In much of the world, it’s time to go back to school, but the manga publishing machine churns ever onward, never stopping, never slowing down. This month we’re taking a look at the second volume of Until I Love Myself, another shoujo romance, and a Dracula reimagining in which Mina Harker is a champion wrestler! But first, the news.
Old Series End and New Series Start in Shonen Jump
The machine churns forward, and swallows up Fabricant 100 and Tenmaku Cinema after 36 and 21 chapters respectively. Tenmaku Cinema ending early was a surprise, considering the creative team’s previous hit series Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma lasted a full 315 chapters (and some spin-offs!). I honestly thought they’d get more of a chance to expand on their premise before getting the axe. Both offbeat series with out-there premises (a take on Frankenstein and a story about filmmaking, respectively) were summarily replaced by even more fantasy battle manga that’s going to have to try really hard to distinguish itself from the dozen or so identical series running concurrently in the same magazine. I’m tired. Is anyone else tired? At any rate, Kagurabachi and MamaYuyu sure do exist now, and will probably continue to exist for around 20 more chapters. They look nice: MamaYuyu especially has some really interesting layouts, but I don’t know if I can handle one more story about a young man deciding to become a hero.
I wish we’d gotten at least one more story arc out of Tenmaku Cinema.
Shonen Manga Coloring Books Out Now
You’ve heard of coloring books, you’ve heard of BLEACH, now get ready for the BLEACH Coloring Book! Also the Naruto coloring book, both released September 5. I am not a coloring book enthusiast (or a BLEACH or Naruto enthusiast, to be honest), so I cannot provide a fair review for such items. But if you like this sort of thing, each book has over 70 pages of high-quality lineart on thick paper, with flexible binding to make coloring as easy and comfortable of a process as possible! I hope people have fun.
Masakazu Morita at Anime Expo
Masakazu Morita, voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, was at Anime Expo back in July to promote the Thousand-Year Blood War anime. Now, VIZ Media has generously released a video of the festivities for those of us who could not make it to AX in person. Seems like a fun time!
One last fun fact that was news to me, but is not actually news: VIZ media has a number of 18+ comics available to read online in a web browser only, including Dorohedoro, Inio Asano’s Downfall and Dead Dead Demons Dedededestruction. You’re welcome.
Enough of me talking about things I haven’t read or seen, it’s time for…
What I’m Reading
#DRCL
Shin’ichi Sakamoto
September 19, 2023
Halfway through reading this I started messaging my friends to tell them all about this wild Dracula retelling I found.
I think this is probably my biggest recommend for this month, just for the art alone: Sakamoto’s drawings are beautiful, inventive, elaborate, horrifying. It takes some interesting liberties with the source material, but clearly put a lot of thought into each creative choice (even hiring a consultant to write the logs of the Demeter in accurate, if contemporary, Russian). I kept up with Dracula Daily last year, so I’m familiar with the overall story, but it still took some turns that surprised me (and had visuals that took my breath away.) Mina is a wrestler! And the only girl at a fancy all-boy’s academy. Lucy is a guy at this academy who becomes a girl at night (do not ask me what they mean by that) but they’ve still had three proposals of marriage from the three guys, but they’re all, like, sixteen? Quincey is a Black American in this universe, and Seward is now a Japanese man named Jo Suwa. Renfield is now a nun he has chained up in his attic for some reason.
It’s really weird, but also really hard to put down. The dialogue is period-appropriate in a way that’s a bit excessive at times, but the visuals are just so, so stunning. I feel like it really is elevating the story of Dracula with imagery like this. It feels so Gothic, so dark. I haven’t read a manga with visuals this captivating in… a long time. And I read a lot of manga!
I liked this one.
Like A Butterfly, Volume 2
Suu Morishita
September 5, 2022
I did not like this one as much. Like A Butterfly is about an extremely beautiful girl, Suiren, who is afraid of talking to people who are not her two besties, and Kawasemi, a guy who does karate and also doesn’t really talk to anyone who is not his one bestie. But Suiren slowly becomes interested in Kawasemi, and Kawasemi secretly likes her back, despite believing he is not worthy of her attention. I like banter, chatting, and comedy in my shoujo romance manga, and the central couple here just kind of stares at each other every time they’re left alone together. I’m sure this works for some people, but I am not that person. I can’t seem to buy the fact that they’re communicating when they stare at each other for five pages in silence. At least give me some body language! They’re cute enough, I suppose, but I wish either of the leads had a bit more going on internally. Or externally. I’m reminded of Komi Can’t Communicate and Kimi ni Todoke, but with less comedy and less friendship, both of which I much prefer to read.
Until I Love Myself, Volume 2
Poppy Pesuyama
September 19, 2023
Picking up where Volume 1 left off, Pesuyama’s autobiographical comic continues to explore how they healed from their trauma and how the people around them exist in a world of sexual violence. After the main story ended, there were two shorter “bonus chapters,” one about problematic TV celebrities and one about masturbation. It’s still not my preferred kind of autobiography: too stripped-down and simple, and too… tell-y? I felt like I was reading someone else’s journal entries, and not a narrative. That’s the most difficult thing about autobio, forcing the complexities of real life into the shape of a story. I’m not convinced this comic is successful in that aspect. It’s certainly a stark look at gender in Japanese society. I appreciated the interactions with Pesuyama’s editor and high school friend that showed how different people handled the same environment. Still not a light or fun read, and still not for everyone, but perhaps it will be for you.
I’ll see you next month with more VIZ news and reviews!
