With thanks to netgalley and the author

Sadly I didn't download this title in time.

So can't really give a review

A manga with a female centred character being a boss and dominating the men, breaking the patriarchy! Sign me up.

Wave, Listen to Me! has such a great art style that really pops in the typical manga format. It's also hilarious, darkly so sometimes, and is an honest look at a woman who's still figuring out what she wants from life.

This volume marks the beginnings of Minare's journey as a radio host, and she's an incredibly relatable character struggling to get her life together. She's not sure what to do with herself after her break-up, but a drunk conversation leads her to a radio station leads and onto a new path. In the meantime, she gets herself involved with a bunch of weird characters and deals with a potential love interest.

I really like how every character is distinct despite showing up for only a little bit. While Minare is the focus, everyone else clearly has their own life and the issues that come with it going on; this feels very realistic and challenges the protagonist. Her love interest won't always wait for her and might become interested in another woman, the job that she has could fire her, and there's competition at the radio station for her program spot. While things do drag a little in the volume as new characters are introduced and I'm not sure how realistic the insight into the radio industry is, it's fascinating nevertheless.

Overall, this was a great first volume for setting things up, and I also recommend checking out the anime!

I kind of enjoyed the story it was kind of hard to follow what was happening when the parts with the radio were talking. What I understand was that Minare boyfriend dump her for a better girl that was more cuter. So she decides to go drinking and start to tell the guy beside her about her broken heart. But she didn't know that the guy was a radio station producer and was recording what she was telling him. But she find out the next day about this when she hears herself on the radio. She is surprised and decides to go to the radio to see this guy.

I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. This is my honest unbiased opinion.

I'm always excited to see a more slice-of-life manga series translated and this fit that bill. As a Hiroaki Samura title you're promised wonderful art. The story itself follows a down on her luck waitress who drunkenly stumbles into a new gig as a radio host. This volume is very much a introduction of sorts in which a reader can decide whether they enjoy the tone of the series or not. It's very much a title I don't think would jive with the manga audience I typically interact with my store, yet, I think it may have appeal to fans of Sally Rooney with a penchant for messy female protagonists. I enjoyed it enough to be interested in reading the next volume.

3.5/5 stars

🐻 Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc!


✨It was only fine. Not that good of a novel but i wouldn't mind reading more from the author. In fact i watched the manga

I'm going to be upfront: sometimes Kodansha puts out manga that is just plain weird. What genre is this? Who is the intended audience? I have no idea. If the story of an aimless waitress in her late twenties randomly getting invited to host a late-night radio station sounds appealingly offbeat to you, you will probably enjoy this! If you're sitting there thinking "that is so weird, I have no idea why anyone would want to read that" you will probably not enjoy this! I'm not crazy about the art, but it's serviceable.

When twenty-something Minare's drunken rant about her ex ends up broadcasting on Japanese radio, the notoriety threatens to turn her life upside down. She's working at a so-so restaraunt, writing blog posts and waiting tables.

The offer of a job in radio from a producer has her jolted out of that fugue of indecision.

I read this in two sittings quite some time apart, so I feel I can't review it accurately because I've forgotten a lot. As the first volume, it sets up a lot of the characters and their relationships, rather than a lot of action. I did enjoy reading about a protagonist closer to my age, dealing with similar things. I could relate to Minare's feelings of self-doubt as the radio gig becomes more viable, her mixed feelings about workmate Nakahara and where she's going.

I'd read more from this author - will keep an eye out for volume 2 in my travels.

I loved this! It's not a genre I usually read, but I was hooked from the start. Beautiful story and beautiful art!

Unable to download before archived as my tablet was damaged and I had been unable to afford a new one until recently. Apologies.

Minare Koda goes out drinking after a breakup and drunkenly confides to a fellow customer. Unbeknownst to her, he works in radio and not only recorded the conversation but played it on air without her permission.

I requested this book because the premise sounded funny and I am a fan of Samura's art from back in his Blade of the Immortal days. And while of course, his art is fantastic, this story didn't interest me as much as I thought it would. Minare is kinda unlikeable; often getting too drunk to control herself and giving other people trouble. But sadly, I was bored and I doubt I will read any more of this series. 2.9 out of 5.

I received this book from Net Galley and Kodansha Comics in exchange for an honest review.

After finishing this manga, I'm conflicted on how much I enjoyed it. So let's start off with the good. The artwork is great, as is expected of Hiroaki Samura. I really liked the main character here, as Minare Koda has a lot of levels to her. She's kind yet fierce. She's dedicated, but can quickly lash out. She just feels like a very real character, instead of just being a stereotype. I also found the story about how she has the chance to be a radio talk show host after a night of drunk rambling to a stranger pretty intriguing. It's an interesting premise.

Now for some of the problems with the series. The other characters don't feel as interesting as Minare. Many of them fall in to the trap of being their to help push stories along, but not enough back story. To be fair it's only volume 1, but I felt like as a reader, I was left in the dark too much about who they really are.

I also felt like too much, yet not enough, happened at the same time within this first volume. We have this huge surge to get Minare a talk show right as she's losing her current job, then an accident happens and she's back at the old job temporarily. As I was enjoying watching Minare get excited, scared, and anxious for her talk show, then it was just right back to where she was, with another character being introduced. This is just my thoughts, but it felt like maybe Samura got stuck on where to go next, and fell back to something they were more comfortable with to get some content out while brainstorming.

I keep jumping between I liked this volume to being meh on it, so my recommendation is if you're looking for a manga that is a bit more tuned in to reality and less fantasy or gags, this is one you may enjoy. I'll check out volume 2, as I feel its only fair as I enjoyed it enough, and I'd like to see if it can resolve the conflict within myself.

Rating this a 3, but its probably closer to 3.5.

This just wasn't for me. It was way too slow and kind of boring. Maybe I can come back to it one day and enjoy it, but for now I don't like it. I feel like there's something there that could redeem it, which is why I gave it three stars instead of two.

Legendary manga artist, new series, strong female character? check, check, check!
If Manga with a good story line and interesting characters outside of the norm is your jam, then get this title!

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

What it's about:

Wave, Listen To Me! Volume 1 by Hiroaki Samura is about Minare, a woman who vents in a bar to a complete stranger whilst she is drunk. As she is drunk she doesn't think of any potential consequences so imagine her surprise when she hears her voice broadcasting through a speaker.

Pros:
The concept. It was the concept that made me ask for this manga after all.
The characters facial expressions were very realistic in comparison to some other manga I have read

Cons:
There is too much grey in it which personally made it too hard for me to read as there wasn't enough visual contrast*
It feels messy to me as there were a lot of times where every sentence was a character yelling
Due to the yelling, it gave an aggressive tone to the character which I understand but wasn't exactly fond of
Rating:
1⭐

Would I read it again:

I don't think I would as I could barely finish it, however, I may in the future to give it another chance as I do like to give books a second chance.

Would I recommend it:

Not really

https://www.dannisbookreviews.com/post/wave-listen-to-me-vol-1-by-hiroaki-samura-arc-review

The beginning of this took a minute to pick up, I was expecting Minare [our MC] to be in the industry already and she isn't - however the story line picked up. I'm not entirely sure I like all of the characters, a few of them seem shady to me but that's real life at times. I don't like that the producer [Mato] recorded her for the radio without telling her and I don't know what Tachibana is hoping to get out of this, but I think she's a bad egg like her brother. I don't mind the swearing and I appreciate that there is no killing in this!

I'm not sure where some of the plots will lead both Minare and the other characters surrounding her, and although this wasn't a favourite of mine I do think that I will pick up the next volume when it is released.

Also - her supposed friend and "business partner" needs to understand that no means no.... It bugged me that she set a four-year limit when she obviously didn't want to be with him. Take the time and let your heart heal - if you didn't like him before you likely won't like him later either... And personally - I didn't like that they outted someone for being gay like they did - though said man shouldn't have been so touchy either - there are definitely boundaries that weren't being followed.

It's an okay title, but I nothing about it really grips me. I can't think of anyone in particular I could sell it to. Just not for my audience, I think.

I’ll start with the funny story about me picking up this manga and reading it – I was interested
because, hey, there is an upcoming (at the time I got the book) anime about it, and also, a young woman debuting in radio despite being an amateur sounded like an interesting plot; I read the synopsis on Netgalley, not the one on Goodreads so the author’s name didn’t really click for me. The art sytle tended more towards a semi-realistic style than general manga, or even in the josei genre, and I was like – huh this is sorta like the Blade of the Immortal in style, and lo and behold, after reading it and updating it on Goodreads I was like, wait, this IS FROM the guy who did Blade of the Immortal, which totally gave me whiplash because the tone of this one is so different from it! Anyway, yeah, so that was a surprise, mostly because of my inability to remember names.

Moving on the review of this manga, it is, as said, a comedy josei about a waitress, Minare, at a curry restaurant, who, when duped and dumped by her long-term boyfriend, rants about it drunkenly to a stranger at a bar, and then hears that same rant being broadcasted all over Hokkaido by a radio station. Turns out the stranger was a radio show producer, and he invites her to host her own show, because he sees innate talent (she is very good at speaking without stammering or stuttering) and a unique voice; Minare isn’t sure if she should take up the offer, but since her job at the restaurant is already on the rocks, she wants to try it out. This first volume introduces the characters, the loud boisterous and impulsive Minare, her co-worker Nakahara who subtly not-so-subtly wants to marry her and have them become a curry power couple, the radio producer, and an assistant on the radio station who takes in Minare as a roommate and becomes friends with her, as well as a shady neighbour, the owner of the restaurant, and many more minor characters who might have something bigger to add to Minare’s storyline hopefully soon.

The highlight of the story is Minare herself, who is an absolute disaster of a person; she is also pretty imaginative, spinning stories on the fly, and quite opinionated (which sometimes does get her in trouble). She is also pretty random, going on weird tangents, and well, it can get a bit confusing sometimes. I don’t know in which direction the storyline is heading at this point, and it is anyway too early to tell, but since the humor and jokes don’t land well often, I feel it could have been better served in a 4-koma style, to bring out the random nature of Minare’s bursts of dialogue.

Wave, Listen to Me!, from mangaka Hiroaki Samura is a seinen slice of life manga published in English by Kodansha Comics and was originally published in Japan’s Monthly Afternoon. Wave, Listen to Me! Volume 1 has chapters one through eight and I’m going to be honest, this is farthest thing I expected from the creator of Blade of the Immortal and as a nearing 30 year old anime fan with some anger management issues, this is just the series for me. Centered on Minare, Wave, Listen to Me! shows what happens when this disgruntled woman ends up on the airwaves instead of being stuck in her day job.

In Wave, Listen to Me! Minare Koda, a floor manager at a small restaurant named Voyager in Sapporo, is trying to deal with her bad breakup with an ex-boyfriend. After getting drunk, she vents to a stranger at a bar about her man troubles. The following day, she discovers that the man works as a producer at a nearby radio station, when she hears the broadcast of her drunken ramblings. With her messy life made open to the world, she storms the station in a rage, only to be duped into joining a talk show, and her anger and lack of restraint makes her an instant favorite with listeners. When Minare realizes that her voice gains her more attention and money than her work at the restaurant, she ends up becoming a late-night radio talk show host at the same station, trying to balance her talk show with her daytime life to make ends meet.

Wave Listen to Me

Also an anime, Wave, Listen to Me! is a title that nails the messy life of adult women in a way that not many others in the genre do. Minare is immediately recognizable as someone I know and even myself at certain parts of my life. She has bad luck with men and a hard time controlling her emotions – or even exhibiting the right ones. What is great about her as a character is that Samura takes time to showcase her as a whole human being, as a complex character with motives for her emotional moments.

In Minare, I see a woman not only allowed to get angry, but succeeding because of it. Manga, like all media, female characters are usually held to such a high standard that doesn’t allow them to be a mess, to struggle with emotions that are not soft. This is specifically why demographics like josei and seinen are important because they allow women to be shown in more adult and less ideal ways – they’re real in most of these stories. This translates to the art in Wave, Listen to Me! as well.

Breaking from traditional manga style, this volume feels pulpy which allows for Samura’s story to feel raw. There is also a messiness to the illustrations that increases during more chaotic moments. This keeps Wave, Listen to Me! interesting from start to finish. That said, Minare is a force of nature on the page which makes some of the other characters read as one-dimensional. While this isn’t a large critique, it something I hope develops over the next four volumes and given the way the anime develops, I’m sure Samura will.

Overall, Wave, Listen to Me! is a great read, especially for manga fans looking for a story that takes the rage from a messy breakup to the page. I can see Minare’s story being cathartic for many women and honestly just adults struggling in their jobs and just looking for something to go right.

The first volume of the manga is enjoyable if you don’t mind the odd transitions. We hoped that the author would improve the transitions and provide a little more detail of those scenes. Either way, it was a nice change of pace to see how an amateur would grow and work in a radio station. If you want to join the ride with Koda, give this manga a go and support the heroine.