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I wish I had read this as a physical manga.

This is really a whirlwind of emotion. Reading My Broken Mariko, I was so wrapped up in the emotional chaos that the thought of exploitation/objectification of death and suicide really did not cross my mind at all. It's something I'll think about more closely now.

Waka Hirako's art is on another level. It's at once hilarious and devastating. It perfectly captures the idea of a subjecive point of view, captured in detailed lines and beautiful character work. Every panel brims with energy and passion.

For a subjet so difficult and wrenching, this manga wraps up ... pretty neatly in 4 chapters. In, out, characters introduced, then exited. It's all clean and it works well, symbolically, thematically. I only wish this was longer. It's such a quick read I'm afraid it won't stick with me as bad as I want it to.

I'll be coming back to My Broken Mariko, that's for sure. But for now, I'll just bask in this awe I feel. I feel grateful that every time I start to feel a little bored with manga, or media in general, a gem like this pulls me back.

Great yuri. Found myself cringing in compassionate empathy over and over again...This hit hard.

Story:
Fine, college-set yuri manga, regular expected cast.

Art:
Deceptively bright, confident and lovely strokes. Full page panels are incredible depictions of emotional intensity and turmoil. Really loved the style.

Character:
This is where this manga shines. The relationships between the girls (more so than the rest of the cast even though that's not empty - see End and Tsuruta on the male side of things) is really brilliant. I say girls because, well, even the non-lesbian non-MCs: Usshi, Rika, even Yuria, the new coworker. They all feel simultaneously flawed and sympathetic. Incredibly relatable ... characters.

It's incredible how the smallest phrases can sometimes feel like atomic bombs, especially in a relationship. There is an incredibly nuanced emotional depth to this manga that drags you in, whether or not you are a lesbian.

Clean, strong, basic.

This has already blown up in Japan, so we'll be getting an anime adaptation announcement in the next year, probably. And it's not bad, in fact the detailed and dynamic action sequences will look great animated.

It's just that... man, another half human half [monster hated by humanity] protagonist who has to save the world with his [monster strength] with his [somewhat OP rival] by his side... This is such a bland story at this point I couldn't muster any enthusiasm while reading. Not much worldbuilding either, just, again cool action.

Before being eventually promoted to hero, the protagonist is a kaiju ... waste disposal officer (read: kaiju garbageman) and I think that would have been a much more interesting place to launch the manga.

"A lie is an exception form of love". The age of the spectacle, afforded to us in part by social media, has made all of us wonderful liars.

Oshi no Ko is a zany mess of a manga that abruptly changes in direction two to three times in the first thirty chapters. An improbable bet to pull off but the manga succeeds, narrative pulling through much like a freight train. Its tone oscillates, reaching sloppy peaks of slapstick comedy, earnest social commentary, and dramatic tension.

There is certainly a lot to juggle and the question it poses are uncertain and complex. Ex: Is the protag's vision ... of idol mom romantic? platonic? fillial? Does.. it matter? And part of the manga's tension for me is that there was always an anxiety about something being dropped. Ex: add then a sis complex to that first q and those lines become even more at risk of being twisted. But fortunately, the manga seems to thrive on these uncertain dilemmas, maybe as a sort of reflection on the general theme of truth/performance/multiplicitous versions of the self.

ANYWAYYYY
Story : 6/10 so far. Has potential to become either a 2 or a 10 that's how uncertain it is. Will update.

Art: 9/10. Dreamy, glittering style, full of character and charm. Really captures the idol/influencer aegyo. Love that in a world of pretty characters, extra pretty characters have geometric pupils. The gags are funny. Also appreciated the 'film' style panel sequences that looked like sequential shots stacked into a single page when the manga focuses on a single 'honest' statement from characters.

Character 7/10. The main characters are probably the worst in that they're pulled in so many directions. Still I guess this could somehow interpreted as nuance. I love all the new coworkers/characters being introduced. Bob-hair genius actor girl ( I'm sorry i forget her name) is particularly interesting!!! One of the things I appreciated about this manga was the easy acceptance with which the characters just accept that like, they're all kind of faking it! But they all support each other. Feels like a very current iteration of friendship, which sounds like a dig but is a genuine compliment.

Also as a sidenote, this is just a really relevant story about social media and entertainment industries. Compare that one YouTuber's insightful advice as to how to respond to getting cancelled and the different social media growth strategies touched on through the series to like, Sono Bisque Doll's vision of being a social media 'influencer'. Similarly one of my favorite subtle moments was the child actor girl just casually comforting another character by explaining that as a celebrity, the idea of dying (provoked by audience response/internet bullying) frequently flits across her mind and she just has to...get over it. Ganbare!!

Enjoyment 10/10. Read with a huge smile whole way through.

Overall: 8/10 as of chapter 30. Definitely keeping up with this and definitely recommending.

~ We shall now begin ethics ~

Story: Monster of the week but make it depressed high schoolers. This manga deals with complicated subjects, such as self-harm, rape, gender expression, and mental illness, but manages to treat them with nuance and a certain gentle benevolence towards the characters. Outside of a couple moments perhaps with the beginning of the manga, I was pleasantly surprised - this isn't a manga that relies on edgy shock value. It's also good-natured without being pretentious, which is hard to due while name-dropping philosopher bigshots at least twice a chapter.

Art: Sharp and pretty, suits the story. It's so funny how ... the prof is depicted as this chad existentialist pretty boy who drifts in and out of panels, appearing over students' shoulders or in his "il see you in the time of ethics" ending shots. Visual pacing is strong. Students' character designs are distinct, varied, likeable.

Character: All these kids and their struggles felt so realistic to me and I wish I had read this when I was in high school because again, the story offers such genuine and mature advice without infantilizing their points of view. Prof is sympathetic even as we have not yet fully delved into his ~tragic backstory.
Series highlight for me so far was the class debate ft all the characters we'd been introduced up til then, which presented the intersection of the manga's philosophical themes and the emotional + interpersonal struggles of the characters. So well done! I hope the series continue to have these 'group confrontations' instead of just one on ones with the prof. Does seem to be heading in that direction.

Enjoyment/Overall: I devoured the chapters and will avidly follow the series, truly a current fave. Strong reccomend. 9/10 as of chapter 23 - holding out that last point until the series ends haha.

Also the quote that struck out to me the most "anxiety is the dizziness of freedom", kierkegaard. I need to get new hobbies. Bread-making?

This is ok! The initial concept of the series is cute and senpai is a very pretty character but over the course of the series the plot is pretty predictable and insular and the characters are a bit flat and annoying.

Story: The story is basic and very self-contained in the cafe space the characters work at. Not my cup of tea (cup of coffee, more like) but maybe if you like a Friends-type setup you'll like this. As a result, the stakes feel fairly low and unrealistic. Why don't any of these characters have any real lives or interests outside of their work and ... glacial-paced relationships? 5 or so volumes in, another character gets added to the cast (of like, four characters, so this type of occurence is pretty rare) and is immediately shafted as a love interest, within a chapter or so. Boring, predictable logic that isn't super emotionally functional, as again, we don't have much actual character development for most of the manga. Thematically, Cigarette & Cherry is about learning to rely on others in a balanced way? But this isn't addressed in any significant manner.

Art: The character designs are pretty and expressive but there's nothing... greatly noteworthy about the rest of the art. Mangaka seems to thrive off of half-page panels of senpai being pretty (which, I am 100% here for but gets repetitive after a while!)

Character: Ugh... Really dislike the main character. Was cute at first, this unexperienced kouhai who just wants to try his best falling in love with a cool upperclassman. But this guy is really a moron and was so annoying. Senpai too, seems to be eternally in this role of being like. Ok, try again. Try again. Try again. Eternally waiting for the kouhai to make moves and then telling him he messed up and to try again. This type of relationship where the maturity levels are so wildly different is so unrealistic lol and only possible in this kind of space where there is nothing in the narrative outside of this contrived relationship. Outside of that, senpai was really just a boring character lol.

Enjoyment/Overall: I had fun for the first two or three volumes. And kept reading, expecting development of the senpai character. Didn't get much. I wouldn't reccomend this manga lol.

"Stories are free as birds until someone picks them up"

An educative and somewhat eccentric manga! Very strong first volume: an incredibly funny and honest depiction of life as a bookstore employee. A lot of interesting insight - take for example the little anecdote about the 'western comics' section manager's back pain caused by restocking books made from thicker materials than japanese manga! I also loved chapter 19 of volume 3 (a little bookmark for me haha), where Honda-san compares the publishing schedules and work reputations of the major manga publishing houses. It's an example of edifying insider information presented in an entertaining and funny ... style. In the first volume particularly, the punchlines, reinforced often by heavy brushstroke visuals, always land! An efficient way of demystifiying 'otaku' tropes, shown for example in the almost noble depiction of yaoi fangirls and recognizing manga as no longer a niche product but a true global sensation.

But it becomes clear that the author has saved his best stories for the first volume, and chapters became less funny and even slightly repetitive, not too mention a bit infodump-y as the story progressed. It will be interesting to see if he will reach some kind of stable ground from which to build a strong recurrent cast like the one from previous volumes.

"I got the job, Mano-san is quitting, and a new person will take her place. The office is like a creature whose cells continually regenerate."

I read this bittersweet manga at precisely the right time, as like the protagonist, I have just begun my first post-university job and the quest of finding value and meaning in an office workplace. What this manga really nails is the feeling of a 'nice' workplace - Occasional interesting tasks and friendly coworkers making up for a lack of personal investment, as well as the feeling of an entire support system emerging from where you're bound to spend most of your ... week. Early on, the protagonist is berated by one of her older coworkers, who tells her :"don't look down on your work!" (if only out of respect for her other coworkers!). I think this is a message that I will take away from this manga and carry with me for a while.

Otherwise, the tone and plot are funny, sweet, charming. I don't read much josei but this series has convinced me to branch out.

Overall grade: 7.5

Spy X Family is a delightful, light-hearted series.
Extremely easy to read, pages fly by. The series maintains a quick and enthralling rhythm, perfectly setting up increasingly rewarding punchlines. The characters are at once fresh and familiar, and the whole Mr and Mrs Smith concept is always fun.
The daughter character, who I find I usually have trouble as comedy relief, was great and adorable. In fact, the entire family functions so smoothly as a family unit. The hardships of raising a children and of being a good wife/husband could appear trite, especially in contrast to the explosive spy and hitman families they are intertwined ... with, but instead they are touching and relatable.

The style also oozes with charm. Characters are incredibly cute, with distinct designs and fashionable outfits.

My experience with Jaga[..]n : an incredibly bold start that unfortunately fizzled out into a boring edgy battle series.
I want to take a moment to commend the opening ~20 chapters of this manga, incredibly dark and explosive. In them we meet the series protagonist, a pathetic, disillusioned cop. His only cope is knowing his gun could, in some universe where he'd be brave enough to perform the act, kill one of the pathetic NPCs that surround him, or even himelf. The opening chapters reflect the unending horrors of the contemporary, disempowered social individual. The monsters are the protagonist's shitty coworkers, an abusive boss ... in the metro, protagonist's naggy girlfriend. Protagonist feels trapped, isolated, and itches for something to give him meaning to live. These chapters are also actually super funny, because à la Joker (but also Otto Dix, or Munsch, or Picasso in the abstracted animalistic quality of the faces), the protagonist wears a grotesque smile, reflecting the bland and appeasing social selves we create to interact 'normally' with others without causing conflict. It's hilarious and painful, and most importantly, directly echoes the monster designs that begin to appear through Tokyo. Ensues an incel magical girl power fantasy, which I unironically think echoes Madoka Magica super well. The undying mascot is a useless moron of an owl instead of whatever Kyubi is, and the magical girl gems get crushed up and snorted like coke in the Jagaaan universe. One of the side heroes immediately uses his newfound powers to rape, like, every woman he meets. The gift of power is quickly revealed to be a curse.

Anyway, I loved this part of Jagaaan. Edgy, of course, but also thought-provoking and funny, as well as visually unique. Unfortunately, as the series continued, it began to draw away from the inner thoughts of the protagonist, and as he gained power, he solved a lot of the conflicts that made the beginning of the series so interesting. He became a generic hero, overpowered and surrounded by girls. This is what I'd like to call the Gantz effect: slick visuals and characters, but an initial darkness and provocative quality that becomes stale over the course of the series. The pathos-inducing gags and original, grotesque facial expressions disappeared, replaced by tons of naked cute girls and (admittedly) cool battle series monster designs. The monster designs also lost allegorical strength. We went from 'girlfriend is a giant scorpion, lashing out out of bottled rage caused by a complex tangle of reasons' to 'vegetarian monster (?)'. [spoilers lol] I was really shocked that the idol girl's arc went from gaining her powers to kill her father who raped her for 10 years, to killing him, to succeeding at her dream to become an idol at whatever cost, to getting raped by that one side character pervert guy, to slightly injuring him, to him lowkey getting a redeeming (death? if i remember correctly) in the next battle. Amidst gory deaths, constant sex, and nihilistic characters, this arc is easily the darkest element of Jagaaan. The part where she is raped in the bathroom by the pervert character is heavy and effectively horrifying. But it is not treated with the narrative weight it deserved, pushed aside while protagonist and girlfriend #3 find some stupid deus ex machina plan to take down big bad.
It's always a bad sign when characters start yelling concepts like 'justice!' and 'peace!' and 'hero!' at each other while charging at each other in their gigantic OP bioweapons. I am afraid I must have overestimated the critical depth of the Jagaaan, which, despite a strong beginning, has revealed itself to be quite a shallow and typical seinen battle manga!

Review as of Ch.67 (dropped)