Shojo & Tell: A Manga Podcast

Covers volumes 11–20 of Kimi ni Todoke by Karuho Shiina Winter is here, which means it’s time to settle in with the coziest manga for the season: the beloved Kimi ni Todoke . Shojo & Tell host Ashley and shojo manga connoisseur Caitlin Moore are back to discuss the good and the bad about the middle of Karuho Shiina’s hit series. Somehow, Kazehaya and Kento have flipped in quality during these 10 v...

Covers volumes 1–10 of Kimi ni Todoke by Karuho Shiina The year 2018 marked the end of an era: After 30 volumes, the deeply treasured Kimi ni Todoke is over. And to mark this special occasion, we’re once again embarking on a trilogy of podcasts. Shojo & Tell host Ashley is a huge Kimi ni Todoke fan, as is Anime Feminist author/editor and all-around shojo manga connoisseur Caitlin Moore. The two gu...

Covers Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty by Megumi Morino (all six volumes of the series) “I can't believe Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty single-handedly convinced me that manga was not a mistake.” “This is up there with Erased and Princess Jellyfish for me as far as human relations go.” “I don't know if I'm going to be able to go back to manga after reading this manga, it was everything I ever wanted in a roman...

Covers volumes 17-23 of Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya The curse has finally broken! And did you hear there’s going to be a new Fruits Basket anime?! Great. We don’t talk about that on this podcast! (This is a manga podcast, after all. And this episode was recorded before the announcement.) But don’t worry, massive Furuba fan and Anime News Network editor Jacob Chapman and Shojo & Tell host Ashle...

Covers volumes 9-16 of Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya Massive Furuba fan and Anime News Network editor Jacob Chapman is back to discuss the middle third of Takaya’s classic with Shojo & Tell host Ashley. Most of the dark, dark Sohma family secrets have been revealed this time around, and Tohru is in turmoil over Kyo’s fate. But we’re saving most of the Kyo talk for the third and final podcast! Th...

Discusses the first volumes of Ao Haru Ride by Io Sakisaka and Kira-kun Today by Rin Mikimoto After September brought no new shojo manga series debuts in the US, October has brought two! Shojo & Tell host Ashley McDonnell and her bestie Asher Sofman have differing opinions on the quality of this month’s debuts. They discuss the wackiness of Kira-kun Today and what makes Io Sakisaka’s much-hype...

Covers volumes 1-8 of Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya At the height of the mid-2000s manga boom in the US, there was no bigger series than Fruits Basket . And this story about orphaned Tohru Honda and the Sohma family curse has endured, getting a very special rerelease in recent years. For a series this influential, we brought on one of the biggest Furuba fans of all: Anime News Network editor Jac...

Covers all of Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP (that's six volumes across MKR I and II) Take a trip to Cefiro, grab a sword, and get in a mech in this wild and beautiful Clamp classic. Asher and Ashley do a character walkthrough that’s mostly gushing about how pretty everyone is (Eagle! Lantis! Umi! Fuu! Hikaru! That's only 1/100th of the number of characters in this six-volume manga!), debate wheth...

Covers volumes 12 through 19 of Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Banana Fish fan Marion goes on an epic rant about The Ending of the series. Seriously! What?! WHY?! Who thought this was okay!? Marion and Shojo & Tell host Ashley also discuss the role of women in Yoshida’s series, touch on the importance of found families, walk through all the ships we’r...

Covers volumes 1 through 11 of Banana Fish by Akimi Yoshida It’s a perfect day to discuss Banana Fish , the revived classic about how everyone — except some select gang members and an innocent Japanese boy named Eiji Okumura — wants to kill the brilliant and beautiful and deadly Ash Lynx. Shojo & Tell host Ashley found the biggest Banana Fish fan in Marion, and together they discuss the litera...

Discusses the first volume of Shortcake Cake by Suu Morishita We’re back for our second preview guide, covering this month’s new shojo manga series debut of SHORTCAKE CAKE. Viz Media’s mobile app developer Jeff Ruberg and host Ashley review and react to this first volume, digging into its fresh pop aesthetic, which boy is the cutest, Ten’s really long hair, and more. Should you pick up this volume...

Covers Claudine by Riyoko Ikeda (it’s only one volume long!) Though Riyoko Ikeda’s classic manga featuring a transgender protagonist originally came out in 1978, it was officially released for the first time in the US in the summer of 2018 (40 YEARS LATER!). S&T host Ashley asks Jocelyne Allen, the translator of Claudine (and many other manga), about the use of gender pronouns and other transl...

Covers all of Pretear by Junichi Sato and Kaori Naruse (four volumes) Remember back in 2001 when the Pretear anime was the cool new shojo? Did you know there was a manga that’s actually pretty vastly different than that anime you remember so fondly? May Fisher-Guest (host of the Digimon podcast Lost in Translationmon) and ever-present host Ashley get into the differences between the anime and the...

Discusses the first volumes of Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki Takaya and Sacrificial Princess & the King of Beasts by Yu Tomofuji Welcome to our first preview guide! What's a preview guide, you ask? Our preview guide episodes will cover the first volume of newly released shojo/josei series (in the US), providing first reactions about the manga (mixing review with our normal discussion format...

Covers volumes 9 to 17 of Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura Don your armor (read: your prettiest, frilliest dress) and get ready to defend Tsukimi and all the residents of Amamizukan from corporate kidnapper Kai Fish. Guest Carrie McClain (an editor at Black Nerd Problems) and host Ashley list off the moments that made them cry in the second half, what clothes come to mean for the Amars, who...

Covers volumes 1 to 8 of Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura Chances are you’ve heard heaps and heaps of praise bestowed upon this manga about a jellyfish otaku whose life is changed forever by a crossdresser. That praise is HELLA ACCURATE. Carrie McClain (an editor at Black Nerd Problems) and host Ashley reveal how much they’ve become Princess Jellyfish otaku by fangirling all over the Amars...

Covers all 9 volumes of The Full-Time Wife Escapist by Tsunami Umino What would it be like to get married as a job? Megan DeYarman (of The Manga Test Drive) and host Ashley dive into The Full-Time Wife Escapist ’s (very good) takes on alternatives to traditional marriage, family generally, and employment in particular (scheduling out twice-monthly hug dates may not be as weird and emotionless as i...

Covers volumes 10-18 of Fushigi Yugi by Yu Watase We’re back to talk about the strange saga of Fushigi Yugi ’s ending and how Tamahome became Taka, or Taka was always Taka but he allowed Tamahome to exist, one’s a shadow, something like that. Just trust us on this one. Ashley, Caitlin, and Jess also discuss how Miaka and Yui have matured after one of them was consumed by a dragon god (oh, they als...

Covers volumes 1-9 of Fushigi Yugi by Yu Watase Watase’s classic stirs up a lot of feelings in this first Shojo & Tell episode to have three people voicing their opinions. The nostalgia goggles are definitely on for Ashley, Caitlin, and Jessica as they debate who the best celestial warrior is (NURIKO IS THE GREATEST! NO! TASUKI!), ponder the strange choice to have the Seiryu warriors be evil,...

Covers all ten volumes of Strobe Edge by Io Sakisaka First: Strobe Edge is an amazing title, and we take many opportunities to remind you of this throughout the episode. How do you not want to read a manga called Strobe Edge ? If you need more convincing about how great this work from Io Sakisaka is, Alyssa (who runs the YouTube channel Anime Intensity) and Shojo & Tell host Ashley do a charac...

Covers volumes 9-16 of We Were There by Yuki Obata Ultra super special guest Nancy Thistlethwaite, a senior editor for Viz Media’s Shojo Beat line, returns to do an in-depth character analysis of Nanami, Yano, Takeuchi, Yuri, and the rest of the crew in We Were There ( Bokura ga Ita ). (Host Ashley and Nancy may talk a little too much about Take, against their better judgment. Stop it, Take! Get o...

Covers volumes 1-8 of We Were There by Yuki Obata Super special guest Nancy Thistlethwaite, a senior editor for Viz Media’s Shojo Beat line, discusses the first half of the beautiful and devastating series We Were There with host Ashley. Nancy and Ashley get into why Obata’s work didn’t take off in America, which scenes punched them in the gut the most, why people who don’t ship Yano and Nanami ju...

We’re going on a Japan trip! Ashley’s been on vacation in Japan for the past two weeks, and has gone on some manga-related adventures (and many non-manga-related adventures). She and her romantic partner/Viz Media employee/travel companion Jeff Ruberg discuss the Kimi ni Todoke exhibit at Tokyo Anime Center, how it compares to the ongoing Shonen Jump exhibit, what it’s like seeing the spring cherr...

Covers all three volumes of QQ Sweeper by Kyousuke Motomi Spring is finally here! So Ashley and Laura prepare to start spring cleaning by first reading QQ Sweeper . Which is legit about sweeping. Like, with a broom. A plain old broom. Sure, it's also about exorcisms and supernatural stuff and punching giant centipedes, but mostly, it's about sweeping. And it is SO GOOD. Ashley and Laura get to the...

Covers: I.O.N. , Short-Tempered Melancholic and Other Stories , and Mistress Fortune , all by Arina Tanemura Put on your frilliest dress and lace up as Loyola and Ashley discuss a bunch of one-volume manga from the author of Full Moon O Sagashite . Which of these six short stories was the best? Why exactly did Tanemura think having a lecherous 14-year-old character would be fun? Should you forget...