Angolmois – Genkou Kassenki

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Angolmois – Genkou Kassenki

A manga about disgraced samurai Jinzaburo Kuchii defending Tsushima island from Mongol invasions of the Kamakura period of Japan.

With the recent release of the anime adaptation, a lot of people noticed how this series covers the same subject as the upcoming AAA video game Ghost of Tsushima for Playstation 4. Comparisons aside, I’m unfamiliar with the Kamakura period so this was a fun read. The battles are intense and the story has a good sense of dread as the Mongol hoards keep surrounding the defending samurai forces. My only complaint is the designs for the faces look kinda plain. Especially for Jinzaburou. Otherwise a fun read and I’m currently enjoying the look of the anime as well.

~dakazu

Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare

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Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare

A manga about a gay teenager who finds a gathering of fellow LGBTQ+ people in his town that’s run by a mysterious and mystical woman.

I read some of this and my first thought was that it was the most progressive LGBTQ+  manga that I’ve ever read. I find that most manga covering LGBTQ+ topics tend to be behind modern times or are very basic, such as My Brother’s Husband. It was nice to read something more realistic and current.

Everyone is super excited that Seven Seas Entertainment is bringing an official English release and so am I!

~dakazu

Peleliu – Rakuen no Guernica

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Peleliu – Rakuen no Guernica

A manga about the battle of Peleliu island in the Pacific Theater during World War II. It follows the Japanese soldiers who fought against an onslaught of US Marines for over 2 months.

Juxtaposed to the cute character designs, this is a serious war manga. The simple designs of the characters actually add a lot to the horrors of war that happen to the soldiers we follow. It’s still an ongoing series in Young Animal magazine and I think it’s one of their best current manga.

~dakazu

UQ Holder!

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UQ Holder!

A tale of a young boy who becomes a vampire and joins a special peace keeping task force made up of immortals. Eventually it’s revealed as a sequel to Negima! Magister Negi Magi.

I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Ken Akamatsu from his early days with Love Hina and his general focus on harem manga. I didn’t read Negima! but I followed UQ Holder! a little when it was serialized in Shonen Magazine. I recently tried catching up on the series but when I got to the part about alternate history/timelines I just threw my hands up and gave up. I don’t know what it is about time travel/alternate timelines but just like when it happened in Magical Girl Apocalypse I completely checked out. It just comes off as such a cheap plot device and makes everything overly complicated.

~dakazu

202 – Manga in Motion 30 – Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

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202 – Manga in Motion 30 – Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise

On this episode dakazu present’s Gainax’s first feature film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise to Darfox and Seamus!

Continue reading →

Imuri

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Imuri

A fanatsy sci-fi tale of a young noble who gains a hidden ancient power used by his people to oppress a slave race. His adventures will lead him to become the leader of the slaves and revolt against his former people.

Yeah, this is basically just like Frank Herbert’s Dune but I don’t care. It’s so well done and I love the shojo-esque art style of Miyake Ranjyo. Truely an sci-fi epic in every sense. It’s awesome.

~dakazu

Boku wa Ikemen

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Boku wa Ikemen

A manga about overweight and bitter salary man who becomes possessed and taken over by the ghost of his recently deceased good looking co-worker. Now his ghost co-worker is trying to fulfill his undying wish of proposing to the office beauty.

This is done by the same creative team that did Naraku no Hitsuji and while you can see similar themes of self-hate and dark personalities this is a complete 180 in tone from that book. I thought this series was well done and liked a far better than Naraku no Hitsuji. In particular, the rival girl was a really interesting and dark character that they gave a lot of depth to.

~dakazu

Narusawa-kun wa Oishii Kao ni Koishiteru

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Narusawa-kun wa Oishii Kao ni Koishiteru

A food manga about how scary looking high schooler Narusawa is secretly just a guy who loves looking at happy girls eating his cooking. His life is suddenly interrupted when an Italian girl comes to homestay. Now he gets to feed her food and see her look happy everyday.

For a simple food manga the storytelling in this series was top notch. They really explain Narusawa by exploring a traumatic past and then addressing it. I liked how he gradually opened up to his classmates after cooking for three different girls changed his view on school life. You’d think the story setup would be just a simple harem but they don’t focus on the romance and instead focus on the relationship between characters. It’s so great!

A surprisingly deep story within a food manga. I approve!

~dakazu

Ashita no Joe ni Akogarete

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Ashita no Joe ni Akogarete

Manga artist Sanbanchi Kawa shares manga drawing techniques and stories from when he was an assistant under Ashita no Joe creator Tetsuya Chiba.

I was surprised and how finely Kawa wrote about the drawing techniques used in creating manga. This series almost doubles as an instruction book for “How to write manga”. I’m not really a fan of Kawa’s manga because of his art style but this manga was so informative I didn’t mind.

~dakazu