Manga I’m reading without an anime adaptation
Thought this could be a fun thing to do to make me actually write something, so:
MANGA! People don’t read enough. As someone who’s been watching Dandadan while up to date with the manga, I’m having a lot of fun seeing all the reactions to everything.
So, inspired by Lotte’s recommendations on Cohost and beyond, I’m gonna talk about 3 manga I’m currently reading that aren’t adapted for the anime audience yet, and if you read them, there’s a high chance you’ll have a good time, and maybe even get ahead of the wave when they do get adapted! (Ok I don’t think number 3 is gonna get one, but the other two for sure.)
We’re gonna go Slice of Life, Action, Slice of Life, so first up:
Ruridragon - Masaoki Shindo - Manga Plus/Shonen Jump Apps
So what would you do if you suddenly grew horns one day? I mean I think it’d be pretty great, but when it happens in high school, that’s a pretty bad time! And then weird dragon stuff starts happening?
I read this back when it first came out in Shonen Jump, and honestly I was surprised that’s where it was. It’s very out of the normal vibe that publication usually goes for, but it’s so cute and the art style really grabbed me. But then it vanished, it went on hiatus for like a full year due to health issues of the author.
And then suddenly it was back, shifted to Jump+, on a slower schedule and honestly I still couldn’t be happier it exists.
It’s just a lovely story of a young girl whose dad happens to be a dragon and her mother refuses to elaborate on how that happened (Not that Ruri wants her to) If I was gonna be bold about it, I’d say it’s actually a story about a teenage girl dealing with changes in her life/body during high school, and figuring out who she wants to be and how to deal with social situations.
But I’m not feeling bold right now, so I’ll just say it’s cute as hell and I love it. Give me one chapter a month until the end of time please.
Centuria - Tohru Kuramori - Manga Plus App
Another alumni of the Tatsuki Fujimoto former assistant club, and you can tell in the art style I think. The bold harsh lines of Centuria, combined with the detailed and horrifying moments when it feels like it’s ready for you to receive more of it evokes Chainsaw man, but in a more serious and horrifying way.
To really get into the life of Julian, the main character, just imagine the absolute worst life you could be given. Then it gets worse. Then just as you find an iota of happiness, it’s ripped from you, and you’re given power and responsibility in its place.
The art style captured me to start with, the story pulled me in, and the bold moves that story keeps taking has me locked to this until it ends, I don’t even want to talk about many details, I just need you all to know: PLEASE READ THIS. I need it to get an adaptation desperately, but also I want to see this story run its course rather than get cut short like so many other series in Jump in recent years.
Also I mean the plot seems to be heading in the direction of “Hey we should get together with our found family, overthrow the monarchy and kill the upper class” and that’s what we call these days “A big mood”
Destroy all Humans, They can’t be regenerated - Katsura Ise/Takuma Yokota - Physically published
Ok, so I put the magic the gathering manga on this list. Please hear me out.
I went into this as a magic the gathering fan, I bought it partially because of the promo card inside the first edition printing. What I didn’t expect is to find a very cute slow burn romance, wrapped in the theme of playing Magic the gathering in Japan in the late 90s.
Seriously! This has no right being this good! I never played magic at that time, as I would’ve been around 7 and it wasn’t huge in the UK then. (I was a yu-gi-oh kid, to my forever shame. And not even a blue-eyes one, a Dark magician one.) However, seeing the manga work through and explain the state of the game, the meta, the prices of cards and the reverence for sets that at the time were new? As a MtG player, it gives me a sense of sadness and nostalgia for a time I’ll never experience, except through this remarkably good manga.
Besides all of the accoutrement (Which it does a good job of explaining for those of you unfamiliar with MtG) the leads are solidly characterised, their chemistry is evident from the first chapter and honestly, I can’t wait to buy all of the volumes of this as they come out and see where these two goofballs end up. (Also yes I will be buying them for the shiny shiny cardboard that’s included)
Wrap-up
And that’s my list, I hope I’ve shown you something you weren’t aware of at least & maybe reminded you to go read some chapters! I just finished moving the rest of my reading list over to Manga Plus, which has a bigger selection and I think is more functional overall than the Shonen Jump app. But that’s all just personal preference.
Currently also reading Dandadan, Undead Unluck, SpyXFamily, Chainsaw Man, etc. I’m keeping the more unknown ones so I can do another entry of this maybe, so we’ll see how I go. Thanks for reading! Poke me on Bluesky if you wanna say hi, or if you just want to go AHHHHH after reading Centuria.