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Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 6/13/18

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SEAN: Did you know there is manga coming out next week? It’s true!

MICHELLE: Shokku!

ASH: You wa shock!

ANNA: Madness and insanity!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the first volume of Gantz G, the sequel series that serves all your lycra fetish needs. (I still want HEN, dammit.)

J-Novel Club has new digital novels for us. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 9, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 3, and My Little Sister Can Read Kanji 4.

Kodansha has new print titles! We have the 3rd Again!!, the 7th Aho-Girl, a 5th To Your Eternity, and the 2nd omnibus of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku. Most looking forward to that last one.

MICHELLE: I am horrible and haven’t read the first Wotakoi yet. Perhaps I’ll remedy that this week.

ASH: You should! This is definitely another Kodansha week for me–I’m picking up most of these.

SEAN: Digitally we have another debut, this one is Kamikamikaeshi is a Nakayoshi shoujo series (we haven’t seen anything from them lately). It involves gods, hair, and reverse harems, and is by Ema Toyama of Missions of Love fame.

ANNA: Did someone say reverse harems??????

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Boarding School Juliet, a 9th GTO Paradise Lost, a 3rd Living Room Matsunaga-san, and a 4th Starving Anonymous.

Seven Seas has another big blast from the past with the first Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection. First serialized in the 1970s in Akita Shoten’s Play Comic, this hardcover is filled with piracy and brooding.

ASH: Should be great.

ANNA: Wooo!!!!

SEAN: There’s a light novel debut in print, as we get the first volume of light-hearted overpowered heroine comedy Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. In digital, meanwhile, we get the 2nd volume of the same series.

The other debut may actually be familiar to those who tried the MangaBox digital app back in the day. High-Rise Invasion (Tenkuu Shinpan) is a shonen series that started there, then moved to Weekly Shonen Magazine. Beware, beyond this point survival game manga lies.

SuBLime has a 7th Deluxe Edition of Finder.

Vertical has the 2nd volume of CITY, the spiritual successor to Nichijou.

Viz debuts a new series, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maou-jou de Oyasumi), which is, believe it or not, a new Shonen Sunday debut. Yes, the magazine still exists. The demon king has kidnapped our heroine… who just wants a nice rest. I look forward to this.

MICHELLE: I miss Shonen Sunday titles!

ASH: Indeed! And I’ve heard good things about this particular one, too.

ANNA: Looks cute!

SEAN: We also get a 2nd volume of After Hours, a 13th Loveless… oh, wait, here’s MJ.

MJ: THIS THIS THIS THIS THISY THIS THIS. Hi. There’s a new volume of Loveless. Obviously I will be devouring it.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ASH: I adored the first volume of After Hours and, yes, I’m still reading Loveless as well.

SEAN: …and there’s also a 30th Magi and a 3rd Splatoon. I’m impressed Magi has made it to 30+ volumes.

ANNA: So many volumes I am hopelessly behind on.

SEAN: Lastly, after a few delays, we finally get the 11th light novel for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, seeing if Bell can bounce back after the disastrous events of the last book.

See? I told you there was manga. Anything for you?

ASH: Always, and then some!

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 13

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

Much as the Rokujouma series in general has focused on life on Earth, and more specifically around Room 106, I’ve been starting to get a feeling that when the series does eventually end (and it’s showing a few signs it may soon in Japan, though we’re still long away from it here) it’s going to be having the cast emigrating to Forthorthe in some way, shape or form. Theia and Ruth’s plotline is simply too wrapped up in a world far away from here. We see that at the start of this book, where both of them go back to their planet to investigate her mother’s supposed illness, and the narrative kind of idles while everyone waits for them to get back. It takes a lot to shift these folks from where they want to be – next to Koutarou. That said, we’re also seeing that Theia and her mother are being set up to look like traitors by the bad guys, so a closer visit to modern Forthorthe is no doubt in the offing. For now, though, enjoy a volume that’s almost all battle.

Yes, Ruth’s evil ex-fiance is back, and bhe’s brought friends and a consuming desire to battle Koutarou. As such, once Theia and Ruth return with her mother the Empress (turns out the illness was a lie – no surprises there), our heroes are under attack from multiple fronts. This allows us to show off the varied skills of all the group while also showing that, unlike Koutarou, they are allowed to lose to superior numbers and firepower. Koutarou is an exceeption, but again this book takes the time to hammer home again and again that he’s using “borrowed power” from everyone. That said, what he does with all that power is purely him, even if he refuses to admit it. There are a few exceptions, of course. Harumi, newly awakened to the magic she has within her, as well as to the fact that she’s Alaia’s reincarnation (something only Clan and Theia’s mother seem to be figuring out), and suddenly she’s a huge powerhouse, though sadly this does push Yurika’s talents off to the side a bit.

And then there’s Shizuka. Now, given that the last few books have been trying their darndest to make Shizuka part of the main harem, despite the fact that she’s not in love with Koutarou (yet), there was always going to be a revelation about her. Her super strength for no reason at all was a signpost there. Still, it’s hard not to be amused when Koutarou literally pulls a deus ex machina and calls on his ancient dragon friend from the past… only to find the dragon has been within Shizuka all along. Shizuka herself seems unaware of this, possibly because the author wanted to have a wacky tag for the epilogue, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time before she ends up much the same as Harumi is now. Given the nature of this book, it’s unsurprising that there are an awful lot of last-minute saves and “oh, did I mention I can do this” twists to it. Oh, and we also hear about another Koutqarou and Clan time-travel adventure we haven’t seen yet, though I hope that doesn’t mean another .5 volume.

So with Theia and her mother likely having to stay in exile for a while, and the two biggest antagonists in the series joining forces at the end, what’s coming up? This feels very much like an “End of Part One” sort of book, so I suspect next time we’ll see the start of something new.

Éclair: a Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

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By Various Artists. Released in Japan as “Éclair – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Eleanor Summers.

The big news about this anthology, I think, is the fact that we’re seeing it at all. These anthologies pop up quite a bit in Japan, usually in the shoujo end of the market, with a collection of themed stories by various artists with a few known names to anchor the collection. That’s just what we have here, with the theme being the love between two girls. And yes, it is mostly girls – there are a few adults in this collection, but unsurprisingly most of the stories go to the4 traditional yuri well of ‘all girls school’. That said, while there are a few stories here that are essentially “Story A”, as Erica Friedman has defined it, there are more surprises than I expected, and quite a few touching and amusing moments. It doesn’t get that feeling of reading the same story 16 times that you sometimes see in these sort of books. And, of course, there is Girls’ Love to the nth degree – I only spotted a man once or twice in the entire book, and they didn’t speak.

It’s hard to review a title like this because the stories are so short you risk giving everything away just discussing them. On the ‘famous author’ end, the cover and first story are by Nio Nakatani, the author of Bloom Into You (unfortunately, I found it a rather weak story to begin with). Sakuya Amano, creator of Gosick and Konohana Kitan, has a story about a sheltered rich girl and her sharp-tongued maid, of which my favorite part was the sharp tongue more than the romance. And Canno of Kiss & White Lily fame has a story about a high school girl with a crush on an older, unemployed woman which is probably better off with the open ending that it was given – the author noted that she wanted to make the older woman more “bad”, but was unable to do it, and you can see the struggle to tame the story in the actual work.

Elsewhere, we get stories that allow us to see that not all relationships end happily ever after, with Shiori Nishio’s story showing us a love realized too late. There’s some twisted love, as a coffeehouse employee is falling for their new hire, but only because she’s a completely useless klutz and therefore adorable. I enjoyed the tales we got that stepped away from the school, like the woman who asks her friend to help her cook something for whichever new boyfriend she’s fallen for, only to find that this pie may be a little different; or the “post-apocalyptic” story that was a bit silly but amusing enough. Possibly the weirdest story in the book comes near the end, where a girl declares that she’s going to be having another girl’s baby. It’s the sort of thing you could only pull off in a short story – the number of pages (10) was just about right.

As you can imagine, the contents are highly variable, as you’d expect with an anthology like this. That said, the anthology is still well-worth picking up overall, especially if you like the authors or the genre. There are a few authors in here I would not mind seeing more of.

The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Vol. 3

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By SOW and Zaza. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by Bookwalker. Translated by Ari and John Werry.

As readers of fantasy manga and light novels know, one of the go-to ways to create a new world but also invest it with countries that the audience might care about is to make it like Europe around the time of the first and second world wars. Be it refighting the conflict with mecha or girls in powered suits, extending the way forever thanks to the efforts of a twisted God and twisted little girl, or focusing on post-war issues and fallout, everyone loves to write not-Europe – particularly not-Germany. Combat Baker is no different, which has made this book, one where Germany essentially won the war, a bit discomfiting. But for the most part it’s been subtle, and as long as the author doesn’t try to work in the Jewish people in an incredibly unsubtle way with a stereotypical character, I think we’re — (telephone rings) Hello, yes? What? (hangs up) Oh dear.

Before I get into Shylock (yes, really), let’s take a look at the rest of the book. Jacob is the focus of this volume, as his mother wants to move to a bigger city but he wants to stay behind with Lud and company. Meanwhile, the military is dealing with the equivalent of the SS troops, a separate group attached to the powers in charge which is trying to become more powerful than the government’s own military. In order to achieve this they have sent an immature teenage brat with delusions of regaining her family’s honor, one token “just plain evil” soldier, and a corporal in a mask who looks like he wants to stop these people, but also has something to hide. And of course we still have the occasional harem antics, as Sven frustratedly realizes that she cannot control women from falling in love with Lud, mostly as she hasn’t actually confessed yet. Can this group survive a Bake-Off as well as a kidnapping?

I should note here that I’m not Jewish, so this is just my own personal feelings. I think I see what the author wanted to do with his insertion of Shylock, a businessman who grew up abused by people simply due to his ethnicity and has tried hard to run his business and support his country. We see a bit of the catch-22 involved when he thinks that giving money to the state would get him in trouble, only to be arrested for not giving money. I suspect some of my reservations would be allayed if he weren’t literally named Shylock, and his nickname is “Greedy Shylock” to boot, a businessman who controls most of the weapons manufacturing in not-Germany. When you’re writing a fantasy novel which is dealing with the horrors of war in many ways, you need some subtlety in your writing and background. Shylock was as subtle as a boot to the head.

Apart from that, this is a decent enough Combat Baker. Jacob gains some depth here as a child who’s had to grow up far too fast, and occasionally acts like the child he’s supposed to be for once. And once again it’s hinted that Lud knows exactly who Sven is and is just rewriting his own mind to forget it. There’s also new translators, and the book read a lot smoother this time around. If you’ve been reading Combat Baker, you’ll want this one as well. And yes, there is also delicious bread (though the book does not come with free bread with purchase – Bookwalker might want to look into0 that.)

Bookshelf Briefs 6/4/18

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Battle Angel Alita: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 | By Yukito Kishiro | Kodansha Comics – Alita has been many things since she was rescued from a scrap pile–a formidable bounty hunter, a talented motorball player, and now (of all things) a beloved bar singer and musician–but her destiny hasn’t finished playing out yet. Zapan, another cyborg and ex-bounty hunter who unfairly blames Alita for everything that has recently gone wrong in his life, is coming after her to seek revenge. He cares very little about anyone or anything else, resulting in massive casualties and destruction. As I’ve come to expect from the series, the numerous battles in this volume are intense and well-executed in addition to being incredibly gruesome. Kishiro also has a knack for creative and marvelously disconcerting cyberpunk designs. But what really makes the series work is Alita herself and the strength and depth of her character. While her circumstances are rarely very happy ones, she continues to persevere. – Ash Brown

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 5 | By Rin Mikimoto | Kodansha Comics – Last time I said that a lot of this was shoujo by numbers, and it still is to a degree, but you can feel the author fighting back against the obvious a bit. Shu spends much of the volume trying not to be the evil girl who gets between our hero and heroine, before seemingly just saying “screw it” and doing so for a good cliffhanger. That said, I continue to like the way the book is handling Kaede, who really is making an effort here in a way that most shoujo hotties, especially ones who are famous stars, wouldn’t do. It makes the butt stuff more tolerable. (It helps that both Hinana and Shu are also “pervy” to a large degree.) Add in more funny SD-faces, and it’s a pretty decent volume. – Sean Gaffney

Shojo FIGHT!, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nihonbashi | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I was very happy to see this volume on Kodansha’s release schedule! In it, one of Neri’s new teammates, Nao, has gotten herself involved in a “volleybetting” enterprise in which the audience gambles on matches between scantily clad girls. The Kokuyodani team rallies to extricate Nao from this situation, but all is not as sordid as it seems. Their efforts, in part, involve putting together an audience team to help win Nao’s freedom, and Neri’s teammates assure her that now is not the time to hold back, so she’s finally able to play her hardest with teammates in full support. Meanwhile, Takako Yui returns from overseas and seems to be fairly evil, though I liked that Michiru and Odagiri start dating as a result of her machinations. Looking forward to more! – Michelle Smith

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 10 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – Sweetness & Lightning continues to be eyebleach in manga form. In addition to cooking some classic Japanese dishes in this volume—udon, oden, and sukiyaki—Kotori and Tsumugi achieve a few more growing-up milestones. I appreciated that witnessing Tsumugi’s success in learning to ride a bike helped Kotori pass her interview for culinary school, and also liked how Tsumugi is picking up on things more now, like how their time cooking with Kotori might soon come to an end, or that, despite her best efforts to be friends with everyone, there are just some people she doesn’t like. My favorite moment, though, was when Kotori’s father tasted her food and affirmed, “You’re good at this.” Overall, it’s a very nice series about nice people cooking nice food and sometimes one needs that sort of story. – Michelle Smith

To Your Eternity, Vol. 4 | By Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – One of my favorite manga series currently being released in English is To Your Eternity. Admittedly the story can be emotionally devastating and heartbreaking, but it’s also a beautiful and compelling examination of life, love, and what it means to be human. In stark contrast to the beginning of his existence, Fushi has lived the last few years in relative peace. He’s once again become an integral part of a found family, but now he’s had the advantage of time to establish even deeper bonds with people as he grows and learns. Fushi’s language skills develop alongside his self-awareness and understanding of others. However, danger and tragedy isn’t far off–Fushi will have to face his fears and make tremendously difficult decisions in order to protect those he has come to love. He’s evolving to become more human-like even while the monstrous truth behind his creation and survival is revealed. – Ash Brown

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, Vol. 4 | By Megumi Morino | Kodansha Comics – The cliffhanger that didn’t appear last time shows up in this volume, as Shizu’s father is back and he’s evil, alas. So it’s ‘put Shizu in an institution’ vs. having her run away with the boy who loves her, and I think we know what readers are going to go with, even in spite of the fact that this is dumb and will end badly. Before that, though, we pretty much get compressed adorable, as Tetsu and Shizu buy kimonos, attend a festival, and otherwise prove that she is indeed fully capable of interacting with the outside world provided she isn’t being constantly possessed. Sadly, I doubt Dear Old Dad will see it that way, and I expect the next volume to be rather dark. Still getting this anyway. – Sean Gaffney

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 6 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – There’s not a whole lot that happens in this volume plot-wise. Mitsuki challenges herself by serving on the cultural festival committee and does a very good job. Meanwhile, Aya-chan arranges for his team to have a practice game against our heroes, whereupon he and Asakura get into each other’s faces a bit. Mostly, though, this volume is about feelings. Asakura freely admits to his friends that he loves Mitsuki, which causes some strife with Rui, who was maybe starting to have feelings for her and has long had an inferiority complex where Asakura is concerned. Although I really don’t care about the Aya-chan stuff—or Rui, for that matter—I really like Mitsuki and Asakura and enjoy spending time with them as they work to better themselves and get to a place where they feel worthy of love. They’re a core couple worth rooting for. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: We Want Everything

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SEAN: My pick this week is My Solo Exchange Diary, if only as I really want to find out what happens to our author next, painful as that may be. Also The Promised Neverland, Eclair, etcetcetc…

KATE: This is one of those weeks where I’m inclined to pick seven or eight titles. I second Sean’s recommendation of My Solo Exchange Diary, but I’m also excited for new installments of Princess Jellyfish, The Promised Neverland, and Descending Stories, three of my favorite ongoing series. I’d be remiss in my manga-critic duties if I didn’t also mention Yen Press’ yuri anthology Eclair, which has been on my radar since Erica Friedman reviewed it last year.

MICHELLE: I also have lots of things I’m looking forward to. Some ongoing shounen and shoujo faves from VIZ, Those Summer Days from Kodansha, Eclair from Yen Press, etc. But since it’s my final chance to choose quirky, unique, and addictive Princess Jellyfish, I’ve gotta go with that.

ASH: Absolutely sign me up for everything that’s already been mentioned and be sure to add on Vinland Saga, too. It’s such a tremendous series that somehow manages to only get better with each new volume that’s released.

ANNA: There’s a lot that’s great coming out, but I need to join with Ash in picking Vinland Saga for sure!

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 6

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This volume of Realist Hero sees our heroes go off to meet the dragon people of this world. Most of them are as you’d imagine dragon people to be in an isekai light novel series written for guys – Western dragons types who can fly and breathe fire, carry men on their back, and can also turn into beautiful women. Indeed, the carrying men on their back thing is explicitly stated to be the same as losing your virginity for a dragon – with heavy consequences for the dragon if the guy doesn’t end up partnering with her. That said, none of these dragons are the star. The star is Naden, who is a dragon who doesn’t have wings and can’t breathe fire, and thus is mocked by the other dragons around her. Fortunately the star of this series is Souma, and so you know he’s going to find value in her (she can create electricity!), see what she’s really based on (Eastern dragons – which means yes, she can fly), and end up partnering with her in order to save the dragon nation from a disaster – and also because they’ve fallen for each other.

The plot of this book is very straightforward, to the point where it even seems a little rushed. Naden falls for Souma almost immediately, and there are several scenes to reassure us that he’s not going to be marrying her simply because of her powers or status, but because he likes her as well. I also appreciated the development given to Ruby, one of three “Mean Girls” style dragons who bully Naden for being different. It’s framed more as “each wants what the other can’t have”, and as Ruby points out, at least she’s being a jerk to Naden in person, rather than behind her back. Ruby, during the crisis, also has to be ridden by Hal, which of course means that he has to marry her, which is possibly poor timing given that he and Kaede finally got engaged before this book. Fortunately, everyone’s super fine with polygamy here, so it works out.

There are a few seeds for future books sown here, the biggest of which is the nature of the world that Souma was summoned to as a hero, which may not be as “alternate fantasy world” as first expected. I expect this may have something to do with the demons, which we’ve already heard are not quite as “they’re just evil, OK?’ as previously thought. The other implication of the book’s ending is far less surprising – Liscia is pregnant. This may be why the author had her go with Souma for the final battle even though she didn’t do much – it’s possibly the last time she’ll get to be involved. The next book looks to feature Juna and Roroa, so we may simply get revolving fiancee development for a while. And there is also a nice helping of humor here, ranging from Aisha destroying everything around her because Souma disappeared to Empress Maria’s new career as a pop idol. Souma’s influence is felt far and wide, clearly.

There may not be quite as much kingdom developing as previous volumes, so some fans may be disappointed. But for the most part this is a decent Realist Hero, introducing a new fiancee quickly and economically. She’s cute, too.

Kabukimonogatari: Dandy Tale

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By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

The joke about this volume of the Monogatari series has always been that Shinobu steals Mayoi’s book. It’s not entirely correct – the entire thrust of the plot revolves around Mayoi here, and how her state as a ghost wandering the town saddens Araragi as much as it pleases him to banter with her. And of course there’s the climax of the book, which features Mayoi… well, a Mayoi. (Covers always spoil.) But there’s no denying that the actual dialogue in this volume is about 80% between Araragi and Shinobu, as his desire to finish his summer homework (which he had forgotten to do due to college exam prep) leads to Shinobu abusing her powers to send them back in time. This leads to what at first seems like a chance for Araragi to change history so that he can make Mayoi’s life and death a little better… after all, how could saving one little girl from getting hit by a car possibly change history? (cough)

Araragi is once again the narrator of the series, which alas means that we have a lot of his tendencies to deal with. In fact, given that Nisioisin says in the afterword that he was trying to write a novel consisting almost entirely of little girls (Mayoi, Shinobu, and Ononoki, who sets the plot in motion with her discussion of the differences between her, Mayoi, and Araragi), there’s even more lolicon jokes here than ever before, with endless discussion of Shinobu’s ribs and their use and abuse. Fortunately, though, this also means we get the opportunity to evolve Shinobu’s character and make her more proactive. She’s gone from being an outright villain, to sulking, and then to being a somewhat teasing but reluctant partner who says she helps Tsukihi merely because it amuses her. This book shows how much the pairing between Araragi and Shinobu has truly changed both of them, and reinforces the closeness of their bond. Araragi may love Senjogahara most, but he’ll die with Shinobu, and that’s sweet too, in a vampire sort of way.

It might be a good idea, by the way, to go back and read the 3rd Bakemonogatari series, Tsubasa Cat, before tackling this one, as the events there play out here in a tragically different way. That said, Araragi himself has already forgotten what happened that day and has to have his memory jogged by a somewhat frustrated Shinobu. On the other hand, you may want to save your reading time for this book alone, given it’s one of the longer volumes in the series to date. Much of that length is taken up by what we’re used to seeing from Araragi and company – endless meandering conversation, killer untranslatable puns, and 4th wall breaking galore, with discussion of the characters knowing they’re fictional, as well as knowing that they’ve got an anime airing. Anime fans may be interested to know that this one cuts out more than most any other Monogatari adaptation, so it’s worth picking up to see what you missed.

There is also, as you can no doubt see, another translator on the series, and he’s also doing the next book, Hanamonogatari, which will focus on Kanbaru. He does a good job of keeping things as smooth as it’s possible to o given this author’s tendency to vomit dictionaries at people whenever the opportunity comes up. Ononoki is trying out new variations on “oni no onii-chan” here (brogre was a favorite of mine). There are one or two places where the translation suddenly features a lot of Japanese words, and you get the feeling there even the editors agreed “yeah, that’s just impossible to adapt”. Even the subtitle to the book is tricky. A kabukimono is sort of the equivalent of a Japanese dandy, but it can also mean “twist” or “deviation”, which is certainly what happens here with all the time-travel antics.

Fans of Monogatari will want to pick this up, particularly if they like Shinobu or Mayoi. For anyone feeling bad for Mayoi, given that Shinobu steals the spotlight so much, I’d wait till later in the year when that might change.

A Sister’s All You Need, Vol. 1

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By Yomi Hirasaka and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Imouto sae Ireba ii” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

I will admit, I wasn’t originally planning to start this series at all. Its reputation, from the anime that was adapted from it, was so well known that I kind of recoiled. That said, most of that reputation is either from the first scene of Episode 1 or based around the antics of one character. And I’m always reluctant to condemn something without at least trying it first. Plus the author has also written Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, whose manga I have enjoyed despite the fact that it too seems to revolve around “the author shows off his fetish grab bag” just like this series does. Would this series be a case where I could see beyond the blatant pandering and appreciate the satire that the author is clearly also trying to sell readers here? Well… yes and no. It’s readable enough, but I’m not sure I really need to read any more of it.

Our hero, such as he is, is a light novel author with a particular obsession with little sisters, Itsuki. He’s actually had a few series published, but it’s notable that after the first one they’ve all been one-shorts or 2-3 volumes. Fans are tired of everything he writes revolving around little sisters. Much of the humor in the book comes from his ridiculous attitude towards this particular fetish. Other participants in the book include Chihiro, his stepbrother and minder who is e3ssentially perfect (no, the back cover even admits it as well); Miyako, his old friend from college who is there to bring something of the voice of reason to things; Haruto, his fellow light novel author who’s savvier than he is but also a bit jealous of Itsuki’s creativity; Puriketsu, an illustrator who’s perfect at art for a giant flake at life; Ashley, who was possibly my favorite, there to save Itsuki money on taxes; and Nayuta.

Let’s just say it up front: the reason people will want to continue with this series at all is Nayuta. The reason people will want to drop this series like a hot potato is ALSO Nayuta. She is by far the most interesting character in the book. When that works, it’s great – sometimes what she says is genuinely startling and funny, and I felt she had the best developed backstory in the group. If it weren’t that the author of this book also wrote Haganai, a series famous from blowing up its fandom to avoid a real ending, I’d suspect that she and Itsuki were an obvious end couple. On the other hand, her filthy mouth can sometimes just be shock for the sake of shock. From the beginning she’s saying “I want your hard cock” to Itsuki, and we also get “walking blowjob machine” and other similar things. Nayuta… is perhaps trying a bit too hard. And that can be trying for the reader, even if her feelings are genuine.

The other reason to read this series is the insight it gives into the light novel writer/editor process, and also satirizing that a bit. The book namedrops all over the place, including Haganai’s OWN little sister characters getting mentioned more than once, and a RPG where the players essentially steal abilities from Index and Fate/Stay Night. It’s not exactly a book to take seriously. That said, I’m not sure I enjoyed it enough to get another volume, mostly as I found the lead, who is supposed to be an amusing sister-obsessed freak, the dullest part of the book. And while that’s fairly common in the light novel world, it’s still not a good thing. If you like light novel meta, or teenage girls talking dirty, though, this may be the series for you.

Satan’s Secretary, Vol. 1

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By Kamotsu Kamonabe. Released in Japan by Earth Star Entertainment, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Earth Star. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jennifer O’Donnell. Adapted by Jamal Joseph, Jr.

Western publishers have had quite a few titles lately that fall into the broad category of “one-gag concept” manga. In other words, the premise of the series revolves around a gag. This can be dangerous if it quickly grows wearisome, but if it’s a good gag, then it can frequently do very well playing variations on the basic theme. Satan’s Secretary has just such a gag. To be fair, we’ve seen this sort of thing very recently – As Miss Beelzebub Likes has essentially the same concept. But there the series was less about “the demon king has a secretary” as much as the everyday life of the demon king and her secretary. This one, though, is entirely dedicated only to the one gag: The Lord of Darkness has kidnapped a secretary, and she’s very good at her job. In fact, one might argue she’s TOO good at her job.

Not that her talents aren’t really needed here. The Lord of Darkness is pretty half-assed, to be honest, and in his slumber the demons have gotten really pathetic. When he finally awakens (13 years late… he was sleeping in, give him a break!), he orders a minion to kidnap one of the human’s wisest scholars to torture for information so that he can go about his conquest and defeat the chosen hero. He winds up with the local kingdom’s secretary, who is deadpan and somewhat reserved, but seems to be all in for destroying the humans. The subtitle of the series seen on the cover is something of a running gag (particularly the “except me”), and it’s not till the end of the book that we get any motivation for her actions beyond “is a really good secretary prepared to help the company”. What does this mean? It means job interviews. It means salaries and benefits. It means plans to wipe out humanity that are not merely “go out in a group and get killed by adventurers”. Satan is… a bit taken aback, to say the least.

As I noted before, Satan is in fact pretty annoying throughout the book, being the very picture of a lazy boss coasting on past victory and not wanting to put in much time at his actual job. As such, the secretary carries the bulk of the plot, characterization and gags – there are a lot of other demons, but for the most part we don’t really get to know too many of them beyond genericness. There are some very funny gags here, such as getting the demons going out to kill humans to sign a liability waiver, or the secretary’s reaction to being fed an aphrodisiac they’re testing – she’s certainly all in for the demon lord breeding, but not her, and it’s all related to her job. I appreciate that this is not really a fanservicey manga, beyond a shot of the secretary in her slip at one point. There’s even a bit of depth at the end, when she reveals that she’s never even had a name, and tells Satan (and the reader) why she’s perfectly happy to let humanity burn.

The cliffhanger seems to suggest we’ll be seeing the supposed hero soon, and that may shift the focus a bit… but I doubt it. Satan’s Secretary works best when it’s fulfilling its genre of “demonic office comedy”, with the secretary running the ship with an iron hand. Better than it sounds, I definitely recommend giving this title a shot. Death to humanity (except her)!

Manga the Week of 6/6/18

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SEAN: June arrives this Friday, and with it comes even more manga. Here’s what’s out next week.

Bookwalker has a 4th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress light novel, reminding me that I’m behind on it.

J-Novel Club has a large number of releases out next week: Demon King Daimaou 5, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 13, I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 8, and Me, a Genius? I Was Reborn into Another World and I Think They’ve Got the Wrong Idea! 2. That’s a lot of light novel title damage.

Kodansha has a nice number of print titles coming out. The biggie for Manga Bookshelf peeps is the final omnibus of Princess Jellyfish, Vol. 9. There’s also a 3rd Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, a 7th Descending Stories, and a 10th Vinland Saga.

MICHELLE: I am really, really looking forward to Princess Jellyfish, though I can’t believe it’ll actually be over.

ASH: Yes! Princess Jellyfish has been wonderful; I’m so glad that it was released in print. I’m looking forward to continuing Descending Stories, too, and am thrilled for more Vinland Saga! (This is a good Kodansha week for me.)

ANNA: Also very happy about Princess Jellyfish and Vinland Saga!

MJ: I’m embarrassed to admit that I never even started Princess Jellyfish. Maybe the release of the final omnibus is what I need to spur me on.

SEAN: Digitally we have the debut of Those Summer Days (Ano Natsu), an Aria shoujo title about time travel and bittersweet romance.

MICHELLE: I’m in for bittersweet romance. The cover’s very pretty, too.

SEAN: We also have a 2nd You Got Me, Sempai!, and a 2nd Beware the Kamiki Brothers.

Seven Seas has two debuts. My Solo Exchange Diary is the sequel to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and I am really looking forward to it.

ASH: My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness was tremendous, so the sequel is very high on my list.

MJ: This!

SEAN: Satan’s Secretary (Maou no Hisho) is a bit more typical manga title, about how well a demon invasion would actually go if the Demon King had a really capable secretary at his side. It’s from Earth Star Entertainment, and runs in their Comic Earth Star magazine.

Vertical gives us a 6th volume of Flying Witch.

Viz, as you’d expect, has a large pile. No debuts this time, so let’s divide into Jump and Beat titles. For Jump, we see Astra: Lost in Space 3, Blue Exorcist 19, Food Wars! 24, Haikyu!! 24, the 12th Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1, My Hero Academia 13, One Piece’s 24th 3-in-1, and The Promised Neverland 4. MHA and TPN are my choice from there.

MICHELLE: Forsooth, though there are a few other faves in that mix for me, too.

SEAN: On the shoujo end, we have Queen’s Quality 4, Takane & Hana 3, Yona of the Dawn 12, and The Young Master’s Revenge 2. Yona always jumps to the top of my pile whenever it comes out.

MICHELLE: I’ll be getting all of these!

ASH: So much Viz! (And so many that I’m following!)

ANNA: Yay for Viz shoujo!!!!!!

SEAN: And Yen Press has some stragglers. On the novel side we have Napping Princess, an adaptation of the movie of the same name.

Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is what it sounds like, a collection of short stories that deal with romance between girls. I’d expect a lot of school settings. The authors of Kiss & White Lily, Gosick, and Bloom into You make contributions.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this anthology.

MJ: This sounds great.

SEAN: After being delayed for over a year, we now finally have the continuation of the Durarara!! manga, with the start of the Re;Dollars arc, weird punctuation and all.

There’s also a 3rd ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department, a 7th Akame Ga Kill! ZERO, a 3rd Angels of Death, a 6th Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl (so a double dose of Canno next week), and the 2nd Laid-Back Camp.

ASH: ACCA may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.

ANNA: I still need to read the first volume, for some reason I have not been in an ACCA frame of mind. Glad it is being translated!

SEAN: Bare your soul! What manga are you buying?

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 6

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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.

Arifureta is taken from a web novel, which the author and publisher then rewrite, add to, and extend in order to make the published light novel version. As such, it seems a bit ridiculous to suggest that the author was told by the editor to move things along as they need to cut to the chase. But that’s what seems to be happening here, as several plot threads wrap up so fast that you expect some other hand behind it all. Aiko was rescued so quickly that I actually was worried that a chapter had been skipped, and the resolution of who is the traitor among Hajime’s fellow students also seemed to happen very fast (though if you looked at the cover and said “who the heck is that?”, you might have had an inkling). Other than that, this is a typical volume of Arifureta – over the top fighting, the occasional really good character introspection, and turning very bad when the author tries to be funny – something he shares with other light novel authors I could name.

The strengths of the book are quite obvious. The author likes to write overpowered fights, and is good at it. Seeing Yue and Shea team up to fight a horde of demons was fun, especially as absolutely nothing seemed to faze them. This contrasts with Hajime’s fight with an Angels sent to kill him, which goes very badly for him, mostly as he’s trying to fight while also holding Aiko. Once that problem is solved, things proceed to go Hajime’s way a lot more. Aiko is once again probably the best character in the book, as she’s forced to use her powers in order to completely wipe out the church bishops and priests (yes, her farming powers – it makes sense in context) and feels hideous amounts of guilt and shame for murdering people. The aftermath of this, and Hajime’s response to her, is beautiful, and makes the entire book worthwhile.

Some other parts don’t make the book worthwhile, sadly. As I said before, the pacing of this volume seems incredibly rushed, and a lot of it felt like the author wanted to clear the decks so he could start on the second half of the series (I think we’re about halfway through it right now). Our villain, once she gets revealed, gets to fall straight into the yandere stereotype, and is far duller than I’d hoped based on past manipulations. I’ve no doubt we’ll see her again, but I doubt she’ll have any more significant successes. And I hated absolutely everything about the scene with the okama muscle guys, which is grotesque negative stereotype central. Hajime’s harem stays the same size here, though he is aware Aiko loves him, and the narrative is aware that it’s only a matter of time for Shizuku. Oh yes, and Kaori’s now got an Angel body after being murdered by her insane classmate, meaning she gets to be as ludicrously overpowered as the others – which is what she’s always wanted, to be fair.

Arifureta is always going to have that air of “I am getting back at the bullies who tormented me in school” to it, and the villains this time round make that comparison more painfully apt than usual. Still, it’s fun mostly, provided the author isn’t being humorous, and should definitely please ongoing fans.

Devilman: The Classic Collection, Vol. 1

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By Go Nagai. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson and Adrienne Beck.

Devilman was one of those series that I always knew about but never got around to reading, mostly as the one spoiler that everyone knows is… well, a spoiler, but let’s just say that this sort of series is usually a bit too dark for me. But this is a really nice release, in a deluze, 700-page hardcover, and it’s the original manga from 1972, so I couldn’t really resist. And for the most part, I’m very happy to have read this series. The first 450 pages of Devilman are absolutely riveting – the storytelling is old-fashioned, but you quickly lose yourself in the world of Akira, Ryo and Miki, as well as the grotesquely bizarre demons that are attempting to retake the world and will kill every human in order to do it. It’s incredibly violent, and there’s lots of nudity, but it’s a trip. That said, I was… a lot less enthusiastic as the manga carried on.

The book can essentially be divided into three parts. The first part, about 450 pages, was clearly written as a limited series, and is very big on action sequences, fast page turning and grotesque horror. Akira is a nice, somewhat meek sort of guy who is going to school with Miki, who clearly likes him but would also like him to get a bit more manly. (She’s something of a delinquent, carrying knives in her skirt, though she tries to act the “girly girl” in front of Akira.) Enter Ryo, Akira’s best friend, who has a dark secret he needs to tell him… about demons. This dark secret leads them through a tragic family horror, ancient demons who have returned, naked hippie orgies (yes, really), and a whole lot of demons trying to kill them. The only way to save the world is for Akira to become Devilman… and hope that his innate goodness is enough to keep back the demon within him. As I said before, this entire section reads fantastically.

We then get much shorter chapters, as the series clearly has now been picked up as a regular ongoing one and Go Nagai has to come up with new stuff. The first two chapters are pretty good in a dark, horrific way, both dealing with the brutal murder of young children, and serve to show off that Devilman is a grim, bloody world where no one is safe. (Note this ran in a magazine for 12-17 year old boys.) And then we come to the final five stories in the book, aka “Akira and Ryo time-travel through history and find demons trying to pervert humanity’s destiny.” First of all, “Oh, Akira can travel through time” made me shake my head. Secondly, demons trying to crush humanity is fine, but I am not really a fan of “demons are behind history’s worst moments” stories. The chapter with a young Adolf Hitler, in particular, reaches a low that I’d call “godawful”. This was not a good direction for the series to go in.

[I have been informed by Zack Davisson that this collection is actually from several different variants of the Devilman manga, and that the ‘time travel’ chapters are from Shin Devilman, a 1979 sequel. This would help explain why they feel so out of place.]

That said, over half this volume is still a fantastic read and a good look into the twisted mind of Go Nagai. It’s not for everyone (there really is a LOT of bloody violence and nudity), but if you love classic manga you’ll want this in your collection, though I’d advise putting a bookmark at page 530 and saying “stop here”.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 9

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

After a couple of volumes that were deeper and more complicated than usual, we’re back to business as usual at Strike the Blood, Inc. That means we get a new girl for Kojou to save, lots of cool battles that do a tremendous amount of property damage, a number of blatant flirting attempts that Kojou completely misses because this simply isn’t one of whose kind of harem titles, and lots of jealous rages that allows Kojou to get snubbed for “humorous” effect, although as always Mikumo’s attempts at being funny are funny only in a 90s anime “hey, what if the girl is a tsundere!” sort of way. And yes, you know things are back to normal when Yukina says her catchphrase, though it’s slightly less of a proclamation than usual. That said, this is, as always, a solid, average volume of Strike the Blood, and those who’ve been following along will be pleased by it – while also grumbling that Yukina is on the cover again, no doubt.

The girl being saved this time around, is Yume, who seems to be a standard “child who’s lost her parents” at first but ends up being a succubus. Fortunately, given that Yume looks to be about 12, she doesn’t do any seducing herself, but instead slips into the minds of the girls and brings out their inner desires. Unfortunately, the fact that she is about 12 means we get a lot of “lol Kojou is a lolicon” jokes, though mercifully there aren’t as many as I expected once I gleaned the plot. She’s a sympathetic character, and the way that she tries to get past her trauma reminds me a bit of Beatrice from Umineko, but unfortunately the author has too much fighting going on to really give her tragic backstory much of a look-in – a flashback to her abusive parents and classmates might have helped. The other new character here is Kiriha, who looks like she’s Yukina’s dark mirror, and I strongly suspect we haven’t seen the last of her.

Speaking of Yukina, the more we delve into her agency and the various other agencies connected to or in competition with it, the more suspicious they become. Indeed, at times it feels like Yukina is the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on. After seeing Kojou’s actual secrets in the last book, here we get someone finding out the truth about Asagi – but tellingly, it’s Sayaka, rather than Asagi herself, Kojou, or Yukina, those who would be most impacted by knowing that secret. It’s unclear if Sayaka will ever reveal this secret to anyone else, but I’m going to guess probably not. On the bright side, the action sequences are always the best part of Strike the Blood, and tehre are a lot of them this time around (to the point where, as I noted before, I felt some could have been replaced with better backstory). When your “villain” is a 4km-long sea monster, you’ve certainly hit the big time. And we get a new Beast Vassal, meaning of course more sexy vampire biting.

I feel somewhat sad that after the highs of the previous two books we’re back to business as usual with Strike the Blood. But it’s still a decent title, and reads very quickly and easily. And as always, it reads like it was meant to be animated – which it has, as there are now OAVs with this volume’s story. I’ll be back next time to see where the series goes.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/18

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Crisis Girls, Vol. 1 | By Hiroaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – If My Hero Academia is the Japanese shonen take on the standard “training superheroes” story, then Crisis Girls is the “moe for guys” version. Our superhero wannabe is Kaede, who can control zombies to help her protect the city, but is unfortunately a giant flake and something of a crybaby as well. She does have a more sensible minder, who tries to lecture her on occasional about morals and ethics. Why he wears full facial bandages and a metal face mask… is something we will no doubt find out later. There are the occasional villains who drop by, most of whom are about on Kaede’s level. This is cute-ish, but you can tell it’s not really up to much given that it’s not getting a full review from me. – Sean Gaffney

Golosseum, Vol. 1 | By Yasushi Baba | Kodansha Comics – I approached Golosseum with some amount of trepidation (honestly, that feeling hasn’t completely left after reading the first volume), but the series would seem to be an oddly addictive and pulpy ultra-violent manga. After highly-advanced technology known as “Peacemakers” have rendered most weapons obsolete, battles are fought and won through suplexes and hand-to-hand combat. It’s a premise that starts to fall apart under close scrutiny, but to be fair Golosseum really isn’t a series meant to be taken too seriously. The manga is incredibly over-the-top, its appeal originating from the absurdly extreme martial arts (and bodies) on display. Supposedly, Golosseum is also intended to be a political satire of sorts. Along with not-Hulk Hogan and not-Bruce Lee, important appearances are made by not-Hillary Clinton and not-Vladimir Putin (as well as actual-Grigori Rasputin). However, it remains to be seen how successful that particular aspect of the manga will ultimately be. – Ash Brown

New Game!, Vol. 2 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – We get to see the rest of the game release in this volume, as everyone works really hard to make sure it gets out and has been properly tested. This allows Aoba’s friend Nene to temporarily join the cast herd, and let’s her get as fleshed out as anyone is ever going to be in this genre. We also meet Umiko, who also tests the games but in general wants to tell you about her gun hobbies a lot more. As for our heroines from the first book, they’re still here, doing cute 4-koma things and doing their best today. If it sounds like I’m mocking New Game!, it’s only a bit—it really is a fun title to read and the girls are cute. But this is not exactly the most ambitious title in the world. Recommended for fans of the genre. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – It has to be said, whenever a woman in this series kicks ass, it always comes back to do them the most harm later. Here it’s Anne, who I praised in my brief for the last book, finally married to Richard but not at ALL in the way she wanted after what happens in the aftermath of book seven. And poor Isabelle just ends up dead, seemingly from a “witch,” though I’m somewhat skeptical about that. Richard, meanwhile, is at his broodiest yet, and even with a timeskip in the middle of the book seems to have shut himself off completely after the death of Henry. Of course, this assumes that Henry is actually dead. Requiem of the Rose King may be wandering off the Shakespeare track at times, but remains addictive. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Nobody ever really has a good time in this series, but that’s really true in this volume, with the possible exception of Edward, who is throwing drug-fueled orgies with his new favorite mistress, who happens to be a witch. She’s also behind the plot that brings down George and Isabella, which Richard allows to play out because George really is a threat to the House of York and his insulting behavior towards the king has not gone unnoticed. For his part, Richard is disgusted by the king, too, and makes a pact with Buckingham to start working towards taking the crown for himself. Meanwhile, he’s cold as hell to Anne and claims his soul died when he had to kill Henry. But did he really? Twisted, but essential. – Michelle Smith

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 7 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – This is still well written, but I can’t say I’m enjoying Scum’s Wish anymore. Part of the problem is the ongoing Ecchan plotline, which goes exactly the way that I thought it would and just leaves everyone upset. No surprises, it was never going to end happily, but part of me sort of hoped Ecchan’s sexuality might be gone into a bit more. As for Akane, this volume delves into her past and why she’s acting the way she does, which essentially amounts to a combination of “I’m really good at it” and “I’m empty inside.” Unfortunately, the idea that the reader is rooting for her to end up with Narumi is ludicrous at this stage. The layout, plotting and dialogue of Scum’s Wish is superb. I’ll finish it, but I wish I liked it more. – Sean Gaffney

A Strange & Mystifying Story, Vol. 3 | By Tsuta Suzuki | SuBLime – This was a reread for me, but it’s been quite a few years. I had forgotten how utterly lovely and charming the romance is between forty-something museum director Minamiura and the unfriendly-seeming-but-unexpectedly-honest twenty-something Hatoki. Hatoki is captivated by Minamiura’s easygoing air, and I love that eventually Minamiura grows tired of waiting for Hatoki to do something about it that (in the brief bonus store) he eventually pounces on him. I wish the whole series were about these two, in fact. The second half of the novel is about Minamiura’s former stepson and the guardian beast who was expecting a girl to be his bride, and it’s fine, but I hope we don’t go back towards supernatural smuttiness of the first two volumes. Still, I’m looking forward to volume four finally being available in English! – Michelle Smith

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 5 | By Taiki Kawakami | Kodansha Comics – I will readily admit that I have been enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime far more than I ever thought I would. There have been a few missteps here and there, but overall the series has been a highly-entertaining read that plays around with well-established tropes of the fantasy and isekai genres. This volume focuses on the conclusion of Rimuru’s fight against the Orc Lord and the immediate aftermath of the battle. Despite Rimuru being so incredibly superpowered, the showdown was still an engaging one because the potential for failure remained. Rimuru himself may be able to survive just about anything, but that outcome isn’t guaranteed for his allies. More and more monsters have joined forces with Rimuru over the course of the series–goblins, ogres, lizardmen–at this point it seems like he’s being setup to become something of a saviour figure. – Ash Brown

To-Love-Ru, Vols. 7-8 | By Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki | Seven Seas – To-Love-Ru is a title that by its very nature is always skirting around the edge of being bad. So when you get a subpar volume like this, it’s hard not to sigh and try to flip ahead a bit. We see investigating haunted houses, trapped on a deserted island, and more of the tsun-heavy prefect, which means that Rito gets the crap beaten out of him even more than usual. Why does he get the crap beaten out of him, you ask? Because To-Love-Ru is for teenage boys, and thus the girls are frequently naked and he is always falling into their boobs. It’s never a good sign when you’re longing for the subtlety of Love Hina. To-Love-Ru gives its readers what they want, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want it anymore. – Sean Gaffney