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Manga the Week of 10/12/22

SEAN: Manga the Week of is brought to you this week by Weetabix. MICHELLE: I will never not associate Weetabix with Spike and Giles. ASH: Now that you mention it! SEAN: We start with Yen On, which gives us In the Land of Leadale 6, Magistellus Bad Trip 2, and Sasaki and Peeps 2. While Yen Press has The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time 2 and Kaiju Girl Caramelise 6. ASH: Oh, I somehow didn’t realize that Kaiju Girl Caramelise was an ongoing series. SEAN: Viz Media debuts Dandadan, a Shonen Jump + title. A boy believes in aliens, but thinks ghosts are the bunk. A girl in his school believes the exact opposite. Together they will discover… that aliens and ghosts are too…

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My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex: “First Kiss Manifesto”

By Kyosuke Kamishiro and TakayaKi. Released in Japan as “Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gierrlon Dunn. Last time I mentioned that the anime was just starting, and I wondered how it would be handled. Well, now we know, and we also know that apparently the anime producers like Akatsuki as much as I do. Almost the entire third volume was jettisoned from the anime, which decided it really did not need multiple episodes focusing on the world’s most toxic ex-couple. More to the point, they knew something had to go if they wanted to adapt this volume, which turns out to have the perfect “open ending” for an anime that might eventually get a second season….

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A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life, Vol. 4

By Yuu Tanaka and Nardack. Released in Japan as “Deokure Tamer no Sono Higurashi” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Yuko C. Shimomoto. At long last, Yuto and his tamed monsters are finally starting to get good at the sort of combat that everyone else figured out three days into the game. Sure, later in the book he runs into two top-tier players who remind him that he’s still really weak by comparison, but there’s more here of him and the others actually defeating a lot of monsters. That said, fear not, because the main reason to read the book is still here, by which I mean Yuto telling Alyssa about everything he’s done recently and watching her reaction. I’m not kidding, this has…

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Surviving in Another World As a Villainess Fox Girl!, Vol. 1

By Riia Ai and Mucha. Released in Japan as “Scenario Nante Iranai! Rival Chara no Kitsunekko” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Miki “Zombie” Zuckerman. It’s always tough when a word ends up being shorthand for a genre. There’s no “villainess” in this book. Indeed, the Japanese romanji uses “Rival Chara”, which is far more accurate. But, as with “isekai” books that aren’t really isekai, “villainess” has become shorthand for a genre of books that this series falls under, so here we are. That said, it’s also intriguing for other reasons. First of all, as the blurb suggests, we have two different “reincarnated into a game” characters butting heads in order to save the game from a bad end, which…

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The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 8

By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT. The Ideal Sponger Life is doing a pretty good job of trying to strike a balance between fantasy (after all, this is a series with magic and dragons and the like) and realistic political outcomes. And one of the realistic political outcomes that comes up in this volume is Aura having to give up some of her power. This comes in two different ways – the first is appointing her general/rival as military leader, an unfortunate necessity now that she is pregnant with her second child. The second is finally giving in and admitting (and Zenjirou also has to admit this) that Freya…

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Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court, Vol. 2

By Satsuki Nakamura and Kana Yuki. Released in Japan as “Futsutsuka na Akujo dewa Gozaimasu ga: Suuguu Chouso Torikae Den” by Ichijinsha Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tara Quinn. I want to be able to talk about the rest of the cast when I review these books. After all, it can’t ALL be about Reirin. I could talk about Keigetsu, and how my opinion of her went way, way up with this book, when we finally get to delve deeply into how she’s being used as a tool. I could discuss the wonderful flashback showing us Kenshuu and Gabi, which takes a mystery with a rather obvious culprit and turns it into a sad tragedy. I could mention Leelee, who goes from reluctant servant and straight…

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Manga the Week of 10/5/22

SEAN: It’s October, so all your manga tastes like pumpkin spice. Go one, try a page. MICHELLE: Why, it’s positively delightful! SEAN: Airship first. After a long wait, mostly as the series switched publishers in Japan and new contracts needed to be written, we have the 14th volume of Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. This is print AND digital, so no early stuff here. There is an early digital debut, though, with The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash (Saijaku Tamer wa Gomihiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita). The premise sounds very similar to A Late Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life, but we’ll see how this “my seemingly weak class and skills get me abused but they’re actually REALLY STRONG” series goes….

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Yashiro-kun’s Guide to Going Solo

By Dojyomaru and Kou Kusaka. Released in Japan as “Yashiro-kun no Ohitori-sama Kouza” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andria Cheng-McKnight. Authors, of course, read other authors, and are influenced by them. The book in, say, isekai books, or villainess books, etc. is not JUST publishers trying to milk the latest cash cow, it also stems from authors reading a title and thinking “what would happen if I tried this instead?”. And it’s the same with the author of How a Realist hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, who notes in the Afterword that he wrote this book heavily influenced by titles like My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. Though honestly, it reads more like a Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki. Our male lead is…

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Bookshelf Briefs 9/27/22

D-Frag!, Vol. 16 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – This new volume (by now the series is annual) involves a massive parody of “trapped in a game” stories, as the main cast are all in an experimental VRMMO which has a few bugs in the system. Kazuma’s in-game cursed armor may be affected by a REAL curse on him, Runa’s attempt to imitate Lone Wolf and Cub has left her as a baby, and Sakura can only use water spells, because, well, she’s Sakura. There are some very funny stabs at both Sword Art Online and similar stories as well as the D-Frag cast itself, with Kazuma once again having to rely on his tsukkomi in order to survive. That said, it ended with a surprise heartwarming moment……

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