Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 4

by

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

It took me far longer than I’d expected to finish this volume of Re: Zero, mostly because I had to pause and stop reading every time Subaru was an absolute idiot. Now, one might argue that the entire premise of the series is that Subaru is an idiot and grows and learns through a series of bitter, horrible experiences, and they’d be right. But this book in particular was filled with (mostly) well-meaning, decent people trying to help Subaru, and his ignoring and steamrollering through them because, deep down, he’s sure that he’s meant to be the protagonist of a story starring him. And in the end it all comes crashing down around him. He’s not dead, but he’s lost Emilia, and to him that may well be worse than death. Fighting against the injustice of the worst is very gritty and shonen, but it does help if you are something other than just this schlub in a tracksuit.

I’ve often said that the fourth book in a series is usually where you can tell the difference in writing between “maybe this will be a success” and “this is a success”, and Re: Zero is no exception. The cast, which had by design been small and intimate in the first three books, grows exponentially, as we’re introduced to all the various factions that are presenting themselves to lead the country – including Emilia, of course, who is understandably worries and upset and really does not need her pet loose cannon dropping in. As expected, Emilia is getting the cold shoulder for her heritage and her looks. That said, the other four candidates each have something that also makes the committee to help choose them want to scream and shout,l so she’s in with a better chance than you’d expect. Oh yes, and we see the reintroduction of Felt, the backalley thief from Book One who was spirited away. Spoiler: she’s a long-lost princess! Luckily, she’s still the Artful Dodger at heart.

In this mess we have Subaru, who was told by Emilia to stay behind and get healed while she deals with this alone, which he agrees to and then promptly disobeys the second she leaves. She knows that if he watches the ceremony at the palace, he’d only get really upset and make a scene. Then he ends up at the ceremony, gets very upset and makes a scene. To be fair to Subaru, he is kicking against the right people here. The knights are arrogant and elitist. They’re also badasses, and he is not. His ending fight with Julius is ridiculous and pathetic, showing that grim determination can only take you so far, and serving to destroy his bond with Emilia once and for all (or at least till a future book).

The book is well-written, and I genuinely want to see m ore, especially as it’s now been two whole books since Subaru last died. And I also want to see more from Rem, who is still far and away the most popular character in the series but is barely in this volume. So I’d call the book a success. But read it in small stages, and you may need to see your dentist afterwards. Let’s hope Subaru gains wisdom next book, though I’m not holding my breath.

Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat, Vol. 1

by

By Natsumi Hoshino. Released in Japan as “Kijitora Neko no Koume-san” by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Neko Panchi. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nan Rymer.

Cat manga have been around in North America for a very long time, but never in any great number. Fans with a long memory will recall the years Dark Horse put out What’s Michael? (which I desperately wish would get a re-release), and Vertical has recently been releasing the adorable Chi’s Sweet Home. Japan loves their cats. Japan loves their cats so much, in fact, that one company has a magazine devoted only to cat manga, Neko Panchi. Technically classified as josei, it runs the gamut from supernatural cat manga, to Edo-period cat manga to funny cat manga to cat manga with romance (between humans, I hasten to add). There’s something for everyone. And now we have this title, the story of a cat owned by a young teenage boy and his ditzy mother, and her travails when a new kitten is added to the family. If you like cute cats, you will not be disappointed.

That said, apologies if this review seems to be grasping for ways to fill out the word count. This is not the sort of title where you can spend time talking about the depth of the plot of the characters. We have: Plum, the titular cat, who alternates between being the long-suffering older cat dealing with the excitable and troublemaking new kitten Snowball; Taku, a teenage boy who seems to be Plum’s owner, and loves cats but is for the most part responsible and level-headed; his youthful-looking mother, who loves cats and is for the most part NOT responsible or level-headed, but it’s fun watching her be a ditz; and Taku’s classmates, one of whom is an animal wikipedia whose job it is to provide exposition, and the other of whom owns a raccoon (yes, for once, it is an actual raccoon). As for the plot – cat gets into trouble, cat deals with kitten, cat celebrates Christmas, mom has dream sequence with endless cats of various kinds… the plot is cats.

This is cute, and cat fans will enjoy it. Most of the humor stems from either Snowball, the new kitten in the family, and Plum’s reaction to same, or the antics of Taku’s somewhat immature mother. The art fits the story well, with the cats drawn for maximum awwwww and the humans looking like they would if this ran in any other josei magazine like Feel Young. It’s apparently 16 volumes and running in Japan, which shows that it knows how to do the cat manga thing properly. I’m not sure if I’m down for 16 volumes of this, but I’ll definitely be picking up more of the series, as it’s a nice light snack of a manga to read after you’ve taken in something heavy. All cat lovers should enjoy this.

Pick of the Week: Write To Me And Escape

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: So the Kodansha digital debuts I mentioned are actually moved to the 18th. This means my pick shall me an “older” digital-only title, The Full-Time Wife Escapist. The escapes are the best part.

MICHELLE: In the Kodansha digital realm, I’m definitely looking forward to the fourth volume of The Full-Time Wife Escapist. My real pick, though, is the second volume of Dreamin’ Sun, as I enjoyed volume one quite a bit.

KATE: Oof — this is some slim pickings. My suggestion: skip the manga aisle this week and watch GLOW instead. It’s a valentine to 80s pop culture that recognizes what a weird and sometimes awful decade it was. Great performances, snappy dialogue, and a big, appealing cast of characters made GLOW five of the best hours of TV I’ve seen this year.

ANNA: I find The Full-Time Wife Escapist such a fun series. I enjoy the unconventional not romance combined with slice of life activities and occasional discussions about the economy. That’s my pick!

ASH: While I’m curious to see where Dreamin’ Sun is heading, my pick this week is the final Legendary Edition of Akira Himekawa’s all-ages The Legend of Zelda manga. Up until this point I had resisted collecting the series, but the new edition’s larger trim sizes, additional content, and great design makes for an immensely appealing package.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/10/17

by and Leave a Comment

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 7 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – It is becoming increasingly apparent that, whatever his own emotional turmoil, Elias made the right decision in bringing Chise into his fold, as we keep hearing about her value as a specimen rather than a young girl. Actually, that line of thinking rolls through this entire volume, as a baby dragon is snatched to be used in experimentation and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Fortunately, an increasingly powerful Chise is there, and is working hard to retrieve it. Unfortunately, we keep getting more hints that she’s simply not going to live to be middle-aged, much less an old woman. As for Elias and Chise, she seems more like an older sister now than a bride. Still fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 3 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | VIZ Media – Huh. I didn’t think I’d ever grow to truly like Anonymous Noise, but I have to say that it’s beginning to grow on me. For the first time, when In No Hurry to Shout makes their TV debut and Nino scream-sings her feelings after an unpleasant encounter with Momo, I actually kind of bought into the idea of the manga being about a kickass band. Of course, the plot soon detours into love polygon angst, with Nino loving Momo, who’s a jerk to her for no apparent reason, and Yuzu loving Nino, and Miou loving Yuzu, and even a random angsty bit of foreshadowing from the drummer, who has barely registered as a character up to this point. I certainly don’t love this series, but I’m not ready to give up on it yet. – Michelle Smith

DAYS, Vol. 3 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seiseki High is progressing through the Interhigh Tokyo Preliminaries. Tsukamoto continues to be the weakest member of the team, but he’s still enjoying himself so much that he’s doing all that he can to hang on to his spot. His dedication inspires the much-more-talented Jin Kazama not to slack off, either. As before, we learn more about some of the other teammates and their personalities and strengths—this time it’s Kimishita, a second-year who stresses whenever Tsukamoto is on the field because he’s not a viable pass recipient. Yet, even he ends up impressed by Tsukamoto’s efforts to improve in this area, and it’s eventually revealed that the whole team has benefited from this energic newbie, as they increased their stamina while striving to avoid being shown up by the shrimp. Good stuff! – Michelle Smith

Flying Witch, Vol. 2 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – While Makoto continues to be the least-secret witch ever, she at least is impressing (somewhat) her cousin Chinatsu, who is now asking them to train her in being a witch. I suspect that this may end up being the main plot going forward, though that may be putting too much faith in Flying Witch to have a plot. Witches or no, it’s a slice-of-life series at heart, and so it’s content to meander along. We also meet Akane’s friend Inukai, who at first seems to be an example of Akane’s overly uncaring nature, but in reality turns out to be a lesson on the dangers of getting too drunk. It’s a cute and fun title, but don’t expect excitement—this is a series where weeding gets multiple chapters. – Sean Gaffney

Honey So Sweet, Vol. 7 | By Amu Meguro | VIZ Media –First-year Miyabi Nishigaki has a crush on Taiga. He remains oblivious throughout the majority of the volume, but it’s really bothering Nao. Of course, being Nao, she doesn’t want to be annoying or come across as unreasonable, so she only finally says something after Miyabi invites herself along with the gang to a festival and not only wears the exact yukata Nao is wearing, but even emulates her actions, including a creepy moment where she tries to spoonfeed Taiga some of her shaved ice. Because Nao and Taiga are incredibly nice, instead of wondering about Miyabi’s mental health, they feel bad for not considering her feelings. Eventually everyone reconciles. It’s a decent volume with plenty of cute moments for our leads, but I hope Meguro-sensei dispenses with love rivals for the next, and final, volume. – Michelle Smith

Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Vol. 5 | By Masume Yoshimoto | One Peace Books – Honestly, we’ve gotten to the point where I feel the series needs more of the bear. And, I mean, there’s already a fair amount of bear in here. The scenes where he has to pretend to be the village mascot in a highly realistic suit are cute, as is his stress about Twitter. The difficulty is that when the focus is not on him, it turns to Machi, whose total social ineptness really raises the bar for every other socially inept manga character. The scenes of her trying to use a computer are more painful than funny. She works better bouncing off of Hibiki, whose constant simmering anger is an oasis of calm compared to Machi’s stress. Mostly, though, this series continues to be highly variable. – Sean Gaffney

No Game No Life, Please!, Vol. 1 | By Kazuya Yuizaki and Yuu Kamiya | Yen Press – The actual No Game No Life main manga adaptation got one volume out and then seemed to fall into limbo, so to a certain extent this may be the closest we get to more of the manga. As you might guess by the title, the series focuses on Izuna, the Werebeast girl with a mind for games and a mouth for swearing. As you’d expect given this is No Game No Life, there’s a certain amount of perverse fanservice, but in fact it’s actually a lot less than I feared. Mostly this serves as a collection of short stories starring Izuna, as she grows and learns about games and actual life lessons. She even learns from Steph! Gasp! If you enjoy NGNL and wish the manga continued, this is worth picking up. – Sean Gaffney

RIN-NE, Vol. 24 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – RIN-NE continues with its episodic Shonen Sunday stylings. The first half is incredibly dull, relying largely on more gags involving Anematsuri-sensei’s crystal ball, but the second half is actually kind of neat. A large reward is offered to whomever defeats a black fox spirit. The best tool for the job is a specific scythe, which happens to pick Sakura as its owner. A smitten Rinne enjoys coaching her on how to use the thing, and even wonders if she has the aptitude to be a shinigami. Stupid me, I actually got my hopes up for a second that this would be some kind of turning point in the manga, but no. Although Sakura does gain a greater appreciation for the job Rinne performs, she’s content to move on once she fulfills her quota, leaving the scythe ready to choose someone else. It was reasonably entertaining while it lasted, though! – Michelle Smith

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 4

by

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

I’m not certain if this is deliberate or accidental, but so far in Rokujouma each starring heroine has been the one featured on the PREVIOUS cover. Sanae features on the cover of Book 2, and gets most of her development in 3. Theia features on the cover of 3, and gains the most development (and a rival) in this book. And, judging by the cliffhanger ending, the next volume will focus primarily on Yurika, who’s on the cover of this volume. Of course, given this is a harem comedy with a large cast, everyone gets something or other to do in this book. But there’s no doubt the main thrust is the play that Theia writes using her own planet’s history, and how much it resonates with some of the cast. And, as I noted above, we get another candidate for the throne as well, who seems to be the mad scientist type, and is perfectly OK with killing others if she can get away with it. Fortunately, this is a comedy.

The other beneficiary of this school play is Harumi, who is a knitting club member rather than a drama club member, but everyone agrees that she has the look and feel of the princess that Theia has “creates”. The gag, of course, being that she only turns into a good actor – only identifies with how the princess is feeling about being separated from her knight – when it’s Koutarou who’s playing opposite her. In fact, it feels like a bit more than a gag, and there are hints that there may be some serious reincarnation or something similar going on here. Of course, this makes for a great excuse to have Koutarou, also not a Drama Club member, play the Blue Knight, which allows Theia to give him rigorous knightly training with a suit of armor that fits him abnormally well. I;ve often said that Vol. 4s tends to be the ones where the plot is greatly expanded as the publisher tells the author it won’t be cancelled immediately, and that seems to be the case here.

The others don’t get as much to do – though I noted that Yurika saved the day without anyone realizing it again, a running gag that suits her misfortune. We do see that after the events of the previous volume, everyone is getting along much better – aside from the occasional abuse of Yurika because, well, that’s what happens to her – there’s little jealousy or typical harem antics going on here. I suspect the ship here may end up being a poly one (in fact, many of J-Novel’s current licenses have legal or implied polygamy – coincidence?), but it’s handled well enough, and poly ships also help to avoid all that “who is best girl?” nonsense. Rokujouma is never going to win any awards for originality or good writing, but it’s like a good beef stew, a meat and potatoes sort of book you can read anytime. Recommended to fans of the genre.

Appleseed Alpha

by

By Iou Kuroda, based on the manga create by Masamune Shirow. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Morning Two. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Lillian Olsen and Stephen Paul.

It has been an awfully long time since I read Appleseed, even with the recent digital release. And I haven’t seen the 2014 movie that this is apparently a spinoff from, though I understand the manga and anime may only be loosely based off each other anyway. But that’s OK, because Appleseed Alpha is still a perfectly enjoyable, if occasionally too busy for its own good, story. All you really need to know is that the human woman is Deunan Knute, and her lover/companion is Briareos, a former human who is now mostly cyborg. (How far they go as lovers is, as always, left mostly ambiguous.) The main series proper saw them living in, and rebelling against, the utopia of Olympus. The Alpha story is a prequel, so naturally we get to spend it in a dystopia – the remains of New York City, run by a cyborg who is half mayor and half mafia boss.

Shirow is not writing or drawing this, by the way, but the artist is not unknown to North American readers – it’s Iou Kuroda, creator of cult classic Sexy Voice and Robo. That felt like more of an indie comic than a manga, and this feels much the same, which makes sense as it ran in Kodansha’s experimental manga title Morning Two. The art has thick lines and less detailed faces, though trust me, there’s just as much detailed background and cityscapes as you’re used to with this title. The main plot separates our heroes early, as Briareos, by nature of his not only being a cyborg but one of the awesome cyborgs, is lauded by the mayor (whether he likes it or not) and Deunan is left out in the cold. She ends up outside the city, meeting a group of farmers who may have more links to the city than she had expected. Meanwhile, Briareos has, of course, NOT abandoned Deunan, and ends up heading out to see her.

This one-volume omnibus has a few cool battles, though the artist seems more suited to drawing the effects of the fights than the fights themselves. There’s also some amusing humor, the best of which involves several trains filled with cows all heading into the remains of Penn Station with drivers asleep at the wheel. Deunan and Briareos feel in character – both somewhat removed from society, yet still highly involved it it – and Deunan still gets to be a hothead at times. As for the mayor, Two Horns, he is a hoot, a giant parody of all mayors with a sinister side to him as well – and a mysterious past that gets revealed right at the end of the book. I’d definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of Appleseed. For others, even though it’s technically a prequel/alternate universe, I’d recommend starting with the four main Appleseed books themselves.

Demon King Daimaou, Vol. 1

by

By Shoutaro Mizuki and Souichi Itou. Released in Japan as “Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Musto.

While I would not go so far as to say that it was terrible, or that I won’t get more (I am curious to see what happens next), there’s no getting around the fact that Demon King Daimaou is a deeply flawed book. It knows what it wants to do, but sometimes skips necessary steps to get there. Its setting is bog standard, and most of its characters hew to the cliched stereotype. In fact, when this fairly old light novel series was made into an anime several years back, fans called the heroines by their hair color rather than their name. That’s harder to do with a textual book, even with illustrations, so I will try to use actual names – I apologize if this makes things confusing. The most interesting part of the book is the hero, but that’s not always to its benefit either.

Our hero is Akuto, seen here on the cover showing more expressiveness than he does in the entirety of this book. He’s a young orphan who arrives at Constant Magical Academy in order to start a path towards changing the world by becoming a high priest. Unfortunately, like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter only much worse, there’s a machine at the school that lays out your perfect career path for all students. And Akuto’s is Demon King, which disturbs almost everyone since the last Demon King was defeated at that very school years ago. Of course, Akuto doesn’t believe in fate, and a simple explanation to his fellow students should do the trick. Unfortunately, while he may be overly serious, studious, and have seemingly noble intentions, he cannot help but stick his foot in his mouth every time he speaks – partly as he genuinely isn’t paying attention to how his words come across till after he’s said them, and partly because, well, he really would make a pretty nifty demon king.

Akuto is interesting as a hero mostly as he’s not really the hot-headed, fiery type or the “harem protagonist” type – the book runs on his total inability to say the right thing in any given situation, but skewed just enough so it doesn’t seem familiar. The same can’t be said of the heroines. Keena, the girl on the cover, is meant to be the ‘airhead’ sort, but also has a mysterious past, and spends a lot of the book away from events. Junko is our standard Akane Tendo heroine, who likes Akuto at first before he’s chosen by the machine to be demon king, but afterwards alternates between humiliated rage at being played for a fool and growing feelings of love (that frankly grow far too fast given their interaction). The best of the girls so far is Korone, an android bodyguard with a stonefaced expression and a tendency to tease the bejabbers out of Akuto – she was my favorite part of the book.

I should also mention the ending, which features another girl, who is secretly evil, getting her comeuppance at the end in what is meant to be a humorous way. Sadly, this involves her getting gangraped by her other female classmates, who are under the influence of a drug. It’s implied and offscreen, but I don’t care. It’s ugly and awful. It helps to make this first volume something of a hot mess, and while I’m not abandoning it just yet, it’s on thin ice. I’d recommend it to those who enjoyed the anime only.

Manga the Week of 7/12/17

by Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a pile. Let’s get down to it, boppers.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: Dark Horse starts us off with the third Blade of the Immortal omnibus.

J-Novel Club has the 2nd Bluesteel Blasphemer on tap.

They also have a debut, Infinite Dendrogram. It’s got many elements common to recent light novel series – a new VRMMO that may blur the line between reality and game – but I am assured it is quite good, so we shall see.

Kodansha is still rescuing some Del Rey stuff, with the 15th Yozakura Quartet and the 20th School Rumble.

In new digital licenses, they have the 4th Domestic Girlfriend, and the 4th Full-Time Wife Escapist. Excited for the latter.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Full-Time Wife Escapist! I enjoyed the first couple volumes.

MICHELLE: I’m excited for volume four, as well!

SEAN: They also snuck in some new licenses too late for me to mention them last week, so these are already out. I have failed you again. Sorry. Hotaru’s Way (Hotaru no Hikari) is the most famous of the three licenses, a josei series from Kiss that’s been made into some live-action series. It’s the ever-popular “falling in love with my boss” genre.

ANNA: Yay josei!

MICHELLE: That’s not my favorite josei genre, but I’ll give it a look.

SEAN: Sneaking in a print release here, as the 5th Interview with Monster Girls ships next week.

Back to this week’s digital debuts (damn my penchant for alphabetical order), Kounodori: Dr. Stork is a long-running seinen title from Evening Magazine, involving an obstetrician/pianist. It sounds very seinen.

ASH: Huh. I had missed the pianist angle.

SEAN: Love’s Reach (Kinkyori Renai) is an older shoujo series that ran in Betsufure, and has a teacher/student romance to go along with the earlier boss/employee romance.

ANNA: OK!

SEAN: And now we’re back to next week proper, as there’s a 21st Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of shoujo romance Dreamin’ Sun.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed volume one a lot!

ASH: I actually just got around to reading the first volume. I rather liked the quirky cast of characters.

SEAN: And a 2nd volume of supernatural thriller Ghost Diary.

ASH: It seemed very derivative, but enjoyed the first volume more than I expected. (Except for one character’s super-annoying verbal affectation…)

SEAN: And I suppose we must mention the 3rd volume of yuri sleaze NTR – Netsuzou Trap. Now with anime adaptation.

They also finish a series next week, as The Sacred Blacksmith ends with its 10th volume.

SuBLime has a 7th volume of The World’s Greatest First Love.

And Udon rolls out a 5th volume of Persona 3.

Vertical gives us a 5th volume of Immortal Hounds (lot of Vol. 5s next week).

Viz has Vol. 63 of Case Closed.

They also have a new Legendary Edition of The Legend of Zelda, this one covering the Four Swords story.

ASH: The Legendary Edition of the series is really nice!

SEAN: Lastly, Rumiko Takahashi keeps toddling along with a 24th Rin-Ne.

Beat the heat with manga! What are you reading next week?

The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Vol. 1

by

By SOW and Zaza. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by Bookwalker. Translated by David Musto.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this series, the first to be licensed by Bookwalker directly from Japan. I had seen it on HJ’s site a while back, and thought it might make a good license at the time due to one specific reason: it didn’t appear to be an isekai, which light novel licenses were currently drowning in. (Still are, to be fair.) I wondered if it would end up being something of a foodie book, focusing on the making of the bread and daily life of the bakery. In fact, it’s nothing remotely like that. But that’s OK, because I genuinely enjoyed what we get, which is a darker story about a country recovering from a vicious war that spanned the continent, the scars it left behind, and one of its veterans trying to repent for his sins with delicious bread.

The baker is Lud, a former soldier who was responsible for much of the devastation and death, and also happened to be on the winning side. He was never happy with it, though, starting off as a child soldier, and his biggest regret is being unable to save the bakery he had stayed in for a spying mission at one point. After the war, he settles into one of the neighboring countries and decides to open his own bakery. There are a few problems with this. 1) He has a face like a hardened combat veteran, and has trouble making his smile not seem like a threat. 2) The town in question is avoiding him and no one will buy his bread. His only friends are Jacob, a young man who stops by on occasion to buy some bread and snark at him, and Marlene, who is the nun in charge of the orphaned kids. Things are looking pretty bad, that is until he hires a young, highly enthusiastic, and extremely odd waitress named Sven.

Sven’s true identity is not unknown to the reader, as it’s the first scene we see in the book, but it is unknown to Lud, who finds her a good employee and friend, but doesn’t connect the dots to his former life till the very end. Sven herself has a very easily triggered jealous and possessive side, but given who she is and her newfound state, this is actually a bit more acceptable than most clingy jealous girls. The large majority of the book is dedicated to the fact that the war may technically be over, but there are still aftershocks spreading through this continent that is clearly meant to be Europe, only not. Neighboring countries that sound suspiciously like Russia are sending in terrorists as moles, or using old men with a chip on their shoulders to repair tanks, or searching for evidence of the old, world-conquering civilization that used to exist a thousand years ago. The book does a very good job keeping the reader’s interest through this, and it reads more like a thriller than a wacky romantic light novel.

Translation was good, on the whole – there were a few times I saw Lud’s name as Luke, but apparently Bookwalker are already fixing that (the benefits of being a digital publisher). As for the heroine being named Sven, well, that’s the Japanese author’s fault – if you can accept Jacuzzi Splot, you can accept this. I will note that I think the book’s formatting works better on a larger tablet than it does on a phone, so Bookwalker readers may want to try reading it that way. On the whole, though, a very good debut, and I look forward to seeing more of the series, which is 6 volumes in Japan.

Land of the Lustrous, Vol. 1

by

By Haruko Ichikawa. Released in Japan as “Houseki no Kuni” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley.

This was a trip. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, as I didn’t know much about it beyond “fighting gems” and that it’s been nominated for awards. Indeed, Kodansha even says it’s for fans of Steven Universe, presumably because, well, gems. I can see some similarities, but really, this manga is its own thing, and calling Phos and Steven similar lead characters seems a bit insulting to Steven. As for the plot, I honestly found it to be somewhat confusing much of the time, not really a surprise when it’s the first volume. But there are a few very good reasons to read this. The first is that the author is very good at depicting tension and frustration between two different characters, as our lead goes around and annoys everyone into submission. Secondly, the art is really nice, and conveys a sense of wonder and a sense of horror depending on where you are in the story.

The basic premise is that gem people are fighting against Moon creatures. They seem to fight based on the hardness of their base gem – the harder the better. Our lead gem is Phosphophyllite, who is most assuredly NOT on of the hardest gems – indeed, they’re known for being rather fragile and brittle. Phos is also a bit of a ditz, whiny, selfish, and lazy, which makes it very diffifuclt to find them a job. Fortunately, the sensei who’s in charge of the gems has come up with something: Phos will compose a natural history of their world. This seems, on the face of it, a idea that is both good and bad. Good because it’s the sort of this that plays right into Phos’ skill sets, and bad because Phos really has no skills sets beyond “people seem to like them”. Really, what it is is an excuse to have Phos wander around and interact with the other gems, such as the reclusive Cinnabar or the beautiful yet secretly self-loathing Dia. In the second half of the book, Phos accidentally gets eaten by a slug creature, and after everyone spends a long time figuring out how to get them back, now has… the ability to communicate with it? Maybe?

As I said earlier, this isn’t really a title I’m reading for the plot. It also has to be said, for those who get easily annoyed at selfish characters who clearly are going to grow and change as the series goes on, Phos starts out REALLY irritating, and you can easily understand some of why they’re treated so poorly. But not entirely all of it – Phos is also bullied in many ways, and the excessive verbal abuse heaped on them seems a bit much. Even those characters who do seem to like Phos, such as Cinnabar, show this affection by being even meaner than the others, though that ties more into Cinnabar’s self-hatred and suicidal tendencies than anything else. (The gems seem to be genderless, and I’ve done my best to avoid gendering them when writing this review.) To sum up, I’m not entirely sure where this is going, but I find the character interaction excellent and the art captivating. Which is all you can ask of a Volume 1, really.

Nisemonogatari: Fake Tale, Vol. 1

by

By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by James Balzer.

The afterword of this volume of the Monogatari series says that Nisioisin never intended for it to be published, but just wrote it for his own amusement. I hate to call an author a liar, but just reading the text of this first volume of Nisemonogatari makes me think he’s full of it. The book is filled with efforts to make this short series into a much longer one, adding onto running gags and deconstructing them, taking existing characterization and flipping it on its head or making it more ominous, setting the stage for new plot points to be carried over to future books, and the endless references to the fact that the books recently had an anime greenlit, right after the first set of books kept joking about the idea of the characters being in an anime. Nisemonogatari’s metatext is thick. Fortunately, its text is also good, showing off Araragi’s sisters, and how they’re far more like him than he’s comfortable with.

Fitting given that he has two sisters, the Nisemonogatari series is split into two books, and this is the first one, Karen Bee. Karen is his “older younger sister”, and is almost the definition of ‘dumb muscle’, a karate black belt devoted to justice and righting wrongs who seems to forget that she’s just in middle school and that actual villains can run rings around her. She’s a nice kid, but you can see why Nisioisin spent so much time re-introducing the rest of Bakemonogatari’s cast; there’s just not enough in her to justify the 300 pages or so that this book consists of. We also get a better glimpse at Tsukihi, the “younger younger sister”, who Nisio is clearly far more fond of writing, mostly as she’s able to go toe-to-toe with her older brother in the only battle that really counts in any works by this author: wordplay. Tsukihi’s mood swings and temper tantrums will be looked at in more depth in the following book.

As for the rest of the cast, again, they’re shifting from “this is a series of short stories, each about a different girl” to “this is a long-running series that will have several books after this. That doesn’t change the fact that Araragi and Senjogahara are still a couple – indeed, some of the best scenes in the book feature the two of them. But we see that Hanekawa and Senjogahara have clearly had “a chat” in between books, and that – despite Sensjogahara’s attempts to exaggerate it in order to make us dismiss it – there is clearly major tension between them. Possibly because, as Kanbaru states midway through the book, Araragi and Hanekawa are the more obvious couple. Hanekawa herself has cut her hair and gotten contacts in order to show she’s moving on from Araragi, but I’m not sure how much I buy it – she’s willing to say she loves him to his face, but it’s not a confession per se.

Oh yes, can’t forget Shinobu, who has finally decided to stop sulking and become the extremely talkative haughty vampire we met in Kizumonogatari, and she’s not going to let looking like an eight-year-old stop her. She gives Araragi a way to discuss oddities now that Oshino has left town – she gives advice on the supernatural, while Mayoi, who is a wandering ghost, ironically gives advice on more down to earth things like love. And Nadeko is here as well, and her fumbling, overly obvious attempts at seducing Araragi (obvious, that is, to everyone except him) show us that she’s not just a shy, blushing girl in love with him. More on that much later. And then there’s Kaiki, one of the most popular characters in the entire series judging by Western fandom. He’s very good at playing the evil villain, and does like to drone on endlessly (as every character in Monogatari does), but there’s a hint that there’s far more to him than that, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him.

You’ll notice that this volume has a new translator (yes, I’ll mention it). Vertical apparently decided, given the aggressive release schedule, to divide the series up into chunks, so James Balzer is doing the Nise series and Ko Ransom will be back with Nekomonogatari Black and White. For the most part, the change is not all that noticeable. The series is well translated (hang on, getting to it), keeping most of the culture references – I was very pleased to see Araragi’s Read or Die comment left in – and adapting the wordplay and Japanese puns so they are mostly not noticeable. And Shinobu sounds like her old-world vampire self – which may come as a surprise to anime watchers, as most subbers decided not to bother translating her into “old school” speech. Two things, though. First, the book keeps the scene where Hanekawa mocks Araragi for using the -chan honorific to refer to his sisters, which seems odd in a series so otherwise aggressively devoted to avoiding honorifics (My Senior, etc.).

The second thing is a bit more egregious. In the original Japanese, Tsukihi says (in English) that she is “Platinum Mad”, which is a take off of puchi and purachina/platinum. She uses the phrase a few times in the series, and the anime turned it into her OP theme song, “Platinum Disco”. It would not be exaggerating to say that when you think of Tsukihi, you think of “Platinum Mad”. The translator, however, decided that since it’s weird Japanese wordplay it had to be changed to weird English wordplay – as he has done throughout the book. So “a bit” becomes “dagnabbit”. There are several issues here. First off, dagnabbit sounds to a Western ear like something Yosemite Sam would say. Secondly, almost no one noticed the wordplay itself, and just saw that “Platinum” had been changed to “Dagnabbit” for no reason (remember, Platinum is IN ENGLISH in the original). Most importantly, though, it seems to show that the people in charge of translating the series for Vertical are translating the books without paying attention to the other media – anime, singles, or the fandom. I get that – these were books first, and you want to make sure that they can also sell to casual readers. But try not to drive the hardcore fans off. Platinum Mad is a meme, fer chrissakes. Dagnabbit Mad just makes Tsukihi sound stupid. Which she very clearly isn’t – intellectually, she’s her brother’s equal.

OK, rant over. Aside from that, I felt the translation was excellent, and I didn’t really notice a major change between Ko and James. More importantly, for anime fans, there’s still a lot of new stuff here – you’d think given that it got adapted into 7 episodes that they didn’t leave much out, but there’s still many extra and lengthened scenes in here that got adapted out. Fans of Araragi and company will want to pick this up, as it’s excellent. Though be prepared to write “platinum” in your copy with ballpoint.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/3/17

by and Leave a Comment

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 9 | Aya Shouoto | VIZ Media – The “delving into Aoi’s past” arc resolves here, after a neat reveal about the true nature of his ayakashi sister. With Himari’s help, Aoi was able to both remember and accept his past, and returns to normal. Yukari then reveals that, long ago, Aoi found a diary from Himari’s parents that mentioned their daughter eventually coming to Momochi House, and that he’s been waiting for her and performing omamori duties all that time so that the house wouldn’t consume her. This feels a little like a retcon, but I’ll allow it. Another thing I’ll oh-so-graciously allow is the final scene—it’s rather silly that Himari and Aoi are riding around on a dragon firework, but I sniffled when she was able to show him the lights of the town he’s protecting. And I was sure we’d end on a cruel cliffhanger ’til I turned the final page. A very strong volume! – Michelle Smith

Fate/Zero, Vol. 5 | By Gen Urobuchi, Type-Moon, and Shinjiro | Dark Horse – Fate/Zero continues to do what it does best: show off some excellent fights and magics while being about ten times as dark as Fate/Stay Night. The battle between Kayneth and Kirutsugu is fairly one-sided, though the real horror there is Sola-Ui’s fervent desire to cut off his arm and become Lancer’s new Master (it’s impled so she can sex him up). Iris and Maiya take on Kirei, meanwhile, and Kirei gets to show us that he’s good for a lot more than merely verbally abusing Shirou—he’s a major badass. Throw in a funnier omake than usual (the shirt ripping, I should note, not the tasteless Sakura rape joke), and you have a strong volume of Fate/Zero, a series that remains only for the strong of stomach. – Sean Gaffney

Flying Witch, Vol. 2 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – Flying Witch is shaping up to be one of those series where not much happens, but it’s enjoyable to spend time in the company of its characters. In this volume, Makoto and her cousins pick and eat some wild plants, meet a fortune teller who believes she’s been the victim of Akane’s (Makoto’s sister) magical experimentation, and make some uncanny candy that plays with snackers’ emotions. Although there wasn’t enough of Chito the kitty for my taste, there were still some funny non-verbal panels, and Chinatsu deciding that she wants to be a witch too will probably result in more hijinks and witchy worldbuilding. I look forward to it! – Michelle Smith

Giant Killing, Vol. 2 | By Masaya Tsunamoto and Tsujitomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – We’ve waited three months for the second volume of Giant Killing and happily, it does not disappoint! The seinen slant to this series feels surprisingly fresh, dealing as it does with adults, their career trajectories, fan loyalty, etc. In this volume, we’re introduced to a showy East Tokyo United player named Prince who might be irresponsible but has the ability to think ahead that prompts Tatsumi to name him captain. Not everyone is pleased with that decision, but Tatsumi’s strategy is proven valid when ETU scores the first goal in their match against much-favored Tokyo Victory, league champions two years running, thanks to Prince and inconsistent newcomer Tsubaki. Manga soccer matches are so much more interesting than real-life soccer matches! Only a month to wait for volume three! – Michelle Smith

The High School Life of a Fudanshi, Vol. 1 | By Atami Michinoku | Seven Seas – Seventeen-year-old Ryo is a closet fudanshi. He has shared his secret with his friend, Nakamura, and throughout a series of 4-koma strips, proceeds to explain his hobby, fanboy over a couple of guys he thinks are gay, make friends with a fujoshi, attend a doujinshi event, recoil when a couple of attendees think he is gay, etc. Exceedingly few punchlines are even slightly amusing, and most are downright lame. Too, the treatment of a flamboyant gay character is problematic. I did smile at Ryo’s reaction to the squishy sound effects on a BL drama CD, and completely sympathize with the geeky logic of refusing to pay $40 for a shirt while eagerly dropping the same amount on fandom items, but I shan’t be continuing this series. – Michelle Smith

The Honor Student at Magic High School, Vol. 7 | By Tsutomu Sato and Yu Mori | Yen Press – Most of this volume is devoted to manga-only characters and battles, with Amy getting a taste of the spotlight and showing that she can be a funny gag character while still having dramatic scenes. More to the point, her victory here reinforces what we know from the novels—people who have Tatsuya help them win, people who don’t do not. As such, what we really need is a battle between two competitors who Tatsuki can help equally, and that’s Shizuku and Miyuki. The confrontation isn’t going to be seen till next time, and thanks to the books we know how it turns out, but there are some nice scenes with Shizuku and Tatsuya to show off her determination and will. A very good side manga. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 7 | By nanao and HaccaWorks* | Yen Press – There’s certainly a lot more forward movement than we’d had in the past couple of volumes, though I still spend some time needing to remind myself which pretty boy is which when we start a new book. I was happy to see Hina come to the rescue of her brother, even if it meant the realization that she too is not what she seems and not really his sister, though she cherished their time together. As for Yue, he’s still—for some reason—having trouble connecting the dots between ‘eating’ someone and ‘killing’ them, which unfortunately makes his naivete a bit aggravating right now. Still, his basic decency is all that’s standing between this title and a bloodbath, so I’ll give it to him. – Sean Gaffney

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 2 | By Rei Toma | VIZ Media – I had hoped for something more substantial from this volume, and I think Toma-sensei delivers. By far, the standout character for me in this series is the water god, so I loved seeing him begin to feel compassion, not only healing Asahi, but spending a lot of time watching over her. (These nonverbal panels are my favorites.) In his annoyance with the humans, he lets loose a flood that shows them that Asahi is under his protection, and it seems she is thereafter left alone, for years swiftly pass and we conclude the volume with she and Subaru looking like teenagers. I’m definitely intrigued to see where the story goes from here, and hope I’m able to get a stronger sense of Asahi herself. (I did like the part where she buried a fish, though.) – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: KITTY!

by , , , and Leave a Comment

MICHELLE: I’m happy about Days and Haikyu!! and Honey So Sweet, but the debut of Plum Crazy! easily snags my pick for this week. It hadn’t even been on my radar before Sean’s column, but now I’m desperate to read it. And the best part is that the series is sixteen volumes long and still ongoing!

SEAN: I am definitely looking forward to cat manga, and there’s a pile of Viz I want to read as well. My pick this week, though, is Appleseed Alpha, a manga interpretation of the recent movie. Deunan and Briareos were some of the first manga characters I really grew attached to, and I want to read this new hardcover omnibus even if Shirow isn’t writing it.

KATE: Call me a crazy cat lady if you must, but my vote also goes to Plum Crazy!. Cats doing cute things = manga gold.

ASH: There’s definitely a variety of things that I’m interested in and will be making a point to read this week, but since a new volume is released so rarely, my official pick will be going to Berserk. I don’t find the most recent story arc as viscerally compelling as some of the earlier ones but, if nothing else, Miura’s artwork can still astonish.

ANNA: Honey So Sweet has been so consistently adorable, that is my pick this week.

Alice & Zoroku, Vol. 1

by

By Tetsuya Imai. Released in Japan by Tokuma Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Ryu. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Beni Axia Conrad, Adapted by Maggie Cooper.

I spent most of this first volume mostly enjoying what I was reading, but something felt off, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It was reminding me of something else, but I wasn’t sure what. Then I realized it was reminding me of Madoka Magica. Not for any plot or characterization reasons, but because the art in Alice & Zoroku does not match up with what is actually happening on the page. Madoka Magica always felt weird to me because I read Sunshine Sketch first, and had trouble reconciling the uber-moe art with the events on the page. The same sort of thing happens here, and to a degree it’s helped along by the premise. This SHOULD be a series about a young mysterious girl who ends up living with a grumpy old cuss and together they learn to open up to each other. It should be (pardon my age showing here) Punky Brewster. As it turns out, there’s a lot more going on.

The girl on the cover is not Alice – at least not literally. She’s certainly a figurative Alice, though, and there’s Wonderland quotes and motifs throughout the work. Sana is an experimental child who has the ability to make anything she imagines into reality. She’s escaped from her evil research center where she’s been kept (which we’re already starting to see may not be quite as evil as she painted it) and is on the run in the middle of the city. There she runs into Zoroku, an old man who works as a florist, lives with his granddaughter (who seems to be in high school – I’m assuming dead parents here), and seems to spend each day going around being vaguely pissed off. She is, of course, a child who grew up in a lab, so has no sense of social skills or any ability to be sensible. But she’s cute. Oh yes, and who other kids, twins, are trying to kill her, and caring very little about collateral damage. Will she melt his stern heart and be taken in?

The series is eight volumes and running in Japan (I think it got an anime as well), and this first volume definitely feels like a lot of setup for a future payoff. We get a few other cast members introduced, most of whom don’t make much of an impression, with the exception of the granddaughter Sanae, who seems to be an odd mix of airhead and motherly type and is a lot of fun. Zoroku is probably the strongest character here – stubborn as a goat, but he has a strong sense of right and wrong, and is not afraid to tell off a child when he sees them running roughshod over it. As for the research center Sana is escaping from, we get a few flashbacks and expository scenes that hint that Sana’s nature is more that of a tactical nuclear weapon than an actual child – again, metaphorically speaking.

Overall, while I still didn’t quite get past the cognitive dissonance of the artstyle, which says this should be a fluffy slice-of-life series (it isn’t), I enjoyed enough of Alice & Zoroku to try a second volume.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 3

by

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

The anime adaptation of this series has just ended as I type this, and from what I’ve gathered from various forums and Twitter feeds, was not a success among fans. In fact, that’s putting it mildly. Hate may not be too strong a word. This is a shame as I’m really enjoying the light novel, which continues to show off what Omori does best – writing combat scenes – while also giving development to Aiz and the rest of Loki’s crew. Yes, it also has Lefiya fretting about being useless, but that’s the sort of character she is. You knew she was going to end up doing something awesome by the end, which she did. There’s also a much stronger ongoing plot to this than to the main series, with the main antagonist of the previous book finally getting a name – Levis – and the creepy foetus thing they retrieved in the last book possibly setting itself up as the Big Bad.

The main DanMachi books have tended to show Aiz as an emotionally repressed, hard to read young woman. As such, it’s both a relief and a surprise to see how much of a complete loose cannon she is in these side stories. I feel that my old reviews where I noted Bell loved her but she didn’t quite feel the same are coming back to haunt me. She may not love Bell, but she’s clearly obsessed with him, falling into a purple funk when he keeps running away from her (even achieving Level 6 doesn’t snap her out of it all the way), and going off to the dungeon on her own because, well, that’s how she clears her head. Sadly, she meets up with Hermes Familia, who got hired/bribed/blackmailed into going to the 24th Floor to see what’s wrong with the dungeon there. The answer is that an evil conspiracy has taken it over, and they’ve got lots more of the giant plant monstrosities from last time, along with a group of religious terrorists to help out/be cannon fodder.

As I indicated above, the main reason to read these books is for the author’s fight scenes, which are a treat – and brutal. No named characters die in this one, but it’s a close thing, and there’s an awful lot of horrible wounds taken and crushing despair. (Actually, I’d have liked to see the deaths that do get mentioned – at the end, we’re told some of Hermes Familia were killed, but it’s not the ones we know, and it seems to be there as the author realizes that there needed to be SOME casualties.) Aiz is actually kept out of the main fight till the very end, which works well, and shows off Bete (still an asshole most of the time, honestly) and Lefiya (the Shinji Ikari of DanMachi) to great effect. There’s also a nice subplot of an elf in Dionysus’ Familia, Filvis, and her (undeserved) reputation as a jinx.

So I’m not quite sure what the anime got wrong, but the novel itself is a strong addition to the DanMachi series, and recommended for all fans of same.