slice of life manga

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Lenni Reviews: “The Concierge At Hokkyoku Department Store” Vol. 1, by Tsuchika Nishimura

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Akino is starting her new job at the Hokkyoku Department Store, where some of the guests are animals. Since each animal is so different, Akino must navigate their unique needs and wants.

While personally having someone constantly trying to help me in a store is a fucking nightmare (just let me get my stuff and leave with as little human interaction as possible) this comic is a cozy read with low stakes and an earnest main character. She reminds me of Suma from “Dinosaur Sanctuary” with how hard she’s trying and how much doing a good job means to her. How Akino solves each issue can mean some mild info-dump situations talking about the animal species in detail, but these parts aren’t too long and do factor into how events play out. 3.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Cat + Gamer” Volume 7 , by Wataru Nadatani

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As her office experiments with remote work, Riko is dealing with the challenge of trying to get things done while dealing with two energetic cats.

While it is still cute that Riko likens gaming to learning about her cats, I am also loving how wide her gaming interests are. She plays EVERYTHING. Mobile, RPG, shooters, slots, rhythm; it’s so cool! I wish I had time for that. I don’t even wanna think about how many games I own that I don’t have time to play. Of course, the cats are adorable as usual, getting into all kinds of trouble. Plus my own cat rubbed her face all over this book, so it’s clearly great. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Hirayasumi” Vol. 4, by Keigo Shinzō

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

With Christmas on the way, Natsumi wants to throw a party, but drama ensues when Yamada brings others from their art school. Meanwhile, Yomogi has to deal with sexism at work and continues to run into Hiroto.

What I really love about this is how, whenever something comes along to harsh the good vibe, it’s dealt with quickly. A girl in Natsumi’s class starts to give her shit for drawing manga? She gets called out right away. Hiroto needs to knuckle down and work harder to get the funds for a repair? He does so with his usual positive attitude. The light tone is welcome. I’m also curious about Yomogi and her budding relationship. They’re so awkward, it’s adorable. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Komi Can’t Communicate” Vol. 33, by Tomohito Oda

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Tadano is encouraging Komi to try more things, so she tries winning the sports festival and becoming class president. Meanwhile, Manbagi is still grappling with a response for the boy who confessed to her.

The story of Komi befriending the nice older lady, Tazumi Michita, was absolutely adorable. It’s great to include other than teenagers in her possible friendships. It’s also good to see Komi branching out to things that don’t include Tadano. No offense to that precious bean but sometimes when a couple gets together in stories liked this, the individual characters vanish and it’s just all about their relationship. I became invested not just for them, but to see Komi blossom into her own person and reach her goal of making friends. The sports day stuff did feel like it ran a little long, though. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Cat + Gamer” Vol. 5, by Wataru Nadatani

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

In this volume, Riko:

  • Tries out an automatic cat feeder
  • Has a photo of her cats go viral
  • The cats destroy the toilet paper
  • Learns what “chattering” is
  • Has her cats racing around just like in one of her games
  • Forgets her birthday because of a game release
  • Deals with heavy shedding

There are of course fun antics in this volume but the one thing that stood out to me is when Riko realizes it’s her 30th birthday. There’s no freakout, no meltdown about not being married yet or having kids; it just adds to the enjoyment of her new game and she’s fine! She spent her birthday exactly how she’d enjoy it the most and that’s so damn wholesome. Riko is just precious and her adventures with her pets are fun and calming to read. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 10, by Umi Sakurai

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Teruaki and Fuyuki go to rescue a cat from the abandoned apartment of a hoarder. While they end up holding on to the cat and try their best to get it not to fight with Fukumaru, Teruaki tries to connect with what made him love playing piano.

The little crying cats shouldn’t tug at my heart so much but damn if my eyes weren’t watering at their little faces. The impact of the hoarding on the cat trapped in it broke my heart and while not as dawwww worthy, the human drama is entertaining as well. All these guys are so passionate about music but the source of all their pain around it seems to come from making it a job and being in fierce competition. It looks like them being around all the adorable cats with simple desires reminds these guys to be more chill about it. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “My Kitten is a Picky Eater” Vol. 1, by Migiri Miki

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Mano Taiyo finds a kitten in the snow and decides to adopt him. However, due to the kitten’s fear of certain foods, Taiyo struggles to find something little Yuki will eat.

Similar to Cat + Gamer, our main character finds themselves suddenly a pet owner and has to learn how to take care of it. Here, Taiyo seems like he wasn’t taking the best care of himself before he adopted Yuki. He learned how to cook for himself by trying out different foods to feed the kitten and only cleaned up his apartment so Yuki would have a better place to live. It’s about both the man and the kitten learning to care about things again and it’s really sweet. The art style is light and handles soft and emotional moments really well. A perfect light read for pet lovers. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Hirayasumi” Vol. 3, by Keigo Shinzō

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

After Natsumi’s manga wins an award, she goes to meet with an editor for a publishing company. Yomogi has a particularly picky client looking for an apartment who she runs into outside of work and Hideki comes to visit with his wife, Saki, and their baby.

As the cast grows a bit more, we have some delightful introspection that doesn’t come off as pretentious. These are real thoughts a person may have about life, love, their job, their future… All very natural and relatable. And there’s a series of fart jokes that are funnier than they have any right to be. What worries me about this series is if Hiroto will eventually be forced to lose his chill or become a “regular” person and lose that go with the flow lightness he exudes. I don’t want him to get a reality check. I want him to enjoy his life. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “The Way of the Househusband” Vol. 13, by Kousuke Oono

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

In this volume, our favorite househusband:

  • Deals with a wild boar in town
  • Has a nice late-night snack with his wife
  • Goes ice skating
  • Plays shogi with a kid named An
  • Deals with seasonal allergies
  • Helps search for a lost person
  • Has an encounter with a recently released gang member
  • Wife goes through his books to see what he reads
  • Goes camping
  • Makes pancakes

All the typical humor I’ve come to expect from this series is here and it’s so much fun. I’m also loving the side plot of crafty yakuza wanting to defeat Tatsu using their woodworking, sewing, and pottery skills. I can’t get enough of all this intensity put towards mundane tasks which I thought might get old 13 volumes in but it still gets a chuckle out of me. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Insomniacs After School” Vol. 8, by Makoto Ojiro

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

After the festival, Magari picks up her late-night radio streams again, confessing about the health issues she’s been dealing with most of her life. The previous astronomy club member, Shiromaru, gets more involved in helping Magari and Nakami start nighttime observations for the new club.

Kurashiki Sensei is so deadpan, I love it. Most of this is Magari and Nakami spending a supervised overnight at school for some stargazing but a storm blocks the skies. It’s very sweet and good to see them happy together doing what they love. It’s just a pure moment. We still don’t know what seems to be the deeper issue with Shiomaru, who clearly had more going on with the previous astronomy club that she’s still hiding. I doubt it will be very heavy or dark since that would be a major departure from the tone of this series so far. I honestly hope Magari having a heart condition is as dark as this series gets. 4 out of 5.

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