Manga Bookshelf

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Archives for February 2021

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 3

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By Riku Misora and Sacraneco. Released in Japan as “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I’m not even sure where to begin. It’s sad that this is a book where our heroes literally fire a nuclear weapon that destroys a stronghold, and yet that isn’t even close to the most appalling thing that happens in it. I am familiar with the light novel cliche where, in order to show that your morally vague heroes are on the side of goodness and niceness, you need to show that the bad guys are evil, raping the virgins and biting the heads off kittens sort of guys so that the audience says “they had it coming” to any punishment they may get. I had thought dropping In Another World with My Smartphone would mean I might see the end of that. And yet here we are. For now, I will merely content myself with saying lobotomies are bad, were historically mostly done on women, and please do not use them as what amounts to a comedy punchline – even if I grant you the author does not want us to find it funny.

Keine’s on the cover, and also gets the biggest fanservice in the book. The plot of this volume mostly involves gearing up for the next steps – trying to get a republic started. Tsukasa does not want him and his geniuses to stay here forever, of course, and knows that a democracy band-aid is not going to cut it. And “the nobles rule, we just serve” is pretty ingrained into the people. More troubling is that they’re running out of penicillin (which Keine and Lyrule take care of, inventing sulfa drugs) and the other nations are starting to want to stop this before it goes too far. And let’s not even get into the fact that the supposed saviors the Blue Brigade are actually mostly bad guys. It’s getting so that he can’t even go out on a note date with the girl who’s crushing on him!

So yes, I could have done without the entire Keine chapter, which seems to simply show off that she’s a sociopath. And, as I noted, we get not one but TWO sets of villains who talk about raping young women. The best chapter in the book, hands down, was Ringo’s date with Tsukasa, and its general tone of “you are already losing to the girl who got the cover of Volume 1, do something or you will not be able to catch up”. The date went well considering Ringo’s extreme introversion (we also learn about her past, which is sort of what I expected) and Tsukasa’s deliberate obliviousness. She also gets the emotional climax, where it’s her turn to remind Tsukasa that he is in fact a real human being who is allowed to feel things, and this time it’s Lyrule who’s on the outside looking in.

That said, in a series about establishing a new political landscape and finding ways to defeat bad guys who seem to be unkillable, the fact that I’m focusing on the love triangle is not a good sign. The High School Prodigies may be having it easy, but they’re giving me trouble.

Manga the Week of 2/10/21

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SEAN: Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the manga is so delightful.

Airship has an early digital release of Berserk of Gluttony 2 and the print release of Adachi and Shimamura 4.

Cross Infinite World has a one-shot shoujo light novel, As The Villainess, I Reject These Happy-Bad Endings! (Watashi, Tensei Akuyaku Reijōnanode, Meribaendo wa Soshi sa Sete Itadakimasu!). You can probably guess the plot from the title. This also has material in it that was not in the Japanese volume.

J-Novel Club has two digital debuts. Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? (Choppiri Toshiue Demo Kanojo ni Shite Kuremasu ka?) is from GA Bunko, and is about a couple of high school kids who get together… then he finds she’s actually 12 years older than him. This… could be bad, to be honest, but Japan does love those age gap romances.

ASH: That is true; those stories have been around since at least the 11th century.

SEAN: The other debut just had an anime announced. My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! (Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai) is also GA Bunko, which seems to have given J-Novel Club its non-fantasy romcom titles. A guy is constantly belittled by his friend’s sister. But, when he has to pretend to be the boyfriend of the daughter of his boss, will her real feelings come out? Erm… yeah, I’ll try this too, but these two debuts summarize badly.

Also from J-Novel Club, we get The Bloodline 2, Cooking with Wild Game 11, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 13.

Kaiten Books has a new digital manga release, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting (Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari). This runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride. It seems like one of those “bruiser guy brought to heel by a tiny little girl” sorts of titles. Cute and funny, in other words.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ASH: Oh, I often enjoy that particular sub-genre.

SEAN: No print debuts for Kodansha, but we do get A Couple of Cuckoos 2, Knight of the Ice 5, Something’s Wrong with Us 5, and The Witch and the Beast 4.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught back up on Knight of the Ice!

ANNA: Me too, I really enjoy this series.

ASH: It has been fun, so far!

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is Boss’s Wife (Gokukon ~Chou Dekiai Yakuza to Keiyaku Kekkon!?~), which runs in Ane Friend. A girl with a huge debt runs into a former classmate… who turns out to be a yakuza. He’ll buy her debt if she becomes his bride. Can she be a Yakuza wife? Man, the summaries this week are just brutal.

MICHELLE: I swore I thought this one looked kind of fun, but this summary is making me rethink that assessment.

SEAN: Also digitally: Ashidaka: The Iron Hero 2, the 28th and final volume of Domestic Girlfriend, the 12th and final volume of Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Peach Boy Riverside 4, Saint Young Men 9, Tokyo Revengers 19, and We Must Never Fall in Love 6.

One Peace has a 12th volume of Hinamatsuri.

A debut yuri manga from Seven Seas, Even Though We’re Adults (Otona ni Natte mo). From the creator of Aoi Hana and Wandering Son, this josei title runs in Kodansha’s Kiss magazine. A woman meets an old friend, they go out and more… then she finds the friend has a husband. Didn’t this sort of drama stop in high school? This one I’m definitely excited for.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ANNA: This sounds interesting.

ASH: I’ve really been looking forward to this one.

MJ: I’d read anything from this creator, so count me in!

SEAN: There’s also a 12th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Square Enix has a 2nd volume of The Apothecary Diaries manga.

ASH: I still need to read the first volume, but i’m fairly confident this is a series I will greatly enjoy.

MJ: I have a soft spot for Square Enix basically always, and I need to get around to this, too.

SEAN: SuBLime has a new title, MADK. It runs in Printemps Shuppan’s BL magazine Canna, and MADK stands for Motsu Akuma to Danshi Koukousei. Seems to be rather bloody and violent, and has demons.

ASH: I am intrigued!

MJ: I like everything in this description, so yes!

SEAN: There’s a 10th volume of Finder’s Deluxe Edition, subtitled Honeymoon, and Given 5 from SuBLime as well.

ASH: I’m a volume or so behind on Given; this would be a good opportunity for me to catch up.

SEAN: Viz has Frozen 2: the Manga, a tie-in I would normally ignore except it’s by Arina Tanemura. Don’t expect an Idol Dreams crossover.

ANNA: I’m normally all about any Arina Tanemura manga but not sure I’m super stoked for a Frozen adaptation.

SEAN: Viz also has Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 12, Hayate the Combat Butler 37, Komi Can’t Communicate 11, Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition 6, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 6.

MJ: Always here for new readers getting into Fullmetal Alchemist (or long-time fans expanding their collections), so I’ll always cheer for that!

SEAN: And Yen has some stragglers from January that got bumped. Including a debut, the manga version of The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat. The LN of this came out at the end of December. The manga runs in Kadokawa’s Young Ace Up.

And finally, after what I swear were 6 or 7 delays, the 4th manga volume of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level.

Since we’ve no place to go, what manga are you reading?

Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village, Vol. 2

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By Mizuumi Amakawa and Mai Okuma. Released in Japan as “Fushi no Kami: Henkyou kara Hajimeru Bunmei Saiseiki” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Maurice Alesch.

Not to spoil or anything, but around 4/5 of the way through this second volume, a demon monster shows up. It startled me, as the entire book before this had essentially been ‘let’s learn how to make fertilizer’ and ‘tomatoes are awesome!’. What I said when reviewing the first book goes double for this one: it’s a slow life book where the slow life is running at top speed. Indeed, the inability of anyone to stop Ash and his ideas becomes a running gag. But then ‘rebuilding civilization’ is in the title, and it can’t be denied that Ash’s ideas are very good. So the demon monster, just like the bear from the first book, is there to give Ash a chance to be a more typical hero, one that can fight against huge antagonists rather than simply be an intellectual. It’s a good fight, too. That said, I think I like Ash casually tipping over all preconceptions of what society is like a bit better than stabbing a creature through the eye.

Ash and Maika have arrived at the nearest city to continue their educations. It’s not the grandest city in the world… Ash is unimpressed. But it’s certainly got more books than his village had, and maybe here he can learn to make better fertilizer. His roommate is Arthur, a noble who is actually a girl disguising herself as a boy. Ash, sensing tragic backstory, doesn’t let on he’s guessed this and merely gives Arthur space every morning and evening. They’re theoretically there to learn reading adn writing, but both know how already, so instead Maika works on her martial arts and swordsmanship, and Ash works on overthrowing all common sense. He makes liquid soap… which turns out to be illegal, but eh. Semantics. He grows delicious tomatoes… which everyone thinks are poisonous, and he has to research why. Can he drag this city kicking and screaming into the modern world? And can Maika ever get through to Ash that she’s in love with him?

As with the first volume, the POV here alternates between Ash and various other characters to show both things happening when he’s not around/unconscious, or to show how others react to his eccentricities. Maika is the most interesting of these, as it’s become clear that her love for Ash is burgeoning on obsession, as she talks about making sure she’s worthy to stand at his side. Honestly, there’s a very messianic quality about Ash in general, not helped by the author’s afterwords supposedly being written years later showing us Fushi no Kami as a “history textbook”. The other main character introduced here is Arthur, and I was rather surprised that we only got a few hints of their rather unhappy life to date, and don’t get into the reason for the disguise. Arthur is mostly miserable, meaning their fake smiles piss Maika off, and seeing the three of them bond is the heartwarming part of the book.

Ash may not have magic swords or fireballs, but in his own way he’s just as OP as other isekai heroes. How much you enjoy this book might depend on how much you can tolerate everyone worshiping the ground he walks on. That said, it’s a very readable book, and you never feel bored, even when discussing things like “I need seaweed in order to take the next step in my plan”.

Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 10

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

Now that Veight has pretty much succeeded in uniting the continent, and Airia is settling in as the new Demon Lord (and also getting pregnant, which answers that whole ‘can werewolves and humans mate?’ question from the last book), the book have been branching out into other unrelated countries, showing how they really need Veight to come in and shake things up. His trip to Wa was fairly straightforward and normal, despite the past life shenanigans, but this time things are a lot more difficult, and Veight is going to be forced to take action despite wanting nothing more than to stay by Airia’s side. Oh yes, and teach young students how to be a good leader. In fact, this book may be outdoing Realist Hero on the subject of running a country, and it also does not need to venerate Machiavelli, which is always a plus. Most of all, though, we get a really nasty and horrible villain here, something we haven’t seen in these books for a while.

Kuwol, a southern kingdom with lots of sea transport, is getting close to a civil war between two varieties of nobility and a rather shallow and brainless king. Veight is trying his best to stay out of it, knowing that they don’t have the ships to send a huge army and also don’t want to get involved in foreign affairs, but as things go further south, and Parker goes missing, he is forced to act. What he finds is that one of the groups of nobles has hired mercenaries to supplement their forces, led by Zagar, who is a thoroughly reprehensible man who nevertheless commands intense loyalty from those at his command. Veight doesn’t trust him, but is not particularly a violent man, so is content to wait and watch and try to make things better for the civilians caught in the war. Unfortunately, this proves unwise as Zagar has grander plans than a simple civil war.

The main plot is pretty much what you’d expect, and the author says in the afterword he wanted to show Veight’s hands-off approach being the wrong choice. That said, there are lots of little details in this book I liked. Seeing Veight’s young students trying to come up with forward thinking ideas. Airia’s absolutely awful morning sickness, and Veight feeling somewhat helpless to do anything for her. There’s a moment near the end when Zagar offers Veight three of the former lord’s mistresses for pleasure, and Veight, naturally, is uninterested in anything but Airia. However, Zagar is determined to second the women to Veight’s company (are they spies?) and so asks if they can be secretaries, and they promptly show off a savviness that I quite liked. That said, the brutality of the final scenes is start, and we’re left with a cliffhanger that makes us wonder how Veight is going to handle things without the whole nation falling apart.

The next book is supposed to be the last book in the “main series”, though I know there’s at least one after it. I suppose peace and prosperity are harder to write about, which is probably why Veight is traveling to a civil war. In the meantime, Der Werwolf remains very underrated, and has a minimum of Veight being super modest this time around.

Bookshelf Briefs 2/2/21

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All Sean, all the time.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 13 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – The series is still striking a good balance between, on the one hand, the world of magic and the supernatural, which is by its nature secretive, distrusting and filled with nasty murder and betrayals, as we see with Lucy’s backstory. And on the other hand we have Chise, who is not quite on the levels of a Tohru, but still tends to be kind to others and have them want to be kind right back to her. She also has connections the school does not know about, as when Lucy finds out that Chise and her brother Seth are far better connected than she expects. Elias is still there, but the “Bride” part of the story has faded into the background in this arc, and honestly I enjoy it better now. – Sean Gaffney

A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 11 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – It’s become fairly clear that, while Index is a giant magic vs. fantasy battle novel with harem elements, and Railgun prides itself on its action and strong women, Accelerator’s spinoff is dedicated to the darkness, to try to see how horrifying we can get Academy City. As we see here, and indeed in previous volumes, there seems to be no bottom to the nefarious experiments on Academy students that are performed in the name of Science. And while Accelerator may still be calling himself a villain, he’s also making sure that other “experiments” that are suffering get rescued. Well, hopefully—the arc isn’t over yet, and a happy ending is not guaranteed. – Sean Gaffney

The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess, Vol. 1 | By Toka Akiharu | Yen Press – This falls into the ‘great idea, execution not so much’ bin. The premise is lights out—not only is our heroine the villainess, and doomed to be murdered… but it’s her own junior high story! What’s worse, she was at an age when “dark” was sexy, so the heroine is always threatened with rape, which she has to stop so as not to get killed. Unfortunately, the manga itself falls prey to Hakusensha Syndrome, which is when the art in a book is so busy and the textual asides so thick that it gets very messy. It was sort of nostalgic, as it reminded me of the old CMX/Tokyopop days, but this could have used a bit more room to breathe. – Sean Gaffney

Mama Akuma, Vol. 1 | By Kuzushiro | Yen Press – This was pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be when I first heard about the premise. A demon who takes pride in always filling every request is summoned… by a fourth-grader who wants him to be her mama. This is hard. He takes on the form of her late mother… no, not that. She wants him to fill the role of a mother, mostly as her dad is rarely home and her older brother is, well, a teenager. The reason it’s heartwarming to read is that, by dealing with her, the demon is gradually starting to realize that all the time he fulfilled those wishes of death and destruction, it was NOT what his clients really wanted. Now he can learn about humanity. And also bond with her family. Definitely reading more of this. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 16 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – Perhaps making up for the last volume, there are TWO scenes of lesbian sex in this volume, though Kuroko is not in either of them. She’s busy wrapping up the circus case, where the perpetrator is not all that much of a surprise, but there’s also a second antagonist who gets a bit more to do, and allows us to very briefly see behind Hinako’s mask… if it is a mask. We also get a funny chapter about chestnuts, which if nothing else tells you what ‘kernel’ in Japanese is a euphemism for. The series is still filled with blood, gore and nastiness, but I feel as it’s gone on Kuroko has become less evil and a lot more goofy. Which honestly I’m pretty OK with. Recommended for those who like violent lesbians. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 3 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – There’s a minimum of drama or angst in this series, but I don’t care, because it does sweet and adorable so well. The relationship between Yuki and Itsuomi finally becomes official in this volume… and yes, then he immediately leaves the country for a month or two, because that’s what he does. But she’s content to wait and send him sign language videos, and he is telling her what it’s like in Cambodia and the like. The lettering in this volume is also fantastic, occasionally reversing and getting bigger and smaller to show that Yuki is not quite able to make out with lip reading what others are saying. This is getting print soon, and quite right. It’s become one of my favorite shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

Whisper Me a Love Song, Vol. 1 | By Eku Takeshima | Kodansha Comics – Well, this was cute as a button. Now that it’s no longer the only sort of yuri there is, I do like to dip into the occasional high school girls romance. Here we have Himari, who is cute, excitable, and prone to misstating things and Yori, whom she meets substituting for a band’s singer, who is seemingly more reserved. Himari immediately confesses to Yori, who is blown away and falls hard for Himari. There’s just one problem… Himari meant she loved Yori’s singing. Now Yori’s determined to make Himari realize Yori likes her romantically, but… that seems a high road to climb. This is pretty adorable, and doesn’t get as annoying as series like this can. Plus I love one of the bandmates, who has sleepy eyes, a weakness of mine. – Sean Gaffney

She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends!, Vol. 1

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By Akamitsu Awamura and mmu. Released in Japan as “Ore no Onna Tomodachi ga Saikou ni Kawaii” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kristine Johnson and airco.

I tend to read a bit more into the plot and characterization of light novels than they sometimes deserve. This is, honestly, a survival technique – I read a lot of light novels, and only a few of them are worthy of really high praise. Most of them are “well, OK, that was decent”. So you try to look for things you enjoy, things you can sink your teeth into. For me, in this book, it was the character of Reina. She’s not the titular just friend, but she is the ‘queen bee’ of the classroom and one of Jun’s best friends. And, despite how much the two of them deny it, everyone thinks that Kai and Jun, our protagonists, are dating. So we’re meant to be happy when Kai chooses to go out with a pack of her friends to karaoke. He doesn’t have a good time, nor does she, but he thinks he did a good job, held his own. Then Reina destroys him the next day. I really liked that. That said, the book is still “decent”.

Kai is our somewhat generic protagonist. He loves manga, light novels, and games, and is known as an otaku, but is not really on the ‘creepy’ end. He goes to this high school as they are very “freedom” oriented, so you can game in school provided it’s not during class. On his first day, he meets the gorgeous Jun and acts like a typical sputtering guy… till he sees she’s whipping out Breath of the Wild. She’s an otaku as well! The two quickly bond, and over the course of the next year they become best friends, with her going over to his house to game multiple times a week. The trouble is… they look like a couple;. They sometimes act like a couple. And not everyone approves of this. Can Kai deal with both Jun’s friends AND the jerk jocks and come out with his friendship intact?

As I said, this has issues. It’s a big ol’ male fantasy, despite the male lead’s desire to stay friends with Jun rather than date her. (Fanservice is actually relatively low, limited to “wow those breasts are big”, though when Jun’s friends interrogate him they’re very coarse.) You had better enjoy high school drama or else you’re going to hate this. There’s a subplot added near the end with a teacher in the school turning out to also be someone else that I felt was perhaps one subplot too many. The ending implies this is going to be one of those “new lead girl every book” series, which subverts the premise. Most importantly, it’s a walking ad for GA Bunko, mentioning so many of their main series by name (no censoring in this book) that I almost felt ill. Don’t be a shill.

That said… I found the leads very likeable and sympathetic. I really liked Kai thinking he was doing great and getting torn apart, reminding us he’s still very much a guy who doesn’t get women. And there’s a secondary friend of Jun’s who is so annoying she actually flips back over towards hilarious. You look for the little things. And that’s enough for me to recommend this to romcom fans. I’ll get Vol. 2, despite the change in lead girls.

Pick of the Week: On and Off the List

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KATE: If you’re looking at this week’s new arrival list and thinking, “been there, read that,” why not check out Glacier Bay Books’ catalog? This indie manga publisher has been putting out a small but steady stream of manga by artists who aren’t writing stories about super-powered boys or boy-crazy teens. Though the catalog is a little hit-or-miss, Popicomi and <i<Glaeolia have some genuinely awesome material, and Glacier Bay’s new series En-Chan’s House looks promising.

SEAN: I think the digital version has been out for a few weeks now, but any excuse to pick Witch Hat Atelier is a good excuse. That said, I am also intrigued by She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends!”, whose plot appears to be “I met this hot girl who loves gaming and we did not immediately fall in love.” Certainly a rare plot in Japanese media!

MICHELLE: I’m definitely intrigued by Sasaki and Miyano and The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions, but since I know for sure that I enjoy Rei Toma’s particular brand of shoujo fantasy, I’m going to choose The King’s Beast this time!

ASH: I’m very happy to back up Kate’s highlighting of Glacier Bay Books – I just recently go my hands on the second Glaeolia anthology and it looks great. That being said, like Michelle, I’m also really looking forward to the debut of Rei Toma’s The King’s Beast.

ANNA: I’m a big fan of Witch Hat Atelier, but I have to say that I’m really looking forward to Rei Toma’s The King’s Beast. I thought that The Water Dragon’s Bride was a great artistic leap forward, so I’m curious to find out what will happen when she returns to the world of Dawn of the Arcana.

The Intrigue of Marielle Clarac

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By Haruka Momo and Maro. Released in Japan as “Marielle Clarac no Mitsubou” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

At last Marielle and Simeon are married, and can go on a honeymoon. Of course, this being a Marielle Clarac book, the honeymoon does not go very smoothly. Indeed, this may be the quintessential Marielle Clarac books. From the moment that we see pirates boarding the steamer they’re taking on their journey, you know you’re in for a heaping helping of drama and thrills. There’s no sunken pirate gold, but we do get the Flauberts (Marielle is now married, of course, but the series will keep her maiden name for branding reasons) accused of smuggling, a pirate cove, and a speedboat chase without the actual speedboats. In the midst of all this, they are settling into married life – Simeon is noticeably less critical of Marielle in this book, and she… well, no, she’s as fangirlish as ever, particularly when Simeon, for lack of any other weapon at hand, uses a whip on someone trying to abduct her. The world bends itself to play to her fetishes.

After finishing the wedding and finally consummating their relationship (we don’t see it, of course, but Marielle does note that she needs to build up her stamina to keep up with her husband), Marielle and Simeon are traveling to a southern island to meet his grandfather. Unfortunately, they have several problems ensue. There’s a crabby young man on board the ship, a distant relative of Simeon’s who seems t despise him. There’s a girl with him who seems to despise Marielle, though that’s likely just because she’s married to a hot guy. There are pirates and smuggling fiascos, which I mentioned before. And there are threats of spies from a neighboring country that is trying to get its hands on some modern guns from the Flauberts’ home country. Can all these problems be resolved without Marielle getting abducted more than twice? Well, no, probably not.

First of all, and sorry for the spoiler, I was very surprised that Lutin was not appearing as usual. Perhaps he really has moved on. That said, in his place we get a far more evil version of him. As with previous books in this series, the thriller works better than the mystery – the villain was not hard to guess. I also admit, I grow weary of everyone constantly belittling Marielle’s appearance, especially as the artwork does not really bear that out at all. I guess brown hair + glasses = ugly in this world. It doesn’t help that Marielle does the same thing in her own narration. There is also some amusing comedy in this book, mostly revolving around Sasha, a “pirate” who in reality turns out to be a bratty teenage islander, and his blunt interactions with Marielle and Simeon.

Marielle ends up with several ideas for a new book of hers, which makes sense given that she went through a fun, if stereotypical, adventure. Fans of romantic thrillers… especially lengthy ones, this is quite a hefty book compared to other Heart titles… will be quite pleased.