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My Week in Manga: December 15-December 21, 2014

December 22, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was another week with two reviews here at Experiments in Manga. My monthly horror manga review project is now underway, so I took a look at Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare, Volume 1, which is a very intriguing start to the series. Next month I’ll start in on the in-depth reviews for Yuki Urushibara Mushishi and continue to alternate between the two series until the review project is completed. Last week I also reviewed The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō by Edogawa Rampo, which I was very excited to read. The volume collects four of the earliest stories featuring Rampo’s great detective. And over at Manga Bookshelf proper, I and the rest of the Manga Bookshelf bloggers talked a little about the Manga the Year of 2014, noting some of our favorite things from the past year. Like I did last year, later this week I’ll also be posting my own list of notable releases from 2014.

I’m still extraordinarily busy at work as I settle into being the temporary boss of my unit for the next seven months or so, so I’ve been a bit preoccupied and haven’t had a chance to closely follow what’s going on in the mangasphere these days. However, I did still manage to catch a few interesting things to read online. Jason Thompson’s most recent House of 1000 Manga column focuses on Learn English with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which I am now determined to track down. J. R. Brown has an introductory post to Boys in Skirts, her series of article and reviews focusing on otokonoko at Mode: Verbose. I also came across a fascinating post about the popularity of the Year 24 Group. I’m not familiar with the author or the blog, but it looks like it should have other promising manga articles as well.

Quick Takes

Angel Sanctuary, Volumes 16-20 by Kaori Yuki. Here it is, the tumultuous conclusion to the epic Angel Sanctuary. By the end of the series, Yuki actually does manage to pull everything together in a way that mostly makes sense and proves that she actually can kill off a main character, something that I had my doubts about. I know a fair number of people who adore Angel Sanctuary, but while there were some things I really liked about the series, overall I found it pretty frustrating. Maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, but more often than not I found Angel Sanctuary to be confusing and difficult to follow with a huge cast of characters, none of whom are exactly who they initially appear to be, and plot twist after plot twist. Granted, that did mean the series was consistently drama-filled. But with a little more editorial guidance, Angel Sanctuary could have been something phenomenal instead of just good. I did appreciate the manga’s core, however. Love is the driving force behind Angel Sanctuary. All of the characters are dealing with love in one way or another; it is the source of tremendous good as well as tremendous evil, but in the end it is shown to be a redemptive force.

Master Keaton, Volume 1 written by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. One of the many reasons that I became so enamored with manga was thanks to Urasawa’s series Pluto, so I’m always curious and excited when a new work of his is licensed in English. Admittedly, Master Keaton, while newly translated, is one of Urasawa’s older collaborations that began in the late 1980s. The titular Keaton (technically Hiraga-Keaton) is a half-Japanese, half-English archaeology professor who works as an insurance investigator on the side. He also used to be a member of the British Army’s Special Air Service, which adds survival skills and combat experience to his already impressive and eclectic set of talents. I enjoyed the first volume of Master Keaton. The manga has a nice mix of action and adventure, mystery and detective work, and even a bit of family drama. Occasionally it can be a little heavy on politics and history which interrupts the series’ pacing, but generally the slower parts are interesting, too. It’s also worth mentioning that the book design and production quality of Viz’s release of Master Keaton is particularly nice.

Open Spaces and Closed Places, Volumes 1-6 by Saicoink. I don’t remember exactly when or how I first heard about the mini-comic series Open Spaces and Closed Places, but it was recently brought to my attention again when Saicoink released the sixth and final volume. I finally got around to reading the series, and I absolutely loved it. Jirou is the boss of the delinquents at his school. When he isn’t busy getting into fights, he’s pining for Oscar, the president of the student council. Oscar likes Jirou, too, but for various reasons doesn’t feel he can accept his love, and so spends much of his time teasing the other boy instead. It’s a delightful relationship, both adorable and sad at the same time. Soon after Open Spaces and Closed Places begins, fantastical elements are introduced and the series becomes more and more surreal as it goes, culminating in a spectacular dream sequence. Saicoink specifically mentions drawing inspiration from Suehiro Maruo and Usamaru Furuya. While their influence can be seen in Open Spaces and Closed Places, the series isn’t as grotesque or as graphic as some of their works, though its humor is still accompanied by some amount darkness and tragedy. It’s a sinister, strange, and wonderful series.

Sankarea: Undying Love, Volume 9 by Mitsuru Hattori. Sometimes Sankarea is all about its horror, sometimes it’s all about its peculiar romantic comedy, and sometimes it manages to be about both. The ninth volume is generally successful in balancing the series’ two opposing aspects, though the comedy has definitely taken a turn for the serious. Hattori does still find plenty of opportunities to add a bit of fanservice to the manga, this time mostly in the form of dressing Rea up in a variety of revealing costumes and outfits, often for no better reason than she looks cute in them. But even with those largely unnecessary diversions, the plot does continue to move along nicely in the ninth volume. Chihiro and most of the rest of his group have made their escape from ZoMA and return to Japan. Rea is suffering from amnesia though and doesn’t remember Chihiro or their relationship. Often I’m annoyed by the memory loss trope in manga—frequently it’s the result of bad or lazy writing—but for the most part it actually works pretty well in Sankarea. I still like the quirkiness of the characters in Sankarea, but Bub the undead cat remains my favorite by far.

The Great King of Manga, Dengeki Daioh

December 19, 2014 by Erica Friedman Leave a Comment

Way back when I started reading manga, the very first magazine I ever subscribed to was Dengeki Daioh. It had two, maybe three series running at any given time that I was following, a bunch more I could take or leave and a few that made me want to shower in acid. And so it remains, all these years later, long after I have stopped subscribing. ^_^

Like many magazines of its kind, Dengeki Daioh rides a line between targeting teens and adult men. Stories frequently star young women in various states of undress rather more often than not, who will sometimes throw themselves at the male protagonists, and kisses that are common, but not commonly mutual. The magazine also has a fairly evident lolicon readership, as indicated by many of their most popular series – some of which have made over to western shores, Masayuki Takano’s Blood Alone, Barasui’s Ichigo Mashimaro (Strawberry Marshmallow) and Kiyohito Azuma’s Yotsubato! (Yotsuba&!).

In fact, many of the series that run in the pages of Dengeki Daioh are popular, often as a result of a unique marketing tactic – manga series running in Daioh are very likely to get at least one season of an anime. The anime will end, but the manga series continues, now with a larger readership. It’s pretty rare for a Daioh series to get more than one season, in fact, which makes the exceptions that much more notable. Between Mediaworks open licensing and Kadokawa’s relentless marketing of popular series, it is not atypical to page through an issue of Daioh and have heard of more than a third of the series currently running. The addition of Kadokawa as a publisher means that readers are also seeing more manga adaptations of Light Novels in the magazine’s pages.

Originally started by Mediaworks in 1994, now published by ASCII Mediaworks and Kadokawa Publishing in partnership as a monthly, Daioh is the lead title in the Dengeki imprint, with a monthly circulation of 130,000, (the imprint also includes Dengeki’s G’s, Moeoh and Teioh magazines). The website is fully featured with sample chapters, highlights of the most popular series, news of upcoming anime, recruitment campaigns, contests, editor’s blog and upcoming manga releases. At 800 yen ($6.58 at time of writing) for over 1000 pages, Dengeki Daioh is a pretty cheap way to buy a lot of cheap entertainment.

Dengeki Daioh, from ASCII Mediaworks and Kadokawa: http://daioh.dengeki.com/

My Week in Manga: December 8-December 14, 2014

December 15, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted at Experiments in Manga last week. The first was of Frederik L. Schodt’s classic survey of manga originally written in 1983 but slightly revised in 1986 and with a new introduction added in 1997, Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics. It may be a few decades old, but it’s still a fantastic work that is well worth reading. Last week I also reviewed Hikaru Suruga’s Attack on Titan: No Regrets, Volume 2, the final volume of Attack on Titan‘s short, shoujo spinoff which focuses on Levi and Erwin’s backstories. I wasn’t quite as fond of the second volume as I was of the first, but I did enjoy the series. It’s definitely a must-read for fans of Erwin and/or Levi and I appreciated how it expanded the setting of Attack on Titan.

Elsewhere online, Kodansha Comics announced the license of Naoshi Arakawa’s Your Lie in April. An Indiegogo campaign was launched to create a stop-motion film adaptation of Moyoco Anno’s The Diary of Ochibi manga. Vertical linked to an older article about Prophecy and how French Manga Fans Inspire the Work of Tsutsui Tetsuya. (The first volume of Prophecy was recently released in English and it’s fantastic.) And last but not least, Muse Hack posted an interview with Mikhail Koulikov of the Anime and Manga Studies Blog. I’ve been following Koulikov’s Anime and Manga Studies ever since I’ve discovered it. The blog is a great resource for anyone interested in the academic pursuit and scholarly study of Japanese pop culture.

Quick Takes

Fairy Tail, Volume 43 by Hiro Mashima. There was very little Gray in the forty-third volume of Fairly Tail which made me a little sad, especially after the buildup in his character and story over the last few volumes. But with a series like Fairy Tail, which has a fairly large cast of characters who regularly play an important role in its plot, time needs to be spent with those other characters as well. Fairy Tail always seems to have one or two moments of fanservice that, at least for me, detract from the story being told. The clothing and armor choices for the female characters in particular tend towards stereotypical fantasy design–showing more flesh than would be appropriate for battle–but at least the women in Fairy Tail generally have well-developed personalities and are very capable characters in their own right. Often, they’re even stronger than the men. And to be fair, there’s male nudity as well as female nudity in Fairy Tail, though as might be expected from a shounen manga, generally not to the same extent. Fairy Tail is now well into the beginning of the Tartaros arc of the series in which the members of the Fairy Tail guild must face off with a dark guild of demons which is trying to eliminate the entire Magic Council.

Kiss All the Boys, Volumes 1-3 by Shiuko Kano. For the most part I enjoyed Kiss All the Boys more than Kano’s earlier series Yakuza in Love, but ultimately I felt a bit cheated by its conclusion. While in some ways I’m glad that most everything ends happily for the characters, I’m not convinced that that’s really how things would have played out and some of the eventual pairings are troubling. But while Kiss All the Boys may not be the most believable series, at least the convoluted relationships are for the most part interesting even when they are appalling. The series hinges on Tetsuo, a straight thirty-something hentai artist with a fifteen-year-old son born from his youthful indiscretions. At least he’s supposed to be straight. Conveniently for the manga, he soon finds himself entangled in relationships with several other men–his next door neighbor, his best friend and editor, and even the boy his gay son has a crush on. Tetsuo is an asshole, but at least he knows he’s an asshole. He does make some effort to rise above his nature but unfortunately never quite manages to succeed. For the most part Kiss All the Boys is intended to be a comedy and shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but I couldn’t help but worry for the youngsters left with terrible adult role models.

Yukarism, Volume 1 by Chika Shiomi. I haven’t previously read any of Shiomi’s manga, but I was looking forward to Yukarism because of its promise of interesting gender dynamics, reincarnation, and historical romance. Although Yukari Kobayakawa is only seventeen, he has already made a name for himself as an author of novels set in the Edo period. He never has to do any research though since he subconsciously draws inspiration from his past life as a courtesan in the era’s pleasure district. Except for that particular twist, at this point Yukari actually isn’t a very interesting character. He’s very reserved, self-absorbed, impassive, and completely unfazed when he begins to slip back and forth between his past life and his current one. Many of the people surrounding Yukari in present-day Japan are reincarnations of people he knew in the pleasure district although they don’t all seem to be aware of that fact. There’s definitely some potential for romance in Yukarism, but after only one volume that doesn’t appear to be the series’ main concern yet. Instead, the mystery surrounding the deaths of Yukari and the others in the past seems to take precedence, although the connections between all of the characters in all of their incarnations is an important element as well. I’ll be curious to see how the series continues to develop.

DevilPartTimer The Devil Is a Part-Timer! directed by Naoto Hosoda. I’ve been meaning to watch The Devil Is a Part-Timer! for quite some time now, but I was recently reminded of that intention when Yen Press licensed both the light novel series by Satoshi Wagahara on which the anime is based as well as at least one of its manga adaptations. While the anime is entertaining, the ridiculous premise is more hilarious in theory than in execution–The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is actually played fairly straight. But it’s still a fun and consistently amusing series. I particularly got a kick out of Satan diligently working in the fast food industry as a way to take over the world (he takes his job very seriously) and the portrayal of Lucifer as a hikikomori with an online-shopping addiction. For the most part, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! nicely balances its comedy with its drama. Although it has a conclusion, the ending of the series lacks finality and some of the characters introduced were never really put to good use, as though additional seasons were initially planned for but never manifested. (At least I haven’t heard anything about a second season.) Overall, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is funny series and a nice change of pace from all of the anime centered around high school or middle school students. I might just give the original novels a try when they’re released in English.

Manga the Week of 12/17

December 11, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: Merry Christmas! Have some manga. Since the publishers usually go quiet around Christmas and New Year’s, almost everything is frontloaded to next week. So be prepared to be completely buried.

The Shinji Ikari Raising Project has now officially passed its parent in volume count. It’s coming to an end soon, though. In the meantime, Dark Horse brings us Vol. 15.

Manga Dogs 2 will help us to ask the question, “can the three male leads get any stupider?”. I’m betting on yes.

ASH: I’m sure that’s probably the case, though they’re pretty stupid to begin with.

SEAN: Kodansha also has its 4th xxxHOLIC omnibus. The series was at its high point here, in my opinion.

MJ: Even if I don’t think it had a *low* point, exactly, I agree that this was a great period in the series.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts a new yuri series with Citrus, which is from Comic Yuri Hime – nice to see a title from that magazine over here again. Expect melodramatic schoolgirls.

ASH: I’m always interested in more yuri in English, so I’ll be checking this one out.

SEAN: There’s the third volume of D-Frag!, one of the funnier series I’ve read this past year.

You thought Dance in the Vampire Bund was over? You thought all we had left was spinoffs starring David Rasche? You were wrong! Here’s Dance in the Vampire Bund II: Vamp Harder… erm, Scarlet Order.

Girls Und Panzer isn’t over, but there’s always room for one more spinoff series. Little Army follows Miho, the “hardened battle commander” of the original series, as she does tank battles in elementary school.

And Haganai has a second collection of side story comedy for those who feel the main series has too much plot, this one called Club Minutes.

Lastly (from Seven Seas – we’re a long way from the end), there’s a new Witch Buster omnibus, with Vols. 13 and 14.

Vertical has a new Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin, and I think Vol. 8 means we’re 2/3 of the way through. Is the cast still alive? (I’m so far behind on this.)

ASH: As far as we know the cast is still alive; the last few volumes have been an extended flashback, so who knows what will happen from here?

ANNA: I’m behind too, but I keep buying it!

SEAN: Vertical is also debuting two old favorites digitally, as next week sees Vol. 1 and 2 of Black Jack, as well as Apollo’s Song. Mmmmm, digital Tezuka…

ASH: Since so many of Vertical’s Tezuka title have gone or are going out of print, I’m very happy that the publisher found a way to give them some new life.

ANNA: I have much fondness for Black Jack.

MJ: I do, too. I’m so happy to see this coming out digitally.

SEAN: Viz has a 10th volume of Afterschool Charisma, one of the SigIkki survivors.

ANNA: Another one of those series I read three volumes of and mean to get caught up on one day.

SEAN: It’s December, so it’s time for the annual release of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage, with Vol. 9 dropping.

The other SigIkki survivor also has a new volume, as Dorohedoro reached its 14th. Ikki in Japan may be no more, but Dorohedoro will be moving to its replacement, so don’t expect it to end right away.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will read these last three.

ASH: Dorohedoro! Such a delightfully charmingly bizarre series.

SEAN: It’s been a while since we’ve been able to get excited about an Urasawa release. Now we see an omnibus edition of Master Keaton, which will feature incredibly dramatic insurance investigations. No, really, it’s excellent. Check this out even if you’re not a fan of insurance.

MICHELLE: I am so excited about this!!

ASH: I’m definitely interested in seeing more from Urasawa.

ANNA: I’m curious about this title for sure.

MJ: I’m in!

SEAN: Think we’re done? HAH! It’s Yen time. We’ll start with the Yen On line. We get the debut of a new series whose title screams “I am a light novel franchise”. It’s called Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? I’m going to guess the answer overall will prove to be “no”, this sounds pretty harem-ey.

ASH: I don’t know much about the series, but the title amuses me, so I might actually give this one a try.

MJ: Heh. Agreed.

SEAN: Spice & Wolf’s novels have been running since long before Yen On began, and as such, we get lucky Vol. 13 here. That’s the light novel, not the manga, which also ships next week, but is Vol. 10.

And Sword Art Online’s novels start everyone’s favorite arc, Fairy Dance. This is a 2-parter, FYI, the second ships in April. This is the novel, not the manga, which already began the Fairy Dance arc in August, but had Vol. 2 ship last month, which is not Vol. 2 of the light novels, though it adapts part of it.

MJ: I don’t hate Fairy Dance, so I’m happy to see this.

SEAN: On the manga front, we have the 2nd of the adaptation of Accel World, having had the 2nd light novel one month ago, which this manga volume does not adapt, as it’s still adapting the first one. Clear? Wait till next spring, when it will get REALLY confusing. Also, hooray for new math.

Alice is really hard to get a lead on, as Are You Alice? has hit Vol. 7 and still doesn’t know.

MJ: Heh.

SEAN: Barakamon seems like a countrified Yotsuba&!, which suits me just fine. The 2nd volume is out next week.

MICHELLE: I still need to check this one out.

MJ: I’m happy to see more of this!

SEAN: Bloody Cross has its 5th volume ship. I admit I finally moved on from this, but if you like supernatural action, it certainly fills that need.

Yen has 3 debuts this month! The first is a familiar author to many, Kaori Yuki. She’d been with Hakusensha for years, but recently moved to Kodansha and their eccentric Aria magazine. This was her debut there, Demon From Afar. That said, if you like the sort of thing she usually writes, this is more of that. But in hardcover!

MICHELLE: Huh. Interesting.

MJ: I’m definitely looking forward to this!

SEAN: The second debut is another author familiar to us, but that’s because of a recent release from Viz. Aya Shouoto had Kiss of the Rose Princess come out via Shojo Beat, and now we see Yen releasing He’s My Only Vampire, which, yes, runs in Aria as well. This combines vampires AND childhood friends.

MICHELLE: Huh. Well, more shoujo is a good thing!

ANNA: I agree!

MJ: I’ll give it a try, for sure.

SEAN: There’s a spinoff of harem manga High School DxD, focusing on two of the lead females: Asia and Koneko’s Secret Contract. My guess is this is similar to Haganai’s Club Minutes, aka plotless comedy.

Kingdom Hearts II Vol. 3 is really not helping Yen escape my mocking of their volume numbers.

The last debut is the one I’m most excited about: Love at Fourteen. The plot sounds familiar, with two childhood friends finding love in school. But it runs in Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, a magazine I’d kill to see more licenses from, and is apparently very well written.

MICHELLE: I’m really excited about this one, too!

ANNA: This was totally not on my radar before, but it sounds interesting.

MJ: My response is *both* of Michelle & Anna’s responses put together.

SEAN: Spice & Wolf has its 10th volume ship this week! That’s the manga, not the light novel. The light novel ships Vol. 13 this week, as I said earlier. Be aware that in 2015, Yen will begin calculating Manga and Light Novel volume numbers in Base 8, as they worry readers may get confused. (I am old enough to know what Base 8 is, yes.)

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Lastly (at LONG last!), we get the 6th volume of Tena on S-String, a mere 4 years after the 5th. The series is out digitally if you want to jog your memory.

Is this enough Christmas manga? Do you want more? Clap your hands if you want more!

MJ: *clap*? No?

My Week in Manga: December 1-December 7, 2014

December 8, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

There were a few different things posted at Experiments in Manga last week. First up was the announcement of the Seven Seas Sampler manga giveaway winner. The post also includes a list of some favorite titles published or soon to be published by Seven Seas. The honor of the first in-depth manga review for December goes to Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 7 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Even if you’re not particularly interested in Gundam (I’ll readily admit to not being a devotee of the franchise, myself), I’d still highly recommend the series to readers looking for some great science fiction manga. The Origin is consistently great, and Vertical’s edition remains one of the best-looking manga releases in English. Also, over the weekend, I posted November’s Bookshelf Overload for those of you interested in what made it onto my shelves last month. (Granted, it doesn’t all actually fit on my shelves at the moment, thus the “overload.” There are a few strategically placed piles and boxes in my room, too…)

Elsewhere online, Digital Manga has a survey soliciting Tezuka Kickstarter Feedback. According to a recent e-mail newsletter, Digital Manga is expecting to launch a Kickstarter project sometime in 2015 to reprint Unico, Swallowing the Earth, and Barbara, all of which have previously been Kickstarted. Philip of Eeeper’s Choice expresses some of the concerns over these recent developments. Also interesting, a Publishers Weekly article about Digital Manga’s recent Kickstarter efforts notes that Digital Manga is apparently not planning on actually distributing the Tezuka manga outside of direct sales and the library market. This means that individuals who want the manga will either have to back a successful Kickstarter project, or purchase them directly from the publisher. I’ve been extremely busy at work lately (my immediate supervisor retired on Friday, which more or less leaves me in charge of my unit for the time being), so I wasn’t able to follow much more than the Digital Manga drama, but I did see that Viz made a new license announcement: Junji Ito’s Fragments of Horror! And speaking of licenses, Reverse Thieves has compiled a list of all of the manga, light novels, and anime licenses that were announced in 2014.

Quick Takes

Angel Sanctuary, Volumes 11-15 by Kaori Yuki. It took more than half of the series, but Angel Sanctuary has finally grabbed a hold of me. I’ve enjoyed Yuki’s artwork since the beginning, I’ve always liked the series’ exploration of overarching themes of love, destiny, and personal responsibility, and I can certainly appreciate the tremendous amount of research Yuki has put into creating her mythology, but the story itself has been somewhat of an unfocused mess up until this point. Now things are starting to pull together in a very satisfying way though. I’m actually looking forward to reading the conclusion of Angel Sanctuary instead of just feeling obligated to finish the manga. It’s getting really good and the drama is epic. Yuki still has the tendency to be a little haphazard in her narrative structure, but the series has become much easier to follow. It probably helps that her editors wouldn’t allow her to introduce any more new characters. The cast of Angel Sanctuary is huge, and so it’s understandably challenging to present all of their backstories while maintaining the series’ forward momentum. Fortunately, as it approaches its turbulent end, Angel Sanctuary seems to have found its center and drive.

Manga Dogs, Volume 1 by Ema Toyama. Up until now, the only other manga that I’ve read by Toyama is her ongoing series Missions of Love, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Manga Dogs. Turns out it’s a very different series, probably best described as gag manga about making manga and the manga industry. While for me it was never laugh-out-loud hilarious, I was generally amused and consistently entertained by the first volume of Manga Dogs. It’s silly fun. Even though she’s only fifteen, Kanna Tezuka recently made her manga debut. Granted, her series isn’t doing so well and is in danger of cancellation. Her high school has a new major specializing in manga, though it’s incredibly poorly run, which is where three pretty boys attach themselves to her. Fumio Akatsuka, Fujio Fuji, and Shota Ishinomori are more interested in the fame and fortune they associate with successful mangaka rather than the sweat and stress it takes to get there, though. As can be seen with the characters’ names, Manga Dogs has plenty of nods and references to established mangaka, but most of the humor comes from the three young men’s misguided efforts to become famous artists without actually putting in any effort.

Prophecy, Volume 1 by Tetsuya Tsutsui. Before reading the first volume of Prophecy I actually didn’t know much about the manga except that Vertical was approached to publish it directly by the author. Prophecy is a mature, chilling, and realistic series dealing with cyber crime, social media, how quickly people can turn on one another, and the terrible things that can be done under the guise of anonymity. A small group of vigilantes are taking matters into their own hands, viciously striking out against those who have trespassed against others online. While their methods are extreme, their motivation is easy to understand and even empathize with; the world can be a cruel, cruel place. It’s an entirely different sort of case than the members Anti Cyber Crimes Division of the Metropolitan Police are usually involved in. Specializing in internet crime, they more commonly deal with copyright and intellectual property infringement. But in this particular war of information, people’s lives are at stake, not just their livelihoods. The first volume of Prophecy was exceptional. In my opinion, it’s one of the strongest series to debut this year. I’ll definitely be picking up the rest of the manga.

Manga the Week of 12/10

December 5, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

SEAN: The second week in December brings us a wide variety of manga for perusing, but is already dominated by something that Fantagraphics released THIS week and I am therefore behind on.

Massive is an anthology of gay manga that, from what I hear, can be judged very well by its cover: if the idea of large, muscley men having sex with each other intrigues you, then this is an absolute must buy. It’s always great to see this sort of manga over here.

ASH: The release date kept moving around for this one, so don’t feel too bad. I’m thrilled that it’s finally here, though! Massive is one of my most anticipated releases for 2015. It includes manga, interviews, essays, and more. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy!

MJ: Same here.

ANNA: I probably won’t be reading this, but I think it is very cool that it is being published.

SEAN: Kodansha has a third volume of Attack on Titan: Before the Fall. This is the manga, not the novel, for those who may be confused.

There’s also a fifth Battle Angel Alita: Last Order omnibus.

Seven Seas hopes you still like Wonderland (not to be confused with the Country of Hearts) with the 2nd volume of I Am Alice: Bodyswap in Wonderland.

Vertical gives us two types of supernatural action manga. The 2nd volume of Ajin possibly has less romantic comedy than I expect Witch Craft Works 2 will have, though I’ve been wrong about that sort of thing before.

ASH: I think you’re probably right this time.

SEAN: Arata the Legend has reached 20 volumes, which means if it weren’t licensed already, it would be totally unlicensable by now. But it is! Rejoice, Arata fans.

MICHELLE: I do like Arata, but I kind of can’t believe it’s gone on longer than Fushigi Yuugi. I guess that’s what happens when it’s shounen.

ANNA: I do have a deep and unwavering affection for Fushigi Yuugi. Sorry Arata!

SEAN: Deadman Wonderland has its sixth volume next week as well.

ASH: Tokyopop only made it to five volumes; Viz is starting to get into new material, now.

MICHELLE: Yep! I always think of this series in the same thought as the other final straggly releases TOKYOPOP managed to get out, including a volume of The Stellar Six of Gingacho. Probably no one will ever rescue that one, so I has a sad.

MJ: I’ve been kinda iffy on this series, but I am pretty happy that TP series’ are getting picked back up, so I consider it a win.

ANNA: I will pause to evoke the late, lamented series Demon Sacred and Sky Blue Shore

And there’s a 13th Itsuwaribito, and I begin to despair about this long string of worthy Viz shonen I don’t really follow.

And I am rewarded with a 9th volume of Magi, which I do follow, and which is excellent.

MICHELLE: It is. We need to start a campaign to get MJto read it.

MJ: Heh.

ANNA: I am hoarding stray volumes of this and do mean to read it one day.

SEAN: Are you getting a massive amount of manga next week? Or just Massive?

My Week in Manga: November 24-November 30, 2014

December 1, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was a busy week for me as I was traveling and such for the Thanksgiving holiday, but Experiments in Manga had quite a few things going on, too. The most recent manga giveaway was posted and there’s still time to enter for a chance to win a Seven Seas Sampler–four first volumes of some of Seven Seas’ manga series. I also posted two reviews last week. First up was Yu Godai’s novel Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Volume 1 which I loved. It’s based on the same story as Digital Devil Saga, a spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei video game series. I also reviewed Ryosuke Takeuchi and Takeshi Obata’s All You Need Is Kill manga adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s original All You Need Is Kill novel. I think the novel is the stronger of the two, but I enjoyed the manga as well. Last week I also joined in with the other Manga Bookshelf bloggers for a roundtable on food manga over at MangaBlog.

I should also probably mention that the votes have been tallied for my next monthly manga review project. After School Nightmare took an early lead, but it ended up being a very close contest between it and Dorohedoro and Mushishi. And in the end, After School Nightmare and Mushishi actually tied with each other! So, I’ve decided to review both manga. There are a few different ways to approach this, but beginning with After School Nightmare, each month I’ll alternate between the two series. If everything goes according to schedule, it should take me a year and a half to complete the review project. Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll! I was very glad to see interest expressed in all of the series to which I had narrowed down the vote. I’ll be sure to keep in mind the other series that were strongly supported and try to feature them as best as I can, too. I wish that I had more time to read and write!

Elsewhere online, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses had a couple of posts that I found particularly interesting last week–an interview with Abigail Blackman, one of Yen Press’ editors and letterers, and a discussion of some of the fears of buying manga from U.S. publishers. Digital Manga has launched yet another Osamu Tezuka manga Kickstarter, though one that seems much more reasonable than the last failed project. This time, Digital Manga is trying to raise funding for the publication of Tezuka’s Ludwig B, an unfinished manga series about Beethoven. (In part because of my background in music, I’m actually really interested in Ludwig B.) I’d also like to bring a little attention to an effort started by Becca Hillburn–a group for Western Shoujo Comic Artists. More about it and the endeavor to create a network of support for manga-influenced artists can be read at Hillburn’s website Nattosoup: Solidarity and the American Shoujo/Josei Comic Scene.

Quick Takes

Alice in the Country of Hearts, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Soumei Hoshino. Based on an otome game by Quin Rose, Hoshino’s Alice in the Country of Hearts is one of many manga adaptations and spinoffs. Originally the series was partially released in English by Tokyopop, but the license was later rescued by Yen Press. Despite hearing good things about Alice in the Country of Hears, one of the reasons it took me so long to give the manga a try was the sheer number of volumes associated with the franchise. I’m glad that I finally got around to reading the first omnibus, though, because I loved it. At first, Alice in the Country of Hearts seems like a fairly straightforward re-imagining of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (Granted, many of the characters are now bishōnen of various types.) But it soon becomes clear that something very ominous and disconcerting is brewing under the story’s surface. Alice has been transported to Wonderland and if she ever wants to return home she will have to get to know its residents better. Although they are participating in some sort of game to win her affections, those who live in Wonderland are prone to violence and have a very different sense of what is normal.

Milkyway Hitchhiking, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Sirial. Although occasionally the same characters make an appearance in multiple stories, Milkyway Hitchhiking is generally an episodic manhwa. The only thing that really ties the volume together is the presence of Milkyway, a beautiful cat who can apparently travel through space and time. She may or may not actually play an active role in the stories being told. Sometimes she’s just an observer and sometimes she’s a participant. Sometimes she’s a focal point of a tale and sometimes she simply happens to be present while events unfold around her. The most striking thing about Milkyway Hitchhiking is its beautiful, full-color artwork. Some of the individual illustrations are simply stunningly gorgeous. A variety of color palettes are used to lovely effect. While I particularly appreciate Milkyway Hitchhiking for Sirial’s art, I also enjoyed the individual episodes, too. The stories range from the fantastical to those grounded in reality. Some feel very much like something out of a fairy tale while others are contemporary slice-of-life or historical in nature. At times heartwarming and at times heartbreaking, I very much enjoyed Milkyway Hitchhiking and look forward to reading more of the series.

Tale of the Waning Moon, Volume 1 by Hyouta Fujiyama. I have a tendency to forget that Yen Press releases boys’ love series. Tale of the Waning Moon is one of those manga. Fujiyama has had quite a few of her works released in English, but I haven’t read any until now. Tale of the Waning Moon is pretty ridiculous. Ryuka is a young man whose girlfriend recently left him for another man. While drowning his sorrows Ryuka accidentally calls upon Ixto, the spirit of the last quarter moon, to grant him true love. The twist is that all of the eligible candidates that Ixto comes up with are men, which doesn’t particularly appeal to Ryuka. The real problem is that when Ryuka rejects those options, he comes under Ixto’s spell and is therefore compelled to leave his village on a quest to reunite with the spirit. From there, Ryuka sets of on his journey, unintentionally amassing an adventuring party of sorts in the process. Tale of the Waning Moon has sex (not all of it consensual) and silliness, magic and mayhem. Inspired and heavily influenced by fantasy RPGs, the manga is definitely more of a comedy than it is a romance. Tale of the Waning Moon is a short series–only four volumes–and the first installment entertained me well enough, so I’ll probably get around to picking up the rest at some point.

Übel Blatt, Omnibus 0 (equivalent to Volumes 0-1) by Etorouji Shiono. Übel Blatt, which translates as “evil blade,” has a lot going for it that generally appeals to me–a dark fantasy setting, a tale of revenge, epic battles, and so on–but for some reason, the first omnibus (the zeroth omnibus?) didn’t quite grab me as much as I expected it to. I’m not really sure why, since it seems like a series that should interest me. In fact, overall I actually did like the story. I even like many of the characters, especially its lead. But there were a few little (and big) things here and there that just didn’t work for me. For one, the sexual content and rape in the volume seems entirely unnecessary. It comes across as a superfluous attempt to add more edginess as opposed to being important to the story. Most of the female characters don’t fare particularly well, either. Occasionally there’s a little bit of hope that they’ll overcome their scantily clad fantasy tropes, but it never quite seems to happen. At this point, many of the antagonists in Übel Blatt seem fairly one-dimensional, too, though I suspect that this will change as the series progresses. All that being said, Übel Blatt does feature some excellent fight sequences and scenes of destruction. And while I’m not desperate to read the next volume, the series does show potential.

Manga the Week of 12/3

November 27, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith Leave a Comment

SEAN: December begins, and that can only mean one thing: More piles of manga.

Dark Horse has the 3rd volume of the New Lone Wolf and Cub, with whitewall tires and everything.

Who said DC Comics doesn’t release manga anymore? The Jiro Kuwata Bat-Manga is 350 pages of 60s shonen Bat-goodness, and looks to be amazing.

ASH: This is a really interesting bit of manga history. I was really surprised (and happy) to see DC pick it up!

MJ: Oh, wow, I had no idea this was in the works. Count me in!

ANNA: This sounds great. Really looking forward to it.

SEAN: Sankarea is almost finished, with the penultimate volume shipping next week. Will more main cast members die before this zombie romantic comedy staggers to its conclusion?

We get the 2nd volume of the Nightmare Trilogy from the Alice in the… series.

Is the harem complete in Knights of Sidonia 12? Or are more women waiting in the wings? Oh yes, and science fiction mecha battle horror manga as well.

MICHELLE: I am ashamed to admit that I have failed to catch up on Sidonia. I’m still buying it, though. That counts for something!

ASH: I like saving up a few volumes to read at a time; I’m about ready for another binge.

MJ: More Sidonia is always welcome!

ANNA: My Thanksgiving plans include a bit of a marathon read of Sidonia to get more caught up.

SEAN: On the Viz side, we have the manga they said couldn’t be released! No, the Jump editors had literally said this could not be released in North America. But times have changed, there’s an anime on the way, and here we are. Assassination Classroom may have a scary name, but at heart it’s a classic ‘teacher gets class full of misfits and teaches them how to band together’ sort of title. Kind of like GTO, if Onizuka were an alien with a smiley face for a head. I cannot wait for this.

MICHELLE: Huh, interesting! I am intrigued.

ASH: Looking forward to it!

MJ: Same!

ANNA: Really, I would buy the first volume for the title alone. I want to check this out.

SEAN: Dragon Ball gets its 7th 3-in-1 omnibus.

I enjoyed the second volume of Food Wars! and I think have gotten over its appalling first few pages. So let’s have more exciting shonen foodie manga with Vol. 3.

MICHELLE: I really am enjoying this one.

ASH: As am I.

ANNA: I’m a bit more on the fence about this title, but it does have an interesting premise and storyline to balance out the fanservice.

SEAN: Another penultimate volume (look, I just like saying penultimate, OK?), as Happy Marriage?! 9 inches closer to answering the question mark in its title.

ASH: Penultimate is a great word. I… like saying it, too.

ANNA: I feel like this series has fallen off in quality a bit, but I still enjoy reading it.

SEAN: The second Honey Blood is apparently the last of the main series, though there’s a side volume due out in February. Short shoujo supernatural goodness.

MICHELLE: Or not-so-goodness, as the case may be.

MJ: Heh.

ANNA: Aww, that’s too bad. I usually do enjoy shoujo supernatural titles. I think I will check it out though.

SEAN: Kimi ni Todoke… I feel kind of churlish for saying this, but does it feel we’re dragging our feet a little as the series hits Vol. 20? I do still like it, but wish the end was in sight.

MICHELLE: There is always something very satisfying when long, beloved manga series end. I still love Kimi ni Todoke, but I know what you mean, too.

ANNA: Nothing wrong with a consistently good long running shoujo title.

SEAN: Millennium Snow comes to an end with its 4th volume, and will hopefully manage to resolve the whole “impending death” thing once and for all.

ANNA: I want to go back and reread the first two volumes, then read the new releases. I did enjoy it when it first came out.

SEAN: Naruto may have finished in chapter format, but the collected volumes live on! Here’s the 68th.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is still marching towards its ending with the 24th volume.

There is also the 3rd Seraph of the End.

ANNA: I like this series! Not only due to the vampires, but because the light novel origins of the series ensures that there will actually be a decent amount of worldbuilding and backstory for the characters.

SEAN: If Food Wars! seems to mild and sedate for you, Toriko is always ready to take it one level higher, and its 25th volume drops next week.

In case you already miss Vampire Knight, Fleeting Dreams is a short story collection based on the series.

Voice Over! has come to the 8th volume, and is romance finally starting to stroll leisurely towards the reader?

MICHELLE: I find that I would kind of love for that to happen.

MJ: Sometimes the stroll is a bit too leisurely.

ANNA: I liked the first volume of this more than I expected to, but I don’t think I’ll be investing in reading more of the series. I think it might be good for younger teens though, and series like that are always welcome.

SEAN: Three volumes of World Trigger means I’m 3 volumes behind. Need to check this series out.

ANNA: I was lukewarm about the first couple volumes, but I can certainly see how someone else might enjoy the series.

SEAN: And a new shoujo series from Betsuhana, as we get the first volume of Yukarism. If you enjoyed Yurara, this is by the same creator.

MICHELLE: I’m really curious about this one! I haven’t read nearly as much Chika Shiomi as I should’ve. (But I bought all her stuff! That counts for something, right?)

ASH: I’m actually very excited for this one! Gender-bending, time travel, historical romance… this should be good.

MJ: I am so on board for this. I actually never read Yurara, but I loved Rasetsu, which stood better on its own than I ever expected.

ANNA: I REALLY like Chika Shiomi series. The art is great, and often there are some darker themes in her paranormal romance series that are quite intriguing. My favorite of her series so far is Night of the Beasts that was released by Go!Comi back in the day.

SEAN: What appeals to you in this rather large list?

Manga Giveaway: Seven Seas Sampler

November 26, 2014 by Ash Brown

The end of the month draws near, so it’s once again time for another manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! As is tradition, November’s giveaway features multiple volumes. This month you will all have a chance to win a sampling of some of Seven Sea’s manga releases, both old and new: A Centaur’s Life, Volume 1 by Kei Murayama; Dictatorial Grimoire, Volume 1: Cinderella by Ayumi Kanou; Gakuen Polizi, Volume 1 by Milk Morinaga; and Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Omnibus 1 written by Satoru Akahori and illustrated by Yukimaru Katsura. And as always, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Dictatorial Grimoire, Volume 1: Cinderella

It used to be that I didn’t pay much attention to Seven Seas. It had a smallish catalog and I wasn’t particularly interested in most of the series it was publishing at the time. But with the success of Monster Musume and the various Alice series, Seven Seas has really taken off in recent years. And increased sales mean even more manga licenses. Seven Seas has been making a particular point to diversify its offerings lately. It has helped revive interest in yuri manga in English. A range of genres are being released, including slice-of-life, comedy, fantasy, horror, mystery, and science fiction among others. There are otome manga as well as quirky shounen series. Ecchi and fanservice manga features heavily, but there are more wholesome titles, too. Seven Seas really is trying to have a little something of everything and a little something for everyone. I might not personally be interested in every license the publisher picks up, but I do like seeing the variety of works. You’ve caught my attention, Seven Seas. Now show me what you can do.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a Seven Seas Sampler?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite manga released or licensed by Seven Seas if you have one. (If you don’t have a favorite or haven’t read any of Seven Seas manga, just 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).

It’s as easy as that. Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. As usual, participants will have one week to submit comments. Entries can also be sent via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com which I will then post in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on December 3, 2014. Happy feasting!

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: Seven Seas Sampler Winner

My Week in Manga: November 17-November 23, 2014

November 23, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted last week at Experiments in Manga, and a little something else as well! The first review was for the second part of Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, the third volume in Kouhei Kadono’s Boogiepop light novel series. Boogiepop is a rather peculiar series, but I’ve really been enjoying it. And speaking of series that I enjoy, I also reviewed the fifth omnibus of Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura. Vinland Saga is an epic work of historical fiction, and one of my favorite manga series currently being released in English. And, as promised, last week I also posted a poll so that readers of Experiments in Manga can help pick my next monthly manga review project. I’ve narrowed the choices down to five horror manga options, and now it’s up to you to vote. The poll will be open through the end of November.

A few things of note that I encountered online last week: It was brought to my attention that Akino Kondoh’s collection Nothing Whatsoever All Out in the Open is now available to order. Publishers Weekly has a great list of 12 Awesome Comics about Outer Space compiled by Matt White which includes Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes, Chūya Koyama’s Space Brothers, and Yukinobu Hoshino’s 2001 Nights, which are all excellent choices. Finally, Johanna Draper Carlson has a nice recap of the recent Digtial Manga Tezuka Kickstarter debacle/failure over at Manga Worth Reading.

Quick Takes

Angel Sanctuary, Volumes 6-10 by Kaori Yuki. Halfway through the series, and I still find Angel Sanctuary a bit frustrating and confusing. It’s difficult to follow because there is so much going and and there are so many characters, with even more being introduced in these volumes Angel Sanctuary is incredibly ambitious, but I’m afraid that Yuki has bitten off too much to chew; the series would be stronger with a little more focus. Even though it seems like Yuki is making things up as she goes along, her author’s notes would seem to indicate that she actually does have a plan and even the major plot twists were developed well in advance. To the reader, though, it feels like they come out of nowhere. If anything, it should be very clear by this point in the series that you really can’t trust any of the characters. They all have their own ambitions and motivations, so it’s almost impossible for any of them to be considered allies for a long period of time. I can’t deny that Angel Sanctuary is extraordinarily dramatic, and a string of betrayals continues to up the stakes. And even though the story is all over the place, I do still really enjoy Yuki’s gothic artwork.

Barakamon, Volume 1 by Satsuki Yoshino. Seishuu Handa is a young, award-winning calligrapher who, after handling a critique of his work quite poorly, has been encouraged by his father to at least temporarily retire to the remote Gotō Island. Thus begins Barakamon, a fairly low-key comedy that’s part slice of life and part gag manga. Much of the humor either revolves around Seishuu, a city boy, being so out-of-place in the countryside, or Naru, a young, energetic troublemaker who’s grown rather attached to “Sensei.” Though generally amusing, Barakamon is never quite as funny as I actually want it to be. I’ll admit though, since I grew up in a rural village myself, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit satisfied when Seishuu gets shown up by the island’s residents, especially because he thinks so little of them to begin with. I can appreciate Seishuu’s struggles as an artist, too, though I can’t say that I like him very much as a person, yet. But, I suspect that’s what Barakamon is in part about–Seishuu becoming a better person after some much-needed self-reflection. While no means exceptional in art or story, I did largely enjoy the first volume of Barakamon and plan on continuing the series for a least another few volumes.

Smut Peddler 2014 by Various. After being revived in 2012, Smut Peddler is back again in 2014 with a second collection of short, erotic comics. Some of the contributors are new to Smut Peddler while others are returning to the series. Smut Peddler 2014 includes twenty-five comics from thirty-two artists and writers. Although some of the individual comics are phenomenal, overall I think the first collection is the stronger of the two. Even so, Smut Peddler remains one of the best series for diverse, sex-positive, lady-friendly, queer-friendly, kink-friendly erotic comics. There’s straight sex, and queer sex. There’s modest sex and flamboyant sex. Sweet sex and spicy sex. Sex with humor and sex with solemnity. And there’s everything in between, too. With the inclusion of a few science fiction and fantasy tales, there’s also alien and inter-species sex, which is always fun. I was particularly pleased to see how many transgender and/or nonbinary narratives were included in the 2014 edition of Smut Peddler. The sheer variety of genres, styles, characters, and stories found in Smut Peddler is one of the highlights of the series. The fact that the creators are just as diverse as their comics makes it even better.

Manga the Week of 11/26

November 20, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Anna N and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: The last week of the month is usually a nice breather after the deluge of the previous three weeks, giving us a chance to catch up on the piles of manga still out there. But there are still a few tasty bits of manga for (American) Thanksgiving.

We’ll start with the tastiest, the long-awaited release from Dark Horse of Satoshi Kon’s Opus. It’s an omnibus of the original 2-volume Japanese release, and also apparently fairly metatextual. It’s also by Satoshi Kon, which is reason enough to buy it.

ASH: Oh! I knew this one was in the works, but hadn’t realized it was being released so soon!

MJ: Wow, this snuck up on me!

ANNA: This does sound interesting.

SEAN: From the sublime to the ridiculous, as Kodansha has the 2nd omnibus release of Attack on Titan Junior High. A lot of fans of the regular Titan series I think found this humor a bit too broad for their tastes, but I loved it, and appreciated the focus it gave to some of the minor characters from the main series. For anyone who likes comedy gag manga.

ASH: I agree. The first omnibus was surprisingly entertaining.

SEAN: Fairy Tail has its 44th volume, and we’re only 4 months behind Japan now!

There’s also the 2nd volume of xxxHOLIC Rei, where I keep hoping they’ll ignore that something is clearly wrong with this universe and keep giving me wonderful short unconnected supernatural stories.

MJ: I’m totally on board with whatever is wrong with this universe, and definitely looking forward to this volume! Hurray!

SEAN: If Syaoran shows up, I’m blaming you.

ANNA: I never thought the day would come when I would be very ambivalent about a CLAMP book, but here we are.

MICHELLE: I’m not exactly ambivalent about it, but I never finished the first xxxHOLiC, so Rei is sort of putting the cart before the horse for me.

SEAN: Cardfight!! Vanguard has its fourth volume come out from Vertical Comics. I hear the manga and anime are quite different.

Lastly, we have a digital only release (the physical volume is out in February), but it’s one we have been waiting almost 20 years for. The final volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion drops next week, and fans keep wondering if its finale will be slightly less apocalyptic and bleak than the anime or movies. We’ll find out soon.

Anything whet your appetite as you wait for all that turkey?

My Week in Manga: November 10-November 16, 2014

November 17, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I posted two reviews at Experiments in Manga. The first review of was of Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 1 written by Tsuina Miura and illustrated by Gamon Sakurai. It’s a manga with a rather dark atmosphere that deals with immortals, which is right up my alley. The first volume was a good start to the series; I’m looking forward to seeing how it continues to develop. The second review was of The Legend of Bold Riley, created by Leia Weathington and illustrated by a number of different artists. The review was actually the final review in my Year of Yuri project, so over the weekend I posted a wrap-up for the project as a whole. Later this week, most likely on Friday, a poll will go live so that readers of Experiments in Manga can vote to help me select my next monthly review project.

I came across a few fun and interesting things elsewhere online last week, too. Mangabrog has a translation of a conversation between Katsuhiro Otomo and Takehiko Inoue from 2012. Kate Beaton posted the second part of her collection of comics based on Natsume Sōseki Kokoro (a novel that I’ve reviewed in the past). The Ceiling Gallery posted “Girl Talk”, an article about “the life, friends and music of manga author Okazaki Kyoko” which is well worth reading. Anna Madill, a professor at The University of Leeds, is currently conducting research into boys’ love fandom. If you’re an English-speaking boys’ love fan, please consider assisting her research by completing a brief BL Fandom Survey.

Quick Takes

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Satoshi Mizukami. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, but I ended up enjoying the first volume immensely. One morning, college student Amamiya Yuuhi wakes up to discover a talking lizard in his bed, requesting his help to protect a princess destined to save the world from an evil mage bent on destroying Earth by using a giant hammer floating in space. Despite his initial reluctance to get involved in the whole mess, Yuuhi decides to become her knight because of one simple fact: The only reason Samidare (who need little protection) wants to save the world is so that she can destroy it herself. Much like its title, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is kind of strange. Both the characters and story are quirky, a little goofy, and rather bizarre. The manga is also quite a bit darker than it first appears; the characters are all revealed to have twisted pasts and tragedies to work through. It’s particularly interesting to see protagonists who are closer to being supervillians than superheros. I’m still not entirely sure where Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer is heading, but I’m really looking forward to reading more of the series and finding out.

My Japanese Husband Thinks I’m Crazy by Grace Buchele Mineta. A companions of sorts to her blog Texan in Tokyo, My Japanese Husband Thinks I’m Crazy! is a collection of autobiographical comics and essays about Mineta’s life in Japan, her work as a freelancer, and her intercultural marriage. I’ll admit, I haven’t actually read much of Texan in Tokyo, but the comics made me laugh, so I decided to pick up the book. Some of the material collected is new to the volume while other material comes directly from the blog. My Japanese Husband Thinks I’m Crazy! is a wonderfully amusing and at times even enlightening collection. The main “characters” are Mineta herself, her salaryman husband Ryosuke, and Marvin–a talking rabbit who’s a figment of her imagination, the result of “stress, coffee, and loneliness from being a freelancer in Tokyo.” The comics are sweet, charming, and short, generally only a single page consisting of a few panels. Many of the comics are personal in nature, but some of Minata’s experiences are certainly shared by other foreign residents and visitors to Japan. My Japanese Husband Thinks I’m Crazy! is a fun way to learn little tidbits about Japan and Japanese culture.

Yakuza in Love, Volumes 1-3 by Shiuko Kano. Despite being one of the boys’ love creators with the most manga published in English, which I assume would be an indicator of her popularity, I generally find Kano’s work to be fairly hit-or-miss with me. Sadly, Yakuza in Love largely falls into the miss category. The short series is one of Kano’s earliest works, and it shows. The pacing is all over the place and frequently rushed, the action is difficult to follow, the sex and supposed romance doesn’t always mesh with the story, the plot doesn’t distinguish itself from any other generic yakuza-themed boys’ love manga, and she can’t quite seem to decide if she’s going for comedy or drama. She probably should have stuck with the humor–as a whole, Yakuza in Love simply doesn’t work as well when it takes itself too seriously. It wasn’t all bad, though. Just perhaps a little too ambitious. The best part of Yakuza in Love is actually all of the extras at the end which take up the last half of the third volume. Kano relaxes and just has fun with her characters, actually giving them more depth while parodying her own story. As a result, the extras end up being much more enjoyable.

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun directed by Mitsue Yamazaki. Based off of an ongoing yonkoma manga series by Izumi Tsubaki, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is an absolutely delightful twelve-episode anime series. The titular Nozaki is a tall, stoic, and slightly oblivious high school student who, despite what most people would assume from his appearance, also happens to be a published shoujo mangaka. Sakura has a crush on Nozaki, but when she tries to confess her love to him she somehow winds up as one of his assistants instead. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is a very funny and enjoyable series which freely plays around with shoujo manga tropes and character types. Nozaki finds inspiration for his manga from the other students at school, usually in slightly unexpected ways. He’s also amassed a handful of assistants in addition to Sakura, all with their own quirks and relationship problems which provide plenty of material for Nozaki to work with which eventually ends up in his manga. For the most part the anime tends to be fairly episodic, though there are several recurring characters and running jokes. Overall, the series is a tremendous amount of fun with a large cast of likeable characters.

Manga the Week of 11/19

November 13, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 1 Comment

SEAN: So. Many. Books.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: Kodansha has the 5th volume of shoujo romance My Little Monster, which is still dealing with social ineptness in the best way.

MJ: I feel like I’m really missing out by not reading this. I probably have to fix that.

MICHELLE: I do honestly think that you would like it.

ASH: You should!

ANNA: Now I feel like I should be reading this! But I have far far too much manga to get caught up on.

SEAN: And the 2nd volume of Noragami, which I’m hoping kicks things into gear now that we have a 3rd cast member.

ASH: By the end, I rather enjoyed the first volume. Looking forward to seeing how the series develops.

SEAN: Seven Seas has another Devils and Realist, which I’m hoping keeps the denial in addition to all its handsome devils.

ASH: This series has actually really started to grow on me.

ANNA: I liked the first volume well enough but haven’t picked up the others for whatever reason.

SEAN: Dragonar Academy 4 has dragons and fanservice, possibly not in that order.

Kokoro Connect was surprisingly serious about its body swapping, even if at times the exposition felt a bit stilted. I look forward to seeing where the second volume goes.

Monster Musume 5 has monsters and fanservice, possibly not in that order.

ASH: Since both things are fairly constant, I’m not sure there can be much of an order…

SEAN: Prophecy is our first new title, a seinen title involving a masked man who predicts crimes… which then happen. This looks pretty grim, but is supposed to be a real page-turner.

MJ: Oooo, I like the sound of that.

MICHELLE: Me, too! Something just got added to my shopping list!

ASH: I’ll be checking it out!

ANNA: I’m intrigued but am reserving judgement until you guys check it out.

SEAN: Viz, as always in the 3rd week of the month, has its ‘Signature’ series titles. We have another volume of Gangsta, which I’m starting to like even more than Black Lagoon, its spiritual predecessor.

ASH: I think I do, too, actually.

SEAN: Ooku hasn’t come out in ages, so a 10th volume is very welcome.

MJ: Yay, yay, yay! And more yay!

MICHELLE: What she said.

ASH: And another yay for good measure!

ANNA: Yet another yay for Ooku!

SEAN: And I know the Manga Bookshelf crew will be ecstatic with a 13th volume of Real.

MJ: Truth.

MICHELLE: I am performing the Baby Groot dance as we speak.

ASH: Real is a phenomenal series. If you’re not already reading it, give it a try!

ANNA: It is really great.

SEAN: I’ve never played the games, but one can’t deny the overwhelming popularity of the Resident Evil franchise, and here we have the first volume of a manga adaptation called The Marwha Desire, which ran in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion.

Terra Formars 3 is also coming out.

Yen On has a 2nd volume of the light novel Accel World, whose first volume I enjoyed, and whose protagonist is intriguing, so I will see where it goes from here.

MJ: I’m on board for this, definitely!

SEAN: The big light novel out next week, though, is even more well-known in the anime and manga fandom. A Certain Magical Index has become a giant franchise, whose anime is already out over here, and whose manga spinoff, A Certain Scientific Railgun, has sold quite well indeed. Now see where it all began, with this first volume.

Ani-Imo is a shoujo title from Aria, a magazine known for odd shoujo titles. Do you like bodyswapping? Do you like suggestions of incest? Then you’ll love this title, whose creator has been doing ‘saucy’ shoujo for years.

MJ: I was right there… until “incest.” Just. No.

MICHELLE: That’s an odd shoujo title for sure. Even the cover art looks like it’s meant for some other demographic.

ANNA: Yeah, I don’t think so.

SEAN: Anything I could have said about BTOOOM! I got out with the previous 7 volumes, so… 8.

Durarara!! continues adapting the third novel with the 2nd volume of the Yellow Scarves arc. (That can be confusing. Welcome to light novel adaptations, here’s your accordion.)

Another debut with Gou-dere Sora Nagihara, which ran in Hakusensha’s Young Animal Arashi. It’s pretty ecchi, and involves an otaku’s 2D fantasy girl coming to life and not being quite the shy, demure girl he was expecting.

Speaking of ecchi, another volume of High School DxD is here.

Higurashi: When They Cry ended last year, and Rika finally got her happy ending, provided she doesn’t do anything foolish like bike in front of a truck. (cough) Please enjoy Higurashi’s “epilogue”, the Dice-Killing Arc.

Jack Frost has reached its final, 11th volume! No more head-raising antics!

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya also has its 20th and final volume, though the spinoffs are still running. Forever doomed to be in the shadow of the novels and anime, it’s probably for the best it ends here as it runs out of novel to adapt.

Milkyway Hitchhiking is a new manwha from the creator of One Fine Day, and is also in full color. It seems to be episodic tales connected by a time-space cat.

MJ: Wahoo! I loved One Fine Day, so I am very enthusiastic about this.

MICHELLE: Oh! I forgot this was coming out. It looks like very much my sort of thing.

ASH: Space-time kitty!

ANNA: This does sound quite appealing.

SEAN: Pandora Hearts 22… MJ?

MJ: You know me so well. I will be eating this up with a spoon.

SEAN: As well as the Pandora Hearts artbook, Odds & Ends… MJ?

MJ: It’s beautiful! Truly. Really, truly. And I offer proof (thanks to Sean).

SEAN: Soul Eater’s covers are still nearly black, which tells me things are still not looking good for our heroes as we head towards the story’s climax.

And there’s also the 4th volume of Soul Eater NOT!, which I believe is also a final volume. Who will Tsugumi choose as her girlfr… um, partner?

Everyone’s least favorite arc of Sword Art Online, Fairy Dance, has its 2nd manga volume ship.

MJ: Heh, I haven’t enjoyed the manga as much as the novels (or the anime), but I’ll take it.

SEAN: Lastly, Triage X marches on, with its 8th volume out next week.

That’s not too much. Surely you can buy all of that in one week, right?

3 Things Thursday: SOS

November 13, 2014 by MJ 8 Comments

As I was casting about for ideas for this week’s column, I found myself consistently drawn back to a manga-related quandary in my own life that I have not quite been able to resolve. As you know, I have recently opened up my personal manga collection as a library for my students (with a few rules in place about age appropriateness). It’s gone about as well as I expected, which is to say that a small number have shown interest. My problem is this: while I have had no trouble at all recommending manga for my teen students, I have been pretty well flummoxed by requests for recommendations from parents of my tweens. These kids are mostly girls, 9-11 (some will turn 12 over the course of this school year), very smart, highly imaginative, fabulously ambitious, heavy readers, into the arts, and not particularly interested in romance or other “teen” concerns. And while I have a few series I’ve recommended for kids in this age range in the past, I don’t consider them ideal for a number of reasons. Let’s take a look:

1. Shugo Chara! | Peach Pit | Kodansha Comics – This is a title I love very much and have recommended for younger readers in the past, for lots of reasons. It’s got a fantastic female protagonist (and lots of other great girl characters as well), wonderful friendships, an emphasis on positivity and cooperation, action, adventure, pretty artwork, and some pretty enticing, tween-fantasy romance, the likes of which my childhood self would have eaten up with a spoon. Thing is, these girls are (for the most part) much, much less interested in boys than I was a their age, which is great, but also makes this a far less compelling choice. Also, the early storytelling and artwork, especially, I think might strike these girls as childish (which, I find, tends to be way less forgivable to actual children than it is to adults). So as much as I love this series, I am having trouble recommending it to these particular girls. Also in this category: Cardcaptor Sakura.

2. Sugar Sugar Rune | Moyoco Anno | Del Rey Manga – While this title is more combative than romantic, its wry take on romance as a competitive sport between girls is commenting on a social structure that, frankly, I’m hoping these particular girls are going to play a part in crushing. In my day, girls their age were already learning how to hate each other and bring each other down in pursuit of popularity with boys, and I see none of that at all in this collection of smart, empowered young girls. In fact, their kindness to each other pretty much blows me away any time I see them interacting as a group. The kind of competitiveness Sugar Sugar Rune so deftly skewers just does not seem to be part of their lives, and I’m hesitant to introduce it to them. Same problem (though less humorously approached): Fushigi Yugi.

3. Fullmetal Alchemist | Hiromu Arakawa | Viz Media – I love Fullmetal Alchemist. Everyone knows how much I love Fullmetal Alchemist. This is not a secret. So it should come to no surprise to anyone that it tends to be my number-one go-to manga recommendation for any kid with reading skills developed enough to take it on. It’s got incredible world-building, intricate plotting, compelling characters, heart-wrenching drama, hilarious comedy, action, adventure, fantastic artwork, minimal romance, and (hooray!) awesome female characters. Unfortunately, none of those female characters is the protagonist. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s a shounen manga, and its protagonists are among my favorites of all time. They are smart and funny and totally woman-friendly. They are written by an extremely talented woman. All these are reasons why this is my number-one, most recommended series for kids, including these girls. But man do I wish that I had something this good to recommend to them with girl protagonists, but without the romance themes they do not care about. At all. Similar problem: Hikaru no Go.

So let’s get to the real reason for this column. I do not doubt that there are series floating around that are perfect for my tween girls. I’m certain there are. I just may not own them. For the sake of these students (and for mine as well!), however, I’d be open to picking up a series or two to add to my library. So what do you recommend. With the girls I’ve described in mind, what manga would you recommend I give them?

My Week in Manga: November 3-November 9, 2014

November 10, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga the winner of the Sherlock Bones manga giveaway was announced. As usual, I took the opportunity to compile a list of manga as well, in this case a list of manga available in English that feature detectives or other crime solvers. I also posted two reviews last week. The first review was of No. 6, Volume 9, the final volume of Hinoki Kino’s No. 6 manga adaptation. I’m happy to report that the manga has a much less rushed and much more complete ending than the anime adaptation had. And for something completely different, I also reviewed Ivan Morris’ translation of The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon last week. It may have been written in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but it’s still an engaging and enjoyable work.

Interesting reading found elsewhere online included a look at some of the most completely collected manga series in Japan, many of which have been licensed in English in whole or in part. (I was happy to see some of my personal favorites, like Parasyte and Hikaru no Go on the list.) Brigid Alverson has a nice overview of the current state of the manga industry in North America for School Library Journal. And over at A Case for Suitable for Treatment, Sean Gaffney has a roundup of some of the recent manga licenses from various publishers. There are also two surveys that are going on right now. Viz has its Fall 2014 Anime and Manga Survey and Vertical has its first ever light novel survey. Last but not least, Khursten Santos of Otaku Champloo has an excellent writeup of the Manga Futures conference recently held in Australia.

Quick Takes

Black Jack, Volumes 14-17 by Osamu Tezuka. It’s a shame that much of Black Jack has gone out of print. Fortunately, Vertical announced just last week that it will be publishing ebooks of all its Tezuka manga, so readers who missed Black Jack in print will at least be able to read it digitally. Even though Black Jack isn’t my favorite Tezuka manga, I enjoy the series immensely and Black Jack is one of my favorite Tezuka characters. He can be a bit of a bastard, but there’s usually a reason for it and it tends to mostly be a cover for his extraordinary compassion. He’s also amazingly skilled. Some of the stories in Black Jack are fairly improbable although still highly entertaining while others are actually quite realistic. (Tezuka’s medical training comes in very handy for Black Jack.) Plastic surgery, specifically surgeries that are intended to change or hide a person’s identity, are particularly prominent in these final volumes. It provides an interesting contrast to Black Jack himself who rarely denies who he is. The seventeenth volume in Vertical’s edition of Black Jack also includes a handy guide to the publication history of the individual chapters.

Black Rose Alice, Volume 2 by Setona Mizushiro. I absolutely loved the first volume of Black Rose Alice and I remained captivated by the second. It’s a strange, dark, and disconcerting series. Mizushiro’s vampires are completely different from any other type of vampire that I’ve come across in fiction. I do like that, but it’s also challenging since readers can’t rely on an already established mythos or assume what it actually means to be a vampire; Mizushiro has to explain it all. I’m not sure that I actually understand everything that is going on with the vampires yet, but I’m assuming that more will be revealed as the series progresses. One thing is certain, though: they are definitely very creepy. In exchange for the life of the young man with whom she is in love, Azusa has entered into an agreement with a nest of vampires. Out of the four vampires, she must choose one to procreate with after which they will both die. The relationship dynamics are bizarre, and honestly a little discomforting, but very compelling as the vampires vie for her affections. It’s not as simple as choosing one of the vampires; in order to fulfill her agreement, she will actually have to come to love them. I’m really looking forward to reading more of Black Rose Alice.

Same Difference by Nozomu Hiiragi. Tsuburaya and Ozaki are the elite of the elite, and both adored by the women at the company where they work. (So much so that the ladies literally swoon in their presence.) However, Ozaki isn’t used to sharing the attention, and so decides to make Tsuburaya fall in love with him, unintentionally falling for Tsuburaya in the process. Out of the two of them, Ozaki is more muscular and crude while Tsuburaya is more elegant and refined. Despite arguably being the more masculine and aggressive of the pair, Ozaki is often the one being out-maneuvered by Tsuburaya in their seemingly antagonistic relationship. It’s not that Tsuburaya dislikes Ozaki–quite the opposite, actually–it’s just that he has a sadistic streak and enjoys making the other man squirm. Same Difference is definitely played for laughs more than romance. Apparently the manga is actually an ongoing series that’s currently up to three volumes in Japan, which I hadn’t realized while reading it. Unfortunately, only the first volume has been licensed in English at this point. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind reading more of the series. It doesn’t have the most subtle, nuanced, or realistic characters or story, but it’s amusingly ridiculous and doesn’t take itself seriously at all.