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.
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!
Hello all, I'm heading to Anime NYC today. It's the start of a 4-day convention this year. So here's my itinerary for all 4 days.
Thursday: Just walking around the exhibit hall and Artists' Alley because the hours are so short (4pm-8pm)
Friday:
K-Planet! Dance Competition
More Than One Way to Break into Manga
From Fandom to Faculty: The Academic Life of Anime and Manga
One Great Panel: Celebrating Manga Moments That Do More
Saturday:
Akane-Banashi Sneak Peek: With Shueisha JUMP!! Special Guest
Behind Weekly Shonen Jump: A Conversation with the Editor-in-Chief
Takeru Hokazono Comes to NYC
Yen Press Industry Panel
Sunday
Kodansha Manga: Past, Present, & Future
Panel Session by Kengo Hanazawa
Manga Under Fire: The State of Censorship on Manga
This can all change in a moment's notice. Sometimes, things happen (I skipped Saturday last year because I got a huge headache). My mahjong club will be there as well and I might play, but we will see. There's a lot going on this year compared to last year's. Such is the nature of a large-scale anime convention because of this.
I'm also cosplaying Mitsuki Koga (The Guy She Was Interested Wasn't a Guy at All) for at least 2 days at Anime NYC. I'll be posting social media updates on Instagram and BlueSky (@dropintomanga) So if any of you are going, you can try and find me at the panels!
If not, have fun! I will have a full report post-con next week!
Fighting Girls - Fighting Connects Us to Be Better
I know a lot of us are still reeling from Taizan5's Takopi's Original Sin, but he just came out with a new one-shot manga in Fighting Girls that's pretty wholesome.
Fighting Girls is about a girl named Koume Takaba who is inspired to become a martial artist after watching her favorite MMA fighter become a champion. She starts practicing traditional karate at the age of 6 and becomes good at it. One day, Koume's aspirations are challenged by a rival named Tiara Kimura (who later changes her last name to Namikaze). Tiara beats Koume in 1-on-1 karate matches over and over again from elementary school through high school. When Tiara announces that she's going to Tokyo to become a MMA star after graduating high school, Koume proclaims the same. She tries desperately to move up the MMA ranks for a chance to fight Tiara in order to prove she's the best. However, Tiara suddenly announces on social media that she's retiring from MMA.
This shocks Koume to a huge degree to the point of whether she has something worth fighting for anymore. The story suddenly shifts towards Tiara's perspective when she met Koume back in elementary school. We learn about Tiara's family background and what led her to chase her dreams in Tokyo. It's revealed that Tiara injured her hand and she becomes depressed. However, she watches Koume win her most recent match and proclaim in her post-match interview that she won because of Tiara. Tiara cries and decides to get out of retirement. The story ends with Koume finding out about Tiara and the possibility of the two facing each other as adults.
What I love about this one-shot are the psychological dynamics involved.
The family dynamics of both Koume and Tiara have driven each other to chase a dream that might be considered to be foolish. Koume comes from a family situation where it seems like her parents are more interested in arguing with one another than supporting her to become the best person she can be. Koume notes how she's surrounded by scary things and they have driven her to be somewhat shy. Martial arts was her chance to believe that she can make a dream she wants happen. For Tiara, her parents just want her to follow the regular path of a woman - get a job, get married, have kids. They refuse to support her dream of being a MMA star if she's not willing to help out her family. When Tiara hears Koume wanting to go to Tokyo to chase her, she becomes determined to make her dream come true and starts to distance herself from her family to grow.
Anxiety rears its ugly head when it comes to Tiara's injury. For Koume, she realizes that even though MMA is her passion, there's a limit to how long one can go. Especially in a sport that's brutal. Koume admits that she's scared because no one believed in her dream except for her. She's scared of getting injured and what the future holds. Tiara's reality was starting to affect Koume. For Tiara, she was scared of her future due to her injury. But seeing Koume say that Tiara's the reason why she's here made her want to confront her anxiety head-on.
It's so scary to go at life without much-needed family/friend support. No one believed in either of them. I know there will be people that say "Oh, they're strong! They'll be fine!" But, being independent doesn't necessarily solve one's own mental health problems. Fighting Girls was a short glimpse of what can happen when the view of independency starts to crumble. The two girls needed to be interdependent on one another to become stronger.
Sure, Koume and Tiara were more rivals than friends, but they became the support they never got from those that were supposed to give them that.
This one-shot is a reminder that it's okay to fear what can happen in your life when things don't always go your way. Chasing goals can be a lonely journey. But, you know what, there's people out there who feel the same and want to keep fighting to move forward just like you.
Fighting together is so much better than just fighting by ourselves. We're all connected to one another in some way, just like Koume and Tiara, so let's all drive each other to try the best we can for what we still want in life.
Anime NYC is around the corner again and this time, I want to post something from 2008 to remind myself and other NYC goers what the anime scene was like around that and how far we have come in 17 years.
We thought things were going to be great, but a recession happened and everything took a step back. It wasn't until 2017 where Anime NYC finally made way and we got ourselves a proper NYC anime convention again.
These videos are footage and collected photos I took from New York Anime Festival 2008. So much anime convention history is lost and I want to do my part in showing off what I have.
So if you remember Lucky Star and Haruhi Suzumiya, these are worth a watch. Enjoy! (Clicking on the link should work. But let me know if anyone has issues watching them!)
The Fangirl Diaries - An Incredible Time Capsule of Anime Fandom
With so much anime convention moments being easily recorded with smartphones, people have often forget that this wasn't the case, pre-2010. A lot of photos and video from fans at anime conventions around that time can be lost to history. But there's a well-known anime convention enthusiast, Erica Victoria Espejo, who brings a memoir that tells of her anime con experiences before the commercialized social media era in The Fangirl Diaries: Finding Community in Anime Fandom of the '90s and '00s.
This is perhaps one of the best books on fandom I have ever read.
The book is structured in 6 parts. The first part talks about how Erica gets into anime fandom via series like Sailor Moon, Macross, and Magic Knight Rayearth at a young age. Part 2 covers Erica's attempts to get into the anime convention scene via Anime Expo 1998 and 1999. Part 3, which is the meat of the book, talks about Erica finding her people through various conventions from the span of 2000-2002. Part 4 is about Erica dealing with anime becoming mainstream and her struggle to navigate drama due to its emerging popularity. Part 5 focused Erica's enjoyment of living in the Bay Area for otaku-related events during university years. The last part was about Erica talking about learning to sew and how she wanted to live her life going forward as a cosplay enthusiast post-2007.
I don't know where to start with this book, but Erica is about 2 years younger than me. So I know too well what anime watching was like back then in the mid-'90s. She talked about getting into Sailor Moon and watching it in the mornings on the UPN Network in the US. This is how I discovered Sailor Moon's English dub as well. Erica talked about growing out of American kids' cartoons/comics because she didn't find them appealing was similar to how I felt before I found Dragon Ball Z.
The parts where Erica discusses 1998-2000 with regards to anime webrings, newsgroups, and fansub VHS tapes brings tears to my eyes. I slowly got more involved in anime fandom round 1999 with Dragon Ball Z VHS tapes at a small shop in Chinatown and visiting fansites about DBZ. I used to browse Anime Web Turnpike for access to whatever looked cool at the time. Those were some fun times, but I had no one to easily talk to at school about anime like Erica did.
Which leads to the part where Erica talks about the trauma of 10th grade and being felt left out due to being an anime fan. And it's some traumatizing stuff. A lot of people made fun of her for liking "Japanese cartoon porn" and purposely left her out. Thankfully, Erica found solace in partaking in online voice acting and going to more conventions. Her convention stories are so vivid and well-told with amazing pictures to boot. It makes you feel like you're re-experiencing what she went through.
New York anime conventions weren't much of a thing until 2002, so I got a kick reading Erica's 2000-2002 con ventures. It makes me wish I grew up in Los Angeles or San Francisco instead of New York.
Erica's thoughts on the mainstream era of anime fandom are a good digest. She talks about cosplay drama, casual racism and misogyny in fandom, the problem with staying silent, and older fans having problems with newer fans. What I like is how Erica takes a stand by saying everyone should cosplay if they want to and if it looks cheap, then so what? And if they like newer anime titles, it doesn't change the fact that they are anime fans. More importantly, focus on creating instead of listening to noise online and offline. She makes a emphasis about these points throughout the book.
I also really love Erica talking about the Japantown in San Francisco. By god, it's one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in San Francisco. I absolutely adore the shops and restaurants there. I always have a good time when I'm there. I miss Japantown very much even though I know San Francisco is going through a lot right now. Her talking about Japantown makes me want to go back.
But what I really love most is how Erica talks about all the friendships she's made over the years. Some of them don't last forever, but they have changed Erica for the better. She shows so much love and appreciation for almost all the people she's met from 1999-2007. Erica found community in anime fandom and despite all the drama that can come with it at times, she found purpose to give back to the community after becoming an ancestor in her own words in an epilogue taking place in 2023. You can't help but feel joy that Erica is still doing cosplay stuff for younger generations.
The Fangirl Diaries is an excellent read and I really encourage every anime fan who's been through the ups and downs of anime convention life to read it. You will relate to some/most of the experiences Erica has been through. This is a personal testament to how much community can truly help us find who we are and can be. This is a diary worth fangirling/fanboying over.
With Mokumokuren's The Summer Hikaru Died being announced to end in just about 10 volumes, we finally hit the halfway point of the manga. Volume 5 also ends the 1st two arcs of the manga. I did write about Volume 1 in the past and it was my favorite manga of 2023.
Here we are, 2 years later, and I think the manga's strongest point (besides the mix of slice-of-life and horror) is its focus on the allure of non-platonic relationships.
To sum up The Summer Hikaru Died so far, the 1st arc, "The Daily Life Arc", introduces us to Yoshiki Tsujinaka and his grief over losing his best friend, Hikaru Indou. And we get to meet "Hikaru", who acts as a terrifying replacement. We get introduced to the supporting cast bit by bit. The most important thing to take from this arc is the relationship between Yoshiki and "Hikaru" despite the former knowing the latter's identity. It is a mix of genuine camaraderie and attempted murder on one another. Volumes 4-5, "The Mystery Solving Arc," focuses on Yoshiki's attempt to figure out what "Hikaru" actually is. Readers also slowly to learn the truth about the history of the town Yoshiki lives in, which involves a god called Nounuki-sama. There's also move information involving the real Hikaru and his family ties to Nounuki-sama. The search for the dark truth starts to become a potential fracture in the relationship between Yoshiki and "Hikaru."
Over time while reading the manga, Yoshiki and "Hikaru" don't have what is considered to be a normal friendship. Even if "Hikaru" wasn't a monster, their relationship is in a gray zone. It reminds me of a time when I was friends with someone, but people noted that the relationship I had with that person was not exactly friendship, but definitely more. It felt more than just platonic, but it never crossed the line towards an exclusive romantic relationship.
I did some research on non-platonic relationships and what I found is that the allure of them is that there's this pull that drives someone to be a part of one. Sometimes, the pull can be something like really intense chemistry with someone or something tiny that ends up changing your perspective in a way that illuminates you. For Yoshiki, it's because "Hikaru" looks like his friend and is trying hard to live life. It drives him to want to teach it to survive For "Hikaru," it's the fact that the original person before he died wished for the monster to stay by Yoshiki. That wish makes "Hikaru" want to learn how to adapt to society.
Some signs of what makes non-platonic relationships tick are:
1.) Emotional closeness being different than friendship - Yoshiki and "Hikaru" have a bond that is obviously more than just friends. But it doesn't feel romantic at times. Yet the two of them are very vulnerable with each other when they have conversations.
2.) Physical touch carries more meaning - There are terrifying moments when "Hikaru's" nature erupts to touch Yoshiki multiple times to convey this strange sense of physical intimacy factor. But there's more. There's a scene in Volume 2 where "Hikaru" opens ups its chest and allows Yoshiki to touch its insides. Also, in Volume 3, "Hikaru" purposely rips out half of its insides to weaken itself and condenses that half into a tiny rock for Yoshiki to keep. Why? To ensure that "Hikaru" doesn't easily kill anyone out of love for Yoshiki.
3.) Jealousy creeps in - This happens around Volume 1-2 where Yoshiki starts to become friends with Rie Kurebayashi, a medium who knows how to handle dangerous spiritual entities. "Hikaru" immediately gets jealous over that relationship given what Kurebayashi does. This gets resolved a bit quickly as "Hikaru" becomes a friend of Kurebayashi over time.
4.) Unspoken expectations start to form - Because of "Hikaru's" nature, Yoshiki is trying to teach it how to value life and the emotional states human beings are in. Yoshiki has expressed disappointment and frustration at times about "Hikaru" as he expects it to be a little bit human. He has an unspoken expectation in that "Hikaru" should stay and be human even though it's not a great idea. This is more different than "Hikaru's" expectation that Yoshiki shouldn't leave its side because of how basic it is.
5.) Connection feels different from other friendships - This becomes very evident at the end of Volume 5 when "Hikaru" decides to end the relationship with Yoshiki. It realizes that it can't change its true nature. "Hikaru" admits that the real Hikaru likes things that it doesn't like. Yoshiki panics and tells "Hikaru" to just keep being who they are. "Hikaru" actually admits that they love Yoshiki, but it's nothing like romantic love or friendship. This moment is cut short by a cliffhanger leading to the next arc, but the reader sees how strong their love for one another is compared to their other relationships.
I know there are readers who say that this is a tragic queer romance. I'm not going to lie about the BL undertones of the The Summer Hikaru Died (which are a big reason why I love this manga). But hey, sometimes, relationships like what Yoshiki and "Hikaru" have are never so black and white. The tricky thing though about non-platonic relationships is that they are usually driven by emotions that sometimes aren't processed and/or reflected on. There's a lot of emotional intimacy that just grows involved compared to platonic friendships.
While there is communication between Yoshiki and "Hikaru" about what to expect from one another, the relationship is still toxic because boundaries just keep getting crossed. It's a bit ironic that the monster has common sense than a human in ending a relationship. If you're struggling to define a non-platonic relationship in a way that doesn't affect one person or both people badly, it has to end. Plus, intimacy is something that young men often struggle with and this is the case with Yoshiki.
The Summer Hikaru Died is one of the best ongoing manga today. Why? Because I feel that the series is about what to make of our need for emotional intimacy during times of grief. Intimacy can be horrifying for some people because of the vulnerability, but at the same time, humans need it. We can't survive/thrive without it. Even if the intimacy is coming from a bad place and might cost us our lives, we will reach for it because it makes us feel "safe."
And that's the actual horror - our desire for emotional safety can lead us astray towards delusions as scary as "Hikaru" itself. Delusions that can last more than just a single summer.
I just want to give a heads up to anyone who's a fan of titles like Ghost in the Shell, Attack on Titan, and Blue Lock that Kodansha is bringing back their immersive manga-themed pop-up, Kodansha House, to New York City this October 4-19.
The venue will be at a different location compared to last year. The address will be 219 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.
Also, here's more from Kodansha's press release on what to expect.
"This year, Kodansha House unlocks a new chapter of immersive fan experiences with expanded space, more interactive exhibits and fresh programming designed to celebrate the manga community. Kodansha House offers a dynamic space for fans to connect, create, and celebrate the stories they love. From interactive exhibits and hands-on workshops to date nights and movie screenings, this experiential event is the perfect spot for manga lovers and culture vultures to meet, mingle, and dive deeper into the magic of manga like never before.
Kodansha is also thrilled to announce KODANSHA Mochikomi Fresh Ink 2025, a rare opportunity for aspiring creators who are planning to visit Kodansha House to engage with Japan’s legendary editorial team. Selected Mochikomi finalists will have the chance to sit down with one of Kodansha’s editors at Kodansha House for a 1:1 portfolio review. Submissions are open from August 1st to August 10th at 11PM EST.
The month-long programming includes a diverse lineup of exhibits featuring fan favorites like Attack on Titan, Ghost in The Shell, Blue Lock and many more! Three major manga creators, to be announced, will make rare U.S. appearances with Q&A sessions and signings."
I wrote about Kodansha House and my experiences there last year. I was already impressed with what they did and now I'm excited to hear more. Everything about the popup was what I wanted from a manga publisher. Did I forget to mention that this entire event is FREE to attend?
If you happen to be in the NYC area around October 4-19, definitely check out Kodansha House. You can sign up for updates at their website: https://www.kodanshahouse.com. I will be heading there again and hopefully catch some of the mangaka that will appear.
Summer and major anime con season may be coming to an end, but the fall season looks like it's gonna keep the heat up for manga fans.
