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Manga Reviews

Knight of the Ice, Vol 1

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Knight of the Ice Volume 1 by Yayoi Ogawa

I think Tramps Like Us (Kimi Wa Pet) started coming out here in the mid 2000s, and 15+ years is a long time to wait between Yayoi Ogawa series. Fortunately for anyone in the need of sports-based josei distraction in these trying times, Knight of the Ice serves up plenty of Ogawa’s off-kilter humor along with workplace romance hijinks. The heroine of this story is Chitose, who works at a magazine. She’s so incredibly tiny that she’s sometimes mistaken for a child, which causes her some problems in the workplace.

Knight of the Ice

Chitose’s childhood friend Kokoro is a champion figure skater, who is able to keep up his flawless facade on the ice only when Chitose is present to cast a magical girl spell on him by quoting the anime they were both obsessed with as children. Having to suddenly disappear right around ice skating championships also causes problems when Chitose has to duck out of work without any clear explanations. Her boss Sawada keeps making references to her tiny size by giving her a nickname that references the Moomins, but he also seems to be a little more aware of Chitose as a woman than he should be. The set-up of a figure skater with severe performance anxiety is funny by itself, but Ogawa also adds additional humor with Kokoro’s domanatrix-like manager, and the occasional appearance of “Yayoi Ogawa”, an old school friend of Chitose who occasionally appears to offer commentary and life advice. Ogawa’s art is distinctive and energetic, capturing Kokoro’s graceful poses along with plenty of emotional outbursts and quieter moments of romantic confusion. Ogawa does a good job slowly setting up the potential love triangle between Chitose, Sawada, and Kokoro. Her quirky sensibilities make this first volume extremely engaging. I’m on board for this whole series!

Love Me, Love Me Not, Vol 1

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Love Me, Love Me Not, Volume 1 by Io Sakisaka

Strobe Edge was good, and Ao Haru Ride is a special series, so I was very excited when I saw that another Io Sakisaka series was going to be put out under the Shojo Beat imprint. Sakisaka changes things up a little bit by focusing just as much on female friendship as romance. Yuna is a girl who loves reading shoujo manga. She’s a bit shy and not very confident, but she’s quietly very nice. She meets the more outspoken Akari when she asks Yuna for train fare. Yuna also encounters a mysterious, but somewhat crass boy who resembles her long-dreamed of storybook prince. Akari and Yuna bond when they realize that they are both living in the same apartment building and attending the same high school. Yuna shares her romantic dreams, and Akari counters with her much more pragmatic approach of going out and meeting people instead of quietly waiting for a destined love to show up. Akari is surprised when Kazuomi drops by – he’s Yuna’s childhood friend and Yuna’s shyness disappears when she talks to him because she thinks of him like a brother.

Love Me Love Me Not

The characters are all introduced in a series of slice of live scenes that feel very naturalistic. They run into each other on the sidewalk, in convenience stores, walking to and from school, and visiting outside their part-time jobs. As Yuna gets to know Akari better she discovers that her fabled prince is named Rio, and he’s actually Akari’s brother! Akari is concerned about what would happen if Yuna gives in to her crush, because Rio is a bit of a player and is constantly turning down confessions of love from girls. Akari concludes that Yuna should get together with Kazuomi, but she also finds his forthright ways attractive. There’s a not super surprising twist at the end that sends Love Me, Love Me Not firmly into Marmalade Boy territory. This first volume does a great job setting up four sympathetic characters who are all equally engaging despite having very different personalities. Yuna might spend a great deal of time averting her eyes and blushing, but she is willing to push herself to stand up for Akari when some false rumors start going around. Akari is outspoken and always strategizing about what to do when it comes to her friends, but not always great at sharing her own feelings. While Rio is treated in a certain way due to his looks, it is easy to see from his body language and facial expressions, that he’s also burdened by girls developing crushes on him without even taking the time to talk to him. Kazuomi has an open personality, combined with the ability to occasionally come out with pronouncements about life and relationships that make him seem irresistibly cool.

Sakisaka does a great job setting up a new series in the first volume of Love Me, Love Me Not. I like the idea of a shoujo series that will focus just as much on female friendship as it does on romance, and will be eagerly waiting to see how this tangled web of potential teen romance develops in future volumes.

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol 5

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Daytime Shooting Star, Volume 5 by Mika Yamamori

As the student/teacher romance in Daytime Shooting Star progresses I find myself thinking, “Oh, that’s cute” and “Stop being so inappropriate Shishio!” very often and simultaneously. Most of this volume is taken up with the old shoujo staple of a school festival. It is the perfect opportunity to shake things up as teens run cafes, put on plays, and engage in high stakes emotions. Mamura in particular is popular as a mostly silent butler at the cafe. Suzume does her best to serve coffee but she’s flustered when Mr. Shishio shows up and sits in her section, accompanied by her uncle. Mamura is in full protective mode, making a comment to Shishio that “A teacher has no business seducing his students” before being distracted by his own family showing up at school. Mr. Shishio confronts Mamura later on, and when Mamura acts cold to Suzume afterwards, she gets annoyed. While all the drama is happening in the cafe, Nekota has to pull herself together to be Juliet after being rejected by Mamura. Her Romeo is the popular and seemingly superficial Togyu, but he’s actually surprisingly insightful.

Suzume is somewhat oblivious to all the drama surrounding her, but she’s feeling awkward about going to see Nekota’s play solo. Shishio shows up in a mascot costume so he can take her to watch the play which is somewhat endearing but also a little creepy. After putting on the brakes for so long, Shishio admits that he has feelings for Suzume, and she’s absolutely stunned. The rest of the volume deals with the aftermath of the emotional revelations from the school festival, as Nekota tries to move on and Suzume decides to work part time in her uncle’s cafe in order to save up to buy Shishio a birthday present. Showing characters navigating through daily life while dealing with plenty of emotions is one of the things that Daytime Shooting Star is good at, along with the consistently stylish art. We aren’t quite halfway through the series yet, but I’m firmly on team Mamura now. Go Mamura! I’m still enjoying this series, mainly because Suzume and Nekota are so oddly sympathetic, but reading it is also balanced out with the tension that comes with reading a romance manga that is going all in on an inappropriate relationship, making me wonder when all the quasi-romance is going to cause some severe negative consequences for all the characters.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 22

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 22 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Volume 22 of Yona of the Dawn follows the tried and true formula of contrasting a hilarious chapter with a deep dive into introspection. The volume opens as Riri is recovering from her and Yona’s latest adventure. Su-Won goes to visit her and it is clear that some of the people that surround them are interested in pushing them together for various geopolitical reasons. However, Riri’s a bit dispassionate at being told to act dignified in front of the king, and Su-Won continues to find her frank mannerisms amusing. I hope for better for Riri than Su-Won though! In a hilarious scene Riri reveals the depth of her crush as General Geum-Tae enters her room. She immediately starts blushing and acting like a shy maiden. In the aftermath, plenty of people inform Riri that Geum-Tae is happily marries, and she’s very well aware, she’s just happy to enjoy her crush. Seeing Riri freak out about how cool Geum-Tae is in front of Su-Won was hilarious.

Yona of the Dawn

The reader gets a rare look into Hak’s mind as he struggles with the idea of returning Yona’s misplaced belongings to her, including the hairpin that Su-Won gave her right before he murdered her father. Hak reflects on their past friendship, and Su-Won’s betrayal. He thinks about his own emotions and how Su-Won didn’t seem to care about the pain he was inflicting on other people. The bulk of this volume deals with an adventure to a new land, as people from Xing pop up to ask if Yona and her companions are the “monsters from Kokha.” Yona meets another new female friend when she spends time with Tao, the younger princess of Xing, but she also learns about the extent of political destabilization that is following from Su-Won’s wars, as Xing might be split between two factions. Tao asks Yona’s advice about what to do with Su-Won, and Yona remains awkwardly silent, realizing that bringing her own feelings and opinions into someone else’s political calculations might not be in the best interest of Xing. This volume bridges two story arcs very effectively, with a little bit of comic relief, a glimpse of the emotional toll the journey has taken on Hak, and the introduction of a new land that hopefully Yona will be able to help.

Given, Vol. 1

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Given Volume 1 by Natsuki Kizu

Even before I read this manga, I remember scrolling past something on twitter and seeing the cover. Who is the mildly cranky guitarist? What’s up with the diffident dude with the red guitar? Has there been yaoi manga translated here featuring a rock band since Gravitation? I have no idea, but I was more than ready to check out this series.

Uneoyama is a cranky high school student and guitar player who is quite irked to see another boy passed out holding a guitar in his favorite sleeping spot. Uneoyama is perturbed that the guy is clutching a Gibson with rusted out strings, but the mysterious boy says “Can this be fixed?” with a look of desperation on his face. Uneoyama quickly tunes the guitar, strums a cord, and is promptly asked for guitar lessons. Uneoyama isn’t sure how to teach an absolute novice the guitar, but his newfound companion tags along to band practice and introduces himself as Mafuyu Sato. Mafuyu meets bassist Haruki and drummer Kaji, and continues to be relentless about asking Uneoyama for guitar lessons.

Given

Throughout most of this first volume, Mafuyu is presented as an innocent enigma, but as Uneo gets to know him he begins to discover that Mafuyu’s emotional attachment to the Gibson he can’t play is rooted in a tragic event from his past. Uneoyama’s jaded attitude towards music is gradually changed by Mafuyu’s enthusiasm and he begins to think about his mysterious new friend more and more. Given perfectly executes the “I’m mad at you because you are so pretty” trope that is so enjoyable when done well. The scenes of the band playing music are dynamic, and Uneoyama’s growing feelings are built up in a subtle way even though he’s not yet ready to be honest with himself. Haruki and Kaji also have some cute scenes together, and as older band members spend a bit of time being amused at Uneoyama actually feeling off-kilter due to the fact that he is finally emotionally invested in something. Kizu’s character designs are all distinct and stylish, and I enjoyed the bonus illustrations of all the major characters that showed sketches of facial expressions as well as vital statistics. This was an extremely promising first volume, and I’m expecting this series will continue to entertain with a winning combination of slow burn romance and music.

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 8

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Ao Haru Ride, Volume 8 by Ao Sakisaka

Ao Haru Ride continues to provide a unique shoujo story by combining teen romance against a backdrop of grief. Kou continues to think he can fix the world by taking on the responsibility of being sole friend/psychotherapist/boyfriend to his old classmate Yui, but Futuba may finally be ready to move on.

Ao Haru Ride 8

As the volume opens Futuba tells Kou that she likes him, in full expectation that she’s going to be rejected. She wants to get everything out in the open so she can attempt to move on. Kou’s words are carefully chosen, he says “I can’t go out with you” and Futuba smiles and says “That feels like closure.” Her smiling face interrupts a sequence of panels where Kou’s expressionless face is shadowed, pointing to the facade he’s wearing to hide his feelings. Futuba walks away and when Kou’s phone rings (presumably a call from Yui), he smashes it. While Futuba has vowed to move on, she can’t resist trying to make Kou feel a bit of regret, and she decides that she’ll act more feminine and further distance herself from the tomboy persona that she used to assume. She wonders “Is everyone else pretending to be the person they want to be?” Toma seizes his chance and tells Futuba that he likes her just as she is. She isn’t quite sure how to respond, but Toma tells her that he’ll wait and see what she thinks after she gets a chance to know him.

Futuba accidentally runs into Kou at school and he’s back to his usual harsh comments telling her that her attempts to be more feminine totally don’t work for her. Futuba’s introspection makes her both relatable and endearing, as she comments to her friends, “Spending time thinking about a boy who didn’t pick me…is a waste of my youth!” Kou and Futuba are generally so much better together than they are apart, and the attempts to put distance between them simply don’t work. This is a solid middle volume in this series, and there’s a nice one-shot included as a bonus. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Kou decides that he’s no longer responsible for fixing the universe.

Sublime Quick Takes: Liquor and Cigarettes and Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato

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I’ve decided in the interest of clearing away some of my to-read manga stacks, I’m going to dedicate the month of February to BL and yaoi manga and do at least one extra post of mini reviews a week. I’m going to do a big giveaway at the end of the month with a selection of what I’ve read (however many manga I can fit into a flat rate priority box). So let’s take a look at some manga from SubLime.

Liquor and Cigarettes by Ranmaru Zariya

Camilo and Theo are childhood best friends who run family businesses across the street from each other in a quasi European setting. Theo sells liquor and Camilo sells cigarettes. Theo’s deep dark secret is that he’s secretly a lightweight who can’t tolerate alcohol. Camillo’s favorite hobby is propping his head in his hands and staring soulfully at Theo. When Camilo asks his lifelong friend to consider dating him, Theo isn’t sure, but he decides to throw himself into a quasi trial relationship while at the same time building up his alcohol tolerance so he can take part in a town wine festival. What follows is a series of booze and angst-filled nights as Theo struggles with his sexuality and Camilo attempts to win him over. The art is well-done and fluid, with distinct character designs. Liquor and Cigarettes is complete in one volume, and would be a good choice for yaoi fans who are wanting something short but explicit to read that also features a decent amount of character development, as both Theo and Camilo puzzle out how to take their relationship forward without the booze.

liquor and cigarettes

Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato By Scarlet Beriko

The cover for Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato shows a shocking lack of concern for basic gun safety. I can say that the cover certainly signals the content of the manga. Tatsuyuki Oyamato is an heir to a powerful yakuza family. He’s not that invested in his duties in organized crime, as he’s struggling to get over being dumped by a masseur. He ends up wandering around a city half-drunk and gets picked up by Koga Nozomi, a kindergarten teacher who recognizes Tatsuyuki from an incident in their past that Tatsuyuki has no memory of. A local mafia boss named Rogi is determined to make both Tasuyuki and Nozomi miserable, and his daughter attends the kindergarten where Nozomi works. One of the reasons why I tend to be only an occasional yaoi reader is that I don’t care for reading much about non-consensual sex. Rogi decides to hatch an elaborate blackmail scheme that involves sexual torture, and that wasn’t appealing to me as a reader. Trauma in general gets a pass in this manga, and Nozomi’s semi obsessive tendencies towards Tatsuyuki get mention and then glossed over. Beriko’s art is great, and Nozomi is appropriately adorable, but in the end, this was not a manga that inspired enthusiasm for me as a reader. While there is a happy ending of sorts, I do hope that the yakuza have a good mental health provider.

Fourth Generation Head

Shortcake Cake, Vol 7

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Shortcake Cake Volume 7 by suu Morishita

As I was picking up this volume of Shortcake Cake, I started thinking about how genuinely fond of many of the current Shojo Beat titles. It is quite an accomplishment to develop a line of manga that inspires the feeling that you are seeing a friend again when you get a new volume of a series in your hands, but so many of the current Shojo Beat lineup invoke that feeling for me. Shortcake Cake continues to explore the classic romantic tradition of a love triangle (or possibly quadrangle) as Ten now realizes that she has feelings for Riku after she originally rejected him. In a great scene that takes full advantage of the iconic setting of stairs leading up to a shrine, Riku asks Ten if she likes him, and after a few beats of silence and slightly shifting facial expressions, Ten breaks the tension by balling up her fists and punching herself on either side of her face. Riku grabs her wrists to ask what she’s doing, and she blurts out “I like you.” Morishita’s cinematic approach to paneling switches from character to character, incorporating silent reaction shots coupled with blushes and awkward glances that makes this love confession iconic.

shortcake cake 7

One of the things I like about this series is the way it switches easily between emotional scenes and more comedic aspects of teenage life. Ten continues her confession by saying that she hopes she can make Riku like her back, and asks him to give her some time to win his affection. He says he’ll wait, and Ten thinks that she needs to make up for how she made Riku feel in the past. Ten decides that she’s going to actually attempt to be feminine, and what follows is a crash course in skin care and makeup application from Ageha. Ten also attempts to mirror Riku’s body language to deepen their connection in a hilarious scene. While Ten flits around trying out random advice from friends, Riku seems fairly patient and low key, except when he has to deal with an attempt to clear the air from Chiaki. In settings that recall the places where they’ve spoken in the past, Ten and Riku are open with their feelings and embark on an actual relationship.

With the way this series is developing, I’m not expecting the love confessions in this volume to be the last ones, which is a good thing because Morishita executes them so well. It is pretty adorable seeing Ten and Riku together and on the same page, but I’m very curious to see what happens when Rei figures out what is going on. Rei is largely absent from this volume, except for a single vignette after the main story, so I’m expecting him to show up soon. Shortcake Cake presents teen romance with a depth and emotional resonance that sets it apart from many other series. I’m still unsure who Ten is going to end up with, and that continues to keep me intrigued as a reader.

Jujutsu Kaisen, Vol. 1

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Jujutsu Kaisen Volume 1 by Gege Akutami

Fending off supernatural threats is a shonen staple, so how does Jujutsu Kaisen stack up? It very much felt like an early effort from a mangaka, which it is, but the first volume has a few flashes of humor and a central premise that is both disgusting and entertaining.

jujutsu kaisen volume 1

Yuji Itadori is a teenager who enjoys hanging out with the occult club despite his superhuman strength and speed. He’s being targeted for his athletic abilities by the track coach, but manages to maintain his new supernatural hobby by winning a bet about his shot put abilities. Megumi Fushiguro, a student from another school with actual occult abilities, is investigating the presence of a cursed object when he encounters Yuji and his new friends. It turns out that the occult club has gotten their hands on an artifact that is actually quite cursed, and Yuji and Megumi have to team up to save his friends from demonic destruction. Along the way, Yuji casually eats a demonic finger in order to get cursed energy to fend off the evil spirits. This ends up giving Yuji a semi-manageable case of spirit possession, but also makes him useful to demon hunters because he’s basically a walking container for cursed objects, as long as he eats them. There’s a particular demon who is the source of the cursed digits, and Yuji is going to join a team hunting down the relics of the evil Sakuna.

The art throughout this volume is serviceable but a bit rough, there’s little mobility in the characters’ facial expressions and while the action scenes are easy to follow they’d be a lot more entertaining with some shifts in perspective or more dynamic paneling. I’m curious to see if the art improves more as the series continues to develop. The demons do look appropriately freaky and scary.

Yuji’s motivations for fighting demons are introduced with a lack of subtly. Then again, I guess one does not expect delicately and subtle plot points from a Shonen Jump manga. There were a few moments that I thought were hilarious enough to be engaging. When Yuji is figuring out how many digits he is going to have to consume, the total number is high due to a surprising reason which is tossed off in casual conversation. I also enjoyed Yuji’s low-key approach to performing dramatic physical feats. The end of the volume sets up the new occult fighting team and their sparsely populated high school that has a curriculum dedicated to fighting evil, and it’ll be interesting to see how that develops. Ultimately this first volume reminded me that sometimes one has to give a manga two volumes before deciding to follow a series or not, and that is what I’ll be doing with Jujutsu Kaisen.

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 4

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Daytime Shooting Star Volume 4 by Mika Yamamori

This volume of Daytime Shooting Star is focused on summer vacation. I really like the way the matte cover sets off the powdery pink blossoms used in the cover illustration for this volume. I’m so curious as to how this student-teacher romance manga will conclude, I’m guessing a giant time skip picking up with the high school characters post-college graduation. The volume opens as Suzume uses her intense knowledge of fish and extra cash to help out a strange but somewhat familiar man in the grocery store who has difficulty both shopping for seafood and remembering his wallet. When she drops by his house to get repaid for his groceries, she realizes that he’s Mamura’s father! Suzume gets a glimpse of Mamura’s very loud little brother, and she and Mamura are able to talk to each other again like friends.

Tsubomi ends up blowing out of town leaving a tornado of emotional devastation in her wake, as she seems to think it is appropriate to leave a note for her ex-boyfriend Shishio with the teenage girl who has a crush on him. Susume can’t resist the impulse to deliver it, and when she meets Shishio again, they decide to go on a group outing with her classmates to the aquarium, since Tsubomi enclosed an aquarium gift certificate. Of course, the day of the outing no-one else shows up, so the student and teacher are on a full-on solo date where Suzume gets to indulge in all the fish trivia questions she has ever dreamed of. Shishio continues to be fairly inappropriate but not doing anything physical beyond resting his head on Suzume’s shoulder. Even though he rejected Suzume’s love confession, it is clear that he’s still looking out for Suzume at school and in general acting protective and awkward at various moments. Suzume sees all this happening and becomes confused yet again. Fortunately there’s the school festival coming up that will provide a welcome distraction from all these romantic foibles, or amp everything up even more?

I continue to enjoy Yamamori’s stylish character designs. Suzume’s moments of introspection and insight as she’s attempting to get a handle on the world around her keeps Daytime Shooting Star interesting. It is easy to see how she’ll eventually grow up to be a formidable adult.

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 2

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An Incurable Case of Love, Volume 2 by Maki Enjoji

As with most romance manga I was totally expecting an additional antagonist to show up to further complicate the non-relationship between Dr. Tendo and nurse Nanase. Dr Kusagi is unfailingly smiling, with a focus on his outward demeanor that seems suspicious. Kusagi quickly keys in to the budding relationship between Nanase and Tendo and attempts to subvert it by plying Nanase with alcohol, even though after an earlier outburst and piggybacking episode with Dr Tendo, she is determined to cut down on her consumption.

Tendo immediately starts acting irrationally territorial, and if you enjoy grouchy and withholding heroes, this manga has plenty of scenes of Tendo attempting to object to things and then realizing that he has little standing to interfere in Nanase’s life. This doesn’t stop him though!

While the story is developing with a very familiar formula, Enjoji is executing it extremely well, with little touches that make the series unique. I continue to be amused by the workplace culture at the hospital, and the gang of nurses who continue on with their nicknames of “Valiant One” for Nanase and “Dark Lord” for Tendo. Their support of this unconventional mentoring relationship developing into a friendship is mainly because no one wants to be the target of the Dark Lord’s criticism, but it all still manages to seem like a relatively supportive and friendly workplace! The hospital setting also feels a bit fresh to me after reading plenty of manga series set in offices. Enjoji doesn’t have a ton of variation in her character designs, but she does draw with great expression as Nanase struggles to deal with her romantic life and move ahead with her goals as a new nurse.

Nanase and Tendo keep getting thrown together for various reasons, and the volume closes with a take on a serious situation that can befall any woman who might be easily targeted in a helping or service profession. The main workplace romance combined with side stories dealing with more serious topics seems like a promising way for this series to develop. I’m also enjoying Nanase’s personality, she’s young but still sometimes blunt about expressing what she wants, and I’m curious about how her character will develop as she becomes more comfortable with her new profession. We might only get one josei disguised as shoujo series being released at a time from Shojo Beat, but An Incurable Case of Love fits in well with the rest of the line, and I’m enjoying it while I wait for even more josei releases.

Takane & Hana, Vols 11 and 12

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Takane & Hana, Volumes 11 and 12 by Yuki Shiwasu

Sometimes my interest tends to wane a bit at more long-running comedic series, but Takane and Hana is still going strong, even when some of the plot points tend to get repetitive. The main way this manga manages to actually get me rooting for a romance between an emotionally stunted businessman and a high school girl is the way it deliberately shies away from things progressing very far physically. As the 11th volume opens Takane and Hana are dealing with the emotional fallout from when Takane got carried away….and kissed Hana on the nose. The over-the-top angst combined with Shiwasu’s dynamic rendering of psychological turmoil makes the opening chapter extremely amusing. Things aren’t kept light for long, as Takane’s evil cousin Yakumo figures out the relationship between Takane and Hana and decides to kidnap her. I’m trying to remember if this is the second or third kidnapping in this series, but it does provide the opportunity for some impressive, action-movie heroics as Takane and Okamon attempt to rescue Hana.

takane and hana 11

Volume 12 features my favorite cover so for this series, Takane’s twisted grin combined with heart hands captures the wacky appeal of this manga. Takane is recuperating from his dramatic rescue attempt, and Hana is determined to put more distance between them again because she doesn’t want their relationship to cause issues for Takane. This is circling back to a reset of their previous relationship dynamic, where Takane is bombarding Hana with an endless stream of unsuitable gifts and she’s growing more and more frustrated. Okamon ends up enlisting himself as Hana’s beard as he prevents Takane from grabbing Hana and carrying her out of a diner by proclaiming that he and Hana just recently started going out.

takane and hana 12

Takane ends up getting relationship advice from Nicola on a speedboat, and his attempts to rehearse speaking to Hana as well as “chill out” feature the emotional anguish and hilariously tortured facial expressions that Shiwasu is so excellent at portraying. These two volumes continue doing what Takane & Hana does so well – set up over the top comedic situations combined with a core relationship that is actually very sweet.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 21

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 21 by Mizuho Kusanagi

This is the last volume of the Sei story arc, and it has plenty of action interspersed with great quiet moments where bonds between the characters are affirmed. Everyone joins together to rescue Riri, leading to some surprising alliances. One of the highlights for me was seeing Hak’s reunion with the Wind Tribe, especially his adoptive grandfather Mundok. As Zeno and Jaeha search for Yona and find her cornered in the woods by enemy soldiers, Zeno comes to the rescue by literally dropping out of the sky to defend her. Su-Won is also inspecting the area and getting a full picture of the atrocities being committed. Riri shows her strength of character by being defiant even as the evil Lord Kushibi orders her execution. The attack begins as Su-Won’s group and Yona’s companions both stage parallel rescue missions, and the old bond between Su-Won and Hak is reactivated as they are able to wordlessly communicate across the battlefield in support of a single objective.

Kusanagi’s skills with drawing action are particularly showcased in this volume, as the dynamic paneling for the action scenes ramps up the tension of the battle, with pauses that highlight the emotional stakes for everything that Yona and her friends are fighting for. I also appreciated all the battlefield banter between enemies as Hak and Guen-Tae get snarky with each other. As Kushibi realizes the full extent of his hubris, a shadow is cast over his face that mirrors the dark tones used in portraying the body count of the fight. As everyone recovers from the battle, Zeno has a hilariously off-kilter encounter with Su-Won, and Yona and Hak have a random encounter in the middle of the night that is equal parts hilarious and touching. As always, this was an extremely satisfying volume of Yona of the Dawn. It sets such a high standard, it almost seems impossible for it to keep getting better with each volume, but it does.

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 11

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The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 11 by Rei Toma

I was genuinely not sure what to expect in the final volume of The Water Dragon’s Bride. While I naturally tend to assume that a happy ending is a given in a shoujo series, this series has explored the nature of humanity through the slowly changing personality of a god. It has also been unflinching about portraying all the petty and dark aspects of human nature, especially the machinations of humans who attempt to take advantage of the divine.

Water Dragon Bride 11

In the end, the final volume of this series has an elegantly constructed ending that allows for multiple moments of closure, another opportunity to ponder the nature of immortality, and some flashbacks that add additional resonance and meaning to the previous volumes. The Water Dragon God’s power is now fading after investing power into Asahi. Before he becomes too weak and disappears, he announces that he will send her back to her world. Asahi decides that she wants to spend time enjoying regular activities like picking berries and going fishing. Asahi, Subaru, and the Water Dragon God enjoy some brief lyrical moments just doing basic human activities. Toma’s skills in paneling and illustration are shown off to great advantage throughout this final volume, as brief wordless scenes convey a depth of emotion that make dialog and description unnecessary.

As the Water Dragon God prepares his farewell, Subaru gets a chance to be heroic yet again, looking out for Asahi and her future in a way that she might not immediately appreciate. Themes of longing and loss are explored as The Water Dragon God moves into a new plane of existence and Asahi integrates back into the life that she’s left behind twice. Overall, this was a tremendously affecting series, with a mystical and elegiac quality that sets it apart from other fantasy shoujo that I’ve read. I hope more of Toma’s manga makes it over here.

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol 3

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Daytime Shooting Star by Mika Yamomori

I’m still enjoying this manga that focuses on the subgenre of teacher-student romance, even though I think the teacher in question has terrible boundaries and the only way for this story to end happily is for Suzume to actually date someone her own age. Perhaps an elaborate time jump where Suzume and Mr. Shishio get together after she has completed college and done a stint in the Peace Corps would also work.

Daytime Shooting Star 3

I was trying to pinpoint why I like this series so much when other Shojo Beat series are more seriously tackling the nature of grief (Ao Haru Ride) or delving into teenage introspection while juggling a love triangle (Shortcake Cake), and I came to the conclusion that for some reason I’m more affected by the art in Daytime Shooting Star. There’s something whimsical about the way that Yamamori designs her characters that just causes me to find practically everyone in the manga adorable and sympathetic.

Suzume deals with an onslaught of emotions as she confesses her feelings to Mr. Shishio when he is asleep, only to realize that he was actually awake. She endures a torrent of teenage embarrassment, and her emotional state isn’t helped all that much when Shishio’s super cool ex-girlfriend starts hanging around again. While Suzume starts researching hypnosis to discover if she will be able to erase someone’s memories, she is able to process her feelings more by talking to Nekota. Suzume decides to get things out into the open with Mr. Shishio, but then ends up running into Mamura who clearly still likes her. Will Suzume’s role as the one girl who Mamura doesn’t seem to be allergic to lead to a new, more age appropriate romance? Both the teenagers and youngish adults in Daytime Shooting Star all seem to be dealing with their own emotional issues due to a variety of reasons, and it is interesting to see Suzume evolve and take charge of her life, even though she’s aware that some of her actions are going to lead to disappointment.