I honestly expected to like this one, because of the art, the cover and the story line, but perhaps I had way too high hopes for this and it turned out to be not what I had expected it to be.

Set in a dystopian world, we follow Dante as he goes through the world in its own basis. For me, I feel that the mangaka had rushed a lot of the story elements and that the worldbuilding was a bit all over the place. I liked the artstyle, but that's basically just it. Towards halfway of the manga it got a bit draggy. I was a tad dissapointed as I wanted to like the manga really much.

3🌟

What a terrible name for an actually really good Dystopian series.
The name comes from the fact that in this world (which is consistently referred to as "Earth," so this is sometime in the distant future) fungus and mushrooms are at the top of the food chain and used to control human minds.
I won't spoil where the iron part comes from... but it's interesting, and super gross.

My gratitude to Netgalley and Kodansha comics for providing me a copy of this series in exchange for an honest review.

I know this is pretty late, and I praise myself for not reading this any time sooner. And I regret opening this series honestly. The whole idea of the book is interesting, but it was my problem not to stay away from it when I saw the fungus in the title. Fans of Attack on Titan and tropes like a smart man trying to revolutionize the system will most likely adore this one. And I did love this, but I can't get past my fears and the fungi especially the nasty Amigasa mushroom placed on Dante's head made me vomit. I have Trypophobia and chills are rising up my head, all hairs on the rise. I hated the feeling and the fact that it was drawn so well. The sight is definitely not for me. As much as I want to continue, I'd say no thanks. This was really uncomfortable for me.

Firstly, many thanks to Kodansha and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.


Can I say i was surprised that i actually enjoyed this first volume. Set in dystopian world where the youngsters are trained to become soldiers and they are afraid of these fungus that are said to be poisonous. Dante, the main character was so hilarious, i laughed many times because of his absurd and one-minded antics. He just doesnt give a crap about any of the soldier's rules and kept questioning why they have to do this or that. When he found a girl on his mission outside, its love at first sight and this sets off another mission that is to find her again.

The artsyle was pretty cool and there are lots of graphic violence and gore in here. If you are not a fan, then its best not to read it but its worth a shot!


4 stars

This is an interesting fast paced first volume with lots of twists and turns and great world building. It can be a bit confusing in places but I enjoyed reading it. The artwork is also great. This is definitely going to be a promising series.

The book was a bit confusing and it was violent and gory as well. This manga is not my taste and I was kind of confused on what was going on...

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I don't like body horror and I like understanding what is going on in a story. So this was gross, violent and I had no clue what was going on.

Recommended if you enjoy those things. I, unfortunately, do not. I requested this to try something outside of my usual enjoyment zone because it sounded interesting. To me, it was not.

DNF. 1, this is me and not the book, star.

This manga follows the main character Dante, who is a soldier in a dystopian world and doesn’t seem to be controlled like everyone around him.

I unfortunately was not gripped by the story or characters, and ended up DNFing the book. It wasn’t super engaging, and I didn’t really care for Dante as a character. Some things happened that seemed very convenient/didn’t make much sense, and I could tell I was not going to enjoy the rest of the manga so I decided to put it down.

Others might enjoy this manga more, but it unfortunately was not for me.

I enjoyed this manga more than I expected myself to. The main character, Dante, is quite touching and sweet in his way. He is simple-minded, but that’s what helped him keep his sanity and his critical thinking.
One day, he meets a woman and it’s love at first sight. In order to see her again, he engages in a resistance movement against the society he has always known. This manga is quite violent so be prepared if you’re planning on reading it. I think I will enjoy the next volumes even more as we will surely get to know the new characters more.
I recommend to people wanting a mature read with a light protagonist.
3.5/5

Thank you very much for the ARC!

Very good dystopian manga with interesting characters. The feeling of the story is intense, very gory with a interesting twist, will definitely check out the next volume!

Fungus and Iron is an amazing dystopian manga. It blends shades of parasite with 1984 in a gruesome and gory story. The plot is intense and the art is graphic and visceral. Like most horror manga the art style isn't meant to be easy on the eyes as much as it is meant to evoke shock and horror. This was effective in that sense. I was stressed out the whole time I was reading this. This is a horror manga with a lot of violence, torture, blood and death and I wouldn't recommend it to the faint hearted or those with weak stomachs. If you are into horror, body horror and a intense dystopian plot line I think you will really enjoy this!

The potential is there. And AoT world with a Dr. Stone level idiot/OT protagonist. Going to give volume 2 a shot, but nothing stands out yet.

Fungus and Iron is a strange, dystopian science fiction story, the brutality of which is only outweighed by how truly boring it is. The story has most of the trappings one might expect from the dystopian genre: mind-control, evil government organizations, war-core military aesthetic,

Dante is the protagonist and it is established early on that he is "odd" and he mostly seems to survive the hardened world that he lives in by being lucky. I think the mangaka wanted to have a somewhat light-hearted lead given the otherwise gritty and gore-infused narrative. I'm a big fan of science fiction, but ultimately I found this story really difficult to fully engage with. The story just had way too much going on, and unfortunately, a lot that happens in it doesn't really make much sense. Characters make bizarre decisions that have no logical basis, and the narrative structure just seems all over the place.

I definitely couldn't get into this series, but I'm sure someone would enjoy this more than me. If you are into stories about the perils of war and don't mind the overly gorery nature of this, then you may actually enjoy it. I found it really boring and nonsensical, but to each their own.

I received a copy of this manga through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly I did not like this manga at all. It was pointlessly violent but at the same time quite dull. The characters weren't interesting, nor was the world intriguing. It was weird and random but not in a good way. 🙄

Huge thanks to Kodansha Comics, NetGalley and the author for providing an e-ARC of this manga in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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This was a fantastic and intriguing read!

Full review to come

1st Line: "Area D-18 ... that's where this story takes place."

Review: In a dystopian future, Amigasa rules and runs the world. Everything and everyone is sacrrified for the good of Amigasa, even as a resistance bulds to fight against their all-encompassing rule. Even soldiers within the walls of Area D-18 have been conditioned to readily give their lives to Amigasa ... all except the dyslexic Dante, a young soldier who still finds beauty and humor in his walled-in world, has a tendency to laugh in serious situations, and in short is the oddball who has never fit in with everyone else. Never is this more so than when a troop of soldiers is sent out of the walled encslosure of D-18 to fight the resistance - for most of them, including Dante, this is the first time they've ever even seen the world outside their compound - and all of them wind up dead, some even by their own hand, with the exception of Dante ... who finds not only a weird world full of giant mushrooms outside the wall, but also a young woman name Aoi; the first female he has ever seen. This graphic novel has so much crammed into it - mind control, science fiction fungus monsters, environmental messages, first love pangs, and enough violence to give Quentin Tarantino pause ... and yet with all that, I struggled to get through the book, honestly out of sheer boredom. Long patches of story that seems to go nowhere - or even make that much sense - became grating after awhile, and even a semi-cliffhanger ending couldn't propel me to have much interest in moving onto volume two. Some nice art; otherwise, sadly, a dud. 2/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Fungus and Iron is set in a world where there are two factions, Amigasa and Ether. The main protagonist, Dante, is part of the Amigasa, but he's dyslexic and hasn't been brainwashed by the Amigasa. One day Dante is sent out on a secret mission to kill the Ether, but everyone on his squad but him dies. He then gets recruited into the Ether and fights against the Amigasa. Fungus and Iron takes on the fighting manga genre with a unique twist and is an amazing read.

'Fungus and Iron 1' by Ayaka Katayama is a manga about a war and the unlikely odd young man who may be the hero.

Dante is a soldier for Amigasa. Because he is dyslexic, he is one of the soldiers who hasn't been brainwashed by his leaders. When he is sent in to war against the enemy, he is overwhelmed by being outside for once and when he meets his first woman, Aoi, they fall in love.

This story is pretty uneven and suddenly weirdly violent. The main character is described as dumb, which might be offensive for those struggling with dyslexia. I liked the concept, just not the execution.

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

I appreciated the art, but I couldn’t connect with or understand the story or characters. I wasn’t expecting the torture, and while it could’ve been worse, it was still jarring and not at all what I expected based on the description of Fungus and Iron. Not really my cup of tea.

Glad to see some science fiction manga getting localized. This definitely has potential to fill in the void that some of my students are feeling post Attack on Titan... It's a bit shaky in the first volume, but I can definitely see the potential. I found the body horror really well done!