Bulk Review: Manga/Graphic Novels Pt. 7

 

I didn't read enough manga/short stories to have another bulk-review before the end of last year. I hope to focus my reading this year to novels over manga, but that was also my plan last year. Let's see how it goes. I meant to do this post in March, but I got some of the holds in in early April, and kind of forgot.

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Those Not-So-Sweet Boys by Yoko Nogiri Vol 1 - 7 (Read Dec. 20 - Jan. 16)

This was a cute short series. There wasn't a whole lot of anticipation on who she'd end up with or drawn out drama (all good things). I do like all the characters, even if they were a little cookie-cutter in some ways. This is just wholesome. I would've liked it to be a little bit longer. A nice round 10 volumes, to flesh out some of the story lines.

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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Kanehito Yamada Vol. 7 - 11 (Read Dec. 27 - Mar. 5 )

Volume 7 overlaps with the end of season one, and I am very excited to read more. Stark and Fern are so cute! This continues to be a really fantastic series, and with each volume I get more excited for the second season of the anime. The arcs of these volumes have a slight more focus on the demons and how they think than past volumes that featured demons. It showed that there is a little bit of nuance to some of the demons, even though they still don't hold any kind of affection for humans it seems that they can have something close to respect for them. 

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Sakura, Saku by Io Sakisaka Vol. 1 - 3 (Read Feb 3 - 24)

While this remains one of my favorite mangaka's, this is her weakest story. I think I've read all her stuff at this point, and nothing has lived up to the Ao Haru Ride, the first of her works I read. I did end up dropping this one. Around the third volume, I noticed what trope was going to be the main conflict of this series. It's a trope that I don't like and at this point I find it to be a tired trope. I didn't even bother to track them on StoryGraph. 

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Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu, Vol. 3 - 8 (Read Feb. 8 - Apr. 5)

I have really enjoyed reading this. The art style is top notch, and the character development is equally amazing. The story has gotten really tense, and I loved seeing an old ally return. As much as I am loving the manga, at this point I am mostly looking forward even more to the anime because I know the it's going to look amazing in animated.

 

 

 

 

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Apothecary Diaries by Nekokurage & Natsu Hyuuga Vol 13 (Read Mar. 25 )

The conclusion of the Hunt, and the aftermath of Maomao finding out about Jinshi's frog and what could mean for the future.

With season 2 of the anime already coming out, and also already being nearly caught up with the translated volumes of the manga, I am very curious how that's going to be handled.

 

 

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Mao by Rumiko Takahashi, Vol. 18 (Read Mar. 30)

It's been a while since I read the previous volume, but I guess that's what happens when you catch up and then have to wait as they come out. 

Now that I'm no longer reading this at the same time as InuYasha, I feel like I can get into this story a little better with out comparing.