Archives for April 2015

Manga the Week of 4/8

April 2, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: ‘Tis Spring, and a young man or woman’s thoughts naturally turn to manga. What pleasures await us next week?

Unlike Strike Witches (look, panties!), Arpeggio of Blue Steel is an honest to goodness spy thriller that just happens to feature girls who are battleships. This is likely why I’m looking forward to the fourth volume from Seven Seas.

And for those who prefer their manga with a bit more yuri, there’s the 2nd volume of school drama Citrus.

Vertical gives us a new volume of Ajin: Demi-Human.

ASH: If you don’t mind dark and violent, Ajin is shaping up to be a great series.

SEAN: The rest is Viz. We get a 3rd Assassination Classroom, one of my favorite new Jump licenses.

ANNA: I haven’t read the second volume yet, but I’m looking forward to catching up. This series is fun and quirky.

SEAN: And one of my absolute favorite Shojo Beat series comes to an end with the final volume of Dengeki Daisy. Will Kurosaki finally go bald? The most important question yet to be answered!

MICHELLE: There’s so much VIZ I am gonna be reading from this week, man. Definitely all the shoujo!

ASH: Wow, Viz really is releasing a bunch of great stuff next week! I’m due for a Dengeki Daisy marathon read.

ANNA: The main story wraps up pretty quickly, but there are a ton of side stories in this volume which I always like.

SEAN: Meanwhile, in Food Wars! 5, all our hero has to worry about is having his life ruined forever by not serving enough breakfasts.

MICHELLE: I fell a couple volumes behind on this one, and am looking forward to a Food Wars! binge.

SEAN: And there’s not only war among chefs, there’s also Library Wars, though I think its 13th volume may be a bit less serious than previous ones.

Meteor Prince also comes to an end, though with only two volumes it’s had less of a chance to addict us than Dengeki Daisy has.

ANNA: The first volume was adorable!

SEAN: If you aren’t picking up the 4th volume of My Love Story!! next week, there’s something terribly wrong with you. (Apologies to TMBG.)

MICHELLE: There certainly is.

ASH: Such an incredibly delightful series!

MJ: Agreed!

ANNA: Double Agreed!

SEAN: One Piece 74 promises to give us more action, intrigue, silliness, drama, and possibly fresh fruit as well.

Skip Beat! 34 once again asks the question “will this be the volume where the plot progresses?”.

MICHELLE: I don’t even mind if it isn’t.

ANNA: I don’t care either!

SEAN: Toriko hits Vol. 27, will it kill off its hero in a pitched battle? Unlikely.

Voice Over! is almost, but not quite, over as it hits double digits.

MICHELLE: I continue to be surprised I enjoy Voice Over! as much as I do, but I’m really fond of it. Maybe I like best the series with exclamation points.

SEAN: World Trigger 5 is a new volume of World Trigger.

Finally, there’s a 2nd Yukarism, a series that interested me more than I expected last time. Will Volume 2 keep it up?

MJ: I’m actually really interested in this. I think I liked this more than most critics, and I’m pretty happy to see more of it.

ANNA: The second volume delves more into the past live of the main character, and deals with some of the ramifications of reincarnation in the present. I’m enjoying it too.

SEAN: Manga over flowers? What’s your choice?

Karneval, Vol. 1

April 2, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Touya Mikanagi. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Ichijinsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Karneval is, I believe, one of those titles that is expected to coast by on style alone for the first few volumes, while it lovingly sets up its plot. And to be fair, it has quite a lot of style. There was never a point in reading this omnibus where I was bored and slipping ahead, though there were perhaps a few times when I desperately wanted an organizational chart or a “here’s how this world works”. But that’s not how immersion goes. In the meantime we have a pretty young boy and his grumpy yet also pretty friend/babysitter/audience identification character, running afoul of the bad guys and being rescued by a crack squad of eccentric superheroes who pose as a circus when they’re not causing major property damage or freaking people out.

I believe that’s Nai on the cover there – I say “I believe” as he’s staring out at the reader confidently, something the Nai in the books would never do. I said Gareki was for the audience, and he’s desperately needed – in fact, I think he’s the main reason I enjoyed this title as much as I did. He stomps through the whole thing carrying Nai around as if he’s in a manga version of Midnight Run, and also manages to be the one member of the cast with no superpowers that we know of, though he gets by well enough with explosives. As for Nai, I actually thought the revelation about who he really is what the best part of the volume – it actually makes his moeblob tendencies make sense in context, even if it ends up giving us more questions than answers.

As for the rest of the cast, there are several men whose characterization seems to involve looking cool and making passes at each other, though I suspect the genuine BL content in this series will be zero. And they are pretty damn cool, if also ridiculous to a large degree – something I’ve come to expect from Zero-Sum titles. There are also a few women in the cast, who range from stoic to overly affectionate to full-on tsundere, but honestly none of them get as much attention as the guys this time around – hope that changes later on. Oh, and we also meet a set of twins and childhood friends who have “I am here to be tragic and motivate our hero” written all over them, which the cliffhanger seems to agree with me on.

There’s a healthy dose of humor here as well (the nurses’ reaction to their obnoxious doctor boss was probably my favorite), which also helps the medicine go down well. There’s nothing here that’s revolutionary or new, but for a manga that knows what its target audience wants, Karneval delivers quite nicely. Don’t try to think too hard about what’s going on, just sit back and enjoy the snarking, acting cool, and one-liners. Recommended for fans of Zero-Sum.

Manga Giveaway: Yukarism Giveaway Winner

April 1, 2015 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the Yukarism manga giveaway is… Haley!

As the winner, Haley will be receiving the first volume of Chika Shiomi’s manga series Yukarism as published by Viz Media’s Shojo Beat. Because Yukarism has a plot that prominently features reincarnation, I was curious to know what other reincarnation stories people have enjoyed and so asked participants in the giveaway to tell me. Check out the giveaway comments for everyone’s responses, and check out below for a list of reincarnation manga!

Some of the manga licensed in English featuring reincarnation:
07-Ghost by Yuki Amemiya
9th Sleep by Makoto Tateno
Angel Sanctuary by Kaori Yuki
Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka
Aquarion Evol written by Shoji Kawamori, illustrated by Aogiri
The Betrayal Knows My Name by Odagiri Hotaru
A Bloody Kiss Tonight by Makoto Tateno
Bride of Deimos written by Etsuko Ikeda, illustrated by Yuho Ashibe
Ceres: Celestial Legend by Yuu Watase
Enchanter by Izumi Kawachi
Gate 7 by CLAMP
Genju no Seiza by Matsuri Akino
Himeyuka & Rozione’s Story by Sumomo Yumeka
Immortal Rain by Kaori Ozaki
InuYasha by Rumiko Takahashi
Kamunagara: Rebirth Of The Demonslayer by Hajime Yamamura
Kannazuki No Miko: Destiny of Shrine Maiden by Kaishaku
Mouryou Kiden: Legend of the Nymph by Tamayo Akiyama
Night of the Beasts by Chika Shiomi
NG Life by Mizuho Kusanagi
Ninth Life Love by Lalako Kojima
Oyayubihime Infinity by Toru Fujieda
Phantom Thief Jeanne by Arina Tanemura
Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
Please Save My Earth by Saki Hiwatari
Pieces of a Spiral by Kaimu Tachibana
Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Seimaden by You Higuri
Sengoku Nights written by Kei Kusunoki, illustrated by Kaoru Ohashi
Sherlock Bones written by Yuma Ando, illustrated by Yuki Sato.
Tower of the Future by Saki Hiwatari
Tale of a White Knight by Tooko Miyagi
Tuxedo Gin by Tokihiko Matsuura
Yukarism by Chika Shiomi
Vampire Game by Judal

I know for a fact that the above list is incomplete and that there are more reincarnation manga out there, but it’s probably a decent place to start for anyone looking for a reincarnation story to read. Thank you to everyone who shared your favorites with me; I hope you’ll join in for the next giveaway, too!