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.