Category: Manga Recommendation

Story: Sho Fumimura

Art: Ryoichi Ikegami

Status: Completed

Genre: Crime, Thriller, Politics

Storyline [Spoiler free summary]: focuses on the journey of two young men (A Yakuza Don & a Politician) on a quest to reform Japan. The storyline flows well and the decisions made by the characters have major consequences on the outcome of the story, showing just how well thought out it was, it also has its fair share of suspense.

Does it get good fast: Yes, The first few chapters take you into the violent and corrupt world of both the Yakuza and the government, there are a couple of badass moments to enjoy along with some character introductions here and there. I think if it doesn’t win you over in the first 10 chapters it’s not for you.

Art: The art style is really impressive and classy which fits the plot perfectly in my opinion. It has a very smooth texture and feel to it, the facial expressions and fashion are illustrated brilliantly. The backgrounds and structures look crisp and highly detailed. There are several full page panels and double-page spreads throughout the series, it also has good volume covers.

Pacing: Sanctuary has great pacing and it manages to pull you in with suspense and high stake moments. Scenes never drag on and each event moves the story forward, there are very few unnecessary moments in the series and I think that helps the pacing.

Humor: As far as humor is concerned, Sanctuary has few instances of comedic relief. The series maintains a very serious tone but has a couple of light-hearted moments that will put a smile on your face.

Characters: There are several badass characters to watch out for in the series, I enjoyed the relationships & dialogue that went on between them. A couple of characters have great backstories and moments of development. My two favorite main characters are Akira Hojo and Mr. Tokai while Onishi is my favorite supporting character.

What I like most: The three things I like most about the series are the very smooth art style, awesome cast of characters, and the pacing and flow of the story.

Personal ranking: After completing Sanctuary, I think it’s up there among some of the best series I’ve read, I just completed it and it could be a recency bias thing but it makes its way into my top 20 favorites list.

Closing thoughts: Sanctuary is a very satisfying ride until the very last chapter, I consider this a masterpiece in my humble opinion. It slowly pulls you in and manages to keep things interesting by maintaining high stakes. I found it hard to stop reading many times during the most intense moments and I usually had to read multiple chapters in one sitting. I highly recommend it if you’re into stories revolving around crime and politics.

Thanks for stopping by.

Author: Hayashida Q

Status: Completed

Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Seinen, Sci-fi

Storyline: [Spoiler free summary] focuses on the adventures & misadventures of a lizard faced man trying to get his human face back. The storyline can get confusing and is pretty well written with a lot of twists and turns, it’s also quite unpredictable. The relationships between the main cast really drive the storyline forward in a really great way

Does it get good fast: Yes! The first few chapters are very intriguing and it pulls you in with action and character introductions.

Art: The art style is pretty unique and it took me a little time to get used to. It has a very sketch like texture. The backgrounds and structures look really good and it perfectly fits the bizarre story. I really love the color pages and volume covers

Pacing: I was very satisfied with the pacing. It rarely drags on and each event moves the story forward.

Humor: This series has amazing comedy, it’s one of my favourite things about the series. I believe the fact that the series doesn’t take itself too seriously adds to its charm.

Characters: I can’t stress how hard I fell in love with the characters. I haven’t read many manga series with such a wide range of likeable characters. I also really like the badass and bizarre character designs. Each main character is given a good amount of attention and screen time. You can tell Hayashida really loves some of these characters.

What I like most: The three things I like most about the series are the fantastic character interactions, the bonus curses (chapters) and the way Hayashida explains things to the readers through side notes and the “what we learned” section at the end of each volume.

Personal ranking: After completing Dorohedoro, I would definitely put it in my top 10 favourite manga series list.

Overall thoughts: Dorohedoro is a masterpiece in my humble opinion, I highly recommend it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the series to the point that I had a bitter-sweet experience when I completed it because of my attachment to the characters. The only thing I can nitpick about is how a few panels are hard to understand due to the art style.

Thanks for reading. See you in the next post.

I’m a big fan of the sense of humour that manga offers and I recently caught up with the hilarious series Gokushufudou (The way of the house-husband) by Oono Kousuke so I thought I would choose this series as my first of many manga recommendations.

The title gives away a chunk of the plot but we find out in the first chapter that Tatsu the househusband is a legend in the yakuza world who decided to follow a new path. I must say one of my favourite things about the series is the main character Tatsu, it isn’t an easy feat to create a character that is extremely badass, funny and inspiring at the same time, let’s not forget he is also an incredible cook.

The art quality is top notch, definitely one of the best I’ve seen in a while because there are so many beautiful panels to look at in this series, the drawings are very detailed with some solid panel direction which makes for a smooth read. I found it interesting that the series is set in our present day, so things like smart phones and social media play a part in some chapters. The funny scenes usually involve our main character Tatsu treating the everyday life of a househusband like a yakuza mission, I guess you can’t take the yakuza out of the man.

I highly recommend this series even though it has only 20 chapters for now as its still ongoing because it is a very enjoyable comedy. Thanks for reading and see you soon.