I gotta to give credit where credit is due–I came across the titles such as ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] in the Manga Mavericks lineup thanks to translator Mike Jokoh. I had been following his in-depth interviews with mangakas and blogging about manga for years so when he started mentioning this publisher and the indie titles they were putting out, I knew that I would check it out. The company aims to license, localize, and distribute works worldwide from indie creators in Japan which was a joy to learn. I, not only love manga, but I always want to see more indie manga and a more diverse sampling of new and emerging voices from the manga industry.
ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE]
Words and Art: Chiaki Yagura
Translation: Michael Jokoh
Lettering: Victoria Esnard
Editing: Miki Davis, Joshua Martin-Corrales
Quality Assurance: Siddharth Gupta, Colton Solem
Release Date: July 16th, 2025
Age Rating: 13+
![ALTERNATIVE [SELF LINER NOTE]](https://blacknerdproblems.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-08-44-58-ALTERNATIVE-SELF-LINER-NOTE-–-Manga-Mavericks-Books.png)
ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] opens to a young woman standing with guitar in case strapped to her back, headphones in with Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box” playing.
She stands with an unexpressive look upon her face, standing alone but taking up space on a subway train. The text box reads: “My God died when he was 27. Me? I’m 28 with nothing to show for it.”
It is implied that she’s referring to Kurt Cobain, best known as the lead singer, main songwriter and guitarist for the Seattle-based grunge band Nirvana. The very same revered musician whose body was found with a self-infected gunshot a month after a nearly fatal drug overdose. She is also referring to the 27 Club, a tragic collection of individuals whose members who are musicians and other celebrities who pass away at the age of twenty-seven. Rolling Stone further elaborates, “The 27 Club has become one of the most elusive and remarkably tragic coincidences in Rock & Roll history.” From jump, readers are introduced to a musician who feels stagnant, unfulfilled, and not quite connected to what she loves: music.
Rio is an alt-rock musician who feels a grand disconnect from the day to day and her self-expression to what she truly adores and holds dear: her music. From feeling not satisfied with her performances after doing gigs to meeting with others, especially a friend who has reached new heights with an incredible career milestone–she’s slowly drowning. The mangaka shows this with her monologue cutting between and under panels through the one shot with questions that Rio asks herself as time goes on. Questions like “Are you living life to the fullest?” and “What is it that I want to make?” stand out on the black of the pages of the manga almost like subtitles of a movie on a screen in a darkened theater room, giving the pages an almost poetic cinematic feel.
![ALTERNATIVE [SELF LINER NOTE]](https://blacknerdproblems.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/alt-manga-pages.jpg)
In ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE], Rio is found questioning her self-worth in the beginning of the manga. She keeps thinking back to how there’s a whole movement of entertainers who by twenty-seven years old had left their mark on the world, especially in the genre of music that she lives for. Yet as she slinks back to her day job and her everyday routine that leaves her in the doldrums, she further sinks into a malaise that will soon devour her. Her creative slump grows along with apathy and her depression until she chooses to confront it in a grand and explosive way on page.
This is where Chiaki Yagura’s artwork shines: most of the manga one shot feels muted, gritty, and minimalist at most: most of the interactions and encounters with others happening at night. There are plenty of panels with Rio looking listless, smiling a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, and forcing herself to be present. So seeing how expressive and fiercely alive she becomes in the climax of the story makes the slow-ish build up to a grand finale to see on the stage she creates, in her mind. The pages of this young musician literally facing the music and the monster of her own creation–ultimately her self-doubt–and confronting it to see another day makes for some brilliant pages of intensity and awe, visually.
At only 40-pages long, I believe that ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] successfully accomplishes what it set out to. Outside of being a musician, Rio is a person who corrects herself from going too far off track in this really brilliant one shot. As a musician, she is finally able to internally break away from the wave of self-doubt and societal and professional pressures to get back to what works for her: making music for herself, again. Originally released at COMITIA 130 in 2019, ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] is a daring story via manga about loving music, surviving creative slumps, relearning who you are, and standing in your person-hood and truth.
![ALTERNATIVE [SELF LINER NOTE]](https://blacknerdproblems.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-30-at-08-45-04-ALTERNATIVE-SELF-LINER-NOTE-–-Manga-Mavericks-Books.png)
As for my introduction to Chiaki Yagura, I loved reading along to see this artist’s really creative artwork and how they choose to tell this story. I also enjoyed their homage to music, the rock genre (there is a playlist at the end!) and this short but moving narrative about being unsure about yourself as a young person in the world. In the author notes, the mangaka mentions that this was their first original short story that they finished at twenty-eight years of age. ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] really stands out for its uncomplicated, quiet-till-it-is-not, thought provoking tale of breaking free of everything that will come at a person that age: isolation, imposter syndrome, crippling self-doubt, being worried about the future, and leaving us with a person now even a little better equipped to deal with it. I love one-shots, so I think this one was brilliant and finished strong.
As one of this new publisher’s first manga licenses, ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] is absolutely for those who love manga in short form (one shots), slice-of-life manga, manga revolving around music, and those who enjoy seeing indie voices getting their shine. I will state what other reviewers have said: the price to bring about licensing, printing, and distributing may leave some readers feeling that price is a little steep. Twelve dollars for forty pages versus one hundred plus pages for the average non- special edition volume of manga is a bit high.
I’m hoping that Manga Mavericks Books as a publisher lands where they need to be to catch the not-so-niche-anymore market of those who happily search out indie titles and pay for them (like me) and continue to catch the eyes and interests of those who would like to try out something new. All in all, I see ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] as a brilliant one shot that captures so much about writing and rewriting your youth with the lens of a troubled musician making the most of their youth.
ALTERNATIVE[SELF LINER NOTE] is published through Manga Mavericks Books and can be found where comics and manga are sold. See more from Manga Mavericks Books on X (Twitter) and Instagram.
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