The 2025 Debuts That Left a Mark
It’s the last newsletter of the year, and honestly, I couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up 2025 than by looking back at the new manga that stuck with me. And let me tell you… choosing was not easy.
My first list had more than fifteen titles. Fifteen! All of them surprised me or moved me in some way. But if I tried to talk about every single one, you’d probably still be reading this tomorrow morning. So I did what any reasonable person would do: I picked five.
And by now, you know me ... of course I didn’t go for the big hyped releases. Instead, I chose the quieter ones. The overlooked ones. The ones that don’t yell, but whisper… and somehow end up staying with you long after you’ve closed the book.
So here are my five favorite new starts of 2025.
Dogs and Punching Bags
Kaori Ozaki has a gift for writing stories that feel small on the surface but hit unexpectedly deep. Dogs and Punching Bags is exactly that kind of story. It’s quiet, gentle, and unsettling in the way only honest stories can be.
Nichiko’s return to her childhood island isn’t dramatic. There’s no big declaration, no life-changing event. Just the exhaustion of a woman who has been carrying a little too much for a little too long. The island feels frozen in time: the same narrow paths, the same salty air, the same shadows of a childhood that wasn’t always kind.
And then there’s Chimaki. You feel immediately that he’s the emotional center of the story. His presence has the warmth of a familiar memory, the loyalty of the dog Nichiko loved as a girl.
Their relationship isn’t romantic in the traditional sense; it’s something more fragile. A connection built out of longing, regret, and the need to be seen by someone who doesn’t ask for explanations.
Ozaki’s storytelling shines in the silences, the glances, the way grief and tenderness blend together. It's about how people carry their past, how relationships mirror old wounds, and how unexpected bonds can feel like coming home.
Veil
At its heart, Veil is a romance, ut not the usual kind. The relationship between the officer and the mysterious woman grows in tiny steps: a conversation, a shared cup of tea, a question answered with a smile instead of words. Each chapter is a snapshot, a fleeting scene, like watching two people slowly orbit each other, never quite touching but always aware.
The storytelling is minimalistic, almost cinematic. You’re not being told what they feel. A tilt of the head. A cup placed a little too gently on the table. A breath held just a second too long.
Between chapters, Kotteri fills the pages with single-panel illustrations, fashion-like sketches, fragments of thoughts. These interludes turn the manga into something that feels curated, almost like leafing through a beautifully bound journal. Veil isn’t meant to be devoured. It’s meant to be experienced slowly, page by page, breath by breath.
Spacewalking With You
What makes Spacewalking With You so special is how it treats vulnerability. Not as a problem to fix, not as a trait to pity, but as a part of being human.
Kobayashi, who floats through life half-dazed, constantly losing track of things, is painfully relatable. Uno, with his notebook full of rules, is the opposite: structured, cautious, constantly calculating how to exist in a world that doesn’t make sense to him. The moment their lives interact the emotional impact is huge.
The beauty of this manga is how it treats neurodivergence: not as diagnosis, not as exposition, but as experience. A failed part-time job, classmates whispering, a notebook filled with diagrams of human behavior, late-night club meetings about the universe.
In this gentle, vulnerable space, something rare forms: a friendship built on recognition.
It’s a story that reminds you that you don’t need big scenes to be moved. Sometimes all it takes is one person who says, "I get you."
Takahashi from the Bike Shop
There’s something incredibly refreshing about a romance that isn’t trying to be dramatic. Takahashi from the Bike Shop feels like eavesdropping on real life. Panko is wonderfully, painfully ordinary. She’s the kind of woman who blends into the background. She's polite, quiet, doing what she thinks she’s supposed to do. She doesn’t chase anything; she just moves through her days. And then her bike breaks, and Takahashi appears like someone from a different universe.
He’s bold where she’s timid, messy where she’s orderly, and somehow still exactly the person who sees her more clearly than anyone else has in years. Their chemistry comes from the contrast. Their relationship grows not through clichés, but through real, everyday closeness. No confessions, no drama, no “will they, won’t they.” Just two people who slowly become important to each other.
It’s tender, grounded, deeply human, and one of the most believable adult romances in recent manga.
Lion Hearts
Leo and Shishimaru’s relationship is built on years of childhood memories, inside jokes, promises made long before they understood what promises really meant. What makes the story so compelling is how gently Mita Ori portrays the moment where friendship becomes something else… and how fear arrives right alongside it.
The boys are growing up in a world that has very clear rules about what boys should feel and who they should love. Their bond becomes a weight they carry in silence: too strong to deny, too forbidden to acknowledge.
It’s a story about identity, shame, longing, and the courage to step into yourself even when no one around you shows you how. Gentle but unflinching, emotional without being melodramatic. A coming-of-age story that feels honest to the bone.
Shop Highlight
I wanted to highlight a title that honestly surprised me in the best way.
My Life in 24 Frames per Second is the autobiography of Rintarō, a name that has shaped Japanese animation far more than many people realize. And yet, I knew embarrassingly little about him before reading this book.
What grabbed me right away is how simply and openly he tells his story. He starts with his childhood in postwar Japan, where the world around him was still rebuilding itself. Streets were changing, the country was shifting, and in the middle of all that, a young boy found a completely unexpected fascination with light, shadow and movement. You really get the sense of watching an artist come into being long before he even knew what “animation” was.
From there, the book turns into a time capsule of anime history. We follow him into the early days of Toei Animation, then into the chaotic brilliance of Osamu Tezuka’s Studio Mushi.
There’s passion in these pages, and humility, and this soft thread of nostalgia running through every chapter. He doesn’t glorify the past. Instead, he invites you into the room with him: the exhaustion, the stubbornness, the fire, the joy of making something that feels alive. For anyone who loves animation, filmmaking, manga history, or just inspiring life stories, this book is a gift.
More Classics ...
And speaking of Tezuka…If we’re already wandering through anime history, we might as well take one more little detour. Because guess what just landed in the shop?
The final volume of Search and Destroy is here, and if you’re into stylish reimaginings of classics, this one is basically screaming your name.
Search and Destroy is inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo, a title many manga fans know at least by reputation.
And while we’re in the mood for classics. If you want to end the year with a heavy hitter, take a look at the Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition. I’ll admit: I have the German deluxe edition (or… I will have it, once I finally manage to collect all twelve volumes). And yes, it’s gorgeous. But the US edition? Also beautiful. I love the clean design and it looks amazing next to other Dark Horse deluxe releases.
A timeless classic wrapped in a very fancy coat. Not the worst way to march into the new year.
And that’s it, the last newsletter of 2025.
Thank you for reading, for being here, and for sharing this love of stories with me month after month. I hope your December brings you warmth, good books, quiet evenings, and maybe a new favorite series to end the year with.
Stay cozy, stay curious,
Kerstin