Comics Roundup #44: Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1

I really enjoyed reading this story 😄. A conversation with my fellow bookseller friends made me buy it. One of them mentioned wanting to read it, so I took it as a sign that I should purchase it because I was considering to do so before, 🤣. I love the cover and when I started reading, I quickly fell for the illustrations.

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 by Kamome Shirahama (illus.), transl. by Stephen Kohler

Genre:

Manga — fantasy

Series:

Witch Hat Atelier

Pubbed:

2017

Goodreads summary:

In a world where everyone takes wonders like magic spells and dragons for granted, Coco is a girl with a simple dream: She wants to be a witch. But everybody knows magicians are born, not made, and Coco was not born with a gift for magic. Resigned to her un-magical life, Coco is about to give up on her dream to become a witch…until the day she meets Qifrey, a mysterious, traveling magician. After secretly seeing Qifrey perform magic in a way she’s never seen before, Coco soon learns what everybody “knows” might not be the truth, and discovers that her magical dream may not be as far away as it may seem… (Goodreads)

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Comics Roundup #43: How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Vol. 1

I bought this and the second volume from Book Outlet because it kept popping up there. I always clicked on it because I like the cover. I didn’t even bother looking up what it’s about. I just went ahead and bought it for the cover 🤣.

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Vol. 1 by Kaziya (illus.), transl. by Angela Liu

Genre:

Manga — fantasy

Series:

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal

Pubbed:

2017

Goodreads summary:

In an age of science and forgotten magic, mythic beasts are beginning to disappear from the world. A young girl named Ziska, born into a line of mages, becomes the apprentice to a veterinarian of regular animals–but Ziska’s interests lie with beasts of a more magical nature. Can she help these creatures of legend survive in a world that is leaving them behind?! (Goodreads)

Comics Roundup #42: Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1

I work part-time at a bookstore and one day when I visited to shop, a coworker told me about this manga that she’d just read. It was obvious that she enjoyed it, so I ran over to the manga section of the bookstore and got myself a copy too. I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed it.

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 by Honda (illus.), transl. by Amanda Haley

Genre:

Manga — contemporary

Series:

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Pubbed:

2016

Goodreads summary:

Ever wonder what it’s like to sell comics at a Japanese bookstore? Honda provides a hilarious firsthand account from the front lines! Whether it’s handling the store, out-of-print books, or enthusiastic manga fans, Honda takes on every challenge! (Goodreads)

“Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1-9” by Hiromu Arakawa

As I’ve mentioned before, venturing into comics led me to mangas. I usually stay away from them because they seem like a lot (those shelves filled with numerous issues for a single series stomp me), but I became curious and decided to give them a try. When considering which manga to start with, I thought it best to begin with something familiar so I grabbed the first bind-up copy of Fullmetal Alchemist and kept returning for more to satiate my growing interest.

Quick summary:

Fullmetal Alchemist is about brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who’ve joined the military to seek and study the Philosopher’s Stone, a chemical substance that grants immense power. The brothers seek the stone to replace their bodies — Edward’s arm and leg and Alphonse’s entire body, — which they lost when they used a forbidden alchemical ritual to bring their dead mother back to life.

Ed now has mechanical limbs called auto-mail and Al’s soul is bonded to a suit of armor. Though young, in their early to mid-teens, the brothers are incredibly smart and Ed, the oldest of the two, was able to join the military. They have many adventures while searching for the stone and meet many dangerous people who are also interested in the stone and its power. But the more the brothers the learn, the more they realize that finding the stone comes at a high price.