Happy Pride month, VIZ fans! This month we are covering… two heterosexual romance comics (including the Kazuo Umezz classic My Name is Shingo) and one comic with no romantic or sexual plotlines whatsoever (Fool Night). It’s the thought that counts!
Anyway, onto the news.
VIZ Launches One-Shot Manga Creator Training Program
The first four one-shots from the new One-Shot program, edited by Hisashi Sasaki, have been published! You can read more about the program and read the one-shots here. Personally, I enjoyed reading them, they were all fairly interesting. It was good to see Josh Tierney at VIZ again trying a different kind of story. My favorite story was probably Ancient Melody: the art is really cute and the world seems cool and pretty well-developed for a 50-page story. I first reported on the opening of this program last November. Since then, I’ve been working on my own one-shot! I am on the fifth draft of my third story concept for this one-shot, but maybe someday! I’ll get there! Yeah!!!
VIZ Announces Spring 2025 lineup
Lots of cool stuff coming down the pipe next spring, folks! I’m looking forward to Pink Candy Kiss, a sapphic second-chance romance, or, if you’re a manga fan, a josei yuri drama. (I’ve been reading a lot of romance novels recently if you couldn’t tell.) There’s also the shojo romance A Star Brighter than the Sun and the josei Firefly Wedding, but for the non-romance fans here there will be plenty of action, adventure, and slice-of-life titles next year as well. I’m curious about Tokyo Alien Bros, from the creator of Hirayasumi, and The Climber by Shin’ichi Sakamoto.
VIZ Digital Manga Deals
Confusingly framed as a “manga with adaptations streaming on Netflix” deal instead of “The Way of the Househusband and Fullmetal Alchemist digital manga sale” deal, the first few volumes of each manga are on sale until June 30th on different apps and websites, including Google Play, Kindle, Kobo and more. Why these two series specifically and exclusively, I have no idea. There are definitely other anime exclusive to Netflix licensed by VIZ, like Romantic Killer. But cool! The Way of the Househusband is a very consistent gag manga, and we all know Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the greatest works of fiction ever made. If you haven’t checked the manga out yet, now’s your chance!
Not exactly “news,” but I did find it slightly concerning that I didn’t see a single tweet on VIZ’s social media feet mentioning Pride Month, or a single new LGBT-related manga releasing or getting announced this month (the Pink Candy Kiss announcement was on May 31st). I’m sure this is not an unfortunate sign of anything in our contemporary culture and just a random coincidence!
Anyway, it’s time to take a look at…
What I’m Reading
Fool Night, Volume 1
Kasumi Yasuda
June 18, 2024
Man, what a stylish volume cover. I’ve been hearing a lot about this title, so I had to take the opportunity to check it out finally! On a surface level, Fool Night reminds me a lot of Chainsaw Man: a down-on-his-luck young man in a dystopian world merges his body with another non-human being and starts working for the government to make a decent living for the first time in his life. The art style also has a kind of similar sketchy feel to it. However, the two series are like two house specialty ramen bowls from different restaurants: similar base ingredients, but different, equally tasty flavors. Fool Night seems very concerned with the effects of capitalism on individuals, while Chainsaw Man is more focused on the personal exploitation of power and sexual violence and manipulation. Chainsaw Man is loud and bombastic whereas Fool Night is more quiet and understated, but no less horrific with how the flowers overtake people’s bodies. Kamiya is easier to like than Denji, as a protagonist: he’s less rude and, at twenty-six, a bit more mature. I like his dynamic with his childhood friend Yomiko, who works in the Transfloration Department and gets him a job talking to the plants that used to be humans and interpreting their emotions. I want to read more of this story!
Let’s Do It Already! Volume 1
Aki Kusaka
June 4, 2024
I didn’t expect to enjoy this comic as much as I did, but I read the whole thing while exclaiming in my head, “Aww, that’s so cute!” Yuri is a reformed delinquent who accidentally falls for and winds up dating Keiichi, the overachieving scion of a very wealthy and traditional family… Whose family rules forbid him from intimate contact with the opposite sex until he turns eighteen. But Yuri wants to kiss her boyfriend! The pair do everything they can to evade Keiichi’s team of bodyguards and spend time together. And they really are very cute about it. Despite their many differences, it’s easy to see why they like each other. The title made me think this was going to be some kind of sex comedy, but it ended up being fairly sweet and innocent. And cute!
My Name Is Shingo: The Perfect Edition, Volume 2
Kazuo Umezz
June 25, 2024
I read this entire volume without realizing it was volume 2 of the series, so it actually holds up pretty well on its own! Umezz’s attention to detail helps this story shine. It’s more of a drama than a full-on horror comic, but the sequences where the kids are climbing to the top of Tokyo Tower did activate my above-average fear of heights. It’s interesting to see a depiction of artificial intelligence from 1982 that feels so familiar today, more than forty years later. Like, of course the AI taught on information fed to it by users will give the kids dangerous misinformation, that’s what they do! I was surprised by how much of this volume is devoted to the mundane logistics of Marin and Satoru’s plans to escape and be together, but depicting all of the minor details helps make the fantastical situation feel more grounded. The analog rendering of 1980s computer art is meticulous and beautiful, and a delight to look at.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for you this month! Tune in next month for more VIZ news and reviews!
