Category Archives: Written Word

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My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

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My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

A spin-off manga to My Hero Academia. It follows a young man that uses his insignificant quirk to help clean trash around town who is suddenly thrown into the world of illegal heroes known as vigilantes.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

A really decent spin-off. Since manga has decided to go the way of western comics and franchise their most popular series, there have been a lot of subpar comics that are just cashing in. Luckily, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes stands out on it’s own with a really nice art by Betten Court. I do fell bad for the author Hideyuki Furuhashi because he’s limited by events from the main series. Since Vigilantes is set before the events of My Hero Academia, Furuhashi can’t write anything that would break the status quo of all the main stay heroes that make cameos in Vigilantes. In that sense Furuhashi has done a good job of keeping the story fresh and entertaining throughout this book.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes looks like it’s ending soon but I’m glad to see that it had good success as a manga spin-off, which is something you definitely can’t say the same for stuff like Attack on Titan: Junior High.

~dakazu

Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero.

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Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero.

A manga about a teenager who lost his left leg in an accident decides to become a para-athlete after meeting a prosthetic orthopedic and learning about running blade prosthetics.

This is a pretty unique manga. Since 2019 I’ve seen a lot of manga tie-ins for the now delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Shueisha has put out Paralympic Jump and they even did anime crossovers with Yowamushi Pedal and Captain Tsubasa for Anime x Para. Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero. seems to be in the same vein of putting a spotlight on para-athletes.

It’s a good sports manga that rightfully considers the main characters reservations about returning to athletic competition after he was forced to give up on them. Since the Olympics were canceled due to COVID-19, they also include that real world event in this manga, and that ramifications all the canceled high school sporting events caused. I really appreciate that they’re incorporating the effects of the corona virus on our world today. This is well drawn by Wataru Midori and I will keep reading it.

~dakazu

Toriko

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Toriko

A manga about Toriko, a hunter who travels and battles his way across the gourmet world in search of delicious foods so he can complete his full-course meal.

Toriko was my absolute favorite shonen action manga when it started in 2008. Since I love food manga, it was the perfect fit to have a battle manga focused on capturing creative foods. This was a solid series until the last quarter of the story got real bizarre and strange with it’s concepts. It definitely fizzled out by the end but in it’s heyday Toriko even knocked out Bleach and took its place in the Jump trifecta with One Piece and Naruto.

Unfortunately I feel pretty discouraged about Toriko now that I know the artist Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro was arrested multiple times for soliciting underage prostitution. This happened in 2002 before he began Toriko but if I had known this I probably would have reconsidered buying every volume of this series. I’m glad Shimabukuro found success but it still feels wrong that he never served prison time for what he did. Similar to Nobuhiro Watsuki‘s meager child pornography fines, it’s sad to see how Japan weighs the child pornography charges against absolutely vilifying drug charges.

~dakazu

Jagaaaaaan

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Jagaaaaaan

A manga where strange parasitic frogs transform people into monsters representing their most base desires. Shintaro Jagasaki is a police officer who gains the ability to shoot blasts from his right hand and uses it to hunt down other monsters.

We discussed this on an older episode.

This is a a good action manga. Since this runs in Big Comic Spirits it doesn’t shy away from sexual content. But the focus here is on the monster designs and exciting action drawn by Kensuke Nishida. The author Muneyuki Kaneshiro is known for his work on As the Gods Will series and they’re also currently writing Blue Lock for Weekly Shonen Magazine. Kaneshiro does a good job examining Jagasaki’s guilt of killing people with his powers and the pleasure he feels by destroying his enemies. It’s makes for a dark super hero story where the protagonist isn’t necessarily a good person.

My main complaint about the story is it’s treatment of female characters. They’re mostly used as victims or even if they have powers they’re killed off or sidelined to make way for the male characters. Unfortunately it’s not surprising to see in these types of seinen action manga but I’m still enjoying Jagaaaaaan for what it is.

~dakazu

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Paruno Gurafiti

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Paruno Gurafiti

A collection of autobiographical stories by Paru Itagaki about her family.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

Man this is a terrific series. I learned so many interesting things about Paru Itagaki, like her eldest sister with the visage of Buddha that never changes or her other sister who taught her about adultery and blackmail when they played with dolls. Interesting enough, Paru had to come clean about legendary manga artist Keisuke Itagaki being her actual father because she started this series. I also love how Paru draws her father as a scary looking dark figure to drive home the fact that their family dynamic was very strange at home since Keisuke Itagaki was usually off drawing Baki at his studio.

These stories just got collected and released as a tankobon in Japan. Since VIZ has already licensed BEASTARS and now Beast Complex, I hope they’ll try to bring this manga over in English as well!

~dakazu

Cromartie High School

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Cromartie High School

A wacky comedy manga about the residents of Cromartie High School, a place infamous for it’s delinquents.

Man this manga takes me back. This hilarious comedy was such a mega-hit in the early 2000’s. Eiji Nonaka might not be the most gifted artist but his jokes were razor sharp. Bizarre characters like Mechazawa and Freddie just add to the zany charm of this series. Unfortunately the manga is currently out of print and I don’t expect Kodansha to relicense this older title. However I can still enjoy the anime adaptation on Crunchyroll and RetroCrush.

~dakazu

Slime Life

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Slime Life

A manga about a black mage and her adorable slime underling.

This is a super cute manga by Megasawara. At first the black mage is upset that the demon dispatch agency sent her a lowly slime but she becomes completely enamored by his cuteness. She even tries to find excuses to hug him. Eventually the story follows this slime and black mage going on adventures. The slime is earnest and honest and hard working and befriends everyone, friend or foe. This manga is really a lighthearted iyashikei that’s about best-boy slime and I think that’s great for what it is. Currently serialized on Jump+.

~dakazu

Witch Hat Atelier

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Witch Hat Atelier

A manga about a young girl who accidentally discovers the secret behind the magic that exists in her world. Now she must train to become a witch and undo her mistakes.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

This manga is beautifully drawn by Kamome Shirahama. I love the concept of magic being linked with drawings as Shirahama herself says the idea came to her after someone commented about her art being like magic. While we’ve seen this premise of a student who trains in the ways of magic in series like Harry Potter, Shirahama’s amazing art work brings her magical world to life in it’s own unique way.

Available in English from Kodansha Comics.

~dakazu

Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru

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Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru

A manga about upperclassman Urushi Yaotome and freshman Ayumu Tanaka, who are the only members of the high school shogi club. Urushi tries to get Ayumu to confess his love but he refuses until he can beat her in a shogi match.

This is a very cute series. The dynamic is a bit similar to Kaguya-sama: Love is War but this book is going for a more sweet high school romance than ridiculous comedy. I like the title being a play on shogi as Ayumu’s name is the same kanji for the pawn piece in shogi. The pawn(Ayumu) keeps advancing past Urushi’s schemes and it’s really cute to see her get flustered. The character designs by Souichirou Yamamoto really work well. Reading makes me cheer them both on!

~dakazu

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

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‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

A manga about a captured warrior princess who is tortured by the demonic enemy forces. She fails to resist against “horrific” temptations like food and video games, and she always reveals her kingdom’s secrets but luckily the hell lord is too busy taking care of his daughter to take advantage of them.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

At the beginning the shtick gets old quickly as the grand inquisitor always presents a simple pleasure like fresh toast and at first the princess resists it and her magic sword praises her spirit. Then the grand inquisitor raises the stakes by adding a new element like the remains of beef stew and the princess is powerless to resist this. After she gives up a kingdom secret the hell lord never takes advantage because he’s caring for his young daughter. Rinse and repeat.

Eventually the series focuses more on the growing friendship between the princess and all the demons. The tortures all become exceedingly sweet and the series transitions into a full iyashikei/feel-good story about a princess being friends with the demon forces. I give Robinson Haruhara a lot of credit for keeping the story upbeat. The artist Hirakei worked on another comedy manga Shinmai Nitta-ism which was also hilarious and heartwarming so they are a prefect fit for this series.

I really enjoy this manga but I can see how it’s not for everyone. You can read it in English now on Manga PLUS.

~dakazu