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Bookshelf Briefs 6/19/20

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A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 18 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – If you enjoy the way that the series can turn on a dime and drop you into any genre, this volume may disappoint. There’s very little of the weird sci-fi horror aspects of it, and they’re mostly gathered towards the end. Instead, we get the kids, and a lot of the kids. They’re cute! They’re bratty! They’re learning how to be better centaurs and sheep people and other types. We get to see Himeno be impressive and yet also a bit of a dimbulb, there’s more yuri text and boob jokes, and there’s some other fun gags. It’s sweet, but it also feels rather sparse. After taking the series into dark places, it now feels wrong when the series isn’t going there half the time. Balance it better in the next book. – Sean Gaffney

Faded Picture Scroll | By Fujitobi | Futekiya (digital only) – I have no clue how this earned a rating of two chili peppers (Futekiya’s system for indicating a title’s steaminess) because it is one of the cutest, most wholesome boys’ love stories I’ve ever read. When Ryuta was little, he was saved by a young exorcist named Izumo who promised to take him adventuring when he got older. When they meet again, Izumo regrets his promise but Ryuta proves he can be useful by helping to save an incredibly adorable fox spirit named Yamabuki. Over time, these two lonely guys grow closer and ultimately fall in love. Their journey to domestic bliss is sweet and the many comedic moments (mostly Yamabuki, but not always) have a distinct Rumiko Takahashi feel to them. I was utterly charmed and am looking forward to reading the other Fujitobi title on the site. Very much recommended! – Michelle Smith

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 7 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Romance is not particularly important in this series right now—we’d need a strong rival character for that to happen, and we don’t have that at this point. Plus Komi, while she has improved tremendously, still has issues just communicating with others from day to day, so it would feel mean to throw a love life on top of that. That said, while we can see all of her newfound friends do their best to get her involved in their fun (even Yamai… ugh), it’s Tadano who clearly understands her the best, knowing her likes and dislikes, and also clearly having a crush on her but knowing not to push at it too hard. This series can be quite funny (Komi’s mom is a stitch), but works even better when it’s heartwarming. – Sean Gaffney

Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow, Vol. 3 | By Uri Sugata | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I was expecting this series to end with Saya and Yuto’s secret relationship coming to light amongst big drama, but instead, that moment is treated as almost an afterthought, as Sugata-sensei is more interested in delivering a moral about learning to love yourself, forgiving yourself for past mistakes, and having the courage to try again. The end result is optimistic rather than preachy, and I loved that the final image is not some swoony embrace between our two leads (who are, it is gratifyingly emphasized, also each other’s best friend) but a smile from the girl who instigated some shit and whom Saya has opted to befriend. This series surprised me and I would definitely be interested to read more from this mangaka! – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 7 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – Long time since the last volume, and therefore I was initially a little grumpy that it focused on Captain Celebrity, who’s basically a shallow American All Might. But then we get to see his past, showing that while he’s a ‘dumb jock’ he’s still good at heart, and his ex-wife, who’s terrific (and also, as it turns out, pregnant). We also see, after his farewell event is hijacked by terrorist bad guys and their raptor monsters, that he can be a good guy even if it’s not winning him fame and fortune. Unfortunately, he may not survive into the next volume, though given that’s he’s currently with our hero, I think he’ll be OK. This remains a good, somewhat darker prequel to the main series. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 24 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – This volume is a gift to me. I’ve long said that I love the friendship between Natsume, Tanuma and Taki (OK, yes, I ship it too), and here we get a Taki-centric story followed by a Tanuma-centric story. The Taki one involves her college-age brother returning home. He’s more of a skeptic, but is also avoiding their house for some reason. And there’s an “I entrust you with my sister’s safety” gag that’s great. The Tanuma chapter is a bit more serious, and involves possession, but it also touches on one of the running themes of this series: two yokai who want to talk to each other and are unable to do so due to death, separation, or what have you. This comes out infrequently, but I always adore it. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 9 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – The arc wraps up here, with those who have died going to a more peaceful rest and those who have not died going back to cleaning really hard. The best part of the book is where Fumi is given the choice: she can save the girl Kyutaro loved as a girl, but lose her memories of everything since then… or she can save herself, and kill the memories of the girl Kyutaro loved. It’s one of those choices that seems hard until you think about it, which is why it’s slightly frustrating that most others before Fumi made the wrong choice. Fortunately, Fumi makes the right choice, and doesn’t even need the help of her boyfriend. Oh yes, they’re dating now, and get in some good kisses. An excellent shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

The Quintessential Quintuplets, Vol. 10 | By Negi Haruba | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – This volume is a LOT. Ichika is still being amazingly aggressive, Miku is being aggressive whether she wants to be or not, and Yotsuba just wants everyone to get along like they used to. But that’s not going to happen, as Futaro points out—picking one thing means not picking the others, and that applies to life as well as romance. The romance ends up with Miku as the seeming winner here, though there’s minimal forward progression, and Futaro revealing he’s not as ignorant of everyone’s feelings as he pretends. That said, the reason this volume is a lot is the cliffhanger, where we finally found out which of the quints has been dressing up as Rena… and which one was Rena from the past. This is terrific romantic comedy. – Sean Gaffney

Sweet Time | By Weng Pixin | Drawn & Quarterly – Collecting comics that were originally created between 2008 and 2017, Sweet Time is Weng “Pix” Pixin’s graphic novel debut. Pix is an artist from Singapore who utilizes a variety of media and methods of expression. The fifteen comics in Sweet Time demonstrate Pix’s striking colorwork, providing examples of both drawings and paintings. While the individual works aren’t necessarily directly related to one another (although there are several series of diary comics), the collection as a whole explores themes of longing, desire, and impermanence. Some of the narratives are more abstract while others are more linear in their portrayal of changing relationships and human connection. Many of the selections included incorporate autobiographical elements, providing the collection with additional layers of realism and reflection. Pervading Sweet Time is a sense of intimacy and melancholy, beautifully rendered in colors that are sometimes surprising but never jarring. – Ash Brown

Banner of the Stars: Dinner With Family

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By Hiroyuki Morioka and Toshihiro Ono. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Giuseppe di Martino.

This volume takes us right back to the start of the series… and also cuts its ties with it, making it clear that whatever future Jint might have, it’s not going to be on the planet he was born on, or even with the guys he hung out with in college (or its equivalent). Unfortunately, it’s hard to get past the fact that he is taking on the sins of his father in many ways. That and his future lies with Lafier, but everyone and their brother knows that, from his former crew (who he reunites with in this book) to the people who raised him (who at least reconcile with him), the latter going to far as to essentially give Lafier their blessing. As for Lafier herself, even she admits that she’s just hanging around in this book – she’s here because Jint is, but her future absolutely lies in space, and just thinking about how she would want to do things she can’t is making her envious.

The cover art has the two of them looking quite cute, and that fits with the tone of this volume. After the prison drama and watching Jint suffer last time, here there’s a breather, as he has to deal with his world, which is in rebellion once more, and harboring soldiers from the enemy. He’s also trying to accrue some staff so that he can start earning money to pay back the massive debt he’s increasing – Lafier is just fine with him borrowing more and more, but then Lafier seems to be just fine with most everything in this book. This actually becomes a bit of a character point, as when Jint tries to recruit his old friend Durin, who rejects the offer because, frankly, he finds Abh creepy. He’s not wrong, to be honest – we’ve gotten used to the Abh’s tendency to banter in the face of danger in previous books, but to those on the outside, the fact that there’s a total lack of anger or rage can be unsettling.

The other half of the book sees Sobash and the rest of Lafier’s former crew take part in a mock battle which, coincidentally, involves getting to Jint’s home system and having the battle there – its remoteness from everything being a plus. Unfortunately, Martinh decides to fire at one of the ships – which does basically no damage – and the other ship fires back what they assume s also a shot that will cause no damage – it in fact causes a fair bit, though we’re not told how much. The reason we’re not told is that the planet makes it very clear that, in exchange for returning nominally to the Empire, Jint himself has to vow to never even go near the star system again. It’s total rejection, and the fact that it’s coming from the couple who brought him up hurts a bit.

Still, by now Jint, who’s always been a bit weird, is a lot more Abh than he’d perhaps like to think – and his future is definitely in space, with Lafier, though they’re still no closer to being a real couple except that everyone except them knows they are. This also brings this ‘arc’ to an end, though we’re not getting a ‘________ of the Stars’ title change this time. As for when we’ll get the next book here… not sure. I suspect they were licensed in chunks of three, so sales may need to tick up a bit. Till then, this is a good, if low on action, volume.

Manga the Week of 6/24/20

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SEAN: Look out, folks. The danger of COVID-19 may still be here, but the dam has broken. There are SO MANY BOOKS next week.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: We’ll start with Dark Horse, who have a 5th volume of Mob Psycho 100.

ASH: I’ll be picking this up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club’s debut is Deathbound Duke’s Daughter, which is another in the “I’ve been reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game” genre. Really nice artwork for this novel series. It’s from Futabasha’s M Novels.

Also from J-Novel Club: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 10, Ascendance of a Bookworm 7 (which finishes the 2nd arc, the one currently being animated), the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga, and a 4th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Kodansha has a lot. Debuts? We have three. One even is in print: the first volume of The Ghost in the Shell: Human Algorithm, a spinoff of the legendary manga/anime franchise.

ASH: It’s always interesting to see how various creators envision Ghost in the Shell.

SEAN: A new digital-only title is Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! (Abe-kun ni Nerawaretemasu), a shoujo title from the online replacement for Aria, Palcy. A comedy manga about a girl who finds the school’s karate champ confessing to her… and he’s not going to take no for an answer.

Also digital (at least for now) is Sue & Tai-chan, another cat manga from the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. This one runs in Be Love magazine, so seems more for housewives than kids. But… I mean, it’s still a cute cat manga.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to it!

SEAN: Scheduled (at the moment) for Digital next week and print later, we see Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 5 (along with 3 and 4, whose print are out already), Fire Force 19, Love and Lies 9, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7, and Yuri Is My Job! 6.

ASH: As usual, I’ll be waiting for the print release, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is really good.

SEAN: Digital-only titles out next week? Altair: A Record of Battles 19 (I swear this is now weekly), Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 7 (the final volume), Hotaru’s Way 14, I Fell in Love After School 5, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 15, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 7 (which also feels like it’s out every week).

MICHELLE: Of these, I’m only currently reading I Fell in Love After School, but I do enjoy it.

SEAN: KUMA has a digital-first, print later debut: Canis: Dear Mr. Rain. This BL title originally ran in Opera a few years back, but is now in Takeshobo’s Reijin. It’s about picking up a stray on the side of the road, only this is a human, not a dog.

MJ: Maybe?

SEAN: One Peace has a 13th Rising of the Shield Hero (manga version).

Seven Seas, in print, has New Game! 9.

Seven Seas, digitally, has a bit more. We have two debuts. Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time (Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan) runs in Futabasha’s Manga Action, which means it can’t be full-on porn, but it sounds like it. Peter Grill has a lovely fiancee and has just won a tournament pronouncing him the World’s Strongest. Unfortunately, this means all the women in the world – elves, ogres – want to bone him. Poor guy, can he escape his horrible fate?

MJ: …wow.

SEAN: The other digital debut is Syrup, another yuri anthology of short stories – this one from Futabasha – and featuring the creators of I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up and Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink.

ASH: Oh! That sounds like it has promise!

MJ: This might be good!

SEAN: There’s also the 3rd Arifureta manga, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, a 2nd Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard light novel, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s Office Lady Diary 3, Non Non Biyori 13, the 3rd Reincarnated As a Sword manga, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel. (Yes, I know there are short story volumes. No, they aren’t. No, it’s unlikely they will be.)

Square Enix has – digital first – the 3nd Hi Score Girl manga and the 2nd Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town manga.

Tokyopop has two new series. Don’t Call Me Daddy (Daddy Darlin’) is a BL manga, sequel to Don’t Call Me Dirty.

The other is No Vampire, No Happy Ending (Ringo to Bara to Kyuuketsuki (Kari)), a goofy Mag Garden comedy about a vampire enthusiast who finally meets one and discovers they’re not up to snuff.

MJ: This actually sounds fun, maybe in a What We Do in the Shadows kind of way, but …Tokyopop. Not sure I’m ready.

Vertical has (digitally) Bakemonogatari’s 4th manga, APOSIMZ 5, and Kino’s Journey 6.

MJ: I’ve been kind of out of it and have lost touch with the Kino’s Journey manga adaptation. I should try to fix that.

SEAN: That’s it! We’re done! Wait… (giant pile of Yen Press falls on Sean) Riiiiiight. Yen’s back in town.

ASH: Whoa! Hang on for the ride!

SEAN: All of the light novel debuts got moved to July. But there’s still a lot of Yen On. We get The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 7, Last Round Arthurs 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6.5 (yes, the numbering is deliberate), Overlord 12, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 7, A Sister’s All You Need 7, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 8, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 2, Woof Woof Story 4, and World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 3. Guh. So many books, so many long titles.

ASH: For sure!

SEAN: Manga? Well, there we have a few debuts. Bestia is a fantasy series about magical beasts, looks cute, and runs in Kadokawa’s Shonen Ace.

Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World (Sekai de Ichiban Oppai Ga Suki!) is sort of Knight of the Ice if the knight was a girl and instead of wanting to hear magical girl songs she had to fondle huge breasts in order to do well in competitions. It looks… a bit over the top. This runs in Media Factory’s Comic Cune.

MJ: What is happening??

SEAN: Lust Geass is from the creator of Evangelion spinoff The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, runs in Kadokawa’s Young Ace, and seems to be Death Note only with sex instead of death.

MJ: Yen Press is really losing me lately.

SEAN: And there’s Restaurant in Another World, the manga version of the light novel. Old-school Crunchyroll manga readers may recall this title.

ASH: Oh, I may need to check this one out.

SEAN: Lastly, Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying seems to be a side story to something I don’t know (it’s certainly not Sekirei), and I guess is based off a game.

Ongoing titles? Well, Umineko: When They Cry comes to an end with the 3rd and final omnibus of Twilight of the Golden Witch. We’ve figured out by now that most everyone in the cast is really, genuinely dead. But did ANYONE other than Ange survive? Read to find out.

And… Bungo Stray Dogs 15, Chio’s School Road 9, Dead Mount Death Play 4, Divine Raiment Magical Girl Howling Moon 2, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 3 (manga version), Eclair Bleau (another yuri anthology volume) Goblin Slayer 8 (manga version), KonoSuba Explosion 5 (manga version, technically a final volume but there’s a sequel), Little Miss P: The Second Day, Phantom Tales of the Night 4, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 10 (manga version), and A Witch’s Printing Office 3.

MICHELLE: So many paragraphs of things I’m not reading, with the probable exception of Eclair Bleue.

ANNA: I’m going to have a hard time doing pick of the week this week, despite this deluge of manga.

ASH: I’m glad to see publishers getting their books out there, but that is certainly a lot all at once!

MJ: A lot of… what?

SEAN: Stay masked even though all the manga is back! What are you getting?

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 24

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

It can be very hard to stop something once it’s gotten started, and when that something is “war”, it becomes ten times as hard. At the end of the last volume I thought we’d get a long section of Yona and Su-Won debating the subject, but no, Su-Won knows that now is not the time to have Yona whisper sweet words of peace in his ear. Instead we get some very clever tactical maneuvering on both sides, relying on Hak’s reputation with the Wind tribe, Yona’s ability to make Tae-Jun do anything she says (though at least there is a bit of “it’s not because I like you or anything” to the logic), and Su-Won figuring BOTH of these things out and making his own move to ensure that yes, there is going to be a war with a lot of dead people. Because sometimes that’s how you king, especially given the previous king.

The cliffhanger implies that the next volume may be different, but this volume reminded me how good the author is at maneuvering things so that expected events do not take place, or go in different directions. It’s a good skill to have, especially as the reader does not feel manipulated. Despite negotiating with Ogi, the meeting with Su-Won does not happen, and instead we get retainer Min-Su, who sympathizes heavily with Yona but also serves the King, and explains that this war can only end in a bloody battle. And yet we don’t get that battle here either, though we come close. (We also don’t get much of Kouren, and I hope that there is some focus on her soon.) As ever, Yona is trying to solve things by being an idealist who can back her ideals up, sometimes with violence, but here through negotiating attempts. It’s hard to negotiate when the other side avoids you, though…that said, more and more people are discovering she is alive.

As you would expect, there’s not really a lot of humor in this book, although the reaction to Jaeha’s leg may be the high point there. This also brings me to Mizari, who is probably the most fascinating part of this book. Let’s face it, it’s rare that ‘the guy with the slasher smile who’s clearly not all there’ gets deep character development. He’s fascinated with the dragon warrior captives (this is why we see Jaeha’s leg), and when he sees the soldiers that are going against Su-Won’s forces, he kills one just because he realizes how weak they are. His logic – he would have died immediately on the battlefield anyway – is twisted but also shows that he too is thinking about how this war is going to go for Kouren’s side. Badly. And that’s why he wants the power of the Dragon Warriors, because he wants to protect her. I don’t like Mizari as a person, but as a character he’s fantastic.

The cliffhanger implies we’ll finally be getting the confrontation that we didn’t get this time, but honestly I suspect that despite all of Yona and Hak’s maneuvering that we’re going to end up going to war anyway. In the meantime, please keep reading one of the best shoujo series out there.

Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! ~A Sign-on-the-Line Wedding Story~, Vol. 2

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By Tsuredurebana and Rin Hagiwara. Released in Japan as “Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai! ~Keiyaku Kara Hajimaru Wedding~” by ArianRose. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mattias Hirsch.

Despite everything seemingly being resolved at the end of the last book in terms of their marriage, the title of this series still fits, as Viola continues to not really believe it. A combination of her own low self-worth and the guy who’s now trying to win her love being astonishingly bad at it means that any romantic progression we see here is minimal at best. To Viola’s credit, she does actually blush near the end of the book when Cercis gets in her face and says he wants them to be a real couple. But even then, there’s no real sign that she’s fallen for him, more that she’s taken aback by his actions. In order to win the girl, Cercis is not only going to have to get a lot better at not being a rich playboy type, he’s also going to have to hammer into her again and again that he loves her. Fortunately, he has several more volumes to do this.

We begin where the last book left off, with Cercis’ Mistress moving out after dumping his sorry ass. I appreciated the fact that, although she was clearly the “other woman”, the story treated her with respect anyway, and I wonder if we’ll see her again. After that, there’s various events that Cercis uses to try to get closer to his wife who just wants to hang around the mansion and pretend to be a maid. There’s balls (where Viola completely trashes a stereotypical “princess curl” rich girl by simply using her low self-image as a weapon), there’s dates (where Viola continues to be appalled at how much rich people spend, and Cercis begins to vaguely catch a clue), there’s visits back home (where we see a lot of what made Viola who she is today… her mother certainly didn’t go out of her way to praise her), and in the end there’s yet ANOTHER rumor that Cercis has taken a mistress, showing that it’s hard to reform when everyone already thinks the worst of you. Through all this, Viola blithely glides along, with her inner narration providing the snark and her outer face being mostly the perfect duchess.

I praised the translation on Twitter, as Viola’s narrative voice is the main reason to buy this. There is a caveat, though: if you’re bothered by the use of ‘modern’ language in a series with horse and carriages, you may find some of Viola’s remarks jar – at one point she uses the term “helicopter parent”, for example. But honestly it didn’t really bother me, and I found it gave Viola a snap to her lines that was perfectly in character. I do hope that future books work a bit more on her self-loathing… there’s a point where she (having slept poorly the night before) accidentally breaks a vase and she immediately loses it. She’s sent back to her earldom to recuperate for the day, but is convinced in her sleepiness that Cercis will divorce her now. The fact that this isn’t really panicked or upset but just as matter of fact as her other thoughts makes it hurt all the more. Someone needs to teach this girl confidence.

That said, right now it’s Cercis who needs to be learning lessons more, as he starts to figure out that expensive food and presents is not going to win him jack shit, and he slowly begins to see what Viola actually likes. If he continues to be a better person, and someone kick start’s Viola’s self-image, we could see this couple on paper become a real couple soon. In the meantime, I enjoy Viola’s snark a whole lot.

Oh yes, and the entire book is made even better by Cercis’ trio of drunken lady knights, who are a stitch.

Kobold King, Vol. 2

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By Syousa. and sime. Released in Japan by Legend Novels (Kodansha). Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

First things first: aside from the very start of this book, it is entirely devoted to warfare, with a large group of adventurers, mercenaries and soldiers marching to wipe out the Kobolds and their allies, and our heroes essentially turning into a jungle-based terrorist group to stop them. If this doesn’t interest you, you are not going to get much out of this book, as the brief characterization we had in Book 1 is left behind for the most part in favor of battle scenes. The good news is that the battle scenes are quite well written, and there’s a definite sense of tension to the whole book. Having killed off one of the main characters in the first volume, the reader is under the assumption that no one is safe. Indeed, while I wasn’t expecting the bad guys to win, I did start to suspect it would be a pyrrhic victory where most of the main cast sacrifice themselves. It comes close. That said, this is marked the end of the first “arc”, so presumably more books are coming.

On one side we have the evil obsessed Wyatt and his suit of magical armor, determined to destroy absolutely everyone on the Kobold side, especially Gaius. He’s attracted most of his force by offer of a large reward, but some others (the ones who were there the first time) he has to blackmail. The force itself is quite well divided between men and women, actually, which surprised and pleased me. Of course, this means that both men and women get their skulls caved in, hearts torn out and heads chopped off, because the mercenary force runs into Gaius and Sashalia’s Kobold guerrilla fighters. They have a force far, far smaller than the army’s, but are fighting for both survival and to make the other side give up and say it’s not worth the trouble. To that end, the Kobolds put out endless dangerous traps, use dirty and underhanded fighting tactics, and also have Gaius, who can kill dozens on his own. All this coordinated by Sashalia, who can no longer fight but can still be a tactician.

While I enjoyed this book, there’s not really much to say about it because it’s almost all action. I was thankful that the whole “I want to be the one to take Gaius’ virginity!” plotline was given barely a passing mention, and indeed there’s no love triangle here as was hinted in the last book, mostly as everyone is too busy fighting. Most of the cast ends up coming pretty close to dying – indeed, I was fairly certain that when Darke was hurled against a tree at full speed that she was dead. I was also certain that Emon was dead when Wyatt basically started hacking him to bits. And I certainly expected Gaius and Wyatt to kill each other in the final battle. Instead, the day is saved by a spirit from the dead returning and giving Gaius one final weapon. It’s unrealistic, but hey, we’ve had realism the whole battle, so I was fine with it.

As with other series from this label, we’re not sure when there will be more of it – it’s only two volumes in Japan for now. Still, if you want to know what Vietnam would have been like with kobolds, elves, dwarves and giant lizard creatures, this is a strong read.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Vol. 3

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By Kei Sazane and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan as “Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jan Cash.

Some authors are really good at plotting and worldbuilding. Some succeed at depth of characterization. Some write amazing dialogue. And then there’s Kei Sazane, who does none of those things, but that’s OK, as they have one thing that they do better than most anyone else: crafting cliffhangers that make a reader want to get the next book. I spent most of the second volume of this series thinking I would drop it after I finished, only for a last-minute plot twist that made me want to read more. Unfortunately, little is made of the plot twist here, mostly as the characters are two-dimensional. And once again I got to the end thinking, “yeah, OK, interesting did not happen, dropping this” only to get an epilogue which made me say, “Hrngh, now I want to know what happens next.” It’s a praiseworthy skill, and very well done. Of course, I wish that the skills had been used on a better light novel series.

Last volume ended with the revelation that Iska’s captain and designated dojikko Mismis now had an astral crest after basically falling in a pit of magic. So they have to figure out a way to keep it hidden so that she’s not imprisoned for life at best and executed at worst. I suspect skin-colored bandages, tried here, are not going to work well. It doesn’t help that, aside from one or two flashes of actually being a commander, Mismis is a fluffhead of the first order. (The author loves to write those types – more on this later.) Fortunately, they have a reason for her to be away from the Empire and using an Astral Crest – they have to infiltrate the enemy territory. Unfortunately, everything goes south when, for once, it’s Iska who gets to be the designated idiot, sipping a drugged drink provided by Alice’s maid and now taken prisoner in the hideous… honeymoon suite of a first-class hotel.

Last time Alice and Iska never met up, this time they’re together most of the book. It’s not really a great thing for Alice, as, like Mismis, the author loves to write her as a fluffhead, in this case a girl in love who doesn’t actually realize it. The ‘kidnapping’ wasn’t her idea, and she prefers to settle things on the battlefield in a one-on-one fight, of course. Unfortunately, the Empire is also trying to break out a top security prisoner (who is basically Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night only with magic instead of swords), and so everyone needs to rush off and stop everything ending in fire. Including Iska, who is, of course, also slowly falling for Alice in his own stoic lunkhead sort of way. Both Iska and Alice excel at combat scenes, where they’re both allowed to be ridiculously overpowered and cool, rather than enacting A Child’s Garden of Romeo and Juliet Scenes.

There’s no actual bad scenes or writing here – everything is very competent but empty, and reminds me a lot of Strike the Blood or Asterisk War in that it feels like it was written as a novelization of an anime. The main cast are all pretty likeable, and as I said, there’s a great cliffhanger that will probably make me read the 4th book in the series. I’ll be grumbling as I do, though.

Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen, Vol. 4

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By Keishi Ayasato and Saki Ukai. Released in Japan as “Isekai Goumon Hime” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America Yen On. Translated by Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher.

I had mentioned that I was reading this new volume on Twitter, and someone replied to me “isn’t that just torture porn?”. It’s a reasonable question, given the title of the series and a good deal of the content. This fourth volume has slightly less grotesquery than previous ones, but that’s only by degree: there’s still many scenes here meant to disgust you. That said, I would argue it isn’t torture porn for the good reason that anyone reading this series ONLY for the gore is bound to be disappointed. The start of this book delves into mystery briefly, as Kaito and Hime try to discover what or who is slaughtering villages of beastmen. The end of the book, meanwhile, opens the Pandora’s Box of its lore and mythology, showing us that there’s far more disturbing creation myths than we really expected. The gore is there to drive the plot like all the other elements. And, once again, we have a book that is well-written if a bit off-putting because, well, intestines.

There’s also, surprise!, another Torture Princess, who we see on the cover here. Fate/Zero fans may have a head start on this one, though fortunately she doesn’t (so far) share her historical namesake’s fetishes. Jeanne de Rais was created much as Elisabeth Le Fanu was, only her sacrifices were 100% consensual. She’s thought to be the one behind the village massacres, but it turns out to be far more complex than that. She actually ends up being more of a guide/mentor figure, gathering everyone to a place the Church does not want to be seen and then showing them all what’s inside. She’s a fun new villain, though her method of speech takes some getting used to; half the time she sounds emotionless, the other half she talks like a foul-mouthed cowboy.

As for the others, well, fans of Subaru and Rem who want them to get it on will want to read this one, which may be as close as you’re going to get. (it does cut away before coitus ensues, so those reading for THAT will also be disappointed.) Kaito and Elisabeth continue to get very angry with each other for trying to sacrifice themselves so the other can live on, in a way that is half heartwarming and half hilarious. Izabella continues to be a trope that Japan loves, which is the one true believer in an increasingly corrupt Church. Sadly, she’s having a very bad last few weeks. And then there’s the Butcher, who has sort of been a comedy relief figure so far in the series, but here is shown to have a FAR larger role in everything that’s occurring, being a sort of combination of Judas and Mary Magdalene. I wonder what he’ll be doing going forward.

The book ends with a series of revelations about the world’s past religious history, and I suspect that the next book will involve the Church condemning absolutely everyone who found out about it to, well, torture. that said, with Elisabeth AND Jeanne on the same side, I doubt they’ll get far. Torture Princess can be grotesque, and is not for the faint of heart, but it’s far more than mere torture porn.

Manga the Week of 6/17/20

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SEAN: It’s mid-June. Is it hot where you are? It’s certainly hot where I am. Have some manga.

We start with light novels, though, as J-Novel Club has a debut. Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess is another series by Ichiro Sakaki, author of Outbreak Company. The description makes it sound like “straight man surrounded by wacky people and situations”. Think broad comedy. It’s 3 volumes total.

J-Novel Club also gives us Her Majesty’s Swarm 3.

Kodansha, in early digital releases of print titles, gives us Boarding School Juliet 12, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13 and Witch Hat Atelier 6.

ASH: I’ll be waiting to pick it up in print, but I am very pleased to see all the love Witch Hat Atelier is getting these days!

ANNA: Totally collecting Witch Hat Atelier in print too!

SEAN: Digital-only has a LOT more. The debut is Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory—, a Betsufure series by the creator of L♥DK. Introverted girl, extroverted brother, she has to disguise herself as him… you know the drill.

MICHELLE: I will at least give the debut volume a look, but I didn’t realize it was by the L♥DK creator. I tried the first volume of that and didn’t like it much.

MJ: This sounds potentially awful? I’ll wait to see what Michelle says.

SEAN: There’s also (deep break) Dolly Kill Kill 3, Domestic Girlfriend 25, GE: Good Ending 6, I’ll Win You Over Sempai! 5, Kakushigoto 4, Saint Young Men 6, Shojo FIGHT! 11, The Slime Diaries 3, and That Blue Summer 6.

MICHELLE : Both That Blue Summer and I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! are enjoyable shoujo. This is also the final volume for the latter. I really need to catch up on Shojo FIGHT! as well.

SEAN: One Peace has an 8th volume of Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas has a couple of debuts. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear gets its manga in print. It also gives us the 2nd novel as an early digital book.

The other early digital debut is Love on the Other Side: A Nagabe Short Story Collection. The Girl from the Other Side is the author’s most well-known work, and these are short stories (unrelated to his other series) about supernatural love.

MICHELLE: I will definitely be reading this!

ASH: Likewise! I’m very happy to see more of Nagabe’s work being translated.

ANNA: Sounds great.

MJ: Here for this!

SEAN: In ongoing print, we see Classroom of the Elite 4.5, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 11, Satoko and Nada 3, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 7, which also now has all its volumes available digitally! I love both Satoko and Nada and Tomo-chan.

ASH: Satoko and Nada is a great series.

SEAN: Other digital first titles: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 2, and the 2nd Invincible Shovel light novel.

Sol Press has a 2nd digital volume of light novel Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy.

Vertical debuts, digital-first, the manga version of Weathering with You, another Makoto Shinkai multi-media franchise. The manga runs in Afternoon.

MJ: I loved the movie, and have historically enjoyed the manga versions of Shinkai’s work, so maybe?

SEAN: Viz Media gives us the 8th 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition, Blue Flag 2, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 8, the 3rd Drifting Classroom Perfect Edition, and Golden Kamuy 16.

MICHELLE: I am chastened to admit I have not read Blue Flag yet! I will rectify this forthwith.

ASH: I’m following quite a few of these series, but Blue Flag is what I’ll be reading first. I think you’ll like the series, Michelle.

ANNA: Blue Flag is wonderful.

MJ: I also have not read Blue Flag, but I guess I should!

SEAN: Lastly, remember a few weeks ago when we were talking about Nightschool and wishing we could see more of it? Good news! The Weirn Books seems to be a reboot of the series aimed at readers of her Berrybrook Middle School series. The first volume from Yen Press is subtitled Be Wary of the Silent Woods.

ASH: Oh, nice!

ANNA: Sweet!

MJ: Oh, interesting!

SEAN: Good things come to those who wait. What are you waiting for?

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 15

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By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. Released in Japan as “Yakusoku no Neverland” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Satsuki Yamashita.

This is the last time I’ll be able to write ‘serialization ongoing’ in the header, as the main manga ends this Sunday as I type this. Of course, that still means another 5-6 volumes to go here. More importantly, though, this volume is around the time when we start to see The Promised Neverland lose some of its initial audience. This series started out as pure horror/suspense, and grew quite popular based on that. Even as Emma and company escaped and tried to find out the secrets of this world, those two genres were never far from everyone’s mind. But here, in this 15th volume, when Ray and Emma meet up against some hallucinatory rooms and dream skeletons, it’s frankly a bit of a relief. Most of this volume is made up of political intrigue (albeit among demons) and moral/ethical arguments. It’s well written, and I think this is a very good volume. But is it what people are really reading this series for?

If Emma is the ‘idealistic’ hero of this series, then Norman falls into the ‘realistic’ side. This is amusing if you recall the start of the series, where it was definitely Ray who fell into that category, with Norman being the balance between them. But Norman’s had two years on his own, whereas Ray’s been with Emma the whole time. As a result, there’s been nothing stopping Norman from getting very dedicated to killing some demons. As I said in my last review, this is perfectly valid. The demons have done horrible things, and murdered many of their friends. That said, when the reveal becomes less “they need to do this or they die, so there’s no good answer’ and more ‘there is a good answer, but politics won’t let them use it’, there’s less of a moral leg to stand on. Emma gets this right away, and innocently asks why everyone can’t simply use the solution Mujika has. Norman (and Ray, who is now the middle ground) understand the real reason: power.

Norman, who has been planning everything for SO LONG, is not inclined to stop it just because Emma wants everyone to live happily ever after in peace and harmony, so she and Ray try to find a way to get him to compromise. There’s also the problem that even if they win, they don’t know if anything beyond the Seven Walls is an escape. So they’re going to go beyond the Seven Walls and find out, giving everyone a reason to move forward – and possibly one that might not involve genocide. Of course, it’s not that simple – they end up seemingly back at a deserted Grace Field House, only to find that it’s an amalgam of nightmares and bad memories. This section of the book is where the art really shines, and as I said before adds a nice bit of surrealistic horror to the proceedings. The question is, can they find the real entrance from here?

This is not the Promised Neverland we started off with, and that’s a good thing, even though I do get nostalgic for the old suspense novel feeling. It’s still well worth a read.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 16

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By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

This series is finally ending in Japan this august, so we know that after this book there’s only five more to go. As such, it does appear that this “defeat God so that Alas Ramus can have an awesome birthday” plotline is going to be the final one, assuming that it’s not “oh hey, guess I am in love with Emi/Maou after all”. As for this particular book, we’re faced with another “power through a weak first half, because the second half is spectacular” volume. Maou was barely in the last book, so he gets a lot of time at the start of this one. Sadly, everyone ELSE isn’t around, so most of the first chapter is him admitting that he now has bonds with other people and feels very lonely when they aren’t constantly around. (Acieth is around, but sadly he takes no comfort from her very annoying antics.) It doesn’t help that Valentine’s day is coming up, and Chiho is, well, avoiding him as he’s still waffling about her, to EVERYONE’S irritation.

As I said, the first half of this book is not that hot, mostly as the reader is well aware of what character development Maou and Emi need to have happen to them, but the writer wants to drag it out until the main non-romance plot is done. As such, Maou is again too nice for his own good – this time accepting some seeming “obligation” chocolate that is too expensive to really quality as that. Chiho has decided that, having made her feelings clear – again – she’s not going to add to the pressure by getting him chocolates, and was thinking maybe something like miso for his stressed-out stomach. And Emi, of course, is freaking out at the very thought of possibly giving chocolate to the guy she supposedly can’t forgive, and ends up justifying things by figuring out that Alas Ramus can give her daddy candy. None of this is all that interesting.

Where the book takes off is when we go to Enta Isla, where, owing to various plot explanations that I’m not going to get into (don’t worry, the other cast will), Chiho has to participate in an archery competition as part of a contest to be the next chief of the Northern tribes. She’s not aiming to be a chief, but winning the archery part will allow the team to steal a powerful weapon that is also an iconic monument. The reason that it’s so good is that it features Chiho wanting to come out from the shadow of the more powerful characters… both because of her accuracy with the bow (which isn’t super duper – she’s helped by the fact that archery in this world is not nearly as advanced) and because she’s sick of being “the girl defined by her liking Maou”, which honestly is how a lot of fans tend to see her. We know she isn’t winning the Maou sweepstakes, so this is an important step to allow her to become her own person. Also, she’s badass.

There’s other things to enjoy in the second half too, such as a badass granny and Bell getting an unfortunate nickname. That said, it does remind me that I tend to like this series better when Maou is not par-timing. Or angsting.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/8/20

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Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 26 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The fall season has begun! Furuya is wearing the ace number and dominates the first game, much to Eijun’s distress, since he’s still suffering from “the yips” after striking a batter with an inside pitch. Thankfully, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka arrange for Chris to drop by and teach Eijun a new trick, which seems to help get him out of his doldrums. Meanwhile, Furuya’s performance begins to deteriorate, rumors about Coach Kataoka’s imminent departure begin to circulate, and the guy who’s been observing them (but who is probably Kataoka’s replacement) plans to focus solely on cultivating Furuya the ace and objects to how much time and effort Kataoka devotes to the other players. I mean, I can only assume that this guy is going to get sent packing at some point, but I definitely appreciate that Terajima-sensei is able to make me this anxious about his presence. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi, Yasuhito Nogi, and Kiyotaka Haimura | Seven Seas – The first half of this volume is a giant flashback, and you know those are always bad in the Indexverse. Expect dead kids, dead adults, and a whooooooole lot of evil science. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot here that relies on the reader knowing one of the antagonists is from New Testament Vol. 11… which we have not seen in English, and might never see. Too much continuity. Junko continues to be laughably retroactively strong, going toe to toe with a level 5 here. And there’s the bond between her and Misaki, which may be “master and servant” but is also a close friendship (and yuri tease, as Misaki herself demonstrates). Railgun fans will like this. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 8 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The eighth volume of The Girl from the Other Side is unbearably sad—so much so that I struggled to finish it, as watching Shiva come to terms with losing Teacher is a shattering experience. Compounding my sense of anguish were the final chapters, in which we learn why the Inside world was so desperately interested in Shiva. The parallels between her situation and our current health crisis are impossible to ignore, reminding us about the human cost of capitulating to fear, ignorance, and superstition in the face of a pandemic. In a less fraught moment, I’d be inclined to recommend The Girl from the Other Side for the lessons it imparts, but I think it’s OK to decide that Nagabe’s allegory is a little too on-the-nose to offer insight or comfort right now. – Katherine Dacey

Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 3 | By Aki Irie | Vertical Comics – After two messy but interesting volumes that see-sawed between mystery and travelogue, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest finds its groove in volume three. Michitaka—who disappeared from the previous volume—takes center stage in the latest installment, as Kei inadvertently stumbles across some important clues about what happened to his aunt and uncle back in Japan. Though Kei’s discovery propels the story in a new and unexpected direction, the latest plot twists feel earned; the sometimes awkward shifts in tone and genre that characterized the first two volumes are smoothed over by new revelations about Michitaka, and a new sense of urgency about solving the trail of gruesome deaths he’s left behind. The result is a compelling story that has the trappings of a Scandinavian crime show but the soul of an X-Files episode. Recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 3 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Whereas Zetsubou-sensei made a point to seemingly attack everything in the world for leaving the author (and, by extension, Nozomu) in despair, Kakushigoto is zeroing in on the manga profession in particular. Here we get mysteries answered, such as why are the pages of weekly magazines colored differently, who determines the order the stories go in, and what is the exact nature of a deadline? We don’t get real answers for any of these, as it turns out things are very fluid. As for Hime, she’s still cute, and still investigating things with her not-Zetsubou girls mystery club. And there’s still that flashforward threatening us with the death of Hime’s father. Will the series get that dark? – Sean Gaffney

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, Vol. 1 | By Shu, Kayaharuka, and Yoshinori Shizuma | Square Enix – This isn’t my usual fare, but I hoped it would help with my Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun withdrawal. And it actually did! Anoth Voldigord was the all-powerful demon king, but sacrificed himself to end a perpetual war with humanity, pledging to reincarnate in 2000 years. When he does so, he’s invited to a school attended by his many descendants but nobody believes he’s who he says he is because his magic is too vast to be measured and all of the facts about his reign have been distorted or forgotten over time. Anoth isn’t too likable at first, but the fact that his smug announcements of superiority garner no reaction, his jokes fall flat, and he must deal with a pair of doting and dimwitted human parents all help to humble him a bit. I guess it sometimes pays to venture out of your comfort zone! – Michelle Smith

My Senpai Is Annoying, Vol. 1 | By Shiromanta | Seven Seas – Thankfully, the senpai is not annoying in the way that I feared—this is all on her. Futaba is a new OL at a company who is so short she looks about twelve years old. She also has a near-terminal case of tsundere. This mostly comes out when around Harumi, her senpai at the company, who is huge, nice, helps her with her work and occasionally lightly teases her, and she is absolutely not ready to deal with it. This manga has one joke—Futaba is embarrassed and gets mad to hide it—and if you like that joke, it can be fun. It’s also based on a webcomic, with most “chapters” being about two pages. Towards the end, there’s longer original content, and that works much better. Recommended for those who like 4-komas and tsunderes. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 9 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – You got the sense that Kou wasn’t going to stay in France forever, and sure enough, she’s back by the end of this volume. There’s some nice stories here about not-quite-rivalries between her and Aoba’s friend Hotaru, and of course the inevitable yuri tease between Kou and Rin, which will never rise above a certain level but that level is pretty damn high. Other than that, a big part of this volume features the danger of farming out parts of your game to outside companies to complete, as they’re harder to control and can easily affect quality in ways that need to be fixed somehow. We also see Aoba continue to grow into her role as a real adult, even as she continues to never quite take the starring role. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Primitive Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Yoshineko Kitafuku | Seven Seas – Kamigome Mito is popular with the boys at her school but feels nothing for any of them, finding them all insufficiently manly. Mito is lamenting her circumstances while working on the family farm, when she suddenly receives a visit from Spica, Goddess of the Harvest. Mito’s hard work has not gone unnoticed and as a reward, Spica sends her back in time 2.5 million years to meet her soulmate, a member of the species Australopithecus Garhi. He takes care of Mito, she falls for him, and when she’s sent home just as his life is in peril, she’s desperate to return. It’s pretty fun, I guess, if you don’t let yourself get bogged down in the realities of how their relationship will never work. Thankfully, it’s also only three volumes long. It’s short, it’s unique, and thus I will keep reading to see how it all plays out. – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 8 | By Noro Shunsuke | Seven Seas – The series has now reached the Culture Festival, and seems like it might slowly be gliding to an ending, which in a series like this means pairing up more people. The “joke” confession that wasn’t in the last volume gets revisited here, with much embarrassment all around. Kazamori’s desperation for other girls to be attracted to Ohki may end up getting her in trouble down the road. Mikasagi explains why he isn’t ready to commit to anything, etc. There’s also an extended bathhouse scene, for those who like fanservice, which includes discussion about where Mizuno should be, on the men’s or women’s side. Again, I appreciate the care they’re taking with this character. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 3 | By Kousuke Oono | Viz Media -As I have said in previous reviews, you read this series for its one gag, and should not expect more than that one gag done extremely well. Beyond that, here we see that our househusband is not the only former yakuza trying to make a living doing mundane everyday things, and that it’s much easier to change what you do than how you act. We also see why he’s such a good husband, manipulating things a bit so that his wife can meet some live action Pretty Cure actors (or rather the non-copyright violating Pretty Cure knockoff). That said, I think it’s Santa’s appearance that is absolutely the highlight of the volume, along with the stunned reaction of all the children. Hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

Beatless, Vol. 2

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By Satoshi Hase and redjuice. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ben Gessel.

Another long, long book – the longest light novel I have digitally, in fact – and again, I feel it would have been fine if Beatless had been four lengthy books rather than two huge ones. That said, the author clearly thinks of it as one story, as the second volume just picks up where the first one left off and moves forward. There’s lots of cool action set pieces, lots of dead extras, lots of dead hIEs (who then come back to life quite a lot), and a whole lot of philosophizing on the nature of artificial intelligence and the way that it interacts with humanity. If this sounds like I’m parroting my last review, it’s no surprise, this really doesn’t introduce new themes or concepts into the book, it’s just more of the same. This is not to say the book gets dull – there’s always something happening – and the characters are quite interesting. But the book is making a point, and spends several hundred pages making that point.

I’d mentioned that the hIEs tend to die but not really be dead, most of that due to the very nature of how they live – it’s not like hitting their “heart” will kill them. Kouka spends much of the first quarter of the book having a Last Stand before she’s finally taken down, only to be rebuilt into twelve Kouka clones for the finale. Snowdrop is killed, then returns, and then is killed again, and returns again, to the point where she starts to resemble Jason Voorhees more than anything else. She’s easily the creepiest of the five main hIE cast. Methode spends her time being absolutely furious at anything and everything, and unfortunately is the least interesting because of it, though she doesn’t deserve her fate. (OK, I will admit, Mariage is the least interesting, but that’s mostly as her owner doesn’t let her do much of anything – it’s hard to be a major player when you aren’t in the battle.). And then there’s Lacia.

I admit that the nature of how Lacia attacks is quite clever, the best idea in the book, and the seeds were planted earlier with her work as a model. She and Arato make a great couple, to the point where we hate it when he loses his nerve and distrusts her, even though everyone and their brother points out why she’s incredibly dangerous. It all comes down to the question of how do you want humanity to move forward? Standing on the backs of the machines they created, or holding the hands of said machines? Honestly, I think humanity made this decision when they decided to make hIEs look like people. Their role is strangely sexless – Lacia again mentions functions she can’t use with Arato till he’s 18, but honestly there’s never any sense that anyone uses hIEs for sex – and also quite undefined, by design. Even the computer that runs everything, Higgins, is frustrated, to the point where he engineered all this just to be able to move forward.

I haven’t seen the anime, but I understand that the novel and anime end slightly differently, so you may want to check both out. I enjoyed Beatless, but, much like the hIEs themselves, I enjoyed it in a strangely emotionless way. There’s little humor – in fact, the only really good joke in the book comes right at the end – and little passion aside from the slow burn of Arato and Lacia. If you like futuristic SF, I’d give it a whirl.

A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 15

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By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa. Released in Japan as “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nan Rymer.

In my last review I extolled the praises of Uiharu, whose mad hacker skills were impressive enough to break someone out of an unbreakable prison. Sadly, it turns out that she got noticed by the Dark Side of Academy City, as she’s kidnapped here. Unfortunately, she’s pure peril monkey for the rest of the volume, so it’s up to the other three members of the cast to step up. Do they rescue her? Not yet. Are they badass? Aw yiss. We get to see Mikoto, Kuroko and Saten all show off their best sides as they fight to rescue their friend. Which is not so impressive for Mikoto – it is her series, after all. And we’ve seen Kuroko be badass before, both here and in Index. The more Railgun manga we see, though, the more I remain convinced that it’s an excuse to show off Saten rather than any other Biri-biris who might be lying around. She doesn’t even have a baseball bat this time, but is amazing.

The first two thirds of the book are well done and yet will feel familiar to the Railgun reader. The bad guys here are all teenagers, for the most part, and Index/Railgun has hammered home over and over again that their lives are basically experiments for various bad adults. As a result, Mikoto gets a chance to try to talk the enemy down, which… well, doesn’t work, but hey, she tried. I like the fact that the enemies by now are expecting Mikoto to be, well, a goody-goody, and while she insists that this is Touma’s job and not hers, it’s more or less accurate anyway. Also, salt-based attacks allows for more Biblical imagery in this Bible-heavy series. As for Kuroko’s battle, well, she’s cool and clever, but the “my yuri fantasies can beat up your yuri fantasies” bit was as ridiculous as ever.

And then there’s Saten, who discovers that Uiharu has been kidnapped and begs her friends to have her come along and help. This proves sensible, as while Mikoto and Kuroko both pursue leads that turn out to be false, Saten does what she does best – play detective. She’s questioned for the fallout of the battle between powered folks that happened around her, and, due to various plot-related reasons, this is done in the very prison we’d seen before… where, as it turns out, our enemy is really based. Sadly, they have the world’s dumbest prison guards there, and as a result Saten is able to break out pretty easily. Of course, getting to where Uiharu might be requires jumping between two buildings that are not that close together, and Saten is, as she reminds us, a Level 0. Does she make it? Of course. She’s fighting for her girlfr— erm, best friend!

Again, I suspect Saten is in this story, along with Hamazura in the main Index series, to remind us that Academy City’s “Level” system is complete and total bullshit. That said, I’m fairly sure she’s not gonna rescue Uiharu all on her own. This is shaping up to be another big arc, so we’ll have to wait a month or two… or ten… to find out what happens next. (And with the Index novels now seemingly over in North America, we’re not even getting to tide ourselves over with the main series.) Still, this was an excellent volume. If you take away anything from it, think of Saten, leaping between those buildings and making it – bear-ly – due to the power of conviction and borrowing other people’s technology.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 11

by

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

After spending the last volume having all the weddings, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see the fruits of that labor, so to speak. No, not Souma, although he does bed three more of his wives in this book (it cuts away before the sex, sorry). Instead we have Poncho, whose two wives are already pregnant, possibly as they are banging so much he is literally getting thin because of it, and Hal, whose childhood friend Kaede is also pregnant. Fortunately, the sex and babies is only a tiny part of this book, which is otherwise devoted to integrating its new problem children into the kingdom. Sometimes this is easy – everyone loves Ichiha, the milder climate means he’s healthier, and he’s written the most important book in years. Sometimes it’s a bit more difficult, as with Yuriga, who is not only a budding tsundere in training, but is also writing her brother every week telling him what King Souma is doing. What is Souma doing? Oh, y’know, starting bicycle message services, doing a Day of the Dead costume parade, staging mock battles to cool anime music. The usual.

As you can see from the cover, the other big plot twist is that Roroa has de-aged, and is now attending school. OK, no. In fact that is Lucy, a merchant’s daughter who adores Roroa and models herself after her, to the point where she’s nicknamed “mini-Roroa” in story. The other addition to the schoolchildren ranks is Velza, the dark elf that Hal rescued who has fallen madly in love with him. It’s a bit too soon for her to be going after anyone, though, so in the meantime she join’s Tomoe’s posse to get some learning. As always with this series, part of the fun is seeing not only how Souma introduces things like sewers and the like to Friedonia, nut also normal Japanese things – in this case the idea of school clubs, who recruit just as violently here as they do in Japan. The kids are cute, and we’re seeing them start to grow up – Tomoe has a bit of a crush on Ichiha, and is also trying to be more mature in general.

Arguably the more interesting part of the book is Souma giving a symposium on monsters and what they’ve learned due to Ichiha’s drawings and analysis. Publicly, it discusses classifying monsters more easily and studying them to try to help prevent things like stampedes and the like. Privately, things are more disturbing – evidence points to the monsters being ‘created” rather than born, and if that’s the case, then what about say, the beastmen, or the sea serpents, or any of the sentient races currently living reasonably peacefully with humans. The last thing Souma needs is adding racism to a world that’s trying to get rid of it. And this doesn’t even get into the potential war with the demons they have coming up. The back half of the book is, therefore, lots of talk, but it’s interesting talk.

This book takes place back in Friedonia, but apparently in the next one we go off to another country and meet some more new characters – because honestly the cast is too small, don’t you think? Till then, this gives the readers what they want, and I enjoyed it. Though for God’s sake, stop citing Machiavelli.