Rocking You!!

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Rocking You!!

A manga about a high school boy who ends up joining the rock research club and starting a band with it’s solitary member.

Pretty decent music manga. I give Kaori Ishikawa lots of props for having a super kinetic art style that really gave off the intensity of rocking guitars and vocals. Chapters titles were songs that I would listen to as I read through it.

This was serialized on Jump+ and I was kinda sad it ended abruptly. I guess it didn’t have enough popularity to continue.

~dakazu

260 – 5 Year Anniversary Retrospective Redux 1 – Parasyte

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260 – 5 Year Anniversary Retrospective Redux 1 – Parasyte

Come join us as we celebrate 5 years of podcasting! dakazu’s made a top 5 list of the most bizarre/interesting manga he’s ever talked about and we take a look back at one of our first Retrospectives ever, Parasyte!

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X-Power Yojigen Nikutai Shinka

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X-Power Yojigen Nikutai Shinka

An advertisement manga about an amazing body enhancement program that will bring you to your peak health.

We discussed this “manga” on an old episode.

*Snicker

OK… This is probably the most ridiculous thing I have EVER read in my life.

It’s essentially an advertisement in manga form for a scam body enhancement health program. The creator of the program calls himself Sennin(Sage), and starts off by saying you shouldn’t believe him but then talks about everything from how modern medicine is a worthless sham to how he’s discovered the true way to live healthy. And of course, you too can achieve this life changing knowledge for a low fee of $50 a month. What a steal!

*Snicker

This book is filled with hilarious promises and guarantees for this health program. Sennin says you’ll access your primordial hormones and become a babe magnet and your penis will even grow an inch. I thought the part where he explains how members will be participate in the Honolulu marathon and meet their BFF after they fund themselves was particularly hilarious. Sennin even openly admits that he loves money and he’ll use the money he receives to buy things like a new iPhone and designer jeans. I’m not joking about this.

Everything about this screams scam. I’m completely dumbfounded that this thing even exists.

~dakazu

NASA

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NASA

An anthology of works by Naoki Urasawa.

It was really interesting to see Naoki Urasawa‘s origins that focused on comedic themes. The title series NASA was about a middle-aged man who works with a group to launch a rocket to reach space. It could’ve been the progenitor for Space Brothers if Urasawa got it picked up. I will say that besides that story it’s pretty easy to see why the some other series were never fully serialized.

Pretty good collection of stories and a fun read.

~dakazu

Have a Great Sunday

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Have a Great Sunday

A manga about an old writer living between Japan and New York who’s visited by his son and son-in-law every Sunday.

Absolutely wonderful series and peak Natsume Ono in my opinion. I love the dynamic of a the old writer and his doting son along with the more passive observer son-in-law. It’s a great combination of Japanese and American slice of life. They even throw Ono’s favorite Italians in the mix as the son-in-law is Japanese Italian.

A warm story about family. It’s fantastic.

~dakazu

T-Dragon

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T-Dragon

A manga about a group of soldiers who shrink to 1/100 of their size in order to capture an alien organism that is spreading a deadly viral epidemic throughout Japan.

Welp, it sure feels like their reaching for ideas with this one. It’s basically Honey, I Shrunk the Kids mixed with monsters battles. The shrunken humans even benefit super strength just like Antman.

The main character has an origin story of being a jilted teenager who vows to cure the epidemic after his younger brother gets infected. He’s recruited to join a special soldier unit, shrink down to capture the aptly named Tiny Dragon alien. As you’re introduced to his teammates you’re basically just waiting for each of them to meet a gruesome fate during the fighting. This is thematically similar to Hakaijuu and even has similar art designs. There wasn’t really anything that really impressed or interested me so I probably won’t keep reading.

~dakazu

Mama wa Tenparist

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Mama wa Tenparist

A manga by Akiko Higashimura about raising her son.

This is an amazing series so if you have any admiration for Akiko Higashimura I’ll just leave you with this one tidbit so you’ll be convinced to check it out for yourself.

In an attempt to ween her 2-year-old son from breastfeeding, Higashimura drew Duke Togo from Golgo 13 on her boob to scare him…

…it didn’t work.

~dakazu

Astra Lost in Space

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Astra Lost in Space

A manga about a group of teens on an interplanetary camping trip who get transported into distant space and must work together to travel back home.

I found the manga after I watched the first episode of the current anime and was really shocked at how good this was. The story wasn’t unique at the beginning but the characters were lively and there were a lot of funny jokes that broke up the more dramatic parts of the story. Of course it made total sense to me when I learned this was done by Kenta Shinohara who’s worked on Sket Dance. I really should have realized it from Shinohara’s character designs but his perfect blend of comedy and drama made this shorter sci-fi series a great read that had some really original twists towards the end.

I will note that there is a character revealed to have dual sexuality and this series skirts with some potential misrepresentation but I thought it wasn’t explored enough to offend or be positive. But that’s just my take though.

I definitely recommend it and it’s available in English from VIZ.

~dakazu

259 – Creator Cross Section 6 – CLAMP

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259 – Creator Cross Section 6 – CLAMP

This week the 4 hosts dive into the world of CLAMP with X, Cardcaptor Sakura, Clover, Chobits, xxxHOLiC, and Gate 7! There’s a lot to talk about from CLAMP’s ability to adapt into different aesthetics to their representation of female characters and relationships!!!

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Naniwa Meshi Gurashi

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Naniwa Meshi Gurashi

A manga about a man who ends up moving from Tokyo to Osaka to become a share house superintendent where he befriends the residents through local street foods of Osaka.

Man this one was great! I love food manga and having one focus sorely on Osaka street foods is fantastic because I had no knowledge of any of them. Satoshi Hatano does a wonderful job of mixing feel good stories about various characters overcoming life problems with delicious looking meals. I get hungry every time I read it.

~dakazu