Category Archives: Written Word

All written posts

Juuza no Ulna

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Juuza no Ulna

Holy crap. This is the best manga I’ve read since BEASTARS. A powerful blend of science fiction and war drama, this manga follows a new female sniper fighting against alien creatures on an alternate world. It immediately reminded me of WOMBS because of the special division of women soldiers the story focuses on. The design of the enemy Zudo creatures are fantastically bizarre and the story quickly swerves you with twist after twist.

I could not put it down. Unfortunately it’s only been translated to Spanish so I’m going to have to spam Seven Seas Entertainment’s monthly surveys with this A+ series until we get a proper English release.

…I’m being 100% serious when I say this is the BEST manga I’ve read, only 2nd to BEASTARS!

~dakazu

Yakumo-san wa Ezuke ga Shitai.

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Yakumo-san wa Ezuke ga Shitai.

A food manga about a young widow who starts cooking meals for her high school boy neighbor with a huge appetite. The series constantly teases the audience along with the two always being on the verge of starting a romantic relationship.

Personally, I really dislike the romantic angle between them. Ms. Yakumo convinces herself that she’s just being motherly to young Yamato but her buxom figure screams fan service. My guess is that they will eventually cross that line of intimacy and will probably end up together in the future. I think I would’ve preferred a nuanced story about a simple widow who copes with the loss of her husband by feeding this young boy and them becoming friends. The series is still ongoing so maybe I’ll be happily wrong about this.

~dakazu

Wakako Zake

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Wakako Zake

Cute food manga about an office lady Wakako who loves drinking and eating. Every short chapter presents a type of food that paired with booze. It was adapted into an anime short and a popular live-action series as well. I’m not a big drinker but still enjoyed this manga.

~dakazu

Semai Sekai no Identity

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Semai Sekai no Identity

Rensuke Oshikiri’s crazy manga about a dystopian manga industry where battles break out Scott Pilgrim-style between manga artists fighting for serialization.

From the 1st chapter where a young, hopeful manga artist is defenestrated and impaled on a spike while they insert the “This is a work of fiction” warning, I knew I was in for a wild ride. Oshikiri inserts real-world gripes about the manga industry but turns them up to 11. The result is a mix of dark humor, excessive violence, and brutal commentary with a nice sprinkle of reality. Real manga artists like Inio Asano, Tooru Seino, and Rensuke Oshikiri himself appear to both self-deprecate and destroy their critics.

This manga is absolutely insane and I love it.

~dakazu

Ginga no Shinanai Kodomotachi e

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Ginga no Shinanai Kodomotachi e

A manga about an immortal sister, her brother, and their mother. As centuries pass them by, the children ponder their existence against the rest of the world that can experience death.

Despite the simple design of the children the subject material was very macabre and I found it disturbing. Any manga that can illicit such a strong emotional response after reading deserves respect. But just like the one and only time I watched Requiem for a Dream, I’m not sure if I want to go through that again.

~dakazu

Uhyo! Tokyo-to Kita-ku Akabane

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Uhyo! Tokyo-to Kita-ku Akabane

This is manga artist Tooru Seino’s wacky tales of real life residents in the city of Akabane. While it’s great to see a manga covering crazy-but-true stories it felt a bit exploitative to be sharing information on some people there, like the local homeless lady. While Seino writes her in a positive light, he is still using her and others he meets for his comedy material. I think it’s important to keep that in mind, even if the city of Akabane has embraced this manga as a source of local pride. 

I do appreciate manga(or any entertainment) that is based on real people and real stories so I enjoyed it.

~dakazu

Youkai Gohan: Shinsen no Ryourinin

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Youkai Gohan: Shinsen no Ryourinin

Another food manga. This one is about literally about eating Japanese monsters of folklore. The fictional recipes they present here are kinda gory and they’re using that for some comedy elements but I honestly didn’t enjoy it that much. If you want to read about fantasy cooking stick with Delicious in Dungeon.

~dakazu