Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused The Apocalypse, Vol. 3

by

By Namekojirushi and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Lensenmayer.

I had made much in my review of the first volume of this being a parody of the harem genre, and also talked about the humor in it. Book 3 is sadly lacking in good humor (R is barely in it), and the parody aspect is also starting to slip a little too, as we meet our hero’s female counterpart and find that she’s luring him to the dark side. Not that he’s turning evil or anything. But Hibiki also gets caught up in stories, as the heroine, and one of her friends – OK, if we’re being honest, her only friend – was injured because of that and is now in a coma. So ‘the dark side’ in this case means the darkness of the soul, where you wind up pushing everyone away because you don’t want to see them get hurt. And she infects Rekka with this mindset, which is a problem, because the entire premise of the series is therefore at risk.

Fortunately, despite this volume being far more serious than the previous two, it holds up pretty well. The situations are still cliched, but having only one heroine to worry about much of the time streamlines things a bit, even as we still have to solve multiple promises. (Arguably the fox girl is a second heroine, despite Rekka’s cluelessness, but I’ll worry about that if she ever comes back). Rekka manages to overcomes his self-doubt, pushed along by a lack of confidence (something R lampshades, as she is wont to do). And the old heroines all get something to do. The scenes with Satsuki and Harissa are quite good, as thanks to Rekka pushing her away Satsuki has her own crisis of conscience. She’s known him the longest, after all. But Harissa is the ‘purest’ of the girls in terms of her love for Rekka, so she’s able to teach the valuable lesson this time, at least once she wakes up.

The big drawback to this volume, unfortunately, are its heroines. Hibiki is meant to be a female mirror of Rekka, and also show what he could be if he went down the wrong path. As such, she’s a bit of a mess, starting off strong but eventually just hanging off the villain’s arm waiting to be rescued. Also, it feels weird to have one tsundere a mere volume after the classic example of Tsumiki. Hibiki’s crush on Rekka simply doesn’t feel earned, not the way the other girls’ do. As for the other ‘heroines’ here, the fox girl is cute but basically frets constantly the entire book, and Meifa is a living reward who doesn’t even get to speak at the end of the book. I realize that it’s hard to create strong characters every time, but given the premise the author has made for himself, it’s something he’s going to have to muscle up and do.

So I’m a bit annoyed, but in the end turning more serious did not break the series, and there were several cool fight scenes. It looks as if Rekka has remembered the core to his series, which is ‘solve one girl’s problems using another girl’s talents’, and given Vol. 4 is back to three girls on the cover, he should be fine.

(Oh yes, and don’t use alien races as a metaphor for racism if your magic solution is “turn everyone white”. Just… don’t do that.)

Kitaro: The Great Tanuki War

by

By Shigeru Mizuki. Released in Japan as “Gegege no Kitaro” by (among others) Kodansha, serialized in various magazines. Released in North America by Drawn & Quarterly. Translated by Zack Davisson.

The large majority of this book is made up of the title story, the first really huge epic tale we’ve seen from this collection of Kitaro stories by Drawn & Quarterly. And it’s a real pip, showing off the best qualities of Kitaro in the 1960s. He’s far more heroic here than he’s been in the past two books, but it’s a pretty thankless task, especially when he’s going up against shifty Japanese politicians. Honestly, you’d think he’d be used to dealing with them given that he’s best friends with Nezumi Otoko, who is in peak form here, always siding with whatever appears to be the winning side, and showing no moral qualms about throwing humanity under the bus. There’s also a larger role for Itta Momen, a yokai made up of flying cloth that I thought was meant to be toilet paper for the longest time.

The villains in this story are the titular Tanuki, who have featured in many Japanese folktales, though not usually as yokai per se. These are The 800 Tanuki of Shikoku, who are here to reclaim earth and take over. They’ve got many and varied ways of doing this, each of which seems to set a higher bar of “how on Earth will Japan get out of this one”? What’s worse, they really do a number on Kitaro, taking him out several times via various fatal traps – and I mean literally fatal, by the end of this story Kitaro has to regenerate from a baby for a month or so. It’s very much in the classic serial vein, which unfortunately means that the ending reads like “OK, wrap it up in this chapter” – it’s very sudden. But the grotesque ideas and imagery are pure Mizuki, and really stand out in this epic story, which also borrows from kaiju-style tales.

I was somewhat surprised by seeing the two-faced Japanese Prime Minister tell Kitaro that they will rely on him to save Japan just like Moshe Dayan saved Israel, till I realized that this was running in Shonen Magazine only two months or so after the Six Day War. You don’t think of Kitaro as referencing too many current events, but there are times it does, particularly when he gets involved in politics, as seen here. (Speaking of references, I was rather startled to see the Tanuki declare that they were going to have the Japanese woman serve them as maids – if only they’d been 30 years later they could have gone to a cafe instead!) The final two stories feel a bit like filler compared to the epic Tanuki war, but we do get to see a rare example of Nezumi Otoko coming out on top for once – it reminds me of the rare cartoons where Tom won over Jerry.

This is a very strong volume of Kitaro, though the reader should be prepared for bad things to happen to him – he spends some of the book as a literal puddle of liquid. As always, a must for fans of classic manga, as well as modern yokai readers who want to read something by the master.

Bluesteel Blasphemer, Vol. 1

by

By Ichirou Sakaki and Tera Akai. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by James Rushton and Kevin Steinbach.

If you’ve grown tired of novels where our hero is either transported to another world or dies and is reincarnated in another world, well, this is another one of those. There’s so many that you really need to figure out what it is about this particular one that makes it worth reading over the other 87,326 series released this year alone. In the case of Bluesteel Blasphemer, the answer may be its pedigree. This is not a case of a newbie writer who was putting his fiction on the web and got discovered by a publisher. Ichirou Sakaki has written such things as Scrapped Princess, Chaika the Coffin Princess, and Outbreak Company, which does feature a princess. And now we have one of his newer series, Bluesteel Blasphemer, which does not have princesses – at least not yet – but has a mayor’s daughter, a sacrificial victim, and a Rei Ayanami expy, because god knows we don’t have enough of those.

Our hero is Yukinari, a young man who is rescued from modern-day Japan, where he was dying in a fire that killed his older sister, and reincarnated in a cool body (with a few tricks up its sleeve) by a young alchemist who seems very similar to his older sister, and Dasa, her younger sister and the Rei clone I mentioned above. After stuff happens, he and Dasa are on the run through the backwaters of the country, and run across Berta, a beautiful young orphan about to be sacrificed to appease the local erdgod, which is a nasty piece of work. It’s not clear whether the sacrifices work or not, and the mayor’s daughter Fiona, who’s in charge while her father is in ill health, has her doubts as well, but hey: it’s tradition. Unfortunately, Yukinari and Dasa proceed to massacre tradition, and now have to deal with his being the assumed local erdgod replacement – as well as the unfortunate arrival of the local Inquisition, here to enslave the village into their religion.

There are pluses and minuses to this series. The pluses are the plot and the writing, which are both excellent. You can tell the author is far more experienced, as there’s no long introductory sequence like most isekai. Instead, we get the feeling we’re starting with Book 2, which gets a bit confusing but pays off in the long run. The action sequences, of which there are many, work fine, and the plot twists happen at just the right moment. On the down side, well, the characters are not nearly as good as the book being written around them. Yuknari is fairly faceless, Dara is, as I said, another in a long line of snarky deadpan barely legals, and Berta’s desire to serve Yukinari as the new replacement erdgod is rather disturbing, as she seems to be confusing love and worship in her head. Fiona was probably the best character of the lot. (Honestly, as the author himself admits in the afterword, the harem aspect seems totally tacked on and uninspired). Also, the two older sisters who both die to inspire the heroes… bleah. I bet they both had that dead mom sidetail, didn’t they?

So it’s a decent, but not stellar, debut for this series. I’m willing to give it another volume to draw me in more. That said, I’m rather glad it’s only 4 volumes total.

Chihayafuru, Vol. 2

by

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.

I’d said in the last review that Chihayafuru is, in many ways, a sports manga. But this is not your average baseball or soccer title. Karuta is not really thought of as something that kids do these days, particularly once they enter high school, and especially if they’re good at other sports, which Chihaya is – everyone points out she should be on the track team. But Chihaya has a dream, and is very, very driven towards getting that dream, even if it means playing over and over without her two friends – we’re in high school now, and both have been away for years. Luckily, Taichi has returned, bringing his unspoken crush, his reluctance to get back into an “uncool” sport, and his ability to see flaws that Chihaya can’t see herself. Arata is another matter – not only does he still live far away, but he tells them in no uncertain terms that he isn’t playing karuta anymore.

The reason Arata abandoned karuta is not the most original one in the world – in fact it’s the most cliched part of the book – but it works anyway, especially as it helps to show off why Chihaya’s impulsiveness is not always a good thing. That said, it looks like it may work out in the end, which is good. Karuta is very much something that Chihaya associates with ‘having fun with friends’, and the group activity is the most exciting part about it. In fact, Chihaya’s enthusiasm is actually masking several issues – Taichi notes that her memorization at the start is still quite bad, and a new character who ends up joining the club, Ooe Kanada, who reminds her that the poems aren’t just there because they sound pretty – there’s meaning and depth behind each one. This is AMAZING to Chihaya, who is nice and sweet but her single minded determination means she can miss the obvious.

As for the Karuta itself, it’s actually still pretty exciting. I was not entirely certain whether Chihaya would win the match halfway through the book – in a series like this, the occasional loss is going to be inevitable, even if you promise that you’re going to win. I’m still somewhat amused at various antics going on during karuta that I would argue are fouls, but then I’m not a karuta player. It’s also a very old-fashioned game – it’s pretty obvious why the club is somewhat mocked, though honestly you get the sense it’s due to Chihaya’s overenthusiasm more than anything else. It’s also very clear why Kana thinks that they should be performing it in kimonos – a lot of karuta runs on aesthetic, and if you look the part it may help in other areas as well. As for any romance in the story, well, Taichi still has a crush on Chihaya, but that’s about it – she’s totally oblivious.

Chihayafuru may not be the most obvious josei series out there, but if you read it it will win you over on pure energy, just like its heroine.

Manga the Week of 5/24/17

by , , and 1 Comment

SEAN: Either you ride with the manga tide or you let it drown you. Looking at next week… blub blub blub.

MICHELLE: I thought this list was huge enough as it is!

SEAN: Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of Psycho Pass prequel Inspector Shinya Kogami.

J-Novel Club gives us a 3rd volume of Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which I still find much better than its title would suggest.

Kodansha has a pile, of course. In the Del Rey rescue category, we have Nodame Cantabile 19 (get ready for weekly releases of this), and Princess Resurrection 14.

MICHELLE: I continue to be asquee about Nodame. Looks like they’ll have the final volume out by the end of June!

ASH: Wow! I wasn’t expecting such a rigorous schedule for Nodame!

SEAN: Their debut is Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, a josei title from Itan magazine. Its anime was insanely popular, so I’m expecting good things.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely looking forward to this one!

ASH: As am I! It’s actually one of my most anticipated debuts for the year.

ANNA: Sounds great!

SEAN: The Full-Time Wife Escapist has a 3rd volume digitally, and I still want more of it.

MICHELLE: I still need to read 1-2!

ANNA: This is one series I’m actually not behind on reading!

SEAN: Hozuki’s Coolheadedness also has a new volume out digitally, its 2nd.

ASH: So many things I’m interested in are only being released digitally right now!

SEAN: Missions of Love 14 is here to make me grind my teeth but enjoy it anyway. It’s still a while away from an ending.

There is also a 3rd Peach Heaven out digitally.

The Seven Deadly Sins is almost old enough to drink with its 20th volume.

And Welcome to the Ballroom has a 5th book, no doubt starting the next arc.

And now for Seven Seas. First off, we have the 7th Golden Time manga, a good solid romantic dramedy.

Kase-san and Bento is the 2nd in the “Kase-san” series, and I would guess will involve bento lunches.

MICHELLE: That’s a good guess. The first one wasn’t profound or anything, but it was pleasant, so I reckon I’ll read this one, too.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give the series a try for a while now, but there being a food theme does bump it up on the to-be-read list.

SEAN: And a 7th volume of sleepy slice of life Non Non Biyori.

Vertical gives us an 8th volume of Cardfight!! Vanguard, which seems to have gotten over whatever licensing issues had it on hold.

I’ve been forgetting about Boys Over Flowers Season 2, which Viz is still releasing digitally – the 5th volume is out next week.

MICHELLE: I wish I could love this as much as the original. Sadly, it hasn’t grabbed me.

ANNA: I liked the first couple volumes, but I agree, not as compelling as the original series.

MICHELLE: The Yoko Kamio series I *would* be excited about is Cat Street.

SEAN: The rest is Yen, but so much Yen. On the novel side, we get an 11th A Certain Magical Index, now on location in Italy.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody has a 2nd volume. I understand it is one of them newfangled trapped in another world thingummies.

The much delayed My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected finally gets its 2nd novel, which may require me to reread the first to remind me what’s going on.

And a 4th volume of Overlord, this time focusing on some Lizardman Heroes who will no doubt be destroyed by our title antihero in some way.

Strike the Blood will have a 6th volume of eminently readable and totally uninspiring antics.

The big novel release this month is your name, whose lack of capital letters did not prevent it from becoming a huge movie. It’s complete in one volume, though a sequel is out later this fall.

MICHELLE: I’m a little wary of this, since I loved the movie so much. What if it taints my experience?

ASH: I’m interested in seeing how the novel reads. The manga adaptations of Shinkai’s works have generally been quite good, though.

SEAN: And there’s 3 more Spice & Wolf digital releases, 15-17, which I believe finishes the catch up.

In manga news, there’s a 5th Anne Happy, which wrings laughs out of misfortune. Well, chuckles at least.

Big Order has its second omnibus, as it continues to try to outdo Future Diary.

This isn’t manga, but I don’t care. Brave is out next week! From creator Svetlana Chmakova, it’s a semi-sequel to her hit Awkward, taking place in the same universe but focusing on new kids. It’s super good.

Following something like Brave with the 17th volume of BTOOOM!, a series still best known for its bomb-breast-bouncing scene, seems cruel.

The Case Study of Vanitas gets a 2nd volume. I understand there are vampires.

ASH: And pretty artwork, from what I hear.

SEAN: Corpse Party: Blood Covered must have killed its way through the cast, as this is the 5th and final omnibus. Not to worry, a sequel is out later this year.

Several exciting new debuts this week, starting with Delicious in Dungeon (Dungeon Meshi), a seinen series from Enterbrain’s Harta magazine that manages to combine dungeon crawls and a cooking manga.

MICHELLE: I am excite!

ASH: Same! I love the premise of the series so much. Granted, the few times that I’ve played tabletop rpgs, the groups had a tendency to put a lot of emphasis on food, both in the game and outside of it.

ANNA: Oh yeah, this sounds good!

SEAN: Dimension W has a 6th volume for those of you who enjoy the things Dimension W provides. (Can I get any vaguer?)

Girls’ Last Tour (Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou) is also debuting, coming from Shinchosha and one of its many Bunch magazines. It’s post-apocalyptic slife-of-life, and probably the closest to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou anyone is going to get.

ASH: I’m very curious about this one, actually.

SEAN: Karneval has a 7th omnibus.

Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl has a 2nd volume, which seems fast but recall the first volume was delayed a month. In any case, yay!

MICHELLE: Forsooth!

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade has a 5th volume, and is one of the more enjoyable fluffy spinoffs out there.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun remains a highlight every time it comes out, even with its 7th volume.

ASH: Yes! It is so consistently great! I love it so much!

SEAN: And if you want hyperviolent fanservicey trash (which I sort of like anyway), there’s a 2nd Murcielago.

ASH: Definitely not a series for everyone, but I liked the first volume, too.

SEAN: Re: Zero’s manga starts to adapt the 2nd novel with Chapter 2: A Week at the Mansion. Yes, folks, you’ll get your Rem here.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation as well.

We get the 3rd and final volume of Rose Guns Days Season 2. Worry not, fans, Season 3 is on the schedule. (Are there Rose Guns Days fans?)

Yen released this digitally ages ago, but it’s popular enough to get print now (the upcoming anime may have something to do with it). Enjoy The Royal Tutor!

ASH: Glad to see more digital titles released in print! I wanted to give this series a try when it was first licensed, and now I finally can.

SEAN: Spirits & Cat Ears has a 2nd volume, and while I wish we’d get more of the former and less of the latter I expect to be disappointed.

There is a 9th Trinity Seven.

Lastly, Black Butler fans will take interested in the 2nd Yana Toboso Artworks book, which is devoted to the series.

Keeping your head afloat? What are you getting?

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 2

by

By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This second volume of Realist Hero details a war fought on several fronts, and will no doubt delight those who enjoyed running campaigns in various roleplaying games. There are several ‘thinking outside the box’ moments that made me smile, most of which are lampshaded by excerpts from a future history book that show how the outside the box idea led to an idiom that is now in common use. And once again, I’m pleased w3ith how the cleverest ideas are not always left to Souma, the titular Realist Hero, and he’s occasionally allowed to be caught flat footed. That said, the thing that struck me the most about this second volume is that I was far more invested in the characterization than I was in the first volume, mostly due to one of the more subtle and unemotional nervous breakdowns I’ve seen.

(As a sidenote, if you’re going to have the cover of Vol. 2 feature the elf girl bodyguard, you might want to give her something to actually do in the book. Carla would have been more appropriate.)

Our king, Souma, may be a history expert who can map war scenarios onto old Japanese campaigns and spout Machiavelli with the best of them (though that thankfully happens less this time around), but he’s still a young man who grew up in modern Japan, and this whole King thing is wearing down at him. Interestingly, we never see this reflected in his own narration – it’s only when Liscia or one of the others is observing Souma that they note that something seems off about him. It’s also interesting to see how the polyamory is handled in this series – most of the other LNs I’ve seen with ‘multiple wives are legal’ scenarios mostly just have it as an excuse to not write jealousy, but Realist Hero looks into how its world handle this, and shows that the pecking order in such relationships is actually class-based more than anything else. It’s both amusing and disquieting to see Liscia pushing hard for Souma to take Carla as a secondary Queen, even showing off her hot body like a car dealer. Liscia and Carla are best friends who ended up on opposite sides in this war, and Liscia knows if Souma doesn’t marry Carla she’ll likely be executed.

The first book left several plotlines dangling for the second, and some of them are dealt with, though not all. Moreover, this second volume has quite a big open ending, as we don’t actually see what happens to Carla, her father, or any of the other nobles who rose up against Souma (bar the obvious cartoon villain nobles who get theirs at the end). Given the “realist” nature of this book, I’m not actually sure if Castor will be executed or not (Carla, being a young hot girl and friend to Liscia, I’m pretty sure is safe.) We get a few more details on the kingdoms and empires surrounding our Realist Hero’s kingdom, and are introduced to a few more potential future harem members. The series could go in any number of directions from here. The writing of Realist Hero is merely OK, and sometimes I suspect that what I’m seeing as subtle underplaying is actually just being dull, but I must admit that I want to know what happens next far more in this series than I do in other light novels.

(Also, more fantasy isekais need therapists.)

(Also also, did Liscia dramatically cut her hair just to stop me saying that she’s a duplicate of Red Saber?)

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students, Vol. 1

by

By Yushi Kawata and Yukito. Released in Japan as “Shin Seiki Evangelion – Pikopiko Chuugakusei Densetsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Michael Gombos. Adapted by Carl Gustav Horn.

For the most part, if I have reviewed any of the endless Evangelion spinoffs at all, I’ve reviewed them as Briefs, mostly as for the most part it’s very difficult to try to work up 500+ words on the topic. The Evangelion manga is excellent, but its spinoffs and side stories have amounted to a creepy shoujo supernatural comic that barely felt like Eva at all (Campus Apocalypse), a Lowest Common Denominator romantic “comedy” (Shinji Ikari Raising Project), a mystery with BL overtones (Detective Diary), *another* lowest common denominator romantic comedy (Angelic Days, if anyone remembers it), and various gag anthologies. This new title is definitely on the “gag anthology” side, being a spinoff of one of the stories from the Evangelion Comic Tribute that was popular enough to get its own series.

In my review of the Comic Tribute anthology (which I guess I did give a full review to), I noted that the stories by these creators were the best part of the book, so it makes sense that they’d get a chance to add more wacky humor and dense references. The “plot” is mostly irrelevant, but essentially we see NERV trying to defeat the Angels by training gaming nerds to defeat them, and Shinji, Asuka and Rei are the three biggest. What follows is a string of gags, both visual and verbal, which range from average to quite good, though I don’t know that I laughed out loud. Characterization is, for the most part, exaggerations of the “fanon” view, so Shinji is a bit meek and overserious, Asuka’s angry all the time, Rei is stoic, and Kaworu is super gay. But above all else, there’s the boke/tsukkomi comedy we’ve come to expect from Japan, and everyone (well, OK, just Shinji and Asuka) are quick with the retorts.

Those with an observant eye may note that Carl Horn adapted this himself, and it’s very much an adaptation in the nature of his Excel Saga work, i.e. he takes the original and crafts it into something else. If you like overly literal translations, you’ll hate this, but for the most part it works out very well, especially as the original is there to help, being filled with fourth wall breaking, bizarre gaming references, and stupid running gags (it’s just a t-shirt!). Adapting manga that’s solely devoted to comedy can be tricky, but they do a good job. Of course, the drawback is that there is only comedy here – if you like Evangelion for literally anything other than gags, you’re wasting a purchase with this. But the comedy is finny, everyone is exaggerated but not totally loathsome (except Gendo, of course), and the fanservice is surprisingly minimal, something actually pointed out by the characters as they lament their lack of a beach episode. Piko Piko Middle School Students is here to crack dumb jokes and chew bubblegum, and they’ve run out of bubblegum.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 1

by

By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

First of all, it is very hard for me to read this book and not have ‘Arifureta, gentille arifureta, Arifureta, je te plumerai.” in my head, so I want you all to have it there as well. Secondly, this book in many ways reads like Isekai Smartphone’s dark mirror. They’re both intensely serious attempts at the classic isekai, but while Smartphone is content to be light as air and coast along on the awesomeness of his hero and the goodwill of the reader, in the grim darkness of Arifureta there is only hatred and revenge. Except, of course, we never see the actual revenge that we expect, and the hatred mostly manifests itself as our hero getting impossibly overpowered and badass. It’s a teenage power fantasy, but it has not gone the way most of those types of fantasies go – at least not yet.

The first third of the book starts you off on the wrong foot, leading you to believe this will be a far more traditional isekai than it actually is. Our hero is Hajime, a normal high school student who happens to be bullied by the majority of the class, mostly because the cutest girl in the class, Shirasaki, has taken it upon herself to interact with him every day. This becomes seemingly irrelevant when the entire class is transported to another world, there to become heroes and fight for the sake of the new country they’re now in. All of the class has cool adventurer stats and awesome powers… except Hajime, whose stats are awful and who is basically a blacksmith. So he’s bullied AGAIN, physically and emotionally. Worse, Shirasaki is still interested in him. And so one day, when the class are fighting a horrible battle far above their skill level (which Hajime actually helps out with more than anyone else), one jealous classmate turns to murder and Hajime falls into the deepest, darkest depths of the dungeon.

So far so dull, but then the plot and the writing take a dive off a cliff, just like our hero. Hajime, due to the happenstance of various things I won’t bother to get into, ends up leveling up so much his stat level is ???, acquires innumerable powers, and uses his basic blacksmith stats so do amazing things, and also build lots of guns, because kids who get transported to another world tend to be gun nuts. This is the point of the book where the reader has to throw up their hands and just go with it, because it is absolutely overblown and ridiculous, and the prose verges on the hilarious. It also may be the best part of the book, because he shortly meets a vampire princess trapped in the dungeon with him, and after rescuing her the series (again) becomes far more predictable.

That said, I expected by the end of the novel that he would get back to the surface and get revenge on those who once wronged him. This doesn’t happen, though we do cut back to the surface occasionally to check in on the rest and show how Shirasaki was very, very much in love with dull ol’ Hajime. Instead, the last third of the book relies on long battle scenes (which are done pretty well) and the interaction between Hajime and Yue, which is done less well. Hajime has a tendency at times to act as tsukkomi to Yue, which is a shame as it makes him sound like Araragi from the Monogatari series, especially bad given Yue is a blonde loli vampire. Another surprise, and a warning of sorts: Hajime and Yue have sex, several times. It’s implied rather than shown, but it is worth noting, simply as that sort of thing rarely actually happens in isekai harems like this, and likely shows off its web novel roots. You will have to trot out the old “it’s OK as she’s really hundreds of years old, she just LOOKS nine” chestnut.

Arifureta was less terrible than I was expecting, but there are better isekais out there. I’d only recommend it to those who really like this sort of thing and don’t mind overpowered, overserious heroes.

Pick of the Week: Take Me to the Other Side

by , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: Most of the titles I’m interested in this week are digital. My pick is the second volume of Chihayafuru, because I still can’t believe it got licensed at all.

MICHELLE: On any ordinary week, I would be seconding that pick heartily, especially since my love of Chihayafuru is significantly tinged with gratitude. I’m really looking forward to Drowning Love and Our Precious Conversations, too, but I gotta award my vote to the second volume of The Girl from the Other Side. It’s a lovely, magical series with the sort of main character who I just can’t help but love with all my heart.

KATE: This week, I only have eyes for one manga: the latest volume of The Girl From the Other Side. It’s easily the best thing I’ve read this year, with a hauntingly beautiful story and gorgeous pen-and-ink drawings. I had to pinch myself when I realized that it’s published by Seven Seas, everyone’s favorite purveyor of monster girl T&A.

ANNA: Like many people, I’m excited about both The Girl From the Other Side and Chihayafuru, two very different manga. I think I’m going to have to give the edge to Chihayafuru though, the extended flashback in the first volume has me very curious about what’s happening with a more grown-up version of the characters. I’ve been waiting impatiently for the second volume!

ASH: Likewise, I’m interested in both Chihayafuru and The Girl from the Other Side, but in my case The Girl from the Other Side is the obvious choice for my pick of the week. I absolutely loved the first volume with it’s striking artwork, intriguing characters, and mysterious atmosphere. I’m really glad that Seven Seas licenses such a wide variety of material!

Manga the Week of 5/17/17

by 1 Comment

SEAN: Thanks to Kodansha’s INCREDIBLY AGGRESSIVE digital plan, there’s a large amount to talk about in what would normally be a very small week.

MICHELLE: I’m not complaining, but it is pretty overwhelming.

ANNA: I think I would be buying more of these if they were coming out at a slower pace. I feel like I can’t keep up. But I’m not complaining about more manga!

SEAN: J-Novel Club starts us off, though, with the third volume of I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse. There’s only one girl on the cover this time – is he slipping?

And they also have the 3rd My Little Sister Can Read Kanji.

Kodansha takes up a great deal of what follows. First, there’s new volumes of Alive (15) and Yozakura Quartet (11) for your Del Rey rescue needs.

The first of THREE new digital debuts next week, Aoba-kun’s Confessions is from Ema Toyama, the author of Missions of Love, which I hate and also love. This is her new Nakayoshi series.

Meanwhile, some may remember Cage of Eden, which put out 20 volumes before dropping off the face of the earth. It’s back with its final, 21st volume. Will they get off the island? Will they find out the truth? Will the girls show off their large breasts? One of these things is sure to be true!

Chihayafura gets a 2nd digital-only volume, and I cannot wait for more HOT KARUTA ACTION.

MICHELLE: Yaaaaaay!

ANNA: I am here for this!!!!

SEAN: Clockwork Planet also gets a 2nd volume.

And there’s a 2nd volume of sports manga DAYS (digital-only). Remember when those were rare?

MICHELLE: Vaguely!

SEAN: The 2nd digital debut is Drowning Love (Oboreru Knife), a more mature, dramatic shoujo from Betsufure. Its author, George Asakura, had A Perfect Day For Love Letters out here eons ago.

MICHELLE: The art style (at least on the cover) is not the most appealing, but I’ll be checking this out.

MJ: I’m looking forward to this, It think.

ANNA: Me too.

SEAN: GTO: Paradise Lost has a 2nd digital volume of Onizuka antics.

The last digital debut is Our Precious Conversations (Boku to Kimi no Taisetsu na Hanashi), a Dessert series from Robico, the author of My Little Monster. I loved that series, so really look forward to this one.

MICHELLE: Same here!

ASH: I love the huge variety in these digital titles! I do hope that some eventually make their way into print, though, since I don’t really read digital manga. That may have to change soon.

ANNA: This sounds intriguing.

SEAN: On to other publishers. One Peace has a 6th volume of the Rise of the Shield Hero manga, which they oddly still keep calling “Manga Companion”, which makes it sound like a guidebook to me.

Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of Bloom Into You, a more dramatic yuri title than the cute fluffy ones we’ve seen recently.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed the first volume.

ASH: The first volume intrigued me; I’m very curious to see how the story unfolds.

SEAN: They also have a 2nd volume of spooky supernatural fantasy The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún.

MICHELLE: <3 <3 <3 <3

MJ: Michelle tells me I’d like this!

MICHELLE: You would!

ASH: You really, really would! This series is already one of my absolute favorites for the year.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed your review, Ash. And your perfect image choice. I sent just that one picture to a friend—pointing out the flower crown—and it convinced her to want to read the series.

ANNA: I also love this series, going to be picking this up for sure!

SEAN: Viz gives us a 2nd volume of the Gangsta spinoff Cursed.

ASH: Though I haven’t actually read the first volume yet, I do plan on picking this one up.

ANNA: I need to pick up both, and I will!

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt.

Lastly, they have an 8th volume of Ultraman. For all your tokusatsu needs.

Which of these will you be getting next week? And how many will be digital?

The Irregular at Magic High School: Nine School Competition Arc, Part 2

by

By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

I’ve been very nice to Irregular at Magic High School in my last three reviews, despite being well aware that the series is very polarizing, and that there are many, many people who vehemently dislike it – not as much as Sword Art Online, I mean, let’s not get crazy, but a whole lot. This is the first volume that, while I still enjoyed it to a degree, I’m beginning to see their point. Everything that’s normally annoying about Mahouka is just that much more so here, and the book even has a huge page count to get it all in there. Tatsuya’s perfectness, the vague incestuous implications, the cartoon nature of the villains, who make even other anime Chinese mafia cringe. And most of all, the endless, endless “magicbabble”, as the reader begins to suspect that without each detailed explanation of what magic is used and how it works in that context, this book would be about 70 pages long.

The games themselves show off our first-years to the best of their abilities, and their are few surprises – there is one game-breaking injury (literally – we’re told she won’t be able to use magic anymore), but it’s to a minor character we haven’t seen much of, and it’s never even brought up again. What we mostly see is First High’s girls beating the snot out of their competitors (the rookie guys don’t have Tatsuya as their engineer, so of course they do badly and seethe at him all the time for being so Tatsuya). Indeed, the competition with the most tension is the one between Shizuka and Miyuki – it’s over far too quickly, and I’d like to have seen more of it, but again, Miyuki is so far above everyone else, I suppose there’s not much we can do. The Honor Student side manga should help.

Of course, Tatsuya is forced to compete himself due to various circumstances, and of course he is amazing, though Leo and Mikihiko are also allowed to show off their chops a bit. (Erika, sadly, gets very little to do beyond be jealous of her brother’s relationship with Mari, though that does give us the funniest moment in the book, as Miyuki teases Erika about her brother complex, and Erika just loses it because it’s MIYUKI doing this. The student council for the most part are there to be a Greek chorus, with Mayumi occasionally showing off her crush on Tatsuya and Azusa gradually realizing Tatsuya’s secret identity due to his complete inability to hide his amazing engineering skills (though he tries, multiple times in the book, not to take credit for things.)

The book is not bad per se, despite my complaining – the action sequences are well paced and work despite all the magic explanations woven into them. Tatsuya’s past and his devotion to Miyuki makes the book take a very dark tone towards the end, as he shows no mercy towards anyone who would hurt Miyuki, and the narrative points out – perhaps a bit too much – that it’s ONLY Miyuki he cares about, not anyone else. So it’s still a good series to read for fans, but I can easily see casual readers deciding that this is the point they may want to abandon ship.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 3

by

By Hirohiko Araki. Released in Japan as “Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Evan Galloway, original translation and adaptation by Alexis Kirsch and Fred Burke.

This is a stronger volume of JoJo than the previous two, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that Jotaro is barely in it. Instead, this focuses on Joseph for an extended period, and coincidentally has some of its more exciting, amusing, and terrifying fights. Indeed, terrifying may be a good word for most of the volume, as this book reminds you that as much as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an action manga, it could also be classified as horror. Leaving aside the obvious gore, which is horrific enough, we get body possession/disguise (it’s not actually clear which it is), and the villain being able to appear only in reflections as he advances slowly on our hero, something that is right out of the horror movie handbook. Araki is very good at this sort of thing.

I suspected I would enjoy this volume more than the previous two right from the start, as everyone worries about the cliches they’ve heard about India, and Avdol reassures them that those are just stereotypes… only to enter the city and see exactly what they were afraid of. Stereotypes are there for a reason, after all. Sadly, Avdol doesn’t last very long in this book, sacrificing his life to protect the dumbass Polnareff, who is hell-bent on revenge and so therefore not listening very well. To be fair, Polnareff has a good reason for revenge, and the villain Centerfold (changed from the original J. Geil – we should be grateful Nena wasn’t renamed 99 Red Balloons, I suppose) is a loathsome creep, bringing up Polnareff’s sister (who he raped and murdered) again and again. You’re happy when he dies.

The second half of the book, as I said, mostly deals with Joseph and his battle against Centerfold’s evil mother, who was disguised (or possessed?) as Nena and has now taken control of his arm via a gruesome “bug bite” that turns into a Basket Case-esque monster. Fans of the 2nd arc will find a lot to smile about here, as Joseph runs all over the city trying out various plans that don’t work very well (and also being framed for murder) before finally getting the upper hand and saying his trademark “you’re thinking” line. And we end up in the middle of the Himilayas, as our heroes battle what appears to be a guy whose car is a Stand, and also pick up the annoying 11-year-old girl they had dumped the book before – she’s back, and she’s still comic relief. There’s even some amusing meta, as the villain, who has seemingly burned Jotaro alive, shouts that this is the end of Part 3!

It’s not, of course, and Jotaro points out that no one is going to be replacing him anytime soon, much as I might want them to. In the meantime, this is a good comeback volume for Stardust Crusaders, which does what I always like best about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, in that it has an equal amount of both bizarre and adventure. But will we ever get to Dio again?

Pick of the Week: Requiem Æternam

by , , , , and 2 Comments

MICHELLE: Probably I should be casting my vote for the third volume of Tokyo Tarareba Girls. It’s josei and it’s kind of brilliant, but it’s also devastating in its own kooky way. Instead, I think I’ll pick something really comforting, like the third volume of Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: My pick is the new My Neighbor Seki, whose variations on a theme have yet to get old.

KATE: I second Michelle’s enthusiasm for Tokyo Tarareba Girls. It will make you laugh, cry, and cringe in equal measure — that’s how good it is!

ASH: I’m certain that I would absolutely love Tokyo Tarareba Girls, but this week I only have eyes for the next volume of Requiem of the Rose King. The series is a fascinating and heart-wrenching reimagining of history with strong Shakespearean influences and gorgeous artwork.

MJ: Requiem of the Rose King 4evah. That’s just the way things are.

ANNA: Any week that Requiem of the Rose King comes out makes it an automatic pick for me too. This is one of the most compelling series currently coming out and every new volume is a treat. A treat of emotional anguish and surrealism!

Bookshelf Briefs 5/8/17

by and Leave a Comment

Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Vol. 10 | By Ark Performance | Seven Seas – Even as this volume gives us a lot more badass combat, it also shows us the closeness between mental models and humanity, as well as the giant gulf that still separates then. Gunzou wants to bridge that gulf, which means he needs them to see humanity as an equal rather than as a plaything. Hence the threats, and the battles. There’s lots of good back and forth here, though like many Japanese military otaku manga, it sometimes sounds like it was written by a far-right conservative. I am wondering if things are going to start turning against our heroes soon. If you have to read one manga where girls are anthropomorphic personifications of something, this is still the one to read. – Sean Gaffney

Cells at Work!, Vol. 4 | By Akane Shimizu | Kodansha Comics – Red Blood Cell is back in focus this time around, and is allowed to grow in competence a bit, to the point where she gets a kohai to lead around—though she’s still ditzy, causing the kohai to wonder what on earth she’s gotten into. Like most manga protagonists, even red blood cells, she makes up for it with GUTS! and determination. We also get some new characters thanks to a transfusion, which gives us a kansai-ben red blood cell. (I would wonder if he’s a romantic rival to White Blood Cell before recalling that this manga has no romance.) Mostly it’s got what you came here for—cells being badass and yet human, showing off the human body and the many things that try to constantly destroy it. Well worth reading. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 11 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – The Tokyo training camp continues and Karasuno is beginning to see some results. I love seeing Tsukishima’s actually trying. He’s listening to advice, asking questions, etc. Meanwhile, Hinata is learning some new tricks and Kageyama is starting to treat him as an equal. When their improved “freak quick” makes its debut, I couldn’t help but smile. There aren’t any miracle wins here, as Karasuno loses every game they play, but by the end of the week they’ve begun to close the gap and, more importantly, gained confidence in their ability to face off against national-level teams. “Spring tournament preliminaries arc begins now,” says on narrative box, but it lies. We’ll have to wait for next time. I’ll just be over here, sulking. – Michelle Smith

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Vol. 3 | By coolkyousinnjya | Seven Seas – I wasn’t as impressed with this volume of Dragon Maid, which continues to introduce more and more dragon girls, sometimes within reason (Elma, whose chapter on joining the office-lady workforce was one of the better ones) and sometimes not (Ilulu, whose “look at my crotch” pose for the cliffhanger made me want to drop the book immediately). There’s also, to my surprise, less yuri tease in this than the previous two books, and it feels a bit like the filler volume you get when a manga writer realizes his series is actually more popular than expected and therefore he’ll have to come up with more plot. Whether he’s successful or not is something we’ll see next time; till then, for monster girl fans only. – Sean Gaffney

My Love Story!!, Vol. 12 | By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko | Viz Media – I will admit that the first half of this book, which resolves the transfer student story, was not really my cup of tea, so I will brush right past it and move on to what is likely to be the final arc of My Love Story!!, which involves Yamato’s family moving to Spain. Needless to say, there’s “we can have a long distance relationship” and then there’s this, which causes Yamato to nearly have a nervous breakdown, running off to Okinawa with a concerned Takeo (who basically is such a nice guy that her parents are OK with him getting her home over the course of several nights in a hotel). The cliffhanger has her seemingly accepting that this is going to happen, but we’ll see how the final volume shakes out. Happily, I assume. – Sean Gaffney

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life, Vol. 8 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – This is the first volume that mostly appeared after the anime came out, so if you wanted to read only new material, this is the place to start. It’s also a terrific Mai volume, which pleases me tremendously—she not only faces off against Mio’s sister in a prank war, but we also get a flashback as to how she and Yukko first met, and it’s actually quite heartwarming, and shows us how much of Mai’s interaction with others is overcompensation for shyness. And there are dream sequences, and weird character designs, and chapters simply stop rather than come to a conclusion. Nichijou is not afraid to wear its gag manga heart on its sleeve, which means it’s never going to be a belly laughter, but it makes you smile quirkily. – Sean Gaffney

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 21 | By Naoshi Komi | Viz Media – It’s Marika’s turn to get written out, though it’s not clear if she’s going to be married off or killed off. But it does give an excuse for Nisekoi to turn into an action manga, as Raku and company try to infiltrate Marika’s huge family compound and get her away from the clutches of her over-controlling mother. My favorite part of the book is where Chitoge assumes that if Marika and her mother just talk things over, all will be well, and Marika’s like “yeah, my mom’s not your mom, OK?” We still get the heavy hints that Marika is slowly dying of something, but it’s not clear how far the author is going to take it—not that far, I expect. In any case, next time we will no doubt get a thrilling rescue, though Marika is certainly not end girl. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 6 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Wow, what a volume. Catesby shows up to bring Richard home from the forest where he’s been holed up with Henry. He clearly knows who Henry really is, but doesn’t tell Richard. Richard, meanwhile, now has a goal: kill Henry and finally succeed in avenging his father so he can live happily ever after with… Henry. They’ve even sworn a promise. In addition to the lovely angst and dramatic irony, there’s treachery, a huge battle, lots of death, Margaret being extremely creepy regarding the consummation of her son’s marriage, and an absolutely horrible flashback to the consummation of her own. Not even several doses of white boar cuteness can make up for the sense of oncoming dread, but it’s all absolutely riveting, especially the final few pages. This’ll be Kanno’s masterpiece, methinks. – Michelle Smith

In Another World With My Smartphone, Vol. 2

by

By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

First of all, yes, as expected, this volume is not quite as gloriously readable as the last one. It’s hard to keep lightning in a bottle, especially when it’s trying to hit that sweet spot of “awful yet immensely readable”. (I am aware the author is not going for awful, but just work with me here.) And so there are moments where the reader rolls their eyes rather than smiles, and one large section at the end where the reader may be actively pissed off. But given the absolute low bar this series is trying to clear, it manages pretty well, and occasionally even evolves by pointing out its own silliness. Smartphone will never be good, but it can still be fun.

Despite the presence of the not-Fujibayashi twins on the cover, this is still very much an ensemble work, though the ensemble mostly watches Touya show his stuff. Let’s see here… first of all, the smartphone is in fact used more in this book, as promised. Mostly what he does is combine it with his magic so that he can take out multiple enemies via the map function. He’s also rewarded for the events of the first book by the King, which means moving to the royal city and setting up house in a giant mansion, complete with butler, two maids, a gardener and cook, and two security guards. The maids are combat ninja maids, because of course they are. The gardener and cook are married, because of course they are. The two security guys are called Tom and Huck, something so amazing that even Touya can’t look past it and comments on it. Given the book also features characters named Linze, Lim, Leon, Laim, Leim, Lapis, Lyon, Leen, and Renne (who I can only imagine is romanized with an R because the translator finally got completely fed up) we should count ourselves lucky.

The book works best when it revels in its cliches. Touya is overpowered as all hell, though even he needs a tiny bit of help to take down a giant dragon (but only a tiny bit). He gets a mansion to live in with his harem, but is oblivious to all of them. (They at least seem to have come to terms with their feelings for him, and Yumina seems to be organizing them.) His magic impresses even the Queen of the Fairies, he can defeat the battle-crazy King of Beasts (who looks like Prince Phil from Slayers if he were a giant snow leopard), he can invent email in his spare time, and he can also take in adorable orphan thief girls who are clearly also long-lost royalty and make them maids. The reason this works, for once, is because Touya is such a blank. If he were confident he’d be insufferable, if he were mopey he’d be unreadable. It’s only because he’s casual about literally everything that he gets away with it.

That said, when he ISN’T like that things go south fast. There are two short stories at the end of the book. My guess is they were taken from the early days of the webnovel, and it shows. Leaving aside the fact that the premise of the second story is “let’s melt the clothing off all the female cast”, Touya is actively seeking this, thinking that he’d actually like to see their semi-naked bodies. This flies in the face of the rest of the book, where Touya’s lack of awareness of his harem as anything but family is lampshaded repeatedly by Yumina and the others. I get that sometimes you need to pad the novel out, but not at the expense of the main character. Skip this story. But otherwise, Smartphone 2 is pretty much a lot like Smartphone 1: cliche-ridden but fun to read.

Oh yes, and he makes an extendable gun sword from scratch. Because of course he does.