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Crest of the Stars: The Return to Strange Skies

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By Hiroyuki Morioka and Toshihiro Ono. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

The final book of the trilogy, though not the final book in the series overall. This wraps up getting Jinto and Lafier off the planet they’ve been stranded on and back to the Abh Empire, where he can finally go to quartermaster school an she can be a pilot. In between, we get cops chasing them, soldiers chasing the, the resistance desperately trying to get them to behave like hostages, a wild chase through an amusement park with animatronic animals, space battles galore, getting shot into space in a coffin, and an epilogue that neatly wraps everything up. If there hadn’t been more of the series, you’d still be pretty satisfied. That said, I am very happy that Banner of the Stars is to follow, as I think this was the best book of the three, despite a few battle scenes that were overfilled with vocabulary, this series’ Achilles heel.

The best reason to read this third volume is the introduction of Sporr, who is essentially that princess-curled high school bully girl from every anime ever put onto a spaceship. She even does the Ojousama Laugh (TM). The back and forth between her and her beleaguered assistant is pure gold, and you also greatly enjoy it when she’s the one who rescues Lafier and it turns out they hate each other, because of course they do. Unlike most princess-curled anime girls, though, Sporr is also tactically clever, and you can tell her rank is not just for show. Speaking of ranks, I also enjoyed the scene near the end where Lafier has to go before a commission to see if she can be a full-fledged pilot. They enjoy making her twist in the wind a bit, magnifying every error she’s committed along the way before mercifully admitting that she did fine and passes. The amusement park was also a hoot, with the behavior of the robot animals possibly being the comedy high point.

As for Jinto and Lafier, they are still not quite a couple by the end of the book, but Jinto does admit he wants to spend the rest of his life by her side, and even after he’s made crew on her new spaceship, she still asks him to call her Lafier. You get the sense that for these two reserved kids, this may be as explicit as you get. They do continue to be awful at being on the lam, and it’s a relief that the comedy resistance fighters are still capable enough to take care of them. he local police force also helps. One of my favorite bits of characterization in the book was seeing Kyte, the military liaison who’s been a prick ever since he arrived on the scene, gradually loosening up, revealing backstory, becoming sympathetic… and then losing it and becoming a prick again when he sees Lafier in person. Sometimes your tragic backstory isn’t enough to redeem you. You have to actually put in the effort. He did not.

The epilogue of the book sees us jump forward three years, and I suspect Banner of the Stars will feature even more space battles than we’ve gotten already. Still, this final volume was excellent. If you can get past the tortured vocabulary, Crest of the Stars is a great space opera.

The Drifting Classroom Signature Edition, Vol. 1

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In a 2009 interview with Tokyo Scum Brigade, Kazuo Umezu acknowledged that his debt to Osamu Tezuka went beyond storyboarding and character designs. Tezuka “didn’t pull any punches for children or dumb down his works,” Umezu explained. “He dealt with complicated themes and let the readers work it out on their own.” The 1972 classic The Drifting Classroom reveals just how profoundly Umezu absorbed this lesson. Though it ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday, a magazine aimed at grade schoolers, Umezu’s work was bleak, subversive, and weirdly thrilling, depicting a nightmarish world where kids resorted to violence and deception to survive.

The Drifting Classroom begins with a freak accident in which a rift in the space-time continuum sends the Yamato Elementary School and its occupants into the distant future. Initially, the students and teachers believe that they are the sole survivors of a devastating nuclear attack, and the area immediately surrounding the school supports their hypothesis: it’s a barren wasteland with no water, plants, or signs of human habitation save a pile or two or non-degradable trash. As the school’s occupants realize the severity of the crisis, panic sets in. Teachers and students engage in a brutal competition for dwindling supplies while attempting to solve the mystery of what happened to them. And when I say “brutal,” I mean it: the body count in volume one is astonishing, with murders, mass suicides, fist fights, knife fights, and rampaging monsters culling the herd at a breathtaking rate.

It’s sorely tempting to compare The Drifting Classroom to The Lord of the Flies, as both stories depict school children creating their own societies in the absence of adult authority. But Kazuo Umezu’s series is more sinister than Golding’s novel, as Classroom‘s youthful survivors have been forced to band together to defend themselves against their former teachers, many of whom have become unhinged at the realization that they may never return to the present. Umezu creates an atmosphere of almost unbearable dread that conveys both the hopelessness of the children’s situation and their terror at being abandoned by the grown-ups, a point underscored by one student’s observation that adults “depend on logic and reason to deal with things.” He continues:

When something happens and they can’t use reason or logic to explain it, they can’t handle it. I don’t think they were able to accept that we’ve traveled to the future. You know how adults are always saying that kids are making things up? It’s because they only know things to be one way. Kids can imagine all kinds of possibilities. That’s why we’ve managed to survive here.

That speech is delivered by The Drifting Classroom‘s plucky protagonist Sho, a sixth grader who becomes the children’s de facto leader. When we first meet Sho, he’s behaving petulantly, pouting over his mother’s decision to throw away his marbles. The intensity of his anger is drawn in broad strokes, but it firmly establishes him as an honest-to-goodness ten year old, caught between his desire to play and his parents’ desire to mold him into a responsible teenager. Once transported to the future, Sho’s strategies for scavenging supplies or subduing a rampaging teacher are astute but not adult; there are flourishes of imagination and kid logic guiding his actions that remind us just how young and vulnerable he is. As a result, Sho’s pain at being separated from his parents, and of losing his comrades, is genuinely agonizing.

Umezu’s artwork further emphasizes the precarity of Sho’s situation. Sho and his classmates have doll-like faces and awkwardly proportioned bodies that harken back to Umezu’s work for shojo magazines such as Sho-Comi and Shoujo Friend, yet their somewhat unnatural appearance serves a vital dramatic function, underscoring how small they are when contrasted with their adult guardians. The adults, on the other hand, initially appear normal, but descend into monstrous or feckless caricatures as their plight becomes more desperate. Only Sho’s mother—who is stuck in the present day—escapes such unflattering treatment, a testament to her devotion, courage, and imagination; while her husband and friends have accepted the official story about the school’s fate, Sho’s mother is open to the possibility that Sho may be reaching across time to communicate with her.

Like his character designs, Umezu’s landscapes are willfully ugly, evoking feelings of disgust, fear, and anxiety that are almost palpable, whether he’s drawing an abandoned building or a garden filled with grotesquely misshapen plants. The area just outside the school gates, for example, resembles the slopes of an active volcano, with sulfurous clouds wafting over a rocky expanse that seems both frozen and molten—an apt metaphor the characters’ state of mind as they first glimpse their new surroundings:

Though The Drifting Classroom‘s imagery still resonates in 2019, its gender politics do not, as an egregious subplot involving a sadistic girl gang demonstrates. When the gang attempts to seize control of the school, a classmate urges Sho to oppose them on the grounds that girls are fundamentally unsuited for leadership roles. (“Women are made to give birth and rear children so they can’t think long term,” Gamo helpfully opines.) Umezu’s goal here, I think, is to suggest that girls are as capable of violence and cruelty as boys, but the dialogue suggests the gang’s behavior is a symptom of innate irrationality instead of a genuine and logical response to a desperate situation. Making matters worse is that the few sympathetic female characters are consigned to stereotypically feminine roles that give them little to do besides scream, run, and comfort the younger children; even Sakiko, the smartest girl in the class, never gets a chance to solve a problem or offer a useful opinion.

Yet for all its obvious shortcomings, The Drifting Classroom is a thoughtful meditation on adult hypocrisy, exposing all the ways that adults manipulate and terrorize children for their own convenience. “Adults are humans, children are animals,” a cafeteria worker tells Sho and his friends. “That’s why adults have the power of life and death over kids.” That Sho and his followers cling to their humanity despite the adults’ selfish behavior reminds us that children are innocent but not naive; Sho and his friends are clear-eyed about their teachers’ failings, yet choose to persevere. Recommended.

This is a greatly expanded–and reconsidered–review of The Drifting Classroom that appeared at PopCultureShock in 2006. VIZ Media provided a review copy. Read a free preview here.

THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM, VOL. 1 • STORY AND ART BY KAZUO UMEZZ • TRANSLATED BY SHELDON DRZKA • ADAPTED BY MOLLY TANZER • RATED T+, FOR OLDER TEENS (VIOLENCE, HORROR, GORE) • 744 pp.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Vol. 4

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By Rifuin Na Magonote and Shirotaka. Released in Japan as “Mushoku Tensei – Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Alyssa Orton-Niioka. Adapted by JY Yang.

Ugh. After three volumes where I was mostly pleased and interested in the story, despite the occasional bits of sleazery from Rudy, I now come to a 4th volume where it’s getting really hard to ignore the sleazery. Rudeus is a reincarnation of an otaku lech, and thus spends much of this book either perving on everyone, or else being mistaken for perving on everyone because his “I like petting a dog” face is the same as his “I like groping a boob” face. He’s still not actually trying anything with Eris, but it’s not for want of temptation. But frankly, they’re still both too young for this to be anything other than icky, reincarnation memories or no. Rudeus is an interesting character with him trying to think of elaborate schemes and failing, we really don’t need him to also be thinking of banging everyone and everything. Even bits that aren’t sexual feel wrong – he’s naked in a cell for about a week at one point, and seems to revel in it.

The girl on the cover we don’t recognize is Kishirika, self-proclaimed Emperor of the Demon World, who (stop me if you’re surprised) looks like a little kid but is really [x] hundred years old. Her main purpose here, besides what I just said, is to give Rudy another power-up, as he gains a demon eye that can see into the future for a second or two, provided that the user has lots of mana (which he does). Needless to say, he’s instantly put into situations where that’s highly useful, though it can’t always save him. He’s trying to get back home, but traveling with a Suijerd makes that hideously expensive, so they’re looking at alternatives. These alternatives involve ripping off some slavers, only to end up double-crossed themselves. It’s complicated.

Other issues: Eris continues to be used very sparingly, as if the author can’t figure out what to do with her. She’s getting better at the sword, but still has a ways to go in terms of growing up. (So does Rudy, but it’s more complicated with him because of the past life.) I wish she was more relevant. I also wish Roxy had managed to find Rudy (they just missed each other), as that means we’re left with her side-story, which mostly revolves around one of her companions killing time while they’re searching for people by having a five-way. Mushoku Tensei is one of those books that you would never recommend to anyone but adults, despite the seemingly cute child cast on the cover.

So will I keep going? I’ll probably give it till the end of this arc. We meet another adventurer/gambler by the name of Geese, who describes an adventuring party that sounds very familiar to me. I suspect, if Rudy ever reunites with his family, sparks are going to fly. I also want to see if Eris does anything, or what’s going on with the princess and her (also suspiciously familiar) new bodyguard. That said, based on what I’ve read, I worry once Rudy comes of age the books will just involve him banging half the cast. He’s much more interesting when he’s trying to think about dangerous situations and sometimes failing.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 24

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

The majority of this volume concerns itself with the ins and outs of ground forces combat, as the rebels, under Elfaria and Theia, are growing more popular as people are seeing more of their end strategy (“try not to kill people”), and contrasting this with the military under Vandarion, who has a goal that’s pretty much the opposite (“make casualties as high as possible”). We don’t really learn anything we didn’t already know here, but there are lots of cool battle moments, and I liked the stalemate that ensues when it turns out that the main commanders have their families taken captive, so that they literally cannot surrender without seeing those families killed. That said, we do have subtler villains as well – Elexis, Maya, and Darkness Rainbow, who continue to sit around and wait for Vandarion to go too far. Indeed, for those who enjoy BL tease that’s going absolutely nowhere, there are worse ships that Koutarou/Elelix (which sadly does not QUITE work out to ‘Kotex’ as a ship name).

We’re also seeing the past catching up to the present, in many ways. Much of Vandarion’s “kill a lot of people” attitude seems to be due to his past incarnation taking control of him at times (not that he minds). Meanwhile, past incarnations taking over is how Harumi fights, and she gets several really awesome moments here, possibly as she’s not going to be able to do much in the near future – her collapse is the cliffhanger of this volume. The reader has pretty much figured out that her lifelong illness and her reincarnation as the powerful Alaia are connected, and throwing around that much power in this book will no doubt have consequences. And then there’s Koutarou, who at some point is just going to have to come clean and admit he’s the Blue Knight both past and present, but I think is holding off just to have a “normal” life for a little longer.

With a cast this large it’s inevitable that some folks are going to get more attention than others. Yurika is mainly absent here, and Sanae just shows up near the end to save the day with spiritual power. Shizuka gets the bulk of the last battle, as she and her “uncle” face off against their obvious enemy, a giant robot dragon powered with magic. (You can tell that the author is still having a lot of fun pulling stuff out of his hat.) Theia also gets some battles, which she excels in, and press conferences, where she does less well. Reporters have, I suspect, figured out that she has a crush on her “Blue Knight” at the very least, and she can’t dodge the question forever. But mostly what we get here is the fact that not only is Koutarou’s “harem” all in love with him, but they also manage to function well as battle-hardened soldiers. Which is very convenient given what needs to be achieved.

Will Harumi die? (Probably not, though she may be MIA for a bit.) Will Vandarion finally destroy himself so we can move on to more nuanced villains? (God, I hope so.) And when the heck is the next volume out? (It’s out already.)

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 2

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by Media Factory. Released in North America Yen Press. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

The first thing that threw me off about this second volume of Torture Princess was seeing the main antagonists get whittled down so fast. We’re given a list of about twelve in the first book, which deals with taking out the most dangerous one (though for Vlad fans, an echo of his soul is left behind to provide considerable plot points in this book). I had assumed that the next few books would have us going through the list one by one. Imagine my surprise a seeing the main antagonist here, the Grand King, using four or five different villains with her mind control, all of whom get dispatched in some way or another by our heroes. Oh, and they also take out another one at the start. Isn’t that going too fast? What will you do if you run out of bad guys? Actually, the cliffhanger ending to this book suggests what might happen. For the moment, however, let’s concern ourselves with the Grand King, a woman who doesn’t like Elisabeth but sure loves torture.

Last time we focused on how weak Kaito was compared to his Torture Princess benefactor and his Ball-Jointed Doll Maid who loves him. He is aware of this, so spends much of this book trying to gain more power of his own that he can use to protect the few things in this new world that don’t disgust him. He’ll need that power, too: the Grand King has sealed off Elisabeth’s powers and she is incapacitated for much of the book, and the Grand King is also leading an army of mind-controlled slaves to go to Elisabeth’s castle and kill everyone. Sure, Hina can take out a lot of them, but there’s only so much she can do on her own. No, Kaito needs more power. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to look far to figure out how to get it, he just has to do what he’s proven to be best at: suffer, get tortured, and bleed. A lot.

Again, the big drawback in this book is also its biggest draw: the torture. It’s cartoonish in nature, particularly when you get the descriptions of innocent humans with innards everywhere and insanely eating their own stomachs, etc. Fortunately, we actually manage to save one or two people here, though I won’t be surprised if in a book or two Kaito finds out the boy and girl he saved turn out to be used in the new leather coat he just bought or something grotesque. The strength of the book likes both in its grand guignol tone and characters. No one is shy and repressed in this book – Kaito comes closest, but after what he does towards the end of the book you end up both impressed and also appalled. His relationship with Hina reminded me of a darker turn on Subaru and Rem: appropriate, as like Rem in the current Re: Zero arc, Hina ends up in a magical plot coma, which is likely for the best, as her and Kaito’s story comes to a very satisfying conclusion here in Book 2 of about 11, so no doubt we need to figure out where we go from here.

Again, this is a book only for those who can tolerate a LOT of graphic violence – it’s the entire plot. For those who can, though, Torture Princess still proves surprisingly resilient. To my continued surprise, I’ll be reading the next one.

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 1

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By Maki Enjoji. Released in Japan as “Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Doko Made mo” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Petit Comic. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions.

Sometimes an author’s style is so prominent that you can guess they are the creator after only a few pages despite knowing nothing else. With Maki Enjoji it takes three pages. The first page of this new josei title has the male lead asking the female lead if there’s “something wrong with your head”, and we then cut to a two-page spread of her gnashing her teeth in anger at him while he smirks for the reader. That really sums up exactly what to expect for this entire series, and I’m not being sarcastic or silly, it’s a fantastic talent. Know your audience. We’re going to get an outwardly mean and belittling guy who turns out to have a softer side that he doesn’t show the heroine. We’re also going to get a heroine who can go toe to toe arguing with him, while still also feeling vulnerable and sympathetic. It’s also seven volumes long, having just ended in Japan, and that seems almost exactly the right pace for a series like this.

Five years ago, Nanase was on the street when an old lady collapsed, and a young doctor happened to come by and help save her. Nanase immediately fell for this “prince”, and decides to dedicate her life to becoming a nurse so she can meet him again. Now, she’s at the same hospital he’s in… but he’s a jerk! Turns out Dr. Tendo has a terrible reputation among the nurses, and he doesn’t even seem to recognize Nanase? What’s a girl to do? Well, fortunately, the answer is “keep doing her job”, as well as push back against him verbally whenever she gets the chance. As the volume goes on she does get the chance to see his softer side, though not necessarily directed towards her, and also learns what it’s like to deal with the minor triumphs and major tragedies that come from being in pulmonology. Can she learn on the job while also dealing with this handsome guy?

This first volume does a petty good job of balancing out Nanase’s priorities. She straight up admits that she became a nurse so that she could meet him again, and was ready for it to be a fairytale romance. This goes a long way towards explaining Dr. Tendo’s horrible attitude, as I imagine he has no time for nurses who are not there to do the job. Fortunately, she is also that, and is not going to quit (as he tells her to, a lot) just because of this disappointment. The initial “screw-ups” are kept to a minimum as well… Nanase is a pretty good nurse for someone just starting off. Sometimes the book gets a bit overdramatic (we get a saving someone from jumping off a building right away), but is also dedicated to improving herself, be that dealing with the fact that patients die, or learning how to cope with sexually harassing patients. Meanwhile, he sees her compassion.

It’s a good setup for exactly what fans of this author want: romance between two people not afraid to speak their mind at each other.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/10/19

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Animeta!, Vol. 1 | By Yaso Hanamura | J-Novel Club – Nineteen-year-old Miyuki Sanada never had anything to be passionate about until she encountered a certain magical girl anime. Now, she’s managed to get hired at the studio that created it, but training is grueling and the pay is abysmal (and her fellow new hires are jerks). Her skills aren’t great, but Miyuki’s a heroine with enthusiasm to spare and already makes some progress in this first volume. I really know very little about how anime is made—particularly nowadays, where digital technology plays a part—so all of that information and the handy flowcharts were fascinating. Miyuki is somewhat of a cipher as a character, but for now I’m okay with that. I look forward to seeing her skills develop and learning along with her. – Michelle Smith

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 16 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – This always seems to end up on the end of my list of Viz when it comes out, but it’s a credit to the title that it still remains riveting regardless. Yuzu dominates this volume, finishing the concert by leaping into the audience (giving their handlers a heart attack), and then asking the band to go on hiatus for a year so that he can sort out his family issues. We also hear about the fate of his father in greater detail, and see that he and his mother have essentially been pushing at each other without listening. That said, when a band takes a year’s hiatus—especially one not that famous yet—it’s the kiss of death. The solution? Get the new single to number one. This is ending soon, and it’ll be a race to the finish. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 22 | By Kazue Kato | Viz Media – The majority of this volume is a flashback, as the cover might indicate. Still, we also write out Shiemi in this volume, at least for now, and as she’s realized that maybe she does like Rin romantically after all. I’m not sure I trust her in the hands of her family, however. Meanwhile, Rin and Mephisto are going back into the past to see about Father Fujimoto’s past, as well as that of his mother, Yuri. It’s the classic combination of “asshole” and “plucky,” and is quite interesting, despite Mephisto continuing to point out that, being a tragic backstory, there’s only tragedy ahead. I’ve heard this flashback lasts a number of chapters, so next volume should delve deeper into Fujimoto and Yuri’s story. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

The Golden Sheep, Vol. 1 | By Kaori Ozaki | Vertical Comics – Years ago, my husband and I were watching Freaks and Geeks when we had a realization: it was undeniably excellent, but it was simply too effective at portraying the shitty things kids do to each other to be fun. The Golden Sheep is like that. Tsugu Miikura has returned to her hometown after six years away to find her former friends much changed. Yuushin has become a delinquent who regularly beats up Sora, who feels like he deserves it for abandoning Yuushin during a time of family crisis. Asari acts on her spiteful jealousy when Yuushin pays attention to Tsugu, leading Tsugu to be ostracized by the rest of the class. It’s painful for readers and characters alike, but mercifully there’s a surprise change of venue at the end of the first volume. I hope everyone’s able to move past their adolescent trauma in the two volumes that remain. – Michelle Smith

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 7 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – It appears “once a year” is the new schedule for this title, so it’s probably both good and bad that it ends on such a cliffhanger. Before that, though, we get the introduction of a new character (she’s on the cover): Kaoru, a kijimunaa who allegedly can read people’s minds. She’s had standoffish relationships with her prior classmates, which she thinks is because of this but also may be due to her misreading them entirely. No matter, there’s no way she’s not going to be accepted by this group. Meanwhile, she can also see that Tetsuo and Sakie are very much into each other, and this nudges the dullahan girl into a confession that he pretends not to hear—at first. Excellent title, but man, long wait to get here. – Sean Gaffney

Kaze Hikaru, Vol. 27 | By Taeko Watanabe | VIZ Media – For the most part, I quite enjoyed this volume of Kaze Hikaru. It mostly centers around Kamiya serving as Hijikata’s attendant and following his orders to pretend they are in a relationship in order to discourage Councillor Ito, who has gone into full-on predatory homosexual mode. While I’m not fond of this characterization, I do like that the situation forces Kamiya to get to know Hijikata better. As she witnesses some of his vulnerabilities and moments of surprising humility, her hatred of him begins to fade. I’m glad of it, as this mindset has led her to make too many impulsively foolish decisions in the past. Alas, Ito turns out to have something more substantial on his mind than bedding Hijikata, and we’re reminded that the collapse of the Bakufu is just around the corner. Too bad it’ll be another year before we get the next piece of the story. – Michelle Smith

Missions of Love, Vol. 18 | By Ema Toyama | Kodansha Comics – Perhaps being told that it’s time to wrap this up, Toyama finally comes through after a couple of substandard volumes and gives us an excellent one, mainly driven by Yukina finally getting up the nerve to a) tell Hisame to get bent, and b) tell Shigure that she’s written her book using their own romance as the basis. This stuns him, naturally (his mother collapsing during the filming does not help), but I suspect he’s going to take it pretty well, especially after he reads it. Hisame, meanwhile, is acting like an immature brat, as literally pointed out by Mami, and Yukina’s actions end up driving him to his own writer’s block. I’m, actually looking forward to the nineteenth and final volume. – Sean Gaffney

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 12 | By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu | VIZ Media – A new arc begins in this volume, and because various things are set into motion, it feels a little disjointed at times. Emma and the others make contact with a supporter in the human world and wait for further contact, but it never comes. Meanwhile, they continue their search for the Seven Walls and suddenly, a year and seven months have passed since the destruction of Goldy Pond. I liked getting a glimpse of what’s been going on with Phil and it was neat seeing some human antagonists, too. I also like that Lucas and Yugo have come to care about the kids so much that they’re willing to sacrifice themselves so the children can get away when the enemy finds them. I guess I’m just a little bummed about the time jump and all the clever strategizing we didn’t get to see. Still, this remains a really good read. – Michelle Smith

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 5 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics – Given that she’s had probably the least development of the heroines to date, it’s no surprise that this volume leans heavily on Yotsuba, who also gets the cover. She shows off a few sides that should be surprising but aren’t really, notably a tendency to put the needs and desires of others ahead of her own needs—does this include her feelings for Futaro? And then there’s the girl from his past, who is clearly a Quintuplet but the hair and false name make us wonder which one. (Honestly, she reminded me of Teasing Master Takagi-san, and it distracted me). Compared to other shonen romcoms like, say, the one I’m reviewing further down, this fires on all cylinders. Well done. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 11 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The resolution of the kiss on the nose actually ends up being the lightest part of the book, as we introduce what amounts to the series’ first serious villain. Takane’s cousin Yakumo is back in town, and determined to ruin Takane’s life. Oddly, merely exposing he’s engaged to a high school girl never seems to occur to him. Instead we end up with kidnapping, blackmail, and attempted rape. This left something of a sour taste in my mouth, though the sheer ridiculousness of the helicopter did end up distracting me so that I forgot about it. Sadly, I doubt we’re finished with this guy, and I want to get rid of him and get back to Takane and Hana snarking at each other. It’s what the series does best. – Sean Gaffney

We Never Learn, Vol. 6 | By Taishi Tsutsui | Viz Media – Reading this at the same time as Quintessential Quintuplets is probably a bit of a mistake. Magazine has always done better romantic comedy/dramas than Jump anyway, and this is definitely a weaker volume for We Never Learn, as it has no drama to speak of. Instead there are gags about confusing Rizu’s test score with her cup size, a “whoops we’re all naked in the same bathhouse” chapter, and an introduction to Kirisu’s sister whose highlight is that she doesn’t seem to fall in love with Nariyuki—yet. Again, I have heard that the teacher is by far the most popular character in this manga, which worries me—teacher/student romance is not how I want this to end. Maybe a figure skating ending instead? A weak entry. – Sean Gaffney

The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – Out of all of the manga series currently being released in English, The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe is consistently one of the most striking in both storytelling and illustration. I was therefore very excited to see more of Nagabe’s work licensed. The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms is a collection of eight short BL stories featuring anthropomorphic animals who either attend or teach at an academy for wizards. The stories are largely independent from one another, although they do share the same setting and there are a few recurring characters and events as well. Tonally, Nagabe has achieved a remarkably effective balance between lightness and darkness with these tales. There are moments of levity and endearment, but the narratives frequently also have unsettling undercurrents to them. The result is a collection that can be both delightfully charming and subtly (and occasionally not so subtly) ominous. – Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 10/16/19

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SEAN: A fairly packed middle of the month, let’s get right to it.

The debut from J-Novel Club features another contender for the “most ridiculous title” award, with There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF! (Sekai no Yami to Tatakau Himitsu Kessha ga Nai kara Tsukutta (Hangire)). The story of a young man who gets telekinetic powers and then discovers he’s NOT approached by anyone else is clearly meant to fall on the “funny” end of the spectrum.

They’ve also got the 13th and final volume of Demon King Daimaou, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 10 (which I believe finally has the wedding), and Kokoro Connect 7.

No print debuts for Kodansha, but they do have Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 6, Gleipnir 4, Hitorijime My Hero 5, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 4, Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 5 (maybe, its date has slid before), That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 11, and Tokyo Tarareba Girls 9.

ASH: Both O Maidens in Your Savage Season and Tokyo Tarareba Girls are very, but painfully, good.

SEAN: Digitally we debut My Boss’s Kitten (Buchou no Nyanko), an Ane Friend series about an abandoned bride and her sadistic boss. Recommended for shoujo fans who like sadistic guys who no doubt turn out to be sweet deep down.

MICHELLE: No, thanks.

MJ: What Michelle said.

SEAN: There’s also The Great Cleric 3, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 7, Peach Girl NEXT 6, Saint Young Men 3, Shojo FIGHT! 7, and Yozakura Quartet 24.

MICHELLE: This time, I really will get caught up on Saint Young Men!

ASH: I’m holding out for the print which is actually happening for real!

MJ: Yes, so excited for print!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: One Peace has a 5th Hinamatsuri, as well as the 14th Rising of the Shield Hero, now popular enough to be brought into Isekai Quartet.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Hinamatsuri‘s goofiness.

SEAN: Seven Seas has the final volume of Dreamin’ Sun, a series that made me want to re-read orange instead. They’ve also got Himouto Umaru-chan 7, the 2nd and final Mythical Beast Investigator, and a 3rd print volume for Skeleton Knight in Another World.

MICHELLE: I will finish out Dreamin’ Sun, but I agree that orange was the better series.

ASH: It’s a tough series to beat.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us a 6th Konohana Kitan.

And Udon has the 11th Persona 3, also a final volume.

This is actually this week, but Vertical snuck out 9 digital releases of the Monogatari novels, which catches them up to the print releases.

Viz debuts The Drifting Classroom: Perfect Edition, a massive 750-page hardcover that takes in this seminal horror series.

ASH: I am very excited for this release! Drifting Classroom is a tremendous series, so I’m glad to see it being brought back in print.

SEAN: And they have Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 7, Fire Punch 8 (this time yes, it really is the final volume), Golden Kamuy 12, and Tokyo Ghoul: re 13.

ASH: Here for Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction and Golden Kamuy!

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

And we’ve got the last of the September runoff from Yen Press. On the Yen On end, we debut The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Ikinokori Renkinjutsushi wa Machi de Shizuka ni Kurashitai), the story of a lowly alchemist who goes into stasis to hide from the enemy and comes out to find she’s suddenly the LAST alchemist. Sounds like a slow life series to me.

MJ: I don’t generally read light novels, but there’s something about this one that appeals to me, so I guess we’ll see.

Also from Yen On is The Asterisk War 11, The Irregular at Magic High School 13, A Sister’s All You Need 5, and Strike the Blood 13.

And there’s two manga out as well, as we get the 7th Hakumei & Mikochi and the 14th No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault That I’m Not Popular!.

ASH: Oh! It’s been a while since the last one, hasn’t it?

SEAN: So yeah, that’s a lot. Anything catch your eye?

Middle-Aged Businessman, Arise in Another World!, Vol. 2

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By Sai Sumimori and Ichijirushi. Released in Japan as “Around 40 Eigyou-man, Isekai ni Tatsu!” by Kodansha. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Taishi.

The trouble with a series starring an overpowered family is there’s very few ways that it can be taken forward. We already have a guy who’s brilliant at sales and marketing, hella strong, charismatic, etc. His goddess wife is busty, gorgeous, can stop her rambunctious kids with magic spells, and, it is mentioned a few times, loves sex with her husband. Their kids are 1) so smart they’re past university level, and now joining Dad at his job; 2) ridiculously strong and powerful, and 3) good at magic and can talk to magical beasts despite being five. It’s a great family to read about… for about a book. But this is book two, and I think right about the time that Shouzou ran across the ocean to talk to a water dragon without, y’know, falling into the water that the author realized there needed to be a new cast to focus on. As a result, we pull back to examine the local kingdoms, and meet a slothful young prince and a calculating young princess.

Sharlo is shown to be a very familiar type to Japanese readers: thought to be mediocre compared to his genius younger sister, he took things hard, holed up in his room, gained about 120 pounds, and sits there eating potato chips. He is not, needless to say, prince material, but needs to be leveled up due to political dealings. As such, Shouzou has him become an adventurer and start off with the job that absolutely no one wants: sewage cleaning. As a result, we gradually see there’s a decent person under this who acn also be fairly savvy when he wants to be. He was just abandoned by his minders for not being perfect. In another kingdom, Yuliana is 11th in line for the throne, but is good enough for her father, King Evil IV, to arrange a marrage for. The princess, despite her maid’s protests and fat-shaming of the prince she’s supposed to marry, decides to investigate… by disguising herself as her maid’s bodyguard and going to Sharlo’s kingdom. Romantic comedy bits ensue.

The protagonists are nice enough, and I liked their story, but it has to be said it’s not the story I signed up for. Shouzou flits in and out of the book, stopping a bad guy here and there, nudging our couple in the right direction, doing various political dealings, etc., but the book doesn’t know how to make him the main character again, so doesn’t bother. The book also has one of the most hiarious “cut short” endings I’ve ever seen, seemingly setting up events for the next book in the series… then saying “but Shouzou had to leave that for the denizens of this world, as he would be leaving soon. The end!”. It reads like the editor put it in after the book was submitted to show the series was over. I did enjoy the side story, showing Sharlo’s genius sister, who has a bit of a brother complex but not, thankfully, in a “I want to marry my brother” sort of way, trying to find her own fiancee and being gently reminded she’s 8 and should grow up first.

If you enjoyed the first book, definitely read this one. Sharlo and Yuliana are likeable enough, and reminded me a bit of some Realist Hero characters. But the series seems to end here, possibly as if it continued our OP family would go back to Japan and leave it as a normal fantasy book. And who wants that? We isekai or die here.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 20

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

In general, Yona of the Dawn is not a series that relies greatly on “our heroine is in peril, she must be rescued”, so it’s almost refreshing when we see a volume that mostly relies on that. Not that Yona is sitting around on her laurels. After she and Riri are brought to a slave labor camp, she quickly guesses that the “alcohol” they’re given in lieu of water is laced with the addictive drug they’ve been trying to shut down for so long. Then she and Riri both escape, and Riri even kills a guard when doing so, showing how far she’s come since her introduction. Unfortunately, it’s hard to escape in this sort of situation, leading to a cliffhanger where Riri tries to sacrifice herself to save Yona, they’re both exhausted and injured, and time is running out. Even if you don’t necessarily see this as a ship, as a friendship it’s top tier.

Meanwhile, Yona and Riri’s capture has been noticed by the rest of the cast. Our heroes go off to rescue them, though that does mean dividing their forces as they could be in one of two separate places. Tetra stays behind due to injury, but unfortunately this means she has to face a one-two punch of a) Riri’s father, and b) Su-0Won, both of whom show up to ask what’s going on. The series has been running for a while on the fact that Su-Won knows what Yona and Hak are doing but is deliberately ignoring it; that fact is tested to its limits in this book. Tetra tries very hard to explain everything that’s happened without mentioning Yona and her crew, even if that makes things sound suspicious. Later, when Su-Won arrives at one of the two slave labor camps, he and Hak communicate with a stone wall between them, agreeing to arrange a signal so that the army will know when to begin. It’s very tense, and you can see Hak’s frustration and anger at having to once again not acknowledge who Su-Won is because there are greater problems to be solved.

For the most part this volume is fairly series. There is one exception, which is amazingly funny, which involves the fact that the Wind Tribe has arrived to assist Su-Won in rescuing Riri. There ends up being a giant melee battle, during which Hak manages to blow up his allies – twice. The art is deliberately structured for maximum comedy value, as we see the exact same sequence of events only with two different people. This is followed by a few pages of Hak being totally befuddled at the fact that the Wind Tribe is here at all. I always enjoy the fact that, while some characters are funnier than others, Yona does not have a designated comedy guy, and everyone can be silly or serious depending on where the story needs them to be.

Another cliffhanger, though. Will Yona and Riri survive? (checks volume count) Oh, probably. But the excitement is in seeing how. And also who Hak will blow up with his comedy bombs next.