ah, nostalgia... Aria is one of the first mangas i ever read (if you're curious, my very
first manga was Peach Fuzz). it's an extremely comfy slice-of-life series that takes place
on a terraformed Mars of the future, where water covers about 90% of the planet's surface. Akari
and her friends are training to become gondoliers, but she makes sure that they all take the
time to soak in the beautiful Neo-Venetian landscape
Tip: if you want to read the whole series, you need to start with the two
volumes of Aqua. it's not some separate prequel series, they're the actual first two published volumes
of Aria
BREAKING NEWS: These Girlies Gay!!
while Bloom Into You is a relatively typical yuri manga (it's two high school girls
falling in love), i really enjoy the depth of the characters and how the focal relationship
develops over time. Yuu is a character i especially appreciate—she struggles
with her long-standing inability to develop romantic feelings for others, frustrated by how easy
it is for other people to fall in love. i can't think of any other romantic story i've seen that
has a character like that, so it makes this story very refreshing
when reading this manga im just constantly nodding and going "he just like me fr"
it feels weirdly indulgent to read a comic that's focused on the journey and struggles
of being an artist, but witnessing Yatora's sudden intense interest in creating art and
his resulting triumphs, widened artistic perspectives, and intense self-doubt feels like he's
reaching thru the pages and punching me in the gut. too much of this is relatable!!!!!
creating art is such a fulfilling experience, but the desire to improve your craft can really
weigh you down if you're not careful
im very curious what reading this is like for non-artists, bc so much of this story feels so
familiar
didn't expect the wombo combo of Cooking Manga and D&D Dungeon Crawling to be such a potent
elixir but guess what!! it's got a great cast of charming and goofy characters, mouth-watering
monster-based recipes, and some really good solid art. the core concept of "these idiots need to
get thru this dungeon but they don't have money to buy food" is executed to such a delightful extent,
and the story's kinda funny bc at first it feels like it's mostly gonna focus on the
cooking aspect, but then these goons keep stumbling into more and more plot
can't emphasize enough how good the art is, both the people and monsters are drawn with
such lively expert draftsmanship
a short and sweet one volume manga about an incarcerated woman who's training to become a
hairdresser
thankfully it's a story that's fairly grounded and thoughtful towards its characters,
opting not to sensationalize the setting but, instead, provide some gentle character
development for everyone who steps into this salon
i love the old lady so much, wishing nothing but the best for her 😭🙏
imagine a world of magic where everyone is capable of brutal violence BUT everyone is also some
unique brand of dumbass. that's exactly what makes Dorohedoro so appealing to me, that tastey,
delicious dichotomy between "wow that was preddy violent" and "haha love this idiot :)". the story
tosses you right into its world, constantly introducing you to some wacky
zany new thing and you just gotta sit back and be like "maybe the story will explain this
eventually"
i do enjoy the chaotic scribbly quality of the art, altho sometimes it gets real hard to
tell what the heck is going on in a panel. great raw energy tho
im cheating a little here since i first watched the 2019 anime and then went back and read the chunk of
the manga covered in the final season
an entire extended family's trauma is nothing in the face of one (1) high school
girl's kindness...!
but for real, watching these kids process what's happened to them and how that's affected them, then
choose how they'll take control of their own lives and grow into the people they want to be is extremely
heartwarming. Yuki especially had me like 😭
i definitely have my gripes with the story, ranging from "that's kinda contrived" to "yuck :("
but Fruits Basket has such a sincere heart that i couldn't help but fall in love with it
now, im about to present a pretty wild take here but................. i think Fullmetal
Alchemist is good
i had multiple people telling me for years that this story is pretty dang good, so when
i finally got around to it i Finally Understood (i actually watched the OG anime first, but we
don't need to talk about that).
the plot methodically lays down its pieces, interweaving
numerous moving parts to build up to a very satisfying final arc. thru its nuanced cast of
characters it explores
some heavy topics, plus any story that has a main theme of Screw The Military will always have me like
👀
im THE member of the Armstrong Siblings Fanclub
god i love the art in this series 😩 its storybook aesthetic complements the story's fairy-tale
vibes, utilizing tons of stark black and white contrast for striking compositions. and i love the
characters! there's such a good cute child/guardian dynamic, Shiva is perhaps The Most
Child Of All Time
however, i can't tell if i like the ending or not?? i think it's bc like, the last
leg of the story shakes things up a bit but also leaves some aspects of the story vague, so i'll
eventually have to reread the story to get a better sense of what the mangaka's intentions were
(and whether i think they were successfully achieved)
one teenager who lost her parents in a car accident + one aunt who had a rocky relationship with
her niece's late mother = delicious josei pain
i always get so excited when i find a character drama where the characters actually feel
real and nuanced and everyone's lives intertwine organically. Asa and Makio find themselves
living together after that horrific car accident, but they're about as polar opposite as you can
get: one's a sociable high schooler with an endearing level of naive bluntness, while the
other's a reserved 35-year-old novelist. together, they navigate their
complicated, messy, raw feelings towards the deaths of Asa's parents (occasionally getting a little
wordy and navel gazey in the process)
only series im listing in both my manga and anime favs bc gee whiz!! this is one of my Favs
y'all!!!
aesthetically, Land of the Lustrous is captivating—striking compositions
utilize bold black fills to frame graceful figures in the midst of flashy combat and crushing
agony. and lemme tell you, these sentient rock people never get a break 😔 this story
is not afraid to stick a knife in my back and twist it over and over and over and
Phos's character development being expressed in such a physical way tickles my body horror
fancy.
go off miserable frankenstein thing
i have some gripes about how the story is paced in later parts, but overall i adore this
series
i am in fact a Chainsaw Man Enjoyer, and while that series is extremely fun, Fujimoto has
been blowing me away with his short comics. this one especially was a kick to the stomach
:'^)
Fujimoto has a way of making his stories feel almost voyeuristically personal, where each turn
of the page peels away a layer of his skin to peer deeper into his
soul. this tale of two young artists striving to become professional manga artists feels so
steeped in personal experience: the inspired drive to improve your craft; the many, many,
many lonely hours practicing; the absurd power of looking up to another artist; the
immense joy of collaborating with someone you look up to. all
ending in sickeningly personal heartbreak
Manga For When You Wanna Be Depressed
Tomoyo has just discovered that her best friend, Mariko, committed suicide, and
impulsively steals Mariko's ashes from her awful father. while not necessarily a groundbreaking
plot for this type of tale, its grounded and visceral emotions are gripping and genuine. the art is also
very charming and expressive, adding a frantic energy to many scenes
it's only one volume long, so i can't say too much else without spoiling stuff. just!
read it!!
a poignant tale of a high school boy who, after being outed as gay at school, finds
a small LGBTQ community where he can gradually become comfortable in his own skin. everyone there has
their own unique identity struggles, with a large focus on how,
despite it being impossible for anyone to completely comprehend or relate to what others
are going thru, they can still try their best to understand each other and thoughtfully lift
each other up
unfortunately, the ending feels pretty rushed, but idk if it was planned
that way or if the manga got axed. either way i still love this story
this was my first Urasawa manga, and i've never read Astro Boy, so im sure that i didn't fully
absorb the sheer raw power of this combination. even so:
this manga rips
based off of the Astro Boy arc "The Greatest Robot on Earth," this manga transforms
that story into a murder mystery led by Gesicht, a highly advanced android detective. a big focus is
on the one great robot question: what differences are there, truly, between humans and robots?
im awestruck by how Urasawa can make 90% of the panels purely talking heads but make it
work so well
college student Satoko decides to study abroad in the USA, but is surprised when her new roommate, Nada,
is a Muslim woman from Saudi Arabia! this is a nice little
slice-of-life edutainment series, focusing on Satoko learning more about
Muslim culture and traditions. but it isn't a one-way curiosity—Nada is also curious
about Satoko's culture, and they trade quite a bit of culture shock in America
as an American who doesn't share either of their backgrounds, i was always interested to
learn more about their distinct cultures and found it pretty funny what shocked them about my
own country
i watched the anime in a binge haze and immediately scuttled over to the manga to cheer on
my dear darling rom-com children!! go get 'em hick nerd girl!!
all the characters got good depth and gradually forge meaningful relationships with one
another—that's the kind of character writing im craving out here!!
the budding romance is slow, but it's slow in a realistic way that isn't drawn out purely for some
will-they-won't-they tomfoolery. these kids are learning more about themselves thru each other and got
some baggage to wade thru, okay?
also: good trans rep!!
highschooler Aimi starts having dreams about a surreal alien planet, inside which she meets another girl
who is apparently trapped there. can they figure out what in the world is going on before alien dangers
befall them?
i think im mostly drawn to the potential of this story—it presents an intriguing
alien world with a captivating mystery, but when i finished reading it i found myself wishing
that the alien world itself was more fleshed out. it's still definitely a worthwhile four volume
excursion
malewife. guydude. scrunkly dunkly blingo blongo yakuza husband.
sometimes i wanna sit back, relax, and witness an ex-yakuza man threaten his roomba with
bodily harm bc it actively ignores vacuuming corners. he LOVES maintaining his
household to the highest standards, he LOVES a good bargain sale, and most importantly he LOVES
his WIFE!!!
im so so glad that the humor isn't rooted in making fun of Tatsu for doing
"feminine" housework, instead we're making fun of his bombastic attempts at
functioning within civilian society
powerful contender for Golly That's Some Beautiful Manga Art. the draftsmanship is wild,
everything is drawn with such care and the storybook-esque hatching is delightful!
im pleasantly shocked by this story's nuanced
exploration of disability—the magical fantasy setting acts as a stage for examining the
accessibility of both their educational system and their world at large
i do have some issues with the story's pacing (it's pretty go go go a lot of the
time and loves to end chapters on cliffhangers), but i can't hold it against any comic
creator who doesn't want to spend 5,000 real world years trying to get anywhere in their story
iyashikei, my beloved genre............ u,w,u
sit back and relax as Alpha, an android woman, runs a tiny out-of-the-way shop in
post-apocalyptic japan
while Alpha goes about her laidback daily life, glimpses of what happened to the
world reveal themselves—sand engulfs empty highways, streetlights
sparkle underneath sea waves, humanity lives out its "twilight years" in an idyllic
countryside. this quiet life passes by, day by day, as Alpha brews coffee, tools around on her
moped, and snaps pictures on a camera delivered to her by a new friend. quiet joy and melancholy infuse
a deep appreciation for everyday experiences
Yotsuba is THE tiny anime child and i WILL protect her at all costs!!!
a slice-of-life comedy but as run by the most scatterbrained energy ball of a
five-year-old the world has ever seen. Yotsuba is so cute 😭 she runs around harassing her
friendly neighbors and comprehends maybe 0.01% of objects she observes. and it's a genuinely
funny story! tbh not a lot of mangas get me to actually laugh out loud but this one did a few
times
if other slice-of-lifes don't got you feeling sentimental about the little things in
life, maybe seeing life thru the eyes of a chaos entity baby child will