I have read plethora of mangas. Although, the amount is probably not as much as those weebs and hikikomori guys. These past year especially, I only have read many completed manga because it is exhausting to chase after so many running mangas (ha!). Although the running mangas I am updated to now is not exactly few for many people. Currently I am following Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, Dandadan, Kagura Bachi, Tekken Chinmi, and One Piece (I have only read One Piece for the past few months because of the live action—new nakama here!).
Many titles I have read subscribe to various ideals as it is also a product of culture. Each title has underlying premise and theme that are exciting to talk about. Despite it’s much much fantastical nature, mangas here are indredibly human at heart—and sometimes, the mangakas took this premise a little too close. Whether it’s naked and obvious allegory, or prolonged laments of being and becoming.
Vagabond
| Author | : Takehiko Inoue |
| Year | : 1998-2014 |
| Volumes | : 37 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 327 Chapters |
The exquisite art is not the question here. A very tasteful of grits and realism truly prevails to depict an anguish story of a wanderer. We follow Musashi Miyamoto to explore what it means to be ‘strong’. Although the current status of this manga is ‘on hiatus’, in itself can be considered a complete story of self-exploration. This manga is capable of substituting any self-inducing-alienation-faux-stoicism-acidic-nihilism-status-quo-denying self-development books. Inoue call this project an experiment of complex writing, and he is succeeding in doing just that. This manga elevates Eiji Yoshikawa’s work in ways that much more philosophical, accompanied by a breathtaking art. 11/10.
Homunculus
| Author | : Hideo Yamamoto |
| Year | : 2003-2011 |
| Volumes | : 15 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 166 Chapters |
This manga is Lacanian in nature. That is, that the psychological underlining of the premise works to scrutinize the Symbolic (the world of language) in literal sense. Through the conspiracy-fueled method of trepanation, this supposedly psychological thriller paints what life is under supernaturally-depicted desire. Hideo Yamamoto illustrates the insatiable appetite of desire as an instrument to drives the story. Hole after hole are drilled until the Symbolic no longer appear, yet the desire blanks the mind. This manga is also deals with identity and queerness through the lens of psychoanalysis. 8.7/10.
Ajin: Demi-Human
| Author | : Gamon Sakurai |
| Year | : 2012-2021 |
| Volumes | : 17 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 86 Chapters |
This manga is much more suitable to be in shōnen instead of seinen. The supernatural being and the consequences of it’s existences—government experiments and arms race—is, honestly, a tired cliché. What is interesting here is the character development of Nagai Kei, the main character. Equipped with a lack of empathy, Kei found himself in situations in which he has to maintain balance between the act of benevolence and malevolent—motivated by interests at hand. Perhaps, the grey morality and high-functioning sociopathy here what makes this manga to be considered as seinen. The art, is immaculate. 7.8/10.
Jagaaan
| Author | : Kensuke Nishida |
| Year | : 2017-2021 |
| Volumes | : 14 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 163 Chapters |
Perhaps, Kensuke Nishida found Homunculus then fascinated by the Symbol and based a power system of off it. A Nietzschean works that deals with the ambivalence of moral righteousness. Quite triggering for some part. Has many sex panels. Regardless, it’s an action packed manga. 6.8/10.
Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction
| Author | : Inio Asano |
| Year | : 2014-2022 |
| Volumes | : 12 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 100 Chapters |
Cute, seemingly slice-of-life manga with apocalyptic premise, that talks about the mundane alienation and at the same time, an allegory of colonization under drastically different circumstances. The depiction of familiar mass unrests is a little too close to home, since it provides excruciatingly grounded sociological pattern under current regime of late capitalism. It is way past hopeful in a radical sense, but laying out a glimpse of individual’s psyche under said conditions through characters’ senses. Turns into mecha invasion at the end, which is awesome. 9.6/10.
Fire Punch
| Author | : Tatsuki Fujimoto |
| Year | : 2016-2018 |
| Volumes | : 8 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 83 Chapters |
A peculiar post-apocalyptic supernatural-meta story of a monomythic ‘hero’. Tatsuki Fujimoto indeed cannot write a ‘normal’ story. You can sense the perfect despair in this manga, much like Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia with a very conclusive ending. I can’t say much about this manga, except I am liking the weird humor Fujimoto brought here. 8.8/10.
Hell’s Paradise 地獄楽
| Author | : Yuji Kaku |
| Year | : 2018-2021 |
| Volumes | : 13 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 127 Chapters |
Unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender anime, the balance here were depicted in a much more ambiguous way. Yuji Kaku problematize (inner) balance as a weapon, in which the good and the bad depends entirely on the hands of the wielder. Despite started off with very auster demarcation of sinners and executioners, by the end of the story (which lasts five nights in the narrative!), all those demarcations are blurred in the name of survival. A very tragic shōnen with lots of body count. 8.2/10.
The Promised Neverland
| Author | : Kaiu Shirai, illustrated by Posuka Demizu |
| Year | : 2016-2020 |
| Volumes | : 20 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 181 Chapters |
If I am going vegan, is because of this manga. A survival ‘what-if’ manga that takes a sci-fi trope in somewhat prominent premise in manga. This psychological horror manga mainly deals with the survival and (literal) dogs-eat-dogs world while discussing about the motivation and interest behind every convoluted characters. Emma’s morality and her justification is annoying and pandering though, through and through. 6.7/10.
Tokyo Revengers
| Author | : Ken Wakui |
| Year | : 2017-2022 |
| Volumes | : 31 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 278 Chapters |
A perfect shōnen for 15 years old anywhere. Not much to say about this time-travelling gangster manga, except it’s a lazy attempt to paint a character with flaws that tries to fix everything with very convenient plot device. Incredibly corny and cliché ending. 5.4/10.
Demon Slayer 鬼滅の刃
| Author | : Koyoharu Gotouge |
| Year | : 2016-2020 |
| Volumes | : 23 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 205 Chapters |
A perfect shōnen for everyone! A very realistic portrayal of struggle and development that justly hypes up it’s main villain. A lesson on camaraderie and complex yet simplistically told character development. Very imaginative power system, a fitting aesthetics with unlikely background (Taishō and Sengoku Era). Befitting ends, satisfying and yet not particularly corny. 8.5/10.
Fire Force 炎炎ノ消防隊
| Author | : Atsushi Ohkubo |
| Year | : 2015-2022 |
| Volumes | : 34 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 304 Chapters |
An alternative retelling of Socratean Cave Allegory. Despite it’s fantastical nature, the power system here pushes me to learn physics further, especially regarding the heat transfer and the nature of reality. I cannot recommend enough to read Sette brevi lezioni di fisica (2014) by Carlo Rovelli after reading this manga. The fan service in this manga, though, is excessive (but somehow, Ohkubo finds the space to problematize the connection between prudeness and fascism). 7.5/10.
The Black Swindler クロサギ
| Author | : Takeshi Natsuhara |
| Year | : 2003-2008 |
| Volumes | : 20 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 152 Chapters |
A revenge and detective story that is not particularly timeless because of the technologically and litigically bound plot device. Very fun read, not much to talk about except as an illustration of ethics and law that follows. 8/10.
Ouroboros 警察ヲ裁クハ我ニアリ
| Author | : Kanzaki Yuya |
| Year | : 2009-2016 |
| Volumes | : 24 Volumes |
| Chapters | : 144 Chapters |
A revenge story with interesting premise; two brothers infiltrating police institution and yakuza organization to avenge the dead of their mother figure. Alas, the pacing is not particularly good. Could be developed into much more intricate stories. An introductory seinen to question what is morally and typically good and evil and how it’s embodiment in society is inherently problematic. 7.8/10.
I haven’t stop reading comics, mangas, graphic novel, and illustrated books since I can read at 5½ years old. But, I only read these mangas (again) after 2020. I took 5 years hiatus of reading manga (2015-2020) because it was exhausting to follow so many running titles. At those years, I have read some interesting western works like Alan Moore, Mark Miller, and Frank Miller. Now that I have read few completed titles, I am going to follow through and dig some of the interesting titles out there. And maybe, a one shot and a completed spin-off of current running mangas.
The current titles I am subscribed to are also interesting to talk about. Maybe someday I will write how One Piece by Eiichiro Oda is an incredible Marxist work; how Jujutsu Kaisen is a quintessential shōnen that has very intriguing power system and gives zero fuck to world-building in general; how Dandadan, above all those cryptid and yōkai, is a romance manga; how Kaiju No.8 is how Pacific Rim should be written; how Sakamoto Days is much funnier (although, to be fair, not as good-looking and satire-induced) than One-Punchman; how Tekken Chinmi is much more action-packed and whimsical version of Vagabond; how I couldn’t say anything yet about Kagura Bachi.
But that would be another posts, if I have the time and resources to write. Hehe.
Kasat Kata Kultur 
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