Anna N

This week, Anna, Sean, and Michelle look at recent releases from Viz Media and Kodansha Comics.

Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 10 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – This fantasy manga featuring a misfit red-headed princess struggling with her gift to see into the past and future has developed into an engrossing story with a focus on expansive worldbuilding and political machinations. The tenth volume heads into a new direction as Nakaba and Caesar are remarried to other people, while still determined to somehow build the better world they envisioned together. Nakaba has come a long way since her more tentative appearance in the first volume, so I’m looking forward to seeing what she does as she seeks her own political power with only Loki by her side. – Anna N.

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 10 | By Miyoshi Tomori | Viz Media – It isn’t often that a shoujo manga volume leaves me with conflicting feelings a few days after reading it, but I’ve come to expect the unexpected from this manga. While Shin has been warned off from physical intimacy with Maria due to her psychological issues, he does force the issue with traumatizing results. Maria has unsettling flashbacks as her repressed memories are triggered, and Shin continues for a bit despite her clear distress. In a way this scene almost feels like Tomori’s commentary on the way similar set-ups are romanticized in manga, but in A Devil and Her Love Song it is genuinely unsettling. I predict fallout from this volume will continue for awhile. This is one manga that is always a bit unpredictable, which is why I enjoy reading it. – Anna N

Fairy Tail, Vol. 28 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – Several people may have been surprised, even a bit annoyed, at Cana ignoring her friends’ plight in order to reach the goal of the S-class battle that is clearly cancelled. Now we find out why – it’s tied in to finding her father, whose identity is someone we all know. Cana’s past is rather sad and lonely, and reminds me a bit of Wendy. Meanwhile, the villains strike back in the quest to secure victory on the island, and at one point are so strong they even take out Gildarts (who, it has been said, rarely appears as he’s such a game-breaker). Luckily, Erza wins the day by, well, her psychic connection with Jellal – sorry, folks who hate him. As for Grey, he quickly sees through Ultear’s false crocodile tears. But is that going to do him any good? Still a fun shonen battle manga. – Sean Gaffney

Kaze Hikaru, Vol. 21 | By Taeko Watanabe | Viz Media – Volume 21 focuses on the fallout from Sei’s stint as an undercover spy—as a result of Okita’s feelings for her jeopardizing the mission, Sei is transferred to another company. She’s never been one for just following orders and so demands an explanation, and when Okita claims he requested the transfer because he’s sick of her, she contemplates giving up on bushi life and becoming a nun until an actual nun helps her gain perspective. I enjoyed this volume, but I was troubled by the number of times various characters equate being a girl with impetuous thinking. Too, Sei blames the female part of herself for wanting love, but isn’t it equally the girl part of her that wants to be a bushi and avenge her father and brother? This is something that Basara got right, and which I thought Kaze Hikaru did too. I must say I’m a little disappointed, though my love for the series remains intact. – Michelle Smith

Magi, Vol. 1 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – I knew absolutely nothing about Magi going in to this debut volume, but it turned out to be pretty fun! The first chapter introduces Aladdin, a young boy with a penchant for good food, pretty ladies, and super-deformity. He’s on the search for a metal vessel for his friend, Ugo the djinn, who currently resides in the flute Aladdin wears around his neck and who can be summoned in times of need. When Alibaba, a destitute young man looking to strike it rich by “clearing” one of the mysterious and deadly treasure-laden dungeons that have sprung up around the world, witnesses Ugo in action, he decides that Aladdin must be his servant friend and accompany him in this perilous endeavour. Magi‘s tone is light and the RPG influence strong, resulting in something that’s familiar and yet sort of refreshing. I’ll definitely be checking out volume two. – Michelle Smith

This week, Michelle, Anna, & Sean look at recent releases from Viz Media, Last Gasp, Kodansha Comics, & Vertical, Inc.

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 13 | By Julietta Suzuki | Viz Media – This volume concludes the storyline where Nanami and her companions visit Himemiko’s erstwhile fiance Nishiki for their wedding, even though Himemiko is still in love with her human boyfriend Kotaro. Nishiki has gradually been changed by Nanami’s presence and his growing awareness of other people’s emotions. Nanami sees Kotaro and Himemiko’s relationship progress in a way that gives her hope for her feelings towards Tomoe, but everything is derailed a little bit when a toad spirit possesses her body. Nanami’s possessed form is unusually cheerful and doll-like, and Nanami as an amphibian is comically dispirited. Kamisama Kiss is always delightful and this volume is no exception! – Anna N.

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 3 | By Tsutomu Nihei | Vertical, Inc. – Man, Knights of Sidonia is so good, I think I could happily read, oh, 25 volumes in a row. Plus, compared to Nihei’s enigmatic (to put it mildly) BLAME!, we’re actually getting quite a few answers already. True, new mysteries are cropping up all the time, including the rapid evolution of the enemy gauna that sees them creating a replica of one of Tanikaze’s fallen comrades, but the final chapters, in which readers learn the truth of Tanikaze’s origins, are incredibly rewarding. I’m honestly surprised that this information was revealed so quickly and coherently. About the only thing I could wish for from this series would be more “life on the Sidonia” segments. The battles are fascinating, but I’d like to see more of the characters off-duty. There’s a little of that here, and it’s neat, but more, please! – Michelle Smith

Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU, Vol. 2 | By Junko Mizuno | Last Gasp – Delightfully strange. Wonderfully absurd. If either of these descriptive phrases appeals to you, then you might enjoy Junko Mizuno’s Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU. In this volume, Pelu (an alien fluffball who has come to Earth in search of a bride to have his baby) pines for an enigmatic “soap girl” from afar, is duped by a sentient crocheted puppet, competes for yakiniku on a gameshow, becomes a sex slave and unwitting porn star, nearly runs off with a broken-hearted kappa girl, and meets his niece, who has an adventure of her own involving quintuplets and sparkly, magical sausages. PELU is wholly original and you are guaranteed to encounter scenes you’ve never come across in manga before. And even with all this absurdity, the story is still both coherent and compelling. Highly recommended. – Michelle Smith

Missions of Love, Vol. 4 | By Ema Toyama | Kodansha Comics – As I’ve noted before, my tolerance for trashy shoujo manga is basically proportional to the self-confidence of the heroine. This is likely the only reason I’m still reading Missions of Love like it’s eating candy. Everyone in this title is horribly flawed in some way, shape or form, none more so than our heroine, who has no idea what she does to everyone around her. We also have the addition of Mami, who is such a cliched “jealous rival girl” that I have to wonder if it’s parody of some sort. But the big draw for this title is still the sexiness, and more to the point, the dissonance between the brains of the lead couple and their emotions, which give the scenes like ‘bite me on the neck’ an extra erotic charge which you wouldn’t see if it were intentional. This manga is so bad for you, but I can’t stop. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 14 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – This new volume of Natsume starts with two one-shots, one melancholy and one sweet. But the bulk of it is given over to his discovering more about his grandmother Reiko’s past, as we start to see what might become a backstory indicating how she even had a child – noted here to be out of wedlock. Natsume’s opening up to people is absolutely a good thing, and one of the ways in which he’s able to differentiate himself from his grandmother. But it also leads to pitfalls, as he can’t simply take advantage of his friends and family the way Reiko used to do. Caring too much is something Natsume has always done, but lately it’s getting worse, and you get the feeling that we’re headed to a breaking point. For now, though, we get some more yokai, and a slowly advancing plot. – Sean Gaffney

Rin-Ne, Vol. 12 | By Rumiko Takahashi | Viz Media – The last third of this volume of Rin-Ne is much like the previous 11 volumes, which is to say slice-of-afterlife comedy involving people who weren’t able to fulfill love so were unable to pass on, or alternately laughing at how poor Rinne is. The majority of the book, though, is devoted to a longer plot involving Rokumon, who is taking an exam to see if he can become a ranked Black Cat (which means a bigger budget for Rinne). He faces off against all the other familiars in the series, and the result is, as you’d expect from someone like Takahashi, more of a battle royale than a final exam. It does show off how earnest and dedicated Rokumon is, though, and how he can think fast when the need really arises. If you like Takahashi and don’t mind lack of plot movement, Rin-Ne won’t disappoint. – Sean Gaffney

This week, Sean, Anna, & MJlook at six recent releases from Viz Media.

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 10 | By Kazue Kato | Viz Media – As you would expect after the end of a long arc, a lot of this volume is taking a breather while setting things up for the arcs to come (such as the Gehenna Gate). So we see Rin back to school, and dealing with his normal, non-exorcist classmates. Except it turns out that one of then is starting to not be normal, and it’s slowly driving him insane. There’s a lot more silliness here as well, as our heroes are tasked with taking care of the 7 School Mysteries, all of whom are demonic, of course. Cue cross-dressing ghosts, bitchy grudges, and lots of amusing yet broad shonen gags. There’s also a pile of extras, something becoming quite common in these volumes – a short side-story focusing on Renzo, and lots of 4-koma gags drawn by Kato’s assistants. Not as mind-blowing as the last few volumes, but still fun. – Sean Gaffney

A Devil and Her Love Song, Vol. 9 | By Miyoshi Tomori | Viz Media – The first part of this volume deals with the unwanted attentions of Shintaro, a first-year student who has a crush on Maria. As always, Maria has a way of coming at a problem with a different perspective than other people. While Shintaro’s over the top flirting is annoying to almost everybody, Maria comments that it is just the way he communicates, and gives him the teasing nickname “Eros.” Shin attempts to take a step forward by performing again, but his habit of keeping his distance from Maria to preserve her fragile emotional state may just backfire, as she becomes more and more comfortable with Yusuke being her best friend. The drama in this series continues to be executed with unexpected plot twists, which means that it isn’t getting stale as it nears the 10th volume. – Anna N

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 5 | By Touya Tobina | Viz Media – There is a certain about of subterfuge in this volume that is deliberate on the author’s part. I get that. The true identity of Takayuki, who is the person who father’s Takamichi’s child (not a spoiler, it’s on the cover). That’s fine. The main issue is that everything else doesn’t make sense to me as well. Some series read badly chapter to chapter, and I’m sure that if I read Jiu Jiu in one big 5-volume chunk, I might get more out of it than I did. But I’ve no desire to. This frustrating series kept trying to figure out whether it was epic or not, what its art style was, and if it was going to risk offending people with a romantic pairing that was… problematic, to say the least. It did avoid that last one. But all in all, everything in Jiu Jiu was more annoying than endearing. If you like supernatural stuff, it may be for you. read it all at once, though. – Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 11 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | Viz Media – This volume manages to spend a large amount of time focused on the villains, and not a moment of it is wasted. I was apprehensive at first – I like our heroes. But this was easily one of the most terrifying volumes the series has ever had, with the battle on the docks between Miroku and Grigori winning the biggest awards (and killing off the most people – being an innocent bystander in Psyren is lethal). I was also fascinated with the subplot of rescuing Riko, where our heroes totally lose – she’s abducted by the bad guys (she’s probably that mini-boss we saw drawing in Psyren world a while ago). Add this to the continuing issues of Ahega and his father, and Miroku making his threat to the world much earlier than expected, and you have a series that still knows how to ramp up the tension. – Sean Gaffney

Strobe Edge, Vol. 5 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – I suspect that we won’t be seeing that much more of Mayuka after this volume. If that’s the case, what a way to go out. I loved everything about her arc, from her close observation and realization about Ren once her brother points out the obvious, to the acceptance she has regarding her parents’ divorce, and acceptance that’s shocking to her, and how it finally allows her to realize that she has to accept that Ren’s heart has moved on as well. It’s astonishingly mature, and in marked contrast to Ando, whose own past is shown here. No matter how much he acknowledges he’s being immature, I still want to belt him for it. And in the middle we have Ninako, who knows what she doesn’t want, but can’t quite get past not being able to get what she wants. Absolutely riveting shoujo soap. – Sean Gaffney

Tiger & Bunny, Vol. 2 | By Mizuki Sakakibara, Sunrise, & Masafumi Nishida | Viz Media – Manga adaptations of anime series tend to be a sketchy prospect for me. Generally speaking, I’ve found that anime rarely translates well to paper, especially in terms of visual power (see Puella Magi Madoka Magica), and it’s difficult to understand the point. Why take the time to create something that is doomed to be nothing more than a clunky, cardboard version of its source material? Tiger & Bunny‘s weakness, however, may be that it resembles its source just a little too much. It’s breezy, action-packed, and easy to follow—often major stumbling blocks when adapting from the screen—and it’s definitely attractive to the eye. Unfortunately, it’s really not much more, and each volume of manga flies by with the emotional impact of a Saturday morning cartoon. This light, glossy series is undoubtedly fun to watch, but its move to print only accentuates how little lurks beneath the surface shine. – MJ