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Drop-In to Manga - Manga, Mental Health & Community
@dropintomanga
Welcome to Drop-In to Manga, where we emphasize manga, mental health and community in a time where it takes more than just the individual to increase our power levels.
There have been times where I felt that I was incapable of being someone who can be caring to others, but it's scenes like the ones here in Tsurumaikada's Medalist Volume 7 that remind me that I can be warm towards people who need it.
Many adults, like Tsukasa Akeuraji, have had their dreams derailed for all kinds of reasons. It then becomes easy to fall into cynicism and despair. But sometimes, we might meet someone like a Inori Yuitsuka who makes us want to believe again. And more importantly, help them achieve the dreams that we couldn't.
The more I read Medalist, the more I really start to see this is a story about Tsukasa trying to find peace with his life through Inori. It's so easy to say that everyone can make their dreams come true, but circumstances don't always allow that to happen. And when that happens, people often get stuck. They don't know how to change or aren't willing to accept that change may be necessary. It's also likely that people don't know where to look for answers and more often than not, they're in the form of others, especially in a community.
Hell is other people, but on the flip side, success is other people. There are those who want the best for you. We're all born to be whatever we can be in the face of adversity with the help of people fighting for us. The irony of true success is that it comes when you help other people succeed.
And I think the grand lesson of the scenes above is that we're also born to be genuine and compassionate human beings who want the ones they love to be what they want to/can be. We're not put on this earth to be productive/efficient individually. We were born to be part of an interdependent world that makes it go round for the better. We're all capable of giving warmth to others. Doing so actually gives us the warmth we do need to melt the harsh coldness of reality that freezes our hearts.
Before we're done, I want the world to say that we're all born to be awesome towards one another, okay?
About maybe 12-13 years ago, there were two things that were a huge part of my anime/manga fandom - Crunchyroll and Right Stuf. I remember the days where I watched my favorite series on Crunchyroll a week after without a Premium subscription (even though I had one). I remember the days when I get a huge catalog of anime and manga titles to order from Right Stuff. I spent a good amount of money on those two businesses because they were amazing outlets that help support the anime and manga industries.
Fast forward to now, Right Stuf is gone and Crunchyroll, which is now under Sony and bought RIght Stuf, has done something that I can't even bother to comprehend. They have the nerve to put a paywall to their own store (which was supposed to be the successor to Right Stuff) just to invoke a sense of FOMO to all Crunchyroll subscribers with limited-edition and timed exclusive goods.
I don't know where to start with this, but all I know is that it sucks. I see that Sony/Crunchyroll is trying to create a scarcity mindset to its customers. While I understand that having so much merchandise to store in a retail warehouse is expensive, I hate that the people behind this move are inducing a mentality that does more harm than good. It doesn't promote a health community; it just promotes unnecessary competition over material goods that may not last long in the end. There's so many people out there who feel they aren't "good enough" or "have enough" (if they aren't in survival mode) just to feel appreciated. And you want to add more of that to their mental plate? Give me a damn break.
I worry about the fans who are going to buy into Crunchyroll's new online store agenda. It's like Crunchyroll believes that their fans are easy to control because anime/manga fandom is central to their lives. Fans can't live without it, so to speak. How dare Crunchyroll assume that fans' lives only revolve around consuming anime/manga and chasing the latest series. I'm glad that many fans that are speaking out against Crunchyroll's decision-making, but they aren't the super-hardcore ones who feel they must have everything anime-related to feel validated.
It reminds me of people who receive a mental health diagnosis officially/unofficially and think "Well, that's that. I can't be more than this label." They then decide to lower their goals and expectations when their limits are greater than they think. It's like Crunchyroll is telling anime fans that they are nothing more than victims who are forced to accept their business decisions or else. But I can tell you that fans do have choices to resist. Anime and manga fandom are about resisting the mainstream interests and now maybe it's a good time to go back to that kind of thinking.
Finally, this reminds me of what the true problem is - classism. If you think about it, Crunchyroll's decision is about separating the rich anime fans and the poor anime fans. It reflects another thing happening in the North American anime scene, anime conventions are becoming more expensive to attend. If you're poor, you don't deserve the limited edition goods. You didn't work hard enough, so try harder. Chin up, right? I worry that Crunchyroll made a very classist move for the sake of late-stage capitalism. So many of our societal problems right now are due to classism. Classism causes mental health to plummet due to the lack of accessible resources to those who really need them the most.
I'll end by this with something I once heard in the past. There was a time where nerd experts proclaimed that the geeks shall inherit the Earth. In some ways, we have. But sadly, the companies running the show are the ones who actually control the Earth by selling the idea that we geeks have won, regardless whether we're anime fans or not.
But you know what, anime and manga are all about the power of imagination to fight back against societal forces. I think we definitely can use more of that and put that to good use to make sure that anime and manga are not just for fans who will pay huge money, but for EVERYONE regardless of social class.
Today, I was catching up on anime-related news and found a really fun response column to a topic that I never thought would be discussed 20 years ago - anime being found everywhere in the public eye after years of being shunned by mainstream culture.
From sports to fashion to films, anime and manga culture has seeped into the spotlight that has many Western media outlets/properties wondering what's going on. Anime News Network's Answerman tackles the subject by providing four examples of how anime fandom has become a huge part of people's lives. Sports and fashion alongside people using anime/manga's narrative structure (i.e. guy is throwing through his "villain arc") were discussed, but the last point the column addresses got my attention the most. It brings up the emotional register. I'll quote the paragraph.
"The one I find genuinely moving, if I can be unfashionably sincere for a paragraph, is how anime's specific emotional grammar, unguarded, unironic, full-volume sincerity about grief, ambition, loneliness, and connection, has become acceptable in Western media in ways that would have gotten laughed out of a writers' room fifteen years ago. Western drama had to learn, via anime, that you're allowed to let a character cry for an uncomfortably long time, or deliver a speech about friendship with zero ironic distance, and audiences will not just tolerate it, they'll clip it and post it with a crying emoji. That shift in permission, the idea that big, sincere feeling isn't automatically cringe, didn't come from prestige TV. It came from thousands of hours of shonen finales normalizing catharsis without a safety net of sarcasm."
I think about the times when I watched Dragon Ball Z and screamed like Vegeta whenever I got mad or wanted to pump myself up. But back then, I was laughed at or shunned. A decade ago, I tried to be more like Gintoki from Gintama and make my point with long conversations on what's important in life. Some people found it cool, but I never felt appreciated for saying how I honestly felt.
Even today, I still act like a shonen anime/manga character at times despite being a middle-age adult. For starters, I actually do cry a lot whenever I feel emotionally distressed at times. I do try to make speeches to keep my connections alive without any irony at all. I tell my friends that I love them all and show gratitude towards them without shame.
I honestly this is one the best things that have come from mainstream anime/manga culture - the ability to express all kinds of emotions without being shamed for it. Western culture still thinks some feelings are better than others when every feeling is valid, even the bad ones. Even though individualism might suggest that every one is free to express emotions, it's dictated by norms that tell people which emotions are fine to express (usually not ones that are "negative). Relationships aren't also super-important to address compared to collectivist cultures, where relationships are emphasized as a major part of one's life.
Anime and manga remind us that we're all human beings that are interdependent on one another. We thrive and suffer because of one another. What we do is based on the relationships we have with the world around us. Maybe that's why I love two-page art spreads of characters looking/being at the area around them. They're able to be there and find themselves because of those who make the environments livable for them.
While there might be some concerns about anime's mainstream status going forward, I'm just glad that more people are using anime and manga to express themselves in genuine ways that build bonds and community with one another. It's the best kind of mental health therapy. Friendship, hard work, and victory - who would have thought that this is the medicine that actually works and we need?
I'm catching up to Chica Umino's March Comes in Like a Lion in manga form and I'm left amazed by the artwork showcasing various emotional states of the characters.
Especially this scene at the end of Volume 4 where Rei Kiriyama's newfound mentor, Kai Shimada, loses four straight shogi matches to the series' grand prodigy, Toji Soya, for the annual Shishioh title in Kyoto.
Shimada is noted to have stomach issues caused by constant stress from shogi matches over the years. Yet he continues to play the game and move forward, much to Kiriyama's concern. Kiriyama still struggles to come to terms with what he wants for himself while dealing with his complicated feelings towards the Koda family who raised him as a stepson after his original family died and the new family he's met in the Kawamoto sisters. He's also unsure of how he views shogi when everyone in the shogi pro scene around him figured things out.
If you've ever done anything with its fair share of challenges, not all of them can be overcome. This becomes a complicated topic when it comes to something you've grown to love doing and made it a part of your life. Are you good enough? Can you stay on the path to potential greatness or reach the expectations you seek for yourself? These are questions that go through a lot of people's minds whenever they realize their potential to be more than who they currently are.
Shimada is noted to be a strong shogi player who's carrying the weight of people who believe in him. Unlike Shimada, Kiriyama doesn't believe in himself in the way his pro mentor does. Shimada even makes a note saying that Kiriyama and Soya are similar in that they are both prodigies who seem ghostly. Every manga reader would tell you that this becomes a later plot thread for an eventual shogi battle between the two.
After reading through the manga so far, I think about what does it mean to persist. It's funny because while we understand what bad health does to us when we try to ignore it, we just end up not heeding that advice. I wonder if it just comes down to fear and being afraid of what will happen if we give up. Shimada has a fear of letting down the expectations people have of him with regards to shogi. Without the struggle, we won't feel alive.
Maybe that's why, as Kiriyama wonders, people continue to persist at the cost of their own health. As much as human beings love being comfortable and are supposedly afraid of trying new things, they actually want some friction in life. When motivation is intrinsic, the goal to what someone wants is compelling, and the story they tell themselves has purpose, persistence becomes a welcome trait.
March Comes in Like a Lion makes me think about what it means to have the right kind of challenge to motivate you to be better. I often think that depression and anxiety can be solved when the right amount of friction that gives you a sense of meaning comes along in your life and comes with people who really want the best for you. It's through the storms of that friction where you will find yourself. Don't ignore the negative feelings. Embrace the hard parts of life even when you don't like them. Treat the challenges with respect and compassion.
Take in the mental storm because no one in life ever found the answers they wanted in life without getting caught up in one or several. Why? It provides an opportunity to realistically confront your fears and what we get out of it is what makes life worth living. I see a lot of young people like Kiriyama who struggle to understand the idea of persistence and it's hard to blame them when constant over-protection by well-meaning adults keeps them safe, but unable to cope with life's challenges.
Leave it to Chica Umino to say quite the message (via a popular Japanese board game) in such vivid and expressive fashion.
For anyone who loves Hirayasumi and wants more manga similar to it, I wholeheartedly recommend Fumiko Takano's Miss Ruki. This was voted one of the best manga/comics of 2025 and it is currently nominated for Best Translation at the 2026 American Manga Awards.
This series is a very episodic manga about a woman named Ruki living her life in such a carefree manner. While she is able to support herself just fine, Ruki is content to enjoy what life has to offer. The story also centers on her friendship with a woman named Ecchan, who lives the total opposite of Ruki's lifestyle. Ecchan is more focused on being a career woman and is sometimes annoyed by Ruki, but grows to respect her friend's approach to living.
What I love so much about Miss Ruki is how the manga portrays the mundane daily life routine in a way that feels funny and charming. Takano does an excellent job in showcasing how Ruki is immune to any mishaps that fall her way. Ruki doesn't care about following trends and sometimes says/does the first thing that comes to her mind, much to Ecchan's dismay. But it's her attitude that makes the character a trendsetter that is worth emulating to a degree.
Some notable scenes from the manga are when both Ruki and Ecchan go to the library and Ruki acts in a way that makes her a big "child," Ruki skipping down a sidewalk with no shame, Ruki taking a nap on the train and accidentally putting her head on a male stranger's shoulder and believing he was hitting on her, and Ruki boarding a train and getting bruises along the way (and being proud of it to a degree).
Miss Ruki is also about what it means to resist in a time of economic unrest. The manga was originally published from 1988-1992. This coincides with Japan's famous bubble era, when people who got seriously rich with so much spending power had that money disappear hard once the '90s happened. The last few strips of the manga has Ruki trying to figure out how to keep living the way she wants to live after not having enough money to buy the groceries she needs. She doesn't want to end up being a slave to work. So Ruki makes a last-ditch trip to Naples, France and the manga ends there.
I feel like there are many people like Ecchan who are so caught up with consumerism that they forget what it means to actually be a person - a person that doesn't actually need a lot of material goods/achievements to feel loved. I myself have felt a strong connection to Ruki because I have an imagination that I let run wild in my head. I don't stay too attached to work. I like to stay curious about the world about me. I feel like if I was so focused on a career, my mental health would be shot.
I won't lie that the current era of late-stage capitalism combined with so much instability worries me a lot, but I want to keep resisting what society wants me to do. I tell myself that I have never felt that I fit in anywhere that's socially acceptable, so why not be the outsider that makes other people appreciate you instead? Why not be more like Ruki, no?
I'll end this by talking about the scene I mentioned about Ruki getting bruises from just a train ride. She mentions how she got used to it to the point that it doesn't bother her anymore, which irks the people around her. Ruki makes an observation about those who get hurt and cry about it. She says that "Anyone who reacts like that has very rarely fallen down in their life." You can take the statement both figuratively and literally. We all fall down at some point and will do multiple times in our lives, but while it's okay to acknowledge the pain, there will come a time where tears don't need to be shed anymore and we can move ahead. Plus, not everything is the end of the world when something bad comes your way. We're stronger and more resilient than we think.
And I think that's why Miss Ruki stands out in 2026 because resisting rampant consumerism and fast-paced living that can ruin mental health is an evergreen action that will give us timeless benefits like the manga itself.
Hey all, it's already July of this year. I wanted to do a check-in because there's a lot going on. While I'm still reading a good amount of manga, I've been drawn more to K-Pop culture. At the same time, there's some things that I've noticed this year that make me wonder.
First off, the whole drama with Gachiakuta's Kei Urana getting off of social media because she voiced her opinions about manga piracy. It's so unfortunate that she's gone, but I feel that it's best due to the lack of context that algorithm-fueled social media provides. I did dislike her fellow co-creator Hideyoshi Ando's remarks that poor people should work hard to buy manga instead of pirating it when he doesn't understand the context behind why some (maybe most) people are systematically poor in the first place. Even though the internet has opened up vast exposure to other cultures, that knowledge is sometimes simplified and even more stereotyped than in real life.
Which leads to my 2nd observation, Boichi of Dr. Stone and Sun-Ken Rock fame has gone on X/Twitter to discuss his takes on everything related to manga promotion overseas. Thank god for his perspective because he actually has reasonable takes on everything. Especially one large thread where Boichi explains the problem with selling manga overseas is that so many people outside of the major countries in the world have no practical way in buying it. I've had many comments from blog readers over the years about not being able to buy manga in their country and they're from countries like Norway or Finland (which don't seem to have the infrastructure in place for manga publishing).
Next, there was a social media post I read back in April about manga publishers and why Japanese manga publishers are still struggling with piracy. Basically, the post talked about how famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami managed to break into the North American mainstream book scene. He decided to connect with an overseas publishing agent to help promote his works. Japanese manga publishers apparently do not like to do this. This is evident seeing how Japanese companies love to control everything related to content promotion and dislike foreigners (who may not necessarily be familiar with Japanese business culture/etiquette) from handling it. Despite how Japanese publishers nurture their hit talent in positive ways, most mangaka struggle with making money despite having some rights to their work. Japanese publishers want most of the money to themselves. Overseas promotion and relinquishing some control to them does get expensive and that's probably one reason why manga piracy is still a problem.
The promotion of Japanese content leads me to my next observation - why Korean pop culture has become quite the hot thing. When I listen to K-Pop, there's so many available videos and articles featuring many of the idols and personalities involved in the scene. The best part is how easy and accessible the music is. I can find whatever I want to listen with little to no issues. Japanese music, for the most part, is still hard to access due to record companies continuously region-locking music videos and performance streams. Japanese music is very good and deserves more attention, but Japan is shooting itself in the foot and I don't think they care. I heard that record labels started promoting streaming services like Spotify very late into the game when most artists outside of Japan went that route. Anisongs are great, but solely relying on them to become a known global music powerhouse isn't enough because the anime industry seems like it's in a bubble waiting to be burst at some point. Plus, there might be a situation where non-fans go "Japanese music = anime" like "anime = perverted stuff" without getting the full picture. I would hate to see that.
Anyway, I don't want to be all doom and gloom even though I do worry about the mental health of people who don't have healthy communities to be around. Over time, I started to realize how individualized most of us have become. We're supposed to be resilient in the face of everything, but I'll be the first to tell you that I still feel sad despite my resilience. The only reason why I'm still resilient is because there are people in my life that I care about and care about me in return. I believe that being resilient means that you're surrounded with healthy relationships that help you cope with whatever scars you have.
I'll end this on a good note - my favorite manga of the year so far have been Hirayasumi, The Climber, Love Bullet, Bug Ego and Ichi the Witch.
Stay safe and cool, everyone! See you next time!
I don't know if this needs to be said, but Keigo Shinzo's Hirayasumi is a slept-on series that is a huge hit for people who are tired of living lives that are about being productive for the sake of society's ideals.
This manga is about a 29-year-old man named Hiroto Ikuta, who basically goes through life in a carefree manner. He was once an aspiring actor who quit and spends his time working part-time at a fishing pond. Hiroto would somehow inherit a house from a old lady named Hanae Wada, a close friend of his. Hiroto's younger cousin who's fresh out of high school, Natsumi Kobayashi, moves in with him months later and the two begin journeys to see what life has to offer for them.
The best thing about Hirayasumi is its focus on living a slower, more deliberate life. Hiroto is the total antithesis of a "normal" human being. He takes a stand against how fast-paced life has become. His way of thinking is at odds with almost all the other characters in the series, but it's that mentality that makes him beloved.
Whenever I see Hiroto in deep thought, I see myself in him. I am trying very hard to live life in a way that values my time with people I care about compared to being productive and always having to look perfect to fit in. While being competitive is a normal feeling to have, it's pushed so much and I've seen how it has hurt people or slowly burn them out.
This is the case with one character (and the love interest), Yomogi Tachibana. She is a real estate agent who struggles to find herself despite having a successful career. Her work envelops most of her life with little time to think about her personal life. Yomogi wonders if she can settle down and find someone who loves her. She runs into Hiroto in various situations to a hilarious degree. Yomogi dislikes Hiroto at first due to his laidback nature, but she slowly begins to see his good qualities and appreciates what he's all about.
Another case is Hiroto's best friend, Hideki Noguchi. The two of them go way back since high school. However, Hideki has a wife and a child. So his life is much busier than Hiroto's. It causes some tension, which greatly builds up in a later part of the manga. Hideki blocks Hiroto on his messaging app due to constant stress at his job. He thinks he's a failure at everything (including fatherhood) for not being as great at work compared to a coworker. But Hiroto snaps Hideki out of it and has the latter making a big decision to quit his job because he was showing signs of burnout.
I'll move on to our secondary main character, Natsuki. She moves in with Hiroto to attend art school in his area. In her spare time, Natsuki draws manga. She aspires to be a mangaka and it gets the attention of a big manga publisher. However, Natsuki's editor gives her a lot of criticism about her work and it leads Natsuki to thinking that she needs more life experiences to further her worldview. At the same time, she has to balance a close friendship with Akari Yokoyama, a fellow art school student who's praised in school for her work. They both have had moments throughout the series where the friendship was tested due to both comparing each other's artistic achievements. Natsuki definitely benefits from Hiroto's presence because young people are pressured to grow up and find success fast. There are moments between the two where readers see how Natsuki slowly appreciates Hiroto's way of life.
What I appreciate most about Hirayasumi is how it encourages the idea that the change you really want to see and/or be can be found via slowing down. There's a incident in the manga where Hiroto finds that his home's water heater is broken. After realizing how much money it will cost to fix it, Hiroto runs around his area in a panic. Yet that moment de-stresses him (it allowed him to calm his racing thoughts) and he decides to take on more work by working at a bathhouse for the time being. He felt that things had to change a bit in order to keep his way of life sustainable.
This is why Hirayasumi is a wonderful manga and one of the very best in the game right now. It has a grand message centered on moving one step back to take two steps forward. But I think the most important theme is that no one's truly alone in struggling to keep up with modern life. There's many moments in the manga of all the characters hanging out together every chance they get. Everyone experiences the full range of emotions around one another, which allows them to cope and be resilient in life. Modern life has deprived many people of stable, family-like systems that truly help them thrive via meaningful connections.
Hirayasumi is for those who are tired of feeling meaningless despite whatever success they achieved and wonder what's the point of it all. It's a welcoming home with welcoming characters that we could use a lot more of in a world that continues to ignore the fact that slowness isn't harmful; it's healing.
I've been enjoying Jinushi's Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You a bunch lately. Especially the events of Volume 6, so I wanted to talk about the mangaka's comments at the end.
Even though the main male character, Sasaki, is a klutz at times, he tries really hard to be kind to others. Which gets the attention of a conbini store clerk named Yamada. Both bond over smoking cigarettes in the back of the same conbini that connects them. Over time, we get to learn what drives Sasaki to continue talking to Yamada despite a huge age gap between the two. What happens in Volume 6 is Sasaki beginning to accept what he always wanted.
"I'm still afraid of the past..." I think a lot of us can relate to that part. We work hard to move forward, but when we start getting successful, a sense of imposter syndrome kicks in. Also, the brain that warns us of danger often plays crafty tricks in our heads because your safety is the most important thing. It will take any kind of psychological harm (even if it's not exactly life-threatening) and make it a bigger deal than it is. Our brains haven't evolved enough to handle modern life.
But like Sasaki, we deserve something warm to hear our hearts and make us want to appreciate the here and now. Like Jinushi says, we can't be moving forward and looking back at the same time. I'm not going to lie that parts of my past still scare me and have affected my view on people at times, but I have seen that parts of the present I experienced are filled with joy. Sure, I will stumble and go through rough times in the present, but I know I'll be fine because I have loving people who will get emotional over me whenever I fall.
I want you all to feel the same and to not keep looking at the rear view mirror. I also want to challenge the whole idea that we don't need anyone but ourselves to get through the worst moments ever. If someone genuinely wants to give you a loving hand and makes you want to be like them, take it.
I just wish more people appreciated those types of relationships. They're the ones that will change you in facing your past, embracing the present, and most importantly, making a future that heading towards the direction you really want in life.
I finally got the chance to get caught up on Kei Urana's Gachiakuta. I know Urana has gone through a lot of drama recently due to manga industry concerns, but this is probably my favorite shonen action series to read at the moment. I just finished the first 10 volumes of the manga (which is going to be collected as a special box set to be released in Fall 2026) and I appreciate what the story is trying to tell early on.
For those who haven't heard of the manga, Gachiakuta is about a kid named Rudo, who gets blamed for the murder of his foster parent, Rego, and thrown from his home world known as the Sphere into an area right below it known as the Pit. The Pit is a place throw all their trash. It is not safe as the trash accumulation and polluted air leads to the creation of monsters called Trash Beasts. Rudo meets a group, the Cleaners, that exterminates the Trash Beasts, and a rival group, the Raiders, who are ruthlessly trying to find certain items in the Pit to reach the Sphere. Rudo joins the Cleaners in an attempt to get revenge on the actual culprit who killed Regto.
I wrote about the manga in the past and I really like how Rudo slowly evolves from feeling like he has nothing to experiencing emotions he's never processed. In the first real arc, the Inside Trash Beast Raiders Battle Arc, Rudo is faced by the Raiders' leader, Zodyl. Zodyl tries to convince Rudo that the Cleaners aren't really his friends. He says that if Rudo is serious about revenge, then he has to go to the Sphere himself. But Rudo tells Zodyl that the Cleaners have never judged him and accepted every part of his personality. His goal as of right now is to both have revenge and have fun with his newfound friends.
After the arc, there's some conversations between the Cleaners, particularly Enjin and Zanka, about Rudo's mentality. They do note that living a life of revenge isn't the best way to live life. While Rudo is indeed happy being around people that he cares about and doing things for them, Regto's death and the circumstances behind it are always in the background.
I think it goes to say - you can't just enjoy life while thinking about getting back at those that wronged you. I remember reading this article about what we really want when it comes to revenge. I wonder when we experience those thoughts, what emotions are running through our head behinds anger? Do you feel shame, despair, fear? Are we ashamed that we now become vulnerable despite looking strong on the outside? Revenge gives off this feeling that we can fight back with some kind of perceived strength, when that strength is flimsy at best.
And then I think about the idea of restorative justice. Restorative justice is about confronting the person who wronged you and having a conversation (albeit tense) with them. There were signs of this in Gachikuta Volume 4 when Rudo meets a girl named Amo, who nearly takes out the Cleaners with her abilities. Rudo is enraged over how she has hurt them and nearly kills her. Enjin manages to have a heart-felt conversation with Rudo about growing up. After that conversation, Rudo apologizes to Amo and attempts to bond with her because both don't know how to properly connect with other people due to their rough childhoods. Amo becomes a big part of Rudo's thinking as she holds clues to getting back to the Sphere.
Seeing a moment like that makes me think about Gachiakuta's theme of people treating certain valuable things like trash. Sometimes, the things we shouldn't throw away aren't material objects. The idea of revenge is a normal thought, to be honest. But it deserves to be thrown into the trash when it gradually starts to affect the relationships around you. This is a big reason why I'm fascinated with Gachiakuta and the lore behind it right now.
Life shouldn't be just about revenge and getting back at those that wronged you. Unfortunately, society seems to preach that a lot and maybe that's the grand point. The Sphere is full of "elite" residents who will punish you when you go against their rules. The Cleaners are the antithesis of that, while the Raiders might be the same as the Sphere's residents in their own way.
In any case, Gachiakuta is a series that really tells you that the biggest life lessons can be found when you're in the pits, figuratively and literally.
I know I haven't written in quite a while until just recently. It's a struggle to prioritize what hobbies/interests are relevant in your life when the ones you enjoy the most have some equal value. At the same time, I don't want to be someone who's going to hustle every interest I have.
I am still reading manga, but it's not a huge priority for me to talk about it as much. I'm getting more joy from being around people in the mahjong community I'm in and also K-Pop for that matter. Now I wonder if that's because adults can socially connect easier compared to anime/manga events being mostly catered to kids and teenagers. There are events for adults though and some manga fans are starting to address the lack of small hubs for adult-aged manga fans.
I think I needed a small break from being "on" a lot about manga and trying to find things to say. Despite this, I did check out events like Kodansha House last October and met Fujita of Wotakoi fame.
At the same time, I notice that I'm really not a huge fan of being on X/Twitter and BlueSky a whole lot anymore. I feel like I have more important things to do than go on social media. I'm usually on Discord a lot (even though there's things going on that may move users away from it). I know the manga press scene relies on social media a whole lot, but maybe I'm just aging out of it gracefully.
I won't predict and/or guarantee anything for the blog right now because I'm in a different place of my life. Different and more content to say the least. I do dislike that great writing/blogging is shunned due to media consolidation, AI usage, and algorithmic preference for social media controversy. Someone told me a while back that I am one of the last few who still writes for the hell of writing.
Sure, I won't get a bazillion hits on the internet. But at the very least, I'll just keep blogging in a way that's emotionally honest and brave. Not many people I know do that.
If I'm going to go down, I might as well go down giving it all I got. Thanks for reading!
For anyone who keeps up with the manga scene, you probably know that we're in a golden age of yuri manga. Even I have gotten on board. Earlier this month, Yen Press had a week-long Yuri Cafe event in my area. While I wasn't able to make it due to getting sick, I have read the titles Yen Press were featuring at the event. I want to highlight some key moments in those titles in this post.
First off, I'll highlight Volume 5 of She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki. In this volume, the main couple, Yuki Nomoto and Totoko Kagusa, are about ready to start their journey as a live-in couple by moving in together. However, they will not see two important people in their lives, Kaname Yako and Sena Nagumo, as much. Nagumo laments about how she was only starting to get close to Kagusa and Nomoto and feels lonely because of the change. But, Yako assures Nagumo that things will be okay even if things end.
Life changes for everyone and so do relationships. As much effort we can put into the relationships that matter in our lives, it may not be enough. Still, the grand message is don't give up in keeping connections you value alive. And stay open to meeting new people and forming new relationships.
It's hard to find genuine relationships in your life and I am lucky to keep in touch with a few somehow.
Next up is everyone's yuri darling series, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai. In Volume 3, Mitsuki Koga gets picked up by a male classmate about her writing a song in English. He decides to translate Koga's song on a blackboard without her permission. Koga doesn't say anything, but her best friend, Aya Osawa, gets pissed at the guy and tells him to erase his translation as it was disrespecting Koga's love for music. Osawa's response causes Koga to look and become more like "the hot record store guy" at her job. She becomes more assertive and confronts the male classmate by telling him that she can provide him a CD of her song if he wants a listen. And then this happens.
A long time ago, I had a friend who defended me from a bunch of criticism from people who I thought were my friends. Seeing this scene makes me think about those days. If you're able to find friends who get angry for you on your behalf, those are people worth keeping because they truly are a dime a dozen. It is hard to speak up at times and it's okay to let your support defend you while developing your ability to talk back when needed without pleasing anyone.
I think that's a big reason why I still persist despite whatever setbacks came my way.
Finally, I will showcase Love Bullet by inee. This is such an compelling manga about people who die, but unable to find love, and are reborn as cupids. They are tasked with pairing up humans in romantic relationships and instead of using bow and arrows, they use modern projectile weaponry like guns and grenades. The main character, Koharu Sakurada, is tasked with her first mission as a cupid to find love for a girl, Aki Tamaki, who happens to be a former high school classmate that confessed to her. Unfortunately, Koharu died after the confession happen and Aki still has grief over it. So it was a complicated first mission, but Koharu manages to complete it after hearing what a now 20-year-old Aki has to say.
I wish more people acknowledge that we never truly move on from relationships that we lost and it's okay to say that we still miss those people in our lives. I sometimes don't see that in our culture. If we don't accept their missing presence and the emotions that come with it, then we never truly heal. Moving forward is a lot healthier than moving on.
I'm still sad about some relationships that just dissipated and feeling sad has allowed me to be able to value the ones I still have even more and treasure new people that come my way.
What I find common about these 3 titles is that they are all about moving forward with the help of those who genuinely care about you. I feel that there's a collective grief about everything in the world right now. What we need right now is a dose of compassionate and realistic reassurance ensuring that we're going to be okay as long as we acknowledge the pain, not fall into total cynicism, and persist with love.
I've been feeling that way ever since I got into Green Yuri. I hope more people read yuri manga because it unexpectedly helped me a bunch when I didn't realize it. There's something about female-female relationships that has been therapeutic for me over the past year. That's all I wanted to say, so I'm grateful that there's a lot to read and appreciate. Hope yuri gets you in the heart like it got mine.
Hey everyone! Hope you all are having a great holiday season or doing okay at the very least. I know it's been a while, but I'm alive. Just a lot has been going on. I still am reading manga and have a list of series I liked from this year, but I'm saving that post for the 1st week of January.
If you want to know what has been happening the last few months, well, blame mahjong.
I was the top IRL meetups player of the month in October 2025 out of 110 people and top online meetups player of the month in November 2025. Add to the fact that I won an online monthly tournament back in February 2025. This has been my year for mahjong.
I do have a lot of thoughts about mental health and while I still care about the topic, I still felt like I had to step away for a short while because I sometimes feel like we're not really focusing on addressing the whole spectrum and that hasn't changed anything for the better despite growing awareness.
Oh yeah, I also went to 5 K-Pop concerts in the span of 4 months in NYC. New York is so spoiled right now for concerts and I'm fortunate to be a fan at my age, even though I think the market is oversaturated right now.
I'll slowly get back to blogging soon because I still like to read manga a lot. But I know I'm not the same person I was 15 years ago when I first started the blog. Life happens and new joy comes from the unexpected.
A few weeks ago, I was in the front of a karaoke parlor, waiting to meet up with new friends. While I was waiting, I saw a male/female couple walk towards a restaurant next to the karaoke parlor. The woman caught my attention because of she wore a t-shirt I currently own. It was a UNIQLO Gintama t-shirt of a pixelated Kagura. I immediately thought, "Ahhhh, Gintama is still so loved!" And after what I saw at Anime NYC 2025 and heard at Anime Expo 2025, Gintama's resurgence comes at a perfect time because it's about preserving relationships even if you're not close with everyone around you.
It's been 6 years since the Gintama manga ended and 4 years since the anime adapted everything from it. And we are in 2025 with some of its key arcs being compiled into movies and the spinoff, Gintama: Ginpachi's Zany Class, finally getting a proper anime series instead of being omake. Even better, we have a Yoshiwara in Flames arc remake in 2026 as that's the arc where Gintama really put itself on the map as a great shonen series worth following.
Gintama has meant so much to me and I'm glad it still resonates with people even today. I talked about the many Gintama cosplayers I saw at Anime NYC 2025, so here's a couple that I really loved.
Beautiful, no?
What I think makes Gintama still relevant today is its focus on how community really helps someone move forward from pain. Back in the start of the series, Gintoki Sakata talked about how he wanted to walk away from relationships considering his past. But Shinpachi Shimura and Kagura made life bearable. Sure, they all fight and argue a lot, but those moments are what make life "life."
And it really takes people to become stronger, not just solo training arcs.
Sadly, a lot of society ignores how much communities do make a difference in the lives of other people and actually generate the changes that improves well-being. This is what I see with Gintama and especially how Gintoki's home of Kabukicho always bands together whenever trouble comes along. It is incredible to see regular citizens fight against alien oppressors especially during the final arcs. Despite whatever disagreements we have over certain issues, we all want the same things - food, shelter, love, financial stability, and a sense of meaning.
This makes me think about a particular moment in the Shinsengumi Rebellion Arc. Gintoki is fighting against one of Shinsuke Takasugi's Kiheitai comrades, Bansai Kawakami. Bansai is confused as to why Gintoki would fight for the Shinsengumi despite their bonds not being "close." He calls Gintoki a ghost that only exists in the past and there's nothing for him to protect anymore. But Gintoki tells Bansai that what he wants to protect hasn't changed and dares him to cut off the bonds he has.
Gintama is basically saying that the ebbs and flows of mental health is affected by the social environment around you. All the compilation films that have come out so far reflect this. People are trying to change, but find it hard to do it. Some people want to find resolution in their lives and can't do it themselves. Sometimes, the change comes from outsiders who know how important relationships are to well-being. I feel like I should actually revisit the arcs covered in those compilation movies properly and see how important it is to fight together and help one another to be the change they want to be.
In any case, Gintama is back in a big way. We're fighting against regimes that want to see us fight against one another instead of together. I want the burning flames inside Gintoki's heart to inspire us to do something meaningful for someone, even if it's tiny. A tiny spark can generate a powerful reaction that makes someone's soul shine with a nice silver.
And create a fiery community that, to sound like Gintoki, will never die out.
Update: Gintama is now collaborating with Mahjong Soul. A game that has changed my perspective in life and the anime/manga series that meant a lot to me in my late young adult years. Mahjong and Gintama are alike in that you form some wacky relationships with people you may come to love over time. It's those face-to-face relationships that give off strong benefits for the soul. Both epitomize the essence of community.
For context, you can read the 1st post: Behind the Blog - 15 Years Later and the 2nd post: Behind the Blog - 20 Years Later.
It's been 25 years now since I received a mental health diagnosis of clinical depression that would change my life trajectory in ways that I and my family would have never foreseen.
And despite what I wrote in my previous posts about that time period, I'm starting to learn some important caveats to my experiences.
So where should I start? While I do believe receiving a diagnosis is valuable in ways that help someone know what to do, there comes a point where the diagnosis can take over your identity. Sometimes, people get told that they're stuck. Receiving a diagnosis of a mental health disorder like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia often means that you get a "death sentence." I don't believe that's totally true despite the limitations those disorders place on you. The problem is society not giving two shits about people living with serious mental illness. At the same time, one has to take some level of responsibility for how they behave beyond the diagnosis. Getting a diagnosis doesn't excuse you from acting like an asshole/dick to other people or making yourself into a misinformed know-it-all.
I say this right because I think I let my diagnosis dictate most of my adult life. I've let my social worker say things like "Oh, I think you're fine doing certain opportunities to stay safe." To be fair, my mind was a mess around the time. But sometimes, I have felt that advice, while helpful, has somewhat hindered me. I want things to be perfect before I take opportunities that could have really helped me and that's not a good ideal to have when you have to be realistic about your options. Sometimes in life, you have to be uncomfortable to get to where/who you want to be.
I started having second thoughts about my mental health diagnosis over the past two years because of the two hobbies that have changed my thinking unexpectedly - mahjong and K-Pop. Manga will always have a place in my heart. It kept me going through my '20s-'30s. But finding manga-loving friends was not easy. There was never a huge manga-gathering club that catered to adults (almost every club is catered to teens and children) in my home area during that time. Manga reading is often a very solitary activity, which is fine. But I think manga wasn't enough to get me over relationship trauma and my insecurities over people.
Unexpectedly, playing riichi mahjong in-person has helped with that trauma. I got to meet newer people in my life and interact with them whenever I can. In my 4 years of playing mahjong with my local club, I can proudly say that the game has given me my life back and helped me process all the relationship trauma I went through. It taught me how to get used to being uncomfortable when life puts you in tricky situations.
Even wilder was getting into K-Pop in my '40s. Listening to K-Pop made me realize how much I still love music. It predates my love of manga. More importantly, K-Pop made me love and believe in people again. Someone once told me that K-Pop culture is powerful because it's a combination of community, music, and fashion. I started to embrace all those qualities. I will disclose this for the first time ever. When I met someone new at mahjong last year and wanted to get to know them better, I was actually nervous in asking them to hang out. I went through some not-so-fun times with a person who I thought I could be friends with in 2023, so I didn't know what to say. In late June of 2024, I listened to Red Velvet's Cosmic. That song blew my mind and gave me enough courage to ask the person to a hangout. I know it sounds silly, but for me, K-Pop really meant something in that instance.
I still follow manga and will always love it, but K-Pop and mahjong have made me question the label placed on me regarding my mental health diagnosis. Like why I am still considering myself "sick" when I'm really not anymore? I'm enjoying my life in my '40s right now. I hate when so-called life experts tell young people that their '20s are the prime of their lives when that's bullshit. You can still thrive and make wholesome changes as you get older. If I'm living it, so can other people.
Speaking of mental health, I absolutely think the system sucks in promoting better mental health for all. Treatment is very generalized and/or set for a population (the well-off people who can afford it) that doesn't always need it. Solutions to life's stressors have always been communal. Mental health is actually a political manner because our living environments do shape all parts of our lives in ways that not many mental health experts consider. I also learned that mental health awareness has done nothing to address problems because of things like overdiagnosis and not realizing that mental health is very much on a spectrum when we're treating problems in a binary fashion (i.e. either you're on meds or not).
Do I still consider myself a mental health advocate despite this? Of course. But I will say that if mental health professionals give people medication and no advice on finding genuine love/contentment/connection alongside it, then they fucking suck at their job (even though I don't necessarily blame them due to how health insurance works in my part of the world).
We're a quarter-way into the 21st century and you can say that the world is in quite a conundrum. We're going into a very fast pace towards somewhat arbitrary goals that mostly benefit the self and not others. Yet 25 years later, I finally feel that I'm content with life for once. I'm not letting the label of clinical depression dictate my entire well-being anymore. I really want to do things for myself and others.
I'll end it with these lines from a recent Substack newsletter post I read this morning.
"Oh, and another thing: Please do not give into despair and hopelessness.
Most people are not garbage. Most people want good things for other people. Most people know that our fates are connected and the 1% wants us at each other’s throats so we forget they are hoarding wealth, ransacking our planet and manipulating us into submission!!!"
There will be further challenges ahead, but I'll keep on living and meeting people because we're really in this together. Let's try to survive and thrive in the next 5 years. I'm rooting for you always.
Kodansha made a big splash at this year's Anime NYC with a free US-edition of one of their hit seinen manga magazines, Young Magazine. This special issue contains various stories of all genres catered to an English-speaking audience. The catch is that only five of them will make the cut to be ongoing series overseas via online fan vote. The one series that caught my eye immediately, which is most likely going to be one of the five series serialized here because of its overall popularity, is Keito Gaku's Boys Run the Riot -In Transition-.
It still provides a strong message about trying to thrive as a LGBTQ+ individual where a gender-binary world still struggles to understand them.
Picking up where the original series left off, Ryo Watari (formerly Ryoko) is living his life as a 21-year old college student balancing school and part-time work while chasing his dream to become a fashion designer. While he has fought hard to get to where he is, Ryo faces conflict from his mother, who can't accept his decision to fully transition from female to male. This tension causes Ryo to be unable to come to terms with going 100% to being male as he feels that he has to keep asking people to treat him as one. Ryo's struggle is also related to money as he feels that he has to keep waiting to get enough money to afford gender reaffirmation surgery.
Ryo does get a "Just Do It"-like speech from a fellow classmate who went from female-to-male, but it doesn't immediately spur him into action. He is also afraid of job hunting (his mom points this out in a blunt manner) because of his frustrations towards those who won't view him as male right away.
I wonder how many of us can relate to Ryo's feelings about wanting to move forward, but lacking the strength or courage to do so. In Ryo's case, it's living with his mother in a somewhat safe environment despite her criticism and being around kind people at the moment. Ryo was getting too comfortable with his current situation to the point until he noticed that he had to correct people about his gender a lot. In a sense, he was feeling cognitively overwhelmed over time. Which combined with how Ryo viewed his financial status keeps him at a standstill. It's like Ryo was always fighting over people's thoughts and trying to be perfect instead of doing something more productive that can invigorate him.
And it took a reunion with his old friends, Jin and Itsuka, from the Boys Run the Riot fashion label to snap him out of it. Jin, who currently works at a retro fashion store, compliments Ryo and his designer skills in front of his store manager and validates him as male without being asked. Jin proudly wants Ryo center-stage for his own store one day. Ryo mentally wakes up and decides to go ahead with paying for his gender-affirming surgery.
Sometimes, all it takes to move forward is to feel a sense of purpose and remember what your dreams are. And it can take great emotional support to do so. We often get stuck in our heads and it always takes an outside kind perspective to truly see what we're forgetting. Keito Gaku gets it and that's why I feel -In Transition- is perfect to be an ongoing series because LGBTQ+ individuals face harder mental health challenges compared to heterosexual/cisgender people and will sadly continue to do so.
I'll finish by commenting on something Ryo said before he met Jin and Itsuka again. He was crying about his emotional turmoil and said he wished his life was very straight-forward. In some ways, this is somewhat of a mental trap. We don't see the fuller picture because the people around us are hiding their vulnerabilities about their own lives. In a way, Boys Run the Riot -In Transition- is not just about transitioning from one gender to another; it's about transitioning from unhelpful thoughts that keep you stuck to realistic helpful thoughts that will always be in fashion.
When you read a lot of manga (like I do), it's sometimes hard to remember large casts of characters. Especially in long-running series full of characters with their own set of unique quirks. Thankfully, Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura's Blue Lock does something I don't see many manga do. They put a character's full name in display in almost every chapter.
For those who may not have heard of Blue Lock, it's THE popular sports manga that has captivated the world. The story is about several young male candidates chosen to participate in a rigorous soccer training program called Blue Lock in order to become the perfect striker to represent Japan in future World Cups. This all takes place in a prison-like setting, and the story is about survival of the the fittest in a nutshell. Communal feelings are thrown aside for the sake of individual glory.
And speaking of individual glory in Blue Lock, we have a lot of characters who seek greater heights for their own ego. There's the main character Yoichi Isagi, the lackadaisical yet strong Nagi Seishiro, the brooding rival character Rin Itoshi, the eccentric Meguru Bachira, the charming Reo Mikage, and a whole slew of other characters that are beloved by fans.
Sports manga in general tend to have a lot of characters. So what Kaneshiro does well is highlight the characters' full name during their appearances whenever something big is about to start or when they get their moment to shine (even if it's a tiny bit). The image I posted of 4 of the most important characters in the series is a big indication of this. Kaneshiro does this in every chapter/volume of the series so far for, even though hardcore fans of the series already know who they are.
So why are these name reminders a big deal, you ask? Because they make the characters feel important. The name reminders make you feel connected to the characters themselves. Plus, it's very easy to forget names as we get older and become much busier in our lives.
In real life, remembering someone's name is important to fostering great social connection. When you acknowledge someone's name, you show that you care. You show that you remember them. You show that they made an impression on you.
I feel that Blue Lock's name reminders are a way to get the reader to get to appreciate the characters for everything they say/do. They want you to value their fictional personalities. Names have so much power in ways you would not believe. I will quote from this blog post about name tags (which those reminders subtly are).
“A name tag isn’t just a sticker; it’s a statement. It’s about friendliness, identity, culture and human nature. Wearing a name tag is an invitation to friendliness. It’s a way to open up to others and overcome personal walls. Their primary function is to personalize and humanize each person. Inviting encounters is what they do. And you permit this change to happen every time you put on your name tag. The hardest part about conversations is getting the ball rolling. That’s why name tags are so great. They are the basic building block of conversation. The sooner you know people’s names, the sooner you feel comfortable around them.”
Blue Lock has humanized most of its characters so far in ways that connect us further with them. This combined with the constant name reminders also allows fans to connect with other fans about the characters as well. Whenever I see the name tags/reminders of the characters, I suddenly go, "Oh yeaaaah, I know what they're like. They're great/sad/funny/strange/dumb/etc." and I have some fun conversations with fellow Blue Lock fans as a result.
I also feel that Blue Lock is firm reminder of how important it is to remember and, more importantly, acknowledge someone's name. Hearing your own name (or seeing your name written) by someone you care about is a wonderful feeling and makes you connected in ways that boost your mental health. It provides a sense of brain activation that does wonders. Remembering names also provides a much-needed perk - the ability to show that you can pay attention to something/someone important as needed.
While there are other factors that make Blue Lock the hit it is, the name reminders are a fun way to influence its readers that, to quote Dale Carnegie, a person's name is often the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
NYC's biggest anime con, Anime NYC, was back this year with a twist - a now-permanent 4-day anime convention full of things to see and do. It was a quite a lot, but overall, I had a splendid time at what looks to be the closest thing we will have to an U.S. Atlantic version of Anime Expo.
So we'll start off with Thursday, which I attended to see how the future is going to look like. I got to the venue a bit too early, so there was way too much down time until 4pm (the actual start of the con). I did get to see what was happening and some of the cosplayers doing photo shoots and TikTok challenges. Once the exhibit hall opened, I did manage to buy some stuff at the Yen Press booth and scoured the food options. I didn't stick around too long, since only the exhibitors and Artists' Alley were open. I left to make sure I got my Mitsuki Koga cosplay ready for the whole weekend.
On Friday, I decided to check out the K-Planet Dance Competition (organized by Hailey House Imnida) at the Performance Stage in Hall 1B. This was really, really exciting to see and the screams were wild over the dance performances. Two well-known judges were asked to designate two winners. Overall, this was fun to see as a now 2-year old K-Pop fan. With K-Pop Demon Hunters (there was so much cosplay of it) blowing up among anime fandom, there's never been a better time to get into K-Pop.
After my dosage of K-Pop, I headed to the "More Than One Way to Break Into Manga." This had a number of manga professionals representing Kodansha, Square Enix Books, Yen Press, Niuhi, and Kana/Abrams Publishing. Everyone talked about the paths they took to get to where they are today in the manga industry. The reps also talked about what roles are out there besides the usual translator/editor/proofreader/production/designer/sales/marketing roles that are heavily associated with the industry.
A role that I found interesting that they listed was buyer/bookseller. Sure, a Barnes & Noble employee might be considered "low-ranking," but they are important in providing suggestions for readers to buy books and that employee can break in further into the manga industry from there.
What I liked in the end though was them discussing librarians and educators. They proclaim them as the future of the industry. If you live in America and are aware of current events, then you understand why that proclamation was made.
Also, they addressed the misconception that you have to know 100% Japanese to break into the manga industry. You don't. I know this scares people off because not everyone has time to learn a whole new language with way too many nuances. But as long as you're not directly involved in localization, you're fine.
Oh yeah, connections are important. Be human towards industry people.
I then went to my first Librarian and Educator Programming panel in "From Fandom to Faculty: The Academic Life of Anime and Manga." (note: I had a photo of the panelists, but it's very poor quality and I'm not going to upload it sadly) This was a very informative panel from 4 professors who have taken that step from being fans to being in academia. Dr. Raylene Gomez Hernandez, Dr. Mimi Okabe, Dr. Joe Sanchez, and Billy Tringal all gave perspectives about the respective work they're doing. I thought everyone did a good job explaining and connecting anime/manga/video games to academic subjects. I was really impressed with Dr. Sanchez's research on BIPOC youth's thoughts on manga as someone who works with BIPOC youth at my day job. He left a great impression on me by talking about teaching empathy. So what if it doesn't make money? Empathy teaches everything on how to be a good person in the world.
I went home afterwards some discussion with two of the panelists. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Librarian & Educator programming will grow next year. I did think about the later Friday panels, but I wanted to pace myself for Saturday. Because that was going to be a doozy.
I first went to the Akane-banashi panel with special guest from Shueisha, Seisuke Araki (the editor of the Akane-banashi manga). This was really fun to see and I was so impressed to see how much love the manga has. They did talk about how Hideaki Anno and Eiichiro Oda praised the series. To be honest, I think Anno's comments were a huge reason why I dove into the manga in the first place. Araki made note of how Akane-banashi stands out among the Shonen Jump lineup because of its realism. There was a funny video of 3 of the main seiyuu for the upcoming anime doing rakugo skits. The ending of it was priceless, I will say.
I then went to the Weekly Shonen Jump panel featuring the magazine's editor-in-chief, Yu Saito. This was a really good panel. It focused on what Saito actually does as THE boss, his emphasis on promoting new works (i.e. new Jump series always get cover page in their debuts), how Jump has changed over the years, finding new talent. One of the funniest stories Saito told the audience was about Gintama's Hideaki Sorachi trying to make a deadline on time by drawing a blank page while on a taxi ride with Saito together. All I can say is "Ahhh, that gorilla." What I like about Saito is he spoke about not chasing trends and following what he and his team believes will be a hit series despite the possibility of getting canned early. Yes, it can be ruthless, but in some ways, this is very anti-AI and much needed. Saito is a big supporter of being there for the Shonen Jump crew and admitted to using fan mail to help get mangaka out of dry spells.
(He also gave a shoutout to Taiyo Matsumoto's Tokyo These Days, which won an Eisner Award in 2025, due to its realistic portrayal of a manga editor's life).
After that panel was a big one - Kagurabachi's creator, Takeru Hokazono. No photos were allowed at at the panel, so here's an awesome Chihiro cosplayer for you.
The panel was packed to the bone. There were at least 500 people in one room. I thankfully got in fine. The fandom for this series showed up strong. Hokazono appeared wearing a mask like his avatar. He did a live drawing of the fans' choosing, which was the blind swordsman, Samura, all while answering Q&A. Hokazono was asked by Matt Alt a variety of questions about how he came up with the series, favorite arc, his art style, the concepts behind the Enchanted Blades, favorite battles, etc. Hokazono listed a good number of influences in Kagurabachi including Naruto, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Akira, and Quentin Tarantino movies.
I'm glad I got to see Hokazono because Kagurabachi's art is so incredible to see. There's also an art exhibit happening at Japan Society in New York until November 14. You can guess where I'm going next.
I then went to the "The Future is Queer for Manga in Libraries!". This was basically a promotion of great LGBTQ+ titles (current and upcoming) for educators and librarians to put in their catalog. The panel got a really good turnout. Kodansha (who just had a panel at Flame Con the weekend prior), Yen Press, and Square Enix Books have absolutely become front-page when it comes to promoting LGBTQ+ manga tiles (sorry, SubLime). I think it also helps that all three publishers are based in New York with one of the stronger library systems in the U.S. in New York.
If there was one thing to take away from the panel, it's that yuri is having its golden moment right now and this was mentioned at the end of the panel. Especially after The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All won Best New Manga at the 2025 American Manga Awards. Inee's Love Bullet, which got a huge applause at the panel, is going to do numbers when it comes out here.
After that, I tried to get into the Yen Press panel, but it was full. So I just went to play mahjong at the gaming hall and went home.
Sunday started off awful as I almost missed the Kodansha USA panel due to a track fire on my train commute. But anyway, Kodansha never ceases to amaze with the manga lineup they trot out. They have become one of my favorite publishers with some great stories to tell. I was happy they announced a print edition of Yuna Hirasawa's My Journey to Her (which I wrote about a short while back) for Fall 2026 and her current work, Luca The Dragon Vet. Kodansha announced everything they hyped in Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con. And they dropped a big announcement in releasing omnibus editions of Harold Sakuishi's BECK. Tokyopop never finished it, so Kodansha is going to finish the job. A really big get.
(Also, shoutouts to Dark Horse for getting Credits Roll Into the Sea and Seven Seas for getting Girl Meets Rock!)
After that, I decided to call it a wrap with panels. I decided to walk around the con for photos, shopping and observations.
So where to start with this year's Anime NYC?
The Japanese food court by Dream Asia was definitely a hit among fans. There was one vendor whose vegan meat rice bowl was so good that I had it 3 times as a go-to meal.
The gaming hall looks really great this year and felt more packed with games to play and try.
The movement room for K-Pop/J-Pop random dance play sessions was actually a good idea to give a lot of room for fans who are into them and want convenient times to do so.
Artists' alley being stuck all the way in the back is still iffy to me. I kind of wish they were in a better spot.
The NY MTA's 7 train not being in construction the whole weekend was a blessing. It helped that the U.S. Open tennis tournament (which the 7 train stops at) was happening at the same time. No way my subway service was going to risk angering international tourists by having weekend service changes.
I saw a lot more Gintama cosplayers this year compared to recent years. I think with the 30th anniversary of the anime coming, this was to be expected. I love that people still remember the series.
It's still hard to do everything as so many panels I wanted to check out always conflicted with one another. But I try my best despite being only one person and know I can't do everything. And that's okay.
Overall, I had a really fun time at this year's Anime NYC. At times, it was a bit overwhelming, but the energy of the fans is what makes the experience for me worthwhile. Cosplaying Mitsuki Koga for 3 days is something I will always treasure. I love that Green Yuri is an award-winning manga now.
More importantly, given the times we're in, I felt inspired to try and help librarians and educators in my area be able to promote manga as best they can. I truly believe they are the future of not just the manga industry, but also perhaps the anime industry as well. They're the ones in the frontlines that deal with the public the most. Right now, librarians and educators are the people we have to help and fight for to ensure manga's continued relevancy in America.
I can't wait to see what 2026 has in store for Anime NYC and despite the uncertainty of what is to come, I know we'll at least all have a good time together. Until next year!
