Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Blog

My Week in Manga: July 3-July 9, 2017

by

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I announced the winner of the Summer Spookiness manga giveaway. The post also includes some of the manga available in English that incorporate Japanese folklore, ghosts, or urban legends in some way. Otherwise, it was a rather quiet week except for the fact that on Friday evening I discovered that the room I was storing a bunch of my books in had flooded thanks to a broken radiator pipe. So, a fair amount of my Friday night and weekend was spent on recovery efforts and assessing the damage. All things considered, I came out of the whole thing pretty well. Although I did lose some material, and it was heartbreaking, I was able to save the majority of the books. (I’m really glad I took the preservation and conservation class during library school!) Fortunately, only two of the severely damaged books were truly irreplaceable. One is just about dry enough now that I can start to try pressing it back into shape and the other is currently in the freezer. They won’t necessarily be pretty, but they should still be readable when I’m through.

Anyways! On to the licensing news and announcements made during the final days of Anime Expo: Among other things, Kodansha Comics revealed the details behind the new Eternal Edition of Naoko Takeuchi’s Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, confirmed the print edition of CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, and announced Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle. (Kodansha is also continuing its trend of calling manga digital-first with no real indication that a print edition will ever emerge.) As for Kodansha’s sister company Vertical Comics, we have City by Keiichi Arawi, Moteki by Mitsuro Kubo, Strangulation by Nisioisin, and My Boy by Hitomi Takano to look forward to. Seven Seas announced a number of manga and light novels, too: Ryo Shirakome and Takayaki’s Arifureta; Yuu Kamiya, Tsubaki Himana, and Sino’s Clockwork Planet; Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s Getter Robo Devolution; Akihito Tukushi’s Made in Abyss; Coolkyoushinja and Mitsuhiro Kimura’s Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life; Kina Kobayashi’s Nameless Asterism Shoutarou Tokunou’s New Game; the continuation of Ichigo Takano’s Orange; Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu’s Toradora; and Nozomu Tamaki’s Soul Liquid Chambers. Also, Udon Entertainment plans on publishing the Daigo the Beast and Infini-T Force manga. (Still waiting for Udon’s Rose of Versaille and Sugar Sugar Rune to make an appearance, though.)

Quick Takes

Boy, I Love YouBoy, I Love You edited by Kou Chen, Emily Forster, and Eric Alexander Arroyo. I had the delightful opportunity to meet the editors and a few of the other contributors of Boy, I Love You while at TCAF, but as one of the anthology’s Kickstarter backers I was well-aware of the anthology before that and was greatly looking forward to its release. The volume brings together six comics and one illustrated prose story by seven different creators, all of which take inspiration from the more wholesome aspects of the boys’ love genre. It’s a delightful collection with an appealing range of stories, everything from slice-of-life to mecha space battles. If I had to choose a favorite (which is difficult to do because all seven contributions are honestly great) it would probably be Forster’s “Mix Plate” which incorporates themes of family and food along with the comic’s central romance. The focus of the stories in Boy, I Love You is primarily on relationships and how the characters’ navigate them and their feelings. While as a whole the anthology is fairly chaste–the physical closeness that’s shown between the men is largely limited to a few kisses and embraces–the intimacy expressed in the stories is undeniable. Boy, I Love You is a highly enjoyable and heartfelt anthology of queer stories.

Dreamin' Sun, Volume 1Dreamin’ Sun, Volume 1 by Ichigo Takano. Orange, the first of Takano’s manga to be released in English translation, left a huge and personally significant impression on me. As a result, when Dreamin’ Sun was licensed for an English-language edition, too, it immediately caught my attention. Shimana Kameko is terribly unsatisfied with her life and so, without putting much thought into it, she decides to run away from home. While playing hooky from school she meets Fujiwara Taiga in a nearby park, a man who has left home for an entirely different reason–he’s been kicked and locked out of his house for being drunk. He offers to rent Kameko a room but among other things she will have help retrieve the keys first. I unquestionably love the quirky and increasingly large cast of Dreamin’ Sun, but the story itself is somewhat lackluster at this point. I’m also finding it a little difficult to believe that Kameko’s father would so readily let his high school daughter move out of their home. However, the narrative does hint at a familial backstory that hasn’t yet been fully revealed which may go far to help explain his decision. While Dreamin’ Sun isn’t nearly as compelling as Orange, I certainly wouldn’t mind reading more of the series. The first volume was goofy and a little ridiculous, but not at all in a bad way.

Erased, Omnibus 2Erased, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-4) by Kei Sanbe. While the beginning of Erased took a little while to fully click with me, by the end of the first omnibus I was thoroughly hooked on the series. After inexplicably traveling back in time to his childhood, Satoru Fujinuma is doing all that he can to try to stop a series of kidnappings and murders he knows is about to happen. Thanks to a strange ability that he calls “Revival,” he has been able to change things in his past before, but saving the lives of his classmates and friends is proving to be an extraordinary challenge. Sanbe’s artwork in Erased can be a little inconsistent and unrefined at times, but the story has become truly gripping. Not only is Satoru faced with trying to solve the deadly mysteries from earlier in his life, in the present day he’s also being skillfully framed for the murder of his mother and he must find a way to prove his innocence. The two situations are closely linked together and Satoru is understandably desperate to find answers. There are also some really touching moments in Erased as Satoru grows as a person–although he’s worried for their safety and doesn’t want to endanger anyone, he’s finally able to start accepting help from and form meaningful relationships with other people.

Mysterious Girlfriend X, Omnibus 1Mysterious Girlfriend X, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Riichi Ueshiba. I had already heard a fair amount about Mysterious Girlfriend X before reading the first omnibus, but I wasn’t at all anticipating how surprisingly charming the series would be. Ueshiba’s illustrations can actually be pretty cute, too. That being said, Mysterious Girlfriend X is an incredibly weird manga and many people won’t be able to get past the drool and literal swapping of spit around which much of the story revolves. Akira Tsubaki is a fairly normal high school student but his first girlfriend, the newly transferred Mikoto Urabe, most definitely is not. If she is destined to have a close bond with someone, she is able to convey her feelings to them through her drool and she can likewise understand their feelings from their drool. She’s also phenomenally talented when it comes to using scissors, either artistically or in self-defense, and she always keeps a pair tucked away in her panties. Much about Urabe unknown, but after tasting her drool, Tsubaki can’t seem to help but fall in love with her. In general, Mysterious Girlfriend X tends to be somewhat episodic in nature although Tsubaki and Urabe’s strangely heartwarming relationship can be seen to very slowly progress over the course of the first omnibus.

Bookshelf Briefs 7/10/17

by and Leave a Comment

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 7 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – It is becoming increasingly apparent that, whatever his own emotional turmoil, Elias made the right decision in bringing Chise into his fold, as we keep hearing about her value as a specimen rather than a young girl. Actually, that line of thinking rolls through this entire volume, as a baby dragon is snatched to be used in experimentation and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Fortunately, an increasingly powerful Chise is there, and is working hard to retrieve it. Unfortunately, we keep getting more hints that she’s simply not going to live to be middle-aged, much less an old woman. As for Elias and Chise, she seems more like an older sister now than a bride. Still fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 3 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | VIZ Media – Huh. I didn’t think I’d ever grow to truly like Anonymous Noise, but I have to say that it’s beginning to grow on me. For the first time, when In No Hurry to Shout makes their TV debut and Nino scream-sings her feelings after an unpleasant encounter with Momo, I actually kind of bought into the idea of the manga being about a kickass band. Of course, the plot soon detours into love polygon angst, with Nino loving Momo, who’s a jerk to her for no apparent reason, and Yuzu loving Nino, and Miou loving Yuzu, and even a random angsty bit of foreshadowing from the drummer, who has barely registered as a character up to this point. I certainly don’t love this series, but I’m not ready to give up on it yet. – Michelle Smith

DAYS, Vol. 3 | By Tsuyoshi Yasuda | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seiseki High is progressing through the Interhigh Tokyo Preliminaries. Tsukamoto continues to be the weakest member of the team, but he’s still enjoying himself so much that he’s doing all that he can to hang on to his spot. His dedication inspires the much-more-talented Jin Kazama not to slack off, either. As before, we learn more about some of the other teammates and their personalities and strengths—this time it’s Kimishita, a second-year who stresses whenever Tsukamoto is on the field because he’s not a viable pass recipient. Yet, even he ends up impressed by Tsukamoto’s efforts to improve in this area, and it’s eventually revealed that the whole team has benefited from this energic newbie, as they increased their stamina while striving to avoid being shown up by the shrimp. Good stuff! – Michelle Smith

Flying Witch, Vol. 2 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – While Makoto continues to be the least-secret witch ever, she at least is impressing (somewhat) her cousin Chinatsu, who is now asking them to train her in being a witch. I suspect that this may end up being the main plot going forward, though that may be putting too much faith in Flying Witch to have a plot. Witches or no, it’s a slice-of-life series at heart, and so it’s content to meander along. We also meet Akane’s friend Inukai, who at first seems to be an example of Akane’s overly uncaring nature, but in reality turns out to be a lesson on the dangers of getting too drunk. It’s a cute and fun title, but don’t expect excitement—this is a series where weeding gets multiple chapters. – Sean Gaffney

Honey So Sweet, Vol. 7 | By Amu Meguro | VIZ Media –First-year Miyabi Nishigaki has a crush on Taiga. He remains oblivious throughout the majority of the volume, but it’s really bothering Nao. Of course, being Nao, she doesn’t want to be annoying or come across as unreasonable, so she only finally says something after Miyabi invites herself along with the gang to a festival and not only wears the exact yukata Nao is wearing, but even emulates her actions, including a creepy moment where she tries to spoonfeed Taiga some of her shaved ice. Because Nao and Taiga are incredibly nice, instead of wondering about Miyabi’s mental health, they feel bad for not considering her feelings. Eventually everyone reconciles. It’s a decent volume with plenty of cute moments for our leads, but I hope Meguro-sensei dispenses with love rivals for the next, and final, volume. – Michelle Smith

Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Vol. 5 | By Masume Yoshimoto | One Peace Books – Honestly, we’ve gotten to the point where I feel the series needs more of the bear. And, I mean, there’s already a fair amount of bear in here. The scenes where he has to pretend to be the village mascot in a highly realistic suit are cute, as is his stress about Twitter. The difficulty is that when the focus is not on him, it turns to Machi, whose total social ineptness really raises the bar for every other socially inept manga character. The scenes of her trying to use a computer are more painful than funny. She works better bouncing off of Hibiki, whose constant simmering anger is an oasis of calm compared to Machi’s stress. Mostly, though, this series continues to be highly variable. – Sean Gaffney

No Game No Life, Please!, Vol. 1 | By Kazuya Yuizaki and Yuu Kamiya | Yen Press – The actual No Game No Life main manga adaptation got one volume out and then seemed to fall into limbo, so to a certain extent this may be the closest we get to more of the manga. As you might guess by the title, the series focuses on Izuna, the Werebeast girl with a mind for games and a mouth for swearing. As you’d expect given this is No Game No Life, there’s a certain amount of perverse fanservice, but in fact it’s actually a lot less than I feared. Mostly this serves as a collection of short stories starring Izuna, as she grows and learns about games and actual life lessons. She even learns from Steph! Gasp! If you enjoy NGNL and wish the manga continued, this is worth picking up. – Sean Gaffney

RIN-NE, Vol. 24 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – RIN-NE continues with its episodic Shonen Sunday stylings. The first half is incredibly dull, relying largely on more gags involving Anematsuri-sensei’s crystal ball, but the second half is actually kind of neat. A large reward is offered to whomever defeats a black fox spirit. The best tool for the job is a specific scythe, which happens to pick Sakura as its owner. A smitten Rinne enjoys coaching her on how to use the thing, and even wonders if she has the aptitude to be a shinigami. Stupid me, I actually got my hopes up for a second that this would be some kind of turning point in the manga, but no. Although Sakura does gain a greater appreciation for the job Rinne performs, she’s content to move on once she fulfills her quota, leaving the scythe ready to choose someone else. It was reasonably entertaining while it lasted, though! – Michelle Smith

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 4

by

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.

I’m not certain if this is deliberate or accidental, but so far in Rokujouma each starring heroine has been the one featured on the PREVIOUS cover. Sanae features on the cover of Book 2, and gets most of her development in 3. Theia features on the cover of 3, and gains the most development (and a rival) in this book. And, judging by the cliffhanger ending, the next volume will focus primarily on Yurika, who’s on the cover of this volume. Of course, given this is a harem comedy with a large cast, everyone gets something or other to do in this book. But there’s no doubt the main thrust is the play that Theia writes using her own planet’s history, and how much it resonates with some of the cast. And, as I noted above, we get another candidate for the throne as well, who seems to be the mad scientist type, and is perfectly OK with killing others if she can get away with it. Fortunately, this is a comedy.

The other beneficiary of this school play is Harumi, who is a knitting club member rather than a drama club member, but everyone agrees that she has the look and feel of the princess that Theia has “creates”. The gag, of course, being that she only turns into a good actor – only identifies with how the princess is feeling about being separated from her knight – when it’s Koutarou who’s playing opposite her. In fact, it feels like a bit more than a gag, and there are hints that there may be some serious reincarnation or something similar going on here. Of course, this makes for a great excuse to have Koutarou, also not a Drama Club member, play the Blue Knight, which allows Theia to give him rigorous knightly training with a suit of armor that fits him abnormally well. I;ve often said that Vol. 4s tends to be the ones where the plot is greatly expanded as the publisher tells the author it won’t be cancelled immediately, and that seems to be the case here.

The others don’t get as much to do – though I noted that Yurika saved the day without anyone realizing it again, a running gag that suits her misfortune. We do see that after the events of the previous volume, everyone is getting along much better – aside from the occasional abuse of Yurika because, well, that’s what happens to her – there’s little jealousy or typical harem antics going on here. I suspect the ship here may end up being a poly one (in fact, many of J-Novel’s current licenses have legal or implied polygamy – coincidence?), but it’s handled well enough, and poly ships also help to avoid all that “who is best girl?” nonsense. Rokujouma is never going to win any awards for originality or good writing, but it’s like a good beef stew, a meat and potatoes sort of book you can read anytime. Recommended to fans of the genre.

Appleseed Alpha

by

By Iou Kuroda, based on the manga create by Masamune Shirow. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Morning Two. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Lillian Olsen and Stephen Paul.

It has been an awfully long time since I read Appleseed, even with the recent digital release. And I haven’t seen the 2014 movie that this is apparently a spinoff from, though I understand the manga and anime may only be loosely based off each other anyway. But that’s OK, because Appleseed Alpha is still a perfectly enjoyable, if occasionally too busy for its own good, story. All you really need to know is that the human woman is Deunan Knute, and her lover/companion is Briareos, a former human who is now mostly cyborg. (How far they go as lovers is, as always, left mostly ambiguous.) The main series proper saw them living in, and rebelling against, the utopia of Olympus. The Alpha story is a prequel, so naturally we get to spend it in a dystopia – the remains of New York City, run by a cyborg who is half mayor and half mafia boss.

Shirow is not writing or drawing this, by the way, but the artist is not unknown to North American readers – it’s Iou Kuroda, creator of cult classic Sexy Voice and Robo. That felt like more of an indie comic than a manga, and this feels much the same, which makes sense as it ran in Kodansha’s experimental manga title Morning Two. The art has thick lines and less detailed faces, though trust me, there’s just as much detailed background and cityscapes as you’re used to with this title. The main plot separates our heroes early, as Briareos, by nature of his not only being a cyborg but one of the awesome cyborgs, is lauded by the mayor (whether he likes it or not) and Deunan is left out in the cold. She ends up outside the city, meeting a group of farmers who may have more links to the city than she had expected. Meanwhile, Briareos has, of course, NOT abandoned Deunan, and ends up heading out to see her.

This one-volume omnibus has a few cool battles, though the artist seems more suited to drawing the effects of the fights than the fights themselves. There’s also some amusing humor, the best of which involves several trains filled with cows all heading into the remains of Penn Station with drivers asleep at the wheel. Deunan and Briareos feel in character – both somewhat removed from society, yet still highly involved it it – and Deunan still gets to be a hothead at times. As for the mayor, Two Horns, he is a hoot, a giant parody of all mayors with a sinister side to him as well – and a mysterious past that gets revealed right at the end of the book. I’d definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of Appleseed. For others, even though it’s technically a prequel/alternate universe, I’d recommend starting with the four main Appleseed books themselves.

Full-Time Wife Escapist Vols 1 and 2

by

Full-Time Wife Escapist Volume 1 and 2 by Tsunami Umino

Kodansha seems to be putting out so many digital titles, I’m having a hard time keeping track of them all. I’m always curious to check out josei titles and Full-Time Wife Escapist is a unique title, as it isn’t as overtly focused on romance as some of the other josei titles that have been translated over here.

Mikuri is in a bind after attending graduate school in psychology. She’s having difficulty finding a full-time job, and makes ends meet as a temp. When her temp job ends, she’s caught in a difficult situation because her parents are moving to the country, where there will be even less work for her. She picks up some shifts here and there doing housework and meets a man named Tsuzaki, and she becomes his regular part-time housekeeper. They become closer when she takes care of him during an illness. Mikuri and Tsuzaki come up with the solution where Mikuri will move in as his platonic paid wife, taking over housekeeping duties, making him lunch and dinner, and generally making his bachelor apartment more comfortable.

Tsuzaki is a bit of a loner at work, and somewhat emotionally stunted and has a way of relating to other people that make them assume that he’s cranky, but it seems more like he just hasn’t developed his social skills very well. The transnational nature of the relationship is one of the aspects of this manga that makes it both interesting and refreshing. When Mikuri and Tsuzaki go to visit his parents, they set the terms of Mikuri’s overtime by negotiating back and forth. It is interesting to see tasks that would be unacknowledged emotional labor in a real relationship being assigned a dollar value in this one.

Mikuri’s background in psychology shows her observing other people as opposed to getting real insight on herself. She does have some amusing daydream sequences when her mind wanders and she projects herself into some dream tv interviews that offer some commentary on her life choices. Her aunt Yuri, an unmarried career woman, serves as a counterpoint to Mikuri’s more aimless lifestyle. I enjoy manga when it gets a little didatic, and there are some great asides in Full-Time Wife Escapist where the characters start discussing the economic conditions facing younger adults in Japan, providing some real world background and context to Mikuri’s unconventional lifestyle choice.

The first volume sets up the unique relationship situation in The Full-Time Wife Escapist fairly quickly, and the second volume shows some of the issues that happen when the couple continues to try to portray their relationship as real to friends and colleagues, who sense that something is a bit off in the way the couple relate to each other. At the same time, the close proximity of the fake couple is showing some awareness developing between them. This series has a nice slice-of life pace to the storytelling, as everyday activities like preparing dinner have a new slant due to the unique relationship. At the same time, there are some moments of pathos, as Tsuzaki reflects that if Mikuri ever decides to get married for real, he’s going to be alone for the rest of his life.

Tsuzaki’s friend Kazami starts appearing a bit more and more, and he and Mikuri have a few easy friendly conversations. Kazami starts envying the married lifestyle, but he’s not interested in settling down at all. Intriguing changes are signaled for the next few volumes. I enjoy a good josei romance series, but one of the things I appreciate about The Full-Time Wife Escapist is that it is focused more on transactions and slowly developing friendships than overt romance. It’ll also be interesting to see if Mikuri’s unconventional wife for hire lifestyle is sustainable over the long term.

Demon King Daimaou, Vol. 1

by

By Shoutaro Mizuki and Souichi Itou. Released in Japan as “Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Musto.

While I would not go so far as to say that it was terrible, or that I won’t get more (I am curious to see what happens next), there’s no getting around the fact that Demon King Daimaou is a deeply flawed book. It knows what it wants to do, but sometimes skips necessary steps to get there. Its setting is bog standard, and most of its characters hew to the cliched stereotype. In fact, when this fairly old light novel series was made into an anime several years back, fans called the heroines by their hair color rather than their name. That’s harder to do with a textual book, even with illustrations, so I will try to use actual names – I apologize if this makes things confusing. The most interesting part of the book is the hero, but that’s not always to its benefit either.

Our hero is Akuto, seen here on the cover showing more expressiveness than he does in the entirety of this book. He’s a young orphan who arrives at Constant Magical Academy in order to start a path towards changing the world by becoming a high priest. Unfortunately, like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter only much worse, there’s a machine at the school that lays out your perfect career path for all students. And Akuto’s is Demon King, which disturbs almost everyone since the last Demon King was defeated at that very school years ago. Of course, Akuto doesn’t believe in fate, and a simple explanation to his fellow students should do the trick. Unfortunately, while he may be overly serious, studious, and have seemingly noble intentions, he cannot help but stick his foot in his mouth every time he speaks – partly as he genuinely isn’t paying attention to how his words come across till after he’s said them, and partly because, well, he really would make a pretty nifty demon king.

Akuto is interesting as a hero mostly as he’s not really the hot-headed, fiery type or the “harem protagonist” type – the book runs on his total inability to say the right thing in any given situation, but skewed just enough so it doesn’t seem familiar. The same can’t be said of the heroines. Keena, the girl on the cover, is meant to be the ‘airhead’ sort, but also has a mysterious past, and spends a lot of the book away from events. Junko is our standard Akane Tendo heroine, who likes Akuto at first before he’s chosen by the machine to be demon king, but afterwards alternates between humiliated rage at being played for a fool and growing feelings of love (that frankly grow far too fast given their interaction). The best of the girls so far is Korone, an android bodyguard with a stonefaced expression and a tendency to tease the bejabbers out of Akuto – she was my favorite part of the book.

I should also mention the ending, which features another girl, who is secretly evil, getting her comeuppance at the end in what is meant to be a humorous way. Sadly, this involves her getting gangraped by her other female classmates, who are under the influence of a drug. It’s implied and offscreen, but I don’t care. It’s ugly and awful. It helps to make this first volume something of a hot mess, and while I’m not abandoning it just yet, it’s on thin ice. I’d recommend it to those who enjoyed the anime only.

Land of the Lustrous, Vol. 1

by

Land of the Lustrous is a gorgeous trainwreck, the kind of manga that doesn’t make sense on a panel-by-panel basis, but ravishes you with artwork so beautiful and strange it’s hard to look away.

I’ll be honest: I read the first volume three times, and found it almost impenetrable. As best I could tell, Land of the Lustrous depicts an interplanetary war between two races: the Gems, whose androgynous, humanoid appearance belies their true, rock-like nature, and the Lunarians, who frequently raid Earth, hoping to capture Gems for decorative purposes. (What kind of decorations remains a mystery; my vote is for bedazzled jeans and hoodies.) Since there are only 28 Gems, they’ve organized themselves into “fighter-medic” pairs to defend Earth from the Lunarians. One Gem — Phosphophyllite, who registers only 3.5 on the Mohs scale — is too weak to perform either task, so the group’s leader pronounces Phos their official naturalist, and tasks Phos with writing a history of Earth.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Land of the Lustrous was a satire on the dissertation-writing process, given how much time Phos spends procrastinating and grumbling about the book, but these scenes are interspersed with awkward flirtations, violent combat, and a brief episode in which Phos turns into a cute, sentient space slug. These abrupt shifts in tone frustrate the reader’s ability to get a handle on what, if anything, Land of the Lustrous is trying to say — a problem compounded by the dialogue, which is sometimes so windy that it’s a drag on the story, and sometimes so burdened with exposition that it barely passes for conversation.

When the characters stop talking and start doing things, however, Land of the Lustrous is a show-stopper, a testament to the richness of Haruko Ichikawa’s imagination. The Lunarians’ first appearance, for example, establishes them as an inscrutable menace. Their soldiers glide silently above the ground, led by an enormous, stone-faced Bodhissattva who’s flanked by undulating lines of archers with bows drawn, their arms and arrows criss-crossing the horizon to form a graceful lattice. (Busby Berkeley would have approved of the Lunarians’ formation.)

What happens next is even more astonishing:

In this sequence, a Gem slices through the general’s head, only to reveal a lotus pod filled with lethal “seeds” — a beautiful but unsettling moment reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley’s work in its commingling of the sensual and the grotesque; we’re not certain if the Lunarians are animal, vegetable, or mineral. Making this sequence even more disorienting is the dramatic shift in perspective: we see the impending attack from the general’s point of view, then shift to the attackers’ for the moment of contact and its aftermath. The eerie stillness of the final two panels reveals the extent to which the Lunarian general’s transformation has confounded the Gems, who are transfixed by the viscous flow of blood — or is that sap? — from his head.

Looking at these images, I wonder what a more assertive editor might have done to reign in Ichikawa’s worst storytelling tendencies: would the tone and pacing have been more even? The world-building more coherent? The dialogue more revelatory? In the absence of such editorial interventions, however, the most original aspects of Ichikawa’s work sink beneath a torrent of banal conversation and stale comic bits that pass for character development. A few moments of unnerving imagery interrupt the tedium long enough to make an impression on the reader, but are too brief and scattered to yield a truly satisfying experience.

LAND OF THE LUSTROUS, VOL. 1 • BY HARUKO ICHIKAWA • TRANSLATED BY ALETHEA AND ATHENA NIBLEY • KODANSHA COMICS • RATED: TEEN (13+) • 192 pp.

Manga the Week of 7/12/17

by Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a pile. Let’s get down to it, boppers.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: Dark Horse starts us off with the third Blade of the Immortal omnibus.

J-Novel Club has the 2nd Bluesteel Blasphemer on tap.

They also have a debut, Infinite Dendrogram. It’s got many elements common to recent light novel series – a new VRMMO that may blur the line between reality and game – but I am assured it is quite good, so we shall see.

Kodansha is still rescuing some Del Rey stuff, with the 15th Yozakura Quartet and the 20th School Rumble.

In new digital licenses, they have the 4th Domestic Girlfriend, and the 4th Full-Time Wife Escapist. Excited for the latter.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Full-Time Wife Escapist! I enjoyed the first couple volumes.

MICHELLE: I’m excited for volume four, as well!

SEAN: They also snuck in some new licenses too late for me to mention them last week, so these are already out. I have failed you again. Sorry. Hotaru’s Way (Hotaru no Hikari) is the most famous of the three licenses, a josei series from Kiss that’s been made into some live-action series. It’s the ever-popular “falling in love with my boss” genre.

ANNA: Yay josei!

MICHELLE: That’s not my favorite josei genre, but I’ll give it a look.

SEAN: Sneaking in a print release here, as the 5th Interview with Monster Girls ships next week.

Back to this week’s digital debuts (damn my penchant for alphabetical order), Kounodori: Dr. Stork is a long-running seinen title from Evening Magazine, involving an obstetrician/pianist. It sounds very seinen.

ASH: Huh. I had missed the pianist angle.

SEAN: Love’s Reach (Kinkyori Renai) is an older shoujo series that ran in Betsufure, and has a teacher/student romance to go along with the earlier boss/employee romance.

ANNA: OK!

SEAN: And now we’re back to next week proper, as there’s a 21st Seven Deadly Sins.

Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of shoujo romance Dreamin’ Sun.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed volume one a lot!

ASH: I actually just got around to reading the first volume. I rather liked the quirky cast of characters.

SEAN: And a 2nd volume of supernatural thriller Ghost Diary.

ASH: It seemed very derivative, but enjoyed the first volume more than I expected. (Except for one character’s super-annoying verbal affectation…)

SEAN: And I suppose we must mention the 3rd volume of yuri sleaze NTR – Netsuzou Trap. Now with anime adaptation.

They also finish a series next week, as The Sacred Blacksmith ends with its 10th volume.

SuBLime has a 7th volume of The World’s Greatest First Love.

And Udon rolls out a 5th volume of Persona 3.

Vertical gives us a 5th volume of Immortal Hounds (lot of Vol. 5s next week).

Viz has Vol. 63 of Case Closed.

They also have a new Legendary Edition of The Legend of Zelda, this one covering the Four Swords story.

ASH: The Legendary Edition of the series is really nice!

SEAN: Lastly, Rumiko Takahashi keeps toddling along with a 24th Rin-Ne.

Beat the heat with manga! What are you reading next week?

The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, Vol. 1

by

By SOW and Zaza. Released in Japan by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by Bookwalker. Translated by David Musto.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this series, the first to be licensed by Bookwalker directly from Japan. I had seen it on HJ’s site a while back, and thought it might make a good license at the time due to one specific reason: it didn’t appear to be an isekai, which light novel licenses were currently drowning in. (Still are, to be fair.) I wondered if it would end up being something of a foodie book, focusing on the making of the bread and daily life of the bakery. In fact, it’s nothing remotely like that. But that’s OK, because I genuinely enjoyed what we get, which is a darker story about a country recovering from a vicious war that spanned the continent, the scars it left behind, and one of its veterans trying to repent for his sins with delicious bread.

The baker is Lud, a former soldier who was responsible for much of the devastation and death, and also happened to be on the winning side. He was never happy with it, though, starting off as a child soldier, and his biggest regret is being unable to save the bakery he had stayed in for a spying mission at one point. After the war, he settles into one of the neighboring countries and decides to open his own bakery. There are a few problems with this. 1) He has a face like a hardened combat veteran, and has trouble making his smile not seem like a threat. 2) The town in question is avoiding him and no one will buy his bread. His only friends are Jacob, a young man who stops by on occasion to buy some bread and snark at him, and Marlene, who is the nun in charge of the orphaned kids. Things are looking pretty bad, that is until he hires a young, highly enthusiastic, and extremely odd waitress named Sven.

Sven’s true identity is not unknown to the reader, as it’s the first scene we see in the book, but it is unknown to Lud, who finds her a good employee and friend, but doesn’t connect the dots to his former life till the very end. Sven herself has a very easily triggered jealous and possessive side, but given who she is and her newfound state, this is actually a bit more acceptable than most clingy jealous girls. The large majority of the book is dedicated to the fact that the war may technically be over, but there are still aftershocks spreading through this continent that is clearly meant to be Europe, only not. Neighboring countries that sound suspiciously like Russia are sending in terrorists as moles, or using old men with a chip on their shoulders to repair tanks, or searching for evidence of the old, world-conquering civilization that used to exist a thousand years ago. The book does a very good job keeping the reader’s interest through this, and it reads more like a thriller than a wacky romantic light novel.

Translation was good, on the whole – there were a few times I saw Lud’s name as Luke, but apparently Bookwalker are already fixing that (the benefits of being a digital publisher). As for the heroine being named Sven, well, that’s the Japanese author’s fault – if you can accept Jacuzzi Splot, you can accept this. I will note that I think the book’s formatting works better on a larger tablet than it does on a phone, so Bookwalker readers may want to try reading it that way. On the whole, though, a very good debut, and I look forward to seeing more of the series, which is 6 volumes in Japan.

Manga Giveaway: Summer Spookiness Winner

by

Ghost Diary, Volume 1
In/Spectre, Volume 1

And the winner of the Summer Spookiness manga giveaway is… Olivia!

As the winner, Olivia will be receiving copies of Ghost Diary, Volume 1 by Seiju Natsumegu and In/Spectre, Volume 1 by Chasiba Katase as published in English by Seven Seas and Kodansha Comics respectively. For this giveaway, I asked that participants tell me a little about their favorite manga which includes Japanese folklore, ghosts, or urban legends in some way. Yuki Midorikawa’s Natsume’s Book of Friends and Adachitoka’s Noragami: Stray God were the two most frequently mentioned series (and they are great!) but everyone’s detailed responses can be found in the giveaway comments. And, as usual, I’ve created a list of related manga below, as well.

Some of the print manga available in English incorporating Japanese folklore:
Anomal by Nukuharu
Bleach by Tite Kubo
Death Note written by Tsugumi Ohba, illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Durarara!! written by Ryohgo Narita, illustrated by Akiyo Satorigi
The Demon Prince of Momochi House by Aya Shouoto
Forbidden Scrollery by Moe Harukawa
Gate 7 by CLAMP
Ghost Diary by Seiju Natsumegu
Ghost Hunt by Shiho Inada
Ghost Talker’s Daydream by Saki Okuse
Hanako and the Terror of Allegory by Sakae Esuno
In/Spectre by Chasiba Katase
Inu x Boku SS by Cocoa Fujiwara
Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi
Kamisama Kiss by Julietta Suzuki
Kekkaishi by Yellow Tanabe
Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki
Mail by Housui Yamazaki
Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara
Natsume’s Book of Friends by Yuki Midorikawa
NonNonBa by Shigeru Mizuki
Noragami: Stray God by Adachitoka
Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun by Shin Mashiba
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan by Hiroshi Shiibashi
Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary by Shake-O
Oninagi by Akira Ishida
Pet Shop of Horrors by Matsuri Akino
Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka
RIN-NE by Rumiko Takahashi
Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales by CLAMP
Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo
Tale of a White Night by Tooko Miyagi
That Wolf Boy Is Mine! by Yoko Nogiri
Tokyo Babylon by CLAMP
xxxHolic by CLAMP
Yokai Girls by Kazuki Funatsu
Yokai Rental Shop by Shin Mashiba

Although the above list certainly isn’t comprehensive, I do think it shows a nice variety of titles. It should also hopefully provide a good starting place for someone who might be interested in manga which include elements of Japanese folklore. Thank you to everyone who shared your personal favorites with me by participating in the giveaway! I hope you’ll stop by again for the next one as well.