Shogi Sasu Kedamono

Shogi Sasu Kedamono

A manga about Hikari Danzuka, a woman who’s vicious shogi play might makes waves in amateur tournaments. Her strength and ruthlessness catch wind of a reporter who digs up rumors of her sordid past.

Another enjoyable shogi manga. I’ve more than a few manga about female shogi players like Eisei Otome no Tatakai-Kata and Ryu to Ichigo but they always like to focus on the fact that female players are considered inferior to male players. I think a lot of these shogi manga focus on female players to emphasize their talent and skill in a competitive world dominated by men.

The protagonist Hikari also defeats her opponents with overwhelming strength but also completely crushes them without remorse. There’s a big mystery about why she’s so strong and bad rumors about things she did in high school. All of this makes for a really engaging read. Iroha Ichimaru‘s art looked familiar and it was because they also did Million Joe. Ichimaru’s distinct art style works well with these shogi player who are compared to beasts.

~dakazu

Million Joe

Million Joe

A manga about a manga editor who decides to hides the death of a genius manga artist to keep his mega hit series “Million Joe” ongoing.

Super interesting premise and execution. This manga has the feel of a heist movie as the editor, his shady friend, and the chief assistant all work together to pull off this challenging con job on the editor-in-chief and hardcore fans of Million Joe. There’s lots of tension between the 3 of them as they each question if they can trust each other. The editor feels guilt for not monitoring the genius manga artist’s health and doesn’t want to disappoint all the fans. The assistant needs money to cover his large debt but is stressing out about becoming the ghost artist. And the friend idolizes the editor for his bold plan but keeps a secret insurance in case everything goes south. Author Ryoji Toguchi did a great job setting up these tense relationships and the realistic challenges they have to face. Also Iroha Ichimaru‘s art work is very distinct. The characters all have very cartoony designs but it works well to contrast the tense tone of the series.

I won’t spoil have everything turns out but I will say I enjoyed all 3 volumes of this manga!

~dakazu