Today I offer you some wonderful, quirky, weird, awkward, moving, and delightful manga by Tomoko Yamashita.   She writes these charming, messed-up characters, struggling into and out of relationships, trying to make real connections and often failing…and you should just totally go read her stuff if you like that kind of thing, because [...]

I am on a reading BINGE.  Picture a bull dozer just loading up mountains of books and then dumping them into my eyeballs.  It’s all manga of course because something is wrong with my brain and I can’t seem to pay attention to novels these days.  I need pictures!  Which is ridiculous given that I [...]

After reading the terrific Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai, reviewed in my last post, I started sucking down yaoi manga like the crazy person that I am and I’ve got to say, it’s kind of eye-opening and here’s why.

Where are all the complex, troubled, intense, sexual, interesting relationship manga involving straight couples?  [...]

I’ve just been blown away by an amazing story about a Yakuza boss who is one of the most interesting and complex characters I have come across in a long time.  Seriously.  You know what?  I’m even going to say this guy is in the top five, maybe top three, most complicated, fascinating characters I’ve [...]

Today I have for you two high-concept romantic comedies that both manage to transcend their formula bones to become frothy, lovely, richly-charactered pieces well worth spending time with.  Romcom done well is such a delight!  Especially because it is so often done so badly.  And it is often done badly because when it IS done [...]

So many manga, so little time. Reports from the front lines of my manga consumption….

Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga is FABULOUS. Really, don’t waste your time reading this review and just go get it, it’s four volumes, I think they sell used on amazon for a couple of bucks each. Go [...]

Think manga is all cute and fluffy?  Think again.  I have for you today three terrific series that aren’t afraid to go places, specifically dark places, the kinds of places we tend to want to avoid when reading sweet shojo romances or mecha-robot-dragon-samurai epics.   If you like pondering the harder sides of life with humor, [...]