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Manga the Week of 5/23/18

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SEAN: Stuff. A lot. Just… a lot of stuff.

J-Novel Club has new volumes for Arifureta and Infinite Dendrogram, and they’re both Vol. 6s.

Kodansha print has Golosseum, a very manly manga from the magazine Nemesis, which will appeal to fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Crying Freeman, or just people who like really muscular guys killing people gorily.

ANNA: This may be relevant to my interests.

ASH: Also for people interested in spectacularly outrageous political satire.

MJ: I can sometimes get into spectacularly outrageous political satire. Hm.

SEAN: On the digital front, the debut is Can You Just Die, My Darling? (Konya wa Tsuki ga Kirei Desu ga, Toriaezu Shine), a horror romance from Shonen Magazine R that should also appeal to fans of gore.

There’s also new digital titles for Ace of the Diamond (11), Ayanashi (3), Domestic Girlfriend (17), Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (7), Kounodori: Dr. Stork (9), Liar x Liar (2), and My Brother the Shut-In (5).

MICHELLE: I can’t believe I’m so far behind on Elegant Yokai Apartment Life and My Brother the Shut-In already!

SEAN: Retrofit Comics is releasing The Troublemakers, a collection of stories by Baron Yoshimoto. It looks to be rated M for Manly.

Seven Seas has a ton of debuts next week, so let’s also mention they have a 6th Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, a 2nd Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho, and a 3rd Yokai Rental Shop.

MICHELLE: I’ve been reading the first two volumes of Yokai Rental Shop. I’m not yet sure what I make of it, but it’s evidently only four volumes long, so I will probably be getting volume three, too.

ASH: The series hasn’t captivated me nearly as much as Nightmare Inspector, but there’s enough for me to keep reading, too.

SEAN: Devilman: The Classic Collection is a hardcover deluxe edition of the original 70s manga that ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine about 46 years ago. If you liked the modern anime, you’ll love the original. Just… don’t get too attached to anyone.

ANNA: Woah.

ASH: I’m excited for this! It’s a beast of a volume, too, from the pictures I’ve seen.

SEAN: The Dungeon of Black Company seems to be a take on the isekai genre, and… oh, everyone left. In any case, it runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: Himouto! Umaru-chan is a comedic series that runs in Weekly Young Jump, and there’s also an anime. The premise sounds like Kare Kano – the perfect student at school is a total slob at home.

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal (Watashi to Sensei no Genjuu Shinryouroku) is a Comic Blade fantasy title, and looks to be more for Ancient Magus’ Bride fans.

ASH: In that case, I should make sure to give it a look.

SEAN: Vertical Comics has a 3rd omnibus for Arakawa Under the Bridge.

Viz has a digital only 8th volume of Boys Over Flowers Season 2.

ANNA: Need to get caught up on this series. I keep misplacing my iPad!

SEAN: And there is a pile of Yen. On the Yen On front we have a debut this time around. A Sister’s All You Need (Imouto sae Ireba ii) is from the creator of Haganai, and best known for having the most polarizing first episode of an anime ever. I may hate this, but what the hey.

Yen On also has a 15th A Certain Magical Index, a 5th Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, a 5th My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, a 7th Overlord, an a 9th Strike the Blood.

Yen Press has one debut next week, The Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts (Niehime to Kemono no Ou). It’s a Hana to Yume title, meaning Anna will be interested, as will I. It looks sort of fantasy, sort of romance, and has a sweetie-pie as the heroine.

ANNA: I am for sure interested!!!!! More Hana to Yume please!

MICHELLE: Hm. I might be interested, too.

ASH: Same!

MJ: I might too!

SEAN: Yen Press ongoing titles. Let’s run through the gauntlet. Baccano! has its 3rd manga volume (it’s the final one). Delicious in Dungeon with Vol. 5. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! has its 11th manga volume. Dimension W is up to Vol. 10, Forbidden Scrollery gets a 3rd volume, Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has its 9th manga volume, KonoSuba has its 6th manga volume…

(pauses, breathes a bit)

…The Royal Tutor is up to Vol. 7, The Saga of Tanya the Evil gives us a 2nd manga volume, Scum’s Wish has its 7th book (I will read it and feel terrible), Tales of Wedding Rings is at Book 2, Triage X has somehow hit Volume 15 (is it the breasts? It’s probably the breasts), and Trinity Seven is at lucky 13.

MICHELLE: So far behind on Delicious in Dungeon!

ASH: You’re in for a treat! I’m enjoying the series immensely.

SEAN: As I said, stuff. Are you buying manga? Or clearing tree debris from the latest nightmarish storm?

Toradora!, Vol. 1

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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 J.P. Sullivan.

This really isn’t a review for the Toradora! newbie. It’s been about 8 years since the manga debuted over here, and I still think the main reason Seven Seas licensed the novels is that they got tired of the slow schedule for the Japanese manga releases. The anime is also ten years old this fall. And, sorry about this, but like A Certain Magical Index, Toradora! is one where I did read the fan translated novels, as I had no confidence it would ever be licensed. I mean, there’s no supernatural content in it! But the novels are finally out in North America, and I am pleased, as I really love the story and characters and want to experience them the way they were originally intended. Which, oddly enough, means reading this book like a stand-alone, as it was clearly written. Despite the author’s afterword saying to look forward to more, the book itself wraps everything up (if slightly ambiguously) in one package.

I’ll do a quick summary, just in case any readers who hadn’t experienced this series finished that last paragraph. Ryuuji is a young man who has “angry eyes” (see also Haganai), and has dealt with people misunderstanding him because of it. But now he’s in high school, and can make a fresh start. That is until he runs into Taiga, a short and angry girl who is a giant cloud of issues all bubbling to the surface. Due to various misunderstandings which make up the bulk of the book, each realizes that they love someone else – Ryuuji loves Taiga’s best friend Minori, and Taiga loves Kitamura, a charming and bespectacled young man in their class. Ryuuji, who is a very nice guy, and not in the modern sense of “nice guy”, tries to help Taiga win her love. This is difficult, because it’s really clear from the start that Ryuuji and Taiga are perfect for each other.

Later in these volumes (the series runs to ten books plus side stories) there is an attempt to try to ‘balance’ the harem a bit, adding another girl and showing more of Minori’s feelings about Ryuuji. But honestly, I hope anyone who doesn’t like Taiga knows enough to stop reading and find another property, because Taiga is absolutely Best Girl here. Taiga is less of a tiger and more of a miniature hurricane, leaving chaos and destruction in her wake. As for Ryuuji, he’s a sweetie pie, something Taiga straight up says near the end of the book. He’s dealing with a lot, and his natural inclination is to try to help this chaotic event that has just strolled into his life. Fortunately, he is the rock that Taiga can cling to.

There’s a few things in this book that make it feel like a first volume – in particular, Minori and Kitamura aren’t given the chance to be as eccentric or deep as they become later on. And Seven Seas’ translation has a few issues – I did notice one point where Ryuuji’s mom, Yasuko, should have been speaking but the paragraph got mangled a bit. Still, any Toradora! fan will want to read this, primarily for the amazing chemistry between its two leads.

Dorohedoro, Vol. 22

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By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hibana. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by AltJapan Co., Ltd. (Hiroko Yoda + Matt Alt).

In general, one does not really read Dorohedoro for the romantic pairings. That isn’t to say there aren’t any in the fandom, or even in the manga itself. Noi pretty clearly has a giant crush on Shin, though it’s uncertain if it will be requited. There’s something going on between Ebisu and Fujita, though given the way the author uses Ebisu as sort of a walking disaster, I’m not certain if that will go anywhere either. And then there’s Caiman and Nikaido, which honestly has gotten the least attention. Yes, Caiman has a lizard head, and they’ve spent a great deal of the story separated from each other for one reason or another, but the writing of the series also seemed to indicate that these two were more “best buds” than anything else. But romantic or no, the two have one of the strongest bonds in the series, and the events of this volume try their damnedest to strengthen it and tear it to bits.

Actually, Nikaido gets more to do here than in any of the volumes since we found out about her backstory. She’s finally fully evolved into a devil, and is ready to take on the massive sorcerer-killing THING that’s walking all around the Hole and its environs ramping up the body count massively. (Yes, despite the fact that I say this literally every review, a word of warning: this volume of Dorohedoro is astonishingly violent and gory.) But even the Store Knife that cuts everything may not get them out of this one. The creature (which Chidaruma, who spends the entire volume essentially being Deadpool, nicknames “Holey”) has a one-track mind, immense powers, and the ability to defend itself to a ridiculous degree, which includes making miniature rainstorms to wipe out a group of sorcerers who took shelter in the hospital. It’s really not a good volume to be a sorcerer, and lots of the future corpses mention that they’re connected to En’s group. That said, the characters we actually know from said group seem to be OK for now.

As for Nikaido, she does an awesome job, but let’s face it, by the end of the volume she’s been killed, used up her time travel abilities, is no longer a devil, and then is killed AGAIN. It’s just not her day. The most interesting part of the volume may be her discussion with Asu and Caiman about the way she views time-travel, which doesn’t quite mesh with most time-travel narratives a reader may have come across before. It’s always nice when Dorohedoro slows down long enough to have these conversations. Of course, the question now is whether they’ll be much of a cast left to deal with things after this. I’m taking a wild guess that Caiman will be able to do something about Nikaido, but that likely doesn’t fix the overall disasters that are befalling this entire world, and En and company aren’t in good shape either. Can Dorohedoro ever get back to some sort of equilibrium by its finale? Dunno, but I’m in this for the long haul.

Cutie Honey A Go-Go

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Cutie Honey a Go Go! is not a conventionally good manga: the plot is riddled with holes, the story lacks a proper conclusion, and the characters are paper-thin. Yet for all its obvious limitations, Cutie Honey a Go Go! is cheeky fun in the manner of an Austin Powers movie; it’s a cartoon of a cartoon, an irreverent send-up of the source material that simultaneously captures the original manga’s naughty tone while updating the plot and characters for contemporary readers.

Cutie Honey a Go Go! borrows liberally from Hideaki Anno’s 2004 film and Go Nagai’s original 1973 manga, mixing elements of both with a few new flourishes. In Cutie Honey a Go Go!, for example, Aki Natsuko is no longer a blushing school girl with a crush on her android sempai, but a hard-charging special agent who faces down danger with the brash confidence of a Harrison Ford character. Aki and Cutie’s arch nemesis Sister Jill has likewise gotten a makeover, from whip-wielding bad girl to wicked android intent on world domination. The signature elements of Nagai’s original story remain intact, however: Cutie Honey is still an impossibly innocent, cheerful android whose clothing dissolves to tatters every time she powers up, and her main opponents are the Panther Claw ladies, a group of monstrous beauties who work for Sister Jill.

Though manga-ka Shimpei Itoh’s action scenes are clumsy, his character designs are a playful nod to the era that begat Cutie Honey, straddling the fence between retro and modern. The Panther Claw gang look like Betty Paige cosplayers, busty gals in barely-there costumes that feature leopard spots and extra arms, while Cutie Honey rocks her signature pixie cut and a backless jumpsuit that David Lee Roth might have worn in 1984. It’s hard to be offended by the T&A, though, since Cutie Honey a Go Go! resembles a 1962 issue of Playboy more than a volume of Air Gear; there’s a pin-up coyness about Itoh’s cheesecake that renders these images benign. It’s also difficult to be offended by a manga that works so hard to entertain the reader with its anything-for-a-laugh jokes, over-the-top battle sequences, and campy dialogue. I found its unironic goofiness charming — costume failures and all — and think you might, too. Recommended.

Cutie Honey a Go Go!
Original Story by Go Nagai; Story & Art by Shimpei Itoh; Planning Cooperation by Hideaki Anno
Translated by Zack Davisson and Adrienne Beck
Seven Seas, 400 pp.
Rated T, for Teen (Nudity and bloodless violence)

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Vol. 1

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By Yu Okano and Jaian. Released in Japan as “Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha” by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

My readers by now should be well aware that it doesn’t take much for me to be happy with what I’m reading. Usually, particularly in the case of light novels, I either really like a unique take on the standard premise, or I like a book that is the standard premise but with a twist that surprises and pleases me. This new series definitely falls into the latter category. Despite the fact that I can’t really remember a book over here that begins with the hero dying and becoming undead, the execution of most of the book is pretty much what you’d expect. He tries to come to terms with his new unlife, he fights monsters in the dungeon and levels up, he meets the occasional newbie adventurer and helps them, and he tries to see if there is any way that he can somehow evolve enough to regain his humanity. Where I feel the book really succeeds, though, is in showing the reader the disconnect between our hero’s perspective of himself and the rest of the cast.

Our hero is Rentt Faina, who is a bronze-level adventurer hunting monsters in the lesser of the two dungeons his village has. He’s one step above newbie, but still a bronze level adventurer – after ten years of trying. The problem is that he has a little talent in everything but not a lot in anything. What’s more, he accidentally finds an uncharted part fo the dungeon… and immediately runs into a dragon, who essentially kills him. When he wakes up, he’s a skeleton, but still retains his memories – and powers, which is surprising given one of them is basically godly blessings against undead. Everything that Rentt narrates about himself paints him as a useless, somewhat stubborn schmuck who should have realized he’s just not any damn good at adventuring and retired ages ago to find something better to do.

Except we then slowly learn about the village Rentt lives in, its adventurers, guild, and other associated parties. And to them, Rentt is not only one of the most important people in the village but the reason the village is so successful at all. He’s only a bronze level adventurer because he has low abilities, but his KNOWLEDGE is that of a 10-year-old veteran. What’s more, he’s a decent, moral person. The Guild essentially relies on Rentt to train all the newbies so that they learn and grow the proper way. The higher-up adventurers who travel through the larger, more famous dungeon in town all got their start with Rentt. The idea that he hasn’t returned from the dungeon worries and upsets them. I cannot say enough how much I loved this. There’s a scene where Rentt visits the blacksmith and his wife, who knew him before, and tries to pass himself off as this cowled, mysterious OTHER guy who happens to have Rentt’s exact power skill. From Rentt’s POV, he feels bad he can’t say anything but is happy he can at least get a new sword. From the POV of the blacksmith and his wife, it’s “why isn’t he saying anything? Doesn’t he trust us?”.

This is, honestly, one of the two reasons to read the book. The other is Lorraine, one of the three women on the cover (don’t worry, it’s not really a harem), a young mad scientist and Rentt’s best friend. Her mad science is amusing, as is her devotion to the (of course) clueless Rentt, to the point where she’s willing to let him bite and drink her blood in order to save him, and is rather sad when he heals her completely later. I like female mad scientists in general, b ut the other thing about Lorraine is that when she’s giving exposition about the world and its mechanics, it actually sounds interesting. When Rentt is doing it in his monologue – which is sadly a great deal of the book – it reads like, well, the other 85 light novels you’ve recently read where the lead takes one hundred pages to explain the mechanics of dungeon crawls to the reader.

So yeah, there’s a lot of Rentt, and Rentt’s own monologue makes him seem like someone you would not want to read about. However, the alternate story being told around Rentt is fantastic, and I want to see more of it. As such, I’d definitely recommend carrying on with this series.

Pick of the Week: Heart vs. Head

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MICHELLE: I’m most excited about Kodansha’s digital josei offerings this week. Since I’ve already advocated for Chihayafuru several times in this space, this week I’ll go with the second volume of Perfect World. I look forward to catching up on this series, as I hear it’s fab.

ASH: I feel like I should officially pick Okinawa–and I certainly plan on getting my hands on a copy–but if I’m honest, my heart this week belongs to Dorohedoro. The series is drawing near its end, I think, and I still love it just as much as I did in beginning.

SEAN: Same. I loves me some Dorohedoro.

KATE: The part of me that eats kale and recycles is recommending Okinawa, as it’s undoubtedly an Important Manga, but the juvie delinquent part of me is more excited about the sixth volume of I Am a Hero. So my keepin’ it real pick for the week is ZOMBIES.

ANNA: I’m going to have to go with Chihayafuru even though I’m far behind with this series. I am still so happy it is being translated!

[New Life+] Young Again in Another World, Vol. 2

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By Mine and Kabocha. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Teng.

There were certain things I asked for in my review of the first volume of this series, and to its credit I sort of get some of them. The writing is far more consistent in tone for this second volume, and while there are still “gosh, big breasts!” scenes, they’ve gotten smaller in number. I also think I have more of a handle on why this series in particular may have been licensed – the hero’s pragmatism I think would greatly appeal to the sort of online reader of isekais who hates isekai heroes. Several times in this book Renye does things that are, while not exactly bad, at least on the morally grey end of the spectrum. That said, he also gets to have a nice cool fight at the end, so it’s not all cynical. I would like, however, to see if this series has an overarching plot beyond “I want to buy a house and make better bread”. So far, it doesn’t seem to.

For those of you looking at that cover and thinking “gosh, I hope that’s real yuri and not just godawful pandering”, I’m afraid to say your hopes are in vain. In fact, the big drawback in this second volume is that both Shion and Rona get much less to do this time around. Shion is a big shiny ball of naive gumption, so it doesn’t matter as much in her case. But given that Rona was the main reason that I read this series beyond the first volume, the fact that she spends most of the time being the “long-suffering minder” sort is quite disappointing. Also, while I usually don’t really care as much that the heroes is so overpowered it’s ridiculous, it did bother me in the ending fight here, as it meant that all the other cast had to be beaten so hard that it amounted to a one-on-one battle. Which is a shame, as Renye is, to be honest, not the most charismatic person in the world. I prefer bland and nice to bland and grim.

Other things to mention: Since I brought up Renye’s overpowered skills already, I will note that his magic training did amuse me greatly, and it’s always funny whenever he thinks that he’s really weak or average at something but it turns out to be ludicrously over the top instead. There is also a lot of discussion of the making and preparing of food – I realize that foodie series are the new vampires/ninjas/Alices, but still wasn’t expecting it in a series like this. (Speaking of which, it’s surprising that Cooking with Wild Game hasn’t been licensed by now…) And there’s a side story where Renye briefly turns into a woman, causing Shion and Rona to briefly lose their minds. I’ve come to the conclusion that when I see “side story” at the end of these isekai volumes, it’s almost always going to be annoying fanservice.

As I said at the start, the prose is settling down a bit, and I’m starting to see why this ran for so many volumes in Japan. But I think it needs a better hook than it has, and an actual overarching plot. Till then, I’d only recommend New Life Plus to people who like more cynical heroes, or who like to admire the girls.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 8

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By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Sometimes I wonder if the author of this series is even aware of the disquieting implications of what he writes. At times it looks like he is. The start of this volume has Touya discovering, at last, the Library of Babylon, with its ridiculous number of ancient scripts. Leen, who is over the moon about this, proposes to Touya on the spot. Touya is rather nonplussed by this, as is the reader, because in the last seven volumes we’ve seen nothing that puts Leen on the same level as the other girls in love with Touya. Indeed, later on the rest of the fiancees confront her and express doubts as well. It’s nice to see the author realized he didn’t really do enough foreshadowing. Sadly, the entire situation is resolved in about three paragraphs, after which she’s given a pass. So maybe the author is not as aware as I’d like.

That said, Leen is now a fiancee, which means she gets the main bonus of Touya turning into a raging villain whenever anyone threatens to rape her, something which happens a lot more in this series than I’d like. Again, because Touya is so bland of a protagonist, the fact that he’s casually cursing evil mooks with curses that are brutally horrific gives the reader a giant sense of disconnect. We also get more examples of his ridiculous power here, though that’s downplayed by the occasional bout of stupidity he has, like “oh, right, I really should give my kingdom laws”, or “maybe I shouldn’t have gone off somewhere with my new fiancee and not told any of the others.” (This also allows Leen to be blushy and embarrassed, which honestly seems grotesquely out of character for her.)

The plot, as with most Smartphone books, is divided into three. First we get the discovery of the library and its bookaholic maintainer, as well as Leen’s proposal. Next, young dragons are attacking cities, and it’s up to Touya and company to teach them a lesson. Finally, there’s a new dungeon that’s been discovered, leading Touya to do some dungeon crawling, something he really hasn’t done in his series, as opposed to most isekai titles like this. This leads to the discovery of a slaver ring, which Touya needs to break up. Oh, and we also have the Storehouse and its dojikko maintainer. Side stories include Leen needing to get permission from the fairies to get married, which mostly involves her upset kohai, as well as Regina Babylon, who does a lot in this series despite being dead, tricking Touya and company into playing an embarrassing real-life board game, which is mostly an excuse for fanservice. It also allows Touya to briefly have a libido, something he only seems to gain in these side stories.

Again, Isekai Smartphone is one of those series you’ll enjoy if you’ve enjoyed previous volumes, and after briefly making me think it would turn it up a notch has settled back down into “not good but entertaining”. Which is fine, I like being entertained, but don’t think I don’t notice the major characterization issues on display here.

Manga the Week of 5/16/18

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SEAN: If all goes well, I will be posting this Manga the Week of from a hotel room in Toronto! The wonders of modern all-leather technology! But let’s see what’s out next week.

Dark Horse gives us a 6th omnibus of I Am A Hero.

ASH: I thought I was over zombies, but I Am A Hero continues to be a great read.

SEAN: Fantagraphics has Okinawa, a title that explores the history of the island and its military occupation. It’s likely to be fairly grim, but absolutely worth your time. It’s also about 550 pages, so good value for money.

ASH: I’m always ready for more manga from Fantagraphics! I also find the history of Okinawa to be particularly interesting.

ANNA: Interesting, I might look into this for my library.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 4th 2-in-1 omnibus of To-Love-Ru.

J-Novel Club has put The Magic in This Other World is Too Far Behind! on the same once a month schedule as Rokujouma, meaning we get the 2nd volume next week.

Kodansha, print-wise, has a 2nd volume of the Attack on Titan Choose Your Own Adventure book, a 5th Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, and a 4th Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty. More superdeformed shoujo that I seem to like more than other folks!

MICHELLE: I’ve read a couple volumes of Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight so far and I get why someone might find the superdeformity amusing, but to me it’s just so uncute! I’ve never been a big SD fan, though. I vividly remember watching Fushigi Yuugi for the first time and being, like, “What is this crap?!” :)

SEAN: Kodansha digital debuts The Wizard and His Fairy, an Aria series whose plot is basically its title, and is also pretty short, this being the first of two volumes.

MICHELLE: It looks pretty!

ANNA: Sounds cute!

SEAN: Kodansha digital also has new Altair: A Record of Battles (8), Chihayafuru (11), Kasane (12), Love’s Reach (8), and Perfect World (2). I’m definitely looking forward to more Perfect World, the first volume was very good.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Perfect World. Also happy about more Chihayafuru, of course!

ANNA: I so need to catch up on Chihayafuru!

SEAN: One Peace has an 8th manga volume of The Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has two debuts next week. The first is Crisis Girls, a shonen title from Kodansha’s Shonen Magazine Edge. Like The Wizard and the Fairy, this one’s just two volumes, and this is the first. It seems to involve monsters and girls, though apparently not monster girls.

ASH: Okay, I’ll admit, a necromancer dressing in bright pink is kind of delightful.

SEAN: Hungry for You: Endo Yasuko Stalks the Night is the other debut, and it’s about (as you may have gathered) a vampire attending high school and her glasses-wearing emergency food (who is sadly not named Menchi). It’s very silly for the most part, and runs in Shonen Gahosha’s Young Comic, where it may be the one title in the magazine that’s not porn. It does have fanservice, though.

MICHELLE: Now I’m going to have Menchi’s mournful song in my head.

SEAN: Other Seven Seas releases include a print version of the 2nd Arifureta novel, a print version of the 6th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash novel (both digital J-Novel titles), a 2nd Juana and the Dragonewt’s Seven Kingdoms, and the 6th (shudders in loathing) Magical Girl Site.

Vertical has a 6th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

And Viz rounds out our list. They debut the RWBY Manga Anthology, a collection of shorts by various artists about the “western anime” show.

We also have a 4th Children of the Whales, a 22nd Dorohedoro, a 7th Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, and a 10th Ultraman. I am still so happy that Dorohedoro has run as long as it has.

ASH: Yes! Dorohedoro is the best!

Are you getting these in print? Digitally? Or via the new manga headjack, now on sale at all good stores?

The Asterisk War: The Triumphal Homecoming Battle

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By Yuu Miyazaki and okiura. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

New semester, new characters, new translator, it’s all new on the Asterisk War front. That said, I would not call this the start of a new arc, really. This book seems to be entirely concerned with putting pieces in place to set up the next few books. Sometimes this works well – the villain of the book is suitably arrogant and snotty, and you will enjoy his defeat – and sometimes it feels like it’s been shoehorned in – Orphelia essentially drops in to reveal who she is and her connection to Julis before going away for the rest of the book. Everyone’s schemes seem to have one think in common, though, which is to stop Claudia winning the next section of the tournament. This is because of her wish, which we are told several times we’re going to hear but never do. And certainly our main five characters would make quite a team if they can all work together, so the bad guys have good reason to worry.

We’ve moved a few months along after the battle of the last three books, and I am very happy o see we won’t have to deal with wacky classroom comedy like a lot of other magical school series. Instead Julis invites everyone to her home country, which is the ever popular “tiny country somewhere in Central Europe” that fantasy authors seem to love, so that she can visit the orphanage she saved by winning the tournament and also catch up with her brother the King. Of course, Julis lacks self-awareness (something she shares with Ayato at times), so is not sure why there’s suddenly a giant parade in her honor, or a party set up to show her off. She’s insanely popular now. Also, the country and various organizations seem to be shipping her with Ayato, which should go well as the author is as well, despite all the fanservicey harem illustrations. Unfortunately, there’s also a group out to kill her, and they’ve sent an assassin who can create magical beasts. Oh yes, and Julis’ old childhood friend shows up. Sadly, she’s evil now.

As I’ve said before (possibly in every single review), no one reads Asterisk War for the plot twists. Everything develops the war you think it is going to develop. But the book also exhibits a basic level of competence that makes me quite happy to keep reading it, and the girls are all harem ‘types’ without quite being boring cliches. I am looking forward to the main cast teaming up with Claudia, if only as I find Claudia’s powers and backstory the most interesting of them. Everyone gets something cool to do in the final battle, and there’s some decent discussion of politics. And oh yes, after Ayato asid his wish was for his sister to be found last time… his sister is found. Sadly, that doesn’t really do him much good, abut at least he knows her circumstances now.

This takes us to the end of the Asterisk War anime adaptation, so new volumes should be new content. I am aware that the anime was unpopular, but I’ve never had an issue with the books. Perhaps it reads better in prose. (More likely it’s because I’ve never read Chivalry of a Failed Knight.) I’d still recommend Asterisk War to anyone who likes magical fighting school series, it is a nice light snack of a novel.