If you’re familiar with what your friendly Lakeview neighborhood store manager has written in previous blog entries then you know I’ve renewed my love for the genre of Manga in the last couple of years. Most of the series I’ve shined a spotlight on have been from Viz Media, but this time I want to showcase some series from a different manga publisher, Kodansha. Kodansha is a publisher that’s been around for a long time, if you aren’t familiar with them chances are you are familiar with some series they’ve published, like Akira, Attack on Titan or the classic boxing series Hajime no Ippo. Kodansha is actually the largest publisher in Japan, even if their rival Viz Media is more known here in the states, with a huge variety of different series to check out. As much as I love manga, it can be hard being an American fan of the genre. A lot of times the first volume of a series is out of print and unavailable to order, thankfully Kodansha has an American Imprint here in the states located in New York called Kodansha USA, and good number of their series has been available to order for some time now. I’ve been dipping my toes in what they have to offer more and more over the past couple of months and here are 5 of my favorite series that aren’t as mainstream as some of their classic titles.
Gachiakuta – Written and Illustrated by Kei Urana
A world where humans live in the skies in elevated cities and throw their trash to the surface, known as the pit, lives a boy named Rudo who resents his society and the hierarchy of the wealthy. Living his whole life without his father who was thrown into the pit for a crime before Rudo was born, after his foster father is murdered, he’s falsely convicted and thrown down into the pit as well. After awakening and being kidnapped by scavengers, Rudo awakens his powers as giver and defends himself successfully. He’s then offered to join a group called the cleaners in hopes to get his revenge and reach the surface again. I’ll just get this out of the way now and say every series on this list is visually stunning and a big selling point for each of them. Only having two volumes out in the U.S. Gachiakuta is a dark fantasy that explores the wastefulness of the wealthy and materialism packed with action and wonderful lore with a rumored anime series on the way.
Go Go Loser Ranger – Written and Illustrated by Negi Haruba
What do you get when you take the concept of The Boys and add it to Power Rangers? Go Go Loser Rangers. Having defeated the Villainous Army of Evil after an invasion the Divine Dragon Rangers decide to keep the minions of the villains to keep the battle going, even if it is one sided, just to franchise the rangers and sell merchandise. Every week the minions get together and come up with a monster for the Rangers to battle for the joy of the people and after 13 years, one of the minions decides to revolt and infiltrate the organization. It’s hard not to enjoy this series if you have any love for Power Rangers of Super Sentai, it’s easy to tell the creator Haruba is a huge Sentai fan and knows how the play with all the tropes and then turn them on their head. Character designs are top notch and it’s the first time I’ve felt the evil foot soldiers of a sentai series looked this cool. With 10 volumes out and an anime series that has started already, hop on this action packed comedy.
Shangri-la Frontier – Written by Katarina, Illustrated by Ryosuke Fuji
Starting out as a Japanese web novel series by Katarina, Shangri-la Frontier was adapted into a manga series since 2020. The story is set in a not so distant future where VR video games are the norm, and so the market for VR based games is expansive and there tends to be a lot of bad ones released, games that have glitches, bugs, and extremely high difficulty levels, our main character Rakuro Hizutome is addicted to beating and finishing these “trash games”. After completing a game he makes a trip to his local game store to find something new and the clerk recommends he try a good game that’s been critically well received. Rakuro gives it shot and is instantly hooked, it’s an expansive fantasy open world game with sci-fi elements. He quickly makes his way through this world using all the skills he’s gathered playing “trash games” throughout the years. Other than this series just being well written and having wonderful artwork, I really appreciate that there’s no tired tropes of “If you die in the game, you die in real life”, Katarina gets you excited and invested without life ending stakes. 11 volumes released so far and 1 season of an anime.
Blue Lock – Written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Illustrated by Yusuke Nomura
I would like to start out by saying, I do not watch soccer, I don’t watch sports, I don’t play sports, I played soccer in 3rd grade and that’s about majority of my soccer experience other than reading this series and watching the David Beckham docuseries on Netflix. But Blue Lock is amazing, it’s the first sports manga I’ve read, which if you aren’t familiar, sports manga is a huge part of the genre. Somehow Kaneshiro gets me just as excited and hyped up over a player making a goal as I’ve been over a character in Dragonball doing a cool new flashy super power. After finishing in 16th place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Japan Football union hires a soccer maniac to develop a training program to develop the world’s next best soccer player. Starting with a large number of high school students and eliminating the entrants as the program goes on, the players must agree to never play soccer again if they fail to succeed in the Blue Lock program. Fast paced, high stakes, and adrenaline, if a guy with no sports interest like me loved it this much, imagine how much you would. 12 volumes released with one season and a movie on the way.
Vinland Saga – Written and Illustrated by Makoto Yukimura
The longest and darkest entry on this list, Vinland Saga is actually a manga series that draws from true historical events, set in England in the early 1000s, it’s a story of War, Revenge, and Vikings. Thorfinn works for the man who murdered his father with the payment of his work being able to challenge his father’s killer to a duel to get his revenge. Battle after battle, the effects of war start to take its toll on Thorfinn both physically and mentally. It’s a story of wanting peace and learning that revenge is only temporary and not the fix to find happiness. Thorfinn doesn’t just deal with what’s happened to him, but also the damage he’s caused to others as a Viking. I tend to recommend this series to fans of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and anything Knights or Vikings related. A wonderful series that’ll bring out the best emotions a comic series can deliver, Vinland Saga has 27 volumes, 13 hardcover 2in1 volumes, and 2 Deluxe Hardcover editions that I personally recommend, and an anime series with 2 seasons out so far.
