ningen Karimenchu

A manga memoir about Taeko Uzuki’s life.

This is the most powerful and raw autobiographical manga I’ve ever read. I actually put this above My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Uzuki has had a life full of hardship but also full of love. Her struggles with schizophrenia and suicide only make her story stronger and full of hope. I was moved after finishing this series and will now forever be a fan of hers.

100% recommended.

~dakazu

After Hours

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After Hours

A manga about a young woman Emi who meets a DJ named Kei and steps into a new world of club culture and relationships.

A cute yuri story. My co-host Seamus recommended it to me and I enjoyed it. The character designs weren’t really my style but the art in general reminded me a lot of Laid-Back Camp and was done well. I’m glad it wasn’t very long because I probably wouldn’t care enough about it to continue a really long story. Pretty predictable as far as where the relationship between Emi and Kei goes but it was done well and I liked that it didn’t take place in a school setting.

If you’re into good yuri manga then I’d recommend this. Available through VIZ media.

~dakazu

Me and the Devil Blues

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Me and the Devil Blues

A fictionalized tale about the legendary blues musician Robert Johnson who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for the gift of music.

It’s pretty interesting to see Akira Hiramoto use his realistic art style not for comedy, like in Prison School. It really makes you realize how good his ink work and shadowing really are.

I enjoyed what a read and hope to read more! Published by Del Rey.

~dakazu

Destiny Lovers

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Destiny Lovers

A manga about a group of male versions being held against their will in a prison run by sexy officers who need to take their virginity to save the world.

….It’s really dumb and makes me questions the type of manga that get’s put on these publisher’s official web-manga sites.

No surprise that artist Kai Tomohiro has experience drawing hentai given all the situations they put the characters in. Also this has been really popular online and I’m not surprised.

I can understand the appeal of this but it’s a little too much for me.

~dakazu

Cells at Work [BLACK] 

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Cells at Work [BLACK] 

A manga about the hustle and bustle of cells trying to keep an unhealthy human host alive.

A spin-off of the popular Cells at Work series, this manga is about a human who’s riddled with health problems like smoking, alcohol addiction, and STDs. Just like it’s title, the tone is much darker and grimmer. It also gender swaps the main red blood cell and white blood cell characters.

Funny story is that before the anime started I had only read this manga so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was a spin-off specifically following an unhealthy human. I recommend watching the anime or checking out the original because the tone of this one is just too depressing.

~dakazu

Butsu-Zone

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Butsu-Zone

A manga about the 1000 hands Senju who must protect a young girl who is the reincarnation of Gautama Buddha and help her reach enlightenment.

This is the debut work of Hiroyuki Takei, who is most well known for his ultra popular Shaman King series. Although Butsu-Zone ended early, you can see hints of motifs and designs that Takei would eventually use in his future projects. Even the popular character Anna Kyoyama was originally used in this book and some of the mech-like armor designs would be used in Takei’s Jumbor series.

It’s an interesting manga to see where Takei started.

~dakazu

Buggy Whip

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Buggy Whip

Sports manga about a high school boy with terrible tennis skills named Arata that get’s trained by Sakura, a former genius upperclassman.

A pretty decent realistic take on the sport of tennis, similar in feel to Baby Steps. Compared to typical shonen sports manga, this series isn’t about Arata’s journey to become the number one player in Japan. Instead it follows him as he slowly breaks through his own inferiority complex while butting heads against his mentor and it ends quickly once that resolution is reached. This kind of story progression might be why this ran in the seinen magazine Monthly Afternoon. My only complaint was that there wasn’t enough distinction between characters because many of their faces look too similar.

A solid sports manga that was interesting for it’s story.

~dakazu