Manga

There are two series that I wanted to talk about this week. I discovered both of them from others in this community, and this past week have spent time digging through the backlog of both of them.

• Koudo ni Hattatsu Shita Igaku wa Mahou to Kubetsu ga Tsukanai - Any Highly Advanced Medicine Is Indistinguishable From Magic

Basic premise of this series is that a modern doctor/surgeon from Japan is isekai'ed into a fantasy world with his medical supplies (his bag has a lot of stuff in it apparently). In the fantasy setting, only humans are able to use healing magic, and they exploit this to exert control over the other races. Our isekai'ed MC ends up teaching modern medical techniques to the non-human races, upsetting the world's balance of power.

I have liked parts of this series a lot. Basically any part of the story that focuses on the main character that was transported from Japan has been great. I think the medical issues he is presented with and the diagnosis/treatment process are really well done. Perhaps even too well done...having watched surgical recordings as part of my professional life, they are never as nice and neat as they are drawn in these chapters. This part of the story has been fantastic.

However, as the series has gone on, it has started featuring an alternate storyline focusing on the healing mages that exist in the human kingdom of the fantasy world. I just haven't really been able to get invested in this part of the story. There are a lot of characters that I have trouble keeping straight, and at least so far, have had very little or no interaction with the isekai'ed MC. I am willing to give this series some more time, but this part of the story has not lived up to the other half so far.

• Rebuild World

Short synopsis of this series is that it is a post-apocalyptic setting in which a boy from the slums, exploring the wasteland in search of valuable relics from a technological era gone by, is on the verge of death. In that moment, he sees a woman that nobody else can see, and she provides him support to overcome the harsh world that would have otherwise finished him off.

I am not fully caught up on this series yet, but I am getting pretty close to current. I have enjoyed this series a lot. Akira, the MC, is a fun MC that isn't somebody that will always jump to do the "right thing" in every situation. He grew up an orphan in the slums, surrounded by death. He is fittingly untrusting of others and will not hesitate to save himself instead of going out of his way to save others.

The relationship that he develops with his partner, Alpha, is pretty fun. There are lots of mysteries around Alpha, but she seems to be some kind of artificial intelligence. For an AI, she has a good sense of humor and teases Akira a lot. They have a really good chemistry together. The bulk of the story revolves around just the two of them doing things in the wasteland/ruins, so if their relationship wasn't good, then this whole series would fall apart.

Been reading "Demoted to a teacher the strongest sage raises an unbeatable class" myself. Not sure what original japanese title is, but it's also probably a mouthful. It's one of those "magic school" titles, and while there isn't anything outstanding about it - neither characters nor plot - i haven't felt like putting it down. A decent light read to past the time and relax after work. Art is ok, but there are quite few empty frames with only speech bubbles in them. Translation is alright too.

I'm not going to do the usual update compilation for the ongoing series as I don't think it's of any use to anyone, but I would like to highlight a title I haven't posted here until recently: The Big Bees.

It's a series about various people interacting with the titular big bees in random non-bee ways. It has cute art, bees are fluffy and adorable, and the whole thing brings a smile to my face anytime I read it. It's a pretty new series (only 18 short chapters so far) but if you want a dose of happiness, you won't be disappointed.