#shin'ichi sakamoto | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jessenigma · 4 months

Text

My Favorite New Manga Reads of 2023

For the past few years on twitter, I've made threads of some of my favorite manga and light novel reads from the past year. This year, I decided I would move it over to two tumblr posts.

After the cut are some of my favorite titles that I picked up for the first time in 2023.

Talk to My Back, Yamada Murasaki

I like to pick up something a little more unusual at least once a year and so at the beginning of this year, I picked up this 1980s alt-manga title about the life of a Tokyo housewife played out in short vignettes. It's a frustrating read because of how real it feels and how much it feels like things haven't changed as much in the last 40 years as I'd like, but it's all the more fascinating for it. The essay at the end discussing Yamada Murasaki's work and placing it in context was a nice bonus too.

When a Cat Faces West, Yuki Urushibara

I love Yuki Urushibara's Mushishi (slow though I have been to actually finish it), so when Kodansha announced a license for Urushibara's much shorter series, I was there for it. It has a cool concept - there are areas of "flow" that will pop up out of nowhere and shift people and places out of time and space and one guy has tasked himself with helping people fix issues caused by it - but mostly it feels like Mushishi but set in the present day. I love a series that's just vibes all the way down.

Skip and Loafer, Misaki Takamatsu

I was absolutely smitten with the Skip and Loafer anime, so when it ended with what felt like a pretty definitive "we are not making a second season of this" final episode, I started the manga. A high school slice of life series lives by its characters and Mitsumi is the more adorable dork ever. The other characters are equally delightful, even when I don't necessarily like them, and I'm so eager to dive deeper into their lives.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (light novel), Mikage Sawamura

This series feels a bit like what you'd get if you crossed The Case Files of Jeweler Richard and The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window: a college student with a supernatural ability to hear lies that alienates him from everyone meets a folklore professor with a mysterious past fascinated by mysteries, and together they investigate possibly-supernatural events. It's a bit silly, but the relationship between the leads is interesting and there's a lot of fun urban legends in the mix. There's also a manga adaptation that I haven't yet picked up, but maybe one day...

March Comes in Like a Lion, Chica Umino

I was curious about this one from the second Denpa announced the license just because of how much I'd heard about the series for years now, and it did not disappoint. I love a good story about a depressed and lonely teenage boy sublimating his feelings into an obsession with a uniquely Japanese pastime, especially when there's so many people around him wanting to help him stop being alone. Now I just wish that the release wasn't quite as slow as it has been, even if I know the many reasons why...though at least I still have the anime to rewatch while I wait.

Don't Call It Mystery, Yumi Tamura

After reading Basara and Wild Com, I was eager to get my hands on a newer series by Yumi Tamura, and the fact that it's a modern-day non-fantasy series made it all the more interesting. Totonou's incessant observations about the things going on around him are delightful, especially when they lead him straight into all kinds of dangers or even just leave everyone around him wishing he'd stop talking for about five seconds. I just want to pat him on the head and ask him to make me some curry.

After the Rain, Jun Mayuzuki

I got a card for the Japan Foundation's ebook library not too long ago, which has been great for picking up a lot of books that aren't available in my local library's collection, including this series. I had heard about it but was a bit hesitant because it's about a teenage girl who gets a crush on her much older boss...but hey, why not give it a try from the library? I'm glad I did because there was such a sweet relationship between them that ultimately helped them both out of the ruts they were in with their personal lives and dreams.

River's Edge, Kyoko Okazaki

I still can't decide if I actually enjoy Kyoko Okazaki's work or not, but I got a little closer to it with River's Edge. It's a harsh story about disaffected teenagers who find a dead body, but somehow it feels less depressing than the other works of hers I've read because they're teenagers and there's still the possibility that they can escape the lives that are dragging them down. I will say this - Okazaki's stories are never boring, whether I enjoy them or not.

Her, Tomoko Yamashita

I got a little overambitious this year and ordered the Italian release of a Tomoko Yamashita title I've been wanting to read for years. Can I read Italian? No. Did I think maybe I could figure it out kinda okay because I've studied French and Spanish? Yes. Did I end up reading everything through a translation app? Also yes. But this collection of interconnected stories about women and relationships was excellent despite the language barrier. I was thrilled to finally see the context for the kiss between a younger woman and an elderly woman that I so admired in Yamashita's 15th anniversary artbook, and its story was a touching exploration of what "normal" means. I would love to see this in English, but unfortunately I can't see it getting picked up.

Glitch, Shima Shinya

I was thrilled that Yen Press decided to pick up another title from Shima Shinya after Lost Lad London, and Glitch has been well worth my time. While it is a fantasy story about a town full of glitches in reality that I'm excited to see play out fully, what really caught my eye is the sheer amount of diversity in the characters - one of the leads is nonbinary, there are mixed race characters, there's a lesbian couple, etc. It's all part of the story but not in a didactic way, which I appreciate immensely. Shinya's art also makes me so happy, and I hope Yen continues to get more of their work.

Lilies and Voices Born Upon the Wind, Renmei

Speaking of diversity in characters, I enjoyed this series not only because it was a nice yuri with a motorcycle lesbian (always a bonus in my book, the motorcycle) but because it had some really thoughtful discussion of asexuality in multiple forms. I wish I could've gotten one of the printed copies that were available for purchase at one con, but alas.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Hiromi Sato & Kamome Shirahama

Did we really need a cooking series spinoff of Witch Hat Atelier? Probably not. Am I glad we got it in English anyway? Absolutely. This is basically an Olruggio/Qifrey slowburn domestic au fanfic and I adore it. And I love that they keep up the conceit about magical ingredients in each chapter's recipe, even though they are legit recipes you can actually make with the real ingredients recommended as substitutions. What Did You Eat Yesterday? but with witches, clearly an ideal combination.

Scribbles, Kaoru Mori

I am not actually a diehard fan of Kaoru Mori's work - I drifted away from A Bride's Story when I ran out of volumes at the library - but I do unabashedly adore her art. Scribbles is just perfect for me with its pages from her sketchbooks and her commentary about things like the ideal skirt tightness. I bought this in hardcover and all and will continue to get the other volumes in hardcover even though I almost always get Yen Press titles digitally because it's so much cheaper that way, that's how much I like it.

Innocent, Shin'ichi Sakamoto

I've had my eye on Shin'ichi Sakamoto's work for a while because I saw a bunch of panels from Innocent on here and fell in love with the art. What I did not expect was that the violently erotic story about a French executioner would actually get an English license. It's gorgeous and violent and weird and I am so here for it. Now, if I could just be sure that Dark Horse actually plans on releasing the whole thing...

Barbarities, Tsuta Suzuki

Much like with Innocent, I saw panels from Barbarities on here ages ago and wished I could read it without much hope, given the lack of other licenses for Tsuta Suzuki's bl since SuBLime's relicense of A Strange & Mystifying Story ages ago. But thankfully I am getting to read this nebulously historical drama with all of its social machinations and pretty men getting flustered by other flirtatious pretty men. And such nice clothes!

A Home Far Away, Teki Yatsuda

Kuma really gets some stellar licenses and A Home Far Away was especially good. Set in 1990s America, it reminded me of nothing so much as My Own Private Idaho crossed with Banana Fish and made me weep absolute buckets in the end. I don't think it's for everyone, but if you were ever an aficionado of depressing 90s queer cinema like I once was, this might be one for you.

À vos cotés [Tonari ni], Basso

I was shocked when the announcement for the French release of this title crossed my twitter timeline earlier this year - France has even less by Natsume Ono than the US does, but one of their publishers managed to get one of her actual bl titles published under her bl penname? So naturally, I had to get it. It's super sweet, about a young man who likes to take photos of horses at a racetrack who meets a much older man, and I swear reading it was just like reading her non-bl work only this time the two characters actually got to say their feelings out loud. This would be a perfect addition to several mainstream US publishers' bl lineup, and I would be the first in line to buy it if they did license it in English.

Dear, My God, Nemui Asada

More by Nemui Asada in English! I love Asada's work for its unique storylines and this one didn't disappoint, with a story about a priest having sex with a cult member to help save him and another story about a guy who ends up with a talking plant. It's a bit disappointing that it's only available on futekiya - when will we get some of these titles in print already?

Ikigami & Donor, Hiko Yamanaka

Hiko Yamanaka is another one whose work is always a bit outside the mold, and Ikigami & Donor is an interesting sci-fi bl about powerful "living gods" who have tremendous abilities but can't heal from injuries without blood, bodily fluids, or tissues from one specific donor. It's a fascinating concept and the way the relationship between one ikigami and his donor played out made for an interesting story. I hope to see more from Yamanaka one day.

16 notes · View notes

haveyoureadthiscomic-poll · 2 months

Text

#drcl midnight children #shin'ichi sakamoto #dracula #viz media #shueisha #grand jump #seinen #seinen manga #manga #poll

7 notes · View notes

knyaz-myshkin · 6 months

Text

spooky comic rec everybody needs:

DRCL - Midnight Children by Shin'ichi Sakamoto

the queerest, most insane dracula adaption that's ever risen from the dead and some of the most beautiful art in the comics biz.

featuring michael jackson as dracula:

#shin'ichi sakamoto #drcl #dracula #midnight children #drcl - midnight children #halloween #recs #manga #comics

10 notes · View notes

glaucouscherubim · 8 months

Text

☆࿐ཽ༵༆༒Intro༒༆࿐ཽ༵☆

Welcome! To Cherubim's Post Office!

!DISCLAIMER!

This blog may contain the following: Profanity, Gore, explicit themes, sexual themes, corruption, and etc. with other items like this. It is not my job to dictate on what you may consume on this blog or on the internet anyhow, therefore, it is not my job if someone is underage or can not handle these items happen upon the blog! What you consume is what you consume. It is not my job to watch over you! I will place TW on posts that will need them! Thank you! Half of the masterlists are a WIP! Please be patient! ༺ღ༒ Creator Intro ༒ღ༻ Character Name: Glaucous Cherubim. Alias: @monochromefilms, Postmaster Glaucous Character age: [???] Power: Negativity: 8/10 Arts: 6/10 Gaming: 4/10 Likes: Viet food, Dark history, Historical facts, random psychology facts, Psychology analysis of current fixation, doing hair. Dislikes: Uncalled for opinions, bitter melon. Weaknesses: Easy burn out, back pain, often sick. ༺ღ༒ Request Page ༒ღ༻ One shots, Scenarios, headcanons, blunt ideas that first come to mind. max is 3-6 characters. ༺ღ༒ Fandoms Page ༒ღ༻ Current Fandoms Open: you may place requests in inbox for a wait list Innocent [Shin'ichi Sakamoto] Currently at Innocent Rouge, chapter 23 Open for: writing [Closed] Lychee Light Club [Usamaru Furuya] Both Lychee and Bokura no Hikari is finished, ask for any. Open for: writing [Closed] Innocents Children's Crusade [Usamaru Furuya] finished trilogy, ask for any. Open for: writing [Closed] Twisted Wonderland stopped playing the game since chapter one was hard T~T, mostly caught up on lore Open for-writing [Closed] [Writing requests guidelines and rules] ༺ღ༒ Oc Masterlist/worlds ༒ღ༻ Cult/Court of Hebe: Enter a world where you can see everything fall first hand. Like sand falling through your fingers... [Enter with the Empire's permission] Narcissisms: Adventure, gods, death, etc. Where shall this journey take you? [Maps and maps with places and places, Just point and go.] Godly Heirs: Reincarnation couldn't get any worse, better, weird, gory,... you get the gist. [Welcome to the empire of heirs!] Just ocs from fandoms.... : Welcome to the multiverse. Unfinished, undone, and always, unexpected. [Who do you wish to meet?] Yanderes.... :Unhealthiness galore. It's an obsession alright, but, which way? [ONLY FICTIONAL! DO NOT SUPPORT IRL] [Don't you love us?] ༺ღ༒ See you again.... ༒ღ༻

14 notes · View notes

argumentl · 2 months

Text

So I've been reading this series since it came out. As you probably know, both the creator of this manga Sakamoto Shin'ichi and Dir en grey are fans of each other, and Sakamoto recently collaborated with Dir en grey for the 25th anniversary merch. Bearing this in mind, I've been spotting Dir song titles in the text of volume 4, the newest installment. Sorry, I can't help it! 😆

Otogi

Oboro

Zakuro

Rinkaku

Akatsuki

Shitataru mourou

Kasumi

Probably just a coincidence?? 😂

#dir en grey #sakamoto shinichi

60 notes · View notes

mrsmarymorstan · 7 months

Text

Tumblr needs to know how Quincey P Morris is depicted in the recent Dracula Manga Adaptation, #DRCL Midnight Children by Shin'ichi Sakamoto.

[ID: A young black teenager in spaghetti western cowboy clothing astride a black stallion with a whip in his hand for rounding up cattle and criminals alike. In poster style font behind him it says "Quincey Morris" and around him, text reads: "Not one can match these fleet feet which've journeyed across great planes of the U.S. of A in all its vastness. The Pioneering Spirit of Quincey Morris - Free Black Man... will make quick work of even the most ferocious beast!!"

Beneath him is a depiction of Jack Seward, here known as Suwg Jo as a classic Japanese Warrior on horseback with a blade drawn. But we're not taking about him. END ID]

#quincey morris #Quincey P Morris #Dracula #Dracula Daily #drcl midnight children

36 notes · View notes

19011301180905 · 2 years

Text

With the recent boom of interest around dracula, i highly recommend reading one of my favorite retellings of the book: DRCL: Midnight Children by Shin'ichi Sakamoto (creator of Innocent and Innocent Rouge)

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Coming-of-Age

Status: Ongoing

Content Warnings: Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, typical Victorian England things in a private all-boys school

Instead of Jonathan Harker, it follows Wilhemina "Mina" Murray in Whitby School, a prestigious all-boys school. She's constantly bullied and looked down upon even if she's proven that she earned her spot on the school (Also she's a very good wrestler).

Other familiar characters such as Lucy Westenra, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, John Seward, and Bram Stoker also appear, albeit a bit different from the original.

Sakamoto has changed a few things such as Quincey becoming an African-American student and John becoming Jo Sewa, who is now Japanese. Another change is Lucy is now Luke "Lucy" Westenra, though it's not currently clear if Luke/Lucy is genderfluid or a trans woman. Jonathan Harker is also changed as Mina's disabled childhood friend.

(And of course, they're all teenagers in an all-boys school)

Midnight Children is a completely different novel as a result of the modifications, yet it does follow most of Dracula's major plot points. Sakamoto's writing is excellent, and he creates a bleak, claustrophobia atmosphere right away, thanks to his realistic, nightmarish artwork.

Without giving too much away about the plot, I'll just mention Shin-ichi Sakamoto's art, which is rendered in an intimate, dream-like realism in every panel. Because all of the characters treat the unsettling, mystical forces surrounding them as normal, it does give a massive whiplash.

minor tangent: i like that the author doesn't go the tokenism route, which is such a low standard, but Sakamoto knows how to write queer characters. his writing in the Innocent series is enough to prove that. just a low standard but there's few stories that write their queer characters of color with respect, especially one based on Victorian England.

I recommend reading the one-shot first, then the manga. while it does spoil you a bit, the one-shot is a great mood-setter for the rest of the manga which is an amazing slow-burn.

#dracula #dracula daily #manga #drcl midnight children #manga reccomendation #horror manga #lgbtq manga #vampire #vampire manga #shinichi sakamoto #sakamoto shinichi #innocent manga #innocent rouge

457 notes · View notes

lamar-williams · 2 months

Text

Innocent by Shin'ichi Sakamoto is one of the best manga I've read. The art is definitely triple S tier. The story is a historical fiction detailing the life of Charles-Henri Sanson, executioner of Paris, France, and his family during the 1800s. I highly recommend reading this manga and also #DRCL by the same Manga creator . This is a 5/5 series so far. This omnibus collects the first 3 volumes of the series.

#anime and manga #innocent manga #shinichi sakamoto

6 notes · View notes

0nelittlebirdtoldme · 7 months

Text

My local library gave away manga previews for free, and OH BOY do i have thoughts about the #DRCL - Midnight Children (01) by Shin'ichi Sakamoto i picked up

TW for discussion of physical assault and rape

The whole story starts on the Demeter. The ship carries both exotic plants and crates of dirt. Crewmates start getting infected with plant ?? spores?? and turn to zombies, eating each other. One guy literally grows moss on his back.

Meanwhile the crew of light studies together at a school in Whitby. I am assuming they are teenagers? 15-17 years old? They witness the Demeter arriving.

Mina is a red-head with pigtails and gets horrendiously bullied by her "friends" for her smarts. She gets pushed into a grave and gets tea poured over her head by Arthur, after he invited her for a picknick to "apologize" for a previous missstep

Quincey is African American and i am not sure if i should be offended by his design or not. Fact is, he too bullies Mina just for fun.

Lucy is called Luke but female-presenting? Which isn't bad or anything but i wish they (i am going to call that character they because i literally have no idea what is going on) only had a *bit* of a backbone and would do something against the straight up physical assault Mina has to go through? Aren't they supposed to be friends?

Luke stays in Whitby, drawing themselves get assaulted by a werewolf-drac. Werewolf-drac does in fact show up and ?? rapes ?? them. Honestly i have no idea if it is supposed to be a vision they have or Luke just gets themselves off, but. I don't like it.

Anyhow, that is where my preview ends and... it's a no for me. Sorry.

#vent of the day #dracula #drcl midnight children #dracula daily #re: dracula

14 notes · View notes

lullabyes22-blog · 8 months

Note

This is not related to FnF, it's just that I'm reading it again and Exciter and I thought to ask: do you know the seinen manga Innocent and Innocent Rouge by Shin'ichi Sakamoto?

It's about two siblings from a family of Royal executioners set in France pre and during the French Revolution. Charles-Henri is the real life inventor of the guillotine and Marie-Josèphe is fictional but quite the revolutionary, to say the least. It's based on historical figures and events but highly stylized and with many artistic liberties. To give a very very very broad description of where the characters start/motivations, Charles-Henri doesn't want to be Royal executioner and dreams of abolishing the death penalty, and Marie-Josèphe dreams of there being no restrictions to do what you want regardless of status or gender, aka wants to be an executioner herself.

It has the most cruel and traumatic scenes I've read, the type that you don't forget, and for that alone I think it's interesting, but on top of it it's all presented brutally and beautifully. The plot has its handicaps in my opinion, partially due in my opinion to the very long timespan - over 30 years, which makes certain characters do contraditory things for instance, but then again there is a very big time frame and people are complex - but there's something that is undisputably stellar: the art is magnificent and if not for anything else worth checking panels and covers (cover 5 of Innocent and 2 of Rouge for instance, or some panels here https://www.tumblr.com/nanaheartshachi/725994601187590144/shoutout-to-shinichi-sakamoto-for-inventing-gay?source=share)

I think the dark themes would be of your liking, if but the historical inaccuracies and very visual kei visuals later on might be an acquired taste/accepted as style and drama. If not for anything else, it's worth seeing the stellar art.

If you already know it, well, sorry for the ramble! And if not, hopefully my ramble intrigues you. I'm in that phase of wanting to just spread the joy (ah, that night be the wrong word), you know, so, yeah 😅

Oh sweet lord - Innocent + Innocent Rouge. This brings back so many memories lmao!

But yes, I am extremely familiar with the manga, and found the art style extremely sumptuous and gritty as befits that era. In a way, it's almost like a Francophile version of Berserk in terms of its existential themes - but also in itself so philosophically French in its fatalism. And it's got that underlying punk rock flavor that revs my little readerly motor every time.

I fell out of following the updates on Shounen Jump after RL got busy, but now I'm all nostalgic. May pick it up again at some point just to see what that band of ghouls and hooligans are up to.

#asks #innocent manga #innocent rouge

15 notes · View notes

byneddiedingo · 2 years

Photo

Chishu Ryu and Haruhiko Tsuda in There Was a Father (Yasujiro Ozu, 1942) Cast: Chishu Ryu, Shuji Sano, Haruhiko Tsuda, Shin Saburi, Takeshi Sakamoto, Mitsuko Mito, Masayoshi Otsuka, Shin'ichi Himori. Screenplay: Tadao Ikeda, Yasujiro Ozu, Takao Yanai. Cinematography: Yuharu Atsuta. Art direction: Tatsuo Hamada. Film editing: Yoshiyasu Hamamura. Music: Kyoichi Saiki. With its low-angle long takes and shots of buildings and landscapes bridging scenes, There Was a Father is unmistakably a film by Yasujiro Ozu. What doesn't seem characteristic of Ozu is the didactic, moralizing tone, the persistent stress on duty, on hard work, on self-sacrifice. You don't need to check the release date for the film to realize that this was Ozu's contribution to the war effort in the form of home front propaganda, very much in the manner of Akira Kurosawa's The Most Beautiful (1944) and Keisuke Kinoshita's The Living Magaroku (1943), designed to encourage greater wartime productivity. What sets Ozu's film apart from those two slightly later films is the relative absence of actual reference to the war, except for the grownup Ryohei's passing his draft physical and the remarkable moment when Shuhei encourages his son to bow at the shrine to his dead mother and give her the news. Ozu gives us a Japan in which life goes on, not one in which consciousness of the enemy dominates every waking moment. It's a film without much of a plot, in which the dramatic tension stems from the always postponed hope of father and son that they will one day live together. The main thing that keeps There Was a Father from becoming mawkish is the beautifully controlled performance by Chishu Ryu, Ozu's favorite actor, who had the great ability to play characters of almost any age. In Early Summer (1951), for example, he plays Setsuko Hara's brother, while in Tokyo Story (1953) he plays her elderly father-in-law. In There Was a Father we first see him as the dark-haired, stubble-bearded widower, raising the young Ryohei; by the end of the film Ryohei is grown and Shuhei is gray-haired and ill, but he's vividly convincing in both appearances. He also makes the determinedly self-sacrificing Shuhei convincing, when he gives up his teaching job because he feels responsible for the accidental death of one of his students, and even his moralizing speeches bear the weight of conviction. There Was a Father is the work of a great director forced to compromise by a totalitarian regime and managing to remain as true to his art as circumstances will allow.

#There Was a Father #Yasujiro Ozu #Chishu Ryu

8 notes · View notes