Sean Gaffney

By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press.

So yeah, I know a lot of people were taking bets to see when I would stop being a raving fanboy about this series. This is not to say that there weren’t parts of this novel I greatly enjoyed, but there’s simply a lot of things wrong with the climax of the book, and they take away from a suspension of disbelief that has already been in danger of snapping since SAO began. I am rather happy that things are resolved, everyone’s back in the real world, and if this weren’t a franchise I’d be mostly satisfied with the ending here, but… your villains need work, Kawahara-san.

Let’s start with what I liked. The first 60 pages or so were completely skipped in the manga adaptation I read, and are a terrific look at Kirito and Leafa’s similarities and differences, where choosing to save a monster from being attacked by another monster, and later on defending it from a party trying to kill it, even if it means losing all forward progress, is greatly rewarded. It’s just a nice sequence that shows why people still want to play these games even after the deathtrap that was SAO, and really shows off Leafa’s compassion. She’s only human, though, and still a teenager – her relationship with Recon is not one of equals, and I think she needs to sit the boy down and tell him she’s not going to be returning his feelings.

The whole Suguha falls for Kazuto/Kirito plotline was handled better than I thought given that its existence is enough to provoke a groan these days – I remind myself it was originally written as a web story around 2004-2005, when “pseudo-incest” was not overwhelming the market like it is now. Her anguish on discovering Kirito’s true identity is very well written, as is the duel that eventually follows. I also liked the epilogue set in the “SAO survivors” school, which not only gets to see our lead couple be extremely cute, but also gives us cameos of the rest of the cast, particularly Lisbeth adn Silica, who it was great to see.

All right, let’s talk Sugou, and by extension his conspirators, who we see in the form of slavering tentacle insects. First off, there was no reason to include those guys in that form for any reason other than to titillate a certain segment of fandom which is not remotely me. I’ve hated it in the manga, and hate it here, though thankfully there aren’t explicit illustrations. Secondly, Sugou is insane, and thus dull – you’re just waiting for him to get his just desserts, and the fact that he’s so over the top means there’s no real suspense that he’ll achieve anything. But probably the thing that irritated me most was the “return” of Kayaba as a ghost in the machine, who gives Kirito magical GM powers to finally be the godlike cheat character everyone accuses him of being. It’s a deus ex machina of the worst kind, and comes out of nowhere. I also think that the writing was a bit too sympathetic towards a man who murdered thousands of people for a thought experiment. Kazuto thinking he was similar to both Kayaba AND Sugou also didn’t help.

So not as good as the first couple of books, but hey, it’s finished, and I’m still invested in the franchise. Next time we’ll meet a new heroine, a new gameworld, and Kirito will get in touch with his feminine side.

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.

My initial review of this title was a bit lukewarm, mostly expressing surprise that I didn’t immediately hate it given the premise and ‘light novels with long titles’ cliches. After reading the second volume, I’ve had to change my mind. This isn’t merely adequate, it’s quite good. Yes, there are still a few issues with Bell as the typical harem hero, and Hestia can be a bit annoying at times, as you’d expect from a series like this. Yet as with the first book, both seem to recognize their flaws and try to grow from them. Actually, I’d argue Hestia’s biggest issue is how little she’s been in these books given she’s the heroine, and also apparently the next big meme now that the anime is appearing in Japan.

Instead, this volume has as its main female lead Lilly, who is a hobbit (yes, I know it’s translated differently, but come on, she’s a hobbit) with a tragic backstory, who fills the role of supporter in Bell’s party, since this is not one of those worlds where you have infinite inventory. This also serves as another look at how this ‘game world’ would work in a semi-real-life setting, as supporters are basically the lower class poor here, sneered at and abused by adventurers who regard them as little better than pack mules. Needless to say, Bell is different, but Lilly is so beaten down by the cruelty of everyone else in her sphere that it takes her the entire book to realize that.

I did have issues with Bell’s response to “Why did you save Lilly?” at the end. “Because you’re a girl,” was the first thing that came to mind, which is annoying, as “Because I felt empathy for your situation and could have been like you if things had gone a different way” is far more accurate. There *is* still a major harem aspect to this book, don’t get me wrong. Lilly clearly falls for Bell a bit here; Hestia is going on “dates” with him; Eina admits to herself that she has feelings for Bell; Aiz, the object of his intense adoration, spends much of the book in a depressed funk as he ran away from her in a panic; and of course Freya wants to hug him and squeeze him and call him George. Indeed, the other issue I think I have with the book is that the nature of Bell’s ‘skill’ makes him get far too good at things too fast. This is lampshaded by others, but still, I’d like to have seen more actual work put into it given we already have a glut of perfect fantasy heroes at the moment (hi, Kirito).

The main reason I think this works as a novel is that you don’t get the sense, as you often do with series like these, that the world vanishes once Bell walks out of the picture. These characters have lives and ambitions that don’t all revolve around Bell, and certain teases from the first book are followed up on here. (I was very happy that a character who I thought was a red herring in the first book turned out to be me being right here in the second.) When I finished the first I thought “Well, I guess I might as well get the second volume.” After finishing the second, I’m really looking forward to the third. Though I’d still pitch this more to fans of fantasy than fans of harems.

By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

I can only imagine that being someone who wants to read No Game No Life for the plotting, characterization, worldbuilding and excellent sense of dialogue is sort of like being someone who genuinely does read Playboy only for the articles. There’s that realization that you’re sort of enjoying something except for that one thing, but that you can’t actually tell people about it or recommend it to anyone, and it’s intensely frustrating. This is particularly the case with NGNL because the fanservice is so… unimportant. Yes, having Sora be a bit of a loser pervert allows Stephanie to feel conflicted so that she doesn’t simply give in and start crushing on him right away, but as for Shiro… there’s just no need for naked 11-year-old bath fanservice here.

Luckily, in prose format, this is a bit easier to gloss over. Ignoring the art (provided, unusually, by the author, who got his start as an artist for light novels, which perhaps also explains a lot of the service), I’m still really drawn into this world and these two broken losers who are brought into it. I had reviewed Seven Seas’ manga adaptation a while back, which covers about the first third of the book, and it applies here as well. Sora and Shiro have glorious overconfidence that’s really a mask for their crippling social issues, which can only be resolved when they aren’t separated from each other. This even extends to relationships, as Sora, while he does say “fall in love with me” to Stephanie (before, I think, he really grasps how things work here), points out straight away that nothing can happen for the next seven years as he literally can’t have Shiro not in the room so is waiting till she’s 18.

Much of the second half of the book is devoted to a chess match which has an excellent premise – the pieces move based on your determination, and won’t sacrifice themselves if they don’t want to. This is disastrous for genuine logical minds like Shiro’s who see every scenario provided the rules are correct, but Sora is familiar enough with warfare and dynamic speaking (seriously, Sora’s speeches are amazing in this novel… love the JoJo’s reference) to get the whole board on his side. It’s a great way of showing how [ ] works as a team. Likewise, I loved their discussion with Tet at the end, where it’s revealed he’d never lost before he met them, and they point out they’ve both lost many, many times… to each other. They know how to use that feeling to win again.

There’s a lot left unspoken here that I want to read more volumes to find out about. Actually seeing some of the other races, whether Sora or Shiro will actually bother to rule or just push everything onto Stephanie, whether Stephanie actually does have feelings for Sora or if it’s just the mechanics of that world at work… I’m likely going to read on, because of a keenly developed ability over years of reading questionable material to put my fingers in my ears and say la-la-la. But sadly, in the end this is another series, even in novel form, I can only recommend to the ‘otaku’ demographic it’s going after. And honestly, I suspect most of those people will be screaming ‘boycott, deal breaker!’ because she’s spelled Chlammy anyway.

By Okayado. Released in Japan by Fujimi Shobo, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dragon Age. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

When something sells, it makes perfect business sense to get 5 other things that are similar to that thing. This tends to irritate a certain type of reader, but it’s true. This is why I joke about the newest vampire manga being licensed all the time – vampire manga tend to sell. Even the really mediocre vampire manga. The same holds true for ‘real people end up in fantasy/game world and are forced to fight’. Oddly, it doesn’t really hold true for ninja manga – Naruto was a huge hit, but other attempts to bring ninjas over here haven’t quite caught on. And of course there’s the ever popular ‘lots of fanservice and suggestive sexual scenes with no actual sex’ manga genre. Add to this the realization that Monster Musume was a much bigger hit than expected (I think) and the desire to license something else by the same author, and 12 Beast is perhaps one of the least surprising licenses ever.

Of course, the question is, what happens when you try to take multiple popular genres and cram them all into the same work? The answer is a bit of a mess, unfortunately. Our hero is the heir to a ninja school who would much rather spend his time playing games, and who is quite happy to humiliate himself in order to avoid any sort of trouble. Of course, this can’t possibly stand, so into his world comes Aero, who is a bird-woman demanding that Eita come and save her people with his amazing hero skills. He spends much of the volume trying to run away, or at least talk sense into the berserker bird-woman soldiers whose idea of attacking the enemy is ‘hit it till we die’. But naturally, when push comes to shove he gets to show off his awesome ninja skills and talent at battle analysis (via gaming, which we all know from other manga is a perfect preparation for real warfare). And of course he starts to amass a harem of bird-women who are falling for them, possibly as he keeps rubbing their wings, which are oh so sensitive.

If you imagine that last paragraph read out by me in a sort of flat monotone, you get my general impression of the book. I will give Seven Seas credit, the adaptation is excellent, and almost a reason to get the book on its own. It’s filled with humor and in-jokes from page 1, where we not only get a reference to No Game No Life (another SS series), but also a nostalgic reference to “attacking its weak point for massive damage”. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the manga itself, which, like its hero, is content to coast. Almost everything here has been done better somewhere else. Hell, even the blatant fanservice is not as blatant as it is in the author’s other title Monster Musume. Basically, if you’re looking for a hero coming to a fantasy kingdom and saving the day, amassing women as he does so, and want to collect the entire set of manga that feature this plot, pick this up. But I’d wait till the very last to get it.

By Rei Hiroe. Released in Japan by Shogagukan, serialization laughably sort of ongoing in the magazine Sunday Gene-X. Released in North America by Viz.

If everyone has in fact forgotten about Black Lagoon, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. I wondered why I’d never reviewed it here, then realized the last volume came out in 2010, before I started blogging manga. Rei Hiroe’s past series have not so much ended as stopped, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this one may do the same. The end of this volume has him a) apologizing to readers for this volume taking so long to come out, and b) adamantly insisting the manga was not on a hiatus. This despite the fact that after putting out this new volume of Black Lagoon, we seem to be in the midst of another drought. Sunday GX’s website has a Black Lagoon section, but it’s mostly about a new game, I believe. In other words: enjoy this volume, but expect to forget it all over again soon.

Of course, enjoying this volume may be difficult in any case. Not because of any real quality issues, but because the author is deliberately reminding readers what sort of world Roanapur is, and how deep Rock is now embedded in it. The last volume had Fabiola calling Rock out on his ambiguous morality, even if he did manage to save the day. Here he seems to still be taking that to heart, to the point where he’s gotten too jaded to actually be himself – much to Revy’s annoyance, as a cynical and bitter Rock is not something she likes to see (or finds attractive). Then there’s the return of Greenback Jane, who was played for mostly light relief in her debut arc but now is pretty much horrible. She cheerfully leads a woman into a deathtrap for her own means, justifying it by the woman’s inability to have a successful cover story. And her sexual activities with Benny have become almost constant, to the point where, after hearing a suggestion that she might drag Rock into them as well, Revy pulls off one of the best threats in the entire series.

But let’s talk about the woman I mentioned above, Feng Yifei, who if pretty much deliberately introduced to be Rock’s female counterpart, and succeeds in that she’s likeable and we are rooting for her, as opposed to most of the rest of the cast where we just sit back and watch the catastrophe. She’s clearly drawn to Rock, and he to her, but my biggest interest was in how Revy saw her, and I was very pleased. I think there is a bit of jealousy in there, though Revy would never admit it. But more to the point, Revy not only sees in her what she saw in Rock, but actually wants to help her as a means of helping Rock out of his funk and getting him to be the moral guy again. It’s terrific character development, really.

There’s a lot more I could talk about here, including the hilarious and disgusting appearance of Sawyer the Cleaner, the Chinese politics that mostly passed over me but seemed serious enough, or the appearance of three goofy assassins for hire who call themselves the Four Brothers (you’ll see). But basically: Black Lagoon 10 is much like 1-9, only you really get it rubbed in your face here what a scummy, amoral world this is. Even Gangsta seems lighter and fluffier in comparison. Despite that, it’s still a good read, especially for action fans. Just… don’t expect Vol. 11 anytime soon.

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

It has to be said, Oda is perfectly fine with repeating himself provided that it makes a good story. And as long as we’re still highly entertained, I think that’s fine. Certainly the Usopp sections of this volume were my favorite part, even if their basic shape felt a little familiar. We see Usopp in over his head, talking about how he’s a hero while having no idea what to do. We see him attempting to run away, only to return because of his guilty conscience. and we see his “victory”, as it’s a truly grotesque face that makes miniboss Sugar pass out and save the day – not unlike what happened with Perona in Thriller Bark. But of course this is how Usopp grows stronger, and I expect big things from him soon. He’s not allowed to start beating up bad guys or anything, due to Oda’s desire to always have that basic ‘type’ on the crew, so you need moments like this.

Meanwhile, you absolutely need Sugar to pass out, because the danger has been ramped up as Robin was turned into a toy. It actually happens so casually amidst the chaos that it’s a surprise when we see her Raggedy Anne body, and we see her desperation as she realizes that her fate is totally in Usopp’s hands now, even if he doesn’t remember her. The concept of the toys in general, and who they used to be, is a grotesque sort of horror even for Oda, and it’s almost a relief when we finally learn what we’ve suspected for some time now, which is that the Tin Soldier who’s tried to protect Rebecca is in fact her father. As I said, the beats may be similar to other storylines, but they’re good beats.

On the lighter side, Oda has occasionally done mild shout-outs to other Jump artists in the past – I’m thinking of the big giant ‘shock faces’ he’s used from Enel on down, which are a straight rip of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo – and so I have to think that the minor villain whose minions go on about him being too hardboiled is a reference to Gintama, which sadly I think most readers will miss given its cancellation here in North America. Other than that, though, there’s not a lot of room for humor in this volume. Things are turning even more deadly than before, and our mystery savior who’s helping Luffy by taking his place in the arena can’t even stop to reveal who he really is (we all know who he really is, but let me keep up the pretense.)

This is not a perfect volume – Scarlet’s backstory was rather sexist, something Oda’s at least made attempts to avoid in the past, even though he’s been backsliding a lot lately. And of course, being in the middle of 11 chapters that are just ‘a giant fight happens’, the plot moves forward only incrementally. Still, now that Usopp has scared the bejabbers out of Sugar, we should start to see things get cleared up. Unless of course it leads to even wider chaos. But this is One Piece, what are the chances of that happening?

By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This was a good volume of Accel World, though I think I enjoyed it a bit less than the other two. It can be exhausting to read for extended periods. Kirito may rub people the wrong way, but at least in game he’s fairly matter of fact and confident in himself. Haruyuki’s issues – his self-hatred, the bullying he’s endured and can’t reveal, his desperation to keep his friends safe and keep their friendship, and his tortured love for Kuroyukihime, who he still holds up on a giant pedestal – permeate his narrative voice, and while that’s excellent in a realistic way – are visceral and explain the actions he takes, and you understand why he despairs or does seemingly stupid things. But as escapism, you’re left wanting a bit. Particularly as this book has a cliffhanger.

It doesn’t help that Kuroyukihime is conveniently absent from this volume, off to Okinawa and sending Haruyuki adorable videos of herself in a bikini. (I do like that her friends whipped off her hoodie to reveal the bikini, showing that they seem to be supporting the love between the two of them far more than the rest of the school – or indeed Haruyuki himself – might.) So the new threat is dealt with by our trio of childhood friends, one of whom is brand new to Brain Burst, and given this is volume one of a two-volume set (something that Kawahara is very fond of, as SAO fans are aware), they fail rather miserably. (The cliffhanger involves the seeming betrayal by one of said friends, but I suspect that absolutely no one is actually fooled by this. (checks TV Tropes page) No, wait they were. Sigh.)

As for the new characters, Nomi will hopefully gain more depth in the fourth book, as he’s very much the sneering, posturing villain here, determined to bully Haruyuki (who is very quick to accept this, as if nothing else it must feel familiar) and keep Chiyuri as a “pet” (more casual sexism, though given Nomi is about 11 years old at least there aren’t any rape threats like in SAO.) He’s there for readers to hate and root for our heroes to destroy, that’s about all. I liked Sky Raker a lot better, who gets to be the one who trains and inspires Haruyuki in Kuroyukihime’s absence, but who also seems to have an intense backstory involving trying to rise above a disability – and how it can fail despite all your best efforts. I’d like to see that scene someday.

Of course, much of her story is there to give inspiration to Haruyuki – he’s the hero, and that means that most of what goes on is for his benefit. This can be tragic, like with everything that happens with Nomi, but it can also be hilarious, as with the return of Ash Roller, who will not stand for this meek, uncool and despairing Silver Crow, and proceeds to take him on the bike ride from hell just to pep him up. I suspect I’ll enjoy this volume more, though, once the next one comes out and completes it.

(Also, can we get an embargo on any story involving a boy trapped in the girls’ shower? Even if it’s for dramatic reasons?)

By Natsumi Ando. Released in Japan as “Waltz no Ojikan” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Natsumi Ando’s back again, this time with a shorter series – this is only three volumes long, I believe. Which is good, as I felt the pacing was very rapid for a shoujo manga like this – it would only make sense if it was going to be wrapping up fairly quickly. I’m not sure if this was deliberate or not – her previous series, Kitchen Princess and Arisa, were both double digits. But short doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a failure, and there’s much to like about Let’s Dance a Waltz, with its grumpy hero held back by an incident in his past, and a self-deprecating heroine with an unfortunate first name.

First off, a word of warning: the moment I saw that our heroine, Hime, was overweight and a bit frumpy, I thought “she’s going to lose all the weight and be gorgeous by the end of this volume, isn’t she?” And sure enough, that’s exactly what happens. She too has a tragic backstory, as her mother, who was the one who named her (Hime means princess, something that gets hammered home quite a bit in this series) passed away from tragic backstory disease when she was just a little girl. (This is a common disease befalling young women in manga – young men tend to have dads disappear (the scum), not die off.) Still, the mother may have had good intentions, but it’s left Hime teased her entire life thanks to the wonderful world of Japanese schools, whose bullying is always important for character development.

Our hero, Tango (no, I’m not making these names up), is dealing with similar peer pressure problems, but from the opposite direction – he’s handsome and popular, and in accordance with his name actually is an amazing dancer. But he doesn’t dance competitively anymore due to a mistake he made in his childhood that haunts him, and prefers to be the class clown, breakdancing and avoiding any mention of the fact that his mother runs a dancing school (because dancing is not “cool”, and kids turn on cool kids who are now uncool faster than anyone except perhaps girls with the name ‘princess’. Tango can be quite the jerk through this volume, but we know he just needs his true love to make him straighten up.

Though there were a few times I was surprised through the first volume – secondary couple Yusei and Sumire, who have no issues whatsoever (possibly as they have standard Japanese first names) are dedicated to helping the two wannabe lovebirds rather than, say, getting jealous, which is what I was suspecting of Sumire when I first saw her – but for the most part this is a manga that runs on timeworn cliches. But this is fine – Ando is an expert at this sort of thing, and it’s nice to sit back and just let a skilled artist take you where she wants to go. At three volumes, this seems like exactly the right length for a sweet manga about a couple who can connect to each other though the wonders of ballroom dancing.