The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All | Manga Monday

The anime headlines you NEED to know about.This week’s In Bloom is stacked with big updates on Frieren, Sentenced To Be A Hero, You And I Are Polar Opposites, Eminence in Shadow, Solo Leveling, and Rascal Does Not Dream.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into Kagurabachi, Takeru Hokazono's sword fighting revenge epic running in Weekly Shonen Jump that memed its way into the conversation and then backed it up with one of the best action manga in years. Chihiro Rokuhira grew up training under his father Kunishige, a legendary swordsmith whose six Enchanted Blades single-handedly ended a war. The goofy dad and the serious kid lived a quiet life together until a group of criminal sorcerers called the Hishaku murdered Kunishige and stole the blades. Now Chihiro wields his father's seventh and final blade on a blood soaked quest to reclaim what was taken. But this isn't just mindless revenge. It's about a father's belief that his creations should protect, not destroy, and a son carrying that forward even when hatred would be easier. The fight choreography is brutal, the lore keeps getting deeper, and Chihiro is the kind of protagonist who says almost nothing but hits you right in the chest with everything he does. Over 3 million copies sold. This one earned every bit of the hype.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Your weekly anime news fix is HERE and it did not come to play…Big updates on The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, Crunchyroll getting hacked, Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None, Steel Ball Run, and The Anime Trending Awards.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manhwa Monday! This week we're diving into The Greatest Estate Developer, written by BK_Moon and illustrated by Kim Hyunsoo, a fantasy isekai on Webtoon that takes the "reincarnated into a novel" premise and turns it into something genuinely hilarious.Civil engineering student Suho Kim falls asleep reading a fantasy novel and wakes up as Lloyd Frontera, a lazy, drunk nobleman whose family is drowning in debt. But Suho's read the book, he knows what's coming, and he's got something no one in this world has: modern engineering knowledge. So instead of swinging a sword or casting spells, this man is solving fantasy world problems with drainage systems, structural reinforcements, and infrastructure planning. He's got a loyal knight, a giant hamster companion, and the most unhinged facial expressions in all of manhwa. It sounds absurd and it absolutely is, but the engineering concepts are legit, the world building is surprisingly deep, and underneath all the comedy there's real heart about rebuilding something broken and proving everyone wrong.This one's pure gold.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Your weekly anime news fix is HERE and it did not come to play, with massive announcements surrounding Tank Chair, The Dangers in My Heart, The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Roadtrip, Sekiro: No Defeat and From Far Away!If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai, affectionately known by fans as "Green Yuri," and the winner of the Next Manga Award 2023.Aya is a fashionable gyaru high schooler who's obsessed with rock music but can't find anyone who shares her taste, until she starts visiting a small CD shop and falls hard for the cool, mysterious clerk dressed in all black with a hoodie and face mask. The problem? That clerk is actually her quiet, nerdy female classmate Mitsuki Koga, who works at her uncle's shop and wears contacts and unisex clothes to stay anonymous. Mitsuki knows exactly who Aya is, sits right next to her in class, and is terrified of the truth coming out.What starts as a premise you think you've seen before quickly becomes something special, a story about two girls connecting through music, building a friendship that's achingly authentic to how teenagers actually bond, and slowly realising their feelings run deeper than fandom. It's fluffy, it's heartfelt, it handles queer romance with real care and zero sensationalism, and an anime has already been confirmed.If you want something that'll make your heart do that thing, this is it.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

POV: you let me summarize all the massive anime news from around internet so you don’t have to 😉 BIGTIME updates on Samurai Champloo, J2M, Aoashi, KPop Demon Hunters, In Old Records and Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Fins, Fangs, and Family ProblemsWhat happens when a clumsy middle schooler nearly drowns on summer vacation, only to be saved by a mermaid — and now has to marry her or they both die? My Bride is a Mermaid plunges headfirst into chaotic rom-com waters, where yakuza mermaids, unhinged overprotective fathers, and increasingly unhinged rivals turn every single school day into a survival situation. Join us as we dive into this gloriously absurd love story between Nagasumi and Sun, a girl caught between two worlds — and a family that would rather kill him than welcome him as a son-in-law.Joining Brendan in the studio for this episode, making her podcast debut, is cosplayer, streamer, and corporate tita, Ness!In this episode (FULL SPOILERS): Going In Blind | Story & World-Building | Characters & Chemistry | Standout Moments | Animation, Sound & Style | The VerdictFrom first impressions to final verdict, at Sakura Society, we cut through the hype to help you decide what's actually worth your time.30.58If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

One Piece just became the best-selling comic series in history at 600 million copies — dethroning Superman in 60 fewer years — and Oda celebrated by writing down what the One Piece is and throwing it in the ocean. Genuinely unhinged. Berserk crosses 70 million worldwide sales with volume 43 on the way, Naruto and Boruto get an official YouTube channel, and Rumiko Takahashi's MAO is getting a two-cour anime from Sunrise this April. Akame ga Kill! creator Tetsuya Tashiro returns with a new series, and we close this week remembering Kyoto Animation founder Hideaki Hatta, who passed away at 76 — the man behind Violet Evergarden, A Silent Voice, Clannad, and so much more. Rest in peace to one of anime's greatest builders.All this and more on this week's In Bloom.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)

Welcome to Manga Monday! This week we're diving into Centuria, Tohru Kuramori's brutal dark fantasy running on Shonen Jump+ and the solo debut from a former Chainsaw Man assistant. Julian is a boy sold into slavery by his own mother who stows away on a slave ship, where for the first time in his life he's shown real kindness by the other slaves, especially a pregnant woman named Mira. When the captain slaughters all one hundred slaves on board, an eldritch sea god strikes a deal: Julian inherits the combined strength, memories, and lives of every slave who died. Now carrying the weight of a hundred souls, he sets off into a cruel, monster filled world with one mission, raise Mira's newborn daughter and give her the life none of them ever got. It's got Berserk level art, Lovecraftian horror, and a heart built on found family and choosing kindness despite everything.This one goes hard.If you enjoy the show, please rate, review, like, and subscribe to Sakura Society | An Anime Appreciation Podcast — and any other podcasts you love. It takes seconds, costs nothing, and means everything to us creators. (The algorithm only accepts 5 stars, just so you know.)Stay up to date with Brendan on Bluesky | Instagram | TikTok | TwitterJoin our Discord — a community full of anime and culture fans just like youFollow our Spotify playlistOur amazing sponsors:Audio-Technica — the best in audio equipmentIced Tea Aesthetics — anime streetwear done right (use code SAKURASOCIETY5 at checkout to save $5)Japan Crate — Japanese snacks and treats delivered to your door (use code ATEBIT15 at checkout to save 15% + get free shipping)