Iso Asobi
A food manga about a middle school boy who helps a young high-class girl catch and eat food from the ocean.
This series focuses on seafood and reminded me a little of Houkago Teibou Nisshi. There’s a stronger romantic element in this one with the main boy having a crush on the girl but I don’t think this manga will go into anything deeper with human relationships.
I’ll keep reading more for now.
~dakazu
225 – One Shot 17 – An Invitation from a Crab
On this episode we review the surreal stories in An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya!
Continue readingHoukago Assault x Girls
A manga where a class of high school girls are magically teleported to a world right out of a multiplayer first person shooter.
Our podcast guest Chris accidentally started reading this series when he confused it for Joshi Kouhei. I checked it out afterwords myself and it slightly entertained me. It’s clearly inspired by games like Battlefield as the girls can choose classes like the Medic or Engineer. They even get limited respawns and shields. But the character designs were moe-like and the story was pretty basic so I don’t think I’ll keep reading it
If anything I checked it out just to see what a manga-version of Battlefield would be like.
~dakazu
GTO – Paradise Lost
A sequel series to GTO where Onizuka is in prison after an incident from teaching a special class for high school-aged celebrities.
I like GTO and I felt it’s original ending was a bit sudden so initially I was happy to read sequel series like GTO: Shonan 14 Days. Unfortunately it now feels like Tohru Fujisawa is just trying to cash in on his most popular series with this one.
If you’re a fan of GTO then you might like this but I’d rather see Fujisawa work on something new.
~dakazu
Kyuushoku no Jikan desu.
A manga about elementary students who befriend each other over school lunch.
A really cute series. I liked that it was another manga that’s more about human relationships and friendship than the food itself. A slice of life starring younger children was pretty refreshing and I enjoyed the upbeat stories that had happy endings. It was short with only 3 volumes total but I think it wouldn’t have worked as a long running serialization.
~dakazu
Robot Zantouhei
A sci-fi take on WW2 where Japan developes the technology to transform humans into robot soldiers.
I read this series a long time ago and still love it. Though the story is the overused “non-human must regain their humanity” plot the action is fantastic. It’s very nationalistic for Japan so I doubt it would ever get an official translation but Yokoo Kimitoshi’s art work is so stylized and unique it would definitely catch the eye of readers. His style actually reminds of Scud: The Disposable Assassin. I will say that it’s easy to see that the design of the robot soldiers were heavily inspired by the original Iron Man.
An old favorite of mine for sure!
~dakazu
Sensei no Shiroi Uso
A manga about a young teacher and her high school student who make a connection through their experiences being raped.
This series is the definition of a mixed bag. I think the way Akane Torikai handles the subject of rape is actually very well done. It doesn’t feel like a cheap way of setting up villains or adding drama and it felt like the act was being addressed for what it is.
However I just can’t deal with the romance between the teacher and her student. For a story that handles rape so well, I’m dumb founded with the cliche teacher/student relationship. It would’ve been so much better if the two characters made a connection based on understanding and camaraderie instead of attraction. I was hoping it might end differently but I was disappointed as usual.
Also, every student was a complete asshole? Not sure why they took such an unrealistic approach to them.
~dakazu
Sensou Meshi
A collection of stories revolving around food during World War 2.
I’m a fan of Santa Uonome’s character art work. The people he draws may look cute but they allow Uonome to bring out the deep emotional expressions from their simple designs. The stories he tells here are all about people finding comfort in food during the tough times of war. Honestly, this series is more about human drama than the food.
A heartwarming series that I liked!
~dakazu
224 – One Shot 16 – In Clothes Called Fat
This week we look into Moyoco Anno’s character study of an obese woman with In Clothes Called Fat!
Continue readingKomitsu-sensei no Jikaisaku ni Gokitai Kudasai.
A comedy about a manga artist who just ended his previous series and his struggles to create a new one.
I rather enjoyed this one. Naoki Mizuguchi has a good knack for comedic timing and really plays up the idiocy of the protagonist. I particularly enjoyed how Komitsu-sensei would drag down his talented assistant at every given opportunity.
I recommend this along with Mizuguchi’s current series Saotome Senshu, Hitakakusu.
~dakazu