Manga Review: Manabiya

Title: Manabiya
Author: Kojima Akira
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: B
Characters: S
Humor: A
Action: B

Impression: Kojima’s new publication is about a young man who enters the first year of high school. His father recently remarried so now with a step-mother in his life he has more time to devote to his social life. He is unsure about what kind of person he should be but following his father’s advice to use all the free time he now has to make the most out of his life, he joins the photography club along with two girls. The first few pages of this story start with a look into the future where we see a married and possibly pregnant woman whose face is hidden from us looking through a photo album. One particular picture of the entire photography taken by the young man is shown to us in great detail as a two page color spread promising a huge cast of colorful characters. I really enjoyed Mahoraba a lot so I was delighted when I heard he had a new manga out a few months ago. It’s still very early into the series but I really like how the author hasn’t changed his style from his previous work. Same artwork and humor with new characters and it seems that this one will also be focusing on them going after happiness again. There is the added element of trying to guess which of the two girls is the woman looking through the album but as it’s meant to be obvious I’m guessing the blond one. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this story will develop.