Manga Recap 2025

I read manga quite a lot this year, it remains one of my favorite forms of entertainment, so much so I’m even considering to get a tablet just to read it and enjoy it on a bigger screen (No, I will never turn into one of those maniacs who read manga on a laptop screen).

I’m rather impressed with the amount of reading I got done in this regard, it easily balances out the fact I missed my reading goal this year. I started a few very long series, continued with a lot of familiar faces, and even completed a couple of titles that I had been following for a while.

Completed in 2025

Ariadne in the Blue Sky

Start: 2025-08-10 End: 2025-11-09

This started out as a super random choice, if I’m honest, the kind of thing I would have never found if it wasn’t because I checked the page of the artist who worked on Claymore and realized that they also worked on this, which was released later on in 2017.

Ariadne in the Blue Sky leaves the dark fantasy, revenge story of its predecessor and goes for more wholesome setting, a journey through a colorful world full of cities and races to meet and explore, all to fulfill the dream of a girl escaping from her sheltered life dictated by her parents. This is done by teaming up with Lacile, our protagonist, a happy go lucky kid with a mysterious past and the power to weild light as a weapon.

Soon we realize this girl is actually a princess from a floating city in the sky, and multiple people with their own agendas want to capture her, bring her back home, or something in between.

This shonen manga is full of great moments and the story is a mix of fantasy and science fiction, there are many characters that well meet and join the journey. It really was a wonderful story from start to finish, and when the plot unfolds and more serious things start to happen, it only gets better. If I can complain about anything, there are quite a bit of fanservicey panels that made things kinda weird.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this!

Erased

Start: 2025-11-18 End: 2025-11-19

A young adult struggling through life has the power to rewind time minutes at a time in order to avoid catastrophe. This is triggered by accident though, not at will, and even when he saves the day, he ends up in trouble for it. However, life isn’t that bad, he has dreams of becoming a Manga artist, and does honest work delivering food. Until one day an unexpected event changes everything.

After her mother falls victim to a serial killer and is chased by the police, he’ll be framed as the culprit, and be chased by the police. In the momment, he will accidentally trigger his power and go back—further than ever before—eighteen years in the past, as a child, still in primary school, the time where a series of serial killings happened in his city, by the same man who murdered his mom. He’ll meet and befriend one of the victims and stay close, with the goal of saving them and figure out how to trap the killer, and save his future.

This was absolutely incredible to read, the elements of mystery, mixed with coming of age elements, the nostalgia for being a kid again, the thrill of the chase and the revelations. The way the plot unfolds and of course how the past and the present intertwine, it was a fantastic read. A pretty short manga that I finished in a couple days.

Komi Can’t Communicate

Start: 2021-11-13 End: 2025-12-05

Everyone should know about Komi at this point, one of the most popular rom-com mangas and animes of late. Komi-san is the prettiest girl at school, but she’s also completely unable to hold a conversation. Since she’s so pretty, nobody even tries to approach her anyway, giving her a certain reputation as a serious, prestigious girl.

Of course, she’s just normal, and Tadano sees through this, becomes his friend, and decides to help her on a goal of hers, to make 100 friends in a high school full of weirdos!

This was the first manga I read, I was so new into this I even felt shame for reading a cutesy romance. Honestly, looking back, I’m so happy I gave it a go! It went a little overboard with the amount of characters it handles. Komi and Tadano make a great couple, and I loved the variety of situations they went through. Despite how convoluted it got, I think it stuck the landing really well and it was a wonderful journey to finally complete.

Started in 2025

Hunter x Hunter

Start: 2025-01-23

This is simple. Hunter x Hunter is absolutely my favorite manga this year. A fantastic journey that I started in January and constantly read until I was forced to wait, because it’s currently on hiatus.

This is simply a masterpiece. We follow Gon at first, a young happy go lucky kid that wants to find his dad and follow on his footsteps of becoming a Hunter.

Wait, what are you saying? That’s the most generic and predictable plot ever? Shut up and listen to me.

This is as good as it gets.

There is an artistry to this stuff, and Togashi—the creator of this series—knows this very well. Everytime you think the story will go somewhere, it goes elsewhere, every arc I’ve read of this is unique and a pleasure. If Ariadne manages some great plot twists, flashbacks and the like that move the story forward, HxH will completely flip the script, it will go from a tournament arc to a videogame isekai to a heist to a political intrigue, and of course, the ultimate, the glorious Chimera Ant Arc, one of the most incredible stories I’ve ever read. There are dozens and dozens of chapters where Gon won’t even show up. The whole party of characters is awesome and each have their own incredible journeys, and when they team up? Even better.

Absolutely give this a read, but if you won’t be able to stop like me for more chapters to come out, maybe wait…

Chainsaw Man Part 2

Start: 2025-09-18

If Hunter x Hunter is the ultimate example of what a shonen should be, Chainsaw Man is the ultimate deconstruction of the genre. We don’t have a happy go lucky guy, we got a horny dude who gets combined with the chainsaw devil, and a bunch of other people with emotional issues who also have contracts with devils, all of this to keep other devils in check and humanity alive, or at least try to.

Hunter x Hunter peeks behind the courtains of the stereotypes of the genre many times—and it does so masterfully. However, Chainsaw Man rips off the curtains and presents us a bleak reality where nobody gets what they want just because they are trying their best. I finished the first part of the series ages ago. In Part 2, we get a new protagonist with a life that also sucks, and she blames Chainsaw Man for it. She ends up in terrible situations time after time, and ends up combining with another devil who wants a similar goal, to defeat Chainsaw Man.

The events going on here are funny, horrifying, often full with sexual tension and of course, carnage everywhere. It is not a read for everyone, but it eventually becomes a sort of parody, while also being sort of serious, and having and excentric undertone the whole way through, it feels like the author is perfectly aware of how ridiculous everything is, while still getting us to care about the characters and what sort of lesson will be learned in the end.

Usogui

Start: 2025-03-21

While the weakest of the entries I started this year, this is only because the other two are absolute masterpieces almost from the getgo, while this was a bit of a random pick.

This is a gambling manga with action elements mixed into it. That’s the main draw of this story. It’s not just about a smart guy who makes bets and gets rich. This is a gambler who stakes his life against all odds at every moment.

There are Yakuza-like organizations and plots to cause an economic crisis by launching missiles at some buildings. At the same time there’s a seemingly simple game of Old Maid going on where the loser will end up dead, hanged by the neck.

The one thing that can be kinda rough about this manga is the art. It is completely serviceable, but it’s kinda realistic and kinda off at once, it is a known fact that it will get a lot better later on—just look at some screenshots of some popular panels and they are insane—and I am looking forward to that. Oh, and I only read around 60 chapters so far, and it has more than 500! I will probably stick with it though, it’s kind of hype to see the types of bets and the stakes going on each arc.

Ongoing

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End - Still a fantastic journey thus far, but it got in hiatus again and I am caught up. The current arc involves a plot against the most powerful mage alive, a ball room dance and a visit to the longest-lasting empire in the world! It is exhilarating. I love the multiple plots coming together, the “bad guys” are having quite the spotlight as well which makes all the different perspectives of why they want to do what they want to do.

• Kingdom - This is PEAK alongside Hunter x Hunter, but we are dealing with a true Epic with 800+ chapters. We follow the journey of Shin, a slave boy with a dream, who at this point in time has managed to become a general of his own army, fighting for the unification of all of China under the kingdom of Qin. Right now, the biggest war against Zhao, a state opposing this unification, and Riboku, the biggest obstacle, the general who wants to put a stop to it, are battling against our protagonists. Each army has 400,000 men, and the stakes are higher than ever.

• DanDaDan - One of the craziest manga I love to read, the protagonist somehow ended up shrinking and everyone is trying to find a way to cure her, they are on a plane and a giant shark tornado destroys it, they use a giant serpent to go to the eye of the tornado (a literal giant eye) and stop it, I am not sure of what else is going on, but it’s ridiculously fun and actually heartwarming.

• Blue Lock - A new arc approaches, the U-20 World Cup! After some good training, the team is ready to face in the group phase with England, France and Nigeria! Japan is at their best, but will it be enough? Just some epic shots and moments to be found here, super entertaining.

• Spy x Family - The slice of manga prevails! Who cares if the plot doesn’t move forward even an inch? All the characters and side-characters keep getting fleshed out in wonderful ways and I honestly can’t complain at all. One of the most beautiful backstories or romance and tragedy I’ve read happened in a few chapters, and it has been a lovely time.

• My Wife is from a Thousand Years Ago - Wholesome rom-com! I just love it! They finally got married (at least on paper) and now they are just getting ready for a proper wedding and the like (they really took more than a hundred parents for the lady to actually become a wife, but anyway). This just just so fun and wholesome to read, and the fact it is chinese means some interesting cultural stuff happens too.

• Yokohama Kaidashu Kikou - I love this with a passion, you have no idea, I love to read every chapter, I savour them like the sweetest of treats. A hopeful and nostalgic post-apocalyptic land where we follow the peaceful life of Alpha, a robot lady with a coffee shop and a lot of friends. Please please please read this one, it is filled with charm and love, hope and melancholy. I don’t ever want it to end.

• Sakamoto Days - Ultimate action sequences at their best, this is pretty much just a super cool shonen manga to be reading, it doesn’t have the best story but I absolutely love the art and the characters. It has been a while though.

• How to Grill Our Love - A wonderful rom-com manga where the couple is actually married in the first few chapters, and they bond over grilling food. Of course, this also means we get some wonderful art that will get you very hungry. It’s really cute though! I love it.

• The Way of the House Husband - Haven’t gone back to this one in a while, but it’s a very funny comedy manga about an ex-Yakuza who married and lives a normal life as a house husband, but everyone is scared of him and his funny gangster mannerisms.

• Uncle from Another World - I should return to this one too, I just haven’t had the drive for it! It’s a fun one, half isekai, half slice of life. I guess I just got plenty of good fantasy to fill myself.

• One Punch Man - It’s One Punch Man, I don’t need to tell you anymore. It’s always a sight to behold, even if the story is a little bit wonky right now.

Finishing thoughts

What a great year it was for my manga I must say, I absolutely loved a lot of my ongoing series, but the highlight has to go to Hunter x Hunter, what a wonderful discovery, I wish I had started it earlier but at the same time I didn’t because I don’t wanna be waiting forever for the next chapter.

The fact that Komi Can’t Communicate is over is also kind of crazy for me, and the other two mangas I finished were awesome too for completely different reasons.

Looking forward to how this year goes!

This is day 3 of #100DaysToOffload