I wanted to write about a few new manga releases that I’ve gotten the chance to read recently. All of these manga came out on July 22nd so, go grab them!
First up, we have Suzuki-kun’s Mindful Life, Vol. 1 by Yuki Fujimoto. In this first volume, we are introduced to Suzuki, who is starting his first year of high school. He’s a little bit nervous because his middle school years weren’t that great. He was bullied because he likes things like baking and sewing. He’s hoping to be able to get through high school without getting bullied again. He makes a friend in Haruna, who really helps him come out of his shell and realize that nothing that he likes to do is weird or creepy.
I love our main character, Suzuki SO MUCH. He is the sweetest, and seeing him get bullied for being sweet was pissing me off so badly. I just wanted to reach in the book and smack those kids who were being mean to him. I love that we see him interacting with his mom and sister so much. It’s not every day that I read a manga where the male main character is portrayed in that way. The part where he made clothes for his sister’s toys was so precious. Overall, I really liked this first volume and I can’t wait to see where the story goes.
The next manga that I read is Double the Trouble, Twice as Nice, Vol. 1 by Ryō Ichino. This one has a slightly odd premise. A woman finds a toddler in the middle of the street one night as she’s coming home late for work. Her phone is dead and no one is around, so she takes the kid back to her apartment and decides she’ll call someone once her phone charges up some. But instead, she falls asleep, forgetting to charge her phone. She wakes up in the morning, and there is a young man in her bed instead of a toddler. Turns out the guy can shape shift (I’m not 100% sure if this is right because it hasn’t been explained yet) from a toddler to a young man and back.
This is interesting so far. Having only read volume one, I can only speculate what’s going on. I’m thinking a curse of some kind? It doesn’t seem like the story has any magical elements to it, so I’m thinking like a cursed object or maybe a curse passed down in the family or something similar. I will definitely check out the next volume. I really need to know why he changes into a toddler.
The last manga that I read is called Neighborhood Craftsmen: Stories from Kanda’s Gokura-chou, Vol. 1 by Akihito Sakaue. This book is stunning. The artwork is some of the best that I’ve seen recently. The attention to detail blew me away. These are all stories of different craftsmen and women. There is a woman who fixes old buckets, a swordsmith, an indigo dyer, some tatami weavers, and then three stories about a group of plasterers.
If you’re looking for a slow read, I would check this one out. And when I say slow, I don’t mean that this is boring or tedious. I mean a book that you should slow down and really take the time to look at as you are reading it. You will get so much more out of this if you do that. There are some pages in this that I think could be framed and hung as artwork; they are that beautiful.
That’s it for this post! I hope that you check out these new manga. I will definitely be reading the next volumes of these when they are released. Happy reading!
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