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Manga the Week of 12/25/24

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SEAN: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Best wishes from Manga Bookshelf!… wait, there’s manga out this week?

ASH: As if there was any doubt!

SEAN: Yen On has one title, and it’s a debut. Before the Tutorial Starts: A Few Things I Can Do to Keep the Bosses Alive (Tutorial ga Hajimaru Mae ni: Bosschara-tachi wo Hametsu Sasenai Tame ni Ore ga Dekiru Ikutsu ka no Koto) is a “I am the weakest, but really the STRONGEST” title combined with “I’m reincarnated as a pathetic villain” with a dash of “my sister is dying”.

MICHELLE: That’s kind of a lot.

SEAN: And Yen Press has Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents: Baths, Lavatories, and Angels Are Communal 2 and Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 11.

Viz Media has the 15th volume of Fist of the North Star.

ASH: Always happy for a new Fist of the North Star volume!

SEAN: Steamship debuts The Yakuza and His Omega: Raw Desire (Gokudou to Omega – Mukidashi no Katsuai), a josei omegaverse title from Pinkcherie. A romance writer wants to interview a famous alpha who’s also head of the local yakuza. Little does she know that… drumroll, please… she’s really an omega!

ASH: Surprise! (Still glad we’re getting steamy josei in the mix.)

ANNA: Me too, I’m glad that some steamy josei is being published.

SEAN: Square Enix has Final Fantasy VII Remake: Material Ultimania Plus, a big hardcover artbook.

I feel like sticking the Mature Seven Seas titles with Ghost Ship isn’t working, so I’ll go back to listing them with the main label. The debut is a mature BL title, Our Sweet One-Room Apartment (Sweet Our 1R) is from Magazine Be x Boy, and complete in one volume. Two college kids live together, it looks very cute.

ASH: It does!

SEAN: From Seven Seas we see Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 11, the 2nd KinnPorsche novel, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 7, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 10, Perfect Buddy 2, Time Stop Hero 11, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 4.

Kodansha has the debut of the week with Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow, the legendary 1968 Weekly Shonen Magazine manga that inspired almost every shonen series that came after it. The story of a ne’er-do-well who finds his fate lies with boxing, it’s coming out in hardcover format as a 600-page omnibus. Calling it: This is our pick of the week. And possibly the year, despite coming out at the end of it.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I’m a sucker for these “adrift person finds the place they belong” stories. Of course, I’m inclined to say “It reminds me of Slam Dunk!,” though I realize it’s the other way around.

ASH: I am so excited for this release!!

ANNA: Me too, happy to see a classic title get translated.

SEAN: Also in print: Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 3 and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 9.

And for digital we see As the Gods Will 2, Bootsleg 5, Gamaran: Shura 27, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 12, and My Home Hero 19.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do see Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 3 Book 4 manga, the 18th Black Summoner manga, the 5th Hell Mode manga, I Could Never Be a Succubus! 5, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 9, the 4th A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life manga, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires 4, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 9 Part 2, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 11, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 14, Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! 7, The Tales of Marielle Clarac 11, and the 9th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! manga.

ASH: No debuts, but still plenty to fall behind on!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 12 and the 2nd Do You Like Big Girls? omnibus re-release.

ASH: One of these days I really, really, really, really, REALLY will give The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You a try.

SEAN: Denpa Books has, per retailers, March Comes in Like a Lion 3.

MICHELLE: I’m dubious, but we’ll see if my pre-order ships!

ASH: Fingers crossed!

ANNA: Also hoping here!

SEAN: In print, Airship has Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! (Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (Hokori)!). A former Japanese farm girl is reincarnated and becomes a maid to a poor noble family. Except… she seems to have holy magic? And men are flocking to her? Is she a heroine? Meh. Who cares? She’s a maid!

Also in print: Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes 3 and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 8.

And early digital has She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 12 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 8.

That’s actually not bad compared to the last two weeks of hell. What’s in your stocking?

Duchess in the Attic, Vol. 2

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By Mori and Huyuko Aoi. Released in Japan as “Yane Urabeya no Kōshaku Fujin” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by piyo.

I admitted to being very surprised that there was a second volume of this very “finished in one book” series. Even the title, Duchess in the Attic, was not something that was going to make sense going forward unless something silly happened. (The author agrees with me there: it’s an artifact title, and a few jokes are made about her moving back to an attic if things with Claude go south.) So I wondered what was left to learn about Opal now that the series was ongoing. As it turns out, not much about Opal herself – she’s much the same person she was in the first book, if a bit more unforgiving of fools. But the systemic power of the nobility and the misogyny rife throughout multiple kingdoms is very much still a problem, and Opal wants to solve that. If the first book was about Opal rescuing herself, this book is about her trying to rescue others. She’s a philanthropist. Of course, there are a few things to work out first, and that’s what this book is about.

Opal and Claude are off to his new homeland, Taisei, to get married. This involves meeting some of his friends, who regard Opal as a terrible choice of spouse. And the King, who seems to be one of those mischievous kings. Many subplots are introduced, but we don’t really deal with any of them, because the bulk of the book actually takes place back in Socille, as Opal hears that Beth, her former abusive maid who was working for Hubert and Stella, has been fired because she got pregnant. Investigating, it turns out that the father is a rogue noble, Keymont, who apparently has spread his seed far and wide, and other women have children by him. Deciding that enough is enough, Opal decides to shame him at a public gathering to get child support for his conquests, only for things to blow up far more than she intended.

There is no small amount of romance in this. Opal and Claude love each other, and get very jealous when any of the opposite sex shows interest. There’s also the very awkward conversation they have where Opal tells Claude that, despite being married for almost a decade, she’s still a virgin (it’s implied he is as well). But the main reason to read this book is not the romance, it’s the politics and the worldbuilding. These are two kingdoms that are essentially right around where the late Victorian/early Edwardian period was in this world, and progress is happening so fast that it’s unnerving people. Why, it’s gotten so bad that a noble rake can’t even go around robbing common people for the lulz anymore. The other political part of the book is its feminist stance, which is awesome. I loved Opal’s reaction when Hubert indicated Beth’s pregnancy was her own fault – marveling at an Immaculate Conception.

Opal still hasn’t seen her new domain yet, and I have a feeling that the third book will have things go a lot more poorly for her than this one did. Still, I found this just as enjoyable as the first.

High School DxD: Dark Knight of Sunshine

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By Ichiei Ishibumi and Miyama-Zero. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Haydn Trowell.

I am, frankly, irritated that we have another short story volume with Vol. 15 when we already got one with Vol. 13. I get that this is a Fujimi Shobo series, which means there’s always TONS of extra content written for Dragon Magazine, and that fans want to see it compiled (one story in this book is literally said by the author to be “we left it out, but fans complained, so here it is). But still, we’re ready to begin a new vampire-driven arc, and until the last 3 pages of this volume we don’t get that – which means we don’t get it. What we get is a lot more silliness that I didn’t really care for (the magazine stories) and two very good backstories that were written especially for the volume. I get that this is a series driven by fanservice, and that’s what the fans want, but I like what I like, and I like the action and character development more than the “oh no, they’re wearing a silly and sexy costume” stuff.

The wraparound story has Issei and Ravel, hanging at the pool, still trying to decide on a mage. Le Fay is the obvious choice, but sadly she’s still a terrorist. Meanwhile, we get a number of short stories. 1) Leviathan wants to audition for the live-action Magical Girl Milky movie, and cons the rest of the cast into coming in costume as well; 2) we learn how Rias and Akeno first met, when Rias rescued a 12-year-old Akeno from being murdered by her relatives for being part-fallen angel; 3) Irina tells us about the time she, Xenovia and Asia went to Akihabara to buy what turns out to be an eroge for Issei; 4) Akeno asks Issei to join her in going to the Grigori training institute, and Gaspar tags along, and they then learn what sort of training goes on there; 5) Fenrir tells us about their group’s efforts to untraumatize the White Dragon Emperor after it learned about Issei’s fetish; 6) We learn how Rias and Yuuto first met, which is much the same as Akeno’s story, but with more swords.

I enjoyed the two original stories, which work well with the characters and show off how awesome Rias can be, which is something I sometimes forget in this Issei-dominated series. I also, got help me, loved the Irina-narrated story. I’ve made a joke of the fact that a volume focusing on her is happening any day now, because she has gotten – by far – the least attention of the main cast. But this story shows off why the author may be avoiding it – Irina has always sort of been “no thoughts, head empty”, but here we actually see it from her own POV, and it’s kinda hilarious? Less hilarious are the Issei-narrated stories, which mostly depend on him thinking everyone is gorgeous and sexy (the first one), being stunned at the ludicrousness of the “training” the Grigori are doing (the second one) or being a loud, annoying tsukkomi (both of them).

Next time we should – finally – get the vampire arc. Till then, the good news is I think this is the last short story volume for some time.

Bookshelf Briefs 12/16/24

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Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 4 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – This is not a sports series, but there are certain plot beats that make it FEEL like a sports series, and none more so than the Band Competition arc. It relies on a lot of word of mouth and help from others in order to have Kessoku Band make it into the preliminaries. And then, like a whole lot of sports manga that have our first-year kids discover that there’s always a higher mountain, they do really well… but lose, and are forced to watch their rivals perform at the festival while they remain in the audience. That said, a lot of bands lost, and Bocchi and company got their name out there. (Which is more than I can say for Sick Hack… I must say I’m kind of dreading the spinoff as I find Hiroi almost unreadable, but oh well, this is the main series.) Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Diary of a Female Lead: Shujinkou Nikki, Vol. 1 | By Yuu Yoshinaga | Seven Seas – It’s been a while since I’ve read a straight-up normal shoujo title, like this one from Betsucomi. That said, it’s normal, but it’s also deconstructing shoujo manga. Our heroine is a shy, glasses-wearing girl who feels intimidated by her outgoing jock brother and her driven shoujo-manga-writing mother. Then when seats change in class, she’s next to the class hottie—best friend of her brother—and things start to change. Her brother and his friend decide that what she needs to change herself is to fall in love, and they read a lot of shoujo manga to figure out how to make that work. There’s an obvious guy chosen as her target… but we, the reader, know that it’s gonna be the friend, who reeks of male lead. This was fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 11 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – Everything I said in my review of the last volume a year ago (yeah, this is the trouble with catching up) applies here. Sarasa is still overpowering the scene with her own performance, and the other actresses are needing to change the way they approach the scene to try to salvage it. Ai, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out if she wants to play male or female leads, and which she’d be best at. Given that the series works best when it’s focusing on the two of them, and that Sarasa’s height makes it next to impossible for her to play a female lead, I can see narratively where this should go, but honestly in terms of character I think Ai would be best served playing the male parts. Needless to say, this remains terrific, and I love reading it. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 31 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Let’s face it, this is the most back-loaded volume of Komi ever, as a whole lot of festival antics, some focusing on Komi and Tadano and a whole lot more focusing on characters we’ve seen only once or twice before ends with the two of them, trying to have a real festival date on their own, being met with so many disasters that ruin everything that they can’t help but laugh. After that, though, we get the payoff, as the two of them kiss! But there’s a question about if it was accidental or on purpose, and both of them are so flustered that they can’t quite agree on what it is. Given that we spent so long getting to them becoming a couple, it was clear that this was the next step. Will they go all the way? Likely not in Shonen Sunday, but you never know. Cute as a button. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 15 | By Afro | Yen Press – We’ve got newbies in the cast again, which means that we can have them learning new things like “it’s really hard to bike uphill.” Because yes, this series is about camping, but it’s just as much about getting to and from the camp, be that testing your strength by biking up a huge hill (really a small mountain) to the camp, or the frustration when you realize that your journey ends here because you don’t have a car and only cars are allowed in the tunnel between prefectures. There are, once again, minimal appearances by the two I’m reading this for, though we see Nadeshiko show off her cooking talents in “imagine sequences,” and there are a few scenes of Rin once again solo camping. This is always enjoyable and always hard to review. – Sean Gaffney

Qualia Under the Snow | By Kanna Kii | KUMA – Kobayashi Akio prefers the company of plants, but makes the acquaintance of his boarding house neighbor, Oohashi Umi, who keeps coming home in disarray after one-night stands. They’re attending the same university and become friends (and, later, roommates), and we gradually learn more about how each was affected by someone they loved disappearing from their lives (Akio’s father, and Umi’s first love). I enjoyed reading Qualia Under the Snow, but thought it was all kind of… vague. There’s no real access to the characters’ inner thoughts, so I still don’t understand what made Akio’s feelings about Umi change, and I don’t know the significance of what he whispers to him at the end (or even, honestly, exactly what it was). This was good, but it wasn’t great. – Michelle Smith

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 10 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – OK, the secret continues to linger, and is not addressed in this volume either. What does occur in this volume is a) The two of them moving in, making the house a home, and trying to get a bit more intimate—or at least prepare for more intimacy; b) Itsuomi continuing to try to reach out to Oushi and let him know Yuki wants him in their life, despite Oushi wanting nothing to do with him; and c) introducing new neighbors, sometimes with overdramatic head injuries and sometimes with surprise “oh hey, it’s you!” run-ins on the street. This is still very good, but that’s now two volumes worth of ‘transition to the next arc,’ and I’m not sure all the moving in is enough to carry it right now. I want more meat on these bones. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 10 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – We finish up the vacation arc, with Shima still at sixes and sevens. At least Mitsumi has confessed her aborted relationship to the other girls, which frankly stuns them (particularly Mika, who is really starting to feel a bit inadequate over this, especially after she spends the vacation getting over her lingering feelings). And then it’s time for the new semester, and a big surprise—their teacher is taking maternity leave, and no, she’s not married. Skip and Loafer has proved that it’s willing to bring in controversial subjects and treat them exactly the same as everything else in the story—and that it’s willing to move away from the main cast, as the back half focuses on Kazakami, who has his future all laid out for him, and hates it. Still amazing. – Sean Gaffney

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 8

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By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The author, I get the sense, is not only well aware of the reputation that this series has for purity to the point of ridiculousness, but positively revels in it. The start of this volume has Mahiru indicate that she’ll let Amane do anything he wants to her, and both times the closest we get to actual sex is hickeys. Indeed, the joke – both at the start and the end – is that everyone else, including Mahiru, wants something more (never stated, of course, due to pure pureness but implied with her getting very red when he talks about lying in her lap – the last time he did that he was facing towards her, so the implication is there). Amane is made of sterner stuff, though, and he knows very well that the moment that he lets go of his self-control and allows himself to do what he wants with Mahiru, she will somehow immediately be pregnant and possibly homeless. So for now, hickeys it is.

So yes, Amane and Mahiru are now sleeping together. By which I mean she’s staying the night in his apartment, and they sleep in his bed, but again, hickeys is as far as we go. And they’re not even visible hickeys. In the meantime, though, Amane has the future in mind. He wants to live with Mahiru forever, and that means marriage. His parents, who drop by to visit and embarrass the hell out of their son, not in that order, say that they will he,lp with whatever future plans he has – they know he tries to take everything on himself – but he wants to buy the ring with his own money. As such, he asks muscle fangirl classmate Ayaka to help find him a part-time job, and she hooks him up at a cafe her aunt runs for wealthy older customers – one where he can work as a waiter/barrista. That said, Mahiru’s not allowed to see him at work. Yet.

The final scene in the book is essentially the continuation of the first, showing off that them being married is just a matter of a registration – as far as their behavior is concerned, they may not be having sex, but in all other respects they’re soulmates. We meet the co-workers at Amane’s cafe, and they reminded me of the sort of eccentric personalities you might find in some other light novel series, where the childhood friend pines without ever being noticed. But Amane and Miharu are those types as well. In any other light novel, they’d be minor characters, the schmoopy couple who put everyone else in the class to shame and are always shamelessly flirting. Of course, these two flirt without realizing it – even to each other, which can get hilarious.

If you’re waiting for the sex, I’d wait till the end of the series, and get very angry then, as I suspect it won’t be there either. If you’re waiting for the cuteness and the syrupy sweetness, it’s all over this volume.

Pick of the Week: Triangles, Confessions, and Dreams

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MICHELLE: There are a few intriguing things coming out this week! Ultimately, Hereditary Triangle appeals to me the most, though. And it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with fish sex.

SEAN: It’s the final volume of my beloved and terrifying I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again!. I’ll stop whining about the codependency, so just live, OK? And that goes for your maid as well.

ASH: I can’t pass up giving a manga which has Nobuyuki Fukumoto and Kaiji Kawaguchi as collaborators a try, so Confession is the release I’m prioritizing this week. (It also happens to fit in nicely with all the snow survival media I’ve been consuming lately…)

ANNA: Confession does sound pretty great, but I’m going to go with Luciole Has a Dream due to my intense love of naps.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Clover’s Regret, Vol. 2

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By Soitiro Watase and Ginta, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, I’m still enjoying this spinoff, but I will admit that I’m enjoying it despite one of its subplots. Actually, more accurately despite its main plot. When the series is showing off the Asuka Online game, its horror events and the cast debugging things, it’s great. When it’s got them solving mysteries of absent fathers and mysterious support dolls who are not named Yotsugi, it’s also great. When it has its real life subplot about Nayuta gradually moving in with Kurei, making him food, and acting like a wife, while blowing off the fact that she’s been spotted with him and that people at her school are asking questions about it, that’s less fine. Now Kurei spends most of the book insisting he hasn’t done anything improper, which is true, but that’s not the point. The point is that Nayuta is underage and Kurei is in a position of power and we’re both supposed to be rooting for these two to admit their love and get married. Which, eh.

The book is divided into two short stories and one novella. The first story has Nayuta and Koyomi join Klever as he tests a vacation resort that will be used for events, meaning it’s an excuse for the cast to fool around in a luxury hotel. But what’s with the staff… or lack thereof? The second story has them participate in a fun event where you get to snuggle cabyparas, and find the wombat hidden among all of them. This is mostly pure fluff, but also has them discovering an AI android that appears to be part of a part of the game still being argued about, named Onihime. In the final story, they meet a young girl named Mahiro, who is searching for her missing father, who might have gotten called up in something criminal. What’s more, the girl looks a LOT like the android AI they just found…

Koyomi continues to have the depth of a sheet of paper, but she’s fun, and she’s also a necessary ingredient in a cast that otherwise consists of two very serious people. She also has Nayuta’s best interests at heart, and he constant battering of Klever about his “intentions” towards Nauyta masks a very real worry that she could be taken advantage of. Nayuta has an abnormal trust of Klever/Kurei, and while the reader is, I think, meant to assume it’s because they’re destined, it’s still uncomfortable. The other thing about this book is its examination of AI – it seems to be mostly pro-AI, but in the world of SAO I can see why that makes more sense – we already have Yui, for example.

This has one more volume to go, but doesn’t really have any plot points to resolve besides “when Nayuta turns 18 she will simply propose”. Let’s home it’s a little more complicated than that. For SAO fans.

86 –Eighty-Six–, Vol. 13: Dear Hunter

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By Asato Asato and Shirabii. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lempert.

Yes, the “Dear” in the subtitle is spelled correctly, as the author states in the afterword. As for the book itself: I would like to remind readers, before I continue, that I do think this is an excellent series and I eagerly await reading the next book. That said, reading this was like being punched in the face for 318 pages. Each of the volumes has built on what has gone before, and here it reaches a crescendo, as everything completely falls into chaos, leaving our main cast in a situation exactly where they were at the start of the first book. It’s not quite “everything is for nothing”, but it’s close. The book has never been subtle about choosing kindness over prejudice, but here it reminds everyone that choosing to be kind is hard and requires constant vigilance, whereas being prejudiced is easy, and if a person is under stress or furious, easy is what happens. In among this, we do have time for another part of the secondary romance in the series, but even that is dramatic and bittersweet.

We open the book with a group of young girls preparing to go on a journey. They’re all part of a group, and we find that some of that group aren’t joining them. We then discover that this group are girls who were experimented on by Republic scientists and turned into living human bombs, who will go off at certain times. As this comes to light, along with the fact that it was Republic scientists who were responsible, rumors start flying. The “human bomb” thing is contagious. Everyone from the Republic is a secret enemy. Everyone who is foreign in any way is a secret enemy. And, of course, the Eighty-Six are secret enemies. As this goes on, the military falls apart, as all the soldiers turn on each other. Now Shin and company have to try to at least make sure there’s a base for them to come back to, as well as try to stop the Legion, who are helping all this along. And they have to do it without Lena and Annette, who have been “detained”.

In the middle of this nightmare is the story of Anju and Dustin. Dustin, as it turns out, is the childhood friend of the girl who is the “head” of these human bombs, and was unaware what happened to her until it’s revealed. The obvious narrative choice would be for him to desert, making a dangerous trek over the battlefield and reunite with her right before she does so they can have a tearful reunion. But not only would that go against literally everything that the Eighty-Six series has ever done, it also would not be fair to Anju, who has finally managed to acknowledge moving on from her first love and finding a new one with Dustin, and now there’s all this. I did wonder if Dustin was going to die, and spark the final chaos. It doesn’t work out that way, but an Eighty-Six *does* die, and that leads to the cliffhanger, and to the final arc, where everything has to be fought for all over again right from the beginning.

Yyyyyyyeah. Really well-written. Great philosophical points. Feels very relevant to today’s world. But also: A BUMMER.

My First Love’s Kiss, Vol. 2

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By Hitoma Iruma and Fly. Released in Japan as “Watashi no Hatsukoi Aite ga Kiss Shiteta” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kiki Piatkowska.

So there’s a huge cliffhanger plot twist at the end of the book, and I’m gonna have to discuss it, so let’s put it after the picture and plot summary. In the meantime, let’s talk about the only reason I really am keeping up with this series: how does it tie into Adachi and Shimamura? Last time it was hinted that Chiki was somehow connected to Hino’s extended family, and a prologue in this volume continues to hint that’s the case. This volume, desperate to find out more about the woman that she’s become so besotted with that it’s become obsession, Umi does detective work and manages to infiltrate Hino’s vast estate, and gets the information she needs, mostly thanks to the timely arrival of Nagafuji. I joked that I would scream if this series ended up getting Nagafuji involved in its tawdriness, and the good news is that she and Chiki never meet. Indeed, Umi sees Hino and Nagafuji’s friendship and envies it. The bad news is the rest of the book.

We open, after a prologue showing a young girl deliberately injuring herself and blaming a family member, with Takasora confronting Umi and Chiki. Chiki, highly amused by all this drama, admits they’re going to a hotel, and then invites Takasora along, to have a “girls’ sleepover”. To Umi’s horror, Takasora accepts, and they all spend the night in a swank hotel room, though sex does not happen, or at least not while Takasora is awake. The next day, while Umi is asleep, Takasora (who has confessed her love, and been rejected, as expected) has a long chat with Chiki, who reveals her real name is Shiho Chitaira (which Takasora doesn’t really believe), and not to tell Umi. A couple days later, Chitaira takes Umi out on a date, shopping and buying her a seemingly expensive ring. What Umi doesn’t know is Chitaira is also taking Takasora out on reluctant outings, playing on her jealousy and self-loathing and preying on her just as she’s preyed on Umi.

So the artist on this is Fly, and it has to be said, the characters in the series do tend to look alike, particularly Umi and Chitaira. I wonder if Iruma saw the art and decided on the plot twist at the end of this volume, and said “hey, since they already look like sisters…” So yes, this volume’s cliffhanger ending was a twist and a half. I had assumed that the book would end with Umi’s rage at Takasora for getting caught up in Chitaira’s scheming, and there is a bit of that. That’s the normal “toxic yuri hell” part of this book. Then Umi’s mother shows up, greeting Chitaira warmly, and wonders why she never said she’d introduced herself to Umi. And then says “Umi, this is Shiho, your older sister.” Honestly, if that came from Chitaira I wouldn’t have believed it, thinking it would be another weird scheme to create more drama. But it’s coming from Umi’s mother, who we’ve seen throughout the series has all the scheming ability of a cream puff, so I have to assume it’s the case. I didn’t think anything could make things worse, and I was oh so naive.

If this were a longer series, I would nope out. But it ends in the next book. I had idly wondered, midway through this volume, if the final twist would be Umi managing to actually get Chitaira to genuinely stay with her, but obviously the end of this book has blown that out of the water. I now wonder if the series will end with everyone alive.

Oh, for the curious, Hino, when she shows up, talks about meeting a kid in a spacesuit while fishing, if you’re trying to figure out where this is in the Adachi and Shimamura timeline.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 6

by

By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn.

I feel badly for Alya at times. This is, theoretically, her series. She’s the character on the cover art, she’s obviously going to be the winning girl, and she’s cute. But the overall plot of her arc is “I need to open up to others and not just rely on myself, and also I need to admit I’m in love with Masachika.” As arcs go, it’s simple. It’s not something that can carry a series. That’s Masachika and Yuki’s arc. Yuki’s not going to be the winning girl, for obvious reasons, but the screwed-up family she and Masachika are both in is what we’re going to be seeing more and more of. We get a bit of it here, and see that everyone is still carrying Expections, with a capital E, and that failing to meet them is worse than actually murdering someone. This has a lot of fluff in it, but the back half sets up darker things going forward.

The first half of this is pure fluff and fanservice, as we continue to have the school festival arc. We now see Alya dressed up as an elf, which frankly is perfect for her, and the sight blows everyone’s mind. Meanwhile, Masha is running a magician’s bar, and has some brilliant tricks… that she can’t perform in front of her sister because she’s always forced to be the goofy one in her presence. We get Ayano’s incredibly intimidating MAID SKILLS, which threaten to overwhelm Masachika when she maids a bit too hard at him. And, of course, the band get ready to perform. Unfortunately, it turns out that some mysterious person forged invitations to the festival, and there are now various pranksters, thugs, and bad guys there, who have been ordered to destroy it. Can the student council find out who’s responsible and save the day?

It’s really brought home here how this is a school for elites. Yuki, in an amusing takedown of one of the ringleaders, points out that his romantic angst would make a very poor subplot in a villainess book, and that’s kind of what we have here – not the villainess herself (though Yuki’s trying her best), but the “nobles rule the world” worldview. The elite families of many of the students are at the event – including Masachika and Yuki’s family – and they observe the chaos that’s been created with an amused eye, knowing that it will all come down to who controls the narrative and who can win the day. No great prizes for guessing who’s the man behind it all, but I did appreciate the ending, which does not revolve around Alya’s band performance (again, she’s not narratively important), but around Masachika’s, and his tendency once again to a) be miles ahead of everyone around him, and b) hate himself so much I worry he’ll end the series with a suicide attempt. Though I doubt it gets THAT dark.

The next book looks to be the athletics festival, and will no doubt once again be half otaku nerdery and half GRIPPING DRAMA.