Manga Bookshelf

January 18, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 8

By Gamei Hitsuji and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. I feel this is a decent improvement on the last book, which I felt was overbalanced towards the back half. You could argue the same thing here, but honestly the front half was so amusing that I think its strengths outweigh the fact that it’s per fanservice and comedy. The start of the book has Felmenia, deciding that Suimei’s party needs a break, creating a pool in the middle of their backyard. Naturally we get swimsuit illustrations, but more importantly the girls all take this as an opportunity to have a giant water battle with each other using their powers. Suimei’s reactions are what make this, as he…

January 17, 2019 By Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and Melinda Beasi

Manga the Week of 1/23/19

SEAN: (collapses under pile of manga) (muffled voice) Yen Press week, gang. Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation of the 2nd Dangan Ronpa game. J-Novel Club has the 2nd and final volume of Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, and the 12th and nowhere near final volume of In Another World with My Smartphone. Kodansha has a bunch of debuts, and they’re even print! We start with 10 Dance, which combines BL and ballroom dancing, so sounds AMAZING. It runs in Young Magazine the 3rd. MICHELLE: I am so looking forward to this. The cover and concept makes me think of the works of est em. ANNA: I am intrigued. ASH: Yes! I am so excited for this one!…

January 17, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 33

By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry. The manga had taken a six-week break in Shonen Sunday towards the beginning of this book, and so Hata amusingly tries to do a “let me remind you of the plot and cast” for those who have not been reading this for 32 previous volumes. Mostly what it does is remind us of Hayate’s near-inhuman stamina, which vies with his legitimately inhuman bad luck for dominance. Hata knows the value of setting up an obvious joke and letting it play out as far as he possibly can. We start with all the residents of the getting colds, except Hayate, who has to…

January 16, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 3

By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. This volume does a much better job than the previous two books at actually having tension during the fights – Zagan actually has to work hard once or twice, which shows you how dangerous things are. Of course, he brought things on himself by walking into what was clearly a trap – something he knew, and which everyone else in his party pointed out, and yet they did it anyway. Our heroes are invited to a luxury boat for a party – something that everyone except Chastille knows does not mean a REAL party – and while there run afoul of another archdemon and his dark elf, who…

January 15, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 1

By Midori Yuma and Waco Ioka. Released in Japan as “Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi: Ayakashi Oyado ni Yomeiri Shimasu” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine B’S LOG COMIC. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Tomo Kimura. There are times when you simply have to trust in the good taste of a publisher. I admit, reading the first volume of Kakuriyo, I wasn’t all that drawn in. It’s apparently based on a series of novels, and sometimes reads like it: there’s a ton of exposition laid out by characters to the heroine (who also gets to exposit on her own past) in an effort to get the story to where the author wants it to be and have the reader understand things. Which is fine, but works better…

January 14, 2019 By Ash Brown, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 1/14/19

After Hours, Vol. 3 | By Yuhta Nishio | Viz Media – The scenes in this book of the rave, before, after and during, as well as what comes next, are fantastic, and the volume is worth picking up for that reason alone. That said, the romance in this third volume is the weak point. Kei abruptly disappears from Emi’s life right as Emi is ready to move into Kei’s life permanently, and while the family issues that Kei has to deal with are understandable, the author seems to think it’s 1959 and not 2019. You have phones! The journey by bus is a long one, but completely doable! There is no need for the ambiguous “maybe ever after” of this ending. That said, overall I found this series highly…

January 14, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Desolation

By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru. Translated by Matt Treyvaud. Before we discuss the events of the second half of the book (which I will spoil out of necessity), let’s talk about the fairly normal first half. Reinhard is headed with his entire fleet towards Iserlohn, and Yang and company are doing their level best to try to at least slow them down. There are a few more times when we see Yang being the master tactician and manipulator that he is, and a lot of the Empire’s finest being hotheads when they shouldn’t be. The stage is set for Reinhard and Yang to negotiate terms. We even get one last debate, in Yang’s head, about the…

January 13, 2019 By Anna N

Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 8

The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 8 by Rei Toma One of the central questions I had as a reader of The Water Dragon’s Bride was what would happen if Asahi managed to find her way home? With her return to modern day Japan and her decision to rejoin her friends in the world of the Water Dragon God, I was curious to see where Toma would take the plot next in terms of a main conflict. She introduces a new antagonist for the Water Dragon God and Asahi, and I’m genuinely curious to see where the story goes next because I’m not sure what to expect. The idea of other castaway people has been touched on a little bit before in this series, but this volume takes a turn when…

January 13, 2019 By Sean Gaffney

Katanagatari: Sword Tale, Vol. 1

By Nisioisin and take. Released in Japan in three separate volumes by Kodansha BOX. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Sam Bett. This is the third major series of Nisioisin’s to come out over here as a novel, after the popular Monogatari Series and the cult classic but poor selling Zaregoto Series. These books reunite Nisio with the artist for the Zaregoto books, and the art is sufficiently stylistically awesome. As for fans of Nisioisin’s wordplay, not only do they get tons of that in these volumes, but we get footnotes from the translator (which he indicates are totally optional) explaining many of the original lines and why they’re puns, as well as his own translation choices. It’s the sort of thing I wish that we could…

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