Kekkon Afro Tanaka

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Kekkon Afro Tanaka

The latest in the Afro Tanaka comedy series about the life of afro haired Hiroshi Tanaka that focuses on his life as a newly married man who is starting a family.

Masaharu Noritsuke‘s Afro Tanaka series has been running since 2002 in Big Comic Spirits. It started with Hiroshi in high school and followed his life as he drops out of school, moves to the city, travels throughout Japan, starts a relationship, and now focuses on his married life. And throughout this long running series Noritsuke’s jokes are so good I’m still enjoying this latest iteration. Afro Tanaka works because it combines dumb happenings, sharp wit, and extreme overreactions into a perfect blend of comedy. I’m sure it will never be published in English which is a damn shame because it’s one of my favorite comedies.

~dakazu

Tokachi Hitoribocchi Nouen

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Tokachi Hitoribocchi Nouen

A diary manga by Yuji Yokoyama about moving to Tokachi, Hokkaido and starting a farm to grow vegetables from scratch to make curry to serve other manga artists like Gosho Aoyama and Mitsuru Adachi.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

This is one of the only manga I look forward to reading in Weekly Shonen Sunday. I just love the ridiculous set up for this series. Yokoyama’s previous title was an interview manga so the editorial department came up with this crazy project to have him grow vegetables from scratch and make curry as a thanks to the manga artists he got to interview.

It’s a wild idea but also totally hilarious as Yokoyama draws about how he had to buy land, buy a car, and find a place to live before he even begins to try growing vegetables. I love the cute super deformed character art Yokoyama uses because it works so well as he continues to make mistakes over and over. This is a hilarious non-fiction series and I’m surprised it runs in Sunday.

~dakazu

Watashi to Watashi

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Watashi to Watashi

A manga made up of two works by Mizu Sahara. One is about a petty thief who is approached by a high school girl who says they’re in love with them. The other is about two very different high school girls who share the exact same name.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

I was interested in reading something by Sahara after we read Same Cell Organism for the podcast. I found this single volume release she did that features two of her works. While I enjoyed both stories for her beautiful artwork, they were really dramatic. I’d have to read more of her work to see if drama is just her wheelhouse but if that’s the case I’m not sure if I’d keep reading her stuff. It’s just not for me.

~dakazu

310 – Saikyo Selections 13 – Fushigi Yûgi

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310 – Saikyo Selections 13 – Fushigi Yûgi

The wonderful manga letterer Sara Linsley is back to help lead this Saikyo Selection on Fushigi Yûgi! We dive into Yuu Watase’s beloved shoujo series along with the newest Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki which Sara lettered! We praise Watase’s amazing art, appreciate the 90′s pretty boys aesthetics, discuss the often dark drama, and explore the criticisms of certain cross-dressing characters!!!

Continue reading →

Giant Killing

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Giant Killing

A manga about a former ace soccer player, Takeshi Tatsumi, who becomes the coach at his the club he once abandoned, East Tokyo United. ETU is one of the weakest teams in the league but Tatsumi takes out stronger opponents with his “giant killing”.

When I discovered this manga I immediately checked to see if giant killing was real. After learning that it is I dove into this series and found it really engaging. It was exciting to see the usual dramatic approaches to sports applied to professional adult players. There’s a great adversarial dynamic between Tatsumi, his players, and even the local fans. Everything builds up but gets resolved nicely.

Giant Killing is well written underdog story by Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo has really distinct looking characters that look great. It’s a long running series but definitely worth checking out. Available in English from Kodansha Comics.

~dakazu

Nohara Hiroshi Hiru Meshi no Ryuugi

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Nohara Hiroshi Hiru Meshi no Ryuugi

A food manga staring the father Hiroshi Nohara from Crayon Shinchan. Follows Hiroshi as he eats various meals during his lunch break at work.

We discussed this on a recent episode.

What a strange spin-off creation. I’m really confused why they decided to make a food manga staring Shin-chan’s dad but it’s a decent food manga. Hiroshi picks a meal and sometimes he orders too much or sometimes it ends up being a nostalgic meal from his younger days. Regardless of Youichi Tsukahara using a different art style than Yoshito Usui‘s original comics, he always does a good job making the food look delicious so this was still enjoyable to read. But I’ll forever be confused about the randomness of making a food manga about Shin-chan’s dad.

~dakazu

To Your Eternity

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To Your Eternity

To Your Eternity

A manga about an immortal being who slowly learns about humanity through the experiences it accumulates interacting with individuals over multiple generations.

We’ve discussed this manga on a recent episode.

This is Yoshitoki Oima‘s follow up to her award winning masterpiece A Silent Voice. I’ll be honest. It took me a long time to really get into this manga because it’s such a slow burn. It takes multiple story arcs for the immortal Fushi to even learn how to speak and interact properly with humans around him. I think volume 8 is where I finally got into the story and now there’s been a wild change that’s got me hooked to read the newest chapters.

Currently To Your Eternity isn’t as good as A Silent Voice but I’ll continue to read this unique series by Oima until it’s complete. It’s available in English from Kodansha Comics.

~dakazu

Mingo: Italia-jin ga Minna Moteru to Omou na yo

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Mingo: Italia-jin ga Minna Moteru to Omou na yo

A manga about Italian otaku Mingo who lives in Japan and trys to fight against the stereotype that all Italians are popular playboys.

We’ve discussed this on a recent episode.

When this started I thought it was a pretty interesting manga and unique to have an Italian protagonist. After the series ended I finally realized that the creator Peppe was Italian himself and it was a big deal that he became a serialized manga artist in Japan.

I really liked the start of this story where the titular Mingo just wanted to enjoy his anime and manga but he gets roped into becoming a model just because he’s Italian. There were lots of humorous encounters Mingo had with his fellow Italians and how they played into their own stereotypes for attention. But the ending of the manga was nonsensical and off-putting. Mingo messes up his chances with the girl he likes but for no reason what-so-ever they end up back together. It felt really forced and I suspect the series was cancelled so Peppe just rushed this ending so it could be a happy ending.

Not sure if I would recommend this series but I’m very impressed with Peppe for becoming a serialized manga artist. I hope he continues with a new series otherwise this will seem like it’s been just a publicity stunt.

~dakazu

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

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My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

A spin-off manga to My Hero Academia. It follows a young man that uses his insignificant quirk to help clean trash around town who is suddenly thrown into the world of illegal heroes known as vigilantes.

We’ve discussed this on an older episode.

A really decent spin-off. Since manga has decided to go the way of western comics and franchise their most popular series, there have been a lot of subpar comics that are just cashing in. Luckily, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes stands out on it’s own with a really nice art by Betten Court. I do fell bad for the author Hideyuki Furuhashi because he’s limited by events from the main series. Since Vigilantes is set before the events of My Hero Academia, Furuhashi can’t write anything that would break the status quo of all the main stay heroes that make cameos in Vigilantes. In that sense Furuhashi has done a good job of keeping the story fresh and entertaining throughout this book.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes looks like it’s ending soon but I’m glad to see that it had good success as a manga spin-off, which is something you definitely can’t say the same for stuff like Attack on Titan: Junior High.

~dakazu

Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero.

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Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero.

A manga about a teenager who lost his left leg in an accident decides to become a para-athlete after meeting a prosthetic orthopedic and learning about running blade prosthetics.

This is a pretty unique manga. Since 2019 I’ve seen a lot of manga tie-ins for the now delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Shueisha has put out Paralympic Jump and they even did anime crossovers with Yowamushi Pedal and Captain Tsubasa for Anime x Para. Atarashii Ashi de Kakenukero. seems to be in the same vein of putting a spotlight on para-athletes.

It’s a good sports manga that rightfully considers the main characters reservations about returning to athletic competition after he was forced to give up on them. Since the Olympics were canceled due to COVID-19, they also include that real world event in this manga, and that ramifications all the canceled high school sporting events caused. I really appreciate that they’re incorporating the effects of the corona virus on our world today. This is well drawn by Wataru Midori and I will keep reading it.

~dakazu