Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Katsuhiro Otomo’s Domu continues his fascination with abnormal powers in the hands of unstable characters that wreck havoc all around them. The apartment block serves as an interesting backdrop to the mental and psychological battles waged between the crotchety antagonist and his youthful nemesis. These cat and mouse conflicts are heightened by the fact that the population of the apartment complex are threatened as collateral damage, which makes for great edge-of-your-seat reading.

Read it here.

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Asano’s stories would drip with cliché and hackneyed nonsense in another author’s hands; they are so ripe for rolling your eyes at. But Solanin is fresh, adult, funny, compelling and emotional. It manages to roll up those moments of our early twenties into two volumes of heart-felt drama presented in what is now a typically Asano fashion.

Read it here.

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

With this manga we have a master storyteller breezing through an intriguing backdrop, occasionally threatening to descend into cliche, but avoiding it enough to become an entertaining romp through the world of women’s baseball in post-war Japan. The stakes are high, the hopes and dreams of a nation rest on the left arm of a woman, can tetsuwan girl carry the burden?

Read it here.

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Takehiko Inoue’s Real is his most mature and accomplished work. You won’t find constant court action here with secret techniques powering up people. This is a tale about three young men, the issue of disability in Japan, and of course basketball.

Read it here.

Originally posted at myanimelist.net.

Fuyumi Soryo is an intelligent writer. Her use of all the tropes of high school based manga feels refreshing, and her focus on mental, emotional instability and psychological scars is fascinating and compelling. It’s assisted through the use of contemplative dialogue and characters interacting to move the plot forward, rather than the plot conspiring in convoluted or clichéd ways to move the characters.

Read it here.