Hey manga friends,
August is a dangerous month for new hobbies. There is still enough summer left to convince yourself that you could absolutely learn an instrument before autumn. A guitar, maybe. How difficult can three chords really be?
Please don't answer that. 🤝
The realistic result would probably be one expensive guitar, several unhappy neighbours, and a new appreciation for anyone who can play an entire song without stopping halfway through. But this is exactly the kind of confidence music manga tend to encourage.
Which brings us to Girl Meets Rock!. The series has just arrived in English print, and Volume 1 is also part of our Firsties Collection. And that means you can pick it up with 25% off.
So turn up your favourite playlist, resist the sudden urge to look at guitars online, and let's jump in.
Girl Meets Rock!
Chihiro Hatono enters high school with two important things: a love of rock music and a brand-new electric guitar.
There is just one small problem. She doesn't actually know how to play it yet.
Chihiro is awkward, introverted, and not exactly the person her classmates would expect to dream of becoming a rock star. But she has been waiting for the chance to join her school's Light Music Club, form a band, and finally do something with all that musical enthusiasm.
Naturally, none of it goes quite as smoothly as she imagined.
The club is full of students trying to put together bands while also dealing with friendships, crushes, breakups, bruised egos, and all the other things that happen when you place a large group of teenagers in one room and give some of them microphones. Bands form. Bands fall apart. People change sides. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Chihiro has to work out where she belongs.
Chihiro is a beginner. Loving music doesn't automatically teach her how to play, and enthusiasm alone isn't enough to navigate the social politics of the club. That's what I love about the series.
It is funny and lively, but there is also something very easy to recognize in Chihiro's determination. She wants to be part of this world even though she isn't particularly confident, experienced, or cool.
The manga also uses real Japanese rock songs, so there is a good chance your reading session will eventually turn into a rather long listening session. Consider that fair warning.
Girl Meets Rock! took first place in the Web Manga category of the 2024 Next Manga Awards, and it isn't difficult to understand why the series has already attracted so much attention. If you're looking for a coming-of-age manga with awkward characters, complicated club dynamics, and a genuine love of music, this is a very easy recommendation.
Just don't blame me if you own a guitar by the end of the month.
Still in the Mood for Music?
Chihiro's first chords have put you in the mood for more music manga, here are three very different series to try next.
Nana: 25th Anniversary Edition is an easy choice if you want music with considerably more relationship drama. Two women named Nana meet on a train to Tokyo and later become roommates. Nana Osaki wants to make it as a punk singer, while Nana Komatsu is searching for a new life and has a remarkable talent for getting caught in complicated relationships. The band scenes matter, but so do the friendships, breakups, and terrible decisions around them. There are quite a few terrible decisions.
For something more intense, try Blue Giant. Dai Miyamoto decides that he is going to become the greatest jazz saxophonist in the world. He doesn't have a careful career plan, but he does have an enormous amount of determination and apparently no interest in setting himself a smaller goal. The first English omnibus collects two volumes and is a great place to begin.
Shonen Note: Boy Soprano moves away from guitars and into a middle-school choir. Yutaka loves singing and has a rare soprano voice, but puberty is already beginning to change it. The manga follows both his love of music and the frightening realization that the thing which makes him special cannot remain unchanged forever. A very different kind of musical coming-of-age story.
New Arrivals
The latest manga and light novel arrivals are here.
First up is The Princess Groom Volume 1. Lady Leticia is famous for looking like a delicate doll, but a magical ring allows her to transform into a handsome young man known for heroic exploits. Her new fiancé, the supposedly cursed Prince Gilbert, isn't particularly interested in her doll-like public persona. The moment he sees her gallant alter ego, however, he blushes and swoons. A fantasy romance in which the heroine gets to sweep the prince off his feet for a change? That already sounds like fun.
Then we have the new deluxe hardcover edition of Little Mushroom. This award-winning danmei novel takes place on a future Earth devastated by radiation. Anzhe is a mushroom disguised as a human who must enter one of humanity's last fortified bases to recover his stolen spore. Unfortunately, he attracts the attention of a merciless Judge whose job is to identify and eliminate nonhuman life. If the phrase “post-apocalyptic mushroom romance” doesn't make you at least a little curious, I honestly don't know what will. The new edition comes with a fresh translation, new illustrations, a dust jacket, and printed edges.
For something more grounded and considerably heavier, take a look at Walking in Your Tracks Volume 1. This 16+ BL drama follows a young man who has isolated himself after becoming disabled and the caregiver who slowly helps him reconnect with life. The story deals with disability, grief, and depression, so please keep those themes in mind before picking it up.
And for readers who prefer their manga both classic and physically capable of injuring someone when dropped, The Legend of Kamui Volume 4 has arrived as well. At 656 pages, Shirato Sanpei's ninja epic continues its story of outcasts, rebellion, and class conflict in Edo-period Japan. Definitely not light reading. In several senses of the word.
Of course, these are only a few of the latest arrivals. There are plenty more waiting on the shelves, including new volumes of Yona of the Dawn, Wind Breaker, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, and many others.
That's all from me this month.
If Girl Meets Rock! sends you looking for a guitar, I accept no financial responsibility. Manga is already expensive enough. :)
Happy reading, and see you next month!
