Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 17

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “To Aru Majutsu no Index” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

Last time I mentioned that Fiamma of the Right’s plans for England sounded a bit like Brexit. Little did I know that the feeling would triple as I read this new volume, set almost entirely in the United Kingdom. The villains are trying to start a war with France – well, in reality France is a proxy for the Roman Orthodox and Russian Catholic Churches, but you know what I mean – and are discussing what happens with trading rights and shipping in the UK and sounding an awful lot like Theresa May, to be honest. This is entirely coincidental given that this book came out in Japan in March 2009, but it does given the danger a little extra frisson of reality. Which is more than can be said for Kamachi’s rewriting of English history – Henry VIII’s motives for breaking off with the Roman Orthodox church are made a lot more noble and grand than reality, and I suspect the court are telling Touma a sanitized version of the truth.

Introduced in this book: Queen Elizard, Princess Limeia, Princess Carissa, and Princess Vilian, who was in the last book but is officially named here. We also meet all of New Light, a Norse-based magical group and terrorist organization, which like most other organizations in Index has four people in it: Lesser, Bayloupe, Florice, and Lancis. Yes, it’s romanized as Lesser, so any fans of the fan spelling who are still getting the official version will be annoyed once more, as Lesser is honestly the only one of these four you’ll need to remember going forward. Timeline-wise, we’re about five days after the events of Book 16 – Itsuwa has returned to the UK, though after taking the time to heal up and briefly discuss the upcoming culture festival, Touma and Index join her. This means this is another magic-heavy book, so don’t expect lots of Mikoto here, though she at least does discuss Touma’s memory loss with him briefly.

This is the first volume of a two-parter, and so as you can imagine the book consists mostly of everything going wrong for our heroes. By the end of the book Index is captured and knocked out (punched in the stomach, no less), Kaori has just been beaten so badly that everyone is sneering at her, Agnes’s Roman Orthodox nuns are mostly captured aside from the ones whose names we can remember, and two of our supposed heroes are in reality betraying everyone – for the good of the nation, of course. Lesser (who is a hoot in general, you can see why she’ll be back) picks on Touma for being there at all, noting that as the only Japanese guy in the midst of a fight between UK denizens, he can’t possibly understand why anyone is doing anything. Of course, I have no doubt that is also Touma’s strength. We also see a bunch of former villains who are now theoretically on the side of good, also showing off – Sherry and Oriana, to be precise. At times Index reads very much like, well, an index, making sure that everyone gets a cameo.

So overall decent volume, though I will pick on the translation just a bit – I’m not sure if Laura Stuart’s English is supposed to be as bad as her Japanese, but a lot of the ‘slang’ in this book reads very badly if we’re meant to assume she is British. On the bright side, while we do have more of Kamachi’s attempts at being funny, one of them actually succeeds this time – the sequence in Buckingham Palace, starting with Touma, Index and the scones and progressing through the introduction of the Queen is very well done, and very funny. I tip my hat. (It also provided the cover image.) I also approve of one translation convention – everyone in charge in England refers to Index as “the Index” and treats her exactly like you would an encyclopedia, not a person. It’s very obvious and very well done. Index fans will want to pick this up, especially now that the third season of the anime has shown itself to be rushing everything so badly. You’ll want to see what actually happens.

Manga the Week of 11/28/18

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SEAN: Time for some Black Friday manga titles. Maybe some of these will have low, low prices.

Cross Infinite World has another one-shot fantasy novel with Tia La Cherla. Normal guy meets mysterious girl with amnesia but tremendous powers.

Dark Horse gives us Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography, which is what it says but also looks really lavish and able to justify its expensive price.

ASH: Oooh, that should be nice.

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us a 4th volume of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, for all your ecchi needs.

J-Novel Club has a 2nd volume of Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight and a 6th Outbreak Company.

Kodansha has a few print titles. We get a 3rd Grand Blue Dreaming, the Real Account 9-11 omnibus (I think – it’s been on this list before and then delayed), and The Seven Deadly Sins 29.

ASH: I will admit that Grand Blue Dreaming has made me laugh more than once.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Blissful Land (Tenju no Kuni), which seems to be Kodansha’s answer to A Bride’s Story. It runs in Betsushonen, and is about a 13-year-old boy in Tibet and a mysterious bride who arrives one day. >_> OK, a *lot* like A Bride’s Story.

ANNA: Huh, do we need two of these series? I’m really behind on A Bride’s Story so I can’t imagine going out of my way to read a similar series when I need to get caught up on the original.

SEAN: There’s also a pike of ongoing digital for all. Ace of the Diamond 17, Ao-chan Can’t Study 2, Forest of Piano 8, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 5, Kakafukaka 3, Kira-kun Today 2, Liar x Liar 8, Peach Mermaid 3, and Those Summer Days 5. I have actually started one or two of these!

MICHELLE: I have only started one, so far, though there are several I will get around to sometime soonish. I hope.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts, but a pile of ongoing series. Absolute Duo 4, Arifureta’s 3rd manga volume, the print edition of the 3rd Clockwork Planet novel, Devilman vs. Hades 3, The High School Life of a Fudanshi 4, Nirvana 3, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 4.

Vertical debuts Katanagatari: Sword Tale. Despite the similar names, this is unrelated to the Bakemonogatari books except that it’s also by Nisioisin. It’s actually 3 novels in one – they were quite short, and he wrote one per month for a year. It’s set in the Edo era and has swords. What more could one need?

And Yen has a number of titles that got pushed back a week or two. We’ll start with an old title available in digital for the first time: Emma 1-10 (i.e not in omnibuses) is available digitally! As is Sekirei 19, whose core audience is… not the same as Emma’s.

ASH: I am still so incredibly happy that Yen Press rescued Emma.

ANNA: For sure a series that deserves to be in print!

SEAN: The light novel debut is one of the more anticipated titles of the year… for one reason or another. Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? is the mom isekai the fandom never knew it wanted. Supposedly a “parody” of Japan’s current obsession with incest stories, I suspect as with most Japanese parodies it will have its cake and eat it too. The premise is simple: a young man is called to be a hero in a fantasy world. But his mom is there too. And is more powerful. And dotes on him to a disturbing degree. We shall see.

MICHELLE: I wish this were totally free of any possibly creepy vibes because the idea of going to another world with your mom is kind of amusing.

SEAN: In non-mom isekai light novels, we have Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You’ve Got a Ringer) 2, Durarara!! 11, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days: The Novel, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 4, and So I’m a Spider, So What? 4. Congrats to Tanya and Durarara!! for not being fantasy-based (Tanya’s still an isekai, though).

Lastly, two manga stragglers: Alice in Murderland 9 and A Bride’s Story 10.

ASH: I love A Bride’s Story so much.

SEAN: Will you be getting A Bride’s Story AND Blissful Land? What else?

Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vol. 5

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

There are several reasons that I think that Reki Kawahara is happier writing the Progressive novels, but the primary one is that he really just loves writing Kirito and Asuna falling deeply in love with each other – something we get quite a bit of here. He admits in the afterword that he’s not entirely sure how this is going to mesh with canon – in the original series, Kirito and Asuna act like they’re casual acquaintances when we first see them. But as I’ve said before, I think he knows he doesn’t have to worry about that till about Floor 10, and they’re only on the sixth. What’s more, this is Progressive’s first two-parter – which is likely why it’s shorter than usual. If you dislike Kirito (it’s all his POV again) or don’t care for Kirito and Asuna as a couple, the entire Progressive series is skippable for you. For the rest of us, it’s pretty fun and adorable – well, mostly adorable. Those player killers keep coming back, and they’re after our heroes.

I had to remind myself what was going on in the plot, as it’s been two full years since the last volume (fortunately, we will have less of a wait for the next one). The new floor consists mainly of puzzles to be solved, such as sudoku or the sliding pieces puzzles. Kirito and Asuna try to breeze through the main quest in the town, helped along by Kirito’s beta knowledge, but a spanner is thrown into the works when they’re captured while under a paralysis spell (as part of the quest they’re doing) by Morte and his partner, who are ready for some killing. Kirito and Asuna are really starting to fear for their lives here – especially Kirito, who’s been attacked multiple times. Things aren’t being helped by the ongoing war between the two lead factions, and Kirito attempting to deftly not support either side. Fortunately, the two of them do also have their bond with Kizmel and the elves, and can (mostly) safely relax in her presence – even if that means sharing a hot spring. And a bed.

It does have to be said, this volume of Progressive also contains an awful lot of game mechanics. I’ve never been overly fond of these sort of things in light novels, and I’m not fond of it here. But power through the endless pages of Kirito describing how his sword movements work or which stat boost he should get next, because the meat of the book is Kirito and Asuna’s relationship. They’re simply cute, and honestly I think the only think holding them back right now is the strange sense of self-hatred Kirito gets about himself as a romantic lead (yes, I am aware how ironic this is given the SAO franchise as a whole) and Asuna’s embarrassment, though by the end of the book she not only “bundles” with him in a queen sized bed (in the Scottish sense of the word) but they’re connecting pinkies as they sleep so that they’re always aware of each other’s presence. Sword Art Online Progressive is, at heart, a love story.

It’s also only half done – there’s no cliffhanger, and the author admits this is basically “I wrote too long a book, so they cut it in half”. I’m definitely ready for the next half, and more shipping tease. Oh yes, and more Argo! She was barely in this one.

Bookshelf Briefs 11/20/18

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Black Clover, Vol. 13 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – As long as you’re writing a series which uses every cliche in the book, you may as well go all in and write a tournament arc, and that’s what we’re getting here. Surprisingly, Asta is not paired with Noelle, but with Mimosa, who I’ll be honest I had totally forgotten about. Given that Noelle fills the ‘tsundere’ love interest bucket, it only makes sense that Mimosa is the Hinata of Black Clover, being shy and tripping over her words in front of him. As for the battles themselves, they’re all good ways to spotlight folks who we don’t really get much chance to see in the main storyline. On the downside, so far they’re all very predictable outcomes. I’d like to see some people win who shouldn’t normally win. – Sean Gaffney

The Bride & the Exorcist Knight, Vol. 2 | By Keiko Ishihara | Seven Seas – We get more of the same here—good character development and action sequences. Shame that they’re really pushing the “I am twelve years old and suave as heck” plotline, and Anne does seem to be falling for him, though thankfully we haven’t advanced quite that far. One thing that did impress me was the fate of Anne’s parents, who would normally get killed off to jumpstart the plot in tales like this, especially given Anne’s status as a magical bride MacGuffin. There’s nothing really extraordinary here, but it’s good solid fantasy romance, and it at least makes noises occasionally about Anne being creeped out about Haru’s age. For fans of shoujo starring cute, cool boys. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 6 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – Remember when this was a funny series about eating monsters? Last time I said the books were getting a bit darker. Here they take a running leap into grim as we continue to see how Laios and company are seen by everyone else around them—as reckless lunatics who endanger everyone around them. What’s more, Falin’s back, but that’s not good news—the slaughter that follows is a kick in the teeth. Honestly, after that sequence, seeing the “which is the original and which is the shapeshifter” plot was a welcome light relief, and the sequence with Laios helping Marcille with her nightmares was rather heartwarming. Still, Falin’s influence on everyone around her, death, and subsequent “came back wrong” are now THE reason to read this. – Sean Gaffney

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection | By Junji Ito | Viz Media – The first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was originally published in 1818, so Viz Media’s release of Junji Ito’s rendition of the story is aptly timed for the two-hundred-year anniversary of the groundbreaking novel. Ito has made a few changes here and there—particularly towards the end—but for the most part the manga adaptation is very faithful to Shelley’s original and Ito’s artwork is well-suited to the more grotesque and disturbing elements of the tale. In addition to Frankenstein, the volume also collects a series of six short manga featuring Oshikiri, a young man who is very self-conscious about his short stature but whose real worries are of a more horrific and supernatural kind. (It doesn’t help that his home seems to be a portal to alternate dimensions.) Also included are two unrelated short horror manga as well as two short manga about the Ito family’s pet dog Non-non. – Ash Brown

Haikyu!!, Vol. 29 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – It’s all volleyball game this volume, so there’s no real plot I can talk about. We do continue to see character growth from Hinata and Tsukishima, who gets one of the cooler moments that also made me laugh when he talks about blocking the quick set. The other team is no slouch, though, particularly the twins, and our heroes are behind the eight ball most of the time. The opponent’s band is not helping either, which is why for once it’s Saeko who gets to have the Big Damn Heroes moment, arriving with Taiko Drums to drown out the band’s odd rhythms. Other than that, this volleyball manga continues to put the emphasis on volleyball. I’m about ready for it to go to every three months, to be honest, and it will be soon. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 8 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – Aside from Love at Fourteen‘s main couple, who are meant to be the cute and sweet default, the series makes a lot of unusual choices for its romantic pairings. Nagai and Hinohara continue to put the “ergh” in non-consensual teacher-student romance. Shiki and the school nurse bond over being tortured lesbians in love with a straight girl who isn’t going to love them back. And we get a new one here, as Kato, the really short boy in the class, ends up getting entangled with what appears to be a cute older girl… except she’s actually eleven. He’s fourteen, so we’re not anywhere Hinohara’s level of wrong, but Love at Fourteen really enjoys giving the reader heartwarming discomfort. – Sean Gaffney

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 1 | By ONE | Published by Dark Horse – As a fan of One-Punch Man, I went into Mob Psycho 100 expecting to be amused and I’m sorry to say that never really happened. Shigeo Kageyama is an eighth grader with superpowers who works as an underpaid assistant for a fraudulent spirit medium named Arataka Reigen. Shigeo is called “Mob” because he’s an expressionless kid who blends into a crowd, and his desire to be attractive (and win the girl of his dreams) ultimately leads him into strange situations, like being recruited for a creepy cult. My interest was piqued, however, by the meter running throughout the volume (depicting an increasing percentage) and the payoff when it reached 100% was totally worth it. Plus, Reigen’s pep talk to Mob afterwards was completely unexpected and kind of heartwarming. In the end, I think I’ve been convinced to try another volume. – Michelle Smith

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 9 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – Both Towa and Aya have now confessed to Mitsuki and she doesn’t know what to do about it. I appreciate that Anashin shows why each boy feels the way that they do, and also that Mitsuki is completely forthcoming with Towa about everything that’s happening with Aya, so that no plot line ever hinges on “completely avoidable misunderstanding.” Instead, there’s more complicated drama, like Towa feeling frustrated that Aya keeps being in a position to heroically save Mitsuki (this time pulling a ligament saving her from being hit by a car) and wondering if perhaps they aren’t destined to be together. Instead of wallowing, however, he seemingly becomes more determined. It’s nice to see Towa start to become less reserved and I look forward to what volume ten will bring. – Michelle Smith

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – About two-thirds of the way through this volume, Narumi and Koyanagi are relaxing at a hot sprint on a company trip. Koyanagi wonders if Narumi feels lonely because she’s barely seeing her boyfriend this trip, but she says that, given Hirotaka’s lack of social aptitude, she’s merely happy to see him getting along with other guy friends. Koyanagi points out that that’s a mature answer, but leaves her a little bored. I’m not bored with Wotakoi yet, but it does appear to me that it’s very dedicated to showing that our leads are all pretty happy, with most conflicts resolved over the course of a single chapter. Given the title, you’d expect a bit more, but while it’s still very sweet, love isn’t that hard for these otaku. – Sean Gaffney

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 14 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – Azuma does not believe in pumping out the chapters for this series—this is the second volume in five years. Still, it’s like we never went away, really. Last time we met Yotsuba’s grandmother, and this time it’s her aunt, who is meeting up with Koiwai in Tokyo so that he can get a car—which I assume will allow for greater scope of adventures in the future. This means that here we get Yotsuba & Tokyo, with much hilarity, including an alien invasion that needs to be stopped, and delicious food at an expensive hotel. Oh yes, and Fuuka and her friend Hiwatari do yoga with Yotsuba, which leads to much frustration as she’s as flexible as a young child and they are not. Yotsuba&! still has its magic; I just wish it was magical more often. – Sean Gaffney

Wonderland, Vol. 1

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By Yugo Ishikawa. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Big Comic Superior. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Rabbit. Adapted by Marykate Jasper.

I have to admit, I did not buy this manga for the premise. Horror is something I tend to be very wary of, and this read very much like it would be a “watch people get gorily murdered in visually arresting ways”. And, well, it is. But it’s the visually arresting part that kept me reading on. The author has been doing seinen stuff for years, ranging from action titles like Fighting Beauty Wulong to seinen skeeze like Yoiko, about an elementary school girl with the body of a fully grown adult. Lately, though, he’s been specializing in weird horror, and this certainly falls under that. It also falls under something that North America may have been growing sick of in the last few years – Alice in Wonderland take-offs. Unlike most that we see, there’s no Mad Hatter or Red Queen here, though, as it takes one premise – shrinking down to tiny size – and runs with it.

Our heroine is… not the girl on the cover. Instead it’s Yukko, a typical teen girl who wakes one morning to find that she’s shrunk down to the size of a doll. Her pet dog, now much bigger than she is, seems OK with this. Her pet cat… sees her as a tasty mouse, it would appear. Indeed, by the time Yukko gets her bearings and attempts to deal with this, both of her parents have been murdered by said cat. She tries to get out and get help… only to find the entire prefecture is suffering the same problem – they’re all tiny. Now she has to team up with other survivors and figure out how to remedy this… though that may take a backseat to just surviving, as the cats of the neighborhood REALLY love to beat these tiny humans to death. And then there’s Alice, who IS the girl on the cover. She seems to have animal ears, speaks at first in an alien tongue, and shows up mysteriously with no explanation. As the teaser for the second volume asks, who is she?

The story and character development here are, it has to be said, not great. Yukko is plucky, Alice is weird, and I really liked the dog, but for the most part these people are here to react to the scenery. But what scenery it is. The artist does a good job of showing off tiny humans vs. real-sized objects and animals, and how it’s become a matter of life and death almost immediately. I’d still call it a horror title – there’s lots of gory deaths here, and you spend a lot of the book waiting for the next she to drop. But the hint of a VAST GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY makes me think it will end up more of a thriller than anything else, with Yukko and Alice teaming up to try to learn why this happened in the first place. I’m not sure if I’m into Wonderland for the long haul (it’s 6 volumes total), but this is a compelling enough start. Plus, let’s be honest, Big Comic Superior? When’s the last time we saw a title from there? This deserves your support for that alone.

Pick of the Week: Shades of Gray

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MICHELLE: Another week with several really strong contenders for pick of the week! Shojo FIGHT! and Beasts of Abigaile will definitely be near the top of my to-read pile, but the big contest is between Ooku and Wotakoi. In the end, I am going to go with Wotakoi this time. I love Ooku a lot, but I know I’ve picked it before, and Wotakoi is appealing from a lifting-one’s-spirits sort of angle.

SEAN: Unsurprisingly, I’m looking at novels this week. I Want to Eat Your Pancreas has the award-winning cred, and though I expect I may get depressed after reading it, that’s my pick.

ASH: For ongoing series, Ooku and Wotakoi are both very high on my list as is the continuation of I Hear the Sunspot. But my pick this week officially goes to the debut of Ran and the Gray World, which looks like it should be absolutely wonderful.

ANNA: I’m going to go with Ran and the Gray World too. I’m going to check it out!

MJ: Fumi Yoshinaga always wins for me, so I’ll be the one to pick Ooku. It’s always a wonderful treat to see it turn up on the list!

KATE: Sorry to be bringing up the rear — I’m in paper grading purgatory right now! My pick of the week is Good Dog, Cerebus! which looks like the kind of cute, fluffy escapism I’m craving at the moment. My second pick — if I’m allowed one — would be PEZ, which looks gorgeous.

My Next Life As a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 1

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

Sometimes you come into a title with a lot of buzz and hype and are greatly disappointed. This is not one of those times. I’d heard great things about this series, especially its humor and the “denseness” of its heroine, Katarina Claes (the series’ nickname is “Bakarina”). I’m pleased to say they seem to be accurate. This book is a hoot from beginning to end, as what could be yet another “protagonist dies and ends up in a game world” series – and yes, we’ve seen this premise before here even with a reverse harem – ends up getting bulldozed by Katarina stomping across the plot like a berserker. This is not to say that she’s evil – the opposite, in fact. She may be a loud tomboy, but Katarina’s innate niceness throws off the entire cast, and what should be her just trying to alter history so that she’s safe ends up being her creating a vortex of partners around her – male AND female.

The premise: a girl (we never do learn her original name) rushes out of her house after spending all night playing an otome game and gets kit by a car and killed. She wakes up in the game, as 8-year-old Katarina. Unfortunately, Katarina is the antagonist. IN Magical Academy seven years down the road, the spoiled and rich Katarina bullies and torments the player character heroine, and in the endings is either a) exiled penniless to the country, or b) killed. But now Katarina has the memories and the wherewithal to change her future. What’s more, she’s a rambunctious but basically nice girl, and so the arrogant haughtiness vanishes as she attempts to find various ways to fix things. She succeeds beyond her wildest dreams… but is completely unaware of the fact that her fiancee the Prince is now in love with her. As is her adopted brother. As is the Prince’s brother. As is her best friend Mary, showing that everyone falls for Katarina. Katarina notices absolutely none of this. After all, why would anyone be attracted to her? She has a villain face!

Like Obsessions of an Otome Gamer, this plays with its premise a bit and does not take itself seriously. Unlike Obsessions of an Otome Gamer, there’s no serious plotline to worry about. Everything here is for the sake of the comedy. The primary source of the comedy being Katarina’s thought process, which beggars belief at times… well, OK, all the time. Watch our heroine as she becomes an 8-year-old farmer, works on ways to create more convincing toy snakes to throw at her fiancee, and decides the solution to eating and drinking too much at tea parties is to take her own portable toilet the next time she’s there. Most of this volume deals with Katarina as a child, with only the final chapter having the now 15-year-old Katarina start university, and she still hasn’t met the heroine of the game. Still, I think she’s good. The book balances her narrative POV at the end of each chapter with the POV of the other characters, showing what they were like before they met her and how she changed their lives. It also has a good moral, spelled out at the end: treat people as human beings. Katarina is so blunt and straightforward that she can’t help but charm everyone she meets. (Also, kudos to the author for including the girls being in love with her but not making it for the sake of comedy – Mary and Sophia are the same as the guys, and there’s only one “but I’m straight!” from Katarina, said right after she’s spent a lot of time gushing about Mary’s beauty.)

I highly recommend Bakarina to light novel readers. You will laugh. You will cry… wait, no, you won’t. But you will laugh more. You will also wonder why Japanese authors try their hardest to avoid using the romanization “Gerald” (first Jellal and now Jeord).

Anime NYC 2018, Day Three

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The third day, as I indicated, was very light for me: I had no panels to attend. I ended up going to the winners of the AMV Music Videos showing, something I haven’t done in a number of years. I was impressed at the technical excellence – the days of using 5 different VHS sources is long gone. I especially liked the video that brought every single “beach episode” anime series together, and then started mixing the characters next to each other. Other highlights included a Totoro trailer with the sound from Stephen King’s IT (this was by the same women who did the beach one) and an action filled My Hero Academia video that showed off everything we love about the series, with good (if very loud) music accompaniment.

And for those who like sad videos, there was a Your Lie in April one which brought the tears. I was less happy with the “honest trailer” for Yuri On Ice, which read very much as a “ew, gay guys” sort of thing, even if its intention may have been partly to parody that. The winner on all counts was a Gurren Lagann video. I was rather surprised at seeing some more obscure anime – who still remembers MM!, which won a romance category to the tune of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love? But mostly I was impressed at the technical expertise all the finalists had. Well done.

I then went up to look over the Artist’s Alley, whcih I tend to save for last when I go to cons. I picked up two cute pins of Izuku and Ochako as stuffed toys (yes, the pin was art of them as the toy… it was cute, and is also my ship). As you can imagine, there was a lot of the most popular titles such as My Hero Academia and Fate/Grand Order, but I was also pleased to see a good showing for Cells at Work! and Golden Kamuy. The most popular older Jump titles such as One Piece and Naruto were there, though I saw little to no Bleach – its its time over? Speaking of fads, there was also far less Pop Team Epic than I’d anticipated, adn I wonder if that may also turn out to be “of its time” fairly rapidly. As with the AMVs, it’s impressive to see how far the Artist’s Alley has come since the days of yore, with almost as many pins, buttons, plushies (a lot of cute plushies, which also tempted me) and merch to go along with all the artwork. It’s showing off all aspects of an artist’s work, and was well worth your time.

And that was it for me. Anime NYC was a very successful convention this year, in my opinion – after the initial line holdup at the start, there were no issues with major lines or any bag check nightmares that I heard of, and only one panel had an instance where I wondered if security should be stepping in, but it was taken care of fast. I’m not certain what attendance was, but I would not be surprised if it passes 2017 – Friday and Saturday were both packed. Looking forward to 2019!

The Hero and His Elf Bride Open a Pizza Parlor in Another World

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By Kaya Kizaki and Shiso. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

First of all, you will note the lack of a volume number in the title – this seems to be a one-shot novel. And thank goodness for that. Not that I didn’t find this novel about a pizza hero and his cute, clumsy, and jealous elf fiancee (yeah, they don’t actually get married here) charming, but it’s really the sort of premise that can’t hold up over an extended period. It barely holds up over the course of this book, and it’s a very short book. But on its own, as something you’d read over an hour or so on a train ride or at the beach, it’s perfectly pleasant. The pizza is pretty much the most original thing about it – characters are of the sort that the moment you see their design you immediate know what they’re like and how they’ll talk. And that includes our hero, who is as generic as he appears. But he’s nice. And earnest. He also likes pizza.

Our hero is Kaito, a working drudge who is hit by a pizza delivery bike and killed, in the time honored Japanese light novel tradition. He needs a goddess who offers him three worlds he could reincarnate as a hero in – sword master, magic master, or pizza master. Sadly, Kaito is a bit overwhelmed and dithers too much, so the first two options are taken by other dead light novel protagonists, leaving him with pizza hero. (You get the sense that the goddess nudged events towards this happening, and also perhaps nudged Kaito into being a bit more pizza-obsessed than one normally is.) He’s reincarnated in a small town populated by thin elves who eat only vegetables and greens, at the behest of their Queen. Kaito will soon change that… with PIZZA! He’s also given the village leader’s daughter Lilia as an assistant/wife, and while Kaito finds the wife part disconcerting at first, he gradually falls for her.

There’s no real satire or deconstruction going on here, I will warn you – everything is pretty much what it seems. Lilia is essentially Index as an elf, with a truly voracious appetite and a tendency to get upset whenever Kaito speaks with any other girl. We also meet the Queen, Eleonora, who is haughty, stubborn, and loves pizza (they ALL end up loving pizza) but needs to keep up appearances. She also falls for Kaito, as does a rich yet ill girl, but given this is one volume and that volume ends with Kaito proposing to Lilia, there’s no real harem action besides “cute girls like the hero because he exists”. The plot is a series of short stories revolving around Kaito making pizza (he gets the knowledge and most of the ingredients via magical cards, with is very convenient) and making elves happy by serving pizza. Even the village-destroying dragon is won over by pizza.

Again, this is light, pleasant, and utterly inessential. If you’re looking for a quick read, or like pizza, it’s there for you.

Anime NYC 2018, Day Two

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Yesterday was light to nonexistent. The same for tomorrow. But today? We had ALL THE THINGS! Starting off with the joint Kodansha and Vertical panel, which was in a nice big panel room and there was no line. A good start!

Ben Applegate was there from Kodansha and Tomo Tran from Vertical. They talked about all the giveaways they had at the booth, with Summer Wars stickers, After the Rain music download cards, Devils’ Line stuff, Pop Team Epic “shitty merchandise” (nicely done), and some of the Monogatari art exhibit being available to look at. Vertical then announced a new artbook from VOFAN, the artist for the Monogatari Series novels. This is actually a collection of his non-commercial art, so it should be far more intriguing than just another collection of stuff you’ve seen before in a larger size. It’s coming in Fall 2019.

Kodansha ran through some of their titles currently being released, including the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and mentioned the Sailor Moon musical is coming to NYC and DC. They then got on to new titles, though one is a collected edition: Princess Jellyfish is getting a Complete Box Set! Given at one point they weren’t sure they’d even finish the series, this is terrific news. Tales of Berseria is a three-volume series from Ichijinsha’s Comic REX, and is a fantasy title based off of a video game – I think it has an anime as well.

Fate/Grand Order gets its first manga adaptation license with the mortalis stella series, a 2-volume manga that is also Ichijinsha, from their Comic Zero Sum. I believe this stars Mash. Lastly, Kodansha is doing a new Cardcaptor Sakura edition with all the bells and whistles – hardcover, some new covers, new translation – the whole nine yards. I was a bit surprised by this, given it wasn’t too long ago that Dark Horse had re-released the series, but I’ve heard this will be worth the repurchase.

There were also two new digital announcements, coming out the first and second week of December, respectively. Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice (Akazukin no Ookami Deshi) is a Betsushonen title with Little Red Riding Hood as a beast hunter, and it’s supposed to be amusing. And on a more ridiculous note, we have Crocodile Baron, a Weekly Morning title that is three volumes long. Kodansha emphasized that the synopsis was irrelevant because there was a crocodile in a top hat on the cover. They’re not wrong.

After this there was Q&A, but I had to leave right away to get to the debut panel for Denpa Books, run by Ed Chavez (ex-Vertical) and Jacob Gray (ex-Fakku). They had special guests at the panel, though they quickly had to leave, so weren’t the focus – Range Murata, character designer for Last Exile and others, whose futurelog artbook is out next month and has ALL the bells and whistles – seriously, I could not believe how tricked out this artbook is. Hiroyuki Asada is known here for Tegami Bachi, but is putting out a more experimental title via Denpa, PEZ.

Most of the titles talked about have been mentioned before in some way or another. I was most interested in Invitation from a Crab and Maiden Railways, both of which seem to come from Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, as well as Dining with the Emiya Family, for Fate/Stay Night fans who know what the most important thing in the Fate franchise is – FOOD.

The new titles included Super Dimensional Love Gun, a Shintaro Kago title that Fakku had previously released, but this is a nicer edition. It contains the usual Shintaro Kago warnings – if you aren’t a fan of his, you’ll likely be grossed out. Heavenly Delusion (Tengoku Daimakyou) is a brand new seinen series running in Kodansha’s Afternoon, and Denpa managed to license it before the first volume was even out in Japan. They’re super excited for it – it’s post-apocalyptic slice of life, a popular genre lately. The creator may be better known for SoreMachi. The last Denpa title was Pleasure and Corruption (Tsumi to Kai), from Square Enix’s Young Gangan. Honestly, it feels more like a Fakku title than a Denpa title, but it’s being sold to those who liked the sort of dark sexuality of Flowers of Evil. Expect BDSM themes.

After eating lunch, I had a choice: I could go to Viz, or go to Vertical’s Katanagatari panel. I chose the latter (sorry, Viz, I always seem to miss you at these events). Vertical’s panel had the translator, Sam Bett, who walked through some of the things they’re doing with the title – the footnotes, which are half gag and half serious, as well as the hardcover omnibus editions. Given its author, you can imagine how much sword wordplay and how many sword puns there are. Most of the audience has already seen the anime, but Sam was quick to note that even given the novels are short (each is approximately 100 pages in English, meaning the omnibus is 300), there is a lot the anime had to adapt or leave out.

Even leaving aside that it was Nisioisin, translating it could be difficult – these are not “light” novels, and there’s lots of obscure or archaic Japanese terms that need adapting. He also explained why he used “mutant blades” rather than “deviant blades” – he felt the latter made them sound more evil than they really should be seen. It takes him longer to do Nisio’s translation than other titles, but not a LOT longer – about 20% longer, on average. He said even a Japanese reader might find themselves reaching for a dictionary to look up words with this one.

Despite not being at the Viz panel, I will be looking at their announcements anyway, at least the manga ones. My Hero Academia SMASH! is a 5-volume comedy series that ran in Shonen Jump +, and is, as you might have guessed, a wacky 4-koma take on the popular series. This license was obvious, but I am quite pleased nevertheless. Komi Can’t Communicate (Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu) was a very popular license announcement, being a Shonen Sunday title with a lot of buzz. Komi is the cool, aloof beauty according to the school, but in reality, she’s just bad at communication.

Beastars is a Weekly Shonen Champion title (nice to see Akita Shoten stuff out over here in a (mostly) post-Tokyopop world), and it’s an award winning manga about anthropomorphic high school students. It’s 11+ volumes, and looks dark but cool. Lastly, Haikasoru has a new sci-fi novel announcement with Automatic Eve, that seems to be a steampunk title.

I was lurking waiting for Yen Press, so I checked out the GKids panel. They’re a group that puts out a lot of the “anime movie” series we’ve seen recently, the most recent varieties being Mirai and Fireworks: Shall We See It from the Side or the Bottom?. They’re also now in charge of the Ghibli line, with nice handsome DVD/Blu-Ray releases of those titles. They are clearly cery excited about getting these releases into theaters, and the trailers for the movies looked exciting and fun – I particularly liked the Miyazaki documentary.

My last panel of the day was Yen Press, but they also announced the most titles – easily. The panel room filled up rapidly, being near standing room only 15 minutes before, but I think everyone who wanted to get in was able to. Announcing for Yen were Kurt Haessler and Tania Biswas, as well as Carl, Ivan, and Anna, who sadly remained last name-less. Unlike all the other panels I went to, Yen knew it had a pile to announce, so did not do a run-through of any recent releases – through they did have some poster giveaways, including Psycome, much to my surprise.

We began with the novel of Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki. Yen had previously released the manga, but they now have the novel adaptation of this popular movie. (Anna spoiled a death when describing the plot, which Kurt mercilessly mocked her for.) Whenever Our Eyes Meet is a yuri anthology a la Eclair, but this time the protagonists are all adult women, for those who are tired of the usual high school girls. Speaking of yuri, we also have Killing Me!, a one-volume title from Comic Cune about two high school girls who are a vampire and a vampire hunter. It looks very much like a “yuri for guys” series.

Also one volume is Little Miss P (Seiri-chan), an Enterbrain series about an anthropomorphic period. As in menstruation period. The audience was taken aback, but Yen clearly really enjoyed talking about this one, and think it will be great fun. Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur and Heretic Merlin is a brand new fantasy title – brand new in Japan too, so there’s not much info about it. The author did Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, the artist does Index. It seems to be about an Arthurian tournament, and is two volumes to date.

On a darker note, they have both the novel and the manga for Torture Princess (Isekai Goumon Hime), whose artist has also done Black Bullet. It’s a Media Factory title and is apparently quite violent, about a man who is reincarnated in an artificial body and the demon hunter who wants his help. The German subtitle is Fremd Torturchen, and the manga runs on Kadokawa’s Comic Walker site. We also get an Enterbrain light novel called The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Hero (Megami no Yuusha wo Taosu Gesu na Houhou). No, not that kind of dirty. The demon lord just wants to eat tasty food, but heroes keep trying to kill them. So… they summon their own hero.

Back to manga with The Monster and the Beast (Bakemono to Kedamono), a BL title from Asuka Ciel, about a nice monster and a nasty older man, and their budding relationship. Yuri Life is another yuri title, this one taken from Pixiv artist Kurikurihime, and also features two women in their late twenties, not late teens. It’s very sliec-of-yuri life. For fans of Beasts of Abigaile, we have a title from the same creator. Kaiju Girl Caramelizer (Otome Monster Caramelize) runs in my old nemesis, Comic Alive (pauses to shake fist at sky), but looks good anyway, and is about a girl who has an affliction that when she gets upset, her body parts “monsterize”.

More light novels with Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun), a Shogakukan title (in other words, expect print-only for this one) about a loser gamer guy who thinks the world is awful, and a winning gamer girl who shows him the “cheats” to help him succeed at life. It gets points for not being a fantasy title, I’ll say that. The artist is also pretty fly. (I’m so sorry.) Back to manga for God Shining Moonlight Howling Moon (Mahou Shoujo Flaming Star), by the creators of Trinity Seven and High School of the Dead. Given that combo, you know there will be breasts a plenty. It also runs in Bessatsu Dragon Age, which sort of clinches that, and is about a Magical Girl called upon to save the Earth… but is she one of the good guys?

The last one is another light novel, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious (Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru), a fairly recent Kadokawa series. A fantasy world is in desperate straits. They need a hero. They get a really strong one… but he’s far too wary, never wanting to attack unless he knows he can win. What makes this interesting is that the book is from the POV of the goddess who summoned him, and she has to find a way to make him do what needs to be done. It’s five volumes in Japan. After that came Q&A, but honestly, let’s just move along now.

And with that, I wrapped up my second and busiest day of Anime NYC. Again, I was pretty happy. The staff was nice and knowledgeable, the crowds were large but reasonable, and I got to see everything I wanted. Tomorrow I have no panels I want to see, so will take in Artist’s Alley, and may also scope out the AMV contest.

Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 2

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By Shouji Gatou and Yuka Nakajima. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

This volume of Amagi Brilliant Park is not as shockingly cynical as the last volume (I suspect the author realized it might become an anime and needed to walk things back… indeed, the anime cut the surprising part of the ending to Book One entirely). That said, I also think that the story settles in a bit better for the long haul here, and while our two leads still feel a bit cliched (indeed, the prose occasionally shows self-awareness that it is a cliched light novel series), they don’t feel like they’re only made of cliches. The premise is much the same as last time – the deadline was kicked down the road, but the “get visitors and make money or get shut down” threat is still there. The money is more important than the visitors right now, as without a staff the park can’t function. And so Seiya thinks hard about how to get a) more money, and b) more staff. He has the help of Isuzu… sometimes, when she’s not under the influence of truth serum.

Princess Latifah (who hopefully will never become Queen, because boy would that be awkward) is on the cover, looking a lot more happy than she is in the book. She’s lost her memories from the first book (another thing the anime changed), and as such is both a) judging her past self harshly for being unable to come up with good solutions, and b) judging her current self harshly for being unable to live up to her past. Seiya tries to help, but I get the feeling that this is a plotline that’s going to be playing out over the course of the series. He’s also still harboring some feelings for her… though he also has some feelings for Isuzu, who he thinks might reciprocate them (the truth serum helped), but isn’t quite willing to actually ask when she could tell him, and afterwards of course she’s back to her normal curt self.

We do meet some new characters. One seems to exist only for the sake of a dumb gag, though she does seem sweet – I’m hoping the gag is not a running one. The other one seems to be a gung-ho high school girl who is determined to work at the park, and is not going to let foolish things like getting stabbed and needing immediate medical attention stop her. This sequence succeeded mainly due to its complete ridiculousness. As for Seiya, he’s still a somewhat morally questionable hero – the magic ability I mentioned he barely used in the first book is used here with a vengeance – but it’s all offscreen, and it’s used in order to help him gain blackmail material so that he can make a financial agreement with this world’s equivalent of Walmart. It’s not as jaw-dropping as the first book, but there’s still the sense that he’ll do anything to win, and Isuzu will simply stand next to him and ask if there’s anyone he needs shot.

The market for this is definitely teenage boys (Isuzu waking from a nightmare by having her gun emerge from between her legs and fire into the ceiling is possibly the most unsubtle joke I’ve seen in any light novel to date), but Amagi Brilliant Park is fun, easy to read, and still has a bit of a cynical, bitter taste to it.

Anime NYC 2018, Day One

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It’s always been the case that conventions that run Friday to Sunday tend to load the most important stuff on the second day. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite as bad as this year’s Anime NYC, with a total of zero things I was interested in covering today but a plethora of stuff tomorrow. As such, most of the meat of this report will be coming at you in about 24 hours or so. This is not to say Anime NYC Friday did not have lots of interesting stuff. There were panels galore, mostly for anime producers, and oodles of autograph sessions. And the crowd. Oh, very large crowd. I was impressed.

After getting my press badge, I lurked on a staircase for a while before getting up at 1 to go into the exhibition hall, where the companies and dealers were, which was scheduled to open at 1. Unfortunately, due to a promotion for Crunchyroll that allows their people earlier access, it was more like 1:30 by the time the line began to move. If I recall correctly, a similar thing happened last year. Once inside, though, everything was fine as I was able to peruse and talk to most of the publishers who are here.

One of those publishers is a new one run by a familiar face: Denpa, with fomer Vertical frontman Ed Chavez. They’ll have a panel tomorrow, but had a few of their titles available for purchase already, including Pez and Inside Mari, which I discussed in Manga the Week of. Because I am me, I also chided Ed for leaving Sakura Matou off the back cover copy of Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family (out in early 2019). One Peace books also had a booth, which was mostly dedicated to Rising of the Shield Hero and Hinamatsuri, though they also had some copies of I Hear the Sunspot. I urged them to get a Twitter account, so that I can start tagging them better in posts.

Kodansha and Vertical have had combined booths and panels over the past couple of years, and they’re also the booth at which I spent actual money, as I got a copy of the Katanagatari hardcover novel ahead of its November 27th street date (footnotes! copious footnotes explaining the wordplay!) and also the 3rd Wotakoi omnibus, due out either November 20th or 27th depending on whether you’re getting it from Amazon or not. I also picked up Pop Team Epic fuzzy mini-dice, because come on, the very idea is awesome, cute AND funny. Lastly, I dropped by Mangagamer’s booth – they have a panel tonight, which I can’t make due to a prior commitment, but honestly I was there for only one thing. Unfortunately, as I expected, Minagoroshi, the 7th Higurashi arc, is stuck in programming – fortunately its next in the queue.

Throughout the day, I was struck by the fact that everyone was not only having fun but also being nice. There was lots of cosplay, lots of pictures of cosplay, and very little of people blocking through-ways because of pictures of cosplay. Everyone was discussing anime and manga they were following now, and also what they’d followed back in middle and high school. Best of all, there were not one but TWO ball pits where people could get pictures of themselves wallowing in – one of which, which I believe is a joint promotion between Kodansha and Yen, featured little ‘slimes’ as the balls, as in That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime. It’s good to see the Dashcon ballpit being redeemed and used for good in the modern convention world.

Lastly, while I’d mentioned that most of the panels announcing new licenses are tomorrow, Seven Seas (who are not allowed to leave the West Coast or else their souls wither, I think) came out with a new light novel announcement, though the name may be familiar to anime and manga readers. Restaurant to Another World (Isekai Shokudou) is from Shufunotomosha’s Hero Bunko line, and features a restaurant that is fairly normal six days a week… but on that seventh day, it caters to a more fantasy-oriented clientele. The manga has been coming out here digitally via Crunchyroll, and I believe Crunchyroll also has the anime. Best of all, at least for me, is that the illustrations are being done by Katsumi Enami, who also draws illustrations for Baccano!.

And that’s it for today! Tonight I go out to eat at a nice Manhattan restaurant, rest my aching ankles (standing for hours on end is getting to be something I simply can’t do), and prepare for Day Two, featuring ALL THE PANELS!

Manga the Week of 11/21/18

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SEAN: We give thanks for this manga, and it seems appropriate we start by giving thanks for a new manga company.

Denpa is releasing its first two titles next week. The first may be familiar to Crunchyroll manga readers. Inside Mari (Boku wa Mari no Naka) is a seinen series from Futabasha’s Manga Action, where our lead ends up inside the body of the girl he likes, and has to figure out what’s going on and how to act like her.

The other debut is PEZ, by Hiroyuki Asada, best known for Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee. It’s small (just 72 pages), but gorgeous, and published originally in the ROBOT anthology.

MICHELLE: Welcome, Denpa!

ASH: I am definitely interested in both of these (and everything else to come)!

MJ: Exciting!

SEAN: J-Novel Club also has two debuts next week. We start with Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast. This one appears to definitely be geared towards female readers, and stars a Princess who shuts herself in because she sees people’s faces as beast heads. Then she meets a prince, who seems unaffected… at first.

The other debut is a one-shot, ECHO, based on a Vocaloid song, a la Kagerou Daze. I know nothing about it except it has excellent buzz.

And for more typical fare, we also have the 11th In Another World with My Smartphone.

This may have been on the list before, but dates slip, you know the drill. Kodansha has Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night and Other Stories, a collection set in the Alitaverse.

ASH: I suspect it’s something that I’ll get around to reading at some point.

SEAN: Print-wise, there’s also Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 5, UQ Holder 15, and Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku omnibus 3. Honestly, I’m giving up on Amazon’s dates, as they seem to hate Kodansha right now, and going with the company site.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Wotakoi!

ASH: Yes, indeed! I really do love the series.

SEAN: Digitally, Kodansha debuts Good Dog, Cerberus! (Meiken Keru-chan), a one-volume manga about a cute but clumsy demon dog from Hell. It runs in Kodansha’s Aria, but is being marketed as all ages.

MICHELLE: The cover is crazy cute.

MJ: I’m a sucker for demon dogs from Hell.

SEAN: Also digitally, there is All Out! 7, Are You Lost? 2, Back Street Girls 5, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 8, A Kiss, for Real 5, and Shojo Fight! 5.

MICHELLE: Shojo Fight! continues to be great.

ANNA: I need to catch up!

SEAN: One Peace has the sequel to the original I Hear The Sunspot, subtitled Limit.

ANNA: Loved the first volume.

ASH: I was really impressed by I Hear the Sunspot, so I’m looking forward to reading more.

MJ: I need this.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a bunch of stuff. Wonderland is the manga debut, and yes, it’s another horror take on the Alice story. This ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior, which almost never gets English licenses. Premise: everyone wakes up tiny! How can they survive?

Also debuting is a one-shot novel with the misleading title I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. No, it’s not a horror novel, and is well worth your time AND your pancreas.

ASH: I’ve heard good things.

SEAN: There’s also the 5th Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, a 4th Beasts of Abigaile, the 6th Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, the print version of the 4th Make My Abilities Average light novel, The 3rd and final Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms, a 9th Shomin Sample, and the 3rd Toradora! novel.

MICHELLE: I look forward to reading more Beasts of Abigaile.

ANNA: Me too! It covers my need for goofy paranormal shoujo manga.

SEAN: Udon gives us more foodie isekai manga with a 2nd Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

ASH: While in some ways not as immediately compelling as some of the other fantasy foodie manga being released right now, I did rather enjoy the first volume.

SEAN: Vertical has the 2nd Delinquent Housewife!, and also packs the first 7 Monogatari novels into a nice box, which is sadly only available if you buy the books all over again. (You have been buying the books, right?)

We end with Viz, who also have a debut. Ran and the Gray World (Ran to Haiiro no Sekai) is an Enterbrain title from Harta, something which always makes me happy. It’s about a powerful but immature sorcerer and the big brother who has to be her minder.

MICHELLE: Otherworldly Izakaya, Delinquent Housewife, and Ran and the Gray World are all on my list!

ANNA: Ran and the Gray World looks nifty!

ASH: It really does!

They also have Children of the Whales 7, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 9, the 3rd RWBY Anthology, and… drumroll please… Ooku: The Inner Chambers 14! Rejoice Manga Bookshelf writers!

MICHELLE: Verily, I am rejoicing!

ANNA: Indeed, I am rejoicing as well!

ASH: Rejoice! Rejoice!

MJ: What they said!

SEAN: So is your manga a turkey? (In a good way, of course.)

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 17

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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.

This is essentially a series of short stories taking place right after the events of the last two volumes, and is therefore as light and fluffy as you can imagine. Everyone goes to the beach, then everyone goes to a festival, then everyone goes to an amusement park. When the group aren’t going places, we see Yurika struggle to do all the homework she completely forgot about in two days, and we also see Koutarou’s father, who hasn’t shown up since the first volume, drop by to check on his son and meet his nine new daughters. I’m kidding only slightly, as the series is starting to make the not-too-shocking chess moves to allow this to be a full-fledged harem in the future. It’s always had this somewhat implicitly, but here two of the girls agree that if one of them marries Koutarou, the other is allowed to cheat with no worries. Honestly, at this point I think fans would be angry if he DID choose only one girl.

We do seem to have capped the number of girls at nine, however. Elfaria was certainly in love with Koutarou back when he was in the past, and it’s fairly obvious that she still harbors feelings for him, but she also knows that she can provide a role for him that the other girls can’t, which is to be a mother figure. Rokujouma is never really all that subtle with its character development, and has had the other girls talk about everything being on hold till Koutarou emotionally matures enough to be able to accept and move past his mother’s death. That said, given the rest of the girls are putting ‘Koutarou’s family’ first, it makes sense that Elfaria is thinking about being a mom for him, something the others aren’t able to do (Kiriha could pull it off, I think, but likely wants Koutarou romantically too much for that to happen).

Koutarou has developed since the series began – something the series is unashamedly fond of spelling out, as his dad tells him straight up in the last story how the old him would never have allowed himself to get this close to all those other girls. That said, my favorite chapter was probably (try not to be surprised) the Yurika one, which also shows off how much she has grown and changed despite still being the author’s go-to when he needs someone to whine and be pathetic (as we can see in the beach chapter, where she proves to be a hammer). Sure, she needs some motivation, mostly from Koutarou (he does a stick, then a carrot, which works very well), but I really did admire her refusal to get “magical help” to finish the homework, or to give up. I also liked that Shizuka noted there were errors in the work, but didn’t correct them – Yurika has to improve enough to get into college with Koutarou and Harumi, and that means fixing her own mistakes.

Of course, it also means dealing with the other evil magical girls, and the ending implies that the next book will feature their return. Rokujouma continues to truck along nicely, and even this slight volume provides smiles and chuckles.

One Piece, Vol. 88

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Ah, it’s *another* one of those “200 pages of fighting” One Piece volumes. As ever, though, there’s stuff we can talk about. Let’s start with Luffy, who spends much of this volume facing off against Katakuri, the seemingly stoic villain who Luffy can’t do anything against… except he can, because Luffy has been analyzing the fight as he goes and figuring out how the powers are being used. The dialogue literally calls out Luffy for being clever, but it’s worth saying out loud, because the reader tends to associate Luffy with the classic dumb shonen hero whose solution to everything is to punch it. And, well, that is still Luffy’s solution some of the time. But training with Rayleigh has forced him to mature and be clever, and it’s finally beginning to pay off here. I also liked his advice to Nami about the mirrors (and seeing how Nami immediately trusted Luffy). Luffy is finally evolving into someone we thing CAN become the Pirate King.

The rest of the cast also seem to be at their best when inspired by Luffy, but of all people to level up and start kicking eight kinds of ass, Carrot is not who I was looking at. Turns out, though, that she’s a were-rabbit of some sort, and when the full moon comes out becomes a combat nightmare. Similar to Chopper, except she’s meant to be badass rather than terrifying, and doesn’t lose her reason. That said, she helps but Big Mom’s pirate crew is HUGE, and they’re still nowhere near being able to escape. This despite the triumphant return of Al Capone…. um, Bege, who not only decides he’s going to rescue his wife but goes out fighting with their baby at his side. It’s ludicrous yet also heartwarming, like the best One Piece moments.

And, I am forced to admit, Sanji is pretty cool in this volume. I’ve talked before about my ambiguous feelings about Sanji, whose “pervert” personality stopped being funny about 75 volumes ago. But here Sanji has to be serious and cool in order to support Oda’s current running gag, which is Pudding’s romantic feelings whenever she sees this. Honestly, I don’t think the two of them are really going to end up together, but if they did, they certainly have a similar vibe, both being made up of one core personality the readers like, and one annoying personality that Oda likes. Also, together they can make an impressive cake, which is good, as Big Mom is still on the warpath, and the lack of sweets seems to be making her smaller and smaller (she’s merely a “very large woman” by the end of the book), though I’m pretty sure she’s just as dangerous. Will they have to abandon the Sunny to get away from her? Either way, I’m pretty sure the arc’s not ending in the next book, so get ready for more fighting, and more of me being able to talk about it anyway. That’s what makes One Piece still good after all this time.