slice of life manga

atthequillsmercy

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

(Image Source)

*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.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

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

(Image Source)

*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.

Follow me on BlogLovn.

atthequillsmercy

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

(Image Source)

*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.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “Like a Butterfly” Vol. 10, by Suu Morishita

214151532

(Image Source)

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

Suiren wants to be more courageous in her relationship with Kawasumi but she gets advice from Atohira who realizes he has feelings for her too and this gets in the way of their friendship.

Even though this series is supposed to be about Suiren and Kawasumi, the latter’s friendship/rivalry with Atohira is interesting. I genuinely want them to work things out and be friends again. And it’s not Suiren deliberately coming between them. She’s way too much of a cinnamon roll to be like that. It’s Atohira kinda reacting to the fact things have changed. It’s not just about the two of them anymore; now Kawasumi has Suiren taking up some of his time. I still feel like I know Atohira more then Suiren but progress has been made. 3.4 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “Komi Can’t Communicate” Vol. 32, by Tomohito Oda

51GMFWYoU3L._SY445_SX342_PQ1_

(Image Source)

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

Waka finally confesses to Manbagi, Ogiya teaches Komi tea ceremony, and Tadano and Komi struggle to have more time together that isn’t school or studying.

This volume is very episodic exploring a wide range of characters and situations. It’s fun, amusing, and reads really fast. With such a collection, I realized just how wacky a lot of these kids are more than normal. You kinda forget when Komi and Tadano are the focus when one of them has a creepy obsession with Komi and another wants to be a baby and will not remove the pacifier from his mouth. Absolutely wild. Oh, and Komi is now up to 80 friends! 4 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “Insomniacs After School” Vol. 7, by Makoto Ojiro

207298790

(Image Source)

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

The consequences of Magari disobeying her parents come when they ban her from seeing Nakami outside of school. With their relationship a secret and Magari grounded, the future of the astronomy club is in jeopardy.

Yup, the parents were as thrilled about that little excursion as I thought they would be. The kids seem to take it in stride and are focused on their fledgling club and taking any opportunity to promote it. Not much progress is made towards that and I wish we had more emphasis on Nakami’s photo; the photo taken on the trip that cause all this drama in the first place. It’s just kinda dropped in exposition and I’d hoped to see more about that contest. 3.8 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “I Wanna Do Bad Things with You” Vol. 1, by Yutaka

(Image Source)

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

Mamori has always felt ignored and weak and her classmates judge her for being so tall. Her classmate, Fuji, is jealous of his perfect older brother. When they meet, they not only find a kindred spirit but decide to stir up some trouble to get back at those who ignore and underestimate them.

This is a cute start to the series with our two misfits deciding to be misfits together. Mamori is relatable and adorable and Fuji has some depths to be explored in the future. His older brother seems sus (a LOT sus, actually) but we’ll see what’s done with his character. I do hope Fuji doesn’t get too manipulative with Mamori because she’s a total pushover. 3.5 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “The Way of the Househusband” Vol. 12, by Kousuke Oono

200094053(Image Source)

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

In this volume, Tatsu participates in a baseball game against some window breaking kids, helps his friend Masa with his food tasting videos, visits a new food cart with some very odd food combinations, takes a traffic safety class, and deals with some Halloween trick or treaters.

The stories are rapid fire in this and feel shorter than in previous volumes but they’re still funny and clever so, I’ll take it. Better to keep it pithy and entertaining than try to pad things out and get boring. I still would like more backstory on Tatsu, though. 4 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “Hirayasumi” Vol. 2, by Keigo Shinzō

199798635

(Image Source)

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

Hiroto and his cousin, Natsumi, start their summer, the tightly wound real estate agent in charge of Hiroto’s property, Yomogi, insists on doing repairs herself. Hiroto’s friend, Hideki, is nervous about his impending fatherhood and Nastumi gets a job; gaining more confidence; especially when it comes to her judgmental classmates.

Yomogi does a lot for just a real estate agent. Maybe it’s different in Japan but, I’d expect a repair service to handle repairs and not a real estate agent? I dunno. It seemed like extra stress for an already stressed out person. Other than that, I’m glad out little cast is rounding out. A bit of a spoiler but we get some insight into Hiroto’s past where he wasn’t so happy go lucky and his family and friends do their best to keep up his chill attitude. This volume of slice of life has some slow moments but, I really like it. 4 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “Hirayasumi” Vol. 1, by Keigo Shinzō

199525652

(Image Source)

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

Hiroto Ikuta works part time, has never fallen in love, and spends most of his free time with his elderly neighbor, Hanae Wada and develops a close relationship with her. They are such good friends, Hanae leaves Hiroto her home when she passes away. Since he lives alone, his cousin, Natsumi, comes to live with him while she attends art school.

Hiroto’s chill attitude towards life is refreshing rather than coming off at lazy. In fact, he’s quite diligent about his job and housework, he just doesn’t stress over every little thing. He has a positive influence on his cousin and obviously impacted Hanae deeply enough for the woman to leave her home to him. It’s  nice slice of life manga with nice vibes and some touching moments. 4 out of 5.

Follow me on BlogLovin.