Title: Princess Jellyfish
Release Year: 2008
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 1
Thoughts:

Title: My Room is a Dungeon Rest Stop
Release Year: 2020
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 4
Thoughts: Exactly what you would think. Unnecessarily horny and indulgent. Very fun concept.

Title: Komi Can’t Communicate
Release Year: 2020
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 15
Thoughts: The thing about this series is that it feels soulless. It feels less like someone’s artistic creation and more so made of bits and pieces of what other manga do well. The results is something that doesn’t do anything outstanding, but has enough manga trope familiarity (without doing anything egregious) that really anyone can read this and find some level of enjoyment. I honestly feel like I am going to stop reading it, but then one small moment that feels genuine and authentic happens which keeps me hoping the next volume will be better.

Okay, I’m about 10 volumes in and it has finally grown on me. I still stand by the fact that the execution of Komi and the surrounding cast feel distant and one-dimensional. However, the emergent romance brings about genuinely moving moments. This now feels like a comfort series. It’s light, it will never blow my mind, but it will give me exactly what I expect every time.

Title: The Heroic Legend of Arslan
Release Year: 2013
Reading Year: SPR2023
Currently Reading: Volume 9
Thoughts: Could not be higher expectations given this is made by the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist. Art style is incredibly nostalgic.

I feel at this point I have a solid handle on the pacing, characters, and overarching story. The art style, character design, and world are all excellent. It is too easy to forget the amazing scaffolding each of these do. However, the story is almost too big. Or, perhaps, the writing caters to how large of a world and conflict there is, rather than building up these characters more thoroughly. The characters are why we put up with a ton of dialogue and info-dumping about the complexities of war. Not the other way around. So, for me, this series goes up and down. The ups when there is less pressure and the characters are allowed to shine for themselves and have personality. Like when Alfarhid joins the group. I find myself bouncing around too much and not having enough motivation to follow through. This may be because I have more of an affinity for writing and characters than I do for incredible battle scenes.

Title: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in A Dungeon?
Release Year: 2012
Reading Year: WI2023
Currently Reading: Volume 1
Thoughts: 

Title: Durarara!! RE; DOLLARS Arc
Release Year: 2014
Reading Year: WI2023
Currently Reading: 8
Thoughts: There is something off about this arc. There is a different artist (Aogiri instead of Akiyo Satorigi), and that may have been all it takes. The art is gorgeous, modern, and honestly had me just staring at some of these pages. But, the soul of the series isn’t in this arc. It just feels like a regular story with characters that I am being told are powerful or interesting, rather just being all of those things. The charisma is gone. Without my buy-in about how cool these characters are, I lose interest.

I will say for all that critique, if you do stick it out, I think the 3rd volume is when this arc’s story starts picking up and becomes interesting on its own.

Update: Alright, I finished the arc and I think I can pare down why this arc wasn’t for me. First, there is too much writing. With such strong art, there is too much text filling up the pages. The text communications, which were novel and nostaglic, just drag on and use such literal dialogue. It lacks nuance, gets tired, and loses the cool early 2000’s aesthetic. Second, they tried to make the story and characters more conventional. Instead of strange, scary, or impressive children running amuck in a city, this story tries to be more dramatic. To be more intelligent. But, these characters shine when you let them be strange. Put them in a normal gang war and they cease to be intriguing. Lastly, the characters lose their uniqueness. Long gone are the days of feeling fear and awe of Izaya because you didn’t know what he would do next – or genuinely feeling his Joker-like madness.Or Ryuugamine’s duality of innocence and crazy. Celty was really the only consistent character throughout the arcs.

It sucks. I loved this series and this arc really turned to a direction I didn’t love.

Title: Durarara!! Saika Arc
Release Year: 2011
Reading Year: WI2023
Currently Reading:
Thoughts: For Durarara!!, short stories really work in this world. Saika builds on already intriguing and charismatic characters providing a short, fun story. I was delighted to hear from these characters again. I can’t explain why, but I find these characters so damn charismatic. They are just so cool and untouchable.

Title: Durarara!!
Release Year: 2009
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Saika Arc V1
Thoughts: There is something undeniably 2000s edgy about this series. It manages to be transgressive in a way that feels taboo, rather than cringy or over-the-top. Though this is a short series, I felt drawn back into it with each volume.

Title: Restaurant to Another World⭐
Release Year: 2016
Reading Year: SPR2023
Currently Reading: Volume 4
Thoughts: Heartwarming and spirit-lifting. It is such a nice palette cleanser to have a series with short volumes and feel-good themes. It won’t wow you, but it does feel like each volume captures that moment of thinking back to good times. Pacing is on the slower side, which makes the emerging story lines all the better.

Title: Persona 5
Release Year: 2020
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 11 (currently unreleased)
Thoughts: The art style is solid, the staging is powerful, and the general design is distinct. The overall concept pulled from the video game is novel and compelling. There is clearly a lot of work put in these novels. If you like the video games or action manga, then there is so much to like here!

My issue is with the story. The tipping points between finding a new lead and battling some new boss are so dull and on the nose. There is good chemistry between the protagonists and genuinely interesting character flaws of the antagonists, but it feels like all nuance goes out the door once “there is a bad guy.” Then the dialogue becomes so literal it pulls me out of the story.

Title: Laid Back Camp⭐
Release Year: 2018
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 6
Thoughts: Very cute and surprisingly educational. Firmly fits into the cozy genre and consistently provides light humor and relaxation!

Putting this down for now. It’s slice of life with no real plot direction, which is not a bad thing. It’s a great escapist feel good series, but not for me.

Title: Assassination Classroom
Release Year: 2012
Reading Year: SU2023
Currently Reading: Volume 3
Thoughts: Clever concept. Didn’t keep me reading.

Title: Classroom of the Elite
Release Year: 2015
Reading Year: SPR2023
Currently Reading: Volume 1
Thoughts: Disappointing first volume. Nothing particularly novel. Characters are simple and two-dimensional and there is not enough if the school mystique to really pique my interest.

Update: I decided to watch the anime version instead and wow! A significantly better entry into the series. Knowing the plot of the first few episodes, I found that the anime brings in more interesting elements earlier on, has better pacing, and represents the characters well. It still isn’t for me, but highly recommend the anime over the manga!

Title: Black Clover
Release Year: 2015
Reading Year: SPR2023
Currently Reading: Volume 1
Thoughts: I was immediately bored reading the first few pages. It felt like the stereotypical loser, untalented, hard-working Naruto knockoff. (with his brooding, talented rival to boot). And then the inciting incident occurs and Asta is thrown into the chaotic, violent world of the Black Bulls. Now I’m hooked! I think I am going to watch the anime rather than read through the manga, but I think the concept and character design is strong enough to keep me interested.

Title: Bocchi The Rock!
Release Year: 2017
Reading Year: WI2023
Currently Reading: Volume 1
Thoughts: 

Title: Dear Noman
Release Year: 2019
Reading Year: SPR2023
Currently Reading: Volume 2
Thoughts: