Ciguatera, Book 1 (Volumes 1-2) Review

[Ian Wolf]

A coming-of-age tale about a boy who craves a certain girl and the thrill of the open road.

Continue reading...

 

[Demelza]

For me personally, what is most interesting about the edition is that while it is released by Kodansha, the credits describe Ciguatera as “a Vertical book”. This is the first Vertical print title I have covered since Kodansha has taken over the label, with the adverts in the back of the manga promoting former Vertical titles which are now being released or are about to be released under the Kodansha label, including The Flowers of Evil and many of Osamu Tezuka’s adult, avant-garde works such as MW and Dororo. These new releases serve as a reminder as to how, in the West at least, many of the bigger labels are coming to dominate the industry.

I'm not sure any of the formally Vertical titles are actually transitioning to being given Kodansha labelled releases. Yes, they're being printed for Kodansha, but the branding for everything that has come out post the Kodansha takeover that was a Vertical title has remained with the Vertical branding (the latest volume of To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts for example which came out this month still has Vertical on).

Honestly, it likely means anything licensed by Vertical won't be changing their branding, including the forthcoming releases. Which is good for people like me who already have long-running series with their branding. 😅

 

[setokaiba]

Decided to pick this one up thanks to your review. I don't think I would have ever heard of it otherwise but it seems like something I'd enjoy, thank you.

 

[Sarah]

Decided to pick this one up thanks to your review. I don't think I would have ever heard of it otherwise but it seems like something I'd enjoy, thank you.

Thank you for the really helpful feedback; as Reviews Editor, I was thinking of asking on the forums (especially as it's a new year!) if our reviews are bringing new titles to readers' notice or not...

 

[RadFemHedonist]

Thank you for the really helpful feedback; as Reviews Editor, I was thinking of asking on the forums (especially as it's a new year!) if our reviews are bringing new titles to readers' notice or not...

They are doing this for me, I just never get around to checking them out for various reasons, but I got interested in Call of the Night, Witch Hat Atelier and various other things via reviews on this site. Though I haven't read a review in a while but that's not because I didn't enjoy them, I just had a bout of more severe depression than usual and withdrew from a lot of things... don't know how helpful that feedback is but I tried 😅

 

[WMD]

Thank you for the really helpful feedback; as Reviews Editor, I was thinking of asking on the forums (especially as it's a new year!) if our reviews are bringing new titles to readers' notice or not...

For manga titles I do find the reviews here useful. Haru's Curse and A School Frozen in Time are 2 I only read because of the reviews here.

 

[Sarah]

They are doing this for me, I just never get around to checking them out for various reasons, but I got interested in Call of the Night, Witch Hat Atelier and various other things via reviews on this site. Though I haven't read a review in a while but that's not because I didn't enjoy them, I just had a bout of more severe depression than usual and withdrew from a lot of things... don't know how helpful that feedback is but I tried 😅

Thank you; this really is helpful - we do try to cover a wide range of manga and light novels because we 're very enthusiastic about them (though with honest reviews when sometimes the reviewers feel the titles are not what they set out to be though we always try to give reasons why they're disappointing). I do appreciate your reply and sincerely hope that things are going better for you now.

 

[Sarah]

For manga titles I do find the reviews here useful. Haru's Curse and A School Frozen in Time are 2 I only read because of the reviews here.

Thank you for this - we really do appreciate the feedback and it's also very interesting (and helpful) to know the titles that have caught your attention! There'll be quite a lot of manga reviews over the next days with new titles as well as continuing series - so maybe something will appeal; we hope so!

 

[RadFemHedonist]

Thank you; this really is helpful - we do try to cover a wide range of manga and light novels because we 're very enthusiastic about them (though with honest reviews when sometimes the reviewers feel the titles are not what they set out to be though we always try to give reasons why they're disappointing). I do appreciate your reply and sincerely hope that things are going better for you now.

Thankyou so much, I am feeling significantly better I would like to add that it's more manga that I learn about from this site than anime simply because it's manageable for me to find out about all the anime titles on streaming sites and physical releases out there (and I used to spend a lot of time researching it so I do not have as much catching up on the names and basic synopsis of older series/what's likely to be worth my time as some people might feel they need, so I more rely on the forum here than the main website for that if I need a hand, but that is not anyone's fault just that I am fairly knowledgeable already, I have definitely found the reviews here very helpful for helping me narrow down what to look into at some point in the future when it comes to the vast quantity of manga out there though. Also very much appreciate the additional recommendations and info the mods provide in their forum posts here

 

[Sarah]

Thankyou so much, I am feeling significantly better I would like to add that it's more manga that I learn about from this site than anime simply because it's manageable for me to find out about all the anime titles on streaming sites and physical releases out there (and I used to spend a lot of time researching it so I do not have as much catching up on the names and basic synopsis of older series/what's likely to be worth my time as some people might feel they need, so I more rely on the forum here than the main website for that if I need a hand, but that is not anyone's fault just that I am fairly knowledgeable already, I have definitely found the reviews here very helpful for helping me narrow down what to look into at some point in the future when it comes to the vast quantity of manga out there though. Also very much appreciate the additional recommendations and info the mods provide in their forum posts here

I'm relieved to learn that you're feeling much better; that's very heartening. And I had a suspicion that you've amassed a great deal of experience/knowledge on the anime front! But your comments on our manga/LN coverage are both helpful and encouraging; speaking personally (and I know the other reviewers feel the same) when we come across something that stands out from the rest, we just want to recommend it and share the excitement we felt when reading it! So if that communicates to other potential readers, that's all good. 😊

 

[setokaiba]

Thank you for the really helpful feedback; as Reviews Editor, I was thinking of asking on the forums (especially as it's a new year!) if our reviews are bringing new titles to readers' notice or not...

Yup! It's definitely helpful for me, I like reading the reviews and it's brought some titles to my attention that I'm interested in.

 

[Sarah]

Yup! It's definitely helpful for me, I like reading the reviews and it's brought some titles to my attention that I'm interested in.

I'm so glad to hear that - and I should add that I've been enjoying reading your thoughts on titles that you've discovered too; it's lovely to have all the recommendations on the Forums as well, from you and the other keen readers!

 

[setokaiba]

I'm so glad to hear that - and I should add that I've been enjoying reading your thoughts on titles that you've discovered too; it's lovely to have all the recommendations on the Forums as well, from you and the other keen readers!

Aw thank you, I'm glad to hear that! I don't share my thoughts on absolutely everything I read but some stuff I feel deserves being praised/hyped/reviewed especially when it's on the lesser known side or I had a strong reaction to it.