Survival – Shounen S no Kiroku
A remake of Takao Saito’s Survival.
A really decent reboot. The original was one of the first manga to cover the topic of survival. Akira Miyagawa does a great job modernizing the story while still sticking with all the major plot points of the original. It ended in 5 volumes but as a [End Act 1] kinda deal so I would be interested to read more if it happens.
~dakazu
Himawari
A manga about a young man who follows in his childhood friend’s footsteps to become an idol.
This one has grown on me since it began it’s serialization in Weekly Shonen Champion. It started off slow as the main character is introduced as a Kagura dance performer and he uses that talent to pursue a career as an idol. The story is pretty typical as he’s put into a rag-tag group of misfits and his enthusiasm begins to win over the other members. I know Tetsuhiro Hirakawa is known for his delinquent fighting series Clover so I wasn’t surprised that the story sometimes dipped into it.
A solid series.
~dakazu
3-gatsu no Lion Shouwa Ibun – Shakunetsu no Toki
A prequel to March comes in like a Lion that looks back at the professional career of it’s Japan Shogi Association chairman, Takanori Jinguji.
I love March comes in a like a Lion. It’s one of my favorite series and the recent anime was amazing. While I’m not a fan of most manga spin-offs, this one is damn good and artist Hideaki Nishikawa deserves all the credit.
Their art work is tonally very different from original creator Chica Umino but equally captures the fiery emotions of the different professional players who appear throughout the story. It perfectly matches the series tagline of ‘scorching times’.
I also appreciated how this book put a lot of focus on food of the Showa era.
~dakazu
Mazarian
A manga about modern Japan where anomalies known as ‘hizumi’ appear and mix together objects. After a high school delinquent, middle school nerd, cat, and flea end up fusing together, they embark on a quest to learn more about the anomaly.
I really enjoyed this! The main character of the cat with a kendo stick caught my eye when I would flip through Manga Action magazine and I finally had a chance to read it. The gimmick of this world Sakumo Okada set up is really fascinating and lead to some really unique mixes, such as a boxer with long pole arms or a homeless man who mixed with a tree.
The story moved along nice an quick and led to a open ended but satisfying conclusion. The series was both dramatic and comedic, which I loved. I’ll definitely be tracking down any more works by Okada. He’s gained a new fan.
~dakazu
243 – One Shot 20 – Tekkon Kinkreet
This week we take a look at Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkon Kinkreet! We talk about Matsumoto’s French comic influenced art style and his story about two orphans living in the streets of the fantastical Treasure Town!!!
Continue readingKin no Hitsuji
A manga about a girl who moves back to her hometown to find that her three childhood friends have changed.
Really enjoyed this one. We read Kaori Ozaki’s The God’s Lie for an episode but I really thought this series was way better. Ozaki does a fantastic job setting up the four friends and their complex relationships. The story really fleshes them all out and leads to a really great conclusion.
Short and sweet series.
~dakazu
Chainsaw Man
A manga about a young man who ends up fusing with his pet devil to become a devil hunter who grows chainsaws out of his body.
I really enjoyed Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Fire Punch so I was excited to see him start a new series in Weekly Shonen Jump. Initially the manga seemed like it might get canceled but I’m really happy that it’s started to gain popularity, at least for now.
It’s got a great silly sense of humor and I love it.
Available on Shonen Jump and Manga Plus.
~dakazu
Kabedon!
A manga about a a boy who gets into the world of bouldering.
This is a pretty interesting series. I like being introduced into the world of bouldering through a manga. It does suffer from having a typical sports protagonist who knows nothing about the sport but just happens to have a specific skill that makes him a prodigy. Since this series is runs in Big Comic Spirits it does seem to avoid some typical shonen sports troupes but it’s relatively new so I’ll have to keep reading it to see how it turns out.
~dakazu
Yaseppochi to Futoccho
A manga about a homeless skinny girl who is saved by a kind chubby boy and his loving father.
What an absolutely sweet love story. I adore it. Dan and Julia care so much for each other and the story is just about them falling in love.
It’s a twitter manga by Mayumi Kato who is the wife of Ryouichi Yokoyama.
Love it.
~dakazu
Kiichi VS
The sequel series to Kiichi!!.
After reading the previous series I was interested to see where Hideki Arai would take the story. I was a little disappointed to find that he’d setup the main character as another charismatic leader because he ended up doing that before with The World Is Mine. The journey Kiichi takes to his final moments were well done but ultimately sad. The point Arai makes is that changing the public and the world is too difficult with just doing the right thing and that shows with this book.
I enjoy Arai’s works and always find that they have something interesting to say. This one is no exception.
~dakazu