With a bold, unique premise, excellent artwork, and a great mixture of action and ecchi humor, Chained Soldier is off to a roaring start with its debut volume. Nuanced gender dynamics mesh with a controversial plot mechanic that requires some critical thinking to appreciate. Join me today as I review Chained Soldier Vol 1 by Takahiro and Yohei Takemura!
Category: Reviews
Review: Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Vol 1
Bittersweet yuri are pretty common these days, but Kodansha’s new series, Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, offers an interesting and unexpected twist in the yuri genre. Join me today as I review the first volume of this new shoujo ai series!
Review: My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex
Confession time — I love step-sibling romances. The budding feelings, the hidden relationship, the taboo emotions fighting with lust and love — it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. And yet I’ve never read a step-sibling romance where the characters have already broken up.
Review – My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me
My praise for My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In For Me really can’t be overstated — this is a fantastic first volume, and any rom-com lover should immediately read it.
Mini-Review: The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Vol 3
It seems impossible for me to talk about this series without gushing praise. Three novels down, this series is a MUST-READ for anyone looking for a change of pace in isekai formulas. A reverse-isekai of sorts, this series follows Menou – an executioner tasked with eliminating Otherworlders from Japan, who enter this world with terrifyingly…
Mini-Review: Love & Lies Vol 1
What if the government arranged your marriage the moment you turned 16? What if you had already fallen in love and wanted to rebel against your fate? In a premise like a YA dystopian novel, Love & Lies is an ecchi romantic drama about a young boy who wants to pursue his own high-school crush,…
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Review, Vol 1 Review
Anyone who knows me or reads my reviews can confidently say I’m a sucker for squishy, fuzzy, adorable romance. The sappier and funnier the setup, the better! This light novel achieves all of that and more…
No Guns Life: Vol 1 Review
No Guns Life is a perfect cyberpunk hellscape and a unique standout of a manga.
Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon?, Vol 1
They say pride cometh before the fall, and clearly high expectations cometh before great disappointment. I’d heard great things about this series, but after the first volume, I’m left feeling short-changed like an adventurer after a bad day of monster-hunting.
The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria, Vol 1
To say almost anything about The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria, Vol 1, is to dangerously skirt around a minefield of plot spoilers and shocking twists that will leave you breathless. What I can say easily is that this trippy, confusing, and violently arresting novel is brilliant and will stick with me for a while.
Brett Michael Orr 