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Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 9

Everyone’s Getting Married Volume 9 by Izumi Miyazono I’m always glad when Viz puts out stealth josei under the Shojo Beat imprint, and while it might mean only one josei series from them running every year or so, I’ll take what I can get. The final volume of Everyone’s Getting Married reminded me a bunch of a last episode of a Korean drama, because Ryu and Asuka keep quasi breaking up and getting back together after long periods of time pass. Couples separating and reconciling in a dramatic fashion after many years is such a Korean drama staple! All along, Ryu’s fervent opposition to marriage and Asuka’s total commitment to becoming a homemaker as her ultimate goal created plenty of dramatic tension throughout the series. It was difficult to envision…

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So I’m a Spider, So What?, Vol. 5

By Okina Baba and Tsukasa Kiryu. Released in Japan as “Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?” by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon. There are a few series where you simply have to wait a few volumes/episodes for it to get really good. In fact, that’s the cry of the obsessive fan trying to get someone to try things. “By the way, it only REALLY gets good about the 26th episode!” they say, and then cry as they watch the interest in their new friend’s eyes die. But it’s true. Take, for example, the series So I’m a Spider, So What?. The first few volumes, while entertaining, suffered from a very real problem, which is that the spider slowly making her way out of…

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Manga the Week of 3/27/19

SEAN: Another huge week. Lots of Kodansha. Lots of Seven Seas. Lots of Yen. Lots of everything. Denpa has a 3rd volume of Inside Mari. Ghost Ship gives us a 5th Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs. Kodansha’s digital debut is Asahi-sempai’s Favorite (Asahi-senpai no Okiniiri) is a Betsufure title that – try to contain your surprise – has a popular boy teasing an easily flustered girl. Sometimes a bit too much. There’s also a PILE of ongoing digital. We have Ace of the Diamond 21, Ao-chan Can’t Study! 5, Black Panther and Sweet 16 10, Boarding School Juliet 9, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 11, Hotaru’s Way 8, I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 4, Kakafukaka 5, My Boy in Blue 7, and Tokyo Alice 9….

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Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 2

By Dachima Inaka and Iida Pochi. Released in Japan as “Tsujo Kogeki ga Zentai Kogeki de Ni-kai Kogeki no Okasan wa Suki desu ka?” by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America digitally by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Here we are with the second volume of everyone’s favorite parody. Last time, I was very pleased with the over the top humor and the fact that, desp[ite “lol incest subtext” being the premise, the book did not lean overheavily on any actual incest subtext. That’s still the case with the second book, which is not QUITE as funny but still has lots of amusing moments. Now that it’s an ongoing series, the author has to figure out how much it can rely on “this is a parody” and how much…

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Ran the Peerless Beauty, Vol. 1

By Ammitsu. Released in Japan as “Takane no Ran-san” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Friend. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Nate Derr. One of the running themes of this blog has been about how a manga can be good even if it is not original. Trying to describe Ran the Peerless Beauty simply by the plot and characters alone might have a reader who’s very familiar with shoujo rolling their eyes and moving on, or at least asking how much it felt like reading a secret, 31st volume of Kimi ni Todoke. (Answer: a whole lot.) It’s true that the premise does not really surprise. But I enjoyed this first volume immensely. The romance was sweet, both leads are nice people who…

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Bookshelf Briefs 3/19/19

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 6 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – This is coming to a close soon, and you can sort of tell—despite the plot complication showing us that Goda still really wants to direct, there’s just not a lot of special effects work here. Instead, we see the romantic pairings start to resolve, though resolve does not, in this case, mean “start a relationship.” I like this, as it shows how it can be difficult but not impossible to carry on working and being friends with someone after you’ve been rejected. Ruka, though, may have a tougher row to hoe here, and I have a suspicion that her arc is going to be the resolution of the series. Which is in the next volume, hopefully coming…

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In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 13

By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson. Smartphone continues to be a series with two very different types of interlocking plots. The first is the “main” plot, showing Touya battling the Phrase, deducing what’s actually going on in this world, and traveling to other worlds and having adventures. The second is Touya basically wandering around, goofing off, and leisurely talking with everyone in his kingdom. The problem is that the author is very good at the second thing but consistently falls down on the first. Oh, the Phrase battle was pretty good, except for one consequence which I’ll get to later. But when Touya comes back…

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5 Centimeters per Second: one more side

By Makoto Shinkai and Arata Kanoh. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Kristi Fernandez. (This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher) I hadn’t initially planned to review this, mostly as I’ve never seen the 5 Centimeters per Second movie, and if I read the manga it was so long ago I’ve forgotten it. But I’m familiar with the author from the your name spinoff he wrote, which I enjoyed, and he also has a Voices of a Distant Star novel coming out over here this summer. So I gave it a try, and I’m glad I did. I knew going in from the start that the overall mood of the book would be ‘wistful verging on bleak’,…

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Skip Beat! vol 42

Skip Beat! Volume 42 by Yoshiki Nakamura With such a long running series like Skip Beat! once it has caught up with Japan, the wait between volumes is long enough that I temporarily lose track of of the plot. But within just a few panels, my memory gets triggered and I’m back in the story again. In this case seeing Ren’s reaction to learning that Sho kissed Kyoko made the wait between volumes all worthwhile. It is always amazing how well Nakamura can portray someone attempting to be stoic when they are filled with turbulent emotions. Kyoko meanwhile has her own battles to fight, and Skip Beat! always excels when she has to fight for a role. She’s in the middle of a rigged contest, trying to get a role…

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