November’s come and gone, and with it another American Thanksgiving; we give thanks for our November 2025 Manga Minis! Check out our reviews of the debut volume of Baki the Grappler as well as continuing volumes of On and Off: Work Life Imbalance, Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, and more! Check them out below!
Baki the Grappler Volume 1 (Kodama Press)
One of the most anticipated manga releases this year, the first Baki the Grappler manga is one that’s sure to have fans of the recent anime talking. Thankfully, Kodama did a great job with their release, even if the introductory arc is a bit uneven.
Baki Hanma is an interesting fighter, as he wipes the floor in a karate tournament as a white belt. Intrigued by his performance, a whole squad of agents want him, but he’s just a simple guy with one goal: To become the strongest there is.
I had a lot of fun with this series, but also, I know this story gets a lot better in future volumes. The best parts are yet to come, but we must get through to introducing our hero and overall situation first. This release does the first well, but it plops us into the action without much to go on initially. Baki is also initially a flat character, which makes his stereotypical naiveté mixed with supernatural strength a bit unremarkable. The action scenes are great, and there’s nice flow. I just wish the characters had a bit more oomph in their personalities. (I know Yujiro’s coming in the next volume, so I’m hoping for great things in my next review.)
That said, Kodama has done an excellent job with their release of this manga. Dubbed the Perfect Edition, this oversized release crams in a lot than expected, and the page quality is top-notch. It’s honestly one of the best physical releases I’ve seen this year, and I can’t wait to collect more as they come out. Kodama has done an amazing job with this package, and while the initial story starts out modestly, I’m hopeful that it will pick up steam after this first release.
Rating: 3 out of 5 UwUs
Tokyo Aliens Volume 9 (Square Enix Manga)
Tokyo Aliens continues to expand its world with the series’ recent releases. The previous volume set up the next arc, which promises a high-stakes rescue mission for Akira Gunji as Sho Tenkubashi desperately tries to save him.
A lot of this volume is split between Akira’s captivity as a trafficked human in an alien auction as well as Sho’s efforts to rescue his friend. We see the return of Yuen and Meimei as they help Sho with finding the alien auction house where Akira is being held. With his life on the line, can Sho become stronger in order to save the one he loves?
Overall, I did enjoy this volume, but it feels disjointed with the main leads being inconsistent in their personalities. Sho feels desperate in saving his friend that he becomes reckless, while Akira acts like a fool in distress as he tries to escape the auction house on his own. I can see the “friends or lovers” dynamic starting to twist itself in the story, but it feels like the character development is all over the place.
There isn’t much happening in this volume either. We do get to see more of the supporting cast and the arc villain’s motivations, but it seems to be building up to the next volume’s conclusion. It’s still an enjoyable time, but I’m waiting for what will happen in the next installment.
Rating: 3 out of 5 UwUs
The Otaku Love Connection Volume 3 (Square Enix Manga)
The Otaku Love Connection is a manga that crept up on me at launch, and honestly I’ve had so much fun with it, it’s one of my favorite series this year! The last volume upped the shipping potential with a couple of other shipping classmates, and weirdly had a lot of heart for a fun topic.
This volume picks up on the previous cliffhanger, where Wataru Otonari and Mashiro Tomaki are at odds of who’s the top and who’s the bottom in the relationship between high school sweethearts Chihiro Kawai and Yuzuru Kakoi. While Wataru believes in Yuzuru/Chihiro supremacy, Mashiro believes Chihiro/Yuzuru is the way to go. This brings some conflict in our shippers’ lives as they come to terms with how to live with their friends’ inherent wrongness (according to them, of course). In doing so, they realize their differences and learn to reconcile (which all makes sense in context).
Meanwhile, Supika Jogasaki and Yuri Hashibami join the others as they participate in the King’s Game, with some oddly sweet results. The volume ends with Yuzuru getting into a mobile game that inspires her to get her and the others to cosplay as characters over the summer.
This story does a ton of research into the dynamics of shipping and relational pairings, and I’m learning a ton while reading this! There’s just so much to dynamics to learn, and it offers a respectful and lighthearted look at fandoms. I also appreciate that none of this feels forced, and the cast plays off each other perfectly. It’s something that I enjoy, and it’s a perfectly heartwarming tale.
Rating: 4 out of 5 UwUs
Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table Volume 4 (Yen Press)
As I’ve said before, Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table is one of my favorite light novel series right now. Yuki Soramichi’s continual struggles to complete ninety-nine death games are charming as they are harrowing. This installment changes it up a little with some conflict before the next game begins while fleshing out the narrative world.
As mentioned in the story previously, Yuki goes to school during her experiences playing death games. However, the question as to if anyone around her might notice her absences hasn’t been addressed… until now! Hitomi investigates what her classmate does after school, and is shocked as she discovers the truth; not just of Yuki, but herself.
Meanwhile, Yuki’s harrowing experiences and recent damage to her eye may have more dire consequences than she thought. After investigating a lead to a mysterious tattooed woman whose performance in a recent game caused a massacre, she notices that there are grudges that are brewing.
There’s no time to worry about that, however, as the next game, Halloween Night, approaches. In this scenario, Yuki needs to avoid killer children who force players to give them candy or face the dire consequences. With old loose ends coming into play, will she unwittingly meet her end this time around?
Overall, I loved the overarching narrative of this volume, as it highlights how intense the world outside the games is. It’s understandable that players would want to eliminate each other behind the scenes, but the reality is much more mundane. However, while I appreciated the City Scenario story, the conflict between Yuki and Hitomi dragged on and halted the pace of the volume. I felt it could be shortened without readers missing much.
Other than the slower paced City Scenario, this volume of Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table is a solid one, and I can’t wait for the anime next year!
Rating: 4 out of 5 UwUs
On and Off: Work Life Imbalance Volume 2 (Square Enix Manga)
While Sotaro Amata and Akira Hanku meet as their “off” personalities Kanade and Aki, they encounter an old friend of Aki’s. The punk rocker Tamotsu seems a little off-putting to Kanade, but deep down he’s got a good heart. Mainly because this punk rocker is actually the kind schoolteacher Tamotsu Roku, who loves helping his students.
A bonus chapter dives into the backstory of Roku as he discovers his alternative dressing style when meeting Akira as a classmate. Discouraged to dress in a way that his mother does not approve, Akira inspires Roku to express himself the way he wants to while also pursuing his dreams. It’s a nice narrative that complements the main story nicely.
Now that we’ve gotten the introductions out of the way, I appreciate how the story introduces another character with similar circumstances to the main duo. It adds another diverse perspective into the lives of the cast and how different appearances are at second glance. This works in this volume’s favor, since it does feel uneventful for the rest of the volume since we’re reintroduced to the relationship dynamic between Kanade and Aki.
The eventual discovery of Kanade and Aki’s main personas seemed a bit too quick, and unless this is a short manga, I wished that this event would have taken place in a later volume. However, if the story can pull off this conflict, I think it has a good direction ahead of itself.
Rating: 4 out of 5 UwUs
And that’s our November 2025 Manga Minis! Stay tuned for more manga and anime reviews here on Miso!
