Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Blood Lad, Vol. 8

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By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Melissa Tanaka.

It’s been over a year since we last looked at the world of Blood Lad. Such is life when you’ve caught up to a series’ Japanese releases, even more so when Yen puts this out as an omnibus. But the manga has now finished in Japan, so we shouldn’t have quite as long to wait for the final volume. In the meantime, we get this new omnibus, which does exactly what I suspected it would, which is get taken up by a huge fight between the villain and everyone else, showing off all the minor and secondary characters to a decent degree, but putting the emphasis squarely where it’s been (more or less) since Day One: on the odd relationship between vampire leader Staz and busty newly dead ghost Fuyumi. It even gives Fuyumi something to do!… though that’s somewhat problematic as well.

If you look at my past reviews of Blood Lad, you’ll see that Fuyumi’s lack of character development has been a bit of a bugaboo for me. She’s improved, but still tends to be reactive rather than proactive. That doesn’t change here, much as I’d like it to. The solution to how to defeat the bad guy involves Staz fusing with Fuyumi’s body, effectively making her the action heroine, but since it’s really Staz in the driver’s seat, the effect is lost, no matter how often we hear ‘Super Fuyumi Kick!’. Her best moment in this volume may come in a ‘dreamscape’, as she yells at him for being tactless and not understanding her feelings while literally dressed up as a giant 50-foot bride. Fuyumi is ‘the love interest’, and sadly Blood Lad’s biggest lost opportunity.

Thankfully, we’ve got something that makes up for that: humor. A good deal of this volume is hilarious, especially towards the end. Much as I disliked the Staz/Fuyumi fusion as character development, as an homage to giant robots it’s wonderful, especially as more and more people end up getting added and Staz’s Fuyumi Gundam rapidly turns into a Fuyumi Yamato. And, let’s be honest, the sight of Fuyumi with Staz’s teeth and attitude is also highly amusing. It helps to distract a bit from the brutality of the villain, who I think we abandon all hope of ever turning back to the other villain he used to be here. He’s a good villain, but also a bit one-note. Still, he provides tension.

Blood Lad in the end works best if you view it as one of those summer action blockbusters you see in the theater. While you’re watching it you’re captivated by the cool fight scenes and great quips, but it tends to fall apart when you go home and think about the plot afterwards. So don’t think about it too hard. Just sit back and enjoy a manga written by an artist who is clearly enjoying the hell out of himself, and grin along with Staz as you pilot a giant robot version of the girl you like in order to defeat a madman.

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 2

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan as two separate volumes by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

One of Takaya’s stronger points is her ability to depict a character hiding their own emotional pain and despair, usually because they don’t want to make others worry or because it’s simply not the done thing to admit your feelings. We see more of that in this new omnibus, as we get more details on Sakuya’s depression and what led to her living away from her family with Kanade. Now to be fair, we’ve covered a lot of these sorts of situations in Fruits Basket – I mean, if you guessed emotional abuse from a parental figure, give yourself a nickel – but it can be argued that this sort of thing needs to be brought into the open as much as Takaya does. Sakuya’s repressed feelings – which she isn’t suite sure about, possibly as her new stepmother is pushing at her to hate her – are one of the highlights of the volume.

Of course, what makes Sakuya such a strong character is that it really isn’t entirely a mask to hide her emotional pain. Sakuya’s joy at being with her friends and seeing the stars is very real too, and so are her budding feelings for Chihiro, even if she finds them a bit terrifying. Chihiro is slightly less interesting in this second volume, mostly as he’s far less mercurial – he seems to have accepted Sakuya as a new friend, and therefore there’s not as much pushing back, though I suspect we’ll get that from a different angle in future volumes. Yuuri and Hijiri get the cover art, and Yuuri also gets a bit more backstory, which develops the reasons he’s fallen for Sakuya while also showing that he absolutely is not going to be the winner.

And then there’s Hijiri, who is perfect. I would like to say it’s rare I fall for a character so fast, but that’s not true, this happens all the time. But it’s always a pleasure when it does. Hijiri has a sharp tongue, but is looking out for her friends, and I am pleased to see that the very first page of this omnibus shows that she and Yuuri will not be set up into a ‘pair the spares’ romance. Of course, this also seems to be because she has a crush on her teacher, which makes me wary. Better is the amusing relationship she has with her masochistic manservant Saki, who is 100% devoted to her and has no trouble showing this in front of others, much to her dismay. Takaya’s comedy can be forced at times, but when she’s on a roll you will laugh your head off.

The preview for the next omnibus seems to show that we’ll be getting Chihiro’s backstory next – I keep thinking things are movign a bit fast, but then I recall that this series was less than half the number of volumes that fruits Basket had. That doesn’t make it any less good, though, and I look forward to intense emotional pain as only Takaya can give to readers next time around.

Manga the Week of 4/5/17

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SEAN: We’re near April Fools’ Day, and while I normally tend to shun it, I will make one overture to the holiday by doing next week’s manga list in reverse order.

So let’s start with Viz Media and Yu-Gi-Oh!. The seemingly endless franchise is starting a new series, this one called Arc V.

Yona of the Dawn gets a 5th volume, and is always near the top of my must-read list.

MICHELLE: And mine, as well.

ASH: I’ll be reading it soon, too!

ANNA: It is so consistently good.

SEAN: World Trigger has a 15th volume for Shonen Jump fans.

The big debut this week is The Water Dragon’s Bride, which is by Rei Toma, author of Dawn of the Arcana, and runs in Shogakukan’s shoujo/josei crossover magazine Cheese!. Expect fantasy and spunky female leads.

MICHELLE: Having enjoyed Dawn of the Arcana quite a lot, I’m really looking forward to this one!

ASH: I actually just started reading Dawn of the Arcana for the first time. I’m really enjoying the series, so I may need to make a point to pick up The Water Dragon’s Bride, too.

ANNA: It is great, but the first volume is actually much darker than most shoujo manga I’ve read recently, so it is an interesting change of pace.

MJ: I’m actually even more interested after Anna’s “much darker” comment. So count me in!

SEAN: There’s an 8th Twin Star Exorcists.

So Cute It Hurts!! has hit 12 volumes, which frankly surprises me. And there are more to come.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on this.

SEAN: The Rurouni Kenshin series gets a 2nd 3-in-1 volume.

ASH: Glad to see Viz keeping this series in print. (The VizBig editions were nicer, though.)

ANNA: It is one of those series that should be in print!

SEAN: And Naruto gets its 18th 3-in-1, which means it can now legally vote.

Kuroko’s Basketball has another omnibus, covering Volumes 9 and 10. Spoiler: basketball is played.

Honey So Sweet has a sweet 6th volume.

ANNA: It is so super-cute and adorable.

MJ: I haven’t been reading this, and maybe I should be.

MICHELLE: I think you’d like it!

SEAN: And Haikyu!! has hit double-digits. (Technically, so has Kuroko.)

ASH: Haikyu!!!! I’m still loving the series, by the way.

ANNA: It is a favorite series in my house, my kids devour each volume.

SEAN: Food Wars! gives us a 17th volume, and promises to make life difficult for our favorite haughty blonde heroine.

ASH: I really need to catch up with Food Wars! one of these days.

SEAN: The Demon Prince of Momochi House has defeated the other Aya Shouoto manga titles to become the Last One Standing, and here is its 8th volume.

MICHELLE: All of the last five titles are on my list, though it’s Haikyu!! and Food Wars! that I love the most. Well, Honey So Sweet is right up there, too.

ASH: The Demon Prince of Momochi House is my favorite of Shouoto’s manga currently in English, so I’m glad we’ll be getting more.

ANNA: I like it too!

SEAN: Viz debuts its Naruto spinoff Boruto, which is about the next generation of ninja children, and perfect for the three or four people who weren’t upset with the ending pairings.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: Black Clover has a 6th volume, and we will see how much it apes other series and how much it tries to do its own thing.

As for Assassination Classroom 15: if you wondered if Kaede Kayano would ever do anything other than make flan and have a crush on the hero, this is the volume for you.

Lastly (for Viz), we have a 4th volume of 7th Garden, shipping on the 5th, just to keep things confusing.

Vertical has a Ghost in the Shell story collection out next week, imaginatively called Ghost in the Shell: 5 New Short Stories.

ASH: I’m actually really looking forward to this collection if for no other reason than the volume has a story by Toh EnJoe in it.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th Ajin.

Kodansha gives us a 13th volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, well into its second round of witch shenanigans.

For fans of old Del Rey titles being restarted digitally, there’s new volumes of Alive, Princess Resurrection and Pumpkin Scissors out next week.

Back to print, with the 3rd volume of Fire Force, combining firefighters and the supernatural deftly.

And there’s a second volume of All-Rounder Meguru for more digital fun.

MICHELLE: Woot. Not that I’ve managed to keep up sufficiently to have read the first one yet.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a third volume of ridiculous but fun series My Big Sister Lives In A Fantasy World, which may be the beach episode readers have dreamed of.

Dark Horse is reminding us they do manga by having a pile at once. We get a 3rd I Am A Hero omnibus, for all your zombie apocalypse needs.

Hatsune Miku: Rin-chan Now! is another in the endless Vocaloid franchise.

Blade of the Immortal has a 2nd omnibus, for those who missed its previous re-releases.

Lastly, there’s a 7th Astro Boy omnibus, for those who missed ITS previous re-releases.

Perceptive readers might think I did this backwards just to get the images to fit properly. LIES. It was totally due to April Fools. So what are you getting?

Re: ZERO ~Starting Life in Another World~, Vol. 3

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

I was actually rather surprised to see that we don’t get another loop in the middle of this book. Subaru has managed to slowly figure out what’s going on, and is able to finally fix it, though not without great cost to life and limb. As I expected, this volume focused more on the fan-favorite maid Rem, and showed off her tremendous powers, her truly top-tier hatred and loathing of herself, and her realization that Subaru is not a bad guy – which he isn’t, though he can be rather frustrating, as always. Given that we know that Subaru snarks and makes comebacks in order to cover up his true feelings, I suppose I’d better get used to it, though I still say that he’s at his best when the mask comes off. His manic desperation, and subsequent sobbing breakdown, may be the highlight of the book.

Beatrice is on the cover this time, and I like her the more I see of her, though I do sort of wish she’d yell “YOU ARE INCOMPETENT” to Subaru just once. She’s the classic reluctant mentor who acts grumpy but helps you far more than is necessary. Emilia does not get much to do here, but makes her scenes count, realizing that Subaru is losing his mind a bit at the beginning, and towards the end giving him an epic dressing down (the revelation of how Beatrice and Puck stopped her chasing after him is the best gag in the book). As for Ram and Rem, the Higurashi fan in me could not help but see similarities between their background and that of Mion and Shion Sonozaki, with one twin forced to take up the mantle of the other due to circumstances, and feeling horrible about it. Rem falls for Subaru hard here, and I look forward to seeing how this is handled in the next book, particularly as Subaru is still A. A. E. (All About Emilia).

Beneath his wisecracking, tendency to kill himself to solve things, and sheer bullheadedness, Subaru is actually rather clever, and uses the loops to find just the right questions to ask his loli Wikipedia. The revelation of the mastermind is not one I’ll spoil here, but it should make TV Tropes happy if nothing else. And then there’s Roswaal, who again seems to be secretly evil, particularly given the final scene. Ram is over the moon for him, and seems totally fine with being a pawn, which is never good. Here’s hoping Subaru can figure out what’s going on with him. In the meantime, there are a few teasers for what may happen next. Emilia is still one of the candidates for ruler, and Subaru actually looks back at the first volume and tries to figure out why on Earth she’d use the name Satella given he now knows who that is and the stigma it carries. I am hoping that we get Emilia’s tragic backstory (she must have one) soon.

Re: Zero continues to improve with each volume, though this one was helped along by the back half being one massive battle. That said, I’ve no doubt the next book will feature Subaru being an idiot, and probably dying. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy fantasy thrillers with wisecracking leads.

Clockwork Planet, Vol. 1

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By Yuu Kamiya, Tsubaki Himana, and Kuro. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sirius. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Daniel Komen.

I came into this series knowing next to nothing about it, except that, judging by the cover, it seemed to be sci-fi of some sort. It’s based on a series of novels co-created by the guy who writes No Game No Life, but thankfully seems to mostly lack the overly perverse aspects of that series. The premise is that a young, bullied teenager who lives on his own in a decaying apartment is actually an engineer savant, able to fix anything provided he can “hear” where the problem is. This is made easier by the fact that things in this world run on gears and clockwork (hence the title), though the aesthetic seems to be more Blade Runner than steampunk. The story starts when a broken robot girl comes crashing into his apartment, and after he fixes her takes over much of his life. Oh yes, and everyone in the city is about to be destroyed by an evil conspiracy.

The manga adaptation of the series is mostly functional, but there are several very nice pictures of the city itself and its gears, showing that the artist is quite capable when she sets her mind to it. The male lead is OK, I guess, suffering at the moment from being a bullied kid who sort of assumes he’s a loser, as he has no idea how rare his engineering talent is. The main reason to get this series, though, is the robot girl, Ryuzu, who is amazingly rude in regards to humanity as a whole and says so frequently. Once she discovers what Naoto is capable of, she’s prepared to do anything for him, leading to the funniest scene in the book, as she tries to get him to have a wonderful school life without bothering to take into account the other students around her at all. Every time you turn the page you can expect her to say new horrible things, and it’s a major selling point.

I was less enthused by the other main characters, who are introduced halfway through. Marie is an engineering prodigy from a well-known family, already with a doctorate despite still being a teenager. She’s also rude, but in a typical “I am arrogant and don’t have time for you” way, so it’s not as amusing. Admittedly, it isn’t supposed to be – it quickly becomes apparent that Marie and her bodyguard are dealing with the evil conspiracy I mentioned above, which is the sort of evil conspiracy that deems 20 million lives as acceptable losses. I think this simply suffers from being less interesting than the first half rather than any major character faults, and I think I will like Marie better when she interacts with other people, but it does leave the book a bit unbalanced.

But overall, a very good start. I want to see more of the world itself, and flesh out Marie and her bodyguard, but I definitely want to keep reading more. And I definitely want to hear more of Ryuzu’s sharp-tongued dialogue, which is the main selling point of this series so far.

Log Horizon: The Gold of the Kunie

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By Mamare Touno and Kazuhiro Hara. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

Confession to make: I’m an extrovert. It’s actually been difficult for me to accept this, as most of my close friends are introverts, as are most of the people I interact with on Tumblr and the like. But much as I whine “but sometimes I don’t like interacting with others either”, there’s no getting around my extroverted nature. As such, I find Shiroe very frustrating and hard to take at times, and I empathized very much with Naotsugu in this book, who knows there’s not much he can do but be there for Shiroe and let him work things out at his own pace. Of course, Shirou is trying to pull off an even bigger scheme than usual – this is essentially the Log Horizon equivalent of a heist movie, only with the true objective not being piles and piles of money – well, not DIRECTLY. The true goal is freedom and security.

The majority of this book is a raid, and once again I am painfully reminded that I don’t game. More than any other light novel that details game-like aspects of a world, Log Horizon depends on its readers being gamers. This means there’s lots of discussions of balanced parties and of HP and MP and the like, to the point where we need extended appendixes just to discuss MORE of it. Thankfully, it’s not completely incomprehensible, and enough of it is written in standard action movie terms that I was never lost. But we’re not allowed to forget that the people trapped in this world are all hardcore gamers. This goes double for William Massachusetts (I will never get used to that name) and his guild Silver Sword, whose close bonds are a reflection of a group of people who found real-life interaction difficult but were able to find true bonds online – and also learn more about how to interact offline. His speech of anguished frustration is a highlight of the book.

There’s a new regular introduced here, and I’m not sure how I feel about them. Tetora is a self-proclaimed “idol” who also happens to be a Level 93 cleric, and for a while you suspect has been added to the book in order to replace Akatsuki as someone to bounce off Naotsugu properly. The gender reveal – that Tetora is actually a boy, though it’s not clear if they just dress as a girl or have a female game body – seems rather odd and last-minute, and I assume that we will get a bit more of this later beyond “I just like acting overly cutesy and annoying”. Interestingly, Taylor Engel uses female pronouns the entire book till the reveal, then has Shiroe switch to male ones. How does Tetora see her/his gender? To be honest, I found Tetora a bit grating, but that’s possibly as I’m a massive Naotsugu/Marielle shipper, and don’t want someone horning in on their slowly developing couplehood. Luckily, we see a bit of that relationship here as well.

There’s a bit more going on here that will impact future books – Krusty has vanished, and his lieutenant seems to have permanently lost her right arm. This likely ties into the “flavor text” from the previous volumes. But the majority of this volume had the same goal as the 6th did for Akatsuki – get Shiroe to open up, explain things, and stop trying to take the entire world on his shoulders. Whether that will stick is something we’ll have to see about in future books. In the meantime, next book we’ll focus on the younger members of Log Horizon again. This is a good, solid light novel series that may appeal to the reader who finds Sword Art Online a bit too outgoing.

Pick of the Week: Sweet Witches

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MICHELLE: No matter which way I go this week, my pick will be from Kodansha. Ultimately, while I really look forward to more Cells at Work! and House of the Sun, it’s Sweetness & Lightning that beckons most strongly.

SEAN: The most tempting thing for me this week is Flying Witch Vertical’s new series about a witch adjusting to life in a rural town. It’s been called a Japanese Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

KATE: I second Michelle’s recommendation for the fifth volume of Sweetness & Lightning. I just binged on the first four volumes this weekend, and was genuinely impressed by the storytelling: it’s sweet and funny and sometimes very sad, but I never felt manipulated into sniffling or laughing. I also agree with Michelle’s observation that Sweetness & Lightning is one of the few food manga that focuses on stuff that an ordinary reader could make — another plus!

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading the next volume of Sweetness & Lightning, but since this is the only time I’ll be able to pick the Otomo tribute artbook, that’s the release I’m going to go with this week. Based on a volume that was presented when Otomo won the Grand Prize at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2015, and presented in a full-color hardcover, I expect it to be great.

ANNA: I’m not seeing a ton that is inspiring me this week, although it sounds like I should give Sweetness & Lightning a try for sure. I’m going to join in with Sean in picking Flying Witch, because often one can’t go wrong with new Vertical releases.

MJ: Count me in with the Flying Witch crowd! A cat on the cover will get me every time.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/27/17

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It’s the Affordable Briefs Act!

The Boy and the Beast, Vol. 3 | By Mamoru Hosada and Renji Asai | Yen Press – This novel, and in turn this manga, is at heart about an adopted dad and son who have issues that cause them to lash out, but get along well anyway. Kyuta has the excuse of being a teenager who has met a nice girl and also runs into his birth father again but can’t pick up where he left off. Kumatetsu is simply a bear man with massive anger and abandonment issues. But they both manage to man up and evolve to another level in this book, which is immensely satisfying until the cliffhanger, where everything goes horribly wrong. This should wrap up next time, and it’s an excellent adaptation, with nicely expressive art and some cool fight scenes at the end. – Sean Gaffney

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 11 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – I’m still reading this series, mostly because I want to see how many times it makes me stare at the page in disbelief. Half of its is still slice-of-life monster girls, with chapters like “little girls’ first day at school” and “are the main cast good enough to try being idols?.” And then you get chapters with frog terrorists breaking into a brothel and slaughtering nearly everyone in order to rescue one of their own, or the human soldier who’s involved in a war with the same frogs and runs into phenomenal prejudice from the other soldiers, which is clearly meant to be a commentary on World War II. Either of these genres might be interesting by itself. Together they’re a hopeless mishmash, and I mostly just end up frustrated. – Sean Gaffney

Complex Age, Vol. 4 | By Yui Sakuma | Kodansha Comics – If there was an award for introducing a character to a series and immediately making you hate her so much that every time you see her on the cover you’re filled with the urge to kick her face in, then Yui Sakuma would surely win it. Rui is the girl whose shabby cosplay Nagisa shamed back in volume one, and now she’s back, having become a perfectionist herself. Clearly unhinged, she’s outraged by newbie Aya receiving Nagisa’s attention and sics internet trolls on her. I might hate her, but I love that Nagisa must compare herself to Rui and articulate how she’s different. Because of this interaction, and the way Nagisa breaks things off with her boyfriend after he’s critical of a chubby friend enjoying cosplay, I’ve got a stronger sense of her character than ever before. I can’t believe there are only two more volumes of this series! – Michelle Smith

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 4 | By Izumi Miyazono | VIZ Media – Guess what? Asuka still wants to get married and Ryu still doesn’t. Shocker, I know. A sizable portion of this volume focuses on the insecurities each has regarding someone else in the other’s life—for Ryu it’s Kamiya, a banking-industry comrade of Asuka who sees her as his perfect woman and has proposed to her, while for Asuka it’s married actress Yuko Sakura, Ryu’s former lover and co-host of a new music program. The resolutions to these situations are sweet, and there’s one comment by Ryu that suggests a bit of thawing on the marriage question, but I admit it’s all beginning to feel a bit repetitive to me. That said, I did like the oneshot at the end, and will definitely continue reading the series. – Michelle Smith

He’s My Only Vampire, Vol. 10 | By Aya Shouoto | Yen Press – We’ve reached the end of this series, and I will definitely give it credit for not ending the way that I was expecting to. The school life is not making a comeback, as the final battle between Aki and Eriya proves to be life-changing and not something that you can walk back. As for the battle itself, it’s filled with last-minute plot twists and turns that unfortunately did not have as much impact on me as they should have. This series has an unfortunate habit of being interesting while I read it but immediately forgettable otherwise. But it looks quite pretty, and certainly those who love vampire romance got their money’s worth. Probably my favorite Shouoto series, though it still had a lot of issues. – Sean Gaffney

Kiniro Mosaic, Vol. 2 | By Yui Hara | Yen Press – Slice-of-life fluff is always difficult to review, even in brief format. “The cute girls do cute things” doesn’t really tell you anything. We do see more of their teacher, who appears to be well-meaning but a bit ditzy, and Youo seems to settle into her role as the closest this series has to a normal girl. For the most part, if you liked volume one you’ll like the second—there’s still yuri tease that doesn’t really go beyond “I really like you in a blushy way,” there’s still “these girls are all airheads in various ways” humor, and Karen continues to be the only one who suffers from not being a strong enough stereotype. If you enjoy this sort of series, it’s good fun, but it’s quite inessential, even for yuri fans. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 6 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – It’s been a year since we last saw this series, but not much has changed. Kanata and Kazuki still awkwardly pursue a secret relationship, even as Kanata realizes that “I love you” has never actually been said. A lot of Japanese romances involve the idea that deeds are always more important than words, and this proves to be the case here as well. We also discover that there is more than one lesbian character in the series, which is surprising, and nice to see. As for Nagai and Hinohara, that’s there as well, and we see she’s not above abusing his obvious crush on her to get him to do something for the school, though it backfires on her somewhat. Ignoring the power issues with that ship, this remains a great manga for romance fans. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 6 | By nanao and HaccaWorks* | Yen Press – Oh dear, and now we’re running in place again. There’s a lot that goes on here, but there’s less forward progression than I like. We do get some nice backstory between the fox-tailed miko of the shrine and the ayakashi killer, and we also learn, and I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was, that there is more to Tsubaki’s sister than it appears. (If nothing else, I guess that means I can rely on her to not get killed for the sake of drama in the next book.) But I have similar issues with this series and He’s My Only Vampire, in that I find it very hard to keep track of everything that’s happening, even with the release being relatively fast in North America. For fantasy fans. – Sean Gaffney

Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 6 | By HaccaWorks* and nanao | Yen Press – Akitoshi and Akashi have partnered together to infiltrate the shrine of Utsuwa, but once Akitoshi realizes Akashi doesn’t care if other people get hurt, he joins up with Yue instead to look for their missing friend, Tsubaki. Once everyone gathers inside, Akashi and Mikoto have a standoff, and some of their past is revealed. Honestly, although I found this volume to be fast-paced and interesting, it’s also still fairly confusing at times. Some of what puzzles me are mysteries yet to be explained, but I’m also not sure why Yue, a vessel of someone important like Shin, was also destined to be someone else’s meal. I strongly suspect this series will benefit from a straight-through reading rather than in installments. Still recommended, though! – Michelle Smith

That Wolf-boy Is Mine, Vol. 4 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – And so, a heartwarming tale comes to a close. Komugi’s memories of Yu and friends have been buried by Yata-sensei, but thankfully it doesn’t take too long for her to recover them. I very much liked seeing the other ayakashi boys arguing in favor of their relationship, and we finally learn what happened twelve years ago. It’s a pleasant and non-surprising ending, and it is satisfying, though I confess I still kind of hoped Komugi would end up with Rin. What pleasantly surprised me, though, was the absolutely lovely bonus story about Senri, the two-tailed cat who has been most distant from the main narrative, and the time he loved and was loved by a human. I enjoyed this series very much and hope we see more of Nogiri’s work here in the future. – Michelle Smith

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 11

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

This is the penultimate omnibus of Fruits Basket, and has most of the things you’d expect to see. Kyo finishes telling Tohru about his past with her mother, and because he hates himself, is really upset that Tohru doesn’t get mad about it. Akito is also dealing with self-hatred, and it’s to Takaya’s credit that the resolution to Akito and Tohru’s talk is not being stabbed with a knife (though admittedly, the crumbling cliff feels VERY deus ex machina, and I could do without the ‘kissing the concussed girl’ too). And of course the curse breaks for everyone, which allows those in couples to hug their loved ones, or those who aren’t in couples to wander the streets alone in tears because I dunno, Takaya is just mean. In any case, it’s Fruits Basket. All the feels are contained within.

Ren has the cover but doesn’t feature in the book personally. Her presence is felt throughout Akito and Tohru’s confrontation, though. Tohru realizes what the reader has, which is that Akito is in many ways similar to the other Sohmas, i.e. she’s dealing with emotional trauma from parental abuse. This doesn’t excuse what she put everyone through, but it does help Tohru to understand why her declaration of “I’m going to break the curse” meant, to Akito, “I’m going to destroy your life”. Tohru is still reeling from Kyo’s “disillusionment”, but more power to her for talking Akito down, and helping her to understand that the paralyzing fear of being rejected is what love is all about. And then there’s that cliff fall, which is *so* ridiculous that Shigure has to ask Akito if Tohru was pushed.

The remainder of the volume has Tohru in the hospital, and Kyo undergoing a huge torrent of abuse because, thanks to Yuki, everyone knows what he said to Tohru right before the accident. This does allow Kyo to attempt to move on from his past, which means confronting his birth father, who is an amazingly awful monster, but who Kyo also now sees as sad and small. It’s one of the better scenes in the book, and shows off that, despite what the rest of the cast has been screaming at him, Kyo has matured. Of course, the best scenes in the book are those where the curse breaks, and we see the aftermath from everyone’s eyes. Kyo and Tohru reuniting and declaring their love for each other is wonderful, but it’s easily topped by realizing that Kyo, despite being hugged, isn’t transforming, and his ripping off his bracelet. Tohru’s face as he does this may be the best panel in all of Fruits Basket.

Things aren’t perfect. Aside from the deus cliff machina, Takaya’s side pairings aren’t always developed as they should be, and she relies on the audience connecting dots that she hasn’t actually put into the manga itself. Thus while I like the basic idea of Kureno and Uotani, there’s no real feeling or emotion behind their getting together. (I do agree with his thoughts that he needs to be far away from Akito). Yuki and Machi fares a little better, and certainly she tried to develop it in the later books, but it still feels rushed. I did like the idea of Yuki calling her out to explain the curse, only to have to break right as she arrives. And now we have only one volume left to go, and given there’s only one regular book left to put in it, I expect there should be some extra content included as well. What will it be? Find out next month. In the meantime, still one of the top shoujo manga, despite its faults.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 1

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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.

It’s a bit difficult to know where to begin. I guess I’ll start by saying that by the end of this book, I was enjoying it immensely and had a big smile on my face. The second thing I should say is that this does not actually make the book “good” in any sense of the word. For a few years I’ve had to review the occasional awful manga, and people have sometimes asked me “do you mean that it’s bad in an MST3K way or bad in a bad way”. Sadly, I’ve always had to say that it’s actually the latter. Most terrible things are not remotely entertaining. In Another World with My Smartphone is an exception. Every ridiculous power the hero has, each new cliched heroine that appears, every time the plot rearranges itself so that everything is as “awesome” as possible, and most importantly the complete lack of any sense that things are about to get difficult for anyone makes this book bad in an absolutely wonderful, hilarious way. Everyone who says Kirito or Tatsuya are overpowered self-insert wannabes need to read this immediately.

I should lay out the plot here, though if you have read any isekai you’ll get the gist. Touya (no, not the Touya from Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, though I now wonder if the name has significance for isekai works) is accidentally killed by a lightning bolt. He’s granted an audience with God, who offers to reincarnate him in a fantasy world where he can have adventures. Touya, a modern thinking sort, asks if he can keep his smartphone, and God obligingly allows it to remain working and gives it unlimited battery. He then arrives in a new world, where he quickly meets up with Kyou and Ryou Fujibayashi… (cough) sorry, with Elze and Linze, two beginning adventurers who he joins forces with. Joining an adventurer’s guild, he gradually adds incredible powers, more cute girls, and heroic feats that make everyone’s jaws drop. In fact, the author literally apologizes for not using the smartphone enough in the first volume – why would Touya need it, when he can fight like a champ, use every single kind of magic, and summon Heavenly Beasts that then become adorable tiger cub mascots?

This is taken from a webnovel, and it’s really, really obvious. Usually with most conversions to published works they at least try to get rid of the excited sense of “I’m going to put absolutely everything into this book!”, but not here. Touya has impossible magic powers. Touya can read the moves of other fighters so he’s able to dodge or counter them. Touya can heal the blind. Touya can solve crimes, provided the suspect is an obvious cliche of an evil Duke. Touya is so pure of heart that the Princess of the land immediately falls in love and declares that he will be her husband. (Touya’s complete panic at this idea is possibly the best he’s written the whole book, and I hope (probably in vain) that future volumes throw him off his game like this.) Touya can read ancient scripts (just like Bob Hope and Steve Allen!), and can make magical reading glasses to allow other to do so. Touya can even accidentally look as if he’s been to a brothel and get lectured by all his girls, because this is still a harem comedy. Is there anything Touya cannot do? Sadly, yes. Touya cannot stop his friends’ menstrual pain. Some things are simply beyond any power.

I mentioned Touya’s purity of heart, and I think the same thing applies to the book as a whole. The reason that this is fun bad and not bad bad is that it’s so innocent of the normal cynicism you tend to see in these works. I joked on Twitter that this was “Baby’s First Isekai”, and that’s not far off. I think authors are allowed to write this sort of thing to get it out of their system. Being mean to it would be like kicking a puppy. There’s apparently an anime of this coming in the summer, and I cannot WAIT to see how the typical male anime fan who hates Kirito is going to react to this. I think I’ll bring popcorn. I’ll also be reading more, because this proved to be insanely fun. Which makes it a big success after all.

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 1

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By Canno. Released in Japan as “Ano Ko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Jocelyn Allen.

Those who follow my reviews know that I have a certain penchant for mocking the monthly manga magazine Comic Alive, which has always seemed to cater to the audience who wants fanservice, tie-ins, and the latest trends, and they want them now. Sometimes that can be a disaster, but on occasion Comic Alive will throw me a curveball and give me a series I can truly enjoy. Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl is one of those series. I came to it at the end of a glut of yuri manga volumes (and who’d ever imagine I’d be typing that phrase even two years ago?), and was worried that a lot of this review would be finding ways to say the exact same thing again. But this title is different enough from its predecessors that there’s some interesting things to discuss.

The cover is somewhat deceptive, leading me to believe that we’d be seeing one of the common default yuri pairings (or CDYP for short), the shy easily embarrassed girl and the overly genki enthusiastic girl. Luckily, that’s not the case. The premise is actually similar to the old shoujo manga Special A – Ayaka is a hard-working diligent student who always gets the best grades, but now in high school she’s up against Yurine, a lazy and apathetic girl who nonetheless always manages to get first place in everything. Ayaka’s competitive nature (instilled by her parents, it’s hinted) won’t allow her to accept this, and so she grows more and more frustrated with Yurine. As for Yurine herself, nothing challenges her anymore, and therefore nothing is interesting… except maybe Ayaka.

By itself this would probably be enough to sustain a series, likely about 2-3 volumes. But halfway through we shift to Ayaka’s roommate and cousin Mizuki, who’s athletic, handsome, and the male half of the Takarazuka pair she has with her friend Moe, who manages the track team and is angling to get Yurine on it. Yes, you guessed right, this is a School Full Of Gay (TM), and so the second half of the story focuses on another couple and their own travails. This one is more easily solved, while it appears that Ayaka and Yukine will be the developing pairing we keep coming back to after wandering away for a bit. There’s also a few one-page shorts detailing that yes, everyone in this school is indeed gay, and while it’s unrealistic, it’s also quite cute.

As I said above, the thing I enjoyed best about this series is the way that Canno’s characters don’t quite go the way I expect them to. They’re still types to a degree, but this first volume gave them a bit more depth than I’d expect for a series like this, particularly Yurine, who also gets a chapter near the end where she hangs out all day with the exceedingly hyperactive Ai, partly in an effort to try to be more open and sociable. (She’s lucky she tried it first with Ai, who plows through social cues like a train.) I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll see more of ai and her own romantic travails in a future volume. In the meantime, Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl may walk on some well-worn paths, but there’s surprising depth here. A must have for fans of yuri.

Manga the Week of 3/29/17

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SEAN: The 5th week of the month used to be a very quiet week, but this is manga boom time, so don’t expect quietness.

Dark Horse has the 2nd RG Veda omnibus, filled with early CLAMP pretty boys.

MJ: This never gets old for me.

Kodansha has a number of new titles. Cells at Work! has a 3rd volume.

ASH: The first volumes were a lot of fun, and surprisingly informative, too!

MICHELLE: Indeed!

ANNA: We got the first couple volumes in my library, but I have not yet read them due to them being perpetually checked out.

SEAN: And House of the Sun continues to be a very fast digital release with Vol. 3.

MICHELLE: Huzzah! Not that I have read the first two volumes or anything.

ANNA: Should I be happy about this? I haven’t read it either but I feel I should be excited if Michelle likes it!

MICHELLE: It’s shoujo from Dessert magazine, which also brought us Say I Love You. and My Little Monster. So, I’m basically just assuming it will be good because of that connection.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th volume of L♥DK, in case you’re reading the new digital Gakuen Prince volumes and want even more like that.

Otomo: A Global Tribute to the Mind Behind Akira is a new artbook from Kodansha dedicated to said mind, with lots of famous artists coming together to pay tribute.

ASH: I haven’t read much of Otomo’s work beyond Akira, but I’m really looking forward to this volume.

SEAN: Real Account gives us a 6th volume.

And there’s a 5th Sweetness and Lightning. Sorry for the lack of witty comments, I just don’t have much to say about these.

ASH: Awww, but Sweetness and Lightning is delightful!

MICHELLE: It is! As much as I love food manga, only Sweetness & Lightning regularly features things that I feel like I could conceivably make myself.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a pile of titles, starting with the 4th volume of Monster Musume spinoff I Heart Monster Girls.

And the 4th and final volume of The Other Side of Secret, which is so very, very Comic Alive.

Servamp has a 9th volume, and rumor has it vampires still figure in it.

I know very little about the new debut, Species Domain, except that it runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion and is another “Monster Girls” type series.

ASH: Personally, I’ve lost most of my interest in the various monster girl manga, but I know it’s a popular niche and so am glad for those who enjoy it.

SEAN: And the 5th Testament of Sister New Devil shows that Shonen Ace can be even worse than Comic Alive if it really wants to be.

MJ: Wow.

SEAN: Vertical debuts Flying Witch, which runs in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine and has both an anime and good word of mouth.

MJ: i’m probably interested in this.

ANNA: I’m maybe interested in this.

And there’s the now standard “Yen delayed these till one week later” releases. A 9th volume of Sekirei is out digitally.

And out in print, we have a 5th How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend. (Spoiler: girlfriend still boring.)

Lastly, there’s a 6th Prison School omnibus.

ASH: Assuming someone isn’t simply outright offended by Prison School (which would certainly be more than understandable), the series can actually be legitimately funny.

SEAN: Something for everyone next week. What are you getting?

Durarara!!, Vol. 6

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By Ryohgo Narita and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

When you write a book that creates a series of events that spiral into chaos, as Narita specialized in, particularly in this series, it can be many things to many people. For every character that’s involved in wacky hijinks, there’s another who’s undergoing a traumatic life-changing event. The skill is to keep those balls up in the air, and more importantly, to make everyone distinctive and memorable. As the books go on, we introduce more and more new cast members, and you need to be able to care about everyone without consulting the wiki to remember who they are (A Certain Magical Index suffers from this quite a bit). Luckily, Narita is quite good at this, so we can empathize not only with our heroes, but even the passing villains who get curbstomped by yakuza, and said yakuza, who are finding all of these gangs and Russian assassins simply exasperating. It’s all things to all people.

And so Durarara!! can be a comedy. There’s lots of great humor here, even if some of it is pretty twisted. Shinra’s diary of Celty fetish outfits, and her reaction to same. Chikage’s absolutely ridiculous chivalry, with equal measures of “knight in shining armor” and dumb sexism. Speaking of sexism, Erika gets to play the depraved bisexual in this one, groping Anri for no reason other than she wants to and to give the illustrator some fanservice to draw. Not OK, Erika. There’s also her and Walker namechecking Index and Shana in the middle of a pitched fight. And Mairu and Kururi’s chatroom gabbling is always worth a smile.

But Durarara!! is also ridiculously heartwarming. The fact that Shizuo has grown and changed as a person is a literal plot point here, as that very growth is what spoils Izaya’s plans. I loved the way that he bonded with Akane at the end, after saving her from Vorona and Slon. Celty might be weirded out by all the talk of Akane killing him, but it’s sweet in a Ryohgo Narita way. Anri may not be able to admit how close Mikado is to her, but her attempts to protect him are wonderful to see, as are Mikado’s absolutely pathetic attempts to protect her and also stop the Dollars gang from kidnapping Rio and her friends. For all that I like to say that Durarara!! is about terrible, twisted people, a lot of them have a good heart. Oh yes, and who doesn’t get a warm feeling in their heart when they see Izaya get what he deserved at the end of the book? I know I smiled. Well, cackled, really.

But I’m avoiding the elephant in the room, and that’s the fact that Durarara!! Book 6 is also a tragedy. We see a bit of it in miniature with Akane, a genuinely sweet little girl who is broken by events (and helped along by Izaya) to the point where both Celty and Shiki are disturbed by her but can’t quite put their finger on why. Vorona is shown that she’s nowhere near strong enough to take on Ikebukuro (don’t worry, she’ll be back). And then there’s Mikado, who is being used as a pawn by both Izaya and Aoba, and who finally makes a decision to go to a very dark place. Several times in the book we see people seemingly know Mikado better than he knows himself, and he’s given several opportunities to back off, to do the right thing, to become a good person. And he absolutely rejects all of them, agreeing to become the Blue Squares leader so that he can “fix” the Dollars. The most chilling moment in the book isn’t when he stabs Aoba in the hand with a ballpoint pen (though that is the most famous moment). As Aoba also realizes, it’s right after, when he switches back to innocent, kindhearted Mikado like flipping a switch. Mikado has chosen to embrace the darkness, and I appreciate that the narrative shows us how much of a terrible tragedy that truly is.

So we’re at the end of another arc, and that means next time we’ll see a lot of wandering around and setting up future plotlines. Still, books like that are what lead us to books like this, which is a highlight of the series.

Ranma 1/2, Vols. 37-38

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By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Kaori Inoue, Adapted by Gerard Jones.

And so at last we come to the end of the great Ranma 1/2 reissue. Inu Yasha may have had a broader reach, Urusei Yatsura may have had a bigger impact on Japan itself, and Maison Ikkoku may have had more maturity and resolution, but Ranma will still be THE anime gateway for many fans, along with Sailor Moon and Bubblegum Crisis. Having read the series again, I am able to see why it was so wildly popular, as well as why revisiting it can be frustrating. Ranma does not have depth – in fact, it actively leaps out of the way of depth – which makes it perfect for creative fans who want to give it that depth. It’s no coincidence that more than AMVs or fanart, it was fanfiction that was the biggest part of the mid-90s Ranma boom. Still, this does not mean that Takahashi’s manga is not good. It’s very good indeed.

Please do not be fooled by the cover – yes, there is a wedding at the end of the book, but we don’t even get to the ceremony before everything is completely destroyed and we return to the status quo. Well, status quo except that it seems that if there had not been chaos, Ranma and Akane might have gone through with the wedding. But there is always chaos in Ranma, it’s practically the main cast member. This manga ends much the same way that many of the classic UY anime episodes ended – with more and more of the cast showing up, each trying to beat up somebody else, until everything finally turns into a giant pile of destruction. Ranma 1/2 is not a romantic comedy, or a harem manga, or even a martial arts comedy. It’s pure slapstick.

The martial arts gets a good workout in the main part of this volume, though, as we return to China to battle another major villain. You get the sense that Takahashi is trying to figure out a way to top Herb, and she doesn’t manage it, really, but A for effort. The whole main cast is there (poor Ukyou, guess you were supporting after all), and there’s lots of cool fights and dramatic kicks and Akane and Shampoo in distress a lot of the time. That said, even when captured or dehydrated down to the size of a doll, Akane is still thinking hard and trying to get herself out of her predicament. Shampoo, alas, is merely mind-controlled most of the time. (I will note that Akane not noticing Ryouga transforming several times in this beggars belief, but hey.)

And so Ranma ends with our main couple waving goodbye to the readers as they head off to school again. It’s never quite confirmed that they do have mutual feelings for each other, mostly as I think Takahashi hoped people could read between the lines and see that she’d had them show their love without saying their love several times. (UY did this too – Ataru in particular was the poster child for “show, don’t tell”.) It didn’t quite work, and fans who disliked Akane were always quick to point out the open-endedness of the ending meant that they didn’t end up together. Takahashi later did one of those “character relationship charts”, filled with one-sided arrows, except for two – Ranma and Akane, and Ryouga and Akari. So she knew they loved each other.

But we don’t read Ranma for resolution of romantic tension. We read it for genderswapping and bizarre martial arts contests and so many fights and “Ranma no baka!” and in order to flesh out our 800,000 word epic fanfic with smatterings of actual canon. And we read it because we love the characters, flat as they are. Of course, we may not always love the SAME characters, but any Ranma fan is obsessed with at least one of them (except Happosai). Ranma 1/2 was a roadmap to modern anime fandom, and the road may be less traveled these days but it’s worth walking back over.

Accel World: The Seven-Thousand-Year Prayer

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

And so, at last, we come to the end of the Armor of Catastrophe arc, which was not only deliberately meant to be a long arc but also grew out of the author’s control, as he’s admitted himself in the afterword. The volume gives us a lot of what readers like about this series: good battles with some nice analysis from Haruyuki, some amusing harem comedy, some heartwarming romance with Kuroyukihime, and an examination of the nature of negative emotions and how to cope with them every day, because they don’t just magically go away merely because everyone believes in you really hard. That said, it also has some things that fans tend to not like as well: Haruyuki is not only the bestest person to ever be possessed by the evil armor, but he’s a shining magical beacon of hope for all. Oh, and he gets another girl confessing to him, and is caught with her lying on top of him, because harem comedy. It’s a balance.

The significant development here is a bit of a spoiler, but worth talking about. We learn the true identity of Ash Roller, which turns out to be somewhat confusing, meshing up a tragic tale of an introverted girl and her comatose brother with the nature of the neurolinkers that are omnipresent in this world. It’s left deliberately up in the air what’s going on here, whether Rin is literally being possessed by her brother while in the Accelerated world, or if she’s merely taking on his role to an almost absurd extent. (She genuinely seems to be unaware of what transpires without wearing her brother’s neurolinker, so odds are on the first.) That said, I admit to a bit of irritation at the fact that one of Haru’s only male friends turns out to really be a shy young girl who’s in love with him in real life. (The shyness is conveyed via an odd speech pattern – Rin talks in sentence fragments, and it’s unclear if this is a mental issue like Utai’s or if it’s meant to be natural introversion.)

That said, once again after a lot of harem tease we are reminded that at the end of the day there is only one who is top of the heap, and it’s Kuroyukihime. We get a little more insight into her real-life background – she lives alone in a very rich neighborhood, and it’s implied that the murder of the Red King in the Accelerated World had a counterpart in real life as well. That said, just as Haruyuki is a Pillar of Hope for All despite his omnipresent self-hatred, Kuroyukihime tends towards the perfect accepting girlfriend much of the time, listening calmly as Haru pours out his fears, getting the crap beaten out of her in the AW waiting for him to overcome the Disaster, and bushing cutely when he’s accidentally proposing marriage to her without actually realizing it.

So in the end Accel World has much the same strengths and weaknesses as the author’s other series, Sword Art Online. Which means fans of one will enjoy the other, and those who hate Kirito with a passion probably will find themselves getting annoyed at Haruyuki here. The next book should be standalone and lighthearted, and I fear that may mean MAXIMUM HAREM ANTICS. We shall see.