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Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 6/7/17

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SEAN: June is bustin’ out all over! And while we don’t have that Rogers and Hammerstein manga just yet, we certainly have plenty of titles coming out next week.

ASH: (I would totally read that manga, btw.)

MJ: (Same.)

SEAN: J-Novel Club has the 4th volume of My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World, which promises to be more Haruhi-ish than ever before.

Kodansha digital has more Del Rey rescue volumes, as we get Nodame Cantabile 21 and Princess Resurrection 15.

They also have the 2nd digital volume of Drowning Love.

MICHELLE: Yay for Nodame and Drowning Love.

SEAN: I admit that I have for the most part dropped Fairy Tail. I am a shipper, though, and I do love me some Galevy. I will be picking up Fairy Tail: Rhodonite, then, a spinoff focused on Gajeel.

Noragami has a new volume, with Vol. 18! Man, remember when these were monthly?

ASH: I do! It’s great to catch up so quickly, but it does make the waits between volumes feel especially long.

SEAN: And there is a 6th Sweetness and Lightning.

MICHELLE: I could use a dose of wholesome food manga.

ASH: I’m really loving this series.

SEAN: On the Seven Seas front, we have the 2nd volume of Captive Hearts of Oz, which I found interesting enough to continue, and Alice in the Country of fans should love it.

ASH: The first volume intrigued me as well. It had it’s rough spots, but overall I was entertained.

SEAN: They’re also releasing a print version of the first Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash light novel, which J-Novel Club released back in December.

The big release next week is My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, which everyone needs to pick up immediately. I reviewed it here.

MICHELLE: Hm, sounds interesting!

ASH: One of my most anticipated releases of the year! I’m glad to finally get a chance to read it.

MJ: This was somehow not on my radar at all, so thanks for fixing that!

SEAN: And there is a 3rd Please Tell Me, Galko-chan!, which I find far more amusing and fun than I’d expected to.

ASH: Same.

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 7th Volume of Devil’s Line.

And now it’s time for Viz. Assassination Classroom 16 promises a heaping help of backstory.

Black Clover 7 promises more of what it is that Black Clover does best: reminding you of other shonen titles.

Even after 7 volumes, Bloody Mary still has vampires.

The 5th Everyone’s Getting Married is also out. Can they keep things from getting too angsty?

And things continue to go from bad to worse for the students in the 18th volume of Food Wars!.

MICHELLE: Ordinarily, I look forward to Food Wars! passionately, but this current arc is rather distressing.

ASH: I actually need to catch up to the current arc; I’ve fallen behind!

SEAN: Haikyu!! 12 is probably happy it doesn’t have to worry about cooking and can just focus on volleyball.

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ASH: Yay!

SEAN: And the second to last volume of Kamisama Kiss! I will miss it!

ANNA: I’ve been stockpiling volumes because I don’t want it to be over.

SEAN: Kuroko’s Basketball has a 6th 2-in-1 omnibus, and continues to star Kuroko, against all odds.

MICHELLE: Further huzzah!

SEAN: Viz’s big release is Manga in Theory and Practice. A few years ago Tokyopop released a volume by Hakusensha’s editors on how to do shoujo manga. This might be the shonen equivalent, but its creator is none other than Hirohiko Araki, the creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure! I cannot wait to read this.

ANNA: That sounds like a hoot.

ASH: I’m really looking forward to reading this.

MJ: Oh, interesting. Count me in.

SEAN: One Piece 3-in-1 20 should not be read without tissues handy, as it has the death that no one was expecting.

Seraph of the End has reached a dozen volumes, meaning it can now be profitable in syndication.

And So Cute It Hurts!! has unlucky Volume 13.

Lastly, but not leastly (oh, the grammar pain), there is a 6th Yona of the Dawn. Why can’t this be monthly?

ANNA: YES, WHY?????

MICHELLE: Aside from Fruits Basket, has a shoujo series ever had a monthly print release?

ASH: It seems like there must have been, but none immediately come to mind.

SEAN: A highly interesting week. What are you getting?

Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension: The Chaotic Stone Sauna

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By Nagaharu Hibihana and Masakage Hagiya. Released in Japan as “Isekai Konyoku Monogatari” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sophie Guo.

Despite the threat of death from a giant dragon/dinosaur thing that secretes poison gas, this is actually another relatively low-impact volume of Mixed Bathing, and I think I’m coming to terms with that a bit more. In fact, it turns out to be an inversion of the last book. Last time Touya and company were doing all the plot-relate4d work, and we only briefly touched on Haruno back at Athenapolis. This time around Haruno gets far more of the focus – over a third of the book. Touya, meanwhile, mostly dithers around in the Fire Nation, which does not seem to be attacking anytime soon, taking advantage of the blessings of his various goddesses to get things like a really awesome kitchen (although not, oddly, a toilet, something that is relevant enough to be a plot point later – I assume it’s because toilets and baths in Japan are so separate, but still, was this trip really necessary?). Mostly, though, Mixed Bathing continues to develop its plot and backstory, and gives us more likeable characters who respect each other. Which I still can’t get enough of.

Of course, there’s a naked loli on the cover, so the book has likely already lost a chunk of audience that might otherwise have tried it out. Said loli is Rakti, the Goddess of Darkness who due to the events we heard about in the previous volume, is now freed and with our heroes, although given she has to hide her powers to avoid world war, she mostly functions as a moeblob this book. As noted, Touya leaves Hadesopolis and heads to the Fire Nation, Hephaestusopolis (bet you can’t guess how the author came up with these city names) to gain the blessing of the Fire Goddess, something that is relatively simple and painless. (The Light Goddess is not amused, though, and honestly the goddesses seem to be functioning as the cliched harem that Touya’s actual real-world harem isn’t.) The action comes in the last third of the book, with a nasty fight and some clever use of both his bath powers and Clena’s own magic – Touya is still using more spells and less bath, but he’s starting to combine the two, and I liked how he’s now working together in battle with the others more.

As for Haruno and her group, she’s actually the one picking up more new girls this time around, although whether Daisy and Prae will end up being part of Touya’s harem is not really clear – Touya and Haruno still have not met back up. Prae did make me a little uncomfortable – she seems to have a mental disability of some sort, and while Haruno and the others treat her normally and with respect, I’m not exactly sure why the author went in this direction beyond “the giant woman acts like a child”. More impressive is Haruno’s political intrigue, where she shows off her smarts and her strength of will, taking out a corrupt slave regime and the senators behind it in literally one day, and then skedaddling after the revelation of what really happened in the past has led to a schism in the Light Goddess’ followers.)

In the end, this is simply a good series, showing depth of thought into the backstory of the world, and respect for all the characters, which given how much naked bathing there is in this story remains a major feat. It’s become one of my most anticipated light novel titles.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness

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By Nagata Kabi. Released in Japan as “Sabishisugite Lesbian Fuzoku Ni Ikimashita Report” by East Press. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

This book took me by surprise several times, mot least of which is the fact that it was licensed at all. A realistic look at depression and sexuality done autobiographically, and then released first on the art board Pixiv, then by the small publisher East Press? It was not the type of story I expected to see picked up by the publishers of Monster Girl Encyclopedia. But no publisher ever quite fits its cliche, and Seven Seas decided to take a chance on this book. I’m so glad they did, and you should be as well, because this is a raw but fascinating and ultimately uplifting read for anyone. I was actually surprised at how much of it spoke to me, being that I am seemingly not the typical audience for this book, but the experiences here also hold a touch of the universal, and the way they play out is excellent.

After a brief flashforward to the event on the cover, which is mostly covered in the second half of the book, we get the author’s examination of her life after high school. She was doing art at college but dropped out, and attempts to hold down a part-time job were hampered by her issues of self-esteem, eating disorders, and a serious case of depression. This is not a lighthearted title, and we get a lot of examination of the thought process that goes into being depressed and having anxiety. It’s one of the best parts of the book – by working over everything in such detail, with the author also analyzing her own behavior at the time as she writes it, she shows us how difficult it can be to get yourself out of that hole you dig. There’s also a realization that she may not want to be the person that her parents are pushing her to be – which then leads into an examination of her sexuality.

Again, like the depression, she lays this out in a very straightforward, visible manner, showing how she didn’t even think of herself as a gender, because she didn’t want to be seen first as a woman, then as a person. This leads to her realizing that she’s more attracted to women’s bodies, and a wonderful examination of the need for affection and physical contact, beyond the bounds of sexuality. It culminates in the decision to have a session with a worker from an escort agency, so that she can experience what she’s been obsessing over. Of course, this being realistic autobiography, the experience is as awkward and difficult as you’d imagine (I liked where she expressed regret that she forgot to hug them), but things do end up more hopeful by the end of the book, with the author taking this experience and deciding to use it to create the story we’re reading, and the online reaction she gets, leaves you smiling and hoping that she finds fulfillment.

Basically, this manga may make you uncomfortable at times, but it is well worth it to see how one person can talk about such universal topics as anxiety, depression, and sexual identity on the page. Please go buy it, you won’t regret it.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Vol. 2

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

In many ways, this second volume of OreGairu does not have a heck of a lot going on. There are school ativities and discussion of career plans, as befits high schoolers. There is the Service Club and their attempts to help people, which features two cases this time around, both of which are solved relatively quickly. But that’s appropriate, as the problems are very much those of typical high-schoolers – feeling like the odd man out in a group of friends, and trying to find a way to pay for higher education. They’re also solved relatively quickly because both Hachiman and Yukino are both amazingly intelligent and observant, and normally they’d be praiseworthy. But they aren’t, mostly because of the reason anyone would read OreGairu in the first place: to read about these horrible, broken people lacerating each other with words.

I read this book right after reading Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, and the contrast between narrative style is mindblowing. Hachiman’s cynical bitterness overflows every page, and his defensive asides only serve to make him more pathetic and yet strangely endearing. His insight into human nature, particularly the way that high school students interact around each other, is high-level stuff, and if he was looking for a career at all I’d suggest he move in a direction where he could use those talents for the better good. But his crushing apathy and disaffection ensures that this isn’t going to happen. Yukino is similar to him, though without the outward self-hatred. I say outward because this second volume shows us that there is a topic that really upsets Yukino and cracks her jerkass facade, and that’s showing family issues in her face. Clearly Yukino’s issues are family-related just as Hichiman’s are peer-related, and I have no doubt that future books will explore this in agonizing detail.

Thank goodness for Yui. I feel a little bad for her, as much of the time she feels like a character from a far more cliched light novel trapped inside this series. But she’s desperately needed to offset the bile coming from her two clubmates, and her relatively normal reactions to everything show off both how intelligent and broken Hachiman and Yukino are. She’s also tied to the accident at the start of his high school life, something he is now aware of, and this culminates in a stunning final scene where she gives him a perfect opening to get closer to her and possibly lead up to something more, and he just shuts her down as callously as possible. This series would never work if Hachiman’s attitude was fixed as quickly as this, so the pushback was expected. But it’s beautifully, heartbreakingly written, and you feel bad for Hachiman while wanting to kick him in the head. And Yui needs a hug.

That said, the actual plot is mostly irrelevant for this series, which runs on snappy dialogue and clever characterization. It’s not a happy, feel-good series at all, but it’s absolutely worth a read for light novel fans.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/29/17

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Bloom Into You, Vol. 2 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – While there is a lot of yuri out there that can be defined by the words “what is this strange feeling in my heart?,” I’m not sure if any of them are quite as fascinating as Yuu. I’m not entirely sure if this manga is going to go with “Yuu is asexual,” but the first couple of volumes can certainly be read at that. She’s not really aromantic, though, and her relationship with Touko is complicated—and becoming known to others, who may also be asexual. Touko, meanwhile, is the ever-popular “problematic” we see in so many yuri titles as well, and is having trouble balancing that line between consent and just giving in to her desires. Bloom Into You may start like typical yuri, but it’s not headed that way. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 2 | By Yuki Suetsuki | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Oh, happy sigh. I do love Chihayafuru so much. In this volume, we see the conclusion to the elementary tournament Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata have entered. Sadly, they lose and Arata moves away not long after. Chihaya is certain that they’ll meet again, but as we skip ahead three years to high school, it’s clear that they haven’t really kept in contact. She’s determined to start a karuta club and makes Taichi promise to join if she finally achieves class A ranking. Seeing her compete rekindles his own love of karuta, but when she calls Arata to tell him the good news, she learns he’s stopped playing for a really awful reason. I actually got sniffly when they came face to face again at last. This is the kind of manga where I wish I had dozens of volumes stacked up to marathon. Unequivocally recommended. – Michelle Smith

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 3 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Although I enjoy a good cliffhanger as much as the next person, I’m not normally as invested in their outcome as I was for the one at the end of volume two of this series. Before we find out exactly what Tsuzaki and Kazami mean by “sharing” Mikuri, however, there’s an interlude where she and her fake husband must field questions from relatives about their procreation plans. I really enjoy the way Umino is plotting this series—it makes sense why Mikuri would want to take Kazami up on his arrangement, and neatly dovetails into her aunt finding out about it, prompting her to be concerned about the nature of her niece’s marriage. Mikuri doesn’t engage in any flights of fancy this time, but she does do a lot of psychoanalyzing her husband, which is interesting. Definitely looking forward to volume four! – Michelle Smith

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1 | By Tsukumizu | Yen Press – I’m not entirely sure what to make of Girls’ Last Tour. Chito and Yuuri are two chibi-faced young women roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland on their Kettenkrad motorbike, just trying to survive. There are parts of this series I really liked. I love the depictions of desolate cities, or cavernous interiors… it reminds me a little of BLAME! in that respect, which is a major compliment. Too, I like their brief interaction with a guy named Kanazawa, who has found meaning for his life in creating maps, and that other levels exist where conditions might be different. I find that I really want to know how things turned out this way. That said, I strenuously dislike Yuuri, and there are some really unfunny gags featuring her that I guess are supposed to be moe or something but just piss me off. Still, I’ll be continuing! – Michelle Smith

Golden Time, Vol. 7 | By Yuyuko Takemiya and Umechazuke | Seven Seas – Linda is mostly absent from this volume, which allows us to focus on the odd triangle between Kouko, Banri, and Banri’s old self, which seems to literally be sabotaging his relationship, though he’s also being helped by coincidental disaster and bad choices, particularly “don’t drive home when you’re all sleepy,” which leads to Kouko, understandably, having a complete nervous breakdown as several of her long-standing issues combine with nightmares she’s having about the car accident. Fortunately, Bari gets over his own issues to an extent in time to be there for her, and much to my surprise we get a ‘girlfriend’s dad’ who’s supportive and not a caricature. As good as ever. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Bento | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – After getting together in the first volume, this second in the “Kase-san and” series continues to show off the awkwardness that comes with having just gotten together. Both girls still don’t know each other that well, and misunderstandings abound. But they’re all relatively easy to resolve misunderstandings, which is good, because no one is reading this for overwrought lesbian drama. We’re reading it because Yamada is adorable, Kase-san is spunky, and the two of them together are wonderful. There are a few more kisses, and Yamada is slowly gaining confidence. And there are bentos. Which, you know, you would expect thanks to the title. Cuteness personified. – Sean Gaffney

Maid-sama!, Vols. 15-16 | By Hiro Fujiwara | Viz Media – I had thought Maid-sama ended with volume sixteen, but I was wrong. And indeed, much of this volume is about reminding me that it’s not just as simple as “Misaki admits she likes him, the end.” Usui comes with baggage, though, and we learn a lot about that baggage in this volume, including the story of how his parents met—it’s steeped in class issues and tragedy. And as such Misaki, who is as common as they come, has it hammered into her that she can never be with him as she can’t cross those class barrier. Misaki, of course, is ready to kick your class barrier down with her best quality—her sheer stubbornness. Oh yes, and Misaki’s father returns. Please ignore that entire plotline; it’s awful. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 6 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – There’s a lot of good stuff going on in this volume, not the least of which is the tragic death of a major character, but it’s sort of hard to get past THAT SCENE. I said “poor Anne” at the end of my last review, and boy, I wasn’t kidding, though frankly she takes it far better than I expected. But man, Margaret. She’s always been one of my favorite Shakespeare villains, as well as one of his best female characters, and BOY HOWDY does Kanno convey that in a fantastic way. You want to recoil from the page. As for Henry and Richard, I think by necessity we are headed to the end of that relationship soon, unless there’s some rewriting of canon beyond what we’ve already seen. Riveting. -Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 38 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Thankfully, this volume was considerably more interesting than the previous one, though I am still grateful we’re heading for the end. Most of the volume focuses on Komatsu and the other cooks, and I am reminded that this is really Komatsu’s story as much as Toriko’s, and he’s had a lot farther to develop. Beyond that, we have the usual impressive shone n stunts, monsters galore, and a decent amount of food, though I miss the days when food was the only thing driving this manga. And again, the relationship between Toriko and Komatsu may not be explicitly gay, but it’s certainly far deeper than any relationships the two of them have with their love interests. Keep at it if you’ve been reading it. – Sean Gaffney

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 5 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – The Tenpei Cup has come to an end, and Tatara Fujita must return to normal life. After successfully getting into high school, he is upfront about his love of dancesport in his self-introduction, earning the mockery of the girl who sits in front of him, Chinatsu Hiyama. However, it soon becomes apparent that not only is Chinatsu a big fan of Sengoku and his partner, Chizuru Hongo, but she has some experience with ballroom dance. Hey, how convenient that such a character shows up right when Tatara is in need of a new partner! Imagine that. Anyway, this is mostly a transitional volume, and featured a couple of people saying unkind things about their overweight friend, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as previous volumes. I’m still on board for the next one, though. – Michelle Smith

Cage of Eden, Vol. 21

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By Yoshinobu Yamada. Released in Japan as “Eden no Ori” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Mari Morimoto

It’s been six and a half years since I last did a full review of Cage of Eden on this site. The series pretty much was the definition of “this is worthy of a Bookshelf Brief”, featuring a lot of fun action, thrilling adventures, and copious nudity. It’s been over in Japan for a while now, and for a while I wondered if it would ever end here – this final volume comes out a full year after the last one did. But now it’s here, giving us more of what I just said above. There’s huge beasts killing off a few villainous guys whose names I can’t even remember. There’s deadly slime mold that almost, but not quite, manages to kill off our heroes who we do care about. There is an explanation of everything that has been going on, though it is quite rushed. And as for romantic resolution… the hand-holding on the cover is the best you’ll get.

While I did enjoy this last volume, the whole thing screams “your popularity is waning, wrap it up in 4 chapters even though you won’t have time to fit anything in”. As such, much of the back end of this volume is devoted to Akira’s mother, and her POV as her son’s flight is lost with everyone on board presumed dead. The grief and loss she shows is actually some of the best writing in the volume, and helps to make up for the “and therefore I became the heir to a huge scientific conspiracy” that follows. As for the solution to how the class is on the island and why, it’s a reasonable one given the vaguely science-fictional stuff we’ve already seen, and probably a bit more satisfying than Lost, a series that Cage of Eden hes reminded many people of. The ending is wide open, as we never do find out what happens to everyone once they return to Japan… it’s intentionally left as a blank slate.

As for the romance I mentioned earlier, it’s even lampshaded by the author. Despite the occasional overture towards romantic triangles and the obvious attraction and love Akira and Rion feel for each other, the closest we get to a payoff is one last bathing scene, with the peepers helpfully telling us that no one has gotten any, not even Yarai ad his teacher. Honestly, we shouldn’t be surprised. Cage of Eden has always, despite the occasional attempt at depth, been more about surface impressions than anything else. And also, a lot of romance manga these days ends with no resolution to avoid annoying readers. That said, I think even the most hardcore of those fans might have forgiven at least Alira/Rion. Still, we’ll always have that hand-holding.

Cage of Eden was exciting, sometimes horrifying, frequently blatantly sexist, and tried to aim a bit higher than it could really reach, but overall I’m happy I read it. It’s a good example of a typical Shonen Magazine title from about 10 years ago, and I’m glad we got to see it finish up here.

Pick of the Week: Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fudanshi?

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SEAN: It’s an odd week with the majority of titles being digital ones. I’m not blown away by anything, but I guess I’ll go with the debut of Real Girl, a Dessert series that almost seems to be a genderbent version of a very common shoujo trope.

KATE: That’s some slim pickings… oof. If I had to choose a title — and death was not an option — I’d cast my vote for The High School Life of a Fudanashi. After reading several relentlessly grim books, I could use a silly palette cleanser. Fudanashi looks like it fits the bill: it’s a 4-koma title about a straight boy who likes BL but feels weird about telling his friends. It will either be a hoot or a dreary compendium of “But I’m not gay!” jokes. Let’s hope it’s the former.

MICHELLE: I intend to check out Kasane and Real Girl, but of all the options, I’m most happy that the digital release of Nodame Cantabile continues briskly, so I’ll pick volume twenty of that series this time.

ASH: Like Kate, my pick this week goes to The High School Life of a Fudanshi. The premise has promise, but it also has the potential to go completely off the rails (and not in a good way). I’m curious to see which direction the series takes!

MJ: There’s not a lot for me this week, but I’m cautiously edging towards The High School Life of a Fudanshi, with the understanding that it could turn out to be either awesome or horrifyingly offensive. I’m open to finding out which.

ANNA: There really isn’t much that’s an automatic pick for me, so like Sean, I’ll go with Real Girl as I enjoy genderbent shoujo from time to time.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 2

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By Hiro Ainana and shri. Released in Japan by Fujimi Shobo. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.

There is a bit of a cliche about the typical isekai hero. The abbreviation used, I believe is ‘OP’, as in ‘overpowered’. In fact, it gets applied to light novels heroes whether it’s an isekai or not, but generally tends to mean that the hero wins most of his fights with ease, has very little difficulty amassing a group of girls who like him, and wanders through the story being a cool wish-fulfillment character. Of course, when you examine the works more closely, no one here is ever QUITE that bad. Taking the two most obvious examples, Kirito has various issues in both his real and gaming life (which admittedly the author does not emphasize as much as he should), and Tatsuya has genuine issues communicating properly with people much of the time due to literally being engineered to not have strong emotions. Hell, even Arifureta’s hero spends almost half the book suffering as a bullied loser before he goes through hell and becomes Grimdark Araragi. And then there’s Death March’s Satou.

Even Satou’s very name, one of the most common last names in Japan, screams generic. The author seems to have this misguided opinion that being above the age of 25 somehow manages to let you control all your emotions perfectly, and so Satou strides through situations with barely a raised eyebrow. His briefly getting mildly annoyed at the villain at the end of this volume is a major breakthrough, something he even lampshades. Hell, you know the scene in KonoSuba where Kazuma goes through hell in order to get laid with a brothel employee only for everything to conspire against him? Here, Satou can simply go to a brothel, level up in many erotic ways (which he refuses to tell us), and suffer no punishment other than being briefly yelled at by his loli slave, who he spends most of the book chastising in any case. You could argue that Touya from Mixed Bathing and Touya from Isekai Smartphone are generic nice guys too, but at least they have normal reactions and are somewhat fresh-faced and shiny. Satou is “been there, done that”.

Oh yes, speaking of that loli, Arisa is the major new cast addition this time around, and is also from Japan, though we don’t know the details yet. Given her behavior, I suspect that she’s much older than her fantasy appearance here. But on that note, can we dial down Satou reminding us he’s not a lolicon just a bit? I realize he’s surrounded by young girls (most of whom he owns – the slavery aspect to this work is still very uncomfortable, especially as his reaction is along the lines of “well, that’s the way it is”) but it’s annoying given that the author clearly IS a lolicon and is happy to give us lots of service whether asked for or not. Other new characters include Arisa’s companion, who is painfully shy except when discussing Arisa, and also cursed to look ugly to everyone (except Satou), a generic mook villainess who is #7 of a group of eight, so is naturally named Nana by Satou because he is awful, and a cute realtor who seems to want to be ravished by her boss. Oh, and an elf princess, also very young.

Is there anything in this book that isn’t painful? The last third or so, where he’s battling his way up a huge tower full of monsters, shows the author can be decent when he’s writing fight scenes. At one point, Satou has to literally breakdance his way past the villains, the only time in the entire volume I laughed out loud. But for the most part, if you’re interested in an isekai published in North America, literally any other novel is better than this. Congrats, Death March, you’re the first light novel I’m dropping for simply being bad, rather than dark (Black Bullet, Goblin Slayer, Grimgar) or offensive (Siskan).

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1

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By Tsukumizu. Released in Japan as “Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou” by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Kurage Bunch. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

As I read this manga, I kept wondering which of the many slice-of-life series starring young girls drawn in a moe style it reminded me of. I’d said on twitter that it was like a post-apocalyptic Yotsuba&!, but at times it also reminds me of Strawberry Marshmallow, Sunshine Sketch, and Non Non Biyori. The key thing that connects all of those titles is that they’re all slice-of-life – note that Girls’ Last tour doesn’t really remind me of other post-apocalyptic mangas where survivors wander the remains of the Earth. Because while that’s the gimmick here, it’s not what keeps people coming back to the title week after week. You come back to see Chito and Yuuri, the two leads, discuss reading, or find hot water so they can take a bath, or meet up with other survivors who help them get up to higher levels of the wasted world they drive their small, cute tank through. It’s… relaxing.

It’s never really made clear, at least not in this volume, exactly what happened to the world that the two girls are wandering through, and honestly it’s not all that important yet. All we know is that there are multiple levels, they are decaying and falling apart, and that for the first 2/3 of the book or so, the girls are the only two survivors we meet. Their concerns are basic: food, heat, shelter, and finding a way to get to a level where there might be more of all three. As you’d expect with a slice of life title, the girls have contrasting personalities. Chito is serious, studious, and does most of the thinking for the two; Yuuri is cheery, dazed, a bit of an idiot, and provides the muscle and shooting skills. And yes, they drive around in a tank and have guns, though we don’t really run into much of anything in this first volume that would require them. Unlike a lot of the slice-of-life seinen titles out recently, there’s not even any faux yuri tease in this – the girls are simply friends, with one perhaps finding the other one more aggravating than she’d like.

About 2/3 of the way through, they meet an older man who is trying to map out the desolate landscape they’re both exploring. Sadly, thanks to a malfunctioning elevator, his maps end up scattered to the four winds (this is even lampshaded right before it happens, with one of the girls talking about the poor design of the freight elevator they’re riding and how it needs railings). This also shows off that even if the girls can slide into moe sameness a bit (I still tend to forget their names), they both have a drive to explore more, to find out what’s beyond the next level, and they convince the understandably distraught mapmaker to do the same thing. Girls’ Last Tour is exploring a landscape quietly and peacefully with two cute young girls. It’s not just a slice-of-life moe manga, it’s trying to be the last slice-of-life moe manga you’d read before the end times cast the universe into heat death. And for the first volume, at least, that’s not too bad.

Manga the Week of 5/31

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SEAN: Believe it or not, under 20 releases is now a quiet week. Welcome to the Manga Boom, here’s your accordion. So what’s out next week?

J-Novel Club has an odd license. Despite being available to them, no one thought the company would license Invaders of the Rokujouma!? for two reasons: 1) It’s 23 volumes and counting in Japan, and 2) it already had a well-regarded fan translation of the first 22 volumes. But J-Novel has licensed that fan translation, is giving it an edit, and doing a fast release of the first three volumes of the series, with more to come monthly, apparently. As for the title itself, it’s a harem comedy, so moving on…

ASH: It’s probably not a series that I’ll ever pick up, but that’s an interesting publication history!

SEAN: Kodansha has more digital Del Rey rescues. Alive 16, Nodame Cantabile 20, and Yozakura Quartet 12.

…and I guess that Kodansha has Battle Angel Alita 1-3 out digitally too. I knew it was coming, but not so soon. This is the original BAA (as opposed to the Last Order reboot), with a new translation.

Their lone print release this week is the 60th volume of Fairy Tail, which should be wrapping up in Japan soon.

Kodansha also has new digital releases. Kasane is an award-winning work, and runs in the magazine Evening. It appears to be a dark thriller with lots of bullying and abuse overtones. But, magic lipstick!

Real Girl (3D Kanojo) is a shoujo/josei title from Dessert, involving a nerdy outcast type who ends up working with a cool beauty, the sort he hates, but gradually comes to realize that cool beauties are people too.

ANNA: I have mixed feelings about these digital releases, I’m so happy that more shoujo/josei is coming out, but having been burned before by the crash and burn of digital manga programs in the past, I’m concerned about some of these titles actually being finished. Also, it would be great to have some more josei print manga! Even with these handy reminders for the Manga Bookshelf team, I’m having a hard time keeping track of all the digital releases that I’m interested in.

MICHELLE: There certainly are a lot of them! That said, I will give these two new ones a try. And yay for more Nodame, as well!

ASH: I’m glad that these titles are being licensed at all, but I’d definitely like to see more of the released in print, too.

MJ: I share Anna’s concerns. I’m glad these are being released, but I’m still reeling from the loss of some JManga series I was really invested in (that have not, to my knowledge, been picked up by anyone else), and I admit I still mistrust digital.

SEAN: If it helps, the JManga title To All Corners of the World was rescued by Seven Seas and will be out in November in one (print) omnibus.

Seven Seas has a few new titles next week, starting with a (gasp!) novel, The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku, based on the seemingly unstoppable Vocaloid idol.

The manga debut is The High School Life of a Fudanshi (Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu), a comedy title from Zero-Sum Online about a straight guy obsessed with BL, and his drive to find someone else to share his obsession with.

ASH: Knowing a few straight fudanshi myself, I’m rather curious to see how the series handles the topic.

MJ: Cautiously interested.

SEAN: And there’s a 5th volume of Shomin Sample, which must have run out of girls showing us their panties on the cover by now. (checks) Sadly, apparently not.

Vertical has the 8th Ninja Slayer, for all your Ninja needs.

They also have a light novel based on the Seven Deadly Sins manga, subtitled Seven Scars They Left Behind. Judging by that title, I wouldn’t expect a lot of laughs.

Yen Digital has some new volumes for us, as we get the 10th Aphorism, the 10th Crimson Prince, and the 10th Sekirei.

And while it’s not Vol. 10, Yen On does have the first four Sword Art Online novels now available digitally, for those obsessed with reading light novels on their phones (like me).

Are you taking a week off? Or getting something here?

Strike the Blood, Vol. 6

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

Sigh. And here we are again, blank screen. It’s you vs. me, as I try to fill you up with another 500 or so words about the latest volume of Strike the Blood. The goal, as always, is not to simply cut and paste from the previous five reviews. As always, this goal tends to be thwarted by the plot, characterization, and writing in Strike the Blood, whose cookie-cutter quality means that the same things happen over and over again. Let’s face it, the big surprise in this volume was that for once Kojou is not biting a different girl to gain more superpowers… though in an icky way, I suppose that his possessed younger sister may count. I’d prefer to think that it does not. Other than that, though, it’s business as usual at Strike the Blood, Inc.

Even the covers depress me, as you can’t even get the ‘new harem member gets the cover’ cliche that you do with most other series of this sort. No, Strike the Blood now has 16 volumes out in Japan, and it’s Yukinas all the way down. The ‘new girl’ this time, sort of, is Nina Adelard, an immortal alchemist with a tragic past that’s tied into Kanon’s own tragic past. She spends most of the book either occupying Asagi’s body or taking on her appearance, and I suspect her ending up as a “fairy-like” creature will allow her to take on a role in future books similar to a magical girl mascot. (It also reminds me of Index, as much of this series does, though for once I believe that Strike the Blood actually did this first.) The plot involves lots of alchemy and liquid metal, and a few guards end up dead in horrible ways, but aren’t dwelled on.

Asagi also ends up dead briefly, which might have had more impact if there was any chance that it would stick. We do get more concrete proof that as long as she’s on the island she’s effectively immortal. Unfortunately, with no computer problems to solve this time, Asagi is in full on “tsundere anime girl” mode, which means wacky cooking antics and exploding stoves. (Yukina, of course, is also in cliche mode, reacting any time Koujo even briefly pays attention to another attractive female.) Everyone else fills their function: Kanon is waifish and still somewhat broken, Natsuki flits around saving the day and being the cute loli teacher. and Yaze continues to get hints that he may one day be relevant to the plot without actually being so in this book.

And so as ever I’m left with saying the same thing. The writing is good, moves quickly, the fights are exciting. But this could be written by the Light Noveltron 3000. And there’s still no real sign of any developing main plot, anything that might carry over from book to book. Things are neatly wrapped up, and I suspect Book 7 will have another danger to the island that is also neatly wrapped up. Strike the Blood is, when you get down to it, Strike the Blood. It is shaped like itself, and can’t really be reviewed as anything but that.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 7

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By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan as “Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun” by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Gangan Online. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Leighann Harvey.

The danger of most comedy titles is that they aren’t funny all the time. Not every joke can land, and sometimes you find yourself merely smiling and them moving on to the next page. That’s why it’s satisfying when you come across a volume that has an even greater number of hits than misses. I won’t say every page is fall-down funny, but the seventh volume of Nozaki-kun has an even higher ratio of laughing out loud than its previous volumes, which says something given that this is one of two manga where I can’t read it on public transit as I do laugh out loud too much. (The other is Oresama Teacher, by the same author.) By now we know the characters so well that we can anticipate what’s going to happen, but that doesn’t make the jokes any less funny. And, as always with this title, everyone plays the straight man or funny man depending on the situation.

The first chapter is a good example, dealing with cell phones and how manga that runs for a long time finds technology moving beyond it. We get gags about the fickleness of shoujo heroines and Nozaki and Sakura’s general ignorance of modern tech themselves (they still have flip phones, and react to smartphone discussion with what can only be called “dull surprise”). You’d think the punchline to the chapter would be Nozaki’s deranged idea of having him and Sakura communicate using cans on a string, the ultimate in low tech. But then Sakura’s general adoration of Nozaki adds to the gags, as does the class reacting to her doing this while having her normal phone sitting on her desk. The capper is two random students jokingly testing the can-and-string phone… and falling in love. Amping up the ridiculous is one of Tsubaki’s strengths.

Elsewhere, we see Miyako going out with her friends drinking for once rather than working on her manga, which actually rebounds on her later when she comes close to missing a deadline. (It’s hilarious but also personally terrifying for her, as she worries that she’ll be given back to Maeno for editing as a punishment.) Seo/Waka shippers get a chapter that is a gift from God, as Wakamatsu, at the advice of his team (who are trying to defuse her in some way), tries confessing to Seo, only to find her reaction to be very un-Seo like. This is the one chapter that defies our expectations a bit, as we expect some sort of ‘non-romance’ reason for Seo running off and getting embarrassed by the whole thing, but no: it’s just that she apparently has difficulty with directness. It’s really, really adorable. Though not as adorable as Sakura “bullying” Nozaki so he can get manga ideas, and getting a bit too much into her role.

Humor is subjective, and I’m sure some people won’t even giggle at any of these. But I found this to be one of the most rewarding volumes of Nozaki-kun to date, and it’s always one of the first things I read when it comes out. Great stuff.

Not many tanukis this time, but they are well-deployed and caught me by surprise.

your name.

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By Makoto Shinkai. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

I’m coming at this novel from a somewhat unique perspective, I think, as I am one of the few people reading it who hasn’t already seen the movie first. In fact, the author states he initially wasn’t going to write a novel at all (novelization might be more accurate), feeling that it was a story he felt best told through the medium of the animated movie (in particular, the music used for it). But the novel kept niggling at him, and he finally buckled down and wrote it. It’s from the perspective of its two leads, Mitsuha and Taki, which gives an opportunity to better get inside their heads, but also means we only see scenes they’re involved in. So if people are asking me whether your name. is worth reading if you’ve seen the movie, I can’t tell you that. I can say that by the end of the book I was enjoying it enormously, and I’m very happy I read it.

That said, the book comes with a warning from me to my readers: if you are bothered by second-hand embarrassment in your reading, them parts of this book are going to be like crawling through glass. The main premise involves a bodyswap between a boy and a girl, so we already get the normal ‘I’m acting weird and everyone is puzzled’ scenes, but the kids are also teenagers, meaning there’s lots of weird body issues and teen crushes, leading to the most awkward date ever. That said, both kids are nice, and the contrast between the way-out countryside and the middle of Tokyo was a nice contrast. Mitsuha’s perspective takes up a lot of the beginning and near the end of the book, while Taki’s has most of the middle for obvious plot reasons.

There is romance as well, of course, though it’s done so subtly that it almost crept up on me. At one point during the aforementioned awkward date, Taki’s crush says she can tell he’s in love with someone else, and he’s honestly as puzzled as the reader is by this point. But as things snowball, you can see the depth of feelings grow deeper and deeper, and by the end of the book we are quite content to actually not see the final familial confrontation because we’ve gotten what we wanted. More surprisingly, and without wanting to spoil too much, the ending is not quite as bittersweet as some of Shinkai’s other works, even though it still remains somewhat ambiguous. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be one of the reasons that this movie has been a bigger hit than any of his other movies – bittersweet is lovely, but doesn’t sell as well.

There are a few niggles – The book may be a bit TOO fast and short, for one. I’d also like to have seen more of Mitsuha vs. her father, and the side characters are not as developed as our leads. There’s also a side story volume coming out in the fall (by a different author) that may expand on this, as it apparently shows the story from other perspectives. But your name. is an emotional journey, and as the book goes on you’ll find yourself turning the pages faster and faster. I can’t speak for those who’ve seen the movie, but if you like romance with a touch of sci-fi, this is definitely worth a buy.

Pick of the Week: Many Options

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MICHELLE: While I am undoubtedly excited for the debut volumes of Descending Stories and Delicious in Dungeon, the second volume of The Full-Time Wife Escapist ended on such a terrific cliffhanger than I am most eager to get my (digital) hands on volume three!

SEAN: My pick is your name., the novel by Makoto Shinkai. Being the only person in the world who hasn’t seen the movie, I know nothing about it except that it was a huge phenomenon and will likely involve a boy and girl in some way. I’m hoping fro more sweet than bittersweet, but given it’s Shinkai, not expecting that.

KATE: The first volume of Descending Stories was solid but not swoon-worthy, so I’m going to make a pitch for Yen’s two big debuts: Delicious in Dungeon, a manga that promises to combine gustatory adventures with D&D action, and Girls’ Last Tour, a “post-apocalyptic slice-of-life” series (Sean’s words, not mine).

MJ: I’m with Sean this week. I did see your name. (and loved it, of course) but I’m pretty excited to read the novel that started it all. It’s an unusual order of things for Shinkai, and I’m really interested to see what (if anything) he did differently once he was making the movie.

ASH: Oh, there are so many great and interesting things being released! The second volume of Murcielago, the debuts of Delicious in Dungeon and Girls’ Last Tour, the continuation of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, and more. (It looks like Yen Press has it out for me this week; my wallet weeps for me.) My pick, however, goes to Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju which I’ve been eagerly anticipating ever since Kodansha Comics first announced its license.

ANNA: This is a really good week for manga! There are many great series coming out this week, but like Michelle I am most eagerly looking forward to the third volume of The Full-Time Wife Excapist, I’ve been enjoying this series very much and can’t wait to read the next installment in the series.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/22/17

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Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 3 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Although the first years finally manage to score in their game against the upperclassmen, victory eludes them. Still, Eijun’s ability to fire up his teammates does not go unnoticed and his performance on the mound sees him promoted to the Junior Varsity squad. He’s not satisfied with the catcher he’s paired up with for practice, though. After attending the first game of the Kanto Tournament and seeing how much better a pitcher Furuya is, he accuses the morose catcher (Chris) of having given up on getting to Varsity, something he will never do. And then after he learns how completely wrong he was, he actually humbles himself and starts seriously trying to learn about baseball. Sniff! Our little shounen hothead is growing up! – Michelle Smith

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 2 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – I am probably liking this a lot more than I should, really. I am far too old to really be drawn in by teen angst, and there’s a lot of soap opera-ish stuff happening here. But I’m a sucker for untrained singers who make up for the lack of training through passion, mostly as it’s the sort of thing that in real life always sounds awful—but on the printed page it’s fine. Nino and Yuzu are drawn to each other in both healthy and unhealthy ways, and when we finally meet Momo again, he’s being just as unhealthy. These are three kids who have hit their teenage years with a whump, and drama is the watchword. But I dunno, something about the writing and characters makes me like this a lot. We’ll see how long it lasts. – Sean Gaffney

Bloom into You, Vol. 2 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – For parts of this volume, Bloom into You feels like a fairly standard yuri manga. There’s the part where a fellow student council member happens to see Touko and Yuu smooching, and the part where the vice-president clearly thinks she’s the only one Touko needs by her side. But towards the end of the volume, it veers once more into darker and more fascinating territory, as we learn that Touko is so driven to appear perfect due to family pressure to live on in the place of her amazing older sister who died seven years ago. She can’t bear for anyone to love either the real or the fake her, which is why she’s chosen Yuu, who ends up swearing never to fall in love with her even though she privately wishes she could. It’s nice to be reminded what turmoil lurks beneath the pleasant surface! – Michelle Smith

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 2 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – While there is still a lot of goofy charm in this title, mostly due to Mikuri’s imagination (we get a Les Miz takeoff here, as well as an enka number and some cheerleading chibis), the reality of the arrangement she’s entered into with Hiramasa is starting to fall apart at the seams. It’s really hard to pretend to be married, as there’s a lot of little details you can miss. Plus there’s also house-hunting (but do they really need one?), dental cavities (yes, she really does need a filling but what kind?), and Hiramasa’s growing feelings, which are… not really mirrored all that much by Mikuri, who sometimes seems almost asexual. We’ll see how well the marriage holds up in volume three, as there’s a nasty cliffhanger here. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 2 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The Girl from the Other Side loses just a teensy bit of its luster in this volume by actually trying to provide, or at least hint at, some answers. When Teacher catches an Outsider touching Shiva, he protects her valiantly, over her own protestations. Later, though, they seek out the creature again because it had hinted that it knew the whereabouts of Shiva’s aunt. It doesn’t, but leads them to a giant lake where Teacher encounters a mysterious hole in the ground and hears the Outsiders’ perspective on why the humans are the source of the curse. He doesn’t know what to believe, and meanwhile examines Shiva daily for symptoms. Then those odious humans get involved again and another volume ends with Shiva in peril. This time, Teacher’s seemingly not in a position to protect her. Still bringing the love, sorrow, and loneliness! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 11 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – This volume consists of Karasuno High’s team failing over and over again, trying things that don’t quite work, and getting pissed off with each other. But that’s as it should be, because you can’t stay static if you want to make it to the next level. The author does a very good job of showing a team that’s on the cusp of being great, if they can just pull everything together. And we’re beginning to see it… but it’s not quite there. And this being training camp, they can get advice from other teams, showing off super secret special moves that allow Hinata and company to add new talents to their repertoire. The goal here is to combine volleyball talent and instinct with intelligence. I wonder what will happen next. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 4 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – The whole point of this series is to see Takahashi-sensei interact with his demi students and see how they tick, and a lot of this happens outside of the classroom, so the reader may be forgiven for thinking that there are only demis in the school. But there’s lot of normal kids as well, and the charge comes down that Takahashi is not paying enough attention to them. While this is true in a sense, it’s also true that the demis do need more attention than the other students in various ways. What’s more, the “normal” students realize that treating the demis as if they’re just normal students as well may not be the best way to go. The metaphor for disabilities doesn’t always work, but this is still interesting for monster girl fans. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 8 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – While Midoriya is the star of this series, it’s very much an ensemble show, and this volume gives us a chance to see the entire class show off their smarts—or not in some cases. Sometimes you have to get over jealousy and dislike, sometimes you need to regain the confidence you once lost, and sometimes you’ve got to rely on your instincts (as well as being in denial about your feelings for the hero). But of course Midoriya is the star, and so a lot of the back half of the volume goes to him, as he’s accosted by Shigaraki, who’s ironically even scarier when he takes the severed hand off his face. In the meantime, more training, more horrible situations designed to make a hero stronger. Also, Mineta is the worst, y’all. – Sean Gaffney

My Neighbor Seki, Vol. 9 | By Takuma Morishige | Vertical Comics – Seki is down to twice a year, but this is still a good solid volume, relying very much on the core plot of My Neighbor Seki—what is he doing this time, and how will Yoroi react? As with volume eight, there seem to be more examples of Seki’s games rebounding on him rather than making trouble for Youko. The best chapters see him working with transparent glue, taking the bear family for a helicopter ride gone horribly wrong, and getting so caught up in roleplaying that he loses himself in the role (twice). Best of all, Yoroi ends up at a sweets shop where Mrs. Seki works, and has to hide the increasingly desperate artwork apologizing for her son’s antics, showing that such tactics do run in the family. – Sean Gaffney

Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 3 | By Akiko Higashimura | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – This volume made me seriously consider giving up on Tokyo Tarareba Girls. Not because it is bad, but because the three main characters keep making such awful decisions. Koyuki finds out that her married boyfriend lied about being separated from his wife and failed to mention he had kids, but forgives him. Kaori knows she’s not even the only woman on the side for her ex, but she still comes when he calls. They’re both so desperate for someone to be nice to them that they’ll accept something that isn’t real. It’s so depressing! And then there’s Rinko, who botches a big assignment and makes a total lush of herself and UGH. They’re all making their own problems worse and it’s hard to watch. That said, I get creepy vibes from Rinko’s new boyfriend, so will at least have to check out volume four to see what his deal is. – Michelle Smith