Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: JManga Scramble

March 18, 2013 by MJ, Anna N, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 5 Comments

With a distinct lack of new print manga available in stores this week, we thought we’d take the opportunity to recommend a few last-ditch titles from soon-to-expire digital publisher JManga. If you’ve got extra points to spend and are looking for a great, last-minute read, here are a few titles to consider!

ANNA: I’m always on the lookout for more josei manga, and while I was disappointed in the variety of genres Jmanga offered at its initial launch, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw more Harlequin romance, Ohzora, and josei titles popping up in the months to follow. The title I was most excited to see was the fourth volume of Walkin Butterfly 4. I collected the earlier print volumes and was so happy to be able to read the end of the series on Jmanga. While there are series left unfinished with Jmanga’s closure, I feel it is good to celebrate some of the series that Jmanga finished! Walkin’ Butterfly is the story of a tall misfit tomboy named Michiko who begins to find herself when she accidentally becomes part of the fashion world. Her relationship with the temperamental up and coming designer Mihara changes them both, and the series shows how she transforms herself in an atypical way for an ugly duckling becoming a swan type story. Tamaki’s illustrations convey the world of modeling and fashion in an edgy way – while there are occasional flashes of elegance, this is much grittier than the stylized fashion portrayed in a title like Paradise Kiss.

SEAN: I think I’ve banged the gong for Wonder! and High School Girls enough, so I’ll note that my favorite aspect of JManga was that they could pick up some of the weirdest titles. Not just normal seinen weird like Ninja Papa or Anesthesiologist Hana, but stuff that no one else would license in a million years. Things like Young-kun, a stick-figure 4-koma that I still don’t think I ever understood, or Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi, a mystery-solving cat manga from Shonen Gahosha’s magazine of cat manga. And of course there was a pile of yuri titles that fans have been wanting for years, from Love My Life to Poor Poor Lips to YuruYuri. The saddest thing is that there was simply too much content I wanted to read, and I may never get the time to now. But man, it was great content.

MICHELLE: If there was just one title that I’d recommend people read while they have the chance, it would be est em’s Working Kentauros. Here’s what I said about it in a Going Digital column from last year: “Like the best speculative fiction, est em uses her offbeat “centaurs in the workplace” concept to communicate universal truths. Everyone wants to be free to be themselves, and no one wants to watch someone they love get sick and pass away. Even if they happen to be a centaur. Highly, highly recommended.”

MJ: Many of my favorite series at JManga are hard to recommend at this juncture, simply because they’re unfinished. As much as I adore titles like Sweet Blue Flowers, Dousei Ai, or Pride, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend that anyone sign themselves up for that kind of heartbreak. One of my long-touted BL favorites, however, is Haruko Kumota My Darling Kitten Hair, which, though unfinished, is so committed to its low-key, slice-of-life format that it’s guaranteed to offer no lingering angst or nail-biting cliffhangers. From my review of the second volume: “It’s so rare to read a BL series (or any relationship-driven story) that is about staying in love rather than falling in love, and there’s a reason for that. It’s hard! As difficult as it can be to write authentic, well-developed romance, much like actual romance, it’s even harder to keep that fire burning after the initial rush of first love. Thankfully, My Darling Kitten Hair stands as a lovely example of how to do exactly that. And it’s a real pleasure to read.” Two volumes are available.

Readers, any last-ditch JManga titles you’d recommend?

Bookshelf Briefs 3/18/13

March 18, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

This week, Sean, Anna, MJ, and Michelle look at recent releases from Dark Horse Comics, VIZ Media, Kodansha Comics, and Vertical, Inc.

Blood-C, Vol. 1 | By Ranmaru Kotone, based on a concept by Production I.G. and CLAMP | Dark Horse Comics – I haven’t read any of the Blood the Last Vampire/Blood+ series that this one is supposedly part of, but I think I get the gist. A cute clumsy girl is revealed to be the last stand humanity has against demonfolk who are attacking innocents, which she then kills with her big sword. Most of this first volume focuses on her cute and sweet classmates (who will no doubt die horribly), except for one sullen guy who avoids her (who screams ‘love interest’) The battles are OK, and the character designs are sort of CLAMP-ish, but I won’t be trying any more of this for one big reason: I was bored to tears reading it. Every single page of this reeks of media tie-in, and not the good kind. Readers who like CLAMP are advised to get the Tokyo Babylon omnibus instead. – Sean Gaffney

Dawn of the Arcana, Vol 9 | By Rei Toma | VIZ Media – Nakaba’s powers of magical vision have revealed the depth of Loki’s feelings to her, and to her credit her reaction is to be very concerned about all that her faithful servant must have suffered, both due to his actions in shielding her from harm and Nakaba’s ignorance of his emotions. There isn’t much time to dwell on romance, as the political situation in Lithuanel grows even more tense, and Nakaba sees how scheming royalty use the life of an Ajin to bolster the succession. Nakaba and Caesar’s relationship is stronger than ever and I hope Loki is able eventually to find some sort of happiness. Dawn of the Arcana continues to be an entertaining fantasy manga, made more interesting by Nakaba’s use of her powers. – Anna N

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 7 | by Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – A Devil and Her Love Song is unique in the way that emotions that tend to be buried in more typical shojo series are drawn out and discussed in detail. Here Maria is dealing with the fallout of her friendship with Anna, relying more on Yusuke (at his insistence) but still being drawn towards Shin despite his attempts to distance himself from her. The manipulations of a voice coach who seems to take a marked interest in Maria makes it seem like he will play a larger role in upcoming volumes. This series continues to be a go-to read when I want a manga packed full of drama, with a few sweet moments along the way. – Anna N

Fairy Tail, Vol. 24 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – We’ve finally come to the end of the Edolas arc, with Natsu resolving things with his usual straight-ahead heroics… or in this case, villain posing. The next arc will show the characters competing in a battle to be the next S-class wizard, which promises to shed some light at last on Cana, who’s mostly just been “the pretty alcoholic” till now. But most folks remember this volume for the BIG SPOILER. I have no issues with the spoiler itself – god knows I’ll do anything for my happy endings. That said, the premise behind it coming about does require a large amount of disbelief suspension in a series that already has issues with that sort of thing. As for how it affects future volumes, who knows? After all, the extras already hint that Mashima has rewritten his future outline to be quite different from his original plan. – Sean Gaffney

Limit, Vol. 3 | By Keiko Suenobu | Vertical, Inc. – Out of the three currently-available volumes of Keiko Suenobu’s Limit, the third is perhaps the cruelest (and certainly the best). Things begin on an unexpected upswing, as most of the group begins to recover their humanity in the wake of unstable Morishige’s fall from power, which is solidified further by the appearance of another surprise survivor. But as Morishige’s mental condition deteriorates, things eventually become more frightening than ever which, by Limit‘s standards, means quite a bit. I left this volume experiencing a hopeless, sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach that felt far more real than it should have. And isn’t that a shining example of the power of good fiction? This series continues to become more compelling and addictive with each new volume. Wholeheartedly recommended. – MJ

Strobe Edge, Vol. 3 | By Io Sakisaka | Published by VIZ Media – I am officially beginning to love Strobe Edge, by which I mean I’ve developed an affection that goes beyond simply being happy to see that a new volume has come out. Slowly, and whilst tip-toeing around some stock shoujo scenarios, Strobe Edge has grown more compelling with each volume. The love… shape between Ninako, Ren, Mayuka, and Ando grows more complicated and painful, and is so well done that any accusations of this being “generic” shoujo should be firmly squashed by this volume. Not only do I love that Ren’s friends are becoming concerned that maybe he does like Ninako, but I love that Mayuka is intimidated, too, and now we have two thoroughly likeable girls both in love with the same boy and feeling awkward about the presence of the other in his life. This is so much better than malicious rivals or wacky hijinks! Highly recommended. – Michelle Smith

Off the Shelf: Dark Horse Saves the Day

March 16, 2013 by MJ and Michelle Smith 7 Comments

MICHELLE: Life’s a funny thing, you know. Within a span of two days, JManga calls it quits, but a Veronica Mars film becomes a (future) reality. Without the latter to buoy my spirits, I would’ve been much more crushed by the former.

MJ: Since I wasn’t a Veronica Mars fan (I know, I know, everyone says I should watch it), I admit I’m just kind of existing in a shell-shocked haze. Between JManga and Google Reader, I’m feeling pretty disoriented in my digital world right now.

MICHELLE: I’m sad about Google Reader, too! It seems like all the other alternatives are too fussy. I want a minimalist option. Anyway, was there anything in the world of manga to cheer you?

MJ: Fortunately, there was. Though this week became tragic in multiple ways, it began at least with the blissful knowledge that we’d finally be seeing Tokyo Babylon, my favorite CLAMP manga, back in print. Originally published by TOKYOPOP, the series was officially out of print (with a few volumes still easily available online) long before the company shut down its North American publishing operations. Fortunately, Dark Horse announced in 2011 that they’d be adding the series to their growing catalogue of CLAMP omnibus releases. It was originally slated for publication later that year, leading some of us to wonder whether we’d gotten our hopes up too soon, but the first volume finally hit some stores this week! I’m still waiting for my print copy to ship from Amazon, but I was able to preview a PDF of the book, which has temporarily tided me over.

So, it’s no secret that I love Tokyo Babylon. In fact, I once volunteered to host the CLAMP MMF purely out of a desire to make people talk about it. It’s a concise, fairly intimate series that somehow manages to feel genuinely epic (and genuinely tragic) over the course of just seven short volumes (Dark Horse is doing it in two). I’ve already written about the full series at length, both in my original review of it at Comics Should Be Good and in our roundtable discussion last year, so I won’t spend time repeating myself here. Instead, I’ll talk about what’s different in Dark Horse’s edition.

Unfortunately, since I haven’t yet received my print volume, I can’t personally confirm anything about paper quality or trim size, except to (happily) note that Dark Horse’s website lists it as 5 3/4″ x 8 1/4, which was the same size as their Cardcaptor Sakura volumes—and the ideal format for CLAMP’s gorgeous artwork, in my opinion. I’ll be absolutely thrilled, assuming this is the case. Volume one also boasts of “over a dozen” color pages—most of which are, I believe, the same color pages that TOKYOPOP’s editions contained, though there may be extras I’m not noticing as I read through the PDF preview.

What I can confirm is that Dark Horse’s English adaptation is noticeably different, presumably thanks to the hand of its new editor, Carl Horn. Carl has a gift for making English dialogue really come alive, and his influence is apparent immediately. For example, in the beginning of the first chapter, Subaru innocently describes a scene in which a spirit he exorcised turned out to be the ghost of a young girl who committed suicide after being cruelly dumped by the celebrity whose bed she was haunting every night.

In TOKYOPOP’s version, Subaru mentions that the girl’s strongest memories were not of the room itself, but just of the bed, at which point Hokuto laughs, “In other words, the only thing that guy showed her was the ceiling in his bedroom!” In Dark Horse’s new version, it’s Subaru who wonders at the fact that it was only the ceiling of the room that the girl remembered, giving Hokuto the response, “I guess that’s the only part the guy ever showed her!” It’s a small change, but moving the detail about the ceiling to Subaru just makes the joke work better. It’s somehow much, much funnier. And this kind of thing continues throughout the volume.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t really planned on buying the series over again, but if it’s got a better, more natural English adaptation, then perhaps I ought to reconsider. I believe Carl Horn’s also known for writing entertaining end notes—has he done that this time, too?

MJ: He hasn’t (at least not in the PDF I have), and in fact there are actually fewer notes than in TOKYOPOP’s version, as Dark Horse’s doesn’t include a glossary and doesn’t require endnote translations for the sound-effects, either (they are translated right alongside in Dark Horse’s edition). But I really do recommend the new adaptation. Plus, if the trim size is as promised, it’s going to be gorgeous. I’m hoping they’ve used really nice paper, too.

The one difference I haven’t mentioned so far is one that genuinely concerns me, though I hope to have that concern abated shortly. In the TOKYOPOP editions, Hokuto’s terrific side-story (you know, the one where she basically becomes awesomeness incarnate) is included at the end of volume two. But though Dark Horse’s first omnibus spans partway through volume four of TOKYOPOP’s edition, her side story is yet to be found. I’m hoping that it’s just been put into the second volume, and I have an e-mail out to Dark Horse to confirm this, but I’ve yet to receive a reply. Edited to add 3/18/13: Carl Horn says yes, the story will appear! Hokuto fans everywhere rejoice! (It all comes down to the tankobon vs. bunko editions—if you want more detail ask me in comments.)

MICHELLE: That is worrying, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t include it!

MJ: I’ll be sure to report back!

So, have you found any manga to ease your pain this week, Michelle?

MICHELLE: Sort of. My solo read for this week was the first volume of Durarara!! Saika Arc, which is a sequel series to the regular Durarara!! that I’ve talked about a few times before. I didn’t always like the original—sometimes it didn’t make sense, and I took issue with a couple of female characters happily falling in love with killers—but it remained intriguing, chiefly due to the fascinating headless “black rider,” Celty.

Perhaps I should backtrack a little. This series is set in Ikebukuro, where all manner of strange characters dwell. The first series was primarily the saga of Celty’s missing head, but now it’s a year later and something strange and new has begun. The area is being plagued by a slasher, whose non-fatal attacks have been increasing in frequency lately. The slasher links together some seemingly unconnected story elements—interrupting bullies as they gang up on a girl who feels disconnected from the world, attacking a reporter working on a feature about who’s the strongest in Ikebukuro—and ends up with Celty on his trail and Shizuo Heiwajima (a guy with massive brute strength that he can’t control) in his heart. Although there’s more to it than that. In, like, a supernatural way.

So far, this is shaping up to be a lot more linear than the original, and I’d say a definite improvement. Granted, I would probably be fascinated by just about anything Celty did. I suppose one could start here, as the story is so far very self-contained, but it would probably be disorienting to encounter so many characters at once. (Not unlike the beginning of the original, actually.)

MJ: I was going to ask about exactly that, actually. I could not get into the original no matter how hard I tried, and I thought I might have better luck with this. But I do wonder if I’d be able to figure out what was going on.

MICHELLE: I think you probably could. There are only a couple of references to what happened in the first series, and no real lingering plot threads. The real challenge would be all the “who the heck is this person?!” moments you’d encounter. Even for me, there are a still a couple of characters whose names I don’t know, but they barely appear. (Actually, why even bother including them? I do not know.)

Anyway, I like it well enough to continue with it.

Looks like it’s your turn to introduce our mutual read this time!

MJ: Indeed it is!

This week, we both read Emerald and Other Stories, a collection of short manga by Hiroaki Samura, creator of Blade of the Immortal. I’ll admit that I’ve actually not read any of Blade of the Immortal, but though this short manga collection is a little uneven (as all short manga collections seem to be), I found enough to like in it that I’m anxious now to read more of Samura-sensei’s work.

Samura comments at the end of the volume that this collection was originally called Sister Generator, because he’d noticed that nearly all of its main characters were women—and that is probably the biggest draw for me here. The stories start strong, beginning with a tale set in the American Old West, in which a woman hires a male “hero” (in this world, “heroes,” are often just really successful criminals) to save a young girl from a life of servitude to the owner of a brothel—not that the “hero” has any idea that this is what he’s being hired for. It’s a tense, well-told story with a fairly nuanced take on Old West morality and its challenges for women, and a seriously badass female lead, all of which is certainly the key to my heart.

As the volume continues, the content varies widely, from a somewhat uncomfortably erotic story about a teen girl’s final days with her dying father, to a semi-autobiographical story-within-a-sci-fi-story, to a series of humorous schoolgirl vignettes called, “The Uniforms Stay On.” And though I’ve described the collection as “uneven,” I should clarify to say that even in its weakest moments (a story written about a guy’s embarrassing rock-song confession probably worked the least well for me) there is always something brilliant or intriguing to latch on to.

The gag comics are unusually funny. The fantasy comics are surprisingly coherent. The erotic elements are genuinely erotic, even when they’re vaguely uncomfortable. And though some of that can be chalked up to Samura’s thoughtful, detailed artwork, he’s also just a really strong storyteller. So often, stories in short manga collections feel… experimental (read: unfinished) and that’s not at all the case here. Each short story reads as a real story, and that’s a rare find in this format. I was more than pleasantly surprised.

MICHELLE: Wow, I am so tempted to say “what she said,” because I think you touched on most of my own reactions, too.

“Emerald” is probably my favorite story of the bunch, simply because I love a clever female lead, and this one has two of them. I didn’t see where it was going at first, but it surprised me, and ended up being wholly satisfying, which is quite a rare thing for a short story. And, in fact, being surprised was somewhat of a theme here. I don’t necessarily mean plot events, either, but more in the line of a story not really being what you thought it was, like “Shizuru Cinema,” the story of the aspiring manga artist and his high-school aged girlfriend/muse. “Uniforms” was often genuinely amusingly random—the girls discuss things as various as religion, Korean influence, and pig-spinach hybrids—and I liked “Brigitte’s Dinner” quite a bit, too. That one had kind of a happy ending, actually, if the last few pages mean what I think they mean.

I’m with you regarding the love song story working the least well—it also has some final pages of murky meaning—and I was also completely baffled by the autobiographical tale of some mahjong game, and squicked by “The Kusein Family’s Grandest Show,” but on the whole this was a very strong collection. And I love Samura’s artwork, which is even more impressive in Blade of the Immortal (of which I have admittedly only read one volume).

MJ: I’m quite certain you’re reading the end of “Brigitte’s Dinner” as intended! I thought it was a happy ending of a sort, too. And actually, “of a sort” is key here, because one of the book’s greatest strengths is that nothing is really black and white. I don’t want to spoil that story for anyone, so I’ll refrain from explaining exactly what I mean, but it’s the kind of story that is both tragic and happy at the same time. Much like real life.

MICHELLE: I agree. Dark Horse’s back cover describes these stories as “seven powerful, short pieces” and that’s really true. Too often, short stories are forgettable. Or, maybe there will be one good one, and then a bunch of others that drift out of your brain a couple of hours after reading them. But here we have several strong ones that I think will stay with me a while.

MJ: Same here. So, after a rough week, I’ll thank Dark Horse manga for stepping up to save the day!

Manga the Week of 3/20

March 14, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: So yeah, remember me bragging I got Yen releases a week early? Not this month.

What does that mean?

It means Vagabond 34, that’s what it means. And that’s it. Luckily, Vagabond is pretty damn awesome. So for Vagabond fans, new volume!

ANNA: Vagabond is pretty great.

SEAN: For everyone else, catching up on the stacks of manga to read next to you, like me?

MICHELLE: And how! Seriously, there are literally stacks.

MJ: What she said!

Bookshelf Briefs 3/11/13

March 11, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N Leave a Comment

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

Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, Vol. 4 | By QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – One thing I recall about Bloody Twins is that Alice and the Twins got physical almost immediately, and it felt rushed. With Boris, we’ve waited 4 volumes for him to finally get together with Alice, and the waiting has made it much sweeter. There’s likely trouble on the horizon, though. The spectre of Alice’s sister which haunts every single one of these books is still around, and it’s noted that Alice is the sort who’s likely to destroy herself with guilt – is her love with Boris helping, just a distraction, or actively making things worse? Things are not helped by an ongoing mob war between the Hatter and another family, and Peter White’s attempts at doing his best for Alice while still being jealous and clinging. This series is really hitting its stride.– Sean Gaffney

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 2 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – OK, Mayu Shinjo, you win. I’ll just put Ai Ore! down to being a clunker in and of itself and settle in with Demon Love Spell, which is far more to my taste. I like that she’s thinking carefully about what it would really be like for an incubus to be living with Miko… and how doing so is actually changing Kagura, making him more receptive to her less lustful feelings. And it certainly helps that life seems to be conspiring against him getting anywhere with her except in dreams. There’s also some touching storytelling here, with the fox subplot resolved in a very bittersweet yet satisfying way (her author’s notes on this are hilarious, by the way.) The balance between seduction and consent, always difficult to keep in many other shoujo manga (hi, Hot Gimmick!) is just right here, and it makes for a sexy, fun read.– Sean Gaffney

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 2 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – I’m not as charmed as MJ by the second volume of Demon Love Spell, but I will grant that it’s probably the best volume of any Mayu Shinjo manga that I have read. It begins with the story of a seriously adorable fox (who is significantly less adorable in his human form) who confuses Miko with the girl he loves. The conclusion to this is genuinely touching, and along the way Kagura realizes that Miko’s feelings of love for him are superior sustenance to mere physical intimacy. Not that he’s given up on getting into her pants, of course, though she’s able to deflect and distract him easily enough in subsequent chapters that it doesn’t feel like there’s a serious power imbalance in their relationship. This will probably never be my favorite series, but it doesn’t piss me off, which is more than I can say for Ai Ore!. – Michelle Smith

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 13 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – For all that they’re enemies, Saeki and Miyabi’s groups both have a basic goal, whether it’s intended or not. Saeki takes the delinquent loner types and brings them closer together, and Miyabi takes the eccentric weirdos and gives them a purpose. This means that it’s quite hard to root against the Student Council, something lampshaded in the series itself. (“Wait, are we the enemy?”) This volume we meet Kanon, who has a chip on her shoulder against men but who warms up to Natsuo fairly quickly. That none of this is the least bit surprising isn’t an issue – no one reads Oresama Teacher for the plot. But if it’s lots of laughs and occasional heartwarming scenes, this is for you. Not to mention the final cliffhanger, which features a fantastic dynamic entry by… well, that would spoil it.– Sean Gaffney

Paradise Kiss, Vol. 3 | By Ai Yazaka | Vertical, Inc. – Volume three wraps up Vertical’s edition of Paradise Kiss, and oh what a wrap-up it is! I’d forgotten just how wonderfully complex this story becomes before its close and how brilliant Yazawa’s artwork is throughout. Her panel designs and page layouts are extraordinarily expressive—she’s able to put more raw emotion in just a pair of eyes than many artists can manage over the course of an entire work. Though this story revolves around high school students, its realistic focus on adult concerns like recognizing personal limitations and making hard career choices (and its refusal to romanticize its primary romantic pairing) reminds us why Paradise Kiss is a josei manga. Vertical’s new edition makes the most of all of this by both declining to gloss over the characters’ less mainstream idiosyncrasies and showing off Yazawa’s artwork to its best advantage. It’s a must-buy for any fan. – MJ

Slam Dunk, Vol. 27 | By Takehiko Inoue | VIZ Media – The game against Sannoh enters the second half and our heroes start to fall apart. In particular the normally solid center and captain Akagi has trouble managing the opposition. Sannoh goes on an unanswered scoring streak, making the gap almost impossible to close. The only people who still seem to have faith are Coach Anzai and Sakuragi, who is either going to become an offensive rebound machine or do something incredibly stupid. Perhaps both! This is another stellar volume of Slam Dunk. I would be happy if this basketball game lasted forever, but instead I will wait impatiently for the next volume to see if Sakuragi gets to play out his basketball hero fantasies. – Anna N

Strobe Edge, Vol. 3 | By Io Sakisaka | VIZ Media – Given that I originally began this series thinking, “I’m so bored,” it’s important to note that it has become one that I now rush to consume the moment it arrives at my doorstep. Everyone’s relationships take on new complications in this volume as Ninako and Ren stumble over a few mutual misunderstandings, Ando finally confesses his growing feelings for Ninako, and Ren and Mayuka (unsuccessfully) try to pretend that nothing at all is going wrong. What’s especially refreshing about the way this series is handling its romantic complications is that everyone is genuinely likable (even playboy Ando is turning into a stand-up guy), everyone’s feelings are equally relatable, and there’s no sign of a typical, overblown shoujo villain in sight. While this certainly complicates things for readers, it’s immensely satisfying. I’m on the edge of my seat and ready for heartbreak, one way or another. Definitely recommended. – MJ

Umineko: When They Cry Episode 1: Legend of the Golden Witch, Vol. 2 | By Ryukishi07 and Kei Natsumi | Yen Press – The only thing longer than the title of this volume is the book itself, which is truly enormous. Unfortunately, the vast majority of it is tedious. Battler utters his “flip over the chessboard” catchphrase approximately 31 times as he goes back and forth on whether the ritualistic murders happening on an isolated family island are the work of a human or supernatural culprit. The moment when he realizes his theories are all useless is played as a tremendous shock, but it was obvious to readers from the start. Ultimately, despite the body count and the relentlessly creepy/irritating little girl serving as the witch’s mouthpiece, Umineko is boring. It’s impossible to care about these characters or feel anything when they’re killed off, and even though there is more to this story after this volume, I think I am well and truly done now. – Michelle Smith

Vampire Knight, Vol. 16 | By Matsuri Hino | VIZ Media – Maybe I’m remembering it a little easier, or it just wasn’t as convoluted, but I found it easier to get back into the swing of Vampire Knight this time around. Things seem to be drawing closer to a crisis point – Kaname and the Headmaster’s battle is fraught with tension, and Sara continues to make a very Carmilla-esque villain. But really, this series is at its best when it’s examining the relationships between Yuki, Zero and Kaname, and we get a lot of that here. They’re both pushing Yuki away as far as they can, and to her credit she’s not really having it from either of them (though with Zero she acquiesces a bit more). This leads up to the cliffhanger, showing the three of them together once more. It’s still high shoujo soap opera, and I’m not sure who’s going to survive to a happy ending, but I’ll be sticking around.– Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Tokyo Babylon

March 11, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 16 Comments

SEAN: Far be it from me to break with what I suspect is going to be unanimous. The clear pick this week is the first omnibus re-release of CLAMP’s Tokyo Babylon. I joked about it being the story of Hokuto and those two other guys, but it is certainly true that Hokuto is my favorite thing about it, and I’ll likely be digging into this volume especially for her. That said, the tragic story of Subaru and Seishirou is no slouch, and if I want to pretend things end happily I can just stop with this first volume anyway. This is one of the books that made CLAMP famous, and justifiably so.

MJ: I’m sure that by now it’s obvious I concur. Though there are at least two series I love just as much on this week’s list (Fullmetal Alchemist and Paradise Kiss) Dark Horse’s re-release of Tokyo Babylon is one of my most euphorically anticipated of the year, and there’s no way I can turn down the opportunity to try to bring more readers into the fold. I love everything about this series—its overblown comedy, its sometimes-clunky drama, and its eighties fashion sense—but mostly I love it for its slow-developing characterization and, well, its cruelty. CLAMP goes at this story with full force, and isn’t satisfied until they’ve beaten you into an hysterical, bloody heap. If you think I’m exaggerating, you haven’t read Tokyo Babylon. So go to it!

MICHELLE: I’m not gonna be the one to buck the trend! The best thing about the series being in print again is that readers who missed out the first time will be able to discover it. I hope we see some reviews from first-time readers in the near future!

ANNA: I think all of this peer pressure means I have to give this series a second chance.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

JManga the Weeks of 3/7 and 3/14

March 11, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, MJ and Michelle Smith 4 Comments

SEAN: I have to admit I am impressed with the anonymous teams behind these series that are all coming out at a rapid rate, even if I don’t know who they are because they aren’t credited. The translation quality, while still not perfect, has risen considerably since the start back in August 2011, and the series are cranking out so that, presumably, we can focus on fresh new series in the future.

All of which is a nice way of saying I still don’t have much to say. The big manga for me this week and next is Joshi Kousei (aka High School Girls), which wraps up with the release of Vols. 8 & 9, and finally resolves the unanswered question about the Takarazuka pair. No, not whether they’re actually lesbians, that’s still unanswered. (Though obvious.)

MJ: I admit I don’t have much to say, either, which isn’t to say that I’m necessarily disappointed with what’s happening at JManga. Sure, I miss some of the weeks when they introduced scads of new series, and it’s been a while since some of my personal favorites have been updated. But I appreciate the fact that they’re carrying on, updating what they can, when they can.

MICHELLE: My sentiments exactly. I’m sure at some point, there’ll be something for us to squee over again.

SEAN: There’s also Vol. 5 of Biscuit Hammer, which puts us at the halfway point, and Vol. 6 of Crime and Punishment: A Falsified Romance, which is also 10 volumes, but otherwise quite different from Hoshi no Samidare.

And Vol. 12 of Tactics, which has blown past the old Tokyopop releases (which ended with 8, I believe) and is blazing its own trail. The series is still ongoing from Mag Garden, I believe, and I still can’t remember what it’s about aside from “fantasy”.

MJ: Though I lost interest in Tactics midway through the Tokyopop run, I’ll admit that seeing so many available volumes pop up has re-awakened my curiosity. Should I give the series another shot? I’m thinking I just might.

SEAN: Speaking of fantasy (indeed, they’re by the same author), there is also Vol. 5 of The Mythical Detective LOKI. Please note that this version is not played by Tom Hiddleston, despite what Tumblr may tell you.

Lastly, Tsumanuda Fight Town still has maids who fight. I should really actually read this rather than mocking it, as it does run in Young King OURS, home of many of my beloved titles.

Anything catch your eye here?

BL Bookrack: March 2013

March 10, 2013 by MJ and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

Welcome to the March installment of BL Bookrack! This month, Michelle takes a look at Where a Person Is Most Vulnerable at JManga, while MJchecks out the latest volumes of Awkward Silence and His Favorite from SuBLime. In Brief: Punch Up!, Vol. 3 (SuBLime).

Awkward Silence, Vols. 2-3 | By Hinako Takanaga | Published by SuBLime | Rated Mature – As a somewhat finicky BL fan, I have a complicated relationship with Hinako Takanaga. Though I have several favorites among her works (You Will Fall in Love springs immediately to mind), I often find her romances too rushed to be satisfying (Little Butterfly). Furthermore, even some of my favorites of her work (The Tyrant Falls in Love) include elements I dislike so thoroughly that they send me hurtling from hatred to love and back again. Though Awkward Silence is far too mild-mannered a title to incite anything like hatred, its first volume fell easily into the “too rushed” section of Takanaga’s catalogue, thus robbing itself of the emotional resonance required to elicit anything close to love.

Volume two opens with blank-faced Satoru (who carefully reminds us every chapter that his face is incapable of expressing emotion) sulking over his boyfriend Keigo’s upcoming sleep-away baseball camp. Having been unable to properly express his feelings to Keigo before he departed, Satoru is tormented over the fact that Keigo may have left believing that Satoru was angry with him for going in the first place. Naturally, the only option is for Satoru to sneak into the camp in the middle of the night in order to explain himself. He does, and the two have sex.

Okay, a little bit more than that happens. Satoru’s antics lead Keigo’s baseball team to believe that the west wing of the school is haunted and minimal wackiness ensues, but the series’ chapters are so carefully formulaic, it’s obvious that the point of it all is to create an opportunity for the obligatory sex scene. And this is really the crux of the issue. While I certainly have no objection to sex scenes in a BL manga—and such scenes can contribute significantly to both plot and characterization—as is all too common in contemporary romance, Takanaga’s scenes are largely just… in the way. With so few pages available per chapter in which to develop her characters’ relationship, every panel is precious, and panels spent on perfunctory sex scenes are, frankly, nothing more than a waste.

Volume three plays a bit stronger, as it shifts its focus from Satoru and Keigo to a couple of amusingly mismatched upperclassmen (whose relationship vibe is not unlike Morinaga and Souichi’s in Tyrant), and Satoru’s charming (also blank-faced) mom is an unexpected highlight. But this relationship, too, suffers from a whirlwind approach that doesn’t feel quite earned. Takanaga’s expressive artwork particularly shines in this volume, making its shortage of emotional substance even sadder, in my view. Not recommended.

– Review by MJ

His Favorite, Vols. 2-3 | By Suzuki Tanaka | Published by SuBLime | Rated Mature – If I’m a sucker for any particular romance trope, it’s “friends-turned-lovers”—a predilection largely responsible for my obsession with writers like Keiko Kinoshita and Yeri Na, among others. In volume one of His Favorite, author Suzuki Tanaka proved that she’s got my number as well, with her story of childhood friends, Sato and Yoshida, whose developing “hot guy”/”spazzy guy” pairing is the best thing since Doumeki and Watanuki (with fewer ghosts and bento lunches).

In volume one, class stud Sato revealed to unpopular goofball Yoshida that he was the (once overweight, bullied) boy whom (once popular, badass) Yoshida fiercely protected all through grade school. Having nurtured a crush on Yoshida for years, Sato’s new “hot guy” status gives him the confidence to finally pursue Yoshida romantically, though the entire thing is baffling to both Yoshida and the rest of their high school class.

Volume two opens with Yoshida beginning to acknowledge that he has reciprocal feelings for Sato, though he’s desperate to hide it—not only from Sato, but from his group of misfit friends who expect him to share their unrequited longing for female companionship. This escalates in volume three when Yoshida is coerced into attending a disastrous group date. Meanwhile, Sato’s dealing with his frustration by bullying their classmates, whom Yoshida (in true form) angrily defends, leaving Yoshida feeling even more conflicted over his growing attraction for Sato. Nothing comes easy for the two of them, but despite the fact that what I’ve described so far sounds rather like a serious teenage drama, it’s absolutely romantic comedy in every way. And, really, that contradiction is what makes the series work so well.

Though nearly everything in His Favorite is deliberately overblown and played for laughs, the entire thing is firmly anchored by real emotional truth, which renders the series not only genuinely funny, but also genuinely affecting on a number of levels. Amidst the laughs, we really feel Yoshida’s inner turmoil over his unpopularity and small size, his fierce sense of fairness, and his developing feelings for a guy who pushes all his buttons in not-always-positive ways. And like Yoshida, we both love and revile Sato’s messy mix of loyal devotion and outright sadism. Tanaka’s characterization is deceptively effortless—clearly established with just a few deft strokes—allowing her to tell a emotionally complex story with the light touch of a screwball comedy. Even the story’s secondary (firmly comedic) romance, about a steadfast guy who only falls for sleaze-balls, manages to operate on multiple levels. And Tanaka’s clean, energetic artwork is just icing on the cake.

Obviously I’ve become a fan, but the best news of all is that there’s more of this series to come! His Favorite stands at five volumes and counting in Japan, so now’s the time to jump on board! Heartily recommended.

– Review by MJ

Where a Person Is Most Vulnerable | By Fumiko Shusai | Libre Publishing/JManga | Rated Mature – “I put all my short pieces I forgot about in one book,” writes Fumiko Shusai in the Afterword to Where a Person Is Most Vulnerable, and man does it show.

The anthology starts off promisingly enough. The title story is about neurotic Yamashita, who hates ants, and his bug-loving neighbor, Shimabara, who helps him overcome his fears a bit. “Strays Will Leave, Over and Over Again” is also pretty good, featuring a gigolo who keeps returning to his friend’s place every time he gets dumped. Less successful is “The End Is in a Dream, Silent,” about a guy who’s repaying a debt to a clotheshorse by cleaning his messy “room.” It’s okay, but extremely rushed.

In the titular story, the “place” in question refers to the delicate nether-regions where ants dared to crawl when Yamashita was a boy—as well as to his heart—but after the third story I began to think that apartments were somehow a theme, too. That while we might feel safe in our own homes, this complacency would also cause us to let down our guard. And it may even be true that Shusai meant to make some point along those lines, but the rest of the stories in this collection are so thoroughly disappointing that I soon began to doubt that such an intent ever existed.

Brief and insubstantial “Sculptures of Us” is about friends who get into fisticuffs over whether they had a drunken hookup the night before. “Love That Reaches the Other Side of Earth!,” about a seemingly hopeless boy and the childhood friend who takes care of him, had the potential to be something good, but is rushed beyond redemption. The real villain of the piece, however, is the horrible “Daddy, My Love” strip, all about the way in which a guy accidentally mistreats/mishandles his ex-girlfriend’s abandoned toddler, culminating with a panel suggesting they’ll become lovers in the future. EW! Gallon of brain bleach, stat!

So, are the first two stories worth 499 JManga “points”? I must regretfully conclude that they are not.

– Review by Michelle Smith

In Brief:

Punch Up!, Vol. 3 | By Shiuko Kano | Published by SuBLime | Rated Mature – For its first two volumes, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Punch Up!. On the one hand were the well-defined protagonists, Kouta and Maki, who had plausible conflicts and insecurities, but on the other were the frequent and explicit sex scenes that left nothing whatsoever to the imagination. Was this a compelling drama or a smutty romp? Volume three caters to my personal preferences by establishing itself clearly as a drama (or melodrama, at least) when a workplace accident leaves Kouta with no memory of the last four years and effectively returns him to his mindset as a fifteen-year-old. This development could’ve easily taken the story in a cheesy direction, but it actually doesn’t, instead providing even more opportunity for conflicts and insecurities to flare. I had debated whether to continue with this series, but now I am truly glad I did! – Michelle Smith

Review copies provided by the publishers.

Manga the Week of 3/13

March 7, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 3 Comments

SEAN: I have a sneaky suspicion I know what the Pick of the Week is going to be next week… regardless of that, let’s see what publishers have to offer.

Blade of the Immortal may have come to a close recently in Japan, but Dark Horse still has a few more to go. The back cover to Vol. 26 hints that Tonight Someone Dies, so it is no doubt very important that everyone grab this.

MICHELLE: Someday I will continue with this series.

SEAN: And then there’s the first Tokyo Babylon omnibus. Which is filled with Hokuto, who is awesome and the only real reason to read this early CLAMP title! Oh yeah, there’s her brother as well. And some guy. I suppose a few people might read it for them instead.

MJ: TOKYO BABYLON TOKYO BABYLON TOKYO BABYLON. Okay, yes, I’m a fangirl on a massive level, here, but there are so many reasons why this is my favorite CLAMP series (and one of my favorite manga series of all time). I’ll save my loudest raving for Pick of the Week (and Off the Shelf), but out of all the CLAMP re-releases Dark Horse has undertaken over the past few years, this is the one I’ve anticipated most eagerly. I’m so looking forward to re-reading the series.

MICHELLE: I agree, but cannot possibly match MJfor sheer enthusiasm!

ANNA: Maybe I should give this series another try? I read the first few volume and found it so much less gripping than X\1999 that I don’t think I ever finished it. That being said I do have feelings of pleasant nostalgia whenever I think of early CLAMP series in general.

SEAN: SubLime has the third volume of His Favorite, whose cover makes it look like this is a manga about Luffy the uke and Robin the seme. I’m sure it’s not about that at all. Not that that would not be a highly entertaining title in its own right.

MJ: This is one of my favorite recent series from SuBLime, though your comment adds an element of hilarity I hadn’t considered!

MICHELLE: Wow, I had never noticed the similarity in scars before.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd and final re-release of Paradise Kiss, which most everyone else got this week. It’s a terrific series, and I particularly love the ending. If you didn’t get it yet, get it.

MJ: I’m a bit sad that the debut of Dark Horse’s Tokyo Babylon omnibus will probably overshadow the end of Paradise Kiss, so I’ll do my best to rave about both. I had some quibbles early on regarding Vertical’s adaptation of some beginning chapters, but these have long since been made up for by subsequent volumes. And if I had to choose the loveliest of Vertical’s work on this series, I’d have to go with volume three, which is stunning in every way. This is absolutely a must-buy this week. It’s on my personal top ten as well!

MICHELLE: There are things about the ending to Paradise Kiss that give me geekbumps to even *recall*, even though it’s been years since I last read it.

ANNA: I’ve been enjoying the Vertical editions of this series and plan on buying this!

SEAN: The rest is all Viz. 07-Ghost hits Vol. 3 and shows us that the best answer for ‘who is ready to lead the Church’ is ‘how much TRAINING have they had’? I bet the Papal Conclave doesn’t concentrate on that at all.

MJ: I never got any further than volume one of this series, but I’ll catch up eventually! And I’m looking forward to it, too.

MICHELLE: Ditto.

ANNA: I have been hoarding the 2nd and 3rd volumes and plan to read them together very soon. I enjoyed the world building and action in the first volume very much.

SEAN: Arata the Legend hits lucky Vol. 13, whose luck is to come out a week after a Fushigi Yuugi release and thus likely be ignored. Shame.

MICHELLE: Aw. Arata is quite good, too, though it’s true I don’t love it as well as Genbu Kaiden.

ANNA: I don’t think Genbu Kaiden can help it though because it is so intrinsically loveable.

SEAN: Fullmetal Alchemist has a 3-in-1 out, covering Vols. 10-12. This is, in my opinion, the only shonen manga to give One Piece a run for its money at perfection. It’s that good.

MJ: Since this series also made my all-time top ten list, I certainly agree with you. Wow, it’s a banner week for my favorites, isn’t it?

MICHELLE: It is. And it’s high time you read some One Piece, missy, so that could be your favorite, too!

ANNA: I agree that Fullmetal Alchemist is a magnificent series and it is unfortunately one that I stopped reading due to it having so many volumes. I intend to reread the whole thing and finally finish it one day though.

SEAN: Neon Genesis Evangelion also says it’s a 3-in-1, but the first volume was deluxe, more like their VizBIG line. Re-reading the start of the series re-kindled my interest in it again, so I’ll definitely be taking a look at it.

Lastly, RIN-NE Vol. 11 continues to have cute little one-shots, occasional dramatic mini-plots, and no forward progression. (sniffle) It makes me so nostalgic for Ranma and UY’s lack of any progress… it’s like Takahashi has come home!

MICHELLE: I really enjoy RIN-NE for what it is, and without any expectations for it to be anything else. I’ve described Takahashi’s comforting, homey works before as “manga meatloaf,” and I think RIN-NE epitomizes that ethos.

SEAN: What are you folks reading this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 3/4/13

March 4, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

This week, Sean, MJ, Anna, and Michelle look at recent releases from VIZ Media, Yen Press, and Kodansha Comics.

Ai Ore!, Vol. 8 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – Ai Ore! is now on hold in Japan while Shinjo works at other projects, which honestly is fine with me, as I’m starting to get really bored with these leads. Rolling back the canon so that they are not sexually active did get rid of some of the more rapey aspects of Akira, which I can only approve of, but it also made him slightly duller. As for Mizuki, I have to regard her as a failure even compared to other weak Shinjo heroines. When the best part of the manga for her is having a mental breakdown at losing her guitar—for 30 pages—you know something’s wrong. That said, there’s nothing actively offensive here like Vol. 1 had. It’s cute and fluffy, and mostly tame. Which is great for generic shoujo manga fans, but a disappointment to those of us who want anything but boring pablum from this artist. It’s sad that I preferred it when it offended me yet kept my interest.– Sean Gaffney

Bakuman, Vol. 18 | By Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata | VIZ Media – With the end of this series quickly approaching, Mashiro and Takagi come very close to achieving their dreams, which is actually more gratifying than I expected. Even Mashiro’s ill-conceived romance now feels like something to root for (though the manga fan in me still balks at the idea of an anime adaptation as his ultimate goal). Now that the series’ leads have become truly likable, it’s much easier to revel in their successes, and this volume offers up a lot to celebrate. Even Hiramaru’s strange romance gets a satisfying boost in this volume, and I came out pretty much adoring Aoki, which was a real surprise for me. An inside look at assistant politics adds excitement as well. Though I’ve long established myself as an addicted fan of this series, it’s nice to see it push through towards the end with such strength and verve. Still recommended.– MJ

BTOOOM!, Vol. 1 | By Junya Inoue | Yen Press – Battle Royale has a lot to answer for, even though I don’t think it anticipated creating its own genre. But “Survival horror” is very big now, and Yen’s High School of the Dead sells well enough that they’ve bought two more series in a similar vein. BTOOOM! is the first, where a NEET who is master of the gaming world but a failure at getting a real job finds himself on a deserted island with only a bunch of bombs and people trying to kill him. He’s also lost his memory, which is helpful as it allows others to explain the plot to him in detail. There’s a hot girl I’ve no doubt we’ll learn more about soon, and a few villains running around. But for the most part, this gives you lots of action, lots of explosions, and the occasional examination of morals surrounded by “who will die next” tension. It’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s perfectly decent at doing what it wants to do.– Sean Gaffney

BTOOOM!, Vol. 1 | By Junya Inoue | Yen Press – While BTOOOM! might not be able to claim the most original premise ever, it is nonetheless fairly entertaining. Unemployed Ryouta Sakamoto, a 22-year-old living with his long-suffering mother, is the best of the best at the online game BTOOOM!, even though his real life is in pretty bad shape. When he wakes, disoriented, on a remote island, he gradually realizes that he’s been drafted into a real-life version of the game, with deadly stakes. Even though a lot of what happens is completely predictable to the reader, and some of Ryouta’s anguished faces as he deliberates moral questions are actually kind of comedic, it’s still a quick and reasonably fun read. I could’ve done without the buxom competitor and the obligatory focus on her crotch, of course, but you can’t win ’em all. – Michelle Smith

Cage of Eden, Vol. 9 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Speaking of survival horror, it’s time for a new volume of Cage of Eden, which deals with a lot of the same moral lessons. In particular, Zaji and Mariya coming to blows (well, OK, Mariya getting beaten up) over whether they should abandon Kanako, who has been kidnapped by a King Kong-alike. Mariya points out that they’re facing a lethal and intelligent beast, and have to put the safety of the whole party over just one person. Zaji says screw that. This is shounen manga, so Zaji is, of course, correct. Meanwhile, there is a brief reminder that these are a bunch of puberty-stricken teenagers on a deserted island, with both guys and girls taking a poll for best boyfriend/girlfriend. No surprises to see who wins each side. The fanservice continues to be utterly blatant, but the series still clips along and provides what readers want.– Sean Gaffney

Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden, Vol. 11 | By Yuu Watase | VIZ Media – Oh, the angst! The pain! The total awesomeness! With only one volume left of this fantasy-adventure to go, I can’t help being torn between joy and grief. This is unsurprisingly an action-packed installment, filled with difficult battles, epic emotional drama, and some genuine tragedy. And if some of the series’ primary conflicts are a bit too easily resolved, it’s pretty difficult to calm down one’s adrenaline long enough to notice. Overall, this series offers up a terrific example of the enduring appeal of shoujo adventure stories, and it’s gratifying to see it holding its own alongside the ever-growing stack of high school romances. Now, with the Qu-Dong army approaching and Takiko’s life hanging in the balance, the agonizing wait for volume twelve begins! Highly recommended. – MJ

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 4 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – I could feel my interest in this title start to wane a bit in the third volume, and I’m sad to say that state of affairs is continuing with the fourth. The plot wrinkle for this volume is a sudden Jiu Jiu exchange where Takamichi’s familiars Snow and Night are sent away and replaced with alternates. Takamichi’s reaction to being away from her beloved companions is a sudden increase in her crafting habits, producing far too many dog plushies. Tobina’s art is as stylish as ever and there are some quirky humorous parts of the story, but I’m still not emotionally invested in what might happen to these characters. I’m sure this series has plenty of appeal to some readers because it is generally well-executed and quirky enough to be interesting, but unfortunately I am not one of them. – Anna N

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 13 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – The cover of this title is a lie! It shows Super Bun on the cover, but Mafuyu spends most of her time in this volume as her male alter ego Natsuo. The fact that the juvenile delinquent heroine of this series has secret identities both as a spastic bunny superhero and as a man is why my interest in this comedy manga shows no signs of slowing down even at the thirteenth volume. Mafuyu and her team take on a man-hating member of the student council and there’s a bonus appearance by my favorite character Bancho, which always makes me happy. – Anna N

Pandora Hearts, Vol. 14 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – Well, wow. I suspected that this volume would be dramatic, but despite my open adoration of this series, I didn’t actually expect it to be so well-executed. Volume fourteen opens with a fairly large plot twist, and then proceeds (with uncharacteristic coherence) to escalate from there. But the greatest joys in this volume are to be found in its relationships, particularly as concerns Vincent, Ada, Gilbert, and Break. That there is enough room for such careful emotional nuance amidst all this series’ action and (girl-aimed) fan service continues to be surprising, but gratifying indeed. That this series is still ongoing means that we’re still in for a long haul, but Mochizuki just continues to get better, and she’s quickly making up for her plotting issues early on. Still recommended with unabashed fangirl glee. – MJ

Pick of the Week: VIZ all around

March 4, 2013 by MJ, Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney and Anna N 2 Comments

MJ: There’s a lot to choose from this week, including a number of my traditional favorites (Bakuman, Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden), but I’m going to betray everything I thought I knew about myself and pick something from the pen of Mayu Shinjo. That’s right—I’m getting behind Demon Love Spell, the latest volume of which is due out this week. I read volume two for this weekend’s Off the Shelf, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t just charm the heck out of me. Mayu Shinjo, I judged you too soon.

MICHELLE: Given that I have only one more chance to say it after this time… my vote goes to Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden. Events are moving very briskly towards the end!

SEAN: It feels like forever since I’ve PotW’d One Piece, which almost gets taken for granted these days as simply being omnipresent. But there’s a reason why it is so popular (in Japan, at least): it’s amazing fun, week after week, balancing comedy, drama, action, and more comedy. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if it does make it to 100 volumes, even if that might make Viz cry a bit.

ANNA: I would normally go for Genbu Kaiden, which I adore, or Demon Love Spell which I expect to adore when I pick it up. But since those are taken I will go for Oresama Teacher. Bancho forever!!!!!!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Off the Shelf: Teahouse, Love Spell, Barrage

March 2, 2013 by MJ and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

MJ: Good morning, Michelle! We’ve both been so busy, it feels like we haven’t talked in weeks. Good thing it’s time for Off the Shelf!

MICHELLE: It literally *has* been weeks since we’ve had one of these, what with our recent time off. I just can’t read as much as I’d like these days.

MJ: It’s a busy time, for sure. So, with your limited time, what have you been digging into this week?

MICHELLE: Well, I managed to finally get around to reading the first volume of Ameiro Kochakan Kandan, which JManga released back in January. The title translates to Chatting at the Amber Teahouse, and in fact that’s the title used all over JManga’s edition. Why they didn’t just call it that (instead of using the Japanese title, which I have great difficulty remembering), I do not know. Anyway, I found this slice-of-life yuri story from Miyabi Fujieda to be pretty charming! Oh, it’s decidedly uncomplicated, but that doesn’t keep one from enjoying the chaste (so far) love story.

Tucked away in a peaceful neighborhood is a little shop called The Amber Teahouse. Its proprietor, Seriho, is a tea enthusiast who opened the shop with lottery winnings. She’s not exactly scatterbrained, but she could use some looking after. Enter her one employee, responsible high school student Sarasa, who loves the teahouse (and Seriho) so much that she decides to go to school to become a pastry chef rather than attend some prestigious university. There’s a nice metaphor early on that likens their relationship to a “pot-san,” who made tea that no one came to drink, and the “cosy-san” who arrived and kept the pot warm ’til customers finally came around. Only by the end of the volume are there inklings of a possible romantic relationship between them; so far it’s mostly “stay with me for the next 50 years and then some” and lines like that.

Probably I have actually made this sound a little more plot-centric than it actually is. Many of the chapters are quite short, and some can be summed up like, “Sarasa and Seriho ponder adding sweets to the menu.” The art style is quite simplistic, with a few stock character designs that remind me a little of K-ON! and its ilk. Certainly this series isn’t likely to win any awards for profundity, but I liked it and found it much more my speed than Hanjuku Joshi, which we talked about a couple weeks ago.

MJ: I have to say that the teahouse setting sounds very appealing to me. I love stories set in the workplace, and this kind of workplace in particular really does the trick. Ever since Antique Bakery, I guess… in any case, it sounds quite charming. I’ll admit that I’m not incredibly fond of the type of artwork you describe, but it’s popular these days, so what can you do?

MICHELLE: It didn’t bother me much in the main story itself. It’s a bit worse, and some of the side characters more outrageous, in the prequel stories at the end of the volume, but since those were written first, I tried not to let them diminish my opinion of the main series.

Anyways! What have you been reading this week?

MJ: Well, I began my week with volume two of Demon Love Spell, the latest from Mayu Shinjo. Though I haven’t always been a fan of her work, the first volume of this series charmed me pretty thoroughly, so I was definitely looking forward to digging in further.

For those just joining in, Demon Love Spell is the story of a shrine maiden named Miko, who (through a series of wacky events) has become attached to an incubus named Kagura, without whom she’s unable to see spirits. Though Kagura is an incredibly powerful demon, he spends most of his waking hours in cute, hamster-sized form, only receiving the physical love he requires to maintain his power by entering Miko’s nighttime dreams, during which she’s able to leave behind her daytime inhibitions. It’s a premise that should be creepy as all hell, but somehow manages to be palatable, mainly thanks to the fact that most of the real power in the relationship has been granted to Miko.

Volume two starts off pretty irresistibly, by introducing an adorable fox (I mean adorable) who has fallen in love with a human girl. He wants to be with her so much that he gives up all of the usual fox behavior in order to for her to be happy. Though he’s not quite able to attain full human form—he’s still got his fox ears—he resolves to try to be with the girl. For reasons I won’t mention here (spoilers!), this is impossible. Furthermore, he’s mistaken our heroine, Miko, for the young priestess he fell in love with, leading to lots of confusion on her part and some pretty intense jealousy from Kagura. The fox story is sweet and tragic and just the kind of thing guaranteed to tug my heartstrings, but the story’s real focus is on Kagura, and his slow realization that Miko’s love is more important to him and better able to sustain him than their sexual activity.

The concept is kind of trite, but the execution really works, and even the volume’s second story arc—involving Kagura’s relentless pursuit of a promised “lovey-dovey day”—is able to continue along these lines without becoming tiresome or creepy. I have to say, it’s kind of a strange treat to be able to read some seriously trashy shoujo that doesn’t make my skin crawl. And even when it possibly should, Shinjo’s artwork is so adorable and her humor so charming, she’s able to keep things just light and airy enough to avoid giving offense.

MICHELLE: That is an adorable fox! Especially the one semi-flattened ear.

This does sound fairly promising for a Mayu Shinjo title, but the question I’m left with is… does Kagura’s realization regarding love in any way dissuade him from sexing up Miko during her dreams? It’s not that she isn’t a fully willing participant, but not remembering it was seriously troubling her in the first volume, if I recall rightly.

MJ: Actually, it does. It’s interesting how Shinjo manages to pull it all off, too. Since Kagura’s an incubus, his character would fall apart were he to become any less, er, sexually driven. But she’s managed to awaken Kagura to some ideas about love and respect that don’t feel incongruous with his need for female attention. She’s just shifted things slightly towards emotional gratification rather than only physical gratification, and it somehow works. Also, I’m impressed by her ability to make the fox-ears bit genuinely funny. I feel like my dislike for Ai Ore! has caused me to deny her the credit she’s due as a romantic comedy writer. It’s nice to be proven wrong.

So, we have a mutual read to share this week as well. Wanna hit us with an introduction?

MICHELLE: Sure!

Barrage is a quite recent Shonen Jump series that is making its English-language debut next Tuesday. This two-volume series is the story of “spunky slum kid” Astro who ends up taking the place of spoiled Prince Barrage, who flees his duty to protect Planet Industria from hordes of invading aliens and is promptly dispatched by an assassin. Astro’s primary motivation in accepting the dangerous task is to provide a home for the gaggle of abandoned kids that he’s been caring for, but when he ventures out of the relatively peaceful capital and discovers that losing one’s family is routine for people in more war-torn parts of the planet, he realizes that it’s up to him to protect them. (I should mention here that Astro can wield a special royal weapon, the orgue, and that he’s being accompanied on his journey by Tiamat, a military officer who’ll teach him how to fight.)

All of this may sound rather generic, but there are some things about the story that set it apart. For one thing, Astro spends hardly any time pretending to be Barrage, and comes clean to the king almost immediately. For another, though he is brave and has this swanky weapon, he’s still just a kid who needs instruction. There were several spots in the story that made me giggle and only a couple that made me snerk. Despite its teen rating (probably due to the violence), this reads like a kid-centric tale, and so you get bad guys making proclamations like, “I am an elite spy from Planet Assassinia!” How stealthy!

MJ: It is generic, certainly, but I think what makes that okay is that it doesn’t try to pretend it’s not. Instead of trying to make all of its well-worn plot points seem like something new, author Kouhei Horikoshi really embraces the story’s comfy familiarity and just works to make that as much fun as possible. I may never get the sense that Astro is in real danger and it’s difficult to imagine that anything truly surprising will ever happen (though, as you say, having Astro come clean so early on was a nice touch), but the truth is, I’m having too good a time to care.

Despite the fact that he’s saddled with some pretty heavy-handed messages about responsibility and family, Astro is a genuinely lovable hero, who manages to be headstrong and impulsive without the strong resistance to authority or even to asking for help that so often goes along with that—perhaps another indication that it’s a kid-centric title. He’s unwilling to give in to calls to duty when families are on the line, but he’s also willing (and even eager) to please his planet’s King and to take instruction in combat from Tiamat—a far more experienced fighter than he. Conversely, he doesn’t have any of the prickly pride that shounen heroes often display, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s easy to control, as his devotion to the concept of “family” comes before all else. It’s an interesting combination, really, and feels oddly refreshing.

Also, I kind of adore Tiamat. He’s pretty kick-ass, but vulnerable at the same time—a killer combination for me.

MICHELLE: You’ll have to imagine me sitting over here nodding, ‘cos I was doing a fair amount of it. I especially like your comments regarding Astro and how he differs from the typical shounen hero. Some of the same good qualities, some of the same bad (or at least impulsive) ones, but personal hangups all his own. I’m really interested to see how the series wraps up in the second volume, and I also wonder whether it was intended to be this short or if it was a casualty of one of those popularity contests we see all the time in Bakuman.

MJ: Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. I hope it at least got a decent wrap-up, either way. And I’ll certainly be looking forward to whatever’s next from this artist.

Manga the Week of 3/6

February 28, 2013 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith 3 Comments

SEAN: Ah, the first week of the month, the only week I never have to worry about things to talk about. And sure enough, there is a LOT coming out. Let’s discuss:

Dark Horse has two titles that aren’t Gantz or Evangelion, an achievement in itself. Including the debut of a new series, Blood-C. Which is yet another CLAMP franchise designed to promote an anime, made in conjunction with Production I.G. It’s a girl by day, monster slayer by night sort of story, and I believe gets quite dark. The artist did the Bandai manga version of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

ANNA: I feel like as a long-time CLAMP fan I should be more interested in this, but this is just reminding me that I need to get that 4th Cardcaptor Sakura omnibus.

MJ: I find I’m never really interested in these anime-related projects of theirs. But the new omnibus of Tokyo Babylon comes out soon, so I’ll be able to rave then.

SEAN: And for those who liked the Evangelion doujinshi anthology, there’s one coming out for Trigun called Multiple Bullets. Given Trigun has an actual creator,. this is a little more serious than the other types we’ve seen, and includes a 2-chapter story by Nightow he wrote for the movie premiere.

Kodansha has the 6th Negima omnibus. The translation had been fixed by this point, and it has no extra content, so it’s really just for anyone who didn’t get it the first time and is annoyed that it’s not available digitally yet.

Seven Seas may not be listed on Midtown, but my shop is getting in at least one of their titles (and, I conclude from incomplete data, the other one as well). Cheshire Cat Waltz has been sort of a middling Alice in the Country of ______ title, being neither as annoying as the Twins one nor as intriguing as the main narrative or the Joker series. But it’s decent enough, and Boris is one of the less insane people in it.

ANNA: I read the first volume of Cheshire Cat Waltz and wasn’t compelled to try other volumes, but I’m finding Joker much more interesting.

MICHELLE: I didn’t hate Cheshire, but Joker is definitely superior. I’d like to forget that I ever read the Twins one.

SEAN: There’s also Volume 2 of Mayo Chiki, for those who want it.

Vertical has the 3rd volume of Heroman, which is Stan Lee! How can you not like a Stan Lee! manga? (Best not answer that, la la la…)

MJ: I wish I could like this, for Vertical’s sake. But. Yeah.

SEAN: And, of course, there is a giant pile of Viz. Bakuman is still rumbling along towards its finish, and Vol. 18 will no doubt have lots of Jump drama, long stretches of dialogue, and annoying casual sexism.

MJ: I can’t help it, I’m hooked!

MICHELLE: I’m really behind, but I’ll catch up one of these days!

SEAN: Barrage is the first of Viz’s Shonen Jump Alpha premieres, where the Western World learns just what happens to 3/4 of all Jump manga every year – they go 2-3 volumes and then stop. And no, the popularity here has nothing to do with it. But given Viz is mostly avoiding longer Jump series right now, Barrage is a good short investment. It has the good old fashioned “posing as the prince” storyline, and is already half over!

ANNA: I’m reading this in preparation for a full review and am enjoying it a bunch. Actually I wish more shorter shonen series were released here, so I could get quick hits of shonen manga as opposed to committing to a very long series.

MJ: I’m really looking forward to this! Michelle and I will be covering it soon for Off the Shelf, and I’m feeling kinda eager.

MICHELLE: I wasn’t especially eager ’til I read Anna’s comment, but now I am! :)

SEAN: Ai Ore is over, but don’t worry, Mayu Shinjo’s series live on. I find my enjoyment of Shinjo depends on how much she humiliates her hero, so greatly enjoyed Vol. 1 of Demon Love Spell. Not sure how long that will last with Vol. 2…

ANNA: Demon Love Spell is fab! I also enjoyed the first volume very much!

MJ: I did too! Shockingly so!

MICHELLE: I liked it okay. Didn’t I read somewhere that Ai Ore! is not considered officially over, though? If it really is, I might have to do a cartwheel.

SEAN: Yeah, sorry, “End of Part One.”

I honestly keep forgetting that Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden is still running, given that its author is famous enough that her publishing schedule for it is “whenever”. But hey, here’s a new volume.

ANNA: For me, new volumes of Genbu Kaiden are always an excuse for a celebration. I love this series.

MJ: I completely agree, Anna. This series is such a treat anytime it turns up.

MICHELLE: Forsooth. Genbu Kaiden is great, but I feel bad that every time I read it or talk about it I always want to add “I hope she writes Byakko Kaiden next!”

SEAN: One Piece is almost at the 2/3 mark in its quest for 100 volumes! And best of all, Vol. 66 finally wraps up Fishman Island and starts a new arc! Halle-freaking-llujah! Of course, even the poor One Piece arcs are miles better than most shonen.

MICHELLE: I fell behind on One Piece, too, but am determined to get caught up and do a brief of volume 66 in the near future.

SEAN: Oresama Teacher remains one of my favorite comedies that Viz is putting out, and Vol. 13 features everyone’s favorite superhero, SUPER BUN, on the cover. What more could one ask for?

ANNA: Indeed. I only hope there are some pigeon note-passing antics in this volume as well.

MICHELLE: Pigeon note-passing antics?! Did this occur recently? I haven’t read volume twelve yet… did I miss cute pigeon-y goodness?

SEAN: There is Pokemon Adventures Vol. 15, apparently a 2nd edition of same. I don’t follow Pokemon at all, but know that it brings in piles of cash. In my headcanon, this and Yu-Gi-Oh are paying for the end of Excel Saga.

Psyren starts its second half with Vol. 9, which features more battles, more teamwork, more psionic powers… in other words, a lot more Jump. Not sure anyone’s head will explode, though. “Nooooooo!” BOOOOOM! (See, Even A Monkey Can Draw Manga’s influence is still felt today…)

MICHELLE: Here’s another shounen series I like that I’ve fallen behind on. (That makes three this column!) There just aren’t enough hours in the day to read everything I’d like to read.

SEAN: Rosario + Vampire Season II hits Vol. 11, which must be very confusing if you mix up the Arabic and roman numerals…

Skip Beat’s 3-in-1s return by popular demand! Vol. 4 has the original 10-12, which if I recall is right in the middle of the Dark Moon shoot.

MICHELLE: Yay, Skip Beat!

SEAN: Strobe Edge has a 3rd volume. Having introduced the rival girl, and then done a side story that really showed she’s not a villain at all, I’m interested to see where the series takes this.

ANNA: This seems like a nice conventional shojo series. Nothing wrong with that at all.

MJ: I’m a lot more interested in this series than I thought I would be when I started it, so this is a happy thing.

MICHELLE: I like it quite a lot. It might be taking a conventional route, but it’s not being lazy about it, which I appreciate.

SEAN: And Vampire Knight has Vol. 16. The series was just announced as coming to a close, so I assume there’s only one or two volumes left to go. In any case, I plan to be riveted yet hopelessly confused, as always when I read Vampire Knight.

MICHELLE: Oh, I hadn’t heard that news! Perhaps I’ll just hold on for the final volumes to come out here and then read it all in a chunk; probably things will make a lot more sense that way. Maybe.

SEAN: That’s a lot of manga. What are you getting?

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

February 28, 2013 by Michelle Smith

Book description:
It was a senselessly violent crime: on a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. And as if this didn’t present enough problems for the Ystad police Inspector Kurt Wallander, the dying woman’s last word is “foreign,” leaving the police the one tangible clue they have—and in the process, the match that could inflame Sweden’s already smoldering anti-immigrant sentiments.

Unlike the situation with his ex-wife, his estranged daughter, or the beautiful but married young prosecuter who has piqued his interest, in this case, Wallander finds a problem he can handle. He quickly becomes obsessed with solving the crime before the already tense situation explodes, but soon comes to realize that it will require all his reserves of energy and dedication to solve.

Review:
I reckon that most people would think, quite reasonably, that a mystery with a name like Faceless Killers would be riveting. Unfortunately, those people would be wrong.

I’d been aware of the acclaim that some Scandinavian crime fiction has garnered in recent years, and the Wallander series seemed the most visible—not saying it’s the best of the lot, but there is that Kenneth Branagh series on the BBC—so I decided to start there, and with the first book in the series.

It’s January 1990 when a seventy-year-old man wakes in the night, sure he’s heard something amiss at his neighbor’s house. He’s right—the couple inside has been brutally murdered, and the wife’s dying words (as well as one particular detail about the crime) suggest involvement by one or more of the many foreign refugees flooding into Sweden. Wallander and his team investigate.

I like to think I could’ve pegged this for a first book in a series even if I hadn’t known. There’s just so much to give that away. Wallander has a set of stereotypical “detective issues,” for one, including a drinking problem, an estranged wife and daughter, a crazy parent, and a thoroughly random obsession for opera. (Perhaps the specificity of “opera” isn’t quite a stereotype, but I have definitely encountered several detectives who randomly groove to classical music while on the job.) The vast majority of the policemen in the background are utterly indistinguishable from one another, with the exception of one guy who might not be around in subsequent installments. Wallander’s personal issues miraculously resolve themselves off-camera in a fast-forward that happens towards the end of the book. Occasionally, characters engage in pointless debates/rants about immigration policy. And after much plodding around, the case is ultimately solved thanks to the conveniently (and implausibly) amazing memory of one witness.

It took me ages to get through the first half of the book, but things did pick up a little bit towards the end. Wallander’s transformation into someone more positive doesn’t feel earned, as it mostly happens during that fast-forwarded period, but it does make him a character that I’d have more interest in revisiting. Until the point he got over the wife and made up with the daughter and father, I was pretty sure I would not be coming back, but if he can shed at least some of the clichéd personal baggage, there may be hope.

Bookshelf Briefs 2/25/13

February 25, 2013 by Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

This week, Sean and Michelle look at recent releases from Seven Seas, Yen Press, and VIZ Media.

Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game, Vol. 1 | By QuinRose and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas- It occurs to me that I’ve started several of the post-Country of Hearts series in this franchise, but haven’t yet made it to the second volume of any of them. It’s not that they’re bad, there’s just nothing about them that really compels me to continue. For the most part, the same can be said about Country of Joker. There are some things I definitely like, especially ominous hintings about both the past and the future, but this volume feels mostly like recap and exposition all at once, and so despite having much more at stake than Alice’s romantic prospects, it ends up being a little dull. Still, if there were any sequel/spinoff I’d be likely to continue, I reckon this is the one. – Michelle Smith

A Devil And Her Love Song, Vol. 7 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – And so, for the moment, the Anna arc is over. And it’s as emotional as I expected, with Anna finally getting through to Maria that her sort of help is only making things worse, even if it’s with the best intentions. Anna has to do this herself, and can’t, so seeing Maria and her circle of friends is a fresh wound every day. In addition, the author has perhaps realized that Maria/Shin is becoming a bit too obvious as the endgame, so Yusuke gets a whole lot of face time here, confronting Maria about how she deals with things in ways that Shin doesn’t or won’t. And at the back of the plot is still Maria’s late mother, who appears to us in a nightmare that Maria’s having pretty much all the time. Also, no evil teacher this time, but we do get a new creepy adult to balance it out. Never has “technique” sounded so forbidding. Highly recommended.-Sean Gaffney

Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden, Vol. 11 | By Yuu Watase | VIZ Media – I’m so glad I finally got caught up with this series last October. Now I can enjoy the final volumes along with everyone else! Volume eleven is the penultimate volume in the series, which means that a ton of very important stuff happens. The revelation of truths, or of someone’s true intentions. The willingness of some to sacrifice themselves for the good of others. The feeling amongst your friends that, with all this heavy responsibility, you and the one you love deserve some stolen moments of happiness. It is perhaps a trifle rushed—we barely spend any pages with the final Celestial Warrior before he’s handing Takiko the scroll and they’re preparing to summon Genbu—but the feeling that we’re being carried along to something truly tragic and climactic makes up for it. Highly recommended. Michelle Smith

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 2 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – This continues to be the most interesting of Seven Seas’ recent moe pickups, though it also continues to suffer from the same problems – you feel somewhat dirty reading it. This is not helped by the addition of Kodaka’s younger sister Kobato, who is as screwed up in the head as the rest of the cast. That said, the fact that they apparently aren’t incestual feelings here speaks volumes. The manga is going to play around with horrible moe and sexual tropes, but is not going to take that extra step into horrible. (It comes damn close, though.) This means that you’re allowed to get some character development and (gasp!) sweet scenes, particularly between Kodaka and Sena. I’ll pick up Vol. 3, and am interested in seeing what happens next. Still feel uncomfortable recommending it beyond otaku.-Sean Gaffney

The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi | By Various Artists | Yen Press – Unlike the Evangelion doujinshi anthology that was released the same week as this, the authors herein are not all that well-known, beyond “see who we can grab at the Kadokawa offices”. Unfortunately, despite having a variety of artists and styles, there’s a somewhat exhausting similarity between the comics. They’re clearly meant to appeal to a more female-oriented audience than Haruhi generally tries to attract, with lots of BL tease (but no delivery). The characterization is also at its baseline to drive the gag humor, meaning that the Haruhi we see here is the default Vol. 1 girl with no character development. There are a few cute gags here, but for the most part I’d recommend this only to the most hardcore Haruhi fans who must possess everything, or to BL fans who likewise must possess everything.-Sean Gaffney

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 13 | By Hiroshi Hiibashi | VIZ Media – I’m getting rather weary of this Kyoto arc (has anyone done a list of which manga/anime series have “Kyoto arcs” in some way?), and I admit that the parts I found the most interesting were the darkest ones. The ongoing butchering of young innocents for their livers (is it implied that the TV reporter is added to that stack?), the tragic backstory of Aotabo, who became a yokai in order to protect those he loved (yokai who enjoy being evil are not the sort of yokai that Rikuo tolerates), and Yuki-Onna considering killing herself so that she won’t be “bait”. Oh yes, and some blatant Rikuo/Yuki-Onna ship tease (Kana who?). The rest of this volume is showing Rikuo that his power is all about the feelings of his friends/underlings, which we already knew, because this is Shonen Jump, and that’s how it works.-Sean Gaffney