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.

'Wave, Listen to Me! Volume 1' by Hiroaki Samura is a manga about a woman between two careers, one as a waitress in a curry shop and a possible new one as a host on the radio.

Minare Koda, drunk and heartbroken, spills her guts to a stranger. Unbeknownst to her, he has recorded the conversation and plays it on the radio station. Horrified, Minare races to the station and ends up on the air. The station manager sees in her a possible new on air talent, but Minare is torn about the whole thing.

This book has the feeling of a story that started as one thing and evolved in to another, and that is pretty much stated in the afterword. I didn't mind this so much, and Minare is a strange protagonist. I'd be interested to see how this story evolves. The art is pretty good.

I received a review copy of this manga from Kodansha Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

Sis was low-key annoying.

This graphic novel follows a main character who finds herself being blasted on a radio station and falling into being a radio personality later. Her life is a hot mess and seems to be magnetized after her boyfriend dumps her. I thought this overall was just okay and am suspicious about the intentions of many of the characters in this story. I will probably take the time to read the next volume if I can find it in my local library.

I wanted to get into this story, but felt that the MC was getting exploited way too much and was just taking it. I lost interest midway through the book. Sorry.

I was interested in this initially since its anime adaptation is airing this season. I decided to look into it because the radio aspect sounded cool, but this book isn't actually all about radio.
The manga follows the daily life of Minare, a curry shop worker who goes to bars at night to get drunk and look for a potential boyfriend. The opening chapter sees Minare meeting the director of the MRS radio station, Mato, ranting to him about her ex-boyfriend, blacking out, and then hearing her voice on the radio the next day at work, prompting her to go investigate. After she gets acquainted with the radio people and tries the job out for herself, the rest of the manga details her struggles deciding if she should work at the radio station or stick with her current job, dealing with money problems, and having a small romance subplot with another guy. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what happened, since I started to get lost after the first chapter. The reader bounces all over the place as new characters enter Minare's life and new plot elements appear with no clear reason why. There's no real focus.
Minare herself is short-tempered, chaotic, disorganized, and passionate. I had trouble connecting and liking her, although it was amusing to see what she got herself into. The other characters were also hard to relate to for me, although I did like Mizuho, another woman who works at the radio station who's probably the nicest character in the whole volume. She also has three cute turtles!
The art is more realism-focused. Some of the expressions can be pretty funny, but there's nothing super-stylized or exaggerated in here. It works.

Overall, it didn't live up to my expectations story-wise. Some of the smack talk Minare does get to say is amusing, but the disjointed narrative and lack of focus made it difficult for me to be really invested in her and her well-being. I might take a look at the anime to see if it's less confusing, but without the promise of more actual radio and/or a less convoluted plot in the next one I don't think I'll continue with this manga.

Not my thing, it looks fun and nice but has rude language and I don't really get the point of the story. I wish I couls say I liked it, I WANT to like it, but maybe it's just not for me.

Another title I am unable to download to my current device. I was truly looking forward to reading this title but unfortunately I am unable to download it to my device.

I Received this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Kodansha Comics, via Netgalley.

Hiroaki Samura is an interesting man in the publishing world of manga. He is widely known for his unique traditional artwork that has no digital touch on them and his most famous series he ever wrote, Blade of the Immortal. I got personally obsessed with the man the moment I tried to read the first chapter of Blade of the Immortal and I had not regretted it. He has more notorious works that you perhaps haven't heard from like Die Wergelder, Bradherley's Coach, The Loitering Snow, Ohikkoshi and Hiroaki Samura's Emerald and Other Stories all of which are different takes with a personal touch of Hiroaki's realistic pencil work and captivating narration. But then comes a time when a creator makes something you are simply not sure what it's about. Exactly like the creator himself who confesses about it.

Wave, Listen to me! is centered around a young waitress who one night gets so drunk she share her most inner views to a stranger who is a radio broadcaster producer after she got dumped recently by her ex-boyfriend. He sees opportunity and takes this fiery confession of hers and surprise surprise, everyone and their mother, hears Minare and now she is a big hit. Minare now widely acclaimed is showered with praise and perhaps a change in a career, dealing with past co workers and diving into this new territory she has no idea what will happen once she's on air. Honestly, it sounds like a pretty good premise for a comedic romantic Josei series but it's labeled as a Seinen. I respect Hiroaki and adore whatever he is doing but with this one I am not entirely sure what was happening.

The premise on its own is intriguing sure but the jokes are hit or miss for sure but the artwork are mesmerizing as always and keeps you glue to the very last page of the volume but how can you take this plot so seriously? Minare is a fine lead but this story feels more like a novella then a series but who can tell. It is only the beginning so why not give it a try and pick up the first volume. You won't be disappointed :)

From the beginning of this manga the conversations in this felt very stilted and awkward and some of the language was a little off. The English translation still makes sense, but the grammar isn't quite right (eg. p9, "She just turned single").

I ended up skimming through portions of this because I wasn't engaging with anything. The main character isn't in a great mental state , she's no longer with her boyfriend, meets a much older man and gets so drunk she blacks out. I wasn't really comfortable with the depiction of her thoughts which were very self sabotaging or much later on in the story, laughing off being felt up by a colleague and the joke-y discussion of the same colleague sexuality.

Thank you to the publisher for this review copy, but I won't be continuing with volume 2.

If you have been enjoying anime’s Spring 2020 season, you might be interested in the first volume of manga series Wave Listen to Me! by Hiroaki Samura, whose previous series include Blade of the Immortal and Die Wegelder.

Protagonist Minare Koda spills her woes in a bar to a stranger who just so happens to work at the local radio station. The next day, she hears her own voice over the radio, confronts the near-stranger in a rage, and is tricked into doing a tiny on-air segment explaining her ranting. But while running out mid-shift at her curry restaurant job might have negative consequences, both the station and listeners are willing to give the newbie radio personality a second try.

Minare is a bit more of a hot mess than even she realized. Yet, despite her quirks and failings, she remains an interesting person who is surprisingly eloquent when the situation calls for it. She can voice her opinions and give reasonings for them in an interesting, fluent manner.

This is very much a slice of life manga. As such, it is a slow tale that tells the day-to-day life of Minare, taking its time to get to the title of the series. All of the characters are flawed individuals. Some are selfish. Some don’t really listen to those around them, despite stating they’re acting in that person’s best interest. There’s drama. And a lot of the characters aren’t necessarily the most selfless of people. But they are certainly interesting to read about.

Overall, I enjoyed reading about the flawed characters and Minare’s unique circumstances. However, there were some decisions regarding the manga that I found somewhat questionable. There are an excessive amount of footnotes. While getting extra information on things like references to other works or explanations of local companies or Japanese culture is always fun, their placement between panels was questionable. Having so much information between panels is distracting at best, and is sometimes quite difficult to read. There was also a tendency to over-explain things. Certain names of stores, for example, were explained thoroughly in notes when context made it quite clear characters were talking about some kind of local convenience store, and I couldn't help but feel that the reader wasn't expected to come to the obvious conclusion, though that is almost certainly not the intention. It was when edamame was explained in a footnote that I drew the line. (At least in my area you can find edamame extremely easily in grocery stores, restaurants, etc.)

Watching or reading stories with characters who are a bit of a mess and plots that have a sort of train wreck feel can be quite interesting to read, nonetheless, so I did find myself enjoying the story. That said, a lot of this first volume is set-up. There isn’t too much of Minare actually working at the radio station. The majority does revolve around the restaurant she works at, her coworkers there, and how this unexpected radio segment changes her life and forces her to reprioritize certain things.

I am interested to see where the series goes from this point. Wave Listen to Me! Vol. 1 by Hiroaki Samura is certainly an interesting story. If the anime is something you’ve been enjoying, I would suggest giving the manga a try as well.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with a copy of the book for an honest review.

My experience with this manga was that it was quite average. It was good, but there was nothing really special that captured my attention. I really enjoyed the main character, Minare Koda, and all her quirks, but she was the only thing really driving the story. In comparison, the other characters didn't feel as fleshed out.

I liked reading about a radio-station since I hadn't read any manga before which revolved around one. Even though that's the case, I still found the plot to be quite predictable.

I would give this a solid 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha Comics, and Hiroaki Samura for the opportunity to read Wave, Listen to Me! Volume One in exchange for an honest review.

The art is okay; it doesn't really stand out to me. The story and characterization is a bit bland; I don't really care about what Minare is saying or her situation. I was expecting this manga to be a bit more dramatic, actually. Also, the fond for the asides (everything outside of the dialogue bubbles) was so tiny and smushed, making them extremely hard to read; the font selection could be altered for these, with a minutely increased size.

Minare works at a restaurant and gets paid a menial wage for the amount of work she does. When she goes to a bar, she drunkenly complains about man troubles to a stranger. Little does she know he was recording her! When they find out where she works, they offer her a part-time job on their radio show.

Though once Minare actually starts working for the radio station, about 70ish pages in, the manga picks up to be a little more of what I was expecting. Eventually, her broadcasts get to have a mostly fun feel to them and I can somewhat hear her voice through the pages, but still not to the extent I would like in developing interesting subject matter and intriguing characters.

And then it goes back to working at the ramen shop for another 90 pages. Meh. Only on the last page is there promise of more radio intrigue. Meh.

@ DNF at page 70.
I just couldn`t finish the 1th volume. I didn`t like the main characters and don`t get me started on the others, i loathed them. This just wasn`t for me, honestly.

I really love this book more than any other that I've read before! I reaply loved this graphic novel!

2.5 Stars DNF (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

I am used to manga plots being a bit over the top even in the contemporary ones but I just was not a fan of the main character. I found her very annoying, over reacted to everything and I just wanted to knock her out. Also the story line of some random guy secretly taping their conversation just to get her to the radio station was not only ridiculous but creepy. Especially since in these days when everyone get triggered over the simplest things just wasn't for me.

I used to read a lot of manga as a teen, but have been reading less and less as an adult, preferring to pick up a graphic novel or comic. However I was drawn in by the front cover of this manga and after reading the description I thought I would give it a try.

WAVE, LISTEN TO ME! follows Minare, a young lady who upon going through a bad breakup is drunk in a bar complaining to a stranger. The stranger, Mato, is the chief director for the local radio station MRS (Moiwayama radio station) who decides to record Minare’s rant and play it on the air. After the great reception it receives he offers Minare a job in not-so lucrative time slot of 3.30am. Minare, having annoyed her boss at the curry house for the last time, takes up Mato’s offer and the premise for this manga is set up. Whilst there are also a few side plots that do not expand in this volume.

We meet several characters around Minare’s life and those that work at the radio station, each with a defined personality that adds some great comedic touches to the story.

It is during this first volume that we discover Minare’s life is quite a mess, with no goals (as often pointed out to her), and a messy apartment, she sees this job offer as an opportunity to take some control of her life (and hopefully marry a celebrity!), whether she can succeed is yet to be determined.

The art work is expressive and really builds up the environments around the characters, with the paneling being easy to follow once you get used to the right to left reading (if you have only read western maga).

It is hard to rate just one volume of a large arc, but I would recommend picking this up if the premise intrigues you. I am certainly interested to see where Hiroaki Samura takes this story.

DNF-ed. Sorry, I thought this manga would be fun and about radio, but instead it mostly takes place at a restaurant... Probably the next volumes will be about radio more... but this one certainly isn't and that is what I came here for.
Also the story was very disjointed and at times I had to retrace my path to make sure that what I read was correct and that my ADOBE reader didn't just skip pages or that this ecopy had missing pages.
Plus the art style was just weird. At times our girl looked like a lot of manga characters, the next she would be realistically drawn, and then the next she is done in some weird style (generally when she is pissed which happens quite often).
I am sad that I didn't like this one, I am always looking for new manga to enjoy and read an entire series of, and I was hoping this would be a new one. Sadly, no.
But thank you for the opportunity.

I don’t know what it is about this, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I haven’t read enough manga to actually give it a good review and that would be my fault. I just didn’t really like the art style and it was confusing to read for me. I like the concept of the story though and the fact that our main character seemed to have a string of bad luck. I would say give it a go, maybe you’ll like it. It just wasn’t for me and I found myself slugging through it.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this manga overall. However about a quarter of the way through it got kind of boring.