Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 12/23

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

SEAN: Last month I believed Dark Horse rather than Diamond, and got burned for it. This time I’m believing Diamond, so no Dark Horse next week. That leaves…

Ninja Slayer Kills 2 and Noragami 9, both from Kodansha.

MICHELLE: Hm… Well, someone is probably happy about these, I guess.

ASH: Wow, only two manga releases?! Personally, I’ll be passing on Ninja Slayer Kills, but Noragami has been developing nicely.

ANNA: It is weird to have only two new releases! It is probably not so weird that I have nothing to say about them.

MJ: I, too, am here to say basically that I have nothing to say. But there’s a lot to catch up on from last week, at least!

SEAN: Thoughts?

After School Nightmare, Vol. 7

December 17, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617626
Released: April 2008
Original release: 2007

After School Nightmare, and more specifically the first few volumes of the series, was my introduction to the manga of Setona Mizushiro. The beginning of the series left a strong impression on me, so I sought out more of her work released in English, namely X-Day and more recently Black Rose Alice. But for a very long time, I didn’t ready any further in After School Nightmare. The manga is a dark psychological drama with elements of the fantastic, which is a type of story that I tend to enjoy, but some of the series’ themes could occasionally hit uncomfortably close to home. I have since found the courage to read the rest of After School Nightmare and so far have continued to find the series to be both engrossing and disconcerting. After School Nightmare, Volume 7 was first published in Japan in 2007. The English-language edition, now out-of-print, was released by Go! Comi in 2008.

After rejecting Sou and after his breakup with Kureha, Mashiro now finds himself more alone than ever. The distance between himself and others is made even more painfully clear when the relationship between Kureha and Sou, once rivals in love, begins to deepen. At first they merely commiserate with each other, having both been hurt by Mashiro, but eventually they become very close. Meanwhile, Mashiro is struggling to come to terms with the confusion and turmoil of his feelings, and his identity, on his own. Physically, his body has both male and female characteristics, but for his entire life Mashiro has striven to be seen and accepted as a man. More recently, however, his desire to express himself as a girl has grown. One of the reasons that Mashiro refused to recognize his developing feelings for Sou, seeking refuge in his relationship with Kureha, was that he was trying to deny this feminine part of himself. However, that avenue of escape may no longer be an option for him.

While Mashiro is the lead character in After School Nightmare and much of the manga’s focus in on his personal struggles and growth, both Kureha and Sou have major roles to play as well. After School Nightmare, Volume 7 reveals more about them and their unfortunate family circumstances than ever before. Surprisingly, Kureha actually returns home to visit her parents for a time, though she still harbors ill-feelings towards them due to the trauma she suffered in the past. The exact nature of the unpleasant ordeals that Sou has lived through and has never quite recovered from are exposed in the volume as well. Mizushiro isn’t afraid to go in some very dark directions with After School Nightmare. Many if not most of the characters are dealing with the lasting repercussions of abuse, whether it be mental, physical, emotional, sexual, or some combination of the four. Perhaps even more tragically, at times this maltreatment is even self-inflicted.

In addition to Sou and Kureha, there is another character whose backstory is specifically explored in After School Nightmare, Volume 7—Koichiro Kurosaki, Mashiro and Sou’s upperclassman from the kendo club. Throughout the series, Koichiro has been something of a cipher. He comes across as well-adjusted and mature, but also distant and reserved. Frequently Mashiro comes to him seeking advice and Koichiro, calm and collected, provides guidance seemingly without judgement. However, in the seventh volume, it is revealed that he, too, is struggling with his own family problems and personal issues. Koichiro’s very careful in how he presents himself, but his vaguely unsettling cool exterior is a cover for a much more troubled and darker personality. Because he has earned the respect and trust of others, Koichiro is in a position to inflict some truly significant harm should he choose or allow himself to do so. This sort of intense, psychological drama in After School Nightmare is part of what makes the series so chilling.

Pick of the Week: Overabundance

December 14, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ 2 Comments

SEAN: There’s about a dozen titles I could pick here, including any number of debuts from Yen, or final volumes from Vertical, or even fantastic shoujo from Kodansha and seinen from Viz. But my pick of the week will be Kizumonogatari, the novel by Nisioisin that is the introduction to the popular Monogatari universe, showing how our hero got to be what he is today. I’ve loved this author’s work ever since I read the first Zaregoto back in 2008, and can’t wait to bury myself in it.

ASH: Sean’s right, there are plenty of great releases to choose from this week, including some of my personal favorites like Dorohedoro. However, I’m especially excited for the debut of Yowamushi Pedal. I’m very happy to see sports manga being released in English again and I don’t at all mind the series’ BL undertones, whether they be real or imagined.

ANNA: I’m also going to throw my vote to Yowamushi Pedal. Sports manga comes out so rarely here, I feel like every new title should be celebrated.

MICHELLE: My pick goes to volume one of Of The Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi. The art and the emphasis on the supernatural remind me of Natsume’s Book of Friends, which is one of my favorite series, but there are quite a few active mysteries and questions in this new series that presumably relate to its visual novel origins. Check it out!

MJ: There’s a lot to be happy about this week, including all my colleagues’ picks, so I’ll do my duty here and keep banging the drum for my beloved Pandora Hearts! We’ve been waiting a long time for this volume, and there is so much hanging in the balance! You can be sure this is at the top of my list this week.

My Week in Manga: December 7-December 13, 2015

December 14, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Okay! Last week I submitted my promotion dossier at work, which means I’ll be able to start paying more attention to Experiments in Manga again. I still have a few other life things preoccupying me at the moment, but I’m hoping to get back to my normal posting schedule by the beginning of the new year if not before. That being said, I only posted one in-depth review last week. Soji Shimada’s classic mystery novel The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was recently re-released in English, which seemed as good an excuse as any to get around to reading it. According to this interview with Shimada, if The Tokyo Zodiac Murders does well, the next book in the series might be translated, too, which I would definitely like to read.

As for other interesting things found online: Seven Seas’ ten-day licensing spree has now wrapped up. (The new license tag on Seven Seas’ tumblr is probably still the easiest place to see them all at once.) Out of all the announced titles the one I’m most curious about is Ichiya Sazanami’s Magia the Ninth which features master composers as demon hunters with music-based magic. (Sazanami is the creator of Black Bard which I likewise couldn’t resist because of the combination of music and magic.) And in case you need to catch up on all of the anime, manga, and light novel licenses announced in 2015, Reverse Thieves has you covered. Also of note, Manga Brog has translated an excerpt of an interesting interview of Kentaro Miura, the creator of Berserk.

Quick Takes

Captain Ken, Volumes 1-2 by Osamu Tezuka. I think that I’ve mentioned here before that I happen to have a particular fascination with Mars, which was one of the primary reasons that I was interested in reading Captain Ken. Of course, it didn’t hurt that series was also created by Tezuka. (Though granted, I would love to see more classic manga that isn’t by Tezuka released in English.) Captain Ken is basically a western in space—Mars has been deliberately developed to be reminiscent of the American Southwest, the primary mode of transportation is by (robotic) horse, and the Martians have met with the same tragic fate as the Native Americans. The series is an odd mashup of science fiction and western genre tropes and American history, including references to World War II and the dropping of the atomic bomb. (The portrayal of Americans, perhaps justifiably, isn’t especially flattering.) Captain Ken explores the same themes of anti-war and anti-discrimination found in many of Tezuka’s other manga. Overall, it’s an entertaining adventure story with a rather bittersweet ending.

Cross Game, Omnibuses 6-8 (equivalent to Volumes 12-17) by Mitsuru Adachi. I still don’t have much of an interest in baseball when it comes to real life, but I’m completely invested in the sport when it comes to Cross Game. I’ve come to care tremendously about the characters in the series and, because baseball is incredibly important to so many of them, by proxy the baseball is important to me as well. Cross Game‘s last three omnibuses focus on the final year of high school baseball for Ko and his classmates. In fact, the eighth omnibus is almost entirely devoted to a single game—the last opportunity for the Seishu team to make Wakaba’s dream of seeing them play at summer Koshien a reality. They’ve worked hard as a team and have several players who are individually impressive as well, but that never guarantees a win. I’ve watched the Cross Game anime series, which turns out to have been a very faithful adaptation, so I knew how things would end. Even so, the manga is incredibly engaging and has a ton of heart. I never expected to be so taken with a baseball manga, but Cross Game is excellent.

U Don’t Know Me by Rakun. After a somewhat dubious beginning, I ended up really enjoying U Don’t Know Me. Plot-wise there’s a lot packed into this one-volume boys’ love manhwa and the characterization is quite good as well. Seyun and Yoojin are childhood friends who have only recently come to realize that they share feelings for each other which are much more lustful in nature. While the manhwa is primarily about Seyun and Yoojin and the evolution of their friendship into a romance, their relationships with their friends and families are also extremely important to the story. Context is provided for their love for earch another and the implications of that love. My favorite part of U Don’t Know Me was actually the response of the boys’ parents upon discovering their sons’ intimate relationship. Initially they were shocked and upset, but they ultimately give their love and support and are very involved in ensuring the well-being of both young men. The realistic portrayal of this sort of positive acceptance seems to be something of a rarity in boys’ love, so it makes me particularly happy when I see it.

Manga the Week of 12/16

December 10, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ 2 Comments

SEAN: There are 39 titles due out next week. Thirty-nine. Let’s take a look. Try not to get lost in the deluge.

Attack on Titan’s 17th volume has a Special Edition with a DVD of Ilse’s Notebook, the side story from the 5th volume.

ASH: It’s really interesting to see special editions like this starting to come out!

SEAN: Fairy Tail has a 51st volume.

Kiss Him, Not Me! and L♥DK both have their second volumes which may interest shoujo fans.

MICHELLE: I suppose I will check out the second volume of L♥DK just to see whether it improves, but I don’t have high hopes.

SEAN: And Say “I Love You” has an 11th volume that is a must for shoujo fans.

MICHELLE: A definite must.

ANNA: I am way behind on this series! Maybe I will binge read during an upcoming vacation.

SEAN: Tsubasa has finally climbed out of its Reservoir and is ready to take on the world with the debut of Tsubasa World Chronicle 1. I am trying to contain my enthusiasm. See? :|

MICHELLE: I didn’t even know this existed!

ANNA: You know, I used to be a major CLAMP fan, and now I have CLAMP fatigue.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I think that has afflicted me, too. I never finished xxxHOLiC or the first Tsubasa series, despite owning them all, and now they both have sequels I haven’t touched. And then there’s that Gate 7 series, which utterly failed to make an impression with me.

ANNA: Most of my remaining feelings of affection for CLAMP are tied up in nostalgia for X/1999. So much angst and feathers!

MICHELLE: I have an enduring fondness for CLAMP Campus Detectives, but more so the anime than the manga. Oh, and Cardcaptor Sakura!

SEAN: It is rather sad that Man of Many Faces is still in my top 5 CLAMP works, given it was their first. (It’s out digitally next week as well, by the way! Rescued by Viz.)

ANNA: Cardcaptor Sakura is also great! Actually, I’m interested in reading Man of Many Faces, and I didn’t realize that it was out digitally.

MJ: I’m probably the only person here unlikely to succumb to CLAMP fatigue, I suppose, and while a Tsubasa sequel is not high on the list of what I’d really like to see most from them, I’ll surely check it out. Their artwork will always be a draw for me, and they have a knack for creating characters I can’t get enough of. Even when they write themselves into a hole (as they’ve occasionally done), I’ll stick around to the end.

SEAN: One Peace has a 5th (final?) volume of Aquarion Evol.

ANNA: I have some volumes of Aquarion I need to read.

SEAN: If you’ve somehow not read the brilliant and evocative A Distant Neighborhood books from Ponent Mon, they’ve got a Complete Edition out next week to correct that.

MICHELLE: I really liked A Distant Neighborhood.

ASH: Very glad to see this coming back into print!

ANNA: I haven’t read this, but I know it is wonderful, and I am also glad it is coming back into print.

MJ: It really *is* wonderful, and I’m so glad to see it coming back!

SEAN: And Seven Seas also has an omnibus of Mayo Chiki starting next week, whose audience is possibly a bit different from that of A Distant Neighborhood.

Vertical debuts a novel that will be of great interest to anime fans: Kizumonogatari: Wound Tale, the first (chronologically) of the popular Monogatari series from Nisioisin (author of Medaka Box and Zaregoto). I am VERY excited for its release, even though it has vampires – possibly that only adds to the excitement!

ANNA: Vampires are always exciting!

MEILNDA: I’m always willing to try something from Vertical, even if vampires are involved.

SEAN: Vertical also has the 12th and final volume of Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin. It’s a labor of love, and I’m sure that the Manga Bookshelf team, particularly Ash, are ready to congratulate them on its completion.

ASH: It’s true! This has been a fantastic release. Congrats, Vertical!

ANNA: Vertical deserves some sort of award for this lovely edition.

SEAN: And if Gundam is too realistic for you, try the second Ninja Slayer, also from Vertical.

Afterschool Charisma is a series I keep forgetting is still running, but here’s the 11th volume.

ANNA: I’m way behind on this, but I like it!

SEAN: And here is the 17th Dorohedoro, which I could never forget. Are these two the last remnants of SigIKKI?

MICHELLE: I believe so.

ASH: I love Dorohedoro so much.

SEAN: Master Keaton has a 5th volume already. I’ve fallen behind on this series.

MICHELLE: Me, too. I did start, but got bogged down somewhere in volume two.

ANNA: I am happy to report that this is one series I am not behind on! I enjoy Master Keaton.

SEAN: And a 4th volume of the insanely popular Tokyo Ghoul, which will war with Attack on Titan 17 for the top of the bestseller charts.

Yen On has five light novels out for the holidays. The 2nd Black Bullet will, I suspect, be as grim as the debut was.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer! has proven to be very likeable, and I hope the third volume continues the trend.

I remain surprised at how addictive Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In a Dungeon? has become, particularly with that title. The 4th volume is also highly anticipated.

We’ve nearly come to the end of the long running Spice & Wolf novel series, with Vol. 16 being the 2nd to last.

And Sword Art Online’s 6th novel wraps up another arc, as Kirito and Sinon try to figure out the secret behind the Gun Gale Online game and those using it to kill players in real life.

MJ: I think I’m one of the few folks here who is pretty into SAO… how did that happen? In any case, I’m always ready for more!

SEAN: Yen Press has a number of debuts next week, beginning with Aldnoah Zero, which (like Rose Guns Days) gets a Season One appended to it. It runs in Manga Time Kirara Forward, but don’t expect it to be a 4-koma: this is a serious sci-fi title based on an anime created at the same time.

ASH: I haven’t seen the anime yet, but I am rather curious about the Aldnoah Zero manga.

MJ: I’m interested as well.

SEAN: There’s an 8th Barakamon, which I do recommend if you’re missing Yotsuba&!, even though the two titles have a somewhat different feel.

MICHELLE: I have a big stack of Barakamon that I really need to get around to reading.

MJ: I haven’t given this title its due, but I really should pay more attention to it!

SEAN: For those who don’t like prose, there’s the 2nd volume of the Black Bullet manga.

A ninth volume of Bloody Cross no doubt sees the series headed towards its endgame.

And there’s a third volume of eccentric fantasy Chaika the Coffin Princess.

Demon from Afar is up to Vol. 5, and no doubt continues to look very pretty and destroy all our hopes and dreams.

The third Emma omnibus also will look very pretty, but likely has 100% fewer corpses.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

MJ: I’m still excited every time one of these shows up, since I missed this series the first time around!

SEAN: And we get a 5th volume of He’s My Only Vampire. One of a large number of vampire manga out there, it’s trying to be our steady and doing a pretty good job.

MICHELLE: Definitely my favorite of the vampire gang.

ANNA: Is it odd that I haven’t read this yet? Probably.

MJ: I think that’s very odd indeed!

SEAN: Maximum Ride is not technically a manga, but it certainly sells well enough, so let’s mention the 9th volume here.

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan is now at double digits, and I suspect will run till the author (Puyo, not the author of the original source) decides it is over.

Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi is based on a visual novel, and runs in Media Factory’s sorta-kinda-shoujo magazine Comic Gene. Expect prettiness.

MICHELLE: I’ve started reading this and it’s giving me some Natsume’s Book of Friends vibes, which is definitely a compliment.

ASH: Oooh, that’s good to hear! And the cover art is pretty, too!

ANNA: I’m always up for pretty sorta-kinda-shoujo.

MJ: I’m up for this, definitely, especially after reading Michelle’s comment above.

SEAN: Pandora Hearts has a 23rd volume, and it’s the first to come out in over a year, so I’ll let Michelle and MJtake over from here.

MICHELLE: I’ve fallen somewhat behind, so I am going to have a nice big marathon and it’ll be awesome. And then I’ll wait in desperation for the 24th and final volume to come out.

MJ: I have *not* fallen behind, as you might imagine, and have been anticipating this rather anxiously! My love for this series has not waned!

SEAN: Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie has a first volume, and is sure to appeal to fans of Homura who couldn’t get enough of the movie—ow, I think I cut myself on my sarcasm there.

MJ: I haven’t been able to maintain any interest in this series beyond the original anime. So many books. So little interest.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd volume of Puella Magi Suzune Magica.

Rose Guns Days Season One gets a 2nd volume, as we learn more about this strange occupied Japan and the eccentrics populating it.

The Secret Sakura Shares is a done-in-1 omnibus that ran in Hakusensha’s LaLa and LaLa DX magazines, and I love that we’re seeing Hakusensha titles get additional publisher availability. That said, I suspect many readers will have trouble getting past the premise.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I don’t know about this one, but I’m gonna read it anyway.

ANNA: Hmmmmmm.

MJ: I just read the premise, and I agree I may have trouble getting past it. I guess we’ll see.

SEAN: Sunshine Sketch 8 finally bids farewell to its two gayest… sorry, oldest characters, as Sae and Hiro are graduating. But the series continues, and we gain some new students in the process.

Lastly, we have the first Yowamushi Pedal omnibus, as an incredibly popular shonen cycling series finally gets a chance in the West, despite a huge number of volumes extant. There are, I hear, one or two male fans. Somewhere. But for the most part, YowaPeda is known for its BL fandom, though the manga itself is not BL.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one a lot. Not for the BL but for its presumed sports manga-y aspects.

ASH: I’m certainly excited to see publishers giving sports manga another chance!

ANNA: I am always wishing for more sports manga, so I’m glad this is coming out.

MJ: Yay sports manga! Yay BL fandom! I’m ready for it all!

SEAN: That’s it. Finally. What are you getting?

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders

December 10, 2015 by Ash Brown

Author: Soji Shimada
Translator: Ross and Shika Mackenzie
U.K. publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 9781782271383
Released: September 2015
Original release: 1981

The British-based publisher Pushkin Press launched Vertigo, a new imprint devoted to classic crime and mystery fiction from around the world, in 2015. One of the six works selected for Vertigo’s debut was Soji Shimada’s first novel The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. Originally published in Japan in 1981, the novel would become the first book in a series of mysteries featuring Kiyoshi Mitarai. Shimada is an extremely prolific author particularly known for fostering the revitalization of honkaku fiction, a subgenre of Japanese mysteries that I was introduced to through The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, who Shimada mentored. Currently, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is the only major work by Shimada available in English although a few of his short stories have been translated as well. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, translated by Ross and Shika Mackenzie, was first released in English in 2004 by IBC Publishing, but that edition has since gone out-of-print. I was very glad to see Vertigo bring the novel back.

In 1936, a set of grisly murders took place in Japan which came to be known as the Tokyo Zodiac Murders. Seven women, sisters and cousins, were found dead, their bodies cut into pieces and buried in remote locations across the country. A letter describing exactly how the women would be killed and dismembered would have made Heikichi Umezawa, their father and uncle, the primary suspect except that he himself had already met an untimely demise behind locked doors. Although over time many popular theories were proposed, the murders of Umezawa and the seven women remained unsolved for more than forty years. In 1979, new evidence came to light which inspired amateur detectives Kazumi Ishioka, a mystery enthusiast, and his close friend Kiyoshi Mitarai, a professional astrologer, to take up the case. Their investigation led them in many different directions as they searched for additional clues, but finally, more than four decades later, the murders are solved.

While there are some wonderful character moments in The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, especially between Mitarai and Ishioka—who is the one actually narrating the tale—the novel is much more focused on the details of the crimes and the related investigations than it is on nuanced characterization. Over the course of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, Shimada outlines all of the clues needed for the novel’s readers to solve the mystery themselves—they are given the same information that Mitarai and Ishioka have available to work with. In fact, Shimada briefly interrupts the narrative not once but twice, directly addressing and challenging readers to solve the case before Ishioka reveals the solution in the final few chapters. Granted, in addition to crucial hints, Shimada has also included plenty of red herrings to lead readers astray if they are not careful. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders presents a devious intellectual challenge, but it is solvable.

Although the cleverness of The Tokyo Zodiac Murders can be appreciated in its own right, much of my enjoyment of the novel came from directly engaging with the mystery. Readers can simply follow along as Ishioka and Mitarai conduct their investigations, waiting for everything to be disclosed, or they can take up Shimada’s challenge to try to uncover the solution on their own. First, the known facts about the murders are recounted by Ishioka in a fairly straightforward if enthusiastic manner. He then reveals how he and more specifically Mitarai became personally involved with the case, showing how their efforts ultimately led to the closing of a decades-old crime. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is gruesome and shocking, but it’s also engrossing and introduces a likeable and somewhat eccentric investigator in Mitarai. Although The Tokyo Zodiac Murders was Shimada’s debut work, it is still considered by him and by others to be one of his best and I can understand why.

Pick of the Week: Two Titles

December 8, 2015 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: Secure in the knowledge that someone else is going to pick Planetes, and despite genuinely looking forward to the second volume of Tokyo ESP, I am going to have to go with my squeeing fangirl heart this week and pick the digital-only debut of Crown of Thorns, a Yoko Kamio manga that was totally not on my radar before but which I now desperately need to read.

SEAN: It’s definitely Planetes for me. If you told someone to read a manga about space garbagemen, they’d likely ignore you. But they’d be very, very wrong.

ASH: It’s Planetes for me, too. I already have the entire series sitting on my shelf from when Tokyopop released it, but I’m sorely tempted to upgrade to Dark Horse’s edition.

ANNA: Usually with Pick of the Week, my choice is clear, but I’m genuinely torn between celebrating the return of a series I loved or the lure of the new. Since other folks have picked Planetes, I’m going to give in to the side of me that greets new shoujo series with glee and cast my vote for Crown of Thorns.

MJ: I’m going to join the majority of the pack here and go with Planetes. I missed this the first time around, and I am so thrilled to have another chance at it. This is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating for quite a while, so there’s really no other choice for me.

My Week in Manga: November 30-December 6, 2015

December 7, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

So, one of the many reasons that I’ve been incredibly busy lately (which led to me temporarily reducing the number of posts that I’ve been writing each week) is that I’m in the process of applying for a promotion at work. I’m currently putting the final touches on my dossier which is due later this week. At this point it’s already well over two hundred pages and has taken up a significant amount of my time; I’m really looking forward to being done and over with the whole thing so I can get back to reading and writing about things that I actually enjoy.

That being said, last week I announced the winner of the Kodansha Shoujo Smorgasbord manga giveaway. The post also includes a list of some of Kodansha Comics’ shoujo and josei manga, of which there’s a nice variety. The honor of the first in-depth review of the month went to Studio Kôsen’s Windrose, Volume 1 from Chromatic Press/Sparkler Monthly. Kôsen has had a few other releases in English, but I think that Windrose is probably my favorite so far. Finally, over the weekend I posted November’s Bookshelf Overload which will likely be the last list of its utterly ridiculous size for a while.

Elsewhere online in manga publishing announcements: Kodansha Comics manga are now available digitally on Overdrive, which is great news for libraries in Canada and the United States. Seven Seas is in the midst of celebrating ten days of licenses with some interesting as well as not-so-surprising choices. (At the moment, the new license tag on Seven Seas’ Tumblr may be the easiest place to see all of the new titles at once.) Yen Press probably made the biggest license announcement last week, though–Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket is being re-released in English! Yen plans to release Takaya’s Liselotte & Witch’s Forest and Twinkle Stars as well.

Quick Takes

Alley of First Love by Ellie Mamahara. I picked up Alley of First Love without knowing much about the manga except that it was a boys’ love one-shot. Sometimes that can a risky proposition ripe with potential for disappointment, but Alley of First Love ended up being a pleasant surprise. After graduating high school, Shusuke’s best friend (and crush) Atsushi left to study abroad in England with no intention of returning to Japan. But six years later he unexpectedly comes back and Shusuke must once more face the fact that his feelings for Atsushi go far beyond friendship. There were quite a few things that appealed to me about the Alley of First Love: the leads are adult men, the prominence of their tightly-knit families and community (and the realistic rumor mills that accompany those), the touches of humor and overall heartwarming nature of the story, and so on. Readers looking forward to steamy love scenes will be left wanting as they are mostly implied rather than shown (Mamahara jokes in her notes that she’s terrible at drawing them), but the emotional connection between Shusuke and Atsushi is definitely there.

Love at Fourteen, Volumes 3-4 by Fuka Mizutani. I didn’t anticipate that I would enjoy the first couple of volumes of Love at Fourteen nearly as much as I actually did. However, although I also enjoyed the third and fourth volumes, my compulsion to read more of the series has somewhat diminished. Tanaka and Yoshikawa may be the leads, but I think they may actually be some of the least interesting characters in the series. But even though their personalities aren’t particularly strong, I do like them. And I like their relationship and the portrayal of the slow development of young love. But in the end, I find that I’m more intrigued by the supporting characters and their stories. Perhaps I’m not the only one who felt this way—Mizutani adds even more of them to the series in these two volumes. My favorite character has turned out to be Nagai, a delinquent with a talent for singing. However, the way that the music teacher manipulates and leads him on is troubling. She’s supposedly fallen in love with her fourteen-year-old student. I’m not sure if Mizutani intends for it to be tragically romantic, humorous, or what, but the way it plays out and is shown in the manga comes across as creepy more than anything else.

My Love Story!!, Volume 3-6 written by Kazune Kawahara and illustrated by Aruko. I absolutely loved the first two volumes of My Love Story!! and so have made a point to collect the manga even though I’ve fallen behind in actually reading it. At first, I wasn’t really sure how long the series would be able to last before the gimmick was completely played out and became tiresome. After all, the manga was initially intended to be a one shot. Happily, My Love Story!! has yet to lose its charm for me. It continues to be funny and sweet, earnest and endearing. The story is beginning to expand more, as well. While Takeo and Yamato’s incredibly adorable and wholesome romance is at the heart of it all, the manga is now exploring the lives and relationships of their friends and family members as well. At one point it seemed as though My Love Story!! was going to be somewhat episodic, but some longer, continuing storylines are being introduced as are new, recurring characters. My Love Story!! always manages to make me happier just by reading it, so I’ll definitely continue following it.

Bookshelf Overload: November 2015

December 6, 2015 by Ash Brown

November’s Bookshelf Overload will very likely be the last of its size for quite some time. A few things happened to make the number of manga that I received last month particularly absurd. Right Stuf recently changed its website and had stopped automatically sending out partial shipments. Well, that service has now resumed. As a result, I ended up with multiple giant boxes arriving at once with orders that had been piling up on Right Stuf’s shelves instead of mine. Akadot has been having some huge sales lately, so I made a point to stock up on some Digital Manga titles, especially as they’re becoming more difficult to find elsewhere. It’s also the time of year that Right Stuf has massive sales, too. I took advantage of that fact to fill in the gaps in my Slam Dunk collection. Other manga that I was especially excited to get my hands on in November included but wasn’t limited to The Contracts of the Fall by Gengoroh Tagame, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2: Battle Tendency, Volume 1 by Hirohiko Araki, and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volume 1 by Izumi Tsubaki. Last, but certainly not least, two new Chromatic Press paperbacks are now available! I just reviewed Studio Kôsen’s Windrose, Volume 1, which I loved, and will eventually have a review for Jessica Chavez’s novel Dead Endings as well. I started reading it not too long ago and am already really enjoying it.

Manga!
Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 6 by Gamon Sakurai
Akuma no Riddle, Volume 1 by Yun Kouga, illustrated by Sunao Minakata
Alabaster, Volumes 1-2 by Osamu Tezuka
Alice in the Country of Clover: Bloody Twins by Mamenosuke Fujimaru
Alice in the Country of Hearts: The Clockmaker’s Story by Mamenosuke Fujimaru
Bambi and Her Pink Gun, Volumes 1-2 by Atsushi Kaneko
Beast Master, Volumes 1-2 by Kyousuke Motomi
Black Rose Alice, Volume 6 by Setona Mizushiro
Caramel by Puku Okuyama
Chi’s Sweet Home, Volume 12 by Konami Kanata
The Contracts of the Fall by Gengoroh Tagame
The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Volume 2 by Aya Shouoto
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Volume 8 written by Yuto Tsukuda, illustrated by Shun Saeki
Itazura na Kiss, Omnibuses 2-3, 6-10 by Kaoru Tada
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2: Battle Tendency, Volume 1 by Hirohiko Araki
Kamisama Kiss, Volume 1 by Julietta Suzuki
Kamunagara: Rebirth Of The Demonslayer, Volumes 1-6 by Hajime Yamamura
Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances, Volumes 1, 4-21 by Masami Tsuda
Knights of Sidonia, Volume 14 by Tsutomu Nihei
Lone Wolf and Cub, Omnibuses 9-10 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Goseki Kojima
Love Stage!!, Volume 4 by Eiki Eiki and Taishi Zaou
Library Wars: Love & War, Volume 14 by Kiiro Yumi
Maid-sama!, Omnibus 2 by Hiro Fujiwara
Merman in My Tub, Volume 1 by Itokichi
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volume 1 by Izumi Tsubaki
My Love Story!!, Volume 6 written by Kazune Kawahara, illustrated by Aruko
My Neighbor Seki, Volumes 3-4 by Takuma Morishige
Noragami: Stray God, Volume 6 by Adachitoka
One-Punch Man, Volumes 2-3 written by One, illustrated by Yusuke Murata
Slam Dunk, Volumes 15-16, 21-22, 26, 28-31 by Takehiko Inoue
Voices of Love by Kanae Hazuki
Witchcraft Works, Volume 6 by Ryu Mizunagi
You Make My Head Spin by Kazuhiko Mishima

Manhwa!
Behind Story, Volume 2 by Narae Ahn
Masca, Volume 1 by Young Hee Kim
Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, Volumes 1-2 by HeeEun Kim

Comics!
Eat More Comics: The Best of The Nib edited by Matt Bors
Love in All Forms: The Big Book of Growing Up Queer edited by Serafina Dwyer
Sfeer Theory: The Uitspan Era, Volume 2 by Alex Singer and Jayd Aït-Kaci
Windrose, Volume 1 by Studio Kôsen

Novels!
Dead Endings by Jessica Chavez, illustrated by Irene Flores

Anthologies!
Ten Nights Dreaming and The Cat’s Grave by Natsume Soseki

Anime!
Another directed by Tsutomu Mizushima
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri

Windrose, Vol. 1

December 4, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Studio Kôsen
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9781987988055
Released: November 2015
Original run: 2014-2015

Windrose is an ongoing series by Studio Kôsen, a Spanish creative team made up of two comics artists: Aurora García and Diana Fernández. Kôsen has had several comics as well as an artbook released in English in the past, including Saihôshi: The Guardian (my introduction to the team’s work), Stallion, and Daemonium. Currently, both Windrose and Kôsen’s previous work Lêttera are being serialized online through Chromatic Press’ multimedia magazine Sparkler Monthly. I was very excited when Windrose was first announced–I love Kôsen artwork and am a huge fan of Chromatic Press and Sparkler Monthly–and even more so when it came time for the first volume to be released in print. Windrose, Volume 1, completed in 2015, collects the first six chapters of the comic originally serialized between July 2014 and May 2015, as well as some additional notes from the creators about the comic and its historical setting.

On the day of her seventeenth birthday, Danielle received a strange gift from her father, a French merchant who has been away from their Barcelona home for months. Inside the secret compartment of a cleverly designed puzzle box is a miniature astrolabe and a letter asking her to keep it safely hidden away as his own life is in grave danger. Instead passively waiting for more information, Danielle decides to leave her Spanish mother behind in order to search for her father in France. Danielle’s mother never approved of Danielle’s more adventurous nature, trying with little success to raise her daughter to act like a proper lady. And Danielle’s journey to Marseille is not without incident–it’s dangerous for a young woman of the upper class to travel alone in the seventeenth century. After pirates attack the ship she is sailing on, Danielle is rescued by two fellow travelers, Angeline and Leon, whose reasons for helping are less than virtuous. Danielle may be in well over her head in more ways than one.

After only a single volume of Windrose I’m already absolutely loving the series. In fact, Windrose may very well be my favorite work by Kôsen to date. The art in the comic is gorgeous, and the inkwork in particular is especially striking. Kôsen has also made the effort to research the time period, including its clothing. The resulting character designs are wonderful in their details, whether the attire called for is intricate formal wear or simpler, more practical dress. Already the story of Windrose has moved through a wide variety of settings which Kôsen has expertly conveyed without visually overwhelming the scenes. There are countryside estates and lavish manors, docks and seafaring vessels, shady bars, dark alleyways, and even an abbey complete with secret passages. And of course there are the exceedingly attractive protagonists and antagonists of the series, too, each with their own distinct personality and ways of expressing themselves.

In addition to being beautifully drawn, the characters themselves are a large part of why I’m enjoying Windrose so much. At first Danielle seems to be sheltered and naive to the ways of the world, but she’s intelligent and learns quickly. She also has a particular talent for solving puzzles and riddles, encouraged and instilled in her by her father. Not much has been revealed yet about Angeline and Leon’s pasts, but they make a strong impression from the start. Angeline is a brash young woman with an aggressive streak which, when combined with her sword skills, allows her to pose as a man if it happens to be convenient or serve her purposes. Leon, while just as beautifully handsome as Angeline, has a more reserved and cautions nature which helps to balance her hotheadedness. The three of them together make a somewhat peculiar trio, but already Danielle is starting to rely on the other two even if she can’t quite trust them. With spectacular artwork, engaging characters, and exciting adventure, Windrose is off to a magnificent start.

Manga the Week of 12/9

December 3, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: A relatively quiet week, possibly as everyone’s saving up for the week after this, which may be the biggest week I’ve seen in manga ever. But for now, things are peaceful.

Dark Horse has the first Planetes Omnibus, and if you have not read this series before (Tokyopop released it a while back), get it. Even if you have, get it. It’s supposed to be spiffed up. Planetes is one of the really good ones that every manga owner should have.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I forgot this was being rereleased. I never actually finished the TOKYOPOP volumes. Bad me.

ASH: I love this series! (The anime was well done, as well.) I’m very happy to see the manga coming back bigger and better than ever.

ANNA: I also love this series, and have saved the old Tokyopop volumes. I’m glad that more people will get a chance to read this manga, it really is something special.

MJ: I’m so excited about this. I missed out on the original release, and this is something I’ve wanted to read for a long, long time.

SEAN: I do note that I use Diamond Comics release dates for Dark Horse titles in this list, as that’s their primary distributor. Same with Udon. Other retailers may get in in a week or two later.

Seven Seas has a 3rd omnibus for Freezing, a very Seven Seas-ey title.

And a 4th volume of Servamp, which is not quite as Seven Seas-ey, but it does try hard.

Vertical has a 2nd omnibus for Tokyo ESP, whose first volume I enjoyed more than I expected to.

MICHELLE: Same here. I’m looking forward to volume two.

ANNA: I haven’t tried this yet but it sounds like I should look into it!

MJ: I’m in!

SEAN: And an 8th volume of Witchcraft Works, which I think is almost caught up with Japan?

ASH: If so, that’ll give me time to get caught up, too; I’m behind.

SEAN: Viz has a digital-only debut released next week, Crown of Thorns. This is a Betsuma series by Youko Kamio, creator of Boys Over Flowers. That alone should be enough to make people check it out.

MICHELLE: !!!!!!!! I had no idea! I am so there.

ANNA: EEEEEEEEE! I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MJ: Mostly I’m just excited because they are. Who can resist such squee?

SEAN: We’re almost at the end of Deadman Wonderland, with Vol. 12. Are they still in prison?

Whereas even at volume 16, Itsuwaribito still has a ways to go.

Lastly, there’s a 15th volume of Magi, which, being a Shonen Sunday title, no doubt needs more love. Certainly I love it.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ASH: One of these days I’ll actually follow through and give the series a try. And probably my love.

MICHELLE: Do eet.

ANNA: I just ordered some volumes to fill in my collection, and am going to start getting caught up. I enjoyed the first few volumes of the series very much. It also has my love!

SEAN: Are you picking any of these up next week?

Manga Giveaway: Kodansha Shoujo Smorgasbord Winner

December 2, 2015 by Ash Brown

And the winner of the Kodansha Shoujo Smorgasbord manga giveaway is… Rebecca!

As the winner, Rebecca will be receiving four first volumes of shoujo manga published by Kodansha Comics: LDK, Volume 1 by Ayu Watanabe; Let’s Dance a Waltz, Volume 1 by Natsumi Ando; My Little Monster, Volume 1 by Robico; and Say I Love You, Volume 1 by Kanae Hazuki. Kodansha usually isn’t the first publisher I think of when I think of shoujo, but I’ve really been enjoying some of the shoujo manga that it has licensed. For this giveaway, I asked that participants tell me a little about their favorite Kodansha shoujo manga. As was pointed out by several people, Kodansha also releases quite a few shounen series which have tremendous shoujo crossover appeal. Check out the the giveaway comments for all of the responses!

Some of the shoujo (and josei) manga available from Kodansha Comics:
Arisa by Natsumi Ando
Attack on Titan: No Regrets by Hikaru Suruga
Codename: Sailor V by Naoko Takeuchi
Fairy Tail: Blue Mistral written by Hiro Mashima, illustrated by Rui Watanabe
I Am Here by Ema Toyama
Kiss Him, Note Me! by Junko
Kitchen Princess by Natsumi Ando
LDK by Ayu Watanabe
Let’s Dance a Waltz by Natsumi Ando
Manga Dogs by Ema Toyama
Missions of Love by Ema Toyama
My Little Monster by Robico
No. 6 by Hinoki Kino
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Short Stories by Naoko Takeuchi
Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura
Say I Love You by Kanae Hazuki
Shugo Chara! by Peach-Pit
Shugo Chara Chan! by Peach-Pit
Tokyo Mew Mew written by Reiko Yoshida, illustrated by Mia Ikumi
Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode by Mia Ikumi
The Wallflower by Tomoko Hayakawa

Thank you to everyone who shared your favorite Kodansha shoujo manga (or shounen manga with a shoujo flair) with me. I hope to see you all again for the next giveaway!

Pick of the Week: Vampires, Brides, or Curry?

November 30, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: I suspect many of the rest of our team will be looking towards vampires, but I’m going with magic instead, as The Ancient Magus’ Bride’s third volume is my pick. Wife husbandry aside, this is a sweet and gentle supernatural manga that is just what I need to relax before the holidays.

MICHELLE: No vampires for me! I am all about the Food Wars!!

ANNA: I feel like I have to be utterly predictable and go with shoujo vampires, so Bloody Mary for me!

ASH: I’ll be tagging along with Sean this week and picking The Ancient Magus’ Bride. I’ve really been enjoying the series and look forward to reading more.

MJ: Okay, I’m at a bit of a loss here this week, but I’ll throw caution to the wind and nervously try Bloody Mary. I’m past the point of being saturated on vampires—so far past that they almost seem okay again. What’s that about? Hm. Anyway, I’ll give it a shot!

My Week in Manga: November 23-November 29, 2015

November 30, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was Thanksgiving in the United States, which means that I was fairly busy traveling and visiting family. I still posted a couple of things at Experiments in Manga, though. Because it’s the end of the month, it’s also time for a manga giveaway. And, because it’s November, the giveaway is for multiple volumes. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, so there’s still time to enter for a chance to win four first volumes of manga in the Kodansha Shoujo Smorgasbord giveaway. I also posted a review last week of Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound, which is an omnibus edition of the last two volumes in Ryo Suzukaze’s trilogy of novels which form a prequel to Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan manga series. It’s a pretty quick read, and provides an interesting perspective and backstory that fans of the franchise will appreciate.

Because I was traveling and visiting family, I didn’t spend much time online last week, but there were a few things that managed to catch my attention. Comics Forum’s Manga Studies column continued with “What are you reading? Approaches and reasons for looking at language in manga” by Giancarla Unser Schutz. Gengoroh Tagame’s Otouto No Otto (My Brother’s Husband) won a Japan Media Arts Award, which is kind of a big deal. Viz Media posted its Fall 2015 survey about anime and manga buying habits and convention attendance. And, in much sadder news, mangaka and yokai enthusiast Shigeru Mizuki has passed away.

Quick Takes

Behind Story, Volume 1 by Narae Ahn. I’ve been trying to make a point to sample some of Netcomics’ recent releases which is what first brought Ahn’s boys’ love manhwa Behind Story to my attention. I wasn’t previously aware of the series, and I actually haven’t been able to find much information about Ahn, either. The the story didn’t initially engage me, likely because of the school setting which didn’t do much to distinguish itself, but by the end of the first volume I was left wanting more. Johann is a transfer student who is rumored to be gay, which means that most of his classmates avoid him, but recently Taehee has developed an interest in him. One of their teachers has, too, and Johann finds himself the target of an unhealthy and abusive obsession. Behind Story has tumultuous emotions and drama, with the potential to go in some very dark and dangerous directions. While the cover art of Behind Story is particularly striking, the interior artwork is attractive, too, although some of the transitions between scenes and flashbacks were occasionally difficult to follow.

Cross Game, Omnibuses 2-5 (equivalent to Volumes 4-11) by Mitsuru Adachi. It’s been a long while since I read the first Cross Game manga omnibus or watched the anime series; I’d forgotten just how good the story is. I’m not even especially interested in baseball, and yet I find myself completely absorbed by Cross Game. Probably because the manga really is about more than just baseball, although the way that Adachi paces the games does makes them very exciting. And after reading the manga, I am able to better appreciate and understand the strategy involved in the sport. But for me, the baseball in Cross Game takes a backseat to the series’ exploration of love and loss. In more than one way, the characters are dealing with the utter unfairness of life. Sometimes they are able to triumph over adversity and it’s magnificent, but sometimes there is nothing to be done but to live and learn and try to move on as best as they can. Cross Game is a series that manages to be very emotionally resonant; I find that I’ve come to care about the characters and their well-being a great deal.

A Silent Voice, Volume 3 by Yoshitoki Oima. I continue to be impressed with A Silent Voice and Oima’s willingness to include characters who are simply awful people. It does make the series a little difficult or unpleasant to read at times, but the manga is still very well done. Fortunately, the series isn’t completely depressing. There’s hope for redemption and the promise that, while the mistakes of the past can’t be undone, people can indeed change for the better. It’s a lesson that Shoya is still learning as he is constantly reminded of and trying to make up for how horrible he once was. Though he has apologized and sincerely regrets the actions of his sixth-grade self, he’s uncertain whether or not he actually deserves to be forgiven and what his motivations in seeking forgiveness truly are. Shoya is still a little oblivious and self-centered when it comes to his relationships with other people, and he still makes plenty of mistakes, but he is slowly beginning to grow and mature and form honest friendships. His heart at least is in the right place, and he has become a much more sympathetic character over the last few volumes.

Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound

November 27, 2015 by Ash Brown

Author: Ryo Suzukaze
Illustrator: Thores Shibamoto
Translator: Ko Ransom
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781939130877
Released: May 2015
Original release: 2012

Between 2011 and 2012, three light novels written by Ryo Suzukaze and illustrated by Thores Shibamoto were released in Japan, forming a prequel trilogy to Hajime Isayama’s massively popular manga series Attack on Titan. All three novels were translated into English by Ko Ransom and published by Vertical. The first novel was released as Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, which is the title that the entire trilogy is known by in Japan. The second and third novels, originally published in 2012, were released together in English as an omnibus in 2015 called Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound. The manga series Attack on Titan: Before the Fall adapts the same story found in Kuklo Unbound. I’ve been reading the Before the Fall manga and I enjoyed the first Before the Fall novel well enough, so I was interested in reading Kuklo Unbound as well.

Roaming the earth in search of humans to feast upon are the Titans–giant, monstrous creatures of mysterious origins which nobody completely understands. In order to protect itself, humanity literally walled itself off from the outside world. The Titans are nearly invincible and very few people manage to live through a direct encounter with them, but Kuklo is one such survivor. Swallowed whole by a Titan while still in his mother’s womb, against all odds Kuklo was somehow saved. However, he has never been able to completely rid himself of the stigma of being born the “son” of a Titan. Feared and hated during a time when very few people have actually even seen a Titan, Kuklo is an orphan who is abused, held captive, and treated as a sideshow oddity. As he grows older he desires nothing more than to escape his cruel fate and to prove to himself and others that he is indeed human. And though his birth was ill-omened, Kuklo may in fact be the key needed to unlock humanity’s full potential in the fight against the Titans.

Since I have been reading the ongoing Before the Fall manga series, I was already familiar with a fair amount of the story of Kuklo Unbound and wasn’t especially surprised by any of the developments. I do think that out of the two versions the original novels are the stronger, though. The manga doesn’t always capture the internal thoughts and feelings of the characters very well, and that perspective is very important to understanding Kuklo Unbound. I feel that Kuklo Unbound is better written than the first Before the Fall novel, too, or at least it was overall more enjoyable to read. Parts of Kuklo Unbound did feel very repetitive–there was a tendency to restate obvious and well-established plot points and even use the exact same descriptions over and over again–but for the most part the pace of the narrative is quick enough that the redundancy wasn’t too frustrating. As a whole, many of the characters in Kuklo Unbound seemed to be slightly better-developed and less reliant on worn tropes when compared to those of Before the Fall, too.

Kuklo Unbound works well as an omnibus, telling Kuklo’s entire story, but the two novels contained are distinct in their focus. In the first novel, Kuklo is the undisputed star. In the second novel attention is still primarily turned towards Kuklo, but by that point in the trilogy the story is really about the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, the most recognizable technological innovation to be found in Attack on Titan. The predecessor of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment was created in the Before the Fall novel, so this ties the prequel together quite nicely. While being different from most other Attack on Titan stories, the prequel trilogy also feels familiar, incorporating the types of scenes that have been seen before, including deadly battles with Titans, political intrigue and religious turmoil, and intense military training sequences. What makes Before the Fall and Kuklo Unbound particularly interesting is that they serve as an origin story, showing not only the development and implementation of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, but also the beginnings of the Survey Corps when it was still celebrated instead of despised.