[Manga Chat]

[dr. b 494]

New Beat & Motion today!!!

 

41.1

 

Special Illustration  

 

New chapter in 14 days!

 

Let down. 

[Psycho666Soldier 291]

I'm still alive, and I've read some stuff and haven't read others. I started teaching recently and it's consumed a lot of my energy lol.

 

I've been keeping up with Hakutaku. Has keeper potential for me at the moment. I finally read the last couple chapters of Dragon Ball Super. Beast Form is kind of an obnoxious design, but it was really cool and fun and surprisingly fresh to see Gohan spar with Goku, Vegeta, Broly, Goten, and Trunks. I assume we're probably only gonna get like one more arc with Black Frieza, but I'd love if they squeezed in one more that focused on Gohan et Al as the heroes, maybe even giving Vegeta the final victory, before we get the expected final showdown between Goku and Frieza. I guess we'll see. All I know is I hope the manga-only arcs get animated at some point.

 

I've also caught up on Sakamoto Days. I'm curious to see if Shin goes through with killing the prison dude. It's kind of a shame but also such a nice change of pace from the usual "Villain turned Hero" character arc where they become squeaky clean after joining the hero.

 

  @dr. b have your been mostly up to date with everything?

[Psycho666Soldier 291]

Haven't seen b in a minute and not sure anyone else has been following, but Beat & Motion had it's last chapter last week. Honestly I expected it to end quite a few chapters ago and would have been satisfied as is, so I felt it ended at a good point. Wasn't much else to develop without making drama for the sake of drama. Really love the way they portrayed Nico and Tatsuhiko's relationship. The final chapter is absolutely stunning and gorgeous, and love that there's minimal dialogue.  Great work, I hope it gets animated some day, but honestly the manga format just captures such a unique beauty I'm not sure would hit the same as a cartoon.

[Psycho666Soldier 291]

And Undead Unluck finished a couple Sundays ago.

 

Very satisfying ending. Doesn't try to do too much or be too confusing, so arguably safe, but honestly, it just feels so right after everything that happens. Loved this manga so much. It's dripping with charm and just pulls you into the emotions of the characters. And they did such a great job with the last couple chapters.

 

I can't wait to see the rest of it animated.

[dr. b 494]

Oh man... so many series to comment on... Manga is the one thing I've really kept up with.

 

Undead Unluck had a solid ending. I enjoyed it.

 

I still wanted more Beat & Motion in my life but I agree it was a good place to end it. That was a special series.

 

The recent ending of Kaiju No. 8 kind of caught me off guard. Knew it was coming but I thought maybe there would be a couple more chapters. It was an OK ending. Not bad but could have been better. 

 

Show-ha Shoten! on the other hand, I thought stuck around just a bit too long. Probably could have been one or two chapters less. But it was a pretty satisfactory ending all things considered. The final competition was great.

 

Wild Strawberry got worse and worse as it slowly worked towards the end. Only 50 chapters so I think it's worth a look in any case. Started with quite a bit of promise but didn't get a great finish.

 

Kill Blue is one I started binge reading just a couple months ago. Then it ended rather abruptly only a few weeks after I got caught up  I really enjoyed this one. Lots of fun and likeable characters, and a kooky premise. The ending wasn't super smooth but it worked well enough. Give it a look if you haven't tried it yet.

 

A couple more I picked up and quickly binged to current on, similar to Kill Blue, were WITCH WATCH and Hima-Ten!. Both series are extremely fun. So many likeable characters. Hima-Ten! is a bit more fanservice-y than I would typically go for, but it's tasteful enough. Honoka is absolutely the best girl  Not that Himari or Kanna are bad choices either

 

Spy x Family continues on at its weird pace. Recent chapters have been good. I'm curious to see if the story ever ends or if it stays mostly episodic and has a non-ending whenever the author is done with it. I wouldn't mind that. We can use our imaginations.

 

The Elusive Samurai is approaching the end now. Not sure how many chapters will be left. I love this series and it's consistently been really good. The anime was a lot of fun too. I'll be bummed when it ends.

 

Sakamoto Days has been a wild ride lately too! A bit hard to keep up with all the stuff, but at least that keeps it exciting. Anime was pretty solid so far too.

 

Akane-banashi is #2 behind Elusive Samurai for my favourite on-going series. The time skip that happened felt a bit weird at the time but it worked in hindsight. The thing with Shiguma was a bummer. I am hoping so badly that Akane wins the event she's in right now.

 

Kagurabachi is another one I'm quite high on. Great newer series with lots of action.

 

Choujin X is almost done... I think? Lots of twists and turns, and it gets really confusing at times, but overall I still enjoy it.

 

Dandadan is getting to a point for me similar to Jujutsu Kaisen during the Culling Game arc where I'm sort of just ready for it to end. Which is a bit of a bummer because it had been so good for so long. I still like a lot of the characters, but the current arc isn't as good as previous story arcs.

 

Speaking of JJK, the new spin-off Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo is probably going to be bad. I wasn't thrilled by the first two chapters. I guess I'll stick with it a while anyways.

 

I am also frequently confused by what happens each week in Chainsaw Man  It's not bad but it's not great either. I might have had enough.

 

I'm enjoying a couple of newer sports series: Harukaze Mound (baseball) and Ekiden Bros (running). Harukaze Mound especially. I love an underdog. I hope it sticks around a while. I'm not sure about Ekiden Bros' longevity. 

 

Last week's new title, Someone Hertz, had a strong start and I think I'm going to really enjoy following it.

 

I also got into some longer monthly titles over the winter. I read through Twin Star Exorcists shortly after it finished. Kinda weird but at times very good and it held my attention at least. Then I got caught up on Seraph of the End a few months ago. It is chugging closer to the finish, but since it's a monthly, that is probably still a few months away. I remember trying the first season of the anime literally 10 years ago. This series has been going forever  It gets confusing and dumb but somehow I like the manga anyways. 

[Psycho666Soldier 291]

I've been wanting to yap about manga for months now but you and I are like the only two that still post and follow most of the SJ stuff so I held a lot in. 

 

Yeah, Kaiju No. 8's ending was like not as disappointing as a cancelled series ending but felt like there could have maybe been more. Though to be fair the way that final Kaiju escalated I kinda wondered where they go from there.

 

I was pretty happy with Show-Ha Shoten's ending and really happy we got to see a glimpse of what was going on after the competition. Also really enjoyed that Shijima got the girl morally but still had the growth moment of her having a boyfriend. Subverted the cliche some.

 

I'm glad you've gotten into Witch Watch! I really liked the first 20 or so chapters and I assumed it would have been cancelled long ago, but it's still going strong! I've converted to watching the anime at this point, but it's such a treat.

 

Elusive, Sakamoto, and Akane-banashi continue reigning as my Top 3 and have all had me hooked the last few months. I think Akane-banashi might be my #1, but these are the three I usually jump to read first. 

 

I'm anime-only on DanDaDan beyond the first couple issues so I'm still in the throes of quality. Guess I'll have to see if it peters out for me over time. I also keep having Chainsaw Man really behind and even though it's not a LOT of issues to catch up on with it's release schedule, I always completely forget what the fuck is going on before I go in, and then often am confused even when I do. Still can't help but love seeing whatever wacky shit goes on with it 

 

I've honestly been slacking on a lot of the newer series, but a good few of them (like Someone Hertz) look super appealing to me. I was curious about Otr of the Flame because it was the same artist as Hunter's Guild which we really liked, but the first chapter didn't really grab me the same

[dr. b 494]

On 9/26/2025 at 6:15 PM, Psycho666Soldier said:

I've been wanting to yap about manga for months now but you and I are like the only two that still post and follow most of the SJ stuff so I held a lot in.

Same here! I've been thinking a lot of thoughts about manga for weeks and weeks and weeks now with nobody to chat about it with  Should have logged back in here a long time back

 

Agreed re: Kaiju No. 8. The possibilities of the story kinda got maxed out, otherwise it would have just gotten silly. Had to end.

 

re: Witch Watch: Part of me also wonders how it's continued as long as it has, but I'm super glad it has. It's such a quirky cast of characters. Very fun.

 

re: Dandadan: I am still watching and thoroughly enjoying the anime too. The introduction of Kinta in the anime has not disappointed. That fucking guy cracks me up. Kinta the end of joytoy pegasus Sakata    The story continues to get better for a while yet before it plateaus and then (IMHO) begins to stagnate. (But this could just be a case of me being a dumbass   Maybe eventually seeing the current arc animated will change my mind)

 

Someone Hertz is definitely a winner so far in my books. Highly recommend. I would also suggest you take a look at Kurumizawa's Folly. It's an interesting concept and I like the old fashioned aesthetics. It's a period piece and I have really enjoyed the first few chapters. I also thought about checking out Otr of the Flame but never got 'round to it.

 

Speaking of other new ones, did you check out The Marshal King? I really wanted to like it but I found it to be a let down and gave up on it rather quickly. If you've been reading it and think it's been better recently then maybe I would give it another shot. I felt like the first chapter had so much potential and was building up this cool world and concept... and then Jimmu had to go to school 😐 Just feels like such an overused concept. The last couple pages of the first chapter soured me on it. I read it a few more weeks after that and it just couldn't hold my interest. Ah well.

[dr. b 494]

Forgot to mention Dogsred in my big post. I am still following and really enjoying it. The game that's been happening over the last several chapters has been really satisfying. If you are even remotely interested in hockey, I recommend giving it a look. Super fun cast of characters.