Mudai Manga and Book Club

Let's get pedaling! . . . Yeah, I don't have any good bicycle puns, but this episode we do take a look at the long running bicycle racing series Yowamushi Pedal, specifically the first volume in English (which covers two standard volumes, so vol 1 and 2 for those with access to Japanese sized volumes). Meanwhile, we have a sizeable What we've Read as well, with Louie watching most of DoroHeDoro's...

We return this week with another reasonably named series, as Tom takes us through the first novel of Banished from the Hero's Party, a fairly generic seeming fantasy slow-life adventure at first that, as Tom really, really, reaaaaaally wants you to know, plays a lot with the idea of what would actually happen if people had these classes and skills and things. Meanwhile, Louie continues catching th...

With another reasonable title (this time for the episode), we return with one of the classics of modern shojo, Fruits Basket, today with the omnibus version of volume one, which is likely classical books one and two for those who may have them. The journey of Tohru to accidentally hug an entire family of cursed individuals with cheerfulness and hope begins with . . . well, a landslide, actually. M...

In the world of rewriting fairy tales into action packed retellings with super soldiers and magical explosions, may we present the absolute over the top world of Blade of the Moon Princess on this week's episode? There is the planet used to house criminals, an historically styled Japanese court overthrown by a terrorist attack using VTOLs and explosives, and a cybernetically upgraded bamboo cutter...

What if you had a . . . . little bit more time than everyone else? You know, just a smidge? Something like a thousand year lifespan in a world of people? That's the conceit of this week's novel, Enough of This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I'm Bored by rarutori, and today we work through the first novel of this warm and joyful journey through a life of saying goodbye to every...

And now, with the unbelievable powers of a dragon, you will have the opportunity to go through the greatest trial humanity has ever created . . . High school! With today's episode, we look at the amazing manga series RuriDragon, an almost entirely non-fantastical series about growing up and dealing with high school, only the main character Ruri turns out to be half dragon. Many series have done si...

Today . . . is an episode. Much of it is us catching up with what we've read (so many we switched back to alternating between us), so come and listen to our thoughts on a whole range of topics, from the beginning several books of Infinite Dendrogram, the end of Chainsaw Man's manga, the newest Witch Hat Atelier manga volume, Wash it All Away, and a whole slew of others. Our main topic, however, ul...

There are times to be critical, times to be curious, and times to be objective, but today, we gush about how cool Shangri-La Frontier is, as we return to the series (last covered in episode 11) to go over everything leading up to the massive Weathermon fight, covering books 3 and the first half of 4 (or chapters 16-30 specifically). For a series crammed to the gills with jokes, battles, and entert...

Sometimes you have friends to share things with, but sometimes, it's just you and the things you love. And then someone comes along and says, hey, that's cool. That's this week's manga, My Dress-Up Darling by Shinichi Fukuda, plus some extremely long game names and lots of underwear. In a good way . . . well, i guess it usually is, but this comedy of cosplay and dollmaking of two oddballs with lot...

Somtimes, all you need is someone to be close to, and sometimes, they are closer than you think, but don't worry, that giant floating diamond structure in the sky has nothing to do with anything and isn't a portent of any sort of anything. That's why, this week, we're covering the first volume of Jun Mayuzuki's Kowloon Generic Romance, the budding love story of Reiko Kujirai and Hajime Kudou, and...

They do move in weekly episodes . . . I mean, this week we get to look at the zookeeper's paleontology lecture that is Dinosaur Sanctuary, volume 1, by Itaru Kinoshita, with special research consultation provided by Shin-ichi Fujiwara. A world where dinosaurs are as normal as a flamingo exhibit at the local zoo, with incredibly good designs and understanding of their (possible) physiology. In addi...

Long title enjoyer or not, this week we review the sewcond light novel in the series An ARchdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, and celebrate two of the best characters in the series making their debut. In addition, during what we've read, Tom further drags himself through the wine series Drops of God, Louie falls into Made in Abyss, and we discuss the unfortunate end and cancellation of...

Da-dum! . . . . Can't make a shark week joke though because that's not until later in the year, but we're back this week with an episode covering the true apex predator of the fantasy world, sharks! Louie walks us through the reasonable and sane manga Killer Shark in Another World, volume 1, and Tom does say things and doesn't just giggle the whole time, I promise. As well, in our What We've Read,...

Back on double digits, back for a celebration and the start of the new year and so we have  . . . a whole pile of stuff we've watched and read over the last few weeks between holidays and other things so today, instead of some small topics, we're making this whole episode into a long running "What We've Read" sections. Settle in, we've got anime, manga, light novels, regular novels, and even a few...

And with our second special episode to start the year, we come back with a short show on what we plan for the coming year. Due to some things going on it got delayed a bit, but we hope you enjoy our plans for the future of the podcast (more, hopefully some more videos, and more episodes in general). THen, we follow up with some of our own goals for the year, and finally, because we need to make th...

Well, with 2025 now behind us and a whole year of the podcast done, come and join us as we walk through the entirety of our favorites we've discovered this last year. First, we take some time to look over our top 5 of 2024 (from episode 1, no less) and then we dive deep into our large pile of honorable mentions.  Louie definitely doesn't get upset at Tom failing to include a series anywhere in his...

It's not enough to be ready for anything, it's not enough to drive yourself to do good for the world, you also need . . . to understand linear algebra! This week we look at the first two arcs of My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi, which covers the entire first volume of the manga. A mix of Japanese high school shennanigans, superhero ridiculous action, and shonen optomism, we spend the entire epi...

Returning to one of Tom's favorite series, Angeline the swordsman has finally reunited with her father Belgrieve after five years apart, and so begins the story of headpats, piggyback rides, and village patrolling of the S-ranker in this second novel of the series. Watch in wonder as Belgrieve unintentionally wins against seemingly more powerful swordsmen. Be amazed as he deftly maneuvers around o...

Arise now, ye tarnished! The call of long-lost grace speaks to us all, including those who do not wear pants! This week, we cover the first twelve chapters (volume 1 and about a third of volume 2) of Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree by Nikiichi Tobita, the manga retelling of the series that truly gets into the details of the already classic game by FromSoftware, like the true history of the Ran...

When your job requires that you are physically immune to all forms of radiation, you know you're in for a tough time. And that's the very job Ibara, Taeko, and Aoi are in for as we look at the first ten chapters (the first half of Part 1, or volumes 1 and the first third of volume 2) of the manga series COPPELION by Tomonori Inoue, following Medical Team as they search an irradiated Tokyo for surv...

After a few . . . lets say delays, we're back with more of frontier living with hornhead and axe man -- I mean, Alna the Onikin and Dias the war hero. Today we cover the second light novel or the third and fourth manga volumes, from farms to dogs to small invasions by hostile military powers! Beyond that, Louie goes light on info about having now finished Tokyo Ghoul: Re as well as more of My Dres...

Ok, you know that trope where the rivals from a series have their final battle to the death, and then they both cry and say, "Imagine if we had been on the same side, we could have been . . . friends?" That is the entire premise for The Hero and The Sage, Reincarnated and Engaged, a series with characters so overpowered punching a dragon in the face with their bare hands and knocking it over is th...

And now, as Halloween comes in, we're back with a special Halloween recommendation with our returning special guest Renata! Each of us (Yes, even spooky-disliker Tom) have a series to recommend to you for your horror-enjoyment. Tom starts us off with the manga version of The Ring, Louie brings the well known classic Uzumaki, and Renata brings the newest one with Korean manhua Sweet Home.    Check...

And so, the meandering trio of Frieren the Mage, Fern the apprentice mage, and Stark the cowardly warrior (or, cowarrior, if you will), enter into the next city to engage in a spot of brutal combat to the death with a trio of demons acting as a peace envoy and their leader, this arc's titular Aura the Guillotine. Covering chapters 14 to 23 (or middle-ish book 2 to middle-ish book 3), the story tak...

Get ready for your state sponsored census, as we dive into the first volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom light novels (or, alternatively, the first two volumes of the manga). Literally, as Tom walks through the extremely large cast of the first book and the differences and omissions of the manga. In addition, Louie has finally finished Mushoku Tensei and gives his first thoughts on th...