Spring is in the air, VIZ fans! I’m mostly done with my thesis and am using my suddenly-abundant spare time to catch up on all the media that’s piled up while I was working on it, including VIZ Media’s latest releases! This month, we’re looking at new action comedy series Sakamoto Days as well as my beloved Kaiju. No. 8 and My Love Mix-up!!! But first, the news.
Spring Anime Season Starts
And with it, two highly anticipated VIZ manga adaptations: Spy x Family and season 3 of Kaguya-sama: Love is War. I watched the first episode of both last week and wow, anime is great, cartoons are great, animation is a gift to the world. Spy x Family’s talented voice actors and jazzy soundtrack bring life to an already vivacious story of lies, deceit, and (literally) found family. Meanwhile, Kaguya-sama: Love is War -Ultra Romantic- continues to live up to the high expectations set by the previous two seasons of the show with a hilariously tense first episode about headphones not plugged in all the way and not knowing what read receipts are. I’m excited to see the rest of both of these shows, which are currently airing on Crunchyroll simultaneously with their release in Japan.
Jujutsu Kaisen Special Powers Poll Results
Ah, Shonen Jump reader polls, a staple of manga fandom. This poll asked readers of Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen which cursed technique, weapon, or energy they’d want to have the most! Gojo’s extremely powerful Limitless technique, allowing him to manipulate space at will, came in first place, while my personal favorite Fushiguro’s divine dogs (who doesn’t want to summon magic dogs at will?!) took third. You can see the full results here!
Speaking of Jujtusu Kaisen, the anime movie adaptation of the prequel comic Jujutsu Kaisen 0 hit theaters in the US a few weeks ago! My friends and I drove an hour to see it. It was pretty good: the fight scenes as exciting and dramatic as the anime adaptation of the main series and the plot points translated faithfully to screen.
Special Editions of Bleach and My Hero Academia To Be Released
As reported by Variety and The Mary Sue, VIZ is planning on releasing a special 20th-anniversary edition of Bleach on August 2, 2022, and a box set of the first 20 volumes of My Hero Academia on October 18. VIZ tweeted the cover art reveals for both special releases on April 6th. Looks pretty cool! For Bleach fans, there’s a new arc of the anime coming out in October to look forward to as well. My Hero Academia fans can read new chapters of the ongoing manga simultaneously with their release in Japan on the Shonen Jump app or website.
April has been a surprisingly eventful month, and there are a few news items I haven’t been able to get to today (Sailor Moon Official Fanclub is recruiting new members, Caitlin Glass voiced a page from Skip Beat, etc., etc.,) but it’s time to take a look at…
What I’m Reading
Sakamoto Days, Volume 1
Yuto Suzuki
April 5, 2022
I’ve seen this comic on the front page of the Shonen Jump app often but not clicked on it before because I was not interested. Having read the first volume now, however, I can confirm that Sakamoto Days is… fine! Reminiscent of Spy x Family in that it’s about both cheerful and sweet family life and exciting mobster-fighting action sequences. Sakamoto, once the greatest assassin in the world, retired to live a quiet life running a convenience store and supporting his wife and child. Unfortunately for him, the other assassins in the world aren’t on board with this, and are trying their hardest to kill him off. The action sequences in this comic are fun to look at— the characters make good use of their environment and surrounding props. This is clearly not a comic that takes itself too seriously— Sakamoto’s new apprentice is literally telepathic, and antagonists that pop up have thematically punny names like the janitor assassin “Kurii Ningu” (Cleaning). A fun and light read, and not so absorbing I had to catch up to the rest of the comic immediately.
Kaiju no. 8, Volume 2
Naoya Matsumoto
April 5, 2022
Kaiju no. 8 is awesome and I love it. Volume 2 continues the story of Kafka Hibino and his attempts to become an officer in the kaiju neutralization defense force, skillfully balancing exciting action and gruesome monsters with funny and charming character interactions. Kafka’s training as a kaiju attack cleanup crew member comes into play as he uses his knowledge of dismantling kaiju corpses to figure out the weaknesses of the monster the new recruits face on their first mission. The volume also goes more into depth about Mina Ashiro’s role as the star of the defense force, and Hoshina’s motivations as her second in command. The color pages at the start of the volume are gorgeous, bright and moody at once. This edition also includes character profiles between chapters that add extra insight to how the author approaches the cast. If you love fighting monsters with big guns and people beginning to chase their dreams later in life than average, give Kaiju no. 8 a try!
My Love Mix-up! Volume 3
Story by Wataru Hinekure, Art by Aruko
April 5, 2022
To no one’s surprise, I still love My Love Mix-up! with all my heart. In this volume, our lovable goofballs go on an exciting school trip… to a brutally difficult ski boot camp in Hokkaido. Aruko can make even nearly freezing to death hilarious, as Aoki kicks away cartoony cherubs come to take Ida’s soul. Meanwhile, Ida and Aida both ponder their feelings for Aoki and Hashimoto. A lot happens in this volume! Dates, haircuts, hypothermia, and a whole lot of humor and heart. Hashimoto and Aoki bond over their crushes, and we learn a bit more about how Aida and Aoki became best friends in the first place. Aruko is a master of cartooning and exaggeration, depicting Aoki’s emotions at the peak of their intensity at all times, even drawing Aoki as a melted puddle on the floor (which Ida comforts because he’s “used to this”). It’s silly, almost to the point of being over the top at times, but My Love Mix-up! never stops being cute and funny.
That’s all I’ve got for you this month! Make sure to wish Bakugou Katsuki a happy birthday tomorrow, and I’ll see you in May with more VIZ news and reviews!
