Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Nausicaä, Sailor Moon

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MJ: Though Midtown’s list hasn’t been updated since we put together our new roundtable-style Manga the Week of, I’m still going to pick from Sean’s extended list because I can’t contain my excitement over Viz’s new, lovely-looking box set of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I missed my opportunity to buy this series previously, and though I love the film, I’ve always wanted to read the manga. This is a no-brainer for me this week. I simply must have it. Sorry, We Were There. In any other week, you’d triumph easily.

MICHELLE: MJ, you will love it. Looking back at my 2008 reviews of the series, I see the conclusion prompted me to write: “Overall, reading this series has been an interesting and enjoyable experience. It has required a lot of brain power to digest ideas, events, and their significance, but it’s been worth it. It’s not every day a manga can make you put it down and stare contemplatively at your wall for a few minutes, after all.”

Actually, I was planning to step in here and champion We Were There, but my own words have convinced me to hop aboard the Nausicaä train, too.

SEAN: It’s been a while since I’ve had it as a pick of the week, so I think it’s a good time to champion Sailor Moon again. The 8th volume wraps up the S arc with mucho apocalypse, and our senshi team is now complete. Takeuchi’s plot is dense – this is a series that rewards multiple rereads – and the art in this one is particularly gorgeous, with quite a few double page spreads. And then Super S starts, and I know the appearance of a unicorn in front of Chibi-Usa will make folks twitch, but stay with me on this one. Still one of the premier magical girl shoujo mangas.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 11/5/12

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This week, Michelle, Sean, Kate, & MJlook at recent releases from VIZ Media, Yen Press, and Vertical, Inc.

Bleach, Vols. 50-51 | By Tite Kubo | VIZ Media – The interminable Hueco Mundo arc finally came to an end in 48 with Ichigo losing his soul reaper powers and bidding farewell to Rukia and her world. That would’ve been a terrific place to end the series, but because Bleach continues to be profitable, Kubo must find new ways to keep the story going. He does so by hitting the reset button, as Ichigo (17 months after the big battle) is introduced to a new sort of power called a Fullbring that he is now working to master. I’m rather “meh” about this new arc so far—I don’t care about the group teaching Ichigo or their enemy—but there are more scenes with Orihime and the gang than we’ve seen for a long time as well as some intrigue involving Ichigo’s father and sister that could prove interesting. And hey, no Aizen! – Michelle Smith

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 3 | By Kaoru Mori | Yen Press – I think I enjoyed this volume of A Bride’s Story more than the previous two (despite taking several months to actually read it). I’d felt that the cast was distant and remote at times, especially the heroine. Not an issue here, as most of the volume follows the Englishman, Smith, as he tries to get to Turkey. On the way, he runs into locals that are far less accommodating than the village we know, and almost loses his life. He also falls for a young widow trying to provide for her family despite desperate circumstances. We are led to think that the two will solve each other’s problems—but Smith gets rescued by a deus ex machina, and circumstance conspires to ensure he’ll never see the girl he’s fallen for again. It’s quite bittersweet and sad, and thus more compelling. Oh, and Pariya is terrific. More with her, please. -Sean Gaffney

Durarara!!, Vol. 4 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda & Akiyo Satorigi | Yen Press – The danger of reading the manga after experiencing the novel and anime starts to rear its ugly head here—I felt myself muttering “Celty’s arc was done much better there” throughout the volume. However, this does not mean there aren’t some good moments here. To everyone’s surprise, Seiji ends up “winning” the day, if only temporarily—and Mikado admits that he thinks that Seiki and Mika make an excellent couple, which is probably nastier than he had really intended. Speaking of nasty, Izaya also wins the day (hell, Shizuo doesn’t even appear), gaining a new slave… um, assistant, and reminding Mikado that you can’t just dabble in a world like Durarara!!, you have to sink your claws deep into it. Which can be extremely dangerous. As we’ll find out when the Saika arc starts next spring. -Sean Gaffney

Heroman, Vol. 1 | Created by Stan Lee, BONES, and Tamon Ohta | Vertical, Inc. – It’s not hard to see why Stan Lee is irresistibly drawn to shonen manga; Peter Parker, his best-loved creation, would fit right in with the earnest, super-powered strivers of Naruto and Bleach. Heroman, a joint collaboration between Lee, animation studio BONES, and manga-ka Tamon Ohta, tells the story of Joey Jones, a hard-working kid who lives with his grandmother on the wrong side of the tracks. After Joey salvages a broken robot from a trash bin, his life takes a turn for the better: that robot can transform into Heroman, a giant mechanical warrior capable of saving the world from alien invaders. While young readers may find this marriage of Silver Age superheroics and shonen manga fun, older teens will find Heroman stale and obvious, with plot twists so predicable you could almost set your watch by them, and sloppy, amateurish artwork. A rare miss for Vertical. -Katherine Dacey

Paradise Kiss, Vol. 1 | By Ai Yazawa | Vertical, Inc. – One of the things I like best about Ai Yazawa is her ability to tell convincing stories set in the world of fashion or rock-n-roll; however glamorous her characters and their situations may seem, Yazawa has a knack for writing emotionally resonant scenes that feel true to everyday life. Paradise Kiss is no exception. The heroine’s journey to self-realization may begin with an invitation to model a fashion collection, but the story never veers into soap-opera territory; Caroline seems like a real teenager throughout Paradise Kiss, even as she falls in love with the older, more sexually experienced George. Though the new Vertical edition looks like a million bucks, the translation isn’t as snappy as the Tokyopop version from the mid-2000s—not a deal-breaker by any means, but a little bit of disappointment, given the age and interests of the series’ characters. Still, if you missed Paradise Kiss the first time around, the new edition is worth the splurge. -Katherine Dacey

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vol. 2 | By Magica Quartet & Hanokage | Yen Press – At least one devastating truth is revealed in volume two, and emotions run high as new magical girl Sayaka falls quickly into darkness. Meanwhile, Homura continues to thwart Kyubey’s attempts to recruit Madoka for reasons yet unknown, though the volume’s final pages hint at a highly sinister reveal still to come. While there is no denying that this series is a genuinely fascinating (if ceaselessly dark) take on the genre, this manga adaptation continues to lag behind its source material both in character development and visual storytelling. The book’s battle sequences—filled with tension and surprising beauty in the original anime—tend to be short, messy, and difficult to follow. Worse, their hurried pacing keeps them from really moving the story along or contributing to the characters’ journeys in any significant way. As a result, much of the series’ emotional impact is lost. Not quite recommended. – MJ

Triage X, Vol. 1 | Shouji Sato | Yen Press – As a manga reviewer, I sometimes have a stubborn streak that compels me to try any new Vol. 1, despite the fact that the cover, description, and demographic scream “this is not for you.” And indeed, Triage X is not for me. This does not mean it doesn’t have an audience. The creator also does the art for High School of the Dead, which has done very well for Yen. And while this title lacks zombies, it certainly has a lot of action and cheeky fanservice. The plot is quite similar to Until Death Do Us Part, another title Yen is releasing. A group of vigilantes go after those that are above the law, while the law tries to figure out a way to survive both of them. But unfortunately, the fanservice is so blatant in Triage X that I can’t help but think that the only reason Kadokawa approved it is for the breasts. If you like breasts, go for it. Otherwise, there’s better vigilante manga.-Sean Gaffney

Wandering Son, Vol. 3

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By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

One of the things that impresses me most about this manga is how much everything seems to be in flux. Nitori and Takatsuki’s gender identity disorder is the most obvious, but nothing else seems to be clear-cut at all, just as kids feel right around middle school. In this volume we see their secret get revealed to the class, and though a majority of the fallout focuses on Nitori and Takatsuki’s feelings, we also get to see how it affects people like Sasa, who’s just concerned that her friends are all pulling apart, or Seya, who’s falling for Nitori without really knowing the truth, but whose feelings continue to be an issue even after he finds out.

We also meet a new character, Makoto, who takes a surprisingly large role in this volume. He’s surprisingly mature, being a bit more confident in his desires, more ‘intellectual’ in his speech and manners (watch his cutting remarks to Maho when she’s about to insult him), and no doubt also far more emotionally fragile than he lets on. He reminds me a bit of Saori, but she still wears her heart on her sleeve. He’s also shown to be quite attracted to Nitori, which is something we haven’t really gotten into given the age of the protagonists, but no doubt will as the manga advances. What will happen when sexuality starts to come up?

I was pleased to see us moving beyond the school in this volume, with Maho dragging her brother along to her modeling audition. I continue to enjoy reading about Maho, a very ‘bratty big sister’ character whose head you can nevertheless easily get inside. Loneliness and lack of self-confidence lead to some of the more impressively awful scenes in the book, as she sets up Seya on a ‘not date’ with her brother dressed as a girl. That said, after Makoto dresses her down, I think she’s starting to think more about what she’s doing. The final scene, showing her and Nitori defending each other against the overly pushy modeling crowd, is quite heartwarming.

Then there’s the scene with Takatsuki and Yuki. This is a manga that takes place in a slightly lighter, fluffier world than reality, so things don’t turn too dark, and there’s a sense of ‘easily forgiven’ to the whole thing. At the same time, though, Takatsuki’s panic and fear is palpable on the page, and reminds you once again that these are just *kids*. Yuki’s behavior also ties in with Maho’s earlier, and the modeling girls at the end, in that they’re treating Nitori and Takatsuki as objects, even if it’s unconsciously. Takatsuki, who’s already upset that they both got found out but that Nitori is taking the brunt of the class’ reaction, is especially upset by this. Neither she or Nitori are dolls that people can play with as they please, or substitutes that they can live vicariously through.

It took a while for me to get around to reading this volume, but as always I was immensely impressed when I finished it. As I said, this isn’t quite ‘reality’, but it still handles everything realistically, and shows the emotions that everyone goes through. The middle school years are a giant state of flux, and therefore a great place to examine the gender issues that Wandering Son does. Roll on, Volume Four.

JManga the Week of 11/8

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SEAN: We’re back with another edition of JManga the Week of! And there are some great new digital titles hitting the site next week.

TAVERNA, Dark Cooking Club of St.George’s Girls’ School is such an awkward mouthful that it can only be a 4-koma series from our friends at Takeshobo. And indeed it is, running in the magazine Manga Life Win. Vol. 2 is out next week. It seems to be a cooking manga, only moe! … Do those two audiences even cross?

MJ: 4-koma tends to lean towards the “miss” side of hit-or-miss with me, but I’m usually willing to give it a try. Usually. We’ll see. The “cooking” bit does give it an edge—which is odd, actually, since I hate cooking.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I’m pretty wary, but the cooking part is at least kind of different.

SEAN: A Kiss on Tearful Cheeks is the 2nd title from Futabasha’s Comic Mahou no Island in 2 weeks, but this one seems to be slightly less off-putting than My Sadistic Boyfriend. Despite apparently starring a girl who can’t stop crying. Vol. 4 is out next week.

MJ: Oooooh, I just don’t know if I can take all the crying. I just don’t know.

MICHELLE: Ugh. I am totally making gross assumptions here, but I predict that the boyfriend makes her cry (or that she invents reasons for herself to cry) and then ends up repeatedly comforting her. It just sounds so dreary and, like, spirit-sapping. No thanks.

SEAN: The big debut title for me next week is Sekine’s Love, a josei-ish title that runs in Ohta Shuppan’s sui generis manga magazine Manga Erotics F. It’s a title about a stoic and unemotional man who starts trying to find someone who can make him feel. The audience, meanwhile, is attracted to him because his indifference is hilarious. I’ve heard great things about this, can’t wait to give it a read. (And no, it’s not – to my knowledge – BL.)

MJ: What readers don’t know, is that Sean sent out a pre-column email of squee over this title earlier today. And reading this, I’m inclined to agree with him. I’ll definitely be checking this out!

MICHELLE: I had never heard of this one prior to this afternoon, but it does sound intriguing. I guess JManga is trying to cover their bases—moe fans, check! Black Bird-type relationship fans, check! People who are weary of those other things and want something unique, check!

SEAN: Also, when finding the cover art for this post, I noted the cover says “A gentleman good at knitting is not good at knitting the love!” Is this the anti-Ninja Papa?

I know very little indeed about pupa, except that its title is in lower case and it’s from Earth Star Entertainment, whom JManga have done several series with recently. Judging from the cover, I’m guessing fantasy?

MJ: Looks kind of interesting, actually. Is that a teddy bear in there?

MICHELLE: I am just distracted by the title on this one.

SEAN: And Tokyo Girls Destruction is by Court Bettan, author of the cancelled Tokyopop series Harukaze Bitter Bop. It’s from Mag Garden, running in their seinen magazine Beat\’s (no, not a typo, that’s how it looks). It would appear to be another in a long line of Battle Royale clones, featuring cute girls all beating the crap out of each other.

MJ: Zzzzzzzzzzzz…

MICHELLE: For, like, half a second I though this was some kind of 51 Ways to Save Her series. Alas, ’twas not to be.

Manga the Week of 11/7

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SEAN: Hello, and welcome to Manga The Week Of: Expanded Version! We liked chattering about JManga so much that we decided to let it carry over into my regular feature. So pull up a chair, sit back, it’s the first week of the month, so Midtown’s list is… tiny.

Oh dear, they’re doing it again. (Note: as of 5pm Wednesday. If they update their list again later, this is all irrelevant). Sometimes Viz shows up late to Midtown. No idea if it’s due to Hurricane Sandy, Diamond, or mere happenstance. As it happens, I checked with my own comic store, and they seem to be getting in Viz’s 11/6 releases on 11/6. So I will proceed to break them down here as well, assuming most comic shops not affected by possible Sandy distribution delays will get them.

But first, our fine folks at Kodansha have some stuff coming out! Actually, it came out everywhere else today. But when you’re Diamond Comics Distributors, you can … well, do whatever you want. So they ship Kodansha a week late.

In any case, Air Gear 26 is out, continuing the great Air Gear tradition.

Mardock Scramble continues our 6 theme by having Vol. 6 out.

MJ: I am several volumes behind on Mardock Scramble, but I really liked it early on. Should I try to catch up? Anyone have an opinion?

MICHELLE: I find the concept interesting, but never started it and thusly haven’t bought beyond the first couple of volumes. Also, “the great Air Gear tradition” made me snicker.

SEAN: And, carrying the 6 theme to a third release (hey, 666. Happy Halloween!), Negima! is up to Volume 36, meaning it’s close to completion. I see Asuna is on the cover. Is she back in action?

MJ: I do sort of consider Ken Akamatsu to be the devil, so that works. (Please don’t hit me.)

MICHELLE: I really have tried to approach his stuff with an open mind, but I just can’t like it.

SEAN: Finally, ruining the 6 theme by being a Vol. 8, Sailor Moon ends its S arc and starts Super S. Let me tell you folks who only know this arc from the anime: you are in for a treat.

MJ: I can’t wait!

MICHELLE: The outers are in it, the outers are in it! On the sad side, however, Fish-Eye and Tiger’s-Eye appear so briefly in the manga version as compared to the anime that it’s kind of a blink-and-you-miss-them situation.

SEAN: Yen Press was supposed to have Vol. 2 of Soul Eater NOT! out two weeks ago, but for some reason it got delayed to this week for comic shops. This fusion of the Soul Eater Universe with the moe aesthetic is taking a while for me to warm up to, but I’ve heard it’s not all light and fluff. Will there be creepy art to give nightmares in the best Soul Eater tradition? Let’s hope so!

Now, on to Viz, which may or may not get to all stores, and may or may not have all these titles, but oh well.

First, Bakuman enters its final quarter with Vol. 16, and continues to have a love/hate/mostly hate relationship with its female characters, but is a lot of fun nevertheless.

MJ: I have to admit I’ve been addicted to Bakuman since the beginning, even when it’s really pissed me off. So I’ll be picking this up for sure.

KATE: I freely place myself in the Feminists Who Loathe Bakuman Camp. The authors’ treatment of the female characters — especially the smart, competent ones — is a deal-breaker for me, even though the manga shop talk is fun.

MICHELLE: Like MJ, I get annoyed, but then I keep reading. Some of the kooky supporting cast is a lot of fun, which helps.

SEAN: Bleach has Vol. 50 and 51, which I’m pretty sure don’t star Aizen. What is this strange Aizen-less manga I see before me?

MICHELLE: I am soooo looking forward to the end of this Hueco Mundo arc. I don’t know any Bleach spoilers, so I have no clue what’s coming next, or whether it is better, but ye gods, this has been dragging on.

SEAN: A new Blue Exorcist! At least for those of you who didn’t read it digitally ages ago. One of the best current Jump titles, and always a treat.

Claymore hits Vol. 21, and the cover simply glares at you balefully, daring you to pass it by. Do you really want to take that risk?

MJ: I can’t pass it by!

SEAN: We’re not quite caught up to Japan with Kamisama Kiss, so the volumes are still coming out fast and furious. Here’s #11, which features a New Year’s theme just in time for November! Well, surely it’s New Year’s somewhere…

Kimi ni Todoke hits Vol. 15 here (it is caught up, so we’re seeing it less now), and Chizuru and Ryu are standing pensively back-to-back, not looking each other in the eye. We all know what that means. SMOOCHIES! …well, OK, probably not. But I hope they get a nice juicy plot arc.

MJ: This series just never stops being charming, does it?

MICHELLE: No, it doesn’t.

SEAN: Naruto is up to Vol. 59! Holy crap! I admit I haven’t read it since Vol. 6, so the cover makes about negative zero sense to me, but hey, it sells amazingly well, so therefore is doing many things right.

In case you missed the Nausicaa Manga when Viz released it a few years ago, they’re now putting it out again in a handsome box set. It’s a gorgeous manga, as well as environmentally conscious. Pick it up today.

MJ: I am thrilled about this, I have to say. I did miss this when Viz originally released it, so I’m incredibly pleased to have another shot at it.

KATE: I’ve also been looking forward to the new edition of Nausicaa. The old edition — though nice to look at — was printed on crummy paper that didn’t age well, and I’ve been eager to replace mine with a cleaner, newer version.

SEAN: Wasn’t it released on environmentally correct paper? That may be why…

MICHELLE: Somehow I missed this news! I have an awesome local library with a genuinely huge manga selection, so I was lucky enough to read Nausicaa (the four-volume Perfect Collection edition) that way, but I might need a handsome box set of my very own!

SEAN: Neon Genesis Evangelion is (digitally) day/date with Japan! And out only a week later in print! This is truly amazing, and big kudos to Viz for pulling it off. Best of all, this is the version with the happy ending! … OK, I lie, it’s not. It’s still depressing. But hey, maybe Shinji is more proactive? The manga’s been good at that.

KATE: The NGE omnibus has been sitting in my review queue for a few weeks. I’ve never read or watched any NGE stories, so I’m hoping that VIZ’s new three-in-one edition will make it easy for me to familiarize myself with this enormous, seemingly inexhaustible supply of material.

SEAN: Did I say holy crap when Naruto hit Vol. 59? Well, One Piece is up to Vol. 65! And… well, is still in the Fishman Island arc, but can’t have everything. I believe this is a ‘battle-only volume, the kind Jump readers love! If only as it reads smoother in Volume than it does week-to-week.

MICHELLE: Yay, One Piece!

SEAN: Another manga I tend to push as much as possible, Oresama Teacher has hit its 11th volume. The subject is Christmas! … OK, what with that and New Year’s, Viz is playing mall music at us far too early. But I’m not complaining!

MICHELLE: I like Oresama Teacher, but I do sort of inwardly groan when shoujo manga feel obliged to hit all the holidays. Hopefully this’ll be one of those times where the series is genuinely funny.

SEAN: The giant huge box set thing that is Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 1-18! It’s a fun series, if you haven’t checked it out, and need a Christmas Present for your wish list, this is a great choice.

Rosario + Vampire Season II hits Vol. 10, and possible Chapter 5 and Verse 2. In any case, vampires!

KATE: I’ve long thought of Rosario + Vampire as Twilight for guys: it’s got impossibly beautiful female monsters who inexplicably love an unremarkable human. While none of the vamps in Rosario sparkle, they do show a lot of cleavage and leg — the next best thing, I guess, if you’re a fourteen-year-old boy. It’s not my cup of tea, but I can definitely understand its appeal.

SEAN: You don’t need vampires to have girls falling all over themselves for a nebbish guy. See: any harem manga ever.

SEAN: NEW SERIES ALERT! Strobe Edge, from Io Sakisaka, is a school romance about a girl who wants to find out what love is and the school heart-throb… um, haven’t I heard this premise before? Oh right, Japanese shoujo manga. Despite that, this is apparently a lot of fun. I heard that people are… NICE in it. Gasp! It ran for 10 volumes in Shueisha’s Betsuma.

MJ: I’ll admit that Kate’s review gave me some pause about picking this up, but it’s really hard for me to pass up new shoujo.

KATE: I freely admit that I’m turning into a big curmudgeon when it comes to shojo manga; I’ve read one too many stories about nice, unassuming (read: boring) girls who develop crushes on hot guys. Strobe Edge isn’t bad, just predictable as taxes. Give me Maria Kawai and her razor-sharp barbs any day.

MICHELLE: It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a manga that makes me explode into hearts, but I’m definitely planning to give it a chance.

SEAN: Speaking of series I hadn’t realized hit double volumes, there’s Tegami Bachi! Presumably the mail must still get through for these letter bees.

Vampire Knight, which I still can’t quite quit, hits Vol. 15. If only it weren’t so damned addictive. Also, vampires!

Lastly, there is We Were There, which has no vampires whatsoever. It’s almost over, but there’s still this volume and 16 to go. So there’s LOTS more ways the author can make her character’s lives miserable! (Admit it, that’s why we love it. This is *the* angst shoujo.)

MJ: I love this “angst” shoujo. I really, really do. It’s a longtime favorite, and I never miss a new volume.

MICHELLE: I love it, too. Volume 15 is on the top of my review pile!

Limit, Vol. 1

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By Keiko Suenobu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Friend (“Betsufure”). Released in North America by Vertical.

Keiko Suenobu is a name that might be familiar to those manga readers with long memories. Tokyopop put out several volumes of her shoujo manga Life before Kodansha took their licenses away, and it was a decidedly different shoujo manga from the usual fare. Not that it didn’t feature high school girls, dating, rivalries and bullying, etc. But it also discussed topics such as suicide, self-mutilation, body hatred, and rape, and did not try to give us the usual ‘you will defeat the bullies if you get emotionally stronger!’ message that most manga do. It was quite popular in Japan, winning awards and spawning a live-action drama. And now Vertical has licensed her next project, which takes high school popularity and tosses it into the middle of the unknown wilderness.

If there’s one big issue I had with Limit, it was this: I feel the accident that causes the plot to happen should have been on Page 175, rather than Page 45. We’re introduced to a class and get a quickly sketched out plan of who’s popular and who’s unpopular, with the main characters briefly touched on. But given how much of what happens focuses on Morishige and her feelings of hatred and revenge, I wanted to know more about the class dynamics and in particular about the class’ ‘queen’, Sakura, and our heroine Mizuki. As it is, being thrown into the deep end along with Mizuki helps give a feeling of uncertainty and fear, but it also makes her rather flat. If we’d had a couple of chapters that faked us into thinking this would be a typical coming of age (albeit serious) shoujo, I think the added depth would have helped.

That said, there’s a lot to like here. Teenage drama is something that Suenobu specializes in, and it’s all over the place here. The manga manages to give us the overly dramatic histrionics we’d expect from privileged teens caught in a disaster without making it too annoying or causing it to get bathetic. One might argue, given this is a manga dealing with the ‘strata’ of Japanese classrooms and bullying to a degree, that making the bullied school outcast the main villain is helping to contribute to the ‘blame the victim’ mentality that kids constantly deal with. But this story doesn’t seem to be about bullying per se, nor does it seem to have only one antagonist.

Where the story really shines is in the relationship between Mizuki and Haru, and how quickly group dynamics can change when the catalyst of the group is removed. Even close friends don’t know everything about each other, and here Mizuki finds that her peer group is just as rife with self-doubt and paranoia as she is. Being a popular girl is a two-edged sword, and what may seem to Mizuki like trying to blend in and bond with all the different girls is seen by others as switching sides deftly to avoid getting singled out. Which, as we see in a flashback, is exactly what Mizuki was doing. If you don’t open up or take a stand, you don’t get hurt.

This series looks to be six volumes total, so we’ve only just begun to see how it’ll play out. And I’ll be honest, I have a feeling that some cast members will soon be joining the rest of their classmates in sweet death (coughChikagecough). Hopefully we’ll see more development from our heroine, and more broken social dynamics driving the plot. Mostly as now that it’s broken, I want to see how it gets put together again. Will we get to see the girls work together and forge new friendships? Or is this just six volumes of slowly killing each other?

Pick of the Week: Halloween!

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With Halloween quickly approaching (and a decided lack of new manga to choose from this week), it’s time once again for the Battle Robot to make their picks for the occasion!

SEAN: Generally speaking, I’m not a big horror fan, unless it has a healthy dose of comedy. With that in mind, I’m going with my perennial favorite Higurashi: When They Cry. In between its harem antics, its mystery plotting, and its tragic futility, there’s no end to terrifying images, ranging from Rena’s scratching at imaginary maggots to Keiichi eating a needle hidden in his riceball to… well, the entire epilogue of the Cotton-Drifting Arc. Some truly nightmare-inducing imagery, especially given the cute moe-type heroines.

KATE: My favorite Halloween title? That’s a tough call, but if I had to choose just one—and death was not an option!—my pick would be Rumiko Takahashi’s Mermaid Saga. This four-volume series follows the adventures of Yuta, a fisherman who accidentally ingests mermaid flesh, gaining immortality in the process. Though Yuta is keen to regain his humanity, he crosses paths with people who seek mermaid flesh as a remedy for illness, old age, or the death of a loved one. Say what you will about InuYasha or Rin-ne, when Takahashi is working in short-story form, she’s an undisputed master of horror; her spooky morality plays are a skillful mixture of suspense, humor, and horror, with a generous dose of pathos. Hands-down my favorite Takahashi series.

MJ: This particular pick is really difficult for me—not because I’m a big fan of horror comics in particular (I’m not) but because for whatever reason, the spooky comics I do like, I tend to really love. Tempting choices include Setona Mizushiro’s emotionally complex epic After School Nightmare and of course my very favorite CLAMP manga, Tokyo Babylon (due for re-release any day now from Dark Horse Comics!). But I’ll take the opportunity this year to throw my vote to JiUn Yun’s ghost story manhwa, Time and Again. Not only is this series genuinely scary on a regular basis, but it also packs an emotional punch in the very best way possible. In my discussion of its final volume, I said, “Time and Again kicks you in the gut with elegant brutality,” and indeed that is what it does. What more can I ask of a comic, really?

MICHELLE: Having just finished Chika Shiomi’s Canon, a four-volume vampire saga from CMX, I’ll cast my vote in its direction. It has some lovely ’90s art, a strong heroine, some plot surprises, and a snarky talking vampire crow. Though it falters a bit towards the end, it’s still a very good read!

What’s your favorite scary manga?

School Rumble, Vol. 1

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By Jin Kobayashi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America originally by Del Rey, now released digitally by JManga.

Way back ages ago, I reviewed Del Rey’s omnibus release of Vols. 14 through 16, and noted it left off on a nasty cliffhanger. And there it sits, as Del Rey became Kodansha and Kodansha decided its sales were not sufficient to release more. But now JManga is picking up some of Del Rey’s old abandoned series, and have put all the prior Del Rey volumes up on their site, with more apparently to come. With that in mind, I decided to go back and review Volume 1, and see just how different things were back at the start.

Well, for one, that huge cast is not quite so huge. School Rumble starts off as being very much a two-hander, with the point of view switching back and forth. Our heroine, Tenma Tsukamoto, has a hopeless crush on stoic weirdo Karasuma, but is unfortunately hopeless at romance… and studies… and athletics… and pretty much life. Well, except for cosplaying. She is, however, a happy girl with lots of spirit. Contrasting this is our hero, Kenji Harima, a former biker who is trying to turn over a new leaf, mostly as he’s fallen head over heels for Tenma. Harima is strong and good at athletics, but otherwise is in the same boat as Tenma – he’s not all that bright, and his attempts to woo her are laughable. Add wacky situations and stir.

The comedy is all important here, as it would be through most of the early days of this series. The chapters have a lowered page count compared to most Shonen Magazine series (about 9-12, as opposed to 16-18), a sure sign that the editors consider it one of the funny manga rather than a romantic harem manga. There isn’t even a harem yet, really. Just a love triangle. Harima loves Tenma, Tenma loves Karasuma, and Karasuma… we have no idea what he thinks. This is also an unusual series in that it ran simultaneously in two magazines. The main Tenma and Harima plot ran weekly in Shonen Magazine, while the chapters at the end dealing with ‘side characters’ (the ones with a flat note as opposed to a sharp) ran in the monthly Magazine Special. In this volume they’re focused on Yakumo, Tenma’s younger yet more mature sister.

Ah yes, Yakumo. As I said earlier, there’s a large cast coming, and we see glimmers of it here. Tenma, for all that she is lovable and hyperactive, is pretty much exactly what she seems. Yakumo has a lot more to give us. She’s also a great cook, and pretty, and athletic – her perfection is noted by the boys at her school. When otaku who should know better talk about ‘waifu’ type characters, nine times out of ten they mean someone like Yakumo. Her one fault is her seeming obliviousness to guys. And I say ‘seeming’ because we know something about Yakumo that they don’t – she can read minds of anyone who likes her! (School Rumble has occasional fantasy content – Tenma is telekinetic once – but except for Yakumo, it’s always for the sake of a gag.) And given the typical minds of teenage boys, this has likely served to make her even more shy and retiring than she already is.

As for the other main characters, we do meet Eri, Mikoto, Akira, and (briefly) Hanai, but for the most part they look like they’re just going to be generic best-friend type classmates. Eri is stuck-up, Mikoto is tomboyish, Akira is deadpan. They haven’t been brought into the story, mostly as the story i still just about Tenma and Harima. But as their attempts to confess their love explode outwards, others will be drawn into the web. Especially Eri.

For a first volume, this is big, dumb goofy fun. Both leads are histrionic and over the top, and there’s lots of silly here, with an understanding that no one is going to be confessing their love anytime soon. What’s more, Tenma is still the focus of almost every chapter. As the series goes on, and as the popularity polls start to come out, this will begin to change…

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan, Vol. 2

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By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In an earlier post regarding this book’s imminent debut, it was noted that the series is essentially a fanfic AU written by someone who wants to get Kyon and Yuki together, just like you see with the infinite Harry/Hermione or Zuko/Katara fanfics on FFNet. And there’s honestly no denying it; that is exactly what this is. It’s light and fluffy fun, but it is essentially Haruhi with all the spiky bits filed off it. Everyone’s more agreeable, everyone’s more adaptable, and everyone’s simply happier. Including Yuki Sue… um, Yuki Nagato.

Now, this isn’t saying that this manga is horrible. I like it a lot. It’s simply saying that this manga is not particularly gripping or filled with tension. In essence, it’s not really a spinoff of the Haruhi series itself as it is a spinoff of the SD-manga spinoff Haruhi-chan. Various ideas from that series (Ryoko as an onee-sama type, though a comedic one; Nagato’s gaming habits; Haruhi going after Santa) are used in this AU, mostly to show off the author’s own preferences. But whereas in Haruhi-chan everything ends up being a setup for a punchline, here everything is a setup for an adorable heartwarming moment. Even the dramatic moments.

This volume sees the introduction of Haruhi herself (as well as Koizumi, who is essentially a non-entity in this series). She’s not totally unrecognizable. She’s still trying to befriend aliens, time-travelers and espers, and will scream this out to anyone who asks. She’s still bulldozing through people to get her own way, and quickly takes up residence at the literature club even if she goes to a different school. and she’s not above using Kyon as her personal punching bag when a punching bag is needed. But she’s more mature than the Haruhi of the original series, and it’s striking that, even though we see her starting to fall for Kyon here, she’s not going to get all that jealous about it. Haruhi doesn’t have the power to change the world with a bad mood here, and it seems to have made her a better person.

As for Yuki and Kyon, they continue to grow closer, much to Ryoko’s encouragement and chagrin. Valentine’s Day is in this volume, and of course there is chocolate to be made. This leads to what’s probably the best sequence of the book, where we’re led to believe that we will see a cliched misunderstanding lead to heartbreak. It’s not entirely out of the question – this manga isn’t all that original. But this Yuki is more of a ditz than a doormat, and the misunderstanding turns out to have been… well, a misunderstanding. And Haruhi, who’s no dummy and can clearly see that Yuki is head over heels for Kyon, challenges her to step up and go after him. In a genre where high school girls are so often cruel and heartless, it’s fantastic to see love rivals be open and honest.

The flaws I mentioned in Volume 1 are still here. The art simply isn’t all that great, though it’s getting better. And Kyon needs more snark desperately. But of course no one is particularly reading this book for Kyon, but for the moe cuteness. And in that respect, few things deliver on that promise like Nagato Yuki-chan. That said, I’m not sure the series can coast on cute fluffiness forever. I hope that the author comes up with a more serious arc by, say, Volume 4. (Foreshadowing: your key to quality literature.)

(Also, is it wrong of me to ship Haruhi/Ryoko? Cause I totally am.)

JManga The Week Of 11/1

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SEAN: Welcome to a new feature here at Manga Bookshelf, which for want of a better title will be called JManga The Week Of. As you might guess, it is similar to my Manga the Week of posts, in that we break down what’s coming out next week from JManga (and possibly other e-publishers if I can find an easy way to get their release dates) and discuss what we’re looking forward to, what we’re curious about, what what we don’t really see the appeal of at all.

Since this is an inaugural post, I will start with THIS week’s JManga titles, then move on to next week. So it’s a double dose!

First off, we’re getting more “rescues” from the former folks at Del Rey, consisting of the titles they didn’t bring with them to Kodansha. School Rumble has 8 more volumes, which brings it up to date with what Del Rey had put out. This would mean Vols. 17-22, as well as the one-off sequel School Rumble Z, would be original JManga translations/productions. School Rumble is a comedic harem title from Weekly Shonen Magazine, and was quite popular among the blogosphere when it was coming out. And by popular I mean folks read the scans avidly. Cough. When the manga ended, as most harem manga do, with an ending that did not please everyone, the fandom died faster than Ali MacGraw. I do hope that enough time has passed that said fans return to the fold to support the remainder of the series.

MJ: I’ve always been sort of curious about this title—I even bought the first volume at one point, but never read it—so JManga’s acquisition here is definitely of interest to me. That said, there are Del Rey titles I miss much, much more (*cough* Nodame *cough*) so I’m not quite jumping up and down yet.

MICHELLE: I feel exactly the same way, MJ. I’m not generally interested in shounen harem manga, but there’s just something about this one that I find kind of appealing. Still, I’m more in a state of holding my breath for other things—aside from Nodame, I’m hoping that JManga will finish Papillon and Ghost Hunt!

SEAN: Re: School Rumble. It’s an interesting title as I suspect that it changed considerably from what the author had planned. It’s very much a gag manga at the start, with few harem elements. Then the author had its male lead, Harima, interacting with two polar opposites, the tsundere princess-type Eri and the meek young housewife-type Yakumo, and popularity soared. (Note that Tenma, the actual female lead, has never been as popular – in fact, Western fans tend not to like her much, mostly due to her childish characteristics.) Combine that with a truly huge cast, and you get a strange kudzu-like manga with multiple genres (though it never quite backs away from its gag manga roots, except towards the end).

Re: Nodame Cantabile, I have a theory about that. There are a few Del Rey hiatus series still not on JManga, such as Alive: The Final Evolution and Moyashimon. But Nodame is the most prestigious of those, and that may be the problem. It’s one of Japan’s biggest sellers. It’s huge in other countries. It has anime and live-action adaptations. And I love JManga and what they’re doing, but Kodansha giving them all these titles is very much a “we have no more interest in getting these out in print, so here.” I can see Kodansha thinking to themselves, “we need to hold onto Nodame in hopes that we *can* get it back into print, as it’s a flagship josei title.”

Pastel, another harem manga from Shonen Magazine (though after Vol. 6 it moved to the monthly Magazine Special), has also caught up with Del Rey releases, as Vols. 9-14 are out. Pastel is *still running* in Japan, with Volume 33 due out in November. Given it is, at heart, an ecchi harem manga bout a weak male lead, the various busty girls who fall for him, and their series of misunderstandings, the mind reels. I didn’t get very far into Pastel, but I know it has fans who enjoyed its slice-of-life, sometimes sweet story, so hope they enjoy seeing it go on. And on.

Speaking of license rescues, we have a new old series from Mag Garden’s Comic Blade. The first volume of Elemental Gelade came out from Tokyopop in 2006; they put out 12 of the 18 volumes before it was dropped. Digital Manga Guild re-licensed the series earlier this year; I’m not sure if this is their translation. In any case, it’s a fantasy series with pirates and living weapons, and also spawned its own anime.

MJ: While I’m always happy about manga becoming as accessible to people as possible, am I the only one who finds duplicate releases like this a little confusing?

SEAN: Ninja Papa hits Volume 3 of its seven volumes. As I’ve noted before, no one will ever accuse this of being great literature. But if you’re a middle-aged flabby balding guy and you want to imagine yourself doing mad ninja tricks, gorily killing bad guys in sprays of blood, then returning home to make love to your gorgeous hot wife… well, then you might want a subscription to Futabasha’s Manga Action in general. But this is *particularly* for you.

MICHELLE: … I can totally see this plot being yoinked for an American movie.

KATE: I’d like to see a josei take on this same basic fantasy: middle-aged woman performs mad ninja tricks, dispatches bad guys, then comes home to her impossibly hot husband. I’d definitely read that manga.

SEAN: Clair Voyance is a new manga from Ohta Shuppan’s online magazine Pocopoco. It’s actually by a Singaporean artist, FSc, aka Foo Swee Chin. She has done some alternative comics for Neko Press and Slave Labor Graphics. It seems to be about Monster Helpers rather than Monster Hunters, and I’m intrigued to see where it’s headed.

MJ: Thanks to Kate’s recommendation, I’m definitely planning to pick this up!

MICHELLE: Yeah, that one looks neat!

SEAN: And there’s Vol. 4 (of 7 and still going) of My Sadistic Boyfriend, which runs in Futabasha’s little known shoujo magazine Comic Mahou no Island. From what I’ve gathered, this fits squarely in the Black Bird/Hot Gimmick/B.O.D.Y. mode of “I love this guy who treats me horribly and I let him as I am weak and he is sexy.” I admit it is not my genre, but Viz apparently sells them like hotcakes (well, mildly warmcakes), so the audience is there. Has anyone compared this one with the classics like Hot Gimmick? How does it stack up?

MJ: “From what I’ve gathered, this fits squarely in the Black Bird/Hot Gimmick/B.O.D.Y. mode of ‘I love this guy who treats me horribly and I let him as I am weak and he is sexy.'” In a word, “Ugh.”

MICHELLE: I admit that I have judged this one purely on its title and did no further investigation regarding it. Also, I snickered at mildly warmcakes. :)

KATE: Wait… Hot Gimmick is a classic?

SEAN: Next up, JManga just announced 5 titles for release next Thursday.

Neko Ramen is another Mag Garden Comic Blade license rescue from Tokyopop, and is a cute 4-koma series about, well, a cat who owns a ramen shop. Funnier than it sounds, this was a surprisingly fun series when it first came out, and I’m pleased to see it here.

Peacemaker Kurogane is also a Comic Blade title, and this one has a long and tortured publication history. ADV manga (remember them?) put out Vols. 1-3 a long while back, then went under. Tokyopop revived the series and released Vol. 4, then they moved on. Now JManga has reissued the first 2, with presumably plans for more. I hope it catches on this time. It’s a Shinsengumi book, supposedly chronicling the life of Tetsunosuke Ichimura during the Meiji period and his attempts to get revenge.

MJ: Here’s a title I’ve always wanted to read! I’m pretty excited about this one, actually. I was a fan of the first volume of Momo Tama (from the same artist), though I never managed to pick up subsequent volumes, and I’ve been curious about this series ever since.

MICHELLE: Peacemaker doesn’t engender much of a response from me, but I am very pleased to see Neko Ramen arrive! I found the series to be a pleasant surprise, and though some volumes weren’t quite as giggle-inducing as others, it’s definitely among the series I mourned when TOKYOPOP went under. It fits in well with JManga’s quirky foodie manga, too!

KATE: I’m also glad to see Neko Ramen series get a second chance with readers. In the abstract, Neko Ramen sounds like a one-joke manga — hey, waiter, there’s a cat hair in my soup! — but the strips manage to wring fresh humor out of Taisho’s misguided promotions, menu items, and interactions with long-suffering customers. I don’t know if JManga will preserve the original Tokyopop translation, but I hope they do; the Tokyopop re-write has the same snappy quality as an Abbott and Costello routine.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a new classic literature adaptation from Variety Art Works. This publisher specializes in adapting famous works of literature (both Japanese and worldwide, though the latter is what JManga has mostly focused on) in single volume manga format. This new title adapts Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which, um, is really more of a lecture than a story, but hey. It’ll be quite interesting to see how this gets presented.

KATE: I’ve read a few of these “Illustrated Classics” — including the adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human — and thought the artwork was pretty bad. Their great redeeming virtue is that they hew closely to the original texts, so I suppose they have some value as Cliff Notes.

SEAN: So, what are you picking up this week?

Loveless, Vols. 1-2

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By Yun Kouga. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialized in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Viz.

Another license rescue, this time of a very popular josei-ish series that’s still running, albeit at a crawl, in Japan. So I picked up the first omnibus thinking, why not? Generally I don’t read much BL, if any, but the author herself has said she doesn’t think it’s BL. Actually, if I’m honest, there’s not only a huge genre of ‘BL only not quite’, but several magazines devoted entirely to it, of which one is Comic Zero-Sum. (The most famous is probably Shinshokan’s Wings, whose manga I always classified as ‘whatever Wings is’ back in the day.) Given the cover, however, which features what seems to be an abused catboy being aggressively fondled by an unseen party, I’m going to guess that Loveless falls into ‘it may not be BL, but its fans sure are’. You know, like Naruto.

That aside, Loveless is basically a fantasy thriller with psychological overtones. Our hero, Ritsuka, is trying to start his life over after his older brother was apparently brutally murdered. He also has amnesia, and so is trying hard to figure out what he used to be like – something not helped by his mentally unstable mother, who keeps assuring him over and over again that he’s wrong and horrible and she wants her son back. To make matters worse, he ends up being stalked by another guy, who was close to his brother. Now he has to fight various members of an evil organization, figure out why his brother was killed, and deal with these strange feelings he gets whenever he’s around Soubi, the aforementioned stalker.

There’s very little setup here, with the author deciding it would be easier to simply drop you into the middle of her world and let you figure out how it works. So far it’s crossing between high school drama and fantasy. In this world, virgins have cat ears and a tail, which fall off after they lose their virginity. This mostly seems to be an easy way to mark off who’s meant to be innocent and naive and who isn’t so far, including Ritsuka’s ‘Christmas Cake’ teacher, Hitomi. Notably, she’s the only one actively mocked for said virginity, if only by the villains. Aside from this, there’s a lot of battle sequences where Ritsuka and Sougi must pair up to defeat whoever’s attacking them. This was easily the poorest part of the manga, with generic combat and spells/power words/whatever. The idea of your partner taking whatever damage you get could lead somewhere in the future, but at the moment it just seems to be there to make Ritsuka suffer more nobly.

When the manga isn’t focused on combat, it’s a lot better. Ritsuka is a messed-up young kid, and his hot-and-cold running emotions, even for a teenager, are jarring. He’s not quite sure about this whole ‘love’ thing, or why he’s so attracted to Sougi, but then again he’s not all that good at friendships either – it’s cute seeing him have to deal with someone as bright and talkative as Yuiko, the tall girl in his class who slowly befriends him. In case anyone’s curious, I absolutely loved Yuiko. I knew going in she was a heavily bashed character, so those who know me probably guessed this, but even more than that, she helps to lighten up the book and prevent the psychological drama from getting too depressing. I hope (but am not optimistic) she sticks around as events ramp up.

Loveless is a very odd duck, and I kept alternating between being fascinated and creeped out by its storyline. Soubi, who I barely mentioned at all, is likely the main reason for this – I just don’t like him yet, and thus it’s hard to see his disturbing devotion to Ritsuka, who is meant to be 12. The shotacon aspects are partly intentional, of course, but I’m pretty sure it’s only meant to be partly – which disturbs me. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still, there’s no denying that the author has skills and power to draw you in. It’s easy to see why this series is popular. And I do wonder what happens next. (Will Ritsuka abandon his shotacon stalker for cute tall-girl love? Mmmmmmm, probably not…)

Bookshelf Briefs 10/22/12

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This week, Sean, Kate, MJ, and Michelle look at recent releases from Kodansha Comics, VIZ Media, Yen Press, and Vertical, Inc.

Cage of Eden, Vol. 7 | By Yoshinobu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Yes, the fanservice is still as gratuitous as ever. That said, there’s a lot to like here. For one, we get more casualties, reminding us that the longer everyone stays on the island, the more the cast is going to be culled. The fact that the group is taken out by what turns out to be ticks is quite chilling. Akira’s open show of determination and leadership, meanwhile, gives everyone inspiration and makes them want to keep up with him. This then takes a much darker turn, as we see the consequences of everyone not wanting to be dragging the group down – the cast getting altitude sickness that nearly kills them because no one will rest. And finally the cast start to hallucinate (a genuine symptom of altitude sickness) – which allows for a cliffhanger involving more horrific extinct animals. Shonen madness! – Sean Gaffney

A Devil And Her Love Song, Vol. 5 | By Miyoshi Tomori | VIZ Media – Maria’s first instinct when confronted with conflict is still brutal honesty, and I admire the fact that the manga shows this remains ultimately a good thing. Indeed, it’s not just Maria in this volume, as Shin shows off his own tendency to say exactly what he thinks. He thus ends up meeting Maria’s friend from her old school, Anna. I knew from the moment we started Volume 1 that Anna would be appearing at some point, and would be an antagonist. Thus I am once again pleased at how believable Tomori-san makes her. Maria, meanwhile, is still having trouble dealing with her feelings for Shin. This fails to surprise anyone, given how she has trouble with friendships, much less love. But I can’t wait to see what happens next. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail, Vol. 21 | By Hiro Mashima | Kodansha Comics – There is a WHOLE lot going on in this volume. We meet most of the Fairy Tail cast doppelgangers – including Lisanna, who’s dead in Natsu’s universe – and find Erza’s working for the bad guys. Speaking of the bad guys, they’re the usual eccentric lot, ranging from obviously sympathetic to completely insane. There’s a healthy dollop of humor here, as we see Lucy’s double showing off how alike the two are and Loki ignoring Lucy’s call to battle as he’s on a date (presumably with Aries). And there are sad and heartwarming moments, such as Carla’s realization of what she’s been involved in, as well as the identity of the cats who briefly harbor them. Most of all, I’ve finally stopped thinking about how much Fairy Tail rips off One Piece when I read it. Which is quite the accomplishment. – Sean Gaffney

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 3 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – Though I had high praise for the first two volumes of The Flowers of Evil, volume three is a weaker and less psychologically plausible installment than what preceded it. Saeki’s increasingly desperate attachment to Takao seems more like a plot contrivance than a natural progression for her character, while Nakamura’s bullying sails over the line from nasty manipulation to outright sadism. The two girls’ tug-of-war isn’t beyond the realm of possibility; nor is Saeki’s unfounded belief that Takao represents something more interesting or profound than what other boys her ages could offer. What feels wrong is the way in which that conflict manifests itself, culminating in a scene that only a teenage boy would feel was an accurate representation of how girls think and behave. I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but I’m no longer convinced that Oshimi has as a firm a grasp of his characters as he did in the first chapters of the series. – Katherine Dacey

The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 3 | By Shuzo Oshimi | Vertical, Inc. – I wrote in my brief review of volume two that I “pretty much hated” The Flowers of Evil and couldn’t see myself continuing with it, and yet here I am. I suppose curiosity got the best of me. Volume three deals with the aftermath of Kasuga and Nakamura’s classroom vandalism, during which it becomes clear to Saeki and Kasuga’s mother that he is the one responsible. I actually did like certain things about what follows—especially Kasuga’s admittance that he was only reading Baudelaire in an effort to convince himself he’s special and that he’s scared of facing the real Saeki as opposed to his idealized vision of her—but spent a lot of time baffled by the characters’ actions and reactions. What is clear is that nobody is the person that others thought they were, which seems like a decent note upon which to end the series, but it actually continues from this point. I’m still not sure if I’ll be reading it. – Michelle Smith

Jiu Jiu, Vol. 2 | By Touya Tobina | VIZ Media – First of all, that cover is far saucier than a typical Hakusensha shojo title – something the author lampshades in one of her notes! Despite that, this title is becoming for females what Cage of Eden is for males. There’s lots of rampant fanservice of Snow and Night looking half-naked and sweaty. The plot is still a bit ‘make it up as you go along’, but I’m used to that with Hakusensha. The author hasn’t made it clear whether we – and Takamichi – are supposed to think of the two male leads as pets, or as children/family, or as love interests. It’s somewhat uncomfortable, and I think that’s at least partly deliberate. The addition of a few new cast members is nice to see, but for the most part this is still a three-hander about young people who are very bad at social interaction and the laughs and awkwardness that comes with that. Hope it continues to improve. -Sean Gaffney

Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 8 | By Hiro Arikawa and Kiiro Yumi | VIZ Media- Okay, seriously, how did Library Wars end up being so shoujoliciously good? I mean, the premise is rather silly and the characters are far from convincing as soldiers, but the past couple of volumes have been genuinely enjoyable. In volume eight, the truth of why Iku’s being interrogated regarding a book-burning incident comes to light, which ultimately leads to her finally realizing that her commanding officer, Dojo, is her prince, whereupon she freaks out in a pretty awesome way. Combined with her composure under questioning and her reaction to this news, I am finally beginning to like Iku at long last. This volume also prominently features Iku’s awesome roommate, Shibazaki, who is one of those “I am jaded and unable to fall in love but will protect my idealistic friend with all I’ve got” characters whom I always adore. I’m looking forward to volume nine! – Michelle Smith

Pandora Hearts, Vol. 12 | By Jun Mochizuki | Yen Press – As tension ramps up over Oz’s questionable origins and the return of a mysterious villain with a penchant for beheading, I’ll admit that what really makes this whole volume for me is a (presumably) throwaway section in which Oz’s younger sister Ada reveals her secret obsession with the occult. That may not sound funny on the face of it, but trust me… it’s honestly hilarious, surprisingly charming, and makes it even harder to continue to hate the supposedly evil Vincent Nightray, to whom she bares her magically-consumed soul. Too, this section highlights one of the strengths of Mochizuki’s writing. No matter how dark and complicated her story becomes, she never loses her sense of whimsy or her deep love for her odd little cast of characters. Humorous interludes aside, volume twelve is full of terrific little nuggets of characterization—just part of the series’ considerable payoff for fans who have stuck with it so far. Still recommended. – MJ

Skip Beat!, Vol. 29 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I am probably somewhat of a broken record where Skip Beat! is concerned, because not only do I genuinely enjoy every new volume, I also always wish that I had twenty more of them waiting in the wings, that’s how much I adore it. In this volume, Kyoko has realized that she’s on the verge of sprouting feelings for Ren, which scares her very much, since he is able to slip past her defenses so easily. She’s so distracted she allows a male costar to make her over for a wrap party, which yields two developments: Kyoko becomes convinced Ren sees her as too childish to pursue and she gains confidence in her ability to transform herself for a role. That’s Skip Beat! in a nutshell—even when there’s a smidgen of romantic progress, there’s a healthy dollop of career progress for the awesome heroine to go along with it. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

Pick of the Week: Limit

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KATE: Though I’m glad to see that Dark Horse is still releasing new volumes of Bride of the Water God—surely one of the most beautiful and confusing manhwa available in English—my vote goes to volume one of Keiko Suenobu’s Limit. The story focuses on a group of girls who survive a terrible bus accident. As they wait for help, the class pariah discovers she has the upper hand over her tormentors, and exploits that turn of events to its fullest. Suenobu sometimes tries too hard to make her story a parable about bullying and social dynamics, but on the whole, Limit manages to be thoughtful *and* entertaining — think Mean Girls with weapons.

MJ: I have to say, I’m with Kate this week. Though there are a number of my favorites on the list this week (I must continue to mention the ever-charming Pandora Hearts), Limit is really a must-buy.

MICHELLE: I’m going to have to chime in with a “ditto,” as well. It’s not too often that we get shoujo like this, and it’s definitely something worth checking out and supporting.

SEAN: Much as I do like the Nagato and DRRR!! spinoffs, I must chime in for Limit as well, which is simply a change of pace from ‘sweet young girl goes to high school and meets cool guy who likes her’ shoujo manga. Limit has its pacing issues, but is a gripping read with lots of high-tension emotion.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

GTO: The Early Years, Vol. 15

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By Toru Fujisawa. Released in Japan as “Shonan Jun’ai Gumi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical.

And so, after much delay and a rescue by our friends at Vertical, the GTO Early Years series is now complete.It’s been a ling ride, and you can visibly see how much Fujisawa has improved and refined his art – Shinomi, for one, is almost unrecognizable compared to how she looked when we first saw her, and most of the characters have that ‘GTO’ look that we’re more familiar with from the sequel. What’s more, knowing he has to wrap things up, Fujisawa devotes much of this volume to our heroes’ two love-interests, showing how each of them compares and contrasts with their man. In particular, Shinomi demonstrates that, in her own way, she can screw everything up just as much as Eikichi.

When I reviewed Vol. 14, I noted that I wasn’t sure if the cliffhanger reveal would be played for comedy or drama. Very cleverly, this is actually used in-story – Shinomi, in a fit or misplaced jealousy, is ready to mock Eikichi mercilessly, only to suddenly find that he’s far more affected by everything than she had anticipated. In fact, things get so bad so fast that she desperately confesses to him – which he seems to pretend not to hear, something that he’s very good at indeed. (Note that in GTO 14 Years he’s *still* pretending not to hear Shinomi at times…) After a heart to heart and a good cry with an old mentor, Shinomi decides to go all out and give herself body and soul to Eikichi. This ends up going horribly wrong in the best GTO tradition, and in the funniest scene of the entire book. I had always been a fan of Onizuka getting together with Azusa, given I read GTO first, but Shinomi is making me waver a bit. She’s a perfect complement to his idiocy.

Nagisa, meanwhile, is having troubles of her own. Mostly that Ryuji is using their dates to have sex with her and not much else. And the sex isn’t bad, but Nagisa is a romantic. So when a guy at a nearby high school confesses to her, she’s depressed enough to actually go out with him. Again, Ryuji has always been slightly (but only slightly) more mature than Eikichi, so it would make sense that his own complement is the same. As we see later in the book, she’s trying to study and get into college so she can become a therapist and deal with… well, people like herself. (It’s likely been long forgotten, but Nagisa has disassociative identity disorder). Getting Ryuji to realize that she’s not just there for him to stick it in is tough. Luckily, she’s still completely devoted to him, and it all works out.

And so we get to the final battles. There’s a group of new freshman entering high school, all of whom have heard about the famous exploits of the Oni-Baku Duo, and all of whom are now ready to pledge their lives to them and take over all of Shonan. This is somewhat disquieting to our heroes, who while they always unquestioningly defend their friends, and certainly enjoy being in a gang, fighting, and driving around on bikes, have never really had the ambition to take over the city. Or indeed do much at all. Ryuji sees his girlfriend’s fierce study and is blown away – he’s starting to wonder what to do with his life once he graduates. Onizuka is not quite at that stage (indeed, it will take until the start of GTO to push him there), but the two definitely realize they don’t want to be gang leaders the rest of their days, and something needs to be done.

As ever in the GTO series, events spiral out of control into complete madness, and talking everyone down is no longer an option. So the two of them decide to pull off an elaborate final fight (between each other, of course), and leave this world once and for all. Now clearly we’re not buying what they’re doing – we’ve seen GTO, after all, which shows them both as adults – but I think even readers seeing this back in 1996 knew this was all an elaborate put-on. And sure enough, it’s not even 15 pages before the reveal. Those 15 pages, though, are styled like a documentary/remembrance, with reactions ranging from anger to disbelief to genuine grief (Shinomi and Nagisa).

GTO and its prequels/sequels ran in Weekly Magazine rather than Weekly Jump, and the audiences are fundamentally different. But in the end, you can’t deny that GTO: The Early Years brings you some of the best in shonen ideals. Kids having fun, getting into goofy antics, and trying to get laid are contrasted with holding on to your dreams, always being there for your friends, and enjoying your youth while trying not to destroy it. Eikichi and Ryuji have walked a fine line between those ideals at times, but in the end have shown the main way to accomplish these ideals: a good heart. (And also possibly being a badass biker with ungodly stamina.)