Anime Boston 2025: Tito’s Manga And Anime Haul
by Tito W. James
At Anime Boston 2025, I discovered some new manga titles and some familiar favorites.
First up: the newly released volume of Dan Da Dan. Ever since I started reading the series, it quickly became a favorite of mine. The unlikely bond between the spunky girl, Momo, and shy boy Okarun is effortlessly charming. The series takes the romcom, shonen action, and sci-fi horror genres and puts them in a blender. The result is an unpredictable series filled with monsters, humor, and beautiful, badass ladies.
Created by Yuki Ikeda, Thunder 3 stood out to me because of the way it mixes art styles. I haven’t dug into it yet, but it reminded me of the mixed-media of the Spider-Verse films and the madcap tone of Dan Da Dan. The manga is described as “an amazing blend of art styles combined with hard-SF elements and meta-comedy to create a comic truly unlike any other!” Needless to say Thunder 3 is a highly anticipated read.
Search and Destroy Vol. 2 follows a vengeful cyborg named Hyaku who hunts down members of the dystopian underworld to collect the body parts they stole from her. I loved Volume 1 of Atsushi Kaneko‘s cyberpunk retelling of Dororo. I think Atsushi Kaneko is one of the most interesting (and underrated) alt-manga creators working today. Volume 2 added new, crazy enemies to fight and more BDSM wickedness. I hope more people will check out Search and Destroy and give the series the attention it deserves.
I also went with a mission to obtain physical media of anime I love for an affordable price! Tariffs are going to make foreign media more expensive and streaming services can’t be relied upon to carry your favorite media forever. That’s why I was thrilled to score several titles on Blu-ray for a reasonable price.
Weathering With You is my favorite film by Makoto Shinkai. The drama between Hodaka and Hina, explores themes of teenage homelessness and the supernatural — proving that the romance genre can be as exciting as an action blockbuster. It also serves as a great introduction into the wider sekaikei genre.
I also snagged Takeshi Koike’s Lupin the lllrd OVAs. The titles, Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone, Goemon Ishikawa’s Blood Spray, and Fujiko’s Lie are masterpieces in my opinion. Each OVA highlights a member of Lupin’s gang in a slick, neo-grindhouse aesthetic. Now is the perfect time to revisit these stories before Koike’s next film, Lupin The IIIrd: Immortal Bloodline.
