 Hey everybody, welcome back to another edition of what I've been reading or manga first impressions. This time we got five different books. We're sort of combining everything into one big video here. So let's get started. Sword of the Demon Hunter Kijin Gintosho Volume 1. The story is by Motu Nakanishi and the art by Yu Satomi. This one's actually pretty interesting. I got excited when I read the plot description and the solicit when it was first revealed and I was eagerly anticipating it and I think it didn't disappoint. Obviously there's more to the story here. This volume follows the young samurai warrior called Jinta and he has dedicated his life to protecting this mountain village and he is best friends with the priestess. Now these two have a very loving relationship. They can't be together because of their obligations and roles in life, but the wholesomeness is pretty evident when they have some alone time and they can just relax and talk and you see the warmth and care that they have for each other. Could there be a romance brewing there? Maybe. There are some branches thrown in that path so we'll see how that story develops. But the biggest thing about this manga is that the solicit already spoils it so I'm not brewing anything for you guys. There is time travel involved. At the start of the book it begins in 2009 but then we go back in time 170 years with the same character. So yeah, the description talks about him finding this weird forest as he's trying to protect his village from an incoming assault from these demon characters and I guess the forest will lead into this magical time warp or something. We'll have to see. Once that happens in volume 1 we mostly get set ups of the village, the characters, the bad guys, standard stuff like that. Another thing to mention is the sister of the main character who is present here in the front cover. Their relationship is pretty unique. There is a secret to his sister and I did appreciate that it is also a very wholesome relationship happening and the village seems to be aware of the difference between the two characters. I don't make a fuss about it even though secretly it might bother some in this village. I think the biggest selling point for sort of the demon hunter has to be the art by Yu Satomi. I love that the character models are not as defined but when it matters it cranks it up to 11 and you get some really dynamic fluid scenes whether it's the character of Jinta swinging a sword or the demon character is just being on panel and just looking really menacing. Everything looks top notch. It has that loosey feel to it if that makes sense but overall the characters and backgrounds it's stylized enough that I really enjoyed and made it a fun experience to check out. I'm eagerly awaiting volume 2 which as of this video I did place an order for it so I should be getting it soon and I can continue my adventure with this series. So if you like a samurai story with monsters and a cool little twist with the whole possible time travel stuff then go ahead and pick up Sword of the Demon Hunter volume 1. Next one is level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero. This is a story and art by Tofu. I hope I said that right. In this one level 1 Demon Lord the Demon Lord of this fantasy earth has been slain and it's been like a decade of peace and tranquility. The world has advanced. It looks a lot more like our modern earth and at the start of the series the Demon Lord is unfortunately reborn but prematurely and he shows up as a young brat. His secretary kind of being a nerd decided to fit him with skirts and made outfits and sailor uniforms so that was pretty random and bizarre but it's in line with the odd wacky humor of this series. Now the Demon Lord was defeated by the main hero Max so now the Demon Lord wants to track him down after 10 long years to see how his biggest enemy is doing and to his surprise and everybody myself included the hero is not what anybody anticipated instead he is a shell of his former self sort of a has been a hero down on his luck out of a job in these times of peace and tranquility there's no room for a hero and his adventuring and all that stuff because there's no threats and unfortunately Max got into some hot scandals that sort of tarnished his reputation with the public eye so he's just laying low drinking a lot lazing about in his apartment building and not really doing much until the Demon Lord shows up they're both equally shocked for different reasons and essentially without going too much into the plot of the book as we'd be here all day it turns into this buddy adventures slash episodic series of these two polar opposite characters now forming a kind of a weird friendship of sorts of relationship the main hero is not someone you want to root for but he has that hebroxide to him so we know that he is going to get better as the series progresses or at least I like to think so there are a lot of jokes here that are a bit raunchy there's some not safe for work moment so I know it's not going to be for everybody but if you don't mind it obviously this is I would say this is a an older teen and up comedy series and you want that fantasy story and tropes aspect to it I think you'll be right at home with level one demon lord and one room hero that name doesn't roll off the tongue as smooth as you would like but the one cool thing that I wanted to mention is that I was initially intrigued by this book because of the art and in all honesty I don't think level one demon lord deserves the amazing art that tofu is giving it holy smokes this impressed the heck out of me it has very detailed character designs simplistic backgrounds that create a very sharp contrast with the highly detailed characters and when you get the cool reveals and splash pages I couldn't help but think that this book reminded me of more of the whimsical comedy manga series from the late 80s early 90s it had that vibe going for it and I was really digging it so yeah I'm definitely going to be checking out more of this series I did enjoy volume one if you're in the mood for a comedic slice of life fantasy series with some raunchy humor then you'll be right at home with level one demon lord and one room hero okay so for this next one we're going to talk about both books at the same time here tatsuki Fujimoto before chainsaw man we got the first one here 17 to 21 and the second one 22 to 26 that's a mouthful so essentially these are eight short stories created by tatsuki Fujimoto the mangaka of famous series such as fire punch and chainsaw man in these four stories we get small adventures that the creator made back when he was younger and just starting out as a mangaka the first book here has four stories a couple clucking chickens were still kicking in the schoolyard which is a really inventive twist on an alien invasion with a nice twist towards the end that I really loved sasaki stopped a bullet is a romantic comedy story about a kid with the insane ability to stop a bullet as he saves his teacher from being murdered by a gunman love is blind follows this wholesome dim-witted protagonist as he's trying to confess his love to his friend in the student council even when chaos and potential armageddon is happening around them uh shikaku follows the story of this young girl who is a really savage hitman and she now is involved with this spoiler vampire character that wants to die want somebody to kill him so it goes into crazy mode with hyper violence a lot of blood and just good old-fashioned action that if you're a fan of chainsaw man only fujimoto can provide the second book has four more stories the first one here is mermaid rhapsody which follows a young kid in a seaside town and lately we've been talking about mermaids a lot on this channel so I thought that was pretty wild in this short story we follow this kid like I mentioned his mom was a mermaid unfortunately she passed away and he sort of wants to explore the ocean and reconnect somehow with his deceased mother the next one is woke up as a girl syndrome this one is kind of wacky this couple is facing a dilemma when the guy suddenly wakes up the next day and finds out that he's been turned into a girl and now the couple has a decision to make are they gonna split up are they gonna look for an answer is he going to explore a way to turn back into a guy are they going to continue like this so obviously you know the metaphors are pretty on the nose but it's cool and I like that fujimoto takes these big swings with concepts like this and even though they might not be the most revolutionary they are a way to engage the audience and and talk about these things from a fantastical side if that makes sense to you guys now yuta of the prophecy which is one of the longest stories on this collection follows a young girl she is prophesized to be this demon girl that will bring about the apocalypse and the destruction of the world her only family is an older brother so he's doing everything possible to keep her safe while the world wants her dead and it's very dramatic and there's a lot of violent images because of my yuta and obviously she is a little bit different her speech and actions and she's very macabre in what she's doing there's a purpose to it as you find out towards the end I thought it was a pretty heartwarming scene and I like that fujimoto stated in this book that he considers an yuta to be his favorite character so hopefully we get more of that in the future I would like to read more about their adventures in another book possibly the final one is sisters which follows an unconventional little story of an older sister and a younger one and sort of their rivalry the younger one looks up to the older one and decides to make a fake nude portrait of the older one and it ends up wowing everybody at school and it wins a prize and it gets displayed so the older sister is now extremely angry and embarrassed so she's trying to get back at her and do the same thing and you know at that point it's full crazy fujimoto mode in my opinion I didn't really dig it but it was certainly unique I'll say that much I love short stories because you can tell like little story capsules and you don't have to explain the world or the world building I should say you don't have to go too in depth with the characters it's just a small moment in a character's life and what they're doing etc etc you can go all out and do crazy ideas with unexpected twists and endings without a huge commitment for fans I like that about short stories and with this you get that obviously some are misses but most are kind of hits in my opinion I would say my favorite stories would be mermaid nayuta and the first one with the chickens I'd like to see the progress of the art especially compared to the first one with the chickens and to the last one with sisters which more closely resembles what we've seen with chainsaw man so overall it's a nice little package if you're a fan of the mangaka I would suggest picking it up for your collection if not I don't think it's a must get unless you're in the mood for short wacky interesting stories and even then I wouldn't say you need to rush out and get this but if you're interested yeah go check it out tatsuki fujimoto before chainsaw man one and two here the final book that we're going to talk about is insomniacs after school by makoto ojiro this is a drama slice of life series about two characters that are suffering from insomnia now at this school there was a rumor that the astronomy club was haunted by several dark things that happened there so it was closed down and one of the characters whose name is magari she finds that it's a pretty sweet spot to just chill out and sleep the other character ganta nakami is the main lead and he is suffering from insomnia and other mental health issues and they're just tired they want peace and quiet and they can't get it at home so the two sort of by chance meet up at the astronomy club they don't really know each other that well they're in the same class but they don't really talk to each other and it comes off as a surprise but they quickly find common ground with their predicament and a relationship and friendship starts to form unfortunately they can't stay in the club as it is so the teachers suggest that they reactivate or reinstall the astronomy club and the two of them participate in it so it evolves from a slice of life potential romance into a school life series with nighttime photography and astronomy and all that wonderful stuff i really like this first volume i think it's pretty cool i love the artwork even though it's not the most complex thing there's a really nice craftsmanship here when you take a look at the details in the characters faces the aesthetic is very mid cartoonish if you will but there is some really nice details like i mentioned so that sort of contrast or dynamic between the two styles i thought was pretty nice and gave it a really distinct look it's a very fast-paced read this volume won't take you long to read and you'll be wanting to check out more fortunately volume two i think it's like two months away from me making this video and there's also the anime adaptation that's currently airing which i've also been enjoying so yeah highly recommended if you're in for some slice of life and potential romance i think this is a really fun series to try insomniacs after school do check it out i think it's worth your time in my opinion okay so that was sort of a supersized edition of what i've been reading first impressions video if you've read any of these stories let me know in the comment section down below but that is going to be it for now thank you everybody for liking commenting and being a part of the manga geekdom here on youtube truly do appreciate it you guys are the best god bless stay safe out there i will catch all of you on our next episode