Manga Librarian
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My goal is to help school librarians in the US understand the medium a little better and make more educated purchasing decisions. The goal of this blog is to provide information. I myself am very liberal in my purchasing of manga, and really just work to make sure there's nothing present that is offensive or explicit.
Manga Librarian
1M ago
Is there a review you’d like to see me prioritize or a topic you really need me to cover? Fill out this survey to give me an idea of what manga, light novels, or manhwa I should review next!
I really do take this seriously and prioritize what is put in these surveys. It’s super important to me that I’m helping you to create access for your readers, learners, and patrons ..read more
Manga Librarian
1M ago
Title: A Sign of Affection
Volume: 1
Mangaka: suu Morishita
Translator: Christine Dashiell
US Publisher: Kodansha
Age Relevance: High School & Up (Based on later volumes and age of protagonists)
How Essential Is It?: Essential
Curricular Connections?: SEL, Language Learning, Cultural Connections
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Deaf Identity, Language Learning, Romance
Anime: Crunchyroll
Content Warnings: Drinking, Ableism (as experienced by Yuki)
Publisher Synopsis: Yuki, who’s always been deaf, is used to communicating with sign language and her phone. B ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Chainsaw Man
Mangaka: Tatsuki Fujimoto
US Publisher: Viz Media / Shonen Jump
Status: Ongoing- Now in Part II
Age Relevance: Upper High School and Up
How Essential Is It?: Must Have
Curricular Connections?: Independent Reading
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Horror, Action
Anime: Crunchyroll
Content Warnings: Gore, suicide, death, sexual innuendos, cannibalism, groping
Publisher Synopsis: Denji’s a poor young man who’ll do anything for money, even hunting down devils with his pet devil Pochita. He’s a simple man with simple dreams, drowning under a mountain of ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Shuna’s Journey
Mangaka: Hayao Miyazaki
US Publisher: First Second
Status: Complete (Single Volume)
Age Relevance: Elementary and Up
How Essential Is It?: Must Have
Curricular Connections?: Folk Tales, Independent Reading
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Folk tale, Tibet, Studio Ghibli
Content Warnings: Slavery, some thematic violence.
Publisher Synopsis:
From legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki comes Shuna’s Journey, a new manga classic about a prince on a quest for a golden grain that would save his land, never before published in English!
Shuna, the princ ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Villians Are Destined to Die
Creators: SUOL (artist), Gwon Gyeoeul (writer), David Odell (translator)
US Publisher: IZE Press / Tapas (Ongoing chapters)
Status: Ongoing
Age Relevance: High School and Up
How Essential Is It?: Nice to Have
Curricular Connections?: Independent Reading
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Isekai, Romance, Reverse Harem, Otome Game, Villainess
Content Warnings: Child abuse, bullying, slavery, violence against women
Publisher Synopsis: In the Easy Mode of Daughter of the Duke Love Project!, you play as Ivonne, the duke’s long-lost daught ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Horimiya
Mangaka: HERO, Daisuke Hagiwara
US Publisher: Yen Press
Status: Ongoing (Complete in Japan, should complete soon in US at 16 volumes)
Age Relevance: Middle school and up
How Essential Is It?: Must Have
Curricular Connections?: Independent reading.
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Romance, humor, relationships, friendships
Anime: Crunchyroll
Live-Action: Not available for streaming in US, but you can see the trailer HERE.
Content Warnings: Some mild suggestions of teenage intimacy.
Publisher Synopsis: A sweet “”aww””-inspiring tale of school life begins!! At ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Drip, Drip
Mangaka: Paru Itagaki
US Publisher: VIZ Media
Status: Complete (Oneshot)
Age Relevance: Adult
How Essential Is It?: Nice to Have
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Feminism, gender relations, sexuality
Content Warnings: Gore, sexual content, generational trauma
Publisher Synopsis: Whenever Mako Higari comes in contact with something she perceives as dirty, she gets a massive nosebleed. How can she find a loving partner and commit to a meaningful intimate relationship when just touching another person makes her bleed out? Especially when most of the men she ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Dandadan
Mangaka: Yukinobu Tatsu
US Publisher: VIZ Media (Shonen Jump)
Status: Ongoing
Age Relevance: Adult
How Essential Is It?: Nice to Have
Curricular Connections?: Not relevant to school collections; please select other titles! My suggestions: Assassination Classroom, Mob Psycho 100, One Punch Man
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Aliens, humor, ecchi, absurdist
Content Warnings: Sexual assault, crude humor, some violence.
Publisher Synopsis: Momo Ayase strikes up an unusual friendship with her school’s UFO fanatic, whom she nicknames “Okarun” because he has a na ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
Title: Cat + Gamer (猫暮らしのゲーマーさん, Nekogurashi no Gēmā-san)
Mangaka: Wataru Nadatani
US Publisher: Dark Horse
Status: Ongoing
Age Relevance: Elementary & Up
How Essential Is It?: Must Have (According to Me)
Curricular Connections?: Independent reading.
Reader’s Advisory Tags: Video games, cats, female protagonists, humor.
Content Warnings: None!
Publisher Synopsis:
Riko, a twenty-nine-year-old office worker with an obsession for video games, finds her quiet life upended when she takes in a stray cat in this adorable manga series!
Her coworkers can’t quite figure ..read more
Manga Librarian
1y ago
These posts on video games and manga are co-written with Matthew Hawkins, a librarian and video game expert with a decades-long resume as a journalist, developer, and curator of video game-related art. As you might gather from the name, Matt is also my husband.
Video game adaptations and manga about video games are such a significant subset of manga that I will actually be breaking them down into two parts. This post will discuss only manga that adapts existing video games. In the following long post that will come this Saturday, I will discuss manga that has video game elements or utilizes vi ..read more