Alphabetical Index of Yen Press Manga Reviews

Wolf Children Ame & Yuki

Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki is a gorgeous manga adaptation of an award-winning animated film. Yen Press has really done the material well, releasing a single-volume hardcover containing over 500 pages of story (three volumes’ worth), color opening pages, and notes and character sketches by the authors. The story is by Mamoru Hosoda with art by Yu. It’s not a new story, but it’s presented in an affecting way. Hana falls in love with a mysterious bad boy who crashes […]

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BTOOOM! Volume 6

I’ve known from the beginning of this series by Junya Inoue that it was a very guilty pleasure. Heck, I was noting how sexist it was back with volume 2. Yet I enjoyed the action and premise, of video gamers forced to kill for real on a deserted island in a live-action version of the game. It was stupid at times, but what did I expect from mindless escapism? It took me a while, but volume 6 finally turned me […]

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No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! Volume 3

As Tomoko continues to wish for popularity, author Nico Tanigawa takes her (and us) to that bastion of school manga, the culture festival, in volume 3. Tomoko, the essential loner, knows she should help out — she doesn’t want to be accused of shirking — but she doesn’t have anything to do, and she’s too shy to approach others. Her extreme isolation and inadvertent self-sabotage is amusing, in the style of cringe comedy. I like the way her dialogue is […]

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Bunny Drop Volume 10

I suspect a number of readers may have approached this “bonus volume”, collecting Bunny Drop short stories, the same way I did. I had hopes that it would provide more of the cute “raising a kid unexpectedly” tales that made this series so charming in the early days. I didn’t want to be reminded of the unpleasant change the series took. Unfortunately, Yumi Unita’s authorial decision, to turn Daikichi and Rin from adoptive father and daughter into married couple, is […]

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Thermae Romae Volume 3

Thermae Romae volume 3 picks up in the middle of events from the previous volume, which meant I had to find and reread the second book before I was sure what was going on. Given that it’s been nine months since that was released, a little bit of “story so far” would have been a help. It’s not that complicated a plotline, though. Lucius is still stuck in modern-day Japan, and a horse that has fallen in love with him […]

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Another

This super-sized manga — 720 pages! the whole story in a single volume! — is based on a horror novel that also spawned an anime and a live-action movie. Clearly, there’s something about this story (by Yukito Ayatsuji; art by Hiro Kiyohara) that seized the imagination of various audiences. Another is gripping, a creepy puzzle all the more involving for its everyday dimensions. It begins with a simple ghost story. 26 years before, the most popular kid in the class […]

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No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! Volumes 1-2

That great, excessively long title No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! has little to do with the content of the book — although the premise is even more out-there than the title suggests — and is thankfully abbreviated “WataMote” (after the first two major words in the Japanese title). It’s the story of Tomoko, who’s entering high school dreaming of being popular. She’s terrific at dating sim video games, you see, and […]

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BTOOOM! Volume 5

I thought BTOOOM! volume 4 was a bit slow and repetitive, but this volume (out next month) kicks it all back up into high gear. We open with the story of how Himiko (the previously unnamed eye candy on the cover) came to the island and her experiences before meeting Ryouta. Given her hatred and distrust of men, it’s not surprising to see that it’s a tale full of attempted rape. In fact, her “origin” is something like Red Sonja’s: […]

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