Manga

Finished Telework Yotabanashi. I read some of the other works by this author and this one is just as good. Art is great and the characters are enticing. Highly recommend this one.

Started reading Apothecary Diaries. It’s better and very different than what I expected. The setting is ancient China, in the imperial palace. The protagonist is an apothecary but the manga is only partially about medicine. The art is top notch. The stories are interesting. It’s a mix between drama, romcom, and mystery. Highly recommend to those who like any of those genres.

Finished Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku yesterday. Good thing is is that its still being published, sad thing is I have to wait for the next chapter to release (don't know if it's weekly, monthly, or bimonthly).

It's a typical high school, Romeo and Juliette-esque romance story. Very lovey dovey. Very cute. Couldn't stop myself from smiling while reading. A girl, Kaoruko, first befriends the MC, Rintaro. But both of them come from two different school which hate each other. So, they have to keep their friendship quiet from others. Their friendship and later romance would be challenged throughout the story. The story also covers the impact of the MC's friends and family and how they have changed him for the better.

I recommend the manga for anyone into romance manga but want something more than just the romance between the two MCs.

I've been reading Shoukoku no Altair. I started it years and years ago and just never finished it. I forgot how much I loved the art style. Also, still plugging along a very slow going One Piece re-read, meant to have caught up by now but I only just finished Enies Lobby.

Witch Hat Atelier and I recently caught up to Heavenly Delusion after I finished the first season of the anime and couldn’t resist reading the manga

just completed the official English translation of Kaguya-Sama: Love is War this morning... which to my despair, only goes up through Vol. 26 (out of 28)! so, um, if anyone knows of quality fan translations for the last two volumes... you'd make my day.

I've recently caught up to Killing Bytes and Murcielago. Great fun. Especially Murcielago. Also, this is not manga, but I've been catching up on my Spice and Wolf light novels that have been sitting on my shelves for years. For some reason, I had't continued volume 8, but now I'm finally continuing. Currently on volume 10.

I have been working through a bit of a backlog of series I have let accumulate before diving into new stuff. Because of this I have read a bunch of series in the past fortnight, but wanted to highlight just a couple. In no particular order:

• Tsuyokute New Saga: This series just had its final chapter posted, so I thought it was a good chance to pick it back up again and see how it ended. Overall, the ending felt extremely rushed. Through the first half or so of this story I thought it had a lot of potential, but it never really seemed to pay off in my opinion. I especially was surprised how poorly the final boss character was handled.

  Spoilers for the end of the story

  The final boss character that is trying to become the new Demon Lord, referred to as Black Wings, was basically a brand new character that is essentially an infant? IDK, it was weird. I was expecting Black Wings to be an alternate version of Kail that had time travelled again and instigated the war. The final aim of the war would have been to create a world in which there is relative peace between humans and what is left of the Demons because they allied together to defeat the common foe of Black Wings Kail. This would also explain the sympathy that other characters showed Black Wings because he would have been suffering while inflicted untold hardships on people he knows during the war.

• Saikyou Juzoku Tensei: Cheat Majutsushi no Slow Life: I had read the WN for this story a while back and enjoyed it but had left the manga sit in Tachiyomi unread all this time. I sat down one night this past week and blew through the chapters that are out (which are not many). The series is marked on MangaDex as on hiatus, so I don't know when or if I should expect any future updates to the manga, but what was there was pretty faithful to the story and I definitely liked how they treated some of the characters, Gizel in particular. If the premise sounds interesting to you, check out the WN as it is complete and reaches a pretty satisfying end.

• Maou ni Natta node, Dungeon Tsukutte Jingai Musume to Honobono suru: Another isekai entry to the list and another story that I originally had read most of the WN prior to picking up the manga. Overall, I liked the manga adaptation, but it felt a bit bland compared to the written version. It is one of my favorite WNs, but the art hasn't really elevated it. I will probably keep up with it since it has some really nice moments, but I am probably going to let this one pile up a bit before bingeing a batch of chapters.

• Shinryaku! Ika Musume: I picked this one up after I previously professed my love for the series Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu and @IdleSheep@lemmy.blahaj.zone pointed out that I should check out the author's previous work, bringing me to Ika Musume. I have been really enjoying the series so far. The art and SOL comedy feels very similar in both works. So, if you are a fan of one, then definitely check out the other!

• (NSFW) Tsugumomo: I had let a bit of a backlog of this series build up, so I thought I would knock that out to catch up. It seems as though I picked a good time since the most recent chapter more or less wraps up a bit of a story arc and the new powers feel earned (plus it's nice to see Kazuya having fun in combat).

• Ore no Ie ga Maryoku Spot datta Ken – Sundeiru dake de Sekai Saikyou: This is a chill isekai in the same vein as Isekai Nonbiri Nouka no Nichijou which recently had an anime adaptation. This is yet another series in which I first came across the WN and then picked up the manga. The manga has done a good job of capturing the laid-back tone of this story. There is never any real danger and problems are resolved trivially easily since the MC is so OP, but that is kind of the whole point of this type of story. The manga is most of the way through the WN at this point, just 1-2 more arcs to go if my memory serves. The WN just kind of ends unceremoniously, so I will be curious to see if they modify the end of the story in any way for the manga adaptation to wrap it up in a nice bow.

Caught up to SSS-Class Suicide Hunter after hearing about it in OI subreddit. I don't really like tower/hunter manhwa, even dropped Solo Leveling back in the day despite phenomenal art because the story was just too repetitive. Anyway, SSS-Class Suicide Hunter. It's awesome. The tower is used more like a scene to tell different stories in different genres. MC starts pretty unlikable, barely better than people he has revenge boner on for. But, over time, he starts getting better, not as in grows on you, but as in becomes a better human being. For the other characters, I liked Sword Emperor because he combines being a comedic relief and being a wise mentor who cares about his student so well.