Hello Mangasplaining fans, have we got a treat for you! Thanks to our friends at Kodansha who sponsored this episode, we were given an advance peak at the forthcoming hardcover omnibus Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow Volume 1. This classic boxing manga (and so much more!) has been one of the podcast’s white whales for years, and on December 24th the first volume will be released to the world! Is it everything we dreamed of? Listen and find out!

Listen along with our show-notes at mangasplaining.com.

Check out show-notes, translated manga, and original articles at mangasplainingextra.com.

Welcome to our very first episode of… Comicsplaining?! That’s right, this week we're covering a “mainstream, superhero” book, Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli. Chip calls it his “Nausicaa,” and everything THAT means. But wait, why are covering a non-manga title? What does this have to do with Mangasplaining? Does Chip nerd out on Daredevil: Born Again SUPER HARD for this entire Episode? Listen on, fans, and find out!

Read our show notes and listen to the episode at Mangasplaining.com, and check out our digital publisher and newsletter at MangasplainingExtra.com.

Back to manga next week, sort of, with the French-published manga graphic album bande desinee hybrid Guardians of the Louvre by Jiro Taniguchi.

Welcome to Season 5 of Mangasplaining! We’re jumping right in on our new bi-weekly schedule with both our longest episode AND our first prose book: Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics, by Frederik Schodt. It’s literally THE book on Manga for North America, or at least it was when first published back in 1988… Does this incredible tome of manga history hold up, or is the industry in North America, not to mention Japan, just too different here in 2024? And who does Chip think that America's answer to Osamu Tezuka TRULY is? Listen to find out!

Read the show notes and more at mangasplaining.com, and check out our digital publishing endeavour and bonus articles at mangasplainingextra.com.

Did you know that comics, graphic novels, and manga can (usually) be found at your local library? We talk to American Library Association's Graphic Novel and Comics Roundtable President Robin Brenner about her history promoting manga in libraries and how you can save a few bucks and enjoy your tax dollars at work at your local library!

Check out the show notes at mangasplaining.com and our digital publisher at mangasplainingextra.com.

What a season it’s been! Lasting basically the entirety of 2023, we covered a ton of great manga, from the popular anime-fueled hits of the day to the obscure and wonderful titles hiding on shelves across the world. So what were our favs? What are the manga for YOU, the person who doesn’t read much manga? Listen on and find out!

Stats on the season, show notes, and so much more at mangasplaining.com. And don’t miss our manga publishing newsletter at mangasplainingextra.com.  

It's the end of the season (almost) and so it's time to read the next volume of AKIRA by Katsuhiro Otomo! Will the title that introduced Chip Zdarsky to manga continue to be his fav? Deb Aoki hosts, and David Brothers and Christopher Woodrow-Butcher join in on this merry tour through the biggest and most intense volume of the series. 

Read along with the extensive show-notes at mangasplaining.com and check out our newsletter and digital publisher at mangasplainingextra.com.

Season 4 is nearing its conclusion, and it's time for David's last pick: Heavenly Delusion, by Masakazu Ishiguro! This sci-fi (comedy?) manga has a huge fan-following already thanks to its great art and story AND a hit anime series too! But will that be enough to meet the high standards of the VERY choosy Mangasplaining crew?

Read along with the show notes at Mangasplaining.com and check out our manga publishing arm at MangasplainingExtra.com.

See what happens when a stoic yakuza gets sucked into the world of K-Pop in The Yakuza’s Bias, a hilarious culture clash between the manly men of the mob and glamly men of Korean boy bands. BUT WILL CHIP LIKE IT TOO? Find out this episode!

Read along with the extensive show-notes at mangasplaining.com, and subscribe to our newsletter and manga publishing endeavour at mangasplainingextra.com.

Happy New Year! Hope you had time to catch up on the podcast while we were away. :) - For the first episode of 2024 we're starting off with a complex work, Kyoko Okazaki's River's Edge. In this mature-rated episode, we dig into the startling secret lives of teens in the 1990s, through the unique lens of the incredible josei manga creator Kyoko Okazaki. Don't miss this episode!

Read the show notes at mangasplaining.com and check out our newsletter and manga publisher at mangasplainingextra.com.

In this episode, Deb bring back the BL and we end up with possibly the best title for a manga we've covered on this podcast: Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard!? Despite reservations, a very fun time is had on this week's episode. Plus: The Return of the reader Q&A!

Listen and read our show notes at Mangasplaining.com, and sign up for our newsletter at MangasplainingExtra.com.

Diving into the world of Gekiga this week with the recently released Nejishiki by Yoshiharu Tsuge! Featuring one of the most well-known and important works of Tsuge, ‘Screw Style’, this massive reprint series has been long-awaited by art comix & manga fans and collectors. But how will the Mangasplainers react to a work considerably off their beaten path? And is the book actually more about the pitfalls of traditional Japanese Inn ownership? Gotta listen to find out.

Read along with the show notes at Mangasplaining.com, and subscribe to our newsletter at MangasplainingExtra.com.