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Bond and Book: The Devotion of “The Surgery Room”

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By Mizuki Nomura and Miho Takeoka. Released in Japan as “Musubu to Hon: “Gekashitsu” no Ichizu” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

It’s good to be reading Mizuki Nomura again. Book Girl came out before the light novel boom, and as such I don’t think it ever got the attention that it deserved. This new series is not quite a sequel, and does not require having read Book Girl to enjoy it, but fans of that series will figure out fairly quickly that it’s set at the same school a generation later, and that some of the main characters are related to some of the people from Book Girl. This should not particularly be a surprise given that the premise is that a teenage boy names Musubu can “hear” the voices of books, which is not very far away from eating books. That said, while this does have serious moments, Bond and Book is a lighter series, an anthology-style tale where we see Musubu interact with someone and learn about their relationship with a book. Because trust me, books are the lovers here.

As we go through Musubu’s everyday school live, he a) tries to unite a battered copy of Pippi Longstocking with its former owner; b) helps a light novel author whose books are, um, not very good find a wider audience; c) tries to figure out which book has possessed an orchestra club member and caused him to lash out at others; d) goes with his friends to a deserted island to mimic the story of Fifteen Boys by Jules Verne (known everywhere outside Japan as Two Years’ Vacation); and e) try to help a college boy confess his love to the older librarian he adores… before she gets married and he regrets it forever. As he does this, we also hear from the books in question, who are very much characters of their own, particularly Musubu’s girlfriend, the petulant, prickly, and jealous Princess Yonoga.

This was a fun read, though I will admit that I liked some stories better than others. The light novel chapter, while an amusing look at the cliches that come from the genre these days, was not all that great; and the twist of the Fifteen Boys chapter also left a bad taste in my mouth, as it revolved around idols being despised and hated whenever they’re no longer ‘pure’. The fact that these are the two funny stories did not escape my notice – I think that Nomura is simply better at writing drama. The Pippi Longstocking chapter was an excellent look at what happens to books when you grow up or your world changes so much you can’t read what you love anymore. The story with “The Surgery Room” short story (by Kyōka Izumi, from 1895) revolves around a relationship that I suspect is not going to work out, but the whole point of the story is about passion winning out over sense, so hey.

So overall I am pretty pleased, and I would definitely recommend this to Book Girl lovers and book lovers.

If the RPG World Had Social Media…

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By Yusuke Nitta. LOL, and Yukinatsu Amekaze. Released in Japan as “Moshi Role Playing Game no Sekai ni SNS ga Attara” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Daniel Luke Hutton.

I imagine many of you had the same reaction I did when Yen Press first announced this license. “Oh Jesus Christ, really?!?!” And yeah, I have to admit, this title had a lot of things stacked against it from the start. Aside from the premise, the format itself demands the “text bubble” style social media commenting throughout, with little icons to show who’s speaking, meaning that this light novel reads as a particularly wordy manga much of the time. The author is also not afraid to use every cliche at their disposal in the course of telling this story, mining standard RPG plots as well as anime and manga tropes galore. But somehow, along the way, this actually became quite a fun story, helped along by a hero and demon lord who are both very similar to each other: they have trouble communicating in anything but texts. A bad story would mock this mercilessly, but this one accepts it as a simple communication disorder.

Our “hero” has a few issues. He’s a shut-in, and as I noted above, can’t really communicate except via texting. Even to his mom. He’s also super, super weak, and can’t seem to get any stronger even when he does put in effort. Possibly because he lives in Beginnerland, where the king’s castle is called LMOA Castle. Unfortunately, the Demon Lord has kidnapped the princess! He has to rescue her!… if he could leave the castle without immediately getting killed. And if the princess weren’t far more interested in seducing the demon lord than being rescued. Fortunately, the Demon Lord is an understanding sort, and sends her minions to help him slowly (very slowly) make his way to her land to save the princess. This is all made much easier because everyone can text each other… including the Hero and the Demon Lord, who are rapidly falling in love.

As I said, there’s a lot of silly cliches here. The four Demon Generals are a catgirl, Darkness from KonoSuba (OK, a vampire masochist, but come on, it’s Darkness with the serial number removed), a tsundere fallen angel, and a strong and straightforward oni. Towards the end of the book, we also revive the Six Great Sages, who are famous in legend for fighting the demons but actually all turns out to be terrible, terrible people. The book knows its RPGs. That said, it treats everyone with respect. The Demon Lord is a shy but incredibly sweet young girl, who even trained for 8 years to lower her power level to the point where she did not kill everyone by just walking near them. Her Demon Lord Generals are all firmly in her corner. As for the hero, underneath that ‘wuss’ starter background is a young man who is willing to work hard if he has a clear goal in mind, and who can also see the goodness in the Demon Lord.

Some listings say this is a Volume 1, but I’m pretty sure the novel series ends here, even if it leaves most of its “plot” in the air. The Hero and Demon Lord don’t even meet in person. The Hero is still cursed, etc. That said, the actual plot of the book is “found families are awesome” and “texting is a valid way of communication, don’t make fun of it”, so we don’t really need to see everything after this play out. This isn’t a must-read, but it is a book that makes the best use of its gimmick premise and treats everyone with care. I enjoyed it.

Pick of the Week: A Wide Variety

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SEAN: This week I am torn between debuts and final volumes. I really should be picking When Will Ayumu Make His Move?, as I love the author’s other stuff, and it looks cute and fun. But I’m sorry, it’s the final volume of Ran the Peerless Beauty, Kodansha’s answer to Kimi ni Todoke, and that has to be my pick, because it’s been regularly terrific.

KATE: I’m on Team VIZ; anytime there are new volumes of Maison Ikkoku and The Way of the Househusband is a good week in my book.

MICHELLE: I am sincerely looking forward to the finale of Ran the Peerless Beauty, but I just can’t pass up the chance to pick something that looks as sweet as Would You Like to be a Family?. I’m still wary of TOKYOPOP, but I must admit they’ve really been putting out some great BL oneshots lately!

ANNA: I could really use a comedic pick-me-up, and The Way of the Househusband always delivers.

ASH: I feel like I’m behind the times because, well, I am, but the release that I’m most interested in checking out this week is Tearmoon Empire. I’ve heard really good things about this series; now that it’ll be available in print, I’ll be able to see for myself!

MJ: Okay, nothing is strongly calling out to me this week, though I am always ready to cheer on Maison Ikkoku. But perhaps I’ll through a hesitant vote towards When Will Ayumu Make His Move? which sounds fun and revolves around a strategy game, so worst case scenario, I can pretend I’m reading Hikaru no Go.

The Sidekick Never Gets the Girl, Let Alone the Protag’s Sister!, Vol. 2

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By Toshizo and U35. Released in Japan as “Shinyuu Mob no Ore ni Shujinkou no Imouto ga Horeru Wake ga Nai” by PASH! Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

This book continues to be very good at not really doing what I would like it to do. I had expected, after the climax of the first book, that we’d be seeing a lot of fallout, or at least evidence that memory-erasing magic does not really work all that well in modern-day Japan. But no, we don’t even SEE the little sister again till the second half of the book, and while her fate is a big part of the plot, it’s somewhat secondary to the romcom antics. This is especially annoying as we get an excellent start to the book where we see, in the fantasy world Kou was sent to, exactly how he managed to get traumatized and have complete disaster befall him. It’s a bit rushed, but heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the author likes using it as flavor text for their real ambition: a standard high school harem comedy. And I have bad news for them, other authors are better at that.

After using magic that really should not be used in this world to wipe Hikari’s memories of him, Kou ends up sick as a dog, and also flashing back to the girl he fell in love with in the fantasy world, Rei… as well as her brutal murder, complete with dying in his arms. That said, he really can’t reflect too hard on that when both Kiryu AND Renge show up to care for him. This is especially bad in Renge’s case, as she’s a terrible cook! Oh no! This amazingly cliched scene is broken up by, of all things, the naked sexual assault guy from the start of Book 1, who shows up (clothed) and smashes a durian all over Kou and Kou’s room, I know, stay with me. After a chase, which ends up roping in Kazuki, his athletic kohai, he finds that this world and the fantasy world are more connected than he thought. But there’s no time to dwell on THAT – finals are coming up! Study group!

As you can see, the book is trying to hit every single groan-worthy high school romantic comedy cliche there is. They don’t do a bad job of having the characters go through the motions, but they don’t add anything interesting to the genre either. Kazuki has a mom. She’s hot, and teasing. Kou is bad at studying and on the verge of failure. Et cetera. I wouldn’t be complaining nearly as much if it weren’t taking away from the actual interesting parts of the book. Kou’s avoidance tactics and trauma are fascinating! The way that the weird pervert from the start of Book 1 ties into the fantasy world is something I really want to hear about… till it is thrown away because they can’t discuss it in front of “civilians”. It *is* made clear that Hikari is (no big spoiler here, it’s obvious) the reincarnation of his fantasy love… but then the book ends. Sigh.

I’m sure you’re reading this and wondering why I’m so annoyed, rather than just mildly disappointed. m Well, it’s mostly because the novel series ends here. The webnovel apparently went to a decent conclusion, but PASH! Books has shown no signs of publishing any more in print form, which probably means Japanese readers were as frustrated as I was. There’s an interesting story here that’s struggling to get past the author shoehorning in their favorite scenes from 2006 comedy anime. But… grr.

Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness, Vol. 1

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By Ameko Kaeruda and Sencha. Released in Japan as “Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu ” by GC Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

While reading this book, I was asked about it on Twitter, and I made the observation that it was like reading a parfait. Having now finished the book, I stand by this 100%. Everything about this is adorable and sweet, and you get the added bonus of a good example of how found families can end up being much better for someone than a birth family that resents and disparages them is. All that said, please be aware, this book is not here to be serious or to raise questions that require deep analysis. It cares not about power levels – all four leads are ludicrously more powerful than anyone else in the book. There is a bit of worldbuilding, but it’s about as important as any other ingredient you’d have in a parfait. This book is here for a dragon dad, usually in the form of a hot guy, and his adorable daughter, who he dotes on.

Our narrator is an elder dragon who has spent the last few hundred years high up a mountain. One day, a four-year-old girl shows up, calling him “Daddy”. He tries to dissuade her, but after discovering what her birth father is like, he makes the decision to raise her as a doting parent. He makes her delicious milk soup. He moves them to a large castle, perfect for a growing girl… though the Demon Lord and her partner who already live there might think differently. And he teaches her how to read, and the Demon Lord teaches her magic. By the time she’s old enough to go to school, she’s possibly the most powerful human being alive. But, I mean, that’s fine, really? As long as she can make friends, and hang out with her dragon daddy and her two lesbian aunts.

It’s a sign of Bunny Drop’s fandom presence that I feel the need to say this once more: this is not going there. Even if the daddy weren’t really a huge dragon, this is by the author of Sexiled, and we can be pretty sure that they’re not going to have this end with the girl marrying her dad. Speaking of Sexiled, in the afterword the author admits they wrote this to have fun with tropes: adorable girl who dotes on her dad, hunky dad who’s really a powerful dragon… and the Demon Lord and her partner, who (because this is entirely narrated from the POV of the dragon, who doesn’t get relationships) are clearly a couple but never explicitly called such. The Demon Lord is amusing in her own right, essentially being a shut-in with a tendency to talk big but fold like a card table, having to be bailed out by her knight/partner. The four of them end up being a wonderful and amusing family unit.

By the end of this first book Olivia (the daughter, sorry, names are hard) has already pretty much blown school out of the water… though she and her father elect to have her stay in her proper grade anyway, so she can better make friends. I expect even more ridiculous and sweet things will happen in the next book. If you love the author, or love found family, or just love sugary books, this is a winner.

Cutie and the Beast

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Coming to Yuhi Azumi’s Cutie and the Beast, I really only had a recommendation from Brigid Alverson and a description from her too. So with that, I dived in with the gusto of a wrestling star like our male lead, Kuga and tried to see if this was an entertaining first match or a one-off special.

Momoka is a high school student who watches wrestling matches on TV and follows the stars of the league, in particular a star currently portraying a heel (wrestling slang for a performer cast in the role of a villain in the league) called Kuga. Kuga is twenty nine and a committed wrestler who loves his role and his profession. One day, after interacting with Momoka online, Kuga crosses paths with her and an entirely unexpected relationship opens up for both of them.

Cutie and the Beast presents the relationship between Kuga and Momoka as pretty straightforward: Momoka has a massive crush on Kuga but Kuga is as inexperienced in love as she is. So the two of them spend the early moments of their relationship within the first volume as awkward teenagers. He’s a bit hesitant and unsure, she’s frustrated at the distance between them when she realises that he shares her affection. The issue of their age comes to the fore mid-way through and unusually, it’s Kuga’s wrestling friend who helped put them together who suggests that Kuga cools his jets. Kuga has too much to lose, Momoka still has to go to school. Their lives wouldn’t work. But like the proverbial square peg in the round hole, Koga and Momoka refuse to come unstuck. In real life, this would be very messy and I don’t know how long the story can sustain this. But the two of them are so nice both on their own and together, that I can give it a temporary pass. It’s kind of a suspension of reality where if a single person were to point it out to you while you read it, it would all be ruined. I love the framing when Kuga comes clean about why he’s been avoiding Momoka online and his distress as to their relationship. It’s neat and tidy, not going for high drama. In a way, that’s the whole manga in a nutshell: searching for places for its leads to be in but not rushing it to get there any quicker than is needed.

Azumi peppers her dish with various little things like the immediacy of Twitter and how it help Momoka connect with Kuga or how Momoka’s sister starts the story as a pest but rapidly gets in gear to get her and Kuga together. The wrestling matches and events that Momoka uses to interact with Kuga are careful, quiet, and used reservedly so it’s less like a love-sick fan who hangs on her favourite wrestlers every appearance and more about how she’s processing going from “I like this guy” to “I want this guy to give me a straight answer!” Along the way, the groundwork is laid for future volumes to either rally or lose their hard-won victories. I love how Momoka and Kuga are with each other and I can’t wait to read the next volume to see how the changes at the end of the first one set out their arcs in the future.

Manga the Week of 9/22/21

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SEAN: Even the Delta variant cannot stop the flow of manga coming through.

ASH: Which is impressive, really.

SEAN: Airship, in print, gives us the third volume of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

For early digital titles, we get Mushoku Tensei 13 and Reincarnated As a Sword 9.

Ghost Ship gives us Parallel Paradise 6.

J-Novel Club has some new print titles, the biggest one of interest being the print debut of Tearmoon Empire. The story of a spoiled princess who, after being executed, finds herself in her 12-year-old self, I highly recommend it to all light novel readers.

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to giving this one a try now that it’ll be available in print!

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga version of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 7th manga, Infinite Dendrogram Omnibus 3, and Marginal Operation 7.

In digital, we get the manga debut of The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride. Also out in manga form: Black Summoner 4, Cooking with Wild Game 5, and The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 6.

Light novels out next week include The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 17, Seirei Gensouki 16, and Slayers 10.

Kodansha’s print debut is When Will Ayumu Make His Move? (Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru), from the author of Teasing Master Takagi-san. This is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title about a girl who is trying to get a guy to confess to her, and a guy who only wants to confess after he’s beaten her in shogi. As you guessed, he’s terrible at shogi. This seems fun.

ASH: That does sound like it could be fun.

MJ: Sounds fun indeed!

SEAN: In print, Kodansha has Bakemonogatari 10, The Daily Lives of High School Boys 7, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 8, Drifting Dragons 9, Heaven’s Design Team 6, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 7, Peach Boy Riverside 2, Rent-a-Girlfriend 8, Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite 4, Star⇄Crossed!! 3, Sweat and Soap 9, and Those Not-So-Sweet Boys 4. Printer finally delivered the books, huh?

MICHELLE: Definitely looking to the shoujo offerings in that lot.

ASH: Ditto! I’m glad to see more Drifting Dragons in there, too.

SEAN: Digitally our debut is You’re My Cutie (Kawaii Nante Kiitenai!!), a new Betsufure series about a girl who loves manga about cute kohais falling for cool sempais. Then she meets her own kohai… and reality is not like the manga.

MICHELLE: Hm. Maybe.

MJ: What Michelle said.

SEAN: Also: Blue Lock 7, The Decagon House Murders 2, Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist- 5, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 2, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 10, My Darling Next Door 3, Our Fake Marriage 7, Ran the Peerless Beauty 10 (the final volume), Will It Be the World or Her? 9 (also a final volume), and You Got Me, Sempai! 10 (also also a final volume).

MICHELLE: Must finish Ran the Peerless Beauty!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts My Wife Has No Emotion (Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga nai), a Comic Flapper title about a salaryman and his robot, and their growing closeness. Um…? Robot?

ASH: I will admit to being intrigued.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has The Dangers in My Heart 2.

Square Enix has The Apothecary Diaries 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 5.

Tokyopop has Would You Like to be a Family? (Kazoku ni Nattemimasen ka?), a BL title from Gush about a soft-spoken man drawn into his loud co-worker’s life… complete with loud co-worker’s child. This looks sweet.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

SEAN: Viz gives us BEASTARS 14, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 10, Fist of the North Star 2, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 10, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 5, and The Way of the Househusband 6.

ANNA: Always glad for more Househusband.

ASH: Same! And I’m still super excited we’re getting Fist of the North Star, too.

SEAN: Actually, come to think of it, this IS less than usual. Manga, are you OK?

ANNA: I am concerned!

ASH: Supply chain disruptions are real!

Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 12

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By Hyougetsu and Nari Teshima. Released in Japan by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

It is a question often asked by authors, and even more often by publishers: when it the right time to end a series? It can depend very much on what kind of series it is, but for a series like Der Werwolf, the last volume certainly felt like an ending. Veight and Airia were together, she’d had their child, and he was busily uniting the entire kingdom and bringing a new era of peace to all. Medetashi, medetashi. Except frequently if you try to keep doing stories after “and everyone lived happily ever after”, it tends towards “until they died and here’s how”. Fortunately, Der Werwolf may be moving on to the Next generation, but it’s not quite ready to give up on Veight, or more accurately to give up on Veight being a living legend whose only fault is his absolutely crippling humility. Something that, fortunately, does not seem to have transferred over to his daughter, though she certainly seems to have inherited his ability to find trouble.

The book takes place, with many timeskips, around the first ten years of the life of Friede, Veight and Airia’s daughter. That said, most of it is still the usual setup for this series: Veight’s POV, and then an alternate POV from another character that expounds on Veight’s greatness. (I will assume that if this sort of thing bothers you,. you dropped the series ages ago.) Veight is filled with parental love and also Japanese ideas on how to raise children, which differ a bit from “give them to childcare people and see them once a year” that this world’s nobles tend to do. Friede is also not your typical child – while she can’t transform into a werewolf, she has all of Veight’s other abilities, enough mana to level a warship, and by the end of the book is learning swordfighting, martial arts, and diplomacy. Which may be needed, as she’s packed off to the Rolmund Empire at the end of the book, as Eleora wants to meet her.

Again, the biggest flaw in this book is is irrelevance: it’s After Stories, so if you wanted to drop the series neatly, doing so just before this book starts is a perfectly good response. That said, it doesn’t really do anything wrong, and gives us more of Veight being Alexander the Great as a wolf, only with more sense. He’s still resolving disputes, still occasionally being forced to fight 20-against-1 battles, and still insisting that he’s just a humble vice-commander. In addition, as much as Veight is hoping to usher in a time of peace, there are always going to be bad guys – someone in this book is kidnapping girls from other kingdoms and has them all holed up in a house in Meraldia… which Freide promptly finds in about two seconds, which bodes well for her. She’s a fun kid, who was raised thinking her dad was a normal goofy dad, and only now finding out that everyone reveres him. Which means she’s now in the “dad is so cool!” phase of her life.

So yes, if you really do like Der Werwolf, this is a fun read, and has a nice side story about Woroy trying to start his own city and realizing that the best way to do it is by inventing rollerball. Certainly the series was popular enough to be grabbed by a larger publisher… but we don’t have to worry about that till after Vol. 13.

A Tale of the Secret Saint, Vol. 1

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By Touya and chibi. Released in Japan as “Tensei Sita Daiseijyo ha, Seijyo Dearuko Towohitakakusu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Kevin Ishizaka. Adapted by Matthew Birkenhauer.

It has to be said, I have a type. They don’t necessarily have to be the heroine (though they certainly are here), but if you get a really strong woman, usually holding a sword, who’s also kind and brave and cheerful… and a bit dumb? Let me tell you, that is my meat and potatoes. So as you can imagine, I was delighted to find that Secret saint offered me a full-course mean of ditzy strong girl. Now, this doesn’t mean the book is excellent. Like a lot of light novels of this sort, if you try to examine the actual plot it ends up having a lot of holes to poke through. But if you don’t, you get the story of a young girl who, near death, ends up getting memories of her past life as a powerful Saint, and her attempts to secretly use that power to help herself while also keeping it a secret from everyone else. Except… she’s terrible at this.

Fia, the youngest daughter in a family of knights, has not had a very good life so far. She’s trying to follow in her siblings’ footsteps, but despite training constantly, she’s not a great knight. Her father ignores her, her brothers disparage her. Then when she goes on her coming-of-age ceremony, she ends up accidentally healing a monster… who then tears a big hole in her. She then remembers her past as a Saint… and now knows how far Saints have fallen in the last three hundred years. Fortunately, with the knowledge from her past, she not only passes her ceremony with flying colors, but also ends up as a knight guarding the royal family! With her ability to make extra strength healing potions, keen instinct for both monsters and humans, and complete lack of common sense, can she keep everyone from knowing who she is now?

As noted above, the fun part of the book is Fia’s increasingly hilarious attempt to pretend that everything she’s doing is perfectly normal and not suspicious at all. No one really buys it… but she never QUITE lies, and they aren’t really able to read her enough to get a bead on her. Her personality made me happy. That said… first of all, her backstory, both as Fia and in her past life, seems far too brutal for a light, fluffy story like this one. “I can put up with an abusive knight captain because it’s nowhere near the abuse I got from my brothers” is not a good punchline, and it occasionally jars. There’s also the fact that the narrative is not good at telling us how much of this is Fia herself and how much is Fia’s past memories. The implication is that her observational talents and sudden tactical genius is all because of her past, but you could also argue that it merely unlocked something in her all along. It’s confusing and I wish it was delineated better.

But honestly, if you don’t think too hard about it, this is a winner. Fans of My Next Life As a Villainess who wonder what Katarina in an RPG would be like can read this and see: she’s be much the same.

Pick of the Week: Mao and Meow

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ASH: While I haven’t read everything by Rumiko Takahashi available in English, I have enjoyed everything that I have, so this week I’m particularly looking forward to giving the debut of Mao. The manga also has the advantage of at least partly taking place in Taishō period Japan, a setting which seems particularly well-suited for supernatural horror. (At least it worked for Nightmare Inspector!)

SEAN: Despite the fact that Rumiko Takahashi has tended to do a lot of the same sort of thing lately, I’ll pick Mao as well. Sometimes you want McDonald’s.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely going to check out Mao, but I am really looking forward to another heartwarming installment of A Man and His Cat. I think I’ve gotta make that my pick this week.

KATE: At the risk of being predictable, I’m throwing my weight behind Mao, too, and crossing my fingers that it’s a worthy successor to Mermaid Saga and InuYasha.

ANNA: I’ll pick Mao as well!

MJ: I’m a bit hit or miss with Takahashi, but Mao really does sound like it could be a hit with me. So I’ll jump on this bandwagon as well!