Another week in the books. Let’s chat about manga in the general discussion thread! Feel free to use this thread for questions, comments, recommendations, etc.
Like normal, please be careful with spoilers. I wrote a guide about spoilers in case you need a refresher on how to handle them (also linked in the sidebar).
Kuzuhana is back and thank god the stuco arc is done. I didn’t like that arc at all and I feel like the mangaka didn’t either for some reason.
Yeah, that arc was just really dumb. If we are really lucky, we might actually see Kuzuhana in this next arc! If not, then we at least need to see more Itachi.
Started reading Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery, the newest thing from Shonen Jump. It’s the story of a great detective who hides the fact that he has no interest at all in being a great detective, but was rather forced into it by fate. The first chapter was really fun, but the ending had me worried that it’ll end up going into love triangle or even full-on harem BS. We’ll see.
How are the actual mysteries? Something that can ruin stuff like a detective series for me is if the actual crimes/mysteries end up being kind of dumb, even if the rest of the story is engaging.
How are the actual mysteries
Pretty decent, but when I say “the newest thing from Shonen Jump” I mean there’s literally just one chapter out right now. Also, it feels like the story is going to be about the main character trying to live a normal life while he happens to solve mysteries along the way. We’ll see. Like I said, one chapter.
Another busy week so I don’t have any huge updates. I did however restart reading The Demon King’s Daughter Is Too Kind!! - it’s a perfect comfort food for rough times. Even more so since I had a long break from the series so there’s some new chapters waiting for me as well.
I love manga. (❁´◡`❁)
This looks great. I will definitely be checking this out.
it’s a perfect comfort food for rough times
I wish this manga gets an anime adaptation.
Not sure if it was posted in another thread but Tsumi to Batsu no Spica answers the age old question of “What if Dexter was a kinda messed up teenage girl?” and I think that is beautiful.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed that. Reminds me of Akumetsu, but less grandiose
It looks interesting, but I am not sure if I’ll enjoy it in the long run. For the time being I have binged through the available chapters. I’ll let it build up a little more and then try again.
I have a feeling that it’s going to take some time for the real plot to move forward, if it is to.
I do kinda like the episodic “murderer of the week” kinda style tho, it’s fun.
I was originally going to pick up Oshi no Ko. Now that I know the ending, I don’t think I’m going to - at least not in the near future. In fact, season 3 of the anime is now low priority on my watch list.
Oshi no Ko spoiler, kinda
After having been burnt by endings that I was unsatisfied with in the past, I have made it a habit of checking out the endings of the series (for those that ended) before starting them.
meta spoiler; multiple anime
With very few exceptions, non-happy endings for the protagonist just ruins the journey for me. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why I procrastinate starting on some series - e.g. Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans Season 2, Attack on Titan, Your Lie in April. (Top reason: high episode count) Even bittersweet endings like Wolf Children or high-quality shows like Cyberpunk Edgerunners just don’t cut it.
Anyway, that’s why I’d rather spoil myself. Spoilers won’t really reduce my enjoyment of a series; an unsatisfactory ending would.
Oshi no Ko spoiler, kinda
So, boy am I glad I checked out the ending for Oshi no Ko. It’s far from a happy one, and exactly the kind I want to avoid.
I did enjoy the story - at least up to the anime - but there’s no chance of it being among my top favourites now.
I have mixed feelings about the ending, but I think I have come down on the liking it more than disliking it side of things. In the final chapter discussion thread, I wrote a big post about my thoughts on the ending. Short version of my thoughts behind the spoiler tag:
Some thoughts on Oshi no Ko Ending
I think the ending works better from a meta perspective from what it says about the entertainment industry. There is a lot of symmetry between Ai in the beginning of the series and Ruby at the end. I think that you can read into it that despite all the tragedies that the Hoshinos have gone through, nothing about the industry has changed and it is more than willing to chew up and spit out young talent in order to exploit it for money.
As for Aqua’s death, I was frankly expecting Ruby to die as well Romeo/Juliet style. The ending certainly feels rushed and I wish we had more time with the rest of the cast of characters after Aqua’s death. However, Aka already has his new project announced and underway, so I am not sure how much more passion might have been left on his part to expand the ending.
Had very little time this week, since a big project started more than a year ago is finally about to be concluded, but I managed to finish Misoshiru de Kanpai!. I started reading it in 2020, and while sometimes the cooking parts were a bit too much, it always managed to be a sweet romance.
sometimes the cooking parts were a bit too much
Wait, you’re telling me I can have a sweet romance and cooking at the same time? Definitely will have to check it out.
I like miso, but I’m not so interested in it to bear the explanation of everything for too many times. 🤷♀️
I have been pretty busy this past week, so haven’t been able to keep up with everything, but here are four series I wanted to point out.
I wanted to put this one first. In the most recent chapter (8), the scanlator had a credits page where they explained that they actually have been chatting with the author. It’s an interesting story. The author thanked the TL and admitted to reading Mangadex comments of the series as translated chapters have been posted. Additionally, the author basically said that the series is getting the axe after Volume 3. So, that means we are likely about halfway through the series. I have enjoyed it, so I will be sad to see it go.
I had fallen behind on this series, largely due to having issues reading it on my phone. However, I just managed to catch up and the Mihon extension for Kewn seems to be working again. It’s a lot of fun. It’s not high art by any means, but it’s a goofy romp. Think Delicious in Dungeon with Korean food stuffed into a food truck and basically zero stakes.
Long, LN-derived title aside, I have had a good time keeping up with this one. There is basically no drama, just a lot of good people doing good things to help out one of their classmates. I have no idea about the source, but it feels like it might be closing in on the end already with a final arc coming. However, I will never doubt an author’s ability to keep a series going through more and more extreme contrivances.
This is a new Manga Plus series that just posted its first chapter. It is a mix of horror and comedy and kind of feels something like Mieruko-chan mixed with You’re Too Noisy, So Just Shut It Already! in that they are part of an Occult Club and go out searching for UMAs.
