Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Otome Mania!!, Vol. 1

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By Tsukigase Yurino. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialized in the magazine Sylph. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Angela Liu, Adapted by Rebecca Scoble.

It can be very hard to separate what a person wants as a fan of a genre, or title, and what makes for a good product and good business sense in the real world. Things that make perfect sense talking about them on twitter or in forums suddenly become impossible to navigate as there are sixty extra steps that have to be done first because you’re the ones creating the content. And this only gets compounded when the content is being created by a group. And that’s the concept of Otome Mania!!, a short manga series about a young woman who loves otome games and has finally achieved her dream job of working for a company that creates and makes them, only to find that she has a long way to go before her dreams can come true. And, appropriately, she’s also involved in her own real life otome harem romance (not that she realizes this, of course.)

Yuzumi, as you can imagine, is a very typical otome romance heroine. She’s not very intuitive and has tr4ouble reading the room, and can’t catch up to the high level of speed and decisiveness her colleagues have. Plus she’s learning from the ground up, and thus can’t understand why a 13-page written treatment is something that’s going to be rejected without even looking at it, as opposed to a snappy 2 page treatment with art and character designs. But she has spunk and a tendency not to give up, like every single shoujo manga heroine ever, and that’s good enough. Her colleagues include the stern immediate supervisor who yells at her and puts her down constantly, but may have her best interests at heart after all; the foreign graphic artist who is cheery enough to help Yuzumi out when no one else will; and the reserved and nervous scenario artist looking for a chance to prove himself, who has a hidden core of hotness that comes out at the best times.

The gimmick of this title is that it’s an otome manga about making otome games, and it’s done rather well. It’s not above lampshading its own flaws – there’s a larger cast of guys than there is time for, so we don’t see a few of them for more than a few pages this time – just as in the game Yuzumi is developing, where romantic leads 4-6 are ‘secret content to be added later’. There’s also a little hint of backstory as well, as there’s a much more popular and successful company – also run by hot guys – that seems to have a past with Tachibana, the constantly irritated male lead. It wraps up in two volumes, so I’m not sure how much it’s going to be able to fit into the remaining time, or even if Yuzumi herself will end up with a guy (if she does, my money’s on Tachibana). For for readers who enjoy light romantic titles with a lot of cute guys and a decent reader stand-in, Otome Mania!! gives you what you need.

Accel World: Elements

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

Despite the cover (two of the three people on the cover don’t even show up in the book), there’s not a lot of wacky harem antics going on tin this volume, much to my relief. Instead, it’s the first Accel World to be composed of short stories – impressive given that by Book 10 Sword Art Online already had 2 volumes of short stories to its name. I also think that for those who saw the anime, this is the last volume with material that was used for it, as the middle story was broadly adapted into a couple of episodes, likely to give Kuroyukihime more to do. As with most short story volumes, quality here is variable, but there should be something for most Accel World fans here. A word of warning, though: if you like Accel World but hate Sword Art Online, this may not be the volume for you.

The first story here takes place sometime after the first volume, so we get to see a less experienced Haruyuki. Unfortunately, having made a beginner’s mistake when leveling up, he’s now in danger of being wiped out the next time he logs on. And so Takumu helps him out, saying that there is a “bodyguard” who can protect him till he gets enough points back to stand on his own again. The whole story seems like an excuse to introduce the bodyguard, Aqua Current, who is clearly one of Kuroyukihime’s old team, though it’s never explicitly stated. The second story is the best, mostly as it’s from Kuroyukihime’s perspective, as she’s on school vacation in Okinawa and finds, much to her surprise, that there are Burst Linkers even out here. The most interesting thing about this story is Kuroyukihime’s friend Megumi, who turns out to not quite be what she seems. The more I hear about the Brain Burst program the closer it gets to fantasy hand-waving, but I’ll let it go if it allows for cool and heartwarming scenes like these. I also liked the comparison of lost memories to a book you forget the beginning of.

The final story is the most well known, and possibly the most notorious – a crossover between Sword Art Online and Accel World, as Kirito is doing VR experiments and somehow ends up in the Accelerated World, where he confronts Silver Crow. Those who think that an armored suit that can fly would take out Kirito, a young man wearing a leather coat for armor, are doomed to disappointment – Kirito is still Kirito. Inevitably, we don’t really get to see who’s “better” per se, as the whole thing ends in a draw. Probably for the best, honestly. The author in the afterword tells us that he prefers if we think of SAO and AW as being two separate series, which tells me that the “Kuroyukihime is Kirito and Asuna’s daughter” theory might have hit Japan – given Kuroyukihime’s upbringing in AW< I think it's a terrible theory, but hey.

So three decent stories here, and next volume should take us back to the main plot, as well as take us back to cover art of Kuroyukihime wearing leather bustiers. Not that this cover was any less fanservicey. As always, Accel World is a lot of fun and impossible to read on public transportation.

Manga the Week of 7/5/17

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SEAN: Too many titles, let’s jump right in! What’s the feel-good manga of the summer?

Dark Horse has Berserk 38! For those wondering, the previous volume came out in 2013. Also for those wondering, it just went back on hiatus in Japan once more. Again.

ASH: Yup. This is the one. The feel-good manga of the summer. Seriously though, I’m always glad to see a new volume of Berserk (finally) show up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club thankfully gives us just one Invaders of the Rokujouma, the 4th. I enjoyed it, but am grateful it’s not 3 every month.

Kodansha has just one Del Rey rescue this week, the 18th volume of Alive.

ASH: Oh! I’d almost forgotten about this one! I wonder if the success of Noragami created more interest in this series.

SEAN: After delays that seemed to number in the centuries, we’re finally seeing the release of Appleseed Alpha, the manga adaptation of the 2014 film by the creator of Sexy Voice and Robo. It ran in Morning Two, and should be complete in one hardcover omnibus. More Deunan is always welcome.

ASH: I actually hadn’t realized that Iou Kuroda was involved with the manga.

SEAN: Kodansha Digital has plenty of new titles on tap this week, starting with some sports for Michelle with the third DAYS.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: There’s also the 12th Fuuka (the previous 11 having come out before I started tagging all the digital titles). Fuuka is a Seo Kouji title, which is its own warning.

GTO Paradise Lost has a 3rd volume. I need to catch up or I’ll end up very behind.

There’s also a 2nd Kasane, for those who like scary things.

And a 4th Tokyo Tarareba Girls, with more women behaving badly.

MICHELLE: It’s simultaneously funny and depressing and now I find I kind of dread discovering the latest heartbreak!

ANNA: I need to read this, I’ve been distracted by some of Kodansha’s other digital offerings.

SEAN: Lastly, we’re back to print with the 14th volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches.

ASH: I did largely enjoy the beginning of the series, but it’s starting to feel like the manga is being stretched too thin at this point.

SEAN: Seven Seas sneaks up on you, as they don’t mass ship on one week the way Viz and Yen do, but they’re putting out a PILE of titles every month now. First up, the debut of Alice & Zoroku, a seinen title from Comic Ryu about experimental kids from a research lab and a grumpy, mostly normal old man.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride has a 7th volume coming, and that should make all of you very happy. I certainly am.

ASH: It makes me happy! This series is still one of my favorites currently being released.

SEAN: As for the 12th volume of Magical Girl Apocalypse, I’m sure some folks are happy there as well.

Monster Girl fans will be pleased by a 6th Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

And if you like light novels from J-Novel Club but hate digital titles, there’s the first Occultic;Nine novel in print with Seven Seas distributing.

Plum Crazy! (Kijitora Neko no Koume-san) is a series from Shonen Gahosha’s magazine devoted to cat manga, Neko Panchi. I’ve heard very good things about this title, plus KITTIES!

MICHELLE: This was not on my radar at all!

ASH: Who doesn’t like a good cat manga?

SEAN: Lastly from Seven Seas, we have Wadanohara and the Great Big Sea (Oounabara to Oounabara), a Gene Pixiv title that seems to be a younger-skewing fantasy title. It’s an omnibus of Vol. 1-2.

The sad thing is it’s a first week and I haven’t gotten to Viz yet. Let’s start with the 5th 7th Garden manga.

Anonymous Noise has a 3rd volume of teenage angst and pop music.

ANNA: I feel weirdly conflicted about this title and yet I’m sure I’m going to read it.

SEAN: Bleach is still churning out manga volumes despite the series ending about this time last year, and we’re now up to Vol. 70.

And Blue Exorcist has a 17th volume, a series I still quite enjoy even if I lose track of the plot at times.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House has a 9th volume, standing above all as the ongoing Aya Shouoto series in North America.

MICHELLE: And the best thus far.

ANNA: SO good!

ASH: I’ve been enjoying it, too!

SEAN: It’s unlucky 13 for Haikyu!!, and hopefully the triskadecaphobia won’t strike the team itself.

ANNA: Woo hoo for volleyball!

ASH: Still loving this series.

SEAN: Honey So Sweet has a 7th volume for is. It’s certainly lived up to its name.

ANNA: SO sweet!

SEAN: Naruto has a 19th 3-in-1, and my guess is there’s a big fight going on somewhere in it.

The 22nd volume of Nisekoi will wrap up Mariko’s subplot, and hopefully not kill her off with Love Story disease.

And there’s a 22nd Oresama Teacher as well, which delights me. Super Bun returns FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

ANNA: I’m behind on this title, but who doesn’t love Super Bun????

ASH: Considering my love for Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, I should really make the point to give Oresama Teach a try one of these days.

SEAN: Rurouni Kenshin has a 3rd 3-in-1. Is it in the Kyoto Arc yet?

ASH: Yup!

SEAN: Twin Star Exorcists has reached Vol. 9.

And The Water Dragon’s Bride has a second volume, and I’m hoping continues to keep the oddly creepy mood of the first.

ANNA: This is a great series.

ASH: Another series I’ve been meaning to try! I greatly enjoyed the creator’s earlier series Dawn of the Arcana.

SEAN: Lastly, World Trigger hits its 16th volume, and I suspect we may be catching up with Japan before long, as the author is ill.

SO MUCH MANGA. Is it making you sweat, or is that just the heat?

Golden Kamuy, Vol. 1

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By Satoru Noda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Young Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Eiji Yasuda.

Among my many thoughts on finishing the first volume of Golden Kamuy, the strongest one was “the author must be from Hokkaido”. And sure enough, that seems to be the case. Indeed, his other major manga series seems to be a sports manga devoted to the love of ice hockey. The show-covered woods are practically a major character in the series, adn they’re conveyed well, both in their beauty and in their ability to be deadly. And of course, they’re only one of the things that can kill you in this rather violent title. From the hero on the cover page, to various escaped convicts, to vicious bears and wolves, this is a series with the potential for a lot of gore. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be about that. Rather, it’s about a young man and the Ainu girl he meets trying to avenge her father and find some hidden gold.

The story takes place after the Russo-Japanese War, but not that far after, so I’m guessing 1906 or 1907. Our hero is a veteran who says he was discharged from the army for killing a fellow soldier, though honestly the way he frames the story makes it sound like he could be making that up. He’s prospecting for gold in the wilds of Hokkaido, only to find, like most prospectors, that easy money schemes don’t actually work in real life. The supposed reason he’s looking for gold is because the wife of a (now dead) war buddy of his needs eye surgery, and the gold will pay for it, but I suspect the real reason is that Sugimoto is one of those soldiers who can’t really survive well without a life of adventure in some way. And survive is what he does – he’s somewhat famous for being alive after several injuries that would have killed most men. He’s also a lot of fun, being written much like a standard “dumb but likeable jock” type from a sports manga, only older and filled with battle experience.

Asirpa is the other star of this manga, a teenage Ainu girl whose father was brutally murdered by the man who theoretically knows where this hidden gold is – in fact, it’s Ainu gold, as the man who is now a convict killed six men and stole the gold from them. Sugimoto frames their journey as her getting revenge for her father, but it’s notable that she doesn’t seem to frame it that way herself, being content to silently going along with him. As first I thought she was going to be one of those emotionless Ayanami Rei types, but she turns out to simply be naturally reserved, and also very competent at living and surviving in the woods. She’s an excellent foil to Sugimoto. The rest of the cast consists mostly of ex-soldiers who are also here to search for hidden gold, ex-prisoners who have a coded “here is the gold” tattoo on their backs, though it doesn’t quite work the way they’d like it to, and of course the appearance of a clearly despicable villain at the cliffhanger of this vo0lume.

Golden Kamuy is a bit of a bunny movie with less comedy, as Sugimoto and Asirpa contrast with each other but work well together. If you don’t mind a lot of death and blood, this is a solid action story, and a good addition to the Signature lineup for Viz.

Sound! Euphonium: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band

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By Ayano Takeda. Released in Japan by Takarajimasha, Inc. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Paul Starr.

One of the biggest surprise licenses from last year was this book, originally released as a stand-alone novel about the struggles of a high school concert band, which got made into a hugely successful anime. Note that I said ‘novel’ and not ‘light novel’ – there are no interstitial pictures in this book, which is the usual way to tell the difference about these sorts of things. But even beyond that, the fact that Sound! Euphonium does not take place in a fantasy world, at a magical academy, or even have Satan working at McDonald’s was a big point against it. But Yen took a chance on licensing the book, and I’m glad they did, as this is really well-written and dramatic, manages to show off in textual form the difficulties of playing music and the difference between ‘really good’ and ‘outstanding’, and most of all, it has in Kumiko one of the most fascinating protagonists I’ve met all year.

Kumiko is not a first person narrator per se, but the POV of the narration never leaves her, so in effect she functions as our eyes and ears for this book. She’s trying to “start anew” at a new high school, but can’t quite escape her concert band past, especially when her new friends also express an interest. Her childhood friend and not-boyfriend Shuuichi is also in the same band, as is her middle-school bandmate Reina. More on Reina later. Kumiko did not have a pleasant middle-school band experience, as most concert bands, where some instruments are more popular than others and some people get to solo while others don;t, is filled with politics and infighting, and the confrontations just wore her down. To a large degree the book is about helping Kumiko rediscover her love of the euphonium and band in general, and showing her how important it is to not simply glide along and have fun.

I had first heard of the anime as a “yuri anime”, and therefore was rather amused to note that the first half of the book featured precisely none of that. Indeed, Reina appears far less than you’d expect – she may as well be a minor character – until the festival, when Kumiko desperately tries to avoid Shuuichi asking her out (as it might actually force her to confront her feelings for him) and grabs Reina, saying they’re going together. Reina is fine with this, and takes Kumiko on a very romantic festival date. Despite Kumiko clearly being set up with Shuuichi, and Reina admitting that she’s in love with their teacher (what is it with Japan and teacher-student romances?!), it’s Kumiko and Reina who have the most chemistry together, as their body language and conversation reads like a couple rapidly falling for one another. I’d also like to mention Asuka here, the most fascinating character after Kumiko. She and Kumiko seem to be contrasted, if not as rivals, then as mirrors of each other, and their few scenes together are also charged – not with romantic tension, but with just tension. They ended up being my favorite scenes in the book, actually.

The book ends with the Kyoto Competition, and indeed ends somewhat suddenly with the reveal of the results. It was meant to be a stand-alone book, but the author ended up writing two more novels and some short stories afterwards, which were adapted into another anime season. So far Yen has only licensed this book, but I’d like to see it do well so we can see more of this cast – especially Kumiko and Asuka. Highly recommended.

Dorohedoro, Vol. 21

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By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hibana. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by AltJapan Co., Ltd. (Hiroko Yoda + Matt Alt).

I’ve often talked about the fact that I find Dorohedoro very satisfying to read while at the same time immensely confusing. It’s a series with a lot going on, and there’s a lot of characters and locations (and many of the characters also wear masks!). But we’re getting near to the end of the series now, and the author is finally starting to dish out some answers. And it works: this volume felt very strong plot-wise, and I was able to follow Ai’s explanations of what happened to him for the most part. It’s quite a tragic fate, like many of the other fates in Dorohedoro, but looking back on everything with Caiman, Ai, Kai and Aikawa you can nod your head and say “yeah, that makes sense”. Well, except maybe for Caiman, which is openly lampshaded when Nikaido admits she has no idea who he is now.

Speaki9ng of Nikaido, there’s an explanation of that “cliffhanger” ending from last time – she’s turning into a devil more and more, and is now much taller and getting cloven feet. Unfortunately for her, En is back in business, and he’s still obsessed with having her as his partner, but we’ll see how that goes. In fact, most of the band is back together, as Shin is sane again and reunited with Noi, and the rest of the decapitated heads are getting bodies again (though almost immediately they’re mushroomed by En, who’s trying to save them). And yes, poor Ebisu is still roundly humiliated, though as always it’s in the most hilarious ways – En remotely creates a mushroom body from one that’s on Ebisu’s head, which causes her head to end up as the remote body’s crotch – something she finds hilarious, as you’d expect. What follows is a long, protracted mushroom war, as En shows off how powerful and clever he really is – though even he may be no match for the devil Chidaruma, who is gloating triumphantly on the cover for a reason.

I know I’ve said this in seemingly every Dorohedoro review to date, but my God there is a lot of truly graphic violence in this book. Decapitations, eviscerations, blood and gore on almost every page. There’s casual deaths, casual eye gouging torture, and Ai’s entire flashback, which is filled with flesh-melting horror. This all culminates in Chidaruma slaughtering everyone in Haru’s flying house, so that the house itself begins to bleed. Never let it be said that Hayashida doesn’t know how to do grotesque imagery. The art is a plus as always, and even though I still sometimes get a few of the characters confused (particular when they have masks on), it doesn’t matter because there’s always something on the page to marvel at. Dorohedoro is speeding towards a climax (I think – it’s still running in Japan), and now that the books are a good 80-90 pages longer each time, there’s even more reason to run out and buy it.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/26/17

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Assassination Classroom, Vol. 16 | By Yusei Matsui | Viz Media – Most of this volume is taken up by the flashback showing us how Koro-sensei became what he is today. As you’d expect, it’s pretty tragic, but there’s also a bit of cognitive dissonance, as it’s hard to see the Koro-sensei we know today in that apathetic killer who appears at the start. But it’s the power of love that helps turn him, if not away from the dark side, at least into someone who cares about the right way to teach. Also, in case you didn’t hate Yanigasawa enough already, his portrayal as an arrogant abuser will help speed things along. Back in the present, our class is now divided—can they really kill Koro-sensei, or should they try to save him? Each volume of this series gets more and more gripping. -Sean Gaffney

Complex Age, Vol. 5 | By Yui Sakuma | Kodansha Comics – Phew. After a gut-wrenching fourth volume, I was seriously wary about reading this volume. Thankfully, however, it is far more encouraging than the last. True, Kimiko is still planning to give up on cosplay, and though she tries to sell it as wanting to devote herself to photography, it’s clear that what Rui (boo! hiss!) said to her had a role to play in her decision. But Nagisa meets her fiancé and can’t help but be happy for her best friend. Meanwhile, Hayama continues to cosplay and is having fun in her new job as an event coordinator. The bottom line is—the future needn’t be bleak, and Nagisa is left to wonder where her own limits are. With people at work and home seemingly inclined to respect her choices, could we possibly have a happy ending next time? I hope so! – Michelle Smith

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 5 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – I’d mentioned Kamiya’s ‘aggressive courting’ in the last volume, and here it walks way over the line into blackmail and emotional abuse. Kamiya has become a creep, and Asuka is rightly trying to do her best to pull away from him without it damaging either her career or Ryu’s. Ryu, meanwhile, is having his own battles with Kamiya, as each says that they don’t care about what Asuka is really thinking about. Frankly, I think Ryu’s doing a better job of it, and he’s also able to break things off with Sakura in a more permanent way. Still, Kamiya isn’t going away, and the volume’s end shows him trying to be the Sun rather than the North Wind. Frustrating at times, especially when Kamiya’s being a creep, but still good. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 18 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – Yes, Soma wins his battle, showing that the power of fantastic food is better than the power of bribery. This also means that the administration’s goons temporarily back off attacking Polaris Dorm, and we get a highly amusing celebration scene (with more horror from newbies at Isshiki stripping). The big impact comes in the middle of the book, as we learn that Erina’s father is attacking Polaris in particular due to a past with Soma’s father. In fact, he was unaware that Saiba was Soma’s father (the danger of taking the wife’s last name, a far more Japanese thing)… and moreover, Erina was unaware of it as well. In any case, more bad things are happening as the book wraps up, and I expect things will get worse soon. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 11 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – Well, new rival turned out to be absolutely terrible, didn’t he? This volume consists of a lot of running around trying to stop Kae from getting forcibly married. Kae spends the entire main storyline in her “overweight” form, which surprised me, but it doesn’t stop her making an awkward but impressive escape attempt. Unfortunately, after that she mostly acts as a passive prize, only snapping and letting Mitsuboshi have it right at the end. And even that seems to be a case where she can only “win” by literally pounding him into unconsciousness with her bulk. There’s also a side story which is terminally ridiculous—which is good, as this manga needs to be over the top silly in order not to drown in problematic shoujo and fat stereotypes. Variable as always. – Sean Gaffney

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vol. 11-12 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | Viz Media – It’s rare you see a tie in a sports manga, but given this is only the qualifiers, a tie is what we end up with. Of course, this just means that Kuroko and company have to win their next match, and it ends up being against a bunch of goons who fight dirty. The leader of this team is fantastic in an awful way, showing off a couple of tragic backstories before taking them back with a smirk. Teppei and Junpei also get a lot of focus here, with a flashback that shows how they both joined the team and how Teppei got injured (and also how obvious an OT3 with them and Riko is). But they pass, and the Winter Cup is up next, with all of Kuroko’s old teammates. An extremely compelling basketball manga. – Sean Gaffney

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 24 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – Did I say the flashback would take up ‘some’ of this next volume? Sorry, I meant 90% of it, as everything turns horribly tragic and awful in the best backstory way, as Aladdin finishes trying to explain why metal users fighting each other leads only to destruction. There is some truly heartrending imagery here, with children burned to death and lots and lots of dead bodies. Couples we loved and found cute are beaten down by events, and of course Sheba dies, but not before giving birth to Aladdin. That said, I suspect we haven’t seen the last of Arba. It is really nice to see the main cast again, and I loved the “Alibaba is undercut” gag’s exquisite timing. In any case, the flashback is finally done—will we get more Morgiana now, please? – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 7 | By HaccaWorks* and nanao | Yen Press – A rather interesting thing happens in this volume: quite a few things are revealed and yet the overall story doesn’t get appreciably clearer! Yue and his friend Akitoshi are trying to rescue Tsubaki from the shrine, but before they can manage to do so, he’s whisked away to be tossed into a pond to give strength to Mikoto, who is fighting off Akashi, whose body now belongs to Yue because Shin stole it hundreds of years ago and oh, also, Shin is the progenitor of the Tsubaki family line and by the way, here’s the deal about Mikoto’s missing tail. So many things to try to keep track of and make sense of! Thankfully, Yue’s personal dilemma is a very compelling one. I’m invested in his outcome, even if I don’t fully grasp what happened in the past. – Michelle Smith

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 6 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – This is a particularly good volume of Sweetness & Lightning—there’s a bit more conflict than usual and it doesn’t always get solved through yummy food. Tsumugi gets attached to the lost kitty she and her dad have taken in, only for its real owners to come to claim it. Then, the gang goes camping and a couple of her friends get in a disagreement. Something similar ensues on Kotori’s school trip. And Inuzuka’s bossy brother shows up and offers unsolicited advice on various things. The best part, though, is when Tsumugi stays a while with her grandparents while her dad is chaperoning a school trip. Not the part where they eat locusts, but the time she spends with her great-grandmother, looking at pictures of her dad as a kid, and contemplating complex topics like getting old. Delicious food and some bittersweet feels? I am so on board with that! – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Gems, Witches, Emperors and Vikings

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SEAN: I’ll be honest, most of my attention this week is focused on novels, what with Combat Baker and Nisemonogatari. But I picked a novel last week, so this week my pick is Land of the Lustrous, a new Kodansha series with gem wars but sadly not Steven.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to the second volumes of series whose debut volumes I liked a lot. Ordinarily, I’d pick Giant Killing, what with it being sports manga and all, but Flying Witch has an amusing kitty, and that gives it the edge this time.

KATE: I share Michelle’s enthusiasm for manga featuring cute animal sidekicks., but my vote goes to the digital-only release The Emperor and I, a comedy about a family living with an Emperor penguin. The story unfolds in short chapters of three to nine pages, so the formula isn’t as rigid as a 4-koma title; it feels a little bit like reading a collection of Sunday comic strips. Not sold? Here’s what I had to say about it back in May.

ASH: For me, my pick could be nothing other than Vinland Saga this week. The series has been consistently compelling from the very beginning. It’s also had great female characters from the start, but the most recent story arc allows the women in the series to shine like they haven’t before.

ANNA: I agree with Ash, I am very happy that new volumes of Vinland Saga are coming out after the series was paused for some time. It is rare for a series to combine great historical background with a truly compelling story and evocative art. Vinland Saga is my pick!

Psycome: Murder Anniversary and the Reverse Memorial

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

It is somewhat odd that I feel reassured at Psycome’s lack of ambition. At heart, this is meant to be a broad comedy, and as such it can’t give in too much to its premise. Despite having an innocent man in a prison devoted to making teen murderers into assassins, despite befriending a truly insane timebomb of a gas-mask wearing girl, despite finding out that your little sister seems to be genuinely disturbed… despite all that, the tone of this series has been light. Everything skews towards the cliche, towards the trope, towards the predictable. And yet you don’t really mind, because despite its flaws it’s sort of fun. That especially holds true for the 4th book, where we meet Eiri’s family and find they are a machine-gun nest of cliches.

Eiri herself is already quite the cliche, ticking off all the tsundere boxes very neatly. In case you think that she earned marks good enough to be able to leave the school, save your breath: she came in second to last, beaten only by the mohawk guy who spent the midterms in the nurse’s office. But her family have called for her, and so she must go. They’ve also asked for Kyousuke, which she finds disturbing. As for Ayaka and Renko, their grades WERE good enough to let them go outside for the reward, so they come along as well, because leaving Kyousuke and Eiri alone together is unthinkable. (Sorry, Maina, you’re just not important enough, though you do get the cover of the next book.) So everyone’s off to visit Eiri’s palatial home, which has the inscrutable mother, the little sister whose love for her sibling has turned to hatred, and the big brother who is creepy and a bit of a pervert. Oh yes, and murderous twin 9-year-olds, one male, one female, who are at least not named Hansel and Gretel. Eiri’s been called back home to try to solve the big problem: her inability to kill.

The climax of this volume is actually a giant anticlimax – by design, to be fair – and so most of the meat is devoted to the relationship between Eiri and her younger sister, Kagura. The moment you see Kagura and she attacks Eiri, you can see the entirety of her plotline laid out from end to end, and sure enough it’s all there – the hero worship, the frustration at being second best, the anger at being second best to an assassin who can’t kill. And of course the buried love she still has for her sister, which ends up coming out even after Eiri refuses to kill an innocent child to prove herself. The point of this book is to get Eiri – and by extension her family – to admit that it’s not that she can’t kill but that she doesn’t want to – that she finds it wrong. This is tied into the murder of her father as a child – Eiri felt the agony of her father’s death and her subsequent grieving, and even though she wants revenge, every time she made the attempt she though of others going through that and stopped. It’s good character development. Honestly, it’s more earned than the “I guess I do love you” tacked on at the end, which seems designed to keep things on a more even keel romance-wise – Kyousuke having spent much of the volume wondering if he really does love Renko.

Psycome is never going to be “really good”, but it’s still reasonably funny, and I like many of the characters. And we keep getting hints of the endgame plot, which I suspect will happen in the final volume. Recommended if you don’t mind cliches.

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 1

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By Spica Aoki. Released in Japan as “Bara Kangoku no Kemono-tachi” by Akita Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Princess. Released in North America digitally by Seven Seas. Translated by Alethea and Athena Nibley, Adapted by Marykate Jasper.

Once again, a manga I had very few expectations for manages to please me greatly. I always enjoy it when this happens, particularly when it’s shoujo. The premise of this seemed to be ‘Werewolf reverse harem’, which did not inspire confidence, and I admit that when I first read the words ‘Alpha, Beta and Omega’ midway through, my heart sank. But it won me over anyway, partly due to the art (the artist is really good at facial expressions, particularly in the case of Nina, the heroine) and partly due to Nina herself, who is a great combination of spunky, stubborn, and sort of goofy in the best way. We haven’t seen a title from the ‘Princess’ magazine in quite some time – Tokyopop used to do a lot of their stuff before they shuttered their manga line – and I like that it feels different from the Big Three’s shoujo titles.

The premise is that Nina and her uncle have arrived at the vaguely Mediterranean country of Ruberia, apparently to get a fresh start after getting bullied so bad in Japan she had to flee the country. Unfortunately, no sooner has she gone exploring then an escaped convict runs past her, and when she tries to stop him using her martial arts fighting skills (because yes, she’s that sort of heroine), he tackles her and bites her neck, causing her to pass out. After some brief suspicious guards catch the convict, they shove her into the paddy wagon as well. When she comes to, she finds herself on the prison island off the coast of the country, which turns out to be populated by werewolves, all of whom are prisoners of sadistic human guards, trained and tortured to be servants to the country’s human population. Which is troubling enough, except… Nina now has wolf ears and a tail too! Did the bite turn her into a werewolf? And how will she survive?

As you may have guessed by the description above, this title is gloriously silly and over the top. If you take it seriously, I’m not sure it would actually work. The characters are not blazingly original – we get the seemingly nice guy who’s actually in thrall to the Queen Bee, we get the incredibly jealous girl who hates Nina getting the attention of her love (no doubt she will attack Nina viciously in Volume 2), and of course we get Roy, who’s the sort of smug but sexy and mysterious jerk that every shoujo manga needs. Luckily, Nina fights back – in fact, the final moment in this volume made me laugh out loud at a shoujo cliche getting subverted, and I daren’t spoil it. Nina also ends up in a pack of trans werewolves, and while they tend towards the stereotypes and sometimes a punchline, they don’t seem to be there to be made fun of, which is nice.

Basically, as long as you don’t mind werewolf cliches (I did mention the alpha thing), this is a hell of a lot of fun, especially Nina. I look forward to the next volume.

If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, Vol. 1

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By CHIROLU and Truffle. Released in Japan as “Uchi no Musume no Tame Naraba, Ore Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoserukamo Shirenai” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Matthew Warner.

The most popular light novel genre at the moment, both here and in Japan, is “generic RPG fantasy world”. In this genre, however, you can do all sorts of things. There are isekai variations, and novels where it really is a game. There are harem romances, and dark gritty tragedies. These days it seems like a popular editorial request is “do fantasy but with __________”. And with this particular title, we’re getting another type of popular Japanese genre, the “single dad raises his daughter/adopted daughter (it’s always a daughter) and she’s really really goddamn cute” genre. The dad can be bumbling or competent, but the adorableness of the girl is never in question. (The light novel genre being male-oriented, the single mom raising her adorable son has not to my knowledge had any series, but hope springs eternal.) And now we have this series, where the adopted girl is a devil abandoned by her people for mystery reasons, and she’s just cute as the dickens.

The first 2/3 of this book is basically running on that premise. Our hero is a seasoned young adventurer who looks like the standard ‘generic guy’ you see in these sorts of fantasy book (Smartphone guy looks exactly the same). He runs into Latina in the woods, starving and unable to speak human languages, and decides to bring her home on the basis of being unable to let her starve to death or be eaten by monsters. Then he and the couple who run the inn he lives in slowly watch her grow up, learn to speak and read human, show she can use magic, wait tables, and wrap absolutely everyone around her finger. Part of the fun in this book is seeing Dale (the dad) turning into a complete over the top loon about his new daughter. Actually, one drawback is that I wish we’d had a bit more of Dale as he was before he met Latina – we see flashes of it, but it loses a bit of impact as we barely know him before he’s a doting dad.

The last third is far more serious, and at first I thought it might be dealing with Latina being bullied by her peers, but no, she’s being emotionally and mentally abused by her new teacher, who lost her family to devils and has gone half-insane to rage and prejudice as a result. Latina’s attempts to hide what’s being done to her with “everything is fine” even as she looks more and more worn and exhausted will ring a bell with anyone who ever dealt with a bullied child “staying strong”. The whole section is brutal, and it wouldn’t have nearly half the impact it does without most of the book being variations on “look at the daily life of this cutie”. It is nice to see the entire town seemingly standing up to protect her, including Dale, whose cold rage is absolutely terrifying to the temple who employed the teacher.

There are 5 volumes in this series, and each one shows Latina slightly older, so I suspect we won’t have cute antics for the whole series. But if you enjoy series like Yotsuba&!, Sweetness and Lightning, or Bunny Drop (the first half – I hope) and wish it had more swords and sorcery, I think you’d greatly enjoy this series.

Chihayafuru, Vol. 3

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By Yuki Suetsugu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Be Love. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Ko Ransom.

There’s a lot going on in this volume of Chihayafuru, which is starting to find its feet. We gain a new member of the karuta club, which has now hit the required five. Tsutomu, aka “Desk-kun”, is an introverted, small, nerdy guy who seems to be devoted to studies and has few friends. But once Chihaya sets her sights on him (which involves, at one point, kidnapping him), and he realizes that one of the otehr players on the team is in fact the #1 stude3nt in the school, he wonders if karuta can help his focus in other areas as well. I like Tsutomu. He brings a rookie lack of confidence that this sort of series always needs, and his crisis of faith towards the end of the book is both dramatic and understandable. What’s more, his suggestion of playing karuta with the poem-side down leads to a match of pure memorization between Taichi and Chihaya, and gives him his first big triumph.

Chihaya’s learning a lot in this volume, mostly as they now have a full team of five, which means that they have to learn how to play Karuta as a team – not that they play together, but such things as setting the right order for the matches and having trust that your other teammates are going to be fine. She’s also thrown off by one of her first opponents, who even gets her precious Chihaya card, which makes you feel like she’s going to break. (Her inner monologue has everything sounding far away to her, thus ruining her hearing advantage. I like this detail, as it makes it sound like she’s about to pass out – I’ve had that feeling myself.) Oddly, the true heart and leader of the team ends up being Taichi, who always knows the right think to say to Chihaya to snap her out of whatever funk she’s in. I suspect this is meant to be a love triangle with Arata, but given Arata’s ongoing absence it’s easier to fall on the Taichi side.

This volume is almost all karuta, but not entirely – there’s a “training session” at Taichi’s house that is just an excuse to give Chihaya a surprise birthday party. Sadly, it’s ruined when his incredibly strict mother comes home early, and the girls have to take off, but they at least get to meet up later (and we get an Arata text message cameo.) Chihaya continues to be the main reason to read the manga – Taichi may be the heart of the team, but she’s the heart of this series, and her incredible emotional ups and downs make for thrilling reading. Karuta isn’t just ‘let’s have fun and make friends’ anymore – by the end of the volume, the entire team is thinking ‘I want to win’ like it’s a mantra. Playing in a competitive sport means pushing your limits, and not slacking off. There’s a cliffhanger here, and Vol. 4 isn’t on Kodansha’s schedule yet, but I hope it comes soon. Unmissable.

Manga the Week of 6/28/17

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SEAN: It’s the end of the fiscal year! The real 2016 ends on June 30th! What are publishers putting out before the end of the budget?

Bookwalker has been a site that distributes digital titles for many publishers, but they’ve decided to dip their own toe into the pond with a new light novel series, The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress. It appears to feature delicious bread.

MJ: I do like delicious bread… Can a great title like this lure me into a light novel series? Stay tuned to find out!

SEAN: I’m always wary to list DMP titles these days given how iffy they’ve been with print the last two years, but The Tyrant Falls in Love 10 is still listed by Amazon as coming out next week.

ASH: Yeah… DMP’s distribution is almost nonexistent these days. The manga might eventually make it to other sellers, but The Tyrant Falls in Love, Volume 10 isn’t even available through June Manga’s website yet.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has another debut with Demon King Daimaou, a fairly old series that had an anime out back in 2010. It has a magical academy, a boy who will grow to be a demon king, a harem of girls who zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Kodansha wraps up a license rescue next week, as Nodame Cantabile comes to an end with Vols. 24 and 25. There’s also a 14th Yozakura Quartet.

In print, there’s a 3rd volume of Clockwork Planet.

Back to digital for the 2nd volume of Giant Killing, which is not about killing giants in a fantasy way, just in a sports way.

MICHELLE: And it’s so good! I’m looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut next week is Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni), a seinen series from afternoon about gemstones fighting in a war. From what I’ve seen, the gemstones are genderless, so be warned that there may be a translation fight here (remember Wish?).

ASH: I am rather curious about this series. (And speaking of Wish, I wonder if Dark Horse’s forthcoming omnibus edition will be using a new translation… )

MJ: So… like Steven Universe, but without Steven?

SEAN: And a new volume of Vinland Saga is always welcome, here’s the 9th.

ANNA: Yay! I have been buying these faithfully even though I have not read them yet. Waiting until I feel particularly vikingish to go on a reading binge.

ASH: It is SO GOOD. I’m thrilled that we’re getting more of the series! There were some really great female characters introduced recently, too.

SEAN: Seven Seas has not one, but two debuts next week. The first is Beasts of Abigaile (Bara Kangoku no Kemono-tachi), a shoujo manga from Princess (man, have we had any Princess titles since Tokyopop shut down its manga?) that’s a reverse harem with werewolves.

ANNA: OK, paranormal reverse harem does interest me.

MJ: Maybe, maybe…

SEAN: Concrete Revolutio: The Complete Saga, as the name might suggest, is a done-in-one omnibus from Young Ace. The subtitle in Japan is “Superhero Fantasy”, and that seems entirely correct.

MICHELLE: Both appear to feature protagonists with pink hair!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a new omnibus of Freezing, Vols. 15-16.

And there’s also a 5th Hour of the Zombie, which has caught up to Japan, I believe.

Udon, like DMP, has constantly slipping and sliding dates on Amazon, but it does say the 4th Persona 3 is out next week.

ASH: I’m not enjoying the Persona 3 adaptation nearly as much as the Persona 4 adaptation.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 4th massive tome in their BLAME! Master’s Edition.

And a 2nd volume of slice-of-magical-life series Flying Witch.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed volume one quite a bit, so I’m looking forward to this!

SEAN: Vertical Inc. has the next novel in the Monogatari series. Nisemonogatari is split into two volumes that deal with Araragi’s younger sisters – this is the first, Karen Bee.

Viz has a new digital release, at least “new” in terms of a collected volume. The Emperor and I runs in Shonen Jump+, and is, well, about an emperor. An emperor penguin, that is.

Yen Press has some digital titles as well, with the 11th Corpse Princess and the 10th Saki.

They also have two digital debuts. Gesellschaft Blue is a Young Gangan series filled with blood, gore and action. It’s a very dark fantasy.

IM: The Great Priest Imhotep seems more like a standard shonen fantasy, and appropriately it runs in Shonen Gangan.

There’s always one lone Yen title that’s pushed back a week from the others, and this month it’s Leg Horizon’s 8th novel, which focuses on the younger members of the guild and their adventures.

Lastly, Sword Art Online gets 3 more light novel digital releases with Vols. 5-7.

Did you budget properly? Do you have money left over to buy manga next week?

Paying to Win in a VRMMO, Vol. 3

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

The afterword mentions that this volume’s story was not part of the original webnovel, but was especially written for the books in order to try to flesh out Sakurako/Kirschwasser’s character, as she doesn’t get much to do in the main series. She gets a lot more to do here, and I like her determination and devotion to the game, but I wish that we’d gotten a little bit more of the mysterious backstory she has – it’s hinted she’s “had a rough life”, but that doesn’t really go anywhere, and we don’t have any flashbacks to how she met Ichiro. The author, in the afterword, notes that Sakurako’s age was a factor – not with him, but with the editors, who apparently think that being a Christmas Cake makes you unable to be a heroine. Bleah. That said, her scenes were good, even if the novel, understandably, feels like it’s just marking time.

The fight between Nem and Iris occupies most of this volume, and you feel frustration with both of them, though obviously far more with Nem. I kept feeling a sort of tension regarding their real-life identities – given Megumi’s irrational jealousy of Iris, finding out her real-life identity would be catastrophic, as she can and would destroy Iris’ life. Fortunately, this is likely not that serious a series, and instead the whole confrontation seems to be more of an object lesson than anything else. As for Iris, when she’s putting herself down adn indecisive she shows off her actual age – ironically, it’s only when tearing Ichiro apart verbally that she really comes alive, and I’m pleased that any romance, if there is any, is far away – I much prefer Iris wondering why on earth everybody else falls for him.

Ichiro himself spends most of this volume in the real world, meeting with the creator of Narrow Fantasy Online and also talking about his worldview with an AI that is one of the game’s sysadmins. This section serves more as setup for future volumes than anything else, but it does feature Ichiro being far less irritating than he was in the first two books. That said, his lack of presence in the game until the very end means that there’s not as much ‘parody’ in this story that’s meant to parody a certain type of genre, even if you add in obvious fanservice like the return of the Kirihitters. The main thing I enjoyed about this volume are the small details that come up throughout the book- I won’t go into specifics, but a description here, a character reveal there. It’s the sort of volume where the little things distract you more than the main plot and thrust of the book itself, which – as I said above – feels like it’s treading water. Which it is, that’s what it was designed to do.

So this is still a solid, but not great series. I hope the next volume features more of Ichiro being ludicrous and Iris screaming at him, which let’s face it is why I read this by now.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/19/17

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Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 4 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – This volume might’ve set a record for “number of times Michelle got verklempt due to sports manga.” Eijun’s skills continue to improve, but moreso his character does, as he realizes that taciturn catcher Chris has really been looking out for his best interests all along. Eijun becomes determined to pay him back by showing him some improvement before he graduates, practically forgetting that two junior varsity players have the opportunity to move up in his desire to express his gratitude to his teammate. Sniff! And then Chris, who has missed a year of play due to injury, gets the chance to show how terrific he’s been all this time. Meanwhile, his former varsity teammates are all pulling for him to rejoin them for their final summer season. Did I mention sniff? Great stuff! – Michelle Smith

Black Clover, Vol. 7 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – This is another of those transition volumes we see so often in Shonen Jump, wrapping up the last plot, taking out a supposed traitor (who merely seems to have been corrupt), and going to the beach to show off some fanservice. We also get a few new characters, the best of whom is Kahono, who may be too good to be true somewhere down the line, but for now seems to be just what Noelle needs to finally get past the baggage of her past. The rest of the team gets to fight a bevy of enemies, either winning easily or losing just as easily. This is a team of fighters, but so far Asta and Noelle are the only important ones. Still quite readable, though, and I look forward to seeing how the fights end next time around. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 3 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I love Chihayafuru so much that each time a volume ends I feel legitimately bereft. In this volume, Chihaya and Taichi manage to recruit a couple of new members to their karuta club, giving them a sufficient number to receive official club status. Taichi is really the star of this volume, helping to bring on one of the new players, as well as moderating Chihaya when, in her earnest desire to help everyone become strong, she nearly works them past the point of exhaustion. And then it’s time for the Tokyo qualifiers for the high school karuta championship, and he once again proves to be the pillar of the team. I think Chihaya’s begun to see him in a new light, too. Anyway, all of the tournament stuff is fascinating and it ends on a most excruciating cliffhanger. Worse, there’s no release date for volume four yet! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 12 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – Most of this volume is dedicated to a battle against a team with a very, very tall guy, which has its obvious advantages in volleyball that get put to good use here to try to crush our heroes, particularly Hinata. Of course, we’ve spent a couple of volumes now seeing Karasuno improving itself more and more, and so it should come as no surprise to find David taking down Goliath by the end of this match. The team is beginning to feel in sync, Kageyama is feeling (gasp!) happy and confident again, and even Tsukishima continues to try to improve himself and put said improvement in practice. As with most sports manga, you enjoy seeing the obvious growth and development laid out in excruciating detail. We get that here. – Sean Gaffney

The High School Life of a Fudanshi, Vol. 1 | By Atami Michinoku | Seven Seas – I was already a bit wary of this series, not being familiar with the anime and wondering how many of the jokes would be variations on “no homo.” (Not as many as I thought, but still too many.) But making the series a 4-koma is absolutely the wrong decision for what it wants to be, as the gags just aren’t funny enough in that format and the characters need more development. I liked the relationship between Sakaguchi and his fellow BL enthusiast Nishihara, as their fandom talk reminded me of fandom talk I have seen. But it wasn’t really enough of a draw to keep turning the pages. The author has mostly done Gintama BL smut before this, and this seems to be a dip in the waters of non-smut. 65%, Must Try Harder. – Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 24 | By Julietta Suzuki | Viz Media – The underworld arc ends here, and it’s as epic and exciting as you’d expect. The real teary drama is in the second half of the book, though, as Nanami realizes she can’t keep being Shrine God if she’s going to be with a human Tomoe. So she runs herself ragged trying to prepare for a future she hadn’t given much thought to so as not to turn out the way her father did. Mizuki, meanwhile, is simply unable to accept that Nanami is going to get old, die, and leave him behind, and has a truly in-character hissy fit that ends up not taking as long as I thought it would. Possibly as the next volume is the last one. I’ve really loved this series as it’s gained depth, and will be incredibly sad to see it end. – Sean Gaffney

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 11-12 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | VIZ Media – Seirin has reached the final four of the Tokyo Winter Cup qualifiers, from which two teams will emerge to represent Tokyo at the Winter Cup. Kuroko debuts his nifty new “vanishing drive” move, which helps his team overcome a deficit and tie up the game with Shutoku. Next, they face Kirisaki Daiichi, a team that employs dirty tricks to win. It was in a game against them that Kiyoshi suffered his injury, and once the first years are informed of this, they’re fired up for payback. Kiyoshi really is front and center (no pun intended) this volume, as we learn about the formation of the basketball club the year before and his past with Hyuga, though I confess I most loved seeing Kuroko get to be not just mad but kind of a badass. Even better, we don’t end on a cliffhanger for once! – Michelle Smith

Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf, Vol. 1 | By Hachoujou Arata | Seven Seas – Like the Fudanshi release I discussed earlier, this has a lot of 4-komas in it, though it intersperses it with longer stories. It’s another one of those anthropomorphic personification titles, as we meet a Red Riding Hood who loves to burn things down and the straight-man wolf whom she sets her sights on. As the title goes on, we see a bunch of new characters, all various varieties of crazy. If you enjoy sadistic grins and seeing a cute guy cry, this may be the series for you. I would not recommend it, though, for the simple reasons that I didn’t like anyone in it. Usually I say with first volumes to wait on that one clearly unlikeable character. But when they’re all like that… I’m not going to wait. – Sean Gaffney

Species Domain, Vol. 2 | By Shunsuke Noro | Seven Seas – This was still very enjoyable—there are some characters I disliked in it, but they were clearly signposted as being deliberately awful, and felt bad later. Moreover, we’re finding that it’s not only Kazamori who is having confidence issues about her lack of obvious supernatural traits—Hanei is an angel who can’t fly, which causes her a more subdued amount of stress. The main focus of the book continues to be humor, and while not as funny as the first book I find it very good. More importantly, as we get to know the cast better they’re bonding as friends, which is the most important thing in titles like this. Species Domain won’t knock any socks off, but it’s a solid and fun title. Good art, too. – Sean Gaffney