Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Not running from your emotions is a sign of strength:” Life Lessons from Hell

Hell's Paradise Vol 1-13 by Yuji Kaku

by 3 Comments

CBR14Bingo: Monster — many of the characters are seen as monsters and they also fight monsters The story of my struggle to get all thirteen of these volumes would drag on too long, but sufficed to say that the paper shortage and resultant out of print plague striking manga has affected us all and I had to wait over a month for the tenth volume to show up. What I really liked about this series was that it’s complete and thirteen volumes is a satisfying […]

The Dramatic Story of How Cup Noodle Came to Be

Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle by Tadashi Katoh

by 4 Comments

Sadly this book is out of print and completely unavailable, which is a shame (the one copy I could find for sale is $87, so unless you’re so moved by my review that you’re willing to pay that, this is out of reach for most people). I luckily got this copy back when it first came out in 2006 and it’s a cult classic for me that I re-read every few years. Project X Challengers: Cup Noodle tells the dramatic story of how Cup Noodle was […]

Two works from the same author, two diametrically opposed opinions from me

Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova

Nightschool Collector's Edition Vol. 1 and 2 by Svetlana Chmakova

by Leave a Comment

Dramacon was one of those foundational comics for me and it’s been years since I read it, so I decided to get the 15th anniversary collector’s edition, as my original copies have long since vanished. Then I decided to get the two Nightschool collector’s editions since I’d never read them. Dramacon held up and I’ll be keeping it, but Nightschool didn’t connect with me and I found it to be the weaker of the works. I know this is in large part because Dramacon so perfectly captures the mid-2000s experience of being at […]

Hana-Kimi: For You in Full Blossom Vol. 1 – 5

Hana-Kimi: vol. 1 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 2 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 3 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 4 by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi: vol. 5 by Hisaya Nakajo

by Leave a Comment

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ “For You in Full Blossom”), in America shortened to Hana Kimi, is a manga series by writer and artist Hisaya Nakajo.  I fell head over heels for this manga when it was  starting to be released in the US in 2004,  eagerly waiting for translations to be done and the next volume released.  I haven’t read it in over a decade.  My ten year old has read it at least twice and is on a third read through. So I’m reading […]

Good side fight and breaking the fourth wall

Fire Force vol 26 by Atsushi Ohkubo

by Leave a Comment

It’s pretty rare for a manga volume to focus on a side character and be this good; I actually didn’t miss Company 8, Shinra, etc. all that much. Then again, the backstory and fight focus on Benimaru is interesting enough but also kind of predictable way to get to know a little more about one of my favorite characters in the series. There’s actually just a little character growth shown, although again, not much of it all that surprising. The one thing I’d like to […]

Two Very Different But Sweet Autobiographical Manga

The Bride Was A Boy by Chii

Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu by Junji Ito

by Leave a Comment

The breadth of non-fiction manga is on full display between these two very different books! The Bride was a Boy is a memoir about a trans woman’s experience falling in love and getting married. It’s also a basic primer on what being transgender is like  and a good overview on the Japanese government’s policies on trans people. I know there are enormous problems in the US right now vis a vis trans rights, which terrifies me every day as a trans person, but I’m always glad we […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo