The Manga Test Drive

@mangatestdrive.bsky.social

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Reviewing the first volumes of manga to sort out the classics from the clunkers. Check out our sister site Renaissance Josei for longer reviews, essays and more!
http://mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/
https://renaissancejosei.blogspot.com/

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In honor of the Summer Olympics, we're looking at some Olympic sport-style manga this month. Representing competitive biking is Yowamushi Pedal, a former fujoshi favorite that mostly just left me exhausted.

Review: YOWAMUSHI PEDALmangatestdrive.blogspot.com It's once again time for the Summer Olympics, so in turn I'm going to be looking at some sports manga (and in particular those featuring spo...

Competing for views and Patreon dollars in this day and age is as challenging as any Olympic sport, but you can help by sharing links and supporting us here: www.patreon.com/MeganD

Just before Pride month ends, I gotta make some time to dig out one last oddity from my boxes of BL. In this case it's a demonic misfire called Mister Mistress, where an incubus does his best to trick his teenaged master into sex.

Review: MISTER MISTRESSmangatestdrive.blogspot.com I can't not close out this month by shooting the metaphorical fish in the barrel - i.e., reaching deep into my boxes of BL manga and findin...

Hunting down books like this isn't cheap, but you can help compensate year-round by supporting The Manga Test Drive via Patreon:

The Ruthless Commander and his Reincarnated Warhorse combines an outrageous premise with the novelty of BL isekai, but it just can't live up to the hype.

Review: THE RUTHLESS COMMANDER AND HIS REINCARNATED WARHORSEmangatestdrive.blogspot.com There's still not a lot of BL isekai out there, but this particular one stands out by virtue of having one of the wackiest premises I've se...

You don't have to wait to reincarnate at someone (or something) else to support The Manga Test Drive - you can do it right now (in this lifetime) via our Patreon:

We're keeping things simple this June by reviewing some selections from my many boxes of BL manga. We start with A Foreign Love Affair, an early work from a notable mangaka that demonstrates both her skills as an artist and her early struggles with writing.

Review: A FOREIGN LOVE AFFAIRmangatestdrive.blogspot.com It's time once more for me to dive into my boxes of BL and find a fresh new handful to talk about this Pride month. We'll start off simple ...

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Smuggler is a grim and gritty seinen one-shot about a failed actor turned Yakuza underling who finds himself playing the role of assassin to hide his mistakes. It's a bloody, grueling grind of a tale that somehow managed to get licensed twice.

Merry Month of Manga: SMUGGLERmangatestdrive.blogspot.com And now we switch gears hard, going from a sensitive and accomplished coming-of-age drama to a messy seinen crime story. SMUGGLER, by Shohe...

This was a dreary one to get through, so why not improve the mood by joining our Patreon?

Shino Can't Say Her Name is both a powerful yet simple drama about a teen girl struggling to make friends in spite of her stutter and a welcome departure from Shuzo Oshimi's usual brand of anxiety-riddled horror.

Merry Month of Manga: SHINO CAN'T SAY HER NAMEmangatestdrive.blogspot.com I finally found it - a Shuzo Oshimi manga that doesn't have weird hangups about women! It's a miracle! SHINO CAN'T SAY HER NAME ( Shino-ch...

Sometimes it's a struggle to stay motivated as a manga blogger, especially when you've been doing so for over a decade. The support of the site's Patron's is one of the things that keeps this blog going - won't you join them?

Tomcats is a BL manga without a lot of actual BL and a whole lot of freaky little cat-people having whimsical adventures. Who is this made for?

Merry Month of Manga: TOMCATSmangatestdrive.blogspot.com One of the advantages of a month of one-shots is that it gives me a chance to do some deep diving in my piles of BL books, since most of tho...

Once you're done boggling over this latest review, feel free to swing by our Patreon page and throw us a dollar or two a month:

As we enter Year 13 of The Manga Test Drive, we're celebrating with a month's worth of one-shots. We're starting with Short-Tempered Melancholic & Other Stories as once again I try to find an Arina Tanemura manga that I actually like.

Merry Month of Manga: SHORT-TEMPERED MELANCHOLIC AND OTHER STORIESmangatestdrive.blogspot.com As this blog enters its 13th year, I'm celebrating it in the usual fashion: a month's worth of reviews. This time around, it's all One-Vol...

These review marathons are always a lot of hard work, and you can reward that hard work by support the site on Patreon:

April showers bring not flowers but magical girls here at the Manga Test Drive. First up is Pretear, the manga adaptation of a forgotten early 00s series that tries to improve on its source material but fumbles the presentation.

Review: PRETEARmangatestdrive.blogspot.com Spring is finally springing forth at last, and with it comes a month of magical girl manga here at the Manga Test Drive. Our first title is...

As we gear up for next month's anniversary, you can help to make our celebration all the better by joining the Manga Test Drive Patreon. Support starts at $1/month and every dollar helps:

There's one last bit of tidying to do this month now that the Easter festivities are done. A Tale of an Unknown Country is a rare instance of shojo maid manga, but its refusal to let any tension linger undercuts any emotion it tries to build.

Review: A TALE OF AN UNKNOWN COUNTRYmangatestdrive.blogspot.com It

It's not too late to leave us one last Easter goody by throwing a dollar or two at The Manga Test Drive Patreon:

Modern maid manga can be horny too, but they tend to be more low-key about it. Just look at The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious, a teasing-style rom-com about a lonely little rich boy and the pretty maid who gently teases him.

Review: THE MAID I HIRED RECENTLY IS MYSTERIOUSmangatestdrive.blogspot.com That

This maid might be mysterious, but there's no mystery to how you can support The Manga Test Drive. Just share our reviews and join our Patreon for as little as $1/month:

Hanaukyo Maid Team is typical of the kinds of maid manga we got during the early 2000s: a dull harem manga learning hard on "wacky" comedy and fanservice, brought down even further by a shoddy presentation.

Review: HANAUKYO MAID TEAMmangatestdrive.blogspot.com The peak of maid manga came at the beginning of the millennium, when literally any doofus could make a ecchi manga, throw some maids in it,...

Your financial support allows The Manga Test Drive to keep digging up oddities like this. Even just an extra dollar per month helps.

It's time for a little spring cleaning here at the Manga Test Drive, which means it's time to look at some maid manga. My Maid, Miss Kishi is a low-key rom-com about a fabulously wealthy (and klutzy) man who only wants show his gratitude to his hyper-competent yet stone-faced personal maid.

Review: MY MAID, MISS KISHImangatestdrive.blogspot.com With spring on the horizon, it's time for some spring cleaning. That makes it the perfect time of year to look at a few of the many maid ma...

Hopefully your own spring cleanings will help you find a little extra change to throw at this humble little review site through our Patreon:

Maburaho dares to ask "what if there was a harem manga where all the girls wanted from the protagonist was his sperm?" There's certainly nothing else here that anyone would call desirable (or readable).

Review: MABURAHOmangatestdrive.blogspot.com Well, for once I'm reviewing a harem manga where I understand precisely what the girls see in the lead. It's a terrible reason, but I can co...

You don't need magic to figure how to support The Manga Test Drive. Just share our reviews and throw us some money on Patreon:

I don't know if it's reassuring or not that Kodansha has always been pumping out shojo manga about taming Asshole-kuns, even when they were still Del Ray Manga. Four-Eyed Prince is an early example of such, one that leans heavily on its taboo step-sibling relationship in lieu of likability.

Review: FOUR-EYED PRINCEmangatestdrive.blogspot.com I don't know if it's reassuring or not that Kodansha has always been peddling shojo manga about taming Asshole-kuns to Americans, even when ...

The Valentine's Day treats may be off the shelves by now, but it's not too late to give The Manga Test Drive the sweet treat of your financial support: