Wave, Listen to Me! Vol. 1

I love the art of Hiroaki Samura, it was his name that helped me decide to pick up this series initially. His art is impeccable as always, even if the characters aren’t engaging in crazy battles with complex motions like in Blade or Die Wergelder. The reason I’ve decided to stick with the series is because of the interesting characters and their oddball sense of humor.

The main character had a snarky attitude I liked that she got from working at a small curry/bread restaurant. Are you tired of isekai, slice of life, shonen action, and other stuff typically found in manga? Then this is a series for you because it had none of that while still being good (or maybe because it doesn't have that stuff). It's written by the guy that wrote the manga "Blade of the Immortal". If my 15-year old self found this series he would've thought it was boring because it didn't have shonen-style battles, but my 26-year old self enjoyed the main character's snarky attitude. I bought it because I've read so many manga in the past but none of them included radio stations in their premise. This does. It turned out good. There are a few references to 1980s Japanese pop culture but the notes in the margins explain them. Notice I said the "pop culture" not "anime culture". There are no references to anime in this. He does, however, make a side comment criticizing the Japanese government. You don't see that in manga everyday.

A rare manga about adults for adults, this is a comedy about a mouthy waitress whose drunken rant about her ex is broadcast on a radio talkshow and gets ratings, putting her on the path to becoming a radio talkshow host. Unlike most manga that gets translated in the West that's about awkward teenagers and superpowered fights, WAVE, LISTEN TO ME is about ordinary people and their hope and dreams, hangups and foibles. The heroine is a brash but goodhearted waitress with romantic woes and a job she's not completely satisfied with,a boss who would have fired her if she wasn't a popular waitress and a would-be cjef boyfriend she's not completely sold on. Her drunken rant about a horrible ex gets her a lot of unwanted attention that she's surprised she doesn't totally hate, and the producer who broadcast it offers to nurture her natural, freewheeling way of talking into potentially lucrative career on late-night talk radio. The art here is more realistic than the usual big-eyed cartoon look of most manga because this is more for and about grownups. Instead of fights and bloodshed, this is about everyday people shouting at each other in funny ways, making bad calls with their lives and trying to work with the consequences. There are no easy answers here. Emotions are contradictory and messy. The characters are flawed and relatable. The situations feel true. Creator Hiroki Samura has a soft spot for messy, hardscrabble characters who are sometimes their own worst enemies but do the best they can. Give this book a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Wave, Listen to Me!, Vol. 1 by Hiroaki Samura is a free NetGalley e-comicbook that I read in early May. Quick to jump into the story, this manga is drawn in textured greyscale with witty bon mot asides in tiny wee font. An extremely outspoken, smart-aleck bakery/bistro clerk girl in the city named Minare barges her way into a radio station’s recording booth and goes off on gender & regional stereotypes. Suddenly, there's a big listener response leads her to a job offer with them - doesn’t this happen in the Dolly Parton movie Straight Talk? Even so, it’s so easy to take Minare’s side on things in this really exciting, reactive, good-quality manga.

That's right. No magical adventures, no high school drama, no scantily clad teenagers. This is the story of Minare Koda, a grown-*** woman with an interest in love, but a focus getting her bills paid and generally keeping her head above water. She is a sarcastic scatterbrained mess with a big heart, and I love her. Read this manga, and you will, too.