Our Dining Table was a satisfying, if not particularly memorable, bit of comfort reading. It doesn’t do anything exceptional, but the notes it hits make up a nicely blended tune. The story is quietly reassuring, good relaxation without being demanding in any way, a warm manga bath. Author Mita Ori manages to combine a boys’ love story, food manga, and a cute kid into a single-volume story. Young office worker Yutaka lives on “ready-to-eat supermarket meals and salads.” The only […]

After giving up on Ichigo Takano’s Dreamin’ Sun, I thought I’d try their Orange, because I was intrigued by the time travel aspect. (There’s a mini-boom in these “what if I knew then what I know now” manga, including Again!! and Erased.) Naho is a 16-year-old high schooler who gets a letter that says it’s from herself ten years in the future. It tells her not to invite new student Naruse to walk home with her and her group of […]

Satoko and Nada means well and looks unusual for manga. Created by Yupechika, it’s the story of two college roommates in America. Satoko is Japanese, and Nada is a Saudi Arabian Muslim who wears a hijab. The series’ origin as a 4-koma (four-panel strip) online is apparent in its simple art style, with flat, minimal figures and each page a complete comic. But most aren’t going to read this for impressive visuals. The appeal is seeing two very different people […]

My Solo Exchange Diary is the sequel to the much-awarded My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Nagata Kabi. It’s a collection of short chapters — twelve, labeled as diary entries, each 10-14 pages — about living alone and becoming a comic creator as a career. To start, I should reveal that I couldn’t make it through My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness. It’s not very visually interesting — mostly background-less sketchy figures — and I found the constant “my life is […]

In Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, Kikori Morino has assembled some never-fail elements — chipper girl surviving in terrible circumstances that are only hinted at, weird but adorable pet, charming domestic activities — into an odd, only-in-manga mix that brings out a smile. The cheery Nagi lives by herself in the mountains. She says hi to the birds as she heads out to gather vegetables and dreams of what she can make from her garden. Then she encounters […]

I should have given up on Dreamin’ Sun a while ago, because it’s just spinning its wheels. Zen likes Shimana, who likes their landlord, who doesn’t seem to like women. Repeat ad nauseum with various internal monologues full of questions from Shimana, who’s gone from being cute to being vapid. Volume 7 begins with a chapter that seems to have come in from some other book. It’s finally explained by the end of the volume, but when I first started […]

The Bride Was a Boy presents author Chii’s true story of her gender transition and wedding. It’s a timely topic, cutely told. Each chapter covers an obvious question readers might have, from the couple’s meeting (and her concerns over when and how to tell him about her status) to Bride-chan’s surgery. Some are focused on the gender topic; others, such as the story of the proposal, are about their romance. Chii also tells us how she came to recognize her […]

Creator Yumi Unita is best-known in this country for Bunny Drop, an adorable manga about a single father that turned creepy when he decided to get involved with his adoptive daughter once she grew up. Thus, when Slumbering Beauty was announced, I was concerned about what might be part of this manga. I shouldn’t have worried. I could really get into Slumbering Beauty, because it was weird from the start. Schoolgirl Yoneko likes to sleep, and she’s really good at […]