Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 31

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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.

To the displeasure of a majority of Western fans, Nagi Sanzenin is the lead heroine in the Hayate the Combat Butler manga. And given that its hero is basically perfection in a butler costume, it makes sense that a large part of the plot development would involve forging Nagi to grow up and develop as a character. But Kenjiro Hata, the creator, knows two things: first of all, that he has to drag this out as long as possible so that the series can still run, and secondly, that people who have Nagi’s basic flaws and issues don’t change easily at all, and constantly fall back on the easy, the lazy, and the quickest way out. And, at the climax of the manga competition, that’s exactly what we see. Nagi is intelligent and can get things done, and her idea for SELLING is excellent, even though it objectifies Maria. But the point was CREATING, and there, Nagi fails. Again.

It’s telling that Nagi’s rival is Ruka, who is similar to her in many ways. They both have a thing that they are naturally excellent at, but all too easily fall into fannish habits: playing games, watching anime, and (in Nagi’s case) sleeping. But Ruka is seen here to buckle down and take Hina’s good advice, and her doujinshi (which Hata reproduces at the end of the volume) is short and cute. More importantly, it makes sense and attracts the reader’s eye, which nothing Nagi has ever created has done. Nagi does make a profit, but only after she gives in and allows Maria’s sexy candid photobook to be sold separately without her manga, which people are throwing in the garbage. (Maria has been reduced to a comedic character who gets humiliated for a while now, but this volume may take the cake.) The arc ends with Nagi saying next time we’ll do better, but… we’ve heard her say that before.

It’s very frustrating, and very true to life. That said, I suspect readers of Hayate the Combat Butler don’t really want true to life. Perhaps the new girl who is introduced near the end might help, but we know nothing about her. As for the other heroines in the book, mostly they stand to the side. Hina does a good jjob helping Ruka (and offers Izumi the same “hardcore” help later on, but Izumi’s drive to succeed is even lazier than Nagi’s). The other real subplot here is Wataru finally manning up and telling Isumi that he… loved her, as he seemingly is able to let go of his one-sided crush and move on. I’m not sure how I feel about Wataru and Saki as a couple, but you get the sense that the only thing preventing it from happening is the 20 volumes we have to go before the end.)

Hayate the Combat Butler is still funny, and enjoyable provided you don’t take the harem too seriously. I do not know of a single Hayate fan who does not take the harem too seriously, though, and that’s the rub. Still recommended for Hayate fans, though. You read the scans, now support the official release.

Outbreak Company, Vol. 2

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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.

Sometimes when you’re reading a novel, particularly if it’s a series, you find that it’s not paced exactly the way you want it to be. You’d really like the author to focus on the hints he dropped at the end of the last book, and he eventually does and it pays off quite nicely. But he’s content to wait around to do that, and instead meanders through various other plots that you don’t care about so much. Of course, the entire point of Outbreak Company is the enmeshing of the two plots, so you can’t say I shouldn’t have seen it coming. For all that I’m in this for the political intrigue and drama, Outbreak Company is about a man introducing a fantasy world to the wonders of otaku life. Manga, light novels, games… and the fandom wars that ensue when you have a bunch of people arguing about manga, light novels, and games. It’s certainly working out pretty well. In fact, it might be working out a bit TOO well, as Kanou realizes with a growing horror.

We do get a new character introduced in this book, a very bad spy who also turns out to be a very good artist. Elvia is a beast-girl, much to Kanou’s delight, and again what is thought in their own world to be a trait that inspires prejudice and hatred is looked on by our resident otaku as simply really cute. Throughout this book, Kanou is seen winning over everyone simply by virtue of being nice and not having pre-existing biases. He doesn’t look down on elves, dwarves, lizardmen, or beastgirls. The one flaw he has he shares with the rest of the Japanese forces, which is that he assumes that just because this country is based on “fantasy medieval kingdom” rules they’re a bunch of rubes. Instead, it’s Japan that ends up getting handed their asses, even when they try to threaten Kanou with the safety of his family near the end. These are not the brightest bulbs.

The main cast is excellent. Kanou may be an otaku, but his reasoning is very logical and thought out, and his solution to how to avoid having Japan simply steamroll over everyone is quite clever. Myucel is sweet and kind and helps Kanou when he’s at his lowest ebb, and also packs a mean magic punch. We get a bit more depth to Petralka, seeing why she’s so driven to succeed as the ruler and why her fuse is so short. She also gets possibly my favorite moment in the book, just by speaking a single sentence in Japanese. If there’s one drawback, it’s that, given this is written in Kanou’s first-person POV, Minori comes up a bit short. The author is at his most comfortable writing her as a BL fangirl – when he has to write her as a member of the JSDF, it works less well, and I wish we had a bit more of her own thoughts and feelings on this situation.

These are pretty short books – the anime dispensed with this one in a mere two episodes – but I think that works to their benefit, as otherwise I worry that the series would get bogged down in shout-outs to other anime and manga series and otaku trivia (which I understand the anime does). If you’re looking for a light, breezy read with more depth than you’d expect from its premise, Outbreak Company is a very good choice.

Pick of the Week: Return to Neverland

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MICHELLE: I will definitely be picking up the tenth Yona of the Dawn, and Takane & Hana is intriguing too, but having been positively stunned by the awesome that is Promised Neverland, I must pick the second volume of that series. I literally made an entry on my calendar to remind me.

SEAN: I honestly am torn. I enjoyed Takane & Hana so much – it’s exactly the sort of manga I love. But The Promised Neverland was so good last time and feels like the more IMPORTANT manga out this week. Really, get both. Don’t try to choose. (It helps that they’re nothing alike.)

KATE: I vote for volume two of The Promised Neverland. ‘Nuff said!

ASH: Like everyone else so far, the next volume of The Promised Neverland is certainly high on my list. However, I’m pretty excited to read the psychological thriller Perfect Blue, too. Even if it wasn’t the basis of Satoshi Kon’s striking film, the novel sounds like it should be something right up my alley.

MJ: Since I am the big loser who hasn’t actually read the first volume of The Promised Neverland, I will go ahead and indulge my interest in Takane & Hana, which has lured me in with a combination of its source magazine and its spunky-looking heroine. Shoujo, I am in your corner this week!

ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume The Promised Neverland and I’m intrigued by Takane & Hana, but the title that thrills my heart is Yona of the Dawn . It just keeps getting better and better, and at 10 volumes in has built up an extended cast of characters that I’m rooting for.

Bookshelf Briefs 2/5/18

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The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 9 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – And so, The Full-Time Wife Escapist comes to a close. It’s a little disappointing that Mikuri and Hiramasa spend most of their time fine-tuning their living arrangements (divvying up chores, etc.) and not rejoicing in their love for each other, but they do get some nice moments near the end. I was way more interested in the Yuri/Kazami pairing anyway, and this finale did not leave me hanging in that regard (although I’d like to kick Kazami’s audaciously meddling coworker Igarashi to another planet). Even Numata gets a boyfriend, though it’s not quite “pair the spares,” since Mikuri’s friend remains single. She’s the one who speaks what I reckon might be the theme of the series: “There are all sorts of directions you can go in life, huh?” Indeed. This series has been a very enjoyable demonstration of that fact. – Michelle Smith

Giant Killing, Vol. 10 | By Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – For the first time in three years, East Tokyo United has made it through the Japan Cup qualifier league. They face a challenge in their next regular match, though, since Murakoshi and Gino are sidelined (for reasons of penalty and injury, respectively) in the game against a team with a lot of talented young players. Tatsumi decides to field many of the older veterans in the match, but temporarily awards the captain’s armband to Tsubaki to help him build confidence. It’s your typical exciting soccer stuff, really, though I appreciate meeting another coach who cares a lot about seeing his players grow and Tatsumi’s curry party with the fans was nice, too. I’m starting to get a sense for more of the players on the team, and they’re starting to buy into Tatsumi’s vision. Perfectly executed sports manga! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 20 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – Here I am once again, trying to fill up a Bookshelf Brief with words that are more than “Well, that sure is volleyball” while also trying to convey that I am genuinely enjoying this series. We go from the fourth to the fifth set here, and it’s starting to take its toll on both teams, who are becoming rather exhausted. There’s more injuries to deal with too, as Tsukishima, already having achieved his character development, seems to break a pinky. But the most interesting part to me was the breaking of the “back and forth” scoring, as Karasuno runs up a big lead and then sees it vanish and they end up in a big hole. Haikyu!! makes volleyball seem exciting and I hope makes young kids want to play it. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 3 | By Rin Mikimoto | Kodansha Comics – Still having fun, and I’d call this series ‘solid’ now. As the back cover makes clear, the faces continue to be a comedic highlight—the top of page sixteen is probably not as filthy as I thought it was, but it made me chuckle regardless. Much of this volume is devoted to a narcissistic member of Kaede’s old idol group, and his desire to seduce Hinana just so that he can rub it in Kaede’s face. This goes about as well as you’d expect, which is to say not at all. No, if there’s an upcoming serious danger, it may be more on the career front. I like how this manga is quite sexy without going into the sometimes sordid side that you see in some shoujo titles. Definitely a keeper by now. – Sean Gaffney

orange: future | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – This sixth volume of orange features Suwa as the protagonist. The first part gives an accelerated version of his point-of-view of the original story and culminates in a “ten years in the future” moment that the future selves get to see in a shared dream. The rest of the volume shows how the future originally played out after Kakeru’s death, and how Suwa wooed Naho with some of the things Kakeru had said he wanted to do with her (thus using him and feeling like a scumbag for it) but managing to win her heart by being himself. It’s sweet, and though theirs is a different sort of love, it doesn’t feel unearned. I was happy that Takano-sensei has recaptured the same magical feeling; no need to worry that reading this will spoil your orange experience. – Michelle Smith

Red Colored Elegy | By Seiichi Hayashi | Drawn & Quarterly – Several volumes of Hayashi’s avant-garde manga have now been released in English, but the first and perhaps most immediately accessible was Red Colored Elegy, an influential work from the early 1970s which originally graced the pages of the alternative manga magazine Garo. The book has since gone out of print, but happily Red Colored Elegy will soon be re-released in a new edition accompanied by an extensive and incredibly illuminating essay by comics scholar Ryan Holmberg outlining the context and legacy of Hayashi and his manga. Red Colored Elegy is a stylistic and moody love story following the lives of Ichiro and Sachiko, two struggling young artists working in the animation industry, and the tumultuous relationship between them. It’s been a few years since I first encountered the manga, but even after multiple readings it remains a tremendous and beautifully crafted work with striking visuals and an emotionally resonant core. – Ash Brown

SP Baby, Vol. 2 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – The author implies in the afterword that this series ended at only two volumes because of her pregnancy and subsequent childbirth, but honestly I suspect it wouldn’t have had a long life regardless. There was one section of the book I genuinely really liked, which had Tamaki reliving her traumatic past after an attempt of Kagetora’s life, which felt real and earned. Unfortunately, this is followed by such a manufactured climax that I had trouble realizing what actually happened before it was already resolved. At least we did have her realize she’s much rather kick ass as a bodyguard than stand around being a housewife. Still, in the end this is a bit of a damp squib. – Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 41 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Still lots of fights, still very little food preparation, though they at least attempt to discuss how to prepare god. Sadly, I fear that in the end Toriko is far more influenced by battle manga than I’d like, and I miss the series’ early charm. Also, Komatsu is almost entirely absent from this book, and it shows. This despite the fact that we get what seems like every single cast member since volume one showing up to help in the final fight. (Tommyrod? Really?) If you like shounen GAR, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into here, with lots of “you fool, you underestimated me.” “No, you underestimated ME!” going on. As for me, still counting down to the end of this series that’s worn out its welcome. – Sean Gaffney

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, Vol. 1

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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 digitally by Seven Seas. Translated by Diana Taylor. Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

A lot of the transported/reincarnated to another world titles tend to follow the same series of events. If reincarnated, there’s sometimes a talk with and apology from God. Then the hero shows up at the standard vaguely medieval town, starts fighting fantasy monsters, and slowly amasses a group of young women around him. Oh, and is also ludicrously powerful. With this particular series, the hero is a heroine, but for the most part the exact same thing happens. The former Misato, killed rescuing a girl from being hit by a truck, is allowed by God to reincarnate in a fantasy world with magic and monsters and the like. That said, in her former life in modern Japan she was a talented, gifted girl good at anything… except making friends. And so she begs God to just make her an average girl in this new world. Hilariously, God has a ridiculously literal take on the word ‘average’. But that’s OK, as the heroine is just as ridiculous.

For the most part this story is a comedy, and the source of the comedy is Misato, who in this new world is first named Adele, and later takes on the name Mile. As she wanders through this new world like a bull in a china shop, you realize that even if God HAD made her an ordinary human she’d still have managed to stand out regardless. What she finds is that she’s average, not compared to the typical human, but average against everything in the world, including elder dragons. As such, she has super strength, super magic powers, and super reflexes. This horrifies her, and she spends most of the book trying desperately not to stand out. She is incredibly bad at this, to a ridiculous degree. Fortunately, she is a bit better at actually making friends this time around, first at the Academy for Slightly Lesser Nobles she is sent to, and then later on at the Hunter Academy when the series reboots itself.

The big flaw in the series, of course, is that it was originally a webnovel, and feels like it. As I said, about a third of the way through the book the author clearly decides that they have a better idea of what to do with their heroine, and so Misato/Adele ends up in a new country with a new name and at a new academy, but the situations she’s in are much the same – she even gets three other friends who seem wary/annoyed with her at first but quickly warm up to her after realizing that she’s less of a snooty genius and more of a hot mess. The reader may wonder why the first section wasn’t simply excised in editing. Once things do settle down, though, we get a number of fun, entertaining and funny scenes. Mile and her friends form a nice cohesive unit, and I like how she tries to teach them how to be more powerful by working the magical system this world has while also telling them it’s SUPER SECRET. And, of course, we see her being ridiculously overpowered, which is so ridiculous it turns out to be contagious.

The book tends to meander a bit, and anyone who gets annoyed by “OP heroes” should steer well clear. That said, I found reading this book an absolute hoot, and it was also nice to see a standard “other world” series where the focus is on a girl and her friendships and not possible romantic interests. The print book ships in June, and given that the second book is slated for August, I’m hoping we can read it digitally earlier than that. Also, what with this series, Walking My Second Path in Life, the upcoming I’ve Killed Slimes for 300 Years, and (sort of) So I’m a Spider, So What?, we’re finally getting a decent number of light novel heroines who are women. About time.

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 23

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By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by JN Productions.

Last time I reviewed Oresama teacher I thought that it might be wrapping up in 2-3 volumes. Well, perhaps I was being a bit hasty. The cover art has all the feel of a “Next stage!” sort of deal, and indeed we now begin the new year with a new bunch of first years and Mafuyu getting to be a sempai. The rest of the volume is also content to roll out new subplots, as we get not one but TWO new villains to contend with. That said, it is starting to feel a little overextended, especially given how monstrous this cast has become, and especially because, despite graduating last volume and moving on to college, Miyabi and Okegawa both end up coming back to help the Public Morals Club out. Which is probably for the best, because Mafuyu and company are finding themselves in over their heads, and Takaomi is not around to save them.

The main villain, as it turns out, is the next wave of Hanabusas. Miyabi’s sister Toko has surprised everyone by not going to school in Tokyo to be near him, but instead enrolling at Mafuyu’s school to… well, cause trouble, it seems. She’s not there to help her father, or so she says, but she’s certainly doing a good job of it anyway. That says, she does bring up a good point regarding why Miyabi went there, as he’s graduated with all the people he was trying to protect still there. Now, I suspect Miyabi feels that they’re strong enough to carry on without him, but they’re already going through withdrawal pangs. That said, Miyabi feels a lot like Momochi, there to be a potentially bad villain who will be converted by the power of Mafuyu’s shininess.

The other villain is less obvious, but I have a feeling will be a lot more trouble. Mafuyu and Hayasaka are rather surprised at first that Takaomi is NOT their homeroom teacher for their third year. In fact, he’s teaching the first years, including Toko… at first. Instead, the new third year homeroom teacher is Mr. Maki, who is seemingly nice but airheaded… but his airheadedness is actually destroying the public morals club twenty times faster than actually standing against it would do. With new attacks both direct and indirect, Mafuyu and Hayasaka have things looking bad for them right away.

Of course, it’s not all drama – this is still a series written by Izumi Tsubaki. There’s loads of laughs here to be found, particularly once you realize what actually happened to Takaomi. We also get Hayasaka’s unfortunate summer break, Yui once again breaking out the world’s worst ninja skills, and (as always) the entire conversation between Mafuyu and Okegawa. But there’s a lot more serious here than usual, the most we’ve seen since Hayasaka’s brainwashing, and I have a feeling that when Vol. 24 rolls around things are going to get worse before they get better. That said, for fans of Oresama Teacher this is still an essential volume.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 5

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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.

There is something of a cliche about light novel fans, many of whom are teenage boys and young men, that when a new light novel is announced and the plot summary appears, the first questions asked by said fans is whether there is sex in the series. (Actually, they tend to say “snusnu’, which is a Futurama reference, for added nerd appeal.) I mentioned on Twitter the other day that if I saw one more fan asking about whether a light novel has snusnu, I was going to flip tables. It therefore amused me greatly that a great deal of the plot of this fifth light novel in the Realist Hero series involves the fact that he hasn’t yet had sex with any of his fiancees, and that it’s beginning to annoy people who want an heir. This being Realist Hero, of course, we get long discussions of why heirs are important, the succession order, and the pros and cons of why Souma should or should not take Liscia to bed before he feels ready. That said, fans may relax. There is sex in this. But it’s offscreen, so they may stay frustrated.

Fortunately, there’s a lot more going on in this book than just wondering when Souma and Liscia will get it on. In fact, I’d argue it’s the strongest volume to date. There are finally hints that we’re going to be getting, if not forward plot motion, at least more just than running to stand still. The religious theocracy country has sent a representative to Souma to ask him to accept their religion as his country’s own, as well as make him a Holy King. Given they’re already angry at Maria of the Empire for daring to call herself a Saint, even though that’s a nickname not of her choosing, the reader is not inclined to hold them in high esteem. That said, the author does not appear to have it in for religion in general, unlike other light novels (hi, Smartphone), and Souma’s solution as to how to avoid the Papal State while not inciting them to foment rebellion is quite clever. We also get a setup for the next volume, showing that we will be meeting the Dragon People, who (given we’re told they can take human form and mate with Knights) I suspect will be providing another fiancee for our busy king.

There’s also some ridiculousness, as we’ve seen every volume. Souma bringing children’s television to the masses is a heck of a lot of fun, combining aspect of Sesame Street with the sentai superhero shows he recalls from Japan. And he’s also trying to think of ways to improve the nation, ranging from aircraft carriers disguised as islands to turning the wyverns into aircycles (which Kaede and Hal are in charge of, in case you were wondering about the cover). And of course the “bridal training” mentioned earlier, which is being handled by Excel Walter (you do remember Walter, right?) with the help of some truth serum spiked in Souma’s alcohol, which I was not happy with, but at least she didn’t try to bed him after that. We even have a discussion of idealism vs. realism, which I found quite amusing given that I myself sometimes tend to forget that this is not supposed to be “about an Idealist Hero”.

Essentially, a very good volume to the series. Also, feel sorry for Liscia, who even her own fiancee says is the standard, ordinary heroine. All she has going for her is her Saberface. Sad!

Takane & Hana, Vol. 1

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By Yuki Shiwusa. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions. Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

I am known for being notoriously easy to please, but it has to be said, I have a type. I have a certain kind of manga that I will automatically pick up sight unseen, and will always assume I will love unless proven otherwise. That type is shoujo manga from Hakusensha’s Hana to Yume magazine. From Skip Beat! and Oresama Teacher back through Fruits Basket and the complete works of Banri Hidaka all the way back to Here Is Greenwood, Hana to Yume is almost always a win for me. So I was prepared for Takane & Hana to please me. And yet I admit to surprise. It surpassed my expectations. What’s more, it surpassed them on the inside cover page. When you can win over a reader before the table of contents, you’re doing something right. Best of all, it kept my attention and kept me laughing and grinning the rest of the volume.

Hana is a cute high school girl with the misfortune to be the younger sister to a girl that is absolutely gorgeous. Her father also works as a corporate guy for a rich conglomerate, and the head of said conglomerate wants his grandson to marry – and thinks that Hana’s sister is pretty and would be just the thing. Unfortunately, the sister blows the whole thing off, so (as the grandfather is getting on and they may as well) they disguise Hana as her sister and try to have the marriage meeting anyway. It is, predictably, a disaster. The grandson, Takane, is arrogant, grumpy, and insensitive, and Hana blows up and storms out. Except… Hana blowing up intrigued Takane, and now he’s taken an interest in her. What follows is their hilarious semi-courtship, involving Takane’s social ineptness and sneering visage, and Hana’s razor-sharp tongue.

I cannot begin to count the things that this series does that are right in my strike zone. Even the cover has her pulling on his tie – I love shots like that. Hana is a down-to-earth girl with a line in retorts, and realizes right away that this is a war to see who can be the most in control. At the start she’s winning over him hands down, as underneath the arrogant persona Takane is awkward and doesn’t really know many social cues – and also is seemingly a genuinely good businessman, something that impresses her. As the volume goes on we see Takane get his own back a bit as Hana has to realize that yes indeed, she may have feelings for him after all. This is all conveyed through some excellent art, particularly the faces – Takane’s one-sided sneer, which is how Hana can tell he’s genuinely happy. Hana’s various reactions to the dumb things that he does. Hell, even when she points at him in an accusatory way at one point, her finger has a little mini-Hana face on it. The art fits the story, which is to say it’s hilarious but also can be romantic when it wants to be.

Essentially, if you are me, this is essential reading. Thankfully, most of you are not me, but even so I highly recommend Takane & Hana. I haven’t been this excited about a shoujo title in some time.

Manga the Week of 2/7/18

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SEAN: The shortest month of the year does not mean there’s less manga. There’s as much manga as ever. If not more.

Bookwalker apparently snuck out a 2nd volume of loli-shogi light novel The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done! this week, so if you hit that demographic, go and get it.

J-Novel Club has a 9th volume of Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, which should be back in the present, and my guess is lighter in tome.

Kodansha’s sole print release next week is the 15th Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, which seems to be cut down to twice a year, or the “Hayate the Combat Butler” curse, as I call it.

ASH: I really enjoyed the early part of the series, but I’ll admit that I’ve fallen behind with the manga as it seemed to constantly reboot itself.

SEAN: Kodansha does have a pile of new digital as always, though. Ace of the Diamond 8, Altair: A Record of Battles 7, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 4, Magical Sempai 4, Pumpkin Scissors 18, and Yozakura Quartet 20, the last two being Del Rey rescues.

MICHELLE: I still intend to read Altair and Hozuki’s Coolheadedness one of these days. I’m definitely keen on Ace of the Diamond.

MJ: I’ve given up any thought that I’m going to make it to these digital releases. I feel like a bad person.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no manga next week, but it does have two novels, one light and one not so light. The light novel is a print edition of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest.

The other novel is Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, the novel which spawned the huge hit anime movie from the late 1990s. Like Lodoss Wars, it’s a surprise to see this licensed, but I’m not complaining.

ASH: I’m on board for this! I’m also looking forward to the release of the sequel anthology later this year, too.

It’s the first week of the month, and you know what that means. Viz blitz! Let’s break it down into Shonen and Shoujo.

On the shonen side, we have Assassination Classroom 20, Black Clover 10, Bleach’s 22nd 3-in-1, a 22nd Food Wars!, Haikyu!! 20, a 6th volume from the 3rd JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure arc, the 10th Kuroko’s Basketball 2-in-1, My Hero Academia 11 (wasn’t it supposed to be speeding up?), One Piece 85, The Promised Neverland 2, and Toriko 41. A lot of really good stuff here, but let me highlight The Promised Neverland once more, as I can’t wait for the 2nd volume.

ANNA: So much Viz! I’m also looking forward to The Promised Neverland 2.

ASH: So much great, Viz, too! The second volume of The Promised Neverland will probably be on the top of that stack for me.

MICHELLE: So much goodness!

SEAN: For shoujo, we’ve got Behind the Scenes!! 5, Oresama Teacher 23, the 2nd and final SP Baby, and a 10th Yona of the Dawn. I am torn between Oresama and Yona in terms of most excitement.

ANNA: I’m not torn, I find Yona the most exciting.

ASH: I only recently started reading Oresama Teacher, but I’m loving it. I don’t have nearly the same backlog with Yona of the Dawn, though.

MICHELLE: I’m fond of Oresama, but yeah, I’m not especially torn, either.

SEAN: They also have a shoujo debut, Takane & Hana, which is a Hana to Yume title that, warning, does involve a rich arrogant ass who’s far too immature. That said, I have heard VERY good things about this manga, and the female lead is supposed to be great also, so I am looking forward to it. Plus, Hana to Yume. My shoujo alma mater.

ANNA: Sounds great!!!!

MICHELLE: Had this run in another magazine, I’d be way more dubious about it, but the fact that it’s a Hana to Yume title inclines me to give it a chance.

MJ: I’m definitely on board with this.

SEAN: What, you thought we were done? Nope, there’s the rest of Yen’s January releases, now moved to early February. There’s a 4th Big Order omnibus, a 3rd Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash manga, a 4th volume of Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler, a 3rd No Game No Life Please! (which has had three volumes come out since the last light novel was released), a 3rd Sekirei omnibus, and a 9th Taboo Tattoo.

There’s also new releases, starting with Kemono Friends, which is also an omnibus. and I believe complete in one volume. It ran in Shonen Ace, has an anime, and seems to involve animal people?

Oh My Sweet Alien! (Yome ga Kore na Monde) is also an omnibus complete in one volume. A story about a man and his wife, except the wife is… well, you can probably guess. It ran in Enterbrain’s fellows! and Harta, which means I have high hopes for it. That said, it ended quickly as the author passed away, so there won’t be any more of it.

ASH: Oh, intriguing! This series wasn’t on my radar at all.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a 1st manga volume for The Saga of Tanya the Evil. If you can’t bring yourself to read the brick that is the Tanya light novel, this is a good alternative.

It’s cold out here. What manga are you curling up with?

Strike the Blood, Vol. 8

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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.

This does not quite hit the highs (relatively speaking) of the previous volume, mostly as the entire volume is “let’s reveal the backstory the reader has been in the dark about for so long” and not much else, but it’s still a pretty solid volume of Strike the Blood. While we’re technically carrying on from the end of the last book, most of this is Kojou (and Asagi, along for the ride for some reason) remembering the events that led to him becoming the Fourth Primogenitor, which took place just before the start of the series. There’s a lot of attempts at worldbuiding and introducing potential new antagonists, which doesn’t work quite as well as the author likes. The good news is that there were a couple of genuine surprises in this volume, which is especially impressive given that Strike the Blood is one of the most by-the-numbers light novels out there.

Despite being on the cover as always, there’s very little Yukina in this book, which makes sense given it’s predominately a flashback. (This, by the way, means we have now gone TWO WHOLE BOOKS without her catchphrase of “No, sempai, this is OUR fight!”. I feel like I’m going through withdrawal.) She and Natsuki have removed Kojou and Asagi to her dream prison space so that Kojou can recover the memories of what really happened and be controlled if that happens to drive him insane (spoiler: it doesn’t.) What we see is not particularly surprising: Kojou is a natural at empathizing with others, which is why all the girls fall for him, and that also works here for Avrova. I hate to break it to people who may roll their eyes at the appearance of another one, but Avrova is, in fact, a blond vampire girl with the body of a child. That said, while she occasionally tries to be haughty in a Shinobu Oshino sort of way, she’s really more introverted and scared. Her bonding with Kojou was the best part of this book.

I’d mentioned surprises, and it comes in the form of Veldiana, who we’d met in the prior volume as a somewhat harried colleague of Kojou’s father. (Speaking of which, both Kojou’s parents appear quite a bit in this book, and while they are admittedly trying their best to save Nagisa’s life, it doesn’t change the fact that they are terrible, terrible parents.) Veldiana is played, in the first half of the book, as something of a comic relief character, and we assume that this is going to be her role in the book. But no, she’s here to teach a darker lesson about what happens when you let revenge consume you, and (leaving the epilogue aside, which I wasn’t too fond of) it works very well. There are also one or two scenes that are not surprises, but the way that they work out with precision timing is also well handled – watch for Kojou bribing the enemy with ice cream.

Strike the Blood is never going to rise to the level of the top light novels being released over here. But it has at least risen to the level where I don’t feel the need to make fun of it or wonder if it’s written by a Light Novel artificial intelligence. As always, the fights are well written and make you want to see them animated. It’s a decent volume in what has become a decent series.

Juana and the Dragonewts’ Seven Kingdoms, Vol. 1

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By Kiyohisa Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ryuu no Nanakuni to Minashigo no Juana” by Mag Garden, serialized in the online magazine Alterna pixiv. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Adrienne Beck. Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

The immediate gimmick of this series, one that’s not uncommon in fantasy but which I haven’t seen too much in manga, is that of a foundling story. The world we’re in is populated mostly by dragonewts, including the hero on the cover, who seems to spend his days scavenging the immediate area for old relics of the previous long-dead civilization, the Muernandes (or “humans”, as we would call them). He finds an egg, and inside is Juana, which is very odd. She comes out of the egg looking about six years old and speaking Spanish, which is even odder. Nid, the dragonewt who found her, is determined to see if there are others like her, so sets off on a journey to the northern lands where they might find a bit more evidence. That is, of course, if they can get past Nid’s naivete, Juana’s tendency to run off when she’s curious, and very dapper villains.

While Nid is not much of a mentor, being the equivalent of a young adult himself, this series feels very much in the mold of other gentle Seven Seas fantasies like The Ancient Magus’ Bride and The Girl from the Other Side. The worldbuilding is done by showing, not telling, which I always approve of, and while Nid has a tendency to be ostracized (again for the meat-eating thing, which I found quite fascinating – a reminder that this is indeed a dragonewt world with dragonewt prejudices) he does have one or two allies… or at least boisterous loudmouths. As for Juana, she spends the entire book speaking untranslated Spanish, which means (unless you also speak Spanish, which I admittedly do not) that the reader is as much at a loss as Nid as to what she’s saying. That said, she’s pretty good at making her needs known anyway. And at least even I know what “Me gusta!” means.

There are, honestly, a LOT of mysteries still to discover here. We need to know more about this world, which is so different from ours and yet has many similarities i9n terms of the types of people in it. The cliffhanger reminds us that there are still bad guys floating around, though with a top hat and cane it has to be said that the bad guys look fabulous. And of course, everything about Juana is simply odd, though she’s fairly unconcerned herself. In addition to the mysteries, though, I’d argue the main reason to read this is it’s simply pretty well written. There’s elements of comedy, involving the large and boisterous dragonewt who makes Juana her clothing for their long journey (a spacesuit – it’s much hotter on the planet now). There’s elements of sadness, such as running across a dying old dragonewt in the middle of the forest, and realizing that there’s not much they can do except listen to his story. And there’s honest to god terror at the end, as Mr. Smith shows his true intentions and Nid appears to be headed towards a rapid death.

Juana is only two volumes and counting in Japan, so we’ll catch up pretty quickly, but I’m definitely on board. Another well-crafted and likeable fantasy manga is always welcome.

Bookshelf Briefs 1/30/18

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Frau Faust, Vol. 3 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – I see we’re doubling down on the “religion of EVIL” here, even if the priest is seen to regret what he’s done. It’s no surprise that a series called Frau Faust would have a plot revolving around… well, Faustian bargains, and as we see here, it doesn’t end well. That said, we do meet some new cast members, who show that some people are a little better than others when it comes to resisting the call of the demon. I like Sarah, and hope bad things don’t happen to her. Certainly I have more hope for her than I do for Johanna. The series is still just finding its feet, but I’m greatly enjoying each volume, and I recommend it especially for fans of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. – Sean Gaffney

Frau Faust, Vol. 3 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – I love that Johanna deals with the priest’s daughter-turned-monster with both compassion and certainty and, I might add, not before assigning Marion the task of discreetly making off with Mephisto’s leg while Lorenzo is distracted. We see more of the priest’s fate than I expected and got some ominous hints about what the church is up to. Then it’s off to the town where Johanna went to university. Her former roommate Sarah is a great character! At first it just seems she’s there to mend Nico, but then you realize that she’s got a fascinating backstory of her own, and fills Marion in on Johanna’s college years. This series is seriously so well crafted. I am already bummed there are only two more volumes. – Michelle Smith

Golden Time, Vol. 9 | By Yuyuko Takemiya and Umechazuke | Seven Seas – This feels like it wrapped up far too fast, though I’m pretty sure the novels were about the same. I think it needed an extra chapter of “epilogue,” especially after all the horrible emotional trauma going on here. Banri’s issues with amnesia are not just wacky amnesia that you see in other manga, he’s dealing with two different sets of memories and selves, and the one we’ve come to know and love is on the losing end. It’s no surprise that Kouko can’t take it and tries to pull back to where SHE began the series. It all ends OK, though, and I’m happy I read the manga—but I suspect this series is one I’d enjoy more as a light novel. Maybe if Toradora! sells well… – Sean Gaffney

My Boyfriend in Orange, Vol. 2 | By Non Tamashima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Shoujo manga has its share of series in which the heroine repeatedly requires rescue, but the first volume of My Boyfriend in Orange made it seem as if such rescues were the whole point, and it was quite tiresome indeed. This second volume is a little better, though that might be damning it with faint praise. Moe Sasaki has recently lost her father, and so she’s drawn to handsome firefighter Kyosuke Ebihara because he makes her feel safe. This is the kind of story where, when Moe’s little brother suddenly goes missing at a cookout, there’s absolutely no suspense because it’s a foregone conclusion that Ebihara will save the day (and that Moe will do something dumb like fall in a river). Likewise, the male classmate we meet is going to have feelings for her. The result isn’t horrible, just exceedingly bland. – Michelle Smith

My Neighbor Seki, Vol. 10 | By Takuma Morishige | Vertical Comics – Bad news for Seki fans, as the series is going on hiatus after this volume—not only here, but in Japan as well, as the author admits he’s taking a break as it’s hard to think up new things for Seki to do that are unique and fun. You do sort of see his point, as when the purpose of your series is seeing which Rube Goldberg device Seki has come up with today, there’s a desire to keep topping yourself. My favorites were Seki testing video games, the school cultural festival, and Seki’s cardboard fort being so hard to figure out Yokoi gets stuck under his desk trying to do so. Yokoi may not think of Seki as a friend, as the epilogue shows us, but everyone else can see what’s really going on between them. – Sean Gaffney

SP Baby, Vol. 2 | By Maki Enjoji | VIZ Media – SP Baby (the SP stands for “security police”) is a two-volume josei series from the creator of Happy Marriage?! and, I must admit, it’s pretty ridiculous. Tamaki Hasegawa has been hired as a bodyguard to Kagetora Sugou (the prime minister’s handsome nephew) and is trying to adhere to a professional working relationship, but he keeps dressing her in skimpy miniskirts and kissing her (while he is engaged to someone else). But we’re supposed to root for them because she has past trauma about being unable to save her little sister from drowning, whereas Kagetora is someone she has been able to save . It’s all very flimsy and the resolution is swift, complete with a “Tamaki takes out armed attackers with the power of kicks” finale. Sometimes, a brief, light story like this might hit the spot, but I just wasn’t feeling it this time. – Michelle Smith

To-Love-Ru, Vols. 3-4 | By Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki | Seven Seas – To-Love-Ru is a series for teenage boys that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump (at least at this point), and it certainly knows exactly what teenage boys want—if you took all the fanservice in Nisekoi, you might get about two pages of the fanservice in To-Love-Ru. In some ways I feel that the fanservice *is* the plot. As for the supposed actual plot, again I feel that the authors wanted to rewrite Urusei Yatsura but couldn’t get permission from Rumiko Takahashi. Nothing here is necessarily terrible, and the main cast is nice enough, but again every single beat of this is terribly predictable, except perhaps that Lala and Haruna really like each other. If you’ve never read a single harem series, To-Love-Ru is for you. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Predictable Yet Welcome

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SEAN: Some interesting stuff out this week, both in manga and light novels. I will be predictable, though, in choosing the first Baccano! manga. I read this when it came out as chapters digitally, and am greatly looking forward to seeing it in print. Plus, content that wasn’t in the novels!

MICHELLE: I will be predictable by expressing my anticipation for another installment of Giant Killing, but I’m awarding my official pick to the ninth and final Full-Time Wife Escapist. I’ve enjoyed this series very much!

KATE: I second Sean’s pick of Baccano!, since I am obsessed with the flashback scenes in The Godfather Part II and will watch or read anything that reminds me of them. I realize that Baccano! is even MORE over the top than anything Mario Puzo ever wrote, but I think that’s actually a good thing. It’s an offer I can’t refuse!

ASH: With the promise of a little bit of yuri, a little bit of boys’ love, and a whole lot of complicated relationships, the debut of Nameless Asterism is the release I’m most curious about this week!

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 4

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

I think I have to come to terms with the fact that the pacing of this series is going to be glacial at best. Much as I have been clamoring for a bit less isekai and a bit more real world in my light novels, I’m pretty sure that other slice of life books must have plots that move faster than the main one in OreGairu. That said, the author is clearly settling in for the long haul, and I’m not sure if I’m just used to him or if he was less appalling, but Hachiman was not nearly as punchable this time around. He’s still a cynic and misanthrope of the worst order, but his analysis of group dynamics, once unpacked from his own mindset, is very clever and not entirely wrong. He works best when paired off with Yukino, who is very similar to him though I think they’d both rather not admit that. As for Yui… I want to give her a hug and send her to a different series.

Despite Komachi starring on the cover, she’s more of a supporting character this time around. The premise, which is actually quite a good one, is that over summer break the teacher gets the Service Club and its auxiliaries, as well as the Cool Kids group, to help supervise an elementary school camping trip. While they’re there, they notice, as often happens with a class of students, that one girl is being shunned by all the others. Hachiman sees her attempts to power through it and be cool and uncaring as Yukino; Yukino sees her desire to be one of the gang but awkward failures as Yui; Yui just sees a sad young girl she wants to help. That said, the attempts to try to fix the group dynamics are somewhat terrible, and it’s only after Hachiman comes up with a clever but incredibly cruel plan that things are even vaguely helped. And even then you aren’t sure if it did any good.

We get a bit more development of Hayama and his group here, and see he has a past with Yukino that I think makes him a bit jealous of Hachiman. And yes, Saika is here as well and we get endless accounts of how attracted to him Hachiman is, which I’ve come to accept is simply never going to go away. But as always, the best reasons to read the book are the prose, particularly Hachiman’s twisted narration, which can be utterly hilarious, brutally on point, or just plain pathetic – sometimes all three at once. In particular, his strange desire to tell stories of his incredibly pathetic childhood, with only the occasional “this happened to someone else” attempt at a cover up, borders on the needy. But it’s what makes this series compulsively readable, and it’s another good, solid volume for this series. That said, the only major plot development happens on the last two pages. Perhaps that bodes well for the next book.

Made in Abyss, Vol. 1

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By Akihito Tsukushi. Released in Japan by Takeshobo, serialized in the online magazine Manga Life Win +. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Beni Axia Conrad. Adapted by Jake Jung.

The idea of doing serious and sometimes dark and deadly plotlines with adorably cute characters is not new to manga – in fact, one might argue it’s been around since manga first began. The last few years, though, particularly since the advent of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, we’ve seen a number of series that deliberately want the dissonance to be part of the point, showing us young happy people and then having very bad things happen to them. In general in some prior reviews I’ve tended to be more annoyed at the plotline than the art style; I tend to like happy endings, as people know, and don’t like characters put through the ringer just for the sake of being mean. Fortunately, Made in Abyss is not that series. You can tell there’s a lot of care put into the basic concept of the world, and the darkness of the first volume is balanced out by the cheerfulness of the heroine.

We are in a fantasy world that exists on the edge of a giant pit, wherein are treasures beyond compare but which is also super lethal, especially as you get further down. Our heroine is Riko, who delves to the shallowest depths of the pit with her fellow orphan children in order to be trained to be an actual adventurer and go deeper. She’s an orphan as both of her parents went into the pit and haven’t returned… that is, until the city gets a message from Riko’s mother. Most of the city chooses to treat this as confirmation of her death, since she was clearly in the “if you go to this level you will die” area. Riko, though, takes it as a sign that she needs to disregard the slow, filled-with-rules training and go down the pit to find her mother, accompanied by Reg, an amnesiac robot boy who wants to find out who he really is. The volume ends with their illegal descent.

Riko and Reg are the best reason to read the series. Riko is a great heroine, being impulsive and bratty but without tipping over into obnoxious, and she’s balanced well by the thoughtful, withdrawn Reg. You sense that her descent is clearly a bad idea and I have no doubt things will get much worse, but she’s the heroine and I want to root for her anyway. Also, the concept of the pit and the levels therein is quite well drawn, being overly complex without requiring the reader to actually remember all of it. If there’s one big drawback, it’s that this time around I *am* more annoyed at the art style than the plotline. I think the series might have worked better for me if the cast looked a bit more realistic and a bit less, well, Madoka Magica. It does not help that the artist at one point as a gag shows us Riko naked and strung up as “punishment” for rule breaking; it’s not as explicit as I feared, but please, do not show naked children in your fantasy adventures, PLEASE. Especially for the lulz.

Despite that, I will be trying another volume of this, mostly as I am very curious to see what happens next, and I hope Riko succeeds.