Manga Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [Week 46]

So, this marks the first full week we have been open for business here at ani.social/c/manga and I couldn't be happier. I have been genuinely surprised at how much the community has grown in such a short time. I figured it would be a month of me posting by myself before anybody noticed or cared enough to make a post or comment in the community. Such is the harsh nature of discoverability in the Fediverse. However, it took less than 24 hours before somebody else posted.

As for reading manga this past week, a couple things I wanted to highlight:

• I have lately been enjoying Nagatoro. It is a series that has its good spells and bad spells, but this arc in which Senpai and Nagatoro are both working on improving themselves to overcome the challenges placed before them feels very satisfying. I expect the next couple chapters to be very consequential to the story. If nanashi undoes all the progress made during this arc, then I don't see how it could ever recover. It would just become the next Rent a GF at that point.
• I feel like Tonikaku Kawaii is wandering through the narrative wilderness at the moment. It started to have some interesting tie-ins between Nasa's childhood and an incident in the past with Tsukasa, but left it completely aside for a whole different story set in ancient times with Tsukasa. Like, the situation they were setting up was interesting, let's get back to that. Hopefully soon.

I wanted to also highlight a couple series that I started recently that I have been really enjoying.

• Firstly, "When Trying to Get Back at the Hometown Bullies, Another Battle Began" or "Jimoto no Ijimekko-tachi ni Shikaeshi Shiyou to Shitara, Betsu no Tatakai ga Hajimatta" (MD link) has been a lot of fun. The "twist" in chapter 1 is pretty obvious, but the twist in chapter 2 is the interesting one. So far, all the characters are likeable and no typical harem drama hijinks. Definitely recommend if you are interested after the first two chapters.
• Next is "Shinigami Ramen" (MD Link). It's about an overworked salaryman that wants to die and a shinigami that kills people by feeding them her deadly ramen. It's cute and I am looking forward to where it goes next after the introduction of Udon to the cast of characters.
• Finally, "Yuusha to Yobareta Nochi ni: Soshite Musou Otoko wa Kazoku wo Tsukuru" (MD Link). It is about a hero that slayed the demon king and grew so powerful that he became distrusted by humans. He was sent to the edge of the world to conquer the most powerful dragon in the hope that he died. Instead, he settles down and starts living with the dragon. This is a pretty wholesome, fluffy series about family life, but everybody in the family is obscenely strong like Saitama or Ainz. I have been really enjoying it so far, especially after the newest addition to the family.

Finally, if you have any questions for me, either speaking as a moderator or just as a random internet person, I am happy to answer here.

I just finished Oshimi Shuuzou's Chi no Wadachi a few days ago. I actually had no idea I was reading the last chapter until I finished. It was a pretty slow and anti-climactic end which was satisfying enough considering how it closely reflects Seiichi's relationship with his mother in the final volume. The entire story was a rollercoaster ride anyway so the ease-out gave it a fair touch of balance. Unlike Takao and Nakamura in Aku no Hana (also by Oshimi Shuuzou), there was little to hope for in Seiichi's life as the answer is already given to us.

Now I started Shiruka Bakaudon's (very brutal) Kimi ni Aisarete Itakatta. I'm not sure where this is going but the fact that this is written by a woman makes it really interesting.