Category Archives: Written Word

All written posts

Dokyoboshi

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Dokyoboshi

A manga about a Mars space exploration mission gone horribly wrong which leads a young Japanese trucker named Dokyo to become an astronaut.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

Wow, this manga is great. The astronaut training parts feel extremely close to Space Brothers and they’re good but the science fiction segments on Mars are the highlights here. A lone surviving astronaut tries to make sense of the incident that killed the rest of his crew and the mysterious Tesseract that stalks him. The Tessaract is able to manipulate objects that ignore perspectives which make for really interesting art work within the panels.

I’ve read a few of Yoshihiro Yamada‘s manga but I personally loved this one. I feel like science fiction is actually Yamada’s strong suite even though he’s more known for his historical series Hyouge Mono. I think it’s a damn shame that Dokyoboshi was canceled and the story is incomplete. Now I know why there are fans still clamoring for this series to get rebooted and finished. And I’m one of them now too.

~dakazu

Olympia Kyklos

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Olympia Kyklos

A manga about an athletic ancient Greek vase artist, Demetrios, who time warps to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and becomes inspired from learning about field days, Olympic marathons, manga, and professional wrestling.

We’ve discussed this manga on a recent episode.

I think this manga is great but considering I’m a big fan of Mari Yamazaki it’s not surprising. This series is more lighthearted and comedy oriented so it’s closer to Thermae Romae than PLINIVS. I said it on the podcast as well but considering this manga covers Osamu Tezuka‘s Phoenix and professional wrestling, Olympia Kykylos might as well be the official representative of Manga Machinations.

~dakazu

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

A manga about a young man named Tanjiro who returns to his home to find his family slaughtered and the only living sister transformed into a human eating demon. To protect his sister and cure her, Tanjiro begins training to become a member of the secret Demon Slayer Corps.

So Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba just ended this week.

I’m really shocked that Koyoharu Gotouge was able to end the series considering how popular it became in 2019 after the excellent anime adaptation. It even outsold One Piece.
Gotouge had been drawing this final battle arc since 2018 and went straight into a wonderful conclusion. I give major props to them for ending this series with a solid finish and not trying to stretch it out.

Thank you Koyoharu Gotouge for your work with a great shonen battle series!

Available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

Mission: Yozakura Family

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Mission: Yozakura Family

A manga about a high school boy who marries his childhood friend and into her elite spy family. Now he must train to become a spy himself and protect his wife from enemies and himself from her over protective elite spy brother.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

Mission: Yozakura Family isn’t a bad manga. I like the unique spy family members who all have unique specifications. The overprotective and obsessed sibling plays into the sibling love troupe that I’m not a fan of. Still, this manga by Hitsuji Gondaira is very competent and entertaining.

Unfortunately it just doesn’t compete against other popular series in Weekly Shonen Jump. I’m pretty surprised it’s lasted as long as it has. Timing is probably a huge factor since Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, The Promised Neverland, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs are ending. It might last a little longer but unless something changes soon this series will join the graveyard of canceled Weekly Shonen Jump manga.

~dakazu

Isekai Ojisan

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Isekai Ojisan

A manga about Takafumi’s uncle who has been in a coma for 17 years where the uncle has actually been sent to a different world filled with magic and monsters. The uncle is now awake and Takafumi supports him so they can make money with the uncle’s magical powers on YouTube.

We’ve discussed this manga on a recent episode.

I really like this manga which might surprise some people because I typically hate the isekai genre. However Isekai Ojisan takes isekai troupes and pokes fun at them so I love that. Bits like how the uncle was considered an ogre because he wasn’t a beautiful looking human like everyone else or how his overpowered strength only made him feared are hilarious. Also the uncle was a die-hard SEGA fan so there is a good amount of video game humor thrown in this book as well.

A great comedy. I look forward to reading more!

~dakazu

Shūkan Shonen Hachi

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Shūkan Shonen Hachi

A manga about an aspiring manga artist with barely any talent who enrolls in the cutthroat Onigahama manga school.

This manga is decent but just that and nothing special. Eiji Masuda‘s followup to his hit romantic comedy My Monster Secret: Actually, I Am… didn’t play on his strengths of comedy and cute female characters. Instead it focused on dramatic heartfelt moments where the titular character Hachi would work hard to rise up against challenges thrown his way. Unfortunately they never worked in my opinion. The popularity of this series never grew and it was canceled after five volumes. I hope Masuda finds success with a different series in the future.

~dakazu

Noise

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Noise

A prequel to BLAME! that explains the origins of the city. The story follows a young detective as she investigates a cult who are trying to summon safeguards into base reality to cause chaos.

This one is going a bit divisive for fans of BLAME!. I personally like having an official explanation about the origins of the silicon life and the birth of the city but I can also see how this removes that mystery from BLAME!.

There’s also a bonus chapter of Tsutomu Nihei‘s one-shot prototype of BLAME! which is really interesting to see because it shows just how much Nihei expanded on both his art and story before his official debut.

Currently available from Kodansha Comics.

~dakazu

Ookami no Ko Sora wa Senjou ni iru

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Ookami no Ko Sora wa Senjou ni iru

A manga about a human child Sora who is being raised by a wolf beast soldier Dill in the war zone of Iris island.

I really liked this manga. It reminded a lot of Peleliu – Rakuen no Guernica in the way the cute characters juxtapose the horrors of war. In this case we have a conflict between humans and a beast race of anthropomorphized animals. This series is different from BEASTARS as it includes the existence of humans.

The wolf soldier Dill is a great lead character. There’s lots of time exploring his conflicting feelings as a cold ruthless killer and a guardian of a human. You also get the naive perspective of war through the eyes of a child with Sora. I’m looking forward to seeing how Sora’s presence will effect the conflict between man and beast.

Currently serialized online on Kurage Bunch.

~dakazu

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

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Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

A manga about three high school girls who team up to start their own anime production club called Eizouken.

This is a really interesting series for me. You can tell Sumito Oowara has experience in creating animation based on how technically he breaks down the process in this manga. I love how manga sub genres can teach you about different topics. In this case, you get the process of making animation. Oowara’s art even looks like animation cels. The way he draws movement is very reminiscent of animation frames. It gives this book a distinct look and feel as you read it.

I find it hilarious that the recent anime by Masaaki Yuasa happened in part because Yuasa did an ego search.

An English edition is set for release later this year from Dark Horse Comics.

~dakazu

Donburi Iinchou

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Donburi Iinchou

A manga about a prissy class representative who falls in love with various rice bowl dishes.

Decent food manga. The episodic story follows a one-note gimmick involving the class rep demanding a rice bowl dish from her male classmate. He wracks his brain but always delivers on her request. There’s a light romance storyline between them but the main focus is on the various dishes. Hiroshi Ichikawa‘s artwork is simple so the visuals appeal of the different dishes aren’t anything to write home about but they’re still creative and look tasty. I might try making some of them myself.

~dakazu