#read manga

[nightheartcomics]

Lady Snowblood by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura

Set in Japan’s Meiji era of the late 1800s, Syura Yuki cuts a path of bloody vengeance against the people who destroyed her mother’s life…

Sure, I could’ve easily bought digital copies, but there’s a thrill in hunting down these print editions and the satisfaction of completion only a collector knows.

Originally published in Japan in 1972, these 2005 Dark Horse English editions superbly reproduce the manga, keeping the orientation right-to-left and subtitling the sound effects (it’s how all translations should be handled IMO) 🤘🖤

[m0ccachina]

Hermosa edición

[pervysenpaix]

I’m so sick of people complaining about reading fucking mangas. If I don’t want to watch stationary pictures then that’s my fucking business. You fucking neanderthals.

[justfinishedreading]

A Bride’s Story, volume 4 by Kaoru Mori

This series was always good from the start but since volume 3 it’s really picked up and moved into ‘addictive reading’ territory. In the beginning of this volume we discover that Amir’s old clan is having trouble after losing land to grace their sheep, this plotline isn’t developed much but the groundwork has been laid down for future volumes. When I picked up this series I thought Mr Smith would be travelling the silk road route and we would meet new characters but ultimately they would be left behind as he moved on, I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s the opposite, characters introduced are going to be with us throughout the series, their story is not just a moment in time, we will see their story evolve as their lives do. So we get a short scene with Amir herself and then with Pariya as she struggles to behave herself during a meeting to discuss her possible marriage. The majority of the rest of this volume centres on Laila and Leily, two trouble-making twins who save Mr Smith from drowning.

As we move on to couples that are more age appropriate for each other, we now see romantic comedies and romantic dramas played out and I’m getting engrossed in these different love stories. I’m also starting to appreciate the variety of female characters that Kaoru Mori has created: Amir is kind and a good listener but also a skilled hunter and resourceful woman, uninhibited in many ways. Pariya is outspoken and brash but self-conscious of this and regretful as she struggles to keep her anger in check. While the twins Laila and Leily are free spirits, hyperactive and with a scary lack of mindfulness when it comes to other people. While Talas in the previous volume was a shy woman struggling to reveal her feelings and take charge of her life, in this volume we find out how many women have secretly done all manner of things to secure a marriage in a time where marriages were decided on by the male heads of each family, it’s an excellent example of how woman are not passive creatures when it comes to their future, even if they have to deal with a highly patriarchal society.

As always these books are also rich in history and culture of the various countries Mr Smith travels through, in this volume what struck me was the importance of the Aral Sea for the community. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, it began shrinking in the 1960s due to the rivers that fed it being diverted by Soviet irrigation projects, by the 2010s it had largely dried up. The fishing industry that depended on it, collapsed, the water and surrounding areas became polluted. UNESCO has added historical documents concerning the Aral Sea to its Memory of the World Register as a resource to study the environmental tragedy. For more information check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea. A Bride’s Story doesn’t go into the recent history of the Aral Sea, it just shows the beauty of what the Aral Sea once was, and this is enough to encourage a reader to find out more for themselves, and once you do the various casual comments made by characters throughout the books about Russian and British presence and interference start to resonate even more.

Review by Book Hamster

[dionitro]

I fuckin get it girl

[thesapphiccrytid]

Falin?

[kensatou]

women………….. | DOROHEDORO

(by the way. this is noi.)

[juiche]

a moment of peace before the whole world shatters 😇

get your own print here ❤️

[matchaizuku]

i’m sorry but i had a vision

[nightheartcomics]

Venus In The Blind Spot is a collection of ten stories by master of horror Junji Ito. Check out those colour pages! 🤘🖤

[totallyoli]

laois when the dungeon meshis or something

[readmangacc]

Readmanga Cc

Welcome to Readmanga cc, your premier destination to read manga online. Dive into a vast collection of manga titles, carefully curated for your reading pleasure. With Readmanga cc, enjoy a seamless reading experience as you explore captivating storylines and vibrant artwork from your favorite manga creators. Start your manga journey today with Readmanga cc and discover the joy of reading manga online. Visit more details: https://readmanga.cc/

[lotus-pear]

SIGHHHH BSD REREAD…................I MISS THEM SO MUCH :(((

[justfinishedreading]

Sweat and Soap, volume 7 by Kintetsu Yamada

Warning: Some Spoilers.

Kotaro and Asako continue to adapt to living together, moving from the dating phase in which both people try to be their best selves all the time, to now always being together and trying to learn to relax and just chill in their shared home.

One of the things this series does well is introduce side characters that we want to know more about and that we’re happy to see again, enter Tsubaki chef of the product development’s cosmetic division. In the office cafeteria she happens to meet Asako for the first time and compliments Asako’s skin, part of me hopes Tsubaki is being flirty and we might get another gay character, hopefully this time openly gay in the narrative (looking at you chef Okura). She’s confident, stunning, and as it turns out, kind. Fingers crossed. (UPDATE after I wrote this review I read volume 8 and not only is there no indication of Tsubaki being gay but there’s a hint that Okura is straight… oh well).

We also meet Kotaro’s family, three wonderful people, I’d love to know more about his father who’s the quiet serious type. There’s not a toxic person in the whole series, yet everyone has their own personality, troubles and flaws. We even get a return of the foreigner who hit on Asako last volume, Henrik, giving us an opportunity to get to know him better, his personality and general attitude towards life and love -there are no villains here, and Kotaro gets a chance to get past jealousy but also explain to Henrik what Asako means to him. While the encounter with Asako was fleeting for Henrik, it wasn’t for Kotaro.

Review by Book Hamster