Axelablaze Productions

Another year around the sun for the dolphin man. Hope everyone enjoys their day while I go out to enjoy all you can eat Brazilian meats and some cheesecake!

Half-Price Books trips can be absolutely amazing sometimes. Along with a great haul of books, I found SEVEN issues of Shojo Beat magazine. I never knew this magazine existed before today, but that's a pretty great find to celebrate 20 years of Shojo Beat.

The last ax for the summer batch is entry 154: Star of Beethoven by Morihiro Hayashi.

This one was not not good and did not know what it wanted to be. The tonal shift halfway through was not executed well and Beethoven - the best character - just doesn't get utilized properly.

Entry 153 (Ao Ashi was actually 152) goes to a one-shot from Young Magazine Web - Cupid's First Love by Mano Roka.

Cupids exist in this world, but they're not the little babies with wings you're used to. Instead, our cupid is a tall beauty from the archery club. This one's cute!

Error on my part. Ao Ashi is number 152. I'm losing it here. lol

While I'm only doing full reviews on my Discord server now, I will keep track of my finished manga here (at least the ones I want to share as part of the 365).

Entry 151 is Ao Ashi and it's absolutely a 10 out of 10 for me. The open ending sucks for some, but I got what I needed

Sadly the days of making shorts for the manga I finished are over.

🔗- youtu.be/h4kKkg_6JIE

Sports are at least succeeding in other magazines - including Young Jump. Seinen sports in general are doing well. I just think Shonen Jump editorial wasn't doing enough to foster the right sports manga for WSJ.
Green Green Greens was great. It needed better support.

We follow up Slam Dunk... with a sports manga of all time. Entry 151 goes to Embers.

Jump continues its search for a manga to end the Haikyuu curse and this wasn't it. If you want to talk good soccer manga, look to the OTHER manga that ended today...

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/RTKVc...

Can you believe it? Finally hit number 150 in my 365 day challenge and we're going big with SLAM DUNK.

After reading, I can fefinitely understand the hype behind this series and Inoue as a mangaka. SLAM DUNK isn't perfect, but it is a fun thriller.

🔗 - youtube.com/shorts/2QzKk...

On the subject of collections, I keep forgetting to share these, so here they are. Half Price Books once again bolstering my collection while I finally got my hands on Cosmos and the latest Lore Olympus hardcover. Not pictured but I also bought the Dungeon Meshi box set too!

Ichi the Witch Jump cover number 4 secured! Keeping up with my promise of collecting them all. And next year I'll be able to start collecting the English volumes to go with these!

Entry 149 gives us the latest Jump+ one-shot Postmortem Insurance: Necromancing.

Jump+ one-shots have been a slow drip lately, but this one was fun and whacky. Absolutely relatable if you like collectibles and hate scalpers. The 2nd half is WILD.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/pCKtT...

Entry 148 brings us Syd Craft: Love is a Mystery. Ax number 2 for the summer Jump batch.

Tsutsui couldn't make lightning strike twice and it's a shame. Fun characters. Not as fun with the mysteries. Hope he can make things work the third time around.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/6aCWg...

Go figure Facebook would inspired to finally check out one of the Viz Originals one-shots and it's Whale Plague for entry 147.

Whales are becoming human and humans are turning into whales. Why? Nobody knows, but I had Junji Ito vibes a few pages in.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/eRcOk...

Today's entry 146 should come as no surprise as we cover Super Psychic Policeman Chojo after it ended today.

Genuinely enjoyed the vibes from this manga week after week. While gags aren't for everyone, this series defied expectations for over a year.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/ttkvq...

Entry 145 brings us the long anticipated 8th one-shot for the Jump Future Project: The Origin Story of the Chikuwaga Hills High School Exorcism Club.

The title is LONG, but WOW was this one-shot good. If you like Phantom Seer, you'll enjoy this a lot

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/446oY...

We go from one Drawn & Quarterly book to another for entry 144 with The Push Man and other stories

Tezuka gets called the father of manga while Yoshihiro Tatsumi is called one of the grandfathers of manga. Interesting collection of mature themes here

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/wxEc3...

Entry 143 is unique for being a lucky find at Half Price Books - The Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud.

This one's a collection of short manga from Kuniko Tsurita. She's an important female mangaka lost to history amidst the male dominated 60s and 70s.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/wMnqI...

Following up on yesterday's Death Note short we have Death Note Short Stories for entry 142.

This one includes stories ranging from the original 2003 one-shot to the infamous 2020 one-shot with a certain president. Loved the series progression.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/pMEqDXY…

Working on catching back up with the challenge and we're kicking things off with Death Note for entry 141.

Fascinating manga and such a rarity to have a villain as the protagonist in a shonen manga. The rivalry between Light and L is one for the ages

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/O3oQ7Vi…

Word on the street is that Loveday Sezaki-san is going to be in the next Jump batch, so it's entry 140 in our 365 day challenge.

For those unfamiliar, this was the winning GFC one-shot back in 2022. It's one of three still waiting to be serialized.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/Yd_nK...

Doing a little catchup, so one of two videos for today! Entry number 139 goes to Sweat and Soap.

Was honestly hesitant going into this one, but it turned out to be such a fantastic read. Great romance and the side cast is really enjoyable.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/TGhSq...

Back from hiatus for day 138 with Hiro Mashima's Playground - a collection of one-shots from 1998 to 2003.

It's interesting to see what didn't make the cut compared to Rave Master and Fairy Tail. Overall good experience though the Xmas one was weird.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/4h6Wm...

So for the first time in this challenge, I'm taking a one day break. I'll be doing a double upload either tomorrow or Tuesday, but I needed to take a personal day. That said today's read was Hiro Mashima's Playground. Interesting collection of one-shots.

Thanks for understanding

Day 137 gives us round 3 of Inio Asano with his short manga Downfall.

This one has a somewhat relatable plot, but the problem is the scumbag main character. Throws a huge pity party for himself despite having a successful manga that ran for 8 years.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/x7Ld9...

Day 136 gives us THE WORST MANGA I've ever read. And that's a feat. It's Dead Word Puzzle by Kouhei Tajika.

Absolutely garbage 4 chapters worth of manga. And somehow this guy was an assistant to Sui Ishida at one point. Absolutely baffling all around

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/YUdr1...

Only just started it, so I've only read 2 chapters. Going to take my time with it since I still have a lot more recs to gdt through.

Day 135 gives us what I'd consider to be a Jump classic with Rosario+Vampire.

Interesting that this was one of a few manga affected by the magazine switch from Monthly Shonen Jump to Jump SQ back in 2007. I'm currently reading Season II and it's fun!

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/0Rs0L...

Been a minute since we covered a video game manga, but this one was solid. We've got The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog for day 134.

This is an adaptation of the Shadow Generations video game. Not 1-for-1 but close. Love the art/expressions.

🔗- youtube.com/shorts/KopjG...