Mudai Manga and Book Club

Our small topic episode returns with two of our old segments; Tom returns to the hotseat with the Name That Isekai game, and it goes every which way you could expect. We also have the return of our list series, "7 Amazing Things" this time covering some of our favorite rivalries throughout the world of Japanese pop culture. In addition, between what we've read, Louie continues to complete the later novels in Mushoku Tensei while Tom revisits one of his old favorites, reads a little known series called Demon Slayer, and more, in this episode of the Mudai Manga Book...

And so, born on opposite sides of the equinox, in a specific village in the mountains of Japan, Yuru and his sister Asa get to have one of the most powerful abilities: Isekai time travel . . . oh, wait, no, that's not what happens. This week, we cover the secretive world of Daemons of the Shadow Realm by Hiromu Arakawa in it's first two volumes. There will be battles. There will be danger. There will be a multi page mini story of Yuru showing he understands how to use a modern bathroom. 

In addition, Louie introduces us to two n...

No, really, lock in, bro. (Unfortunately the part of the recording where we made this joke for five straight minutes got lost). Renata joins us again for another episode, and we take a wide angled view at the beginning of Kagurabachi, the story of a son wanting revenge on his father's murderers in Japan, but using a katana. How original. But also fun! Renata also talks through a couple of her other favorite reads from recent memory, including Marriage Toxin and The Summer Hikaru Died.

Also, apologies, there was a serious audio issue with a l...

Let's be fair, if you were reincarnated as an infant with perfect memory of your previous life, your first few years would be equally awkward as they are for Rudeus; I believe there's a reason we don't have consistent memories until we are two or three years old as humans. But that's besides the point as today we talk about the first volume of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (the light novel), one of the early examples of the isekai genre. Beyond that, Louie also goes over his thoughts on the first volume of the Clockwork Planet manga, and Tom...

Life is not a straight line, and today we look at a lighter take on that with My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S Rank Adventurer by MOJIKAKIYA, volumes 1 of the light novels or volumes 1 and 2 of the manga. Having read both between us, though, we do get pretty far into the weeds on the differences between the two versions, and cover the range of normal seeming weirdos that inhabit the adventurers guild and the small village of Orphen. (Don't take this description too seriously, we make dumb jokes too).

In our what we read...

What does exceptional magic, exceptional art, and the technical definition of "the brim of a hat" all have in common? This week's episode, where we take a look at the opening arcs of Witch Hat Atelier (chapters 1-7, or volumes 1 and the first chapters of volume 2) by Kamome Shirahama. To go with it, we have an exceptionally large collection of things we've read this week too, including Tom working through the entire light novel series of Survival in Another World With My Mistress and DanDaDan volume 14, while Louie finally gets into Don't Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro and completes...

Time to close the case as we return to the aquatic police comedy drama for the second half of Hard Boiled Cop and Dolphin by Ryuhei Tamura (specifically, the second half of volume 3, along with volumes 4 and 5). And this time, we get to the bottom of the mysterious sea cult, the history of Orpheus, the mysterious captain behind Japanese Police Force's Section 7, Chako's mysterious powers, the dolphin trainer with the new, mysterious leg, and about 37 other things in this jam packed second half. Besides that, we spend, well, a lot, because we read a lot and there's a lot...

Congratulations! You were sold at a black market auction for 5 million British Pounds to a being who has a poor understanding of humanity and has a dog skull for a head with large horns coming out of each side. . . . Look, I realize part of this is to make a funny joke and break the ice for the series we're about to talk about but that actually is a massive positive for main character Chise Hatori in the Ancient Magus' Bride, chapters 1-7 (or volume one and about half of volume two). Tom also takes some time to run down...

The strategy guide lands in the world of itself; it really truly fell of a truck, huh? This week we look at the first volume of I Picked Up This World's Strategy Guide by atchi ai, a full color manga that Tom really, really thought wouldn't take long to talk about. But, despite it's goofy premise, the narrative does have some fun twists to share. Beyond that, Louie works through So I'm a Spider, So What's? manga, Tom finally gets caught up with the Housekeeping Mage novels, and both continue to gush on Otr and the Flame and The...

Marry me if you want to live. . . . because today we review the start of the excellent shonen series Mission: Yozakura Family by Hitsuji Gondaira, specifically the introduction and Flower Bin arcs (chapters 1-9). Meanwhile, in our reading section, Louie is exposed to the first two books of Darling in the Franxx and more of the excellent Dinosaur Sanctuary, while Tom tries to explain the continued strangeness of Housekeeping Mage and also the entirety of Teppu's amateur MMA series. . . . We read a lot, ok?

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Today, a bonus episode; during our recent small topics episode one particular piece ended up being a much bigger and more involved conversation. "Pick five series, comics, manga, books, whatever, that show who you are." And so, Tom and Louie both cover their set: Tom, the five series that had the biggest impact over his life, and Louie, five series that are never leaving his collection. 

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It's time to fight with all your might, in a realistic way, with the first two books of All Rounder Meguru, by Hiroki Endo. Tom walks us through this high school amateur MMA series beginning with the first two books, both to share joy of watching the amazing fights and training montages. but also to help ease the somewhat odd opening turns in the narrative. Louie takes a short, spoiler free moment to talk about Rain Code+ now that he has completed it, and continues to say he will for sure finish Deadrock. All that and more in this...

This week, we go meandering on all sorts of ideas as we have a collection episode of various ideas, topics, and conversations we thought would be interesting, but aren't worth a full episode. When, and how often, do you, or should you, reread manga? A return of the quiz show, now with 50% more remembering to give points, as Louie tries to understand Japanese superstitions. Tom reveals a plan to catch up on reading all those books he bought, but really for real, probably. . . . maybe.

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Covering another of our favorites from last year, Louie takes us through the first arc of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, as we watch the life and times of one of the most powerful mages to ever live, a member of the hero's party that destroyed the demon lord, a student of one of humanity's first and most important sages, bumble around, oversleep, and spend far too long trying to find a flower. Truly one of the greats of our time. We also take some time to cover the recently released new Shangri-La Frontier volume (#21), Tom discovers fan translations, and...

Ok, so, maybe Tom gushes a bit about how much he loves this series; it was his pick for his favorite series from 2024. Maybe it's excessive. But maybe not, as we discuss the school rom-com turned political drama (in a later book) Alya Sometimes Hides her Feelings in Russian. And, if you like quick reviews, boy howdy did we read a lot recently, so you can get quick thoughts on Kowloon Generic Romance, the rest of Delicious in Dungeon, Dinosaur Sanctuary, the newest English release of Don't Toy with Me Miss Nagatoro, and more.

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While a good 2-in-1 shampoo can be a frugal choice, the longer time you can leave a full conditioner in -- oh, wait, wrong podcast. Today, we look at the second arc of DanDaDan, meet our new romantafrenemysidekick of Aira Shiratori, and finally discuss the most important part of the DanDaDan series: balls. In addition, Tom gushes about rap music, Louie about Star Trek animations, and both of them about DanDaDan . . . . wait I already mentioned that part.

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Today, we study the power difference between the lame Fireball caster and the absolute unit of the cream puff enjoyer as we discuss the first arc of Mashle: of Magic and Muscles. We bask in it's humor, awe at it's feats of ridiculousness, be amazed at it's powerful battles (even though there aren't that many in the first arc, sadly), and enjoy a cream puff or two. Beyond that, we also take a few minutes for Tom to discuss his thoughts on the final four volumes of Mushishi and Louie talks on his massive audio book tour through the...

And today, we begin our supplication to the power that is Ainz Ooal Gown as Louie takes us through the first light novel of Overlord. It's spooky scary skeletons that can crush you like the ant you are. Hooray! And before that, we cover a whole range of series in our weekly What we've read, from more about magical bug doctors to the love of girl gamers, on this week of the Mudai Manga  and Book Club Podcast.

Note: There is some background noises that couldn't be properly removed without damaging the audio; hopefully they ar...

We will start the bidding at one light novel of silly romantic comedy mixed with horrifying implications of it's world and extraordinary killing power, as today we cover the first volume of An Archdemon's Dilemma. Tom walks us through the narrative, some explication of it's magic systems and future steps, and even tries to logic out why everyone is such a weirdo. Beyond that, in our what we're reading, Louie talks about dragon maids and Tom spends twenty minutes gushing about the inevitability of mortality. That, and more, in this week's episode of the Mudai Manga & Book Club Podcast.<...

The adventurers need food, badly! So, with this episode, we take a look through the first volume of Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui. In addition, this week we do some programming change, and we are only covering the main review and our recently read, so enjoy a more focused episode. But we do have time for a few minutes for Louie to talk about the second volume of the Elden Ring manga, and Tom gets obsessed with the light novel series Enough with this Slow Life! I was Reborn as a High Elf and Now I'm Bored and...

A series of unconnected stories, Mushishi follows a titular mushishi (translatable as a mushi doctor) Ginko as he wanders around heling people deal with mushi, tiny proto-lifeforms that are yet powerful enough to cause effects both deadly and magical for the people of rural Japan. Beyond that, and now that I can think of stupid jokes to add to this summary, we talk about our thoughts on when to drop a series, which ends in a completely different place than we intended because we both read too much and are too forgetful to drop things. Go us! Enjoy all...

This week, we log in for a look at the first two arcs of one of our favorite series, Shangri-La Frontier. Sunraku's adventures begin with some rather tame bosses for this series, like a wolf the size of a schoolbus or a man who fused himself with a tree and mastered more magic than half of the cast of Hogwarts. But before that, we take a look through the list of the highest selling manga series of all time. And not just One Piece, though, if you haven't heard how massive One Piece is, you better prepare yourself for...

Is it the last episode, when we just made double digits? Nah, we're just covering the single volume comic Goodbye Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the story of movies, goobyes, and, well, massive spoilers. And in addition to that, Louie takes us through an introduction to manga, covering the basic terms and what they mean; if you're just getting into this, here's our primer on a number of terms you'll see and some of how manga is published in Japan and around the world.

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You know what's cool about space? The temperature. You know what else is cool about space? The manga Edens Zero, which we finally sit down and talk about; this week we dive into the opening of the story, covering the introductory chapters and the Norma arc. Alongside that, we take some time to get a little more contemplative as we look into Slice of Life, the genre, and discuss what we find appealing and effective about it.

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In the city where people sleep normally, and the weather is just about always sunny and warm, and a certain five year old has unfathomale powers of turning bubble pipes into breathing apparatuses, we find our series for this week, Hard Boiled Cop and Dolphin! In addition, Louie takes Tom through the wringer with a few rounds of Name That Isekai! and Tom read a reasonable number of books. It was reasonable. Not absurd at all. He had two weeks after all, and the amount he read was not strange at all. Nope.

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With Louie on vacation, Tom is joined today by special guest host Renata, and without the guardrails in place from Louie, we still stay laser focused on our topics of FullMetal Alchemist and it's anime adaptation (mostly 2003's version), Renata's Choice Five anime and manga series, visiting Japan, the joys of vending machines in Japan, museums we visited in Japan, the Jujutsu Kaisen cafe experience . . . all the hard hitting stuff you expect from us.

Special Thanks to Renata for guest hosting this week; you can find more with her

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You have seven days to listen to this show, otherwise it will no longer be the newest episode and you'll have a different one to listen to. Join us today as we take a look at the beginning of Jujutsu Kaisen, the "Fearsome Womb" arc, as one of us tries to explain the interesting and entertaining aspects of the series while the other complains about everything he can find wrong with it. . . . It's Tom, he couldn't even make it through half the episode before complaining about it, I don't see why we're trying to make it a secret.

It's about time, and money, and obvious jokes about such things, as Mudai takes on the first volume of Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want's light novel series. Tom attempts to explain it without rambling by breaking down the characters then the plot and has varied degrees of success! Before that, though, Louie takes us through the narrative device of plot skips, from training breaks to epilogue endings, and we do the obvious joke from such a topic as well. It's all coming up on a new episode of Mudai Manga...

We hope you're hungry, as this week we look into the first volume of Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill's manga adaptation, where a Japanese person gets sent to a fantasy world, gains access to an online supermarket from our world, and befriends a being of pure power in the form of a mystical wolf. Along with that, we take some time to discuss the positives of physical books vs digital books and how we plan to keep reading into the future. Hint: considering how long Tom rambles about what he read since the last episode...

Time to go dark this week as the brothers go into seven cool villains across multiple series and what makes them special. Then, Tom goes over the first five chapters (volumes 1 and the first half of volume 2) of Issak, the samurai revenge story of a Japanese marksman chasing his target to Europe of the 30 Year's War, complete with knights, sieges, and plenty of brutal action.

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Here with the hard hitting facts, we talk this week about the joys of gyarus almost some and the terribleness of the uzumaki in your ramen bowl, by which we mean Tom explains how Naruto self destructed in his eyes in the most niche and unimportant flaw that has still bothered him for more than a decade. And, to make it more exciting, Louie has to guess what it is with limited information and increasingly sarcastic hints. Then, in our major topic, we discuss the incredibly warm and fuzzy feels of The Coppersmith's Bride, volume 1, and the endearing relationship...

Today, we wander off into the endless sea of grass to cover the first volume of The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects light novel; engoy picturesque views of grass, be threatened by the locals, sleep in the grass, be threatened by the local wildlife, look at grass, set up a yurt, think about grass, all is grass . . . and sheep too! Also, Louie talks us through Hunter's Guild: Red Hood, a short lived Shonen Jump series that decided to dump it's entire narrative into the last four chapters and go out metaphysical, maybe, kinda, at least that seems to...

With 2024 officially, definitely, and technically behind us, Tom and Louie take far longer than they expected to cover their favorite series they discovered this past year. From an assemblage of notable mentions and honorable titles to the top five best of the year, there’s bound to be something here for you to enjoy as well! Also they spend too much time talking about how much they love them, . . . like, seriously, the number one titles take almost an hour for them to cover. Strap in.

Series Covered:

Tom’s Honorable Mentions:

An...

In this pilot episode of the podcast, we flail around helplessly trying to talk about things we enjoy. But also and more importantly, Louie leads us in covering the first main arc of DanDaDan by Yukinobu Tatsu -- The Turbo Granny Arc -- and we spend much of the time gushing about how wonderful the series is due to the fact that, it is, actually, wonderful. In addition, Tom takes us on a short discussion on the manga The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa.

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