Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Walking My Second Path in Life, Vol. 2

by

By Otaku de Neet and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Futatsume no Jinsei wo Aruku!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

Towards the end of the second volume of this series, there’s a scene where Fie, our heroine, realizes that she’s sort of been coasting along from day to day as a squire without giving much thought to her future or what her goals are. I’m not entirely sure that the author meant it to apply to the series as a whole as well, but it’s a somewhat apt comparison. This second volume of Second Path feels at times like a short story anthology based around the main story, and is content to meander along as such. We still have never met Fie’s sister, and while Fie reveals who she really is to someone else in this book, it doesn’t really change much for her on the larger scale. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a fun series to read, and I enjoy the antics of Fie/Heath. I just get the sense that the author had a great idea for a series but has absolutely no endgame in mind.

There are two major events in this second volume, the larger of which is a competition between Fie’s dorm and the students of the Eastern dorm, their biggest rivals. There are a few characters introduced who seem to be something of a stock type – the arrogant jerk who belittles everyone, the stoic analytic guy, etc. This does serve to give us a bit more character development for a few of Fie’s fellow knights – in fact, Fie’s own battle is the odd anticlimax to the whole thing, mostly as she can’t win through normal means, so resorts to “the letter of the law, not the spirit” to achieve a sort of Pyrrhic victory. It’s thoroughly in character, but reminds you that whether she’s a princess or a knight, Fie is a giant brat.

The other major part of this book is inserting a romance into it. There’s the king, of course, who flits in and out of the book disguised as the Knight Commander, and who will no doubt become an issue once he and Fie realize who the other one is. But sensibly, the author writes the romance using the most developed character besides Fie; Queen, the socially awkward young man who went from “pet” to “friend” over the course of time. Queen’s always had something of a crush on Fie, and in this second book that expands greatly to full-blown attraction. This leads to the funniest scene in the book, which I really don’t want to spoil but is both hilarious and painfully embarrassing, especially if you’re a guy. That said, Fie is not entirely sure if she feels that way about Queen, and after taking advice that dating will be good “life experience” for her, she and Queen hooking up seems a bit less impactful than it could be.

Walking My Second Path in Life feels like walking along a long, meandering path with great scenery. You enjoy the view. Then you look up after 45 minutes and realize you have no idea where the heck you are. Fortunately, we’ve caught up with Japan now, so we’ll let the author try to figure it out while Fie flits along from day to day.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 6

by

By Tappei Nagatsuki and Shinichirou Otsuka. Released iJapan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Borque.

Last time I said that I finally realized why so many fans love Rem. After this volume, I can say that I now know why those Rem fans dislike Emilia, though to be fair it’s not really her fault. In fact, Emilia’s barely in this book once more. But yes, Subaru and Rem’s scene in the last quarter of the book is astonishing, some of the best and most emotional writing we’ve seen in the entire series, and Subaru’s response to Rem is simply stomping on the face of shippers. I suspect a lot of people would have preferred Rem and Subaru’s fantasy where they live a normal life in the fantasy equivalent of Japan (indeed, I think the author wrote that as a side story). But Subaru remains true – eventually, after much teeth-grinding – to Emilia, who he wants to save and support. And so Rem will support him. It’s extremely heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. It also makes the first 3/4 of the book pale in comparison.

Each of the “arcs” in Re: Zero has been longer than the previous one. The first was one book, the second was two. This one is SIX, meaning we’re only halfway through it. As a result, the time we’ve had to spend watching Subaru be frustrating has increased, which does not make me happy. In the previous “loop”, he spent most of the time being broken, in the loop in this book, he spends most of it being furious, burning with the desire to get revenge on Petelgeuse, to the point where at times he completely forgets about Emilia. Furious Subaru does not inspire confidence, and when he tries to ally himself with Crusch, with Priscilla, or with Anastasia, he is rebuffed one by one. Only Rem is in his corner, but then she’s also willing to sacrifice her own life so that he might live on. Hell, even when in the deepest despair, he’s still misjudging people horribly, almost bringing Beatrice to tears when he begs her to kill him because he thinks that she’s a stoic girl who doesn’t like him.

Fortunately, we may have finally, FINALLY turned the corner, as Subaru restarts again, and after that fantastic scene with Rem, actually bothers to try thinking this time. And when Subaru actually does this, he’s quite clever, using the knowledge from his prior arcs to bargain with Crusch, as he knows something that actually is useful: the habits of the White Whale. I suspect that battle will take up much of the 7th book. There’s also a 2nd EX side story out next month dealing with Wilhelm, so I would not be surprised if he played a major role in what’s to come. In the meantime, the best part of this volume of Re: Zero is that it turns the corner, and I will greatly be looking forward to not seeing Subaru be quite as Subaru going forward. (Feel free to laugh at me if I am wrong.) Also, yeah, Rem is indeed pretty awesome, I freely admit it, though I worry her devotion to Subaru is going to get her in even more trouble as we go forward.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/12/18

by , and Leave a Comment

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 8 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – I have to say, if the artist is trying to get Chise and Elias to be a romantic couple, as the title might imply, she’s doing a horrible job of it. That said, I’m pretty sure that’s not what she’s doing, and the second half of this volume certainly shows that in terms of understanding humanity and Chise’s own wishes, Elias fails dismally. Chise spends most of this volume dealing with the aftermath of the previous one, including her new arm. But it’s hard not to have the story overwhelmed by the final couple of chapters, as Chise decides it’s for the best to break with Elias—at least for now. This remains intensely addicting, though I’m not entirely certain it will have a happy ending. – Sean Gaffney

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 3 | By Spica Aoki | Seven Seas – Captured by Eva and with the threat of having her odiferous humanity revealed to the whole school, Nina insists she’s not like other humans. Roy intervenes, challenging her to prove it and claiming he’ll kill her himself if he’s not convinced. Initially, what follows is one of those “this is so stupidly impulsive” moments in which Nina climbs a cliff in the rain to get roses for Poe to paint with, but it turns into a pretty terrific scene with Eva in which Nina sacrifices herself for Eva’s sake and leaves the latter with no target for her anger. Plus, Roy now admits she’s not their enemy. In fact, the enemy seems to be the creepy student council president, who drugs Nina for this volume’s cliffhanger. Still way better than you’d expect. – Michelle Smith

Bloom Into You, Vol. 4 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – It’s summer vacation and the student council has a training camp to rehearse for their upcoming play. Before the camp, though, Yuu has time to really miss Nanami (who is trying to keep her distance lest Yuu get tired of her) and is a little jealous at the closeness Nanami and Sayaka share at the camp. As ever, though, Nanami and her sister complex is the most interesting thing about the series. Here, she learns from her sister’s former classmate that the idealized version she held of her sister was far from the truth. In fact, she’s probably surpassed her already in so far as being a good president is concerned. But who is she supposed to be now? Clearly not herself, because her self-loathing is very strong. I look forward to seeing whether Yuu can succeed in helping Nanami to change. – Michelle Smith

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 2 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – The main plot of Cardcaptor Sakura, besides the usual acquiring of new cards, is that Eriol and Syaoran are keeping a secret from Sakura, presumably either for her own good or so that she isn’t sad. This is intensely frustrating for the reader, who knows it will backfire in the worst way. Thankfully, the rest of the volume is exactly what you want from this series: light cute fluffyness, lots of card-capturing action, cute costumes and Tomoyo’s reactions to said costumes, and the occasional bout of silly humor. Still, the “secret” being kept from Sakura not only makes the reader edgy but makes it harder to enjoy this manga to its fullest. I hope she finds out what it is soon. (Also, please don’t let it be a crossover with Tsubasa.) – Sean Gaffney

Fukushima Devil Fish | By Katsumata Susumu | Breakdown Press – It’s been almost a decade since the award-winning Red Snow, Susumu’s first volume of manga to be translated into English, was released. Now there is a second–Fukushima Devil Fish, a terrific collection of nine of Susumu’s short manga accompanied by four essays written by Susumu himself, Abe Yukihiro, and the volume’s editor Asakawa Mitsuhiro, which provide additional context. The manga were all originally released between 1969 and 1989, most of them in the influential alternative manga magazine Garo. The stories generally fall into three categories. The first two are anti-nuclear manga using the now infamous Fukushima nuclear power plant as a setting. (They are very interesting to compare to Kazuto Tatsuta’s Ichi-F.) Kappa and tanuki feature prominently in the next four folklore-inspired tales while the final three incorporate semi-autobiographical elements. It’s a bit of a variety, but there’s a beautifully expressed sense of loneliness and melancholy that is frequently found throughout. – Ash Brown

Haikyu!!, Vol. 21 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – The game finally ends in this volume, in suitably dramatic fashion. Hate to spoil it, but our heroes win. The win takes up the majority of the volume, though, and is filled with back-and-forth, showing off the exhaustion and stubbornness of both teams, as well as giving a lesson in “short people can too be good at volleyball.” Actually, the exhaustion leapt out at me—this volume does a great job of showing how physically grueling this match was, and how deeply, deeply tired everyone is at the end of it. And so now we wait to see who Karasuno will be playing—Nekoma are their “rival” team, but there’s ominous foreshadowing showing that it’s not going to be them. I suspect the team with the smuggest bastards wins. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 13 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – When a series is about a heroine’s love of 2-D anime heroes over actual guys, and she ends up paired up with a guy, there’s going to be conflict. And given this is primarily a comedy, it takes a LOT to get it through Kae’s head that Mutsumi is her REAL boyfriend and Shion is a fictional character. (The resolution to this dilemma, I note, is so perfectly in character it hurts.) Naturally, there’s a bitter mastermind behind this. Unlike a lot of “you think I’m gay but I’m not” male shoujo rivals, Yashiro actually *is* gay, and the manga does its best not to make that a stereotype. He’s certainly a jerk, though. The series ends in the next volume, and I think it’s the right place to end it. Keep reading this if you’ve already been doing so. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 3 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – There’s a bit less silly humor in this volume, mostly as we’re still trying to figure out what kind of Queen Fumi is going to turn out to be. The ideal is apparently the White Queen, but frankly, all options seem to involve a certain sacrifice of self that I suspect Kyutaro is not going to appreciate—though Fumi already has a big swathe of amnesia to deal with. Fumi is a cute, hyperactive and likeable heroine, but she only really seems to come alive when the “Black Queen” in her comes out. The Black Queen needs to be killed, but is that really the best answer? As with Dengeki Daisy, the author’s previous series, each volume of Queen’s Quality makes me want to learn more about the world it inhabits. – Sean Gaffney

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 6 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – First of all, my reaction to the male option that will prevent Ecchan from having to be a genuine lesbian is basically “BLEAH.” (I may be wrong, but I suspect I’m not—also he’s an asshole, which isn’t helping.) The core of this book involves Mugi and Hanabi both promising to break things off with their crushes so that they can finally move on. This proves far more successful in one case than it does in the other, but it does remind you that if you have a situation in Scum’s Wish and you don’t know which way it will go, the seediest route is always the correct option. I’m still reading this, but I admit it’s feeling less like a guilty pleasure and more like an endurance contest. How much more screwed up will this get? – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 40 By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – After such a long wait, it’s kind of a bummer to get only a transitional volume of Skip Beat!. By no means is it bad, as it includes Kyoko realizing that, for some reason, Ren left her off his list of White Day gift recipients (I hope this leads to some kind of confession soon!), and also acquiring Yashiro as her manager. She’s devoting herself to securing the part of a ninja in a period drama where she can work alongside Moko, but just as the auditions are about to begin, she’s culled, seemingly for failing to prepare for the role by dyeing her hair black. I can only assume that she’ll knock ’em dead in the next volume, but having to wait until September to see that makes me pout. Oh, well. #firstworldproblems – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Different Sides

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: My pick this week, despite my whining and groaning, goes to the 12th and final volume of Genshiken: Second Season. I’m afraid to say that my reason for this is entirely selfish. It’s because MY SHIP WINS! HAH! (cough) Or, in other words, the harem plot is finally satisfactorily resolved. I will miss complaining about it.

KATE: Predictably, my pick for the week is the fourth installment of The Girl from the Other Side, but I’ll need a chaser for that one — words like “moody” and “harrowing” come to mind when describing it — so I’ll throw a copy of Sorry for My Familiar in the basket, too.

ANNA: There’s not a lot coming out this week that appeals to me, but The Girl From the Other Side is so unique and surreal, it would likely be my pick during a week with many of my favorite series being released.

MICHELLE: I’m with Kate and Anna on this one! For my chaser, I’ll go with Blue Morning, as I love BL with a complex storyline.

ASH: Oh, that sounds like a great plan, Michelle! The Girl from the Other Side is absolutely marvelous and is without a question my pick. I definitely look forward to getting my hands on Blue Morning, too, though. I don’t read quite as much BL as I once did, but the series is very high on my list, BL or not.

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 1

by

By Maybe. Released in Japan as “Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari” by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Big Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Read the title, Sean, I should have said to myself. Note the plural. And yet I still felt a little sucker-punched when we got to the plot “twist” in question, mostly as I was quite enjoying the first volume of this action romance. The lead is likeable and not a perv, the heroine really seems to have fallen for him (and thus wants to avoid getting him in danger), there’s cool monster fights. Heck, even the prince that she’s “supposed” to marry, who all previous fantasy series would tell you would be an obnoxious SOB, turns out to be quite nice and helpful to our heroes, glad to see that they have a passionate and true love. So yes, when it comes out at the end that he’s got to marry four other princesses, I was a bit grumpy. Polyamory has become a common trope in the last couple of years, particularly in isekai novels, but I’d like it to have a better setup than this, and usually it works best when all the heroines are OK with it.

But before the ending of the volume, we get a pretty good story. Satou is introduced to Hime as a child when she and her guardian arrive from a portal of light. That said, he’s mostly forgotten about this, and she’s become his cheerful, buxom childhood friend that he has a crush on but is too afraid of ruining their friendship to do anything about. Unfortunately, after spending a lovely festival day with him, she’s giving off “I am never going to see you again” vibes that he picks up on just in time. He rushes after her into a fantasy world where she’s a princess (the name may have given it away), about to be wed to a handsome prince. But the wedding is promptly crashes by a monster, as apparently the princess hanging out in our world was to prevent her being killed. Only a hero using her wedding ring power can help them… and she finally admits Satou is that hero, as she’s in love with him. What follows is a lot of monster battles combined with blushey romantic tropes.

The author is known for ecchi stuff, so I was surprised that this first volume kept it relatively tame. Oh sure, Hime’s got a voluptuous body, as the cover art clearly indicates. But the fanservice is mostly confined to one or two scenes and the ‘chapter art’ pages. Satou and Hime are also both nice kids who clearly are in love with each other but don’t quite now how to handle it now that they’ve admitted it. A scene near the end where they try to have a wedding night – then admit they aren’t ready to go that far yet – is really well done. My only objection is that I worry as we add more princesses that the serviced will increase… especially as Hime has admitted she doesn’t really want the multiple wives. She wants Satou and he wants her. I want that too. That said, there was wenough here I enjoyed to make me want to pick up a second volume to see what happens next.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 7

by

By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

This s another volume of Isekai Smartphone, with all that that entails; the work is almost review-proof, as no one would be reading Vol. 7 of this series without knowing exactly what it’s like. The main cast continues to have the depth of tissue, but I think depth might actually hurt the series more than it helps. No one wants to see Touya angst and brood about what he is becoming. Is he god? Is he man? Who cares? He can build the Great Wall of China, or its fantasy equivalent, in six days. (One presumes that on the seventh day, he rested.) He can also tell us about his little known piano lesson backstory, which allows him to build a piano (grand, of course) so that he can bring out Sakura’s hidden singing talent. No one reads Smartphone to see Touya be dull. Well, I mean, he is fundamentally dull, but you know what I mean. He doesn’t do dull things. Smartphone is rarely boring in that respect.

There’s one new character, but for the most part what we get in this book are characters we briefly saw previously returning for a more expanded role, starting with Hilde, the knight that Touya saved in the previous book. She’s since fallen head over heels for him, and upon hearing of his more recent exploits (more on that later) goes to see if she can be his knight… and his bride. Of course, then she meets Yae, who is also a fantastic swordswoman and already married to Touya, and realizes that there’s no way she can be anything but a carbon copy. (She gets her “shy tomboy” personality more from Elze.) Fortunately, who Touya loves is not really his own decision, mostly as he’s so kind and easygoing to everyone. And so his “Bride Council” decide that she’s acceptable. And so she’s bride #7. Two more slots! That said, Pam, the Amazon woman also from a previous book, will not be getting into the harem. She doesn’t love Touya, the one big requirement. She just wants his babies.

We also get the Goddess of Love, who has come down from heaven supposedly to look for an errant God, but mostly to mess with Touya’s love life. She declares that she’s his older sister Karen, and the rest of the cast, who Touya still hasn’t told anything about his past, accept it relatively easily. She’s the classic “slightly immature big sister” type, happily dishing out advice (some of which is actually good!) and also dishing dirt, as she’s fully aware of Touya’s life on Earth before he was killed. We also get his *other* older sister, the Goddess of Swords, who we hadn’t met before but who seems to fit in quite well. She’s great at tactics and combat analysis, but less so at other socialization. As for Touya himself, it’s brought up that he’s becoming a God himself, something he tries not to think about too much. Given the occasional flashes of rage he gets whenever someone hurts one of his fiancees, I’d be worried if I weren’t sure the author was absolutely not going to go there.

As for the plot, the book is essentially divided into three. The first part deals with a massive invasion by the Phrase, far bigger than anything we’d seen before. Fortunately, Touya now has a bunch of Gundams that he can use in the battles, and a large quantity of people trained to use them. He also has Ende, who leaps into his own Gundam clone faster than you can say Kaworu Nagisa. Ende may not do much other than exposit and run, but I’m still amused by him. That said, the Phrase are essentially just bugs, as Touya himself says. We need a more obvious villain, because what’s Smartphone without the bad guys being OVER THE TOP EEEEEEEVIL! And so we get the Nation of Yulong, which is a stand-in for a Nation here on Earth that should be obvious. The word “bashing” applies liberally here, as the Yulong Nation prove to be scummy in every possible way. The rest of the book is more sedate, as the second part is Hilde’s Bride Introduction, and the third has a tournament arc, as Touya won’t sire Pam’s children but will help her tribe win a competition.

The plot may be getting away from the author a bit – we met no new Gynoids and got no new parts of Babylon in this book, and Leen was totally absent as well. Still, it’s enough Smartphone to tide us over for now. The series is ridiculously plastic and shallow, but I honestly love it just for those very qualities. It’s the light novel equivalent of eating a bag of Skittles.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 1

by

By Aka Akasaka. Released in Japan as “Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai〜Tensei-tachi no Renai Zunō-sen〜” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Young Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Emi Louie-Nishikawa. Adapted by Annette Roman.

If you have ever stared at a couple on stage, screen, or the page and screamed “Oh my God, just kiss already!”, then this is the manga for you. In fact, one could argue that’s the entire premise. The literal title of the series is “Kaguya-sama Wants to Be Confessed To: The Geniuses’ War between Love and Brains”. That’s quite a mouthful, you can see why it got condensed. It runs in Weekly Young Jump, a magazine usually known (at least over here) for more “upscale” series such as Real, Golden Kamuy, and Tokyo Ghoul. This got branded with the Shonen Jump titles, though, and it’s a good decision, as at heart this is a high school comedy, and would not be out of place among the Nisekois and Sket Dances of the world. As for why you should read it? Well, it’s really entertaining and funny. Reason enough for anyone.

Our heroine is Kaguya Shinomiya, a rich heiress who is also vice president of the student council at Shuchiin Academy. Our hero is Miyuki Shirogane, who’s not rich but who’s at the academy due to his intelligence. He’s the President. Together, they are both seemingly perfect… and you know what that means in a comedy manga. Yup, they’re both perfect messes. The entire school already thinks they’re a couple. They aren’t, but that’s entirely due to pride – we find in the first chapter that both consider “whoever confesses first is the loser” to be the order of the day. As a result, the manga, at least in this early volume, amounts to a series of pranks, as both Kaguya and Miyuki attempt to be the one to force the other to confess their love… at which point, of course, they will accept with a smirk on their face. (Indeed, Miyuki imagining Kaguya’s sneering victory smirk as she towers over him gives us some of the funniest images of the book.)

It helps that, even though they’re both prideful as hell, these are both nice kids at heart. Kaguya is the very definition of a sheltered princess, and even things like going to the movies baffle her. Miyuki is seemingly a bit more together, but his paranoid imaginings about what Kaguya’s real plan is trip him up constantly (it doesn’t help that half the time his paranoia is justified.) The only other regular in this first book is Chika, who is nice and seemingly completely oblivious to the affection war between Kaguya and Miyuki. I like her, particularly as I suspect even if she knew about it she’d act exactly the same. She’s Kaguya’s childhood friend, though Kaguya is so poker-faced and bad at socialization that you’d never know it, as the author admits.

The author states that it’s not guaranteed that the two of them will get together in the end, which I think is ridiculous, but it’s certainly guaranteed they won’t be getting together anytime soon, as this series is eight volumes and counting in Japan. Still, I’m certainly happy to keep reading about these two perfect dorks and their battle to one-up each other, and I’m hoping that we get a few heartwarming moments along the way. For now, though, the comedy is the reason to get this.

Nekomonogatari: Cat Tale (White)

by

By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Ko Ransom.

This is the first volume of the Monogatari Series not to be narrated from the POV of Koyomi Araragi, and it makes a difference, although not as much as you might expect. Tsubasa Hanekawa is our narrator, and therefore the narrative is every bit as analytical and over-verbose as ever (given the actual author of the works, this is likely unavoidable). But there’s a certain sleaziness we’ve gotten used to with Araragi that is mostly absent here, despite Senjogahara’s best efforts to keep it around. We also get to see Hanekawa come to some critical realizations about herself. If Tsubasa Cat was about the reader seeing how messed up Hanekawa is, and Nekomonogatari Black was about Araragi seeing it, then this book is the finale, as Hanekawa has to finally realize what she’s really like and take steps to change it. And given that there’s a part of Hanekawa that wants to just sit back and let the world burn – quite literally – this is a tall order.

Despite the absence of Araragi’s narrative from the volume (indeed, Araragi himself doesn’t even show up until the climax), there are many familiar things going on here. There is a certain metatextual fourth wall breaking throughout, from Hachikuji cheerfully telling the reader that the next book will be about her (true, though also false – see the Kabukimonogatari review in 2 months) to Hanekawa noticing that there are missing chapters as the book goes on. There’s also a large amount of funny banter, mainly due to the burgeoning friendship of Hanekawa and Senjogahara. Senjogahara has become far more open since the series began, something Hanekawa herself observes, and almost takes on Araragi’s role here, flirting with Hanekawa constantly and at one point showering together with her. (One senses Nisioisin is now writing this knowing there will be an anime.) There’s also some unintentionally dark humor, such as Hanekawa blithely deciding to sleep in the abandoned cram school with cardboard boxes for bedding – her matter-of-fact narration of this is painful and hysterical.

The main thrust of the book is a new aberration, a large Tiger that is seemingly burning to the ground places Hanekawa has just slept – first the house she lives in with her “parents”, then the cram school itself. In reality, things are a bit more complicated, and it should not surprise any regular readers of the series to know that this aberration is more about Hanekawa’s repressed emotions – in this case, her envy of what it means to have a happy family. Deciding to stop pushing all of her negative emotions onto aberrations and simply deal with them instead is admirable, but it has to come at a cost, and in this case it’s finally confessing to, and getting rejected by, Araragi, which allows her to cry for possibly the first time in her entire life. This is the final volume of Hanekawa’s main story arc, and it’s a very good ending, even if she’s not leaving the main story just yet.

For anime fans, there are a lot of reasons to get this book. The uncut version of longer monologues provides greater depth of feeling – Hanekawa is allowed to outright state that her parents are abusive, and she also admits to herself that she’s fallen for Senjogahara too, but of course simply cannot get in the way of her relationship with Araragi. (OT3 fans will be both happy and sad, I expect.) And of course there is the usual good reason to get the books, which is to wallow in Nisioisin’s idiosyncratic prose, which may come from Hanekawa’s POV but is still present and correct. If you like Monogatari in general and Tsubasa Hanekawa in particular, this volume is essential.

Manga the Week of 3/14/18

by , , and 2 Comments

SEAN: Remember when the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month were smaller? (lol)

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Bookwalker has a 3rd volume of post-war baking adventures with The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

Cross Infinite World’s webnovel licenses are not normally on my radar, but I will admit to curiosity about their latest shoujo novel, Obsessions of an Otome Gamer.

Dark Horse gives us a 5th omnibus of Blade of the Immortal.

ASH: Some of the individual volumes have gone out of print and can be difficult to find, so the omnibus edition is a great way to collect the series now.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a debut next week. The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar. When the cover shows a smug Japanese teen sitting on a throne surrounded by women at his feet, you know what you’re in for.

MICHELLE: Pass.

SEAN: Kodansha Digital also has a debut next week. Starving Anonymous (Shokuryou Jinrui) is a post-apocalypse survival sort of series that runs in various Young Magazine spinoffs. It’s by the author of My Wife is Wakamatsu-san and Fort of Apocalypse. Expect it to be more like the latter.

There’s also new digital volumes for Aoba-kun’s Confessions (5), Grand Blue Dreaming (7), GTO Paradise Lost (6) (where has this been?), Kokkoku: Moment by Moment (6), Lovesick Ellie (4) and Tsuredure Children (8).

MICHELLE: I finally started Lovesick Ellie. It’s kind of refreshing to have a heroine so openly lustful.

SEAN: Print-wise, Genshiken 2nd Season finally comes to a close with its 12th volume. As a sequel it wasn’t as good as the original, but I’ll still stick around to the end.

ASH: I need to catch up with it, but there are elements in the series that I really appreciate.

SEAN: There’s also, in print, Land of the Lustrous 5, The Seven Deadly Sins 25, To Your Eternity 3, and UQ Holder 13.

ASH: Both Land of the Lustrous and To Your Eternity are beautiful and devastating works, though each in their own way.

SEAN: One Peace has a 7th volume of Kuma Miko.

Seven Seas debuts the Arifureta manga, which from what I understand is not quiet as well received as the novel, but should please those of you who prefer that format.

They also have Devilman vs. Hades 1, which seems like it might be workplace violence judging from the title.

ASH: I’m certainly curious about this Devilman and Mazinger Z spinoff!

SEAN: Lastly, there’s Sorry for My Familiar (Uchi no Tsukaima ga Sumimasen), a good! Afternoon series (so yes, Seven Seas can license Kodansha too) about a demon girl and her middle-aged man. The man is the familiar.

Seven Seas also has a 4th Girl from the Other Side (yay!) and a 13th Monster Musume (whee).

MICHELLE: Yay for Girl from the Other Side.

ASH: Girl from the Other Side remains one of my favorite series currently being released; it’s tremendous.

ANNA: I haven’t read the 3rd volume of this yet, but I am excited for another!

SEAN: SuBLime has a 7th volume of Blue Morning.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I didn’t know this was coming out. I enjoy Blue Morning.

ASH: The series is so good!

SEAN: Vertical gives us more Gundam Wing with a 5th volume.

Viz has a 3rd volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a 26th Rin-Ne, and a 2nd Splatoon.

And Yen Press gives us a 15th Barakamon and a 9th Prison School omnibus. Don’t get them mixed up.

MICHELLE: I probably say every time that I will eventually read Barakamon, but it’s still true. I even moved volume one to a different stack recently!

SEAN: So what will you be picking up?

Voices of a Distant Star

by

By Makoto Shinkai and Mizu Sahara. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Melissa Tanaka.

Of the various horrifying secrets I have, “has never seen a Makoto Shinkai anime” surely must rank among the largest. But it’s true. I’ve gradually stopped watching a lot of anime anyway, and what I do watch does not tend to fall into the introspective mode that Shinkai does so well. So, just like your name and The Garden of Words, I am coming into reading Voices of a Distant Star as someone unfamiliar with the original anime. Indeed, I never read the manga when it came out from Tokyopop back in 2006. But now I have read it and, as with most things Shinkai has been in charge of, I’m glad I did. The plot is slight, and the characters fairly easy to understand. but that’s because it’s going for a feeling that most of us know only too well, even if it’s couching it in the language of science fiction and time dilation.

We open on two middle school friends who clearly want to be more than friends. There’s just one problem. One of them has been chosen to go into space to help fight aliens, meaning they’ll be separated. But that’s OK – they have email! Unfortunately, this is a more realistic version of space travel, meaning that as time passes and the interstellar distances get longer, the communication gets leagues more difficult. Can their budding love stand the test of both time and space? Now, of course, what makes this even more interesting is that the pilot who’s been recruited is the girl, Mikako, and it’s her friend Noboru who’s staying behind on Earth, trying to live the live that she wanted to live and figure out what he wants to do next. Mikako gets a lot more to do, meeting fellow pilots, then losing them just as quickly, and also discovering the crushing loneliness that comes from a mission like this. Is this another Shinkai title with a bittersweet ending?

Well, no, it gets to be more sweet than bitter, though as you might expect the emphasis is on the ambiguity. In fact, from what I understand the manga actually made things clearer and more explicit (the manga seems to have expanded things a lot from the original anime, which was quite short). This is a one-volume manga, and it’s just the right length to let readers feel the ache of the story it’s telling without wallowing too much in it. The emotions are what we’re here for, adn they’re excellent. Noboru’s most stoic endurance cracking near the end, and Mikako’s love seemingly growing stronger the farther away from him she gets. I will admit that I wasn’t thrilled with the alien invasion subplot, which felt more like an excuse to put some action – any action – in a story that could just as easily have been about Mikako on a space exploration flight.

This is a quiet, emotionally devastating but ultimately uplifting story, and you really like the two kids even when they’re questioning themselves and their own feelings. It’s well worth the read.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 5

by

By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Liv Sommerlot.

Jealousy tends to be pervasive in the DanMachi series. Some of it stems from people being jealous of Bell’s power and the time he took to achieve it – Aiz falls into this category best. But sometimes it’s simply “I am in love with this person and have not confessed but am simply pining for them, and how DARE they look at that other person and not me?”. It’s very common, very ugly, and very realistic. That said, authors who write it into their series almost always expect readers to be amused by the antics of the jealous person, and in reality I tend to find that the reader ends up thoroughly pissed off instead. I’m not just talking about others here – Hestia’s jealousy of anyone coming near Bell is one of her biggest faults, and I don’t like the author hammering on it. The same applies to Lefiya in this side series. Unfortunately, this volume has few fights and a lot of jealousy.

Most of this 5th volume of Sword Oratoria aligns with the 5th volume of the main series, meaning we’re on the 18th Floor and having a rest. Loki’s team is coming back from their attempt on the 59th floor from the last book; Bell and company are coming down from their own disastrous mission. Aiz takes something of a backseat here, though there is some interesting discussion of her background and possible origins now that the Loki team can use Bell as a walking Wikipedia, as he’s read and memorized the most detailed and unexpurgated version of the myths and legends they all know. There’s also an amusing reminder that most of the elves we’ve dealt with in this series are not your typical sort, and that the proud, haughty elf is meant to be the norm. And of course we get the “backside” to all the DanMachi scenes from Book 5, including Hestia’s arrival (though the Loki cast leaves before the rest of that book happens.)

But most of what the reader will focus on is Lefiya’s insane jealousy of Bell, which goes up to eleven in this book and also gets them into big trouble when she chases after him in such a rage that they both get lost in the middle of the vast floor forest. These scenes are meant to show Lefiya that Bell is not the evil lothario she might expect him to be – inde3ed, like Aiz, she’s started to boggle in disbelief at how skilled he has gotten in such a short time. They also do work together well when pressured to, and Lefiya is able to forego her jealousy in a crisis. Still, I’m going to be honest, Lefiya’s obsession with Aiz is bad for her character. I thin k the author knows this, which is why she’s playing up Lefiya’s relationship with Filvis as well, which is far healthier and more grounded in mutual admiration and respect.

I think this is overall a volume with more positives than negatives, and of course there is also development of Sword Oratoria’s main plot with the Evils. If you are a Danmachi reader who dislikes “girl is jealous of other girls getting along with her crush” stories, though, be advised this volume wallows in it.

Pick of the Week: We Got the Beat

by , , , and Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: There’s a lot that I’m getting this week. Ace of the Diamond, Haikyu!!, One-Punch Man… But, honestly, this week’s pick was preordained because one of my favorite series only comes out twice a year: Skip Beat!, I choose you!

KATE: I’m suffering from a manga hangover at the moment, since last week was EPIC. Is it OK to plug Again!! and Silver Spoon a second time? ‘Cuz there’s nothing coming out this week that makes me as happy of either of those debuts.

SEAN: My pick this week goes to a title I know nothing about except really good word of mouth. There was much happiness when Kaguya-sama: Love Is War was licensed, and I am excited to see why.

ASH: Like Kate, I’m still thrilled about last week’s debuts. I’m looking forward to catching up on some ongoing series this week, though, such as Frau Faust and Haikyu!!.

ANNA: Last week was great and this week is pretty good too! Like Michelle, I’m always thrilled when there is a new Skip Beat volume, so that is my pick!

Psycome: A Murderer and the Deadly Love Affair

by

By Mizuki Mizushiro and Namanie. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The final volume of Psycome features something that previous volumes had been trying rather hard to avoid. For a series that starred a school full of teenage murderers, and innumerable theoretical murder attempts, there were very few actual murders among the cast members. That changes here, and while it’s not much of a spoiler to say that the main cast we’ve grown most familiar with are pretty safe, several of the antagonists we met in the athletic festival book meet a rather grisly end. It’s a good reminder of the basic premise of the series, something that Kyousuke and Ayaka need to accept: they are not here for the same reason as everyone else. They are not murderers. Nor is Eiri, our failed assassin, though she comes pretty close here. The rest of the students are, even Maina, whose murders may be accidental but they definitely exist. Kyousuke and Ayaka don’t belong here. And so we get the premise of this final volume, where they’re offered a battle in order to leave the school – get to the other end of the grounds while trying not to get killed.

We do finally meet Kyousuke and Ayaka’s parents in this volume. Honestly, they’re sort of exactly what I was expecting. I was more uncomfortable with the fact that they’re basically an older Kyousuke and Ayaka, only as husband and wife – Ayaka and Kyousuke’s brother/sister complexes have not been my favorite source of humor in this series, thank you very much. (Fortunately, by the end of the book, Ayaka at least seems to be moving on a bit.) Most of Kyousuke’s main “harem” is there to help him escape, even ones who seemingly are on the side of the school, like Shamaya, who is as foul-mouthed as ever. Maina’s big moment may seem a bit out of character, frankly, but it was nicely dramatic, though I wanted to see the fight itself. And then there’s Renko, who Kyousuke admits that he loves, and she loves him – but she wants to kill him, and he doesn’t love her enough that he’ll let her do this.

In the end, though, the winning girl is unsurprising, given Renko’s origins and basic personality. Eiri is a type, but it’s a good example of the type, and she’s grown up a bit in this series too – despite all of the yawning and tch-ing she does in this book, possibly a new record for her, she’s now able to admit her feelings, get her man, and also start a career as a supermodel almost without effort. Good for her. (I am less fond of the implied love between Kurumiya and Mohawk, which manages to combine about four different types of love affairs that make me uncomfortable. That said, it’s always been played for broad comedy, so even its “dramatic” ending made me laugh a bit.)

Sadly for fans who are always desperate for sex in their light novels, the book ends just before Kyousuke and Eiri consummate their love, though it’s implied. There’s also an implied observer of their covert love affair at the end, who the author admits might be Renko if readers want. Insert threesome fanfic here, I guess. There’s also a volume of short stories mentioned by the author that’s also coming out, though I suspect that may be in Japan only.

Psycome was always a surprise light novel license because it lacked other tie-ins – there’s no manga adaptation that I know of, and it never got an anime. Give the sheer amount of brutal, mostly comedic but sometimes serious violence scattered throughout the book, I can’t be surprised it stayed as a book series. But I’m pleased Yen picked it up. It grew on me book by book and I really came to enjoy the cast and their situation. The plot of this book echoes my point of view – it’s time to end it, but… it’s been really fun, hasn’t it?

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 14

by

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

It’s hard, as this series goes on, not to feel that we are headed towards a certain point of no return. Indeed, Touma’s job in this book is to try to stop the world from descending into total war, and he only just manages to keep it in check. Both sides, magic and science, are clearly cruising for a bruising, so to speak, and I’m pretty sure that eventually there’s going to be no way to stop everything blowing up. This time around the French city of Avignon is completely destroyed, and though there are attempts to try to say “oh, they’re only knocking people unconscious”, there’s clearly significant innocent casualties. This is not helped by the Roman Cathol… Orthodox Church’s mid control weapon, or the fact that Touma and Accelerator are both used here as the equivalent of nuclear weapons dropped on the enemy. Despite Touma’s best efforts, things are getting worse, not better.

Introduced in this volume: Suama Oyafune, Monaka Oyafume. Terra of the Left also makes his first proper appearance here, though of course it’s also his last. We’re into October now, 3 months after the start of the Index series. Since the last book the Railgun cast has been busy, as most of the Dream Ranker arc has happened, and Saten and Frenda have continued to bond and become good friends. This assumes that you ignore the actual text of Index 14, in which Mikoto sees Uiharu and thinks “oh, that friend of Kuroko’s I don’t know”. On the bright side, in real life, the Index and Railgun mangas have both started, meaning hopefully that continuity will start to match up with them. And don’t worry, Uiharu, I bet you get a big scene soon! We’ve also seen the first Index short story collection come out. These sadly are not licensed by Yen, which is a shame, as sometimes they tie into the plot of the main storyline more than most short story collections. More on that next time. And, most significantly, this is the first volume that has not been made into an anime.

As for this book, Index is completely absent, and it’s Itsuwa who plays the heroine, as you might have guessed from the cover. Aside from the hand towel joke, which has already gotten old (as with almost all jokes the author attempts), I quite like Itsuwa. She’s capable, cute, and clearly meant to contrast with all the girls Touma knows who get angry and hit him at the drop of a hat. When he points out her top has become see-through due to rescuing him from a river, she just blushes and rushes off to change. No surprise that she rapidly became a fan favorite, and we’ll see her back soon. Tsuchimikado is also around in this book, mostly serving as Touma’s backup and deliverer of exposition, although we’ve reached the point in the series where Touma can figure most things out on his own. The plot is, to be honest, slight. Touma is sent to stop a magical maguffin that is causing Roman Orthodox believers to riot and want to destroy Academy City. He does, eventually. The end.

That said, there are important things going on here, not least of which is realizing that Touma’s last name, Kamijou, may be a lot more significant than we had previously expected. Touma’s right hand power, Imagine Breaker, is clearly a giant mystery still, and he hasn’t harnessed most of its power. Terra fo the Left implies that he knew more about it before the memory loss, but I’m not really sure that’s the case. More importantly, thanks to accidentally leaving his cell phone on during a battle, Mikoto also now knows about his memory loss – but not WHEN it happened. Given that she’s been worried lately that he’s been ignoring her, I suspect she thinks he may have forgotten the Sisters arc.

In any case, it looks as if Acqua of the Back, who has proven to be the most reasonable of the antagonists du jour, is up next. Before that, however, we’ll flip back to the Science side, which is having its own chaotic power struggles. Index fans will enjoy this one, although I suspect most of them are looking towards the next volume…

Manga the Week of 3/7/18

by , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: We continue to bring you Manga the Week of, despite the danger of last-minute announcements from Kodansha, despite the near-constant release date shifts from Yen Press. We are here for you, the reader.

Dark Horse has the 4th volume of that Psycho Pass prequel, Inspector Shinya Kogami.

Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of Yokai Girls, which considering its genre I found better than expected.

It’s a J-Novel Club release bonanza next week. We get a 5th Arifureta, a 7th In Another World with My Smartphone, a 5th Infinite Dendrogram, and a 10th Invaders of the Rokujouma?!. Something for everyone.

Kodansha has some print novels next week. They’ve got a 2nd hardcover of their re-release of Battle Angel Alita in a Deluxe Edition. (No, she’s still not Gally. Why confuse readers now?) and a 4th volume of Frau Faust.

MICHELLE: Yay, Frau Faust!

ASH: Indeed! I know a lot of people who are very excited about the deluxe edition of Battle Angel Alita, too.

SEAN: There’s also ongoing digital series, with Ace of the Diamond 9, All-Rounder Meguru 6, Black Panther and Sweet 16 7, Drifting Dragons 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 19.

MICHELLE: I do so love Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us 3rd volumes of more interesting than I expected Beasts of Abigaile, and less interesting than I expected Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (this may be the final volume of the latter).

Vertical has a 10th Devils’ Line.

And the rest is Viz, I’d normally say, but we do have some Yen holdouts at the end. For Viz, though, there’s lots of fun stuff.

On the shonen front, we have Astra: Lost in Space 2, Bleach 72, Boruto 3, Haikyu!! 21, Hunter x Hunter 34 (yes, it still exists), One Piece’s 23rd 3-in-1, One-Punch Man 13, And Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V 3, which is still a very awkward title.

MICHELLE: I’ve missed One-Punch Man.

ASH: I’m probably most excited for more One-Punch Man and Haikyu!!.

ANNA: Haikyu!! is a favorite in my household, and I need to get caught up on One-Punch Man.

SEAN: Seinen debuts! Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen) is a Weekly Young Jump comedy/drama about two student council members who have fallen for each other but are determined NOT to be the first to admit it. I am looking forward to this one a lot.

Ongoing shoujo series include Anonymous Noise 7, Bloody Mary 10 (another final volume, I believe), The Demon Prince of Momochi House 11, Queen’s Quality 3, and Skip Beat! 40. (Is Skip Beat North America’s longest shoujo manga by now?)

MICHELLE: Yes, it has surpassed Boys Over Flowers, which had 37.

ASH: Lots of great shoujo coming out next week! I have some catching up to do.

ANNA: Very excited for shoujo!!!!

SEAN: Shoujo debuts! The Young Master’s Revenge (Kimi no Koto nado Zettai ni) is a LaLa series by Meca Tanaka, author of Meteor Prince and the “whoops, schoolteacher romance, can’t license this” series Faster Than a Kiss. A young man had a childhood where he was run ragged by his childhood friend. He’s now back to take revenge on her… but are things still the same?

MICHELLE: And a couple of older series like Omukae desu. and Pearl Pink. I haven’t read those yet, but I did enjoy Meteor Prince.

ANNA: I have Pearl Pink stockpiled somewhere in my house, but haven’t read it yet. Am looking forward to this series.

SEAN: We also have some Yen runoff from February… in fact, we’ll be having that all month. BTOOOM! is up to Vol. 20. Sigh. Dimension W is at 9, there’s a 7th Today’s Cerberus, and a 12th Trinity Seven.

Yen’s debut next week is Tales of Wedding Rings, which has already been running digitally on Crunchyroll. It appears to be a standard high school romance, but isn’t. Think fantasy with lots of fanservice. It runs in Big Gangan, so falls under seinen.

March is coming in like a lion! (though alas, March Comes in Like a Lion remains unlicensed). What are you getting?