Did you know that comics, graphic novels, and manga can (usually) be found at your local library? We talk to American Library Association's Graphic Novel and Comics Roundtable President Robin Brenner about her history promoting manga in librari
What a season it’s been! Lasting basically the entirety of 2023, we covered a ton of great manga, from the popular anime-fueled hits of the day to the obscure and wonderful titles hiding on shelves across the world. So what were our favs? What
It's the end of the season (almost) and so it's time to read the next volume of AKIRA by Katsuhiro Otomo! Will the title that introduced Chip Zdarsky to manga continue to be his fav? Deb Aoki hosts, and David Brothers and Christopher Woodrow-Bu
Season 4 is nearing its conclusion, and it's time for David's last pick: Heavenly Delusion, by Masakazu Ishiguro! This sci-fi (comedy?) manga has a huge fan-following already thanks to its great art and story AND a hit anime series too! But wil
See what happens when a stoic yakuza gets sucked into the world of K-Pop in The Yakuza’s Bias, a hilarious culture clash between the manly men of the mob and glamly men of Korean boy bands. BUT WILL CHIP LIKE IT TOO? Find out this episode!Read
Happy New Year! Hope you had time to catch up on the podcast while we were away. :) - For the first episode of 2024 we're starting off with a complex work, Kyoko Okazaki's River's Edge. In this mature-rated episode, we dig into the startling se
In this episode, Deb bring back the BL and we end up with possibly the best title for a manga we've covered on this podcast: Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard!? Despite reservations, a very fun time is had on this we
Diving into the world of Gekiga this week with the recently released Nejishiki by Yoshiharu Tsuge! Featuring one of the most well-known and important works of Tsuge, ‘Screw Style’, this massive reprint series has been long-awaited by art comix
The Mangasplainers return to one of their fav artists, Kamome Shirahama of Witch Hat Atelier to take a look at her earlier and steamier work, the angel and devil roommate comedy Eniale & Dewiela. Will the angels and devils in this manga provide
This week, the Mangasplainers go back for a TRIPLE Chip-Dip into the oeuvre of one Mr. Tatsuki Fujimoto, creator of Chainsaw Man and Look Back. Have we pushed Chip too far this episode, making him read a third title by the same person? Does lik
Is this manga meets X-Men: Inferno? That's how David pitched Blood Blockade Battlefront by Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow to good 'ole Chip, but will this over the top spectral superhero series live up to that moniker? Only one way to find out
Chip did it, he called our bluff, and so this episode we're discussing the funny orange comic book cat phenomenon, centering on Japan's entry into that particular sweepstakes, Makoto Kobayashi's What's Michael? It's a weird one folks, strap in.
After our episode on The Blood Red Boy introduced us to Minami Q-ta, the Mangasplaining gang take a deeper dive into their oeuvre with Not All Girls Are Stupid, a brand-new and blistering look at the difficulties of being a woman in your late t
This week, we take a flying leap into the worlds of WRESTLING and REHAB... By way of a basketball manga? Yep! David skips ahead to get to the good stuff with volume 13 of Real by Takehiko Inoue. Plus! A special segment celebrating 100+ episodes
It's the 100th episode, and the team are doing something special! This week David and Chip take over, interviewing translator Jocelyne Allen and Editor Andrew Woodrow-Butcher on the new manga Okinawa, by Susumu Higa! Produced by MSX and publish
The manga you’ve been waiting for Mangasplaining to cover has finally arrived! The Mangang dives into PLUTO volume 1, Naoki Urasawa’s epic reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy story 'The World’s Strongest Robot!' But will this first volume l
Oh no! You died in the real world and woke up inside a video game world! Except you're not the heroine of this dating-simulation, you're the villainess who tries to take her down! You've got a bad end coming because the hero(ine) always wins...
So close and yet so far, the gorgeous idol singer Midori-kun lives next door to our hero, Melon-chan. But Melon is an adult video actress, and if Midori and Melon are seen together it could be disastrous for Midori's career! As the two grow clo
This week on Mangasplaining we talk to one of the creators who's been making manga-influenced comics since the early 2000s, Abby Denson, and a creator whose recent work perfectly encapsulates a life spent soaking in Japanese popular culture, Ma
Wait, is this episode MANHWAsplaining? It's true! Deb leads the team through their first ever Korean Webtoon, JH's The Boxer from Yen Press. What fascinating differences and similarities will the Mangang discern between this title and the previ
Out of the darkest corners of the internet crawls Popuko and Pipimi, the stars of the internet-based comedy manga sensation, turned nearly-inexplicable anime, POP TEAM EPIC. Will the jokes in this VERY 2014 brand of Japanese internet humour lan
One of the ‘big three’ from the most recent Golden Age of Shonen Jump Magazine, Bleach by Tite Kubo has a long and influential history with North American manga fans… But how will it hold up 20 years after its debut, and after the Mangasplainin
The Mangasplainers dig into a “Missed Connection” from a prior episode, as Deb hosts a rollicking discussion of My Love Story!! by Kazune Kawahara and Aruko! This shoujo manga turns a lot of the conventions of the genre on its head, but will th
This week, Mangasplaining has its first official crossover episode with ANOTHER podcast, as Deb and Christopher interview the hosts of Pure Tokyoscope, Patrick Macias and Matt Alt! These esteemed gentlemen have long histories in North America’s
David hosts this week, continuing his “Violence Hell!” series of manga picks for season 4 with BAKI, by Keisuke Itagaki! Will this hyper-violent treatise on masculinity hit with the crew, or is it going to be “Too Las Vegas” for some? What does