Geek of Oz

Welcome to BINGE-READ MANGA , a new monthly feature where I look at a manga series that's been running for a while and has a good back catalogue built up. Just as Netflix exists well for cramming seasons of TV into a sitting, so too do these manga exist for tearing through six or seven volumes back-to-back. To start us off, we're headed deep into the culinary craziness territory of Yuto Tsukada and Shun Saeki's Food Wars . . THE STORY AND CHARACTERS The way I've pitched this to the uninitiated is it's Harry Potter by way of Iron Chef - you know, that really awesome old Japanese cooking show where a flamboyant man who owns a Kitchen Stadium gets chefs from around the world to compete with his own masters of specialty cooking, which had a really, really goofy (and excellent) English dub? Yeah, that Iron Chef . That's the tone Food Wars sets right from the off. Culinary prodigy Soma Yukihira helps run a self-titled family restaurant with his father, J...

Tegami Bachi ( テガミバチ ) is a strange beast. It is so far removed from the shonen stalwarts like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece, breathing some much needed vigour into what can at times become somewhat repetitive. Fairy Tail can be strikingly similar to  One Piece  and Naruto to Bleach . Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee), on the other hand, is like nothing I've ever read. "Gauche Suede is on his last delivery before a big promotion. In the outskirts of Yodaka, the darkest area of Amberground, Gauche is surprised to find that the package is a young boy named Lag Seeing. Lag had been traumatized by his mother's abduction and is due to be delivered to his aunt. In this remote area rife with Gaichuu, Lag and Gauche face a dangerous journey that inspires Lag to become a Letter Bee."

Everyones pals Viz Media are all growed up! They dominate the market and there's a good chance that the first english language manga you ever read was a Viz release. Inspired by the wonderful mangacurmudgeon.com I've decided to put together a list of my 25 favourite Viz releases. But before I do, I want to congratulate everybody at Viz on a very successful 25 years and thank every single one of you for doing what you do and doing it well.