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Beasts of Abigaile, Vols. 1-2

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By Spica Aoki | Published by Seven Seas

After having been bullied in school back home in Japan, Tsukishiro Nina comes to live with her uncle in the tiny principality of Ruberia, famous for its roses. Outwardly, it’s an affluent place, but Nina soon learns—after being bitten by a luga and taking on some of their characteristics—that wolf-like people known as luga serve as slave labor for the humans in Ruberia, and that young luga are all rounded up and sent to an island prison/school called Abigaile, where they learn how to serve humans. Nina is sent there after her transformation and must try to blend in, because if the other luga find out she’s human, they’ll turn on her.

I wasn’t sure I would like this at first because Nina’s character blurb contains the phrase “sometimes lets her emotions drive her to dangerous behavior,” which is definitely not my favorite personality type. And, it’s true, she does require a bit of rescuing due to her impulsive actions, usually by handsome luga named Gilles (who’s on the student council and seemingly devoted to its mysterious president) and Dario (the effeminate alpha who dreams of becoming a fashion designer). However, I like that, because she comes from a place where teenagers are able to pursue their aspirations, she becomes determined that the luga should have the same right, and thus wants to unite them and get them out of there.

That said, Nina is actually the least interesting character to me. I probably shouldn’t like Roy, the luga who bit her and who is the alpha of the most dangerous “home” (basically a pack) in Abigaile. He enjoys tormenting Nina but he’s definitely the most fascinating character so far, especially when we learn at the end of volume two that he himself had hoped to unite the luga but couldn’t. Nina and Roy actually remind me of Clarke and Bellamy in The 100—two teens who emerged as leaders from among a disenfranchised group of youth who disagree with each other’s methods, but if they could trust each other and become a team, then they might really have a chance. (Granted, I haven’t seen more than a handful of episodes at this point.) I like that dynamic between them and look forward to Roy eventually coming to trust Nina.

Meanwhile, Roy’s “beta,” Eva, is possessive of him in the extreme and jealous of Nina, so contrives to attack and/or expose her at every turn. She’s a great antagonist because her motives are so strong, and by the end of volume two she’s convinced Poe, a lowly “omega” whom Nina has been trying hard to protect, to turn on Nina and deliver unto her the rose perfume that disguises Nina’s human scent. Dun dun dun!

In addition to hoping Roy and Nina team up and successfully escape Abigaile, there are some other plot points I hope get fleshed out. What’s the deal with the student council president? Why is the chief instructor such a bishounen? Surely the mangaka wouldn’t waste such a character design on someone who wasn’t going to be significant down the road. And, perhaps most importantly, why did being bit by Roy cause Nina to take on luga characteristics, when that never happened to any of the other humans he’s bitten?

I’m glad I took a chance on this one.

Beasts of Abigaile is ongoing in Japan, where three volumes have been released so far. The third comes out in English on Tuesday.

Review copy for volume one provided by the publisher.

Yona of the Dawn Vol. 10

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 10 by Mizuho Kusanagi

It is a sign of a good long-running fantasy series, when at 10 volumes in I feel like the story is barely getting started and I just want it to go on forever! Part of the reason why I’m finding this manga so compelling to read is the inherent niceness of the characters. It might be cheesy, but this manga helps me maintain some hope for humanity. Yona’s ability to spread compassion throughout her immediate surroundings by demonstrating her own compassion gets featured often in Yona of the Dawn, but each time it is with a special twist that has me immediately captivated.

In this case, the target of Yona’s transformation through compassion is Kang Tae-Jun, second son of the fire chief and all around unpleasant person, as shown in his actions in earlier volumes when he thought he killed Yona by throwing her off a cliff. His obsession has continued, and he’s consumed with guilt when he realizes that Yona might be in the company of the fearsome bandits that are occupying a village. Tae-Jun’s trauma is played for laughs at first, as he lingers in bed and plots to return to Katan village where he thought he heard Yona’s voice. He declares that he finally has a reason for living and his men are bewildered, but supportive. Tae-Jun’s undercover attempts involve an inept disguise as a commoner. When he encounters members of Yona’s band, he assumes that they are evil, but they scoop him up and take him for medical treatment.

Tae-Jun learns that conditions in the town for the citizens are terrible, and the things he’s been told about the lands of the Fire Tribe were lies. Tae-Jun’s encounter with an enigmatic Hak is hilarious, as Hak maintains an enigmatic expression while Tae-Jun is inwardly dying as he realizes that he’s sharing a fire with the dreaded “Thunder Beast”. Kusanagi could teach a master class in drawing overwrought facial expressions as Tae-Jun goes through such an extreme of emotions in this volume. When Tae-Jun finally encounters Yona, she forgives him, and he then decides on a covert campaign to improve the lives of the Katan villagers, while leveraging the resources of the military under his command. Tae Jun keeps helping more and more, until he’s been transformed in his outlook and abilities by the end of the volume. This was a satisfying, more self-contained volume of Yona of the Dawn, but it seems clear that another adventure is about to begin. I’m excited to see what happens next for Yona and her band of mystical warriors.

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Venice

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Venice — one of the last projects Jiro Taniguchi completed before his death in 2017 — is perhaps the most beautiful work he produced, a paean not only to the great Italian city, but to his own superb command of light, color, and line. Rendered in watercolor and ink, Venice‘s subtle palette and expansive treatment of the page are reminiscent of Taniguchi’s Guardians of the Louvre, while its premise recalls The Walking Man, Furari, and The Solitary Gourmet, three manga in which an unnamed male character strolls through the thoroughfares and byways of a major city, stopping to admire a blossoming tree or duck into an unassuming noodle shop.

Taniguchi makes an agreeable guide to Venice, frequently pausing to luxuriate in the very places that a visitor would find most charming: an outdoor marketplace filled with fruit and vegetable vendors, a moonlit promenade dotted with strolling couples, a faded but elegant hotel. Though Taniguchi renders these locations with the utmost precision, his most striking images are of canals and harbors. He captures the play of light on water with the same authority as a great maritime painter like Homer Winslow, using a watercolor palette of greens, blues, grays, blacks, and pinks to pinpoint the time of day and weather, as well as the tide — a small but potent reminder of Venice’s precarious relationship with the sea.

Though framed as a travelogue, Venice also explores similar thematic terrain as Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood. Like the protagonist of Neighborhood, the Venetian wanderer is a middle-aged man making sense of his family’s past, a quest triggered by the discovery of a small lacquer box among his late mother’s possessions. A single image — a photo of a dapper Japanese couple feeding pigeons at the San Marco Piazza — leads him to Venice, where he retraces the couple’s steps. Taniguchi handles the mystery in an elegant fashion, eschewing pointed dialogue or voice-overs in favor of evocative imagery: a sepia-toned portrait of a family, a hand-drawn postcard of the Grand Canal. By focusing on these artifacts, Taniguchi provides just enough information for the reader to figure out who this young couple was without baldly explaining what drove them apart; only a brief inscription on the back of a postcard suggests the length and anguish of the couple’s separation.

These temporal shifts in the narrative are echoed in the way Taniguchi draws Venice itself. On several pages, for example, Taniguchi shows us familiar Venetian streetscapes as they looked in the 1930s, when the mystery couple lived there. On other pages, Taniguchi achieves a similar effect through the juxtaposition of the traditional with the modern: kayakers bob alongside gondoliers, floating past Renaissance merchants’ grand homes, while the mouth of the Canal de la Galeazze frames the arrival of a giant cruise ship. (In a nice touch, Taniguchi tracks the ocean liner’s stately progress over several panels, allowing us to appreciate its enormous size and sleek lines.) Even the most prosaic scenes emphasize the degree to which Venetians’ daily routines are shaped by its lengthy history; we see young children in baseball jackets sipping water from a fountain built in the 17th century and dog walkers chatting in the shadow of Venice’s great Campanille, unawed or unaware of these landmarks’ significance.

And while such sensuous images are fundamental to Venice‘s appeal, Taniguchi does more than recreate Venice’s great architecture; he conveys the rhythms and emotions of a journey, the experience of savoring new places while realizing in the moment that the place where you stand will be different the next time you visit. He evokes the curious sensation of déjà vu you experience in an unfamiliar city, as you see small elements of your own life reflected in the way that strangers live theirs. And he conveys the profound sense of discovery that comes from visiting a place that holds significance for a parent, lover, or friend, as you see the landscape through their eyes for the first time. That Taniguchi evokes these emotions primarily through the artful use of color and detail, rather than character development or dialogue, is testament to the depth of his artistry. Highly recommended.

For more insight into Venice, I encourage you to watch this brief video in which Taniguchi discusses the genesis of the story, and how he created some of the book’s most arresting images:

VENICE • BY JIRO TANIGUCHI • FANFARE/PONENT MON • NO RATING • 128 pp. 

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 14

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “To Aru Majutsu no Index” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

It’s hard, as this series goes on, not to feel that we are headed towards a certain point of no return. Indeed, Touma’s job in this book is to try to stop the world from descending into total war, and he only just manages to keep it in check. Both sides, magic and science, are clearly cruising for a bruising, so to speak, and I’m pretty sure that eventually there’s going to be no way to stop everything blowing up. This time around the French city of Avignon is completely destroyed, and though there are attempts to try to say “oh, they’re only knocking people unconscious”, there’s clearly significant innocent casualties. This is not helped by the Roman Cathol… Orthodox Church’s mid control weapon, or the fact that Touma and Accelerator are both used here as the equivalent of nuclear weapons dropped on the enemy. Despite Touma’s best efforts, things are getting worse, not better.

Introduced in this volume: Suama Oyafune, Monaka Oyafume. Terra of the Left also makes his first proper appearance here, though of course it’s also his last. We’re into October now, 3 months after the start of the Index series. Since the last book the Railgun cast has been busy, as most of the Dream Ranker arc has happened, and Saten and Frenda have continued to bond and become good friends. This assumes that you ignore the actual text of Index 14, in which Mikoto sees Uiharu and thinks “oh, that friend of Kuroko’s I don’t know”. On the bright side, in real life, the Index and Railgun mangas have both started, meaning hopefully that continuity will start to match up with them. And don’t worry, Uiharu, I bet you get a big scene soon! We’ve also seen the first Index short story collection come out. These sadly are not licensed by Yen, which is a shame, as sometimes they tie into the plot of the main storyline more than most short story collections. More on that next time. And, most significantly, this is the first volume that has not been made into an anime.

As for this book, Index is completely absent, and it’s Itsuwa who plays the heroine, as you might have guessed from the cover. Aside from the hand towel joke, which has already gotten old (as with almost all jokes the author attempts), I quite like Itsuwa. She’s capable, cute, and clearly meant to contrast with all the girls Touma knows who get angry and hit him at the drop of a hat. When he points out her top has become see-through due to rescuing him from a river, she just blushes and rushes off to change. No surprise that she rapidly became a fan favorite, and we’ll see her back soon. Tsuchimikado is also around in this book, mostly serving as Touma’s backup and deliverer of exposition, although we’ve reached the point in the series where Touma can figure most things out on his own. The plot is, to be honest, slight. Touma is sent to stop a magical maguffin that is causing Roman Orthodox believers to riot and want to destroy Academy City. He does, eventually. The end.

That said, there are important things going on here, not least of which is realizing that Touma’s last name, Kamijou, may be a lot more significant than we had previously expected. Touma’s right hand power, Imagine Breaker, is clearly a giant mystery still, and he hasn’t harnessed most of its power. Terra fo the Left implies that he knew more about it before the memory loss, but I’m not really sure that’s the case. More importantly, thanks to accidentally leaving his cell phone on during a battle, Mikoto also now knows about his memory loss – but not WHEN it happened. Given that she’s been worried lately that he’s been ignoring her, I suspect she thinks he may have forgotten the Sisters arc.

In any case, it looks as if Acqua of the Back, who has proven to be the most reasonable of the antagonists du jour, is up next. Before that, however, we’ll flip back to the Science side, which is having its own chaotic power struggles. Index fans will enjoy this one, although I suspect most of them are looking towards the next volume…

Manga the Week of 3/7/18

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SEAN: We continue to bring you Manga the Week of, despite the danger of last-minute announcements from Kodansha, despite the near-constant release date shifts from Yen Press. We are here for you, the reader.

Dark Horse has the 4th volume of that Psycho Pass prequel, Inspector Shinya Kogami.

Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of Yokai Girls, which considering its genre I found better than expected.

It’s a J-Novel Club release bonanza next week. We get a 5th Arifureta, a 7th In Another World with My Smartphone, a 5th Infinite Dendrogram, and a 10th Invaders of the Rokujouma?!. Something for everyone.

Kodansha has some print novels next week. They’ve got a 2nd hardcover of their re-release of Battle Angel Alita in a Deluxe Edition. (No, she’s still not Gally. Why confuse readers now?) and a 4th volume of Frau Faust.

MICHELLE: Yay, Frau Faust!

ASH: Indeed! I know a lot of people who are very excited about the deluxe edition of Battle Angel Alita, too.

SEAN: There’s also ongoing digital series, with Ace of the Diamond 9, All-Rounder Meguru 6, Black Panther and Sweet 16 7, Drifting Dragons 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 19.

MICHELLE: I do so love Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us 3rd volumes of more interesting than I expected Beasts of Abigaile, and less interesting than I expected Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (this may be the final volume of the latter).

Vertical has a 10th Devils’ Line.

And the rest is Viz, I’d normally say, but we do have some Yen holdouts at the end. For Viz, though, there’s lots of fun stuff.

On the shonen front, we have Astra: Lost in Space 2, Bleach 72, Boruto 3, Haikyu!! 21, Hunter x Hunter 34 (yes, it still exists), One Piece’s 23rd 3-in-1, One-Punch Man 13, And Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V 3, which is still a very awkward title.

MICHELLE: I’ve missed One-Punch Man.

ASH: I’m probably most excited for more One-Punch Man and Haikyu!!.

ANNA: Haikyu!! is a favorite in my household, and I need to get caught up on One-Punch Man.

SEAN: Seinen debuts! Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen) is a Weekly Young Jump comedy/drama about two student council members who have fallen for each other but are determined NOT to be the first to admit it. I am looking forward to this one a lot.

Ongoing shoujo series include Anonymous Noise 7, Bloody Mary 10 (another final volume, I believe), The Demon Prince of Momochi House 11, Queen’s Quality 3, and Skip Beat! 40. (Is Skip Beat North America’s longest shoujo manga by now?)

MICHELLE: Yes, it has surpassed Boys Over Flowers, which had 37.

ASH: Lots of great shoujo coming out next week! I have some catching up to do.

ANNA: Very excited for shoujo!!!!

SEAN: Shoujo debuts! The Young Master’s Revenge (Kimi no Koto nado Zettai ni) is a LaLa series by Meca Tanaka, author of Meteor Prince and the “whoops, schoolteacher romance, can’t license this” series Faster Than a Kiss. A young man had a childhood where he was run ragged by his childhood friend. He’s now back to take revenge on her… but are things still the same?

MICHELLE: And a couple of older series like Omukae desu. and Pearl Pink. I haven’t read those yet, but I did enjoy Meteor Prince.

ANNA: I have Pearl Pink stockpiled somewhere in my house, but haven’t read it yet. Am looking forward to this series.

SEAN: We also have some Yen runoff from February… in fact, we’ll be having that all month. BTOOOM! is up to Vol. 20. Sigh. Dimension W is at 9, there’s a 7th Today’s Cerberus, and a 12th Trinity Seven.

Yen’s debut next week is Tales of Wedding Rings, which has already been running digitally on Crunchyroll. It appears to be a standard high school romance, but isn’t. Think fantasy with lots of fanservice. It runs in Big Gangan, so falls under seinen.

March is coming in like a lion! (though alas, March Comes in Like a Lion remains unlicensed). What are you getting?

Again!!, Vol. 1

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By Mitsurou Kubo. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Rose Padgett.

Yuri!! on Ice was a bit of a phenomenon, not just here but worldwide. But yes, also here, which is why we’re seeing two series that are by the writer of the famous ice skating anime. Again!! is the less surprising of the two licenses, though its subject matter means that it was fairly easily passed over back in the 2011-12 days when it was coming out weekly. (The other series, Moteki, is an even more unlikely license, but we’ll get to that when it comes out.) Again!! actually has a premise that seemingly would be quite popular over here: a young man with a scary face who has gone through high school with minimal interaction with people is graduating, having accomplished very few happy high school memories. He recalls the club that he was asked to join (but never did) when he started school, and goes to look at its now deserted clubroom, as the club died that year. While there, he accidentally terrifies a young girl who’s there to see her boyfriend, and she falls down a stairwell and cracks her head open. He then slips on a graduation bouquet and joins her.

The End! OK, not the end. He wakes up and suddenly begins to realize he’s back three years in the past, and is starting his school life all over again. Thinking this is a dream of some sort, he runs across the girl who invited him to join her club back then, and this time tries to give a different answer. And here we come to the elephant in the room: the club is an ouendan club. This is likely why the series was not licensed until YOI took off, as even fans of Elite Beat Agents may not have heard of ouendan. Kodansha’s notes list it as being sort of like a pep squad, and that’s not a bad analogy. Its members are usually male, but Usami, the lone remaining member, is a young girl. Now, if you’re thinking that this is going to be a sweet, heartwarming manga about a boy who rapidly discovers a love for ouendan and life that he never thought he had… well, it still could be, I suppose. But this first volume is here to tell you things will not be that simple. Usami is a hot mess with a difficult past, and it’s easy to see from ten seconds in her presence why the club died. Also, time travel is not as easy as it sounds, as both Imamura (our hero) and Fujieda (the girl who also fell down the stairs and went back in time, who is a walking disaster and the funniest part of the manga) discover. Oh yes, and the cheerleading squad leader is determined the end the ouendan.

This may not end up being my sort of manga – it relies somewhat on “watch people do embarrassing things” scenes that always make me cringe – but it’s absolutely compelling, and the lead manages to hold my interest despite being another in a long line of “guys with scary faces who aren’t really that scary”. I also do wonder how the time travel part is going to work out – is it just a one-way road? And can anyone convince Usami to turn the intenseness down to about an 8? There’s a lot developing here, but the series ran for twelve volumes in Japan, which seems to me just about the right length for a series like this. If you liked Yuri!! on Ice, you’ll obviously want to check this out, but it also appeals to readers with a taste for the quirky.

[New Life+] Young Again in Another World, Vol. 1

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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.

This was the first of two new licenses from J-Novel Club where my reaction was somewhat… muted, shall we say? The description of New Life Plus (Which is how I’ll be abbreviating it) did not really make it stand out among the Smartphones of this world. And as I began to read it, I started to tick off the usual isekai boxes. Here’s God, yup. Somewhat eccentric – in this case, God’s given herself the body and personality of a hyperactive young girl. Lead who has been chosen to go to another world for vague reasons. He ends up stupidly overpowered because God doesn’t really pay attention well, so that’s in order. He rescues two girls from attempted assault by the male companions they were traveling with, and then helps to stave off a goblin raid (goblins, check). Finally, after arriving at the adventurer’s guild (check) and getting ID cards (check), he is convinced to join the two girls on their adventures, against his better judgment. Check. Sigh.

I will break this down into bad and good again, though in this case it’s more bad and “has potential”. A lot – in fact, the majority – of J-Novel Club’s series are light novels that were originally on the internet as self-published web novels, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single series where it’s more obvious than this one. The writing quality is highly variable, to the point where I was actually wishing it was worse in places just so that it would be more consistent. Our hero is the ‘grim, realistic” sort as opposed to the “kind, helpful” and “perverted but doesn’t do anything” sorts, which sadly means I started to compare him to the hero of Death March. It’s never a good sign when you’re trying to clear Death March’s low bar. The author also has a running gag where he (the lead character, but also the author) gets lost in describing the immense breasts of one of the characters – in fact, at one point he seems to get so lost that he starts mixing up the names. The book also does that webnovel thing where it enjoys making fun of isekai tropes, but never quite does it enough to make it a deliberate satire – it’s having its cake and eating it too.

Am I dropping the series? No, at least not yet. Why? Well, there were one or two moments where I genuinely laughed out loud, I will admit. These usually involved the eccentric God or the “so naive it’s bordering on hilarious” adventurer Shion Femme-Fatale, whose name alone made me slap my head. The gimmick – our hero was a former Chinese Mafia assassin and wartime hero who killed 5000 men with his sword, founded schools of fighting, and died peacefully at 94, THEN was reincarnated in another world – is a clever one, though I’d be more impressed if God hadn’t wiped his memories of his life on Earth. But yeah, mostly I’m reading this because of that one character type I really like. Rona Chevalier (take a wild guess what her secret is) is the owner of the large breasts I mentioned before, but I was far more interested in her as a scheming, intelligent woman whose “I’m not angry” face is absolutely terrifying. She is able to convince our hero that keeping Shion’s naivete from killing her is more than a one-person job. Basically, the two women in the cast are far more interesting than the male lead. Not uncommon in isekai, but I liked Rona enough that I will try the second volume.

This is now up to 17+ volumes in Japan, and I am hoping that as the writer gains more experience – or perhaps better editors – it settles down a bit and reads less like “I am typing words and then immediately posting them, done”. If you enjoy isekai, give it a shot. The cast oddly made me think of Library Wars – If you wanted to see Iku and Shibasaki fighting fantasy adventures with a super-powered Doujima at their side, this is definitely the book for you.

Also, illustrator, if the author describes the hero’s face as perfectly average, try not to make it so that you look at the cover and want to punch him.

One Piece, Vol. 85

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

It goes without saying that the revelation about Charlotte Pudding in this volume does not come as a complete surprise. It will also not come as a surprise to me if she reverts later on, as Oda’s general treatment of women has gotten a lot more sexist and predictable over the years. The best thing about said revelation is Sanji’s reaction from outside the building, which is a simple grim silence. Oda’s panels can verge on chaos much of the time, and certainly do here, from Luffy trying to rip his hands off in order to escape to Chopper and Carrot’s pell-mell running through the mirrors, everything is traveling at 100MPH. So when Oda pauses to let a scene breathe, it has that much more impact. Charlotte’s ability is also a clever use of Devil Fruit to make what amounts to “memory erasure” look cool and also creepy at the same time. I tend to read One Piece slowly because little details always matter in it.

Reading One Piece slowly also helps you to notice the repeated themes Oda uses in his work, though to be fair this theme could be noticed from quite a ways away. Like Nami in the Arlong Park arc, and like Robin in the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji is desperate to get everyone to abandon him and save themselves. And of course when Luffy confronts him about it, his response is the same as the others: yes, I want to go with you. Please save me. I’m not entirely certain how many of the Vinsmokes are actually going to survive this arc, particularly after learning what Big Mom’s real wedding plans are. As I’ve said before, Reiju has “tragic sacrifice” written all over here. Still, I’m confident Sanji will survive, as he is a crew member. Speaking of which, will we get a new crew member at the end of this arc (which is still going in Japan)? Will it be Carrot? Or Jimbei, who rescues Luffy and Nami and joins the fun here.

Other things I noticed: I am vastly impressed with Brook for how he hid the poneglyph copies. That was clever thinking, and also clever on the part of Oda, who had to figure out where to hide a mass of paper on someone like Brook. Nami’s top takes some fire damage as part of her being rescued, and there’s some brief “will we see a breast? No.” fanservice, but I was amused she simply tied it back immediately – I wonder if she chooses her outfits so they can easily be fixed in case of ludicrous fighting? The alliance with Capone and Caesar Clown (who we simply can’t seem to get away from – Oda must love him as comedy relief) seems like it will be a disaster, but it does give us the opportunity to see Luffy in a nice mob suit. And why does Oda’s version of American football have the women wearing hot pants… wait, I know the answer to that one.

One Piece is not what it once was, but it’s still compelling, and should remain on your reading list for the foreseeable future.

Giant Spider & Me, Vol. 1

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Giant Spider & Me is a gentle fantasy that’s tinged with whimsy and rue. The story focuses on Nagi, a perky tween who lives by herself in a well-appointed cottage, awaiting the return of her father from a mysterious trip. In his absence, she’s proved remarkably self-sufficient, growing and foraging for her own food and preparing delicious meals for herself. Our first hint that something is amiss occurs early in chapter one, when she stumbles across a mastiff-sized spider in the woods. Their initial encounter doesn’t go well — Nagi is understandably terrified — but her apprehension soon gives way to a unique interspecies friendship when she discovers Asa (her name for the spider) shares her passion for pumpkin dumplings and leisurely picnics.

What inoculates Giant Spider & Me from a terminal case of the cutes is the specificity of Kikori Morino’s vision. On a superficial level, Giant Spider & Me is a culinary manga that walks the reader through the process of making turnip soup and miso ratatouille while conveying the joy of sharing food with others. (And yes, recipes appear at the end of each chapter.) On a deeper level, however, Giant Spider & Me is a thoughtful reflection on what it means to share your home with an intelligent creature, recognizing the pleasures of such an arrangement while acknowledging the communication gap between species. Asa proves a lively and willful guest in Nagi’s house, scaling walls and punching a hole in the roof in its quest for greater freedom — a detail that frustrated cat owners will appreciate.

The other secret to Morino’s success is her artwork, which strikes an elegant balance between clarity and detail. She never explains what caused the apocalypse of the title, but hints at its devastation with small but important clues: a partially submerged city, a vigilante in a gas mask and military-issue poncho. Morino applies that same mixture of restraint and exactitude to her character designs; Asa is both menacing and cute, an eight-eyed, eight-legged creature whose terrible mandibles are balanced by a feather-soft abdomen and a puppy-like demeanor. By emphasizing Asa’s duality as pet and monster, Morino helps us see Asa as Nagi does while also helping us understand why other survivors take a dimmer view of Asa. Something tells me I might need a tissue or two before the series finishes its run. Recommended.

Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, Vol. 1
Story & Art by Kikori Morino
Translation by Adrienne Beck; Adaptation by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
Seven Seas, 180 pp.
Rating: Teen

Bookshelf Briefs 2/26/18

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Arakawa Under the Bridge, Vol. 2 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Vertical Comics – The conceit of the first volume was to show that everyone who lived under the bridge, including the supposed straight-man hero, was completely and utterly weird. This second book expands that to show that you don’t even have to be living under the bridge, as Rec’s father and underlings prove to be just as screwed up. That said, the best moments in this omnibus go to the already-introduced cast. Everything involving Maria is a delight, particularly her “helping” Rec in his deception. Rec becoming a schoolteacher is also a fertile ground for gags, as is the race. My favorite moments, though, are just the simple unfussy love Nino seems to have for Rec. It actually grounds the series. – Sean Gaffney

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 5 | By Bisco Hatori | VIZ Media – I couldn’t quite bring myself to abandon this series, and that may be a good thing, because volume five is quite a bit better than what’s come before. True, some things are treated in a very frivolous manner, like Ruka’s stalker who conveniently disappears after Goda thwarts him once, but some emotions ring true, particularly Ranmaru’s raging feelings of inferiority when it comes to Goda, whom Ruka, the object of Ranmaru’s unrequited affections, pines for unrequitedly and who not only protects her from the stalker but has superior design ideas at every turn. Of course, Ranmaru ultimately learns that Goda is so good at what he does because of hard work, not sheer talent, and by volume’s end he seems more driven to work hard himself. I might care enough to stick around a bit longer. – Michelle Smith

Bloom Into You, Vol. 4 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – The drama amps up in this fourth volume, which (as with previous volumes of this series) makes it more interesting. Touko’s self-hatred is really becoming harder to hide, as she not only reveals to Yuu the mask that she’s been wearing ever since tragedy struck her family, but also urges Yuu not to fall in love with her, as, of course, she hates herself. That said, it may be a bit late on that score, as Yuu might be asexual but she’s not aromantic. (There is a clever use of a word bubble to obscure a narrative text block that is fooling no one.) The play that is written, meanwhile, is a bit too close to Touko for comfort, and the ending feels off, which is why it’s good that Yuu may be trying to change that. I’m finally enjoying this quite a bit. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 9 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – One of the things I like best about Chihayafuru is that the less-advanced members of the Mizusawa Karuta club are allowed to make valuable contributions. After watching the Master and Queen matches, “Desk-kun” tells Chihaya she shares a skill with the intimidating Master—the ability to discern more one-character cards than others—and one can’t help but think she’ll go far if she develops it. Meanwhile, Kana takes the education of new first-year members in hand (and proves to be right that it’s the poetry that hooks them) and “Meat Buns” trains the cocky newcomer who only knows the Hokkaido variant of the game. Everyone’s changing and they all have different goals and priorities, but two constants are their love of karuta and my love of this series. – Michelle Smith

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 4 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The majority of this volume is dedicated to finally bringing down the red dragon that ate Laios’ sister, and it’s a pretty badass battle, showing everyone failing and succeeding in equal measure—it’s well-earned. Sadly, Falin is pretty much a skeleton by now, but that is not going to stop our heroes. This is actually a fairly odd development, one that requires a bit of a side story in the early part of the volume to set up so it’s not completely out of the blue. (It also shows off some worldbuilding, hinting at an ongoing plot beyond this book, which I suspect may have been the original “if this gets cancelled fast” ending. But the series is popular, so we get a menacing elf for a cliffhanger. This has become excellent. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 22 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – Thanks goodness, the recipes at the end of this book do NOT ask the reader to cook with bear—the meat is changed to something more prosaic. The whole book is devoted to Soma’s battle, though we do also see a few shots of the new players in the Council of Ten, including Hayama, and also discover Megumi has to be judged by the eccentric Rindo. Soma’s got his work cut out for him, though, as his judges are all relatives of the Nakiri family, including Alice’s little sisters. The idea of Southern Fried Bear boggles the mind a bit, but the beauty of Food Wars is its ability to make anything sound delicious. And Soma’s bearburg steak may end up saving the day—depending on if Hayama will eat it. – Sean Gaffney

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 4 | By Tsukumizu| Ywn Press – It’s hard for one part of this fourth volume to not completely overwhelm the rest of it. For the most part, Chito and Yuuri ride their tank around, take a still-moving subway car to a brand-new part of the city, discover real, actual chocolate, and the like. But when Yuuri fires off a tactical nuclear weapon, destroying a large portion of the city off in the distance, your jaw drops. I am told the anime played this scene a bit more seriously, and rightly so—Yuuri’s laughter is appalling (and it’s meant to be, I think). This volume assures us that this is genuinely after the end of the world, and there’s not going to be a final scene where they’re rescued. I was not expecting a slice-of-life series with two cute girls to be so chilling. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 8 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – OK, turns out that Soujiro’s opponent isn’t quite Nureha, but some sort of golem controlled by a person of the earth with a penchant for evil. Strangely, said character later ends up as a small girl, and gets adopted by the West Wind Brigade and named Kuroe (to contrast with Shiroe and remind you why everyone in the WWB suspects Soujiro has a crush on him). The rest of the volume wraps up the events of the fourth book, giving more insight into the missing memories and some terrific facial expressions of Raynesia. The series just announced it’s ending in Japan, but this sort of side story doesn’t really need a definitive ending. “And the adventure continues” will do fine. – Sean Gaffney