Smrithi S 7/11/18 Smrithi S 7/11/18

Review: City vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

While I have not read as many manga as other people, I can say I have read many types of manga. I can even say that I have read a decent amount of comedy manga. But I can honestly say I have never seen a comedy manga such as the one I’m reviewing. The following manga uses slapstick physical situations similar to Tom & Jerry and may not be suited for young readers. This is the only warning I will give for the following manga.

Smrithi S 7/6/18 Smrithi S 7/6/18

Review: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

At this point, I have written too many reviews on romance manga. There is certainly nothing wrong with that as romance manga are my guilty pleasure, but I am worried that I’m seeing life through rose-tinted glasses due to all of the shoujo-style happy endings. Luckily, the following manga doesn’t have any additional shoujo gunk to clog up anyone’s mind.

Dustin Cabeal 7/4/18 Dustin Cabeal 7/4/18

Review: Prison School vol. 10

By Dustin Cabeal

The last volume of Prison School raised my review bar. There will be slight spoilers for the previous volume, so if you haven’t read it yet, I will encourage you to abandon this review and do so post haste. Go on… get. POST. HASTE.

Smrithi S 6/27/18 Smrithi S 6/27/18

Review: Moteki Vol. #1

By Thea Srinivasan

The definition of the word “Moteki” is a period in which a person gains popularity. This popularity only comes once in a lifetime, and it only works when someone becomes popular with the opposite sex. While this phenomenon is not meant to be for everyone, I wonder how many people would actually use this period to attempt to change their relationship status. I suppose that is the plot to the following manga.

Smrithi S 6/12/18 Smrithi S 6/12/18

Review: Jackass! vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

Sexuality is an elusive area of life as it comes out of nowhere and is something we cannot control. While it can be a beautiful aspect of life to explore, it can also cause confusion as it enters our life and dictates how we feel. Sometimes sexuality clashes with our personal morals and we end up fighting an internal battle. Luckily, there are cases in which people can learn to accept their sexuality and eventually embrace themselves. The following review is about a yaoi. If you are under the age of 18, please do not read this story is it contains graphic acts of sex. Again, this manga contains nudity and sex. This is my only warning.

Smrithi S 6/12/18 Smrithi S 6/12/18

Review: After Hours Vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

There are several places to find romance: at a restaurant, in the middle of a street or even a toilet. But finding love at a club is more realistic than finding love in a bathroom. Personally, I’ve never been to a club as I legally cannot drink. To me, a club is a place where people can hook up with others and let loose. Very rarely do I think of a club as a place to get to know people or enjoy music.

Smrithi S 5/31/18 Smrithi S 5/31/18

Review: Juana and the Dragonewt's Seven Kingdoms vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

Whenever I learn about a new fictional species, I’m always worried whether they have anything against humanity. In most science fiction mediums, I’ve seen reptilian-humanoid species try to destroy humanity in some way and they end up either losing to humanity or leaving earth in a post-apocalyptic state. Sometimes these species want to eat humans, which is kind of disgusting in reality. Luckily, I did not have to deal with that in Juana and the Dragonewt's Seven Kingdoms.

Smrithi S 5/31/18 Smrithi S 5/31/18

Review: Perfect World vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

Romance is a tricky subject to deal as we have to use our hearts instead of our heads to make any decisions. But sometimes love becomes trickier when life makes us change who we are. When we see our partner after a breakup or a long period, the changes become apparent and can sometimes shock us. With the right circumstances and timing, we sometimes end up falling in love with them again. This is the basic premise of Perfect World.

Smrithi S 5/15/18 Smrithi S 5/15/18

Review: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle #1

By: Thea Srinivasan

To anyone who thinks princesses are always spoiled, you’re not entirely wrong. Most of the modern world’s princesses are relatively unknown and they live peaceful lives. While we occasionally hear the story about a regular woman becoming a princess, we’re lucky enough to never hear about how princesses are kidnapped by other people. But when a princess ends up killing half of an enemy’s guard for her selfish needs, members on the kidnapping side would begin to think about her underlying motives.

Smrithi S 5/10/18 Smrithi S 5/10/18

Review: SP Baby vol. 2

By Thea Srinivasan

There are several difficult jobs that someone can take on. What’s even rarer is finding a boss who is understanding, but also someone who can guide a worker in the right direction and is great to work with. But when your boss continually wants to kiss you, it can cause a lot of trouble, and it’s probably a good idea that you find another job immediately. The following review is for the second volume of the series. If you have not read the first volume, please read the first volume before reading this review as it will contain spoilers.

Dustin Cabeal 4/12/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/12/18

Review: Goodnight Punpun vol. 7

By Dustin Cabeal

There is only one problem with this final volume of Goodnight Punpun, and it’s the white fucking cover. I instantly got the cover dirty from flipping the pages inside because there’s a lot of ink on those pages. Probably because of the hyper-realistic art from Inio Asano, but it fucked up the cover which saddened me. It didn’t sadden me as much as this book though.

Dustin Cabeal 4/12/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/12/18

Review: Tokyo Ghoul: re vol. 1-4

By Dustin Cabeal

If only I hadn’t sat on these books for so damn long. You’re looking at the last holdouts of manga that have been gracing my desk for the past few months. They all four deserve their own review, but that timing is off right now, so here we go with one last big bundle review.

Like most people, I read the manga after watching the show. While I enjoyed the show a lot and would even place it very high on my all-time anime list, I have grown to love the manga ten times more. The main reasons being that there is nothing else like Tokyo Ghoul on the market. The way it looks, the tone, its overall creepiness in design. The violence and the costumes. It’s a world you love but would never want to visit. The art alone is groundbreaking and different from anything else I’ve seen. Perhaps it will one day become one of the “norms” of manga, but for now, it’s originality places it by itself.

Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18

Review: Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt vol. 5-6

By Dustin Cabeal

Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt vol 5 and 6 are very different from each other. Its one of the many reasons this continues to be one of these best Gundam titles in the franchises long lineage. Here comes the “but,” in an attempt to catch up on my reviews I’m going to have to double up on this series, unfortunately, but I will be breaking them down separately.

Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18

Review: Master Keaton vol. 12

By Dustin Cabeal

Wonderful storytelling like Master Keaton doesn’t exist anymore. Much in the way that writing changed after the TV was invented there will be another large look at how writing changed after the internet was invented. Master Keaton is a look at a bygone era. One in which cellphones and computers weren’t available or used. It’s a wonderful escape from other stories, and I’m sad that this is the last volume for the timeless series.

Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18

Review: Golden Kamuy vol. 3-4

By Dustin Cabeal

As I wrap up my desk reviews, I’ve decided to combo up some volumes of manga I have left so that I can get a fresh start on new reviews. It’s not a preference of mine to review this way, but with the titles I had left, I ended up not feeling as if I would have too much variety in my reviews if I did them volume by volume. That is especially true of Golden Kamuy.

Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18 Dustin Cabeal 4/4/18

Review: The Promised Neverland vol. 1-3

By Dustin Cabeal

There are too many things to compliment about The Promised Neverland. It is a story best enjoyed by diving in and reading it and not by getting information from this review. The reason being is that the biggest twist and turn of the story is also the only way to tell people what the story is about. Any misdirection would make a review confusing, and so with that, I implore you, stop reading this review and start reading The Promised Neverland.

Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18 Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18

Review: Fire Punch vol. 2

By Dustin Cabeal

The first volume of Fire Punch was one of the weirdest, graphic manga I have ever read. Following Agni, a “blessed” person with the ability to regenerate, his sister and town are struck down by a holy crusade and another “blessed” named Doma. Doma’s ability is to set things on fire, and his flame won’t extinguish until it’s out of fuel. This puts Agni in a difficult position as he regenerates quickly. After years and years, he learns how to regenerate in a way that he can function and begins walking to find Doma… to kill him.

Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18 Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18

Review: One-Punch Man vol. 13

By Dustin Cabeal

Having already read most of this volume on the Shonen Jump Weekly App, I wasn’t expecting much. At least not in terms of story surprises. There is something to be said about seeing Yusuke Murata’s artwork in print though. It translates to the page better. Thinking back on some of the digital pages, I feel like I was just reading the story and not taking in the artwork like I usually do. When I realized that, it made it worth it to read this volume again as a whole.

Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18 Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18

Review: Food Wars! vol. 23

By Dustin Cabeal

Well if this wasn’t the volume, I was fucking waiting for! Since I first started with this series, the biggest question I had has always revolved around Soma’s dad. As more small details emerged, it only made him more and more curious to the reader. With this latest arc, it became clear that whatever Azami was up to involved Joichiro.

Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18 Dustin Cabeal 3/28/18

Review: Tokyo Ghoul vol. 14

By Dustin Cabeal

This marks the end of Tokyo Ghoul proper. I will decline reading wiki-pages that would clarify everything going on, but the gist is that after this volume is Tokyo Ghoul: re. Which is sure to confuse anime viewers when the third series by that name starts this month but is not the continuation of root A from what I understand. Pretty much, if you’re a Tokyo Ghoul fan, then who cares? Read it all, watch it all, just fucking enjoy it.