Katherine Dacey

This week, Sean, MJ, Kate, & Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, VIZ Media, and Kodansha Comics.

Ai Ore!, Vol. 6 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – It really is astonishing what changing magazines/publishers has done for this title. It still has its issues, but the way that it handles them is more acceptable and more mature. This is not to say that the premise is completely different, however. Akira is still trying to prove that he’s a manly man for Mizuki, Mizuki is still getting embarrassed and misunderstanding everything, and Ran and Rui trade off between being comedic creepers and serious creepers. At one point, Rui tries to seduce Misaki, to the point almost of sexual assault. But Misaki doesn’t buy it, and neither do we – unlike Vol. 1 of this series, the danger doesn’t feel genuine. You can argue this makes the series fluffier and less electrically charged, but it also makes Akira and Mizuki’s relationship far sweeter and more tolerable. –Sean Gaffney

Bunny Drop, Vol. 6 | By Yumi Unita | Yen Press – As the series continues with its new switch to Rin as its primary POV character, the story begins to revolve around Rin’s increasingly awkward relationship with her childhood friend Kouki, whose (supposedly) ex-girlfriend deliberately alienates Rin. Fortunately, this plotline is more nuanced than it sounds, deftly avoiding most of the “evil rival” territory common in manga for female readers. Unfortunately, Unita seems less comfortable writing Rin’s voice than she was writing Daikichi’s—or maybe Daikichi is just infinitely more comfortable than Rin herself—which means that there is often a noticeable distance between the reader and the series’ protagonist. On the upside, Rin’s evolving balance between dependence and independence creates unexpected difficulties in Daikichi’s own personal life, allowing us back (however briefly) into his somewhat more forthcoming mind. Though the series’ new direction seems to still be settling in, there’s enough solid ground left for nearly any fan to stand on. Still recommended. – MJ

Cage of Eden, Vol. 6 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – This really is the perfect series for 12-year-old boys, though I would not recommend it to parents of those boys. There’s far too much casual nudity, casual violence, and general skeevy fanservice. But it also has bears vs. wolves, in which our hero teams up with the wolf because of their similar roles in their groups. It’s almost pure shonen at its finest. We meet two more regulars here. I suspect Rei is there entirely to be a large-breasted woman (you know, in case there weren’t enough of those), but Maya seems to be more of an action girl, and backs it up. She seems a bit *too* eager for battle, though, and I wonder if she’ll last long. Then again, the only people in this series who seem to be killed are the irredeemable ones, such as manipulative Kotomi or stalker Ryoichi.-Sean Gaffney

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Vol. 13 | By Gaku Tsugano and Nagaru Tanigawa | Yen Press – I haven’t reviewed this series for a while, but since it’s moved on to stories that aren’t animated, it has managed to improve – finally, it can be 2nd best, rather than 3rd! It has a difficult job here, as Editor in Chief, the short story adapted for this volume, does not lend itself well to the visual. Still, it manages pretty well, and also throws in an original short story chapter, featuring Miyoko, the girl from Kyon’s story, arriving to ask the SOS-Dan to help her investigate a haunted house. It shakes things up by having Taniguchi and Kunikida there rather than Yuki and Mikuru, and also has an ending that undercuts the tension but still is nicely sentimental. The art is still only fair, and I’d rather read the novels, but this is now an acceptable alternative. –Sean Gaffney

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 7 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | VIZ Media – Ever since the end of volume one, the latest Tokugawa Shogun, Yoshimune, has been reading Chronicle of a Dying Day, which tells the story of how women came to rule Japan. Readers have followed along, and here in volume seven we finally return to the “present,” but not before realizing just how much scheming Yoshimune—or perhaps simply her ever-faithful attendant, Hisamichi—has engaged in to become the next Shogun. It’s just another lesson that nearly everyone in this tale, no matter how likeable, has sinned in pursuit of power, sometimes inflicting misfortune upon the innocent. Maybe it’s because of this that Ooku, despite being interesting and boasting some impressive art, doesn’t stand a chance of becoming my favorite Yoshinaga manga. Oh, I’ll keep following it, but Antique Bakery‘s place in my heart is secure. – Michelle Smith

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 | Story by Magica Quartet, Art by Hanokage | Yen Press – If your chief aversion to magical-girl manga is its earnest, perky wholesomeness, then Puella Magi Madoka Magica is for you. The series is dark and violent, using the magical-girl concept as a metaphor for adolescence in all its ugliness. In volume two, for example, we see the corrosive influence of jealousy, as Sayaka begins to regret wishing for her friend Kamijou’s full recovery. Sayaka’s rapid descent into anger and self-pity is one of the most astonishing developments in the volume — and that’s saying something, given the healthy sprinkling of fight scenes, dramatic confrontations, and plot twists. As terrific as some of these scenes are, Puella often feels rushed. Most of the fight sequences are too brief and too busy to make much sense; one gets the sense that the writers were trying too hard to cover all the major plot points of the anime, rather than tailoring the story to a different medium. That said, Puella has consistently surprised me with its ability to both faithfully observe and thoroughly subvert magical-girl tropes, and continues to grow on me with each volume. -Katherine Dacey

This week, Kate, Sean, and Michelle look at recent releases from Vertical, Inc., Viz Media, and Kodansha Comics.

5 Centimeters Per Second | By Makoto Shinkai and Yukiko Senkei | Vertical, Inc. – In this skillful adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s film, middle schooler Tohno Takaki falls in love with classmate Akari Shinohara. First love is a common manga subject, but Shinkai and collaborator Yukiko Senkei resist the temptation to idealize Tohno’s formative romantic experiences; rather, Shinkai and Senkei show us how that relationship’s gradual disintegration soured Tohno on love, making him loathe to form similar attachments to anyone else — even in adulthood. Tohno’s quest to achieve closure on this first love is carefully and beautifully observed, making 5 Centimeters Per Second a compelling read. – Katherine Dacey

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Vol. 3 | By Tohru Fujisawa | Vertical, Inc. – Reading a new installment of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan is a lot like listening to a comedian perform “The Aristocrats”: the humor lies less with the punchline than with the telling of the joke. In the third volume of Shonan, for example, Onizuka has his share of lady troubles. Though anyone familiar with Onizuka’s track record can anticipate the outcome of his encounters with the White Swan’s female staffers, watching Onizuka strike out with both women is excruciatingly funny. As in previous volumes, some of the jokes cross the line from raunchy but funny to just plain rude; I could have done without the cameo from Eikichi, canine sidekick to Onizuka’s supervisor at Holy Forest Academy. Still, the gags yield laughs more often than not, and the sprinkling of heart-warming dramatic moments prevent the story from becoming too silly. Still recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 9 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – After a couple of not-so-great volumes, the ninth volume of Oresama Teacher represents a (likely temporary) turn for the better. It’s the first school festival in three years (a riot at the last one ruined the school’s reputation), so Mafuyu dons her (male) Natsuo guise to make sure it goes off without a hitch. I can’t claim that the plot here is really very good—the reveal about why students keep disappearing at 5 o’clock is particularly groan-inducing—but I like Natsuo, and I like Okegawa, the reluctant bancho of the school’s gang. Somehow, the stories about Mafuyu’s former gangmates bore me to tears, but Okegawa’s gang dynamics are more interesting. It probably helps that none of them are one-note masochists. Anyway, I will probably keep reading Oresama Teacher, but I think it’s gotten to the point where I’ll be checking it out from the local library rather than making it a permanent part of my collection. – Michelle Smith

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Vol. 5 | By Kenji Kuroda and Kazuo Maekawa | Kodansha Comics – I’ve noted before that the only people who should be reading this series are hardcore fans of the games. That said, the manga does actually do a good job at keeping the feel of those games. Both the cases in this final volume of PW:AA feel like events that could, if drawn out a bit more, have appeared somewhere in the third game or so. Indeed, it even features a Franziska Von Karma who helps out our heroes, although it’s subtle and she denies it when asked. But the humor, the mysteries, the stunned poses of overdramatic guilt from everyone: this is exactly what a media tie-in should be like. Given that the manga will never ‘fill in the blanks’ between Phoenix and Apollo, that is. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s fun. – Sean Gaffney

Psyren, Vol. 5 | By Toshiaki Iwashiro | VIZ Media – Ah, another one of those ‘fighting’ volumes we see so often in Jump manga. It was nice to see Kabuto actually gain a useful power, though it seems to be something designed more around his cowardly personality than anything else. The opening of the volume was rather startling, showing us the gruesome deaths of the Elmore Wood kids trying to defend the Earth. Clearly we’re going to be looking at changing that future. But mostly this volume is lots of villains bragging about how resistance is useless against them, and then heroes kicking their asses. Generally, I think volumes like this should be saved and read with one of the more ‘plot’ oriented books – which Volume 6 should be, given the pattern of ‘plot – fight – plot’ the manga has established. Not bad, but clearly second-tier Jump. – Sean Gaffney

Vampire Knight, Vol. 14 | By Matsuri Hino | VIZ Media – I’ve given up on following the plot in this series. It comes out too infrequently now that it’s caught up with Japan, and so I find it impossible to keep track of anything even with the guide at the front and back. Yuki, meanwhile, has recovered from Kaname’s induced flashback, and feels closer to him in that vaguely romantic, vaguely familial way we’ve grown used to. Sara continues to be the real genuine villain here, contrasting with Kaname’s tortured ‘I do what I must’ personality. Her little yuri harem of thralls is disturbing in the extreme. But despite her rule-breaking, the real shocker in the volume is the fate of Aido’s father, which results in Yuki being arrested – no doubt to meet up with Zero again. So pretty, but so utterly confusing. – Sean Gaffney

This week, Sean, Kate, and Michelle look at recent releases from Yen Press, Kodansha Comics, and VIZ Media.

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 10 | By Kyousuke Motomi | VIZ Media – It is interesting that, despite the fact that we are all rooting for Teru and Kurosaki to get together in the end, the fact that she’s still a student and he’s about 8 years older than her is never allowed to be forgotten. There’s that vague element of discomfort to the whole thing, which is why we’re happy that Kurosaki is never overly affectionate with Teru, even if everyone else is pushing him to be. As for Teru, here she finds that being the one always protected and always in danger sucks, especially when she gets beaten (literally) by Akira, who the author is clearly trying to show is a troubled child but we haven’t seen enough of his past to sympathize yet. Teru ends up wanting to get stronger and the the one who’s protecting. Admirable sentiment, especially as her friend Rena may be in trouble soon. We’ve caught up with Japan, so it will be a wait till the next volume, but always highly recommended. –Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail, Vol. 20 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – Nirvana is taken care of right at the very beginning of this volume, leading us to expect most of thee volume will be a ‘breather’ and more comedic. Not at all. From Jellal’s arrest (I’m sure we’ll never see him again, wink wink) to the fate of Wendy’s Guild, this is a volume filled with heavy emotional moments. And Mashima is very good at those, better perhaps than his big shonen fights. I particularly liked Natsu’s talk with Gildarts – the clueless mage asks about Lisanna, and Natsu’s reaction is like nothing we’ve ever seen before – clearly her death affected him greatly. (Gildarts himself is fun, being that powerful yet goofy ‘dad’ type the guild has needed for a while.) As the volume ends, though, we start a new arc, with Natsu and Wendy in a land filled with opposite-personality duplicates of everyone. No doubt hijinks will ensue. –Sean Gaffney

Kobato, Vol. 6 | By CLAMP | Yen Press – CLAMP has a long and not-so-proud history of leaving series unfinished: witness X/1999, Clover, and Legal Drug, three stories that never got the ending they deserved. I’m pleased to report that CLAMP provides a satisfactory resolution to Kobato, tying up all the plot threads in a manner that should appease all but the most cynical of readers. If the storytelling is lazy at times — and what says “lazy” more than characters explaining things to one another that they’d presumably know? — CLAMP wins points for its elegant, graceful artwork and warm-hearted portrayal of even the most difficult characters. Their redemption may strike some readers as unbearably sappy, but honors the story’s greater message of selflessness and courage. – Kate Dacey

Kobato, Vol. 6 | By CLAMP | Published by Yen Press – And so Kobato comes to an end. It actually wraps up better than I expected it to, though I would’ve vastly preferred the ending if the final chapter had been omitted. Even now, there are several elements of the story that still feel half-formed—I feel like it could’ve truly been compelling if only I could’ve cared about anyone, but I never managed to do so. And while I would stop short of saying it all feels rushed, CLAMP takes the shortcut approach of having large amounts of backstory conveyed via dialogue, which gets a bit tiresome. At one point, one of the characters, having been lectured at length about a past for which he was present, cries, “I recall it all!” I doubt CLAMP was making commentary on the awkwardness of the exchange, but that remark still prompted a snicker from me. Ultimately, not bad but not a keeper, either. – Michelle Smith

Rin-Ne, Vol. 9 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – I really wish that Rin-Ne had more obvious flaws and faults, as it’s just not quite dull or bad enough to justify my dropping it. At the same time, however, there’s so little substance here that it’s like reading air. There’s no forward plot momentum here – even when Rinne’s father appears again, it’s in a fairly comedic story about a dead ramen owner. What we get instead are basic short stories about ghosts who cannot pass on unless they have aired out their grievances. That said, one thing that Takahashi’s work has kept throughout, from UY to Ranma to now, is that humans are basically horrible jerks. The ghosts are petty and perfectly happy damning others to their fate, while the loved ones they left behind are cruel cheaters who didn’t care in the first place. It lends a tart air to this otherwise generic supernatural comedy. –Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 28 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – For those who wanted more focus on the not-quite-romance between Kyoko and Ren, this is the volume for you. A near-deadly car accident leaves Ren having post-traumatic flashbacks to his time in America, and at last we start to get an idea of what actually happened that broke him so much. I liked the fact that, even though Kyoko is once again his guiding light and moral conscience, he also relies on advice from his friend Rick, which is… actually used in a pretty funny way, but whatever seems to work for him. As for Kyoko, it seems to finally be dawning on her what her feelings for Ren are, and she’s none too happy about it. That said, things seem to finally be moving forward for those two, so no doubt Vol. 29 will be filled with hideous complications that will screw everything up. Just as we like it. –Sean Gaffney

Slam Dunk, Vol. 22 | By Takehiko Inou | Published by VIZ Media – This is one of those in-between volumes, where the excitement of the Prefectural Tournament has passed but the Nationals have not yet begun. A few important things happen, though, with the most significant being that Hanamichi finally seems to grasp that, at his present skill level, he’s nowhere near as good as Rukawa. When the rest of the team goes off to a week-long training camp, Hanamichi stays behind with Coach Anzai for some rigorous practice. Although I prefer the fast-paced, volume-spanning games, there is still something satisfying about a volume like this, in which intense hard work pays off with measurable, definitive progress. If only real life were as simple as sports manga! – Michelle Smith

Toriko, Vol. 10 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | VIZ Media – Jump manga, especially the type brought over here, tend to follow certain patterns. Thus you know that there’s going to be a volume or two – or four – that are 200 pages of nothing but fights. This doesn’t necessarily mean I have to like it, though, and this volume had me flicking pages quickly to try and see what would happen after our heroes eventually triumphed over the bad guys. Not to say there isn’t a bit of cost – Toriko has now lost an arm, and I wonder what plot contrivance will let it grow back – and Teppei is another in a string of powerful yet dumb/weird guys we’ve seen in this series. But this volume didn’t even have people eating food – it was just punching, punching, punching. MORE FOOD, PLEASE. –Sean Gaffney