Claymore was a manga (and later anime) series set in a medieval fantasy world filled with monsters called Yoma. To combat the monstrous Yoma, an unnamed organization establishes a warrior program. These warriors, colloquially called claymores (matching the massive swords they wield), go where needed to kill Yoma. The claymore warriors are all female. Through… Read More Newman’s Nook: Living Tools
Two Similar, but Dissimilar Men Barrage was a short lived manga series from 2012 written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. The story is set in a futuristic, yet feudal world, and the first chapter introduces us to two different men of identical appearance. The first man is the titular Barrage, prince of the land and… Read More Newman’s Nook: Astro’s Family
Review Death Note is a complex series that has been written about…a few times here. For those who know nothing of the series, here’s brief summary: Shinigami or “gods of death” have journals called death notes. When a person’s name is written in the book, they die. There are more rules than that about the… Read More Manga Review: Death Note (2020 One-Shot)
Guardian of the Witch is a new Shonen Jump series from Asashi Sakano, who was previously an assistant on Black Clover and published a few other short manga stories. This series features a new fantasy setting from Sakano. Guardian of the Witch is set in a world where evil creatures surround walled city-states, each protected… Read More First Impression: Guardian of the Witch (Manga)
Mashle: Magic and Muscle is a new Shonen Jump series by Hajime Komoto that dropped this past weekend. The story begins by introducing us into a world of magic. Everyone in the world can do magic, except for Mash. The protagonists, Mash, who bears a passing resemblance to Shigeo Kageyama of Mob Psycho 100, was… Read More First Impression – Mashle: Magic & Muscle (Manga)
Review Have you ever wondered what would happen if silly, alternate versions of the Christian Messiah, Jesus, and the first Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, were living together in an apartment in modern Japan? No? Well, Saint Young Men (Seinto Oniisan) by Hikaru Nakamura attempts to answer that question anyways. The first chapter of the manga jumps… Read More Manga Review: Saint Young Men, Volume 1
This past weekend a new manga series from Yoshifumi Tozuka dropped on Shonen Jump entitled Undead Unluck. The first chapter has…a lot. The chapter begins with Fuuko Izumo about to kill herself! She is supernaturally unlucky. When people touch her skin, disaster strikes. This can be anything from a handshake to a kiss on the… Read More First Impression: Undead Unluck (Manga)
So, there I was in early December, minding my own business, when an announcement that Boys Over Flowers Season 2 was coming to an end showed up on my Twitter feed. Right before Christmas, the last chapter of a series I grew fond of would drop. There I was minding my own business, when I… Read More Newman’s Nook: Every Story Has an End
Day 12: Celebration In Chapter 242 of the My Hero Academia manga, it’s Christmas at U.A. High School! The students in the dorms all celebrate the holiday together dressed in Santa costumes. They discuss their upcoming winter break internship plans. And that’s about it. Christmas in this chapter is window dressing. The chapter is not about… Read More 12 Days of Christmas Anime (and Manga!): A Very My Hero Academia Christmas
My Hero Academia is a great series that, unlike everyone else out there, I only got into in October. A series about a world where superpowers (quirks) are widespread raises many questions, the greatest of which is “What is a hero?” To answer that, I want to talk about two heroes—All Might and Endeavor. Warning—Spoilers… Read More Newman’s Nook: The #1 Hero