Author: Daisuke Sato
Manga-ka: Shouji Sato
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: January 2012

Synopsis: “Takashi and his fellow students join up with a band of survivors who have barricaded themselves inside a local mall. Though the shopping center seems a well-stocked place to hide from the undead lurking outside, the policewoman in charge is having a hard time maintaining peace within. The group from Fujimi High would rather not get involved in a power struggle and tries to stay under the radar until they are ready to set off again. But with so many attractive, buxom girls among the students, it may be nearly impossible to avoid unwanted attention of the worst kind…”

I had some apprehension going into Highschool of the Dead. From the art and the write-up, I assumed that the manga was going to be little more than a mix of tits, ass, and gore. While those are indeed the three main ingredients in this volume, the manga has enough going for it that I enjoyed it anyway.

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Manga-ka: Hotaru Odagiri
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Welcomed into the arms of the Giou clan and the Zweilt, Yuki reaches out to his comrades even as he is drawn into their war with the darkness. But the demonic Duras continue to spread their malevolence around Yuki, and the members of his new family are not impervious either, as one of their own vanishes without a trace and yet another is cornered by a sudden ambush. In the Zweilt, Yuki may well have found the long-sought-after place he belongs, but the enemy seems intent on stealing it out of his grasp forever. And when the shadowy figure of “Reiga,” the nemesis of the Giou, finally steps into the light, will Yuki find himself utterly alone, crushed by the weight of the truth?”

They say there are only so many types of stories, and one of them has to be ‘pretty people with super powers fight bad guys for fate of the world.’ The Betrayal Knows My Name not only follows this basic plot, it also has all the tropes you usually see in battle shojo manga: beautiful boys and girls, lots of destiny talk, plenty of fights and even more angst. While it’s not going to replace CLAMP’s X as the flagship title for the genre, it has its own strengths and charms that make it an enjoyable series.

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Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2010

Synopsis: “There is a Japanese saying that goes, “Hana yori dango,” or “dumplings over flowers.” And no one is more of an advocate of this adage than mangaka Y-naga, a woman whose life revolves around her intense work and equally intense sleep schedule. The only thing that can rouse her out of this infernal cycle of deadlines and being dead to the world? Food. As Y-naga and her friends visit restaurants around Tokyo to satisfy their appetites, their individual approaches to food add an extra dimension to their witty and comical interactions.”

Manga about food is similar to manga about music – they have to convey things through a visual medium that are pretty much impossible to capture visually. For music manga, it’s the sound of an instrument or a beautiful voice singing out, while for food manga it’s that taste of a delicious meal. But while you can’t substitute one sense for another, many manga-ka have risen to the challenge and found fun ways to convey different sensations through images. Fumi Yoshinaga only manages to make it halfway. While Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! is a fun read, it didn’t leave me hungry, a bad sign in a manga about food.

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