Manga discovery(October 2021): Halloween edition

Happy Halloween.

It’s finally Halloween and what better way to celebrate by sharing some of the Halloween themed mangas that I read this month. I must say I read some good ones this month, I also finally got back to the second season of Rosario+Vampire, read an absolute brilliant manga – Alice in borderland and also some fun one-shots. Lets get into it.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II

Rating: 9.9/10

Mangaka: Akihisa Ikeda

Synopsis: Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters–no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them–the far-from-average vampire Moka. On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

I absolutely love this manga so much. I read the first season more than a year ago and have literally forgot about it until this October, I thought of reading horror themed mangas this month that’s when I stumbled upon Rosario+Vampire: Season II in my planning list and I thought it would be the perfect read. The first season was good but nowhere near the second season, it had everything done right. From the characters to the art, it had everything to perfection.

It had every single characters shine on different occasions including Tsukune who reaches his full potential and doesn’t call Moka for every fight. The art too looks totally cool, really different from the first season. To me Rosario+Vampire: Season II had everything that was needed in a action-harem, the first few 20 chapters looks like the exact replica of season I with repetitive harem and the no actual story progression but trust me the real story begins after this. With brilliant plot twists and action scenes, it became one of my favorite series but the reason I didn’t give it a 10/10 is because of the undecisive ending. I don’t want to spoil it but if you read it already you know what I’m talking about.

Alice in Borderland

Rating: 9.8/10

Mangaka: Haro Aso

Synopsis: Alice Ryouhei will leave high school soon, but he’s trying to avoid thinking about his future. Late one night, when he’s hanging out with his tough friend Karube and his silly, girl-crazy friend Chota, they see fireworks. After one blindingly bright explosion, they find themselves waking up in a different world. In this ‘Borderland,’ people are forced to either participate in potentially deadly games or simply die. Will Chota, Karube, and Ryouhei be able to survive this dangerous new world, and is there a way they can get back to their original lives?

With the different games and rules explained, it’s hard to keep up at time but once you understand the whole thing, it’s one of the most intricate and interesting mangas ever. To me Alice in borderland was almost perfect, there were little things that really brought down the manga such as some annoying side-characters, a confusing ending. Anyway a great manga recommendation for anyone who’s interested in flexing their brain cells.

Alice in borderland : Raison D’etre

Furou Kyoudai

Rating: 8.5/10

Mangaka: Yuki Shiwasu

Synopsis: In the bathtub together, in the restroom together…what is the reason these twins can’t be separated even for a moment…?

As weird as the synopsis sounds, it’s really not(or it is). The story follows the Furou twins as they keep on attracting evil spirits and can prevent them that is only if they are to together. With that in mind follows a look in the lives of Daisuke Furou and Kyouko Furou as they try to escape the evil spirits with others judging them. I thought this manga was really funny, apart from the weird twin thing it really is a good comedy. And it was really funny seeing the reactions of the other characters to Daisuke and Kyouko sticking together all the time, from P.E to bathrooms to beds.

I haven’t really come of this type of premise before so I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good horror comedy. The art was also good, the reactions of the characters were priceless. I thought the art felt familiar before realizing that it is the same author as Takane to Hana. Overall, even though it was just 6 chapters it was a pretty good read.

Majo Shuukai de Aimashou

Rating: 7.5/10

Mangakas: Staff

Synopsis: A life together started on a witch’s whim. Witches who give and witches who take. In the time they spend together, what kind of changes will those who change bring to the witch who never changes? A collection of short stories about witches and the children and messengers they’ve found.

This is not a literal manga but instead what was originally an artistic participation hashtag on Twitter which people depict before/after comparison images of a witch who raised a child into adult called “Let’s Meet at The Witches’ Gathering”. This was a pretty fun an distinct series, seeing various artists try to write a specific prompt, I really liked how each different artists approach to the prompt was, one was sad while the other one had a happy ending. Overall it was good but only the first few chapters. The more chapters you read the worse it gets, I had a hard time what was really happening but it was a fan-made one so I can’t really criticize it. It is a good read if you’re looking for a read with short one-shots.

A few more mangas I read this month.