308 – Kasane part 4
Our penultimate episode on Kasane has brought us on a story trajectory we’re not happy about! We desperately try to predict where Daruma Matsuura is trying to lead us with the upcoming ending to these literal dramatics! We also talk about I Don’t Know How to Give Birth!, Meshi ni Shimashou, the cancellation of Act-Age, and more!!!
Continue reading297 – Triple Dip 42 – I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die, Crown of Love, INVESTOR-Z
This week Morgana looks forward to reading more Blue Flag and BEASTARS while dakazu shares some of his favorite manga artists active on Twitter! Than the crew are ready to tear apart one of the three manga they read for Triple Dip! Will it be I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die, Crown of Love, or INVESTOR-Z!!!
Continue reading291 – One Shot 27 – Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen
Our wonderful co-host Morgana Santilli is back from her maternity leave! She’s been busy being a new mom while reading lots of manga like SPY x Family, Happy Mania, Blue Flag, Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, and How Do We Relationship?! To celebrate Morgana’s return we review her top manga from 2019, Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen by Moyoco Anno!!!
Continue readingBuddy Strike
A manga about a no control fastball pitcher teaming up with a catcher who’s known as “Death” for destroying the lives of pitchers.
This wasn’t a bad manga by any standards but unfortunately it failed to reach any popularity in Weekly Shonen Jump so it got canceled after 11 chapters. KAITO had found moderate success with the previous Lacrosse manga Cross Manage so trying for another sports manga wasn’t a bad choice. I think that Jump audiences are pretty adverse to sports manga unless it appeals to female readers. This is proven by the success of Haikyu!! and The Prince of Tennis.
KAITO would go on to their current love story Blue Flag, which is excellent, so all’s well that ends well I suppose.
Fun fact. The baseball team featured in Buddy Strike appear as the high school champions in Blue Flag.
~dakazu
245 – Guest Gaiden 4 – Blue Flag with John from Manga Log Podcast
We’re happy to have the host of Manga Log join us this week! John is here to tell us about his fandom origins, why he decided to launch his own manga podcast, and discuss his favorite digital series, Blue Flag!!!
Listen to the Manga Log Podcast and follow John on twitter.
You can read Blue Flag for free on MANGA Plus.
Blue Flag
A romance manga about a boy helping a girl trying to confess to his best friend.
I’ve always felt bad for manga artist KAITO as their previous series Cross Manage and Buddy Strike did not do well in Weekly Shonen Jump. However this series had been having good success on Jump+. I was reluctant to read it because I was kind of over the shonen romance genre but glad I did.
KAITO sticks to the standard tropes of romance stories but they put in a few modern twists. In particular, the reveal of one character’s possible feelings totally surprised me and I was also super into it(yes I’ve being vague on purpose to avoid spoilers!). Also a recent story arc examined the stigma of being friends with the opposite sex and was handled very well.
I’m glad KAITO has found success and I will be adding this to my list of manga to follow. It’s now available to read on Manga Plus app and website.
~dakazu