The Manga Test Drive
@mangatestdrive.bsky.social
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!
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The Manga Test Drive
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
Welcome to The Manga Test Drive, where we try out the first volume of mangas old and new to sort out the classics from the clunkers! You can find us at the link below.
We also have a side blog (renaissancejosei.blogspot.com) and a Patreon (www.patreon.com/c/MeganD)
We also have a side blog (renaissancejosei.blogspot.com) and a Patreon (www.patreon.com/c/MeganD)
Eureka Seven is a cursed mecha franchise. It's not just that its anime sequels and spinoffs are all bad, but even manga spinoffs like Gravity Boys & Lifting Girl are tedious bores.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
Review: EUREKA SEVEN: GRAVITY BOYS & LIFTING GIRL
During the brief time period that Bandai Entertainment tried to be a manga publisher in the US, the majority of their titles were manga spin...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Eureka Seven is a cursed mecha franchise. It's not just that its anime sequels and spinoffs are all bad, but even manga spinoffs like Gravity Boys & Lifting Girl are tedious bores.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
From the creator of D.N. Angel comes the manga adaptation of one of Yoshiyuki Tomino's most notorious works: Brain Powered. In some ways it improves upon the material, but there's only so much anyone can do to clarify this mess.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
Review: BRAIN POWERED
I guess it's finally time for me to look at this manga adaptation of one of the worst mecha shows in history, albeit from a surprising sourc...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:45 PM
From the creator of D.N. Angel comes the manga adaptation of one of Yoshiyuki Tomino's most notorious works: Brain Powered. In some ways it improves upon the material, but there's only so much anyone can do to clarify this mess.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
It's mecha month once again at The Manga Test Drive! There's been a recent wave of mecha-related isekai manga lately and I Was Sold Dirt-Cheap But My Power Lever Is Off the Charts is...frankly pretty typical of the genre, with all that implies.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
Review: I WAS SOLD DIRT CHEAP BUT MY POWER LEVEL IS OFF THE CHARTS
It's mecha month once more, and that includes isekai manga. There's been a recent spate of isekai light novel adaptations featuring mecha a...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM
It's mecha month once again at The Manga Test Drive! There's been a recent wave of mecha-related isekai manga lately and I Was Sold Dirt-Cheap But My Power Lever Is Off the Charts is...frankly pretty typical of the genre, with all that implies.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/11/revi...
One last spooky review for you all, and it's a doozy: Naoki Uruasawa's legendary serial killer manga Monster.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
Review: MONSTER
Of course, perhaps the most unnerving sort of manga are those about people whose minds and hearts become twisted enough to kill their fellow...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:37 PM
One last spooky review for you all, and it's a doozy: Naoki Uruasawa's legendary serial killer manga Monster.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
We return to the spooky world of Kanako Inuki with School Zone, where supernatural forces convene upon a group of schoolchildren in an interconnected but flawed anthology:
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
Review: SCHOOL ZONE
It's the perfect time of year to look at yet another series from a legendary horror mangaka...just maybe not her best one. SCHOOL ZONE ( Suk...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
We return to the spooky world of Kanako Inuki with School Zone, where supernatural forces convene upon a group of schoolchildren in an interconnected but flawed anthology:
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun is a more modern and friendly take on spooky shonen manga, where a kind young boy gets sold by parents to demons only to find himself making friends and fumbling his way up the social ladder in a hellish school for demons.
Review: WELCOME TO DEMON SCHOOL! IRUMA-KUN
Thankfully, there's a much more recent shonen manga with a spooky theme that is a lot more confident in itself and its purpose, even if the ...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
October 20, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun is a more modern and friendly take on spooky shonen manga, where a kind young boy gets sold by parents to demons only to find himself making friends and fumbling his way up the social ladder in a hellish school for demons.
We're looking at horror manga this month, starting with Lycanthrope Leo. I came to this hoping for a simple werewolf tale, but what I got was a weird old shonen manga that can never quite decide on its tone.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
Review: LYCANTHROPE LEO
It's October, which means time for more spooky manga. I picked this one out hoping to get a neat werewolf story, which is something of a ra...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM
We're looking at horror manga this month, starting with Lycanthrope Leo. I came to this hoping for a simple werewolf tale, but what I got was a weird old shonen manga that can never quite decide on its tone.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/10/revi...
Let's end this month with another 1960s manga, albeit one far more obscure and far less loved than Lupin the 3rd: the gritty vigilante motocycle gang shonen series Wild 7.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Review: WILD 7
Let's cap off this month with another 1960s gekika title, albeit one focusing on people fighting crime instead of committing them. WILD 7 (...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
September 30, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Let's end this month with another 1960s manga, albeit one far more obscure and far less loved than Lupin the 3rd: the gritty vigilante motocycle gang shonen series Wild 7.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Gon might be one of the more challenging manga I've ever reviewed, but the challenge is worth it to talk about such a wonderful and unique manga.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Review: GON
This series might be one of the most challenging old-school manga to review, but who am I to back down from a challenge? GON, by Masashi Ta...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
September 24, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Gon might be one of the more challenging manga I've ever reviewed, but the challenge is worth it to talk about such a wonderful and unique manga.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Kamikaze Girls is a 2000s shojo manga adaptation with a surprisingly long shelf-life for a stand-alone volume, but there's a lot of good reasons for that: mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Review: KAMIKAZE GIRLS
Let's talk about an old but beloved little one-volume wonder from the glory days of Shojo Beat. KAMIKAZE GIRLS ( Shimotsuma Monogatari ), ba...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
September 19, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Kamikaze Girls is a 2000s shojo manga adaptation with a surprisingly long shelf-life for a stand-alone volume, but there's a lot of good reasons for that: mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
It might be a little later than usual, but it's time once more for our annual Old-School Month! We're starting with the original Lupin the 3rd manga, which was very much a work-in-progress in its early chapters.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Review: LUPIN III
It's time once more for Old-School Month here on the Manga Test Drive (even if it's a little later than usual), and we're starting with one...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
September 3, 2025 at 11:51 PM
It might be a little later than usual, but it's time once more for our annual Old-School Month! We're starting with the original Lupin the 3rd manga, which was very much a work-in-progress in its early chapters.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/09/revi...
Let's finish up the month with Maid War Chronicles, a shonen adventure series that at the very least uses the maids in the title like characters and not just as fanservice fodder.
Review: MAID WAR CHRONICLE
I wanted to end this month on a tidy and hopeful note. I don't know if I entirely succeeded with this choice of manga, but it's probably as...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
August 31, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Let's finish up the month with Maid War Chronicles, a shonen adventure series that at the very least uses the maids in the title like characters and not just as fanservice fodder.
The Food Diary of Miss Maid is a perfectly calm, pleasant food manga featuring a maid adrift in Japan...so why did it leave wanting something more substantial?
Review: THE FOOD DIARY OF MISS MAID
We could stand to read something more pleasant after that last review...perhaps a nice, soothing food manga? With a maid? THE FOOD DIARY OF...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
August 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM
The Food Diary of Miss Maid is a perfectly calm, pleasant food manga featuring a maid adrift in Japan...so why did it leave wanting something more substantial?
Steel Angel Kurumi is the tale of a wimpy boy who accidentally gains his own devoted robot maid protector, but it's also proof that Kaishaku were hacks from the very beginning of their career:
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/08/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/08/revi...
Review: STEEL ANGEL KURUMI
We go from isekai maids to robot maids as I dig up this forgotten bit of nonsense from ADV's manga division. STEEL ANGEL KURUMI ( Kotetsu Te...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
August 20, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Steel Angel Kurumi is the tale of a wimpy boy who accidentally gains his own devoted robot maid protector, but it's also proof that Kaishaku were hacks from the very beginning of their career:
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/08/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/08/revi...
We're back! And we're going to be looking at some maid manga while we get things back in order after our long summer absence. We'll start with the tale of a maid-obsessed Japanese girl who gets all she wants and then some in Heroine? Saint? No, I'm An All-Works Maid (and Proud of It)!
Review: HEROINE? SAINT? NO, I'M AN ALL-WORKS MAID (AND PROUD OF IT)!
Alright, time to tidy things up after that long, unplanned summer absence, and that means it's time to cover another round of maid manga. HE...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
August 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
We're back! And we're going to be looking at some maid manga while we get things back in order after our long summer absence. We'll start with the tale of a maid-obsessed Japanese girl who gets all she wants and then some in Heroine? Saint? No, I'm An All-Works Maid (and Proud of It)!
Disaster Report is back at Renaissance Josei, and this time we're delving deep into the world of little sister romance. We're covering what may be the last and least of its cursed kind: 2018's My Sister, My Writer.
Disaster Report: MY SISTER, MY WRITER
Is there any anime trend more regrettable than the imouto (little sister) romance? It ...
renaissancejosei.blogspot.com
July 16, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Disaster Report is back at Renaissance Josei, and this time we're delving deep into the world of little sister romance. We're covering what may be the last and least of its cursed kind: 2018's My Sister, My Writer.
I HAVE RETURNED! And I do not return empty-handed. My latest Disaster Report will go live later this week, but those who subscribe to my Patreon at $5/month or more can read it right now: www.patreon.com/posts/sneak-...
Sneak Peak: My Sister, My Writer | Megan D
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July 13, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I HAVE RETURNED! And I do not return empty-handed. My latest Disaster Report will go live later this week, but those who subscribe to my Patreon at $5/month or more can read it right now: www.patreon.com/posts/sneak-...
Of course there's plenty of horny nonsense shonen manga out there to talk about, and Mayo Chiki! is nothing if not that. It's a story involving a secret lady butler, a fear of women, and a lot of terrible writing.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/03/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/03/revi...
Review: MAYO CHIKI!
Of course, I can't talk about shonen manga without some sort of horny nonsense, and boy does this one live up to both parts of that phrase....
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
March 24, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Of course there's plenty of horny nonsense shonen manga out there to talk about, and Mayo Chiki! is nothing if not that. It's a story involving a secret lady butler, a fear of women, and a lot of terrible writing.
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/03/revi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com/2025/03/revi...
Rave Master was one of Tokyopop's very few shonen hits back in the day, but it's hard for me to imagine how this was a hit when everything about it feels so derivative.
Review: RAVE MASTER
During Tokyopop's prime, they struggled to get their hands on big-name shonen manga titles. They really only managed to do so twice. One o...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
March 15, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Rave Master was one of Tokyopop's very few shonen hits back in the day, but it's hard for me to imagine how this was a hit when everything about it feels so derivative.
We're focusing on shonen manga this month, starting with Air Gear. It's the fusion of gang warfare and extreme sports you never knew you wanted, from the artist who brought us Tenjo Tenge.
Review: AIR GEAR
This month we're looking at nothing but shonen manga. The focus has been on Viz's offerings for the better part of two decades, but I'm goi...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
March 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM
We're focusing on shonen manga this month, starting with Air Gear. It's the fusion of gang warfare and extreme sports you never knew you wanted, from the artist who brought us Tenjo Tenge.
We're finishing out Bad Romance month with a rare example of a romance manga that presents a problematic couple in a way that's compelling without excusing its bad behavior...and there's a lot of bad behavior involved because Yoshino has a Yakuza Fiancé.
Review: YAKUZA FIANCE
Perhaps the hardest thing about this month is finding romance manga that are messed-up enough to fit the theme but aren't awful. This yea...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
March 1, 2025 at 1:50 AM
We're finishing out Bad Romance month with a rare example of a romance manga that presents a problematic couple in a way that's compelling without excusing its bad behavior...and there's a lot of bad behavior involved because Yoshino has a Yakuza Fiancé.
Rizelmine is an awful, obnoxious little one-shot shonen rom-com from the creator of D.N. Angel, where a sullen little brat is forced to marry a childish, artificially-made girl. Wackiness, distasteful slapstick, and a nonsensical ending ensues from there:
Review: RIZELMINE
Don't think we're ignoring shonen romance, as here's a wretched little one-shot example from the creator of D.N. Angel . RIZELMINE ( Rizerum...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
February 19, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Rizelmine is an awful, obnoxious little one-shot shonen rom-com from the creator of D.N. Angel, where a sullen little brat is forced to marry a childish, artificially-made girl. Wackiness, distasteful slapstick, and a nonsensical ending ensues from there:
Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is the story of a shitty teen girl and the boy she can't stop bullying, but this manga would try to convince you that this is meant to be hot.
Review: DON'T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO
It was inevitable that I would have to grapple with the series that gave us the go-to user icon/Favorite Anime Girl of online chuds everywh...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
February 12, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro is the story of a shitty teen girl and the boy she can't stop bullying, but this manga would try to convince you that this is meant to be hot.
It's time for Bad Romance Month, where we look at some the worst and weirdest love stories ever told in manga. We're starting with a doozy - I Want To Escape From Princess Lessons, which could more accurately be called I Want To Escape From My Clingy Stalker Prince.
Review: I WANT TO ESCAPE FROM PRINCESS LESSONS
It's time for another Bad Romance Month, where we cover a selection of some of the worst and weirdest romances to grace manga. We're start...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
February 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
It's time for Bad Romance Month, where we look at some the worst and weirdest love stories ever told in manga. We're starting with a doozy - I Want To Escape From Princess Lessons, which could more accurately be called I Want To Escape From My Clingy Stalker Prince.
You know Ranma 1/2? Well, it's time to learn about its weird, pervy distant cousin: the genderswapping sex comedy Futaba-Kun Change.
Review: FUTABA-KUN CHANGE
Considering we're still in the midst of a Ranma 1/2 reboot, now's a good time to talk about its pervy weirdo cousin of a manga. FUTABA-KUN C...
mangatestdrive.blogspot.com
January 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
You know Ranma 1/2? Well, it's time to learn about its weird, pervy distant cousin: the genderswapping sex comedy Futaba-Kun Change.