Anna N

Pick of the Week: Not Just Silver Spoon

February 18, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, MJ, Anna N, Katherine Dacey and Ash Brown Leave a Comment

SEAN: I am, of course, picking Urusei Yatsura. For reasons I have already stated. That said, I suspect I know where the other picks will be headed. Again. Which is fine, as I love that too.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read that title in question yet, and thus feel weird picking it, so I’m actually going for the second volume of Ran and the Gray World. Although there’s one character I could entirely do without, the premise is neat, Ran’s brother is pretty awesome, and the art is freaking gorgeous. I just hope the story goes in a direction that isn’t creepy.

MJ: I mean, do you even have to ask? There’s some good stuff on the list, but y’know. Silver Spoon. Always Silver Spoon.

ANNA: I feel the same way about Michelle about Ran and the Grey World, but I have read a little bit of Urusei Yatsura before, and while it might not be as polished as Takahashi’s other works, it is a true manga classic. I’m glad it is going to be in print again, so it is my pick.

KATE: I’m going to be predictable and recommend Silver Spoon again, but I’m also going to back Sean’s play with Urusei Yatsura. Hiromu Arakawa and Rumiko Takahashi are the undisputed Queens of Shonen and deserve some love from American readers!

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading more of Ran and the Gray World and of course Silver Spoon, too. But all else being equal, I tend to favor debuts for my official picks, so this week I’ll be choosing Urusei Yatsura. Though, I suppose technically it’s not a really a debut… but it will be the first time I’m reading it!

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 16

February 15, 2019 by Anna N

Yona of the Dawn Volume 16 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I often put down a new volume of Yona of the Dawn thinking “this was my favorite volume”, which is a testament to Kuanagi’s storytelling abilities. I’m willing to go on the record now and forever (or at least until volume 17) that 16 is my favorite volume of Yona of the Dawn. I had high hopes when I saw that the cover featured an extremely angry looking Hak.

This is the concluding volume of the Water Tribe story arc, and things have been headed towards a major confrontation, what with all the terrible drugrunning, Riri’s seizing her father’s power of hereditary rule, Su-Won and his minions appearing and hanging out near Riri, Yona getting herself injured, and people in general being repressed. As the story opens, Yona and her companions are determined to attack the fleet of the enemy and crush the drug traffickers. Jaeha has managed to secure a mini-army of attractive female divers due to his habitual flirtatious charm to aid in the attack.

Even though it is painfully obvious from the beginning of the series that Hak and Yona are in love, there’s so much going against their romance that Hak is an incredibly sympathetic character and somewhat in the position of the underdog. He’s not acting very much on his feelings for Yona since he’s in the position of being her protector and he’s not nobility. While Hak has some great martial arts abilities, he’s not supernaturally gifted like the Dragon Warriors, and he doesn’t share the emotional/psychic bond that binds Yona and the Dragons together. All along Kusanagi shows Hak and Yona sharing a quiet moment here or there set against the backdrop of the great adventure that they’re on, but the reader hasn’t seen multiple panels showing what Hak is actually feeling before.

Most of the action external to Hak’s journey is handled fairly quickly. Riri has found her strength thanks to Yona’s friendship, and it feels like this series has to feature a pirate ship battle every seven volumes or so. As Yona, Riri, Su-Won, and their companions are standing in town and about to be pinned down by archers sniping at them, Su-Won stands in front of Yona to protect her and cautions her not to reinjure her back by firing arrows at her would-be assassins. Yona doesn’t back down from a fight though, and she has a brief reunion with Ju-Do that causes him to reflect on his own choices in staying to support Su-Won. As the local drug kingpen tries to do away with Yona once and for all, Hak comes out of nowhere to protect her from a dagger strike. He then turns incandescent with rage when he sees Su-Won.

What follows are several nearly wordless panels that dramatically portray Hak’s rage and desire for vengeance. Hak’s pupils contract, and Kusanagi switches over to using dramatic black tone and cross-hatching as Hak goes after Su-won. Hak has to go through Ju-Do first, and Jaeha tries to stop him from continuing to fight. As expected, Hak only stops when Yona steps in front of him. The rest of the volume deals with the fall-out of the incident, as Yona’s companions heal their wounds and Su-Won returns to his palace. Kusanagi has paced the story of Yona of the Dawn so well, every few volumes an event will happen that will dial up the emotional intensity and affect the relationships between the main characters even more. Seeing the rage that Hak has masked inside for so long makes the reader contemplate how controlled he’s been up to this point. Yona of the Dawn is embarking on a new story arc as Yona and her companions say farewell to the Water Tribe and I’m eager to see what happens next.

Manga the Week of 2/20/19

February 14, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Usually I go in alphabetical order by publisher when I do this, but sometimes I need to shill, and this is one of those weeks.

Urusei Yatsura is one of the seminal titles of anime and manga. It started a brilliant career for its creator, Rumiko Takahashi. Its female lead, Lum, is recognizable even by those who don’t follow anime. It was licensed here back in the 1990s, but that wasn’t the right time for it. This is. It’s coming out in 2-in-1 omnibuses, the art looks fantastic (all right, the art looks really crude and 1978, but the restoration looks fantastic), AND it’s the first Takahashi title to get a digital release in North America. I realize the early volumes can be hard to take. These aren’t likable characters. But God, they’re funny. Pick up this little slice of history.

MICHELLE: I don’t expect to find this funny, but I feel like I ought to try it, at least. I do like Takahashi in general.

ANNA: An important part of manga history! I’m glad it is being issued again.

ASH: I’ve been wanting to read the series for a while now, but the old edition was becoming difficult to find. Glad that I’ll finally get a chance!

MJ: I’ve never been as much of a Takahashi worshiper as I feel like I should be, but I guess this gives me another chance to try to become one.

SEAN: And now back to the routine, which means Ghost Ship. We get To-Love-Ru 11-12, To-Love-Ru Darkness 9, and World’s End Harem 4.

J-Novel Club has another debut next week with Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! A young man has dreams where he’s in a fantasy world fighting next to a beautiful young elf. One day, he wakes up… no, he’s not in the fantasy world. Instead, the elf is now in Japan. It’s Isekai Reverse!

There’s also Ao Oni: Forever, An Archdemon’s Dilemma 4, and the 13th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

Kodansha print-wise has Fire Force 14 and Grand Blue Dreaming 4.

Digitally, we debut World’s End and Apricot Jam (Sekai no Hajikko to Anzu Jam), a Dessert series about a young apartment manager who finds that one of the tenants (whose keyboard she accidentally breaks) is actually a famous musician!

There’s also a pile of digital-only ongoing series. Back Street Girls 8; DAYS 12; A Kiss, for Real 7; Living Room Matsunaga-san 5; Perfect World 8; and Tokyo Revengers 4.

MICHELLE: Hooray for DAYS. I think A Kiss, for Real also looks pretty cute.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 2nd Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas debuts a spinoff of a spinoff, as the Railgun manga gets its own side story, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy. It stars one of Misaki’s two henchwomen.

There’s also the 2nd Fairy Tale Battle Royale, Freezing 23-24, a 6th Holy Corpse Riding, and the 5th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Vertical has a 3rd volume of Chi’s Sweet Adventures.

In addition to Urusei Yatsura (see above), Viz also gives us Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 10, Ran and the Gray World 2, the 4th and final RWBY manga anthology, and a 9th Tokyo Ghoul: re.

MICHELLE: The first volume of Ran and the Gray World was pretty neat! I hope they jettison the creepy dude in volume two, though.

ANNA: I have a feeling that is not going to happen, but the art really blew me away so I’m still curious about volume 2.

ASH: Same!

MJ: I’m definitely here for the next volume of Ran and the Gray World!

SEAN: And now Yen buries us in books, though as always a few titles seem to have slipped to the week after next.

On the Yen On end, the debut is Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir!. It’s a reincarnation isekai. And again, our hero isn’t a human. He’s a dog. A… very big dog. OK, a wolf. A VERY BIG WOLF.

MICHELLE: Wow. That title is something else.

ASH: Sometimes the titles and concepts are more impressive than the actual execution of the story. I wonder if that will be the case here.

SEAN: There’s also A Certain Magical Index 18, The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria 5, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 8, the 7th My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, the 9th Re: Zero, and a 3rd volume of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online.

The one debut for Yen’s manga side is a spinoff: Kakegurui Twin, a prequel to the main series.

Non-adaptation titles include Barakamon 17, Dimension W 13, Forbidden Scrollery 6, Gabriel Dropout 6, Girls’ Last Tour 6 (a final volume), Hatsu*Haru 5, Laid-Back Camp 5, Prison School 12, School-Live! 10, Shibuya Goldfish 3, Silver Spoon 7, Tales of Wedding Rings 5, Though You May Burn to Ash 4, Trinity Seven 15.5 (a half volume?), and Val x Love 5.

MICHELLE: More volumes to add to the Barakamon and Silver Spoon to-read piles!

ANNA: I haven’t read the first couple volumes of Silver Spoon but I will one day!

ASH: Shhh, don’t let MJhear you. (But you really should give it a try; Silver Spoon is great!)

MJ: SILVER SPOON SILVER SPOON I AM NOT LISTENING TO ANNA LA LA LA.

SEAN: It’s a light month for light novel adaptations, though. We see the 2nd Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Familia Chronicle, a 9th Overlord, and the 2nd Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization.

ROCK THE PLANET! Buy Urusei Yatsura! And what else?

Pick of the Week: Sweet and Tart

February 11, 2019 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Katherine Dacey, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: Although it may not have the most original premise, the digital debut of My Sweet Girl appeals to me the most this week. I think that the word “boyish” is largely responsible for my interest.

SEAN: There’s an awful lot of yuri out this week. My Solo Exchange Diary is certainly on my list. But I think I’ll make Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms my pick this week, as it’s just that sweet.

KATE: Hmmmm… this is one of those weeks where I feel torn between recommending something fun and frivolous — here’s looking at you, Sleepy Princess — and recommending something more serious like the second installment of My Solo Exchange Diary. So I’ll split the difference and recommend the latest volume of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, a josei title that vividly captures the anxiety that single, unmarried women can feel in a coupled-up culture. It’s witty, rueful, and often cringe-inducing — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yelled at the characters — but worth a read.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by My Sweet Girl, I’m always up for more shoujo and it looks cute.

ASH: Kate has pretty much summed up my own feelings about this week’s releases! (And has phrased it better than I could have, too.) I’ll join her in recommending Tokyo Tarareba Girls as my official pick, but I’m sure that I’ll be reading Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle and My Solo Exchange Diary pretty soon, too.

MJ: I’m don’t have a really obvious pick this week, so I think I’ll go along with Michelle and cling to the word “boyish” in that description of My Sweet Girl. Count me in for that.

Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 4

February 10, 2019 by Anna N

Young Master’s Revenge Volume 4 by Meca Tanaka

Young Master’s Revenge has been a such a fun short series! I just finished reading the last and final volume this week and I found that it had much more of an emotional payoff than I was expecting from a manga with its main plot centering on turtle-inflicted butt scars. There’s never any doubt that Leo and Tenma are going to end up together, but seeing how they finally both grappled with their feelings made the ending of this series rewarding.

Tenma and Leo are living separately, and she’s actually able to take care of herself finally now that she’s endured life as Leo’s maid. She’s moved on from being oblivious about romance to trying to figure out how to deal with her newly realized crush on Leo, which results in a bunch of protestations and slightly emotional outbursts. Leo’s secret scars are almost exposed, and Hana goes to whatever lengths she can in order to protect him. The confusing feelings of teen romance are amped up even further when Tenma reluctantly agrees to go on a date with “Rose King” Barazono, while Leo and Togo pretend to go on their own date in order to act as silent observers. Tenma finds herself unable to control her crying when she sees Leo and Tojo together, and Leo confesses his true feelings but doesn’t let Tenma say anything in return.

Tenma decides to take on the emotional labor of fixing everything herself and while she previously was more self-contained due to her upbringing and unfamiliarity with basic teen socialization, she stands up for herself and her feelings in quite a spectacular fashion. She demonstrates quite a few over the top angry faces along the way. Seeing Tenma and Leo finally get together without the specter of revenge that’s been hovering over the series brings everything to an extremely satisfying conclusion. Young Master’s Revenge might seem a little superficial and silly, but at four volumes it doesn’t feel like the plot was stretched out just for the sake of extra drama. It is a great series to use as a mini-vacation if you’ve been bogged down by reading too many angst-ridden manga.

I was able to talk about Young Master’s Revenge on the Shojo & Tell Manga Podcast recently, I’ll update this post when the episode is available!

Takane & Hana, Vol. 6

February 9, 2019 by Anna N

Takane & Hana Volume 6 by Yuki Shiwasu

I should have read this volume earlier this winter, because it had a great Christmas story in it! But Takane & Hana can always be counted on for some breezy shoujo antics as it explores the potentially problematic relationship between a high school student and an heir to industry who become friends after Hana subs in for her sister at an arranged marriage meeting with Takane.

The volume opens with Takane standing Hana up for a date due to his workload, so she goes out with friends instead. It turns out that he was actually planning on surprising her with a Christmas date. Takane is incapable of doing anything less than a grand gesture, so he appears before Hana in a custom designed cashmere Santa Suit. Hana realizes that he planned the whole thing after she made a random comment about how normal people celebrate Christmas, and she’s touched by the gesture.

The major storyline in this volume centers on Takane suffering a reversal of fortunes when his grandfather takes away his access to all his bank accounts, his high-powered job, and his apartment, telling him that he has to prove himself by working his way up to the top. Takane’s occasional glimpses through Hana of how common people live do not prepare him at all for being cut off from his credit card. As he slowly starts to adjust to the horror of cheap suits, convenience store lunches, and public transportation, he cuts off contact with Hana, not sure what to do if he can’t appear before her with elaborately expensive presents. Hana is mystified and confused because while he certainly is in the habit of being busy with work, he’s never cut off contact with her for such a long time before. As always, Shiwasu is a master of exaggerated facial expressions, and seeing Takane react to his changed circumstances is both sad and hilarious.

One of the things that has me rooting for this relationship between a forthright high schooler and an emotionally stunted captain of industry is Hana’s habit of confronting Takane and pointing out when he’s being an idiot. Takane rejects her offers of help, but she’s not going to back down. A rich person learning who they are after a reversal of fortune is a very common plot trope, but seeing how these particular characters take on this challenge makes it interesting in Takane & Hana.

Manga the Week of 2/13/19

February 8, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: Usually it’s just Jump/Beat weeks and Yen Press weeks that are when I whine about it being a lot, but there’s no question: this is a lot.

Bookwalker has an 8th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

J-Novel Club has a new debut, though the author is familiar. I Shall Survive Using Potions! is from the same author as Make My Abilities Average and Saving 80,000 Gold, and the scenario is similar: teenage overpowered girl. She’s reincarnated by accident, so asks for a lot, and gets it. I’m hoping this is as ridiculous as the author’s other series.

They also have the 8th volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, the 12th I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, the 19th Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, and a 4th Lazy Dungeon Master.

Kodansha, in print, has Tokyo Tarareba Girls 5.

ASH: Yes! This series is so good! (Cuts pretty close to the quick sometimes, too.)

SEAN: Kodansha, digitally, has a lot more, including a debut, My Sweet Girl. This Betsufure title is about a small, boyish, awkward girl who finds love with a popular boy. Not to be confused with other shoujo titles that might sound the same.

MICHELLE: Could be cute!

ANNA: I’m interested!

MJ: That does sound cute! I mean, not original, but totally cute!

SEAN: They also have Boarding School Juliet 8, Crocodile Baron 2, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 5, Kamikamikaeshi 8 (a final volume), Tokyo Alice 8, and The Walls Between Us 4.

MICHELLE: Someday I will read a few of these.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Beauty and the Beast Girl, which is a single-volume release. It’s a yuri manga about the love between a monster girl and a blind girl.

ASH: Hmmm, that could be interesting!

MJ: This sounds kind of awesome. I have a new appreciation for monsters lately.

SEAN: There’s also Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms (the 5th in this uniquely named series), My Solo Exchange Diary 2, and Please Tell Me, Galko-chan! 5. Interested in pretty much all of this.

ASH: My Solo Exchange Diary is another one of those good but cutting series.

SEAN: SuBLime gives us Punch Up! 5 and A Strange and Mystifying Story 6.

MICHELLE: I’m liking A Strange & Mystifying Story since it has moved on to a new couple.

ASH: Huh, I didn’t realize Punch Up! was still ongoing.

SEAN: Tokyopop has three releases next week! The debut is Yuri Bear Storm, whose anime is already famous… or infamous. I hear, much like Utena, that the manga is a bit less weird. It’s a Comic Birz title, of course.

ASH: Gah! I’m so torn about this. A series I’m legitimately interested in but… Tokyopop…

MJ: What Ash said. Like. Yeah.

SEAN: They’ve also got a 3rd Futaribeya and a 3rd Konohana Kitan.

Vertical has a 12th volume of Devils’ Line.

Lastly, Viz gives us a 4th Fullmetal Edition of Fullmetal Alchemist, a 34th Magi, a 2nd Record of Grancest War, and a 5th Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.

ANNA: Sleepy Princess can always be counted on for funny hijinks.

ASH: It’s true!

MJ: Also, everyone should always read Fullmetal Alchemist and that’s basically an order.

SEAN: Seem like a lot? It’s actually only about half of the volume total for the week after next. What are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Shoujo, Kino, Boogiepop and Mari

February 4, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Katherine Dacey, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a ton coming out that I’m interested in. Light Novel-wise, we have the 2nd Bakarina and the debut of Classroom of the Elite. And there’s the new Kino’s Journey manga. But yeah, there’s also a ridiculous amount of Viz. Including Oresama Teacher, which I still love to bits. It’s my pick.

MICHELLE: There are lots and lots of shoujo releases that I’ll be eagerly devouring, but since volume seventeen of My Hero Academia will mark the first time I’m all caught up on the series, I’m going with that!

ASH: It’s not manga, but I’m very excited for the chance to finally read the fourth and fifth Boogiepop novels, so the second omnibus in the series is my pick this week!

KATE: Yikes–that’s a lot of good stuff arriving in stores next week! If I had to single out one title for praise, it would be Inside Mari, a body-swapping story that takes the idea of waking up in someone else’s body seriously, rather than a set-up for tacky jokes about anatomy and clothing. The first volume was honest to the point of squirm-inducing, but it was also compulsively readable — just like Shuzo Oshimi’s other work (The Flowers of Evil, Happiness, The Drifting Net Cafe.)

MJ: I am a huge fan of the anime adaptation of Kino’s Journey and was devastated about the cancellation of the novel series way back when, so that has to be my pick this week. I don’t always love manga adaptations, but in this case, I can’t feel anything but excitement and so much hope. Maybe too much hope. Time will tell.

ANNA: I have to go for the shoujo, but I can’t choose between Ao Haru Ride and Shortcake Cake because they are both so good! They are my picks of the week!

Manga the Week of 2/6/19

January 31, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, MJ, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and Anna N 1 Comment

SEAN: There’s record-breaking cold, snow squalls, high winds… it’s a nightmare out there in the United States. Stay in and read some manga!

First, apologies to Denpa for missing them last time. Inside Mari 2 is out this week.

ASH: Whoops, that was an oversight! Denpa is doing great work. I’m looking forward to reading more of Inside Mari.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has its first print releases! They put out a few via Seven Seas before, but these are straight from the publisher. You can get How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord and In Another World with My Smartphone Vols. 1-2 next week.

ASH: Oh, I had missed that J-Novel Club was starting to directly release books in print! That’s good news for me.

SEAN: They also have a new digital debut. Cooking with Wild Game is the combination isekai and cooking title that everyone has been waiting for. It’s also got a hefty number of volumes, so settle in.

J-Novel Club also has new volumes for My Next Life As a Villainess! (2) and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles (3).

Not sure if Kodansha has any February debuts yet, but digitally we do see the 4th and final Can I Kiss You Every Day?, the 10th and final Liar x Liar, the 5th Magical Sempai, the 6th digital volume for The Quintessential Quintuplets, the 2nd Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice, the 5th You Got Me, Sempai, and the 22nd Yozakura Quartet.

Print-wise, Kodansha has a 4th Boarding School Juliet and a 2nd Eden’s Zero.

Seven Seas has a digital light novel debut – the print will follow this spring. Classroom of the Elite is hideously popular in Japan, but had not been licensed over here, possibly as it’s not an isekai, fantasy, or magical academy story. There is an academy, though, as you may have guessed.

They’ve also got a print omnibus of the 4th to 6th Boogiepop light novels, a print version of the 9th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel, a 3rd manga volume of How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, the 4th volume of the Kobayashi Maid spinoff Kanna’s Daily Life, a 3rd Soul Liquid Chambers, and the 4th Toradora! Light novel.

ASH: This Boogiepop omnibus includes material not previously released in print in English (books four and five). I’m very excited.

SEAN: Speaking of unlikely licenses, Vertical has the first Kino’s Journey manga. A very popular series, we will try to forget what happened with Tokyopop and the novels and read this manga.

MJ: Okay, this has my attention. Hm.

SEAN: GIANT PILE OF VIZ! No debuts, though, so let’s talk shoujo and then shonen. Shoujo-wise we have Ao Haru Ride 3, Oresama Teacher 25 (yay!), Shortcake Cake 3, Takane & Hana 7, and Yona of the Dawn 16. A lot of Manga Bookshelf favorites.

MJ: I’m definitely in for Ao Haru Ride and Shortcake Cake.

MICHELLE: I am literally going to read every one of these!

ASH: That’s mostly true for me, too. Oresama Teacher and Yona of the Dawn is where I’m starting, though.

ANNA: I’m excited for the shoujo!!!

SEAN: On the shonen end, we have Black Clover 14, Black Torch 3, Food Wars! 28, the 10th and final volume of the 3rd Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders (don’t worry, Diamond Is Unbreakable follows and has much the same cast), the 3rd Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, the 17th My Hero Academia, the 89th One Piece, the 8th volume of The Promised Neverland, and a 2nd volume of We Never Learn.

MICHELLE: I have really been enjoying catching up with My Hero Academia . I love it so and volume 17 will be the one I finally get current with!

SEAN: Are you reading manga next week? Or are you frozen solid?

Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 1

January 30, 2019 by Anna N

Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits, Volume 1 by Waco Ioka, Midori Yuma, and Laruha

Ordinary girl suddenly discovering a world filled of spirits or yokai and having her life altered forever is a common trope in shoujo manga, it is subgenre that can be relied upon for some interesting storytelling. However, is there room for more translated yokai titles after such great series such as Kamisama Kiss and Demon Prince of Momomochi House?

Kakuriyo:Bed and Breakfast for Spirits is a light novel franchise with an anime adaptation as well, so that accounts for the multiple credits on the managa, which sometimes makes me a bit nervous. Aoi Tsubaki had a charming but shiftless grandfather who recently passed away. She goes about her daily interrupted by her visions of strange ayakashi, and she feeds homemade snacks to the more harmless ones. As she passes a shrine she sees an ayakashi who looks like a young man wearing a demon mask and she hands him her bento box after he complains that he’s hungry. When she passes by the spot later on that day to retrieve her bento, she finds it decorated with a fancy hair ornament and new wrapping cloth. A gate opens up and the ayakashi grabs her wrist, saying “Welcome to Kakuriyo, my darling bride.”

Kijin is an ogre and the master of Tenjin-ya, an inn for ayakashi. When Aoi refuses to become his fiancee, she offers to work at Tenjin-ya to pay off her grandfather’s debt, except none of the ayakashi in charge of the various functions of the inn are willing to hire a human. Aoi then meets Ginji, a nine-tailed fox with a series of different forms and he becomes her unofficial guide to the spirit world. As Aoi begins to become more aquainted with her strange new world, one constant that she takes with her is her joy in preparing food for people. I found the slice of life and food elements in this story entertaining. Where this title falls a little flat compared to similar series is the art. It works just fine, but without that something extra present that readers can find in the whimsy of Kamisama Kiss or the lush detail of The Demon Prince of Momochi House. I always hope that the opportunity to portray a spirit world will cause an artist to go wild with creativity and innovative character designs, but I wasn’t finding that in this series. I’m hoping though that the fact that the manga is an adaptation of a light novel series will mean that the plot will compensate for the art being less creative than I’d like for the subject matter. I did enjoy the setting in this first volume and I’m curious to see how the story unfolds.

Pick of the Week: Dreamy Picks

January 29, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: There are a few digital volumes from Kodansha that I’ll be reading, but my official pick is the debut of For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams. MJreviewed it in our latest Off the Shelf column and I am definitely intrigued.

SEAN: I’ll be going for another in the Monogatari Series this week. Koimonogatari is a bit of a fakeout, allegedly about Senjogahara trying to stop the possessed Sengoku but in reality it’s a character study of minor-villain-returned Kaiki Deishuu. The novels not from Araragi’s POV are always great.

ASH: Like Michelle, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams is my pick this week. I enjoyed Erased, so I’m curious to read another dramatic mystery by Sanbe.

ANNA: I agree, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams is intriguing to me this week.

MJ: I’m definitely on board with all the interest in For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams, which I reviewed in last week’s Off the Shelf, but I feel like it’s my job to say, “CLAMP still exists” so I’ll make the new omnibus edition of Wish my pick for the week. I’m looking forward to a new translation, and Dark Horse always does a beautiful job with these omnibuses, so I’m sure it will look fantastic.

Manga the Week of 1/30/19

January 24, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, MJ and Ash Brown 1 Comment

SEAN: It’s the last week of January, theoretically it should be light. What is with all this stuff?

Cross Infinite World has the 2nd volume of the Gleam manga.

Dark Horse releases Wish, the CLAMP manga from years ago, now in one big omnibus. Enjoy the gender pronoun wars all over again!

MICHELLE: Oh, jeez. I kind of forgot Wish even existed.

SEAN: Given that the solicit date from Diamond Comics is Summer 2017, I think everyone did.

ANNA: I read it the first time around, don’t need to read it twice. I’ll just lurk here in a corner, still feeling bitter over X/1999.

MJ: I sort of feel like as the resident CLAMP obsessive, I should take one for the team and do some kind of comparison read with the older version. Can I muster the will? Time will tell.

ASH: I’m picking the omnibus up specifically because of the new translation! I enjoyed Wish the first time around, but I’m looking forward to my side of the pronoun wars winning this time instead of having a specific gender foisted on some of the characters.

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us a 2nd Arifureta Zero and a 7th Outbreak Company.

Kodansha, print-wise, has the 3rd Sailor Moon Eternal Edition and the 30th Seven Deadly Sins.

ASH: I’d lost track of how long Seven Deadly Sins has become!

SEAN: Digitally, we finish Ayanashi with its 4th volume. There’s also Altair: A Record of Battles 9, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 10, Forest of Piano 10, Hotaru’s Way 7, My Boy in Blue 6, and Princess Resurrection Nightmare 2.

MICHELLE: I’m not actively reading any of these, but there are at least three that I intend to read at some point.

Seven Seas has a debut and a done-in-one with Now Loading…!, whose punctuation makes every sentence look strange. It’s from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime, and given the magazine you know what to expect. This involves a game company, but promises a bit more actual yuri than New Game!.

Seven Seas also has the 5th Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, the 2nd Ultra Kaiju Humanization Project, and the 3rd and final Voynich Hotel.

ASH: I finally got around to picking up Voynich Hotel; I plan on reading the whole thing in one go.

SEAN: Udon has a 4th volume of Infini-T Force.

Vertical has the 5th Arakawa Under the Bridge omnibus.

ASH: This series continues to delight me.

SEAN: The Inc. part of Vertical also has Koimonogatari, the latest in the Monogatari Series novels. Will we finally get Senjogahara’s POV? I have some bad news for you…

Yen has a couple new digital volumes with Saki 18 (we’re caught up with Japan, I believe) and Toilet-Bound Hanako-san 9.

Yen On has the 11th Log Horizon, which is also caught up with Japan.

Debuting from Yen is For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams (Yume de Mita Ano Ko no Tame ni), a new series from the creator of Erased. It runs in Young Ace. I’m guessing it’s dark.

MICHELLE: I’m very intrigued by this one! Also, I must read Erased.

ANNA: I know Erased is popular at my library.

MJ: I’ll be reviewing this for our next Off the Shelf column, and I’m pretty into it.

ASH: Oh, excellent!

SEAN: They also have Aoharu x Machinegun 14, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 2, and Kiniro Mosaic 8.

How are you celebrating the end of January?

ASH: With plenty more manga, obviously.

Pick of the Week: Perfect 10

January 21, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Katherine Dacey, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: It’s rare that I dive into BL, much less make it a Pick of the Week. And I am, I admit, really excited for delinquent/cat manga Nyankees. But the cover and premise of 10 Dance just looks SO good that it’s turned my head. I’m buying it, and it’s my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I absolutely concur. Anytime we get BL about grown men pursuing their professional goals, I will be 1000% here for it.

ASH: That all pretty much sums it up for me, too! I’m prepared to be delighted by the debut of Nyankees (and the most recent volume of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun), but it’s 10 Dance that has really caught my attention this week.

KATE: Word.

ANNA: I concur!

MJ: I only have eyes for 10 Dance. Sorry, cats!

Manga the Week of 1/23/19

January 17, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: (collapses under pile of manga) (muffled voice) Yen Press week, gang.

Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation of the 2nd Dangan Ronpa game.

J-Novel Club has the 2nd and final volume of Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, and the 12th and nowhere near final volume of In Another World with My Smartphone.

Kodansha has a bunch of debuts, and they’re even print! We start with 10 Dance, which combines BL and ballroom dancing, so sounds AMAZING. It runs in Young Magazine the 3rd.

MICHELLE: I am so looking forward to this. The cover and concept makes me think of the works of est em.

ANNA: I am intrigued.

ASH: Yes! I am so excited for this one!

MJ: YES to this! I’m so excited!

SEAN: Hitorijime My Hero is a spinoff of a title that used to be released digitally here by JManga, but no doubt stands up fine on its own. I gotta be honest, this student/teacher BL story excites me far less than 10 Dance. It runs in Ichijinsha’s Gateau.

MICHELLE: I’ve seen a couple episodes of the anime and liked it, but I never got far enough for anything particularly problematic to happen. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.

SEAN: And on the yuri end (hey, when Kodansha decides to do new genres, they go all in), we have Yuri Is My Job! (Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigotodesu!), from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime. A girl ends up working at a yuri café, but behind the scenes things aren’t quite as yuri… or are they?

ASH: I’m very happy to see Kodansha starting to release BL and yuri titles in print. I hope the venture does well for the company so we might see even more!

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Kodansha also has Golosseum 5 and Waiting for Spring 10 on the print end, as well as Ace of the Diamond 19, Ao-Chan Can’t Study! 4, the 8th and final Aoba-kun’s Confesssions, Blissful Land 2, Kakafukaka 4, and PTSD Radio 6. Looking forweard to Ao-chan and Kakafukaka.

MICHELLE: For a second, my brain interpreted the word “radio” to mean that we were getting more Wave, Listen to Me, but not yet, sadly.

ASH: That would be nice.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a mere two titles next week. We get the manga adaptation of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, which should be as heartrending as the book was. It’s a complete omnibus edition, and ran in Futabasha’s Monthly Action. There’s also the 2nd print volume of light novel How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

ASH: I still need to pick up I Want to Eat Your Pancreas in one form or another; I’ve heard good things.

MJ: I should do the same.

SEAN: Vertical gives us a 3rd volume of The Delinquent Housewife!.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ANNA: Nice!

SEAN: And now Yen. There were a few titles delayed till the final week in January, but for the most part it’s all next week. On the light novel front, the most interesting title may be The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story. This is a Final Fantasy VII novel.

Also out in novel form is Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 7, Goblin Slayer 6, Overlord 9, A Sister’s All You Need 3, and Strike the Blood 11. An off month for me, as Strike the Blood is all I’m getting of those titles.

There are four debuts next week, some of which may even interest the rest of Manga Bookshelf. First we have DIVE!!, which is, oddly, a remake of a manga that ran in Shonen Sunday back in the 00s. This one is from Young Ace, and the premise is the same: let’s save the diving team from getting shot down. If you like sports manga, or the anime Free!, you’ll like this.

MICHELLE: What troubles me is the long list of credits on this one. I’ll give it a shot.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

ASH: I’m hoping the original light novels will be licensed and translated at some point, too.

SEAN: From the sublime to the ridiculous, we then get Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls. It runs in Monthly Comic Ride. I guess if you like the other vaguely softcore Yen monster titles you’ll like this? Hard pass from me.

Nyankees is the delinquent manga you never knew you wanted, showing stray cats as if they were in teenage hoodlum gangs. I must admit I really want to read this. It runs in Shonen Ace.

MICHELLE: I really want to read this, too!

ANNA: Based on the description, I feel happy that something like this exists in the world.

ASH: I’m so looking forward to this series!

MJ: I’m so on board for this.

SEAN: Lastly we have The Witch’s House: The Diary of Ellen. This may sound like an OEL project like the James Patterson books, but no. It’s Majo no Ie: Ellen no Nikki, a harror manga that ran in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age.

There’s more Yen too, of course; Based on light novels, we see A Certain Magical Index 16, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (manga version) 6, DanMachi 10, DanMachi Sword Oratoria 6, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil 5.

There’s also Black Butler 27 (remember Black Butler? It’s back! In pog form…), BTOOOM! 23, The Case Study of Vanitas 5, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler 8, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 10 (yay!), Murcielago 9, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 4, the 7th Sekirei omnibus, Teasing Master Takagi-san 3 (yay!), and Today’s Cerberus 11.

MICHELLE: Yay for Nozaki-kun!

ANNA: Yay!

ASH: Huzzah, Nozaki-kun!!

SEAN: A lot of debuts next week. What interests you most?

Pick of the Week: Sweetness or Destruction?

January 14, 2019 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Katherine Dacey, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

MICHELLE: It’s been eight months since our last serving of father-daughter culinary adventures, so my enthusiastic pick this week is for volume eleven of Sweetness & Lightning, a series I once described as “eyebleach in manga form.”

SEAN: It has to be Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction for me, a series that gets more riveting with each volume, though I think the ‘lighter and fluffier’ promise the author made about this one may be leaving town soon.

KATE: Since Sean has beat the drum for Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction, I’ll recommend the second volume of Wandering Island instead. The first volume arrived in stores way back in 2016, and barely registered with manga readers. That’s a shame, because Kenji Tsurata’s artwork is flat-out terrific, as is his plucky aviator heroine Mikura. A few critics caviled about the fanservice and the plot, but this Grumpy Old Feminist gives it two thumbs way up.

ASH: There are a lot of great manga being released this week; I’ve got my eye on every series that’s been mentioned so far. I’ll take the opportunity to highlight one more, though, since it’s been more than three years since the release of the first volume of Die Wergelder in English. The series is essentially a pinky violence film in manga form. Steeped in extreme brutality and exploitative eroticism, it’s understandably not for everyone.

ANNA: I’m going to joint with Sean in picking Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction. I procrastinated reading this series for a long time, and once I tried it I was absolutely riveted.

MJ: I’ll admit that I don’t have a solid pick this week, and even with the title I’m most interested in, I’m already eleven volumes behind. But I’ll just go ahead and back Michelle up here on Sweetness and Lightning. I think I really do need to check it out.