Search results
63 results, page 1 of 2
Review: TSUKIYOMI MOON PHASE
Sadly I've mostly come to dread vampire manga. That's not because they are frightening, but because more often than not they are just bad ...
Review: GODCHILD
It's once again time to look at some spooky manga, and it's been too long since we looked at a manga from the unofficial queen of spooky sh...
Reivew: K-ON!
I guess it was inevitable that I would have to cover one of those 'cute girls doing cute things in a cute after-school club' stories for thi...
Review: HONEY AND CLOVER
It's September, which means it's time for The Manga Test Drive to go back to school with a month of manga about schools. ( After all, it's s...
Review: MASTER KEATON
Let's wrap up this year's Old School Month with an old-school adventure from one of manga's most notable creators. MASTER KEATON ( Masuta Ki...
Review: CRUSHER JOE
Let's go all the way back to the 70s for some rare old-school sci-fi manga. CRUSHER JOE ( Kurassha Jo ), based on the novel series by Haruka...
Review: DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS
Let's continue with an old favorite for manga-boom-era fujoshi. But does this one still hold up? DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS ( Yami no Matsuei ...
Review: BLACK JACK
Once again it's Old School Month, and I can't believe it's taken me this far into the pandemic to talk about this particular series. BLACK ...
Review: DIVE!!
Swimming events are always some of the most popular events at the summer Olympics. If only this series understood anything about its appea...
Review: NINJA BASEBALL KYUMA!
We move on from the world's most popular sport to Japan's favorite sport: baseball. There are no shortage of baseball manga to choose from,...
Review: DAYS
Since this month marks the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, we'll be taking a look at a series of sports manga this month (which will almos...
Review: LOVE ROUND!!
Let's wrap this month up with another one-shot from one of modern BL's most popular creators. LOVE ROUND!! ( Rabu Raundo!! ), by Hinako Tak...
Review: KIREPAPA
Well, it's time to dig once more into my inordinately large pile of bad BL and fish out another example to take to task, and this one even…
Review: THE CONDITIONS OF PARADISE
Of course, we can't talk about queer manga without looking at least one modern-day yuri title, now can I? THE CONDITIONS OF PARADISE ( Rakue...
Review: AGE CALLED BLUE
It's Pride Month once more, so once again we're looking at some of the manga queer stories to be found within manga. Of course, that includ...
Merry Month of Manga: INTERSPECIES REVIEWERS
Well, I guess I would have to reckon with this series someday, so I might as well take advantage of this month's theme and do so now. INTER...
Merry Month of Manga: RADIANT
Well, since I talked about Beyond the Clouds I might as well cover the other recent fantasy manga with French origins. RADIANT, by Tony Val...
Merry Month of Manga: HETEROGENIA LINGUISTICO
There's a lot of fantasy manga out there, but this is the first one not to focus on a traditional hero's narrative or even fantasy food, but...
Merry Month of Manga: THE SACRED BLACKSMITH
Nothing's more disappointing than a series with squandered potential, and this is just one of countless examples. THE SACRED BLACKSMITH ( S...
Merry Month of Manga: ORFINA
It's time to take a look at another failed fantasy manga from CMX, although this one is less about fairy tale romance and more about epic ba...
Merry Month of Manga: BLACK CLOVER
Weekly Shonen Jump doesn't dabble too much in fantasy these days, and the most recent example is...divisive, to say the least. BLACK CLOVER ...
Merry Month of Manga: DRAGON GOES HOUSE-HUNTING
What's the bigger fantasy here: a gentle dragon who only wants a house of his own, or the very idea of being able to afford to buy or…
Merry Month of Manga: BEYOND THE CLOUDS
Thankfully, there are more recent fantasy series that is not only appropriate for kids, but also legitimately good all on its own. BEYOND TH...
Merry Month of Manga: PRINCESS PRINCE
Once upon a time, if you wanted a fairy-tale-style shojo fantasy, you had to settle for books like this. Thank goodness for progress. PRINC...
Merry Month of Manga: MUSHOKU TENSEI: JOBLESS REINCARNATION
Isekai fantasy manga are all too often power fantasies for their readers, and sometimes those power fantasies can go in some obnoxious or da...
Merry Month of Manga: LOUIE THE RUNE SOLDIER
LOUIE THE RUNE SOLDIER ( Maho Senshi Riui ), based on the light novel series written by Ryou Mizuno and character designs by Mamoru Yokota...
Merry Month of Manga: KONOSUBA: GOD'S BLESSING ON THIS WONDERFUL WORLD
It's a miracle! A modern isekai manga that neither bored nor infuriated me! KONOSUBA: GOD'S BLESSING ON THIS WONDERFUL WORLD ( Kono Subarash...
Merry Month of Manga: MOURYOU KIDEN: LEGEND OF THE NYMPH
Once again I found myself staring down another Tamayo Akiyama manga. Could it possibly fare better than the likes of Zyword and Hyper Rune...
Merry Month of Manga: SLEEPY PRINCESS IN THE DEMON CASTLE
Finding a modern fantasy manga that has nothing to do with light novels is hard enough. Finding one of those that's a comedy is rarer still...
Merry Month of Manga: THE DUNGEON OF BLACK COMPANY
Today's review exists because someone said "you know what a dungeon-crawling fantasy needs? CAPITALISM!" THE DUNGEON OF BLACK COMPANY ( Me...
Merry Month of Manga: RESTAURANT TO ANOTHER WORLD
When it comes to fantasy manga these days, it seems that the only thing more popular than sending random Japanese people to alternate world...
Merry Month of Manga: THE DEVIL IS A PART-TIMER
You know, we see so many stories about people travelling (by choice or by death-induced force) to other worlds. What you don't see as ofte...
Merry Month of Manga: THE LIZARD PRINCE
It's been too long since we've covered a CMX manga on here. They always had shojo fantasy series that were always interesting, even if they...
Merry Month of Manga: DRAGON HALF
This month marks the ninth anniversary of The Manga Test Drive. It's honestly kind of fantastical that I've been doing this for so long, mu...
Review: DEMON SLAYER
The 2010s was a sterling decade for Weekly Shonen Jump as far as content was concerned, with a steady and fairly diverse selection of big ...
Review: BOBOBO-BO BO-BOBO
The 2000s produced a lot of Weekly Shonen Jump 's bigger (and longer) hits, but for every hit there were duds like this. BOBO-BO BO-BOBOBO, ...
Dr. Slump, Fist of the North Star, Oh! My Goddess, Oh! My Goddess
Review: YU-GI-OH!
People forget this particular series started out as a Weekly Shonen Jump series, but is it worth remembering over 30 years later? YU-GI-OH!...
Review: DR. SLUMP
Once again we're looking at a month of Weekly Shonen Jump titles, starting with one of the oldest titles from the magazine to ever see prin...
Review: VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR
A romance set against the backdrop of space sounds epic, but stories like this prove that it can be intimate and longing as well. VOICES OF ...
Review: SATURN APARTMENTS
Of course, not every sci-fi work is so old, so storied, so action-packed. Sometimes it's more about just trying to live your life while li...
Review: ASTRO BOY
This month we're going to look at some science fiction manga, and if we're going to do that we might as well start with the sci-fi manga th...
Review: YOU'RE MY PET
Of course, just because a romance is strange does not mean it is inherently bad or that the manga itself is lacking, as today's example pro...
Review: PRIMITIVE BOYFRIEND
Normally we here at the Manga Test Drive spend February looking at bad romance manga, but after this last year we need something of a break ...
Review: TOKYO BABYLON
Since we have been mercifully spared the anime adaptation of this series until the spring, now's the time to talk about one of CLAMP's most...
Review: SUKI: A LIKE STORY
Well, it might have gotten off to a slow start, but it's January, which means it's time for yet another CLAMP Month. This one is going to ...
2020 In the Rear View Mirror (and Holiday Giveaway Winner)
First of all, I have to thank everyone who participated in this year's Holiday Review Giveaway. I've never gotten so many responses in the 8 1/2 years I've…
Holiday Review: THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES
Yeah...anyone who has been reading this blog for a while or follows me on Twitter knows that this review has been a long time coming. After...
Holiday Review: SPY X FAMILY
The holidays are a time about gathering with family and loved ones, something that's a lot harder to do this year, so why not read a manga t...
Holiday Review: ENIALE & DEWIELA
Speaking of making great art this year, there are few mangaka making art as great as Witch Hat Atelier creator Kamome Shirahama. This year...
Holiday Reviews: KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF EIZOUKEN!
We've spent most of this month honoring some of the best (and worst) art that manga in 2020 had to offer. It's only fitting then that we lo...