I love a heartbreaking tale with a hopeful ending and "Dogs and Punching Bags" definitely delivered that! With its beautiful art style, "Dogs and Punching Bags" approaches a heavy subject by introducing us to a "golden retriever" like character who is always eager to help and loyal like a dog. Cute romance.

Kaori Ozaki has a talent for tackling complicated emotions and nuanced situations. Every character in this work is flawed and going through a loss of some sort, be it, death of a family member, divorce, guilt, or unrequited love, giving the work a certain somberness to it, but there are plenty of lighter moments as well, such as two characters getting together and it's framed as one party excitedly discovering the new land mass that is their partner's body. The characters will make or break the story for you. I found the whole cast interesting, so that made it easy to keep going. Another theme I liked was how it tackled aging, specifically with our leading lady. Various characters called her past her prime in her thirties, but she looked at it as she's still got over half her life left and there is still growing to do. If what I've said sounds interesting, then give this a read!

The story didn't seem to go anywhere. Just a lot of happenings and after a while becomes boring. It can use a more defined purpose. What is the actual intent of the story?

First up a big thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this one, sadly I didn't click with this book at all.

I loved the art (it was so pretty). I loved Nichiko (and I am very curious about her past and why she moved back (we get a hint). I loved that she returned to the island and really picked things up from farming to boxing to living her best life. I loved the island and the community feel. There were several other characters I really liked.
But Chimaki. What the heck is wrong with him? I was shocked that he was 24. He acts for most of the time more like anywhere between 3 and 10 year old. His manners are odd. He behaviour is weird. Then there was a moment he could just fluently tell them all about his travels (and apparently he travelled a lot and was volunteering for all sorts of things) or had some clear thoughts. It just didn't click with me and didn't work, in fact, I just got very annoyed that he was around. Add to that the fact our MC treats him like a puppy? And even lets him do paw and all that. Even sniffs him and thinks he smells like a dog who has been in the sun. Sorry, but no thank you. That is not my thing, great if that is yours, but I am not into puppy play and such.

I gave up at page 109. I just couldn't anymore.

DNF @ 30%

This book had a beautiful art style but the plotting and characters felt underbaked. The plot jumped all over the place making me feel like I had whiplash and the most of the characterization is told not shown. I just honestly was dreading reading more and decided to put it down as I was constantly confused and not having a good time.

I have been wanting to get into comics and art, and this was an amazing place to start! Dogs and punching bags by kaori ozaki kept me on my toes.

While I found this manga to be decent, I do feel like it tried to tackle a lot for the length of the book. Choosing to explore the back stories of Nichiko and Chiamaki, and how they go together makes sense, but adding in Atsumu's issues with his family maybe complicates it a little too much. I did enjoy the character growth experienced by Nichiko and Chiamaki, they both found ways to work through/come to terms with their trauma, and open up to each other. I did think Nichiko's story focused a little too much on the men in her life, I wish she was allowed to have conversations with the other women side characters without it only being about men.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this and found the art to be really nice. I would recommend this to a friend who needed a quick read.

Dogs and Punching Bags is slice of life and seinen. I really enjoy Ozaki's series, since she knows how to make short stories that are full of life and emotion. The original Japanese version is two books long as this is an omnibus containing both of those. It's a good call, since the book feels whole now on a totally different level. Nichiko is a 34-year-old woman, who returns from Tokyo to her home island after learning that the man she loves is married, but didn't tell her. She tries to find herself again and meets this Chimaki named guy, ten years her junior. He's got a past, but that doesn't prevent them of for starting to have feelings for each other. I really enjoyed the age gap and how the woman is older. Especially the ending is wonderful and the picture of everyone at the back shows something great.

The art is wonderful as it always is in Ozaki's manga. The atmosphere is even hollow and sad mostly, but there's that amazing glimmer of hope. The realism is something you can actually touch. I really enjoy stories like this a lot - well-constructed, emotional and relatable. I highly recommend. This is surely a manga for adults in a good way.

Dogs and Punching Bags—it must definitely be a metaphor for hopes and challenges. The is inspiring, nevertheless.

I’ve been meaning to read Dogs and Punching Bags and when I found out it’s available as an ARC, I didn’t miss a beat and grabbed my chance to get an official copy. At first I thought it was quite long and realized it’s a 2-in-1 volume.

I’ve read a Kaori Ozaki manga before and I just realized she does include bits and pieces of frowned-upon and controversial issues across her works (e.i. the huge age gap between the hero and heroine, adultery).

This one though felt like a ghibli movie but only for older teens/adults as an audience. The setting is refreshing, the back stories are interesting. The story may have heavy notes at times, but it manages to bring back laughter and smiles on the face.

My gratitude to everyone-generous Kodansha Comics and publisher for providing me an advanced copy of this series in exchange for an honest review.

Dogs and Punching Bags by Kaori Ozaki is a charming, easy-to-read manga that tells the story of a woman who moves to a small island and falls in love with a younger man.
The story and art are undeniably cute, but beneath its surface, this manga struggles to explore its themes with the nuance they deserve. Issues like death, aging, suicide, and loneliness are present but feel underdeveloped, leaving the reader with a sense of unease. Never exploring them, the story feels incomplete or lacking in depth. The manga might have benefited from a lighter approach, allowing it to better capture the escapism the protagonist craves. With a softer tone, it could have been more touching, perhaps even more effectively, without feeling burdened by darkness.

This story is deeply emotional and packed with layers of trauma. Both the male and female protagonists carry heavy burdens of pain, loss, and heartbreak, including themes of infidelity and death. As the narrative unfolds, we witness their struggles and growth as they work through their pasts and find solace in each other.

What makes this story even more compelling is the growth of the side characters, who also experience meaningful development. It’s a heartwarming tale of two people navigating their struggles and discovering connection in the midst of their challenging daily lives.

The art complements the story beautifully, capturing the emotions and depth of the characters with great care. It’s a touching, heartfelt read that stays with you long after the final page.

while the story has its good moments - beautiful art, people going through life, learning, growing, maturing - the weird ones made it harder for me to like the book. there was so much promise and strength in the opening lines that dwindled into nothing. the manga's portrayal of womanhood and depression is severely lacking - not to mention, dangerous.

the manga revolves around men. this becomes an even bigger problem when the message of the story borders on “men will save you from depression”. there is nothing wrong with love saving someone’s life, but to do so without any study of the suicidal character’s inner thoughts is extremely dangerous. the story would have worked better if her struggle with mental health was shown during her relationship with the man too, otherwise, it is like saying he came into her life and everything was fixed. did a man loving her really erase all her self-hatred and anger towards capitalism? how did moving affect this? where is her depression after she moves? suicide is not a solo factor, depression has a wide range of symptoms, where are they? if suicide is presented alone, then it is there for its own sake, a romantic concept and not an illness.

we see Chimaki struggle with his trauma, try to live, doubt himself. he and her ex have actions/stories outside of Nichiko but she does not get the same treatment.

her interactions with all the other female characters are about men. she never gets a moment to herself and is always thinking either about Chimaki or her ex. she interacts with Himari as a stand-by to Chimaki. while Momo appropriately moves on from her crush, her growth feels incomplete without a moment with Nichiko outside of rivalry, especially since Chimaki tries to bond with her outside of boy advice.

the story suffers from telling and not enough showing. we are told Nichiko is trying hard to live her life but are never shown her doing ordinary things - chores, grappling with doubts about leaving her job, how it feels to move back to your hometown.

the blurb is fitting though, it is simply a story about a woman meeting a man. the suicidal ideation and life struggles were props, 100% in case of Nichiko, varied in case of Chimaki.

i still appreciate the story. it is obvious that a lot of thought went into it, but the majority of it missed the mark for me.

As Dogs and Punching Bags begins, 34-year-old Nichiko returns to the tiny island where she grew up. Her estranged alcoholic father doesn’t have long left to live and, for reasons that become clear later, she wants to be there. But there’s more to her escape from Tokyo than family commitments—things she would prefer not to talk about with her gregarious neighbors.

One of those neighbors is Chimaki, a cheerful young man in his twenties. He’s friendly, eager to help, and almost puppy-like in his devotion. In fact, he reminds Nichiko of her childhood dog, Hachimaki—right down to a similar mark on their faces. Whether Chimaki really is Hachmaki reincarnated notwithstanding, the two find companionship as they attempt to put their respective pasts behind them.



The Secrets

Under the main romance of Dogs and Punching Bags is a pair of unfortunate secrets weighing down our two leads. As Nichiko’s birthday approaches, she continues to get letters from someone in her life whom she left behind. She’s still on the fence about whether to let this person back in, but news travels fast in a small town. So even though she’s playing things close to the chest, news of her activities back in Tokyo do come back to haunt her.

And speaking of being haunted, Chimaki has ghosts of his own. An innocent mistake from his childhood has cast a pall over his family and left many in town questioning whether he’s a safe person. That one childish mistake explains much of his kindness, as he attempts to pay off his “debt.”



Why It Works

On its surface, Dogs and Punching Bags is a simple love story. But Nichiko and Chimaki’s many problems—both childhood and more current—color how they interact with each other. Only when they’ve both come to terms with what haunts them can they be honest about their feelings for each other. Woven through their story is a secondary teen romance, much simpler and more innocent by comparison.

It’s a story that wraps up nicely in eleven chapters. The characters on this little island are alive with hopes, dreams, and fears. Even the most background of characters are unique and recognizable. Combined with lovely artwork and passionate storytelling, this is a love story you’ll want for keeps on your manga shelf.

I really enjoyed this. It's a sweet manga about self-discovery and self-sacrifice, and how to view the life that's right in front of you instead of trying to search elsewhere for it. I found the pacing to be a little fast, and maybe it's because I enjoyed the characters so much, but I would've loved to see their relationship develop more; but this is a problem I have with a lot of romance, so maybe it's just me. In any case, I recommend for anyone looking for a simple slice-of-life manga about falling in love in a quiet way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha for the e-arc!

Dogs and Punching Bags is Kaori Ozaki's newest English release, and it did not disappoint. This story follows Nichiko as she returns to her hometown for her father's last days. While there, she meets Chimaki, a young eccentric with a puppy-like enthusiasm for life. This stirs up memories and feelings in Nichiko that she had long forgotten. Kaori Ozaki has slowly become an auto-read author for me. Each story they write seems to hit home with the discussions of emotion, love, and sadness. This story did have some moments that made me annoyed but the overall message was done well. I would recommend checking this out if you have read from this author previously.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a proof in exchange for an honest review.
Dogs and Punching Bags was a unique and thought-provoking read. It’s rare to come across a manga featuring a woman in her 30s as the protagonist, and I found that aspect particularly refreshing. I really hope publishers will bring more stories that showcase women at various stages of life.
This manga was delicate, sad, and, at its core, hopeful. It tackled complex subjects like death, trauma, and the desire to live (or the lack of it). The story had a raw emotional depth that lingered long after I finished reading.
That said, I feel this story would have been even more impactful as a multi-volume series. There were so many concepts and themes I wished the mangaka could have explored in greater depth, and at times, the single-volume format felt a bit restrictive for the complexity of the narrative.
Overall, Dogs and Punching Bags is a meaningful manga that stands out for its maturity and emotional impact. While I wanted more time with the story and its characters, it’s still a powerful one-volume read.

I am not exaggerating when I say this is the best manga I've read in a while. I came into this not expecting anything. With a title like, "Dogs and Punching Bags", I mean ... you don't get much from that. It could go either way honestly. But, oh my gosh this book is so beautiful. I'm saying this after crying for like five minutes straight. I did the type of crying that makes you feel like you got the flu or something.

Where do I even start? This book is about love. All types of love. It's about loneliness, regrets, and forgiveness. You just got to read it. Please experience this book for yourself.

Chimaki's life really touched me. His story is so sad but he's such a funny, innocent, sweet, and beautiful character. See ... now I am crying again! There are some parts that sort of touch on the unseen/spiritual side that just grabbed my heart and squeezed the life out of it (in a good way).

The final chapter is so freaking good. With manga you already have an image put before you but somehow Kaori Ozaki managed to make her writing stand out a bit more during an intimate scene between Chimaki & Nichiko. Like, I obviously need to check out her previous works because if her other books are anything like this! Whew. Okay, I'm done. This review is long enough. "Dogs and Punching Bags" gets all the stars.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

The illustrations are stunning. I could really feel the emotions coming alive on the pages. Both main characters have compelling stories. Even though they are very different I could relate with both of them and felt for their struggles.

This was one of those stories that you know you are going to like/love from the very first pages.

The first week of the new year hasn't been great reading-wise. I've picked up and put down five books, probably reading around 1,000 pages this week but not finishing a single book (I did manage a short story in there). When I saw this manga on NetGalley as a read now option, I decided to give it a shot because I needed a break from prose.

So, thank you NetGalley, Kaori Ozaki, and Kodansha Comics for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

We're following the stories of two people as they battle their pasts and find where they belong. I almost believe you should go into this as blindly as you can because you'll be just as shocked as I was throughout. There's a lot of childhood trauma, death, and talk of dying (so tread lightly).

I'm also glad that the dog aspect was light. I was nervous about just how spiritual we were going to get, but I'm glad that it was alluded.

In general, I though the characters were well fleshed-out and their backstories were captivating. The entire town was well set and the side characters were well-explored. I really enjoyed this manga and I think that it would make a terrific anime.

I truly had the best time while reading this and I kept a "journal" throughout with spoiler thoughts, which I'll copy and paste below if you're interested in following along as you read.

READ WITH ME

30%
<spoiler> This is such a weird manga, but I can't stop reading it. Basically, we're following a woman who moved back to this very small island to "watch her dad die" since he was awful to her and pushed her entire family way (not just from himself, but from each other--she hasn't seen her mom or brother since they left). She's tending to the garden at the house she grew up in, finding that she's lonely and missing her childhood dog she grew up with.

That part actually made me teary-eyed. She had to leave her drunk and abusive father, which also meant leaving her childhood dog behind with him. She realizes that he probably waited for her and died alone and neglected. Like. Fuck.

In addition to her story, we're also following a twenty year old who is infatuated with her. He works at the only convenience store on this island and we see that he's very caring. He's a nurturing human, giving bits and pieces of himself to anyone who needs it, even a dying mouse (he tries to ferry it to the mainland). We also meet his overprotective mother and his little sister, as well as a coworker that is crazy-jealous of the main character because it's obvious these two are falling for each other.

The punching bag comes into play because she's angry and has a lot pent up bullshit to deal with. Punching it out seems a lot easier than going to therapy, I suppose.

The weird part about this manga is that the MMC is often compared to her childhood dog. If it turns out that he is her childhood dog reincarnated... I don't know, that's weird. There's quite a large age difference between these two: she's almost 35 and he's in his early twenties. It's possible that's where this is going.

There was a full on comparison between herself, himself, and her childhood dog (which I actually kind of liked). Like her pet, they both don't understand the world around them fully and how it operates. They feel like outsiders.</spoiler>

42%
<spoiler> That was heartbreaking. He was a kid when that happened. He obviously thought his brother could fly (from a previous scene), so he pushed his little brother off a cliff and into the sea. His brother didn't make it, so now he's "making it up to God," by being the best possible person he can be for other people. The FMC found out and she sent him home to walk in the rain. Like... T.T

OMG AND THEN we find out what actually happened. His mom decided to read them all The Little Matchgirl (depressing as fuck) and described heaven as this wonderful place you go when you die. You'll sprout wings and fly up there. When you die. The boys were playing and his younger brother asked him to give him a push to "take a trip to heaven." The knots that formed in my stomach.</spoiler>

48%
<spoiler> The scene where his little (TWIN) brother is gripping the back of his shirt and telling him to live. Like. FUCK! T.T </spoiler>

66%
<spoiler> So much happened. FMC apparently had a full ass relationship with a married man and got played hard. He told her that he couldn't take a trip with him and she decided to take one of her own. She crossed paths with him at the airport and saw his whole family with him. She kept the ring he proposed with her with (alongside a promise to leave his wife) as a reminder of the anger she harbored for him. She cut her hair and moved back home to deal with her father when she met MMC.

She realizes that she overreacted and should've heard MMC out, but still ended up leaving. The married man texted her saying that he'd like to see her on her birthday, that he left his wife. She goes to Tokyo to meet him, calling him a liar--that she knew that he never left his wife. And he sneers at her and says something like: and you still came; you get me better than they do. Blah blah.

In walks MMC and they get into an altercation (very entertaining). FMC takes him by the hand and they leave together. Super cute. </spoiler>

67%
<spoiler> OMG. He saved her pickle bed. T.T (she broke it out of anger, even though it was the last thing she had of her mom's)</spoiler>

100%
<spoiler>How fucking cute. I actually really love that the cheating bastard gets a small redemption arc and learns something from this experience. I did find their sex scene to be a little weird, but I think it worked for them. And the last shot where she has a baby bump??? Like. How adorable. </spoiler>

Nichiko is a thirty something who is soul searching back at her small island hometown.
The island has a few interesting locals and soon after Nichiko’s arrival, everyone’s lives changes. Especially, Nichiko’s and her love interest’s.
There were some bizarre and maybe unnecessary moments, body shaming but also a comment condemning it. The male gaze and other patriarchal weirdness do not take away from the story, no matter what. The back stories of the two main characters were authentic and relatable. Overall, a life-affirming and cute story and flows really well.