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The Manga Review: Special K

After months of speculation, Kodansha formally announced that it would be launching K Manga, a digital platform that will allow fans to read the latest chapters of current series as well as the full run of old favorites. The app, which will debut on May 10, 2023, will be available for both iOS and Android, and will function as “Kodansha’s official serialization platform.” As Deb Aoki notes, Kodansha’s press release was “vague in some key areas,” with no information about “pricing or subscription models,” but included a brief list of titles that would be available right away, from Attack on Titan and Blue Lock to Ghost in the Shell,  Fairy Tail, and Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagataro. Speaking with The OASG, Deputy Editor Yuta Hiraoka explained Kodansha’s decision to…

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The Executioner and Her Way of Life: A Casket of Salt

By Mato Sato and nilitsu. Released in Japan as “Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon. You will pardon me if I am just a bit exhausted after reading this volume of the series. It consists entirely of payoff, which makes the plot more interesting, but also means that we don’t really get to relax and take in anything. And, frankly, we’re still inhibited by the actual writing. The anime was quite successful when it was released, and I think it showed off that the ideas and concepts in this series work best when they’re taken away from the author’s control. This book is a slog, no mistaking it, and while I realize some of that is simply…

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Manga the Week of 3/29/23

SEAN: March is going out like a lamb, but is the manga we’ve been waiting for actually coming out? Sorry, it got bumped to May. Meanwhile… Yen Press has one title which is Visions 2022__Illustrators Book. This is, as you might guess, a sequel to Visions 2021__Illustrators Book, and is basically the finest pixiv artbook that you can reproduce without asking copyright holders’ permission. Viz Media has Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection (Bohyou no Machi), which is, well, another Junji Ito story collection. These are from the mid-90s, and mostly ran in Monthly Halloween, a shoujo horror magazine, and then its sister publication, Nemuki, after Monthly Halloween folded. ASH: So much Junji Ito manga these days! But that won’t stop me from reading it. SEAN: Also from Viz: Fist of…

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Rascal Does Not Dream of a Lost Singer

By Hajime Kamoshida and Keji Mizoguchi. Released in Japan as “Seishun Buta Yarou wa Mayoeru Singer no Yume wo Minai” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. As we hit double digit volumes for this series, and we start what is basically “Rascal: The College Years”, it’s probably a good time to ask ourselves what we really want out of the series. Let’s face it, I’d be perfectly happy just watching Sakuta interact with the rest of the cast, no plot or dangerous supernatural phenomenon needed. Add in 40-50 pages of descriptions of subway stations, which is about the average with this series, and you could say that we don’t NEED the main premise of the series anymore. The main cast, for the…

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Sword Art Online, Vol. 26: Unital Ring V

By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul. It’s not clear how much ;longer this arc of Sword Art Online is going to go, or if it really is the final arc in the story. I don’t think even the author knows, especially given that his afterword talks about how he gets distracted by side stories and diversions all the time and can’t advance the plot. But I think he’s thinking about it, and we get a little of that with Silica here, who gets to have most of the narration that isn’t Kirito’s when he’s in the Underworld. She’s been one of the original SAO gang for so long it’s sometimes hard to remember that…

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Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, Vol. 9

By Miri Mikawa and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan as “Ikka Kōkyū Ryōrichō” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hunter Prigg. This is one of those volumes where the audience knows the answer that the rest of the cast are searching for, but even by the end of the book they still have not quite figured it out. So much of this volume is about sacrificing personal hopes, dreams and happiness for the sake of the country, and the assumption that, deep down, everyone else will also be doing the same thing. Unfortunately for them, we’re able to peer inside Shusei’s head, and we’ve already read the previous eight books, so we know why he’s so determined to burn the entire country…

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Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire, Vol. 8

By Hayaken and Nagu. Released in Japan as “Eiyu-oh, Bu wo Kiwameru tame Tensei su. Soshite, Sekai Saikyou no Minarai Kisi ♀” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mike Langwiser. Reborn to Master the Blade is not, I think, a series that’s really trying to do much beyond having fun and writing a lot of Inglis fighting. The author admits in the afterword that they really don’t have much of an idea of where to go next, so there’s not really an end goal in mind. Sometimes this is a good thing. We’re here to see Inglis fight things, and the back half of this book is all that, showing us Inglis coming as close as she’s ever come to actually getting killed, and…

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The Manga Review: March Madness

Back in February, Twitter users introduced me to dozens of podcasts and websites that hadn’t been on my radar, among them The Wonder of Anime. The site was created by Lisa De La Cruz, who’s been interviewing voice actors and content creators, filing convention reports, and reviewing manga since 2019. Right now, she’s midway through her own March Madness, posting short reflections on her favorite series, from My Love Mix-Up! to Clover, Love*Com, Wave, Listen to Me!, and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku. De La Cruz also hosts a popular podcast that’s available on Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher; recent episodes have focused on manga translation and lettering. NEWS If you’ve been curious about Azuki, check out Rob Salkowitz’s profile of this new digital manga platform. “We want to provide people…

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Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 15

By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper. As many have noticed by now, this author really, really loves playing around in isekai tropes and cliches, and the more cliched the better – in fact, it comes as a surprise in this series when it ISN’T the cliche. When they’re investigating a local noble, you can guarantee that he is going to be a scummy noble who treats those he’s responsible for like crap, because scummy nobles are just what isekais do. (This is not unique to FUNA – Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear has similar ideas, though subverts them more often.) It…

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