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Features & Reviews

Yona of the Dawn 28 and Prince Freya 4

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I hit a bit of a pandemic wall in my manga reading, so hoping to feel less bad about my backlog by posting some quick takes on my recent reading. Maybe I’ll have more energy next month!

Yona of the Dawn 28 by Misuho Kusanagi

Yona of the Dawn

Yona of the Dawn is such a consistently satisfying fantasy series with a depth and nunace that few authors are able to pull off. This volume was extremely amusing to me because it featured Tae-jun freaking out a bunch. Tae-jun was extremely worried about his not very great covert support of Yona possibly being found out by his older brother and chief of the fire tribe Kyo-ga. Tae-jun also had the best hysterical facial expressions when he yelled about the need for separate rooms for Hak and Yona. All along as Yona has been traveling the country helping people, there have been hints of what might happen if a cult of personality develops around her as the true heir to the Crimson Dragon King and her new Four Dragon Warriors. These undercurrents were brought to the surface by Su-Won’s advisor lurking around being menacing to anyone in his vicinity. There’s clearly more conflict coming with both political maneuvering and with upcoming battles, but this was a great spacer volume with plenty of wonderful character development moments.


Prince Freya 4 by Keiko Ishihara

Prince Freya

I have come to realize that I read this manga much like I would read a Harlequin romance. Are there inexplicable plot twists? Yes! Do I care about really understanding what’s going on? Not so much! While there are no cases of pregnesia in this manga we do get the shocker of Aleksi coming back from the dead in the company of a group of forest people who express just how metal they are by wearing stag skull masks and making vague pronouncements in an odd tone of voice. Meanwhile, Julius continues to develop more feelings for his charge, and Freya as Prince Edward manages to inspire her subjects even more. An additional complication comes up when Freya has to meet the emotionally unstable king and attempt to pull off a much more complicated bit of acting. This is one of those series that I just read, let wash over me, and don’t worry about the plot twists and complications. I’m expecting some love triangle shenanigans with Julius and Aleksi in the next few volumes, along with the swashbuckling battle scenes that have become a fixture in this manga.

Girls Kingdom, Vol. 2

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By Nayo and Shio Sakura. Released in Japan by GL Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Philip Reuben.

For those of you who sighed with relief when Kirara got her heart’s desire at the end of the last volume of Girls Kingdom, hoping that now she would be a normal character that would not make you want to throw yourself out the nearest window whenever she appeared on the page, well, I have some bad news for you. Turns out that’s just her, and everything she does is designed to make us cringe and cringe hard. Honestly, it’s almost a relief when, several times in this book, she’s left at the mercy of the twin Ayakas, who are of course also terrible but they are terrible in a far more acceptable yuri light novel way. Fortunately, Kirara is not the focus of this book, it’s still Misaki, who remains a great protagonist, desiring to improve herself in the present while, admittedly, having very little regard about her future. Which, again, contrasts her with everyone else in this school whose entire purpose she was completely ignorant of when she applied.

After a prologue where our newly minted maids make a grand tour of all the other hot spots on campus, which is good in that it gives up a quick character sketch of most of the cast but also leans a bit TOO hard on the wacky side, the story essentially has two main plotlines. The first involves Kirira’s mistress Kagura, who plans to start a sporting goods store after graduation, and her desire to have the school’s star volleyball player, Minako (yes, it went there – she even has a ribbon in her hair. No talking cats, though) promote the company. Minako, though, already has an agreement with a mom-and-pop store, and is stubborn about dropping it. The other story involves the restaurant we saw in the first book, which is always empty and gets few return customers. What are Erisu and her admittedly eccentric and goofy staff doing wrong?

Kirara only features in the Kagura plot, mostly out of desperation to get promoted as soon as possible, and drags Misaki along with her. Fortunately, the bulk of the book is still reflected through Misaki, a decidedly non-rich girl (her backstory helps make more sense of the whole “I saw there was free room and board so did not bother to check why” phenomenon) who provides sensible solutions to problems. She is the sort who, when told she is doing something wrong, does not furiously deny it or sink into depression, but thinks hard about how to fix that. She works well with Himeko, a young lady who has to have her own thinking process explained to her multiple times. The yuri here is still mostly on the MariMite level, though I doubt Yumi and Sachiko ever bathed together as much as Misaki and Himeko do. There’s even a side story towards the end of the book about two other residents of the Sky Salon who I would go so far as to call an actual couple.

So, one frustrating character, but overall I still quite enjoy this series, which knows what its audience wants and delivers it with all the subtlety of a pie to the face. But it’s tasty pie.

Slayers: The Darkness in Vezendi

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By Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. Released in Japan by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

We are slowly starting to edge towards an ongoing narrative, even though for the most part these books still try their best to be books that can be read entirely on their own. That’s harder here, as we get the villains from the 2nd and 4th books seemingly teaming up to try to take out Lina… and the others, but mostly Lina. This should not be surprising – as Lina has been going around the countryside wiping out more and more people, even leaving out the Dragon Slave and Giga Slave, she’s attracted a name for herself, and there are a few folks who want her to stop doing that – particularly demons. Unfortunately for them, Lina feels no real need to change any of her habits – she still gleefully goes out bandit hunting at night, and while she can justify it to Amelia as needing traveling funds, there’s no denying that she also does it as she loves beating the shit out of people. Good news for her, then, this book is full of fights.

Zelgadis is on the cover, and those of you know know light novel cover art know what that means. Right – he does very little in this book. The plot involves Zuma, the hired killer from the 4th book, suddenly reappearing saying that he never finished the job he was hired for, mysteriously having two whole arms again, and demanding that Lina travel to Vezendi or innocents will die. Despite the fact that their party is one larger than expected (Xellos is back, and Amelia and Zelgadis are furi… well, actually, no, they take it quite well), they arrive and are hired as guards to a local merchant who Zuma says he’s going to kill. Oh yes, and Seigram, the villain from the SECOND novel, is also back… somewhat randomly… and trying to kill Lina. Do all of these things have a common element? Can Lina avoid getting killed? And can Lina avoided getting savagely roasted by her “friends”?

It is somewhat interesting still to see the differences between the novels and their far better known anime adaptation. I’ve talked before about Lina’s narration, and how she frequently skews things to make herself look better, but it’s actually a bit more than that: her inner thoughts are very cool, logical, and collected, even during a fight. The girl who will explode if you look at her wrong shows up sometimes, but it’s far rare than the anime. Amelia, as well, also feels “cooler”. While she does go on about justice, she is also not above beating the crap out of bandits, and literally says to Lina that if she dies Amelia will loot her corpse. WOW. She’s also far more competent in these books. And Gourry… OK, you’ve got me there, Gourry has been getting dumber by the book, and now appears to have reached anime levels, though he still sometimes steps in as the voice of common sense when needed.

The epilogue is not so much of a cliffhanger as an “ah, there it is”, and it comes as a surprise to no one, least of all Lina. I’m interested to see what happens in the next book, which is the final one in this loose “arc”. That said… these are still books that function more as a tasty snack than as a full meal.

Downfall

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Downfall is the story of Karou Fukazawa, a deeply flawed, forty-something manga artist whose career has stalled, marriage has soured, and self-esteem has curdled into a toxic form of self-pity. He lies; he procrastinates; he cheats on his wife; he berates his assistants. Though he eventually finds a path forward, his journey is not one of self-discovery or personal growth, but of resignation, of realizing that the life he’d imagined for himself turned out to be deeply disappointing.

Inio Asano underscores the depth of Fukuzawa’s self-loathing in the way he depicts Downfall‘s female characters. Fukazawa’s wife Nozomi, for example, is a successful manga editor in her own right, but she carries herself like a remorseful child, shoulders slumped, eyes downcast, and lips pursed. Fukuzawa complains that Nozomi devotes too much time to her job, criticizing her for paying more attention to the artists in her portfolio than to him, and excoriating her for not supporting him. His sense of entitlement is so powerful, in fact, that he coerces her into sex during a particularly nasty argument, a scene that’s so visceral, awkward, and claustrophobic that it’s genuinely hard to read, not least because it is such an unflinching portrayal of his narcissism.

Other female characters fare worse than Nozomi. Yunbo and Marimekko, two sex workers whom Fukazawa visits, are drawn in the same grotesque fashion as the pompous, foolish, and hypocritical characters in Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction and Goodnight, Punpun. Fukazawa’s contempt for these women is thrown into sharp relief when contrasted with Chifuyu, an escort who reminds Fukazawa of an old girlfriend. Chifuyu is a gamine figure, with stylishly cropped hair, cat-like eyes, and a lithe body—a symbol of youth, possibility, and sexual desirability, unburdened by years of marital and professional disappointments—whereas Yunbo and Marimekko are awkward and unattractive, less individuals than vessels for Fukuzawa’s rage, and reminders of how much shame he feels over his faltering career.

As damning as all this sounds, Downfall isn’t simple misery porn. Fukuzawa is a rotten person, to be sure, but his ennui is genuine, rooted in the question of what it really means to turn one’s passion into a career. For Fukuzawa, that question is all-consuming, as he wrestles with the difficulty of making art in the context of the commercial publishing industry, where deadlines, reader surveys, and fickle fans exact their tolls. Fukuzawa also struggles with the manga industry’s voracious appetite for new talent, as he watches his book sales plunge while young, inexperienced artists find the kind of readership and acclaim that he himself once enjoyed. Even as I recoiled from Fukazawa’s sourness and misogyny, his professional dilemma resonated with me as a fellow forty-something with a career in the arts. What is the emotional and creative cost of making art on demand? How do you continue telling a story, creating art, or writing music when you are fundamentally disillusioned with the process? If you allow work to consume you in the name of becoming an expert, what remains when you reach those benchmarks of success? 

To explore these questions, Asano eschews a conventional narrative form, instead juxtaposing past and present in a rondo-like fashion (ABACA). The “B” and “C” sections take place in the present, unfolding in a linear manner, while the “A” section revisits a specific moment in Fukuzawa’s past: a youthful relationship that ended when Fukuzawa’s girlfriend declared, “As long as you keep drawing manga… you’ll keep on hurting people.” Asano is particularly adept at capturing the way in which the past and present sit side by side in the mind of an agitated person, rendering Fukuzawa’s memories as vividly as the present-day scenes, with consummate attention to small but meaningful details. From the way Fukazawa remembers this relationship—reciting the same observations about his girlfriend over and over again—it’s clear that he views this moment as a turning point in his life, and an explanation for who he has become. 

Yet these final pages feel less like a condemnation of Fukuzawa’s selfishness than a plea to understand his behavior: I renounced love for art. For me, at least, that feels like a cop-out, a way for Fukuzawa—and perhaps Asano—to tacitly acknowledge the character’s monstrous behavior while suggesting that it was somehow inevitable, pre-ordained, or natural. Viewed from a feminist perspective, though, it’s awfully hard to muster sympathy for a character who justifies his tantrums, violence, and vicious remarks as necessary to his art, especially when so much of his vitriol is directed at women. Your mileage may vary.

DOWNFALL • STORY AND ART BY INIO ASANO • TRANSLATED BY JOCELYNE ALLEN • EDITED BY PANCHA DIAZ • TOUCH-UP ART AND LETTERING BY JOHANNA ESTEP • VIZ MEDIA • 246 pp. • RATED MATURE (sexual situations, violence)

Manga the Week of 3/24/21

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SEAN: Oh no, the March winds are blowing over all the stacks of manga you have around you! Shore them up with MORE manga!

ASH: This is a solid plan.

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 3 and Classroom of the Elite 7.5. They’ve also got an early digital release for Mushoku Tensei 10.

J-Novel Club has the third and final volume of The Sorcerer’s Receptionist, as well as I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 5 and Our Crappy Social Game Club Is Gonna Make the Most Epic Game 2.

In print, Kodansha has In/Spectre 13.

ASH: I really ought to catch up on this series.

SEAN: Digitally, our debut is The Dawn of the Witch (Mahoutsukai no Reimeiki), a Shonen Sirius title about a young man with amnesia at a magic school.

There’s also Farewell My Dear Cramer 13 (the digital version is keeping that title), Harem Marriage 3, My Best (♀) Butler 7, Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 9, What I Love About You 4, and When We’re in Love 6.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Magical Angel Creamy Mami and the Spoiled Princess (Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami: Fukigen na o Hime-sama) is an update of the classic magical girl series, a Comic Zenon title that does not star Mami but rather the spoiled princess, who is unhappy that Mami is now getting all the attention.

ANNA: I enjoy magical girls, think I would be more amused if this did focus on Mami though.

SEAN: The other is Otaku Elf (Edomae Elf), a comedy about a spoiled shrine deity who would rather stay inside, thank you. This runs in Shonen Magazine Edge.

Also from Seven Seas next week: Kingdom of Z 3, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 5, Our Teachers Are Dating! 3, Rainbow and Black 2, and Species Domain 9.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Rainbow and Black a try – better get on that before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Two titles from Square Enix. Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders is a novel based on an upcoming platform game, coming out in digital format.

The other is Beauty and the Feast (Yakumo-san wa Edzuke ga Shitai), the story of a widow who can’t stop making food even after her husband has died, so she ends up feeding the teenage boy next door. This runs in Young Gangan, and is apparently one of those relaxed, mellow sort of series.

MICHELLE: I’ve kind of missed having a mellow cooking series to read, now that Sweetness & Lightning has ended.

ANNA: Might be amusing!

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Lots of Tokyopop next week. BL Fans LOVE My Brother?! (Kusatte mo Ani) is about a girl whose big brother locks himself in his room and draws BL doujinshi. Can she get him outside again? This one-shot ran in Mag Garden’s MAGCOMI.

This Wonderful Season with You (Subarashii Kiseki ni Yasashii Kimi to) is another BL title, from Gentosha’s Love xxx BOYS Pixiv. Nerd. Jock. Romance. Also a one-shot.

MICHELLE: The cover for this is very cute!

SEAN: And there’s a third volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Yen Press moved the majority of its March titles to the last week of the month, but there’s some light novels still due out 3/23 from Yen On. The debut is Date a Live, a relatively obscure light novel series that may have gotten an anime as well, I’ll have to check. A boy is required to save the world from destructive spirits… by making them fall in love with him? It’s 22+ volumes in Japan but only just got licensed, probably because no one was really asking for it. Ow. Sorry, my mouth got cut from all the sarcasm I was using.

ASH: Oh, I hadn’t noticed!

SEAN: Also getting new volumes: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 6 (the final volume), Goblin Slayer 11, Last Round Arthurs 4, Magical Girl Raising Project 11, So I’m a Spider, So What? 11, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 5, Unnamed Memory 2, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 5.

Lastly, the one manga title from Yen next week is Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8.

ASH: I’ll be picking that one up!

SEAN: Even with Yen shifting everything one week, it’s still a fair bit. What are you getting?

Bibliophile Princess, Vol. 5

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By Yui and Satsuki Sheena. Released in Japan as “Mushikaburi-hime” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alyssa Niioka.

Boy, remember when this was a fluffy little puff of a light novel series? Those days are gone for good now, as this book continues its slide into the dark side of things, mostly as it seems the only two people in the world who want Chris and Elianna to get married are Chris and Elianna. There is a possible war going on that both sides seem to want, the Ashen Nightmare has hit the Royal Palace, there’s a woman going around giving out placebos who really wants to be the one to give Chris an heir, and Elianna is forced to disguise herself as a boy and negotiate tragic backstories as she desperately tries to find the one book that can help them figure out a way to cure this disease… and then things get REALLY bad. There’s just a lot going on, and if you were expecting things to end nicely in this book, well, sorry. That said, it’s good writing, and I was drawn into it throughout.

A large chunk of this is from Chris’s perspective, and he holds up a lot better than I would have expected given that the last book ended with him hearing about Elianna going missing. Turns out he suspected something like this might happen. Even worse, there are many, many traitors around, some of whom are old friends of his. This isn’t even getting into the group that wants war, or the group that wants him on the throne but married to someone else. And, given the King is now deathly ill, that group is starting to hammer on things really hard. Oh yes, and there’s the delegation from Maldura, who also have their own agenda involving Chris, and who are really there to see Elianna… who, much to their annoyance, isn’t there. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a cool new gemstone that might be CAUSING this new outbreak?

As for Elianna, she is pretty much herself, and what little comedy there is in this volume comes from the various characters talking about how boyish and unsexy she is, and her deadpan, but irritated on the inside, reactions to this. (There is also the short story towards the end, taking place in happier times, where she and her friends investigate a haunted house and learn of its tragic past.) She too is having to deal with many problems, including the person who has the book she’s looking for, whose son was scapegoated by the Royal Family years ago, and therefore gets someone ELSE saying “you must first say you will never marry Prince Chris”. The ending is not exactly a cliffhanger in terms of danger, but it is very much one in terms of “the thing we were hoping would solve everything is now gone, and we are screwed”. It really makes you want to read the next book.

Bad news about that, alas. This came out in early 2019 in Japan, and there’s been nothing since. The webnovel it’s based on has only recently started moving slowly forward again, and the author is notorious for being slow. So… hope you enjoyed this one, as it’s gonna be a while. That said, this was a decent book, though somewhat low on puffball princess antics. She only tilts her head in confusion twice!

Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Vol. 5

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By Natsume Akimoto and Kakao Lanthanum. Released in Japan as “Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Noboru Akimoto.

For some time now, the “evil” in this series’ evil organization has been somewhat questionable. At first it looked like it was just Six, who clearly was content with being a creepy asshole but drew the like at, know, actual evil things like rape and murder. As we’ve gone on, and found that the evil organization is in fact trying to save the planet Earth, more motives have been questioned. And now we find that the organization actually has a real HR policy – we’re told that the Combat agents can sexually harass to their heart’s content (it gets them evil points, after all) but that actual sexual assault is a punishable offense. You get the sense the author realized that they were going a bit too far. KonoSuba, by the same author, will also try to walk this very thin line. In the meantime, the organization is going to have to deal with the biggest threat it’s ever seen to date. The demon lord is dead and his daughter has taken over… and she’s a total sweetie pie.

Rose gets the cover, and is the “heroine of this volume”, but actually gets very little to do besides eat. The Demon Lord’s Domain wants to negotiate, so the group heads over there, and as noted above, finds they accidentally killed the demon lord in their last attack, leaving his daughter Viper in charge. The demon lord was a stubborn middle aged cuss. Viper is kind, gentle, and very apologetic. As such, the demons are actually surrendering – and asking for Six and company to find them a new place to live, as their territory is basically uninhabitable. There’s just one problem with this – the Kingdom of Grace is not content to let the demons simply go “our bad, sorry” and then move in next door. They want reparations. Can Alice negotiate their way to a settlement? Can Heine come to terms with her new job as a magical boiler room? And can six and Viper team up to take out those pesky Puzzle x Dragon games once and for all?

So yes, Viper’s presence in the cast really shakes things up, mostly as, unlike Princess Tillis, Grimm, Snow, or the other characters whose suffering is hilarious (and in Grimm and Snow’s case, brought upon themselves), being mean to Viper is like kicking a puppy. Indeed, the main worry is that she’s too naive and willing to do whatever anyone else wants – hence the mention of the HR guidelines. Honestly, she’s probably the first major character in this that I can’t think of an equivalent to in KonoSuba, the way that you can see Snow as Aqua + Darkness or Grimm as Wiz + Yunyun. Her friendship with Six is actually, dare I say it, rather sweet. Of course, this does not mean the author has suddenly forgotten that this is the Japanese equivalent of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There is lots of terrible stuff here. But when said stuff hits too close to Viper, it just sort of drifts to a halt.

We’ve almost caught up with Japan, and the anime based on the series is out next month. So it’s a good time to read a new volume of the worst evil organization, and see how they deal with good.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/16/21

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Blood on the Tracks, Vol. 4 | By Shuzo Oshima | Vertical Comics – The first volume of Blood on the Tracks was suspenseful and shocking and I enjoyed that, but the next two installments were extremely disturbing because they basically depicted a mentally ill mother damaging her son in real time. I debated dropping the series, but decided to give it one more volume, and I’m glad I did. Seiichi finally has an ally, witness, and savior in the form of Fukiishi, his first girlfriend (who has her own shitty parent to contend with) and on the one hand it’s so great to see him finally have someone who knows exactly how terrfiying Seiko is and who gives him the courage to stand up to his mother. On the other hand, we saw what Seiko did to the last person who threatened to lead Seiichi away from her control. What is she going to do to Fukiishi? I’m simultaneously scared and hopeful. – Michelle Smith

How Do You Do, Koharu?, Vol. 1 | By Kanae Hazuki | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – If you’re wondering what you need to know from Say I Love You. to read this, the answer is nothing whatsoever—this takes place years later, and the only common connection is “Koharu” herself (real name Nagi). Instead, the book is a very good look into the life of those who livestream, and how a shared online connection can be unwanted… or scary… when meeting in real life. Especially as Koharu also works as a maid cafe, and has to deal with customers who also want to get up in her space. Koharu isn’t sure what she wants here, and the connections she makes with Shun are tentative. Negotiating modern relationships can be tough, but this looks like another fun shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

A Journal of My Father | By Jiro Taniguchi | Ponent Mon – Whenever a new volume of Taniguchi’s manga is released in English it’s worth taking note, especially when it’s a lovely hardcover edition from Ponent Mon. The most recent example of this is A Journal of My Father, a quiet, contemplative work that was originally published in Japan in 1994. The story’s premise is simple enough—a man travels back to his hometown in order to attend his father’s funeral—but the characterization in the work is notably complex. After some prompting, Yoichi Yamashita, who has both literally and figuratively distanced himself from his family, arrives in time for the wake. Over the course of the evening, reflecting on his childhood and stories told by others, Yoichi gradually comes to terms with the fact that his father was a much more complicated person than he previously realized. Part historical drama, part family portrait, A Journal of My Father works on multiple levels. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions, Vol. 1 | By Yoko Akiyama and Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Sadly, this ended up being a bit of a disappointment. The premise suggested we’d be seeing a bit of the class that never gets attention, but no, it’s the same old main cast for the most part. It does get a bit better as it goes along. There’s two stories involving Melissa Shield, the original character from the first movie, which give her some nice depth, and also gives her a chance to team up with Mei, who is essentially her Japanese counterpart… though their personalities differ. The best of the team-ups involves Fatgum, Tamaki, Iida and Momo searching all over to try to find the handsome hero who saved a little girl… whose face she can’t quite remember. Could be better. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 4 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – This may be the best volume in the series to date, which is saying something. Yor kicking a car became an instant meme, but I think my choice for top moment has to go to the Handler’s description of what war is really like, in all its gory, violent tragedy. This is not to say that this volume is not also hilarious, be it Loid’s pathetic attempts at excusing himself to go be a spy, Anya’s horrid realization that she can’t read a clock, or everything Yor does in general, this is a winner. As an added bonus, DOGGO! Yes, we get a new cast member, and Bond is not only best doggy but also can SEE THE FUTURE! The series does a wonderful job balancing humor, fake dating, comedy and action equally, and is simply a must read. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 3 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The sexy is definitely amped up from the previous volume here. While our lead couple still have not managed to go all the way yet, they’re doing pretty much everything but, especially when Sumika has to change clothes after getting soaked in the rain in Ikuma’s office… and just strips completely naked. (Kudos, by the way, for not going with the standard comedy “someone walks in” here.) Elsewhere, it’s rapidly become clear that the reason that these two are not getting any further is simply that they find each other TOO ADORABLE, and are too busy squeeing to actually get it on. Frankly, if they ever fix that, the series is over, but for now, it’s funny, romantic and erotic in equal measure. – Sean Gaffney

A White Rose in Bloom, Vol. 1 | By Asumiko Nakamura | Seven Seas – Turns out that Nakamura-san can write yuri just as well as she writes BL. Honestly, the main reason to pick this up might be the faces—the artwork on the expressions throughout this volume is exquisite, and yes, I’m including the seemingly “steel” Steph, who slowly gets immersed in the walking disaster that is Ruby. (I almost typed RWBY there, and this would not need too much rewriting to be an AU fic there, to be honest.) There’s also some nice heartfelt emotion here, as Steph already has girls in love with her who are not happy with Ruby, and Ruby’s own home life may force her to leave the school soon anyway. This doesn’t have a volume two out in Japan yet, but volume one is still worth getting for yuri fans. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 7 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – The majority of this volume is dedicated to Qifrey, his past (much of which is still a mystery to him), and possibly also explains why he was so quick to take pity on Coco for her own tragic experiments. Indeed, Coco’s mother comes up again for the first time in a while, and it’s hinted that she may very well be beyond saving, and that Coco will have to come to terms with that. Still, Coco is the living definition of “take a third option,” as this volume shows, and I think in the end she and Qifrey will be good for each other—even if he still has quite a bit of darkness residing within him. All this and the usual jaw-dropping artwork make me wonder why I waited so long to pick this up from my stack. – Sean Gaffney

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 13

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

Anyone who has consumed any amount of Japanese anime/manga/light novel material will be familiar with the concept of the “bland hero”. He is there to be the reader, essentially. He is nice. He is usually smart, at least in these sorts of books. He is sensible. He tends to get flustered easily, usually. Sometimes this can even be done well. Realist Hero’s Souma is a fairly good example of the type without having most of the negative points that people complain about. Unfortunately, this can become a problem when the situation requires the character to have a reaction that is NOT “bland hero”. Near the start of this book, Souma takes offense to the rather wet (no pun intended) island princess comparing her situation to his wife Roroa’s, and gets mad. Which is fine, except I do not for one minute buy his anger at all. I had thought it was a calculated move, like virtually everything else he does. But no, it was meant to be rage. And wow, nope. Fortunately, the book improves greatly after that.

We pick up where we left off last time, with Princess Shabon and her bodyguard Kishun begging Souma to stop the upcoming war with the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago Union. This proves to be quite a wrench in the works, not only because Shabon’s desperation and poor self-image leads her to piss Souma off, but also as, well, he’s already got a plan in place, no worries. That said, there’s a bigger issue here, as the reason that all this seems to be happening is a giant monster that is prowling the seas and taking away all the fish – and sometimes the fishermen. Souma has to find a way to not go to war, avoid having the Empire called in, and deal with what is, let’s face it, Gamera. Fortunately, he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, including a Navy that is powerful and does things other navies can’t, a monster expert who’s still a kid (I mean, when I say it’s Gamera I’m not making things up) and also find time to deal with the fact that another of his wives is pregnant.

The action parts of this book are quite well done, as is the “clever plan”, especially when we realize who Souma’s contact inside the Archipelago Union is. As noted above, this is very deliberately an homage to old kaiju movies (Souma uses the word to refer to the creature), and like most of those movies, you feel sad when it is finally brought down. There’s also some good politicking for those who read the series for that. I’m especially interested in what’s going on 3with Empress Marie, who pretty blatantly says here that she’s fine with simply letting Souma rule over everything. (I’m still betting she’ll be a final wife.) In terms of the ongoing plot, however, it’s still simmering, with Souma and Fuuga knowing they’re going to have to fight to the death and not really wanting to do it.

The next volume isn’t out in Japan yet (late April, I think), so we’ll be waiting a while to see what’s next. Till then, Gamera is really neat, he is filled with turtle meat, and please try not to let Souma show actual emotions.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life: Thus, She Is Reborn

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By Mato Sato and nilitsu. Released in Japan as “Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jenny McKeon.

As we see more and more deconstructions of the basic isekai light novel and its tropes, it’s inevitable that some of those deconstructions are going to involve “isekai is bad, really”. Yeah, taking a young, immature Japanese man and dropping him into a fantasy world with monsters and magic, where he inevitably starts plotting how to “invent” mayonnaise and miso soup, is not necessarily the best decision one can make. Indeed, this is not even the first book we’ve seen in English with this plot, as Isekai Rebuilding Project already wandered down this road. That said, this world is pretty hardcore about stopping it. Isekai’d Japanese people, in the past, have created horrors of apocalyptic form. There’s no stopping them, all you can do is put them out of their misery. And, well, if you have to kill them before they even gain access to their powers, well, this is a sacrifice that will have to be made. This book is about one of those killers, and the girl she can’t kill.

We are introduced to Menou, the titular executioner, when she meets a young man who was brought to this world from Japan… and then promptly kicked out. Not spoiling much, but… he is not our hero. Menou fills that role. The heroine is actually Akari, the girl who was brought to this world at the same time, and who Menou also kills… but Akari can control the element of Time, and this the clock rewinds her body back to being unhurt. She also doesn’t seem to remember Menou doing this, so Menou continues to pretend to be helping her while, in actuality, leading her to the Church, which apparently can do a better job of wiping her out. She’s helped by her assistant Momo, who is basically Shirai Kuroko from Index in pink, and, albeit inadvertently, by Ashuna, the princess of the royal family who started this whole mess. That said, Menou will rapidly find that there’s far more going on here than meets the eye.

Getting the bad out of the way, this book’s afterword sells itself as “grimdark”, and it’s not kidding. There’s lots of dead and eviscerated people in this, Menou’s backstory verges on terrifying, and the ending implies that the entire series may end in a tragedy. And, because this is a Japanese light novel, we’ve got to have lots of talk about Akari’s big breasts and art of them being big. This ends my negative comments. Everything about the book that is not those two things was fantastic. The magic system is well thought out, and integrates nicely with the world’s religion. The characterization of the four leads manages to make them all obvious “types” that anime fans will be VERY familiar with, but then also turn around and give most of those people (Ashuna does not get much to do here, to be fair) a depth that also works the way a good mystery does – after reading the ending, you want to go back and read the start again. When we first meet Akari, there’s a bit of her own narration that is 100% at odds with everything we get for the next 150 pages… until the climax, when it all comes together and you go “OOOOOOH!”. Love it. Even Momo, who I was sure would be the one character that irritated me throughout, gets a touching backstory, an actual reason for her behavior, and a terrific romantic afterword, though I have bad news for her if she hopes to be best girl.

So yes, definitely recommended. Even the title and subtitle have a sense of “grand epic” to it. Oh yes, and there’s also a tinge of yuri to it, so folks who enjoy that will also want to read it. Plus, anime coming soon! Basically, get in on the ground floor of this one.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: 4th Squad Jam: Continue

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

I have been known at times to be a little annoyed when a book consists primarily of fight scenes. Let’s face it, for the most part, I enjoy talking about plot and character beats here. (Well, that and obscure stuff about publishers no one cares about but me.) When you get things like a tournament arc, or the Squad Jams in Gun Gale Online, there’s not really as much for a good reviewer to sink their teeth into. Readers don’t really want you telling them “watch out for this cool fight sequence”, and if I say Llenn and Pitohui are awesome and badass, I will likely just get a “well, duh” in response. That said, after a book like the previous one in this series, introducing yet another smug bastard who has decided to make the girl he is obsessed with his whether she likes it or not, and the fact that, despite Llenn’s protestations, the engagement seems to ride on this game… honestly, I’m delighted it’s just wall-to-wall action here.

The first third or so of the book is, refreshingly, not from the POV of our main team, allowing us to get into the heads of the others first before we resolve the cliffhanger from last time. We get to see MMTM be sensible, intelligent, and use their gaming knowledge well, which never works out in these sorts of books. We get to see Shirley and Clarence be the manzai comedy duo they were always meant to be. And we get to see exactly why SHINC takes Llenn’s unwanted suitor up on his offer, which is a nice combination of stick and carrot. This then allows the last two thirds of the book to simply be a bunch of really good set pieces, allowing the author to do what they do best: talk endlessly about guns and write action sequences that will look great if they’re ever animated.

I will note right away, the best part of the book for me was the carrot that got SHINC to agree to be part of the collective group, if only as it’s a tempting carrot for the reader as well. The fact that Llenn never gets to have her fated battle with these girls in book after book has become the running gag of the series, deliberately so, and it’s wonderful that THIS is the bait used to lure them in: we promise to let you have your fated battle. Of course, that promise ends up being broken, so I suppose technically this doesn’t count. But boy, it’s amazing till then, exactly what I would have wanted from a rematch, with both sides evenly matched and being clever, desperately, and crafty. Even Fukaziroh, whose job, let’s face it, is to be the goofy one, gets to do a bunch of really cool shit. M gets to be the sensible one. Pitohui is in her element, getting to shoot people and make suggestive remarks to Llenn. It ends badly, but THIS was the rematch we wanted, and we finally get it.

Unfortunately, now the boyfriend’s back, and there’s gonna be trouble. Kawahara may not be writing this, but it’s set in his universe, and thus the series has an allergic reaction when it comes to subtle, nuanced villains. But that’s next book’s problem. This one turned out to be a great ride.

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 2

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By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

The second volume of Gap Moe: The Light Novel. No, hear me out here. It’s nothing to do with any of the characters, but rather to do with the two moods of the book which are pulling on each other. the majority of the book is quite serious and rather dark. There’s drug addiction, beatings, child abuse, lots of death, demons possessing people, and, in the end, a cliffhanger which promises an absolute nightmare descending on Red and Rit in the third volume, especially if the Hero has as much of a brother complex as I suspect she does. And this is contrasted with the schmoopiest romance I’ve seen this side of SAO: Sugary Days. Rin and Rit are deeply in love with each other, have grown and matured enough to get past the self-deprecating or tsundere masks they’ve been hiding behind, and are here to be as sickeningly sweet as you can possibly imagine. It’s pretty great.

While Red and Rit go on a lakeside picnic, buy a double bed, and sit in each other’s laps a lot, other things threaten their bliss. Al, the kid from last volume with the weapon blessing, is still having trouble reconciling his feelings with his blessing. Then his parents are attacked by the kid who bullied him previously, who was supposed to have turned over a new lead. Could this be related to the new, highly addictive drug going around that changes your blessing for you? Could it be related to the ongoing class war that still infests the town? Or could it be related to the fact that the local slumlord kingpin has made a deal with a demon to rule the city? Oh yes, and the Hero’s Party continues to fall about without Gideon, Ares is desperate and pathetic, and Ruti gets even more terrifying by the page.

As you can see, the idea that this is Slow Life is hogwash… except that Rin and Rit are determined to make their own little world exactly that. They’ve got the apothecary, they’ve got the day-long dates, they’ve got still being too shy to even grope each other properly… really, I’m not exaggerating, it is SICKLY sweet. But that’s good, because without this the rest of the book would just be grim. And the grim stuff gets equally good attention. This town may be where Red and Rit have chosen to reside, but it’s an ugly little town. Albert, the creep knight from the last volume, shows up here and is even worse, and it’s darkly hilarious that the demon cannot fulfill his contract because this city is too lazy and halfassed to be properly conquered. As I said last time, my one complaint is that it really goes into ridiculous detail about its worldbuilding, the blessings in particular. And honestly, I’m well aware that for most readers my complaint is their high point.

So yes, this is an excellent light novel, and you should read it. And I really hope that Ruti does not kill Rit stone dead in the next book, as that would make the rest of the series rather short.

Manga the Week of 3/17/21

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SEAN: Middle of March, and still manga out there in the wild.

ASH: And plenty of it, too!

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, as we see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 5 and The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen 2.

Cross Infinite World has a new one-shot light novel, Hey! You’ve Kidnapped the Wrong Royal!. The Demon Lord has arrived, and he’s kidnapped… our heroine’s brother? That can’t be right! Wait, he thinks her brother is CUTER? OK, this means war! This sounds deeply silly.

ASH: Possibly delightfully silly?

SEAN: Dark Horse has the third and final volume of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

Only one J-Novel Club title next week, Monster Tamer 3.

Three print books from Kodansha Manga next week: I’m Standing on a Million Lives 9, Perfect World 5, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 3. Oh, and Blood on the Tracks 5, I guess that’s Kodansha Manga now? Rebrands confuse me.

MICHELLE: Man, I just cannot get caught up on Blood on the Tracks!

ASH: I need to catch up on Perfect World, myself!

SEAN: Digital debuts? There’s two! One is Attack on Titan: No Regrets, the Complete Color Edition! Endure Levi’s tragic past all over again… IN COLOR. There’s new bonus content too, so be sure to double dip.

ASH: I’m so used to digital coming out before print these days, I hadn’t realized this wasn’t already available!

Also debuting is Blue Lock, a soccer manga from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The covers make the leads look slightly unbalanced, though I suspect it won’t play out as a soccer-horror title.

MICHELLE: You know I will be all over a new shounen sports series.

ANNA: Also looking forward to more sports manga!

SEAN: We also get A Girl and Her Guard Dog 2, GE: Good Ending 15, We’re New at This 4, and Will It Be the World or Her? 3.

One Peace has a light novel – The Reprise of the Spear Hero 3 – and a manga – The Rising of the Shield Hero 15.

Seven Seas has Shomin Sample 14 in print.

And there’s more digital Alice in the Country of Hearts. This time we get Ace of Hearts and Knight’s Knowledge 1-3, so for those who love Ace, this is your week.

ASH: I’m still glad to see the Alice books being made available again.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment should – hopefully – have the 4th volume of The Rose of Versailles.

MICHELLE: That would be nice!

ANNA: Looking forward to it!

ASH: Ditto!

SEAN: Vertical… erm, Kodansha Books… has an ebook version of Zoku-Owarimonogatari, the “final” volume of the Monogatari series.

Viz has one debut, a spinoff from BEASTARS called Beast Complex. It seems by the description to be a short story collection set in the world. It runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind reading BEASTARS, but that probably won’t stop me from picking this one up.

20th Century Boys: Perfect Edition comes to an end with Vol. 11. There’s also BEASTARS 11, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 7, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 3, No Guns Life 9, and RWBY: The Official Manga 2.

MICHELLE: Gah, I am so behind on so much.

SEAN: Lastly, though still Viz, Hayao Miyazaki’s two autobiographies, which came out in print some time ago, will be digital! Starting Point: 1979-1996 and Turning Point: 1997-2008. Both must-reads.

Is this not enough? Good thing there’s more March to go.

A Certain Magical Index SS, Vol. 2

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By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

And so, once again, we have the “final” volume of Index in North America. Last time we thought it was the 22nd volume, then Yen picked up the two short story volumes after the fact. Now, we even get a translator’s afterword by Andrew Prowse thanking the readers, saying this is it for now, and please keep reading the manga. All it needs is “And the adventure continues…” after the final page. In other words, don’t expect New Testament unless there’s an anime. As for this volume, it’s far more of a short story book than the first one, though the stories eventually do tie together up to a certain point. It’s also a lot goofier, with Kamachi’s usual hit-and-miss attempts at humor and lots of powerful teenagers doing dumb teenage things. There’s ninjas, hackers, slashers, fixers, and those who fight using only their GUTS! That said, it’s a reasonable amount of fun, and Index fans should have no reason not to pick it up, especially since good sales might also change Yen’s mind.

Introduced in this volume: Balbina, Gunha Sogiita, Tabigake Misaka, Ollerus, Silvia, Kuruwa, Seria Kumokawa, Stephanie Gorgeouspalace, Misaka 17000, Misaka 18022, Misaka 14333, Misaka 15110, Misaka 10090, Misaka 12053, Misaka 19009, Misaka 11899, Misaka 16836, Misaka 10501, Misaka 19900, Misaka 12083, Misaka 10855, Misaka 17203, Misaka 19488, Misaka 15327, Misaka 13072, Misaka 17403, Misaka 10050, Misaka 10840, Misaka 12481, Misaka 18072, Misaka 19348, Misaka 17009, Misaka 15113, Misaka 14014, and Misaka 18829. (Sorry, I had to.) This takes place over the course of the entire series, and even prior to it, but in Japan it was released between Vol. 16 and 17. As you can see by the list above, leaving out the Misakas, there’s a lot of major characters who make their debut here (including some we’ve seen “debut” in English in Books 19-22, or the Railgun manga). That said, three make the most impact: Gunha, a Level 5 who gets by by essentially having Shonen Champion power (I’d say Jump, but if you look at him he’s clearly more an Akita Shoten boy); Ollerus, a somewhat distracted young man who also proves to be the most powerful person in the book; and Seria Kumokawa, a 3rd year at Touma’s school who also appears to be one of those powers behind the throne sorts.

There are some definite high points here. Uiharu gets two stories showing off her masterful computer skills, though the end of the second one implies she is fine with destroying data to avoid letting the hackers win. We meet Mikoto’s dad, and he’s pretty much exactly as you’d expect, being the sort of man who can casually threaten to bring down Crowley should he so choose. Touma and Index are absent from the book, and Mikoto’s only in one story, so this is definitely focused on the minor characters. The main “plot” involved a group of 50 “uncut gems”, who seems to be kids with powers that are unaffiliated with a country, and everyone trying to find and control/kill/do whatever with them. The best scene in the whole book occurs when Seria decides to have all these “gems” retrieved by Misaka clones, leading to an action scene we only here about via the Misaka Network, equal parts badass and funny.

It’s not a long book, and as a final volume of Index the 22nd book works better, but I’m pleased Yen went back and picked up these two books. Who knows, if Japan can get over the disaster that was the third Index anime and do more, we may see New Testament someday. Till then, don’t get your jeans slashed, don’t get into a hacking battle with Uiharu, and don’t piss off Academy City so much you get yourself super killed.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 4

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

It’s a good thing these books are coming out every two months rather than every three or four, as they definitely rely on a reader remembering everything that has come before. Nothing that happens in these books is ever truly forgotten, and it ranges from Rozemyne’s worrying about her autumn monster hunt (the one she accidentally failed last year) to remembering a very minor character who popped in about 7-8 books ago. To be fair, Rozemyne does not remember him either, and the books are not written in such a way that they are incomprehensible if you haven’t done your homework. It does serve to show off how important and prevalent the worldbuilding in this series is. Rozemyne still has aspects of the world she now lives in that she is unaware of, and this is fortuitous, as it can themn be explained to us without sounding too much like infodumping. This includes family politics, a rather more serious part of the series.

Given the size of each volume, it’s no surprise there’s a lot going on in this one. Rozemyne gets her summer ingredient for the “fix my broken body tour”, which involves going inside a volcano and stealing an egg – expect lots of hot springs references. The printing press is finished, and we get to see them printing their first non-picture books. Brigitte’s dress is finished, and she makes a stunning appearance at an event, showing off how good tall, muscular, busty women look in this new fashion – and getting a proposal from the earnest Damuel, though more on that in a bit. We also visit Illgner to search for new kinds of paper, and if Rozemyne’s world is the equivalent of Boston, this would be the equivalent of Portland, Maine. In her spare time, Rozemyne also invents hand pumps for wells (deliberately) and intelligent talking swords (accidentally). The biggest issue, though, is the arrival of Georgine, Sylvester’s older sister and. let’s face it, the story’s new villain.

One thing brought up here is marriages in this society, and how nobles tend to marry based on mana capacity. This is why Brigitte doesn’t see Damuel as a partner – his mana is not strong enough, though he’s working to make it more impressive, and asks her to wait a year for him to improve. It also shows off why Rozemyne, in the future, will have a limited number of partners – and sorry, Lutz fans, he ain’t gonna be one of them. Brought up in this volume are Wilfried, which I cannot see working at all given his behavior through the entire series, and Ferdinand, a suggestion proposed by Sylvester that is immediately shot down by both parties. Fortunately, Rozemyne is still about nine years old here, so we don’t have to worry about this anytime soon.

The book ends very ominously, with Georgina’s faction gleefully talking about plotting against Rozemyne – indeed, they talk about torturing her. What’s more, the next book in the series is the final one in this arc. I know the series goes on long after this, but it is worrying that Rozemyne’s life as an adopted daughter may be coming to an end soon. Till then, this remains essential reading.