Another month, another VIZ Pubwatch! This month, we’re talking about some of our favorites, including a rerelease of Taiyo Matsumoto’s GoGo Monster and the newest Steel of the Celestial Shadows volume. But first, the news!
VIZ at SDCC
I am not at SDCC this year, but VIZ is! And so is Rem, the artist of iconic webcomic-turned-print-manga Devil’s Candy. Rem is doing a Q and A panel with David Brothers and a signing. VIZ is also doing portfolio reviews again and selling exclusive SDCC merch for flagship shonen series like Bleach and Chainsaw Man. For the full schedule of VIZ activities, see this blog post here. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Rooster Fighter Anime Announced
Rooster Fighter is getting an anime! It’ll be released internationally on Adult Swim. Which is wild because I thought Crunchyroll ran the anime world. You can watch the trailer online, and the mangaka’s grateful commentary can be seen here. And my 2022 review of Rooster Fighter Volume 1 can be read here! Wow, I sure have been doing this for a while. I thought it was pretty fun, but I didn’t keep up with it. It should make an exciting anime, though.
Kohei Horikoshi Interviewed for My Hero Academia’s Tenth Anniversary
There are only a few chapters left of My Hero Academia as of this writing, but after ten years of serialization, the manga has become a global phenomenon. Creator Kohei Horikoshi sat down for an interview about the manga’s success, its ending, and his creative process and influences. He discusses his naming process (try to make them interesting!) and the influence of American cape comics on his work (surface-level, mostly.) Read the interview here!
That’s enough news for this month, let’s talk about…
What I’m Reading
GoGo Monster
Taiyo Matsumoto
July 23, 2024
I haven’t read this Matsumoto story before, but I enjoyed how simultaneously serene and uneasy it felt. Matsumoto makes a lot of unusual paneling decisions that make reading his manga an education for any cartoonist, but GoGo Monster is also a deeply immersive reading experience for comics enthusiasts. The story is complete in this volume, spanning Yuki Tachibana’s entire third-grade year and chronicling his struggles with school, his classmates, and the invisible monsters on “the other side,” led by the mysterious “Super Star.” A new transfer student and the smartest fifth grader in the school (who wears a cardboard box on his head) try to help him without fully knowing how, or what, is going on. It’s never clear how much of the other world is real or how much exists in Yuki’s imagination, though the school groundskeeper says he’s heard similar things from other kids before. The rhythmic repetition throughout of motifs that are eventually woven into the climax is very effective. Overall, as far as Matsumoto comics go, I liked it more than No. 5, but less than Tokyo These Days or Ping Pong.
Steel of the Celestial Shadows, Volume 3
Daruma Matsuura
July 16, 2024
Bug girl! Bug girl! Bug girl! This volume introduces a new antagonist fighting Aki and Konosuke, and she controls bugs! I found these sequences very well-drawn and creative, utilizing different properties of different insects. I’m not easily scared by horror manga, but I found Matsuura’s more realistic bug renderings scarier than Umezz’s stylized bugs in Cat-eyed Boy. This volume also elaborates on the Tsuchimikado clan’s control of the onmyoji and people with powers in Japan, and Konosuke learns how to use his ability to warp metal to protect people he cares about. I also liked the bonus pages in this volume that elaborate on the kinds of people and professions in Edo-period Japan and how Matsuura researched the period and incorporated her research into her story. I wish there were more people involved in the central battle between Madara and Konosuke, as most of the volume felt like there were only three people in this whole world with the rest of the Tsuchimikado watching from the distant sidelines.
Marriage Toxin, Volume 3
Story by Joumyaku, Art by Mizuki Yoda
July 2, 2024
If I had a nickel for every volume in this VIZ Pubwatch that introduced a new character with the power to control bugs, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice. While Madara in Steel of the Celestial Shadows is fighting against the protagonists, the Bug Master getting married in Marriage Toxin Volume 3 is protagonist Gero’s best friend and the nicest guy in the world. It’s cool to read both books back to back and see the same power used in such different ways. Volume 3 of Marriage Toxin also wraps up the Ureshino camping arc, letting Ureshino come into her own and accept her position as the head of the family business after working together with Gero and Kinosaki to defeat the Sound Master. Also, Gero and Kinosaki hang out, which is always fun. Some chapters of Marriage Toxin are now available to read on the Shonen Jump app, if you want to check it out there too!
That’s all I have for you this month! Tune in next month for more VIZ news and reviews!
