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Title: Dungeon Meshi / ダンジョン飯 / Delicious in Dungeon
Author: Ryoko Kui
Published: 2014-2023
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 2490 (192+191+195+197+205+208+216+200+208+224+216+240)
Total Page Count: 490,940
Text Number: 1733-44
Read Because: recommended by Teja
Review: A last-ditch effort to revive a member of the adventuring party means going in with minimal gear and committing to living on the dungeon's resources, a.k.a.: eating the monsters. The premise, a sort of inversion of fridge (no pun intended) horror, taking the "what if" implications of the setting and turning them into central elements of worldbuilding and plot, is delightful. It scratches the same itch as Beastars's worldbuilding or 'ranking Pokémon by edibility' lists: absurd, logical, satisfying.
The overarching plot is less successful than the slice of life elements, so this lost some of my interest as it went on. But: engaging cast, solid and pleasing art, and I (in a remarkable deviation from my norm) actually appreciate the humor. This is a really solid read.
Title: My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought / Shinai naru Boku e Satsui wo Komete
Author: Hajime Inoryu
Illustrator: Shota Ito
Published: 2018
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 491,285
Text Number: 1747
Read Because: trolling for psychological horror manga
Review: DNF near the end of volume one. This is giving me uncanny Gantz vibes, not in genre but tone, a specific "the 'relatable' misogyny of self-professed pathetic men" vibe. Our protagonist will experience horrors and undergo character growth via some presumably-excessively-convoluted thriller shenanigans that use Dissociative Identity Disorder as a plot device, cool; but Gantz left me once bitten and twice shy about a particular brand of seinen sexism, so I don't need to stick around to see it.
Great title, though!
Title: Mushishi
Author: Yuki Urushibara
Translator: William Flanagan
Published: Del Rey, 2007-2010 (1999-2008)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 2350 (229+233+243+243+260+245+240+222+240+192)
Total Page Count: 493,965
Text Number: 1749-58
Read Because: ebooks borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Slow-paced, stand-alone stories about a traveling man who deals with problems caused supernatural organisms called mushi. I kept thinking that I liked this; it also pulled my manga-reading to a near standstill. Some of that is the short story-esque pacing, which naturally slows my reading as I pace the stories out. That pacing is contemplative, gentle, but repetitive; explanations are too thorough and there's little momentum. As such, it feels like a weaker take on Natsume Yuujinchou or Mononoke, both of which are similar premises/structures, both of which find ways to balance episodic elements with literally anything else that can hold interest.
Further, the through line is that mushi cause social disturbance largely by being visible to/giving powers to specific people, and their influence must be removed in order to restore those individuals into ordinary society. There's places - specifically, the protagonist - where this message is more nuanced, but it still rubs me the wrong way: boring as a fantasy premise, limited as a social message. I liked this, but distinctly didn't love it; mostly it made me reflect positively on other stories that do the same thing but do it better.
Author: Ryoko Kui
Published: 2014-2023
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 2490 (192+191+195+197+205+208+216+200+208+224+216+240)
Total Page Count: 490,940
Text Number: 1733-44
Read Because: recommended by Teja
Review: A last-ditch effort to revive a member of the adventuring party means going in with minimal gear and committing to living on the dungeon's resources, a.k.a.: eating the monsters. The premise, a sort of inversion of fridge (no pun intended) horror, taking the "what if" implications of the setting and turning them into central elements of worldbuilding and plot, is delightful. It scratches the same itch as Beastars's worldbuilding or 'ranking Pokémon by edibility' lists: absurd, logical, satisfying.
The overarching plot is less successful than the slice of life elements, so this lost some of my interest as it went on. But: engaging cast, solid and pleasing art, and I (in a remarkable deviation from my norm) actually appreciate the humor. This is a really solid read.
Title: My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought / Shinai naru Boku e Satsui wo Komete
Author: Hajime Inoryu
Illustrator: Shota Ito
Published: 2018
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 491,285
Text Number: 1747
Read Because: trolling for psychological horror manga
Review: DNF near the end of volume one. This is giving me uncanny Gantz vibes, not in genre but tone, a specific "the 'relatable' misogyny of self-professed pathetic men" vibe. Our protagonist will experience horrors and undergo character growth via some presumably-excessively-convoluted thriller shenanigans that use Dissociative Identity Disorder as a plot device, cool; but Gantz left me once bitten and twice shy about a particular brand of seinen sexism, so I don't need to stick around to see it.
Great title, though!
Title: Mushishi
Author: Yuki Urushibara
Translator: William Flanagan
Published: Del Rey, 2007-2010 (1999-2008)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 2350 (229+233+243+243+260+245+240+222+240+192)
Total Page Count: 493,965
Text Number: 1749-58
Read Because: ebooks borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Slow-paced, stand-alone stories about a traveling man who deals with problems caused supernatural organisms called mushi. I kept thinking that I liked this; it also pulled my manga-reading to a near standstill. Some of that is the short story-esque pacing, which naturally slows my reading as I pace the stories out. That pacing is contemplative, gentle, but repetitive; explanations are too thorough and there's little momentum. As such, it feels like a weaker take on Natsume Yuujinchou or Mononoke, both of which are similar premises/structures, both of which find ways to balance episodic elements with literally anything else that can hold interest.
Further, the through line is that mushi cause social disturbance largely by being visible to/giving powers to specific people, and their influence must be removed in order to restore those individuals into ordinary society. There's places - specifically, the protagonist - where this message is more nuanced, but it still rubs me the wrong way: boring as a fantasy premise, limited as a social message. I liked this, but distinctly didn't love it; mostly it made me reflect positively on other stories that do the same thing but do it better.
