Category: manga

#693 Manga’s Scary Cats!

There’s a history of horror manga featuring cats, especially humans with cat features. What are some of the prominent titles in this genre? Where does this come from? Patrick has been studying this association and is here to tell us about some of the prominent titles, including Shigeru Mizuki’s Mysterious Neko Musume (featuring a character later modified for Mizuki’s Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro) and Kazuo Umezu’s Cat Face, The Girl with Cat Eyes, and Cat-Eyed Boy.

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LOEE: Fullmetal Alchemist ch. 4

The Law of Equivalent Exchange: Tim and Patrick discuss Fullmetal Alchemist chapter 4, which features both scary violence and violence for laughs. Why is Ed sleeping at his desk on the splash page? Plus, volume 1 back matter explained!

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Critiquing Comics #184: “R.U.N.” volume 2

Way back in 2014, Tim and Mulele discussed the first volume of R.u.N. (Remember Ur Nature), a comic in shonen manga style about the sport of parkour. Now, at last, volume two is available, and Tim is joined by a new voice, Ryan Carey of SOLRAD, to discuss the book (by Kariofillis Chris Hatzopoulos, Rafail Voutsidis, Luis Figueiredo, Roberto Fernandes De Oliveira, and Vasilis Fotsinos). The comic is a spot-on imitation of shonen manga made in Japan — but is it good?

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#680 “Dorohedoro”

Dorohedoro

Is it comedy or violent action? Delivering fan service or gross-out scenes? Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Perceptions and expectations are constantly flipping in Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro. Kumar and Emmet review.

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The Law of Equivalent Exchange: “Fullmetal Alchemist” chapter 3

Fullmetal Alchemist ch3

Tim and Patrick discuss the third chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist, “The Mining Town.” Why are alchemists hated as “the dogs of the military”?

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#678 Rumiko Takahashi’s first comedy, “Urusei Yatsura”

Urusei Yatsura

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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#677 “The Drifting Classroom”

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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The Law of Equivalent Exchange: “Fullmetal Alchemist” chapter 2

Fullmetal Alchemist ch 2

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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The Law of Equivalent Exchange: “Fullmetal Alchemist” chapter 1

Fullmetal Alchemist ch 001

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.

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#224 Our Notes on “Death Note”

Death Note

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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