Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 11/26/12

November 26, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney Leave a Comment

This week, Michelle, MJ, & Sean check out recent releases from JManga, Yen Press, SuBLime Manga, and VIZ Media.

Ai Ore!, Vol. 7 | By Mayu Shinjo | VIZ Media – To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m still reading Ai Ore!. It’s a lazily written, episodic type of shoujo comedy that I just can’t like, and Akira as a character is especially grating to me. In this volume, he gets jealous of Kaoru, Mizuki’s childhood friend and former bandmate, and so embarks upon a career as a female idol just to get Mizuki’s attention. When this plan fails, he decides to make a serious bid for stardom, at which point Mizuki communicates her feelings for him in song (barf) and declares that he’s her prince (barf), causing him to abandon the project. On top of Akira’s personality changing half a dozen times over the course of the volume, everything that happens is just so stupid and pointless that I am profoundly relieved that my completist nature will only compel me to to endure one more volume of this mess. – Michelle Smith

Ninja Papa, Vol. 3 | By Yasuto Yamamoto | JManga – I think the author is starting to run out of ways to use his basic theme—I am a wimpish salaryman who nevertheless becomes a BADASS NINJA when pushed—as volume 3’s confrontations seem less over the top and silly, which was really the main reason to read this series in the first place. Honestly, there was too much salaryman and not enough ninja. We get the basic seinen themes restated – don’t let go of your dreams, stand up for what you believe in, even an ugly nebbish loser can attract gorgeous women. Halfway through things perk up when we get a flashback that shows us how Nobuo met his wife and began to doubt the ways of the clan. Unfortunately, his wife proves to be as just one-dimensionally sweet and wonderful in the past. There’s still cool ninja moves, but this series is starting to lose me. -Sean Gaffney

Punch Up!, Vol. 1 | By Shiuko Kano | SuBLime Manga – I’m late to the party on this title, which I only picked up after repeated recommendations in the comments of last week’s BL Bookrack: Best of 2012—and the reasons for those recommendations is pretty clear. Punch Up! is a smart, sexy title with just the right balance of honest characterization and guy-on-guy action for pleasing nearly any BL fan. Shiuko Kano serves up a host of messy characters in messy relationships (the best kind for storytelling, if you ask me), and if it all feels just a bit rushed, well, that’s the fantasy kicking in. That last bit is my only real quibble with the series so far, and I’m anxious to see if things slow down to a more believable pace over the next few volumes. Recommended. – MJ

RIN-NE, Vol. 10 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – It’s been a full year since I last reviewed RIN-NE, and most of what I said about it back then still applies, especially as relates to the part about nothing ever changing in the characters’ personal relationships. Still, I usually enjoy a volume of RIN-NE a bit more than this one, which has rather too much Ageha—a young, belligerent tsundere of a shinigami—for my liking. The chapters having to do with her contentious relationship with her contracted black cat are particularly draining. And speaking of—I need to start a tally box for how many ghosts died as a result of overwork and strain! Maybe this is a common problem in Japan or something. Anyway, Takahashi never fails to muster some fun moments, but there are certainly better volumes of RIN-NE (even if not substantially different). -Michelle Smith

Soul Eater NOT!, Vol. 2 | By Atsushi Ohkubo | Yen Press – The least interesting part of this spinoff for me is what seems to be attracting others – the moe cuteness. I find it far less cute than I’d like, and the faux-yuri shenanigans are simply grating, mostly as they’re so obviously tease with no payoff. That said, I did enjoy this volume more than Volume 1, for two reasons. First, we got to see the series (a prequel to Soul Eater proper) interact with the main title. Liz and Patti as grumpy, just-arrived-at-DWMA waitresses was a thing of beauty, and Maka reminds us once again why she’s the heroine of the main series. Secondly, the dark horror overtones that is a primary reason to read Soul Eater aren’t totally whitewashed here, as the cliffhanger is sudden, tragic and chilling. All of which shows I can never take anything by Ohkubo at face value. -Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: GTO, Limit, Kurosagi, Sailor Moon

November 26, 2012 by Anna N, MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 3 Comments

MICHELLE: There’s not a very robust crop of new manga at Midtown this week, but there are some interesting items nonetheless. I’m tempted to call the second volume of Limit my pick, since it’s of a different breed of shoujo than is usually licensed here, but I just cannot deny the more feel-good pull of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, which has now reached its sixth volume. Okay, yeah, it can be a little crass, but it’s got a good heart!

MJ: Well, since Michelle took up the banner for GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, I’ll be the one to go for the second volume of Keiko Suenobu’s Limit. From my review of the first volume: “Limit‘s biggest asset at this point, in my opinion, is Konno, its difficult protagonist. I call her “difficult” because I think it’s really tricky to get an audience invested in a main character whose motives are so morally weak and self-serving, but when done well, this can be really freaking effective.” And effective this is. Also, the artwork is freaking awesome. Definitely a must-buy for me.

SEAN: I thank my colleagues for leaving me with the choice I was going to make anyway. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service has become another one of *those* Dark Horse titles. You know, the critically acclaimed ones that come out once every decade? As such, I cherish each volume, and volume 13 looks to be giving us more wry humor, more mystery, and more gore. And probably more of Sasaki’s nipples, which have almost appeared more than Makino by this point. With its mystery, horror, and fanservice, it could almost be like Higurashi… except that one would never, ever call Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service moe.

ANNA: I also lean towards Limit 2, but since that was already discussed I will note that the Sailor Moon Box Set is perfectly timed for anyone wanting to pick up the manga for the holidays! I’ve bought all the volumes as single issues already, but box sets are nice to give and get as presents! Plus, who wouldn’t be delighted by the chance to experience again all the sailor suits, battle cries, and swooshing cape of Tuxedo Mask?

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Going Digital: November 2012

November 25, 2012 by MJ, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 4 Comments

Welcome to the latest Going Digital, Manga Bookshelf’s monthly feature focusing on manga available for digital viewing or download. Each month, the Manga Bookshelf bloggers review a selection of comics we’ve read on our computers, phones, or tablet devices, to give readers a taste of what’s out there, old and new, and how well it works in digital form.

It’s all-browser, all the time this month, as MJtest drives JManga7 and Sean and Michelle take a look at some recent releases from JManga and VIZ. Device, OS, and browser information is included with each review as appropriate, to let you know exactly how we accessed what we read.

Platform

Test Drive: JManga7.com

It’s no secret that we’re pretty big fans of JManga.com here at Manga Bookshelf. Their ability to provide access to a wide variety of manga coupled with competitive pricing and an attentive ear to customer concerns has proven to more than make up for the service’s weak points—inconsistent translation quality and (so far) limited delivery options, to name a couple. Particularly for those of us who like epic, older shoujo, smart josei, idiosyncratic one-shots, or really anything in the yuri catalogue, JManga has been something of a miracle in terms of providing us much longed-for content we’d lost hope of ever seeing in print.

Just before New York Comic Con this year, JManga announced a new website, JManga7, where fans could read a rotating selection of free older chapters of their ongoing series each week, with the option to read the most recent chapters for a monthly subscription fee of $5.99. What does $5.99 buy you? Let’s find out!

The Good

JManga7’s catalogue is large and growing consistently, with new chapters arriving seven days a week. (JManga7, get it?) Heavy release days, such as Thursdays (pictured below), provide an abundance of new content for subscribers with wide-ranging tastes (and at least something for pickier readers each day). In the week I looked at, 48 new chapters were offered over the course of the week.

(click images to enlarge)

Though JManga7 suffers from the same limited delivery options as its sister site, its flash-based reader looks pretty good, loads quickly, and is easy to navigate.

Like most flash-based manga readers, JManga7 offers left and right arrows (that appear on mouseover) for quick page-to-page navigation, as well as the ability to see and skip to any page in the chapter. Links to buy full volumes at JManga are strategically placed at the top of each page.

The Less Good

Though JManga7’s catalogue looks fantastic at first glance, some titles (like Yukari Ichigo’s josei series Pride, which I clicked on excitedly, and another Shueisha favorite Crazy for You) seem to be a bit of a tease, offering only a few sample chapters and nothing more. Oddly, too, text that encourages the purchase of full volumes at JManga offers no direct link to do so. Even the offer to “Be the first to review this series!” is a hollow one, as attempts to click reveal it to be nothing more than static text.

Even titles with premium chapters available may prove disappointing for existing JManga customers. For instance, Setona Mizushiro’s BL epic Dousei Ai has chapters 10-14 currently available to premium JManga7 subscribers only. While this works well for new customers, fans who have already been buying the series at JManga (where it is currently available up to chapter 32) will find nothing new at JManga7. And while it’s obvious that part of JManga’s strategy is to encourage JManga7 fans to buy the full volumes, that leaves little incentive for existing fans to sign up for premium access.

Bottom Line

Much like JManga at the time of its initial launch, JManga7 feels a bit half-finished—burdened with features that appear to be not-quite-there and teaser content bulking up its fledgling catalogue. And though $5.99 a month is actually a pretty great deal for new readers who prefer low-committment, serialized content over serious collection, existing fans of JManga may be wondering what’s in it for them. – MJ

Web Browser

Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, Chapters 1-5 | By Nobuhiro Watsuki | VIZ Media | Shonen Jump Alpha/VizManga.com | Windows 7, SeaMonkey 2.4.1 – Undoubtedly, there are bigger fans of Rurouni Kenshin than I, but it’s still a series for which I hold a great deal of fondness. I vividly remember picking up each volume of the manga as it was published each month (the first series to get that kind of accelerated release, I believe), and greatly enjoyed the anime, as well. (Well, not the often-atrocious filler episodes.) I firmly believe that the “Kyoto Arc” is one of the best storylines ever executed in shounen manga, and if other portions of the series were less well-done… well, I was inclined to be tolerant.

But now, here we have Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration. According to Shonen Jump Alpha‘s blurb, “To celebrate the upcoming live-action movie, Nobuhiro Watsuki reinvents the classic Rurouni Kenshin manga with all-new twists and turns.” I can understand why Watsuki might want to undertake such a project. In the first place, he’s never been able to replicate the success he had with Kenshin, and in the second, the original series does get off to a pretty slow start.

Restoration remedies this last issue by taking various shortcuts. Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko meet under different circumstances, and villainous merchant Takeda Kanryu becomes a foe immediately. Neither Megumi nor Aoshi is under his employ, however, but he’s still got that gatling gun of which he is so fond. Sano still makes his first appearance as someone who’s been hired to fight Kenshin, but he already possesses his Mastery of Two Layers technique. The personalities of the characters are intact, though, so this streamlined introduction doesn’t ruffle my feathers too much.

Perhaps the most striking difference so far involves Saito Hajime. After six occasionally dull volumes, the original series is reinvigorated in the seventh with the introduction of Saito, who comes after Kenshin, grievously wounds Sano, lures Kenshin out with a note, and hangs out at the dojo for a while until Kenshin gets back, at which point they have an epic duel. It’s exciting stuff! He does eventually become an ally as they work together to combat madman Shishio during the Kyoto Arc, but they’re never truly friends.

In Restoration, we get our first glimpse of Saito in chapter three, which led me to wonder… how is Watsuki going to depict their battle this time? Surely, that’s one aspect of the story that needs no reinvention! The answer (at least so far) turned out to be… what battle? Instead, the guys meet and talk about how Kenshin is unable to find a place to belong in the new era. That’s it. So, basically, Watsuki just skips straight to the “uneasy allies” stage of their relationship.

Yeah, okay, I know this isn’t supposed to be a strict retelling. What would be the point in that? But the point remains… while there are definitely segments of the original manga that could benefit from a more streamlined approach, I would not classify anything from volumes seven through eighteen in that category. I’m kind of worried now about what will happen with the Kyoto Arc. Will it even exist? Do I want it to exist, given that it will be undoubtedly changed? I really don’t know.

At the moment, I still plan to check out new chapters of Restoration as they appear, but will maintain a dubious air whilst doing so. – Michelle Smith

Tokyo Cycle Girl, Vol. 1 | By Wadapen | Earth Star Entertainment, Comic Earth Star | JManga.com | Windows XP, Firefox 16.0
Sometimes you read a series because it immediately grips you, you latch on to a character right away, or you just have to find out what happens next. But those series don’t come along every day. Far more often you get the series that raise a smile, or have some potential, or pass the time. A series where your immediate reaction is “Yeah, I guess I’d read another volume of that.” Tokyo Cycle Girl is such a series. It does a lot of little things right, and is easy to follow, so is a nice, fast-paced, relaxing read. It only has one big flaw, which is a stunning lack of originality.

I need to mention that up front, as there’s a chance someone might think that this series might have something they haven’t seen eighty times before. Get those thoughts out of your head. This isn’t done in 4-koma style, but in every other aspect it follows at the feet of all the moe high school club manga circa Haruhi/K-On!/Lucky Star. The lead, Iruka, is a bubble-brain country girl who’s new to Tokyo, but filled with excitement, energy, and naive awe at absolutely everything about Tokyo. Katou, her roommate, has already grown used to the city, and finds Tokyo to be suffocating, with all the places and people looking the same to her. She’s a long-haired beauty, but seemingly cold and reserved. Of course, as Iruka finds out, she’s also very much a tsundere. Meanwhile, if I told you the other two main characters in this volume were a sporty tomboy who tends to speak first and think later and a yamato nadesico princess type whose aura of calm can make almost anyone bow to her, you wouldn’t be a bit surprised.

That said, aside from the stunning unoriginality, this manga doesn’t do anything else wrong. The author seems to know he’s dealing with types, so exaggerates them beyond belief right from the start. Iruka isn’t just perky, she’s beyond hyperactive, bouncing off the walls and floor when first reaching her dorm room. Yukimi isn’t just a perfect princess, but does a perfect tea ceremony the moment she and Iruka meet, and is already exuding enough ‘motherly’ vibes to fell the entire cast. The other interesting thing was the bicycle talk. All the characters ride bikes, ranging from the latest sport style to Iruka’s old-fashioned junior-high style bike. We get detailed looks at the various bike styles and accessories around Tokyo (along with frequent asides from the author), and bike knowledge definitely seems to be this series’ ‘hook’. Which is enough, along with the likeable cast, to keep me wanting to read more, even if this is The Return of K-On! Vol. 35, with Bicycles. -Sean Gaffney

Off the Shelf: Strobe Edge, Umineko, Apple Blossoms

November 24, 2012 by MJ and Michelle Smith 7 Comments

MJ: Well, hello, Michelle! Happy Thanksgiving! And other expressions of holiday cheer!

MICHELLE: And the same to you! At this present moment, I am looking forward to a turkey sandwich in my future!

MJ: That sounds delicious! Have any manga to talk about while you munch away?

MICHELLE: Mochiron desu! I’ll start with the debut of Umineko: When They Cry, the latest license from Ryukishi07, who also created Higurashi: When They Cry.

Although I have read a couple of Higurashi side arcs, I still have yet to read the main series. When initial reviews for the first volume were positive, I actually checked it out in the store, but was turned off by the “byoing” sound effects accompanying a female character’s bosoms and returned the book to the shelf. After enjoying the side arcs, I did go back and collect a few volumes but I missed my chance to follow it from the beginning, which was why I wanted to give Umineko a chance. I almost didn’t make it, because the title is front-loaded with even more boob-centric shenanigans.

The story begins in October 1986. Members of the Ushiromiya family are gathering at Rokkenjima island for their annual reunion. Our protagonist is 18-year-old Battler, who has been estranged from the family for six years, so he’s seeing some of his cousins for the first time in while. In short order, he proposes performing an exam on a cousin his own age to see how much she’s grown, coerces a nine-year-old cousin to promise that she’ll grow up to “be a graceful lady and let me touch your boobs whenever I want,” and very nearly goes through with groping a ridiculously well-endowed servant who’s in no position to fend him off. He claims that he is joking around and just trying to provoke a reaction, but not surprisingly, none of the girls is amused.

Though Battler’s boob fixation pops up a few more times, the story thankfully begins to focus on the weird behavior of the family patriarch and the legend of a witch who is reportedly the source of the family fortune. While Battler’s parents squabble over their inheritance, his grandfather concludes his contract with the witch, freeing her to select members of the family as sacrifices, which she does in grisly fashion. Meanwhile, an epitaph accompanying a portrait of the witch provides instructions by which the deaths may be reserved. By the end of the volume, a nicely creepy atmosphere has been achieved.

All in all, though, the mystery is just intriguing enough to bring me back a second time. I don’t like the art. I don’t like Battler. I don’t like the nine-year-old cousin, Maria, who has a verbal tic that causes her to say “uuu” all the time. (Seriously, there’s one panel where her dialogue reads, “Uuu, uuu, uuu!! Uuu, uuu!! Uuu, uuu!! Uuu, uuu, uuu!!”) I don’t mean to insult readers who enjoy moe and fanservice, but it’s personally really difficult for me to endure them.

MJ: Wow… you know, I just don’t know if I have it in me to put up with the fanservice and the moe “uuu”-ing, even for a good mystery. Have I just become old and jaded?

MICHELLE: I don’t think so. It’s probably more a matter of “Life’s too short to read things I don’t like!” And honestly, I’m not sure this is even going to be a good mystery. I just kind of want to see what happens next. It’s entirely possible I’ll give up on it before the end.

Anyway, what have you been reading this week?

MJ: Well, after all the fantastic comments and feedback we received on last week’s BL Bookrack: Best of 2012, I found myself with a growing list of titles I felt I should try—particularly from SuBLime, which has been a tough imprint for me so far in terms of finding books I like. I decided to check out the first of these, Toko Kawai’s The Scent of Apple Blossoms, and this turned out to be a very good choice for me. As soon as I finished the first volume, I purchased the other two and gobbled them up whole.

You covered the series’ premise nicely in your review earlier this year, so I won’t go over it too thoroughly here. In short, Japanese-American Haruna works for a liquor seller in Japan. Part of his job includes trying to persuade local brewers to sell their products to his company to be sold in their shops and restaurants. While visiting an especially cranky brewer, he falls in love at first site with the master brewer’s grandson, Nakagawa. The first volume mainly consists of Haruna trying to wear down the master brewer while also pursuing his seemingly unrequited feelings for Nakagawa, but this is BL, so you know he’s going to succeed in his romantic adventures by the end.

The plot here is hardly the point, however. This story is incredibly, incredibly sweet, yet somehow never fluffy, and the relationships—even the protagonist’s generally unbelievable seduction of a straight man—feel natural and never rushed. Haruna’s American forthrightness is genuinely charming, and it’s easy to see why reserved Nakagawa would be both confounded and fascinated by it. Situations that might normally read as relentless non-con are magically saved by a combination of Nakagawa’s badass demeanor and Haruna’s straightforwardness and unwillingness to make a move without permission. And even the loathed (by me anyway) seme/uke thing is written in a way that feels weirdly natural.

The first volume brings the couple together just as expected, and at this point many writers would have to fabricate unbelievable conflicts just to keep the story going. But Haruna and Nakagawa’s vastly different personalities lend themselves to frequent bumps in the road that actually read as genuine. A favorite section of mine involves an ex-boyfriend of Haruna’s coming to town. This causes some of the conflict you might imagine—serious Nakagawa isn’t happy about the way easygoing Haruna keeps in touch with his exes, which leaves Haruna to figure out how to handle it all without lying to anyone—but Kawai refuses to make these characters into rigid stereotypes, so everything plays out with the kind of real emotional give-and-take you would expect to see in actual life. As a result, what could easily have read as pure melodrama is instead a thoughtful take on the nuances of friendships and romantic relationships, and learning to communicate honestly with one’s partner—only a lot more charming and fun than that sounds!

As a bonus, I also learned a lot about sake, and it really made me want to buy some. Is that a good thing? I’m going to decide that it is.

MICHELLE: I’m so glad that you liked this! I actually haven’t read the other two volumes yet, so you’ve inspired me to check them out.

If you’re interested in more Toko Kawai, I really liked CUT, Café Latte Rhapsody, and In the Walnut. I’m also really intrigued by Just Around the Corner, but I haven’t managed to read it yet.

I guess this amount of gushing means I’m a Toko Kawai fangirl!

MJ: I suspect I will be soon as well!

So, our mutual read comes from VIZ this week. Want to do the introductory honors?

MICHELLE: Sure!

Strobe Edge is a shoujo series from Shueisha—ten volumes total, originally serialized in Betsuma—that covers the well-trod terrain of a high school girl experiencing first love. Ninako Kinoshita is earnest and innocent, and though she joins her friends in admiring school heartthrob Ren Ichinose, she mostly thinks of it as a way to pass the time. When she actually has a chance to talk to Ren, however, and realizes how sweet and awkward he is in his effort to replace a cell phone charm he accidentally stepped on, she begins to feel closer to him. Up to this point, Ninako’s been content to accept the opinions of others as true—a shopkeeper says an apple is delicious, so it must be; my friends tell me what I feel for my friend Daiki is love, so it must be—but now she’s beginning to think for herself. What is it that she’s feeling for Ren?

It would be easy to label this as generic shoujo, and I really can’t claim that it’s forging new territory, but I found the characters to be likable and sympathetic. It’s total comfort-read material, more in the vein of a Kimi ni Todoke than a Black Bird (for which I am profoundly grateful!).

MJ: My experience with this book was fairly mixed, I’ll admit. About twenty pages in or so, I remember thinking (and actually saying out loud to the others in the room), “I’m so bored.” That was my initial reaction to Strobe Edge. “I’m so bored.” Yet, weirdly, even though that impression did not honestly change much over the course of the volume, by the time I reached its romantic cliffhanger ending, I felt extremely anxious to know what happens next.

And I think this may all come down to the likeableness of the story’s characters, as you mention. Despite the fact that I had difficulty getting invested in yet another high school crush, there were some characters I really felt for, and eventually this even included the story’s heroine, Ninako, though I’d had trouble connecting with her in the beginning. In particular, though, I felt immense sympathy for Daiki, who doesn’t have any confusion over what he feels for Ninako, yet is the one most being left out in the cold. And while I generally found Ninako’s endless waffling and naiveté over what “love” is—not that this isn’t a question all humans wrestle with, but man, how does a girl get to be in high school without having been saturated in the concept through books, TV, even advertisements, for heaven’s sake—she at least knows enough to stop stringing Daiki along after figuring it out.

MICHELLE: Yes, I really liked that about her, too. I guess it’s more of the “making up her own mind” progress, wherein she just instinctively knows that going out with Daiki while continuing to like Ren would be completely unfair. Speaking of unfair, I think Ren’s somewhat in the wrong for showing excessive kindness to Ninako while he already had a girlfriend, but he probably liked having the chance to connect with someone instead of remaining merely an object of distant adoration, so it’s hard to fault him, either.

Suffice it to say, I join you in your anxiety to know what happens next. There are a few wrinkles by the end that at least suggest the series will not tread the predictable path, but even if it does do that, I’d probably still enjoy it.

MJ: I suppose I probably will, too! Despite my early ambivalence, I clearly care at this point. Such is the nature of shoujo addiction.

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.