Here are some Graphic Novels and Manga I've read and enjoyed

 

So, in terms of the books that I like, or I suppose types of books, I tend to lean more towards full novels over everything else. And when I say, “everything else”, I mean things like short story collections, poetry, non-fiction and graphic novels. I mean things like that. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve consumed enough non-fiction, poetry or short story collections to even make a round-up video on them, however, I have with graphic novels. I’m also throwing manga in under the graphic novel umbrella, because I feel like the two are very similar. But for a long-winded intro, this post is going to be talking about the graphic novels and manga that I’ve read and really enjoyed.

I will say, as another little thing, with the way that I consume graphic novels or manga, because they tend to be shorter, or quicker reads, I tend to consume them all in one sitting, whereas with a full-length book, I usually take a week or two to get through it (unless I’ve got the time and passion for it). And because I tend to consume them in one sitting, I usually have less to say about them, because I sort of fly through them and don’t really take notes, like I do for my full-length novel posts and videos, hence why I’m kind of just putting them into one post. And because of that, I want to mention that I’m not really going to go into heavy detail about any of the things I’m talking about today.

First up is Bloom by Kevin Panetta, this is one that I remember buying a good long while ago, 2019 according to my purchase history. And, for some reason, I bought it thinking it was just a novel, and didn’t realise it was a graphic novel. Please don’t question that, I just saw the cover and thought it looked cute. I didn’t think it through. It’s been a good long while since I’ve read this, but one thing I remember enjoying about it, and this is a testament to the kind of reader I am, but I remember liking that the whole story was in one book.

But from what I remember, and I briefly saw it pop up on TikTok as well, but what I remember was that this was a straight up bakery romance. Like, it didn’t have much else to it, the whole thing was more or less just about the main character Ari, who no longer wants to spend his life at the bakery he loved working at as a kid. And then the love interest is Hector, someone who loves baking as much as Ari wants to get away from it. What I remember about this was that it was just nice. I know that’s such a basic thing to say, but I mean that in the sense of it was nice, wholesome, and not too think-y. Like, it had a basic romance plot it wanted to achieve and did it well.

Fence by CS Pacat is another one I’ve read some of. And I say some of because I own, and have read, the first three volumes, but haven’t gone any further than that, and I don’t think I’m going to go any further. It’s one of those that, I don’t think it has necessarily done anything wrong per se, it just hasn’t grabbed me. Like, the first three volumes haven’t inspired me to want to read on any further. If I’m being completely honest, I think it’s because the plot in those first three volumes didn’t move along as far as I would have liked it to, and there’s only so much fencing that I can care about while the characters take a backseat (Charli XCX ft Carly Rae Jepsen tease). And I remember that I only ended up getting these in the first place because I had read the Captive Prince trilogy, also by Pacat. However, I think I read those when I was only just starting to get into queer literature, so, for the time, they were a serve to me, but now, they probably wouldn’t be so much. Still, this follows Nicholas Cox who gets a place in this competitive school and is eager to prove himself. Again, it did nothing wrong, it just didn’t grab me as much as I would have liked it to.

So, I haven’t really read much manga, like I remember that I had a couple volumes of Yu-Gi-Oh! manga when I was younger, but that was literally it. Although, even as I’m writing this, the only manga that I’ve now read is Classmates (volumes 1-3) by Asumiko Nakamura. Now, there are more volumes to this manga, but volumes 1-3 cover one specific story from start to finish, so that’s why I’ve not ventured further. Still, Classmates is a BL manga, so it’s main selling point is the male/male relationship. If I’m not mistaken, BL is a genre that’s a lot more common in East and Southeast Asia (particularly South Korea, Japan and Thailand in terms of TV series) than it is in the West.

The vibe of this one is that Hikaru always thought his classmate, Rihito, was a snob. But one day he finds Rihito practicing a song in an empty classroom and ends up agreeing to being Rihito’s music tutor. And then in a shock twist to everyone, the two start getting closer, and it’s very much the gig-o-rama of will they just remain classmates, or become something more? I think what it was that really convinced me to read Classmates as my first BL manga was that when I was just browsing online, I came across something that said that this was praised for being much more light-hearted than Nakamura’s usual work, and that was the bit that got me. Because while there is a time and a place for heavy stuff, I’m just not the kind of person that can consume a lot of heavy stuff – I need to be in the right mental space too.

As for the story, it’s very much a first love kind of plot line for the two of them, and that’s very much the case I got from when I was reading it as both Hikaru and Rihito, spoiler alert, once they got together were doing a lot of navigating a first relationship, or a young relationship. And in terms of the conflict, a lot of it stems from it being a first relationship and also the fact they’re students, so there’s the looming threat of what will happen with their relationship once they finish school. I personally enjoyed it, and thought it was a good first foray into manga. It definitely made me want to look into some others – which I have already, and perhaps I was inspired to make this post because I ordered another manga.

And I feel like there’s no other graphic novel that I could end this post with other than Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. And I’m not going to lie, I’m going to put on my smug hat for a moment, and be one of those people, because I can say I was a fan before the show (eww lol). The only record I can find of me buying my volumes is the fact I bought volume three on Amazon in February 2021. But I’ve read the four volumes that have been released on paperback. I’ve not read any of the novellas, however.

Now I am so happy that the show even exists. Because as I was watching it, it was like, “Oh yeah, I remember that”. And I’m also not really sure what I can say about Heartstopper that won’t have been said about it by everyone else in the world. But (the first volume at least) it’s about first love pretty much. For the most part, it’s all wholesome and sweet. As you get through the volumes, the themes do change a little bit, more serious things do get explored. I also love the characters as well, outside of Charlie and Nick, I’d say my favourite character was, and is, Tori. I’m honestly just so happy that the show blew up the way that it did. Like, it makes me happy when queer media gets this massive attention – and bonus points when the queer media is good as well. Like I said, my issue is, I don’t know if there’s anything that I can say that hasn’t already been said. I’m excited, if a little nervous, about the upcoming seasons, just because of what happens in the graphic novels, but still… slay.

Sadly, I don’t have any clever way to close this post other than that was the post. Like I said, I haven’t delved all that deep into manga and graphic novels, but there are a few I’ve got my eye on, and one that I have a few volumes expected to be arriving soon. There likely will be a post about it, because it’s a manga that a show I love was based off. But that’s it, I think.

Okay, bye!