Review: THE ECCENTRIC DOCTOR OF THE MOON FLOWER KINGDOM

 It was inevitable that the success of The Apothecary Diaries would spawn imitators.  Those imitators can be enjoyable in their own right, but this book can't help but make me wish I was just reading about MaoMao instead.

THE ECCENTRIC DOCTOR OF THE MOON FLOWER KINGDOM (Gekkakoku Kaiden), by Tohru Himuka.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Trouble is afoot in the capital of the Moon Flower Kingdom.  The head consort wants to clear the way for her own son, even if that means killing the crown prince Keiun.  His guard is injured during their escape, and this is what ultimately leads him to the small-town doctor Koyou.  Her pretty face and ditzy ways bely her talent for practical treatments and medicine-making.  Keiun takes it upon himself to bring her and her assistant to the palace to ply her trade, even if it means facing all the machinations of the royal court.

Review: SAKURA'S DEDICATION

April showers are bringing us a month of manga with flowery titles.  It's also the season for sakura blossoms, so naturally we should start with a schoolroom romance featuring a Sakura.

SAKURA'S DEDICATION (Sakura wa Watashi o Sukisugiru), by Fuyu Yukimiya.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Sawa's just broke up with her boyfriend for cheating on her.  Her classmate Sakura confesses to her almost immediately upon hearing this, but she turns him down because he's just not her type.  He's not deterred, though, and soon Sawa begins to understand that maybe what she needs isn't someone who is 'her type,' but instead someone loyal, honest, and true.

Review: VAMPIRE DORMITORY

 Don't think that I'm going to leave the ladies out of this month, though.  There's a long tradition of girls posing as boys in shojo manga and this...is not the best example of that.

VAMPIRE DORMITORY (Vanpaia Domitori), by Ema Toyama.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Mito Yamamoto just can't catch a break.  Her parents are dead, she's been kicked out of school, and now just lost her job.  She's been posing as a man to protect herself, but if anything that just brings her nothing but unwanted attention from girls and women.  It's enough to drive her to attempt suicide...until Ruka came along.  

It's been a decade since Ruka felt the urge to feed on a human, but he can't seem to keep himself away from this mysterious boy.  He makes Mito an offer they cannot refuse: to become his thrall.  Mito will be enrolled in his fancy vampire high school, stay in his lavish dorm, and work alongside him at a butler cafe.  In return, Mito will allow Ruka to drink his blood and accept whatever care and affection he can offer (since it will make Mito's blood even sweeter).  Mito's fine with all of that, but how is she going to keep her true gender under wraps in a school full of handsome bloodsuckers?

Review: YUBISAKI MILK TEA

Puberty is a time when a lot of people (be they real or fictional) explore their gender presentation.  This particular manga is not the best representation of it, though.

YUBISAKI MILK TEA (Yubisaki Miruku Ti), by Tomochaka Miyano.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

Yoshinori isn't entirely sure what to do.  First, his childhood friend Hikari starting acting weirdly around him.  Then he finds himself drawn to his brainy classmate Kurokawa.  When Kurokawa starts tutoring him, jealousies flare and Yoshinari has to come to terms with himself, his friends, and his fondness for cross-dressing even as growing up makes all of these things more complicated.

Review: THIGH HIGH: REIWA HANAMARU ACADEMY

This month we'll be looking at some the ways that manga plays with flipping sexes and genders.  Since March is also the time for the start of the new school year in Japan, this series seems doubly suitable to kick things off.

THIGH HIGH: REIWA HANAMARU ACADEMY (Reiwa Hanamaru Gakuen), by Kotobuki.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Hanamaru High School is a place where handsome young men can enjoy their free and youthful days.  Alas, this is not the case for the uptight, prudish, and socially awkward class representative Kiritani.  Thankfully his friend Harumi is there to help him get over his hang-ups and maybe even help out some of the other lovely boys with their own problems.

Review: HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE

It takes a lot of talent to write a BL comedy about two messy dudes trying to fix their respective lives and make it work, and this manga is the proof of just such a talent.

HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE (Happi Kuso Raifu), by Harada.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Kasuya had it all: a powerful, high-paying job, an engagement to his boss's daughter, and all the benefits of big-city nightlife.  Thanks to a sex scandal, he was shipped out alone to the countryside, left to stagnate in a small town full of gossipy old men and Kuzuya, a jobless, horny mess of a man.  

When a visit to the local bar leads to Kasuya's big secret going public, Kasuya realizes he can't go back to his old life.  Furthermore, Kuzuya is more than happy to indulge Kasuya's love of butt stuff since he can't get laid either.  That one terrible, drunken night might be the beginning of something beautiful for them both...if they can just figure out how to tolerate one another first.

Review: PETER GRILL AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S TIME

It's so hard (pun not intended) to find a good sex comedy manga, and crap like this isn't helping things.

PETER GRILL AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S TIME (Pita Guriru to Kenja no Jikan), by Daisuke Hiyama.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT:

Peter Grill has proven himself to be the strongest warrior in the land.  He hopes that this amazing feat will finally allow him to marry his beloved but deeply sheltered girlfriend Luvellia, but things get complicated when he's cornered by the ditzy but determined ogre sisters Mimi and Lisa.  They want him to impregnate them both with the strongest warriors, and they're not above using both blackmail and Peter's own weak will against him.

Now Peter is caught in the midst of his hardest battle yet, as he tries to hide his affairs from Luvellia (and her extremely strict father/guild master) all while fending off a growing harem of demi-human ladies demanding his seed in increasingly outrageous ways.

Review: TO SIR, WITHOUT LOVE: I'M DIVORCING YOU

 February means another round of Bad Romance manga here at the Manga Test Drive, and it's only fitting to start with a romance that begins with a demand for divorce.

TO SIR, WITHOUT LOVE: I'M DIVORCING YOU (Haikei Mishiranu Danna-sama, Rikonshite Itdakimasu), based on the light novels by Kori Hisakawa and character designs by Airumu, with art by Iroto Tsumugi.  First published in 2023 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

The last thing Byletta wanted was marriage.  Unfortunately she does not get a choice in the matter, as her father has married her off to a promising military officer named Arnald Swangen.  No sooner is she brought to her husband's household than he departs for war.  That's no problem for Byletta, as it gives her plenty of time to focus on setting up her own dress shop, winning over her younger sister-in-law, and reforming her drunken, wayward father-in-law.  In return she has only one condition: when the war ends, she wants a divorce.

Eight years later, the war is over and the first letter Arnald receives is Byletta's divorce ultimatum.  He has no desire to let her go and she has no desire to stay, so the two make a wager: he will grant her a divorce...if he cannot manage to impregnate her within a month's time.

Review: GATE KEEPERS

Of course, for every successful sci-fi manga there are far more that fail to find an audience outside of Japan and this is just one of them.

GATE KEEPERS (Geto Kipazu), based on an original story by Hiroshi Yamaguchi with art by Keiji Goto.  First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2003.

PLOT:

It is 1969, and Shun Ukiya is hoping just to make a good impression on his first day of high school.  On his way there he is waylaid by a strange man with a suitcase machine gun.  Shun escapes with the help of a girl in a mask named Ruriko and by producing an equally strange power from his own hands.  No sooner is Shun saved than he is swept up by AEGIS, a secret organization using his school as a front while protecting the world from alien invaders.  He is immediately declared captain of the "Gate Keepers," which just so happens to be a team of cute and quirky high-school girls ready to fight back against alien invaders and the human traitor worki
ng with them.

Review: SUIHELIBE!

 This one is a decidedly more lighthearted take on sci-fi, dug up from the dregs of the CMX library.

SUIHELIBE! (Suieribe!), by Naomi Azuma.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2008.

PLOT:

Tetsu just wanted to join a club, but when he pokes his head into the biology club's classroom, he finds a cute girl climbing out of a crashed UFO.  This is Lan from the planet Noid, who needs to capture a variety of escaped alien lifeforms so she can graduate.  The student council are all too ready to shut down the biology club due to its lack of members, so it's up to Tetsu and Lan to convince others to join them all while capturing more alien creatures and trying (and failing) to keep Lan's identity a secret.

Review: PLANETES

 This month we're reviewing science-fiction manga, and you'd be hard-pressed to find one that's more "hard" sci-fi than this one.

PLANETES (Puranetesu), by Makoto Yurikuma.  First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2003.

PLOT:

In 2074, humanity has finally ventured beyond Earth, thanks in no small part to the discovery of practical nuclear fusion and the beds of helium-3 needed to fuel it.  One of the side effects of all the increased space travel is an increase in space junk orbiting around Earth itself, where every piece is a potential threat to every ship and satellite that passes by.  It's up to lowly junk collectors like Hachi, Fee, and Yuki to collect this low-orbit garbage while dealing with the highs and lows of their everyday lives.

2025 In the Rear View Mirror

 First of all, it's time to announce this year's Holiday Review Giveaway winner! gimmickpunk decided to revisit a shonen classic this year, one that's near and dear to my own heart:

Tis the season! I finally started reading the FMA manga this year and I’m loving it as much as I did both shows way back when.

Congratulations!  To claim your prize, just reach to us via DM to our Bluesky account with a viable email address so we can get your Bookshop.org gift certificate to you in time for some New Year's shopping.

Holiday Review #25: STOP!! HIBARI-KUN

 With so many long-shot older manga releases coming out this year from so many different publishers, it was legitimately hard to pick one to close out this year's Holiday Reviews.  This one was special though, not just because of its place in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump but its place in the history of queer representation in manga, and that's absolutely something worth celebrating this Christmas.

STOP!! HIBARI-KUN (Sutoppu!! Hibari-Kun), by Hisashi Eguichi.  First published in 1981 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

After Kohsaku's mother dies, he's taken in by Ibari Ozora, a Tokyo-area Yakuza boss.  It's not long after he steps into their home that he meets the beautiful, charming Hibari.  Hibari is trans, much to the despair of her father, her elder sisters, and Kohsaku.  Hibari's not bothered, though, as she's both strong and clever enough to evade her father's attempts to make her more manly, the attempts of the local mean girls to take her down a peg, and keeping Kohsaku from chasing the cute girl managing the school boxing club.

Holiday Review #24: CAT'S EYE

This year also brought us quite a few older manga titles from some surprising sources.  Kana took advantage of their French heritage and that country's long-standing love of Tsukasa Hojo to not only put out City Hunter again but publish Hojo's other hit series from the 1980s in English for the first time.

CAT'S EYE (Kyattsu Ai), by Tsukasa Hojo.  First published in 1981 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

By day, Rui, Hitomi, and Ai are the beautiful proprietors of the Cat's Eye cafe.  By night, the Kisugi sisters become Tokyo's most notorious art thieves, using all their skills to capture priceless paintings and jewels in the hopes of finding a lead on their long-missing father.  The only clue they ever leave is a calling card, much to the consternation of lead detective Toshio.  He would never guess that the answer to all his problems lies within his favorite hang-out spot or that his high-school sweetheart Hitomi is using him for insider info on their heists.

Holiday Review #23: KINGDOM

 They say Christmas is a time of miracles, and there certainly were a lot of manga license miracles happening this year, including this long-requested shonen title.

KINGDOM (Kingudamu), by Yasuhisa Hara.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

Over 2000 years ago, the land that would become eastern China is divided between many different warring kingdoms.  Far away from all that is Xin and Piao, two young orphans in the countryside forced to slave away for the town leader.  They sneak away to practice fighting whenever possible in the hopes of become great generals.  Their sparring attracts the attention of a passing lord, who buys Piao's freedom and offers to train him at the royal court. 

 Not long thereafter, there is a revolt at court by the emperor's younger brother and Piao is slain in the process.  With his dying words, he sets Xin on a mission of vengeance and a fateful meeting with the young king of Qin himself.

Holiday Review #22: A VAMPIRE IN THE BATHHOUSE

 Of course, it's also fun to take figures of horror and put them into wacky situations for the sake of comedy.  For example, you could have...

A VAMPIRE IN THE BATHHOUSE (Sento to Vampire), by Niko Izuki.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

Luka Edelmondt Finsternis might be a regal, dashing vampire, but sometimes he gets curious about the human world and needs healing that his mage-in-training cannot provide.  His curiosity leads him the bathhouse run by Sakura Amamitsutsuki, who needs some extra help running his father's place.  Thus, Luka makes a deal: he will work for Sakura in return for free use of the baths...and a bit of blood now and then.

Holiday Review #21: MANSECT

 With so many horrors happening in the real world, it's almost a relief to turn to one of Living the Line's latest horror manga releases and enjoy a tale of supernatural terror on its 50th anniversary.

MANSECT (Yochu), by Koga Shinichi.  First published in 1975 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

After the loss of his mother, Hideo holed up in their empty house and filled it with insects.  His body soon undergoes a strange insect-like transformation, as silk spurts from his body to form a cocoon.  His transformation is interrupted before it is complete, leaving him a monstrous creature that is neither fully human nor fully insect.  He takes to lurking in the woods and the edge of town, seeking out other disaffected men who begin to undergo their own bizarre transformations.

Holiday Review #20: YOU CAN'T BLUFF THE SHARP-EYED SISTER

 These last few years have been great one for Natsu Hyuuga, mostly due to the incredible success of The Apothecary Diaries.  This year we started to get some of the manga adaptations of other works she's written, so naturally I had to check this one out myself.

YOU CAN'T BLUFF THE SHARP-EYED SISTER (Seijo ni Uso wa Tsujinai), based on the light novels by Natsu Hyuuga and character designs by Chiho Shinishi, with art by Yo Asami.  First published in 2023 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

In the land of Mythos, select young women are born with powers known as "charisms" that grant them great beauty and supernatural powers.  Chloe is a novice at the church with an eye for money and a knack for gambling, so much so that handsome, noble young paladin named Erald believes she possess a charism.  Chloe is skeptical of both him and his claim.  She has no magical gift - she's just good at observing others!  Regardless, Erald needs a woman of her skills for a very specific purpose: to investigate a murder.

Holiday Review #19: NEIGHBORHOOD CRAFTSMEN - STORIES FROM KANDA'S GOKURA-CHOU

 Now this is more of what I was looking for!  This is the sort of hyper-focused historical story that you could only ever get from manga (even if it's almost certain to never top the sales charts).

NEIGHBORHOOD CRAFTSMEN: STORIES FROM KANDA'S GOKURA-CHOU (Kanda Gokura-cho Shokunin-Banashi), by Akihito Sakaue.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

Centuries ago, back when Tokyo was still Edo, everyday craftspeople worked diligently on their wares.  It didn't matter if it was something as humble as a wooden tub or a plaster wall or as prestigious as a samurai's sword - they all understood the properties of the materials they worked with and the value of their skills, and their role in the everyday functions of the city.

Holiday Review #18: WASH IT ALL AWAY

Ok, after all that horny nonsense we need a palate cleanser of a manga.  I thought this next book would be ideal for that purpose but after reading it I'm not entirely sure...

WASH IT ALL AWAY (Kirei ni Shite Moraemasu ka), by Mitsuru Hattori.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

Wakame Kinme runs a small laundry shop in the seaside town of Atami.  The locals love her because of the care she puts into each order, whether it's the smallest repairs or her willingness to do deliveries.  You'd never guess that such a kind and happy young woman was suffering from amnesia, unable to remember anything prior to two years ago.