Anna N

This week, Sean, Anna, and Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, Viz Media, Seven Seas, Kodansha Comics, and Vertical, Inc.

Black Butler, Vol. 16 | By Yana Toboso | Yen Press – Ciel remains on assignment at Weston College, looking into the disappearance of one of Queen Victoria’s relatives. It’s been pretty fun to see Ciel in this environment, be it currying favor with prefects or befriending an earnest boy his own age. In this volume, he’s putting Sebastians talents to use in an attempt to perform well enough in the annual cricket tournament (despite a near-total lack of athletic ability) to earn an invitation to tea with the headmaster, who could hold all the answers. Okay, brilliant this isn’t, but I liked that it became a little like a sports manga (with players shouting out their moves, like “Rushing Violet Vapour, Purple Burnoutt!!”) and enjoyed the subtle Harry Potter references, like the appearance of a Hedwig clone and references to some of the actors from the movies. – Michelle Smith

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 3 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – In this volume Mori shifts from mainly telling the story of Amir and her young husband Karluk to exploring what happens to the European researcher Mr. Smith when he travels to a town and has a chance meeting with Talas, a young woman who has been widowed many times. Talas’ mother in law views Mr. Smith as a last chance to ensure that Talas will be taken care of after she dies, and the young couple start developing a liking to each other in spite of all of the manipulations to throw them together. But as women Talas and her mother in law have very little autonomy or ability to decide how they are going to live their lives. As always, Mori’s painstakingly researched details combined with her facility for showing slice of live scenes in a market or herding sheep bring history to life. Amir and Karluk make a brief appearance, and we also see hints of the next Bride’s story as the young Pariya gets her own chapter as well. Delightful as always! – Anna N

Dictatorial Grimoire: Snow White, Vol. 2 | By Ayumi Kanou | Seven Seas – I must admit, I greatly enjoyed this volume while I was reading it. It’s a lot of fun, I really like the character of Hiyori, and the design of Rapunzel was incredibly striking. That said, there’s no denying that this is basically a series of shonen cliches wrapped up in a pretty-boys package, and so if originality is your goal, you can skip this. But as a tasty manga treat you’ll forget about 10 minutes after you read it, it’s pretty much dead-on. Snow White is amusingly snarky (the conversations between him and Hiyori are comedy gold), Otogi gets to find his missing resolve and start fighting again, and as a reward gets lots of BL tease with Cinderella. I’m actually very interested in what will happen i the next ‘arc, which seems to feature Red Riding Hood (also male, of course). – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 18 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – Sometimes when a volume of a manga gets too happy, I start to get worried. Let’s call this the Joss Whedon effect. Everything is going so well for Sawako and her friends and family in this volume that I actually checked to see whether the series was ending soon, because it definitely has that feeling. It doesn’t appear to be, so now I’m a little fretful. What’s going to happen to stir this all up?! I know; I really should be content with what we get here, because it’s been so well-earned. Sawako and Kazehaya are finally on the same page in their relationship, Ayane may finally have found the right guy, and Chizu is perhaps slightly less clueless than before. And I’m happy to see that the focus on female friendships is still going strong in Kimi ni Todoke, even with all the romance in the air. Unequivocally recommended. – Michelle Smith

Knights of Sidonia, Vol. 4, by Tsutomo Nihei | Vertical, Inc. – I really enjoy the way Nihei juxtaposes giant robots fighting giant gross aliens in space with hints of an overarching back story about the history of the colonization spaceship Sidonia. There’s a bit of the whole Battlestar Galactica “This has happened before, and it will happen again” theme in this volume as Tanikaze gets increased responsibility and is relied upon in battle more than ever, slowly acting more and more like he is going to live up to the legacy of his creator/father. The occasional bit of daily life on the Sidona is also included, making it clear that Tanikaze’s comments about loving the food, organisms, and people on the spaceship reflect his protective feelings. Hints of human and Guana experimentation continue to maintain the elements of horror that make this manga much more interesting than a simple space opera. Still highly recommended. – Anna N

Otomen, Vol. 17 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – Well, I knew this volume was going to hurt, and sure enough, it did. Kiyomi’s emotional manipulation of her son reaches its zenith, and the fallout affects everyone around Asuka. Particularly Ryo. You know it’s a crisis when Ryo is suddenly cooking and sewing well. At the center of all of this is Asuka’s sense of identity, and how can he remain true to it and keep both his family and his love. Sadly, Asuka is making the wrong choices here, but then, it is the second to last volume of the series. It looks as if we’re setting up for a big finale speech, one that I suspect may get interrupted several times. The manga may be a bit melodramatic at times, but the characterization is solid (I’ve come to terms with every single male in the cast being a secret otomen by now) Bring on the final volume. – Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 14 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | Viz Media – Oh dear, it’s an all-fighting volume of Psyren, where even the minimal word count I have to write for these briefs seems excessive. The writer enjoys trotting out the big book of shonen cliches, with “i was just holding back, now you’ve made me use my full power”, dead mentors, and “I can teach you how to do this, but it may destroy you.” Oddly, there’s also a subplot about how constant fighting is a bad end in itself, and when the main characters win, they think to themselves that destroying the other side is not a great feeling after all. Fighting to protect vs. fighting to destroy, fighting for a peaceful future world vs. fighting for the apocalypse that already exists… this is what Psyren’s been doing. I have a feeling next volume will be all fighting again, but as long as it heads towards that peaceful end, that’s fine.– Sean Gaffney

Sankarea: Undying Love, Vol. 4 | By Mitsuru Hattori | Kodansha Comics – The difference in cover art between the Japanese and American volumes has never been starker than it is here. And I honestly think I prefer this version, mostly as the moe antics are the least interesting part of this book. The best moments here are discovering more of Rea’s tragic backstory, and the constant war between Rea and her zombie desires – one she seems to lose more and more each time, despite the genuine love she seems to have for Furuya. It makes me curious to see how far this series can go. Given it’s also fond of fanservice and tsundere antics, can it really descend into pure horror and abandon its romantic comedy stance? And more to the point, will Rea actually kill anybody? That does seem to be a real turn=-off for many guys… though perhaps not Furuya, given his obsessions. – Sean Gaffney

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

Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Mad Hatter’s Late Night Tea Party, Vol. 2 | By QuinRose and Riko Sakura | Seven Seas – If this were the first Alice volume that a casual reader had read, I think they’d be pretty satisfied. At only two volumes, Alice and Blood not connecting doesn’t last long, there’s lots of discussion of the basic themes of this world, and we get some mafia madness with a few timely rescues. As someone who’s been following all the spinoffs, though, it’s all a bit same-y. It’s likely a lot easier with the game, where you can purchase one copy and explore all the different routes. Here, as individual manga series, it’s like starting over again each time, with a slightly diminished return. Some of the spinoffs make it worth seeing what they do to poor Alice, but while this is skillfully done, there’s nothing here we haven’t read before, so in the end it’s inessential. – Sean Gaffney

Crimson Empire: Circumstances To Serve A Noble, Vol. 3 | By QuinRose and Hazuki Futaba | Seven Seas – With the Alice series, while she’s quite a good protagonist, I tend to be more interested in her male partners. In this series, it’s the reverse – I find the men rather dull, but Sheila fascinates me. There’s a core of self-loathing to her that Alice simply doesn’t have, even with the tragedy in her life that she’s forgotten. Indeed, even after her lover wins the day, and the two admit they’re in love, Sheila still thinks nothing has changed, except now she’ll be bodyguard for a different man. Sheila IS her profession, which is assassin/bodyguard ninja maid. Anything else is just beyond her, both subconsciously and consciously. And that’ means that despite its happy ending, Crimson Empire seems a lot more melancholy than Alice in the Country of Hearts. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail, Vol. 33 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – After a somewhat teeth-grinding Vol. 32, it’s nice to see *some* things go our heroes’ way in this volume. Mirajane wins, as expected, but she gets the comedic fanservice win – though it does end in a powerful finish. Elfman also impresses, taking the fight that was supposed to be Erza’s and managing to be the manlier man. There’s a few other amusing things here as well, which is good, because there are implications of very dark things to come. Saber Tooth and Raven Tail are looking like even worse guilds than we expected, and the way they’re treating their members (female, of course – Mashima tends to have his women suffer nobly) is horrid. And what does Lucy have to do with everyone’s plans? This volume has a good balance between ‘tournament battle’ and other plot, overall.. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 15 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – I don’t even know where to begin in expressing my utter adoration for this series in general and this volume in particular. There’s just so much to love: the wistful tone, the episodic stories that still advance the overall plot; the comic relief provided by Nyanko-sensei; the yokai, who are often sweet, sad, and endearing; and, of course, Natsume himself, who is better able to discover the reasons for yokai activity at a former exorcist’s home than anyone else and single-handedly responsible for resolving things peacefully. As if all of this weren’t great enough (and it is), the last chapter in the volume is a special episode about Toko and Shigeru, the distant relatives who took Natsume in when the rest of his family had written him off as disturbed. It is simply lovely and prompted many a sniffle. Natsume’s Book of Friends is a true gem. – Michelle Smith

NightS | By Kou Yoneda | SuBLime Manga – Having enjoyed Kou Yoneda’s No Touching At All back in 2011, I was pretty eager to check out NightS, even though it’s a compilation of short stories, which aren’t really my thing. None of the stories included here is terribly unique in premise—an attraction between a “transporter” and a yakuza, a fairly standard high school romance, love blooming at the car dealership—but Yoneda fills her stories with intelligent, natural-seeming dialogue and characters (well, at least the adult ones) with interesting personality quirks and flaws that impact how they approach relationships. While the format prevents achieving much depth, and hence prevents the volume from matching No Touching At All for quality, it’s nonetheless an enjoyable read. – Michelle Smith

Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened | by Momota Inoue | Viz Media I have to admit, I am not really all that interested in Pokemon, but Pokemon fever is raging through my kids’ elementary school, so I read this book with them. This is a stand alone one-shot movie adaptation centering around the story of an ancient Pokemon called Genesect who has suddenly awakened, causing trouble for the present day Pokemon and their trainers. Mewtwo takes on an important role in dealing with the Genesect, although Ash and Pikachu also contribute. The art is consistent, my kids enjoyed spotting all the Pokemon, and they smuggled it out of the house to show off at school. So if you have young Pokemon fans, I feel safe in predicting that this manga will appeal to them! – Anna N

Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, Vol. 2 | By Nobuhiro Watsuki | Viz Media – This wraps up the revisiting of Rurouni Kenshin prompted by the recent live action movie. Really, the original series was so great, revisiting the series in a slightly different form wasn’t really all that necessary. Still it was nice to be reminded of Watsuki’s facility with character design, especially the villians, and most characters from Kenshin got a little bit of a showcase. This second volume featured more turns from Saito and Yahiko, as they also battle in the Meiji era. Even Watsuki’s author notes seem to indicate that he was going through the motions a little bit, pointing out small things that he changed that he ended up regretting. Really, the original series is so much more charming than this version, most people would be better off just picking up some of the VizBig versions if they are interesting in reading this shonen classic. – Anna N

This week, Michelle, Anna, & Sean look at recent releases from Yen Press and Viz Media.

Demon Love Spell, Vol. 5 | By Mayu Shinjo | Viz Media – Miko’s father allows his daughter and Kagura, the lecherous incubus, to move out together, but not only will he be withholding financial support, he also places a curse on Kagura’s nether regions that prevents the advent of sexy times. Miko is determined to become more powerful than her dad so that she can break the curse, and it’s nice to see both her abilities improving and a teenage girl with a healthy interest in getting it on with her hot boyfriend. Briefly it seems that she and Kagura will be opening a demon consultation office, but this gets derailed when Kagura becomes a pop idol to earn money and various jealousies and complications ensue. Demon Love Spell may not be the best shoujo manga I’ve read, but it’s definitely the best Mayu Shinjo manga I’ve read, by a wide margin. I think I might even go so far as to recommend it! – Michelle Smith

Magi, Vol. 3 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – Morgiana graces the cover of Vol. 3, but she really only appears at the end (there’s also a surprise reappearance of Layla from Chapter One). That said, she makes good use of her minimal screen time, deciding to effectively become Batman/El Santo in order to stop some bandits. As for Aladdin, he’s still trying to figure out his purpose in life, which is given new direction by defining our title – well, semi-defining it. Magi are those who can choose a king. I have a sneaking suspicion that I know who will be chosen by the end of this series, but let’s leave that aside for now. The rest of the volume deals with noble Queens, evil Viziers, and the benefits and drawbacks to your village coming under protection. Not quite as awesome as the first two volumes, but still solid. – Sean Gaffney

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 1 | By Naoshi Komi | VIZ Media – The back cover blurb for this debut volume describes Nisekoi as a “laugh-out-loud feel-good manga series,” but I only mustered a smile once and halfway through wanted nothing more than to be able to stop reading it, already. Getting tired of a premise and characters 100 pages in is not a good sign! Raku Ichijo and Chitoge Kirisaki are the children of rival gangsters, but they don’t realize this until their fathers force them to pretend to be in love in order to prevent all-out gang war. But there’s nothing amusing about their pretense, because practically all they do is hurl insults at each other until finally one of them does something fractionally nice, causing the other to reevaluate them a tiny bit. I think my synopsis makes it sound less grating than it really is, actually. Suffice it to say that Nisekoi is definitely not my cup of tea. – Michelle Smith

Soulless: The Manga, Vol. 3 | By Gail Carriger and REM | Yen Press – After her werewolf husband reacts badly to her should-be-impossible pregnancy, Alexia and friends flee London to escape both the ruthless gossip and the vampire assassins intent on preventing the birth of her child. As someone who is not steeped in the mythology of the novels upon which Soulless: The Manga is based, I sometimes find the adaptation to be a bit confusing and disjointed. Such is the case in volume three, which has the added problem of an antagonist who is glimpsed only briefly. (Seriously, a scene-stealing yappy dog makes more of an impression.) Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the read! The dialogue is witty (a line about hedgehogs made me laugh out loud) and I like the characters. REM is also especially good at drawing amusing facial expressions and portraying werewolves’ personalities while they’re in their lupine forms. I may feel a bit lost sometimes, but I’m always entertained! – Michelle Smith

Strobe Edge, Vol 8 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – I have to confess that this is the point where I started feeling a tiny bit impatient with Strobe Edge Ando’s ex shows up and as one might expect, immediately throws an obstacle in the progression of Ninako and Ren’s budding romance. She tells Ninako that Ren and Ando used to be best friends until she came between them, and now the love triangle with Ninako will make things even worse. Ninako is determined to suppress her feelings yet again, just when she was on the verge of confessing to Ren. The couple prevented from getting together because of good intentions and lack of communication is a shoujo staple, and I’m starting to wish that this series would start wrapping up even though I do like reading it. Sakisaka’s art gets better and better, and while the plot might be a little pedestrian, this is one of the prettiest and most visually well-executed shoujo titles out there. Still recommended! – Anna N.

Toriko, Vol. 19 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Most of this volume is dedicated to two things: 1) Watching Toriko eat food no matter what the cost to his body (with a brief break to beat up a giant bear monster) and 2) Everyone loving Komatsu, and I do mean everyone. Here his devotion to food and food preparation help to turn a man who specializes in cheating, draining memories and generally being evil towards the light side simply by sheer virtue of Komatsu’s… well, virtue. (Mustn’t forget about Coco, who also does a terrific job here as the brains of the team.) The fact that this is a very popular manga with BL fans should surprise absolutely no one. All that said, we are basically watching a giant game of Memory for an entire volume, so be prepared for a bit less action and punching than previous volumes. But just as much food. -Sean Gaffney

It’s all Viz this week, as Michelle, Sean, & Anna take a look at several recent releases.

Arata: The Legend, Vol. 16 | By Yuu Watase | Viz Media – It’s hard to describe “that Shounen Sunday feel” to someone who’s never read a series from that particular magazine, but boy does Arata have it! This volume is a perfect example, in that the gang is theoretically doing something pivotal in collecting ancient musical instruments to battle a “demonized” Sho who uses sound as a weapon, but the majority of the enterprise is portrayed comedically, with one gag revolving around enemy attacks that gradually destroy the characters’ clothes, leading to a panel where Arata makes a heroic declaration whilst clad in barely there short-shorts. The whole thing has a certain Rumiko Takahashi vibe, where the interplay between the characters seems to be the main point, so it’s pleasant enough, but renders the cliffhanger ending kind of ho-hum. I’ll probably have forgotten all about it by the time volume 17 comes out in March. – Michelle Smith

Dengeki Daisy Vol 13 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – Dengeki Daisy has settled into a bit of a formula, but fortunately it is a formula that I love. The McGuffin in this volume is the last will and testament of M, but the team realizes that they’ve actually been manipulated into searching for it despite their misgivings. Kurosaki and Riko have a significant talk, and Teru finds one secret hidden in her cell phone, leading to the team getting some suitably bizarre, funny, and useful information from her dead brother, even though he did set up a strange funhouse scenario to put everybody through their paces. Dengeki Daisiy is reliably quirky and at times very serious and suspenseful, which is hard to find in shoujo manga land. Still very highly recommended. – Anna N

A Devil And Her Love Song, Vol. 12 | By Miyoshi Tomori | Viz Media – Having wrapped up most of Maria’s issues in the last volume, we’re left with Shin, who is disgusted and ashamed with himself for not being totally self-sacrificing and pure. Thus, as he’s got to go to America anyway to get operated on, he decides this is a perfect time to split with Maria – this despite the fact that he notes to others he’ll love her for the rest of his life. Sigh. Needless to say, Maria is sad, frustrated and angry in equal measure, which all comes out at what may be the best Ave Maria performance we’ve seen the entire volume. It’s not all angst and depression – Maria asking her friends for advice about sex is quite funny, and I am intrigued to see how Maria’s burgeoning YouTube career will go. Still, it’s a good thing we’ve one volume to go – I want these kids to be happy, dangit. -Sean Gaffney

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 18 | By Hiroshi Shiibashi | Viz Media – Because we need to get the backstory for the Hundred Stories group, this entire volume takes place in Edo Japan at the time when Nura’s father was a young and brash man stating to take up his new role as leader. It’s refreshing to see a few more glances at some other characters, particularly Rihan’s first wife Yamabuki, who seems to have a permanent attack of the melancholics, as well as a group of young kids who, because it’s easier to draw, bear a striking resemblance to our normal human cast. In amongst this walks Sanmoto, one of the more loathsome and disgusting villains we’ve seen in a series with no small amount of loathsome and disgusting villains. He’s entirely human, too… at least until the cliffhanger. A good solid volume for Nura fans. -Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat! Vol 32 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – Each new volume of Skip Beat! makes me cackle with fangirl glee. Emotions are running high in this volume as Sho exhibits his jealousy about Kyoko’s relationship with Ren, not that Kyoko will pick up on that. Ren’s carefully constructed psychological barriers are beginning to crumble, and Kyoko with her trademark insight into anyone but herself is able to quickly see that he’s not acting like “Ren” or “Cain” but as a third party that she doesn’t even recognize. While Ren is in a panic over Sho and Kyoko being in close contact again, he reveals his own insight into her personality, pointing out that she is in no way equipped to deal with men, and he knows that she still has some deep emotional wounds to heal from.Ren’s actually acting like himself for the first time in many years, which has me eagerly awaiting the next volume. – Anna N

Voice Over! Seiyu Academy, Vol. 2 | By Maki Minami | Viz Media – I just can’t explain what it is about Voice Over!… As with volume one, the second is undeniably generic, but I can’t help liking it. Things get off to a slightly aimless start, with a plot in which the “stragglers” of the voice-acting program must help a visual artist find a new crush so that she’ll be inspired to create an anime for them to dub, but this ends up dovetailing into a new direction for Hime, whose talent for princely male voices is at odds with her desire to voice cute female characters. I’m not sure she’s ready to embrace her obvious true destiny yet, but she’s determined to make something of herself and cease being a disappointment to her mother, which leaves me cautiously optimistic that this series is about to get a little more focused; for now it’s earned a third volume read, at least! – Michelle Smith