Features

My Week in Manga: June 30-July 6, 2014

July 6, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

The first week of the month tends to be a little slow at Experiments in Manga (at least it feels slow to me). Granted, there were still three posts last week. The Juné Manga Giveaway Winner was announced, which also includes a list of some favorite Juné manga. June’s Bookshelf Overload was posted. (My wallet thanks me that June was a little less ridiculous than the last few month have been.) And finally, the first in-depth manga review of July goes to Battle Royale: Angels’ Border. Written by the author of the original Battle Royale novel, the volume collects two side stories about the girls who try to survive the death match by banding together at a lighthouse. Angels’ Border is surprisingly romantic, but if you know anything about Battle Royale, you know that things don’t end very well for almost anyone involved.

There were plenty of things that I found to read online last week. Here’s a quick list of a few of the posts that I thought were particularly interesting: Ryan Holmberg takes a look at Hayashi Seiichi’s pop music manga, specifically focusing on “Flowering Harbour” (which is now available in English!) Moyoco Anno was interviewed by Publishers Weekly. The Beautiful World has created a Transgender Manga Masterpost. J. R. Brown has a fascinating article about what can be gleaned by paying attention to the details of ukiyo-e prints. And Justin has a rant about the state of manga in translation that is worth reading. Also, Anime Expo was last week and there were a ton of announcements. Sean has a good roundup of the licenses at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

Quick Takes

Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star by Cain Kuga. Of the two Cowboy Bebop manga, Shooting Star was actually the first to be released in Japan although it was the second series to be published in English. Technically, it also preceded the Cowboy Bebop anime series, which I hadn’t previously realized. However, it’s still based on the anime. Kuga was given free rein with the characters and story, which makes Shooting Star not exactly a retelling but more like an alternate version or universe. The manga isn’t as dark as the anime (though there’s humor to be found there as well), and the story is somewhat different, but the basic premise of near-future bounty hunters in space remains. Frankly, though vaguely entertaining in places, Shooting Star just isn’t as good as the anime, the action can be difficult to follow, and the slapstick is a little too silly for my taste. Shooting Star will most likely be of interest to established fans of the Cowboy Bebop anime as a curiosity more than anything else. Even though Shooting Star mostly stands on its own, people who haven’t seen the anime probably won’t get much out of it.

I Shall Never Return, Volumes 1-5 by Kazuna Uchida. Although the first volume of I Shall Never Return is a little shaky at the start (and parts of Ken’s stepfather’s backstory seem to be unnecessary and superfluous), overall I was actually rather impressed with this short boys’ love series. Ken comes from a broken home and is a high school dropout. His best friend Ritsuro was the only stable thing in his life but now they’re having problems, too. I Shall Never Return is filled with drama and deals with some very mature themes, such as abuse, drug use, prostitution, and rape. Terrible things happen and I was constantly waiting for something even worse. But there are also some wonderful moments of support, love, and acceptance. One of the things that I found particularly interesting about I Shall Never Return is that while it’s definitely a romance, the two leads actually spend much of the series apart from each other. Ritsuro remains in Japan while Ken travels to Singapore and then to India, trying to find a new start and become a better person. They have to deal with a long-distance relationship at the same time they’re coming to terms with their feelings for each another. It’s a believable and difficult process.

Knights of Sidonia, Volumes 8-9 by Tsutomu Nihei. Maybe it’s because the manga’s such a bizarrely quirky series–a strange mix of science fiction, horror, and romantic comedy–but I can’t help but love Knights of Sidonia a little more with each passing volume. Nagate, Tsumugi, and Izana make a marvelous and frequently awkward family unit. And even considering that Tsumugi is a monstrous human-Gauna hybrid, she manages to be endearingly charming, sweet, and adorable. Nagate continues to be socially inept, though certainly less so, and Izana has fallen more in love with him, which has triggered physical changes. The three of them together are simply delightful, forming a not quite love triangle. In direct contrast to the humor and cheerfulness surrounding the trio, humanity’s fight for survival against the Gauna remains terrifyingly intense and death tolls continue to rise. Sometimes the battles can be a little difficult to follow, but they’re always exhilarating. There are some definite sexual overtones to Knights of Sidonia in these two volumes, which are especially apparent in the artwork, but this appropriately adds to the series’ more disconcerting atmosphere.

This One Summer written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. The Tamakis are a pair of cousins who previously worked together on the award-winning graphic novel Skim. This One Summer is their second collaboration. The story follows Rose over the course of her family’s summer vacation at Awago Beach where they have always rented a cottage. Rose’s mother has become more distant over the last year and can’t seem to relax, creating a significant amount of tension. There are reasons for that, though, and Rose is more perceptive than her parents might realize. But because communication has broken down between them all, it may be a while before everything will be okay again. Meanwhile, Rose spends time with her friend Windy, enjoying the beach and bingeing on horror films that they probably shouldn’t be watching at their age. In the background another drama is unfolding among the local teenagers when one of the young women discovers that she might be pregnant. It’s heartbreaking to see how insidious sexism can be. In addition to the strong and effectively layered storytelling in This One Summer, the artwork is beautiful as well.

YowamushiPedal Yowamushi Pedal, Episodes 15-26 directed by Osamu Nabeshima. This set of episodes finishes up the Sohoku racing club’s grueling training camp and then launches almost directly into the Inter-High race, following the competition up through the first section of the first day and ending with one heck of a dramatic plot development. Yowamushi Pedal manages to be incredibly exciting, mostly due the intensity and passion of the characters and because it includes just a touch of the ridiculous. More characters and teams are introduced, and more backstories and rivalries are revealed in this part of the series, too. The animation is sadly a bit inconsistent, sometimes impressively good while at other times lacking in finesse. Although I enjoy cycling, I’ve never really followed road racing closely. I was surprised to learn just how much teamwork can go into it; I’d always assumed it was more of an individual event. I’ve also enjoyed learning more about some of the strategies involved in racing. (And I’ll admit, now that the weather is finally decent where I live I really want to get my bike out again and hit the road! Who says watching anime can’t be good for you?)

Manga the Week of 7/9

July 3, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, MJ, Anna N and Ash Brown 1 Comment

SEAN: It may not be hot where you are, but Connecticut? It’s hot. Too hot. Can manga save us from the doldrums of summer?

MICHELLE: I am in Florida. Such hot. Very yuck.

MJ: New England, also hot. And stormy. Which sounds sexier than it is.

ANNA: I will be in Central Illinois, which will be hot and humid!

SEAN: Digital Manga Publishing has another BL series trundle along, with Vol. 5 of multi-punctuated Hey Class President!!.

Kodansha unveils a slew of July titles. Seven Deadly Sins hits its third volume, and I have no doubt will give us a little more background on the newly-introduced Ban/Greed.

ASH: It took a few chapters to hook me, but at this point I’m looking forward to reading more of Seven Deadly Sins.

SEAN: Sherlock Bones has leapt forward in time to show our leads as adults (or adult dogs) right as the series hits its penultimate volume.

ASH: I was happy to see that the protagonists weren’t going to be stuck in high school forever.

SEAN: Fans of Akamatsu may have been keeping up with UQ Holder via Crunchyroll’s site, but for those who crave print, the 2nd volume also drops next week.

MICHELLE: I wish I had something to say about any of these, but I do not.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: And we have some more goodies from Viz. 07-GHOST has Vol. 11 come out, and I think the Manga Bookshelf team finds itself falling further and further behind?

MICHELLE: Yep. I look at the growing pile on my shelf periodically and remind myself that I need to read it.

ANNA: Me too! It is a really good series, I am looking forward to binging on back issues once I do start reading it.

SEAN: Speaking of impossible catchups, Case Closed is now at Vol. 51.

Fullmetal Alchemist is down to its last two omnibuses. If you get all nine, you’ll have the truly essential parts of this manga – which is to say, all of it.

ASH: Fullmetal Alchemist is great!

MJ: Yes, it is! And to Sean’s point, one of the things I love best about it is that, unlike a lot of long-running manga, it is a single, coherent story with a real beginning, middle, and end. Nothing is superfluous, so yes, every volume is essential.

ANNA: I need to finish this series one day! Actually, I think I’ll start by rereading from the beginning.

SEAN: The third Ranma 1/2 omnibus introduces a major antagonist (Cologne); a major antagonist/butt-monkey (Mousse); and a minor yet incredibly irritating thorn in Ranma’s side (Gosunkugi). All this plus the usual Takahashi comedy and non-romance.

And if that’s not enough Takahashi for you, the 15th volume of Rin-Ne drops the same week, forcing unfortunate comparisons between its sedate, mild couple and Ranma 1/2’s violent, boisterous one.

MICHELLE: Some Takahashi sounds awfully appealing right now, actually.

SEAN: What manga cools you down the most?

My Week in Manga: June 23-June 29, 2014

June 30, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Another three posts last week! It’s the end of June, so I decided to have a Juné Manga Giveaway. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, so there’s still some time left to enter for a chance to win a copy of Momoko Tenzen’s boys’ love one-shot Flutter. Last week I also took a closer look at the two Gengoroh Tagame manga recently published by Bruno Gmünder, Endless Game and Gunji. (And speaking of Bruno Gmünder, more titles for its Gay Manga line have been announced! Look for Mentaiko Itto’s Priapus, Takeshi Matsu’s More and More of You, and Tagame’s Fisherman’s Lodge in English later this year.) Finally, I posted a review of Kaoru Ohno’s historical novel Cage on the Sea which is about the survival and eventual repatriation of the Japanese holdouts on Anatahan Island after World War II. It was a story that was sensationalized in the 1950s, but Ohno’s thoroughly researched novel is a much more nuanced portrayal of the events and people involved.

Quick Takes

Fairy Tail, Volume 38 by Hiro Mashima. While the battles and challenges could be entertaining, I’ll admit that I had started to grow a little weary of the Grand Magic Games arc of Fairy Tail. Thankfully, a secondary (which has now become primary) plot was introduced which has much higher stakes than who will be declared the winner of the tournament. The possibility of the world being destroyed by the return of the dragons is a pretty big deal, after all. The lengthy buildup of the Grand Magic Games pays off in this volume though as the tournament reaches its conclusion. Actually, I think it’s one of the better volumes of Fairy Tail to have recently been released. Most of it is devoted to the various battles which are taking place, the Guild members showing just how much they’ve grown and how strong they’ve become in a very dramatic fashion. Friendship, loyalty, and teamwork have always been vital to Fairy Tail, but it really shows in this volume. Even though there is a focus on the action and fighting, there are also some important plot twists and story developments in the thirty-eighth volume, too.

My Love Story!!, Volume 1 written by Kazune Kawahara and illustrated by Aruko. I absolutely adored the first volume of My Love Story!!–it’s funny and charming, and the characters are incredibly amusing and endearing. Although Takeo is heroic, enthusiastic, loyal, manly, and strong, he’s not traditionally good-looking, so people often overlook his better qualities. He falls in love easily, but all of the girls he likes fall for his attractive best friend Suna instead. (So far, Suna’s turned them all down, though.) But when Takeo saves a girl named Yamato from a groper on the train it seems as though his chance at love has finally arrived, if he isn’t too dense to realize it, that is. Takeo’s developing romance with Yamato is delightful, but his close friendship with Suna is marvelous, too. I’m not sure for how long the creators will be able spin the series’ basic premise without it feeling drawn out, but the manga is currently still ongoing at six volumes in Japan. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the next volume immensely; My Love Story!! is easily one of my favorite manga debuts of 2014.

Sankarea: Undying Love, Volume 7 by Mitsuru Hattori. Bub’s condition continues to decline, so Rea has decided to leave for the ZoMA research facility, hoping that her unusual form of zombism will provide a clue to save him. (Is it sad that an undead cat is actually my favorite character in Sankarea?) Chihiro isn’t about to let her go on her own though, in part because he still feels responsible for Rea and wants to protect her, but also because he’s very interested in visiting the “zombie holy land.” Sankarea is a quirky series which tries to balance horror and romantic comedy. This volume actually succeeds fairly well in that. Chihiro has always expressed interest in zombie girls, and he is very excited to meet more of them at ZoMA, which causes him to reevaluate his relationship with Rea. Does he like her simply because she’s a zombie? Would he still like Rea even if there was a way to revive her? Considering Chihiro’s reactions to the other zombies, I could actually see Hattori going either way with the story. The seventh volume is a solid addition to the series, and ends on a pretty intense cliffhanger.

Random Musings: Two from Tagame

June 27, 2014 by Ash Brown

Gengoroh Tagame is an extraordinarily important creator of gay erotic art and manga. He is extremely influential in Japan, but his talent is also recognized worldwide. Tagame’s work has been published in French, Spanish, and Italian, but it wasn’t until 2012 that any of his manga received an English-language release when “Standing Ovations” was collected in the third issue of the erotic comics zine Thickness.

There was a persistent rumor that Tagame didn’t want his work to be published in English, which may have been one of the reasons it took so long for a major release of Tagame’s manga to emerge. Happily, that rumor was unfounded and not at all true; 2013 saw the publication of The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame: The Master of Gay Erotic Manga, which collected stories from over a decade of Tagame’s output.

In part, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame and the efforts of its editor Graham Kolbeins and its producer and translator Anne Ishii led to the establishment of Massive, a line of apparel and goods inspired by gay manga (and especially by the work of Tagame and Jiraiya). Massive also imports, produces, and translates gay manga and collaborates directly with creators of gay Japanese art and comics. I’m very much looking forward to Massive and Fantagraphics’ release of Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It in late 2014 which will include interviews, photography, essays, illustrations, and manga. Tagame will be one of the nine artists featured in the volume.

The publication of The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame may have also helped to open the doors for the German publisher Bruno Gmünder to release two more collections of Tagame’s work in English: Endless Game and Gunji. Bruno Gmünder specializes in high quality releases of gay fiction, nonfiction, comics, art, and photography, so Tagame’s manga fits the publishing house perfectly. In addition to the manga themselves, the volumes also include color illustrations by Tagame. Endless Game and Gunji are the first volumes in Bruno Gmünder’s Gay Manga line of comics. 2014 will also see the release and English debuts of works by Takeshi Matsu and Mentaiko Itto, as well as one of Tagame’s most recent manga, Fisherman’s Lodge. Tagame was also included in Bruno Gmünder’s 2014 artbook Raunch.

Interestingly enough, Bruno Gmünder’s release of Endless Game was actually the volume’s world debut. The English-language edition of Endless Game was published in 2013, while the Japanese edition of the manga wasn’t collected until 2014. Endless Game originally began serialization in 2009 and was completed in 2012. I was particularly interested in the volume because prior to its publication I had only had the opportunity to read selections of Tagame’s short manga; all one-hundred-seventy-six pages of Endless Game are devoted to a single story about a young jock named Akira and his descent into prostitution.

Tagame is particularly well-known for the hardcore BDSM themes found in his manga and artwork and he doesn’t shy away from rape scenarios in his work. The sex in Endless Game however, while still being hardcore and exceptionally explicit, is entirely consensual. Granted, Akira might not be aware of the extent to which he is being manipulated. But everything that he does, all of the filthy and degrading acts in which he participates, he does so willingly. Akira has an insatiable sexual appetite and even when he is being taken advantage of, he revels in it. There is still power play and intense sexual scenarios in Endless Game, but the extreme brutality seen in some of the shorter manga collected in The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame is missing, making this volume more approachable as a whole to a wider audience.

Gunji collects two of Tagame’s earlier works: the Gunji tetralogy (“Gunji,” “Scars,” “Flash Rain,” and “Pyre”), which was serialized between 2002 and 2003, as well as a slightly revised version of “The Ballad of Ôeyama” from 2004. Both of those manga had previously been released in Japanese and in French before the English translation was published in 2014. The Gunji series was serialized in the Muscle Man manga magazine. The anthology became a crossover of sorts between boys’ love and gay manga and attracted both female and male readers and creators. Because of this, Tagame deliberately incorporated more boys’ love-esque elements into the story. The men, while still very masculine, have considerably less body hair compared to some of his other works. “Gunji” was initially written as a one-shot story, but proved to be popular enough that Tagame followed it up with a serialized prequel. Whereas sex drove the plot in Endless Game, in the Gunji manga the plot drives the sex. The titular Gunji is a skilled sushi chef who is tormented by the sadistic son of his late master, whom he loved.

“The Ballad of Ôeyama” is a historical period piece set in 10th-century Japan. The short manga was inspired by the military commander Minamoto no Yorimitsu (also known as Raikō) and the legend of the oni Shuten Douji. In the afterword, Tagame notes that “The Ballad of Ôeyama” was also greatly influenced by Osamu Tezuka’s 1969 manga General Onimaru which he enjoyed reading as a child. (Even Tagame is influenced by Tezuka!) Raikō and two of his followers are sent to quell a demon which has been terrorizing the people of Ôeyama but find themselves captured instead. The demon, it turns out, is a shipwrecked foreigner who after being shunned for so long desires human contact and forcibly takes Raikō. Tagame’s reinterpretation of the Shuten Douji myth is spun into a surprisingly romantic tragedy. As with the Gunji tetralogy, while the erotic content is certainly important to “The Ballad of Ôeyama,” the story itself seems to take slightly more precedence in the development of the manga. Granted, Tagame himself would be the first to admit that his work is pornography and he is very candid about that fact. But one of the things that I appreciate the most about Tagame’s manga is that in addition to being gorgeously and viscerally drawn they also have interesting narratives and compelling psychological elements.

Manga the Week of 7/2

June 26, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, MJ, Michelle Smith and Anna N 3 Comments

SEAN: It’s not QUITE as bad as last month’s pile, but there’s a ton of things out the first week in July. Let’s to’t.

Dark Horse continues to give us omnibuses showcasing Lone Wolf & Cub in larger trim size and far more pages. Here’s the fifth.

ASH: Excellent! I’ve been needing to do a binge read of Lone Wolf & Cub and the omnibuses make that much easier.

MJ: I’m always happy to see more of these!

SEAN: Six volumes is an awfully long time for a Blue Sheep Reverie from DMP. Maybe the sheep should come out of it soon.

MICHELLE: *snerk* I actually kind of liked this one—at least it tried to have a plot—but just sort of drifted away from it. I’m glad it continues to exist.

SEAN: And another ‘we’re not just BL!’ title from DMP, as they put out the first volume of seinen dog-focused manga Kinokoinu – Mushroom Pup, which runs in Comic Ryu (home of A Centaur’s Life), and involves a man who can’t get over the death of his pet dog.

MJ: That sounds… heartbreaking.

Seven Seas has a quartet of titles dropping. Knight’s Knowledge is a Country of Clover title from the Alice franchise. It stars Ace. I’ve found titles where Ace is supporting are much better than titles starring him, but maybe this will be different.

ANNA: It probably says something about me that Ace is my favorite because he is so murderous. I haven’t read any of his solo titles, maybe I will give this a try.

The new series from SS this month is Arpeggio of Blue Steel, which runs in Young King Ours, home of Excel Saga and Hellsing. I warn you in advance, this is another ‘sentient warfare/battleships shown as cute girls’ series. That said, I’ve heard this one is a slight cut above the usual fare, so we’ll see what it brings to the table.

Haganai is a popular series, both here and in Japan, so it makes sense that we’d see a few of the spinoff manga. Now With 50% More Fail is apparently filled with cute comedic one-shots that don’t impact the plot (such as it is).

Lastly, The Sacred Blacksmith continues to nudge its way forward towards its own main plot, here with Vol. 5.

Flowers of Evil 10 is a good 3 volumes over what I expected it to be, but hey, more creepy arty manga is always welcome, even if I dropped the series ages ago. Others here like it, right?

ASH: I do, indeed! The series seems to get better and better with each arc.

MJ: Indeed!

SEAN: The rest is Viz. They’re still giving readers of D.Gray-Man a chance to see it again, with the 4th 3-in-1 due out.

Demon Love Spell features what I believe is the 6th and final volume, and therefore I suspect will finally have a love scene that takes place in the *real* world, unless Mayu Shinjo has been corralled by the Margaret editorial department.

MICHELLE: Will Miko become more powerful than her dad and break his spell so she can get it on with her boyfriend?!

ANNA: I think this is the series where Shinjo effectively blends the sexy angst that was the trademark of her earlier series like Sensual Phrasewith the comedy stylings of Ai Ore. I’ve really enjoyed this series, and I hope Viz has another Shinjo series waiting in the wings.

MJ: I have fallen behind on this series, and am feeling very regretful!

SEAN: Midnight Secretary is almost over, this being the penultimate volume, so no doubt things will get far more serious and dangerous for our vampire and human couple.

ANNA: EEEEEEEE, Midnight Secretary!!!!!!!!

MJ: Heeeeee.

SEAN: Viz’s new shoujo series, My Love Story!!, is one I’ve been looking forward to. By the author of High School Debut, it’s about a guy who longs for a shoujo romance (and this is a shoujo title), despite looking like your typical big, burly, not bishonen at all guy. His struggle begins here.

MICHELLE: I am looking forward to this so much!

ANNA: This sounds great. Planning on picking this up!

ASH: My copy arrived early and I’ve already read it and I loved it and Takeo is the best!

MJ: I am so on board with this.

SEAN: Naruto hits Vol. 66. Be careful! That’s the Third Cousin Once Removed of the Beast!

Nisekoi drops the print volume of Vol. 4. Will it continue to juggle the girls it has, or add a new one to the mix? The eternal question of every harem title.

Phantom Thief Jeanne has Vol. 3, and I suspect things will get even more serious soon, given we’re just about halfway through this omnibus-ish rerelease.

MICHELLE: I’m enjoying this quite a lot.

ANNA: This is my favorite Tanemura series. I’m glad it is getting reissued with an updated translation.

SEAN: Speaking of omnibuses, though not ish in this case, Skip Beat! has its 8th omnibus pop up as well.

MICHELLE: Yay, Skip Beat! Now if only the next standalone volume would hurry up and come out!

ANNA: Skip Beat! is the best.

SEAN: Sweet Rein comes to an end with its third volume, ending inappropriately enough in mid-summer. Expect more Santa and reindeer antics.

ANNA: This was sweet and cute, if not very deep.

MJ: I can’t say that I’m sad to see it go. Does that make me a grinch?

SEAN: Lastly, there is a Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal 5, which I can’t even make jokes about. Here it is, Yu-Gi-Oh fans.

What’s tickling your fancy?

Manga Giveaway: Juné Manga Giveaway (Flutter)

June 25, 2014 by Ash Brown

The end of June is almost here, which means it’s time for Experiments in Manga’s monthly manga giveaway. And, because it’s June, I thought that I would hold a Juné manga giveaway. (I can’t help it, the wordplay amuses me.) This month (almost) everyone has an opportunity to enter for a chance to win a copy of Momoko Tenzen’s boys’ love one-shot Flutter! The giveaway is open worldwide, but if boys’ love and yaoi is illegal in your country, please don’t participate. (Sorry!) You must also be at least eighteen years of age for this particular giveaway.

Last year I received a request to do a Juné manga giveaway. I actually do take requests, for giveaways as well as for reviews, though it might take some time for me to be able to follow through. Still, a Juné manga giveaway was something that I was pretty sure I could make happen. Juné is one of Digital Manga’s boys’ love imprints, taking its name from Japan’s earliest boys’ love magazine June. It’s also one of Digital Manga’s largest imprints with currently over four hundred manga and novels in its catalog. Juné’s first title, Satoru Kannagi and Hotaru Odagiri’s Only the Ring Finger Knows, was released in August 2004, which means the imprint will be celebrating its tenth anniversary very soon. With so many Juné manga to choose from, and with so many that I’ve immensely enjoyed, I had a difficult time picking just one to give away. After putting some thought into it, I finally settled on one of the imprint’s newer one-shot manga that I’ve read recently: Momoko Tenzen’s Flutter. It’s an enjoyable volume with endearing characters and a slowly, quietly developed, slightly awkward romance between two grown men. Plus, one of them happens to be legitimately, and openly, gay. This isn’t particularly common in many of the boys’ love manga that have been translated, so it always makes me happy to see.

So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Flutter?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite Juné manga, if you have one. (And if you don’t, simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

It’s as easy as that! For this giveaway, each person can earn up to two entries and has one week to submit comments. Entries may also be submitted via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com if you prefer or if you encounter problems trying to leave comments. (I will then post the entry in your name.) The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on July 2, 2014. Good luck, and happy June!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, 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: Juné Manga Giveaway Winner

My Week in Manga: June 16-June 22, 2014

June 23, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Well, it wasn’t entirely intentional, but both of my in-depth manga reviews from last week featured manga released by Kodansha Comics. I managed to get my hands on an early copy of Hikaru Suruga’s Attack on Titan: No Regrets, Volume 1, the first installment in a short shoujo series focusing on Erwin and Levi and their pasts. It’s a welcome addition to the Attack on Titan canon and I enjoyed it a great deal. The second review was of Hinoki Kino’s No. 6, Volume 7 which may very well be the best volume yet in the series; it’s intense. I’d still love to read the original novels, but I’m glad that the manga adaptation is being released. I also had a bonus post last week–Random Musings: Cherry Bomb, Cinderseed, and Skyglass. Cherry Bomb is the mature imprint of Chromatic Press. Cinderseed was released through Cherry Bomb and is the prologue to the illustrated novel Skyglass which debuted earlier this month. I’m absolutely loving what I’ve seen of Skyglass so far.

And speaking of great stuff from Chromatic Press, I encourage everyone to check out its Kickstarter to release Gauntlent in print. As for other interesting things found online: The fifth part of Revealing and Concealing Identities: Cross-Dressing in Anime and Manga was posted at The Lobster Dance and focuses on Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son. Sean has a roundup of the recent license announcements from Seven Seas at A Case Suitable for Treatment. The UK-based comics publisher Breakdown Press is launching a series of classic and avant garde manga in translation, starting with Seiichi Hayashi’s Flowering Harbour in July. And last but not least, I discovered manga brog a newish site which already has some extremely interesting content, like a translation of a conversation between Taiyo Matsumoto, Inio Asano, and Keigo Shinzo.

Quick Takes

Click, Volumes 5-8 by Youngran Lee. The relationship dynamics in Click are exceptionally complicated, made more complicated by the fact that Joonha’s sex and gender are in flux. After spending sixteen years of his life physically and mentally as male, the fact that he now has a female body has presented some problems. Initially he tried to separate himself from those closest to him, but now they’re back in his life. For better and for worse, Joonha still hasn’t fully explained the situation or his peculiar genetic condition. Some people treat him as the boy he once was, others treat him as the girl he seems to be now. Surprisingly enough, Joonha seems to care less and less about gender, more or less ignoring it in order to focus on other aspects of life. (Which really is how it should be.) Click is extremely melodramatic, emotions run high, and the plot can occasionally take some absurd turns. Despite being somewhat of a jerk, most everyone seems to be in love with Joonha and those feelings are returned. As a result, the manhwa forms an extraordinary mess of romantic entanglements.

Crimson Spell, Volumes 3-4 by Ayano Yamane. The first two volumes of Crimson Spell were originally released in English by Media Blasters. I was thrilled when SuBLime rescued the license; Crimson Spell is my favorite Yamane series, and there are relatively few boys’ love manga set in a sword and sorcery fantasy world. On rereading the series, I realized that I had forgotten just how funny it can be, too. Granted, the third volume takes a fairly serious turn when Halvir is captured and Vald must go to his rescue. The plot is getting more involved, more and more characters are introduced, and Vald’s curse and the bond between him and his demon self are growing stronger. Halvir and Vald desperately need to sort out their feelings for one another, a particular thorny issue since Vald has now discovered that Halvir has been taking great pleasure in satisfying the carnal needs of the demon without Vald’s knowledge (or consent). Understandably, Vald isn’t particularly happy to learn this. With all of the drama, magic, and sword fights, and all of the smut to go along with it, I’m still loving Crimson Spell.

Eyeshield 21, Volumes 35-37 written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. These last three volumes of Eyeshield 21 feel like an afterthought to the series more than anything else. The Christmas Bowl is over, but with the Youth World Cup about to begin Japan needs to pull together its all-star team. Basically this final arc amounts to an excuse to bring all of the favorite characters from the various Japanese teams together one last time. Despite it being a world championship, Eyeshield 21 seems to have lost the sense of urgency and emotional investment that was present during the battles in the Christmas Bowl. In part this is probably due to the fact that most of the members of the other national teams are new to the series, so any established rivalries or histories are missing. As expected, the championship game in the Youth World Cup comes down to Japan versus America. It’s a good game, but I found it to be rather anticlimactic in the end. Still, Eyeshield 21 is a lot of fun and as always Murata’s artwork is fantastic. I mean, the image of Ceasar riding a dinosaur? That’s some great stuff there.

My Little Monster, Volume 2 by Robico. I’m quite enjoying My Little Monster. I particularly appreciate the series’ quirky, offbeat characters–a group of misfits with varying degrees of social awkwardness, ineptitude, and obliviousness. Shizuku is currently struggling to find the balance between her accidental friendships, her feelings towards Haru, and her studying, which had been the only thing in her life that had been constant. As for Haru, he’s starting to become more comfortable at school and around other people. But, though he means well, his more violent tendencies still cause some problems. Haru’s older brother is introduced in this volume and some of Haru’s troubled family life is revealed as well, adding some mystery and ominous undertones to what is generally a fairly lighthearted series. I like Robico’s dry sense of humor in My Little Monster. So far, the series has achieved a nice blend of more serious and more comedic elements. There are certainly some uncomfortable moments, but at this point the series has avoided becoming too heavy. I’m looking forward to reading more of My Little Monster.

JJBATV1 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure directed by Kenichi Suzuki and Naokatsu Tsuda. The first season of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure television anime series covers the first two parts of Hirohiko Araki’s inter-generational action manga epic. Phantom Blood is adapted in a mere nine episodes but still manages to hit most of the major plot points and remains coherent despite its quick pace. The remaining seventeen episodes are devoted to the second story arc, Battle Tendency. While they both obviously belong to the same anime series, the individual parts have their own stylistic quirks in the music and animation that give each its own feel. Phantom Blood has a classically oriented soundtrack and palette while Battle Tendency introduces dubstep and bright, fluorescent colors. Some shortcuts were taken with the animation in order to keep to a budget, some of which are more effective than others. However, the story remains entertaining and engaging, a mix of horror, revenge, and intense battles and action with strong psychological elements. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure can be, well, bizarre and over-the-top, but I’ll gladly admit that I get a huge kick out of it.

Random Musings: Cherry Bomb, Cinderseed, and Skyglass

June 21, 2014 by Ash Brown

Back in April 2014, Chromatic Press announced Cherry Bomb, its new imprint for mature readers. The intent was to provide an outlet for Sparkler Monthly‘s creators to explore a sexier side of their already established characters and stories with a goal to include original, unrelated material in the future as well. Cherry Bomb’s coordinator Lianne Sentar probably sums it up best: “We want our erotica to be emotionally cathartic, with a purpose and meaning behind some smoking content. If it’s all smut and no context, that’s not good enough – we demand both!”

Personally, I was very excited to learn about Cherry Bomb. The imprint launched with five titles: two short stories from Tokyo Demons, which I had previously read and enjoyed (I’ve written a little about my Tokyo Demons obsession in the past); two short comics from Awake; a Gauntlet side story; and Cinderseed, the prologue to the then upcoming illustrated novel Skyglass written by Jenn Grunigen with art by Mookie.

I’m rather ashamed to admit that after the initial Cherry Bomb announcement, I actually completely forgot about Cinderseed. But then came the even more recent announcement for Skyglass, which made its debut in June 2014 in Sparkler Monthly, Issue 11. The prose series was described as “throwing Ai Yazawa’s Nana, a space opera, and a really fresh take on post-apocalyptic Earth into a blender.” With a line like that, I knew that I needed to read Skyglass. It was at that point that I was also gently reminded that Cinderseed existed, and the lovely folk at Chromatic were kind enough to send along a review copy to me.

Cinderseed opens with a girl floating through space, a fire elemental who has been ripped from the sun, her home, and confined within a human body. Understandably, she is somewhat confused and not particularly pleased by this turn of events and violently lashes out at the humans who would try to control her further. Soon after she meets Kri, who hopes that she would kill him, too. But as a Pleasure Intelligence, he doesn’t have much say in the direction his life is taking or even ownership over himself.

The two of them make an interesting contrast, similar to each other in some ways but vastly different in others. Neither are entirely human, but Kri has been designed by humans and his thoughts and behaviors are influenced by that. On the other hand, Phoenix’s actions and ways of thinking are often disconcertingly inhuman. (As they should be.) However, they both feel trapped, experience loneliness, and want to reclaim themselves and take control of their own lives. Phoenix, though, is much more likely to redirect her feelings towards revenge than Kri is.

Technically, while reading the prologue may not be absolutely necessary to follow what is going on in the novel proper, it does provide background information and additional insights into the world and characters of Skyglass, particularly the re/birth of Phoenix. Plus, it’s sexy. And hot, often literally so. (Phoenix is a fire elemental, after all.) Female-friendly, queer-friendly, and kink-friendly, too. The science fiction setting provides the opportunity for some particularly creative, audacious, and delightful, scenarios. And keeping with the intent of Cherry Bomb, the sex serves a purpose beyond titillation in Cinderseed; it’s integral both to who the characters are as people and to the plot itself.

One of the taglines for Skyglass is “Sex, elves, and rock ‘n’ roll.” The prologue covered the sex, but the elves (I promise, it makes perfect sense within the context of the story) and rock music don’t come into play until the first chapter with the introduction of the novel’s other main character Moss Wick—a half-human/half-elvish drummer who has…significant issues. And on top of those, Phoenix has attached herself to him. Unlike the prologue, which was written in the third person, the main narrative (or at least the initial chapter) alternates between Moss and Phoenix’s perspectives and is told in the first person, allowing the readers to get a very good sense of who they are. If Kri and Phoenix were opposites, Moss and Phoenix are even more so; their relationship should be quite interesting to watch unfold.

Even after only having read the prologue and the first chapter, I’m already loving Skyglass. The wait for the release of each new chapter will be torturous, but I’m definitely looking forward to reading more. The novel is shaping up to be smart and sexy and incredibly offbeat science fiction, with interesting and entertaining characters, a fascinating setting, and an engaging writing style. Personally, I think Cinderseed and Skyglass, not to mention the rest of the offerings from Chromatic Press, are well worth checking out.

Save

Manga the Week of 6/25

June 19, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown and MJ 2 Comments

SEAN: The final week of June, and the end of Manga’s Fiscal Year 13-14. There are a few interesting titles coming out.

It’s right about time for a new Vampire Hunter D novel, so Dark Horse has Vol. 21 all ready for us.

ASH: You know, I’ve read the manga adaptations, but have yet to actually read any of the novels. I should probably get around to that one of these days.

SEAN: There’s also a 31st volume of Air Gear. That is a lot of roller blading.

The volume Attack on Titan fans have been waiting for, here is the first volume of No Regrets, giving us some (not all) the backstory on Levi, along with a good look at Erwin too. It’s a shipper’s dream, even though they barely interact here. I reviewed Vol. 1; it’s a good ‘un.

ASH: I actually just posted my own review of the volume. I’m liking the series, too.

SEAN: The last Sankarea ended with our heroine being spirited away by the morally ambiguous teenage scientist. Will she end up dissected, and thus have this volume be the last? (checks) This volume is not the last, so I guess not.

Vertical has the 2nd volume of Cardfight!! Vanguard, which I have not really looked at whatsoever, so… cards? Fighting? Shonen excitement?

And we have June’s slate of Yen Press. There’s the 5th Are You Alice?, indicting that Alice has still not quite discovered the answer to this himself. Yes, him. It’s that sort of title.

MJ: Heh, I need to get back into this title, I think.

SEAN: I was a bit less enthused with the 2nd volume of Bloody Cross, but there’s still enough potential that I look forward to the third. It’s at its best when the two leads snark at each other.

A new volume of Judge, the 4th, means we are 2/3 of the way through this series, and therefore, what, 2/3 of the cast must be dead by now?

Madoka Magica has the 2nd volume of its Different Story, focusing on Mami and Kyouko.

I was fairly gushing about my praise of the first Sword Art Online manga/novel, to the point where I got several people telling me that it went way downhill with its second arc. Naturally, this makes me want to read the 2nd arc and find all the great things about it, because I am a contrary sort. Here’s Vol. 1 of Fairy Dance (no more omnibuses), where we find out what life is like after Aincrad.

MJ: I thought the anime had some issues in the second arc as well, but I still want to read the novel. Count me in!

SEAN: This Fairy Dance is the manga, actually. The novel ships in December, after the 2nd Aincrad novel in August.

Lastly, remember Tales of the Waning Moon? It’s been almost 2 years since the last volume, possibly as it runs in Houbunsha’s Cita Cita magazine, which only comes out quarterly. But rejoice! Here is Vol. 4!

MJ: This. I. Really, I can’t believe there is enough story left to tell for more volumes. I can’t.

SEAN: What titles make you want to spend your hard-earned cash?

My Week in Manga: June 9-June 15, 2014

June 16, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I posted two in-depth manga reviews at Experiments in Manga last week. The first was of Baku Yumemakura and Jiro Taniguchi’s The Summit of the Gods, Volume 3. It’s the middle volume of a five-volume, award-winning series and is a critical turning point for the story and characters. The Summit of the Gods is my favorite Taniguchi collaboration as well as one of my favorite manga series in general. And if manly mountain men don’t interest you, perhaps my review of Mari Okazaki’s out-of-print josei collection Sweat & Honey might entice you to track down a copy for yourself. The short manga included in the anthology focus on the close and often complicated relationships between women. The post is a part of my Year of Yuri monthly review project and makes the seventh installment. Only five more reviews to go!

Elsewhere online there were plenty of interesting things to read. Yen Press has a new set of license announcements. Organization Anti-Social Geniuses had two posts last week that I particularly liked: an interview with Cho, the founder of the site English Light Novels (which is an incredibly useful resource that I was previously unaware of), and a look at some of the reasons why people tell publishers they read illegal version of manga. Otaku USA has a nice interview with Helen McCarthy, whose newest book A Brief History of Manga will be released soon. The Lobster Dance has posted Revealing and Concealing Identities: Cross-Dressing in Anime and Manga, Part 4, with at least one more part to come. Lastly, the second manga studies column at Comics Forum is now available, focusing on the history of manga and Kitazawa Rakuten .

Quick Takes

A Centaur’s Life, Volumes 2-3 by Kei Murayama. The more I read of A Centaur’s Life, the more I like the series. It can be incredibly sweet and adorable, and Murayama’s world-building is fascinating. Not all of that world-building makes it into the series proper (at least not yet), but the extra material between chapters and at the beginning and end of the volumes. Is interesting, delving into the politics, history, and mythology of A Centaur’s Life. It’s obvious that a lot of thought has been put into the series to make it as realistic as possible; Murayama takes into account even the smallest details of everyday life and how things like cars, furniture, and buildings have to be modified to accommodate races with completely different anatomies. A Centaur’s Life is fairly episodic, but more and more recurring characters are introduced as the series progresses. These two volumes in particular frequently feature the youngest generation of centaurs and other folk. Like any kids, they can be hellions but they can be super cute, too.

Same Cell Organism by Sumomo Yumeka. Much like Yumeka’s later manga, The Day I Become a Butterfly, Same Cell Organism tends to be fairly quiet and subdued. Yumeka’s artwork is lovely, with a light, airy touch to it, though her character designs from one story to the next are similar enough to cause some brief confusion from time to time. Same Cell Organism is a collection of some of her earliest boys’ love manga. It’s a somewhat uneven volume, mostly do to the fact that one of the stories, “To Make an Angel” was never actually completed. All of the set up is there, but then it suddenly ends with no real conclusion. However, I absolutely adored the titular story “Same Cell Organism” and its subsequent chapters. The story follows two young men in high school who might seem like unlikely friends because their personalities are so different: Yokota is loud, enthusiastic, and outgoing while Nakagawa is much quieter and reserved and has a more difficult time expressing himself. However, their relationship develops naturally and is delightfully loving and sweet.

Say I Love You, Volume 2 by Kanae Hazuki. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the first volume of Say I Love You and so was very interested in seeing how the characters’ stories and relationships continued to develop in the second. I particularly like the leads, Mei and Yamato. Mei especially is marvelous; she’s confident enough in herself to avoid bad situations involving other people, which made me very happy to see. Yamato obviously cares for Mei and is very respectful of her. However, many of the other characters aren’t likeable at all, and much of the second volume is devoted to them. Hayakawa is a womanizer and an absolute asshole. His story arc in this volume is a bit uncomfortable–he gets his comeuppance, but he also gets the girl. (I worry about her, so I truly hope that his colors have changed having been redeemed by love.) Aiko, who apparently used to be a lovely young woman, is simply not a nice person at all anymore. She has her reasons, but she’s still not sympathetic. Say I Love You deals very honestly with sex and its emotional repercussions at such a young age. Some of the relationships in the series aren’t at all healthy, making the budding romance between Mei and Yamato refreshing in comparison.

Sherlock Bones, Volume 5 written by Yuma Ando and illustrated by Yuki Sato. Sherlock Holmes reincarnated as a puppy is still a rather silly premise, but I’ll admit that I’ve largely been enjoying the series. Occasionally there’s an unnecessary flash of underwear, but generally that’s fairly easy to pass over. The mysteries in the series are interesting with some very clever, though sometimes outlandish, twists. The artwork provides clues for readers to pick up on if they’d like a more interactive story experience, too. One of the things that I actually liked best about this particular volume of Sherlock Bones is that the story moves from Takeru being a high school student to his entry into the workforce. Unsurprisingly, coming from a police family and considering his recent work solving crimes with Sherdog, Takeru becomes a patrol officer. Already it’s proving to supply even more cases for him and Sherdog to investigate, and a few new characters are introduced as well. Sherlock Bones continues to be an entertaining series, and I look forward to reading the remaining two volumes.

Manga the Week of 6/18

June 12, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: It’s no Week 1, but the 3rd week of the month gives us a chunky pile of manga, which should have something for most everyone.

The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga from Dark Horse has now reached the same number of volumes as the regular Evangelion manga, and I don’t think it’s finished. Will this lighter take on the Evaverse surpass its predecessor? …mmmm, probably not. But it’s fun.

I swear I’ve had Alice the 101st Vol. 4 coming out from DMP before this week. But in any case, here it is again, and I suspect I will be confused all the way to Vol. 101.

MICHELLE: I forgot this series existed.

SEAN: I enjoyed Vol. 1 of Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat, which came out right before DMP’s print hiatus. Now that it’s back, I look forward to seeing what wacky comedy Vol. 2 can give us, especially since the anime has now come and gone.

Fairy Tail has hit its Jack Benny volume, and I am starting to fall behind. I believe this is one of the more serious volumes. Lotsa harsh battle scenes. (Vol. 39, for those of you who are wondering what the hell I’m talking about.)

There’s also the 7th volume of No. 6, which simply ruins the symmetry and makes me bitter. So bitter. Why must manga be numbered anyway? Manga should be free!

ASH: The beautiful symmetry may have been ruined, but this is one of the best volumes in the series yet!

SEAN: The 2nd xxxHOLIC omnibus has some really excellent stories, and a minimal amount of crossover with Tsubasa. Neither of those two will last.

ANNA: I feel sort of bad that I never finished either xxxHOLIC or Tsubasa, and then I remember how long they are and I feel OK with it all.

MICHELLE: I didn’t finish them either, actually. But I intend to one of these days!

ASH: And the omnibus releases make it easier than ever!

MJ: I feel somewhat out of place here admitting that I finished them both, and with great enthusiasm! I’m very happy to see these omnibus releases coming out.

SEAN: In case you thought Seven Seas had put out everything Dance in the Vampire Bund-related, here are some Forgotten Tales. Probably fell behind the desk or something.

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends hits the 7th volume of wacky comedy with Kodaka and the friends he insists he doesn’t have.

I’m a big fan of Morinaga Milk, author of Girl Friends, so am looking forward to the new series from Seven Seas, Gakuen Polizi. Which is not translated as School Police, for reasons why I do not know. I don’t think this one’s yuri, but I bet it’s cute.

ASH: I’ve enjoyed the other manga by Morinaga released in English, so I’m looking forward to this series’ debut.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: The Sky That Connects Us is the next in the Strike Witches franchise, and will give you lots of cute girls and aerial battles, but less pants than most series.

Vertical’s deluxe release of Mobile Suit Gundam hits its 6th collection, which I believe may be the halfway point? In any case, still essential.

ANNA: So deluxe! I’ve been buying these as they come out but am a couple volumes behind. I see a Gundam reading binge in my future.

MICHELLE: Much mecha.

ASH: I believe this volume will once again feature a fair amount of Char, which pleases me greatly.

SEAN: Lastly, Viz has the Battle Royale: Angels’ Border manga, which ran in Akita Shoten’s Young Champion and focuses on six girls who got short shrift in the main series.

ASH: As a fan of the original novel, I’ve been enjoying the recent Battle Royale releases from Viz, so I’m happy to see this one, too.

SEAN: Is there something here that appeals to you?

My Week in Manga: June 2-June 8, 2014

June 9, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Three posts last week! The first was the announcement of the Oi, Oishinbo! manga giveaway winner, which also includes a list of some of the food manga that has been licensed in English. And speaking of food manga, last week I reviewed Fumi Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 2. I’m really enjoying the series and am thrilled that it’s being released in English. I also reviewed Blade of the Immortal, Volume 29: Beyond Good and Evil by Hiroaki Samura, which is pretty much the beginning of the end of the series. I love Blade of the Immortal, so I’m interested to see how Samura will wrap everything up and who, if anyone, will survive its conclusion.

Things have been a bit hectic in my life lately, so I’ve not been able to pay attention to all of the news and announcements recently, but I did catch a few things on Vertical’s Twitter account. Apparently, its warehouse is down to the last 24 copies of Message to Adolf, Part 1 and it may or may not be reprinted. So, if you want a copy, you should probably grab it sooner rather than later. Adolf was my introduction to Osamu Tezuka, and it remains one of my favorite works by him. Also, Vertical was at AnimeNEXT and made a new license announcement—Dream Fossil: The Complete Short Stories of Satoshi Kon. Though it wasn’t perfect, I enjoyed Kon’s Tropic of the Sea a great deal, so am looking forward to this collection as well as the other Kon manga announced by Dark Horse a couple of months ago.

Quick Takes

Monster Soul, Volume 1 by Hiro Mashima. For readers intimidated by the length of Fairy Tail or Rave Master, Mashima’s two-volume Monster Soul sets a much lower bar for entry to his work. During the Human-Monster War, the Black Airs were an elite group of exceptionally powerful monsters. Now that the war is over, and the monsters have lost, they mostly try to keep to themselves. But with human poachers, a ghost with an agenda, and another monster picking a fight, trouble seems to find them anyway. Monster Soul is somewhat episodic, but Mashima does seem to be developing some sort of underlying plot. Since the series is only two volumes long though, it probably can’t be particularly convoluted or in-depth. That being said, I’m not entirely sure what direction Monster Soul will be taking. The story moves along very quickly, there are numerous fights, and the characters are boisterous. I wasn’t blown away, but the first volume of Monster Soul could be entertaining.

Otomen, Volumes 16-18 by Aya Kanno. I’m not sure that Otomen really needed to be eighteen volumes long, but I enjoyed every volume of it. The series just makes me so incredibly happy. It can be ridiculous and eyeroll-worthy at times, usually deliberately so, but I love it. The characters, while they don’t have much depth, are incredibly endearing. Kanno plays around with gender roles and expectations in Otomen, that’s one of the major points of the series, but never in a denigrating way. The not-so-subtle message of Otomen is that it is just fine to be whoever it is you are. These final three volumes find Asuka and many of the others in their last year of high school. They begin drifting apart for various reasons, the biggest being the influence of Asuka’s mother, and it is heartbreaking to see. Kanno has never hesitated to make use of well-worn tropes and plot developments in Otomen–frequently the series verges on parody because of that–but I was a little unsure about the memory loss arc. Ultimately though, the series ends in a very satisfying way.

The Seven Deadly Sins, Volumes 1-2 by Nakaba Suzuki. Back in my undergrad days I took a fantastic course that focused on the use and portrayal of the seven deadly sins in music and literature, and so Suzuki’s The Seven Deadly Sins manga immediately caught my attention. At first, I was a little uncertain about The Seven Deadly Sins. It took a few chapters to really grow on me, and when present Meliodas’ lecherous tendencies still seem more like a tired cliché rather than any sort of legitimate character development, but the series has great potential. The Seven Deadly Sins are a group of extremely talented warriors who may be the only ones capable of stopping the Holy Knights from destroying Britannia. It isn’t yet known why the group goes by “The Seven Deadly Sins,” or what sins the members have committed to earn their monikers, but I’m assuming that will be revealed sometime in the future. The Holy Knights are the ones being framed as the series’ villains, but the Sins aren’t entirely good, either, which I appreciate. With interesting characters and epic battles, I’m looking forward to reading more.

The Sleep of Reason: An Anthology of Horror edited by C. Spike Trotman. Edited by the same person who has been coordinating the new Smut Peddler anthologies, The Sleep of Reason collects twenty-six short horror comics. Some of the creators (like Jason Thompson and Carla Speed McNeil, among others) I was already familiar with, but there were plenty of other contributors whose work I was encountering for the very first time. That’s one of the things I love about anthologies like The Sleep of Reason–they introduce me to new artists that I want to follow. I also love being exposed to so many different styles of art and storytelling. There is some blood, death, and gore in The Sleep of Reason, but the collection isn’t a splatter fest and relies much more heavily on the psychological aspects of horror rather than on violence. As with any anthology, some of the stories are stronger than others. I’m not sure that I even completely understood some of them, but they all were eerie, disconcerting, and creepy. The Sleep of Reason is a great collection; definitely recommended for fans of horror.

Manga the Week of 6/11

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

SEAN: After this week’s deluge, the six books coming out next week feel like a mild summer breeze in comparison. Makes me feel fine.

MICHELLE: Okay, Seals.

SEAN: Kodansha has the second volume of Say “I Love You”. It runs in Dessert, which is technically shoujo in the same way that Shoujo Comic is technically shoujo, but there really is an awful lot of nudity and sex in this volume, so it really edges towards josei a lot more than My Little Monster (which runs in the same magazine).

MJ: I haven’t delved into this series, but I’m interested. Though I can’t decide whether all the nudity and sex is a plus or a minus. :D

MICHELLE: I liked the first volume, and I have a feeling the second will wring all the dramatic potential out of its sex scenes. So… probably a plus. :)

ASH: I also liked the first volume and am interested in seeing where it leads.

ANNA: This series hasn’t been on my radar before, but now I find myself intrigued.

SEAN: SubLime has quieted down a bit, but they’re still giving us some top quality BL. Vol. 4 of Crimson Spell has almost the same cover situation as Vols. 1-3, and I like to imagine that the entire title is just 800 pages of one man slowly taking the shirt off of his lover and nothing else. With many stern, dangerous looks passing between them.

ASH: I need to catch up with Crimson Spell now that we’ve made it past what was previously released in English. I suspect more happens than just a loss of a shirt, though.

ANNA: I keep meaning to check this out. One day!

SEAN: There’s Vol. 18 of Arata the Legend, which is now in terms of length Watase’s most successful series, though I suspect it has a ways to go before it catches up to Fushigi Yuugi’s obsessive fanbase.

And there’s Vol. 3 of Deadman Wonderland, whose cover is trying to exude cool, but isn’t quite getting there for me.

MJ: Same here, though I’m still giving it a chance.

SEAN: Magi has Vol. 6, and has barely begun to mine The Arabian Nights for characters and plots, so we are no doubt in for a long ride. Can’t wait.

MJ: I’ve finally caught up on some of this series, so I’m looking forward to more!

MICHELLE: Whereas I am somewhat behind, but I really did like the first couple of volumes.

SEAN: Lastly, Tiger & Bunny 5 catches us up with Japan, which means the next one could be a while. That said, this fandom knows how to create its own content, so I suspect they’ll be fine.

What manga is blowing through the jasmine of your mind?

MICHELLE: *snerk*

My Week in Manga: May 26-June 1, 2014

June 2, 2014 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was a slower week at Experiments in Manga, which is just as well because I spent a long weekend with my family in Ohio for my youngest sister’s high school graduation. I was pretty busy with things there, but I was still able to post a few things here. The most recent manga giveaway, for example. There are still a couple of days left to enter for a chance to win Oishinbo, A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine, too. All you have to do is tell me a little about your favorite food manga (if you have one). May’s Bookshelf Overload was also posted. Interestingly enough, I think I actually bought more comics last month than manga. (I largely blame TCAF for that.) As for reviews, I took a look at Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 5: Char & Sayla. Char happens to be one of my favorite Gundam characters, so it probably shouldn’t be too surprising that this volume is one of my favorites in the series thus far.

There were a few things that I found to read online last week that were particularly interesting, too: Manga Therapy is writing and hosting a series of posts for Mental Health Month, including Lauren Orsini’s article about Mushishi as a metaphor for mental illness. FanboyNation had an interview with Tokyopop. Brigid Alverson interviewed Akira Himekawa for Comic Book Resources. And finally, Revealing and Concealing Identities: Cross-Dressing in Anime and Manga, Part 3 was posted at The Lobster Dance. I’m sure there were plenty of other interesting articles and new to be found last week, but as I mentioned I was rather occupied with traveling, helping out at home, and visiting with family. If I missed anything major, please do let me know!

Quick Takes

Fujosports! by Various. The most recent anthology from the Love Love Hill collective, Fujosports! collects six sports-themed comics with a female-gaze. These aren’t necessarily the sports you might be expecting, though: logging competitions, roller derby, free-form rollerblading, Turkish oil wrestling, field hockey, and competitive dodge-ball. All of the stories tend to be generally upbeat and optimistic, but the artists’ styles are distinct. As might be expected from the “fujo” in the title, the anthology includes a bit of bromance and boys’ love potential, but there’s some girls’ love, too, and plenty of general team bonding. Each comic is followed by a short freetalk by the creators, which is a very nice addition and makes the stories even more personable Fujosports! is a cute, sweet, and humorous collection. Every contribution in the anthology left me with I huge grin on my face, or at least a smile. Simply put, Fujosports! is a lot of fun; I’m really glad that I picked it up.

Gangsta, Volume 2 by Kohske. I enjoyed the first volume of Gangsta so much that I immediately went out and preordered the second. The series is quickly becoming one of my favorite manga currently being released. Gangsta has plenty of action in addition to a wide range of interesting characters (both women and men, young and old), many of whom have dark, tragic pasts. More characters are introduced in the second volume, some of them even manage to survive to the end of it, and the larger, overarching plot continues to develop. The Three Laws binding the Twilights (should they actually choose to follow them) are directly lifted from Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, nearly word-for-word. While this certainly emphasizes the inhuman characteristics of the Twilights, I did find it to be an odd choice. Still, the Three Laws provide excellent narrative frameworks for robot and android stories, so I’m willing to reserve my judgement and wait to see how Kohske uses them Gangsta.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Volumes 1-2 by Akira Himekawa. After meeting Akira Himekawa at TCAF, I realized that although I was familiar with some of their work, I hadn’t actually read much of their manga. Granted, only The Legend of Zelda has been licensed for print release in English so far. I actually happen to be a fan of the Zelda video games, so I wasn’t surprised that I’m enjoying the manga series, too. Ocarina of Time was the game which inspired Himekawa to pursue The Legend of Zelda manga. The Ocarina of Time manga is accessible even to those who haven’t played the game, but those who have will be able to appreciate the nods to the original more. The manga follows the same basic plot as the video game, though Himekawa adds a few touches of their own. The Ocarina of Time manga is definitely an adventure story aimed at younger readers, there’s more action than there is nuanced character or plot development, but it’s fun.

K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces directed by Shimako Satō. K-20 is a live-action film based on the novels of Soh Kitamura (which sadly haven’t been translated into English) which were in turn inspired by the works and characters of Edogawa Rampo, specifically his famous detective Akechi Kogorō and his nemesis “Twenty Faces.” Akechi’s young assistant Kobayashi also has a role to play. It was because of this Rampo connection that I decided to watch the film in the first place, but even those unfamiliar with the references will be able to enjoy the movie. Packed with action and stunts, a little bit of romance, a great cast, and a large dose of humor, K-20 was extremely entertaining. The film is set in the late 1940s in an alternate history in which the Second World War was never fought but in which a strict hierarchical class structure is enforced. The story follows Endo Heikichi, an acrobat who is arrested for being the master thief K-20 after being set up, and his attempts to prove his innocence, basically by becoming as skilled as K-20 himself.

Manga the Week of 6/4

May 29, 2014 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Anna N, MJ and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

SEAN: Are we ready? Deep breaths, everyone. Here we go. BUY ALL THE THINGS!

Dark Horse gives you the first volume of New Lone Wolf & Cub, in case you had finished all of the Old Lone Wolf & Cub.

ASH: I’m certainly interested in this one! (Confession: I actually haven’t finished reading the original yet…)

ANNA: I’m glad this is being translated! I only read a few volumes of the original series!

MJ: Count me in!

SEAN: Drawn & Quarterly is releasing the 2nd volume of Shigeru Mizuki’s Showa, this one covering the Pacific War (Japan’s term for WWII), 1939-1944. Ending with a major cliffhanger, it’s amazing how so much dry description of battle and history can be so riveting and involving. I reviewed it here.

ASH: Showa is excellent! The second volume covers history that I’m more familiar with, so I’m curious to see what Mizuki does with the material.

ANNA: I feel like I should read this but I’m too distracted by the piles of shoujo manga I need to read to invest the time in it.

MJ: I wish I’d read the first volume. I need to make a commitment here.

SEAN: DMP has the fourth volume of Private Teacher, which I like to imagine has its own USA Up All Night-esque tag lines. “He’ll give you tutoring… in gay.”

Given we’re being buried in Alice spinoffs, it’s always nice to see a new volume of Circus and Liar’s Game, which I consider to be the best of the sequels. Vol. 5 lands next week.

A Centaur’s Life has been getting more slice-of-lifey and less creepy, which is a good thing, as its weird worldbuilding is the main reason to get it. Vol. 3 is out next week.

ASH: The worldbuilding in A Centaur’s Life really is interesting.

SEAN: If you like girls and tanks, then Girls Und Panzer is the series for you. Set in a universe where tank warfare is a martial art and done at high schools, it looks to be in the Strike Witches tradition, but with less anthropomorphism and I am hoping fewer panty shots.

MJ: Is it weird that I might consider reading this?

SEAN: Vertical has the 9th Knights of Sidonia volume, and I hope will not be killing off another likeable cast member.

MICHELLE: I have fallen a few volumes behind on this one, somehow. Must catch up!

ASH: Yes, you must!

ANNA: Me too! I will catch up! I do enjoy this series!

MJ: I’m always happy to see a new volume of this series!

SEAN: Everything else is Viz. Dengeki Daisy continues to try to balance thrilling suspense and its odd February/May romance. It’s top-of-the-line shoujo in my book.

MICHELLE: Or not-so-thrilling suspense, as the case may be. But the Teru/Kurosaki stuff is good!

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but Dengeki Daisy is a series I really enjoy.

ANNA: Dengeki Daisy is the best.

SEAN: There is the 5th Dragon Ball 3-in-1 omnibus, because why not?

We also have the 3rd Dragon Ball Full Color book, which I think is actually Z, but I’m still not sure. In any case, want some color in your manga? Here you go.

We’re halfway through Happy Marriage?!, so things are bound to get fluffier and more lovey-dovey for our lead couple. Right?

ANNA: Viz is a champ for bringing out more commercial josei romance. That’s all I have to say.

MJ: Agreed!

SEAN: We’re almost halfway through this list, by the way. How’s everyone doing? Need a break?

ASH: A break from manga? Never!

MJ: Maybe a small one? Hold on… okay, I’m good.

SEAN: Kamisama Kiss 15 is likely to stay stuck in the past, but that’s not a bad thing with this series, as it’s giving us tons of backstory.

ANNA: I love the character designs and the wandering yet interesting storyline in this series. I’m actually looking forward to a binge reread of this series. I tend to read each volume as it comes out, but I think it might be more fun to read 3 or 4 at a time.

SEAN: Kimi ni Todoke remains completely adorable and heartwarming, and I do not expect that to change merely because we’ve gotten to Vol. 19.

MICHELLE: Seriously, is basically EVERY Shojo Beat series (except Skip Beat!, alas) releasing a volume on June 3rd?!

ANNA: So adorable. So much blushing and teenage awkwardness.

SEAN: It’s been so long since the last volume of Millennium Snow, which got sidelined by the huge success that was Ouran High School Host Club, that Viz has decided to re-release the first two volumes as an omnibus, followed by the 3rd volume (which is new). Find out why we enjoyed the series when it first appeared 7 years ago!

MICHELLE: I look forward to seeing how this series is different now.

ANNA: I liked the first two volumes back in the day!

MJ: I missed this series originally, so I’m looking forward to going back for the first two volumes.

SEAN: Natsume’s Book of Friends is doing its best to make me very happy with its 16th volume, as my OT3 is on the cover! I wonder if they’ll be in the actual volume as well…

MICHELLE: <3

MJ: Here’s hoping!

SEAN: Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan continues to attempt to kill absolutely everybody we care about in horrible ways, and luckily has been failing so far. Will Vol. 21 be different?

One Piece is at Vol. 71. Really, what more is there to say? Only that it’s still one of the best shonen titles out there.

MICHELLE: Yep.

ANNA: I’ve only read the first 6 or so volumes and it was great, but I’m sort of terrified of a 70+ volume long shonen series. If only Glass Mask was this universally popular.

SEAN: In case you were unaware of this, here’s the 9th One Piece 3-in-1, which I think is up to the Skypeia volumes.

And let’s have another shonen manga debut! Seraph of the End, I feel I should tell everyone, has vampires in it. But it’s in Jump Square, so I’m not sure how pretty they will be.

ASH: I’m not sure either, but I have heard good things about the manga.

MJ: After reading Derek’s columns, I’m looking forward to seeing this for myself.

SEAN: After all this manga, I’m feeling very hungry, so I am gratified that we are now at the 22nd volume of Toriko.

And at last, we are done, as Viz has the 5th volume of Voice Over: Seiyu Academy, which has far less denseness than the author’s previous series S.A., but there’s still enough denseness to satisfy.

MJ: Denseness ftw?

SEAN: Buy *all* the things? :/