SPRITE
A manga about a group of people who end up time traveling after being in a building that’s impervious to the changes of time.
Finally got to finish this crazy manga after I read it years ago. It had a solid ending and I’m glad to check it off my manga bucket list.
~dakazu
235 – Give My Regards to Black Jack part 3
On this episode we conclude the cancer patient arc, move onto the psychiatry ward, and talk a lot about The Wire as we continue our retrospective on Shuho Sato’s Give My Regards to Black Jack!
Continue readingJUDOS
A manga about a young man who enters the judo battle royale of country town of Yahara, known as JUDOS.
Manga artist Shinsuke Kondo’s 2nd serialization attempt in Weekly Shonen Jump. Much like his debut work Retsu!!! Date-Senpai, it was canceled fairly quickly.
I hate to say it but I just think Kondo just didn’t have the ability to have a successful manga. His artwork isn’t good and his writing doesn’t stand out either. My best guess is that his editor really believed in him and pushed to get him serialized. It’s just unfortunate that he wasn’t able to create something that found success.
~dakazu
Yoru ni Naru to Boku wa
A manga where a college student plans revenge on 3 men who killed his sister by using his power of infiltrating people’s dreams to control their actions after they wake up.
A pretty decent thriller manga. The main concept is right out of Christopher Nolan’s Inception movie. It reminds me a lot of Death Note in the way it mixes cat-and-mouse psychological battles with supernatural elements. The main character Wataru must plan his crime without letting the police catch him.
It just ended it’s run in Weekly Shonen Magazine and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kodansha eventually releases in English.
~dakazu
Satsujin Ryoudan – MADMEN –
A manga where a young man trapped on an island full of sadistic killers must survive and save his loved one.
The problem we have here is that nothing in this manga is really original or impressive. Everything from the design of the killers and scientific human Frankenstein’s monsters to the scenarios the survivors are put in looks like they’ve been ripped off of a horror movie or scary video game. Ryuhaku Nagata’s artwork isn’t strong enough to create anything that I thought was gross or scary. This whole concept is better executed in Kichikujima.
It’s currently available to read on Magazine Pocket and I kinda feel like it’s there because it wouldn’t make the cut for a print serialization.
~dakazu
Satousan
A manga about various people who get involved with a mysterious assassin only known as “Satousan” that is always finds a way to kill his targets.
This horror manga just doesn’t work for me. I liked how they built some tension with the mystery of Satousan. He’s treated almost like an urban myth. But the his actual reveal never scared me. You only see him through his silhouette but he’s basically a walking skeleton: almost all bones. He’s supposed to use his extreme thinness to sneak upon his victims but then he’s somehow able to overpower them with super strength and speed. How is that supposed to work?
I wondered if he was supposed to be an actual supernatural entity but the afterword by creator Tetsu Kusumoto says Satousan is supposed to exist in reality. Well, he failed because it wasn’t realistic at all.
~dakazu
Boxer’s Blast
A manga where a world boxing champion starts training his newspaper delivery boy when he shows potential for boxing.
This is kind of a straight-forward sports manga. The twist is that after the champion gets injured and comatose, he leaves his body to becomes a living ghost so he can continue to train the boy. It’s an interesting hook but then you have the common sports manga troupe of a beginner who’s actual possesses a superhuman skill(in this case hearing) that helps him become a superior athlete.
This is a new series by the same creative team that did Medaka Box. I mostly liked that manga but didn’t like how it got way over-the-top towards the end. This manga seems like a simpler story but I fear they might have gone too simple and too generic.
I’ll keep reading it for now.
~dakazu
Hinomaru Sumo
A sports manga about a high school sumo wrestler who’s fiery spirit overcomes his physical limitations as he dreams to become the next Yokozuna.
We discussed this series on a recent episode of Darfox Dabbles.
It’s a standard sports manga with a lot of sports manga cliches but unique because it covers sumo wrestling. And that’s not to say this isn’t a bad series at all. I quite enjoy the shonen sports genre and Hinomaru Sumo definitely delivers with strong action and good characters.
There’s heavy influence from Weekly Shonen Jump as Hinomaru and the other wrestlers have extravagant names to their throws and techniques that make them feel like super moves right out of a fighting game. While I like this book, I personally think the Bachi Bachi series by the late Takahiro Satou was a superior sumo manga.
This series isn’t included in the English Shonen Jump lineup but you can still read legal chapters in English on MANGA Plus. The current anime is good as well.
~dakazu
234 – Give My Regards to Black Jack part 2
This week we continue learning about modern Japanese medicine through the lens of Shuho Sato’s Give My Regards to Black Jack!
Continue readingZanki X 99
A manga where 99 girls mysteriously awake in a room where they are teleported inside an deadly old retro game where each of their lives are used as continues.
This is a web series currently on Kurage Bunch. I honestly don’t really like it very much. It just seems focused on seeing how the different girls can be brutally killed by monsters and traps. Heavy gore for the sake of gore.
They try to do some dramatic characterization with the two main girls but I thought the big “twist” was handled poorly. I won’t give exact spoilers but let’s just say it wasn’t great representation.
~dakazu