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Crazy Food Truck, Vol. 1

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Crazy Food Truck isn’t the worst manga I’ve read this year, but it’s one of the most disappointing, marred by lazy writing, paper-thin characterizations, and excessive fan service.

The most basic problem is that Crazy Food Truck reads more like a rough outline than a fully realized story. The premise is–if you’ll pardon the expression–half-baked: a gruff ex-soldier ekes out a living by operating a food truck in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In scene after scene, Gordon laments the lack of paying customers, a joke that doesn’t square with the fact that he’s mounted a cannon on his truck to ward off the rogue military officers and exploitative creeps who inhabit this desert. Gordon’s cooking exploits aren’t particularly interesting or educational, either; the scenes of him drying squid meat or waxing poetic about mustard are executed in such a perfunctory way that they could have been lifted from almost any food manga.

Another issue is that Gordon is less a person than an archetype, a man with a secret military past who reluctantly helps people in need, always getting the upper hand in situations where he’s outmanned and outgunned. Early in chapter one, for example, he stumbles across a teenager in a sleeping bag. Arisa initially seems helpless and kind of dim, but turns out to be just as lethal as Gordon, with considerable martial arts skills and weapons expertise. Her bubble-headed observations and refusal to wear clothing grate on Gordon’s nerves, yet Gordon tolerates her child-like behavior, allowing her to tag along with him even after she eats all his food. (Surely that would be a bridge too far for a cook, no?) We never learn why Arisa is on the run from authorities, or why she acts like a six-year-old; she’s just a pin-up who pigs out with gusto. Fair enough, I guess, since this series ran in Monthly Comic @Bunch, but the infantilization of her character makes her exchanges with Gordon more icky than amusing, and gives us little insight into either character’s motivations.

Perhaps the most serious problem with Crazy Food Truck is Rokurou Ogaki’s lack of vision. A story this outlandish needs bold, individual artwork that matches the intensity and silliness of its central conceit, but Ogaki opts for a blandly synthetic approach that borrows liberally from better series. Each character seems to have been created by a different person: some are grotesquely cartoonish—the better to emphasize their villainy—while others look like they’ve escaped from Food Wars or Golden Kamuy. The backgrounds, too, lack panache, even when Ogaki teases the idea that the world was once a more lush place teeming with animals and people. In the absence of a distinctive, unifying style, the characters and objects look like they’ve been clipped out of different magazines and pasted into the panels.

It’s a shame that Crazy Food Truck is so indifferently executed, as I thought its Mad Max-meets-Food-Network premise sounded like fun. Alas, it’s the manga equivalent of a failed Iron Chef experiment, a mish-mash of ingredients don’t quite add up to a tasty dish. Not recommended.

CRAZY FOOD TRUCK, VOL. 1 • BY ROKUROU OGAKI • TRANSLATED BY AMANDA HALEY • ADAPTED BY JENNIFER LEBLANC • LETTERING BY E.K. WEAVER, JEANNIE LEE, SARA LINSLEY, AND JAMES GAUBATZ • VIZ MEDIA • RATED MATURE (NUDITY AND VIOLENCE) • 198 pp.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil: Viribus Unitis

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By Carlo Zen and Shinobu Shinotsuki. Released in Japan as “Youjo Senki” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Richard Tobin.

Credit to the author for knowing his key strengths. He is very good at having our heroes assume something about the enemy, and then cutting to the enemies’ viewpoint and seeing that this is 100% incorrect. Missing the real point and assuming the worst are The Saga of Tanya the Evil’s bread and butter, and we get a ton of that in this volume. Tanya is seriously thinking about defecting now, but worries that she doesn’t bring anything to the table and other countries don’t know who she is… despite her being the most infamous soldier of them all. She and the rest of the battalion assume that the Commonwealth are sending their new recruits to be meat shields as part of some sinister plan… but it’s just the fact that the battalion catches them completely flat-footed. And everyone on the Empire’s side is trying to see how to end the war in a way that will not destroy the country or inspire a revolt among the populace… but this war is no longer winnable.

Tanya is all over the place this volume with her battalion. First she travels back to the Federation side where she has to help with a very clever and convoluted plan of Zettour’s that requires her to essentially be a decoy. Then she has to go all the 3way back to the West, as Romel has a master plan to hit the Commonwealth where it hurts, in their Navy… a plan which also requires Tanya and her group to essentially be a tasty distraction. Both times things work a bit too well simply because Tanya and her fellow soldiers have gotten inhumanly good at what they do. Sadly, this book is no longer about military victories but about political victories. And those are in short supply. The military can’t help there. The foreign office, with all the diplomats, is trying to do something about three years too late. And Rudersdorf still seems very hung up on a plan that is 100% treason.

Fans of Visha will be happy to see she gets some time here, mostly hanging by Tanya’s side during the battles, though we also get Tanya trying to lecture Visha on how to end the war, something that does not go very well – Visha, like the rest of Tanya’s soldiers, is a bit of a meathead when it’s not about battle. There’s also a lot of focus here on Drake, the Commonwealth soldier who’s currently allying with the Federation… at the request of the Commonwealth, which makes it all the more irritating they think he might be turning communist by simply being near them. One character is interesting merely by her almost total absence. Mary Sue is here, but we don’t see her except as a sheer force – literally. Once again she sees Tanya and goes for the kill, and no one can stop her. She doesn’t need a face, or even a name anymore. She’s pure magical vengeance, here to smite Tanya down. I don’t know when the final confrontation between them comes, but it won’t go well.

There’s a new translator here as well, and the book still reads pretty well, though it’s a bit more… staid, I guess. It can be hard to make the dry military chronicle parts of this book sing on the page. Still, definitely looking forward to the next volume, as we see if we really will go down the dangerous route we’re headed.

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 6

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By Riku Misora and Sacraneco. Released in Japan as “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I am tempted to simply cut and paste the first paragraph of my last review here, because it applies even more. The middle section of this book is some of the bleakest, most cynical stuff we’ve seen in this series to date… and it’s a series that’s rooted in cynicism, so that’s pretty impressive. The Reform Party leader is seen as well-meaning but naive, and gets taken to the cleaners by the more experienced nobles. The leader of the interventionist party is a figurehead who has no idea what her supposed allies are planning behind her back, and when she finds out, well, bad things happen. (More on that later). As for Tsukasa and company, well, they get the confirmation they need that something is rotten in Yamato, and have to make a graceful retreat courtesy their powerhouse Aoi. It would be a dark but strong book in the series… were it not for the climax. Instead, I almost feel like dropping it.

Meeting with the leaders of Yamato, and after a brief game of Spin the Bottle that is the sole attempt at humor in this book, Tsukasa and the others get confirmation that, indeed, the nation is so peaceful and happy because of mind control – and that Princess Mayoi is driven by a fierce hatred and contempt for everyone around her. Making their escape, they end up reconnoitering with the resistance unit, which has far more resistance than Tsukasa expected. At the same time, the election heads to its conclusion, and unfortunately is being entirely controlled by Glaux, the noble who is manipulating both sides, plotting murders, and also selling out his country to boot. Fortunately, the cover up of one of his murders is not as smooth as he thinks, especially with Keine on the scene.

The dramatic revelation of just how evil Glaux really is was predictable, but well-handled, and Tetra’s murder was brutal and tragic. I knew Keine was going to be involved in some way, and when she didn’t show up until later I assumed it was going to be to help with the time of death at the autopsy, which it was. That said… Tetra showing up alive at the end of this book is jaw-dropping in its awfulness, and feels like a betrayal of the reader. I already don’t like Keine to begin with because she strikes me as the biggest sociopath among the prodigies, but I acknowledge she can work miracles. But there’s miracles and then there’s impossibilities, and please do not stab someone through the heart, then chop at their neck, then leave them for days, and expect be to be happy that they were somehow resurrected. It’s absolutely ludicrous, and makes the whole election feel pointless. I hated it.

At the time of this review the 7th volume of High School Prodigies is not solicited yet, and perhaps that’s for the best. I need a break to get the taste of this book out of my mouth.

Manga the Week of 6/8/22

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SEAN: As June continues, what varieties of manga do we see before us?

Yen On debuts Your Forma, a sci-fi detective story that asks the question: what if getting 5G wireless injected into you from a vaccine was actually real? and it spied on your every sense? This could be very good or very bad, and I suspect that depends entirely on the politics of the writer.

ASH: Hmmm. The genre certainly appeals to me, but I suspect you’re right.

ANNA: Yeah, going to skip this one and I’m generally in favor of sci-fi goofiness.

MJ: I feel a little “yikes” on this one.

SEAN: Also from Yen On: The Eminence in Shadow 4 and Sword Art Online Progressive 8.

Yen Press, meanwhile, has new manga volumes. Adachi and Shimamura 3, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 4, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 7, Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 13, and A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 11.

Viz debuts Ghost Reaper Girl, a Shonen Jump + series by the creator of Rosario + Vampire (though under a different pen name). Chloe wants to be an actress. But she’s 28, and her window is closing. Can she find fame as a ghost reaper, though? Note that this series is being published flipped at the request of its creator.

ASH: Interesting! Not much seems to be flipped these days, let alone at the creator’s request.

SEAN: Chainsaw Man is also ending with Vol. 11, though a sequel is in the works. We also see Black Clover 29, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 2, Snow White with the Red Hair 19, and Yona of the Dawn 36.

MICHELLE: I’m always here for VIZ shoujo.

ASH: For sure!

ANNA: Viz shoujo saving the week for me!

SEAN: Tokyopop has A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation 5.

Hope you like debuts from Seven Seas, there are a ton of them.

I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl (Osananajimi(♂) wo Onnanoko ni Shiteshimatta Hanashi) is from Ichijinsha’s Comic Pool. A boy trying to practice his makeup technique has his best friend offer to be a guinea pig… but the results are more than either of them could have guessed. Despite the light-novel-ey title, this looks like fans of LGBT should enjoy it.

ASH: I’m definitely curious about this one.

SEAN: Namekawa-san Won’t Take a Licking! (Name Raretakunai Namekawa-san) is from Comic Yuri Hime, and features a bullied girl who decides, for her high school debut, to become a delinquent. Unfortunately, now she attracts the attention of the disciplinary officer. I am always wary of yuri series described as hilarious.

ASH: A different sort of delinquent manga than is often seen, it would seem.

SEAN: Nightfall Travelers: Leave Only Footprints (Yuuyake Trip) is from Houbunsha’s Comic Fuz. Two high school girls investigate supposedly haunted areas of their town and grow closer. The art is apparently the reason to get this.

ASH: I’ll admit, the premise intrigues me, too.

SEAN: This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! (Yoku Wakaranai Keredo Isekai ni Tensei Shiteita You Desu) is a manga from Kodansha’s Suiyoubi no Sirius, based off a novel (not yet licensed, I believe). I’ve been told it’s another one of those “this becomes fluffy slice-of-life isekai assuming you can get past all the sexual assault and threats of slavery at the start” series. Sigh.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: oh my god.

SEAN: Lastly, The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This (Futari wa Daitai Konna Kanji) is a yuri series from the creator of Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto). A 30-year-old writer and a 22-year-old actress are living together as a couple, and we see their everyday life. This is extremely comfy and fun. It ran in Gentosha’s Comic Boost.

MICHELLE: Well, at least one of these appeals to me.

ASH: I rather liked Whispered Words, if I recall correctly.

MJ: This sounds actually great.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Monologue Woven For You 2, the 13th and final volume of New Game!, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 5.

Kodansha has MORE Shuzo Oshimi in print next week, with Welcome Back, Alice (Okaeri Alice). This runs in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, and got a digital release in February, but the print came fast. Three childhood friends have what seems like a standard love triangle… then one of them shows up dressed as a girl.

ASH: Somehow missed this being licensed!

MJ: I don’t know what to expect from this. Maybe great?

SEAN: Also in print: Cells at Work! Baby 4 (the final volume), Interviews with Monster Girls 10, Lovesick Ellie 4, Orient 9, Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 2, SHAMAN KING Omnibus 9, Sue & Tai-chan 4, Vampire Dormitory 5, and What Did You Eat Yesterday? 18.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more What Did You Eat Yesterday?!

ASH: Indeed!

MJ: YESSSSSSSSS

SEAN: The first digital debut is The Shadows of Who We Once Were (Nare no Hate no Bokura), a survival game manga from the creator of Until Your Bones Rot. It’s from Weekly Shonen Magazine, and… it’s a survival game manga.

The other digital debut from Kodansha is Joy, a BL manga from Kodansha’s Honey Milk. A shoujo manga artist is asked to write a BL work… and also discovers his assistant is gay. Maybe he can get inspiration for the BL by a fake relationship?

MJ: Oooo, this…

SEAN: Also digital: The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage 3, Changes of Heart 2, Chihayafuru 32, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 9, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 24, Love After World Domination 4, My Master Has No Tail 6, Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 2, and The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch 2.

MICHELLE: Insert habitual Chihayafuru squee.

ANNA: Gesticulates in celebration of the series, then transitions to despair at being so far behind.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some print releases. We get Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 10th manga volume, By the Grace of the Gods 9, The Faraway Paladin 4, In Another World with My Smartphone 22, Marginal Operation 10, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! 10, Otherside Picnic Omnibus 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 6.

J-Novel Club’s digital debut is a manga, The Saga of Lioncourt (Lion Coeur Senki), which is from Takeshobo’s Kissca. Office worker reincarnated as a warrior in a middle-ages era setting.

And also Forget Being the Villainess, I Want to Be an Adventurer! 3 (the final volume), How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 16, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 3, Marginal Operation 13, and Otherside Picnic 7.

Ghost Ship debuts World’s End Harem: Fantasia Academy, a spinoff of a spinoff of the series that is for everyone who wants to bone 10,000 women who adore them. This is apparently a high school AU version.

Also from Ghost Ship: Ero Ninja Scrolls 3 and Might as Well Cheat: I Got Transported to Another World Where I Can Live My Wildest Dreams! 3.

Denpa has two new releases. The Men Who Created Gundam (Gundam Sousei) ran, appropriately, in Gundam Ace. It’s a done-in-one omnibus about the creators of Gundam… but expect comedy.

Vampeerz: My Peer Vampires is a Sunday GX series about the love between a teenage girl and a vampire… I think. The description is vague, but I mean, title.

ASH: Count me curious.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: And Airship has two early digital titles, including a debut. 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuukimama na Hanayome (Hitojichi) Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru) is, yes, a villainess novel. But this time our heroine has done this a lot. She’s lived full lives. She’s done different occupations. She keeps getting killed. Now, on her 7th try, why not marry her killer?

We also get the first volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 2.

That turned out to be a whole lot. Thoughts?

The Manga Review, 6/3/22

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Two weeks ago, Seven Seas’ employees formed the United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S). Their goal? To negotiate a standard benefits package that includes health insurance, retirement plans, parental leave, and paid time off. UW7S is also pushing for higher wages and better working conditions; in particular, the union’s mission statement emphasizes the importance of ending “both at-will employment and unnecessary ‘permalancing.'” On May 29th, management declined to voluntarily recognize the new union. In a press release, Seven Seas stated:

We respect the rights of our employees to choose or not choose union representation. While we have been requested by a number of employees to voluntarily recognize the Communications Workers of America as their legal representative—without a National Labor Relations Board conducted election—we have decided to respect the right of all eligible employees to vote on this issue. Since unionization would affect more members of staff than those who have already come forward, an election will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn about their rights and the details of this process before they cast their vote through a governed process.

We have notified the [National Labor Relations Board] that we are prepared to move forward with an election among an appropriate unit of employees, and we will, of course, abide by the outcome of the election.

The company’s next move was to hire the law firm of Ogletree Deakins, which has represented clients such as Boeing, Duke University, and IKEA in labor disputes. (Adding insult to injury: Ogletree Deakins counts former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio among its clients.) I’m not sure what’s next for UW7S, but as someone who belongs to a union, I fully support all of the staff at Seven Seas in their fight for a better, more secure workplace. For updates, follow UW7S on Twitter.

NEWS

Diamond Comic Distributors just released its Top 400 Graphic Novels list for April 2022. Manga made a strong showing in comic book stores, with three titles–Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Kaiju No. 8–among the month’s best sellers. (For a little perspective, these three books sold between 3,369 and 5,944 copies each.) Scanning the top 100 titles, there were another 37 manga on the list, ranging from the final volume of The Rose of Versailles to the new edition of Apollo’s Song. [ICv2]

J-Novel Club unveiled five new manga licenses at its Anime Boston panel, including Tearmoon Empire and Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It! [Anime News Network]

Dark Horse will be publishing the sixth and final installment of Neon Genesis Evangelion-The Shinji Ikari Raising Project Omnibus this December. [AiPT!]

After social media users criticized the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) for inviting artist Pink Cat (Saba Moeel) to appear at this year’s event, TCAF withdrew the invitation. In a statement posted to its website on May 31st, organizers explained that “TCAF initially extended a programming invitation to Moeel on the basis of their daily digital comics work on Instagram, and the personal importance that work had to one of our team members. At the time of this invitation, the organization was unaware of Moeel’s online conduct, plagiarism, or allegations of tracing. We apologize for programming and promoting this artist.” [Toronto Comics Art Festival]

Heidi MacDonald has the full scoop on the TCAF/Pink Cat controversy. [The Beat]

FEATURES, PODCASTS, AND INTERVIEWS

Erica Friedman files a report on this year’s Anime Boston convention, where she was a featured panelist and author. [Okazu]

Deb Aoki explores the secret history of Unico, Osamu Tezuka’s lonely little unicorn. [Mangasplaining]

Elias Rosner previews August’s best new manga, from Rooster Fighter to The Poe Clan. [Multiversity Comics]

BuzzFeed shares a list of 15 LGBTQ+ Comics, Graphic Novels And Manga To Read After Watching Heartstopper. [BuzzFeed]

It’s that time of the month again: Walt Richardson and Emily Meyers do a cover-to-cover roundup of Shonen Jump‘s May issue. [Multiversity Manga Club Podcast]

The Manga Mavericks assemble an all-star team to discuss Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater. [Manga Mavericks]

On the latest installment of Shojo & Tell, Ashley and husband Asher Sofman jump in the WABAC machine to look at one of the weirder shojo titles Tokyopop published: Yuri Narushima’s Planet Ladder. Beware the giant chicken! [Shojo & Tell]

Claire explains why you should be reading Kageki Shojo!! The setting “is fascinating, with copious details about Japanese traditional arts interspersed with contemporary (otaku) cultural references that will delight manga and anime fans,” she notes. The author “gives her story and the girls room to breath and develop at an organic (and thus, often hesitant) pace. There is substance to each of these girls, and I for one am delighted that the series survived the dissolution of its original publisher so that we get to see what happens next. These girls are going places.” [Beneath the Tangles]

REVIEWS

Looking for a good beach read? The staff at Beneath the Tangles just posted brief reviews of the latest releases, from Ghost Reaper Girl to Summertime Rendering.

Also of note: Kate Sánchez declares I Want to Be a Wall “one of the most beautiful takes on a relationship I have ever read,” while Helen recommends Summertime Rendering for manga lovers “who want a read that they can’t put down late into the night.”

High School DxD: Ragnarok After School

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

If you’ve read the previous volumes, you know what the plot of High School DxD is: breasts. Everything else is secondary. That said, it is a shonen battle manga, which means that the breasts are not even there to titillate the reader or make them horny. They’re there as a weapon in Issei’s arsenal. Indeed, every new book brings with it a new breast power-up, and so we may as well talk about Issei loving breasts the way that we talk about Izuku using All Might’s Smash moves in My Hero Academia. It’s also very telling that, in universe, Issei’s shtick is popular with little kids rather than women. The kids don’t really get the sex part, they just see him busting out cool moves. It also shows off Issei as someone who really should mature a bit more before he starts getting his harem… something he seems to know anyway, rejecting Akeno’s offer to sleep with him because she “looks sad”. If you’re going to do a harem, do it properly.

Our heroes have been busy lately, as a bunch of heroes/terrorists keep showing up to try to fight them. The motivation of the other side is rather baffling till they figure out that they’re trying to force Balance Breakers by repeated combat. Which is, well, a tad unethical. That will have to wait for future books, though, because Odin is in town, supposedly here to meet with the Japanese gods but more accurately to go on a pub crawl and look at large-breasted women. (Notably, his hot Valkyrie bodyguard, Rossweisse, is not good enough – indeed, he abandons her at the end of the book.) Not everyone wants Odin to talk with other gods, though, and Loki shows up prepared to stop things by force if necessary. And he’s brought Fenrir with him. As a result, well, the subtitle of the book is accurate.

We finally get Akeno’s backstory here, and is it a bit disappointing at how normal it is. Well, as normal as a backstory can get when your relatives murder your own mother in front of you, but it really boils down to “I hate daddy because he’s never home” to a much larger degree. That said, things get resolved a bit too quickly here, and it feels like the author, having shown us how Akeno acme to hate her father, now feels it’s not necessary anymore. As for the rest of the book, well, lotsa fights. Indeed, we even get enemies teaming up, as in order to stop Loki, Vali and company are brought in, with him agreeing to put off his fight with Issei in order to fight someone equally badass. I did like his scoffing at Issei’s idea of peace, and pointing out that would be a nightmare to people who live for battle. Not everyone wants a Happy Harem After.

This was not quite as good as previous books, feeling a bit like it was filling in time. It did introduce Rossweisse, but she doesn’t do much here aside from whine and moan, so I assume we’ll develop her in later books. Average DxD, which is to say below average in terms of normal light novels.

The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend, Vol. 2

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By Kennoji and Fly. Released in Japan as “Chikan Saresou ni Natteiru S-kyuu Bishoujo wo Tasuketara Tonari no Seki no Osananajimi datta” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Sergio Avila.

This got off to a slow start but was definitely improving as it went along. Last time I said that this was what books like Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki deconstructed, and that was certainly true of the first book, but here we see the author starting to really look at the situation. Ryou is the standard oblivious, self-hating potato protagonist, but here we see how that’s actually hurting everyone around him – and hurting himself as well. Ryou has, by the end of the book, four love interests, three of whom seem to be along the lines of “did a decent thing in front of her”, which is also standard high school romance LN but reminds you how goddamn low the bar really is. And he’s actually a little more serious than most high school boys – he doesn’t feel comfortable returning anyone’s feelings until he understands how love feels himself. Unfortunately for the rest of the cast, this may take a while.

Our cast is in that most popular of years, the 2nd year of high school, and as such they have to deal with present-day concerns like the school festival while also trying to think about the future. Ryou can’t really imagine what he’ll be doing in the future beyond vague “college, I guess”. Hina, on the other hand, has a secret… and a dream. She really is far more mature and put together than Ryou, something that he dwells on constantly. That said, he might not be dwelling on it enough, given that Hina said she’d happily give everything up to spend her days married to him… and he didn’t react at all. (She was expecting him to at least push back on that.) Even a surprise first kiss cannot get past Ryou’s wall of self-loathing that he’s put between the two of them. Will a film project help, or just make things even more complicated?

I remain pleased with the relationship between Ryou and his sister Mana. She clearly loves her brother, supports him, and is STILL buying him condoms he won’t use, but there is not one speck of subtext between them, which is an increasing rarity in books these days. This is meant to be a realistic sibling relationship. The other strong part of this book was Hina. She’s been hiding her dreams of being an actress from the others, but it turns out that she has some serious chops. This leads to good and bad things with Ryou. Good in that filming something she can use as a quick promo video shows off his film editing skills, leading to a possible future direction. Bad in that he clearly puts her on a massive pedestal, and clearly the main reason he is not going out with her is for that reason. She tears into him for it, and her frustration is palpable.

That said, we get yet another saved childhood friend at the end of the book, and this risks becoming Osamake if it’s not careful. It can be difficult at times to deal with Ryou’s moping, but the book eventually rewards you.

VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream, Vol. 1

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By Nana Nanato and Siokazunoko. Released in Japan as “VTuber Nanda ga Haishin Kiri Wasuretara Densetsu ni Natteta” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I’m not even sure how to review this at all. I’ve talked before about how I’m not a gamer, but that doesn’t stop me from reviewing endless amount of isekai titles that rely on level ups and power balances. Even if the lingo sometimes confuses me, there’s at least a plot structure to be had. That is not the case with VTuber Legend, which mostly exists to be read as an amusing chat stream turned into a light novel. Even the author was surprised when Fujimi Shobo approached them and asked if they could make it a real book. So I should approach it from a plot or characterization perspective… but there really isn’t one. As for the VTuber stuff… I’ve never watched a single one. I know there are comments that scroll either on the side of the video or literally in the video by watchers. And there are cute personas. That’s about it. Did I like this? Mmmmrrrmmm… not really.

Yuki Tanaka is a 20-year-old NEET, whose sole job turned out to be exploitative and evil. As a result, she’s holed up in her apartment for the most part. That said, she recently got a job with Live-On, a management company that has VTubers. She creates a persona, Awayuki Kokorone, who is refined and placid, with lots of ‘snow’ imagery. Unfortunately… she’s not really that popular. Then one day her computer freezes at one point after she ends the stream, and she does not realize that the stream is still going. So she cracks open a can of Strong Zero and starts blabbing to herself, getting drunker and drunker… and still never realizes her stream is still running. Now people are sure interested in her! In fact, management hints that they hired her expecting her to sort of be a disaster. Should she take this and run with it?

I should note the above paragraph is the first 15 pages of a total of 212. Most of what follows is the crafting of a character based around getting wasted, hitting on any other VTuber that moves, and generally being a chaotic force. With the audience and her fellow VTubers, for the most part, approving. There’s little to no conflict here, and the only time people seriously think about what’s going on is when they tell Yuki not to get drunk EVERY day. The rest of the cast are her fellow VTubers, all of whom seem to be eccentric, and all of whom also seem to be gay. (Yuki identifies herself as a “real-life lesbian”, and honestly that may be another reason why she was hired, but this is mostly used as an excuse for over the top sexual comments rather than anything serious.) I assume as a VTuber novel it works quite well. But the formatting and the lack of any real story make it fall flat for me.

If you enjoy VTubers and are looking for a funny and crass comedy, this may be for you. I ended up drowning in a sea of chat and Strong Zero.

Prison Life Is Easy for a Villainess, Vol. 2

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By Hibiki Yamazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki kara Hajimaru Akuyaku Reijou no Kangoku Slow Life” by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

While I did very much enjoy this second volume and the series, I want to emphasize once again that this is a bit of a mess. The entire cast is filled with terrible, terrible people. The resolution basically amounts to “the king and queen finally come home and stop everything”. And every time that we get a scene that wasn’t in the original webnovel (which is to say one that is not focusing on Rachel in prison) it’s well written but jars terribly with everything else. Margaret’s past as a child, selling flowers on the side of a road, avoiding pedophiles, and living with sex workers trying to marry into royalty, honestly makes me want a bit more for her. The author says in the afterword that Margaret has “gumption but nothing else”, but gumption can get you far. In the end, though I think accidentally, the books read more as “you can be the worst person imaginable and it’s fine as long as you’re rich”. Which, well, current mood of world.

The plot is the same as the first book, though honestly some of the events seem to strain… not disbelief, but I think they show the author was grasping at straws. Elliott and company try to torment Rachel with terrible music, but she merely grabs a trumpet and forces them to play to her own rhythm, in a metaphor so obvious it smacks you in the head. She also has her pet monkey arrive from home, which leads to as many shenanigans as you can imagine a monkey running around the royal palace can have. Meanwhile, Elliott’s allies are being cut down one by one… possibly literally in the case of Sykes, whose fiancee turns out to be one of the few times I will actually use the word yandere in a review. That said, this cannot last forever, and finally Rachel’s parents and the King and Queen arrive to stop Elliott. But can they get Rachel to leave her cell?

The best parts of the book are the ones that show us what Rachel is really like behind all her confidence and casual cruelty. We’ve seen the shallow selfishness of Elliott and Margaret… but honestly, Rachel’s not all that much better. She can plan things out very well in the moment, but does not bother to think of consequences. What’s more, we see more people that her schtick doesn’t actually work on here… though, in keeping with the theme of the book, they’re also terrible sadists. (Word of warning, there are spanking scenes here. More than one.) In the end, she whines like a child and refuses to come out of her cozy cell where she’s been able to avoid responsibility, and ends up having to be bribed with a toy. (The toy is Margaret. Honestly, terrible as they both are, in five years or so I can see them being quite a power couple with Raymond as the beard.) Prison life is easy for a villainess, but actual life does not go as she’d like.

In the end, this book has a very, very specific readership. If you love the idea of a bitch doing horrible things to pathetic men who deserve it, you’ll love this. Two volumes honestly is a bit too many, but nevertheless I had fun.

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Vol. 12

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By Kisetsu Morita and Benio. Released in Japan as “Slime Taoshite 300 Nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level MAX ni Nattemashita” by GA Novels. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

There has been some discussion over the last few years about “yuri tease” or “yuribait” series, i.e. series which promise yuri content but fail to deliver. (This is entirely separate from LGBT content, by the way.) Frankly, any series that was popular with yuri fans in 2004-2005 would likely be piled on by modern fans for this very reason. Gains in media have made people spoiled, especially when you hear things like “it’s a yuribait series because men exist in it” (heard that one recently about Birdie Wing). But sometimes I do have to admit that I feel like I’m being led on. I’m not even sure I *want* Killing Slimes to be yuri. I think it works much better as found family. But if I could pay the author to drop Azusa reminding us that she’s straight every single volume, I would. Especially when the side story is MariMite with dragons. In any case, this volume is pretty much the same as the previous ones.

(Cover art, you are REALLY not helping the author’s case.)

In this volume: Azusa finally decides to get some rice and make some Japanese dishes, but reckons without Laika and Flatorte’s appetites; a Tiger Festival in a nearby down proves to be an excuse for baseball jokes; the treasure dredged from the lake a book or two ago is appraised by “experts”; Azusa and the ghost characters investigate a haunted hotel; Kuku and Pondeli have invented the compact disc, but that also comes with the marketing for same; Falfa and Shalsha see what might (or might not) be a UFO and have a debate about it; and finally, Azusa, Beelzebub and a few others try to help the smart slime, one of the great sages of the world, meet up with another sage who lives on an inaccessible island. In the Laika side stories, Laika continues to mature and become a better fighter almost despite herself.

Again, there’s almost no depth to any of this. The closest we come is when Azusa, on board a ship with only Smarsly for company, actually tells them that she’s a reincarnation from Japan, and opens up about her regrets. Unfortunately, we only get her summarizing this, and it’s mostly done to make Azusa realize that she’s come to terms with and is happy with her new life, but it’s better than nothing. We’re introduced to a bunch of sages from an isolated island, who turn out to be dryads… who talk like Valley Girls. Fortunately, as we discover towards the end of the main story, they really are brilliant, and are happily discussing philosophy with Smarsly, so that’s good. It honestly astonishes me that these books tend to run 250-300 pages, as they feel light as air. Still, at the same time, aside from the walking back on the yuri tease, there’s nothing really wrong with them.

Another popcorn book down. It should please fans, provided they don’t ship Azusa with anyone.

Spy Classroom: To Forget Is Annette

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By Takemachi and Tomari. Released in Japan as “Spy Kyoushitsu” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Thrasher.

Given that the last book focused on four of our spies, this one is here to focus on the others. Mostly it’s about Thea, who is the designated leader this time around, and the most normal of the group… for good and ill. Her “power” also ties in with her personality, and makes it so that she has the moral dilemma in the book. Monika continues to be the “I don’t work well with others” one, but here we see that she too is not as stoic and uncaring as she appears, and she also gets to do the most badass stuff. Erna… well, look, Erna is probably the weak link of the book, but we got a large chunk of her deal in Book 1, so that’s to be expected. And then there is Annette. The cliche of “lovable but airheaded gadgeteer genius” is not new to Spy Classroom – leaving aside Mei from My Hero Academia, it’s been around for years. I’m not sure they had quite the same impact as Annette, who feels empty to Thea.

As was revealed in the last book, Lily’s quartet is actually a decoy mission – our heroines introduced above will be helping Klaus take out the assassin. We don’t actually see too much of that, and only in flashback. Instead, we get the aftermath, where the girls are relaxing after the mission at a luxury hotel. They then run into a woman who says she’s Annette’s mother… and certainly there’s a resemblance. It’s a bit difficult to ask Annette, as she has amnesia of the time before she became a spy. But Thea, who is perhaps projecting just a little after seeing that Annette’s heart’s desire was “I want to get taller”, wants the two of them to reunite. Which may be harder than it seems, as it becomes apparent that Annette’s mother is an enemy spy.

I feel less guilty giving things away than I did the previous two volumes, probably as there’s no big “a ha!” moment where the narrative is totally flipped like their was in the first two books. The story of Matilda and Annette is not that hard to at least figure out, and I’d argue the real mystery was trying to see when it would be revealed and how. It’s very good for Thea and Monika, who are at odds over what to do here. Both are soft in different ways, and I have a feeling that may come back to bite them in later books, but here it doesn’t, mostly as Annette is anything but soft. Its worth remembering that the other cliche about Japanese gadgeteer geniuses is that they have a tendency to forget about ethics and morals unless it’s brought up to them. Annette fits this to a T… and that’s probably very good given she’s a spy.

But just because the mystery is not as mysterious does not mean this isn’t excellent. Spy Classroom runs on its characters, and this book’s heart is not the titular Annette (who is on the cover – again) but Thea, and I’m interested to see what she does next.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 14

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Nothing annoys English-speaking fans quite so much as a series they’re enjoying being unfinished in Japan, and their usual logic is to blame the publisher for not being told that it wasn’t going to continue. This is, of course, nonsense. In regards to this particular series, it was very popular in Japan, its 14th volume had come out only 10 months earlier, and the author was also riding another hit with the How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord series. It looked like a great license, and it is. I’ve enjoyed this series a great deal. It’s fun, has great military strategy and battle scenes, likeable leads with a tinge of romance to them (but not too much), and each volume is pretty short, which, trust me, is a plus for me these days. Unfortunately, Both the American and Japanese publishers are still at the mercy of one thing: the author actually writing more of the book. And it’s been almost four years since the last volume. Hope it doesn’t have a nasty cliffhanger… oops.

We pick up where we left off last time, with Altina and Regis going to war against Spain (or rather Hispania). For the most part, things have been going fairly well, even though both Regis and Altina have had to deal with the fact that they can’t do battles with no fatalities anymore. Indeed, they even have the spare time to debate the nature of Altina’s pacifism, and how, while Regis supports her ideals, he realizes that they are, in fact, idealistic, and no not take into account human nature. That said, he has a bigger problem, as it turns out Hispania has its own eccentric strategist, and she’s just as good if not better than Regis – and seems to lack his moral scruples. With our heroes on the verge of victory, will the price they pay be the life of their chief strategist?

The mental battle between Regis and Mariam, Hispania’s secret strategist, is the best reason to read this book. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Regis pressured and doubting himself, but it has more impact now that he and Altina have come so far. He almost calls off his plan, except that his soldiers have already enacted it – and, fortunately for him, it works really well. Unfortunately, as I said, Mariam is every bit his equal. And I mean that in both strategy and being a weirdo. Not her muteness, of course, though I admire her writing speed. No, I mean that she doesn’t really care if her nightgown is riding up, or whether people think of her as a noble lady, or even whether she commits treason on paper. She’s the distaff Regis in every way except for the final few pages, where she does something that Regis wouldn’t have. I’d say it played on the religious fervor of the Hispanians… but that didn’t really seem to be a factor for the strategists.

And yeah, that’s a nasty cliffhanger, as this book came out in September 2018, and there haven’t been any more since. You could blame the even more popular How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord… but that last had a volume a year ago. When you read a writer’s story, you have to depend on the writer to write it. Let’s hope he gets back to it soon.

The Manga Review, 5/27/22

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Everybody’s talking about Tokyopop this week, as the publisher that brought us Mixx, Sailor Moon, and Rising Stars of Manga celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. To mark the occasion, Brigid Alverson interviewed Tokyopop founder Stu Levy about the company’s history. “Not a single person believed it would work—and frankly many called us crazy,” Levy recalled. “Even internally, most of my team was against it—or at least wanted to test it. My view was we either had conviction and went all-in or we didn’t. Testing wouldn’t work because retailers would always favor the left-to-right reading books if they had a choice—so there would never be a true test of its potential. So, I bet the company on it.” Over at Drop-In to Manga, Tony reflects on how Tokyopop titles such as Chobits and GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka helped introduce him to the joy of reading manga. “I know there’s a lot of criticism towards its founder, Stu Levy, and a lot of it is warranted,” he observes. “But I still respect Tokyopop for showing Japanese manga publishers that America can be a hotspot for manga during a time when that wasn’t the case.”

NEWS

Moto Hagio has just published a new installment in her on-again, off-again vampire saga The Poe Clan. The newest storyline, Poe no Ichizoku: Ao no Pandora, takes place in present-day Munich. [Anime News Network]

Mari Yamazaki’s Olympia Kyklos will resume serialization in Grand Jump next month. The story follows the adventures of an ancient Greek potter who’s accidentally transported to the 1964 Tokyo games. C’mon, this needs to be licensed STAT! [Anime News Network]

Are new chapters of Hunter x Hunter on the horizon? [Variety]

Brace yourself for more H.P. Lovecraft: Dark Horse will be publishing Gou Tanabe’s adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth in a single omnibus edition. No word yet on a release date. [Anime News Network]

Earlier this week, the employees of Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they’d formed their own union, United Workers of Seven Seas. In a statement on their website, union organizers explain the rationale for their decision: “The company has grown exponentially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But with rapid growth comes growing pains, and we, the workers of Seven Seas, have been shouldering much of that pain. We find ourselves overworked, underpaid, and we do not currently receive the benefits otherwise typical of the publishing industry.” [ICv2]

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS

Are you interested in learning more about the roots of contemporary Japanese culture? Kathryn Hemmann offers a great list of “popular-audience books that are smart and specific yet still accessible to a casual reader,” from Matt Alt’s Pure Invention: How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World to Tara Devlin’s Toshiden: Exploring Japanese Urban Legends. [Contemporary Japanese Literature]

Jocelyne Allen swoons over the gorgeous artwork and soapy plot lines of Ashita Niji ga Denakutemo. [Brain vs. Book]

Over at Women Write About Comics, Carrie McClain highlights some of Seven Seas’ best new releases. [Women Write About Comics]

The folks at Anime Feminist want to know which unfinished or cancelled Tokyopop series you’d like to see rescued. [Anime Feminist]

Bill Curtis wins the award for best headline of the week with How to Ease Your Big Burly, Hairy, Glistening, Beer Swillin’, Iron Pumpin’ DUDE Self Into the Wonderful World of Shojo & Josei Manga. Amen! [Yatta-Tachi]

Speaking of josei, the Mangasplainers dedicate their latest episode to an in-depth exploration of Fumi Yoshinaga’s All My Darling Daughters. [Mangasplaining]

Congratulations to the Manga Mavericks crew: they just celebrated their 200th episode with a roundtable discussion about Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot Goodbye, Eri. [Manga Mavericks]

Lucas DeRuyter revisits Death Note, a series he “took super seriously” as a teen viewer. “When I watched Death Note as a teenager I definitely hadn’t lived enough to recognize it as camp; nor did I have as firm of an understanding of my own sexuality as I do today,” he observes. “I thought I’d be returning to a problematic fave, but was delighted to realize that Death Note is camp. Accidental, ostentatious camp that, in its attempts to create a dark and edgy power fantasy, stumbles so spectacularly that it tears down some of the worst kinds of people and beliefs around today.” [Anime Feminist]

REVIEWS

Reviewing volume five of Kageki Shojo!!, Yuri Stargirl raises a good question about the state of shojo and josei licensing in North America. “Has the industry just become dominated by trite, superficial storytelling and bland art that can’t decide if it’s moe or realistic?” she asks. “Or is what gets translated to the US market so limited, that they pick lowest common denominator titles to publish even though there are a lot of higher quality ones in Japan going untranslated?” Meanwhile, Megan D. takes a look at one of the weirder titles DMP ever licensed, Bambi and Her Pink Gun, while Rebecca Silverman reviews Erica Friedman’s new book By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga. “If you are a fan of yuri or simply want to understand what the deal is with any of the genre’s elements or major texts, I’d highly recommend reading this book,” Silverman argues. “It’s both an analysis of and a love letter to the genre, both academic and accessibly readable, and worth your time.”

Manga the Week of 6/1/22

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SEAN: The beginning of June! (Or, OK, the end of May if you go by most of these release dates.) What do we get?

Airship has new volumes. Berserk of Gluttony 6 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 2.

And digitally we see early releases for Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 4 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 3.

Cross Infinite World has another one-shot, Rapunzel of the Magic Item Shop (Mahou Douguten no Rapunzel), a one-shot shoujo light novel. A young sorcerer finds herself locked up for ten years simply for knowing magic. She’s rescued and brought to a household where she ends up treated with respect… but there’s also lots of secrets.

ASH: One-shot shoujo light novel, you say?

SEAN: Dark Horse has Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition 6.

ASH: Steadily upgrading my collection of this series to this new edition. The tomes are massive, but they look great.

SEAN: It is often difficult to put Denpa titles on here, as their website frequently updates release dates after the fact, and Amazon… well, Amazon is usually wrong. That said, it certainly looks like we get Baby Bear’s Bakery (Koguma no Keiki-ya-san) next week. This Monthly Shōnen Sunday title is about a baby bear who’s a terrific baker but not good at other things, like running a business.

ANNA: Ok, I’m curious about this.

ASH: It looks genuinely delightful.

SEAN: From Ghost Ship, we have the debut of I’m Not a Succubus! (Succubus ja nai mon!), which runs in Young Unreal Jingai, a magazine I have absolutely never heard of. A girl is attending a monster girl academy, but she’s not one… that is, until she pretends to be a succubus! Unfortunately, she forgot this is not only a Ghost Ship title but also a yuri title!

ASH: Oh, myyyyyy!

SEAN: They also have JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World 3 and Sundome!! Milky Way 4.

J-Novel Club has a new debut, VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral After Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream (VTuber Nandaga Haishin Kiri Wasuretara Densetsu ni Natteta). As with a lot of LNs these days, the title is the plot.

They also debut a new manga, Doll-Kara. This series from Manga Life Win has an MMA fighter, imprisoned for years, finally getting out… and getting hit by a truck. He wakes in the body of a comatose schoolgirl. What happens next? If you guessed “MMA”, you’re probably right.

ASH: The mention of MMA definitely caught my attention.

SEAN: We also get the manga debuts of two light novel series from J-NC. Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village (Fushi no Kami ~Henkyou kara Hajimeru Bunmei Saiseiki~) runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo, and Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! (Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!) is in Comic Zero-Sum.

ASH: Housekeeping Mage from Another World seems like it could be fun!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight -Origins- 7, The Great Cleric 8, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 13, I Shall Survive Using Potions!’s 9th manga volume, Magic Knight of the Old Ways 2, Monster Tamer 9, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 4 (manga), Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 6, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 19.

MICHELLE: I sometimes feel bad that none of this stuff interests me, but that’s the way of things.

ANNA: I’m amazed by the word salad sometimes.

SEAN: No print for Kodansha. Their digital debut is The Rokudo Rounds (Rokudou Tousou-ki), a post-apocalyptic tragedy that runs in good! Afternoon.

Also digital: Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 3, Falling Drowning 2, My Pink Is Overflowing 6 (the final volume, I assume she finally called the plumber), Quality Assurance in Another World 5, and Those Snow White Notes 9.

MICHELLE: Both Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You and Falling Drowning were pretty good, so I am looking forward to continuing with them. Also, snerk re: plumber.

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts The Duke of Death and His Maid (Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid), which runs in the awkwardly titled Sunday Web Every. A boy is cursed to kill anyone he touches, so lives alone in his mansion with only his attractive childhood friend (who is also his maid) as companion. This sounds like Pushing Daisies, honestly. It also got an anime.

ASH: I mean, I did like Pushing Daisies…

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers 4, Machimaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person Into a Magical Girl! 10, MARS RED 3 (the final volume), Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 3, The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real! 3, Servamp 16, Slow Life In Another World (I Wish!) 3, Succubus and Hitman 2, Syrup: A Yuri Anthology 4, and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 7.

Udon Entertainment has a big release: the first three volumes of Summertime Rendering (Summer Time Render). This Shonen Jump + series has an anime currently running, and starts with a young man at the funeral of his foster father hearing that it may have been a murder. This has big time fans.

MICHELLE: Potentially interesting.

ANNA: Hmmmmm.

ASH: Count me curious.

SEAN: Yen On has The Irregular at Magic High School 19.

Two debuts for Yen Press. The Holy Grail of Eris (Eris no Seihai) is the manga version of the light novel Yen released a few weeks ago. It runs in Manga Up!.

Also from Manga Up! is Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, The Frozen Bond (Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Hyouketsu no Kizuna). This adapts the anime-original OAV story about Emilia.

Yen also has The Abandoned Empress 2, Black Butler 31, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 4, I’m the Catlords’ Manservant 3, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 4, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 3, So I’m a Spider, So What? The Daily Lives of the Kumoko Sisters 3, and Yowamushi Pedal 20.

MICHELLE: Black Butler is another series that I forget is still going. I need to catch up on YowaPeda!

ANNA: Got to order YowaPeda, my kids like it.

ASH: I’ve really been enjoying Yowamushi Pedal. And somehow also didn’t realize Black Butler was still ongoing.

SEAN: Manga! Light novels! So much! You? Buy?

Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 9

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By Hitoma Iruma and Non. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Molly Lee.

The self-improvement of Shimamura continues in this volume, following up from the last one. We see Shimamura reflecting on her past self and her tendency to deliberately forget about everyone around her, o the point where it’s an active choice. But now she has Adachi in her life and as her girlfriend. The trouble is, as Adachi points out to her here, she’s very hard to read. Shimamura tends to have one mode, which is “whatever”, and when you are a stressed and insecure young lesbian like Adachi, that just makes you think that the relationship is entirely one-sided. And credit to Shimamura, she really tries hard here, even using the word love to show Adachi how serious she is. Admittedly their relationship has not really progressed beyond holding hands, but given the two participants and their emotional ages that’s not only unsurprising but likely a good thing. I hope future books will show us Adachi’s self-improvement as well. As for Yashiro… she is perpetually the same.

After Shimamura tells a curious Yashiro about her junior high years of rebellion (which consisted of skipping class and not much else), we get the meat of the first half of the book, which is telling us a bit about Hino and Nagafuji’s childhood. This comes up because Hino’s father, who is not the best at communicating, tells her she isn’t important to the family legacy. Hino, who is thirteen in this flashback, does not really take this well (though, as is fairly typical with this author’s works, a lot of the emotional turmoil is left for the reader to fill in themselves) and decides to run away from home. After getting permission. And also taking her maid. And Nagafuji. The second half of the book is Christmas, and shows us an adorable date between our lead couple, Adachi breaking out the Chinese-style dress again, and Christmas dinner at the Shimamuras with a surprise guest, which may carry over into the next book.

This is the final volume with illustrations by Non, who I believe had been ill, and the illustrations are mostly ones used from other promotional materials – there are no interior ones. Which is a shame, but also allows us to see the pasts of most of the main cast without having to see them attempted as “3 years younger”. The Hino and Nagafuji stuff was good, though Hino’s narration works far better (and is far longer) than Nagafuji’s. It’s also implied that her parents have a marriage of convenience and that her mother and head maid are childhood friends with benefits. It’s heavily implied this is what Hino could have with Nagafuji too, though the idea of Nagafuji as a maid is horrifying. The other interesting part of the book is the relationship between the two moms. Mrs. Adachi reads very much like her daughter only cynical and bitter, and Shimamura likewise has her daughter’s “well, whatever” mood only extroverted to the nth degree. It’s kind of fun.

This wasn’t terrific, but is at least solid, even if it read a bit like a short story collection at times. The best parts were Shimamura’s forwardness. We’ll see if she can keep that up.