Manga Series I’m Reading Currently

Posted on December 28, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Other than the full manga volumes that I’ve reviewed on here recently, there are plenty of other series that I’m currently reading, and mostly enjoying. I wanted to share a few that I’ve been reading recently on the Shonen Jump app, which is where I read a lot of manga.

The Ichinose Family’s Deadly Sins

I saw this series on the app the other day, and it was only a few chapters (7 in total as of this post), and I thought I’d give it ago, not really know what to expect. Within the first 10 or so pages, I thought the idea was a bit dumb, but I was willing to go with it. The Ichinose family wake up in a hospital after a car accident and they’re all suffering from amnesia. The first chapter shows them getting to know each other again, and seeming like really nice positive people, then they get back home, and find they have secrets. The end of the first chapter was great and I wanted to know more, but then the series focuses on the main character, Tsubasa, at school. So, it’s off to a bit of a slow start. 7 chapters in and I’m still enjoying it, but I’m waiting for it to really hook me.

Romantic Killer

At some point I must have tapped on this one by mistake and as I found it in my continue reading and I don’t remember starting it. However, since it was there I gave it a go and I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. Only 9 chapters are available currently, although the series finished in Japan a while ago. It follows Anzu, who is obsessed with video games, her pet cat, and chocolates. Then some weird demon comes into her life and takes that all away to try and set her up with a boy against her wishes. It’s a really weird and strange turn of events, especially considering she’s in school. Her parents then quickly move to America and leave her in Japan by herself, and she’s living through the tropes of a romantic comedy. I think if the opening chapter wasn’t so weird this would be a lot of fun, but it’s a little creepy to say the least. There’s been some funny moments in it, but I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to read it.

Fabricant 100

There are 100 fake humans known as fabricants in the world that are hunting down actual humans and stealing their flesh to become the perfect human. Ashibi Yao’s entire family is murdered by fabricants, but he’s too young. He promises that he will look after himself and allow the strongest fabricant, the 100th one, to take his body once he’s older, as long as she hunts down the other 99 fabricants and kills them with him. I’m really enjoying this one. It’s a little dark, a little funny, and I’m hooked already. There’s only 4 chapters out so far, but I can see this one going for quite a while. The first chapter is a little wonky, but it’s quickly found itself and I’ve enjoyed it all so far.

Ichigoki’s Under Control!!

There’s a bit in chapter 2 that’s so funny that I can’t recommend this one enough. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a manga ever. The premise is silly. A mad scientist student shrinks herself, and then one of her classmates is killed on a trip to the zoo, so she rebuilds his body as an android and sits in his head so they can both live our their youths while finding a way to be normal again. It’s really weird, but it works. It’s not brilliant, but I’m enjoying it so far.

Cipher Academy

I don’t like to be negative about things in general, but I really don’t like Cipher Academy. It’s set in a school where the students solve puzzles. I don’t like this series because I don’t care about the characters at all and I don’t remember any of them with each week as the chapter comes out. I’m only reading it because each chapter is like 20 pages and it keeps coming up on my ‘continue reading’ section when the next chapter comes out. I hope it clicks at some point, but so far I’m really not enjoying it.

Other than that I’m also keeping up to date with Spy x Family and Chainsaw Man which have both been excellent recently. I’m also making my way through Demon Slayer (currently on chapter 117), which I’m enjoying but I think it has lost some steam as the series has progressed.

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Beastars – Volume 4 – Manga Review

Posted on December 27, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

The fourth volume of Beastars show Legoshi coming to terms with what the panda doctor told him in the previous volume about his feelings towards Haru. The Meteor Festival is getting closer, with everyone at Cherryton Academy is preparing. The threat for the herbivore students is still very evident and the plot finally comes back round to mentioning Tem’s murder that kicked off the entire series.

One of the bigger moments in the volume is finding out that Haru is in a relationship with Louis, creating a love triangle when you throw Legoshi into the mix. There’s an interesting dynamic between Louis and Haru, and it comes as a bit of a shock when it’s first revealed. All of the characters are written really well with grounded nuances, especially the main characters. We also get to see a little bit more from the side characters which is always good. It really fleshes out the wider world within the story, although nothing comes close to how expansive the world was in the third volume.

The best part of this volume is getting to see Louis’s past. He has a secret that someone else finds out, which sends him on a reflective journey. It really adds a lot to his character and his motives have finally clicked into place. Definitely the highlight of this volume.

I do think the volume is a little weaker than what’s came before. Not as much happens and the plot seems a little aimless at points. Still there’s a good focus on characters, and Haru, Louis, and Juno all get a lot of time to shine and develop. There’s also a lot of set up that will pay off in future volumes for sure. Overall, I’m still really enjoying the series.

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2022

Posted on December 26, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Now that Christmas is over and 2023 is getting close, which will hopefully be an even better year than 2022, I’ve been looking back at what I’ve done this year. Writing-wise, this year has been pretty good for me. I’ve written more in this year than I have in any other year I’ve been alive. In one project I’ve written 25,000 words, and in another I’m nearing 35,000, plus a couple of short stories and other little things. I’ve also got plans for two more longer stories that I’m hoping to get started with next year once I’ve finished these two.

I’ve also read a fair bit more than I have in recent years. I’ve given myself a lot more time to read books than normal, which I’ve enjoyed and I’ve been reading a lot more varied books as well. One of the things I wanted to do was read everything that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize earlier in the year. (The plan was to read all 6 and write a post about it before the winner was announced, which I didn’t end up doing, but I did read 4/6 and really enjoyed 3 of those books. Treacle Walker is not something I liked at all.)

Through that challenge I read Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, which I absolutely loved. I read about 50 pages in one sitting and knew that this was something special and read the rest of the book so quickly. I was excited when I found out that there were more books about Lucy Barton, and started reading the others. I also asked for most of Strout’s books for Christmas, and now I’m only missing one, so will be reading them all very soon. So Oh William! is my favourite book I’ve read this year, which I think came out in 2021. My favourite book that came out this year is The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. I love reading good dialogue, even if the conversation is just meandering and there’s so many good moments in The Passenger, and I love that it starts with a mystery plot that’s really interesting, but by the time the book ends I was more interested in the characters just talking and living.

To read more, I’ve had to pretty much give up playing games. I still play a few games, but no where near as much as I used to. Out of the games I have played, my favourite of the year by far is Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion. Pretty much every spare moment I’ve had has been playing this game since it came out. I’m on the last chapter now, and doing all of the side stuff before I finish up the story. I love the way the actual story is told, and the way it adds to the original FF7. I never played the original version on PSP, so this is all new to me and it’s made me want to replay through FF7 again afterwards.

Looking forward briefly, I have a few things I want to do in 2023. I want to finish up all the projects I’ve started with writing, and be able to look back this time next year with them finished and editing in progress. With reading, I want to have read all of Elizabeth Strout and Don DeLillo’s books by the end of the year. I’m also going to try and spend as little time on social media as possible. It’s such a timesink and I don’t enjoy it. I don’t post or tweet anything (I have it set to auto-post about the blog posts when they go live), just read posts from others. I have cut down my time massively over the last few months. I don’t have access on my phone, only on my laptop, so I can’t spend all day scrolling through nothing. I just worry that I’m going to miss out on events being announced, or news that I wouldn’t pick up anywhere else.

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a happy new year!

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Violent Night – Film Review

Posted on December 25, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Writers: Pat Casey and Josh Miller

Starring: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Leah Brady, Beverly D’Angelo

Rating: ★★★★

Violent Night is one crazy film. David Harbour stars as Santa Claus, who after centuries of bringing gifts and Christmas cheer to children around the world has become disillusioned with the holiday itself. He sees the world is full of greed, and instead of taking joy from his job he spends his time getting drunk. When seven-year-old Trudy (Leah Brady) and her disgustingly wealthy family are held hostage by a group of mercenaries who are looking to rob them, she turns to Santa to help save her family. Seeing that Trudy is on his nice list and still believes in Christmas magic, Santa decides to help her and takes on the mercenaries. It’s also important to note that Santa was a Viking warrior named Nikamund the Red, before he became Santa Claus, so he’s very handy with a sledgehammer.

The film is very violent and very funny. David Harbour is really great as Santa Claus and it’s pure brilliance to see the beloved character go around killing with great amounts of blood. If you’ve ever wanted to see Santa Claus covered in tattoos sew up an open wound or fight his way through a small army, then this is the film for you. All  of it is punctuated perfectly with a merry soundtrack that makes the action that much more exciting. It’s also filled with references, with the obvious Home Alone as well as a more surprising nod towards Halloween Kills. It’s incredibly cheesy, but in the best way possible.

Most surprisingly of all is that the joke doesn’t wear thin at all. There isn’t a single point in the film where it starts to feel overplayed or dragged out. It’s a fast-paced action celebration that’s akin to films like John Wick and Nobody, which isn’t surprising since David Leitch is one of the producers as he worked as a producer on those films, as well as directing the excellently fun Bullet Train from earlier this year. It’s brilliant action and stuffed with funny moments.

There’s plenty of fun and festive cheer in Violent Night. If the idea sounds good to you, then you won’t be disappointed. It’s quite bloody, fairly festive, and a hell of a lot of fun. Definitely one to add to the Christmas list.

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Moriking – Manga Review

Posted on December 24, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Moriking is a very strange manga that’s a lot to wrap your head around, so bear with me. Shota gets a pet rhinoceros beetle that he names Moriking. When Moriking starts to grow he changes into an adult human with a horn on his head and wings/shell on his back. So not only does does Shota now have a pet that looks like a human, but is a beetle, Moriking is also a potential king of the forest. Throughout the manga series, he competes with other human looking bugs that also want to become king of the forest.

Throughout the story there’s two different types of stories, either other people being confused or just outright rejecting Moriking as a beetle/human, and battles between Moriking and other potentials. It’s all silly good fun, with a lot of bizarre moments that make their own king of sense. Moriking is a noble person, who is always there to help people, and goes above and beyond to do that. The other characters are all wacky and strange in their own ways. My favourite chapters were the ones with Shota’s family taking centre stage as they come to accept Moriking as one of the family.

Each chapter is only 15 pages long, so they’re all very quick to read and there’s 35 in total. I didn’t find this to be the type of manga that I had to carry on reading straight away, but it’s always enjoyable when I did read one. I actually started reading this when it first started serialising on the Shonen Jump app, and then replaced my phone, and the app didn’t remember where I was with any of the series I was reading, and I just forgot about it until last week where I was looking through it and found it and thought it was a good time to finish it. So it’s definitely not a manga that you’re going to be raving about, but it is worth reading if you’re looking for some light and easy reading.

Overall, I would recommend this manga. The whole thing is goofy fun and the ending is simply fantastic. It may not be the most essential read, but sometimes easy reading is what you need.

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