Buckle up, dear reader; this week’s Manga Review is bursting at the seams! The first order of business? The best (and worst) of 2022. The Comics Journal recently posted its annual list, polling thirty-three critics, artists, editors, and scholars about their favorite titles. While some of the nominations were predictable—there were a lot of folks praising Kate Beaton’s Ducks—there were also a refreshing number of contributors who discussed their manga-reading habits, among them Ritesh Babu, Helen Chazan, Austin English, Charles Hatfield, Chris Mautner, Joe McCulloch, and Katie Skelly. The Beat’s 30 Best Comics of 2022 had fewer manga entries but offered a more balanced list of mainstream and indie comics, as did The Mary Sue, which gave nods to Junji Ito and Yamada Murasaki in its list of the 30...
Jan 6, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
Spring 2020 Anime – What I’m Looking Forward (or Backward) To
Oof, it’s times like these where I feel like it’s a good choice to anticipate the good in life, rather than spend too much time being dwelling on…
Looking for Star Wars Manga? These Are the Volumes You’re Looking For
It’s a good time to be a Star Wars fan—a “Golden Age,” if you will. Despite the recent faltering of the Solo film (which was really quite good)…
Slow Loop - Episode 2 - Koharu Points Backward
Koharu demonstrates the most critical step before casting a fly rod: make sure your rear is clear! Slow Loop - Episode 2.
Looking Back at My Manga of 2023
The idea came to me to look back on the manga I read last year. My Goodreads reading challenge reveals a rather sporadic manga reading year: I never read…
Through the Looking Glass
detective fiction, 推理小説、games, mystery, murder, locked room, Japanese, translations,
Looking to the Past
For a long time I meticulously maintained a MAL page where I’d keep track of the obnoxious number of anime series I was watching at a time. Every…
NieR Automata Ver1.1a - Episode 10 - 2B Flips Backward
2B needed to evade a shielded boss machine lifeform with an external power source. Lots of backflips! NieR Automata Ver1.1a - Episode 10
I’m Looking For Serious Love! Review
A naïve country boy and playboy city slicker meet, clash and fall in love in Shoko Rakuta’s sexy boys love romp, I’m Looking For Serious Love. Synopsis: Kyouhei…
Looking for Magical DoReMi Film Review
Earlier this week, I caught the 20th-anniversary film for the Magical DoReMi series, Looking for Magical DoReMi, at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2020.
Tokyo Art Scene: Looking In, Looking Out
This month’s Tokyo Art Scene will introduce exhibitions that highlight intercultural Japanese art.
Looking back, looking forward: Kanada’s late period
is generally held that Yoshinori Kanada went through two major shifts in the 1990’s, shifts that determined what the two last decades of his life and work would…
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Fullmetal Alchemist, Musashi, Legend of the Crystals: Final Fantasy
From the outside looking in…
Hi, everyone! I don’t think I’ve ever felt nervous while writing something before. …
Fruits Basket 2nd Season: Second Cour: Step Forward, Step Backward
I’ll be honest here guys. My thoughts on the second cour of Fruits Basket is pretty much the exact same as the first. Everything I said in that…
Looking Over Blaugust2022
It’s over!! I actually managed to write 31 posts in 31 days! How cool is that?! I didn’t think I had it in me and so I will…
Looking Up At The Half-Moon
Looking Up At The Half-Moon is a 2006 Romance Drama anime series from now-defunct Japanese animation studio Group TAC. At the same time, some of the studio’s previous…
2020 in Review – Looking Back on the Year at Blerdy Otome
What better way to start this post than by saying thank you. Whether you’re new here or you’ve been here since the beginning I want to thank you…
The Manga Review: The Interview
As part of a broader conversation about the state of the comics industry, ICv2 just wrapped up a week of interviews with major figures in North American manga…
Comic Update: Looking Death in the Face
Original Post I’m sure OreImo has already passed out the collective anime fan consciousness, but I wrote this while the show was airing, and wanted to use it…
Looking Both Ways: The Fall Season Carryovers
Mega Megane Moe @ Ikimashou is messed up something fierce on my end, so until that gets fixed, I'll post here. Looking back... And…
What is eternity doing tonight? - an anime blog
Shugo Chara!, Cardcaptor Sakura, Clannad, Kanon, Shakugan no Shana
Here Come the Mystery Teens! Review: Looking For Someone Else’s Spooky Inheritance
Let’s Plays by themselves are not usually things I really watch or get into unless the people playing them are already someone I enjoy from a different venue.…
Looking Back on 2021
I spend most of 2021 revisiting older anime. I have articles in the queue where I reexamine them. There wasn’t too many new titles that caught my attention.…
Looking for Magical Doremi
By Andrew Osmond. Looking for Magical Doremi is an anime about three women and their friendship. Unusually for a “friendship” anime, the characters are all past school age,…
Looking Back on 2022
This past year was JP’s 10th. Before I started writing this blog, I struggled to see anything through. I would flit from project to project, from interest to…
Midnight musings: looking ahead
Moonlit Reading Room is fairly new as I started working on it early last year. And although I promised myself that I’d continue working on it, I’ve been…
Looking Back at 2020
It’s time again for my personally indulgent look back on the past year. This is a part of a double post to mark JP’s 10th birthday. Many people…
Looking back – Summer 2015
Once again it’s time to look back at past seasons, pondering on what I thought then – and what I think now. How many shows have aged like…
The Manga Bookshelf Manga Review: Eisner Fever
The Manga Bookshelf News & Web Roundup for the week ending May 19
I’m looking forward to this #anime! #mycluelessfirstfriend #manga #weeb #otaku #weeb #sliceoflife
No post summary was provided.
The Manga Review: Simply the Best
Words like "icon" and "legend" are so overused today that when a true pioneer dies, it's hard to describe their legacy. By any reasonable measure, though, Tina Turner…
Manga Review – Behind the Scenes!!
Behind the Scenes!! ウラカタ!! (Urakata!!) HATORI Bisco Shoujo – Comedy 7 Volumes (complete) VIZ Media Summary: College student and pessimist Ranmaru is scared out of his wits when…
The Manga Review: Special K
After months of speculation, Kodansha formally announced that it would be launching K Manga, a digital platform that will allow fans to read the latest chapters of their…
Manga Review – The Delinquent Housewife!
The Delinquent Housewife! ふつつかなヨメですが! (Futsutsuka na Yome Desu ga!) NEMU Yoko Seinen – Comedy, slice-of-life 4 Volumes (complete) Vertical, Inc. Summary: Dai’s older brother, Tohru, suddenly shows up…
The Manga Review: Coming Attractions
According to the collective wisdom of the internet, Best of 2022 lists are out, and What to Read in 2023 lists are in! So in that spirit, here…
The Manga Review: Eisner Fever
On Wednesday, the 2023 Eisner Award nominees were formally announced. This year's manga selections include Tatsuki Fujimoto's Look Back, Junji Ito's Black Paradox, Hayao Miyazaki's Shuna's Journey, Yamada…
The Manga Review: Going Merry
The reviews are in, and One Piece is certified fresh, with an 85% approval rating from critics and a 96% approval rating from audiences. Just about every major…
Hello World The Manga Review
Hello World The Manga, by Manatsu Suzuki and Yoshihiro Sono, is a sci-fi adventure story about a withdrawn boy who discovers that he’ll need to come out of…
Manga Review – The Golden Sheep
The Golden Sheep 金のひつじ (Kin no Hitsuji) OZAKI Kaori Seinen – Drama, romance, slice-of-life 3 Volumes (complete) Vertical, Inc. Summary: Tsugu is excited to move back to where…
Manga Review – After the Rain
After the Rain 恋は雨上がりのように (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni) MAYUZUKI Jun Seinen – Drama, romance, slice-of-life 5 Omnibuses (complete) Vertical, Inc. Summary: Seventeen-year-old high school student Akira…
The Manga Review: Freeze Frame
I usually start The Manga Review with industry news, but the announcement that Pitchfork was being folded into GQ has been on my mind this week. Whatever its…
The Manga Review: March Madness
Back in February, Twitter users introduced me to dozens of podcasts and websites that hadn't been on my radar, among them The Wonder of Anime. The site was…
The Manga Review: Rated Teen+
This week's must-read article focuses on manga rating systems. Otaku USA editor Danica Davidson sat down with Kodansha's Ben Applegate for an in-depth comparison between Japanese and North…
The Manga Review: Anime, Boston!
Today marks the first official day of Anime Boston, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. Guests include anime and manga scholar Helen McCarthy, artist Shiu Yoshijima, GeekGal…
The Manga Review: Stacy’s Mom
It's crowdsourcing time! Last year, I asked readers to share which manga podcasts they liked best. I compiled everyone's suggestions and created a podcast directory at The Manga…
The Manga Review: Buy Local
If you live in the Greater Boston area, Comicopia should be on your radar. This small shop is packed to the gills with manga, from best-selling shonen titles—Chainsaw…
Attack on Titan – 62 – Looking Past the Hell
If you like Reiner Braun, you’ll love this episode. If you’re an anime-only watcher wondering where the hell Eren, Mikasa and Armin are, well…you’ll have to settle for…
Looking forward – Fall 2019 anticipation
Still trying to figure out where to restart after real life intruded on the Summer season… But I guess it’s best to begin at a beginning, and that’s…
Looking for Magical Doremi Movie
Fabulous movie, A+++. Mire is the best. Torrent link: https://nyaa.si/view/1375816
2021 Anime Looking Mighty Fine
It looks sparkly hehe My seasonal weekly game maybe down to nothing these days still doesn’t stop me from adding the latest sparkles to my list.
Looking Back on Fall 2019
Shinchou Yuusha‘s delays mean that I had to wrap this up basically on the day the new season started happening. The new season began on a Saturday for…