Make Mine Manga!

We interrupt our regular podcast topic (the many and nuanced jokes of Kung Pow! Enter the Fist) to talk about some manga. The normally prudish Stephen finds something to love in Food Wars, Aldo sneaks ahead in the reading, and John breaks out his Scottish accent. So a normal week, all in all.

Feels like it’s been ages, but we finally got back together to go over the next round of auditions. This month, the boys trial Green Green Greens, Tokyo Ghoul, and Food Wars, a series designed in a lab to, in equal parts, appeal to and repel Stephen especially. To find out which of the series we’re gonna pick up and run with, or to see if we select two and finally unseat Bakuman, give the whole ep...

John is away for work, so Stephen and Aldo indulge in (yet another) fantasy hobby: dream crafting a Magic: the Gathering set to pander to their most weebish sensibilities. And, hey, if they can design one set, why not 4?

Blade of the Moon Princess joins the ranks of the manga we’ve actually read to completion (now numbering two). And the climax was… pretty good, actually. But was it really about the destination, or, as Cyrus the Poet says, is it the climb? Also, we still really like Bakuman.  

This week continues our trend of willingness to discuss anything OTHER than Blade of the Moon Princess. It’s not that we hate it, but we ARE still quite enjoying Bakuman, and Tim Curry just died, and… One Piece? What are you doing here?

After what feels like a lengthy hiatus, we’re back to continue our journey through Bakuman and Blade of the Moon Princess. Both stories reveal big plot swerves, but which of those twists lands with a bang and which with a thud?

It’s moving day for Aldo, so John and Stephen fill in the schedule with a fun little game: robbery! We draft expert criminals, petty crooks, and the most obnoxious characters from movies, TV, and comics to see who can rob a fictional bank. Crime is bad. Don’t crime.

The Blade of the Moon Princess develops its world. The stakes rise, the cast expands, and the boys of the Make Mine Manga podcast find themselves questioning: do we even LIKE these people? Meanwhile, Bakuman continues to be good, in case you were wondering.

It’s a tale of two Kaguyas on the latest installment of Make Mine Manga! The Legend of the Bamboo Cutter gets a sci-fi glow-up in The Blade of the Moon Princess, and a more earthly Kaguya tries hard not to fall in love in Love is War. Also: vehicular manslaughter in Yu-Yu-Hakusho! Only one of these stories will be our next deep dive. Tune in to find out which!

This week, we say goodbye to Sakamoto Days after Stephen reads a chapter that actually moves his little heart. We also continue to flex our creative muscles by reading a book about creativity, which is almost the same as making stuff, right?

Neither technical difficulties nor the sniffoos will stop the men of Make Mine Manga from delivering a discussion on Bakuman and Sakamoto Days! The stakes are getting higher in both stories , the worlds are getting more expansive, and us? We’re in 100%. And also getting more expansive, but we’re making some lifestyle changes and hoping to get things back under control.

A day late, but we still have a quality podcast for you! After a successful audition, the boys of Bakuman have a new audience to impress: the fellows of the “Make Mine Manga!” podcast. How does Bakuman stack up against the other title were reading, the assassin slice-of-life comedy Sakamoto Days?

In another round of auditions, the boys accidentally read the entirety of Tite Kubo’s Burn the Witch! That narrows the competition for the next round of reading quite a bit. Will the boys stick with Yu-Gi-Oh or Bakuman?

Between heartfelt conversations about parenting (or the aversion thereto) and which real life celebrities had cartoons about them, the boys manage to finish reading The Emperor and I and tackle the next leg of Sakamoto Days. 

For the upcoming “holiday,” Stephen and Aldo continue their pressure campaign to get John to waste… just so much money. This week, the apple of temptation is the introduction of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Magic: The Gathering.

The boys’ adventure through Shonen Jump’s offerings continue. We manage to drum up quite a bit of excitement for the ending of The Emperor and I, and Sakamoto Days continues to delight and baffle. In between all the non-sequitors, there’s some good discussion to be had here.

We’re reviewing another batch of three of the best stories Shonen Jump has to offer. Which will win: the story of the reformed hitman who teams up with a psychic, the story of the active hitman who teams up with a psychic, or the story of a… one-hit man? Is there a psychic? Probably in future chapters. It’s Sakamoto Days, One-Punch Man, and Spy x Family on Make Mine Manga!

We close the book (for now) on Death Note - the manga so good we keep calling it One Piece for no apparent reason. As Light and L’s rivalry comes to an end, how are the boys feeling? And is The Emperor and I an adequate palate cleanser?

That’s a series wrap on All You Need is Kill - a first for this podcast adventure. Which, considering the length of the popular shonen manga series, isn’t all that surprising. We talk about AYNIK - the good, the bad, and how it compares to the Yotsuba arc of Death Note.

Join us for an hour where the boys editorialize about current events, sexiness in comics, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of black and white vs. color art. Also, we talk about Death Note and All You Need Is Kill in there, too.

Well, the boys have committed to Death Note for the long haul, but it’s time to commit to a new series as well. There stories are on the ballot: The Emperor and Me, All You Need is Kill, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Can a cute penguin stand up against the ultraviolence of an alien invasion or a violent social climber?

After meeting Usopp and getting into… a whole lot of discourse, we say goodbye to One Piece (for now?). But we can’t quite bring ourselves to quit Death Note yet, especially now that things are getting so… interesting. Aaaaaaand cue Ryuk eating an apple.

Well, poor Aldo came down ill over the Thanksgiving holiday, so John and Stephen take a moment to reminisce over their history with the current hottest pastime: tabletop roleplaying games!

In episode 3, we continue our exploration of One Piece and Death Note. We continue to marvel at the surprises and moral complexities of the latter, and we laugh as the former shows us how one man can kick another in the sensitives in new and exciting ways. Also, we try to avoid getting flagged by the DOJ. If there’s an episode 4, you’ll know we succeeded.

We continue our journeys through the worlds of One Piece and Death Note. We contemplate the morality of murder and the practicality of holding a sword in your mouth. You know, deep philosophical stuff.