Review: BTOOOM!

Remember the old days, when getting sucked into a video game was all the rage in video games?  This manga certainly does.

BTOOOM!, by Junya Inoue.  First published in 2009 and first published in North America in 2013.

PLOT:

Ryouta Sakamoto has big dreams.  Sure, he might be unemployed right now, but surely his prowess at online games and occasional gig as a beta tester will lead him to the career of his dreams!   His skills are put to the ultimate test when he wakes up one day in a real-world version of his favorite game.  Ryouta is now stranded on a strange island with a light implanted in his hand and a handful of supplies, and his only imperative is to survive.

Review: MY ANDROGYNOUS BOYFRIEND

The constant cry of the modern josei manga fan is "where's all the new josei titles?"  They are out there, but like today's review a lot of them tend to fly under the radar.

MY ANDROGYNOUS BOYFRIEND (Genderless Danshi ni Aisareteimasu), by Tamekou.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT:

Wako is a hard-working editor at a publishing company.  Her long-time boyfriend Meguru is increasingly demand as an influencer and model thanks to his colorful, androgynous style.  Together the two endure a lot of the challenges of living together, working long hours, and people making assumptions about their orientations.

Review: MUSASHI #9

We could always use more action-oriented heroines in shojo manga...maybe just not like this particular one.

MUSASHI #9 (Kyuban no Musashi), by Miyuki Takahashi.  First published in 1996 and first published in North America in 2004.

PLOT:

There is a secret organization known as Ultimate Blue that dedicated to preserving world peace.  They are a force of only nine members, but each member is like an army onto themselves.   Their most notorious agent is #9, nicknamed Musashi.  No matter whether she is saving kidnapped teens from terrorists, Russian refugees from Middle Eastern conspirators, or the President of Russia himself, Musashi can save the day and slip back into the crowd, leaving nothing but admiration and rumors in her wake.

Review: FROM THE NEW WORLD

In their time, Vertical Comics had a passionate fanbase of readers who considered the company to have better-than-average taste in licenses.  This is one of the few critical duds they ever released. 

FROM THE NEW WORLD (Shin Sekai Yori), based on the light novel series by Yusuke Kishi with art by Toru Oikawa.  First published in 2012 and first published in North America in 2013.

PLOT:

In a Japan far removed from the one we know today, Saki and her six friends are enjoying their time together as they study to enter magic school.  Their friend Reiko struggles the hardest to get in, so much so that her friends secretly start practicing their magic with her after school in defiance of the rules.  She disappears one day, but Saki and pals have no time to linger on this.  They all decide to take a camping trip beyond the school's boundaries, where they discover both changing feelings and dark dangers they had not imagined.

Review: STRAVAGANZA

Good news!  I found a fantasy manga to review this month that isn't an isekai light novel adaptation!  The bad news?  Well...

STRAVAGANZA (Sutoravugantsu: Isai no hime), by Akihito Tomo.  First published in 2012 and first published in North America in 2019.

PLOT:

The young and beautiful Queen Vivian rules over the tiny, peaceful realm of Miteria from behind her majestic iron helmet...that is, when she's not sneaking out of the castle, posing as the commoner "Claria," and getting into all sorts of trouble.  Her youthful hijinks come to an end when her kingdom is invaded by the umbra, a race of monstrous, murderous apes.  Vivian now must lead the survivors to a nearby kingdom of giants in the hopes that they can find shelter and the assistance she needs to reclaim her land.