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Nyankees, Vol. 1

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By Atsushi Okada. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Caleb Cook.

I was pretty excited when I heard about this license, despite never having heard of the title. I mean, stray cats depicted as delinquents in the classic “Japanese high school gang members” sort of way. It sounded hilarious and cute. Sadly, while it is cute when the cats are shown as cats, and there is an occasional joke that lands, this turns out to be a title that takes itself all too seriously. I get the sense that this is someone who wants to write delinquents rather than cats, and is therefore using the gimmick to tell the story he wants to tell. We haven’t had all that many successful delinquent manga in North America (have there been any?), so it’s also relying on a lot of tropes that are likely far more nostalgic and familiar to the Japanese reader. The premise is great, though, and the creator at least brings some nifty cat art to the title. It may get better as it goes along, but not a strong start.

The cat/hoodlum on the cover is Ryuusei, who is new to this neighborhood and cares not for all of your so-called “rules”. He’s here searching for the one-armed man… erm, sorry, for the calico tom with a scar on his eye that apparently has a past history with Ryuusei. In his new neighborhood, he looks like a pushover at first, not impressing the one female cat in the cast, Mii, and getting the crap kicked out of him by the other cats/gang members. But it turns out he was just starving, and once he gets food in him he actually kicks a lot of ass, including the gang leader, Taiga. In fact, he kicks so much ass that Taiga immediately wants to give up the leadership position to him. But it’s complicated. Ryuusei has his own thing that he’s doing, rival gangs are there to step in at any sign of weakness, and worst of all, Mii’s been kidnapped!

One thing I liked is the research that apparently went into the various kinds of cats the characters are. Our lead is a male dark tabby, pretty damn common, but the calico tom he’s looking for is quite rare, something mentioned by the others. The ‘stray cat = delinquent’ theme is sometimes amusing, as when we see the human-drawn Ryuusei get stuck in a box too small for his frame – though frankly the gag goes on far too long. And I hope you like cat puns, because they’re in here as well. Honestly, I don’t think they translate well, though at least Yen realized it had to keep the ‘nyan’ in ‘Nyankees’ to have it make sense. But honestly… at the end of the day, this is for delinquent manga fans, such as Worst. There’s the tough, rakish lead, the tomboy girl who slowly finds herself drawn to him, lots of fights, lots of guys acting tough. But they’re cats. Sometimes a girl chases after them, and they all scatter. I’m hoping the 2nd volume makes this either a bit less serious or a bit more cat-oriented.

Bookshelf Briefs 1/21/19

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 12 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – Lots of things going on in this new volume. First of all, it’s a new year, and that means there’s potentially new club members—despite the band giving an absolutely wretched performance to the school. I’ll be honest, An feels a bit like she’s being introduced in order to be able to pair off one of the spares, but so far I’m pretty fine with that. Meanwhile, Nino seems to be maturing a little bit, but her relationship with Momo is still touch and go, and both Momo and Yuzu have a definite need for it to be Nino and only Nino who sings their songs. Yuzu is finally back towards the end of this book, but it feels right that he was away—the space has moved the plot forward. Not quite sure where yet, but forward. – Sean Gaffney

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 13 | By Aya Shouoto | Viz Media – The most recent story arc of The Demon Prince of Momochi House starts off with a literal bang—after being shot by the villainous Kasha, Himari finds her spirit forcibly separated from her physical body. Understandably, it’s a dangerous state in which to exist, especially with the number of malicious ayakashi that pass through and by Momochi house. This certainly isn’t the first time that Himari has been in trouble, and I’m doubly certain that it won’t be last, but neither is she a helpless heroine. Himari’s underlying strength often seems to be overshadowed by the astonishing abilities of the other characters in The Demon Prince of Momochi House, supernatural and otherwise. In this particular case, however, Himari must not only save herself but the ones she loves, too—she’s not the ultimate target of Kasha’s schemes and many of the people she would normally rely on for help can’t. – Ash Brown

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 3 | By Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court | Viz Media – To my surprise, this volume mostly seems to dial back the main plot in favor of character development with Koichi. But that’s fine, as these are solid chapters and help show why he’s being The Crawler despite not being a licensed hero. It also gives us more attention devoted to Captain Celebrity, the American All Might who is a selfish publicity hound and basically awful. And much to my surprise, it has some excellent backstory of why heroes came to be and why most people with powers aren’t heroes. It’s fascinating and makes sense. I also like the new girl, though her overly wide mouth makes me think of Tsuyu. This side series is growing on me. – Sean Gaffney

My Monster Secret, Vol. 14 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – I’m not sure whether I’m ready for actual drama in My Monster Secret, a series that still works best when it’s being as funny as possible. But they’ve been to the future, and it’s hinted it’s not a happy one for everyone involved. Sometimes this is played for comedy, as with Shiho finding that her future husband is the most annoying of “those three guys,” but there’s also a hint that Asahi and Youko are not going to get together. That said, when the series IS doing humor, it’s still pretty hilarious, even when the punchline is “please admire my awesome ass.” We’re clearly going to be dragging this on for at least a few more volumes, and may also be adding to the “I’m in love with Asagi” harem, but as long as it stays funny. – Sean Gaffney

Nyankees, Vol. 1 | By Atsushi Okada | Yen Press – Nyankees is “a tale of street cats portrayed as hoodlums.” When Ryuusei, a “dark tabby,” comes to Nekonaki Town in search of a male calico with a scarred eye, he first tangles with members of a gang led by Taiga, an orange tabby. Although winning a fight against Taiga entitles Ryuusei to take over as boss, he comes to respect the other kitty, and together they go to rescue a female cat who has been kidnapped by the calico’s gang. I wanted to like Nyankees but sadly it didn’t click with me. Probably its best attribute is that, after several pages of the characters in human form, a dramatic panel sometimes depicts them as cats, like the two-page spread in which Ryuusei and Taiga send a couple of adversaries flying. I didn’t find it funny—the “It’s pawback time!” line made me groan aloud—and the story’s not interesting, either. Too bad. – Michelle Smith

One-Punch Man, Vol. 15 | By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Viz Media – Saitama is back, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s bringing all the laughs, as he’s back to being in a funk about everything being so boring because he can easily defeat everyone. Of all people, King has the best moment of the volume, when he tries to convince Saitama that there are reasons to be a great hero other than finding stronger and stronger people to fight. Unfortunately, Saitama is not ready to accept that lesson yet. Meanwhile, the whole “become stronger by becoming monsters” movement is hitting up some of the older minor villains/heroes from prior chapters, sometimes with amusing results and sometimes not. Solid, but I desperately want this to be silly again. – Sean Gaffney

Shojo FIGHT!, Vol. 6 | By Yoko Nihonbashi | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – So much happens in the characters’ personal lives this volume, some of it monumental, that it almost feels like a soap opera. Michiru and Odagiri accidentally overhear that Shigeru has retinitis pigmentosa and is experiencing vision loss, causing Michiru to realize how blind he has been to why their father has been expecting more from Shigeru all these years. I love how often Michiru cries in this volume and nobody gives him crap for it. I also love that he gets more determined to win the spring tournament while Shigeru can still see it happen. On top of this, we get a lot more background about Hasegawa’s family and her friendship with Itami, which ties in to Odagiri’s brother the aspiring mangaka and to Atsuko and her contentious relationship with her stepmother. Every character gets some development and they improve at volleyball, too! Recommended. – Michelle Smith

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 11 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – It’s the penultimate volume of Sweetness & Lightning and things are winding down! After Inuzuka-sensei and Tsumugi work out some communication issues and visit family, the focus shifts to Kotori. She’s about to graduate high school, so the time seems right for her to confess to Inuzuka. I like that he evinces palpable dread about having to hurt her, but in the end she essentially proclaims her undying regard for him, Tsumugi, and food all at the same time. And she tells her friend “it was something more complicated” than love, so I guess that’s a relief. Too, though the restaurant will briefly close for remodeling, there are promises of cooking together in perpetuity. I’m not sure what the twelfth and final volume will contain, since this seemed plenty conclusive, but we’ll see all too soon. – Michelle Smith

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 3 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – I spent this volume admiring the cleverness of the title character. She clearly can read Nishikata like a book, but is also trying, in her teasing and bets, to get him to understand her feelings. That said, she is also content to merely tease him when he doesn’t get them—she’s not frustrated, and knows this is a long game. Possibly as Nishikata may not actually realize what’s going on till the end of high school. But it’s still middle school, so there are tests of courage, and measuring their height, and calligraphy, and even tickling. And even if they aren’t a couple, everyone else certainly seems to think they are, as the last chapter shows. This remains utterly fun and adorable. – Sean Gaffney

Kokoro Connect: Kako Random

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

Kako Random stands for Random Past, and sure enough that’s what we get here – though not from Heartseed for once. A 2nd Heartseed has shown up, possessing Taaichi’s classmate, and later his sister, to explain what’s going on… well, sort of. They pretty much only explain that if Taichi says anything, it will get much, much worse. Then, at club, we find the members suddenly getting younger, at random, for a five hour period. It’s everyone except Taichi, and can be varying ages – including babies. Needless to say, this is far more inconvenient than the first two, and our heroes end up holing up in an abandoned building for several days to avoid families. Unfortunately, the regression also brings with it memories when the person returns, some of which are not always so welcome, especially when Aoki reveals that Yui, the girl he’s professed his love to multiple times, is very similar to a girl he used to date a couple of years ago. Is she just a replacement? And has he really moved on?

Aoki and Yui get some needed depth here, as we knew that if they were ever going to be a real couple sher was going to have to either acknowledge or reject his overtures. The series has been very good at showing Aoki as being not overly creepy about his love, and he has some serious reflection after the regressions start to happen and he’s reminded more and more of Nishino, the girl he once liked. As for Yui, the fact that Aoki might actually NOT be in love with her after all annoys her far more than she’d like to admit. This despite the fact that she’s also dealing with her fear of men coming to the fore again because of the unwanted memories… as well as memories of her martial arts, which are helped along by an old rival that shows up and is pissed off. These two were my favorite part of the book.

Taichi continues to be irritating, as you’d expect – his character development is something that’s going to be happening over the course of the series, so here he mostly hems and haws and worries about telling everyone the bad news. (Honestly, I think it’s a good thing he shut up – as does Inaba, once she realizes what’s going to happen.) The narrative oddly switches to Iori for its climax, as one of her old stepfathers has returned and is being abusive and awful. After reaffirming the power of friendship, and confronting her mother, who turns out to be very much like Iori, the resolution is almost comically easy – though I will admit fairly satisfying. As for Inaba, since she got development last time, here she mostly gets to show off how she’s opened up to everyone since the first book.

This remains an excellent light novel series, especially for those tired of isekais. Also, kudos to Molly Lee’s translation, which is consistently excellent.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 10

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By Izumi Tsubaki. Released in Japan as “Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun” by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Gangan Online. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Leighann Harvey.

As you might gather by the cover, the bulk of this volume of Nozaki-kun deals with the 2nd years going on the class trip, with all the usual gags you would expect from both “class trip” as a riff and these Nozaki-kun characters. We see Chiyo’s obsession with Nozaki get amped up even more than it already was, which I wasn’t aware was even possible. Nozaki, of course, is similarly obsessed – with manga reference pictures, which he will happily do anything to get, including pretend to be a teacher and hide under the covers with Chiyo. As for Seo and Kashima, well, their stories are connected with the not-significant others they left behind – Kashima is texting third-year Hori everything she does along the trip, while first-year Wakamatsu is both enjoying the Seo-less basketball practice and also realizing that not having her harass him bothers him in a way he can’t understand.

As is traditional with this series, each of the three “main pairings” gets some nice tease but also some walking back to make sure nothing happens too quickly. Waka may be happier with Seo gone, but it “opens up his heart” so much he’s now rivaling Kashima for the title of Prince of the School. And while Hori may now be aware that Kashima is what he has in mind when he thinks of the ideal woman, it doesn’t mean that he’s admitting feelings of love or anything, and in fact may be getting things wrong more than ever, as the karaoke chapters shows off, though it also shows that even Kashima at her worst is something he can accept. Of all the main pairings in the series, this is the one I think shows the most promise as an actual relationship – assuming that either Hori or Kashima can get past the comedy of their premise. As for Chiyo and Nozaki… well, maybe he really IS a good mom.

In contrast, the manga chapters in this volume aren’t quite as strong as usual. I’d argue the chapter showing Nozaki struggling to have “manga advice” for a column verges on boring, in fact. Better is the chapter where Ryousuke discovers Miyako in an apartment with a guy! It’s Maeno, of course, but that just makes things much worse for everyone involved, especially since Nozaki and Ken also end up involved in what is now becoming a five-way romance with BL elements. (It also allows the author to work in the tanukis, which are otherwise absent from this volume). And we can’t forget surprise manga creator Mayu, although we may want to when we realize that Mikoshiba’s influence means that these drawings are more suitable for Young Magazine and Nakayoshi.

All this and some actual character development for the other girls in Chiyo’s class, though not enough that I actually remember their names. Still, overall this volume made me laugh quite a bit, which is what I ask it to do every time.

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 8

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By Gamei Hitsuji and Ao Nekonabe. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

I feel this is a decent improvement on the last book, which I felt was overbalanced towards the back half. You could argue the same thing here, but honestly the front half was so amusing that I think its strengths outweigh the fact that it’s per fanservice and comedy. The start of the book has Felmenia, deciding that Suimei’s party needs a break, creating a pool in the middle of their backyard. Naturally we get swimsuit illustrations, but more importantly the girls all take this as an opportunity to have a giant water battle with each other using their powers. Suimei’s reactions are what make this, as he was expecting a nice quiet swim session and instead gets Armageddon. If you guessed someone’s top comes off, you’d be right. If you guessed everyone teams up to beat up Suimei, you’d also be right. But the whole thing is handled so well that I genuinely found it extremely funny rather than cliched.

Most of the rest of the volume involves our heroes storming Duke Hadorious’ castle in order to rescue Elliot from his infernal clutches… no, wait, that’s a massive fakeout. That said, it does allow the group to get into the castle and do battle with the Duke himself, who proves that actual sword training trumps Goddess Sword powers, for the most part. Hatsumi gets to face off against Liliana’s adoptive father, though he’s hiding his identity from her at the moment (likely so that Hatsumi does not tell Liliana about this), and they have a decent sword battle. And Reiji gets the standard “time stops and I enter a dream world to talk with a past hero who gives me power up suggestions”, plot, which may have repercussions down the road, but does also allow him to defeat the monster. That said, Hadorious succeeds in sowing doubt in his mind, which might be trouble later.

The best scene in the book, hands down, is the fight with the golem. For some reason or other Io Kuzami decides to stop possessing Mizuki in the middle of the battle, leaving a very confused but excited teenager behind. Suimei’s frustrated reactions and Mizuki’s overenthusiastic bubbling are a beautiful counterpoint, especially when joined by Reiji’s blithe asides. As they face off against the golem (which involves a lot of discussion of Nietzsche, Christianity, and Leibniz as one of the biggest magicians of our age, but honestly that’s beside the point) we finally see what the three teens must have been like all the time back on Earth, and it’s glorious fun. They bump off each other well, come up with ideas that are shot down just as fast, and we finally get the sense they are best friends. Though Mizuki, as you can imagine, reacts poorly when she finally hears Suimei is a magician and hid it from her.

The book ends with Suimei succeeding in creating a magic circle to get them back to Earth… but of course he’s just going back to briefly check on things with his main party. They’re not cutting and running. This sets things up for what promises to be a great “reverse isekai” volume with Book 9. Sadly, Book 8 came out 18 months ago, and there’s no word on future volumes. So… maybe someday? At least it’s going out on a high note.

Manga the Week of 1/23/19

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SEAN: (collapses under pile of manga) (muffled voice) Yen Press week, gang.

Dark Horse has a 2nd volume of its manga adaptation of the 2nd Dangan Ronpa game.

J-Novel Club has the 2nd and final volume of Apparently It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, and the 12th and nowhere near final volume of In Another World with My Smartphone.

Kodansha has a bunch of debuts, and they’re even print! We start with 10 Dance, which combines BL and ballroom dancing, so sounds AMAZING. It runs in Young Magazine the 3rd.

MICHELLE: I am so looking forward to this. The cover and concept makes me think of the works of est em.

ANNA: I am intrigued.

ASH: Yes! I am so excited for this one!

MJ: YES to this! I’m so excited!

SEAN: Hitorijime My Hero is a spinoff of a title that used to be released digitally here by JManga, but no doubt stands up fine on its own. I gotta be honest, this student/teacher BL story excites me far less than 10 Dance. It runs in Ichijinsha’s Gateau.

MICHELLE: I’ve seen a couple episodes of the anime and liked it, but I never got far enough for anything particularly problematic to happen. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.

SEAN: And on the yuri end (hey, when Kodansha decides to do new genres, they go all in), we have Yuri Is My Job! (Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigotodesu!), from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime. A girl ends up working at a yuri café, but behind the scenes things aren’t quite as yuri… or are they?

ASH: I’m very happy to see Kodansha starting to release BL and yuri titles in print. I hope the venture does well for the company so we might see even more!

MJ: Agreed.

SEAN: Kodansha also has Golosseum 5 and Waiting for Spring 10 on the print end, as well as Ace of the Diamond 19, Ao-Chan Can’t Study! 4, the 8th and final Aoba-kun’s Confesssions, Blissful Land 2, Kakafukaka 4, and PTSD Radio 6. Looking forweard to Ao-chan and Kakafukaka.

MICHELLE: For a second, my brain interpreted the word “radio” to mean that we were getting more Wave, Listen to Me, but not yet, sadly.

ASH: That would be nice.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a mere two titles next week. We get the manga adaptation of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, which should be as heartrending as the book was. It’s a complete omnibus edition, and ran in Futabasha’s Monthly Action. There’s also the 2nd print volume of light novel How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

ASH: I still need to pick up I Want to Eat Your Pancreas in one form or another; I’ve heard good things.

MJ: I should do the same.

SEAN: Vertical gives us a 3rd volume of The Delinquent Housewife!.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ANNA: Nice!

SEAN: And now Yen. There were a few titles delayed till the final week in January, but for the most part it’s all next week. On the light novel front, the most interesting title may be The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story. This is a Final Fantasy VII novel.

Also out in novel form is Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 7, Goblin Slayer 6, Overlord 9, A Sister’s All You Need 3, and Strike the Blood 11. An off month for me, as Strike the Blood is all I’m getting of those titles.

There are four debuts next week, some of which may even interest the rest of Manga Bookshelf. First we have DIVE!!, which is, oddly, a remake of a manga that ran in Shonen Sunday back in the 00s. This one is from Young Ace, and the premise is the same: let’s save the diving team from getting shot down. If you like sports manga, or the anime Free!, you’ll like this.

MICHELLE: What troubles me is the long list of credits on this one. I’ll give it a shot.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

ASH: I’m hoping the original light novels will be licensed and translated at some point, too.

SEAN: From the sublime to the ridiculous, we then get Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls. It runs in Monthly Comic Ride. I guess if you like the other vaguely softcore Yen monster titles you’ll like this? Hard pass from me.

Nyankees is the delinquent manga you never knew you wanted, showing stray cats as if they were in teenage hoodlum gangs. I must admit I really want to read this. It runs in Shonen Ace.

MICHELLE: I really want to read this, too!

ANNA: Based on the description, I feel happy that something like this exists in the world.

ASH: I’m so looking forward to this series!

MJ: I’m so on board for this.

SEAN: Lastly we have The Witch’s House: The Diary of Ellen. This may sound like an OEL project like the James Patterson books, but no. It’s Majo no Ie: Ellen no Nikki, a harror manga that ran in Kadokawa’s Dragon Age.

There’s more Yen too, of course; Based on light novels, we see A Certain Magical Index 16, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (manga version) 6, DanMachi 10, DanMachi Sword Oratoria 6, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil 5.

There’s also Black Butler 27 (remember Black Butler? It’s back! In pog form…), BTOOOM! 23, The Case Study of Vanitas 5, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler 8, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 10 (yay!), Murcielago 9, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 4, the 7th Sekirei omnibus, Teasing Master Takagi-san 3 (yay!), and Today’s Cerberus 11.

MICHELLE: Yay for Nozaki-kun!

ANNA: Yay!

ASH: Huzzah, Nozaki-kun!!

SEAN: A lot of debuts next week. What interests you most?

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 33

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By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

The manga had taken a six-week break in Shonen Sunday towards the beginning of this book, and so Hata amusingly tries to do a “let me remind you of the plot and cast” for those who have not been reading this for 32 previous volumes. Mostly what it does is remind us of Hayate’s near-inhuman stamina, which vies with his legitimately inhuman bad luck for dominance. Hata knows the value of setting up an obvious joke and letting it play out as far as he possibly can. We start with all the residents of the getting colds, except Hayate, who has to take care of all of them (despite such minor setbacks as being hit by a truck). Then, of course, he gets a cold right as he has to take a “fail this and you’re expelled” test at school, and runs into infinite obstacles on the way, not least of which is Fumi at her most annoying… well, OK, that’s Fumi all the time. The punchline, which involves Yukiji’s PSP, is the perfectly timed icing on the cake.

Last time I mentioned the debut of new character Kayura, but like most of the cast she made her big debut and then faded into the ‘brought out as needed’ category. On the bright side, she does not appear to be in love with Hayate, which puts her into a relatively rare category. (Though to be fair to the author, it’s not as rare as other harem manga. There are a good 6-7 girls we see in this title who are not in love with anyone, and of course there’s Miki, who loves Hinagiku.) Those who do love Hayate get a few spotlights here. Izumi’s birthday leads to a lovely cake and a desperate attempt by her to eat it alone with Hayate. Ruka also shows up again, needing bike lessons from Hayate, which gets very amusing when he asks her if she wants a gentle or strict teacher and she says “strict”. Hayate’s sadistic aspects don’t come out very often, but when they do they’re hilarious, especially combined with the low-simmering romance we see here.

And then there’s Ayumu, whose love for Hayate is the most explicit but also likely the most doomed. She’s getting the old high school career survey, and “Hayate’s bride” isn’t going to cut it, especially as she has these visions of what life will be like as said bride, involving a series of “Hayate’s bad luck means we lose everything” disasters. She talks with Nagi about becoming a musician, but lacks the drive and the talent for it. Actually, given how we’ve seen her handling Nagi and Hinagiku throughout the series, a counseling job might not be a bad idea, though she needs to restrain her more head in the clouds moments. Hopefully she’ll fare better than Hinagiku, who was once the ensemble darkhorse of the series that everyone loved, even getting an ED theme in the anime devoted to her, but now is entirely used for fanservice. Poor Hina.

This is the 33rd volume of Hayate the Combat Butler, and I applaud all of you still buying it every time it comes out. Its humor is consistently funny to me, which helps to get through plot-absent volumes such as this one. It is currently projected to end in North America in the fall of 2028. Thought I’d put that out there.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 3

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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.

This volume does a much better job than the previous two books at actually having tension during the fights – Zagan actually has to work hard once or twice, which shows you how dangerous things are. Of course, he brought things on himself by walking into what was clearly a trap – something he knew, and which everyone else in his party pointed out, and yet they did it anyway. Our heroes are invited to a luxury boat for a party – something that everyone except Chastille knows does not mean a REAL party – and while there run afoul of another archdemon and his dark elf, who is a carbon copy of Nephy except she’s dark-skinned and supposedly evil. In amongst this we have Zagan and Nephy continuing to be utterly adorable together, and they are getting a little better at reading each other’s feelings. And for those of you who like “an elf’s ears are an arousal point”, you’ll love this one too.

I will admit to surprise that most of the book takes place on the fantasy equivalent of a luxury liner, but why not? Zagan and party go there to see if he can get more knowledge, something that he says is obviously what all sorcerers and archdemons should be doing. Alas, things go south almost immediately and he is forced, along with the rest of the boat, to do battle with a toxic back sludge that is the dregs of a former demon lord who was killed near the lake they’re on. I had wondered if this was going to lead to a demon lord revival, but we aren’t quite there yet. There is quite a bit of interesting worldbuilding in this book, as we get more insight into the different types of fantasy races we have here, and why Nephy was so mistreated by her home village.

There’s also a fair bit of humor, some of which works and some of which I was less thrilled by. Chastille works best when she can balance out the lovesick young girl with the kickass swordswoman, and it’s unfortunately mostly all lovesick this time round, with much narrative mocking of her being a crybaby. This mostly annoyed me, though it did set up a very amusing gag later on with Nephteros. Speaking of Nephteros, I expect to see her again. The ‘dark mirror’ character has been done before, and I was relatively pleased that this wasn’t a clone or duplicate of Nephy but merely someone who looks almost exactly alike. She also carries the ‘I love my master but am horrified to realize he only sees me as a tool’ subplot extremely well. And she also gets the funniest moment in the book, in the final pages, where Zagan not only gets his revenge but weaponizes his revenge and gives it to Nephteros to use as she sees fit.

Basically, this is still a fun and sweet series, and the backstory is getting more intriguing. Less whining from Chastille next time, please? Also, liked the siren chanteuse who also turned out to be a cheerleader.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 1

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By Midori Yuma and Waco Ioka. Released in Japan as “Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi: Ayakashi Oyado ni Yomeiri Shimasu” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine B’S LOG COMIC. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Tomo Kimura.

There are times when you simply have to trust in the good taste of a publisher. I admit, reading the first volume of Kakuriyo, I wasn’t all that drawn in. It’s apparently based on a series of novels, and sometimes reads like it: there’s a ton of exposition laid out by characters to the heroine (who also gets to exposit on her own past) in an effort to get the story to where the author wants it to be and have the reader understand things. Which is fine, but works better in prose than it does in a shoujo manga. As with a lot of series featuring a young human woman meeting up with a bunch of yokai, most of the cast start off as jerks, with one or two exceptions, including her dead grandfather who got her into this mess. That said, there’s a lot here that I can see should translate into a fun series down the road, so I will assume this just starts slowly (like many other series I follow).

Our human heroine is Aoi, a young woman in college (college? In a shoujo manga? Well, it’s is B’s Log…) whose grandfather recently passed away. He had a reputation as a lothario, fathering a lot of children and then skedaddling. To Aoi, however, he’s the precious grandfather who took her in and raised her, so she’s a bit conflicted when she thinks about his past. Also like her grandfather, she can see yokai, and does her best to be nice to when when she does, despite the fact that she gives then so much food it feels like she’s starving herself to death. One day she runs into an ogre yokai at the steps of a shrine, and gives him her lunch. But when she gets her lunchbox back, she’s transported to a yokai inn! Turns out that her grandfather was also a troublemaker in the yokai world, and offered up his granddaughter in marriage to get out of a debt. Now she either has to marry him… or work off her debt in the inn. But will anyone hire her?

As I said, most of the first volume is dedicated to the setup, as it’s only in the final chapter that we get the sense we know how Aoi will survive in this world (if you guessed tasty food, give yourself a pat on the back – there’s even a ‘let me describe how I make the food’ section). Genji, a young man who can change his appearance from boy to man to woman – and does so frequently – is the one yokai who seems to be nice to Aoi, and he helpfully explains the ways of the inn to her. The Odanna, the ogre wh0o brought her there in the first place, seems like the sort that’s outwardly standoffish but warms up when you know him better – the funniest scene in the book involves Aoi being “tortured” by getting a nice warm bath and dressed in a lovely kimono. Aoi herself is in a long line of “plucky young women” we’ve seen in this sort of book, and seems to have her head on straight.

So overall I would say that while I was merely mildly entertained by this first book, it shows promise and makes me want to read more. I trust it will improve by the volume.

Bookshelf Briefs 1/14/19

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After Hours, Vol. 3 | By Yuhta Nishio | Viz Media – The scenes in this book of the rave, before, after and during, as well as what comes next, are fantastic, and the volume is worth picking up for that reason alone. That said, the romance in this third volume is the weak point. Kei abruptly disappears from Emi’s life right as Emi is ready to move into Kei’s life permanently, and while the family issues that Kei has to deal with are understandable, the author seems to think it’s 1959 and not 2019. You have phones! The journey by bus is a long one, but completely doable! There is no need for the ambiguous “maybe ever after” of this ending. That said, overall I found this series highly enjoyable, and if they want to do a sequel with Emi alone running raves, I’m cool with that too. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 14 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Mizusawa has made it to the semi-finals of the national tournament, facing a team led by Megumu Ousaka, a candidate for Queen. Although Chihaya ultimately loses against her, she makes quite the impression on her opponent and others, causing one observer to think, “I never knew another girl this good existed.” I loved that it’s Desk-kun who seals the team’s ultimate victory, but less than an hour later, they’re facing formidable opponents in the finals. Fujisaki is full of Class A players but Chihaya’s opponent has an additional advantage: her grandmother is the reciter and she’s especially attuned to her nuances. Tense, fun, addictive, emotionally rewarding… I always want more when I get current with this series. – Michelle Smith

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vol. 29-30 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | Viz Media – In Japan, sports manga tend to have varying endings, with either the team winning it all or losing in the semis and resolving to try harder. North America tends to see a lot more of the former, so hope you like our heroes winning. It’s as well-handled as you’d expect, and I really enjoyed the development shown in Kuroko, Kagami, and Akashi here. There’s also a nice epilogue where Riko reminds us there’s a new tournament in the Spring, and they have to recruit! But for now let’s enjoy both their victory and the fact that the old Miracle Generation have mostly resolved their differences. The last shot has the old middle school picture balanced with his high school team, which is lovely to see. Do we get the sequel? – Sean Gaffney

Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 7 | By Fujimomo | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Last time, I was a little worried that drama fueled by misunderstandings would become the norm for Lovesick Ellie, but I’m happy to report that no longer seems to be the case. While it is true that Ellie’s classmates get the wrong idea about her relationship with Kaname and Ohmi is freaked out by this rival, never at any point does Ohmi think she’s actually cheating on him. In fact, he opens up to Kaname about his insecurities, potentially making a friend in the process, and takes a good look at the kind of boyfriend Kaname could’ve been to her that he presently can’t be. With his focus on acting how other people expect, and remaining the other girls’ princely ideal, he’s never acknowledged Ellie as his girlfriend. Now, he’s ready for people to know how special she is to him. I’m so glad this series is back on track! – Michelle Smith

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 33 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – I will admit the high point of Magi for me was the resolution of my ship, and the rest is just gravy. (Though I did enjoy the naive Alibaba being horrified at having a fight with Morgiana—that seems to have lasted five seconds.) But yeah, Sinbad’s still trying to make the world be at peace, and his methods are growing more and more horrible, as Kou’s dramatic cessation from the Alliance causes him to challenge God and emerge with the “it’s OK if I just mind control everyone to see it my way” solution. Sadly, Aladdin does not see this as anything but despotism. Aladdin is right, of course, but this is still Alibaba’s title, so he gets to mediate between these two. Who will he side with? – Sean Gaffney

Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 1 | By One | Dark Horse – There were several reasons why I was interested in reading Mob Psycho 100, the two most prominent being that One is the original creator of One-Punch Man (which I have been greatly enjoying) and that there was so much excitement surrounding the Mob Psycho 100 anime (which I still need to watch). But the main reason that I’ll continue to read Mob Psycho 100 is that I absolutely loved the first volume. Shigeo is a young man with superhuman powers which he tends to control by suppressing his emotions. Life being life, and middle school being middle school, there’s only so much he can bottle up before exploding. His mentor is Reigen, a spirit medium whose only extraordinary skill seems to be the ability to somehow convince others that he’s a legitimate exorcist despite all evidence to the contrary. Mob Psycho 100 is terrific, with a great sense of quirky humor and heart. – Ash Brown

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 6 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – The volumes of Queen’s Quality seem to alternate between characters saying that Fumi is too weak and characters saying Kyutaro is too weak, and this time around it’s the latter, as he really gets put through the ringer here. The training they have to take on may involve some unsettling looks at Fumi’s background and heritage, which to be fair we’ve known was coming since the first volume. I admit I am somewhat surprised by Ataru’s promotion to sidekick-type character, but he serves it well, though there’s also a nasty flashback to his past I’m sure he’d rather do without. This wasn’t the best volume of Queen’s Quality, but that’s likely as it was transitional, and it’s still pretty solid. – Sean Gaffney

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 8 | By Rei Toma | VIZ Media – Asahi’s time as a captive in the underworld is brief, though it does afford us a few nice scenes in which the worried Water Dragon God is trying to find her. Instead, most of the volume is focused on Kurose, a boy from our world who seems to have become the plaything of Tokoyami, the god of the underworld. Kurose had a horrible home life and after potentially dying, he wakes in the underworld and is promptly whisked off to a village where he experiences kindness and a loving family for the first time. That is, until war comes and the Water Dragon God refuses to notice his desperation to save someone he cares about. I’m left to wonder… did this all really happen, or was Tokoyami mentally torturing him to create an ally in a vendetta against the Water Dragon God? Very intriguing! – Michelle Smith

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 8 | By Rei Toma | Viz Media – There was a surprising swerve in this volume. After dealing with rescuing Asahi from turning into a rotting zombie, and seeing the Water Dragon God have to deal with these pesky things called feelings, the rest of the volume is devoted to sketching out the tragic backstory of Kurose, the mini-villain from the end of the last volume. Not only is he merely a useful puppet to the true Big Bad, but he’s also a lot closer to Asahi than she might suspect, and has a suitably tragic backstory—in more than one world. I was expecting the adorable little girl he befriends to be horrible killed, and she is, but that may not be the end for her, unfortunately. Riveting. – Sean Gaffney

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Desolation

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By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru. Translated by Matt Treyvaud.

Before we discuss the events of the second half of the book (which I will spoil out of necessity), let’s talk about the fairly normal first half. Reinhard is headed with his entire fleet towards Iserlohn, and Yang and company are doing their level best to try to at least slow them down. There are a few more times when we see Yang being the master tactician and manipulator that he is, and a lot of the Empire’s finest being hotheads when they shouldn’t be. The stage is set for Reinhard and Yang to negotiate terms. We even get one last debate, in Yang’s head, about the need for democracy vs. a dictatorship. Yang is well aware that Reinhard is a kinder, gentler dictator, and that forcing democracy is likely to make people far more unhappy than they would be under the Emperor’s hand. But it’s notable that the Empire only seems the better option because of these circumstances, and we’ve also seen Reinhard’s petulant side as well. Plus he’s STILL not married. What of the future?

But in amongst this, you’re getting the foreshadowing. LOGH is many things, but subtle it ain’t, so we get several scenes showing us the Church setting Yang up to be assassinated (using a character I had honestly forgotten about – this cast is too damn big) and setting the audience up to expect another near escape like Yang had a couple of books ago. But then we get things like “this was the last time the two would ever speak”, and you start to realize what’s going to happen. And then it does. Yang is killed on his way to the peace talks. Not even in a pitched gun battle or anything, but shot in the leg and slowly bleeding to death. Given that it’s a series about the horrors of war, among other things, it seems fitting, but everyone agrees this was not the way that Yang should have died (Frederica’s dream of the death of Yang as an 85-year-old grandfather is possibly the most heartbreaking thing in a heartbreaking book.)

As you can imagine, the rest of the book deals with the fallout from this. Iserlohn is devastated, of course, and many of their allies flee. The cause is kept alive, with Frederica on the political side and Julian on the military side, but both agree they’re only doing this because they know it’s what Yang would do; Frederica’s saying that she’d be happy to let democracy go hang if it meant getting her husband back is chilling. And the ominous foreshadowing is not done yet. Mittermeier and von Reuentahl also get a “they would never speak again” foreshadowing, and I suspect the latter is going to turn on Reinhard soon, or at least be made to seem like he is. And Reinhard spends much of the book in bed with a high fever… not the first time this has happened. He’s been ill QUITE a bit, which is another reason he’s being pressured to marry. With the Republic in tatters, is the Empire far behind?

There’s two more books in the main series, and lots more to resolve. It’s hard not to leave this book feeling depressed, though, and I will admit that most of the reason I read this was to read about Yang Wen-Li. Like his family and allies, I’ll continue to read the books, but also like them, I’m not looking forward to it nearly as much. A well-written equivalent of a drive-by gangland killing.

Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 8

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The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 8 by Rei Toma

One of the central questions I had as a reader of The Water Dragon’s Bride was what would happen if Asahi managed to find her way home? With her return to modern day Japan and her decision to rejoin her friends in the world of the Water Dragon God, I was curious to see where Toma would take the plot next in terms of a main conflict. She introduces a new antagonist for the Water Dragon God and Asahi, and I’m genuinely curious to see where the story goes next because I’m not sure what to expect.

Water Dragon God 8

The idea of other castaway people has been touched on a little bit before in this series, but this volume takes a turn when it thoroughly explores the backstory of Kurose, the companion to Tokoyami the God of Darkness, who rules an Underworld where it is impossible for the Water Dragon God to enter. The Water Dragon God enlists Subaru for help, but it ends up being Asahi’s unpredictable reactions to danger and the strength of her caring for others that opens up a possibility for her to escape.

Asahi and the Water Dragon God end up creating some deadly supernatural enemies, and one of the things that I appreciate about Toma is that her antagonists are fully drawn, with motivations and reasons for their actions that cause the reader to ponder the nature of humanity. Kurose is bullied in school, and when he’s rescued by Tokoyami and taken to a world of darkness, we see what happens when a less resilient human gets exposed to supernatural influences without the benefit of Asahi’s strong inner will. Kurose has his own traumatic adventures in the world of the Water Dragon God, where bad things happen to good people, and the gods seem indifferent to the suffering that they refuse to intervene in. As always, Toma’s capable illustrations serve to heighten the impact of the symbolic world that the gods inhabit, contrasted to the lives of ordinary villagers and teenagers in the modern world. There’s a confrontation between the two gods and their companions which will surely happen in the volumes ahead, and I’m very curious to see if Asahi’s unique outlook and faith manages to get herself and the Water Dragon God out of yet another complex situation.

Katanagatari: Sword Tale, Vol. 1

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By Nisioisin and take. Released in Japan in three separate volumes by Kodansha BOX. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Sam Bett.

This is the third major series of Nisioisin’s to come out over here as a novel, after the popular Monogatari Series and the cult classic but poor selling Zaregoto Series. These books reunite Nisio with the artist for the Zaregoto books, and the art is sufficiently stylistically awesome. As for fans of Nisioisin’s wordplay, not only do they get tons of that in these volumes, but we get footnotes from the translator (which he indicates are totally optional) explaining many of the original lines and why they’re puns, as well as his own translation choices. It’s the sort of thing I wish that we could have seen with the Monogatari books, as it might have made several readers less dagnabbit mad. The book is also very metatextual, a common thread in Nisio’s work, with suggestions that certain elements will be followed up with in future books, or announcing the tragic backstory of one of the characters is coming. That said, it’s a very Nisio series, but how does it hold up as an actual book?

Our hero is Shichika, who lives on a little-known island with his older sister Nanami. He’s the heir to a school of swordsmanship, the Kyotoryu, that does not use swords – but aside from not using swords, it’s handled exactly like a classic sword school. As a result, Shichika is essentially a blade himself, which makes sense given that sometimes he tends to have the emotional depth of an inanimate object. Into this island steps Togame, who is there to hire Shichika to help her locate twelve Mutant Blades, katanas that rightfully should belong to the Shogun but are instead being used by twelve other people. After the events of the first book, which involve the first of those swords, Shichika agrees to accompany her, leaving the island and his sister and going to get each sword one by one – though that always means a battle.

As I hinted before, Shichika is almost a parody of the “simple country bumpkin’ type who isn’t so simple, and much is made of the fact that he has never really had to think before now, so isn’t used to it. This makes him a pleasing contrast at least to super-genius Ii-chan and overly florid Araragi. He’s fine with leaving the thinking to Togame, who is a self-titled “schemer” but whose schemes haven’t really been able to do much but postpone the inevitable fights so far, and whose fragility makes her easy to use as a hostage or a distraction. She’s also less clever than she thinks, as the best gag in the book, a misuse of a British greeting she has, attests to. Together they make each other more interesting, which is all one can ask. As for the sword wielders, by the end of the first omnibus three are dead, though you are only meant to feel sympathy for the last one – indeed, the ninja clan that start the book as the main antagonists have become, at the author’s own insistence, the comic foils of the story.

It’s clear who this book is meant for: fans of the anime, as well as fans of Nisioisin’s eclectic narrative style. Both should find this series very entertaining, though even I found Shichika somewhat wearing by the end. I’ll definitely be getting the next set of three this spring.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc, Part II

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By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

This is very much a book of two halves, and I must admit that I preferred the first half to the second, though they both had issues. The first half is a continuation of the plot from the first book in this arc, as Tatsuya and Lina separately and together try to figure out what’s “possessing” these people and how to stop them, but are almost undone by a traitor in Lina’s midst. The traitor is… a character we met once before in the last book, but I must admit “minor character X’ does not really make it very dramatic – I was expecting it to be Lina’s aide Sylvia, which would have been more tragic. There’s also a pretty nice fight with said minor character traitor at the climax of the first half of the book, which actually gives Mizuki something to do. And we get a great way to present boring exposition and still make me laugh – Shizuku calls from California to give intel to Tatsuya, but she’s shitfaced drunk when she does so, and he’s trying to explain things to her as she slurs her words more and more. It’s pretty funny.

I was less impressed with the second half of the book, as it’s Valentine’s Day at the school, and you know what that means: wacky hijinks. I’ve talked before about how I’m not fond of Honoka being defined just by her love of Tatsuya, and I realize that the author is trying to let her and Shizuku get developed by the Honor Student manga author in that regard, but man, here her love for Tatsuya is literally weaponized by the runaway parasite, who possessed a robot named Pixie that’s part of the school’s robotics experiment. As you can imagine, instead of being driven by self-preservation and killing witnesses like the other possessed folks, she’s driven by the intense and disturbingly submissive love for Honoka that Honoka accidentally activated her with. That said, most of the valentine stuff was merely okay, and not actually irritating. And Mayumi’s revenge chocolates made me smile.

The irritating, as so frequently happens in this series, was saved for our two leads. I realize that Miyuki gets jealous sometimes, but what she did with Tatsuya’s chocolates was so petty and immature my jaw dropped. This is not helped by Tatsuya basically saying “welp” and just going along with it. (Tatsuya is not at his most likeable throughout the book – there’s a sequence where he lets Miyuki answer a difficult conundrum they have as he wants her to be “more than a pretty doll” that made me want to punch him.) And, of course, Miyuki is also dealing with her incestuous feelings for her brother, which are sometimes used as the usual gag (Lina’s reaction to Miyuki saying she and Tatsuya are just siblings) but in Miyuki’s inner thoughts are very much taken seriously. She feels guilty about these feelings, but honestly the whole thing makes me feel deeply uncomfortable.

When you add in some “Japan is good, everyone else is less good” speeches, and Lina getting chewed out for daring to fall in love with Tatsuya (a fact that she denies, but no one believes her, least of all the reader), and you have a typically easy to read but frustrating volume of Mahouka. Next volume should wrap up this arc, at least.

An Invitation from a Crab

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By panpanya. Released in Japan as “Kani ni Sasowarete” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Rakuen Le Paradis. Released in North America by Denpa Books. Translated by Ko Ransom.

Iev always been a fan of those sketchy, semi-slice of life (except they’re too weird) manga that you see towards the back of a lot of seinen and josei manga magazines. It used to be that the chances of such works getting licensed over here was nil, but Denpa has quite a few eclectic titles coming out now, and An Invitation from a Crab is one of the first. It’s more of a collection of interconnected short stories, along with the occasional essay discussing the importance of paying attention to things. Our unnamed heroine is theoretically a high school student, and occasionally we do see her in class. But the world she’s in is not quite the same as ours, featuring normal humans but also animal-headed people, as well as the bizarre lemon with an eye that seems to be a ‘boss’ sort of type. Essentially, An Invitation from a Crab is a “what kind of stories will the author spin next?’ sort of book. And they’re good stories.

The stories here range from a few pages long to larger chunky narratives. The title comes from the first story, where our heroine follows a crab that is lying in the road and seems to know where it’s going. That said, the “punchline”, as it were, amounts to not much, and that’s also the case with most of the rest of these stories. You’re reading this for mood, not for jokes or characterization, and so frequently the stories feel like “shaggy dog” stories, where the ending does not justify the effort expended. Which is absolutely fine given much of this is about enjoying the journey. We see our heroine wearing a Chinese communist outfit in a factory breaking coconuts so they can be used to create electricity. That is a sentence I can’t believe I just typed, and it’s probably the weirdest of the stories in here, but there’s other dreamlike sequences as well, including one that literally is a dream, where our heroine’s spirit gets off a train but her body doesn’t.

There is quite a bit of humor here, despite my saying earlier that there weren’t punchlines per se. Sometimes simply seeing the situation makes me laugh, such as our heroine and her dog/roommate/whatever searching to try to find anyone who knows where pineapples come from, or the heroine gleefully preparing for her Sunday day off by doing piles of things (this reminded me of the Zetsubou-sensei chapter where the class had a “preview” of their field trip). And sometimes the mood can be disturbing – there’s a lot of dark shadows in this world, and while the coconut and lost body stories are not dark in any way, they’re unsettling and have a sense of unreality to them. Even some of the shorter stories in the volume, such as when our heroine is sold a giant salamander and tries to return him to the Amazon (a plot that lifts directly from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon), has an ominous feel to its humorous ending.

If you’re interested in a skewed look at life in a world that’s not quite this one, or wonder what it would be like if you did follow that crab into the side alley, you should definitely pick this up.