This has been a relatively quiet week on the manga beat, so I’m going to lead off with a question: what are you reading? Is there a series that you wouldn’t hesitate recommend? A manga that looked promising but disappointed or, conversely, a manga that looked awful but turned out to be fun, interesting, or engrossing? Inquiring minds want to know!
NEWS AND VIEWS
As the eighth volume of The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting arrived in Japanese bookstores, publisher Micro Magazine announced that the series just reached an important milestone: one million volumes in circulation. [Otaku USA]
Another Wednesday, another passel of licensing announcements from Seven Seas: look for I Didn’t Mean to Fall in Love, My Girlfriend’s Child, and Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu! in 2023. [Seven Seas]
David Brothers leads a lively roundtable discussion of MOB PSYCHO 100, with an emphasis on its polarizing artwork. [Mangasplaining]
The reviewers at Honey’s Anime have compiled a list of their ten favorite historical manga, from Seven Shakespeares to Golden Kamuy. [Honey’s Anime]
Over at TCJ, Jon Holt and Teppei Fukuda have translated another essay by manga critic
REVIEWS
Justin and Krystallina agree: you should be reading My Happy Marriage. Over at Women Write About Comics, Masha Zhdanova praises Nagabe’s Blue Monotone for its low-key approach to depicting teenage romance. “Nagabe uses anthropomorphic animals to tell a story about a familiar theme: being ‘weird’ isn’t inherently bad, and differences between people should be celebrated instead of shamed,” she observes. “The fact that this love blossoms between two animal boys, both outcasts in different ways, helps make this theme clear.” Also worth a look is Paulina Pryzstupa’s thoughtful review of Look Back, a novella-length story from the creator of Chainsaw Man.
New and Noteworthy
- Atom: The Beginning, Vol. 1 (Charles Hartford, But Why Tho?)
- Blitz, Vol. 1 (Harry, Honey’s Anime)
- Cat + Gamer, Vol. 1 (Ashley Hawkins, Manga Librarian)
- The Geek Ex-Hit Man, Vol. 1 (Sakura Eries, The Fandom Post)
- Heaven’s Door: Extra Works (Onosume, Anime UK News)
- The Liminal Zone (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Look Back (Brandon Danial, The Fandom Post)
- Ping-Pong Dash!, Vols. 1-5 (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
- Romantic Killer, Vol. 1 (Joseph Luster, Otaku USA)
- Rooster Fighter, Vol. 1 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Sakamoto Days, Vol. 1 (Rai, The OASG)
- She, Her Camera, and Her Seasons, Vol. 1 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
- Wandance, Vol. 1 (Sarah, Anime Uk News)
- Yokohama Kaidaishi Kikou, Vol. 1 (Harry, Honey’s Anime)
Complete and Ongoing Series
- Crazy Food Truck, Vol. 2 (Christopher Farris, Anime News Network)
- Fly Me to the Moon, Vol. 13 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Imadoki! Nowadays (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)
- Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible!, Vol. 3 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
- Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, Vol. 3 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
- Ragna Crimson, Vol. 6 (Grant Jones, Anime News Network)
- Spy x Family, Vol. 8 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)