Kodansha Comics has recently begun reissuing one of my favourite manga, which has long been out of print—Battle Angel Alita. It's been long enough since I last picked an issue up to make this something of a rediscovery for me, especially with regard to Yukito Kishiro's art, which feels almost expressionistic in its starkness and… Continue reading Bodies in Battle Angel Alita
In the isekai manga series, Final Fantasy Lost Stranger, Yoko and Shogo Sasaki are siblings who loved Final Fantasy games as kids. They pledged to one another early in life that together they would get jobs at Square-Enix and create their own Final Fantasy game. Now as adults, they seem to be living their dream as… Continue reading Newman’s Nook: Lost Stranger Martyr
I stumbled upon A Silent Voice when I was at my local library in the manga section. What piqued my interest was seeing that it was a story about living with a disability, something I seldom find in Japanese fiction. A story that isn’t about trying to get senpai to notice you, but instead the… Continue reading A Silent Voice and the Value of Human Life
Donyatsu is an interesting manga (and short-form anime series) about a post-apocalyptic world setting where, so far, the only survivors are animals who's bodies are also pastries. And mice. The main character is a donut shaped cat named Donytatsu. Seems fitting. After a strange attack by other-worldly beings, Donyatsu gets lost from his pastry animal… Continue reading Newman’s Nook: Donyatsu’s Prayer and Questions
Naoki Urasawa's horror/thriller manga, Monster, begins as if it's going to be a medical drama. Dr. Tenma, a talented young surgeon, is working at the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Western Berlin during the mid-80's. His experiences there are dispiriting, as he finds that the hospital administration takes a mercenary attitude towards the profession, showing favoritism… Continue reading The Good, the Bad and the Monstrous
Recently, I gave the Read or Die manga a chance. The OVA and TV series have been great favorites of mine from my first years as an anime junkie. And so, I hoped for good things from the manga, which derived from a light novel--back when light novels had no special stigma against them. If… Continue reading The Laws of the Flesh and the Spirit in R.O.D.
Beneath the Tangles has undergone many changes since it first began in 2010, not least of which is in what media we explore with our site. While this blog will always center on writing, media has become more and more a part of what we also develop and post. To meet these needs, I'm putting… Continue reading Call for New Staff: Artists, Designers, and Bloggers
In volume 8 of the Tonari no Seki-kun manga, Seki continues to distract Rumi with his games at his desk. This time, we see Seki create a small little playground for Lego-style mini-brick figurines. He also creates a clay figure which looks exactly like the other figurines. Rumi watches him play, mesmerized as she always… Continue reading Newman’s Nook: Friendship and Differences
Aside from video games, my experiences with Japanese pop culture recently have centred around manga; picking up drawing as a hobby has led to a renewed interest in the sequential art of both east and west. In light of that, I intend to give a round-up of some of the noteworthy manga I've dipped my… Continue reading Josh’s Manga Roundup: Akira, Jojo, Uzumaki, and Ranma 1/2
Hola mi amigos! Samura here, back with another edition of Something More. This month, we have a couple posts that are different than our usual line-up of faith and anime, and more posts than ever! TWWK would like to introduce one of these links: Thanks, Samaru! I'll start us off with a really thoughtful piece that's… Continue reading Something More: Christian Anime Characters, Death Note Methodology, and the Reverse-Blade Gospel
