Let’s take a look at my favourite manga reads of January! While I did a lot of light novel reading as well, this list will only be including my manga—otherwise we would be here all day.
Note: although I typically try to leave Colette Decides to Die out of such lists and rankings, I’ve decided to include it in this one. It’s my favourite series, and I only have a few volumes left to read before it’s over for me! I need to enjoy it as much as I can.
This list is in no particular order, all of the included manga are my best of January. It was hard enough picking only 5 of them…
Colette Decides to Die, Volume 16
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This volume made me smile, then cry, then laugh. It was full of everything I could ever want in a story. We saw character development from just about all of the side characters, and we got some fluff between Colette and Hades—something that’s always welcome. This volume also contains one of my favourite one-off characters introduced in the series so far. While we get to meet many different such characters while following Colette on her travels, to me, none had such an emotionally impactful character as the man Colette meets in this volume. When it’s all over, and you’re so sad you could cry, Colette travels down to the underworld to see Hades, and everything is alright again.
Check out my review of volume 16 here!
Gin no Mugibatake / 銀の麦畑, Volume Three
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I was so worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the ending of this series, because writing a story that can properly end in just three volumes isn’t exactly easy. So many different characters and concepts were introduced, and we only just start to get a feel for the lore of the world come the end of the second volume. Thankfully, the majority of the third volume was spent on tying up loose ends. I really loved finally being given a full, proper backstory for one of the most mysterious characters in the series. It was absolutely worth the wait, as I found myself trying to guess at exactly what his motivations were. My only complaint is that I want more content from this series, I already miss the characters so much…
Check out my review of volume three here!
Spring Storm and Monster, Volume Four
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This is my current favourite toxic romance series. Kaya is so over the top crazy, but in a way you can help but love. Yeah he doesn’t think before he acts, and is emotionally abusive towards Ran, but it’s not without reason. Ran in Kaya’s whole world, and he’s only just learning how to have normal human interactions—so yeah, he’s bound to make a mistake here and there! The drama and craziness in this series is so over the top that I like to read it when I need a pick-me-up. It does a perfect job of distracting me from all of my own life’s troubles.
Check out my review of volume four here!
Love Bullet, Volume One
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I’ve been trying to find a GL that I could really get into, and this is the one. There’s action, there’s romance, and there’s a heavy amount of lore. I found the action and romance to balance each other out fairly well, with neither dragging on for too long. While we got quite a few action scenes, they were never the only focus of the story—they worked to move the plot along, rather than having an action scene just to have action in the story. Similarly with the romance, everything was clearly very purposeful. I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing of this one.
Check out my review of volume one here!
Blue Period, Volume One
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This was my first non-romance delinquent series, though I’m not sure I would really categorize it as a delinquent story. I love everything about Yatora’s character, and I enjoyed watching him discover his passion for art so much. Blue Period is all about discovering your passions, and pursuing them, even if the odds aren’t necessarily in your favour. If you had to choose between doing something you really didn’t care for and most likely making good money, and doing something that makes you feel alive and potentially not making all that much money, what would you pick? Would you be able to take a chance and follow your dreams?
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