Manga Bookshelf

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Sean Gaffney

Kokoro Connect: Kizu Random

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

The current fashion in North American releases seems to be not to translate something if it’s already better known to fans by the Japanese. I suspect that’s why we see each subtitle in the Kokoro Connect series this way: Hito Random meant Random People, which fits well with the bodyswapping nature of the book. Now we have Kizu Random, which I personally think might have had a greater impact were it translated, as it means Random Wounds. Likewise, due to the nature of the bodyswap, the first book out of necessity had to keep the group as mostly a tight-knit group of friends. This book, however, is darker in tone, and shows how easily such friendships can be sabotaged – mostly by overthinking things, or self-loathing, or any number of details that add up to “we are teenagers”. Indeed, what Heartseed is doing is something I think ideally suited for teenagers, who are going through this kind of thing anyway, and you could argue it’s just helping them along. Of course, you could also argue Heartseed is a sadistic jerk.

A couple of weeks after the events of the first book, our five heroes are told by the alien that is toying with them that they’re going to have moments where they suddenly lose control of their emotions and desires and act on them. Having experienced this sort of thing before, and not looking forward to it at all (mostly as she was the first to be affected, stripping and getting on top of Taichi in the clubroom), Inaba convinces the others that they can get through this as long as they keep an even emotional keel and just try really hard. That… doesn’t work, and soon Yui’s beating up delinquents (which causes her to shut herself at home), Taichi has a lot more desire to “save” people than he normally does (which is amusing, given it’s quite high to begin with), and Inaba is forced to deal with a fact that she’s been avoiding for quite some time. Friendships can be fragile, especially at this time of your life, and by halfway through the book no one is speaking to anyone.

The strengths of this book are once again the writing of the characters, who feels their age and also sound it. There’s a lot of angst and melodrama here, but it’s never really overwrought except where it’s supposed to be. For the most part the book is 3rd person Taichi POV, but we also have several chunks where it’s first-person Inaba, and those show off how screwed up her mindset is and how easy it can be to filter everything you say or do through a negative, self-loathing filter. And then there’s the “love triangle”. Taichi and Iori like each other, but don’t want to date while Heartseed is messing with them. Inaba finally admits she loves Taichi and confesses, but is rejected – for the moment. It’s a very “mature” rivalry so far, but that’s mostly because it resolves itself after a huge outpouring of emotional release from both Iori and Inaba, and I’m curious as to how messy it might get in the future.

Kokoro Connect remains a well-written teen drama, and is a refreshing change of pace for those who are bored by the idea of yet another isekai. Even if you’ve seen the anime, you should pick it up.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/30/18

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Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 4 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – It has taken quite some time to develop, but it seems as though Clear Card might actually have found a plot of some sort that doesn’t entirely rely on Cardcaptor Sakura nostalgia; while the series can still be repetitive, it no longer exists as just a poor copy of its predecessor. Granted, most of the supposed story development unfolds through cryptic dialogue between characters which doesn’t do much to reveal anything at all about what is going on to the reader. Perhaps this is intended to add an air of mystery and suspense to the manga, but I mostly find it frustrating as well as a bit irritating. To be completely honest, I’m not entirely convinced that CLAMP even knows where the series is heading yet. I largely continue to read Clear Card because I loved the original series, but I really would like to see something more substantial emerge. – Ash Brown

Harukana Receive, Vol. 2 | By Nyoijizai | Seven Seas – The emphasis in this series is still firmly on the volleyball, which is appropriate for a sports title but you always have to wonder when it stars a bunch of girls in bikinis. There is some fanservice, but it’s basic “they’re wearing bikinis” service rather than anything racy—even the discussion of matching swimsuits is related to the games they’ll be playing. As for the games themselves, Haruka is still learning, and there’s a definite beginner’s curve here, but they luck out in this book by playing a team with a similar curve—they’re indoor players, unused to the beach. As such, you get to see both sides struggle, especially Kanata, who is still dealing with A LOT OF STUFF. I want to see these two play more games. – Sean Gaffney

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, Vol. 1 | By NISIOISIN and Akira Akatsuki | Viz Media – Normally I don’t really get adaptations of novels I’ve already read, but this is the creative team behind Medaka Box, which I love and will never be licensed, so I want to show support. The artist’s fanservice-and-action style lent itself well to Medaka Box, and lends itself even more to this anti-war battle royale, where a dozen people gather to kill each other for the sake of one wish. They’re all zodiac animals, and this volume shows us Boar, Dog, and Chicken for the most part. If you enjoyed the book you’ll like the manga, as this is one of Nisio’s least wordy titles, and thus it adapts pretty well. Not for those who like to see people survive more than fifty pages, though. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 2 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – I gotta admit, I sort of went “really?” when I saw that Koichi didn’t get into UA because he stopped to help a drowning person (who turned out to be Kazuho, in a very unsurprising plot twist) and thus missed the exam. But then again, folks have indeed ruined their lives by missing important exams or interviews, no matter how much I may not like it. As for the rest of the book, we get to see the origin of a villain from the main series, which is probably the most exciting part of this side story that still seems to be cooking a little. I have a feeling that it may break open in the next volume or two, but we aren’t there yet. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 2 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi, Betten Court, and Kohei Horikoshi | VIZ Media – My Hero Academia: Vigilantes continues to be better than expected. Koichi, Kazuho, and Knuckleduster continue to look for users of the quirk-enhancing drug Trigger. Meanwhile, a schoolgirl in an eyepatch seeks out interesting people to give the drug at the instruction of someone who wants to observe the results. One of these people seems to be a villain from the main series. In another tie-in, Koichi is nearly recruited by Ingenium, who has a neat organization of his own where he finds roles for people with quirks that might not seem suited for heroism at first glance. I like how this world is being fleshed out and look forward to continuing! – Michelle Smith

My Monster Secret, Vol. 13 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – Urgh. I gotta say, this is starting to remind me a bit of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, which is to say a classic example of a manga that kept going long after it should have ended. The author seems to be grasping at straws at the start of the book, with plots like “let’s go to the dentist” or “Mikan’s glasses run away.” (I can’t believe I even typed that sentence.) It gets a little better when it focuses on Asahi’s indecisiveness about his future path, as well as Youko hiding her own decision from him as she’s embarrassed. And the two of them avoiding getting more serious is sort of cute in a frustrating way. But the cliffhanger reads exactly like “I need to wring even more drama from this manga I already ended.” – Sean Gaffney

The Voynich Hotel, Vol. 2 | By Douman Seiman | Seven Seas – Last time I was struck by how gross-yet-funny this series was. This volume I am more affected by its sense of dark melancholy and morbid violence. Both of the main “cute couple” are steeped in violent pasts, and Maria sometimes has to use that in a violent present. Demons exist, and are trying to break the hotel, apparently. There are endless groups of killers running around, and lessons are learned just a bit too late in many cases. Even when those who are gorily killed are somehow brought back to existence, it’s with a morbid joke and a sense that they’ll never be happy or satisfied. The series ends in the next volume, I believe, which is appropriate, as the Voynich Hotel is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. – Sean Gaffney

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 14 | By Mizuho Kusanagi | VIZ Media – After the perfection that was volume thirteen, it would be hard for any subsequent volume to measure up. Wisely, Kusanagi-sensei decides to skip ahead a little to Yona and her retinue arriving in Water Tribe lands, where they discover that merchants from the Kai Empire have managed to hook much of the population on a particular drug. During the course of their investigation they meet Riri, the daughter of the chief who is frustrated by her father’s inaction and inspired by Yona. I love the running plotline of people Yona inspires who go on to do good long after she has moved on. Perhaps Riri will be another, though so far she seems pretty overwhelmed. Also somewhat overwhelmed is Jaeha, who has realized that he’s in love with Yona. So good, y’all. – Michelle Smith

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 8

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

The last few reviews I’ve talked about Hajime as Christ figure, Hajime as overpowered author fantasy, and Hajime as nerd. Given the events in this volume, particularly near the end, it seems appropriate to talk about Hajime as asshole. Hajime’s experience in the dungeon in the first volume broke him in many ways, and aside from his power levels the most obvious has been in his attitude towards… well, almost everything. And while we’ve seen occasional nudges back towards non-sociopathy, particularly thanks to Aiko, there’s still an awful lot of Hajime making the choice that will upset people the most, either because he wants to or, more frequently, because he can’t be bothered. And the main reason he does this, of course, is that the author (and I assume readers) find it funny. Honestly, given all the attention focused on humiliation being a subset of arousal in this book, I suspect we learn a bit TOO much about the author’s mind here. But at the end of the book, Hajime seems to genuinely mellow out.

The bunny girl on the cover is one of the big reasons, to be honest. Much has been made by Hajime of the fact that Yue is the girl he loves and the rest of his harem are far, far below her. And while that’s still fairly true, Shea’s actions over the course of the series, and particularly in the last two books, have led Hajime to realize that he does, in fact, love her as well. Not the same way he loves Yue – there’s no sex here, much to Shea’s disappointment, though I’m not sure “platonic” is how Hajime feels either. But Shea makes Hajime happy, and he wants her to be with him – and not with anyone else. This is helped along by the other big thing that mellows Hajime out, which is that he gains magic that should finally lead him to being able to return home to Japan. Just the idea that he can escape this, let’s face it, pretty dystopian world makes him smile like his old self, much to everyone’s surprise.

Speaking of ‘harem tiers’, the majority of this book is spent clearing another dungeon, this one designed to tend the bonds of love, friendship, and teamwork. Along for the ride are the B-team Japanese group, and let’s just say they don’t do really well. Dungeon-wise, the ‘tiers are Hajime & Yue -> Shea, Kaori and Tio -> big gap -> Shizuku -> Kouki, Ryutarou, and Suzu. You’ll notice Shizuku is a level higher than the others, and indeed we also see it becoming more obvious that she’ll be part of the harem eventually, which everyone else seems to have accepted but her. Indeed, at the end of the dungeon the bottom three don’t get the reward for clearing it – they weren’t good enough. That said, props to Suzu for stepping up and asking to go try the next one anyway, especially because she tells Hajime her reasoning is to be powerful enough to try to talk sense into Eri when they next see her. I suspect the reader knows this is futile, given the epilogue, but I was honestly surprised that the whole group is going to stick around. Even Kouki, who was on his best behavior in this book.

The author says we’re in the home stretch, though I suspect that still means about 3-4 more books. Till then, this volume is very long but satisfying, particularly if you like sweet, heartfelt scenes – that last short story was almost pure sugar. On the other hand, when you get to the scenes with the “slime creatures”, take my advice and skip a few pages. What is it with Japan and “fake bukkake”?

Pick of the Week: We Are So Predictable

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SEAN: An excess of Yen Press this week. I suspect my colleagues will be going for Silver Spoon, as they should. And I admit to being intrigued by High School Prodigies Have it Easy Even in Another World, which sounds silly if nothing else. But my pick this week is the 2nd volume of Teasing Master Takagi-san, which is adorably cute and funny.

MICHELLE: I also am going to trust someone else to pick Silver Spoon so that I might weigh in in favor of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. I started the first volume this week and it’s pretty fun, kind of like a more light-hearted The Ancient Magus’ Bride sort of feeling. I am enjoying it so far and keen to see how the story develops.

MJ: I will set Sean and Michelle’s minds at ease by openly and wholeheartedly choosing Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon always. Silver Spoon forever.

KATE: I’ll bite: read Silver Spoon! It’s funny and real and just plain awesome, and deserves a bigger, more enthusiastic reception from American manga readers. (How’d I do, Michelle?)

MICHELLE: You get a gold star!

ANNA: I’m going to randomly pick Versailles of the Dead. I haven’t read it at all yet, but it sounds like the spookiest debut manga this week.

ASH: I will not so randomly pick the debut of Versailles of the Dead as I’m very curious about the series, but Silver Spoon definitely continues to be at the top of my list, too.

Magi, Vol. 32

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By Shinobu Ohtaka. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

Once again, I finished a volume of Magi and thought about how to convey what I felt about it into a 150-word brief only to realize that I would need a bit more space. And so here we are, with Magi heading into what proved to be its final arc. You get the sense of a lot of strings being drawn back together here, as Sinbad’s ambiguity is becoming a bit less ambiguous – is he going to be the final Big Bad? – and we also get some excellent political drama. And yes, cynical readers will be shaking their heads and saying “you just wanted to gush that another of your ships is canon, didn’t you?”. And there is a bit of that, yes. I have been very fortunate – or perhaps my tastes are merely dull – in that most of my shonen ship preferences have tended to work out over the years. So I am happy to see Alibaba and Morgiana happy, no doubt. But there’s more to this volume.

Shinobu Ohtaka has come a long way as a shonen author from the days when I was reading Sumomomo Momomo and was thoroughly unimpressed. The fight scene that opens this volume is one of the best in the series, with lots of dynamic action and plot twists that are entertaining but don’t verge on ridiculous. It’s always hard to find a way to amp up the drama in scenes like these without heading into meme territory, with “this isn’t even my final form!”, etc. In fact, we even seem to make fun of that sort of thing, as Hakuryu makes a big dramatic deal of being stung by Arba’s possessive scorpion only for it to be him essentially mocking her (and the audience). It also helps that Arba is wearing Hakumei’s body here, as it’s entertaining to see so many insane and evil expressions on such a pretty face.

The second half of the book is romance and politics, as Alibaba and Morgiana reunite (though, in one of the few ‘bad art’ parts of the book, Morgiana looks about twelve years old in the panel where Alibaba sees her) and he almost immediately proposes. It’s a good proposal, as he draws on the fact that peace has returned to the land and many are starting families to express the desire to start his own. We also get judicious flashbacks that show off just how far Morgiana and Alibaba have come from the start of the series (Morgiana also gets in some awesome kicks in the fight scene I mentioned earlier, by the way). Still, the spotlight may be taken away from them a little by Kogyoku, who is struggling with being the leader of the Kou Empire but finds her inner resolve and decides to break away from Sinbad and have the nation struggle on its own. It’s a brave decision, and I suspect Sinbad is really not going to like it.

Magi does not get as much attention as the other big shonen series out there, possibly as it’s in Shonen Sunday and thus couldn’t get the buzz of weekly updates that Jump subscribers get. But it’s really stayed at a high level of quality for some time. With only five volumes to go, readers should look forward to seeing how the series handles its big finish.

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Vol. 3

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By Yu Okano and Jaian. Released in Japan as “Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha” by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

Last time I complained about the dullness of Rentt’s POV, and though the cast remains as small as ever, it appears the author remains cognizant of it, as we get Rentt thinking about the fact that since he became undead, he’s become relatively flat and emotionless. Fortunately, though Rentt is still undead, he does level up a bit here, so at least we don’t have to read his halting, shambolic speech anymore in the second half of the book. In fact, I found the book very much felt like an inverted U as I read it. The middle two sections are easily the best, and I genuinely enjoyed them. I was not as enamored with the first section, which was essentially wrapping up events from the last book and meandered quite a bit, and the final section, which features far too many magic lessons. There are times when you can tell that the author is still learning the craft.

As I noted earlier, we pick up where we left off, with Rentt getting the flower that will help heal the woman in charge of the orphanage. While there, he meets an adventurer who turns out to be a butler (not named Sebastian, alas) and gets a request to visit the butler’s master… or mistress, as it turns out. This second section sees Rentt navigate a confusing hedge maze and then search through a pile of valuable magic artifacts for his “reward”, as well as making a contract to get more of that healing flower. Due to events in that section, Rentt is able to evolve further, becoming… sort of vampire-ish? He has bat wings, and is very pale. But he’s not QUITE exactly what the textbooks say, and he can still use his divinity, mana, etc. Finally, the young girl at the orphanage who hired Rentt to cure their caretaker is made a magic pupil of Lorraine’s, and she and Rentt attend a magic class which is made up of equal parts amusing pettiness and boring worldbuilding.

The best parts of the book are the ones where Rentt is allowed to wander outside the “boring old undead adventurer” narration. The sequence with the toy airship, and Rentt’s nerd infatuation with it, made me smile, and is absolutely terrific. That whole section was good, as Laura, the head of the family hiring Rentt, is intelligent and fun without being a brat (and knows the value of good tea). I also liked the aftermath of Rentt becoming a vampire-like being, as he and Lorraine take turns going over his body and exactly what he can and cannot do now. (I was disappointed that Lorraine didn’t ask if he was “fully functional”, so to speak, but then she seems just as shy as he is in many ways.) This was one of the sections where the worldbuilding and back and forth conversations worked quite well.

The end of this volume implies things may not go nearly as well for Rentt in the fourth volume, as we’re getting new characters who I suspect won’t take kindly to heroic vampire adventurers. That said, it may be a bit of a wait – the 4th volume is out in Japan in November, so I expect at least 3 or 4 months. Till then, The Unwanted Undead and Uneven Adventurer is still mostly keeping my attention.

Futaribeya: A Room for Two, Vol. 1

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By Yukiko. Released in Japan by Gentosha, serialized in the magazine Comic Birz. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie McLendon.

I haven’t reviewed a Tokyopop title in nearly seven years, I believe, ever since its founder decided to rearrange his priorities. But the priorities are rearranging themselves back a bit, it would seem, and so here we are with a new Japanese manga. Futaribeya seems to be a fairly safe choice to leap back on this train (given they’re doing a massive Aria release next year that may, God Willing, actually finish the series, I was always going to board the train eventually) as it’s light, fluffy, slice of life with a few yuri tease bits. There actually are more of the latter than I was expecting – honestly, given the number of series that folks say are yuri that merely feature two girls who stand near each other, my expectations were low. But this series is pleasant and amusing enough, mostly due to the strength of its two leads, who may not be a couple but who bounce off each other perfectly.

Sakurako is a nice, upright, studious young woman who’s starting high school and given the choice of living in a dorm or in an apartment complex nearby. There she meets Kasumi, who is beautiful but pretty much lives in the dictionary under the definition of “my pace”. The two get along much better than you’d expect, and the first volume seems rather Sunshine Sketch-y, reasonably free of major drama and content to have us watch the two girls live their high school life. We get to see everyone struggling to study, except Sakurako, who apparently has a photographic memory and gets straight A’s (except the one time she fills in the answers all over one place by accident). We see Kasumi struggle to… well, stay awake and exert energy, really, but she’s also the one I bonded most with over the course of the volume. We also meet some relatives and fellow classmates, but honestly the series is mostly about these two girls and their growing friendship.

As I said above, the yuri in this one is there, but if you don’t want to see it you won’t. Sakurako and Kasumi have a very close friendship, sleep together in the one bed, and Kasumi rejects guys who ask her out by saying she’s dating someone while describing Sakurako. That said, I certainly wouldn’t mind if the yuri actually went somewhere. It would not take a lot for these two to go from high school to college to just living together as a couple. Both girls admit they’re each other’s “type”, at least to themselves. And there’s a valentine’s day chapter and a subsequent white day chapter, which features Kasumi buying Sakurako… well, not a refrigerator, and they don’t shop for it together, but it’s a microwave oven/toaster oven combo that is a really serious thing to get a girl for White Day. I was impressed.

This is cute, mild yuri that left a smile on my face and I liked everyone. I’ll read more.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 2

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

The color illustrations of most light novels tend to spoil, and a lot of readers who hate spoilers know that they should avoid them before reading the book. That said, even if you looked at the color pages for the second volume of Archdemon’s Dilemma, you can’t have been TOO surprised. Having used Vol. 1 to set up the premise of adorable ‘villain’ and his even more adorable ‘slave’, with them essentially being a married couple, the fact that they gain an adopted daughter is not exactly a surprise if you’ve read any sort of manga or light novels. Seeing Chastille dressed up as a maid might be more of a surprise, but given what happened to her in Book 1, and the fact that this volume begins with her execution being discussed, it’s not hard to connect the dots either. Archdemon’s Dilemma is trying to balance out the cute found family stuff with the badass archdemon stuff, and so far… well, so far it’s a bit overbalanced on one side, I will admit.

Speaking of Chastille, I hadn’t mentioned her at all in the last review, probably as she very nicely filled the ‘other girl who likes him but isn’t going to get anywhere’ slot. That said, Zagan was impressed with her power, and I appreciated the fact that although she spends most of this book either at the peril of the Church, an Archangel who has supposedly arrived to kill her, or a dragon girl with a grudge against Archangels who keeps pranking her, she eventually does get over her deep depression and manage to take up her sword again – and once she does, she manages to kick ass. (It was also nice to see that it was Nephy, not Zagan, who was the one to talk her out of her funk.) I’m not sure how well she’s going to do at trying to get the angels and demons to talk to each other, but I’m rooting for her, despite her basically being Emilia from The Devil Is a Part-Timer! with a few serial numbers filed off.

As for Zagan, there are a few moments in the book where we get him and Nephy being adorable together (helped along by the illustrations, which do a much better job than the text of conveying his emotional awkwardness), but I wish there were more of them, as most of the rest of this book is devoted to showing off how super-ungodly powerful Zagan is. He’s still saying the wrong thing most of the time, but the things he says are designed to make him sound cool and brooding, and there’s not enough of his inner self NOT being cool and brooding. In other words, he feels too much like an OP protagonist. Things aren’t helped by the fact that the final battle sees Nephy staying behind at the castle like a dutiful wife, waiting up and preparing his dinner. Nephy helps make Zagan more down to earth.

Still, overall it was a good book, provided you don’t mind the battles being a bit boring because Zagan is always in control. And we even get a butler at the end, who I’ve decided I will call Sebastian. As with most fantasy light novels, recommended for those who like these sorts of books.

Manga the Week of 10/31/18

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It’s Halloween, and the trick is being able to stand under the weight of all this manga.

Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of “porn or not?” series To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has a trio of ongoing titles, as we get the 8th Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, the 7th The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, and the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

Kodansha’s print debut is Hiro Mashima’s Playground, which as you might guess is a collection of short stories from the creator of Fairy Tail.

Speaking of short story collections, we also get Battle Angel Alita: Holy Night, which collects previously unseen one shots from the Gunnm universe. (What’s Gunnm?, I hear you cry. Well…)

ASH: Oh, I had missed this one being picked up, though I’m not surprised that it was.

SEAN: There’s also the 14th and final volume of Animal Land, a series whose first volume came out in North America sometime in 1643.

MICHELLE: I legitimately forgot this series existed.

MJ: Same.

ASH: It really is a shame that this series hasn’t gotten more attention. It’s a little strange, but quite good.

SEAN: The digital debut is a sequel, as we get the first volume of Princess Resurrection: Nightmare, the sequel to… well, Princess Resurrection. It still runs in Shonen Sirius, and seems to be more of a Tokyo Ghoul-style reboot.

Also out digitally: Beware the Kamiki Brothers! 6 and Heaven’s Design Team 2.

MICHELLE: I read the first volume of the latter and it was.. odd. We’ll see if the author varies the already established formula at all with volume two.

SEAN: Seven Seas is hitting us with lots of stuff. The debut is Versailles of the Dead, which does not feature Oscar but does feature Marie Antoinette and zombies. I think it’s currently running in Hibana, though it’s changed magazines a few times.

ANNA: I have to admit I am intrigued by the title, along with historical zombies.

ASH: As am I! It’s by the creator of Afterschool Charisma, too.

SEAN: There’s also The Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement, yet another in-depth guidebook to the series.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

SEAN: And we have an 8th Dreamin’ Sun, the 8th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel in print, the 2nd manga adaptation of If It’s For My Daughter Etc., the 3rd Mononoke Sharing, the 13th My Monster Secret, the 8th Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary, and 2nd True Tenchi Muyo! novel, and the 4th and final Yokai Rental Shop.

ASH: I wasn’t as enamored with the beginning of Yokai Rental Shop as I was hoping I would be, but I have been meaning to read more of the series.

SEAN: Udon has a 3rd volume of Infini-T Force.

Vertical has Onimonogatari, which theoretically is about Shinobu but Mayoi is going to steal the show.

That leaves Yen Press, but that’s still a lot.

ASH: It really is.

SEAN: Starting with Yen’s digital-only manga, we see Corpse Princess 19, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8, and IM: Great Priest Imhotep 9.

JY is Yen’s imprint for younger readers, and we have two titles to point to. The first is Crush, the 3rd in Svetlana Chmakova’s series that began with Awkward and Brave. It is sure to be as awesome as both of those were.

JY also has a Japanese title debuting. Zo-Zo-Zombie is from the kids’ magazine Corocoro, and is the most adorable zombie manga you’ll ever read.

ASH: D’awww.

SEAN: Yen On debuts Mirai, the latest ‘novelization of a popular movie’ title. There’s also Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile, in which Aerith is, like Francisco Franco, still dead. Though given these are short stories, possibly not in this volume.

Goblin Slayer, now a hit anime, also gets a side story novel, called Year One. I expect goblins.

Yen On also has new volumes of The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria (4), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (12), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria (7), Re: ZERO (8), Spice and Wolf (20), and its sequel Wolf and Parchment (3).

Theoretically there is also the long, long, long delayed 7th volume of No Game No Life, but I won’t believe this without actual evidence.

And then the manga. So much. Only one debut, which is High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!. Based on an unlicensed light novel, it’s another isekai, as you can see, only the kids finding themselves in another world are all insufferable geniuses. How will they cope? Easily, apparently.

That leaves the ongoing series. Let’s divide it, as I tend to do, in half. First, NOT based on light novels. There’s Anne Happy 8, Aoharu x Machinegun 13, Demonizer Zilch 5, Gabriel Dropout 5, Hakumei & Mikochi 2, Hatsu*Haru 3, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler 7, Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl 7, Murcielago 8, Prison School 11, Sacrificial Princes and the King of Beasts 3, the 5th Sekirei omnibus, Shibuya Goldfish 2, Silver Spoon 5, Spirits & Cat Ears 7, Taboo Tattoo 12, Teasing Master Takagi-san 2, Triage X 16, and Val x Love 4. … I’m actually getting a lot of that. Yikes, that’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Hatsu*Haru, Sacrificial Princess, and Silver Spoon for me.

ANNA: You know, if I don’t read any of this, I’m not behind. That’s what I will tell myself. Although somewhere I have first volumes of Sacrificial Princess and Silver Spoon squirreled away.

MJ: Obviously Silver Spoon. Always Silver Spoon.

ASH: Silver Spoon is likewise at the top of my list, but I’m reading (and falling behind with) a few others, too.

SEAN: On the light novel adaptation side, we have A Certain Magical Index 15, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 5, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 12, Durarara!! re;Dollars 3, the 5th DanMachi: Sword Oratoria manga, Napping Princess 2, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 4, and the 4th So I’m a Spider, So What?.

ANNA: Why are there so many light novels, and no one has released any Library Wars titles, or finished 12 Kingdoms????

MICHELLE: Or Saiunkoku Monogatari???

ANNA: YES! Someone bring out Saiunkoku Monogatari!!!!

ASH: I would love to see those series translated, too! I’d add No. 6 and the rest of Moribito as well, though those might not technically be light novels.

SEAN: Are you gorged on all these treats? What’s in your bag?

ASH: SO MUCH.

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 10

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

More volumes, more girls. And perhaps a sneak peek at the bad future that R keeps talking about. No, we’re not actually seeing said future – since the author is nothing if not predictable, I suspect that we’ll get that in Books 15 or 16, the final ones – but thanks to a ditzy and morally questionable angel, we do get a sneak preview of what the war of Rekka’s fiancees would be like. It’s not a pretty sight. Rekka’s girls have never been as tight-knit a group as, say, Rokujouma, but jealous glaring is all we’ve previously been a party to. Unfortunately, the girls he’s saved who are in love with him also happen to possess insane amounts of power, power which could easily be destructive in nature. And so when the limiters are taken off… well, thank goodness it’s limited to property damage this time. As for Rekka? Still acting clueless, though even he is finding that front hard to keep up with Iris in full throttle mode.

The girls in this book are: the aforementioned Angel, who needs “love energy” to survive, though “jealousy” might be more accurate, and too much of it leads to the plot; an intergalactic producer trying to have another big hit by producing a sentai show, which sounds like a good idea till Rekka falls on her lead actor and puts his back out; and a magical girl dedicated to love and justice, not in that order (at least not at first), who is somewhat started to find herself in the wrong genre when a kaiju starts to wreak havoc. Unlike the last big and dramatic arc, this one is fairly easy to resolve – indeed, the book’s very much on the short side, so one might say it’s a bit too easy to resolve. Since Little Apocalypse runs on cliches, it’s good to see they’re all present and correct here, as the magical girl, now in a sentai/kaiju story, powers up by others believing in her, a la “clap for Tinkerbell”. Unsurprisingly, Rekka believing in her has far greater an effect.

How much you enjoy this book might depend on how much you enjoy harem antics at their most obvious. This takes place on the first day of school, but we don’t even make it there, as Iris (helped along by the love angel) decides to take Rekka on a date to an interstellar amusement park. Iris hasn’t gotten as much to do lately, so this gives her some good face time, and as one of the most “forward” of the heroines she comes very close to actually, if not scoring with him, at least making him acknowledge her love. But it’s Vol. 10, not Vol. 16, so instead we get half a volumes of girls attacking each other (and Rekka). R spends much of the volume frustrated, and you can see why.

We have six books to go till the end, and I think even the author knows he can’t string this along forever. But he’s strung it along enough. This is a decent Little Apocalypse, with two of the three heroines being pretty likeable. I also enjoyed the theater references. Sides!

Bookshelf Briefs 10/23/18

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DAYS, Vol. 10 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seiseki has advanced to the finals of the Tokyo tournament, where they’re up against Toin, the reigning champions. Before the game actually begins, we get a rather neat sequence in which Ubukata, who hasn’t given anything her all in years, works diligently to gain intel on Toin and develop a strategy for Seiseki. Yasuda-sensei does a great job ramping up the tension for the big game, and it’s great to see Tsukamoto’s training beginning to pay off. Now, not only can he steal a ball, he can evade a skilled defender and take a shot. His first attempt fails, and the volume ends just as he gets another, but it’s still very satisfying. I realize the protagonist’s gradual evolution in skill is the point of every sports manga, but I wholeheartedly appreciate it every time just the same. – Michelle Smith

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 27-28 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | Viz Media – Another “darkest before the dawn” volume, this second to last omnibus of Kuroko’s Basketball can be rather heavy going, as it involves a lot of finding out things don’t work and then trying new things that also don’t work. As with a lot of sports manga, there is a whole hell of a lot of “that’s it, there’s no way they can come back,” with faces looking like it’s a literal death sentence. (Which it feels like, because sports.) Fortunately, we’re seeing that Seirin are at least keeping it from being a total blowout. And trying to be a Kuroko is harder than it looks, too. Next time’s the finale. Will our heroes win? It’s not always certain in Japanese sports manga. We shall see. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 15 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Midoriya now has his internship, but it’s running him ragged, and he’s in danger of losing it. Before that, though, there’s a young girl that needs to be saved, one who seems to have a mysterious quirk that Overhaul is using. We thus get together several groups of heroes and interns, including Uraraka, Tsuyu and Kirishima, to try to rescue her. Unfortunately, that mostly means this volume is all setup and not much payoff. It is pretty nice if you’re a Kirishima fan, and he does really well here. I think the main issue with this volume is that everyone’s so down— Midoriya’s depressed the whole book, and Nighteye is moaning about his quirk as well. I suspect next volume will be ALL ACTION, which will help. – Sean Gaffney

Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General, Vol. 2 | By jin | Seven Seas – This continues to give me exactly what I want from a title like this—lots of laughs. Our heroine is settling down a bit, but that’s only compared to the first volume—she’s still thinking up various ways to get closer to Braveman and is not going to let anything stop her. We also meet a few more heroes, who unfortunately find that just because the Black General is a comedy goofball does not mean she’s not dangerous, and they are brought down to size very quickly. The best chapters involve her infiltrating the Hero League to become Braveman’s sidekick—but her idea of “heroism” is as suspect as you’d expect. This has become a fast favorite of mine, as it puts a big grin on my face. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 3 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media – Our favorite princess continues to barrel through her problems like a berserker, leaving mayhem and chaos in her wake—and, of course, amusement for the reader. She’s gotten a nice windowpane for her room, as well as a kotatsu and woolen underwear, as the season is changing to winter. In fact, Christmas is here. Fortunately, the manga is self-aware enough to know that the Princess is, if not completely evil, at least utterly amoral, and so she gets the equivalent of coal in her stocking. That’s not changing her ways at all, though, and she even goes outside the castle to try sleeping and tormenting in the fresh air. As long as you don’t care about lack of consequences, this is still hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 5 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The culture festival concludes this volume, but really it’s all about the latter half of the book, as we’re introduced to Rino, a former underclassman of Takane’s who is harboring feelings for him, and she’s not all that fond of Hana. This culminates in a Christmas party the main cast is going to, where we discover Rino’s secret and her actual relationship with Takane. It’s hard to discuss this without spoiling things, but I was very impressed with the way it was handled, which is shockingly modern and forward thinking for Japan. As for Takane and Hana, Rino’s appearance forces Hana to admit a few things to herself, but honestly what we mostly get is why I read this in the first place—Takane and Hana digging at each other constantly. – Sean Gaffney

Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 2 | By Akiko Higashimura | Kodansha Comics – Being a fan of Princess Jellyfish, it’s probably not much of a surprise that I would seek out more of Higashimura’s work. And so I happily found myself reading Tokyo Tarareba Girls, a manga series about the lives of three thirty-something women as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that they aren’t getting any younger. All three of them find themselves asking “what if” over and over as they contemplate past decisions and lost opportunities. Their friendship, along with their frequent nights out drinking, tend to see them through the worst of it. While the first volume of Tokyo Tarareba Girls primarily focused on Rinko and the ups and downs of her relationships, romantic and otherwise, the second volume turns to those of her best friends Kaori and Koyuki. Tokyo Tarareba Girls is a lively manga with humor that both highly entertains and cuts to the quick. – Ash Brown

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 7 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – Well, Asahi isn’t quite back at the start of this volume, as I said last time, but she does end up returning to the fantasy world and her water god. This causes her a lot of anguish, as she sees how much her family suffered while she was gone, and is slowly bonding with her brother. But in the end she can’t resist returning to him, and just in time too, as there’s a drought in the land due to his depression of Asahi’s departure. Of course, all is not well going forward, as the new mini-villain snatches Asahi away and transports her to the equivalent of the underworld. I’m not sure that we’ll ever return to Asahi’s family, but I’m glad we saw them, even as I’m also pleased she returned to her grumpy tsundere god. – Sean Gaffney

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 7 | By Rei Toma | VIZ Media – I’ve enjoyed The Water Dragon’s Bride from the beginning, but the series has gotten even better in recent volumes. I think Toma-sensei is getting a little better at expressing everyone’s feelings now that the Water Dragon God is beginning to experience some of his own, so that Subaru ends up with some strong character moments of his own even though the bulk of the story is about Asahi’s time back at home and how much she misses the Water Dragon God. I seriously got verklempt when she impulsively decides to return (leaving her poor, adorable little brother behind) and the Water Dragon God simply cannot contain the strange emotion he finally identifies as joy. She has changed him for the better, and I very much look forward to seeing how the final volumes in this story play out. – Michelle Smith

Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection, Vol. 2

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By Leiji Matsumoto. Released in Japan as “Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock” by Akita Shoten, serialized in the magazine Play Comic. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson. Adapted by Snati Whitesides.

This second omnibus of Captain Harlock settles down a bit, with a lot less goofy comedy but also without the tragedy that I was expecting. What we end up getting are a series of scenes/arcs of the Arcadia and its crew going after the Mazon in deep space, and having adventures. It reminds you that manga titles back in the day were far more concerned about any casual reader being able to pick up and follow along even after missing the previous seven months. There’s not a lot of intercontinuity here. That said, it’s certainly not dull; once you get your head around the Harlock pacing and remind yourself that these characters don’t speak, they declaim, you can see why Captain Harlock is still a beloved character today, even as he spends the entire book talking with his computer or getting upset about (seemingly) being saved by his hated enemies.

The cover art has the Mazon Queen, who spends most of this volume standing in her place of power and trying to get more inside information on Harlock and company. At one point a Mazon pilot, who seems to be not quite as fanatical as the others, boards the ship and speaks briefly to the crew, finding them “united in body and heart”, much to the horror of the seemingly heartless Mazon Queen, who in reality is about as cold and ruthless as the Cybermen in Doctor Who’s 80s period, which is to say not at all. A lot of the conflict in Harlock tends to be glossed as “men” (Harlock and his crew) vs. “women” (the all-female Mazon), and we get to see the men be the ones who are stronger because of their emotions and bonds, while the cool, heartless women are doomed to never understand. Harlock’s crew does have two women in it, of course, and possibly my favorite sequence of the book was seeing Kei pretending to be in trouble and letting herself get rescued by Daiba to satisfy his grumpy male ego. This is laid out explicitly so that the reader gets it. That said, I’d feel better about Matsumoto’s handling of women if he didn’t draw most of them looking the same.

At one point the Arcadia is almost destroyed by a gravity planet, and is rescued at the last second. Harlock thinks it was the Mazon who did it, and is suitably angry and humiliated – it’s not just Daiba, Harlock too has an ego that is easily bruised. The Mazon Queen, though, is also wondering who it was that saved Harlock, because it didn’t seem to be them either. As a result, there is a tiny bit of forward plot motion in this volume that is otherwise a series of static paintings. I think there’s one more omnibus of this series, and I’m interested to see if it wraps up nicely and neatly, or if its ending is open. In the meantime, if you like classic manga, you should give this a read.

Added bonus for Doctor Who fans: the Sontaran fighter who makes an appearance. (OK, he’s not meant to be Sontaran, but come on, look at him.)

Pick of the Week: Psycho vs. Piano

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ASH: Were I a reader of digital manga, my pick this week would most likely be the debut of Forest of Piano. Alas, that is not yet to be. Fortunately, I’ve also been greatly looking forward to the release of Mob Psycho 100, so that’s what I’ll be choosing this time.

MICHELLE: Those are definitely my top two pics, too, but I can’t help but feel that by Kodansha releasing so much Forest of Piano at once, I’m already somehow behind on it. Mob Psycho 100 seems a little easier to commit to at the present moment.

SEAN: Actually, given the page counts, it’s 7 omnibuses, so probably 14 volumes. And yeah, I’m gonna be so far behind. Love you, seinen piano manga, but Mob Psycho 100 for me as well.

KATE: What Michelle said!

ANNA: Like everyone else, I’m torn between Forest of Piano and Mob Psycho 100. But due to me feeling extra guilty about being so far behind in other digital titles like Chihayafuru, that just pushes me further in the direction of Mob Psycho 100.

Clockwork Planet, Vol. 4

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By Yuu Kamiya, Tsubaki Himana, and Sino. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by fofi.

This volume gives a lot of attention to Halter, who has tended to serve as the realist and voice of reason for our little band of terrorists. To be fair, this role seems to be his by default; Naoto and Marie are such shiny idealists it’s a wonder you can look straight at them without going blind, RyuZU would destroy the world if Naoto asked her to, and as for Vermouth… yeah, let’s not. So it’s fallen to Halter to explain that, in fact, the world does not end up being sweet and caring just because you wish really hard. Especially when they’re in the steampunk Thailand, where anything and anyone can be bought and sold. So it’s not a big surprise when he turns out to “betray” Naoto and Marie in order to make sure that they aren’t, well, killed in eighteen different ways. That said, while Halter may be the sensible one of the goup, that’s only by a matter of degrees. Because this group is, to a man, utterly broken. In a gaming sense.

The cover girl is TemP, the newest of RyuZU’s siblings to show up, but she’s arguably the weak point of the book, being something of an airhead and lacking a purpose in life beyond “get revenge on her sister” and “be silly”. No, as ever, it’s the main group that commands the most attention, particularly the way that they react to each other. We’ve seen this before, but it’s spelled out explicitly here: Naoto, Marie, AND Halter all think of themselves as being “normal” people surrounded by insane geniuses who do the impossible every day. Since Naoto thinks of his hearing as something that’s typical, he can’t appreciate that he does what no one else can do. Marie’s own self-deprecation frequently gets in her way whenever she runs into a fresh new obstacle. And, as we really see in this volume, Halter is not merely a bodyguard and mercenary, he is possibly THE bodyguard and mercenary, able to take out whole divisions by himself with ease. Each of the three help each other in this book (indeed, Marie helping Halter is almost framed religiously), and are reminded that they can’t stop chasing in Y’s footsteps, but have to create something new. Be artists, not artisans.

At the end of the book we’re headed further west, and it’s definitely open ended. The afterword talks about the anime that was being made, and does mention the 5th book being written in among its goofiness. That said, it’s now nearly three years on, and there’s still no 5th book in Japan. One of the two authors has been dealing with health issues, and also writing the (more popular) No Game No Life books, which have also had lots of delays. The other author (who you get the sense wrote most of this book, if only as it’s slightly less lewd than the other three) started another series for Kodansha in 2017, but that also seems to have stalled out. And so we may be left with this as the final volume, and it’s not too bad a way to go out. You get the sense that Naoto and Marie will eventually achieve the heights they dream of, and manage to have the whole of RyuZU’s siblings around them. As to how that happens… well, the reader is invited to spin their own tale.

MachiMaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl!, Vol. 1

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By Souryu. Released in Japan as “Machigatta ko wo Mahou Shoujo ni Shite Shimatta” by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Kurage Bunch. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by David Musto and Wesley Bridges. Adapted by Jennifer Geisbrecht.

Longtime readers may be rather surprised I’m reviewing this at all, as I’ve made no secret of my distaste for the current genre of “Magical Girl Splatter”. Technically starting with Madoka Magica (which I have far less of a problem with), the more recent Magical Girl titles – all meant to be read by teen or adult men – seem to have an audience that wants to see cute girls get mentally broken and then killed off in gory ways. It’s not so much a deconstruction of the genre as a carpet bombing of it – “see, girls? THIS is what happens to magical girls! Dream of something else!” So I was not all that thrilled when I saw that Seven Seas had picked up another take on “magical girls for men”. And indeed, for the most part that’s exactly what this is. Still, there’s at least something here that made me finish the title and be curious for more.

Myu, one of those classical magical girl mascots who speaks cutely and acts as a catalyst for the plot, is being chased by a killer demon. Myu needs to find a magical girl fast, and spots a seemingly cute young girl with princess girls. Quickly it makes her the chosen one… whereupon she pulls out a cigarette and starts smoking, complaining about her teacher and acting like a stereotypical delinquent. Whoops! The demon shows up, and honestly she’s able to give it a good pounding just using her own power and lust for violence. She’s not really all that happy with the transformation either, given it strips her in the classic magical girl tradition. Now Myu has to deal with a grumpy, video-game obsessed heroine and continue to fight the bad guys… whose attacks now center entirely on Earth, allowing other mascots to take a vacation and leave it all to Myu. Even worse, the class president of another school has been turned into a dark magical girl… maybe? Who’s the dark one here?

First things first: after reading only about 15 pages of this title, you will have more panty shots than most other series put in an entire volume. If you thought “this is one of those authors where everything else he’s ever done has been porn”, you’d be absolutely correct. There’s also a relatively high body count, as (typically for the “male” magical girl genre) there are lots of victims gorily killed by the demons… or indeed by the magical girls… who don’t magically come back to life later. All of that said… it is nice to see that Kayo, the titular magical girl, is not here to be anyone’s tragic victim, and the delinquent guy who’s in love with her is essentially her lackey and whipping boy. (As a sign that this is not meant to be taken entirely seriously, the “pointy delinquent hairstyle” he sports is a wig, and he’s actually a bishonen underneath it.)

I don’t recommend this to anyone but the intended audience, let’s get that straight. That said, if you’d like a somewhat lighter, or at least more amusing, tone of nihilism in your magical girl splatter manga, MachiMaho is entirely up your alley.