479 – Manga Machinations Awards 2023
Happy holidays everyone! Welcome to our annual awards show! dakazu, Darfox8, Morgana, and seamus2389 celebrate with their individual awards, such as Why Are These Boy Problems™ So Fucking Boring and Not All Teen Fiction! Then we share our top manga picks of the year!!!
Continue reading438 – Planetes part 2
This week we discuss monster girls in Sons of the Forest, Junichiro Saito’s Musashino, the Blue Giant movie soundtrack, and more! Then we conclude our Retrospective on Makoto Yukimura’s hard science fiction series on space development, Planetes!!!
Continue reading437 – Planetes part 1
On this episode we talk about Sailor Moon translations, Something New, Gokurakugai, Demon Slayer – To the Swordsmith Village, and more! Then we start our long awaited Retrospective on Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes! We discuss the near-future story about space debris collectors and what puts the “hard” in hard science fiction!!!
Continue readingPLANETES
A manga where space travel has given way to space pollution and follows a group of astronauts who collect debris.
Makato Yukimura is now well known for his current series Vinland Saga but before that he was known for this minor hit series. I really enjoy this book for the hard science approach to space exploration. Yukimura put a lot of thought into the nuances that would go into the daily lives of these astronauts who are basically blue collar garbage men. The story may be based on space but the focus is on human characters and their connections to each other.
There is also a fantastic anime adaptation that really fleshes out the journey of main character Hachimaki from jaded debris collector to enlightened Jupiter explorer. However the story arc that follows Fee Carmichael and explores the politics of space travel hurting 3rd world countries isn’t in the anime. Both are great and I recommend you check them out! English edition available from Dark Horse.
~dakazu
283 – Saikyo Selections 12 – Space Brothers
This week Darfox talks about Masaaki Yuasa’s Ride Your Wave and dakazu is saddened by the abrupt ending of Oni Shine. Then we examine the long running popular series Space Brothers! What will Seamus and Darfox think of Chuya Koyama’s comedic tale of two brothers pursing their childhood dreams of going to space!?
Continue reading061 – Manga in Motion 3 – Angel’s Egg
On this episode Seamus finishes Planetes, dakazu talks about the JSDF in Rising Sun and kids playing golf in Rising Impact. Then we get into a lengthy discussion about manga spin-offs of other manga and look at Mamoru Oshii’s anime art film Angel’s Egg(Tenshi no Tamago)!!!
Continue reading056 – Blame! part 2
This week we start off with a Billy Bat update hour, Seamus continues with Planetes, darfox and dakazu discuss the ending of the Blood Blockade Battlefront(Kekkai Sensen) anime, we talk about the One Punch Man anime, and end with a long recap of the next set of Blame! chapters in our Retrospective!!!(covers chapters 12-24)
Continue reading055 – Blame! part 1
On this episode Seamus talks about the space garbage men of Planetes, darfox goes deep into Prison School, and dakazu follows teenage serial killers in Kamisama, Kisama wo Koroshitai.(God, I want to kill you)! Then we discuss the mystery and lore of the world of Blame! and determine that protagonist Killy is a wizard!!!(covers chapters 1-11)
Continue reading054 – Manga in Motion 2 – Memories
It’s all anime this week on Manga Machinations! We discuss the decline of bookstores, do a 2015 spring/summer anime wrap-up, and get deep into Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1995 anime film Memories for our Manga in Motion section!!!
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