Kyuyaku Mother Ghoul
A prototype series to Mother Ghoul.
I guess Kiku Sugawara did this series first and it was originally called Holy Holy. This is only 2 volumes and feels like a smaller scale Mother Ghoul without a real ending. I’m glad that I read it because it fleshes out the backstory for certain characters who appeared in Mother Ghoul without any explanation. But I don’t think you need to read this before Mother Ghoul.
~dakazu
Poco’s Udon World
A manga about a man who returns to his udon shop home after his father passes away and befriends a young child who is actually a transforming raccoon.
Love this so much. This is a wonderful example of a story about paternal love that doesn’t have any grooming bullshit involved. The relationship between Sota and Poco is nothing but love. Caring for Poco helps Sota reconnect with people from his past and open new doors. It’s incredibly touchy-feely emotional writing by Nodoka Shinomaru and their gentle art style matches. The bittersweet ending was perfect as well.
There’s no official English edition but there is an anime of this and I highly encourage you to check it out.
~dakazu
Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan
A manga about stepsisters who learn to bond by cooking food together.
Very cute series. I like the dynamic between the older sillier sister and the more reserved younger sister. It was heartwarming to see them open up to each other and become closer, all the while enjoying some delicious meals together!
~dakazu
Muhoutou
A prequel to Jisatsutou. The Japanese government exiles convicts facing execution to a remote lawless island to fend for themselves.
I really wish Kouji Mori didn’t start this manga. Making a prequel to Jisatsutou seems really silly because we already know what’s going to happen. I’m not sure I care enough about our protagonist who is an innocent man trying to survive against all these other criminals. I really feels like Mori is just rehashing all the beats of Jisatsutou minus the suicidal youths, which was the most interesting part.
I’d rather Mori kept working on something totally new like his Sousei no Taiga.
~dakazu
Gannibal
A manga about a police officer who gets stationed at a remote village in the country where the residents might all be cannibals.
We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.
Good horror manga. Masaaki Ninomiya has a realistic art style that works well with horror. I noticed that he would have panels with closeups of peoples’ mouths and teeth. It all added to the suspicion the cop has for the townsfolk when he finds bite marks on a corpse in the woods. The residents themselves seem to be on edge and slyly imply that he should mind his own business or he might meet the fate of his predecessor who went mad and died. The fact that he’s moved here with his family and young daughter make matters oh so much worse.
Horror stories with fantastical monsters usually don’t get to me but this manga made me sweat. While crazy cannibals are a common troupe of horror they’re way more scary because it seems like a remote possibility. Humans can be cruel and this series effectively captures that fear.
~dakazu
Nigakute Amai
A manga about a woman who befriends and starts living with a gay man who’s knowledgeable about vegetarian meals.
We’ve discussed this manga on an older episode.
I really like this series. The pairing of a straight woman and gay man felt questionable at the beginning because the story hinted that she was attracted to him and they might end up together. Luckily that never happens and this series is more about processing the drama both characters are going through. The woman hates vegetables because it’s her family business and the man has a rough relationship with his mother due to the death of his talented brother. Things get more complicated as side characters enter the fray and they all work through their issues. It’s done well but I didn’t like how thirsty the gay man was. He flirted with almost every attractive man, and that included the woman’s father.
Like many food manga each chapter features a dish. This series is unique because every recipe is vegetarian. I really liked the focus on vegetarian meals and even made a few of them myself. I also loved Yumiko Kobayashi‘s unique art style.
A really solid food manga, mainly because the although the food is great the main focus was the interactions with the characters and resolving their drama. It matches well with the title, which means ‘Bitter and Sweet’.
~dakazu
Futari Solo Camp
A manga about a veteran loner camper who is blackmailed into helping a woman learn how to solo camp.
We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.
This is a really solid camping manga. Yudai Debata is really thorough and explains every aspect of camping. From the key points to pitching your tent to various ways to start a fire, you can tell Debata really loves camping and this manga is his vehicle to get that across. I did think the woman character was added for the “male gaze” as this is a seinen manga but she also fulfills the role of the student who’s the audience surrogate for learning about camping. There’s a few instances that highlight her looks and some fan service that seems inserted as a hook for the male readers but it’s not overbearing and easy to skim past. I’m here for all the fun knowledge about camping I’ll never use.
~dakazu
King Bottom
A manga about a horny teenager who’s the victim of bullies. It leads to him joining the gymnastics club and discovering his natural talent for it.
I personally didn’t like this one very much. You have a pretty orthodox sports narrative about a bullied kid that discovers a natural talent for a sport(in this case gymnastics) similar to Hajime no Ippo. But he’s also a pervy scumbag who was peeping on the female gymnasts with his friends. They’re caught in the act of voyeurism by their bullies who threaten to leak evidence to the rest of the school and that leads to them being forced to try vaulting. It’s here where our protagonist shows off his natural ability to jump high. Afterwords the bullies leak the photo of them peeping and they’re ostracized in school. He’s invited to join the gymnastics team by the very girl they were spying on, who is completely oblivious and naive about his horny nature.
Eventually he starts competing and building his skills as a gymnast. There’s even a reveal that his bully is the brother of the lady coach and was a former gymnast who quit. At the end, photos of the nice girl are leaked throughout the school and the horny teen is blamed for the act. He’s forced out from the team but he’s come to love gymnastics and in the end his innocence is proven.
My biggest problem with this series is the voyeurism. Why do we need to keep perpetuating the concept that peeping as a thing male teenagers do? The act of voyeurism is treated lightheartedly and that really annoyed me. Also the teen would constantly rub one out so he could enter ‘Sage Time’ and become super focused. It’s really tasteless humor and when paired with the peeping it just made me cringe.
This manga really wasn’t for me.
~dakazu
My Home Hero
A manga about a father who murders his daughter’s criminal boyfriend when he plans to kill her. He must then work with his wife to dispose of the body while evading the yakuza who investigate the whereabouts of the boyfriend.
This is the current series by vetern manga artist Masashi Asaki. I’ve read a few of Asaki’s works like Psychometer Eiji, Kunimitsu no Matsuri and Shibatora. Those series took place in the same world and were all related but this one is done by a different writer, Naoki Yamakawa, and seems separated from Araki’s other works.
Asaki is no stranger to mystery stories but this manga is unique as the protagonist is the murderer, albeit it’s to save his daughter and protect his family. The father, Tetsuo, is a mystery writer. A talent that comes in handy when disposing corpses and out thinking the yakuza goons who suspect him and his family of some wrong doing. His wife is surprisingly understanding of his predicament but the current story arc dives into her troubling background that helps give context about that.
I really liked the tense narrative about a man trying to conceal a murder and outwit the yakuza. They wrap up most of his problems in Act 1 but the ongoing Act 2 seems to suggest that Tetsuo won’t be able to escape his crimes. I’m looking forward to seeing what his fate is.
~dakazu
Matorism
A manga about 2 narcotics officers and the people they arrest who abuse illegal drugs.
We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.
This series is done by Masakazu Suzuki. I thought his series “Kodomo wo Koroshite kudasai” to iu Oyatachi, about adults with mental issues, was really well done. I’m slightly less enthusiastic about this manga because I feel the message about drug abuse is outdated.
The series follows different people as they either get involved with drugs or are in proximity to some kind of drug addiction and/or abuse. Some of the stories were very good but others were more than a little absurd. One story follows a teacher who confiscates marijuana from a student, only to later partake it himself. By the end of the story he was using cocaine and heroin and it’s hard not to roll your eyes when you’re saying that smoking a joint is a gateway to hardcore substance abuse. It seems like a narrative straight out of the 50’s.
I wonder if Suzuki is either ignorant of different drugs and their effects or he’s simply propagating a narrative that’s in line with Japanese policy. In any case it’s a shame because I think he’s a talented storyteller who’s been misinformed about certain drugs. Also I don’t think you can just mail order drugs like in this manga.
~dakazu