We’ve talked about several of Rumiko Takahashi’s manga series over the years, but this time we go back to the beginning with her first big hit, Urusei Yatsura, sometimes known in English as Lum. Tim and Kumar discuss the history of the strip, the gags you wouldn’t get without knowing Japanese, and what’s odd about it for being ostensibly a kids’ comic.
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Kazuo Umezu’s horror manga series The Drifting Classroom is a taboo-busting series: it was aimed at kids and employs kid logic and exaggeration to a story depicting outrageous violence being done to and by kids. Even if you’re into horror, that description may have you asking: “Is this for me?” In this episode, Kumar and Ryan try to answer that question.
Umezu in red and white. (Source: https://www.jprime.jp/articles/-/18187)
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This week we present the second installment in a proposed new podcast series: The Law of Equivalent Exchange, a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist. Tim and Patrick discuss chapter two of the series; while we remembered it as not having much of an impact on the overall story, the chapters in volume 1 turn out to do a lot of orientation to help prepare us for future volumes. We point out these signposts.
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This week we present the first installment in a proposed new podcast series: The Law of Equivalent Exchange, a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist. Tim and Patrick discuss what alchemy was in the real world, and the manga’s creator Hiromu Arakawa, then walk through the first chapter of the story.
If you’d like to keep episodes of this podcast coming, in its own separate feed, support us on Patreon!
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FLASHBACK! A bored, punk-dressing god of death and a genius high school boy are the main characters in Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. The boy, Light Yagami, receives from the god a notebook with which he can kill people simply by writing their names in it. A plot with many twists and turns ensues. Tim and Kumar review — first without spoilers, and then, 38 minutes in, totally and utterly with spoilers.
(Originally published March 22, 2010)
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You’re trapped on the moon and you believe that everyone on Earth is dead. Who’d have believed that was the setup for a gag manga? Cho Seok pulls it off in style with Moon You, a hilarious comic that also has heart and some tension, and, yes, a few missteps as well. Tim and Mulele discuss.
Also, what our Patrons said when we asked them what type of podcast content – critiques? superhero movie review? comics industry talk? – we’re the best at presenting.
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Considering how much Mulele talked up Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira back in the early days of the podcast, it’s strange that it’s taken us more than 14 years to actually discuss it here. Perhaps because the story sounded heavy and off-putting to Tim — but is that a fair assessment? On the other hand, as great as it is, is it Otomo’s best work? This week Tim, Mulele, Chris, and Oscar discuss this classic manga.
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Uzumaki is a 1998 horror manga by Junji Ito, unique in its capacity to make the reader simultaneously laugh out loud at its audacity and feel profoundly disturbed. In this episode, Kumar and Dana recount some of the more bizarre stories in this book, and answer the question, “Is it a compelling read?”
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This week, Emmet, Patrick, Tim, and Chuck Coletta talk about their favorite comics of the past decade! If you’re looking for good comics that you might have missed from the 2010s — from superhero to comedy, historical to horror — we’ll give you plenty of titles to look up!
(All titles below are linked to Amazon – to help support the show, pick up any titles you’re interested in through these links!)
EMMET
Finder: Talisman HC
Love In Vain: Robert Johnson 1911-1938, The Graphic Novel
I Love This Part: Hardcover Edition
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
Delicious in Dungeon
Gast
Giant Days
Providence
Immortal Hulk
Julio’s Day
Orc Stain Volume 1
Sally Heathcote, Suffragette
The Abaddon
The Experts
Surface Tension
Special Exits
SNARKED: Forks and Hope
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt
Henni
PATRICK
Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga
Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics Of The 1950s
Rover Red Charlie
Dungeon Quest: Book One
The Bulletproof Coffin
My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris
Fatale
Southern Bastards
Richard Stark’s Parker
Hawkeye
Moon Knight
Madman In Your Face 3D Special
Hark! A Vagrant
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Hound and Other Stories
Providence by Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows
Rachel Rising
Afterlife with Archie
Harrow County
Frontier
TIM AND CHUCK
Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan and Karl Kerschl
Daredevil
Scooby-Doo Team-Up
Saga
Life With Archie: The Married Life
Paper Girls
Seconds
The Superior Spider-Man
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For more than 40 years, Rumiko Takahashi has been one of Japan’s premiere manga creators. Many of her titles center around “yokai” – Japanese ghosts and monsters. While some are specifically modeled after mythical beings well-known to Japanese, some are original creations. Patrick I-W has been looking into Takahashi’s monsters for one of his comics-themed presentations, and he fills us in on his findings in this episode.
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