• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Melinda Beasi
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Paul Beasi
    • Derek Bown
    • Katherine Dacey
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Latest Picks

January 18, 2021

Pick of the Week: Asadorable Manga

January 11, 2021

Pick of the Week: Sports Manga on a Light Week

LATEST FEATURES, ESSAYS, COLUMNS, ROUNDTABLES, & REVIEWS

January 20, 2021 By Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – Last time I said that this series never quite tipped over into melodrama, but let’s face it, that’s what happens here. I mean, it’s good melodrama, and you really feel the tortured emotions of these girls who just want to be able to love each other. If I’m honest, the fact that this series has a happy ending feels a bit unrealistic given everything that’s been stacked against them since the start, but that’s OK, because it fits the work emotionally, and no one wants to see this end with someone visiting another’s grave. If you enjoyed Emma but wish it had more lesbians, Goodbye, My Rose Garden should be right up your street, and I…

Read More

January 20, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I

By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul. This is the first book in the “main” Sword Art Online series that was not adapted from the webnovel that Kawahara wrote years earlier. As such, it’s the first one where we should have raised expectations, and for the most part the book delivers on those expectations. No, sorry, Kirito haters, he still gets to have the big climactic finishers, but honestly, if you’re a Kirito hater but still reading Sword Art Online at Volume 21, I’m going to put the blame on you there. And, if it helps, he spends most of the book in just his underwear. That said, the prose feels smoother, the cast all…

Read More

January 19, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 2

By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert. I am, as readers of this site well know, easy to please. This can sometimes be a bit frustrating when I have series that don’t do anything particularly wrong, but are also not particularly stellar. The Demon King Master of Excalibur Academy falls under that. I will admit that I find the fact that the Demon King is in a 10-year-old body irritating, but it is mostly avoiding fanservice and groping, so that’s not a big enough reason to move on. The books are short, the prose is readable, the girls get things to do, and the battles are pretty…

Read More

January 18, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 6

By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher. (This is one of those “I spoil the ending” reviews.) Let’s face it, the biggest flaw in this book comes after the afterword, where gives us a preview of the next volume, which introduces new antagonists to take the place of our protagonists. The flaw here is that this book was pretty much a picture perfect finale in every way, and the author admits that straight up. They say that the story of Elisabeth is not over, and that they still have more stories to tell, which is all fine and dandy, but it’s gonna be very hard to top Book6 next…

Read More

January 17, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 11

By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen It’s been over a year since I reviewed the 10th volume of Arifureta. In between that time we’ve had two volumes of Arifureta Zero, as well as a volume of short stories, and we also had the anime come to an end and remind us that some stories really work best when you can’t SEE all the fanservice. That said, all good things must come to an end, and while this is not the final volume of the series, it certainly feels like Vol. 12 is going to be. We get all the setup for the final battle here. Yes, that does…

Read More

January 16, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Baccano!: 1710 Crack Flag

By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel. Yeah, I avoided this one for a while I will admit. I don’t like tragedies, even when I know they’re coming. What’s more, this book was famous among Baccano! fandom as the pinnacle of the series, and therefore had a lot to live up to. Does it do that? pretty much, yeah. Balancing out the mystery of exactly what’s going on, the achingly sweet and awkward romance between Huey and Monica, and the creeping feeling of impending doom that powers the 2nd half, Crack Flag is a huge winner. And that’s not even mentioning our villain. Pardon the language, but “Fuck Fermet” has been a refrain among…

Read More

January 15, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!, Vol. 1

By Kei Misawa and poporucha. Released in Japan as “Torawareta Ōjo wa Nido, Shiawasena Yume o Miru” on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Evie Lund. If Japanese light novels are good at anything, they’re good at “take a premise and do slight variations on it for years”. As such, it can sometimes be very hard to read a book without thinking of that OTHER book you just read. Three are few readers who will pick this book up and not think “huh, this sounds just like Tearmoon Empire”, a series that also has a princess who is imprisoned end up traveling backwards in time to when she’s a child and trying to fix things so that she doesn’t die. Fortunately,…

Read More

January 14, 2021 By Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and Melinda Beasi

Manga the Week of 1/20/21

SEAN: Well, that was a nice break this week, huh? Next week is back to a giant pile, I’m afraid. J-Novel Club has a quintet of light novels. We get Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 5, Holmes of Kyoto 3, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 14, Outbreak Company 16, and Slayers 5. In print, Kodansha just has Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan 2. Digitally, of course, there is far more. The debut is Will It Be the World or Her? (Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai), a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title. A guy tries to confess to his childhood friend… but another girl shows up and says she’s his girlfriend. What’s more, he has to forget about the other girl… or else the world will end!…

Read More

January 14, 2021 By Sean Gaffney

Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 4

By Toshio Satou and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shonen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Clearly someone has been listening to my review, as after last volume’s weird hotel detour, this one gets back to what I expected the series to be about: Lloyd and company’s time in the academy. Not that we spend much time there, as the town’s cleaned out and empty starter dungeon is suddenly teeming with terrifying dragons and monsters and the like. There’s also the issue of a man wandering around and asking people what he looks like, and then dealing with them if the answer is wrong. And there’s…

Read More

More Features & Reviews

Primary Sidebar

BLOGS AT MANGA BOOKSHELF

mangablog
a case suitable for treatment

soliloquy in blue
manga critic
manga report

LATEST POSTS – SITEWIDE

  • Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21
  • Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I
  • The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 2
  • Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 6
  • Pick of the Week: Asadorable Manga
  • Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 11
  • Baccano!: 1710 Crack Flag
  • Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!, Vol. 1
  • Manga the Week of 1/20/21
  • Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, Vol. 4

From the Archives

January 19, 2015 By Ash Brown

My Week in Manga: January 12-January 18, 2015

My News and Reviews I posted two reviews at Experiments in Manga last week. The first review was ...

[Read More...]

August 26, 2013 By Ash Brown

My Week in Manga: August 19-August 25, 2013

My News and Reviews Well, the biggest news from last week (at least for me and Experiments in ...

[Read More...]

October 3, 2012 By Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 10/10

It's a smaller week, Week #2, but it tries harder! What's coming out right before New York Comic ...

[Read More...]

March 8, 2010 By Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

How To Seduce a Vampire

How To Seduce a Vampire By Nimosaku Shimada Published by DMP Rated YA (16+) Watanabe is a ...

[Read More...]

March 15, 2018 By Sean Gaffney 2 Comments

Manga the Week of 3/21/18

SEAN: More manga, more problems. Shall we add to the stack? Dark Horse has a 4th volume of the ...

[Read More...]

More Posts from the Archives

Recommended Reading

  • Off the Shelf: Fullmetal Alchemist
  • Off the Shelf: Moon Child
  • Off the Shelf: Basara
  • The NANA Project
  • Breaking Down Banana Fish
  • Roundtable: Hikaru no Go
  • BL Bookrack: Wild Adapter
  • Off the Shelf: Tokyo Babylon
  • Please Save My Earth with Melinda & Michelle (at The Hooded Utilitarian)

DRAMA DIARY

By Anna N

Skip Beat! the drama

I recently marathoned 14 episodes of the Tawainese live action version of Skip Beat! which is airing now on ...

[Read More...]

By Anna N

Drama Diary: IRIS Episodes 1-5

I tend to watch mostly romantic comedies when I am viewing k-drama, but IRIS is a bit different. This is a ...

[Read More...]

MORE DRAMA DIARY

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework