Wow!!! I know a bit about this magazine but never really researched it. Was this expected, or was the magazine (from all appearances) still going okay? (if anyone knows about this magazine?)
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来世は他人がいい (Yakuza Fiance) by 小西 明日翔
Genres: Drama, Crime, Romance, Shojo, Thriller, Romantic-Thriller, Crime-Thriller, Shojo-Thriller
Triggers: Violence, Toxic Relationships (MCs), Allusions to Sexual Assault (non-MCs)
Background on the artist:
Konishi-sensei is a mangaka who originally got her start by, no kidding, blowing up on pixiv because she was addicted to Fate/Zero and kept posting Fate/Zero fanart on there and she got noticed! She has been going strong as a professional mangaka for almost ten years now!
She had a big hit in shojo comics, Haru’s Curse, which reached #2 on the yearly Shojo manga recommendation ranking! I’ll get into this later, but when I was reading Yakuza Fiance, I just couldn’t shake the Shojo vibes!
Haru’s Curse was a short series, but Yakuza Fiance has been going on for over six years now, and has been a big success, ranking 8 on the men’s manga recommendation list, and winning a manga manga award back in 2018! There is also an anime coming soon I believe!
Manga Summary:
“Yoshino has always been treated differently because she is the granddaughter of Osaka’s biggest mafia boss, so everyone is afraid of her and she has never had a boyfriend. One day her grandfather tries to engage her with a boy of her age, Kirishima: he is intelligent, calm, kind, and… grandson of another great mobster. In spite of everything, she decides to go live with Kirishima in Tokyo and begins to take an interest in him, but what will she do when she finds out that he is not only part of the Mafia, but is also a masochist?” (From Mangadex)
![ART] Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii - Volume 8 Cover : r/manga](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/b/5/a/b5a93fea7ac2c656850f1aafaf6f8abf49278bc3.jpeg)
I want to summarize this story, but I feel like its impossible for me to do so in an objective way, like I normally do before going into my feelings about it. So, I’m going to apologize in advance, my summary is going to be a bit… weird?
Sean’s Thoughts/Should You Read This?:
This work is like a whirlpool, one that you slowly get caught in and are dragged to the depths of the ocean, with no control or agency about where you end up. When it started, I was put off by the premise. A masochist pseudo-Yakuza gets into a relationship with the main character, and this relationship seems toxic as fuck? Which, uh, yeah, it is. It really is, and in universe it is acknowledged as being toxic and bad, but there are circumstances that are beyond their control. And I will say, it does get better. Yeah miss me with that shit.
But here is the strange thing. I couldn’t put this manga down. I binged it all in one night. I finished all the volumes I had, then bought the other volumes, then finished those and got caught up via the magazines. This manga is, well, addicting.
I don’t mean addicting like exciting addicting, or even fun addicting, but addicting in the sense of I was completely absorbed into the world of the story.
That probably seems very strange. ‘Sean’, you might be asking, ‘haven’t you read a lot of good manga with better world building, more fascinating settings, and a more creative premise? Weren’t those more addicting, with a better world to be absorbed in?’
Well, I definitely have, and I’m not claiming this story is revolutionary, but rarely do I get so obsessed with catching up with a manga like I did with this one. I can’t really fully explain it, which I am rambling like this.
Okay, let me try.
When I was a young manga reader, all I had access to was my local library, as I wasn’t allowed to use the internet by myself yet. So, I went to the library, and read even single manga they had. Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei, genre and decade of release didn’t matter. I was hooked, I was hungry for manga.
During that time I read a lot of manga I never would have normally read, including a lot of Shojo manga, like Cardcaptor Sakura, Fruits Basket, Vampire Game, and many more.
And some of those manga titles have left my brain, or the stories have converged into each other so many times I can’t remember. But I distinctly remember the vibe, the feeling that I was entering someone else’s world, and the danger was not from an outsider enemy like the other villians I read about at the time like Orochimaru in Naruto or Aizen in Bleach or Naruka or whatever his name is in Inuyasha, but the villian, the source of conflict, was between two people in a relationship. There is no obvious answer, there is no solution. Just a miasma of adult feelings and contradictions and warnings and safety and love and lust and hesitation and expectation. Its a feeling I only really get from reading certain Shojo manga, so I haven’t experienced it in ages. But when I read this manga, that feeling all came rushing back. And that feeling is fascinating, it is intoxicating, it is addicting.
I don’t understand why this manga works. Okay, I understand the basics. The art is beautiful, like truly amazingly drawn in this chic modern shojo style that is absolute eye-candy, with stylish outfits and makeovers for the characters, but that doesn’t hesitate from twisting their faces to portray the ugly emotions they are feeling. The writing can flip from being this ultra-casual, natural conversation about daily things, to aggressive swearing and proclamations of badassery (especially from our Main Girl). I get all of those, but I don’t get why I care about the relationship between these two characters, and why I care what happens to them. All I know is, I do. I want to know what happens. I desperately want to see the next chapter to know how things are going to turn out.
For some people, this manga is probably a masterpiece.
For some people, this manga is probably trash.
I don’t know what it is for me, all I know is that I desperately want to know what happens next.
TLDR:
You shouldn’t read this if:
- You need to stay away from toxic or ambigiuously toxic relationships in media
- You need to stay away from the darker themes this story engages with
- You want something light and fluffy and consumable, like popcorn made out of cotton candy. If Komi-san is cotton candy popcorn, then this is shochu mixed with gasoline.
You should read this if:
- You want a thrilling romance
- You want something out of your normal wheelhouse
- You want a story that is intoxicating to read
- You want something exciting and dynamic for your next story, but want to stay in the domain of realistic manga before going into fantasy
- You want jump up to reading an language-approachable no-furigana manga, but don’t want something light or fantastical
Read the first chapter for free here!
If you have read this, tell me what you think of it! I know that this was a weird write-up, sorry for that!
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the only yakuza fiance i ever need
…i’ll add it to the list. sometimes you just need that stuff to burn you up inside
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All I can say is, I’m addicted to your reviews, I just want to know what will come next.
Like this, OMG can you paint a picture with words!
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Truly the only fiance the world needs!
Glad to hear it! Would love to hear your thoughts after you’ve read it when you get around to it!
AHHHH OMG You are too ncie!!! Thank you!!! 
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スキップとローファー (Skip and Loafer) by Misaki Takamatsu
Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Friendship, Coming of Age, Romance, Iyashikei, LGBTQ
Triggers: Ummm, none that I could find tbh
Manga Summary:
"Iwakura Mitsumi always had big dreams, of leaving her small town, advancing to a top tier university, and then contributing to the country before retiring back to her home town. So focused is she on her goal that she is oblivious to all the other ways she comes up short, much to the chagrin and concern of her friends and family. Can a naive country girl make it in Tokyo?” (From Mangadex)
If you read my last write-up on Yakuza Fiance, you might remember how… kind of messed up and intoxicating it was, and how I had a hard time expressing exactly how it made me feel or what was good about it. Well…
Skip and Loafer is almost the exact opposite of Yakuza Fiance or is it?... It is a series all about joy and celebration of the little victories, or growing up and making mistakes but the experience of those mistakes becomes the joy and growth of our characters in this nice satisfying way. It is Iyashikei through and through, though with just a hint of underlying drama that keeps the story interesting and engaging. Its so peace and nice, like being under the warm covers while your house is freezing. If you need a brain break, and some nice cheery dopamine, I think this would be an excellent read for you!
Or watch, since there is a recent anime that came out (I think on Netflix), that I have only seen bits of pieces of, but both my wife and my students love it, and frmo what I’ve seen, its captures the manga very well! Maybe watch it in Japanese with Japanese subs!
As a quick tangent, I am going to argue that Yakuza Fiance and Skip and Loafer are two sides of the same coin. Yeah, stay with me for a sec. Though feel free to skip if you think it becomes too obnoxious lol.
To do this comparison properly, I am even going to ignore the basic similarities, which are:
- Headstrong Female Lead
- Male Lead who has a near opposite personality to the MC, but has one similar trait (Skip and Loafer is the good vibes, in YF it is their tenacity)
- Romance story about high schoolers
- Nominally Seinen manga in the same magazine But secretly Shojo manga
Rather, I think they are similar because they represent what I feel are the two sides of realistic Shojo manga. The Bright and the Dark.
Skip and Loafer is Bright. It is happiness, without being devoid of sadness of other emotions, but happiness that sprouts form overcoming and accepting the sadness and little difficulties and awkwardness that pop up in our every lives. It is a Bright light, that has some darker spots in it, but is still overflowing in its light. It is addicting through sheer pure innocent dopamine derived from seeing the happiness of others.
Yakuza Fiance is Dark. It is a bloody knife fight twisted into a romance manga. It is about destruction and pain and violence and a whirlwind of misfortune. It is Dark, where the Darkness encompasses everything, and you become sucked into the infinite dark. In that dark, the positive moments shine like stars in the night sky, they contrast with everything else, and in that way, become precious and endearing, even though they are surrounded by Darkness.
They are both addicting, with Skip and Loafer being the candy sugar high versus Yakuza Fiance’s drunken one night stand with your ex. It just depends what you are in the mood for.
And right now, I’m in the mood for some simple joy with friends.
Sean’s Thoughts/Should You Read This?:
Gosh, this feels so weird to write something so short after how rambling and personal Yakuza Fiance got.
I wrote that sentence before going back and ranting about both series! Whoops! Sorry about that! 
But yeah, you should definitely read/watch this. Like Skip and Loafer is really really really really good. Its simple fun, but written by an adult who knows what growing up is like. The language is also really approachable, its a Natively 22 I think, so if you are looking for a seinen manga to easily jump into, this would be the best one I can think of!
TLDR:
You shouldn’t read this if:
- You need constant drama and action
- Thats it. This is really a non-offensive manga, I think most people can enjoy it!
You should read this if:
- You want jump up to reading an language-approachable no-furigana manga
- You want a VERY SLOW BURN romance
- You want a story that is sweet and easy to read
Read the first chapter for free here!
If you have read this, tell me what you think of it! I know that this was a weird write-up, sorry for that!
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This looks like a nice series for brain breaks! Also L22 is not too bad… I’ll probably add this one to the list 
Also you’ve gotten me so curious about Yakuza fiance
I like your writeups!
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天国大魔境 (Heavenly Delusion by 石黒正数
Genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Mystery, LGBT, Post-Apocalypse, Psychological
Triggers: Sexual Assault, murder, violence
Background on the artist:
Masakazu Ishiguro is a veteran mangaka, mostly known for his comedies that have science fiction influences, mainly And Yet the Town Moves, and extremely quirky, for lack of a better word, slice of life story about a girl working in a maid cafe where all kinds of crazy shit happens. It was maid (haha get it) into an anime by Shaft back in 2010. Considering Akiyuki Shinbo directed it, it might be well worth the watch (if anyone has seen it, let me know!)
However, his biggest accomplishment is 天国大魔境, also known as heavenly delusion. It is a series that is both niche, and incredibly critically acclaimed. It has frequently topped lists of best manga for men in the past few years, and its anime adapation by Production IG was one of the most beloved anime of 2023. Once again, I feel weird talking about a manga that had such a famous anime adaptation, but if I can convince anyone to read this masterpiece of a story, the time would be well worth it! So lets dive in!
Manga Summary:
“In the outside world, 15 years have passed since an unprecedented disaster completely destroyed modern civilization. A group of children live in a facility isolated from the outside world. One day, one of them, a kid named Tokio, receives a message that says “Do you want to go outside of the outside?” Mimihime, another girl who lives in the same facility, has a prediction and tells the upset Tokio that two people will come from the outside to save her, one of whom has the same face as her, while the director of the school tells her that the outside world is Hell. Meanwhile, a boy named Maru, who looks just like Tokio, is traveling through this devastated Japan with a girl named Kiruko, in search of Heaven.” (From Wikipedia)
Okay, so quick explanation. I knew I was going to like this manga, it seemed right up my alley just from the vibes, the tags, and the critical acclaim the anime was getting. So, I was really hyped to get into this, but, I kind of had a slightly overwhelming desire/need to finish all of Gundam SEED/Destiny, so I had put off reading/watching it until I finished that. I put off all spoilers and tried to go in completely blind, and thus I hope not to spoil anything for you. It was long and hard to avoid the spoilers…
But oh god, was it worth the wait.
If I had to summarize this story in the simplest possible way, imagine if Katsuhiro Otomo (the director of Akira) decided to remake The Promised Neverland in his own style and vision, and set it in Japan, and make it for adults.
Yeah. That’s Heavenly Delusion. And its fucking great.
And yes, that is all I’m going to say about the plot. Knowing anything more will just spoil your enjoyment of the series, because the twists and turns this story takes are absolutely top-notch. I am not someone who makes sounds while I read, but I kept audibly gasping and shouting OH MY GOD! as I read along. This story is a journey that should not be spoiled in any way. All I will say is that unlike TPN, this story gets even better and addicting over time!!!
While the art might be hit or miss for some people, I found the character designs to be much more realistic and empathetic than standard anime fair. The monster designs are creative and distinct, though they show up rarely enough that they shouldn’t be a big draw of the series. The art, imo, is quite good, especially the designs for the technology and the more fantastical elements.
However, its the writing that really stands out. God damn this is such a well-crafted story, with amazing set up and payoff, that doesn’t treat its audience like children. I literally stayed awake last night in bed, comtemplating the fate of one of the characters, slowly realizing just how everything had been constructed perfectly, but it was left to my mind to notice all the subtle details. Literally I have not a story mess with my head like this before. It is so intricately woven together! Cannot recommend the writing enough!!
Sean’s Thoughts/Should You Read This?:
Okay, I will give this the biggest compliment I can say about a series, because of how rare it is. This is a big deal in my household.
My wife read this manga.
That, alone, is absolutely shocking to me.
I got her to watch the anime with me because I had been looking forward to it and wanted to share it with her, though I worried it might not be her cup of tea. Here is a quick timeline of what happened:
At the end of episode 1, she liked it but wasn’t sure if she loved it.
At the end of episode 5, she was super into it
At the end of Episode 10, this was now her 3rd favorite anime of all time.
At the end of Episode 13, she begged me to get her the manga so she could keep going with the story. Not only did she read it, she BINGED it on the same day we watched it.
For reference on how big a deal this is, in the last 12 years of her life, she has read exactly ONE manga. It was Pluto, and it was only because I begged her to. This is the first time she has EVER wanted to read a manga for her own sake.
This continues to blow my mind. I know it probably doesn’t mean much to y’all, but to me, this is phenomenal.
Like I sad before, I don’t want to say much about this series, but I really want you to experience it as blindly as possible. Of course, if you have watched/read it, I’d love to discuss it, but lets make sure we use spoiler tags!
Lets go on this adventure together!
TLDR:
You shouldn’t read this if:
- You don’t like looking up some unusual nouns (in reading in Japanese)
- You need something chill to pass the time. This is a slowish burn but it is a BURN more than its slow
- you didn’t read the trigger tags closely enough, because there is a pretty controversial thing that happens that some people might want to stay far away from
You should read this if:
- you like any form of science fiction or dystopian fiction
- you want to read a story with a great mystery that puts the onus on you to figure things out
- you want something completely different than 98% of anime and manga
- you have gotten addicted to watching urban exploring videos recently
- you want to be challenged with difficult moral questions and ideas, and what a work of fiction that doesn’t shy away from harsh realities.
I personally think you should start with the anime because it is excellent, but feel free to start with chapter 1 of the manga!
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Huh. Been reading that one in English. Did not know it had an anime. (Though to be fair, I haven’t had my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the anime world in a fair while…)
Hol’ up. Tokio is meant to be a girl the whole time? In my reading of the English version, it felt like a massive plot twist when it came up at the end of volume 4, though I’m not sure here if the difference here is “English version” or “my reading”.
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I’m not sure exactly, since in the anime its pretty obvious due to her voice, but I do remember the gender being vaguely ambiguous, so maybe I just don’t remember it being a reveal. I had gotten the summary from Wikipedia, but just in case to avoid spoilers I have now changed it. Good catch!
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Howdy team!
Don’t worry, I’m not dead!
All is good on my end, just the culmination of a lot of things (graduation, job searches, getting ready to move back to America, other life stuff). I’m honestly pretty busy, but I’ve still been reading! I’ve found I’m much faster if I don’t wait to start the next series after writing about the current one. I’ve actually already caught up on another 6 manga series for Monthly Afternoon already, and I’m having a blast!
For the rest of Afternoon, I’m going to try to read most/all the works I’m planning to read first, and then write when I have more free time at work. This should help me get through the magazine faster, as well as let me take more time and thought when writing, instead of trying to force a write-up so I can move onto reading the next manga.
This basically means I’ll probably be on the DL for the next few weeks in this thread, and then there will be posts nearly every day for a couple of weeks haha.
So, sorry for the lack of responses, but I’ll be back in full force! I’ll still check the threads and such every day!
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I love Blue Period
I second all you’ve said on it 
(but I haven’t tried to read it in japanese for now)
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Good times, I hope it’s all going well!
Sounds like a plan to decouple the reading from the write-ups! Sometimes I see things like that too and it’s amazing how much of a difference it can make to not gate one activity by another if it’s not necessary!
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Wow time really does fly!!
I haven’t realized that its been over a month since I posted here. My sense of time is completely warped.
Good News: The Afternoon Reading Project is Going Smoothly
Bad News: There is still a bit to go! But I will persevere! I am loving basically all of the manga in this magazine, its clearly becoming my favorite magazine of all time. Like melt my brain omg these manga are so good and like I am traumatized from reading this manga and I’ll be up late at night contemplating mortality and loneliness and the purpose of art- but in a good way.
Anyway, I have some non-Afternoon related things to share, and since the purpose of this thread was for it to be a general manga-magazine sharing and discussion area, and not my personal pet project thread, I wanted to share some things with y’all! Hope that’s okay!
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I was wondering where you went, haha!
Share away
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WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY 65th Anniversary
Quick Background
WSS is probably secretly the second most famous manga magazine outside of Japan, at least in terms of its intellectual property. This is where Detective Conan, Frieren, Komi, Call of the Night, Tonikaku Kawaii, and the vast majority of the works of Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Urusei Yatsura) and Mitsuru Adachi (Touch, Katsu, Rough, Cross Game), two venerable gods of manga. In Japan, it is passed in sales by Weekly Shonen Magazine (probably due to gravure content) and of course, Weekly Shonen Jump.
I will be upfront, I really appreciate WSS. I think they have one of the strongest identities in the manga magazine world, especially among weekly publications (though WSJ is clearly the winner on that front). If Jump specializes in Battles and the power of Friendship, the Sunday is all about classic romantic comedies and good vibes. Fluffy, soft, friendly, approachable, Sunday is probably in theory my favorite weekly magazine. The only reason I haven’t gotten into it is because…
Sean's List of Excuses for Why He Hasn't Read WSS
A) Monthly Afternoon has consumed my free time, of which I have had precious little
B) Every free moment that hasn’t been consumed by MA has been consumed by my crippling Gundam obsession
C) Weekly Magazines are HARD to get into, at least for me. You have a lot of series to catch up on, and every week you don’t is a week you get behind. Japanese people have the problem less than me (they are much faster at reading), but there is one other solution.
DON’T TRY TO BE 100% CAUGHT UP IN EVERY MANGA. THIS IS NORMAL ADVICE AND HOW MOST PEOPLE READ MANGA MAGAZINES. UNFORTUNATELY FOR MY TIME AND SANITY, I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.
So, my solution is to take advantage of new series (and catch up to a select few when I can!)
So, I was walking through my local conbini, looking at the manga magazine covers as I always do. And what do I see but:
So it turns out, Weekly Shonen Sunday is having their 65th Anniversary this year!! (Also sorry for advance for my bad photography!)
And to celebrate it, they promise to bring five new manga series to their magazine, along with some one shots as well!
The new series are:
| Name | Release Issue | Premise |
|---|---|---|
| 写らないんです | 16th | Occult Camera and Boy Meets Girl (literally what it says lol) |
| ロッカロック | 19th | Rock music changes a boys life |
| ハイムのお仕事相談所 | 22nd/23rd | Isekai and Job story (again literally what it says) |
| 廻天のアルバス | 25th | Super fast fantasy?? No idea what that actually means |
| 古々路ひめるの全秘密 | 26th | Secrets in Entertainment?! (推しの子っぽい) |
This issue is actually from a few weeks ago, and is issue number 16. Here is the cover of issue 18, which contains the first of the new manga! I haven’t bought it or read it yet though!
Sean's Dumb No Good Very Bad Idea
So, I want to use this opportunity to get into reading Sunday! Because, you know, I can barely handle Afternoon, so this is probably a bad idea but yolo I guess
What makes this different from Afternoon and Grand Jump?
A) Its a Shonen Magazine, which means DELICIOUS DELIGHTFUL EASY TO READ FURIGANA!
B) Instead of binging every manga in the magazine like a crazy person, now is the perfect time to jump in with the new series!
So, what do y’all think? Any of the manga interest you??? Or any questions about Sunday overall? Now that the biggest issues in my life are calming down I have a job lined up for after my current contract ends woot woot! I should be back to my normal response/posting speed! Sorry for the hiatus!
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Conan, frieren, Komi in one magazine is enough to knock me out for good ngl
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Yeah, but something about Frieren holding Conan in her arms just looks… wrong, for some reason. Maybe it’s just the differing art styles trying to interact.
Komi should probably see her doctor about those thighs…
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Oh god I didn’t even notice those! What the actual fuck!
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