Manga in Your Ears

Edit: So it came out soon after we recorded and released this episode that the writer for Act Age, Tatsuya Matsuki, is not someone we should have ever been talking about because of "indecent acts," as the ANN article very generously put it. He was groping at least one middle school student, which is very obviously disgusting. We would not have ever talked about Act Age had this come out before the episode was recorded. Thankfully, Act Age has been canceled, and hopefully Matsuki never gets a chance to work again. Our best to Shiro Usazaki, who is incredibly talented and deserves all the work that can come her way.

The NBA and the WNBA are back in their bubbles, which seems to be the only safe way to do sports in a pandemic if MLB is any indication. I will enjoy White Sox wins while they last (as in before MLB is canceled, not because the White Sox are bad), and before, during, and after that, I will enjoy Clipper wins and Chicago Sky wins.

This episode, we're talking about Tomoko Ninomiya's Nodame Cantabile, formerly published by Del Rey and currently published digitally Kodansha. Then we talk about Tatsuya Matsuki (writer) and Shiro Usazaki's (art) Act Age, published by Viz!

The song you heard in this episode was Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

1:02 - We talk about Nodame Cantabile!

16:23 - We talk about Act Age!

Next time is Promised Neverland SPOILERCAST and Love me for who I am!

Given that there are three sports leagues trying to do bubbles in Florida, the hotspot of COVID in the entire world, does not bode well for the start of the NBA and WNBA, nor the continuation of MLS, but hopefully they can all get through the entire seasons without any cases and without any casualties. At least NWSL appears to be in full swing and doing very well, so I continue to be hopeful. MLB though...

This episode, we're doing a special Manga Plus episode where we sample four fairly short series of the free app / website. First is Maya Takamura's The Sign of Abyss. Second is Otaro Maijo (story) and Arata Momose's (art) Spotless Love: This Love Cannot Be Any More Beautiful. Third is Gaku Kajikawa's Hina Change. And finally is Akitaka Imakoshi's Curtain's up, I'm off.

I used a lot of songs in this episode, so here it goes. The Eagles' "Hole in the World," Phoebe Bridgers' "Killer," Janelle Monae's "Screwed," and Run River North's "Lying Beast."

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

0:45 - We talk about The Sign of Abyss!

13:23 - We talk about Spotless Love!

20:33 - We talk about Hina Change!

28:03 - We talk about Curtains up, I'm off!

Next time is Nodame Cantabile and Act Age!

NJPW just came back with the New Japan Cup, and I have been really enjoying this... AEW has been around all this time, but seeing these new wrestlers in a country that at least takes regular illness seriously by wearing masks when you go out makes it feel different (in a good way) than AEW putting on shows in Jacksonville, which does not seem safe. It could be equally unsafe, but who knows. The Sho v. Takagi match was incredible.

This episode, we're talking about Osamu Tezuka's Buddha published by Vertical, and Paru Itagaki's Beastars published by Viz.

The songs you heard in the episode were "Wild side" by ALI and "Le zoo" by YURiKA, both from the Beastars.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

0:54 - We talk about Buddha!

18:27 - We talk about Beastars!

Next time is a special Manga Plus episode!

I said this in the latest episode of the Taiiku Podcast's post, and retweeting things from the Manga In Your Ears Twitter account, but Black Lives Matter. Please donate to organizations if you can, and keep tweeting, call your legislature, protest, and vote. And through it all, stay safe; there's still a pandemic on.

This episode, we're talking about Moyoco Anno's In Clothes Called Fat published by Vertical and Hikaru Nakamura's Saint Young Men published by Kodansha.

The song you heard at the top of the episode was "YMCA" by the Village People, a song I forgot included the lyrics "young man" and assumed that was just a completely separate song from YMCA.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Check out Helen's review of Saint Young Men over at The OASG.

Listen

Show notes:

0:46 - We talk about In Clothes Called Fat!

12:07 - We talk about Saint Young Men!

Next time is Buddha and Beastars!

This episode, it's a SPOILERCAST of the Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer manga, published by Viz! If you haven't finished the manga, don't listen to this episode.

The song you heard in the episode was "Gurenge" by LiSA from the Demon Slayer anime.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Check out our previous episode on Demon Slayer too.

Listen

Show notes:

No show notes this time, just all Demon Slayer manga spoilers.

Next time is In Clothes Called Fat and Saint Young Men!

I need to watch more KBO, but they're on so early, and I forget to watch the ESPN on demand streams. Someone's gotta remind me, so I can properly root for the Giants.

This episode, we're talking about Syundei's Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart and Kodama Naoko's I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up, both published by Seven Seas.

The song you heard in the episode was Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

0:43 - We talk about Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart!

9:59 - We talk about I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up!

Next time is Demon Slayer (if it ends) and Saint Young Men! Failing Demon Slayer ending, we'll talk about In Clothes Called Fat instead.

I am extremely open about this, but it's not like I yell "I AM KOREAN" at the top of every episode, but I am Korean. I was adopted too, and I don't know much about Korean culture, history, or anything else. Which is why I'm glad books such as Banned Book Club exist, so I can read about some history by way of comics.

This time, I'm doing something a little different; I'm interviewing Ryan Estrada, one half of the writing team for Banned Book Club! Here's what the publisher, Iron Circus Comics, has to say about Banned Book Club:

The gripping true story of a South Korean woman’s student days under an authoritarian regime in the early 1980s, and how she defied state censorship through the rebellion of reading.

If you want more interviews with Ryan, and including Kim Hyun Sook, here's two cool interviews, one from Foreword Reviews and one from Rich in Color.

The song you heard in the episode is "Noonside" by Yaeji.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

And you can find my review of Banned Book Club on the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

There are no show notes; I just interviewed Ryan about Banned Book Club.

Next time is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart and I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up, actually.

The Busan Lotte Giants are 5-0 baby!! Top of the KBO, the hometown team finally comes through. Can't wait to be disappointed at some point this season.

This episode, I have a special guest, Chris (@gokuffy), talking about two adaptations of No Longer Human! The first is Usamaru Furuya's, published by Vertical, then it's Junji Ito's, published by Viz.

The song you heard in this episode was "Human After All" by Daft Punk.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

You can find our guest Chris on Twitter and at his YouTube channel, Cups of Knight Films.

Listen

Show notes:

0:41 - Chris breaks down Osamu Dazai's version!

13:17 - or hereabouts, we meander into talking about Usamaru Furuya's version!

41:37 - We talk about Junji Ito's version!

Next time is an interview with Ryan Estrada, co-writer for Banned Book Club!

The KBO is slowly coming back with no fans preseason games, and I cannot wait to try to stay up until like midnight or later to watch my beloved Lotte Giants play baseball.

This episode, we're talking about KAITO's Cross Manage and Blue Flag, both published by Viz.

The song you heard in the episode was "The Girl" by Run River North.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

Listen

Show notes:

0:55 - We talk about Cross Manage!

13:32 - We talk about Blue Flag!

Next time is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart and I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up! The relatively long titles episode.

Going out is hard now, not just because it is relatively anxiety inducing, but because the masks fog up my glasses and the bandanas keep falling off, so it's a lose-lose-lose proposition no matter what. My only release is running, which is a different kind of lose.

This episode we're talking about Natsume Ono's Ristorante Paradiso and Inio Asano's Downfall, both published by Viz. It's also more spoiler-y than usual, so heads up.

The song you heard in the episode were "Marigold" by orange pekoe and "Suteki na Kajitsu" by Lisa Komine from the Ristorante Paradiso anime.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @ImpassionateK, and my co-hosts Helen (@WanderinDreamr) and Apryll (@manjiorin) on Twitter at those places in the parenthesis. You can find both of their writing at The Organization of Anti-Social Geniuses, more of Helen's writing at Narrative Investigations, and my writing at the Fandom Post.

You can watch Ristorante Paradiso free and legal on Nozomi's YouTube channel (as of this posting).

Listen

Show notes:

0:39 - We talk about Ristorante Paradiso!

9:05 - We talk about Downfall!

15:57 - Downfall spoilers.

Next time is Cross Manage and Blue Flag! The KAITO episode.