Manga Machinations

After taking a sidetrack talking about wrestling, dakazu loves the Dragon Quest 5 fanfic web comic Katachikubi dashita ossan no ato tsuketara tenkuu no tsurugi wo mitsuketa(How I stalked some dude with an exposed nipple and stumbled upon the Zenithian Sword) and the touching recollection of a mangaka's recovery from the ICU, Shinde Ikikaerimashita Repo(I died and came back to Life: The Report) . T...

We kick off this episode with more Billy Bat ! Then dakazu learns the true powers of licensed Disney songs in Sexy Joyuu-chan - Girigiri Mosaic while Seamus learns about the final twist in Orange . After that we explore more Goodnight Punpun and discuss Sachi and Punpun's somewhat healthy relationship.(covers chapters 79-99)

Welcome to part 3 of our continued retrospective of Goodnight Punpun ! We'll be discussing the truth behind God and the eccentric Pegasus ensemble!!(covers chapters 57-78) Also, Seamus gets to the twist of Orange , we look into the science of 'shipping' characters, and we breakdown the next chapter of Billy Bat !!!

On this episode dakazu is in love with a Edo period Japanese astronomer in Tenchi Meisatsu , Billy Bat starts its final arc, we lament the 3D animated BLAME! movie coming out this year, and spend lots of time getting into dark topics for our continuing retrospective of Goodnight Punpun !!!(covers chapters 35-56)

This week we discuss the holiday break for manga magazines, darfox8 explains why he didn't start Fairy Tail at the beginning, and dakazu talks about popular manga getting bloated. Then darfox8 revisits A Silent Voice , Hajime no Ippo , and Berserk from Triple Dip 9 . Finally, we begin our retrospective read-through of Inio Asano 's Goodnight Punpun and discuss everything from the dark plot to the...

Happy New Year! Darfox8 is back and it's time to get caught up on manga! This episode Seamus reads a new shoujo manga Horimiya , dakazu learns about the Japanese prison system in Keimusho no Naka(Doing Time) , we have a quick update on new Billy Bat chapters, and we triple dip into Vagabond , Dragon Head , and Saint Young Men(Saint Oniisan) !!!

Happy Holidays! This week Seamus explains what St. Stephen's Day is, while dakazu talks about the journal manga My Darling is a Foreigner and Blue Giant ; a new manga about Jazz from the author of Gaku ! Then Seamus gets his shoujo manga fix with Orange and we talk about the technical achievements/shortcomings of our Manga in Motion title Steamboy ; from AKIRA creator Katsuhiro Otomo!!!

On this episode dakazu examines post World War 2 Japan and Japanese occupied China in the sobering Areyo Hoshikuzu . Then we revisit recently translated Golden Kamuy and My Brother's Husband from dakazu's Whatcha-Been-Reading, along with listener suggested Sakuranbo Syndrome for our Triple Dip !!!

Seamus is back to talk about popular shoujo manga; including AKB49 - Renai Kinshi Jourei , Whispered Words(Sasameki Koto) , Tenbin wa Hana to Asobu , and Kimi ga Suki !! Then dakazu explains the comedy of the long running Afro Tanaka series and we talk about teacher/student romances done right in The Garden of Words for Manga in Motion !!!

Seamus and darfox are both out this week so dakazu solo-casts this episode, talking about all the current series he reads(or doesn't) in Weekly Shonen Jump !!!

This week Seamus deals with cheesy storylines in Vinland Saga and dakazu can't stop praising the Sci-Fi epic Imuri ! Then, it's time for more Triple Dip ! We discuss gratuitous panty shots of Video Girl Ai , horror design in Ushio to Tora , and gush over male harems in feudal Japan from Ooku: The Inner Chambers !!!

On this episode Seamus finishes Planetes , dakazu talks about the JSDF in Rising Sun and kids playing golf in Rising Impact . Then we get into a lengthy discussion about manga spin-offs of other manga and look at Mamoru Oshii 's anime art film Angel's Egg(Tenshi no Tamago) !!!

Kenzo joins us this week to tell us about dropping Bleach , lamenting the end of Gintama , and his guilty pleasures of My Girlfriend is a T-Rex(T-Rex na Kanojo) and Boku Girl ! Then it's time for another Triple Dip ! We look at the 1st volumes of Hajime no Ippo , Berserk , and A Silent Voice! !!

On this episode we welcome the return of the mangaka in Billy Bat , then we reach the ends of the Megastructure and Killy's journey as we finish our Blame! retrospective and we give our final thoughts on the series and the cyber dungeon.(covers chapters 51-65)

Get ready for tales of a 40 year old slacker dad in I'll Give It My All… Tomorrow , mysterious dream sequences in new chapters of Billy Bat , and the biggest appearance of characters with actual names in our penultimate discussion of Blame! !!!(covers chapters 38-50)

On this episode Seamus finds more teenage drama in orange , dakazu finds another cooking manga with single fathers in Papa to Oyaji to Uchi Gohan and then rants about the horror of Shiritsu Hakanai Gakuen(Hakanai Private High School; No Pants, No Problem) . Then it's another epic discussion of Blame! as we wrap up the Toha Heavy Industries arc and discuss the possible connection between Killy and...

This week we start off with a Billy Bat update hour, Seamus continues with Planetes , darfox and dakazu discuss the ending of the Blood Blockade Battlefront(Kekkai Sensen) anime, we talk about the One Punch Man anime, and end with a long recap of the next set of Blame! chapters in our Retrospective!!!(covers chapters 12-24)

On this episode Seamus talks about the space garbage men of Planetes , darfox goes deep into Prison School , and dakazu follows teenage serial killers in Kamisama, Kisama wo Koroshitai.(God, I want to kill you) ! Then we discuss the mystery and lore of the world of Blame! and determine that protagonist Killy is a wizard!!!(covers chapters 1-11)

It's all anime this week on Manga Machinations! We discuss the decline of bookstores, do a 2015 spring/summer anime wrap-up, and get deep into Katsuhiro Otomo 's 1995 anime film Memories for our Manga in Motion section!!!

The week we start out new segment Manga in Motion , where we discuss anime films. Our first pick is Tokyo Godfathers by Satoshi Kon ! Also, darfox talks about vampires in Happiness , Seamus catches up on Hi Score Girl , we discuss the struggle of manga artist Shuho Sato vs. his publishers, and we see if Boob Morning returns in volume 2 of I am a Hero !

This week we talk about new Vinland Saga chapters, the horror/comedy Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw , and discuss the 1st volumes of Thermae Romae , Kingdom , and I am a Hero for Triple Dip! !!

Welcome to a special edition of Manga Machinations! We're celebrating our 1 year mark by discussing the newest Billy Bat chapters, the 1988 anime movie Akira , and our top 3 favorite manga of the past year! Thanks for listening and enjoy!!!

Get ready for a mega sized 50th episode! We have big discussions about new chapters of Billy Bat and the conclusion of the modern SF classic, Akira !!!(covers volume 6)

This week Seamus dives into some non-fiction with Showa: A History of Japan , dakazu gives love to the well designed main character from Tensai Yanagisawa Kyouju no Seikatsu(The Ingenious Life of Professor Yanagisawa) , and we discuss the downfall of Tetsuo in our Akira retrospective!!!(covers volume 5)

On this episode dakazu talks about Gundam cosplay gone wrong with special guest star Wolverine in Iron Acguy before we dive into the post-apocalyptic section of Akira and try to explain it's meta-physical pseudo-science!!!(covers volume 4)