Been on a bit of a Josei kick.
Reread Akiko Higashimura’s Kakukaku Shikajika which led me to finally check out Tokyo Tarareba girls, which is a really nice series about trying to find love in your thirties, with a kind of surrealist bent to the situations, where sending a text turns into a war movie etc.
Then I went back and checked out her early stuff, and seeing how reverent Kakukaku Shikajika is to Ai Yazawa, and then seeing how much Higashimura’s early art looks like Ai Yazawa art, I would love to go back and time and see how earth shattering her work was as it was released.
Akiko is so funny compared to her peers, and seems to be more of an optimist, compared to someone like Ai Yazawa or Kyoko Okazaki, which is kind of nice in short series like Tarareba girls.
I’m normally not a fan of manga or movies talking about other real life manga or movies, but it feels like for some reason, having these characters in Tokyo talk about what western movies leak through (Sex and the City, and weirdly guardians of the galaxy, and even doing an extended bit about how men love the Dark Knight) it was cool to see what travels across borders.
This isn’t particularly informative but most of these Josei series I’ve checked out have such a nice literary vibe that made me realize a lot of the seinen or boys stuff I’ve read that I like is pulling a lot from the monologing that’s common here.
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As someone who would like to get into 4 koma manga, does anyone have any recommendations?
Bocchi the rock and Azumanga Daioh are kind of obvious but quite good. The only other one I’m really familiar with is… Lucky Star which is fine I guess.
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Do you use anything to track manga series you read?
I still use good old baka-updates
i love that it’s still 2000s html, huge database, very few people.
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I use anilist because it has built in automatic tracking with my reader ! also most my online friends are there so its fun to keep up on what we are keeping up with
it does feel a little cringe weeaboo since its only asian manga and anime but i wish any other tracking social media (letterboxd, goodreads, etc) were as well made
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My reader also supports baka-updates and anilist!
Personally i like it because the database is just crazy absurd.
The one thing i dislike is that due to the website rules some series aren’t marked as updated when someone solo-scanlates it.
It is rare, but in the 2020s some people can translate and edit manga on their own.
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I checked my reader and it unfortunately doesn’t include baka updates
anilist is mostly nice because its a really simplified social media platform (for all of the issues that brings)
the database is pretty thorough (although every time I’ve tried adding something they weren’t open for submissions which is frustrating)
still its fun to see what all my friends are reading on jump update day and what they keep up with week after week or whatever short yuri series they binge in a weekend
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Finished Chobits. Saw the anime in 2005 and decided to read after 20 years.
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Can anyone recommend a “cozy” manga that gives off the sane vibes I’d get from something like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, or the whole “cozy gaming” subgenre?
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Silver spoon and Yokohama kaidashi kikou, also Saturn apartments if you can find it, oh and hirayasumi
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I’d argue perhaps some of the works of Jiro Taniguchi. The Walking Man or Furari are good places to start.
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On volume 20 of Fullmetal Alchemist and loving it. It’s really not about what I thought it would be about after only being superficially aware of the series for all these years. Really political and sad story.
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All the suggestions so far have been great, and I would +1 all of them. I’ll also throw in Soara and the House of Monsters!
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Finished up FMA and loved it, really stuck the landing imo. Also a series that never really felt like it was dragging. Gonna watch the 2003 anime next to check out the differences.
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One of the best series ever, for sure. All-time classic.
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FMA is so good. So many iconic moments. I remember watching the classic, the movie and brotherhood when it was airing and loving it. Never read it but Hiromu Arakawa clearly rules.
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I wanna roll through the thread from the top and start picking out new series to read, but in the meantime I’ll drop my Anilist page here.
https://anilist.co/user/fivedollardare/
I’ve been on a roll through all kinds of shoujo manga lately. I just finished reading Lovely Complex, and this is coming off the heels of Saint Tail. Having a small tablet specifically for manga and comics kinda kicks ass.
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The non-battle-battle manga jump series Hakutaku was unceremoniously axed today after 18 chapters today
I’m happy with the state of most things in jump but an early axing of a unique series is always sad for me!
Here are my favorite spreads from the series in its honor
also the deuteragonist girl was wonderfully deranged and I will miss her
the series had some cute game ideas
anyways this series had the sauce from the first chapter and im very sad its axed. hopefully whatever replaces it lasts longer and is half as good!
may post in here again later if I have other thoughts on this week’s jump
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