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Pick of the Week: Shoujorama

April 7, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: There’s a lot I like this week, but Dengeki Daisy‘s final volume is absolutely my pick of the week.

MICHELLE: I am finding it insanely difficult to pick from amongst quite a few favorites with new volumes out this week. Skip Beat!, Food Wars! and Voice Over! are all must-buys, but I continue to be absolutely charmed by My Love Story!!, so I’ll award its fourth volume my pick of the week. Clearly, exclamation points are the way to my heart. Unless you are BTOOOM!.

ANNA: There are so many good manga coming out this week, but like Sean I’m going to have to go with Dengeki Daisy. It is a heartwarming story about a high school girl and her protective school janitor/hacker. There were plenty of high-stakes thrills along the way, but at the core this is a series about a found family. If you haven’t checked out this series yet, what are you waiting for?

ASH: Well, since Shojo Beat already has a strong showing (I’ll definitely be picking up Dengeki Daisy and My Love Story!), I’ll mix it up a bit with something completely different, the most recent volume of the dark, suspenseful, and and action-packed Ajin: Demi-Human.

MJ: Since I think I liked it better than a lot of other manga bloggers, I will take this opportunity to give a shout for the second volume of Chika Shiomi’s Yukarism. I’m a big fan of the author, and I found the first volume intriguing enough to keep me looking for more. That’s my pick out of this shoujo-heavy week!

What looks good to you this week?

Bookshelf Briefs 4/7/15

April 7, 2015 by MJ, Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith and Anna N Leave a Comment

This week, Sean, Michelle, & Anna look at recent releases from Viz Media & Kodansha Comics.

Arata: The Legend, Vol. 21 | By Yuu Watase | Viz Media – Arata and company have entered the territory of Ikisu, a gender-indeterminate member of the Six Sho who wields scent-based powers. Ikisu uses these to amplify the inferiority complex Kanate feels towards Arata. They fight, but right after Arata resolves their confrontation with an accepting hug, Kanate submits to Kadowaki. I’m still a little unclear as to why. Is it because, in order to succeed in his mission, Arate’s going to have to harden his heart to Kadowaki and force him to submit? And, therefore, Kanate is sacrificing himself to give Arata a reason to give up on Kadowaki being redeemed? In any case, seeing Arata in prolonged, heightened demon mode—only dispelled when he accidentally injures Kotoha—is pretty cool, and his newfound conviction regarding Kadowaki makes me hopeful that we’re heading towards an ending. I like this series well enough, but would welcome it wrapping up sometime soon. – Michelle Smith

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 3 | By Yusei Matsui | Viz Media – Much of this volume is meant refining its core plot and building its world. We resolve the kidnapping from the class trip, where we see that Koro-sensei is indeed prepared for ANY eventuality. We get another new transfer student sent to kill the teacher, and see Koro-sensei not criticize her for killing him, but criticizing her for doing it in a way that disrupts the others. And we see that Class 3-E is still the scapegoat for anyone else at the school, and if they try to change that they are brutally put down, so they take their little revenges where they can. It’s all very well-written, funny and enjoyable, and I continue to be amused at the avoidance of “Bitch-sensei”, even when the art itself uses it. Highly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 16 | By Kyousuke Motomi| Viz Media – This final volume of Dengeki Daisy is a very good example of what you do when you wrap up your series but still have to fill 150 more pages for the last tankobon. So we get the resolution of last volume’s cliffhanger, followed by several side-stories and epilogues, which are equally great, followed by the author’s debut work, which isn’t as great but that’s not unexpected. We do not get a flash-forward to marriage or children, but oddly do get to see them taking care of a baby due to one last ridiculous plot contrivance in a series full of them. Motomi will be back in the fall with her new series, already licensed, but I’ll miss Daisy, which if nothing else presented a “teacher”/ student romance that no one objected to, really. Funny, heartwarming, and charming. – Sean Gaffney

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 16 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – I was getting pretty seriously weary of the cyberespionage plotline that has dominated recent volumes of Dengeki Daisy, so it’s a relief that it wraps up quickly in this final volume, leaving more time for happy-ever-after character goodness. The official ending is satisfying on its own, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the bonus chapters. True, there’s a shoujo-tastic episode in which a group trip to a resort is delayed by one of Kurosaki’s neighbors abandoning a baby on his doorstep, but this actually allows us to imagine him and Teru as a married couple. Plus, we get to see more of Soichiro’s past, Akira’s hopeful present, and top student Teru looking toward an ambitious future career with Kurosaki’s full support. I may not always have loved this series, but I’m glad I kept reading until the end. It was definitely a worthwhile endeavor. – Michelle Smith

Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 13 | By Kiiro Yumi and Hiro Arakawa| Viz Media – This was actually a lot more plot-heavy than I expected, continuing to develop the story of Toma’s struggles against censorship and the Library Forces’ attempts to keep him safe. The story here may sometimes require some suspension of disbelief, but I always love that a shoujo manga in LaLa is willing to spend so much time devoting itself to a study of the politics of censorship, the media, and what’s best for Japan. Also, they’re right – Iku’s idea was fantastic, even if it was inadvertent. For those who want romance, it’s mostly low-key here, though Komaki and Marie fans will be happy, as the cover gives away. One of Shojo Beat’s low-key gems, I always look forward to a new volume. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol 34 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Heel Siblings arc, but this volume shows signs that Kyoko and Ren may be moving on. Lory decides to pull Kyoko out of her masquerade due to her fragile emotional state, and as Kyoko attempts to talk to the boss of LME without revealing the depth of her feelings to Ren, Nakamura offers up some great examples of lettering, as the tiny speech balloons and short phrases Kyoko uses make it clear just how painful it is to talk about her emotions. Later, Kyoko encounters Ren in as his real self, and her recognition of her childhood friend Kuon/Corn provokes even more emotional catharsis. My only compalaint about this series is that the volumes don’t come out often enough! – Anna N

UQ Holder!, Vol. 4 | By Ken Akamatsu | Kodansha Comics – This is not Akamatsu’s first arc involving time travel and paradoxes, as readers of Negima well know. That said, it seems a lot more intense and dangerous here Possibly it’s because there’s none of the cliched Akamatsu ‘let’s have some fanservice here to satisfy the readers’ pages. But I think it may be due more to the return of one of Negima’s most memorable villains, who makes life next to impossible for our heroes. (There’s also a minor villain who seems to have returned as a cyborg, but I’m not sure – she seems far too sane.) You can read this without having read Negima, but it’s building on that world, and showing that Negi and Asuna’s actions at the end of that series have far-reaching consequences. – Sean Gaffney

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Vol. 1

April 7, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Miki Yoshikawa. Released in Japan as “Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

The debut volume of this series has a war between a plotline I love and a plotline I always find discomforting and embarrassing, and ends up taking it in a rather sedate direction. Of course, this is clearly a slow burner – we’re already a volume in and we have no idea who the seven witches are. But in the meantime we get to see the titular lead, Yamada-kun, make all sorts of amusing faces, and see various high school romantic comedy hijinx. This has been out on Crunchyroll for a while now, so I know that things will ramp up soon, but I was actually surprised at how little happened in this initial volume.

Yamada is a delinquent, which I always love, although he’s sort of a sanitized delinquent. Even Onizuka (who appeared in the same magazine 20 years ago) was allowed to have bad habits. Here he’s just a guy with bad grades who sulks around the school wondering why things aren’t more interesting. He also may seem slightly familiar to those who know of Yoshikawa’s former series Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, which also featured a lead delinquent (of a sort) and their supposedly straightlaced female equivalent. The plot kicks in when he accidentally falls down the stairs, dragging a young girl down with him and forcing them to swap bodies, because they fell down the stairs in a high school manga and that is what inevitably happens in these sorts of things.

Urara is more interesting, if only as she takes much of this in stride. While Yamada is busy freaking out, her reaction is more sedate. Of course, she might be quite happy to take a vacation from her body, as we see (through Yamada’s eyes) that she has a lot she has to deal with. She seems fairly stoic, but as she warms up over the course of the volume it becomes apparent that it’s more repressed emotions than anything else. The dynamic between the two of them is interesting but fairly mild, except, of course, for the kisses that allow them to swap bodies at will. As we gain more cast members (Miyamura, whose attempts to convince Urara to continue high education by trying to find blackmail material and ogling her cup size, did not impress me) we will no doubt gain more dynamics.

At the end of this volume, even with the addition of a new girl who promises to make life miserable for everyone, we’re not one step closer to knowing what’s going on. We haven’t met a witch, and we’re not sure why Yamada suddenly can swap bodies with anyone he kisses. Given the author’s success with her prior work, I imagine she has a lot more leeway to develop things the way she wants without the fear of getting cancelled after 15 chapters. Which is fine, but it does lead to a first volume that’s merely average, even as I know it gets better later. Still, if you like school romantic comedies with an emphasis on the comedy, and want to step in before the inevitable harem plot starts up, this is the volume for you.

My Week in Manga: March 30-April 5, 2015

April 6, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

An interesting variety of things was posted last week at Experiments in Manga. First of all, I had the privilege and opportunity to announce one of Sparkler Monthly‘s most recent additions, Kôsen’s Lêttera, a three-volume comic that was originally published in Spain. The winner of the Yukarism giveaway was announced last week as well. The post also includes a list of manga that feature reincarnation. As for reviews, I took a look at Akira Arai’s debut novel A Caring Man which shared the inaugural Golden Elephant Award grand prize with Fumi Nakamura’s Enma the Immortal. Whereas Enma the Immortal is historical fiction with fantastical elements, A Caring Man is a contemporary crime thriller that by and large is very believable. Finally, over the weekend I posted March’s Bookshelf Overload, which features a slightly less absurd amount of manga than most months.

Elsewhere online, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses has been posting some great manga-related content, including recording of a panel with manga editor and letterer Abigail Blackman from the Castle Point Anime Convention and a quick interview with editor Brendan Wright about Dark Horse’s upcoming release of Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes. (I’m very excited for this license rescue! I already own Tokyopop’s edition of the series, but Dark Horse’s sounds like it will be great, so I’ll most likely be double-dipping.) And speaking of Dark Horse, the final volume of Hiroaki Samura’s Blade of the Immortal was released last week. Robot 6 has an interview with Philip Simon reflecting on the manga’s end. Chic Pixel has a guide on how to import manga cheaply from Amazon Japan. Throughout March, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund posted a series of articles, Women Who Changed Free Expression, the last of which focused on the influential 24 Nengumi, or the Year 24 Group, as the female progenitors of shoujo manga.

Anime Boston took place over the weekend. Both Yen Press and Kodansha Comics had some pretty exciting announcements to make. Yen Press has licensed thirteen new manga, some of which will be digital-only releases. The two print releases that particularly caught my attention were the omnibus edition of Yowamushi Pedal, particularly surprising since it’s a sports manga that’s nearly forty volumes lone and still ongoing in Japan, and the yonkoma Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun which, if it’s anywhere near as good as the anime adaptation, should be fantastic. As for Kodansha’s announcements, Attack on Titan, Volume 16 will have a special edition. New licenses include Ninja Slayer Kills, two video game-related manga—Persona Q and Devil Survivor—and Junji Ito’s Cat Diary, which is the one I’m personally most excited for. Also revealed was the status of Vinland Saga, which had temporarily been suspended. Basically, only two more volumes are guaranteed to be released unless sales for the series improve. Vinland Saga is magnificent; if you haven’t already given it a try, this would be the time to do it!

Quick Takes

Barakamon, Volumes 2-3 by Satsuki Yoshino. While I largely enjoyed the first volume of Barakamon, I wasn’t particularly blown away by it. Still, I was interested in reading more of the series. I’m glad that I did, because it’s really starting to grow on me. Barakamon does have a little bit of a story to it—the once successful and respected calligrapher Seishuu has moved to a remote island to regain his composure and maybe find some inspiration—but mostly the series is about its characters and their interactions with one another. Even though he’s still a city-boy at heart, Seishuu has started to settle in on the island and isn’t nearly as out-of-place as he once was. The humor seems to now be a little less about the differences between country folk and people from more urban areas (although there still is plenty of that, especially when a couple of Seishuu’s friends and admirers from Tokyo show up) and more about the characters’ individuality and quirkiness. I am glad to see Seishuu relax somewhat and lose a bit of his arrogance from the first volume. In general he’s becoming a much more likeable character, which is probably part of the point of the series.

Cage of Eden, Volume 17 by Yoshinobu Yamada. Finally! The monsters have returned! Well, technically it’s only one monster (not counting the absolutely terrible people), but it’s a pretty big deal. The dinosaurs and creatures are some of the only things I actually like about Cage of Eden; they’ve been largely missing from the last few volumes, so I was glad to see them back in such a dramatic way. Most of the seventeenth volume is devoted to an intense, and most likely deadly, battle against a man-made, genetic monstrosity. Probably best described as a chimera, the creature is formidable and extremely dangerous. The students make some extraordinarily bad decisions when it comes to confronting the beast, which really makes me wonder how they’ve managed to survive for so long. (Granted, the body count in Cage of Eden is pretty high.) The fight hasn’t concluded by the end of the volume, though I suspect it won’t last too much longer. One of the good things about Cage of Eden suddenly focusing on action is there is less opportunity for the more obnoxious fanservice to interrupt the story. Some of the girls even get to put up a decent fight. (At least at first.)

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-4) by Satoshi Mizukami. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and reading the first omnibus didn’t help much with that, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sadly, I wasn’t nearly as taken with the second omnibus. I still enjoyed it, and I still plan on reading more of the series, but Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer seems to have lost a little of its spark for me. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to its strangeness, but at the same time that’s also what I enjoy most about the series. Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is just so marvelously weird. At times the manga can be surprisingly dark, too, which I also appreciate. In the second omnibus, a slew of new characters are introduced as the identities of the rest of the Beast Knights are uncovered, although some of them are discovered to already be dead. All of them are rather eccentric with pasts that have some significant pain or sadness to them. The mage who plans on destroying the planet makes several appearances as well, and to some extent his motivations are explained, too. Much like the rest of the series, he’s not quite what one might expect.

Virtuoso di Amore by Uki Ogasawara. I was primarily drawn to Virtuoso di Amore for two reasons, the role that music plays in the boys’ love manga and the fact that it was created by Ogasawara. I enjoyed parts of her short and very smutty series Black Sun, currently the only other manga of hers available in English. (Techincally, Chronicle of the Divine Sword was at one point licensed, but I don’t think it was ever actually published.) Virtuoso di Amore follows Kenzo Shinozuka, a failed classical pianist (mostly due to his volatile temper), who has been hired by an aristocrat to live in his manor and play for him every night. His patron is Lorenzo Carlucci who, it turns out, used to attend the same music school as Kenzo. Lorenzo is determined to help Kenzo remake is name as a musician. I really liked the basic premise of Virtuoso di Amore as well as its dark ambiance and fervent drama, but Ogasawara’s storytelling is unfortunately disjointed and occasionally difficult to follow. For example, Lorenzo and Kenzo fall in love, or at least in lust, very suddenly, which makes me think their relationship at school must have been much more involved than is implied elsewhere in the manga.

Bookshelf Overload: March 2015

April 5, 2015 by Ash Brown

Compared to most other months, the number of manga that I had to find space for in March was relatively reasonable. I mostly stuck to preorders for manga, the major exception being the set of the now out-of-print City Hunter that I found. There were a few impulse buys when it came to novels and nonfiction, though. I did finally get my hands on Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 3 by Gamon Sakurai. Technically released in February, my replacement copy arrived in March. (I’m pretty sure the first one that was sent to me was lost in a snow bank somewhere; I never saw it.) As for the manga that were actually released in March, I was particularly happy to see the third and final volume of Yaya Sakuragi’s boys’ love manga Hide and Seek. (I recently reviewed the first volume, which I enjoyed a great deal.) I’m always glad to see a new installment of Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?, the seventh volume is the most recent addition to the series in English. But the manga I was most looking forward to in March was Aya Kanno’s Requiem of the Rose King, Volume 1. Actually, I was almost afraid to read it because I was worried that I would be disappointed. Fortunately, I loved the manga and can’t wait for the next volume.

Manga!
Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 3 by Gamon Sakurai
Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game, Volumes 1-5 by Mamenosuke Fujimaru
Aquarion Evol, Volume 1 written by Shoji Kawamori, illustrated by Aogiri
Barakamon, Volume 3 by Satsuki Yoshino
Butterflies, Flowers, Volume 1 by Yuki Yoshihara
Cage of Eden, Volume 17 by Yoshinobu Yamada
Captain Ken, Volumes 1-2 by Osamu Tezuka
City Hunter, Volumes 1-5 by Hojo Tsukasa
The Drifting Classroom, Volume 8 by Kazuo Umezu
Hide and Seek, Volume 3 by Yaya Sakuragi
Knights of Sidonia, Volume 13 by Tsutomu Nihei
False Memories, Volume 1-2 by Isaku Natsume
Maria the Virgin Witch, Volume 1 by Ishikawa Masayuki
Master Keaton, Volume 2 written by Hokusei Katsushika, Takashi Nagasaki, illustrated by Naoki Urasawa
Manga Dogs, Volume 3 by Ema Toyama
Requiem of the Rose King, Volume 1 by Aya Kanno
Seraphim: 266613336 Wings by Mamoru Oshiii and Satoshi Kon
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Omnibus 3 by CLAMP
What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 7 by Fumi Yoshinaga
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Volume 1 by Miki Yoshikawa

Comics!
100 Crushes by Elisha Lim
Grey Is…, Volume 1 by dee Juusan
In These Words, Volumes 1-2 by Guilt|Pleasure
Just So Happens by Fumio Obata
Last Man, Volume 1: The Stranger by Bastien Vives, Michael Sanlaville, and Balak
Only Words written by Tina Anderson, illustrated by Caroline Monaco
Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks
Stallion by Kôsen
Wayward, Volume 1: String Theory written by Jim Zubkavich

Novels!
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Genocidal Organ by Project Itoh
I Want to Kick You in the Back by Risa Wataya
The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto

Nonfiction!
The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore by Michael Dylan Foster
The Fall of Language in the Age of English by Minae Mizumura
How to Take a Japanese Bath written by Leonard Koren, illustrated by Suehiro Maruo
Miyamoto Musashi: His life and Writings by Kenji Tokitsu

Anime!
Dear Brother, Boxes 2-3 directed by Osamu Dezaki

Spring License Roundup: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (and others)

April 5, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

There were a pile of announcements made yesterday in regards to manga (no, no light novels. Admit it, they have enough on their plate now). But let’s not fool ourselves, there is one announcement that is head and shoulders above everything else. The excited fan in me is warring with the pedant who says I should cover Kodansha first as their licenses were announced earlier. Sadly, it says a lot about me that the pedant wins.

The Kodansha license that most interests me is Itou Junji no Neko Nikki: Yon & Mu, which is a cute slice-of-life cat manga from the author of famed horror manga. The mangaka also stars, and if you wonder what his style would be like when he’s not drawing terrifying things, this is what you need to read. It’s only one volume, and ran in Magazine Z.

Devil Survivor runs in Shonen Sirius, and is based on the Shin Megami Tensei video game. Expect action, fantasy, and demons.

Speaking of based on the video game, we not only get Persona Q – Shadow of the Labyrinth – Side: P3 (which runs in Bessatsu Shonen), but also Persona Q – Shadow of the Labyrinth – Side: P4 (which runs in Shonen Sirius). Crunchyroll is doing both of these digitally, but Kodansha has been the publisher most likely to pick up the print license anyway, so that’s fine. As for the manga, haven’t played Persona 3 or 4, so no idea.

Lastly, we have Ninja Slayer Setsu, which is the second Ninja Slayer license in the last couple of months. It ran in the obscure Suiyoubi no Sirius, which I think may have just died, so I’m not sure how many volumes it will be. It looks like it takes its ninjas very seriously indeed.

On to Yen Press, which had a giant pile of licenses (Sakuracon is one of their biggies), the surprise being that several of them are digital only. Let’s run through those first.

Handa-Kun is a prequel to Barakamon, following our hero when he was in high school. It runs in Shonen Gangan.

Kyou no Cerberus is also in Shonen Gangan, and looks to be somewhat silly. One day a boy meets a dog-like girl with three different personalities, who resolves to keep him from harm.

I have no idea what Kominami Shoutarou, Ie o Deru o Hajimemashita is about, but with the NA title Shut-In Shoutarou Kominami Takes on the World, it sounds like it will be awesome. It runs in Big Gangan, a seinen magazine.

Speaking of Big Gangan, Servant x Service runs there as well. It’s from the creator of Working!, one of those ‘why was this never licensed’ manga with 83 seasons of anime. It seems to be a 4-koma about office life, and also has an anime.

Unknown runs in Shonen Gangan, and yes, that is its title. It’s complete in four volumes, and I’m told reminded many folks of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Mahou Tsukai no Deshi ga Warau Toki is complete in 3 volumes, ran in Shonen Gangan, and looks depressing as hell, to be honest.

Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine runs in GFantasy, and I can’t really tell how fantastical it is, but there’s royalty and things in it, as you may have gathered. The mangaka is better known for the series Sougiya Riddle.

Koukoku no Hiiro is also GFantasy, and may be the most interesting of this whole bunch. Samurai, kendo, time travel… cool things indeed.

So, to reiterate, all those above seem to be Digital Only, with no print plans at this time. What did they license for print? Well…

I can’t hold back anymore. They have finally licensed, as we’ve been begging them to, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! This amazingly funny 4-koma from Gangan Online is by Izumi Tsubaki, author of Oresama Teacher and The Magic Touch. If you love the facial expressions in Oresama, these are even better. It also mocks every single cliche in the book. It’s basically fantastic, and the convention room exploded when it was announced.

The other major surprise has to be Yowamushi Pedal, an Akita Shoten title from Weekly Shonen Champion. A cycling manga (so technically sports… more myths busted!), it’s at 39+ volumes in Japan. Needless to say, expect this in omnibuses. Between this and Index, I wonder how much Kurt is enjoying seeing what we say is impossible to license, and then just doing it. (The creator, by the way, also adapted one of the many Train Man manga… the CMX one, I believe.)

Hakusensha is not forgotten either, as we get Sakura no Himegoto, a 2-volume LaLa series. I note warily that this involves a girl with debt being “owned” by a rich high school boy, but I’m told it’s not as skeezy as it sounds.

Dragon’s Rioting also makes me wary, mostly as it runs in Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Age, and thus I expect the breasts to be more important than the plot. It seems to involve a boy who will die if he gets sexually aroused, and surrounding him with women who will no doubt do that very thing.

Lastly, Aldnoah Zero has an anime as well, and runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward. It’s a sci-fi mecha series, so I’m fairly sure will end with the entire cast dead. If not the entire Earth.

Aside from Nozaki-kun, which everyone will be buying of course, what license here most interests you?

A Caring Man

April 3, 2015 by Ash Brown

Author: Akira Arai
Translator: Marc Adler
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781935654179
Released: 2011
Awards: Golden Elephant Award

A Caring Man is Akira Arai’s debut novel and his first book to be translated into English. The novel was brought to my attention primarily because it, along with Fumi Nakamura’s Enma the Immortal (which I absolutely loved), shared the inaugural Golden Elephant Award’s grand prize. A Caring Man and Enma the Immortal are two very different novels, but they are both engaging. Both novels were also released in English by Vertical. The purpose of the Golden Elephant Award was to “produce and publish promising entertainment stories in multiple languages in the global arena.” With that in mind, the jurors from the first award committee were from Japan, the United States, China, and Korea. It was this emphasis on global appeal that inspired Arai, who had previously worked in the music and film industries, to submit A Caring Man. After winning the award, the novel was simultaneously released in 2011 in Japanese and in English with a translation by Marc Adler.

On August 26, 2011, Japan fell victim to an unprecedented tragedy. Without any sort of warning, bombs strategically placed within Tokyo Tower were detonated, bringing the massive structure toppling down, killing and injuring a huge number of people. The special investigation team, a joint operation between the police force’s Criminal Investigation Department and the Public Security Bureau, is treating the incident as a terrorist attack. However, no group has emerged to claim responsibility for the bombing and the team quickly runs out of leads. There seems to be no concrete motive for the attack beyond a perverse desire to destroy for the sake of destroying. Mariko Amo is a freelance photographer working for scandal and gossip magazines who captured the fall of the tower on film, nearly losing her life in the process. Soon after she is given the opportunity to write a feature article on Yoshio Iizuka, a seemingly upstanding young man who recently established the Society of Victims of Abuse for the Prevention of Abuse. Little does she know that he is the very mastermind behind the Tokyo Tower attack.

A Caring Man deals with some very heavy subject matter. In addition to the attacks of terrorism and mass murder, personal killings and more intimate violence, such as child abuse, are also present in the novel. Yoshio himself was a victim of such abuse. Mutilated and abandoned as a newborn infant, he still carries scars on his body. He uses these and his story to gain empathy from others, employing his striking intelligence to manipulate them even further. Yoshio has an odd sort of intensity and charisma; he knows just what to say and how to act to exploit and control other people. A Caring Man, which takes its title from the characters used in Yoshio’s name, in part explores the mind and nature of a psychologically dark, twisted, and damaged young man. Yoshio’s plans are terrifying, and even more frightening is the fact that he has the abilities and influence needed to actually carry them out. The bombing of Tokyo Tower is only intended to be a dramatic prelude to even greater tragedies to come.

The story of A Caring Man is largely seen from three distinct perspectives, although they do intersect at various points in the novel when major players come into contact or become more deeply involved with one another. Those perspectives also reflect the prominent viewpoints of many modern-day crises. Yoshio and the cohort of young men aiding and in some cases nearly worshipping him form one faction as the perpetrators. The detectives, police, and other law enforcement officers are the investigators and protectors, while the third group consists of Mariko and other members of the media and press. They are the observers, chroniclers, and witnesses with the power to influence the opinions of the general public. Overall, A Caring Man is a well-written and engaging novel, particularly impressive as it is Arai’s debut. A few of the plot twists towards the end weren’t as believable or as effective as the rest of the novel, but otherwise A Caring Man is a solid crime thriller with an intense psychological component.

Yukarism Vol. 2

April 2, 2015 by Anna N

Yukarism Volume 2 by Chika Shiomi

I enjoyed the first volume of this series very much, and was interested to see how the dynamic of gender-swapped past lives would play out in the present for the young novelist Yukari.

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I was impressed with the sheer amount of plot and world building Shiomi was able to develop in the first volume, but I was interested to see what would happen in the second volume when character motivations were already established. At first the relationship between Yukari and his female fan Mahoro seemed to mirror the relationship of courtesan Yumurasaki and watchful bodyguard Kazuma. It turns out that the burn mark that Mahoro and Kazuma share across the centuries might be a red herring because when a new character named Satomi appears to act as Yukari’s housekeeper, Mahoro’s fierce possessiveness and sudden magical abilities resemble the Witch Doctor Shizuka. Shizuka was one of Yumurasaki’s most ardent lovers, and Yukari wonders if the Witch Doctor was the cause of his past incarnation’s death.

While much of the first volume focused on established Yukari’s unique time traveling ability and defining his personality as well as Yumurasaki’s, the second volume delves more into the relationships of the people who surround the author/courtesan in the past and the present. Mahoro starts sleepwalking and uttering magical curses when she sees Satomi, and then she switches back to normal with little memory of what she did. The instant antagonism between Satomi and Mahoro is filled with glares and a sense of real menace, since both of them seem to have little control over their actions. Yukari continues to learn more about his past, with a subtle observational approach that fits in well with his personality as an author. Mahoro is falling more and more in love with him, which might make her emotions and connection to her own previous life more extreme. All in all, this was a solid second volume and Yukarism is positioned well to rotate in to fill the paranormal romance slot in your current manga reading list, since a few series in that genre have recently concluded.

Manga the Week of 4/8

April 2, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, Michelle Smith and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: ‘Tis Spring, and a young man or woman’s thoughts naturally turn to manga. What pleasures await us next week?

Unlike Strike Witches (look, panties!), Arpeggio of Blue Steel is an honest to goodness spy thriller that just happens to feature girls who are battleships. This is likely why I’m looking forward to the fourth volume from Seven Seas.

And for those who prefer their manga with a bit more yuri, there’s the 2nd volume of school drama Citrus.

Vertical gives us a new volume of Ajin: Demi-Human.

ASH: If you don’t mind dark and violent, Ajin is shaping up to be a great series.

SEAN: The rest is Viz. We get a 3rd Assassination Classroom, one of my favorite new Jump licenses.

ANNA: I haven’t read the second volume yet, but I’m looking forward to catching up. This series is fun and quirky.

SEAN: And one of my absolute favorite Shojo Beat series comes to an end with the final volume of Dengeki Daisy. Will Kurosaki finally go bald? The most important question yet to be answered!

MICHELLE: There’s so much VIZ I am gonna be reading from this week, man. Definitely all the shoujo!

ASH: Wow, Viz really is releasing a bunch of great stuff next week! I’m due for a Dengeki Daisy marathon read.

ANNA: The main story wraps up pretty quickly, but there are a ton of side stories in this volume which I always like.

SEAN: Meanwhile, in Food Wars! 5, all our hero has to worry about is having his life ruined forever by not serving enough breakfasts.

MICHELLE: I fell a couple volumes behind on this one, and am looking forward to a Food Wars! binge.

SEAN: And there’s not only war among chefs, there’s also Library Wars, though I think its 13th volume may be a bit less serious than previous ones.

Meteor Prince also comes to an end, though with only two volumes it’s had less of a chance to addict us than Dengeki Daisy has.

ANNA: The first volume was adorable!

SEAN: If you aren’t picking up the 4th volume of My Love Story!! next week, there’s something terribly wrong with you. (Apologies to TMBG.)

MICHELLE: There certainly is.

ASH: Such an incredibly delightful series!

MJ: Agreed!

ANNA: Double Agreed!

SEAN: One Piece 74 promises to give us more action, intrigue, silliness, drama, and possibly fresh fruit as well.

Skip Beat! 34 once again asks the question “will this be the volume where the plot progresses?”.

MICHELLE: I don’t even mind if it isn’t.

ANNA: I don’t care either!

SEAN: Toriko hits Vol. 27, will it kill off its hero in a pitched battle? Unlikely.

Voice Over! is almost, but not quite, over as it hits double digits.

MICHELLE: I continue to be surprised I enjoy Voice Over! as much as I do, but I’m really fond of it. Maybe I like best the series with exclamation points.

SEAN: World Trigger 5 is a new volume of World Trigger.

Finally, there’s a 2nd Yukarism, a series that interested me more than I expected last time. Will Volume 2 keep it up?

MJ: I’m actually really interested in this. I think I liked this more than most critics, and I’m pretty happy to see more of it.

ANNA: The second volume delves more into the past live of the main character, and deals with some of the ramifications of reincarnation in the present. I’m enjoying it too.

SEAN: Manga over flowers? What’s your choice?

Karneval, Vol. 1

April 2, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Touya Mikanagi. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Ichijinsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Karneval is, I believe, one of those titles that is expected to coast by on style alone for the first few volumes, while it lovingly sets up its plot. And to be fair, it has quite a lot of style. There was never a point in reading this omnibus where I was bored and slipping ahead, though there were perhaps a few times when I desperately wanted an organizational chart or a “here’s how this world works”. But that’s not how immersion goes. In the meantime we have a pretty young boy and his grumpy yet also pretty friend/babysitter/audience identification character, running afoul of the bad guys and being rescued by a crack squad of eccentric superheroes who pose as a circus when they’re not causing major property damage or freaking people out.

I believe that’s Nai on the cover there – I say “I believe” as he’s staring out at the reader confidently, something the Nai in the books would never do. I said Gareki was for the audience, and he’s desperately needed – in fact, I think he’s the main reason I enjoyed this title as much as I did. He stomps through the whole thing carrying Nai around as if he’s in a manga version of Midnight Run, and also manages to be the one member of the cast with no superpowers that we know of, though he gets by well enough with explosives. As for Nai, I actually thought the revelation about who he really is what the best part of the volume – it actually makes his moeblob tendencies make sense in context, even if it ends up giving us more questions than answers.

As for the rest of the cast, there are several men whose characterization seems to involve looking cool and making passes at each other, though I suspect the genuine BL content in this series will be zero. And they are pretty damn cool, if also ridiculous to a large degree – something I’ve come to expect from Zero-Sum titles. There are also a few women in the cast, who range from stoic to overly affectionate to full-on tsundere, but honestly none of them get as much attention as the guys this time around – hope that changes later on. Oh, and we also meet a set of twins and childhood friends who have “I am here to be tragic and motivate our hero” written all over them, which the cliffhanger seems to agree with me on.

There’s a healthy dose of humor here as well (the nurses’ reaction to their obnoxious doctor boss was probably my favorite), which also helps the medicine go down well. There’s nothing here that’s revolutionary or new, but for a manga that knows what its target audience wants, Karneval delivers quite nicely. Don’t try to think too hard about what’s going on, just sit back and enjoy the snarking, acting cool, and one-liners. Recommended for fans of Zero-Sum.