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Archives for July 2020

Ao Haru Ride, Vol 11

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Ao Haru Ride Volume 11 by Io Sakisaka

Throughout this series, nostalgia and feelings of being haunted by the past have come up in a variety of ways, and this volume shows a bit of movement forward on Kou’s part as he goes to visit various sites from his past. He ditches during a school trip where he used to live and induces Futuba to come along with him “as friends.” She comes along, knowing in the back of her mind that she’s lying to herself.

Together they visit Kou’s old apartment, middle school, and his mother’s grave. Kou seems much more emotionally resilient, coming out of this nostalgic trip with a greater sense of certainty about what he wants to do and who he wants to spend time with (spoiler alert, it is Futuba!). There are also some nice side stories with the larger friend group interspersed as Futuba and Kou wander around with each other. Futuba ends up being stricken with guilt that she was hanging out with Kou without telling Toma what was going on, and ends up going to angsty extremes in dealing with her emotions. Toma’s on the cover of this volume, and he definitely deserves it, as his steadfast approach to romance with a girl who is fairly honest about her wavering feelings makes him a stabilizing presence. While Kou might finally know what he wants, and I’m team Kou all the way, Sakisaka infuses scenes of Futuba and Toma talking to each other with so much joy that I felt myself wavering a bit! There’s always plenty of drama in each volume of Ao Haru Ride, but it never seems to be over-the-top or unearned, because so much of it is drawn from the characters’ internal motivations and the changes to their personalities as they are gradually growing up. This was yet another solid volume in a very good shoujo series.

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 2

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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.

The good news is this is still a very fun series with a lot of laughs and big goofy characters doing silly things. The bad news is that it is not a series that lives and dies on its character development, so I can see myself having trouble stretching reviews out to 500+ words as we go along. Lloyd is still stupidly strong and overpowered and completely unaware of it. He gathers yet more women into his orbit in this book, without remaining remotely aware of it, of course. Marie, the other seeming “main” character from the first book, is sidelined so hard and with such humiliation here I was tempted to call her Yunyun. The closest we get to serious characterization is Riho Flavin (yes, that’s still her name, a fact I will never get over), whose past catches up with her and whose days may be numbered. That said, this is a very silly comedy. Don’t expect it to kill off major characters.

The main cast remain the same as last time. Lloyd and Marie I mentioned. Sadly, the village chief comes back as well, and she’s not any less annoying. Selen is a mind-blowing yandere, but unlike most of this type, is actually funny. The plot is that there’s a magic tournament that’s located in their hometown this year. Unfortunately, their hometown is filled with muscles, not magic. No one would even want to participate expect Riho is being blackmailed by her childhood friend-turned-archenemy Rol Calcife, who seems to have become a Bond villain, and a pair of sisters. Mena is the sort of girl you’d expect in any other series to be the reporter girl looking for scoops, and she talks a lot. Her sister Phyllo is stoic and also a martial-arts master, looking for the one enemy she isn’t able to defeat. Guess who she finds that fits that bill? So Riho. Selen and Lloyd end up in the tournament after all.

Everything is secondary to the comedy here. Including Lloyd, who after starring in the first volume plays more of a supporting role here. He’s become the big gun that’s pulled out when an instant win is needed. As for the cast additions, my guess is that Phyllo will be the major one going forward. She’s amusing, as seeing Lloyd take her kicks without even reacting (she did break his ribs, but he doesn’t give that away), she is now almost as much a yandere over him as Selen is, just in a stoic way. It gets to the point that when a serious plot point is introduced at the very end, when we see that Rol may not have been fully in control of her evilness, that it feels out of place. We don’t really want this book to get any darker. We want it to be Big Goofy.

That said, this is still predominately great fun, with an excellent translation to match, which gets the book’s ‘no one is above humiliation’ style dead on. If you’re missing KonoSuba and looking for similar zaniness but wish Subaru and Wiz switched personalities, this is right up your alley.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/3/20

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Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, Vol. 9 | By Hitsuji Tarou, Tsunemi Aosa and Kurone Mishima | Seven Seas – Forgot to review the previous volume of this, and may have even forgotten to read it. Honestly, it doesn’t matter, as we begin a new story this volume, finally giving us the backstory of Celica, Glenn’s adopted mother figure and resident mysterious older sister sort. Unfortunately, she quickly learns why we shouldn’t wander into portals that will trigger guardians that want to kill everyone, and it’s up to Glenn and company to save her. This remains decent but not great magical school fantasy. Also, apropos of nothing, Rumi looks a lot like Yotsuba from Quintuplets, right down to the ribbon. – Sean Gaffney

Black Clover, Vol. 21 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – Yes, this is the arc that never ends. It just goes on and on, my friends. As ever, Black Clover doesn’t do anything wrong here—the characters get good things to do, there are sparks of character depth and the action scenes are fantastic as ever. But once again, the series shows that it’s never quite going to make it into the pantheon—it’s never going to be a Naruto or My Hero Academia. It’s the best of the second tier, looking up at better series. That said, Jump always needs series like this, and several of them do tend to run and run—Black Clover is now among the longest-running Jump series. Doesn’t mean I don’t want this possessed by elves/devils/what have you arc to end. On the bright side, we finally see what’s up with that bird. – Sean Gaffney

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 4 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The anime series just ended, and sensibly gave more attention to the heartwarming parental aspects of this series rather than the bitter and cynical manga stuff. Thankfully, we do have the original manga, so we can get the best of both worlds. Because while Kumeta has mellowed over the years, he still has a lot of sharpness in his reactions (and overreactions) to things, and is STILL bitter about assistants after all these years, though thankfully he leaves Kenjiro Hata’s name out of it this time. On the family side, there’s discussion of Hime getting a dog, which doesn’t quite pan out just yet, and a Parent’s Day at school that likewise also doesn’t happen. Funny and heartwarming. – Sean Gaffney

Knight of the Ice, Vol. 2 | By Yayoi Ogawa | Kodansha Comics – Again, I really wish that we’d seen the prequel series Kiss and Never Cry before this, though from what I understand that had less of a “gimmick” to pull readers in than Knight of the Ice does. Things actually move pretty fast in this volume, as Kokoro and Chitose are able to somewhat indirectly have a confession, thanks to a pendant that was given to her years ago but never actually opened. The bigger worry is her job, though after some explanations she seems to have avoided being fired for now. It helps that Kokoro is becoming more famous, and he actually triumphs here with a daring free skate jump. Fans of josei romances should absolutely be reading this, as it hits all the things you want it to hit. – Sean Gaffney

My Villain Academia, Vol. 24 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Yes, the entire title changes in this volume, courtesy of our League of Villains changing the logo. It’s also a villain-on-villain battle here, as we get to see some of what makes our anti-heroes tick—reporter and villain Curious tries to make Toga’s “tragic backstory” a thing, but Toga just isn’t having it, and instead levels up and uses Uravity’s powers to drop them all to their deaths. Twice also gets a bit more depth here, as we see more of a running theme in MHA, which is that the system is flawed and a lot of villains are that way because of class issues. And then there’s Shigaraki, who gets a grandma and a backstory… that waits till next time. Uncomfortable but essential reading. – Sean Gaffney

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 15 | By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu | VIZ Media – I don’t know how it happened, but for at least part of this volume, I was thinking that The Promised Neverland had become kind of… dull. Part of the issue is that I identify more with Norman in his multi-chapter debate with Emma about whether it’s right to annihilate all demons—it would be a more certain path to their safety, and her idealism threatens his carefully laid plans for the pursuit of a fairy tale. I’m sure readers are supposed to be rooting for Emma, though. There’s also a lot about the hierarchy of demon society and Mujika’s place in it. Ultimately, while I definitely appreciate the complication of reuniting with a Norman who is no longer on quite the same page as his siblings (“I’m not wavering”), I’m also glad this series wraps up in another five volumes. – Michelle Smith

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 12 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media – A good deal of time is spent by the rest of the cast in this gag manga trying to figure out what makes Princess Syalis tick. Is she, as was hinted at the start, just a spoiled princess who loves to sleep? Is she a demonic force of nature and mass murderer, something that really only applies if you take this title seriously? Is she a young woman on the cusp of her teenage years, as is laughably disproven in this volume when you realize that shame is not something Syalis was ever gifted with? Of course, the answer is that Syalis is a gag comedy protagonist, and therefore is all those things at any one time, because all of them involve funny things happening. Character development is for Komi Can’t Communicate. – Sean Gaffney

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Vol. 2 | By AidaIro | Yen Press – Having thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, I was definitely looking forward to reading more. In general, I tend to be interested in manga dealing with yokai, so it’s probably not too surprising that I like the series, but I find the mix of humor and horror in Toilet-bound Hanako-kun to be particularly appealing. AidaIro’s use of comedy in the manga makes some of the narrative twists even more unsettling and impactful than they would otherwise be. The characterization of the titular Hanako (a ghost haunting the third-floor women’s bathroom at Kamome Academy) provides an excellent example of this—his goofiness is sharply contrasted by his sudden and often unexpected streaks of maliciousness. At times he comes across as benevolent or even endearing while at others he seems to be truly dangerous. So far, much of Hanako remains an enigma, from his true nature to his tragic past. – Ash Brown

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, Vol. 7 | By Fumita Yanagida | Seven Seas – As with another series that shall remain nameless but is Fruits Basket, one of the big highlights of Tomo-chan is the school’s production of Cinderella, particularly as, due to being out sick when roles were chosen, Misuzu is the title role, leading to one of the grumpiest Cinderellas ever. Also, Jun finds his inner tree. More importantly, though, Misuzu realizes that she has been subconsciously sabotaging Tomo’s attempts to win Jun, and should have just said “be yourself.” Bit late now. Still, Jun apparently gets his feelings across. Unfortunately, Tomo runs away from said feelings. The next volume is the final one, so I’m sure it’ll be resolved soon. Till then, I love this character-driven romantic comedy. – Sean Gaffney

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter, Vol. 1

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By Meguru Seto and Takehana Note. Released in Japan by Kodansha Lanove Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Tiva Haro. Adapted by Cae Hawksmoor.

As I was commenting on Twitter about reading this book, I kept calling it “trash”. And it really is. But wait, it’s not actually bad. In fact, you could do far worse than this kind of trash. But – it’s still trash. The lead is a stock light novel hero, the sort referred to these days as “Potato-kun”. He gathers together a group of young women, all gorgeous, all who are either already in love with him or fall for him almost instantly. His powers essentially rewrite reality to a certain extent, and aren’t powered by MP but rather LP, which means he can do more provided he gorges on delicious food, makes love to beautiful women, etc. It’s not actually an isekai (he’s the son of a baronet, and genuinely from this world), but isekais have happened here before, so there’s soy sauce and miso. I was expecting it to hit the plot/character beats that would cause me to groan and drop it in annoyance. But… it didn’t.

Our hero is Noir, and as I mentioned before he’s the son of a Baronet, which means he’s nobility but the lowest rung, meaning nobles don’t give him the time of day. He has a great ability where a voice in his head tells him the solution for any problem… but it gives him crippling pain to use. And the job he had lined up for adulthood was given to a higher noble’s son. All he has is his adoring busty childhood friend who clearly is in love with him but he hasn’t caught on to this. She discovers that the pain of using the skill is lessened by kissing, and this in turn leads him to a dungeon no one has found, and an adventurer who’s been trapped there for 200 years. From there, he’s ready to become an adventurer, go to Hero Academy, save the lives of cursed young ladies, and… yeah, you get the picture. This is trash.

So why is it good? It knows its boundaries, and knows when to push and when not to. For all that his skill is powered up by sexual acts, hugging, lap pillows, and the like usually suffice – the closest this gets to 18-rated is the instructor who decides to reward him by sitting on him. He gets a skill that is called ‘lucky pervert’, and after falling into his friend’s boobs and seeing an old lady’s panties, he quickly rewrites the skill so that it happens ‘very rarely, and never in a serious situation’. For a generic guy, he’s a bit smarter than most (still dense, of course). In one epilogue, he sees a bunch of kids bullying a boy for “hanging out with a girl”, and very quickly tears apart their logic – aside from mentioning Emma’s chest a lot, there’s little of the stock sexism we see in these books. Heck, there isn’t even any slavery (and it makes me sad that this is so rare I’m happy to note it). Even the little sister in love with him is restrained compared to others.

So basically, if you bought the book because you wanted it to be a nice, friendly OP fantasy with a lot of cute girls in a harem, this is a good book to buy. It hits all those buttons, and isn’t appalling. It’s also getting an anime soon, so you get in on the ground floor. It’s trash. Embrace that.

The Asterisk War: The Steps of Glory

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By Yuu Miyazaki and okiura. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

There’s good news and bad news in this new volume of The Asterisk War. The bad news is that this is the start of the series’ THIRD tournament arc, and with a few exceptions, battle scenes are what we’re going to get. The good news is that this author is quite good at writing battle scenes, particularly with a lot of young men and women kicking ass in various kinds of ways. We do get more at the start of the book showing the growing relationship between our villain, Madiath Mesa, and Ayato’s mother Sakura, whose real name seems to be Akari. It’s no surprise by now that she’s a girl shunned by the rest of her family due to “out of control” powers and forced to essentially live in a shed for most of her childhood, given what we’ve seen of this world to date. We do also get a bit of Kirin investigating, though that’s mostly her almost getting killed. The rest is fighting and foreshadowing of more fighting to come.

Saya is on the cover this time, and does get a bit to do, as she’s in the tournament. I was amused that chaotic, unpredictable fighters are her weakness, which makes perfect sense given her own personality and her love for Ayato. Ayato actually gets the most troublesome fights, not a big surprise given he’s the main character, and learns the hard way that the nature of this tournament (one-on-one, as opposed to pairs or groups) means everyone is far more brutal – several characters are hospitalized and the narrative has to tell us “it’s OK, they’re going to live”. He fights a big guy who has a few surprise Luxes that he can bring out, which shows off that there are various factions trying to influence this tournament as much as possible. He also fights a very nice girl and is very nice back at her, and it’s a good thing their battle is fierce otherwise I suspect the audience watching these fights would have been rather bored.

For those wanting more Julis, sorry to say you will have to wait – she’s barely in this book, and we don’t get to see any of her preliminary bouts. Instead we get a large number of characters, some of whom we’ve seen before and some we haven’t, but I can guarantee you I’ve mostly forgotten who they are. That’s fine, we’re not here for character development, we’re here to read some nice fights. Hilda’s battle was excellent, and I look forward to seeing the Mad Scientist fight, even though the narrator for some reason wants to tell me I won’t be able to get it. I was also amused at the student council presidents of the various schools trying to figure out how to explain the various borderline-illegal things their students have done. Next volume promises us the start of the real Tournament proper – in other words, battles where we may NOT guess the outcome in advance.

This is apparently the final arc in the series, per the author, which doesn’t surprise me given the main cast is about to graduate. I am assuming that many good fights will be had, all the remaining women in love with Ayato will confess to him, and he will end up with Julis, because in the end Asterisk War is well-written cliche but still very, very cliche. Still, I’ll be back next time.

Manga the Week of 7/8/20

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SEAN: Well, while things are not yet back to normal in the world around us, they’re back to normal in regards to manga. Which means there’s a LOT next week.

ASH: Woohoo, manga!

SEAN: Drawn and Quarterly have a collection of stories by feminist manga pioneer Kuniko Tsurita, called The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud. A single-volume collection of her best works, this sounds absolutely amazing.

ASH: It really does; I’ll definitely be checking it out.

MJ: Wow, yes, this sounds fantastic.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a number of print releases coming out. We get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 6; the 9th and final volume of If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord; the 7th Infinite Dendrogram; the 3rd Marginal Operation manga; and the 2nd My Next Life As a Villainess.

In digital releases we see Arifureta Zero 4, the 4th Discommunication manga, I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 2, Infinite Dendrogram 12, Seirei Gensouki 10, and the 3rd manga volume for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha has one print title out next week, the 2nd volume of Knight of the Ice.

ANNA: I am extremely excited about this!

ASH: Looking forward to it, especially after all of the delays!

SEAN: The digital debut is Cells at Work: Bacteria! (Hataraku Saikin), another in a long line of spinoffs. This one runs in Nakayoshi, though, and so is a shoujo manga about good bacteria battling bad bacteria. It’s already got 6 volumes.

ASH: Some of the spinoffs can be hit-or-miss, but I liked the original and I like the sound of this one.

SEAN: Also out digitally… (deep breath)… All-Rounder Meguru 15, A Condition Called Love 5, Knight of the Ice 3, My Boss’s Kitten 5, Orient 4, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 7, Pumpkin Scissors 23, Saint Young Men 5 & 6, A Sign of Affection 2, Smile Down the Runway 11, To Be Next to You 7, and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku 4. (Yes, we mentioned the last one before – it got bumped.)

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading quite a few of those!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a large number of titles that are coming out in print. The 8th Arifureta light novel, A Certain Scientific Railgun 15, the debut of the Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear light novels, the debut of the PENGUINDRUM light novels, I Had That Same Dream Again – the novel AND the manga, My Senpai Is Annoying 1, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru 1, and the 9th Didn’t I Say To Make My Abilities Average?!. We’ve discussed the debuts when they came out digitally, but it’s nice to see them in print.

ASH: That it is! I’m particularly looking forward to giving The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru and PENGUINDRUM a try.

SEAN: Digital-first, there is a new debut light novel: Yes, No or Maybe? (Yes ka No ka Hanbun ka). This is a done-in-one BL title, and it’s about a news anchorman and a stop-motion animator. It’s gotten great buzz, and is getting an anime.

ASH: Oh, I had missed the anime news, but I am interested.

MICHELLE: I don’t read many light novels, but this sounds kind of fun.

MJ: Huh, interesting.

SEAN: Also digital first is the 7th Mushoku Tensei novel.

Sol Press has a digital release of the 4th Chivalry of a Failed Knight.

And then there’s Viz, who have a full slate of releases. The debut is act-age, a Weekly Shonen Jump title that seeks to do for acting what One Piece did for pirates. Unfortunately, its star, Kei, is all about method acting. This is 11+ volumes to date, so it’s a proven winner by Jump standards. Still… method acting. Ugh. The drama major in me rears back and hisses.

ANNA: Ha, I have to admit I am curious about this based on the description.

MICHELLE: The music major in me hasn’t got a lot of opinions about method acting, so I’m looking forward to this. :)

MJ: Agree on method acting, but also, I’m gonna have to read this.

SEAN: Also debuting in Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World, the first of a 3-volume light novel sequel to the popular/controversial Jump title written by Ryohgo Narita, the creator of Baccano! and Durarara!!. Given that pedigree, he knows how to handle huge casts, but Bleach may be a bigger challenge. This stars Hisagi, aka “that guy with 69 tattooed on his cheek’.

There’s also Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 14, Dr. STONE 12, Haikyu!! 39, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 15, One-Punch Man 20, and Seraph of the End 19.

ASH: I’m behind with Haikyu!!, but I have been dutifully collecting volumes in preparation for a marathon read.

MICHELLE: I’m a couple of volumes behind, so I can have a mini-marathon, which will probably be extremely enjoyable.

SEAN: On the Shojo Beat tip, we have Daytime Shooting Star 7, An Incurable Case of Love 4, Love Me Love Me Not 3, Prince Freya 2, Snow White with the Red Hair 8, and Takane and Hana 15.

ANNA: Yay, it is a WEEK FOR ANNA!

ASH: Despite some of the pacing issues of the first volume, I am curious to see how Prince Freya continues to develop.

MICHELLE: Yeah, it didn’t really live up to the awesomeness of its cover, but I’m not ready to give up on it just yet. I’m actually reading everything in that Shojo Beat list except for the one of them that is not actually shojo.

SEAN: Something for everyone here. What’s for you?

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Ut Sementem Feceris, ita Metes

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

This book came out just before the anime began in Japan, and right about the time the manga started. As such, it’s the first one to be possibly influenced by both of those sources. I’ve talked before about how I don’t think Tanya’s pragmatism is usually as evil as the author wants us to believe, but sometimes he digs deep and shows us that there really is a difference in the way she (and her soldiers) think and everyone else. This book has an Ildoan Colonel observe her unit during a Federation attack, and is horrified that the soldiers not only plan to attack a town but also to bomb a church. Tanya’s cheerful explanation of how this is all perfectly fine due to the rules of war (and the fact that the Federation hasn’t signed any agreements) can be chilling as you realize how she’s not thinking of morality in a general sense at all. And then you remember that this is meant to be an anti-war series, and it all makes sense.

Tanya is all smiles on the cover, partly as she’s entertaining the observer and tries to be on her best behavior, but also has there’s a very real chance that we may be achieving peace again. Lergen spends most of the book in Ildoa, negotiating a peace with excellent terms for the Empire. And the generals (and Tanya) make sure that those terms are acceptable by absolutely trouncing the Federation, who have stronger weapons, better shields and well-trained men now but still lack aerial mages, and that’s making all the difference. Unfortunately, peace is not decided by the generals. We get another look at the ruling government of the Empire, and it’s chilling. By the end of this book, you realize that there’s no way the series can possibly end with anything but total, 100% defeat for the Empire. That’s a ways down the road, but… get used to war is what I’m saying.

The last volume was mostly talk and little fight, and this one goes in the other direction, being mostly filled with battle after battle. Our core team stays alive, and wins each battle, but there’s no mistake – things are getting harder. The enemy is starting to prepare for Tanya’s pyrotechnics, and she’s stunned when, for the first time, one of her “blow everything to hell” attacks does not blow everything to hell. Even when they do win due to clever tactics and overwhelming mage superiority, the Federation are able to make their retreat to fight another day. Even worse, they do so in an orderly fashion – discipline is winning. These are not the enemies Tanya wants to fight, as they’ll only lead to bad things for her and her fellow soldiers. That’s why she’s so happy at the end of the volume, not knowing what’s been happening with her government. I expect a big freak out from her at the start of the eighth book.

So a good, strong Tanya volume, better than the last, and reminding you again that when war is being fought, no one wins. The title’s translation, “As you sow, so shall you reap” could not be more appropriate.