Bookshelf Briefs 1/27/14

This week, Sean, Anna, and Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, Viz Media, Seven Seas, Kodansha Comics, and Vertical, Inc.

Black Butler, Vol. 16 | By Yana Toboso | Yen Press – Ciel remains on assignment at Weston College, looking into the disappearance of one of Queen Victoria’s relatives. It’s been pretty fun to see Ciel in this environment, be it currying favor with prefects or befriending an earnest boy his own age. In this volume, he’s putting Sebastians talents to use in an attempt to perform well enough in the annual cricket tournament (despite a near-total lack of athletic ability) to earn an invitation to tea with the headmaster, who could hold all the answers. Okay, brilliant this isn’t, but I liked that it became a little like a sports manga (with players shouting out their moves, like “Rushing Violet Vapour, Purple Burnoutt!!”) and enjoyed the subtle Harry Potter references, like the appearance of a Hedwig clone and references to some of the actors from the movies. – Michelle Smith

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 3 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – In this volume Mori shifts from mainly telling the story of Amir and her young husband Karluk to exploring what happens to the European researcher Mr. Smith when he travels to a town and has a chance meeting with Talas, a young woman who has been widowed many times. Talas’ mother in law views Mr. Smith as a last chance to ensure that Talas will be taken care of after she dies, and the young couple start developing a liking to each other in spite of all of the manipulations to throw them together. But as women Talas and her mother in law have very little autonomy or ability to decide how they are going to live their lives. As always, Mori’s painstakingly researched details combined with her facility for showing slice of live scenes in a market or herding sheep bring history to life. Amir and Karluk make a brief appearance, and we also see hints of the next Bride’s story as the young Pariya gets her own chapter as well. Delightful as always! – Anna N

Dictatorial Grimoire: Snow White, Vol. 2 | By Ayumi Kanou | Seven Seas – I must admit, I greatly enjoyed this volume while I was reading it. It’s a lot of fun, I really like the character of Hiyori, and the design of Rapunzel was incredibly striking. That said, there’s no denying that this is basically a series of shonen cliches wrapped up in a pretty-boys package, and so if originality is your goal, you can skip this. But as a tasty manga treat you’ll forget about 10 minutes after you read it, it’s pretty much dead-on. Snow White is amusingly snarky (the conversations between him and Hiyori are comedy gold), Otogi gets to find his missing resolve and start fighting again, and as a reward gets lots of BL tease with Cinderella. I’m actually very interested in what will happen i the next ‘arc, which seems to feature Red Riding Hood (also male, of course). – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 18 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – Sometimes when a volume of a manga gets too happy, I start to get worried. Let’s call this the Joss Whedon effect. Everything is going so well for Sawako and her friends and family in this volume that I actually checked to see whether the series was ending soon, because it definitely has that feeling. It doesn’t appear to be, so now I’m a little fretful. What’s going to happen to stir this all up?! I know; I really should be content with what we get here, because it’s been so well-earned. Sawako and Kazehaya are finally on the same page in their relationship, Ayane may finally have found the right guy, and Chizu is perhaps slightly less clueless than before. And I’m happy to see that the focus on female friendships is still going strong in Kimi ni Todoke, even with all the romance in the air. Unequivocally recommended. – Michelle Smith

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 4, by Tsutomo Nihei | Vertical, Inc. – I really enjoy the way Nihei juxtaposes giant robots fighting giant gross aliens in space with hints of an overarching back story about the history of the colonization spaceship Sidonia. There’s a bit of the whole Battlestar Galactica “This has happened before, and it will happen again” theme in this volume as Tanikaze gets increased responsibility and is relied upon in battle more than ever, slowly acting more and more like he is going to live up to the legacy of his creator/father. The occasional bit of daily life on the Sidona is also included, making it clear that Tanikaze’s comments about loving the food, organisms, and people on the spaceship reflect his protective feelings. Hints of human and Guana experimentation continue to maintain the elements of horror that make this manga much more interesting than a simple space opera. Still highly recommended. – Anna N

Otomen, Vol. 17 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – Well, I knew this volume was going to hurt, and sure enough, it did. Kiyomi’s emotional manipulation of her son reaches its zenith, and the fallout affects everyone around Asuka. Particularly Ryo. You know it’s a crisis when Ryo is suddenly cooking and sewing well. At the center of all of this is Asuka’s sense of identity, and how can he remain true to it and keep both his family and his love. Sadly, Asuka is making the wrong choices here, but then, it is the second to last volume of the series. It looks as if we’re setting up for a big finale speech, one that I suspect may get interrupted several times. The manga may be a bit melodramatic at times, but the characterization is solid (I’ve come to terms with every single male in the cast being a secret otomen by now) Bring on the final volume. – Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 14 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | Viz Media – Oh dear, it’s an all-fighting volume of Psyren, where even the minimal word count I have to write for these briefs seems excessive. The writer enjoys trotting out the big book of shonen cliches, with “i was just holding back, now you’ve made me use my full power”, dead mentors, and “I can teach you how to do this, but it may destroy you.” Oddly, there’s also a subplot about how constant fighting is a bad end in itself, and when the main characters win, they think to themselves that destroying the other side is not a great feeling after all. Fighting to protect vs. fighting to destroy, fighting for a peaceful future world vs. fighting for the apocalypse that already exists… this is what Psyren’s been doing. I have a feeling next volume will be all fighting again, but as long as it heads towards that peaceful end, that’s fine.– Sean Gaffney

Sankarea: Undying Love, Vol. 4 | By Mitsuru Hattori | Kodansha Comics – The difference in cover art between the Japanese and American volumes has never been starker than it is here. And I honestly think I prefer this version, mostly as the moe antics are the least interesting part of this book. The best moments here are discovering more of Rea’s tragic backstory, and the constant war between Rea and her zombie desires – one she seems to lose more and more each time, despite the genuine love she seems to have for Furuya. It makes me curious to see how far this series can go. Given it’s also fond of fanservice and tsundere antics, can it really descend into pure horror and abandon its romantic comedy stance? And more to the point, will Rea actually kill anybody? That does seem to be a real turn=-off for many guys… though perhaps not Furuya, given his obsessions. – Sean Gaffney