Chupaca-Love
A manga about a chupacabra who comes to Japan with the goal of getting married to a Japanese girl.
This is pretty dumb but it’s the kind of dumb I can get behind. Lucy Tokuyama plays with some horror aspects of the chupacabra to get some good laughs. The story gets better as they introduce more creatures like the Flatwoods monster and the Hibagon. It’s a crazy mix up of mythical monsters and romantic comedy.
I laughed.
~dakazu
Juuman
A manga about 5 people who grow giant and must devour an alien blob called Manjuu to keep it enveloping the world.
This is one of the best and unique sci-fi stories I’ve read in a long while. Jun Hanyunyu is basically doing a take on the popular Ultraman series. The 5 humans are all different with their own unique problems that prevent them from working together effectively. As the story progresses they continuously fail at containing the manjuu until everything falls apart. I really enjoyed the dark ending because none of these terrible people should ever be able to enjoy a happy ending.
Short and sweet. I continue to enjoy Hanyunyu’s stuff.
~dakazu
Tokusatsu Gagaga
A manga about an office lady who is a secret tokusatsu otaku.
Pretty good series. I found the best parts were when the OL Kano would get lost in her own world and heroes from her favorite sentai show would show up to cheer her on or problems would appear as villains. Niwa Tanba does a great job keeping Kano’s plight enjoyable to read and it’s filled to the brim with sentai show knowledge.
~dakazu
Chuugoku Yome Nikki
A manga diary by an old otaku husband and his younger Chinese wife.
Love this so much. Junichi Inoue has such a cute art style and fun anecdotes about his international marriage. I’m not usually a fan of 4 panel comics but this was a great read. I especially loved the longer volume end stories about how they started their relationship, proposal stories, and their struggles with conception.
You can check out their blog here.
~dakazu
Shiga Hime
A manga about an immortal vampire Miwako who forces a young boy to become her familiar. He is now cursed to hunt humans for their fresh hearts and battle against other familiars.
The setup for this manga is pretty standard in terms of the horror genre. What sets this apart is Hirohisa Sato’s amazing art. Sato’s ability to draw gruesome body horror kept me reading more.
~dakazu
Hell Warden Higuma
A manga about a young man who’s family serves the Great King Enma as wardens who hunt down fugitive souls and send them back to hell.
Yet another series that came and ended quickly in Weekly Shonen Jump. It’s unfortunate but understandable given the daunting task of trying to win popularity against other Jump behemoths like One Piece and Black Clover.
Apparently creator Natsuki Hokami worked shopped this series with a prototype called Higuma no Te. I’ll try and check it out to see if anything was different.
~dakazu
249 – Darfox Dabbles 5 – Weekly Shonen Sunday & Weekly Shonen Magazine 2
Seamus is away this week so we’ve taken the opportunity to do another Darfox Dabbles! We’re revisiting Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine to check out some of their newer series!!!
Continue readingMidori no Hoshi
A manga about 2 astronauts who crash land on an alien planet divided into a society of humanoids and talking frogs.
I really enjoyed this book. Keigo Shinzo has a distinct art style that makes his characters unique. They have more rounded faces that gave this series a very warm look that works well with the alien setting.
The story follows the plight of Takaichi who desperately wishes to escape the planet and return home but finds himself attracted to a female humanoid. He ends up having a crisis of conscience when he learns the true relationship between the humanoids and the frogs which was entertaining to experience.
A unique sci-fi story that I recommend.
~dakazu
Oni Shine
A manga about a red oni boy who desperately wants to make friends and his blue oni brother.
Another wonderful manga by Sakumo Okada. Love the premise of this one. The dynamic between the brothers is well setup. The red oni Arata can’t make any human friends because red oni give off an aura of disgust. His brother Izumi can make human friends but is ostracized from the oni world because blue oni are considered tools by red oni for their special healing powers.
The way the story progresses with Izumi learning more about his blu oni background and Arata befriending his bully is equally humorous and touching.
A great premise with excellent complex character relationships. Recommend it.
~dakazu
Kami-sama wa Southpaw Diamond
A boxing manga about a man who enters the world of boxing randomly to discover his talents make him a diamond in the rough.
I like this manga. The art was decent but the boxing scenes never had a sense of fluidity to the motion. The story was also pretty rote but it was enjoyable enough that I kept reading. Too bad the series ended prematurely with only 3 volumes.
Interesting note is that creator Shinji Imaizumi made another boxing called Kami-sama wa Southpaw in 1988. The adopted son of the protagonist from that series appears as the Japan Featherweight champion in this manga so I guess this is considered a sequel series. Maybe he wanted to tap into old nostalgia for another shot at a boxing series but it looks like that didn’t help him. A shame.
~dakazu