Category: Manga of the Month

Manga of the Month: Yurikuma Arashi

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Yurikuma Arashi (ユリ熊嵐) by
Kunihiko Ikuhara and Akiko Morishima

hisui_icon_4040 On a certain level I think most of us enjoy the idea of being an early adopter when it comes to any form of entertainment. You want to be the person who learns of a title first so you can show all your friends what is cool. It also lets you present them with a title that is free from a good deal of preconceptions that fandom can attach to a property while making sure a title does not have a backlog to get through to be caught up on. The biggest barrier to hooking anyone on One Piece is the 745+ chapter/643+ episode Mount Everest sized wall to climb to gain entry alongside all the fan baggage that comes with that. It can be a hard sell.

Now recommending a new title that is still in production has its own flaws. We have all been burned by a concept that starts off with seemingly unlimited possibility that degrades into an utter mess. That is a risk with putting forth any bleeding edge ongoing title. No one wants to champion the series that dies in a horrible death spiral.

But when everything works out in that wonderful high risk/high reward formula you seem like a hero. So I’m giving you the chance to be a hero in your little section of fandom by telling you about Yurikuma Arashi before it hopefully explodes. There is only one chapter out so you can be right on the ground level for this series. Continue reading →

Manga of the Month: Orange

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Orange (オレンジ) by Ichigo Takano

narutaki_icon_4040 This was the first title on the Crunchyroll Manga subscription that was on my “most wanted” list. It takes off from a common idea: what if you could tell your high school self some important information and change the future. In this case, Naho receives a mysterious letter in the mail from her future self which quickly proves itself to be real by predicting the events of that day perfectly. A new student arrives, Kakeru, who instantly becomes a part of Naho’s group of friends. But the letter warns Naho that Kakeru will not make it to his 18th birthday and begs her to prevent this from happening.

“From here on in, please make Kakeru happy
as often as you can.
I’m sure that’s what will save him.”

There is a darkness, a sadness, in Kakeru after his mother’s suicide, which we learn happened on his first day of transferring to the new school. He hints at his pain and his smile is always melancholy but he never opens up. That is he doesn’t in the past that Naho is reading about, but slowly she starts to gain the confidence to ask Kakeru about his life and his feelings. Along with her friends she might just be able to pull him back from the brink.

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Manga of the Month: Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru

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Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (And Yet the Town Moves)
(それでも町は廻っている) by Masakazu Ishiguro

hisui_icon_4040 Kate and I were just talking about the fact that Crunchyroll manga site is probably the greatest boon for the Manga of the Month that has ever existed. It has a wide selection of lesser known manga that you can easily recommended with minimal financial  cost while talking about titles that are getting legitimate release. Theoretically  you can also do that with Weekly Shonen Jump but Jump titles are almost universally (with a few exceptions) the series that need the least amount of hype. Plus with titles like Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (which you should be reading) there is a lot to recommend. So I should start with Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru is plucky fighter who keeps getting knocked down but gets up again in the English manga scene. It has always been a series that has been a long shot. Quirky comedies are never the best-selling genre for manga in the United States outside of a very select few exceptions. So when JManga picked up the manga for the site it was just a part of the off-kilter nature of their lineup. But sadly JManga shut down it was  unfortunate but not that unexpected. While Soredemo was one of the most popular titles on the site it seems as if destined to be one of those series that got a brief time in the sun but little more than that. Then almost out of nowhere it seems that Soredemo has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. It is available legitimately once again on Crunchyroll manga and is even being simulpubed.

That is a comeback kid story.

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