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This is a very fun little hidden gem. I never thought I’d want to see a parody of YouTube’s modern landscape with a classic fantasy setting, but I’m glad this exists and I think it’s funny from start to finish. The basic premise is simple and really unique; the internet, and as a consequence, social media, exist in a classic sword-and-sorcery fantasy world. It’s fair to say that “chaos ensues,” and it’s all so familiar that I can’t help but appreciate nearly every page.

While Twitter and Facebook are made fun of too, YouTube gets the brunt of this manga’s satire with jokes about everything ... from prank videos, clickbait, the oversaturated “review” genre, and even the pervasive trend in children wanting to be break-out hit YouTubers, parodied in the main two characters. While the they are not exactly deep or compelling, they serve the story well as funny faces to drive the conflict, and therefore drive the comedy. There’s jokes here about streamers being heckled by their chat to do something stupid in public, reviewers lying about the quality of the product they’re showing off, the pain of posting a video you worked hard on only to watch it get a measly 38 views, and what exactly a content creator would need to do to break out of a cycle of an overdone, tired brand.

Answer? Copy everyone you see until something lands!

Sitting at a comfortable two volumes, the pace of the story is perfectly fine and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It truly only has jokes for one general topic, but that’s fine because each one has the appropriate space to land and actually be funny. I found myself laughing — actually laughing — at least four or five times per volume. I think if you’re not really familiar with the landscape of modern social media it won’t do much for you, but comedy more so than most other genres can’t be engineered to appeal to everyone. Also, while the art isn’t something to go nuts about, I think it serves the tone of the story by not being too detailed, but still having expressive character designs.

I really recommend this manga! It’s a short read, and it’s rewarding too. I have a hard time imagining someone who wouldn’t find the scenes with the Demon King to be absolutely hysterical. Really good for what it is, pick it up if you think it'd appeal to you.

Do you like weird shit? Sometimes gross, sometimes creepy, sometimes… uh… horny? If you answered yes to any of those, then you may have just found your next read. But if you didn’t, then you may have just found your next thing to avoid for the rest of your life. Shock factor is the name of the game with Katsuhisa Kigitsu’s horror comedy “Franken Fran,” which follows a stitched-together teenage doctor aptly named Fran, the living creation of a mad scientist named Doctor Madaraki.

That’s all it is. An episodic exercise in the macabre, with the entire story being a series of scenarios engineered around ... creating strange scenes of botched surgery, gore, and body horror, underpinned by a tone that flips between playful and, at times, rather ominous, with a lesson at the end that can be rather grim. Think The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror—‘parable’ is what this is called. And in Franken Fran’s case, add bits of ecchi.

In fact, I very much would call it an “ecchi guro” manga, and at first, it would seem that the only real reason to read would be to see the grotesque display of each setup → shock-factor scenario. That, and sometimes naked girls in an… eh, mostly alright art style. Not so long ago I would have derided a manga like this, thinking it rather trite. But age has actually given me perspective on the sheer variety of storytelling types there are, and the value in Japan's insistence in leaving no stone unturned. Not everything necessarily has to be Berserk, you know? Not everything has to be some kind of complex, meaningful narrative. Sometimes, just being an episodic little story with a smattering of strange or unique ideas is all it NEEDS to be, especially in a visual medium like manga.

But in adopting this perspective even a manga like Franken Fran can surprise you, because the stories dip into more complex themes as it continues, and it loses some of that darkly playful ecchi quality. Each story also has very fascinating science that, when actually looked up, is actually true to some degree; only it’s been perverted and stretched to the limits of science fiction, to the very doldrums of suffering and horror, so that you can’t help but want to keep reading. Can’t help but want to see the damage and death of the car crash.

I can’t lie, Fran herself is actually pretty charming too, and the stories can have a weird staying power. At first you might crack the book open and read wearily, feeling a kind of “what the fuck am I looking at,” at the strange and sometimes erotic content, but after settling in, you feel more comfortable and entertained with Franken Fran’s grotesque nature and adopt more a sense of “Hmm, what messed up scenario is waiting beyond this chapter?” This was my experience, at least.

But as it stands, while there are standout chapters, most of them are honestly very weak and leave of a lot to be desired regarding pacing and payoff. As for the parables in this story that actually stayed with me, I can probably count them on one hand. Like I said earlier, the manga really shines when it’s just gross and fucked up. Cute girls getting turned into a hideous bug monsters, men being pulled apart and re-stitched into dogs, bodily organs getting shoved into someone’s severed head, a baby growing in someone’s brain—Kigitsu spares no expense, and doesn’t try to hide the sometimes fetishistic nature of these strange happenings, either.

But when you get to the end, there is just never enough breathing room for these stories at all, which really sucks because on paper it’s all very unique and original. I truly think every single one of these stories would be better if they were two-parters. Like seriously, if the worst ideas were removed and what was left was given more time, this would be a super solid 8/10 horror comedy. But that’s not the case, sadly. When all is said and done, most of the value here is just in that it's bizarre.

Still, I think Franken Fran was worth the read, and other people may feel like more stories here stuck the landing, which is why I still think it’s worth recommending if everything stated here appeals to you. You sick freak.

Sadako-san and Sadako-chan is something I happened across at the BARNES AND NOBLE MANGA SECTION; that ever-growing corner of the bookstore where only those with the biggest of brains go to shop -- so of course I had to pick it up. Recently, it seems English publishers have started acquiring more and more niche titles, so seeing strange one-offs in the wild is getting way more common than it used to be. However, I had yet to see a comedy manga about Sadako, the famous horror character from The Ring. Is it any good?

All I can say to that is that it certainly isn't ... "bad." It has a cute little premise: Sadako meets a little girl who was raised to be like her, and the two become YouTubers. You really don't need to know too much about the source material to appreciate this. Everyone knows Freddy Krueger is the guy with the burned face and the claws who kills you in your dreams. Everybody knows Jason is the freak from the lake with a hockey mask. Therefore, you don't really need to see their respective films to watch Freddy vs. Jason. Horror icons have become ingrained in pop culture enough -- and quite frankly, their stories are also SIMPLE enough -- to where all you really need to know to appreciate off-shoots like this is that Sadako is the spooky ghost girl that climbs out of TVs. Which you certainly already do.

That being said, the manga doesn't exactly explore its fullest potential. It has a very typical "setup --> punchline" structure, but never rearranges it or offers much of substance... even when it comes to comedy. For what it's worth, it's entertaining to see Sadako trying to do normal things and becoming an internet celebrity. It's also charming, as always, to see a horror character act so benevolent. But ultimately, this is all that ever happens.

That certainly isn't a bad thing. If you really like the source material, and have a soft spot for wholesome little comedy stories that don't take too much of your time, then you may enjoy this quite a lot. I did, ultimately. But don't come here looking for much else, because even in the way of laughs this manga is somewhat sparse.

Smokin’ Parade is a strange manga, and not necessarily because of the graphic nature of its content; rather, that it ends up never really making any sense at all, and is just a confusing and tedious mess that constantly had me scratching my head.

The basic premise is simple, if a bit silly: in a not-so-distant future, people around the world who get prosthetic implants from a company called “Amenotori” often mutate into mindless, mascot-headed cyborg killing machines (dubbed “Spiders”), and a group of mercenaries with implanted weapon limbs (dubbed the “Jackalopes”) exist to hunt them down whenever they appear.

Already there are questions, right? ... Why the mascot heads? Why “Jackalopes?” What’s the point, here?

Sadly, Smokin’ Parade never really gives us an answer to these questions, nor many others. The writer and artist duo’s manga before this, Deadman Wonderland, is notorious for putting style over substance in similar fashion—but as a reader of both, I can easily say that Deadman Wonderland ends up having a great deal more intention than you might expect if you’ve only seen the anime. Sure, it’s edgy, and tends to tout that, but it has a kind of cohesion that makes all its sillier elements interesting. Smokin’ Parade never approaches this balance.

Don’t get me wrong, it has no lack of style and aesthetic; often flaunting genuine top of the line art that is consistent with what Kataoka provides in many of her other works. However, meaninglessness pervades in a way that the artwork cannot save. There isn’t very much to latch onto in the way of story or characters: the emotional storytelling is juvenile and slapdash, often beginning and ending arcs for random characters way too quickly, or just having a general lack of direction from the getgo. First we’re dealing with Spiders, then another group of mercenaries that act as a foil to the Jackalopes, but, wait, they’re connected? But the characters that connect to the protagonists show up for like, three chapters and then aren’t seen again? Then it doesn’t matter and there’s a big Spider out somewhere that needs to be killed, and then… uh, THAT doesn’t matter either, then the world’s ending? There’s no plot direction at all, with things happening randomly and either not getting resolved, or getting resolved as soon as they’re introduced.

What makes me sad is that there are often good ideas in this story: the cost of transhumanism, the “scientists only thought about if they could, not if they should,” shebang, you could even make a case for this manga sorta-maybe-kinda analyzing the effects of Big Pharma, and the dangers of corporate medicine. There’s cool ideas about prosthetics, grueling human experimentation (that could’ve been more impactful), and a protagonist that—admittedly—is more than likely a sociopath… but nothing here gets the time and depth it deserves, nothing is explored to its fullest. And I just don’t know why? The duo has shown they’re capable of making something interesting even if it’s framed by meaningless violence: in Deadman Wonderland’s case, even if the premise and ideas were absurd, the absurdity was constantly lampshaded, and many nuances were expanded upon in ways that felt logical. The power system makes sense, the characters have page time, and their motivations make sense, even the silly naming conventions (like “Branch of Sin,” all the Deadmen being named after birds, etc.) make sense. The setup, the conflict, powers, and, yes, even the goddamn naming conventions: none of it in Smokin’ Parade feels like any more than a slapdash excuse to get the “cool” imagery Kataoka and Kondo wanted into manga. Imagery of edgy cyborgs with animal heads getting chopped up by edgy cyborg people. It’s just lazy.

Is it fair to keep comparing a manga to the creators’ previous work? Normally I’d say no, but there’s such a little departure in ideas and style that I couldn’t help but constantly think “Deadman did this better” as I read through the story. The whole thing just ends up feeling not very cohesive, and forced.

In the end, Smokin’ Parade is a gorgeous manga with interesting action scenes that is constantly on the cusp of having good ideas, but which are always sabotaged by its own lack of coherency. So much so that I’d consider it below average, and not generally worth reading, even if it's cool to look at.

Enidewi (or “Eniale and Dewiela” in English) is the first manga series by Kamome Shirahama, who created Witch Hat Atelier, a fantasy manga I think is honestly quite incredible. In this angel and demon fashionista/best frenemies manga, Enidewi, she not only struts her witty sense of humor, but also her impeccable art.

This isn’t the manga to read for super complex storytelling, but what it does have is *clever* storytelling. Eniale, the airheaded angel—and Dewiela, the seductive demon—make a perfect comedic duo in a series of hi-jinks (and often some deeper moments too) that flaunt a stylistic look that can’t be found elsewhere.

Truly, Shirahama's ... art style makes this manga. The character designs are whimsical and gorgeous, and the landscapes and linework are just as beautiful. The story has the kind of premise that really could be turned into a longer manga with a more complex plot, or it could have continued on with its episodic structure for volumes and volumes. It’s a little sad to see that it didn’t continue in either direction, but three volumes does make it a very digestible, easy read.

However, some chapters really are better than others. I can’t say its the most impressive manga out there, nor exactly profound… I also think the demographic of this manga is really hard to place, because it reads like something aimed at women, but is also kinda not… it’s difficult to articulate what I mean. But if you want something with a firm grip on its style, look no further.

Potential. A very loaded word, if you think about it. Who determines what does and doesn’t have the -potential- to be something great? While few things achieve everything they set out to, I don’t think it’s an unfair perspective to say that the seed of greatness can be found within most pieces of art. Whether it’s a beautiful, life-changing painting, the Great American Novel™, a corporate-garbage TV program, or pulp comics printed in newspaper-quality magazines. Everything has the potential to be something to someone, right?

It SHOULD be this way, but life is not always so fair. So what about when that potential is cut ... short? When the people in charge of a story’s publication pull the plug prematurely, and say, “No. It never had a chance.” Such a thing leaves behind a miasma, a sort of scent of regret that seeps up toward the reader from the author’s very words. The Hunters Guild: Red Hood, is a good example of this.

Made up of a scant three volumes, The Hunters Guild: Red Hood ends up having three very clear phases to its story. The first stage, here, is setup: as to be expected. Red Riding Hood, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, dark, dark woods, werewolves, witches, giants, dragons, and the Van Helsing-esque organization that hunts them: that is what this manga’s world is made of. Though seeing western fantasy in manga is nothing new, I did find it a bit of a breath of fresh air in a magazine that is positively (and expectedly) full of Japanese-ness. Katana swordfighting, Shinto demons, martial arts, and all accompanying Asian mythos—it seems there’s no end to it in Shonen Jump. But of course, it’s a Japanese magazine, so it’s gonna be there, you know? So having a Grimm’s Fairy Tales/Little Red Riding Hood manga should be a standout in this roster, a reprieve of sorts… in theory.

And for what it’s worth, that first volume is indeed good setup. The art is deeply reminiscent of a one Kohei Horikoshi’s of My Hero Academia fame (which is fitting, considering that the creator of this manga, Yuuki Kawaguchi, was his assistant) and leaves a bit to be desired, but it’s by no means bad. You have a basic conflict, interesting monsters, and a generic protagonist, but stirred together they amount to that one promising word: potential.

Sadly, the entire second volume is terribly boring, flaunting one of the most by the numbers, cookie-cutter attempts at a training arc I’ve ever read. As I trudged through the chapters I couldn’t help but think, “yeesh, no wonder this got canned.” It takes place in an uninteresting area with uninteresting characters, bereft of the off-color fairytale qualities the first volume had in spades. It overall was not a good place to take the story hot off the heels of fun action scenes between freaky-looking werewolves and the hunters that kill them.

But then in the third volume, things get weird. The manga seemingly had been taking its time to set up the world. It had even introduced three named antagonists. But then it makes such a wild headspin turn into metatextuality that I can literally feel Kawaguchi’s desperation and regret leaking out onto the pages, bleeding into the fabric of the story. Anyone with an interest in this title has more than likely heard about the meta nature of the ending, but I wasn’t prepared for how much pity it would arouse from me. And if you somehow didn’t know, the reason this manga is so short is because Shonen Jump, the publisher, axed it not long after it was greenlit. So the entire climax of the story is a desperate scramble to wrap up loose ends in the most unique way possible. The work culture of the manga industry is brutal indeed, and all I was thinking as I finished reading this title was that the author is but one of many victims of a very competitive industry.

I do think there was value in this story, certainly, and if you generally like shonen manga or western fairy tales, then it’s worth the read. I think the ending saves it from mediocrity, but instead makes it somewhat bizarre. The one emotion I’m left with, however, is sadness for the mangaka at his inability to draw a long, fun story he could fully flesh out. Sadness that his bosses said “no.” Not everything can be as long as One Piece, I get it, but I keep going back to that one word—potential—and wondering just what this little story could’ve been, if given more time.

Love is in the air, my friends, and for once, I’m here for it.

Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love, is a high school romance manga I picked up on a whim. Why? Simple—as a long-time reader of almost exclusively shonen, I wanted to expand my horizons. It’s a story you’ve heard a thousand times: while I love manga dearly and read it every day, I’ve never read a shojo title. Shocking, I know. Not that I’ve never held one in my hands, or read a tankobon or two, but it definitely has never gone beyond that. This is the first shojo manga I’ve read ... to completion.

And I enjoyed it! A lot more than I expected to. I can’t exactly give a fair commentary on how this manga compares to others in its demographic, because my knowledge is only cursory. I did notice that it has many clichés, but they never took away from how easy it was to fall for the characters. Satomi and Yagyu are adorable and I loved them. They (and their friends) are teenagers of course, so it goes without saying that they can often be shallow. However, even with this lack of maturity I found myself very willing to “buy the illusion,” so to speak; to get invested in the first-crushes and first-kisses of high schoolers, even though I am now quite removed from this stage of life. Seriously! I’m not used to stories where the romance IS the plot, and sometimes it bordered on being a little bit much, but then I’d sit back and find myself smiling that Satomi got flustered, or that she and Yagyu hit a milestone in their relationship, and I’d happily keep reading.

Now, as a grown ass man, I couldn’t help myself from wanting to see this relationship develop into adulthood, reaching deeper depths, more road bumps, stronger dedication to one another, etc, but I accept that this is not really the product I paid for. It’s a story to sit down with after a hard day and get lost in. Escapism in its purest form, because altogether it is VERY low on drama.

There was a bit of a curveball though, because a little more than halfway through the story the manga shifts focus onto a different couple, which I actually had a hard time settling into. The dynamic of the main couple is very standard, the heroine a goody two-shoes and the love interest a bit of a gentleman, so it was fun to see something cheekier with the second couple. Their dynamic was more about conflict, miscommunications and teasing. However, I can’t help but wish the manga had just picked a couple and stuck with them the whole way through. At nine short volumes, it felt somewhat like Miria and Noda took up time Satomi and Yagyu could’ve had instead, ESPECIALLY considering one of the last chapters… but I digress.

The art is standout to me. I’ve been so trained on harsher/more action-focused styles that I tend to shy away from the light, flowery linework of most girl’s manga, but the character designs in Ima Koi were top notch. The girls are cute and the boys are handsome, and they’re drawn expertly. Basic, yes, but it had a sort of versatility to it that wasn’t too bubbly or feminine. (Which are not bad things to be, but I won’t pretend like it’s necessarily for me).

Altogether, this was enjoyable. The cute moments of each chapter are great fun, and while it may have sometimes been a bit uneventful or had a hiccup, it never took too much away from the journey. Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love, is nothing life changing, but I wish it were longer, which is a high compliment indeed.