That Time I Got Reincarnated In The Same World As An Anime Podcaster

Chapter 1 of Beat and Motion by Naoki Fujita is perhaps the most relatable 69-pages of manga that I have ever read. It tells the story of Tatsuhiko, a young man who has dabbled with various creative projects growing up, but for several reasons has given up on all of them. As a young adult he has become jaded and bitter toward his friends who haven't given up. He resents the success of others, even though deep down he knows that he has no one to blame but himself. This cycle of disappointment is broken when Tatsuhiko encounters a girl at a bar. She overhears him discouraging his friend from pursuing his dream of entering a novel writing contest. As he and the girl walk to the train station she calls him out.  She pretends to kick him into oncoming traffic. For a moment, Tatsuhiko is afraid that he will die. When he realizes that he is fine, the mysterious girl informs him that now that he's faced the worst he doesn't need to be afraid of whatever was holding him back. He tak...

It's been a hot minute since I tackled one of the new manga in shonen jump but when I saw Jiangshi X pop up in the list I knew I had to give it at least one chapter. I don't talk about this as often on the podcast, but I am a much bigger fan of horror movies than I am of anime and it is from that world that I am most familiar with jiangshi.  For those who don't know, jiangshi are the legendary Chinese hopping vampires. At night they hop around with their arms outstretched searching for victims to drain their precious qi. There is a whole subgenre of jiangshi movies out there, and they're great. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend "Mr. Vampire."  I was a little surprised to see a manga that was so heavily inspired by Chinese mythology. I know this isn't exactly new ground, after all Dragonball is probably the most famous manga of all time and it is inspired by A Journey to the West. Still, it's a break from the recent norm. It's almost eno...

Another week, another new series in Shonen Jump. Yesterday (6/12/2022) saw the release of the first chapter of Ruri Dragon by Masaoki Shindou.  The plot is fairly simple. A girl named Ruri wakes up one morning to find out that she has grown dragon horns. The tone of the manga is immediately set when both Ruri and her mother treat this as an unexpected inconvenience and not a horrific disfigurement. It's not that such things are common place in the world of the manga, they most certainly are not. It's just that if you wake up one day with dragon horns, well, what are you gonna do about it? Life goes on.  Ruri's mother reveals in an equally matter-of-fact tone that Ruri's father, who has never been present in her life, is actually a Ryu (龍 I'm guessing was the kanji used), a dragon. Specifically, he is a Japanese dragon. It's not really explained in the chapter, but there are a lot of differences between dragon myths in Europe and Asia. For the time being let'...