December Manga sale
ALL manga at our Vienna, Virginia, and Washington DC stores is 20% off throughout December!
This is a great chance to catch up on some Japanese comics, or try out something new.
We’ll be posting some of our favorites here, but please ask if you want any other recommendations!
Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
An aimless teenager stumbles into his high school art department and commits himself to becoming an artist. It also teaches the reader how to become a better artist, too!
Kowloon Generic Romance by Jun Mayuzuki
Reiko Kujirai is a 30-something real estate agent living in Kowloon Walled City. She’s constantly butting heads with her obnoxious co-worker Kudou, who she suspects she might be falling for. But how well does she really know him? And, after a shattering revelation, how well does she really know herself? Kowloon Generic Romance asks us to consider the relationship between love and nostalgia around this central mystery. Dripping with 𝒶𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸 and a summertime atmosphere you can practically feel from the page, crank up the lo-fi beats or some classic city pop and get ready to enter the Walled City.
Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto
A modern masterpiece about a demon fighter named Denji with a chainsaw for a head. Filled with an amazing cast of friends and enemies, there’s a lot to love in this darkly comic shonen adventure.
Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (based on ideas by Osamu Tezuka)
In a world of AI blending in seamlessly with society, a serial killer targeting robots must be stopped. Pluto masterfully blends neo-noir with action-packed sci-fi to bring together a must-read mystery!
The Troublemakers by Baron Yoshimoto
We like it so much we published it ourselves! A collection of short stories from the ’60s and ’70s, which helped push Japanese comics into more challenging format for older audiences.
Blood on the Tracks by Shuzo Oshimi
Seiichi’s mother pushed his cousin off a cliff. Or did she?! This series about gaslighting and the pressures of familial love is one of the most messed up books on the shelf right now and we absolutely love it.
Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama
After accidentally turning her mother to stone, Coco must learn proper magic to reverse her spell and protect her friends from forces of evil magic. This beautifully drawn series deeply entrenches the reader in its gorgeous fantasy artwork and adventurous storylines (also it’s a to a soon-to-be anime series)!
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku by Fujita
Originally published as a webcomic on Pixiv, Wotakoi is a workplace rom-com about a group of friends in their 20s who all identify as geeks in different ways. Narumi is completely haunted by all her relationships that have gone sour after her partner learns she’s actually a huge nerd. When she starts working at a new office, she runs into her childhood friend Hirotaka, who knows what she really is, and has always had a crush on her. Co-workers Kabakura and Koyanagi, their closest friends, are dating, and have a uniquely volatile but loving relationship. From anime and manga to cosplay, doujinshi, gaming and more, the characters are all supremely relatable and endearing, the story is equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and touching, and each chapter is packed to the gills with Japanese pop-culture references.
The Strange Tale of Panorama Island by Suehiro Maruo and Edogawa Rampo
Suehiro Maruo’s adaptation of the classic Edogawa Rampo story. Maruo eschews his normal gore art to tell a creepy story that’s part Citizen Kane and part Pinoochio’s Pleasure Island.
Skip and Loafer by Misaki Takamatsu
A fun cast of characters has to help Mitsumi transition from country to city life. This comedy navigates her accidentally becoming best friends with the most popular boy in school despite having no social skills.
The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and Yuko Uramoto
This teaches us more than how to tidy up our living spaces. Marie Kondo literally steps in to help the reader escape being trapped in living a life “just for now” by taking us on a step-by-step journey in how to live as your authentic self. By finding what “sparks joy” in our home, work, and love lives, we start to see ourselves again after getting rid of all the clutter.
Otherworld Barbara by Moto Hagio
Psychological investigator Tokio Watarai is called in to examine the mysterious circumstances surrounding Aoba Jujo, a young woman who has been asleep for the last seven years, since she was discovered at a crime scene. What begins as a paranormal mystery becomes a science-fiction thriller with a fascinating and complex cast of characters.
Super Sentai Gorenger by Shotaro Ishinomori
Find out where the sentai genre was born! An amazing reprint of Shotaro Ishinomori’s original sentai super team comics. Without this there’s no Power Rangers; no Big Bad Beetleborgs; no Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad!!! A gem.
Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo
Super-spy Agent Twilight has been tasked with an infiltration mission that will require him to… acquire a wife and child? Dad is a spy, mom is a deadly assassin, daughter can read minds, and each of them is keeping it a secret from the other! In this action packed comedy, hijinks ensue.
The Girl From The Other Side by Nagabe
“An Outsider’s touch will curse you forever.” Abandoned by her village, a young girl from “The Inside” is found by a dark and looming creature that promises to return her to safety. But with the raging witch hunt behind the walls of The Inside and an order to kill Outsiders on sight, this journey home may be at the cost of his life. In the perfect marriage between cute and creepy, black and white, Insiders and Outsiders, The Girl From The Other Side leaves the reader with more questions the deeper into the woods we go.
Planetes by Makoto Yukimura
A hard scifi look at the near future of space, when there is so much orbital debris that there are astronaut garbage collectors! This blue collar angle gives a great foundation for character development.
Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
The timeless magical girl story that continues to charm audiences today, Sailor Moon follows Usagi Tsukino and her friends as they balance protecting the planet from evil with school, relationships, and growing up.
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
A classic for any manga fan that holds up as one of the best action sci-fi manga ever made! When supernatural abilities develop in two friends, they must avoid government abduction. The art and plot line are fast moving and make you want to pick up the next five volumes within seconds of finishing the first.
PTSD Radio by Masaaki Nakayama
A young girl’s first haircut. A group of boys who find a strange doll head in a box. An obscure god worshiped in a remote village. In PTSD Radio, short stories and brief snapshots jumping back and forth in time unravel the mystery of a terrifying curse. Fans of Junji Ito will enjoy Nakayama’s ability to find the unnerving in the mundane and striking visual storytelling; those who love J-horror curse stories like The Ring, Noroi, and the Fatal Frame video game series will enjoy putting together the pieces of who or what is haunting these seemingly unrelated individuals all across Japan.
My Wandering Warrior Existence by Nagata Kabi
In the latest manga from her life (My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness) comes the question: What do I want? After realizing that love and being loved is an actual real thing, Nagata becomes intrigued not only with the concept but then why hasn’t she found it yet? Especially with a dating profile like this: mental health issues, zero dating experience, possessed by longing for a wedding, and to love and be loved. What could she be missing?
Night of the Living Cat by Hawkman and Mecha-Roots
You will all be cats! This satire on the zombie genre follows a group of people trying to not become transformed into cats. Not one trope is spared in this amusing read.
Super Dimensional Love Gun by Shintaro Kago
Take the detailed and lovingly drawn body horror of Junji Ito and dial it up to eleven, and you get this collection of short stories, which showcases why Shintaro Kago is known as the master of “ero-guro” (erotic gore) manga.