In which Sean valiantly goes it alone yet again.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 1 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – This is award-winning, which piqued my interest, and also a rare Shonen Sunday license, which did as well. Turns out the hype is justified. This is a beautiful and poignant story about the elf of a hero’s party who, after they slay the demon lord and break up to go their separate ways, discovers that she has no idea how people who are not her think, be they human, dwarf, or what. She realizes this too late to talk with the hero, and almost too late to talk to the party’s priest, but eventually decides that she needs to experience more in life, and learn how people who don’t have thousand-year lifespans live. The first volume spans about 6-7 years, so our own sense of time may be skewed. It has humor and heart. – Sean Gaffney
My Lovey-Dovey Wife Is a Stone Cold Killer, Vol. 1 | By Donten Kosaka | Seven Seas – This manga is here for one reason and one reason alone, and that’s the lovey-dovey part of the title. It absolutely does not want the reader to think too hard about her other job beyond as a means for comedy. Certainly the husband doesn’t—as the title begins, he already knows his wife kills people for a living, and is absolutely fine with it. The book itself is filled with romcom staples—though it’s worth noting that, as with apparently quite a few Japanese couples—these two have been married for months and their sex life is still 100% absent. But that’s OK, we still have disapproving sister-in-laws, going out to shop, and trying to understand your partner’s needs even when they’re a husband, not a target. For fans of We’re New at This. – Sean Gaffney
My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 6 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – This is pretty much the same as what I said about the series last time: if you’ve read the novels and seen the anime, it’s almost unnecessary. The ‘almost’ part is because Nami Hidaka (who also illustrates the light novels) is clearly having fun doing a full manga version, and the expressions that she gives everyone can be highly entertaining. This especially goes for Susanna/Lana/Larna, who manages to make “I am first in line to be the Queen” easily the least interesting of the jobs she’s currently doing. This wraps up the third novel, and I assume volumes seven and eight will take on the fourth, which is… well, not a popular book, shall we say. But hey, it’s Bakarina. You know you have to take the bad with the good. – Sean Gaffney
Skip & Loafer, Vol. 2 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – Still enjoying the general mood of this title more than anything else. Mitsumi is the sort of character who would simply be an airheaded flake in lesser series, but here she’s not only quite smart and studious, but also good at figuring out ways that she may have accidentally screwed up socially and trying to fix them. This is good, as her not-yet love interest Shima is a very tough nut to crack—a childhood acting career has left him adrift, and he seems to be perfectly happy to stay that way. An upcoming volleyball game is also handled well—Mitsumi is bad at sports, and has to be trained by Egashira, who is still angry at Mitsumi for bad reasons, but does it anyway. The result… is that Mitsumi noticeably improves, but isn’t great. Best realism in Manic Pixie Dream Girl manga. – Sean Gaffney
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 16 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – This arc with Shirayuki being away is, frankly, taking forever, so it’s no real surprise that it shifts its focus for most of it to Mitsuhide and Kiki. They’re a popular fan pairing, they get ship tease here and there, but… honestly, it does not seem as if the author is all that into them. Things are not helped by her primary husband candidate seeming to clean up his act and pursue her hand with greater effort. That said, the largest problem might be that her other candidates for marriage keep getting attacked. There are a few candidates, but the cliffhanger tells us that the prime suspect is … well, just who we don’t want it to be. If Shirayuki and Zen’s romance is obvious and forthright, Mitsuhide and Kiki’s is deceptive and fluid. Great stuff, though. – Sean Gaffney
Species Domain, Vol. 11 | By Shunsuke Noro | Seven Seas – Having crushed Kazanori’s spirit, and suggested that Ohki might in fact be asexual, we now need to remember how this manga initially started and work on getting the two of them together. It’s going to be tough, but Ohki starts to get a clue here and there as the manga goes on, which is more than he’s done the previous ten, so that’s good. In fact, all the pairings look close to becoming official by the end of the book, which is likely why a cliffhanger is thrown in with Jin and Hanei being in danger from an unknown assailant. This book should have ended a while back—its humor is not quite as sharp anymore, and some of these romances have dragged—but I still enjoy it as a unique sort of title that manages to go several places without actually offending. – Sean Gaffney
Sweat and Soap, Vol. 10 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – The start of the book is entirely dedicated to defusing the situation we had in the last volume, and it’s handled, as the rest of the series has done, with love, communication, and reaching across to help each other. With a good dose of loving sex at the end as a reward, of course. Now that Asako’s issues with her body odor have mostly been taken care of, it’s wedding time. The actual marriage is a quick license ceremony, with the wedding itself being done months later. That said, they chose a date which leaves them very little time in which to plan, and I suspect the final volume (the next) may feature some crises. Still, at least we get Asako in not one but THREE wedding dresses—all of which are wrong for her, alas. Still fantastic. – Sean Gaffney
Takane & Hana, Vol. 18 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – As with the last volume, this final volume of Takane & Hana is here to remind you that all the drama and conflict have been dealt with beforehand, and we can just enjoy the two leads playfully at each other’s throats. My favorite part may be during the wedding reception, when guests wonder if Hana really thinks she deserves to be Takane’s wife, and she responds point blank “I absolutely do.” Hana’s self-confidence and ability to tear Takane a new one when he needs it have been the main reason to read this. There’s also a limited-edition volume with a different cover and a 30-page booklet with a “7 years later,” showing Hana had triplets (!!!) and that everyone else is doing fine. This was one of the funniest shoujo manga I’ve read in years. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney