There are two universal truths in today’s rapidly changing comics industry. The first is that Dog Man is the defining comic of our era. The second is that more people are reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before. Therefore we at Comics Beat have chosen to embark on a new venture: Beat’s Bizarre Adventure. Every week, three writers will recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea and elsewhere. This week we have a tentative romance, an unexpectedly optimistic zombie story, and, of course, delinquents.
A Side Character’s Love Story
Writer/Artist: Akane Tamura
Translation: Leah Surgent
Lettering: Chris Burgener
Platform: comickey, Azuki, Tapas, MangaPlaza, Bookwalker
Nobuko is one of those people who have never been under the spotlight. She constantly overthinks and is anxious when meeting new people. Now in her 20s, she works part-time at a convenience store. For the first time in her life, she has a crush: on her coworker Irie. She can’t even talk to a regular coworker without making it a big deal. Getting closer to Irie could be too high of a hurdle for Nobuko. Can she level up from being a side character to the main one?
Akane Tamura‘s A Side Character’s Love Story is an ongoing, slice-of-life romance manga with 19 volumes available in English. It should be apparent from the volume count that the series, contrary to the usual shojo or romance manga that ends when the leads get together, follows Nobuko and Irie’s relationship and life together after their graduation.
A Side Character’s Love Story is a manga that a reader would either love to bits or find absolutely boring. Both of the leads are inexperienced and approach each other so slowly that calling it “baby steps” wouldn’t be enough. Every little step toward the future is a big hurdle to Nobuko and Irie. They take their time to overcome them little by little, on their own terms.
If you’re a reader who approaches fictional works by how much you relate to them, and you don’t relate to a relationship evolving ever so gradually, you won’t enjoy this manga. But I personally prefer to see fictional works as a laboratoryso to speak, where I can read an artist’s exploration of what might happen if such and such characters were put in a predicament. These what-ifs, in and of themselves, interest me. Even though I’m very different from Nobuko or Irie, I still find A Side Character’s Love Story to be a fun manga that I always look forward to reading.
I recommend this series to readers looking for a diverse romance manga with an extremely cute art style depicting a journey of self-exploration and a slow-burn relationship. — Merve Giray
ZOM100: Bucket List of the Dead
Writer: Haro Aso
Artist: Kotaro Takata
Translation: Nova Skipper
Touch Up & Lettering: Vanessa Satone
Publisher: VIZ
Being stuck in a dead end job, overworked and underpaid, living paycheck to paycheck, can be draining. One dreams of the life they would rather live. So much so that if a zombie apocalypse happened, they might actually welcome the collapse of society. Why wouldn’t the downfall of civilization open up possibilities that passed you by while you were trapped working mandatory overtime?
This is the premise of ZOM100: Bucket List of the Dead. This series, written by Haro Aso and illustrated by Kotaro Takatais a horror comedy that depicts a group of survivors navigating through hordes of zombies in Japan. One of them is former office drone Akira Tendo. He decides that rather than live in dread of eventual death, he’d rather try the things he couldn’t do while chained to a desk. So he makes a bucket list of things to do before he becomes one of the living dead. Compared to tight deadlines and long hours, evading zombies and looking for food is a breeze.
The majority of post apocalyptic fiction are downers. ZOM100 instead looks at the end of civilization from a glass half full kind of perspective. As he travels Japan, Akira gathers survivors determined to make the most out of life. Everyone contributes their own bucket list goals, ranging from the predictable (meet the girl of my dreams) to the adventurous (find a fossil!) to the absurd (grow dreadlocks). Running from zombies isn’t so bad so long as you have a purpose.t bad if you create a purpose for yourself in this new world.
Aso’s post-apocalyptic world feels consistently fresh. The zombies are always a threat but they’re threatening in the way a natural disaster can be. The characters enjoy life rather than mourn a world that won’t return. Meanwhile, Takata balances horror visuals (he draws some particularly ominous undead) with really funny images (the way a zombie shark runs). ZOM100 is a welcome addition to a genre in need of a fresh perspective. A zombie apocalypse may be awful; but at least you don’t have to go in to work. — D. Morris
Tokyo Revengers
Writer/Artist: Ken Wakui
Translation: Project Ceres (Seven Seas)
Lettering: Robert Harkins (Seven Seas)
Publisher: Kodansha USA (digital); Seven Seas (print)
Tokyo Revengers is a polarizing series. The premise is simple: it follows a 26 year old man named Takemichi Hanagaki who gets pushed in front of a train and gets sent back 12 years into the past to save his girlfriend from getting killed in the present by a violent gang called the Tokyo Manji Gang, or Toman. Takemichi is weak and routinely gets pummeled by people much stronger than him. But he has heart and determination and that makes up for his lack of strength. When he travels to the past, he expects to see a Toman which is just as bad as the version he currently knows. Instead he finds a group of friends who have honorable ideals and a vision for a new era of criminals, led by a boy named Mikey. What starts as a mission to rescue his girlfriend becomes something much bigger.
One reason why the series is polarizing is the protagonist himself. Some readers are annoyed and frustrated that when Takemichi isn’t getting beaten up, he’s crying. Does he cry more than your average shonen protagonist? Probably. Is that so terrible? Not necessarily. Just because Takemichi believes it doesn’t mean he’s emotionally weak. It’s a lot to put on one person’s shoulders to expect them to save the world. None of those things make him any less than a hero. It’s also inspiring to see that even though Takemichi knows he’s not as strong as the other gangsters, he isn’t fated to lose. It also doesn’t mean that he has to give up. On the contrary, it makes him all the more determined.
Time travel stories are sometimes criticized for their tangled logic, and for time travel itself being used as a plot device. Tokyo Revengers is certainly no exception; the ending especially split fan opinion. But the time traveling aspect makes it an extremely fun series to read and watch. Every decision Takemichi makes and every attempt to save someone in the past leads to another tragedy in the present, leading readers to wonder if it’s possible to save everyone.
As a note, Toman uses a manji symbol as his gang symbol. It is not the symbol of a certain German nationalist party, the latter of which is presented facing a different direction. The manji symbol, prior to it being appropriated in the early 20th century, is associated with Buddhism and signifies Buddha’s footsteps. [Editor’s Note: For further reading.] — Hilary Leung
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