Hello,
I might be a manga translator, but it's been a hot minute since I last actually looked around for something to read.
So what're you all reading?
I'll be picking Youkai Izakaya back up in a month or so when I have the time, it's a Nonoco work and is kind of cute / funny.
I'm partial towards Wakamono no Kuromahou since I did the bulk of the translation before I pissed enough chuds off that they had a concerted effort to snipe me. It's charming and has a bunch of lefty themes to it which is why I translated it... but it certainly has... Japanese tastes.
My last big binge read was Majo no Geboku to Maou no Tsuno, which happens to be one of the most sincere and thoughtful explorations of gender in a world with transformation magic. The action is in service to the plot and the characters are all distinctly human feeling. Its light hearted, funny, and generally sweet. 10/10 manga would reccomend.
The big series I'm following rn though would be The 100 Girlfriends who Really Really Really Really Really Love You. I'm working on a bit where its the post-scarcity Harem manga but it is really funny and all the characters are great. The plot is a hella schlock-y but that isn't really the point, all the characters are cute as hell and the gags are pretty funny, I'm surprised Kusuri's character didn't get them banned though. Too many drug references including Meth by name. The series is about 40 chapters deep and 10 GFs in and it is still holding up very well. 10/10(0 girlfriends) as well but in a different category as the last one.
I've been reading some Junji Ito, just finished Tomie now I'm reading Uzumaki. Also started reading Gantz again after taking a long break from it earlier this year.
Not a big manga reader, but I've gotta give big praise to Vinland Saga, that series is the bomb and everyone should read it. It starts as pretty typical shonen shit, I used the edgy violence of the first 55 chapters to attract my Berserk reading cousin but it's post chapter 55 that the series really gets good. It's not every series that manages to properly address the personal trauma that your typical shonen protagonist goes through, almost casually, but Vinland manages it pretty well I think.
Been going through Billy Bat again, used to be my least favourite Urasawa work but I'm starting to appreciate it more on a reread. Always thought the premise of the manga is fuckin amazing though
As for ongoing manga, I've been really enjoying Sousou no Frieren and Dungeon Meshi, the latter being probably hands-down my favorite fantasy manga. Weird how a D&D-inspired cooking manga somehow ended up being more well thought-out and exciting than actual fantasy stories lol. AoT seems to be reaching its climax too, looking forward to seeing people on /a/ SEETHE that it didn't go full fash like they wanted.
I was wondering if the scanlation credits in Wakamono no Kuromahou were made by a chapo :fidel-salute:
I've been going through the Something Awful wholesome isekai thread. I'm pretty ill so I'll read almost any isekai trash, but I do prefer the nice/happy/goofy/meta ones.
Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon (necromancer's RPG skelly reincarnated as a necromancer's RPG skelly)
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (a very powerful onesie leads to cute and violent shenanigans).
The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic ( if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball applied to healing magic)
I still get random angry messages from CHUDS. Best shitpost value for effort I've found yet. I live on - rent free to this day.
With a joke premise like a Putin-lookalike, president of fictional Russia who love to ride on animals being transported to fantasy world where he never ran out of cool fantasy animals to ride on, Ride-on King somehow end up being one of the best isekai/fantasy manga out there. The art is great, the worldbuilding is fantastic, characters are quirky and have depth to them, no harem bullshit. No idea why the manga artist have to make the MC look like Putin tho, really shaft the manga chance of ever getting a anime.
Literally 1 chapter of it. Should I pick it up? (Is it close to the end?)
I would, it's a classic and still being released. There's a joke that the author never publishes, and there's like 6 months between chapters now, the series has like 330 insanely detailed chapters.
I'm still waiting on the next Hunter x Hunter chapter after a year, and you want to put this on me? I can't.
Bruh I swear the author is going to kick it way before it actually finishes.
HxH is going to end in the same way :( . It's some of his best work to this date too. (I am including all of Yu Yu Hakusho)
Mairimashita Iruma-Kun was cute, though there was a translation group that picked it up at a point that was absolute shit.
Mairimashita Iruma-Kun
Not really looking for cutesy stuff. I want heavily subversive stuff at the moment.
Found this cursed oneshot: https://mangadex.org/title/47255/what-has-happened-to-me-the-story-of-an-uyghur-man-who-now-lives-in-japan
The series I translated for a while, Wakamono no Kuromahou was an allegory for Black Companies, though I'd warn you it's extremely horny and in ways that'd probably get me canceled if people actually read it.
I'm trying to find one I read a while back about political intrigue in the after-war period, it was pretty good.
