The Elsewhere Express — Samantha Sotto Yambao
Magic realism and I have a love-hate relationship — it's a hit or miss, and unfortunately, this one is a miss. The Elsewhere Express follows characters aboard a train composed and run entirely by thoughts, tasked with finding their compartments and eventually tracking down a stowaway. The world-building is genuinely creative and imaginative, and I found one small moment of connection in the almost-blind experience of a character, which hit differently given my limited eyesight. The story, however, is so front-loaded with world-building that character purpose and story progression get completely lost. Halfway through, I still wasn't sure what the characters were trying to do or why, and the train itself was visually impossible to picture: how do you imagine a compartment or a room made of thoughts or emotions? Since I tend to visualize in the character's perspective when I read, not being able to picture the surroundings left me lost. The author has an amazing imagination, and she's never failed me before, but this one had me trudging through from February to months later. I almost DNF'd, and the ending left me with only a vague idea of how it concluded.
Witch Hat Atelier (Vol. 1–5) — Kamome Shirahama
Witch Hat Atelier tells an amazing story partnered with some of the most gorgeous art I've seen in manga — the kind of series that makes you want to slow down and just look. Coco is an ordinary girl passionate about magic but born without it, until she accidentally witnesses that magic isn't cast through incantation, but drawn. One forbidden mistake later, she finds herself apprenticed to a witch named Qifrey, racing to save her mother while uncovering a world far more dangerous than she imagined. We see Coco navigating the wonders and terror of magic while building meaningful friendships with the other apprentices in Qifrey's atelier. What I love most is that magical ability isn't something you're born with — it's learned, practiced, drawn with your own hand — and that makes every spell feel creative and alive. The series also quietly wrestles with the tension between innovation and strict tradition, and it gives both sides room to breathe. Nothing worth noting through these first five volumes — the series itself gives me nothing to complain about, only the price tag does. Volume 5 ended on a cliffhanger that has me genuinely restless, and I think that's the highest compliment I can give: I'm not just curious about what happens next — I'm invested.
The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 16 — Natsu Hyuuga
Volume 16 is densely packed — brimming with mysteries, plot developments, and a little bit of everything. Maomao and Jinshi are back to solving a mystery together, Yao and En'en reappear, we get a snippet of Maomao's family dynamics, and the volume culminates in a smallpox outbreak with a significant moral dilemma at its heart. Seeing them work together again reminded me of when we first started this series — and despite their primarily business-oriented interactions, the little snippets of affection feel like a sweet candy given to a child. The haunting idea of Kokuyou as a "mirror" resonated deeply: the thought-provoking notion that we sometimes treat people the way they treat us, especially when we're on defense mode, genuinely made me stop and reflect. The slow-burn romance between Basen and Lishu, though, is quite frustrating — Basen is an idiot, and I really felt for Chue and Maamei. And Maomao's heartbreak deeply saddened me — the kind of emotional gut-punch that reminds you why you fell in love with this series in the first place.