James Nicoll Reviews

2020’s Kowloon Generic Romance, Volume One is the first tankōbon for Jun Mayuzuki’s science fiction manga series, Kūron Jenerikku Romansu in the original Japanese. Kowloon Generic Romance has been serialized in Shueisha’s seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump since November 2019. Amanda Haley’s English translation was published in 2022.

Kowloon Walled City is¹ home to 35,000 people on just 2.6 hectares². That’s over a million people per square kilometer. One thing is sure: real estate firms will never lack for clients.

Good news for the employees of the Wong Loi Realty Company!

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2023’s Touring After the Apocalypse, Volume Five is the fifth tankōbon in Sakae Saito’s post-apocalyptic iyashikei manga. Touring has been serialized in in ASCII Media Works’ seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh since September 2020. Amanda Haley’s English translation was published in late 2024.

Mount Asama is part of a spectacular volcano complex. Post-apocalyptic tourists¹ Youko and Airi could hardly pass up the opportunity to see it in person. As Asama is an active volcano, and as the route the pair chose passes through a pocket of toxic volcanic gas, Mount Asama might be their final destination.

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1995’s Pet Shop of Horrors, Volume One is the first tankōbon of Matsuri Akino’s horror manga series. Pet Shop of Horrors was first serialized in Ohzora Publishing’s Apple Mystery, then in Bunkasha’s Horror M; it ran from 1994 to 1998. The most recent English-language edition is 2025.

Pet shops can be found throughout Los Angeles, but those craving truly exotic pets seek out the mysterious Count D’s Chinatown establishment. Or, if they have any sense of self-preservation, they stay well away.

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2024’s Magus of the Library, Volume Eight is the eighth tankōbon in Mitsu Izumi’s secondary-universe fantasy manga series (Toshokan no Daimajutsushi in the original Japanese). Magus has been serialized in Good! Afternoon since November 2017. The English translation of Volume Seven appeared in 2025.

Volume Eight begins with the heartening tale of how, when the continent was faced by an existential threat, the warring nations and their great magi united to defeat the threat. 

This is but a prelude to a crisis in which unity is very much absent, unsurprising as the inspirational tale related above is revealed to be a well-meant lie. 

Note: series protagonist Theo is present, but the plot is much less Theo-centric than in previous volumes.

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2021’s After God, Volume One is the first tankōbon of Sumi Eno’s Japanese fantasy web manga series. After God (Afutā Goddo) has been serialized on Shogakukan’s digital manga services MangaONE and Ura Sunday since August 2021. The English translation was published in 2024.

Tokyo is just one of a number of Japanese¹ cities to enjoy the benefits of the Gods. Eye contact with a god delivers rapturous paralysis. Extended contact is usually fatal. Consequently, Tokyo is quarantined.

“Gods” is merely a slang term.

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2023’s Touring After the Apocalypse, Volume Four is the fourth tankōbon in Sakae Saito’s post-apocalyptic iyashikei manga. Touring has been serialized in in ASCII Media Works’ seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh since September 2020. Amanda Haley’s English translation was published in 2023.

The world may be in ruins, humanity may very nearly be a memory, but that isn’t going to stop exuberant Youko and stoic Airi from visiting Japan’s many wonders.

Well, the wonders that were not destroyed during the Whatever It Was, or submerged under rising seas¹.

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2023’s Kindergarten Wars, Volume One is the first tankōbon of You Chiba’s ongoing comedic manga series, Yōchien Wars (the original Japanese title). The manga has been serialized on the Shōnen Jump+ site since 2022. Christine Dashiell’s translation was released in 2025.

Poor Rita! She yearns for a boyfriend. Rita has much to offer a beau, yet love escapes her. Her seemingly unpromising workplace — a kindergarten — offers many potential meet-cutes with hunky young men.

If only Rita could stop shooting them in the head.

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Ryoko Kui’s 2011 Ryuu no Gakkou wa Yama no Ue Kui Ryouko Works ( The School of Dragons is on the Mountain — Ryoko Kui Works) is a collection of ten short spec-fic stories, some which are connected by the question ​“what follows a successful quest?”

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Hiromi Kawakami’s 2016 People From My Neighborhood is a collection of novellas and.. um… something like vignettes. The 2020 English translation is by Ted Goossen. 

The narrator lives in a town filled with marvels, marvels they are determined to share with the reader.

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2021’s Touring After the Apocalypse, Volume Three is the third tankōbon in Sakae Saito’s post-apocalyptic iyashikei manga. Touring has been serialized in in ASCII Media Works’ seinen manga magazine Dengeki Maoh since September 2020. Amanda Haley’s English translation was published in 2023.

Youko and Airi are living the dream… if what one dreams about is touring Japan after an unspecified disaster has (almost) entirely eradicated the human population¹. Disaster tourism is a delightful experience.

Or it would be, if Airi didn’t keep falling into something like a coma.

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