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Sean Gaffney

Bookshelf Briefs 12/5/18

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ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 5 | By Natsume Ono | Yen Press – Jean’s identity is, if not in the open explicitly, at least well known among the cast. This is a big problem, of course, especially for his sister, who is the very definition of hostage bait. Fortunately, Jean also has friends that can help him out there—his sister is pretty much the one ray of sunshine in the series, so I don’t want to see her sacrificed. That doesn’t mean that it’s depressing tragedy, mind you—it just means that, as with most Ono titles, the majority consists of discussions among middle-aged men (and one woman). This being ACCA, they’re political discussions, though there’s a bit of food thrown in. As always, a good read if you’re an Ono fan. – Sean Gaffney

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 2 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Since the first volume came out, we’ve seen the appearance of the My Life as a Villainess series, which has essentially the exact same premise. That series is more focused on Katarina changing her fate and bonding with the cast of the VN, though. Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter is more like Realist Hero, wanting to change the world and advance it towards modern times. So we’re not only inventing chocolate, but also coffee, and concentrating on good roads and educating the youth. There’s not really much in terms of antagonists so far—Iris explains what she wants to do precisely and effectively, and everyone agrees with her. This makes it a tad dull, sadly. – Sean Gaffney

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 4 | By Spica Aoki | Seven Seas – I didn’t know when I started this volume that it’s the final volume of the series. It was only when one of the central hunky boys got definitively crossed off the list romantically that I was spurred to look it up and, yep, this is it. In her notes afterwards, Aoki-sensei says there was much she wanted and needed to draw that she couldn’t include, which makes me wonder if the series got canceled. Still, it hangs together reasonably well. Nina’s origins are explained, the king makes an appearance, there’s a big escape, noble sacrifice, and one person who seems to entirely lose touch with reality. What we don’t see is how any of the luga fare once they are out in the world but we’re encouraged to imagine a happy ending. Overall, this series was far from deep but still pretty fun. – Michelle Smith

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 5 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – There are interesting things going on in this volume of Clear Card. We meet Sakura’s great-grandfather, who apparently fell out with Nadeshiko when she got married (possibly as she married her teacher), but now regrets it because she’s dead. Speaking of that, Nadeshiko explicitly tells Sakura she should stop summoning her spirit for visions as it’s unhealthy. And Eriol finally coughs up a bit of info, revealing that Sakura is making her own cards using her magic and imagination—and that’s super dangerous if she knows about it. So let’s keep everything from her some more. I’d be more invested in this sequel if it weren’t so dull—the interesting plot points are conveyed tediously. – Sean Gaffney

Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – The way that Frau Faust ends is surprising to no one, but it’s done with a lot of style and feeling. Even the villains in this story get a chance to show off how they got that way, and for Marion, it’s an attempt to show off how much he’s grown. Despite that, this wasn’t going to be his story in the end—Johanna is who the reader is invested in. (Sarah is also pretty invested in Johanna, and the way her story resolves is touching but also very sad.) I actually wish that the series had gone on a bit longer—the action sequences here are even better than in The Ancient Magus’ Bride—but I’m also fine with this ending, which is final and yet the teensiest bit ambiguous. Let’s license more Yamazaki. – Sean Gaffney

Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – As the volume begins, Johanna has let herself be captured by the church in order to gain access to the holy city, where Mephisto’s final parts are. A lot of the stuff that follows isn’t exactly clear, but the gist of it is that all of Johanna’s friends are there to help her get to Mephisto’s head and there is a lot of action that culminates with her telling him, “I win.” Quite a few aspects of the ending are open to interpretation, which I’m not exactly fond of, but which fits the spirit of the series pretty well. Chief among them—did Johanna actually intend for that to happen all along? I do love how inspired by her everyone else was, and am especially fond the quiet love story between two characters. In the end, I enjoyed this series very much, though I do wish it had been longer. – Michelle Smith

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 5 | By Ukami |Yen Press – We get another new character this time around, in the form of Kurona. She’s a demon who wants to make friends, but is rather awful at it, and it doesn’t help that she’s trying to befriend Taplis, who is an airhead even by the standards of Gabriel Dropout, a series dripping with airheads. Speaking of which, Satanya’s new attempt to defeat Gabriel works quite well, but not in the way she intended. (Yuri fans may like it, though.) We also get more backstory showing how Gabriel became what she is now, which was… exactly what you’d expect, to be honest. There weren’t quite as many laughs in this volume of Gabriel Dropout, but it’s still a cute, fun series. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 3 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I guess we do need to pair at least some of the spares already, as Miki and Kiyo, the pure cute boy-girl team from last time, end up becoming a couple in this volume in an utterly pure, cute and adorable way. Unfortunately, Kai is the hero, so he’s not going to have nearly as easy a time of it. On the bright side, Riko’s crush on Satoshi pretty much gets kicked to the curb this volume, as we confirm that he’s getting married. Which she knew was coming, but it still hurts. This allows Kai to man up and confess to Riko, though given this series is thirteen volumes and this is volume three, I suspect it may go badly. Still, while this breaks no new ground, it’s a good shoujo story, well told. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 8 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – There’s pretty much a volume full of action here. Some of it is Kuroko and Hinako, who pair up again to try to take out the big bad (and we actually get some backstory for Hinako! It’s as blood-filled as you’d expect.) and some of it is Urara, Kuroko’s hugely muscled and somewhat dim bartender friend, who’s on the cover but is mostly there to be comedy relief. It’s also nice to see Reiko, the cool assassin from previous books, who is still very good at her job but gets very angry if you think she’s a boy. (She also gets the sex scene at the end of the volume, meaning it’s pretty tasteful.) But let’s face it—we read Murcielago for the ridiculous violence. There’s a lot of it here. – Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 88 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – Having successfully rescued Sanji, the Straw Hat crew is now attempting to escape the clutches of Big Mom, who is rampaging because she didn’t get to eat any wedding cake. I really appreciated the spotlight on female characters in this volume. Nami has actually been extremely smart and capable this whole arc, but now we see super tsundere Pudding stepping up to make a new cake to satisfy Big Mom’s hunger as well as Carrot the mink briefly becoming a badass as she transforms under the full moon. I also like that Pudding seems really into Sanji; I kind of hope they end up an official couple! Luffy’s fight with Katakuri is entertaining, as well, since their powers are so similar. All in all, this is a very well-paced and exciting installment. – Michelle Smith

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 9 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – We continue to stagger onwards towards the events of Richard III, though honestly neither Kanno or the reader are all that interested in matching up with Shakespeare precisely. We also lose Richard’s older brother George, who is done in by a lot of political machinations and Richard essentially being a triple agent. That said, Richard may be in trouble soon, as Buckinghan, the classic “bespectacled bastard,” has learned his body has a secret to it. Fortunately, he also has a mysterious bodyguard, who readers will immediately recognize but Richard doesn’t quite—yet. This is basically Kanno’s best series. Buy it. – Sean Gaffney

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 18

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

Now that’s more like it. After being a bit disappointed with the minor villains in Kiriha’s resolution arc, we get a much higher standard of villain here. Darkness Rainbow are back, and they’re getting backstory. Not a hell of a lot, admittedly – that may be next volume, as this is sort of a stealth two-parter – but it’s clear that more care is being taken with these teenage, evil magical girls. (I’ll go with evil for now, given that they kidnapped ten small children, and if the ritual had finished they may have all ended up the way Sanae did.) This is also a continuation of Maki’s redemption arc. She may not win the big fight here, but the greater picture has her succeeding, as she’s forcing Crimson Rainbow to consider her relationship with both Maki and the rest of the Darkness Rainbow team. If there’s a way in to redeem this group, it’s likely to go via Crimson.

Given that we’re dealing with Darkness Rainbow here, it seems only natural that we finally get to see Nana, Yurika’s predecessor as a magical girl until her painful sacrifice. We find out how painful here, as we see her shakily trying to stand on crappy artificial legs, and her spirit energy is nearly nil. Fortunately, we have Koutarou’s harem, who between all of them are specialists in nearly everything, and they resolve to better Nana’s situation. In the meantime, though, kids are getting kidnapped as Darkness Rainbow makes its move – and they’re desperate, clearly, as kidnapping is not something easily papered over with memory erasure. Once it’s clear who’s behind it, Yurika asks everyone to help her save the kids and defeat the bad guys. Unfortunately, only one of these is accomplished by the end of the book, so it looks like we’re going on a field trip to the next dimension over next time.

Readers of these reviews know that I’m a huge Yurika fan, so I was pretty delighted with this book, where she spends most of her time in serious, competent mode. The joke is that everyone is really uncomfortable with Yurika being mature and competent, and wishes for the old whining Yurika to return. (This is admittedly a better joke than Shizuka’s running gag about her weight, though I liked how it became more about Koutarou being unable to princess carry her.) Yurika does an excellent job here, leading the team that discovers the bad guys, relying on others for support, and not breaking down once. The afterword hints of even better things in the next book. The rest of the cast are also good, and we’re starting to see the girls attempt to flirt harder with Koutarou, but he’s still not emotionally ready yet.

The book isn’t perfect – the battle in the hotel almost feels like there’s a chunk of the book that was randomly cut out, and the climax is similarly rushed – but overall this was a very strong entry in the series, and I really can’t wait to see what happens next.

Pez

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By Hiroyuki Asada. Released in Japan by Wani Books, serialized in the anthology Robot. Released in North America digitally by Denpa Books. Translated by Andrew Castle.

The book is titled Pez, and I’m not sure if it’s meant to reflect what most people from my generation think of when we hear the word, which is to say the candy you got out of the package with the cartoon character head. It’s meant to suggest a light, sweet, ephemeral sort of think. And now we have the Pez manga, which is not all that light, somewhat bittersweet, and… well, OK, it does feel pretty ephemeral, as it seems to end right about where most manga would begin. But that’s fine, because this feels more like a doujinshi, the sort of high-concept original work you’d get from an artist who’s filled with creativity but also does work for Weekly shonen Jump to pay the bills a little better. It’s only 72 pages or so, but they’re all full color, which also helps to distinguish this. As for the plot? Well, it’s a post-apocalyptic slice-of-life, which is actually pretty popular these days, so it seems a good time for it to come out collected here.

Pez is the young woman on the cover, who we first see wandering around the ruins of a home in the middle of nowhere, scavenging for what she can find. She’s joined by Decosuke, who appears at first to be a young man the same age as her but it quickly becomes apparent is actually the brain that the body is carrying behind it. She’s found a old movie filmstrip, which she proceeds… to wear as a scarf, which tells you right off that this is not going to be all bleak tragedy. That said, it’s not all laughs either – Pez and Deco’s past when they were both normal kids (who appear to be living off the streets) is short but extremely painful (indeed, Pez calls this out in the actual manga). The reason they’re where they are right now is a mad scientist sort by the name of Dr. Thunder Land, who is able to revive/robotize the dead Decosuke, and also (as we find out in the final pages) gives a little something to Pez that makes her able to see a bit more than most people. (This section also involves some shots of Pwz topless, be warned.)

Most of the short volume is Pez and Decosuke walking the Earth, finding bombed-out shelters and discussing things. There’s a sweet bit where they find an old pizzeria whose chef is caught under rubble – they can’t free them from their inevitable death, but they can get instructions on how to make a delicious pizza. Sometimes it’s ridiculous, as with Pez’s imagining what sweets are like. And sometimes it’s inspirational, as the ending involves Pez and Decosuke following the “lights” in the sky and seeing where they lead so they can find out how the world got this way. They will find out, maybe, but we won’t – the book wraps up there. That said, as a one-shot it feels well worth the purchase, being made entirely of mood, and with some Wonderful sketch-like art that you’d normally only see in the likes of Ikki and similar magazines – or in the pages of the Robot anthology. It feels like a boutique manga, the sort you’d leave on your coffee table to impress the guests.

Pick of the Week: Visions of Manga

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MICHELLE: It’s a big VIZ week, which means new volumes of many favorites for me. I’m excited for new installments of Yona of the Dawn and Takane & Hana in particular, but it’s the series finales that are primary contenders this week. I have definitely enjoyed reading Kuroko’s Basketball and am a little bummed it’s ending already (30 volumes seems short for a sports manga nowadays!) but, really, there’s no contest. It’s gotta be Kimi ni Todoke. I love this series so very much and kind of can’t believe it’s going to be over.

SEAN: I’m definitely interested in We Never Learn, the new Jump romantic comedy, but yeah, no real contest. The final volume of Kimi ni Todoke is one I’ve been both waiting for and wanting to avoid. I expect it to be very good.

ASH: Viz primarily has my attention this week, too. I’m following several of the series with new releases, but I’ll have to admit I’m a bit behind on just about all of them. Queen’s Quality is probably the manga that’s up next for some catching up, though, so I’ll make that one my pick.

ANNA: There are so many great series coming out this week. I have to pick the manga that I read immediately, it doesn’t even have time to rest in the to-be-read pile by my bed. That manga is Yona of the Dawn which is consistently wonderful.

KATE: My vote goes to the latest installment of The Promised Neverland. Emma is the best reason to read TPN: she’s the big beating heart of this dystopian adventure story, but also its brains. Her courage and determination are hard to resist, making it easier to soldier through the onslaught of grim plot twists.

MJ: I feel like a traitor to Takeshi Obata, but I’m also going to make Queen’s Quality my pick this week. Like Ash, I have some catching up to do there!

MICHELLE: So do I!

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Dabit Deus His Quoque Finem

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

I’ve talked before about how Tanya the Evil is at many times written like you’re reading a history book. It’s actually a bit weirder than that, as you’re reading several competing history books, each with its own agenda. This is made obvious in the sections involving the Federation, aka not-USSR, whose style of Communism under “Josef” is mocked mercilessly, even to the point of having one section written as a children’s history book. The Federation in general comes in for a bashing this volume, partly because, well, Communism under Stalin, please look at real history, but also because Tanya is virulently, rabidly anti-Communist and says so most of the time. The book starts with her taking her team to “put a scare” into the Federation capital. She proceeds to overdo it. One of the more interesting bits is when she tells Visha, who escaped the Federation as a child, not to hold back her hatre3d and to go all out. Visha, who honestly doesn’t recall much of her childhood and isn’t really driven by hatred, is rather nonplussed.

It can be difficult at times to remember that Tanya is not the heroine, merely the protagonist. We’re meant to be a bit horrified by her. Quite a bit. The trouble is that most of the book is in her semi-1st person monologue, so sympathy naturally falls with her, especially when the war is not going her war, which is constantly. There’s a glorious bit when she’s on trial for some of her actions when they realize that this little girl is, in fact… acting like a petulant child. Even when she finally gets her wish of a transfer to a non-combat position, it doesn’t even last two weeks. But we’re not really meant to like ANYONE in this “war is hell” series. Not the Empire’s generals. Not the government, who are invisible but making poor decisions behind them. Not the Federation, who I would call a parody of Stalin’s Russia were it not already hard to parody. And not even the Commonwealth or the Unified States, who we see training up their own crack mage unit, complete with blonde Kansas girl Mary Sue, who unfortunately runs into Tanya in her first combat and realizes that Tanya was the one who killed her father. She doesn’t take it well.

These books continue to be bricks, far longer than almost all light novels that aren’t DanMachi. A lot of that is tactics and military discussion, and I say it again: don’t read this unless you’re fascinated by such things, because it will drive you mad. One other downside: we’re introduced in this book to “Josef” and his number two, who is named Loria. Loria is based on Lavrentiy Beria, who was a sexual predator, and it’s this aspect that Carlo Zen mines for “humor” (and also horror, to be fair), as he spots the 12-year-old Tanya (she must be twelve by now, right?) stomping all over Moscow burning everything in sight and decides that he needs to make her his. It’s as disturbing as it sounds, and it gets a color illustration that makes it much worse. Sadly, I expect to see more of him. As well as Mary Sue, who’s a talented newbie this time around but is now driven by hatred and fury, so I expect her next run-in with Tanya will be very different.

Tanya fans who only watched the anime will be happy to know this is where the new stuff begins (well, technically the end of the last book). It’s still a very interesting series to read, but remember that the author is actually a left-wing socialist. Tanya is not here to be admired. No one is, really.

Ao-chan Can’t Study!, Vols. 1-2

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By Ren Kawahara. Released in Japan as “Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Magazine Edge. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Erin Proctor.

Sometimes when reading manga you are looking for a well-characterized, touching work that will heal your heart and make you think. And sometimes you’re looking for silly sex jokes. If it’s the latter you’re after, I am pleased to say that Ao-chan Can’t Study! is here for you. It’s about as subtle as a brick to the head, but why would you want to be subtle in a case like this? It’s a sex comedy. With the emphasis on the comedy, I hasten to add – there’s tons of sex talk, but don’t expect any forward progress, at least not at the start of the series. It sort of feels like Seitokai Yakuindomo to a degree (and I could write an entire POST about why Kodansha Comics never licensed that, complete with them indirectly dissing it when they picked up Aho-Girl). Despite all that, though, things still remain on the innocent side here, adn the kids read like normal romance comedy heroes and heroines and not perverts. Well, mostly.

Ao-chan has had difficulties with her childhood almost from the start, when she introduced herself to the elementary school class as Ao, “A as in apple and O as in orgy”. We find out why fairly quickly – her father is a famous author of erotic novels, and also the equivalent of Happosai from Ranma 1/2 (he even looks like him), and despite her best efforts, Ao is now in high school and has a mind that quickly turns filthy at the slightest provocation. Not that she has any experience or anything, but just being around her father has sort of led her to be a pervert by osmosis. She tries to repress this by being a stoic ice queen, with perfect grades and no interest in men. Sadly, she has piqued the interest of Takumi, the class’ resident hot guy, who doesn’t study very well but finds Ao interesting. She attempts to drive him off, but her dad has decided now is the time to get his daughter laid. What’s more, Takumi’s feelings appear to be genuine. And worst of all, there’s a rumor going around that he is… well, larger than average.

Shonen Magazine Edge tends to push boundaries a bit, and despite being clean at heart, so does this title. There’s Lots of discussion of penis size and how it can actually hurt for a woman when a guy’s too big. In the second volume, when the class goes to summer camp, Ao somehow gets it into her head that she’s going to be invited to a “fuck party”. As I said, things you wouldn’t normally see in Fairy Tail (UQ Holder, maybe), and you can see why it’s a digital-only series. The reason it avoids being pure skeeze is Ao, who is pretty innocent – she has no idea what a dick really looks like, and most everything that she gets in her head is either exaggerated or wrong. Plus she’s falling for Takumi too, and has no idea how to deal with her feelings – and her libido. Add in a rival or two, and you’ve got a fun if ecchi comedy, recommended for those who don’t mind that sort of thing.

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas

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By Yoru Sumino. Released in Japan as “Kimi no Suizō o Tabetai” by Futabasha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nathan Collins.

The book spoils you on page 1, so allow me to do the same: the heroine does not survive the book. That is in fact, the point of the book, which is a novel rather than a light novel, and has its feet planted firmly on the ground. Despite the title, this is not about zombies or anything like that. Sakura, the heroine, has something wrong with her pancreas, to the point that she has a year to live at most. Our hero, whose name remains deliberately obscured for most of the book, accidentally finds out about this (they’re classmates, but she’s only told her family and is hiding it from everyone else) and the bulk of the book is the two of them gradually getting closer and hanging out. They’re not quite falling in love (I suspect were it not for her illness they’d get together much faster, even with the hero’s personality issues), but most of the prose till near the end consists of either school or “dates”.

The handling of the hero’s name is quite interesting, if a bit aggravating at first. He’s defined by how others think of him – for most of the first half Sakura (who he also avoids naming, so her name also rarely comes up) refers to him as “Classmate I Get Along With-kun”. but this changes depending on circumstances, and other people like classmates also address him this way. It ties into the book that Sakura is writing, called Living with Dying, and while the text of this novel isn’t that book, it does sort of follows the rules of said book, which also avoids using him name. Speaking of the hero, he is a loner and something of an outcast – always reading, self-proclaimed with no friends, but very perceptive in a negative sort of way. Of course, he’s not as perceptive when it comes to emotions, and one of the highlights of the book is a fight that he and Sakura have over a misunderstanding.

Again, I will try not to spoil too much, but there is a definite sense that the book is going to end the way you’d expect (I mean, it begins with her funeral, which our hero does not attend), but the book has a few surprises in its last quarter or so. The surprise might upset a few readers – it’s foreshadowed, but not by much. That said, it’s mentioned that “real life doesn’t work like an novel”, and you get the feeling that the way things played out was the author’s way of avoiding things simply being too predictable. I also felt the epilogue, which jumps forward in time and avoids showing us two characters’ growth more than I like, was a bit abrupt, but that’s likely because the payoff of everything right after Sakura’s death was the best part of the book, and very emotionally raw.

This is not, for most of the time, a depressing tragedy of a book. I tweeted that it felt like a darker Teasing Master Takagi-san, and given that Sakura spends most of the time imposing demands on our nameless hero’s time, there’s a lot of Haruhi Suzumiya here as well. It’s a touching story of two people who have a deep and affecting impact on each other’s lives over the course of only a few months. I really, really enjoyed it.

Manga the Week of 12/5/18

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SEAN: As we get ready for the holidays, why not give the gift of new manga? Here’s what’s next week.

Bookwalker has a 7th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, which I need to catch up on still.

Cross Infinite World debuts The Cursed Princess and the Lucky Knight, another in its line of romantic light novels for young women.

J-Novel Club has the 18th Invaders of the Rokujouma!?. Just making that a sentence makes the punctuation marks cry.

In print, Kodansha has Attack on Titan 26, Boarding School Juliet 2, Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 8, and The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days 2, which wraps up this spinoff.

ASH: It’s been a while since I’ve caught up on Attack on Titan, I should probably get around to doing that.

SEAN: Digitally we debut Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice, a Betsushonen title that’s also a bit of a gender reversal: Red Riding Hood is a demon hunter, and the wolf is a cute young girl. Those with long memories may recall Pupa, a JManga title by the same author.

There’s also Are You Lost? 3, Can I Kiss You Every Day? 2 and My Boy in Blue 5.

Seven Seas has no debuts, but we do see Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 2, Lord Marksman and Vanadis 9, New Game! 4, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 2.

Speaking of gift material, Titan is releasing a Sherlock Season 1 manga box set.

ASH: That will make a nice gift for fans of the franchise; the manga adaptations have been pretty faithful to the BBC television series.

SEAN: Vertical has Pop Team Epic: Second Season, with even more of those memes (and gags, but let’s face it, mostly memes) that you need.

The rest is Viz, and we have a ridiculous amount of final volumes out next week. But first, the debut. We Never Learn is a new romantic comedy from Viz’s Jump imprint, following the adventures of a tutor trying to work with three geniuses who are brilliant at one subject and bad at others. Nisekoi fans should like this.

Ending this week are Astra: Lost in Space (5), Kimi ni Todoke (30), Kuroko’s Basketball (29-30), and The Young Master’s Revenge (4). Man, I’m going to miss Sawako and Kuroko.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ANNA: I haven’t been reading Kimi ni Todoke recently because of being timid of emotional devastation but one day I will get all caught up!

SEAN: In series that aren’t beginning or ending, we see Ao Haru Ride 2, Food Wars! 27, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War 2, My Hero Academia 16, One Piece’s 26th 3-in-1, Platinum End 7, The Promised Neverland 7, Queen’s Quality 6, Takane & Hana 6, and Yona of the Dawn 15. I am getting… most of those, to be honest.

MICHELLE: Same here. I’m particularly craving another dose of Takane & Hana.

ANNA: Any week Yona of the Dawn is coming out is a good week!!!! Also super excited for Ao Haru Ride.

ASH: Yes, Yona of the Dawn is great! I need to catch up on Queen’s Quality and Food Wars!, too.

MJ: Definitely Ao Haru Ride and Queen’s Quality! Also, I’m very behind in Platinum End, and obviously in danger of losing my Takeshi Obata fangirl card, so something must be done.

SEAN: Are you getting a pile of manga to give as presents? Or just reading it yourself?

Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, Vol. 1

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By Dachima Inaka and Iida Pochi. Released in Japan as “Tsujo Kogeki ga Zentai Kogeki de Ni-kai Kogeki no Okasan wa Suki desu ka?” by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America digitally by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

This book is straight up ridiculous. I realize that may be the most obvious thing to say, but I want to say it up front because I went into it thinking that the ridiculous content would take a back seat to sketchy mom-son sex humor. And there is a bit of that, but mostly the comedy is first and foremost the important thing here. This series is not trying to titillate its reader, it’s going for fun. And it pretty much succeeds. We get a lot of amusing riffs on the standard “adventure game” tropes, the characters are all obvious cliches but fairly likeable. Best of all, despite the occasional lewd joke or ogling, there’s absolutely no sense that Mamako (yes, really, that’s her name) and Masato view themselves as anything other than mother and son. This allows the reader to relax and focus on what’s important: Mamako is hilarious.

Masato is our hero, a 15-year-old boy who is dealing with a mom who a) looks about seventeen and is gorgeous; and b) doesn’t seem to realize that he’s not six years old anymore, so is overly doting and smothering. One day he comes home to find a government worker there who tells him that he has been chosen to play in an ‘MMMMMORPG’. He’s not sure why there are so many M’s, but he agrees… and finds himself in a virtual game world. He’s a hero! He gets an awesome sword! He has party members who are an adorable and trusting 12-year-old girl and a tsundere but clearly future love interest mage! There’s just one problem. His mother has come along with him into the game. And she has TWO swords (the two he didn’t pick when given a choice) that do so much damage that he never has a chance to shine. She may not know anything about adventure games, but she certainly knows how to make him feel awkward and embarrassed.

As you can see, we’re not going for subtle here. In fact, the overtness is part of the point – the series works better for it. The game that Masato and company are in is a beta release, and they’re meant to be testing it. This leads to many of the NPCs simply reciting the guidebook, or speaking in actual gamer talk rather than having it filtered through a fantasy world. Wise, the tsundere girl (she spends most of the book in a state of fury, but there are good reasons for it) is amusing, and you get the feeling she’d be nice if she ever calmed down. Porta, the girl, is a parody of the ‘little girl party member’, and this about as deep as a small puddle, but her pureness is almost endearing. As for Masato and Mamako, they start off exaggerated types, and by the end are slightly less so. Believe it or not, there is a bit of plot and character development in this, and by the end of the book Masato has learned not to take his mother’s actions as a personal attack, and Mamako has (possibly) learned to allow her boy to grow up. (I say possibly as, well, there’s more books in the series, and the premise is that Mama is more powerful and steals the spotlight.)

I also need to mention the main reason to read this series, which is Ms. Shirase, the government agent who starts this entire mess. She is amazingly funny in a deadpan sort of way, and I was delighted at her appearances throughout, as well as her constant fourth-wall breaking. I really hope we get more of her. The series reminds me a lot of KonoSuba in terms of its style and laughs, and I think fans will enjoy it. Yes, there’s some incest parody – that’s the premise! – but I feel safe that it won’t go anywhere and isn’t serious. Recommended for fans of comedies and mothers.

Bookshelf Briefs 11/27/18

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 11 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – The concerts are over, and yes, In No Hurry tore it up, though in the end, the battle of the bands becomes fairy literal. That said, for once it’s the romance that made more of an impression on me than the singing, as Momo, tired of hearing how everything Nino’s doing now is for Yuzu, kisses her to stop her saying his name. And given that Nino is (she thinks) in love with Momo, and he with her, they get together. That said, this series has seven volumes to go. Moreover, this FEELS like the wrong couple. The narrative has been set up so that the reader is rooting for Yuzu—who also has bigger stakes. As for Miou, she’s still not quite sure about this new relationship, and it shows. Great potboiler, still a must-read. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 2 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – This feels oddly like an aborted prologue. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid shonen volume, with lots of excitement and almost death scenes and Yuzuriha actually doing something. But then Senku sends the other two leads off on a mission of their own, and the sense is that they’re being written out for not being quite as immediately memorable as he is. (They remind me a LOT of Video Girl Ai, right down to Yuzuriha’s headgear.) And Senku meets a new girl, who’s far more confident and also not the love interest of his sidekick. I suspect the series is about to really get started all over again, but that’s fine, as Dr. STONE is decent enough. I’m not quite fully into it yet. – Sean Gaffney

Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods, Vol. 2 | By Takuto Kashiki | Yen Press – This continues to be adorable and pretty relaxing. The largest of the slice-of-life stories in here has Hakumei trying to prove that she is good enough to work on repairing a stone wall with the rest of the work crew, which involves being told no a few times but gradually proving her worth. (Also, the crew leader thinks that Mikochi is her wife, though Hakumei points out that she’s a girl. They pretty much function as a married couple.) Elsewhere we meet a flamboyant and eccentric hairdresser who gives tomboy Hakumei an even shorter haircut than she already has, and the couple also deal with an owl who may or may not be a monster. Cute and fluffy. – Sean Gaffney

I Hear the Sunspot: Limit, Vol. 1 | By Yuki Fumino | One Peace Books – According to the creator’s afterword, Limit was initially intended to be a one-shot continuation of I Hear the Sunspot, but it ultimately evolved into an ongoing series. I can’t say that I’m disappointed—I absolutely loved I Hear the Sunspot and its first sequel Theory of Happiness, and Limit is off to a great start, too. Limit begins nearly immediately after Theory of Happiness. Taichi has left school in order to work at SIG-N while Kohei continues his law degree studies. Because they’re no longer classmates and are both very busy, the two young men aren’t able to see each other as much as they would like, which puts an understandable strain on their relationship. This sort of realism is something that I particularly appreciate about the I Hear the Sunspot series. Limit also introduces additional characters and their varying perspectives on hearing loss, deafness, and disability to great effect. – Ash Brown

Juana and the Dragonewt’s Seven Kingdoms, Vol. 3 | By Kiyohisa Tanaka | Seven Seas – It has to be said, the ending to this volume screams “you are cancelled,” as the villain’s master plan is wrapped up literally by sucking our heroes into a plothole to get away from him. Before that, though, we get some more explanation of Nid’s issues with his family and his vegetarianism, which turns out to be miscommunication that his parents think is sort of funny but Nid’s still not amused, especially since it seems to undercut his life choices. As for Juana, we get some backstory that explains why she is here, along with some foreshadowing that she may not be alone for long… but then the book ends, as she’d much rather be having adventures with Nid. This was fun, but that sudden ending—oof. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 7 | By Canno | Yen Press – The new couple in this volume is a pair of girls who are relatively close in age, but are also aunt and niece, so I’m not quite sure what to think of it. And to be fair, neither are they, as both know they like each other but both also know that once high school ends, girls give up that sort of thing. Only not anymore, and certainly not in this series. The volume works better when entwining their story with that of Yurine and Ayaka, our “main” couple. Yurine is suffering from the genius label again, and also opening up to Ayaka has led her to realize that her past actions have hurt others. As for Ayaka, Yurine’s feelings are getting deeper and deeper—can she cope with it? A good “sort of anthology” series, as always. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 4 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – What I said for the last book applies to this one, though there is some brief drama towards the end as the company decides that Kou is going to be doing the designs even though Aoba is supposed to be lead. This is entirely due to name recognition, and I was impressed with the fact that they don’t take it back after Aoba does something really impressive—Kou is still better than she is. Aoba’s improving a lot, though, and is figuring out how to get inside character’s heads. Meanwhile, Nene’s applying for a job—will she become even more of a regular? We’re certainly focusing more on her than some of the other supposed leads. New Game! remains cute but slight, aside from the welcome drama near the end. – Sean Gaffney

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 14 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | VIZ Media – I’d like to begin with a special shoutout to the Cast of Characters in the front of each volume of Ooku, without which I’d be totally lost, given how infrequently this series comes out. This volume continues the story of Iesada, a poorly regarded female shogun who survived years of abuse from her horrible father, as her loyal advisor Masahiro contrives to find for her a consort whom she can actually love and trust. Unfortunately, Masahiro herself takes gravely ill just as the question of whether to sign a trade deal with America is being hotly contested (we’ve come to 1856 in the timeline), but at least she got to see Iesada looking happy and healthy as her relationship with Taneatsu has flourished. It’s incredibly foolish of me to wish for a happy ending for these two, but I do anyway. So many lovable characters in this series! – Michelle Smith

RWBY Anthology, Vol. 3 | By Various Artists | Viz Media – I am still absolutely the wrong audience for this, having not watched the original series. Still, it’s a sign that the anthology is doing its job that I can manage to follow along anyway. As you have probably guessed, we’re up to the B in the volumes, so these short comics focus on Blake and her moody cat self. There are some lighter stories that show Blake bonding with the others, or dealing with the team’s pet dog, who she naturally does not get along with. There’s also some stories showing she’s still tied to her past. And there’s ship tease with Yang, which I understand is the biggest ship in the fandom, so that makes sense. If you enjoy RWBY, you’ll like this. – Sean Gaffney

Shojo FIGHT!, Vol. 5 | By Yoko Nihonbashi | Kodasha Comics (digital only) – Because of the volleybetting scandal, Kokuyodani is not allowed to play in Tokyo and so instead has entered a small tournament in Osaka. This happens to be where Shino Itami is from and we learn that, as a middle schooler, she was accused of match-fixing because her grandfather is a yakuza. She actually came to Kokuyodani because of its bad reputation, since she wouldn’t be a burden to them. Unfortunately, most of the plot about Itami’s family is dreadfully boring, but I did like that her teammates stand up for her and, as a result, the crowd starts booing them as a whole rather than Itami specifically. I love that they have no problems “playing the heel” and look forward to more potentially villainous deeds. – Michelle Smith

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 4 | By Maybe | Yen Press – For once, we have a princess who’s not all that into Satou. Oh, she still proposes to him the moment he appears, but it’s very much a political matchup, and even at the end of the volume she still sees him as a bit too naive for her. As the writer notes in the afterword, this is entirely intentional, as he wanted to have a bit of variety. We also meet said princess’ younger twin sister, and find out why Marse gave up in the first volume so easily. Things are not looking all peaches and cream plot-wise, as it turns out not all countries are happy to see the hero, particularly when there’s an evil advisor who REALLY reminds me of Caster from Fate. Will we get another princess in the next book? I think five’s the limit, right? – Sean Gaffney

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – I suppose Yotsuba has simply become too acclimated to things in her daily life—with some exceptions, like the beads Jumbo gives her as a present or the trash-bag princess dress Asagi crafts—and so Azuma takes his lead duo to Tokyo, where they must confront things like throngs of people, train passes, weird dogs, and luxurious hotel buffets. The best quality of this series continues to be seeing the world through a child’s eyes, guaranteed to expand as they acquire a car at the end of this volume, but I also appreciate the smaller lessons, as when Yotsuba confronts her conflicting desires to hoard all the beads yet be considered nice and when Daddy makes sure she tries again after messing up with the train pass the first time. I hope it doesn’t take 2.5 years for the next volume. – Michelle Smith

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 11

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By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

I am somewhat tempted to copy/paste much of my review of Vol. 10, which would work just as well here. Most of this is relatively tolerable Smartphone, and there’s even a bit about 3/4 into the book which was reasonably horrific and well-written. But it wouldn’t be Smartphone without its worst trait ether, and given that fantasy China has basically been totally destroyed, it’s time to go after fantasy Arabia. We have more of Touya meeting up with really obvious villains, fat-shaming them, and killing them. Actually, I tell a lie. The villain is killed by a slave girl. He then returns as a zombie JUST so that Touya can humiliate the man himself. Smartphone has always had a bit of a “is this a parody or not?” aspect to it, and I honestly wish it would lean towards parody more. Even though the character introduction describes Touya as impulsive and dangerous, it’s not what I want to see.

As usual, the book is decided into sections that make it seem more like a short-story collection. Touya and company have another big competition to see who is worthy to become a knight in his kingdom. I appreciated that they weren’t just looking for strong fighters – one weak and feeble guy who has good knowledge of plants passes the test. There’s also a rather thuddingly over the top “racists are not welcome in our group here” sequence, but given where the world is in 2018 I’m OK with racism call-outs being obvious and overbearing. There are a few plot strands dangled that will likely be resolved in a book or two – they’ve found a hidden island that seems to be inhabited by people and giant monsters, making me wonder if we’re going to get Mothra showing up. We definitely get Gamera this time around, as the new Phrase monster is a giant turtle, who sadly is not a friend to all children. Oh, and we get four new gods, three of whom are pointless, and one of whom (the underage lush) is seriously annoying, to both me and Touya.

There’s a new Phrase alien who basically drops by to scout out the area and leaves, but he also manages to hook up with the rogue God that Touya and company have been trying to catch. The result is not pretty, as Sandora (the pseudo-Arabia run on slavery) loses an entire city to some sort of negative emotion virus. Worst of all, it eats their souls, so the people there can’t be reincarnated. It’s a chilling sequence, something that’s a rarity in the otherwise relaxed Smartphone, so it’s worth singling out. Unfortunately, we then get the Sandora plot itself, which I’ve gone on about already, but I will also note that the author’s (and Japanese light novel authors in general) casual attitude towards slavery irritates me, particularly the “well, the criminals can continue to be slaves” part, though at least he has Yumina and company sift out those wrongfully convicted.

Basically, a typical Smartphone volume, for good and ill. I wish it had more scenes of Touya and the girls all staying up after drinking too much coffee and less of Touya mocking fat ugly evil people and then killing them.

Pick of the Week: Here Come the Brides

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SEAN: Tempting as it is to rest on my laurels and pick A Bride’s Story, I suspect the rest of Manga Bookshelf has me covered there. So I’ll pick Katanagatari: Sword Tale, Nisioisin’s new tale about swords. It’s long but very dense.

KATE: At the risk of becoming the most predictable member of the MB gang, I’m going to nominate both Blissful Land and A Bride’s Story. Let’s face it: you can never have enough beautifully drawn manga about life along the Silk Road. My inner historian is salivating at the prospect!

MICHELLE: Even though I’m sure I’ll love A Bride’s Story, the sad fact is that I haven’t yet read it, so I feel weird picking volume ten. I guess I’m going to go with the latest Ace of the Diamond because the most recent volume had the formerly brash protagonist earnestly declaring how much he loves and respects his teammates. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing.

ASH: A Bride’s Story is a lovely tale and visually stunning. (Michelle, you really should give it a try!) It’s definitely my pick of the week, though I am also interested in Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography, which should likewise be a beautiful volume.

ANNA: I’ll have to go with A Bride’s Story too, it is such a special series!

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 1

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By Aki Irie. Released in Japan as “Ran to Haiiro no Sekai” by Enterbrain, serialized in the magazine Harta. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Emi Louie-Nishikawa.

Sometimes you really do just read a book for the art. Oh, there’s other reasons to read Ran and the Gray World. The lead heroine is cute and rambunctious, and the plot spirals out from her ability to get into trouble and also her ability to transform into an older version of herself. Her family seems to consist of sensible men and eccentric but very powerful women, and her older brother is usually stuck trying to fix Ran’s messes. There’s some great humor, particularly with Ran’s interactions with a rich playboy. But let’s face it: You read this title for the gorgeous art. Every panel seems chock full of stuff, but it draws the eye in and makes you want to take your time reading it. It’s the type of story that you say is ‘crafted’ rather than written. And it makes me want to read more, despite the possibility of a trope from many other ‘young girl magically grows into adult’ stories cropping up.

We are introduced in the first chapter to Ran, a young tomboyish girl who is very interested in finding her shoes. We also meet her brother Jin, who has hidden said shoes for a reason. They’re shoes that help Ran to age about ten years, appearing to be a young woman but still with the mentality of a young child. This is a fairly common theme, especially in magical girl Japanese manga (Tezuka did it at least once, I know), but Ran’s not aging up to help save the world from bad guys – she’s just curious about everything, and wants to have fun. Ran lives at home with her brother and father, and at first I assumed that her mother had passed away, but I’m wrong – her mother is SO powerful she is needed to restrain what appears to be a door to hell, and thus can’t be all that involved with her daughter’s life, though she does write. And so Ran does things like taking a train (and hitchhiking) to try to find her, or attempting to learn to fly, etc.

When I say I read the manga for the art, I don’t mean that it’s filled with detailed backgrounds and the like, although those pop up as well (love the shot of Ran’s messy room). But the art I meant is more composition, the way the creator draws your eye in. The double-page spread of Ran in her adult form, shoes in deep close-up. The expressions on her face, which shows that she’s a clever but naive girl, who one day is likely going to be more powerful than her mother. And the endless grumpiness of her brother Jin, who did not sign up to be a minder but is anyway. I will warn of one ongoing plotline – Ran (in adult form) runs into an eccentric rich guy, who is immediately charmed by bother her looks and her seeming magical abilities. This is also a staple of “age up” titles, but I hope that it remains innocent, as Ran really is a young kid (and also, the guy is sort of a jerk). I am definitely interested in more of this series, and I note the author also has another title out next year from Vertical. One to watch out for.

Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, Vol. 1

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By Eri Shiduki and Kasumi Nagi. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Evelyn.

I worry that the title of this 2-volume series may actually be putting readers off. Let’s face it, it sounds exactly like the sort of oververbose light novel title you’d see written by any other author, and makes people think that it will be of a similar character. It’s not. Technically Bakarina was also a romance novel, but it’s overly dense heroine and otome game mechanics made it appeal to a larger male audience too. This, though, is pure romance novel, written by a woman for other women. This is not to say that I don’t think male readers will like this title – it’s a great read. But it lacks the trappings of light novelness that everyone is used to, and that means it’s a title that can be read by women without having to worry about harems, or wacky chases in the nude, or any number of other anime tropes that you’d commonly see. This has romance novel tropes. A young, terminally shy and introverted princess. A prince with a curse who is blunt and melancholy. And a bucket. Yes, really.

Rosemarie is the second princess of a small agricultural nation, and has spent most of her life either indoors or in her garden due to one simple fact: when anyone shows negative emotions around her, their heads transform into that of beasts. This has led her to be terrified of most human contact, and when she’s incited to a ball in one of the larger, far more prosperous countries to the north, she sees it as something she will have to endure. But then she sees the country’s prince, Claudio, who over the course of the entire party does not have his head transform. Clearly he is the man of her dreams! They marry a few months later, and she learns the truth: everyone ELSE sees Claudio’s head as that of a beast – except her. Moreover, he says this is her fault because he rescued her as a child and she stole his mana (something she does not recall doing at all). And the marriage is a sham, as he regards her more like a thing than a wife. Fortunately, she has her maid. And her large metal bucket, which she wears on her head in times of great stress.

There is a fair bit of magic and fantasy involved in this, but that’s hardly uncommon in today’s romance novels, where the heroes can be vampires or werewolves. The main reason to read it is the growing relationship between Rosemarie and Claudio, who are both terminally bad at communicating with each other. He seems always angry, she seems always terrified, and there’s very little common ground to find. But find it they do, because Rosemarie has a determination to fix whatever she did wrong and make Claudio whole again, and Claudio realizes that he’s being a major jerk and that Rosemarie actually is looking out for his best interests. Which is good, as there’s an evil archbishop who would like Claudio to be out of the succession for the throne. That said, the plot is merely OK, and the humor mostly stems from Rosemarie’s desire to hide (the bucket reminds me a little bit of Akari’s House from Battle Athletes). You should read this for the excellent character work and sweet, if slow-going romance between the two leads. And one bucket.

UQ Holder!, Vol. 15

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By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Alethea and Athena Nibley.

There are spoilers in this review for the entire book, as well as the ending of Mahou Sensei Negima.

I’m actually tagging Negima in this review as well, because after a lot of faffing about, this is, finally, the Negima ending that actually resolves things. The entire volume reads as if Akamatsu is saying “Yeah, sorry about the end of Negima, I was fighting with Kodansha and threw a hissy fit, here’s a much better version of what happened.” The amusing thing, of course, is that UQ Holder doesn’t quite take place in the same universe as Negima – something explicitly spelled out by Tota here. The mysterious stranger from the cliffhanger of the last book (who turns out to be Chamo) is getting ready to show us a movie of what happened to Negi and company in Tota’s home world, through the dead eyes of Chachazero (which is really creepy when you think about it) when Dana bursts in, punches a middle school girl unconscious, and shows them an alternate universe “happy ending” – i.e. what happens in Negima’s home world.

That’s Nodoka and Yue on the cover, but sorry to break it to you, neither one of them wins the Negi sweepstakes. I had talked before about how the ending of Negima had him tell Asuna that he loved one of the girls, but didn’t say who, except Asuna’s surprise made it clear it wasn’t a) her, or b) one of the more obvious candidates. They do get to confess, and Negi turns them down, and it’s well-handled and very sweet. Then there’s Negi’s confession to the girl he actually does like. Given it wasn’t Asuna, the Naru-lookie likee, there’s only one other choice it could be given Akamatsu’s own preferences. It’s the OTHER Naru-lookie likee, Chisame. Again, you can see why Asuna was surprised but not THAT surprised. Chisame filled the role of Negi’s mentor and “common sense” throughout Negima, and he’s also commented on how pretty she is multiple times, much to her annoyance. The main issue is that Negi is far too young. Which is why, when he confesses, she shoots him down.

This leads to the funny parts of the book, as the ENTIRE CLASS was spying on them, and Ayaka in particular seems ready to burn Chisame to death with her mind for rejecting Negi. But Chisame’s right – despite all the many, many, MANY shotacon jokes in Negima, he really is too young to be dating. (She is also too young to be dealing with the fact that she really does like him too.) As such, we can swiftly move forward five years, to when Negi is sixteen, and show the final battle between him and the entity possessing his father. (Negi’s mother’s fate remains unknown – I assume she died at some point after he was born, but it’s never made clear.) The battle allows mostly everyone to take part (though the noncombatants are shown watching from the side in cat-eared spacesuits, and Eva and the three cheerleaders stay home) and lets Akamatsu do the only thing he loves more than nude harem chases – big fights with lots of punching.

After this epic battle, we move forward two more years and get the epilogue. Everyone lives happily ever after. Negi, now an adult, marries a grumpy, blushing Chisame (which makes Kyrie very happy – she’s likely noticed that she and Chisame are the same, and thus this increases her chances) and his recovered father marries Evangeline (I assume that he freed her from her curse at some point, though honestly she still looks about ten years old in the wedding photo.). I was amused at Tota pointing out the flaws inherent in Akamatsu’s own plotting – the entire happy ending depends on Asuna getting rescued via time travel, which many readers at the time called a giant cheat, and so does Tota, saying they have to get their own happy ending without cheating. (I didn’t have issues with the time travel in the original ending, as I felt it had been foreshadowed quite well.) Perhaps now Akamatsu can get on with moving forward with his new cast and dealing with the plot in their own universe… though given all the villains are essentially dark variations on the cast of Negima, this seems unlikely.

If you liked Negima but have not read UQ Holder, you should pick up this volume anyway – you really don’t need to know much about the latter to understand this, and it gives much better closure to the series. Just… five and a half years later.