Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Cats and Monsters

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SEAN: I guess I’ll go for more bad things happening to reincarnated nobles with the 2nd part (1st half) of The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman.

MICHELLE: With the state of everything being as it is, the solace offered by A Man and His Cat seems like just the thing.

ANNA: This week, I’m picking my hope for Veil to be released next week. I’m guessing next week I will pick the actual manga Veil instead of my hope for it.

ASH: Well, I received notification that Veil has been delayed. I thought that was the one title this week I was really interested in, but then I remembered that Bubbles Zine is publishing Maruo Suehiro’s Beautiful Monster. A master of ero-guro, expect the volume to be exquisitely illustrated but definitely not for everyone.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 20.5

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by RFD.

I have frequently whined about having to review a lot of these .5 short story collections, mostly as they tend to feature things like bookstore exclusives that out of necessity cannot have any effect on the plot. But in something like Kuma Bear, a series that is so dependent on Yuna’s POV that any scrap we get from other characters is most welcome. If there’s one thing that we’ve learned about Yuna throughout this series, it’s that she – still! – hates herself. Every time she talks about her physical appearance it’s to talk about how short, flat, and plain she is, and every time she does anything for others she plays it off as being self-serving or nothing special. But when you see Yuna in the eyes of other characters, she’s described as “slim, pretty and feminine”, and everyone and their brother talks about how kind and nice she is. Honestly, this world warps to that kindness – which is why the darkness of the past is – mostly – not seen anymore.

I say mostly because this volume, for the first two-third or so, adapts the bookstore-exclusive stories from Vol. 10-16, which means it has the beach trip to Mileela, including in the party the women from Mileela who were abducted by bandits. Neaf in particular was raped and had her family murdered, and they HAVE to discuss it here, but it’s elided to “something terrible happened”, as they’re always talking about it to kids. After these stories we get five more written just for the volume, which honestly have the same feel as the stories we’d just read. The last quarter of the book is the most unique, as it has Yuna, Fina and Noa watching the first season of the Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear anime.

Believe it or not, the last section is by far the most interesting and rewarding. If you’ve ever been to the Archive Of Our Own fanfiction site, you may be familiar with a genre called “Reaction Fic” or “Characters Watch the Show”, and this is essentially an official version of that. That said, the best of those fanfics analyze the source and are able to give new fresh takes, and that’s what we see here. I’m sure it’s not canon, but here we see Yuna’s past in Japan and her isekai’d status revealed to Fina and Noa, and Yuna narrating that she regards having to learn to cook and clean for herself because her parents were never around as “cherished memories”, as they let her live on her own here. That’s horrible! She also sees Noa’s optimism and positiveness about herself and thinks that she should learn from Noa as she’s so negative. I agree so much. Lastly, they also watch the anime original parts, including the final episode, which Yuna herself describes as “like a yuri anime”. They’re not beating the allegations.

So this was more rewarding than I expected, and at 400 pages or so it’s good bang for your buck. It’s not all moe cuteness. Just… mostly.

The Hero-Killing Bride: The Blind-Eyed Saint

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By Aoikou and Enji. Released in Japan as “Yuusha-goroshi no Hanayome” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Faye Duxovni.

I think by now most people know that I’m relatively easy to please, and it shows at times in these reviews. And sometimes I can overly gush about things, only to look back later and say “boy, that’s kind of embarrassing now”. I really enjoyed the first volume of this series, and said the best thing about it was the main protagonist. And, on various other social medias, I got pushback from people who were expecting something better, and she really didn’t vibe with her the way that she vibed with me. Honestly, I was actually feeling a bit guilty. So I went into this volume determined to keep a clearer head. And, well, my review is going to be exactly the same. This series has a lot of flaws. But I really, REALLY like the main character. She saves this series in many ways. Despite being driven by a repressed grief into some very ugly choices. Because behind all that cynical narration is someone who cares far too much about people.

Alicia and Cion, having managed to defeat General Heavenfang, are being dispatched to The Holy City, which is currently empty of the biggest holiness, the Pope, as well as most of its knights (guarding the pope). They’re being sent there because someone keeps killing cardinals, and they’re both very strong. When they arrive, they go to great the Saint who is the highest authority there who isn’t the pope. She seems perfect… honestly, a bit too perfect. She gives Alicia the creeps, for some unknown reason. Unfortunately, Alicia also runs into an assassin who has the power of shadows, and who has a resolve to kill anything related to demons – and says that the Saint is a demon. Fortunately, Alicia has her old father figure and mentor there to talk to. Surely he won’t be viciously murdered or anything. that would be terrible! (Sorry for the spoiler, but the guy did all but say “I’m retiring in three days and buying a boat”.)

The best part of this remains Alicia. I’m sorry if other folks don’t like her, but I 100% vibe with someone who things that this is a horrible world and God can’t save you and has stained her hands with blood but still tries to do the right thing and help save people even when it defies all sense. The middle section of the book, after the death of her mentor, is absolute dynamite, as we see her completely snap and almost turn evil, but it remains framed through her bitter, matter-of-fact narration – I was reminded a bit of Sorawo from Otherside Picnic. Unfortunately, the rest of the book struggles to live up to its heroine. Cion remains a cipher, and spends a lot of the climax of the book mind-controlled, which is never great. Lastly, everything that involves sex in this book is awful and pointless, and I hate all of it. It was totally unnecessary.

But I’m still going to read the third book, as I like Alicia, and I want to see if she survives the series. For those who like The Executioner and Her Way of Life and wish there were more series in that vein.

A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO, Vol. 2

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu ZERO” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kim Morrissy. Adapted by Melanie Kardas.

One thing I’ve noticed about several light novels series that feature things that are supposed to be cute is that they can get surprisingly dark, at least at the start. I’ve talked before about Kuma Bear and its tendency towards horrific backstories filled with rape and murder for some characters, which we basically never get anymore. And, in the main series that this is a spinoff of, we get how Serafina died, and it also features rape and torture. That too, as the books went on, has been, if not removed, at least rarely mentioned unless it’s very plot-relevant. And the first novel in this spinoff was firmly on the site of cute and adorable, so I was expecting the same thing here. Imagine my surprise when I got another character with a tragic backstory that reads very much like a horror novel. Monsters exist here, and it turns out that they can lead to fates much worse than death.

Serafina is out and about now that she can see, and she’s shown off her cook saint powers to Sirius. So it’s time for her to work with him in earnest, and that also means she needs a cohort of knights to guard her. What’s surprising to everyone but the reader, who knows that Sirius is absolutely obsessed with Serafina, is that the knights chosen are the best of the best, cream of the crop… and they’re wondering why the second princess needs so much more protection than, say, the FIRST princess. That said, she is pretty freaking adorable… and the “special medicine” she makes to cure Canopus’ fever works a bit TOO well. Clearly there’s only one thing left to do: go the the beach. Which, to be fair, also involves a bit of investigation, as this beachside community has been in an economic slump recently. It’s almost as if the spirit who blessed them is dying…

This is, out of necessity, a series where our heroine is six years old, so it lacks any of the romance that the main series hints at. Sure, Sirius is obsessed with Serafina, but that’s meant to be more of a dad/older brother thing, and honestly, she’s more his emotional crutch than he is hers. I did briefly wonder, though, if one of the guards was going to have a childhood friend romance with one of the saints, who turns out to be from his own hometown. Unfortunately, this isn’t a romance, and the guards only get to be as obsessed with Serafina as a powerful saint as Sirius is. Instead, the childhood friend’s plotline is a reminder of the dangers of feeling responsible for things you do as a kid that aren’t really your fault – easy enough to do here, when it turns out the things are so horrifying. (I was honestly a bit annoyed at the girl here. “I know you feel bad about your whole family being murdered, but did you know their souls may also be trapped in torment?”)

So overall, this was quite good, concentrating on the cuteness while also leaving in some darkness for those who like the contrast. It does have a dangling plotline, though, I hope that gets resolved whenever the third volume is out. We’ll get the main series first, though.

Manga the Week of 4/9/25

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SEAN: The Easter Rabbit is busy hiding manga all around the area for children to find. Let’s see what they might be…

Seven Seas is having a quiet week, and Airship has no print titles out. They do have early digital for Modern Villainess 6 and The Too-Perfect Saint 2.

Ghost Ship has World’s End Harem: Fantasia 14.

J-Novel Club also has a quiet week, with no debuts. But for light novels we see Chivalry of a Failed Knight 5, Disowned But Not Disheartened 2, and The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life As a Noblewoman 2, Part 1.

While for manga, we get Black Summoner 19, Housekeeping Mage from Another World 7, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 10, The Water Magician 4, and Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 10.

Kodansha, try to contain your shock, has a quiet week with no debuts. In print, we see Blue Lock: Episode Nagi 3, Fall In Love, You False Angels 2, I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness 8, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 20 (the final volume).

ASH: A quiet week with no debuts… when does the other shoe drop?

SEAN: And in digital we have A Condition Called Love 16, Gang King 28, Giant Killing 48, and I Have a Crush at Work 9.

MICHELLE: Insert obligatory Giant Killing appreciation noises.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Tokyo Revengers Series Guide: REMEMBER YOU!, a reference guide to the series with character profiles, designs, etc.

Also from Seven Seas: 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death 2, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 6, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 21, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 8, No Love Zone 3, The Strange House 3, and Tomo-chan is a Girl! Omnibus 4 (the final volume).

A debut at last! From Square Enix we get The God-Slaying Demon King (Kamigoroshi no Maou Saijyaku Shuzoku ni Tensei shi Shijyou Saikyou ni naru), a Manga Up! series about a man who reincarnated after almost defeating the demon king. Now it’s 500 years later, his adopted daughter is missing, and he has to do it all over again.

ASH: A dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do.

ANNA: Those demon kings can be tricky.

SEAN: Also from Square Enix: A Man and His Cat 13 and My Isekai Life 18.

MICHELLE: I should read more A Man and His Cat.

ASH: I haven’t read much of the series, but I enjoyed what I did.

SEAN: Steamship debuts Seduced by the Demon King: A Sensual Rebirth (Tensei Shitara Maou-sama ni Dekiai Saremashita), a josei title from Otomitsu Mangosteen. A woman has been having a bad few weeks. Her real estate job is going badly, the guy she had a crush on at work got married… sigh. Then one day a demon lord smashes into her window and says she used to be the saint and they’re enemies. Except… he vows to make her the happiest woman in the world BEFORE he destroys her, to make the destruction sweeter. Honestly, reverse isekai smut is really rare, so I’ll take a look.

ASH: I’ve certainly encountered worse premises!

ANNA: It could be so much worse.

SEAN: SuBLime debuts Ask and You Will Receive (Sonna ni Iu Nara Daiteyaru), which runs in moment. (Too many BL magazines have ee cummings capitalization, it gets confusing.) A playboy who has a normal “daytime” life as a dull office worker is annoyed that his straight narcissist co-worker is now showing up at his favorite gay bar! Time to get out the hot seduction skills.

ASH: I can’t imagine anything going wrong with that scenario.

SEAN: Worst Soulmate Ever: Proposal (Unmei no Tsugai ni Kyuukon (Propose) da Nante) is the one-shot sequel to the one-shot we saw last December. Marriage comes up.

Tokyopop has The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea (Hinadori wa Shiokaze ni Madoromu), a BL one-shot from Chara. A young man whose family have all recently died adopts his niece and moves to a seaside town, where he meets another young man who also has a tragic past. This is from the creator of Love Nest, Sayonara Game, etc.

MICHELLE: Hm, this looks pretty cute!

SEAN: And there’s a 2nd volume of The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince.

Udon Entertainment has, according to retailers (sorry, Udon, you’re going in the same box as Denpa/KUMA), Veil, a josei manga from Comic Ruelle. A policeman meets a runaway heiress, and he gets her a job. This will be in full color!

ASH: I am really looking forward to this one, whenever it releases.

ANNA: I WANT TO BELIEVE!!!!!

SEAN: Viz has a couple of kinda-sorta first volumes. Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga – Book of Savanaclaw is another in the franchise, and runs in GFantasy. It’s a magical academy with a fighting tournament. Be still my heart.

Also from Viz, Kaiju No. 8: B-Side, the manga adaptation of the light novel spinoff.

And we see Akane-banashi 11, Beyblade X 2, Case Closed 94, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Official Coloring Book 3, Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga 3, I Wanna Do Bad Things with You 5, Pokémon: Sword & Shield 12, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 4, and Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance—Premonition (the final volume).

And we still have some March runoff from Yen, and what’s worse, they haven’t updated their website calendar. This is based off their page. Yen On has Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 6 (the final volume?), Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 13, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 11, The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey 5, and Magical Explorer 9.

And for Yen Press, we get April Showers Bring May Flowers 2, Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents 3, Rejected by the Hero’s Party, a Princess Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2, and A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 16.

That started slow but picked up about halfway through. What did you find?

ASH: A relatively small shoe.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 6

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By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

This is getting an anime pretty soon (in two days, in fact), so it’s interesting to see this volume coming out right before it, as it’s essentially starting a new arc for the series. The last volume brought to a close a lot of Beryl’s issues with his dad, and he’s now come to the conclusion that hey, maybe he *is* pretty strong after all. That said, baby steps. He still struggles with his self-deprecation coming to him automatically through this book. And in regards to his quest for a wife, he’s going to have to get past the “no one could possibly find an old geezer like me attractive” stage to get anywhere. He also straight up says that he’s not going to have any of his former students as bridal candidates, which is essentially EVERYONE to date. So it’s unsurprising that we get a new girl introduced here to offer an alternative.

After dropping by the magical academy to see how the sword magic classes are going, Beryl is called into Allucia’s office. They have to go to the estate of Margrave Flumvelk, who is holding a gathering to celebrate Beryl’s accomplishments to date. Beryl is understandably his usual self about this, but he also knows he can’t refuse a request for a noble, so he, Allucia, and a bunch of knights spend a couple weeks traveling out there. When he arrives, he finds that the margrave is one of his old students, and Allucia’s classmate. He also has a younger sister, Shueste, who he wants to have at Beryl’s side in order to fend off nobility who have designs on Beryl, is gorgeous and clever, and pairs really nicely with Beryl… much to the annoyance of Allucia.

This book is OK, but I have some issues. All the action and drama is backloaded into the last 4th, making it feel like the author had a different ending and was told to change it. We’re introduced to two knights to guard Beryl and Allucia, and one is almost killed, but they both have zero personality between the two of them. They cried out for a side story. More to the point, they do address the elephant in the room here, which is Beryl marrying someone. Warren, the margrave, admits to Allucia that he’d be happy with Beryl marrying his sister… but would also be fine with Beryl marrying Allucia. The key is that Beryl is getting older, and they want someone to carry on the line. I’m not fond of “my awesome sword abilities are genetic” stories, even though, in a world with magic like this, it may be entirely possible. Then again, merely getting Beryl to have sexual desires may be too big a hurdle.

So now we have a whole new subplot with new villains to dig into. The next book promises to finally bring back the adventurer who was one of the harem in Book 1 and then vanished. We’ll see if the anime can bump it up a bit as well.

Victoria of Many Faces, Vol. 2

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By Syuu and Nanna Fujimi. Released in Japan as “Tefuda ga Ōme no Victoria” by MF Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andria McKnight.

The first volume of this series felt very self-contained, but left open the possibility of a sequel hook for the second book. A sequel hook that remains open, because it’s not used here. Instead, this book takes place five years later, with Victoria, Jeffrey and Nonna returning from fantasy China, and is content to do much the same thing the first one did. It divides its time nicely between Victoria having slice-of-live vignettes around the city, reconnecting with the cast of the first book, and raising her daughter to be a wonderful noble girl. This is contrasted with the other half of the book, which is Victoria as spy: she can’t help but decode an ancient book, which reveals the location of a hidden secret, and she’s attacked about five different times in this book, all of the attacks very unsuccessful – she’s not even injured. But the most important part of this book is seeing how Victoria has raised her daughter to be a lovely bundle of terror.

As noted above, Victoria and her family are back in Ashbury, five years after the first book. Nonna is now twelve years old, and has spent the last five years learning Shenese martial arts, which now take up most of her time – when she hears she’s going to be reuniting with Clark, she’s far more interested in showing off her cool kung-fu moves than to talk to a boy who has now grown into a man (with a clear crush on a twelve-year-old – I’ll ignore that for the moment given that in Book 1 he was 12 and she was 6 and it was more cute). She also meets back up with Mr. Bernard, who shows her a rare copy of The Lost Crown a famous adventurer story. This one seems to have some odd typography, and Victoria and Bernard wonder if it’s actually a cipher. This mystery leads to further mysteries which take up the back half of the book.

The best selling point of the book is how matter of fact it is – both Victoria and Nonna are absolutely deadly in a fight, and neither of them are remotely challenged by any of the thugs who attack them in this volume. What’s more, the only real criticism of her daughter following her into a deadly situation and taking out all the thugs with her mother is that she was acting a little too chuuni when she did it. Honestly, the matter of factness even extends to one of the subplots, where the reader (and Nonna to, to be fair) keeps expecting Victoria or her family to win over the heart of the plucky foreign teen they rescued from her country’s outskirts, but we find that in fact the plucky foreign teen is in fact a crook who falls in with a bad crowd and is not in fact redeemed by the power of good thoughts. Sometimes you can’t really do anything about that.

As with the first book, this one ends feeling like it’s the end of the series, but there’s a third in the series out in Japan, so we/’ll see if someone can actually break through the defensive badassery of mother and daughter. This is still a great series.

Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools, Vol. 9

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By Hisaya Amagishi and Kei. Released in Japan as “Madougushi Dahlia wa Utsumukanai” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A.M. Cola.

It’s been a while since we saw the last volume of Dahlia, long enough for me to think that Lucia was the real protagonist and Dahlia was a mysterious side character. But there’s a big difference between Lucia and Dahlia. Lucia may be self-effacing, but she recognizes her own talent and can take an actual compliment. Whereas to Dahlia, taking credit for anything is like being asked to walk over hot coals. We’ve joked about the slow burn between Dahlia and Volf, which at this point may be less slow burn and more a fire that has had water poured over it, but frankly, there’s no way it can go anywhere right now. Not because Dahlia is a commoner – that’s taken care of here – but because Dahlia has no sense of her own worth at all. Which may be partly Tobias’ fault, yes, but could also be due to Carlo, as his desire to protect his daughter seems to have left his daughter thinking she’s TOO ordinary.

As I hinted above, Dahlia’s commoner days will soon be over – she’s getting a barony. As is Jonas, who is equally surprised. This means that she’ll also need to make her noble debut, which will mean… shudder… conversing with others. And dancing. She’d much rather work on magical tools, thanks you, or at least spend her evenings eating delicious food and getting drunk with her bestie Volf, who is so gorgeous but doesn’t see her in a romantic light at all. Right. Dahlia’s lack of perception has never been more annoying. She also gets a tour of the magical tool facility, where she would likely be working if she had enough magic… and the residents of said facility quickly realize that ‘a lot of magic’ is not the be-all and end-all of being brilliant. She’s also helping to bring together different guilds to make better products… really, is there anything Dahlia can’t do? Other than understand her own heart?

There is a genre of Japanese novels where an overworked office worker in a horrible environment dies and ends up in a fantasy world, usually while bemoaning the horrible work standards they have to deal with in modern-day Japan. It’s a typical type of escape. This is its counterpart, where you invent a world where everyone wants to work, work, WORK SO HARD. The heads of the company have to tell their employees to work less. There are literal hypnotic machines designed to force people who have been staying up too much to sleep. What’s more, when you see people that are working incorrectly, or being uncaring or callous, there’s an easy solution. Just add Dahlia, who with a few words and frantic hand waving that it wasn’t anything she did really denials, you can move mountains and get the lions to lie down with the lambs. Or the shoemakers to lie down with the magical tool makers. Honestly, dying and reincarnating as a villainess may be a lot more realistic.

That said, as the “extra” story shows this time around, we may have to do more than just get Dahlia to be noble and somehow hook her up with Volf. She’s special, and it’s only a matter of time before her specialness impacts the plot a lot more than it is now. But till then, please have some nice food, some wonderful alcohol, and for dessert, modesty that is so ridiculous it’s become a literal Tragic Flaw.

Pick of the Week: Pink Candy Picks

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ASH: I find this week my heart torn between two debuts. The first is Pink Candy Kiss—josei is becoming more common in translation, which delights me, but we still don’t see too much josei yuri. The second is the BL title vs. LOVE, because I know it’s going to be difficult for me to resist a delinquent manga taking its inspiration from Shakespeare.

SEAN: I’ll go with Pink Candy Kiss as well, which seems the more appealing of the two yuri debuts this week.

MICHELLE: Same here (though I’m looking forward to a Tamon’s B-side binge!)

This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-Aged Man!, Vol. 1

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By Yuhi Shimano and NAJI Yanagida. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Kokoro wa Oji-san de Aru” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Kashi Kamitoma.

It feels like it’s been forever since I last picked up a Volume 1 of something that was just plain “isekai fantasy”. I suppose there was Land Mines, but that was after I got it recommended to me, and I was a couple years later on it. This one, however, came out today. I wasn’t going to look at it at all, but I saw it had won a few awards, including the “best for middle-aged men” category. How apropos. Given I’m in that demographic as well, I figured I would take a flyer on another isekai, despite the fact that it looked worriedly like one of those “I was a schlub in Japan, but now I’m a hot elf babe” books. Which, to be fair, it is, but that’s not what it’s actually about. This is a “can I regain the sense of justice and righteousness that my life in Japan ground out of me?”. The answer to that is, so far, a work in progress.

Haruka, a middle-aged middle manager who used to be a cute kid till he discovered that being the nail that sticks up and is not hammered down is a bad idea, is startled to find himself in the middle of the woods, and also he’s not in the body of a gorgeous young dark elf. She has no idea what happened, if she was transported or died or what, and no goddess gave her instructions. Fortunately, she meets a passing adventurer, who takes her to the standard adventuring city you get in these sorts of books, and discovers how to make a living in a fantasy world that turns out to be, to no one’s surprise except perhaps her own, a lot more dangerous to someone like her than you’d expect. Fortunately, she seems to have skill at magic. A LOT of skill at magic.

This isn’t terrific, but it’s solid. Haruka is an introvert who has also been somewhat crushed by life, and she’s very god at reading emotions of others but very bad at caring about her own self. (Despite Haruka being a man who ends up in a woman’s body, there’s not too much of a trans narrative here, beyond one interlude which ends by telling us we’ll be using she/her from now on.) The author states that they tried to write some bad guys, but kept thinking of all the characters as “cute”, so it didn’t quite work out. That’s for the better – there’s not many paragons here, and we only see true villains near the end. for the most part her world consists of teenage hotheads, lotharios who are trying to explain it’s different this time, creepy lesbian stalkers who have her best interests at heart but also her worst interests, etc. One of the stronger scenes is done from the POV of the teenage hothead, who yells at her and then, when he goes to apologize, suddenly realizes that she’s completely devastated and near tears from “her own failings”. A lot of this book is Haruka putting herself back together.

The second book should see more of that journey. This is a decent isekai, with only light novel cliche I hate (dwelling far too long on someone peeing themselves in fear). I’ll read more.

Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 6

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

While this series has tried, at times, to be a cute girls doing television things series, or a magical academy-type series, at its heart it’s a battle manga. And for several volumes now, we’ve been building up to the thing that every battle manga has to have: a fighting tournament. Now, to be fair, we don’t get the tournament itself: that looks like it will be the next volume. But we get all the build up to it, as Nia has earned enough money for the King to put everything into position, and she finds that everyone is ready for this – and not just because of the money, either. She created a monster in the powerful adventurer Leeno, and everyone wants to measure themselves against her. Unfortunately for the reader, Leeno has another identity, and that identity is a creepy lolicon. We’ll ignore that for now, though.

So yes, the tournament is gearing up, but Nia has bigger problems. She’s finally starting to realize that the other two channels run by her friends are stomping her own into the ground, and racing dogs is not going to cut it anymore. She needs a new gimmick. She gets some help when Char, one of the school’s video crew we met last time, asks for her help with getting parts so he can repair a broken skiff. When she goes to see what he’s been doing, she not only sees how his drive to repair and ride the skiff will make for a great new TV show, but also that skiff racing may be something that she can put her money and power behind. It turns out that she’s not alone in thinking that, and in fact the ground floor is rapidly filing up – but fortunately, the contacts she’s made in previous books help her out. Now if only there’s not a little… accident.

If you worry that the tournament being next volume means there’s not as much beating people up as usual, fear not. Gandolph beats up a bunch of people, Nia then goes and beats up the SAME bunch of people, and there are also some assassin goons who are less mature than their assassin bosses and get ahead of themselves. There’s also Anzel, who has rapidly become almost the second protagonist of this series. Once again, he gets a subplot in the second half of the book where he has to prevent sabotage and act cool. He also gets beaten up a lot. Hopefully he can recover by the next book, as he, like so many other people, are in the tournament, and they have to win it no matter what. Fortunately for everyone involves, Leeno seems to be the pinnacle, as Nia is not participating. Yet. Can’t wait to see how that changes, cause I can’t imagine her sitting this out.

So, aside from the unfortunate “comedy” of young women leering over literal children, this remains a fun shonen fight series. for fans of such things.

Earl and Fairy: The Bright Star of London Bridge

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

Even before the author explicitly stated it in the afterword, I was thinking “this has the feel of a season finale”. Which makes sense. It’s the 10th volume, and wraps up a lot of the longest-running plot strands while also introducing some new, worrying ones. That said, the start of it was difficult for me, mostly due to my own personal tastes: I hate amnesia stories. Lydia spends the bulk of this book without any memory of anything beyond Book One, so remembers Edgar only at his most annoying. What’s more, Kelpie, who may be a supernatural water demon but has “unlucky childhood friend” written all over him, is doing his best to make sure that does not change. It can be a bit frustrating and feel like “the author is trying to string out getting them together by adding complications”. Fortunately, it doesn’t last the book. Those who are here for the romance should be quite happy with how this one wraps up.

Lydia may be back in Scotland with amnesia, and the Prince on the verge of gaining a new younger body, but, priorities, before anything else Edgar has to track down Lydia’s father and try to get his permission to marry Lydia. There is one slight problem: no one seems to trust him when he says that Lydia agreed to this. Can’t imagine why. He does manage to get up to Scotland, but Kelpie’s spell is hard to get around, even if Lydia seems to really want to remember and believe him, but can’t think why. She’s also upset when she hears that he’s going back to London to deal with the Prince once and for all, and so she and Nico head there on a fairy path… which leads to her being trapped under London Bridge, and Edgar having to infiltrate a mansion where a mind-swapping ritual is about to happen. Oh yes, and there’s an Ark on the Thames, and it’s going to explode.

This is a very Edgar-heavy book, and we sympathize with him, but it’s also very easy to see why everyone doubts him. The fact that he’s genuinely surprised that Raven didn’t really believe him when he said Lydia accepted his proposal says something about his levels of self-denial. And I am definitely worried about the new plot twist, which I’m sure will lead to more bad things down the line. Still, for now, he and Lydia are finally together and engaged. Indeed, the author seems to be in more of a romance mind that usual. Lotta, Edgar’s old companion, shows up again, and she’s still very much in “I am a boyish pirate captain” mode. Paul, Edgar’s sad-sack artist friend, is also here, and just as much of a chew toy as previous books. When the two of them first meet, you can almost hear the lightbulb go off over the author’s head, and the rest of the book contrives to put them in cute romantic situations. I have no doubt we’ll see more of this.

All this plus Ermine showing up to be vaguely mysterious and duplicitous. This was a very good “season ender”.

A Certain Magical Index NT, Vol. 4

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

When I reviewed the third volume of New Testament, I said that it was great, after two false stars, to finally have the Index series we remembered back again. Well, guess what, I’m eating my words once more, as this volume features almost none of the main cast, and even Touma, who is technically here, is defined in this book by his absence. And that’s a very deliberate thing. The book this volume reminds me of the most is Vol. 15 of the first Index series, which was a battle royale featuring actual deaths, including people who we (retroactively, after they were fleshed out later) liked.This volume also features a gimmick of pictures of characters that go dark when they’re “killed”, but over the course of the book the lights go on and off on those characters like a pinball. Who’s alive? Who’s dead? It doesn’t matter, because this Index is getting as close as it’s ever gotten to pure horror.

Welcome to Baggage City, located somewhere in Eastern Europe, which is having a fighting tournament that’s bringing all the desperate people with a cool ability and something to prove. Unfortunately for the competitors and all the spectators, this event is being hijacked. Both by GREMLIN, who have planted a few lovely little sociopaths into the event, but also the Kiharas (you may remember Amata Kihara from Book 12-13, where he was turned into a star in the sky by Accelerator). And, yes, Academy City has sent a bunch of soldiers as well, whose sole purpose appears to be providing the “horror” part of the book as one of GREMLIN enjoys doing things like magically changing a guy’s arms to faucets and turning on the taps so blood pours out. There’s also Maria Kumokawa, who we mostly remember as being the maid friend of Tsuchimikado’s maid sister. And there’s Touma… maybe? Boy, there’s not much Touma.

I used to do a breakdown of who the new characters were, as well as where in the timeline this took place. I’ve dropped that, as a) we’re well past the Railgun stories so the timeline is less important (though notably one of the “protagonists” in this book shows up in Railgun years later as an antagonist), and b) it’s hopeless, there’s just too much. Not only are too many characters introduced here, many of whom die before we even get a chance to see who they are, but we also have to deal with the fact that this series is very popular in Japan and not very popular here, so one of the villains we see towards the end, who is introduced as if we know her, turns out to be from one of the Railgun Short Story books. This is actually a pretty strong book, making the point that the reason for all the horror is that Touma is absent from the scene, and the moment he shows up people stop suffering and start getting saved. But unfortunately when Touma arrives there are too many bad guys doing things all at once, two of whom we meet for the first time at that moment, and one of whom, I know from spoiling myself, is VERY important to the whole series going forward. For now, though? Just another bad guy monologuing.

Fortunately, the next two books (yes, it’s a two-parter) seem to get back to more wacky Index shenanigans, possible with actual Index herself. Though I would not count on it. Till then, enjoy the darkness of a world with minimal Touma.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/27/25

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A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 19 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa | Seven Seas – The flashback that never ends continues, and it’s still not over, though we are at least at the end of this PART of the flashback, showing all the various factions trying to outdo each other, and learning—big surprise—that some of them are connected to the Dark Side of Academy City, and their goal is to completely destroy the school’s reputation. Fortunately Mikoto is in this volume, though she’s still not as relevant as I’d like. We don’t get Kuroko till the end, for the cliffhanger, which also shows that Mikoto’s roommate and best friend who we have never seen in the present day is—again, big surprise—a traitor. This is Mikoto’s series, so the plot twists tend to be as twisty as a pocky stick, but hey. Time to wait another year. – Sean Gaffney

Choking on Love, Vol. 1 | By Keiko Iwashita| Seven Seas – I’ve been trying to read more good old-fashioned shoujo lately, and this is an excellent example. An art student has been struggling at school because her designs are too staid, mostly as she lacks confidence. Then while working on her laptop at a ramen shop, it gets drinks spilled on it by a hot guy, and she screams at him, only to find that a) he’s also at her school, and b) he’s in a band. After helping her with her project, the two grow closer, and he asks her to design their band’s flyers. The title seems to refer to her own feelings about this guy, as she clearly likes him almost immediately but is very frustrated by that fact, and he too is surprised by how well they get on right off the bat, as he usually tries to ignore women. I’ll definitely read more. – Sean Gaffney

Colette Decides to Die, Vol. 2 | By Alto Yukimura| Viz Media – The bulk of the first volume of this omnibus sees Colette literally going up to heaven, as there are gods there that are asking for her treatment. As it turns out, their issues are more psychological than physical, but that doesn’t matter to her. The second half of the omnibus sees Colette trying something she’s never done before, as she has to assist a midwife with a pregnant woman. This basically involves her and her coworker (both coworkers get slightly more to do this time around) learning that there’s a lot more to being pregnant than just getting bigger till the baby comes out. Interspersed with this are scenes with her and Lord Hades, especially in the first half, where she’s searching heaven for a rare flower and almost gets stranded. This is really good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: The Complete Manga Collection | By Hiroshi Hiroyama and TYPE-MOON | Seven Seas – Just as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was a spinoff of an eroge (no, not Nanoha herself) that turned into a massive magical girl franchise, so the Fate/Stay Night series has this manga, which is an alternate continuity where Rin and her rival Luvia (this is the series where she really makes a real appearance) are magical girls, but when they annoy their magical sticks Illya, a “normal” girl living with her brother Shirou and her maids Sella and Leysritt, and Miyu, a mysterious girl with a dark past living with Luvia, get to be Card Captors, only with the battles being a lot more bloody. This is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a Fate magical girl spinoff, and Fate fans should greatly enjoy it. – Sean Gaffney

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 12 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – For the most part, we’ve only really experienced Frieren’s journeys with Himmel and company in flashback. But now she’s back in time, and we get zero Fern and Stark and a lot more of her original party. This is good—they’re all great characters, and I like how they all notice, but never actually say out loud, how much she’s changed and emotionally matured over the years. Unfortunately, there are also demons in this time, and Frieren has to be very careful to avoid using magic so powerful that it hasn’t been discovered this far back in time. All this plus a lot of walking around looking for a way to return to the future and coming up empty over and over again. But then, the journey is what’s important. Great stuff. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 40 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I know Bakugo has his fans—he’s been the #1 in the character polls since the series began—but I know at least a few people who were really annoyed when, as you might expect, he turned out not to be quite dead despite having his heart destroyed a few volumes ago. And to be fair, Horikoshi does give us a way to explain it besides “power of shonen,” even though that’s what it is. I was less fond of the connection between Bakugo and All for One, which even All for One admits is a coincidence but allows the narrative to slide him off the screen so that the final battle can be Deku vs. Shigaraki, as we know it has to be. We’ve only got two volumes to go after this, and it’s probably for the best, as by god this is exhausting. – Sean Gaffney

Ninja Sarutobi Sasuke | By Sugiura Shigeru | New York Review Comics – At this point, only three manga have been published by New York Review Comics, but they have all been remarkable; I’m very curious to see what else may be translated in the future. The most recent volume to have been published, Ninja Sarutobi Sasuke, originally released in 1969, is largely a redrawing of some of Sugiura’s popular work from the 1950s. I don’t think I’ve read or seen anything quite like it before. Nominally, the plot follows the eponymous hero as he travels throughout early Edo-era Japan, recruiting others to the warlord Sanada Yukimura’s cause and wreaking havoc for those who would use ninjutsu for ill. On top of this historical framework is layered a cacophony of impressive visuals, a multitude of anachronisms, and pop culture references originating from both Japan and the West. It’s surreal nonsense, a gag manga that leans heavily into its outrageousness to great and astonishing effect. -Ash Brown

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 13 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship – After a brief arc about the power of addictive Korean barbecue, we meet the latest girlfriend in this volume, who is a) a teacher, and b) a mess. You could argue Naddy is the same, but Naddy 100% has her life together compared to Momoha, the school’s ethics teacher who spends most of her time when not teaching drinking, gambling, masturbating (no, she tells us herself), and living in a tent on school grounds. The biggest gag is that despite this, when it comes to people OTHER than herself, she’s an excellent ethics teacher… so the polycule may be in danger, what with its 13-year-old cousins and 89-year-old grandmas who look eight. Let’s not even get into the huge arc where everyone pretends to be drunk. For fans, as always. – Sean Gaffney

The Revenge of My Youth: Re Life with an Angelic Girl, Vol. 1 | By Yuzi Keino and Boiru Iseebi | One Peace Books – After working himself to the point of collapse, thirty-year-old Shin’ichiro Niihama, completely dissatisfied with the course his life has taken, somehow wakes up in the past as his high school self. He doesn’t understand what’s going on, but that’s not going to stop him from trying to change things, hoping that life will be different for himself as well as for the young woman who is most important to him. The ways in which basic workplace skills are applied to solve teenage problems in the story is highly entertaining; Shin’ichiro finds not only his school life significantly improved, but his love life, too. (Or, at least what will obviously become his love life, even if he’s being incredibly dense about it.) But one of my favorite things about The Revenge of My Youth is actually the wonderfully wholesome relationship between Shin’ichiro and his younger sister, who is absolutely delightful. -Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 4/2/25

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SEAN: Ah, time to begin April, the best month.

MICHELLE: Indeed.

SEAN: Yen On has some leftover titles from March, as we see I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 16, The Kept Man of the Princess Knight 4, Victoria of Many Faces 2, and Wandering Witch 15.

ASH: I was hoping for an aquarium theme there, but flowers are also acceptable.

SEAN: Yen Press has one debut, The Anemone Feels the Heat (Anemone wa Netsu o Obiru), a yuri title from Manga Time Kirara Forward. A girl headed to her high school exams stops to help a sick girl, and thus fails by being late. Now in a lower-tiered high school, she finds… the very girl she stopped to help. Can she overcome her bitter feelings and get to know her?

Also from Yen Press: Blade & Bastard 2, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 12, and Hazure Skill 7.

Viz Media debuts Pink Candy Kiss (Tsumetakute Yawaraka), a josei yuri title from Cocohana. A woman has her boyfriend break up with her because “she never gets jealous”, and she admits that she’s not too broken up by the breakup. Then a former classmate from middle school joins her workplace, but is now a mysterious beauty!

MICHELLE: I’m here for josei yuri!

ASH: Same! Definitely curious about this one.

ANNA: Oh, this sounds good.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Dandadan 12, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu Academy 5, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Shining Diamond’s Demonic Heartbreak 3 (the final volume), Marriage Toxin 6, Moriarty the Patriot 19 (the final volume), Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite 3, Rainbow Days 15, and Tamon’s B-Side 7.

MICHELLE: I need to read more Tamon.

ASH: I probably should, too. (Granted, I haven’t actually read any yet…)

SEAN: Steamship debuts The Trapped Former Villainess Wants to Escape from the Sadistic Prince (Tsunderu Moto-Akuyaku Reijo wa Do-S Ouji-sama kara Nigedashitai), a josei title from Comic Boost. An office worker wakes in the body of a former villainess in an otome game… and her husband is not happy that she now has memories of a life in Japan! Can she escape before he attempts to seduce her to regain the villainess’ memories? For dubcon fans.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has By the Grace of the Gods 12, My Happy Marriage 5, and Otherside Picnic 12.

Seven Seas has two debuts. The Long Summer of August 31 (8-gatsu 31-nichi no Long Summer) is a seinen title from Weekly Morning; KManga had it licensed digitally, and here’s the print version. A high school boy and girl are trapped in a Groundhog Day loop, all because he hasn’t gotten a girlfriend and lost his virginity as he vowed. This is apparently “funny but heartwarming”.

ASH: Time loops are interesting, but I feel like re-reading All You Need Is Kill might be the better option for me this time.

SEAN: vs. LOVE is a BL version of Romeo and Juliet with gangs, and it’s from the creator of Blood Night Market. It ran in Magazine Be x Boy.

MICHELLE: Hm. I like the cover art, at least!

ASH: Shakespeare-inspired delinquent BL? I’m in.

ANNA: It sounds interesting!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Great Snake’s Bride 5, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 17, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 11, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout 6, My Girlfriend’s Child 7, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 3, Perfect Buddy 3, Re:Monster 10, Reborn Rich 3, Sweet Room Escape 2 (the final volume), and Yonoi Tsukihiko’s Happy Hell 2.

ASH: The Great Snake’s Bride is another series I should catch up with; i vaguely recall enjoying the first volume.

SEAN: One Peace Books gives us Kurokiya-san Wants to Lead Him Around by the Nose 4.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut. The Dashing Zaddy and His Icy Protégé (Ikeoji Monster to Zettai Reido Danshi) is a BL series from Palcy. Yes, ‘zaddy’ has hit a mainstream manga title. This zaddy has a shameful secret, though. Perhaps… he needs a younger but equally hot colleague?

MICHELLE: I went to read the description of this one and it turns out this “zaddy” is all of 40. *cries in old person*

ASH: Manga years are like dog years, right? There has got to be some sort of time conversion going on.

ANNA: I’m so old.

SEAN: Also in print: The Fable Omnibus 7, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 6, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN MSD Cucuruz Doan’s Island 4, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 16, WIND BREAKER 10, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 13.

Digitally we see Chihayafuru 49, Matcha Made in Heaven 11, Shangri-La Frontier 20, That Beauty Is a Tramp 5, and Those Snow White Notes 27.

MICHELLE: I was just thinking it’s about time for a new Chihayafuru.

ANNA: I might never catch up on Chihayafuru, but I have faith in my ability to keep up on Matcha Made in Heaven.

SEAN: Just one debut from J-Novel Club, and it’s a manga. Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! (Isekai ni Otosareta… Jouka wa Kihon!) is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and runs in Comic Corona. Normal dude gets truck-kun’d, ends up in a fantasy forest where he befriends vicious wolves and tries to lift a curse of “black mist of evil”.

Light novels out from J-Novel Club next week: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 17, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 9, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 6, The Hero-Killing Bride 2, Housekeeping Mage from Another World 9, and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 13 (the final volume).

And for manga, they have A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 5, Only I Know That This World Is a Game 7, The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 3, and The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 5.

Ghost Ship has a 6th and final volume of I’m Not a Succubus!.

Cross Infinite World debuts This Alluring Dark Elf Has the Heart of a Middle-aged Man! (Watashi no Kokoro wa Oji-san de Aru). A (male) office worker wakes in the body of a (female) dark-haired elf in a fantasy world. Unfortunately, this elf is still an introvert who avoids others.

They also have Expedition Cooking with the Enoch Royal Knights 6 and Fluffy Paradise 7.

No print for Airship, but we do see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 20.5 and A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO 2.

A good start to the month! What are you buying?