I also just finished reading Tokyo These Days it was beautiful his drawing is incredible. The parts where it’s cutting between the middle aged woman working in the grocery store and panels of her violent Roman Empire manga were so good. I don’t think you would really need to be interested or know anything about the manga industry etc to enjoy the book, it’s sort of like ping pong in that way. I should have savored it more I blasted through all three volumes in a couple days.
I’ve been reading Berserk this year. I went from being kind of like lmao look at that fucking sword to holy shit, this rules to I think I’m gonna start crying. I’ve still quite a way to go but I’ve been writing about it arc by arc.
I also read what’s available of Tower Dungeon in English and it feels sort of like a mix of BLAME! with a corny fantasy show. It’s kind of awesome.
Also slowly making my way through Trigun because I always liked that anime when I was younger. The manga is silly in ways that I like.
Dandadan is pretty gooood.
This would have been so dope (wild idea, btw) if the author of Mahoutsukai no Yome collaborated with Tite Kubo.
This. I loved Frieren the moment the anime stopped and I continued and it’s… I don’t know, like having a mixture of a fantasy manga and an iyasshikei one, and it’s weird, but my feeling was that I hoped nothing of importance happened and it was just memories and experiences (and I feel like Dungeon Meshi packs more of a punch regarding a fantasy a tad more oriented into action).
Also, several things:
- Blue Giant is awesome, so much that this and Houseki no Kuni are the mangas I want to reread from scratch and finish up to the point where they are.
- Ao Ashi and Blue Period are the mangas I’m following more regularly. The former doesn’t have an explanation: it’s kind of the realistic, nerdy spokon manga that scratches the itch I had when I read and followed Baby Steps, and it’s fun, truly, although the names are very cringe at times. Blue Period must be my favorite. It isn’t mindblowing regarding art, but it knows how to portray their ideas in a spectacular fashion and I love a manga about art and painting with a cast full of varied bodies, sexual identities, genres and backgrounds. It’s also very nice to feel that there is an autor not only invested and knowledgeable in that field, but also holds a candle to those who can organize a page and make great shots.
- As soon as I can, I’m thinking about giving Orb: On the movements of the Earth a chance once I’m done with the anime.
The thing blue period does best for me is each arc really draws you into the characters and shows you how, yeah art is of course talent and hard work, but what it looks like for you is based on your lived experiences. Particularly in these two most recent arcs. My most awaited manga week to week.
Baby steps is a great pull for Ao Ashi because both really present the inner game so much better than their wildly different contemporaries. Highly recommend the interview of Yuugo and the mangaka of Giant Killing if you haven’t read.
I’m also checking out orb! I’ll probably skip the anime and just give it a read.
Houseki no Kuni I am definitely going to reread at some point alongside To You the Immortal as the ending arcs kind of got lost in the sauce for me a bit and I bet hit better as a continuous read.
Dang Tower Dungeon looks great love those panels shown.
I thought MAD was going somewhere interesting but nope its veering hard into being yet another post apocalyptic ultraviolent story where the leaders of the last few humans alive enforce their rule with violence against women.
I really enjoyed Tower Dungeon! Could only find the first ten chapters but I enjoyed it.
there’s only like eleven translated.
Latest volume of Tengoku Daimakyo/Heavenly Delusion dropped yesterday and it continues to be just mind-bogglingly good.
Took a day or so and caught up on Choujin X. I had been reading it on release and fell off it when it seemed a bit silly and not really propulsive.
Having caught up, I think it’s brilliant. It has this amazing way of making its’ alternate history nearly a century deep as compelling as the main narrative. Tokyo Ghoul was a similar way, in having ghouls just exist, but the fictional wars, angels and nations of this evoke something like Berserk.
There are tons of little Berserks in this thing for those with the eyes to see them, from the complicated friendships and love triangles to the vaguely gnostic magic towers.
Ishida also continues to maybe be the best illustrator in manga for my dollar, and in this piece he seems to be reveling in these Inio Asano esque odd faces and scribbles. It rocks.
Sui Ishida I kneel.
Shoot, I didn’t even think about it being a manga after enjoying the anime. Weird how that happens sometimes! I should start buying volumes.
You should for sure. There are a couple of scenes in the manga that they absolutely could not have included in a TV show, so prepared to maybe be a little shocked/challenged. It’s worth it, though. Ishiguro supposedly said this is his tribute to Akira, and he’s really aiming for the fences.
Whoa I also gave up after the first volume, and would not have predicted the kind of depth you’re describing. No wonder Choujin X is so highly regarded.
You hear that? It’s the sound of my to-read pile testing the strength of my floorboards.
I think you recommended this before and I was pretty sold on it but this:
Ishiguro supposedly said this is his tribute to Akira, and he’s really aiming for the fences
Man, I’m all on board now.
Heck yeah! Get on board.
So many great recs! Excited to check out Heavenly Delusion, Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun, and Witch Hat Atelier. 
I read Lupin the 3rd: thick as thieves—a collection of various chapters from the series. I really did not enjoy it. The chapters being pretty much standalone with no ongoing plot or development felt repetitive, and the art was a bit difficult to parse at times. Interesting from a historical perspective but for some reason I was going in thinking “I love Castle of Cagliostro” but it sure ain’t that.
I read most of the first omnibus of Kaiji, following up from my last post. At first I was loving it. Blown away by the style, the premise. But the more I read it, the less I was interested. Something about the procedural nature is not connecting. Nor is the setting. It’s just ultimately frustrating me to read it. I’ve got a bit more to go, so I’ll finish it, but I think it’s lost me.
I read the first 2 volumes of DanDaDan given the cool anime opening and a friend recommending it. I really didn’t care for it much at all. I can see why people like it, sort of silly and fun and unique, but the art and premise just didn’t connect with me. I won’t continue on with it. But no shade to those who dig it.
Taiyo Matsumoto
Couldn’t agree more, an absolutely amazing chapter. Peak Matsumoto! I finished Tokyo These Days and absolutely loved it. Stand out manga of the year for me so far. The guy’s still got it! I ended up picking up a used set of Sunny on eBay for a fair price. Excited to dig into that soon.
I read GoGo Monster while in the hospital (everything’s good tho!). What a work… the groundskeeper. The airplanes. The linework. I wish I had more to say other than I loved it, but I’m having a hard time putting it into words. The hardcover edition is quite beautiful and worth having if you’re into Matsumoto’s work.
Tatsuki Fujimoto
I continued riding the Tatsuki Fujimoto Express 
by reading both of his short story collections (Viz is on a kick of naming one shot collections “Before X”, like “Before Chainsaw Man” or “Before Demon Slayer”) and Look Back. Fujimoto’s one shots are interesting, as you get a sense of where he was at in his early days. Some are quite good, others are fine. Pretty much just for completionists. Look Back on the other hand is a really good single volume story that’s touching and surprisingly normal and heartfelt for Fujimoto. Worth a read for sure! I happened to be able to see the film in my nearby theater the next day, which I didn’t realize was a thing until I search the manga online after reading and saw it was playing! I liked the anime film even more than the manga—it’s got great colors and music and animation. Can’t go wrong with either though. The movie is going to be on Amazon Prime on Nov 7, which is kind of nice to see it release online so soon after.
I got a set of Fire Punch used, and I own Goodbye, Eri. I’ll read them in November! And I’ll eventually dig into Chainsaw Man part 2, which I continue to hear great things about.
Nihei
I re-read Tower Dungeon chapters 1-12. It’s such a speedy read. I continue to be quite excited about it and think it’s such a strong start. I hope Nihei can keep it going this steady. Waiting a month between chapters is a bit brutal though. I suspect the series will read much better as volumes rather than monthly chapters due to the pretty fast pacing throughout.
Tower Dungeon led me to revisiting Nihei’s previous work Aposimz. I read the first 20 chapters of it as they released years ago, enjoying it at the time, so much so that I started the Aposimz wiki and maintained that for a bit. But I fell off and never finished it when my life when into a bit of upheaval in that era. So I read the whole series, it’s only 9 volumes, over the course of two days. It flies by. IMO, it’s extremely underrated as a series and is great. It’s Nihei taking on the henshin genre. The series is filled with your typical Nihei mystery world building and really cool designs.
It’s not a perfect series though. In the 40s chapters, there’s a distinct shift of the series grasping for any sort of popularity. A shirtless young woman with x tape over her nipples. A penis monster. A gigantic clone of a female character who forgets to generate clothes for herself. Then, around chapter 50, fights get skipped (which is cool in its own way, but I’d imagine pissed off a lot of people) and the series speedruns its ending. I can’t find any official sources, but there is speculation the series was canceled and forced to wrap up much earlier than Nihei planned. Or it could be that he got bored of the world and story. Who knows!
Me? I actually really liked the ending and felt satisfied. Similar to the fights in Blame!, Nihei isn’t actually good at prolonged action scenes. It’s just a guy with a strong gun. Aposimz is the same. Situations vary and that’s the interesting part, but I thought it was actually quite satisfying how the ending is handled and where it wraps up.
Apologies for the moire effect below, it’s an unfortunate side effect of Nihei heavily using screen tone throughout the series.
The other major complaint about Aposimz is the art style. People go and read Blame!, which has a highly detailed, analog gothic style:
And then they see the Aposimz artstyle and are absolutely appalled. They cannot fathom how his style could change so drastically. But we’re talking 20 years of grinding it out as a mangaka without really having a breakout success (that I think Nihei and his fans think he’s capable of). And it’s very gradual, the shift… It starts to happen in Biomega and then Knights of Sidonia. Compare first chapter of Sidonia to the last and there’s a definite change in his style, it’s getting looser and more impressionistic. In Aposimz there’s zero black fill except for a few characters’ hair. Everything in screentone for shading. He was clearly sick of the black of space and wanting to see how far screentone can get him. (Glad he’s back to black with Tower Dungeon, myself).
People say the guy sold out or he lost it or got bad, but I strongly disagree. I don’t think he ever lost it, and his storytelling skills have only improved over time. I do not want someone who just churns out the same style, same stories for decades. Watching an artist change is a wonderful and beautiful thing.
Check out Aposimz if you haven’t! If you’re really interested in reading the 9 volumes in print, I have a second print set (I accidentally won 2 eBay auctions last month 
). Happy to trade or sell or something!
Nihei also helped develop Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, a 3D anime series (or movie??) by Polygon Pictures, who did the Blame! and Knights of Sidonia adapations. I haven’t seen the anime, but I picked up the first 2 volumes of the manga! Nihei doesn’t do the art, but you can tell he’s influenced it. There’s a mysterious world, large structures, strange creatures. It’ll be 4 volumes total, so I’m curious where the plot goes in the next 2 volumes. It’s pretty good. Not gonna blow ya’ away but solid! Nausicaa-ish.
Similarly, my local comic shop had BLAME! Movie Edition: The Electrofishers’ Escape when I was browsing around. Being on my Nihei kick, I had to pick it up. I read Blame! around 2016-ish and loved it. I watched Blade Runner and searched online for books and manga like Blade Runner, which led me to reading Neuromancer and Blame!. I watched the 3D movie on Netflix when it came out too.
It’s another case of story/world by Nihei, art by someone else. I actually really enjoyed this volume. It’s an encapsulated story in the Blame! world. The art is cool. The story is tight. Killy does his Killy thing. The supporting cast has really cool armor designs. IMO, a great intro to Blame! for dipping your toes in.
Okay, enough Nihei rambling…
Keigo Shinzou’s Works
I read Our Eruption Festival (Bokura no Funkasai) by Keigo Shinzou. It’s only fan translated, and it’s one of these series where years ago I downloaded it because it was recommended as a hidden gem. It’s about two high school boys who are friends and live in a town where a volcano erupts, turning it into a tourist destination. Really fun and tender at times. Interesting art style, unlike anything else out there… cartoony in a way unlike most manga art, there’s a nice shape to his style.
Lo and behold, I look up what else the author has done, and his work is starting to get published in English this year! Hirayasumi is his current series being published by Viz, so I picked up the first two volumes of that. It’s about a 30-ish year old guy who inherits an elderly woman’s home and his cousin going to art school in Tokyo moves in. The main character is care-free and living his best life working at a fishing pond. He’s out to fight the hustle and bustle of Tokyo by living a slower life. You might call Hirayasumi slice of life? It’s very chill. Shinzou’s art has improved between these two works. Hirayasumi is wonderful. I think Taiyo Matsumoto fans would enjoy his work. I saw some of Shinzou’s other works are being published in 2025. Really excited.
Kagurabachi
Caught up on Kagurabachi. It’s just non-stop action. No space for characters to develop. The premise makes sense why it’s rushed as the stakes are high, but I just don’t care about any of the characters. Cool action can only support the series for so long. It needs likeable characters desperately. Some chapters have pretty rough art too, causing it to seem a bit inconsistent. There’s been some really stellar chapters, like the one two weeks ago. I’ll stick with it and will likely buy the print volumes. I’m not in love but am enjoying it enough. It’s impossible to not compare it to Bleach or Naruto due to style and approach… It certainly hasn’t reached their levels after ~50 chapters.
Hunter x Hunter
I’m burying the lead a little bit! I devoured Hunter x Hunter. I read the Greed Island, Chimera Ant, and 13th Hunter Chairman Election arcs. I’ve started to wade into the current arc too, hoping to catch up and read weekly. HxH has become one of my favorites. It’s a flawed masterpiece (which is the best kind of masterpiece IMO). Greed Island was not my thing—it made me question the series as a whole. I missed Kurapika and Leerio. I didn’t like thinking about the cards and game aspect. Just wasn’t connecting. But Biscuit really saved it, as did some of the battles… Then Gon and Killua go to meet Ging and I’m crying… And it turns out to be Kite! Togashi, you bastard!!!
Then Togashi just goes absolutely nuts for 133 chapters with the Chimera Ant Arc. I have goosebumps just typing that sentence. It’s shocking how good it is. Unlike anything else I’ve read. It’s brutal, touching, incredible.
When the plan starts to unfold and Togashi starts narrating the chapters, it’s like watching an orchestral conductor at the top of their game, conducting a beautiful symphony. Chimera Ant Arc is the best manga arc I’ve ever read. Period. It takes the preceding 185 chapters to have its impact too, you just couldn’t start there IMO. It’s evident why Hunter x Hunter has such dedicated fans. I won’t spoil any of it other than to say by the end I was bawling multiple times at different points.
The fallout after the arc is handled well too, a refreshing change of pace. We’ll see where the Succession Arc goes… The whole dark continent isn’t very interesting yet, and I’m not loving all the jockeying that’s happening, but I’m gonna trust that Togashi will make it pay off.
If you have any enjoyment in shonen action manga like DBZ, Bleach, Naruto, etc., read HxH! You won’t regret it.
Versus
ONE, the creator of One-Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100, has a new series out that he’s writing called Versus. If you like OPM or MP100, just go for it! You won’t be disappointed. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. I can’t wait for Volume 2. Not gonna read digitally on K Manga as I think it’ll be best to wait.
Spoiler premise: Fantasy world gets their assed kicked by demons. They open a portal to another world. Turns out its a dimension of sci-fi Halo dudes fighting AI robots, who are also getting their ass kicked. There’s a ton of different worlds colliding, all with humanity getting their asses kicked by some threat. So the various dimensions are banding together to try to figure out how to survive. Interesting premise and great first volume!
Rumiko Takahashi
Let’s wrap it up with some comfort food! The new Ranma 1/2 anime airing got me interested in reading the manga, so I read the first 6 volumes. It’s laugh out loud funny, and the art is geniunely fantastic. Ranma 1/2 is just so fun to read. But I will say, I have no clue how this can continue on for 30+ volumes. Does it get repetitive? Without larger arcs or a major plot goal, I can’t imagine how it’ll continue on that long.
On the flip side of her longer works, I read two of her short story collections: Came the Mirror & Other Tales and Rumic Theater:
Hot take: Rumiko Takahashi is the best mangaka at short stories/one shots. Whether it’s about a family pet-sitting a penguin or an actress running away, she’s consistently tells engaging, interesting, and varied stories. They feel a bit more mature than Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura. And having a limited constraint focuses her storytelling chops.
I read 1.5 volumes of her 4 volume series One Pound Gospel, a romance boxing series.
It’s… fine! Some good moments. But the premise of the main character struggling to make his weight class due to overeating is very tiresome. He’s regularly called fat and a pig but he’s just like a handsome boxer guy. It gets old real quick hearing that over and over. It’s a very curious premise, why a fall in love with a nun? But here’s the thing—the boxing scenes are great! Takahashi’s range is always impressive to me. I’ll finish the series eventually since it’s so short, but it’s nothing real special to me so far. I do like this one chapter cover though.
Farewell Parental Leave
Lots of my parental leave has been holding a sleeping baby while I read manga, which is amazing and wonderful. Manga’s been great for this time in my life because I can easily pause and resume. Games are tough, I get so engrossed that I don’t want to stop. But being interrupting while reading manga is more mangeable. Lots of baby interruptions right now! Also, when the kiddos are asleep, reading manga has been a really great way to unwind. It’s been a special couple of months reading a ton of manga.
The Android tablet I posted about above continues to work well! No qualms there at all. Happy with it. Great while in bed or holding a baby. I set up Kavita on my little home server laptop thing I run Plex off of, and it’s been really fantastic for reading on my tablet and computer from one centralized storage location. Much more convenient than constantly updating an SD card. Very much worth it for the digital manga hoarders out there. It’s basically Plex for manga and comics.
I’m back to work now, as of today, so I’ll probably slow down a bit with my manga reading. Thanks for letting me ramble in this thread! Love seeing what everyone’s reading.
Shinzo Keigo is probably my favorite mangaka working right now? Hirayasumi owns but check out Tokyo Alien Brothers if you have some time on your hands. That absolutely rocks.
It’s interesting Nihei kind of has these movements in his work. Aposimz is kind of dripping in Sidonia Kishi in the same way some of the older stuff feels like slightly tweaked Blame and of course stuff like Gauna pop up in multiple series. I would love to pick his brain on what his central fixation is.