DEATHTOPIA (Rank 3)

Publisher: Kodansha

Volumes: 8/8 (Complete), (Digital only)

Seinen

Genre: Horror, Ecchi, Fighting, Police, Scifi, Conspiracy

Summary: Koh Fujimura (19) thought he was an ordinary guy until one day he was involved in a mugging that turned into a hit and run accident. His eyes were injured, and he was sent to the hospital. But while he was there, he was attacked by a serial killer woman posing as a nurse, who tells him he needs to die, because he is a threat to “them.” He is saved by 3 beautiful cops, but bizarrely enough the serial killer woman, who was shot and fell from the fourth floor, got up and walked away!

After he recovers and leaves the hospital he discovers he can see something no one else can see- bizarre looking people who look like their heads are dark clouds of scribbles. He is soon forcefully recruited by the group of women who saved him before and discovers he has the ability to see what they call “Cheaters,” who are mutants. While not all Cheaters are violent criminals, those who are, are exceptionally dangerous because they possess superhuman abilities. The 3 women, Maya, Yui and Saki are part of an elite squad that investigate and take them down. As he joins the special squad to discover more about his own special ability, he discovers that someone is targeting him and his family specifically, under a mysterious plot from a man named “UD.”

Review: As the group of Maya, Yui, Saki and new rookie Koh take on new missions and aim to keep notorious serial killers from striking again, it becomes increasingly clear that the Cheaters are organized and in communication with each other. They are taking orders from a mysterious man code named UD who has a particular interest in Koh’s abilities, for some unknown reason. Meanwhile, Maya, Yui and Saki who were recruited with their own special skills, all have their own reasons for joining.

That being said, while the central plot was alright and kept my interest in finding out the truth behind Koh’s ability, I found the level of Ecchi to be way overboard. It starts off normally enough with your usual underwear shots, cleavage, skimpy skin tight outfits, and Koh accidentally walking in and finding the women naked after a shower more than once. But it ramps up to 11 as basically every single serial killer they fight are all rapists, even the women. One of the women cops gets raped as well, (although by another woman, which apparently doesn’t count, gross). They also practically continuously get their clothes cut off them until they’re fighting naked quite often. It ramps up around volume 3-4 and then thankfully drops off to a more typical level. If you have a strong stomach for this stuff, then I would only rate it moderately worse than average, but honestly I found a lot of it to be pandering and in poor taste. 

Overall, I had mixed feelings about this series. There were parts of it that I liked, including parts of Koh’s and the other main character’s story arcs. Some of the villains that they take down also had some interesting powers. On the other hand, a lot of the series felt like it was trying to make up for the lack of writing ability by giving the readers extra naked women, instead of trying to create more compelling reasons to convince the readers to keep reading the story. Also, the main plot line I found somewhat frustrating as the main characters know they're being manipulated for the longest time, but aren't able to finally turn the tables on those behind the scenes until the last volume. But at least the ending was fairly solid.

Recommended: TLDR; Overall this series about the good guys trying to take down psychopathic serial killers with superpowers before they kill again, while uncovering the truth of a dastardly plot behind everything, is not bad. But you need to be able to tolerate a lot of rapey behavior from the villains and quite a lot of gratuitous fanservice to be able to enjoy this series.

Age Rating: R for both violence, gore and sexual stuff. The gore is kind of inconsistent, some parts are fairly tame, and some parts are literally tearing people’s faces off or cutting them in half and so on. The sexual stuff is like that as well. Sometimes it’s tame underwear shots and cleavage, and other times it goes full on rape. But thankfully there’s only one actual rape scene, but it has also some other weird rapey scenes that are dreams and otherwise not real.

Other Works in English from this Mangaka: Cage of Eden (Shounen)

I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World (Rank 3)

Publisher: Kodansha

Volumes: 5/5 (Complete), (Digital only, so far)

Shoujo

Genre: Romance, Twins, (Relationship) Sisters

Summary: Mahiru Yanase and Mayo Yanase were supposed to be identical as twins, but Mayo became an outgoing popular girl, while Mahiru became “the other Yanase.” After an incident in middle school where the only boy who ever liked Mahiru instead fell for Mayo at first sight, Mahiru has lived in her sister’s shadow ever since. She became a superstitious girl who avoids talking to people who are too friendly, for fear that her luck will balance itself and something terrible will happen soon after.

On the first day of high school, Mahiru bumps into a friendly classmate, Aoi Satomi. And he’s way too friendly! But even though he’s way out of her league, he only has eyes for Mahiru. Can she let go of her superstitions long enough to give Aoi a chance? Can she find her confidence in herself? And what’s up with him? 

Review: The beginning of the story starts out sort of average. At first Aoi pursues Mahiru, and while she is interested, she is scared of getting involved with him at first, citing her bad luck will eventually bring about the end of the world. But in truth, it becomes clear that it’s her lack of confidence in herself that prevents her from wanting to date anyone, and she doesn’t believe any boy could ever find her attractive over her sister. But after he reveals at the end of volume 1 that they’ve met before, and he fell for her back then, the story really starts to blossom. As volume 2 starts, Mahiru finds herself wishing she could change, and then she finally decides to give Aoi a chance even if it means the end of the world.

I won’t spoil anything past that point, but I was really glad I gave this slightly obscure title a chance. It becomes a very endearing story about two people who save each other through their love, at a very dark time in their lives. While the majority of the story is about Mahiru getting over her inferiority complex about her sister, there is also a good bit of the story about Aoi and his difficult life as well. It’s not a title that will amaze you, at least not at first, but it slowly and steadily gets better, and it’s a story that is told very well. And I was impressed with the ending, it was great.

Recommended: TLDR; All in all while this romance title starts off a bit plain, it gradually becomes a story about two people who saved each other through their love during a dark time in their lives. The story starts off with a focus on Mahiru and her obsession with luck, but soon shifts to being about her and Aoi’s relationship, as well as their friends and Mahiru’s sister. It’s an underappreciated manga and is highly recommended.

Rating: PG: Thanks to Mahiru’s lack of confidence, they only kiss. 

Other Notes: This title is only available digitally only so far, but Kodansha has been printing the bestselling ebooks into physical books. If it gets more popular, they will print it. The first two volumes are currently available free on Kindle Unlimited/Comixology Unlimited.

Other Works in English from this Mangaka (from Most to Least popular):

• House of the Sun (Shoujo)

• Atsumori-kun’s Bride to Be (Shoujo)

As the Gods Will - the Second Series (Rank 2.5)

Publisher: Kodansha

Volumes: 21/21 (Complete) (Digital Only)

Shounen

Genre: Life and Death Games, Survival Horror, Supernatural, Ecchi, Harem

Summary: Life seemed ordinary for high school seniors Akashi and his best friend and soccer teammate Aoyama. They had an argument about whether to pursue their dreams of playing soccer professionally together in college, or just Aoyama alone. Akashi felt like they lost their chance to play pro forever, ever since Aoyama lost that fateful game that would have taken them to the national tournament. Akashi runs out in a huff and skips school, while Aoyama stubbornly stays behind. But the two of them never get a chance to apologize to each other, as the school is soon attacked by deadly Daruma dolls!

The both of them, plus somehow every single high schooler on the planet, gets swept into a series of deadly children’s games for some unknown purpose. Can Akashi and Aoyama survive to apologize to each other? And what are the games even for?

Review: The overall main plot is based on a series of mostly Japanese children’s games combined with wordplay that have been reinterpreted into games of life and death. Thankfully there are many translator's notes in the margins explaining the games and the puns. And some of the games are more familiar and don't need much explanation.

The overall theme of the manga is high stakes of the games acting as a sort of pressure cooker that can bring out the best and worst in people, as well as a sort of ongoing debate whether it is better to be selfish and ruthless or be more of a team player. But it’s a bit more of a guilty pleasure of a manga for the life and death games, as the death toll is ridiculously high, and basically almost none of the characters deserve their gory deaths. They were all drafted into the games and refusing to play results in instant death.

First thing to get out of the way is how annoying it is that Kodansha has licensed only this series, which is subtitled the Second Series because it's a sequel to the First Series. There are two prequels starting with 0- Zero which is 4 chapters long and contains spoilers for the entire series and explains why the games are happening. Then, the First Series is 5 volumes long and covers Shun Takahata and Amaya's journey before meeting up with the characters of the Second Series. Luckily both series have been scanlated fully and can be found by searching Kami-sama no Iu toori and 0- Zero. It is not necessary to read either of them before the Second Series, but I would recommend at least 0- Zero because it keeps the answer of why the games are happening until volume 17, and I felt like the answer was kind of a let down and not worth waiting so long for.

Plot Overview:

• Volumes 1-3 was a strong start to the story, as they try to figure out the games, the rules and how to win based on the clues they are given.

• Volumes 4-7 the school mysteries arc, was kind of so-so. On the plus side the strategy of the two teams trying to work together to save as many players as possible was kind of neat, but the actual ghost hunting was boring.

• Volumes 8-10 have a sort of side story where the characters are given special powers, but this plot goes mostly nowhere because they lose their powers at the end of the arc.

• Volumes 10-12 After a short interlude, the story goes to a game of sky high Hopscotch with a twist.

• Volume 13: A volume of Hell Labyrinth, and the reunion with Aoyama.

• Volumes 14.5-17.5-ish Then a 3 volume long arc of Cops and Robbers (a tag-based game), but this arc was awful as Akashi turns into a total idiot, other players are introduced who can break the rules and not die, and then somehow a lot of the winners die anyway.

• Volumes 17.5-ish-20 Then finally the story heads into its final arc, as the finalists play a game of Old Maid with a twist.

• Volume 21 The ending.

This series is an Ecchi Harem manga, which is a genre of manga with a lot of fanservice (most often cleavage and girl underwear shots) and where multiple characters confess their love to the main character. I had mixed feelings about this. On one hand the ecchi is worse than usual and I really disliked how the blatant fanservice would interrupt tense and dramatic scenes. Like in the very first chapter when the Daruma doll kills a teacher, a random girl falls over with her skirt flipped up and her butt straight in the camera. There’s a lot of that kind of stuff, and it’s kind of dumb. But the Harem part was surprisingly not terrible as Akashi sometimes does show admirable qualities of trying to save others or trying to get everyone to work together to survive, so it worked out somewhat better when his girl teammates who are trusting him with their lives inside a crazy and dangerous situation also fall in love with him.

That being said, this manga made an odd decision to include a number of LGBT characters, including a bisexual main character who is gay for Akashi. That in itself wasn’t terrible, but I disliked the fact that this character is really over the top and basically insane but also somewhat redeemed by his loyalty and friendship. And adding another minor character who is a lesbian, who is also stalker crazy, felt meh. To be fair, a lot of the regular characters are crazy too. The only thing that redeemed this manga somewhat here was the addition of a transgender girl, who is thankfully normal.

Overall the games are interesting and dramatic, and a few of the games have interesting twists that are figured out in a clever way. But while I was reasonably content with the resolution of Akashi and Aoyama’s central friendship plot, like half of the other minor character plots go nowhere and are never resolved. So basically, read it for the games and not for the characters. And finally the ending, was a terrible disappointment. At first glance I thought the author left it open for a sequel, but after much thought I think he was trying to go for a bittersweet victory but ended up much too bitter. Personally I would skip the ending completely (volume 21) and make up your own imaginary ending, and you’ll probably be happier.

Recommended: TLDR; This manga about a series of Life and Death games based on Children’s games and puns is very entertaining overall. Although it is a somewhat of a guilty pleasure, since all the characters are forced to play these horrifying and deadly games. On the plus side, the games and the way the characters manage to survive is very overall very interesting, but the manga is lackluster in other respects like character development and romantic subplots, and so on. And also note there is also potentially objectionable content with the inappropriate fanservice and a couple crazy LGBT characters.

Age Rating: R: plenty of deaths, blood and gore. Also lots of fanservice, underwear shots, some nudity, some implied offscreen sex, also some random groping and etc.

Other Notes: The first 15 volumes are currently free to read with a trial Kindle Unlimited or Comixology Subscription.

The Black Museum: The Ghost and the Lady (Rank 2.5)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 2/2 Omnibuses (3 in 2 HC) (Complete), In Print
Seinen/Josei
Genre: Historical Fiction, Supernatural, Dreams, Doctors and Nurses, Romance

Summary: The Black Museum, where the secret evidence from cases investigated by Scotland Yard are kept, has a mysterious display called “A head on collision of two bullets.” This bizarre chance occurrence of two bullets cancelling each other out was said to have been left on the seat of a theatre… by a ghost. The ghost known as “The Man in Grey” haunted a theater for a long time and seeing him was said to bring success to any play. As it turns out, the ghost himself wants to set the record straight, and so he tells his story. He was originally a professional duelist, who was very good at winning duels on behalf of the wealthy. But at some point he died, and doesn’t remember how he died. He haunted the theater for a long time until he met “that bothersome woman”, who turns out to be the famous Florence Nightingale. (The mother of modern nursing)

All humans have parasitic ghosts attached to them called Eidolons. These creatures get stronger as they feed on negative emotions, and they battle each other for dominance and the results are sent psychically to their hosts. Florence Nightingale catches the eye of the Man in Grey because her Eidolon is huge, and yet it only attacks her instead of other Eidolons. She constantly feels like she is being tortured, and yet no one else can see it except the two of them. She wants to die but instead he kills her Eidolon instead. Having nothing left except his love for theater, he pronounces he cannot kill her until her life reaches “the height of tragedy,” like in his favorite plays. Can she accomplish her dreams before he kills her?

Review: It’s an oddly theatrical-inspired blend of Supernatural and Historical Fiction, but strangely, it kind of works. It takes a bit for the story to get going, but after a bit of a rambling beginning, the story between the Man in Grey and Florence Nightingale starts in earnest. At first the Man in Grey mocks Florence and treats her like entertainment, but as the story goes on he starts to see something in her that perhaps he lacked when he was alive.

Meanwhile, Florence, as the central heroine of the story, is part inspirational, but also a bit unhinged and yet also newly determined to make a difference in the horrid state of hospital care. The Man in Grey expects her to fall into despair with every difficulty she faces in her mission to improve hospitals, but after their agreement, she feels she has nothing left to lose, and only grows bolder. The plot takes a few historical creative liberties as an antagonist ghost of Chevalier d’Eon is introduced. And then the plot heads towards a not very accurate but interesting climatic showdown between Florence and her political enemy, William Hall.

The horrifying, grotesque Eidolons are really a fascinating sort of visualization of suppressed malice that people have towards others. A simple conversation can turn into a sort of psychic duel between People wielding their Eidolons, and words do damage to the soul that can be seen directly, at least by those who are able to see spirits.

As far as historical fiction goes, it’s a genuine and dramatic snapshot of a time when Hospitals of that time were horrible, disgusting places rife with poor hygiene where people went to die in terrible conditions. Back then nursing was a low-brow, dirty profession for commoners, since it was not understood how diseases spread or how they could be treated. Nursing was a job just barely above being a prostitute in the social standing, unless you were a nun. But as far as Florence Nightingale, the historical figure though, it’s kind of a mix. On one hand she really was a fierce advocate for her patients, and she really was a wealthy woman who turned her back on high society. But this manga has her curiously reinterpreted as a fighter. And while she definitely fought to change things over the objections of many, I also doubt that she ever lifted a rifle and tried to shoot William Hall. Still, it’s a really interesting take on her life, and it’s a dramatic and interesting read.

Recommended: If you want to read a curiously theatrical dramatization of a story between the ghost of a duelist and the famous mother of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, then it’s really a very interesting and entertaining story. Even if it may not be entirely historically accurate.

Age Rating: Older Teen: A lot of strangely violent psychic attacks by the grotesque Eidolon ghosts. Also quite a lot of “soul nudity” if you can call it that. But kind of chaste and not explicit. And some implied but not shown sex scene with some mild nudity with careful camera angles. And the state of the hospitals is really disgusting. 

Tales of Berseria (rank 4)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 3/3 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Fighting, Demons, Fantasy

Summary: Three years ago a plague known as the Daemonblight spread over the land that turned people into monsters. But the blight had not yet reached where Velvet lived peacefully with her sick younger brother Laphi, and her friend and protector, Artorius. But one night during a Blood Red Moon, Artorius betrayed them, and sacrificed Laphi in a ritual for power by summoning magical beings known as Malakhim. Since then, Artorius founded the Order of Exorcists and was hailed as the savior of the world. Meanwhile, Velvet rots in a special prison for the Daemon infected, as she has an infected arm that eats Daemons. One day an old friend comes and frees her, and she breaks out along with a motley crew and swears revenge on Artorius, even if it kills her.

Review: This manga was adapted from a popular videogame, but the general consensus seems to be that the videogame has a much better story. And I don’t doubt that at all, it really reads like a below average Shounen manga, with the only unique quality being that it’s unusual for a guy's manga to have a Heroine as the main character. And the artwork is a bit more ornate than average but also kind of generic fantasy looking too.

It started out as a very cut and dried revenge story and the first volume is incredibly boring. Nothing much happens past the beginning and the rest is just an extended introduction to the large cast as they meet each other and start their quests. The only thing of interest is the reveal that the Malakhim, who form contracts of power with Exorcists, are basically slaves. The Second volume has some more of the central plot between Velvet and Artorius, but looking back at it after finishing the series I don’t think it made a lot of sense. Artorius and Velvet used to live together, it is weird how Artorius isn’t trying to convince Velvet to his side, or claim that sacrificing Laphi was necessary or anything really. He acts like he barely knows her.

Finally in Volume 3, it’s really very rushed as the central plot comes crashing in all at once. After a big twist, Velvet ends up fighting for the free will and emotions of all humans instead of revenge for her brother. It was an interesting concept, IMO, but it really needed more foreshadowing before the twist. And lastly the ending was fine. But honestly the plot was kind of convenient in a lot of ways, it’s kind of weird that the Malakhim she happened to save and the book they happened to steal from the Exorcists ended up both being super important.

All in all the manga really suffers from a pacing issue. It goes from sluggish to average and then almost all the plot is crammed into the last volume. It should have been about 5 volumes. I also think the relationship between Artorius and Velvet was weirdly untouched/undeveloped even though they are supposed to be opposites fighting each other over the fate of humanity.

Recommended: TLDR; All in all, this might be of interest to fans of the videogame, but it’s not really going to be of interest to most readers, due a lot of issues in the story.

Age Rating: PG13: quite a lot of cleavage. Some moderate violence but not very graphic.

Related Series: Tales of Zestiria 

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty (rank 2.5)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 6/6 (Complete), In Print
Shoujo
Genre: Supernatural, Friendship, Romance, Family, Sports (Soccer)

Summary: Tetsu just started working at the so-called Haunted House up the hill. It’s said that the rich lady who lives there has a sick daughter who lives in a cottage behind the mansion, but no one has ever seen her. One day Tetsu falls asleep on a bench outside the cottage and he meets the daughter, Shizu. But strangely, she doesn’t seem sick at all. He falls in love at first sight but then he discovers he confessed to one of her multiple personalities, or so he thought. After a shock, he discovers the truth, she actually doesn’t have multiple personalities at all, but rather she is easily possessed by ghosts! Unfortunately Tetsu is terrified of ghosts...

Shizu’s mother hires him to look after her daughter, since Shizu seems to be interested in him, for the first time in her life. And he desperately needs the money for some reason, so he accepts. Can he get Shizu interested in living life? Will Shizu ever return his feelings? And what’s up with Tetsu’s desperate need for money, and what does that have to do with him quitting the soccer team?

Review: This is an unusual series. From the cover art I expected a straight up romance, instead it’s a supernatural ghost story. The first few volumes are driven by the mystery behind her Ghost possession problem, as well as the few spirits who try to protect her. She is protected by the spirits of her great-grandfather Shinobu, a 30 year old fatherly ghost Haru, and the spirit of a young woman Mirei, who likes to have fun. But all of them look out for Shizu’s best interests, because she herself is very helpless and innocent.

Especially in the beginning there actually isn’t much interaction between Shizu and Tetsu at all, because Shizu is shy and not used to people, so he ends up finding out a lot about her from the spirits who take turns possessing her, with her permission. That being said, the interactions the two of them do have are notable and sweet. After that, the story shifts to focusing on Shizu’s relationship with her parents, and also reveals the story behind Tetsu’s situation as well. Then finally, in the last volume it finally gets back to the romance.

All in all, it’s a bittersweet story that is inspired by the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. At heart it’s a story about a prince rescuing the princess, or at least a sort of modern take on it. But it was kind of hard to enjoy it. Shizu is very innocent and thoughtful, but it’s soon revealed that her childlike personality is a result of being abandoned by her parents, who gave up on her when she was still very young. As for Tetsu, he’s a good kid who never had much chance to have a childhood either, and feels responsible for those around him. On the plus side, both of them grow a lot and learn to deal with their issues better. Overall, I did enjoy this series but wished it could at least have been a couple volumes longer.

Recommended: TLDR; If you want to read a bittersweet supernatural story about a young woman’s ghost possession problems and the people who care about her, then it’s a good read. And while there is some romance in the story, a lot of it is actually about the main two character’s families, including Shizu’s ghost family.

Age Rating: PG: nothing particularly objectionable but it does have ghost possession

Golosseum (rank 4)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 6/6 (Complete), In Print
Seinen
Genre: Absurdist Comedy, Fighting, Sports (Wrestling), Martial Arts, Political Satire, Scifi

Summary: The world has changed with the invention of a high tech bracelet, called the Peacemaker. It surrounds the wearer with a air permeable force field that prevents all conventional weapons and chemical weapons and viruses from harming the wearer. As a result the only way to harm a Peacemaker-equipped fighter is through hand to hand combat, like wrestling or martial arts. The fate of the world now rests in the hands of the most powerful fighters!

The source of this technology is unknown but came to Earth transcribed onto 3 Golden Records. The Russians, under President for Life Vladimir Putin Vladislav Putinov, were the first to get their hands on the first two records, which contained the secrets of the Peacemakers and the second contained the secret of human body modifications to create super-powered hulks. Then other countries stole or bartered for this new technology. No one knows what the contents of the 3rd Record contain, but sure it will change the world, Putin sends his forces after it, while the Japanese and the Americans try to prevent the disk from being stolen.

Review: The main plot centers around the coming showdown between the Russians, led by Putin and his soldiers, and the immortal “Mad Monk” Rasputin, who stole the 3rd Golden Record and defected to Japan. Rasputin, who can see the world’s potential futures, has determined the world will fall into ruin if Putin gets the 3rd Record. As such he starts by gathering some of the best fighters of the world, starting with Ryuzo Hijikata known as “the Grim Reaper” and Sasha Goundarenko, “the White Witch.” But also soon recruits some more recognizable names, including Bruce Lee. The Japanese Prime Minister is based on Wrestler Antonio Inoki. On the American side there’s also Hulk Hogan and Big Van Vader. (but all with fake names to avoid being sued) and many more I didn’t recognize.

At first glance this might look like a fighting manga, and while it does have many fights, at heart, it’s an absurdist comedy. Which is to say that it’s a comedy based on how ridiculous it can get. And it constantly tries to get more ridiculous. In the beginning the comedy is so understated, that honestly, I wasn’t even sure it was a comedy at all. Initially, it was so straight-faced and serious that I thought the ridiculousness of it was all just an excuse for the mangaka to have his favorite wrestlers and martial artists and his two main original characters fight each other.

But somewhere around volume 3 or so, when the mangaka unleashed the comedy plotline of Putin trying to train animals wearing Peacemakers into being his war mounts, well, that was just hilarious. If watching shirtless, muscleman Putin riding a Shark into battle against a Giant Squid doesn’t sound funny to you, then this probably isn’t something you will enjoy. There is quite a lot of political satire making fun of Putin as his publicity photos show him as a super macho guy, shirtless, and often riding something. There’s a lot more other ridiculousness too, like the American forces riding Segways into battle against a force of shirtless Russian Cossacks.  

Anyway if you read this manga like a regular fighting manga, then it is incredibly dumb and comes off as really stupid. But if you can read the ridiculousness of it as what it is, a parody, then it’s pretty funny. That being said, for a comedy, the series made the odd decision to have hyper violent and ultra realistic gore, as well as the death of random innocents which I totally get is going to be a turn off for some readers. And the two main characters Ryuzo and Sasha were pretty bland too, I would have scrapped them and made Bruce Lee or Samart Payakaroon the main character, they were both way more interesting.

The main thing I did dislike though, was the ending. For a series that revels in violence, it ends with an oddly out of place anti-war message. On top of that, somehow even though Putin was the villain to the very end, somehow he comes off as being a good guy because he reveals his desire is to keep the Peacemakers forever and wipe out all chance of nuclear war. He still was going to take over the world though.

Recommended: TLDR; If you want to read the combination of an absurdist comedy and part political satire that is also a tribute to famous wrestlers and a few famous martial artists, then this was pretty funny. But also really violent.

Age Rating: R: A lot of decapitations and other ultra violent deaths and gore. Also some very violent animal deaths, a tiger, a few bears and some horses.

Inuyashiki (rank 2)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 10/10 (Complete), In Print
Seinen
Genre: Fighting, Robots, Superheroes, Scifi

Summary: Mr. Inuyashiki has an awful life. He’s only 58 but looks like an old man, his children are ashamed of being seen with him, and his wife doesn’t care about him like she used to. The only one who cares about him is his newly adopted dog. Then, he finds out he has cancer and has only three months left to live. He goes to the park lost in thought after hearing the news. 

Suddenly he and a teen boy who was also standing on the hill are both killed in an explosion. He wakes up some time later and discovers he was remade into a super-powered robot by aliens trying to cover up their mistake. At first Mr. Inuyashiki is shocked by his transformation, but after rescuing a homeless guy from being nearly murdered by some delinquents, he decides that he’s going to prove his humanity by rescuing as many lives as possible with his new powers. But meanwhile his counterpart, the teen boy Shishigami-kun who was also on the hill, takes a darker path.

Review: This is a very popular Seinen title from the mangaka who is most famous for GANTZ. For those not familiar with GANTZ, it’s a Scifi action series with some fairly graphic gore, and Inuyashiki has a lot in common with it.

After an initially depressing start, the manga takes off at full speed to be a page turning thriller. Mr. Inuyashiki becomes a hero as he tries to save people, going from someone who couldn’t even stand up to loud punks on the subway, to fighting the yakuza. Meanwhile Shishigami-kun initially seems like he wants to use his powers to help his bullied friend and his mother, but is also looking for excuses to kill others. Then the police catch up to Shishigami, tragedy strikes, and what follows is an escalated conflict where neither will back down, to horrendous results. Mr. Inuyashiki and Shishigami finally have a climactic showdown as Mr. Inuyashiki tries to save Japan. But this soon becomes upstaged as news of an asteroid heading towards Earth fills the news.

All in all, it’s a real page turner with a lot of action, fights and in a bit of an unusual twist, both Mr. Inuyashiki and Shishigami-kun both have wireless hacking abilities as well as a jetpack that comes out of their backs. There is also something kind of funny about watching what looks like a shirtless, frail, old man beating up bad guys twice his size. Or Shishigami shooting people with his literal finger gun. At heart it’s a big showdown between good and evil, but even though it was a real fun ride of a read, I did kind of wish there had been more depth to it. But the comic is basically a Scifi action movie. Lastly, the ending was good but I wished that the people of Earth knew why they were saved.

Recommended: TLDR; If you want to read a page turning Scifi thriller with plenty of action that is a big showdown between good and evil, and don’t mind some graphic gore, lots of deaths and some attempted rape then it’s a great read. 

Age Rating: Older Teen: Quite a lot of violence, some fairly graphic gore. Some male on male sexual assault (but not graphic), and also some attempted rape (lots of nudity but not graphic). If you have read GANTZ then this is actually tamer in comparison.

Other works in English from this mangaka: (from most to least popular): GANTZ, GANTZ G, Gigant

Kounodori - Dr. Stork (rank 4)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 14+/31+ (Ongoing) (Read: 1-12) (Digital eBooks only)
Seinen
Genre: Doctors and Nurses

Summary: Dr. Kounodori, whose name translates to Dr. Stork, has a secret. He’s actually the famous concert pianist known as “Baby”, a mysterious figure who no one knows why sometimes his concerts end early. In truth, he’s an on-call Obstetrician for the local hospital. The story follows him as he treats his patients through many different issues, from a requested abortion, a mother who smokes, a woman who’s baby has anencephaly, premature babies, twins, a woman who doesn’t want a C-section and many more. 

This won the Kodansha Manga Award for the General Category in 2016.

Review: Sometimes there are comics that don’t really manage to cross the cultural barriers between East and West well, and sadly this is one of them. In particular, Dr. Stork works at a Christian Hospital in Japan as an Obstetrician and the comic is heavily pro-life. It’s honestly kind of funny in a way, because the mangaka was careful to write Dr. Stork as a moderate middle of the road doctor, at least, by Japanese standards anyway. But by western standards he’s just slightly short of “Abortion is Murder” and says things like “No Mother was ever happy to have an abortion” and “Abortion gives Mothers PTSD” and tries to guilt his patients into keeping their unwanted babies.

This comic has an difficult readership problem. Even abortion aside, from any modern feminist angle this manga is a total nightmare. For example, one short story revolves around a pregnant teenager, and she tries to get an abortion. But apparently in Japan, an underage abortion requires her parent’s permission, plus the boyfriend/father’s permission plus the boyfriend’s parent’s permission as well! If any of them refuse a teenager can be forced to carry a child. That was gross enough, but there’s also a later story where a woman requests her surgery to try and save her uterus if possible. And the male doctors are against it because it would put her at 6% risk of death. Meanwhile the woman doctor on the team is the only one who is in favor of trying to save it. And this is only through volume 2! This comic would quickly alienate most potential female readers, as it’s preachy, lecturing and judgmental, leaving only the minority of Seinen readers who somehow want to read about a doctor who only delivers babies.

Secondly, this manga also made an odd decision to make Dr. Stork more or less an ordinary doctor. There are a few other manga in English about doctors and the most popular, Dr. Black Jack, is about a miracle worker/genius doctor. Which I totally get, because reading stories about heroes and incredible surgeries and etc. is fun and entertaining. In comparison, Dr. Stork does have genius talent… at piano. Which only strikes me as weird every time I think about it.

As to how the manga actually feels to read, well, it's alright. All the other things I mentioned earlier aside, it's above average, and it's clear the mangaka did a lot of research. But it's honestly not a very enjoyable read, as the vast majority of it is about possible complications during pregnancy and childbirth. For a medical drama I felt like as a whole, there's too much tension and not enough emotional pay off. A lot of the stories also end abruptly and I started to feel like the characters were just there to illustrate whatever the chosen storyline was about. There were a few short stories that I liked though, like one about a girl juvenile delinquent who decides becoming a midwife is her calling. And another one about the importance of getting the Rubella vaccine. And a longer story about a half-hearted resident whose life changes after he saves a pregnant woman and her baby when she has a heart attack.

More horrifying facts that I learned from this manga:

• Health Insurance in Japan doesn't cover pregnancy or childbirth costs.
• The MMR vaccine in Japan isn't standard and not covered by insurance. It costs $90!
• Conceiving through Egg donation isn't allowed in Japan for most women, but conceiving through Sperm donation is allowed.
• Those who give up children to orphanages can refuse to give up parental rights forever, keeping the child from being adopted ever. And less than 10% of healthy children in Japan get adopted. Unhealthy ones never get adopted.

Recommended: TLDR; This manga about a pro-life obstetrician is unfortunately not of interest to most readers and definitely not feminists. It may be of interest to those who are studying medicine or Ob/Gyns in particular, and maybe of interest to those who want to know how a 1st world country like Japan can be so backwards about public health.

Age Rating: Older Teen: Not that graphic but does discuss things like STDs, and of course stillborn babies, miscarriages, postpartum depression, etc. 

I’m Standing on a Million Lives (rank 2.5)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 8/9+ (Ongoing), In Print (read:1-8)
Shounen
Genre: Videogames Are Real, Life or Death Game, Isekai, Fighting, Scifi, Fantasy

Summary: Yotsuya is a loner. He’s athletic but not in any clubs, and fairly intelligent but has no ambitions other than playing video games. He doesn’t have any friends, and never talks to anyone except his old friends from the countryside where he grew up. That all changes one day when he finds himself transported to another world, where he and two of his classmates are forced to fight for their lives. 

As the game continues, he’s forced to interact with other people and confronts his own misanthropy, his strange concepts of morality and the value of his and others lives as they face difficult missions they must win- or die trying! Is this game really what it appears to be? Is there some secret purpose behind their assigned missions? And heck, how did Yotsuya get to be this warped anyway?

Review: This is a really fun and entertaining series that has a lot of interesting depth to it. The rules of the game are- it’s being run by humans from the future, and all of the game aspects are really just advanced technology. (Not a spoiler, this is from chapter 1.) The team must beat 8 rounds total to be freed from the game. Each round has its own mission objectives and they get a new team player in each round. They can all die and be revived an infinite amount of times as long as they all do not die at the same time. If they all die, then they also die in real life.

There’s a lot going on in these very dense volumes that are packed with story and action and there is zero filler. In the beginning it seems more or less like a generic fantasy world, but it’s soon revealed that the actual setting is a medieval fantasy world in crisis, and they keep getting sent to key points in this world’s history. The missions so far started with beating a Troll, then a cargo delivery and map exploration quest (with a twist). Then they had a mission to help an island conduct their ceremonial offering, and now currently the manga is in the 6th round (of 8) which is the Drug War arc. 

One thing I really enjoyed about the story is that it can be read multiple ways. You can read it as a straight up fighting and quest solving story and just go along for the ride, and that’s fun. But there’s also tons of tantalizing clues to future twists that drop throughout the story, clues both about the purpose of the game they are in, oddly similar parallel societal issues between the other world and ours, plus hints of the reasons they were each picked as players. And also clues about Yotsuya’s backstory, which seems also to hint about some sort of traumatic past.

The characters are all very unusual in their own ways- but mostly Yotsuya, since he’s the main character. To his teammates he comes off as cold and calculating but in reality he does have a heart, just hides it. As a deliberate change from the normal heroic characters in Shounen manga, he seems to be the most controversial thing about this story- which is to say a lot of readers found him unlikable. Personally I found him refreshing and interesting but YMMV. 

Recommended: TLDR; If you don’t mind following an overly logical “cold” protagonist, then the central story of the missions they beat are super interesting. The missions often have twists that make them challenging in multiple ways, and they all need to work together to clear each one and use all of their skills, abilities and knowledge to solve them. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets turned into an anime later.

Age Rating: PG13: some mild nudity (when they die their naked souls float around their dead body), as well as some moderate violence (but mostly not graphic, except a couple gruesome monster deaths).

Other Works in English from the same Artist (but paired with different writers): Trinity Seven, Psycho Busters

Attack on Titan Anthology (rank 3.5)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 1/1 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Tribute Anthology

Summary: A Western Tribute Anthology of full color American Comic short stories inspired by Attack on Titan.

Under the Surface: A story about the downfall of San Francisco in the Titan Apocalypse in the near future.

Attack on Attack on Titan: One page each gag comedy strips of the original Attack on Titan series.

An Illustrated Guide to the Glorious Walled City: A travel guide to the walled cities done in the style of old Victorian newspapers.

The Titan’s Laugh: a humorous story about killing Titans with bad jokes.

Live and Let Die: A Survey Corps member gets separated from the others and then discovers a group of survivors living outside the safe zone in a network of tunnels. 

Good Dog: A Girl and her Dog escape the Fall of Shiganshina.

Attack on Playtime: A little girl with a pet Titan has it eat all the teachers she doesn’t like.

Skies Above: A lesbian couple seek to escape the walled city through the secret invention of an aeroplane.

Bahamut: a playwright famous for a play where a Titan-shifter eats the one he loves, gets eaten by a Titan-shifter who was his girlfriend.

Attack on Demoncon: some cosplayers cosplaying as Survey Corps members encounter some women cosplaying as Titans. After one of the cosplayers harasses one of the women they fight a mock battle.

Fie Fie Foh: a druidic settlement in old England is regularly attacked by Titans, but keeps them below the cliffs with bait made of human blood. One day their hero forgets to set the bait and their settlement is wiped out.

Memory Maze: an elderly couple living together in a remote area are attacked by a Titan, and it stirs up old memories.

Review: Overall, I felt like a lot of these stories felt they were rushed on a tight deadline, they aren’t bad but not great either.

The best ones IMO, were Memory Maze and Attack on Attack on Titan. Memory Maze has beautiful artwork and the story is very poignant and tragic. Attack on Attack on Titan is a bunch of gag comedy strips and they were all pretty funny, definitely recommended. Lastly I would say two runners up for best story, The Titan’s Laugh and Skies Above were also pretty good.

Recommended: A lot of these stories aren’t going to appeal to manga readers just from the art style alone. After that, a bunch of these stories are underwhelming and some are confusing. But there are a few gems in here that are worth checking out.

Age Rating: PG13: mostly for violence. One lesbian kiss.

Attack on Titan: No Regrets (rank 3)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 2/2 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Fighting

Summary: In this Attack on Titan prequel, a young gutter rat Levi, meets Erwin. Along with two of his friends, Furlan and Isabel, they are all recruited for the Survey Corps because of their exceptional skill with stolen 3D maneuver gear. However they have no intention of actually joining the Corps, they just want to steal some papers they could use to negotiate their freedom to live above ground. But before they can steal the papers, they are sent on a dangerous Titan scouting mission. 

Review: This series isn’t bad, but it is a bit frustrating. We get the first meeting between Erwin and Levi, but it goes down pretty much exactly the way you would expect from the description of it in the original Attack on Titan manga. Then things start to heat up on their dangerous mission, and then the series just kind of ends.

It really could have used another volume minimum to show the aftermath of the mission and Levi answering Erwin’s speech instead of just kind of getting back on his horse and getting back to the mission. The absolute loyalty between Erwin and Levi has always been one of my favorite things from the original manga, and I wish it would show more of how that came about.

Lastly, Levi’s friends, his fellow gutter rats are so obviously marked to die, they didn't even bother giving them much backstories or personalities at all, which was annoying. Levi doesn’t make friends easily, it seemed like a lost opportunity to tell us something more about Levi’s story before he joined the Survey Corps.

On the upside, we do get to see some of Levi and Erwin's early conversations, and Levi being a badass. Just wish there had been more.

Recommended: For Attack on Titan fans who want to see Levi and Erwin's first meeting, and first mission together. Overall it did have its moments, but really could have been better too.

Age Rating: PG13, some moderate violence and one implied off-screen rape.

Attack on Titan: Lost Girls (rank 3)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 2/2 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Fighting, Mystery

Summary: This Attack on Titan Side Story contains two stories of one volume each.

Volume One follows Annie Leonhart on the eve before her battle with Eren. She trades favors with her roommate, Hitch. In exchange for Hitch covering for her and helping her call in sick the next day, Hitch asks her to take over a small job of looking for a lost girl. At first it seems like a straightforward mission to find the missing daughter of a wealthy merchant, but soon she finds out that the girl, Carly, was involved with something dangerous.

Volume Two follows Mikasa in a dream she has of an alternate timeline. When Mikasa is told by Armin of Eren’s apparent death, she has a strange dream of an alternate timeline where the slave traders that killed her parents were instead killed by a pack of feral dogs before reaching their cabin. She and Eren still become friends, but strange things keep happening that urge her to kill, as if her fate is still trying to take her and Eren on a similar path.

Review: Volume One of Annie’s story was very good, and shows a different side of Annie than what you see in the original manga. It’s told from her point of view, and narrates her thoughts, so this normally very reserved character for once you get to find out what she’s thinking and feeling. The story itself was a solid mystery story too, revealing bit by bit as she pieces together clues and the story has some interesting twists before the truth is revealed.

Volume Two was… odd. The story itself of a dream of an alternate timeline was interesting and yet also very strange. It seemed way too detailed to have been just a daydream and yet there is no other explanation for it except that it is a dream. I guess that it’s supposed to represent her struggle to go on after she thinks Eren is dead, and yet it seems a bit lacking for that somehow. It ends up reading like a sort of destined fate story, since her alternate dream self ends up converging with reality, and her and Eren end up in the same place.

Then, in the end of this series, it wraps up with a clunky ending where Mikasa and Annie meet, both in the past (during training) and in the “present” where Mikasa helps take down Annie.

Recommended: For Attack on Titan fans. All in all, I really enjoyed Annie’s side story and I especially liked that this had a new story with a fresh perspective we haven’t heard before, plus a father and daughter theme that allows Annie to reflect on her own circumstances.

But Mikasa’s story was very strange. It almost felt like it was trying to say something about fate or destiny but it kind of stops before it tells us what any of that story was supposed to mean, and just leaves you wondering.

This manga was originally adapted from a spin-off Novel, which is out in English from Vertical. Someday I might read that and see if it explains Mikasa’s story better. And then I’ll update this review. 

Age Rating: Older Teen: for some drug use, violence and some moderate gore

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (rank 3)

Publisher: Kodansha
Volumes: 17/17 (Complete), In Print
Shounen
Genre: Fighting, Horror

Summary: In this prequel spinoff to Attack on Titan, Kuklo was born from a half eaten body of his mother that fell out of a Titan’s mouth. Called the son of a Titan, he was treated like a sideshow freak and hated and feared until one day he’s rescued by a young noblewoman, Sharle. She realizes he is human and teaches him about the world. They fall in love and escape together.

Kuklo, determined to wipe out the source of fear that he thinks caused people to treat him as cruelly as they had, wishes to join the Survey Corps and fight the Titans. Sharle is determined to support him anyway she can. Together they get swept into the attempt by a select few to prevent the Survey Corps from being permanently disbanded, through the development and testing of a strategic new device: the 3D maneuver gear!

Review: Overall, this series wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the other spin-offs either.

On the good side, it’s got plenty of interesting things for Attack on Titan fans. It spends a lot of time detailing more of the walled kingdom’s past 55 years before the events of Attack on Titan. It’s got the almost extinct Survey Corps that are at threat of being disbanded because they have no way of killing a Titan. And then goes on to cover events such as the first Titan ever killed by the Survey Corps as well as the discovery of their weak point.

The main plot concerns mostly the development, testing and then training of the 3D maneuver gear, and to a lesser extent also the anti-titan blades and the discovery of iceburst crystal as well. Perhaps of the most interest is the hidden industrial city that manufactures all the weapons and equipment seen in Attack on Titan (AoT).

Kuklo is a lot like young Eren, determined to save humanity from the fear of Titans. Maybe a little too much. He also has the enhanced strength and speed of those like Levi and Mikasa, and yet also lacks training to use his skills to their best advantage until near the end.

For better or worse, this series echoes heavily the early stages of the original manga, when they were having a tough time fighting normal Titans. Some fans really appreciated regular Titans being a fearsome presence again. Personally, I preferred the later anti-Titan strategies that they came up with later, of course those don’t exist yet in this series.

Unfortunately this series suffers from some major issues as well. I think the worst of it is the slow pacing it settles into after the initial strong start. This series really could have easily been 12-15 volumes instead of 17 without losing much at all. While it never quite got as bad as outright filler, many times I would see something take 3-5 pages that really would normally take only 1 page in a normal fast paced Shounen manga. 

I also thought having Xavi, Sharle’s brother, as the main antagonist outside of the Titans and the political enemies of the Survey Corps was… eh. It’s hard to take him seriously when he starts the series beating up Kuklo chained up in the basement and thinking he’s such a tough guy for it. Even if Kuklo was a Titan how much honor is there in beating up a chained and helpless opponent? 

That being said the most stand out character was Sharle, IMO. Once Kuklo decides to join the Survey corps, of course she doesn’t want him to join. But instead of trying to get him to change his mind, she decides to support him in any way she can. She ends up becoming an inventor’s assistant and apprentice blacksmith to help give him the best chance of survival with the best equipment and weapons possible.

All in all, I did enjoy this series, but it doesn’t really stand on its own outside of being an AoT spin-off. There was also not really much depth to it, I can’t imagine reading this series again the way I’ve enjoyed the original Attack on Titan.

Recommended: For Attack on Titan fans interested in the development and other details about the creation of the 3D maneuver gear, the early days of fighting the Titans, and etc. 

Not Recommended: TLDR; It doesn’t really stand on its own as a normal Shounen manga. Read Attack on Titan first before reading this manga, or don’t even bother with it, IMO.

Rating: PG13: a lot of moderately graphic violence and one short attempted but not graphic rape scene.