Manga Bookshelf

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Sean Gaffney

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 9

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

While Souma is the focus of these books, he’s not the only ruler in town. We’ve seen some of them taken into his orbit, like Kuu. Some are allied with him but for their own reasons are separate, such as the Empress Maria (who I still say may eventually get into the Souma wife battalion eventually but not just yet). Some, like the Chima leader we meet in this book, are there to make deals using their popular and talented children as bargaining chips and marriage pawns. And then there’s Fuuga Haan, the leader of Malmkhitan, who by his sheer presence, inspirational qualities, and sheer power is the most terrifying of all. He’s compared to Oda Nobunaga and Napoleon in terms of the sort of leader who sets out to conquer. Which is not good news for Souma, who is not that sort of leader at all. Fortunately, Fuuga is on Souma’s side. For now. Fortunately, we also have Ichiha, the youngest child of the Chima ruler, who has a talent that no one recognizes. We know Souma loves those types.

That’s Fuuga Haan on the cover, by the way. No, he’s there in the background, lurking like a Kirito in a Kirito-less book. In the foreground is his little sister Yuriga, who is introduced to us when Tomoe, who has come a long way from her shy little sister days of the early books, goes exploring in the Chima castle. There she runs into Ichiha, who she discovers is not only an excellent artist for his age but is also classifying the monsters into types and seeing what they have in common. Needless to say, Souma LOVES this. No, he’s not taking Ichiha as a spouse, Ichiha being a 10-year-old boy, but he was already going to be sending Tomoe to school, so Ichiha (otherwise useless to the Chima dynasty) gets to come along. But wait, you ask, what does the little sister to Fuuga Haan do? She’s there to be a tsundere. That’s… really it. But she’s also going to the school, and given how obsessed the author is with pairings, I would not be surprised to see her, Ichiha and Tomoe hooking up when they’re of age.

Yuriga is not the only little sister we get in this volume. The main plot of the book takes up about 2/3 of it, the rest being short stories set away from Chima. We get to meet Maria and Jeanne’s younger sister Trill, who should be romanized as Drill, I expect, except it would be one cutesy name too many. Trill is a mad scientist who’s obsessed with inventing new things and blowing holes in the castle by accident, not in that order. Naturally, she too gets packed off to Souma’s kingdom of babysitters, where she can be apprenticed to Genia, their own resident mad scientist, and do mad science together. Which in this case involves building a drill. Which means they need Kuu’s not-quite-girlfriend for the steel. Realist Hero is very good at interconnecting the huge cast it has, which is good as it makes it slightly easier to remember them.

Oh yes, and I forgot to mention: Souma and Liscia’s twins are born, a boy and a girl. Also, motherhood as converted Saber Red into Saber Lily. Now that the mother and children are healthy, there’s nothing stopping the wedding, which I suspect will happen next volume. It should be fun, as this volume was.

Secretly, I’ve Been Suffering About Being Sexless

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By Togame. Released in Japan as “Jitsu wa Watashi Sexless de Nayandemashita” by Media Factory, serialized in the magazine Comic Flapper. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Alexandra McCullough-Garcia.

I will admit, this wasn’t quite what I expected when I heard about the license and saw the title. It is certainly a biographical manga about the author and her struggles, but I was thinking it would be more like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, a lot more directly at the reader and deeply serious. But of course, this ran in Comic Flapper, not on Pixiv or another online site. As a result, it feels far less autobiographical, and honestly aside from a couple of references to Togame drawing manga within the book, and of course using her own name for the heroine, you’d never really know this was about her. It’s the story of a young newly married couple, and the fact that she wants to do it but he doesn’t. Of course, the common “plotline”, both in Western and Japanese works, is that the opposite is the case. Everyone knows that men are always horny and women get “headaches”. But is that really the case?

As I said earlier, this is a lot more comedic than I was expecting. Togame’s reactions are frequently over the top and overdramatic, and she also tends to fantasize about imaginary situations where either her husband or someone else satisfies her desires. (Indeed, it can be very hard to tell when the reality ends and her fantasy begins, and I felt sometimes that she was finally succeeding only to be shown a panel where she admits it was in her head.) She thinks when desperate about cheating, and goes out to drink with another guy at some point, but in the end does not have an affair and clearly loves her husband. She’s just… really frustrated. Things are not helped by the fact that she’s apparently “tiny and fairy-like”, and that said husband thinks of her more as cute than sexy, though she does have a generous bosom that she tries to break out to entice him as well. What, in the end, is the problem?

To no one’s surprise, it’s poor communication that’s the issue here. Despite her laying out her feelings and what she wants, he’s not really taking her seriously, and it takes her leaving the apartment for a bit to make him realize what’s going on. Similarly, she just assumes his lack of desire is just that, and never tries to ask him why he doesn’t really feel in the mood. Of course, this is merely the case of Togame and her husband. In an epilogue, which I quite liked, we see various other women and their own relationship, and get other types of explanations, such as a woman with “no libido”, or another woman who loved her husband as a person but didn’t find him sexually attractive at all. Communication is not ALWAYS the answer. But, in the main story, it seems to have done the trick, and we end with Togame and her husband now having sex and trying to have a child.

Like Togame herself, I feel this is more “cute” than “sexy” as a manga. But it was a sweet read, and reminds the average reader that the cliche of “the guy wants it, the girl doesn’t” is not always the case.

Manga the Week of 7/31/19

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SEAN: Most of the rest of Yen is next week, though some got delayed to August. And lots of other publishers as well.

Dark Horse has the 3rd volume of Mob Psycho 100. Actually, that may have come out this week. Dark Horse release dates are ephemeral things.

MICHELLE: This is a pretty fun series.

ASH: I really like it so far!

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 11.

J-Novel Club only has one release next week, but its title is so long it counts as three. Seriously Seeking Sister! Ultimate Vampire Princess Just Wants Little Sister – Plenty of Service Will Be Provided! (Tonikaku Imouto ga Hoshii Saikyou no Kyuuketsuki wa Mujikaku Gohoushichuu) is a one-volume light novel about a vampire princess and her desire for a cute little sister. It sounds dire, but who knows?

MICHELLE: Dire, indeed.

ANNA: I feel confident about forgetting this exists.

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has UQ Holder 17.

Kodansha, digitally, has much much more. First, we have a debut, The Slime Diaries. This is a comedy spinoff of the Reincarnated as a Slime series.

ASH: I did enjoy much of the original series more than expected.

SEAN: Also debuting in volume form (individual chapters have been released previously) is Farewell, My Dear Cramer. A sports manga that’s a sequel to Sayonara Football (which got no attention over here) and by the creator of Your Lie in April (which certainly did), I’ve heard good things about it. Girls’ soccer, in case you were wondering.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t realized the history of this series or its creator. I was just, all, “Ooh, sports manga.”

ANNA: Did someone say sports manga?

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: And we have new volumes for Asahi-sempai’s Favorite (5), Back Street Girls (12 and final), Domestic Girlfriend (19), Drowning Love (13), Hotaru’s Way (10), Kakafukaka (8), and My Boy in Blue (11). Kakafukaka is hard to read but highly underrated.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more digital josei!

ANNA: One day I might catch up….one day…..

SEAN: Seven Seas makes up for barely having any releases at the start of the month. Debuting is the manga version of My Next Life as a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, based on the light novel. I love Katarina, and want to see her in any format. (Also, anime next year!)

We also see D-Frag! 13, Fairy Tale Battle Royale 3, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 10 (print version), Harukana Receive 4, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 8, Mushoku Tensei’s light novel 2 (print) and 3 (digital), and the 4th Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General.

Sol Press announced something that’s out this week, but I wasn’t able to get it into last week’s MtWo so here it is. Two manga titles. How to Treat a Lady Knight Right (Ima made Ichido mo Onna Atsukaisareta Koto ga nai Jokishi wo Onna Atsukai Suru) runs in Kodansha’s Suiyoubi no Sirius, and is about a knight who’s always been seen as a muscley sort getting treated as an attractive women. She spends the next 3+ volumes of the manga looking shy and blushing heavily, from what I can tell. This screams “not for me”.

ASH: I mean, I’m definitely a fan of knights who are women, but…

SEAN: They also have The Ride-On King, from the creator of Golosseum, which is about a Putin with the serial numbers filed off and his adventures being awesome. It’s for those who want more titles like Golosseum or those who think Russia is awesome.

Vertical has the novel version of Voices of a Distant Star, subtitled Words of Love/Across the Stars. I seem to recall this wasn’t as depressing as the creator’s other movies. Slightly.

JY, Yen’s young adult line, has the Little Witch Academia light novel. Enjoy Akko being Akko in prose form as well!

ASH: I somehow missed or completely forgot that Yen has a young adult line???

SEAN: They also have the 4th Zo Zo Zombie.

Yen On gives us three new debuts. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is for all those who want gaming but without the fantasy isekai aspect. Tomozaki is an awesome gamer, but fails at real life, which he describes as a horrible game. Then he meets a girl who’s not only as good a gamer as he is, but explains how to win at life too. Fans of My Youth Romantic Comedy Etc. should like this.

The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’s Heroes is not as naughty as the title makes it sound. A demon King, who wants to live in peace but heroes keep attacking him, hires a Japanese boy to take care of them. This proves to be a mistake, as the boy goes a bit overboard.

ASH: That could be entertaining.

SEAN: Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur and Heretic Merlin has a very Magical Index feel, possibly as they share the same artist. Our hero is tired of his boring life, so teams up with a girl to become the next successor to King Arthur.

There’s also another Final Fantasy tie-in novel, Final Fantasy XIII-2: Fragments Before, as well as The Saga of Tanya the Evil 6 and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 4, which starts a new arc.

Print manga debuts. There’s The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Ikinokori Renkinjutsushi wa Machi de Shizuka ni Kurashitai), whose light novel is out in September. It’s about a run-of-the-mill alchemist who ends up in stasis to save herself, and after coming out of it finds there aren’t any more alchemists in the world! How will she live her quiet, boring life? Sounds like it’s for fans of Killing Slimes for 300 Years. It runs in B’S LOG Gomic.

ASH: This could be interesting, too.

SEAN: Secretly I’ve Been Suffering About Being Sexless (Jitsu wa Watashi Sexless de Nayandemashita) is done in one, and ran in Comic Flapper. It’s about a married woman trying to figure out what to do when her libido is much larger than her husband’s.

ASH: I’ll admit, I’m curious to see how this premise is handled.

Manga Bookshelf’s Pick of the Week (OK, I’m just guessing, but pretty sure I’m right) is debuting next week as well. Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san (Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san) already has a cult classic anime, and this is the manga, which ran in Gene Pixiv. It’s about… well, the title says it all. This looks fantastic.

MICHELLE: Well, your guess is right on my end, at least. I’ve only seen a little of the anime, but it is charming and I’m really looking forward to reading this.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: I am so, so looking forward to this series!!

SEAN: We also get first volumes of light novel adaptations with Torture Princess (an omnibus, done in one) and Woof Woof Story.

A lot of ongoing titles moved to August, but we do see Interspecies Reviewers 2 (bleah) and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 6 (yay!).

ASH: Shoujo fantasy for the win!

SEAN: Lots of new series next week. Perhaps you could ask a skull-faced bookseller what works for you?

I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Vol. 3

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By FUNA and Sukima. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hiroya Watanabe.

I’m at a loss for words to an extent. It can’t be that the author read my reviews – they’re in Japan, and this volume was out before the series started here. I double checked, and it didn’t change companies or anything like that. Perhaps someone told the author that an anime might be a possibility? But yes, it’s very clear that between the second and third book – actually, more like “after the timeskip” now that I think about it – the author acceded to the requests to dial Kaoru back a lot. She’s still very snarky, and won’t hesitate to mock and belittle obviously arrogant noble guys, but she’s (mostly) found an emotional center and is actually doing what I thought she would do when the book began – running a small potion store in a large city. I guess the answer to “how to solve a problem like Kaoru” is “keep her away from war”. Not that this has suddenly turned into a Slow Life title or anything. Trouble continues to follow Kaoru around. But she’s now a standard OP FUNA heroine, and not “will she turn evil?”.

As noted, Kaoru and her newly adopted daughter are starting a potion shop. But no overpowered healing potions this time around, just normal minor illness stuff like “soldier’s disease” (athlete’s foot). She makes the potions good enough to be palliative, but not curative forever, so they have to come back to buy new ones. But things aren’t easy. Soldier’s Disease is far more of an issue in this military town than she suspected. She’s being asked to join an association and give up her secrets. There’s a deadly disease killing people in a village a few days away. The “distortion” that the goddess had warned her about actually appears. No one will buy her shampoo/makeup products. No one prefers her “standard” box lunches. And worst of all, she’s still not attracting husband material. Can she put down roots in this town, or is it time to move on?

Now, don’t panic. Kaoru is still easily the meanest of the FUNA heroines. But she’s not getting revenge that may literally get people executed this time around. She’s also doing great things for the military, finding lost treasures for poor nobles, giving money to orphans and street urchins, and of course, preventing the world from being ravaged by disease. She’s become a heroine, rather than an anti-heroine. It’s fun to see, but it does make this a bit less of a must read as there’s no longer any sense that she’s going to completely lose it the way there was during the war last volume. The rest of the running gags are present and correct, including the rest of her group being so devoted to her safety that they all fall over each other to protect her from enemies, and don’t go on dates because that would take away from protecting Kaoru time. And of course there is Kaoru’s lack of self-awareness, as she, like Mile, occasionally talks about being a normal girl, to everyone’s amusement.

In the end, dialing Kaoru back is good for the future of the series. And it’s still a light, breezy read. But I miss my jaw dropping, I will admit.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/24/19

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 15 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | VIZ Media – It’s hard to believe I’ve read fifteen volumes of Anonymous Noise already but even harder to believe that there are only three more until it’s over! Rock Horizon is here again, and due to another band’s cancellation, In No Hurry is playing on a bigger stage than ever before and their exuberant performance is the highlight of the volume. Meanwhile, Kuro makes progress toward pursuing a new love after losing out with his first one, Nino searches for a foundation for her singing that does not revolve around Momo, and Yuzu is composing up a storm, though he worries that this will stop if Nino ever actually falls for him. In other words, it’s just as angsty and dramatic as usual, yet surprisingly hopeful, too. Good stuff. – Michelle Smith

Beastars, Vol. 1 | By Paru Itagaki | Viz Media – At a high school in which carnivores and herbivores attend classes and live alongside one another in relative peace, there is a natural tension among the student body. But the delicate balance between the two groups is shattered when an alpaca named Tem is found murdered on campus. The herbivores’ mistrust and hostility towards their carnivorous classmates become more blatant and even Tem’s friend Legoshi comes under suspicion. As a large gray wolf, Legoshi is used to being feared and hated, but that doesn’t make things any easier for him. More than anything else, the reason that I’m so eager to read more of Beastars is Legoshi. Yes, there’s interesting worldbuilding. Yes, there’s engaging drama and mystery. Yes, there’s appealing illustration work. There’s even other fascinating characters. But ultimately it’s lone wolf Legoshi, the behind-the-scenes theater kid, in all of his sensitive awkwardness that steals the show for me. – Ash Brown

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 2 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Yasuhito Nogi |Seven Seas – I have to admit, I’m calling “no way” on the sheer power behind Junko, who seems to suddenly be far more actively involved in every aspect of the plot and can hold her own with villains who are hospitalizing Judgment. This is a lot to accept for someone whose sole character trait before this had been “Misaki’s chew toy.” The plot involves, no surprise, the fact that kids in Academy City are subject to unethical scientific experiments, not exactly big news to regular readers of Railgun and Index. But the fights are nice, and Junko is a sweet and determined girl. It’s just hard for the reader to accept that this is the spinoff we’re getting rather than, say, Itsuwa or Kanzaki. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 7 | By Ukami |Yen Press – There were no laugh-out-loud moments here like the previous volume, but it continues to keep a smile on your face. I enjoyed the idea of asking Vignette, the demon who’s sweet and nice, if she’d rather be an angel, and her negative response. “Angel” and “demon” are not meant to be good or bad in this manga, despite what you’d expect, and I like Vignette sticking to what she’s already lived with. I also liked the chapter with Taplis challenging Satania to card duels, if only as it’s nice to see Satania actually succeed for once. Gabriel Dropout is unlikely to pick up new readers who aren’t already fans of it, but those fans should enjoy this. It even makes Raphiel briefly sympathetic, which is highly unusual. – Sean Gaffney

Golden Kamuy, Vol. 10 | By Satoru Noda | Viz Media – I like that Golden Kamuy, no matter how bonkers it gets, never quite forgets its roots as a foodie manga. There’s lots of discussion of gross-yet-tasty foods this time around, in among various attempts to rescue Shiraishi, who has gotten captured and is having trouble escaping for once. It doesn’t help that there’s so many different factions going around that the reader has long since lost track of which is which. “The guy with the plate in his head!” “The small plate guy or the large-plate guy?” There’s also a bittersweet implication towards the end of the book that this does have an end in sight, and that it may wrap up by returning Sugimoto to what he lost—though regaining it is another issue. Breathtaking. – Sean Gaffney

Mythical Beast Investigator, Vol. 1 | By Keishi Ayasato and Koichiro Hoshino | Seven Seas – This is another in a long string of “supernatural people investigate supernatural things” titles we’ve seen, mostly from this publisher. It’s not terrible and there’s nothing wrong with it, but I have to admit that the well may be running dry, and this does not really attract a new reader the way that The Ancient Magus’ Bride—or even How to Treat Magical Beasts—does. Ferry investigates issues with beasts, which are usually the fault of humans, with the help of the black rabbit of inlé… erm, Kushuna, who is her cynical bodyguard. Together, they fight crime! Some of this is heartwarming, some of it is tragic, it’s very readable, and you’ll forget about it the next day. – Sean Gaffney

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 10 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – The start of the volume is well written but not all that surprising, as it hits all the beats I was expecting to resolve that arc. The meat of the volume, though, is in the second half, as the Water Dragon God is starting to lose his powers, and may soon disappear. There’s a solution, but he’s not going to take it—and Subaru will never let him do it either. So what’s the solution here? There’s only one volume after this, so it had better come quick. In the meantime, the evocative art and storytelling and led to The Water Dragon’s Bride being my favorite Rei Toma series to date. I can’t wait to see how it ends. – Sean Gaffney

Koyomimonogatari: Calendar Tale, Part 01

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By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

This originally came out in Japan as one giant volume, but I totally understand why Vertical has decided to break it in half. The Monogatari books feel long and wordy enough as it is with their 280-300 pages per volume, but this one would be around 500, and that’s just too exhausting. That said, it does present a bit of a dilemma in that I feel the book is meant to be appreciated as a whole. Without spoiling the second volume, there is a very definite cliffhanger to this book, and it puts everything we read before into stark relief. But we don’t have that, so it has to be said: this feels meandering even for a Monogatari volume. Being a short story volume, even less is “happening” per se, so you’re entirely dependent on the conversations. Which is fine, as honestly dialogue is why we’re reading NISIOISIN in the first place. If you like snark, these stories will give it to you in spades. There’s also some nice foreshadowing here, as most of them take place at or near the start of the series.

“Koyomi” is not only Araragi’s first name, but also the word for “calendar”. The conceit of this volume is that we get twelve short stories, one for each month of the year. They start in April, immediately after the events in Kizumonogatari but before Nekomonogatari Black, and move forward in the timeline from there. Each story has Araragi conversing with one of the female leads, in the order he met them (not counting Shinobu/Kissshot). They serve as an examination of each heroine’s story (particularly in Sengoku’s case), but are also about the fact that, despite what you may think, not everything that Araragi happens across happens to be related to the supernatural. There are several puzzling things in this book that turn out to have ordinary, prosaic meanings – as is normally the case. Usually it’s NOT the immortal vampire.

Naturally, each story ends up sounding like its heroine, to a degree. Senjogahara’s is filled with caustic banter between two kids who agreed to date the other day but have no idea how to actually be a couple. Kanbaru’s has another cleanup of her messy room, is filled with innuendo, and has probably the best ending of the book, if only as it sounds perfectly in character. Sengoku’s has an ominous tone to some of it, taking place after her first arc but before her second, and hinting at events to come. The weakest stories in the book are probably the first and the last ones – Hanekawa before all her character development just comes across as Ms. Exposition, and Karen is simply not nearly as interesting as her brother and younger sister. Oh yes, one minor translation quibble – why is everyone cursing in this book? Normally I gloss over that sort of thing, but there sure are a lot of shits and fucks in here. When it’s Araragi it doesn’t jar as much, but Hanekawa saying “bullshit” does jar quite a bit, especially pre-Nekomonogatari Hanekawa.

This is a decent slice of Monogatari life, and will make the reader happy, but honestly if you can I would advise putting it off and reading it with its second part.

Pick of the Week: Present and Future Manga

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SEAN: Most of the debuts I was looking forward to picking this week got schedule shifted away, and I’m left with a lot of “Hrm”. So I’ll go with Teasing Master Takagi-san 5, always a favorite and with two fantastic chapters bookending the volume.

MICHELLE: I’ll go with the third and final volume of Love in Focus . This is the second short series from Yoko Nogiri that I’ve liked more than anticipated. I hope she writes something longer someday!

KATE: Our Dreams at Dusk is just about perfect with beautiful art, great characters, and a compelling story that allows readers across the spectrum to appreciate just how difficult it can be to come to terms with your own sexuality.

ANNA: Honestly the main thing I’ve been thinking of this week is the fact that we had a Rose of Versailles cover reveal! So I’ll pick Rose of Versailles even though it isn’t coming out for a long time, and also reserve the right to pick it again.

ASH: I am in complete agreement with Kate. Our Dreams at Dusk is such an incredible series, I’m making it my pick even when this week’s other releases include another of my favorites, To Your Eternity.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Double Seven Arc

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By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

The author states in the afterword that this was written to be serialized in Dengeki Bunko’s magazine, rather than as a stand-alone novel, and apologizes for its sloppiness. It’s certainly sloppy – its saving grace is that for once it wasn’t split into two for length, because as a two-volume set this would have been unbearable. On the downside, this means that this is an incredibly long volume where almost nothing happens. There are rumblings of a plot in the background involving the media attacking magicians, and there is foreshadowing of future events. For the most part, though, this book functions to start second year for Tatsuya and Miyuki, and to introduce the new freshman who will be semi-regulars going forward. Chief among whom are the twins on the cover, Mayumi’s little sisters Kasumi and Izumi. The title of the arc comes from them – “Saegusa” has ‘seven’ in its family name, and they are twins, hence ‘Double Seven’.

The twins are not the only new regulars introduced. We also meet Takuma Shippou, who is essentially Shinji from Fate/Stay Night without a sister to abuse. He’s meant to be unlikeable, and he certainly is – reading scenes with him was like eating glass. It will be interesting to see if he actually matures or if he stays an antagonist – Mahouka tends to fall into “you’re either with Tatsuya or against him” character dynamics, and I suspect any maturity might take a long while. There’s also Minami Sakurai, who has moved into the Shiba home to be Miyuki’s protector. Given that’s basically Tatsuya’s job, there’s more going on here, and I suspect it will play out in future books. Sadly, she’s a nonentity here, though I do give her credit for being against the Tatsuya/Miyuki ship – she’d be very happy if Tatsuya hooked up with Mayumi. (As would Mayumi, come to think of it.) Oh yes, and we also meet Kent Smith… erm, sorry, Kento Sumisu (his mother, Jennifer Smith, is a teacher at the school, so I can only assume he’s romanized this way as Tatsuya hasn’t made the connection), who seems to be Saika Totsuka from Oregairu transported to this universe.

The school has invented a new Magical Engineering course so that Tatsuya doesn’t have to put up with the “first/second” prejudice for another year. (Note that the first and second classes are still around, but sine the new freshman don’t involve Tatsuya, we don’t get to see if any of them are bullied.) It also has a couple of magical duels to attempt to solve arguments – one between Shippou and the twins, the other between Shippou and his upperclassman. This allows the author to do what he loves best, which is lovingly describe the magic system he’s invented in terms that make it sound like cook science instead of cool magic. To be fair, he is pretty good at this, and I imagine this would be a treat animated. Oh yes, and we get the highlight of the book – and possibly the entire series – when Tatsuya dresses as Batman for one of his espionage missions. No, really, there’s a picture.

It feels like I’m reading this series out of habit now. You know things are bad when I get excited at the prospect of a tournament arc, as the next volume seems to be. Till then, enjoy the new cast members being introduced over the course of a lot of pages but not making nearly as much of an impression as our stoic Batman.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Upheaval

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By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru. Translated by Matt Treyvaud.

Yang Wen-Li may be dead but Legend of the Galactic Heroes goes on, even if Yang’s ghostly presence hangs over much of this volume. Julian is trying to do things the way he thinks Yang would have wanted to, even to the point of hearing Yang’s dialogue in his head. He’s still got revenge on his mind, but it has to take a backseat. Much to his frustration, the fight against the Empire also has to take a back seat – he has in mind now trying to get the Empire to become more of a parliamentary democracy, but that’s a long-term plan, and also unlikely to happen with Reinhard in power. So Iserlohn is placed in a bit of stasis this volume, with its most dramatic decision being that of letting the Empire’s fleet pass by unmolested so that it can attack von Reuentahl’s fleet, as the long-foreshadowed rebellion is finally upon us. Oh well, at least it looks like he might be getting a tsundere girlfriend soon.

The “rebellion” is interesting, as it’s a setup, von Reuentahl knows it’s a setup, and yet he goes along with it anyway, partly as he’s fairly sure he wouldn’t be believed if he denied it but partly because, without Yang there to be the noble enemy, there’s nothing really stopping von Reuentahl from attacking the next best military genius – Reinhard. Of course, the joke is on him, as for once Reinhard allows himself to take a back seat and let Mittermeier handle things. They go about as well as you could expect, which is to say very badly for von Reuentahl, who can’t even bleed to death quietly in his office without being presented with his newborn child, the product of yet another love affair. This leads to one of the most bittersweet moments in the series, as a dying von Reuentahl asks the child be raised by childless Mittermeier and his wife. I wish it hadn’t gone this far, but at least there’s some good coming from it. Oh yes, and Trunicht was finally killed. That was great, he deserved it.

The book is not all doom and gloom, though it is mostly serious as always. After being verbally attacked for the massacre that happened about 7 books ago, Reinhard is in a mood and feeling depressed, and asks Hilda to stay the night with him. We don’t see the love scene that follows (though it’s made clear that they’re both dorky ignorant virgins, so it can’t have been that breathtaking), but we do get the aftermath, with Hilda fleeing back home saying “WTF have I done?” and Reinhard immediately showing up to propose. This whole section is actually very funny, and it’s nice to see Reinhard as a lover is about 1/100th as successful as Reinhard the military genius. That said, Hilda is “lucky” enough to get pregnant after this one-night stand, so after taking care of his little rebellion Reinhard proposes again, and this time Hilda accepts. Like most LOGH romances, this has been both obvious and incredibly slow burning, so is very satisfying to finally see.

The main story ends with the 10th and final volume next time. (There are more books with additional stories, but it’s not clear if those will be licensed.) With its huge cast getting smaller and smaller, what fresh new deaths await? Or can we finally achieve peace?

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 5

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By Soichiro Yamamoto. Released in Japan as “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Taylor Engel.

After reviewing the first volume of this charming series as a full review, I did Bookshelf Briefs for the 2nd to 4th volumes. I’m still loving it, but there’s usually not a lot to break down over the course of 500-plus words. Takagi teases Nishikata, he tries to overcome it/turn it back on her, he fails, next chapter. It’s a formula, much the same way that My Neighbor Seki follows a similar type of formula. And we do get several chapters here that show off that formula. Nishikata’s desire to beat Takagi in a school run is foiled by his ignorance of the fact that girls have to run shorter distances he’s tricked into helping Takagi pick out a swimsuit (this is a two-parter); and Takagi sees him pretending to be a wizard during a typhoon and mocks him for it, which may be the funniest chapter. But the first and last chapters are why I wanted to give this a review.

I’ll start with the last chapter of the volume, ‘Critical Hit’. This starts off pretty normally, with Nishikata thinking this is his day to finally win against Takagi because his horoscope and blood type fortune were both super lucky. Takagi knows his star sign AND blood type, of course, so shuts this down right away. But he tries anyway, as his horoscope says he’d get a “critical hit” today. So when his friends want him to go buy a game he wants with them, he rejects them and, not wanting to say the real reason, tells Takagi that he wanted to walk home with her. He DID it! He ALMOST won! Technically, he did win… but he’s too embarrassed at the implication, can’t look her in the eye, and backs off. And we see what he didn’t – Takagi is blushing. An important chapter as it shows Takagi is vulnerable and not perfect, and that Nishikata could win if he had more confidence and less second-guessing.

Then there’s the first chapter, Memories, which takes place well over ten years after the main storyline, and shows us Takagi as an adult with her daughter, Chi. The series is about Takagi being someone who likes to tease, but it doesn’t HAVE to be Nishikata. Here, she teases the reader, reminiscing about her middle school yearbook and implying that Nishikata is either a) dead or b) she didn’t end up with him. Any reader who looks at Chi and sees her daddy’s eyes is not going to be fooled, but, like most of Takagi’s “teasing”, this isn’t meant to be hard. She’s just having fun, and sure enough, at the end of the chapter, we see who she’s married to. This chapter is important as it shows us that things are not going to be static forever – sure, the manga may not end with a confession or anything like that, but we see that eventually there is a happy ending. This also helps make the teasing more fun.

Chapters like these are worth ten of Takagi teasing Nishikata about drinking coffee to be more “adult”, and are a big reason I still adore this cute series. Also, it’s now out digitally as well!

My Next Life As a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 4

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

This is a stronger volume than the previous one. The reader gets the sense that the author has decided on a forward path after previously ending the series with two volumes and then extending it out. Now, arguably there might be some frustration with Katarina getting confessed to at the end of the last book – and the end of THIS book – and being able to forget about it merely by being mildly distracted. It borders on disbelieving. But this is the sort of series we are reading, and we all know that the moment Katarina realizes everyone loves her and she has to do something about that, the basis of the series would stop. So on that front, things are much the same. Fortunately, we don’t add another person who falls madly for Katarina’s dense yet forthright personality this time around. We do get what seems to be an ongoing villain, though, and we also see that Katarina might be able to do more than just be really nice at people until they give in.

The premise for this book is that Keith is kidnapped by forces unknown, who leave behind a note saying he is running away from home. No one really believes he would do this, except of course Katarina, who is already getting hammered by her mother and servants for being too… well, too much like herself. So she resolves to go find him, and a crack team heads out composed of herself, Jeord (who is still trying to get her to react to his declaration of love), Maria (whose light magic is super useful here), Larna (who remains entertained by Katarina, but also wants to see what’s really going on) and Sora (the villain from last time, he’s now there basically to get in Jeord’s way so everything remains status quo). Oh yes, and Alexander the Ugly Bear, a magical device/familiar that really does not like Katarina, and the feeling is mutual. Can they find and rescue Keith/ And is there more dark magic at the cause of this?

As I noted above, the book feels more confident in its characters. Katarina can still be a blockhead much of the time, but there is a sense that she is maturing, just not in the field of romance. She has minimal talent in Earth Magic, but one scene towards the end suggests that, with the help of certain artifacts she happens to buy at a flea market, she can do a lot more to fight the forces of evil. This is important going forward, because clearly she’s going to join the Ministry, and “because she makes me laugh” was not really a good enough reason. There needs to be more to Katarina’s life besides “who will she end up with?”, and this is a very good start. I also liked the brief look we got at the series’ new villain, Sarah, who feels incredibly creepy and broken and who I suspect might be a tough nut for Katarina to crack.

Not quite as deeply silly as it has been, I still greatly enjoyed this volume of Bakarina. Will everyone finally graduate in the next volume? I want to find out.

Manga the Week of 7/24/19

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SEAN: It’s too hot to be outside. Stay indoors and read manga.

ASH: That is a really good idea.

SEAN: Dark Horse gives us the third volume of Eromanga-sensei.

J-Novel Club has a quartet of releases, including the final volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, which will tell us once and for all if it’s Bunny Dropping us or not. (The cover says yes, the blurb implies no.) We also get Amagi Brilliant Park 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 3, and Lazy Dungeon Master 6.

ASH: “Bunny Dropping” is such an evocative turn of phrase.

ANNA: I know that Bunny Dropping is something I wish to avoid.

SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has Gleipnir 3, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 2, Love in Focus 3, The Seven Deadly Sins 33, To Your Eternity 10, Waiting for Spring 11, and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 19-20, which is at the “we don’t publish sales numbers but it’s down to twice a year and omnibuses? Yikes” stage.

MICHELLE: Love in Focus has been pretty cute and I look forward to its third and final volume. It’s been a while since I’ve read any Waiting for Spring, too.

ASH: I agree, Love in Focus has been been pretty cute and enjoyable so far. And yikes indeed in regards to Yamada-kun, et al. I really got a kick out of it initially, but the series unfortunately couldn’t seem to sustain itself after so many restarts. To Your Eternity, however, remains astonishingly good (and frequently devastating).

SEAN: Kodansha, digitally, debuts The Great Cleric (Seija Musou), which is based on a light novel and is about a salaryman who suddenly finds himself in another world. The sheer originality of the plot has won me over.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: It also has has the 10th and final volume of Can You Just Die, My Darling?. There’s also Boarding School Juliet 11, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 15, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 7, My Boyfriend in Orange 7, and Tokyo Alice 13.

Seven Seas wraps up The Bride and the Exorcist Knight with the fourth volume, and Citrus with the 10th. There’s also a pile of other titles. Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare 2, Dreamin’ Sun 9, Toradora! light novel 6, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy 2, New Game! 6, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga volume 2.

MICHELLE: I shamefully admit I still haven’t read the first volume of Our Dreams at Dusk.

ASH: The first volume was phenomenal; I’m really looking forward to the second and subsequent volumes.

ANNA: Just tried to order it for my library!

SEAN: Udon has the 10th Persona 3 manga.

ASH: I’ll admit, I enjoyed what I’ve played of the game more than I enjoyed what I’ve read of its manga adaptation.

SEAN: And Vertical gives us a 12th Witchcraft Works.

Viz has Children of the Whales 1-11 out digitally, as well as élDLIVE 10.

Yen has pretty much divided most of their releases into two weeks, this being the first. Almost all the debuts got shifted late, so we mostly get ongoing series next week.

Yen On has 86 ~ Eighty-Six~ Vol. 2, Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer) 4, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks)? 3, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 2, and WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us? 4. They’re also releasing A Sister’s All You Need 1-4, previously a print-only title, digitally.

On the manga end, there are two debuts that did not get shifted. One is a spinoff, Goblin Slayer: Brand New Day. The other has perhaps the most awkward manga title I’ve ever seen, as it’s called Divine Raiment Magical Girl Howling Moon. This runs in Bessatsu Dragon Age, and is by the writer of Trinity Seven and the artist of Highschool of the Dead and Triage X. Eeeeeeeee. Despite this, I will attempt to give it a try. It’s apparently about a morally ambiguous magical girl. NOT HELPING MY ANTICIPATION.

ASH: That is quite the title and premise.

ANNA: Huh.

SEAN: In addition to those, there’s Angels of Death 7, BTOOOM! 25 (second to last, please end please end please end), A Certain Magical Index’s 18th manga volume, DIVE!! 3, Nyankees 3, The Saga of Tanya the Evil’s 7th manga volume, and Teasing Master Takagi-san 5 (as well as 1-4 digitally, as this was also print-only till now).

ASH: Interesting to see something released in print before being release digitally these days!

SEAN: What manga cools you off?

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 7

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By FUNA and Itsuki Akata. Released in Japan as “Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

I have a bit of a shameful confession to make. I don’t really care that much about the plot of Make My Abilities Average. Well, that’s not true. The girls’ ongoing adventures interest me, and I definitely want to read the 8th book to see Mile going home to where Adele came from. But all the stuff with Gods and millennia-old ancestors and the like kind of put me to sleep. It’s nice that the author wants to show there’s a genuine reason behind Mile getting reincarnated this way, but I feel it’s a bit unnecessary. It doesn’t matter what the religious cultists who kidnap Mile’s favorite catgirl are after, what matters is that they do it and Mile now has to stop them. It also doesn’t help that Mile goes to interrogate the cultists – and thus find out bits of the aforementioned plot – while wearing a school swimsuit, something so mind-bogglingly stupid even the rest of the Crimson Vow ignore it out of pity and just go back to bed.

The book is still funny, though most of the humor can be divided into two parts. The first is funny characters and situati0ons, as you want and expect. The second are scenes that all end with someone saying or doing something overpowered and the rest of the cast saying the equivalent of “Nandeyanen?!”. Boke and tsukkomi humor is clearly very important to the author, and it helps that any of the Vow, not just Mile, can be the boke at times. It does feel a little tiring after a while, though. Mile is also filling her observations with otaku humor as always, including references to Thunderbirds and The Rocky Horror Picture Show that I suspect may have been adapted away from some really, really obscure Japanese thing. We’ve also gotten so used to the cast that some of the funniest moments come when they don’t act as you’d expect, such as Reina becoming all soppy.

It’s not hard to see why Reina does this, though. Hot-tempered and stubborn as she is, she’s also the most “normal” of the Crimson Vow, and it’s wonderful seeing her boggle at the teamwork of the Servants of the Goddess, who are also all women and the same rank as the Vow but get through battles using their meager skills and perfect teamwork, as opposed to our four overpowered idiots just smashing through any obstacle. It’s exactly the kind of hunting party Reina dreamed of before she met Mile, and thus it’s no surprise that she starts to see the leader of the other party as a big sister figure (well, no surprise to us, it certainly surprises the rest of the Vow). The Vow also helps to fend off a very dangerous enemy: Mavis’ family, who want to marry her off. This problem is solved through the simple but hilarious plan of talking up Mile, who is even MORE awesome than Mavis and has even MORE of a noble background. Mavis isn’t too happy about that, though…

The humor might not be as top-tier as it once was, but this is still a lot of fun, and I definitely want to see what comes next.

Full Metal Panic!: Rampaging One Night Stand

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By Shouji Gatou and Shikidouji. Released in Japan by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

The FMP! novels mostly seem to have the same conceit for their titles: a Japanese word, followed by an English phrase. (OK, I think “Fighting Boy Meets Girl” was all English.) This is translated for the benefit of the English-speaking reader, and can, of course, lead to thwarted expectations. There are no one night stands as the word is commonly used in this book. The title refers to the fact that the main action in the book takes place over the course of one evening. And there certainly is a lot of rampaging, as the premise involves a huge, skyscraper-sized AS called the “Behemoth”, which is awkward but unstoppable, especially when piloted by Takuma, a troubled young man who is also somewhat mentally unbalanced. Things aren’t helped by the fact that, due to various attacks by Takuma’s terrorist friends, Sousuke’s commanding officer, Tessa, is forced to hide out in his apartment. And much as the action is interesting, it was Tessa meeting Kaname that provided the best part of this book.

Last time I mentioned that Kaname is a rare “angry girl heroine” who fans actually love, and Tessa is along the same lines, the “nice girl” rival character who, while not disliked by fans, has almost no one shipping her and Sousuke instead of Kaname. This book helps to show why, as I had forgotten how much it contrasts Tessa’s excellent command skills (and her abilities as a Whispered, something only hinted at in this book) and Tessa’s mediocre-to-poor skills as a girl falling in love. Indeed, the “nice girl” part of her is absent a lot of the time, as her pretending not to be Sousuke’s commanding officer in order to piss Kaname off is rather mean (and she has to apologize for it later), and she and Kaname have far more of an antagonist stance with each other than I’d remembered from when I first experienced this years ago. Heck, Tessa even declares her rivalry to Kaname at the end. Add to this her feelings about her brother Leonard, and she’s a fascinatingly complex character.

As for Kaname, use of her Whispered abilities are kept to a minimum here, meaning she spends most of the time as the bright, refreshing normal girl. As with the first book, she’s alternating between being attracted to Sousuke and finding him the most aggravating person in the world. This is not helped by his attempting to apologize to her by offering her heroin, so she can sell it for money. Yes, this is an actual thing that he does, and I’m pretty positive the anime cut that. Sousuke, while still doing things like this, has at least developed a finely-honed “Kaname is about to get really angry” sense, though most of the time – like when Tessa comes out of his shower while Kaname is there – there is nothing whatsoever he can do about it. That said, the “which of the two ladies do you like better?” choice offered by the villains doesn’t even register with him, as he makes the choice based solely on combat reasons.

Unlike a lot of action series with a romantic sideplot, most people read or watch FMP! for the romance. They won’t be disappointed with this one, a solid second volume that establishes a love triangle but also makes it clear who the winner will be.

Pick of the Week: Beasts and Demons

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MICHELLE: I am very happy that Haikasoru has kept up with printing the Legends of Galactic Heroes novels. One day, I really will read them! For my official pick, though, I’ll go with Beastars. I’m not entirely sold on the premise, but since the next shounen “big thing” I was initially meh about turned out to be My Hero Academia, I will be more receptive this time!

KATE: I’m also curious about Beastars, but I never miss an opportunity to plug Inio Asano’s Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, a book that walks the tightrope between mordant and morbid with ease. You’ll laugh, you’ll grimace, and you’ll get a lump in your throat at least once or twice in each volume. Oh, and the art’s pretty nifty, too.

ASH: Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction is always a good choice, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes has been a great read so far, but for my pick I’ll allow my curiosity to get the best of me and go with Beastars. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the series.

ANNA: Like many, I’m curious about Beastars. I’m going to go with Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction though, it really is something special.

SEAN: My pick is the new My Next Life As a Villainess, as it always makes me laugh.