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Pick of the Week: Buddy Manga

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MICHELLE: I’ve wanted to read Saint Young Men for probably a decade. I had given up all hope of it being licensed here, so my gratitude to Kodansha is immense. I simply can’t even consider picking anything else.

ANNA: Me too, I’m absolutely amazed it is being translated.

SEAN: Yeah, Saint Young Men is my pick this week because it’s an Easter Miracle we’re even getting it.

KATE: I’m 200% on board with Saint Young Men, but I also think it’s worth reminding MB readers that VIZ will be releasing digital versions of the first seven volumes of Banana Fish. For folks who missed it the first time around, or who saw the anime and wondered how it compared with the source material, the new digital edition is a wallet-friendly way to dive into the manga.

ASH: Typically I can safely ignore digital releases since I have more than enough print manga to keep me busy, but when something like Saint Young Men is licensed even I have to take note! It’s definitely my pick, but I sincerely hope it might get a physical release in the future. We’ve proof that miracles can happen!

MJ: I feel like me choosing Saint Young Men while Kate is the one to bring up Banana Fish is the shocking plot twist nobody saw coming, but that is what’s actually happening, right now, today. I’m very happy that Viz is releasing digital versions of Banana Fish (though what I really want is a fancy, deluxe print edition), but Saint Young Men is something I genuinely thought we could never see in North America, and I can’t let that go. Not even for Eiji Okumura. And that’s saying something.

Restaurant to Another World, Vol. 1

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By Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami. Released in Japan as “Isekai Shokudou” by Shufunotomosha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Elliot Ryouga. Adapted by Nino Cipri.

By now we have had enough of these “foodie” titles out here in the West that it’s not a surprise anymore. Indeed, the light novel was the last one to get a license here, as we’ve already seen Restaurant in Another World’s manga (on the Crunchyroll site) and anime over here. And there are any number of other titles doing very similar things, including Othewrworldly Izakaya Nobu, Cooking with Wild Game, Campfire Cooking in Another World, etc. That said, Restaurant in Another World seems the purest of the titles we’ve seen here. If you’re not fond of descriptions of people eating delicious food, this is absolutely not the book for you, because that’s all it is. Well, OK, that’s not ALL it is. There’s actually a very interesting and varied fantasy world being slowly laid out here. But there’s no plot beyond “fantasy people eat delicious food” until the very, very end.

If you’ve read the manga, or seen the anime, or hell, even looked at the cover art, you may be surprised at who isn’t in this book. Aletta does not show up until the very last chapter, and I believe the other adaptations wrote her into the earlier chapters specially. Instead we get a very simple premise, repeated over and over. Someone comes across a door with a cat picture on it, in the middle of a cave,. or a forest, or a basement, etc, goes through it, and finds themselves in a modern Japanese restaurant that specializes in “Western” cuisine, although how much that specialty is enforced is something of a running gag. There they discover that the food served there is much, MUCH more delicious than the food they get back in their world. The gimmick is that their world is a standard fantasy one, with elves, dwarves, magic users, and adventurers. Once every seven days… they can eat good food.

The chapters are self-contained to a degree. New person, new favorite food, new descriptions of how that food is the absolute best. But they stack on top of each other, so you see the regulars coming back and eating and arguing with each other about food, not necessarily in that order. Another running gag is that they’re known to each other only by their standard meal, so the adventurer girl is “minced meat cutlet”, and the knight is “fried shrimp”, etc. The cast, as I said, run the gamut. There’s dragons who arrive at the very end of the day for beef stew (don’t worry, she can assume human form). There’s vampires in a Romeo and Juliet-style runaway, only they get away with it. There’s Lilliputians who go as an entire village to eat pancakes. And there’s human kids living there too, who get what most human kids in a restaurant want… burgers and fries. And there’s the unnamed chef throughout, smiling and making their food, and occasionally enforcing the peace.

This light novel series is 5+ in Japan, and I’m not sure how long it can sustain its basic premise without adding SOME plot. That may be why Alette was added in the last chapter, so there’s some more regular regulars. But if you enjoyed the manga and anime, or just like food, you should enjoy this. Also, terrific illustrations by Enami, who also illustrates Baccano!.

Go With The Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 1

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By Aki Irie. Released in Japan as “Hokuhokusei ni Kumo to Ike” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Harta. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by David Musto.

If you enjoyed Ran and the Gray World but wish it had 100% less of that one creepy guy, then this may be the title for you. It’s the author’s followup to that series, after she took a vacation around the world, including driving around Iceland. That informs this new work, which does star a tall, handsome and difficult to like fellow, but this one is the protagonist, and far easier to get along with. In fact, over the first half of this volume I was wondering if this was going to be an episodic title, with each chapter having Kei solving a different problem using his detective skills and ability to talk to machines (which might be the same as his grandfather’s ability to talk to birds). But it does pick up a plot in the second half, and it’s darker than I expected. His aunt and uncle are both dead, and his younger brother is in Iceland and says he’s innocent… but Kei is the only one who believes him.

There’s a sort of odd supernatural-ish tinge to this title, but unlike Ran and the Gray World it never quite dips its toe into the genre full speed. Kei, as I noted, seems to be able to speak to the soul of machines, particularly the car he’s driving around Iceland. There’s also Lilja, a young Icelandic girl Kei’s age, who’s introduced to us in a way that makes the reader wonder if she really exists or is some sort of spirit. Later on, she seems far more real – she’s the niece of a woman who’s dating Kei’s grandfather, and her introduction after the initial chapter is very much meant to be a “romantic interest ahoy” sort of thing, though I was very amused that after he interrupted her without clothing – twice – she insisted on ripping off his boxers to get her own back. Is she a normal girl? Probably as normal as Kei, and she seems to be good at hearing the truth behind sounds – which sets up the cliffhanger, which may put her at odds with Kei.

As you’d expect with this author, the art here is gorgeous. Lots of stunning Icelandic landscapes, striking men and women, and even an action scene or two – there are some lovely poses here. I suspect this may be the lightest volume of the series, which likely will get deeper into the behavior of Kei’s brother next time. But it’s a terrific read, never feeling boring even as you realize that not a lot has happened for the first hundred pages or so. Kei acts like an ass a lot of the time, but as his grandfather notes, that’s very much a front – and, I suspect, a contrast to his brother, who is seen in Kei’s flashbacks to be young, weak and somewhat hapless, but I’m fairly sure isn’t. That said, I’m not sure I’m ready to think him evil either.

This series does what most really good manga want to achieve – makes me really want to read more. Definitely worth a read. Also, what a title.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 20

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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.

As was possibly easy to predict, after the excitement of the last two books, we’re getting a short story collection here. In fact, the author notes that the plot will basically alternate with these sorts of books from now on, so as not to alienate those who enjoy the lighthearted comedy bits. As such, we get three short stories that were first published online, and one original novella. They all pretty much fulfill the lighthearted part, but as with a lot of Rokujouma, comedy has slowly been replaced by heartwarming as the go-to thing. This is a sweet group of girls, all best friends, all in love with the same guy, and things are great. For a lot of people, this might be annoying, showing off a lack of conflict that helps to drive most series. I find it refreshing. The conflict comes from the enemies in the main plotline. As such, this is basically just pure cuteness.

To no one’s surprise by now, let me focus on my favorite character first. Yurika gets the first story as a focus, and it shows that even though she’s seriously matured and leveled up in the past few books, she is still the same old somewhat whiny, lazy girl who has to be prodded. The difference now is that she CAN be prodded… as well as now Koutarou realizes how he feels about her. The first story deals with the cosplay club hearing (by mistake) that Yurika is going to stop wearing magical girl “costumes”. They know the main reason why girls stop cosplaying – they get a boyfriend. The rest of the story is them hilariously finding they’re right – sort of. To the outside observer, Yurika has become a “reajuu” – she has a great boyfriend, a nice best friend, and a fulfilling life. To the outside observer only, of course. The other two short stories deal with a) Sanae and Ruth peering into Koutarou’s dreams, and realizing he has a ways to go to be healed, and b) Maki and Theia finding that though they may be opposites in many ways, they can still bond as good friends.

The story that takes up the second half of the book is a cooking competition for the school festival, with all the girls competing and Koutarou the judge. This ranges from the obvious (Kiriha and Ruth are great cooks) to the good character building (Yurika is forcibly taught by Shizuka, and her efforts pay off for Koutarou if not anyone else – she didn’t burn or otherwise ruin it) to amusing fun (everything about Clan’s SCIENCE! dish). Moreover, it helps to hammer home one of the main themes of this “harem” series – Koutarou likes them all equally. He gives everyone the same score – even Clan’s “meal” – as to him, they’re all great as the girls all put their heart into them. For a lot of other series, this would make Koutarou into a bland milquetoast protagonist, and to be fair he had elements of this at the start. But he’s developed too, to the point where the reader can smile and nod when this occurs.

So overall a really nice volume, and a good break before we no doubt go off into SPAAAAAAAACE! next time.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 17.

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 17 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I’m always curious when a new arc of Yona of the Dawn starts, because Kusanagi manages to create situations and plot elements that seem new and fresh in the context of a long-running series. At the same time she continues to explore themes that are present throughout the series with more depth, like Yona grappling with the legacy of her father’s lack of consideration and thought for the people who he used to rule.

Yona and her companions head towards the border of Kai, where they meet a young boy named Kalgan who proposes marriage to Yona after she shoots a bird to provide him with with some money. Kalgan wandered over from the Kai empire and is stranded, so Yona decides to escort him back to his village, a border town that has been fought over between Kai and Kohka for years. Yona’s Dragon Warriors begin to fall ill, and they need to recuperate for a time in the village where most of the residents are deeply suspicious of them. War is drawing near as well, as Su-Won and his army start to attack the Kai empire.

So far, most of the Dragon Warriors have gotten some solid character development and backstory in Yona of the Dawn, but Zeno has largely been an enigma. This volume finally showcases his unique abilities and role as Yona’s protector. For the Hak fans (and who isn’t a Hak fan!?) there are some great scenes of him taking on a wayward army, determined to take out their anger at losing a battle on innocent civilians. As Yona learns more and more about the dark side of human nature, she becomes more resolute about helping people. I’m curious to see how she manages to resolve the current crisis, I’m not sure if even she can pull of pacifying an angry army. This series is consistently rewarding to read, and one of the best fantasy shoujo series that Shojo Beat has published.

Manga the Week of 4/24/19

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SEAN: Sometimes publishers surprise you.

But before we get to the surprise, Cross Infinite World has the 2nd novel for Obsessions of an Otome Gamer. I found the first volume far better than expected… and far longer than expected. I look forward to this, but may have to set aside extra time for it.

J-Novel Club has a 5th volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride.

Kodansha, print-wise, has Attack on Titan: Before the Fall 16, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 10, and To Your Eternity 9.

ASH: To Your Eternity continues to be an excellent series.

SEAN: But let’s face it, it’s all about the digitals this week. Another “this will never get licensed” title has been licensed, digital-only. Saint Young Men is a typical slice-of-life comedy about two men sharing a small apartment in modern Japan. Oh, yes, and they’re Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha. Which explains why this was not licensed for so long. It’s by the creator of Arakawa Under the Bridge, and is (believe it or not) far less weird than that title.

MICHELLE: Finally! I’m so excited for this.

MJ: I can’t remember the last time I was so surprised/thrilled about a release. I mean, I never thought this could happen in the US, even as a digital release.

ANNA: Me too! It is so nice to be surprised like this!

ASH: This really is fantastic news! Kodansha is technically calling this a digital-first release, so there may be a slim possibility that a print edition may eventually be released. It’s like a miracle that it was licensed at all, so I’m hoping for another one!

SEAN: In less controversial digital titles, we see Ace of the Diamond 22, Ao-chan Can’t Study! 6, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 2, Blissful Land 3, Defying Kurosaki-kun 8, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 12, Kakafukaka 6, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 4, My Boy in Blue 8, and Tokyo Alice 10. That’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

SEAN: Oh yes, and Kodansha license rescued Initial D and are releasing about 30 million volumes of it digitally. Which is, as Initial D fans known, only about 1/4 of the total volumes.

MICHELLE: I was literally thinking about Initial D earlier today!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 3, Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage 8, How to Train Magical Beasts 3, Sorry for My Familiar 4, and Species Domain 6.

ASH: How to Train Magical Beasts has been a nice series so far.

SEAN: Tokyopop lists Aria the Masterpiece 2 and Konohana Kitan 4 as coming out next week, though Amazon seems to disagree.

Viz has, in a digital debut, the first seven volumes of Banana Fish, a somewhat obscure old shoujo series that I’m sure the rest of Manga Bookshelf has never heard of.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

MJ: What kind of title is that? “Banana Fish.” Huh. Though, okay, I wish we were getting a deluxe print reissue instead.

ANNA: Sweet, maybe I will finally read it!

ASH: I would absolutely buy the series again if it was getting a new print deluxe edition. But I’m really happy that it’s back in print at all, and now available digitally, too.

SEAN: It also has a 9th volume, digital-only, of élDLIVE, from the creator of Reborn! (remember Reborn!? Years ago? Cancelled by Viz?).

MICHELLE: I am really hoping VIZ does more digital-only titles.

SEAN: Yen has a digital debut of its own, as if to say that those other two aren’t good enough. ALL of Fruits Basket is out next week digitally. That’s twelve omnibuses. Now you can read it on your phone (and also probably start crying in public, so don’t do that).

MJ: This is pretty sweet.

SEAN: Yen’s print manga is the week after next, but we do get this month’s novels. The debut is Penguin Highway, another in Yen’s ongoing series of “license the novel with a recent popular movie”. The novel is apparently really good, though, and has won the Nihon SF Taisho Award. Expect coming-of-age adventure!

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

There’s also Baccano! 10 (we promise, Monica is in the one after this, Baccano! fans), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 13, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 4, KonoSuba 8, Re: ZERO EX 3, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 5.

Jesus Christ, that’s some good manga. (Sorry.) (OK, not that sorry.)

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Vol. 1

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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. Tranlated by Kevin Frane and Paul Cuneo. Adapted by JY Yang.

As the URL of this review may indicate, I had reviewed the first volume of the Mushoku Tensei manga when it came out back in the day. I wasn’t all that impressed with it. That said, having finished the light novel that the manga is based on, I am changing my tune slightly. This reads much better in prose. In particular, it works its isekai tropes into the plot better than the manga, which tended to gloss over Rudy’s every action being influenced by his previous life. This was one of the first really popular isekai novels, and to a certain degree many other series either rip off or parody what’s going on here, meaning that sometimes you can be reading things and waiting for a punchline that isn’t coming because it’s taking things seriously. On the bright side, that’s rather refreshing, and I also enjoy that the series has time to flesh out the rest of its non-Rudy cast.

The book starts with a portrait of our hero’s previous life, and I would not blame the reader for giving up here, as he’s rather loathsome. Luckily, Truck-kun is there to take care of things, and in no time he finds himself reborn in a different world, with his previous memories intact. He resolves that he’s going to do a better job with his life this time around, and sets about trying to learn magic, learn swordplay, and be a good son. All this before he turns seven years old! Rudy tends to be a bit too perfect, much to the consternation of the family maid, and contrasts with his flaky father. But he’s also allowed to have some standard light novel character flaws, most notably being a perv (which can be unsettling given his age) and also mistaking a young elf girl for a guy just because she has short hair and is wearing pants.

I figure most people reading this are very familiar with reincarnation/isekai titles, and you’re not going to be surprised at what happens within when it comes to the setting. Lots of discussion of magic to a somewhat tedious degree, etc. Rudy’s teacher Roxy is quite interesting, and I was annoyed that she vanished halfway through the book – she deserves a spinoff manga of some sort. Possibly one coming out next week. Most impressive to me was Rudy’s family, and the depth they all had – his father Paul has trouble keeping it in his pants, and this could have led to disaster were it not for peacemaker Rudy. That said, Rudy may grow up to be like dear old Dad. There are a few moments in this book where the author suddenly remembers he has to be perverse, and they stick out oddly (Rudy coming across Roxy masturbating while watching his parents having sex) and sometimes creepily (infant Rudy likes breasts based on his past life, and NO THANK YOU). At least the maid notices that it’s creepy.

I may not see much of Rudy’s family for a bit – in order to make sure that he and his somewhat codependent childhood friend don’t damage each otehr’s growth, his father sends him off to tutor some ways away, and that is presumably where the second book will start off. Moments of awkward sleaziness aside, I was pleasantly surprised with Mushoku Tensei, which takes its reincarnation premise seriously and doesn’t subvert, satirize or parody it.

Bookshelf Briefs 4/17/19

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Bloom Into You, Vol. 6 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – The bulk of this volume is the play, and I was very much reminded of the play in the Kare Kano manga, which filled much the same function. We see a woman wondering which of the “sides” she sees was the real her, and the answer of course is to look forward. It’s really well done, but it’s uncertain how this will affect relationships between Touko and Yuu. We’ve seen Yuu struggle to define how she feels towards Touko—and indeed love in general—and now she seems to have her answer, but it’s not making her very happy. (I do love the brief POV of her older sister, who gives her good advice and resolves to support Yuu whenever she decides to admit it to her family.) Still great. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 16 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Mizusawa has managed to win the team portion of Nationals! Chihaya’s tearful happiness is heart-wrenching, and I loved that she was able to remind Arata of the joys of competing with teammates. She seems to have fractured her right index finger, however, and though she makes it through the first couple of rounds of the individual tournament by playing left-handed, when facing Shinobu she chooses to go with her right. She makes one really impressive play, but then the pain is too much and she loses by a huge margin. Still, she’s made an impression on Shinobu now, and we see how much it would mean to the latter to have a friend her age who doesn’t expect her to go easy on them. Meanwhile, Taichi has made it to the Class B finals and Arata will soon move to Tokyo. Tune in next time! – Michelle Smith

CITY, Vol. 5 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – After a fourth volume with a long-running story, we’re back to brief snapshots in this volume, which means, of course, it’s not quite as good. A lot of gags land. I liked the photography session chapter, as well as the one with the soccer team’s “accidental” ball control. And the names of the Tekaridake Troupe made me giggle. But a lot of this is random for randomness’ sake, and features recurring bits that I’m not as fond of, like the manga artist who is likely meant to be Arawi himself. I suspect he’s trying not to make it too much about the “main trio” as he wants to avoid having it be Nichijou Mk. 2, but the main trio are where the best chapters lie. Still worth reading, but very up and down. – Sean Gaffney

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, Vol. 4 | By NISIOISIN and Akira Akatsuki | Viz Media – I didn’t brief the second and third volumes of this, but you can likely guess what happens. In this, the final volume, we’re down to the last few survivors. The best part of the book is the section dealing with, in my opinion, the two best characters—Tiger and Ox. Their backstory, and the discussion of “how to do the right thing,” resonates strongly. Sadly, the zombie rabbit and the almost deliberately personality-less Rat take up most of the end of the volume, and that’s not quite as good. In the end this seems to have been Nisioisin’s attempt to write a Battle Royale-style story, and it works best with his Medaka Box partner on it, but four volumes is definitely enough. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 4 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi, Betten Court, and Kohei Horikoshi | VIZ Media – As a neighborhood department store plans to reopen after a monster attack, Pop is invited to take part in a celebration. Makoto parlays this into an appearance from Captain Celebrity and, meanwhile, Hachisuka plans to crash the party with her Trigger-augmented monsters. I probably should’ve guessed the reveal about Hachisuka here, especially considering what happened with her classmate before, but it was fairly cool. I liked learning more about Knuckleduster, and it was nice seeing Pop give a competent (and pretty heroic!) performance at the concert. I’ll likely keep reading this series, as I enjoy how it’s fleshing out the world, but I am a little bummed that I just don’t love any of these characters like I do the kids in the main series. They’re not complex enough. I guess nothing will ever really measure up to the original. – Michelle Smith

Takane & Hana, Vol. 8 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The rule of thumb for this manga seems to be that whenever one of the two leads decides to seriously romance the other intentionally, it never quite goes the way they want it to. That’s certainly the case in this volume, where Takane is still on the rise, and he’s not quite out to romance Hana—he just wants his revenge. As a result, he runs her ragged, in what’s probably the funniest chapters of the book. I’m not sure how I feel about the final cliffhanger, though, which seems to be another setup on the part of Takane’s grandfather. The series is 16+ volumes in Japan, so it could simply be the author setting in for the long haul. As long as the power balance is kept even, this is still great. – Sean Gaffney

Wonderland, Vol. 2 | By Yugo Ishikawa | Seven Seas – At heart, this is survival horror, which is not really my thing. As with a lot of things that are not really my thing, I have a number of exceptions to the rule. And Wonderland is so weird and trippy that it fascinates me more than it depresses me. As could probably be predicted, Alice may be responsible for what’s actually going on here, even if she’s not telling the main group that. The “main group” also gets winnowed way down here—Yukko even loses her dog, though he does show up later, in the funniest scene of the book (especially for long-haired dog owners). And of course I haven’t even mentioned Alice’s evil twin, who can turn babies into ZOMBIE BABIES. Wonderland is a trip. It deserves its title. – Sean Gaffney

Kitaro: Kitaro’s Yokai Battles

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By Shigeru Mizuki. Released in Japan as “Gegege no Kitaro” by Kodansha and Shogakukan, serialized in various magazines. Released in North America by Drawn & Quarterly. Translated by Zack Davisson.

This is not the first time that we’ve seen Shigeru Mizuki write himself and his family into a manga. Heck, it’s not even the first time he’s been in Kitaro. But the story “Oboro Guruma”, which is the highlight of this volume, really takes it further and involves Mizuki in the most metatextual way possible. At a coffeeshop he’s going to to avoid work and family (remember, no one puts himself down quite like Mizuki does), he runs afoul of the yakuza, but is saved by… Kitaro and Nezumi Otoko, who are in the same coffeeshop. He brings them home and lets them stay with his family, and they start to bond with the local neighbors. But then the entire town is covered in a strange gas, isolating it from the rest of Japan. The story alternates between what’s actually happening (it’s a yokai – try to contain your shock) and how Mizuki is dealing with it (by being somewhat weak and lazy – again, try to contain your shock).

Every single review of these titles I seem to talk about Nezumi Otoko, so I will confine myself this time to noting that the volume opens with him seeing Kitaro on a horse, hitting him over the head with a club, dope slapping him, and stealing the horse. It’s so beautifully in character I wanted to cry. Instead, though, I will talk about Kitaro, who actually isn’t at his best here. Kitaro tends to be a cypher at the best of times, and while he can sometimes be pretty righteous for the most part he tends to go with the flow in a stoic sort of way. The usual Kitaro way of fighting is to somehow get killed/beaten up, come back in a weird supernatural way, and then find a way to defeat the yokai that did him harm. In this volume, though, he really seems to be put through the wringer, and there’s less of him being clever.

Kitaro as a manga tends to be somewhat silly, particularly in the resolutions, and this one tops itself quite a bit. I was highly amused at Kitaro almost getting killed by having teeth spit at him, and the poop gags that tend to be rife in shonen manga of this period are here as well, as at one point the victims of a yokai are excreted. Topping them all, though, is Kitaro getting the crap kicked out of him, to the point where his head is covered in bumps (cartoon-style)… and then having those bumps launch as missiles to counterattack. It’s so incredibly silly, and yet it also shows off the sheer brilliance of Mizuki’s imagination. He may confine himself to yokai here, but you see why – despite telling essentially the same story over and over (a yokai is doing bad things, Kitaro stops it), the series is never boring.

I believe that the next volume, out early next year, will be the final one in these omnibus collections. They’re all worth picking up. Kitaro is a style of manga that is both very reminiscent of the late 60s manga style and yet also timeless. It’s also very re-readable. Highly recommended.

No Game No Life, Vol. 8

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

It’s a No Game No Life volume, so you sort of know what you’re going to get by now. A lot of faffing around and being stupid and/or appalling while Steph (and the reader) tries to figure out what Sora and Shiro are thinking. Sora being reprehensibly perverted, and honestly I think him being a cowardly virgin deep down makes it MORE annoying. The fact that this is a writer who writes awkward prose in Japanese being translated awkwardly into English, meaning sometimes you have to go reread the previous paragraph to figure out what was just said. In amongst this, however, there are the usual good things lurking near the bottom, including a good discussion of war games vs. actual war, and the “villain” of the book, whose road towards becoming more emotional in her constant inquisitiveness is a good one in the end. And Steph. Steph is always good, though you have to put up with her being constantly belittled by everyone in the world.

We pick up where we left off last time, with Sora and Shiro (and Steph) being forced to replicate the last War and understand how it was resolved. This is, of course, impossible, mostly as, despite the obvious attempts by the narrator to make us think it in Book 6, Sora and Shiro are not Riku and Schwi, nor can they be. More to the point, as Sora point out, there’s a big difference between a game of war and war in reality: a game ends. When you “win” in war, you have to think about what happens next, unlike your typical game of Axis and Allies. Moreover, while this is going on on Old Deus’ gaming board, the remaining players are all trying to betray each other in the real world, which doesn’t go well. For anyone. And then there’s the matter of the traitor who was mentioned before, which is actually one of the subplots I felt was handled quite well.

In any case, by the end of the book we have what appears to be a new regular, and we also have some old “friends”, Chlammy and Fiel, who are also going to be hanging around now that Sora has, in effect, ruined their lives. Steph helped, and possibly my favorite moment in the book was when she looked away guiltily – but not that guiltily. Steph may dislike Sora’s perversions – I do as well – but she gets how he thinks, and was the first to point out a major aspect of [ ]’s gaming strategy, as well as Tet’s, which is to have fun. A lesson that everyone else in the cast, as well as many “serious” gamers in real life, could use. Of course, now that we’ve resolved this plot another is coming, as we appear to be gearing up for another invasion by …German robots?

As ever, No Game No Life remains intensely frustrating and annoying (everything about the elves in the war game was appalling and awful, and I don’t care that it was deliberately so), and it’s genuinely difficult to read at times. But there are moments when you can see the talent of the author shine though, and they’re excellent. Mildly recommended.