Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Michelle Smith

Bookshelf Briefs 4/3/17

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Cells at Work!, Vol. 3 | By Akane Shimizu | Kodansha Comics – Much to my surprise, Red Blood Cell takes a back seat in this volume, though she gets the entire first story to herself, in an amusing but predictable variation on “I protect her journey without her ever seeing me.” White Blood Cell is front and center, though, dealing with pranking cold germs, and a community of hair that has been beset by acne. There’s also Memory Cell, whose memory proves to be less amusing than his tendency to panic and overthink things, and Killer and Helper T Cell, who are vitriolic best buds who were once in Killer T boot camp together. The plots are the opposite of original, but the fun in Cells at Work! is seeing how the author meshes the cliches with genuine information. Great fun. – Sean Gaffney

Danganronpa: The Animation, Vol. 4 | By Spike Chunsoft and Takashi Tsukimi | Dark Horse – I’ve had issues with the rushed pacing during this entire adaptation, and it reaches a climax in this final volume, which is SO rushed it becomes almost a liability. And of course it’s compressing an anime that was already compressing a visual novel. That said, there are some striking visuals as you’d expect, particularly the revelation of the real villain and their final fate. Dark Horse hints at the end of the volume they may license more, and I’m vaguely interested, but honestly, this manga works better as an ad to get you to buy the game rather than as a story in itself. And as a vehicle for some truly wretched bear puns. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 17 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – This is not your usual volume of Food Wars!. In fact, most of it is fairly frustrating, as the restrictive regime of Erina’s father must be established before Yukihira presumably succeeds in triumphing over it. Azami Nakiri swiftly disbands all research societies and essentially outlaws creativity, mandating that all students be allowed to cook only approved recipes decided on by an elite group. Of course Yukihira rails against this, but when Polaris dormitory is threatened, he decides to challenge corrupt Eizan from the Council of Ten, even knowing that the judges are in his pocket. Alas, the reveal of Yukihira’s cooking waits until next time. The best part of the volume is runaway Erina being welcomed by the Polaris crew, but otherwise volume seventeen provides setup for a satisfying installment without really being one itself. – Michelle Smith

He’s My Only Vampire, Vol. 10 | By Aya Shouoto | Yen Press – With this volume, He’s My Only Vampire comes to an end. The details of Kana’s true origins are not belabored, but we do get some background on the origin of the stigmas and why Eriya is the way he is. As I expected (having previously read Shouoto’s Kiss of the Rose Princess, with its somewhat baffling finale), it doesn’t entirely make sense, but it makes enough sense for a reader like me, who doesn’t care enough anymore to quibble. The final confrontation is a bit rushed, but there’s a five-years-after epilogue that caps things off decently. In the end, this was an okay series—better than Kiss of the Rose Princess but not as good as The Demon Prince of Momochi House—but not one that I am likely to reread. – Michelle Smith

The Honor Student at Magic High School, Vol. 6 | By Tsutomu Sato and Yu Mori | Yen Press – Honoka’s status as girl with a crush who frets a lot is so ingrained that I was actually very surprised at seeing her crush her competition in her event that starts the fourth volume. It’s always nice to see characters like her succeed after all their hard work. The same cannot be said for Subaru and Nanami, two minor characters whose job is to show off how good the other school’s candidates are. And Honoka may be in trouble in future events, as she seems to have given away a secret to a new friend/spy. There’s also some amusing side stories, including showing that the two girls who kidnapped Honoka and Shizuku at the start of the series are in fact dating each other. Good stuff for Mahouka fans. – Sean Gaffney

UQ Holder, Vol. 10 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics – Last time we saw lots of unexplained Negima references, and this time we’re going back even further, as the start of this volume is nothing more than an extended riff on Love Hina—unsurprising given they’re all running an inn with an onsen at this point, but still, you can’t help but laugh. Kirie gets more focus and depth, and reminds me that Akamatsu loved to use Chisame more than the others as well. As for Kuromaru, she’s pretty much come down on the ‘she’ end of the equation with her growing chest, but her feelings for Tota are still causing her great difficulty. Oh well, it wouldn’t be Akamatsu without harem romance not going anywhere. Coming out slower, but still for for those who like Akamatsu. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: April Goodies

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SEAN: My non-manga pick of the week is the digital re-release of Louis Sachar’s Sideways Stories from Wayside School and its two sequels, aka MY CHILDHOOD TOUCHSTONE. But since it’s actually a manga site, I will pick the new volume of Assassination Classroom, aka “the one everyone has been waiting for”. I really love this series.

MICHELLE: I am all about the prose books, too, especially digital re-releases of favorites. But, yes, manga. This week I’m going with the debut volume of The Water Dragon’s Bride by Rei Toma, whose Dawn of the Arcana I enjoyed very much.

KATE: If I had to choose a title — and death was not an option — I’d vote for I Am a Hero. It’s a zombie manga for grown-ups, with adult characters, intense action sequences, and a protagonist who may or may not be going insane. If you’re a Walking Dead fan (comic or TV show), this might be in your wheelhouse.

ANNA: No surprise, I am torn between two great shoujo fantasy titles for my pick of the week. The Water Dragon’s Bride has an extremely strong first volume and the darker themes in the story really set it apart from typical shoujo fare. On the other hand, there’s the fifth volume of Yona of the Dawn, which is also an excellent fantasy series. I think the bickering, archery, and action puts Yona over the top for me, so that is my pick.

ASH: Oh, there are quite a few things that I’m interested in this week, so it’s hard to narrow it down to just one pick! Since it looks like the rest of the Manga Bookshelf crew has all the great shoujo fantasy well-represented, I’ll take this opportunity to mention Haikyu!! since it hasn’t been yet. I’m not especially interested in volleyball, but I’m enjoying the series’ positivity and energy immensely, and the characters are great, too.

Manga the Week of 4/5/17

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SEAN: We’re near April Fools’ Day, and while I normally tend to shun it, I will make one overture to the holiday by doing next week’s manga list in reverse order.

So let’s start with Viz Media and Yu-Gi-Oh!. The seemingly endless franchise is starting a new series, this one called Arc V.

Yona of the Dawn gets a 5th volume, and is always near the top of my must-read list.

MICHELLE: And mine, as well.

ASH: I’ll be reading it soon, too!

ANNA: It is so consistently good.

SEAN: World Trigger has a 15th volume for Shonen Jump fans.

The big debut this week is The Water Dragon’s Bride, which is by Rei Toma, author of Dawn of the Arcana, and runs in Shogakukan’s shoujo/josei crossover magazine Cheese!. Expect fantasy and spunky female leads.

MICHELLE: Having enjoyed Dawn of the Arcana quite a lot, I’m really looking forward to this one!

ASH: I actually just started reading Dawn of the Arcana for the first time. I’m really enjoying the series, so I may need to make a point to pick up The Water Dragon’s Bride, too.

ANNA: It is great, but the first volume is actually much darker than most shoujo manga I’ve read recently, so it is an interesting change of pace.

MJ: I’m actually even more interested after Anna’s “much darker” comment. So count me in!

SEAN: There’s an 8th Twin Star Exorcists.

So Cute It Hurts!! has hit 12 volumes, which frankly surprises me. And there are more to come.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on this.

SEAN: The Rurouni Kenshin series gets a 2nd 3-in-1 volume.

ASH: Glad to see Viz keeping this series in print. (The VizBig editions were nicer, though.)

ANNA: It is one of those series that should be in print!

SEAN: And Naruto gets its 18th 3-in-1, which means it can now legally vote.

Kuroko’s Basketball has another omnibus, covering Volumes 9 and 10. Spoiler: basketball is played.

Honey So Sweet has a sweet 6th volume.

ANNA: It is so super-cute and adorable.

MJ: I haven’t been reading this, and maybe I should be.

MICHELLE: I think you’d like it!

SEAN: And Haikyu!! has hit double-digits. (Technically, so has Kuroko.)

ASH: Haikyu!!!! I’m still loving the series, by the way.

ANNA: It is a favorite series in my house, my kids devour each volume.

SEAN: Food Wars! gives us a 17th volume, and promises to make life difficult for our favorite haughty blonde heroine.

ASH: I really need to catch up with Food Wars! one of these days.

SEAN: The Demon Prince of Momochi House has defeated the other Aya Shouoto manga titles to become the Last One Standing, and here is its 8th volume.

MICHELLE: All of the last five titles are on my list, though it’s Haikyu!! and Food Wars! that I love the most. Well, Honey So Sweet is right up there, too.

ASH: The Demon Prince of Momochi House is my favorite of Shouoto’s manga currently in English, so I’m glad we’ll be getting more.

ANNA: I like it too!

SEAN: Viz debuts its Naruto spinoff Boruto, which is about the next generation of ninja children, and perfect for the three or four people who weren’t upset with the ending pairings.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: Black Clover has a 6th volume, and we will see how much it apes other series and how much it tries to do its own thing.

As for Assassination Classroom 15: if you wondered if Kaede Kayano would ever do anything other than make flan and have a crush on the hero, this is the volume for you.

Lastly (for Viz), we have a 4th volume of 7th Garden, shipping on the 5th, just to keep things confusing.

Vertical has a Ghost in the Shell story collection out next week, imaginatively called Ghost in the Shell: 5 New Short Stories.

ASH: I’m actually really looking forward to this collection if for no other reason than the volume has a story by Toh EnJoe in it.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th Ajin.

Kodansha gives us a 13th volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, well into its second round of witch shenanigans.

For fans of old Del Rey titles being restarted digitally, there’s new volumes of Alive, Princess Resurrection and Pumpkin Scissors out next week.

Back to print, with the 3rd volume of Fire Force, combining firefighters and the supernatural deftly.

And there’s a second volume of All-Rounder Meguru for more digital fun.

MICHELLE: Woot. Not that I’ve managed to keep up sufficiently to have read the first one yet.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a third volume of ridiculous but fun series My Big Sister Lives In A Fantasy World, which may be the beach episode readers have dreamed of.

Dark Horse is reminding us they do manga by having a pile at once. We get a 3rd I Am A Hero omnibus, for all your zombie apocalypse needs.

Hatsune Miku: Rin-chan Now! is another in the endless Vocaloid franchise.

Blade of the Immortal has a 2nd omnibus, for those who missed its previous re-releases.

Lastly, there’s a 7th Astro Boy omnibus, for those who missed ITS previous re-releases.

Perceptive readers might think I did this backwards just to get the images to fit properly. LIES. It was totally due to April Fools. So what are you getting?

Random Reads 3/29/17

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All hail the debut of a new recurring column of sorts, collecting reasonably short reviews of disparate books.

banquetA Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George
While A Banquet of Consequences is not the best Lynley and Havers mystery I have read, it’s still great heaping loads better than the last one (Just One Evil Act). In fact, in my review of the latter, I wrote “I wanted a book with Havers triumphant. A Havers showing that, despite her problems with professionalism and authority, she really has something amazing to offer.” And that’s pretty much what we did get this time around.

When Claire Abbott, respected feminist author, is found dead in a hotel room while on a book tour, her death is first ruled a heart attack. After her persistent friend and editor insists on a second opinion, a more thorough toxicology screening reveals the presence of poison. Having met the author and her truly odious personal assistant (and chief suspect), Caroline Goldacre, Havers begs Lynley to pull strings for her so that she can investigate, which doesn’t go over very well with Superintendent Ardery. Happily, Havers does do a competent job, though this doesn’t go very far in improving Ardery’s opinion of her.

Mystery-wise, there were elements that I guessed, but I did still enjoy the element of ambiguity that remained at the end. Too, I liked that in the next volume, the Italian detective from Just One Evil Act (probably the best thing about that dreadful book) is going to be visiting England. He was quite sweet on Havers, as I recall! My one real complaint is that Lynley had hardly anything to do, except intercede on Havers’ behalf, contemplate his relationship with Dairdre, and look after an admittedly adorable dog.

Still, it’s good to have my faith in this series somewhat restored!

endofeverythingThe End of Everything by Megan Abbott
Lizzie Hood and Evie Verver are thirteen years old and have been BFFs and next-door neighbors for as long as they can remember. Lately, though, Lizzie has begun to realize that Evie is no longer the open book she once was. (“I know her so well that I know when I no longer know everything.”) When Evie goes missing, Lizzie does all that she can to help bring her home, while being forced to acknowledge that maybe there had always been a darkness hidden within her dearest friend that she had never noticed.

In addition to the mystery of what’s happened to Evie, this book deals a lot with Lizzie’s burgeoning sexual feelings. Though she has some contact with boys near her age, she’s really smitten with Evie’s gregarious father. She longs to be close to him, to provide clues that give him hope, to take his mind off what’s happening. She exults in her ability to affect him. In the process, she somewhat usurps the place that his eldest daughter, Dusty, has filled. What I actually liked best about the book is that Abbott leaves it up to the reader to decide—is Mr. Verver’s relationship with these girls crossing a line? Perhaps his intentions are utterly pure (and, indeed, it seems like he might be crushed to hear someone thought otherwise), but there are some things he does and says that just seem so inappropriate.

Ultimately, I liked this book quite a lot (though I feel I should warn others that some parts are disturbing). Abbott offers several intriguing parallels between relationships to consider, and I think it’s a story I will ruminate over for a long time to come.

ex_burkeThe Ex by Alafair Burke
Twenty years ago, Olivia Randall sabotaged her relationship with her fiancé, Jack Harris. Now he’s the chief suspect in a triple homicide and Olivia, a defense attorney, is hired by his teenage daughter to represent him. Initially, Olivia has absolute faith in Jack’s innocence (and feels like she owes him because of how she treated him) but mounting evidence eventually makes her doubt whether she ever really knew him at all.

In synopsis form, The Ex sounds pretty interesting, but the reality is something different. Olivia herself is not particularly likeable. Setting aside how she treated Jack in the past, in the present she drinks too much and is having a casual relationship with a married man. I think we’re supposed to come away believing that this whole experience enables her to grow past some parental issues inhibiting her ability to find real love, but it’s glossed over in just about the most cursory way imaginable. And because the narration is in the first person, other characters who might have been interesting—namely a couple of other employees of the defense firm helping with the case—are exceedingly undeveloped.

The mystery plot itself is average. The final twist wasn’t something I predicted from the outset, but once a certain piece of evidence was revealed, it turned out to be very similar to another mystery I’d just read so it was a bit of a slow slog to the inevitable conclusion. The writing is also repetitive, with the significance of various clues being reiterated over and over. One genuinely unique aspect of the book is that because Olivia is a defense attorney and not law enforcement, she wasn’t overly concerned with actually solving the case, so much as finding plausible alternate suspects to establish reasonable doubt. Perhaps that is why some things the culprit did were left unexplained and some evidence unaccounted for, though it could have just been sloppy writing.

I don’t think I shall be reading anything else by this author.

girldarkGirl in the Dark by Marion Pauw
Set in The Netherlands, Girl in the Dark is told in alternating first-person chapters between Ray, a man with autism who has spent eight years in jail for the murders of his neighbor and her daughter, and Iris, a lawyer and single mother who discovers by chance that Ray is the elder brother she never knew she had. She is convinced of his innocence, despite evidence that he is capable of destructive rage, and begins investigating the case and pursuing an appeal, while trying to get her icy mother to talk about her past.

Although the book is advertised as a thriller, most of the time I was more infuriated than thrilled. Leaving aside the question of Ray’s guilt or innocence, the way he was/is treated by others—including Rosita, the opportunistic neighbor who used and then rejected him, as well as one of the employees of the institution he’s been transferred to, who seemingly frames Ray for smuggling drugs into the facility (there’s no resolution to this minor plot point)—generates a great deal of empathy. In particular, there is an especially cruel scene near the end of the book that made me literally exclaim, “Jesus Christ!” Although he occasionally exhibits frustrated fury, Ray is also shown to be sweet and thoughtful, at one time a skilled baker (thriving in an environment that prioritized both routine and precision) and obsessed with the welfare of his tropical fish (currently in his mother’s care).

I didn’t come away with as vivid a sense of Iris as I did Ray. The scenes involving her job and clients were, in a way, mental palate cleansers from the stress of Ray’s situation, largely bland and unmemorable. When she finally gets her hands on Ray’s case files, her end of the story improves, but there are aspects of the final resolution that are kind of ridiculous. That said, I thought the ultimate ending was satisfying and I doubt I’ll forget the book any time soon.

kiss_and_tellMr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
Mr. Kiss and Tell came out in January 2015. I had pre-ordered it the previous May, but when it arrived I just couldn’t get into it, despite a few attempts. A couple of months later, iZombie debuted. It had all the hallmarks of a Rob Thomas show and, lo, I love it. So much so, in fact, that I started to feel like I’d be okay without further adventures in Veronica’s world. Mr. Kiss and Tell spent the next two years occupying various spots in my living room. Then, finally, I read it. And I remembered how deeply I love these characters and now I am totally sad that there aren’t any more books beyond this one. Yet.

I was somewhat disappointed that the first Veronica book, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, did not follow up on the movie storyline about police corruption in Neptune. Happily, that plotline gets some attention in this book. Weevil is acquitted of the charges against him, but his reputation and business has taken a hit, so he agrees to a civil suit against the county. Keith works to find others who’ll testify about evidence-planting, and meanwhile a candidate enters the race against Lamb, who’d been running for reelection unopposed. There’s some closure on this by the end of the book, but still plenty of room for more going forward.

Veronica, meanwhile, is hired by the Neptune Grand to investigate a rape that took place in their hotel. The case has quite a few twists and turns, although it surprised me some by not twisting as much as I expected. (So is that, therefore, a twist?) By far, however, the best parts of the book are the conversations between the characters. Veronica and Logan, Veronica and Keith, Veronica and Weevil… I could vividly imagine each being performed by the cast, which is almost as good as not having to imagine. I especially liked that things still aren’t 100% perfect in Veronica’s world, and Logan is only home for a few months before the accidental death of one of his friends means that his shipmates are a man down. Veronica struggles to understand why he feels so strongly that he must return early, leading to my favorite scene, in which Logan reveals what his life was like in the years she was gone, and how he ended up in Officer Candidate School. It’s a bit implausible that they hadn’t had this conversation before, but it’s riveting nonetheless.

In fact, my only quibble is a bit of timeline fluffery near the beginning. On the whole, this was immensely satisfying and I will continue to hope for more books in the future. After all, never giving up hope has worked out for Veronica Mars fans in the past!

stylesThe Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
This was a reread for me, but one I hadn’t yet reviewed, since I read it shortly before creating this blog. (I did review Christie’s second and third books before getting sidetracked. This time I shall persevere and read them all!)

A soldier named Hastings, invalided home from the front, runs into John Cavendish, an acquaintance who invites him to recuperate at Styles Court, where Hastings had often visited as a boy. It is Hastings who narrates the story of what happens there. In brief, instead of John inheriting Styles Court upon the death of his father, the property was bequeathed to his stepmother, Emily, upon whom he is presently dependent for funds. When Emily is poisoned, suspicion initially turns to her strange (and substantially younger) new husband, Alfred Inglethorp, and then ultimately onto John himself. The cast of suspects is rounded out by siblings, spouses, friends, and servants. Hastings suggests bringing his old friend Hercule Poirot in to investigate.

I did remember “whodunit,” along with the explanation for one perplexing aspect of the case, but otherwise, most of this felt new to me. In fact, I think I enjoyed it even more than the first time. Oh, I still find Hastings annoying, but Christie’s depiction of Poirot’s appearance and mannerisms struck me as especially vivid this time around, and I was left with a more distinct impression of him than I’d held previously. (I had somehow acquired a mental picture of Poirot that had him looking like Alfred Hitchcock!) Although some of the clues are a bit convoluted and/or improbable, the overall solution is satisfying and makes sense. What’s more, my enthusiasm for tackling the rest of Christie’s oeuvre has been rekindled!

outpostThe Outpost by Mike Resnick
In an effort to broaden my horizons and read more science fiction, I went looking for books that might appeal to fans of Firefly. In the course of that search, I came across The Outpost. The notion of a bunch of space-faring outlaw types gathering at a bar on the edge of the galaxy, swapping stories, then banding together to fight off some aliens sounded appealing. Don’t be fooled like I was.

While it is indeed true that a bunch of space-facing outlaw types do gather to swap their stories, these recitations are actually highly embellished tall tales, and they seem to go on for an interminable amount of time. Finally, during a brief middle section of the book, the bar’s patrons go off and fight some aliens, and getting a glimpse of reality, including several pointless and unheroic deaths, was the best part of the novel. All too soon, they’re back at the Outpost, telling their war adventures with varying degrees of embellishment. It’s at this point that several very boring arguments on the ethics of “improving” history ensue.

It’s true that sometimes, I did smile or laugh at something, but on the whole this book just riled me up. None of the characters has any depth whatsoever, and several are positively odious. Many of the stories told by the guys involve busty and lusty women, and it’s fine if the characters themselves are sexist (to be fair, one of the female characters does call them out on this eventually), but most of the female characters created by Resnick are also vampy vixens whose stories are sex-oriented and whose bodily proportions are repeatedly emphasized.

I listened to the unabridged audio version read by Bob Dunsworth, and I cannot recommend it. He frequently misreads and mispronounces words, so that at one point someone is wearing “flowering” robes instead of “flowing” ones, “defenestrating” loses a syllable, “etiquette” gets a “kw” sound, et cetera. Making it through the book was a tremendous slog, and more than once I cursed my completist nature.

theseviciousmasksThese Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas
I can’t for the life of me remember how I heard about this book. I immediately put in a materials request with my library, but when it arrived I didn’t remember it at all. It does have hallmarks of something that would appeal to me, though: a setting of England in 1882, superpowers, romance, one of the authors mentioning Buffy in the dedication… It boded well.

I found it a bit disappointing at first, however, despite an independent and snarky heroine (Evelyn Wyndham, and is that a Buffy/Angel reference?) and dialogue that made me snicker right from the start. It just seemed so like “Pride and Prejudice with superpowers” that I began to wonder who was meant to be who. (“That charming fellow Mr. Kent, set up as a romantic rival to surly and brooding Sebastian Braddock, must be the Wickham surrogate!”) Too, the constant bickering between Evelyn and Sebastian, as they work together to rescue her sister the healer from a scientist who wants to experiment on her, did grate after a while.

However, in the end the book surprised me. Not just by deviating from the Pride and Prejudice mold or by imbuing people with unsuspected powers, but by taking the plot in a direction that absolutely made sense and which I absolutely did not see coming. A sequel (These Ruthless Deeds) has just been released and verily, I shall read it.

Pick of the Week: Sweet Witches

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MICHELLE: No matter which way I go this week, my pick will be from Kodansha. Ultimately, while I really look forward to more Cells at Work! and House of the Sun, it’s Sweetness & Lightning that beckons most strongly.

SEAN: The most tempting thing for me this week is Flying Witch Vertical’s new series about a witch adjusting to life in a rural town. It’s been called a Japanese Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

KATE: I second Michelle’s recommendation for the fifth volume of Sweetness & Lightning. I just binged on the first four volumes this weekend, and was genuinely impressed by the storytelling: it’s sweet and funny and sometimes very sad, but I never felt manipulated into sniffling or laughing. I also agree with Michelle’s observation that Sweetness & Lightning is one of the few food manga that focuses on stuff that an ordinary reader could make — another plus!

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading the next volume of Sweetness & Lightning, but since this is the only time I’ll be able to pick the Otomo tribute artbook, that’s the release I’m going to go with this week. Based on a volume that was presented when Otomo won the Grand Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2015, and presented in a full-color hardcover, I expect it to be great.

ANNA: I’m not seeing a ton that is inspiring me this week, although it sounds like I should give Sweetness & Lightning a try for sure. I’m going to join in with Sean in picking Flying Witch, because often one can’t go wrong with new Vertical releases.

MJ: Count me in with the Flying Witch crowd! A cat on the cover will get me every time.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/27/17

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It’s the Affordable Briefs Act!

The Boy and the Beast, Vol. 3 | By Mamoru Hosada and Renji Asai | Yen Press – This novel, and in turn this manga, is at heart about an adopted dad and son who have issues that cause them to lash out, but get along well anyway. Kyuta has the excuse of being a teenager who has met a nice girl and also runs into his birth father again but can’t pick up where he left off. Kumatetsu is simply a bear man with massive anger and abandonment issues. But they both manage to man up and evolve to another level in this book, which is immensely satisfying until the cliffhanger, where everything goes horribly wrong. This should wrap up next time, and it’s an excellent adaptation, with nicely expressive art and some cool fight scenes at the end. – Sean Gaffney

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 11 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – I’m still reading this series, mostly because I want to see how many times it makes me stare at the page in disbelief. Half of its is still slice-of-life monster girls, with chapters like “little girls’ first day at school” and “are the main cast good enough to try being idols?.” And then you get chapters with frog terrorists breaking into a brothel and slaughtering nearly everyone in order to rescue one of their own, or the human soldier who’s involved in a war with the same frogs and runs into phenomenal prejudice from the other soldiers, which is clearly meant to be a commentary on World War II. Either of these genres might be interesting by itself. Together they’re a hopeless mishmash, and I mostly just end up frustrated. – Sean Gaffney

Complex Age, Vol. 4 | By Yui Sakuma | Kodansha Comics – If there was an award for introducing a character to a series and immediately making you hate her so much that every time you see her on the cover you’re filled with the urge to kick her face in, then Yui Sakuma would surely win it. Rui is the girl whose shabby cosplay Nagisa shamed back in volume one, and now she’s back, having become a perfectionist herself. Clearly unhinged, she’s outraged by newbie Aya receiving Nagisa’s attention and sics internet trolls on her. I might hate her, but I love that Nagisa must compare herself to Rui and articulate how she’s different. Because of this interaction, and the way Nagisa breaks things off with her boyfriend after he’s critical of a chubby friend enjoying cosplay, I’ve got a stronger sense of her character than ever before. I can’t believe there are only two more volumes of this series! – Michelle Smith

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 4 | By Izumi Miyazono | VIZ Media – Guess what? Asuka still wants to get married and Ryu still doesn’t. Shocker, I know. A sizable portion of this volume focuses on the insecurities each has regarding someone else in the other’s life—for Ryu it’s Kamiya, a banking-industry comrade of Asuka who sees her as his perfect woman and has proposed to her, while for Asuka it’s married actress Yuko Sakura, Ryu’s former lover and co-host of a new music program. The resolutions to these situations are sweet, and there’s one comment by Ryu that suggests a bit of thawing on the marriage question, but I admit it’s all beginning to feel a bit repetitive to me. That said, I did like the oneshot at the end, and will definitely continue reading the series. – Michelle Smith

He’s My Only Vampire, Vol. 10 | By Aya Shouoto | Yen Press – We’ve reached the end of this series, and I will definitely give it credit for not ending the way that I was expecting to. The school life is not making a comeback, as the final battle between Aki and Eriya proves to be life-changing and not something that you can walk back. As for the battle itself, it’s filled with last-minute plot twists and turns that unfortunately did not have as much impact on me as they should have. This series has an unfortunate habit of being interesting while I read it but immediately forgettable otherwise. But it looks quite pretty, and certainly those who love vampire romance got their money’s worth. Probably my favorite Shouoto series, though it still had a lot of issues. – Sean Gaffney

Kiniro Mosaic, Vol. 2 | By Yui Hara | Yen Press – Slice-of-life fluff is always difficult to review, even in brief format. “The cute girls do cute things” doesn’t really tell you anything. We do see more of their teacher, who appears to be well-meaning but a bit ditzy, and Youo seems to settle into her role as the closest this series has to a normal girl. For the most part, if you liked volume one you’ll like the second—there’s still yuri tease that doesn’t really go beyond “I really like you in a blushy way,” there’s still “these girls are all airheads in various ways” humor, and Karen continues to be the only one who suffers from not being a strong enough stereotype. If you enjoy this sort of series, it’s good fun, but it’s quite inessential, even for yuri fans. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 6 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – It’s been a year since we last saw this series, but not much has changed. Kanata and Kazuki still awkwardly pursue a secret relationship, even as Kanata realizes that “I love you” has never actually been said. A lot of Japanese romances involve the idea that deeds are always more important than words, and this proves to be the case here as well. We also discover that there is more than one lesbian character in the series, which is surprising, and nice to see. As for Nagai and Hinohara, that’s there as well, and we see she’s not above abusing his obvious crush on her to get him to do something for the school, though it backfires on her somewhat. Ignoring the power issues with that ship, this remains a great manga for romance fans. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 6 | By nanao and HaccaWorks* | Yen Press – Oh dear, and now we’re running in place again. There’s a lot that goes on here, but there’s less forward progression than I like. We do get some nice backstory between the fox-tailed miko of the shrine and the ayakashi killer, and we also learn, and I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was, that there is more to Tsubaki’s sister than it appears. (If nothing else, I guess that means I can rely on her to not get killed for the sake of drama in the next book.) But I have similar issues with this series and He’s My Only Vampire, in that I find it very hard to keep track of everything that’s happening, even with the release being relatively fast in North America. For fantasy fans. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 6 | By HaccaWorks* and nanao | Yen Press – Akitoshi and Akashi have partnered together to infiltrate the shrine of Utsuwa, but once Akitoshi realizes Akashi doesn’t care if other people get hurt, he joins up with Yue instead to look for their missing friend, Tsubaki. Once everyone gathers inside, Akashi and Mikoto have a standoff, and some of their past is revealed. Honestly, although I found this volume to be fast-paced and interesting, it’s also still fairly confusing at times. Some of what puzzles me are mysteries yet to be explained, but I’m also not sure why Yue, a vessel of someone important like Shin, was also destined to be someone else’s meal. I strongly suspect this series will benefit from a straight-through reading rather than in installments. Still recommended, though! – Michelle Smith

That Wolf-boy Is Mine, Vol. 4 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – And so, a heartwarming tale comes to a close. Komugi’s memories of Yu and friends have been buried by Yata-sensei, but thankfully it doesn’t take too long for her to recover them. I very much liked seeing the other ayakashi boys arguing in favor of their relationship, and we finally learn what happened twelve years ago. It’s a pleasant and non-surprising ending, and it is satisfying, though I confess I still kind of hoped Komugi would end up with Rin. What pleasantly surprised me, though, was the absolutely lovely bonus story about Senri, the two-tailed cat who has been most distant from the main narrative, and the time he loved and was loved by a human. I enjoyed this series very much and hope we see more of Nogiri’s work here in the future. – Michelle Smith

Manga the Week of 3/29/17

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SEAN: The 5th week of the month used to be a very quiet week, but this is manga boom time, so don’t expect quietness.

Dark Horse has the 2nd RG Veda omnibus, filled with early CLAMP pretty boys.

MJ: This never gets old for me.

Kodansha has a number of new titles. Cells at Work! has a 3rd volume.

ASH: The first volumes were a lot of fun, and surprisingly informative, too!

MICHELLE: Indeed!

ANNA: We got the first couple volumes in my library, but I have not yet read them due to them being perpetually checked out.

SEAN: And House of the Sun continues to be a very fast digital release with Vol. 3.

MICHELLE: Huzzah! Not that I have read the first two volumes or anything.

ANNA: Should I be happy about this? I haven’t read it either but I feel I should be excited if Michelle likes it!

MICHELLE: It’s shoujo from Dessert magazine, which also brought us Say I Love You. and My Little Monster. So, I’m basically just assuming it will be good because of that connection.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th volume of L♥DK, in case you’re reading the new digital Gakuen Prince volumes and want even more like that.

Otomo: A Global Tribute to the Mind Behind Akira is a new artbook from Kodansha dedicated to said mind, with lots of famous artists coming together to pay tribute.

ASH: I haven’t read much of Otomo’s work beyond Akira, but I’m really looking forward to this volume.

SEAN: Real Account gives us a 6th volume.

And there’s a 5th Sweetness and Lightning. Sorry for the lack of witty comments, I just don’t have much to say about these.

ASH: Awww, but Sweetness and Lightning is delightful!

MICHELLE: It is! As much as I love food manga, only Sweetness & Lightning regularly features things that I feel like I could conceivably make myself.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a pile of titles, starting with the 4th volume of Monster Musume spinoff I Heart Monster Girls.

And the 4th and final volume of The Other Side of Secret, which is so very, very Comic Alive.

Servamp has a 9th volume, and rumor has it vampires still figure in it.

I know very little about the new debut, Species Domain, except that it runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion and is another “Monster Girls” type series.

ASH: Personally, I’ve lost most of my interest in the various monster girl manga, but I know it’s a popular niche and so am glad for those who enjoy it.

SEAN: And the 5th Testament of Sister New Devil shows that Shonen Ace can be even worse than Comic Alive if it really wants to be.

MJ: Wow.

SEAN: Vertical debuts Flying Witch, which runs in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine and has both an anime and good word of mouth.

MJ: i’m probably interested in this.

ANNA: I’m maybe interested in this.

And there’s the now standard “Yen delayed these till one week later” releases. A 9th volume of Sekirei is out digitally.

And out in print, we have a 5th How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend. (Spoiler: girlfriend still boring.)

Lastly, there’s a 6th Prison School omnibus.

ASH: Assuming someone isn’t simply outright offended by Prison School (which would certainly be more than understandable), the series can actually be legitimately funny.

SEAN: Something for everyone next week. What are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Delectable Digital

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SEAN: As I noted i n Manga the Week of, I think this week breaks the record for most volumes in one week, helped along by Kodansha’s burgeoning digital lineup, which I’m sure the rest of the team will be talking about below. My pick of this week is Barakamon, though, which is seemingly a slow-moving, relaxed series but in reality has moved from strength to strength, and the development of its characters in this volume in particular is amazing. It’s become one of my favorite manga series.

MICHELLE: There are several debuts this week that I’m really looking forward to, but the single volume I most want to read is the fourth and final That Wolf-boy Is Mine! The series surprised me with how good it was, and I wouldn’t miss the conclusion for anything.

KATE: I’m most excited about Kodansha’s latest digital offerings. The swoon-worthy covers for Altair: A Record of Battle and Hozuki’s Coolheadness are calling out to me.

ASH: Agh! I’m so conflicted! Once again, I’m probably most interested in Kodansha’s digital releases this week, but I don’t generally read manga digitally. I really hope to see some of these like Altair: A Record of Battle and Hozuki’s Coolheadness eventually make their way into print. In the meantime, my official pick for this week goes to Goodnight Punpun which continues to be an incredibly surreal and uncomfortable but powerful and resonate work.

ANNA: I have to say, I’m finding Kodansha’s digital releases very compelling, although so much is coming out, I can see myself losing track of titles I want to read fairly easily. That being said, Altair: A Record of Battle is what looks most interesting to me, so that’s my pick.

MJ: Like Kate and Ash, I’m pretty interested in Altair: A Record of Battle, but I think I’ll put my vote in for Hozuki’s Coolheadness, which seems likely to ping a lot of my personal preferences all at once. And if I only wish these were being made available in print, I guess we take what we can get.

Manga the Week of 3/22/17

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SEAN: …eurgh.

Dark Horse has the 4th and final volume of Dangan Ronpa. Will anyone survive? And will any more manga spinoffs be licensed?

J-Novel Club debuts another series with a ludicrous-seeming premise, In Another World With My Smartphone. Still, they’ve won me over with ridiculous books before…

ASH: Though I’ve fallen way behind in my light novel reading, I do continue to be amused by the absurdity of some of these titles.

ANNA: That is sort of hilarious, but I’m just not a light novel reader. If only someone would bring back the 12 Kingdoms books…..

ASH: YES! I would love that so much.

MICHELLE: I was thinking about those books just the other day! I also would read the Saiunkoku light novels.

SEAN: Kodansha has a pile of stuff, including three more digital debuts. Altair: A Record of Battles is a long-running manga from Shonen Sirius, and it’s supposed to look fantastic. Also, more historical manga, yay! Basically, this is the sort of title the Off the Shelf column was made for.

ASH: I was not aware of this series at all! Definitely sounds like something that I’d be interested in reading.

MICHELLE: I don’t know much about it, but many of the covers are gorgeous, so that’s encouraging.

ANNA: Huh, this does sound intriguing.

MJ: Well, huh. I think you’re right!

SEAN: BLAME! Academy And So On is a spinoff of the main BLAME! manga that I think is similar to Spoof on Titan. It’s also digital only.

MICHELLE: I don’t know… I really loved BLAME!, perhaps to the point where I wouldn’t find a spoof amusing.

ANNA: I still need to read BLAME!.

SEAN: It’s not all digital. Clockwork Planet makes its print debut. It’s also Shonen Sirius, but seems to be more SF steampunk and fanservice.

And some series are ending, as we get the 7th and final volume of Forget Me Not.

The next digital debut next week is also a “Hey, Michelle and MJ!” sort of series. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness is a long-running series from Weekly Morning, about a deputy of the King of Hell and his daily life. It’s won awards.

ASH: I’ve seen a little bit of the anime adaptation and it was great fun. I suspect the manga is as well!

MICHELLE: Totally on my list!

MJ: Oh yeah, this, so much this.

SEAN: Kodansha has a 3rd volume of In/Spectre and its wonderfully annoying female lead, who I love.

Lastly (at least digitally) is Museum, which runs in Young Magazine and looks dark and depressing as hell.

MICHELLE: I don’t typically go for dark and depressing, but this one seems to be a mystery complete in three volumes, and that does have some appeal.

SEAN: And a 4th volume of That Wolf-Boy Is Mine.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this, which I believe is also the final volume.

SEAN: UQ Holder has transitioned from weekly to monthly in Japan, and that seems to mean volumes are coming out slower here as well. Here’s the 10th volume.

Seven Seas has some stuff as well. A Centaur’s Life never fails to puzzle and confuse me with what demographic it’s actually aiming for, even at its 11th volume.

Lord Marksman and Vanadis has a 3rd volume of fantasy action.

And there’s a 6th Merman in My Tub, which I think may have caught up with Japan.

More BLAME!, as Vertical is releasing the 3rd of its giant omnibus editions.

MJ: These really look so nice.

SEAN: Viz has a 5th volume of peppy slice-of-life comedy Goodnight Punpun.

ASH: Goodnight Punpun continues to devastate me, but I still find it compelling.

ANNA: I don’t think I have the emotional fortitude to read it yet.

ASH: It does take a fair amount; I have to time my reading carefully.

MICHELLE: I feel much the same, Anna.

SEAN: As well as another volume of Master Keaton, now in double digits.

ANNA: I love this series.

SEAN: And there always seems to be more Terra Formars, with its 17th volume.

Hooray! That’s it… oh wait, Yen. In fact, we’re not even halfway there. (sobs)

Yen On has 4 books this month, i.e. it’s a very light month for them. First off, Accel World 9 finally finishes off its huge 4-book arc.

Durarara!! also wraps up another arc with its 6th volume. All I can say is: pen. DRRR fans will know what I mean.

Log Horizon’s 7th volume shows us what Shiroe and his group were doing while the events of Book 6 happened.

And Re: Zero shows us Subaru trying desperately not to get killed by his maids.

Oh yes, and for digital lovers, volumes 7-10 of Spice & Wolf’s novels are also out next week.

Now for all the manga they’re releasing. Accel World also has a manga release with its 7th volume.

There’s a 5th volume of the Akame Ga KILL! ZERO spinoff.

The Asterisk War gets a 3rd manga volume.

Always enjoyable Barakamon has lucky Vol. 13, and I find I no longer keep comparing it to Yotsuba&!.

MICHELLE: I still plan to get caught up on Barakamon soon. I have a huge pile.

SEAN: Blood Lad has an 8th omnibus, and is nearing the finale but is not quite there yet.

MICHELLE: Yay! I haven’t read this series in ages.

SEAN: There’s a 3rd volume of the Boy and the Beast manga adaptation.

As well as a 2nd Bungo Stray Dogs.

ASH: As someone who is somewhat well-versed in Japanese literature, I got a huge kick out of the first volume and plan on reading more. I’m not sure the series works as well for people who don’t catch most of the references, though.

MJ: I plan on checking this out.

SEAN: More manga adaptations of light novels! Here’s the second Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody.

MORE manga adaptations of light novels! An 8th Devil Is a Part-Timer!.

Dragons Rioting has a 6th volume of what still appears to me to be mostly breasts.

Fruits Basket’s Collectors Edition has reached its penultimate volume, and features more angst than you can shake a stick at.

MICHELLE: Heh.

MJ: YES.

SEAN: There’s a 5th print volume of Handa-kun as well.

We have reached the last volume of He’s My Only Vampire, and while I enjoyed it, I am also very happy to see it’s ending.

MICHELLE: Same!

ANNA: One of the few vampire titles I haven’t read!!!

SEAN: The Honor Student at Magic High School continues to be irritatingly ahead of the light novel release with Vol. 6.

Kiniro Mosaic has a 2nd volume of cute girls being cute and maybe sort of yuri.

Then more yuri with the debut of Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, which may be from Comic Alive but is apparently on the ‘sweet and cute’ end of the yuri spectrum.

ASH: I plan on giving this one a look! The cover is adorable if nothing else.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one, too! My friend said, “It’s S. A with lesbians!”

MJ: Absolutely on my list!

SEAN: Love at Fourteen finally returns with a 6th volume, and let’s face it, these kids are fifteen now.

MICHELLE: Heh. Another series on the read-me-soon pile.

SEAN: EVEN MORE manga adaptations of light novels, with the 4th OreGairu manga, which it too long to type out.

Speaking of long titles, a 6th Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi.

ASH: I really need to catch up with this series! I enjoyed the early volumes, but have fallen behind.

SEAN: Return of the Son of manga adaptations of light novels, with the 6th Strike the Blood manga.

Manga Adaptations of Light Novels Must Be Destroyed with the 5th Sword Art Online: Progressive manga, which as always needs MORE ARGO.

A third print volume of Today’s Cerberus.

Twinkle Stars has a 2nd omnibus, and I suspect will continue to deal with not being Fruits Basket.

MICHELLE: But it’s so good!

MJ: I am behind on this, and can’t even quite believe I let that happen!

SEAN: And there’s an 8th (really 9th) Ubel Blatt omnibus.

So that’s 48 titles, and that’s not even counting the 2 that Yen delayed to the week after next just because. I think this is a new record. What say you?

Off the Shelf: Battles, ballrooms, & a baffling noise

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MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! What do a plum and an elephant have in common?

MJ: Wow, Michelle, I have no idea! What do a plum and an elephant have in common?

MICHELLE: They’re both purple! (Except for the elephant.)

MJ: Ahhhhhh, now this feels right. Starting off with a bad joke. That’s the stuff Off the Shelf is made of.

MICHELLE: Quite possibly nobody else enjoys it, but it is tradition, after all!

We’ve dusted off the shelf to discuss a few recent series, including one title that we both read. But would you like to go first with your solo read?

MJ: I’d love to!

So, nobody will be surprised to hear this, unless they’re just surprised that it took so long, but I’ve been reading the first two volumes of Platinum End, the latest from one of my favorite manga artists, Takeshi Obata, and his frequent collaborator, Tsugumi Ohba of whom I am historically much less fond. But, y’know, I love Obata and I’ll take what I can get, so here we go.

Mirai is graduating from middle school, but he couldn’t be more miserable. Orphaned at a young age and forced to live with abusive relatives, all he wants is to end it all. But when he tries to do that by jumping off his roof, the intervention of an angel, Nasse, drags him instead into a deadly, Highlander-style tournament in which he is competing with 12 other humans to win the chance to become the next God. Armed with a few special powers—angel’s wings, red arrows that work like a love spell, and white arrows that kill on contact—Mirai must prove that he’s worthy of inheriting the power of God.

Okay, so besides humiliatingly showing my age, the Highlander reference is also somewhat inaccurate, at least in theory. There is no rule in the angels’ truly weird competition that requires the God contestants to kill each other in order to win. But in Ohba’s pessimistic (and probably depressingly accurate) view of humanity, there is inevitably a candidate who immediately decides that the surest path to victory is to kill the other candidates, creating an atmosphere of terror and violence in the competition right from the start. Just as typical of an Ohba manga is the specificity of the powers’ rules—the red arrows only work for 30 days, for instance—and the competition’s built-in inequity. The angels choosing the candidates from among the downtrodden are not all created equal, and their contestants only inherit whatever powers their personal angel can also wield. Mirai, luckily, has a special-rank angel who can give him all three, but he’s a rarity in the bunch.

I’m talking a lot of plot here—also an Ohba trademark, of course—so let’s get down to the business of reviewing this thing. I generally expect to have a love-hate relationship with an Ohba/Obata manga, and my expectations were even lower going into this one, since I tend to be bored by angel stories. Interestingly, I get the sense that Obata might feel the same way, as his angel characters are the least imaginatively drawn in the series so far. But that said, I came away from these first two volumes actually hating very little.

Like most of Obata’s collaborations with Ohba, the story leans very heavily on plotting and strategy, but the real story seems to be about Mirai figuring out the point of living. Though his new wings give him a taste of personal freedom he’s never before enjoyed, his true liberation comes from the destruction of his abusive family, which he unwittingly causes, sending him into a guilt spiral and forcing him to confront questions of morality on a level most middle-schoolers are years away from having to think about outside of YA novels and video games. He’s made immediately aware of the consequences of his anger, and the cost of manipulating others with his new powers. Meanwhile, he’s learning to forgive the manipulation perpetrated by those weaker than he is, starting with his middle-school crush—herself a God candidate—whose weaker angel advises her to take pre-emptive actions against Mirai in order to protect herself.

Obviously I can’t be sure where this series is headed, but getting to read a new Takeshi Obata manga that doesn’t present me with either an utterly hateful protagonist or outrageous sexism right from the get-go feels like a treat.

MICHELLE: I, too, am bored by angel stories and I confess that I expected you were going to say you disliked it. Now my curiosity is piqued!

It seems, too, like there might be some symbolism in Mirai’s name, as “mirai” means future. And that’s really what’s on the line for him.

MJ: I think it might help on the angel front that the story is really not about them. Also, they are pretty strange, amoral beings who seem perfectly comfortable advancing a sort of hyper-selfish, Ayn Rand vision of individual happiness over all on behalf of their candidates, one of whom uses his newfound power to make swaths of female idols fall in love with him, so that he can spend his life immersed in a 24-7 orgy. Meanwhile, Mirai’s angel is utterly unable to comprehend why enacting bloody revenge on his horrible relatives, despite their Dickens-level villainy, does not make him happy.

The nature of God is equally ambiguous, especially since we’ve seen that only those who have already given up on humanity are actually eligible for the post. All of this plays into the creative team’s strengths, as it gives them a lot of morally gray material to work with (and lots of shonen-friendly competitiveness), while avoiding some of the things that sometimes makes their work unreadable (for me, anyway) by letting Mirai be our gateway character who is just as weirded out by most of this as we are.

It works for me, at least so far, which is a bit of a relief!

MICHELLE: Yeah, it really does sound pretty interesting! I will have to check it out.

MJ: I think the rest of the Battle Robot so far has not enjoyed it as much as I, so ymmv. But for me, this is a win.

So what have you been reading, Michelle? Something less morally ambiguous?

MICHELLE: Oh, indeed. Nothing is ambiguous about Welcome to the Ballroom, after all. It’s all about passion and determination!

Specifically, I’ve been reading volume three, but I’ll give you a short introduction to the series in case you’re not familiar. Fifteen-year-old Tatara Fujita had nothing that he was especially good at. When he is saved from bullies by a champion ballroom dancer named Sengoku, he doesn’t have the courage to tell the other man that he was actually looking at a part-time job advertisement and not a flyer for the dance studio. Once he sees a recording of Sengoku in action, looking confident and self-assured, he vows to change himself by also entering into the world of dancesport. It doesn’t hurt that his lovely classmate, Shizuka Hanaoka, is also one of the top amateurs.

In volume three, Fujita is competing in his first tournament. He’s also got a wager on the line with Shizuka’s bellicose new partner, Gaju, who has tossed aside his sister and longtime partner, Mako. Because he’s a newcomer, he lacks the stamina and repertoire of the others, and his attempts to beat Gaju are not successful. However, once he realizes that his real goal ought to be helping Mako outshine Shizuka (and thus convincing Gaju to partner with her once more), there’s a palpable shift in his performance. He goes from merely leading to becoming the “frame” for the “flower,” executing moves that allow Mako to shine to her best advantage.

I really enjoyed seeing how a ballroom dancing competition works, but what I found especially impressive was that Tomo Takeuchi’s art actually conveys this change in Tatara’s attitude. There was a tension in his earlier performances, when he was essentially taking full responsibility upon himself, and once he internalizes the notion of becoming the “frame,” his whole body language changes. It’s difficult to explain in words, but to be able to depict that difference in a way that even an utterly ignorant-of-dance person like me could pick up on is seriously cool.

MJ: For some truly unfathomable reason, I have yet to pick up this series, and I really can’t believe it. Everything you describe just sounds both dramatically exciting and fun. Making a story about dance work with only still drawings is a huge challenge, but when it works, it’s just spectacular. The visual storytelling sounds incredible, from what you describe.

MICHELLE: I think you’d like it quite a bit. Another thing that’s neat is that, unlike a lot of sports manga with a male protagonist, the female characters aren’t cheering on the sidelines or serving as the team manager. They’re co-competitors. And, in fact, it’s by Tatara allowing Mako full agency and achieving nonverbal yet total communication with her that the pair really attracts notice.

MJ: That’s definitely a welcome feature in a “sports” manga, and possibly the push I needed to get me to the bookstore!

MICHELLE: I hope you do check it out. And, of course, one generally doesn’t dance without music, which is my not-so-subtle segue into discussing our mutual read for this column. Would you like to do the introductory honors?

MJ: I will give it a go, sure! Our mutual read this week was the first volume of Ryoko Fukuyama’s Anonymous Noise, recently released on Viz’s Shojo Beat imprint.

Nino loves to sing with her best friend, neighbor, and habitual punster, Momo, but when his family suddenly moves away, she’s left with the fear of using her voice at all, as all she wants to do is scream. She finds momentary salvation in the company of Yuzu (who nicknames her “Alice” as a shortened version of her surname “Arisugawa”), a kid she finds writing songs on the beach, but he ends up disappearing on her, too, after he realizes he has no shot at living up to her dreamy memory of Momo.

Flash forward a few years, and these three are thrown back together in high school, where Yuzu is the main songwriter for an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed pop band, Nino is destined to become their new lead singer, and Momo is a mysterious dude befriended by Yuzu whom Nino hasn’t yet recognized. Also, the pop band (who sing all their songs while wearing face masks?) is operating incognito as the pop music club at their school, and Yuzu has super-long eyelashes, which is somehow a plot point.

I think that’s the best I can do, here. Michelle?

MICHELLE: That about sums it up! (The repeated eyelash references were especially odd.)

Anyway, I’m not really sure what I expected from Anonymous Noise, but it wasn’t quite this. To me, it reads almost breezy (with dumb jokes and kooky supporting characters) and a bit muddled, though it’s possible the storytelling will calm down some now that everyone is at high school together. Some elements of the story come through clearly, like Nino’s longing to see Momo and Yuzu again and the way that singing eases her pain. But unlike, say, NANA, I’m not getting much sense of what Yuzu’s band sounds like, or what Nino’s singing voice sounds like. We are shown its power to transfix others, but is it high? Is it low? Is it raw? Is it pure? No idea!

Another slightly muddled area for me was Momo’s and Yuzu’s reactions to seeing Nino again. Yuzu, it seems, didn’t want to see her because he has been wanting to escape his obsession with her, but there’s some disembodied narration that I think is Momo, also wishing that he could escape being in Nino’s thrall. Or something? How did you read that part?

MJ: I, too, found myself comparing it to NANA, which really isn’t fair at all. And, like you, I couldn’t exactly say what my expectations were for this manga, but whatever they were, I didn’t expect what we got, and what we got was largely disappointing. I’m willing to give it more time to come together, and I think it still could end up being interesting, but so far it’s kind of a vague mess, with a few clear elements as you describe. I feel like I’m the most interested in Yuzu at this point, but it’s really because he’s the character we’ve gotten the clearest read on so far. His needs and desires are fairly transparent, and he ends up being my favorite character just by default. I don’t think that was the author’s intention, though.

As for that section of narration near the end… I read it the same way as you did, but I didn’t really understand it. Is Nino’s voice the cage? And if so, why? Or was that Yuzu’s narration? I was pretty confused by that sequence, I have to admit.

Maybe the expectation that wasn’t met was an idea that somehow this was written for an older audience than it actually was?

MICHELLE: That may be it. I think I was expecting a story about a determined girl who’s serious about her band. And that’s not what this is, at all. Now, maybe Nino will grow into that kind of girl—Fukuyama does make a point of showing how terrible she is singing with others, and maybe that was laying a foundation for growth—but I kind of doubt it at this point. It seems like “music leads to Momo” will always be her true obsession rather than music for its own sake.

MJ: I long for that, I admit, and also perhaps a clearer idea of what any of the music sounds like, besides her childhood obsession with “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” In my mind, it’s all kind of “Twinkle, Twinkle” at this point, and that is just not very compelling.

That said, I’ll definitely read the next installment.

MICHELLE: Haha, yes, exactly. I agree on all points.

MJ: And so we live in hope. Until next time?

MICHELLE: ‘Til then!

Bookshelf Briefs 3/13/17

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Haikyu!!, Vol. 9 | By Haruchi Furudate | VIZ Media – While the boys set their sights on the spring tournament and prepare for a field trip to Tokyo for practice games, Shimizu looks for someone who can take over as manager of the volleyball club after she retires. She ends up finding Hitoka Yachi, a girl in advanced classes (this comes in handy when several of the boys need help to pass finals before being allowed to go to Tokyo) who has never before felt needed, but who is impressed by the team’s passion. I like Yachi quite a bit, including how Furudate shows how smart she is without beating readers over the head with it. There’s also much talk about how Karasuno needs to evolve if they are going to have a chance at making it to nationals, and by the end of the volume, Hinata seems ready to do just that. Fun and addictive, as ever! – Michelle Smith

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 3 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – After talking about the lack of romance in my last brief, the author apparently heard me and decided to add some sparks. Thankfully it’s between the adults, as our still-a-virgin succubus seems to think she’s found the one guy who isn’t sexually excited by her in Takahashi. And when it’s pointed out he likely really is getting turned on and just is good at hiding it… well, that just makes her want him all the more. In the meantime, there’s more discussion of demis, as we hear about how to deal with molesters on the train when it’s a succubus, how people taste differently to a vampire, and the care and attention a dullahan needs to have to protect her head. Cute and fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 26 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – Seemingly even more so than usual, this volume of Kimi ni Todoke is cover-to-cover feelings. It’s especially gratifying that Sawako has finally gained enough confidence in her relationships that she’s able to speak freely and honestly without fear. Because of that, she’s able to explain herself clearly to Kazehaya, and they reconcile. The most riveting moment, however, comes during a sleepover with one-time rival Kurumi in which the latter reveals how absolutely horrible she feels about how she once treated Sawako, and how she doesn’t feel deserving to be called her friend, while Sawako attests that they are already friends. It’s very moving. And then, to top it all off, we get a chapter wherein Ayane seems to realize that she’s in love with Pin. I don’t think I’ve ever rooted for a student-teacher romance before, but this might be the exception! – Michelle Smith

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vols. 26 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – I will freely admit it—in the early days of this series, I totally shipped Ayane and Pin in a “this will never actually happen but I love their back-and-forth” sort of way. Then Kento arrived, and then Kento left (he’s not even in this volume), and Ayane is starting to realize that she is really, really falling for Pin, and I’m starting to worry, as it is a teacher/student thing. I’m fairly sure Pin won’t let this get anywhere, but in the meantime, at least we have some amusing faces from Ayane. We also get Kazehaya and Sawako fighting and making up, though I’m going to be honest most of the ship tease in this volume was between Sawako and Kurumi, who have a study sleepover and go over some extremely old and guilty memories. Very strong volume. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 9 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – This series has a tendency to remind me of The Wallflower, and not just because of its reverse harem. Both authors seem far more comfortable and successful when they go for comedy. The first half of this book is absolutely hilarious, as Shinomiya is not only now on his own but also being stalked by a truly ridiculous number of people, and we also get the attempts to fulfill Kae’s ridiculous birthday wishes. The second half gets more serious, as an old upperclassman Igarashi liked shows up again and hears about the guys hanging around Kae, and urges her to make a decision. Which, spoiler, is not going to happen. This is a bit less fun, but does have some heartwarming mixed in among the comedy. Decent. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 20 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – The author herself notes how much Natsume has changed over the course of the series, and it’s certainly true—he’s far more proactive and compassionate, even if he still occasionally tries to get away from obvious yokai with issues. This is most obvious in the first story, where a yokai “rewards” Natsume’s help by turning him back into a child—memories and all. Thankfully, Tanuma and Taki find him, and can be sensible about it. Seeing his somewhat stoic, untrusting self react to the obvious love and affection his two friends have for him is heartwarming. The series continues to be more episodic than anything else, but that’s fine—it plays to the author’s strong sense of character.-Sean Gaffney

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life, Vol. 7 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – Even for a volume of Nichijou this volume is really, really surreal. Some of the “jokes” are barely funny at all, seemingly designed to make the reader stare as blankly at the page as Sekiguchi stares at her manga. (That’s her on the cover with the rest of the Go Soccer Club, by the way.) The highlight may be Yukko and Mai’s long conversation on the hill, which was so popular the anime animated it very early, possibly as it has fake yuri confessions from Mai, who still takes honest joy in making Yukko freak out. Word of warning: those who dislike the Professor acting like a bratty child aren’t going to like this volume much. But for the rest of us, Nichijou remains a rewarding and very strange experience. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11 | By ONE and Yusuke Marata | Viz Media – I was worried that this volume would consist entirely of a tournament arc, but thankfully there’s only about 1/3 tournament. The rest is spent dealing with both the kidnapping monster from the last volume, which is battling Metal Bat, and Garo, who interrupts the fight because it’s all about him. We’re not meant to like Garo, and I don’t, but I especially dislike the way that he’s not particularly funny, and when the others are around him they get more serious as well, which can be deadly in a manga that relies so much on not taking itself seriously. Luckily, Saitama is always there for a deadpan one-liner. Also, Metal Bat’s little sister is adorable. Not as good as before, but still good. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 38 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – In this volume, bolstered by various good-luck charms given to her by Ren, Kyoko finally decides to confront her mother. Only, on the way there she learns some information that changes everything and goes a long way toward explaining her mother’s treatment of her. I honestly never thought I would feel even a little sympathetic towards Saena Mogami, but the entire second half of the volume is a flashback to Saena at age 28 and the circumstances under which she came to be pregnant with Kyoko, and it is very compelling. Alas, it all ends on another cliffhanger that we’ll have to wait six months to see resolved, but I’m very pleased that the truth ends up being more nuanced than I expected and yet still fascinating. I guess I should’ve known it’d be great. – Michelle Smith

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 2 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – For the most part, the focus in the second volume (comprising volumes three and four of the original release) is on the developing relationship between Sakuya and Chihiro—who initially ignores her pain, telling himself he can’t save her, only to have regrets that compel him to act at a crucial moment—and the stargazing club’s participation in summer camp, which concludes on a truly lovely moment orchestrated by Yuuri. There’s some interesting foreshadowing about Chihiro’s mysterious past, but the most powerful scenes are Sakuya’s present-day interaction with her terrible stepmother and the reveal of the circumstances that drove her from home. Her anguish is heartwrenching; it’s no wonder she feels like there’s a black hole inside her that sometimes threatens to swallow her. I hope for a nice story where she and Chihiro help heal each other, but I expect more darkness ahead. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Picks, Picks, Picks

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MICHELLE: I suppose Ace of the Diamond technically came out last week, but it didn’t feature in our week-of discussion ’til this week, so… I am totally picking the first volume. Shounen sports manga that’s already complete in Japan? Yes, please! (Also, because I am greedy, can we get Big Windup next?)

SEAN: “Complete” being an iffy term – remember Ace of the Diamond Act II is currently running in Japan. In any case, my pick of the week has to be the final omnibus re-release of Ranma 1/2. Re-reading the entire series has reminded me why I was so obsessed with it twenty years ago, as well as making me feel I had good reason to move on. I’ll still miss it. Also, Ryouga x Akari 5-evah.

MICHELLE: Oh, jeez. I was totally unaware.

KATE: I’ve been impressed with Kodansha’s digital manga initiative, so I’m planning to check out both volumes of House of the Sun this week. Like most of the MB gang, I’m also intrigued by Kodansha’s latest sports acquisitions, though a small and solipsistic part of me wishes these manga focused on the exciting worlds of (a) running (b) rowing or (c) golf. Now that would get me off the couch!

MICHELLE: I would definitely like to see those sports, too. And I hold out hope for Mitsuru Adachi’s Rough, too.

ASH: I’m not much of a digital reader, but I must admit Kodansha Comics’ recent offerings may very well end up changing that. I enjoyed the anime adaptation of Giant Killing immensely and I never expected All-Rounder Meguru licensed, so those two series have definitely caught my eye as picks (even if technically they were released last week). And since we’re talking about sports series we’d like to see, someone give me a competitive marching band manga!

ANNA: Complex Age 4 is the most interesting thing to me coming out this week, although I also happily celebrate greater sports manga availability.

Manga the Week of 3/15/17

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SEAN: A relatively light week next week, relatively being the operative term. But first, let’s double back and look at titles out THIS week that weren’t announced till the weekend.

Remember how we used to say you couldn’t sell sports manga over here? Or 40+-volume series? Clearly digital-only is a good way to test the waters on flouting that rule. Case in point: The debut of Ace of the Diamond, a baseball manga that ran in Shonen Magazine from 2016-2015, and then, like many baseball manga, started up again with Season 2. It will be interesting reading a non-Adachi baseball series.

MICHELLE: !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

ANNA: Interesting. I don’t know if I’m up for 40+ volumes but I will check it out.

SEAN: All-Rounder Meguru is a mixed martial arts manga from the creator of Eden: It’s An Endless World, though hopefully a bit less bleak. It ran for 19 volumes in Evening magazine.

And Giant Killing is another 40+ volume manga, this time about soccer, that runs in Weekly Morning. Naturally, being long-running sports manga, the primary audience in the West for these titles will be female BL fans.

MICHELLE: !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! I might even try All-Rounder Meguru, while I’m at it.

ASH: Wow! Kodansha is really killing it (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) with the recent digital releases! I’m very excited to see Giant Killing and All-Rounder Meguru being added to the mix.

MJ: I doubt I have the patience for either of the epic sports manga on this list, but I like watching Michelle’s squee.

MICHELLE: I will likely always have an abundance of squee for sports manga.

SEAN: Also, Persona 3’s 3rd volume from Udon moved up a week without me noticing. Whoops.

ASH: Can’t really blame you for that; sometimes I wonder if Udon even knows when it will be releasing something…

SEAN: Now onto titles actually out next week. J-Novel Club has some more volume twos, as we get another I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, which presumably adds more girls.

We also get the 2nd Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which is probably the biggest surprise of all J-Novel’s titles for me as I really enjoyed it.

Kodansha has a 4th Complex Age, which mixes cosplay and drama quite well.

ASH: I’ve been fairly consistently surprised and impressed by Complex Age.

SEAN: They also have the 2nd digital volume of House of the Sun, which seems to be on a much faster publishing schedule than the other new digital volumes.

MICHELLE: Ooh! I’ll definitely be checking out these two.

SEAN: One Peace has a 9th volume of not-really-yuri series Maria Holic.

Seven Seas has the debut of Hana & Hina After School, which is really yuri. It’s by Milk Morinaga, probably the most prolific yuri manga artist in terms of North American licenses.

They also have a 2nd Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth, which hopefully continues to be, as I called it, “the most Comic Zero-Sum series ever”.

ASH: That really does seem to be an apt description.

SEAN: SuBLime gives us a new side story for Don’t Be Cruel, subtitled Akira Takanashi’s Story, though it’s unclear who this volume will focus on. (How’s my deadpan?)

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: And they have the 8th volume of the Finder Deluxe Edition.

ASH: While this is the eighth volume, it’s the first one to be released since SuBLime took over the series. (Previously, it was released by Digital Manga.) The actually first volume in this edition will be released later this year; it’s nice that SuBLime isn’t making readers wait for the most recent content.

SEAN: Vertical has a 5th volume of Mysterious Girlfriend X, which I think is approaching its climax.

Viz not only has the 3rd Legendary Edition of The Legend of Zelda, which has both Majora’s Mask and A Link to the Past, but also the first volume of the latest in the series, Twilight Princess.

ASH: Unlike some of the other games (I’m a bad Zelda fan), I’ve actually played Twilight Princess. I’m looking forward to its adaptation.

SEAN: At last, the final omnibus of Viz’s re-release of Ranma 1/2! It even ends with a wedding! Don’t let that fool you, though, this is still Takahashi at her most Takahashi. Still well worth reading.

ASH: I’m still very happy that Viz found a way to keep Ranma 1/2 in print.

SEAN: And there’s a 23rd volume of Rin-Ne, which apparently will have a surprise announcement in Japan soon. New anime season? Spinoff? They found Sakura’s repressed rage?

As I said, light week is relative. What’ll you be getting next week?

Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 1

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By Akiko Higashimura | Published digitally by Kodansha Comics

I spent all my time wondering “what if,” then one day I woke up and I was 33.

Thirty-something Rinko Kamata and her two best friends from high school, Kaori and Koyuki, are still single. They’ve happily spent the last decade getting together regularly for girls’ nights out, during which they get sloshed and speculate on what might’ve happened with past romances or how they might meet Mr. Right in the future. When it’s announced that Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics in 2020 and it dawns on the trio that they might still be single amidst all the celebrating, they abruptly realize that they might have missed their chance to snag husbands.

Ten years ago, Rinko had a chance with Mr. Hayasaka, a dull but sweet coworker, but rejected him. Their work—she’s a scriptwriter and he’s a producer for a television production company—still brings them together, however, and when she seemingly has a second chance, she considers accepting this time, wondering if women must choose being loved over being in love once they’re over thirty. Of course, she’s drunk at the time, so her thoughts are whimsically presented in the form of conversation with her snacks! Specifically, tara (milt) and reba (liver), whose names combine to mean “what if” and thus supply the pun of the series title. They’re cute little creatures, and tara especially gives me some Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU flashbacks (in the best way).

Of course, we wouldn’t have a series if things worked out with Mr. Hayasaka, and losing out to younger women in romance, work, and at a courtship party, where the “tarareba girls” discover that even schlubby guys their age have pretty young things competing for them (because the younger guys are all under- or unemployed), sends her somewhat off the rails, hopping in a taxi to capture some blackmail evidence and winding up at a hot springs resort, drinking alone and feeling unwanted until Key, a snarky male model who’s observed the rowdy trio at their favorite pub and was critical of Rinko’s writing—essentially unrealistic wish-fulfillment fare for daydreaming middle-aged women—shows up to forestall disaster and ends up proving himself to be the ultimate “what if” scenario that Rinko hadn’t even considered. Plus, he encourages her to see her recent failures as a chance instead of a setback, and I hope this means we’ll see her write what she claims she really wants to write and achieve success after all.

This is quite a madcap volume, what with the talking food, and there are also several quick cuts to Rinko guzzling alcohol that make me think this would be extremely amusing in either animated or live-action format. I also really like the way we her conversations with friends via text are depicted. Ordinarily, I might be bothered that these ladies are so fixated on husbands, but Higashimura-sensei has some author’s notes at the back wherein she makes it absolutely clear that she does not think that marriage is the key to happiness or that it’s a requirement for women. It’s just that she had some friends who were beginning to experience some of these things, and she decided to write about them.

Before Kodansha’s announcement, this series hadn’t even been on my radar, so in addition to being grateful for more josei in any format, I’m especially glad to be introduced to this fun story. I’m looking forward to volume two!

Tokyo Tarareba Girls is ongoing in Japan where it is up to seven volumes.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Chihayafuru, Vol. 1

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By Yuki Suetsugi | Published digitally by Kodansha Comics

Chihayafuru is a long-running josei sports manga series about a girl who discovers a passion for the Japanese card game, karuta. The very factors that made me sure I’d love the series also made it an unlikely licensing prospect. Happily, Kodansha Comics has started releasing it digitally! I still can’t quite believe that it’s really happened.

In the opening pages, we get a glimpse of a teenage Chihaya Amase during an intense match, then promptly travel six years into the past. At twelve, Chihaya had no dream other than seeing her older pageant-entering sister, Chitose, become “number one in Japan.” When she befriends transfer student Arata Wataya, who’s been shunned by classmates for his poverty and regional dialect, he tells her that her dreams should be about herself. Fired up by Wataya’s speed and intensity at karuta, Chihaya can’t help but attempt to score at least one card off of him, and the delight on Wataya’s face as he finally makes a friend who shares his passion is poignant.

As Chihaya (and the audience) learns more about karuta, Wataya eventually gains the respect of his classmates for his skill, prompting Taichi Mashima, the ringleader of the bullies, to cheat against him in a school tournament. I quite liked that we see Mashima’s motivations—his horrid mother flat out tells him that if you don’t think you can win at something, you shouldn’t even try—and that, afterwards, he makes his own decisions about what is right and what is important to him. The three kids become friends and, after joining a karuta club in their neighborhood, conclude the first volume by entering an elementary tournament as a team.

In several ways, Chihayafuru reminds me of Hikaru no Go. You’ve got the sixth-grade protagonist discovering enthusiasm for a traditional game. She makes a small group of friends who share a deep love of the game, and they compete together as a team. And yet, there is the inescapable fact that they won’t be able to stay together forever. Mashima’s path will take him to a prestigious middle school while the ill health of Wataya’s grandfather compels him to return to his hometown. Will Chihaya continue on her own? Presumably, like Hikaru, she will make new friends at each stage of her journey, and potentially face Wataya again as a rival in future.

As usual, what I really loved most was Chihaya finding the place she belonged, and the outlet in which her specific skills—quick reaction time, acute vision, and an extremely keen sense of hearing—are recognized and appreciated. Her sister becomes positively odious as she realizes Chihaya now has something in her life to work towards besides Chitose’s fame—“All Chihaya needs to do is look at me and tell me how amazing I am”—and I wonder how far she’ll go to sabotage her little sister’s ambitions, but the opening pages show us a Chihaya still deeply dedicated to the game, so I’m sure she’ll remain undeterred.

I really, really loved this debut volume and eagerly look forward to more!

Chihayafuru is ongoing in Japan, where the 34th volume will be published next week.

Review copy provided by the publisher.