Manga Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Unwinnable

A sly looking blonde man towering over the heads of there other people, his left hand aloft and dropping a handful of spent casings.

Old Dog, Old Tricks – Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 5

By Austin Price • December 20th, 2017

Surely there are better ways to hype up the newest group of antagonists than to throw them a humiliating loss at the hands of the world’s most expendable mook.

Spilled Ink

A brown giant mech standing in front of a bronze sky. This is an image from Mobile Suit Gundam Vol 5.

Gundam It – Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Vol. 5

By Austin Price • November 29th, 2017

Gundam Thunderbolt’s fifth volume is split between two contradictory halves.

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A black haired girl reading on her back, another woman behind her.

Be Witched – Flying Witch Vol. 3

By Austin Price • November 22nd, 2017

The stillness of Flying Witch Vol. 3 comes to me as small, almost zen escape. What’s magical here is nothing loud, nothing that demands attention constantly.

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Three Japanese animated figures tumbling amid a falling stream of paper

Chasing Your Own Tail – Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 4

By Austin Price • September 20th, 2017

The third volume of Bungo Stray Dogs ended with the promise of better things… [but this] this latest installment is so total a bit of backtracking that it’s hard not to feel as if it’s not playing at some greater thematic purpose in the clumsiest manner imaginable.

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A panel from the comic My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness. In the middle of the two pieces of the panel it says "Some Differences." On the left hand side it has a picture of a woman concealing her breasts and wearing a pair of small underwear, the text "female body" underneath. The character is clearly excited over this image and she says "Fukken saved." On the right it has a more confused version of the character looking at a picture of a man posing in his underwear with the text "He's totally naked huh"

Unemotional Investments – My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness

By Austin Price • August 30th, 2017

As unsparing as she is in presenting the minutiae of her feelings, Nabi has also constructed a formal shell that prevents her and reader both from actually engaging with the rawest elements of her story.

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Witch Way To Go – Flying Witch Vol. 2

By Austin Price • August 23rd, 2017

“It’s insubstantial, lighter than air, colorless, the pleasure of a cool breeze on a summer day two degrees right of ‘too hot.'”

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Five women standing near each other, their faces mostly concealed. This is a slip from the cover of Happiness Volume 5.

Vampire Lessons – Happiness Vol. 5

By Austin Price • August 9th, 2017

Happiness has worked until now because even in the trapping of the urban vampire-thriller it finds new ways to show the horrors of the mundane reality of growing older.

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A line drawing of a man with light colored hair and a dark shirt, leaning forward intently. This is art from the romantic manga Ristorante Paradiso

“Semi-fine Dining” – Ristorante Paradiso

By Austin Price • July 5th, 2017

Indeed, what could be more dignified than such an Epicurean lifestyle, unanchored by the heavier emotions, devoted to the pursuit of scrumptious food, high fashion, handsome men and easy pleasure before all else?

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A dark haired man looks to the left, his hair tipped in white. A fair haired boy looks to the right, his nose leading off the page. Behind them is a spat of red, and they are illustrated in a Japanese manga style. This is the cover of Bungo Stray Dogs volume 9.

“Licking Wounds” – Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 3

By Austin Price • June 28th, 2017

Purpose gives a work direction, it gives it confidence and identity, and so is essential, but it’s no replacement for quality execution.

Spilled Ink

A blue grey robot rising up through shattered white elements. This is the cover from Mobile Suit Gundam

“Gundam as a Bag of Hammers” – Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Vol. 3

By Austin Price • May 24th, 2017

Because the author does not understand the feelings he’s presenting to us and so relies on a language cobbled together from cliches, trite imagery and banal symbols he’s aped from a million disparate influences he never bothered to understand to convey feelings he’s does not understand.