Ashita no Joe

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Ashita no Joe

A manga that follows a young teenager, Joe Yabuki, who gets sent to juvenile prison where he begins his journey training to become a boxer.

Easily considered one of the greatest manga ever made. I remember my first time reading through the series and being genuinely surprised how good it was. Asaki Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba masterfully take Joe through his naive teenage years into bitter adulthood and even eventually into an almost self destructive anti-hero. I think it’s a damn shame there hasn’t been a Western release of this masterpiece yet.

~dakazu

Claymore

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Claymore

A manga about half demon female warriors who wield Claymore swords with superhuman strength to hunt down evil demons.

Both Darfox8 and I are huge fans of this series. Norihiro Yagi‘s monster designs are really elegant and his fight scenes are excellent. My only complaint about the series is that all the Claymore warriors have emotionless expressions and similar faces so it’s almost impossible to tell them apart aside from their hairstyle.

An exciting shonen battle manga. It’s available from VIZ and I recommend it.

~dakazu

Devil Ecstasy

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Devil Ecstasy

A manga about the brothel Devil Ecstasy that’s run by succubi who consume the life essence of men and kill them.

We’ve talked about this manga on an old episode.

This book is not good. It’s probably one of the worst things Shuzo Oshimi has ever done. It makes light of the main character’s experience as a child being molested. It’s filled with pretty excessive sexual content. This was also the first manga we read for Manga Machinations that Darfox and Seamus absolutely hated.

However I still find some enjoyment in the innocent romance of a loser guy and a flat chested succubus. The ridiculous fear of giant breasts is entertaining enough and I really enjoy the impotent side character Kageo.

It’s only worth reading to see how far Shuzo Oshimi has come as a manga artist but still a guilty pleasure pick for me.

~dakazu

Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san

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Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san

A manga about the high schooler Masaru Hananakajima, who starts a school club for the mysterious martial art known as Sexy Commando!

This manga is probably within my personal top-3 comedy series. Kyosuke Usuta electric debut in Weekly Shonen Jump shocked readers for it’s absolutely wacky absurdist humor. Sexy Commando was all about distracting your opponent and that would usually involve unzipping your fly and pulling something out. It’s pure comedy.

It’s similar to Pop Team Epic but before the era of memes so it was mostly just strange inside jokes for Usuta himself. Although the series was ultimately canceled Usuta became known for as a titan of comedy and his Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar was serialized for 10 years.

It’s equally ridiculous and hilarious. I loved the anime as well.

~dakazu

Space Brothers

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Space Brothers

A manga about an older brother pursing his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by following in his younger brother’s footsteps.

We did a Saikyo Selections on this recently.

Space Brothers is a feel good family friendly series. Watching our main character, Mutta, stumble through his astronaut selection process is extremely hilarious. Chuya Koyama has spot-on comedic timing that accentuates the heartfelt dramatic moments. My only reservations for recommending this manga is that it’s long running and still not finished.

Available from Kodansha and also has a great anime adaptation.

~dakazu

292 – Yu Yu Hakusho part 1

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292 – Yu Yu Hakusho part 1

The time is finally here! We’ve been waiting over four years to start a Retrospective on Yu Yu Hakusho! Join us as we examine the first three volumes of Yoshihiro Togashi’s beloved series about the delinquent Yusuke Urameshi, who goes from ghost to spirit detective! Morgana and Darfox have lots of love for the anime but dakazu has issues with the loose English translations! We also answer emails and Seamus rereads Vinland Saga!!!

Continue reading →

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

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Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

A manga about a boy with a genie named Aladdin who teams up with Ali Baba the thief to explore mysterious dungeons in search of treasure.

I liked Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic while it was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday but the battle scenes became kinda excessive toward the finale. Also Shinobu Ohtaka perfected her technique of drawing really creepy expressions throughout the series and she really leaned into those towards the ending a bit too much for my tastes. Still, it’s an beautifully drawn shonen battle manga set in the the world of the Arabian Nights and worth reading if that interests you.

Available in English from VIZ along with a good anime adaptation.

~dakazu

Kashikoi Ken Rilienthal

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Kashikoi Ken Rilienthal

A manga about a brother and sister who’s new family member is the talking super dog Rilienthal!

This was Daisuke Ashihara‘s series before he did World Trigger. While World Trigger has far better wide appeal, I was a big fan of this wacky sci-fi/slice-of-life story.

The biggest appeal of Kashikoi Ken Rilienthal is the how wholesome everything is. When Rilienthal and his friends get lost on a ghost ship they fix the problem while befriending a lonely ghost. When a friend’s jealous feelings manifest itself as a huge monster they resolve the problem by talking it out. Even many agents of the secret organization that want to kidnap Rilienthal show lots of heart and compassion. This really is an iyashikei shonen series. Unfortunately it never found enough popularity in Weekly Shonen Jump and was ultimately canceled but I still look back fondly at this cute manga. It was nice to reread it on Jump+.

~dakazu

GTO

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GTO

A manga about former biker delinquent Eikichi Onizuka, a man destined to become the greatest teacher in all of Japan.

Looking back on GTO, it’s easier to see the glaring faults in the series. Onizuka’s endless perversion over students really doesn’t sit well and the dramatic moments are often setup by characters acting illogically for the sake of the plot. Still, Tohru Fujisawa was able to take his crass thug with a heart of gold from his previous book Shonen Junaigumi and create this mega-hit manga. It shows how readers loved the out-of-the-box methodology GTO brought to the school setting. I only wish Fujisawa would stop milking this series for sequels.

~dakazu

Death Note

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Death Note

A manga about a genius teenager who comes into possession of a Death Note that allows him to kill anyone by writing their name in it.

So here’s the thing…

I think Death Note is fine but I also think it’s way overrated.

The story builds nicely but I thought everything that happened after L was pretty boring. I had a better time with the recent one shot then trying to reread this series. I recognize the importance of this manga without having to really like it myself.

Available from VIZ in English.

~dakazu