280 – Prose Picks 1 – Last and First Idol
Morgana and Darfox are out this week so Seamus leads the charge into the uncharted territory of light novels this week! We’ll be reviewing Gengen Kusano’s award winning Last and First Idol to see how dakazu handles reading a book without pictures!!!
Continue reading279 – Triple Dip 39 – Classmates: Dou kyu sei, I Hear the Sunspot, 10 Dance
On this episode we’re doing a special Boys’ Love edition Triple Dip! Morgana leads the charge as we dive into sweet romances and problematic troupes in the first volumes of Classmates: Dou kyu sei, I Hear the Sunspot, and 10 Dance!!!
Continue reading278 – Retrospective Redux 2 – BLAME!
This week we revisit the cyberpunk world of BLAME!. It’s Morgana’s first time reading a manga by Tsutomu Nihei and she has a lot to say about the impressive artwork and confusing story. How does returning to this sci-fi adventure hold up for the other hosts? Tune in to find out!!!
Continue reading277 – Manga in Motion 41 – Mary and the Witch’s Flower
On this episode dakazu checks out more volumes of Maiden Railways, Darfox experiences his first Kazuo Umezu manga with The Drifting Classroom, and Morgana wasn’t expecting the dark turns in BEASTARS. Then we compare Studio Ponoc’s debut movie, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, to Ghibli films for Manga in Motion!!!
Continue reading276 – New Chapter Check-in 2 – Attack on Titan
Darfox and dakazu are ready to kickoff 2020 with a New Chapter Check-in to talk all about the current story arcs of their favorite popular series! Darfox continues to love Black Clover and Chainsaw Man while dakazu tries to explain the hot mess that Attack on Titan has become. Also a followup bonus spoiler discussion about Death Stranding!!!
Continue readingSamurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru
A manga about a weak boy who becomes a space traveling samurai on a quest to save the world.
We’ve discussed this on an older episode.
Hmmm, where to begin with this.
This manga is Masashi Kishimoto‘s follow up to Naruto but the art work is being handled by his previous assistant Akira Okubo. I think Okubo’s artwork is impressive but I find the panels are really busy with backgrounds that clutter the pages. Kishimoto’s writing is pretty poor in a lot of ways. The lore setup that a samurai must protect a princess that prays for his power feels really antiquated in modern times. And I’ve yet to see a female samurai and male prince combo that breaks this sexist stereotyping.
Towards the beginning there was also what seemed like a non-binary character who’s two hands spoke to them. One hand being female and the other being male. But Hachimaru tells them if they have male genitals that means they’re male and that throwaway line comes off as transphobic. I’m pretty sure Kishimoto didn’t intend it that way but in today’s political landscape this manga just comes off as ignorant.
Although I was interested to see how Kishimoto was basing this series off of Doraemon I don’t think I want to stick around until I see those direct connections. The series itself seems to be struggling in popularity and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being canceled sometime in 2020.
~dakazu
Kengan Omega
The sequel to Kengan Ashura.
Pretty interesting. I enjoyed Kengan Ashura and this series takes place 2 years after the end of that manga. We follow a new protagonist who begins his own journey of developing his martial arts style. It’s a more traditional storyline of watching a character grow and improve compared to Kengan Ashura where the fighter was already established and powerful. Though there is a powerful new character who looks just like that previous fighter. The main mystery of Kengan Omega is the origin of this new character.
My favorite part of this sequel is seeing the end result of cowardly salary man Yamashita transforming into a confident superior after the events in Kengan Ashura.
Currently available in Japanese on Ura Sunday.
~dakazu
Misakigaokaite
A collection of stories about the residents living in the city of Misakigaoka.
We’ve discussed this on an older episode.
This manga is a really good slice of life series. I liked how every chapter followed a different person living in the city. Some stories were melancholy and others were uplifting but every one had a sense of completion that worked well. Seiji Toda‘s art work is a little simple and the characters looked very similar but I really liked their storytelling.
~dakazu
Shiratama Kyouju no Shironeko
A prequel to Shiratama-kun.
I usually frown upon prequels but I can’t help but love this one. Mostly because you get a talking kitten and he’s super adorable.
This prequel explains the backstory of how Shiratama-kun spent his childhood hanging out at his father’s university. It’s really funny to see the professor hide the existence of his talking cat but can’t help but spoil him and play with him at school. As the story progresses more people learn about Shiratama-kun’s secret and it eventually leads to them revealing everything but this also helps him get accepted into human society and into school.
It’s 2 volumes and super cute.
~dakazu
Mogusa-san
A manga about a high school girl who secretly snacks throughout the school day.
Love this series. It’s such a lighthearted slice of life series. The titular character Mogusa loves eating so much that she has to constantly eat during class or risk her thunderous tummy rumble from happening. There’s so many unique ways she conceals her snacking as well. She’ll hide a giant portion of rice inside her dictionary cover or concealing 4 pieces of candy in her mouth without changing her face.
It is slightly bothersome that the premise of the series is about a girl who can’t enjoy food because she doesn’t want to seem like a glutton and that unto itself reflects sexist expectations for women. But as the series goes on Mogusa learns to accept her large appetite and open up to her friends about it, which helps.
~dakazu