I've read The Push Man and Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. I was feeling like a change of pace and came across this title more or less by accident when looking for alternative, against the grain manga. There's an oppressing atmosphere and pessimism in all the stories in this collections but somehow they manage to be poetic and charming in a way. Many stories have relationships between men and women as their core and how they bring misery and disappointment from both sides of the deal. But then again, it seems like engaging with society at any level, being entering a romantic relationship, employment or simply going out in the streets, invariably results in varying degrees of bitterness, confusion and anger. Despite this, most characters keep the stiff upper lip to the point of looking numb, apathetic or pathologically reticent. Society feels like something made to humiliate and grind the characters' souls to that point.

The artwork is simple but charming and effective. Text is sparse, which I think helps with the pacing and the atmosphere. Silence is a big part of how these stories play out and is an essential part of the characters. It somewhat elevates them beyond the terrible situations they take part in or are responsible for, almost like if these things happen in silence they're less horrifying and crushing. If nothing is said there's less to think about. Yet this book gave me a lot to think about. I definitely recommend it.

You can borrow it for free at archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/pushmanotherstor0000tats
1 hour is enough to read the whole thing but you can keep borrowing it if it takes you longer. All you need is a free account. There are tons of comics and books in there to borrow, so making an account is quite worth it.

Just finished reading A Drifting Life after having a positive experience reading The Push Man and Other Stories by the same author, Tatsumi Yoshihiro. This is a very long book, at almost 900 pages long and it tells the story of the author from 15 to his mid 20s. It’s a quiet and introspective autobiography about the author’s obsession with manga. This is an interesting book on several levels, one of them being his drive and passion for the media. This is something that always feels amazing to me, being a person without a great passion for anything, reading about people that have one great love that serves as the foundation of their very existence in this world. It's so odd and comforting in a way. The author himself is impressed at times at how deep he is into his own manga world bubble and how the world is changing around here without him noticing it.

This is an autobiography and a historical document of the development of manga in Japan in the 50s and 60s. If you’re interested in that at all, you’ll have a great time with it. If you’re not interested in the subject matter, this can become a slog. Like I said, at almost 900 pages, most of it is dedicated to the conflicts between the magazines and the mangaka, trends in artwork and script, important publications, important authors at the time and so on. Fortunately for me I’m interested in the world of comics and manga, so I had a great time with it. It was very interesting to read about manga before the great magazines, how they came to be and what they destroyed to become the hegemonic method of manga publication. There’s a bittersweet tone to the whole thing, and the feeling of longing the author has for the past is very evident. It’s like he’s trying to capture as much as he can from his young years and the events that made those days so important to him. I was very moved in many places during my reading of it. I say longing but there isn’t a sentiment of nostalgia, or a combative stance of ‘the good old days’ vs now. The work has a quiet peace about the whole thing, even in the moments of struggle. Like the previous work I read from this guy, I have to recommend this one.

This is a little more demanding than most manga I found but in a good way. It took me 3 days to finish it but I was going purposely slow with this one. You can read it for free at

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Dramatic exhale... You bet Kentaro did Madokish ending, I was already in the process of coming up with how I was going to complain about it, but no, turned out it's not a copy paste of Madoka. Instead, the ending turned out to be more or less what you'd expect, so that makes me happy.

My overall impression hasn't changed though, I wrote most of what I had to say in /an/.

It kinda irked me that assholes got acquitted, but then they mostly got what they deserved in the process, so with a bit of teeth grinding I can accept this. Besides, it's better to put on pink glasses and pretend people can change for the better, than to dwell on the ugliness of the world. Magical Girl Site has got enough of unwarranted ugliness, and persisting with it would end up being meaningless.

There are also a lot of things you know already, typical mantra about overcoming hardships, a lot of standard copy paste cues you see all over Japanese media and probably know by hearth, etc etc. But if you don't focus on it too much and look around instead, Magical Girl Site has some interesting things to show you.

All in all, it isn't a bad way to pass time. You may even immerse in the story, like I did. Just don't expect too much.

Also, about how Aya handled things in the end... Ehh... El Psy Congroo! Yeah Kentaro I see what you did there!

As a follow up post, I want to expand a bit about "interesting things", because my previous post is kind of very damn vague.

I don't know what it's like to be an experienced Mahou Shoujo reader/watcher, but from my perspective, just remembering how much mental agony I had to put myself through to watch two or three (I dropped it) episodes of Illya, I am sure my overall perception of the genre is forever doomed to be mangled by the looking glass of that agonizing experience. And don't let me get started about my other questionable attempts at Mahou Shoujo like Vivid Red Operation oh my God turn off my memory please. If there were any inexperienced people here, I'd be compelled to say it's a lesson against getting into anything backwards.

So what I liked and appreciated about Magical Girl site isn't the story itself, after what I described in the previous paragraph there is no way I'm ever expecting a story from Mahou Shoujo, but characters and how they were formed by circumstances. Just witnessing all those unfortunate stories, especially that of Aya, made me form a sort of emotional connection with them. I can't really explain it, but some characters just felt so relatable. Some gave off bad impression, but then after watching why they ended up like that, you kind of can't be angry with them anymore, mainly Shioi Rina.

That is to say, if you read/watch this as a Mahou Shoujo and don't get any weird ideas into your head about what it should be (because it shouldn't), you will likely find some of the characters to be appealing and relatable. There will be (sometimes very) offputting characters too!

Also the setting was actually fun. I am sort of used to see the same cliche setting decisions over and over again, but Magical Girl Site actually introduces a unique flavor while preserving that good old traditional mix of supernatural with every day life. I had never thought I would actually end up appreciating this Japanese way of setting up plot inside the usual school and otherwise mundane life. But if done right, it doesn't get old, somehow. Magical Girl Site, IMHO, does it right.

That's it. Cha

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Imagine waking up at the middle of the night wondering what that noise is only to discover that magical girls are fighting evil creatures in your house.

That's pretty much it, Tohno. I may never be able to talk to you, but just existing here alongside you makes me happier.

This pane didn't need to exist. Just why in the world...

Another thing I learned is that web based manga reading is a fucking joke. Interfaces provided by sites for reading manga are a big stinking fucking abomination. There is absolutely no other choice of words to describe the average experience of reading manga online.

On the other hand, mComix is a God's blessing if nothing else. My experience with it has been so smooth and flawless I can't believe such software exists. Unfortunately, automatic page turning sometimes skips 5-10 pages for no reason, so I had to turn in off, but on the NumPad arrow down and page down are placed near each other so there is no problem at all to turn pages manually.

>>4073
Its good. I also like that the mc is someone who is like that because they actively fucked things up. A lot of the non Fukumoto title's about reject are people who never stood a chance.

It also interesting that she isn't outright rejected by her old family and friends. Her ex-husband and daughter still engage with her in a positive way while implicitly acknowledging things can never go back to the way they were.

>>4041
Finally read Jobless Siblings and outside of a few side characters which are a bit too one note it really is excellent. I enjoy the contrast between the brother and sister where the brother is almost NEET as a life choice whereas the sister seems to legitimately have severe social anxiety.

I've recently read Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai, and while Yugami is not the typical kind of person you see in these types of manga, I feel like it still qualifies. It's about a female transfer student who sits next to the titular no-friend-haver in class and starts to see why upon interacting with him for more than a few sentences. The manga is hilarious and refreshing, almost entirely due to Yugami being a conscious egoist and causing funny situations with his refusal to consider anything other than self-satisfaction, I really like it and highly recommend it.

Starring cats.

>>4139
If they're willing to be manipulated, have they not, intrinsically, accepted the price?

>>4140
It's like accepting the price of mafia protection. You could say no, but then they'd break your legs. It's coercive.

I am reading Shimeji Simulation, in random burst. Its comfy, but not that funny.

>>/ns/5027
>[Incidentally he has a series serialized in kiara forward.]
Not anymore. KissYuri ended recently; I finished reading it. But thanks to your post I found out that betock previously also had a oneshot in Forward titled "Shimai wo Sotsugyou Shite Koibito ni Narimashita". KissYuri tended to feel kind of silly with its premise, harem, and battles; but the cute and passionate feel you're talking about is evident in this oneshot.

>>4092
shigurui
goblin slayer

>>4092
Made in Abyss. It has pee, vomit, blood, shiet and who knows what else. And those are the author fetishes so he recreates himself with it. Seems perfect for your request. And besides all that is a great work.

Elfenlied has some disgusting gore scenes, but they're not nearly as detailed as in the Anime.

I finished Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki recently and there's a lot of vomit, piss, sometimes (period) blood but mostly vomit.
>>4156
Hearing people scream when they're being flung around by invisible arms somehow feels more gruesome than just reading it.

Digitize.

>>4099
But I like physical.

>What do you do about manga preservation?
Nothing, other than not throwing them away.
>In what way do you store your manga?
On my bookshelf.
>Do you use these manga sleeves/bags? If so, where do you buy them?
No, but I do have a few historically important German books from before 1945 that I store in plastic bags that I bought from the local drug store, they cost me something like $1 for a pack of 20.
>If your manga have started yellowing have you tried those chemical yellow stain removal techniques?
No, I think the yellow color adds charm. I don't smoke, so it doesn't get too bad.

I used to have a massive collection back in middle school, then I had to sell it all because I needed the money and now I'm kinda strictly digital only. Recently I found myself buying again some of my favorite works in paper format but I don't plan on rebuilding my old bookshelf (I don't even own a bookshelf anymore).

>>4106
I picked up some of that dialect by watching Ghost Hound, I can read most of that

fire punch

Sekai Oni

骨の髄まで私に尽くせ

Choku!

昭和不老不死伝説 バンパイア

ニート女と小学2年生

Shijou saikyou no deshi kenichi.

Post edited on 1st Apr 2023, 7:59am

Shigahime
Be warned though, lots of gore
But it's worth it to see the female lead