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beastars

Beastars is a manga written by and illustrated by Paru Itagaki. It also has an anime adaptation with a really nice OP animated in stop-motion and the rest is animated in 3D. Honestly, the first thing hooking me into Beastars was the fact that it was a furry manga.

The story of Beastars is kicked off after a herbivore student named Tem is killed and eaten by one of his clubmates after school. Amidst the tension between herbivores and carnivores in school, grey wolf Legoshi (or is it Legosi?) meets a dwarf rabbit named Haru and begins to develop confusing feelings for her - both as a carnivore and as a teenage wolf.

I enjoyed Beastars up until the end. I'm, frankly, quite awful with plot, but I still enjoyed it lots because the worldbuilding was interesting and Itagaki's artsyle was really nice. There's a sort of personal feel with her art; something about how messy the lines and panel borders are in the first few chapters that just feel really. Nice. I don't know how else to put it. Plus, seeing Paru's artstyle evolve over the course of the manga is something that's really interesting to me too, hah.

Legoshi on volume 1's cover vs. Legoshi on volume 12's cover. His fur gets a little more bluer, and a little more 'lively-looking' as a whole. The main difference I think is how his eyes just get massive over the course of the manga. He's cuter that way!

One thing, however, I did not expect from Beastars was the sheer amount of sexual content?! I mean, yes, sure, it's a highschool drama or something but I wasn't expecting flat out sex in some of the chapters, hah.

Spoilers will be discussed!

The ending of Beastars was uuh...was, well, something, to be honest! I felt like the manga got stranger and kind of bad near the end, with random ass characters and events being introduced and then never being mentioned again. (I'm still mad that fight with Gosha and the bats never went anywhere!) Honestly, I couldn't help but think to myself, 'where the heck are we going?!'

I thought Melon was a very interesting character. Didn't like what happened to him near the end, felt really anti-climactic. But I liked him, thought he was a cool villain!

Overall if I had to give Beastars a rating, I'd give it a Seven out of ten...just kidding it's more like an eight.

beast complex

A sort of sibling series to Beastars, set in the same world and universe and features some of the same characters too. Made before and during Beastar and contains a bunch of one-shots focusing on beasts and their own personal problems, usually titled in the same manner, like "The Fox and the Chameleon", "The Pig and the Peacock", etc etc. There are three volumes of Beast Complex out thus far. Apparently, the very first oneshot of Beast Complex focused a very early version of Legoshi and Haru, but I can't find it anywhere. There are a few images of it online.

Honestly, even without reading Beastars, I think Beast Complex stands as a really good set of oneshots by itself. (there are some spoilers in the third volume, I think, but they're not too major) Plus, the characters from the third volume are all from the apartment Legoshi moves into in the later volumes.

The characters are interesting for the brief time you're with them and it gives a really nice initial look into the world of Beastars. There's...probably, a LOT more you could extract from Beast Complex, but above all I enjoyed reading it and I liked the characters. My personal favourite chapters were "The Spotted Deer and the Snow Leopard", "The Turtle and the Goat", "The Tiger and the Alpaca", and "The Shiba Inu and the Shiba Inu".

Overall it's a good read, if you like furry stuff and like Beastars I recommend you give it a peeper. :)

tamamo-chan's a fox

A cute 4-koma slice-of-life comic about a fox who becomes a highschool girl to experience the joys of adolescence - except, while she thinks she's nailed the appearance of a normal girl, in reality, she's not the best at hiding her animal traits.

Right now, I've only got the first volume, but I'm enjoying it a ton so far!

Mix of cute furry/supernatural god shenanigans, plus cute high school girl friendship. Tama-chan is cute too. Basically, a lot the chapters revolve around Tamamo trying out new, normal human stuff and her classmates trying to both ignore (and help her hide) the fact that she's a giant fox. Also, there's this whole thing where only the kids (and people with childlike mindsets) can see her as a fox, and the adults (or the serious-minded) types see her as a normal (albeit white-haired) girl.

Anyways, if you want cute furry stuff, "Tamamo-chan's a Fox" is a must read. Or if you just want cute stuff in general, it's a joy to read.

nichijou

Slice of life silly. The anime, is, honestly miles ahead of the manga due to the fact that some of the chapters are just adapted way better (see the hotdog scene + the mio kills 5 guys scene + like a whole crap of others) but reading the manga is still a lovely experience since Arawi's artstyle is truly a treat to the behold.

Plus, since the anime only covers volumes 1-6 (and doesn't go through all the chapters either way) there's a whole lot of other stuff to see in the manga.

Being a slice of life manga, I don't really know what to talk about when it comes to Nichijou's manga...call me a fake fan but I don't really like the recent chapters from the reboot of the manga...T_T (I'm sorry!)

I like especially that there was a timeskip later on and that we get to see where everyone gets to later on in life. My personal favourite chapters are...well, a lot of the 4-koma based ones, the boiled-egg fiasco with the Igo Soccer Club, the ones with Mihoshi and her friends, and the Mai v Yoshino chapter. (actually any chapter with yoshino tbh)

the masterful cat is depressed again, today

4-koma comic about a cat who grows to the size of a human and becomes wildly useful at doing household chores.

It's a light, cute read. The MC is a hard-worker at the office, but pretty incompetent at home; which is why her cat grows to take care of her! It got an anime adaptation really recently (which I haven't watched and don't plan to :P)

If you like cats and cozy, wholesome stuff, you will like this manga very much.

dungeon meshi

PEAK manga. Cooking manga + fantasy with wonderful worldbuilding and even better characters. If you've never heard of Dungeon Meshi have you even lived?! stop what you're doing and go read it!!! The manga ended recently and (as of typing this) there's an anime adaptation coming out in Janurary animated by TRIGGER. It's a wonderful manga to read through and I can't reccommend it more!

Dungeon Meshi follows Laios and his party as they adventure the dungeon to try and rescue his sister Farlyn (or Falin in the official translation, but I'm used to calling her Farlyn so I'm sticking with that :P) after she was devoured by a dragon. However, there's one problem from that little dragon encounter - they're broke!

In order to cover food costs in the dungeon, Laios decides that they'll eat monsters instead. And so starts their journey with dungeon meals...or, their Dungeon Meshi as it could be called uahahahaha

Anyways, the manga gets REALLY good later on and you begin to forget the fact that the main problem in this manga was that someone got eaten. Actually, the whole issue gets turned to something else later on, but that's for you to find out!

Dungeon Meshi also has a cast of really good and also really cute characters. You have probably seen the catgirl around. She is one of them and she is great. My personal favourite characters from Dungeon Meshi are Lycion, Thistle, Milsril and Farlyn. Honestly, the Canaries as a whole are great too love em Plus, the mangaka makes a lot of extra comics about the world and the characters which are a delight to read through. (Her personal blog can be found here.)

Please read Dungeon Meshi. You are genuinely missing out if you don't!

azumanga

shimeji simulation

Shimeji Simulation follows the hikikomori Shijima Tsukishima who decides to venture for highschool after staying in her closet for two years. Upon doing so, she discovers that a pair of mushrooms have grown on her head, and befriends Majime Yamashita, an odd girl with an egg on her head. And then the oddities of Shijima's world begin to reveal itself...

I read Shimeji Sim. in a day because I got so flustered with what kept on happening next. It starts off as your general 4-koma 'cute girls doing cute things' type series with a little bit of an odder cast than usual (i.e. Majime's egg being, like, physically part of her, a girl whos twin sister is an octopus, etc. etc.) + gay people woooah. But then it goes off the rails in terms of. Everything. Honestly, I kind of got a sort of Yume Nikki-ish vibe from it, considering how much Shijima brings up dreams in the first chapters and how weird some of the later imagination-formed areas get. So you should listen to the Yume Nikki/2kki OST while you read Shimeji Simulation. :)

A lot of Shimeji Sim. dips into existentialism and a lot of deep, philosophical stuff that...honestly, uh, I'm really dumb and did not understand but I enjoyed so, so so much. I cried at the end of it...! I was honestly kind of scared to read it at first because I was worried I'd finish it feeling depressed but...uuhh...now I'm left feeling entirely like something else...

Spoilers!

What the actual fuck was that Hoooly moly. I can't even describe how I feel after reading Shimeji Simulation. Sad? Empty? Reassured? I'm glad it ended on...well, I can't say a happy note because stuff's still kind of messed up over there, but...boy, that was a journey. I knew prior that things would get either depressing or messed up, but I wasn't expecting 'dreamscape Porter Robinson Shelter MV'-type world. I was thinking about it while reading, and while it would be nice to live in 'Shimejiverse prior concert' I was starting to worry for them. Then it all really went somewhere...

In the end though, Shijima searching for Majime made me really sad. Shimeji Sim. captures solitude and loneliness like nothing else and...man, I don't know what to say! It was good! I teared up and now I don't know what to do with myself! That's all you have to know about it!

In conclusion...It's good. I read it, I liked it, and if you like cute girls and really, really, really weird crap you'll like it too.

rojica and rakkasei

Rojica and Rakkasei is a post-apocalyptic manga about the lives of...well, I'm not actually sure what they are, but it follows the lives of these creatures who live on Earth after the remnants of humanity. It focuses on the Rojica, a strange but loving little creature who takes care of Rakkasei, the last human. Along with these two, the comfy, country-like town they live in is filled with other interesting creatures with their own stories and quirks. It's a comfy, wholesome manga that also manages to be alarmingly depressing and ridiculously dark at points.

This manga is seriously underated! It's a short read (25~ish chapters) but you get wholly attached to all the characters, be it minor or major. If there's something to compare it to, Undertale and Adventure time are quite similar, seeing how, well, 1 human fella and a bunch of monster fellas. Heck, Rakkasei kind of looks like Chara. The fact that it gets incredibly dark at times adds to that. Kinome (the mangaka) has a very lovely artstyle too; simple and cute, yet the backdrops are amazingly detailed and the devastating moments are drawn wonderfully.

My favourite chapters are:

• Chapter 6 - Bakubaku the Monster
  A really bittersweet yet heartwarming chapter.
  Spoiler

  

• Chapter 10 to 11 - The Abel Chapters (thats not their name but you get the idea)
  I love Abel. also, biblical references yaaay...except this one's kind of turned around These ones are also, especially freaky because it's so unexpected.
  Spoiler

  

• Chapter 14 - Shii-san's Long Day
  I'm a sucker for, like, (how do I describe this..?!) pieces of media where they take care of a baby. (Because it's cute. I can't stand children too much though hah) This one's perfect. Especially because we get some Mrs. Grace foreshadowing...
• Chapter 16 - Love and Delusion
  its literally among us + gay people like. really briefly. didn't end up well though...
• Chapter 21 - A Beautiful Heart
  Again, also another brutal one. Puts Mrs. Grace in a whole new perspective and is really depressing when you learn that she's been calling out her daughter's name this whole time...apparently, the mangaka said that they'd "like to think that she gets her heart back" or something, so...

Anyways- if you're looking for something to read, read Rojica and Rakkasei! Doesn't matter who you are, just read it! It's not something to be missed!