Michelle Smith

JManga the Week of 11/29

November 23, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 6 Comments

SEAN: JManga is not taking the holidays off this week, and next week promises even more new content. Let’s see what we’ve got.

I had written before about manga JManga could pick up, and suspected they already had Teekyu, which had an anime air this fall. Sure enough, they announced it at NYCC, and here it is. It’s from the increasingly omnipresent Earth Star Entertainment, and seems to be a cute tennis comedy.

MICHELLE: I like sports manga, but I’m wary of the moe factor.

MJ: I only *sort* of like sports manga, so I’m probably feeling even more wary than Michelle.

SEAN: Kemonogumi is also an Earth Star title, and I know absolutely nothing about it except it’s by ESE, who also does the Wanna Be Strongest In The World! wrestling manga on JManga’s site. Given that title’s over the top fanservice, and the fact that the cover to Kemonogumi features what seems to be a poodle with large breasts next to a bunny girl, I suspect I am not the audience for this series.

MICHELLE: … Wow.

MJ: Um. Yeah.

SEAN: Gokujyo Drops is the smutty yuri title of this week, a manga from Ichijinsha’s Yuri Hime that was actually released initially as a cellphone manga. It seems to be in that genre of yuri that thinks that sexual harassment is incredibly erotic. That’s not me, so I think I’ll move on.

MICHELLE: So far, this list isn’t looking too promising.

MJ: I was okay with “smutty yuri” until it got to the part about sexual harassment. That’s disappointing.

SEAN: I met the creator of Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru at New York Comic Con, and he was very nice and easy to talk to. I need to catch up to his low-key but funny maid cafe manga, which has reached Vol. 9. It’s not belly laughs, but it does put a smile on your face.

MJ: I really should read this. It doesn’t really look like my kind of thing, but I heard great things all-around about the mangaka from those who met him at NYCC, and I’ll admit that goes a long way.

SEAN: Peacemaker Kurogane is at Vol. 3. That’s not the final volume, so I assume that peace is not made.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: Lastly, and for me the big release this week, we have Vol. 1 of Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana), a slice-of-life yuri series from the creator of Wandering Son. This is still running in Ohta Shuppan’s Manga Erotics F (Shimura is also still doing Wandering Son for Enterbrain’s Comic Beam – she’s incredibly prolific), and is simply one of the best manga titles out there, yuri or otherwise. I absolutely cannot wait for this!

Saved the best for last.

MICHELLE: You certainly did! I am really, really excited for Sweet Blue Flowers! (It feels weird to type that after calling the series Aoi Hana for so long.) I actually bought the first six volumes in Japanese just so I could look at them, so I am thrilled to actually have the chance to read the series.

Even after a largely disappointing list, JManga redeems themselves in the end with this one!

MJ: Yes! I was so excited when JManga announced this license, and I hadn’t realized it was due out so soon! This really does turn the entire list around.

SEAN: What intrigues you this week?

Manga the Week of 11/28

November 22, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

SEAN: After three weeks that absolutely buried us in manga, it’s a relief to find that the last week of November is reasonably small. If only as I’m so far behind I may never catch up. Let’s see what we’ve got…

First off, I’m pleased to see that Dark Horse has reached Lucky Vol. 13 of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. It comes out so infrequently but that makes us love it all the more, especially Carl Horn’s expert liner notes, which get more glib with every passing volume. Last time we heard that Karatsu and Sasaki were in Hawaii on a case, so I’m hoping that we see said case here.

MJ: I know I’m late to the party here, but I’ve finally started reading this series, and of course it’s just as good as you’ve been telling me all this time. I expect I’ll make it to volume 13 before the next one comes out, from the sound of it!

MICHELLE: I read volume one a long time and liked the characters a lot, but got really grossed out by one page in particular. I’ve never gone back to it, even though I own through volume eleven or so. One of these days!

SEAN: Kodansha has a few new things as well. Deltora Quest hits its penultimate volume, and is one of the few manga released here under the ‘kodomo’ genre – i.e. it’s for little kids in Japan.

Fairy Tail is in the middle of its big alternate world with personality-swapped heroes arc, and Vol. 22 will feature lots of fighting, I’m going to guess.

MICHELLE: I generally read Fairy Tail courtesy of my local library, but I’m glad to see it’s still going strong. It seems popular amongst the young adult patrons, as well.

SEAN: Finally, for those of you who may have missed out on Sailor Moon 1-6 when they were first released, there’s now a big box set. It has stickers! (But no new content.)

MJ: It’s a great time for them to release something like this, too. It’s a natural choice for probably every manga gift guide that’ll come out this year.

SEAN: From Vertical, we have GTO Shonan 14 Days Vol. 6. I’m not sure if these twins are going to be the final Big Bad, but they’re proving to be very difficult for Onizuka. Not that this is going to stop him at all, of course. It’s Onizuka, we know what’s coming. DETERMINATION (and some perversion).

MJ: Have I mentioned how much I love this series? I really love this series. It was one of my biggest surprises of the year, really. I wouldn’t have thought it’d be my thing, but it is—very much so. Can’t wait to read this!

MICHELLE: I echo your sentiments, but must point out once again how much Sean’s commentary amuses me. :)

SEAN: There’s also Vol. 2 of Limit, where I’m going to take a wild guess things are going to go from bad to worse.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this as well! Vertical’s been on a roll for me lately.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

SEAN: Lastly, it’s not on the list, but Yen also apparently released Is This A Zombie? Vol. 3 two weeks back, and since it hasn’t shown up via Diamond yet I’ll give it a mention here. There is much debate about whether it’s a parody of magical girls/harems/zombie manga or just a mulched-up pastiche. I’ll let others keep reading it to make that choice for themselves.

MJ: I… Ugh. I have nothing more to say, really.

MICHELLE: I was totally going to write “Ugh.”

SEAN: All this plus the debut of the My Little Pony comic from IDW! What appeals to you turkey-stuffed individuals?

Pick of the Week: Thermae Romae FTW

November 19, 2012 by MJ, Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Brigid Alverson and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: There’s a ton of stuff coming out next week—again—but one obvious Pick of the Week, which is Mari Yamazaki’s Thermae Romae. The artist is known for her comedies, and there’s lots to laugh about here. A Roman architect discovers the ability to time-travel via bath, and ends up in modern times. Though initially freaked out, he is able to use our own modern bathing ideas to transform his own spa back in his time. It may not sound like much, but the execution is what makes it a winner. The manga has won awards and spawned an anime and a live-action feature. Plus the artist lives in Chicago! If this sells well, maybe we can get Kodansha or Vertical to pick up her Sweet Home Chicago series, which runs in the josei magazine Kiss.

MJ: This really is a pretty incredible week, including the latest volume of Real, another installment of Viz’s X omnibus, and license rescue 07-Ghost. And though I absolutely agree with Sean that Thermae Romae trumps pretty much anything you could put on the list, since he’s already mentioned that, I’ll take the opportunity to give a shout-out to one of my surprise favorites of the year, Yen Press’ graphic novel adaptation of Gail Carriger’s Soulless. Its second volume comes out this week, and it’s a wild, tense ride. If you only buy one comic this week, go for Thermae Romae, but if you can manage two, Soulless is worth a look!

MICHELLE: … That really does just about sum it up, doesn’t it?

If, after buying Thermae Romae and Soulless you have room in your budget for more, then I absolutely recommend volume eleven of Takehiko Inoue’s Real. Saturn Apartments and Bokurano: Ours are good, too!

BRIGID: Yes, I want to jump in and put in the word for vol. 6 of Saturn Apartments. It’s a story with a great concept—the main character is a window-washer for a ring-shaped apartment complex that orbits around the earth, so he sees all strata of society—and an amazing visual sense. The cast of characters has been growing since volume 1, and there is an underlying plot anchoring it all, but it’s really a collection of self-contained stories so it isn’t hard to just jump in and start reading with this volume. So yes, Thermae Romae is my first pick too—it’s awesome—but this is my solid second choice.

ANNA: Thermae Romae is on my wish list for the holidays and any week that features a new volume of manga by Takehiko Inoue is a cause for celebration. I am going to go with 07-Ghost though, simply because it is next on my to-read list. I’m always a bit curious about license rescues, and I didn’t read the earlier version of the series which was published by the late lamented Go!Comi. I thought it was interesting that this manga came from the magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, home of Loveless and Saiyuki Reload. As I was quickly flipping through the volume I saw attractive art, plenty of action scenes, and weird religious iconography. I am always excited to read any manga featuring those three things!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 11/19/12

November 19, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, MJ and Michelle Smith 7 Comments

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

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 8 | By Kazue Kato | VIZ Media – For the most part this is a typical Jump battle volume, meaning there’s lots of fighting and enemies vanquished, but not as much to really mention in a review. There’s enough to really enjoy, though. Shiemi showing her gumption in commanding her familiar to help her save Izumo; Renzo having to face up to the fact that doing the right thing is really annoying and hard; and all of Rin and Bon’s fight against the Impure King (who is truly disgusting adn foul, as you would expect from a giant demonic fungus). But it’s Yukio who gets the most attention here, as he’s dealing with the traitor Saburota, who knows just how to get under his skin and hit his weaknesses. Just as Rin feels his brother outshines him, Yukio feels the same. Hopefully it won’t prove to be a problem in future, but the foreshadowing isn’t looking good. -Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 11 | By Julietta Suzuki | VIZ Media – Volumes like this remind me why I keep reading Kamisama Kiss even when it seems that the plot is content to coast along without resolving much. There’s just strong characterization, particularly of the heroine, Nanami. We already knew her father was a scumball from the opening chapter, but the flashbacks we get here show a truly tragic childhood, with the love of her mother (who dies early, in what is hinted to be part of a kamisama’s curse) being one of the few bright spots… and these days Nanami can’t even remember her face. It’s a sign of her strong will that she’s grown up to be the determined young woman she is today, and we see that determination in the second half, where she goes toe to toe with some nameless demons. Cute, intelligent, plucky heroines. What’s not to like? -Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 15 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – Although the friendship between Sawako, Chizu, and Ayane has been a central focus of the series since the beginning, at this point in the story it seems like the three of them have truly become co-leads, as they each face their own romantic problems in this volume. Sawako is troubled by a new distance in her relationship with Kazehaya; Ayane is possibly beginning to feel something for Kent, though she insists she’s not as great as he thinks she is; and Chizu is panicking because Ryu’s confession of love means the end of the sibling-like relationship they’ve shared since childhood. There’s a long and wonderful flashback to the two of them as kids, proving that she’s always been the one who understood him best, culminating in a surprising display of feeling from Ryu. Honestly, it’s giving me goosebumps just typing about it. How can I possibly wait until April for the next installment?! – Michelle Smith

March Story, Vol. 4 | By Kim Hung-Min and Yan Kyung-Il | VIZ Media – After a very exciting and beautifully-crafted third volume, volume four of March Story focuses on March’s secret gender. On the upside, this plays out much differently than in the all-too-common gender-bending comedy. On the downside, it seems to be part of some kind of grand, coordinated effort to boost the series’ volume of fanservice, which is suddenly in full bloom. The artists pull out all the usual tricks in this volume, including ill-fitting clothing that can’t quite keep from falling off and strategically timed gusts of wind. From this reader’s perspective, it reads as distracting and unnecessary pandering that is below these artists’ abilities, but perhaps it’s just a stern reminder that I’m not the series’ demographic after all. There’s enough genuine substance still in this volume to keep my attention, but I can’t deny that I found it disappointing. – MJ

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan, Vol. 6 | By Puyo and Nagaru Tanigawa | Yen Press – The goal of this series is to be as silly as possible. And as logn as that goal is in sight, it doesn’t matter how it achieves it. This time around, we get a discussion of fanservice, the continued humiliation of Mori-san, a far larger role for Kunikida than he ever gets in the main series (though he may not be too happy with why that is), and Ryoko and Kimidori-san teaming up to throw Yuki a school festival in the privacy of their own apartment. But the best chapters, in my opinion, are the two that mock the cliched Japanese over-dramatic plotlines, as we see Haruhi discovering she has to transfer and saying goodbye to everyone, followed by a life-or-death struggle to see who’s strongest on Children’s Day. Neither story has an ending, but endings don’t matter. Are they silly. Yes indeed. -Sean Gaffney

Pandora Hearts, Vol. 12 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – Pandora Hearts doesn’t have the most coherent plotting at the best of times, but volume twelve is more disjointed than most. There’s a lot of exposition here, as the focus shifts towards finding the seals (and their keys) that bind villainous Glen Baskerville and investigating a mysterious, murderous contractor known as “the headhunter.” We go from scenes of Vincent Nightray scheming to seduce Oz’s sister, to Oz’s uncle seeking to dispel the gloomy atmosphere at Pandora by hosting an outdoor tea party, to the group doing some snooping in disguise (with Oz in drag), to everyone attending a fancy dress banquet at the home of a creepy cult leader. This makes for some nice moments—I’m especially fond of the contrast between the female-filtered view of gussied-up Gilbert and the reality—but on the whole, the volume feels rather scattered. That’s not enough to keep me from recommending it, though! – Michelle Smith

BL Bookrack: Best of 2012

November 17, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 51 Comments

MJ: As BL discussions have cropped up in comments over the past couple of weeks, both in the 2012 fannish highlights thread and in this week’s Manga the Week of, Michelle and I thought we’d use this month’s BL Bookrack column to open up some official discussion on our favorite BL of the year. We’ve seen a wealth of new BL titles hitting the shelves in 2012, though our “shelves” have been largely virtual, thanks to new digital publishers like SuBLime, JManga, and the Digital Manga Guild. So before we get down to naming favorites, let’s talk a little about the genre’s move to digital.

Given the North American BL industry’s overall shift to digital distribution over the past year, I admit I was a bit surprised by the level of vitriol aimed at Hikaru Sasahara’s recent announcement regarding DMP’s print hiatus. Though comments run the gamut from reluctant understanding to pointed rage, at least half of the fans who took the time to weigh in specifically mentioned how little they like the company’s digital releases.

Part of my surprise, I think, is due to the largely positive feedback from BL fans regarding Viz’s SuBLime Manga—a mostly-digital imprint whose print releases make up a relatively small portion of their catalogue. In our “fannish highlights” thread, for example, a reader named Lee named DRM-free digital BL as her most significant fan experience of the year, crediting SuBLime as the leader of the pack. So does fan disappointment with DMP stem from the quality and delivery method of their digital releases, or digital in general?

I’m inclined to believe it’s a little of both, and I agree pretty strongly on the first bit. Though I haven’t been a fan of SuBLime’s licenses, they crush DMP so far in terms of both visual quality and ease of delivery. While manga delivered by way of DMP’s iPad app looks like a million bucks, their Kindle releases are far from it (see this article for an example), and eManga’s built-in reader is an incredibly limiting choice for those of us who don’t enjoy reading comics on our computers. I’ve been endlessly frustrated by the fact that I can’t read books from my eManga account in the iPad app (and vice-versa), and though downloadable PDFs wouldn’t be my first choice for delivery, they are at least transferrable from one device to the next. I have high hopes for the upcoming revamp of eManga—and I hope easing off their print schedule is helping to move that along more quickly—but for the moment, SuBLime is absolutely in the lead.

And then there’s JManga. Though not specifically (or even significantly) a BL publisher, JManga’s BL releases have been some of my favorites this year. They’re also behind in terms of delivery—their flash-based reader doesn’t work on my tablet, and though their Android app has been live for a month or so, their iOS release lags behind. And the potential for downloadable PDFs is not even on the table, to my knowledge.

As far as digital distribution in general… I never thought I’d be a convert. I love the look and feel of print books, and I really dislike reading comics on my computer. But I’m absolutely in love with my tablet. Reading on the iPad—both prose books and comics—is a real pleasure. I mentioned to someone at New York Comic Con—Robert Newman, maybe—that if I could read all the manga I wanted on my iPad, in high quality, I’d never buy a print book again. That’s probably not entirely true. High-end hardcover releases from companies like Vertical, Fantagraphics, and (recently) Yen Press would always have a place on my bookshelves. But my space for books is increasingly limited, and it would be relief to be able to just carry them all with me on one small device.

MICHELLE: My experience is pretty different, as I own neither smartphone nor tablet. All I have is a Kindle—which, as mentioned, is useless for manga—and a personal computer. Still, I am not peeved at all by the move toward digital distribution.

True, reading manga on my computer is not nearly as comfortable as curling up on the corner of the couch with a printed volume. However, when doing so gives me access to books I may like to read but not own permanently—as is largely the case with BL, I’m afraid—I have no complaints whatsoever. And when doing so has the additional bonus of giving me access to books that may never have seen the light of day in a printed edition—JManga’s licenses, some of the DMG ones, as well—I really have no complaints at all.

Honestly, what it boils down to for me is company survival. If this is what DMP thinks they need to do to stay afloat as a company, or to revamp their site, or whatever their aims are, then I am fine with it. Would fans rather have no BL at all if they can’t have printed copies?

MJ: So, let’s get to our favorite titles, shall we? I probably read fewer BL releases this year than last, but time constraints ensured that I was pickier about what I read, which means I liked more of them overall.

My greatest BL highlight of the year was absolutely JManga’s release of Setona Mizushiro’s Dousei Ai, an eleven-volume epic that has everything I want in a romance story—complicated, slow-building relationships, thoughtful characterization, and a multi-layered, soap-opera plot.

From my review: “This is no casual one-shot or simplistic BL romance. Setona Mizushiro has carefully crafted a complex emotional drama with some of the best-written characterization I’ve ever seen in this genre and a long game that is pretty obviously going to offer up significant payoff for the reader. I mean, going into this it’s clear that we’re in for a killer of a ride, along the lines of something like Sooyeon Won’s manhwa epic Let Dai, only better—much, much better.”

I’m four volumes in now, and just absolutely hooked. This is my kind of romance, for sure, and Mizushiro’s old-school shoujo artwork is just icing on the cake for me.

JManga was a particularly solid source of BL for me this year, also offering up the intensely charming series My Darling Kitten Hair (more, please, more!), the adorably awkward Doukyusei, est em’s awesome Apartments of Calle Feliz, the infectiously cute My Dear Prince, and Keiko Kinoshita’s fantastic set of short manga I Love You, Chief Clerk!

Speaking of Kinoshita, she’s been a favorite of mine since I read the first volume of Kiss Blue several years ago, but her work is suddenly all over the place here, thanks mainly to the Digital Manga Guild, who brought us (among others) You and Tonight and The Boyfriend Next Door—two of my very favorite BL reads this year. Elsewhere from DMP, their Juné imprint did me a solid by re-releasing the BL “classic” Only the Ring Finger Knows, which I honestly adored.

And if my biggest disappointment this year as a BL fan has been my lack of connection with SuBLime’s licenses in general (I talk about this a bit in our roundup this week, which has been continued in comments), books I did like from them include the sweet one-shot Honey Darling, and one of the only BL comedies I’ve ever been able to tolerate, Oku-San’s Daily Fantasies, which was a huge surprise for me.

What about you, Michelle?

MICHELLE: Despite buying several of JManga’s BL titles—mostly those you mentioned above—the only one I actually managed to read this year was The Apartments of Calle Feliz which, as usual for est em, was terrific. And thanks to DMP, I was also able to read another highly enjoyable est em short story collection, the sports-centric ULTRAS.

Like you, most of SuBLime’s licenses don’t really appeal to me, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been able to find titles to enjoy. The Bed of My Dear King was a quirky and memorable set of stories, The Scent of Apple Blossoms provided yet more proof that Toko Kawai writes my kind of BL, Honey Darling was absolutely flippin’ adorable, and Punch Up! was unexpectedly intriguing, given that it’s more explicit than my usual fare and not adorable at all.

DMP was also responsible for some of this year’s favorites, starting with the engrossing, yakuza-themed Men of Tattoos (which technically came out in 2011). Mangaka Yuiji Aniya does some clever things with this interconnected set of stories that make this a title I’d recommend to any manga fan. Another title I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend is Only Serious About You, whose second volume portrayed the evolving relationship between its main characters with sensitivity and realism.

But my favorite DMP offering, and my overall favorite BL release for the year, is Momoko Tenzen’s Flutter.

In my review, I wrote, “There are so many things to recommend this manga. The atmosphere is sort of… elegant and languid, which suits mysterious Mizuki well and makes an earnest everydude like Asada stand out all the more. The growing friendship between the men is believable—and they’re both completely professional adults, I might add—as is Mizuki’s wary reaction when Asada confesses his feelings.. It’s lovely and complicated, and when the guys do finally get together physically it’s wonderfully awkward.”

Looking back, it sure has been a good year for BL!

MJ: It really has!

Readers, we’d love to hear from you! What were your favorite BL titles this year? Where do you stand on digital distribution? Let us know in comments!

Disclosure: MJ is currently under contract with Digital Manga Publishing’s Digital Manga Guild, as necessitated for her ongoing report Inside the DMG. Any compensation earned by MJin her role as an editor with the DMG will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

JManga the Week of 11/22

November 16, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, MJ and Michelle Smith 6 Comments

SEAN: Most of what JManga is doing this week is catching up on some new volumes, so let’s look at those.

Crazy for You and Pride both have their Vol. 3s out. Both of these series were hits for me, so seeing more of them is a very good thing. Also, I love the way Kaoru Shiina draws grins.

MJ: I loved both of these, especially Pride! I kinda can’t wait for those new volumes. I’m seriously anxious over here. I would read them right now if I could.

MICHELLE: Me too! I am very happy about both of these, but since we’re talking about shoujo from Shueisha here, I will shamelessly exploit this opportunity to beg JManga to “please get Cat Street!”

SEAN: Elemental Gelade hits Vol. 2, and we are thus one-ninth of the way through this fantasy series! (Sorry folks, I got nothin’.)

MICHELLE: I can muster no enthusiasm for Elemental Gelade.

MJ: Clearly, neither can I.

SEAN: Despite the lack of a translated title (apparently some publishers just don’t want titles changed), Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi is one of my all-time favorite JManga releases, simply as it’s a supernatural mystery cat manga from a cat manga magazine. Its very existence here in North America for sale justifies digital manga.

MJ: I’m completely ignorant on this one, and now I feel I should be ashamed! More cats!

MICHELLE: I bought a couple of volumes of this but confess that I haven’t read them yet.

SEAN: There are also two new titles. Eleven Soul is a long-running shonen series from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade, and has an intriguing premise of futuristic samurai trying to battle a genetically engineered enemy that has taken over half the world.

MJ: That sounds… well, a little bit “meh.” But I’ll give it a shot.

MICHELLE: I will split the difference and say that it’s a premise that is teetering on the precipice between intriguing and meh. Could go either way.

SEAN: I am presuming that The Narrow Road to the Deep North is not the play by Edward Bond, but the classic Japanese work Osu no Hosomichi, a travel diary through Edo Japan. The original text is quite famous, consisting of both prose and haiku verses, and I wonder how Variety Art Works have managed to convert it to manga.

MJ: I hope this is exactly what you think it is, because that sounds really intriguing. I’m definitely on board for that.

MICHELLE: Me too!

Manga the Week of 11/21

November 15, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and MJ 11 Comments

SEAN: After a very, very busy first two weeks of November, you’d think the manga industry would let us off easy before Thanksgiving, but no. There’s an awful lot to bite into this week.

First of all, Midtown seems to have caught up with Diamond Comics. If you’re looking for the 2nd week Viz releases or the Seven Seas titles, we discussed them last week.

That still leaves a lot. Starting, as ever, with Dark Horse, who are bringing out the first of their Trigun Maximum volumes. While I always tended to prefer the anime adaptation of this story, I do still have a soft spot for Vash and company, and if you haven’t tried the title out yet, you might want to. Meryl and Milly are a stitch!

MICHELLE: I never have been able to muster much enthusiasm for Trigun, even though I have vaguely good feelings towards it.

SEAN: Digital Manga Publishing has one BL titles and two non. Starting with the BL, we first have Honey Smile, a title from Nihon Bungeisha’s Karen Magazine. Aside from appealing to women named Karen, the premise sounds quite sweet, and the cover only adds to that impression.

MJ: It’s so rare that I like the cover for a BL manga (even when I end up liking the manga), but for once this actually does look like My Kind of BL, right from the start. I’ll definitely be looking out for this.

MICHELLE: Oh, that *is* pretty adorable-looking!

SEAN: I had thought that Lovephobia, Vol. 2 of which is out next week, fell into the BL category as well, mostly as it runs in the hideously named Comic B’s Log KYUN!. But it’s apparently a regular old shoujo title that features vampires. As you know, Congressional Act Pub-L 111-369 decrees that all vampire manga must be licensed for North American audiences, so here we are. Do they sparkle?

MJ: Hmmm, I’m torn between my love for the words “old shoujo” and my increasing weariness with vampires. Which feeling will win?

MICHELLE: I keep mentally conflating Lovephobia with Toko Kawai’s Loveholic, so I’ve been thinking of it as BL as well.

SEAN: I’m not used to seeing DMP dipping its toes into the waters of Media Factory’s Comic Alive, which is usually the purview of our friends at Seven Seas. Here they are, though, with Vol. 1 of Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat. It apparently features a perverted protagonist *and* a tsundere, but we’ll give it a shot anyway.

MJ: This sounds like it could either be awesome or horrible, and I’ll probably wait for someone else to read it first. I’m looking at you, Sean.

MICHELLE: Ugh. Not for me.

SEAN: 3 titles next week (well, this week, but it’s Kodansha, we know the deal) from Kodansha Comics. Animal Land has hit Vol. 6. For some reasons, I always assume this title is geared towards little kids in Japan, but it runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, also home to Flowers of Evil and Attack on Titan, so I could be wrong. Are there at least animals? In a land?

MJ: There are, but I couldn’t even make it through the first volume, so that’s about all I can tell you.

MICHELLE: I made it through the first one, but never did continue. It’s got tons of poop jokes, so you’re probably right about its intended audience.

SEAN: Love Hina’s omnibus re-release hits Vol. 4, and introduces two of its most controversial plot points. a) Kanako Urashima, Keitaro’s younger sister, and b) Keitaro’s leave-of-absence from the series, and subsequent return with a personality transplant. Still, it has a new translation, and probably better scans, so Love Hina fans (like me) will get it anyway.

Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations hits Vol. 3, and sadly still lacks most of the cast of the games themselves, being content only with Dick Gumshoe. Still, even though Edgeworth is not as silly as Phoenix, he surrounds himself with silly suspects.

Apologies to BL fans: when porting over Viz’s 2nd week releases last week, I missed the two SubLime BL titles. So here they are. Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love has Vol. 2, with a cute feminine little guy trying to attract the grumpy, chain-smoking big manly guy. (I really need to come up with better ways to describe BL.) As for the cover of Vol. 2 of Starting with a Kiss… do necks even BEND like that? Oh my God!

MJ: I admit I’ve been pretty wishy-washy on SuBLime releases in general. I love what they are doing and how they’re doing it (Viz has proven they really get digital distribution, including how it works best for particular audiences—in this case, BL fans), but for the most part, their licenses are simply not to my taste. I am not the BL fan they are publishing for, and titles like Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love really drive that point home. Given the response I’ve seen from BL fans at Manga Bookshelf (and elsewhere), I’m pretty sure they’re making strong choices for the larger fanbase, but I just really don’t care for these titles.

MICHELLE: I have genuinely liked at least one (The Bed of My Dear King) and was unexpectedly intrigued by another (Punch Up!), but on the whole I must agree. I prefer a kinder, gentler sort of BL. And egads, that Starting with a Kiss cover is creepy!

SEAN: Viz also has a few 3rd week releases. Bokurano: Ours has hit Vol. 7, and is still doing what Bokurano does quite nicely. Its uplifting and life-affirming message requires the reader to sit through piles and piles of trauma, and thus I’ve given it a miss.

MJ: Oooh, I bet Michelle has a response to this!

MICHELLE: There’s no denying Bokurano is grim, grim, grim, and that one doesn’t get to learn much about the cast of kids until it’s their turn to pilot the robot and subsequently die. But it’s the mystery of why this is all happening that keeps me fascinated.

SEAN: REAL is still ongoing in Japan, albeit at a very slow rate, and now North America gets Vol. 11. This volume actually promises to feature Nomiya, the delinquent protagonist who got most of the beginning of the series before the focus moved away from him. Still a good story well-told, as you’d expect from Inoue.

MJ: Hurray! Seriously, that’s the only possible response to a new volume of REAL.

MICHELLE: I disagree. I think “Huzzah!” works equally well!

SEAN: And Saturn Apartments, one of the quieter SigIKKI titles, has hit Vol. 6. I think 7 is the last, so it must be getting close to wrapping things up.

MJ: Wow, I’m behind in this series. I need to remedy that, pronto.

MICHELLE: Me, too. I really like it, but I’ve fallen behind by several volumes now.

SEAN: There’s a new omnibus out for CLAMP’s classic shoujo series X, containing Vols. 10-12, and more preparation for the complete and total apocalypse that we still haven’t actually quite seen yet. Still, the preparation is absolutely gorgeous.

MJ: Despite my lukewarm feelings for this series, these omnibus releases are a must-buy. If there’s one thing I really do love about X, it’s the gorgeous, shoujo-tastic artwork, and these volumes show that off to its best advantage.

MICHELLE: I still have yet to read beyond volume one of this series, despite owning it in its entirety and having the first two omnibus editions. I’ve seen the anime, though.

SEAN: Lastly, I had wondered why Diamond didn’t ship it this week with the rest of Yen’s titles, but no matter: The long awaited Thermae Romae Vol. 1 (a two-volume omnibus) is out next week in glorious hardcover. Far more than just a take of Roman baths, this series is another reason why North Americans keep wanting more and more from Comic Beam (also home to Emma and Wandering Son).

MJ: I can’t wait to read this!

MICHELLE: Me, neither! Coming soon to an Off the Shelf near you!

SEAN: It’s Thanksgiving Week for The U.S.! What titles are you thankful for?

Bookshelf Briefs 11/12/12

November 12, 2012 by MJ, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

This week, MJ, Sean, and Michelle take a look at recent releases from VIZ Media and Yen Press.

Bunny Drop, Vol. 7 | Yumi Unita | Yen Press – After commenting on the last volume that mangaka Yumi Unita seemed “less comfortable writing Rin’s voice than she was writing Daikichi’s,” I’m now prepared to take that back completely. Unita shines in her portrayal of Rin in volume seven, particularly during the last half of the volume when Rin begins to show interest in finding out about her birth mother. Any awkwardness over the series’ time jump has vanished with the previous volume as well, and it almost feels at this point as if those years weren’t missing at all. Older versions of Rin, Daikichi, Kouki, and even absent mom Masako are rich with history, and it seems clear that even if we were not privy to their offscreen years, those years absolutely happened in Unita’s imagination. Ultimately, this series continues to be warm, compelling, and surprisingly poignant. Definitely recommended. – MJ

Durarara!!, Vol. 4 | By Ryohgo Narita, Akiyo Satorigi, and Suzuhito Yasuda | Yen Press – With this fourth volume, which correlates with the end of the first novel, the manga adaptation of Durarara!! comes to a temporary hold (resuming in Durarara!! Saika). And so we get an ending that’s a little bit confusing, with revelations that would mean a lot more if we actually had gotten to know any of these (far too many) characters aside from Celty, who is admittedly pretty fascinating. Unfortunately, Celty and another female character end up declaring their love for unrepentantly murderous fellows, which gets my feminist goat and tarnishes Celty’s moment of empowerment when she realizes she doesn’t need to be ashamed of what she is. Durarara!! has certainly been interesting, and I will definitely check out its continuation, but it will probably never be one of my favorites.– Michelle Smith

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 15 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – Our main couple does get a bit of attention here—particularly Sawako’s worries about her relationship’s progression—but this volume’s big focus is on Chizuru and Ryu. We get a long, sad flashback to their childhoods, showing a turning point in their lives, and also hinting (though Chizuru has forgotten) why being treated like a brother bothers Ryu so much. It gets quite emotional, and the catharsis on the last few pages is welcome. The series continues to show stasis as a bad thing in life—always move forward. As for Kent and Ayane, I must admit I still have my issues with Kent—I’d like to see him be a little more flawed, as he was when he first appeared—but his passive/aggressive patience is, I suppose, one way of trying to court Ayane. Will it work? Dunno, let’s find out next volume. – Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 11 | By Izumi Tsubaki | VIZ Media – Tsubaki not being one to let the genre ‘shoujo’ mean much of anything to her, this current arc of Oresama Teacher has read much like a shonen battle arc, or even an RPG. Every volume, Mafuyu needs to take down a new mid-level boss, using both force (which doesn’t work here) and her basic power of being nice and shiny (which does). I admit I didn’t find Ayabe as interesting as I had Wakana in Vol. 10, possibly as he’s not tied to another regular as she is. The actual highlight of the book may be earlier, where Hayasaka gets his long-awaited date with Super-Bun… only for it to be more serious than I expected. That said, there’s still the usual number of hysterical gags here based on the entire cast being idiots. And we get to see Mafuyu lose! For the first time ever, apparently. Still recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 11 | By Izumi Tsubaki | Viz Media – Because of its episodic (and silly) nature, Oresama Teacher is inconsistent in terms of quality, but this volume happens to be one of the good ones! The high point occurs at the beginning, when Hayasaka ends up on a Christmas Eve date with his hero, Super Bun. It’s a highly adorable chapter and creates a good feeling that lingers over the rest of the volume, which involves another minion of the scheming student council president being dispatched to disband the Public Morals Club. This is actually starting to remind me of Sailor Moon or something, where you’ve got the big bad (like Queen Beryl) running through her resources of devotees (like the Four Generals) to take down our heroes. I don’t really mind, but I’d rather read more about Hayasaka’s quirks and contradictions. I suppose if we continue to get a sprinkling of those, I’ll be satisfied. – Michelle Smith

Soulless, Vol. 2 | By Gail Carriger and Rem | Yen Press – After its debut volume’s satisfying, settled (and sexy!) conclusion, volume two of Soulless begins as the best “next” volumes do—with everything coming apart. This sense of unraveling begins immediately, as heroine Alexia is roused from her sleep by her husband’s noisy departure, followed by unwelcome late-night chaos on her own front lawn. She moves on, disoriented, from this point and things really never regain their balance, leaving her (and the reader) increasingly shaken all the way through the volume’s end. This is a tense installment to be sure, and I mean that in the best way possible, as the only response one can have to the book’s decidedly unsettling conclusion is an intense desire for more. Fast-paced, compelling, and oddly beguiling, Soulless continues to be my favorite of Yen Press’ growing catalogue of adaptations. Highly recommended. – MJ

We Were There, Vol. 15 | By Yuuki Obata | VIZ Media – Some manga is all about the plot, and so it’s easy to summarize what happens. We Were There, however, is all about the characters and while it might seem that not much actually happens or changes outwardly, the fact that things seem to be shifting internally for Yano at last is incredibly significant. The story is driven by conversations between characters, mostly people trying to point out to Yano that he can stop striving for atonement while he insists he’s just acting selfishly. Finally, though, the message gets through and he realizes that what Takahashi has always offered—strength, not neediness—is something he might finally be ready to accept. He finishes out the volume helping Yamamoto avoid going down the same path of regret, and then… what’s next? I am honestly not sure this series will end up with Yano and Takahashi together, but this is the first time I have felt like such an outcome would be healthy for all concerned. Truly an amazing series. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Aron’s Absurd Armada & more

November 12, 2012 by MJ, Sean Gaffney and Michelle Smith 2 Comments

MJ: While there’s a lot to get excited about at Midtown Comics this week (and on Sean’s alternate list as well), including the latest (awesome) volume of Bunny Drop and one of my particular favorites, Nabari no Ou, I’m going to use my Pick this week to shine the spotlight on a lesser-known property—MiSun Kim’s Korean webtoon Aron’s Absurd Armada. I read this series’ first chapter back when I used to subscribe to Yen Plus, and after checking out its first full volume for this week’s Off the Shelf, I kinda wish I’d kept that subscription. Though there are certainly more profound comics on this week’s shipping list, and many more thoughtful, better-plotted, and carefully-crafted, too, there could hardly be any more fun. This week, I’m in the mood for a little fun.

SEAN: While the pick is obvious to those who know, me, one thing I find interesting is how far Excel Saga has moved beyond what everyone associated it with back in 2003 when it first debuted in North America. It was never as loud and manic as the anime it inspired—there was always a certain sardonic cynicism to the manga and its vision of a Japan broken by the economic bubble collapse—but when the manga revealed itself to have an actual backstory, as well as genuine characterization and depth for many of the characters, fans who were thinking ‘puns and violence’ were still taken by surprise. Now with Vol. 24 we’re getting to the climax of the story. Will Excel get her body back, or care enough to try? Is Iwata doomed? Will Misaki finally have that nervous breakdown that’s sort of been threatening for a while now? And just how low can Dr. Kabapu sink? There is a real reason I pimp this manga so often, you know. :)

MICHELLE: Man, there is a lot of good stuff on that list, including the debut volumes of a few different series. I’ll be checking out Strobe Edge and Umineko: When They Cry for sure, but, seriously, how could I resist this premise?

If you had 7 days to do whatever you wanted before your spirit is sent to heaven, what would you do? How about becoming a cat for 7 days..? Start With a Happy Ending is a heartfelt story about cats and the preciousness of life.

It’ll be Start with a Happy Ending for me!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Off the Shelf: Armada, Roses, Crazy for You

November 10, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 4 Comments

MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! What did Geronimo say when he jumped out of an airplane?

MJ: Hm, I don’t know, what did he say?

MICHELLE: “Me!!!!”

MJ: I guess I should have seen that coming.

MICHELLE: Yeah, probably. So! What’ve you been reading this week?

MJ: My solo read this week was the debut volume of MiSun Kim’s Aron’s Absurd Armada, a Korean webtoon published in English by Yen Press. This series has been running since August of 2010 in the online incarnation of Yen Plus, and I checked out the first chapter for this column back when it debuted. Since it’s been quite a while, I’ll take a moment to refresh the premise.

Aron is a young nobleman and heir to a prominent dukedom with dreams of becoming a pirate. Thanks in part to his mother’s delusions regarding his intelligence and cunning (she believes he aspires to piracy in order to keep a rival family’s military influence in check), he is allowed to do so, accompanied by his pretty-boy bodyguard, Robin, whose reluctant participation hinges entirely upon his unapologetic greed. Though Aron is a fairly ridiculous pirate, random luck and Robin’s skills as a swordsman actually manage to win them a small crew, and the two embark on their journey to conquer the seven seas. Members of Aron’s ragtag crew include Ronnie, a young woman rescued from a shipwreck who is consistently mistaken for a man; Mercedes, a swanky transvestite who claims to be a hairdresser but is actually a deadly assassin; hulky Vincent, the world’s worst chef; and underlings Anton and Gilbert, whose primary function seems to be complaining and making jokes about other people’s sexuality.

True to its name, Aron’s Absurd Armada is devoted to humor rather than plot, and in this it largely succeeds. Though translating foreign comedy tends to err on the “miss” side of “hit-or-miss,” Kim’s sense of humor easily bridges cultural barriers—most of the time, at least. Only two or three jokes rely too heavily on Korean pop culture references to translate effectively in this first volume, which is a fairly good track record when compared to much of the Japanese 4-koma that’s been licensed for English-language release. In fact, the biggest cultural disconnect is the unfortunate volume of gay jokes that crop up, a large number of which originate in the series’ deliberate BL overtones. As a general rule, however, the series is genuinely funny, light, and satisfyingly whimsical.

Having originated as a webcomic, Absurd Armada is in full color, and Yen has thankfully preserved this in its print volumes as well. While, as a manga fan, I often find that full color comics result in sensory overload, in this case, color pages just enhance the series’ cartoonish feel, which is really quite effective. On top of that, both Kim’s comedic sense and her clear, expressive art style remind me of nothing more than Hiromu Arakawa’s omake strips for Fullmetal Alchemist, which, coming from me, is definitely a compliment.

MICHELLE: Since I generally don’t like consuming stories on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I’ve been waiting to read any of Aron’s Absurd Armada until it was finally collected, so I was very excited to see that a tangible copy is finally available. I’m kind of dubious about comedies a lot of the time, but this one sounds like it could be right up my alley.

MJ: I think it could be! Actually, I’d theorize that the best way to consume this series would be as a daily webcomic, one strip at a time, but it’s enjoyable in collected form as well.

So, what have you been reading this week?

MICHELLE: I’ve spent the last week catching up on Rinko Ueda’s Stepping on Roses in order to talk about its eighth volume, which came out early last month.

I knew going in that Stepping on Roses wasn’t going to be a masterpiece, but ye gods, is it ever dumb! The basic premise is that pauper Sumi Kitamura agrees to marry rich Soichiro Ashida in order to provide for the orphans her ne’er-do-well brother, Eisuke, keeps bringing home. Soichiro needs to be married in order to inherit his grandfather’s fortune, but schemes to have his friend Nozomu fall in love with Sumi with hopes of causing a scandal that’ll allow Soichiro to triumph in business somehow. He succeeds wildly, causing Nozomu to essentially go insane with his love for Sumi and become the series’ main antagonist. Meanwhile, Soichiro and Sumi fall in love for real. In volume eight, they’re living together in the slums until Soichiro gets ill and Sumi decides to yield to Nozomu’s aggressive courtship as a means to provide for her husband’s treatment. Misunderstandings, manual labor, and jumping from cliffs ensue. (Really.)

Being dumb doesn’t preclude Stepping on Roses from occasionally being entertaining. In particular, I’m fond of Soichiro’s manservant, Komai, and the best moment in the series so far is the super-short flashback side story in which he introduces his young charge to commoner cuisine in the form of riceballs. The series is also an extremely fast and easy read, with large, uncluttered panels and uncomplicated dialogue. Unfortunately, “uncomplicated” is pretty much the theme of the day. Despite the dramatic goings-on, the story lacks oomph and I find it hard to care about the characters. Sumi is mostly a passive heroine, and whenever she musters some gumption to do something about her plight, it’s usually something dangerous that requires one of the men in her life to rescue her. Soichiro is the classic misunderstood rich boy who’s never known love, and all of the villains are so obvious that they might as well be twirling mustaches. Speaking of obvious, the plot twist that will presumably be unveiled in the ninth and final volume was telegraphed so strongly in volume seven that it’s now just a matter of waiting for the pieces to fall into place.

That said, I undoubtedly will read the last volume to see how it all wraps up.

MJ: You are a lot more patient with this series than I have been. I gave up on it many volumes ago, for most of the reasons you mention here. Somehow it managed to eclipse my tolerance for brainless shoujo. I hadn’t realized that was possible, really, until Stepping on Roses. Though I have enjoyed Sean’s repeated wish that it would turn into a shogi manga. Sumi’s unexpected skill at shogi is pretty much all the series has going for it, in my view. Heh.

MICHELLE: I would much prefer it as a shogi manga!

Anyways, I think it’s your turn this time to introduce our tandem read!

MJ: Indeed it is! Our mutual read this week was the first two volumes of Crazy for You, a recent addition to the JManga catalogue from Karuho Shiina, best known in North America as the creator of Kimi ni Todoke.

Okay. So, Sachi is a shoujo everygirl—physically and intellectually unremarkable—whose best friend, Akemi, sets her up on a group date with a bunch of her boyfriend’s classmates. Though the boyfriend, Yuuhei, has been charged by Akemi with not letting any questionable guys latch on to inexperienced Sachi, he somehow lets known womanizer Yuki chat her up for the entire evening. Sachi predictably falls for Yuki and, despite Akemi’s alarmed disapproval, continues to pursue him even though she knows that most of what he says are lies. Thanks to Sachi’s sweet, guileless nature, she actually manages to befriend Yuki for real (to the dismay of both Akemi and Yuki’s more straightforward friend, Akahoshi), but their friendship’s unbalanced nature only spells doom for Sachi’s romantic heart. Just when Sachi begins to believe that her feelings might be returned, it becomes clear that Yuki harbors feelings for Akemi (and vice-versa), shattering relationships on all sides.

Though the typical love-triangle (or double-triangle?) setup and Sachi’s downright eagerness to be jerked around by Yuki becomes quickly wearying in the series’ early chapters, Shiina’s talent for exploring teen emotion eventually shines through. Early on, I’ll admit that my assessment of the series was pretty much, “not as good as We Were There,” to which it bears a number of similarities in terms of romantic setup, but Shiina adds some appealing touches later on.

First, I’m quite taken with the friendship between Sachi and Akemi, which (for once) is portrayed as being at least as important as their romantic aspirations—something Shiina perfected later in Kimi ni Todoke. Also, while Akahoshi could easily be set up as the ill-fated, stalwart “nice guy,” there’s actually quite a bit of doubt about just how “nice” he actually is, which makes his attachment to Sachi more interesting than tragic. Emotional complication is the real key to good romance, and there’s just enough here to make Crazy for You an engaging read.

MICHELLE: Nicely put! I was thinking that this really is the opposite of Stepping on Roses in terms of complicated versus uncomplicated!

Although I’m usually the first one to get riled up at female leads who don’t assert themselves, somehow I felt fairly tolerant of Sachi’s eagerness. Not the way she agrees to be duped, but how, even after Yuki and Akemi’s illicit smoochies shatter the group of friends, she still considers meeting Yuki—and experiencing a whole new world of love and heartbreak—the luckiest thing that’s happened to her. It’s almost as if she appears weak, but is actually strong, determined not to deny the love she feels, no matter what else is happening with other people. She’s glad that detached Yuki is able to feel love after all, and simply being capable of such an emotion herself is sustaining. If that makes sense.

And man, yes, the similarities with We Were There are pretty striking. Not so much the plot, but Yuki and Yano are so much alike they’re practically interchangeable. And the discoveries our heroine makes about their romantic pasts are rather similar, as well. I wonder if that’s part of why VIZ hasn’t licensed it.

MJ: Oh, you may have a point! One thing I’m glad of is that at least Akahoshi is not as straightforwardly awesome as Takeuchi, which I’m hoping means that I won’t have to be heartbroken over his inevitable rejection by Sachi. Heh.

MICHELLE: Yeah, he’s a really interesting character! Just another example of Shiina’s flair for developing her supporting characters in unexpected ways. Who could tell from the first couple of chapters that he would wind up being so important to the story? It’s hard to tell whether he genuinely wants Sachi to “save” him in a way, bestow upon him the faith she had for Yuki, or if this is another deliberate attempt to seduce a girl on his part. Is she a challenge? Does he genuinely like her?

MJ: In any case, I’m dying to find out! Which I guess means that I’m hooked.

MICHELLE: Me, too! Thanks again, JManga (and Shueisha)! I seriously was not getting far with my German editions and Google Translate! I hope we get more volumes of this (and Pride) in the near future.

JManga the Week of 11/15

November 9, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, MJ and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: Nothing that makes me go squee in next week’s 4 new titles, but some interesting stuff regardless.

Takatoh-sanchi no Komatta Jijyou is another Be x Boy title from Libre Shuppan, with a smug square-jawed seme feeding his startled uke some pancakes. It’s designed for audiences who like that sort of thing, I imagine.

MJ: I tend to roll my eyes at covers like this, but I’ve also learned over the years that I can’t really judge a BL manga by its cover. I haven’t read any of Natsuho Shino’s other books, though a few of them have been released by both DMP and SuBLime. I have to admit that her (apparently unfinished) series Oh My God! (SuBLime) has one of those omyouji plotlines that tend to be kinda bullet-proof for me, even when they’re awful. Maybe I’ll check that one out first before braving the pancake cover.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read any of her stuff, either, though I must point out that back in the day, Kate kind of liked Oh My God!

SEAN: A Transparent Orange in the Lip, from Ichijinsha’s Yuri Hime magazine, is exactly the same, only for yuri audiences rather than BL. Look, vulnerable high school girls in love! (Why am I getting Kentucky Fried Movie flashbacks?)

MJ: Erica Friedman reviewed this title a couple of years ago, and… well, it’s not all that encouraging. Sadly.

SEAN: Our final two titles are both from Earth Star Entertainment, a company that has clearly made a big deal with JManga recently, as we’re seeing a huge pile of their stuff. They have a couple of magazines, and tend to have titles that run across multiple platforms, with anime, CD dramas, etc. Tokyo Cycle Girl is yuri-ish (in the same way that Zero-Sum titles are BL-ish) about a girl who tries to impress her new aloof roommate by upgrading her bike.

MJ: So does it follow then, that if I like Zero-Sum titles, I’d also like this? :D I’m hoping so, because I kinda love the premise. I hope it works out for the girl!

MICHELLE: It definitely sounds more promising than A Transparent Orange! And huzzah for more yuri and yuri-ish releases!

SEAN: You may notice that Koetama has 5 creators listed. It’s a project that was “conceptualized” by four voice actresses, who created characters based on what they would likely be cast as. Naturally, it’s a manga about aspiring voice actors. For seiyuu buffs, the creators are Nakahara Mai, Ueda Kana, Hayami Saori and Yahagi Sayuri. Intriguing, even if it looks very calculated.

MJ: This idea, while interesting, is kind of artistically suspect, though I suppose I should give it a chance.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I dunno. The cover says “not for you” in its art style, even while the girl herself is pretty cute-looking. I think I’ll wait for others’ reviews before I forge ahead.

Manga the Week of 11/14

November 8, 2012 by Sean Gaffney, MJ and Michelle Smith 14 Comments

SEAN: I am debating how much longer I’m going to keep using Midtown’s list. I started using it because a) I get my manga mostly from a comic book store, and b) it usually has next week’s list out before anyone else. But its resemblance to what I get at my comic shop every week has been growing smaller and smaller. Next week’s has all the Viz stuff we got in today, but doesn’t have the titles Viz actually has scheduled for next week. And, as always, Midtown doesn’t like Seven Seas much at all.

So this list is my usual fusion of Diamond, asking my comic shop guys what’s out for me next week, and Amazon. With that in mind… there’s a HUGE PILE again this week.

First off, Dark Horse is releasing Vol. 3 of Blood Blockade Battlefront. The words “Nightow” and “Battle” still give me horrible flashbacks to Trigun’s action artwork, but I know this has a ton of fans who have no issues working out what stuff is flying where.

Digital Manga Publishing has a quartet of titles due out. I’m not sure if DMP is using the bunko books as sources for Bad Teacher’s Equation or not – if they are, Vol. 5 may be the final volume of this series.

MICHELLE: I *think* that they are, though I’m not sure about that.

SEAN: Secret Thorns is a one-off that features my favorite kind of BL manga: a cover I don’t hate!

The same cannot be said for Sleepless Nights (though it’s not horrible), but the Odd-Couple-esque premise at least sounds like it will promise wacky shenanigans before the good stuff.

MJ: I feel like I should have something to say here… but I don’t. None of these really sound like My Kind of BL.

MICHELLE: I too like the Secret Thorns cover, but it’s by Kikuko Kikuya, whose Entangled Circumstances *also* had a really cute cover but was ultimately kinda disappointing. I’m wary.

SEAN: And lastly, in the non-BL category, DMP have the first volume of a seinen manga from Houbunsha’s Manga Time Jumbo, one of the infinite Manga Time titles that litter the landscape in Japan. Start with a Happy Ending seems to be about a newly deceased woman becoming a cat for 7 days before she goes to heaven, and the heartwarming stories that follow. Sounds intriguing.

Kodansha has a debut shoujo title! Ema Toyama, author of I Am Here!, has a longer series that also ran in Nakayoshi about a cell-phone novelist ignorant of romance and her blackmailing friendship with the class heart-throb, which Kodansha has smartly retitled Missions of Love. I talked about this as a license request a long time ago, and was very pleased to see Kodansha pick it up. If you like Devil and Her Love Song, but want something a bit sweeter, this may be for you.

MJ: I never read I Am Here! (despite the fact that Michelle loaned me the first couple of volumes ages ago), but maybe this will win me over to Toyama? It certainly sounds intriguing!

MICHELLE: It does, but probably more so because I ended up liking I Am Here! more than expected.

SEAN: Seven Seas is absent from Midtown’s list, but my store says they have some titles coming in. The biggie for me is Volumes 3-4 of Young Miss Holmes by Kaoru Shintani. I read Vol. 1-2 expecting something a lot more lolicon, but was surprised to find an addictive set of mysteries that treated Holmes with respect and had the best Action Maids I’d seen in ages. This 2nd omnibus deals with, among other familiar stories, The Hound of The Baskervilles (like they were gonna not do a pastiche of that), and The Five Orange Pips (wait, what? Seriously?!) The release comes out slow as molasses, but I’m so glad the next one is here!

MICHELLE: I have the omnibus of 1-2. Must get ’round to reading it!

SEAN: There’s also Vol. 1 of the new debut, Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, the latest in Seven Seas’ autumn of moe. This is still pretty ecchi, and runs in Monthly Comic Alive, but if asked to choose between the Big Brother title, the forthcoming Mayo Chiki, and this, I would take this in a heartbeat. It’s about a club of misfits supposedly devoted to learning social skills.

Angel Para Bellum hits Vol. 2, and I must admit Vol. 1 did not impress me, so I have little to add.

And Alice in the Country of Clover hits Vol. 3 of Cheshire Cat Waltz, which has walked a nice line between innocent and saucy, as well as between meaningful and aggravating. As the best game tie-ins always do.

MJ: I still haven’t read anything in this series! Shame on me.

MICHELLE: Don’t start with these Clover spinoffs. At least Cheshire Cat Waltz is a lot better than Bloody Twins!

SEAN: Vertical also has a debut, HeroMan, which comes from the pen of Stan Lee (with an assist from the anime studio BONES) that ran in Square Enix’s Shonen Gangan. It’s a title for younger readers (though still readable for adults), about a kid who wants to be, well, a hero.

MJ: Given my reaction to Ultimo, I am not optimistic about the chances of me liking something from the pen of Stan Lee, sorry to say.

MICHELLE: Yeah. Sorry, comics fans!

SEAN: And there’s the final volume of GTO: The Early Years, which rounds out this delinquent manga with a flourish (and has a few mild hints of GTO proper, mostly Onizuka realizing he has no clue what to do with his life). I wish it had sold better, but kudos to Vertical for finishing this classic.

Midtown lists for Viz all the titles we talked about last week, so go there to see those. As for this week… deep breath…

MJ: *facepalm*

SEAN: It’s Excel Saga 24!!! Five months earlier than I had expected! Not only that, 25 is due out in April! It’s an Excel Saga speed up, just like Naruto! We’re only 4 away from the end now, and things are well into the endgame, with Excel’s very existence now at stake. You cannot miss this title!

In non-Excel Saga Viz releases, the license rescued 07-Ghost has its debut, with Viz redoing Vols. 1-3 (originally put out here by Go! Comi) before finishing the series. It’s an Ichijinsha (is this shoujo or josei?) series, which runs in Comic Zero-Sum, and is a fantasy supernatural thing with BL overtones. As is Zero-Sum in general, really.

MJ: I tend to like manga from Comic Zero-Sum, so I’m kinda looking forward to this!

SEAN: After being delayed for four months, we finally see the final volume of Cross Game (and judging by sales, it may be the last Adachi we see over here for some time.) The ending to this manga is terrific, I want to say. Don’t miss it.

MJ: I’m behind on this series, but definitely hooked. I’ll be picking this up!

MICHELLE: I can’t wait to read the ending of this, though low sales bum me out. In the continuing theme of “stuff I have but need to somehow find time to read,” I’m reminded that I’ve got a couple series of his in French. One of these days…

SEAN: Inu Yasha’s BIG edition trundles along, hitting lucky No. 13 this time around.

And speaking of Takahashi, Rin-Ne also keeps trundling along, finally arriving at double digits. Its hero and heroine may bear no resemblance whatsoever to Ataru or Lum, but it’s still Takahashi through-and-through, and has just as much chance of resolving.

MICHELLE: RIN-NE is a nice comfort read. Interesting enough not to bore you, simple enough not to challenge you in any way.

SEAN: And for those who saw Evangelion 13 this week and thought about giving it a try, Vol. 1-3 are out in an omnibus. Get it for Shinji. You mustn’t run away.

Lastly, Midtown (hey, back to their list!) has a giant pile of Yen releases that are coming out later on Amazon, so it’s back to the comic shops. Bunny Drop 7 finally gets around to working out the unresolved issues between Rin and her birth mother, and sounds fantastic.

MJ: I was skeptical of the later volumes of Bunny Drop, but after reading volume six, I’m definitely looking forward to more!

MICHELLE: Now it’s my turn to be ashamed for not having read any of a series!

SEAN: Haruhi-chan, the 4-koma spin-off that I care about and no other blogger does has reached Vol. 6. It’s funny and adorable. And genuinely moe, as opposed to “loli boobies!” moe. :)

Nabari no Ou is headed towards its climax as we reach Vol. 12, and yet is still sadly known as “that other ninja manga.”

MJ: “Sadly” really is the word here. Nabari no Ou is so much more interesting than the much bigger ninja manga. I wish it was getting more attention in the manga blogosphere.

MICHELLE: I’m happy that Yen’s continuing to release it, though. Looks like we’ll safely reach the conclusion.

SEAN: Omamori Himari Vol. 9 is.

Coming out a mere 4 years after Vol. 2 (blame Japan, not Yen – the author found an actual hit in GA Art Design Class and took a looooooong hiatus), we have Vol. 3 of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro! It’s adorable and creepy and sweet and sort of sad all at the same time.

MJ: Kate recommended this quite a while back, which is a strong recommendation indeed. Between the two of you, I’m convinced!

SEAN: Soul Eater hits Vol. 11 right after its moe counterpart had Vol. 2 arrive. This is more serious and action-packed, and I suspect far more depressing as well.

Spice and Wolf is up to Vol. 7, and I presume still teaching us economic theory?

Lastly (thank GOD), There’s the debut of Umineko When They Cry, the sort of sequel to Higurashi from the same author. Darker in tone than its predecessor, it still has a lot of cute wacky comedy before everything goes to hell. It too runs in arcs, and this first omnibus collects the first two books of the first arc, which ran in Square Enix’s Gangan Powered.

MICHELLE: This time, I’m going to follow this one from the beginning!

SEAN: That’s… a lot of manga. Wow.

Pick of the Week: Nausicaä, Sailor Moon

November 5, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

MJ: Though Midtown’s list hasn’t been updated since we put together our new roundtable-style Manga the Week of, I’m still going to pick from Sean’s extended list because I can’t contain my excitement over Viz’s new, lovely-looking box set of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I missed my opportunity to buy this series previously, and though I love the film, I’ve always wanted to read the manga. This is a no-brainer for me this week. I simply must have it. Sorry, We Were There. In any other week, you’d triumph easily.

MICHELLE: MJ, you will love it. Looking back at my 2008 reviews of the series, I see the conclusion prompted me to write: “Overall, reading this series has been an interesting and enjoyable experience. It has required a lot of brain power to digest ideas, events, and their significance, but it’s been worth it. It’s not every day a manga can make you put it down and stare contemplatively at your wall for a few minutes, after all.”

Actually, I was planning to step in here and champion We Were There, but my own words have convinced me to hop aboard the Nausicaä train, too.

SEAN: It’s been a while since I’ve had it as a pick of the week, so I think it’s a good time to champion Sailor Moon again. The 8th volume wraps up the S arc with mucho apocalypse, and our senshi team is now complete. Takeuchi’s plot is dense – this is a series that rewards multiple rereads – and the art in this one is particularly gorgeous, with quite a few double page spreads. And then Super S starts, and I know the appearance of a unicorn in front of Chibi-Usa will make folks twitch, but stay with me on this one. Still one of the premier magical girl shoujo mangas.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 11/5/12

November 5, 2012 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney, Katherine Dacey and MJ 2 Comments

This week, Michelle, Sean, Kate, & MJlook at recent releases from VIZ Media, Yen Press, and Vertical, Inc.

Bleach, Vols. 50-51 | By Tite Kubo | VIZ Media – The interminable Hueco Mundo arc finally came to an end in 48 with Ichigo losing his soul reaper powers and bidding farewell to Rukia and her world. That would’ve been a terrific place to end the series, but because Bleach continues to be profitable, Kubo must find new ways to keep the story going. He does so by hitting the reset button, as Ichigo (17 months after the big battle) is introduced to a new sort of power called a Fullbring that he is now working to master. I’m rather “meh” about this new arc so far—I don’t care about the group teaching Ichigo or their enemy—but there are more scenes with Orihime and the gang than we’ve seen for a long time as well as some intrigue involving Ichigo’s father and sister that could prove interesting. And hey, no Aizen! – Michelle Smith

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 3 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – I think I enjoyed this volume of A Bride’s Story more than the previous two (despite taking several months to actually read it). I’d felt that the cast was distant and remote at times, especially the heroine. Not an issue here, as most of the volume follows the Englishman, Smith, as he tries to get to Turkey. On the way, he runs into locals that are far less accommodating than the village we know, and almost loses his life. He also falls for a young widow trying to provide for her family despite desperate circumstances. We are led to think that the two will solve each other’s problems—but Smith gets rescued by a deus ex machina, and circumstance conspires to ensure he’ll never see the girl he’s fallen for again. It’s quite bittersweet and sad, and thus more compelling. Oh, and Pariya is terrific. More with her, please. -Sean Gaffney

Durarara!!, Vol. 4 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda & Akiyo Satorigi | Yen Press – The danger of reading the manga after experiencing the novel and anime starts to rear its ugly head here—I felt myself muttering “Celty’s arc was done much better there” throughout the volume. However, this does not mean there aren’t some good moments here. To everyone’s surprise, Seiji ends up “winning” the day, if only temporarily—and Mikado admits that he thinks that Seiki and Mika make an excellent couple, which is probably nastier than he had really intended. Speaking of nasty, Izaya also wins the day (hell, Shizuo doesn’t even appear), gaining a new slave… um, assistant, and reminding Mikado that you can’t just dabble in a world like Durarara!!, you have to sink your claws deep into it. Which can be extremely dangerous. As we’ll find out when the Saika arc starts next spring. -Sean Gaffney

Heroman, Vol. 1 | Created by Stan Lee, BONES, and Tamon Ohta | Vertical, Inc. – It’s not hard to see why Stan Lee is irresistibly drawn to shonen manga; Peter Parker, his best-loved creation, would fit right in with the earnest, super-powered strivers of Naruto and Bleach. Heroman, a joint collaboration between Lee, animation studio BONES, and manga-ka Tamon Ohta, tells the story of Joey Jones, a hard-working kid who lives with his grandmother on the wrong side of the tracks. After Joey salvages a broken robot from a trash bin, his life takes a turn for the better: that robot can transform into Heroman, a giant mechanical warrior capable of saving the world from alien invaders. While young readers may find this marriage of Silver Age superheroics and shonen manga fun, older teens will find Heroman stale and obvious, with plot twists so predicable you could almost set your watch by them, and sloppy, amateurish artwork. A rare miss for Vertical. -Katherine Dacey

Paradise Kiss, Vol. 1 | By Ai Yazawa | Vertical, Inc. – One of the things I like best about Ai Yazawa is her ability to tell convincing stories set in the world of fashion or rock-n-roll; however glamorous her characters and their situations may seem, Yazawa has a knack for writing emotionally resonant scenes that feel true to everyday life. Paradise Kiss is no exception. The heroine’s journey to self-realization may begin with an invitation to model a fashion collection, but the story never veers into soap-opera territory; Caroline seems like a real teenager throughout Paradise Kiss, even as she falls in love with the older, more sexually experienced George. Though the new Vertical edition looks like a million bucks, the translation isn’t as snappy as the Tokyopop version from the mid-2000s—not a deal-breaker by any means, but a little bit of disappointment, given the age and interests of the series’ characters. Still, if you missed Paradise Kiss the first time around, the new edition is worth the splurge. -Katherine Dacey

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 | By Magica Quartet & Hanokage | Yen Press – At least one devastating truth is revealed in volume two, and emotions run high as new magical girl Sayaka falls quickly into darkness. Meanwhile, Homura continues to thwart Kyubey’s attempts to recruit Madoka for reasons yet unknown, though the volume’s final pages hint at a highly sinister reveal still to come. While there is no denying that this series is a genuinely fascinating (if ceaselessly dark) take on the genre, this manga adaptation continues to lag behind its source material both in character development and visual storytelling. The book’s battle sequences—filled with tension and surprising beauty in the original anime—tend to be short, messy, and difficult to follow. Worse, their hurried pacing keeps them from really moving the story along or contributing to the characters’ journeys in any significant way. As a result, much of the series’ emotional impact is lost. Not quite recommended. – MJ

Triage X, Vol. 1 | Shouji Sato | Yen Press – As a manga reviewer, I sometimes have a stubborn streak that compels me to try any new Vol. 1, despite the fact that the cover, description, and demographic scream “this is not for you.” And indeed, Triage X is not for me. This does not mean it doesn’t have an audience. The creator also does the art for High School of the Dead, which has done very well for Yen. And while this title lacks zombies, it certainly has a lot of action and cheeky fanservice. The plot is quite similar to Until Death Do Us Part, another title Yen is releasing. A group of vigilantes go after those that are above the law, while the law tries to figure out a way to survive both of them. But unfortunately, the fanservice is so blatant in Triage X that I can’t help but think that the only reason Kadokawa approved it is for the breasts. If you like breasts, go for it. Otherwise, there’s better vigilante manga.-Sean Gaffney

Off the Shelf: Loveless, Puzzles, Infernal Devices

November 3, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 9 Comments

MJ: Good morning, Michelle! I’ve just returned from a long walk with the dog, and the brisk weather has made my hands stiff. It’s hard to type! I hope a hot cup of coffee will warm them up quickly.

MICHELLE: I’ve not been outside yet, but it’s looking more foggy than brisk. But so long as it doesn’t rain, I am content. Is it your turn to go first? What have you been reading this week?

MJ: Ah, ha! It is not my turn! And so I turn the microphone back to you. What have you been reading?

MICHELLE: Curses, foiled again! I suppose I have no choice but to talk about… Puzzles on an Isolated Island! This series debuted recently on JManga with relatively little fanfare, but once I noticed it was both shoujo and a mystery, I decided to check it out. Alas, it turned out to have the same problems other mysteries in manga form also struggle with.

First, the premise. Alice Arisugawa (male) is a second-year university student who belongs to his school’s mystery novel club, along with level-headed senior Jiro Egami and enthusiastic fellow second-year Maria Arima. When Maria shows the group a treasure map inherited from her puzzle-loving grandfather, with a wealth of diamonds as the prize, the trio ends up journing to Kashiki Island, where the Arima family has a villa, to attempt to solve the puzzle. Instead of being motivated by the diamonds, however, Maria mainly wants to finish the task that her cousin died attempting three years previously.

When they get to the “isolated” island, they find about a dozen different Arima family members and friends. In the grand tradition of mystery manga like Case Closed, each of these characters is introduced with a box stating their name and occupation. None of them has any depth whatsoever, though we do get a few clues about which pair used to be lovers, or which guy doesn’t get along with his father-in-law. Soon enough, a typhoon rolls in and a murderer uses the cover of a back door slamming in the wind to kill a pair of guests with a rifle. The deaths are utterly unaffecting, not just to readers but to the characters as well, who rather emotionlessly begin trying to solve the case. The one spark of warmth comes from Alice himself, who is beginning to realize that he may have feelings for Maria.

Puzzles on an Isolated Island is a short series, complete in three volumes, and for that reason I’ll probably read the other two volumes just to see how it ends. I’m always excited by mystery manga, but in the end I simply must conclude that prose really does have the advantage where mysteries are concerned.

MJ: That’s so interesting, because other than the evidence at hand, it doesn’t seem like it should be difficult to write a good mystery in graphic novel form, does it? Am I missing an obvious shortcoming of the medium?

MICHELLE: Maybe because of the way manga is consumed, creators are trying to move the story along more swiftly. And so, in order to do that, things like character get sacrificed in favor of clues and theorizing. Maybe one day we’ll get a deliciously long-form mystery manga—heck, maybe something like that exists already that I just don’t know about—which will prove me wrong (and happily so).

Anyway, now I can ask you what you’ve been reading this week!

MJ: You can indeed, and I’ll even tell you! One of my debut reads this week was the first volume of Yen Press’ The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel, adapted from Cassandra Clare’s novel, with art by Hyekyung Baek.

Set as a prequel to Clare’s series, The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices takes place over 100 years earlier, in Victorian England. Its first novel, Clockwork Angel, tells the story of Tessa Gray, a young woman who leaves New York to join her brother Nate in London, after the death of their aunt, with whom Tessa has lived since she and Nate lost their parents. When she arrives, she is informed that her brother has sent two women to meet her in his place, followed by a couple of fairly rude awakenings—the cold weather and her imminent kidnapping. The women lock her up and subject her to a series of experiments intended to force Tessa into using a special talent she was not even aware she possessed—the ability to change her shape into that of another person, living or dead, by holding an object that belongs to them.

Fortunately, Tessa’s captivity ends relatively quickly, as she’s rescued by a brash seventeen-year-old named Will Herondale, part of a group of “Shadowhunters,” who fight demons in the mortal world. Will takes Tessa back to the Shadowhunters’ “Institute,” where Tessa learns more about her abilities and suffers further shock when she eventually discovers her brother’s true motivations.

As a fan of supernatural shoujo manga, a story like The Infernal Devices contains nearly everything I’m most accustomed to as a reader. It’s got a slew of attractive characters with various supernatural abilities, a lovely period setting, and two rival love interests—one dark and dangerous, one comfortable and kind. Both love interests have poignant histories, of course, and both are extremely pretty. The trappings are so perfect, in fact, they come very close to feeling contrived. Fortunately, Clare just manages to save her story with some genuinely interesting characterization. And though Tessa begins as a bit of a cipher, she gains some real agency as the story goes on, and even pulls out the trick that saves the day at the end of the first volume.

Less fortunately, the series’ Victorian setting inevitably invites comparison with Yen’s other recent supernatural novel adaptation, Gail Carriger’s Soulless, which is far stronger—or at least makes a stronger impression with its debut volume. Like The Infernal Devices, Soulless introduces a supernatural society within its historical setting, complete with a sexy love interest (just one in Carriger’s case) and the usual romantic elements, but Soulless‘ awesomely capable heroine, Alexia, blows poor Tessa away. Hopefully The Infernal Devices‘ next volume will help narrow that gap a bit.

MICHELLE: I confess that I couldn’t get beyond the summary on this one, mostly because I am so beyond weary of supernatural organizations with names like “the Shadowhunters.” I got to that point and went, “Ugh, no.” I’m glad to hear that it’s better than I’d expected, though!

MJ: I can definitely relate to your weariness, and it was rather grudgingly that I accepted my own enjoyment of this volume. I think you’d enjoy it, too!

So, once again we have a mutual read on the docket for this week. Michelle, would you like to do the introductory honors?

MICHELLE: I will give it a whirl!

So, this week we both checked out the new 2-in-1 omnibus reissue of Yun Kouga’s Loveless, formerly licensed by TOKYOPOP and recently rescued by VIZ. In addition to continuing the series from where it left off with their release of volume nine, VIZ is also going back and publishing the first eight volumes, as well. I had a few volumes of this hanging around from the TOKYOPOP days, but had never read them, so this was a great opportunity to finally check things out. Going into this, I knew three things about Loveless: 1. There is a boy with cat ears, and these ears will vanish along with his virginity. 2. This boy’s elder brother has died. 3. This boy gets into suggestive situations with an adult guy who was a friend of his brother. And, really, that about sums it up, though there are nuances to embellish upon.

Ritsuka Aoyagi is twelve and has just transferred into a new school. He’s blunt and standoffish and has more than his share of problems. His mother is crazy and abusive and has refused to believe for the past couple of years that Ritsuka is really her son. Seimei, Ritsuka’s older brother, used to act as a buffer, but now he is gone, murdered by an organization called Septimal Moon. It’s this loneliness that leads Ritsuka to come to depend so much on Soubi, his brother’s former partner in the battle against said organization. Soubi’s a college student, and he and Ritsuka get very close very quickly. Though Ritsuka is upset to learn that Seimei commanded Soubi to love Ritsuka, he can’t help wanting to see him. Aside from a couple of brief kisses, their relationship is chaste, and Soubi claims not to have sexual interest in someone Ritsuka’s age, but it is kind of disturbing all the same.

Balancing this out is Ritsuka’s growing friendship with Yuiko, a cheerful girl who was determined to befriend him no matter how many times he rebuffed her. She’s the bright spot in the manga, though I get the feeling some Tohru Honda-esque tragedy in her backstory is just around the corner.

MJ: Well done! I have a feeling I’m enjoying this series more than you are, but given some of the relationship stuff, this doesn’t really surprise me. And on that note, I’ll jump right into the sort-of-disturbing relationship between Ritsuka and Soubi. While I certainly had the initial reaction of, “Whoa… this is kind of creepy,” I ultimately found it… well, really not very creepy at all, which led me to analyzing why that might be—and I think I figured it out!

More than anything, the Soubi/Ritsuka dynamic reminds me of a slightly more explicit (and by “explicit” I really just mean that they’ve kissed) version of the relationship between Shugo Chara!‘s eleven-year-old heroine, Amu, and high school senior Ikuto, who is set up from the beginning as a viable love interest (and eventually really becomes one later on). The main reason that Amu and Ikuto’s relationship never felt creepy to me is that it feels like the kid‘s fantasy, not the adult’s. Young girls will always fantasize about older boys/men, and in both Shugo Chara! and Loveless, one of the ways in which it seems to be clearly the younger character’s fantasy, is that it’s the older character (and only the older character) who is sexualized. Both Amu and Ritsuka are drawn as regular kids—there are no (in Amu’s case) panty shots or skimpy outfits or strategically “sexy” camera angles. They look like kids and they act like kids, and there’s nothing sexualized about it. The older characters, on the other hand, are the ones who receive the shoujo fanservice treatment. They are pretty and lithe and attractively fashionable. They glide around in a catlike manner, looking pretty as girls in the manner of nearly every teen idol in history. We’re asked to find them sexy and intriguing, but they ultimately feel safe in some way. It’s a young girl’s fantasy, through and through. The only real difference here is the addition of a BL element, which just kinda reveals Kouga’s personal proclivities more than anything else.

And speaking of Kouga’s proclivities… wow there is a lot going on here. There’s so much going on, in fact, that it comes close to being a train wreck, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years, it’s that there is no train wreck I love more than a Yun Kouga train wreck. And this, I think, really comes down to characterization. Like a couple of my other Kouga favorites, Crown of Love and (the very different) Gestalt, the strength of the story is that everyone is really interesting. Even when she’s adhering to standard tropes (in this case, BL and shoujo tropes), Kouga doesn’t write standard characters. Everyone in Loveless is kind of a weirdo, in the same way as most actual people are weirdos. They have layers of sometimes-contradictory issues, little idiosyncrasies, both attractive and unattractive flaws—and these are all a real part of the story.

I’ll just pick a couple of my favorite characters here, beginning with Yuiko, whom you also like. I rather adore Yuiko, who at first appears to be a sort of standard “dumb girl” character, set up to help us root for the BL relationship, but really, she’s seriously awesome. She has her own quirks and her own complicated personal life, but she’s a true friend to Ritsuka and obviously someone who can be counted on. I fell for her immediately. Also, I’m very fond of Ritsuka himself, whose plight is really pretty awful. Not only has he taken over his brother’s role as a “sacrifice” in this supernatural battle of words he’s suddenly a part of, but his “true” name, “Loveless,” stands in painful contrast to his brother’s, “Beloved.” And this is the life he’s lived for the past few years, too. Having completely lost the memory of whomever “Ritsuka” was before, he lives with his mother’s grief over that loss every day, to the point that he’s started to believe that he somehow deserves her abuse, while also feeling a combination of terror and relief over the prospect that he, the current version of Ritsuka, might just disappear at any moment. His obsession with taking photos of everyone in his life and “making memories” with them is so desperate and poignant, I could die.

Obviously I’m liking this series a lot, heh. Which is odd, perhaps, but not unexpected, given its source.

MICHELLE: Though I was a bit snarky in my introduction, the truth is that I actually really am enjoying this, too. You’re absolutely right about all of the characters being interesting, and I too find the way Ritsuka perks up at the prospect of making memories (even with people he doesn’t really like) to be completely endearing. I like, too, that instead of being angry at his mom for her treatment of him, as my logical adult mind would dictate, he’s still extremely concerned for her and worries about what will happen to her if even this version of Ritsuka should disappear. He endures her abuse—sidebar: grr, I hate his useless father, who refuses to intervene—and yet comes away from that with the absolute conviction that he is never going to raise his hand against anyone.

Y’know, it occurs to me this is somewhat the opposite of Puzzles on an Isolated Island. Where that series is low on character, high on clues, Loveless is strong on character, and not forthcoming at all with clues. After two volumes, we still know practically nothing about Septimal Moon, or what the “plot” really is, but who cares? It’s still absorbing because of the characters. It’s not unlike Pandora Hearts in that way.

MJ: Yes! The father! Ugh. I’m so with you on that. And you make an excellent comparison there between Loveless and Puzzles on an Isolated Island, and also Pandora Hearts. I guess it’s obvious by now that out of those scenarios, I can get by on a skimpy (or confusing) plot more easily than I can on skimpy characterization, which makes me easy prey for a writer like Yun Kouga. I admit I kinda can’t wait for more.

MICHELLE: Even though I might be a little more restless for info—and a little more creeped out by… you know, I’m not sure it’s even Ritsuka and Soubi’s relationship so much as certain panels depicting them—I am generally quite content with the blend of elements in Loveless. Pleasantly surprised, really. I guess this is a case of us not knowing what we were missing ’til it wasn’t missing anymore!

MJ: Well said, Michelle!