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Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Manga the Week of 10/2

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SEAN: Hope you like Viz, that’s all I can say. They have this week all to themselves.

Now that Bakuman is all over, there’s a giant Bakuman box set for those who missed it. Discover the secrets to Jump manga, and look askance at that line about a man’s dreams all over again!

MJ: Perhaps in the new set, that line will have been magically rewritten. :D

ASH: I actually haven’t read any of Bakuman, yet. Sounds like this would be a good time to get around to doing that.

blackbird17SEAN: It’s been a while since we’ve seen Black Bird, and it’s ending soon, so I’ll be nice. It’s a powerful manga with the ability to win the hearts of many readers. Excellent pickup for Viz.

ANNA: I’m glad this is so popular for Viz, and also glad I stopped reading it because I didn’t care for it. There’s other, better supernatural manga out there, most of it also published by Viz.

MICHELLE: Oh, is it really ending soon? I had no idea. I really used to keep better track of these things!

MJ: I want to say “good riddance,” but… what will I have left to hate now? I feel bereft.

SEAN: (Dr. Forrester voice) Who… Who Will I Kill?

Bleach is up to Vol. 58. Expect the usual Bleach shenanigans, but I will note this volume had one of the best reveals in the entire series about a character’s past.

MICHELLE: I periodically get caught up with Bleach, but I probably wouldn’t if my local library didn’t carry it.

MJ: Well, now I wanna read it. Hm.

SEAN: Claymore has hit Vol. 23, which means everyone has to buy it, or Robert Anton Wilson will be sad.

MJ: Heh. (Also, I will be sad, but not because of 23.)

SEAN: I lost track of Dawn of the Arcana, apparently right about when it got really good. But I’m sure the others will tell me what I’ve been missing.

ANNA: It is good! It has an interesting low key vibe for a fantasy series. It reminds me of some of the stuff CMX used to put out, in a very good way.

MICHELLE: I can see that comparison!

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Dawn of the Arcana a try. Comparing it to CMX’s series just moved it up on my list.

SEAN: The 6th Hana-Kimi omnibus has Vols. 16-18, so we’re about 3/4 of the way there. Had enough reverse harem shenanigans yet?

ANNA: There can NEVER be enough reverse-harem shenanigans!!!!!

SEAN: I was pleasantly surprised at Vol. 1 of Happy Marriage?!, whose lead male was not as jerk-like as I expected, so am looking forward to seeing if Vol. 2 can develop the heroine some more as well.

ANNA: This was like volume 1 except with additional super handsome men. No real reverse-harem shenanigans though.

MICHELLE: I liked it more than expected, and it’s quite manhwa-like!

totoroMJ: I’m looking forward to this as well, to my own surprise.

SEAN: My Neighbor Totoro is one of the best and most beloved children’s movies of all time. What better present for your young child than a translation of the Totoro novel, with original illustrations by Miyazaki?

ANNA: This sounds nice!

MJ: Agreed!

ASH: Oh! I had completely forgotten this was coming out.

SEAN: Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is in the middle of a smaller, quieter arc after the long, long, LONG Kyoto arc, so I’m expecting a calmer, gentler yokai with Vol. 17. I firmly believe my expectations will be ruthlessly shattered.

One Piece Omnibus 7 has some of the best volumes of the Alabasta arc, which is one of the best arcs, so you know that you have to get it if you haven’t already.

Rosario + Vampire II 12 is another of those very popular shonen series that I never really got past the first volume of so have nothing to say about.

And Sakura Hime 11 is the exact same thing, only on the shoujo side.

Slam Dunk 30, everyone! The penultimate volume! I’m going to guess there will be a basketball game of some sort.

ANNA: The most awesome basketball game ever! Seriously I love Slam Dunk.

MICHELLE: Me, too. I have been hoarding the recent volumes even though I’ve been so tempted by them. Is there any other sports manga now running? I can’t think of one…

ASH: I am so far behind with Slam Dunk, but it really is great. The only other sports manga I can think of that’s currently being published is Real, also about basketball and also by Takehiko Inoue (and one of my favorite series!)

MICHELLE: Oh, I had forgotten about Real! Possibly because it’s seinen, it doesn’t feel like traditional sports manga to me. I’d dearly love more Mitsuru Adachi, and I’d even buy the Prince of Tennis sequel, no matter how stupid it is.

SEAN: I’m not sure Adachi’s done basketball… he tends to stick with his one sport, although my own license dream, Rough, is a swimming manga.

seiyukaMICHELLE: Oh, I definitely wasn’t thinking only basketball. Rough is the one I most want, too! :)

SEAN: Toriko 18 will no doubt make me hungry, have plausibly deniable homoerotic content, and feature some truly ridiculous animals.

ASH: I’m behind with Toriko, too, but I do get a kick out of the series.

SEAN: Lastly, and to the frustration of my trying to get the side images to look cool and not dangle off the edge of the article. we have the debut of the new series from Special A’s Maki Minami! Voice Over: Seiyuu Academy, is from Hana to Yume, so it already has a head start with me. Can’t wait.

ANNA: I liked this more than I thought I would, considering I did not care much for Special A.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed it, too. It’s pretty generic, but there was still something about it that compelled me to want to read volume two.

MJ: I’m with Michelle and Anna here, too.

SEAN: Is your favorite manga a voice actress?

Voice Over! Seiyu Academy, Vol. 1

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Voice Over! Seiyu Academy Vol. 1 by Maki Minami

This was a book that I thought I wouldn’t like very much, but as I read through the entire volume I found myself begrudgingly enjoying it more than I expected. I ordinarily enjoy manga set in the world of show business. Here, the setting here of a specialized voice over training high school had the potential to both be a bit interesting due to the possibility of learning more about this specialized acting niche in Japan but it could also be somewhat infuriating if the plot devolved into the arcane hierarchical clique hijinks that tend to plague many a shoujo title. Also, in terms of the plots that I tend to enjoy over and over again, I will happily read multiple manga about office ladies forced to marry their harsh yet irresistibly handsome bosses, but high school clique wars tend to make my eyes glaze over unless I’m distracted by other plot elements like space aliens, juvenile delinquency, or magical powers. As I was reading Voice Over, I did think it would have strong appeal to younger teen readers.

Hime’s idol is a famous voice over actress on the anime Lovely Blazers named Sakura Aoyama. Hime’s accepted into a special voice acting school, but she has to fight against her natural tendencies towards emoting in a deep raspy voice. She’s quickly singled out and placed in the “stragglers” group that makes up the bottom students in her class. To add to Hime’s stress, Senri, the son of her idol is in her class and he is both incredibly gifted and a grouchy snob.

Hime is as plucky and determined as you would expect a shoujo heroine in her situation to be, even though she is promptly nicknamed Gorilla Princess by her classmates due to her deep voice. Hime’s motley crew of stragglers includes the super adorable Tsukino who can’t project her voice, an ex-juvenile delinquent named Sho, and boy with horrible nerves and an unfortunate accent named Mitchel. Hime’s initial overtures to Senri are met with determined rudeness. There is a voice over battle (isn’t there always) between the stragglers and their more high-class competition. Hime ends up using her deep voice to surprising effect when she subs in for Mitchel and ends up doing a superb job as the prince in a Snow White play. Hime and Senri keep running into each other, and she gradually sees his more human side. I found Senri’s habit of adoring kittens contrasted with his horrible manners to be lacking a bit of nuance. But I was very amused by some of the visual techniques Minami uses to portray the voice over acting of the cast. Little old ladies and old men appear in the background of the panels whenever Hime acts, providing an amusing way of showing how mismatched Hime’s voice is with the lines she’s speaking. I also enjoyed the glimpse of the almost too close to each other male idol duo at school with their legion of female fans who want to ward off any girl from getting close to them so they can continue to get their yaoi fix.

As I was nearing the end of the volume, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, simply because all the elements of humor were almost enough to distract me from a plot that I’m not particularly interested in. This manga doesn’t have the manic energy of an Oresama Teacher that makes the plot almost irrelevant though. If future volumes lean more on the high school clique fighting and less on wacky voice over antics, I expect I’ll be less entertained. I do think that readers less jaded than me would enjoy this manga quite a bit.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Pick of the Week: Goong Returns!

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potw-9-23MJ: I have a number of favorites to choose from this week, which would normally cause me a bit of angst. But if I’m being honest with myself, there’s very little in the wide world of comics that could, for me, trump a new volume of something as gloriously addictive as Goong—the only series among Yen Press’ collection of Ice Kunion manhwa acquisitions still running (to my recollection). I love this fabulously dramatic soap-opera more than I can possibly say, and I simply can’t wait to read its newest volume. Happily, too, this series is being released in chunky omnibus format, so I’ll be able to enjoy a nice, substantial fix. Thanks, Yen Press, for continuing to offer up this series! Gimme, gimme.

ANNA: Goong also makes me happy! But I have to go with Gundam: The Origin Vol. 3 Ramba Ral. This is the only book on this week’s list that I felt compelled to pre-order and I’m eagerly awaiting this volume. The hardcover and deluxe presentation of this series make it a real treat.

SEAN: There’s a lot of really nice books out this week, including some intriguing debuts and personal favorites. But I’ll go with Vol. 5 of A Bride’s Story. I’d been somewhat lukewarm about the series to start, mostly as I just find it hard to get inside the head of its female lead. But with the action switching to a pair of rambunctious twins, things picked up and also got much funnier, while keeping the warmth and heart from prior books. Definitely can’t wait to read this.

ASH: Wow, this is a great week for manga, so it really is hard to choose! Since the most recent volumes of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin and A Bride’s Story have already been mentioned (both of which I’m looking forward to a great deal), I’ll put my vote in for the first part of Hikaru Asada and Takahiro Seguchi’s Sickness Unto Death. I don’t really know much about the series, but Vertical has a habit of publishing some very intriguing manga, so it has caught my interest.

MICHELLE: It’s Goong all the way for me! This series has been on hiatus for a full two years, so I am INTENSELY grateful to Yen for bringing it back to finish its run and for scheduling subsequent releases at four-month intervals! This omnibus covers material from volumes 17-18 of the original Korean release, so if my math is right, the rest of the volumes on Yen’s schedule will take us not only through the conclusion of the series (volume 27), but through the extra 28th volume, as well.

What looks good to you this week?

Manga the Week of 9/25

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SEAN: A surprisingly huge last week of the month. Shall we get right down to it?

Cyborg-009-Cover

Archaia has their new modern adaptation of Cyborg 009 debuting this week. I recall the old 60s series when Tokyopop took a flyer on it, and it was fun if very ‘a product of its time’. It’s a series that a modern retelling, getting rid of some of the racism and sexism, could really work wonders. Intriguing.

ASH: I’ve already got my copy of this one. I haven’t read it yet, but I can say this–Archaia’s Cyborg 009 has one of the coolest book designs that I’ve seen in quite a while.

SEAN: Kodansha continues the speedup of Attack on Titan with Vol. 7, which reminds you that the series can still be really, really brutal.

ASH: Yes it can! If Attack on Titan has one thing going for it, it’s the series’ intensity. And tragic deaths.

MICHELLE: I feel very wrong that “tragic deaths” has seriously made me consider Attack on Titan.

ANNA: I feel the same way. What is the ratio of tragic deaths to non-tragic deaths per volume?

MJ: I also would like to see some statistics on this. Yes.

SEAN: Also, lest you think there’s only omnibuses, there’s the 18th volume of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order.

And speaking of speedups, here’s Fairy Tail 30, which wraps up its very long S-class arc, and has a major plot shift that affects… well, not quite everything.

I admit I sometimes miss things coming out via Picturebox and their cadre of indie manga releases. Here’s a new one called World Map Room, which I know nothing about.

ASH: Picturebox is a publisher that has really caught my eye this year. I don’t always enjoy Yuichi Yokoyama’s manga, but I can certainly appreciate his draftsmanship and experimental work.

MJ: Agreed. I’m very interested in what they’re doing.

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SEAN: I had assumed that Dictatorial Grimoire: Cinderella was another series from Quin Rose in the Alice in the Etc Etc. vein, but apparently not. This is from Media Factory’s oddball shoujo-ish Comic Gene, and is a Grimm’s Fairy Tales rewrite, in a way.

MICHELLE: Huh. I’m feeling a little oversaturated with fairy tail adaptations, though.

ANNA: I love fairy tale adaptations! Not sure if I will check it out although content from oddball shoujo-ish magazines sounds promising.

MJ: Well, huh. This does sound like my kind of thing!

SEAN: Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz is almost finished, I believe, but not quite, so here’s more Boris and Vol. 6.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin has been one of my most awaited titles of 2013, with every volume desperately needing to get into my hands as quickly as possible. Vol. 3 is called Ramba Ral!

ASH: I’ve been very impressed by Vertical’s edition of The Origin. It’s a great manga and a gorgeous release. Plus, I’m a fan of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s manga.

MICHELLE: I’m enjoying it, too!

ANNA: I am so happy that Vertical is putting out this series.

SEAN: If you’d told me a few years ago Vertical would be licensing a Young Animal title, I’d have laughed. But here we are. Sickness Unto Death is along the lines of Flowers of Evil, but only 2 short volumes. The first ships this week.

ASH: I’m very curious about this one.

MICHELLE: I don’t know what to think about it.

MJ: I’m always interested in what Vertical has to offer, so count me in!

SEAN: Are You Alice? has a 2nd volume that may potentially have something comprehensible happen, which Vol. 1 lacked, in my opinion.

And The Betrayal Knows My Name, a series that feels like it should be Wings but is instead in Asuka (which is becoming the new Wings), hits Vol. 6, and has lots of reincarnation romance.

MJ: I have been shamelessly addicted to this series ever since my holiday marathon read last year. More, more!

Mori_Bride_StoryV5_HC

SEAN: A Bride’s Story really picked up for me with the introduction of the twins in Vol. 4, so seeing their wedding in this new volume is definitely high on my list of things to do.

ASH: I’m always happy to see a new volume of Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story! (Now, if we could only get Emma back into print, too…)

MICHELLE: Someday I will have time to read this.

ANNA: Me too. I need to catch up. The first two volumes were lovely.

MJ: I adore this series, and I’m very excited about the wedding! Hurray!

SEAN: Kieli hits Vol. 9… of the novels, that is. Don’t get your novels and manga mixed up, especially from Yen, which tends to license both more than most companies.

The regular old manga may be ending in Japan, but its gag spinoff continues, as we see the 7th volume of The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya.

Lastly, Soul Eater hits sweet 16, and will likely start spinning out new plot threads here to see what sticks. Always fun.

What’s whetting your appetite?

MICHELLE: Isn’t Goong 13 coming out too this week, now that I think about it? At least, Amazon has it with the same date as the other Yen, and I just got it in a box of review copies (yay!).

ANNA: eeeeeeeee!

MJ: YAY GOONG YAY!

SEAN: It’s still hard for me to remember Korean books…

Pick of the Week: Satoshi Kon & More!

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potw9-16ASH: Although this week is relatively light when it comes to manga releases (at least when compared to the last few weeks), there are still plenty of great manga to choose from. I’m especially interested in Satoshi Kon’s Tropic of the Sea. Kon is probably best known in the West as an anime director—and a fine one at that–but he started his career in manga. With beautiful artwork and a focus on legends and water, there’s no way I’m passing up Tropic of the Sea.

MJ: I’m quite torn this week, despite the limited selection, as it’s difficult to ignore a new volume of Ooku. But it’s even more difficult to ignore something as new (to us, anyway) and intriguing as Tropic of the Sea. So I’ll stand with Ash on this one. The cover art alone has me sold.

SEAN: Given we have Tropic of the Sea out of the way, I’m going to take a chance on Sherlock Bones, the new shounen title from Kodansha. As readers who have read my Young Miss Holmes reviews know, I’m a sucker for all things Holmes and Watson, so the premise at least intrigues me. We’ll see how much it abuses canon. The writer is also one of the pseudonyms of the people who did Kindaichi Case Files, a low-selling but highly regarded mystery series from back in the day.

MICHELLE: I admit Tropic of the Sea is very intriguing, and that I’m curious about Sherlock Bones but I simply must throw Fumi Yoshinaga some love and officially pick Ooku. True, it’s not my favorite of her manga, but it’s still quite fascinating.

ANNA: I am also torn between Tropic of the Sea and Ooku! I think I’ll have to go with Tropic of the Sea though, since I’m finding that the most interesting debut of the week.

What looks good to you this week?

Otome Games Review: Destiny Ninja and Pirates in Love

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destinyninja

So I’ve always been leery of manga adaptations of Otome games, just because I find the plots a bit too formulaic. Even though I do have a strong fondness towards reverse harem scenarios, so far the Alice in the Country of franchise is the only Otome game manga where I’ve felt compelled to read more than a few volumes. I’ve been very busy recently and needing a new distraction, so when I saw that there was a game out called Shall We Date: Destiny Ninja, I decided to give that a try. Falling all the way down the Otome game rabbit hole, I also started playing Pirates in Love as well.


Shall We Date: Destiny Ninja is available for android and iphone.

I decided to start playing this because the name “Destiny Ninja” was hilarious. I was even more amused after sitting through a few minutes of the prologue, where the ninja are identified solely by their personality traits. The choices were Aggressive Pompous Ninja, Wicked Mean Ninja, Mischievous Masked Dark Ninja, Indifferent Merciless Stubborn Ninja, Mean But With an Angel Heart Brother Like Ninja, or Sexy Foreign Ninja. I decided to go with Mischievous Masked Dark Ninja at first.

Dark Ninja is Hyosuke, who seems to spend most of his time alternating between making jokes or indulging in cold and calculating revenge. He’s got a bit of a split personality.

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The heroine of the story wakes up with amnesia near a battlefield, with no clues to her identity other than the expensive clothing and necklace that she wears. She’s taken under the wing of a local lord and his shinobi, and one of the ninjas is assigned to protect her. The heroine slowly uncovers the clues to her identity while falling in love with her chosen ninja.

hyosuke1

Destiny Ninja is free to play, but it has some cumbersome game elements that are basically designed to frustrate the player into spending actual money. You can only progress forward through each chapter if your ninja has energy. You can revive your ninja by feeding him rice cakes, which you can attain through purchasing or winning them in ninja lotteries, or getting more energy through leveling up. Each energy unit is only worth getting through about a couple dozen lines of text, so it takes a long time to get through several chapters. The energy units also fill up at a very slow pace without using rice cakes. Players can earn points and virtual money through befriending other players. There are stopping points and checkpoints along the way where you have to have extra items like shuriken and passes. You also have to accessorize your chosen ninja’s companion animal by giving it scarves and masks. While I think it would be entirely possible to progress in the game for free, you would have to have a great deal of patience.

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The storyline is fairly standard, and when the characters end up going through a lot of ninja history plot exposition it cam be a tiny bit boring, but generally I was entertained. I’m almost at the end of the storyline with the first ninja I picked, and I started trying to play from the beginning again just to see how the story would differ with a different character. This time I picked the Indifferent Merciless Stubborn Ninja, who indeed seems to be both indifferent and merciless as advertized, although as the story progresses, he begins to seem less and less indifferent.

There’s a complicated love meter for the game where depending on the answers you give, you can get one of four endings with each ninja. This means that if you have an obsessive personality and actually want to experience all the endings, you will have to play through the game four times per character. There’s a “sweet happy ending” which is more emotional or a “lovey dovey” ending which is evidently more risque. In terms of general romantic content though, the entire game is about at the level of a slightly risque harlequin romance novel. The English translation for this game is also not very good, but you can still understand everything that’s happening.

The game interface for this game is a bit crowded, because there are so many little add-ons and extra tasks needed for you to complete the story. I found the visual clutter a bit endearing, although I did get frustrated at the slow rate of progression for the game, even after spending money on rice cakes to power up my ninja. It was so slow I decided to check out another game, Pirates in Love.

Pirates! In! Love!

Pirates in Love is available for android and iphone

This game requires you to pay for stories after a free introductory chapter. The interface for the game is smooth and easy to navigate, there’s some background music for the game that quickly becomes annoying, and the art looks less like clip art. With each decision point the heroine has three options, and there are no extra mini-games or tasks to complete. Pirates In Love functions pretty much like a classic choose your own adventure novel. It is easy to go through the storyline for a character in about an hour and a half or so.

I figured that when playing a game with pirate characters, one has to go for the guy in the eye patch.

Hello there.

Hello there.

As much as I enjoyed the looks of eye patch guy, whose name was Eduardo, I didn’t care very much for the storyline. He seemed to treat the heroine like a dim-witted mascot most of the time, and while certain aspects of Eduardo’s mysterious past were very interesting, there was a bit of a misogynistic vibe that I didn’t care for too much. By the end of the story he is much less of a creep, and he does get style points for the eye patch. I found the game interesting enough that I decided to play again with a different character, Russell the arrogant fencing pirate.

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This storyline focuses more on the hero gaining a more mature sense of his place in the world, and it wasn’t as complex as Eduardo’s journey where he deals with his past, eye patch, and various conflicts with other pirates. It was less annoying but also a bit less interesting than the first character I tried. This game does a good job of balancing appearances from all the characters in every story, so it is easy to start wondering about all the different outcomes if you tried to play through the game with yet another character.

For my third time through this game, I picked the womanizing borderline alcoholic pirate captain.

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Captain Morgan’s story involved ensuring an island’s water supply, mysterious twins, him being chased through a towm by all the woman in port that he wronged before, a hydra, and pirate captain political maneuvering. It was probably the most entertaining of the stories I’d tried so far in Pirates in Love, and of course the heroine cures him of his alcoholism and womanizing by the time the story is done.

Pirates in Love was much less frustrating to play than Destiny Ninja, because once you’ve bought a storyline you can play it until the end, and you can also go back and switch your answers to try to get a different ending without having to pay any extra. I actually played through three full stories in Pirates in Love for less money than I spend on buying rice cakes and other items in Destiny Ninja. Overall, I think Pirates in Love is a better value for what you get from the game, although I do find all the ninja quite amusing. I found my first foray into Otome gaming much more entertaining than I thought it would be. I’m going to continue with both of these games, as there are a couple characters with stories I’m still interested in from Pirates in Love. I might just adjust to the glacial pace of Destiny Ninja and play it more casually, as the lag time in normal game play makes it a bit frustrating to follow the stories closely.

If you do decide to give Destiny Ninja a try, my invite code is:CqWB9YLrSW (we both get bonus rice cakes!)

Who exactly are these pirates in love with?

Who exactly are these pirates in love with?

Strobe Edge, Vols 5 and 6

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One of the reasons why I keep reading manga is that it still has the capacity to surprise me. I found the fifth volume of Strobe Edge exciting to read, because it went in a totally different direction from what I was expecting. I’d always expected that the love triangle between Ren, Mayuka, and Ninako would have to be resolved somehow, but I wasn’t expecting a big change to come from Mayuka this early in the series. Ren is deliberately holding himself back from developing feelings for Ninako due to his sense of duty towards Mayuka. She’s emotional fragile and stressed out with the demands of her modeling career, school, and her parents’ divorce. Ren has a finely honed sense of integrity and wouldn’t do anything to hurt another person, with the expense of actually subverting his own feelings in the process.

I always expect anyone in a shoujo manga with a modeling career to be evil, but Mayuka shows that she’s been slowly picking up on Ren’s distance, coming to terms with her own goals for how she wants to live her life, and she realizes that she’s the one who is going to have to take a big step forward on her own. The change in Ren and Mayuka’s relationship isn’t without pain on both sides, but everything is handled with a degree of emotional maturity and sensitivity that is notable. It is fun to read a shoujo series that explores the shifting relationships between characters with such nuance.

In the meantime Ninako and Ando are in the grips of adorable teenage awkwardness, as she attempts to bury her own feelings for Ren and Ando tries to show her that he’s the better choice for her. Ando’s shifted from the cheerful flirtations personality that he displayed in the first few volumes to showing Ninako just how much he cares about her. There was a fun bonus story in this volume that delved into the past friendship between Ren and Ando, and just where it went wrong. This is the type of bonus story that I really enjoy, as it gives the reader a glimpse of the characters in a slightly different context, and provides more background as the manga moves forward.

There’s emotional turmoil ahead in the sixth volume of Strobe Edge, as Ando’s antagonism towards Ren resurfaces and Ren is dealing with the aftermath of his breakup with Mayuka. The burden of popularity and extreme handsomeness weighs heavily on Ren, as he is girlfriendless for barely a day before the girls at school start circling him. Ninako assumes that Ren is sad, and doesn’t want to do anything to add to his stress. Even with Valentine’s day coming up, she doesn’t want to add to the mountain of chocolate he’s going to be receiving from all the other girls.

There are some fun action scenes as Ren and Ando (mostly Ando) work through some aggression on the basketball court. The antagonistic relationship between them takes a turn towards the hilarious as Ando gets injured and when he wakes up and spots Ren he yells “You’re what I have to wake up to?” If Strobe Edge was only focused on the relationship between Ninako and Ren, it has the potential to get boring fairly fast. But seeing Ren and Ando start to work through their issues feels like an important emotional breakthrough. Ando instructs Ren not to smile, and Ren assumes that it is because his smile is somehow hideous, but really Ando doesn’t like the inadvertent effect a smiling Ren has on all the people in his vicinity. The end of volume six offers the promise of a new beginning at the start of a new school year, with Ren and Ninako being assigned to the same class.

Strobe Edge is a good example of why sometimes it is good to give a manga series a few volumes to develop before giving up on it. I was a bit on the fence about this series after reading only the first volume even though I generally enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have thought from just the first volume that Sakisaka would have built up the interesting relationships between the characters and handled some emotional journeys without relying on some of the standard shoujo plot elements. In some ways Strobe Edge is a less angsty successor to We Were There, as both series explore similar nuanced psychological territory.

Review copy of vol 6 provided by the publisher.

Pick of the Week: Something for Everyone

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potw-9-9-13MICHELLE: Even though I’m not completely sold on the idea of packaging the Sailor Moon Sailor Moon Short Stories separately, I am nonetheless going to appoint the first volume of them as my pick for this week, since it’s my penultimate chance to mention Sailor Moon in this column. I can’t believe the series is really nearly complete in English; it seemed to happen so fast!

ASH: Another series that is slowly nearing the end of its release in English is Hiroaki Samura’s long-running Blade of the Immortal. It’s a personal favorite of mine, so I’d be a bad fan if I didn’t choose it as my pick of the week. The Man of Tango is also very tempting, though…

SEAN: Normally I would be all over Sailor Moon as well. However, this volume of Hayate the Combat Butler, as well as the two that follow it, are a peak that I’m not sure the series has ever quite reached again. It’s especially a rewarding volume for Hinagiku fans, at least until the final page. For fans of romantic harem comedy, this is still one of the funnier ones. At least till 2014, when we’ll see the two action-oriented thriller volumes.

MJ: I’m going to pick up where Ash left off and give my vote to Tetuzoh Okadaya’s The Man of Tango. BL one-shots are not often for me, but based on everything I’ve read about this book, even down to the cover design, I’m going to guess that this one will be. It’s definitely one I’m willing to take a chance on. So there you have it!

ANNA: I’ll have to go with the sixth volume of 07-Ghost. There are many great manga shipping this week, but I’ll likely read that manga first. The mystical fighting priests reel me in every time!

What looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 9/9/13

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This week, Anna, MJ, & Sean look at recent releases from Viz Media, SuBLime Manga, and Swedish publisher Nosebleed Studio.

demon4Demon Love Spell, Vol. 4 | By Mayu Shinjo | Viz Media – Part of me reads Shinjo’s recent works with a feeling of wistful nostalgia for the more melodrama-filled antics of her earlier series. However, each volume of Demon Love Spell becomes more hilarious and disarming. This volume of the comedic supernatural romance features Miko and incubus Kagura temporarily becoming parents to a boy who appears from a peach, and Miko’s trip to the demon world features her being confronted with a parade of Kagura’s siblings, each more gorgeous than the next. This is one of those series that leaps up to the top of my to-read stack whenever a new volume arrives. Highly recommended. – Anna N

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 4 | By Mayu Shinjo | Viz Media – Now that Mayu Shinjo is no longer at Shogakukan and can’t just have everyone fall into the sack after 2 chapters (though you’d never know it by that seductive cover), she’s forced to find ways to have our heroes not going there. It’s especially amusing in this volume as the last few obstacles that are stopping them are getting removed; Miko now admits that she desires Kagura and is ready to give herself to him, and Kagura has admitted that she is different from his other conquests and he wants to marry her, not just screw her. Of course, this doesn’t mean anything happens. Between peach babies, bodyswaps, interfering fathers on both sides, and a swarm of amazingly sexy in-laws, Miko has her hands full here. But I’m OK with that, as this is the most fun I’ve ever had with a Shinjo series. – Sean Gaffney

hideandseek1Hide and Seek, Vol. 1 | By Yaya Sakuragi | SuBLime Manga – Despite some decidedly positive experiences with the works of Yaya Sakuragi, I can’t deny that my intense dislike of Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love caused me to approach this spin-off with great apprehension. With that in mind, I’m happy to report that I’ve been pleasantly surprised! Though Hide and Seek‘s carefree single dad, Shuji Tanihara, and reserved doctor, Takafumi Saji, represent fairly typical BL types, their characterization feels fresh and their slow-building relationship reads as nuanced and unpredictable, even within the predictable confines of the genre. Furthermore, the sex scenes actually enhance characterization and move the plot forward—something I’ve long stopped expecting in BL romance. If anyone ever told me I’d one day consider revisiting Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, I’d have scoffed heartily. Yet here we are. Unexpectedly recommended. – MJ

kimi17Kimi Ni Todoke Vol. 17 | by Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – Kimi Ni Todoke is one of those longer series that deserves to be whatever length the author wishes to stretch it out to, simply because the length of the series allows the reader to build up an affinity for all the characters and the manga as a whole is so well-executed. Sawako and Kazehaya’s relationship is under a bit of a strain, as he attempts to maintain distance between them out of respect for her naivete and she begins to worry that he doesn’t want to be around her anymore. Usually this type of storyline where the characters are kept apart because they aren’t really communicating can cause me to feel highly impatient, but Shiina’s slow, emotionally delicate handling of the situation just wants me to follow along with the progression of this relationship.
– Anna N

slamdunk30Slam Dunk, Vol. 30 | by Takehiko Inoue | Viz Media – When most long-running series come to a close after 30+ volumes I usually read the final volumes with a bit of relief, looking forward to the conclusion. I am actually extremely sad that this is the next to last volume of Slam Dunk, because I feel like there are so many other stories that could be told with these characters, 31 volumes is just scratching the surface. There are hints of a conclusion, as Akagi looks back over his career during a timeout and Rukawa continues to evolve on the court. I’m going to be sitting here impatiently waiting until December, because I’m worried that Sakuragi really did injure his back making a key play in the game. It is a shame that sports manga isn’t more commercially appealing in North America, but at least with this series we have the opportunity to read one of the best examples of the genre. Highly recommended as always. – Anna N

Omslag1-300x420Swedish Manga Anthology | By Catarina Batista, Natalia Batista, & Joakim Waller | Nosebleed Studio – This anthology of three global manga comes from Nosebleed Studio, a group of Swedish artists who are not only influenced heavily by Japanese manga, but who have, in some cases, pursued publication in Japan. I mention this, because even in this anthology, which is deliberately Swedish-themed, there is a sense that the authors are writing for Japanese audiences. The book’s second two stories, Natalia Batista’s “Hearts of Midsummer” and Joakim Waller’s “Leo” both read right-to-left, as they would if they’d been intended for publication in Japanese. “Leo,” in fact, doesn’t read as something particularly Swedish at all, aside from the characters’ names, and could just as easily be set in Japanese school. The volume’s standout is Catarina Batista’s “Crying Wolf,” an anti-wolf-hunting story that manages to be more charming than heavy-handed, though all three are well-constructed and enjoyable to read. – MJ

Eat for Your Life vol. 1

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eatforyourlife

Eat for Your Life Volume 1 by Shigeru Tsuchiyama

This book is available on emanga.com

I do enjoy food manga now and then, and since unfortunately this is a genre that we only get a small sampling of here I’m always interested in a new title. While there are plenty of manga that I’ve read devoted to particular dishes or types of food, eating with friends, or in the case of Toriko eating incredibly weird things, this is the first eating competition manga that I’ve read. I found the combination of sports manga plot structure and endless drawings of bowls of katsudon compelling.

Ohara is a salaryman with a reputation as a gourmet. Perpetually broke due to his habit of going on food tours, he stumbles across an eating competition and decides to try his luck. Ohara fails, but he catches the eye of a professional food competitor named George. I could tell at a glance that George was going to be Ohara’s eccentric mentor because he was wearing a fringed leather jacket, sunglasses, and a ponytail. George appreciates Ohara’s ability to savor what he is eating as well as his rudimentary but sound eating technique.

Ohara begins to be pulled into the world of competative eating, but with some informal coaching from George, he might be ready to take his love of eating to the next level. The situations and characters in Eat For Your Life follow the “try your best” theme of most sports manga, except here one tries to conquer insane serving amounts of food as opposed to facing an opponent on the sports field. Eat For Your Life was amusing. The art was well executed, but not particularly distinctive, and there wwas a decent amount of humor as Ohara reacts with a rookie’s amazement to the world of competitive eating. I recommended this title for foodie manga fans.

Electronic access provided by the publisher.

Manga the Week of 9/11

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SEAN: Manga is here, let’s to’t.

Dark Horse has the 27th volume of Blade of the Immortal, one of Dark Horse’s long-running prestige manga titles. It’s still badass.

ASH: That it is! Blade of the Immortal was one of the first manga series that I started reading and I’m still hooked on it.

MICHELLE: I read the first volume and was really impressed by the art, and I own a bunch more of it, but I’ve still never continued. The same thing happened with Vagabond too, actually.

ANNA: I read the first three volumes or so and really liked it. If I ever stumble across a library with a good chunk of this series, I would check it out again. Vagabond as always has my eternal devotion, I think I might be behind with one or two of the VizBig editions.

MJ: I wish I’d gotten hooked early on. At this point the length feels so daunting! Yet I feel I’d probably love it.

smss1SEAN: They also have the 4th volume of OreImo. No spoilers in the comments, bitter fans of the anime. (I wonder if OreImo will pull a School Rumble in terms of sales now that the ending is out in Japan?)

DMP have a BL title coming out called Priceless Honey. Seems to be a short story collection from the author of Punch Up!.

MJ: I’m not big on BL anthologies, but I did like Punch Up!…

SEAN: Kodansha have the 2nd to last Arisa, which I got very, very behind on. Luckily, it’s out digitally now, so I can try to catch up!

ASH: I’m a bit behind on Arisa as well, but it had a great start and I’ve been meaning to read more of it.

MICHELLE: I’ve read through volume ten. It’s become rather snickerworthy, as I noted in brief back in June, but I’m still planning to see it through to the end.

ANNA: I haven’t read this, for some reason Kodansha’s current shoujo releases don’t appeal to me very much, but I’m looking forward to some of the new series they’ve recently announced!

Not out digitally (here or in Japan) but certainly out in print is the first collection of Sailor Moon Short Stories. These ran in Nakayoshi’s sister magazines throughout the run of the manga, and originally were interspersed through the original volumes. The re-release collected them all at the end. This first of two volumes collects the Chibi-Usa side stories, and the Exam Battles starring the other Inners. It also has my 2nd favorite Sailor Moon manga moment.

MICHELLE: I’m not sure how wise it was to put the short stories in their own collection. True, this way they don’t interrupt the main flow of the narrative, but when I read the Japanese edition this way I was sort of… underwhelmed. Maybe they’ll fare better in English.

manoftangoANNA: One of these days I will marathon Sailor Moon, I feel like I should block out a day and stock up on Sailor Moon reading supplies. I’m envisioning a lot of sweet milky tea and many star-shaped cookies.

SEAN: I’ve come to love His Favorite without ever reading it, just for the look of disgust on the face of the uke on every single cover. It’s an absolute delight, and I hope he’s just as grouchy in the manga itself. Vol. 5 is out this week.

MJ: I’m a volume behind on this now, but the manga really is as delightful as its covers, in my experience. And that character is pretty grouchy. It could sort of read as an AU xxxHolic fanfic, if that gives you some sense of what you’re in for.

SEAN: Also out from SubLime is The Man of Tango, which sounds like it should star Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. The cover art for this is easily the best design SubLime’s ever done (their cover design has been a very weak point to date), and really looks smokingly passionate. This apparently has previously unpublished content as well.

ASH: I’m very excited about the release of The Man of Tango! Originally licensed by Aurora but never released, I was thrilled to see SuBLime pick it up.

ANNA: I don’t read a ton of yaoi, but this was one manga that I actually pre-ordered when Aurora was supposed to release it. Glad this is coming out finally, I found the title and cover of this manga very intriguing.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this as well!

SEAN: Udon still puts out manga, and not just artbooks. Today, it’s Disgaea 3: School of Devils 2. Next week, Arsenal 4, Tottenham nil.

arata15And a trio from Viz. 07-GHOST just ended in Japan last month, but fear not, there’s still a lot to go before we catch up. Here’s Vol. 6.

MICHELLE: It seems like volumes of this series are appearing like bunnies! Soon we’ll be caught up with Go!Comi, if we’re not already!

ANNA: ACK, I’m three volumes behind now! I do like this series, though.

MJ: I am too, yikes!

SEAN: Arata: The Legend is about a year and a half behind Japan, which is not uncommon for a Shonen Sunday mid-list title, even if it is by Yuu Watase. Here’s Vol. 15.

MICHELLE: I do enjoy Arata, even if I can’t get as squeeful about it as, say, Genbu Kaiden.

ANNA: Genbu Kaiden deserves all the squees!

MJ: Agreed, re: Genbu Kaiden. I’m iffy on Arata.

SEAN: And Vol. 22 of Hayate the Combat Butler, which is 3 1/2 years behind Japan and growing farther away every biannual release, but sadly, sales. The manga is still in Greece, and this volume has what may be one of the best romantic heartbreakers of the entire series to date.

Anything strike your fancy?

Pick of the Week: Too Many Books

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potw-9-2SEAN: My pick of the week is the third and final Young Miss Holmes omnibus from Seven Seas. I remain impressed at its ability to shoehorn a precocious 10-year-old girl and her killer maids into the Holmes canon, and there’s a minimum of fanservice given that it runs in a Media Factory title. This third volume introduces some original stories not based on the Holmes canon, including its finale, the Giant Rat of Sumatra, which Watson always felt the world was not yet ready for. Kudos to Seven Seas for this title.

MJ: I’ve been procrastinating on this, because I was honestly torn about what to choose, though in retrospect, it seems so simple. This week offers up new volumes of a couple of my favorite addictive shoujo series, Strobe Edge and Demon Love Spell, as well as the (potentially addictive) supernatural romance Midnight Secretary. But they’re all standing up against the latest volume of one of my favorite continuing series of 2012, Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, and there aren’t many series that would stand a chance against that. So I’m going for volume five of Wandering Son. It’s this week’s must-buy, at least for me.

ASH: As much as I love Baku Yumemakura and Jiro Taniguchi’s The Summit of the Gods there is absolutely no question as to my pick of the week: the fifth volume of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son. The series is incredibly important to me on a very personal level in addition to simply being a great manga. It’s a wonderful story about personal identity and growing up. I’m absolutely thrilled that Fantagraphics is bringing Wandering Son to English-reading audiences and the series is receiving a beautiful hardcover release.

MICHELLE: Seeing as how Wandering Son has safely earned its place, I’m going to go for volume six of Io Sakisaka’s Strobe Edge. Of volume five, I wrote, “This is what good shoujo drama is like when you don’t have to result to tired old clichés… It actually reminds me a little of We Were There, which is high praise indeed.” I’m certainly looking forward to volume six!

ANNA: My pick is Midnight Secretary. This paranormal romance set in the business world sets up an intriguing relationship with an interesting heroine in the first volume, with some touches of both humor and angst. I’m already feeling impatient looking forward to the next volume.

What looks good to you this week?

Midnight Secretary, Vol. 1

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While I enjoy reading paranormal romances set in high school as much as anyone, I attended high school more years ago than I’m willing to admit. So I’m happy to see a romance title that swaps out a twenty-something office lady for the typical teenage manga protagonist. Kaya is an Executive Secretary who is reassigned to the Managing Director at Tohma Corp. Kaya dresses severely, with her hair pulled back and sports fake glasses in order to combat her naturally youthful appearance. Her new boss Kyohei Tohma is an absolute boor, asking that she be reassigned as soon as he sees her because her appearance offends him. Kyohei spends long hours at the office, but he seems to take frequent breaks during the day as a parade of women keep visiting him at his office only to leave looking disheveled and pale.

Kaya is very dedicated to Tohma Corp. and her job, so she does a bit of sleuthing as she is worried that her new boss is doing drugs. She ends up discovering that he is in fact a vampire. Kyohei decides that Kaya’s discovery is a good thing, because she can be his secretary for real if she knows about his condition. He threatens her mother’s employment with the company to ensure Kaya’s silence and assures her that she won’t become his next victim because he only drinks from the finest of women.

As a heroine, Kaya has a bit of a subversive streak. She decides to subtly test vampire theories through her job duties by giving one of Kyohei’s women a silver cross and trying to see if he has a reflection in a mirror. Kaya figures out that the senior director, Kyohei’s older brother, is aware of Kyohei’s vampirism yet isn’t a vampire himself. Kyohei seems amused by Kaya’s detective attempts, and she resolutely resists his arrogant suggestions for her to improve her appearance. When Kyohei gets weakened and needs blood Kaya decides that her secretarial duties extend to becoming food, announcing that “Even if you’re a spoiled, arrogant philanderer…even if you’re sarcastic…and even if you’re a vampire…I want to protect you!”

Kaya and her boss gradually become a bit closer as he begins to trust her with more details of Tohma’s business dealings. Her protective streak is very strong, resulting in some goofy antics at an office Christmas party. I enjoyed the packaging for this manga, as all the extra purple scroll-work makes Midnight Secretary look appropriately gothic. Ohmi’s art is attractive, with believable shifts in the characters’ appearance and mannerisms when Kaya loses her glasses or when Kyohei is in the grips of vampiric compulsion. We see the couple’s professional facades begin to crack more and more as the volume progresses. I enjoyed this first volume of Midnight Secretary very much, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

Review copy provided by the publisher

Manga the Week of 9/4

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SEAN: As I’ve noted before, Diamond Comics and Amazon’s street dates are looking farther apart than ever before. As a result, this list is a fusion of Amazon (the major, book-company publishers) and Midtown Comics (the comics-first publishers).

Dark Horse brings us the 4th volume of Blood Blockade Battlefront, the alliterative series from the Trigun creator.

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There’s also a new Evangelion spinoff coming out as well, with the first volume of Shinji Ikari Detective Diary. From the description, it sounds like this is aimed squarely at the BL Evangelion shippers, in much the same way that the Raising Project manga is aimed at harem fans.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon has the 4th volume of mountain climbing manga Summit of the Gods, one of those “blogger popular” titles I keep meaning to catch up on but have never quite done so. It is supposed to be excellent, though.

MICHELLE: Oh, nice! I really like Jiro Taniguchi, but have been waiting for this series to come out in full before reading it. I think there’s one more volume still.

ASH: Oh! I’m one of the reasons this is a “blogger popular” title. Summit of the Gods is easily my favorite Jiro Taniguchi collaboration; I’m very happy to see that Fanfare/Ponent Mon is continuing to release the series. Only one more volume to go after this!

MJ: Count me in for this one as well!

SEAN: Amazon has Wandering Son 5 listed for November 2nd. If Kodansha is the publisher that is consistently always arriving at bookstores first and comic shops later, Fantagraphics is the classic example of the opposite. Here’s Wandering Son 5, hitting comic shops. In this volume, I believe we get to high school and introduce some new supporting players.

MICHELLE: I am lamentably several volumes behind with Wandering Son, but it’s still nice to see new volumes make their appearance!

ASH: We actually have a few years of junior high to get through before reaching high school, but you’re right about the new supporting characters.

ANNA: I really need to catch up on this series!

MJ: I adore this series, and I can’t wait to read volume five, whenever it appears!

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SEAN: Seven Seas has the final volume of one of my favorite series from them, Young Miss Holmes by Kaoru Shintani (of Area 88 fame). This omnibus, containing Books 5-7, is even larger than the previous two, and is filled with mysteries, mayhem, and killer maids. There’s a sequel in Japan, featuring 17-year-old Christie continuing to solve crimes. Seven Seas has noted its possible license (Slightly Older Miss Holmes?) depends on sales of the first, so go get it! Also, there’s only one Conan Doyle story in here (the rest are originals based on ‘unseen cases’, so less danger of offending Holmes purists.

ANNA: I somehow missed that this was by the mangaka of Area 88! I still have all my ancient Eclipse Comics/Viz editions of Area 88 stashed in a box somewhere. Now, I might finally pick up Young Miss Holmes. I hope there are scenes of people in flight suits with floppy hair looking incredibly emo in Young Miss Holmes, because Area 88 was awesome at that.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd omnibus from Seven Seas, with Vols. 3-4 of Zero’s Familiar. I was surprised that the dark shroud of fan opinion surrounding the tsundere heroine turned out to be more of a off-white silk scarf more than anything, and wonder if my opinion will stay the same as we go further into this fantasy harem series.

I presume that those who read Bleach either have done so for years, or are likely never to do so. But if you’ve been catching up via the omnibus, the 3 volumes collected in the 6th one are some of the very best, and remind me of those olden days when Kubo could pace properly.

MJ: Agreed. I have much nostalgia for those early volumes, and this is a particularly strong little set.

SEAN: Demon Love Spell has been one of Shinjo’s best titles at walking that fine line between ‘sexy, forceful guy’ and ‘complete ass’, and I’m hoping that Vol. 4 continues that balance.

ANNA: I have just read this and it was hilarious. This is rapidly becoming my favorite Shinjo series, despite my long-standing fondness for Sensual Phrase.

MJ: I’m absolutely addicted to this series.

SEAN: Dragon Ball has an omnibus as well, and it’s hit Vol. 2. New Dragon Ball readers are born every day! This omnibus is probably for them more than those of us who bought the VIZBig, or the original volumes. Or the digital volumes. And stay tuned for Dragon Ball cranial ports, coming in 2015.

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Midnight Secretary has a lot of good buzz. So much good buzz, in fact, that Viz has already licensed another title by the same author before this one has even come out. You know they trust it will do well. And why will it do well, you ask? One word: vampires. That said, the heroine is also apparently an excellent draw, and is not your usual Petit Comic office lady. I’m very intrigued about this one. Can’t wait.

ANNA: I think this will be a must get for paranormal romance manga fans. I am also looking forward to this. I mean, the title alone is fantastic.

MJ: Agreed on all counts!

SEAN: The 6th Naruto omnibus is out. I still need to catch up on this title. So… ninjas?

ASH: Yes. Ninja. Lots and lots of ninja.

SEAN: One Piece has reached Vol. 68. There is an awful lot of fighting happening here, and several of our heroes continue to be in the wrong bodies, leading to humorous situations. Recommended as top-drawer entertainment.

MICHELLE: I continue to love One Piece.

SEAN: Last time, Psyren turned its attention to our villains, and did a damn good job of fleshing them out. I expect it will go back to the heroes this time, as we’re getting near a climax (I think we’ve only 5 volumes to go).

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Psyren. So many books (and responsibilities), so little time.

SEAN: And Strobe Edge hits its second half with Vol. 6. We may have resolved one of the obstacles standing between our two lovebirds last time, but the course of true love definitely doesn’t run smooth in this title. Something bad’s going to happen, I can feel it. Be there to read it when it does.

MICHELLE: I really love Strobe Edge, and I admit I kinda wouldn’t mind seeing something bad happen.

ANNA: This is one of those shoujo series that just seems to get better as it goes along.

MJ: This is a strong week for addictive shoujo, I see. Lovely, lovely.

SEAN: Any manga jump out at you this week?

Pick of the Week: Chi & More!

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potw8-26MJ: It’s a bit of a slow week for me coming up, filled with things I’ve fallen behind on, things I don’t read, and things I might read but haven’t just yet. And then there’s Chi. If there’s any manga guaranteed to bring a smile out of me, even in my crankiest moments, it’s the warm, funny, occasionally sad, but consistently adorable Chi’s Sweet Home. Volume ten gets my pick this week. There’s simply nothing else that will do.

MICHELLE: I’m in the same boat, and feel just the same about Chi. It’s a guaranteed mood-lifter, and something that I not only like, but my coworker’s elementary-school-aged daughter likes, too. Perfect gateway manga for kids!

SEAN: I’d love to make it a unanimous pick this week, but oh no, Chi, you have to suit up and fight the Titans so you can defend your family! Attack on Titan has become one of the biggest hits of this entire year, partly due to a strong anime, but mostly due to a great story, and the author finally fleshing out his characterization of our desperate heroes. I’d argue Vols. 4-5 are where it really began to kick in, and the new Vol. 6 will probably only ramp up the tension further. Now if only the art could get a little better…

ASH: My initial reaction was to select the most recent volume of Chi’s Sweet Home as well. It’s been nearly a year since we’ve last seen that delightful little kitten romping around. But, I think I might have to join Sean in picking the sixth volume of Attack on Titan this week. The artwork has admittedly been inconsistent and even downright bad at times, but I have been thoroughly engaged with the story and worldbuilding from the very beginning of the series.

ANNA: I’m going to go with Crimson Empire just because I do plan to pick it up soon, and based on the first volume I suspect it is a good manga to read when you want to turn your brain off. Also, I find the assassin maid reverse harem scenario amusing.

What looks good to you this week?