Read My Blog
Reviews and rants on manga, anime, books, and the craft of writing. I started Reader Atlas in 2022, and it's back up after a break.
Two Commitments a Day: How I Actually Manage My Time
At some point in our lives, all of us have gone to bed frustrated that we weren’t able to do something we really wanted to do that day. You feel like you wasted a day…
Oppenheimer: The Book vs. the Movie
Because I read American Prometheus: the triumph and tragedy of Oppenheimer before it received a film adaptation, I was unduly optimistic going into the movie, mostly…
Game of Thrones: Writing Death
In today's post, we’re going to talk about book one of A Song of Ice and Fire, or as you all know it, A Game of Thrones and what it got right: death. More specifically,…
Book Rec: Jade City
In today's post, we’re going to talk about Jade City, the first iteration of the Green Bone saga, and what it got right: setting. More specifically, the relationship…
Top 10 Greatest Animanga
I really debated whether i wanted to write this post just because of how difficult it would be. The more manga that I've read and anime watched, I've noticed that it’s…
Telling People I'm a Writer
Telling people I'm a writer is like telling them I'm an astronaut.
5 Activities to Help You Relax and Recharge
The pandemic, inflation, political unrest, gun violence—with the world growing increasingly complicated and more clustered, finding hobbies that help us relax and…
Jujitsu Kaisen: Copyright?
If naruto had a baby, it would be Jujitsu Kaisen (JJK). It's more of an institutional problem in Shonen, really. Look at Kaiju #8 for example. It's about a guy who…
Ao no Hako (Blue Box)!
The problem with romance nowadays is that it's all been done before. The love triangle, friends-to-lovers, forbidden & destiny love, enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity…
Fruits Basket. Hit or Miss?
YOU'D THINK THIS WAS A ROMCOM. Spoiler, it's not. Here's why Fruits Basket works.
The Problem with Kuroko no Basket...
THE SUPERPOWER-SPORTS SUB-GENRE is representative of a big part of the wider sports genre, and for good reason too. The superpower-sports genre, (I'm calling it SPG),…
Megalo Box season 1; zero mistake?
When i think of the sports genre perfected, i think of Megalo Box. Even with some of my all-time favorite manga/anime, I can usually nitpick one or two factors I had a…
Bakuman, a New Generation?
And it's another slice of life manga... but there's a reason pretty much all the manga I recommend are slice of life/sports. So why is Bakuman revolutionary? Because the…
Why No Game No Life Works
LOOK, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. AND YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT. No Game No Life is an Isekai and it does contain an exorbitant amount of fan service. So, why is it so…
The Failure of Chainsaw Man!
Widely acclaimed as one of the best upcoming manga compared with Dandadan and One Punch Man, the recent anime adaptation put Chainsaw Man on the top ten lists for a lot…
Read The Problem With Forever (Spoiler-Free)
I rarely have much to say about YA Romance stories. Primarily because I don't read a lot of YA Romance. And what I do read usually ends up subpar. I can't say that about…
Red Rising: Hit or Miss?
Nothing good ever happens in Red Rising . The best way to describe this series is that it’s an extreme contrast to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. The rhetorical…
Star Wars: plagiarized?
DON’T GET ME WRONG, Star Wars, to this day, remains one of my favorite science-fiction series. Not only did I grow up watching the movies. I loved the books. All of this…
Blue Lock—manga done wrong.
SPORTS MANGA IS MY FAVORITE GENRE. To this day, I find I am most drawn to the sports genre not only because I grew up playing (and watching) sports, but because sports…
Top 10 Greatest Fantasy Series of All Time
To some readers, fantasy is dragons burning down cities, to others, it is grand wizards casting spells and flying broomsticks. The genre is beautiful because it has the…