Ash Brown

My Week in Manga: June 22-June 28, 2015

June 29, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week, the most recent manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga was posted. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, so there are still a couple of days left to enter for a chance to win the first volume of Assassination Classroom. All you have to do is tell me about your favorite teacher from a manga. I also posted two reviews last week. The first review was of Yaya Sakuragi’s boys’ love manga Hide and Seek, Volume 2. The series continues to be one of her strongest; I’m really enjoying it. The second review was of Taiyo Fujii’s novel Gene Mapper, the most recent release from the Haikasoru. Gene Mapper is a great example of realistic near future science featuring thought-provoking information and bio-technologies.

Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has been posting some great manga-related content recently, including a conversation with manga translator Amanda Haley about Book Walker and the translation field. A new manga feature at OASG was announced for the summer as well: Shoujo You Should Know, the first column focusing on CLAMP’s short series Wish. And speaking of shoujo manga, Shojo Beat is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Among other thing, the imprint is posting brief interviews with some of its creators. First up was Maki Minami followed by Yun Kouga. Over at Things We Lost at Dusk, Alicia posted and interesting essay about gender, identity, and language, specifically in regards to Moto Hagio’s manga They Were Eleven.

Last but not least, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to Chromatic Press’ Kickstarter project to help support and fund Sparkler Monthly‘s third year. I am a huge fan of Sparkler Monthly and everything else that Chromatic Press is doing. (Experiments in Manga’s Chromatic Press tag is filled with my love, reviews, and features.) The content, creators, and everyone else involved are all fantastic. So, please check out Sparkler Monthly. Most of the comics, prose, and audio, is currently available for free online. And if you like what you see, please consider pledging to the Sparkler Monthly Kickstarter project if you can. Every little bit helps. The work being done at Chromatic Press is spectacular; I sincerely hope that Sparkler Monthly and the publisher’s other efforts are able to continue.

Quick Takes

Awkward Silence, Volume 4 by Hinako Takanaga. Some of the very first boys’ love manga that I ever read we’re by Takanaga. I soon began counting her among my favorite creators working in the genre and so was quite pleased when Sublime licensed Awkward Silence. The fourth volume in the series was actually released in English quite a while ago, but I only recently realized that I hadn’t actually read it yet, probably because Awkward Silence isn’t particularly memorable. It’s not a bad manga, and there are plenty of things that I like about it—Takanaga’s artwork is great, for one, as are some of the characters—but overall, Awkward Silence somehow manages to come across as generic. For the most part it’s enjoyable and sometimes even sweet, but the series just doesn’t stand out. Initially, I was under the impression that the fourth volume was the end, but apparently it’s an ongoing series. Being something of a Takanaga completist I’ll likely read any subsequent volumes, but otherwise I don’t know that I would feel compelled to seek the series out.

Just So Happens by Fumio Obata. Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2014, Just So Happens was recently released in North America. Yumiko is a designer who left Japan to study and work in London. From time to time she returns to Japan to visit her family, but she is largely satisfied with her life in England. But Yumiko’s most recent trip to Japan is different. Her father unexpectedly died in a mountain climbing accident and she wants and needs to be there for his funeral. In part drawing inspiration from the imagery and symbolism of Noh theater, Just So Happens is a beautiful and subtle work about family, grief, identity, and coming to terms with past decisions. Obata’s watercolor illustrations are absolutely lovely and very effective in conveying the work’s quiet, introspective atmosphere. The story itself is fairly simple and is emotionally resonant without being overly dramatic. Much like Yumiko, Obata is himself a Japanese artist who has made England his home, so while the graphic novel isn’t necessarily autobiographical, Just So Happens still feels very personal.

Servamp, Volumes 1-2 by Strike Tanaka. From my admittedly limited exposure, my impression of manga originating from Comic Gene is that they tend to have a lot of style without necessarily making a lot of sense. So far, that seems to be the case with Servamp as well. The first two volumes are entertaining, even enjoyable, but I’d be hard pressed to actually explain everything that is going on in the manga. Granted, Mahiru, the series protagonist, doesn’t really know what’s going on either, and the characters who do aren’t being particularly forthcoming. Mahiru likes to keep things simple, which basically means that he ends up doing up anything and everything himself rather than involving other people. And so he’s more or less taken on the responsibility of saving the world, or at least saving humans from the vampires who would kill them all. Mahiru does have some help though, namely an exceptionally lazy but supposedly extremely powerful vampire known as Sleepy Ash, as well as a few other allies. Though it has yet to be seen just how far those allies can really be trusted.

Übel Blatt, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 2-3) by Etorouji Shiono. Although there was a fair amount that bothered me about the initial omnibus of Übel Blatt, the series still showed some potential and I was curious to see where it might go. I am happy to be able to say that the most recent omnibus is an improvement. There’s still gratuitous nudity and sexual content, but it doesn’t seem nearly as out-of-place as it was at the beginning of the series. The fact that many of women are dressed in ridiculously revealing and impractical clothing is even lampshaded at one point when Peepi celebrates the fact that she gets to wear “normal clothes.” In general, the female characters actually are treated a little better and are slightly more developed as individuals in Übel Blatt, Omnibus 1, but sadly not to the extent that I really want to see. To be fair, though, most of the characters seem to lack depth. The action sequences and artwork remain fairly strong, and I do largely like the lead, but for the most part Übel Blatt just isn’t connecting with me. This does surprise me somewhat as I usually really enjoy dark fantasy and tales of revenge.

Gene Mapper

June 27, 2015 by Ash Brown

Author: Taiyo Fujii
Translator: Jim Hubbert
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421580272
Released: June 2015
Original release: 2013

Gene Mapper is Taiyo Fujii’s debut work as an author. Originally, he was employed in design and software development, a background that to some extent informs Gene Mapper. In 2012, he self-published the novel as an ebook and it became a bestseller, catching the attention of Hayakawa Publishing, a major Japanese publisher of science fiction. Fujii subsequently expanded and revised Gene Mapper for release by Hayakawa in 2013. It was this edition of Gene Mapper that became the basis for Jim Hubbert’s English translation of the novel released by Viz Media’s speculative fiction imprint Haikasoru in 2015. In addition to being a bestseller, Gene Mapper has also been critically well-received. Although ultimately the novel didn’t win, Gene Mapper was nominated for both a Seiun Award and a Nihon SF Taisho Award (which Fujii would later earn for his second novel Orbital Cloud). I was thus very happy to have the opportunity to read an early review copy of Gene Mapper.

Mamoru Hayashida is a gene mapper specializing in style sheets for color expression and design. Although he works as a freelancer, many of his recent projects have been for L&B, one of the leaders in distilled crops, a science in which plants have been designed from their DNA up to produce bountiful harvests with high nutritional value that are resistant to disease and pests. The problem of world hunger has been solved because of distilled crops, but there continue to be people who are skeptical of these synthetic creations, believing them to be unnatural, unethical, and unsafe. When SR06, an advanced strain of Super Rice that Hayashida helped to design, begins to inexplicably mutate, it seems as though those criticisms may be justified. In order to investigate and hopefully put a stop to the impending crisis before the media and the rest of the world finds out about it, Hayashida is first sent to Ho Chi Minh City to hire Yagodo, an expert Internet salvager, and then to the SR06 fields in Cambodia along with his agent Kurokawa. It’s only after they are there that they discover just how dire, and dangerous, the situation really is.

Gene Mapper falls into the category of realistic near future science fiction and it is an excellent example of that subgenre. A few elements initially drew me to the novel, specifically the developments and applications of new agricultural and biotechnologies, but the more I read the more I found to capture my interest, such as the implications of the collapse of the Internet (an event that occurred before the beginning of the story proper) and the prevalent use of augmented realities of varying types. Some of those new technologies and systems are unnecessarily over-explained towards the beginning of the novel, bogging down the story, but soon the details become better integrated into the narrative and Gene Mapper begins moving along quite quickly. Although human society in Gene Mapper is still believably imperfect, Fujii’s vision of the future and the role of technology in it is largely a positive and optimistic one. While the potential for technological developments to be used for great harm is a recognized concern in the novel, those same advancements are also shown have the potential to be used to greatly benefit humanity. The tension between those two possibilities is one of the driving forces behind the novel.

What makes Gene Mapper such a thought-provoking and engaging work is the importance placed by Fujii on technology and science and how people interact with them. The novel’s exploration of the tremendous potential presented by new technologies as well as it’s examination of related concerns and fears is extremely relevant to issues being discussed even today. I grew up in a farming community and so am well aware of the debates and controversies surrounding the use of genetically modified crops and other advanced agricultural technologies. Gene Mapper presents one plausible future based on logical extensions of current genetic, agricultural, and information technologies without ignoring the dangers that they present or how they impact society in both positive and negative ways. Just as in reality, scientific advances in Gene Mapper don’t exist in a vacuum. There are personal and societal interests as well as business and commercial interests at work in the direction that the future will take. Missteps have been and will be made, but innovations will continue as long as humanity is able to survive them. Gene Mapper argues that in time solutions will be found to old problems and new challenges will arise as a result.

Thank you to Viz Media for providing a copy of Gene Mapper for review.

Hide and Seek, Vol. 2

June 26, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Yaya Sakuragi
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421558585
Released: March 2014
Original release: 2013

Hide and Seek is a three-volume boys’ love manga series by Yaya Sakuragi. The manga is a direct spinoff of another of Sakuragi’s boys’ love series, Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, which is itself tangentially related to her series Tea for Two. All three series can be read and enjoyed separately from one another, but there are some shared characters and references. Both Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love and Hide and Seek were licensed and released in English by Sublime Manga, the boys’ love imprint associated with Viz Media. (Tea for Two was published by Tokyopop’s Blu Manga imprint back in the day.) Hide and Seek, Volume 2 was originally released in Japan in 2013 while the English-language edition was released in 2014. I began following Sakuragi’s work in translation after encountering her boys’ love one-shot Hey, Sensei?. I’ve continued to enjoy and read her manga, but I find Hide and Seek to be particularly good.

It was supposed to be a simple fling, an uncomplicated relationship to enjoyably pass the time with no expectations that it would develop into something more serious. Except that Shuji, who generally isn’t interested in other men, is falling more and more for the young neighborhood doctor Saji. Though he’s slow to admit that he’s in love, Shuji can’t deny the jealously he experiences when he sees another man kiss Saji. Those feelings intensify when he discovers that the man, Yuki, used to date Saji and due to various unfortunate circumstances is currently staying at the doctors’ home. Saji picks up on some of that jealousy, but he has already resigned himself to a fleeting relationship with Shuji. He would certainly be interested in a more devoted partnership, but he’s been burned so many times in the past that he’s trying no to get his hopes up. And with neither man being completely honest with the other about his feelings, any sort of relationship will be difficult to maintain.

While Hide and Seek definitely has its humorous moments, overall it tends to be a much more serious, and to some extent much more realistic, manga than its immediate predecessor Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love ever was. Likewise, Shuji, the main connecting character between the two series, is significantly more developed and complex in Hide and Seek. Although at heart he hasn’t really changed much from who he was in Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, in part due to the tone of Hide and Seek his character has now become convincingly believable instead of being intentionally comedic and shallow. Shuji amused me greatly in Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love, but I really like Hide and Seek‘s more nuanced version of him. He is much more considerate and much less self-centered than his outward demeanor would initially lead one to assume (as well a more responsible and mature), and he’s honestly concerned for the well-being of those he cares most about, including Saji.

Overall, the characterization in Hide and Seek is excellent, particularly that of Shuji, but Saji is also a realistically complicated individual. I’ve enjoyed watching their relationship evolve and develop over the course of Hide and Seek and look forward to seeing how things turn out for them in the final volume. Shuji and Saji’s relationship isn’t in danger because they’re incompatible. In fact, the two men are surprisingly well-suited for each other. It’s actually because they care so much for each other and are trying not to force their feelings on, take advantage of, or hurt the other person that their relationship has the potential to dissolve. Although they do misinterpret the meaning and motivations behind some of each others’ words and actions, and make some inaccurate assumptions as a result, Shuji and Saji do communicate with each other, something that is absolutely critical for any relationship to succeed. Granted, they still need to learn to open up to each other a little more if they’re going to make things work in the long-term.

Manga the Week of 7/1

June 26, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Since next week is a light week (despite being July 1st, it doesn’t count as a first week of July), I thought I’d do the manga in reverse order. And hey, coincidentally, that makes the image line up properly, too! Funny, that.

So we start with Vertical, who have the 5th volume of fanservice and ladies being awesome fantasy Witchcraft Works.

ASH: I’m a bit behind in this series, but I did enjoy the first few volumes.

SEAN: Seven Seas finally have a 7th volume of Toradora! for us (blame Japan, the series comes out very slowly over there), which resolves the horrible cliffhanger from… February 2014. Ah, the joys of monthly series that are caught up. I’ve reviewed it here.

The Seven Seas debut this week is Non Non Biyori, a sweet city-girl meets countryside story that I’ve heard described as Higurashi without all the murder and conspiracy, and seemingly light on fanservice. I’m looking forward to this a great deal.

MICHELLE: Hmm.

ASH: I know quite a few people looking forward to this manga.

ANNA: I don’t know. I will wait and see what the early reviewers say about this one.

MJ: Also “Hmm.”

SEAN: And there can’t be a month going by without an Alice in the Country of Hearts, this one a short story collection called Junk Box.

ANNA: I really liked the first Alice series and have just resigned myself to the fact that the spin-offs are not going to be as good as the main series.

SEAN: Attack on Titan is such a big seller for Kodansha that even the non-fiction books are getting licensed (almost unheard of after a few character guides bombed over here). This one is The Science of Attack on Titan. The author apparently specializes in looking at fantasy worlds and figuring out how they would work. Also, vampi—I mean, Titans!

ASH: Attack on Titan is the only series that has been able to convince Kodansha to break its “manga only” rule.

SEAN: And we have the third and final volume of Maria the Virgin Witch. There’s a one-shot collection of side stories in Japan, but I’m not sure Kodansha has picked that up.

ASH: Kodansha has! Exhibition is currently scheduled to be released in August.

SEAN: Finally, there’s the 9th Lone Wolf & Cub omnibus from Dark Horse, who curse the fact that I’m not starting with them as always.

Did reversing this make something stand out more for you?

MICHELLE: Alas, no. Just one thing to anticipate your review of!

ASH: Reversing the order made me realize that there was an actual order…

ANNA: I’m happy that this week is so light, because maybe I can catch up on my stacks and stacks of unread manga.

MJ: I can do nothing but be miffed on Lone Wolf and Cub’s behalf.

Manga Giveaway: Assassination Classroom Giveaway

June 24, 2015 by Ash Brown

The end of June draws near, which means the end of the first half of the year is quickly approaching, too. It also means that it’s time for another giveaway at Experiments in Manga! Most schools are now out for the summer (at least in the United States), but we mustn’t forget all of those hardworking teachers. And so, this month’s giveaway is for Yusei Matsui’s Assassination Classroom, Volume 1 as published in English by Viz Media. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Considering the sheer number of manga translated into English that are based in a school setting, relatively few seem to grant more than a passing acknowledgement of the teachers. Sometimes they aren’t even included in the story at all or barely make an appearance beyond the background. But occasionally teachers are actually given a prominent role. Assassination Classroom is a series that stands out for that very reason (among many other reasons). Great Teacher Onizuka, the first series that I read in which a teacher was a lead character, is another manga that immediately leaps to mind. There’s S.S. Astro: Asashio Sogo Teachers’ Room, too, but I can’t think of very many other examples off the top of my head that are available in English.

(Okay, I will admit right now that there are plenty of hentai and boys’ love manga that feature teachers, but those particular stories really weren’t the ones that I had in mind…)

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Assassination Classroom, Volume 1

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite teacher from a manga. (Never noticed a teacher in your reading? Simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

There you have it! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. You have one week to submit comments. If you have trouble with the comment form, or if you prefer, entries can also be sent to me via email at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. The comments will then be posted here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on July 1, 2015. Best of luck to you all!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Assassination Classroom Giveaway Winner

Pick of the Week: Vampires, Corpses, Gundam oh my!

June 23, 2015 by Anna N, Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: There’s so much coming out this week that I’m sure I won’t be able to easily choose what I’ll be… yeah, OK, it’s Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. I hate being predictable, but come on, of COURSE it is.

MICHELLE: Aya Shouoto’s He’s My Only Vampire was a pleasant surprise for me, as it’s quite a lot better than her other title currently being released (Kiss of the Rose Princess). I look forward to seeing what volume three brings.

ASH: Hmmm, there really are quite a few manga that I’m interested in that are being released this week, but I’m with Sean in picking Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. It’s a great series, and who knows when we’ll actually be able to pick it again?

ANNA: I feel like any appearance of Gundam: The Origin deserves a celebration, so that is my pick!

Which manga featuring Char Aznable is your favorite for the week?

My Week in Manga: June 15-June 21, 2015

June 22, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I was on vacation last week, much of which was spent in the middle of the woods in the middle of Ohio camping with my family. This meant I had very little Internet access. But even so, I did manage to post two reviews last week. My monthly horror manga review project continued with a review of After School Nightmare, Volume 4 by Setona Mizushiro. This was the first volume in the series that I hadn’t previously read before embarking on the review project. The second review was of Satoshi Wagahara’s prize-winning light novel The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Volume 1 which is very amusing and silly. But, having watched the anime series last year, I already knew that.

As previously mentioned, I was occupied with other things last week, so I probably missed out on all sorts of interesting reading, news, and announcements. However, there were a few things that came across my radar before I left for Ohio. Kathryn Hemmann at Contemporary Japanese Literature wrote about The Cultural Cross Pollination of Shōjo Manga. And speaking of shōjo manga, Digital Manga’s most recent Tezuka Kickstarter is aiming to publish Storm Fairy. (The project also aims to reprint Unico with better image and color quality, which makes me wonder why Digital Manga didn’t do that for the first printing, but I’ve given up trying to understand Digital Manga’s decision making.) Finally, Udon Entertainment announced a new manga license: Shuji Sogabe’s adaptation of Persona 4.

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan: Junior High, Omnibus 3 (equivalent to Volumes 5-6) by Saki Nakagawa. Out of all the various Attack on Titan spinoffs, Junior High is the one that probably has the smallest audience overall and is the one that is the most uneven for me specifically. Sometimes the manga can be a slog to get through, but sometimes it’s absolutely hilarious. At its best, Junior High can actually make me laugh out loud; I keep reading the series for those moments because when Junior High is funny, it is very funny. The manga continues to be a very weird mix of Attack on Titan and a generic school setting with all of the standard tropes that that entails. Sometimes the combination works better than others. This particular omnibus features the school culture festival, a battle of the bands, eating contests and cooking competitions, club activities, lots of cleaning, and school rivalries among other things. I was very pleased to see that characters and storylines from other Attack on Titan spinoffs like No Regrets are now being incorporated into Junior High as well.

Lies Are a Gentleman’s Manners by Marta Matsuo. Since for whatever reason Digital Manga often seems to be hesitant to include “Volume 1” in the title of a new manga, I didn’t initially realize that Lies Are a Gentleman’s Manners is actually an ongoing series in Japan. The first volume stands well enough on its own, but I do hope that any subsequent volumes will be licensed as well. Despite the fact that neither of the leads in this boys’ love manga are particularly likeable—Jonathan, an unscrupulous medical student selling drugs to his fellow classmates, and Paul, his equally unscrupulous (and married) college professor who uses that fact to blackmail him into a relationship—I actually do want to read more. Though some of the situations are unquestionably unsavory, the manga can also be very funny and even sexy on occasion. One of the most interesting things about Lies Are a Gentleman’s Manners is its setting. The manga takes place on America’s modern East Coast among the country’s wealthy, aristocratic upper class. While certainly a fictional representation, some of the social dynamics ring true.

Towerkind by Kat Verhoeven. Originally self-published as a series of mini-comics, Towerkind was recently collected and released by Conundrum Press in a single volume. I was not previously familiar with Verhoeven’s work; Towerkind was a TCAF-inspired impulse buy. I’m very glad that I picked it up though because I’m loving this comic to pieces. Towerkind certainly won’t be to everyone’s liking, but there’s just something about the comic that I find oddly compelling. It’s surreal, strange, chilling, and ominous. Verhoeven effectively uses a small format to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that emphasizes the feeling of impending doom experienced by the characters. The volume opens with a foreword by Georgia Webber explaining the importance of the backdrop of Towerkind—Toronto’s first vertical neighborhood of high-rise apartments St. James Town—which helps to set the stage and tone for the comic itself. Towerkind follows a group of children gifted with unexplainable supernatural abilities who live in the towers of St. James Town while what may be the end of the world approaches.

Welcome to the N.H.K., Volumes 5-8 by Kendi Oiwa. Having already read the original Welcome to the N.H.K. novel by Tatsuhiko Takimoto and having already seen the Welcome to the N.H.K. anime series (which, it turns out, was based on both the novel and Oiwa’s manga adaptation), I am already quite familiar with the story and characters Welcome to the N.H.K., but I somehow managed to forget just how dark and hard-hitting it can be. Ostensibly Welcome to the N.H.K. is a comedy, and it can be quite funny in a painful sort of way, but it deals with some pretty heavy subject matter including (but not limited to) drug use, self-harm, suicide, and mental illness. The second half of the series, while at times outrageous, tends to fall on the more serious side of things. Although I’ve always considered Welcome to the N.H.K. to be Satou’s story, the manga also places particular emphasis on Misaki’s story. It’s been a while since I’ve read or watched them, but I believe the manga actually has a unique ending that’s different from both the novel and the anime. All three version of Welcome to the N.H.K. are very good.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 1

June 19, 2015 by Ash Brown

Author: Satoshi Wagahara
Illustrator: 029
Translator: Kevin Gifford
U.S. publisher: Yen Press
ISBN: 9780316383127
Released: April 2015
Original release: 2011
Awards: Dengeki Novel Prize

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! began in 2011 as a light novel series written by Satoshi Wagahara with illustrations by 029, but it has since expanded to include an anime adaptation and multiple manga series as well. I was actually introduced to The Devil Is a Part-Timer! through the 2013 anime series directed by Naoto Hosoda. I rather enjoyed it and so when Yen Press licensed not only the manga but the orignal light novel series of The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, it caught my attention. I was particularly interested in reading the anime’s source material, currently an ongoing series of novels at fourteen volumes in Japan. The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Volume 1, which earned Wagahara a Silver Dengeki Novel Prize, was released in English in 2015 under Yen Press’ new light novel imprint Yen On with a translation by Kevin Gifford. The volume also includes color pages and an end-of-book bonus—character files in the form of a collection of resumes.

Satan, the Devil King, had one simple goal: to conquer Ente Isla and subjugate the humans there who manage to survive the invasion of his forces. All was going well until the Hero made her appearance on the battlefield. Emilia throws the Devil King’s plans into disarray and Satan is forced to make a hasty retreat along with Alciel, his strategist and one of the Four Great Demon Generals. Unintentionally, they end up in the parallel world of modern-day Japan with no immediate way back to Ente Isla. Emilia isn’t far behind them, which only causes another set of problems to deal with. Until they can return to their own world, Satan, now known as Maou, and Alciel, now known as Ashiya, must survive in this one as humans with very little access to their demonic powers. But then Maou secures a job as a part-timer at a fast food joint. He’s convinced that this will be the first step in conquering Japan, the world, and (assuming they can figure out how to get home) Ente Isla.

The first volume of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! and at least some if not all of the second were adapted as part of the anime series, so there were no real surprises for me plot-wise reading it. The novel does include a few more worldbuilding and character details, but for the most part the anime was a very straightforward, routine interpretation of Wagahara’s orignal story. The writing in The Devil Is a Part-Timer! isn’t particularly flashy, stylish, or clever—it’s more functional than anything else—but all of the characters have their own ways of speaking and expressing themselves. It’s immediately apparent who’s responsible for any given line of dialogue because they each have a unique, individual voice. As for the plot, it’s intentionally ridiculous and absurd, which to some extent is what makes The Devil Is a Part-Timer! entertaining. Admittedly, it sometimes doesn’t make a whole lot of logical sense, and there seem to be a few potential plot holes left for Wagahara to address as well, but the novel can still be legitimately fun. High literature it certainly isn’t, though, something that both Wagahara and the characters are well-aware of; the story developments in The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Volume 1 are repeatedly compared to those of a B movie.

Very little of The Devil Is a Part Timer!, Volume 1 has much to do with magic or mayhem. Eventually Wagahara builds up to it for the volume’s finale, but for the most part the novel is surprisingly mundane. In the end, the crises that Maou is most concerned about is the possibility of being late for work. It seems likely that Maou and Ashiya’s personalities have significantly changed along with the changes in their physical forms. But then the humor in The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is largely derived from the characters being not at all who one would assume them to be and behaving in ways that are stunningly ordinary, especially considering their epic origins. Occasionally they do recall their quests—the demons’ goal to take over Ente Isla and Emilia’s desire to destroy Satan and his cohorts—but overall Maou appears to be content in his new-found work, Ashiya has come to accept his role of househusband, and even Emi has made a nice life for herself in Japan. Ultimately that’s what makes The Devil Is a Part-Timer so amusing, the complete mismatch between the characters as they are and the expectations of who they should be.

Manga the Week of 6/24

June 18, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: The end of the month always brings a deluge from Yen, and if you add on the other publishers doing stuff it can get rather expensive. Let’s see what might be worth your hard-earned cash.

Ze, from 801 Media, has finally hit Volume 10, despite a particularly irregular release schedule.

ASH: I just recently caught up with Ze and am ready for more, even if some of the characters are jerks.

MICHELLE: I read the first few volumes of Ze and then drifted away when there was a lull between volumes. I seem to recall some plot I wasn’t wild about, also, but the details escape me now.

MJ: I *do* remember pretty clearly why I drifted away from Ze, but I’m fairly impressed that it has gone on this long. Long BL series seem so rare.

SEAN: If it seems like it’s been forever since the last Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, that’s because it has been – Vol. 13 was out in December 2012. But things are looking up, as not only do we get Vol. 14 next week, but there’s an omnibus re-release in the fall.

ASH: They may not come out very frequently, but I’m always glad to see another volume of this series.

MICHELLE: Oh, that’s a pleasant surprise!

SEAN: Let’s Dance a Waltz hit all the right buttons except one – but it was a big wrong button. Now that our heroine has magically lost weight and become cute through the power of dance, can Vol. 2 hold on to an audience that all groaned when that happened?

MICHELLE: I am avoiding this one just on general principle. It makes me really wish The Stellar Six of Gingacho could’ve continued, because I ended up buying the final volume in Japanese and let’s just say this particular trope is avoided quite satisfactorily.

MJ: Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Ugh. Also, ugh.

ANNA: The Stellar Six of Gingacho was really good!

SEAN: Noragami is a series that just didn’t catch on with me, but others from the Manga Bookshelf team can tell you about its 5th volume.

Your Lie in April’s first volume didn’t completely wow me, but had a lot of promise. Vol. 2 should build on that.

ASH: Music manga! I’m looking forward to reading more.

MICHELLE: As a pianist, I should want to read this but somehow I feel kind of “meh” about it.

MJ: I’m behind, here, but still interested!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts a new manwha with an omnibus of Freezing 1 and 2. This has been highly anticipated by many readers, despite not having any monster girls that I know of. The blurb calls it “Ultra violent and sexy”, so the usual Seven Seas warnings apply.

No monster girls is not a problem with the 2nd volume of goofy comedy Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

Vertical has the 10th volume of mechstravaganza Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. (I give permission for Vertical to use ‘mechstravaganza’ in their blurbs, if they’d like.)

ASH: Still one of the best looking manga being released in English right now.

SEAN: Given the huge popularity of Sword Art Online, and the slightly less huge but still pretty good popularity of Accel World, Yen On licensing a new Reki Kawahara novel series seems obvious. This one’s even in hardcover, so is getting the deluxe treatment. It’s called The Isolator, and seems a bit more sci-fi/aliens than his other series.

Pandora Hearts has some light novels as well, and we get the first in the Caucus Race series next week. MJ?

MJ: Honestly, I had no idea about these! Well, count me in!

SEAN: As for Sword Art Online itself, Vol. 2 of the Progressive novel series takes us into uncharted waters: this hasn’t been adapted in anime or manga form yet. It apparently has elves!

On Yen Press’s manga front, we have the first volume of Alice in Murderland. Given it’s Kaori Yuki, I’m sure the pile of corpses that will no doubt stack up as the series goes on will be exquisite.

ANNA: This title sounds amusing.

SEAN: And continuing with Alices, Are You Alice? has hit nine volumes and still doesn’t know.

Barakamon has its 5th volume of small town life and occasional calligraphy.

ASH: Barakamon has really started to grow on me.

SEAN: Bloody Cross just announced it’s ending in Japan, but I think we still have a few volumes to go here. This is the 7th.

From the author of Scrapped Princess comes another kind, Chaika the Coffin Princess, a fantasy series about a young girl who carries a coffin on her back. No relation to Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, though one has to be side-eyeing Yen a bit here.

A double shot of Kaoru Yuki this month, with the 3rd Demon from Afar.

And a 3rd He’s My Only Vampire, a series I’ve become quite fond of.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading this one.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Love at Fourteen’s third volume will have adorable and heartwarming 14-year-old romance, I imagine.

ASH: I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two volumes. Definitely plan on reading more.

MICHELLE: And this one, too!

MJ: I really enjoy this series, so I’m definitely on board here!

SEAN: Secret has a 2nd volume, no doubt filled with survival games and animal masks. I wish the artist would go back to drawing Higurashi spinoffs, honestly.

Lastly, there’s a long-awaited 2nd volume of Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, which will hopefully become a bit more opaque this time around.

Are you feeling excited? Or merely buried in stuff?

Pick of the Week: Later than ever

June 17, 2015 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: I really am gonna do it! I really am gonna read the first two volumes of Master Keaton daringly followed by the third, which is my pick of the week!

MJ: And I’m gonna stick by my boy Syoaoran and recommend that xxxHolic omnibus! So. Yeah. Take that, Sean. Or something like that.

SEAN: I should pick Fragments of Horror, really, but I suspect I like the idea of it more than the actual book, as I like my horror more manageable. So I’ll pick the 11th Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, as they need all the friends they can get.

ASH: That’s okay, Sean, I’ve got Fragments of Horror covered. I’m very glad to see more of Ito’s work being translated into English. I have no idea if this collection of short manga will live up to his masterpiece Uzumaki (which I think is one of the best horror comics out there) but I’m definitely willing to find out.

What looks good to you this week?

After School Nightmare, Vol. 4

June 17, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617336
Released: July 2007
Original release: 2006

Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series, an intense psychological drama that explores issues of gender identity and sexuality in a fantastical sort of way. The manga incorporates elements of horror and is an effectively disconcerting work. Up until now, I had only ever read the first three volumes of After School Nightmare. Those volumes, initially borrowed from the library, left a significant impression on me and I immediately sought out a complete set of the entire series for my own. (Fortunately, though out-of-print in English, After School Nightmare is still relatively easy to find.) But while I found the start of the series to be compelling, years passed before I was able to gather the courage to read more of the manga. After School Nightmare, Volume 4 was first published in Japan in 2006 while Go! Comi released the English-language edition in 2007.

Mashiro is conflicted and confused, no longer certain of who he is as a person and struggling to determine just that. The special class that he must complete in order to graduate isn’t doing anything to ease his personal turmoil. In fact, it’s forcing him to confront his insecurities and fears. But the class is also making him stronger, encouraging him to face his feelings head on both inside the shared dreams of the class and outside of them. This also means facing Sou and his relentless advances without running away. While Mashiro is becoming more confident, he is also opening himself up to Sou’s aggressiveness and influence. Matters become even more complicated when their classmate Shinbashi witnesses them sharing a kiss. Shinbashi is in love with Mashiro’s girlfriend Kureha and cares for her more deeply than her boyfriend seems to. After seeing Sou and Mashiro together, Shinbashi mistakenly assumes Mashiro’s indecisiveness in his relationship with Kureha is due to his sexual orientation, never guessing that Mashiro’s true struggle is with his gender identity.

Shinbashi has been an increasingly important character in After School Nightmare ever since he was introduced in the second volume, but the role he plays in the fourth volume is absolutely crucial. At this point in the series it doesn’t seem as though any of the characters will get a happy ending, and Shinbashi is no exception. While he may not be dealing with the repercussions of extreme physical, emotional, and mental abuse like those experienced by his fellow classmates, his story is still a tragic one. Shinbashi has become a friend and confidante of sorts to both Mashiro, who ought to be something more like a rival, and Kureha, despite her fear and hatred of men. It’s heartbreaking to see that because Kureha’s aversion is so severe, she and Shinbashi can only communicate through their cell phones; she can’t even stand to be in the same room with him. And while by nature Shinbashi is passive, he loves Kureha completely and would do anything for her, even to the point of self-destruction.

A large part of After School Nightmare is focused on Mashiro’s search for self identity and how that identity is effected by the people around him and influenced by their relationships with him. Mashiro’s friendship with Shinbashi is a rather peculiar one that, oddly enough, somehow works. Where Shinbashi is self-sacrificing to a fault, Mashiro is incredibly self-centered, so concerned with and tangled up in his own problems that he often forgets to take into consideration how his actions may hurt others. An interesting thing about After School Nightmare is that while very few of the characters are easily likeable, I still find that I can empathize with them and can even identify with some of their plights. After School Nightmare continues to be an unsettling work with an intense and ominous atmosphere—I wouldn’t hesitate at all to describe it as a type of quiet, psychological horror—but there are occasional glimmers of hope that at least some of the characters will be able to overcome their troubles and fears.

My Week in Manga: June 8-June 14, 2015

June 15, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted last week at Experiments in Manga. First up was my review of the short comic The Ring of Saturn by Kaiju, a creative team made up of Kate Rhodes and Jennifer Xu. I had previously read the comic online at Sparkler Monthly and loved it, but now it’s available in print! The second review was of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, Volume 8. The series is an incredibly important one to me, and I’m very glad that it’s being released in English. The eighth volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I have no idea when the ninth volume will be released, so now I’m doubly anxious.

Elsewhere online, the MASSIVE/Gay Manga tumblr talks a bit about the success of Gengoroh Tagame’s first manga for a general audience, My Brother’s Husband. It sounds like there’s an ongoing effort to license the series for an English-language release, which I really hope happens! Drawn & Quarterly made an interesting licensing announcement of its own, Yeon-sik Hong’s Uncomfortably, Happily. You don’t hear about many new manhwa being released in English these days. (Although Netcomics does seem to be making a quiet comeback.) Frederik L. Schodt spoke briefly on To the Best of Our Knowledge about Osamu Tezuka and his works. Finally, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses continues its Manga Advice series, this time interviewing four manga designers.

Quick Takes

My Little Monster, Volume 8 by Robico. The last volume of My Little Monster got my hopes up as the series seemed to be regaining its momentum. I wouldn’t say my hopes were dashed reading the eight volume since there were plenty of funny and dramatic moments, not to mention the introduction of a new character as well as several confessions of love, but the series still isn’t going anywhere fast. Both Robico and the characters know this, too, and even comment on the fact that nothing has really changed all that much from the beginning of the story. Although, I do suppose that it’s an important development that Shizuku and Haru are now officially a couple. (Except that I thought they already were? Guess I was wrong.) My Little Monster does frustrate me a little with all of its one step forward, one step back approach to storytelling and relationships, and it seems to have forgotten some of the major plot threads that were started earlier, but I do still like the series as a whole. My Little Monster can be very funny at times and the quirky characters continue to amuse me. So, I’ll likely keep reading.

Say I Love You, Volume 7 by Kanae Hazuki. Although Mei and Yamato are clearly the main characters of Say I Love You, large portions of the series are actually devoted to their friends, classmates, and families. After showing the outcome of Mei and Yamato’s date (which his sister crashed before his older brother was able to drag her away) and the result of their first night spent completely alone together, the seventh volume largely focuses on Megumi’s story. After Megumi was rejected by Yamato, who remains devoted to Mei, she has been trying to ruin all of Mei’s new-found friendships. She actually ends up making herself miserable in the process and ends up withdrawing more and more from the people who legitimately care about her. Like many of the characters in Say I Love You, Megumi is dealing with some pretty serious personal issues. Her self-confidence has been destroyed, she doesn’t trust other people, and her relationships are falling apart. As unlikeable as she can be at times, it’s still heartbreaking to see her intense unhappiness. But the growth and development of the characters in Say I Love You is excellent.

Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce. I was introduced to Ed Luce and his work thanks to TCAF 2014’s Queer Mixer where I learned that Fantagraphics would be releasing a collection of his most well-known creation, Wuvable Oaf. The volume opens with “Music Is My Boyfriend,” the first major Wuvable Oaf story arc which follows the titular Oaf, an ex-pro wrestler who now spends his time crafting handmade dolls (stuffed with his own body hair) and working at Oaf’s Home for Wayward Kitties Who Are Really Cute & Need Lotsa Love, and his relationship with Eiffel, a much smaller and extremely surly fellow who is the lead singer of Ejaculoid, a disco grindcore band. The volume also includes a collection of Wuvable Oaf short stories and “The Official Handbook to the Oafiverse,” which contains detailed (and humorous) character profiles among other things. Oaf himself is adorable and an absolute sweetheart. Although occasionally kind of gross, Wuvable Oaf can be surprisingly sweet and charming, filled with all sorts of marvelous queerness. Wuvable Oaf is also very, very funny. And it just so happens to be a cat comic, too!

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Volume 2 by Miki Yoshikawa. Despite the manga’s title, the witches of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches have yet to make their presence known, though I’m assuming it’s only a matter of time. I enjoyed the first volume Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches a great deal. I enjoyed the second as well, but it didn’t manage to leave as big of an impression on me. The fanservice seemed a little more forced in the second volume, too. Still, the series is a comedy more than anything else and I continue to find it to be highly entertaining. (But then again, I do have a proclivity towards stories that include body-swapping and gender play.) Yamada has discovered that he has a strange ability that allows him to switch bodies with another person if they kiss. He doesn’t know why he has this power, nor does he completely understand how it works. But even so, he and the few people who know about it are more than willing to use Yamada’s peculiar skill to their advantage, whether it’s appropriate or not. (Often it’s not.) This of course means there’s all sorts of kissing and other antics going on.

Wandering Son, Vol. 8

June 12, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Takako Shimura
U.S. publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 9781606998311
Released: May 2015
Original release: 2008

Wandering Son by Takako Shimura is a manga series that is incredibly important to me on a very personal level. The series’ exploration of personal identity, especially in regards to gender and sexual identity, is beautifully done with great sensitivity. It’s a rare comic in which gender expression and other issues relating to gender are treated realistically and not as a joke. Wandering Son is an authentically meaningful series. Fantagraphics Books has been releasing the manga in English in a lovely hardcover edition; I only wish that the individual volumes were able to be released more frequently. Wandering Son, Volume 8 was first published in Japan in 2008 while the English translation was published in 2015. Wandering Son concluded in 2013 with its fifteenth volume, meaning that the eighth volume marks the beginning of the second half of the series. I am so incredibly grateful that Wandering Son is being translated and look forward to reading the remaining volumes.

Spring has come, which means a new school year is about to begin. Shuichi, Takatsuki, and their classmates are entering the eighth grade, but with a new year comes new class assignments. The students, whose often precarious friendships and relationships were at least temporarily stable, once more find themselves confronted with new and changing group dynamics. Some friends are separated while others are reunited. And of course, not-quite-friends and past bullies are included in the mix as well, creating some challenging and awkward situations for everyone involved. Springtime has come for some of the young people in a more figurative sort of way as well. Anna and Shuichi continue to date each other and enjoy being together despite Shuichi’s lingering affections for Takatsuki. Everyone has mostly come to terms with this development in their relationship, but more than one person has commented that Takatsuki and Shuichi would make an ideal couple.

I’ve come to really like Anna as a character. When she was first introduced in the series, she came across as aloof and perhaps even a bit mean-spirited, but as Wandering Son has progressed, more about Anna has been revealed. It’s not exactly that she’s bad-natured, she just doesn’t have a high tolerance for people who don’t approach their lives and work seriously. Anna can be surprisingly mature for her age—something that may probably be true for many of the younger characters in Wandering Son—but I still find her personality and character to be a believable. She is extraordinarily accepting and kind in her own fashion, seeming to lack the jealous tendencies that cause so many problems for her peers. But what I love most about Anna in Wandering Son, Volume 8 is her acceptance and support of Shuichi through their relationship as a couple. She is perfectly content to go on dates as two girls if that’s what Shuichi wants and she never denigrates Shuichi’s interests or feelings.

For the most part, Wandering Son tends to be a fairly quiet series, which is not to say there isn’t drama. And I certainly don’t intend to downplay the very real and intense emotions experienced by the characters as they struggle through their adolescence and personal turmoils. Those are central to Wandering Son. However, the eighth volume is the first volume that really ends with a dramatic turn of events that could be described as a cliffhanger. Throughout Wandering Son, Shuichi and Takatsuki have become more comfortable and increasingly bolder with how they express themselves in the clothes they wear, largely because they’ve received encouragement from their classmates and friends. But up until this volume, that outward expression has mostly been limited to their private lives; now they’ve begun to push the boundaries in how they dress at school, which has an explicit dress codes and uniforms based on gender. I am very glad to see the two of them developing a firmer understanding and acceptance of who they are, but I also worry for them because, as Wandering Son honestly portrays, the world can sometime be a very cruel place.

Manga the Week of 6/17

June 12, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: A second small week in a row! This is getting creepy. Where’s that manga boom?

Fans of Eden: It’s an Endless World will be more disappointed than ever see see that a new manga called Eden is not what they think. Fans of Gen Manga’s alternative stuff, though, will be delighted with Eden Vol. 1.

xxxHOLIC Omnibus 6 is a bit smaller than previous ones, as they had 4 volumes to go so had to divide it 2 and 2. Also, we’re at peak Syaoran levels. This is not a drill. Please protect yourself from further Syoaoran outbreaks.

MICHELLE: *snerk* Someday I really will finish this series and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

ASH: And thanks to the omnibuses, you can! (I’m on the same reading program)

ANNA: I enjoy Clamp, but I gave up on xxxHOLIC and Tsubasa. Also I am still bitter that X/1999 is unfinished.

MJ: Sean, you hurt me. Also. You people. What.

SEAN: Not only does the cast of Haganai still not have many friends as of Vol. 11, but the cover shows that Yozora is looking more sullen than ever.

And Servamp’s protagonist is probably looking sleepy in this 2nd volume, if Vol. 1 was any indication.

Viz has Dogs reaching double-digits with Vol. 10. Man, remember when this was the new Black Lagoon, as opposed to Gangsta? Also, is it me or is this out before its traditional one-per-year release?

MICHELLE: I think it is.

ANNA: Just wanted to mention how much I like Gangsta!

SEAN: Junji Ito time, with Fragments of Horror, a short story collection that will no doubt scare the bejabbers out of everyone. It’s in hardcover, too.

ASH: Very much looking forward to seeing more of Junji Ito’s work in English!

SEAN: Master Keaton’s 3rd volume will continue to show why Keaton is a brilliant investigator and a less-than-brilliant husband and father.

MICHELLE: I am terrible because I haven’t managed to find time to read 1-2 yet!

ANNA: I agree that you are being terrible to yourself for not reading these books already!

SEAN: Lastly, there is the much anticipated Tokyo Ghoul, which seems to be making fans of the anime very happy, but is not as pleasing to the manga blogger crowd. We shall see.

ANNA: I am going to check this out.

MJ: What she said.

SEAN: Are you getting something, or saving your money for the following week’s deluge of Yen?

The Ring of Saturn

June 10, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: KaiJu
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9780993861178
Released: May 2015
Original run: 2014

The Ring of Saturn was the first work that I read by KaiJu, a creative team made up of animator Jennifer Xu and cartoonist Kate Rhodes. A short three-part comic, The Ring of Saturn was first serialized online in Chromatic Press’ multimedia magazine Sparkler Monthly in 2014. The comic was collected as an ebook soon after and then in 2015 the print edition was released. I initially read The Ring of Saturn online as it was being serialized and was very impressed by the comic, so I was looking forward owning a physical copy. The gorgeous cover artwork was what first caught my attention, but the comic’s musical elements and historical drama immediately appealed to me as well. Although The Ring of Saturn stands completely on its own, the comic is actually a side story, a pilot of sorts, for a much larger work pitched by KaiJu to Chromatic Press. Based on the strength of The Ring of Saturn alone, I hope to one day see that project come to fruition. In the meantime, I’m very happy to have The Ring of Saturn.

Miriam Frayne is a student of Gustav Holst, the Director of Music at the prestigious St. Paul’s Girls’ School. Although a skilled pianist with a passion for music, she is confounded by the solo arrangement of Holst’s “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age.” She simply can’t seem to grasp its meaning or feeling, much preferring the rousing “Jupiter” movement of the suite which better suits her exuberant temperament and style of playing. It’s that energy that captures the attention of Rasim Rahal, a young astronomer who is intrigued by Holst’s work. At first Miriam is annoyed by Raz, but she soon finds herself warming up to him. Although he’s not the only one to express enjoyment of Miriam’s performance of “The Bringer of Old Age,” she herself continues to be dissatisfied and frustrated with it. And while Miriam continues to struggle with “Saturn” her country is locked in a struggle of its own—The Great War. Though seemingly far removed from her quiet life at school, the war is something that will affect everyone, including Miriam.

One of the things that I love about The Ring of Saturn is how the music forms a parallel to the narrative of the comic and to Miriam’s development as a character. The music serves as a metaphor for growth and change in a way that is remarkably effective and which never comes across as trite. “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” is a flashy piece with a sense of brilliance. As Miriam describes it, it steadily moves forward with purpose. “The Bringer of Jollity” captures Miriam as she is at the beginning of the comic—youthful and fervent, though perhaps a little naive when it comes to some of the harsher realities of life and of war. But by the end of The Ring of Saturn, Miriam is finally able to understand and even identify with “The Bringer of Old Age.” She has had to grow up, and with that maturity she is able to approach the music and her life more fully. She is no longer the person she once was, which can be seen in both how she acts and in how she plays. Miriam has become wiser with age and with experience.

Music, which is beautifully conveyed visually throughout The Ring of Saturn, is a critical component of the work. The Ring of Saturn also one of the few comics that I know of in which a composer, and a historical one at that, plays an important role. And it’s certainly the only one that I’m aware of that features Holst. While the details in The Ring of Saturn aren’t quite as intricate, KaiJu’s work in the comic reminds me of some of the manga by Kaoru Mori in both its artwork and in how history is incorporated into its setting and story. The Ring of Saturn is historical fiction and so some freedom has been taken with historical fact, but the feeling of era is there. I also enjoyed the comic’s witty and poetic dialogue. The Ring of Saturn is a short comic, well under a hundred pages, but it is also satisfyingly complete. Reading it again I love it just as much as I did the first time and have perhaps come to appreciate even more what KaiJu has accomplished with The Ring of Saturn.