Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: School Briefs, Vol. 2

by

By Kouhei Horikoshi and Anri Yoshi. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Caleb Cook.

The second of the My Hero Academia light novels is set at the training camp, so around Vol. 8-9 of the main series. It ends right before the villain attack. As such, as you might gather, it’s as light and frothy as its predecessor. The goal here is to tell standard “summer camp” stories that Horikoshi would like to do in the main series but hasn’t got the time for. So we see Momo tutoring the left-behinders of the class at her palatial mansion; the long bus drive to the training camp; Mineta being the worst – again; The girls of 1-A and 1-B (well, half of 1-B) having a combined slumber party; the boys of 1-A and 1-B having an arm wrestling contest/pillow fight; and Iida trying to find his glasses without waking anybody up. There’s no earth-shattering character revelations here, but if you want more of the cast being fun goofballs, you’ve come to the right series. It also reads more like it was written for teens rather than younger kids, which the first volume had an issue with.

Let’s just get this out of the way; Mineta is in this, and has just as large a role as the first book, including the third story being dedicated to his continued efforts to try to peep on the girls. I get that the author wants a comedy pervert in the cast for humor reasons, but you can’t have Aizawa bitching about how half-hearted heroes will be expelled from UA on the spot and keep Mineta around as a serial sexual harasser. The girls beating him up is not really sufficient punishment either, nor is having him groping Tiger, the transgender man from the Wild Wild Pussycats. It’s frustrating because, in the bus trip chapter, we do see that he does have the power to tell a compelling (if perverse) story, and keeps the rest of the class on tenterhooks waiting to see what comes next. There’s more to do with Mineta than this. If he’s only going to be this, get rid of him.

The main reason to pick this volume up, as someone who also dabbles in the fandom of My Hero Academia, is the shipping. There’s nothing “official”, no, except for Uraraka’s crush on Deku, but there’s lots of subtext if you know where to look for it. The first chapter sees Jirou worrying that Momo’s mother disapproves of her, and it reads exactly like meeting the girlfriend’s parents. Likewise, Bakugou tutoring Kirishima will make fans of that ship happy, and I was also pleased to see Bakuygou’s two middle-school bullying friends show up, and observe how much he’s actually mellowed out, despite getting thrown out of TWO studying places. As for the slumber party, Ashido is of course trying to make it all about romance, but unfortunately the girls in UA aren’t really into that right now. Aside from the brief IzuOcha I mentioned, there’s some KamiJirou tease, some Kacchako tease, and, perhaps most oddly, Ashido/Dark Shadow shipping from the rest of the girls, a ship so rare I don’t even think it has a name. This was fun.

These books are meant to be something that are fun to read (Mineta aside) and supplementary to the main storyline. This one does a good job. The next volume seems to be set right after moving into the dorms, so that should be fun.

Side-By-Side Dreamers

by

By Iori Miyazawa. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Publishing. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

As with another Hayakawa title released last year, Last and First Idol, I’d say that this book might be more rewarding for those who are looking for a really good science fiction book rather than those who are looking for yuri. It’s there – the two leads gradually realize their love, and there are hints of another couple (that never go past that), but I suspect anyone buying this wanting, say, Madoka Magica or the like are going to be disappointed. That said, I greatly enjoyed it as a science fiction story, and would recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different from the standard light novel. (Being a Hayakawa title, this is a straight novel, with only one illustration of the cast, and no interior pictures.) That said, if you worry about getting too much sleep, or not enough, this book’s themes and imagery are probably not going to quiell any fears – your lack of sleep may secretly be destroying the world. Sweet dreams.

Our main heroine, Saya, has been suffering from abysmal insomnia for the past few months, and it’s destroyed most of her school and social life. One day, while staggering to the nurse’s office to lie down and not sleep, she runs into Hitsuji, another girl in her school who has no trouble sleeping at all – she can drop off anywhere, and in fact the rest of the people around her might sleep too. Saya finds herself lying next to the girl and for once, actually sleeping… which leads to her dreaming of a world where she and Hitsuji are lovers who are fighting creatures called Suiju. As it turns out, Hitsuji and some other girls are Sleepwalkers, who have the power to hunt those creatures in dreams. Which is important, as the creatures seem to be trying to break out into the real world… and if they do that, the real world won’t stay that way. Can Saya, whose insomnia can be weaponized, help? Or will she make things worse? And can she and Hitsuji acknowledge their feelings outside of dreams?

There is some fantastic and imaginative dream imagery in this book, as it shows the way that dreams can drift from one thing to another and often have their own bent sort of logic. It can be hard to even realize that you’re not dreaming – particularly for Saya, who tends to get caught up in her dreams a bit too much. The Suiju at first just seem like standard easy-to-kill monsters, but as the book goes on it becomes clear that they’re pulling the girls into a trap, and the dreams become a lot more like nightmares. The last third of the book or so has the reader (and the characters) trying to figure out whether they’re awake or asleep. I will note, though, that the ending to the book is very abrupt – VERY abrupt. I think it works all right, but it does feel a bit like the author wanted to be a bit arty and mysterious, and this was the best way to do it. Things are resolved? Maybe?

As I said, as a yuri title this is cute but not much else. As a science fiction book, though, it was great fun to read. I hope we can get more Hayakawa titles in the future.

Pick of the Week: Dreaming of Shoujo

by , , , and Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: Despite the Pretty Little Liars vibes of its concept, the mere fact that Daytime Shooting Star ran in Margaret is sufficient for me to award it my pick of the week. I deeply hope I’m not skeeved.

SEAN: I want that too, and will always welcome Oresama Teacher and Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, but my pick this week is Side-by-Side Dreamers, because yuri science fiction novels are something I’d like to see more of.

KATE: I’m still reeling from last week’s enormous bounty, so I’m going to pass on recommending anything new. Ask me when I’m climbed out from underneath the big stack of books next to my bed…

ASH: I’m likewise behind in my manga reading, however many of the shoujo releases from Viz will still be added to my ever-growing stack this week. I’m easily furthest behind with Oresama Teacher, but it’s such a delightful series that I have no qualms with making it my official pick.

ANNA: I’m always excited for shoujo debuts like Daytime Shooting Star, but when looking over the week I’m most interested in reading the second volume of Snow White with the Red Hair, which seemed endearingly quirky based on the first volume. I want to see how the series develops.

Infinite Dendrogram: Blue Blood Blitz

by

By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

First off, it has to be said: that is a deeply ludicrous and yet amazing hat and cloak combo that the Princess is wearing while she’s out secretly saving the world – though it seems the only one who doesn’t figure out who she is is Ray. I’d mentioned in my last review that the Princess is set up as a sort-of-but-not-really love interest for Ray, and that holds true here: Ray continues to be almost asexual, and it’s made clear that his role in Altimia’s story is to get her to trust Masters again so that Altar might actually be able to defend itself in the upcoming war. That said, she and Ray do make a very good combo team, and I’m sure we’ll see more of her eventually. Also amusing in this volume is Ray and Nemesis taking down an extremely cliched villain from the “This-this cannot be!” school of acting, and the revelation about who he is in real life fits 100%.

The girl on the cover is another of Ray’s new weapons/abilities/allies, but in terms of this story she shows up, demonstrates her FIRE PUNCHING, then goes away again. More interesting are the revelations about Tom Cat, the clone-making adventurer that we met in the previous book. His actual identity is more of a surprise than I expected, but works well in the context of the series/world. It’s still unclear how much of Dendrogram is “this is an unusually complex game with a deep deep backstory” and how much is “this is an actual world that we have somehow made into a game”, but the author is enjoying making us try to figure it out. Hopefully next time we will have fewer doomsday weapons. That said, I did very much enjoy the weapon having slept for 2000 years and no longer able to recognize what humanity is till it sees something that is reminiscent of its former time. It was cheesy but very effective.

There’s an anime coming soon, and I really do wonder how a fandom that’s not familiar with him is going to deal with Ray. His chuuni tendencies aside (and we do get some more making fun of his Evil Overlord Outfit), he really is the ridiculously OP hero that most fans of fantasy works profess to hate. He has an easier time than he’s had in the last few books here – he may be pushed to the brink once or twice, but there’s never any real sense he’s in trouble, and it helps that he’s found out that his magical robot horse is also doing cool (if mysterious) stuff to save his life. Without the usual Altar masters around to show that there are people even better than Ray, he gets more of a big fish in a small pond book here. It works well for this book, but I hope next time we see him either in real life or the game getting shown that he has a ways to go.

Dendrogram is always fun to read, and this volume is no different. At times I can’t follow the worldbuilding (a wiki of some sort is likely needed), but it’s still definitely recommended.

The Asterisk War: Conquering Dragons and Knights

by

By Yuu Miyazaki and okiura. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

Even if you hadn’t already figured out what the result of the Gryps competition, the subtitle of the volume may clue you in. Our heroes this time take on Jie Long’s Dragon Warriors, a team seemingly set up to look like they stepped off the screen of a videogame. The winner of that battle goes on to face Saint Gallardsworth’s team of Arthurian types, though I’m honestly not sure if Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table ever had an obvious princess-curled tsundere quite like Laetitia. Things are not helped by the events in the previous volume, which have left most of Team Enfield feeling particularly exhausted. Of course, this is exactly the time when a typical cliched shonen series would have its cast each reach the next level, pull new abilities out of their asses, and go on to crush the competition by virtue of being really, really shonen about it. And never let it be said that Asterisk War does not go for the easy answer, as this is exactly what happens.

Kirin has the cover image this time around, and while the author apologizes in the afterword for sidelining her from the final fight, I have a feeling that was meant to be partly ironic, as the fight against Jie Long is Kirin’s finest hour to date. Honestly, I was expecting Ayato to pull things off again, but to be fair, he was needed for the next fight along, and Kirin had not had a spotlight in some time, so it’s justified. Much as it’s talked about in terms of being able to see the way the fighter’s prana is behaving, her new ability essentially boils down to “can predict moves better”, which is fine. No one cries out for gritty realism in a magical academy fighting manga – at least I hope they don’t. Instead you ask for cool, and that’s what we get here… at the cost of Kirin being bedridden for the rest of the book. And possible getting yelled at by her family, there’s a cliffhanger involved.

We then go up against Team Lancelot, though not before we see Ayato meet a mysterious masked man who professes to be the one who put his sister in her coma. He’s a trickster mentor of the finest water, and his presence (and assistant) seems to hint that Ayato’s story will be tied up with Sylvie’s again pretty soon. That said, the best part of this second half was seeing Ernest finally give in and embrace his inner selfish asshole. His weapon involves being pure, noble and chivalrous, but doing so was clearly pressuring him in ways that were obvious to see. It was one of those things where the reader, who knows his character type, was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He also becomes far more interesting, even though it may be Percival who we follow going forward. (Sorry, Laetitia, you have “always a side character” written all over you.

In addition to Kirin’s family cliffhanger, we also get Ayato getting a call from his father right at the end. Still, despite that, I suspect that the next volume will be a lighter, breezier one to help relax after this arc. If you’re enjoying this beach read of a light novel, this is an excellent pickup.

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 14

by

By Namekojirushi and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mana Z.

There is a plot twist about 2/3 of the way through this volume that pretty much manages to make me drop my main complaint about the book, which is that it’s simply too short. Even by the standards of Little Apocalypse, not one for large page counts, this is ridiculously short. It’s also got a cliffhanger, making me wonder if it might originally have been combined with the volume after it. The first third is relatively sedate… for Rekka, not the reader. We know there’s a problem because the huge cast list of heroines we see at the start of each book has almost all of them scribbled out – including R. Only seven heroines make the cut for this book, leading us to wonder what it is about them that makes them important… or rather, unimportant, as it seems they’re what’s left over after most of Rekka’s memories of the last six months have been wiped.

Technically not a new heroine on the cover, nor is she played by Jodie Whitaker, but The Doctor is the creator of both L and R, and is interested in their welfare – as well as that of Rekka. Sadly, events in the future are reaching a turning point, with the extremists deciding now is the time to kill Rekka in the past, even if they have to use giant robots to destroy the town. And that’s what we get, as a baffled Rekka and his remaining heroines try to evacuate and figure out what’s going on. Fortunately, Rekka eventually gets his memory back, and we find out what happened to R, but the other missing heroines remain missing for the entire book, nor do we know where they are. (My guess is the future, where Rekka ends up heading at the end of the book.) Even his parents, who show up in this book for the first time since the start of Chapter 1 or Book 1, aren’t able to do much but slow the enemy down.

As I noted earlier, I really liked the twist we get here, which is that Rekka should NOT be having to deal with all these heroines at once. The gimmick of the series – that he uses one heroine’s problems to solve another’s problem – was never meant to happen. The seven heroines who aren’t mindwiped/kidnapped are there because they’re the heroines he was SUPPOSED to originally save. They’re the “easy mode” heroines. (Notably, this does NOT include his childhood friend, removed even from her parents’ memories.) They’re heroines that Rekka could save using only his own human abilities and those of the heroine herself – I mean, we do still have a shrine priestess and nun with very lethal weapons around. If nothing else this helps us to be impressed with what Rekka’s achieved. The question is, though, what changed everything? Does it have to do with Rekka’s “helper” being R, not L?

Again, readers need to prepare for being able to finish off this book in only an hour. But if you don’t mind the length, this is a suitably fun and interesting volume as we head towards the series’ climax.

Accel World: The Black Dual Swordsman

by

By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

First of all, my apologies. I ended the last review by complaining that we had the buildup to “what will a Space Stage be like?” with no follow through. Of course, it’s in THIS book that we get the space stage, as before they can battle Oscillatory Universe they have to go through Great Wall, who took some of their territory back in the day and now need to test their resolve in the best shonen manner. This of course leads to Black Lotus battling Graphite Edge, which leads me to my first complaint: I’m not that fond of Graphite Edge. Usually I enjoy a character with his sort of personality, but I feel it meshes very badly into the Accel World Universe. There’s also the fact that he’s clearly meant to be a take on Kirito – just look at the subtitle for this volume. But he’s nothing like Kirito at all – if anything he’s more similar to Klein. That said, the cliffhanger shows we may get more interesting detail about him in the next book.

We also meet a few other people in the real world and see how they contrast with their burst linker selves./ Sometimes it’s not much of one – the twins from Leondis radiate “we are a cliched parody of twins” to their core, but feel much the same in the Accelerated World. And sometimes there’s a larger contrast, as we find that Chocolat Puppeter is a classic “why would anyone notice me as I’m so ordinary” heroine. This is in fact pointed out by her two companions, who note that she’s the sort that folks call cute, and they’re right. I was a bit put out that we got the buildup for them meeting Nega Nebulus in the real world but the meeting itself took place offscreen – if nothing else I always enjoy people who have fought Silver Crow suddenly realize that it’s Haruyuki. This is especially true for Chocolat Puppeter, who we recall he tried to eat in their last fight. For tactical reasons, of course.

The climax of the book (there’s also a short story epilogue giving backstory to Blood Leopard, which was OK but that’s about it) involves Haruyuki realizing that he may not be able to be with Kuroyukihime much longer – her parents are pressuring her to move to a high school away from Tokyo, or even in America. This would mean no more Accel World. As such, he wants to help her achieve her goals… sort of. He wants her to reach Level 10, but doesn’t want her to kill four Kings to do it. So he and Fuko (and Metatron, who I really hope meets Othinus some day in an Index crossover) go back to the Imperial Palace to talk once more to the young boy who is totally not the son of the Emperor or anything, Trilead Tetraoxide. Unfortunately, the book ends before we can see if they achieve what they went there for: to see if the Fluctuating Light holds the answer to Level 10.

This is, overall, a fairly typical Accel World, still sort of spinning its wheels waiting for the next big arc. That said, 18 volumes in you’ll still want to read it.

Manga the Week of 7/3/19

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: July begins with, as you may be used to by now, a pile of manga. Let’s take a look.

Cross Infinite World has another novel debut with Labyrinth Angel, a supernatural thriller with a psychic woman and her butler assassin.

ASH: I do have a soft spot for butler assassins…

SEAN: There’s no Seven Seas next week, oddly enough, but we have two Ghost Ship titles. To-Love-Ru Darkness 11 and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 6 are both out.

J-Novel Club debuts a one-shot yuri novel, Side-by-Side Dreamers. Like JK Haru, this is from Hayakawa, a publisher known more for their science fiction than their light novels. An insomniac and a girl who can influence dreams battle against outside forces trying to destroy everyone’s sleep.

ASH: That’s a great premise. I hope this one is eventually released in print!

SEAN: They’ve also got Cooking with Wild Game 3, Infinite Stratos 8, and Kokoro Connect 6.

Kodansha has only one print title out next week, the 7th Grand Blue Dreaming.

Digitally, they have My Sweet Girl 4, Our Precious Conversations 3, Perfect World 9, and The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn 5.

MICHELLE: I keep meaning to check out Our Precious Conversations, as it’s by Robico, whose My Little Monster I enjoyed.

SEAN: Now we drop all the way from K to V, with Vertical’s 13th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

There’s plenty of Viz, though – in fact it’s the bulk of the list. Debuting is Daytime Shooting Star (Hirunaka no Ryuusei), a Margaret title! Yes, regular Margaret, not Betsuma – a rarity for Western licenses. Country girl moves to the city, and finds the hot guy who she met the other day is her homeroom teacher. Student/teacher romance is not normally my thing, but I’m still gonna check it out.

MICHELLE: I unfailingly love Margaret titles, so despite the student/teacher aspect, I will also be reading this one.

ANNA: Me too, psyched for anything Margaret.

ASH: Count me as curious.

SEAN: Other shoujo titles include Anonymous Noise 15, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 4, Oresama Teacher 26 (the ending was just announced in Japan! Noooooo!), Snow White with the Red Hair 2, Vampire Knight: Memories 3, and The Water Dragon’s Bride 10.

MICHELLE: Lots of good stuff in this list! I especially vote for Snow White with the Red Hair, the first volume of which was a lot of fun and had seriously likeable leads.

ANNA: This is a good week for me. Also excited for Snow White with the Red Hair and Water Dragon’s Bride.

ASH: Yup! Hooray for shoujo fantasy!

SEAN: On the Jump end, there is Black Clover 16, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 7, Dr. STONE 6, Haikyu!! 33, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 9, the 2nd My Hero Academia School Briefs light novel, as well as the 5th Vigilantes spinoff volume, and Platinum End 9.

ASH: Hooray for Haikyu!!, too!

SEAN: Lastly, a couple of Yen titles got pushed back a bit. Bungo Stray Dogs gets its first novel, a prequel taking place two years before the manga. And we also get the 11th and final Alice in Murderland, which means that we are once again in an odd, Kaori Yuki-less time period in our lives.

There’s plenty in this list to interest everyone. What about you?

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 9

by

By Fujino Omori and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I’ve talked before about how I regret that the publisher talked the author into using the title this series has, as opposed to the original title Familia Myth. Granted, I see the publisher’s point, Familia Myth is not the most eye-catching title in the world. But DanMachi’s title puts the emphasis on Bell and his harem, even in these side stories dedicated to Loki’s crew. Whereas Familia Myth emphasizes the family aspect of the series, and I honestly think that that’s handled better than the harem. This 9th volume of Sword Oratoria interlaces with the 8th volume of the main series, showing us some scenes we’d seen from Bell’s POV in a new light when we get Aiz’s inner monologue. Interspersed with this are flashbacks to the time when Aiz first joined Loki Familia, and… let’s just say that “she was a little terror” doesn’t even begin to describe little Aiz and her desire for strength above all else, including her own safety.

Given that the cover art heavily implied it, I was expecting this volume to be heavy on Aiz’s backstory and emotional journey, and I wasn’t wrong. We’re still not quite sure what happened to her parents or precisely who they were, but we definitely get her first year with Loki’s familia sketched in here. Aiz is driven by a desire to kill monsters and get stronger, and does not care about anything else. She’s a bratty kid, and a lot more emotional than you’d expect from the stoic Aiz we know and love. In fact, this also applies to the current Aiz, who is in the dragon-scale worshiping village that she, Bell and Hestia ended up in the 8th DanMachi. In my review of that book I said I wanted to find out someday why Aiz was so FURIOUS at this village worshiping the scale, and here we find out exactly why… and maybe also why she has such trouble with Bell’s “not all monsters are evil” fight, which I’m fairly certain will be the subject of the next Sword Oratoria book.

I was expecting Aiz to get development, but I was also delighted with what this book did for Riveria. The “team mom” of the Familia, she’s been that way for so long that it’s easy to forget she wasn’t always that way, and nothing brings out her more emotional and angry sides quite like a 7-year-old with a death wish who won’t listen to a word she says. Little Aiz does not understand what everyone else does, which is that the look in her eyes is not only worrying but terrifying, and Riveria does not want her to go into the dungeon and get massacred by a really strong monster (which almost happens right at the end). As we’ve cone to expect with DanMachi in general, the plot beats are very cliched – we literally get a “you’re not my mom!” scene here – but that doewsn’t make it less heartwarming.

Also this plus one or two hilarious scenes of “why we never give Aiz alcohol” make this one of the strongest books in the entire series. Highly recommended.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/25/19

by , and Leave a Comment

Again!!, Vol. 9 | By Mitsurou Kubo | Kodansha Comics – Victories are always hard-won in Again!!. Nothing is tidy. Nothing goes right the first time. In this volume, Imamura and the ouendan help the drama club for the school festival, since they essentially poached the new members the drama club would have gotten in this reality. They were originally going to put on a musical Imamura wrote called “I Want to Die,” despite the school’s attempts to shut that down. That is, until, their club advisor collapses and might actually die, at which point they feel compelled to perform the sanitized “I Want to Live” version instead. After initially feeling left out of this version, Imamura ends up being proud of it, and catches a glimpse of a place he might belong in this world. He’s fallen in love, too, and could be happy here. Now the question is… will he be allowed to stay? – Michelle Smith

Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy | By Sanzo | Yen Press – Sometimes there’s a manga with a premise so bizarre my curiosity can’t help but be piqued. Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy is one of those manga. It’s also a surprisingly good tale, the strangeness of which can be taken at face value as well as as an overt metaphor. Believing she’s too good for him, Akane rejects Suzume’s confession of love. Miserable, Suzume makes drastic wish from a local god which transforms her into a caterpillar-like creature. The main characters in Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy are all dealing with some major issues surrounding love, trust, and self-worth, and they definitely don’t always handle them in the best or healthiest ways. The result is a manga that can be incredibly dark and bittersweet. There are some inconsistencies in the story’s internal logic regarding which wishes can and cannot be fulfilled, but I still rather enjoyed this peculiar manga. – Ash Brown

DAYS, Vol. 14 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It’s only volume fourteen and Seiseki has made it to nationals. By sports manga standards, that might seem very quick, but actually, one of the things I like best about DAYS is that the main character, Tsukamoto, never takes anything for granted and always pauses to appreciate things, like the random chance of meeting Kazama and ending up on a team with these guys, or the excitement of taking a long bus ride as a team, or the fun of getting to stay in a hotel with Western beds. In between, there’s soccer aplenty, as the third years play against the younger students in an attempt to imbue them with some passion, but the overall feeling is one of “be sure to enjoy this moment,” which I really like. We get a glimpse here, but the tournament will really get underway next time! – Michelle Smith

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 30 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I continue to be torn about Food Wars!. I really did like some aspects of this volume, like Soma recognizing Erina’s superior skill and having her taste every component of his dish in their team challenge while simultaneously spurring her on to greater creative heights. I was happy with the outcome, and am curious about what the power structure at Totsuki will be like going forward—will Soma and Erina really be on the Council of Ten? However, I just can’t overlook that a major plot point in this volume involves Azami’s “spiritual essence” pulsating outward every time he tastes something delicious, causing multiple students in the audience to disrobe. I get that there needed to be a gimmick so that Azami could not refute the deliciousness of Soma and Erina’s two-course meal, but I just wish it wasn’t this. Sigh. – Michelle Smith

Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods, Vol. 6 | By Takuto Kashiki | Yen Press – I really enjoy each volume of this series, but it can’t be denied that it’s hard to fill even a brief with enough words for a review. Hakumei gets a haircut, but it grows back to its normal scruff fairly soon after. The couple also build a new outdoor kitchen with a brick oven for Mikochi, who is always looking for more and better ways to cook. Probably my favorite chapter in here was the one where Sen goes to the bar and runs into Conju, who is very drunk and very talkative, and we get a nice contrast of extrovert and introvert. For the most part, the series delivers more of the same, a peaceful, easy fantasy that will make you smile. Which is what I ask it to do, so that’s good. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 7 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – This has rapidly turned into one of my favorite shoujo manga, even as it comes up with relatively obvious plot beats and complications. It succeeds because of the strength of its cast. Kai wants things to progress now that he’s dating Riko, but a kiss may be a little too much to ask, even with the help of both Ayumi AND Einstein. Meanwhile, an accidental remark by Miki’s sister has Kiyo feeling very self-conscious of her height… and realizing that Riko is not opening up about her own issues puts a “you never talk to me about anything” rift in their friendship. Meanwhile, the one weak link in the series—Tarou and Kagura—had better get an arc dedicated to them soon or else they’re never going to grab the readers. Still great. – Sean Gaffney

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 2 | By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Neko Hinotsuki | Seven Seas – After the first volume introduced the hero and heroine and had them working to achieve their objective (an heir) by having sex (which they do), this second volumes gives us what I think most readers will stick around for: oodles of political intrigue. Zenjiro is finally introduced to most of the major nobles of the area in a dinner party of the damned, and has to navigate being polite but also not overly subservient—and how to accept gifts by not accepting them. He does a very good job, as everyone admits. He may not be able to fend off the need for a concubine or two, though—monogamy is relatively unheard of in this world. Fortunately, he and Aura still really love each other, which counts for a lot. – Sean Gaffney

Satoko and Nada, Vol. 2 | By Yupechika | Seven Seas – There’s a lot more Nada than Satoko in this second volume, which should not be surprising—she’s the one who is “foreign” to Japanese eyes, whereas Satoko’s realization that you can’t get milk bread in America runs a distant second. This is not to say that this volume isn’t great fun, letting the reader learn about Saudi customs (there’s an arranged marriage coming up that it’s hinted will take up a lot of the third book) and also lets her try things that she could never get away with back home (like riding a bike). Satoko is also doing things, like getting a cafeteria job on campus, and her role in this second volume is to become more outgoing—it’s said that she’s gotten better at presentations since she was paired with the gregarious Nada. READ THIS. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 9 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – I loved the fact that this series did not decide to embrace all the usual “we’re living together” tropes—indeed, the best scene in the book has Takane running into Hana dressed only in a towel coming out of the shower, and her reaction (and subsequent teasing) had me cheering. Hana’s been informed by Takane’s grandfather that this is necessary for his growth, so they reluctantly decide to go through with it. But that doesn’t make it any easier given that he’s still a lot older than her and she’s still in school. It also gives Okamon the push to confess to Hana, though honestly I’m not expecting much there. This series continues to be very funny and makes me root for the couple despite its problematic age issues. – Sean Gaffney

Whenever Our Eyes Meet…: A Women’s Love Anthology | By Various Artists | Yen Press – The reason to get this anthology is that all of its content is dedicated to adult women out of school and at the workplace. This is so refreshing it almost drowns out the actual content. It helps that the initial story, featuring an artist accepting a commission from a singer who wears a horse’s head mask to hide her face, is a nice start. But the rest of the stories are also quite good, with some being fleeting encounters and some turning into lasting relationships. I also liked the story of the up-and-coming woman who’s doing a presentation and finds her old coworker is her cab driver. Sometimes this risks being just another anthology, but in the end I enjoyed it. – Sean Gaffney

Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Vol. 1

by

By Spica Aoki. Released in Japan as “Otome Kaiju Caramelise” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Taylor Engel.

As a lot of people know, manga magazines/genres in Japan tend to be loosely divided into four categories: shonen (for boys), shoujo (for girls), seinen (for men), and josei (for women). There are more of these, of course, such as magazines for little kids, but for the most part those are the typical genres. I say “loosely” divided as over the years it’s becomes easier for readers and creators to cross over into titles they might not be expected in. More and more women are reading Jump, and not just for BL fantasies. Guys are enjoying Betsufure titles. This comes up because the creator of Kaiju Girl Caramelise had previously been serialized in shoujo magazines such as Princess. As she says in the afterword, when she got a title for Comic Alive, which is a media-oriented seinen magazine, she thought at first she’d need to make it more obviously for guys. Her editors explained that no, this story really works best as shoujo, do it that way even though we’re Comic Alive. And they were right.

Kuroe has suffered her entire life from some sort of illness that causes her to grow kaiju parts, particularly claws and tail, when she’s experiencing feelings of love or passion. Needless to say, this doesn’t win friends or influence people, and so in high school she’s a sullen loner who avoids everyone and is given the cruel nickname “Psycho-tan”. (Kudos to Yen for the footnote explaining the nickname in Japanese, btw.) Given that this IS a shoujo title, she quickly captures the attention of the hottest boy in class, and ends up “tricked” by him into going on a date with her to get expensive pancakes. Unfortunately, his being nice to her, listening to her advice, and holding her hand puts her repressed feelings into overdrive, and she quickly runs away before turning into a full-blown Godzilla-style Kaiju, rampaging through Tokyo and horrifying everyone. The metaphor is about as subtle as a truck.

Despite the unsubtlety, this first volume is a lot of fun. The artist had previously done Beasts of Abigaile, which I also enjoyed. Kuroe is intelligent and likeable, if also somewhat blunt and caustic. Arata is a nice guy (no, not like that) who so far has no idea that the girl he likes transforms into a 30-story-tall monster when she thinks about them dating. There’s a third girl introduced in the standard “oh, he has a girlfriend of course he does… wait, no” sort of way, and she’s amusing in a fangirl sort of way – let’s hope SHE never finds out the truth about Kuroe, as I don’t think this series needs to go down a yuri road. And as always in series with troubled teens, I am always appreciative of a concerned parent, as Kuroe’s mother knows the truth about her condition and wants Kuroe to be happy despite it.

This is, as you’d expect, a fairly lighthearted series, but it’s also sweet in its own way. It’s just started in Japan, so I wouldn’t expect new volumes every two months, but it’s worth checking out.

Pick of the Week: Welcome Returns

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Something for everyone this week. I enjoyed Little Miss P, and have been waiting for more Satoko and Nada for some time. I have to go with one of my “comfort manga” titles, though, so this week I’m picking the 2nd Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family. So many mythical heroes not killing each other and eating yummy food!

MICHELLE: I hope VIZ does more in the digital-only vein, so I will support their inroads into that arena by picking The Right Way to Make Jump. Plus, Kohei Horikoshi is in it, apparently.

ANNA: I’m going to go with Satoko and Nada for my pick.

KATE: I’m torn between the second installment of Satoko and Nada and the first installment of At the Mountains of Madness. How’s that for tonal whiplash?

ASH: Likewise! The first volume of Satoko and Nada was terrific, but then so was Gou Tanabe’s previous Lovecraft adaptation. And so I’ll continue the tonal whiplash by picking something different still, The Monster and the Beast.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 10

by

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Borque.

As with my review of the 9th volume, I recommend that this review not be read by anyone who’s only seen the anime or manga versions of Re: Zero.

The first half of this book is merely good, as it has to set up the basics of what will be the next arc. Subaru and Emilia arrive back at the mansion only to find that the other half of the village – the one with Ram – is not there. Instead they’ve ended up at the Sanctuary, an area deep in the woods that is the home to demi-humans. Headed over there, Subaru quickly runs afoul of the Witch Echidna, who is able to wrap him around her little finger despite the obvious handicap of being dead. Her tomb is home to a trial that Emilia must take – and, it appears, Subaru is able to take it as well, as he quickly gets sucked into the first of the three tests it involves. Which is good for the reader, as it involves confronting and accepting his past… a past that we’ve been almost entirely ignorant of till now.

So yeah, as expected, Rem is still in a coma and no one remembers her, and it appears that this is going to be the case for the entire arc. I suspect that Rem fans are not going to be too happy with the bright side, which is that this will allow Emilia to get more character development that she didn’t get in the previous arc. Unfortunately, as with Subaru’s character development in the last few books, this is going to begin with a certain amount of frustration – while Subaru is pretty much able to pass the first test with flying colors, Emilia fails the “confront your past” part every single time. I expect a future book will tell us why, but till then, sobbing on the ground and calling out for Puck (who is also absent, for reasons we don’t yet know) is not a good look for her.

The main reason to read this book is the chapter where Subaru confronts his past, which means that we actually get to know his past. His parents are both fantastic in their own way, two people who you read about for ten seconds and immediately understand “yes, these are absolutely who his parents would be”. Subaru suffered as a kid from what a lot of us do, which is being above average in academics and athletics to a certain age, but then starting to fall behind others. Subaru, who was measuring himself by his “perfect” father and coming up short, overcompensated by being more boisterous and doing more crazy, dangerous things at school – something that eventually lost him his friends and made him decide to stop going to school altogether. The trial allows him to do something that he can’t do in real life – say goodbye to both his parents, and assure them that he’s stopped standing still and is moving forward. The entire sequence is terrific.

Unfortunately, Re: ZERO still has its main gimmick in play. And so at the end of the volume Subaru is brutally murdered, and we see a face that I’d honestly totally forgotten about doing the killing. I’m not sure how far back he’ll go, but I suspect we won’t be seeing the first stage of the trial all over again. Also, his idea to take the trial FOR Emilia as her knight is a bad one, and I hope it gets scrapped. In any case, this is a fantastic new volume of an excellent series. Man, remember when I hated Subaru? It seems so long ago now…

Silver Spoon, Vol. 9

by

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

What I said about farming last time goes double for this volume, as there’s a pile of new information here about pigs, horses and everything in between. The pigs are getting ready to be butchered, and this time the entire school pools its money together to buy three of them. Despite having raised them from little piglets, this time around Hachiken is going to see Bacon’s journey all the way through to… well, bacon. As such, we get a very detailed observation of a pig butchering, so a word of warning for those of you who are squeamish. It is quite interesting, though, and long exposure to the procedure shows all the kids bouncing ideas off each other at a very fast pace (for future selling, etc.) – something that the teachers credit Hachiken for, as his ignorance in farm matters but raging curiosity leads the other kids to think of things they may not have otherwise.

We’ve been watching Hachiken grow over the course of this series, and this volume is excellent at showing the reader how far he’s come and showing him how far he still needs to go. In order to help Mikage study, he breaks down and asks his brother for help, and finds out his study guide notes are his for the taking – provided he goes back home to get them, as he left them in his old room. (In the interim, Shingo has somehow gotten married to a Russian woman, on the spur of the moment, showing again how different he and Hachiken are.) Hachiken’s return at first impresses us – his old middle school classmates note his new abilities and relaxed countenance, even as they get fake angry when they hear there are girls he speaks to. Sadly, going home means another fight with his father, one where Hachiken for once does not back down and defends what he sees as his Dad berating his classmates. It’s a great scene, and leads to his mother journeying up to the school herself to see what Hachiken is doing there.

He’s also tutoring Mikage, and tutoring is all it is, much to the frustration of her friends and the joy of his. (The frustrating of teenage hormones is a constant refrain in this manga, usually used to make things more lighthearted.) Mikage is trying, but there’s no miracle cure – no matter how much Hachiken breaks it down into horse anecdotes, this is going to be hard for her. (I laughed when the group suggested he become a teacher, and Mikage correctly pointed out he would die trying to help each student at maximum power.) There’s no turning back now, though, especially since her parents are selling some of the horses to help pay for her to go to college. The need for money is a constant theme of this series, which is also why it’s so jarring when Hachiken asks his father about any debt they may have, and finds that he is far better off than everyone else – they’ve even saved for his college. His is not a farming family. (Hachiken is also savvy enough to realize that he needs a real accountant for their growing business translations, and turning to Tamako was very smart of him.)

Can Mikage get into college? Can she afford to? Can she and Hachiken admit their feelings to each other without their parents or male classmates killing him? Can Shingo survive telling his parents he has a new Russian bride? Can Valentine’s Day be the celebration that Christmas absolutely wasn’t? These questions and many others will be answered in the next volume of Silver Spoon.

Restaurant to Another World, Vol. 2

by

By Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan as “Isekai Shokudou” by Shufunotomosha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Nino Cipri.

I admit that I worried, given the basic content on this series, whether I’d be able to write a full review of any further volumes. It’s not quite true to say there’s still no plot – there is one, barely – or characterization – that’s half the reason to read this – but the reason to get this series is still “I like to read about people eating food and discussing how delicious it is”, and that is what you get. Some of our regulars are back for new chapters, we get some new regulars (though the other waitress from the anime, Kuro, is still absent) and some new dishes. We also hear more about how the food from the Restaurant is beginning to seriously affect the fantasy world it interacts with, as more and more people are not content with waiting seven days but want to try and recreate a bit of what they’ve experienced. The setting may be RPG fantasy, but the food is slowly leveling up.

We do find out a bit more about Aletta, the demon girl who showed up and was hired as a waitress at the end of the first volume. As a waitress, she’s mostly invisible, which is expected given the nature of the chapters – she’s not there to talk about the food, the customers are after she serves them. But we do see some chapters devoted specifically to her – her amazement at the modern-day soap and shampoo that she gets from the still unnamed Master, her reluctance to eat potatoes after having to subsist on only them for so long, and her eventual job as housekeeper for Sarah, the adventurer whose story opened the first book, who doesn’t care that she’s a demon and is happy to have someone take care of things while she’s away. She’s also a good shill for cookies.

Elsewhere, the food company heir brings along his most trusted employee to try to recreate the pizza he’s served by the restaurant; some fairies who are very wary of the door experience some delicious crepes that change their mind (though I disagree with their saying only sweet crepes are good); a demon with the head of a lion tells us about nearly dying in the arena as a gladiator before the restaurant gave him some much needed strength (via katsudon, of course). There’s one chapter that has a predictable but utterly welcome fakeout. In fact, a lot of the series feels like comfort food to me in general. You’re not getting any surprises here – the dwarfs say “By my axe!”, because that’s what fantasy dwarfs do. Likewise, the elves are somewhat prissy, the princesses regal yet cute, etc. The menu doesn’t change, but it’s delicious to read.

The cover of the third volume suggests we’ll meet our new waitress soon, so there may be more plot on the way there. But if it’s descriptions of food and drink you want, both Western *and* Eastern, you acn’t go wrong with this series.