Episode 123 - The Marshal King by Boichi

Mat (0:11)

Hello everybody, I know I haven't seen Manga Tak, the weekly podcast where we read and reflect on the finest of its volumes, your money can buy so you can find your next favourite manga. As always, I'm your host, Mat, and this week, I'm joined once again by my right-hand man, the man with the blazing saddle and my podcasting partner in crime, Mr. Thomas Parry. How are you doing?

Thomas Parry (0:29)

Do very well, thank you. Mat, thanks for having me again on the podcast.

Mat (0:33)

You're welcome, partner. Yee-haw.

Thomas Parry (0:35)

That's really good. I like you keeping up the cowboy thing. I'll try my best to also get on board.

Mat (0:40)

Thank you. If you could match this really team cowboy energy of a person that's trying not to speak too loud to wake their daughter, then please, by all means, do that.

Thomas Parry (0:48)

I'm ready for the manga showdown. That's the best I can come up with.

Mat (0:51)

This is a book that I thrust upon you, so I must say thank you so much for actually having the time to talk about this.

Thomas Parry (0:58)

Thank you for thrusting it upon me. It's greatly appreciated.

Mat (1:01)

That's the first time I've viewed that, so I will take it as the compliment I've seen what it's meant to be. Yeah, we were talking about The Marshal King by Boichi today, and after our discussion previously on the podcast about Ace's story, I thought, well, I want to talk about this book. I wasn't sure what the right time was. Obviously, you and I recently just spoke about B3, which is a title I still cannot remember.

Thomas Parry (1:24)

Blood Blockade Battlefront.

Mat (1:26)

There we go. Blood Blockade Battlefront. You won't say it three times in front of a mirror. It will summon Nightow. Yeah, so we talked about that book, obviously, very recently. And then a scheduling crisis happened, as does sometimes this time of year, when people start getting sick in the flu season. And you gallantly came to my rescue. You came in guns ablazing.

Thomas Parry (1:44)

I galloped in on my horse and met you at the saloon to have a chat about the Marshal King.

Mat (1:50)

You did. I slid the glass down clumsily and it fell off my side of the bar.

Thomas Parry (1:53)

Picture it.

Mat (1:54)

And I had to pour you another one.

Thomas Parry (1:55)

Listeners, this is exactly what it looks like right now when you're talking to Mat.

Mat (1:58)

Theatre of the mind. Anyways, we're here to talk today about a book by Boichi and obviously I had expressed great interest in you reading him because I know you really appreciated his work in his story. I was thinking actually knowing you and knowing your tastes, I think this would be a book up your alley.

Thomas Parry (2:16)

You picked well.

Mat (2:17)

I did offer you three books and said, hey, here are the three. And then the one that was dangled serotypically in front of you to be like, hey, think about this one, it might be outside your comfort zone. You were like, nope, the other two, please. And I was like, okay, fine.

Thomas Parry (2:30)

Well, the other two are both Boichi. So, you know, that was the deciding factor for me. Cause I've been wanting to read something more from Boichi, but with everything else I'm reading at the minute, you know, I hadn't made it a priority. You know, it's just getting through all the other series that I'm reading.

Mat (2:44)

It's understandable.

Thomas Parry (2:45)

But this is nice. This is a good book to take a little bit of a side quest on.

Mat (2:49)

Honestly, I think this will be a good book to podcast about because it's a book that I am honestly a little bit conflicted about. I had thought about, like I said, doing this a bit closer to Ace's Story. But then when I rechecked in with the book, having not really read it since it came out in February 2025 when those first initial chapters dropped, and I saw that it was on hiatus and so I did actually fear that this book was just going to be a bit DOA. And so I waited. I saw the English releases coming out and I'm happy to say at the time of recording this book has resumed publication so it is back to its weekly schedule. I think we're like two or three weeks into it actually starting up and the fourth volumes do out in Japan next month. So it does seem to be a life and kick in which is great news I think.