• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Melinda Beasi
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Paul Beasi
    • Derek Bown
    • Katherine Dacey
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Latest Picks

January 18, 2021

Pick of the Week: Asadorable Manga

January 11, 2021

Pick of the Week: Sports Manga on a Light Week

LATEST FEATURES, ESSAYS, COLUMNS, ROUNDTABLES, & REVIEWS

January 23, 2021 By Anna N

Way of the Househusband Vols 3 and 4

Way of the Househusband Volumes 3 and 4 by Kousuke Oono One of my favorite things about Way of the Househusband is how ordinary household chores get infused with the action and drama of a gangster drama. Tatsu and his wife Miku have to band together to banish a roach in the opening chapter, and they cycle through roach fighting options growing more and more frantic until their foe is vanquished. There’s no real overarching story line here, but the episodes around high stakes bread baking and grocery store promotion antics were funny. I enjoy most when the househusband has interactions with people from his past, and he runs into his old boss (and an adorable dog!) and then again the grocery store becomes a site for a reunion with…

Read More

January 23, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 6

By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia. Unsurprisingly, a lot of these books are devoted to scenes of battle, with clever tactics and lots of cool action. It’s well-written, but it does leave very little for me to talk about. I am reminded of reviewing those titles like K-On! or Sunshine Sketch, which rely on cute girls doing cute things. Here we have soldiers doing soldier things. Or, in the case of this particular book, sailors doing sailor things. The enemy is simply better at everything right now, and so Regis is sent to try to stop their supply line. This involves trying to outwit their naval force, something…

Read More

January 22, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 11

By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. This series is trying its hardest to keep a good balance between the light-hearted romantic comedy that the majority of its readers are here for and the increasingly dark backstory that is constantly threatening to become the front story as well. That continues in this book, which has an awful lot of Zagan and Nephy being incredibly blushy and goofy around each other, wearing each others clothes, being in each other’s dreams, and generally being the most adorable couple around that haven’t even gotten to first base yet. Contrasted with that is the…

Read More

January 21, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 1/27/21

SEAN: The end of January still has some choice titles coming out. Seven Seas has rolled out its Airship imprint, so given I separate Ghost Ship titles I should probably do the same with Airship. Next week we get ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 2 in a digital-first edition. ASH: I’m really curious to see how the Airship imprint evolves. SEAN: Cross Infinite world has the 2nd volume of Hello, I am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!. A bunch of Ghost Ship titles, including Destiny Lovers 5, Parallel Paradise 4, Welcome to Succubus High! 2, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 12. J-Novel Club’s debut is one that manga fans…

Read More

January 21, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 4

By Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba. Released in Japan as “Urasekai Picnic” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann. Last time I talked about the fact that the narrative voice in this series is Sorawo’s, and how that makes the character of Toriko more intriguing. After this book, I’ll go even further and say that the narrative of Sorawo is vital to what makes Otherside Picnic so good, and that it’s even better because it can’t be trusted. In the first story in this book, Sorawo worries that she and Toriko are becoming desensitized to horror, but quickly shoves that off to the side, which is a shame, as yes, she absolutely is. More to the point, the horrific urban legends that she…

Read More

January 20, 2021 By Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – Last time I said that this series never quite tipped over into melodrama, but let’s face it, that’s what happens here. I mean, it’s good melodrama, and you really feel the tortured emotions of these girls who just want to be able to love each other. If I’m honest, the fact that this series has a happy ending feels a bit unrealistic given everything that’s been stacked against them since the start, but that’s OK, because it fits the work emotionally, and no one wants to see this end with someone visiting another’s grave. If you enjoyed Emma but wish it had more lesbians, Goodbye, My Rose Garden should be right up your street, and I…

Read More

January 20, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I

By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul. This is the first book in the “main” Sword Art Online series that was not adapted from the webnovel that Kawahara wrote years earlier. As such, it’s the first one where we should have raised expectations, and for the most part the book delivers on those expectations. No, sorry, Kirito haters, he still gets to have the big climactic finishers, but honestly, if you’re a Kirito hater but still reading Sword Art Online at Volume 21, I’m going to put the blame on you there. And, if it helps, he spends most of the book in just his underwear. That said, the prose feels smoother, the cast all…

Read More

January 19, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 2

By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert. I am, as readers of this site well know, easy to please. This can sometimes be a bit frustrating when I have series that don’t do anything particularly wrong, but are also not particularly stellar. The Demon King Master of Excalibur Academy falls under that. I will admit that I find the fact that the Demon King is in a 10-year-old body irritating, but it is mostly avoiding fanservice and groping, so that’s not a big enough reason to move on. The books are short, the prose is readable, the girls get things to do, and the battles are pretty…

Read More

January 18, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 6

By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher. (This is one of those “I spoil the ending” reviews.) Let’s face it, the biggest flaw in this book comes after the afterword, where gives us a preview of the next volume, which introduces new antagonists to take the place of our protagonists. The flaw here is that this book was pretty much a picture perfect finale in every way, and the author admits that straight up. They say that the story of Elisabeth is not over, and that they still have more stories to tell, which is all fine and dandy, but it’s gonna be very hard to top Book6 next…

Read More

More Features & Reviews

Primary Sidebar

BLOGS AT MANGA BOOKSHELF

mangablog
a case suitable for treatment

soliloquy in blue
manga critic
manga report

LATEST POSTS – SITEWIDE

  • Way of the Househusband Vols 3 and 4
  • Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 6
  • An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 11
  • Manga the Week of 1/27/21
  • Otherside Picnic, Vol. 4
  • Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21
  • Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I
  • The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 2
  • Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 6
  • Pick of the Week: Asadorable Manga

From the Archives

December 22, 2012 By Travis Anderson 16 Comments

License This! Kinou Nani Tabeta? by Yoshinaga Fumi

Hello again and welcome to another installment of This Is Why I Can't Be Trusted To Write a Weekly ...

[Read More...]

March 16, 2017 By Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

Manga the Week of 3/22/17

SEAN: ...eurgh. Dark Horse has the 4th and final volume of Dangan Ronpa. Will anyone survive? ...

[Read More...]

March 5, 2009 By Melinda Beasi 4 Comments

Tokyo Babylon (Full Series)

Hi hi, sorry for all the silence the past couple of days. I'd made a rule for myself that I wasn't ...

[Read More...]

September 28, 2015 By Ash Brown

My Week in Manga: September 21-September 27, 2015

My News and Reviews Apparently, considering the two in-depth reviews that I posted, Experiments ...

[Read More...]

January 21, 2016 By Sean Gaffney 1 Comment

Manga the Week of 1/27

SEAN: It’s time to bury you in manga releases once more, folks. What do the companies have up ...

[Read More...]

More Posts from the Archives

Recommended Reading

  • Off the Shelf: Fullmetal Alchemist
  • Off the Shelf: Moon Child
  • Off the Shelf: Basara
  • The NANA Project
  • Breaking Down Banana Fish
  • Roundtable: Hikaru no Go
  • BL Bookrack: Wild Adapter
  • Off the Shelf: Tokyo Babylon
  • Please Save My Earth with Melinda & Michelle (at The Hooded Utilitarian)

DRAMA DIARY

By Anna N

Skip Beat! the drama

I recently marathoned 14 episodes of the Tawainese live action version of Skip Beat! which is airing now on ...

[Read More...]

By Anna N

Drama Diary: IRIS Episodes 1-5

I tend to watch mostly romantic comedies when I am viewing k-drama, but IRIS is a bit different. This is a ...

[Read More...]

MORE DRAMA DIARY

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework