416 – Prose Picks 2 – Earthlings
With Darfox and Morgana away at New York Comic Con, Seamus and dakazu have decided to revisit Prose Picks and read a novel! They check out Sayaka Murata’s tale of a woman trying to escape societal expectations in Earthlings! They also discuss Ooku: The Inner Chambers and Fire Punch!!!
Continue reading324 – Creator Cross Section 7 – Shigeru Tsuchiyama
On this episode Seamus discusses the penultimate volume of Ôoku: The Inner Chambers and dakazu learns about Miki Yakata’s breast cancer recovery in 27-sai no Nyugan Diary! Then we learn about the appeal of manga artist Shigeru Tsuchiyama through his mastery of drawing food and using simple storylines for a new Creator Cross Section!
Continue reading310 – Saikyo Selections 13 – Fushigi Yûgi
The wonderful manga letterer Sara Linsley is back to help lead this Saikyo Selection on Fushigi Yûgi! We dive into Yuu Watase’s beloved shoujo series along with the newest Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki which Sara lettered! We praise Watase’s amazing art, appreciate the 90′s pretty boys aesthetics, discuss the often dark drama, and explore the criticisms of certain cross-dressing characters!!!
Continue reading298 – Yu Yu Hakusho part 5
Join us for the penultimate episode of our Yu Yu Hakusho Retrospective! We discuss Yoshihiro Togashi’s deteriorating art quality, major issues with the English translation, and parallels between the events of Chapter Black and current events! Also Seamus talks about Ooku: The Inner Chambers, dakazu follows up on last week’s INVESTOR-Z and I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die, and we discuss the manga nominees for the 2020 Eisner Awards!!!
Continue reading279 – Triple Dip 39 – Classmates: Dou kyu sei, I Hear the Sunspot, 10 Dance
On this episode we’re doing a special Boys’ Love edition Triple Dip! Morgana leads the charge as we dive into sweet romances and problematic troupes in the first volumes of Classmates: Dou kyu sei, I Hear the Sunspot, and 10 Dance!!!
Continue reading275 – 2019 Year End News & Manga Review
Welcome to the final episode of Manga Machinations for 2019! Seamus is back, which means all the hosts are ready to discuss all the news stories from this year before sharing their personal top 3 manga, honorable mentions, and worst manga of the year!!!
Continue reading266 – One Shot 24 – H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories
Happy Halloween everyone! This week Seamus continues his quest to catch up on Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Morgana enjoys Jujutsu Kaisen, and dakazu reads a heartwarming epilogue for Jitsuroku: Nakumade Bokorarete Hajimete Koi ni Ochimashita! Then we get spooky with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories by Gou Tanabe!!!
Continue reading255 – Manga in Motion 39 – Mirai
This week we take a look at Mamoru Hosoda’s latest anime movie, Mirai! Tune in to hear what we thought about this story about a boy learning to accept his baby sister and how it compares to Hosoda’s other films!!!
Continue reading240 – Creator Cross Section 5 – Kazuo Koike
On this episode we pay tribute to manga writer Kazuo Koike who passed away recently. We examine his themes of historical facts, violence, nudity, and tattoos throughout his work on Lone Wolf and Cub, Lady Snowblood, Crying Freeman, and Mad Bull 34!!!
Continue readingŌoku: The Inner Chambers
A manga about an alternate history of the Edo period of Japan where a disease wipes out 90% of the male population and the government is ruled by female shoguns who make use of a special male harem to produce offspring.
I love Fumi Yoshinaga’s work but when I started reading Ōoku I felt I had to take notes because there were SO MANY characters spanning various timelines of different rulers. The alternate history aspect was also fascinating but hard to follow because I’m so ignorant of Japanese history. The use of early modern English in the translation also didn’t help.
I recently read the newest volume and was reminded of how beautifully crafted this series was. Despite my ignorance with the historical references, I couldn’t help but be invested in the characters and their motives within the Japanese court.
The series is phenomenal and available in English from VIZ. I highly recommended it.
~dakazu