My Picture Diary is a work by Fujiwara Maki, the wife of the much more famous mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge. Each page has a short description on one side of what her day was like, and illustrations showcasing the day on the other side. The descriptions …Read more »
Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture is a manga based on a light novel series, both of which are being published by Yen Press. Naoya Fukamachi, a new college student, has a mysterious past, where something otherworldly seems to have happened at a Bon festival. He’s …Read more »
Why I Adopted My Husband is a nonfiction manga about a gay couple in Japan choosing adoption because same-sex marriage is not an option there. The couple, Yuta and Kyota, are otaku who fall in love and, after years of being together, want to make …Read more »
In Like a Butterfly, Suiren is a high school student who is very pretty and very shy. Because of this, people refer to her as “Flower,” saying she’s like a beautiful flower that grows on the tallest peak of a mountain. The boys stare at …Read more »
Soichi: Junji Ito Story Collection consists entirely of short stories involving Ito’s character Soichi, a creepy boy who curses people and likes to put nails in his mouth. There are 10 stories: “A Happy Summer Vacation,” “A Happy Winter Vacation,” “Soichi’s Happy Diary,” “Soichi’s Home …Read more »
Mr. Villain’s Day Off is a short, quirky manga about a nameless villain who wants to take over Earth and destroy all humans. But we don’t really see him on his evil days. We see him on his days off, when he might go shop …Read more »
In the manga Ugly Duckling of the Entertainment District, Esora is a young woman who is not in an enviable position. While it’s not entirely clear what her background is, we know she is used to being abandoned by people, we know she’s been abandoned …Read more »
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I’m Not the Demon Lord is an isekai about a college student who is reincarnated into Eumiella, a character from an otome RPG she played in her last life. And she’s not the heroine of …Read more »
Offshore Lightning is an alternative, literary, slice of life manga anthology. It has 11 short stories: “Towards the Sunset,” “Offshore Lightning,” “Parakeet God,” “Buy Dog Food, Then Go Home,” “Countdown,” “A Mother of Pearl Ship,” “Gingko,” “Upskirt,” “In Captivity,” and “House of Solitary Death.” There …Read more »
Horror at Doll’s Village opens with the characters in the midst of a bloody nightmare. Then it backtracks to a group of high schoolers in a bus, going to spend some time in the country. It’s just for a few days, in a place without …Read more »
Homunculus is a creepy and intriguing manga. The main character, Nakoshi Susumu, is living out of his car and hanging out with a group of homeless people. He tells the homeless people different things about himself, so no one knows when he’s lying or telling …Read more »
Tokorozawa is 177 cm Tall is a short shojo-ai manga. The first part of the manga concentrates on the titular Tokorozawa, who is taller than her classmate Shirakawa, and it starts with Shirakawa asking Tokorozawa if she can lean over her to see. (177 cm …Read more »
Papa and Daddy’s Home Cooking is a relaxed, slice-of-life manga involving families and food. The two main characters, Sengoku and Harumi, are suddenly in positions of being single fathers to young children. Sengoku’s ex shows up with a daughter he didn’t know existed and leaves …Read more »
In Haita the Invisible, main character Yuzu can’t speak and she’s harassed at school because of it. Adolescence is hard enough, but the mean girls see her as vulnerable and walk all over her. They say vicious things about her, which she hears, and they …Read more »
Wonder House of Horrors is a horror anthology consisting of ten short stories: “Ugly Face,” “The Amazing Dismembered Girl,” “Monologue,” “Severance,” “Speed Girl,” “Wonder Valentine,” “Chocolate Man,” “Mission School,” “The Hut in the Mountains” and “The Mansion of Sweet Mystery.” The main characters in these …Read more »
Danica Davidson
