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Devilman: The Classic Collection, Vol. 1

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By Go Nagai. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson and Adrienne Beck.

Devilman was one of those series that I always knew about but never got around to reading, mostly as the one spoiler that everyone knows is… well, a spoiler, but let’s just say that this sort of series is usually a bit too dark for me. But this is a really nice release, in a deluze, 700-page hardcover, and it’s the original manga from 1972, so I couldn’t really resist. And for the most part, I’m very happy to have read this series. The first 450 pages of Devilman are absolutely riveting – the storytelling is old-fashioned, but you quickly lose yourself in the world of Akira, Ryo and Miki, as well as the grotesquely bizarre demons that are attempting to retake the world and will kill every human in order to do it. It’s incredibly violent, and there’s lots of nudity, but it’s a trip. That said, I was… a lot less enthusiastic as the manga carried on.

The book can essentially be divided into three parts. The first part, about 450 pages, was clearly written as a limited series, and is very big on action sequences, fast page turning and grotesque horror. Akira is a nice, somewhat meek sort of guy who is going to school with Miki, who clearly likes him but would also like him to get a bit more manly. (She’s something of a delinquent, carrying knives in her skirt, though she tries to act the “girly girl” in front of Akira.) Enter Ryo, Akira’s best friend, who has a dark secret he needs to tell him… about demons. This dark secret leads them through a tragic family horror, ancient demons who have returned, naked hippie orgies (yes, really), and a whole lot of demons trying to kill them. The only way to save the world is for Akira to become Devilman… and hope that his innate goodness is enough to keep back the demon within him. As I said before, this entire section reads fantastically.

We then get much shorter chapters, as the series clearly has now been picked up as a regular ongoing one and Go Nagai has to come up with new stuff. The first two chapters are pretty good in a dark, horrific way, both dealing with the brutal murder of young children, and serve to show off that Devilman is a grim, bloody world where no one is safe. (Note this ran in a magazine for 12-17 year old boys.) And then we come to the final five stories in the book, aka “Akira and Ryo time-travel through history and find demons trying to pervert humanity’s destiny.” First of all, “Oh, Akira can travel through time” made me shake my head. Secondly, demons trying to crush humanity is fine, but I am not really a fan of “demons are behind history’s worst moments” stories. The chapter with a young Adolf Hitler, in particular, reaches a low that I’d call “godawful”. This was not a good direction for the series to go in.

[I have been informed by Zack Davisson that this collection is actually from several different variants of the Devilman manga, and that the ‘time travel’ chapters are from Shin Devilman, a 1979 sequel. This would help explain why they feel so out of place.]

That said, over half this volume is still a fantastic read and a good look into the twisted mind of Go Nagai. It’s not for everyone (there really is a LOT of bloody violence and nudity), but if you love classic manga you’ll want this in your collection, though I’d advise putting a bookmark at page 530 and saying “stop here”.

Again!!, Vol. 2

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The phenomenal success of Yuri!!! On ICE turned out to be a boon for manga fans, too, as American publishers snapped up two of Mitsurou Kubo’s better-known comics: Moteki: Love Strikes!, a seinen romance about a thirty-something loser who reconnects with women from his past, and Again!!, a time-travel comedy about two teenagers who get a second chance at high school. I won’t lie: Again!! was my hands-down favorite of the two, both for its raw honesty and its sharply observed characters.

Again!! avoids the sophomore slump by briskly advancing the plot without sacrificing the humor or heart that made the first chapters so appealing. Kinichiro and Fujieda both get a turn in the spotlight, with Kinichiro discovering the pleasures of cheering, and Fujieda experiencing loneliness for the first time. Volume two also introduces three new characters, all of whom used to belong to the ouendan: Okuma, the drummer; Masaki, the vice-captain; and Suga, the cheer sergeant. Although the trio’s ostensible role is comic relief, their real function is helping us understand why the ouendan failed, revealing the degree to which their unwanted advances, passivity, and flagrant sexism undermined Usami’s authority as captain and poisoned group morale.

While this information is crucial to the story, it also points to Again!!‘s biggest problem: Usami. Mitsurou Kubo is frank about why Usami resorts to shouting, scolding, and shaming to prove that she’s “man” enough to lead the ouendan — a compassionate insight into a character who often seems more harridan than human. Yet Usami’s actual personality remains a mystery. Everything we learn about her is revealed through other characters, whether they’re discussing her beef with Abe, the head cheerleader, or describing the flurry of media interest in Usami when she first joined the ouendan. We don’t know how Usami feels about her teammates, or why she’s so passionately interested in cheering — two questions that need to be addressed if she’s to become a full-fledged character.

Despite these flaws, Again!! manages to wring fresh laughs from its time-travel premise while depicting high school in all its unpleasantness. Fujieda, for example, vacillates between trying to profit from her knowledge of the future and lamenting her lack of friends. Kinichiro also is caught between past and present: he’s angry that his first kiss didn’t go as planned, and deeply self-conscious after a loud, public declaration of how miserable he feels — an exquisitely awful scene that acknowledges the depth of his pain while recognizing that his brusque behavior directly contributes to his sense of isolation and victimhood. It’s this kind of insight that makes Again!! such a compelling story, reminding us that our memories of being shunned, wronged, or ridiculed can be so one-sided that we’d make the same mistakes if given the opportunity to relive our teenage years. Recommended.

Again!!, Vol. 2
By Mitsurou Kobu
Translated by Rose Padgett
Rated OT, for Older Teens (16+)
Kodansha Comics

Strike the Blood, Vol. 9

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

After a couple of volumes that were deeper and more complicated than usual, we’re back to business as usual at Strike the Blood, Inc. That means we get a new girl for Kojou to save, lots of cool battles that do a tremendous amount of property damage, a number of blatant flirting attempts that Kojou completely misses because this simply isn’t one of whose kind of harem titles, and lots of jealous rages that allows Kojou to get snubbed for “humorous” effect, although as always Mikumo’s attempts at being funny are funny only in a 90s anime “hey, what if the girl is a tsundere!” sort of way. And yes, you know things are back to normal when Yukina says her catchphrase, though it’s slightly less of a proclamation than usual. That said, this is, as always, a solid, average volume of Strike the Blood, and those who’ve been following along will be pleased by it – while also grumbling that Yukina is on the cover again, no doubt.

The girl being saved this time around, is Yume, who seems to be a standard “child who’s lost her parents” at first but ends up being a succubus. Fortunately, given that Yume looks to be about 12, she doesn’t do any seducing herself, but instead slips into the minds of the girls and brings out their inner desires. Unfortunately, the fact that she is about 12 means we get a lot of “lol Kojou is a lolicon” jokes, though mercifully there aren’t as many as I expected once I gleaned the plot. She’s a sympathetic character, and the way that she tries to get past her trauma reminds me a bit of Beatrice from Umineko, but unfortunately the author has too much fighting going on to really give her tragic backstory much of a look-in – a flashback to her abusive parents and classmates might have helped. The other new character here is Kiriha, who looks like she’s Yukina’s dark mirror, and I strongly suspect we haven’t seen the last of her.

Speaking of Yukina, the more we delve into her agency and the various other agencies connected to or in competition with it, the more suspicious they become. Indeed, at times it feels like Yukina is the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on. After seeing Kojou’s actual secrets in the last book, here we get someone finding out the truth about Asagi – but tellingly, it’s Sayaka, rather than Asagi herself, Kojou, or Yukina, those who would be most impacted by knowing that secret. It’s unclear if Sayaka will ever reveal this secret to anyone else, but I’m going to guess probably not. On the bright side, the action sequences are always the best part of Strike the Blood, and tehre are a lot of them this time around (to the point where, as I noted before, I felt some could have been replaced with better backstory). When your “villain” is a 4km-long sea monster, you’ve certainly hit the big time. And we get a new Beast Vassal, meaning of course more sexy vampire biting.

I feel somewhat sad that after the highs of the previous two books we’re back to business as usual with Strike the Blood. But it’s still a decent title, and reads very quickly and easily. And as always, it reads like it was meant to be animated – which it has, as there are now OAVs with this volume’s story. I’ll be back next time to see where the series goes.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/28/18

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Crisis Girls, Vol. 1 | By Hiroaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – If My Hero Academia is the Japanese shonen take on the standard “training superheroes” story, then Crisis Girls is the “moe for guys” version. Our superhero wannabe is Kaede, who can control zombies to help her protect the city, but is unfortunately a giant flake and something of a crybaby as well. She does have a more sensible minder, who tries to lecture her on occasional about morals and ethics. Why he wears full facial bandages and a metal face mask… is something we will no doubt find out later. There are the occasional villains who drop by, most of whom are about on Kaede’s level. This is cute-ish, but you can tell it’s not really up to much given that it’s not getting a full review from me. – Sean Gaffney

Golosseum, Vol. 1 | By Yasushi Baba | Kodansha Comics – I approached Golosseum with some amount of trepidation (honestly, that feeling hasn’t completely left after reading the first volume), but the series would seem to be an oddly addictive and pulpy ultra-violent manga. After highly-advanced technology known as “Peacemakers” have rendered most weapons obsolete, battles are fought and won through suplexes and hand-to-hand combat. It’s a premise that starts to fall apart under close scrutiny, but to be fair Golosseum really isn’t a series meant to be taken too seriously. The manga is incredibly over-the-top, its appeal originating from the absurdly extreme martial arts (and bodies) on display. Supposedly, Golosseum is also intended to be a political satire of sorts. Along with not-Hulk Hogan and not-Bruce Lee, important appearances are made by not-Hillary Clinton and not-Vladimir Putin (as well as actual-Grigori Rasputin). However, it remains to be seen how successful that particular aspect of the manga will ultimately be. – Ash Brown

New Game!, Vol. 2 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – We get to see the rest of the game release in this volume, as everyone works really hard to make sure it gets out and has been properly tested. This allows Aoba’s friend Nene to temporarily join the cast herd, and let’s her get as fleshed out as anyone is ever going to be in this genre. We also meet Umiko, who also tests the games but in general wants to tell you about her gun hobbies a lot more. As for our heroines from the first book, they’re still here, doing cute 4-koma things and doing their best today. If it sounds like I’m mocking New Game!, it’s only a bit—it really is a fun title to read and the girls are cute. But this is not exactly the most ambitious title in the world. Recommended for fans of the genre. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – It has to be said, whenever a woman in this series kicks ass, it always comes back to do them the most harm later. Here it’s Anne, who I praised in my brief for the last book, finally married to Richard but not at ALL in the way she wanted after what happens in the aftermath of book seven. And poor Isabelle just ends up dead, seemingly from a “witch,” though I’m somewhat skeptical about that. Richard, meanwhile, is at his broodiest yet, and even with a timeskip in the middle of the book seems to have shut himself off completely after the death of Henry. Of course, this assumes that Henry is actually dead. Requiem of the Rose King may be wandering off the Shakespeare track at times, but remains addictive. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 8 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Nobody ever really has a good time in this series, but that’s really true in this volume, with the possible exception of Edward, who is throwing drug-fueled orgies with his new favorite mistress, who happens to be a witch. She’s also behind the plot that brings down George and Isabella, which Richard allows to play out because George really is a threat to the House of York and his insulting behavior towards the king has not gone unnoticed. For his part, Richard is disgusted by the king, too, and makes a pact with Buckingham to start working towards taking the crown for himself. Meanwhile, he’s cold as hell to Anne and claims his soul died when he had to kill Henry. But did he really? Twisted, but essential. – Michelle Smith

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 7 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – This is still well written, but I can’t say I’m enjoying Scum’s Wish anymore. Part of the problem is the ongoing Ecchan plotline, which goes exactly the way that I thought it would and just leaves everyone upset. No surprises, it was never going to end happily, but part of me sort of hoped Ecchan’s sexuality might be gone into a bit more. As for Akane, this volume delves into her past and why she’s acting the way she does, which essentially amounts to a combination of “I’m really good at it” and “I’m empty inside.” Unfortunately, the idea that the reader is rooting for her to end up with Narumi is ludicrous at this stage. The layout, plotting and dialogue of Scum’s Wish is superb. I’ll finish it, but I wish I liked it more. – Sean Gaffney

A Strange & Mystifying Story, Vol. 3 | By Tsuta Suzuki | SuBLime – This was a reread for me, but it’s been quite a few years. I had forgotten how utterly lovely and charming the romance is between forty-something museum director Minamiura and the unfriendly-seeming-but-unexpectedly-honest twenty-something Hatoki. Hatoki is captivated by Minamiura’s easygoing air, and I love that eventually Minamiura grows tired of waiting for Hatoki to do something about it that (in the brief bonus store) he eventually pounces on him. I wish the whole series were about these two, in fact. The second half of the novel is about Minamiura’s former stepson and the guardian beast who was expecting a girl to be his bride, and it’s fine, but I hope we don’t go back towards supernatural smuttiness of the first two volumes. Still, I’m looking forward to volume four finally being available in English! – Michelle Smith

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Vol. 5 | By Taiki Kawakami | Kodansha Comics – I will readily admit that I have been enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime far more than I ever thought I would. There have been a few missteps here and there, but overall the series has been a highly-entertaining read that plays around with well-established tropes of the fantasy and isekai genres. This volume focuses on the conclusion of Rimuru’s fight against the Orc Lord and the immediate aftermath of the battle. Despite Rimuru being so incredibly superpowered, the showdown was still an engaging one because the potential for failure remained. Rimuru himself may be able to survive just about anything, but that outcome isn’t guaranteed for his allies. More and more monsters have joined forces with Rimuru over the course of the series–goblins, ogres, lizardmen–at this point it seems like he’s being setup to become something of a saviour figure. – Ash Brown

To-Love-Ru, Vols. 7-8 | By Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki | Seven Seas – To-Love-Ru is a title that by its very nature is always skirting around the edge of being bad. So when you get a subpar volume like this, it’s hard not to sigh and try to flip ahead a bit. We see investigating haunted houses, trapped on a deserted island, and more of the tsun-heavy prefect, which means that Rito gets the crap beaten out of him even more than usual. Why does he get the crap beaten out of him, you ask? Because To-Love-Ru is for teenage boys, and thus the girls are frequently naked and he is always falling into their boobs. It’s never a good sign when you’re longing for the subtlety of Love Hina. To-Love-Ru gives its readers what they want, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want it anymore. – Sean Gaffney

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Vol. 1

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By Kaziya. Released in Japan by Mag Garden, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Blade. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Angela Liu. Adapted by Jaymee Goh.

I am pleased with the fact that this sort of manga has now become a popular genre over here. Oh sure, it’s no doubt due to the fact that sales for The Ancient Magus’ Bride really took off and Seven Seas is doing its standard “grab titles that are sort of similar to that”, but hell, when it’s not ‘monster girls rub themselves all over guys’ but rather ‘mellow magical fantasy series in a quiet community’, I’m not going to be saying no. So far this one is not as dark as The Girl from The Other Side or Frau Faust, nor with as problematic a starting point as The Ancient Magus’ Bride. It’s just the story of a young girl and the veterinarian she’s apprenticed to, dealing with magical creatures in a world that is slowly losing magic to SCIENCE!. The thing that really makes this title sing is that he’s learning as much from her as she is from him, and their working relationship is a lot less imbalanced than you’d expect.

The heroine is Ziska, who is one of those adorable young girls with a deep abiding love for everything. She has some magical abilities, mostly handed down from her family in books, but lacks much experience, and can’t really progress past what’s already been written down. She’s working as an apprentice to a vet, Niko, who looks like a smiling villain but is really just a nice but practical guy. Together this series finds them working on various magical creatures who have either gotten injured or are ill, working to save them with Ziska’s knowledge and Niko’s experience. As the book progresses, Niko decides that he wants to learn more about the magic that Ziska does, and Ziska starts to try to branch out from what’s in her tomes and create her own medicines, even though that may be dangerous.

Despite the fact that there’s a lot of animal surgeries here, with intestines and the like, as well as seeing a rabbit in the advanced states of cancer, the basic feel of the book is ‘peaceful’. Ziska is frankly adorable, but tries too hard, and you get the sense that she’d burn herself out without Niko being there to help her out. Aside from one comedy scene where Ziska accidentally gives herself an aphrodisiac, there’s also no indication that this is going to get romantic, and even that scene is polite enough to have Niko immediately cut things off. This is just a nice anthology where Ziska sees something that needs care, she and Niko try to figure out what care is needed to heal them and how to give it (easier said than done, especially with magical creatures), and free them back into the world. Even when it doesn’t work out – the rabbit with cancer is too far along to do much of anything except prolong its pain – Ziska manages to find a way to turn things hopeful, or Niko is able to put his own human knowledge to good use.

This has just started in Japan, So I’m expect it on a twice-a-year schedule. But I’d definitely go get it, it’s a great addition to Seven Seas’ ‘young girls in magical situations’ genre.

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 15

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

Last time I said that Index was not in the book at all. Well… she’s not in this book either. More importantly than that, however, is that Touma is entirely absent from this book as well, though one might argue that his presence is felt in terms of the two protagonists who take over for him. In fact, as the series goes on and expands, we’re going to see this more and more. A Certain Magical Index is not just about Touma anymore. And so we have other protagonists that step up. (No, sorry, Mikoto, you aren’t in this one either. But you get the more popular side manga anyway.) The first protagonist should be very familiar to Index readers, as it’s Accelerator, who’s still calling himself a villain and thinking of himself as the worst, despite the fact that he saves more lives in this book than anyone else, and has a guardian and adopted daughter more than willing to lay down their life to stop him going mad and destroying the world. As for the other protagonist, I’m afraid I’m going to have to get EVEN NERDIER than usual.

I’m limiting “Introduced in this volume” only to those who either appear in future books or have an impact on future books. So: Shizuri Mugino, Rikou Takitsubo, Saiai Kinuhata, Frenda (Seivelun), Xochitl, Baba Yoshio, Kakine Teitoku, “Girl in the Dress”, Chimitsu Sunazara, Shiage Hamazura, Hattori Hanzou. The Railgun manga is ongoing, which may explain why Kazari Uiharu gets a bigger role in this book than she ever did before or will again. In terms of timeline, it’s the day after Book 14, so presumably Touma and Index are flying back from France. By the way, I mentioned the Railgun manga. Fans of that series will note that over half the people I just mentioned as debuting in this book had large roles in the ongoing railgun storyline to some degree or another, particularly the members of ITEM. Indeed, Frenda pretty much gets all her development in Railgun, for reasons that will become apparent once you finish Index 15. (She doesn’t even get a last name in this book!) Xochitl too is expanded on quite a bit in that series.

As for the obvious, I told a little white lie in the “this volume” above. Shiage Hamazura and Hattori Hanzou are introduced in the first volume of Index short stories, which came out between Books 13 and 14. Yen Press generally does not license side story volumes, so we’re not seeing this. Fortunately, some of the important stuff is covered in the anime, as it adapted the “Skill Out Uprising” story which introduces Shiage Hamazura and has him confront Touma as a rather two-bit villain. Touma, needless to say, kicks his ass. This happens about 9 days prior to the events in this book, in the long break between Books 13 and 14. At some point after that, Hamazura gets picked up by ITEM and turned into their lackey, which is where we see him in Railgun, and also at the start of this book. (The SS volume also shows us Sasha Kreutsev, who Index readers with long memories will remember had her form used by the villain of the 4th novel.) So while I hate to say “go watch the anime” in my light novel review, go watch the anime.

As for this book, it’s rather hard to review, mostly as I’m coming at it about ten years after it was published, and after the author has spent most of Railgun trying to expand on several of the groups and people introduced here. I have trouble judging if something felt forced or if the reader at the time would shrug and move on. As an example, Mugino going completely berserk and attempting to kill the rest of her team is something that I suspect might have had a reader going “huh, where the heck did that come from?” to someone who is meeting her for the first time here, to the point where Hamazura actually has to spell out her motivations to us in one of his speeches. But fans of Railgun will likely be thinking “I was waiting for her to finally snap, and now it’s happened”.

I’d mentioned Touma was absent here, but he’s very much on the minds of both Accelerator, who puts him on a pedestal that can’t possibly be lived up to, as well as Hamazura, who is inspired by him to actually fight back against a Level 5 for the sake of the girl he loves. (In general Kamachi is not great at writing romance, but I give him props for trying. Hamazura and Takitsubo are pretty cute here, and there are one or two hints dropped before the climax that they like each other.) Most of what occurs here, as with much of Index’s plot lately, is a consequence of the previous volume. In this case, all of Academy City’s heavy hitters being called to Avignon means the villainous groups are running amock. Naturally, our group of villains emerges victorious, meaning it’s the last group standing at the end.

I also want to take the time to praise Uiharu, who only gets about 3 pages to show off her badassery, and gets her shoulder and collarbone dislocated for her troubles, but standing up to the 2nd most powerful person in Academy City, and even sticking her tongue out him? That’s amazing. (I also note that Japan, for some reason, has fanart pairing her and Kakine romantically. To which I have to say: NO.) Also kudos to Yomikawa and Last Order for being able to talk Accelerator down. That said, I suspect that every single person in Academy City knows what his weak point is now, and if I were Last Order I would not feel safe.

There’s little humor in this book, and a lot of action and betrayal. As such, it’s playing on Kamachi’s strengths, and ends up being a quick and exciting read. I would like to check back in on Index next time, though. She is in the title.

Himouto! Umaru-chan, Vol. 1

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By Sankakuhead. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Young Jump. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Amanda Haley. Adapted by Shanti Whitesides.

Over the past year or so we’ve seen a couple of titles from Shueisha’s Young Jump that seem to be hear to remind us that Young Jump is not entirely sex, violence, or manly men being manly. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is a good example of this, and now we also have Himouto! Umaru-chan, a series that ran for twelve volumes, got three different spinoffs, and also an anime. Which is impressive given that it’s basically a plotless gag series. Well, plotless is perhaps mean, there is the one plot. It reminded me of the start of Kare Kano, and the idea of a “perfect” student who is completely different at home is well-mined. Umaru-chan’s success with the reader will, I think, depend on how tolerant they are of spoiled brats when it’s being written for humor purposes. Umaru-chan is funny, but I can see how she might wear on people.

As you can see by the cover, this is not a touching melodrama. “Himouto” is a term referring to a himono, who is a young woman who acts perfect in the outside world but is a lazy slob at home. Add “imouto”, aka little sister, and you have this series. The focus, at least for most of this first volume, is definitely on Umaru-s home life with her older brother, a salaryman who tries to be stern and parental but usually just ends up giving in because Umaru is too annoying, too cute, or both. (Fortunately there’s no suggestion of incestual themes in this at all.) By the end of the volume we are seeing suggestions that we’ll get more of Umaru’s school life – her best friend, a shy, busty girl with a crush on Umaru’s brother, has made several appearances, and we also see the arrogant oujo. The cliffhanger also makes it seem like we’ll get more of the misunderstood sinister stalker as well (the manga does not indicate she’s misunderstood in this first volume, but come on.)

There’s reaolly not much to this, but that’s not a bad thing in a gag comedy – you don’t want to have to think too hard. So Umaru games, and eats, and whines, and her brother suffers mobly. The scenes which I liked best are the ones that show off the contrast between her two roles, usually when she and her brother are both outside the apartment and she has to keep up the facade but is starting to lose it. As for Taihei (the brother), he’s driven much by the needs of the particular gag of the chapter, being strict and angry when required, but mostly just being somewhat wishy-washy about it. Umaru is a handful, and if the two of them have living parents they aren’t mentioned, so it’s up to him to try to help her grow up. It’s not going well.

This was quite enjoyable, but as with a lot of similar gag series, I’m not sure it’s 12-volumes-and-three-spinoffs enjoyable. But we shall see, and I recommend Umaru-chan for those who like seeing annoying little sister types.

Manga the Week of 5/30/18

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SEAN: It’s the final week of May, and there’s a little something for everyone next week.

Bookwalker has a 3rd volume of shogi light novel The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done.

Cross Infinite World gives us Little Princess in Fairy Forest, a fantasy novel based around a princess and her knight on the run from an evil lord.

Ghost Ship gives us a 3rd Yokai Girls.

J-Novel Club has a 2nd Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar, as well as a 6th volume of bestseller How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom.

Kodansha has, in terms of print, a 6th volume of Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: I’ve been enjoying this one, too.

ANNA: I have the first volume and haven’t read it yet!

SEAN: In terms of digital we have a lot more going on. The debut is A Kiss, For Real (Sekirara ni Kiss), a Dessert title about a “sweet but sadistic” relationship.

MICHELLE: The “sadistic” aspect worries me, but man, I do like the cover for that one.

ANNA: Bring on the Dessert!

SEAN: There’s also lots of ongoing titles. Boarding School Juliet 2, Kasane 12, Peach Mermaid 2, The Prnce’s Black Poison 5, Shojo Fight 3, Starving Anonymous 3, and Tsuredure Children 9. It’s nice to see Shojo Fight back again after a long wait.

MICHELLE: It is!

ANNA: Woo!!!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first is a Guide Book to The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Merkmal. Like most guidebooks, I expect this to be filled with info and secrets – though not too many secrets.

ASH: I plan on picking it up, certainly.

SEAN: The other is a manga adaptation of the light novel being released by J-Novel Club, If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.

We also get a 7th Merman in My Tub, and a 2nd New Game, which will do its best today. There’s also the 3rd and last Strawberry Panic novel out digitally, though Amazon actually jumped street date on this for some reason.

Vertical has two novels. The Dark Maidens has an anime-ish cover, but it’s mystery-horror subject matter makes it more applicable to Vertical’s other line of books.

There’s also a new Monogatari. Kabukimonogatari: Dandy Tale has Araragi and Shinobu investigating ghost girl Mayoi’s past… and seeing if there’s any way to change it. I warn you (and by “you” I mean Michelle), “Dandy” is not like the Kinks song in this case.

MICHELLE: Heh. Now I need to go listen to that one again! It’s been a while.

SEAN: Yen has a bunch of new digital releases, with Crimson Prince 16, Kuzumi-kun, Can’t You Read the Room? 6, Saki 15, and Sekirei 16.

Lastly, there’s a 6th Spirits & Cat Ears, which is mostly caught up to Japan.

Does anything leap out at you saying “READ ME!” next week?

Infinite Dendrogram: The Lunar Society

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By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Despite very much being a book of two halves, this volume has essentially the same theme, one which I suspect will carry over into the next book (yes, it’s another cliffhanger). That theme is how Dendrogram gamers deal with the real world, and balancing the player’s real life with this thing that is more than just another game. We see Reiji starting college and immediately running into people he knows (and would rather forget) from the game. We see him interacting with someone who is exactly the same in the game as in real life, and someone who is seemingly the same, only to turn out to have a hidden side to her. And the second half deals with the fact that players can marry NPCs and father children in this game, though it’s difficult, for reasons which are actually expounded on in detail. We also see a major player log back in after a few weeks offline to find that he’s essentially missed the entire book series to date. There’s a lot going on.

The Lunar Society is, as I indicated above, the subject of the first half of the book, particularly its leader Tsukuyo, played by a real-life college medical student named… Tsukuyo. She’s a cross between Haruhi Suzumiya and Ryouko Mendou, and I suspect some readers may find her irritating. Ray finds her terrifying once he meets her outside the game, and his brother explaining the reason why (which immediately resolves his fear) is one of the funnier parts of the book. As a character, Tsukuyo is not the greatest, being exactly as she seems: a spoiled princess who’s desperate for anything to stave off her boredom and will kidnap people to get what she wants. That said, I like Haruhi and Ryouko, so I found her quite fun. I also liked her butler/assassin, who is exactly what you’d expect a butler/assassin to be like.

Tsukuyo is not the only gamer Reiji meets at his college; he also runs into Kozue, who is far more sensible and reserved – in fact, when we see her character in the game, B3 (or BBB), she seems almost exactly the same as she is in real life, just like Tsukuyo. This *is* a front, though, and leads into an interesting discussion of PKing in Dendrogram. I’ve gotten so used to Sword Art Online being the be-all end-all work on player killing that I’d forgotten that Dendrogram *is* a game, and that the penalty is not actually lethal, just annoying. The PK guild we see here (whose reasons for gathering around their leader I will groan about and try to skip past) has rules about only PKing those who want to duel, essentially – those who want a good fight, with an appropriate “reward” for losing. As for B3, while we don’t get into it due to narrative necessity and Ray’s stunning denseness about women, it’s implied that PKing turns her on. There’s all sorts of gamers.

We’re caught up with Japan now, though I think the next book is out soon if not already. Those who have enjoyed the series will find more to enjoy here, as the books keep examining what it is about this game that’s different and how its reality can suck you in. Plus maybe we’ll see Nemesis evolve past her jealousy? Nah, probably not.

Star Wars: Lost Stars, Vol. 1

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Remember the good ol’ days when a new Star Wars movie took three years to make, and no one was certain that George Lucas was going to get around to Episodes I, II, and III? I miss those days; new installments felt like a cause for celebration and not a dutiful obligation, and the films were an irresistible mixture of bad acting, thrilling space battles, and earnest conversations about the Force. When I’ve felt a twinge of nostalgia for my childhood Star Wars experience, I’ve found the manga adaptations of the original trilogy much more satisfying than the current batch of Disneyfied films. So I was curious to see what an original Star Wars manga might look like: would it explore new territory, or simply recycle the same plot points, a la The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi?

Turns out that Lost Stars is to Star Wars what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is to Hamlet, a retelling of an iconic story from the perspective of two peripheral characters. Many of the most famous moments from George Lucas’ original trilogy appear in Lost Stars — the capture of Princess Leia, the annihilation of Alderaan, the ice battle on Hoth — though the framing of these events is new, seen through the eyes of two young Imperial pilots: Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree, both of whom enrolled in the Imperial Academy hoping for adventure and a better way of life.

The inclusion of these famous scenes is a double-edged sword; they provide a handy point of reference for the Star Wars greenhorn while simultaneously pandering to the hardcore fan by faithfully recreating iconic images, characters, and dialogue from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. There’s a dot-the-i quality to them that suggests that Yusaku Komiyuma was more concerned with nailing down the original details than imagining how Thane or Ciena would perceive — or participate — in these events. The other problem with these scenes is that they’re more dramatically interesting than Komiyuma’s brisk but flavorless adaptation of Claudia Gray’s novel. The most thoughtful elements of Gray’s work — particularly the class politics on Thane and Ciena’s home planet Jelucan — are presented in a bald fashion that reads more like CliffNotes than honest-to-goodness fiction, while important scenes of character development are too compressed to give us a sense of who these star-crossed lovers really are. The net result is a comic that successfully bridges the aesthetic worlds of Shonen Jump and Star Wars without achieving its own distinct identity as a manga or a Star Wars story. Your mileage may vary.

Star Wars: Lost Stars, Vol. 1
Original Story by Claudia Gray
Art and Adaptation by Yusaku Komiyuma
Yen Press, 192 pp.
Rated T, for teens

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 2

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

For all that the first volume of this did a very good job introducing its cast and showing off the basics of the world, it did not really dwell much on the demon invasion beyond it being the reason why the hero was summoned, and why he’s training. The second volume, though, takes that ball and absolutely runs with it. The demons are coming, they’re hard to defeat, and they’re nasty pieces of work, both in terms of powers and personality. I gotta admit, you really want the demon general to get his by the end of this. What’s more, their leader is not only good at murdering people but also at emotional manipulation and torture. Which is fine for Suimei, who at least has a veneer of “I am cool-headed” (which isn’t actually true, but hey). But it’s definitely bad news for the new heroine of this book, Lefille, who is a red-haired noble swordswoman who wears her heart on her sleeve.

This is very much a book that puts all its fantastic stuff on the back end. The start is all right, with Sui9mei trying to join the Adventurer’s Guild and maintain a low profile, something he screws up pretty much immediately. He and Lefille bond right away, but it’s as a good friendship, and there’s not really much romance involved here yet. But things really pick up with the actual invasion, and particularly when Lefille breaks away from Suimei to try to save the party that essentially told her to get lost earlier. This is a significantly darker book than the first volume was, and there’s a lot of brutal deaths here. What’s more, there’s a lot of misblaming going on, to the point where I wondered if it was part of a ploy by the demon general to break Lefille. But no, it’s just people getting the wrong idea and spewing dying vitriol.

I admit, I was worried that this book was not going to stick the landing. It spends a LOT of time setting up the demon general as Lefille’s enemy that she absolutely has to defeat, then breaks her utterly. This is very well done, and emotionally gripping. But when Suimei showed up and started going to town, I thought “uh-oh”. You can’t set up this sort of thing and then have the solution be “I can overcome it thanks to the powers of my cool protagonist friend”. And yes, Suimei *does* get the final shot in. But we see Lefille watching Suimei’s battle and realize what she needs to do, and find her heroic second wind, driving the demon back to the point where he has to retreat. This was very important, and makes her a better heroine than the first one. (That said, this seems like a “new heroine every book” series, so I wonder if she’ll stay on.)

The book does have flaws – Suimei’s “let me read magic wikipedia at you” narration can be tedious, Lefille has a demon curse that seems to be nothing but an excuse to have her masturbate naked on a rock for the benefit of the illustrator/readers, and the ending, where she reverts to being a little girl due to lack of spirit energy, had me going “WTF?” as much as it did our heroes. Oh yes, and please try not to have your hero brainwashing people for fun and profit. But overall, I found the suspense and character depth of this second volume to be excellent, and I’m far more on board with this series now.

Bookshelf Briefs 5/21/18

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Anonymous Noise, Vol. 8 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – This was more of a band volume than a romantic triangle volume, and I appreciated that. Momo and Yuzu have to learn here that in order to survive, they have to write songs that are for other people, as well as songs that occasionally make compromises—such as being easier to sing. They do this by running into two annoying idols whose annoyingness turns out to be half front (and half being annoying). Elsewhere, Miou is having trouble dealing with being in a relationship when she’s still in love with Yuzu, and tries to deal with both issues at the same time, with limited success. And as if that weren’t enough, BATTLE OF THE BANDS again. Shojo’s Beat’s most addictive potboiler. – Sean Gaffney

Baccano!, Vol. 3 | By Ryohgo Narita, Shinta Fujimoto and Katsumi Enami | Yen Press – This final volume of the manga is a relatively straightforward adaptation of the first volume, with a few Easter Eggs thrown in for hardcore novel fans, such as a flashforward to Firo and Ennis’ wedding (Christopher! Rail! People blocked by an annoying arm!). Of course, the manga is cagey about when that wedding takes place—trust me, it’ll be a while. As for other aspects of the adaptation, it’s worth noting that Enami more than the anime or the novels is making Isaac and Miria explicitly a romantic couple rather than a mere comedy double act. There’s some really sweet moments here that shows off their love. Baccano! fans who saw the anime and read the novels will want this too. – Sean Gaffney

Black Clover, Vol. 11 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – There’s a lot going on here, and as always with Black Clover very little of it will take you by surprise. We see brainwashed villains overcoming it (as well as villains in love), Asta manages to control his anti-magic and become more powerful, and an arrogant sneering villain gets to apologize. We also see Vanessa face off against the Queen of Witches, which gives us a nice opportunity to talk about how much Jump loves found families. A whole lot. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts—honestly, the whole is about the same as the parts—and I suspect I’ll forget what happened in this volume before the next. But I do enjoy Black Clover as I read it. It’s dumb fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Bride Was a Boy | By Chii | Seven Seas – It probably isn’t much of a surprise that The Bride Was a Boy was one of the manga releases that I was most looking forward to this year. It’s fairly rare in translated manga to see realistically portrayed characters who are transgender, but rarer still is the opportunity to read a manga that is both about and by someone who actually is transgender. The Bride Was a Boy is the autobiography of Chii. It’s an adorably sweet manga about her experiences as a transwoman in Japan, including aspects of her transition and her marriage to her wonderful husband. Some may criticize the work for being too free of conflict–that it doesn’t adequately show the hardships that so many transgender people face–but it’s incredibly refreshing to see such a charming and positive work. Happy, hopeful stories about transgender lives are valuable and important to have, too. – Ash Brown

Chihayafuru, Vol. 11 | By Yuki Suetsugu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Mizusawa’s karuta club has earned a spot at the national tournament no matter what happens in their final match against Hokuou, though it’s still a disappointment when they don’t come away with the victory. Part of the problem is that Chihaya is looking ahead to her next game against Shinobu and spends the entire first half trying to improve her accuracy rather than relying on her real strength—having a higher number of “one-character cards” than anyone else. I love that her resulting funk is short-lived and that her perseverance also serves as an inspiration for her sister, who’s having a bit of a career crisis. After a nice bit of encouragement from the wind instruments club, the gang is off to nationals. I consistently love this series more with every volume and don’t foresee that ever changing. – Michelle Smith

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 5 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The joy of getting Falin back lasts for about five pages into this fifth volume, and I hope you weren’t looking forward to her as part of the team. But no, instead we get a new villain, the “Lunatic Magician,” who shows the reader what they had guessed all along—Falin came back wrong. Hopefully we’ll see more of her later, but for the moment our heroes have to go back to the surface—they’ve finally gone as far as they can living off the dungeon. We also meet a few other groups, some of whom are familiar with Laos and company, and learn that Laos and Falin are viewed as… rather creepy by everyone else in the area. The series is getting darker, but I’m still enjoying the places it’s going. – Sean Gaffney

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 8 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – The series proves to be very good at looking at multiple aspects of a long term, non-married relationship, and that’s good news for the reader but bad news for Asuka, who has to deal with her workplace hearing she’s involved, and thus demoting her as they expect her to leave to be a housewife. This is so very, very Japan and it’s sad that everyone treats it as “yeah, that’s what happens.” Asuka and Ryu try their best, but she’s also hammered on by the folks in the United States that they need Ryu to be there—and not with Asuka. As such, the end of this volume is sad but inevitable. Fortunately, it’s not the end of the series. This was a bit excruciating, but well told. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 23 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – This is the second volume in a row not to deal with the main Karasuno club, as we’re still playing out Nekoma’s match for the majority of the book. It’s a good match, but I must admit it does not exactly lend itself to new things to say in a review. Cool things happen, people learn about volleyball, their are heartfelt flashbacks, and eventually a team is the winner. The next volume definitely looks like it’s heading back to Kageyama, though, as he’s been picked as what sounds like the equivalent of an All-Pro. Can be do actual teamwork with a team other than his own, though? And what does Hinata feel about this? Fine out next time, same Haikyu-time, same Haikyu-channel. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 2 | By Maybe | Yen Press – There’s a bit of fanservice here, but for the most part Tales of Wedding Rings impresses me by not going for the obvious harem fantasy tropes. We travel to the country of the elves to meet the next princess (described in the blurb as well-endowed, presumably to separate her from the well-endowed main heroine). Unfortunately, Nefritis is a massive introvert with a fear of others, and her brother not only has a massive brother complex but also seems to have a hate-on for the ring bearer—the two may be connected. There’s some emotional scenes and a nice battle in among the cliches here, and while I’m expecting more well-endowed girls next time around, I still think this is worth your time. – Sean Gaffney

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, Vol. 4 | By Megumi Morino | Kodansha Comics – Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty has always been good, but I was not expecting so many feels. It all starts so well. Shizu has come so far as her true self, and has a lovely evening with Tetsu at the summer festival. Tetsu patches things up with Chihiro, whom we learn sees a lot of himself in Shizu. With Chihiro’s encouragement, Tetsu begins to ask the spirits occupying Shizu about their lingering regrets, hoping to maybe help them move on. It’s so hopeful! And then evil dad returns and we’re plunged into bleak darkness. Thankfully, it’s brief, as Tetsu has come to care too much about Shizu to let his guilt over being paid to befriend her keep him from helping her escape her dad’s clutches. Evil dad won’t be happy with this turn of events, but I personally can’t wait to see what happens next. – Michelle Smith

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 5

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

If I said that the pacing of the series had become glacial by the last volume, here it comes to a complete stop, as this is a selection of short stories designed to show off the cast and pad out the time before the new semester begins in Book 6 and the author is forced to actually advance the plot. From what I understand, the majority of this book was jettisoned from the first anime season except for the longest, most plot-relevant story, whi9ch makes sense. These are good character portraits, and show off Hachiman’s cynical yet on point analysis very well, but they aren’t really essential. They’re a meandering tale of a hot summer break. That said, we do finally have Hachiman connect the dots upon seeing the Yukinoshita limousine once more, so now all the participants know about his accident at the start of school. Getting Yukino to open up, though, will likely be another story.

Saika is featured on the cover as if he’s a heroine, which makes sense given that his short story basically involves asking Hachiman on a date. This allows the author do do his usual schtick, though fortunately Hachiman is not quite as bad as usual this time around. We also see Hachiman and his sister agree to babysit Yui’s dog while she’s on vacation, which allows us to see that Hachiman is actually quite a pet person. In fact, a lot of the se stories are good at pointing out that Hachiman has the ability to be kind and considerate, he just constantly undercuts it with everything he says. Indeed, Yui spells his personality right out to us, in another scene that makes the reader realize that she’s totally fallen for him, and is absolutely going to get her heart broken.

The story that did get adapted for the anime involves Yui inviting Hachiman to a fireworks festival (Komachi tricks him into accepting), and the evening that follows, which alternates between cute and awkward as Hachiman is constantly thinking of what normal people would do in a situation like this. I think it’s important to Hachiman that he disconnect himself from others like this – the ongoing use of (LOL) every time he says “normies” reads more like a verbal tic than a conscious choice. That said, the meat of this book is the scene at the fireworks with Yukino’s sister, who is in VIP seats, of course. Her scathing chat with Hachiman and Yui reminds us that Yukino was dragged home at the end of the previous book, and is almost completely absent from this one. The whole novel feels like it’s setting things up for an explosion once school starts.

Which is fine, though if the 6th book turns out to be marking time as well, I may throw my hands in the air. Sometimes you really do need forward development. It doesn’t help that the next book is not out till November, meaning a longer wait to find out if anything blows up. Still, fans of the series will want to get this to see what parts the anime left out, and as always reading Hachiman’s narration is an experience.

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 1

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By Yu Tomofuji. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Paul Starr.

I’ve been reading manga for quite some time now, and it’s long enough that I’m starting to see the new generation that grew up reading the old manga classics that I was reading a good twenty years ago. Japanese manga artists are not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve, and the readers seem far more forgiving of it than Western readers might (hi, Black Clover), especially if it’s simply influenced by and not straight up copying. I mention this because, while the story and characters are not really the same, there are moments at the start of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts where I read a scene and thought “yeah, I loved that scene in Fruits Basket as well”. This isn’t a criticism – it felt almost like a musical quotation that the guitar player would insert in the song, something that makes the reader nostalgic (well, as much as a reader wants to be nostalgic for one of the most abusive families in Furuba). Does the rest of the book hold up? For the most part, yes.

As you may have gathered, there’s a lot of Beauty and the Beast involved here as well. Our heroine is Sariphi, a girl of indeterminate age (more on that later) who is the latest human to be selected as a sacrifice to the King of Beasts, who rules over a land that is composed mostly of beastmen and women, with humans in a minority. Unlike most sacrifices, however, Sariphi is not terrified or furious, but rather endlessly curious and rather sweet – again, if you’re thinking of Tohru, you’re not far off. As with many Hakusensha series, the resolution of this dilemma is resolved in one chapter, then, when the series gets picked up, we get more chapters, as Sariphi and “Leanhart”, as she dubs the Beast King, learn more about each other and deal with the troublesome kingdom, which is very much anti-human and would rather Sariphi be sacrificed and the Beast King take a real queen. Oh yes, the Beast King wants to make Sariphi his Queen.

Let’s just say up front that Sariphi looks pretty damn young. That’s not exactly a red card by itself – Japanese manga is filled with heroines who look far younger than their actual age. But I’d like to hear what the actual age is, as this is a sweet romance between an adult Beast man (who changes into a hot bishie human every so often, of course) and our sacrificial protagonist, and a lot of my enjoyment of it will be dependent on her not being as much of a child as she looks. Of course, this is a Hana to Yume title, so any romance we get is not going to go further than the occasional kiss, but you know what I mean. Apart from that, I found this series to be a very good start. I like how most of the kingdom is not immediately won over by the power of Sariphi’s shininess – Anubis, the King’s servant, is looking to shape up to be a difficult antagonist, and I look forward to seeing how he will eventually fall in the face of that bright, innocent smile.

So to sum up: good new shoujo series, sweet girl and gruff but likeable beast man. If you liked Fruits Basket or Kamisama Kiss this might be up your alley.

Happiness, Vols. 4-7

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This review contains a few spoilers for later volumes of Happiness, and discusses one character’s efforts to cope with PTSD after a violent attack. Proceed with caution. 

The first three volumes of Shuzo Oshimi’s Happiness explore familiar terrain, using vampirism as a metaphor for the ravages of puberty, that moment when hormonal urges overwhelm the rational mind and the body morphs into its adult form. And while these early volumes contained some well-rehearsed scenes of bullying and bloodlust, Oshimi’s artwork — at once raw and refined, primitive and expressionist — made these moments feel strange, fresh, and specific to his story. One could feel fourteen-year-old Makoto Okazaki’s palpable anguish over being trapped in a body and a life he could no longer control, and wondered how he might escape his fate.

Volume four was a turning point in the series, culminating in a scene of frenzied violence in which a major character was killed, another forced into hiding, and a third — Gosho — badly wounded. The violence was grotesque in the Romantic sense of the word, a scene so horrific that it filled with reader with a strong sense of revulsion and pity. But a curious thing happened in the next installment: in the aftermath of this bloody cataclysm, Happiness became Gosho’s story. A time jump advanced the plot ten years into the future, showing us Gosho’s efforts to rebuild her life, one temp job at a time.

Though Gosho seems outwardly calm and self-possessed, her carefully constructed facade is shattered in volume six by a sensational newspaper headline: “Vampire Boy: Where Is He Now?” Oshimi captures Gosho’s experience of being triggered in all its nauseous horror; we can see a painful memory well up in Gosho, causing her to double over and fall to her knees as if she were trying to purge her body of all the fear and shame she’d experienced on that fateful night ten years ago. What makes this moment even more powerful is the skill with which Oshimi captures Gosho’s mounting terror through a series of closeups — first her face, then her eye, then the article itself, as her gaze darts across the page, lingering on a striking image or a suggestive snippet of text.

For all the emotional intensity of this moment, however, volume six is largely uneventful, focusing primarily on the tenative relationship between Gosho and Sudo, her co-worker. Much of their courtship unfolds in brief, wordless scenes depicting everyday activities: eating out, walking home from the train station, buying groceries. The normalcy of these vignettes suggests that Gosho has recovered from her anxiety attack — that is, until Gosho glimpses a boy who might be a vampire:

What makes this image so potent is its ambiguity: is it a figment of Gosho’s imagination, a flashback, or an actual vampire? We’re left feeling as unsettled as Gosho, and wonder what this bloody omen might mean.

That brings me to the hardest part of my review.

Despite the consummate skill and sensitivity with which volumes five and six explore Gosho’s psychic wounds, volume seven may be my last, primarily because I’m dismayed by Oshimi’s decision to further brutalize Gosho. In volume five, Gosho nearly died at the hands of a knife-wielding psychopath, an event that left her with an angry scar on her neck. The terror she felt, and the violence of the scene, seemed necessary at that juncture in the story, revealing the extent to which Gosho’s naivete, determination, and caring could be ruthlessly exploited by someone older and more experienced.

In volume seven, however, Gosho is captured by a cult leader who tortures her, mutilating her body and smearing it with her own menstrual blood. The violence in this scene is fundamentally sexual and, frankly, disgusting. One might argue that Oshimi is deliberately provoking the reader, making us complicit in Gosho’s exploitation, but nothing in Oshimi’s other work — Drifting Net Cafe, The Flowers of Evil — suggests that level of critical engagement with tropes. Instead, it feels as if Oshimi is using this violence as a shortcut, a way of revealing the cult leader’s depravity while providing Sudo motivation to seek revenge on behalf of his girlfriend. The scene also undermines Gosho’s agency — she broke into the cult’s compound looking for Okazaki — and dehumanizes her, reducing her womanhood to breasts and blood rather than her courage, intelligence, and determination to save a friend she hasn’t seen in a decade.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of reading and watching scenes like these, whether they serve a legitimate dramatic purpose or not. Oshimi’s undeniable artistry makes quitting Happiness an even more difficult decision for me, as I found his artwork and storytelling in the first six volumes compelling. (Hell, I’m quoted in the promotional literature for Happiness.) I don’t have the stomach for another scene of Gosho’s degradation, however, so I don’t think I’ll be reading volume eight.

HAPPINESS, VOLS. 3-7 • BY SHUZO OSHIMI • KODANSHA COMICS • RATED OT, FOR OLDER TEENS (VIOLENCE, PARTIAL NUDITY, SEXUALITY)