Mangaversity: June 2025

Welcome one, welcome all, to Mangaversity! This is my attempt to continue my contribution to the Soliciting Multiversity column while messing with the format to make it my own. Special thanks again to Zack Davisson for pointing out this should’ve been my choice for the title from the get go.

You’ll all be happy to know that I’ve been actually catching up with a few of the series I’ve highlighted, meaning I can offer something a little more constructive than “oh this seems cool” and I can drop some of the books that let me down. Whew! Thanks libraries.

Because June is a lean month for new manga releases, it was way easier to make this month’s list. Doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of manga to look at. We’ve also got a few series coming to an end, meaning my lists may get even more focused!

Yeah, I can hear you all laughing already.

Perennial Favorites:

My love for these titles are very well documented and you will not go wrong reading them, though some titles that get featured here come with more caveats than others (“Berserk,” for instance, gets my full endorsement, but is certainly not for everyone.)

Dandadan, Vol. 13
Written and Illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsu
Published by Viz

Season 2 is upon us and I for one welcome our Evil Eye overlords.

A nerd must fight powerful spirits and aliens all vying for the secret power of his “family jewel,” so who better to fight alongside him than his high school crush and a spirit granny?!

Momo Ayase and Okarun are on opposite sides of the paranormal spectrum regarding what they’ll believe in and what they won’t. Their quest to prove each other wrong leads them down a path of secret crushes and paranormal battles they’ll have to participate in to believe!

It is revealed that Vamola, the girl found inside the kaiju suit, is actually a member of the once thriving Sumerian race from deep space! Unfortunately, her home world was attacked by the aliens presently targeting Earth, leaving her people scattered. She herself had been forced to plot her escape from the planet with a group of other women—including Banga, who found her as a child and raised her. Now, having learned of Vamola’s past, Momo and the others rise to action, but the aliens they face are a formidable enemy. 

Akane-banashi, Vol. 12
Written by Yuki Suenaga
Illustrated by Takamasa Moue
Published by Viz

The anime adaptation cannot come fast enough so more people can experience the unrelenting joy that is this manga.

Akane takes on the world of rakugo to avenge her father!

Shinta Arakawa wants nothing more than to pass his shin’uchi exam—the test that would make him a top-rank headliner and master storyteller in the traditional Japanese art of rakugo. Akane Osaki, his daughter and biggest fan, spies on him while he practices and learns his routines for herself. When rakugo master Issho Arakawa expels everyone after the exam with no explanation, a fire is lit inside Akane. From that day forth, she has had one goal—to avenge her father and prove his art was worthy of the title of shin’uchi.

Even though it’s Asagao's futatsume promotion, Akane’s own promotion recommendation is on the line with this performance as the zenza opening act. The one judging her is not only a friend of Chocho’s and Taizen, one of the Arakawa Arch Four, but also a longtime friend of her own father. Taizen recognizes Akane’s talent but is threatened to not recommend or promote any of Shiguma’s students by Zensho, another one of the Arch Four. Will Taizen make the right decision, or will he succumb to his peer? Meanwhile, Maikeru Arakawa is gearing up to be the first person in the Arakawa school to take the shin’uchi test since the expulsion scandal.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 44
Written and Illustrated by Mizuho Kusanagi
Published by Viz

Finally got a chance to catch up with Yona and it reaffirmed my love for this historical fantasy series. Things are getting BLEAK too. An underrated shojo gem, this series is.

A red-haired princess loses her family and her kingdom… Now she must rise and fight for her throne!

Princess Yona lives an ideal life as the only princess of her kingdom. Doted on by her father, the king, and protected by her faithful guard Hak, she cherishes the time spent with the man she loves, Su-won. But everything changes on her 16th birthday when tragedy strikes her family!

Yellow Dragon Zeno has sealed away the other three dragons in the Chalice of the Four Dragons’ Blood. He tells Yona and Hak that he wishes to return the four dragons to the heavens and end his life. But is this heartbreaking farewell truly the end of the dragon warriors?

Deluxe Den:

Every so often, there’s a new deluxe edition of a beloved manga that I think is worth shouting out but not at the expense of another item on the list. Usually this is the case for interstitial volumes, like the ones this month.

Trigun Maximum Deluxe Edition, Vol. 5
Written and Illustrated by Yasuhiro Nightow
Translated by Justin Burns
Published by Dark Horse Comics

God speed, Trigun. Now that this is out, I’ll have to do my full re-read.

Yasuhiro Nightow’s Trigun Maximum draws to a mind-warping conclusion!

This edition collects Trigun Maximum volumes 13 and 14 in a deluxe hardcover format featuring nearly 600 pages of Nightow’s signature creation at the original serialized size!

With Vash the Stampede’s brother Knives’s power growing exponentially, and the shattered wreckage of Earth’s space fleet littering the planet Gunsmoke, Vash must lay everything on the line to prevent the apocalypse his crazed brother is determined to deliver! Holding nothing back, Vash goes toe-to-toe with Knives in a final cataclysmic confrontation, with the future of humanity and his home planet hanging in the balance.

Fist of the North Star, Vol. 17
Written by Buronson
Illustrated by Tetsuo Hara
Published by Viz

One more volume to go folks!

In the original classic manga set in a postapocalyptic wasteland ruled by savage gangs, a hero appears to bring justice to the guilty. This warrior named Ken holds the deadly secrets of a mysterious martial art known as Hokuto Shinken—the Divine Fist of the North Star!

In a postapocalyptic world, humanity has risen from the ashes of all-out nuclear war to a nightmare of endless suffering. It is a time of chaos. Warlords and gangs of savage marauders rule the broken ruins of civilization, terrorizing and enslaving the survivors. Life has become a brutal struggle for existence and death the only release.

Kenshiro and Ryu have reached the land of Sava, a kingdom nestled in a mountain valley. But Sava is under attack from barbarians, and even worse, its royal family is weakened by internal strife. King Asam is ill and dying, and his three sons now squabble for the throne. Kenshiro might be able to knock some sense into the competing brothers, but he’d better do it quickly. Something strange has happened in the neighboring kingdom of Blanca, and Sava has more to worry about than just the barbarians!

Initial D Omnibus 6
Written and Illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno
Published by Viz

This is where things really start to get good. Drift with me folks!

Remember me? Relive Takumi Fujiwara's journey from tofu delivery boy to street-racing legend in an all-new, large-sized, 2-in-1 print edition of the series that made Japanese street racing into a worldwide phenomenon.

Contains a new translation of Initial D Vol. 11-12.

Takumi's winning streak has abruptly stopped. The Emperor team leader, Kyoichi Sudo, has taken the crown, and Gunma's racing teams are at a loss on what to do. Worse, the Eight-Six's engine has completely blown after Takumi lost his cool during the battle. It's now up to Ryosuke Takahashi of the Akagi Red Suns to defend the honor of Gunma, but will his analysis be correct?

This edition is still running in the '90s but features a refreshed translation and lettering for the 2020s, as well as a special large size.

My Name Is Shingo, Vol. 5: The Perfect Edition
Written and Illustrated by Kazuo Umezz
Published by Viz

How many volumes long IS this series?!!!! I thought it topped off at 3!

The classic science fiction–horror manga from the mind of Kazuo Umezz, creator of The Drifting Classroom, Orochi, and Cat-Eyed Boy!

When an industrial robot named Monroe begins to work at his father’s factory, Satoru is fascinated. As he and his friend Marin spend more time with Monroe, they start to suspect there’s more to the machine than anyone else realizes. But neither children nor adults are prepared for Monroe’s violent awakening into consciousness.

As the robot Monroe grows ever more intelligent and self-aware, so too does his obsession with finding Satoru and Marin, the children who brought him into this world. After a harrowing escape from Japan, Monroe sets sail for England, where Marin is forced into one horrifying situation after another by an obsessive acquaintance as she struggles to reconnect with the memories she has lost.

Caught My Eye:

A very scattershot list this time around, as they usually are. I’m trying out having short, capsule comments on most of the volumes. Let me know if you like them.

• Aria of the Beech Forest, Vol. 3
  • Adorable cover! SO CUTE!
• The Bugle Call Song of War, Vol. 1
  • Alexa, play fantasy taps for me.
• Choujin X, Vol. 9
  • Tokyo Ghoul walked so Chainsaw Man could run so Choujin X could sprint, somersault and flail wildly.
• Desperate March for Love
  • Just missed the cutoff. Messy romantic dramas here I come.
• Dogsred, Vol. 2
  • Is…is the title supposed to be a play on dogsled too?
• Don't Call It Mystery, Omnibus 13-14
  • What can I call it then?
• Girl Crush. Vol. 1
  • I couldn’t justify putting this on the main list. Just not my cup of tea. The cover, though, is dripping with style.
• Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 13
  • I HAVE to pick this damn thing back up.
• Issak Omnbius, Vol. 1
  • You gotta prove yourself if you’re gonna invoke Vinland Saga AND Shogun folks.
• My Hero Academia, Vol. 41
  • One more volume to go!

WTF is this:

A corollary to the Caught My Eye subset are the comics I don’t actually think are potentially worth a read - or at least don’t strike me list worthy - but have a certain je ne sais quoi that are absolutely worth pointing out and gawking at.

• Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 10
  There’s something about this cover that is…unsettling in a way I can’t put my finger on. It’s so mundane…so generic…and yet…those eyes…that Parental Advisory Warning....

The List:

11. See? THIS is How We Stop A.I.

One day, I will understand why GiTS is so popular. I’ve read the original manga and it was a baffling, difficult to follow, jargon-ladon mess. How it became a cultural phenomenon is beyond me. I guess Mamuro Oshii worked some wizardry to get it popular. 

Though what leg do I have to stand on? I love the overly-indulgent, nigh-incomprehensible sequel film Innocence.

The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm, Vol. 5
Written by Junichi Fujisaku
Illustrated by Yuki Yoshimoto
Published by Kodansha Comics

This brand-new chapter fills in the gaps between The Ghost in the Shell: Human-Error Processor and Man-Machine Interface manga with a tense cyberpunk thriller written by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex script writer Junichi Fujisaku. Just in time for the release of the new Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 anime on Netflix!

Togusa and Tsunagi set out for Africa to investigate a poisoning death at the Japanese consulate in the Sahel Special Economic Zone. Using their “honeymoon” as a cover, the two trace the black mamba snake venom used in the assassination to an oasis outside the zone that’s part of Gili tribal lands. While they’re gone, a coup rocks the Madisi Republic that governs Sahel, and General Mosey seizes control, sparking conflict with the “liberation forces” of the Gili. What does snake venom have to do with a civil war rising from the baked desert sands? That question is the key to Togusa breaking the case…

10. Not Just the Boob Grabbing Manga

“Undead Unluck” is one of those series that had an absolutely disastrous first few chapters yet managed to hang on long enough to reinvent itself and become a fan favorite. I had written this series off. So distasteful did I find the recurring gag of the undead guy grabbing the unlucky gal’s boobs that I dropped it like a hot potato. That it survived past chapter 25 never gave me pause - this is the magazine that still publishes “We Never Learn” after all.

Yet by all accounts, the series is phenomenal with an equally phenomenal adaptation by david productions (buried as it came out by the Disney/Hulu machine.) I’ve yet to read it, I think I’ll wait until volume 27 comes out in paperback, but a number of friends whose opinions I trust have said that, if you can make it through the first few chapters, it only gets better and the gross gags completely disappear. Almost as if it was never meant to be there in the first place.

Undead Unluck, Vol. 20
Written and Illustrated by Yoshifumi Tozuka
Published by Viz

What happens when an unlucky girl meets an undead guy? Pure chaos!

Tired of inadvertently killing people with her special ability Unluck, Fuuko Izumo sets out to end it all. But when she meets Andy, a man who longs for death but can't die, she finds a reason to live—and he finds someone capable of giving him the death he's been longing for.

The Union members enjoy their student lives as they try to divert the tragedy that comes with the manifestation of Chikara’s negation abilities. When it appears that they have successfully managed to protect Chikara’s peaceful days, a UMA crashes their graduation ceremony! As Fuuko and the others do battle with the UMA threat, Chikara faces two choices—lead a regular life or join the superpowered organization!

9. A Baker’s Foot

I’m always down to read a new Kei Sanbe series and one that seems to mirror a local urban legend from my area? I’m ready to be spooped out and intrigued. Which reminds me, I gotta finish his last series..

The 13th Footprint, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Kei Sanbe
Translated by Sheldon Drzka
Lettered by Adnazeer Macalangcom
Published by Yen Press

Following their son Ao’s release from the hospital, Touya, Haru, and Ao were all ready to start a new life in their picturesque new home. But that was before the postcards arrived... Each postcard details an event—one that won’t happen until the next day. Follow this family on an adventure to unravel the mystery, stopping to help everyone they can along the way. 

8. High Stakes Makeup Tutorials

A few years back, I had a lot of praise for the series “True Beauty,” a webtoon about makeup, bullying, and self-perception. Sadly, the longer it went, the more it revealed itself to be about as skin-deep as the makeup it was about. I hope “Bless” doesn’t fall into the same traps. From its cover at, I have more faith. The characters are expressive and having it fit the Shonen battle format intrigues me. I hope we get a lot of technical jargon too! There’s just something soothing about seven panels of someone spouting off about a subject I know little of.

Bless, Vol. 5
Written and Illustrated by Yukino Sonoyama
Published by Kodansha Comics

They said Aia was destined to be a model, and Jun was bullied for her freckles. Together, they will take back the power to define themselves in an inspirational fashion manga that asks cutting questions about what it really means to be beautiful--and what it takes to overcome an arbitrary system that seems to respect talent over hard work.

No path to stardom is without bumps and rough patches. Just when Aia and Jun begin to make headways towards their dreams, they find themselves lost in their journeys. Luckily, the two friends are committed to supporting each other unconditionally at every step.

Under the tutelage of the best professional makeup artists, the pressure is on Aia as his every move is scrutinized by faculty and fellow students. When the instructors at MIRROR propose a challenge with a highly coveted career-making prize, friendly rivalry turns into cutthroat competition. Aia focuses on his own vision, avoiding the toxic environment around him. However, jealousy is impossible to ignore when the celebrity makeup artist Daiya is playing favorites. Can Aia and Jun’s loyalty survive Daiya’s mind games?

7. More Tezuka, More Often

What else is there to say? Another publisher gets in the Tezuka game. And how can you say no to discount Einstein here?

Neo Faust
Written and Illustrated by Osamu Tezuka
Published by Ablaze

After years of failure to discover the meaning of the universe, Professor Ichinoseki decides to end his own life, but he is interrupted by the sorceress Mephist. They strike a bargain: in exchange for Ichinoseki's soul, Mephist will grant his wish for a fulfilled life...

Originally published over the course of 1988, NEO FAUST is the final of three adaptations of the classical Faust legend by "The Godfather of Manga," Osamu Tezuka.

ABLAZE is proud to present it in English for the first time.

6. Can a Robot Learn to Love?

It’s long been a staple of the sci-fi genre and in this time of unprecedented anxiety around AI (as we should be,) it’s soothing to have a story that’s pretty straightforwardly about a cyborg learning to love. Maybe we could all learn a thing or two from that.

Black Blood
Written and Illustrated by Hayate Kuku
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment

A Boys’ Love sci-fi manga that pushes the boundaries on the meaning of love.

Ethan, a battle-weary cyborg soldier, retreats to a tranquil planet in search of peace. There, he meets Mikhail, a gentle botanist whose warm smile and delicate touch seem almost fragile. Ethan finds himself inexplicably drawn to Mikhail, experiencing a restless unease whenever they’re together. He longs to touch, to cherish—feelings that are undeniably human. Bewildered by the feelings stirring within him, Ethan begins to question if he truly has a heart after all.

5. Cruel Mahojo’s Thesis

Love in war time. How can we justify it? How can we not? Is it not what gets us through? What pierces the veil and opens the eyes? Why would this not apply to those magical girls, forced to fight, day in and day out? The juxtaposition of idyllic calm and just barely visible darkness in its cover sets the tone right. It is what separates the grimdark deconstructions from the rest, this capacity for hope and centering of love in a dark story.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day, Vol. 3
Written and Illustrated by Nachi Aono
Published by Kodansha Comics

There's an orphanage that's actually a boot camp, turning out magical child soldiers for a gruesome war. Yet love finds a way to blossom amid bloodshed, in this dramatic, much-anticipated yuri manga that is spiritual kin to the likes of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Otherside Picnic, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.

Drowning in Blood and Tears

Prayers are Sheena’s only source of hope and comfort as she watches Mimi head into combat night after night in a senseless war. While the immortal Mimi continues to thrive in battle, the teachers at the orphanage decide it’s time for others to sacrifice their lives. The chosen one is the stoic and gallant Seiran who is ready to fight in order to protect the girl she loves. As the war targets more vulnerable victims, will the injustice finally force Sheena to reconsider her love for Mimi?

Love blossoms amid bloodshed in a new, enthralling dystopian yuri manga

4. One Year Later

Damn, it’s been forever since volume 1 came out. I’ve been waiting with baited breath for the second volume to drop and I could see the next pulse pounding segment of Hyaku’s revenge story. This series is stylish, folks, modeled in design more after Soviet-era propaganda posters than its source material, “Dororo,” or even other manga out now. It’s dark, it’s driven, and it’s in need of some more attention. I just hope we get a real ending, unlike “Dororo’s” sudden and abrupt finale. Guess I’ll have to wait another year for that.

Search and Destroy, Vol. 2
Written and Illustrated by Atsushi Kaneko
Translated by Ben Applegate
Lettered by Christopher Woodrow-Butcher
Published by Fantagraphics

The second volume in manga creator Atsushi Kaneko’s cyberpunk retelling of the timeless, Eisner Award–winning Dororo by “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka.

Hyaku has been betrayed. A fearsome killer, her body more machine than flesh, she has learned the truth: Her human body parts were bartered away when she was a baby, and what remained was left for dead. Filled with incandescent rage, Hyaku embarks on a vengeful rampage to dismantle the monsters who took her apart and violently reclaim what she has lost. But as she replaces her cybernetic implants with the flesh and blood she has been denied, a new emotion sets in: fear. Fear that her human body will be too weak to finish what she started ― and fear of what she might learn next about her own past. Will her anger and ruthlessness be enough to propel her to the final showdown? Or will revelations about the depravity of her world consume her, along with everyone around her?

Originally serialized from 2019–2021 in the Japanese manga monthly TezuComi, Search and Destroy is a brilliantly-crafted thriller about an outsider looking for meaning and vengeance in the unjust world that took everything away from her. In a stunning, high-contrast setting that blends the post–Cold War former Soviet Bloc with a gritty futuristic Tokyo, Kaneko populates his story with an unforgettable cast of scrappy heroes and skin-crawling machine-monsters on a nonstop ride full of action and suspense. The result is not only one of the best sci-fi manga of recent years but also one of the most visually rich and distinctive works of graphic storytelling in any genre or language.

3. Denpa Breaking My Heart

Sports manga struggle in the US. I should know; I don’t really read them. However, every time I do, I find myself absorbed and unable to put it down. So, as someone who very much trusts Denpa’s curatorial eye and as a lover of short stories, I’m excited to read “Short Game.”

As far as I know, Denpa actually has the books in hand now, so this date shouldn’t slip too much. Shouldn’t…

Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi's Baseball Short Story Collection
Written and Illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi
Published by Denpa

From the pen of Mitsuru Adachi comes a collection of...what else but high school baseball themed short stories. Compiled from magazines such as Superior, Spirits and Shonen Sunday, this release also features a special short from the limited edition Shonen Sunday Graphics TOUCH which Shogakukan produced in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of Adachi's legendary series TOUCH. Whether looking for romance, drama, mystery or comedy, this is the definitive modern collection of Adachi's sports manga.

2. The Word is…Murder

I. Am. So. Excited. For. This. Manga.

The twists! The turns! It’s gothic and full of schemers and deliciously suspicious. I mean, just read that last line “The curtain rises on the story of a rising star who plunges into an abyss...where the only sustenance is vengeance!” THE ONLY SUSTENANCE IS VENGEANCE! Nothing can top that.

Roar: A Star in the Abyss, Vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Ai Okaue
Published by Kodansha Comics

A new revenge thriller manga from the creator of the hit manga and TV drama Guilty! Plunge into a tale of vengeance set in the dark depths of showbiz, where a rise to stardom casts sinister shadows. Another gut-wrenching thriller perfect for fans of streaming hits The Glory and Burn Down the House.

Who is the villain of your story…?

Misato had a perfect childhood, with parents who loved her and a home on an idyllic island in Japan’s inland sea. But then a TV show starts shooting in town. Misato's cast as an extra, and in an instant, her life is turned on its head. A woman appears claiming to be her real mother, and before she knows it Misato is living in a lavish mansion surrounded by greedy schemers of all stripes. The curtain rises on the story of a rising star who plunges into an abyss...where the only sustenance is vengeance!

1. OK, One Thing Can Top That

Were it not the final volume, I wouldn’t have bumped it up to the top, but with this, “Call of the Night” comes to a close, with season 2 of the anime hot on its heels. I really grew to love Kotoyama’s vampire series. It started kinda aimless but slowly, like a good night wander, it found its footing and its direction, discovering many wonders along the way.

The story of Ko trying to become a vampire and Nazuna’s quest to learn what love is comes to a close with volume 20. What was once beautiful and empty is now full and vibrant and like all nights, the day must eventually come. It is here now. Let us watch the sunrise together.

Call of the Night, Vol. 20
Written and Illustrated by Kotoyama
Published by Viz

Antisocial, dorky boy seeks fun-loving, sexy vampire for blood-sucking and transforming into her minion.

One sleepless night, Ko slips out to walk the streets. Life after dark is a revelation! Especially when he meets flirtatious Nazuna. Except that she’s a vampire. That’s okay. He wants to become a creature of the night too. But transformation doesn’t come that easily...

Haruka tries to convince Ko to do the right thing, using both persuasion and deadly force. In this final volume, knowing their love could kill them both, Nazuna and Ko spend one last romantic night together. When dawn breaks, will they have the courage to part ways forever? What alternative do they have?

Mangaversity: May 2025

Fishing for compliments, we enter the Spring.

House of Ideas, Powers of SecretsElias Rosner

Mangaversity - House of Ideas, Powers of Secrets

House of Ideas, Powers of SecretsElias Rosner