I’m impressed that as the Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu series has continued, our knowledge of the recurring cast has allowed for stories that move beyond delicious food to more subtle explorations of family and political motivations. Although the delicious food is still present, making my mouth water as I read. In volume 9, those stories include some humanizing moments for Gehrnot the tax collector. He almost has a reunion with his brother, the traveling actor, and he helps some warehouse owners […]

I haven’t written about this series in a while, but I’ve kept enjoying it. It’s a quiet pleasure, particularly as we continue to rotate through moments in the life of its recurring cast of customers and guests. The Japanese restaurant continues to serve basic dishes from that cuisine to medieval Europeans through its unspecified magical location. Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu volume 8 shows us several milestones in the lives of those vsitors: Former soldier Hans has quit his job in the […]

Umi Sakurai continues to build out this world, balancing moments of substantial emotional depth with scenes of cute cat behavior with universal appeal. A Man and His Cat volume 4 follows up from the previous volume. Hibino’s resentment towards Mr. Kanda, from the days when they were both concert pianists, is explained. Thankfully, they get new chances to interact, now that Kanda has retired from the stage, when they meet in the pet store and Kanda begins helping Hibino with […]

A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care by Ikumi Rotta Learning makeup through manga is a great idea — the visuals in Makeup Is Not (Just) Magic provide a terrific format for illustrated guides and educational content. Unfortunately, the material here is too often overwhelming and off-putting, likely to turn off the new readers whom the author says she wants to help. The author tells us she was previously a beauty consultant. Now she draws manga. Makeup made her […]

My Brother’s Husband volume 2 concludes the short, inspirational manga series by Gengoroh Tagame. Mike is still visiting Yaichi and his daughter Kana. (Mike was married in Canada to Yaichi’s twin brother, who has passed away.) Mike’s visit has caused Yaichi to start thinking about what it might be like to be gay and to begin recognizing the stereotypes and distrust visible in Japanese culture. As the book opens, Yaichi has had a dream about Kana perhaps growing up to […]

It’s around this time in a manga series with a relatively simple premise — a widower who’s tired of life finds comfort in an older cat that no one else wanted and enjoys the basics of having a pet — that I start wondering how the author is going to keep it going with descending into mere repetition. In A Man and His Cat volume 3, Umi Sakurai tells some longer stories about pet ownership as well as delving much […]

BL Metamorphosis is a charming, low-key manga about how friendship can develop based on shared interests, regardless of how different the friends might otherwise be. It’s a lesson I’ve learned myself, and it was refreshing to see it portrayed on paper by Kaori Tsurutani in this English edition published by Seven Seas. Ichinoi is 75 years old. One day, she stops into a bookstore after she finds her favorite cafe has closed down. She wanders into the manga section, where […]

I was tickled by the concept of Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! when a fellow comic club member (hi, Rachel!) told us about it. Basically, office worker Adachi turns 30 and is still a virgin, so he gains the magic ability to read the mind of someone when he touches them. When he accidentally touches a handsome, popular coworker, he discovers that this coworker, Kurosawa, has a crush on him! So Kurosawa is trying […]