Reading Report: 05 May 2024

鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST

This week I read a variety of manga and finished Aura Battler Dunbine (and the OVA sequel).
Spoilers for FMA Brotherhood, Chainsaw Man, Dandadan, Dunbine, as well as イジめてごっこ and 明日、私は誰かのカノジョ.

聖戦士ダンバイン

I kind of lost interest towards the end. I still adore the Aura Machine designs, and I think there's a lot to explore within the バイストン・ウェル, but the frequency of identical battle scenes on Earth started to get exhausting. The last episode had some surprising events at least.

鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST

Put this one on the backburner to finish off Dunbine. In these three episodes I learned a little bit more about how the Homunculus work, more about the nature of Central, and a bit more about the genocide of the Ishval (plus some Hawkeye backstory).

聖戦士ダンバイン　New Story of AURA BATTLER Dunbine

A short OVA set centuries after the end of the original show. The art for the Aura Machines was very good whenever they were static (a fairly frequent occurrence). Every character was just another character with the serial numbers filed off, but that didn't really detract from the story. It mostly gave me a "the themes of the バイストン・ウェル rhyme" vibe. Overall I think it was a bit too short to feel invested.

明日、私は誰かのカノジョ

Finally got around to finishing this series. I won't spoil things in case someone else is interested in trying the series, but it's one that I ultimately had a good time with. I enjoyed how real it was. I think many young people (mostly women, but maybe anyone) could see themselves in some of the characters who struggle in this series.

チェンソーマン

Compared to the last few volumes I had a good time reading these two back to back. It makes me wonder if I just enjoy the story more with fewer breaks. Anyway...
Denji lives as a normie for the majority of these volumes. He meets a new girl, Mifune Fumiko who is a total freak (compliment). Asa and Yoru are informed that they can both get their wish if they join the Demon Hunters, and Asa slowly grows in popularity. The Church of Chainsaw Man grows out of control.

ダンダダン

A nice end to this arc of fights, and an intriguing promise for the next one. As with all ダンダダン volumes I really liked the romance aspect between Okarun and Momo, but I wish they would just kiss or hold hands or something.

イジめてごっこ

A manga about a ドＭ girl who wants to explore SM stuff with her boyfriend of 6 months. It's very much in the realm of hobby-fiction where the boy is a fish-out-of-water, enthusiastically learning about the hobby but also feeling anxious about the direction of the relationship. It's hard not to compare it to ナナとカオル, but it also feels unfair to compare the two when I've only read the first volume.
It feels a bit light at the moment, and the boy's enthusiasm being externally motivated feels unhealthy to me, but who am I to judge.