The Manga Review: Before Chainsaw Man

The January 2023 NPD Bookscan numbers are in, and Tatsuki Fujimoto is king! He claimed twelve of the top twenty spots on last month’s Adult Graphic Novel list, with eleven volumes of Chainsaw Man and the first installment of Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man. January was a good month for other VIZ properties as well, with volumes of Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, One Piece, and Spy x Family charting; Dark Horse’s new deluxe edition of Berserk was the the only other series to make the cut. On NPD’s Author Graphic Novel list, webtoons and manhwa made a strong showing with volumes of Killing Stalking, My Gently Raised Beast, The Remarried Empress, Solo Leveling, and Villains Are Destined to Die.

NEWS…

Congratulations to Erica Friedman, who recently reached a major milestone: her 5,000th article at Okazu! To mark the occasion, she shared the results of her recent Global Yuri Fandom Survey, and offered insight into how the survey was designed. [Okazu]

Brigid Alverson has the low-down on VIZ’s fall line-up, which includes gag manga, more Junji Ito, and Ai Yazawa’s Neighborhood Stories. [ICv2]

Have you completed the February Seven Seas Reader Survey yet? [Seven Seas]

The crack team at Yatta-Tachi have compiled a comprehensive list of all the manga and light novels scheduled for a February release. [Yatta-Tachi]

Good news for oenophiles: Kodansha has just made all 44 volumes of The Drops of God more widely available. You may remember that Vertical published a few volumes in 2011, leaving the series incomplete. Then in 2020, Kodansha teamed up with comiXology to make the entire series accessible through Amazon. The story is now available in a much wider array of digital formats, from Apple Books to Kobo and nook. [The Fandom Post]

…AND VIEWS

One of the best things I read this week was Carrie McClain’s Love Letter to Josei Manga, a personal reflection on how she discovered—and fell in love with—manga for older female readers. If you still have dog-eared copies of Suppli or Tramps Like Us lurking on your bookshelf, this post is for you. [Black Nerd Problems]

Arpad Okay revisits Shiro Masume’s Ghost in the Shell, explaining why it remains a cyberpunk classic almost 30 years after it was first translated into English. [The Beat]

The staff at WWAC compile a list of their favorite indie-press comics of 2022. [WWAC]

Kristin sifts through all the various manga editions of Tokyo Ghoul, offering readers practical advice about how to assemble a complete set without breaking the bank. [Anime Collective]

For anyone curious about the history of manhwa, William Schwartz’s in-depth essay on Lee Hyun-see’s Alien Baseball Team is essential reading. “The sheer eccentricity of these constantly shifting genre tones underlies much of the comic’s appeal – and also its influence,” he notes. “Anyone familiar with modern South Korean cultural content has probably experienced the same form of whiplash. International hits like Parasite and Squid Game have been big mainstream examples of much the same blended storytelling, which has been the calling card of South Korean media since the first Korean Wave back in the late ’90s.” [The Comics Journal]

LISTENING IN: PODCASTS

Looking for a great anime podcast? Check out this brief but well-curated list compiled by the folks at Audible. [Audible]

To celebrate their second anniversary, the OverMangaCast gang host a lively discussion of The Promised Neverland. [OverMangaCast]

The Mangasplainers dedicate their latest episode to Riyoko Ikeda’s shojo classic The Rose of Versailles. [Mangasplaining]

In the first of a two-part series, the Manga Machinations team revisit Akiko Higashimura’s autobiographical series Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey. [Manga Machinations]

Marian, Sakaki, and VLord discuss the first volume of Alice in Borderland, a sci-fi thriller that sounds a little like Battle Royale and Squid Game. [Saturday Night Shoggy]

On the most recent episode of Shojo & Tell, Ashley is joined by fellow podcasters Giana and Chika (Shoujo Sundae) for an in-depth discussion of Yuu Watase’s Alice 19th. [Shojo & Tell]

The Trash Manga Friends unite for a lively conversation about A Couple of Cuckoos, a romantic comedy in which “two kids swapped at birth are forcibly engaged and made to live together.” [Trash Manga Friends]

REVIEWS

Over at Anime News Network, Rebecca Silverman offers a glowing appraisal of Is Love the Answer?, a book exploring one young woman’s efforts to come to terms with her sexual orientation. The book “doesn’t offer any clear-cut answers, nor does it settle all of its characters into a comfortable happily ever after,” Silverman notes. “But what it does do is teach the questions to ask and stress that it’s okay if you don’t come up with a definitive answer, now or ever. There is no such thing that’s “normal.” There’s only who you are, and whoever that is, it’s perfectly fine.”

New and Noteworthy

• As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World, Vol. 1 (Demelza, Anime UK News)
• Assorted Entanglements, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
• Cut-Over Criteria (Sarah, Anime UK News)
• Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai, Vols. 1-2 (Justin, The OASG)
• The Fiancee Chosen By the Ring, Vol. 1 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
• The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend (Brian Michael Orr, Honey’s Anime)
• The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
• Heartbreak Reincarnation (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
• Honey Lemon Soda, Vol. 1 (Sofia Cortes, Noisy Pixel)
• If My Favorite Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die, Vol. 1 (Adam Symchuk, Asian Movie Pulse)
• Is Love the Answer? (Helen, The OASG)
• Love Is an Illusion!, Vol. 1 (A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)
• Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand (Kyle Clark, Noisy Pixel)
• Miss Miyazen Would Love to Get Closer to You, Vols. 1-2 (Justin, The OASG)
• My Special One, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
• My Special One, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
• Pandora Seven, Vol. 1 (Yuvin Pillay, Noisy Pixel)
• Run Away With Me, Girl, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
• She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 1 (Paulina Pryzstupa, WWAC)
• Show-ha Shoten!, Vol. 1 (MrAJCospay, ANN)
• SHY, Vol. 1 (Justin, The OASG)
• SOTUS, Vol. 1 (Ivanir Ignacchitti, Noisy Pixel)
• Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, Vols. 1-2 (Anna N., Manga Report)
• Wonder Cat Kyuu-Chan, Vol. 1 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
• You and I Are Polar Opposites, Vol. 1 (Tony Yao, Drop-In to Manga)

Complete and Ongoing Series

• Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost, Vol. 3 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
• Beastars, Vol. 22 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
• Bungo Stray Dogs, Vol. 22 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
• Dandadan, Vol. 2 (King Baby Duck, Boston Bastard Brigade)
• How Do We Relationship?, Vol. 8 (Matt Marcus, Okazu)
• In Another World With My Smartphone, Vol. 7 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
• Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 4 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
• Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 4 (Sara Smith, The Graphic Library)
• Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 (Onosume, Anime UK News)
• Mieruko-chan, Vol. 6 (Justin, The OASG)
• My Dear Detective: Mitsuko’s Case Files, Vols. 2-3 (Rebecca Silverman, ANN)
• Otherside Picnic, Vol. 3 (Erica Friedman, Okazu)
• Phantom of the Idol, Vol. 3 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
• Rainbow Days, Vol. 2 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)
• Until Your Bones Rot, Vols. 1-3 (Krystallina, Daiyamanga)
• The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 9 (Sarah, Anime UK News)
• With the Sheik in His Harem, Vol. 1 (Megan D., The Manga Test Drive)