Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Anime NYC, Day One

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It’s Anime NYC weekend! I’m here to cover everything for you – at least, everything I can get to. We’re starting early, though, as I’m typing this before the con begins. That’s because Seven Seas, which is not allowed to leave California due to some agreement with a lich, I believe, has announced a giant pile of titles every day this week, including some absolute stunners.

We start with Dragon, Ie wo Kau (Dragon Goes House Hunting), which sounds absolutely hilarious based on title alone. It’s a Mag Garden title that runs in Comic Blade, and a fairly recent series. As for the premise, well, I’d hate to spoil…

Do you like sports manga? Have you been thinking “I like sports manga, but there’s not enough fanservice? Where are my girls in swimsuits”? In that case, we have Harukana Receive, a beach volleyball manga that takes place in Okinawa. It runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward, and has 4 volumes to date.

I greatly enjoyed My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness when it came out earlier this year, and so am delighted to hear Seven Seas has licensed the sequel, My Solo Exchange Diary, which only comes out in Japan next month. Judging by the title, it promises to be as emotionally compelling as the previous book (exchange diaries by definition requiring another person).

I have often begged for licenses from Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior, one of the more overlooked seinen magazines. And, well, OK, I asked for it. Now we have Wonderland, which manages to turn Alice in Wonderland into a horror thriller sort of deal, as humanity shrinks all of a sudden and has to fight to survive. The author may be best known over here for Fighting Beauty Wulong.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom has been one of J-Novel Club’s breakaway hits, so it’s no surprise that Seven Seas will be releasing it in print. Get ready to hear about Machivelli’s The Prince a lot and ask yourself “Isn’t that Saber?”.

This should not be a surprise anymore given the number of classic titles Seven Seas has announced, but it still surprised me. Space Battleship Yamoto will be coming out as one omnibus manga! From 1974, it ran in Akita Shoten’s now defunct Bouken Ou magazine, though I believe Media Factory may have the rights now. The anime version may be better known to Western fans as old as I am as Star Blazers.

Udon still has the rights to Rose of Versailles, though it’s been significantly delayed. But Seven Seas teased us with two sort-of-related titles. The first is Versailles of the Dead, combining 18th century France with zombies. It runs in Shogakukan’s Hibana, and is from the creator of After School Charisma.

And we may not have Rose of Versailles yet, but we are getting a Ryoko Ikeda title, as we have Claudine! This single volume shoujo manga is considered a pioneer in the field of LGBT manga, meaning of course that it’s going to end unhappily for all concerned, like most pioneers of LGBT manga. Claudine ran in Shueisha’s Margaret, and will be complete in one volume.

Who wanted a combination of beloved fairy tales and survival game manga? Certainly not me, but there’s definitely a market for it, and they should be delighted with Fairy Tale Battle Royale, a Kadokawa title that runs in Gene Pixiv.

If you liked The Heiress and the Chauffeur, Seven Seas has a new shoujo series by the same author (and that also ran in LaLa from Hakusensha). The Bride and the Exorcist Knight is about a young woman who attracts demons, and the boy who rescues her… and then says they should get married. The boy’s age worries me (he’s apparently 12), but we’ll see how this is handled.

The biggest surprise so far (I may have to edit this when Friday’s titles come out) is the license of the Shin Tenchi Muyo novels. These novels expand on the past of the original OAV series, with one devoted to Aeka’s family, one to Tenchi’s grandfather, and one to Washuu. (Romanization may vary depending on when you got obsessed with Tenchi Muyo). These came out in the 1990s, and were on no one’s radar, so I was stunned. But I will absolutely pick them up.

Friday brings us the final Seven Seas titles. First we have Elf-san wa Yaserarenai (Plus-Sized Elf), a comedy manga from Comic Gum. Dieting elves seem to be the comedy du jour.

Ojojojo proves that the Dragon Maid author can still get things licensed, but at least it doesn’t seem to feature monster girls. Outcast girl meets outcast boy in this 4-volume series from Takeshobo’s Manga Life.

Lastly, there is Hanayome wa Motodanshi (The Bride was a Boy), an Asuka Shinsha title about the titular bride, who was assigned male at birth but has decided to transition, and her husband who finds out about this but falls for her anyway. It’s apparently autobiographical, and should appeal to fans of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness-style manga.

Now onto Anime NYC proper. After a bit of line wackiness (better signage was desperately needed), I got into the Exhibit Hall, grabbed a copy of Nekomonogatari Back (likely my sole purchase this weekend), and headed to the panel on Anime Fandom 15 years ago, run by Doug Wilder of Animecons.com.

It really is startling to see how far we’ve come in that time. 15 years ago, VHS was dying and DVDs were the new thing, but they were frequently high-priced and sometimes came with a box to hold the remaining volumes… which may not always have come out if sales were really poor. Streaming was being talked about, but that’s all. It was a physical media world.

There were magazines! Animerica, Protoculture Addicts, Newtype USA. Wizard magazine devoted part of its content to anime, which makes me sad as it means I have to remember Wizard magazine. You still had Toonami and Adult Swim, but ADV Films (remember them?) was starting up The Anime Network. We had the Lupin dub! Which changed so much dialogue it could have been a different series.

There were the usual gateways. Sailor Moon, etc. Gundam Wing was HUGE at the time. I noted from the audience that it was the Gundam series that attracted a lot of female viewers. Doug also discussed other robot series like G Gundam and Battler Aura Dunbine, which tried to sell itself as being similar to Gundam Wing, which… it wasn’t.

After this nostalgic trip, I toured the show floor a bit. Spoke to Mangagamer about the delays on the Higurashi re-release (their programmer is very busy with other titles, so Tsumihoroboshi may take a few more months.) Got a hot dog, because the days when I try to power through an entire day on water are long gone. Then camped for Viz, which meant seeing Funimation Favorites, which was fun. They’re excited about the Nichijou re-release.

Viz had a lot of people at its panel, though the only panelist was Charlene Ingram, their marketing director. Most of the announcements were things that had been mentioned at prior events, such as Infini-T Force and the Homestuck print omnibuses. A lot of anime clips, which the audience appreciated. The Terra Formars one was quite violent.

A big announcement was that Viz has partnered with Pluto TV, an app that allows you to watch various titles whenever you want, including Viz titles. They were also very excited about Osomatsu-san, the very popular comedy manga that sort of came out of nowhere this past year.

On the manga front, we talked about to My Hero Academia speedup starting in 2018, as well as the Vigilantes spinoff being licensed. The one new series that they announced was That Blue Sky Feeling (Sorairo Flutter), an LGBT series that runs in Square Enix’s Gangan Joker. It’s about a boy drawn to the school outcast, who may be gay but that’s not stopping our hero getting close to him. It looks quite interesting.

After the Viz panel I went to dinner with two friends at a pub on 46th street nowhere near the con, which I always recommend when you do NYC cons – the convention center is near absolutely nothing. Fish and chips were eaten, rum and coke was drank, and a good time was had by all.

Then back to the con for the One Piece 20th anniversary panel, which had a considerable line, but everyone managed to get in. (By the way, the con had about 20,000 people, which is not bad given it’s a first-year con. The panel was run by the One Piece Podcast, and the hosts were Zach and Kelly. They oddly tried to keep it a spoiler-free con, which was increasingly difficult as the panel went on.

A lot of the events going on in Japan for the anniversary were discussed. One Piece is big business there, with shops, restaurants (one restaurant is run by a guy dressed as Sanji, who flirts with the women but is hirrible to any male customers. That sounds… a bit too accurate for my taste) and the like.

There’s an exhibit at Tokyo Tower. There’s a kabuki show, though the lead actor recently got injured. One Piece is used in tons of ads – Coke, Nippon Ham, and a ludicrous ad in appalling Engrish for a pen, ending with “THIS IS A PEN!” declaimed. (That phrase is the standard opener for Japanese kids learning English.)

The live-action One Piece is in production for North America, and few fans seem excited, even with Oda supervising it. Too many people remember Dragon Ball… and Ghost in the Shell… and Death Note. Still, hope springs eternal. Oh yes, and they also showed the 4Kids opening – a surprising number of people grooved along. I guess it didn’t kill the fandom after all!

They had a history of the One Piece anime and manga over the years after this, which got increasingly vague as we tried not to spoil. Unfortunately, I had to cut out before the panel ended, so that I could come back here and write all of this up for you.

Tomorrow brings us Kodansha, Yen, and other assorted fun things. Who’s gonna be there with me?

Clockwork Planet, Vol. 2

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

The first volume of Clockwork Planet felt very faithful to its genre. We’re introduced to the weirdo hero, identifiable to the core readers mostly due to his robot fetish, and much of the book is through his eyes. As such, Marie seemed to be the typical shonen heroine – romance aside, she was constantly yelling and hitting the hero while also secretly being impressed by him, which is the standard operating procedure for this type of heroine. So I was rather surprised in this second volume to see Marie get the bulk of the audience sympathy and POV. It doesn’t exactly shift to her – she did get a lot of attention in the first book as well. It’s just Naoto seems to be moving further away from us as the series goes on. This is lampshaded towards the end of the book, when it’s hinted he’s actually a reincarnation of something much bigger. Even his perversion seems more… messianic.

The plot of Book 2 is pretty much ‘deal with the fallout from Book 1’, as our heroes travel to the next clockwork town over only to find it disturbingly empty save for a horrible monster death machine deep in the basement. They also see AnchoR, who is the younger sister robot girl to our vicious robot heroine RyuZU, and is unfortunately being brainwashed at the moment, so that will have to be dealt with. (Actually, it’s dealt with pretty quickly and easily – for once, this sort of light novel sequence does buildup better than fight scenes.) Along the way we see how much of this is just the government trying to keep itself in power (a lot). I actually like how this is handled, with Marie being the one unable to immediately figure out everything right away. This is not because she’s stupid (as RyuZU implies) or oblivious to anything but robots (as Naoto is), it’s because she is a big shining ball of idealism who tries to pass herself off as a complete cynic, and has trouble imagining people being truly evil.

This is still written by Yuu Kamiya, author of No Game No Life, and as such you’re going to get a lot of tasteless service here as well. Mostly this is pointless or annoying (AnchoR seems to be a “little sister lolicon” robot purely for those reasons), but occasionally he hits a home run, such as the content of the secret “coded” message for Marie, which was so appallingly explicit I laughed out loud. I’m not certain what the original Japanese was, but you won’t see language like that in Sword Art Online, even if you did paste Chapter 16.5 into your book. And aside from Naoto, who remains mostly static because he’s becoming messianic, there was good character development here. It’s also impressive that I like Marie so much given how much of the book shows her yelling, screaming, or kicking people in the head. There are many times I wanted to do the same thing to everyone she was dealing with.

Clockwork Planet is not terrific, but I do have a lot of fun reading it, particularly Marie. It will be interesting to see if the series, like Marie, can keep going without looking the idealism that it seems to have. Honestly, judging from the cliffhanger, things aren’t looking good.

Manga the Week of 11/22/17

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SEAN: The November Crush continues, and there’s no respite. Let’s dive right in.

We start with novels, as Haikasoru has the 5th volume of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

MICHELLE: Every time I say I really will read this series and every time I mean it, but every time I fail to accomplish it.

ASH: I’m a little behind myself, but I am enjoying the series.

ANNA: I have the first book but I haven’t read it yet.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has the slightly less dignified 6th volume of I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused the Apocalypse.

Kodansha is digitally still giving us Del Rey rescues – here’s Princess Resurrection 20.

There’s also a new pile of their current digital-only series. We have Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 3, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World 2, Kasane 7, Real Girl 7, Space Brothers 30, and Until Your Bones Rot 2.

Print has some heavy hitters as well, starting with the Deluxe Edition of Battle Angel Alita. This is the first series, which old-timers will recall came out from Viz back in the pamphlet comic days, though I believe this is a new translation/orientation. This is also a hardcover omnibus.

Cells at Work! has a 5th volume out next week.

MICHELLE: I have missed learning about neutrophils and the like.

ASH: I get such a huge kick out of this series.

ANNA: We have a couple volumes at my library!

SEAN: And we get a 2nd Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, whose first volume I found… needed to be more quirky.

MICHELLE: Heh. I will at least be checking this out.

SEAN: And if you enjoyed the anthology Neo Parasyte f, you’ll love the 2nd volume, Neo Parasyte m.

ASH: I’m looking forward to this! Moto Hagio is one of the contributors, among other things.

SEAN: One Peace has a 12th volume of Maria Holic, which somehow remains popular, I suppose.

Speaking of series I can’t kill with fire from my mind, Seven Seas has a 3rd How to Build a Dungeon.

And also a 2nd Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf.

Their debut is Slumbering Beauty, which comes from Yumi Unita, the creator of Bunny Drop. It runs in Rakuen Le Paradis, which will always get my attention, and is apparently a “modern day fairy tale”. (No wife husbandry this time around, please.)

MICHELLE: I’m very interested in this one!

ASH: As am I! (Also, I didn’t realize it was a series until just now.)

ANNA: Huh, I liked Bunny Drop until I know how the story was going to end, so I’m curious about this.

SEAN: Vertical also has a big debut. We can’t get Saint Young Men just yet, but we can get the author’s other hit, Arakawa Under the Bridge. It’s very strange, and ran in Square Enix’s Young Gangan. I believe Crunchyroll also has it digitally.

MJ: I’m so on board for this.

ASH: I greatly enjoyed the anime adaptation, so I’m very excited to read the original manga. Hopefully this may help pave the way for more of Nakamura’s work in translation.

ANNA: Strange manga from Vertical is my (occasional) jam!

SEAN: And not to be outdone, Viz gives us the debut of Children of the Whales (Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau). a dark mystery that appropriately runs in Akita Shoten’s Mystery Bonita. It looks very swank.

MICHELLE: “Dark mystery” is right up my alley.

ASH: If nothing else, the first volume’s cover art is gorgeous, but the story sounds intriguing as well.

ANNA: Will be checking this out for sure.

SEAN: Viz also has a 5th Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (Gundam manga two weeks in a row? Go back in time and tell the fans in 1999 that this is a thing.)

And rejoice, there is a 13th volume of Ooku! It’s down to once a year, but the anticipation makes it better.

MICHELLE: Verily, I rejoice.

MJ: As doth I!

ASH: Forsooth!

ANNA: Indeed.

SEAN: Lastly (for Viz), if you like Tokyo Ghoul, there’s an artbook out called Illustrations: zakki.

And now for Yen, starting with the light novels. If you like Re: Zero but hate Subaru, you’ll love this spinoff series, Re: Zero EX. This first volume focuses on the past of Crusch and Felis.

We are getting many light novels in the coming months with very, very silly premises, and this may be one of the most interesting. So I’m a Spider, So What? is a standard “class of students are transported to fantasy world and given cool powers” work. However, our heroine is a spider. Which is considered a monster, so she has to fear for her life. Just the word ‘heroine’ makes me happy here.

MJ: I feel like if there’s a chance for me to get into light novels, this would be it. Can it do the job?

ASH: It is nice to have a heroine for a change of pace!

SEAN: And if you wanted to see more of the cast of your name, there’s a book of stories out next week called Another Side: Earthbound.

Yen Press has the complete in one omnibus Corpse Party: Book of Shadows, a sequel to the kill em off mystery series.

Forbidden Scrollery debuts. Technically a fantasy with lots of yokai and pretty art, it’s also a spinoff of the popular bullet hell game Touhou. I am hoping you don’t need any backstory to enjoy it.

ASH: I didn’t realize it was a spinoff, but the yokai definitely have my attention. Also, the book-related magic.

MJ: I like yokai and pretty art.

SEAN: Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler has a 3rd print edition.

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade has been losing my attention lately, so I hope its 7th volume steps up its game.

If you want to read all of Pandora Hearts, and you love packaging, get the PandoraBox, which features all the volumes enclosed in a gorgeous trunk.

MJ: I can’t possibly justify this purchase, but I can recommend!

SEAN: Comic Gene is known for weird series, and the last debut next week certainly falls in that category. A Polar Bear in Love is the adorable tale of the titular polar bear and his love for a seal. Fun ensues.

Lastly, we get the 2nd your name manga.

Think we’re done? We’re not remotely done! Tune in the week after next for even worse November madness!

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, Vol. 1

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By Keiichi Sigsawa, Kouhaku Kuroboshi, and Tadadi Tamori, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialized in the magazine Dengeki Maoh. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Stephen Paul.

The Sword Art Onlione franchise has done a lot of worldbuilding over the course of the series, detailing no less than four different games/VR environments. Some are more popular than others, but I think Gun Gale Online struck a cord with a lot of gamers, as usually these sorts of novels concentrate on sword-based fantasy RPGs – as indeed Sword Art Online did for its first four volumes. So the idea of combining that sort of immersion with a game filled with all sorts of guns, rifles, and lightsaber–sorry, beam swords was incredibly appealing. As for the publisher, I imagine having a spinoff series that did not have to be overseen by Kawahara as much as the others was a plus – the number of regular SAO cast in this first volume is zero. So if you want to read about Gun Gale Online but hate Kirito, have I got a series for you.

This manga is, like a lot of Sword Art Online, based off of a novel. Unfortunately, the novel has not been licensed here as of yet. It’s by Keiichi Sigsawa, who some may know as the creator of Kino’s Journey. Our heroine is Karen, an incredibly tall girl who went to a women’s college to try to change her self-conscious self, but found when she got there that most of the other students already knew each other, and she’s still huge, so she’s mostly a social outcast again. She decides to try to forget about it by playing a VRMMO… but every one she tries gives her another tall avatar. As a last resort, she tries Gun Gale Online, and finds that – finally – she’s short and cute. Now she and her pink gun (OK, Bambi) can have as much tiny fun as they want! (I am reminded of Log Horizon, where Akatsuki originally played as a huge male assassin because “games allow you to be something you’re not”.

We see Llenn (her screen name) gradually getting used to the game with the help of another player, Pitohui, who is the very definition of “obviously evil”, not that this seems to register with Llenn. As she gets a gun and starts to go after other players, she begins to have a lot of fun – botjh because her small form is very good at this sort of thing and also because, well, it’s a game, and in a game, killing others can be fun. That said, this is SAO, so we know those sorts of feelings are always dangerous, especially when helped along by Pitohui, who seems to be trying to make Llenn into a tiny little killing machine. (There is a very disturbing scene in reality midway through the book, showing a young woman (I really hope it’s a young woman, she looks far too young) on top of a guy, sexing him up while also threatening him regarding the upcoming GGO match. It’s heavily suggested this is Pitohui in real life, and does not bode well for our heroine. It also feels oddly out of place.)

The rest of the book is gun battle fun, as Llenn gets a partner who seems taciturn and scary at first but eventually shows he’s a nice enough guy. Are they good enough to win a tournament even though there’s only two of them? Even if their opponents look to literally be JSDF? What is Pitohui scheming? And can we really get through an SAO spinoff without Kirito showing up at all? Find out in the next thrilling volume!

Paying to Win in a VRMMO, Vol. 5

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By Blitz Kiva and Kuwashima Rein. Released in Japan as “VRMMO wo Kane no Chikara de Musou suru” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

This is more of an ensemble effort than any of the previous books. Pay2Win has added quite the large cast over the course of the series, and most of them are present and correct trying to take down whoever has stolen Ichiro’s account. (The mystery as to who has done this, by the way, is almost nil – it’s very obvious. That said, the mystery isn’t the point.) Everyone does what they do best – The Kirihitters try to look cool and fail miserably, Amesho gets her fanboys to valiantly sacrifice themselves hoping she’ll look their way, and Iris’ sharp tongue ends up being weaponized, as (to her chagrin) it’s generally agreed that her spiteful words are her defining trait. That said, the bulk of the characterization here goes to Sakurako/Kirschwasser, who is allowed to use “any means necessary” to defeat the fake, and Sera, who’s gender is finally made clear and who shows they are probably the savviest character in the series.

For all that the last Afterword mentioned that the publishers were uncomfortable with giving too much attention to Sakurako (she being explicitly over 25 and therefore “not a heroine”), but she does get quite a bit to do here. That said, most of it is comic relief. I’ve said before how I think Pay2Win works best when it’s funny, and that still applies, as Sakurako’s sudden access to unlimited amounts of money (and approval to use it from her boss) sets her on a slippery slope that ends up almost being a metaphor for addiction. It’s something that’s understandable for almost anyone who’s played a game – even I, casual that I am, know the terror of “just buy 3 hammers for $1.99 to get past that stupid Candy Crush level”. Here, of course, it’s taken up to 11, as you’d expect, and the fallout is hilarious and also painful – you feel sort of bad for her.

Then there’s Sera/King Kirihito, explicitly said to be female here. The afterword has a very interesting reveal, which is that in the webnovel version of VRMMO, Sera was male. I wonder if this too was changed at editorial request, though the author also says an audience vote was part of it. That said, there are a few lines in this book which suggest Sera sees themself as non-binary, and that suits me fine, so let’s go with that. Sera’s brilliancy at games extends to other arenas here, and I raised an eyebrow seeing them keep up with the American technobabble going on despite the fact that Sera speaks Japanese. Sera also understand the ways of the heart a bit better than Asuha does.

There’s only one volume of this series left, and it seems about the right place to end it. We need to see what’s going to happen with the suddenly doomed little startup that NaroFan is part of, and also hopefully resolve Iris’ design issues a bit, though the answer to that may be “sometimes things just don’t work out”. In any case, this continues to be a series that won’t wow anyone, but should make them smile. Also, Ichiro is perhaps at his least irritating in this book!

Bookshelf Briefs 11/13/17

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Anne Happy, Vol. 7 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – It’s sports festival time, and out heroines are doing their best to at least survive the events, though in Botan’s case that may be difficult. The volume consists of what you’d expect—everyone’s quirk is in full force, the Unlucky Class ends up very very far behind in the rankings, mostly as they’re up against a sports class that compete in national events. Sayama continues to attempt to get over her terminal shyness, and makes small strides. Small strides is in fact the point of this series, as the class in general is doing OK but not well enough to make it in the world. This may become more important later on. In the meantime, Anne Happy is unassuming and cute, with minimal ambition. If you enjoy cute girls falling over, you’ll like it. – Sean Gaffney

Black Clover, Vol. 9 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – We wrap up the Battle with the Midnight Sun here, and our heroes spend some significant time recovering—though for Asta, that time may end up being far longer than he’d really like. We also end up seeing Yuno again. Remember Yuno? Asta’s rival who we saw at the very start of the series? He’s back, and of course is ridiculously strong. The rivalry between him and Asta has ridiculous amounts of BL tease, because this is a Jump manga, but I’m fine with that. There was also a nice non-reveal with a masked captain of Yuno’s unit, who turned out to be masked for different reasons than we’d thought. In any case, new arc should start soon, as we try to figure out how to heal permanent damage. – Sean Gaffney

Demon King Daimaou, Vol. 3 | By Shoutaro Mizuki and Souichi Itou | J-Novel Club – There is one reason that the jaded light-novel fan should give this book a try, and that’s the appearance of the villain, Mister X, who is over the top crazy and in his desire for villainy and despair that is “Art!” reminds me of nothing less than an evil Great Gonzo. Other than that, it’s situations normal at Daimaou, Inc. We get a bit more depth for Hiroshi, Akuto’s fanboy, but it doesn’t really work nearly as well for me, as the characterization feels off from the prior two books. And there are the heroines, with Korone getting a nice fakeout “I am going back to be executed” moment, Keena being Akuto’s conscience, and Junko being, well, Junko. Daimaou is a perfect buy for those who have to buy everything. – Sean Gaffney

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 4 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – This was a super shoujo-riffic volume of manga, even though there are some funny bits too (particularly the bonus comic). Shimana encourages Zen’s brother, Ken, not to give up on his boxing ambitions, and in gratitude he shows her Fujiwara’s high school yearbook, which only brings up more questions. In between, there are Christmas presents and bittersweet longing and earnest conversations about dreams. Also, there are at least three and probably more scenes that involve Shimana tearfully running away from a conversation and slamming a door. It’s repetitive, yes, but at least she doesn’t ever spend very long in a sulk. I enjoy Asahi stirring the pot and Zen being a good, sweet friend, but I’m not sure I want Shimana and Fujiwara to get together. He’s right—she is still a kid. Maybe Zen will win her over in the end with his panda wiles. – Michelle Smith

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 3 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The beginning of this volume is super tense! Shiva’s aunt has come for her, accompanied by several of the soldiers that only recently were trying to kill her, and Teacher does his best to rescue her, to no avail. One particularly impactful page-turn, revealing Teacher struck by many arrows, made me realize that because this series is so unique, there’s no variations-on-a-theme template to rely upon and, as a result, I really believed Teacher could actually die. He doesn’t, but what happens when Shiva gets back to the village is dramatic enough, along with a cliffhanger about her real origins. The art continues to be a delight, as well—I particularly love the panels that emphasize Shiva’s smallness and the nonverbal depiction of Teacher’s devastation after she’s gone. Now to manage the four-month wait for volume four! – Michelle Smith

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 3 | By Tsukumizu| Yen Press – The odd finally manages to win out over the cute for this volume of Girls’ Last Tour, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We see again and again how depressingly apocalyptic this world the girls are traveling through is, and on more than one occasional it almost leads to their horrible deaths. They also meet someone in the final section, though this is a robot rather than a human—but the essential story beats remain the same. And there’s even some fanservice for anyone interested. I’ve said before that this reminds me of Strawberry Marshmallow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Miu’s bizarre self-insert fic with her and Chika—though I suspect it’d earn her a smack or two. Oddly compelling. – Sean Gaffney

Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Vol. 6 | By Masume Yoshimoto | One Peace Books – Well, I did ask for more of the bear, and I certainly get that here. Unfortunately, I also get another bear, who’s painted as the obsessed female stalker of our main bear. The humor that follows, showing a tsundere bear trying to be seductive (and failing), only works about one third of the time. It doesn’t help that the series already has a tsundere, Hibiki, and we get an amusing chapter devoted to imagining what might make her actually confess. Honestly, though, the highlight was the final chapter, where the bear tries to get Machi to take a train as part of his “make her a functioning adult” plan. It doesn’t work—she gets on the wrong train, and is now at the ocean. Will she die? Probably not. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 4 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – This series continues to play to a very limited audience, the sort who likes lesbians and likes sociopaths, and REALLY likes the combination of the two. If that pleases you, this volume will too, though be warned another sympathetic cutie is butchered horribly. As for Kuroko, she’s actually out of commission for part of this, having been brainwashed by the head villainess of the book. Fortunately, we needed some more characterization for Chiyo, Kuroko’s yakuza girlfriend who’s in a state of constant rage from, well, dealing with Kuroko’s tendency to bed anyone female. Spoiler: she’s badass. As for Rinko, the child killer from last time… well, I don’t want to spoil it. Suffice to say I laughed, but it was rueful. Murcielago is hilarious and you will feel bad. – Sean Gaffney

My Monster Secret, Vol. 8 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – I suspect it’s going to be harder and harder to drag out the “we’re not really dating” card after the ending of this volume. Which is fine, as I will freely admit that the relationship between Asahi and Youko is one of the two best reasons to read this book. The other is the humor, and there’s plenty of that on display as well, as we see angel feathers that make people act out the Seven Sins; Koumoto-sensei celebrating another birthday of being a single woman, as no one will let her forget; and Nagisa getting turned big (as opposed to being in her alien suit) in order to once again fire up the love triangle. There’s stuff that doesn’t work (anything with Shimada), but this series still has more hits than misses. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 7 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Wow. And also “holy crap.” I’m going to completely forego any spoilers this time, because the surprises in this volume need to be experienced as they come. Suffice it to say that Richard does not handle the revelation about Henry’s true identity well, and Henry doesn’t handle captivity and his lusty feelings for Richard well, either. All of these sad, broken people being crushed by… well… the game of thrones. Although a smidge of me still dares to hope Richard will find happiness by the end of the series, the ending of this volume suggests otherwise. I actually had to look up whether the series was concluding in the next volume, though that doesn’t appear to be the case. I should have known better than to choose something else for pick of the week, even if it was my beloved Chihayafuru! – Michelle Smith

Toriko, Vol. 40 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Still counting down towards the end of this series. At least Toriko gets to add another item to his menu, meaning he only has two to go. But unfortunately, this one is more about the ridiculous fights than the ridiculous food, and whenever that happens it’s never good news. The author is better at food porn. He’s also better at ho yay, as the reunion of Toriko and Komatsu is loaded with an absolute ridiculous amount of subtext—I would not blame readers for forgetting Rin exists. As for the evil plot, it creeps incrementally forward, leading to a cliffhanger as Toriko and company finally challenge God. I’m finishing the series as I’ve already read 40 volumes, but it’s only for the hardcore now. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: King Me

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MICHELLE: I would pretend to moan and groan here about having to decide between Requiem of the Rose King and Chihayafuru, but although I really and sincerely do love Requiem of the Rose King, for me and my sports manga fixation, there’s really no contest. Chihayafuru forever!!!

SEAN: I like Chihayafuru as well, though I’m falling behind. My pick is Requiem of the Rose King, though, as it remains one of the most compulsively readable shoujo out there, even if Shakespeare might be spinning in his grave a bit.

KATE: This week, I only have eyes for one title: volume three of Delicious in Dungeon, one of 2017’s best new manga. It’s funny, breezy, and surprisingly well plotted, despite its monster-of-the-week formula. As I noted in my review of volume one, Dungeon reads like a mash-up of a workplace sitcom and a cooking show (albeit one with seriously unappetizing recipes).

ASH: There are so many things that I’m interested in this week, it’s difficult for me to choose just one! There’s Frau Faust and Requiem of the Rose King for classically-inspired tales with interesting twists and Delicious in Dungeon with its brilliant mix of food and fantasy. For official picks I often lean towards debuts, though, and I’m very glad that A Strange and Mystifying Story was rescued–I’m curious to see if I like the series as well as I did the first time it was translated.

ANNA: There’s so much great manga coming out this week! For me though, any time Requiem of the Rose King comes out, that’s an automatic pick for me. This unique adaptation of Richard the III is always mesmerizing.

MJ: I’ve been pretty swamped this week, and haven’t had a chance to really look things over, but did somebody say Requiem of the Rose King? You can always count me in for that.

To Your Eternity, Vol. 1

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By Yoshitoki Oima. Released in Japan as “Fumetsu no Anata e” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Steven LeCroy.

It’s always best when an author knows what they’re good at and continues to give us that product, and it’s even better when they can do so even while changing genres. Oima is best known as the author of A Silent Voice, and so a fantasy starring a shape-changing alien was not the most obvious follow-up, let’s be honest. But of course, what Oima is best at is gut-wrenching emotional scenes and dancing at the edge of tragedy, which we saw over and over again in A Silent Voice (which thankfully most avoided slipping into full-on tragedy), and now we see plenty of that in this new series. As always with a first volume, I’m not suite sure where this is going – the first chapter might have been a prologue and we’re now following the main cast, or it could be that this is more of an anthology series. One thing is clear, though: bring tissues.

I wasn’t actually spoiled on this series, for once, and will try to avoid spoiling any readers of this review, though it’s always hard to be elliptical about this sort of thing. Let’s just say I was entirely prepared for this series to be a heartwarming tale of a boy and his alien-turned-wolf as they march across the frozen wastes to freedom… and no, that’s not what we’re getting. The boy does not appear to have a name, and it’s a good thing that he’s so plucky and optimistic because his life to date has sucked rocks, including being abandoned by the village to look after those who can’t leave it… for some reason or another. His one companion is the wolf… who we see killed at the start of the book, and the shapeshifter takes its form. Fortunately, the shapeshifter is willing to be the boy’s pet wolf and heartwarming moments ensue… at first.

The second half of the book, and the reason I wonder if this is more of an anthology series with recurring characters, deals with a village girl who’s got big dreams of being an adult and raising a family, dreams that may have to be cut short when she’s selected as the sacrifice to the local Shardik-like God. (Honestly, it’s not clear whether the giant bear is really the local god or not, but it’s certainly a really big bear.) Fortunately, the village’s worst archer is there to try to help her. The girl’s tomboy attitude and the archer’s bad shooting are brief moments of amusement in this otherwise very serious volume. Fortunately the sacrifice is interrupted, but it’s not clear where we’re headed after this.

This series is meant to evoke a mood, and that mood is ‘tear-jerking’. If you really want to read something like that, this is absolutely your jam. I’m not sure I’ll be able to read something like this in an ongoing series, but as a first volume it packs a powerful wallop.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 4

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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.

I’d mentioned in my last review that the battles are what Omori writes best, and it’s still true. I’ll go even further: if you aren’t enjoying the battle sequences, there’s no real reason for you to read Sword Oratoria. That’s not to say the entire book is wall-to-wall fights – in fact, we don’t start the descent to the 59th floor till the 2nd half of the book. But I have to admit, the plot is being dripped to us in tiny amounts as the author struggles to fit this into the continuity of the main series. And, much as I like Lefiya a lot more than most DanMachi fans, it has to be said: as a jealous pseudo-lesbian, she’s rather irritating. As a female expy of Bell, she works far better, and her triumph in the dungeons towards the end is one of those “pump your fist” moments.

Yes, that’s Bell on the cover, and while he’s not in the book as much as I expected (the scene with the minotaur is kept to the bare minimum), we get a lot more context here for how Aiz feels about him. Whether those feelings are love or no, it’s pretty clear that Lefiya is not being paranoid in her jealousy – Aiz is becoming obsessed with Bell and how fast he’s growing as an adventurer. And he’s not the only one – the minotaur scene may be downplayed in the spinoff, but the impact is shown on all of Loki Familia as they descend to the 59th floor, each one using Bell as inspiration for their own growth. As I said above, when Lefiya is not chewing walls while staring at Aiz and Bell, she’s also excellent – Aiz’s hardcore “I don’t actually know how to teach” training may not help her much, but her friendship with Filvis (the Dionysus adventurer from the previous volume) proves to be far more impactful.

And then there are those fight scenes. This is Aiz’s spinoff, but in reality it’s proven to be more about Loki Familia in general, and the leaders of the family all get a chance to show off their amazing stuff here, with Gareth literally flinging a dragon like you would an Olympic hammer, Riveria’s magic providing seemingly over an hour of support allowing the rest of the family to rescue Lefiya (who has plummeted down six levels – don’t worry, it leads to better things), and Finn being the competent, sensible leader this team of hotheads needs – until the situations grows dire, when he takes off his limiters and proves to be more hotheaded than all the rest.

DanMachi is never going to be the sort of series that rewards deep analysis, and that goes doubly for its spinoff. This is fast food. But it’s very tasty fast food which leaves you satisfied and wanting to go back, which is all a franchise can really ask of its ongoing volumes. Highly recommended to DanMachi fans who can get over Lefiya’s behavior around Aiz.

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 4

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan as two separate volumes by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

The decline and fall of Hijiri continues in this omnibus, as she tries her hardest to be a Hanajima but in the end is more of a Rin, complete with the angry freakouts whenever she’s embarrassed. This is not to say I don’t enjoy the entire plotline; the relationship between Hijiri and Saki may not be the healthiest in the world, but it’s cute, and leads to several laugh-out-loud moments, such as seeing how Hijiri first ‘brought Saki home’. Her own frustrations seem to spill over into her interaction with others as well, as she tries to help a girl who likes Yuuri confess to him even though she knows he’s going to reject the girl, and also tries to nag Yuuri into making his own advances on Sakuya, even as Yuuri seems content to sit back and watch Chihiro and Sakuya grow closer.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that he suspect Chihiro will simply torpedo himself before too long. Takaya’s series tend to have a common theme of seemingly “pure-hearted and good” people repressing their own emotions and traumas, and we get a lot of that here, as the art shows a large degree of depressed, resigned stares into the middle distance as characters wrestle with the fact that they might actually be forced to confront feelings that they’ve been avoiding for years. Kanade’s past is learned here, and it too manages to be a parade of parental abuse and distorted bouts of anger, another constant in Takaya’s works. I’ve tended to think that Twinkle Stars is trying to apologize to Tohru/Yuki Furuba fans by having this title be the one where they win, with Kanade as “Kyo”, but while Kanade is an awful lot like Kyo, he’s not a romantic lead, so it doesn’t quite fit.

This may make it sound as if the entire volume is nothing but depressing moping around, and it’s not. Takaya does have a certain amount of humor in this book, usually through snarky comments and reaction takes. Again, we see this most in scenes with Hijiri, whose own subplot is meant to be a lighter counterpart to the more serious relationships. This unfortunately does have the effect of diminishing Hijiri a bit, as I noted above – yes, she’s a bit more realistic and flawed, but I also feel she’s becoming almost too much of a caricatured “angry, embarrassed girl”, a trope which I think works better in shonen settings than in shoujo ones.

Twinkle Stars ran 11 volumes in Japan, and we’re up to 8 with this omnibus. I’m not certain if the final volume will be a triple of if we’ll get a single volume 6. In either event, I do still enjoy this series, especially for the emotional resonance, though I am grateful it’s going to be wrapping up soon as I’m not sure how much more teenage romantic drama I can take.

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 5

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

I admit that after four volumes of Re: Zero, and without having actually seen the anime (which, let’s remember, adapts the first NINE books), I wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was all about with Rem. I didn’t see why, aside from maybe general personality, she became basically the entire reason to watch the show for many fans. Having now read this 5th book, I think I’ve hit the point where I can say “Oh, yeah, that’s it”. Now that Emilia has broken off with Subaru and returned to the mansion, Rem gets her turn in the spotlight, showing a love and devotion to Subaru that almost goes to extremes. This can be heartwarming (as when she tries to get him to maybe stop hating himself a bit) and also disturbing (a lot of other times), but it’s hard to deny that Subaru transformed Rem’s life, and she’s never going to forget it.

It’s a good thing that someone’s in Subaru’s corner, because the reader certainly isn’t. Yes, it’s time to trawl through another book with the worst protagonist ever, as Subaru shows that after his epic beatdown from last time, he has not learned a single thing, assuring us that he will return to Emilia, save the day, and everything will be great again. Needless to say, that doesn’t happen. In fact, it doesn’t happen twice, as we’ve got another save point, meaning Subaru is free to start brutally dying again. It’s not just him or Emilia this time, though, as seemingly the entire village and mansion is slaughtered by our new enemies, the Witch Cult, led by Petelgeuse, a truly freaky nightmare who seems to revel in being insane because it’s over the top rather than any other reason. Subaru’s (feigned?) mental breakdown halfway through the book may give Rem some much needed spotlight, but it doesn’t do him much good. Even in the very end, we see his rage and fury and think: Yup, still hasn’t learned a goddamn thing.

That said, aside from Subaru I am still enjoying this series a great deal. The election continues apace, and we see once more just how hard it is for Emilia to get anywhere in it when even our grumpy abble seller and Rem show they have an instinctive fear and hatred towards her. Crusch remains an awesomely cool character, and we get some tantalizing background details of how she met Ferris that we want to hear more about. (If only there were a spinoff novel coming out in less than two weeks that would tell us that story!) There’s also a very interesting revelation about Subaru that Petelgeuse makes, which, combined with the witch miasma that pours through him whenever he resets to his save point, makes me wonder just how much of a typical “I am a normal Japanese man in another world” protagonist he is.

So my advice for this new volume of Re: Zero is the same as last time: try not to grind your teeth down to nubs as you read Subaru’s stubborn idiocy, but enjoy the rest of the worldbuilding, the scary villains, and Rem being pure and good and badass (I hope Emilia gets her turn next, but I have a feeling it may be a few more books.)

Manga the Week of 11/15/17

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SEAN: The November from hell continues – a second week of the month is supposed to be quiet!

J-Novel has a couple of titles to start us off. The 6th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is one of them.

The other is a debut, and may be familiar to anime fans. Outbreak Company is another of those pesky isekai novels, about an anime and manga otaku who ends up trapped in another world.

Kodansha has a ton. The debut digital title (actually already out this week, because Kodansha) is I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World, a shoujo title from the creator of House of the Sun that’s been running in Dessert, about a quiet, negative girl who somehow attracts the attention of the school prince. Wow, we’ve never seen that before.

MICHELLE: And certainly not from Dessert specifically!

ANNA: That sounds so new!!!!!

SEAN: And for digital fans, we also have Chihayafuru 6, Drowning Love 4, House of the Sun 10, Kokkaku: Moment by Moment 2, Magical Sempai 3, and Peach Heaven 9. Phew.

MICHELLE: I’ll be picking of several of those!

ANNA: Cannot believe I need to get caught up on Chihayafuru!

SEAN: Kodansha still has print, believe it or not. We have the penultimate volume of Fairy Tail, the 62nd.

There’s also a 2nd Frau Faust, whose title I recommend singing to the Gershwin song “By Strauss”.

ASH: Frau Faust is the thing! (I greatly enjoyed the first volume and am looking forward to reading more.)

SEAN: The Seven Deadly Sins is glaring at Fairy Tail with jealousy as it releases its 23rd volume.

And UQ Holder’s 12th volume just gives in and straight up has the Negima cast on its cover.

One Peace has a 7th manga volume for The Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has four new titles, with Generation Witch 2, Holy Corpse Rising 4, My Monster Secret 8, and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 5.

SuBLime has the debut of A Strange and Mystifying Story, which seems to have a guy with elf ears, but otherwise sees the typical vaguely predatory BL cover art.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had no idea this series (formerly published by DMP) had been rescued! The first two volumes were pretty good (despite some problematic consent issues), but it seems to have taken a turn for the better in volume three. I’m glad to have the chance to finish the series!

ASH: Sean, those are obviously wolf ears. Like Michelle, I’m glad to see this series being rescued!

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 3rd volume of the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing manga.

Every time we see a new volume of Requiem of the Rose King, it has a tendency to be Pick of the Week here at Manga Bookshelf. I don’t expect that to change with Vol. 7.

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: I do love this series so.

ANNA: It is the best.

SEAN: And we’re at 25 volumes of Rin-Ne with still no plot progression.

MICHELLE: Yep.

SEAN: Yen Press has the rest of the week, starting with the novel line. A Certain Magical Index left off last time with the heroines swapped to the wrong guy. Can they solve this problem and deal with another invasion from the Catholic… sorry, Roman Orthodox church? Find out in lucky book 13.

Durarara!! has an 8th volume, and will likely feature Izaya being smug and punchable, be warned.

And more dead girls arrive in the 2nd Magical Girl Raising Project.

Yen has one debut next week, a new spinoff from Sword Art Online. Called Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, it’s based on a light novel (as yet unlicensed) by the Kino’s Journey creator, and features a whole new cast, I believe.

There are only two manga based on light novels out next week, not counting SAOA. KonoSuba reaches its fifth volume, and Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has Vol. 4.

And there’s a large number of continuing titles, which I will list as follows: Anne Happy 7, The Case Study of Vanitas 3, Delicious in Dungeon 3, Demonizer Zilch 4, Dimension W 8, First Love Monster 8, Girls Last Tour 3, Puella Magi Tart Magica 5, The Royal Tutor 4, Today’s Cerberus 6, and Trinity Seven 11. Of that pile, Delicious in Dungeon seems the most promising to me.

MICHELLE: Same.

ASH: Delicious in Dungeon is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to, although there are a few others in there that I’ve been meaning to get around to reading.

SEAN: Are you keeping up? Or hopelessly behind? What are you getting?

MICHELLE: So totally hopelessly behind.

ANNA: Indeed.

In This Corner of the World

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By Fumiyo Kouno. Released in Japan as “Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni” by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Manga Action. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Adrienne Beck.

Sometimes history can spoil a manga a bit. You know something is going to happen going in, simply given where and when the series takes place. That’s absolutely the case with the fantastic omnibus In This Corner of the World, which focuses on a young girl named Suzu, who’s a bit airheaded but good at art, and her coming of age and awkward but loving marriage to an uncommunicative husband. The manga, particular the first two-thirds, focuses on her everyday life as she does household chores, tries to find time to do some drawings, and deals with her sister-in-law’s ire, as Suzu is regarded by the sister-in-law as a bit too ditzy to be a good wife. Which, honestly, sometimes seems to be the case. The kicker here, of course, is that Suzu was born and grew up in Hiroshima, and moves to Kure when she gets married… right before World War II.

As such, there is a certain sense as you read though Suzu’s daily struggles that you’re waiting for the bomb to go off. And there is indeed a bomb, though Suzu does not deal first-hand with the Hiroshima H-bomb. No, it’s just a simple, ordinary bomb that kills her niece and blows off her right hand, the one she draws with. The last third or so of the book has a dazed and grieving Suzu try to come to terms with what’s happening and to try to patch things up with her husband (who was with a prostitute some time ago, which caused friction between them). Suzu is kind-hearted and gentle, though, and so aside from one burst of fury when Japan surrenders (which you can understand given everything she went through) she is able to move on with her life despite the new difficulties.

This is all conveyed through some absolutely gorgeous art, which does not hesitate to try a different style in order to get across the mood or the point that it wants to make. I’d even go so far as to call the art the main reason to buy the book, though the story is good as well. We see chapters done with no dialogue, as storybook-style, as a comic strip (Suzu’s childish drawings of her older brother, which becomes a breathtakingly bittersweet callback right at the end), as karuta art, and even as blurry, out–of-focus scenery as we see Suzu struggling with the loss of her dominant hand. The story is told via the art as well as the narrative, and the result is a volume that makes you want to go back and reread it after you’ve finished.

This is not an easy read, as you might expect, and there are moments of quiet tragedy that sometimes make it hard to move on. But I absolutely recommend it, as it’s an achingly gorgeous book that deserves all the hype it might get.

Psycome: Murder Machine and the Catastrophic Athletic Festival

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

Given the nature of a series like this, which not only revels in its cliches but tries to top them, a volume devoted to a school athletics festival was almost as likely as one devoted to a culture festival (that should be Vol. 6). And for all I said Phycome would never be great in my last review, it comes damn close here, as the descriptions of the bloody, murderous giant melee battles in this book are so much fun I found myself grinning much of the time. Each scene tries to act as either a topper for the previous one or a showcase for the main character’s foibles. The volume is not perfect (the epilogue and ‘continuing chapter’ feel very tacked on and slightly OOC), but for those who want Psycome in its purest form, this is the one to buy.

Maina is on the cover, and gets probably about the most spotlight she’s ever going to here, as she proves once more to be a force of absolute accidental destruction. That said, she’s also grown slightly as a character, and it’s her determination that impresses here, as even the rest of the class admits. Her run during the relay race was a pump your fist moment. As for the others, Ayaka’s yandere sister side is in full force for those who like that (I do not), and there’s a third year DJ/murderer who seems to serve the role of Lee Jordan here, offering commentary and snark over the microphone. Eiri doesn’t have as much to do after getting the spotlight last time, but I will admit that Shamaya chasing her around the field with a giant vibrator may be peak Psycome. Unless it’s Kurumiya forcing herself to talk adorably in a goth loli outfit because she will do anything to win. One of those two.

The real development here, though, is with Renko. Her mother’s arrival forces her to choose between her loyalty to her and her love for Kyousuke, and it’s not as easy a decision as it sounds, given that Renko was literally bred to be an assassin. The battle with the two of them vs. her brother Renji is the action highlight of the volume, even though (as has happened before) Kyousuke’s super endurance seems utterly ludicrous. (We get more hints that his parents “trained” him, and they may show up next time.) And Kyousuke finally is able to resolve his feelings (Eiri is conveniently unconscious when this occurs, and don’t think I didn’t notice that), though the revelation about Renko and Renji’s true nature may put a kibosh on that one.

We’ve only got one more volume left, and I suspect it will be busy wrapping up all the loose ends that have collected. Therefore this may have been the last time we’ll see balls-to-the-wall comedic anarchy from Psycome, which has frequently tried to be over the top gonzo insane but has never quite hit it. It hits it several times here, and that’s why this was the most enjoyable volume to date.

Bookshelf Briefs 11/7/17

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Cosplay Animal, Vol. 2 | By Watari Sakou | Kodansha Comics – I think I will continue to enjoy Cosplay Animal as long as the heroine remains ludicrous and the tone remains fun, both things that I can tick off with this second volume. Yes, there’s a gay guy who makes out with his employees that’s sort of a bad stereotype, but he barely stands out here next to Rika, who is dealing with not having enough stamina during sex, trying to get some with her boyfriend while being forced to work at a hot spring (she broke a vase), and, in the story that edges between the most serious and also the most ridiculous (I called “no way” a few times), trying to student-teach at Hajime’s school. Not for those easily offended, but if you like pure trash, you’ll love Cosplay Animal. – Sean Gaffney

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 4 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – I have resolved myself to the fact that the main romance in this series is probably going to be between Shimana and the landlord, who’s getting more tsundere by the volume. This is not good news for Zen, who always looked like the sort of overeager guy who’s destined to be romantic runner-up, but I’m not sure he expected it this soon. We wrap up the boxing plotline here and start to get into Fujiwara’s past and present, including the fact that he’s a lawyer because his family wants him to be, but not particularly happy about it. Since the point of this series seems to be “don’t throw away your dreams and accept a bad reality,” I expect that to change, especially with Shimana’s basic shininess working against it. I’m still not over the moon about this series, but it’s always a solid read. – Sean Gaffney

Idol Dreams, Vol. 4 | By Arina Tanemura | VIZ Media – When we left off, 31-year-old Chikage Deguchi had decided to date a teenager (in the guise of her 15-year-old self) whom she didn’t love in order to learn about relationships. And, judging from her reaction, she hadn’t even considered telling him the truth about herself until her friend brought it up. Compounding this folly, when she realizes that he’s exhausting himself trying to impress her (he’s in a boy band, naturally) she contrives to dramatically break his heart. Way to screw with a poor kid’s head!! Are we supposed to root for this freakin’ clueless dingbat?! I don’t know why I even keep reading this, honestly. Perhaps it’s time to officially call it quits. – Michelle Smith

RIN-NE, Vol. 25 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – As per usual, nothing changes in this volume of RIN-NE. It briefly looks as though Rinne might actually have a chance at obtaining a gold shinigami license after defeating his dad but.. nope. The rest of the stories are the standard episodic fare about ghosts who need to pass on or Sabato’s hijinks. I did find it odd that there were two stories in this volume that were very similar, both involving a bespectacled spirit who was about to declare his love in a roundabout way, then discovered the girl he loved was dating a coworker/classmate, and died while rushing to prevent the message from being seen. Sakura makes a remark that suggests this might have been intentional, but it’s not at all clear. That would be a whole other level of repetitiveness for this series! – Michelle Smith

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 5 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – Cosplay Animal was gloriously fun trash. Scum’s Wish is also trash, but it’s not nearly as fun, as you continue to watch young people who are dealing with out-of-control hormones make the wrong decisions and then regret it. Moka’s date is pretty much exactly what she wanted, and yet you wince as you turn each page, as her pain and despair rip out at you (even though she’s smiling and keeping up a fairy-tale inner monologue). As for Hanabi, she finds an older guy who seems to be into her, but she’s not ready to sleep with him, and that’s exactly what he wants. The book ends with her alone, realizing she has no real friends. Two more volumes of this may be all I can take, but it’s very well written. – Sean Gaffney

Toppu GP, Vol. 2 | By Kosuke Fujishima | Kodansha Comics – It’s hard to even scrape up enough words for a brief, honestly, given that this volume is 180 pages of “motocross is cool.” But really, Fujishima is a master at what he does by now, and there’s no denying it—when you see these races, you DO think it’s really cool. Toppu suffers a loss here, and his frustration also is conveyed very well on the page —the winner is smug without being dislikable, and I like their rivalry. We also get a girl his own age who clearly likes him, and is not happy with the gorgeous, older and perfect Myne, who (at this point) can do no wrong, and has still not been killed off to advance the plot, though I wouldn’t count that out. Do you like bikes? Read this. – Sean Gaffney