This segment will be dedicated to ongoing manga that aren’t currently making the news but are generally noteworthy for their merits. The first pick will be something of a sleeper hit from the best 20 of the Next Manga Award of 2020 in the web manga category: Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to, or “Fabiniku” for short.
Written by Tsuruzaki Yuu (Hakoiri Drops) and illustrated by Ikezawa Shin (Charlotte), the manga began serialization on Cygames‘ website Cycomi on November 18, 2019, with Shogakukan printing the series in tankoubon volumes (currently ten as of July 2023). Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the series in North America, with the title “Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout”. An animated adaptation produced by OLM and directed by Yamai Sayaka also aired from January 12 to March 30, 2022, on TV Tokyo and BS TV Tokyo, with Crunchyroll licensing it in English.
30-something office worker Tachibana Hinata and Jinguuji Tsukasa’s relationship couldn’t be more of a deadlock: on one hand, handsome and capable Jinguuji has huge trust issues towards women (despite being very popular with them) and would rather treasure his friendship with Tachibana; on the other, aggressively average Tachibana is desperate to experience romance, and can’t wait for Jinguuji to get a girl so he can finally step out of his shadow. One night, as a completely drunk Tachibana is escorted home by his friend, he rambles that if he has no chances as a man he would rather be a beautiful woman. As if on cue, a goddess appears from nowhere and drops them in another world, with the ill-defined goal of defeating a demon king, but not before granting Tachibana’s drunken wish… and then, angered by their attitude, she curses them to have irrepressible feelings for each other and leaves. With no other way out, the two have no choice but to set out on their unlikely mission, before the worst-case scenario they can imagine happens to them. What awaits them is a journey full of crazy encounters and even crazier situations.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlrt6_0vTI]
