New Read - Little Witch Academia (Series)

Last week on vacation I read my new copies of the Little Witch Academia manga. For those who have never seen the anime from Studio Trigger, it follows Akko, a teenage girl who is not from a witch family, going to school to learn magic. She's super excited and comes blindly from outside of witch culture.

It's a fish out of water story. It's a story of never giving up. It's also very fun.

The manga adapts much of the anime directly with some minor additions. It's also written largely episodically, much like the anime.

My annual vacation read on the beach.

Been rereading this on the beach for years.

Donald Duck Visits Japan is silly, simple, and fun.

Anyway, back to vacation mode.

New Read - Cat Man

Okay, so I read the premise of Cat Man and on a lark pre-ordered it for myself. I am so glad I did.

The series follows Hachisuke and his fellow anthropomorphic cats in a world where they coexist with humans and are entirely objectified by humans. Hachisuke just wants to work as a publishing editor in a world where cats like him generally go into modeling. And are touched. By everyone.

This single volume story touches on racism, sexism, how people treat other's bodies.

It's well done and so much better than I could have expected. Definitely recommend.

New Read - Otaku Elf, Volume 9

I think I say the same thing about every volume of Otaku Elf. They fly by. Not a lot happens. It's sllife of life about a geeky elf who is the local deity for a small temple and her miko (Shrine Maiden). ach volume has some random history stuff about the Edo period of Japanese history lesson mixed in with modern slice of life.

It's chill.

Anyway, wanted to share this one moment in the volume cause it's so funny and...kind of relatable.

New read - Hauntress

Once again, I found a single volume horror manga at my library to check out. This one is from 1993 and entitled Hauntress.

This story is based on an urban legend from Japan about a tall woman who knocks on the door to hunt young men. I'd previously read "Dragon Head," a 10 volume serial horror manga from the same mangaka (Minetaro Mochizuki).

A lot of jump scares. A lot of eerie moments as this unnamed tall woman stalked our main character. And we had an extremely imperfect lead.

Solidly done. Definitely spooky vibes.

I know I had previously shared what my kids got me for my birthday, but here's all the new manga I got for my birthday over the weekend collected into a single pile.

Got some summer reading to do!

New Read - UFO Mushroom Invasion

UFO Mushroom Invasion is a 70s horror manga. The idea is that there's an alien space craft that crashes into Japan and mushrooms harvested from another planet are there...and begin spreading everywhere, rooting in people, taking over the planet.

There are two things to note about this manga. First, the creator really likes talking about mushrooms. Between chapters there are just long, expositional stories about mushrooms: in folklore, in science, etc.

New Read - Her Frankenstein (Single Volume)

So, I saw Her Frankenstein at the library. I knew it as a classic 1980s horror manga, so decided to pick it up. My goodness, it's a lot.

The story opens with a sexist man named Tetsuo who hates himself, his wife, and his job, seeing flashes of a young girl with a bloody face (see cover image). Flash back to his childhood where this girl was named Kimiko who he was obsessed with serving as her personal abuser, harming other kids in a Frankenstein's monster mask.

Psychological horror, abuse, bullying, long term trauma. So many content warnings.

It's a lot.

New Read - Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 5

Plot twist. New turns. New enemies?

Okay, so this volume was kind of wild. Also, really diving into some more plot as opposed to some snack of the chapter. Though that still happens too.

And UGH! After the tearful reunion of last volume, this one just hits me so hard.

Ready to get Volume 6.

New Read - Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 4

AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!

So much plot this volume. They find the red dragon, they free Falin, something is clearly up with her, we learn that the mad wizard who created the dungeon is probably an elf, and the last panel.

Oh my goodness. So well done.

Oh, and also, more monsters being eaten. Amazing!

Ready for the next volume.