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Bookshelf Briefs 6/12/17

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Anne Happy, Vol. 5 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – There’s a new character introduced in this volume who I thought at first was going to be an antagonist but it turns out is merely another one of our broken, unlucky heroes. That said, “terminally shy” is not really unlucky so much as a basic personality flaw. As for the class, we’re looking beyond graduation, and while I will marvel if some of these ditzes manage to survive in the adult world, it’s a good thinking exercise to get them to ponder dreams they’d like to achieve—Botan as a school nurse is amusing and obvious, Hibari’s “botanical research technician” a bit less so. As for the culture festival, they’re doing a play, probably to continue trying to force them to interact with others till they can do it more naturally. Mildly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Captive Hearts of Oz, Vol. 2 | By Ryo Maruya and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – As I noted in my review of the first volume, folks did not particularly read Alice in the Country of Hearts for the reverse harem—or if they did, the worst volumes of it were only concerned with that. No, they read it for the dark subtext, and I am pleased that Captive Hearts of Oz is well aware of that and turns the dark subtext into text. There are some sweet, heartwarming moments, don’t get me wrong, such as Leon finding his courage and Nick’s daring rescue of Hayward. But there’s also chilling stuff here, as one of the crows we met earlier is vanished into black mist, and after seemingly being killed in the rapids, Nick just… comes back wrong. I am fully down with this series now. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail: Rhodonite | By Kyouta Shibano | Kodansha Comics – This says volume two on it, but it’s actually a single volume spinoff—volume one was Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. This second volume deals with Gajeel and his past, and as such has a lot of cool fights, disturbing revelations and shonen stubbornness. But of course I didn’t get it for that reason. I got it because Gajeel x Levy 5-evah. And I am pleased to note that fans of this pairing will have a lot to work with, from Levy’s realization that she’s never really asked much about Gajeel’s past, to Juvia’s straight-up shipping of the two of them (who can blame her), to Gajeel’s pure and honest respect for Levy. They’ve come a long way from his beating her to unconsciousness and crucifying her. Recommended for Gajevy fans. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 18 | Story by Yuto Tsukuda, Art by Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I was hesitant going into this volume since the beginning of the “Erina’s horrible dad takes over” arc was rather distressing. It isn’t over yet, and several research societies get squashed in the shokugeki they requested to challenge the order to disband. Still, Yukihira does prevail in his rigged showdown with the fate of Polaris dormitory on the line, so there’s some hope. Too, we learn that Azami at one point idolized Yukihira’s dad and is now doing all of this because the “rotten and corrupt” culinary world “dared to ruin” him. Oh, and Erina now knows that the person she looks up to more than anyone is Yukihira’s dad, causing her to reflect on all the times she’s treated him shabbily. Probably my favorite part of this volume is seeing her among the Polaris gang; I hope she loosens up a bit more under their influence. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 12 | By Haruchi Furudate | VIZ Media – Ah, what a tremendously satisfying volume! With little preamble, the first game of the Spring Tournament preliminaries begins. Everyone is much more confident now after spending so much time practicing against strong Tokyo teams, and Karasuno makes it through its two exciting games, earning a spot in the qualifier round. Essentially, this volume offers both in-game awesomeness as well as training montages, as the two months between tournaments pass quickly, with various guys making improvements, Hinata and Kageyama’s new quick set upping its success rate, and even Tsukishima asking for tips on how to effectively block a superior player. It’s also great to see Hinata getting respect on a wider stage. Sounds like volume twelve will be a great one, too! – Michelle Smith

Murcielago, Vol. 2 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – Hinako is on the cover of this volume, and she does get a chapter of focus to herself, which mostly serves to make us wonder if she’s meant to be sixteen years old or six. It’s also unclear exactly what her relationship with Kuroko is beyond ‘buddy with car.’ Kuroko certainly seems like she can handle things herself, finishing up the murder mansion subplot with a few more corpses and a lot more gore—though less than I expected, as the murderous maid loses a few limbs but not her life—something it’s hinted she may regret. We also begin a new arc, trying to rescue a girl from her father, who may be a serial killer. If you like lots of over the top violence and lesbian sex, Murcielago STILL may not be for you—it’s pretty twisted. – Sean Gaffney

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Vol. 3 | By Kenya Suzuki| Seven Seas – As with the second volume, this one ramps back on the sex talk, though there is still some as we discuss pubic hair and the benefits and drawbacks to large breasts. Mostly what we get is more character-based gags, as Galko and company go video shopping, visit an art museum, and have a school festival, which brings about the majority of the drama in the latter half of the volume—Galko is excellent at reading aloud, so is drafted as narrator of the school play. But this means she can’t do the festival with Otako and Ojou! Fortunately, she has a childhood friend who, while he’s attracted to her, also understands her needs, and the problem is solved to a degree. A lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Rose Guns Days Season Two, Vol. 3 | By Ryukishi07 and Nana Natsunishi | Yen Press – This ended up being a lot more idealistic than I was expecting, even if there was a bit of manufactured drama when Zel’s real identity is revealed. The chase is on to try to rescue her father and also help Rose not surrender to the Chinese—something Lee is happy to help with provided he can consolidate his power base. Also, turns out a few of the cast from Season One are not quite as killed off as they appeared. The whole season is set up like a heist film, and a heist is what you get in the end. If there’s a problem, it’s that it all goes far TOO smoothly—you get the sense that even more was cut from the visual novel to squeeze this one. On to season three, which is in 1949. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Manwha-Karuta

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SEAN: There have been a lot of yuri picks of the week this year, mostly as there have been a lot of yuri debuts this year. The latest is After Hours, a Viz title about a young woman who gets dragged to a club and finds her life turned upside-down! It’s my pick this week, despite putting the voice of Mo Tucker in my head.

MICHELLE: o/~ And someday I know someone will look into my eyes and say hellooooo… you’re my very special one…. o/~ I used to always close mix tapes with that one back in the day. Anyway, I am very excited about After Hours, but as usual my heart pines most strongly for sports manga and in this case it’s the third volume of Chihayafuru, due out digitally from Kodansha. I’m happy to see it coming out so soon after volume two and hope that becomes a trend.

KATE: My pick of the week isn’t a manga but a manhwa: Uncomfortably Happily, due out from Drawn & Quarterly on June 13th. It’s a semi-autobiographical story by Yeon-Sik Hong about a pair of artists who trade life in the big city for a rural retreat, only to discover that life in the countryside isn’t as simple as they imagined it would be. After reading Rebecca Silverman’s glowing review, I ordered myself a copy.

ASH: I’m definitely interested in After Hours, but I’m with Kate this week in picking Uncomfortably Happily. I actually ended up with an advanced copy of the work, so I already know it’s great! My own review of the manhwa should be posted in just a few days.

ANNA: How am I behind in my Chihayafuru reading!? Having two volumes to read to get caught up is exciting though. Volume three of Chihayafuru is my pick for the week.

MJ: Did someone say “manhwa from Drawn & Quarterly”? I’m pretty sure that’s my pick, even if I read nothing more about it. Combine that with the recommendations so far, and it sounds like it’ll completely make my week. Uncomfortably Happily is the comic for me this week!

My Week in Manga: June 5-June 11, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga, I announced the winner of the Anonymous Noise give away. The post also includes a list of manga which have characters who have notable singing voices. I got a particularly kick out of the fact that not all of the manga were necessarily music manga. Also, a bit of a heads up: I’m switching around my usual posting schedule. Normally the second week of the month would be devoted to the Bookshelf Overload feature, but I’ll be posting an in-depth review this week instead–Yeon-Sik Hong’s award winning manhwa Uncomfortably Happily is being released in English by Drawn & Quarterly on Tuesday and I’m working on putting the finishing touches on my write-up. Spoilers: I enjoyed the work immensely.

As for interesting reading elsewhere online: Hitomi Yoshio, a professor and translator, wrote a little about teaching Japanese Literature in Translation. And speaking of Japanese literature in translation, it looks like the second volume of Yu Godai’s Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner will finally be released sometime later this summer. (I enjoyed the first volume a great deal when it was published three years ago and sincerely hope that the wait between future volumes is much shorter.) I’ve known about the upcoming translation of Kazuki Sakuraba’s A Small Charred Face for a while, but now it’s official–Haikasoru will be releasing the novel in the fall. Sakuraba may best be known as the creator of Gosick, but my introduction to author’s work was through Red Girls: The Legend of the Akakuchibas, which I loved. Finally, I’d like to draw attention a series of fascinating Golden Kamuy Cultural Notes & Video References put together by @zeppelichi on Twitter.

Quick Takes

Blinded by the IceBlinded by the Ice by Saicoink (An Nguyen). In general, I don’t buy very many fan works or doujinshi, generally preferring to support artists’ original comics over their explorations of other people’s creations. However, I do occasionally make exceptions and I was very excited for Saicoink’s Yuri!!! on Ice fan book Blinded by the Ice. In addition to some bonus comics, illustrations, and research notes, the volume focuses on two main stories. The first and longest, Don’t Leave Me This Way, was probably my favorite comic of the two. I enjoyed Makes Me Think of You as well–it’s a charming and sweet holiday story which takes place after most of the events of the original anime series–but Don’t Leave Me This Way is the one that really impressed me. The comic is set in the late seventies and early eighties, featuring an alternative universe in which Victor and Yuri’s relationship must develop over both time and distance due to the fact that Victor is a high-profile athlete for the USSR. The only time the two of them can really meet in person is during competitions and even then it is very challenging and difficult. Blinded by the Ice is fantastic; I love the humor and insight that Saicoink brings to the stories and the time and effort Saicoink put into research really pays off, too.

Delicious in the Dungeon, Volume 1Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 1 by Ryoko Kui. I enjoy tabletop role-playing games (or at least enjoy being present while other people are playing them) and I love food manga, so Delicious in Dungeon was a series that immediately caught my attention. The groups that I’ve played pen and paper RPGs with actually tended to devote a fair amount of attention to the food within the games. Our adventures never quite turned out how it does for Laois and his dungeoning companions, though. When, partially due to hunger, his party is nearly wiped out by a dragon, Laois and the other survivors find themselves facing the prospect of having to launch a rescue mission to save one of their own. There’s just one problem: their supplies are limited and they don’t have any food. And so Laois proposes that they simply find what they need to eat and sustain themselves inside the dungeon itself, something that he’s apparently been wanting to try for a very long time. The others, on the other hand, are much more skeptical. Conveniently, they are all fortunate enough to meet a dwarf who is much more skilled and experienced than Laois when it comes to making monsters palatable. The conceit of Delicious in Dungeon is frankly brilliant. Unsurprisingly, I loved the first volume of the series and definitely plan on reading more.

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Volume 1Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Volume 1 by Haruko Kumota. Although I haven’t actually had the opportunity to watch it yet, Kumota’s manga series Descending Stories was first brought to my attention due to its recent anime adaptation. The excitement surrounding the anime and the licensing of the original manga made Descending Stories one of the debuts I was most looking forward to in 2017; I was not disappointed. Rakugo is a traditional Japanese performance art which isn’t as popular as it once was but still has a devoted following. Familiarity with rakugo isn’t at all necessary to enjoy Descending Stories, but readers who have at least some basic understanding of it will likely get even more out of the series. But while rakugo is an important and interesting part of Descending Stories, it’s the relationships and drama between the characters that really make the manga so engrossing and compelling. Kyoji is an outgoing young man who has recently been released from prison. Curiously, the first thing he does with his freedom is to seek out Yakumo, a famous rakugo artist, and demand to become his apprentice. Up until this point Yakumo has always rejected those who want to study under him, but to everyone’s surprise on a whim takes Kyoji into his household.

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1

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By Ryoko Kui. Released in Japan as “Dungeon Meshi” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Harta. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Taylor Engel.

This is, when you come right down to it, a straight up mix of two popular genres right now. Dungeon Crawling is popular in both isekai works and others that just like the genre of the fantasy RPG. And cooking manga has always been popular in Japan for years, with people spending pages upon pages telling readers how delicious they can make something in great detail. Combining the two is a clever idea, and on the face of it the main reason to read this book, but I’m going to be honest, I found the actual RPG and food sections rather boring. No, the real reason to read this book are the main characters, who, while not the most original bunch, do give a off a certain weird charm – emphasis on the weird. They’re individually eccentric, but even more eccentric when put together.

Our party seems very standard by RPG terms: among others, they have a front-line warrior, an elf mage, and a small, grumpy trap expert. At the beginning of the title, they have even more people, but they miscalculate what supplies and food they need to successfully fight off a monster, and as a result are exhausted and starved. So they lose and have to run away – and worse, our hero’s sister in literally eaten by one of the monsters. When most of the rest of their team quits, they’re left in dire straits – the sister can be rescued, but only if they return immediately. Thus a truly foolish, desperate idea – save on supplies by eating the monsters they capture. With the help of a dwarf who had a lot of cooking knowledge and very little common sense, they set out to slowly return to where they left off and maybe try to rescue the sister, though honestly they’re taking so long I’m not expecting much.

As I said above, the main reason to read this is the off-kilter sense of humor it has. Laios, our hero, is a monster freak with a lot of idealism and book knowledge, but it’s also made him a bit of a ditz. Marcille, the elf mage, is a walking font of common sense for the most part, forever forced to be the tsukkomi and be shocked to find the technically gross things she’s eating are actually really tasty when cooked properly. The other one with some common sense is Chilchuck, the trap expert, and he contrasts well with the dwarf, Senshi, who is a bit of a pop-eyed lunatic when he’s not talking about food. Fortunately, Chilchuck is easily flattered. Together, the four of them get into vaguely death-defying situations as they attempt to save Laios’ sister, whose fate seems to be a bit of a running gag, but I suspect will pop up later on if only as the alternative is a bit too dark.

I’m not exactly sure if this is a series I’d want to keep reading on a regular basis, but the first volume was amusing enough, and is definitely worth it if you enjoy dungeon crawls. As for the foodie crowd… possibly less so.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 6

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 6 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I’m always happy when a new volume of Yona of the Dawn comes out. The cover of this volume, featuring Yona and Sinha sheltering from the rain under a giant leaf, is particularly adorable. Yona is tested in many ways as she learns more about the Green Dragon and his pirate companions.

Although Yona doesn’t have any superpowers, the force of her forthright personality proves to be an incredible advantage for her. When the Green Dragon Jaeha announces that he won’t join up with her, she reacts calmly, saying that she’ll ask him to join her but would never order or try to compel him to change his mind. Yona is tested even further when Jaeha takes her to meet the pirate queen, Captain Gi-Gan. She tests the companions and refuses to accept Yona, since Yona doesn’t have any special or useful abilities. Gi-Gan tells Yona to gather a rare medicinal herb, which requires some treacherous hiking at the edge of a cliff. Yona is determined to prove herself worthy of taking part in the upcoming battle, and she heads off to face her test, accompanied by Jaeha. Jaeha’s Green Dragon protective instincts kick in even as he tries to fight the bond he has with Yona.

There were a bunch of very cute Yona and Hak moments in this volume. Hak points out that her attitude towards the Green Dragon’s recruitment is totally at odds to her ordering him to accompany her on her journey and she gets incredibly flusters and tells him to shut up because “You’re different.” Hak secretly finds this adorable. Hak’s jealousy kicks into high gear when Jaeha talks about how unique and cute Yona is. His emotions are tested even more when Yona decides to go undercover to subvert the local warlord’s terrible plans for human trafficking with the village girls. Sometimes I’m not a fan of such slowly developing romances, but while Hak has clearly acknowledged his feelings internally, it still seems like Yona hasn’t examined her feelings for him quite as closely. Hopefully there will be more developments here in the next volume or so!

As I was reading this volume of Yona of the Dawn, I realized that it reminded me quite a bit of Basara. There’s the superficial similarity of awesome pirate queen characters popping up in both manga, but the slower pace of the storytelling allowing the author to introduce an expansive cast with plenty of character development along the way is the main reason why I like both series.

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1

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Was Tsukumizu an architect in a previous life? That question lingered with me as I read volume one of Girls’ Last Tour, a sci-fi manga that unfolds in a not-too-distant future filled with crumbling infrastructure and empty cities. Tsukumizu details the physical environment with precision, from sagging girders and abandoned cranes to pockmarked skyscrapers, broken trestles, and rusting water tanks. The sense of loss is palpable on every page, whether the principal characters are surveying an airplane “graveyard” filled with rusting turboprops, or searching for safe passage through a partially flooded city. Though we don’t learn what caused the devastation, Tsukumizu’s vivid illustrations suggest that the world we’re seeing was torn apart by violence.

If only the characters were rendered with such specificity! Yuuri and Chito — the “girls” of the title — are opposites: Yuuri is the brawn, Chito the brain. Both are so focused on their own survival that we have little sense of who they were before the apocalypse, or what brought them together. That in itself isn’t a fatal flaw; Robert Redford’s character in All Is Lost, for example, had no obvious backstory to explain why he was sailing by himself, or who might miss him if he drowned at sea. Yet the movie was compelling, as Redford’s character was painfully aware of his own vulnerability, and the unlikeliness of being rescued. In Girls’ Last Tour, by contrast, the dramatic stakes are low; many chapters revolve around simple activities — jerry building a hot tub, finding a place to sleep — that don’t reveal much about either girl’s personality, or the dangers they face.

The one exception is a story arc spanning chapters six, seven, and eight, in which Yuuri and Chito meet a cartographer who’s been diligently mapping an unnamed city. When an accident scatters Kanazawa’s maps to the wind, his anguish at their loss generates a visceral jolt of emotion. “I may as well fall with them,” he declares, a statement that Chito and Yuuri forcefully reject before dragging Kanazawa to safety atop a tower. As they peer out over the city, their bodies dwarfed by sky and buildings, the darkness gives way to a brilliant patchwork of lights that illuminate their faces and the rooftops around them — a potent reminder that the city once teemed with life.

Tsukumizu frustrates the reader’s efforts to make sense of the characters, however, by drawing Chito and Yuuri as a pair of affectless automatons. Yuuri’s comments about the lights indicate that she’s genuinely moved, but her face and her body don’t register any emotion; she might as well be discussing what she had for dinner, or whether railroad ties make good firewood. Perhaps the flatness of her delivery is meant to convey just how weary she is, or how pragmatic she must be to survive, but the banality of her conversations with Chito suggest that Tsukumizu had some difficulty creating characters as sharp and memorable as the world they inhabit.

The bottom line: Your mileage will vary: some people may appreciate the series’ absence of dramatic conflict, while others may find it a little too measured to be engrossing. I’m on the fence about this one; on the strength of the final story arc, however, I’ll be picking up volume two.

GIRLS’ LAST TOUR, VOL. 1 • STORY AND ART BY TSUKUMIZU • TRANSLATION BY AMANDA HALEY • YEN PRESS • RATED T, FOR TEEN (13+) • 162 pp.

 

Manga the Week of 6/14/17

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SEAN: Traditionally this is the small week of the month, but tradition can go hang: there are no small weeks anymore.

MICHELLE: At least there is no shortage of choices for Picks of the Week!

ASH: What a time to be alive!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 5th volume of Fate/Zero, which will likely be as gruesome as ever.

J-Novel Club has In Another World With My Smartphone on the fast track, as we have Vol. 3 already. It’s the bouncy puppy of isekai.

And Paying to Win in a VRMMO also has its 3rd volume.

Kodansha has a pile of digital only Del Rey rescues: Alive 17, Nodame Cantabile 22, and Yozakura Quartet 13.

In new digital titles, we have a 4th Ace of the Diamond.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: Air Gear is down to one volume per year, but Kodansha can take heart that the 36th is the 2nd to last one.

Chihayafuru gets a 3rd volume digitally as well, and I will definitely be reading it.

MICHELLE: Super woot!

SEAN: There is a 5th Complex Age, a very realistic take on cosplay and aging – a bit too realistic for my taste.

MICHELLE: I’m wary, since I hated the new character in volume four so vehemently, but the series concludes with volume six, and it’d be a shame not to finish it.

ASH: I haven’t read the fourth volume yet, but the first three left a strong impression on me.

SEAN: And Fire Force has a 4th volume of supernatural firefighting.

One Peace has an 8th volume of its light novel series Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has a 12th volume of Dragonar Academy, which I hear some people buy and enjoy.

There is also a 5th Masamune-kun’s Revenge, which I have been enjoying with reservations.

A debut! Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (Akazukin-chan wa Ookami-san o Nakasetai!) is a Zero-Sum series which seems to have a less grim take on Grimm.

ASH: That could be interesting.

SEAN: Species Domain was more fun than I expected, and a 2nd volume should hopefully be as fun.

The other Seven Seas debut is Tales of Zestria, a manga version of the RPG game. It’s also a Zero-Sum title.

SuBLime has a spinoff of the Don’t Be Cruel manga called Don’t Be Cruel: plus+. Do you pronounce both pluses?

We also see the first volume of the Finder Deluxe Edition (from SuBLime, I think – hasn’t this series had more re-releases than I can keep track of?).

ASH: This is only the second release, I promise. Digital Manga used to have the license, but SuBLime has it now. And this edition has additional content not previously released!

SEAN: Vertical has the 6th and final Mysterious Girlfriend X omnibus.

Viz has the debut of After Hours, their own entry into the burgeoning yuri manga market. It runs in Hibana magazine, and I understand it does not take place in a school! Gasp!

MICHELLE: Looking forward to this one!

ASH: Same! (Even more now that I know it isn’t a school romance.)

SEAN: There is also a 24th Magi, for all you Magi fans (including me, though I wish Morgiana did more).

Lastly, we have the 8th Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter.

Do any of these series excite you? Depress you? Irritate you?

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vols. 1-3

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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.

This series has an unusual history, at least in terms of translation. It’s 24+ volumes in Japan, so no one was seriously considering it as a possible license. Plus it had a fan translation already. But J-Novel Club reached out to the fan translator and made a deal, and so what we have here is that translation, newly edited for published release. It’s available for free on J-Novel’s site, or you can buy it on Amazon and the usual suspects as a normal light novel. As for why you’d want to? Well, do you like Strike the Blood? Do you enjoy its blinding obvious cliches but wish that it was less action oriented and more of a harem comedy? If so, then Rokujouma may be the series for you! It’s cliched as heck, but rarely actively irritating, and at times even can be heartwarming and amusing.

If you are wondering what Rokujouma means, well, I’m a little unclear on that myself, but the basic premise is that this young man, living alone as he starts high school, has found a dirt-cheap apartment. It’s dirt-cheap because, as the landlady tells him, it’s haunted and everyone’s been driven out of it. This does not bother our hero, though, as he’s a deep sleeper. After an accident he gets into while at work (which is, somewhat frustratingly, never followed up on in any of the three books), he comes home and finds he can now see the ghost, a cute young girl trying to get him out as this is HER apartment. And then suddenly we get a self-proclaimed magical girl, a member of an underground tribe, and an alien princess and her retainer, all of whom have designs on the room for their own reasons. And it’s not even a big apartment! Hijinx, as they say, ensue.

The author notes in the afterword of Volume 1 that this is only his second book, and his first series. It shows a bit – the flaws in this series are the sort you see in a new writer’s work, with some stuff explained too much, some not explained enough, and the occasional reliance on stereotypes to take the place of characterization, though that improves as the series goes on. The first book is the weakest, since it has to introduce the cast all at once and can’t really do much else. Stronger was the second book, which involves a school athletic festival and is filled with lots of opportunities for wacky comedy – the anime version of this is likely quite amusing. The best reason to read the series is Yurika, the magical girl who absolutely no one believes. I suspect the author was watching Haruhi Suzumiya when he wrote her, as she’s basically Mikuru, but the sheer amount of abuse and contempt heaped upon her by our hero, the other girls, and even the narration is so overblown it becomes hilarious.

This is absolutely a standard harem comedy, and doesn’t really do much of anything to set itself up above the pack so far. That said, it also doesn’t really do too much to really make it horrible, either. The ghost girl gets a lot of character development in the third book, and I suspect future books will do the same for the others. If you like this genre, and haven’t already read the series online, Rokujouma is worth checking out.

Manga Giveaway: Anonymous Noise Giveaway Winner

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Anonymous Noise, Volume 1And the winner of the Anonymous Noise manga giveaway is… Chris!

As the winner, Chris will be receiving a copy of the first volume of Ryoko Fukuyama’s Anonymous Noise as published in English by Viz Media. Since the lead character of Anonymous Noise loves to sing, for this giveaway I asked that participants tell me a little about their favorite vocalist from a manga. The individual responses can be found in the giveaway comments, but (as usual) I’ve also compiled a list which includes additional titles as well.

Some of the manga released in English with notable vocalists:
Age Called Blue by est em
Anonymous Noise by Ryoko Fukuyama
Black Bard by Ichiya Sazanami
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad by Harold Sakuishi
Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP
Clover by CLAMP
A Devil and Her Love Song by Miyoshi Tomori
Gravitation by Maki Murakami
Hatsune Miku: Mikubon by Ontama
Hatsune Miku: Rin-chan Now! written by Sezu, illustrated by Hiro Tamura
K-ON! by Kakifly
Kobato by CLAMP
Love Com by Aya Nakahara
Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki
Nana by Ai Yazawa
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda
Otomen by Aya Kanno
Popcorn Romance by Tomoko Taniguchi
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi
Sensual Phrase by Mayu Shinjo
Solanin by Inio Asano
Utahime: The Songstress by Aki
Wanted by Matsuri Hino
Yokan by Makoto Tateno

The above certainly isn’t a comprehensive list but it does have an interesting mix of titles. I particularly appreciate the fact that not all of the manga included are necessarily considered to be music manga–characters with notable singing voices (both good and bad) make appearances in all sorts of stories. Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway; I hope to see you again for the next one!

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinji, Vol. 1

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By Haruko Kumota. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Itan. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Matt Alt.

Just as there is a big difference between having the Great American Novel in your head and actually being able to turn it into an actual book, there is a difference between being able to tell a great story when you’re in a bar or with your friends and being able to tell a great story in front of an audience who is there to be entertained by your stories. And in Japan there is a tradition devoted to just such a thing: Rakugo, where the performer sits on a cushion and tells a long, involved story, usually involving multiple people, and has to make sure to differentiate between the characters, not make everything too complicated to follow, and entertain the audience. This is the sort of thing that ex-con Yotaro wants to do, and he persuades one of the last rakugo masters (it’s a dying art) to take him on as an apprentice. But of course, it’s not as easy as that.

The thing that struck me most about this series as I read it is the way that the three main characters are both sympathetic and yet very difficult to like. Yotaro is obnoxious in the sort of way that you’re glad he’s just a character in a story and not your actual friend, and his apprenticeship at times seems like he’s more of a puppy that was picked up off the streets (this is actually lampshaded). Yakumo, the rakugo master, is a cranky and aging man who is upset that his art is dying and troubled by a tragic past, including the death of his best friend, whose art he sometimes tries to show in his own work. He’s unpleasant in just the right ways to make him fascinating yet really irritating, and it’s still not quite clear why he picked Yotaro to be an apprentice when he never has before – I don’t think he really knows either, though Yotaro does have some raw talent.

The third main character is Konatsu, Yakumo’s “ward” and the daughter of the dead best friend I mentioned before. She is deeply bitter and angry about the death of her parents, which she suspects Yakumo was actually involved in more than he admits, and is also deeply angry and bitter about the fact that women are not allowed to perform rakugo – a shame as she’s really, really good at it, and she knows it. She ends up teaching Yotaro most of the basic skills, mostly as his actual master is far too busy using him as an actual dogsbody. The anguished and dark conversation between her and Yakumo, where he wishes out loud that the gods had let her be born a man, and she says she feels the same, is heartbreaking. Basically, Konatsu is a walking timebomb, and I’m curious how many volumes it will take for her to go off.

Descending Stories ran in Itan, one of Kodansha’s ‘sui generis’ manga magazines that, like many other ‘sui generis’ manga magazines, tends to get classified as josei when people try to slap a genre on it anyway. I can see why this story falls into that genre, though – the art style reminds me of Ooku, and not just because of the period kimonos and hair. Descending Stories didn’t bowl me over, but it’s a strong start, and I definitely want to say where these characters go next.