Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 4

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by M.B. Hare.

This series remains very off balance, though I do enjoy it a great deal. It sells itself as a slow-life adventure with an OP girl doing cute things with other girls, and that’s what it is about half the time. But once every volume the author wants to remind us that this world (and, it’s implied, Yuna’s past) can be dark and horrible, and it’s always tonally dissonant. Here we see Yuna stopping a gang of bandits. First of all, the bandits are really adventurers paid by the villain to be bandits. Secondly, they go above and beyond their pay, as they apparently kill everyone leaving the city who isn’t a young pretty woman, and then keep the young pretty women in their cave as slaves and (it’s implied) rape them. There’s a horrific scene where, on finding the villain has among the things he’s stolen a ring she recognizes, one of the victims attacks the villain and demands her husband back. It’s… it feels like we jumped genres.

There’s two main plotlines here. First, Yuna returns to Crimonia with Fina and buys a mansion, then converts it into a bakery. This is the more typical Yuna plotline, with lots of OP ridiculousness, lots of cute girls, and tons of bear accessories, bear names, and beat statues. (But still no bear puns. The series is doing a good job at avoiding that.) In the second half of the story, Yuna goes to the ocean in search of seafood, but finds a city under attack on both sides: there’s a kraken in the ocean making it impossible to fish or get supplies, and there’s the aforementioned bandit gang. Yuna cleans up both, though the kraken seems to give her the first hard time she’s had to date, almost exhausting her mana trying to boil it up in the equivalent of a cliffside hot pot. Throughout it all, Yuna is as matter of fact and blunt as ever… except when she realizes the ocean city has rice. And miso. And soy sauce. Then she gets really emotional.

Yuna’s mindset is the best reason to read this book. the anime softened her a great deal. It adapted both of these plotlines, but also had a final episode not in this book where Fina is lonely and Yuna has to learn how to read emotions. That’s not really here, and it’s not just a matter of Yuna being callous, but an actual deliberate character flaw. Last review I said Yuna was trying to avoid getting too well-known or famous, but after this book I suspect Yuna will try to deflect and praise or thanks thrown her way, and is desperate to not have people get too close to her. She also tends to think about this world in terms of a game – of course, it’s a world she was brought into THROUGH a game – and situations like the bandits and their captives make her remind herself this is a real world with real people. It’s something that needs a bit more reinforcement, I think.

So yes, there’s a bit more here than cute girls doing cute things. There were also some great lines in this – Yunqa’s deadpan delivery helps sell them well. Next book Yuna starts a trade route, and I may see that Yuna and Fina scene that wasn’t here.

Wataru!!! The Hot-Blooded Teen and His Epic Adventures in a Fantasy World After Stopping a Truck with His Bare Hands!, Vol. 2

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By Simotti and RELUCY. Released in Japan as “Truck Uketome Isekai Tensei! Nekketsu Butouha Koukousei Wataru!!!” by Overlap. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Seacord and Roko Mobius.

I have been known to say that the reason I don’t review light novels in the “Bookshelf Briefs” column on Manga Bookshelf is that there is always a way I can spin out 500 words on a light novel no matter what, but I will admit that some series test that to the extreme. Wataru!!! 2 is exactly what Wataru!!! 1 was, and if you liked that you should like this, though probably a bit less as the shtick is no longer new. But this is a gag series. I can’t talk about character development, there isn’t any. We’re literally told that backstories dropped on us will be totally irrelevant later in the book, so it’s OK to forget about them. This book invites anti-criticism. This volume does indeed appear to be the final one, and that’s probably for the best, as even though I enjoyed both I’m pretty sure I don’t need to read a third book of this.

The plot of the 2nd book borrows heavily from Dragon Ball. Wataru and friends are sent to fight a dragon who is destroying villages, but in order to fight him fair and square, they need to collect six orbs that are scattered around the area. Wataru does this by a) winning a hot dog eating contest, b) beating up an isekai author, c) fighting a cute young assassin who immediately falls in love with Wataru, d) solving the most obvious murder ever; e) playing a card battle game in one of the few stores Aria hasn’t been banned from; f) fighting a possessed Résistance, and g) actually fighting the dragon. Throughout all this we get the usual loud shouting, ridiculous fights, dumb gags, and fourth wall breaking. It is quite good at all of those things.

The most amusing parts of the book are probably when it tries to bite the hand that feeds it. The orc who writes OP isekai novels is pathetic, and it’s no surprise that rather than trying to impress him our heroes simply knock him out and take his stuff. That said, they each try their hand at writing a light novel. Aria’s is a typical shoujo LN, with perhaps more swords than usual; Wataru’s is an anime commercial, and Résistance writes a dark emo fantasy. The payoff is at the end, in a side story where we find Résistance’s light novel has been purchased by “Sky-Novel Club”, who get quite a few caustic comments from Aria and Wataru. Other than that, well, there’s lots of punching things, and leaping high into the air, etc. Still no real romance. Aria just isn’t into Wataru, Résistance is too passive, and Elphabelle is pretty firmly rejected. Wataru is a hot-blooded teen in the Ashita no Joe sense, not the Ataru Moroboshi sense.

Again, this is worth picmking up if you really enjoyed the first volume, or just like people shouting, getting grievous head injuries (that can be easily fixed with healing magic), and writing epic tales where Luffy, Detective Conan and Pikachu team up, but fans who like subtlety should stay well away.

Pick of the Week: Cuties, Spongers, and Magi

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SEAN: Not a lot of manga I’m really interested in this week, so my eyes turn to light novels. The Ideal Sponger Life is one of those “don’t judge a book by its cover” novels, which starts off a bit male fantasy but gets better as it goes along. I’m also very interested in the 2nd volume of Roll Over and Die, which combines yuri and grimdark in a way that doesn’t make me run screaming. Still, despite its manga being out already, Sponger Life is a debut, so I’ll go with that as the pick.

MICHELLE: There’s not a whole lot that tempts me, either, but I am at least somewhat interested in checking out Cutie and the Beast, so I will pick that this time.

ASH: I liked the first volume of Cutie and the Beast so I do plan on reading more, but my pick this week goes to Magus of the Library – I simply cannot resist fantasy librarians.

ANNA: I haven’t read the first volume of Cutie and the Beast yet, but out of everything coming out this week, that series is what I’m most likely to read next.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: In Omnia Paratus

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

I mentioned this a bit in my last review, but it’s even more obvious here: the ‘winning’ part of Tanya the Evil is well and truly past, and we’re likely to see more and more of the Empire losing badly down the road. This book has the Empire try what seems to be a very clever strategy, Tanya and her group do their bit fine, and it just… fails. Due to lack of supplies, because the empire is running out of everything. It’s especially interesting as this is framed around a “won the battle but lost the war” siege, in which Tanya’s somewhat smaller corps has to lay wait in a railroad station and let themselves get surrounded, then get rescued. As it happens, they pretty much are able to rescue themselves. This despite the fact that, to Tanya’s surprise, the Federation are getting much better at being mages. After the last volume, where we almost had peace but then got it kicked away, there’s no way this ends for the Empire in anything but annihilation.

The big change in this volume is that Zettour, after pissing off the government, has been demoted and is sent out into the field. Well, OK, it’s not a real demotion, but he’s not allowed to really take charge. He does anyway, though, because it’s hard to say no to a Lieutenant General. Most of this book shows off that, while the title may be “The Saga of Tanya the Evil”, Tanya is more of a pragmatist above all else – the only evil we see here is her explaining to her green recruits why looting corpses during wartime is fine. Zettour, though, can be even worse than she is. That said, he too is getting an upfront demonstration of the fact that the Federation are getting much better at waging war. It helps show off the difference between action at the front and what the leaders in the rear hear about that action.

Oh yes, Visha almost dies. I can’t recall if I’d mentioned this before, but Tanya the Evil is based off a webnovel, but the LN adds a lot of things. One of those things is Visha, who wasn’t in the original story. (This is why fans get annoyed when they hear “spoil me does Visha die?”.) So sometimes you have to worry about her, because she’s cute and less morally void than Tanya (slightly) and we like her, so her death would have impact. The interesting thing is that we don’t get this near-death from her POV, but Tanya’s, who has suddenly noticed that Visha is not reporting in because she’s busy fleeing from a crazed Commonwealth soldier. (Guess who? Yes, Mary Sue is back, and she’s as vengeful as ever. She is, however, attacking the wrong person. See, light novel artist, this is the danger of making Tanya and Visha look too much alike!) Fortunately, she survives to make coffee another day.

The book ends with Zettour ordering Tanya to help him win the war that needs to be one – the one at the capital, which is to say the war against their political leaders who are demanding total victory. I’m sure this will go well! In the meantime, enjoy what is essentially a siege book with added military theory.

(In Omnia Paratus translates to “ready for anything” and, contrary to popular belief, did not originate with Gilmore Girls.)

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 6

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of these books are devoted to scenes of battle, with clever tactics and lots of cool action. It’s well-written, but it does leave very little for me to talk about. I am reminded of reviewing those titles like K-On! or Sunshine Sketch, which rely on cute girls doing cute things. Here we have soldiers doing soldier things. Or, in the case of this particular book, sailors doing sailor things. The enemy is simply better at everything right now, and so Regis is sent to try to stop their supply line. This involves trying to outwit their naval force, something Regis is once again able to do with the help of some books he read once. That gimmick, I fear, will only take him so far. That said, there are more important things going on here that will affect future books: first, Regis won the battle but lost the war, and second, battle commander Latrielle has a war injury that is far more serious than anyone thinks.

The scene with Latrielle and his aide meeting up with Altina and Regis is a very interesting one. Regis notices Latrielle is acting oddly, and is puzzled, but doesn’t really get to the bottom of what’s wrong, and neither does the reader until it’s revealed to us afterward. In the meantime, Regis finally gets listened to by actual powerful people. He also gets a promotion that comes with a title, meaning he can add ‘du’ to his name – not that he plans on doing this. His attempts at remaining a quiet little adviser who reads books seem to be growing less likely every day. Altina also sticks by his side throughout the book, which is handy as he gets to explain everything to her muscle brains. (Her loathing of reading is palpable here.) We also meet a version of what the two of them would be if they were commoners, as Regis hires a boat run by the perky Narissa and her aggrieved childhood friend Phip. Altina is nice enough to forgive Narissa being rude to a princess, but is also immature enough to be jealous of her and Regis getting close.

As for the naval battle itself, we don’t see much of it from the other side except from the perspective of one ship captain, Morins, who would prefer to spend most of his time in bed with his adjutant, Laurelin. He’s clearly meant to be an antagonist who will crop up again someday, so it’s rather annoying that he’s such a sexist asshole. On the bright side, that means I’m quite pleased to see how he gets routed by Regis, who comes up with such clever strategies as “ram the ship with a rowboat full of explosives”. His seasickness means we’re unlikely to see him putting his brain to use for the Navy all that often, but it’s still impressive. Now if only he could take some pride in his achievements. Or even notice that both Altina and Clarisse are clearly in love with him.

The rather imperfect victory at the end of this volume means, I suspect, that the next book in the series will be a bit more serious. Till then, though, this is another fun example of a military potboiler, with a likeable lead couple (even if they aren’t one yet).

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 11

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

This series is trying its hardest to keep a good balance between the light-hearted romantic comedy that the majority of its readers are here for and the increasingly dark backstory that is constantly threatening to become the front story as well. That continues in this book, which has an awful lot of Zagan and Nephy being incredibly blushy and goofy around each other, wearing each others clothes, being in each other’s dreams, and generally being the most adorable couple around that haven’t even gotten to first base yet. Contrasted with that is the increasingly doomed Alshiera, the plotting, sinister or otherwise, of the various other archdemons, and the continued horrors being piled upon Dexia and Aristella. Fortunately, with one or two exceptions, this remains very readable overall, even if you are only in it to see when these two lovebirds will finally get it on. (Spoiler: don’t hold your breath.)

The main plotline involves Lilith, who is a succubus that controls dreams. She’s able to give Zagan and Nephy a shared dream (that, oddly, shows them in a Japanese high school) and is also trying to rescue a boy who is stranded in a nightmare. He’s connected to Alshiera, who is still slowly dying from events in previous books, and is trying to show everyone that this is fine and that she’s content with it, ignoring the fact that there are others who are absolutely not content with it. To make matters worse, Zagan and friends may have found Azazel, who is also in Lilith’s dreamland, and is likyly going to kill Alshiera once and for all. And, perhaps worst of all, Foll is going around asking everyone what they think about love. Is there someone actually interested in her? Or is she just a normal girl? (Well, a normal powerful dragon girl).

Describing the plot is somewhat difficult, as you can tell from the preceding paragraph, but it holds together pretty well. One irritating negative is a new character is introduced, and there is some anti-trans humor about them, so be warned. Still sadly very popular in Japanese manga and light novels. Lilith is, for the most part, taken seriously, and proves to be pretty awesome when she tries. I especially liked Alshiera gently trying to push Lilith away and get her to accept Alshiera’s death, and Lilith basically saying “nope, fuck that, gonna save you”. Zagan is also awesome as always, though there is worrying evidence that he’s pushing himself too hard that may come up in future books. Oh yes, and Kuroka gets drunk and horny on catnip wine. Let’s ignore that.

The series seems content to meander along, both in its romantic plotlines and its more serious fantasy-based plots. And we’re caught up with Japan, meaning we’ll likely be waiting even longer for the next book. Still, if you enjoy archdemons and elfs being super cute together, and don’t mind the occasional tonal crash when the bad guys have a scene, this remains a good series to be reading.

Manga the Week of 1/27/21

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SEAN: The end of January still has some choice titles coming out.

Seven Seas has rolled out its Airship imprint, so given I separate Ghost Ship titles I should probably do the same with Airship. Next week we get ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 2 in a digital-first edition.

ASH: I’m really curious to see how the Airship imprint evolves.

SEAN: Cross Infinite world has the 2nd volume of Hello, I am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!.

A bunch of Ghost Ship titles, including Destiny Lovers 5, Parallel Paradise 4, Welcome to Succubus High! 2, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 12.

J-Novel Club’s debut is one that manga fans will have seen before, as Seven Seas has been releasing the manga. The Ideal Sponger Life, where a young man gets isekai’d to another world so that he can be the husband of the reigning Queen. This is definitely one of those “come for the romance, stay for the politics” titles, and I look forward to it.

Also from J-Novel Club: Black Summoner 3, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 3, and My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 3. Three is a magic number?

Kodansha has two print debuts, though one has been out before digitally. Orient is the newest title from the creator of Magi, Shinobu Ohtaka. They’re in Shonen Magazine rather than Shonen Sunday, but despite that, it doesn’t seem to have more fanservice…

ASH: I plan on giving this one a look eventually; I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Magi.

ANNA: One of these days I need to read all of Magi.

SEAN: The other debut is Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite (Ano Hito no i Ni Wa Boku Ga Tarinai), which runs in Morning Two. A boy loves his tall classmate, and she likes him too… because he smells delicious! Turns out she’s a monster, and monsters are drawn to his scent. Fortunately, she agrees to protect him rather than eat him. I admit I might pass on this if it weren’t in Morning Two, a magazine I respect.

ASH: There is that!

SEAN: Also in print: Fire Force 21, Magus of the Library 4, The Seven Deadly Sins 41 (the final volume), and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 23-24, which is not only in 2-in-1 status but is also now on a YEARLY schedule. Does it really sell that badly now?

ASH: Magus of the Library has impressed me with how much reality has been accurately incorporated into its fantasy. It looks good doing it, too!

SEAN: Digitally our debut is My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 (Level 1 Dakedo Unique Skill de Saikyou Desu), which runs in Suiyoubi no Sirius. There’s a bunny girl on the cover, and the “hero” is way in the background. Should tell you everything you want to know about this.

Also out digitally: Am I Actually the Strongest? 3, Maid in Honey 5, My Best (♀) Butler 5, The Great Cleric 6, What I Love About You 2, and When We’re in Love 4.

Seven Seas’ debut manga is The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku), a 4-koma series that runs in Manga Time Kirara Carat. A teenage girl wakes up one morning with demon horns and a tail, and is told her job is to defeat the magical girl. Unfortunately, her power is… kind of like that of the first boss who gets killed off in Episode 3. Could be cute, could be dull.

Also from Seven Seas: The Conditions of Paradise: Azure Dreams (the third in that series), Cutie and the Beast 2, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 10th manga volume, and Our Teachers Are Dating! 2.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t even managed to read the first Cutie and the Beast yet!

ASH: I’m liking the series, so far, and will be picking up the second volume to see where it goes.

ANNA: I’m with Michelle, I’m already behind on Cutie and the Beast.

SEAN: Square Enix tries to blast us with long titles, as we get The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 3. (What is it with Vol. 3s next week?)

Vertical has the 11th volume of To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

Yen On has the 2nd light novel volume of High School DxD. Still banned from Kindle!

Yen Press did a lot of very last minute delays when I did Manga the Week of last week, and then un-delayed them even more last-minute, so some titles I didn’t mention are already out. Angels of Death 11, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 7, and the debut of Re: Zero’s 4th arc, The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed, in manga form. Don’t be surprised if I say the same thing next week.

For actual next week stuff, Yen Press has a sort-of debut – this was released chapter by chapter ages ago, and is now getting a collected-in-one omnibus. Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends (Shinigami-sama to 4-nin no Kanojo) ran in Gangan Joker. A nebbish guy avoids being killed by the Grim Reaper by declaring he’ll live life to the fullest from now on. He writes a confession letter… in fact, he writes four of them, knowing they’ll turn him down. They all accept. Welcome to four-timing! Gotta say, this does not sound great.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: Speaking of omnibuses, there’s also Cirque du Freak: The Manga, which is getting a new omnibus edition. Warning: Darren Shan. (Indeed, in Japan the manga was CALLED Darren Shan, as the author’s pen name is also the main character’s name.)

Also from Yen Press: Fiancée of the Wizard 2 and Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods 8.

ASH: I meant to give the first volume of Fiancée of the Wizard a read, but haven’t actually done that yet. Better get to it before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Lotsa interesting stuff. Anything for you?

Otherside Picnic, Vol. 4

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By Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba. Released in Japan as “Urasekai Picnic” by Hayakawa Bunko JA. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

Last time I talked about the fact that the narrative voice in this series is Sorawo’s, and how that makes the character of Toriko more intriguing. After this book, I’ll go even further and say that the narrative of Sorawo is vital to what makes Otherside Picnic so good, and that it’s even better because it can’t be trusted. In the first story in this book, Sorawo worries that she and Toriko are becoming desensitized to horror, but quickly shoves that off to the side, which is a shame, as yes, she absolutely is. More to the point, the horrific urban legends that she and Toriko are seeing are starting to be personally aimed at her, to the point where 3/4 of this book takes place in the “real world”. Sorawo’s past is not a pleasant one, and this book wants to remind her of it and, if ,possible, drag her back into it again. And then there’s Toriko, who is finally able to get Sorawo to stop denying what’s really, really obvious.

There are four short stories here. Two are good (1 and 3), two are great (2 and 4). The first sees our girls joining Migiwa and the rest of his organization in cleaning up the remains of the “farm” where Sorawo was kidnapped, and finding several Otherside creatures and booby traps along the way. The second sees Sorawo being threatened by something in the apartment next door to hers, to the point where she’s forced to stay first with Akari (to the displeasure of a jealous Natsumi) and then Kozakura, before finally confronting the source with Toriko. The third story sees the two (plus Kozakura) at a hot spring, which is mostly Toriko trying to make her feelings clear but also involves a brief brush with mannequins. Finally, after getting their APV upgraded, Sorawo and Toriko spend a night in the Otherside… at a crumbling and abandoned love hotel, where Sorawo’s past finally catches up with her and tries to get her to make a tragic choice.

I joked on Twitter about how Sorawo made a deal to have all that urban legend knowledge (her bookshelves are RIDICULOUS) at the expense of being unable to recognize lesbians, which is not really true, but it feels like it at times. She doesn’t seem to quite get why Natsumi is jealous of her staying with Akari, and the first half of the book has the usual uncomfortable denial of Toriko’s feelings. After a while, though, it becomes more clear that Sorawo really does know what Toriko means, but is too busy being scared and self-loathing to confront it. She can say ‘I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you” here, but that’s not quite the same thing as what Toriko wants – Toriko wants physical affection. It’s not clear where things go from here, but after confronting her past again in the Otherside (that kerosene bit – brrrr), I do think they’re in a better place to actually be in a relationship.

The anime is airing as I type this, and seems to be leaning more into “cute girls doing cute horror things” than I’d like, but for those who would like a bit more terror and a bit more yuri, this volume fits the bill perfectly.

Bookshelf Briefs 1/20/21

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Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Vol. 3 | By Dr. Pepperco | Seven Seas – Last time I said that this series never quite tipped over into melodrama, but let’s face it, that’s what happens here. I mean, it’s good melodrama, and you really feel the tortured emotions of these girls who just want to be able to love each other. If I’m honest, the fact that this series has a happy ending feels a bit unrealistic given everything that’s been stacked against them since the start, but that’s OK, because it fits the work emotionally, and no one wants to see this end with someone visiting another’s grave. If you enjoyed Emma but wish it had more lesbians, Goodbye, My Rose Garden should be right up your street, and I always enjoy seeing Japanese authors write Victoriana. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 10 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – Kou is back and in charge, and the most interesting part of this volume was her decision to make Aoba the main character designer for the new game, even though she’s not the most talented artist in the room. Sometimes you just want a style. Elsewhere, Kou and Rin’s relationship continues to be “Rin is as blatantly gay as possible, Kou does not get it, but it’s getting more and more blatant by the volume,” and I figure a dam has to break at some point. As for the others, Nene is promoted to full-time employee after, of all things, an airsoft battle, and we see some of the aftermath of the previous game the team released, including some BL doujinshi popping up. This is cute, and nothing else, but it is very cute. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 7 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – I don’t think there’s any currently running series that leaves me quite as desperate for the next volume as Tomoko Yamashita’s thoroughly excellent The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window. In this volume, we have Mikado learning to value the safe places he has had in his life while shying away from behind Rihito’s safe place, various people trying to dig up information about the professor, Erika’s mother finally growing a backbone and urging her daughter to run away while she can, and many not-so-subtle hints about the professor’s true identity. There’s a lot of plot, there’s a lot of emotion, and there are a lot of striking visuals. I love it so much and am bummed that it recently ended in Japan. At least there’s a forthcoming anime adaptation to look forward to! – Michelle Smith

Practice Makes Perfect, Vol. 4 | By Ui Hanamiya | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – There’s a bit less sex in this final volume, mostly because it is a final volume, and we have to wrap up all the plot threads that are not “let’s treat sex like practicing for a sport.” I was pleased to see that the manga made all the right choices. There’s a brief “I’m jealous the girl I love spends her days surrounded by hot guys,” but it doesn’t last and the hot guys are all rooting for him. I will admit I *hate* very public proposals, but if I can get over that, it was sweet. Best of all, Nohara is forced to choose between getting married or her career… and she chooses the career, going to Italy for two years and enduring a long-distance relationship. They even both get Olympic golds! Though not in sex. I hope this sees print; it was great. – Sean Gaffney

Pretty Boy Detective Club, Vol. 1: The Dark Star That Shines for You Alone | By NISIOSIN and Kinako | Vertical – As someone who can appreciate both pretty boys and mystery novels, I was intrigued by Pretty Boy Detective Club. Actually, I am still intrigued by the premise and think it would probably make a fun anime. As a light novel, though, I really wasn’t a fan. This first book in the series is told from the perspective of Mayumi Dojima, self-proclaimed “extreme contrarian,” who enlists the aid of a group of eccentric middle-school detectives in finding the elusive star she saw ten years ago. Mayumi’s narrative voice is not particularly enjoyable to begin with, but also because we’re following her, we see absolutely nothing about how the boys investigate her case and almost nothing about the boys themselves, except superficial things and one recurring joke about how one of them is in love with a first grader. I truly did want to like this but ultimately it merits only a “meh.” – Michelle Smith

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 10 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – New arc starts here, with more than one snake possessing people and wanting out. Unfortunately, one of those snakes is in Kyutaro, and does in fact get out at one point, which leads to a scene that manages to be both scary and sexy, because he attacks Fumi late at night when they are both, not to put too fine a point on it, rather horny. Honestly, this is one of those series that’s worth reading for the art alone—it’s simply terrific here, especially when we get to see how badass Fumi can be, wielding both a sword and a headbutt with equal perfection. It looks as if we’re going to have snake vs. snake battling next time, which hopefully will not lead to clan vs. clan. I always enjoy when a new volume is out. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 11 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – The kidnapping arc finally wraps up, with a lot of action and also a lot of heartfelt debate about what it means to be a good leader, including a glorious scene where Sariphi plays Fenrir like a fiddle, telling him “his majesty would come to where I am” knowing that it will get him to do it as well. After a very bloody battle, which takes up most of the middle of the book, His Majesty is so worn down he actually gets ill enough to turn human… a dangerous thing given that he’s in his chambers. Fortunately, he has his queen by his side. Also fortunately, there’s another wonderful battle scene, mock this time, between Lanteveldt and Jormungand. This remains a highly underrated shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 10 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I always seem to fall behind with this series—as I review volume ten, volume eleven is due out—but reading it always reminds me how much I enjoy it. For one thing, we finally get Kiki’s backstory, and I enjoyed it—it’s not tragic, and she’s on relatively good terms with her father. The issue is that she’s being told to get married and return home, and she’s not ready to do either yet. The manga seems to be shipping her and Mitsuhide hard, but I dunno. As for our title character, she’s as happy as can be right now, which is perhaps ominous given this series is 21 volumes and counting, but it’s nice to see. Unless you’re an Obi shipper. Of whom there are a whoooooole lot. This is still wonderful. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 1 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – This comes from the creator of Ao-chan Can’t Study, so the fact that it’s all about sex is not particularly surprising. More accurately, it’s all about our newly married couple NOT having sex—they’re childhood friends, and do love each other, but are both rather embarrassed about the idea, and both easily can “not be in the mood” if things aren’t perfect. The volume—and likely the series—involves them trying to get the other one into the mood. Best part of the manga is the wife, Sumika, who is the ‘deadpan stoic’ sort, which makes it funnier that she’s a rather horny newlywed. The husband, Ikuma, is alas more of a standard nerdy drip. Still, there’s enough fun here for me to read more. – Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online, Vol. 21: Unital Ring I

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This is the first book in the “main” Sword Art Online series that was not adapted from the webnovel that Kawahara wrote years earlier. As such, it’s the first one where we should have raised expectations, and for the most part the book delivers on those expectations. No, sorry, Kirito haters, he still gets to have the big climactic finishers, but honestly, if you’re a Kirito hater but still reading Sword Art Online at Volume 21, I’m going to put the blame on you there. And, if it helps, he spends most of the book in just his underwear. That said, the prose feels smoother, the cast all get things to do that don’t involve mooning over Kirito, and some of them even get really cool things to do on their own, without Kirito at all! Yes, that’s right, More Deban has finally paid off, if only for Silica. As for the plot, well, let’s take all the SAO-style games in the world and dump all its players in a blender? Sounds about right.

We pick up in the fall, a few days before Asuna’s birthday and a couple of weeks before Kirito’s. After having to essentially spend an entire month doing homework because “I was in a coma after being stabbed, but it’s a state secret” is a poor excuse for your high school teacher, Kirito is back at his log cabin preparing to help Liz and Silica do some grinding. Unfortunately, right after Asuna and Alice arrive (yes, Alice is now a regular, and is trying to get a dragon mount in ALO), a huge system crash causes all of Aincrad to disintegrate. Our heroes are barely able to steer the falling cabin to a water landing, but it’s still pretty smashed. Worse, they appear to be inside a new game, Unital Ring, which has taken over ALL the games that use Kayaba’s “Seed”, and promises a huge reward to whoever gets to the goal. But Unital Ring is a survival game, where you have to make your own rope and knives, and our heroes are suddenly level 1. Can they figure out what’s going on? More importantly, can they save the cabin?

I will admit, it’s a lot of fun seeing Kirito depowered through a large chunk of this, though of course by the end he’s starting to get back in business. Honestly, the book feels like he’s been reading his fan mail and taking its advice. Kirito and Suguha/Leafa, for the first time in the entire series to date, actually feel like an older brother and younger sister. Yui, in the new Unital Ring, is back to being a real live girl… though that also means she has real HP. It’s not a death game per se, but apparently when you’re killed off you can’t get into the game again, so there is a lot of tension for our heroes. And then there’s the last four pages, which I will try not to spoil. But really, if you’;re Kawahara and are starting to write the first non-webnovel book in the main series, what’s the very first thing you’re going to import from the other works? Correct. The other character introduced is a bit of a “I won’t tell you about her till the next volume”, but Accel World fans may find their name very familiar, especially those who just read the last volume in December.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see the outcome of that double cliffhanger, as Vol. 22 is a short story volume, containing four short stories that were released as exclusives with various DVD anime packages in Japan. That said, one of the characters who showed up for the cliffhanger will be in the first of those short stories. In the meantime, I was very pleased with this SAO. Let’s keep it up.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 2

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By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert.

I am, as readers of this site well know, easy to please. This can sometimes be a bit frustrating when I have series that don’t do anything particularly wrong, but are also not particularly stellar. The Demon King Master of Excalibur Academy falls under that. I will admit that I find the fact that the Demon King is in a 10-year-old body irritating, but it is mostly avoiding fanservice and groping, so that’s not a big enough reason to move on. The books are short, the prose is readable, the girls get things to do, and the battles are pretty cool, so boxes checked off there. That said, this really isn’t going to be making anyone’s top 10 light novels list anytime soon. There was an argument recently about whether using the word ‘generic’ is pejorative, and yes, it probably is, but there’s no word that better fits the series than this. It’s like eating a slice of bread. No butter, no jam. Just the bread.

The Academy is put on the back burner for this volume, with the biggest class-related event happening being that Leonis skips class. There’s a good reason for this, though – a huge ship is arriving carrying the Fourth Princess, who is paying a visit. Unfortunately, a horde of void creatures break out as she arrives, causing those who have gathered to see her to have to be evacuated onto the ship. Also unfortunately, this turns out to be a plot by terrorists, who are there to kidnap the princess and gain more equality for beastmen. Also also unfortunately, the terrorists have a mole in their ranks who has her own agenda, which is “kill everyone by having the ship slam into a reef, so that she can get her hands on a bunch of demon swords. Fortunately, Leonis and the girls from the first volume are there to stop them.

One of the interesting things in the series is the fact that it’s post-apocalyptic, and not very far away from it either. This allows Leonis to be thoroughly confused at how much has changed since he was alive, and also allows the book to constantly be interrupted by monster attacks, which are well-written but also mean that there’s not much actually happening here, even with the short page count. We do get a few revelations about Regina, Reselia’s maid, comrade in arms, and Girl With A Secret (TM). The secret is not hard to guess, and I will admit that I was frustrated that a meeting we were building up to did not happen, but that’s the trouble with long-running series like these. (Also, sadly, the princess was very underwritten, and I wish we’d seen more of her.)

That’s one interesting thing about these books – they read like they’re cancellation proof. The author has been told “your name is big enough, so we’ll guarantee that you won’t be cut after two novels”, and it shows, as there’s a lot of long-term things going on here. Unfortunately, that means we don’t really get satisfying answers in THIS book. It’s a series that is “good enough for now” to a T.

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 6

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

(This is one of those “I spoil the ending” reviews.)

Let’s face it, the biggest flaw in this book comes after the afterword, where gives us a preview of the next volume, which introduces new antagonists to take the place of our protagonists. The flaw here is that this book was pretty much a picture perfect finale in every way, and the author admits that straight up. They say that the story of Elisabeth is not over, and that they still have more stories to tell, which is all fine and dandy, but it’s gonna be very hard to top Book6 next time, so it had better be good. As for this volume itself, well, it’s a War Against Heaven and Hell, with everyone (mostly) joining forces, and Kaito serving as a one-man army of his own. The question is whether they can pull off what needs to be done – killing Jeanne and Elisabeth. Izabella has already said straight up she won’t be able to kill Jeanne. Will Kaito be able to make the ultimate sacrifice?

No, of course not. Anyone who’s ready even fifty pages of this series knows the answer to that one. Indeed, the least surprising thing in the book (although Jeanne and Elisabeth both manage to be surprised, with Jeanne pulling off the best use of ‘motherfucker’ in a light novel ever) is Kaito’s plan. The bulk of the book is the lead up to that, where he first manages to convince the humans, demi-humans and beastmen to team up by either terrifying them or proving strong enough to equal them in combat (thankfully the first princess does not have a Red Sonja clause in her character), and then spends the bulk of the book walking around the various battle zones, watching the saints and soldiers fighting against horrific monstrosities from beyond our ken, and occasionally destroying them all with a ‘la’ when he feels he has to. Oh yes, and have one last picnic date with Hina, which honestly I think the readers care about more than the war itself.

Hina remains that very rare example of a yandere whose feelings are returned, and she’s finally risen above “she’s Rem from Re: Zero” status, though it is ironic that they both end their roles in the series in eternal sleeps. I was also surprised to see the relationship between Jeanne and Izabella be as romantic as it ended up being, despite Jeanne spending 90% of the book trapped in God’s Iron Maiden and Izabella walking around in a body that’s 3/4 artificial. There’s lots of cool fighting here, and a nice final confrontation between Kaito and Elisabeth, but the best moments from the book are the smaller ones – I loved Kaito and Izabella discussing the frailty of human beliefs, and how it drives them to commit atrocities against anyone who can fit the definition of “expendable”. And yes, in the end Kaito and Hina remove themselves from the series, leaving Elisabeth to live on, alone. Well, except for a lot of the cast, also alive. She doesn’t count them.

Still, we get the arrival of a new sneering smug villain at the end, as well as a girl who seems to be based off of Alice Carroll/Alice in Wonderland, something that I don’t think we’ve ever seen in a single piece of Japanese media. After a satisfying climax to this book, I admit reluctance to see it continue, but I’ll read the next one to see if the author can pull it off.

Pick of the Week: Asadorable Manga

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SEAN: Naoki Urasawa tends to be one of those authors I know I should get into but I never really have for various reasons, but let’s face it, there’s one really obvious pick this week and it’s Asadora, his new Big Comic Spirits series. Though Mama Akuma sounds good enough to be my runner-up.

MICHELLE: I’m in absolute agreement with Sean. The only Urasawa series I’ve actually finished is Monster, but it was great and I really did like what I read of Pluto and 20th Century Boys, as well.

ANNA: I’m picking Asadora as well, I’m always curious about new Urasawa.

KATE: I admit that I was pretty disappointed in both Mujirushi and Sneeze, so I’m a little hesitant to recommend Asadora. Instead, I’m throwing my weight behind the fourth volume of Shuzo Oshimi’s creepy thriller Blood on the Tracks. Love or hate his work, it’s impossible to deny his phenomenal artistic chops or his crack sense of pacing, whether he’s re-imagining The Drifting Classroom for adult readers or recalling the unbearable horrors of being fifteen. Blood on the Tracks is no exception: it’s tense, uncomfortable, and filled with the kind of panels that invite 4,000 word think-pieces.

ASH: Normally Asadora would be the easy pick for me, but this week I find that I’m intrigued by all the debuts about girls dealing with the supernatural – Rozi in the Labyrinth, Dear NOMAN, Mama Akuma – so I’m just going to choose that entire subgenre. That being said, Kate is spot on about Oshimi and Blood on the Tracks!

MELINDA: There’s a lot to choose from this week, including all the series everyone has mentioned so far (as well as the re-release of Saiyuki!) but I’m getting behind the one Sean called for me from the beginning. I’m going with Mama Akuma as my pick this week.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 11

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By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen

It’s been over a year since I reviewed the 10th volume of Arifureta. In between that time we’ve had two volumes of Arifureta Zero, as well as a volume of short stories, and we also had the anime come to an end and remind us that some stories really work best when you can’t SEE all the fanservice. That said, all good things must come to an end, and while this is not the final volume of the series, it certainly feels like Vol. 12 is going to be. We get all the setup for the final battle here. Yes, that does mean a “darkest before the dawn” start to the book, and Yue fans will likely not be happy that she ends up possessed by the evil God and therefore not in most of the book, but after that it’s basically a curtain call for anyone who’s ever been relevant in this series and also several people who haven’t – like most of the rest of the students.

So yes, Hajime and company are told by the bad guys to come meet the evil God and his evil assistant, and they’ve taken the students hostage (which doesn’t work) as well as Remia and Myu (which does). After a brief “it’s OK, I’m really a good guy” shtick that fools almost no one, we get reminded why Ehit is so powerful, and they basically mops the floor with everyone, including Hajime, and takes Yue’s body for their own. They also say that in three days, they’ll destroy the world and then move on to destroy Earth. Fortunately, that means they have three days, so the rest of the book consists of preparing to fight back, heartwarming scenes with Hajime and his loved ones (Kaori and Tio get “I love you” scenes, and Aiko and Liliana are clearly upgraded to “will be added to the group in the near future”), and wacky fanservice and comedy, because likely there won’t be much time for that in the final book.

Despite bringing back almost everyone from previous books, the writing glides right through it, assuming (correctly) we won’t remember three-quarters of everyone here. There are also some students, who haven’t gotten anything to do in nearly six books, who get to briefly shine in the spotlight, which is nice to see. Certainly nicer than seeing Kouki – again – side with the villains. Now, much of this is Eri mind-controlling him, but I’m sorry, I just cannot work up any sympathy for him by now. I can’t see him dying, particularly given there’s three different people still trying to snap him out of it, but wow, I absolutely do not care if they succeed or not. And Tio gets another good character building book, with a side story of her own, and it shows off the super-powerful lonely princess equally with the anal pleasure-obsessed pervert.

The novels are still quite popular, and I suspect once the main series is finished the “After Story”, which is still being written to this day on the web, will be put out officially in Japan. That said, for the moment, this is the big lead up to the finale next book, and contains most of the good things about the series, as well as a few of the bad. Fans should enjoy it.

Baccano!: 1710 Crack Flag

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By Ryohgo Narita and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Yeah, I avoided this one for a while I will admit. I don’t like tragedies, even when I know they’re coming. What’s more, this book was famous among Baccano! fandom as the pinnacle of the series, and therefore had a lot to live up to. Does it do that? pretty much, yeah. Balancing out the mystery of exactly what’s going on, the achingly sweet and awkward romance between Huey and Monica, and the creeping feeling of impending doom that powers the 2nd half, Crack Flag is a huge winner. And that’s not even mentioning our villain. Pardon the language, but “Fuck Fermet” has been a refrain among the fandom for years, and while we’ve seen why in other books, no more is it driven home than here. Fermet wants nothing more than to bring despair to people, and with Huey and Monica we get the ultimate example of that in action. Izaya only wishes he were this evil. (I may have said that line before.)

The book says 1710, but it actually begins in 1707, two years after the events of The Ironic Light Orchestra. The poet and playwright Jean-Pierre Accardo is at a party for nobility, feeling very out of place, until he runs into Lebreau Fermet Viralesque and his 6-year-old charge Czeslaw Meyer. Through a relaxed, easy conversation, the two form a bond. At the same time, Huey and Monica’s bond is deepening as well, even if he’s still reluctant to admit it. Unfortunately, the arrival of a huge galleon from the Dormentiare family drives Monica to despair… though, as with most tragedies, we quickly learn that if the parties involved had actually spoken to each other, there’d be little she had to worry about. Will Huey be able to break through her walls? Can Huey break through his own walls? And, whatever you do, don’t go to the theatre tonight…

This is a brutal book (the author says in the afterword he won’t be getting quite this dark again, which, OK, 1711 would like to have a word with you), so let’s concentrate on things that are happier – Huey and Monica. It’s so WEIRD seeing Huey like this given, well, 1711 to the present, and it drives home how much she and Elmer mean to him. And yes, I don’t want to leave Elmer out – he does his best here, and while his own thoughts are still rather terrifying, he’s a terrific character. We also see here how Maiza went from “this alchemy stuff is all bullshit” to suddenly becoming ALL ALCHEMY ALL THE TIME, and I am rather amused that all it took was just a throat-slitting (and recovery). And Carla is fantastic, taking no shit from any men around her and doing her best to figure out what’s going on in Lotto Valentino. We’ll be seeing more of almost all of them in future books, thank goodness.

So yes, this book hurt to read, but it was also one of the best in the series. Narita says 1711 is next, and I guess in terms of stuff he had to write from scratch he’s correct. But first we’re getting another bonus volume. Just as Another Junk Railroad was an expanded version of the freebie that came with the audio drama, the next book is an expansion of the 5-part novel that came with the Anime DVD releases. It answers that hideously terrifying question: “what if Elmer and Graham met?”.