Shojo & Tell: A Manga Podcast

Covers all 6 volumes of THE KEY TO THE KINGDOM by Kyoko Shitou Megan and Ashley discuss a very underappreciated title published by the now-defunct CMX. Many comparisons to The Vision of Escaflowne are made as discussions about dragons and fate ensue. Are the dragons a metaphor for nuclear weapons? Do Gaius and Badd have a thing for each other? Just what kind of leader is Asta, anyway? Why the heck...

Roses are red Violets are blue Shojo is sweet Here are strange ships Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a bonus episode where we asked various people to answer this question: If you could ship any characters across shojo series, who would you ship and why? The answers may surprise you. Especially since Ashley cheats and takes protagonists from a shonen manga instead. SOCIAL Follow Loyola on Twitter Fol...

Covers all 9 volumes of TOKYO TARAREBA GIRLS by Akiko Higashimura This episode, Ashley and Amelia discuss a josei series for the first time on the podcast. What if, what if, we told you “Tokyo Tarareba Girls” is one of the best manga of the decade? What if, what if, you’ve never read a more relatable manga than this in your life? What if, what if, we told you to stop lollygagging around and read t...

Covers all of MILLENNIUM SNOW by Bisco Hatori In the 10 years between the publication of the second and third volume of “Millennium Snow,” Bisco Hatori went off and wrote this little-known manga called “Ouran High School Host Club.” How did that affect this short and sweet four-volume manga? How does this vampire and werewolf love triangle compare to the infamous Twilight Saga? (Hint: It's much be...

All four volumes of MERUPURI are discussed. Ashley and Loyola discuss a short manga from Matsuri Hino, the creator of Vampire Knight . It’s the first manga covered on the podcast that doesn’t have an anime adaptation, and given its strange mashup of Japanese, German, English, and random symbols, neither Ashley nor Loyola ever figures out how to pronounce ANYTHING! (as-tale? UH-stale? Who knows? Do...

Vol 10-18 of Maid-sama! (end of the series) Asher and Ashley are back to discuss the second half of Hiro Fujiwara’s modern masterpiece about Maid Latte. As promised, the Ashes discuss Maid-sama! ’s portrayal of social class and the tension between the aristocracy and the meritocracy, lament that some characters end up in problematic pairings, and gush about how cute Misaki and Usui were during the...

Covers: MAID-SAMA! Vol. 1-9 After doing two classic shojo series, we’re finally covering Ashley’s favorite manga of all time: Maid-sama! Yes, Ashley’s favorite manga is about working in a maid cafe. Asher and Ashley discuss how liking a manga about maids is okay (also discussed: whether this manga is actually about maids), what this battle of the sexes story has to say about gender roles, and whet...

Jess and Ashley discuss Cardcaptor Sakura vol. 7-12, plus the first volume of the new CCS: Clear Card manga! There's a debate about the merits of passive versus active heroism, Ashley likes Ruby Moon while Jess crushes on Yue, they take a very definitive Teen Vogue quiz to assess if Sakura and Syaoran are ready for their long-distance relationship, and — wait a second, there are like four student/...

Kyahhhh! It’s time to release the first episode about one of the most iconic shojo series ever! Ashley and Jess cover volumes 1-6 of Cardcaptor Sakura and discuss who is the best character (hint: Toya, but also maybe all of them?), how CCS represents every type of love you could think of (for better or worse), and come up with an excellent marketing plan to help CLAMP’s iconic series take advantag...

Ashley and Rose discuss how divergent the manga and anime of Revolutionary Girl Utena are, debate whether the manga is still a deconstruction of the shoujo genre, figure out which Disney prince Utena is, and ponder whether Kill la Kill is an homage to Utena . Somehow, even though Ashley’s middle name is Rose and she was talking to someone named Rose, jokes about being the Rose Bride don’t happen....

A teaser of the Revolutionary Girl Utena and Cardcaptor Sakura episodes, plus some info on the format and vision of the podcast.