This week, Sean and Michelle take a look at recent releases from Seven Seas, Yen Press, Viz Media, and Kodansha Comics
Alice in the Country of Joker: Nightmare Trilogy, Vol. 2 | By QuinRose and Job | Seven Seas – Slightly better than the first volume, this has an interesting premise in that for once Alice has a repressed memory her love doesn’t want her to see that isn’t about Lorina. The idea of her scribbling in her dictionary is somewhat childish, but that fits the plot pretty well, to be honest. Unfortunately, we keep running into two big problems. First, the art is simply not up to par, frequently looking almost doujinshi-esque, and suggests a rushed product. Secondly, Nightmare just isn’t that good of a romantic hero, not showing off enough cool to make up for his basic flaws. It’s sad that the cutest part of this volume was in a side story which is Alice/Blood. For completists only.-Sean Gaffney
Durarara!! Yellow Scarves Arc, Vol. 2 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Akiyo Satorigi | Yen Press – It’s impressive just how much the narrative is bending itself to make sure that its three leads don’t find out about each other’s secrets. Masaomi *almost* sees Anri here, but Celty manages to rescue her before the damage is done. As you can guess, most of this volume is backstory and buildup, showing why Masaomi is tormented in his relationship with Saki, as well as how Kadota’s gang ties into this (Walker blithely setting thugs on fire is in keeping with this author’s tendency to enjoy psychopathic tendencies). And then there’s Shinra’s father, who is a real loathsome piece of work on all fronts. Ah, DRRR, even your likeable heroes are broken.-Sean Gaffney
Food Wars!, Vol. 3 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – OK, this series has now fully won me over after its awful start. It’s got just what you want from a Jump series: ridiculous side character, rivals turned friends, ludicrous battles that are also amazing, all involving cooking, and teamwork winning out… well, at least till the end, when Megumi is expelled. I highly doubt that will last, and the cliffhanger suggests a new battle may change the outcome. But it also allows for some heartbreak. There’s a short story at the end that was Saeki’s debut work, showing a typical high school romance and also likely showing why he was paired with a writer for this new project. The main reason to get this is Food Wars, though, and I am looking forward to the next volume.-Sean Gaffney
Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends – Club Minutes | By Kurian and Bomi | Seven Seas – This volumes holds together a little better than the previous ‘comedy side stories’ volume, partly due to its focus on holidays, giving it more of a thematic impact. Everyone’s amusing quirks are on display here. Rika makes filthy jokes, Yukimura is deadpan (this time about the Warring States), Sena can’t win at bishoujo games, and Yozora is the most broken of them all. We actually seem to skip past the main release, timeline-wise, as we see Student Council members who are implied to be new regulars here, and seem to have wandered in from a more normal comedy Still, it wasn’t too spoilery, and those who want more Haganai will be happy with what this volume gives them.-Sean Gaffney
Honey Blood Vol. 2 | By Miko Mitsuki | Viz Media – Well, that didn’t end so much as stop. Despite the author’s best efforts to say that this was indeed the ending she had in mind, this ending comes very abruptly and made me raise an eyebrow. (There’s a ‘side’ volume in February, that seems to consist of the ‘pilot episode’ and some side stories.) It’s a surprise as we get a new antagonist vampire introduced here, who’s carried a grudge against Junya since the Edo period and is determined to break up our couple. Add this to Hinata’s worries about whether she can really be what Junya needs, and whether hteir ‘bond’ requires sex in order to work, and you have a tasty little vampire potboiler for supernatural fans. Just… be aware it stops rather than ends. -Sean Gaffney
Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 12 | By Tsutomu Nihei | Vertical Comics – There’s some obvious emotional manipulation going on in this volume, even more so than usual, and yet I still manage to find myself feeling bad for Sho, the newly introduced Honoka clone who is introduced to die tragicaslly, in a callback to events of the first few volumes with Hoshijiro (remember her?). I was less wild about the subplot involving who’s been peeping on the female pilots when they’re changing – naturally, everyone blames Tanikaze, and just as naturally it isn’t him. But if you’re going to introduce harem manga elements in your story, I suppose you have to take the bad with the good. Still, this volume is better off when it’s trying to pull at your heartstrings rather than hit your funnybone.-Sean Gaffney
Magi, Vol. 9 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – A transitional volume of Magi, this serves to a) introduce a whole bunch of new powerful people who serve under Sinbad, including the cover couple, who hate each other so it must be love; b) have a wacky comedic subplot involving Sinbad being accused of raping a girl in her sleep, which I could have done without; and c) introducing a new protagonist, Hakuryu Ren, who initially seems a bit villainous but allies himself with our heroes fairly quickly. Oh yes, and there’s Morgiana, who repurposes the shackles she once wore in slavery into her new magical weapons, which almost makes up for the comedy subplot. A good volume, but I’m more looking forward to what happens next.-Sean Gaffney
Millennium Snow, Vol. 4 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – It’s possibly unfortunate that this came out the same week as the last Honey Blood, as they both feature very similar plotlines, with a vampire from the past arriving to stir things up and ruin our hero’s life. Of course, Toya is far easier to manipulate than Junya, so things work out a lot better for the villain here. It’s up to Chiyuki, now dying again without Toya’s help, to try to figure out what’s really going on. The outcome is not really in doubt, nor is the epilogue,, but it’s still nice to see feelings being returned. Oh yes, there’s also the subplot with Toya’s grandfather, which has a sad and tragic air around it as it deals with senility that comes with old age. A solid, if somewhat stolid, ending for the series.-Sean Gaffney
Voice Over: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 8 | By Maki Minami | Viz Media – We’ve already seen Hime having to deal with her apathetic, neglectful mother earlier in the series. Now we get Senri’s parents, and we find out that things are even rougher here. I love the flashback to Senri’s parents, as it’s framed as a sort of shoujo manga of its own, with two eccentric people meeting cutely and falling for each other. But there’s a reason shoujo mangas often stop before the couple has children (or even a wedding), and this is why: it doesn’t always translate into good parenting. Given Sakura is also the actress who most deeply influenced Hime, and we can see a major roadblock coming up in the next volume or so – assuming Hime gets past admitting that she’s Shiro.-Sean Gaffney
Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 8 | By Maki Minami | Viz Media – Although the regular gang makes an appearance in the first chapter, in which Tsukino finally manages to speak up and convey her feelings, the majority of this volume is devoted to Senri’s childhood. It all starts because he realizes his friendship with Shiro (heroine Hime in disguise) is making him happy, but then he panics because he can’t tell if it’s genuine happiness or just a performance. It turns out his famous actress mother was never her genuine self around Senri, always taking on a variety of roles and not considering how this would affect her son and his ability to relate to others. I suppose this could be treading perilously close to one of those shoujo manga that becomes mostly about the lead guy’s angst, but I actually quite enjoyed it, especially the story of Senri’s first cat friend. I find I’m sad that there are only four volumes left! – Michelle Smith
Witchcraft Works, Vol. 2 | By Ryu Mizunagi | Vertical Comics – There are some interesting battles and discussion of witchcraft here in this second volume, but for the most part the emphasis remains firmly on comedy, particularly with the introduction of Honoka’s overprotective little sister Kasumi, who it turns out is also a witch. If you saw the words ‘overprotective little sister’ and groaned at the thought of what was to come, congratulations, you win the otaku cliche bingo card. She sleeps in his bed, she takes baths with him, etc. No surprise then that Honoka (also for everyone’s safety) moves into Ayaka’s high rise, though they may not live long enough to enjoy it. I’m not sure I’m going to keep up with this one, but it’s fun for fans of supernatural comedy, even if a bit predictable.-Sean Gaffney