Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

Outbreak Company, Vol. 6

by

By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

It can sometimes be a bit striking how blase this series is about the government of Japan wanting Shinichi to be murdered because he ruined their grand plans. The Japanese side of things are simply one of the villainous factions in the books, and this time around they put into place a new plan: give Shinichi an assistant who turns out to be better than him at everything and watch him slowly lose confidence and break. Or at least, that would be an excellent plan if that was their actual intent. Because in that respect it works out quite well, and it’s only the heartfelt feelings of Myucel that manage to win him back from depressed land. No, instead Japan and the new character seem to be dedicated to destroying the country through commerce one way or another, and while they don’t succeed, things do get a bit dicey. Fortunately, as always, Shinichi is here to win the day with a really irritating otaku speech that grates on my nerves.

On the cover is Hikaru, who is the new Japanese “assistant” to Shinichi who is there to shake things up. Honestly, she should share the cover with Shinichi, but I know a lot of light novels refuse to have the main character on the covers, possibly as they still tend to think in terms of “faceless unseen protagonist” from ero games. Speaking of ero games, Hikaru is willing to do anything to get profits for the Japanese side, even if that means importing trading cards (the rare ones immediately get traded for massive amounts of money) and, yes, erotic games, which is causing the kids of Shinichi’s school to turn into, well, puberty-infested boys who refuse to leave their game. (The fact that the ultimate solution for this issue is to give them body pillows instead of games shows us where the issue ultimately lies.) Unfortunately, turning a bunch of the nobles’ kids into addicts is not what Shinichi had in mind. What’s worse, in the games you can create your own girl to moon over… and some are creating girls that look a lot like the Queen.

There’s a lot of discussion in this volume about the ‘otaku’, and how they’re viewed in Japan. Hikaru seemingly hates them with a passion, and regards them as the root of all evil. Some of this is related to Hikaru’s past, but there is a certain amount of truth to the idea of “let’s find a game/anime we can blame this tragedy on” to both Japan and North America. That said, ‘gaming addiction’ is clearly the motif here, and I really liked the fact that Shinichi accepted that it was ultimately his responsibility for what happened, and he thus sets out to correct things. A kidnapping helps to add a bit of excitement to things (the kidnapping, it turns out, is unrelated to the game issue), but for the most part this volume turns on Shinichi vs. Hikaru, and how they both view this world and the people in it. Shinichi is an empathic guy, as we’ve seen time and time again, and this is why he’s trusted by the Eldian people, despite his goody @D speeches.

Next volume we take a break for short stories, but I’m sure that there’s more political machinations to come. In the meantime, this was a pretty good volume of Outbreak Company. Plus this is past where the anime ended, I believe.

Pick of the Week: Take a Guess

by , , , , and Leave a Comment

SEAN: There are a pile of things out this week I’m interested in. The final After Hours, new volumes of Horimiya, Silver Spoon and Yowapeda. But I’m sorry, I cannot resist a croc in a top hat. Especially when it’s secretly a foodie manga. Crocodile Baron is my pick this week.

MICHELLE: And I can’t resist sports manga, so it’s totally Yowapeda for me!

ASH: I’m definitely looking forward to the most recent (and far too infrequent) release of Yowamushi Pedal, but my pick this week goes to The Golden Yarn. I’m curious to see if The Ancient Magus’ Bride holds the same sort of dark charm in prose as it does in manga.

ANNA: I almost have to pick Crocodile Baron just for the cover, but I am nothing but steadfast in my championing of romance, so I’m going to go with Ne Ne Ne as my pick.

MJ: SILVER SPOON! SILVER SPOON! SILVER SPOON!

KATE: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m throwing my weight behind Silver Spoon again, if only to remind everyone that it’s REALLY good, and they should be reading it.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 15

by

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. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

So much of this volume is magical that it’s a bit difficult to know where to begin. There are at least five or six moments that feel like they’d be voted in a “top 10 Yona of the Dawn moments” list. Even leaving Yona herself aside (and trust me, I’ll get to her in a bit), there’s so much going on here involving Riri, as we see her becoming politically active and arguing with her father that politics are all very well and good but not when it means letting your people die and kill each other just to avoid political turmoil. And she’s joined by Su-Won, undercover and wandering the world again, to the exasperation of his bodyguards, who decides to help out this righteous and well-meaning but very naive girl. Especially since everyone in the city keeps questioning every woman they find, looking for the one with the red hair.

Riri is at the beginning of a journey down a path that Yona has long trod, and she knows it too – their parting is very emotional, and there’s a reason that they’re the couple on the cover. (I’ll leave the yuri reading to others, but I will note that Ayura and Tetra are absolutely a couple.) Yona is a leader, and her resolve is what drives everyone around her. A lot of shoujo series make you wonder sometimes why there are five to six guys all in love with the heroine. Yona does not have this problem. Everyone reading it is in love with the heroine. The first thirty pages alone are stunning – Yona attempting to recover from her wounds, her desire to question the villain suddenly overcome by her desire to CUT HIM IN THE FACE when he tries to draw a blade, and her attempts at getting Hak (who is feeling upset, of course) to stop brooding by talking about how it was her choices that led to this. “These are MY injuries” is one of the most powerful lines in the volume.

Aside from the plot and characters, I’ve also grown very fond of the way that Kusanagi crafts the manga itself. Once Su-Won arrives on the scene we know that he and Yona are going to run into each other again, but the moment is put off a number of times as they keep missing each other, or Su-Won runs into Jaeha (who doesn’t know who he is), etc. This lends the moment when they finally do meet extra emphasis. And, much as this is a serious-minded volume for the most part, there is some wonderful art-derived humor involving Riri’s father, who is a parody of the “always remain calm and drink tea” sort of character, not getting upset at all when Riri is screaming out about drugs destroying their country, but when she steals his golden seal (the symbol of the clan’s authority)… well, his face is worth the price of the book in itself.

Every volume of Yona of the Dawn makes me think I’ve reached the high water mark of the series, and then it tops itself. A must read. Again.

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 1

by

Ran and the Gray World Volume 1 by Aki Irie

Ran and the Gray World blends slice of live pacing with beautiful illustrations in this story about a girl with magical tennis shoes that transform her into a grown-up. Ran is being forced to do her chores in her cluttered home, and her older brother Rin strategically hides her shoes in a light fixture in order to get her to clean up. Ran’s homelife is just as haphazard as her room, since her mother is a powerful sorceress who has to live away from her family to deal with magical business.

Shizuka appears accompanied by a flock of birds and a profusion of flower petals, conjuring up sweets that threaten to engulf the whole neighborhood. Irie’s illustrations are wonderful at showing how things get off-kilter and out of control with such a powerful sorceress paying a visit, as Shizuka and her daughter lean up against a giant strawberry while eggs hatch into giant chickens and doughnuts threaten the roofing of the family’s near neighbors. Shizuka seems utterly unaware of the effect of her sudden appearance and disappearance on her family, and doesn’t seem to care that she’s annoying her son as she dazzles her daughter with magic.

Ran and the Gray World

Ran continues to throw on her tennis shoes and run away, with her most extended adventure involving dropping out of the sky onto the penthouse garden of playboy, who is intrigued by Ran. They remodel her guest room and have an additional random encounter at a local festival.

One aspect of the book that made me uneasy was seeing how Ran was getting placed in situations with adult men who are reacting to her as a young woman. While nothing much happens due to her magical powers, naiveté, and the vigilant actions of her older brother Jin, this is certainly something that I’d like to see minimized in further volumes. The first volume did such a great job setting up a unique magical world, though, I’m hoping that the series doesn’t turn into another Bunny Drop. Uneasiness aside, Ran and the Gray World seems like a must for low key fantasy fans. The magical world Irie creates with her illustrations is lovely, and it is shown off well by the larger volume size and deluxe treatment of the Viz Signature Edition.

ECHO

by

By Akira and Oguchi, based on the Vocaloid song by Crusher-P. Released in Japan by PHP Institute. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Chen.

There is a certain subgenre of novels that are based on Vocaloid songs. We’ve seen a few of them over here, Kagerou Daze being the most obvious. But Kagerou Daze has sort of morphed into a franchise of which the original songs are but a part. ECHO, on the other hand, is a stand-alone novel based on the video of the same name, and after reading it it really doesn’t feel like you can separate the two works. In fact, I’d recommend tracking down the video on Youtube and watching it before reading this book – it doesn’t really spoil much beyond the girl who’s already on the cover, and it helps to make sense of some of the surreal events happening in the middle and end of the book, which quote most of the song outright. As for the book itself, in addition to fans of the original work, I’d recommend it to fans of dark horror with a mystery tinge. As for me, it was well-written, but it didn’t grab me as much as I’d have liked.

Our heroine, much as she spends much of the book denying it, is Hitomi, a teenage girl who helps her family run an electronics store. (Her last name is an aggravation to her but also a character point, so I’ll avoid it for now.) While watching the store one afternoon, she suddenly finds herself flipping through various places as if she were a TV program, finally ending up falling from quite a height into a bizarre amusement park. Fortunately, she doesn’t go splat, and runs into a few other people in the park – her childhood friend, who she’s somewhat estranged from now; the daughter of the richest family in their (very rural) town; a tall introverted girl who seems to be connected to the rich girl in some way; and an adult actor who says he was just passing through town and somehow wound up here, and seems suspicious right from the get-go. Where are they? Why can’t they remember how they got there? And what’s with the girl with six arms and a TV for a head?

The novel is written by a seasoned pro at the genre, and it shows, there’s no awkward “webnovel” prose that you’d see in some works these days. There is some striking imagery, starting with the prologue, which features a horrific sight sure to get rid of any readers who don’t like horror at all. That said, I wish I’d had more time to get to know the characters before events caught up with them. There’s also the presence of Hitomi, which doesn’t really match any of the others, and whose explanation is far from satisfying – clearly she was there because the narrator needed to be an “everygirl” and audience surrogate. She insists she’s not the sort of person to be a protagonist, which may be true of shoujo manga, but if you turn towards Japanese novels for young adults, she absolutely is. The most interesting part of the book to me was probably the real world perspective of the mother of one of the characters, who ends up being tied into the plot far more than expected.

In the end, this is a good book that does what it set out to do – craft a novel around a piece of music. Fans of the song will enjoy it. (Also, wow, what a depressing “this is what happens after you die” this novel has. Pass on that.)

We Never Learn, Vol. 1

by

By Taishi Tsutsui. Released in Japan as “Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Camellia Nieh.

It always feels reassuring to have a romantic comedy coming out in Shonen Jump in amongst all the friendship, training and victory. Especially coming out in North America, where Jump romantic comedies have not always had the best track record. Nisekoi was a recent hit, but it’s an outlier – To-Love-Ru and its sequel were farmed out to a different company, and does anyone remember Strawberry 100%? That said, like Nisekoi, We Never Learn seems to be falling more on the side of “romantic comedy with strong character development” rather than “romantic comedy with lots of panty shots and sexual suggestiveness”. Like, well, those other two series. As a result, it’s far more my type of series. The main characters are all types, but they’re enjoyably written and aren’t aggravating. Nisekoi fans may find Fumino a bit familiar to Onodera, but that’s no surprise, given the author wrote Nisekoi’s magical girl spinoff.

Nariyuki is a serious young man from a poor family who needs a recommendation to get into a good school. He’s an excellent student, not through innate ability but hard study. He is, sadly, not the best in his class in science and literature, thanks to two geniuses who effortlessly get the best grades. Now he is being told to tutor these two, as they each have goals that clash with their specialty – literature genius Fumino wants to study astronomy but is wretched at science, and Rizu wants to go into the arts despite being seemingly awful at understanding feelings and emotions. Things get off to a rocky start, but Nariyuki is not one to give up easily, To make matters more chaotic, Naruyuki’s friend Uruka needs to study in order to stay on the swimming team, but she’s bad at EVERYTHING. Can he get these girls to bone up on the right things and achieve their dreams? And, more importantly, fall in love with one of them?

Well, I say that, but at this point in the series love is not all that high on the agenda, which is content to introduce the main cast and have them bond as friends. The plot is very sedate with few surprises – the girls meet Naruyuki’s family, the girls each reveals secret asides to themselves, etc. One of the interesting things about the title I noticed is that there’s no “first girl” here – both main female protagonists are introduced at once, so you don’t get a sense of who the author favors. (Sorry, Uruka, you arrive three chapters late.) I suspect that Western readers will gravitate to Rizu – let’s face it, Fumino is the classic “nice girl who always comes in second” sort (see also Nisekoi) – but it’s going to be more of a surprise than these titles usually pull off. The author also has a good flair for art and facial expressions – there’s just a lot of amusing faces here, and I found myself laughing at them as much as the characters and situation.

So overall a pretty strong debut, and I can see why it was licensed. I look forward to seeing these girls make painfully slow progress in their efforts to learn outside their specialties.

Toradora!, Vol. 3

by

By Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Lora Gray.

In many ways this feels like a filler volume in the series, but I think it’s actually focusing more on the main cast and how Ryuuji is able to understand them – or not, as the case may be. Ryuuji is a nice, kind person but he’s not all that good at getting “what women want”, so to speak. That applies to Taiga, who spends much of this book intensely frustrated and upset – even for her. It also applies to Ami, who has been given her depth in the last book and so is free to backslide and be the ‘evil transfer student’ everyone was fearing – or is she merely trying to aggressively flirt? And then there’s Minori, who is theoretically Ryuuji’s crush, but who he seems to try to understand the least, letting her walk through the novel being Taiga’s goofy best friend without pondering why she acts the way she does. It’s not just “I am weird”, Ryuuji. By the end of the book he hasn’t figured much out either, but the stage is at least set for the next part of the series.

The book takes place immediately after the previous one, where Ami put Ryuuji in a compromising position and is now gleefully watching the fireworks. Taiga, of course, insists she is not angry, and we know what that means. Worse, swimming classes are up next, and Taiga has to wear a swimsuit (thus showing off her childlike figure) and also swim (which she can’t). Things come to a head when Ami invites Ryuuji to her summer home over the break, so they could get to know each other better. Taiga snaps, and we’re set up for a swimming challenge – the winner essentially gets Ryuuji. You could argue Ryuuji’s biggest mistake in this book is not shutting this down before it starts, but instead, he does his best to teach Taiga to swim and try to figure out why she’s so upset – which isn’t quite the reason he thinks.

This book came out about twelve years ago in Japan, and so a lot of the things that might feel obvious to the reader were a lot fresher then. If the big drawback in this volume is that there’s very little forward movement, the plus is this allows us to see a lot of silly and/or heartwarming scenes that we might not otherwise have gotten. The cold opening at the hospital, where we worry that Ryuuji’s mother may have died but then realize the far more amusing truth, is an absolutely perfect scene. Ami too is a horrible delight, and the humiliation she goes through near the end once again feels especially deserved. But as always the main reason to love this is Taiga, who is a bundle of issues and all the more readable because of them. Her “solution” to the challenge was fantastic, if also appalling.

If I recall correctly from the manga, the next volume should be especially strong. This one isn’t a world beater, but it’s fun, especially if you like seeing Taiga blow up.

Manga the Week of 12/12/18

by , , , and 1 Comment

SEAN: Merry Christmas! Why this early? Well, Yen Press is releasing most of its December lineup in one go next week. But first…

Dark Horse debuts Dangan Ronpa 2, the adaptation of the 2nd visual novel murder game. The 2nd is apparently more popular than the first, so I’m interested to see what it’s like.

J-Novel Club has three ongoing series: How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 6, I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused the Apocalypse 11, and Lazy Dungeon Master 3. To show I don’t read EVERY light novel, I’m only following one of those three.

Kodansha’s print this month is pretty light, but there are a few volumes. Again!! 6, Noragami: Stray God 19 (wow, remember Noragami? This is what happens when you catch up…), and To Your Eternity 8.

ASH: Oh! Some good choices there!

SEAN: Digitally we debut, gloriously, CROCODILE BARON! It has a crocodile in a top hat on its cover, and therefore is required reading. It’s from Weekly Morning, and despite its top-hatted crocs, seems to be a foodie manga.

Seven Seas has only two, and they’re both light novels. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: The Golden Yarn is a light novel based on the popular manga series. And there’s also the 5th volume (digitally, print will come later) of Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in My Next Life?!.

MICHELLE: Huh. I may have to read a light novel!

ASH: I’m looking forward to giving the light novels a try, too.

SEAN: SuBLime has two titles as well, with the 2nd Escape Journey and the 6th volume of Manga Bookshelf anti-favorite Ten Count.

MICHELLE: Unfortunately, Escape Journey is problematic, too.

MJ: I feel like we could build a fort out of problematic BL manga, and it would stand up unfortunately well against the elements. That thing would be solid.

SEAN: Udon has an 8th volume of Persona 3. (How long are these spinoff manga anyway?)

ASH: I’ll admit I tired of the Persona 3 adaptation pretty quickly, but I have been largely enjoying the Persona 4 manga.

Vertical has the 4th volume of not-Nichijou-but-close manga CITY.

Viz debuts Dragon Quest Illustrations, a sweet-looking artbook with illustrations from… well, I’ll let that be a surprise for the reader.

We also get the third and final volume of After Hours, Magi 33, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 4, and Splatoon 5.

ASH: I’d forgotten that After Hours was so short.

SEAN: That just leaves Yen, but we’re not done here. Digitally we see the 20th Corpse Princess and the 10th IM: Great Priest Imhotep.

Yen has delayed about half its light novels to the week after next, but that still leaves several for this list. The Asterisk War 8, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 12, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 3, KonoSuba 7, Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers 6, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 4 all are novels out next week.

On the manga side, there are four debuts, two of which are side-story tie-ins and two of which we’ve seen already in single-chapter digital releases. Dead Mount Death Play is a manga series we’ve seen released in chapter format but now we get a volume. It’s from Ryohgo Narita, the creator of Baccano! and DRRR!!, but seems darker than both those series. And NE NE NE (complete in one volume) is a sweet romantic comedy that ran in Shonen Gangan.

MICHELLE: NE NE NE looks cute!

ANNA: That does sound cute.

ASH: I’m glad it’s getting a print release! I’ve been wanting to read it.

SEAN: Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One is a manga adaptation of the Goblin Story: Year One side story light novels, and your name Another Side: Earthbound is also a manga adaptation of a light novel side story. It’s almost Inception-esque.

Not based on light novels: As Miss Beelzebub Likes 4, Bungo Stray Dogs 9, Girls’ Last Tour 5, Hakumei & Mikochi 3, Hatsu*Haru 4, Horimiya 12, One Week Friends 5, A Polar Bear in Love 4, School of Horns 2, Silver Spoon 6, The Strange Creature at Kuroyuri Apartments 2, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 5, and Yowamushi Pedal 10. In case Manga Bookshelf folks are skimming that long list, ‘Silver Spoon’ and ‘Yowapeda’ are what you want to stop on.

MICHELLE: Aww, yiss. I could use some Yowamushi Pedal about now.

ANNA: Nice!

ASH: Yup, Silver Spoon and Yowamushi Pedal definitely have most of my attention out of that bunch, though there are a few other series I’m reading, too.

MJ: Did someone say Silver Spoon?

SEAN: On the ‘based on light novels’ side, we see Accel World 8, The Boy and the Beast 4 (which is the final volume), The Honor Student at Magic High School 9. The Isolator 4, Kagerou Daze 11, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 9, and Sword Art Online: Progressive 7 (which marks the final volume by the current artist, but I think it’s being rebooted with a new one).

It’s another giant pile. What are you getting? Could it be crocodiles in top hats? Or something else?

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 10

by

By Kaoru Mori. Released in Japan as “Otoyomegatari” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Harta. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by William Flanagan.

After two volumes of focus on Pariya, returning to our home base couple feels very peaceful and reassuring, even if they’re not together a lot of the time. As with the previous volumes, Amir and Karluk’s story is about waiting for Karluk to get older and more mature, and the fact that they love each other regardless. Karluk is a typical teenage boy, even on the Silk Road, and therefore constantly worries that he’s not manly enough and that Amir is somehow unhappy. This is fairly ridiculous, not only because Karluk is nice and sweet and doing his best, but also because Amir is a saint who can do no wrong. (I’ve come to really love A Bride’s Story, but Amir still needs a few more flaws.) But Karkuk doesn’t see this, and so there’s only one thing for a boy on the verge of manhood to do… hunt wild animals! Good thing too, as in this day and in this place, hunting animals for food is a life or death situation.

This also allows Karluk to bond with his brother-in-law, and realize that Amir’s tribe is really in dire straits… they are poor and have very little future available to them. This is presented very matter of factly, and Karluk (and the reader) can’t really do much about it except stare into the middle distance. But at least they’re training Karluk as a hunter, and we get some gorgeous shots of the landscape and foxes, antelope, etc. that roam wild and free but also provide food and clothing for our heroes. Amir shows up every once in a while as well, though Karluk tries to make the visits less frequent, because he’s hoping this will make them long for each other even more. (Amir doesn’t quite get this, of course, because she’s fully accepted her feelings for Karluk already.) He’s a good kid, and I wonder how long it will be before they take that next step.

After their story, we are back to Mr. Smith and his guide, who are finally making their way to Ankara, where he meets up with a good friend he knew from school (and I think his name is Henry? God knows, everyone keeps calling him Smith regardless). That’s not all that follows him, however… Talas, the girl he had the not-quite-romance with several volumes ago, has gotten married but still longs for her true love, and so her husband (whose sainthood here rivals Amir) takes her to Ankara to find Mr. Smith, because he wants her to be happy. I’m not really sure I enjoyed this part as much as the author wanted me to. The story of Smith and Talas was a nice bittersweet tale of a love that wasn’t meant to be, and seeing it revived here feels a bit like a cop out. I suspect their story will take up much of the next volume.

A Bride’s Story has a few weaknesses that my head just can’t get away from, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the series and its characters. And its art, which is fantastic. Still recommended.

Bookshelf Briefs 12/5/18

by and Leave a Comment

ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 5 | By Natsume Ono | Yen Press – Jean’s identity is, if not in the open explicitly, at least well known among the cast. This is a big problem, of course, especially for his sister, who is the very definition of hostage bait. Fortunately, Jean also has friends that can help him out there—his sister is pretty much the one ray of sunshine in the series, so I don’t want to see her sacrificed. That doesn’t mean that it’s depressing tragedy, mind you—it just means that, as with most Ono titles, the majority consists of discussions among middle-aged men (and one woman). This being ACCA, they’re political discussions, though there’s a bit of food thrown in. As always, a good read if you’re an Ono fan. – Sean Gaffney

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 2 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Since the first volume came out, we’ve seen the appearance of the My Life as a Villainess series, which has essentially the exact same premise. That series is more focused on Katarina changing her fate and bonding with the cast of the VN, though. Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter is more like Realist Hero, wanting to change the world and advance it towards modern times. So we’re not only inventing chocolate, but also coffee, and concentrating on good roads and educating the youth. There’s not really much in terms of antagonists so far—Iris explains what she wants to do precisely and effectively, and everyone agrees with her. This makes it a tad dull, sadly. – Sean Gaffney

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 4 | By Spica Aoki | Seven Seas – I didn’t know when I started this volume that it’s the final volume of the series. It was only when one of the central hunky boys got definitively crossed off the list romantically that I was spurred to look it up and, yep, this is it. In her notes afterwards, Aoki-sensei says there was much she wanted and needed to draw that she couldn’t include, which makes me wonder if the series got canceled. Still, it hangs together reasonably well. Nina’s origins are explained, the king makes an appearance, there’s a big escape, noble sacrifice, and one person who seems to entirely lose touch with reality. What we don’t see is how any of the luga fare once they are out in the world but we’re encouraged to imagine a happy ending. Overall, this series was far from deep but still pretty fun. – Michelle Smith

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 5 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – There are interesting things going on in this volume of Clear Card. We meet Sakura’s great-grandfather, who apparently fell out with Nadeshiko when she got married (possibly as she married her teacher), but now regrets it because she’s dead. Speaking of that, Nadeshiko explicitly tells Sakura she should stop summoning her spirit for visions as it’s unhealthy. And Eriol finally coughs up a bit of info, revealing that Sakura is making her own cards using her magic and imagination—and that’s super dangerous if she knows about it. So let’s keep everything from her some more. I’d be more invested in this sequel if it weren’t so dull—the interesting plot points are conveyed tediously. – Sean Gaffney

Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – The way that Frau Faust ends is surprising to no one, but it’s done with a lot of style and feeling. Even the villains in this story get a chance to show off how they got that way, and for Marion, it’s an attempt to show off how much he’s grown. Despite that, this wasn’t going to be his story in the end—Johanna is who the reader is invested in. (Sarah is also pretty invested in Johanna, and the way her story resolves is touching but also very sad.) I actually wish that the series had gone on a bit longer—the action sequences here are even better than in The Ancient Magus’ Bride—but I’m also fine with this ending, which is final and yet the teensiest bit ambiguous. Let’s license more Yamazaki. – Sean Gaffney

Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – As the volume begins, Johanna has let herself be captured by the church in order to gain access to the holy city, where Mephisto’s final parts are. A lot of the stuff that follows isn’t exactly clear, but the gist of it is that all of Johanna’s friends are there to help her get to Mephisto’s head and there is a lot of action that culminates with her telling him, “I win.” Quite a few aspects of the ending are open to interpretation, which I’m not exactly fond of, but which fits the spirit of the series pretty well. Chief among them—did Johanna actually intend for that to happen all along? I do love how inspired by her everyone else was, and am especially fond the quiet love story between two characters. In the end, I enjoyed this series very much, though I do wish it had been longer. – Michelle Smith

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 5 | By Ukami |Yen Press – We get another new character this time around, in the form of Kurona. She’s a demon who wants to make friends, but is rather awful at it, and it doesn’t help that she’s trying to befriend Taplis, who is an airhead even by the standards of Gabriel Dropout, a series dripping with airheads. Speaking of which, Satanya’s new attempt to defeat Gabriel works quite well, but not in the way she intended. (Yuri fans may like it, though.) We also get more backstory showing how Gabriel became what she is now, which was… exactly what you’d expect, to be honest. There weren’t quite as many laughs in this volume of Gabriel Dropout, but it’s still a cute, fun series. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 3 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I guess we do need to pair at least some of the spares already, as Miki and Kiyo, the pure cute boy-girl team from last time, end up becoming a couple in this volume in an utterly pure, cute and adorable way. Unfortunately, Kai is the hero, so he’s not going to have nearly as easy a time of it. On the bright side, Riko’s crush on Satoshi pretty much gets kicked to the curb this volume, as we confirm that he’s getting married. Which she knew was coming, but it still hurts. This allows Kai to man up and confess to Riko, though given this series is thirteen volumes and this is volume three, I suspect it may go badly. Still, while this breaks no new ground, it’s a good shoujo story, well told. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 8 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – There’s pretty much a volume full of action here. Some of it is Kuroko and Hinako, who pair up again to try to take out the big bad (and we actually get some backstory for Hinako! It’s as blood-filled as you’d expect.) and some of it is Urara, Kuroko’s hugely muscled and somewhat dim bartender friend, who’s on the cover but is mostly there to be comedy relief. It’s also nice to see Reiko, the cool assassin from previous books, who is still very good at her job but gets very angry if you think she’s a boy. (She also gets the sex scene at the end of the volume, meaning it’s pretty tasteful.) But let’s face it—we read Murcielago for the ridiculous violence. There’s a lot of it here. – Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 88 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – Having successfully rescued Sanji, the Straw Hat crew is now attempting to escape the clutches of Big Mom, who is rampaging because she didn’t get to eat any wedding cake. I really appreciated the spotlight on female characters in this volume. Nami has actually been extremely smart and capable this whole arc, but now we see super tsundere Pudding stepping up to make a new cake to satisfy Big Mom’s hunger as well as Carrot the mink briefly becoming a badass as she transforms under the full moon. I also like that Pudding seems really into Sanji; I kind of hope they end up an official couple! Luffy’s fight with Katakuri is entertaining, as well, since their powers are so similar. All in all, this is a very well-paced and exciting installment. – Michelle Smith

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 9 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – We continue to stagger onwards towards the events of Richard III, though honestly neither Kanno or the reader are all that interested in matching up with Shakespeare precisely. We also lose Richard’s older brother George, who is done in by a lot of political machinations and Richard essentially being a triple agent. That said, Richard may be in trouble soon, as Buckinghan, the classic “bespectacled bastard,” has learned his body has a secret to it. Fortunately, he also has a mysterious bodyguard, who readers will immediately recognize but Richard doesn’t quite—yet. This is basically Kanno’s best series. Buy it. – Sean Gaffney