slice of life manga

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

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*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.

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

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*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.

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Lenni Reviews: “Komi Can’t Communicate” Vol. 30, by Tomohito Oda

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

While the “competition” for Tadano’s affections ends in Komi’s favor, she still tries to make amends with Kawai in order to convert her into another one of her friends.

As I’d said, I am a little bummed that Kawai didn’t end up a non-friend but not a rival but there is an aspect of this series that tends to take something earnest and make it weird.  It was funny that Tadano was just unaware of all of this going on. But after that’s done, it goes back to Komi being her adorable and earnest self and the side characters have some interesting “screen” time as well. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Boy’s Abyss” Vol. 6, by Ryō Minenami

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

Author Esemori met Yuko – Reiji’s mother – as a teenager after he moves to the small town when his father abandoned him and his mother. They became close, implying Esemori and Reiji may have a closer connection than previously believed.

This town is a black hole for joy. Despite basically all the adults being fucking terrible, I still think Ms. Shiba is the worst but Yuko is battling for that spot. All these people are just so broken and twisted that none of them are thinking clearly or logically and are reacting poorly to their deep, DEEP trauma and passing it on to their kids. It’s so depressing. But seriously, fuck Ms. Shiba. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Love’s in Sight!” Vol. 7, by Uoyama

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

There’s been an accident at the train station where a young person with a cane was hurt. Yukiko and her friends scramble to fins out who it was, thinking it could be someone from their school. The whole incident drives Morio to learn more about what he can do to protect Yukiko.

After what is more exposition heavy discussion about train station safety, this volume returns to it’s fun slice of life tone. We have Yukiko getting a new bathing suit for summer and her sister Izumi learns her existence doesn’t revolve around being a caretaker and she can have her own life. It’s a little heavier than previous volumes but it’s still fun. 3.9 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Mr. Villain’s Day Off” Vol. 3, by Yuu Morikawa

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

This volume has fun with The General as he interacts with a stray cat and agonizes over whether or not to have ramen as a late night snack but the emotional punch of this is learning about the Rangers. I almost wish the stories were reversed; the fun stuff with The General taking place after the Rangers because the kids getting their powers and being trained is kinda sad. Cute but sad. It would have been a nice palate cleanser to have some stray cat and ramen fun after the hard truths about becoming a Ranger. I do like it, though. It shows a nice balance between the opposing forces and the series is overall still fun. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Cat + Gamer” Vol. 4, by Wataru Nadatani

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

Obayashi comes over for a visit and suggests that Riko get another cat to keep Musubi company. But has Riko leveled up enough to handle another cat and will they even get along?

This volume dives into some instructional information about how to introduce cats to each other but it’s done in a fun way. We get so much more of Musubi’s inner thoughts and with Soboro added to the cast, we have both cats in their new situation. They are funny and cute, basically everything we’ve come to expect from this series but if you were in this for the humans, they’re not as much of a focus. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Like a Butterfly” Vol. 5, by Suu Morishita

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

After a confession, Kawasumi’s crush on Suiren becomes common knowledge and while she reciprocates, Kawasumi’s next obstacle is not only his complete lack of knowledge of how dating works but meeting Suiren’s parents.

Man, as cute as our main couple is, this volume makes me so damn happy I’m not in high school anymore. Since this isn’t one of those super depressing manga, I doubt this will lean hard into any real bullying from the other students like in a lot of other stories where what you’re looking at isn’t so much bullying as several violations of the Geneva Convention… Legit torture… But, there are plenty of other ways they can make Suiren and Kawasumi’s lives harder as the couple figure this whole romance thing out. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Insomniacs After School” Vol. 5, by Makoto Ojiro

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

Despite the disappointment of the viewing party, Nakami and Isaki pivot to finding the perfect shot for the photo contest and head out with Isaki’s sister, Haya, to get some good pictures of the sky. All is going fairly well until Haya goes off with her boyfriend leaving the two of them alone.

Along with our couple just being fucking adorable, we learn more about Magari’s childhood and how Isaki’s insomnia started. They’re sadly relatable and make you hope they can find peace in the future. Other than that, it’s a relaxing read; not too much drama when Haya’s involved, which I’m glad about. I like the tone of this series and I hope it doesn’t change into something either too angsty, too overblown with drama, or too dark. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Boy’s Abyss” Vol. 5, by Ryō Minenami

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

Ms. Shiba starts meddling with Reiji and Chako’s friendship as well as pulling some real conniving shit with Reiji’s mother.

This is absolutely miserable. That’s the best way to describe this series. The adults are all terrible, Reiji and Chako deserve better, and Ms. Shiba should go under the jail. I guess it’s a good thing I feel so viscerally disgruntled since the story and writing is doing it’s job but I’m starting to wonder if I want to stick with this series because it makes me so mad. I hope things turn around soon. 4 out of 5.

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