My Week in Manga

My Week in Manga: December 18-December 24, 2017

December 25, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Well, this is it! The final My Week in Manga feature here at Experiments in Manga before my semi-retirement. The fun isn’t quite over yet, though–later this week there will be one last giveaway. For anyone who wants a head start, I’ll be asking participants to tell me a little about some of the favorite things that they’ve read in the past year. And while the list doesn’t include all of my personal favorites, I recently posted my own random musings on some of the notable releases from 2017.

Quick Takes

Children of the Whales, Volume 1 by Abi Umeda. With such a striking cover, and interior artwork to match, I couldn’t help but be curious about the first volume of Children of the Whales. It also doesn’t hurt that the manga is the start of shoujo fantasy series, a category of work that I generally tend to appreciate. And indeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of Children of the Whales. The setting is incredibly intriguing, the majority of the story taking place on the Mud Whale, a largely self-sustaining ship-like island that has been adrift on a sea of sand for nearly a century. Most of the people on the Mud Whale can work a kind of magic based on the power of emotions. However, they are very short-lived; only the few people who aren’t magically inclined reach old age. This has an interesting impact on their civilization. Control over one’s feelings is very important culturally and the community as a whole has a disconcerting lack of knowledge about their own history and the greater world. And so when they encounter a human from outside the Mud Whale she is greeted with excitement, but her arrival is also a harbinger of greater misfortune.

Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Volume 1 written by Homura Kawamoto and illustrated by Tōru Naomura. The cover art of Kakegurui is fairly eye-catching as well. The series takes place at Hyakkaou Private Academy, a school for the wealthy elite in which the entire social structure is based on how well the students can gamble. In many cases, this translates directly to how much money they can throw around or how skilled they are at cheating the system. Yumeko Jabami is a new transfer student whose sweet demeanor makes her appear to be an easy mark. However, her classmates soon discover that her personality completely changes when presented with a risky enough proposition. That and she has the skill and luck needed take any one of them down. Despite the dramatic artwork and high stakes, I actually didn’t find Kakegurui nearly as engaging as I hoped or expected it to be. While entertaining, I didn’t feel particularly invested in the characters or their plights. The games played were interesting, with some clever twists, but as a whole the first volume didn’t seem to have much depth to it.

My Week in Manga: December 11-December 17, 2017

December 18, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I posted the Bookshelf Overload for November, which also happens to be the final Bookshelf Overload feature here at Experiments in Manga since I will be entering semi-retirement as a manga blogger very soon. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet week, as has been the case for quite some time now. I’ve been very busy at work trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the end of the year, so I haven’t even been paying much attention to what’s going on online. However, last week I discovered (or perhaps re-discovered?) that The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi will be published in English next year! Uehashi is the creator of Moribito, which I adore along with its anime adaptation. (Moribito would have made a great topic for an Adaptation Adventures feature.) Sadly, only the first two novels in the Moribito series were ever released in English–Guardian of the Spirit and Guardian of the Darkness–but I’m very happy to see more of her work in translation.

Quick Takes

In This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kouno. Both of the manga by Kouno that have been released in print in English–Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and now In This Corner of the World–use the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II as a major touchstone. However, while the event is certainly important to In This Corner of the World, it’s not the central focus of the series. In This Corner of the World largely follows the everyday life of Suzu, a young woman from a small fishing village in Hiroshima who has recently married and moved in with her husband’s family in the nearby city of Kure. The three-volume series, collected into a single omnibus for its English-language release, isn’t a manga with a driving plot. Instead, the chapters read like a compilation of closely-related remembrances. The theme of memories is one that is echoed throughout the entire manga. Although the subject matter of In This Corner of the World is certainly serious, with an authentic portrayal of some of the tragedies and heartbreak associated with war, Kouno has also created a quiet and lovely work with significant charm.

The Promised Neverland, Volume 1 written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. The beginning of The Promised Neverland is very bright, but it doesn’t take much time at all for the series to execute an exceptionally dark turn. Emma and the other orphans at Grace Field House lead happy lives. They are surprisingly well-cared-for, provided with delicious food and an idyllic environment in which to grow into young, healthy children. But when Emma discovers the horrifying truth behind the orphanage’s purpose, she becomes determined to find a way for all of the children to escape. However, running away will be an extremely difficult task to accomplish, especially when plans must be devised and executed in complete secrecy. The Promised Neverland features an intense battle of wits as Emma and the others are suddenly faced with securing their own survival in an unforgiving world that is unlike anything that they were previously led to believe. The story is deeply unsettling, and Demizu’s artwork is more than up to the task of creating a chilling atmosphere. I am incredibly interested to see how The Promised Neverland continues to develop from here.

My Week in Manga: December 4-December 10, 2017

December 11, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I announced the winner of the Cache of Kodansha Comics giveaway. The post also includes a list of Kodansha Comics’ manga debuts from 2017. Before the year is over and Experiments in Manga enters retirement I will be holding one last manga giveaway. This week, however, I will be posting the final Bookshelf Overload feature. As for other thing found elsewhere online: Anime Feminist has been posting some really interesting content lately, including but certainly not limited to an interview with Arina Tanemura. Iron Circus Comix recently revealed that it would be releasing Japanese creator Sachiko Kaneoya’s first English-language collection. And speaking of Iron Circus Comix, the publisher’s most recent Kickstarter for Niki Smith’s erotic graphic novel Crossplay may also be of interest. Another Kickstarter project that is worth taking a look at is for the second volume of Minna Sundberg’s fantastic comic Stand Still, Stay Silent. (I enjoyed the first book tremendously.)

Quick Takes

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department, Volume 1 by Natsume Ono. My first encounter with Ono’s work was through the anime adaptation of House of Five Leaves. After watching it, I immediately sought out the original along with Ono’s other manga available in English. I was very happy when Yen Press announced it would be releasing ACCA (which itself recently received an anime adaptation). The country of Dowa is divided into thirteen separate districts, each of which independently operates a branch of ACCA, a civil service-orientated organization. Jean Otus works for ACCA’s Inspection Department which is always on the alert for and investigates possible corruption within the agency. When the situation demands it, Jean’s colleagues at the office are shown to be quite capable at their jobs, but most of their time seems to be spent bantering over pastries. This does reinforce the perception that the Inspection Department has become superfluous in a time of peace and prosperity, but I also find it to be a delightful bit of characterization. The first volume of ACCA is a slow burn, but it has incredible atmosphere and I enjoyed it greatly.

Neo-Parasyte M by Various. It’s been a while since I first read it, but I still remember the huge impression that Hitoshi Iwaaki’s horror manga series Parasyte made on me. (I really need to reread it again sometime in the near future.) Last year Kodansha Comics released Neo-Parasyte F, a shoujo/josei anthology created as a tribute to the original Parasyte. It was a fantastic anthology, so I was very excited when its shounen/seinen counterpart (and technically its predecessor) was also licensed. As a whole, I think that Neo-Parasyte F worked better or at least more consistently for me than Neo-Parasyte M, but there are still some terrific stories in the collection. The roster of contributors is rather impressive, too. Of particular note, a piece by Moto Hagio opens the volume. As is to be expected, most of the short manga in the anthology require at least a basic familiarity with Parasyte to be fully appreciated. The twelve stories in Neo-Parastye M take a variety of approaches. Some are more serious while others are more comedic, and a few can even be described as endearing. Not every contribution is successful, but overall Neo-Parasyte M is a great collection.

My Week in Manga: November 27-December 3, 2017

December 4, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

The most recent manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga is currently underway! The winner will be announced on Wednesday, so there’s still a little time left to enter for a chance to win four of Kodansha Comics’ print debuts from 2017: Haruko Kumota’s Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Lily Hoshino’s Kigurumi Guardians, Haruko Ichikawa’s Land of the Lustrous, and Musawo’s Love & Lies. (Also, a couple other giveaways are going on right now that I would like to highlight: The Manga Test Drive’s annual holiday giveaway and Taneka Stott’s third annual queer comics giveaway.) Last week I finally managed to post the in-depth review that I’ve been working on for a while now, taking a closer look at Knights-Errant, Volume 1 by Jennifer Doyle. Knights-Errant is a fantastic comic, a queer-positive, dark historical fantasy with a compelling story and characters. I highly, highly recommend the series. (It can also be read online for free at Sparkler Monthly!) Initially I was intending to write one more in-depth review before the year was over (and before I retire Experiments in Manga), but after some thought I think that Knights-Errant will have the honor of receiving the last. However, I am still working on and will be posting my random musings on some of year’s notable releases, so there is that to look forward to.

Quick Takes

Arakawa Under the Bridge, Omnibus 1 (equivalent to Volumes 1-2) by Hikaru Nakamura. My introduction to Arakawa Under the Bridge was through its anime adaptation, an incredibly quirky and bizarre work which I found to be highly entertaining. Only later did I discover that the creator of the original manga was also the creator of Saint Young Men, a series that I hope might one day be translated as well. (Despite interest from fans and publishers alike, Saint Young Men has been unlicensable for the North American market, but I can’t help hoping that if Arakawa Under the Bridge is successful that might change.) Arakawa Under the Bridge is an absolutely ridiculous manga and I enjoyed it immensely. The chapters are short and somewhat episodic so the narrative flow can be disjointed, but Nakamura eventually develops a nice rhythm as more of the increasingly large, and strange, cast is introduced. The absurdity of the characters is really what makes Arakawa Under the Bridge work. I’m particularly fond of Sister, an ex-mercenary who crossdresses as a nun, but the manga is filled with astonishing personalities.

A Polar Bear in Love, Volume 1 by Koromo. Stories about star-crossed lovers aren’t especially rare, but none in my experience are quite like A Polar Bear in Love. Granted, at this point only one of the pair is actually in love. As impossible as it seems, Mr. Polar Bear as fallen for Li’l Seal. Understandably, considering the normal order of the food chain, Li’l Seal is a bit concerned by this. They’re both males, too, but the real issue is that Li’l Seal expects to be eaten at any moment. The power dynamics are a little tricky, but over the course of the first volume, Mr. Polar Bear demonstrates the earnestness of his love and at least tries not to be too pushy about his feelings. Li’l Seal slowly realizes he might not actually be on the menu, but that’s not going to solve everything about their relationship, either. A Polar Bear in Love can be both incredibly adorable and surprisingly dark, occasionally even at the same time. Even while being anthropomorphized, Li’l Seal and and Mr. Polar Bear also have to face more realistic concerns of survival. On the surface A Polar Bear in Love is delightfully silly manga, but it also has a thing or two to say about love and relationships.

To Your Eternity, Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima. I have been following Oima’s progress as an artist and storyteller with great interest. Oima’s first major work was the manga adaptation of Tow Ubukata’s novel Mardock Scramble, parts of which I actually greatly preferred over its source material. However, what really impressed me was her powerful original series, A Silent Voice. When Kodansha Comics announced it would be releasing To Your Eternity, Oima’s current ongoing series, I immediately took note and looked forward to reading it with great anticipation. The first chapter of To Your Eternity is one of the most beautifully devastating narratives that I’ve read in a while and it seems as though it may only be a prelude for what is to come. (It also includes a fairly significant plot twist which makes the series a little difficult to discuss without giving away major spoilers.) Oima has created a complex fantasy world complete with it’s own legends and lore exploring the meaning of life and loyalty to family and community. To Your Eternity is absolutely heartbreaking, unsettling, and striking in both its story and artwork. I definitely plan on reading more.

My Week in Manga: November 20-November 26, 2017

November 27, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

For everyone following along with Experiments in Manga, it’s probably obvious that things are running a little behind here right now. I intended to post an in-depth review last week (actually, two weeks ago), but life intervened. While I did manage to make some significant progress, the review is just not quite ready. However, I can confidently say that I’ll be able to post it later this week. (For real, this time!) There’s this month’s manga giveaway to look forward to on Wednesday, as well. So, after a couple of weeks of quiet, this week will be relatively busy here at the blog.

Quick Takes

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Volumes 2-3 by Haruko Kumota. Although rakugo isn’t completely unknown to me (I’ve even seen a live performance), most of my exposure to the art form has been through reading Descending Stories. The first volume introduced Kyoji, a young man who is given the name of Yotaro as part of his apprenticeship under a Yakumo, a highly-respected rakugo artist. While Yotaro does put hard work into learning the craft, his successes can more often be attributed to his natural charisma and earnest enthusiasm than actual technique. Yakumo’s stage presence and approach to rakugo is dramatically different. With the second and third volumes, Descending Stories begins to explore Yakumo’s backstory in greater detail. He details his own coming of age and relationship with and to rakugo. Yakumo, like Yotaro, struggled to find a way express himself through performance, bringing him into conflict with those closest to him. Descending Stories is an engrossing drama that becomes more compelling with each volume; I definitely plan on reading more of the series.

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Volumes 2-3 by Nagabe. One of the most beautiful, unusual, and unsettling manga that I’ve encountered this year is Nagabe’s The Girl from the Other Side. The artwork in particular is striking, but the series as a whole is incredibly atmospheric, a chilling fairytale-like story that unfolds at a tantalizingly slow pace with bursts of shocking violence and heartbreak. At times The Girl from the Other Side can be delightfully charming, but a sense of foreboding is a constant shadow. Shiva was abandoned to the Outside, perhaps for her own sake or perhaps for the sake of others. Now, however, she is being deliberately sought out to be brought back Inside. But while for the time being Shiva’s life may no longer be in immediate danger, her innocence is still poised to be shattered. Teacher continues to guard and protect her even as the curse, and the human response to that curse, threatens to destroy the two of them and their world. With both exceptional artwork and storytelling, The Girl from the Other Side is easily one of my favorite manga currently being released in English.

My Week in Manga: November 13-November 19, 2017

November 20, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week was a very quiet one here at Experiments in Manga with nothing posted other than the usual My Week in Manga feature. However, I did manage to make some progress with my next in-depth review, so that should (hopefully!) be posted later this week. While not much was happening here at the blog, the North American manga publishers were all keeping pretty busy last week with a variety of license announcements, made either online or while at Anime NYC.

Starting with the online licensing spree from Seven Seas: The Bride & the Exorcist Knight manga by Keiko Ishihara; The Bride Was a Boy manga by Chii (an autobio comic by a transwoman–I’ll definitely be picking this up!); the Claudine manga by Riyoko Ikeda (I am absolutely thrilled by this license); teh Fairy Tale Battle Royale manga by Soraho Ina; the Harukana Receive manga by Nyoijizai; the How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom light novels by Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki (previously released digitally by J-Novel Club); the My Solo Exchange Diary manga by Nagata Kabi (a follow-up to My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness); the Ojojojo manga by coolkyousinnjya; the Plus-Sized Elf manga by Synecdoche; the Space Battleship Yamato manga by Leiji Matsumoto (I’m so happy more influential classic manga is being translated); the True Tenchi Muyo! light novels is written by Masaki Kajishima and Yousuke Kuroda; the Versailles of the Dead manga by Kumiko Suekane; and the Wonderland manga by Yugo Ishikawa.

At Anime NYC, Kodansha Comics announced that it would be releasing Yasushi Baba’s Golosseum manga and Vertical Comics revealed that it would be publishing Tsutomu Nihei’s Aposimz. As for Viz Media, the publisher announced that it would be releasing a print edition of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court’s My Hero Academia: Vigilantes manga (currently being released digitally) in addition to a brand new license, Okura and Coma Hashii’s That Blue Sky Feeling manga (I’m really looking forward to this one).

Yen Press has picked up quite a few things as well: Sanzo’s Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy manga; Tsukikage and Bob’s Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch (If You Have a Ringer) light novels; Kazushige Nojima’s Final Fantasy VII short story collection; Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket Another manga; Yoh Yoshinari’s Little Witch Academia manga; Hiroumi Aoi’s Shibuya Goldfish manga; Yusaku Komiyama’s Star Wars: Lost Stars manga; Gao Yuzuki’s The Strange Creature at Kuroyuri Apartments manga; Keiichi Sigsawa’s Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online light novels; Soichiro Yamamoto’s Teasing Master Takagi-san manga; Mito Aoi’s Tsuno no Gakuen manga; and Akira Kareno’s WorldEnd light novels.

Quick Takes

Land of the Lustrous, Volumes 2-3 by Haruko Ichikawa. I found the first volume of Land of the Lustrous to be pretty, but perplexing; Ichikawa’s artwork can be absolutely stunning even while the plot remains somewhat impenetrable. Even so, I was and remain intrigued by Land of the Lustrous and its peculiar charm. The second and third volumes continue to explore the world that Ichikawa has created. Largely following Phos, who has been charged with writing a natural history (providing an excellent excuse to show readers around), more is slowly revealed about the Lustrous, the Lunarians with whom they battle, and the larger environment in which they live. The manga still seems to be primarily concerned about finding opportunities to display exquisite visuals–and there are certainly plenty of those–but the series’ underlying symbolism, themes, and mythologies are starting to coalesce and crystallize as well. Land of the Lustrous can be surprisingly philosophical even while being strange and surreal. I may not always understand exactly what’s going on, but I am captivated by the manga’s allure.

Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, Volumes 1-2 by HeeEun Kim. It seems as though there are fewer manhwa being translated into English these days, but Yen Press still publishes some. The fifth and final volume of Void’s Enigmatic Mansion was released earlier this year which made me realize that I hadn’t actually gotten around to reading any of the series yet. JiEun Ha is credited as the creator of the original, but I haven’t been able to determine if that means there’s another version of the story out there in a different medium or if Ha simply developed the basic manhwa’s premise. In either case, Kim is the series’ adapter and artist. The titular mansion is a seven-story building, most of which the owner rents out. The mysterious Mr. Void hasn’t been seen yet (as far as readers know), but a number of his tenants have, none of whom live particularly happy lives. Void’s Enigmatic Mansion tends to be fairly episodic although there are also threads tying all of the characters and their unsettling stories together. Kim’s full-color illustrations can be quite beautiful, but they are also punctuated by shocking moments of blood and gore befitting the series’ horror.

My Week in Manga: November 6-November 12, 2017

November 13, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

The Bookshelf Overload for October was posted at Experiments in Manga last week, giving a quick summary of some of the interesting manga, anime, and other media that made their way into my home last month. Otherwise, it was a fairly quiet week at the blog, and it’s going to be even quieter this week. I’m currently work on my next in-depth review, but I suspect that it won’t be ready to reveal to the world until sometime next week. (Hopefully it will be worth the wait.) As for other interesting things recently found online: Brigid Alverson wrote up a recap of an interview with Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima from this year’s New York Comic Con for Barnes & Noble and over at Crunchyroll Evan Minto interviewed Frederik L. Schodt, a manga translator, scholar, and personal friend of Osamu Tezuka.

Quick Takes

Shirley, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori. Only the first volume of Shirley was ever released in English. It’s now well out-of-print, but it’s also well-worth picking up. I would love to see Yen Press release the entire series in a handsome omnibus that would be at home next to the new edition of Mori’s Emma. I believe that most if not all of the short manga in the first volume of Shirley precede Emma, but the collection was only published after the first volume of Emma was released. The artwork is simpler than that found in Mori’s most recent series in translation, A Bride’s Story, but it is still quite lovely and evocative. As a whole, Shirley is a charming work. Mori’s love of maids is quite evident. The first volume collects five episodic chapters which follow Bennett Cranley and the titular Shirley Madison, a young maid that Bennett hires, in addition to two other stories unrelated by plot although they both also feature Edwardian-era maids. Shirley is only thirteen when she starts working for Bennett and they develop a close, if somewhat unusual, relationship as a result. While Shirley is a very capable maid she is still young–at times its as though she’s more like Bennett’s ward rather than her employee. She’s a sweet, likeable girl, so it’s easy to see why Bennett would be so taken with her.

The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag. I first learned about The Witch Boy while at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival earlier this year. Ostertag was on the panel “LGBTQ Comics Abroad” along with several other creators when she mentioned the upcoming publication of the graphic novel; I immediately added it to my list of comics to pick up when it was released. Ostertag is probably best known as the artist of the ongoing webcomic Strong Female Protagonist and has collaborated as an illustrator on several other comics projects as well. However, The Witch Boy is her debut work as both author and artist. The graphic novel is aimed at middle grade readers, but the comic will be able to be appreciated by adult audiences as well. Aster comes from a family of magic users–the women are taught the secrets of witchery while the men are expected to learn how to shapeshift, a tradition which is strictly adhered to. Much to his family’s dismay, Aster would much rather study with the girls than roughhouse with the boys. Forbidden from learning the women’s magic despite his talent for it, Aster longs for his family to accept his true self. The Witch Boy is a beautiful story with a wonderful message; I hope to read more of Ostertag’s writing in the future.

Attack on Titan: The Anime Guide by Ryosuke Sakuma and Munehiko Inagaki. Kodansha Comics almost exclusively publishes manga, although over time a few other things have been released as well, most of which are in some way a part of the massively successful Attack on Titan franchise. One of the more recent non-manga offerings is Attack on Titan: The Anime Guide, a full-color volume consisting of artwork, character designs, process overviews, and other background information relating to the first season of the Attack on Titan anime. The Anime Guide will mostly appeal to readers who are already devoted fans of Attack on Titan. What interested me most were the numerous interviews included in the book. The most notable is the lengthy interview with and conversation between Hajime Isayama and Tetsuro Araki, the original creator of Attack on Titan and the series director of the anime respectively. (Isayama saw the anime as an opportunity to improve upon or even correct aspects of the manga with which he wasn’t completely satisfied.) The interviews with the anime’s chief animation directors, Titan designer, action animation directors, scriptwriter, voice actors, and theme song musicians were also interesting to read.

My Week in Manga: October 30-November 5, 2017

November 6, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I announced the winner of the Oresama Teacher giveaway. The post also includes a select list of some of the manga released in English that have notable delinquents (and in some cases ex-delinquents) in them. In licensing news, Dark Horse recently announced that it will be releasing The Flame Dragon Knight, a novel by Makoto Fukami which is based on Kentaro Miura’s manga series Berserk. Also, Yen Press is adding more yuri to its catalog: the manga anthology Eclair and the light novel adaptation of Napping Princess will both be released in English in 2018.

Quick Takes

Yokai Rental Shop, Volume 1 by Shin Mashiba. I greatly enjoyed Mashiba’s earlier manga series Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun and so was very excited when Yokai Rental Shop was licensed. I have been looking forward to giving the manga a try not only because of Mashiba’s involvement but also because yokai play a prominent role. Hiiragi is a public servant who recently learned, on his mother’s deathbed, that he has a half-brother. Initially he’s thrilled, but then he actually meets Karasu, a man who doesn’t hesitate to help his customers realize their darkest desires. So far, Yokai Rental Shop has yet to really distinguish itself from any number of other horror series featuring a supernatural boutique. Additionally, one of the things that made Nightmare Inspector so engaging–the use of a wide variety of illustration styles–is largely missing from Yokai Rental Shop. The major exception to this is how most of the yokai in the spirit district are drawn to be more reminiscent of traditional ink drawings, an artistic touch that I particularly appreciated. While at this point Nightmare Inspector would seem to be the stronger manga of the two, there’s enough about Yokai Rental Shop that interests me that I plan on continuing the short series.

Otomo: A Global Tribute to the Mind Behind Akira edited by Julien Brugeas and Ben Applegate. In 2015, Katsuhiro Otomo won the Angoulême International Comics Festival’s Grand Prix, a prestigious award recognizing comics creators for their lifetime achievements. As part of the celebration, an art exhibition showing work by creators from around the world in a tribute to Otomo was held. A limited-edition catalog of illustrations was also produced at that time, becoming the basis for the Otomo artbook. The English-language edition expands upon the original and includes contributions from more than eighty creatives, resulting in an attractive, oversized, 168-paged hardcover volume. Otomo is probably best known as the creator of Akira, so it isn’t too surprising that most of the artwork in Otomo make reference to either the anime or manga version of that story, but other works like Domu also provide a source of inspiration. There is a fantastic variety and a great range of styles represented in Otomo; some of the individual pieces are truly stunning. Accompanying each illustration is a short biography of the artist. Some also include a section in which the contributors write about their encounters with Otomo and his work. (I wish there were more of these.)

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War written by Nisiosin, illustrated by Hikaru Nakamura. My interest in the Juni Taisen novel largely stemmed from creators associated with it. Nisiosin seems to be something of a cult favorite and has had a fair number of stories translated recently (Juni Taisen is actually the first that I’ve read, however) and Nakamura is the creator of Saint Young Men and Arakawa Under the Bridge (it turns out Nakamura’s contributions to the novel are fairly limited). On top of having notable creators, the physical production and design of Viz Media’s release of Juni Taisen is beautiful. I have also been known to enjoy battle royale-type stories. Sadly, Juni Taisen is rather unsatisfactory as a novel and comes across as superficial, though I suspect the related manga and anime will be more successful. Twelve characters, none of them particularly likeable, are brought together in a battle to the death known as the Zodiac War. The winner will be granted a single wish, although there’s an even greater purpose to the contest. Juni Taisen has potential. The various super powers and abilities of the characters result in tactics and strategies that are interesting and even clever. Unfortunately, the coolness factor is undermined by inconsistent logic, repetitiveness, predictable narrative developments, and a sore lack of worldbuilding and a meaningful context.

My Week in Manga: October 23-October 29, 2017

October 30, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

In addition to the usual My Week in Manga, two other features were posted at Experiments in Manga last week. First up was the most recent monthly giveaway. The winner won’t be announced until Wednesday, so there’s still a little time left to enter for a chance to win the first volume of Oresama Teacher by Izumi Tsubaki. (I finally got around to reading Oresama Teacher because I love Tusbaki’s other manga series Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun so much. I am delighted to report that Oresama Teacher is great, too.) I also posted my review of the first omnibus of Sweet Blue Flowers by Takako Shimura last week. The manga was one of the debuts that I was most excited for this year and I was not at all disappointed. Like Shimura’s earlier series Wandering Son (which is an extremely important manga to me personally), Sweet Blue Flowers is a beautiful work. I’m so glad that it’s finally getting the print release it deserves and look forward to reading the rest of the series. (Now if only the rest of Wandering Son could be published, too! My fantasy is that Sweet Blue Flowers will be so successful that more of Shimura’s work will be translated.) Once again, I wasn’t actually online much last week and I worked on Sunday so I’m sure there’s plenty of news that I’ve missed. However, I did catch that Thomas Baudinette posted a translation of “Painting the essence of gay erotic art”–an interview with Gengoroh Tagame from a 2014 issue of the art magazine Bijutsu Techo.

Quick Takes

Fairy Tail: Rhodonite by Kyouta Shibano. At first I was a little confused by the “2” emblazoned upon the cover of Rhodonite since it’s not in fact the second volume of Rhodonite. Instead, it’s the second volume in Shibano’s Fairy Tail Gaiden manga, one of a multitude of series spinning off from Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail that have recently been translated into English. Despite retaining the volume designations, the Fairy Tail Gaiden manga are being released as independent works by Kodansha Comics. Shibano’s three spinoff volumes, while relying very heavily on the original series, largely stand alone from one another. Rhodonite collects two side stories featuring Gajeel Redfox, one of the Dragon Slayers associated with the Fairy Tail Guild. Since I’m not especially well-versed in the Fairy Tail franchise, I’m not exactly sure where the first story, from which the volume gains its name, fits in. However, it does reveal more of Gajeel’s past and backstory as the guild is investigating the magic drug trade. The second story takes place while Gajeel is a member of the Magic Council during Fairy Tail’s disbandment. In this story he temporarily teams up with Cobra to rescue a group of children who were kidnapped to be sold as slaves. Already intended for those already familiar with Fairy Tail, Rhodonite will even more specifically appeal to those who are fans of Gajeel.

Spirit Circle, Volume 1 by Satoshi Mizukami. I rather enjoyed Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, currently the only other manga series by Mizukami to be licensed in English. I would have been interested in Spirit Circle for that reason alone, but I’ve also been hearing great (and well-deserved) things about the manga beyond that. Like it’s predecessor in English (which is actually briefly referenced in passing), Spirit Circle is a manga that’s a little strange and quirky but that also has a great deal of heart and soul. Fuuta Okeya has the ability to see ghosts. That by itself would generally be enough to form the basic premise of a series, but thanks to a new transfer student, Fuuta must now also confront his past lives. Though meeting Fuuta for the first time in this life, Kouko Ishigami is very familiar with his previous incarnations. Historically, their encounters haven’t always gone so well, though. In the first volume of Spirit Circle, Fuuta is made to relive two of his pasts to the point of his deaths and parts of a third life are revealed as well. So far, I’m loving Spirit Circle. Fuuta and Kouko’s past lives are filled with heartbreaks and joys, echoes of which are apparent in the teenagers’ current existences. Taken separately, the stories are interesting, but together they’re marvelous. I’m very curious to see where Mizukami takes the series next.

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa. The 2015 film adaptation of Sukegawa’s novel An has been released internationally under several different titles–Sweet Red Bean Paste, An, and Sweet Bean–and now the original work has been translated into English with yet another title variation, Sweet Bean Paste. I’ve not seen Naomi Kawase’s film, but it seems to have been generally well-received. As for Sukegawa’s original novel, it makes for a fairly quick and light read despite some of the story’s more tragic undercurrents and philosophical musings. Sentaro is a man with a criminal past, out of prison but still working off his debt by making and selling dorayaki in a confectionery shop owned by the widow of his boss. He’s not particularly invested in the job, but that begins to change when an elderly woman named Tokue, her hands disfigured from a childhood illness, convinces him to let her join him at the shop. Bringing a unique perspective on life along with a recipe for sweet bean paste more delicious than any other Sentaro has tasted, Tokue has a huge influence upon the younger man as their unexpected friendship blossoms. Although much about Tokue’s past is unfortunate and she continues to deal with the stigma associated with leprosy, she has still found a way to live on in the face of prejudice and discontent. Sentaro has much to learn from Tokue, even if the lessons are bittersweet.

My Week in Manga: October 16-October 22, 2017

October 23, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Well, it was a very quiet week at Experiments in Manga last week. I was hoping to post my review of the first omnibus of Takako Shimura’s Sweet Blue Flowers, but a variety of things came up–little dude’s preschool open house, helping family members with their cross-country move, spending most of a day on the road for an out-of-state taiko performance, to name just a few. But never fear! I’ll almost certainly be posting the review later this week instead. I haven’t been online much recently either, but I did catch a couple of thing of interest last week. The first was an announcement from Dark Horse, which will be releasing Kentaro Miura’s official Berserk guidebook in March of next year. The second was Brigid Alverson’s discussion with Akira Himekawa, the two-person creative team behind most of the manga adaptations of The Legend of Zelda.

Quick Takes

Goodnight Punpun, Omnibus 6-7 (equivalent to Volumes 11-13) by Inio Asano. It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve read the fifth omnibus of Goodnight Punpun, but in reality it’s only been a few months. Perhaps it seems so long since Goodnight Punpun can be such a hard-hitting, exhausting experience which requires time to fully recover between volumes. (At least, that tends to be the case for me.) Goodnight Punpun is a surreal and extremely dark coming-of-age story. The series is intense, easily earning its explicit content warning with the manga’s portrayal of emotional, psychological, and physical violence. But while much of Goodnight Punpun is incredibly bleak, there are also moments of hope. Granted, that hope can also be extremely painful. Goodnight Punpun worked best for me when it was exploring the inner turmoil of its titular protagonist. I was actually frequently reminded of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human as the series approached its conclusion. The manga’s second major plot involving the cult wasn’t nearly as compelling or convincing, coming across as superfluous and tangential to me. But having now reached the end of Goodnight Punpun, I find that I want to read it again. The manga has multiple layers to it and I’m fairly certain there are elements that I either missed entirely or didn’t fully appreciate my first time through the series.

Waiting for Spring, Volume 1 by Anashin. Although the basic premise of Waiting for Spring makes it seem like the manga’s setup could easily slip into a reverse harem territory, after reading the first volume I don’t think that’s the direction Anashin will be taking with the series. However, it does still look like there will be at least some romantic rivalry involved. If there’s one thing that Mitsuki wants from high school, it’s to finally make some friends. She’s having a difficult time of it, though. The other young women in her class aren’t really hostile towards her, but she hasn’t been able to really connect with them, either. But things start to change when she gets mixed up with and is unexpectedly befriended by the four stars of the men’s basketball team. In general, most of the relationships in Waiting for Spring are very well done. The blossoming romance between Mitsuki and one of the basketball players is very sweet, but I’m particularly enjoying the friendships in the first volume. Mitsuki treats all of the guys like they’re real people. She isn’t blinded by their good looks and athletic talent (though she can still appreciate them) and doesn’t hesitate to give them what for when needed. This is actually something of a novelty for them, but it’s what allows their friendships with her to naturally develop. The already well-established relationships between the four young men are also very entertaining.

Attack on Titan Adventure: Year 850: Last Stand at Wall Rose written by Tomoyuki Fujinami and illustrated by Ryosuke Fuji and Toru Yoshii. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure series and other types of gamebooks. (I’ve even held onto a few particularly well-loved volumes from my youth.) And so I was very curious about Last Stand at Wall Rose, an interactive novel set during the Battle of Trost which takes place early on in Hajime Isayama’s original Attack on Titan manga. The mechanics of Last Stand at Wall Rose are interesting, incorporating elements of roleplaying games. Since I’m used to standard branching-plot stories, the book wasn’t as linear as I was expecting and in some ways was even more interactive than I thought it would be. Keeping pencil and paper nearby while reading can be very useful. Last Stand at Wall Rose was fun, but I did find some of the formatting and gameplay to be annoying. The most egregious issue was the amount of unnecessary flipping of pages which made the narrative more disjointed than it otherwise would have been. I also almost wish that page numbers hadn’t been included since the novel’s navigation is based on a system of independently numbered story sections rather than pages. (Also of note: Readers of the first printing of Last Stand at Wall Rose will want to refer to the errata posted online.)

My Week in Manga: October 9-October 15, 2017

October 16, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I posted the Bookshelf Overload for September which includes lists of some of the manga and other books that I picked up last month (along with some brief commentary). Looking forward to future manga releases, Vertical Comics recently announced two new titles: Pop Team Epic by Bkub Okawa and The Delinquent Housewife! by Yoko Nemu. Seven Seas also had an interesting announcement to make. In addition to two licenses–Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs by Tadahiro Miura and World’s End Harem by Link and Kotaro Shono–Seven Seas is launching Ghost Ship, a new imprint for the publishers’ more mature titles.

Quick Takes

Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, Volume 1 written by Leiji Matsumoto, illustrated by Kouiti Shimaboshi. Although I immediately recognize the name of Captain Harlock, Dimensional Voyage is actually the first incarnation of his story that I’ve read or watched except for the short crossover manga included in Kodansha Comics’ recent release of Queen Emeraldas. (Emeraldas actually makes a brief appearance in the first volume of Dimensional Voyage, too.) My understanding is that Dimensional Voyage is either a reboot or retelling of Matsumoto’s original Captain Harlock manga, written by Matsumoto himself but illustrated by a different artist. The series is completely accessible to readers who are unfamiliar with Harlock though I suspect that established fans will find the manga to be appealing as well. Shimaboshi’s designs are obviously based on Matsumoto’s though many of the main characters are much more conventionally attractive in this version. Both the dialogue and the artwork of Dimensional Voyage tends to be very dramatic and at times even melodramatic, but I don’t at all consider that to be a bad thing. As for the story itself, the manga is just getting started. The first volume establishes the basic setting and premise, but much of it is spent introducing the legends surrounding Harlock, the series’ titular space pirate.

Jackass! by Scarlet Beriko. I forget exactly how Beriko’s work as a whole was first brought to my attention, but my curiosity was immediately piqued by Jackass! when SuBLime announced that it would be publishing the manga. It’s not a terribly uncommon trope in boys’ love for two friends to ultimately fall deeply in love with each other, so Jackass! isn’t particularly surprising in that way. However, it is the first manga that I’ve read in the genre in which women’s stockings provide the initial impetus for a relationship to take that particular turn. Keisuke’s best friend Masayuki has a leg fetish. In a rather awkward turn of events, and much to Keisuke’s embarrassment, Masayuki catches a glimpse of him wearing his sister’s pantyhose. Masayuki is instantly smitten with Keisuke’s perfect legs, which understandably complicates their relationship somewhat. At times Jackass! can be unexpectedly sweet and even touches on more sobering subject matter like homophobia, but for the most part it reads as a comedy not to be taken too seriously. Jackass! includes a strong supporting cast, including Keisuke’s older sister and his confidently gay cousin, which add a great deal to the manga; the entertaining and occasionally ridiculous character interactions are the highlight of the story. I enjoyed Jackass! and would certainly be interested in reading more of Beriko’s work.

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Volume 1 by Rin Mikimoto. Hinana is known for her seriousness so most of her friends and classmates are unaware that she’s also a romantic hoping to find a fairy tale-like love. Kaede is a celebrity and rising star, admired for both his talent and incredibly good looks. The two of them meet, somewhat by chance, when Kaede is shooting on location at Hinana’s high school for an upcoming film and they end up hitting it off. Mikimoto’s artwork in Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight comes across as attractive but a little generic overall except for the hilariously exaggerated reaction shots drawn for comedic effect. And there is plenty of humor in the series. Kaede, idolized by his fans, does not at all have the personality that they would expect. He can be kind but, despite how he generally presents himself professionally, Kaede’s not exactly a refined gentleman. He’s also really into butts, and isn’t ashamed of that fact. Most people would probably be slightly taken aback by this, but Hinana finds his candidness refreshing. (I appreciated that aspect of his personality as well.) I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the first volume of Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight. I’m not overly interested in manga about celebrities, but Kaede is such a weirdo and Hinana is likeable, so I’m curious to see what turns their relationship might take from here.

My Week in Manga: October 2-October 8, 2017

October 9, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I announced the winner of the Assassin’s Creed manga giveaway. The post also includes a list of manga published in English that feature pirates of various types, including historical pirates, fantasy pirates, space pirates, and others. Then New York Comic Con (which is still going on) and Yaoi Con were held last week as well. I didn’t attend either event, but there were some announcements made by Kodansha Comics, Viz Media, and SuBLime Manga (which is technically Viz Media, too). Kodansha revealed plans to release Kenji Inoue and Kimitake Yoshioka’s Grand Blue Dreaming, Mitsurou Kubo’s Again!!, and Akiko Higashimura’s Tokyo Tarareba Girls in print. Among other things, Viz will be adding Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto’s Pokémon Sun & Moon and Tenya Yabuno’s Pokémon Horizon: Sun & Moon and will be re-releasing Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys and 21st Century Boys in a hardcover edition in addition to speeding up the release of Kōhei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia. SuBLime announced a few new digital titles, but Ranmaru Zariya’s Coyote and Ogeretsu Tanaka’s Escape Journey will receive print runs, too.

Quick Takes

Aho-Girl, Volume 1 by Hiroyuki. I only realized it after I finished the first volume of Ah0-Girl, but I’ve actually read another of Hiroyuki’s four-panel manga, Dojin Work, which was never released in its entirety in English. It’s been a long while since I’ve read Dojin Work, but I get the sense that in general I prefer that earlier series over this more recent one. Aho-Girl, while it did legitimately make me laugh on multiple occasions, tends to rub me the wrong way and I personally could have done without all of the sexual harassment being used as the basis for comedy. The dirty jokes I don’t particularly mind, though. As defined by first volume’s cover, “aho-girl” is Japanese for a clueless girl. Yoshiko Hanabatake, the series’ titular character, is indeed an astonishingly dense airhead. Oh, and she really, really likes bananas. Other major characters in the first volume of the manga include Akuru Akutsu, her long-suffering next door neighbor and supposed childhood friend (who doesn’t seem to have many friends in part due to his own unfortunate personality), her mother Yoshie, who would like nothing more than to see the two of the together, and Sayaka Sumino, a genuinely kind girl, classmate, and friend. As may safely be assumed, most of the humor of Aho-Girl revolves around Yoshiko’s sheer stupidity, for better and for worse.

Appleseed Alpha by Iou Kuroda. An adaptation of sorts of the Appleseed Alpha anime, which itself is a spinoff of sorts of Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed manga, Kuroda’s Appleseed Alpha manga forms a prequel to the original story. Although to be completely honest, I’m not entirely sure exactly how the Appleseed Alpha fits into the larger Appleseed franchise since I’m not familiar with any of the other manga or anime. What drew me to the Appleseed Alpha manga was Kuroda’s involvement. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but I remember enjoying Kuroda’s alternative manga Sexy Voice and Robo, so I was glad to see more of the creator’s work with its distinctive illustration style released. Kuroda’s Appleseed Alpha was longer than I originally thought it was–Kodansha Comics’ hardcover edition is in fact an omnibus collecting the entire two-volume series, but somehow manages to look much shorter than it actually is. Appleseed Alpha is not a quick read although the plot and action moves at a fairly steady pace. The story follows Deunan, a very competent ex-SWAT officer, and her combat cyborg boyfriend Briareos as the couple makes their way through a dystopic cyberpunk Western version of the United States. Previous knowledge of Appleseed is not needed to enjoy Kuroda’s somewhat quirky contribution.

QQ Sweeper, Volumes 1-3 by Kyousuke Motomi. I greatly enjoyed Motomi’s earlier manga series Dengeki Daisy, so I was looking forward to giving another of the creator’s series a try, which is what ultimately led me to QQ Sweeper. (A few of the characters from Dengeki Daisy actually happen to make quick cameo appearances in the series, too.) Fumi’s dream in life is to find a prince charming to sweep her off her feet. Instead, she finds Kyutaro who has a fixation on literally sweeping. He has a pretty good reason for it, though. Kyutaro and his family are responsible for ridding the local area of dangerous infestations of malicious thoughts and psychological torment which manifest as bugs and physical cleanliness can go far to help with spiritual cleanliness. Of course, sometimes the bugs really are just bugs. For as seemingly silly and charmingly goofy as QQ Sweeper can often be–it can essentially be summed up as a supernatural cleaning manga–the series quickly becomes surprisingly dark. QQ Sweeper ends somewhat suddenly with the third volume and doesn’t really provide much of a satisfying conclusion, but fortunately the sequel series Queen’s Quality has been licensed as well. The series’ humor and seriousness occasionally seems a little off-balance, but I really liked QQ Sweeper and certainly plan on continuing with the story.

My Week in Manga: September 25-October 1, 2017

October 2, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

September has ended and October has begun, but there’s still a little time left to enter the most recent manga giveaway at Experiments in Manga! The results will be announce on Wednesday, so be sure to get your comments in for a chance to win the first volume (actually, I think it may even be the first half) of Takashi Yano and Kenji Oiwa’s Assassin’s Creed: Awakening. For this giveaway, I’m interested in learning more about everyone’s favorite pirate characters in manga. Otherwise, it was once again a fairly quiet week here at the blog. It’s been a while since I’ve last mentioned any of the Kickstarter’s that have caught my eye, but Matthew Meyer’s campaign to continue his series of illustrated yokai guides launched last week. The Book of the Hakutaku: A Bestiary of Japanese Monsters will be the third volume following The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: A Field Guide to Japanese Yokai (which I’ve previously reviewed) and The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits: An Encyclopedia of Mononoke and Magic. I really love these books, and the artwork is fantastic.

Quick Takes

Love & Lies, Volume 1 by Musawo. In general, I don’t tend to gravitate towards high school romances, but I am a sucker for utopian and dystopian fiction, so when those two genres mix I can’t help but want to give the resulting story a try. Love & Lies is set in Japan in the near future. In response to the crisis of an extreme decline in population, the government has implemented a program which assigns marriage partners based on their genetic makeup and social circumstances so that any children born will be healthy, skilled, contributing members of society. Once both partners have turned 16, they receive a notice from the government revealing their identities to each other for the first time. Who they may or may not truly love isn’t really taken into consideration, but it also seems that program may be susceptible to corruption. I find the premise of Love & Lies to be very interesting; it has great potential to explore the nature of love and personal relationships in a dramatic and engaging way. When the entire purpose of marriage has become a government-funded reproduction program, the impact on society and its people will be tremendous. I also especially appreciate that Love & Lies includes at least one character who isn’t heterosexual seeing as a marriage program of this type would have particularly drastic social implications for a person who is queer in some way.

Taproot: A Comic about a Gardener and a Ghost by Keezy Young. I first encountered Young’s work through the ongoing webcomic Yellow Hearts which joined Sparkler Monthly‘s lineup of online comics relatively recently. Part of what I love about Yellow Hearts is Young’s gorgeous illustrations and use of color as well as the natural inclusion of queer characters in the story. Taproot is Young’s debut graphic novel and it, too, has what I’ve come to love and expect from the creator’s other comics. The graphic novel has a great amount of depth to it, more than the rather simple, straightforward subtitle would seem to imply. Hamal is young man who can see ghosts, an ability which has made it difficult for him to find acceptance from others. At least from those who are living. Many of the ghosts, on the other hand, are drawn to and quite like Hamal; Blue has even fallen in love with him, although being incorporeal presents a few challenges. But there’s an even greater problem that the two of them must face–the very existence of the local ghosts is being threatened by a frighting supernatural disturbance. There is a sense of loneliness and melancholy to be found in Taproot, but the comic is also incredibly heartwarming and endearing. Taproot is a sweet and touching queer romance with beautiful artwork, making it something that’s extremely easy to recommend.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime written by Fuse and illustrated by Taiki Kawakami. There seems to be a preponderance of manga series right now with the underlying conceit of a person dying and then being reincarnated in some sort of fantasy world. I have read a few of these series, so I haven’t been completely avoiding them, but I’ve not really been seeking them out, either, having experienced genre-fatigue by proxy. However, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime still managed to pique my interest simply because it sounded like such a ridiculous spin on what has become such a well-worn story. And I’ll admit, the first volume of the That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime manga is surprisingly entertaining. The protagonist of the series also happens to be a 37-year-old man, which isn’t the most common in translated manga. Of course, as can be safely assumed from the title, he soon dies only to start life again as a slime, one of the lowliest monsters there is. Mikami accepts this turn of fate pretty quickly and focuses his attention on gaining the ability to verbally communicate with the adventurers and other creatures he encounters. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s essentially been leveling up the entire time he’s been trying to find a way to talk and has unintentionally become one of the most powerful monsters in the area, inadvertently gaining a large following in the process.

Notes of a Crocodile by Miaojin Qiu. So far, only two of Qiu’s long-form works have been translated into English. Last Words from Montmarte, originally published posthumously after the author’s suicide at the age of twenty-six, was released in translation in 2014 and the English-language edition of Notes of a Crocodile, described as a cult classic of queer Taiwanese literature, was more recently released in 2017. Notes of a Crocodile is also one of Qiu’s most highly acclaimed and well-known works. The novel is about a small group of lovesick and psychologically troubled queer college students coming of age in Taipei in the late 1980s. The narrative unfolds as a series of notebooks which contain a combination of diary-like entries, letters between friends and lovers, and fragments of a surreal story about crocodiles posing as humans, in part a metaphor for those who have to live hidden lives. The narrator of Notes of a Crocodile is nicknamed Lazi, a young lesbian woman with self-destructive tendencies who is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. The women she falls obsessively in love with and their doomed romances feature prominently as do the tumultuous and fraught relationships between her and her small group of extremely close friends. Notes of a Crocodile is a beautiful work but it is also filled with pain, desperation, and longing–the novel resonated very strongly with me and I hope to read more of Qiu’s work.

My Week in Manga: September 18-September 24, 2017

September 25, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

I was running a little behind my intended schedule last week (and today for that matter–this seems to be somewhat par for the course lately), but over the weekend I was finally able to post my review of the ninth omnibus of Vinland Saga, an award-winning historical manga by Makoto Yukimura which has become one of my favorite series currently being released in English. Last week I also attend a talk by Hiroshi Yoshioka, a professor at Kyoto University’s Kokoro Research Center, called Hiroshima, Fukushima, and Beyond: Borders and Transgressions in Nuclear Imagination. Yoshioka’s research addresses the portrayal of nuclear power within popular culture, whether that be manga like Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen, Sunao Katabuchi’s In This Corner of the World anime adaptation, other visual arts, or even Giant Baba’s “atomic drop” in professional wrestling. I won’t be doing a full write-up of the talk (although perhaps I should), but I did find it to be fascinating. A couple of other interesting things that I’ve come across recently include Ryan Holmberg’s two part article “Yokoyama Yuichi and Audiovisual Abstraction in Comics” as well as an edited version of a talk by Tyran Grillo, the translator working on the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, about the series and its author Yoshiki Tanaka.

Quick Takes

Frau Faust, Volume 1 by Kore Yamazaki. The German legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to the Devil in order to gain great knowledge and worldly delights, has had numerous interpretations over the centuries. (Considering my background in music, I’m personally most familiar with the various operatic and symphonic renditions of the tale.) Faust being the subject of a manga would be enough for me to take an immediate interest, but the fact that Frau Faust is by Yamazaki, the creator of The Ancient Magus’ Bride which I greatly enjoy, made it a series that I absolutely knew I needed to read. One volume in, not only am I intrigued, I am completely on board with Yamazaki’s reimagining of the classic tale. As can be gathered from the title, Faust in this case is a woman. Johanna is strikingly enigmatic, the complexity of her true nature slowly revealed over the course of the first volume of the manga. The pacing of Frau Faust is excellent. Plenty of mystery remains by the first volume’s end, but rather than the story feeling like it’s being unnecessarily drawn out, it simply makes me want to read more. The only real complaint I have about the manga, and it’s a relatively minor one at that, is Johanna’s eyeglasses which tend to inexplicably appear and disappear from one panel to the next and I can’t tell if it’s meant to be intentional or not.

Kiss of the Rose Princess, Volumes 1-2 by Aya Shouoto. Since I’ve been enjoying The Demon Prince of Momochi House I’ve been making a point to try some of the other manga by Shouoto available in English. Sadly, I haven’t been nearly as taken with Kiss of the Rose Princess, one of Shouoto’s earlier series. I think that part of my lack of interest in the series stems from the fact that there’s not much of a plot even hinted at until the second volume. It’s almost as if the first volume, and much of the second, is devoted to a side quest before really getting to the meat of the story. Anise is a high school student who quite unexpectedly finds herself in command of a quartet of knights (who are also her classmates) that she can magically summon, a situation that hasn’t been fully explained. More than anything else, the setup comes across as a convenient excuse for the series’ heroine have a number of young men who are in some way bound to her if not vying for her attention. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but at this point most of the characters come across as “types” and any convincing romantic tension is nearly nonexistent. Everyone is very prettily drawn, however. Shouoto seems to be favoring silliness over seriousness in Kiss of the Rose Princess, which again isn’t necessarily bad, but a satisfying balance between the tones hasn’t been reached yet.

Queen Emeraldas, Volume 2 by Leiji Matsumoto. In addition to being a classic manga, which I’m always happy to see more of in translation, I found the first half of Queen Emeraldas to be wonderfully engrossing, so I was looking forward to reading the conclusion of the series. One of the things that particularly appeals to me about the Queen Emeraldas is the mood that Matsumoto is able to create–the melancholic atmosphere of the manga as well as the portrayal of the great expanse and loneliness of the universe. (I also adore Matsumoto’s illustrations of space.) Emeraldas is a woman traveling the stars, her ship her only constant companion. However, her destiny still frequently crosses paths with those of others. Hiroshi Umino repeatedly finds himself drawn into her orbit as he tries to establish a life of freedom in space. The chapters of Queen Emeraldas are loosely-connected stories with the presence of Emeraldas as the uniting factor. She herself is frequently the narrator of the tales, but the focus is often on the follies and arrogance of the men she meets. I was actually hoping to learn more about Emeraldas and her personal story, but by the end of the series very little has been explicitly stated about her past. Even so, Emeraldas is a marvelously charismatic character, capable of great empathy and compassion but dedicated to justice.

My Week in Manga: September 11-September 17, 2017

September 18, 2017 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga I posted August’s Bookshelf Overload which lists the manga, comics, and other media that found their way into my home last month. Otherwise, it was fairly quiet here at the blog, but I did come across some great interviews elsewhere online: Paul Semel interviewed author Kazuki Sakuraba whose novel A Small Charred Face will be released in translation this week. (I actually recently reviewed the book; it’s well-worth picking up.) Susannah Greenblatt interviewed Motoyuki Shibata, one of the cofounders of the Monkey Business literary magazine, discussing translation and Japanese literature among other things. (I’ve previously reviewed some of the early issues of Monkey Business.) And for something a little more manga-centric, Brigid Alverson interviewed manga editor Yumi Sukimune who works with Akiko Higashimura on Princess Jellyfish (which I greatly enjoy) in addition to other series.

And then there’s the licensing news from last week. Udon Entertainment, for example has plans to release Yuztan’s Dragon’s Crown manga adaptation. Most of last week’s manga and light novel licensing announcements came from another Seven Seas’ sprees, though: Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter manga by Reia and Suki Umemiya; two companion volumes to Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride (which I’ll definitely be picking up); Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest manga by Ryou Hakumai and RoGa; the original Cutie Honey manga by Go Nagai; The Dungeon of Black Company manga by Youhei Yasumura; Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! light novels and manga by FUNA, Itsuki Akata, and Neko Mint; Go For It, Nakamura! manga by Syundei (probably the one I’m personally most excited about); Himouto! Umaru-chan manga by Sankaku Head; How Not to Summon a Demon Lord manga by Yukiya Murasaki and Naoto Fukuda; How to Treat Magical Beasts manga by Kajiya; Hungry For You: Endo Yasuko Stalks the Night manga by Flowerchild; If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord manga by CHIROLU and Hota; Little Devils manga by Uuumi; Mushroom Girls in Love, a one-volume manga by Kei Murayama; Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General by Jin; Satan’s Secretary manga by Kamotsu Kamonabe; The Voynich Hotel manga by Seiman Doumanv. It’s an interesting mix!

Quick Takes

Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 2 by Ryoko Kui. I absolutely loved the first volume of Delicious in Dungeon and after reading the second volume my opinion of the series hasn’t changed–I still find it tremendously entertaining. The conceit of Delicious in Dungeon is fairly simple and straightforward. Basically, Kui has taken a dungeon-crawling adventure and turned it into a food manga. It’s a brilliant combination of subgenres with endless possibilities when it comes to the sheer variety monsters that could end up as a meal for the manga’s protagonists. While this alone could carry the series a fair distance (especially considering the immense creativity Kui exhibits in how fantasy creatures might be used to either directly or indirectly support an adventurer’s diet), Delicious in Dungeon also benefits from having a main cast that largely consists of a bunch of endearing goofballs. Kui has also started to expand on the actual worldbuilding of the series, too. While the manga still relies fairly heavily on the well-established tropes of fantasy role-playing games, small details are being introduced that make the setting of Delicious in Dungeon a little less generic. Of course, part of the series’ humor and charm is firmly based on Kui taking familiar fantasy elements and twisting them just a bit. It’s all great fun.

Sweetness & Lightning, Volumes 6-7 by Gido Amagakure. Although I love food manga, I never generally read a particular title thinking that I’ll actually make any of the recipes that might be contained within it. If I ever did, though, Sweetness & Lightning is probably the series that I would turn to. Since the main characters are in the process of learning to cook (and one of them is a preschooler about to start kindergarten), the dishes that they tackle typically tend to be within the reach of a beginner and aren’t usually overly-complicated. The fact that Sweetness & Lightning is a food manga is what initially brought the series to my attention, but at this point it’s really the characters which keep me coming back for more. I’m particularly impressed by the portrayal of the father-daughter relationship between Inuzuka and Tsumugi. Amagakure is also incredibly successful in depicting little kids in a convincing way. Sweetness & Lightning is in turns adorable and bittersweet, and these two volumes have some especially poignant and heartbreaking moments. Since Tsumugi is so young she still doesn’t entirely understand the death of her mother and Inuzuka still grieves the loss of his wife. But the sixth and seventh volumes also introduce more members of their extended family which was lovely.

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Volume 12 by Fumi Yoshinaga. The English-language edition of What Did You Eat Yesterday? has essentially caught up with the original Japanese release so the individual aren’t published as frequently as they once were, but I’m always very happy to get my hands on the latest installment in the series. The food in What Did You Eat Yesterday? is beautifully illustrated from start to finish. The individual ingredients, the techniques used, and the resulting dishes are wonderfully and realistically rendered. Visually, the people in What Did You Eat Yesterday? aren’t nearly as detailed as the food they are eating, but the believably complex and nuanced characterizations in the series is exceptional. The characters certainly have their personal flaws and Yoshinaga isn’t afraid to reveal them; rather than portraying some sort of romanticized ideal, Yoshinaga captures the messiness of real-life relationships in the series. It’s an approach that I particularly appreciate. What Did You Eat Yesterday? follows the day-to-day lives of two adult men who are in a committed, long-term relationship with each other which of course is something that I also greatly value. At times the food aspects of What Did You Eat Yesterday? seem tangential to everything else going on, but it’s still a great series.