Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 82

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

This is another one of those volumes of One Piece in which so much happens that you begin to wonder where to begin when writing the review. There’s revelations about Sanji’s family’ discussion of Gold Roger and Raftel, the final destination where One Piece lies; the aftermath of what happens on Zou, and the splitting of the crew (again!) to deal with the myriad problems; a meeting of fifty Kings and Rulers from all over the Grand Line, which means we get to see Vivi sailing again; and starting off a new arc as the reader, of course, follows Luffy, who takes his merry band to rescue Sanji from his impending wedding. Which, amusingly, Sanji wants to have no part of, though seeing the amazingly pretty bride to be might change his mind. And this is all mixed in with the usual One Piece humor and fighting.

It is rather interesting seeing Vivi on the cover in the background there, given she doesn’t really get all that much screentime (though she certainly flaunts the time she gets). One of the drawbacks of Oda writing a constant pirate’s journey is that it’s very difficult to go back and visit anyone again, which is why we only see Kaya, Nojiko, etc. in occasional “what are they doing now?” scenes. But the upcoming meeting will, I suspect, give an opportunity for Vivi at least to rejoin the Straw Hat Crew, which would be awesome, even though the crew itself continues to be unwieldy. In Dressrosa we had Nami, Sanji, Chopper and Brook sidelined for volumes at a time. Therefore, for this new adventure, Luffy takes Nami, Chopper, and brook with him to go bring back Sanji, leaving the others behind to deal with the other threads of plot that will involve less of Luffy rushing in where rubber doesn’t really to treat. And what’s more, he adds some people from Zoul, some on purpose (Pedro, Pekoms), and some by accident (Carrot, who I suspect is there for comic relief).

But Sanji and his family are currently where Oda is directing attention, and luckily that coincides with the arrival of the Big Mom Pirates. Big Mom may be stereotypical, but she’s certainly dangerous, especially given the final vision of the volume, as she parties along with the Worst Teletubbies Episode Ever. We also meet two of Sanji’s siblings (one outrageous, one sensible, in the best tradition of meeting siblings), and find out a bit more about their family, including their being used as the basis for a group of comic strip villains popular all over the Grand Line. And we meet Charlotte Pudding, Sanji’s fiancee, who seems nice and sweet and makes chocolate, and I think I’ll leave it at that, as the volumes are a good year behind the Weekly Shonen Jump chapters released every Monday.

So it’s all over the place, but in a good way, and Luffy gets to be monumentally stupid, which we haven’t seen for a while, and Nami upgrades her weapon in a very amusing scene and… look, it’s just a good volume of One Piece, OK? That said, read the other 81 first, as this is a bad volume to jump off from.

The Faraway Paladin: The Archer of Beast Woods

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By Kanata Yanagino and Kususaga Rin. Released in Japan as “Saihate no Paladin” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by James Rushton.

I’d mentioned in my review of this first volume of this series that it had more of a high fantasy feel to it than a light novel feel, and that continues in the second volume, which sees William making his way back to civilization and discovering what said civilization actually is. (Also as I said in the first volume review, the fact that he’s a reincarnated Japanese guy is completely irrelevant to the story. I suspect it was added in order to draw in fans of that genre.) He immediately runs into the character we see on the cover page (and in the title), a half-elf who is both bemused and amazed at Will’s combination of superpowers and stunning naivete. In fact, mentioning superpowers, I am reminded of what Will feels like in this second book. He feels like Superman.

There are, obviously, a lot more characters in this book than the last one, as Will and Menel are going around saving villages, battling monsters, and meeting up with Antonio from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, who I was rather surprised to find in the middle of a light novel. (It gets even worse later in the book when Bishop Beesley from Michael Moorcock’s Cornelius series arrives, though thankfully this is a less evil version.) It helpfully shows off how bad Will can be at not only actual human interaction, but understanding consequences in this new world – he needs to be bailed out several times by his companions. Fortunately he’s aware of this, as he keeps worrying about social ostracism, but that doesn’t make him any less bad at it. His pureheartedness may also remind the reader of Dudley Do-Right at times.

The writing on this book continues to be excellent, with the better scenes towards the back half of the book. William has a bit of a breakdown near the end as he realizes the distance between himself and his colleagues, and the way that we get to see this happen from his narrative point of view and scream “no, stop, you’re being an idiot!” is really well done. Luckily, he is stopped for being an idiot, and other characters get to show off that just because he’s super pure and strong does not always mean he saves the day – cunning and experience still has its place. There’s also a bit more humor this time around as well, mostly due to a) Will’s po-faced reaction to things, b) Menel being a massive tsundere; and c) the presence of Bee, a hobbit (in all but name) who regales everyone with song and stories. This also leads to the most touching moment in the book, where she narrates an epic song that turns out to be about Blood, Mary, and Gus – Will is so happy they weren’t forgotten he starts to cry.

In the end, this remains a very good fantasy novel, with a distinct lack of harems, little sisters, or other light novel cliches, and the main character’s overpowered nature is balanced out enough in the text that I don’t think it matters. To me, this remains the J-Novel Club release to read for those who don’t like J-Novel Club releases. That said, we’re almost caught up with Japan, so I’m not sure when the next release will be.

Manga the Week of 5/10/17

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SEAN: 2nd week, and things are popping. What’s coming down the pike?

Dark Horse has the debut of another comedic gag Evangelion manga, this one called Legend of the Piko Piko Middle School Students.

It also has the 3rd omnibus of its slice-of-life dumb-it-down Evangelion manga, The Shinji Ikari Raising Project.

ASH: Though I’ve seen the original anime series, I’ve never actually read any of the Evangelion manga.

ANNA: Me too.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has another debut, Bluesteel Blasphemer. Yes, it’s another “transported to a fantasy world” series, but this one has guns, and it’s by the author of Chaika the Coffin Princess.

And a 2nd volume of the popular title How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom. Will they go to war?

Del Rey catchups are mostly taking the week off, but we do get a 13th Princess Resurrection.

There is still plenty of new Kodansha Digital, though, as we have Ace of the Diamond 3, Domestic Girlfriend 2, House of the Sun 5, *and* Tokyo Tarareba Girls 3!

MICHELLE: Yay for 75% of those!

ANNA: I am glad these are all out and sad I am so far behind in my reading!!!

SEAN: In print, we have the 10th volume of Genshiken 2nd Season. Will we finally resolve Madarame’s endless harem issues?

And a 4th In/Spectre, which promises to take a turn back towards the grim.

Interviews with Monster Girls 4 will hopefully be less grim, despite also featuring yokai.

One last Kodansha Digital title, which I mention only as it’s a series I never noticed began sometime last year. Unlimited Fafnir ran in good! Afternoon, and this is the 4th and final volume. It’s a light novel adaptation.

Seven Seas has a 3rd volume of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, which has quite a following now that the anime’s done.

ASH: I enjoyed the first volume much more than I thought I would.

SEAN: And a 2nd There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor.

SuBLime has a 4th volume of not-boxing manga Ten Count.

ASH: Nope, definitely not boxing. The series actually comes across to me as dark, psychological horror more than anything else right now.

ANNA: The first couple volumes that I read were pretty grim.

MJ: Oh, Ten Count… I never really made it past volume two.

MICHELLE: I made it to volume three, but I’m really done now.

SEAN: People, people, it’s supposed to be a TEN count.

Vertical Comics gives us a 9th volume of My Neighbor Seki, which always makes me smile.

ASH: Me, too! :)

SEAN: A fourth Legendary Edition for The Legend of Zelda, this one has The Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass.

Lastly, there’s a 6th volume of Requiem of the Rose King, and I can hear everyone in Manga Bookshelf breathe a sigh of relief. Also, shouldn’t Henry be dead soon?

ASH: I love this series so much!

ANNA: Yay!!!

MJ: This! Always! THIS!!!!

SEAN: It’s Mother’s Day next week! Which of these titles would you buy for your mother?

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 1

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By Gengoroh Tagame. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Gekkan Action. Released in North America by Pantheon Books. Translated by Anne Ishii.

This has been a book I’ve been waiting to see for a long time. I was at last year’s TCAF panel with the author, where he discussed his works and the challenges of a serialization like this one. It has since finished (at four volumes, meaning there will be one more omnibus), and this first omnibus is a handsome hardvoer with great reproduction and quality translation. But most importantly, the story and art are top notch. Fans of Gengoroh Tagame who know him for his Bara work (n.b. – Bara is gay manga, as opposed to yaoi/BL, whose primary audience is women) will love this, and those who aren’t into the gay bondage thing but want a good story about sexuality, grief, loss, and the intermingling of the three will also be delighted with this story.

The story deals with Yaichi, a single man raising his young daughter Kana. He’s a twin, and his twin brother has recently passed away. His twin brother was also gay, and his husband, a Canadian man named Mike, has come to visit Yaichi. What follows is partly slice-of-life – they go to visit places in the town, they make breakfast, they go to a gym – but there’s a lot more to it. Yaichi has inbuilt “ew, gay” prejudices that can’t simply be shrugged off, even if he is basically a nice guy at heart. Moreover, having a gay man living openly in their household is starting to make the neighbors talk, and the talk isn’t good. That said, Yaichi knows how he should be behaving despite his prejudices, and Kana simply adores Mike. As for Mike, he’s seemingly a happy-go-lucky guy, but is still dealing with grief over the loss of his husband, which is not helped by Yaichi being his identical twin.

My favorite thing about this release is how well the art and story complement each other. Tagame’s characters have amazing expressions, sometimes written all over their face (Yaichi), and sometimes seemingly poker-faced, but always drawn in a way that you know just what they’re thinking. The start of the story has an artistic conceit where the top half of a page has Yaichi acting out his (homophobic) thoughts, while the bottom half has the reality of his reserved Japanese response. I wasn’t expecting Yaichi to be as likeable as he is – yes, he’s a bit creeped out by the idea of Mike being gay at first, mostly due to how it ties into his brother, but he’s also prioritized being a good dad to his kid. (Taichi’s ex-wife shows up at one point – leading to a very funny reaction from Mike, who assumed she was dead by the photos in the house – and they get on quite well despite being divorced – it’s implied they broke up as she’s devoted to her work more than anything else.)

Mike can sometimes be a cipher, but that goes away as the book progresses, and we realize just how much he’s dealing with (and repressing, to a certain extent) his loss. His relationship with Kana is fantastic, as she’s constantly curious and trying to figure out things that adults haven’t really explained properly. And while some in the neighborhood call him a “negative influence”, that goes the other way as well, as he’s able to advise a young teen who comes to him and reveals that he’s gay. (This is right at the end of the volume, and I worry it may lead to bad things next time – I hope not, but the drama has been very low key so far.) And, as I said before, Tagame’s art is just terrific, giving added depth to characters just from a knowing look or a stressed out sigh.

To sum up, this book is simply compulsively readable, with its sole flaw being that we don’t know the date for the next volume yet. I was expecting to enjoy the series, but I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it, and how great all the characters were. And “being a gay foreigner in Japan” is treated just right. An absolute must-read.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 1

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By Ishio Yamagata and Miyagi. Released in Japan by Shueisha. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

(contains mild spoilers for the end of the novel, meaning I don’t use the guilty party’s name but still make it obvious who they are)

For a book that is supposed to be about the gathering of six warriors to traverse the country and defeat the evil demon lord, there’s surprisingly little fighting of demonic creatures in this first volume of Rokka (which is the one that was adapted into an anime). The reason for that is fairly simple; there’s actually seven brave warriors who show up, and thus one of them is a fake. What follows is pure mystery, as we spend time gathering clues, suspecting other people, and watching our hero get the ever-loving crap beaten out of him by the rest of the cast. Fortunately, as he tells us constantly, he’s the Strongest Man In The world, so he can take it. All of this, plus the series’ rather abstract art, makes it a nice change of pace in the ‘swords and dragons’ novels we’ve seen so much of in light novels lately.

Adlet is the aforementioned Strongest Man, and is very much your prototypical shonen manga protagonist, being filled with confidence, pluck and a burgeoning optimism. He is joined by an eccentric princess and her sullen bodyguard; a cheerful yet immoral child who can control Earth (think Toph but slightly evil); a serious-minded priestess; a big, seemingly goofy cat-eared assassin; and the girl on the cover, Fremy, who is stoic and suffering and also half-fiend, which makes her everyone’s natural suspect as the seventh evil Brave. She isn’t, of course, but she is a bundle of complexes, and seeing her and the eternally perky Adlet banter and flirt is one of the high points of this book. The action is also well-told, showing off everyone’s abilities and superhuman strength and endurance, though honestly Adlet’s endurance stretches disbelief a bit by the end.

If there’s a flaw in the book it’s the actual mystery itself. It wasn’t too obvious, at least not for me, but I don’t think we had enough development of the character for it to really make an impact, especially given that the character is supposed to be somewhat schizophrenic to begin with. (Actually, the ‘I am a gadfly with no real sense of how to actually behave’ made them my favorite character for a bit, though it goes away when everyone has to act seriously and track down the mole.) It’s unclear whether we’ll see them again, and the cliffhanger is very much a “The End… OR IS IT?” situation, as we get ANOTHER Brave showing up late meaning there’s ANOTHER mole among them. That promises to be the main plot of book 2.

But overall I enjoyed myself reading it, though at times the back and forth betrayal accusations can get to be a bit much. It’s a serious book, but not as dour as some other light novels in this genre; you don’t get the sense that their lives will be terrible forever, even though they’re going to battle the Evil God. If you enjoy light novel fantasies, especially ones that aren’t ‘sent from another world’ sorts, this should meet your expectations.

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 1

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By Ichigo Takano. Released in Japan originally by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret. New edition released by Futabasha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Amber Tamosaitis, Adapted by Shannon Fay.

The manga orange was one of the big hits of the last couple years, and even spawned an anime. Therefore it’s no surprise that the company that put it out is dipping their toes into the author’s other works. Dreamin’ Sun is her other significant series, and so far, while it doesn’t have the immediate emotional heft that orange had, it makes up for it with quirky characters who are fun to read about. The basic premise may strain my suspension of disbelief a bit, but I’ll put that down to it being more acceptable in Japan and just roll with it. And of course there are love triangles galore, which are the main reason to read these sorts of shoujo titles. It’s a cute series.

When we first meet Shimana, she’s not entirely sympathetic, being wrapped up in the frustrations of youth. She hates her weird name. She hates that her father has remarried and had another child, seemingly moving on from her mother faster than she’d like. And the family doesn’t seem to pay attention to her anymore. But everything changes when she skips school and runs into a drunk guy passed out in the street, which (this being shoujo manga) immediately leads to him offering to put her up at his boarding house – provided that a) she tell him why she’s ACTUALLY upset, b) find his key, and c) get permission from her father. Through the course of the manga, she actually manages to do all three things, and we also meet the other students in the boarding house – hot guy Asahi, who Shimana falls for immediately, and goofball Zen, who presumably will get more depth later but for now is here entirely for comic relief.

If you’re thinking there’s something a bit Fruits Basket-ey about the setup, you’re not alone – in particular, Taiga’s vacillating between responsible adult (she’s a prosecutor, something Shimana is as yet unaware of) and goofy silliness is very Shigure, though he seems to lack Shigure’s more evil qualities. Asahi is less Yuki and more the stock Shueisha shoujo guy, clearly nice and thoughtful but a bit distant, and himself in love with someone who isn’t returning his feelings. As for Shimana, she can be frustratingly self-absorbed at times, but of course that’s the point, and it feels very realistic and teenage. It’s unclear who will be the winning guy in this reverse harem – she has the most chemistry with Taiga, as well as the “we’re not dating!” running gag, but I think he’s too old for her. On the other hand, Asahi is clearly trouble.

As with orange, this actually got licensed via Futabasha rather than Shueisha – when the author jumped publishers, she took this series with her as well, and the version we’re reading is a new release with an added afterword that mentions orange, as well as introducing the new characters who will pop up in future volumes. It’s very silly (silly afterwords in a shoujo manga? Inconceivable!), but also tells us that this title is going to play out across ten volumes. In other words, we’ve barely started, and I think that Dreamin’ Sun is one of those books I will feel more confident in liking once I’ve read more of it. For now, though, this is a cute start and shoujo fans should definitely check it out.

Bakemonogatari: Monster Tale, Part 3

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By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Ko Ransom.

The final volume in the Balemonogatari trilogy (as it now is) is Tsubasa Cat, and finally gives us a closer look at out favorites glasses-wearing class president. Of course, I say ‘finally’ but due to Nisio’s agent suggesting that North America start with Kizumonogatari we’re already quite familiar with Hanekawa as she’s the heroine of that book as well. Indeed, even if you split Bakemonogatari into three rather than two, of the first eight books in the series, four of them have Hanekawa as the heroine, more than any of the others by, well, a factor of four-to-one – the other girls get one book each to that point, but Hanekawa keeps getting more and more attention. If you read Tsubasa Cat, you’ll get a glimpse as to why, but this first book is far more concerned with Araragi than Hanekawa, so the glimpse into her horrible life is at an oblique angle.

Araragi’s introduction leads us to expect that we’re finally going to hear what happened during Golden Week, where (we’ve been told several times already) Hanekawa somehow got mixed up with a cat monster, but although we do get a flashback to that point, the answer is still no. Golden Week was about Hanekawa taking out her stress on her parents, who are no relation to her through a series of deaths, marriages, and more deaths. This book, though, is about Hanekawa’s repressed love for Araragi, and the fact that she got beaten to the punch – Senjogahara confessed almost immediately, and was also helped by Araragi not putting her on a giant pedestal. And so Hanekawa is left with this burgeoning passion that can’t go anywhere, and thus we see the return of her cat side, Black Hanekawa – a side the reader is seeing for the first time.

Speaking of Senjogahara, she’s really only in one chapter of the book, but she almost steals it right out from under Hanekawa. (Highly appropriate, really.) The chapter was adapted into Episode 12 of the anime, which may be the most beloved episode of the entire franchise, and involves Senjogahara taking Araragi on a date to her favorite stargazing spot deep in the mountains. This whole chapter serves to hammer home the differences between Senjogahara and Hanekawa – I hesitate to use the word passive-aggressive to describe Senjogahara, who’s really more aggressive-aggressive, but the joy of this chapter is seeing the way that her nervousness and uncertainty shine through in her actions – note she tries to do her hair up like Hanekawa’s for their date, thinking that’s what he’s most attracted to – and then seeing how she powers through it anyway in order to show Araragi what a difference he’s made in her life and how much she loves him for it. It’s almost a perfect chapter.

The rest of the book can’t quite measure up, but is still excellent. Shinobu’s still not speaking, but we get a bit more insight into the nature of her sulk, and Araragi trying to balance out his codependent relationship with her and the relationship with the other girls in his “harem” will continue to be a subplot. And Black Hanekawa herself shows off not only her violent side, but also her smarts – for all that Araragi keeps belittling her for being stupid, she’s anything but, and Hanekawa’s kind nature keeps bleeding through. For those who are concerned, the translation does an excellent job of keeping her “cat-speak”, showing off her true nature. Due to being split into thirds, Tsubasa Cat may be the shortest of the three Monogatari volumes, but it’s also the best of the three, with great dialogue and a lot of character moments that will continue to be important as the series goes on. And fortunately there is more of the series – next time, in Nisemonogatari, we’ll take a look at Araragi’s younger sisters, and discover just how far a prose novel can take ‘fanservice’.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/1/17

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 2 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | VIZ Media – Although I’m still not convinced this series is a keeper, I did like the second volume more than the first. Nino wants to improve her singing and consults Miou, the former vocalist of Yuzu’s band, who gladly points out all of her deficiencies. Apparently Nino never bothered to learn any singing fundamentals before. Meanwhile, she hears about vocal auditions for Momo Kiryu, who might be (and ultimately is) her Momo. Only, he doesn’t want to see her because he has angst about selling the songs he originally wrote for her. There is also some ridiculous angst about the reason Yuzu doesn’t sing anymore. And we still don’t have any idea what Nino’s voice actually sounds like, only that it’s unforgettable. Yet, I’m still interested in the next volume, as Nino has formally joined Yuzu’s band. I hope she develops some goals other than incessantly shouting for her childhood friend. – Michelle Smith

Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Vol. 4 | By Masume Yoshimoto | One Peace Books – Given that this volume features two detectives investigating a murder by going into a odd, remote village where everyone has strange worshiping habits, it’s not surprising that I got a bit of a Higurashi vibe off of this volume. The rest of the book is as variable as ever—I was quite amused at some of the gags, such as Natsu ending up looking as if he’s about to eat Machi by a horrible series of coincidences, or the sheer ridiculousness of the “murder” itself. But when Kuma Miko tries to do more normal manga gags, it falls flat—Hibiki’s crush being used for comedy isn’t as funny as it thinks it is, and Machi’s naivete can wear thin fast. Honestly, Kuma Miko is best read by fans of talking bears. – Sean Gaffney

Maid-sama!, Vols. 15-16 | By Hiro Fujiwara | VIZ Media – Maid-sama! keeps on trucking towards its finale. There’s rather too much repetition of the “you’re from different worlds” theme for my liking, as Misaki first encounters some weird Miyabigaoka kids who’re trying to befriend Tatsumi by throwing him an elaborate birthday party (one gift is a bronze statue of himself) and later tries to become a polished enough young lady to follow him to England, where he has gone to formally renounce his family ties. I had expected his departure to follow the shoujo trope wherein the hero goes away and there’s a time jump, but instead we actually get the story of his parentage, which was far more interesting than I expected. Still, I’m glad this is ending next time. – Michelle Smith

My Love Story!!, Vol. 12 | By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko | VIZ Media – Unlike Maid-sama!, I’m really sad this one is ending next time! Especially since a good chunk of this volume deals with compulsively lying transfer student Tanaka and how Takeo can see through his falsehoods to the loneliness within. And then Tanaka transfers schools again. It would all feel pointless if it didn’t emphasize again how good of a person Takeo is and how deep the friendship is that he and Sunakawa share. I like Yamato and all, but it’s really the depiction of this supremely meaningful friendship between guys that makes My Love Story!! unique and wonderful. Here, too, someone is poised to go overseas and we have a cliffhanger ending, but I predict happiness and warm feelings to come. – Michelle Smith

My Monster Secret, Vol. 6 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – This series is panning out to be very long, and that can be a problem when one of the main plotlines is “when will these kids who are obviously in love with each other admit their feelings” You risk frustrating your audience—especially these days, as the more modern anime fan is less tolerant of drawn-out confessions. How do you solve that, if you’re My Monster Secret? By doubling down on the comedy, as Asahi’s confession attempt is done in by Nagisa’s desperate flailing (and occasional shovels to the head), as well as Youko’s denial that he could possibly love someone like her, and the constant feeling, omnipresent in these works, that they’d ruin a great friendship . Luckily, it *is* hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 3 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – The core of this third volume is the reveal about Minagawa and how she feels about Kanai—and men in general. Given that Scum’s Wish is about the sordid, seedy side of love and sexuality, she honestly fits right in, and while she’s written to come across as highly unlikable, I still sort of get a kick out of her thoughts and scheming. Meanwhile, Mugi and Hanabi have moved on to mutual masturbation, but still are avoiding the main issues, though Mugi at least it starting to see how her actions are hurting others. Not that she lets this stop her. And speaking of mutual masturbation, there’s also her friend Ecchan, who is willing to let her emotions be played with as long as she has this. Scum’s Wish: still twisted, still readable. – Sean Gaffney

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 5 | By Wataru Watanabe | Yen Press – There is a certain point in this omnibus, when two of our heroes are fighting against a young man stripped half naked and screaming “ABS!” like a mantra, and refusing to work together as a team in order to easily take him down, that you are thoroughly entertained by the sheer ridiculousness of what’s going on here. Less hilarious is Midousuji, whose creepy vibe is helped along by the art—it’s as if Watanabe realized how strange his faces looked on the main characters, and wondered what would happen if he took it up to eleven. The answer is: TERRIFYING THINGS. But in between that, there is bike races galore, as well as a few tragic flashbacks. Exhilarating. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Why Just One?

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SEAN: I am defying the rules! I will pick two titles this week and no one can stop me! Because we’ve been waiting for My Brother’s Husband since it was announced last year, but there’s also the debut of Dreamin’ Sun from Seven Seas! I cannot choose! I must have you both!

MICHELLE: Well, if you’re doing it, then so will I! The same two titles for me, if you please!

KATE: Well, if Sean *and* Michelle are going to break the rules, then I will, too. I’m equally thrilled for My Brother’s Husband, but I’m also planning to buy the penultimate volume of My Love Story!!, one the funniest and smartest shojo comedies VIZ has published, period. It’s one of the few series that always makes me laugh — something I can’t say of many other titles that strain too hard for comic effect. If you haven’t been keeping up with My Love Story!!, now’s a great time to get reading!

MJ: I actually find myself not even remotely torn here. I am entirely on board for My Brother’s Husband this week. It’s absolutely the pick for me!

ASH: I’m definitely interested in a fair number of this week’s manga releases, including the previously mentioned debut of Dreamin’ Sun and the continuation of My Love Story!! among others, but like MJthere’s really only one pick for me this week and that is My Brother’s Husband. I couldn’t be happier that this series is being released in English.

ANNA: This is a very good week. Like everyone else I’m excited about My Brother’s Husband, but I have to admit I’m feeling so nostalgic about My Love Story!! now that the series is coming to a close, I have to go with that.

Attack on Titan, Vol. 21

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By Hajime Isayama. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Ko Ransom.

(As always lately, there are major spoilers for this volume here.)

Well, we finally get the answer of who will survive. It was obviously Armin at first, but then a soldier showed up with Erwin’s dying body and the whole thing devolved into an argument about “whose life is worth more during a war?”. If I recall correctly, the Attack on Titan fandom was arguing about these chapters as well, though for a different reason – storywise, it feels like a cheat to have Armin come back from the dead after such a nice heroic sacrifice. Also, I sense the Attack on Titan audience is getting tired of the only characters dying being minor ones like Marlowe. Well, no worries here, as not only does Erwin due when Levi mercifully decides not to save him, but in order for Armin to survive, Bertolt has to be eaten. He doesn’t take it well.

Leaving aside the 80 billion counts of insubordination that Eren and Mikasa commit here, which will no doubt be gone into in the next volume, the other big dramatic moment that comes here is finding and entering the Jaeger basement. This has been the Survey Corps’ goal for who knows how long, and the “when will they get to the basement” jokes were practically a meme. Needless to say, the moment itself is given all the drama and tension it can muster, including Eren realizing that the key he’s always had isn’t for the basement door at all (Levi solves the problem by kicking the door to bits), and the cliffhanger ending showing us… a photograph! Yes, it turns out humanity may not be as completely wiped out as we suspected.

What follows is a long chapter of tragic backstory, as we have Eren’s father discussing his childhood rebellion against the authoritarian regime, the loss of his sister, his joining a resistance force, and his meeting a Historia lookalike named Dina whom he falls in love with and marries pretty quickly. Of course, we know from the very first chapters that she’s not Eren’s mother, so there’s even more drama going on here – and so yes, they’re both betrayed by Grisha’s FIRST son, named Zeke. Attack on Titan has always been fairly serious and po-faced – what little humor there is tends to come from Sasha’s antics – but even for this series, this is depressing stuff. We see a flashback to the death of the little sister, who is ripped to pieces by military dogs (no, actual dogs), and Zeke betraying his parents to the fascists is just icing on the cake.

I get the feeling that this flashback is going to take up a great deal of the next volume as well, which is good, as we still need a few more answers. For the moment, though, Attack on Titan may not be fighting too many Titans in this book, but it’s just as deadly. It’s well worth a read if you’re a fan of the series, but be warned that sometimes the mind-numbing bleakness of events can make the reader as depressed as the characters themselves.

The Devil Is A Part-Timer!, Vol. 7

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By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

Unlike the DanMachi collection released on the same date, this volume of short stories is not interconnected into a pseudo-plot – it’s just a collection of four short stories. Fortunately, the stories are all quite good, so we also lack the lows of that DanMachi collection as well. Devil Is A Part-Timer! is very strong when it’s talking about nothing in particular, so this volume plays to those strengths, showing our heroes going up against fraudulent shysters, adopting stray kittens, buying futons for their magical sword babies, and learning how to work fast-food without losing your mind. It’s also a good volume for shippers, particularly if you ship Maou and Emi, as the entire third story is basically about how great they work as a couple, and how much this seems to upset Emi.

The first story is probably the slightest – ironically, it’s the one they chose to adapt into the anime, as Maou has to deal with the fallout of Urushihara being tricked into buying a lot of useless stuff. He (and the reader) learn about how these schemes are done, and how difficult it can be to recover anything from them. The kitten story is probably the cutest, and again revolves around one of the themes of this novel series, which is explaining what seem to be obvious concepts to those completely unfamiliar with modern-day Japan. Not only does Maou not really know how to take care of cats, he’s not aware there are vets. And even worse, he’s not aware how fast he and the others can bond with a kitten. The third story, as I said earlier, is basically pure ship tease, with Maou and Emi buying a futon for Alas Ramus and everyone around them thinking they’re such a great couple. It’s amusing precisely because everyone is correct – when she’s not panicking about the very idea, they are a great couple.

The final story is easily the longest of the four, and takes place right before the series begins. It focuses on Chiho and how she came to get a job at McRonald’s and meet Maou, as well as why she fell in love with Maou. It’s nice to see Chiho interacting with her friends at school – indeed, I suspect one reason this story came out is to give greater depth to Kaori and Yoshiya in anticipation of them appearing in the main story later on. (It’s also very refreshing to see a ‘two girls, one boy’ high school friendship with no romantic tension whatsoever.) Chiho is a fairly sheltered girl whose father is a police officer, and so feels she’s lacking life experience, one reason why she applies for the McRonald’s job. There’s a lot made in this story about the ‘career survey’ all Japanese students dread, and exactly how relevant it needs to be. Mostly, though, this is a good showcase for Chiho and demonstrates how far she’s come in the six volumes since.

This isn’t essential reading, but all volumes in this series are good, and if you’re collecting it there’s no reason to pass it up. The Devil Is A Part-Timer! remains among the best Yen On releases.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?, Vol. 8

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

I knew going in that this was going to be a short-story collection, but it turns out that’s not quite true. What it is is more “A day in the life” – there’s still an overarching plot going on, and stories do affect other stories, but each of the six main stories is also self-contained and stars a specific member of Hestia Familia. Omori said that he wanted to write stories about love in this volume, which may make some readers cringe, and rightly so. DanMachi works best when the harem romance is used as a spice, in my opinion, and this is definitely a heaping helping of main course romance. That said, I have an easy way to tell whether you’ll enjoy a story or not – the longer the story, the better it is.

Unfortunately, that means the book begins with its worst story. I’ve never been a fan of “we’re not blood related so it’s not really incest” stories, and so Mikoto’s crush on her adoptive God father Takemikazuchi merely aggravated me, especially as it’s surrounded by a host of other cliches. I suspect the author meant it to be the funny one of the group. Eina’s story involved Bell protecting her from a stalker, but was probably the most boring of the stories, much like its female lead (sorry, Eina). Syr’s story was all right, but it teased that it was going to finally show off how she was related to Freya – fan rumor suggested she IS Freya, but that seems unlikely – but left things a bit too vague to be satisfying.

The longer stories fare much better. Lilly and Hestia are the only characters who get to definitively talk about their love for Bell openly in the series, and we see that love being put to the test on Lilly’s end, as not only has the rest of the group been told about Bell’s special skills (and thus that his stats are literally driven by his love of Ais), but she’s feeling useless in the dungeon as well, and ends up with a huge case of self-hatred (which honestly is always sort of boiling beneath the surface of Lilly). Help comes in the form of Finn, who is not only the only other hobbit – sorry, prum – in the book, but also far more savvy about romance (well, except for the advances of the amazon with the crush on him). As for Welf, his is the least romantic story in the book, though we see his respect for Hephaistos borders on love, and she also loves seeing his growth. Welf actually drives the main plot, as his magic sword skills are now well known – and people are trying to use them for evil.

The final story stars Hestia, Bell and Ais, and I enjoyed it a great deal as well, though a brief caveat that people who dislike jealous, petty Hestia will probably dislike it a bit more. That said, Bell finally seems to be catching a clue about how Hestia feels about him, though it’s not clear whether he’ll actually do anything about that. (Finn mentions harems to him at one point, but I honestly don’t think this is going to be that kind of series.) As for Ais, she’s showing a lot more emotion in her own stoic way than she ever has before, and we see her as furious as she ever gets when seeing how a reclusive village worships an ancient dragon. I suspect this may be related to backstory we’ll get more of in Sword Oratoria.

So in the end a bit of a mixed bag, but still well worth reading for fans of the series, especially if you like Lilly, Welf, or Hestia. There’s a bit of a tease for the next book at the end, and I sense we’re about to get a more serious arc next. Perhaps with a more normal focus on action rather than romance?

Manga the Week of 5/3/17

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SEAN: It’s May, and a young man’s thoughts turn to … well, hopefully things other than manga. But if you want manga, we have you covered.

ASH: I always want manga.

SEAN: We also have light novels covered. J-Novel has the debut of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest. It’s one of the most popular “isekai” titles out there, and unlike most examples of the genre we’ve seen lately, I think it plays it perfectly straight, for good or ill.

I was blown away by the readability of In Another World With My Smartphone, though I would not remotely call the book good. Vol. 2 is out next week, and I expect to be equally entertained.

ANNA: Well, things don’t have to be good to be entertaining!

SEAN: Kodansha has some more old Del Rey titles out digitally. Alive 14, Pumpkin Scissors 12, Yokazura Quartet 10… and sadly we can’t count down by 2s any more.

In new Kodansha digital releases, we have the 3rd All-Rounder Meguru and the 3rd (and final?) Museum.

In addition, Kodansha schnookered me with a last-minute title. The 3rd Wave, Listen to Me! is already out. I was not able to inform you a week ahead of time. I am filled with shame.

MICHELLE: But a hearty “Yay!” anyway.

ANNA: Arrgh, haven’t even read the first volume.

SEAN: And in print Kodansha news, a 4th volume of Cells at Work!.

ASH: This series is ridiculous fun. And informative, too.

SEAN: I’ve been waiting for this one since it was announced. Pantheon has the debut omnibus of My Brother’s Husband, a manga by Gengoroh Tagame about a Japanese man whose brother passes away, and the brother’s Canadian husband then moves in with him and his young daughter. It runs in Fuitabasha’s Manga Action, and I believe just announced it’s finishing with 4 volumes, meaning we should get a 2nd omnibus at some point. Go get this release.

MICHELLE: So excited for this one.

ANNA: Sounds great!

ASH: This is absolutely one of my most anticipated releases for this year. I’ve been collecting the Japanese volumes, but I’m so excited that it’s being translated and will definitely be picking up the English-language edition.

MJ: So very much on board with this!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a quartet of titles, starting with the 10th Arpeggio of Blue Steel.

Dreamin’ Sun is their first debut, and any other week it’d be the title I’m most excited about. It’s by the creator of orange, and is the title she had success with before that one. It ran in Bessatsu Margaret, a Shueisha title. Yay, shoujo!

MICHELLE: !!!! How did I miss this?! I loved orange and usually love things that rain in Margaret or its offshoots.

ANNA: Woo hoo for shoujo!

ASH: I loved orange, so I’m looking forward to giving Dreamin’ Sun a try.

SEAN: Another Hatsune Miku spinoff comes out, as we get Vol. 1 of Bad End Night. This seems to be Hatsune Miku meets Alice in the Country of, and it ran in Zero-Sum Online.

And there is a 2nd volume of Magical Girl Site, no doubt featuring more dead young girls, because that’s what kids like these days.

Vertical has an 8th volume of Nichijou, and this is the volume where the plot really starts kicking in… OK, not really.

And the rest is Viz. Anonymous Noise gets a second encore… I mean volume.

ANNA: I find this title both entertaining and frustrating, but I keep getting drawn in by the stylish cover art.

ASH: I feel much the same.

MJ: Yep. I guess we’ll see if it gets less frustrating, eventually.

SEAN: Bleach has a 19th 3-in-1.

Guess what’s back from the dead? That’s right, D.Gray-Man, with its 25th volume out a mere 2 and a half years after its 24th.

And speaking of necromanced properties, we begin the release of Dragon Ball Super, taking place sometime after Z but before its epilogue, and apparently being more of a tie-in to the anime than anything else. Which is to be expected given it runs in tie-in paradise V-Jump.

It’s not a Viz release party without a Haikyu!!. Here’s Vol. 11.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ANNA: Woo hoo vollebyall!!!!

ASH: Yeah!!

SEAN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continues its hardcover release of what is becoming its most boring arc, though I’ll keep trucking along. Have the 3rd Stardust Crusaders book.

ASH: Just you wait, Sean, things will start to pick up again.

SEAN: Last time I said we got the penultimate Maid-sama! omnibus, showing I can’t count. Instead THIS is the penultimate volume, and I expect we’ll get the last in August.

MICHELLE: Actually, I had it in my head that the series was 16 volumes long, too, so you’re not alone.

SEAN: The 8th My Hero Academia will show off more Superhero School, as they try to pass their finals in the most awesome way possible.

Speaking of penultimate volumes, here’s the 2nd to last My Love Story!!. Just typing that is making me sad.

MICHELLE: Me, too.

ANNA: NO, IT MUST NEVER END!!!!!

ASH: My Love Story!! has been such a treasure. I love the series so much.

SEAN: Nisekoi continues to trundle towards its ending as well with Vol. 21.

One Piece’s 82nd volume will hopefully tell us what’s going to happen to Sanji, though knowing Oda no doubt it will be drawn out.

Toriko has ended in Japan, and its schedule is slowing down here. This is the 38th volume.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will read this.

SEAN: And what would a list of Viz releases be without a Yu-Gi-Oh volume at the end? This is the 10th 3-in-1.

Do you feel the PASSION pouring through your veins? BUY SOMETHING FROM THIS LIST!

Princess Jellyfish, Vol. 4

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By Akiko Higashimura. Released in Japan in two separate volumes as “Kuragehime” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Kiss. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Sarah Alys Lindholm.

I’ve mentioned before that I read this book more for Kuranosuke than Tsukimi, mostly as I keep waiting for everything to come crashing down on him and it just hasn’t yet. Kuranosuke is a giant whirling ball of poor impulse control, and while most of the time this is channeled in a good direction, and I do like that he’s helping the others in his own way, I always grit my teeth a bit when the moral seems to be “consequences are for other people!”. We get a bit of backstory as to how he came to the mansion as a child, and a bit more insight into the relationship he has with his older brother. I liked this, it makes sense for the character. Best of all, though, we have several moments, especially in the second half of the book, where Kuranosuke is thrown off his game, and forced to actually deal with unplanned things. He really shines then.

Speaking of the second half of the book, Nisha is a highly welcome breath of fresh air, and provides a dose of reality to the series that is desperately needed, as Kuranosuke has his head in the clouds just as much as Amars seems to. In particular, they are reminded that if they expect to make any money at all, Tsukimi’s jellyfish dresses need to be priced as haute couture, which is to say way, way above anything that the Amars crew could ever afford. We get a visit to an outlet store for expensive clothing, and while Tsukimi remains horrified, it really is a good object lesson in how the other half lives. She is not the target market for her dresses – people like the rick old ladies who came to the fashion show are. It will be interesting to see how well the dresses succeed in future books.

As you’d expect, there’s also lots of other things going on in these two volumes. Tsukimi and Shu get closer, even as she still has tremendous trouble dealing with a man AS a man (Kuranosuke dressing as a woman helps), and the residence is still very much on the chopping block, which gives Inari a chance to give a magnificently villainous speech tearing down Tsukimi – it’s cliched by design, and after all, if it does what it intended, why not use the cliche? That said, I think Tsukimi will be fighting back soon thanks to her fellow neighbors, who now that they know the strength of their resolve are prepared to bring them in to the protest fold.

There’s more tiny little character moments – I loved Jiji agreeing to run operations for the newly minted Jellyfish fashion business, if only as it gave her something to do for the first time in the entire series. Essentially, Princess Jellyfish’s fourth volumes shows the work of an assured manga artist continuing to draw us into the world of fashion and introverts, and you eagerly read on to see what happens next.

Sword Art Online, Vol. 10: Alicization Running

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By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

If the 7th Sword Art Online novels felt rushed because we weren’t used to the pace of a single volume story, then this book has the opposite issue. Alicization Running is filled with cool scenes, exposition, and character development, but it is the very definition of “Part 2 of 10” – it doesn’t stand on its own as a novel, really. For those who expected we’d see Kirito and Eugeo reuniting with Alice in this book, she’s barely even mentioned except as a goal, because to get to her they have to become Knights, which means winning a tournament, which means going through sword training school, which means winning ANOTHER tournament. Kawahara is stretching this out, for good or ill. Fortunately, it’s partly good – this is still readable, and by now I hope the average Sword Art Online reader takes Kirito’s success with a sword for granted and does not grind their teeth at it.

The other good news is that the first third or so of this book is devoted to Asuna in the real world, who is trying to figure out what happened to Kirito, who is not, as we may have expected, in a hospital but has instead completely vanished. We do eventually find out where he is, with a lot of seeming villains who are really helping out heroes and the like. We also get more of one of my least favorite things in Sword Art Online – praising Akihiko Kayaba, the villain of the first arc who condemned thousands to death, but is really just a misunderstood man with a dream, something that even Asuna says she can respect, which just makes me shake my head. Unfortunately, the rest of Asuna’s section is taken up with huge swaths of technobabble as Kikuoka explains what they’re trying to do here, why they’re trying to do it, and why Kirito is here. Some of those explanations are a bit disturbing – the author even has to remind us in the afterword that he does not necessarily agree with his characters (I’m guessing he’s meaning the use of DELICIOUS TASTY BABY SOULS).

Meanwhile, Kirito’s having an adventure, and while he does think of Asuna and the others, and misses them, his focus is on getting to the central capitol. This involves a lot of showing off, because this is Kirito after all, as well as forging him an amazing weapon that can be the equal of the sword Eugeo possesses (which is a black blade almost identical to his Aincrad one). He also gets to face off in a battle with the #1 swordsman at the school… who sadly is not the young woman on the cover. She’s the second strongest swordsman, and the plot is set up to build to a final battle against her that never happens. I’d like to say it’s not just because she’s a woman, but let’s be honest, it probably is. As always, Kirito is at his most interesting when he’s upset or something goes wrong, such as when his classmates’ petty bullying and destruction leads him to the literal power of prayer to fix things (fortunately, this is a gaming world, so it succeeds).

I wish we had more of Eugeo, who’s a nice sweet kid but not much else – he got far more development last time. As for the regulars who aren’t Kirito or Asuna, well, Leafa and Sinon get to have a confab with Asuna at the start of the book, but Lisbeth and Silica are reduced to begging on the back cover. Yui actually fares better than they do – her discussion of AIs, and how in the end she isn’t the amazingly self-aware fairy daughter she appears to be, is well-written and also chilling. This is a necessary volume of Sword Art Online if you want to read more of Alicization, but by itself it’s a bit frustrating. Recommended for fans of the series, but I’m hoping for a bit of a Turning point next time…

Also, Kirito spends most of the book being protected by invisible sentient head lice, who I can’t help but picture as Jiminy Cricket. I just want to throw that out there.