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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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