Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 4

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

It has to be said, this book is not as funny as the first three books, and by definition is therefore not as strong, since I tend to read this series for the laughs. There’s still lots of amusing situations, Mile being ridiculous, people underestimating the Crimson Vow, etc. But the humor is also turning a little dark as well. We know that our four heroines are an unusual team, and have a certain tendency to be practical to the point of death, but the “let’s break all their legs and then break more legs because we need a complete set” gag verges a bit on sociopathy, which I’m pretty sure is not what the author intended. For the most part, this book is meant to show off how the Crimson Vow have sort of become too overpowered for the area they’re currently in. Fortunately, by the end of the book they’re moving on, touring other countries to see what trouble they can get in.

The main thrust of the plot involves our four girls going on a rescue mission, as several teams have gone to investigate in the woods and not come back. They find the teams captured in an archaeological dig that is being done by beastmen, who end up being mostly mooks for folks as powerful as Mile and company. Especially when Mile ends up coming up with the World’s Worst Stinkbomb, which is probably the funniest part of the book even if it’s also pretty gross. The most interesting part comes when we see who’s actually behind the beastmen digging for relics. It’s refreshing, after 150-odd pages of “this was going to be a dangerous fight–LOL, nope!”, to actually see Mile and company get their asses handed to them. (Honestly, when Mavis ended up overdosing on Mile’s “magical steroids” drug, I was wondering if we’d explore actual consequences, but apparently not.) That said, Mile ends up winning in the end, as she is Mile.

The discovery, once it is revealed, ends up being far more of a shock to Mile than it does the others, and it almost makes her decide she’s going to abandon the others and set out on her own – fortunately, Reina and Mavis are very good at reading Mile like a book. (Poor Pauline, though…) So now we get a world tour with the excuse of Mile trying to figure out what’s really happening with this world, and what it was like in the previous civilization. It’s implied we may run into Adele’s old companions in the next book, though we do get a short story devoted to Marcela, who is likely finding that “what would Adele do” is not alwayhs the best thought to have in any given situation, and is also a quintessential ojou-sama.

So I’m still reading this, but it wasn’t quite as fun as the previous books. I hope things tick upward next time.

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 32

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By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

Despite Athena (in her adult body) getting a cheesecake cover shot, she doesn’t appear in this volume. In fact, chibi-Athena only gets one chapter, and has to share it with the girl who’s still reminding everyone she’s the heroine, Nagi. Nagi is still recovering from her loss from the last volume, and while her usual indolent torpor is certainly an option she tries exploring, if this damn manga is going to move forward at all, something else needs to happen. Something like the introduction of a new character. Kayura manages to out-nerd everybody else in this already pretty nerdy cast, and after seeing everyone telling Nagi she needs to make her manga more understandable and mainstream, it’s refreshing to see Kayura telling Nagi the exact opposite. I’m not sure this will translate into the sales Nagi wants to achieve, but it may actually lead her to get out of her creative slump.

Every Hayate volume usually has one chapter that stands out among the others, even when it’s in “gag” mode rather than “plot” mode, and in this case it’s the chapter where Isumi decides that she needs a maid. She decides this mostly as she notes that Nagi and Sakuya have maids, not because she has any use for one. Honestly, I think any maid Isumi had would have trouble merely getting her anywhere in a timely fashion. But her mother and Hayate ponder the idea, and come up with the absolute WORST possible maid for any girl whatsoever: Fumi, who is always there to be hilariously terrible. Her short-lived maid attempt has a terrific punchline, and were it to end there, the chapter would be fine. But afterwards, Hayate wonders out loud to Nagi why Isumi doesn’t have a maid, and the answer is quite touching and also very sad. Even Hayate can’t say anything when he hears it.

If you’re looking for forward plot development that doesn’t involve Nagi’s manga, you are mostly out of luck here. Wataru’s store is just about ready to go, though it’s his relationship with Saki that’s more of a concern. Ruka is also still lingering around the edges of the narrative, and reminding Ayumu that Hayate tends to attract gorgeous rich and famous girls. The former “main rivals” to Nagi, Maria and Hinagiku, have almost completely become comedy relief characters, with Maria’s attempts at a garden being an excuse for a flurry of punchlines (and some errant birds), and Hinagiku not even able to ask Hayate for a shoulder massage without it becoming a big to do. Hayate may be clueless at romance, but for the most part that’s because, with the exception of Ayumu and Athena, the women in his life are simply not clear enough about their own feelings.

Ruka may change that, though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next minor plotline involves her again. Till then, fans of Hayate can read about Nagi getting her groove back, and laugh while feeling vaguely frustrated at the lack of forward momentum in this series.

Der Werwolf: the Annals of Veight, Vol. 1

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

As we’ve been seeing more and more isekai light novels lately, some of them are becoming very casual about the actual reincarnation/teleportation/what have you that gets our Japanese protagonist over to the fantasy world the author really wants to write about. Der Werwolf is an extreme example of this – we never find out much of ANYTHING about Veight, our hero, from before he was reborn in this world. There’s not even a flashback to his death or anything like that. We do see the occasional mention of soy sauce and tea, and this actually turns out to be a pretty interesting plot point later on, but it’s striking how little the author cares about showing Veight adapting to a new world. No, the main reason for the isekai is to show us why Veight is not like other werewolves, and why he’s very suited to be a leader of a military brigade, de facto ruler of a human city, and apprentice to a brilliant (yet stuck as a little girl… sigh) mage. He’s not like other werewolves.

With all that said, the conceit works here, mostly because Der Werwolf is not content to sit back and rest on its isekai laurels: it’s a good story, well-told. It’s not all that original, but that’s not all that important. Veight died and was reincarnated as a werwolf. As an adult, he’s joined his fellow wolves in the Demon Lord’s army, fighting back against humanity, who has hunted most of the demon races to damn near extinction. Veight’s job is to conquer a mid-sized trading village in the South, which he does quickly and relatively painlessly. Indeed, the Viceroy of the city, who is the young woman who’s on the cover because, well, a light novel needs a pretty young woman on it, is impressed and grateful to Veight that he didn’t conquer the city through mass slaughter. The other werewolves are a bit surprised as well – what’s wrong with mass slaughter? But Veight is made of sterner stuff, and wants to spare the conquered humans, not destroy them. This is easier said than done, though.

This is a book that has plot and characterization as its main positives, which is always a good sign. The scenes flow smoothly from one to the next (indeed, the entire book is one long chapter, with a short story at the end of Veight’s youth), and we also occasionally get someone else’s POV of Veight so that we can get the contrast of how he views himself versus what others think of him. Word of warning: this is a light novel, so of course Veight is a clueless harem protagonist. The Viceroy seems to have fallen for him almost immediately, and he also has a “big sister-type” werwolf and a centaur girl added to the mix. He has absolutely no idea, of course. In the end, Der Werwolf actually reminded me a bit of The Faraway Paladin, in that it’s straightforward, not concerned with the Japan the protagonist came from all that much, and the reader comes back because the story is well-told. I’ll definitely be reading more.

Manga the Week of 10/3/18

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SEAN: It’s fall! At last! What manga do we have?

We start, as we often do, with Dark Horse, which has the debut of Eromanga-sensei. It’s by the creator of, and if I’m being honest for the fans of, Oreimo. Slightly less incest this time, though. It runs in Dengeki Daioh.

J-Novel Club gives us a 16th volume of Invaders of the Rokujouma!? After a one-month break, I am ready for more.

Kodansha is burying us in THINGS. Let’s start with print, as we debut Boarding School Juliet, which already came out digitally. It’s Romeo and Juliet meets a boarding school, as the title suggests.

ASH: Hmm, I’m vaguely curious.

SEAN: The Seven Deadly Sins also debut a spinoff called Seven Days, which no doubt appeals to The Seven Deadly Sins fans.

ASH: It features Ban, who is probably the character from The Seven Deadly Sin that I get the biggest kick out of.

SEAN: There’s also a 5th Again!!, 9th Descending Stories, a 9th Heroic Legend of Arslan.

ASH: I’ll admit I’ve fallen behind, but I actually am following all of these series.

MICHELLE: I finally read the first couple Descending Stories volumes and liked them very much!

SEAN: There *is* a new Kodansha digital title out next week, but as Kodansha hasn’t announced it yet, I’ll wait till they do. There is, however, Vols. 15-22 of Beck, Can’t You Just Die, My Darling? 5, A Kiss, for Real 4, My Boy in Blue 3, Peach Girl NEXT 2, and The Prince’s Romance Gambit 3.

ANNA: Too much! Too much digital!

MICHELLE: The covers of A Kiss, for Real are promising, but I haven’t had a chance to dip into any of these yet.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a 2nd hardcover of the Captain Harlock Classic Collection. There’s also Crisis Girls 2 and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 3.

ANNA: OOH, I forgot to get the first Captain Harlock!

ASH: I enjoyed it!

SEAN: Udon has a 2nd volume of Dragon’s Crown.

Vertical and Viz, hilariously, have two of the biggest debuts of the year, and they are RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, so I can’t use both for images. Fortunately, I am aware already what Manga Bookshelf will have as Pick of the Week. Thus, here’s a big slab of Pop Team Epic’s cover art. The first volume debuts next week, and we shall see if its cult audience will actually buy manga.

Viz Media debuts Ao Haru Ride, the title that was so requested they’re still calling it Ao Haru Ride and not Blue Spring Ride! It’s from the creator of, and better than, Strobe Edge. And given I quite liked Strobe Edge, it has a lot to live up to. It ran in Betsuma from 2011-2015.

ANNA: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

MICHELLE: What she said!

MJ: OMG YES.

SEAN: The other debut is the manga version of Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, NISIOISIN’s attempt at doing a survival game manga. The novel was… good, but not his best. Will the manga work better?

ASH: I think the story is much more suited to manga.

SEAN: One finale next week, but it’s a biggie: the 74th and final Bleach, in which ICHIHIME WINS! HAH! (cough) Sorry. There is also the 24th Bleach 3-in-1.

MJ: It’s hard to believe this day has come.

SEAN: And we get… get your pencils ready… Blue Exorcist 20, Food Wars! 26, Haikyu!! 28, Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1 14, My Hero Academia 15, My Hero Academia Vigilantes 2, the 24th and final Naruto 3-in-1 (NARUHINA WINS!… ow. Ow, ow, stop with the hitting…), Natsume’s Book of Friends 22, The Promised Neverland 6, Rurouni Kenshin’s 8th 3-in-1, Takane & Hana 5, The Water Dragon’s Bride 7, and Yona of the Dawn 14. I have to say, this may be the single best week I have ever seen Viz put out. Not kidding, there’s like 10 must reads on my list, and they’re ALL COMING OUT NEXT WEEK. Give me a break…

ANNA: So good! So much good stuff from Viz!

ASH: I’ve definitely got my eyes on more than a few!

MICHELLE: I’ve got my eyes on most of those, frankly.

MJ: Well, wow.

SEAN: Are you upset? If you’re not upset, what are you buying next week?

ANNA: I’m not sure if you can tell, but I’m a little excited about Ao Haru Ride.

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 2

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By Gengoroh Tagame. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Gekkan Action. Released in North America by Pantheon Books. Translated by Anne Ishii.

Last time I wondered if Mike giving advice to a young Japanese teen who was also gay would lead to larger drama, and I’m happy to report that it did not. Not that this final volume is conflict-free, but the conflict is as low-key as the first volume was, In fact, it’s almost lampshaded by the author, as Mike has apparently said that Japan is not as bigoted about homosexuality as the West. But that’s only overtly, and we see some good examples of it being something that people quietly want to go away. This leads to Yaichi having a meeting with Kana’s teacher, who is upset that Kana is mentioning a gay an to her classmates, as the teacher says being gay is “an adult topic” kids shouldn’t discuss. Yaichi’s inner monologue comes to life again, as we saw in the first volume, and once again he represses the emotion, but this time he does not repress the objection, and this leads to a great moment where he defends Kana.

Speaking of Kana, she continues to be a terrific kid, and we see her bond with Mike grow more as the book goes forward. This actually leads to a bit of an emotional climax, as of course Mike can’t stay there forever – he’s going back home, and Kana is trying her best to repress her emotions (as her father does naturally), but isn’t really making it work as well. (Earlier she was given a version of Romeo and Juliet to read by a classmate – it devastated her, and we see her sobbing.) This leads to one of the best scenes in the book, where she asks Mike if he swears he’ll come back to Japan again, and he says he can’t do that, because he swore to Ryoji they’d come to Canada, but then Ryoji died. This leads to him teaching her the English phrase “see you soon”, which immediately lightens the mood and is quite heartwarming. Each moment of emotion or turmoil in the book is quickly followed by release or a gentle scene.

We also see more of Natsuki, Yaichi’s ex-wife. There’s a few more scenes that show they still have feelings for each other, but any reunion on their part is left implied on the final page, because this is not meant to be about Yaichi, but about the relationship between Yaichi and Mike. Yaichi’s growth in a mere three weeks is great to see, as is the final hug between the two men. And I loved the pictures we saw of Ryoji and Mike’s wedding, which looked like an absolute blast, though also led to us hearing that Ryoji blamed himself for the rift between him and his twin. As with the first volume, there isn’t a lot of big emotion here – many pages go by with no dialogue and just facial expressions, and sometimes the facial expressions are ambiguous. But Tagame is such a good artist that you understand what he’s trying to convey despite the ambiguity.

This ran in a mainstream magazine for young men, and thus tries its hardest to be friendly and easy to read. It succeeds brilliantly, and I finished the second volume wanting to immediately go back and read the first. Everyone will want to read the story of Yaichi, Mike, and Kana, and I urge them to add this series to their library as soon as they are able.

Infinite Dendrogram: The Shield of Miracles

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

This is another second half of a two-parter where the second half is a bit too short. The author attempts to say something in the afterword about not wanting to do short-story volumes, which is why he puts them after volumes occasionally (as he does here), but it does mean that the climax of this arc feels a bit underwhelming. Ray, Nemesis and B3 finish their investigation of the Master who married and had a child with a tian, but it’s cut short by a monster from the past who has once more risen at this exact time to start killing everyone. (I will give props to the monster, as most of these ‘black shapeless thing that fires beams that kill you’ sorts are mindless, implacable types, but this monster wants to see dying people despair, and has a nice line in maniacal laughing.) Naturally, Ray and Nemesis have to save the day, and they do, pretty simply. This allows us to read a story about Rook as a detective trying to catch a egocentric Master.

One thing that Dendrogram does here is play a bit with the idea of being darker than it is. For the most part, so far this series has been as shiny as Ray, with lots of life-or-death situations but very little real death. Being an actual game rather than a “trapped in a game world” game helps, but the actual plotting lampshades itself at times. We get a master who Ray and B3 realize is, in reality, a terminal patient. It is strongly hinted that the reason he has not come back to the game world is that he is dead. And, I feel it’s OK to spoil this since it’s of no surprise whatsoever, in the end he turns out to have survived the miracle surgery and is merely recovering. This is not a book that is going to make pregnant women and young idealistic kids sad. Likewise Tsukuyo, who we met last time when she was trying to get Ray to join her Society and baiting him with healing his arm, ends up magically healing EVERYONE (including Ray, and Ray’s arm) from the monster attacks, and her reasoning is essentially “I’m such a ditz, tee hee”. She and Ray are eerily similar in mnny ways.

Of course, not everyone is as into Dendrogram as Ray is. B3 treats this game as a game, and the tians as NPCs. She also really likes to roleplay her character, and really really likes to kill other players. Since this is an actual game this time, and the players she kills are actual jerks and losers, your sympathy naturally falls with her. It’s a refreshing contrast from Ray, who is essentially the exact same person in the game as he is outside it. Here B3 actually is her “outside” self most of the time, but when she gets her killing on she puts on her mask and turns into a sneering villain sort. I hope we see more of her. I’m less excited at seeing Gerbera, Rook’s opponent in the short story who does not really come off very well until we get inside her head for the epilogue. I think Rook finds her annoying. I did too.

So not the best volume of Dendrogram, but it didn’t really do anything wrong either. A solid effort.

Bookshelf Briefs 9/24/18

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 10 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – Finally, the concerts are going well. Seeing the band actually being fantastic and getting the audiences going is a joy to watch. That said, though, this is still primarily a romance manga. Yuzu manages to confess, but Nino’s just not that into him—she still is in love with Momo. That said, she’s upset about hurting Yuzu, and (in the best scene in the book) opens up to Miou about it. This allows Miou to finally put aside her own demons and admit that she’s in love with Haruyoshi, though he admittedly connects a lot of the dots there in his own favor. That said, Black Kitty absolutely just tore it up. Can In No Hurry top them? This is still one of the better potboiler shoujo manga out there. – Sean Gaffney

As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 3 | By Matoba | Yen Press -The shotacon I grumped about last time is noticeably absent from this volume (it’s even lampshaded), and I’m not sure that’s the reason I liked it more, but it’ll do. Frankly, I want to see Beelzebub and Mullin get together. I know I will be very, very frustrated as this series goes on, but I’m sorry, they’re just too cute! I’m not quite as fond of the other romance in this book, mostly as I just don’t like Astaroth all that much, and I feel that Sargatanas could do better. There’s also some amusing humor here, including a swimsuit-buying chapter filled with a lot of jokes and fanservice. This series is never going to be anything but froth, but the froth is tasty, and I enjoy it way more than I expected. – Sean Gaffney

Astra: Lost in Space, Vol. 4 | By Kenta Shinohara | Viz Media – There’s a new character introduced at the start of this volume, who was in cryostasis from her own spaceship wreck. At first I thought she’d be a villain character, but it actually turns out that she’s there to be the viewpoint character, as the rest of our cast are getting further and further away from that as we learn their big secret. It certainly explains why they were all mysteriously in that accident—not so mysterious. I feel bad for Aries, who ends up being the only one with a parental figure who wasn’t awful. I’ve no idea where this will end up, but we do get another (amusing) pairing happening here, so my guess is it will wrap soon. – Sean Gaffney

Barakamon, Vol. 16 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – To my surprise, Handa actually seems to be getting legitimate students for his school, as well as taking inspiration from his father to do some awesome calligraphy and also worry about Naru. That said, this is Hiroshi’s book. He graduates, and despite Rina’s attempts to confess he goes off to Tokyo single as he’s a bit clueless, but also apparently not really all that into Rina, so it’s probably for the best. There’s lots of nice relaxing stuff about Hiroshi growing up and standing on his own, and it really does feel as if the manga is quietly coming to a close at this point. I’m not sure if it will have a “real” ending per se, but as long as it turns out nice, relaxing volumes like this I’m still reading happily. – Sean Gaffney

Escape Journey, Vol. 1 | By Ogeretsu Tanaka | SuBLime – Naoto Hisami and Taichi Hase dated in their first year of high school, but were better as friends than as a couple and eventually broke up after harsh words were exchanged. Now reunited in their first year of university, they try to be friends but eventually fall back into the same unhealthy pattern. At first, things are consensual, but Naoto wants there to be more to their relationship than just sex. He rents a DVD to watch together, but after Taichi sees a text from a girl on Naoto’s phone, he gets jealous and ends up sexually assaulting Naoto. Are there any kind of ramifications for his actions? No, reader, there are not. For some reason, Naoto takes part of the blame and then it’s all glossed over. I like broken characters, and their relationship dynamics are interesting, but I don’t think I can read any more of this. – Michelle Smith

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 5 | By Nagabe| Seven Seas – I hadn’t really thought that this series could get any creepier and darker, but way to prove me wrong, Girl from the Other Side. Shiva’s aunt may not be “dead” in a normal sense, but as a character she certainly is. I felt some empathy for her plot-related backstory, as she’s presented with a choice that has no good options. There’s also a brutal fight between Teacher and two guards who have been cursed, which would be quite nasty if the art weren’t so abstract. And so Teacher and Shiva are on the run, and hoping that a different village will make things slightly more relaxing. I’m pretty sure it won’t, but I am interested in seeing how this finally ends—is there any way it can end happily? – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 6 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – It’s been over a year since the last volume of this, and since then the anime has made its impression. This may be why all of a sudden the relationship (or rather lack thereof) between Tetsuo and Sakie really comes to the fore here, and there’s much less focus on the girls. Not that I’m complaining—the author is really good at writing sexual tension, and by the end of the volume you will be screaming for these two to just screw already. The other major focus of this book is Yoko, Tetsuo’s niece, and her zashiki-warashi, who turns out to possibly be in Yoko’s head all along? Or not? If I were to take one monster girl manga to a desert island, it would be this one. – Sean Gaffney

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 2 | By Gengoroh Tagame | Pantheon Books – I am still thrilled that My Brother’s Husband was released in English. The second half or the series may be even better than the first, perhaps in part because it had such a strong foundation upon which to build. Yaichi remains the most well-developed character—understandably as his growth as a person is a major focus of the series—but more is revealed about Mike as well, and through him Yaichi’s brother Ryoji. The story is beautifully structured with ending scenes paralleling those from the beginning, showing how much Yaichi has matured in such a short period of time, confronting and overcoming the homophobia he hadn’t at first realized he had internalized. My Brother’s Husband is not a subtle manga, but it is a legitimately moving one. By realistically portraying how prejudice and discrimination directly impact the characters’ lives and deeply inform their relationships, Tagame’s message of love is made abundantly clear. – Ash Brown

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 2 | By Gengoroh Tagame | Pantheon Books – Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just over here sniffling because one dude told another dude “You’re family, Mike” and then later they hugged. It’s true that at times the revelations Taichi has about homosexuality fall squarely in “no crap, dude” territory, but at least he’s having them. (It’s especially gratifying that he refuses to indulge the homophobia of Kana’s teacher, as well.) He gradually realizes that not only has he become completely comfortable in Mike’s presence, but Mike has become so important over the course of his three-week visit that Yaichi is starting to envision the Canadian being a real part of their lives going forward. I liked the implication that Yaichi and Kana will visit Canada someday and Yaichi will get the opportunity to be the tourist, learning about a part of Ryoji’s life he’s unfamiliar with. This was a really touching conclusion. Highly recommended. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Picking Sides

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MICHELLE: Normally, I would be extolling The Girl from the Other Side in this space, and I still fully intend to rave about it, but After the Rain sure looks appealing. I think I’ll favor this debut with my pick this week instead.

KATE: The Girl from the Other Side is my favorite ongoing series right now, so I’m glad I have a chance to plug it again. It’s so good, in fact, that only all-caps will do in explaining how GORGEOUS AND AMAZING AND HEARTBREAKING it is.

SEAN: I love The Girl from the Other Side, but wow is it bleak, so I too will make my pick the debut of After the Rain.

ANNA: The Girl from the Other Side might be bleak, but it is such a unique title, both in story and art, I have to pick it!

ASH: It’s my pick, too! The Girl from the Other Side has such tremendous atmosphere.

The Champions of Justice & the Supreme Ruler of Evil

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By Kaede Kikyou and Tobari. Released in Japan as “Seigi no Mikata to Aku no Sōtō” by the author on the Syosetu website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jekaterina Bält.

As with Obsessions of an Otome Gamer, the other Cross Infinite World title I’ve read, I went into this because the concept intrigued me. Honestly, it sounded like Excel Saga, and I am nothing if not a fan of anything possibly related to Excel Saga. We have a young girl who is trying to take over the world but is a bit of a flake. We have an organization that essentially fills the role of a sentai team trying to stop her. That said, that’s about where the similarities end. Instead of Il Palazzo, Mia has her late father, who drilled into her daily the rules on how to use magic but seems to have forgotten (on purpose, as we later find) to tell her what being “evil” actually means. As for the Champions of Justice, they’re cops, and while they have some flaws, for the most part they are all adults who see this Supreme Ruler of Evil they’ve been assigned to stop for what she is: a lonely young girl living alone with genuine magical powers.

Changing up my usual style, I’ll start with the good and move to the bad. It’s mostly good – I was quite entertained by this, which is a LOT deeper and more dramatic than I’d really been expecting. There’s lots of humor, sure, as Mia has a tendency to act like a stereotypical cackling villain at the drop of a hat. But I loved how her attempts to “do evil” are all rather pathetic, and that at heart she is obviously meant to be catching bad guys instead – there’s a bit of Ran from Super GALS! in her, only Ran’s just in denial, whereas Mia genuinely does not seem to know what good and evil are as concepts. The five officers are divided up fairly easily: the serious one who wants to make sure Mia eats properly, the blase one who has a secret I could have done without (more on that later), the angry guy who’s trying to date someone long-distance; the romantic lead who is constantly sexually harassing Mia as a way to distance himself from the fact that he’s fallen in love at first sight (more on that later as well), and the token woman, who is there essentially to be a big sister sort. Gradually they get Mia to open up and get closer, and honestly I think the book may have been better (if less marketable) if it removed the romance and stuck with “found family”.

There are some things I didn’t like. The book was noted as being somewhat racy, and I wasn’t quite sure why till we got to the chapter dealing with Shou, the cheerful yet sneaky blonde guy. At one point, when fighting with Mia, Mia’s magical attacks tear his jacket, which seems to cause him to go dark, and he takes her back to his apartment… which is set up like a bondage fetish room. With lots of toys, lovingly described in great detail. And a rape threat (which Shou clearly doesn’t mean but I don’t care). Honestly, this entire section could be removed with no damage to the story – sure, Shou would get no development, but Aya didn’t either. As for Ren, the love interest, he’s acknowledged in story as sexually harassing Mia, a high school student who is not yet 18, from day one. It’s done in that “this is a romance title” sort of way so I wasn’t as annoyed with it as I was with Shou, but it’s there. I did like Aya at the end admitting that she let him get away with it as she could see he was working through his issues and if he screws this up now she’ll kick his ass to hell and back.

This is another of those really long books, though at least it is complete in one volume. Overall, I’m glad I read it, as I loved the bonding between this group of rough yet gentle police officers and their wayward charge who is a “Supreme Ruler of Evil” who can’t help but do good to anyone she comes across. If you like shoujo romances, I’d definitely give it a try.

Dr. STONE, Vol. 1

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By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Caleb Cook.

It’s always difficult to judge these Jump titles because the beginning feels like a prologue even when the series takes off, as this one has. Here we have the new series from the writer who brought us Eyeshield 21 and the artist who brought us Sun-Ken-Rock. So they’re both seasoned veterans, and there’s no doubt the new series feels confident. I’m just not sure who I’m supposed to be focusing on. The guy on the cover, Senku, starts the book as the seeming “intelligent sidekick” type to the classic idiot Jump hero-type guy, Taiju. That said, Inagaki has learned his lessons well from his days at Eyeshield 21 and knows that no one read that series for Sena, likeable as he was. No, Eyeshield’s popularity was entirely due to Hiruma. As such, it’s pretty clear the the intelligent, verbally abusive guy is who we need to keep an eye on. (I’m fairly certain he’s not a real doctor, though.)

Our story begins with Taiju, for whom the words ‘lovable lunk’ seem to have been invented, finally manning up and preparing to tell the cute Yuzuriha that’s he is in love with her. Sadly, as he’s about to do this, something flashes across the entire world and every single human on it is turned to stone. Their consciousnesses survive, they’re just… trapped in stone. (It’s not just humanity, some birds are caught as well, but most animals seem to have survived. Fast forward to the year 5738, and Taiju finally is able to escape his stone body. It turns out Senku, his science friend, has been awake over half a year earlier, and has big plans. Together, they’re going to find a way to un-stone people and revive humanity. Naturally, Yuzuriha is one of the first revived, as, well, you need a cute girl in a Jump series. Unfortunately, their other revival proves a bit more unfortunate.

I’m going to leave aside the likelihood of everyone being turned to stone yet alive and conscious for over four thousand years and being mostly fine when they are revived, because that’s clearly handwave plot powers. I’m also going to leave Yuzuriha aside, because as I said earlier her sole purpose seems to be pretty and female – hopefully the manga will get a few more well-defined women in it soon, but honestly, Eyeshield 21 wasn’t great on that front either. Senku and Taiju are much better defined characters – despite his Dragon Ball hair, Senku is clever (and knows it) and pragmatic, and is ready to rebuilt the world with the help of Taiju’s muscle. The antagonist is also interesting, as he points out this is the perfect time to only revive the best, while Senku, our hero, thinks they should revive everyone regardless of whether they’re evil or not. I’m not entirely sure how you can guess the morality of a person from their stone statue self, but given our antagonist seems perfectly happy to break apart little kid’s stone bodies, I suspect he’s not really meant to be much other than ‘the bad guy’.

The art here is good, and I do like Senku, but it feels very much like a prologue. I think I’ll need one or two more volumes before I see where Dr. STONE is going. Till then, Jump fans should like this. Also, Boichi seems to have studied at the Masakazu Katsura school of female character design. Yuzuhira could have stepped off the pages of Video Girl Ai.

Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 1

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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.

In the beginning there was Full Metal Panic!, a long series of light novels that sadly will probably never be rescued but which spawned a long-running anime franchise. Then there was the spinoff, Fumoffu, which was FMP as a gag comedy and featured Sousuke dressed up as an amusement park mascot. As the author admits in the afterword, the design of the mascot was so perfect that the author just poached it outright (with permission) for his new series Amagi Brilliant Park. Sousuke is not inside the costume this time, but fortunately we have Isuzu, who is sort of a gender-reversed Sousuke with about the same amount of social skills and the tendency to use guns as the first and only option. Fortunately, the male protagonist is not a Kaname expy, but instead Seiya is a young man (and former child star) who is smart, handsome, athletic, and smug about all of this. He’s clearly the perfect person to take hostage and beg to save your magical theme park. Which is what Isuzu does.

For most of this book, I will admit, I was a tad underwhelmed. Isuzu and Seiya were flawed characters, but it sort of felt that the flaw was meant to be a “quirk” rather than lead to actual character development. The same applied to other characters – the other heroine is blind, but this is apparently so irrelevant the anime didn’t bother to adapt the blindness. In addition, as part of his job to save the magical amusement park, Seiya is given a magic power, but it’s hilariously useless and for the rest of the book he simply never bothers. The writing itself is solid – no surprise, given the author’s experience – and it definitely does not have the “I am adapted from a webnovel” feel that so many titles do these days. But I really wanted something more from the series, and as the deadline to save the park crept up I was wondering what weird plan our hero would come up with to save the day.

Then came the revelation of what that plan was, which I will do my darndest not to spoil. At first I was sure it was a fakeout, because there was absolutely no way that they were going to go down that dark, cynical road. But they absolutely do, and I literally said “Holy shit” out loud when I read it. It’s a horrible thing to do, and while Seiya wins the day and the amusement park is (for now) saved, both he and Moffle (one of the “mascots” who is the spitting image of Bonta-kun and also the only one we care about in this volume) feel like it is a bitter, undeserved victory. It absolutely is. And it made the book so much better for me, knowing that in among all the wackiness of Isuzu shooting things and the mascots talking about getting it on with hot moms, the author is ready to pull the rug right out from under his readers with this sort of thing. It made me sort of ill. Bravo.

The next volume is supposed to be more lighthearted, and I’m not sure that’s really what I’ll want. But for now, I recommend Amagi Brilliant Park to fans of FMP or ‘comedy workplace’ series who don’t mind the hero coming off as something of a tortured sociopath. I’ll be reading more.

Otherworldly Izakaya [Nobu], Vol. 1

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By Natsuya Semikawa and Virginia Nitouhei. Released in Japan as “Isekai Izakaya “Nobu”” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Udon Entertainment. Translated by Caleb D. Cook.

There’s a small subset of isekai series that seem to involve a restaurant that is modern Japanese and yet caters to fantasy characters. This one is particularly odd in several ways, though. It’s based on a light novel series, which makes sense if you think of it as an isekai manga but no sense whatsoever if you think of it in its real genre, which is a “everyone enjoys food and describes it” manga. (I’m not sure it’s technically a foodie manga as there are no recipes. You aren’t supposed to make these yourself.) That said, if you DO see it as an isekai manga, it’s probably one of the few I’ve seen shown almost entirely from the POV of the existing fantasy characters. The “Chief” and Shinobu are the staff of the izakaya in question, and by the end of the first book we know the same thing about them which we knew at the start – nothing. It’s about the fantasy cast, and food.

Even the isekai part of the series is a bit vague. The plot involves this izakaya (think pub) in a side street of a medieval town, which gets traffic at first mostly from the guards who are exhausted after a day’s work (just like real izakayas). They are poleaxed by things like cold beer, oden, etc. – basic Japanese pub fare. It becomes somewhat clear as the book progresses that the izakaya has a “back area” that is connected to modern-day Japan, where Shinobu and the Chief get ingredients and (presumably) live. In other words, they are the ones who are transported to another world. But, as I said earlier, this is a series about the food and the people eating it. boisterous guards, their grumpy captain, an uptight tax collector (who is not Gustav St. Germain from Baccano!, but happens to look just like him), and a spoiled rich girl wander in, think they’re not going to like the food, and like the food.

In the end, you have to think of the series as a food manga to really appreciate it. The attention given to the food is, of course, excellent, and the characters make you really want to dig in. As I said earlier, Shinobu is the waitress girl on the cover, and she’s bright and helpful and that’s about it – likewise, Chief is straightforward and somewhat stoic. There’s some sort of language barrier that isn’t quite made clear – Shinobu using untranslated Japanese at times (particularly her long, drawn-out “haaaaaiiii!”) is meant to show this, but she can also clearly communicate with everyone. The other very odd thing about this isekai is that, as far as I can tell, there’s no magic or fantasy in this world whatsoever. It’s in some sort of German medieval world, but the only isekai think is the Japanese pub. It’s a very odd combination, but the relaxed mood and food descriptions in this volume means I’ll be coming back for more. And hopefully getting at least some backstory for our staff.

Manga the Week of 9/26/18

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SEAN: September has ended. Go in peace, to love and serve the manga.

Let’s break this down, cause there’s a lot. First of all, Bookwalker snuck out The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done 4 last week and I missed it. Sorry, loli shogi fans!

Ghost Ship has the 5th To-Love-Ru omnibus.

J-Novel Club has the 7th Demon King Daimaou.

Kodansha has its usual pile o’ digital, but print first. We see Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight 7, The Seven Deadly Sins 28, and the 6th and final volume of Wake Up Sleeping Beauty. I suspect MB peeps are most interested in the last one.

MICHELLE: Yep!

ASH: It’s true!

SEAN: The digital debut looks amusing. Ao-chan Can’t Study (Midarana Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai), a shonen series about a girl who has (to her shame) inherited her father’s dirty mind, and a guy who loves her and won’t take a hint.

Ongoing? There’s Ace of the Diamond 15, Beauty Bunny 7, Defying Kurosaki-kun 4, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 3, Liar x Liar 6, My Boyfriend in Orange 5, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 4.

MICHELLE: Ace and Kichijoji for me.

SEAN: Lately Seven Seas has been backloading all their series to the end of the month, which means there is SO MUCH out next week. The debut is a digital one (print comes out at the end of October: The Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement I is another Guidebook to the world of this popular series.

ASH: I’ll be waiting for the print edition, personally, but am glad it’s coming out digitally, too.

SEAN: And so many ongoing series. We see the 6th 12 Beast (not to be confused with the 12th 6 Beast), A Centaur’s Life 15, Devilman Grimoire 4, the 2nd Dragon Half omnibus, Generation Witch 5, The Girl from the Other Side 5, Hachune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise 4, Hour of the Zombie 7, Magical Girl Site 7, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 4, New Game! 3, Not Lives 10, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 2, and Soul Liquid Chambers 2. There’s a lot of grimdark and fanservice (and both) in that, but I’m excited for Dragon Half, The Girl from the Other Side (which is admittedly pretty dark), and New Game.

MICHELLE: I’m always excited for more of The Girl from the Other Side.

ANNA: Me too! Such a unique series!

ASH: Wow, you weren’t kidding about the number of Seven Seas title! The first Dragon Half was certainly entertaining and The Girl from the Other Side remains one of my favorite series currently being released.

SEAN: Vertical has been debuting a lot this month, as we now get After the Rain (Koi wa Ameagari no You ni), which is not by the creator of School Rumble despite seemingly having Yakumo on the cover. It’s a seinen manga from Big Comic Spirits, about a high school girl and her romantic pursuits. It’s gotten some good buzz.

MICHELLE: I like its cover!

ANNA: Ok, I’m curious.

SEAN: Viz has a digital-only release of the 9th Boys Over Flowers Season 2.

ANNA: One day I want to give into nostalgia and catch up on this series.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has some digital titles and some runoff from last week. The digital is the 18th volume of Sekirei. The print is the 16th Barakamon and the 4th (and I believe last) No Game No Life Please!.

And for fans of A Bride’s Story, Vol 1-5 are finally out digitally next week, with the other 5 volumes arriving in October.

We also have the print debut of a series that came out digitally by chapter a while back, Hinowa Ga CRUSH!. With a title like that, you can guess it’s from the creator of Akame Ga KILL!, and appears to be tied into it. It runs in Big Gangan.

Any manga for next week before everyone starts saving for Pumpkin Spice?

MJ: So if I’m not that into anything here, does it mean I’m stuck with Pumpkin Spice?

Outbreak Company, Vol. 5

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

Every volume of Outbreak Company seems to begin trying its best to irritate me, I swear. It’s as if the creator has to present his bonafides before he gets into the meat of what he actually wants to do. Hence we begin with Shinichi, who has just been kidnapped by this world’s equivalent of Saudi Arabia or something similar, going on and on about moe fetishes for a bit, followed by his summarizing the entire plot for those readers who may have wanted to start with Book 5. That said, this book does show us, even more than usual, that Shinichi is very fond of these fetishes AS FICTION, and when they’re given to him in real life he is reasonably creeped out by them. And given that the entire premise of this book is basically “Shinichi has done the Eldant Empire so much good and now the entire female cast (who either love him or are at least good friends with him” proceed to rescue him:”, the reminder is needed. Shinichi is a model otaku – he can separate fiction and reality.

Myusel gets her second cover, and also pretty much separates herself from the harem pack here. We get a large chunk of the book narrated by her (out of necessity, as Shinichi’s been kidnapped), and her love and devotion to Shinichi is really impressive. As is her use of automatic weapons towards the climax, which given it gets two interstitial pieces of art may have been the excuse for the plot. At this point, if she’s not Best Girl by the end of the series I’ll be very surprised. Elvia too gets a lot to do here, given that it’s her country who has kidnapped Shinichi – we get to meet her sisters, and see how the family dynamic is. It honestly looks like it’s a good thing that Elvia was captured and stayed with the main cast. That said, it was rather startling how much she was treated as ‘evil spy’ at the start of the book given that she’s pretty much lazed around drawing and occasionally firing off soccer balls. No one forgets how she first arrived.

The plot itself is quite interesting. We’ve seen for the first four or so books Shinichi dealing with a very unequal world, where humans are the ‘norm’ and elves, dwarves, beastmen etc. are considered less than human. The core of the series has been showing that this is a bad thing. Now, however, we see Elvia’s country, whose king has set things up so that everything is equal – by force. People eat the same things, work the same jobs, are married in mass ceremonies to whoever the King picks out for them… it’s pretty damn appalling. Shinichi is supposedly kidnapped so that he can write something that will make the population of Bahairam love their king the way the magical girl movie made everyone love Petralka, and after wracking his brain and avoiding the obvious, he finally gives in. He can’t do it. Equality is important, but not at the cost of individuality.

Of course, all this may have been planned all along, and we see at the end that Shinichi’s idea of fixing things may be the smartest. Overall, though, this was a very good entry in the Outbreak Company series, and should appeal to those who enjoy it and don’t mind Shinichi occasionally leaping off of otaku cliffs.

Gear Drive, Vol. 1

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By Kabayakidare and Koutaro Sugi. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Matthew Warner.

Sometimes when I am reading fiction I am looking for something with deep philosophical themes, something that takes the characters on a tremendous journey and teaches the reader something about both the author and themselves. And sometimes I just want to kick back and have a rollicking good time. Gear Drive is definitely designed to be the latter, and I spent most of the book reading with a giant grin on my face. If I didn’t know better I’d swear it was a novelization of tome shonen manga from Jump or Sunday. It’s filled with ridiculous powerups, intense fight scenes, and showing off the truly important things, which is caring about the people around you and not just trying to look cool. And its heroine, Anti, is a great narrator, sounding very much her age without being too annoying to the reader. It’s actually a series I’d be quite happy to recommend to YA readers, especially as there’s only one volume out in Japan so far (the second comes next month).

Our story begins in a small fantasy village named, erm, Cardiff, where the inhabitants spend their days, erm, mining coal. Look, it really is a fantasy land and not Wales, though I know the two can be confused easily. Everyone in this world has magic, though some come to it more easily than others. Anti, our heroine, is one who needs a little help, so at the age of 15 she goes to the church to find out what her magic ability is. Turns out… it’s gears. She has no idea what this means, and nor does anyone else. Rapidly, however, it turns out to be a far more useful ability than expected, especially combined with two other items that her parents left her before they tragically died… no, wait, both her parents are still alive and active in the story! Fake shonen! At first being somewhat unhappy with her mystery gifts, Anti has to learn how to use them on the fly when a giant bear creature attacks the woods near her village and two young kids go out to stop it to prove they’re brave.

As I said, the high points of this book are many. There’s one scene in the battle between Anti and the bear creature that features one of the best uses of a standard fantasy “infinite bag of holding” I’ve ever seen. There’s Anti’s moral sense, which is present and correct throughout the book, and which she passes on to the impulsive kids she has to save. (I loved the illustration of the kids as adults later in life, looking straight out of Log Horizon.) There’s the standard “our eyes meet and we know we are destined to fall in love later in the series” scene, only it’s between Anti and a girl her own age, and I’m not sure the series is going to go there, but it still made me smile. The book is not perfect, of course. Anti’s gear powers combined with her parent’s items sometimes lead to “whatever the plot requires”. It clearly ends Vol 1 with about 1/3 of a book to go, so we get some quick short stories from other people’s perspective, and begin book 2 early, which means it ends in an awkward place. Also, the translator clearly had the ability to have someone say “Anti are you OK?” and didn’t, which made me sad. Still, I’m carping.

This came out in Japan in February 2018, and was apparently licensed immediately. I can see why. If it keeps this up, this will become one of my favorite series. Go get it now.