Tsuribito Seikatsu
A chronicle of Edomae no Shun artist Terushi Sato’s favorite pastime of fishing.
It was entertaining to read Sato’s tales of fishing with his manga assistants and other famous manga artists. I liked how most of the stories revolve around him failing to catch anything and feeling dejected as it added a sense of realism. He also introduces some experimental recipes he’s tried as well. A good mix of fishing and food, I’d like to read more.
~dakazu
Gaka Bakka
A comedy where Vincent Van Gogh escapes from heaven and returns to life in Japan because we wants to become famous while still alive. He’s joined by other famous artists of history, including Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Salvador Dali, as they all try to make it big by becoming manga artist.
The concept idea of this manga is hilarious and there a plenty of jokes to be made about these famous artists struggling to understand the modern manga industry. Da Vinci trying to figure out what “moe” means is amazing enough to have me keep checking out this manga.
~dakazu
Asahinagu
Sports manga about Naginatajutsu, a martial art using the naginata spear that is traditionally done by women. High school freshman Asahi Toujima ends up joining the Naginata club and discovering her love of the sport.
There’s plenty of kendo manga but barely any about Naginata. That alone makes this manga unique. It honestly ends up following a lot of sports manga cliches, like the protagonist starting super weak but eventually overcoming her fears to become victorious or the main rival has an antagonistic relationship that eventually becomes mutual respect. Despite this, I really love this manga. There’s always something refreshing about reading a sports manga about females. We need more!
~dakazu
Youkai Massage
Manga about a girl who works a spa that specializes in giving Japanese folklore monsters massages. It’s written by Hi Score Girl’s Rensuke Oshikiri.
Unfortunately this manga is a shallow premise that only exists for the sake of pervy fan service. Every chapter ends with a female exploding in moans of ecstasy from pressure point massage. It’s really gross and disappointing coming from Oshikiri but erotic stuff definitely has a market so to each their own I guess.
~dakazu
Girls’ Last Tour
Read the ending a while back when it was published on Kurage Bunch but finally picked up the final volume.
Looking back I think the ending was perfectly done. Both thoughtful and final. I really hope they make another season of the anime and do it there as well. Love this series and highly recommend it.
~dakazu
Blue Giant Supreme
This sequel series to Blue Giant follows main character Dai as he travels to Europe and continue his journey to become the best jazz player in the world.
Shinichi Ishizuka is so good at creating human dramas and the subtle nuance he puts in the facial expressions of characters is fantastic. I’m always fascinated at how manga artists convey sound through visual art and this manga does an amazing job.
~dakazu
Saotome Senshu, Hitakakusu
Manga about a gifted female high school boxer who conceals her relationship with boy who is a gifted trainer but an awful boxer.
Manga artist Naoki Mizuguchi’s previous series was a comedy about a failing manga artist so I was surprised with this book. That’s not to say this manga doesn’t have funny moments, but the emphasis is on how cute the protagonist Saotome is. Saotome herself is drawn with a very muscular figure and the gap between her boxing strength and her desire to be more girly feeds into her tsudere appeal.
I would usually be apposed to this kind of manga but I liked Mizuguchi’s other work and the fan service in this manga is mostly of Saotome’s 6-pack abs so I didn’t bother me. This series is muscle fetish friendly, I suppose.
~dakazu
Chi to Hai no Joou
Horror manga about vampiric monsters battling each other for supremacy. Drawn by Hajime Bako, who’s previous manga was DREA-MER.
The story is pretty standard but the gory art and creature designs stood out to me. I also liked the adversarial relationship the main character has between his comrades because it matched their monstrous forms.
I enjoyed it because I had zero expectations going into it and was pleasantly surprised. I’ll keep reading it!
~dakazu
Butter!!!
Wonderful slice of life about a group of students who are part of a small high school ballroom dance club. I really liked the seinen approach to the club itself. They don’t focus on ballroom dancing as a sport of competition. It’s simply used as a vehicle for the all the students to grow closer and so they can focus on the character relationships.
Artist Tomoko Yamashita does a great job allowing each member to have their own meaningful story arc. My only complaint was the panel compositions made following the word bubbles difficult.
~dakazu
Dr. STONE
Dr. STONE is quickly becoming one of my favorites in Weekly Shonen Jump. I’m still amazed Boichi is able to draw both this and ORIGIN in Young Magazine at the same time. Inagaki is so great at making the process of acquiring new technology into engaging storylines, just like when he did Eyeshield 21.
It’s kinda sad to say but this series got WAAAAAAY better after they ditched the original protagonist Taiju and focused solely on Senkuu. He’s basically the same character as Himura from Eyeshield 21 and an evil genius who works for the good guys.
~dakazu