Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 1/24/18

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SEAN: Manga still comes, through snow, rain, gloom, and dead of night. What’s up for next week?

Kodansha debuts the new sequel to Battle Angel Alita, subtitled Mars Chronicle. It comes after Last Order, and will no doubt be as sweet and fluffy as previous volumes (please note sarcasm). It runs in Evening.

Kodansha’s digital offerings are slightly less next week – are they tired? Domestic Girlfriend 15, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World 4, My Boyfriend in Orange 2, Pitch-Black Ten 2, and PTSD Radio 3.

MICHELLE: Heh. I will eventually read the shoujo ones on that list.

SEAN: In print, we have finally come to the end of Fairy Tail, with its 63rd volume. There are still a few spinoffs still to be released, but this is the end of the main story.

ASH: That’s an impressive run! One Piece and Case Closed are the only other series I can think of off the top of my head that have over sixty volumes published in English.

SEAN: And there is a 3rd Frau Faust, which I pray does not have the heroine get even younger by the end.

MICHELLE: I am determined to start this series this week! Maybe today!

ASH: You should! It’s great!

SEAN: We also have a 24th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins, which with the end of Fairy Tail is now the longest-running Weekly Shonen Magazine series that’s licensed over here. (Sorry, Hajime no Ippo, Ahiru no Sora and Seitokai Yakuindomo are NOT licensed over here.)

Seven Seas has a bunch of stuff. Golden Time comes to an end with its 9th volume of romance and amnesia.

Hachune Mike’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise has a 2nd volume.

And the zombies clearly have not been stopped, if Hour of the Zombie 6 is any indication.

The debut next week is Made in Abyss, a fantasy series about a girl and her robot that runs in Takeshobo’s Manga Life Win +. Despite the cast looking like moe plushies, it’s apparently more serious than it looks.

ASH: I’ve heard that it gets quite serious indeed.

SEAN: Masamune-kun’s Revenge has reached 7 volumes. Sheesh. Just get revenge already!

And Non Non Biyori has a 9th volume of doing absolutely nothing in a cute and relaxed way.

orange: future is a spinoff of the popular shoujo romance/tragedy, with additional side and after stories that will no doubt please fans.

MICHELLE: MUST HAVE!

ASH: ABSOLUTELY! The original series was tremendous, so I hope the continuation can hold up to expectations.

ANNA: I have orange lurking around my house somewhere. I should read it!

ASH: You haven’t yet?! You really should. It’s not always an easy read due to the heavy subject matter, but it’s a really well done series.

SEAN: I am surprised as well, as it’s basically exactly what you read.

ANNA: I know! My piles of unread manga are getting out of control.

SEAN: Vertical has My Neighbor Seki Vol. 10! What amazing desk toys will Seki come up with to celebrate?

And finally, Viz has a couple of digital only releases with Boys Over Flowers Season 2 Volume 7 (Part A, 5th Door To the Right, Behind the Filing Cabinet), and the difficult to type out élDLIVE has a 4th.

MICHELLE: I feel like I should give Boys Over Flowers Season 2 another chance.

ANNA: Me too. I liked the first several chapters.

MJ: Oh, this. Yes. This, this!

SEAN: What are you dashing through the snow to get next week?

Pick of the Week: What Is a Dragonewt Anyway?

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SEAN: My pick senses are turned towards Viz this week. Fire Punch looks worthy, but I have now read it, and while it is a story well told it is not my kind of story. As such, my pick of the week is RWBY. It’s always nice to see a Japanese take on a Western property, especially when the Western property is anime-influenced. Knock my socks off, RWBY!

MICHELLE: I’ve said Chihayafuru a bunch in this space already, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, so instead this week I will pick the fourth volume of Waiting for Spring. It’s not groundbreaking shoujo, but it’s enjoyable, and I like the lead characters (and the heroine’s fujoshi best friend).

ANNA: I adore Chihayafuru, but sometime I pick titles based on the titles alone. And based on the title, Fire Punch sounds pretty great. That’s my pick!!!

KATE: I’m with Sean: Fire Punch is just too damn grim for me. I’m bullish about Children of the Whales and Kitaro the Vampire Slayer, though, and am intrigued by Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms — just look at that lovely cover!

ASH: I’m certainly curious about Fire Punch, and I’m definitely looking forward to more of Children of the Whales and Kitaro, but Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms has caught my eye as well. So, I guess I’m largely following Kate this week!

Manga the Week of 1/17/18

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SEAN: January continues apace, and so do releases, though as I noted last week, it’s still a bit muted compared to the last few months.

If you’re tired of Joss Whedon projects but still love vampire slayers, Drawn and Quarterly can help you with Kitaro the Vampire Slayer, the latest release in their series.

ASH: I still love Kitaro, which is why I’ll be picking it up!

Another J-Novel Club series comes to an end with the 6th and final volume of Paying to Win in a VRMMO, starring the smuggest hero ever.

Kodansha has another pile of digital releases, as we get Chihayafuru 8, DEATHTOPIA 8 (which I believe is the final volume), Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 5, Fuuka 15, Kasane 9, The Prince’s Black Poison 2, and Real Girl 11.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: YAY!!!!!

SEAN: Lest Ash despair, they also have some print volumes. We get Waiting for Spring 4 and Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty 2.

MICHELLE: I am working on getting caught up on these.

ASH: My despair has been tempered as I am enjoying both of these series so far. (In print!)

One Peace continues to deliver on volumes of Maria Holic, this time giving us lucky Vol. 13.

Seven Seas has three ongoing titles. A Certain Scientific Accelerator 7 is pretty much caught up with Japan. My Monster Secret 9 has a ways to go before it catches up to Japan, as it recently ended with Vol. 22. And Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn is still two creators reinforcing each other’s worst habits, but we’re at Vol. 9 anyway.

Their debut is Juana and the Dragonewt’s Seven Kingdoms (Ryuu no Nanakuni to Minashigo no Juana), a Mag Garden title that, given it stars dragonewts, I’m going to guess is a fantasy.

ASH: I am very curious about this debut!

ANNA: Hmm, sounds interesting.

SEAN: Vertical has a 4th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz’s ongoing series give us the 2nd Children of the Whales (I wasn’t as impressed as I expected to be) and the 20th Terra Formars.

MICHELLE: Children of the Whales is literally on top of my to-read pile.

ASH: I think you’ll like the series, Michelle! Overall, I really enjoyed the first volume and look forward to seeing how the manga continues to develop with the second.

ANNA: I wish it had less world building and more character development, but maybe things will settle down a bit in the second volume.

SEAN: Debut #1 is Fire Punch, a shonen series from the Shonen Jump + line, and oh my god it looks super, super dark. Not sure how I’ll do with this one.

ASH: Oh, super dark, you say? I don’t know much about the series, but that’s enough to at least pique my interest.

ANNA: I enjoy both fire and punching.

SEAN: The other debut is actually done in one – RWBY, a manga that ran in Japan’s Ultra Jump based on the anime-style American series created by Rooster Teeth. I’m hoping for “cool” here.

ANNA: It does look super stylish.

SEAN: Are you excited? And you just can’t hide it?

Pick of the Week: Scrounging

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MICHELLE: There’s really nothing that I simply must have this week, so I suppose I’ll pick volume two of Lovesick Ellie for no deeper reason than that the cover of volume one kind of reminds me of Honey So Sweet.

SEAN: I’m uninspired as well, so I will go with a favorite author and pick Vol. 2 of Imperfect Girl, which will hopefully continue to be intriguing and disquieting in equal amounts.

KATE: I’m woefully behind on I Am a Hero, so I’m going to take advantage of a light week to dive in and catch up. Zombies ahoy!

ANNA: There isn’t a ton that’s coming out this week that inspires me either, so I’m just going to go with Full-Time Wife Escapist because I picked up a few volumes on sale recently, and that’s going to be my catch-up reading.

ASH: The second volume of Spirit Circle is unquestionably my pick this week! I had largely enjoyed the creator’s other series Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer so I was expecting to enjoy the manga, but I was still surprised by how much I ended up liking it.

Manga the Week of 1/10/18

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SEAN: There is not quite as much manga next week as previous weeks… at least not print manga. Kodansha is here to ensure that there are still many more titles released.

Before that, Dark Horse has a 5th omnibus of I Am A Hero.

ASH: This series has been quite an intense ride, so far!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a 4th volume of the very long-titled If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, as well as a 4th volume of Infinite Dendrogram.

They also debut a spinoff novel. Yume Nikki: I Am Not In Your Dream, which is based off of a freeware game, and seems to be scary? And is not related to Future Diary, it would seem.

Kodansha Digital has no new titles announced for next week (yet – there’s always a danger of last minute announcements), but we do get Domestic Girlfriend 14, Grand Blue Dreaming 5, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World 3, Kokkaku: Moment by Moment 4, Lovesick Ellie 2, and the final volume of Peach Heaven, 13.

MICHELLE: I’m still meaning to check out Lovesick Ellie.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a quartet of titles due out. The High School Life of a Fudanshi 3, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 7 (we’re mostly caught up to Japan on both of those), Spirit Circle 2 and Yokai Rental Shop 2.

ASH: The first volume of Spirit Circle was so good! I went in expecting to like the series, but at this point I’m honestly loving it.

ANNA: Interesting…..

SEAN: There’s some new BL from SuBLime, as we get a 10th volume of His Favorite (has this really been running in Japan since 2008?) and a 9th volume of The World’s Greatest First Love (which has been running since 2006).

Vertical has a 2nd volume of psychological thriller Imperfect Girl.

And speaking of long-runners, Viz has a 65th volume of Case Closed. That’s been running since 1994, and the North American release is only 27 volumes behind right now!

Getting something? Or catching up from previous weeks?

MICHELLE: Catching up, mostly!

ASH: A little of both, for me!

ANNA: So much to catch up on!

Pick of the Week: Starting 2018 Off With Manga

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SEAN: Starting off 2018, as usual for first weeks of the month, my eyes turn to Viz Media. There’s some really good shoujo out this week, what with Kimi ni Todoke, The Water Dragon’s Bride and Anonymous Noise. That said, every volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends is a treat, so that’s my pick this week.

KATE: I just checked out the preview for Drifting Dragons, and the artwork is AWESOME. The story is similar to Delicious in Dungeon in that characters spend a lot of time discussing how best to prepare monster meat, but there’s a lot more action; the first chapter has a well-staged sky battle that’s more dynamic than any equivalent scene in Dungeon. Looking forward to reading more!

MICHELLE: This week brings new installments of two sports manga I’m really enjoying—Haikyu!! and Ace of Diamond—but since that literally happens every month, I share Sean’s eagerness for a new volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends, which we haven’t had since last March.

ASH: This really is a great week for shoujo! I am terribly far behind with Natsume’s Book of Friends, but it’s an honestly lovely series. Catching up with it would seem like a wonderful way to start off the year!

ANNA: Water Dragon’s Bride is one of my favorite current series, so I’m not going to pass up the chance to make that my pick!

Thank You for Reading Experiments in Manga

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After a little over seven years of writing about manga, Japanese literature, and related items of interest here at Experiments in Manga, I am now largely retiring the blog. The content that’s here will remain for the foreseeable future, and I will continue to respond to any comments that are made, however I will no longer be regularly posting at the blog. It’s possible that I may very occasionally be inspired to write a long-form review or feature for Experiments in Manga, but in general my manga blogging will be moving to Manga Bookshelf proper. There I will continue participating in the Manga the Week of and Pick of the Week posts and will be contributing to the Bookshelf Briefs features as well. Another place that I will be found discussing manga and such is on Twitter, where I hope to be a little more active with my account going forward.

A huge thank you to everyone who has read and supported me and Experiments in Manga over the years! In part I started this blog as a way to connect with other people interested in manga. I am delighted that I can say I was successful in doing that. I have met so many wonderful people because of Experiments in Manga and it makes me tremendously happy to know that from time to time others found it useful, interesting, or even entertaining. To all of my friends–readers, fellow bloggers, creators, and more–thank you and thank you again. Writing at Experiments in Manga and getting to know you all has meant more to me than I can adequately express.

Manga the Week of 1/3/18

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SEAN: A new year, new manga, and new series to get way behind on.

MICHELLE: Truth.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a debut, Yokai Girls, perhaps the most unsurprising license ever given ecchi yokai series are the new zombies. This ran in Weekly Young Jump, and is about ghosts and fanservice, not in that order.

ASH: I’ll usually give anything having to do with yokai at chance, but it may take a while for me to actually get around to trying this series.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has quite a few releases, starting with Ao Oni, a horror series that’s based on a video game, and very much in the “kill the cast off over and over” genre.

In Another World with My Smartphone has a 6th volume, this one focusing on Touya’s youngest love interest, Sue, and her attempts to not be married off.

And Invaders of the Rokujouma!? goes back to finish its side story with Vol. 8.5.

Kodansha has a lot, as you’d expect, mostly digital. Actually, entirely digital. On the Del Rey rescue end, we have a 17th Pumpkin Scissors. Newer titles include Ace of the Diamond 7, Ayanashi 2, Drifting Dragons 2, Real Girl 10, and Space Brothers 31.

MICHELLE: Ace of the Diamond is a lot of fun.

ASH: As usual, I’m glad that so much manga is being translated, but I really hope more of Kodansha’s digital-only titles turn out to be digital-first.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us a 5th Dreamin’ Sun and a 7th Not Lives.

Their debut is a spinoff of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, entitled Kanna’s Daily Life. Given Dragon Maid doesn’t have much of a plot, I can’t imagine how much more slice of life it can get, but…

Viz time. No debuts this time around, but Nisekoi is coming to an end with its 25th volume. Given how poorly romantic-oriented Jump titles have done over here before (looking at you, Strawberry 100%), it’s impressive to see how popular Nisekoi was… at least until fans knew which girl one, at which point the knives came out, as always. Oh well.

MICHELLE: Haikyu!! is ever a favorite.

ASH: I’ve fallen a bit behind, but I enjoy Haikyu!! immensely.

SEAN: Shonen titles include a 7th 7th Garden (No, not a typo), an 18th Blue Exorcist, Haikyu!! 19, Naruto’s 21st 3-in-1, as well as a 2nd volume of Chibi Sasuke’s Sharingan Legend, Naruto’s comedy spoof.

There’s also a 5th 3-in-1 of Rurouni Kenshin (still not cancelled, though Japan cancelled the sequel series), an 11th Twin Star Exorcists, and an 18th World Trigger, which was the last volume out before its current hiatus.

On the shoujo side, there’s a 6th Anonymous Noise, a 28th Kimi ni Todoke (which just ended in Japan, I believe), a 21st Natsume’s Book of Friends (yay!), and the 4th Water Dragon’s Bride.

MICHELLE: I will be reading all four of those, though I am also most “yay!” about Natsume’s Book of Friends.

ASH: It appears I will be echoing Michelle, again. Yay, Natsume! I need to get caught up on Water Dragon’s Bride, too.

ANNA: I’m most excited about Water Dragon’s Bride. It is such a consistently great series.

SEAN: Do you have something you want here?

Manga Giveaway: Winner’s Choice!

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The end of the year is almost here and I’ll soon be entering semi-retirement as a manga blogger, but there’s still time for one last giveaway here at Experiments in Manga. The winner of this final contest will have the opportunity to choose any single volume of manga released in 2017 as a prize. (Basically, no boxsets. Omnibuses are still fair game. The volume will likely still need to be in print.) And as usual, the giveaway is open worldwide!

WINNER’S CHOICE!

2017 was a great year for manga. Publishers continued to expand their print and digital offerings. Genres and titles that at one point seemed untouchable in the past were licensed and released. There were deluxe editions, rescues and reissues, and so much more. I recently wrote about some of the debut manga published within the last year that to me were notable for one reason or another, but that post featured only a very small tip of a very large iceberg. This is a great time to be a manga fan.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win your choice of a manga released in 2017?

1) In the comments below, tell me which volume of manga released in 2017 you would like to win and why. (Need some help figuring out what was published? Check out non-preorders from pages 4-15 of RightStuf’s online manga catalog for some ideas.)
2) For a second entry, tell me a little about something that you read in 2017, manga or otherwise, that you particularly enjoyed. (It can be a release from any year.)
3) 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).

And there you have it! Participants have one week to submit comments and can earn up to three entries for this giveaway. Comments can also be sent directly to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com if needed or preferred. I will then post the comments here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and contacted on January 3, 2018.

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–Congratulations, Nate E.!

My Week in Manga: December 18-December 24, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Well, this is it! The final My Week in Manga feature here at Experiments in Manga before my semi-retirement. The fun isn’t quite over yet, though–later this week there will be one last giveaway. For anyone who wants a head start, I’ll be asking participants to tell me a little about some of the favorite things that they’ve read in the past year. And while the list doesn’t include all of my personal favorites, I recently posted my own random musings on some of the notable releases from 2017.

Quick Takes

Children of the Whales, Volume 1Children of the Whales, Volume 1 by Abi Umeda. With such a striking cover, and interior artwork to match, I couldn’t help but be curious about the first volume of Children of the Whales. It also doesn’t hurt that the manga is the start of shoujo fantasy series, a category of work that I generally tend to appreciate. And indeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of Children of the Whales. The setting is incredibly intriguing, the majority of the story taking place on the Mud Whale, a largely self-sustaining ship-like island that has been adrift on a sea of sand for nearly a century. Most of the people on the Mud Whale can work a kind of magic based on the power of emotions. However, they are very short-lived; only the few people who aren’t magically inclined reach old age. This has an interesting impact on their civilization. Control over one’s feelings is very important culturally and the community as a whole has a disconcerting lack of knowledge about their own history and the greater world. And so when they encounter a human from outside the Mud Whale she is greeted with excitement, but her arrival is also a harbinger of greater misfortune.

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Volume 1Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Volume 1 written by Homura Kawamoto and illustrated by Tōru Naomura. The cover art of Kakegurui is fairly eye-catching as well. The series takes place at Hyakkaou Private Academy, a school for the wealthy elite in which the entire social structure is based on how well the students can gamble. In many cases, this translates directly to how much money they can throw around or how skilled they are at cheating the system. Yumeko Jabami is a new transfer student whose sweet demeanor makes her appear to be an easy mark. However, her classmates soon discover that her personality completely changes when presented with a risky enough proposition. That and she has the skill and luck needed take any one of them down. Despite the dramatic artwork and high stakes, I actually didn’t find Kakegurui nearly as engaging as I hoped or expected it to be. While entertaining, I didn’t feel particularly invested in the characters or their plights. The games played were interesting, with some clever twists, but as a whole the first volume didn’t seem to have much depth to it.

Pick of the Week: Week And Year

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ASH: It doesn’t seem like there are any truly quiet weeks when it comes to manga releases anymore, but the last week of year does tend to be smaller than others. Still, it’s not hard for me to find something to read. My pick for the week is the most recent volume of Land of the Lustrous, a series I appreciate for its philosophical musings and striking artwork even if its plot can be a little haphazard.

Looking back over everything published in 2017 there have been some tremendous releases; it’s been a great year for manga. The debut series that left the greatest impression on me was Nagabe’s beautiful and haunting The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún. The manga is both charming and unsettling, with Nagabe’s exceptional storytelling and atmospheric artwork making it one of the most stand out releases of the year.

MICHELLE: I absolutely agree with Ash for my pick of the year, though honorable mention goes to Chihayafuru.

For this week, I’m most looking forward to the fourth volume of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window. This complicated, suspenseful story is BL at its best.

SEAN: The week itself does not impress me that much, so I will pick the new volume of The Full-Time Wife Escapist.

And though it seems a bit premature to make a Pick of the Year for something that only debuted in December, I’m still so blown away by The Promised Neverland that I’m going with that one. It may get too bleak for me in future, but for now I can’t look away.

KATE: I liked the first volume of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Aside from some totally gratuitous fan service, it was snappy, funny, and heart warming in an unexpected way. The release of volume three seems like a fine excuse to get caught up with Rimuru’s adventures.

As for my pick of the year, it’s Furari, one of the late, great Jiro Taniguchi’s final works. The manga reads like a mash-up of The Times of Botchan and The Walking Man, focusing on Tadataka Ino, a real cartographer who lived in Edo. As with Walking Man, not much happens story-wise, but the book offers a vibrant portrait of eighteenth-century urban life — think Richard Scarry’s Busy Town, Busy People for grown-ups.

ANNA: Although I’m shamefully behind on the series, the most interesting thing coming out this week to me is The Full-Time Wife Escapist. I’m glad others have selected The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, it is absolutely a standout title.

When I was thinking about my pick of the year, the first thing that came to my mind was The Water Dragon’s Bride. Well executed fantasy shoujo should be celebrated! I also agree that Chihayafuru deserves a shout-out as well.

Random Musings: Notable in 2017

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Towards the end of the year for the past few years here at Experiments in Manga, I have made a point to compile a list of some of the manga, comics, and other books that have been released during the previous twelve months that to me were particularly notable for one reason or another. It’s not a “best of” list, nor is it necessarily a list of my favorite releases from the past year (although admittedly some of them are). Instead, it’s a list of books which stood out to me for one reason or another that I both read and were released in 2017. I certainly haven’t read everything that was published in the last year, so the following titles have been taken from an already limited selection. For the sake of this list, I also decided to focus on debuts and one-shots rather than ongoing series. And while the list doesn’t include all of the noteworthy releases or even all of my favorites from the last year, I have tried to highlight one of the trends from 2017 that made me particularly happy–the continued growth and inclusion of queer representation and themes within the works being published.

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Volume 1That being said, one of the manga that left the deepest and most lasting impressions on me in 2017 was The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún by Nagabe. Both the series’ haunting story and beautiful artwork are marvelously atmospheric. Nagabe delicately balances sweetness and charm with darkness and tragedy. It isn’t unusual for horror manga to explore the monstrosity of humans and the humanity of monsters, but The Girl from the Other Side does so with incredible nuance.

My Lesbian Experience with LonelinessManga tends to be a niche within the larger niche of comics, but every so often there is a work that gains recognition and acclaim outside of the usual audiences. Kabi Nagata ‘s autobiographical My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is one example of a manga from 2017 that found a wide readership; Nagata’s authentic, frank, and honest depiction of her struggles with depression, anxiety, sexuality, and feelings of isolation resonated deeply with others’ personal experiences.

My Brother's Husband, Omnibus 1Gengoroh Tagame is an important creator who is known worldwide, so it’s probably no surprise that his series My Brother’s Husband would garner a fair amount of attention as well. Quite different in tone from Tagame’s sadomasochistic and homoerotic manga, My Brother’s Husband is a wholesome work which tackles and refutes socially and culturally ingrained prejudices–such as homophobia–through the lens of family. The manga’s message is not subtle, but it is a good one.

I Hear the Sunspot I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino is a quieter and more understated work dealing with the impact of disabilities on relationships, romantic and otherwise. It’s a lovely and thoughtful manga which treats its naturally complex characters with respect, acceptance, and understanding. I Hear the Sunspot is actually the beginning of a series, something that I didn’t realize when I first read it. The volume stands very well on its own, but I certainly look forward to reading more.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Omnibus 1My introduction to the work of Takako Shimura was through Wandering Son, a manga which is tremendously meaningful to me. I was very happy then when her other major series, Sweet Blue Flowers, finally received a proper release in English in 2017. (It only took three different publishers.) On the surface, Sweet Blue Flowers can tend towards the melodramatic, but Shimura’s layered portrayals of young women who love other young women are still emotionally convincing and compelling.

After Hours, Volume 1Most of the yuri that has so far been translated into English generally falls into the category of schoolgirl manga, so it is wonderfully refreshing to see series featuring adult women, like Yuhta Nishio’s After Hours, being published as well. It’s also immensely satisfying to see a relationship develop between two women that, while not without its complications, is largely free of angst. After Hours, along with Sweet Blue Flowers, is also notable for being Viz Media’s first real foray into the yuri genre.

Murciélago, Volume 1Yoshimurakana’s Murciélago is likewise a manga that features adult women in adult situations. But in this case, the series makes no attempt at realism. Murciélago is ridiculously over-the-top top and extreme. The manga is lewd and crass, but it can also be massively entertaining in its outrageousness. However, due to the explicit sex, violence, and gore, Murciélago is definitely not a series that can be recommended to just anyone. Predatory lesbian assassins understandably have limited appeal.

The Backstagers, Volume 1: Rebels without ApplauseThere were a great number of wonderful queer-friendly comics released in 2017, but James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh’s The Backstagers  is particularly delightful. The comic is a tremendous amount of fun, featuring energetic artwork, an entertaining story, and a marvelously diverse cast. Especially noteworthy is the series’ challenging of gender stereotypes through the positive representations of a wide range of masculinities. The Backstagers even includes a transguy as a prominent character!

So Pretty / Very RottenAnother engaging work from 2017 that deals with gender, identity, and self-expression in interesting ways is So Pretty / Very Rotten: Comics and Essays on Lolita Fashion and Cute Culture by Jane Mai and An Nguyen. The individual pieces in the collaboration vary significantly in tone and style, ranging from accessibly academic to intensely personal, but the volume is an informative and fascinating examination of Lolita culture and its influence both inside and outside of Japan.

A Small Charred FaceI don’t tend to seek out vampire fiction, so was it not for the fact that A Small Charred Face was written by Kazuki Sakuraba, translated by Jocelyne Allen, and published by Haikasoru, I might not have gotten around to reading the novel. Hearing A Small Charred Face described as being BL-adjacent certainly caught my attention, too. The novel is an unexpectedly beautiful and heartbreaking work about outsiders, found family, and the intimate connections that tie people together.

Notes of a CrocodileMiaojin Qiu was an influential lesbian author whose work has made a lasting impact on Taiwanese culture; her acclaimed novel Notes of a Crocodile is considered to be a cult classic of queer literature. The work is both metaphorical and literal in its exploration of gender, sexuality, and identity, combining fantasy and reality in a way that is tremendously compelling and at times even devastating. While not always an easy read, Notes of a Crocodile is a rich and powerful work.

Manga the Week of 12/27/17

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SEAN: Well, it would be a quiet final week of 2017… were it not for Kodansha, who are determined to break us.

First off, yes, they did it again. Out already is Living Room Matsunaga-san, a title that was announced after Manga the Week of went to press. It looks like a typical shoujo title from Dessert.

MICHELLE: So far, I feel kindly disposed enough toward Dessert titles to give this one a look.

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 5th Drifters, whose volumes come out so infrequently I tend to forget what’s going on beyond “crazy faces”. Which, honestly, is probably for the best.

ASH: The fifth volume already?! After years between the releases of the third and fourth volume, a few months between the releases of the fourth and the fifth seems like no time at all.

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students, a wacky Evangelion parody/comedy thing.

J-Novel ends two of their ongoing light novel series next week. Bluesteel Blasphemer wraps up with its 4th volume. And, while it’s not an official “ending”, My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World has no current plans for new volumes after Vol. 7.

Kodansha. Wow. They have print! We get new volumes of Attack on Titan: Before the Fall (12), Land of the Lustrous (whose anime has really exploded in Western fandom) (4), Love & Lies (3), and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime (whose novel came out last week from Yen) (3).

ASH: Despite not always completely understanding what’s going on in Land of the Lustrous, I am enjoying the series and its striking artwork.

SEAN: We have digital debuts! Yes, and I actually know about them in advance. My Boyfriend in Orange is, yes, another Dessert title (Dessert is the new Betsufure). This time the boyfriend seems to be a firefighter. Pitch-Black Ten runs in Shonen Magazine R, and seems to be a supernatural series.

MICHELLE: I could cut and paste my line from above here, too. It’s not that I really crave a romance series with a fireman in it, but eh. Okay. Why not?

ANNA: Sure, why not?

SEAN: We have ongoing digital series! Piles of them. I think I got them all. DAYS 7, Domestic Girlfriend 13, Drowning Love 7, The Full-Time Wife Escapist 8, Giant Killing 9, House of the Sun 13, I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 2, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 7, Love’s Reach 6, and Peach Heaven 12. As always, I’m all about Wife Escapist, but I believe Michelle will be looking at the soccer.

MICHELLE: I will be looking at the soccer *and* the spouses! (But probably, yes, I do love Giant Killing the best.)

ANNA: So far behind on Wife Escapist. I will not give up though!

SEAN: There are publishers other than Kodansha with titles next week, oddly enough. Seven Seas’s debut is Unmagical Girl, a comedy series about a fictional magical girl who’s somehow brought into reality, and now has to cope with everyday life. I’m just happy to have a magical girl series that it’s “let’s kill the magical girls”. It apparently ran in a Pony Canyon magazine, but I think the license may have gone through Ichijinsha.

Seven Seas also has a 2nd Absolute Duo, a 4th Magical Girl Site (which is absolutely about killing magical girls), and a 4th Species Domain (which is actually pretty cute).

SuBLime has a 4th volume of The Night Beyond the Tricolored Window, which looks dramatic as hell.

MICHELLE: I love this series so much and have been eagerly anticipating volume four for a year!

ASH: I want this series in print so much!

MICHELLE: So do I! Even though I don’t mind reading digitally, I crave that extra security you feel when you own a tangible copy of something.

SEAN: Vertical has hit double digits with Witchcraft Works.

Lastly, Yen Digital has a 4th IM: The Great Priest Imhotep, who is still invisible, I believe. (I will never stop making that joke, sorry.)

Are you getting anything from this? Or still catching up with this week’s avalanche?

Pick of the Week: A Bounty of Manga

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SEAN: Honestly, there’s just too much stuff. I feel like I’m drowning in choices. And so (because I suspect the rest of the group will go with CLAMP) I will go with an old favorite and pick the new Umineko When They Cry omnibus volume, Requiem of the Golden Witch. Fans love this arc, and the manga adaptation of it is supposed to be quite good. And at 826 pages, it can also be used as a blunt object.

KATE: I’m torn between the latest volumes of Golden Kamuy and Happiness, two of my favorite ongoing series. Since choosing between them seems like deciding whether you like your daughter better than your son, I’m going with Junji Ito’s Shiver, which has been getting great advanced buzz.

MICHELLE: I am actually not going to go with CLAMP, despite my intense love of Kero-chan, because this is the last time I can choose Say I Love You. I’ve enjoyed this series a lot, and have been anticipating this final volume for a long time. It’s definitely a must-buy for me this week.

ASH: So much manga! And so many new volumes in series that I’m following! Although I will certainly be giving the new Cardcaptor Sakura a try, I will continue to thwart Sean’s prediction by choosing another debut. Kate already has Shiver covered, which I’ll definitely be reading, but I’m also incredibly curious about Graineliers, so that’s my pick!

ANNA: I feel like one of us should not thwart Sean’s prediction! Thus, Cardcaptor Sakura is my pick! Let’s hope it is more like early CLAMP and less like late CLAMP!

MJ: Wow, I’m really torn here. I have a deep, deep love for Cardcapter Sakura so it’s really hard for me to let that go. But I don’t necessarily trust CLAMP to recreate that magic for me at this point, and I’m really a sucker for a new GFantasy title, so I’m with Ash on Graineliers! Thanks, Anna, for making Sean’s prediction at least a little true!

SEAN: I’m not sure I trust all this love for Grenaliers. I think the love for it may have been… planted. (puts on sunglasses, Roger Daltrey scream)

MJ: Wow.

My Week in Manga: December 11-December 17, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Last week I posted the Bookshelf Overload for November, which also happens to be the final Bookshelf Overload feature here at Experiments in Manga since I will be entering semi-retirement as a manga blogger very soon. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet week, as has been the case for quite some time now. I’ve been very busy at work trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the end of the year, so I haven’t even been paying much attention to what’s going on online. However, last week I discovered (or perhaps re-discovered?) that The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi will be published in English next year! Uehashi is the creator of Moribito, which I adore along with its anime adaptation. (Moribito would  have made a great topic for an Adaptation Adventures feature.) Sadly, only the first two novels in the Moribito series were ever released in English–Guardian of the Spirit and Guardian of the Darkness–but I’m very happy to see more of her work in translation.

Quick Takes

In This Corner of the WorldIn This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kouno. Both of the manga by Kouno that have been released in print in English–Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and now In This Corner of the World–use the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II as a major touchstone. However, while the event is certainly important to In This Corner of the World, it’s not the central focus of the series. In This Corner of the World largely follows the everyday life of Suzu, a young woman from a small fishing village in Hiroshima who has recently married and moved in with her husband’s family in the nearby city of Kure. The three-volume series, collected into a single omnibus for its English-language release, isn’t a manga with a driving plot. Instead, the chapters read like a compilation of closely-related remembrances. The theme of memories is one that is echoed throughout the entire manga. Although the subject matter of In This Corner of the World is certainly serious, with an authentic portrayal of some of the tragedies and heartbreak associated with war, Kouno has also created a quiet and lovely work with significant charm.

The Promised Neverland, Volume 1The Promised Neverland, Volume 1 written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. The beginning of The Promised Neverland is very bright, but it doesn’t take much time at all for the series to execute an exceptionally dark turn. Emma and the other orphans at Grace Field House lead happy lives. They are surprisingly well-cared-for, provided with delicious food and an idyllic environment in which to grow into young, healthy children. But when Emma discovers the horrifying truth behind the orphanage’s purpose, she becomes determined to find a way for all of the children to escape. However, running away will be an extremely difficult task to accomplish, especially when plans must be devised and executed in complete secrecy. The Promised Neverland features an intense battle of wits as Emma and the others are suddenly faced with securing their own survival in an unforgiving world that is unlike anything that they were previously led to believe. The story is deeply unsettling, and Demizu’s artwork is more than up to the task of creating a chilling atmosphere. I am incredibly interested to see how The Promised Neverland continues to develop from here.