Black Clover, Vol. 24 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – New arc, new villains, new desperate fighting, new nameless characters being killed to give our named leads resolve and fury, and the same old fighting. I’ve said before that, in ripping off every shonen series around it, Black Clover is not really doing a bad job. That said, it’s also not standing out—by definition, this is gonna be pretty generic. Asta shouts and beats up bad guys, Noelle snarks at him, Charmy is back to being superdeformed and eating far too much, etc. You can easily see why this is now the third-longest-running series in Shonen Jump. But you can also see why it’s roundly mocked, and is never going to be at a point where it amazes...
Apr 1, 2021 • Subscribe
More like this
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/21
BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 3 | By Kaori Tsurutani | Seven Seas – This third volume might even be stronger than the first two. Urara wants to invite Ichinoi…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/16/21
Blood on the Tracks, Vol. 4 | By Shuzo Oshima | Vertical Comics – The first volume of Blood on the Tracks was suspenseful and shocking and I…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 2 | By murata | Yen Press – The first volume in this series mostly focused on the grumpy-faced (and, let’s face it, grumpy…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/23
Insomniacs After School, Vol. 2 | By Makoto Ojiro | Viz Media - It can be hard to start up a club that's already been shut down before.…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/26/21
Captivated, By You | By Yama Wayama | Yen Press – A collection of short stories that originally ran in the magazine Comic Beam, they all take place…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/16/21
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 9 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – By the ninth volume of Dead Dead Demon, any hope that this series…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/21/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 1 | By murata | Yen Press – I’ve been enjoying the recent upswing in yuri manga starring actual adults and aimed at adults.…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/21/23
Blue Box, Vol. 5 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media - Sometimes trying to be kind can just look like mixed signals. That's what Taiki's having to…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/5/21
Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 | By Keito Gaku | Kodansha Comics – This was well-acclaimed when it was first licensed, and it’s not hard to see…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/21/19
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 3 | By Mika Yamamori | Viz Media – There’s less humor and more romantic drama in this volume, but that’s OK as the…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/18/21
Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Vol. 1 | By Shio Usui | Seven Seas – It’s always worth buying a new yuri volume that features two adults, and…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/28/21
BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 5 | By Kaori Tsurutani | Seven Seas – The bonds that Urara made with Ichinoi don’t have to end here, but they are going…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/21
A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 12 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – I was surprised that this is the final volume. It wraps…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/21
Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 10 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Possibly the best chapters in this volume of Gabriel Dropout are the ones dealing with hypnosis, as…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/11/21
Sean is our hero as he shoulders the burden of this column solo. D-Frag!, Vol. 15 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This manga is here…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/2/21
Beauty and the Feast, Vol. 1 | By Satomi U | Square Enix Manga – I was worried this would turn romantic, and it still may, but for…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/13/21
A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 4 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Yasuhito Nogi |Seven Seas – Despite the cliffhanger from the last book, Junko and Gunha…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/2/21
All Sean, all the time. The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 13 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – The series is still striking a good balance between,…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/14/21
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 10 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – The end of this volume states in big, bold letters that there’s twelve…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/4/21
Days on Fes, Vol. 1 | By Kanato Oka | Yen Press A manga about the joys of music festivals is something we’ve seen before, but usually it’s…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/21/23
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 4 | By murata | Yen Press - When two people who already know each other well decide—or are trying to decide—to be a…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/21/20
Glaeolia, Vol. 1 | Edited by Emuh Ruh and zhuchka | Glacier Bay Books – One of the newest and smallest publishers of manga in English translation is…
Bookshelf Briefs 6/20/21
As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 12 | By Matoba | Yen Press – When you have a main couple as innocent and naive as this one, it’s going…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/16/21
In which Sean valiantly goes it alone yet again. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 1 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – This is…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/4/21
Black Clover, Vol. 23 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – Given we came to the end of a very long arc last time, it makes sense…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21
Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – Last time I said that this series never quite tipped over into melodrama, but…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/4/21
Do You Like Big Girls?, Vol. 1 | By Goro Aizome | Ghost Ship – The cover art and publisher of this particular title tells you exactly what’s…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/20/21
Chihayafuru, Vol. 24 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Hooray, I’m finally caught up again on Chihayafuru! This volume finds Chihaya and friends lending…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/16/24
Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 2 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press - I did not realize that the Bocchi anime only adapted about 1.5 volumes, so the…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/16/23
Confessions of a Shy Baker, Vol. 1 | By Masaomi Ito | TOKYOPOP - Initially, Confessions of a Shy Baker felt to me like a discount knockoff of…
Bookshelf Briefs 8/3/24
Adults' Picture Book: New Edition, Vol. 2 | By Kei Itoi | Yen Press - This continues to be really well-written provided that you can deal with awkward…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/23
Blue Box, Vol. 2 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media - The combination of sports manga and romcom is the series' main strength, as we saw from…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/3/20
Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, Vol. 9 | By Hitsuji Tarou, Tsunemi Aosa and Kurone Mishima | Seven Seas – Forgot to review the previous volume of…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/7/20
Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 9 | By Io Sakisaka | VIZ Media – Ao Haru Ride is probably the most straight-up dramatic shoujo that I am reading at…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/22
Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 1 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas – Minato Asano is great at playing the trombone, but ostracization in junior high has rendered her…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/25/22
Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You, Vol. 2 | By Haruka Mitsui | Kodansah Comics (digital only) – For the most part Anyway, I’m Falling in Love…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/18/20
Dr. STONE, Vol. 10 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – Dr. STONE thrives on ridiculous ideas, of course, but that does not mean that…
Bookshelf Briefs 3/28/20
The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 12 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – I’m still really enjoying reading The Ancient Magus’ Bride, but there’s no denying that…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/29/22
Catch These Hands!, Vol. 3 | By murata | Yen Press – This volume takes us back to Takebe’s initial thought process: all her former gang friends have…
Bookshelf Briefs 7/15/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 1 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – I had initially assumed Blue Lock would be another heartwarming story about a…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/22
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 6 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – The plotline of this volume is a dungeon crawl of sorts, where…
Bookshelf Briefs 2/11/22
Boy Meets Maria | By PEYO | Seven Seas – Taiga is a high school student who falls in love at first sight with a fellow drama club…
Bookshelf Briefs 5/7/20
The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 12 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – As much as I continue to love this series overall, this particular volume had…
Bookshelf Briefs 4/20/23
The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 17 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas - It's been a long time since I reviewed this series, but I have been…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/6/22
Blue Lock, Vol. 2 | By Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura | Kodansha Comics – Blue Lock really is a lot of fun, if you can get past…
Bookshelf Briefs 12/29/19
As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 8 | By Matoba | Yen Press -Aside from the cute slice-of-life aspects of the series, much of it revolves around the fact…
Bookshelf Briefs 9/27/22
D-Frag!, Vol. 16 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This new volume (by now the series is annual) involves a massive parody of “trapped in a…
Bookshelf Briefs 10/2/23
Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 26 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media - This book starts to put in the effort of getting us to know and care…
Bookshelf Briefs 11/30/19
Let us give thanks for a hearty helping of briefs! Beastars, Vol. 2 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – If there was any doubt after reading…
Bookshelf Briefs 1/25/20
Again!!, Vol. 12 | By Mitsurou Kubo | Kodansha Comics – For better or worse, Again!! has always been unpredictable. I appreciate that it didn’t always follow the…