Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I realized I didn’t want to carry them around for the rest of my life.”

Nude Model and Other Stories by Tsubasa Yamaguchi

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This is a very interesting and striking manga collection of three pretty dark short stories. I haven’t read the author’s other work, Blue Period, which is about a teenager discovering art in high school, but I had looked at it before and liked the art style, which convinced me to pick this up. Since it’s a standalone consisting of three short stories, I figured it would be a good insight into her style and I liked the striking cover a lot. I liked all three […]

March/April Manga Review Grab Bag

Our Torsos Align by Ryo Sumiyoshi

The Blue Wolves of Mibu (Vol 1) by Tsuyoshi Yasuda

March Comes In Like a Lion (Vol 1-2) by Chica Umino

Sketchy (Vol 1) by Makihirochi

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Here’s a fun review grab bag of manga that I read in the last week or so. I have been trying to think about cutting down my collecting, but then I ended up in Kinokuniya, so…we can all guess what happened (three more volumes of manga for the double stacked shelves). Sketchy is by the same author as Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live?, which I’ve reviewed here previously and really wish would be put out in print editions instead of digital only. As […]

The Witch is a you know… so some heroes gotta stop her

The Witch's Throne volume one by Cedric Caballes

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I like graphic novels, enjoy some fantasy and if a story has comedy and adventure, that is not a turn off. And The Witch’s Throne volume one by Cedric Caballes is all the above.  Set up as if you are playing a Dungeons & Dragon like online game, there are multiple stories going along simultaneously with about a dozen main characters. However, it is not always clear when you are moving onto them, and with the several characters and several story-lines all at once, things […]

“The moment I saw his eyes, I experienced something I never felt before.”

The Story of Yoru and Asa by Harada

The Story of Yoru and Asa: Encore by Harada

Happy of the End (Vol. 1) by Ogerestsu Tanaka

Happy of the End (Vol. 2) by Ogerestsu Tanaka

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Kuma continues to publish challenging, thought-provoking work, and I’m glad they’re getting this material translated into the English-language market. Both of these series were a lot of fun to read and made me think about relationships, dysfunction, trauma, and various societal issues. The Song of Yoru and Asa and Yoru and Asa: Encore follows Asaichi, who is the vocalist for a rock band. Yoru joins as a bassist, even though he was a popular vocalist in his last band. Asaichi thinks he’s straight but ends […]

Biggest K-Pop Stan in the Japanese Underground

The Yakuza's Bias, Volume 1 by Teki Yatsuda

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When the yakuza boss’s daughter drags top lieutenant Ken to a K-Pop concert, he finds himself utterly captivated by the group, especially the main rapper Jun. I only dabble in reading manga, but one genre I have found myself enjoying is light-hearted gag mangas – with one major caveat. The joke’s got to have legs enough for a series, or it will run thin quickly. Luckily, this is not the case with The Yakuza’s Bias. Ken might be a serious, tough-talking yakuza member, but he finds […]

HS rom-com, monster battle apocalypse, and a historical mystery all make progress

Kaiju No.8 vol. 9, Komi Can't Communicate vol.27, The Apothecary Diaries vol. 9 by Natsu Hyuuga, Nekokurage, Tomohito Oda, Naoya Matsumoto

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Take Kaiju No. 8 (vol. 9); as a monster fighting type story, there’s plenty of battles, and power ups and close calls and close calls. With a major kaiju attack underway, and things looking grim, a handful of the heroes are trying out new more powerful equipment for the first time. Kikoru and Hoshina are both using super rare specialized weaponry for the first time that are made from kaiju remains, one bit of which (Hoshina’s) remains somewhat sentient. Kikoru’s belonged to her late mother. […]



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