What manga are you reading now?

Cheeky Brat vol 1 (dropped)
Cheeky? More like impertinent (yes, I used a thesaurus 😜). Constantly badgering the poor girl with teasing, confessions and stolen kisses despite her many protestations! By the end of the volume she'd been beaten into submission. I felt uncomfortable with a lot of it. And yet this is a shoujo written by a woman! Maybe some girls like their men being that forward! Or at least THINK they'd like some pretty boy doing this sort of stuff to them.
It got a score of nearly 8 on MAL, so maybe it gets better, but with another 22 volumes to go I can't be bothered to find out.
 
Chobits 20th Anniversary Edition Omnibus 2 (so volumes 3-4 of the original 8) - I am continually impressed by the delicate way CLAMP have handled this heartwarming yet bittersweet, poignant piece of social science fiction, I'm not the biggest CLAMP fan overall and I find some of their politics (the anarcho-capitalist thing) offputting, but this is an amazing manga with so many interesting things to say about people, and I feel lucky to be reading it, and in such a lovely edition no less :)
 
Catch These Hands! Vols 1-4 (complete)
A yuri manga about 2 women who were rival delinquents when at their respective high schools and meet again when one (Takebe) gets frustrated at still being the same as she was, but all her gangmates have grown up and got married and are having kids. Looking for a makeover she happens to pick the shop her ex-rival (Soramori) is working at, thing is Soramori actually had a crush on Takebe and is the reason she became strong enough to challenge Takebe in the first place and now she wants to challenge her again...
The relationship between the two felt odd most of the time (Soramori basically forces Takebe into it by winning the challenge and then Takebe honouring the wager. They then spend most of the first 3 volumes going on weird dates that either one or the other doesn't really like and having arguments and generally the relationship never really feeling like one), but after facing their insecurities about themselves and the relationship I think it ended up being a pretty wholesome one in the end. There were plenty of amusing moments along the way too.
Art wise the 2 main characters looked a little too alike, both had shortish hair which was only a shade or 2 different in tone, and was confusing sometimes.
8/10
 
Otherside Picnic (manga) vol 1-10 - Hey, can you tell I'm getting a bit antsy waiting this final week for the last part of vol 8 (of the novel) to be posted? I've even started watching the 'Otherside PIcnic' anime now that I have exhausted the manga, and it's not a very good adaptation. The manga was great though.
 
Lore Olympus Volume 3 (Hardcover) - I really love this for the way it makes the Greek pantheon live and breathe in the modern day, "humanising" them, if that's the word, I particularly enjoyed Eros's fleshing out as a character in this volume :) I have Volume 4 and will be buying Volume 5 as well when it comes out later this year :)

The Girl From the Other Side Hardcover 3-in-1 Omnibus 2 containing Volumes 4-6 - Beautiful and unique, I have Volume 3 and will def be getting Volume 4 to complete the series, I just hope it doesn't break me too hard 😭
 
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest ch 137 - 138

Hajimete no Gal ch 161 - 163

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san ch 174

Karakai Jouzu no (Moto) Takagi-san ch 284 - 286

In Another World With My Smartphone ch 80 - 81

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ch 109

The Rising of the Shield Hero ch 98
 
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Heartstopper Volume 2 (Hardcover) - Really enjoyed rereading this volume, Nick and Charlie are just so good to each other and it's really heartwarming, I am def gonna collect the rest of the hardcover versions (Vol 3 is out tomorrow!) :)

Blood on the Tracks Volume 13 - For all that this volume was
heartbreaking, it was that way precisely because it contains human kindness and warmth between Seichii and his father. It was so so sad to see how much he blamed himself for Seiko's horrible behaviour, and I was in tears seeing how much they obviously cared about each other right up to his passing. I think stuff like this is so important for me to read because it helps me understand people better and reflect on how to try and make the world a better place.
Excellent, will definitely be continuing with the series.
 
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Reign of the Seven Spellblades volume 6 (LN)
Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii volume 4

Old-Fashioned Cupcake (complete) - Really enjoyed the drama adaptation for this awhile back, so I was very eager to pick up the manga. Likewise, really enjoyed this and looking forward to SuBLime bringing out the sequel. :)

The Mercenary and the Novelist (complete)
 
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest ch 139

Hajimete no Gal ch 164 - 165

How Not to Summon a Demon Lord ch 98.1 - 98.3

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san ch 175

Karakai Jouzu no (Moto) Takagi-san ch 287 - 289

Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou ch 81

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter ch 62 - 66

The Rising of the Shield Hero ch 99

Tsugumomo ch 156 - 159

Wise Man's Granchild ch 77 - 78
 
Spice and Wolf LN Volume 2 Audiobook, Unabridged, read by J. Michael Tatum - An excellent second volume and having a great time listening to these with my mum who really enjoys them as well, nice to see the Lawrence/Holo relationship/dynamic gradually becoming more established and more feudal economic adventures ;)

Heartstopper Volume 3 Hardcover (REREAD) - I loved the Paris trip! More great stuff in this volume, really looking forward to finally reading Volume 4. So heartwarming! 🥰
 
Koroshiya Yametai vol 1-4 (end) - Disappointing this one. A series about a gay hitwoman with an absolutely nailbiting plot which had me hooked from start to finish, but the ending was really sudden and unsatisfying and made it seem very much like the manga got axed. The author seemed to confirm this on the final page when they said that they'd ideally like to do a continuatuon of two more volumes if they get the chance. Real shame, but I'll hold out hope that it happens because god damn it I WANT more hitwoman yuri in my life!

Candy Boy vol 1-2 (end) - Slightly different from the now fairly aged anime. Not much to say about about this one other than it's a very light yuri manga with an incestuous "couple", but nothing much really happens in it that would come across as risque. A single kiss near the end, which is sort of played off for laughs. The seven chapters of side stories about the other characters however, very well done and quite touching. Dragged my score for the whole series up a little bit. Main story was a little boring at times, but the side characters had something to them.
 
Usborne Magical Illustrated Stories (Hardcover) - I'm staying with my mum atm, and I've done two trips to charity shops to look for books of fairy tales and the like, this was a lovely one to start off with, it's 8 classic fairytales plus 6 new stories written for this book, and while it's hardly going to reinvent the wheel of storytelling it kept me engaged throughout, the illustration style is different for each story, not radically but there is variation, plus it has The Little Mermaid in it which as regulars here probably are aware is one of my favourite fairytales. What's also noteworthy about this book is that there are illustrations on literally every page with the text overlaid and that means you get a lot of pictures, which I consider to be a big big plus. All the illustrations are full colour too, and I enjoyed both the old and new stories :)

Betty Bib's Fairy Field Guide (Hardcover) - A lovely book full of beautiful photos of fairies made by the author from scraps of cloth and other nice little bits, with plenty of fairy lore and an emphasis on appreciating the little things, really quite delightful :)

Spice and Wolf Light Novel Volume 3 Unabridged Audiobook Read by J. Michael Tatum and Brina Palencia - Still as good as it ever was, and it was nice having Holo's English VA do some of the chapters as well as Lawrence's. I wish more light novel series branched off the beaten isekai path as this one does! :)

Koshka's Tales: Stories From Russia - James Mayhew (Hardcover) - Utterly beautiful painted illustrations fill this poignant retelling of five Russian folktales, linked by a wise, kind old storytelling cat called Koshka, and a tsarita and her son who are on the island with her listening. I only paid a couple of quid for this but would happily have paid the £10 it retails for new given the beauty of the author's artwork. More stories would have been nice but I'm glad I took a punt on it :)
 
@RadFemHedonist : I love James Mayhew's art too - and he's created so many wonderful books for children of all ages! You've probably seen this - but he also does live painting at special concerts for young people in which he illustrates the pieces the orchestra plays: pure magic! :)
 
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