Alphabetical Index of Yen Press Manga Reviews

BTOOOM! Volume 4

It kinda disturbs me how much I look forward to this violent video game thriller by Junya Inoue, but its adrenaline-packed action is addictive. Unfortunately, this installment wasn’t as satisfying as I hoped. There’s plenty of gore, but that’s something I tolerate, not look forward to. I want each book to move the story forward by revealing more about the premise, why this particular people are trapped on an island and told to kill each other and who’s behind it. […]

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A Bride’s Story Volume 5

When I realized that a new volume of A Bride’s Story, my current favorite manga series, had come out FOUR months ago and I hadn’t read it yet, I knew the last few months had been busier than they should be. Yet the positive side of that is … new Bride’s Story! The twins, Laila and Leily, are getting married, which gives Kaoru Mori ample reason to draw beautiful historical garments and portray many customary preparations for the celebration, including […]

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Judge Volume 2

The struggles of a group of students, each with a supposed sin in their past and so trapped in a murder game, continue in Judge volume 2 with another death and more exploration of the group’s circumstances. As set up in the previous book, there’s an attempt to outwit the manipulator, but it quickly fails — since it depends on a group of strangers in a stressful, life-threatening situation all trusting each other. It’s vaguely charming of our protagonist, Hiro, […]

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Yotsuba&! Volume 12

A new volume of Yotsuba&! is always a thing to be celebrated! Enjoy its simple pleasures, just as little girl Yotsuba does in all of her daily life. Yotsuba&! volume 12 was particularly interesting to me because at one point, the teen neighbor girls take her trick-or-treating. I’ve been working a project with a Japanese team, and over Halloween, I asked if they celebrate it. They said no, not really, but the kids thought it was fun to wear costumes. […]

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Judge Volume 1

The author of Doubt, Yoshiki Tonogai, returns with another series about kids wearing animal heads trapped in a warehouse where they’re killed off one by one. However, Judge has more to recommend it than Doubt. (Although don’t get me wrong, that was quite the adrenaline ride, even if the end made little sense.) As you can see from the cover, there are different animals this time around. They’re themed, to match the seven deadly sins: the pig is gluttony, the […]

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BTOOOM! Volume 3

The sexism fears foreshadowed in previous volumes by Junya Inoue are here fully realized. For a change of pace, instead of facing off with yet another repellant, bloodthirsty villain, the threat in BTOOOM! volume 3 is more primal. Ryouta, his older sidekick, and the girl on the cover must survive an attack by giant lizards. But first, Ryouta and the girl (who has no name yet) face off. She manages to take herself out — thus making me wonder how […]

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Bunny Drop Volume 9

Thank goodness Bunny Drop concludes with this volume. I keep reading the series by Yumi Unita, dreading what was coming, hoping that I’d be wrong. I just couldn’t make myself look away. Here’s what you need to know about the title to understand my dislike of the premise. Daikichi is now 40. He’s been taking care of the informally adopted Rin for ten years, raising her as if she was his daughter, since she was six years old. Although the […]

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Doubt Volume 2

I recommend reading this second and concluding volume close to finishing the first. If you don’t, you might have forgotten who’s who and who’s dead. (A “story so far” or character list page would have helped me a lot in recalling where we left off.) I can’t imagine what it would have been like to read this in monthly serialization. It doesn’t really matter, though, since there are a number of reversals. This isn’t a mystery you can figure out, […]

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