Features

Manga Giveaway: Paradise Residence Giveaway

May 25, 2016 by Ash Brown

The end of May is almost here. I’m very aware of this fact since my family’s goal is to be completely moved in, or at least living in, the new house by the end of the month. So this last week of May is crunch time and I’m rather preoccupied, but there’s no way that I could forget this month’s manga giveaway! This time you’ll all have a chance to win Paradise Residence, Volume 1 by Kosuke Fujishima as published in English by Kodansha Comics, which means that the manga also includes Volume 0 as bonus material. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

As mentioned above, I’m currently in the process of moving. There’s been so much cleaning, painting, packing, unpacking, yard work, general maintenance, repairs and such going on that I’ve been keeping very busy. It’s also making me a little nostalgic for the days when I lived in dorms and cooperatives where most of that work wasn’t my responsibility (except for that one year I served as the maintenance manager for a 30-person household). Boarding schools and dormitories aren’t terribly uncommon when it comes to manga and in some series they even end up as one of the primary settings. With that many people living together in one place, there is plenty of opportunity for all sorts of antics and other drama to ensue. In addition to Paradise Residence, Yukie Nasu’s Here Is Greenwood immediately comes to mind as another example, as does the communal apartment in Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish even though it’s not associated with a school.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Paradise Residence, Volume 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about one of your favorite manga that takes place in a dorm or other communal living arrangement. (If you don’t have a favorite, or haven’t read any, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

Pretty easy, right? Participants have one week to submit comments and can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. Comments can also be sent to me at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com if needed or if preferred. I will then post the entries in the comments here in your name. The winner of the giveaway will be randomly selected and announced on June 1, 2016. Good luck! (And now back to moving!)

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Paradise Residence Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: May 16-May 22, 2016

May 23, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I ended up posting it a little later than I really intended, but my random musings on TCAF 2016 are now available to read. Although I didn’t make it to as many panels this year, I still had a great time and really enjoyed myself. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the audio yet, but I was also happy to discover that some of the panels that I missed The Sparkling World of Shojo Manga. In licensing news, Yen Press has picked up both the light novels and the manga for Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody and Konosuba. Princess Jellyfish has been doing well enough for Kodansha Comics that the publisher is considering releasing more josei and seinen. In the meantime, expect to see more additions to the Attack on Titan franchise in English from Kodansha as well as Shuzo Oshimi’s manga Happiness. Also, Vertical Comics will be releasing Chihiro Ishizuka’s manga series Flying Witch.

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall, Volume 7 written by Ryo Suzukaze and illustrated by Satoshi Shiki. I missed reading a few volumes of the Before the Fall manga, but I have read the original novel that it was based on so I didn’t expect that I would have much trouble picking the series up again. However, I think that the manga might actually be expanding on some of the material of the original, because I don’t recall things playing out exactly in the same way as they are in the manga. Or it could just be that it’s been so long since I’ve read the novel that I’ve managed to forget major plot points. Either way, I do like the way that Before the Fall expands the worldbuilding of Attack on Titan and how the prequel emphasizes some of the scientific and technological advances that are needed to make the main series work. Basically, the main character, in addition to having the requisite tragic backstory, is a test pilot (if that’s the right word) for what will eventually become the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. A significant portion of the seventh volume of the Before the Fall manga is actually devoted to a field test which, like most encounters with the Titans, ist fraught with danger, disaster, and potential death.

Dicebox, Volume 1: Wander by Jenn Manley Lee. I discovered Lee’s ongoing comic Dicebox a couple of years ago while reading Comics: A Global History, 1968 to the Present where it was briefly mentioned. It piqued my interest so I thought I would give Wander, the first book out of four planned volumes (the second book is currently being serialized online), a try. I suspected that Dicebox would probably be a comic I would enjoy, but I didn’t expect that I would become so invested in the characters by the end of the first volume. Wander is almost completely driven by the characters and their relationships—the dramatic story boiling under the surface doesn’t become obvious until the final few chapters. Dicebox follows the lives of Molly and Griffin, two itinerant blue-collar workers moving from one job to the next, from one planet to the next. Molly tends to be fairly well liked, but Griffin, well she tends to piss people off, sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. Eventually it’s revealed that one of the reasons that Molly puts up with Griffin is that they are married. Dicebox is incredibly well-realized near-future science fiction. It’s also undeniably queer, and quite possibly has the widest representation of the variance of human gender and sexuality that I’ve ever come across in a single work of fiction, comic or otherwise. I’m loving Dicebox and definitely plan on reading more of the series.

Ninja Slayer Kills!, Volume 2 by Koutarou Sekine. I can’t say that I was overly impressed by the first volume of Ninja Slayer Kills and I really wasn’t planning on following the series, but I ended up with a review copy of the second volume, so I figured I might as well give it a try. I am admittedly surprised, but I enjoyed the second volume much more than the first. Almost the entirety of the second volume is devoted to a flashback, which is easy to miss unless close attention is paid to the manga’s prefatory material. Some of my complaints about the manga remain the same—for a series that is so focused on fight scenes and mayhem, the action can be frustratingly difficult to follow—but other aspects have improved. For one, there is absolutely no mistaking at least one of the character designs. Agony visually looks something like a highly-sexualized version of Pinhead from Hellraiser, complete with an enormous crotch-bulge sprouting numerous needles. The design is more disturbing than sexy, but it is memorable. Ninja Slayer Kills is all about being as over-the-top as possible, often reading like an in-your-face parody. It’s deliberately absurd and ridiculously violent, intentionally making heavy use of cyberpunk ninja tropes taken to their extremes.

Random Musings: Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2016

May 20, 2016 by Ash Brown

©Kazu Kibuishi

As of 2016, I have now attended the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) for four years running. TCAF is still the only large comics event that I make a point to attended, although I guess technically I went to an anime/manga/cosplay convention earlier this year since I and the rest of the taiko group I’m a part of were featured guest performers. Anyway, I digress. TCAF is an amazing event and I’m able to enjoy a fair amount of it even though my anxiety (social and otherwise) sometimes prevents me from doing everything that I’d really like to. Each year I attend seems to be a little easier for me, though it’s still certainly not easy. But, I do think TCAF is totally worth trying to push through my issues when I can, which probably says a fair amount about the event itself.

Like last year, TCAF 2016 turned into a family trip, which made me happy. The four of us arrived in Toronto late Thursday afternoon, settled into where we were staying, stretched our legs in a nearby park (which was much needed after spending hours cooped up in the car), and eventually found something to eat for dinner before turning in for the night. Originally, I was hoping and planning to go to the opening of Shintaro Kago’s solo exhibition at Narwhal, but for a variety of reasons I ended up deciding to chill with the family all night instead. Which was also good, since for all intents and purposes TCAF ends up being a vacation of sorts for us all.

Friday, too, was more of a family day, although I did meet up with Jocelyne Allen (who translates Japanese novels and manga, and who is one of the interpreters for TCAF) for coffee in the morning. We chatted about taiko, translation, TCAF, Toronto, Tokyo and all sorts of other things, which was highly enjoyable. It was nice being able to find some time to talk with her in person since we primarily only know each other online and she’s understandably very busy during TCAF. Most of the rest of the day was spent exploring Toronto with the family, including the Royal Ontario Museum which had a really interesting exhibit—A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Prints—about gender and sexuality in Edo-era Japan. Finally, that evening I made my way to the tail end of Sparkler Monthly‘s annual TCAF mixer. It was a fairly small group when I got there, but a good time was had by all, myself included.

Saturday marks the beginning of TCAF proper, although there are plenty of related events that occur both before and after TCAF weekend. As was the case for the previous couple of years, I started off the 2016 festival in the in the exhibitors’ area before most of the main programming began. I ended up spending my entire comics budget for the weekend before the first day was over, but I was pretty happy with my haul which included some pre-orders, a couple of Kickstarter pickups, a few things I knew beforehand that I wanted to buy, as well as several unplanned, spur-of-the-moment purchases.

©Kate Beaton

This year I actually spent even more time on the exhibit floors buying comics, collecting sketches and signatures, and talking to creators than I have in the past. (A few highlights: I was particularly excited to meet Saicoink, whose comic Open Spaces and Closed Places I love, made a point to tell Kori Michele Handwerker how much Portals meant to me, and discovered some wonderful new-to-me creator’s like GQutie‘s Ronnie Ritchie.) That, combined with prioritizing the family more and considering the need for flexible schedules when dealing with a not-quite-two-year old, meant that I didn’t make it to as many panels this year. In some ways, TCAF 2016 for me felt more like TCAF-lite, but I still greatly enjoyed the festival and was thoroughly satisfied by all of the events, panels, and interviews that I was able to attend.

On Saturday, I ended up making it to four panels. The first was the Spotlight on Shintaro Kago, one of TCAF’s featured guests for 2016, who was interviewed by Youth in Decline’s Ryan Sands. Kago is particularly well-known for his horrific, erotic, and grotesque manga and illustrations. Many of Kago’s works are released ero-manga magazines. As he pointed out, his manga isn’t the type of work that would be published in Jump; there is a limited number of magazines (generally erotic or alternative) that would even consider releasing his work. But by submitting to ero-magazines, Kago is allowed a tremendous amount of editorial freedom. As long as the minimum erotic requirements are met, he is able to do almost anything that he wants to with his manga, including highly experimental techniques. An example of this is a work known in English as “Abstraction” which gained a fair amount of international attention when it was translated by a fan and posted online. When asked about his feelings regarding fan translations, Kago responded that in his case he was satisfied with his work becoming more readily available to a worldwide audience since the benefits he received from the original release (page rates, etc.) didn’t amount to much anyway. Another of Kago’s short manga, “Punctures,” was officially translated in English in the anthology Secret Comics Japan. Anecdotally, it was one of the few works by Kago that the editors felt would be safe enough to include and sell. At the beginning of his creative career, Kago actually wanted to be involved in making films. However, he realized that movies are very difficult to make alone, and since he didn’t have any friends to make movies with, he turned to manga as a way to express himself so that he wouldn’t need to rely on others.

After spending a bit more time wandering the exhibitor areas, I then made my way to the panel “Depictions of Sex in Comics” which was moderated by Rebecca Sullivan, a scholar specializing in sex and media as well as gender and cultural studies. The panel featured a variety of comics publishers and creators: Zan Christensen, Chip Zdarsky, Erika Moen, Cory Silverberg, C. Spike Trotman, and Shintaro Kago. Each of the panelists has their own approach to sex in regards to how it is related to and portrayed in their work, whether their focus is on sex education, erotica, some combination of the two, or something else entirely. One cultural difference that emerged during the conversation was that while erotic comics are currently seeing a resurgence in North America (Oni Press recently announced a new imprint devoted to sex positive comics, and there have been numerous, highly-successful crowd-funded projects for feminist and queer erotic comics in the last few years), the market for erotic manga in Japan has always been very strong. A very specific set of constraints exist in Japan in regards to the depiction of sex in media, what can and cannot be shown and so on, but the country probably has the most well-established and easily navigable erotic comics scene in the world. Many Japanese creators (including Kago himself) got their start working in erotic media before moving on to other and more mainstream projects. Interestingly, Kago also mentioned that BL isn’t necessarily always recognized as being “erotic” (possibly because its target demographic is women) and so in some ways the genre can actually get away with more than hentai aimed at heterosexual men which, in his experience, seems to come under public scrutiny and fire more quickly and more often.

Manko-chan… in 3D!

The third panel I attended on Saturday was Rokudenashiko’s Spotlight which was absolutely delightful. After a brief introduction by Rebecca Sullivan, Rokudenashiko began by telling her story of how she came to be a vagina artist and activist and how she was subsequently arrested multiple times. Accompanying Rokudenashiko’s talk was a slide show of some of her artwork, and she brought along some of her small sculptures to show as well, including a remote-controlled “Gundaman.” Much of what she talked about I was already familiar with having read her manga What Is Obscenity? (which I highly recommend), but it was wonderful to see and hear her in person. Just like her work, Rokudenashiko is incredibly charming, cheerful, and funny. The humor and cuteness that Rokudenashiko brings to her manga, illustrations, and sculptures is very deliberate on her part. She noted that many feminist creators dealing with similar subject matter frequently use their art to express their anger and sadness which makes for very heavy work. So instead, Rokudenashiko wanted to do something that was more lighthearted and amusing. It was only after she realized that some people couldn’t laugh and have fun with it that she became more aggressive in her activism efforts, but without ever losing her sense of humor and positivity in her artwork. However, some critics and academics don’t appreciate this, feeling that she’s making too light of a serious subject. Rokudenashiko was very pleased with her reception in North America, saying that the long lines of people waiting to meet her would never happen in Japan where most people are generally too embarrassed to engage so publicly even if they recognize her and are interested in and support what she is doing.

Last year at TCAF I attended a panel on manga translation which was fascinating, so when I saw the “Translation” panel listed as part of the programming for 2016 I was immediately interested. This year the panel was moderated by Deb Aoki and featured three panelists: Jocelyne Allen, who translates from Japanese to English, Samuel Leblanc, a Canadian creator primarily working in French whose debut comic Perfume of Lilacs was released in English, and the French creator Boulet who (after a disastrous attempt to work with fans) currently translates his own comics into English. Leblanc was able to work directly with his translator and was able to provide feedback on the translation being done whereas Allen very rarely had the opportunity to be in contact with the creators of the works that she was translating. Although each of the panelists brought their own perspective to the conversation, they all agreed that capturing the appropriate tone and style is one of the most difficult things about translation. That and the fact that it’s nearly impossible to make everyone happy with a translation since so many people are invested in it each for their own reasons, whether it be the original creators, the translators, the publishers, or the readers. Lately however, the trend in comics translation seems to err on the side of the artists’ original choices and intent rather than focusing on localization. There are also different types of translation work which require different sets of skills—translating comics isn’t the same as translating prose literature which isn’t the same as translating technical manuals and so on. One thing that can be particularly challenging for comics translation is that the amount of space allowed for text is often limited. The visual element of the comics can have a great impact on the interpretation of a scene and the resulting word choices as well.

It’s not everything, but it is most of this year’s TCAF haul

On Sunday I was only able to make it to two panels before heading back home. One of the reasons that I enjoy TCAF so much is that it is an incredibly queer-friendly and queer-positive event, both in the exhibitor areas and in its programming. I was especially looking forward to “Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy,” a panel moderated by Melanie Gillman and featuring Megan Rose Gedris, Jeremy Sorese, Dylan Edwards, Andrew Wheeler, Taneka Stotts, and Gisele Jobateh, all of whom are queer creators of queer comics. Historically, queerness in speculative fiction has been relegated to subtext, but more and more that queerness is becoming increasingly obvious and in some cases is even the focus of a work. Speculative fiction allows for the creation and exploration of worlds that reflect upon current societal issues while showing what other possibilities could exist. Several of the panelists mentioned that when they were growing up speculative fiction provided some of the only representation of queerness that they saw in media, such as alternative relationship and social structures or a wider variety of genders and sexualities. Frequently, it was the non-human characters that they were most easily able to identify with and the inherent queerness of speculative fiction helped them to understand and discover their own identities. (All of this rings very true for me, too.) Webcomics and self-publishing efforts have been huge in changing the landscape of the comics market to the point where more mainstream publishers, which are slow to evolve and risk-averse, are now reaching a tipping point where queer content isn’t being automatically rejected. Deliberately, intentionally, and unquestionably queer speculative fiction is an evolving genre. Whether they mean to or not, independent creators are currently defining the expectations, tone, language, and tropes that are being set for queer representation in comics and what queer speculative fiction looks like.

The final panel I attended on Sunday was “Discussing Diversity (More or Less)” which was moderated by David Brothers. The panelists included Karla Pacheco, Cathy G. Johnson, Gene Luen Yang, Anne Ishii (one of the marvelous people behind Massive Goods), Ant Sang, and Bill Campbell. Diversity is a huge buzzword right now and not just in comics and other media. (Even my workplace is trying to focus on issues surrounding diversity, so it’s something I’m thinking about a lot these days.) In many of the conversations taking place in North America, diversity is often broadly defined as being non-straight/white/male which, in reality, is actually most of the world. The panel’s incredibly refreshing approach to discussing diversity was simply to talk about it as if was normal, because it is, rather than treating it as an exception or something unusual. As the panelists spoke about their own personal experiences and work, several common themes emerged, probably the most important being that there absolutely is a market, and a need, for diverse media. Though it can be a deliberate initiative, diversity in comics is a natural and often unintentional extension of creators’ own lives, interests, identities, and perspectives. There is also a distinct difference between providing more diverse representation in mainstream media and allowing a more diverse pool of creators to participate and express themselves within that context. While it might be a starting place, non-straight/white/male characters being written by straight/white/male creators sets an extremely low bar in terms of diversity. New voices and perspectives are just as critical if not more so in order to ensure that the comics market remains healthy as it continues to grow and evolve.

Sadly, because the kidling was getting cranky, I had to leave the festival before the food in comics panel which I was really hoping to attend. I was sad to miss most of the “What Women Want” panel’s third year, too. But I have come to realize that even if I wasn’t leaving “early,” it is impossible to see and experience everything that TCAF has to offer and choices must be made. Actually, this is something that I’ve known since the very beginning. There are always going to be panels I miss or that conflict with one another, and after the fact I’m always going to end up discovering comics that I would have been interested in and creators that I wish I had known about. But even so, that doesn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the event and I am tremendously happy with what I was able to attend this year. TCAF is such a truly wonderful festival. As always, I’m already looking forward to and planning for my trip to Toronto for the event next year.

Manga the Week of 5/25

May 19, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: Does it say something that having only 25 titles out the week of a Yen Press release dump is rather mild now? I keep thinking “it could be worse!”. I think it’s the new normal.

There are other publishers, of course. Kodansha Comics gives us a 2nd volume of Real Account, a title with good buzz despite being a survival game series.

ASH: I was surprised; it has the potential to become really interesting.

SEAN: There’s also an 8th Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle omnibus, and I believe this is about the time when I started to actively mock the series.

MJ: Poor Tsubasa. So much abuse.

SEAN: Vertical has a new series debuting again, this one called Devils’ Line. It is also a dark fantasy series, just like last week’s To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts, and features vampires. It runs in Kodansha’s Morning Two.

ASH: Not particularly interested in vampires, but I do tend to like dark fantasy.

SEAN: OK, that’s it for other publishers. On to Yen Press, starting with its novel line. Another was a under-the-radar horror novel that was released a while back digitally, and did well enough to get a hardcover release later on. Now it’s done well enough to get a sequel licensed, Another Episode S/0.

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading this! The volume includes the manga as well as the novel, too.

SEAN: Baccano! is easily one of my most awaited novel releases in the history of ever, and it’s finally here. From the creator of Durarara!!, this actually came first, and shows us the story of a group of Mafia (cough) sorry, Camorra gangs in 1930s New York City and their run in with a mysterious elixir. Read this. It’s in hardcover and digital.

The other big novel (also in hardcover and digital) this month is Overlord, whose description sounds like it’s another SAO/Log Horizon knockoff, but I’ve been assured that that’s not actually true, and that this is a fantasy series that goes to a lot of interesting places as it examines what it’s like to be a monstrous creation in an RPG. Looking forward to seeing what the fuss is here.

MJ: Well, hm.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s a 3rd Strike the Blood, a title that has underperformed for me previously, but maybe the third time is the charm.

Yen Digital seems to be the week after this, so let’s dig right into Yen proper, starting with a third volume of Aldnoah Zero Season One, which is still not Gundam.

Anne Happy: Unhappy Go Lucky! is a new debut that falls somewhere between shonen and seinen, as it runs in Manga Time Kirara Forward, also home of Aldnoah Zero and School-Live!. It’s about a high school class made up of those with natural bad luck, and their struggles to overcome it.

Black Butler has a 22nd volume, and the butler is still buttling onward, while also, yes, being a hot and sexy demon.

Corpse Party: Blood Covered is the first in a series of omnibuses (2 volumes per book) based on a game that came out in 2008. A group of kids find themselves in an alternate dimension that is haunted by the ghosts of some murdered schoolchildren. If you liked Higurashi’s mystery and gore, you should like this.

There’s a second Dimension W.

And a third Dragons Rioting. I need a title I care about stat.

Ah, here we go! Inu x Boku SS wraps up with its 11th volume, and I hear it’s a good ending despite the unfortunate death of its creator right around when it was written. I have enjoyed this series far more than I expected, and am sad to see it go.

Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? has a 5th manga volume, and I suspect will start coming out slower, as we’ve caught up to Japan.

There’s a third Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, hooray! The cover features Kashima and Hori, who may be the series’ most popular fan pairing.

ASH: This series is so great. I love it.

MICHELLE: Yay, I’m looking forward to this!

MJ: I obviously need to start reading this, looking at my colleagues’ comments.

ANNA: I’m also very much looking forward to this.

SEAN: Its novel may have gotten delayed to September, but the manga is still here, as we get the debut of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected (just call it OreGairu, everyone else does). The story may sound familiar – a pair of misfits end up in the school Service Club trying to help others despite horrible personalities. It does, however, have one very important quality – there are no fantasy elements to it.

Another Madoka spinoff bites the dust, with the final volume of Puella Magi Suzune Magica.

School-Live! gets a third volume of heartwarming friendship and terrifying zombies.

Strike the Blood gets a third manga volume. Don’t confuse it with the third Strike the Blood light novel, out the same day. Yes, we’re still doing that.

Trinity Seven has hit volume 5, and I believe will be getting that Blake’s Seven crossover any minute now.

We also get the 6th Ubel Blatt omnibus, Ubel Blatt Vol. 5. Yes, we’re still doing that as well.

Umineko: When They Cry begins a new arc, despite Beatrice being, y’know, dead. But that hardly stops anyone in this series. Dawn of the Golden Witch is here! We’ll meet more weird “furniture”, and see how murders happen when it’s Battler that’s writing it. Oh yes, and Erika is there too. The artist also did the Higurashi: Massacre Arc manga.

I believe the 12th Until Death Do Us Part omnibus catches us up with Japan, so it’s a perfect time to go read the 2500 or so pages you may have missed.

Lastly, yay! A lucky Volume 13 of Yotsuba&!, the first new volume since 2013! (It was on hiatus in Japan as well.) Are you ready to see Koiwai’s mother? Yotsuba sure is!

ASH: I am so far behind in reading Yotsuba&!, but it is an absolutely delightful manga.

MICHELLE: Yay!!!!

MJ: Finally! I feel like Yen has largely moved towards series that are just not going to be my cup of tea, but this is a reminder that it hasn’t always been so!

SEAN: Aside from Baccano!… yes, OK, and Yotsuba&!… what are you getting this week?

My Week in Manga: May 9-May 15, 2016

May 16, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Despite being in Toronto for the majority of last week for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (which I should hopefully have a write-up about soon), I still managed to post a few things here at Experiments in Manga. For those interested in what sorts of manga and other books make their way onto my shelves, April’s Bookshelf Overload is now available. The feature used to be posted fairly early on in the month, but at least for the time being it’s more likely to appear sometime in the second week as I’m following a more relaxed posting schedule. Last week I also reviewed Philip K. Dick’s award-winning novel The Man in the High Castle which explores an alternate history in which Germany and Japan won the Second World War and occupy most of what was the United States. It’s a fascinating, thought-provoking, chilling, and frankly terrifying work.

A few interesting things that I came across online last week while I wasn’t wandering around Toronto: The lead lawyer of Rokudenashiko’s legal team wrote a nice summary and explanation of the recent verdict in her obscenity trial, including the next steps that will be taken in the case. (I reviewed Rokudenashiko’s What Is Obscenity? a couple of weeks ago; the manga is excellent, and I was thrilled to have the chance to meet Rokudenashiko at TCAF.) Over at Publishers Weekly, Brigid Alverson writes about Hachette and Kadokawa’s recently announced partnership and what it means for Yen Press. Finally, Leah Zoller and Kathryn Hemmann have started to post a series of articles at The Lobster Dance based on their panel The Sparkling World of 1970s Shojo Manga, which should be fantastic.

Quick Takes

Noragami: Stray Stories, Volume 1 by Adachitoka. Even though I have fallen behind in reading the main series, I have been enjoying Adachitoka’s Noragami. I’m apparently not the only one as the manga has been doing quite well for Kodansha, enough so that the publisher also licensed Stray Stories, a multi-volume series of Noragami side stories. For the most part, the short manga of Stray Stories don’t appear to rely on the main Noragami storyline although it is assumed that readers are at least already vaguely familiar with the manga’s characters and basic premise. So far, Stray Stories reminds me a bit of Noragami‘s earlier, more episodic nature before the series’ overarching plot began to take precedence. The short manga collected in Stray Stories also tend to be more comedic than serious, which I greatly enjoyed. The first volume was a lot of fun, and I’m glad that there will be more side stories to come. Stray Stories allows Adachitoka to expand on the world and characters of Noragami in ways that wouldn’t make sense in the main series but that are still enjoyable in their own right.

Real Account, Volume 1 written by Okushou and illustrated by Shizumu Watanabe. I’ll admit, I actually wasn’t expecting all that much from Real Account, so I was a little surprised by how much liked the first volume of the series even if there were a few things that didn’t quite work and even if there was at least one minor plot hole. Quite a few manga seem to have come out over the last few years with a similar basic premise in which a group of people find themselves trapped in an online environment where they must survive. If they die onlie, they will die real world as well. In the case of Real Account, that online environment is greatly influenced by social media and the users’ survival depends on them having at least one follower. The titular “Real Account” is something closely akin to Twitter with a few additional elements, like games, mixed in. Some of the deadly games those who are being held hostage are forced to play are actually quite clever and highly psychological, relying on the unpredictable nature of human relationships when self-preservation is on the line. At this point in the series it’s still unclear who is behind it all and what their motivations are, but there is definite and not particularly subtle social commentary being made.

Sense & Sexuality by You Higashino. Originally released in English in print as part of Media Blaster’s Kitty Media line, Sense & Sexuality is now available digitally from Sublime Manga. I haven’t come across very many manga that take place during Japan’s Taishō Era, but it’s a really interesting time period in the country’s history and one of the reasons Higashino’s boys’ love one-shot Sense & Sexuality was first brought to my attention. The manga follows the sexual conquests of Hanamura and Takakura, two close friends from noble families whose lives are filled with decadence, leisure, and hedonism. They have turned their romances into a game, betting on who will be the first to bed the various attractive young men they have identified as their targets. Eventually though, their sights are set upon each other. For the most part, Sense & Sexuality is fairly episodic. There’s just enough story to hold it all together, but what little plot there is simply provides the excuses needed for the manga’s plentiful and explicit sex. High literature it is not, nor does it need to be. I really liked Sense and Sexuality‘s setting, the characters have a bit more depth to them than it initially seems, and the manga can be surprisingly humorous even though I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a comedy.

Manga the Week of 5/18

May 11, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Third weeks of the month tend to be grab bag weeks, and this is no exception, but as with most grab bags, there’s always something in there that’s of interest.

For those who were eagerly awaiting the new volume of Blood C, I got nothing. But we do have a spinoff from that series, titled Demonic Moonlight, coming from Dark Horse.

ASH: Huh, I think I missed this particular license being announced. Granted, I’ve not read Blood C, either.

SEAN: Cage of Eden has slowed down its release schedule, but it’s still going, and has reached its 20th volume from Kodansha.

And Devil Survivor is more than halfway over with its 5th volume.

Kodansha also has a 2nd volume of haremnesia series Forget Me Not.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: And a 14th Noragami, which I believe still has one or two fans.

ASH: It does and I’ve been enjoying it, too, though I’m terribly behind.

SEAN: One Peace has the 3rd volume of the manga adaptation of Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has a trio of releases. Devils and Realist is up to Volume 9, and still features very handsome demons.

ASH: Yet another series I’ve fallen behind on, but the artwork and demons are very pretty.

SEAN: If you love Monster Musume, you’ll be delighted at the new spinoff, I Heart Monster Girls.

And there’s a 2nd volume of dark Pokehorror series Tomodachi x Monster.

A late entry that came out this week. Blame Amazon not actually classifying it as manga. Top Shelf has a collection of stories by Masahiko Matsumoto, famous gekiga and alternative manga artist. It’s called Cigarette Girl and looks absolutely fantastic. A must for fans of manga history.

MJ: Oh! Yes! Something I actually care about! Glad to see this on the list!

ASH: It’s literally been years since this manga was first announced; I’m thrilled it’s finally coming out!

Vertical debuts To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts, another in what is proving to be a lucrative line of ‘dark fantasy’ series.

ASH: Dark fantasy? I am intrigued.

SEAN: And Terra Formars from Viz has now hit a dozen volumes.

Lastly, we see a 4th Ultraman. A reminder that it’s a sequel to the beloved original TV show.

Are you grabbing something from this grab bag of manga?

My Week in Manga: May 2-May 8, 2016

May 9, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I announced the winner of the superhero duo manga giveaway. As usual, the post also includes a list of manga, in this particular case a list of manga featuring superheros of one ilk or another. Last week I also posted my review of Rokudenashiko’s comic memoir What Is Obscenity?: The Story of a Good for Nothing Artist in Her Pussy which is a wonderfully engaging and important work. Rokudenashiko is one of the featured guests at the Toronto Comic Arts festival which is this upcoming weekend; I greatly admire her and her work, so I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to meet her in person.

Elsewhere online: Rokudenashiko was recently interviewed in preparation for her trip to Toronto. Massive Goods hints at an upcoming announcement regarding an English-language release of Gengoroh Tagame’s award-winning My Brother’s Husband, which I am super-excited about. And Ryan Holmberg wrote a about Katsumata Susumu’s Anti-Nuclear Manga for the Sainsbury Institute and, at the other end of the spectrum, about the Nuclear Literati: Nakashima Kiyoshi’s Furusato Goes to Hell for The Comics Journal.

Quick Takes

I Am a Hero, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Kengo Hanazawa. By this point I’m fairly burned-out when it comes to zombies, but I had heard so many good things about the award-winning I Am a Hero that I had to give it a try. And, I must admit, the manga is one of the most interesting and best examples of the genre that I’ve come across in quite some time. For me what makes I Am a Hero stand out is the lead character, Hideo. After making his debut as a professional mangaka, he’s back to being an assistant when his career failed to take off. He has the tendency to talk to himself, hear voices, and hallucinate, so everything that he experiences has to be questioned. The zombie apocalypse doesn’t really come until the second half of the first I Am a Hero omnibus. Until that happens, most of the hints and clues of the impending disaster can be easily dismissed as part of Hideo’s delusions. When the apocalypse finally does happen the series suddenly becomes horrifyingly brutal and grotesque as the world descends into chaos. Hideo remains surprisingly calm in the face of it all, partially because he initially assumes that the end of the world is just another one of his hallucinations. By the end of the first omnibus there’s already an extraordinarily high body count (most the named characters are done for and even Hideo isn’t completely unscathed), so I am very curious to see where the series goes from here.

Maga-Tsuki, Volume 1 by Hoshino Taguchi. Apparently the initial inspiration behind Maga-Tsuki was originally going to be worked into a shōnen battle manga, but in the end it turned into a harem-ish romantic comedy. Personally, in this case I probably would have been more interested in the action-oriented series, but Maga-Tsuki does offer some variations on the usual tropes that are amusing. It is, however, very trope-heavy and contains the expected levels of fanservice for this type of story. When he accidentally breaks the sacred mirror protected by his family’s shrine, Yasuke finds himself cursed by the goddess sealed within it. In order to lift the curse he must make Orihime, a goddess of calamity and misfortune, happy, which proves to be something of a challenge. In the meantime, his soul has been separated from his body and he must maintain constant physical contact with Orihime or else he will die. A kiss from Orihime will conveniently revive him, though. This obviously results in all sorts of complications and misunderstandings, especially when it comes to trying to confess his feelings to the girl that he likes. I like that Maga-Tsuki makes use of Japanese mythology, otherwise I’m not sure that it would have managed to hold my attention. However, I do have a hard time seeing the sweetly cute and seemingly innocent Orihime as an ancient, all-knowing goddess even if her divine powers are suitably impressive.

The Nameless City, Volume 1 by Faith Erin Hicks with colors by Jordie Bellaire. In general I tend to be fond of Hicks’ work, but I’ve been especially anticipating the debut of The Nameless City trilogy having followed its development and progress online. The titular Nameless City is a city that has been conquered and re-conquered countless times. Situated in a geographically advantageous location which allows the ruling kingdom immense control over the area’s economics and trade it makes a sought-after target. The city is currently under the domain of the Dao and has been for a few decades, but it’s likely only a matter of time before there’s another invasion or the residents rise up in revolt. Inspired in part by Chinese history, The Nameless City is about an unlikely friendship that develops over the backdrop of warfare, clashing cultures, and political intrigue. Kaidu is one of the Dao, sent to the Nameless City to participate in military education and training (though he’d much rather be reading than fighting), while Rat is one of the city’s many orphans whose parents were killed by the Dao. As Kaidu gets to know Rat he gets to know the city, and he learns more about his own people in the process, too. As for Rat, she initially hates Kaidu simply because he is Dao, but that slowly changes as she realizes that not all Dao are the same. I’m really enjoying seeing their relationship develop and look forward to the next volume, The Stone Heart, a great deal.

Manga the Week of 5/11

May 5, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 1 Comment

SEAN: Glory be! A small week at last! Write this week down in your diary, folks.

ASH: Astonishing!

MICHELLE: “Glory be” is gonna make me have “The Night Chicago Died” in my head all day! :)

SEAN: We start off with Kodansha’s 14th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins, which is at least seven too many sins. Are they just repeating sins now?

For those going to TCAF, you may be aware that Rokudenashiko will be appearing and discussing her genitalia-related art. A manga-style memoir discussing the whole thing, called What is Obscenity?: The Story of a Good For Nothing Artist and her Pussy, will be out next week from Koyama Press.

ASH: It’s a serious topic and an important manga, but it’s also strikingly funny and charming. Highly recommended.

SEAN: And Jiro Taniguchi fans will be delighted to hear about the hardcover Guardians of the Louvre coming out from NBM Publishing.

ASH: Looking forward to reading this! I enjoy Taniguchi’s work, and it’s a part of the series that brought us Hirohiko Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre as well.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I had no idea about this.

MJ: Oh… yes!

SEAN: SubLime has a 5th volume of Love Stage!!.

Vertical has somehow reached double digits with What Did You Eat Yesterday’s 10th volume. That’s a lot of food.

ASH: And a delectable series.

MICHELLE: Yay! I treasure each new release of this series.

MJ: I’m so excited! I always want more of this series.

SEAN: Ranma 1/2 has a 14th omnibus, as we get to see Hinako fall for Soun Tendo, every Ryouga/Ukyou fan’s favorite story (they won’t enjoy the manga version), and Ryu Kumon, possibly the most sympathetic antagonist in all of Ranma.

And Requiem of the Rose King has a 4th volume, as I begin to wonder how closely we’ll be sticking to Shakespeare’s timeline. Is Henry VI not long for this world?

ASH: I still adore this series. The atmosphere! The drama!

MICHELLE: I’m enjoying this one, too.

MJ: I’m head-over-heels for this series! Figures, the first small week in ages, and it’s the one with the most for me!

ANNA: I agree, this is one of my current favorites!

SEAN: Are you going for the arty manga, or the more traditional fare? Or both?

ASH: I’ll apparently be picking up a copy of almost everything being released this week…

My Week in Manga: April 25-May 1, 2016

May 2, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

April has come to a close and May has begun, but there’s still a little time left to enter April’s manga giveaway for a chance to win a duo of superhero manga: Jiro Kuwata’s Batmanga, Volume 1 and Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s Ultraman, Volume 1. In addition to the manga giveaway, I also snuck in my review of Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare, Volume 9 last week. It’s a particularly dramatic volume in the series with some major twists and reveals. I’m very curious to see how Mizushiro will bring things to a close in the tenth and final volume. The review was part of my monthly horror manga review project, and I just barely got it written and posted before April ended. I’ve been super busy and stressed out lately, which makes writing even more difficult for me than it usually is. There are plenty of great and wonderful things going on right now in my life, but sadly the busyness and stress probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Quick Takes

Fairy Tail: Ice Trail, Volume 1 by Yuusuke Shirato. There have recently been several manga spin-offs of Hiro Mashima’s series Fairy Tail released, but Ice Trail is the first that I’ve read. (For that matter, I’ll have to admit that I’ve not actually read most of Fairy Tail proper.) What primarily interested me in Ice Trail is that it serves as an origin story for Gray Fullbuster, one of Fairy Tail‘s most popular characters (as well as one of my personal favorites). Gray is a badass ice mage with a tragic past and the propensity for walking around without a shirt. Ice Trail shows Gray’s childhood in the brief time between when his home village was destroyed and when he joined the Fairy Tail guild. Despite the cuteness of seeing Gray as a kid, Ice Trail is very reminiscent of Fairy Tail in both style and tone. Apparently the series is only two volumes long, which may partially explain why the manga moves along at a break-neck pace with one action-packed battle after another. Ice Trail can mostly stand on its own, but will likely be most appreciated by readers who are already familiar with Gray and with Fairy Tail as a whole—though not absolutely necessary, that additional context can be helpful.

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Volume 2 by Junko. I do get a kick out of Kiss Him, Not Me! I was a little worried at first since the series’ plot essentially hinges on the heroine’s sudden and drastic weight loss to bring her to the romantic attention of four of the hottest guys at her school. However, the manga quickly moves on from that premise and I don’t think it was even referenced at all in the second volume. Instead, Kiss Him, Not Me! revels in its humor and the comedic situation of a fujoshi finding herself on the opposite side of her usual fantasies. Basically, Serinuma’s life has become an otome game in which numerous young men are vying for her favor. The second volume of Kiss Him, Not Me! primarily focuses on two events: the school festival, during which each of the guys has the opportunity to have a mini-date with Serinuma (with varying degrees of success), and the Winter Comiket, which they all attend together although Serinuma is by far the most enthusiastic about it. One of the things that I particularly appreciate about Kiss Him, Not Me! is that no one asks Serinuma to change who she is at heart—she still gets to be an otaku. The second volume also introduces a new character who greatly intrigues me.

A Silent Voice, Volumes 4-6 by Yoshitoki Oima. One of the manga to debut last year that I found to be particularly notable was Oima’s A Silent Voice and it continues to be a series that greatly impresses me. It’s not necessarily an especially happy read, though. The manga realistically portrays teenage angst compounded by issues of disability and bullying and explores the accompanying relationships which are extraordinarily messy and complicated. Emotional and physical violence takes its toll not only on the people who are being directly targeted, but also on the people who surround them. For better and for worse, the characters are all trying to deal with the repercussions of their past mistakes as best as they can, and even those who come across as antagonistic generally have their own problems they are working through. Just how deep a wound bullying can leave and how it can literally change a person’s life is more fully expressed in these volumes, and frankly it’s devastating. Thankfully, there are still moments of hope and redemption so A Silent Voice, while very serious and at times emotionally wrenching, never seems to become overwhelmingly bleak, but sometimes it does get close.

Manga the Week of 5/4

April 28, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N Leave a Comment

SEAN: Let’s face it, there are no light weeks anymore. There’s 21 titles next week, and that’s our new normal. We just have to accept it, manga is popular again.

ASH: All right!

MICHELLE: Yay! Now, can we have back some of those series that disappeared in less prosperous times? Like Silver Diamond? Please?

MJ: I’ll second Michelle on this. :)

ANNA: Silver Diamond, Demon Sacred, I could go on!

SEAN: Dark Horse gives us a 5th volume of Oreimo: Kuroneko, showing that non-canon love interests are always more popular than canon ones, especially when they aren’t related.

Seven Seas gives us a 7th volume of underrated techno-thriller Arpeggio of Blue Steel.

Shomin Sample is a harem comedy based on a light novel, whose title I am abbreviating as it’s too long, and I think that says it all. Vol. 1 comes out from Seven Seas next week.

And there’s a second Testament of Sister New Devil, whose title I actually got wrong in my review of the first volume, it’s that hard for me to keep straight.

Vertical has a 2nd volume of Nichijou, whose first volume I was delighted to see was a big hit. Keep it up!

MICHELLE: I will soon be catching up on Nichijou!

SEAN: There’s a Takeshi Obata artbook coming out, blanc et noir, whose title is very e.e. cummings. MJwill, I’m sure, have more to say.

ASH: My copy arrived early, and it’s gorgeous. The volume includes a fair amount of art from Death Note, but also from Hikaru no Go and some of Obata’s other works, too.

MJ: I haven’t seen this, but you can bet I’ll be picking it up. Whatever I have thought about some of his collaborations, I’ve always loved his artwork. This is a must-buy.

SEAN: Relive those days when everything was Aizen with the 15th Bleach 3-in-1 omnibus.

Blue Exorcist also has a 15th volume, and finally wraps up the Izumo arc, I believe.

Dragon Ball Full Color adds Freeza Arc to its title, in case people had forgotten which edition they were re-re-re-rebuying.

The Heiress and the Chauffeur is Viz’s debut this month, and give it’s a LaLa DX series I am contractually obligated to love it. It’s also only 2 volumes, so not a huge investment. Also, Taisho era!

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one, though preemptively sad that it’s so short.

MJ: Same here!

ANNA: Not surprisingly I am too!

SEAN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been given the go-ahead for hardcovers of the previously released 3rd arc, which is great news. First though, it’s back to Joseph for the 3rd volume of Battle Tendency.

ASH: I’ve really been enjoying these releases. I hope Viz will pick up the later arcs, too!

ANNA: I need to get caught up!

SEAN: Kimi ni Todoke has seemingly finished with its Ayane angst, and so I suspect the 24th volume will give a bit more focus to the other two major couples.

With its 4th volume of omnibuses, Maid-sama! has finally caught up with the Tokyopop releases, and so will feature all new material next time.

MICHELLE: As problematic as this series is, I still wanna see what happens in the volumes we never saw before. Hey, you know what else could get rescued as a 2-in-1 omnibus? Silver Diamond!

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: My Hero Academia 4 has more to tell us about superheroes.

The new Naruto novel is technically called Sakura’s Story, but I’ve heard that Sakura fans are going to be disappointed. Still, it’s Naruto, you have to get all 6 novels to complete the set.

Nisekoi has reached 15 volumes, and it’s still trying to balance its high-wire harem act.

One Piece. 78 volumes. Still in Dressrosa.

One-Punch Man is at its 6th volume. Sadly, this volume has no punching… I kid. There’s always punching.

ASH: I’m still greatly enjoying One-Punch Man.

MICHELLE: I am starting to feel like maybe I would like this.

MJ: You would.

ANNA: I feel like One-Punch Man should be universally beloved.

SEAN: Oresama Teacher reached the big 2-0! Have we learned all of Hayasaka’s secrets? And what of poor, neglected Super Bun?

ANNA: Where is Super Bun? The world wants to know!!!

SEAN: And World Trigger is up to double digits, increasing exponentially the likelihood that I will never succeed in catching up to it.

Lastly, Yu-Gi-Oh has a 6th 3-in-1. Collect ‘em all!

Which of these manga titles makes you cry out in ecstasy and rapture?

Manga Giveaway: Superhero Duo (Batmanga and Ultraman)

April 27, 2016 by Ash Brown

The end of the month once more draws near which means it’s once more time for a manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! For this month’s giveaway you all have the chance to win not one, but two manga of the superheroic nature, a mix of the old and the new as well as the East and the West: Batmanga, Volume 1 by Jiro Kuwata from DC Comics and Ultraman, Volume 1 by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi from Viz Media. And, as always, the giveaway is open worldwide, too!

It’s a little strange: I would never really go out of my way to describe myself as a fan of superhero comics, nor is it a genre that I specifically seek out. And yet, when I do end up reading about superheroes, I often find that I enjoy myself. Over the last few years, manga featuring superheros seem to have become increasingly common in English, whether it’s a classic like Jiro Kuwata’s Batmanga inspired by American comics or a modern take on a well-established Japanese franchise like Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi’s Ultraman. Some superhero manga are fairly serious, but there have been quite a few with a comedic bent of late as well, such as One-Punch Man by One and Yusuke Murata and My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi. And I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed them all.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a duo of superhero manga?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about one of your favorite manga featuring superheroes and why you like it. (If you don’t have a favorite, or haven’t read any superhero manga, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

And there you have it! Everyone participating in the giveaway can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments. If preferred or needed, entries can also be emailed to me directly at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. Those comments will then be posted here in your name. The winner of the giveaway will be randomly selected and announced on May 4, 2016. Good luck to you all!

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Superhero Duo Winner

My Week in Manga: April 18-April 24, 2016

April 25, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

As I recently mentioned, for a while here I’ll be down to one review a week or so at Experiments in Manga. And so, last week’s review was of The Inugami Clan by Seishi Yokomizo, a popular Japanese murder mystery from the early 1950s that has sadly gone out of print in English. Currently, the novel is the only work by Yokomizo that has been translated, but I enjoyed it a great deal. It vaguely reminded me a bit of Edogawa Rampo’s work, which I don’t at all consider to be a bad thing.

Elsewhere online: YALSA’s 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teen was recently announced, which includes a fair number of manga, as were the 2016 Eisner Award Nominees. Forbes interviewed Yoshiki Tanaka, the author of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes (a series I hope to find time to actually read sooner rather than later). At du9, Adrian Tomine was interviewed about editing Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s manga for Drawn & Quarterly. And in licensing news, Dark Horse will be releasing Ontama’s Hatsune Miku: Mikubon.

Quick Takes

Forget Me Not, Volume 1 written by Mag Hsu and illustrated by Nao Emoto. I knew very little about Forget Me Not before reading the first volume. In fact, I didn’t even recall that it had been licensed until the release was in my hands. Forget Me Not is about Yusuke Serizawa, a young man who seems to have terrible luck when it comes to romance, but it’s the sort of bad luck that he’s partly responsible for. The first volume alone features his attempts at three different relationships with three different loves that he had between middle school and high school. Most of them have their sweet moments, but there are also moments that Serizawa will intensely regret for years. He blames himself for the relationships ending in ruin, and in some cases rightly so. The reason that Forget Me Not focuses on Serizawa’s past and the women in it is that one of them recently helped to save his life after he was in a motorcycle accident. Except that he isn’t sure exactly who it is. He’d like to meet her, but he’s also certain that whoever it is he’s done her some great harm, which may explain why it seems like she’s toying with him by keeping her identity secret.

Snackies by Nick Sumida. I had a fairly good idea that I would enjoy Snackies, but I don’t think I anticipated just how much I would end up enjoying it. Snackies is a slim volume containing short comics which are at least semi-autobiographically inspired. Many of the comics stand on their own or aren’t necessarily connected to one another, but others are part of short series which become increasingly ridiculous and bizarre, such as the set of comics in which Sumida spies fellow passengers on mass transit who initially seem attractive, but who then turn out to have a really bad haircut or just so happen to be an alien that would aesthetically belong in something like Parasyte. And then there are the comics that seem to come completely out of nowhere. Though at times fairly cynical, playing on the angst and self-deprecation of a young artist, Snackies is very funny. It also has a queer bent to it which I especially enjoyed and appreciated. Snackies doesn’t take long to read, but it gives enough of a taste that I hope to see more of Sumida’s work in the future.

Tramps Like Us, Volumes 1-5 by Yayoi Ogawa. I’ve been meaning to read Tramps Like Us for quite some time. It really is a shame that it took me so long to get around to it, because so far I’m absolutely loving the manga. Sumire is highly accomplished, attractive, and well-educated career woman, which unfortunately intimidates her fiancé who feels inadequate in comparison and leaves her for someone else. As a result, Sumire is determined to only date men who are paid more, are better educated, and are taller than she is. Around the same time, Sumire gains a “pet,” a homeless twenty-something ballet dancer that she takes in off of the street and calls Momo. Sumire’s peculiar but earnest relationship with Momo is marvelous. Though they have their disagreements and their communication isn’t always the best, both of them find great comfort in the other. He’s the only person she feels truly at ease with. But then Sumire is reunited with an old flame who she still loves and who happens to meet all of her dating requirements, but their relationship is strained. It’s a strange sort of set up and love-triangle, but all of the varied emotions are convincingly real.

Manga the Week of 4/27

April 21, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Soooo much manga. Scary… manga is scary.

MICHELLE: Holy cow. You aren’t kidding!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 2nd and final Planetes omnibus, and if you haven’t read this series yet I urge you all to do so. It is a treat.

ASH: So glad to see the entire series back in print!

ANNA: Agreed, this is a special series that deserves to be in print.

SEAN: DMP has a rare print release with the third volume of I’ve Seen It All.

ASH: The first two volumes were ridiculous in a good sort of way, so I’ll be picking this one up, too.

SEAN: Kodansha has a large number of things out next week. The Fairy Tail spinoff Fairy Girls has a second volume.

And the giant omnibus Fairy Tail Master’s Edition sees a giant Volume 2.

Genshiken 2nd Season’s 8th volume continues to focus on who Madarame will pick from the harem he’s picked up. Knowing Madarame, the answer is likely to be “none”, but we shall see.

ASH: I was always rather fond of Madarame.

SEAN: And a 2nd volume of magical harem series Maga-Tsuki.

Missions of Love is up to 12 volumes, and the author is ready to introduce yet another unlikeable character who will get in the way of our unlikeable leads. (Just the way we like it, I hasten to add.)

ASH: Yup!

SEAN: It’s the final, 36th volume of The Wallflower! “Final” and “The Wallflower” are words I never thought I’d write, but here we are. Will it resolve the romance? I highly doubt it. Will it be funny? Far more likely.

ANNA: Wow, this was a loooong series. I enjoyed the fist few volumes but did not have the stamina to continue reading.

SEAN: Your Lie in April has a 7th volume. Is it tragic yet, or still cute and romantic?

ASH: It can be both!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us an 8th volume of D-Frag!, which will never be tragic or romantic, and barely manages cute, but it’s still hilarious.

You may recall that Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto 3 has been on this list before. The dangers of last-minute release date shuffles. Well, it’s still worth getting.

ASH: That it is. Hopefully the recent anime will give this series a boost.

SEAN: The same cannot really be said for Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn’s 4th volume, though it is a step above some of the other boob-obsessed titles out at the moment. But only a small step.

Vertical gives us a 15th volume of Knights of Sidonia, and as always I just hope some of the cast survives.

MICHELLE: I believe this is the final volume, as well, which seems too soon. I am anxiously awaiting this one and will have to resist the strong urge to flip to the end.

MJ: Oh, Knights of Sidonia, I love you so.

SEAN: There are two new Yen Digital debuts, but before we get to those, there’s new volumes for Aoharu x Machinegun (which gets print soon), Black Detective, Corpse Princess, Saki, and Unknown, as well as the digital debut of The Devil Is a Part-Timer! and its High School!! spinoff. I need to catch up on Saki.

ASH: Saki!

MJ: I need to catch up as well!

SEAN: As for the debuts, we have the first volume of Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends, about a weak, shoujo-manga loving guy who has to stop being such a loser of he’ll be killed, so he asks out four girls all at once, assuming they’ll all reject him. The trouble starts when they all say yes. Harem antics ensue. This ran in Gangan Joker.

Little Witch’s Collier (not collar, for some reason) is a GFantasy series that I don’t know much about, but I’m hoping that one of the GFantasy fans of Manga Bookshelf can take a look and tell me.

Yen Press also has its regular old pile of releases. Akame Ga Kill! chugs along with Vol. 6.

And Barakamon has reached double digits with its 10th volume. Soon it will pass Yotsuba&!.

A Certain Magical Index manga volume 5 adapts Novel Volume 5, as it decided to skip Angel Fall entirely.

Emma’s fourth omnibus actually brings to an end the main storyline, but don’t worry, we get enough epilogues and side stories for a whole other omnibus after this.

ASH: Thrilled to see this series back in print, too! Yen Press has done a beautiful job with the new edition.

ANNA: Yay!

MJ: This has been such a wonderful release for me, as I missed it the first time around. As Ash said, beautiful editions!

SEAN: Final Fantasy Type-0 Side Story 4 Part A, Second Shift, Behind the Bike-Sheds: A New Beginning.

I’ve dropped First Love Monster as being a bit too creepy for my taste, but for those who have not, the 4th volume is here.

Handa-kun, Barakamon’s prequel, gets a 2nd volume.

High School DxD has somehow reached Volume 8. Has anyone fallen into a girl’s breasts yet? I bet they have.

MICHELLE: Probably multiple times.

SEAN: I’ve enjoyed Horimiya immensely, so its third volume is near the top of my list.

MICHELLE: Same here!

ASH: Horimiya was a wonderfully pleasant surprise!

ANNA: I feel like I’m missing out!

MICHELLE: In this case, I would say that, yes, literally you are missing out. As a fellow shoujo lover, even though this is not technically shoujo, I am very confident you would love it. If you jump on the bandwagon now, getting caught up won’t seem so daunting! :)

ANNA: Sounds good, I will adjust my manga buying budget accordingly!

MJ: I missed volume two, and much catch up!

SEAN: The first How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend seemed to hit a bit too much on the ‘boring’ for my tastes, but we’ll see how it improves in its second volume.

Kagerou Daze gives us a 5th volume of time loops and social misfits.

In case you wished Log Horizon had more harem antics, here’s more of The West Wind Brigade. Though honestly the first volume was quite good.

Servant x Service is getting a print release, having been out digital for a while. It’s an omnibus, which gets it out faster, but can be exhausting for a gag manga title like this. I recommend reading in bits.

So I Can’t Play H! will no doubt compete with High School DxD for harem cliches in its 5th volume.

Sword Art Online has a 2nd volume in its Phantom Bullet adaptation.

Taboo Tattoo also gets a second volume, though I’ll be honest, I never made it through the first.

Lastly, we get a 2nd Yowamushi Pedal omnibus, for more HOT BIKING ACTION!

MICHELLE: Yaaaay!

ASH: Woohoo!

ANNA: Ack, another title I need to read!

MJ: Yes!

SEAN: April is showering us with manga. What’re you getting?

My Week in Manga: April 11-April 17, 2016

April 18, 2016 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

As I alluded to a few months ago, I’ve been in the process of trying to purchase a house. Well, I finally made it happen! I signed all of the papers on Friday, so for the foreseeable I’m going to be a little preoccupied getting things ready and moving over to the new place. It’s all sorts of exciting, but it does mean I’ll have significantly less time to devote to other things for a while. And so, I’m back to a reduced posting schedule at Experiments in Manga for the time being. Expect to continue to regularly see My Week in Manga, but there will probably only be one other review or feature most weeks. That all being said, last week I reviewed the recently released Midnight Stranger, Volume 1, a supernatural boys’ love manga with a sense of humor (as well as some pretty great monster designs) by Bohra Naono. I haven’t seen a lot of manga news over the last week, although I’m sure there has been some, but I did want to mention that Viz Media has licensed Kohske and Syuhei Kamo’s Gangsta: Cursed, a prequel series to Gangsta (a manga of which I’m particularly fond.)

Quick Takes

Itazura na Kiss, Volumes 7-8 by Kaoru Tada. It’s been a little while since I’ve read any of Itazura na Kiss, but it’s a pretty easy series to put down and pick up again since nothing of major importance really ever seems to change all that much. I have been enjoying the series, but I’m starting to long for a little more forward momentum and the characters are beginning to wear me down a little. At the same time, while the overall pacing is fairly slow, Tada is expert in changing and moving the story along just enough to keep things interesting. Kotoko and Naoki are now newlyweds, but otherwise their relationship is pretty par for the course. Kotoko is utterly infatuated with Naoki, and Naoki continues to be fairly cold towards her. Thankfully, Kotoko is (slowly) beginning to mature and determine for herself what it is she really wants to do with her life. It can be difficult to tell at times, but Naoki really does love Kotoko and cares for her well-being, he just tends to be a total ass about it which can be tiresome. Granted, it does make it particularly satisfying when he ends up being thrown out of his comfort zone.

The Judged by Akira Honma. Having greatly enjoyed the first two volumes of Honma’s Rabbit Man, Tiger Man boys’ love series, and considering the fact that the third and final volume is unlikely to ever be released in English, I decided to seek out the creator’s other works in translation. I didn’t realize it until I finished reading manga, but The Judged was actually Honma’s first volume to be released as a professional mangaka. The titular story is about a prosecuting investigator and member of the Diet who are navigating a political scandal, while their shared past makes things even more complicated. The Judged also includes Honma’s debut manga “Like a White Phantom” about an initially antagonistic relationship between two young doctors. For the most part, the focus of The Judged is more on the drama and less on the romance. The manga tends to be fairly serious and the relationships aren’t necessarily the most healthy. They’re not always particularly happy relationships, either. Many of the characters have some pretty heavy personal issues do deal with, including physical and emotional abuse.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Side: P3, Volume 1 by So Tobita. The Persona series is perhaps the most popular subset of the larger Shin Megami Tensei video game franchise. Persona Q is a relatively recent spinoff from 2014 made for the Nintendo 3DS which combines characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4—a player can choose to experience the game from either perspective. Likewise, a reader can choose from either the Side: P3 or Side: P4 manga adaptation which present two different sides of the same story. When it comes to manga adaptations of video games, there seem to be two major types, those that are accessible to anyone and those that are intended to be appreciated by fans of the original. So far, the Side P3 manga would seem to be one of the latter, requiring some prior knowledge of the franchise to fully enjoy the series. Very little is explained about the world or the characters in the manga itself. But for those who are familiar with Persona, the Side: P3 manga can be a fun way to quickly experience or re-experience the story and game of Persona Q, though I’m not sure that it really adds anything new.

Manga the Week of 4/20

April 14, 2016 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Anna N, Ash Brown and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: There’s a lot of variety out next week. Something from almost every major publisher.

Kodansha gives us a fourth volume of L♥DK, everyone’s favorite “what is this thing you call consent?” shoujo romance.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: And Noragami’s monthly release schedule chugs along with lucky Vol. 13.

Also reaching Vol. 13 is Say “I Love You”, which was introduced at the same time as My Little Monster but has zoomed past it, moving on to new volumes and new complications.

MICHELLE: I’m glad that one of them at least is still going to be around a while!

ANNA: So far behind on this, I feel guilty.

SEAN: And there’s the penultimate 6th volume of A Silent Voice, which ended with a hell of a cliffhanger last time, so I’m expecting some very good resolution from it.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but this is such a great series.

SEAN: One Peace has the 2nd volume of the manga adaptation of Rise of the Shield Hero (they call it a “manga companion”, but I think it’s just a standard adaptation of the light novel).

ASH: I’m pretty sure you’re correct.

SEAN: Seven Seas has enjoyed giving us some bleak horror lately, and for those who love it, here’s a 7th Magical Girl Apocalypse.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first volume of My Monster Secret, and so look forward to the second.

Vertical debuts a one-shot called The Gods Lie, which they are touting as a sports manga license. I suspect their tongue is firmly in their cheek, but either way it will be worth your time.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to reading this one.

ASH: As am I! I loved Immortal Rain, so I’m glad to see more of Ozaki’s work being released in English.

MICHELLE: Oh, I hadn’t made that connection! Awesome!

ANNA: What!!!! I have the first two volumes of Immortal Rain and am sad I didn’t pick up the whole series when it was in print. This is now in my Amazon cart!

MJ: Oh, this is exciting!

SEAN: And there’s a 4th Ninja Slayer volume. Are there ninjas? Will they slay? Read on to find out!

Who’s the cool seinen manga that’s got all the indie comic artists raving? Dorohedoro? Damn right. Vol. 18 drops next week.

ASH: Yeah!

SEAN: There’s also an 8th volume of the Perfect Edition of Monster.

And a 6th Tokyo Ghoul, which everyone loves but which I am strangely indifferent to.

MJ: If it makes you feel better, I haven’t gotten into it, either.

SEAN: Yen, meanwhile, is releasing its light novels a week before its other stuff, which is nice of them. That means we get a 3rd volume of Black Bullet, with its loli killers.

There’s a 4th volume of “what if Satan worked at McDonald’s” favorite The Devil Is A Part-Timer!. And if you like digital titles (as I do), Vols. 1-4 will be available digitally next week as well.

The Irregular at Magic High School finally debuts, and it’s apparently one of the most polarizing titles in Western anime fandom. I’ve heard it called “Batman at Hogwarts”, myself. Also, is the term Mary Sue – or in this case Gary Stu – even relevant anymore?

And there’s a 5th volume of Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?, and its title continues to be the worst thing about it – I am eager for more.

Spice & Wolf comes to an end with its 17th novel, proving that you can combine cute wolf girls and economic theory if you try.

ASH: I stopped reading about half-way through, but I am glad to see that Yen was able to publish the entire series.

SEAN: Lastly, the 7th Sword Art Online novel, Mother’s Rosary, is widely considered one of its best, possibly as Kirito plays only a minor role. Asuna fans should be very happy.

MJ: I’m down for this.

SEAN: Which titles make your pure maiden’s heart tremble?