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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

July 31, 2022 by Katherine Dacey and Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

Bookshelf Briefs 7/31/22

Catch These Hands!, Vol. 2 | By murata | Yen Press – The first volume in this series mostly focused on the grumpy-faced (and, let’s face it, grumpy in general) Takebe, but this second volume allows us a better look at her new girlfriend Soramori. She took the initiative in asking Takebe out… but has no idea what couples do on a date. Her attempts to figure this out, which involves a lot of overcompensating and thinking about the wrong things, are what drive the humor in this volume. The actual romance is still pretty much in neutral, but this makes sense given that we’re not even sure how Takebe really feels about all this. We’re also introduced to Takebe’s cousin, who also seems to be a bit obsessed with her. This remains a fun yuri comedy. – Sean Gaffney

A Galaxy Next Door, Vol. 1 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – After his parents pass away, twenty-something Ichiro Kuga steps in to raise his younger siblings while struggling to make it in the manga biz. Through sheer luck, he finds just the right assistant to help him meet a tight deadline—an assistant who’s both a little too good to be true (her technique is flawless, even though her experience is limited to copying other people’s work) and a little odd. As Ichiro soon discovers, Shiori isn’t an ordinary person, but a visitor from a remote island where… well, I won’t spoil her backstory, but suffice to say that A Galaxy Next Door gets weirder as it goes along. The fantasy elements didn’t really work for me, but the human elements did, particularly the warm rapport between Ichiro and his siblings, and the kiddos’ interest in their strange, glamorous new housemate. File this under YMMV. – Katherine Dacey

Good Dog, Cerberus! | By Moha Arimura | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – If you’re looking for a light-hearted gag manga, you could do a lot worse than Good Dog, Cerberus!, a digital-only offering from Kodansha Comics. The premise is simple: Cerberus, the infamous three-headed guardian of the Underworld, is not a fierce, snarling beast, but a cute, fluffy Pomeranian who’s terrible at his job. Though he’s tasked with preventing souls from escaping, he’d rather be eating pastry or fetching a stick, making it easy for folks to bribe their way out of Hell. Hades, his owner, is torn between adoring his cute-as-a-button minion and castigating Cerberus for slacking off. Moha Arimura wrings a surprising number of laughs from this one-joke set-up by leaning into the idea that Cerberus is a normal dog whose extra two heads sometimes get in the way of normal dog behaviors. None of the punchlines are laugh-out-loud funny, but each vignette has a nice rhythm, and a decent payoff to boot. – Katherine Dacey

In/Spectre, Vol. 15 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – Somehow I missed volume fifteen coming out several months ago. What it gives me is a) half the usual detective stuff, as our protagonists try to explain away how a mystical giraffe chased four men off of a cliff, and b) Kotoko being very angry that Rikka even exists, and vice versa. I note that for all that Kotoko moans and whines about Kuro being mean to her and barely acknowledging that they’re a couple, he also notably does not deny that they’re a couple either, especially in front of Rikka. This plot is nowhere near done, and I suspect that things are going to go badly for Kotoko soon, but that’s why we read this, to see her defy the odds. Well, that and be horny. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 6 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – I appreciate that we’re not going full Method Acting with this series, but there is an emphasis on trying to find something in your own past that you can draw on in order to convey what the character you’re playing feels like. For Sasara this means confronting her kabuki past, as well as the revelation that she thinks she may just have a boyfriend because his mentor told him to. Of course, the payoff for that will be in the next volume. We also get a nice look at Ayako’s Juliet, and the one thing that she really has going for her; her voice, which is absolutely stunning. She too gets some heartbreaking backstory, of course. I get the feeling Ai is going to be out of luck this time around. I wish this came out more often. – Sean Gaffney

Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included, Vol. 1 | By matoba | Yen Press – I was unimpressed with the premise of this new series, but I greatly enjoyed the vibe of As Miss Beelzebub Likes, their previous series, so I thought I would give it a shot. Sadly, my first instincts were correct. A young man suddenly finds an angel lying on his balcony when he gets home from his job. She’s been sent from heaven to stop being such a naive chump… is what the manga implies, but does not say. As the title goes on we also meet our protagonist’s childhood friend and a snow woman, all of whom pretty much latch onto his “nebbish nice person” vibe like a leech. Say what you will about Miss Beelzebub, it wasn’t a harem manga, which this seems to be. I’ll be passing. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 9 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – By now this series is a huge hit, and things can be developed that will pay off way down the road. That’s possibly why this feels like an even darker volume of the series than usual, with one chapter even having a warning about attempted sexual assault at the front of it. Witches may be something that kids want to be, but they’re also something hated and feared at the same time, and things that may turn out to be solutions are likely to be a demonic pact of some sort. It certainly looks like that’s the case with Custas, who was always on the verge of snapping, but now that he has his new magic spring legs, he’s likely going to attempt to kill Coco and Tartah. Riveting as always, and gorgeous art. – Sean Gaffney

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