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Manga the Week of 3/28/18

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SEAN: Stuff. Lots of stuff. Endless stuff. What stuff? Well…

Dark Horse gives us a 9th volume of Blood Blockade Battlefront.

ASH: Looks like the entire series might actually be released at this point!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 3rd omnibus of To-Love-Ru, featuring Vols. 5-6.

J-Novel Club has, after a brief hiatus, new volumes for Demon King Daimaou (4) and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse (7).

Kodansha Digital has a new release, Liar x Liar. It’s a shoujo manga from Dessert, about a girl who pretends to be someone else to hide her identity from her stepbrother… then begins dating him? I think I will pass.

MICHELLE: Yeeeeeah.

ANNA: There’s a lot of other Kodansha Digital manga that I would get caught up on before trying this.

SEAN: They’ve also got ongoing volumes. Beauty Bunny 4, Domestic Girlfriend 16, Drowning Love 8, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 8, My Boyfriend in Orange 4, My Brother the Shut-In 3, and Until Your Bones Rot 5.

And if you like print, there’s a 5th volume of Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: Yay! And no easily dupable stepbrothers in sight.

ASH: I do in fact like print! And I’ve been enjoying Waiting for Spring, too.

SEAN: Seven Seas has Cutie Honey a Go-Go!, a recent variation on the classic Go Nagai manga (which Seven Seas will also be releasing later in the year). I’ve actually heard good things about this variation, so am looking forward to it.

ASH: As have I, and as am I.

ANNA: Interesting….

SEAN: They’re also debuting New Game! This is about a young graduate who looks middle-school aged and her adventures at a game company. It’s a 4-koma, and runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Carat. It had an anime.

And we also get Soul Liquid Chambers. Zombies, nudity, blood and gore, fanservice, and it runs in Shonen Gahosha’s Young King Ours GH, home of many other titles with ‘ecchi’ in their descriptions. I… think I will pass. Again.

MICHELLE: Same.

SEAN: In terms of ongoing series, Seven Seas has Devils and Realist 14, Shomin Sample 8, and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 5. And Don’t Meddle with My Daughter comes to an end with its third volume.

Vertical debuts CITY, a new series from the creator of Nichijou. I look forward to seeing if it’s still very funny and strange, or slightly more normal.

Vertical also has a Seven Deadly Sins novel, Seven-Colored Recollections, which seems to be a short story collection.

Yen Press, of course, has stuff. There’s new digital volumes. Crimson Prince 15, Kuzumi-kun, Can’t You Read the Room? 5, and Sekirei 15.

Yen On also gives us the remainder of Kieli digitally, with Vols. 6-9. This completes that series.

Yen On has no debuts this month, but we do see Durarara!! 9, The Irregular at Magic High School 7, Magical Girl Raising Project 3, Re: Zero EX 2 (the last volume to date of this side-series), The Saga of Tanya the Evil 2 (which is EVEN LONGER than the first), So I’m a Spider, So What? 2, and the 19th Spice & Wolf. That’s a lot of light novel.

ASH: That it is! I’m not following as many series as I once was, but I’m very happy that so much is being translated.

SEAN: There are also a few manga out, though a lot of March’s releases were pushed back to mid-April. Forbidden Scrollery (aka the Touhou manga) has a 2nd volume, Graineliers has its 2nd book, Horimiya has its 10th volume, and there’s a 15th Spice & Wolf manga.

MICHELLE: Yay for Horimiya. Despite the endless stuff, looks like I only really like two titles this week.

ASH: I’m interested in seeing how Graineliers develops; the first volume was a little uneven, but had potential.

SEAN: And we have a debut: Laid-Back Camp (Yurukyan △). It’s also a Houbunsha title, from Manga Time Kirara Forward, about girls who camp. It also has an anime. I believe the symbol in the Japanese title is meant to be a tent. Which should tell you what level we’re going for here. The level of CUTE.

ASH: I suspect this won’t be The Summit of the Gods, but I do like camping enough to give the series a try!

SEAN: Does this whet your appetite? Are you starving for titles now?

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 5

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By Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

After a few volumes of pretending to be your standard “reader surrogate gains immense powers and a wide variety of women” isekai story, Arifureta has settled down as it finally realizes the type of story it wants to tell, which is a messianic narrative. I’m not actually being facetious here, we have seen seeds of this before, but they come to full flower here. Hajime is here to save the world by being badass at it. Those who believe will be rewarded, those who do not believe will get their asses kicked. We see one of his believers doubt herself in this volume, and Hajime makes it very clear that this is no easy task – believe in him and stop stewing in self-hatred, or get out. Needless to say, we know which choice she makes. We also see Hajime go up against the powerful Church, which regards him as a heretic, and a demon who may as well be filling in for Lucifer. Subtle this ain’t.

Shizuka’s on the cover, but doesn’t appear much, though we do see her bonding with the princess of the royal family, who I had honestly forgotten. Most of the book is taken up with Hajime getting Myu back home, which also involves conquering not one but TWO of the remaining dungeons. Kaori is left behind for one of them as support, which seems quite sensible given that this is the MAGMA DUNGEON, but she comes along on the water dungeon crawl, which leads to her crisis of faith I mentioned above. Said crisis of faith is resolved by Hajime showing that he cares about her by threatening an entity that’s possessed her – indeed, most of the harem’s self-esteem issues are resolved by simply having the undemonstrative Hajime pat their head or vow to protect them or somesuch. In all honestly, as Hajime notes, he’ll basically do whatever they say, but I suspect the typical “I hate OP harem guys” fan won’t mind as Hajime is stoic rather than friendly.

We get a lot more background on the past of the world Hajime and company have been brought to here, and find that if we’re headed for a massive Holy War, it won’t be the first. I suspect the next volume will have Hajime’s group divert their plans to save Aiko, who is being imprisoned and tortured for believing in Hajime. No, really. As I said, if you don’t accept this as a messianic narrative, it may be hard to get past its inherent ridiculousness. Oh yes, we also meet Myu’s mother, who the author admits is straight up a ripoff of Alicia from Aria, and who clearly would be quite happy to be an addition to Hajime’s harem, though I’m not sure it will actually happen. It would be nice to have an “ara, ara” sort in the harem. In any case, the next volume will be as action-packed as this one, I imagine, thoguh knowing Hajime, he is unlikely to be crucified and die for anyone’s sins. Recommended for fans of ridiculously overpowered guys and the women who adore them.

Also, “Fish-san was a fishmancer.” I’ll just leave that there.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Omnibus 3

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By Takako Shimura. Released in Japan as “Aoi Hana” by Ohta Shuppan, serialized in the magazine Manga Erotics F. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

Everyone wants to read about the awkward pangs of unrequited love. Will they feel the same way? Will they hate me? Will this destroy our friendship? But it has to be said, and Sweet Blue Flowers does a very good job at conveying this, the issues don’t magically go away after you’ve started dating. Admittedly Akira’s acquiescence is somewhat lukewarm, which is no doubt why Fumi is feeling this way. But let’s face it, Fumi is the sort of person to overthink things anyway, and these sorts of worries DO stick around. Communication does not necessarily become easier when you’ve confessed. In many ways it’s harder. And of course if you want to keep dating, you have to keep yourself interesting and fun, because what if your partner gets bored with the real you? Sweet Blue Flowers may not be getting any closer to resolution of its main romance, but it certainly knows how to convey its painful emotions.

Sweet Blue Flowers does feature an awful lot of relationships between girls, but unlike some other series of this ilk, they aren’t every single relationship. There are men in this world. Indeed, sometimes the reader thinks that the man is the better choice – Ko breaks up with Kyoko here, and you can’t blame him, but I honestly do hope that she gets it together and gets back together with him, as he’s a good guy, and her pining away is not getting her anywhere. It’s weird to feel this way in a yuri manga, where the nature of fandom tends to regard any man who might get in the way of a relationship between two women as evil. We also have different types of relationships here – Akira and Fumi start to date, but it’s very vague, and you get the sense they’re doing it so that Akira can figure things out more than anything else. Some of the girls in the school are clearly in an “akogare” situation that they’re going to grow out of, but some are not – one of the minor characters outright says she’s a lesbian, and Akira’s teacher is in a happy relationship with another woman. This isn’t just yuri’s classic “Story A“. (Well, OK, sometimes it is.)

Sweet Blue Flowers, of course, also has the same issues that it’s had before. Shimura’s character designs are too damn similar, and I find myself struggling to tell some of the girls apart, which makes it harder for me to remember the plotlines. Akira and Fumi’s teenage passion and fears are endearing but also exhausting, especially given this is an omnibus of two separate volumes. And I have to confess, I don’t like Yasuko all that much, and was irritated when she showed up again. Her going to England really helped this series find its feet. That said, this is still a very good volume, and since I believe it ends with the fourth book, there’s no reason for you not to get it so that you can wallow in panga of young love once more.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/19/18

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 7 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – To answer the question I posed in my last brief, apparently this will be running a little longer, as the cliffhanger indicates we’re starting up a new subplot. That said, as the end of an “arc” this wasn’t bad, though I admit that I always take more notice when the focus is on Nino and Yuzu—I honestly want Ayumi’s domestic angst drama to end as quickly as possibly, as it’s annoying me. Still, Nino and Yuzu are both fantastic here, and the art gives us lots of fantastic screams. Both are now ready to expand their horizons, which for Yuzu may mean getting past a few psychological blocks. I’m still happy to let this play out, though I do hope it wraps up in a few more volumes. – Sean Gaffney

Astra: Lost in Space, Vol. 2 | By Kenta Shinohara | Viz Media – The cast is advised to forget about who the traitor is among them for the moment, and I think the reader is meant to as well—the pacing of the main plot in this series can be awkward, and you get the sense things are being walked back. Things get a bit more interesting when we’re exploring more bizarre alien worlds, which can be both amazing and deadly. We also get some development of our shyest, most introverted crew member, who has a ball of self-worth issues and a voice like an angel. (The two are connected, as you might guess.) And there’s also some hints of romance. This is solid, but not great, and you get the sense the author is starting to realize this is not going to be the next One Piece. – Sean Gaffney

Barakamon, Vol. 15 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – Handa is a good guy, but he’s impulsive and doesn’t think things through, such as the fact that his dad had been paying his rent up till now, or that he’s charging an exorbitant fee to get island folks to learn calligraphy. He needs someone like Kawafuji, who is angry and contrary and guides Handa along every step of the way even as it goes against the reason he came there in the first place. They make great friends, even if Kawafuji seems more like a minder at times. When Handa actually starts trying to teach the kids, he’s awkward at first, but you gradually realize that he’s going to be quite good at this. As for whether he can make enough money doing it, well… – Sean Gaffney

Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 3 | By Spica Aoki| Seven Seas – Poor Eva, in the end she doesn’t have it in her to be the chief Evil Girl in the series, being more of a jealous little sister who wants her brother a bit too much. So we need to introduce the new Evil Girl in Angelica, the Student Council President, daughter of the warden, and all-around manipulative… well, you know. Nina, of course, is not all that easily manipulated, being that she wears her heart on her sleeve so much she’s willing to risk death just to pick some flowers on the side of a cliff. Luckily, that’s why drugs were invented, just to keep folks like Nina docile. This is a total potboiler, but fun. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 4 | By Ryoko Kui | Yen Press – I love the mix of food, fantasy, and humor in Delicious in Dungeon and have been enjoying the series a great deal. However, while the ingredients are the same, the exact proportions of the mix has changed somewhat with the fourth volume. Food is still an important element, and the manga’s terrific comedic moments continue to be a staple, but the story has taken a significantly darker, more serious turn–the series’ intrepid adventurers must now face off with the red dragon they’ve been hunting down from the very beginning. It’s an intense battle brilliantly executed by Kui who demands both sacrifices and clever thinking from the manga’s quirky yet endearing cast. This easily could have been the series’ grand finale, but there’s more to come; I’m intensely curious to see where the manga, and its frequently unexpected cuisine, goes from here. – Ash Brown

Frau Faust, Vol. 4 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – You get the sense, reading this volume of Frau Faust, that Johanna is the sort of protagonist who has the magical ability to have good friends die around her so that she can suffer and also deal out justice and a good moral lesson. Which means that this series is not exactly filled with fun and games, but the title might have been a clue that wasn’t going to happen. Johanna’s undying nature is unhelpful here, as she spends half the book being gruesomely tortured on behalf of the evil nun in charge of hating demons—except, of course, the ones she can use for her own benefit. Still greatly enjoying Frau Faust, but you need to realize going in the premise is “everything is awful and everything hurts.” – Sean Gaffney

Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, Vol. 1 | By Kikori Morino | Seven Seas – I almost passed up on Giant Spider & Me, but as soon as I learned that it was in part a food manga, I couldn’t resist giving the first volume a try. One day, Nagi, a young woman largely living on her own in the mountains, encounters a strange but intelligent creature in the woods that looks an awful lot like a giant spider. It ultimately follows her home, essentially becoming Nagi’s pet and guard animal, but more importantly her companion against loneliness (even if food is their most successful means of communication). The worldbuilding is a little vague at this point which can be frustrating, and Morino’s artwork isn’t always consistent when it comes to scale, but as a whole Giant Spider & Me is charming and surprisingly sweet. I was delighted by the first volume, so I’ll certainly be picking up more of the series. – Ash Brown

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 4 | By Nagabe| Seven Seas – If you’re still comparing this with The Ancient Magus’ Bride, I can see why, but this series seems to be turning down a far darker alley. Teacher has decided that things will be best if he, Shiva and her aunt all live together. but just because the aunt is now cursed does not mean that she’s ready to trust and forgive the teacher—quite the opposite,. There is a stereotypical cooking scene where everything goes wrong and the three end up covered in white flour that is simply brutally jarring in terms of tone—it helps put the rest of the book in stark relief. Meanwhile, the main mystery for this series is “what is Shiva’s deal?”, and I hope we find out more about that next time. – Sean Gaffney

Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 4 | By Fujimomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – My least favorite attribute of Ellie’s personality is how her fantasy life blinds her to the reality of certain things, like… if you fail your final exams, you’re going to have to take remedial classes during winter break. Of course, the angst over missing Christmas with Akira and not recognizing that he has been looking forward to it just as much as she was eventually leads to a really sweet moment (and smooch!) so I guess we have to suffer through some “derp” stuff to get to the good stuff. Meanwhile, Ellie seems to have made a couple of new friends in class thanks to her ping pong prowess (yes, really); we get to know Sara’s second-year protector, Takagi, a little better; and a boy in Ellie’s remedial class seems to be the one commenting on her Twitter fantasies. Not groundbreaking shoujo, but I enjoy it. – Michelle Smith

One-Punch Man, Vol. 13 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – Last time I said the tournament was the least interesting part of the volume, this time the opposite is true. Saitama’s fight with Suiryu is not only filled with a lot of fantastic and ludicrous action, but also helps once again to define what Saitama’s ideas of being a hero and being strong are compared to other people—and why he’s the title character. That said, he learns the wrong lesson from the battle—but that’s why One-Punch Man remains very funny. Of course, things aren’t all fun and games, and I worry that we may lose some innocent bystanders in this ongoing war between heroes and monsters—especially as Saitama is running away and may not be able to help. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 13 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | VIZ Media – You know you’re middle-aged when you’re watching heroes battle a giant octopus and you keep thinking about how massive and costly the cleanup will be from all the damage! At least we learn more about the source for all these monsters, and that Saitama will probably be facing them soon, since they invade the martial arts tournament at the end of the volume. The tourney was quite entertaining this time, as Saitama faces the one guy (who could be called One-Kick Man, based on his previous bouts) who he thought could give him a challenge, only to realize once again that it’s not the case. Still, I enjoyed their fight and hope that Saitama will now get back to the hero game. Also, I missed Genos! Thankfully, the wait for the next volume is not as long this time. – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 40 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – The cover to this volume is adorable—Kyoko just wants to act together with Kanae SO MUCH, and you can hope that she will get her wish someday, though the cliffhanger implies it may be a lot more difficult than the usual “audition.” Fortunately she has Yashiro in her corner, who is acting as a temporary manager for her, and reminds the reader once again that when it comes to “manager” activities, he is essentially superhuman. More seriously, we meet an old rival in this volume and, like Kyoko, our jaw drops when we finally realize who she is. I will admit that I was more interested in Kyoko’s swordfighting and rhythmic gymnastics training than I was anything with Erika. That does not change the fact that Skip Beat remains essential.-Sean Gaffney

UQ Holder, Vol. 13 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics – I have to admit, I have no idea how time, dreamscapes, or indeed any aspect of magic work in Akamatsu’s universe, and I suspect neither does he, as we’re in a dreamscape that is also the past, except we also get the rest of the main UQ Holder heroines here as mind-controlled darkness versions of themselves, before EVERYONE is saved by Asuna showing up with her big-ass sword, something so unbelievable even Eva has to say she doesn’t think she’s the real Asuna. She certainly acts like her, though, and is ready to help Touta and company battle against the evil Negi and his evil sentai team. This is exciting when you read it, but logic and proportion have fallen softly dead a long time ago. – Sean Gaffney

Voices of a Distant Star

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What would it be like to embark on a deep space voyage, knowing that when you returned, nothing on Earth would be as you remembered it? That’s the question at the heart of Makoto Shinkai and Mizu Sahara’s Voices of a Distant Star, a thoughtful — if sometimes clumsy — rumination on the human toll of interstellar travel.

The story begins in 2046, as sixteen-year-old Noboru Terao anxiously awaits text messages from his childhood friend Mikako Nagamine, who’s enlisted in the military. As we learn through snippets of conversation and text, Nagamine isn’t at a conventional boot camp: she’s been deployed to Mars, where humanity is preparing for a lengthy campaign against an alien race known as the Tharsians. Her early exchanges with Noboru arrive in a matter of days or weeks, but when she’s transferred to the front lines, she realizes that it may be years before Noboru receives her next text; as she ruefully observes, “By the time this message reaches you, everyone will be growing up into people I don’t know.”

The emotional honesty of their epistolary romance is the best reason to read Voices of a Distant Star. Through their brief exchanges, we grasp that Noboru and Nagamine are torn between the desire for a normal relationship and the dawning realization that they may be better off pursuing their own destinies — a realization made more poignant by the sharp contrast between Noboru’s ordinary school life and Nagamine’s extraterrestrial mission. Their dilemma would be more moving, however, if the artwork wasn’t executed in such a desultory fashion. The characters are utterly generic, lacking any semblance of individuality, while the space combat lacks any sense of place; the story could just as easily be unfolding in Phoenix, AZ as on a planet eight light years from Earth. I know — the story is supposed to give me the feels, not the chills — but a little more attention to the dangerous aspects Nagamine’s mission would have raised the emotional temperature of Voices of a Distant Star from mild to muy caliente. In spite of these artistic shortcomings, Noboru and Nagamine’s plight remains powerful, reminding us that our greatest obstacle to space travel isn’t distance — it’s time. Recommended.

Voices of a Distant Star
Story by Makoto Shinkai, Art by Mizu Sahara
Translated by Melissa Tanaka
Vertical Comics, 238 pp.

Pick of the Week: An Assortment of Manga

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MICHELLE: There are quite a few good things coming out this week! I’ll definitely be reading the latest Giant Killing and Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, and I’m happy to see more Sweet Blue Flowers. Too, there’s Perfect World, a josei series with a very interesting premise. But still, Twinkle Stars is coming to an end, and I find I’m really in the mood to see how this one wraps up, so that’s my pick for this week.

SEAN: Sadly, I suspect I will be the only one picking this, meaning I can’t call Pick of the Week “Take Back Your Mink”. But my Pick this week is definitely the first omnibus of Dragon Half, which I’m hoping will let me wallow in nostalgia.

KATE: I hate to be predictable, but my pick is volume four of Golden Kamuy. Is it a cooking manga with action sequences, or an action manga with lengthy discussions about squirrel meat preparation? Danged if I know, but I’m hooked.

ASH: So much is coming out this week that I’m looking forward to! Sweet Blue Flowers, Golden Kamuy, Twinkle Stars, Dragon Half and more. I’ll take this opportunity to pick one that hasn’t been mentioned by someone else yet, Natsume Ono’s ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department. The first volume was a slow burn, but stylish and intriguing.

ANNA: There’s a lot of great titles coming out this week! I have to go with my general inclination to celebrate josei whenever a new series comes out, so my pick is Perfect World.

MJ: since I’m going last here, I’ll round things out by picking the third omnibus of Sweet Blue Flowers. I’m a fan of this series, and I’m a fan of angst, so this works well for me.

Infinite Dendrogram: Those Who Bind the Possibilities

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By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

I’ll pick up with a point I made in the last review: there was honestly no reason that the author couldn’t have simply kept this with the fourth book and released it as one big tome. It took me a while to get back into where the action was, as if you were watching the climax of a movie and stopped with 15 minutes to go so you could go on a two-week vacation. That said, given that we’ve not only got the climax of the previous book, but also an extended epilogue and a side story or two, this is a light, easy read. In fact, the side stories may be the best part of the book. Because this is a series where the world not only is a game, but also one where people are not trapped in said game, we’re actually allowed to deal with real life issues like making sure you do all your pre-college prep. And having the hero and villain pass each other like ships in the night.

We also get more of the Starling brothers and their eccentric awesomeness, though it appears it’s more “the Starling family”, as we hear about an older sister who’s more insane than either brother. (It would be nice to meet her, but I expect she’s just the sort of character to be talked about but never show up.) Shu proves to be, as the reader likely guessed all along, a phenomenal powerhouse who uses his incredibly unbalanced build and real-life martial arts skills to completely decimate Franklin’s army of monsters, all while making the bear minimum number of puns. And then there is Ray, who still sees himself as the typical, normal male protagonist even as he gets himself some evil blood-red armor and also loses an arm, replacing it with a hook. Nemesis was introduced into the book as his lovestruck familiar, but lately she seems to exist to occasionally sigh and mutter to herself about Ray’s tastes.

As for Franklin and Hugo, I was fairly surprised by their relationship, though again, I do think it would have had more impact if the book hadn’t been divided into two parts. Franklin’s “character” is a classic sneering, arrogant villain, the sort who thinks they’re being stoic but really they’re just being awful. I’m not entirely sure if the obsession with Ray Starling will extend into the real world – they’re oblivious to each other at the moment, but I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. I was slightly saddened to see that Marie’s character, while still remaining relatively badass, has acquired a bit of a comic relief quality, mostly in everyone knowing her real identity despite everything. I also enjoyed the two adult Superiors going out for a drink with a third one who, it’s implied, has just turned ten. Again, this is the nature of online gaming.

This book ends the first “arc” of the series, and we’re also almost caught up with Japan, though I think we’ll have one more volume to go before we have to wait. I expect the next arc will deal with what Franklin implied in this one, which is that of course Dendrogram is not “just” a game, there’s clearly something else to it. Till then, enjoy working your way through this book, though you might want to re-read the previous one first.

Sorry for My Familiar, Vol. 1

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By Tekka Yaguraba. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine good! Afternoon. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Adapted by Betsy Aoki

I’ve mentioned a few times before that ongoing manga series in Japan tend to be written with multiple plots and endings in mind, depending on how popular the series ends up being. The classic example is the failed Shonen Jump series that ends in about two volumes with “and the adventure continues”. And sometimes you see shoujo classics that begin as what seems like a series of one-shots before they pick up an ongoing plot – because that’s what they were. In my opinion, it’s easier to do the cut short version. In fact, editors are experts at it. I imagine it must be a bit more difficult when you have a cute idea that seems to be something that could go nine, ten chapters and then you realize that it’s got enough readers that you need to do more. Sorry for My Familiar feels like the latter. As a cute, one-shot, it’d be fantastic. As an ongoing series? Ummm…

The plot is pretty simple, and drive by comedy. Patty is a very nice little Devil girl who happens to be burdened with the classic deadbeat dad – in fact, as the book goes on you begin to wonder if the dad was written by Rumiko Takahashi. She’s in a demon world where most of her fellows have some sort of magical animal familiar. She’s not strong enough to get those. Instead, she has Norman, who is a human, a demon researcher, and completely and utterly WEIRD. Norman is the reason to read the series – Patty is nice and all, but is mostly used as the straight man and occasional tsukkomi. (In fact, Patty’s niceness may come down to her background – she has no idea what kind of devil she is, and Norman spends some embarrassing moments wondering if she’s actually a cow.) The series involves the two of them trying to find her father and getting into scrapes, usually because Norman is endlessly curious and kind of rude.

The start of the volume is the best, as you will find that Norman is just so appalling most of the time in his dedicated research above nearly anything else that you can’t help but be dragged along, much as Patty is. His research does come in handy in getting out of several scrapes, but honestly I think a large part of it may also be his inhuman endurance – not implying he’s secretly a demon or anything, if anything I suspect his ability to overcome any hardship is meant to be an extension of his “anything for research” side. The main trouble is that Norman is not only somewhat exhausting to Patty, but to the reader as well – about two-thirds of the way through the book I was ready for it to be over. This is not uncommon in many comedy manga, admittedly, and it’s why it’s so hard to do properly.

The series seems to be three volumes and counting in Japan, and I was definitely amused enough to get a second volume – it’s fun. But if you end up falling behind, a word of advice: don’t binge read this. Little sips.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 10

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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 the author says in the afterword, technically this could have been Volume 9.5. That said, I am happy that it kept itself in the main series, as for the most part it had a larger scope than the chapters with Koutarou and Clan back in ancient history did. This particular volume shows that, even as Koutarou adn the reader thinks that his troubles began when all the girls tried to move into his apartment on the same day, they actually have a bond that extends back a lot longer. We already know about Koutarou’s relationship with Theia and Ruth’s planet, and of course Harumi seemingly being the reincarnation of Alaia. Now we see how he was Kiriha’s knight in shining armor all along, and he also had a major role to play in the past of both Yurika and Sanae, though neither of them technically show up here. It all ties together, and not in a teeth-grinding way either.

Adult Kiriha is on the cover, but child Kii-chan is who we get for 4/5 of the book, having run away from home due to latent grief over the death of her mother. She runs into Koutarou and Clan, who are time-traveling back but have to recalibrate. Naturally, Koutarou doesn’t recognize her till halfway through the book… and even then he promptly forgets about it because of an even bigger revelation – the day they’ve arrived is the day his own mother was killed in a car accident. Now he has to choose between saving his mother or protecting the future he’s fought for with everyone. There are, of course, a few problems. Kii-chan is a target for assassination. The assassin is actually a dark magical girl. Which means that Nana, Yurika’s predecessor and mentor, is also trying to stop her… as in a young woman who is an archer, desperately trying to save her daughter, whose spiritual energy is being bled out to power EVIL RITUALS. There’s a lot going on.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting the “save mom or save the timeline” decision to be less of an issue than it ended up being, but I probably shouldn’t have been. Each of the characters has shown themselves to be deeply lonely in a way they can only fix by being around each other, and therefore it should be no surprise that Koutarou’s first reaction is “forget about the timeline, I have to do this”. You can likely guess what the outcome is, but on the bright side, we get another cool battle that shows off Koutarou’s ridiculous endurance even as it shows us that he’s getting less pwoerful the longer he’s away from the others. Probably the best scene in the book is the final one, back in the present, as Kiriha has realized who her “oniichan” really is and is, unsurprisingly, ecstatic. The author really excels at drawing deeply emotional, sappy scenes without making the reader roll their eyes or feel uncomfortable.

Shizuka may have gotten the last cover, but she wasn’t in this one (though her ridiculous strength was mentioned). It seems unlikely she’ll be in the next one either, as we get another cliffhanger that tells us that next time around is Sanae-focused. If you’ve been reading Rokujouma from J-Novel Club, and you enjoy supporting the author by actually buying it (please support the author!), you’ll definitely enjoy this new volume.

Genshiken: Second Season, Vol. 12

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By Shimoku Kio. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Stephen Paul.

The last time I gave Genshiken a full review, I noted that the author seemed to be aiming for a new demographic with the new cast being mostly women, and their own interests tending towards BL. Well, we’ve had several volumes since then, and I’d say in the end the demographic didn’t QUITE change. Genshiken is still, at heart, a series for male otaku by a male otaku. But I think the Second Season may have helped broaden their horizons a bit, showing the readers what life is like outside their comfort zone, particularly with the awkward, touching but ultimately “just friends” relationship between Madarame and Hato. That said, I suspect that readers over here in North America may have wished that he’d pushed the envelope a bit more – the final half of this sequel was all about Madarame in a harem situation, something that aggravated as many people as it entertained. Still, at least it avoided the dreaded “nothing changes” stasis, mostly thanks to Saki, who makes one last appearance to kick Madarame’s ass into gear.

The cover art may give you an idea of who the Final Girl is, but honestly it was easy to figure out with Madarame’s rejection of all four, which had three sensible, well-thought out replies and one lame dodge, something Saki immediately points out. (Amusingly, everyone else there noticed it as well, but weren’t saying anything – Madarame can be appallingly stubborn, and only Saki can kick back against that.) And despite confessing to each other in otaku terms – or perhaps because of it – Madarame and Sue do actually make a very good couple, though actual coupling may still be a long way off. It’s also nice to see Madarame distancing himself from the Genshiken, moving away and trying once again to find a real job. The Genshiken has always been filled with weirdos, but Madarame vs. Saki had been the plot for so long that it was nice to see it return for one final appearance.

And then there’s graduation. I could talk about Kuchiki here, but don’t want to, despite the fact that the end of the book is mostly about him. Instead, let’s talk about Hato, who Madarame rejects here with a very well-thought out reason – he doesn’t think Hato is comfortable enough in his own skin to date a guy, and thinks that he should concentrate on being a “fudanshi” who likes to cross dress. The series has been dancing back and forth on Hato’s gender identity and sexual preferences, and again, I don’t think that the author goes as far as the audience wanted him to take it. That said, the journey we’ve seen in the last 12 volumes has been fantastic in many places, and Hato is absolutely the most interesting character in the sequel, with Yajima a close second. (Fans of Hato may be interested in checking out Spotted Flower, an unlicensed “alternate universe” Genshiken manga, though I warn fans of Genshiken proper that they may not like it.)

Like a lot of otaku-driven anime and manga, Genshiken went on too long, added some unnecessary subplots, and features far too much of characters that everyone hates – both in universe and out. But the journey had some wonderful moments, and in the end I think was worth it, even if it ended up more breaking down than reaching its goal. I wish the cast well.