So it’s the end of the month, and it’s time to reflect a bit. In other words, reflecting on manga that we read this month and revealing that it was amazing. Let’s just say Justin continues to find absolutely weird manga on his reading list though and call it a day.
Basara
Justin: Despite all of the weird manga I did read this month, I pretty much knew instantly which one was going to be my undisputed favorite read, with no disrespect to all of the stuff I did read and enjoy. Basara has been one of the manga highly recommended by way too many people on the internet, and as always, I stall just long enough to eventually crumble under pressure and read it. Boy have I missed out on this one. I still haven’t finished it yet, but I’m already just wondering, as I’m up to volume 7, if Tatara Sarasa and Shuri will get together and make me angry and ruin the fact that they love each other, and yet are mortal enemies, before I even reach volume 9. Asagi, save this manga!
Helen: I’m just going to butt in and say that I haven’t read this series in forever (I believe I only found until volume 10 at my libraries) but that it is seriously amazing. It’s one of the highlights of 1990s shojo manga, an epic sized story, high stakes for all the characters, a boatload of characters who all have very fleshed out relationships with each other, and hey, it’s one of the few “enemies [who don’t know they’re enemies] turned lovers” stories that actually feels believable. Although my god, you have to see the 90s style, high cheekbones and hairstyles these characters are supporting to believe it!
Orange
Helen: I’ve finally found the time to read one of Crunchyroll’s manga that came highly recommended to me, hearing at Crunchyroll’s Katsucon Manga panel that the Japanese editors had no idea there even were English-speaking fans of the series was the final kick I needed! I’ve been reading manga for so many years that I find straight-up romances quite dull these days but this is the rare series that completely has my attention. Although, technically it’s a slice of life series first and romance second, while Nano’s budding romance with Kakeru is the main plot of the story her relationships with the rest of her friends are just as important and the manga gracefully manages to flesh them out into complicated yet believable high schoolers. Oh and the story involves just a touch of time-travel and that’s one of the story tropes that I am always a sucker for.
Master Keaton
Manjiorin: So I actually got the first volume of Master Keaton for Christmas, but my life got kind of hectic and weird and I wasn’t able to sit down and read it until this month. Most people know I will pretty much read anything with Naoki Urasawa’s name on it, but since Master Keaton isn’t as hyped as his “The Big Three” (Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto, although how much Urasawa contributed to Master Keaton story-wise is up for debate) I wasn’t expecting to love it. But I actually really, really liked it! It’s episodic, but Keaton — the insurance investigator/archaeologist/overall badass Keaton, that is — is such a warm and gentle character that it’s easily to fall into his adventures. I think the first volume does take a bit to get going though, but thankfully these look to be the “Perfect” edition of the series and thus combine multiple volumes into one. So far my favorite parts are simply glimpses of Keaton’s family life — the relationship with his daughter, the relationship with his father, etc — as those help humanize him when he goes on these outlandish adventures. I’m super glad Viz picked this up and is giving it the Signature line treatment; now if we can just get our hands on Billy Bat!
So, what’s been your favorite manga read of February? Give a shoutout in the comments!