I caught up to <Kagurabachi> and I think it's fantastic! I had flagged it to read when it first began, but never got around to reading. So glad a co-worker reminded me about it and now I look forward to future chapters. The characters have already wormed their way into my heart 💜

I've been watching <Gachiakuta> and enjoying it so I decided to get caught up on the manga. Glad I did, the art style and paneling of the manga are great. Lots of really good reaction shots, the double spreads are great, and I'm looking forward to seeing how some of the memes/jokes are incorporated later. Only worried that the current amount of manga content will likely only get us one more 2cour split before we are fully caught up

Just got done reading a ton of Inio Asano's manga, and one of the things I thought about them was that the more mundane aspects of his works aren't discussed more as they should be. Even more so when, after doing more research and analysis, the mundane in fact seems to be detrimental to his stories, characters, and themes. It honestly motivated me to make a YouTube video about it, and if anyone is interested in watching the video and giving their thoughts, the link is down below:

The Mundane World of Inio Asano: https://youtu.be/bbaUceWiVEk

<Umibe no Onnanoko>

<Oyasumi Punpun>

<Solanin>

Im currendly reading Sanda It’s actually a pretty interesting concept. Im not finished though. The action is not bad. I think its quite enjoyable, but maybe im just easily entertained.

<The Climber> This has got to be the most frustrating read of the past few years. The art is fantastic, and it is quite enthralling to read. But for me the pacing and narrative exploits have been an absolute torture. Every single things that happens, every climb you get excited for, gets interrupted costantly by flashbacks, dreams, time skips or hallucinations. A serac is falling and suddenly you see a truck falling down from a skyscraper in the middle of the city breaking immersion completely. Every. Single. Page. Not to mention the drama was way too much, very few decisions made any sense, and honestly there almost wasn't a single likeable character in the whole manga. The Summit of The Gods has many similairity in the goal and solo approach to the mountains and it's so much more immersive and enjoyable.

<The One withing the Villaines> Girl gets reincarnated into the villaines of an otome game (but no game elements) and tries to redeem her while retaining knowledge of the game and what happens.

what a pleasant read. Good story, nice characters. One of the best revenge stories I've ever read. Super satisfying. It does have a lot of yapping though. There's a lot to read and it sometimes feels like it's diverging too much from the plot just for the author's satisfaction in world building. Which is ok. You can feel the passion. Either if the synapsis sounds like something for you, you won't be disalpointed

im in the modd for some absolute garbage harem i cant believe its not hentai series. what should be on my list? i finished world end harem, i have parallel paradise and Isekai Meikyuu de Harem o, what else should be on my list?

Kitchen Princess aka <Kitchen no Ohimesama>

A classic shoujo cooking romance. One of my all time favorites in the subgenre. And one of the first 10 manga series I ever read. Been a while, so I decided to reread it.

In any case though. Najika loves to cook, and to make people happy with the food she cooks. She also lost her parents at a young age and sent to live in an orphanage in Hokkaido. And during those first sad tearful days there she ran off crying, till she had an chance encounter with a young boy who gave her some flan, said some encouraging words to her, which helped jumpstart getting her out of that sadness. Course since he just left without saying his name she couldn't return the favor. Till around the time she turned 13 years old and found out that the spoon he gave her to eat that flan with was a distinctive spoon exclusively from a top class private school in Tokyo. So with the help of a scholarship she earns she goes off in hopes to fulfill her dreams. To become a pastry chef, and finding the boy who gave her that flan all those years ago and making him the best dessert ever in return.

But between quickly and accidentally getting into the orbit of the two biggest dreamboat guys at the school, and coming at odds with her fellow classmates for reasons besides that. Our girl aims to win the them over armed with nothing but her innocent charm, ability to see the best in people, passion for making people happy with her cooking, and amazing enough cooking skills to back up that passion. It's a real shoujo rollercoaster of a rags to riches to rags to riches story.

The story certainly follows a lot of typical shoujo beats and tropes, but the plot itself certainly keeps you on your toes at the very least with it's periods of highs and lows for our girl. It's basic but that it has a lot of heart, not to mention the great artwork to make it well worth it.

I am also probably looking at it through rose tinted lenses, but it's still a series I will wholeheartedly recommend. Plus the story comes with recipes. So that's fun.

<Who Made Me a Princess>

Finally got to finish this bit of "Reincarnated as the Villainess" story. Took me a while to finish cuz I had to read it gradually in piecemeal. So as such I'd probably have a more succinct take on this one if I reread it straight in one shot as it were.

Well in any case it was an entertaining and frankly engaging story. Good artwork. Good read for something I just picked up at random cuz it was there.

<Shingeki no Eroko-san: Hen na Oneesan wa Danshikousei to Nakayoku Naritai> aka Eroko-san on the Attack

Well, this one certainly required an amount of being able to separate fiction from reality as it were but doing that it was an amusing (and let's not forget horny...) enough romcom with some actual paced relationship development to read with it's two amusing main characters bouncing off of each other like earnest dorks. Like a less wholesome version of <Choppiri Toshiue demo Kanojo ni Shite Kuremasu ka?>. And I formed that particular aforementioned opinion before these two started their near constant bumping uglies. And all facilitated by everyone around them being so oddly cool with and even giving the green light to their relationship. All aspects of it...

Though personally I pretty much read this one as an on again off again time filler. But more than that what kinda got me raising my eyebrows in intrigue at this one was the plot development of Eruko and her gradually digging herself out of the metaphorical pit she was in at the start of the story, finding her confidence and talking with others, and rebuilding her working adult life. She certainly got handed a lot of convenient plot-luck in the final act of that, but I thought how her relationship building with not just her boyfriend but also the other general friends she made feeding into that bit of character growth was a interesting plot angle on her end that was kinda heartwarming to see in action.

I've read romcoms of this kind of "don't think too hard about it" level that I liked better, but like I said, as an occasional time filler this gave me some laughs. But now it's over.

<Rockman ZX> aka MegaMan ZX

Some short a shit loose adaptation of a video game is what this apparently was. But I was bored so, made something to do to fill part of an hour.

<Zettai Karen Children> have up to volume 55, the series itself is finished at vol.63 so I'm stopping myself at vol.50 (perfect time too since there's a hiatus announcement in the last chapter of vol.50--but obviously it's been long time ago lol).

like the name it's about 3 children who are the strongest espers in Japan (or the world at that time), a telekinetic (move things), teleportation (instant transmission?), and psychometric (can read extra information from things and what people think by touch).

the series progresses from when the 3 girl MCs are elementary school children and up to maybe their high-school age. The beginning of the series is a bit... uh, 'problematic' as one of the girl MC like to make perverted jokes and flirting with their (older) guy who's their mission handler--but the older they get, these jokes are also get more toned down and the usual naughty jokester even mellowed out, though there's still the advancement and flirting that can be disturbing for some (we're talking teenagers making advance to 20-25 years old man). Just know that the adult guy always decline their advances and it's also a recurring joke in the manga about him being a lolicon.

the fights are pretty good, it's also full of shonen tropes of friendship power and such, it's overall a pretty enjoyable series; only downside for me is that the series is very leaning on the comedic aspect, even in serious scenes we still have a gag or at least the manga-signature joke expression (y'know exaggerated faces with simplified features).

not planning on dropping, just waiting for the scans to catch up (has no official english apparently).

<Twin Star Exorcist> so while waiting for ZKC to finish, I look for other manga to read and find TSE (finished with 35 volumes)

I've binged it up to vol. 20 in like 2 days (weekend lol) because it's hype as fuck

another shonen manga about exorcists, it takes on a lot of onmyouji myths and such like Yin-Yang energy, Abe no Seimei, Talismans, spells, chants, etc. (just like how Naruto has a lot of ninja and japanese myths in general).

the story is around the pair boy and girl who are lauded as the 'Twin Star' who are prophecied to give birth to the 'Prophesied Child' who will end the war between Exorcists and Kegane (the monsters in this series)

so it got plenty of genres to cover, from action, comedy, and even romcom. There's even a turn where I thought it's gonna go the harem route, but don't worry it doesn't, the pair remains loyal to the end--but not without hardships, they both hate each other at the beginning as well.

from action manga, almost everything you'd expect are here, power ups, techniques, ultimate moves, close calls, etc. and when it hits--it hits good, there are quite a lot of very hype moments too. Too bad the author kinda skips 'training arc', like we know the characters are training, but you won't get any montage or chapters dedicated to it--on the flip side at least the manga have more "plot-advancing meat" with less filler.

only warning that there's some 'censored nudity' if that makes sense, there are some nudity but it's never really drawn clearly, like there's no nipples or nether regions are always blocked by something

it's actually been a while since I'm binging a series like this, I look forward for my next free time where nobody bothers me and I can read this in peace.

I haven't posted an update in a while, so this is what I've been reading the past few weeks:

The Emperor's Caretaker vol. 5 - This is quickly becoming one of my favorite manga series. The story continues to be excellent, and I love how it built on the previous plotlines of the empress selection ceremony and the attempted coup to bring back Cailan as an adopted member of Linhua's family. These scenes with Linhua visiting home and her new fiance, Souren, meeting her mother were so adorable. The second half also has a lot of excitement and tension during her journey back to the capital when they're attacked en route, and Linhua is confronted with the possibility that her body double and longtime friend came close to dying for her. I'm eagerly awaiting the next volume. Rating: 10/10

We're J-Just Childhood Friends ch. 1-14 - When I came across this new series on Manga Plus, the character designs immediately reminded me of Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible - and as it turns out, it's the same creator, Nene Yukimori. I really enjoyed Kubo, and this story is just as sweet and wholesome. The two series have a lot in common - cute character designs, a young soon-to-be couple doing fun activities together while trying to figure out their new feelings for each other, a nice group of friends and adorable little sibling who often tags along. I'll definitely be following this one weekly. First Impressions: 9/10

Hanamaru Hoppe - I found this one-shot chapter by Nene Yukimori along with Childhood Friends. Rather than a romance, this one focuses on a wholesome sibling/cousin relationship and tells a very cute short story about a big bro cooking pancakes for his little sis. I kind of wish this one was a series too because it's so precious. Rating: 9/10

Oshi no Ko vol. 9 - This part of the story wasn't quite as engaging for me. The points it raises about cosplay and comments that cross the line into harassment is a relevant topic in the industrt, but it's just not one that interests me, so the heavy exposition from the new characters fell flat for me. Ruby's character development is taking an interesting turn though as she goes down a dark path, using lies and the entertainment industry to her advantage to search for Gorou's killer in a way that mirrors Aqua's journey in the first half of the series. There were some great reveals for Aqua too when he admits that he does have feelings for Kana (even as he's dating Akane) but won't pursue them because he's terrified of her being targeted like Ai. The story of the Hoshino twins and the mystery is enough to keep me invested even when the industry drama isn't really my thing. Rating: 8/10

The Mage Next Door chapter 1-7 - Another new Manga Plus series. The mage world has a cool design with the floating islands and historical Japanese style architecture, and a unique concept of magic that suits the main character Osoegawa's quirky abilities well. It's a fun story so far with some good comedy, mainly focused around Osoegawa helping people and defeating criminal mages making trouble for them because he has a kind heart despite his laziness. I'll keep following this one as well. First Impressions: 8/10

All You Need Is Kill vol. 1 - I watched the movie Edge of Tomorrow recently, which is loosely based on this story, so I was curious to see how it compared to the original. It seems only the basic concepts of the alien invasion and time resetting are the same - the characters, and even their starting circumstances, were completely different. While the movie was more of an action story, this manga has a horror vibe with gruesome deaths, which really isn't what I was looking for. The character and mech designs are good, and the underlying story is an interesting idea, but I just didn't feel like continuing after reading the first chapter.

Finally finished <Hokkaido Gals are super adorable>

It was a relatively short read and Akino's rejection really felt like a halfway point for the story and it was relatively quick from there. I appreciate that Shiki didn't bother to meander and more or less just went straight for the jugular the entire second half. All in all, it's filled a Dress-up Darling shaped void after the series ended and I really appreciate that we had some couple shenanigans going on and we see satisfying conclusions for the main couple, Rena, Akino, and even getting a glimpse into their cohabiting, married life, and their daughter's wedding as a nice bonus. Sensei really wrapped everything up with a nice bow; can't wait for their next work

Besides that, I've also started reading <Rosario + Vampire> after dropping the anime over 10 years ago because life got in the way. First few chapters was pretty on point for the anime adaptation as far as I can remember but I never realized that it pretty much a monster of the week kind of affair. In any case, as soon as I reach the chapter where they befriend Mizore I will now be treading in unfamiliar waters.