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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 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…

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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…

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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…

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January 17, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 11

By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen It’s been over a year since I reviewed the 10th volume of Arifureta. In between that time we’ve had two volumes of Arifureta Zero, as well as a volume of short stories, and we also had the anime come to an end and remind us that some stories really work best when you can’t SEE all the fanservice. That said, all good things must come to an end, and while this is not the final volume of the series, it certainly feels like Vol. 12 is going to be. We get all the setup for the final battle here. Yes, that does…

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January 16, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Baccano!: 1710 Crack Flag

By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel. Yeah, I avoided this one for a while I will admit. I don’t like tragedies, even when I know they’re coming. What’s more, this book was famous among Baccano! fandom as the pinnacle of the series, and therefore had a lot to live up to. Does it do that? pretty much, yeah. Balancing out the mystery of exactly what’s going on, the achingly sweet and awkward romance between Huey and Monica, and the creeping feeling of impending doom that powers the 2nd half, Crack Flag is a huge winner. And that’s not even mentioning our villain. Pardon the language, but “Fuck Fermet” has been a refrain among…

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January 15, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!, Vol. 1

By Kei Misawa and poporucha. Released in Japan as “Torawareta Ōjo wa Nido, Shiawasena Yume o Miru” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Evie Lund. If Japanese light novels are good at anything, they’re good at “take a premise and do slight variations on it for years”. As such, it can sometimes be very hard to read a book without thinking of that OTHER book you just read. Three are few readers who will pick this book up and not think “huh, this sounds just like Tearmoon Empire”, a series that also has a princess who is imprisoned end up traveling backwards in time to when she’s a child and trying to fix things so that she doesn’t die. Fortunately,…

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January 14, 2021 By Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and Melinda Beasi

Manga the Week of 1/20/21

SEAN: Well, that was a nice break this week, huh? Next week is back to a giant pile, I’m afraid. J-Novel Club has a quintet of light novels. We get Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 5, Holmes of Kyoto 3, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 14, Outbreak Company 16, and Slayers 5. In print, Kodansha just has Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan 2. Digitally, of course, there is far more. The debut is Will It Be the World or Her? (Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai), a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title. A guy tries to confess to his childhood friend… but another girl shows up and says she’s his girlfriend. What’s more, he has to forget about the other girl… or else the world will end!…

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January 14, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 4

By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Clearly someone has been listening to my review, as after last volume’s weird hotel detour, this one gets back to what I expected the series to be about: Lloyd and company’s time in the academy. Not that we spend much time there, as the town’s cleaned out and empty starter dungeon is suddenly teeming with terrifying dragons and monsters and the like. There’s also the issue of a man wandering around and asking people what he looks like, and then dealing with them if the answer is wrong. And there’s…

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January 13, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Accel World: Kuroyukihime’s Confession

By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen. I suspect how much readers enjoy the first half of this book depends on how invested they are in awkward teen romance. Last time we ended with Kuroyukihime inviting Haruyuki over to spend the night at her place, and he ends up accepting here, though he’s not quite sure how long he’ll be staying. As it turns out, the answer is “all night”, and there’s also a bath scene involved, which, as with everything else about this series, gets 80 times more awkward when you remember they’re both 13-14. But they are pretty sweet dorks, and things don’t really go anywhere beyond “I am depressed and want to…

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More Features & Reviews

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LATEST POSTS – SITEWIDE

  • 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
  • Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 11
  • Baccano!: 1710 Crack Flag
  • Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!, Vol. 1
  • Manga the Week of 1/20/21
  • Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 4
  • Accel World: Kuroyukihime’s Confession

From the Archives

March 9, 2017 By Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

Manga the Week of 3/15/17

SEAN: A relatively light week next week, relatively being the operative term. But first, let’s ...

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May 16, 2016 By Ash Brown

My Week in Manga: May 9-May 15, 2016

My News and Reviews Despite being in Toronto for the majority of last week for the Toronto Comic ...

[Read More...]

March 15, 2018 By Sean Gaffney 2 Comments

Manga the Week of 3/21/18

SEAN: More manga, more problems. Shall we add to the stack? Dark Horse has a 4th volume of the ...

[Read More...]

April 30, 2020 By Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

Manga the Week of 5/6/20

SEAN: So, it's May, and we're in the middle of a pandemic. Let's break down what that means, by ...

[Read More...]

August 22, 2012 By Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 8/29

That's it. Remember when last week of the month brought Tokyopop stuff? In the meantime, enjoy ...

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More Posts from the Archives

Recommended Reading

  • Off the Shelf: Fullmetal Alchemist
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  • The NANA Project
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  • 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 ...

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MORE DRAMA DIARY

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