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Pick of the Week: Everything’s Coming Up Roses

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ASH: While there are quite a few manga being released this week, many of them great, my pick will likely be obvious. It’s a long time coming, but the second deluxe, hardcover volume of Rose of Versailles is here in all its glory! (Though, I will admit to being curious about My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, too, not having heard about it previously.)

ANNA: Rose of Versailles for me too. I still can’t believe we have it in English, even though I’m reading it!

KATE: Even if UDON hadn’t given The Rose of Versailles the royal treatment, I’d still feel morally obligated to buy it–I mean, they did the impossible and got the license, right?! The fact that the edition is so nicely packaged and well translated is just the icing on the cake for me.

MICHELLE: To properly express my gratitude to UDON, I can’t really pick anything else! (But speaking of gratitude, gotta give honorable mention to Chihayafuru and Byakko Senki!)

SEAN: There’s some of my favorite series due out this week. Oresama Teacher, Yona of the Dawn… that said, yes, it’s Rose of Versailles, and likely will be again in 2 weeks when the 3rd volume comes out. (You may thank COVID for these wacky release dates.)

MJ: Can there be any question? This week, it’s The Rose of Versailles!

Act-Age, Vol. 1

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By Tatsuya Matsuki and Shiro Usasaki. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Camellia Nieh.

In general, when you think of Weekly Shonen Jump, a certain type of series comes to mind. Lots of boys shouting at each other. Friendship/Training/Victory. Tons and tons of characters getting more and more powerful. Or you think of the goofy romantic comedies, usually involving a hapless guy and the bevy of girls who beat up/like him. But lately Jump has been going outside of its comfort areas quite a bit. And this new series (if you can call it new when it already has 112 chapters out in Japan) is certainly not the cliched Jump title. Indeed, the first thing a person might think, even after reading the first volume, is that someone put this on the wrong label and that it should be running in Betsuma instead. But no, this is pretty shonen. It’s just that instead of pirates, or volleyball, or superheroes, it’s acting that gets the Jump treatment. Best of all, the protagonist is a teenage girl, still a rarity in Jump titles.

The start of this series makes it seem like it’s going to be darker and more depressing than it is. Kei Yonagi is raising her twin sister and brother by herself, trying to hold down jobs, go to school, and still have time to go to acting auditions, where so far she’s had no luck. Her emotions sometimes flow out of her when she thinks of her life, so she “resets” by recalling times when she was happy and smiling. That said, her method acting has not gone as unnoticed as she expected – the main reason she wasn’t cast is that the head of the agency refuses to let her act as it would be bad for her mental health. She’s opposed in this by a young hotshot director, who feels that Kei would be strong enough to get over the issues that method acting can bring about. More importantly, he just really wants to work with her. So begins Kei’s life lessons in how to act.

As someone who got a drama degree in college, let me be honest: I hate method acting. I would not say that it leads to mental stress the way that this manga does, but I feel that it should be used as one of many kinds of choices, not a be-all-and-end-all. Still, the manga does a pretty good job of portraying Kei’s burgeoning talent, as well as showing why she hasn’t gotten anywhere so far – she’s far too raw and has trouble with directions. What’s more, she draws the camera to her even when she’s playing an extra – which is bad. Fortunately she has director Kuroyama, who does some questionable stuff here (please do not kidnap girls off the street), but knows that Kei’s abilities can further both their careers. She’s arresting when she really tries. It’s that sort of thing that makes me want to read more.

This series struggles at times to keep its audience – Usasaki’s art in particular is highly variable throughout – But I really liked Kei’s character, and also her “character type” – stoic airheads are one of my favorite things. If you enjoy acting, or just like unusual Jump titles, this is definitely worth your time.

I Refuse to Be Your Enemy!, Vol. 2

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By Kanata Satsuki and Mitsuya Fuji. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen!” by PASH! Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tara Quinn.

In my review of the first volume I said that light novel fans would be disappointed but romance fans should be happy. This volume dials back the romance (though it’s still there), and I’d argue that it may be fans of RPGs who get the most out of the series, as it’s become a military fantasy novel, which Kiara’s choice to become a spellcaster having far more of an impact on the plot than whether she likes Reggie or Cain. (It’s Reggie, btw. Of course it’s Reggie.) The cliffhanger is resolved fairly quickly, but the overall situation is not, as the King and castle are still very much under attack. We also get a couple of good choices for ongoing villains in this book, and see quite a few people on both sides die, which impacts Kiara more than anyone would like. But most importantly, Kiara and Reggie show how incredibly similar they are to each other, and how that’s a VERY bad thing.

Last time I noted that Kiara’s life in Japan was far more vague than in most reincarnated isekai protagonists, and that’s still true, but we do see a bit more of it here, including some of her life in Japan as Chisato, when she was essentially pretty happy but also alone much of the time, having no siblings and two parents who were working much of the time. She’s determined to avoid the fate of everyone in the game, and we’re pretty sure what she’s managed to avoid turning into an evil spellcaster, at least, but saving Reggie is not as simple as stopping the soldiers from killing him that one time. This is a constant war, and Reggie is in constant danger. As is Kiara, much to Reggie’s chagrin – the woman he’s falling in love with is not one who would take kindly at all to him shutting her away to keep her safe, so he doesn’t, but boy does he hate that.

This series is a romance. And it ends with Vol. 6 in Japan. Not to spoil hideously, or anything, but the final volume has a wedding couple on the cover. That said, you might be surprised at that when you read this book, where you’re wondering if the series may actually kill Reggie off a third of the way through it, or kill off its heroine by the end of the series. It turns out that the thing that he and Kiara both share is a flagrant disregard for their own safety that verges on suicidal tendencies at times. In fact, in the dream we see Kiara have in the epilogue side-story, her reaction in the original world to being killed by Alan was essentially “oh, thank God”. In the second half of the book this turns almost comical, with both desperate to save each other at the cost of their own lives and then getting really upset when they do just that. They really are perfect for each other.

This is a smooth and easy read, with the translator change not really noticeable. If you’re here for the romance, I hope you like slow burn. If you like turn-based RPG strategy books, though, this is right up your street.

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Vol. 2

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By Jougi Shiraishi and Azure. Released in Japan as “Majo no Tabitabi” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

It did not escape my notice, when reading the first volume of Wandering Witch, that the best stories in it were the ones that focused on Elaina and her past rather than the ‘Elaina arrives at a strange town’ stories. Sadly, there is no more backstory here, just the wandering witch. Which should be fine. It’s why we picked up the series, after all. Look at the over! It’s the witch, smiling, drinking a cup of tea. This should be a relaxing, slow life series with a nice mix of humorous and serious stories. Unfortunately, I seem to have caught the author on a bad day. They admit as much in the afterword, where it’s noted how dark and tragic many of the stories in this book were. Indeed, one story was cut from the book for being too dark, which boggles my mind. Now, it’s possible that the next volume may try to counterbalance that. But that still leaves Wandering Witch with a problem: the people in this book are terrible.

Most of the stories here are short, with two or three longer ones that have a bit more emotional heft. Elaina goes to a country where prejudice against non-magic users runs rampant; stops a war between two villages; tracks down a runaway princess; starts a fashion trend; deals with a beast girl with a tragic past (the best story in the book, even if it was as much fun to read as a root canal); helps a man find his father’s inheritance; goes to a country where truth is magically enforced; has interaction with a bomb manufacturer; discovers her old teacher has written a book; goes to a country where laziness seems to be the norm; goes to a fake zombie town now infested by real zombies; tries to hide the truth from some happy-go-lucky hunters; and deals with a country where you had better love cats – or else.

As you can see, these sound exactly like the peaceful, slow life sort of stories you’d expect here. The trouble is the characterization. The people in these stories are bigots, shallow, greedy, slothful, and sometimes genuinely evil. Even the nicest stories deal with what might best be described as misguided fools. If Kino’s Journey has a running theme of ‘war is horrible’, Wandering Witch’s might be ‘people are awful’. Sometimes there’s karmic fate, but more often than not nothing really happens except Elaina leaves and goes to the next town. The very first story upset me in particular as Elaina sees that the non-magic using people in this town are being persecuted and literally called animals, but merely disapproves of this and leaves. She’s meant to be rather emotionally deadened, but it just ends up seeming incredibly callous. This also makes it harder with stories like the beast girl one, where Elaina is supposed to be genuinely moved and upset – it seems fake because of how we’ve seen her before. Also, her “that girl – it was me” narrative joke isn’t funny and makes her sound smug.

I’d heard that future volumes of this leaned on the yuri a bit, but I’m not sure how good it’s going to be. Saya, the girl from the first story of the first volume, shows up again and clearly has a massive crush on Elaina, but it’s unreciprocated. Moreover, one of the stories involves a romance between two women, but it ends up being treated like more of a punchline than anything else. More to the point, after this second volume, I simply don’t want to read anything more about this witch and her journeys. Which is fine. I’m sure if told that I was dropping her series, she’d simply shrug and move on to the next town filled with selfish, irritating people.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/30/20

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Blue Flag, Vol. 2 | By KAITO | VIZ Media – How do I already love these kids this much?! Blue Flag is the story of four friends in their third year of high school who care about each other but who are all also dealing with their own problems and trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. I especially love Taichi and identify so much with the childhood memory he shares with Masumi—“I regretted my inaction so badly.” Taichi is always trying to become the sort of person who can act (and supports Futaba as she seeks to make the same change in herself). And thus, we are inexorably led to the cliffhanger of this volume, where Taichi gets the chance at a do-over, seizes it without a moment’s hesitation, and perhaps pays another, different price this time. I’ve never meant “I can’t wait for the next volume!” more than I have this time. – Michelle Smith

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 8 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – We finally get one of the big reveals in this volume, which involves the origin of Oran and the sort of girl she used to be. It also gives us, even if it’s not quite the real thing, an origin story of the friendship between her and Kadode, and it’s really sweet and fun. That said, their meeting with an alien goes very differently here, and the series finally begins to tie in with all of the Doraemon parodies that it’s been using at the start and end of each volume. Sadly, this is not a good thing, and the entire volume ends on a horrifically nightmarish cliffhanger that I can’t see ending any way but tragically. As always, I hate reading this series, one of the best manga I’m currently reading. If that makes sense. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 12 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – We’re going on a boat journey, taking along most of the important cast members, in order to discover the island with Sena’s dad’s past and also find platinum, which can help speed up un-stoning everyone. Unfortunately, there are villains about, and they take out most of the cast, who are petrified once more. In between this, we get a lot of cool Jump adventure, some goofy gags, some fun surprises (we know that Suika would stow away somehow, the question was how) and some serious drama as, well, the cast is being re-petrified by powerful unknown villains. There’s nothing earth-shattering in this particular volume, but it still adds up to a great time. – Sean Gaffney

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 18 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – I could review this entire volume, but honestly, the last 50 or so pages sort of dwarf the rest of it. We are reminded, as is the school, that Sena is fantastic at everything and has no idea that other people can’t do what she does. This all comes to a head at the Christmas party, where she starts to be attacked for all of her bad points, and lashes out at everyone in a justified but ill-thought-out diatribe. Which is then passed to Yozora, who also defends Sena and finally, amazingly, admits that the two of them are friends. This may be more important than which girl Kodaka picks, to be honest, and is absolutely fantastic. (Speaking of Kodaka, his solution is very Hachiman, and works about as well). – Sean Gaffney

Moms | By Yeong-shin Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – One thing in particular that makes Moms stand out from other manhwa in translation (and honestly many other comics in general) is the focus of its narrative—the lives and loves of mothers in their fifties. The volume takes direct inspiration from the creator’s own mother after she shared some of her personal experiences and stories about her friends. While there is some humor and absurdity, the resulting work’s realism is gutting as the characters navigate divorces, affairs, workplace harassment, and constantly shifting allegiances. A central thread is an on-again, off-again relationship between Soyeon and her boyfriend Jongseok. Without him she’s lonely, with him she’s miserable, a common theme in Moms. Most of the men in the work are frankly disappointing human beings. The women aren’t always entirely blameless, but they’ve put up with a lot, so it’s exhilarating to witness when they can live their lives with uninhibited gusto. – Ash Brown

Secret XXX | By Meguru Hinohara | SuBLime – Secret XXX is pretty explicit and features a seme who says things like “Too late. I’m not stopping now” and “I love your feeble protests,” but also includes a lot of cute bunnies. Shohei Ikushima is a college student who believes he is allergic to rabbits but still volunteers at Itsuki Mito’s bunny-exclusive pet shop because he’s fallen in love with the gentle-seeming proprietor. I can’t tell if what I found frustrating is intentional characterization, or simply that the narrative had to make Shohei look vapid in order to work. Like, he never actually considered “Do I even swing this way?” until he was literally in bed with Mito. And no one (including his parents, evidently) ever suggested antihistamine until he finally sees a doctor. I did like the emphasis on appreciating family, though, and plan to read the spinoff starring Mito’s meddling little brother. – Michelle Smith

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 2 | By suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – A lot of shoujo titles are content to move along at a glacial pace, and the good ones do that by keeping the character solid. Yuki and Itsuomi are still feeling each other out. She’s fallen in love for the first time, but has communication issues that go beyond her deafness, and also a childhood friend who (I suspect) likes her more than she is aware. Asd for Itsuomi, he has some past baggage that really isn’t going away, and has goals for the future that do not involve being in Japan—goals which are likely more important to him than romance. Despite that, these two are very cute together, and you’re rooting for them to find a way to make things work. One of the better recent digital-pnly titles. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 1 | By Tatsuya Endo | VIZ Media – It only took a few pages for me to completely fall in love with Spy x Family. Debonair “Twilight” is an experienced spy for Westalia, but when his next mission requires him to quickly acquire both wife and child, he ends up choosing an assasassin (Yor) for a bride and a telepath (Anya) for a daughter. Neither Twilight nor Yor is aware of the other’s real line of work, but Anya knows all. Only, she loves her new life and family so much that she isn’t going to say anything to jeopardize it. In fact, she’s doing her best to get accepted into a prestigious school so that Twilight can get closer to his target and they can all continue to stay together. I really like all the characters, the “found family” trope always works for me, the tone is fun, and the art is stylish. More, please, and soon! – Michelle Smith

Takane & Hana, Vol. 15 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The bulk of this volume introduces us to Takane’s mother, who is a lot like he is in both looks and eccentricity, and turns out to have a checkered past with her son that, to no one’s surprise, involves bad communication. Hana tries to get the two of them to make up while also showing off how she’s a great match for Takane, and her cheer is infectious. That said, the background does remind readers just how high a bar Hana has to clear if she’s going to end up happily ever after with the guy she loves. The series is gearing up for its finale, and I suspect that class conflict is really going to come to the fore here. But at least she’s won over Mom, which is a big start. – Sean Gaffney

A Witch’s Printing Office, Vol. 3 | By Mochinchi | Yen Press – Following up on the last cliffhanger, there is another Japanese person here, and he’s actually gone about things the proper isekai way, as opposed to our heroine, Yomiko… um, I mean Mika. Yeah, about that, I get the feeling that 80% of the people reading this series are reading it because they want to see Yomiko from Read or Die in an isekai setting. It even feels like the super-ditzy side of her, as opposed to, well, the other, less popular aspects of Yomiko. As for the manga itself, there’s more Comiket gags, Mika managing to accidentally get a town popular, an ancient spellcaster possessing exactly the wrong person, and a rival publishing company. This is big goofy fun, sort of slice-of-isekai life-ish, but lacks any substance at all. – Sean Gaffney

Manga the Week of 8/5/20

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SEAN: Get ready for a brutal month. Every week in August is huge. Soooo much stuff.

ASH: Let’s go!

SEAN: First of all, hey, remember when I somehow missed that Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition started from Square Enix on 7/28? That was 100% a thing I missed, because I am basically terrible. Soul Eater is fun. Please ignore the boobie ending.

We start with J-Novel Club, which has several print volumes. We see Animeta! 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 11, the debut of the I Shall Survive Using Potions! light novel, and In Another World with My Smartphone 11.

ASH: I plan on picking up Animeta! out of this group.

SEAN: Digitally, there is Altina the Sword Princess 5, Campfire Cooking in Another World 7, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On? 3, Der Werwolf 8, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 15 (hey, it finally hit 15), In Another World with My Smartphone 20, and Record of Wortenia War 7.

Kaiten Books has another manga debut: UzaMaid: Our Maid is Way Too Annoying (Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!). This Manga Action title from Futabasha had an anime recently, and I can confirm that its title is not just for show.

Kodansha had to push back its Shaman King rollout, so no debuts this week. In print, we get Boarding School Juliet 12.

Digitally we get Are You Lost? 6, Cells at Work: Bacteria! 2, Chihayafuru 21, Drifting Dragons 8, GTO Paradise Lost 12, Our Fake Marriage 3, Peach Girl NEXT 8 (the final volume), Smile Down the Runway 12, and To Be Next to You 8.

MICHELLE: I will never not be grateful for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: One day I will catch up! One day!!!

SEAN: One Peace has a one-off for us: My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, which is 45 pages long, seemingly based on real-life events, and award winning.

ASH: Interesting! It’s so easy for One Peace’s releases to slip under the radar; I wasn’t previously aware of this one.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Seven Seas has the print debut of Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time, the 2020 award winner for most “humorous” euphemisms for semen in a single manga volume.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I hate everything.

SEAN: Also in print: Arifureta Zero’s 3rd light novel, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s OL Diary 3, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel.

As for early digital releases, we have the 11th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Udon has the 2nd Rose of Versailles at last. Cannot wait.

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ANNA: I have mine, yay!

ASH: Yes!! Still so glad this series is being released.

MJ: Okay, I don’t hate EVERYTHING. So excited!!

SEAN: Vertical has a manga debut: The Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou), an episodic comedy manga from Gangan Online that also became an anime and a film. It’s pretty highly regarded.

And lastly, ALL THE VIZ. The debut is a sequel. Fushigi Yugi: Byakko Senki, a sequel to Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, but still a prequel to the main series proper. It runs in Flowers, meaning we finally have another Flowers series from Viz that isn’t Kaze Hikaru. Also, this manga is so old I have to remind myself every time not to use two u’s in Yugi. Because fandom.

MICHELLE: I am all about this.

ANNA: I am so excited for this series. Trying to emotionally prepare myself.

MJ: Okay, I absolutely loved Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, probably more than the original series, if I’m being honest. So this is a welcome addition to that universe!

SEAN: Naruto has a new light novel (at 136 pages, a very light novel) called Naruto’s Story: Family Day. It shows him bonding with Himawari, and I think was animated.

Shonen Jump? We got you. There’s Black Clover 22, Blue Exorcist 24, Boruto 9, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 Volume 6, Jujutsu Kaisen 5, the 5th and final My Hero Academia SMASH!, One Piece 94, The Promised Neverland 16, the third Samurai 8, Twin Star Exorcists 19, and We Never Learn 11.

ASH: JoJo! So far, this arc has’t been my favorite, but I’m still getting a huge kick out of it.

SEAN: Shojo Beat? We have you covered as well. Ao Haru Ride 12, Kaze Hikaru 28 (the yearly volume, which means TWO Flowers series on the same day from Viz! Can 7SEEDS be far behind?), Oresama Teacher 27, Shortcake Cake 9, and Yona of the Dawn 25.

MICHELLE: I would even be super happy if 7SEEDS was digital-only. Heck, if Kaze Hikaru moved in that direction but came out more frequently, that’d be okay too.

ANNA: If only we got 7SEEDS. I’m happy for the annual volume of Kaze Hikaru. . So much great shoujo this week!

ASH: It’s a very good week for shoujo!

MJ: That 7SEEDS tease seems cruel, Sean! So much false hope! I weep.

SEAN: As tends to happen in Week Ones, Viz is most fascinating to me (well, that and Rose of Versailles). How about you?

Last Round Arthurs, Vol. 2: Saint Arthur and the Red Girl Knight

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By Taro Hitsuji and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

I’m not sure why it took almost a year between the first and second volumes of this series to come out, but fortunately it doesn’t really matter much. Even if you’ve forgotten what happened in the first book, the protagonists quickly steamroller over your doubts and get around to what Last Round Arthurs wants to be: Fate/Stay Night with Haruhi Suzumiya as Saber. I know I said this last time, but it bears repeating: this series is so unoriginal that it beggars belief. In the first volume, the author basically admitted that he was asked to make a Fate ripoff, and getting the guy who does the art for Index and DanMachi Sword Oratoria to draw it just means that half the characters remind you of those two series. I joked on Twitter that it was the Black Clover of light novels, meaning that it is a series that will unashamedly steal any hot new trend, but somehow manages to work anyway. There’s nothing really annoying or boring about its unoriginality. It’s fun. Provided you can stand Luna.

On the cover are the newest competition in the battle to be King: Emma, a girl who has been brainwashed/tortured by a bunch of French religious folks to be the perfect candidate (with a little help from Rintarou, who had no idea what was actually going on but knew they were abusing a girl) for King, and Sir Lamorak, who may be one of the more obscure Knights to casual readers but is well known to Arthurian fans as one of the strongest knights of all. This being a Fate ripoff, she looks like a 10-year-old girl. Emma wants to be King for supposedly noble reasons; Lamorak is super strong and tough. What can stop them? Rintarou, who seems perfectly content to switch sides? Luna, who is busy buying a mansion with all their funds and continuing to insist that she wants to be King for the fame and the money? Certainly not Sir Kay, who had better be the final Last Boss of this series or I’m going to be cross. We’re in for an epic battle.

This volume has a bit of a point it’s trying to make, which is “you don’t have to do what your abusive family tells you to do if it doesn’t fit you, find another path”. Sadly, this ends up being “you are a weak little girl who is not fit to be king, perhaps an attempted rape and being made literally into a maid by the final pages will make things better”, which left a very bad taste in my mouth. Other than that, this book is Big Dumb Fun, much like its heroine. As with the first volume, Luna is obnoxious and awful until things get serious, and is shown once more to be a better king deep down, even if on the surface everything about her is terrible. She’s hardly the sort to be a tsundere, so we get two other options for that here with Felecia (the standard example) and our hero, Rintarou (the distaff example). And the action scenes, attempted rape aside, are very well handled.

So this won’t change your life or make you want to write fanfiction. But if you’re sad Fate/Zero’s novels aren’t licensed and want something with as much fun but 80% less tragedy, Last Round Arthurs is just the right sort of book. And I think the third volume is due out in the fall, so there will be less of a wait.

Pick of the Week: Transformative Pick

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SEAN: It’s a relatively quiet week this week, and none of the debuts interest me (Shaman King’s been delayed anyway). As such, I’ll be picking the 2nd volume of BL Metamorphosis, a sweet and charming series that I definitely want to read more of.

KATE: I second Sean’s recommendation! I thought the first volume of BL Metamorphosis was one of the best things I’ve read this year: it’s warm and funny, but also surprisingly moving in its depiction of the budding intergenerational friendship between Ichinoi and Urarara. BL Metamorphosis also scores points for taking the women’s interest in BL seriously, rather than playing it for cheap laughs or portraying them as a pair of out-of-control fujoshi who are shipping men left and right.

MICHELLE: I haven’t yet read the first volume of BL Metamorphosis, and thus picking the second feels somewhat disingenuous, but since the alternative is once again proclaiming my love for sports manga, I will add my voice to the chorus.

ASH: You are in for an absolute treat, Michelle! I don’t think I can phrase it better than Kate already has, but BL Metamorphosis has likewise been one of the best manga series I’ve read recently and certainly one of my favorites.

MJ: I’ve still failed to acquire the first volume of BL Metamorphosis, but I know I would love it. So I’m making the second volume my pick for the week, just based on that certainty and the testimony of my colleagues!

ANNA: I’m with MJand everyone else!

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 6.5

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

The origins of this volume are rather tortured. Around the time that Season 1 of the anime was coming out, they had the author do an episode about the athletics festival, that was not in the novels. This was Episode 13 of Season 1. At the same time, he was asked to do exclusive stories for the BD/DVD releases, and decided to greatly expand this episode into one big novel (yes, despite the .5 in the title, this is NOT a short story volume). The story came out cut into thirds, one per release. It’s now being collected as this volume, which takes place between Vol. 6 and 7 (hence the numbering)… except for the bonus story, based on a CD drama, which takes place right after Volume 9. What does this all add up to? Well, a mixed bag, primarily because (as the author admits in the afterword) he really wanted to bring back a character that no one else really wanted back. (The anime was fine with having her disappear.)

No, I’m not talking about Kawasaki – she gets the cover, but is a minor presence in the book. The “star” of this book is Sagami, the sort-of villain from the 6th novel, who is still dealing with the fallout from the cultural festival. Miura is annoyed that Sagami’s drama is ruining the atmosphere of the classroom. Meanwhile, student council president Megumi wants someone (meaning our trio of heroes) to help her on the Athletic Festival Committee. Combining the two problems, they decide to have Sagami chair the committee, giving her a chance to get things right this time. Unfortunately, things do not go as well as hoped, this time due to two of Sagami’s friends, who are making it clear they are unhappy that the clubs are having to be part of this. Can Hachiman and company find a way to resolve this without sacrificing Sagami entirely? And can they find a way to make the athletics festival fun and interesting?

I’m gonna be honest here: a lot of this book is a retread of the sixth volume. This is deliberate, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Some might say that Oregairu is at its best when wallowing in teenagers being painfully abrasive at each other, and if so, they’ll love the first half of this book, which feels like fingernails on a blackboard. The payoff (Sagami finally doing her job and standing up against her friends) is not really worth the long painful slog we had to read to get there. Unsurprisingly, the best part of that section is the part that was animated – the festival itself. Fortunately, the adaptation of the CD drama works much better, and features Hachiman, Yukino and Yui at their closest. It’s a Christmas party that manages to be free of drama, and I will even forgive its heaping helping of “ha ha, our teacher is old and desperate” jokes because the ending was really sweet.

I guess I’m happy this is a .5 volume – if it had come right after Book 6 I might have thrown it against a wall. This series continues to have rewarding climaxes to excruciating journeys.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 7

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

I’ve gradually gotten used to this being the isekai version of K-On! (the illustrations helping along, as they get more and more ‘moe’ with every volume), and this volume in particular reminds me that Azusa’s laid-back style works so well here because the entire world is laid-back. The idea of someone being killed off or an evil villain trying to take over the world feels so foreign to everything we’ve read here to date, and the result is that you have a reader who is completely relaxed in reading this book. There’s never any serious conflict, and that’s good! The characters are all various varieties of “cute girls doing cute things’, and that’s good too! There are no stories in this series that run longer than about a quarter of the book, so you don’t have to pay too much attention, and if a character returns, you’re helpfully reminded where they showed up before. On the downside, reading this may make you fall asleep.

Things that happen in this book: At Pecora’s birthday party, she changes Azusa into a fox girl, which ends up backfiring when Azusa starts beating up everyone in the demon kingdom in an effort to eat abura-age, which reminds you how Japanese this series is and also likely makes you turn to Google. Azusa and company then go to see one of the goddesses in this world speaking at what amounts to a business convention, and she is startled to find this is the goddess who first sent her to this world… who has since been demoted, as she refused to deal with anything but cute girls. There’s a battle to see who the next Dragon Lord is, which turns out to be a typical beauty contest. We get Around the World in 80 Days, Killing Slimes style, which is to say it’s pretty boring. And in the longest story in the book, the cast discover an ancient civilization, now inhabited by stuffy ghosts and a very unstuffy ruler who is annoyed no tsukkomis exist here.

This is fun and insubstantial as always. The ancient ghost queen is amusing as she talks in a broad accent, and also seems content to treat her temple like it’s a dungeon raid. Azusa is less grumpy than usual here, having fully accepted everyone’s eccentricities. That may, in fact, be the biggest negative in the book – everyone’s gotten too used to each other. No one fights anymore, no one gets upset. Conflicts are resolved almost immediately. It’s definitely a series that you should read after you’ve read a volume of something serious, bulky and filled with plot – it acts as a dessert or a palette cleanser. That said, this is absolutely the worst kind of series to marathon. If you read all seven books at once, you’ll give up. One book every few months is just the right pace.