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Pick of the Week: A Broad Spectrum

July 27, 2015 by Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Sean Gaffney and Anna N 2 Comments

MICHELLE: If you missed out on the single volumes of Chi’s Sweet Home as they came out, now’s your chance to get caught up with a new omnibus collecting the first three volumes. Honestly, I think I will probably hang on to my originals and this larger-trim edition, as this has been a very popular series in my personal lending library. If you like kitties, or know a kitty-loving young person, you should check it out!

ASH: Chi is indeed a tough kitty to beat, but my pick this week is the second volume of A Silent Voice. Admittedly, the first volume was a bit of a tough read due to the series’ subject matter. The manga is heartbreaking in many ways, but it is an incredibly well-crafted story.

SEAN: I agree with the pick of A Silent Voice. This manga really has something to say, and I want to hear what it is, no matter how uncomfortable it (deliberately) makes me.

ANNA: I will have to go with the Chi’s Sweet Home omnibus, out of all the manga about to be released that sounds the most appealing to me.

What looks good to you this week?

My Week in Manga: July 20-July 26, 2015

July 27, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I posted one in-depth manga review last week, Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Omnibus 2 by Yak Haibara. It’s the final omnibus in the series, collecting the third and fourth volume of Haibara’s Sengoku Basara 2 manga adaptation. I get a huge kick out of Sengoku Basara. It’s incredibly over-the-top but actually does manage to incorporate some legitimate history. Samurai Legends stands fairly well on its own, too, so no previous knowledge of the franchise is necessary. The other post last week (other than the usual My Week in Manga feature, of course) was something a little different: I was tagged in a game of manga tag, so I had an excuse to talk a bit about my collection. It was fun, so I hope others found it interesting.

Otakon was last week and there were some pretty great licenses announced. Viz Media picked up Inio Asano’s Goodnight Pun Pun as well as Takeshi Obata’s artbook Blanc et Noir and Keiko Ishihara’s The Heiress and the Chauffeur. Vertical will be releasing Riichi Ueshiba’s Mysterious Girlfriend X, Ryo Hanada’s Devil’s Line, and Kaori Ozaki’s The Gods Lie. (Ozaki is also the creator of Immortal Rain, which I love, so I’m especially excited for this one.) Kodansha Comics has plans to publish Yui Sakum’s Complex Age, Nao Emoto’s Forget Me Not, and most notably Leiji Matsumoto’s classic manga Queen Emeraldas! Also of note, Sekai Project, which primarily releases visual novels, has a new manga publishing initiative, starting with Satoru Sao, Takumi Yanai, and Daisuke Izuka’s GATE.

Elswhere online, Viz posted an interview with Canadian comics creator Faith Erin Hicks talking about many things, including her love of manga. (Also, her comics are great and well-worth checking out.) Organization Anti-Social Geniuses interviewed Kurt Hassler from Yen Press’ at Anime Expo. (All those manga recently licensed for digital release? There is a possibility we’ll be seeing them in print!) Graham Kolbeins of MASSIVE posted an impassioned but thoughtful explanation of how online piracy negatively impacts creators of gay manga. Deb Aoki has posted the audio and transcript of the gay manga panel from TCAF earlier this year. (It’s was a great panel that I only touched upon briefly in my TCAF roundup, so I’m glad it’s now available for anyone to read/listen to!) Finally, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to an excellent post by Christopher Butcher about “othering” in the comics industry: Shifts and Living History

Quick Takes

The Incredible Kintaro by Naomi Guren. In Japanese folktales, Kintaro is a young boy with incredible strength who, among other things, runs around in the mountains with his trusty axe wearing nothing but a bib and wrestling bears. Those legends partly inspire The Inncredible Kinato, except that the youth is now a virile bishōnen. He does still spend a lot of time with very little clothing on and his junk hanging out, though. Currently, Kintaro is working as a janitor in order to protect his childhood love and friend Makoto. After his grandfather dies, Makoto is serving as the acting principal at the private high school where he is also a student, becoming a target of all the other men who would like to take control of the institute. And since the school’s motto is “Heart, Lust, Body,” that means it’s his virginity that’s at stake. The Incredible Kintaro is an intentionally ludicrous boys’ love manga. Makoto finds himself in all sorts of dubious situations, the teachers coming up with some rather creative scenarios to win his body if not his heart. The characters are shallow, so The Incredible Kintaro must rely on its bizarre premise and sense of humor to carry the story. Readers will need a high tolerance for the absurd to really enjoy the volume.

Johnny Wander, Volume 1-3 written by Ananth Panagariya and illustrated by Yuko Ota. I was first introduced to the online comic Johnny Wander through several of the strips devoted to the cats in the character’s lives. They were hilarious and I was hooked. Johnny Wander isn’t always about cats, though. Actually, it really isn’t about anything. Johnny Wander is a sequence of short, one-page, autobiographically-inspired comics. Although there are recurring characters, scenarios, and even the occasional running joke, most of the individual comics stand completely on their own merits. They’re brief glimpses into somewhat nerdy, after-college, daily life and they’re very funny. The cast consists of family, friends, and roommates (and cats). The setting is made up of the various cities and apartments (some of which are kind of sketchy even if they’re fondly remembered) in which they’ve lived. It’s incredibly ordinary and wonderful at the same time. Johnny Wander is entertaining, delightful, and charming, made up of the types of stories and jokes that people who know each other well will reminisce about, and tell and retell over the years. I really do love this series, and it just recently began updating again!

Noragami: Stray God, Volume 5 by Adachitoka. Although it hasn’t completely disappeared, at times I miss the quirky humor that was fairly prevalent in the early volumes of Noragami. But I must say, the drama in recent installments has been increasingly intense and engaging. The fifth volume in particular is an especially excellent addition to the series, and it ends on one heck of a cliffhanger. Although not everything has yet been revealed, the fifth volume delves into the unfortunate history between Yato and Bishamonten, which turns out to be much more complicated than many realize. Importantly, with Bishamonten finding it difficult to control her numerous shinki, it seems as though the two of them are now facing a very similar situation. It didn’t end well the first time, which ignited their current feud and Bishamonten’s desire for vengeance, and it looks like they are now on the brink of another tragedy. Kugaha is manipulating the entire situation, successfully igniting a confrontation between Yato and Bishamonten in the hopes that she will die in the process. The intrigue in Noragami has reached new heights and the battles between gods has become even more perilous; I need to know what happens next.

Bookshelf Briefs, 7/27/15

July 27, 2015 by Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 1 Comment

Michelle and Sean tackle a stack of manga from VIZ, Vertical, Kodansha, and Seven Seas.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Vol. 5 | By Ark Performance | Seven Seas – Last volume had a few flaws in it, but this one is nearly perfect, thanks to focusing on Haruna, who has rapidly become my favorite mental model. Stoic destroyer of worlds learning to deal with emotions and love is a classic trope because it always comes off so well, particularly if there’s also a lot of great scenes of things blowing up. The main plot also gets some fleshing out, with the Army and Navy battling for supremacy, and the old commanders who know what’s really going on trying to control them. and is there another, SECRET mental model who’s able to control the others (and apparently likes to sit in the middle of fields)? We’ll have to wait a while to find out, but as always, this is no average ‘girls are weapons’ series. -Sean Gaffney

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 1 | By Aya Shouoto | VIZ Media –Sometimes it can be very difficult, with series with similar premises, to be able to separate the more familiar one from the new one in your mind. That’s particularly true for this new Aya Shouoto series, her third in North America, which has the spectre of Kamisama Kiss hovering over most of its first few pages. That said, Aoi seems more of the nice boy with tragedy in his life sort than the asshole with a heart of gold Tomoe is. I suspect that this series may get better after it’s got a few volumes under its belt, but right now it suffers from what many Vol. 1s suffer from: it’s not really grabbing me much. Actually, I had a similar issue with Kiss of the Rose Princess as well. -Sean Gaffney

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 1 | By Aya Shouoto | VIZ Media –When sixteen-year-old orphan Himari Momochi receives a document informing her that she’s inherited an ancestral estate, she doesn’t question it. The house is the only tie she has to her parents, so she moves right in, whereupon she discovers a trio of bishounen squatters who are insistent that she leave as soon as possible. Himari is resolute, and eventually witnesses demonic activity aplenty culminating in the revelation that two-thirds of her house guests aren’t human and the one who is has taken on a terrible duty that might pass to her if she should linger overlong. This is the newest of the Aya Shouoto series currently being released in English, and is a more confident and accomplished work . I was reminded quite a bit of other series, and overall wish for a darker atmosphere, but I’m definitely intrigued and will check out volume two. – Michelle Smith

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 12 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | VIZ Media – This was a really cool and somewhat darker volume of Magi than we’ve seen in a while, and I loved quite a lot of it. The gang has returned from successfully vanquishing another dungeon, but an ambush by the evil Al-Thamen organization results in several of the good guys being cursed. This, in turn, leads to revelations not only about the extent and nature of Sinbad’s power, but also what he’s willing to do to cultivate allies in the fight to come. Aladdin senses his pawn status and decides to go off on his own, leaving a forlorn Alibaba behind, which is probably exactly what his friend needs in order to decide upon and commit to his own path. I’m really looking forward to what’s to come, even if it is a bit hard seeing an endearing character like Alibaba so sad and mystified by Aladdin’s actions. – Michelle Smith

My Love Story!!, Vol. 5 | By Kazune Kawahara and Aruko | VIZ Media – There is, no surprise, much to like in the fifth volume of this charming shoujo romance. I loved how the would-be romantic rival (Saijo) is handled, with Yamato befriending the girl due to her excellent taste and Takeo immediately telling Yamato about the girl’s confession. I loved ever-observant Sunakawa being the first to catch on to and sympathize with Saijo’s plight. But I possibly most loved the chapter in which Takeo and Yamato attempt to make two of their friends into a couple as happy as they are, an endeavor which keeps getting bungled because the boy is a doofy and inept adolescent who says the wrong thing during crucial moments. Frustrating, sure, but more realistic than 99% of anything else we see in shoujo manga! Each new volume of this series makes me genuinely happy and I hope it continues for a long time to come! – Michelle Smith

Say “I Love You”, Vol. 8 | By Kanae Hazuki | Kodansha Comics – While Say “I Love You” may be a bit more sexually explicit than its fellow shoujo manga out in North America, it’s still not quite ready yet to have its leads go all the way—and given Mei’s introvertedness and confidence issues, that may be for the best. Particularly as Megumi may be dealing with her own personal issues, but she isn’t going away now that we’ve had a cathartic crisis. A beauty contest involving many of the women in the series ends up being close, but does not give us the obvious come from behind victory we may have expected. All for the good, as I suspect this will lead to high drama when the next volume comes around. Oh, and Mei is back to frowning on the covers. -Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 28 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – As you might gather from the cover, we’re seeing tragic backstory here, giving us our elder heroes—including a young and ridiculously permed Jiro, heavy-browed Ichiryu, and head villain Midora as a bratty kid who almost starved to death before being taken in by mother figure Froese. (You’ll note Setsuno isn’t on the cover—I think her appearance as a cute twin-tailed sexy thing was left out to make the joke work better). It being tragic backstory, tragedy ensues—and we may get more to come, as I have a feeling a mentor or two may die soon to give our heroes resolve. Still lots of fighting, but I miss the food—will this epic battle be over soon? -Sean Gaffney

Twin Star Exorcists, Vol. 1 | By Yoshiaki Sukeno | Viz Media – This is in some ways the polar opposite of The Demon Prince of Momochi House, even if I came away with the same ‘meh’ feeling. In this case, I really like the premise, and the backgrounds of both leads are very well handled—particularly Rokuro. That said, the execution is somewhat lacking. The action scenes are well-handled, and probably a good reason to keep picking it up for those who like that—but the humor consistently falls flat, with our battle couple’s engagement being a hoary old cliche thrown into the mix. I suspect this will be the usual ‘they’re meant to be but can’t stop snapping at each other’ romance. Fans of Blue Exorcist might give this a shot, but it’s not as good as that series. -Sean Gaffney

UQ Holder, Vol. 5 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics – Fans of Negima may find this new volume even more familiar than usual, as the new assignment for our heroes takes them back to Mahora Academy, not looking a day older, even though it is many decades older. The boy you see screaming at us on the cover has the unfortunate name of Santa, and may be responsible for a series of horrible murders… or may not even be alive… but given his prominence on the cover and the cliffhanger I suspect he’ll end up being an ally before too long. Oh yes, there’s also Fate, explaining why he’s seemingly turned evil, and why he wants Tota to help him—which also leads to the best gag in the volume, courtesy ‘shipper’ Karin. If you like Akamatsu, you’ll like this. -Sean Gaffney

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 11 | By Maki Minami | Viz Media – The biggest loose ends are still out there for Vol. 12, but one of the major ones wraps up here, as Hime answers Mizuki’s confession. It’s a pretty fine set of scenes, as she stresses out over how her obliviousness around him must have hurt him, and he responds very maturely, mostly as he knew she was already in love with Senri. This just leaves her secret identity and her own confession of love, which should drop like a bomb at the start of the next volume, if Sakura’s reappearance is anything to go by. Even Haruka is finally allowed to stop being the bullying mentor and show real affection. We wrap up next time, and I can’t wait—it should be sweet and funny. -Sean Gaffney

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Vol. 9 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Vertical, Inc. –One of the things I love best about What Did You Eat Yesterday? is how Yoshinaga shows us how Shiro’s cooking choices tell us about his feelings. In one chapter, Shiro’s going out for dinner with some lawyerly acquaintances, so the night before prepares a meal whose leftovers will taste even better the next day, when Kenji will be reheating it. In another, he recreates some of his mother’s recipes for a bento he and Kenji share for an evening hanami picnic, choosing that venue to confide to Kenji that she has cancer. This menu, and the preparation thereof, prompts Shiro to recognize the care his mother always put into preparing his school lunches and to voice his appreciation of her. Not everything is meaningful and deep, of course. The food was especially delicious-looking in this volume, especially those soy garlic chicken drumettes. Yes, please! – Michelle Smith

Yukarism, Vol. 3 | By Chika Shiomi | Viz Media – There’s only one new revelation in this third volume, but it’s a doozy, and likely sets up the climax for next time as past and present begin to collide, with potentially fatal results. In the meantime, the main reason to read Yukarism continues to be mood—the author has a way of painting both the Edo period and modern times so that you want to keep turning the pages even faster. In addition, Yumurasaki’s past and her emotional detachment are proving annoying to Yukari’s present, as he hurts Mahoro more than he realizes. Add into this the sometimes hilarious confrontations between Mahoro and Satomi, and you have an excellent Shojo Beat title. -Sean Gaffney

Yukarism, Vol. 3 | By Chika Shiomi | VIZ Media – I am enjoying Yukarism more and more with each volume and can scarcely believe I was ever on the fence about this series! Yukari becomes a much more vivid character when he decides to proactively seek information about his present-day companions, Satomi and Mahoro, as well as the figures from his past. In so doing, he makes some discoveries that the readers had already surmised, but that doesn’t make them any less affecting—the moment when Yukari works out with certainty who Satomi is gave me goosebumps! And that shows what’s really the key ingredient here—Shiomi is handling this series wonderfully, pacing out revelations at satisfying intervals, and leaving readers with a surprise cliffhanger that makes me even more desperate for the final volume than before. – Michelle Smith

License Roundup – SDCC/Otakon

July 26, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

Summer is always the biggest time for new announcements, and after a huge license post for AX, I took a break to find my newsfeed drowning in new licenses for SDCC, Otakon, and various other places. Let’s see what’s coming soon, OK?

Yeah, I’m starting with Udon Entertainment. Known over here in North America mostly for their deluxe expensive artbooks, and the occasional foray into children’s titles, Udon quietly blew everyone’s mind at SDCC with the announcement of the Rose of Versailles manga, thought to be one of the impossible licenses (you know, like Legend of Galactic Heroes). Originally running in Shueisha’s Margaret back in the 1970s, if you’ve seen any anime that has a woman with a sword, it’s influenced by this. It is, even with all we have to get through, the most important title we heard about at these two cons.

In more modern manga news, Udon also has the license to Steins;Gate, the annoyingly punctuated manga based on an anime series. It’s a 3 volume series that ran in Media factory’s Comic Alive. And, in a complete 180 from typical Comic Alive stuff, they’ve also license rescued Sugar Sugar Rune, which came out back in the Del Rey days but has since fallen out of print. It ran in Kodansha’s Nakayoshi.

Sekai Project is a translator.publisher mostly of visual novels (such as Clannad, which comes out this October), but they too have decided to enter the manga business, with another anime tie-in. Gate – Jietai Kare no Chi nite, Kaku Tatakeri runs in Alpha Polis’s eponymous magazine, and is 7+ volumes. Not sure of too much about it, but the artist clearly likes drawing ‘wartime’ stuff, judging by past titles.

As is traditional during con season, Seven Seas announced a title online, as they don’t do cons. Secret no Mukougawa is 3+ volumes, runs in Comic Alive, and is the only thing the author has done not tagged in Manga-Updates as ‘Borderline H’. Which is not to say it isn’t trying hard.

Vertical had three new licenses to discuss. One is a big cult favorite, though I’ve found it difficult to get into: Mysterious Girlfriend X, a 12-volume series that ran in Kodansha’a Monthly Afternoon, and has been available digitally on Crunchyroll. It’s well-written and cute, but there’s a big drool fetish in this series that’s hard to get past if it’s not your thing.

The title I find most interesting is Kami-sama ga Uso o Tsuku, a one-shot that also ran in Afternoon. It apparently features soccer, which always sends warning bells in my head ever since Sasameke. That said, I think this may be more along the lines of Vertical’s recent quiet teenager drama titles. The author may also be known to older fans for Immortal Rain, a Tokyopop title.

And we also have Devil’s Line, a 5+ volume series that runs in Morning spinoff Morning Two, which fans may recall is where Saint Young Men began. I suspect this title will do very well for Vertical, as it has vampires. (resets ‘days since running gag’ counter to zero)

Kodansha announced a few things as well. At SDCC the news was they were releasing Kosuke Fujishima’s Paradise Residence. This has been running for a few years, but it’s always been taking breaks as the artist was more involved with his main title – a little thing called Oh My Goddess!. But that’s over with, so he can now get back to his girls’ dorm manga, which has run in both Afternoon and its sister title good! Afternoon.

Kodansha had hinted, after Rose of Versailles was announced, that they too had a classic manga announcement, and it ended up being Leiji Matsumoto! Queen Emeraldas will be two hardcover omnibuses, and comes from the 1978 shonen manga that ran in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine. If this sells well, maybe someone can get Harlock or Yamato (both Akita Shoten, I think), or perhaps Viz can try Galaxy Express 999 again. Please let it sell well. Space opera manga is desperately needed.

Soredemo Boku wa Kimi ga Suki is also a shonen title, running in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. It seems to be a romantic drama.

Lastly, Complex Age looks intriguing. The story of a 34-year-old newly married woman who loves to dress up in costume, you’d think this would be more suitable for Kiss or Be Love, but it’s actually a seinen title, running in Morning. This will apparently come out here in a larger format, and I’m really interested.

Viz is the last publisher to talk about, and they had a couple of exciting titles to talk about. The biggest is Oyasumi Punpun, an Inio Asano title that has long been desired by fans, particularly after Viz released Solanin and What a Wonderful World. It’s 13 volumes, ran in Young Sunday, then when that died moved to Big Comic Spirits, and is incredibly well written and incredibly bleak. I suspect this will get a nice Viz Signature treatment.

I always love seeing titles from Hakusensha’s LaLa DX, particularly as its schedule lends itself to shorter series. Ojou-sama no Untenshu is only 2 volumes long, but should fit right in with those who love Shojo Bat. It also takes place in the Taisho era, and seems really cute.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not mention, if only for MJ’s sake, that Viz will release a Takeshi Obata art book sometime next year, with Death Note, Hikaru no Go, and Bakuman no doubt included. Art!

Which of these has you most excited? (Rose of Versailles for me, though there’s some competition.)

Random Musings: Manga Tag

July 24, 2015 by Ash Brown

Earlier this month, Megan of The Manga Test Drive (which is one of my favorite manga review blogs and worth checking out if you haven’t already) gave a tour of her manga shelves and answered some questions about her collection as part of a game of manga tag. And wouldn’t you know it, I was tagged at the end! I thought it would be fun to participate, and it gives me a chance to talk a bit about my own manga collection, so here goes!

1. What was your first manga?
The first manga that I ever read was Osamu Tezuka’s Adolf as published by Viz way back in the day. I came across it while helping a friend locate materials for his thesis about the Jewish population in Japan during World War II. I’m fairly certain that the first manga I purchased for myself was Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura at the recommendation of my fantastic local comic book shop.

2. What is your most expensive manga?
Considering the amount of manga that I accumulate, I try very hard to keep my habit as inexpensive as possible. But sometimes it just can’t be helped and exceptions must be made. I discovered and fell in love with Basara after most of the series went out of print and ended up spending more than I really wanted to find a complete set. But I did get a couple of Basara artbooks out of the deal, too, which was cool.

3. What was your least expensive manga?
Relatively recently, my good friend Traci (who did a guest video review for me a couple of years ago) gifted me with her collection of Yu Aida’s Gunslinger Girl. She was moving out of the state and had to be very selective with the books she could take with her. As a result, I inherited a bunch of comics, most of which I still need to actually read. (I dread my next move; my collection is huge.)

4. What is the most boring manga you own?
This was probably the question that I found the most difficult to answer. I’m going to guess that Project X: Cup Noodle by Tadashi Katoh might be the most boring manga that I own, but it doesn’t seem entirely fair to say that since I haven’t actually read it yet. However, I don’t expect that the manga will be terribly exciting, even though it may be interesting and at the very least educational. I could be wrong, though!

5. What is your favorite manga series?
I have way too many favorites to narrow it down to one, so instead I’ll just highlight the series that has been the most personally meaningful—Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son. As someone who is all sorts of queer, the manga’s earnest and sensitive exploration of personal identity, including gender identity, made a huge impact on me; it’s not an exaggeration when I call Wandering Son life-changing.

6. What is the most relatable manga series you own?
This took some thought, but in the end I’m going to go with Takehiko Inoue’s Real. It might seem like an odd choice for me seeing as I’m not really a basketball enthusiast and am currently fortunate enough not to need a wheelchair, but Inoue’s characterization in Real is phenomenal. He has created incredibly complex individuals with whom I can strongly identify with even though they’re unlike me in many ways.

7. What is one manga you own that is based off an anime?
It’s certainly not always the case, but many manga based on anime often leave something to be desired. I’ve still collected a few, though. Samurai Champloo was one of the first anime series I ever watched and it remains a favorite. Sadly, the Samurai Champloo manga by Masaru Gotsubo didn’t overly impress me. But, it has its moments, and I’m enough of a completist that I’ve held onto it.

8. What is your rarest manga?
I’m not certain it’s necessarily the rarest manga that I own, but let’s just say I hope I never need to purchase the colorized master edition of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s Fist of the North Star ever again. The sixth volume alone, even used, would cost several hundred dollars to replace. But I’ve actually got all sorts of interesting, uncommon, and unusual things kicking around.

9. What is the most reprinted manga you own?
Well, assuming we’re talking about the different releases of a manga rather than the number of printings, that would be Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte. In English, the manga started out in Tokyopop’s MixxZine before being collected as individual volumes. Tokyopop eventually lost the license and Del Rey Manga picked it up. Kodansha Comics rescued the series after that. (I have the Del Rey version, though.)

10. What is the most popular manga you own?
At the moment, that would probably be Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan along with its numerous spinoffs. The immense popularity of Attack on Titan fascinates me, so I like to keep up with the series. (In some ways, I’m almost more interested in the fandom than I am in the franchise itself.) Even though I do find parts of the manga to be extremely frustrating, other parts can be very engaging.

11. What is the most damaged manga you own?
I try to take very good care of my collection and am largely successful, but thanks to my cat Lysander (affectionately and sometimes not-so-affectionately known as Stupid), I have a few volumes of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk that I need to get around to replacing. Lysander used a box of full of manga as a scratching post, so some of them look like they were mauled by a tiger. I’ve still not forgiven him for that.

12. Which manga has the most amazing art?
I’m with Megan on this one. Kaoru Mori’s work in A Bride’s Story is absolutely stunning. It’s incredibly detailed, beautifully drawn, and thoroughly researched. There are a lot of mangaka whose artwork that I love and appreciate, but the illustrations in A Bride’s Story really do amaze me. In addition to the frequently breathtaking artwork, I also enjoy the series’ story, characters, and setting immensely.

13. What is the oldest published manga that you own?
I’m pretty sure the oldest manga that I have in translation is The Four Immigrants Manga by Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama. The Japanese compilation was published in 1931. I’ve also collected the work by Masaichi Mukaide released in North America the 1970s, some of the earliest manga to be published in English. Granted, depending on the definition of “manga” being used, those may or may not count.

14. What is the newest published manga you own?
Let’s see… what came out this week? I actually picked up the first omnibus of Akira Hiramoto’s Prison School. I’m intensely curious about this manga since it’s such an extreme shift in tone from Hiramoto’s earlier series, Me and the Devil Blues. I have a feeling Prison School will be a very divisive series. If for no other reason, it’s something that I want to read myself in order to have an informed opinion.

15. What are some of the most recent manga you have purchased?
Not counting all of the preorders that I’ve recently placed (and there have been many) the most recent manga that I purchased was a complete set of Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi. I’ve actually been meaning to do this for a while now. (Sorry, Viz, for taking so long!) And as for my most recent out-of-print find, I was very happy to finally get my hands on Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish!

So there you have it! A very brief look at a very small selection of my manga collection. (Where is all the shoujo and josei?! The alt manga?! And everything else!?) Like Megan, I’m next going declare a free-for-all. If you’d like to answer some manga tag questions about your collection, either in the comments below or elsewhere, go for it! I’d love to keep talking about manga with you all. I’m also specifically going to tag my fellow bloggers manjiorin at Manga Connection and Lori Henderson at Manga Xanadu in case they’d like to participate, too. It’s been fun; hopefully you’ve found this diversion interesting!

The Manga Revue: Prison School and Twin Star Exorcists

July 24, 2015 by Katherine Dacey

This week, I take a look at two new releases: Prison School, a hotly anticipated series about five boys trying to break out of an all-girls’ school, and Twin Star Exorcists, a shonen manga about two teenage onmyoji who hold the fate of the world in their hands. (Let’s hope they do their best–otherwise, we’re toast!)

Prison School, Vol. 1
By Akira Hiramoto
Rated M, for mature readers (18+)
Yen Press, $20.00

Paging Russ Meyer! Prison School is a veritable parade of big-bosomed, wasp-waisted women brandishing whips, kicking ass, and eschewing bras. The target of their scorn: Kiyoshi, Kingo, Gackt, Joe, and Andre, the first five men to enroll at the Hachimitsu Private Academy in its fifty-year history. These hapless souls want nothing more than to “catch glances of breasts and panties,” but their efforts to spy on their classmates incur the wrath of the school’s Shadow Student Council, a secret organization whose primary role is to “crack down on illicit sexual relationships.” After a dramatic show trial in the school’s courtyard, Kiyoshi and friends are sentenced to hard time in the school penitentiary.

I’d be the first to admit that the premise has potential: what woman or girl hasn’t fantasized about coolly administering a karate chop to a lecherous jerk on the subway or in the street? What prevents Prison School from rising above grindhouse fare is Akira Hiramoto’s complete dehumanization of his characters. The Student Council members are portrayed as ball-busting man-haters, intent on humiliating the boys for their sexual proclivities, while the prisoners are depicted as sniveling pervs. The only genuinely sympathetic pair are Kiyoshi and Chiyo, a cute girl who shares Kiyoshi’s passion for sumo wrestling. Kiyoshi’s desire to have a normal relationship with Chiyo provides the story’s few emotionally authentic moments; by contrast, most scenes revel in the lurid, psychosexual relationship between the boys and their jailers.

Though all of the characters are objectified, no one fares as poorly as Meiko Shiraki, the Shadow Council’s Vice President. Hiramoto always draws her from an extreme angle–upskirt is one of his favorites–that emphasizes her monstrously distended breasts and reveals her penchant for wearing thongs. Perhaps a fifteen-year-old boy would find her terrifyingly sexy, but an older reader who’s seen actual breasts would have a hard time viewing Meiko as anything but a fetishist fantasy.

All of which is to say: Prison School could have been a sly riff on Escape from Alcatraz, The Great Escape, or even Caged, but Hiramoto’s strenuously raunchy scenarios overwhelm the other elements of the story, stopping it dead in its tracks.

The verdict: Prison School is an all-or-nothing proposition: you’ll either love it or hate it.

Twin Star Exorcists, Vol. 1
By Yoshiaki Sukeno
Rated T, for teens
VIZ Media, $9.99

Twin Star Exorcists is a love story dressed up as an action-packed supernatural adventure. At the beginning of volume one, the principal characters have a meet-cute that establishes their personalities in broad strokes: Rokuro is gifted but reluctant to use his exorcism skills, while Benio is gifted but trigger happy, nuking monsters at the slightest provocation. Making their Darcy-and-Elizabeth dynamic more complicated is that Rokuro and Benio are destined to marry and have a child who will save the world from the Kegare, a demonic race that lives in a parallel universe. (Rokuro and Benio are also fourteen, a point underscored by their endless bickering.)

Although the fight scenes are competently executed, the beats are so familiar that the combat feels superfluous. And therein lies Twin Star Exorcists‘ biggest problem: it’s boring. The plot lines, characters, and demon lore are so familiar that the story lacks a distinctive personality; even the setting is cliche. (Rokuro and Benio attend an exclusive academy for onmyoji in training.) Just two days after finishing the volume I couldn’t remember the principal characters’ names–a sure sign that the author treated each element of the story as something to be checked off a list, rather than an integral part of the narrative.

The verdict: Zzzzzz…..

Reviews: GC4K contributor Mike Pawuk praises Svetlana Chmakova’s Awkward, just out from Yen Press. Over at Heart of Manga, Laura posts brief reviews of He’s My Only Vampire, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, and Let’s Dance a Waltz. Joe McCulloch dedicates his latest TCJ column to CoroCoro magazine.

Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 17 of 07-Ghost (WatchPlayRead)
Connie on Alice in the Country of Clover: Nightmare (Slightly Biased Manga)
Alice Vernon on Awkward (Girls Like Comics)
Connie on vol. 29 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 7 of Deadman Wonderland (Sequential Tart)
Allen Kesinger on vol. 1 of The Devil is a Part-Timer! (No Flying No Tights)
Chris Randle on Fragments of Horror (The Guardian)
Frank Inglese on vol. 6 of Gangsta (Snap30)
Sarah on Kitaro (nagareboshi reviews)
Matthew Alexander on vol. 13 of Knights of Sidonia (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 1 of Love Stage!! (Comic Book Bin)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 1 of Love Stage!! (Comics Worth Reading)
Marissa Lieberman on vol. 1 of Midnight Secretary (No Flying No Tights)
Thomas Maluck on vols. 1-3 of My Love Story!! (No Flying No Tights)
ebooksgirl on vol. 3 of My Neighbor Seki! (Geek Lit Etc.)
Helen and confused muse on Natsume’s Book of Friends (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 2 of No Game No Life (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Erica Friedman on Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san Side B – Nakayoshi Quiz (Okazu)
A.J. Adejare on vol. 2 of Oreimo: Kureneko (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 1 of Paradise Kiss (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 3 of Phantom Thief Jeanne (Slight Biased Manga)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 3 of Pokemon X.Y (Sequential Tart)
Lostty on vols. 1-4 of Princess Jellyfish (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 17 of Rin-ne (WatchPlayRead)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends (Experiments in Manga)
Frank Inglese on vol. 6 of Terra Formars (Snap30)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 9 of Voice Over! Seiyu Academy (Sequential Tart)
Lesley Tomsu on vols. 1-2 of Witch Buster (No Flying No Tights)
Ken H. on vol. 2 of Your Lie in April (Sequential Ink)

Pick of the Week: Big week, small pick

July 23, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and Ash Brown Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a huge pile of stuff this week, most of it Yen. My pick goes to the debut of Durarara!! in light novel form. Narita specializes in huge casts of eccentrics and crazies and disparate plots slowly coming together in a chaotic climax. I prefer his work on Baccano, but that’s coming soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the origin of ‘Bacon Lettuce’ in all its glory.

MICHELLE: I admit experiencing Durarara!! in its original form has some appeal, but what I really am looking forward to most is the ninth volume of Kodansha’s My Little Monster. I really enjoy this series, and how it allows me to actually believe there’s a tiny sliver of a chance the two leads won’t have a happily-ever-after sort of ending. I don’t expect that, but it’s nice that it seems even a remote possibility.

ASH: Okay, I admit it, I’m intensely curious about Prison School if for no other reason than it’s an astoundingly different work than the creator’s previous manga released in English, Me and the Devil Blues (which I did like). I have a feeling that there won’t be much middle ground with this one and that a reader will either love or hate it.

What looks good to you this week?

Manga the Week of 7/29

July 23, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: It’s become almost musical, the way manga comes out. Huge week… quiet week. Huge week… quiet week. The occasional 5th week trips up the manga dancer with the brief shift into 5/4 time. How is our quick-quick-slow week?

Dark Horse is doing it again, folks. Here is the first omnibus volume of a seinen manga series called Oh My Goddess!, about a young man who calls the wrong number and gets a goddess as his girlfriend. Perhaps you’ve heard of it when it was released by Dark Horse before. And before that. And before that. And before that. This will have the first three volumes, for those who have been curious but never tried it before. All three of you.

Kodansha has a 49th volume of Fairy Tail, which I’m surprised isn’t getting omnibus volumes as well, frankly.

ANNA: Fairy Tail is not on my radar, but I am stunned it is up to 49 volumes. Wow.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd volume of A Silent Voice. Volume 1 was excellent writing but very hard to actually read, being filled with realistically flawed and terrible kids (and teachers). Will the second volume give us some glimpses of light amongst the darkness?

ANNA: This sounded a bit too grim for my tastes, which is why I haven’t read the first volume yet.

MICHELLE: Yeah. I am glad something like that exists but I still am in the “I read manga ‘cos it’s fun” camp.

ASH: The first volume was incredibly well done and one of the best things that I’ve read this year, but yeah, not the happiest of stories.

MJ: I suspect I would like this.

SEAN: And a third volume of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. Will we actually get witches this time?

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a fourth volume of Magical Girl Apocalypse, for those who thought Madoka Magica wasn’t violent or cynical enough.

Lastly, Vertical is giving readers who missed earlier Chi’s Sweet Home volumes a chance to catch up with an omnibus of the first 3 volumes. As they’ve only released this once before, I’ll give them a pass here.

ANNA: Actually, I have not read Chi’s Sweet Home before, and I know it is both very good and popular, so I might finally check out this series!

MICHELLE: You should!

ASH: You really should! Plus, the omnibus has a larger trim size and some additional content, too.

MJ: Yes, yes!!

SEAN: I can’t tell a waltz from a tango, but can you tell what you’re buying this week?

No Game No Life Vol. 2

July 23, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

I am starting to come to terms with No Game No Life. All the problems I had with the first volume are still there, with underage nudity, pointless ecchi fetishes, and another token loli added towards the end. But all the strengths are still there as well, this being a world with two strong lead characters, a fascinating premise, and enough humor that doesn’t revolve around panties that I found myself laughing quite a bit. More to the point, all the questions I had at the end of my first review are actually answered, always a plus for a light novel series. And unlike the first book, this one ends on a nasty, if rather sudden, cliffhanger that will leave you wondering what disaster has befallen Shiro and… um, was there someone else?

The girl staring saucily at us from the cover is Jibril, who is essentially an Angel, and probably the best addition to the cast this volume. She has a lust for knowledge (pretty much literally), a surprisingly vicious streak (the angels used to do mass slaughter till the ‘game board rules’ were enforced, and she misses killing), and a truly flaky personality that leads to the funniest section of the book, where she greets our heroes in broken gratuitous English. (The translation, by the way, gives this as broken gratuitous Japanese, which works, as well as a Kyoto dialect (Southern US) and ‘l33t-speak’ to convey just how silly and irritating Jibril is being.) The shiritori battle which follows is jaw-dropping, once again showing how smart and forward-thinking [ ] are (Here the translator is forced to simply give the Japanese word right after the translation, as it simply can’t be translated).

Stephanie, as you might expect, is mostly used as a figure of humiliation and humor, though she does get a few chances to shine, as she’s basically running the entire country while Sora and Shiro research how to possibly win against any other race. Speaking of which, we’re introduced to the first big challenge, the Werebeasts, who supposedly can read minds and also have animal attributes that make them scary, but to someone like Sora, that means only one thing – cute girls with animal ears and tails. And that’s exactly what he and Shiro get, as they meet the ‘ambassador’ of the Werebeasts, an 8-year-old with a tendency to swear copiously as she’s not used to the human language and doesn’t know better. She’s such a fetish figure that I almost have to shake my head and laugh, but I hope she gets character development later as the others here do.

I said in my first review that I wish the series could just drop the service and get on with it, but I suspect that part of the reason why No Game No Life is so successful is its ability to balance the two sides equally. The game theory is interesting, the plot twists usually surprising and well-thought out, and Sora as a large ham is fun. Shiro has less to do, but she’s far more introverted, and given the cliffhanger, I suspect a lot of Book 3 will have to feature her taking charge. And the fanservice is truly ridiculous (the chance of something pornographic happening, as with most Japanese ecchi series, is below zero), clearly not taking itself seriously – Sora even gives the naked girls Barbie Doll Anatomy at one point. If it weren’t for the fanservice, I’d happily recommend this to anyone. As it is, I recommend it to people who already know the series.

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends, Vol. 2

July 22, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Yak Haibara
U.S. publisher: Udon Entertainment
ISBN: 9781926778594
Released: February 2013
Original release: 2008-2009

Yak Haibara’s four-volume manga series Sengoku Basara 2 is an adaptation of the video game known by the same name. The manga was released in English by Udon Entertainment in two omnibus volumes under the title Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends. The second omnibus, collecting the third and fourth volumes of Haibara’s Sengoku Basara 2 released in Japan in 2008 and 2009 respectively, was published in 2013. The Sengoku Basara franchise had its beginnings in 2005 as a series of video games but it has since spawned multiple manga and anime series among other things. Samurai Legends was actually my introduction to Sengoku Basara as a whole and it stands fairly well as its own work. Prior exposure to Sengoku Basara isn’t really necessary to enjoy or understand Samurai Legends, although it might not hurt to have some basic knowledge of Japan’s Warring States period upon which it is very loosely based.

In the aftermath of the devastating defeat of the armies of both Kai Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi at Kawanaka Island, very little stands between the forces of Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Masamune Date to prevent them from clashing head on. While there are now fewer contenders vying for control over Japan, the battle for supremacy is still fierce. Toyotomi relies on his own power and strength as well as the skills of his master strategist Hanbei Takenaka, destroying anyone and anything in his path and using fear to rule. Date, too, has an excellent strategist in the talented Kojuro Katekura, but his rise to power has been significantly less destructive, at least when compared to that of Toyotomi. Knowing that they must contend with each other, the two warlords have set their sights on Odawara Castle, a fortress that if conquered will grant the victor an immense advantage in claiming Japan as his own.

While Samurai Legends is inspired by actual historical figures and events from Japan’s sixteenth-century, the manga, like the rest of Sengoku Basara, makes no attempt at realism or authenticity. Quite the opposite in fact—the series is deliberately over-the-top and anachronistic. The dialogue and trash talk is very contemporary in its style, giving the characters tremendous attitudes with a modern bent. (“Dude, seriously? You wanna dance with me!?”) Additionally, Date’s army is basically portrayed as a bōsōzoku gang, complete with pompadours, although his forces do ride horses instead of motorcycles. And when it comes to actually battling things out, a frequent occurrence in Samurai Legends, the amount of damaged caused and incurred by the overpowered fighters is impressive to say the least, though hardly believable. But that’s part of what makes Sengoku Basara so great. It’s ridiculous and outrageous.

The first omnibus of Samurai Legend moved fairly quickly from one battle to the next. The second omnibus also as plenty of action, but the pacing doesn’t seem quite as frantic. Haibara takes more time to delve into the personal motivations of the primary players in the series’ conflict, revealing what drives them to conquer and unify Japan. While in the end the characters still aren’t particularly subtle or nuanced, this does provide them with more depth. I appreciate it when there is more complex meaning behind a fight than a simple lust for power; the second omnibus clarifies the underlying purpose of the war, making the battles even more thrilling. Samurai Legends is a bombastic series, and a least one major continuity error does slip in amid all of the excitement. However, I’m actually willing to forgive this simply because the manga is so incredibly entertaining otherwise. In the immortal words of Keij Maeda, “As long as you’re having fun, it’s all good.”