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VIZ Acquires Ultraman and My Hero Academia

February 20, 2015 by Katherine Dacey

Big news from VIZ: the publisher has licensed Ultraman, a manga update of the 1960s TV show. Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s story focuses on the original hero’s son, a seemingly ordinary teen who discovers that he’s inherited his father’s superpowers. Look for the first volume of Ultraman in August alongside the first volume of VIZ’s other new acquisition, My Hero Academia.

What’s arriving at your LCS next week? The Manga Bookshelf bloggers discuss their picks and pans.

Should the lead character in Ghost in the Shell by portrayed by an Asian American actress? That’s the issue raised in an open letter to DreamWorks, which asks the studio to reconsider casting Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi in an upcoming film adaptation.

Helen (a.k.a. Wandering Dreamer) raves about the big screen version of Thermae Romae.

Jocelyn Allen, author of Brain vs. Book, samples the latest doujinshi offerings from Japan.

Over at Contemporary Japanese Literature, scholar Kathryn Hemmann deconstructs the Vampire Knight franchise, using Vampire Knight: Fleeting Dreams as her point of entry.

News from Japan: The Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo will be sponsoring an exhibit of Naruto artwork and objects from April 25th to June 28th. One person who won’t be attending that show is Haruki Murakami, who recently told readers that he no longer has time to read manga or watch anime.

Artist Shun Matsuena has chosen an unusual platform for launching his new martial-arts manga: the walls of Tokyo’s Kichijouji Station. The non-profit organization NPO Lighthouse will be distributing copies of Blue Heart, a free manga that discusses sexual violence prevention for teens.

Reviews: Sean Gaffney finds Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary better than expected, while Rebecca Silverman argues that the first volume of Akame ga KILL! doesn’t live up to its full potential.

Kate O’Neil on vol. 1 of Demon from Afar (The Fandom Post)
Shaenon Garrity on Helter Skelter and Pink (ANN)
Kate O’Neil on vol. 2 of Heroic Legend of Arslan (The Fandom Post)
Justin Stroman on Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Megan R. on Junjo Romantica (The Manga Test Drive)
Ken H. on vol. 2 of Kotoura-San (Sequential Ink)
Rebecca Silverman in vol. 1 of Meteor Prince (ANN)
Matthew Warner on vol. 1 of My Neighbor Seki (The Fandom Post)
Justin Stroman on Phantom Street (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Sheena McNeill on vol. 6 of Pokemon Adventures: Black & White (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeill on vol. 26 of Pokemon Adventures: Emerald (Sequential Tart)
Sheena McNeill on vol. 1 of Pokemon XY (Sequential Tart)
Helen on Seraphim 266613336 Wings (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Spell of Desire (Comic Book Bin)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-6 of Spice and Wolf (Manga Xanadu)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 26 of Toriko (Comic Book Bin)
Thomas Maluck on Unico (No Flying No Tights)
Erica Friedman on Comic Yuri Hime January 2015 (Okazu)

Ajin: Demi-Human, Vol. 2

February 20, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Gamon Sakurai
U.S. publisher: Vertical
ISBN: 9781939130853
Released: December 2014
Original release: 2013

I tend to enjoy darker-toned stories about immortals, so I wasn’t particularly surprised that I enjoyed the first volume of Ajin: Demi-Human. The manga series was conceived of by writer Tsuina Miura and artist Gamon Sakurai, but by the second volume it appears as though Sakurai has taken over the story of Ajin as well. (Although, it should be noted that Miura and Sakurai’s pilot chapter for Ajin, “The Shinya Nakamura Incident,” is also included in the series’ second volume.) Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 2 was originally published in Japan in 2013 while the English-language edition of the manga was released by Vertical at the end of 2014. The first volume of the series established an intriguing premise—immortal beings, considered to be less than human, who are persecuted and subjected to cruel experiments—as well as an exceptionally dark atmosphere, and so I was particularly interested in seeing where Sakurai would take the story next.

Kei is on the run. Recently discovered to be an immortal demi-human—only the third to have been officially confirmed to exist in Japan—he is trying to avoid capture by the Demi-Human Control Commission and hoping to find allies in other immortals. When he is contacted by two rogue demi-humans, Sato (also known as “Hat”) and Tanaka, it seems as though Kei’s hopes have been answered, except for the small matter of the two men having taken his sister hostage. But with a little bit of effort and some unexpected theatrics, Sato is able to readily explain away the kidnapping and even manages to earn Kei’s trust in the process. Though Kei is unaware of it at the time, that misplaced trust will have severe repercussions for him. Sato and Tanaka are very interested in the young man. Not only is he a demi-human, just like the two of them Kei is a variant immortal capable of manifesting and controlling a black ghost. However, it is a power that he has yet to understand or to completely control.

Despite being a large focus of the first two volumes of Ajin and around whom much of the manga’s plot revolves, currently Kei is actually one of the least compelling characters in the series. The people and events surrounding Kei tend to be much more engaging. Sato in particular is a tremendous presence. It is easy to see why he instills such fear among those in the Demi-Human Control Commission—he cannot be controlled. Sato is a coldly calculating and ruthless strategist with extraordinary combat skills and the ability to manipulate both the people around him and the situations in which he finds himself. He is terrifyingly effective in the execution of his plans. At this point only some of those plans have been completely revealed, but it is obvious that Sato is willing to sacrifice anyone in order to accomplish them. In comparison, Kei seems to be incredibly weak-willed and naive, lacking a strong sense of self. Granted, almost anyone would when compared to Sato, but it’s also somewhat understandable since Kei’s entire worldview has been shattered. With his new-found immortality, he is still trying to understand who he is.

Ajin is a very dark and violent manga. The experiments carried out on the demi-humans are brutal and cruel. Generally, the most graphic moments are implied rather than seen, but that makes the torture no less disturbing. Demi-humans, especially those controlling black ghosts, are more than capable of fighting back, though. For example, Sato’s repeated attacks on research facilities associated with the Demi-Human Control Commission and his complete disregard for life are astonishing. Sakurai’s artwork is particularly effective during action sequences, of which there are plenty in the second volume of Ajin. The second volume also addresses some of the social issues surrounding demi-humans, in particular the fact that not everyone feels that demi-humans should be discriminated against just because they happen to be immortal. So far, Sakurai has been able to strike a good balance between the series’ intense action and horror and its exploration of deeper moral and ethical concerns. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how the series continues to develop.

Manga the Week of 2/25

February 19, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: A fairly sedate last week of the month. Not much from Yen this month, oddly. What will we have to talk about—

DIO: HA! You thought this would be Manga the Week of, but it is I, Dio!

SEAN: Oh right.

Before we get to that, Dark Horse has a very interesting new title coming out: Seraphim 266613336 Wings. A collaboration between Mamoru Oshii and Satoshi Kon, I can only imagine how strange this is going to be. But also highly anticipated.

ASH: I know I’m looking forward to it!

SEAN: Kodansha has a 33rd Air Gear, which continues to be the model all other fanservice-laden roller blade manga aspire to be.

There’s the debut of Maria the Virgin Witch, which would surely have gotten more attention from me if it weren’t surrounded by Kon and Dio. The plot does not interest me, the fact that this is by the author of Moyasimon does.

ASH: That’s what interests me most, too, though I have been hearing good things about the series.

SEAN: And one of my favorite lost causes, The Wallflower, has its 34th volume. I believe the ending is actually coming soon!

This has been out digitally since September, when I think I featured it here, but man, it deserves to be featured again. One of the most influential, over the top manga of the 20th century, we’ve seen its 3rd arc here before, but now you can see it again for the first time, in deluxe hardcover edition. I refer, of course, to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and trust me, that title is not kidding around.

ASH: I am so excited for this!!

MICHELLE: I have to admit I have never read JoJo’s, even though I’ve had the first three volumes (or, rather, the first three volumes of whatever segment of the series VIZ released) for quite a while. Maybe I would love it.

ANNA: I liked it a ton. The hardcover release is very nice, and I enjoyed all the punching, blood, and references to Aztec sacrificial practices. Also, more punching!

MJ: This seems to be the only title on the list I’m really interested in this week, but I’m *really* interested.

SEAN: One of Yen On’s February releases had to be delayed, so the sole light novel this week is the 2nd A Certain Magical Index. I should mention… it has vampires! Well, sort of. Anti-vampires. Ish?

The 2nd Ani-Imo is out, and I suspect will continue to be as edgy as the first one was. A reminder: technically shoujo manga.

There’s also a 3rd Barakamon, which is also out digitally as of this volume, for those who love digital and were bummed it wasn’t available before.

I keep wishing BTOOOM! Added a new O for every volume it gets to, but to no avail, even at Vol. 9.

MICHELLE: Ugh. I didn’t set out wanting to say “ugh” about BTOOOM!, but now that is my reflexive reaction.

SEAN: The first volume of Gou-dere Sora Nagihara was so over the top in terms of its comedy, fanservice, and general attempts to offend that I’m almost tempted to read this second volume to see if it can keep up the pace. Almost. But not quite.

High School DxD has a 4th volume. I wonder if I’d enjoy it more if the light novel were licensed?

Lastly, we have the final volume of Judge, but don’t worry, more animal-headed survival games are coming soon.

Assuming you’re doing the obvious, what else are you buying besides JoJo’s this week?

ANNA: How could anyone want to NOT buy JoJo’s, is the question!

Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary, Vol. 1

February 19, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Shake-O. Released in Japan as “Hitomi-sensei no Hokenshitsu” by Tokuma Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Ryu. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

As longtime readers will know, I pay far more attention to which company is releasing a manga and what magazine it runs in, for good and ill. Sometimes this can give me a feeling of great anticipation (Love at Fourteen is a good example), and sometimes it can inspire a feeling of dread, such as with this title, which runs in Comic Ryu, home of Monster Musume, which is very, very popular in North America and I simply can’t stand. Luckily, even though it does feature a degree of fanservice and boob jokes, Nurse Hitomi is a far more palatable title, mostly as the fanservice is a distant fourth to its other aims: amusing comedy, amusing drawings of weird creatures, and monsters as a metaphor for teenagers.

This actually puts it closer to its other Comic Ryu neighbor, A Centaur’s Life. But whereas that’s more of a slice-of-life title that takes great pains in its worldbuilding, Shake-O is not particularly interested in why the world of Nurse Hitomi is filled with mythological people hybrids, or for that matter how a bear can father a cyclops. This is a manga that wants to have fun and be silly. And it certainly succeeds there. Hitomi is a nice teacher who genuinely wants to help her kids, but she has no depth perception, making her clumsy, and she tends to try to do everything herself, something pointed out by fellow teacher and childhood friend Kenjiro (you’d think they would have some unresolved tension between them, but sadly Ken is a lolicon, the final joke in the volume and a lousy one to go out on).

Rather than Hitomi, probably the best reason to read this title would be the kids who come to her with unusual problems, some of which are couched in subtle metaphor but most of which are as unsubtle as they come. One girl is horrified that as she gets older her tongue is getting longer and longer, and she can’t control when it comes out anymore. Two childhood friends are going in opposite directions – one is now a giant while the other has shrunk to the size of a 5-year-old. And a shy girl who has trouble speaking up has now found herself literally turning invisible. (To comedic effect – if you want Translucent, go bother Dark Horse.) As you can see, monster teens = puberty. Most of these titles try to have a heartwarming lesson in them, but the lesson is secondary to the humor, and that’s just fine.

There’s other things going on here – Hitomi’s assistant, Itsuki, seems to be gender-ambiguous, though Itsuki mostly exists to poke gentle fun at Hitomi. The story of the giant girl and her small friend has an undercurrent of yuri – though only an undercurrent – and I hear future chapters may do the same thing. For the most part, though, despite the occasional ‘this looks like tentacles but it’s really not’ art and ‘why are people staring at my large breasts’ jokes, this is a fairly cute and innocent look at teens and their problems, couched in monster language. It’s not essential, but if you like unusual comedies, give it a try.

Henshin

February 18, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: J. M. Ken Niimura
U.S. publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 9781632152428
Released: January 2015
Original release: 2014

J. M. Ken Niimura is probably best known for his collaboration as an illustrator with writer Joe Kelly on I Kill Giants, an award-winning American comic that was completed in 2008. Among many other honors, the work earned Niimura and Kelly the top International Manga Award in 2012. A Spanish artist of Japanese descent, Niimura currently lives and works in Tokyo. Henshin is his first major Japanese publication. The collection includes thirteen short manga that were originally released online between 2013 and 2014 on the website for Ikki, a magazine that has been the home to some of my favorite mangaka, before finally being collected into a single volume. (An interesting sidenote: I Kill Giants was also published in Japan by Ikki Comix.) Henshin was subsequently released in Spanish in 2014 by Norma Editorial and in English by Image Comics in 2015. Out of the three print releases of Henshin, the English-language edition has the largest trim size.

The manga collected in Henshin are short, anywhere from twelve to twenty-eight pages in length. Although there are a variety of genres and styles, the stories generally fall into one of two broad categories: those that are semi-autobiographical, focusing on either Niimura’s creative processes or his love of cats, and those that are fictional narratives largely set in or near Tokyo or otherwise featuring Tokyoites. For the most part, the individual manga are unrelated and stand perfectly well on their own, but the first and last stories do share the same lead characters and there is a running episodic story about Niimura and a cat that lives near his apartment. Henshin includes slice-of-life manga, as well as manga with science fiction and fantasy elements, pieces infused with nostalgia, family and friends, pieces where loneliness and missed connections predominate, stories with a bit of humor, and stories with a bit of sadness.

Although the manga in Henshin are all different, they do share some thematic and narrative similarities. The first story, “No Good,” perfectly captures the tone of the volume as a whole. It starts out as a seemingly innocent tale but it suddenly shifts into something completely unexpected and outlandish. Most of the stories in Henshin have some sort of twist to them that require the reader to reconsider and reevaluate everything that has come before. Those surprising plot developments may be humorous, touching, absurd, disconcerting, or even morbid, in any combination. In Japanese, “henshin” means transformation, metamorphosis, or change, which is exactly what the stories collected in the volume have to offer—pivotal moments in which all of a sudden things are no longer the same, demanding a new and different understanding of reality.

Niimura exhibits a range of art styles in Henshin, drawing influence from Asian, European, and American comics traditions. Some of the illustrations are simple caricatures while others are more detailed or involved, some even reminiscent of classic ink wash paintings. The artwork in each of the short manga is tailored to fit the specific story and its mood, but in every case Niimura’s illustrations show impressive narrative strength. In general, Henshin uses minimal text and dialogue—one manga is even completely wordless—relying on the artwork (which performs magnificently) to actively aid in the telling of the stories. Henshin is an excellent and rather delightful collection of charming and quirky short manga that, in all of its strangeness and occasional absurdity, remains emotionally relevant and carries an impact. I enjoyed Henshin immensely and hope to have the opportunity to read more of Niimura’s comics and manga in the future.

Vertical Announces Three New Licenses

February 16, 2015 by Brigid Alverson

Vertical announced three new licenses at Katsucon this weekend: A manga, Ninja Slayer; a light novel, Kizumonogatari; and a light novel series, Seraph of the End. If that last one sounds familiar, it should: Viz has been publishing the manga. Kizumonogatari is by the novelist NisiOisin, and it’s the third volume in his Monogatari series that includes Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, and Monogatari Series Second Season. Vertical marketing director Ed Chavez said that they chose the third volume because “NisiOisin’s editor suggested we start there. His team is very involved in this project.”

Erica Friedman updates us with a new Yuri Network News post at Okazu.

The Manga Bookshelf team aren’t too excited about their Pick of the Week.

Bruno Meyerfield of World Crunch takes a look at the African manga scene, where fans who grew up reading Japanese manga are now making their own, uniquely African creations.

Arina Tanemura will be a guest at Anime Fest in Dallas, Texas, next September.

News from Japan: The LEGO Ninjago animated series (based on the LEGO playsets in which the characters are ninjas) is coming to Japan in April, and there’s going to be a manga series, too: LEGO LEGO Let’s LEGO Ninjago will launch in the March issue of Shogakukan’s CoroCoro Comic (out on February 28). The Jump Square spinoff Jump SQ. 19 is coming to an end this week, but Shueisha will launch a new spinoff in July. A manga version of the Koran is coming out this week.

Reviews: The Manga Bookshelf team checks out some new releases in their Bookshelf Briefs. Ash Brown recounts another week’s worth of manga reading at Experiments in Manga.

Sean Gaffney on vol. 7 of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ken H. on vol. 14 of Attack on Titan (Sequential Ink)
Connie on vol. 1 of Black Rose Alice (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 24 of Blade of the Immortal (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 2 of Crimson Spell (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 6 of Deadman Wonderland (The Fandom Post)
Connie on vol. 8 of Dogs (Slightly Biased Manga)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 44 of Fairy Tail (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Kristin on vols. 2 and 3 of Gangsta (Comic Attack)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Happy Marriage?! (I Reads You)
Connie on vol. 5 of Honey Hunt (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 20 of Hoshin Engi (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on Insufficient Direction (Slightly Biased Manga)
Rebecca Silverman on Jaco the Galactic Patrolman (ANN)
Rob McMonigal on vol. 1 of Master Keaton (Panel Patter)
Julia Smith on vol. 9 of No. 6 (The Fandom Post)
Matthew Warner on vol. 2 of Noragami (The Fandom Post)
Sean Gaffey on vol. 25 of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Connie on One Is Enough (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kate O’Neil on Pandora Hearts: Odds & Ends (The Fandom Post)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 20 of Pokemon Black and White (Lesley’s Musings on Manga)
Connie on vol. 11 of Sakura Hime (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 1 of Sweet Rein (Slightly Biased Manga)
Kory Cerjak on vol. 3 of UQ Holder (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on vols. 1-10 of Wild Ones (Manga Xanadu)

Bookshelf Briefs 2/16/15

February 16, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Anna N and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

This week, Sean, Anna, & Michelle look at recent releases from Seven Seas, Yen Press, and Viz Media.

A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 5 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – This volume does a god job of balancing out the slice-of-life and the worldbuilding. ON the one hand we have chapters like the one with Kyoko and her brother, which reassures us that despite both being goat/human hybrids they’re still a typical family with rivalries and brattiness. On the other you have the last chapter, showing the history of how the centaurs gained rights, with this world’s Napoleon promising them freedom if they fight under his command. And in the middle we see Suu and her childhood friend appear to talk about manga romances not being the same as real life (she seems a bit creeped out). This series is decidedly odd, and that’s what keeps it so readable. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!, Vol. 4 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – With a minimum of fanservice, and a good heaping help of classic Shonen Jump tropes, this is the best volume of Food Wars! to date. Soma’s battle with Shinomiya is really Megumi’s battle, and she shows off once again why she’s an amazing chef if she can just learn to stop panicking. But for Soma, who knows they won on a technicality, the frustration of losing leads to self-harm (don’t worry, it’s just punching a wall). And while the last volume saw Megumi on the verge of expulsion as the cliffhanger, here we see Soma in the same situation, as his breakfast menu has not gained any support. There’s also the usual bevy of eccentric characters and amusing one-shot gags, and it may just be the lack of ‘this food is making me having an orgasm’ pages, but I’ve come to love this. – Sean Gaffney

Happy Marriage?!, Vol. 10 | By Maki Enjoji | Viz Media – In our final volume, most everything gets resolved. What I appreciated most was the implicit realization that both Hokuto and Chiwa married too soon, and how to fix that without simply breaking up, as they do love each other dearly. That said, they just can’t stop getting on each other’s nerves, and it’s fitting that the final chapters show off how they’re always going to be fighting each other, and have simply come to accept it. The series has existed on that sort of tension, so doesn’t just want to get rid of it with an overly soppy ending. But they’re married – again – and Chiwa may be pregnant, so all is well. The marriage parts of this were, in the end, the victor over all the ‘Hokuto’s backstory’ parts. – Sean Gaffney

Honey Blood: Tale Zero | By Miko Mitsuki | Viz Media – This volume collects the first chapters of Honey Blood, where we get a previous version of the story that is a bit more humorous and improbable, and the heroine has a slightly less strong personality. I think the changes in the version for the two volume manga were for the better, but it was interesting to get a peek into the creative process involved in reworking a story for longer serialization. The volume is rounded out with some additional short stories, one featuring a tomboyish girl with a crush on an aspiring male makeup artist, and a story between a boy and girl next door that doesn’t end well. This volume is probably best for completists only, the other two volumes of Honey Blood stand on their own. While I think this series didn’t completely come together, I’d like to check out other works by Mitsuki, because I did enjoy the art and aspects of the plot. – Anna N

Kiss of the Rose Princess, Vol. 2 | By Aya Shouoto | Viz Media – I was hoping the second volume of Kiss of the Rose Princess would help me decide what to make of this series, but it’s so different from the first—introducing a villain who attacks two knights and kidnaps a third, as well as a weakening seal on the demon lord that can only be repaired with a terrible sacrifice—that I remain kind of baffled. I appreciate the more serious moments, though there is still plenty of unfunny comedy, and it’s really jarring when what could’ve been an important moment is undermined by a stupid gag. Too, I suspect either Shouoto or her editor was a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because there are a couple of plot elements that are so similar they’ve got me wondering. Still, it’s an improvement overall, and I find myself willing to stick around a bit and see where this goes. – Michelle Smith

Soul Eater, Vol. 24 | By Atsushi Ohkubo | Yen Press – I appreciated the reminder midway through this volume of how terrifying the series can get, as Crona’s attack on the infiltrators is something that I will likely have nightmares about. That said, even Crona can’t stop Asura from being the final big bad, and it’s up to Maka, Black*Star and Death the Kid (who has a brief comedic detour back to Earth, the best joke in the volume) and their respective weapons to stop him. We’ve only got one more volume to go, and that sounds about right, as there’s time for one last battle, Shinigami-sama’s death (which is clearly lampshaded here), and a big celebration to end it all. Soul Eater has given us a bizarre skewed shonen manga, right to the end. – Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 26 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – It’s all battles again in this new Toriko, so I have less to talk about. It was interesting to see an actual death of a named character, as Tommyrod is finished off by Sunny in a battle of the disturbing. Meanwhile, Brunch’s battle against a supposed immortal invincible character shows off how little those attributes actually mean in a manga like this. The most troubling battle goes t Toriko, who is almost killed off before revived by the sound of Komatsu crying for him (in case you hadn’t figured out he’s the heroine by now). Is he actually ready to take on Starjun? And is this the real enemy, or is there now a 3rd party gumming up the works? Man, remember when this was all about food? More food, please. – Sean Gaffney

Pick of the Week: Meh?

February 16, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 6 Comments

SEAN: Given that most of this weeks’ titles fill me with apathy, even the ones I actually follow (I blame the endless winter here in the Northeast), I’ll give my pick of the week to the one I’m looking forward to the most: Lucifer & The Biscuit Hammer. The first omnibus was such a great combination of cynical nihilism and action-adventure, and while I hope our hero and heroine snap out of their ‘destroy the world’ motivation, I do also hope it takes them a while.

MICHELLE: The only manga release to excite me this week is the digital debut of Boys Over Flowers: Season Two, and even that is tinged with trepidation. But I see chapter one is up now, so I shall marshal my courage and forge ahead.

ASH: I think I’m with Sean this week. I didn’t really know what to expect from the first omnibus of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, but I liked its quirkiness and at times it could be surprisingly dark. If I’m going to be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what to expect from the series, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

ANNA: I’m going to have to throw in with Michelle and go for Boys Over Flowers since that is for sure the thing I am most interested in this week. I hope we see more digital shoujo releases!

MJ: I… man, I got nothin’ this week. Nothing at all. So I will take this moment to point out that Sparkler Monthly has put Off*Beat and Gauntlet on sale for Valentine’s Day—20% off their deluxe paperback sets! Sale expires on Thursday! Other than that… I got nothin’. Any suggestions from our readership?

What looks good to you this week?

My Week in Manga: February 9-February 15, 2015

February 16, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was a two-review week here at Experiments in Manga. I read and loved Ellery Prime’s Gauntlet, the first novel to have both started and finished in Sparkler Monthly. I’m not sure the review really does the book justice–the story is difficult to write about without spoiling it–but Gauntlet is really good stuff. Ever since reading the novel, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. (Coincidentally, both Gauntlet and Jen Lee Quick’s marvelous comic Off*Beat are currently on sale!) The second review posted last week was of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare, Volume 2. So far, the series remains a disconcerting but compelling work. The manga has a lot of dark, psychological drama, which I tend to enjoy, although that can also make it a difficult read from time to time. Many of the characters simply aren’t very nice people. The review is a part of my monthly horror manga review project; next month it will be Mushishi‘s turn again.

On to other interesting reading and news from elsewhere online! The Young Adult Library Services Association has released its 2015 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The annual list is always worth a look. The manga for 2015 include All You Need is Kill, My Little Monster, My Love Story, Seraph of the End, Summer Wars, Voice Over! Seiyu Academy, Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki (the only manga included on the top ten list), and World Trigger. Over at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, Laura from Heart of Manga provides The 2015 Shoujo Manga Forecast, a comprehensive overview of the shoujo manga that has so far been announced for this year, listed by publisher and expected release date. And on the Vertical Tumblr there is a post Reviewing the “Best Manga of 2011” from a licensing angle which I found to be particularly fascinating. Speaking of Vertical, three new licenses!–Seraph of the End light novels, Ninja Slayer manga, and KizuMonogatari.

Quick Takes

Air Gear, Volume 32 by Oh!Great. This is actually the first volume of Air Gear that I’ve ever read, and the only other manga by Oh!Great that I’ve been exposed to is the very beginning of Tenjo Tenge. From that limited experience, I expected there to be violence and a fair amount of fanservice in Air Gear, and there certainly is. Since I’m not particularly familiar with Air Gear, its plot, or its characters, unsurprisingly I was a bit lost reading the thirty-second volume. It didn’t help that Oh!Great’s use of flashbacks and flashforwards seems haphazard, making it difficult to maintain a firm grasp on the manga’s chronology, and therefore was not as effective as intended. There are only five more volumes in the series and even though I’m unaware of all of the details, it is quite obvious that there has been a tremendous buildup to reach the thirty-second. The volume concludes at least one major battle and leaves several important characters dead. Even though I wasn’t able to follow everything that was going on story-wise, I could still appreciate Oh!Great’s dynamic artwork (beginning with the stunning cover illustration) and the series’ over-the-top action. If nothing else, Oh!Great can draw.

Assassination Classroom, Volumes 1-2 by Yusei Matsui. The junior high students of class 3-E are the academic underachievers and juvenile delinquents whom no one else in the school wants to deal with, but they’re apparently also the only ones who have any chance of saving the world from being destroyed. The teens have less than a year to assassinate their teacher, a superpowered tentacle creature who plans on disintegrating the planet after their graduation. Although he has a few weaknesses, Koro Sensei is extremely powerful, impervious to most weapons, and able to move at Mach 20. A successful assassination will require a significant amount of creativity and teamwork. Surprisingly, even though he intends to destroy Earth, Koro Sensei is actually a great teacher who seems to genuinely care about his students, challenging them to better themselves and encouraging them not only in their studies but in their assassination attempts as well. Assassination Classroom is a strange but enjoyable series. 3-E is a class of losers and outcasts who, when given the opportunity and shown that someone actually believes in them, are able to overcome challenges even if they haven’t figured out a way to kill Koro Sensei yet.

From the New World, Volumes 6-7 written by Yusuke Kishi and illustrated by Toru Oikawa. The manga adaptation of From the New World frustrates me immensely. The story is fantastic, the setting intriguing, and the atmosphere incredibly dark. But overall the manga just isn’t very satisfying, suffering from tonal imbalance and uneven worldbuilding and plot development. Although there’s still some ridiculous fanservice–Saki’s breasts in particular are constantly being emphasized to the point of distraction–these volumes fortunately are mostly lacking in the explicit sex scenes found throughout the rest of the series that seem completely out-of-place and interrupt the narrative flow of the story. The final volume with its dramatic conclusion of the war between the morph rats and the humans, would have been one of the strongest in the series except for the fact that the last chapter, which serves as a lengthy epilogue, slightly fumbles what is perhaps the series’ biggest twist. Quite a few of the reveals in the final volumes likely would have been more powerful if they had been encountered earlier in the story. In the end, I still think what I really want is to read Kishi’s original novel.

Stones of Power by Isora Azumi. A few years ago I read and enjoyed the first quarter or so of Stones of Power when it was initially being serialized in the Gen anthology. The manga has since been collected into a single volume, including material that I believe hadn’t previously been released. Stones of Power is admittedly unpolished and its artwork fairly generic, but there are things I really like about the manga. It mixes the mundane with the supernatural in rather curious ways, especially in the beginning. Fujita is a young man with a passion for fish who ends up being hired to maintain the aquarium at a small cafe. That might not be a particularly strong hook for most readers, but I happen to really like fish and used to keep a tank of my own. It just so happens that the fish Fujita’s been put in charge of are actually dragon gods and the two siblings he works for are fox spirits. From there Stones of Power spins off into an increasingly strange and dangerous situation in which Fujita, who apparently has an unexpected affinity for the occult (or at least the dragons), is unwittingly dragged into a battle between the foxes and an ancient power that threatens the life of an innocent young girl.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Vol. 25

February 15, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Hiroshi Shiibashi. Released in Japan as “Nurarihyon No Mago” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

We’ve come to the final volume of this Shonen Jump series, and as it turns out I had not done a full review of it since the very first. That first review is sort of retroactively hilarious, talking about what was mostly a high school comedy about Rikuo trying to hide his yokai heritage from his friends while dealing with a minor love triangle. Now here we are at the end, and I don’t think we’ve had a volume that wasn’t basically either a giant battle or preparations for a giant battle since around the early teens. When you have a hero that can transform into a handsome badass, and a large cast filled with eccentric but fascinating supernatural creatures, no one cares about your human childhood friend. Sorry, Kana.

But of course the tradeoff is that, while I’ve basically enjoyed myself throughout the series, there’s been very little to talk about with each individual volume, hence why I’ve kept my comments to the Bookshelf Briefs. Even here, the first half of the book is basically the climax of the final battle, which is as you’d expect – the villain is convinced he’s won, but with the help of all his yokai companion, as well as a reformed villain or two, our hero pulls it out despite risking death (as does his grandfather, who actually meets his wife in “heaven” before returning as his time is not yet over). With everything won, we return to the (somewhat beat up) clan house, where a giant party proceeds to end the volume. Well, except for several side-stories to pad it out to a proper length – by the end of the series, Nura was running in ‘Jump Next’, a side-magazine, which allowed it to have its 80-page finales but also hinted it was being put out to pasture.

And it’s for the best, really, as I’m not sure how much more Nura had to give. It’s always been one of those series that was good but not great, and you can’t see the ‘Final Volume!’ at the back cover without thinking “Oh good”. As ever with Jump series, we’d had an escalating scale of villains, but with the last one basically being a creation of absolute evil, there’s nowhere else to go after that. As for the romance, it was the typical non-romance you get in Jump titles like these. There’s enough tease to keep Tsurara fans happy, and it’s implied Rikuo returns her feelings, but nothing really happens. In a world where we recently saw Naruto trying to pair people up and fail so miserably (I actually do like Naruto/Hinata, but there’s no denying that rushed ‘epilogue’ was pretty miserable), and where Bleach fans await the end of their series with dread and prepared outrage, this seems quite satisfying.

The cover shows us three generations of Nuras, which is good as honestly in black and white I can’t tell them apart, and they’re all smiling and showing off their badass poses. It’s a good cover for a series that has never been amazing or addictive, but more solid and dependable. I enjoyed reading you, Nura. Now… GET OUT!