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Manga the Week of 9/18/19

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SEAN: It’s time to do the list in reverse! Why?

Because I wanted to start with Viz’s ridiculous amount of new titles out next week. We begin with the eagerly anticipated The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudou), a series about a former yakuza who is trying to stay straight, nut… stuff keeps happening. It runs in Shinchosha’s Kurage Bunch.

ANNA: I am excited for this!

MICHELLE: I love the cover for the first volume.

ASH: Personally, this is one of my most anticipated debuts of the year!

SEAN: No Guns Life is a science fantasy series from Ultra Jump, and is apparently much like many other Ultra Jump titles in that vein.

Speaking of Ultra Jump, we also get Levius, a done-in-one series that actually ran in the late lamented Ikki, but has moved to Ultra Jump after this volume. It looks like Battle Angel Alita for MEN.

ASH: I generally enjoy Ikki titles, so I’ll be giving this one a look.

SEAN: And for those who wanted Taiyou Matsumoto, author of Tekkon Kinkreet and Sunny, to draw cats, here is Cats of the Louvre, a Big Comic Original series that’s also done in one.

MICHELLE: I am here for this.

ASH: Yes! More Taiyou Matsumoto is always a good thing. This is also part of the same series that brought us Hirohiko Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre and Jiro Taniguchi’s Guardians of the Louvre.

MJ: Okay, this is necessary in my life.

SEAN: As if that weren’t enough, Dorohedoro is ending with its 23rd and final volume. I’m amazed how obsessed I became with this violent series about a busty sorcerer and her lizard-headed pal, but I love it to bits.

ASH: As do I. I’m so glad this series survived the unfortunate fall of Ikki.

SEAN: And Viz also has Children of the Whales 12, Beastars 2, and 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 5.

ASH: Wow! It really is a great week for Viz manga! I am really looking forward to seeing where Beastars goes next.

Vertical also ends a series with the final omnibus of May-December romance After the Rain, and they also have the 13th Ajin.

MICHELLE: I’ve been meaning to read After the Rain. One of these days.

SEAN: Seven Seas’ debut looks trashy but I am well-informed is more slice-of-life than anything else: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) runs in Kadokawa’s Dra-Dra-Dragon Age, a spinoff magazine to the already trashy Dragon Age, and is about an aggravated college student and his teasing busty underclassman.

They also have a 3rd volume (digital for now) of Restaurant to Another World’s light novel; Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 7, Magical Girl Site 10, Made in Abyss 7, The Ideal Sponger Life 3, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom’s 4th print light novel, and Dragon Quest Monster + 4. Of that pile, Ideal Sponger Life is most interesting.

One Peace has a 2nd volume of I Hear the Sunspot: Limit.

ANNA: I need to read the first volume!

ASH: It’s good! I’m happy to get to read more of the series.

MJ: There can never be too much of I Hear the Sunspot!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is If I Could Reach You (Tatoe Todokanu Ito da to Shite mo), a more drama-laced series than usual from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime, about a teenage girl in love with her brother’s wife.

In print, Kodansha also has The Seven Deadly Sins 34, Magus of the Library 2, and I’m Standing on a Million Lives 3.

ASH: Oops, I haven’t read the first Magus of the Library yet. Better get on that before I get too far behind.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is the first of FOUR digital-only spinoffs of exiting franchises. Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure is what it sounds like.

There’s also Tokyo Alice 15, The Quintessential Quintuplets 10, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 6, The Great Cleric 2, and Defying Kurosaki-kun 12.

J-Novel Club “debuts” The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, a series previously exclusively released through Bookwalker. It’s had another editing pass, and now is available on all platforms.

There’s also The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 9 and Amagi Brilliant Park 7.

Lastly, Dark Horse has Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, an adaptation of the side story game starring Naegi’s little sister. It ran in Famitsu Comic Clear.

I assume you’re getting something from Viz this week. What else?

Fate/Grand Order: mortalis:stella, Vol. 1

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By Type-Moon and Shiramine. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha, serialized in the magazine Comic Zero-Sum. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

Sometimes you really have no choice but to do a series of spinoffs. Fate/Grand Order is huge, the visual novel/game that everyone is playing on their phone or tablet these days. Well, everyone but me, of course, as while I started it, and liked the visual novel aspects, the”pick these cards and see if you win” part drove me nuts. That said, I like to think I have enough of a passing familiarity with Fate in general that I’d have no issues with this. It does approximately the right things, adapting the start of the game, where you as a player (you’re male in this adaptation, because in general Fate adaptations don’t go the yuri route) arrive at a top secret facility for a top-secret mission, assisted by your new friend and possible love interest Mash. Sadly, halfway through the book everything blows up and you end up in a Fuyuki that’s had the Grail War go horribly wrong. Unfortunately, this is also about where the manga loses me as well.

Some of the problems seem to be things I suspect I’d have issues with in the original as well. Mash is a fairly passive, bland female protagonist, some of which is explained seemingly by her origins, but we don’t really get into those here. She turns out to be a Servant of some sort, but doesn’t seem to be the Saber or Archer sort. She needs the sort of development that you get in a visual novel which can use 20 hours of text to go deeper, and she’s not getting that here. Likewise Ritsuka is a ‘you are the player’ sort of protagonist, which means that he’s also fairly bland, as PCs never have much personality so that the reader/player can overlay themselves on them. He’s sort of Shirou-esque at times, minus the complete lack of self-worth. Perhaps most aggravatingly, a death scene that I think is meant to be both horrifying and tragic is so confusing, and the person being killed got so little attention, that it ended up being “what just happened?” more than anything else. Sorry about the black hole, Olga. Whatevs.

It’s not all bad, of course. Lancer is here and is awesome, though amusingly he’s not Lancer, but Caster. (I suppose I should call him Cu Chulainn instead, really.) He grumbles several times about this totally not being a class he’s best at, and I can’t blame him really. On the bright side, he’s also missing Lancer’s tremendously bad luck stat, meaning he’s allowed to be competent and do things. It’s also nice to see Archer (erm, EMIYA, I guess) and Saber Alter (Arturia Alter?), who are there to show off that this is a Fuyuki gone wrong. And we get the first of the main reason a lot of people play Fate/GO, which is too see famous historical figures as hot babes. Leonardo da Vinci is pretty hot. Honestly, if this were 9-10 volumes long, like Fate/Zero or Stay Night, I’d be more inclined to cut it some slack. But it ends in Vol. 2, and as a result I’m not even sure it was worth starting. Play the game instead.

Bookshelf Briefs 9/11/19

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Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be, Vol. 1 | By Taamo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Nishiki loves to study, so when family acquaintance Atsumori suggests attending high school in Tokyo and finding love there as a way to get out of the engagement her father has arranged (to the boy her best friend is in love with), she goes for it. Seizing control of her own future is one facet of her motivation, but so far she seems mostly concerned with getting Atsumori to fall in love with her, since he pledged to take responsibility if she couldn’t find anyone else. Nishiki is okay as a character, but I really like Atsumori. He at first comes across as somewhat snooty and imperious (reminiscent of Naoki Irie), but soon shows a kinder side. I read a few volumes of Taamo’s House of the Sun, but it didn’t really stick with me. I suspect Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be will fare much better at keeping my attention. – Michelle Smith

Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey, Vol. 2 | By Akiko Higashimura | Seven Seas – The second volume of Higashimura’s autobiographical manga Blank Canvas shows her as a young artist making the difficult transition from high school to art school. Granted, for a moment there, it looked like she might have completely failed her entrance exams. And she continues to struggle once she’s actually made it to art school, losing her confidence and creative drive. Blank Canvas comes across as a very honest work. Higashimura softens her story with humor, but there’s still a sense of sadness and regret expressed, especially when it comes to her community art teacher Hidaka. Even though she’s now at art school and she doesn’t see him much at all (and in many cases tries to actively avoid him), Hidaka and his support are still an incredibly important part of her life and of her development as an artist. It can be hard-hitting at times, but Blank Canvas‘ excellence continues. – Ash Brown

D-Frag!, Vol. 13 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – So this is now officially a yearly release, I suppose. This is due to Japanese releases rather than low sales, though. The gags still come thick and fast, though, as the game clubs try to game even though it’s too hot and no one wants to leave the house, infiltrate the school to steal back a precious anime figurine, and play virtual-reality games so realistic that they turn intruders in the real world into enemies. And there’s also Takao, her massive crush, and her massive breasts, which as ever get the bulk of the gags. Unfortunately, the long time between volumes means it’s hard to remember anyone, something briefly lampshaded as the club recalls their faculty advisor, who we last saw… when? – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 7 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – I will admit, it’s refreshing to see Dr. STONE actually make you believe that they can create a smartphone in this technologically bereft village. Of course, finding someone to really test it may be a challenge. In the meantime, this very shonen series continues to have very shonen moments, as Senku and Chrome win over one of their former antagonists while spelunking in a cave for minerals. And of course there’s the ridiculous poses, which will make you cry out “YES! TUNGSTEN!” just like the rest of the cast. It’s pretty clear that all the humor that recently vacated One-Punch Man has ended up here, and it’s all the better for it, because honestly would you want this title to be serious? – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil a Rún, Vol. 7 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – This series is bad for my heart. I just love Teacher and Shiva so much and bad things keep happening to them! Why can’t they just have adorable snowball fights forever? In this volume, the cursed soldiers have found them and, contrary to the Black Children who believe Teacher is one of them, suggest that Teacher might’ve once been a human doctor named Albert. He’s been clinging to the belief that he was once human this whole time, but once Shiva begins to show signs of the curse at long last, he immediately sheds all those pretenses and actively attempts to use Black Children powers to steal a new soul for her. “If it is for your sake, I will be as monstrous as I must.” It almost feels like a new beginning for the series, and I both dread and deeply anticipate seeing where things go from here. – Michelle Smith

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 10 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – There’s some nice depth added here to Hayasaka, who is bossed around by Kaguya once too often and snaps a bit, though is eventually defeated by the power of Shirogane’s awful singing. We also—finally, after ten volumes of seeing her staring in horror as a background character—meet Maki Shijo, who turns out to be Kaguya’s third cousin twice removed or something, and just as mood swingy if not more than Kaguya is. But the tear-jerking and heartwarming chapters of the volume have Kaguya breaking her cell phone, so ancient she can’t get the pictures restored, and the others sending her new phone photos so she can start to create new memories. This is sweet and funny, as always. – Sean Gaffney

Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World, Vol. 3 | By Iruka Shiomiya, based on the novels by Keiishi Sigsawa | Vertical Comics – Kino is a lot more active in this one than usual, for reasons that we don’t really figure out until midway through the book. Kino’s in a city where you fight for citizenship, and after discovering it can be lethal decides to join in, even though they’re moving on in three days. Kino’s final opponent, though, is also very invested in this battle—and also has a talking familiar, in this case a dog. As the cover shows, they compare very nicely, and are essentially distaff counterparts of each other. If you want to see some painful moral lessons with a dose of action and badassery, this is a very good volume for that. – Sean Gaffney

My Monster Secret, Vol. 17 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – This volume devotes most of its page time to Okada, one of “those three guys” and his somewhat half-assed, passive love for Mikan. I do appreciate how the nature of his “confession” is called out for what it is, and like the rest of this cast he has to go through a lot of emotional humiliating shouting before he can actually be redeemed. Of course, Mikan is still in love with Asahi, but let’s face it, that’s not going to be happening in the future. Actually, we’re still not QUITE sure what is going to be happening in the future. At least Akari won’t be immediately fired, though I still dislike this particular relationship. This was OK. – Sean Gaffney

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 4 | By Aki Irie | VIZ Media – I am so torn about Ran and the Gray World. There are scenes I genuinely like, such as Sango using her thread magic and Ran practicing with her teacher (and new rival pupil) to control her powers. This volume also finally follows up on Otaro getting attacked by bugs and that huge door that Shizuka had been guarding. But it seems like this series’ main mandate is “Get Ran into teen mode and then get her clothes off, ASAP!” It’s not Otaro this time—in fact, he doesn’t avail himself of an opportunity to kiss her—but her tutor, with Irie-sensei putting them into sexy quasi-bondage poses as Tamao attempts to help Ran recognize the breadth of her powers. The action at the end is kind of neat, but do I care enough to finish the series? I’m undecided. – Michelle Smith

Reborn As a Polar Bear: The Legend of How I Became a Forest Guardian, Vol. 1 | By Houki Kusano and Chihiro Mishima | Yen Press – I have to say I thought it would be fine. Yes, it was a reincarnation isekai. Yes, there was a group of cute girls. Yes, the protagonists saves the girls from getting raped, the standard isekai introduction for this sort of character. But he’s a freaking Polar Bear! He doesn’t transform, we don’t see him as a human—he’s a big old bear, out to protect a group of werewolf girls. As such, the fact that they seem to be falling in love with him, and asking about having his children, is even more jarring than it would be if it were something like Bunny Drop or Daughter Demon Lord. HE’S A BEAR! Like Fozzie Bear, but… well, not very much like Fozzie Bear. In any case: no. – Sean Gaffney

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 12 | By Wataru Watanabe | Yen Press – There are manga that I enjoy more than this on a fannish level, or a shipping level, or on an overanalysis level. But pound for pound there are very few manga that I enjoy as I’m reading them like I do YowaPeda, which manages to turn a cycling race into the most dramatic thing ever. More manly sacrifices are made, more trash is talked, Okita continues to somehow keep up with everyone through the sheer power of being the lead character, and even Midousuji gets through the volume without being the most annoying person ever. The omnibuses also help a lot, as this race is STILL GOING, though all signs point to it ending in the next book. One of the best sports manga coming out here. – Sean Gaffney

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 7

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

As the author indicates in the afterword, this series has gotten reasonably successful, to the point where they can now plan foreshadowing and deeper plots for future volumes. It also means that they can afford to have the cast simply hanging out on the beach for half the book as well. We get lots of swimsuit watching, everyone goes deep-sea fishing, there’s a barbecue, there’s yukatas, and everyone has lots of fun watching Chastille and Barbatos be the worst Ranma and Akane ripoff ever. Yes, it’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye… that someone being a mysterious man who has been going around killing archdemons (well, an archdemon) and has now decided he wants to go after Zagan using the strength of his mighty fists and the power of his mystical silver cursed eye giving him tons of mana. Unfortunately for him, Zagan has both of those to spare. Fortunately, there are a few additional twists and turns to help the story along its merry path.

Zagan’s past has always been given to us in dribs and drabs, but we get a lot more of it now than we did before, including mention of other kids on the streets he was living with in his pre-archdemon days (stories of which seem to reduce his entourage to tears). And I hate to spoil things, but if you’re surprised you haven’t read too many light novels; it turns out those same kids may now be getting involved with his life as adults! One is a older brother figure wearing glasses, so he has to be a Big Bad going down the road. The other is more of a spoiler I won’t give away, but I was very impressed with how the author handled it, making it obvious to the reader just before the actual revelation, in the best mystery tradition, though this isn’t much of a mystery. We also meet a new Archangel who helps us to understand that the relationship between the Church and the Archdemons is not nearly as cut and dry as some people think it is, and they also provide the best battle scene in the book.

Nephy and Zagan both mention in this volume how much they’ve changed since they first met, and it’s a good reminder that in Vol. 1 Zagan was stiff and sullen and inclined to brutally murdering bandits in front of young women just because he didn’t really think much of it, while Nephy was a death-seeking stoic who was an abuse survivor. It’s quite heartwarming to see how far they’ve come, even though they STILL have not gone on a cliched love-ydovey date the way that Zagan really wants, nor has their relationship advanced physically. Still, they’re way ahead of Chastille and Barbatos, who are trapped at the “embarrassment = love” stage of things, or Richard (assistant to Chastille) and Nephteros, in the “hopeless suitor” stage. They’re still the best couple to watch.

The final scene implies that future volumes may get darker. That said, I suspect they won’t get that dark. We know why readers want to read this series, and it can be summed up in one word: ‘D’awww!’.

No Guns Life, Vol. 1

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No Guns Life is a textbook example of  “robo noir,” a story that borrows tropes from Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon and transplants them to a not-too-distant future where old and new technologies rub shoulders, and damsels in distress might, in fact, be androids. The hero is Juzo Inui, a bodyguard-for-hire who has a strong moral code and an aversion to “humidity and kids.” Like the cyborg clientele he serves, Juzo’s body has been cybernetically enhanced, his head replaced with a giant revolver. Yes—you read that right. Juzo’s head can fire a round of ammunition, a creative decision that skirts the line between funny and horrific; only Juzo’s strong moral code makes the gun-as-head concept palatable.

And speaking of that moral code, volume one focuses on Juzo’s efforts to honor a contract with a fellow cyborg. That cyborg shows up at Juzo’s office with a 12-year-old boy in tow and a request: hide the boy from the Berühen Corporation, a powerful organization that manufactures top-secret weapons. With the police and Berühen’s goons on his trail, Juzo stashes Tetsuro with his friend Mary, a back-alley surgeon, and sets out to discover why Tetsuro is such a hot commodity.

While Juzo’s exploits are entertaining, No Guns Life is a mixed bag. On the plus side, the story is briskly paced and well drawn; Tasuku Karasuma creates a strong sense of place in his establishing shots, drawing a sprawling modern city that still has hole-in-the-wall office buildings, dingy basements, and crowded tenements, all populated by characters with memorable mugs. On the minus side, the story traffics in cliches, from the beautiful assassin who carries out her duties in a skimpy costume to the villains who deliver lengthy, exposition-dense monologues before pulling the trigger. The fight scenes, too, leave something to be desired; there are too many flash-boom panels that bury the action under sound effects and speed lines, leaving the reader to guess what’s happening. None of these shortcomings are fatal, but they emphasize the fact that No Guns Life is chiefly memorable because the protagonist looks like a Second Amendment poster boy, not because the story has something new to say about the boundaries between man and machine, or the ethics of human experimentation.

The bottom line: Fans of the anime will probably enjoy No Guns Life, but readers versed in sci-fi and noir conventions may find it too pedestrian to make a lasting impression.

A review copy was provided by VIZ Media, LLC. Volume one will be released on September 17, 2019. Read a free preview here.

NO GUNS LIFE, VOL. 1 • STORY AND ART BY TASUKU KARASUMA • TRANSLATED BY JOE YAMAZAKI • VIZ MEDIA • RATED T+, FOR OLDER TEENS (VIOLENCE, SCANTILY CLAD WOMEN) • 248 pp.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!, Part 1: Daughter of a Soldier, Vol. 3

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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.

Tempting as it is to have the series be 20+ volumes of Myne and Lutz sitting around and making paper, it’s no surprise that we’re going in a different direction. More accurately, the moment that Myne found out there was an easier way to get at books, she was going to go after it no matter what. Of course, Myne being Myne, she chooses the one thing that will upset everyone, as the way to get to books is to become a shrine maiden at the local temple… which is composed mostly of orphan children abandoned by society who are worked to death. No wonder the family is against it. But of course, this is the thing. Myne is weak. Even after a temporary cure of the Devouring (though it’s just putting it off), she’s still really, really weak. So honestly, provided she gets some leverage, shrine maiden might be a perfect job for her. Fortunately, finding leverage is what Myne is all about.

I will admit that I wish the religion had been given a bit more emphasis in earlier volumes. As it is, it feels like the Church comes up right about when the plot requires it to. It at least gets a bit of development, with a nice story about how the Gods work, and a prayer pose that unfortunately looks like a very popular Japanese meme image, causing Myne to lose it with laughter during her own baptism. (It also provided the inside color image, because really it deserved illustration.) On the same note, Myne finds out more information about The Devouring right when the plot requires it as well – there doesn’t seem to be a taboo on discussing it, so it’s a mystery as to why Myne just now finds out that it’s due to too much mana inside her. It is clever to show that the only reason she hasn’t died yet is due to the reincarnated memories, which allow her more adult brain to control it better.

There is, believe it or not, an actual action sequence in this very inactive light novel series, as when Myne shows up with her parents to the temple, the bishop has an attitude of “we’re taking your daughter forever now, goodbye”, and gets upset when both she and her family refuse. This allows her father to kick ass and take out several priests at once, in a sequence that would be ridiculous if it lasted any longer than the two paragraphs it does. Likewise, Myne had better start learning how to control her Devouring/mana, as in her rage she ends up nearly killing the Bishop for attacking her family. It’s a startling scene. That said, it does given Myne the leverage she was seeking out, and fortunately the High Priest is a lot more sensible than the Bishop.

So Myne is off to the Temple, but can still see Lutz and her family and innovate. Oh, and she gets to be treated like a noble shrine maiden, not a slave shrine maiden. And, most importantly, BOOKS! But will it really be that easy? We’ll find out in the next arc of Bookworm, which seems to be four books long.

Star Blazers 2199: Space Battleship Yamato, Vol. 1

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By Michio Murakawa, originally written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki. Based on the series created by Leiji Matsumoto. Released in Japan as “Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Newtype Ace. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Zack Davisson.

I was very much of two minds about this modern reboot of the classic 70s space opera. On the one hand, it does everything that you’d want to have done in a retelling updating Matsumoto to the 21st century. The character development gains greater depth, there’s more room for the story to breathe, there are significant female characters (and some of them aren’t even blondes!). It’s pretty good. On the other hand, it does everything you’d expect to have done in a retelling as well. The relationship between Mori and Kodai reminds me of Ranma and Akane at times, and Mori reads far more like a tsundere than I’d really want. There’s also a lot of really gratuitous fanservice, including many, many ass shots of the female cast, and one bizarre moment when they go through warp that is supposed to show it’s a mental experience as well but also mostly shows off naked breasts for the crew. So it’s pretty good, but there are issues.

The basic plot is the same as the original. The Earth is under attack from the alien Gamilans, who have basically destroyed Earth. Fortunately another alien race, the Iscander, are offering hope for the ever-popular in SF faster-than-light drive. The trouble is getting there… and that’s why we have the Yamato and its motley crew (a bit less motley in this version as it’s not being drawn by Matsumoto). We’ve got Admiral Okita, who is as good as ever as being “top Naval commander”. We’ve got crack pilot Susumu Kodai and his best friend Daisuke Shima. We’ve got Yuki Mori, who gets off to a bad start with Kodai but also has “love interest” written all over her. But there’s also a bunch of new characters, most of the notable ones women. Niimi seems like “the smart one”, the nurse Harada, who serves as a combination of comedy relief, fanservice, and romantic shipper. There’s Yamamoto, another hotshot pilot sort. And there’s also the robot, though as of yet he’s not as fun as the original.

There are lots of nice shots of space and the Yamato traveling through it, though we don’t get pages and pages of it the way the original series did. Those pages are taken up by plot and characterization, and it’s up to the reader to determine if they make the remake better or worse. I’d say “different”. Certainly I do feel like continuing the story, and I love seeing these characters all over again. It just lacks the space opera grandeur of the original – it’s not as operatic as Matsumoto at his best. But it’s also a lot longer than the original manga, so we’ll see what direction it decides to take its story in the future.

Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Vol. 1

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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.

Sometimes you can have an isekai without all of that pesky dying and being reincarnated, or being transported to another world by a magic spell. It’s as easy as making the “fantasy world” on another planet, and having our heroes sent to it to see if it can be taken over… erm, colonized. That’s the basic premise of this series, which features the nameless Combat Agent Six and his android partner Alice Kisaragi sent via a teleport (that is totally tested and functional, honest) to a planet that is apparently dealing with a demon lord invasion. On the one side we have the kingdom of Grace, with knights, princesses, castles, etc. and the demon lords, who have golems and are your standard demonic types. On the other side we have Six, Alice, and their newly befriended band of misfits… erm, crack squad, and modern weaponry. Oh, yes, and one other thing that should be noted: Six and Alice work for an evil organization, and can only get weapons and equipment by doing evil acts.

Actually, one other thing should be noted: this is by the author of KonoSuba. Actually, it was written online before Konosuba, and picked up by Kadokawa after the latter’s success as a light novel/manga/anime franchise. This means, needless to say, that the best reason to get this is the comedy. It’s not a full-on parody like KonoSuba, but the humor tends to be along the same lines. (Actually, the humor can sometimes, like KonoSuba, cross a line or two – I was not all that pleased with the “take photos of the evil sorceress in a certain pose” moment, even if it’s a PG-rated version of same.) The cast may also ring a bell as well – Six is not that far from Kazuma, and Snow is basically what would happen if Aqua and Darkness had a kid. There’s a lot of great humor, provided you don’t mind the cast all being horrible people to one degree or another.

The best reason to get the book is the bantering relationship between Six and Alice. Like Kazuma and Aqua, there’s no real romantic tension between these two. Instead, they function as snark factories, ready and willing to tear down anything for the sake of evil and/or their own amusement. The other good reason to get this is the few moments when the protagonists are allowed to be cool. Because it’s not a parody like KonoSuba, the cool moments are allowed to exist without getting undercut, and actually impressed me a bit, even when they were also hilarious (Rose and Grimm’s “you shall not pass!” moment, the land mine trap, the chainsaw ending). There’s also some nice character development for Snow, who is arrogant and sword-obsessed but also has something of a righteousness to her, which contrasts well with Six, who is supposedly working for an evil organization but relies on petty, assholish acts to cover up the fact that he can’t be REALLY evil when it counts.

The color pages note that Snow is “this volume’s heroine”, so I expect the next book will focus on either Rose, a chimera girl who’s trying to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, or Grimm, an archbishop of death who actually uses a wheelchair most of the book – something rarely seen in a light novel. (Yes, she can on occasion get out of it, but for the most part really does need it.) A must-read for KonoSuba fans, and those who enjoy comedy light novels and don’t mind characters whose default is “jerK” will also be happy.

Silver Spoon, Vol. 10

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It has to be said, the love story in Silver Spoon can sometimes be frustrating. Not so much on the Hachiken/Mikage end, as I’m perfectly content with these two to slowly make their way into a relationship. It’s more the reaction of the rest of the students. There are not any noticeable “beta couples” in this series, which is not primarily a romantic comedy in any case, so what you end up having is a bunch of teenage farm kids watching their friends be adorable AND oblivious at the same time. They want to be happy deep down, I’m sure. But in reality… they’re pissed. And you get the sense the author is as well. So for every cute, heartwarming moment, such as Mikage’s New Year’s text, you get the inevitable crushing of it – literally, in this case, as Hachiken’s phone is destroyed via horse and via the obnoxious Ookawa. Fortunately, the rest of the book devotes itself to Ookawa’s downfall (honestly, the series as a whole also does this).

One of Silver Spoon’s general themes is that this may be shonen manga but things are not always magically going to work out. Mikage is studying now, but her grades aren’t suddenly terrific. The kids make sausage (which takes up a third of the book – again, Silver Spoon is a farming manga) but a lot of it is misshapen and weird. And then there’s Komaba, who lurks around the edges of this volume. He’s not back at school, but he is doing about eight jobs a day in order to earn money to pay back debt. As a result, he runs into Hachiken over the holidays, and then is lured into showing up at the Winter Festival. Sometimes we can’t achieve our dreams, and reality ensues. That’s certainly what happened to Komaba, and it sucks. But when you don’t achieve your dreams, that does not really mean you give up and resolve to never have fun or see your old friends again ever. This lesson he still needs to learn.

Speaking of lessons, Hachiken and Mikage might want to look over at his brother, who met a Russian girl and married her almost immediately. As always, the brothers end up being completely different. We meet said wife, Alexandra, towards the end of the book. That said, their relationship is glossed over and we get a whole bunch of Russia jokes instead. A lot of these are well-researched and amusing, but it does sort of remind me of the old 80s sitcoms where Yakov Smirnoff was the guest star. The “Silver Spoon” joke in particular is hilarious but also tremendously cliched. Still, it’s nice to see that she likes Hachiken, and I’m glad we get to see an actual functional couple, even if Hachiken’s brother still can’t cook to save his life. (Or Ookawa’s life. RIP, death by borscht.)

The next volume promises to lean a bit harder on the romance, as it’s Valentine’s day. Will we get a kiss? Don’t count on it. But do expect more of these lovable and frustrating farming goofballs.

Manga the Week of 9/11/19

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SEAN: No time to talk! Manga is coming!

J-Novel Club have new volumes for Cooking with Wild Game (4) and How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord (10).

Kodansha debuts the “official” adaptation of Fate/Grand Order, called mortalis:stella. It’s one of many FGO manga out, but this is the “story” one, apparently. That said, it only ran two volumes, so I suspect the story is compressed, though there is a sequel of sorts. It ran in Ichijinsha’s Zero-Sum.

ASH: Oh, interesting! That makes it on the shoujo and josei end of things, doesn’t it?

SEAN: In print, Kodansha also has Eden’s Zero 4.

Digitally the debut is Queen Bee (Seishun Otome Banchou!), from an author familiar to readers with long memories, Shizuru Seino. She did Heaven!!, Power!!, and Love Attack!. Love Attack! never finished over here, which is a shame, as this is about the daughter of the leads from that series. She has a scary face… and disposition… but is still a girl in love. This ran in Betsufure.

MICHELLE: Oh, I actually read all of Power!! (released by TOKYOPOP as Girl Got Game) back in the day! I failed to make the connection.

ANNA: I read some of Love Attack! back in the day, and I think I have a couple volumes of Girl Got Game somewhere in my stacks of unread manga.

ASH: I rather enjoyed what I read of Love Attack!.

SEAN: We also get Giant Killing 16, The Knight Cartoonist and Her Orc Editor 2, Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice 3 (this is a final volume), The Slime Diaries 2, and Tokyo Revengers 11.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Giant Killing! It’s been quite a while.

SEAN: Seven Seas has THREE debuts. The first is a spinoff, Arifureta Zero, adapting the spinoff light novel with the same title. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo.

Become You (Kimi ni Nare) is the latest series from the author of orange. Like orange, it’s likely “shoujo in a man’s magazine”, as this runs in Futabasha’s Monthly Action. It’s got guys, and bands, and childhood dreams.

MICHELLE: I hope this is as good as orange.

ASH: Me, too! I’m also interested in it for the music aspects.

SEAN: The Brave-Tuber (Haishin Yuusha) is your standard fantasy world with adventurers, etc… except it has the Internet. Two guys try to find a way to build subscribers and defeat monsters. This runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade and is also a short, two-volume series.

Seven Seas also gives us Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 2 and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 7.

SuBLime has Candy Color Paradox and the 9th Deluxe Edition of Finder for its BL readers.

ASH: I finally picked up a copy of the first volume of Candy Color Paradox! (Now I just have to read it.)

SEAN: Vertical has the 5th volume of My Boy.

Viz gives us the 34th volume of Hayate the Combat Butler, still entertaining readers in the West thanks to the wonders of contractual obligation. They also have Radiant 7, Splatoon 7, and Yo-Kai Watch 12.

Lastly, Yen Press has a 5th volume of Chio’s School Road. It’s not like those OTHER roads.

ASH: Nope, not at all like those other roads.

SEAN: Thoughts? Concerns? Complaints?

The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?), Vol. 1

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By Toru Taba and Falmaro. Released in Japan as “Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu ~Sou da, Baikoku Shiyou~” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

While the word “treason” in the title is technically accurate, I feel that it might do a disservice to the genius prince, who is not nearly as bad as that title makes him out to be. Sure, he wants to pass the leadership of the country off to someone else, and is totally fine with that someone else being another country, but this does not mean he’d do it if it meant that the people in the country would suffer. Instead this book is along the lines of a few other LNs featuring “genius” characters, who are always brilliant but not quite brilliant enough to stop misunderstandings or prevent things happening elsewhere that destroy their clever plans. Which is good, as otherwise Prince Wein might be insufferable. As it is, he’s a pretty likeable guy, though it helps that he has a beautiful childhood friend/aide who is willing to stick potatoes up his nose when he screws up.

In the mountainous and remote Kingdom of Natra, the old King is dying, and the Prince Regent, Wein, is running the country. To his subjects, court, and little sister, he’s the perfect thoughtful and intelligent King. To Ninym, his childhood friend, and only Ninym, he’s a whiny selfish brat who desperately wants to slack off and be lazy but can’t because he’s a Prince with a country to look after. He tries making overtures towards the Empire that controls half the country to take it over… then the Emperor dies and that goes south. When a neighboring country invades, he tries to have a quick little war that will end in negotiations, but that goes south in a hurry. Even holing up in a newly conquered gold mine just means finding out that it’s nearly out of gold. Fortunately, Wein really is brilliant. He’ll need that brilliance.

This ended up being a lot of fun. For one thing, we’re in a “medieval kingdom” sort of world that does NOT appear to be filled with magic and monsters. There are the Flahm, a race who seem to be regarded as slaves by some other countries but not in Natra, as Ninym is a Flahm and treating her as a slave would… not be advisable. I was expecting elf ears or similar, but it looks like “albinism” might be the only difference. I was also pleased to see that, despite Wein occasionally taking note of the large-breasted Imperial Ambassador, this does not really appear to be a harem series at all. Ninym clearly loves Wein, and worries about whether he feels the same. Given that he literally has people killed who belittle or insult her, I think that might be a clue, but hey. They make an awesome power couple even if they’re not a couple, and their back and forth is the main highlight of the book. (Future book covers also feature only the two of them, meaning we’re unlikely to have a “stack up a new heroine every volume” syndrome many LNs have.)

If you enjoy warfare and politics but are sick of isekai and gaming-style fantasy worlds, this book may be the perfect antidote. It’s fun and entertaining.

Bookshelf Briefs 9/4/19

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Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 23 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Seido is reeling from their surprising loss in the final round of the West Tokyo qualifiers. Promptly, the third years retire to focus on college while the rest of the team gears up for the fall tournament. Many pivotal spots have been left vacant, so the junior varsity players are fired up to finally secure a place on the varsity squad. Not fired up are Eijun, who has trouble shaking the image of his pitch hitting a batter, and Kawakami, who squandered Seido’s lead and ruined the upperclassmen’s hopes of making it to Koshien. I always appreciate anything that leads Eijun to a more humble state of being and also really liked seeing Miyuki seriously step up to a leadership role after he is made the new team captain. I’m excited to see how this iteration of the team fares. – Michelle Smith

Barakamon, Vol. 18 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – Much of the final volume in this series involves showing us that time is slowly marching on. There’s no time skip or anything, but life keeps happening. Tama gets a manga published. Miwa’s father is leaving to work on a ship, similar to Naru’s father, and Naru and Hina move on to the next grade, though the island is so small that they don’t get any underclassman to be sempai to. As for Handa, he’s become the stable part of the group; still teaching calligraphy, still being a bit of a goofball, but not going anywhere—this is where he belongs now. The overall tome of this series was relaaxing and fun, and that’s how it ended up, with the characters undergoing mild but meaningful journeys. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Count Fujiwara’s Suffering | By Mahito Aobe | Yen Press – I’ve talked before about how I think that omnibuses of comedy manga are a bad idea, and this 540-page volume bears that out. That said, I don’t think I’d love this even in single volumes. Count Fujiwara is a cat, whose thoughts we are privy to. He’s dealing with two sisters—one an airheaded NEET who stopped going to school after a past event we only find out about near the end; the other is a more “normal” girl who has an unfortunate crush on her sister—unfortunate in that it contains all the annoying “comedy lesbian” tropes. There’s a speck of a storyline here about what happened to make Shizuka like this, but for the most part it’s “look at the silly girls and their frustrated cat.” You can do better. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 8 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I have occasionally wondered as I read a manga where a character discusses the fact that they’ve never felt love like other people if said character will actually end up being asexual. It’s rarely happened, and I don’t expect it to happen here, but it’s an interesting thought. Ayumi’s thoroughly analytical personality is great for a career as a newshound, but very bad when dealing with Takaya, who we’ve known for a while has fallen for her in his quiet, hard-to-read way. Her thesis paper on why they should or shouldn’t go out doesn’t help. Fortunately, we have Kai and Riko being adorable fluffs in love to balance things out. And this time Kagura’s on the cover, but STILL gets nothing to do. Arc when? -Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 2 | By Tomohito Oda | VIZ Media – Much of this volume is cute. A classmate declares herself Komi’s rival in the national health exams. Komi attempts to tell (lame) jokes in writing. The gang goes out for ramen after school. Najimi encourages Komi to go shopping for clothes and the gang all chooses different outfits for her to try on and rate. And then there’s Ren Yamai, who has a crush on Komi and promptly goes into scary, knife-wielding psycho mode. I liked that Yamai’s threats against Tadano prompted Komi to firmly state (in writing) that she decides who her friends are, as well as the fact that this whole situation prompted Komi to “talk” a lot with Tadano and allowed for some funny Najimi moments. But I really disliked that, after all Yamai’s terrible, alarming behavior, Komi consents to be friends with her after all. Yamai is the Mineta of an otherwise really fun series. Sad face. – Michelle Smith

Murcielago, Vol. 11 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – The police have had a very odd relationship with Kuroko, for obvious reasons, but they find themselves more drawn into the current case than usual. The people getting eaten by sharks rapidly led to brains in jars, including the wife of Tsuru, who he’s been trying to avenge but sadly reality gets in the way. Also, his partner may be secretly evil? Fortunately, Suiren is saved, and deals with her grief. She’s not even seduced by Kuroko—yet. And so we move on to a new arc, which involves someone going around killing master swordsmen. Murcielago will never win any good taste awards, and its leads are all sociopaths (even the police, to a degree), but it’s fun, and there are some great Kuroko faces here. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 17 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – When the hell did this get so boring? Its strength remains its humor, and the best parts of the volume are showing off that humor, such as Fubuki desperately trying to rally the incredibly apathetic troops, or Saitama only getting really pissed off because the hero hunter keeps ignoring him. But for the most part, it’s serious fights between serious heroes and serious villains, and honestly I can get that much better in My Hero Academia. The world is also pretty nihilistic here—we need the heroes because the villains are not going to stop and wait for them, as a Private Merc Force finds out when they are quickly beaten and enslaved. I want more funny stuff, please. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 8 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media – It’s time for new employee orientation, including a field trip and a hot springs visit. This actually means a bit more fanservice than the other seven volumes combined, as of course Syalis goes along with everyone—they have to pretend she’s working as a demon in order not to give it away. (This being a comedy manga, the author lampshades that Syalis is in a swimsuit twice within three chapters.) The jokes are the same, though—Syalsi is spoiled and a bit appalling but also too difficult to say no to, and also sort of cute and adorable. At least she’s not gleefully killing everyone anymore, so that’s a plus. It even feels a bit like an extended family now. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 7 | By Maybe | Yen Press – We’ve hit a new harem manga record with this volume, as fully HALF THE BOOK is set up to have Satou and his fiancées get it on so that they can gain the power needed to defeat the Abyss King. Sadly, for anyone hoping for a payoff, there’s lots of skin and titillation but everyone is still a virgin by the end of the book. We also get some details of the prior hero, who was seemingly corrupted by the situation of “get to bone all these girls” and ended up getting killed by said girls, one of whom is still around thanks to the long lives of elves. Will Satou end up going down the same path? Well, not if this keeps up. This is a good series for fantasy fans but harem fans may be getting irritated. – Sean Gaffney

We Never Learn, Vol. 5 | By Taishi Tsutsui | Viz Media – As with the series’ spiritual successor, Nisekoi, We Never Learn is very good at balancing out each girl in the romantic comedy stakes so that they all get something to do. Unlike Nisekoi, the choice is not obvious from chapter one, either. It doesn’t help that Fumino seems to be honestly trying to help Naruyuki get together with someone else… even as she gets the shippiest chapter in the book, the classic “we have to share a hotel room and there is only one bed” trope. But the others get their moments as well (including the teacher, which I suppose I will have to get used to), and it’s cute, fun, and a bit sweet and romantic as long as you don’t mind it then snapping back to status quo. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 3 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – Sometimes series can falter after their respective love interests get together, but so far that hasn’t been an issue with Wotakoi. There are some chapters that I find less engaging (generally the few that take place “in game”—I prefer the manga’s exploration of real life experiences), but as a whole it’s still consistently entertaining. I especially appreciate the importance placed on the series’ non-romantic friendships. The fact that Hirotaka and Narumi are dating is still being kept a secret in the workplace, so one of my favorite running gags in the third omnibus of Wotakoi is that their coworkers are all essentially rooting for them to hook up. In part this requires Fujita to introduce a few new recurring side characters who end up being a rather amusing addition to the manga. I continue to greatly enjoy Wotakoi. – Ash Brown

Yuri Life | By Kurukuruhime | Yen Press – Yuri Life is a collection of 4-koma vignettes about various cohabitating couples, the vast majority of whom are working women in their twenties. Some stories are kind of cute, but none is in the least bit funny, so it’s not that kind of 4-koma. Probably the best story in the lot is “Life with a Grim Reaper,” in which a grim reaper falls in love with a woman who’s supposed to die soon. I could see a concept like that filling at least one volume, but not so much the rest. The collection also includes “Life with a Yandere,” in which we get creepy inner monologues like, “If I snipped off those small, slim fingers, would I be the only one you touched?” Um, that is seriously fucked up! Why is that in the same collection as these other frothy tales? This is definitely a mixed bag. – Michelle Smith

Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight, Vol. 5

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

Honestly, I’m starting to feel that the author is spoiling me at this point. Der Werwolf 5 has Veight and Eleora going to Rolmund, which is essentially not-Russia, pretending that she defeated Meraldia in order to suss out the political situation back in her country. And thus we get an entire book filled with political machinations, double-dealing, duels, and Veight telling everyone he’s just a humble vice-commander. It’s excellent, and reminds you how good this author can be at making just two people sitting in a room discussing economics interesting. Which is a good thing, as we’re not done with this arc yet, nor does it sound like we will be next time. Rolmund still runs on a lords and serfs-style of rule, and their agricultural yield has not been all that great lately. And, honestly, no one was really expecting Eleora to win. (Which she didn’t, but let’s not split hairs.) As a result, things are… complicated. At least till Veight gets through with them.

Given that Veight is in diplomacy mode here, there’s not quite as much derring-do, especially as he and his fellow werewolves have to keep their true nature hidden during the visit. (I don’t expect THAT to last either.) He does get a duel against Count Von Evilcount, who he wipes the floor with despite the count having the sword equivalent of an Agonizer. Actually, he ends up fighting LOTS of duels, though only a few are people legitimately trying to cause him harm, and it gets to the point where by the end of the book he’s telling old war stories (edited for state secrets) to the easily impressionable son of one of the crown princes. Actually, he’s feeling out all the royals, be it eating not-so-poisonous berries from a private garden, having blunt discussions with the most ambitious of the group, and realizing that at the rate it’s going, Rolmund is going to be dealing with mass starvation and death in a generation or two.

There is a running gag here (among the many running gags in Der Werwolf) about Eleora being very repressed and precise, and everyone except Veight noting how much she’s relaxed and mellowed out since the invasion of Meraldia. She does not, thankfully, seem to be joining the group of women in love with Veight – honestly, this is still a harem with one big front-runner, and things will likely not be helped by Veight, to provide a cover story, says that Airia is his fiancee. Pretty sure that will get back to her, and also pretty sure that she won’t mind one bit, provided he doesn’t try to walk it back. But with Eleora we don’t get that dynamic, we just see that Veight has the ability to change those who come into contact with him, as we see when she manages to overcome her trust issues and reunite (sort of) with her uncle.

We’re just at the start of this arc, and I’m pretty sure things are going to go pear-shaped next time. Till then, enjoy the light novel equivalent of a John le Carré book.

Idol Dreams Vol. 6

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Idol Dreams Volume 6 by Arina Tanemura

Idol Dreams! The manga that I read compulsively but also dread a little bit every time I pick it up because I wonder in the back of my mind if something truly problematic is going to happen in this story of an emotionally stunted office lady who returns to her youth in the form of an idol singer with the aid of magic pills who then becomes romantically entangled with some of her teen contemporaries from the music world.

Idol Dreams 6

One of the reasons why I enjoy Tanemura so much is that she brings the melodrama in a way that few other manga creators can aspire to. In this volume alone, there’s a death, a pregnancy, and a wedding crisis. Few other series can hit these heights of melodrama in just six chapters. All of these things happen to friends of Chikage’s and it is interesting to see how she reacts as the people she is closest to suffer through some severe emotional trauma. The volume kicks off with an illness followed by a death in Hibiki’s family. Chikage in her Akari persona tries to support him as best she can, but the pressures of Hibiki’s idol career cause him to not take time off work because he doesn’t want to disappoint the fans who support him. He doesn’t have the luxury of taking time to grieve, and I wonder in some ways if his professionalism is a way for him to escape confronting tragedy.

In the adult side of her life, Chikage is way too invested in the success of Tokita and Hanami’s wedding. As I read this volume I was reflecting on the ways that Chikage has changed as a character, from having almost no emotional connection with other people, to now having far too much invested in seeing a particular relationship succeed. Part of this is due to the fact that she’s still repressing her own deeper emotions. There is a moment where she runs into Haru when she is actually able to relate to him as a potential friend without becoming flustered, which made me think that while she’s come pretty far in terms of becoming more self-possessed since her teen adventures. I left this volume wondering how Chikage is going to come out on the other side of these tragedies, but she’s shown enough personal growth that I’m hoping she continues to become stronger. Tanemura’s art is always best when she has an opportunity to be unabashedly girly, and the illustrations of many wedding dresses in this volume are a real treat, in addition to the dramatics of all the tear-stained faces.

The Poe Clan, Vol. 1

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By Moto Hagio. Originally released in Japan as “Poe no Ichizoku” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Betsucomi. Released in North America by Fantagraphics. Translated by Rachel Thorn.

As with a lot of stories by Moto Hagio, it can be hard to describe how The Poe Clan works as a collected manga story because the reader has a tendency to get lost in the feel of it. Indeed, sometimes I got a bit too lost – the final story in the book, The Birds’ Nest, made me feel at times as if pages with important continuity had been removed to add to the impact. But of course the impact IS the point. This is especially clear in the first part of the book, which features the introduction of Edgar, his sister and Lost Lenore Marybelle, and Alan, the teenage boy who gets entangled in Edgar’s life and later becomes his companion. It actually reads like it was written after the later material (it may well have been – chronological publishing order is not required, especially in early manga collections) and has a lot more action and violence than the back half of the book, which relies on menace and mood. It’s hard to put down.

Oh yes, I haven’t mentioned, this is about a clan of vampires. Or vampirnellas, as they are referred to throughout the book. Edgar and Marybelle are adopted into the family, which tends to live its life on he run and trying to live like typical English aristocrats while not getting noticed. Unfortunately, Edgar is very good at getting noticed, being a gorgeous teenage boy and also having that brooding thing going on. His sister is also highly noticeable, but for the opposite reason – she is a ray of sunshine in everyone’s lives, causing even passing strangers to be mesmerized by her (or accidentally shoot her – you know how it is). Needless to say, her eventual fate, while not a surprise (with a cover like that, you aren’t expecting Edgar and Marybelle to have wacky adventures) hangs over the rest of the book, as well as most of Edgar’s actions. As for Alan, well, there are some homoerotic elements to their relationship, particularly in the final story, but Alan is so far not as good a character as the siblings.

The art is, as you’d expect, amazing. Flip to a random page and chances are you’ll find something that will have you staring. A possible exception to this are the ‘comedy’ elements of the final story, particularly the production of As You Like it, which has lots of goofy faces that help to alleviate the mood from the rest of the plot, which involves a seeming murder that may be a suicide and tortured young men in love. Much is made of the almost inhuman beauty of the vampirnellas, particularly Edgar, an no linework is spared in conveying that to the reader. This is absolutely a work you will want to keep on your shelf. (That said, the spine of my copy has “The Poe Clan” written from bottom to top, which contrasts sharply with most books in my collection, so use caution when shelving.)

The second and final volume of this series hasn’t been scheduled yet by Fantagraphics, but I hope to see it sometime next year. If only for more shots of brooding boys and gentle girls.