Beat’s Bizarre Adventure: Spacewalking with manga

With more people reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before, Beat’s Bizarre Adventure gives three writers an opportunity each week to recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. This week we have a WEBTOON’s 2025 Contest finalist, a Landlady in love, and, of course, neurodivergence.

Aventale

Writer/Artist: Kyuare
Platform: WEBTOON

Even though my webtoon, La Tarántulavispa, didn’t make the shortlist in WEBTOON’s 2025 Contest, it sure has introduced me to other amazing contenders that will undergo final judging around August/September. One of these contenders is Aventale. Created by Kyuare, it is one of the visually striking webtoons I have read in a while. The first episode alone oozes style and character.

The story is set in a world where powerful pearls are sought after. The protagonist Aqliva was born with a single horn, disgracing her family and her mother. Therefore she must prove herself in a rite conducted in a tree that reaches to the stars.

It’s a vibrant world with depth and personality that sets it apart from other webtoons. The lineart has such texture to it, with even the colors and shading having a painterly texture. I’m reminded of how I felt reading World in the Waves and Katlaya Rising; series where the art is not just there to distinguish it from other stories but also works within the narrative. Every character design, color choice and background in Aventale is chosen to fit its world. There is also clear visual inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, while also having design influences from the Wakfu series. It makes sense considering Kyuare’s game design career.

If Aventale sounds interesting to you, I recommend checking it out and supporting the artist during the final stages of the WEBTOON contest. I can see it both either as a WEBTOON Original or succeeding independently as its own series outside that brand. Aesthetically it holds up on its own, and plot wise, has a lot to explore with everything that has been drip fed during its current 6 episode run. As always, you can read it for free right now, on Webtoon Canvas. Until next time <3 — Justin Guerrero

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You!

Writer/Artist: Miyako Miyahara
Translator: Faye Cozy
Lettering: Danya Shevchenko
Publisher: Seven Seas

There are some stories you read that inspire you to be a better partner. This is one of those stories.

I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! follows Chiyo Koduka and her Landlady—whose actual name I’m withholding because it’s sweeter if you learn it along with Koduka by reading this series—who through a contract to help Koduka catch up on her rent fall into a co-dependent relationship that evolves over time into something more. I don’t know how some people might react to the inciting incident as it could come across as problematic. But as you read along you begin to understand that the incident, and how these two feel about it, isn’t so black and white.

In just three volumes, artist Miyako Miyahara tells an incredible tale of blossoming love and awakening sexuality, as well as what it feels like to care for someone and feel comfortable around them in real time. There’s also a small cast of supporting characters who help Chiyo and Landlady out in their journey. You care for them even for the short time most of them spend on the page.

I enjoy how Miyahara handles the understated eroticism around small things that we often take for granted like holding hands or simple hugs; how depending on context they can sprout from just a friendly gesture into something deeper and far more meaningful. I was left with so much joy watching these two arrive at moments that felt earned.

Miyahara’s art style is also very cute and the amount of life they bring to these characters is what makes this series so good at its foundation. You can’t help but like pretty much everyone. The only character who remains an enigma for most of the story is Landlady. But Miyahara has a great comment about this that actually makes the handling of those particular elements stronger, so I appreciated that.

The translation is where I’m more so-so, because it contains a lot of modern youth slang. It’s not like that wasn’t traditionally the case with translated stories through time immemorial, so it doesn’t really bother me too much. But there are instances when I was taken aback by exactly what they included in the English version.

I can believe I read I Can’t Believe I Slept With You! and I highly recommend it! — Derrick Crow

Spacewalking With You

Writer/Artist: Inuhiko Doronada
Original Digital Edition Translator: Joshua Hardy
Original Digital Edition Letterer: George Bao
Original Digital Edition Editor: Katherine Tran
Print Edition Letterer: Evan Hayden
Print Edition Editor: Andres Oliver
Cover Design: Abigail Blackman
Publisher: Kodansha

Spacewalking With You was nominated in the Best New Manga category for the American Manga Awards, and it’s not hard to see why. The first volume tells the touching tale of Kobayashi and Uno, two teenagers in high school. Kobayashi is a tough guy with long hair who dislikes school and his part time job. Uno is on the spectrum, and carries a book around with detailed instructions for his day to day life. Can these two societal outcasts find common cause?

Uno is the star of Spacewalking With You. His obsessive behavior, overwhelming emotions and guiding courage are finely depicted on the page by artist Inuhiko Doronada. The real secret to the comic’s success though is that it is not just Uno’s story. Kobayashi learns that he isn’t neurotypical either, and that Uno’s methods for keeping life on track might be useful for him as well. A third character, their scary-looking senior Mikawa, adds another kind of neurodivergence to the mix. It’s heartwarming to watch these three very different people share strategies about how to get by in a world that doesn’t make it easy for them.

If I have a reservation about Spacewalking With You, it’s that Doronada is still early in their career as a comics artist. The first chapter, which is worth reading in its own right, is a sizable one-shot depicting how Kobayashi and Uno became friends. The following chapters pivot towards a serialized narrative but haven’t quite arrived yet by the end of the book. Doronada is also not nearly as good at drawing characters in motion as they are at drawing faces. Every “action scene” in the book, like one where Uno almost jumps out of a window, is tough to follow.

That said, this is also a story that Doronada has clearly thought a lot about. The back matter features curated song lists for each character, including bands like Spitz, Radwimps and my beloved Shinsei Kamattechan. The author also performs an interesting maneuver by specifying in the afterward that the story takes place “during the Heisei era,” 1989-2019. Therefore, the characters aren’t necessarily jerks because they don’t know about autism or ADHD. Education about those subjects just isn’t mainstream yet, in that mythical time before the Reiwa era.

Spacewalking With You is up against some fierce competition, including the beautiful A Witch’s Life in Mongol as well as the ever-popular The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All. Will Kobayashi and Uno triumph over their adversaries? All I can say is: “even if it hurts, wait to cry until you get home.” — Adam Wescott

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