This is a controversy that came out in June 2026. Of course I didn’t know about it until pretty recently. This is certainly something that saddens me. I haven’t read the manga yet and I’ve only watched the anime tv series.

The X account apparently is that of manga-ka Akane Shimizu. She is the artist/writer of Cells at Work. I’ve written posts about Cells at Work in the past. If you’re interested you can see the links below.

and

She posted her message discussing her mental and physical health issues. As you can see from the translation, she apparently dealt with abuse caused by unnamed family members and her editorial team at Kodansha. If you’re also interested in reading the post yourself (or you aren’t able to read the screenshot), click on the image below to see the post yourself.

I can’t really comment on the aspect related to her family. That is something that would involve criminal charges if she choose to contact the police about that. What I will talk about is the implications that she had issues with Kodansha. I will end this post with some additional information sources I watched and read about it.

But to summarize some of the accusations towards Kodansha includes:

• Lack of support from her assigned editor regarding medical research

• Lack of trained assistants to help her produce issues on schedule

• Verbal and psychological comments from editorial staff

• Loss of credits on her work

• Possible loss of royalties due to the loss of credits

The crazy part is her comments just led to more artists and writers coming out with their own accusations and experiences. In fact the conversation opened up a Pandora’s Box of peers discussing issues with not just Kodansha but other publishers as well.

This is a pretty good video discussing it:

The crazy part? Kodansha issued a statement on their website basically admitting many of the accusations with their apologies. Or should it be considered “apologies?”

https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-manga-cells-at-work-kodansha-apology-creator-toxic-work-environment

They don’t discuss any meaningful plans or intent to fix the situation. No one is fired as far as anyone knows. Usual business/corporation apologies that ultimately means nothing.

As for me, I’m left with very mixed feelings. I’m extremely sad about how such talented creators are treated by the companies they work for. It’s pretty despicable. A part of me wants to boycott Kodansha because of it. Problem is that Kodansha releases a lot of stories that I do enjoy reading. It’s hard to say how many creators are dealing with abuse as badly as Shimizu-san has dealt with.

On the other hand, a lot of creators are earning money from the sales of their work. Perhaps I’m being naive, but I would like to believe that not everyone at Kodansha is rotten. And it’s also not fair to them. I don’t know. What do you guys think of all this? Leave a comment!

I’ve been trying to read more manhwa to review. Some of the stories I’m reading are on the long side (100+ chapters). It’s taking time to read them. Same thing with anime as well. I might want to do a follow up review of Dr. Stone as it just recently ended and I’m down to a few episodes left.

If you hadn’t already read it before, you can read the original post this episode of the podcast is based on it.

Leave a comment if you have opinions and tropes you also find annoying!

If you haven’t already been watching That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime, you might want to give it a try. This won’t be the typical review I would normally do. If I were, I may as well just write up about the main series. But it’s pretty hard to write about it considering how long the series is. Also who hasn’t written or discussed “Tensura” by this point? I’ll keep this relatively brief.

The Premise

The series appears to be amusing vignettes of things happening in the growing city Rimiru has been developing with the help of his monster allies. The episodes show activities happening in the community over the course of a year. They also include his attempts to introduce customs and ideas from his old world. As their leader, his ideas are adapted pretty quickly and make everyone happy.

General Thoughts

This is a fun series that’s only 12 episodes long. It’s a pretty amusing supplement to the main series that’s mostly humor and heartwarming. I will say that if you don’t watch the main series, this one will leave you confused. You’re meant to watch this series knowing full well who all the characters are and how the dynamics among the cast work. But if you’re a fan of the Tensura series, you shouldn’t skip this one for a lighter break from the serious stuff in the main story.

Well I’ll apologize that this isn’t really a new content post. I decided to do an episode of the podcast this time. This is actually an audio version of a review I had previous done last year. I also need to apologize on the sound quality. Descript was being really weird. I just don’t feel like re-recording it.

You can read the full written version right here:

Just so you don’t feel “cheated” by not getting a more substantive content, I’ll be sharing some notable things.

1. As I was recording this episode I used the linked post as a rough script. What I didn’t realize was that Crunchyroll took off this anime series. Not sure if the license expired or it’s not popular so no reason to keep it in their library?

2. I have been watching and reading things. So don’t worry I’ll be posting some actual new content on here. It’s just that I’m still reading/watching those things. I try where possible to finish stuff before commenting about them.

3. I’m only now just discovering The Amazing Digital Circus. Apparently people on the internet have been watching this series for the past 2 1/2 years. I guess it’s just because of what type of stuff I tend to watch on YouTube that I literally NEVER heard of this show. I have plans to write a post about it. You might wonder why I’d write about something NOT Japanese or Korean on here. It’s because it’s reminding me of an anime series and no, it’s not the one most people think of. Admittedly I haven’t watched Sword Art Online. Probably I’m better off NOT watching it BEFORE I write this essay first.

As a side note, the next post will be July 5 as scheduled. I will make sure to have something posted then. I might make sure I write something ahead of time.

Have some thoughts? Leave a comment below!

Believe it or not? I stumbled onto this story from one of the random YouTube videos where (probably an AI generated) narrator summarizes and explains what happens in a manga or manhwa. If the premise seems interesting, I will do a Google search and see if there’s a way to actually read it. And then I found out this exists for anyone to read via an official translation.

Basic Info

This is a manga. There’s limited information I can get about this particular series. This was made available in 2023 in English so presumably the 21 parts that I purchased is the completed series.

From what I was able to figure out, it looks like this manga was published by Square Enix. Yes, the same Square Enix that does Final Fantasy video game series. It’s a major entertainment media company that isn’t just about video games. In English, the manga is available via Manga Up! This is a subsidiary company of Square Enix. You can find other series on their website.

Two official ways you can read this manga for yourself is via the Manga Up! website and Amazon. I opted to do it via Amazon and I waited for a Double points day on Amazon. That way I can get closer to earning 300 points and redeem it for $3 on a future purchase.

The Premise

If you’re familiar with isekai stories, you like have heard of this situation. You have an overworked salaryman who is at the office working late yet again. He has a short break and then proceeds to have an episode where he is dizzy and then an accident.

He proceeds to wake up as a guy who is probably early to mid teen age. He goes from being Yadoya Kenta to Tory. Tory is the oldest child of two parents who run an inn. The story introduces readers to his family, friends in the local village, and some of the guests at the inn.

General Thoughts

This was mildly entertained. I won’t exaggerate that and say that this story is just okay, but it’s not really that special. It’s a slice-of-life type of story and is mostly centered on Tory working at the inn and interacting with people in his life. By itself this isn’t particularly exciting. It’s also not that original a concept considering there are other manga and manhwa titles with similar concepts. Considering this, this is not really special enough to make this story worth reading over another title

The story isn’t bad or anything. I just feel like if I had only budget for one title this month, this story wouldn’t really be it. It’s not poorly written. Just nothing unique over another title. The artwork is also fine, but nothing that would wow or what you’d be eager to collect as art.

This isn’t to say I don’t recommend anyone read this. I let readers decide for themselves what they want to read or skip out on. I just let you know what I think and some facts about it.

Would you be interested in reading this story? Leave a comment!

This is another isekai series that I checked out. What did I think? Keep reading!

General Info

Like a lot of Japanese stories I’ve been checking out, this was originally a web novel on Shosetsuka ni Naro. It was compiled into a light novel series, a manga series, and then this year an anime series. This post will be based on the anime version, which is of course available on Crunchyroll. At some point I might consider reading at least the first volume of the light novel at some point.

As I write this, there’s no announcement that there will be a season 2 . It is always possible they could choose to continue it but the announcement won’t be made for a long while yet. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t commission a follow up. There have been some anime series that didn’t do well enough to justify the budget.

The Premise

Van is the 4th son of a nobleman. He’s got the brains and curiosity to be a true prodigy to make his family proud. Problem is that he’s born in a world where the nobility are expected to possess powerful elemental magic abilities that would make them essential in war. Unfortunately he inherits the “useless” ability to fabricate materials and items that he wants. His dad wants him gone for being a disgrace to the family.

Rather than being killed, his eldest brother manages to convince their father to send Van off to a tiny village in a corner of their family’s territory. He’d be out of the way and more importantly forgotten by their father and much of society. This will keep the kid alive.

He is sent off with an entourage, which makes sense since he’s a child and a noble. His party includes excessively talented people who do anything he wants and are his biggest cheerleaders. And as you imagine wackiness ensues.

General Thoughts

If I’m being honest? I feel like this is a show that long time anime/manga fans can skip. Sure if you are just looking for something fun, fantasy, and entertaining, this series will work great for that. But if you want something different from the 100’s isekai stories that have been created, you’ll want to skip this one.

The story itself isn’t particularly bad. There are some interesting characters and relationships forming. I’d be curious to see what direction Van gets into. Truthfully I suspect part of my “meh” reaction is due to the fact I’m watching an anime.

I’ve noticed in recent years that anime has a tendency to flatten many stories. I can’t really name a good example off hand, but I have come across a couple of stories like this. The anime was just okay, but the light novel was actually a lot more interesting. Perhaps it’s the limitations of anime that’s the problem.

It’s pretty well-known to long time fans that anime has a lot of problems. Studios have limited budgets (time and money) to produce shows for Japanese and a growing international audience. That means that some really fascinating novels wind up undergoing an adaptation process that can’t include everything in the original stories at times.

As I wrote earlier, I have been planning to read at least the first volume of the light novel and see how the much was adapted into the anime. The description blurb for the light novels sounded really interesting than what was shown in the anime. If i do, I’ll probably write a new review about it with some final thoughts about it.

This is an isekai, but the concept is actually pretty different from what I’ve come across. Is this worth checking out? I think so. Why? Well keep reading to find out!

General Info

This is a manhwa series. Like a lot of other manhwa series I’ve read and reviewed on this Substack publication there’s very limited info I have about this series. All I can share with you is that I have been reading this on Webtoons, which you can check out here. If you’re reading the free version there are 65 chapters available. You can pay for access to an extra 10-15 chapters if you’re impatient.

The Premise

The lead character was a popular content creator who specialized in insects and poisonous creatures. He winds up reborn as an orphan. Through some amusing incidents he gets welcomed into a warrior clan which specializes in poison. There’s a lot of interesting situations he helps resolve using his knowledge of insects and poisonous creatures. From searching for rare creatures to fighting a dangerous cult, there are a lot of problems that need solving!

General Thoughts

I found this a really fun read. The premise is unique because of the main character’s interests and expertise. I don’t think I’ve come across a story with a lead who is basically an entomologist. He regularly creates misunderstandings in his eagerness to study and collect animals. I have to praise the writers on this series. They clearly did plenty of research and included a lot of facts about various insects.

Not sure how many chapters there are in the series. It appears to be ongoing? If anyone knows, leave a comment! I look forward to seeing if our main character actually masters some advanced skills. He’s currently training in various techniques of martial arts. There’s plenty of comedy and light hearted moments. They quality of the art is excellent and at times adorable. I love it.

Would you want to read this? Have you read it? Leave a comment!

Here’s another manga series that fits the Venn diagram of food, isekai, and romance. Is this story worth a read? Well continued reading!

Basic Info

This is a 4 volume manga series and has been released in English as a completed series. That’s one good thing about this one is that you know it’s done and you can read it now instead of waiting for years and 40 volumes. The series is published by Alpha Manga. You have the option to reading the individual chapters here. You can also purchase the ebook on Kindle.

The credits for the manga series are as follows: the author is Mizume and the illustrator is Okyattosama.

The Premise

Mira is the main character of the story. She is the daughter of an innkeeper and she’s pretty talented at cooking. The simple truth is that she’s actually an isekai character who has ended up in the world of a game she and her friends used to play in Japan. She basically recreates food she used to eat back in Japan. Her food is a sensation and slowly gets her attention. And then she runs into a character who is the heroine in the original game. Wait… she’s not just the heroine, she’s a friend from her previous life.

What does any of these strange circumstances even mean? How will she handling being involved with nobles and royalty?

General Thoughts

It’s a cute story. I won’t lie it is. It’s also got a lot of the same story beats I’ve read in other similar stories. You have an MC who uses love of food and cooking to make a better life for themselves. She builds a lot of social connections through her food. That’s another common feature in these types of stories.

Unless you really love these type of stories, you wouldn’t miss anything if you skipped on this one. It’s a pleasant read, but it’s not a revelation or world changing.

If you plan to read it or you read this, leave a comment!

Well this is was something similar yet somehow different from the other dungeon/tower stories I’ve checked out before. It combines the coziness of food and drink with the chaos of fighting monsters and getting loot. So let’s get into it!

Basic Info

As is the case with a log of manhwa there’s very limited info I have about this particular story unlike with manga. This series was based on a web novel by Lee Woohee. Adaptation is by “yeatakoo” and Art by “NOVA.” Currently I’ve been reading the manhwa on Tapas. Currently Season 1 of the manhwa is on hiatus. I don’t see any indication the novel is available outside of Korean sources and fan translations.

The Premise

Rieul is your typical office worker who does her job for ridiculous amount of hours a day for too little pay. A few years ago I would have told you this a common thing in Asia, but it honestly feels like this is a common issue everywhere except in Europe. But this isn’t a political/economics publication, this is a publication about Asian comics & other media.

Rieul inadvertently gets caught up in a sudden appearance of a dungeon. It’s pretty similar in concept to Solo Leveling where portals to dungeons can randomly appear out of nowhere. She suddenly gets sent to a dungeon and dies from a monster since she’s not “awakened” as a hunter.

Because this is a dungeon/tower comics she naturally dies and awakens. She has gone back 3 years in time. This is her chance to change things and not die in a dungeon! To add to strange situation, she also suddenly awakens as a hunter! Of course as I had already indicated when introducing this story, she’s not the typical awakened person. She finds herself getting the “Cafe Owner” class of hunter. The heck?

We have to follow her journey of becoming an unconventional support class type. What will happen to Rieul next?

General Thoughts

Over all this is a really fun series. I think it’s pretty funny how Rieul gets seemingly low stakes missions that turn out to be more chaotic than she expected. I also am very intrigued with some of the world building.

The male lead in the series has an interesting past that’s surprisingly darker than I would have expected for this scenario. There seems to be hints that her second chance and her status is somehow connected to his past. There’s quite a few mysteries that have been hinted and set up in the 40 chapters translated so far. Given the type of release schedule Tapas tends to do, it’s going to be months most likely before I find out what happens next.

Would you want to read this series? Or have you read it? Leave a comment!

So this week I decided to get back on the mic and do a podcast episode. To be fair it has been 3 months since I did an episode announcing I would bring the podcast back. I did warn people it would be a sporadic release.

This week I’m doing the audio version of a story I posted last June. You can just listen to the episode (if you’re reading this) or you can just read it here.

In other news, I have officially made a new website that I named Gillfull Thinking, It’s basically a funny, cutesy name for my personal website. It’s a hub website where I link all the various projects and activities I do online in one spot so people can get to know my efforts on the internet. That includes this Substack publication. At some point I’ll eventually add Cafemanga.com along, but I haven’t quite gotten there yet.

If I can be candid with you readers, I’ve been debating for a long while now whether to keep this publication on Substack or move it. I’m leaning towards WordPress since my plan for CafeManga.com is to be a WP site. However I still get some interaction on Substack so I’m sticking around. There is a variety of reasons why I’m debating about the future of my being on Substack. If you have actual opinions feel free to share in the comments!

A lot of my comic reading in recent months has been on Tapas. It helps that they occasionally do discounts on certain titles where you can get anywhere from 30-50% less ink (Tapas internal currency) per chapter. I also discovered a few interesting titles that way while also getting nice discounts on titles I started reading.

I do feel like there are a lot more manhwa stories that appeal to me on there. Webtoons seems to have more of the action stuff on there. Think Solo Leveling. There are a few titles on there too that I read. However I’m mostly on Tapas.

I’m going to start reviewing titles again next time. Stay tuned!

I’m back with another interesting manhwa series I’ve been reading for months. This is a fun Tower/Dungeon series. So I wanted to share this fun title. I’ll be keeping this relatively brief as it’s an ongoing series. I might revisit this at a later date as currently they’re releasing chapters for season 2.

Basic Info

This is a manhwa series that based on a webnovel written by “Sliber.” It is adapted by Gitae Chon and Art by “Tomozo.” I have been reading this story on Webtoons, which you can do so here or via the Webtoons app where you can do a search for it.

As I write this, Webtoons has 98 chapters translated. However as is the case on Webtoons, some of the most recent chapters require you to pay money in the form of Coins to unlock those chapters early. Otherwise if you wait, you can get the chapters for free. Season 1 consists of 50 chapters. As I indicated earlier, it’s currently Season 2.

The Premise

Like a lot of Tower/Dungeon manhwa stories, we have people who suddenly awaken to unique abilities that make them ideal Hunters to deal with dungeon breaks and profit from exploring said dungeons.

Similar to Sung Jin-Woo, this protagonist Jiha isn’t particularly skill at fighting. However unlike the protagonist of Solo Leveling, Jiha isn’t about to become a S-rank warrior. He’s modest guy who runs a hunters supply store and mops up useful resources before the dungeon closes up. However one day he finds himself in a mysterious garden and even more mysterious missions.

General Thoughts

This is a pretty fun series that’s surprisingly chill for a Tower/Dungeon series. There is action and adventure, but it’s not Jiha who has to do all of that. He’s a support character type in the hunter hierarchy. It’s also why no one would remotely suspect him of doing all the things he’s doing. I think it’s a pretty refreshing take on the Dungeon/Tower concept similar to how The Top Dungeon Farmer does something to the same effect.

I’d recommend this series if you want to read an adventure/fantasy that’s also not ultra serious and has some enjoyable, wholesome comedy thrown in.

Have you read this series? Are you planning to read it? Leave a comment and share!

I have been a fan of isekai for years now. If you have been following my publication or read my past posts, I have talked about a number of isekai stories I have read and/or watched. It’s genuinely a type of story I have enjoyed for years in various iterations. As much as I enjoy escapist fantasy? I can’t pretend like there aren’t also stories that aren’t very good. I’ve come across cases where adaptations aren’t well done either.

I have been seeing some strange concepts that sort of work. A good example is the series Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon. You also have your share of darker ones like The Rising of the Shield Hero.

You also have ones where I just question how good the series really is. A recent one I came across is Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power. The concept has potential, but I just can’t see myself still watching it after the first two episodes I saw. It’s getting progressively absurd how much power the main character is getting. He’s got too many cheats given to him that make him OP, which is a pet peeve of mine. It’s pretty obvious that he’s going to end up as the emperor by the end of the story.

While some of the new isekai are shows I’ve been checking out, not much is coming across as really fascinating.

Share what you think about this in the comments!

It’s not too often that I do reviews of stories I literally just finished reading. However I can’t help but share this one. A big part of me wishes I knew about this one a LOT sooner. But here I am sharing it now!

Basic Info

As is the case with many manhwa, there’s a very limited amount of information I can locate. One of the things I do know is that it is a story originally published as a web novel before it was adapted as comic series. The story was written by a writer with ths user name “Hyunsin.” This manhwa was drawn and adapted by “Muta.”

As I write this post, there have been 170 chapters of the manhwa translated and released on Tapas. If you’re interested in reading for yourself you can either search the title in the Tapas app or click on this link.

The Premise

Jung Yoonho was the vice president of a talent agency. In a similar fashion as Kang Ji-Won in Marry My Husband, he gets stomach cancer and dies. But instead of going off to the afterlife, he wakes up 10 years in the past! He’s back as a rookie talent agent at Hoop Entertainment. This is his second chance to make different choices and avoid not only his death, but a pretty empty life.

He sees familiar faces and decides to go a different path in his new life. Naturally with every change he makes, new direction and events crop up. How will things turn out this time? You’ll have to read to find out.

General Thoughts

There are reasons why I wound up spending this whole week binge reading all 170 chapters currently available. It’s on hiatus on Tapas since November. We can only hope that it returns soon. I’m debating about whether or not to actually try to find the web novel version. There’s apparently another site that has it, but I’m just not sure about signing up to another website. I’m currently debating. I wish Tapas had the rights to it.

I really enjoy how wholesome the series is with Yoonho making new friends, allies, and even rivals. The relationships and different paths they characters walk along make the story really fascinating. The fate of so many characters hang in the balance with every decision he makes.

If I wind up getting access to the web novel, I’ll write about it on here eventually!

Any other stories you’re eager to read? Share in the comments below!

Happy New Year to all of my readers! I want to express my appreciation to all of you who have stuck around with this publication. I have occasionally struggled to come up with meaningful content for people. The fact you’re sticking around is greatly appreciated.

Updates on the backup website

I’ve been putting this on the back burner for a while now. I’ve had plans to make a website that acts as a backup to this publication, but also a place to put some additional content I can’t really share here. I had thought I would have that site up and running a lot sooner. But various factors kept pushing it further down on my to-do list. I’m hoping to change this soon, but it’s going to take more time.

Pretty soon, Westeros will be taking over my free time as the new spin-off series stars later this month and should conclude at the end of February. So my plans for cafemanga.com won’t be up in running until March at the earliest. Fortunately I got a good chunk of the work done. At this point it’s doing some more customizing and the work of backfilling content on the blog.

The whole point of doing all of this is like I said as a back up to this publication. I’ve been hearing and reading stories of people complaining they have lost access to their publications. According to people, they’ve had Substack informing them they had violated rules, but Substack doesn’t actually explain what rule(s) was violated. Absurd because how can you try to protest or understand how you broke the rules when you don’t explain what rules were broken?!

Regardless, it’s a plan of mine to create a backup in the even Substack does that to me for some inextricable reason. Also there’s content I feel like would work better on a separate blog than here due to the fact some of you get e-mails via Substack. At any rate, once the site is up and running, I’ll let you know.

New titles

Yes, I will be doing review again very soon. There are a few titles I’m currently reading/watching. There are also a few I didn’t review yet, but I would like to do another re-read just to refresh my memory. Normally I’d be happy to take on some recommendations, but the problem is I already have a LOT of stuff on my list as is. When said list drops to a small length, I might ask for titles to check out at my discretion.

Current release schedule

I can’t lie. I’ve actually enjoyed this release schedule I’ve been doing since November. Doing a post twice a month gives me more time to finish watching and reading stuff to do a proper review of said titles. Also I feel less pressure to come up with content to write. It sounds silly but it’s really tricky coming up with content that I feel motivated to write about. Especially when I have plenty of other things going on beyond anime and manga.

I’m going to continue with this release schedule into February, but I am leaning towards keeping this schedule going forward. I’ll apologize if people feel like I should post weekly. However I do feel like the quality level goes up when I feel less pressured to “just write something” for the sake of a self-imposed weekly schedule.

Any new titles you are eager to check out this year? Leave a comment below! Also feel free to share what you’re hoping to get done this year!

Before I get started, I want to apologize if the audio quality might be off. I’m not sure what the cause is but when I listen to the playback during the editing, I sound off. Not sure if it’s because it’s late at night when I recorded and my voice sounds funny or Descript is being weird.

I wanted to explain how it’s been a year since I did the last episode of the podcast. I thought I was burnt out and done. To a degree I still am. However my analytics tell me that people are apparently listening to old episodes of the podcast. I’ve decide to bring the show back. Sort of.

What do I mean sort of? Well I’ll be doing episodes. However they won’t be weekly. I will do them sporadically as weekly is just not doable. I’m already struggling slightly to continue writing every week. Podcasting is even more work than writing. I’ve decide that there are just occasions where I have an idea for a post, but in reality it’s just easier to talk about it verbally rather than writing it out.

At most, I’ll do one episode a month. More realistically it’s probably every other month. It’s also an opportunity to cross post and see if I can convince listeners to check out the Substack.

I will still write out a post. It’s part show notes for the episodes. It’s also a way for people who can’t or don’t want to listen to the episode to at least read about what the episode is about.

I am cheating a bit with this episode. I’m basically repeating part of the past reviews I did in this episode. You can read the full versions of said reviews below.

1. Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill

2. Debut of Die!

3. Cinderella Chef

Before I close out, I’ll wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2026!

This is a series I’ve mentioned a few times in this publication if you’ve been following for months now. Even I’m surprised I never did an actual review of this series. But I feel like I really should do now. So here I go!

Basic Info

As is the case with a large number of these Japanese titles I talk about, this was originally a story posted on Shosetsuka ni Naru. It was written by Ren Eguchi. Eventually the story gets picked up for actual print publishing by a publisher named Overlap. Later the manga is released by Overlap as well.

In the US, J-Novel Club has the English language rights in North America. J-Novel Club has a partnership with Yen Press. Yen Press publishes the print versions, while J-Novel Club handles the digital versions.

If you’re interested in the digital version, here are the links for the light novel and manga. If you’re interested in the print version, here are the links for the light novel and manga. It’s also interesting to note that there is an omnibus edition that has come out because the light novel is 16 volumes so far. The story is actually ongoing on Shosetsuka ni Naru, which really says something.

Another interesting thing to note is there is also a manga spin-off centered on Sui’s perspective and bonus stories. If you don’t know who Sui is, I’ll explain below.

The Premise

Tsuyoshi Mukohda, or Mukohda as everyone will call him going forwards, is the victim of a hero summoning spell. So yes, he’s a victim of isekai tropes. He got summoned along with three high school kids. The kids are the actual heroes since they wind up getting useful attack magic. Mukohda? He only get an unlimited inventory/item box and “online grocery.” On the surface, this is a goofy skill to get. In reality? This is actually an OP support skill that everyone including Mukohda initially dismissed.

Mukokda realizes he can summon what looks like a website interface and order all sorts of stuff that grocery stores and supermarkets carry. Think of it as Amazon Prime or Whole Foods. He’s able to buy groceries. His first trick is buying salt and black pepper, which historically were valuable items in earlier centuries. This along with a few coins the kingdom gifted him, helps give him a start for his new life.

His cooking accidentally attracts the attention of a powerful S-ranked monster known as a Fenrir to appear. He’s forced to accept a familiar contract with the Fenrir who wants his cooking. Mukohda demonstrates his A+ naming skills and names him Fel. Along the way, Mukohda eventually gets another familiar in the form of a childlike slime he names Sui. And it goes from there.

General Thoughts

If you had asked me a year ago, I’d tell you I considered it one of my top favorite isekai stories. Now, I’d have to lower it a level. I’d consider it A rank, but I’m lowering it B rank. Mainly because as the story continues, it gets a bit redundant with the story beats. If I’m being honest, I might have given up on this story ages ago if I weren’t so stubborn and keep reading it. It’s still entertaining, but I’m not as enthusiastic about the story as I once was. I don’t know how Ren Eguchi still has chapters of this story he’s written.

I have to admit, reading about the food has gotten boring as well. Probably because reading about meat over and over again is boring. Watching it be made in the anime is far more enjoyable. There is some action and battle because of course the familiars are battle maniacs.

That’s the other thing that got tiring after a while. Mukohda is a coward. And I’m not talking about someone who was scared, but gradually builds up some courage to fight like most other isekai protagonists. He’s probably in this world the equivalent of 2 years and he’s still scared of goblins. Meanwhile he and the familiars have gone after S-ranked monsters. He’s literally protected by familiars who could kill just about anything they face and he’s still scared all the time.

I’ll be the first one to tell you that until the last 3-4 years, I was a huge fan of the MCU. I’m sure that Disney appreciates the money I helped contribute with my theater tickets, Disney+ subscription, and some of the DVDs I purchased. Though I don’t think Marvel Comics is overly happy with the fact this interest in the characters and stories didn’t translate to sales of the actual comics.

The chance of this changing is highly unlikely. Why? Well the simple answer is I infinitely prefer manga and manhwa. So here’s my essay about why that is. I do have a few reasons.

Manga/Manhwa Actually End

I love a good story. I enjoy interesting characters I give a crap about. I enjoy twists and turns in the plot that make me feel things. This also includes giving me an ending. Problem is that Marvel and DC doesn’t always give me this.

You might be telling me, but wait! There are story arcs! There are miniseries! Yes, you are right there are. Problem is those aren’t the main storylines. If I want to invest my time and money into reading a story, I want to read the beginning, middle, and end. I want to know the story has a satisfying conclusion and not going to continue with no real end.

Not to mention, stories that don’t end often suffer from bad writing eventually. YYou see this a lot with tv shows that last 20 years and it’s obvious the writing team ran out of ideas after season 6. The plug needed to be pulled before the show went to trash with bad writing. I don’t want to worry about investing my emotions (along with time and money) into a comic story that I eventually hate because the quality goes down hill.

I Don’t Need to Read 20 Series to Understand What is Happening

Most manga/manhwa are original stories. I don’t need to read a bunch of other stories (which might involve volumes and years of past stories) to understand what I’m reading. I want to know I can jump into the story from the beginning and be able to follow along. I just don’t feel like investing all that time and money just to understand this one.

You might be thinking, but what about the MCU? You said you love the MCU and you had to watch a lot of stuff to get why Infinity Wars and Endgame were such a big deal. Why can’t you do the same with the comics?

My response to this would be that all those movies and tv shows still don’t add up to how many comics were published in the literal decades Marvel and DC have been pumping out. I pretty much use Wikipedia and other similar websites to understand anything about Batman and Cap basically.

Far too often, superhero comics involve being familiar with years of story, plot development, and character journeys to understand why it’s a huge deal that an easter egg pops up. The easter egg is a reference to something that happened issues ago or even years ago. I won’t get it and it means nothing to me.

I Hate Retcons

I am a writer. I enjoy writing and of course I enjoy reading. This makes me appreciate the time and effort it takes to produce stories. However the thing that frustrates me the most is when things established about the characters get changed later. Sure there are times where maybe the writer changes their mind later. Maybe it’s just a continuity error. I get that.

However it gets too much when retconning becomes a thing you just do on a regular basis because you want to make an interesting storyline. It’s pretty frustrating especially if you’re trying to catch up and understand the characters, etc. It just makes it more difficult to follow. The easier solution is just throw my hands up and not even bother reading it in the first place. I know myself well enough to know this will piss me off so let’s not even get started.

The Art Quality is Pretty Inconsistent in Superhero Comics

This isn’t to say I think artists hired by DC or Marvel are bad at drawing. Of course I’m not. I’m not much of an artist. I don’t remotely claim to be any good at it. I’ll even post my mediocre efforts to prove it. But obviously we all have different tastes in artwork and art style.

Connected to my last point about the retconning, I’m just not a fan of the idea that different writers and artists work on stories. It could be certain artists work on some issues and then they switch people working on the project. The tone, the art style, or just about anything can change.

This pretty much never happens in manga except on very rare occasions. Now I will concede this has happened before in manhwa because artists tend to deal with burnout. Though I would say for manga, except for certain projects like say a Gundam manga for example, most manga are stories created by the manga-ka who work on it.

If they experience burnout, they go on a needed break and then come back. It’s not going to get passed on to another person to work on it because it’s a story by the original artist. It’s like Charles Dickens needing a break from writing Oliver Twist because he’s dealing with the flu and asking another writer to take over. It doesn’t happen because that’s not how it works.

Are any of you in the same position as me? Do you enjoy reading superhero comics? Leave a comment and let’s chat!

This is going to be another quick one. I’m also going to do another announcement below.

I’ve been a big proponent of J-Novel Club. I still am. I will however say there’s one thing I’m kind of annoyed about. Granted I was completely oblivious and missed this big announcement almost a month ago because of other stuff happening at the time. I missed the announcement about the change in their membership. If you want to read the full details yourself you can do it with the link below:

https://j-novel.club/blog/important-update-new-subscription-overhaul-readers-library-now-live

My brain hurts trying to understand how these tiers actually work. I’m not fully understanding how the new benefits work versus how they were before. All I can tell you is that now the tiers have gone up and so have the prices of the books buy a $1. Also there’s less coins (their internal currency) you’re purchasing with your money.

I wish they had done a way better job of communicating this. I’m now debating about whether I want to actually cough up the money to get the highest tier or if I should just downgrade to “Reader’s Club.” The only reason to upgrade is because of the monthly 799 coins I get each month and discount on buying extra coins. The extra coins would be pretty handy if I want to binge buy ebooks.

I’ll have to do that math, but possibly it’s worth it because the price difference of the two tiers is actually less than bonus coins I’m earning. Anyways I’ll think about it. I have until March when my annual renewal is happening to decide.

The other announcement I’m making is that possibly I’m going to restart my Cafe Manga podcast. It won’t however be the typical weekly podcast that I tried to do. What I was thinking of doing was occasionally doing a podcast episode instead of a typical written post like this one.

One of the biggest reasons I’ve thought about doing this is because even though it’s been almost a year since I ended the podcast, I see I do still get downloads on the analytics. To be fair, Substack analytics are kind of iffy. I don’t know how if these were actual listens or some bot thing happening. I also don’t know if people listen to the whole episode or just a few seconds.

At any rate, if I wind up bringing back the podcast it won’t be weekly as I said. I’ll just randomly post a podcast episode. I will still be writing posts like this. I might just release a podcast episode on a random day I get inspired to do so. We’ll see what happens. I’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks.

As I indicated I will be doing a trial run for the next 2-3 months of only posting on the first and third Sundays of the month. So November, December, and January that’s what I’m doing to see if this new schedule works better for me creatively or not.

There’s two ways this title can be interpreted. I’ll get to the first meaning here and end this with the other meaning.

I’ve been watching Season 2 of Campfire Cooking In Another World With My Absurd Skill. I’ve even re-read the light novel a couple of times already. If you had asked me a couple of years ago, I’d consider it an A-tier story. Though if I have to be honest, I now would downgrade it to B-tier. It’s good. It’s entertaining. However when you re-read it or watch it more than once, I can’t help but notice certain details that kind of annoy me. Perhaps I’m too focused on details, or I’m being too picky. There are just thing that annoyed me.

This is more of an issue with the light novel, but it does get tedious reading descriptions of the same types of food over and over again. Probably because looking at food is more interesting than reading the same descriptions multiple times across the 12+ volumes of the light novel. Food descriptions are definitely a case of “a picture is worth 1,000 words.”

Regardless of which version of the story you’re checking out, the thing that annoyed me is how much of a coward Mukohda is. Look I get it. We’re not all brave people. I’m not going to act like I’m super brave either. The thing that was starting to irk me is how he’s been traveling for months and he’s still freaking out about monsters. He’s got familiars that can kill just about anything and he’s still acting like he’s going to die any second now. Fair enough it’s for comedic effect, but it is tiring after 10 volumes of this. It’s like he has no progression in his character whatsoever. I’m not saying he should be first to attack like other isekai protagonists. I’m just saying you should have more of a spine by now.

Mukohda isn’t stupid, but he does occasionally lack some common sense. He has thousands of gold coins and it takes him a long time to get that he has a lot of money. Fel and the others kill enough monsters on a daily basis to get him a fortune without doing much. I was reminded of this when he was considering a magic stove and was hesitating at the 860 gold price tag when he has over 2,000 gold. I get you want to be a smart shopper and not spend more than you need to. But Mukohda you need to buy it. It’s way more useful than portable gas stoves with an oven. You can cook more food that your familiars are demanding. It’s a true necessity. It was funny he didn’t hesitate spending on a portable bathtub but the magic stove was an issue.

Again these are small details, but stuff like this is why I have to consider it a B-tier story. I still read and watch it because there are some funny moments and plot points that happen. Just some tedious details. With that said, let’s get to the next point.

I have been struggling on and off for a while now. On the one hand I do enjoy doing this newslettter/blog. On the other hand, I’ve had trouble coming up with topics to write about. Sometimes I’m watching and reading a lot of stuff. Sometimes I’m not. I won’t lie and pretend like I didn’t consider ending this all together. However I feel like it would be a shame to quit on a thing I spent almost 2 years writing.

So I decided to try something different. I’m going to dial back on how frequently I write. I’ve been doing this once a week almost the entire since since December 2023. I’ve decided to do an experiment for at least the next couple of months. I’m going to try just posting on the First and Third Sunday of the month. This will allow me to still continue this publication, but also feel less like I’m trying to come up with topics every week. It’s especially a struggle with finishing anime series and manga/manhwa that sometimes are over 100 chapters long to review.

Granted with this new schedule it still means I need to write a topic next Sunday, but it is what it is. Fortunately I do have a couple ideas for next week’s post per the new schedule. For the months of November, December, and January I’m going to do this new schedule. We’ll see how it works out!