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Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!, Vol. 2

By Ameko Kaeruda and Kazutomo Miya. Released in Japan as “Onna dakara, to Party wo Tsuihou Sareta no de Densetsu no Majo to Saikyou Tag wo Kumimashita” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee. As we start the second volume of Sexiled, things are looking good for Tanya and company. They’re celebrities now, heralded by the women in the city for what they did. They’re now guiding other parties to grow and learn. But, of course, there’s still the inherent sexism of everyday life. Some of the parties they’re guiding just want to show off in front of them. Sexual assault is framed as “she was asking for it by wearing that outfit.” Promises of marriage are extorted by drugging a girl….

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So I’m a Spider, So What?, Vol. 7

By Okina Baba and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon. (Note: This review, especially towards the end, gets more spoilery than usual as you can’t not talk about the end.) I have to admit that “they battle a bunch of fighter jets in order to infiltrate a UFO with tanks and robots” was not really the plot I was expecting when I picked up the seventh volume of Spider So What. But, having finished the volume, I can’t say I’m too disappointed in it. We’ve seen robots and cyborgs in this series before, of course. It also helps to show off the true arrogant brokenness of Potimas, who manages to be…

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Bookshelf Briefs 12/13/19

Arifureta: I Heart Isekai, Vol. 1 | By Misaki Mori, based on the novel by Ryo Shirakome | Seven Seas – This pretty much delivery exactly what it promises, going through the first three Arifureta light novels in the style of a gag comic. There’s lots of Hajime and Yui being sickeningly in love, Shea getting beaten up, Tio being a pervert, etc. We even get golem-Miledi advertising Arifureta Zero, on sale in all good stores. It’s actually pretty fun, and keeps a good balance, not being too perverse while still staying true to the original, which is pretty perverse, and not hitting the same one-note gags—or if it does, pointing that out. Fans of the original should have a lot of fun with this spinoff. – Sean Gaffney Arpeggio…

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Manga the Week of 12/18/19

SEAN: There are 9 or 10 debuts this week and half of them are from Seven Seas. Hrm… how about a reverse order week? Yen Press gives us an artbook, as we see The Art of Sword Oratoria, presumably lacking the title of its parent series to save space on the cover. Enjoy gorgeous art of Aiz, Loki, Lefiya and the rest from the LN illustrator, along with rough sketches and the like. ASH: I’m not particularly familiar with the series, but Yen has done a really nice job with previous artbooks. MELINDA: That is my take as well. SEAN: Also from Yen we have Trinity Seven 18, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected (manga version) 12, and The Monster and the Beast 2. MICHELLE: I’m looking…

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An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 8

By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. This series started out starring two people, but the cast has grown exponentially sine then. As such, it seems appropriate that this volume is fairly light on both Zagan and Nephy – in fact, it actually manages to work that into the plot, as Foll is planning a massive party for the not-Christmas holiday that is upon us and wants to surprise both of them. Zagan is completely in the dark about the holiday, but Nephy isn’t – in fact, she’s working part-time at a pub to get money for a present. As such, both are absent from the main plot itself till the end, though there’s many…

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Aria The Masterpiece, Vol. 4

By Kozue Amano. Originally released in Japan by Mag Garden, serialized in the magazine Comic Blade. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie Kimura. It is, a great deal of the time, very difficult to remember that this manga takes place in the future on a different planet. Honestly, a lot of that may be engineered by the residents of Aqua, who have deliberately set things up so that anyone coming to Neo-Venezia is going to be thinking “old-time Venice”, not “new, modern, future Venice”. It’s brought up explicitly in the chapter where Akari helps the old mailman deliver his letters – why are there so many letters, when the world has email? We’ve even seen Akari send emails. But it’s because people who stay here want to…

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Arifureta Zero, Vol. 3

By Ryo Shirakome and Takaya-ki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Rei” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen. I’ve been comparing Miledi to Hajime in these reviews of Zero. And just as Hajime was written to be the ultimate in “I am cool and badass and will happyily abandon anyone other than Yue to a fiery death” and then walked back to where he is now reasonable a decent person, likewise Miledi was introduced in the main series as the most annoying person in the world and then we gradually see in Zero how much of it is a front. It’s a front she feels more comfortable with, in fact – despite her complaining, she’d much rather be yelled…

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Gal Gohan, Vol. 1

By Marii Taiyou. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Animal. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Adapted by Bambi Eloriaga-Amago. Sometimes Japanese manga companies have a broad spectrum of things they release across all genres and age groups… and sometimes they specialize. Hakusensha is one of the latter – it has no shonen titles per se, and is best known over here as the top shoujo publisher with its magazines Hana to Yume and LaLa. But… they do also have Young Animal. As with most magazines with ‘Young’ in the title, it caters to the young adult male, with each cover featuring a cover and insert section of an idol singer or model. Unlike the shoujo end of the company,…

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86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 3: Run Through the Battlefront [Finish]

By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert. True to its title, this is the second half of the story that began in the second volume. The Legion now have a massive Railgun that they used to destroy 40% of the Federation’s forces. Given that the Federation lacks Kamijou Touma, they need to defeat it by more military means. Fortunately, the railgun was slightly damaged when it was dealing out masses of deaths, so there’s time to send a strike force. That said, the chance the strike force survives and takes out the Railgun is basically 0%. It’s essentially a suicide mission. And so, as you likely guessed, it’s time to send out the 86, who…

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