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Hey all! Thought I would try out something new thing month. It probably won’t be something I do every month, but I thought it would be fun to go through what mangas I am currently reading. These will be somewhat a review/rec I guess! Some of these might include minor spoilers about events that happen in issue 1, but I will avoid any major plot spoilers (or include a warning if I do).

This past month or so I have started a few different mangas! I finished Dungeon Meshi and felt overwhelmed about where to start. I told myself I would go back to Chainsaw Man for arc 2 after DunMeshi, but I still felt the desire to branch out. Most of my reading time is spent with manga lately. I actually didn’t read a whole lot of manga as a teen/college student. I would read it sometimes? But for sure less than most people would assume about me.

I borrow all my manga through my library system :) The library I go to usually doesn’t carry the mangas I am interested in, but I am still able to borrow books from other libraries in my state! However, this month I got lucky and found 3 different mangas in the new section that caught my eye. Very exciting!

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Without further ado, let’s go ahead and get started

Made in Abyss: This one is…. quite the trip already…. I went in being very aware of the type of imagery I would see. I am not bothered much by the darker themes. However,,,, I feel insanely embarrassed checking these out from the library when there are topless child characters usually on the inside covers…. I have heard of the series on and off throughout the years, but it seems to be coming up again after DunMeshi. Ironically, most of the posts I have seen online are “Hey it is BS to compare this series to DunMeshi”, but I haven’t seen any of the posts genuinely comparing the two lol. I just finished volume 3 the other day and I am very interested in seeing how it goes. There are a lot of things I don’t feel comfortable with, but I guess since I am borrowing it from the library I really don’t need to feel guilty about lining the mangaka’s pockets lol.

I think the only similarities are 1.) dungeon/pit where it is hard (if not impossible) to get to the end “end” 2.) there is some exploration into the ethics of dungeon/cave diving (especially since in MiA the focus seems to be taking as many relics from the abyss as possible) 3.) they cook the monsters they encounter. And that third thing is why I think people are comparing the two, but it really doesn’t feel like cooking and eating for the same reasons. DunMeshi is of course focused on cooking and eating. There is a magical spark to it almost. While eating is a necessity, it feels very luxurious at times the way it is presented. Sure they are eating the gross meat and some weird monster they just killed, but it was prepared with love and care and a focus on making it nutritious and tasty. In MiA, I feel like they cook and kill the animals mostly just because there isn’t much else of a choice. The food isn’t presented as being beautiful and nourishing, it is just food.

But either way I already feel pretty invested in Riko and Reg’s adventure. I picked up volumes 4 and 5 from the library yesterday and plan to keep reading them for now. The story so far has for sure grabbed my attention

A Man and His Cat: This showed up in a “recommended books” section on my library’s website and caught my eye. I am glad it is, because holy heck is this cute! It is a slice of life story about an older widow and an unwanted cat that he recently adopted. Both of them absolutely adore each other and it is lovely to watch the antics between the two. I think I already had tears in my eyes within the first 10 pages. The manga consists of an overarching storyline about the man and his cat, while also including a few 1-2 page gag bits, and some short chapters about other characters in the story. The series isn’t fully translated yet, with 2 volumes still waiting to be released in the US as of me writing this. I have no idea how they will make this story into a full series, but I am excited to see. I read the whole volume in one sitting and put a hold on the next volume, but it looks like some other folks in my library system are reading it too, so I might have to wait.

Marriage Toxin: This and the following two mangas were ones I picked up from the “new” section of my library! This manga is about a man whose family are all poison masters. Him or his sister are expected to continue their bloodline. Unfortunately our MC has 0 game and little chance at getting married, so his sister offers to the one to get married. However, the sister has a gf and our MC doesn’t want her to have to leave her love and be forced into an arranged marriage with a man. Our MC is often hired to poison bad people. While he has no problem with killing others, it is very important to him that the people he kills are genuinely bad people. Shortly after he tells his sister he will get married and continue the family bloodline, he is sent on a hit to kill a marriage swindler. He becomes convinced that she isn’t actually as bad as he was originally told, and agrees to give her an antidote if she agrees to help him get married. This one seems to be a combo of a rom com and some action/”how will he get out of it this time!”. I wasn’t super invested in this one, but if my library continues to get them I will probably continue to read them.

Hirayasumi: A slice of life manga about a carefree 29 year old. People around him have worries, anxieties, and are trying to start their own life, but our MC could care less. Recently his younger cousin moved in with him while she is attending a nearby college. She is shown as more high strung and is struggling with the social transition to college. Their two differing personalities work off of each other in amusing ways. Towards the end of the first volume we see that the cousin is starting to make a friend but also the MC is facing some challenges that might bring some changes to his carefree lifestyle. As someone who is dealing with some difficult changes in their life, I am interested in following along with this series and seeing how various conflicts that were being built up to in the first volume will be resolved.

Gokurakugai: This is a demon hunter/exorcist shonen. I did mostly grab it for the hot woman with a gun and ciggie on the cover. So far it looks like our two main characters work as “problem solvers” who help people out, usually with shady jobs that you couldn’t go to anyone else with. But they also hunt demons! More specifically they fight maga (unfortunate name for those of us who live in the US lol) that are monsterfied remains of humans and animals. While I don’t think it has been explained how yet, our leading male is half human and half maga, which gives him super strength towards fighting the maga. His blood can also be used to craft maga killing guns that the main female uses. It seems interesting so far. This series is still pretty new and even in Japan there aren’t many volumes out. I am not usually into big action (despite loving chainsaw man), but it had enough to make me want to pick up the next volume when I see it.

And that is it for today! If you have any questions about any of the mangas go ahead and leave a comment below and I will try to get back with you. :)