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Manga the Week of 3/14/18

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SEAN: Remember when the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month were smaller? (lol)

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Bookwalker has a 3rd volume of post-war baking adventures with The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

Cross Infinite World’s webnovel licenses are not normally on my radar, but I will admit to curiosity about their latest shoujo novel, Obsessions of an Otome Gamer.

Dark Horse gives us a 5th omnibus of Blade of the Immortal.

ASH: Some of the individual volumes have gone out of print and can be difficult to find, so the omnibus edition is a great way to collect the series now.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a debut next week. The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar. When the cover shows a smug Japanese teen sitting on a throne surrounded by women at his feet, you know what you’re in for.

MICHELLE: Pass.

SEAN: Kodansha Digital also has a debut next week. Starving Anonymous (Shokuryou Jinrui) is a post-apocalypse survival sort of series that runs in various Young Magazine spinoffs. It’s by the author of My Wife is Wakamatsu-san and Fort of Apocalypse. Expect it to be more like the latter.

There’s also new digital volumes for Aoba-kun’s Confessions (5), Grand Blue Dreaming (7), GTO Paradise Lost (6) (where has this been?), Kokkoku: Moment by Moment (6), Lovesick Ellie (4) and Tsuredure Children (8).

MICHELLE: I finally started Lovesick Ellie. It’s kind of refreshing to have a heroine so openly lustful.

SEAN: Print-wise, Genshiken 2nd Season finally comes to a close with its 12th volume. As a sequel it wasn’t as good as the original, but I’ll still stick around to the end.

ASH: I need to catch up with it, but there are elements in the series that I really appreciate.

SEAN: There’s also, in print, Land of the Lustrous 5, The Seven Deadly Sins 25, To Your Eternity 3, and UQ Holder 13.

ASH: Both Land of the Lustrous and To Your Eternity are beautiful and devastating works, though each in their own way.

SEAN: One Peace has a 7th volume of Kuma Miko.

Seven Seas debuts the Arifureta manga, which from what I understand is not quiet as well received as the novel, but should please those of you who prefer that format.

They also have Devilman vs. Hades 1, which seems like it might be workplace violence judging from the title.

ASH: I’m certainly curious about this Devilman and Mazinger Z spinoff!

SEAN: Lastly, there’s Sorry for My Familiar (Uchi no Tsukaima ga Sumimasen), a good! Afternoon series (so yes, Seven Seas can license Kodansha too) about a demon girl and her middle-aged man. The man is the familiar.

Seven Seas also has a 4th Girl from the Other Side (yay!) and a 13th Monster Musume (whee).

MICHELLE: Yay for Girl from the Other Side.

ASH: Girl from the Other Side remains one of my favorite series currently being released; it’s tremendous.

ANNA: I haven’t read the 3rd volume of this yet, but I am excited for another!

SEAN: SuBLime has a 7th volume of Blue Morning.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I didn’t know this was coming out. I enjoy Blue Morning.

ASH: The series is so good!

SEAN: Vertical gives us more Gundam Wing with a 5th volume.

Viz has a 3rd volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a 26th Rin-Ne, and a 2nd Splatoon.

And Yen Press gives us a 15th Barakamon and a 9th Prison School omnibus. Don’t get them mixed up.

MICHELLE: I probably say every time that I will eventually read Barakamon, but it’s still true. I even moved volume one to a different stack recently!

SEAN: So what will you be picking up?

Voices of a Distant Star

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By Makoto Shinkai and Mizu Sahara. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Melissa Tanaka.

Of the various horrifying secrets I have, “has never seen a Makoto Shinkai anime” surely must rank among the largest. But it’s true. I’ve gradually stopped watching a lot of anime anyway, and what I do watch does not tend to fall into the introspective mode that Shinkai does so well. So, just like your name and The Garden of Words, I am coming into reading Voices of a Distant Star as someone unfamiliar with the original anime. Indeed, I never read the manga when it came out from Tokyopop back in 2006. But now I have read it and, as with most things Shinkai has been in charge of, I’m glad I did. The plot is slight, and the characters fairly easy to understand. but that’s because it’s going for a feeling that most of us know only too well, even if it’s couching it in the language of science fiction and time dilation.

We open on two middle school friends who clearly want to be more than friends. There’s just one problem. One of them has been chosen to go into space to help fight aliens, meaning they’ll be separated. But that’s OK – they have email! Unfortunately, this is a more realistic version of space travel, meaning that as time passes and the interstellar distances get longer, the communication gets leagues more difficult. Can their budding love stand the test of both time and space? Now, of course, what makes this even more interesting is that the pilot who’s been recruited is the girl, Mikako, and it’s her friend Noboru who’s staying behind on Earth, trying to live the live that she wanted to live and figure out what he wants to do next. Mikako gets a lot more to do, meeting fellow pilots, then losing them just as quickly, and also discovering the crushing loneliness that comes from a mission like this. Is this another Shinkai title with a bittersweet ending?

Well, no, it gets to be more sweet than bitter, though as you might expect the emphasis is on the ambiguity. In fact, from what I understand the manga actually made things clearer and more explicit (the manga seems to have expanded things a lot from the original anime, which was quite short). This is a one-volume manga, and it’s just the right length to let readers feel the ache of the story it’s telling without wallowing too much in it. The emotions are what we’re here for, adn they’re excellent. Noboru’s most stoic endurance cracking near the end, and Mikako’s love seemingly growing stronger the farther away from him she gets. I will admit that I wasn’t thrilled with the alien invasion subplot, which felt more like an excuse to put some action – any action – in a story that could just as easily have been about Mikako on a space exploration flight.

This is a quiet, emotionally devastating but ultimately uplifting story, and you really like the two kids even when they’re questioning themselves and their own feelings. It’s well worth the read.

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 2

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The first volume of The Promised Neverland was a masterclass in how to launch a series: the plotting was intricate but the brisk pacing and well-timed twists prevented an exposition-heavy story from sagging under the weight of its own ambition. Of necessity, volume two unfurls at a slower clip than the first, as the principal trio of Emma, Ray, and Norman work through the logistics of escaping Gracefield Manor, weighing the pros and cons of each element in their intricate plan. Kaiu Shirai also expands the cast to include other stakeholders, dedicating several chapters to Krone, Mother’s new subordinate, and Don and Gilda, two high-achieving students who haven’t yet learned the true purpose of Gracefield Manor.

These character moments are one of the great strengths of volume two. Krone, for example, turns out to be more resourceful than we might have guessed from her brief introduction in volume one; Shirai and Posuka Demizu use a woodland game of tag to reveal Krone’s formidable strength, speed, and cunning, establishing her as yet another major obstacle to escape. In other passages, Shirai peels away the outer layers of her principal characters, complicating the reader’s understanding of who they are, what motivates them to escape, and with whom their true allegiance lies — a necessary corrective to the first volume, which portrayed Emma, Ray, and Norman as just a little too smart, too capable, and too thoughtful to fully register as twelve-year-olds.

Volume two hits an occasional speed bump when characters discuss the escape plan. One overly deliberate scene, for example, finds Roy and Norman in full Scooby Doo mode, explaining how they figured out there was a mole among the residents. And volume two’s physical depiction of Krone is, frankly, uncomfortable, as some of her facial features have been exaggerated in ways that recall the iconography of blackface minstrelsy. Despite these lapses, The Promised Neverland remains suspenseful thanks, in no small part, to Demizu’s brief but horrific dream sequences; these suggestive images — a swirl of bodies, teeth, and monstrous eyes — provide a potent reminder of what’s at stake if the kids don’t escape Mother’s clutches.

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 2
Story by Kaiu Shirai, Art by Posuka Demizu
Translated by Satsuki Yamashita
VIZ Media; 192 pp.
Rated T, for Teen

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 5

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Liv Sommerlot.

Jealousy tends to be pervasive in the DanMachi series. Some of it stems from people being jealous of Bell’s power and the time he took to achieve it – Aiz falls into this category best. But sometimes it’s simply “I am in love with this person and have not confessed but am simply pining for them, and how DARE they look at that other person and not me?”. It’s very common, very ugly, and very realistic. That said, authors who write it into their series almost always expect readers to be amused by the antics of the jealous person, and in reality I tend to find that the reader ends up thoroughly pissed off instead. I’m not just talking about others here – Hestia’s jealousy of anyone coming near Bell is one of her biggest faults, and I don’t like the author hammering on it. The same applies to Lefiya in this side series. Unfortunately, this volume has few fights and a lot of jealousy.

Most of this 5th volume of Sword Oratoria aligns with the 5th volume of the main series, meaning we’re on the 18th Floor and having a rest. Loki’s team is coming back from their attempt on the 59th floor from the last book; Bell and company are coming down from their own disastrous mission. Aiz takes something of a backseat here, though there is some interesting discussion of her background and possible origins now that the Loki team can use Bell as a walking Wikipedia, as he’s read and memorized the most detailed and unexpurgated version of the myths and legends they all know. There’s also an amusing reminder that most of the elves we’ve dealt with in this series are not your typical sort, and that the proud, haughty elf is meant to be the norm. And of course we get the “backside” to all the DanMachi scenes from Book 5, including Hestia’s arrival (though the Loki cast leaves before the rest of that book happens.)

But most of what the reader will focus on is Lefiya’s insane jealousy of Bell, which goes up to eleven in this book and also gets them into big trouble when she chases after him in such a rage that they both get lost in the middle of the vast floor forest. These scenes are meant to show Lefiya that Bell is not the evil lothario she might expect him to be – inde3ed, like Aiz, she’s started to boggle in disbelief at how skilled he has gotten in such a short time. They also do work together well when pressured to, and Lefiya is able to forego her jealousy in a crisis. Still, I’m going to be honest, Lefiya’s obsession with Aiz is bad for her character. I thin k the author knows this, which is why she’s playing up Lefiya’s relationship with Filvis as well, which is far healthier and more grounded in mutual admiration and respect.

I think this is overall a volume with more positives than negatives, and of course there is also development of Sword Oratoria’s main plot with the Evils. If you are a Danmachi reader who dislikes “girl is jealous of other girls getting along with her crush” stories, though, be advised this volume wallows in it.

Psycome: A Murderer and the Deadly Love Affair

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By Mizuki Mizushiro and Namanie. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The final volume of Psycome features something that previous volumes had been trying rather hard to avoid. For a series that starred a school full of teenage murderers, and innumerable theoretical murder attempts, there were very few actual murders among the cast members. That changes here, and while it’s not much of a spoiler to say that the main cast we’ve grown most familiar with are pretty safe, several of the antagonists we met in the athletic festival book meet a rather grisly end. It’s a good reminder of the basic premise of the series, something that Kyousuke and Ayaka need to accept: they are not here for the same reason as everyone else. They are not murderers. Nor is Eiri, our failed assassin, though she comes pretty close here. The rest of the students are, even Maina, whose murders may be accidental but they definitely exist. Kyousuke and Ayaka don’t belong here. And so we get the premise of this final volume, where they’re offered a battle in order to leave the school – get to the other end of the grounds while trying not to get killed.

We do finally meet Kyousuke and Ayaka’s parents in this volume. Honestly, they’re sort of exactly what I was expecting. I was more uncomfortable with the fact that they’re basically an older Kyousuke and Ayaka, only as husband and wife – Ayaka and Kyousuke’s brother/sister complexes have not been my favorite source of humor in this series, thank you very much. (Fortunately, by the end of the book, Ayaka at least seems to be moving on a bit.) Most of Kyousuke’s main “harem” is there to help him escape, even ones who seemingly are on the side of the school, like Shamaya, who is as foul-mouthed as ever. Maina’s big moment may seem a bit out of character, frankly, but it was nicely dramatic, though I wanted to see the fight itself. And then there’s Renko, who Kyousuke admits that he loves, and she loves him – but she wants to kill him, and he doesn’t love her enough that he’ll let her do this.

In the end, though, the winning girl is unsurprising, given Renko’s origins and basic personality. Eiri is a type, but it’s a good example of the type, and she’s grown up a bit in this series too – despite all of the yawning and tch-ing she does in this book, possibly a new record for her, she’s now able to admit her feelings, get her man, and also start a career as a supermodel almost without effort. Good for her. (I am less fond of the implied love between Kurumiya and Mohawk, which manages to combine about four different types of love affairs that make me uncomfortable. That said, it’s always been played for broad comedy, so even its “dramatic” ending made me laugh a bit.)

Sadly for fans who are always desperate for sex in their light novels, the book ends just before Kyousuke and Eiri consummate their love, though it’s implied. There’s also an implied observer of their covert love affair at the end, who the author admits might be Renko if readers want. Insert threesome fanfic here, I guess. There’s also a volume of short stories mentioned by the author that’s also coming out, though I suspect that may be in Japan only.

Psycome was always a surprise light novel license because it lacked other tie-ins – there’s no manga adaptation that I know of, and it never got an anime. Give the sheer amount of brutal, mostly comedic but sometimes serious violence scattered throughout the book, I can’t be surprised it stayed as a book series. But I’m pleased Yen picked it up. It grew on me book by book and I really came to enjoy the cast and their situation. The plot of this book echoes my point of view – it’s time to end it, but… it’s been really fun, hasn’t it?

Anonymous Noise, Vol 6

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Anonymous Noise, Volume 6 by Ryoko Fukuyama

Anonymous Noise, sometimes I find this series a little infuriating because I’m not fond of the dynamics in the Nino-Yuzu-Momo love triangle, where Nino as muse gets bounced back and forth between two songwriters while everyone keeps hiding their feelings for various reasons. On the other hand this series does bring a regular dose of rock band drama, which I do appreciate. I found this volume more entertaining, probably because there was a bit more focus on the supporting cast. This volume starts out with the aftermath of the In No Hurry vs Silent Black Kitty battle of the bands, where Nino runs after Momo, gets rejected, Yuzu shows up to pick up the pieces, and then decides to lie about his feelings again.

Momo vanishes and Nino’s psychosomatic reaction is to have difficulty singing again, but she does hang out Miou a little bit, which I am taking as an indication that my dream ending for the series, where Momo and Miou forswear all men to launch an all girl band is totally going to happen. One thing that I was quite thrilled with is that Miou finally decides to take a chance on Haruyoshi, who has been pursuing her forever. Nino is determined to get back her voice, and Yuzu and Momo are dealing with their obsessions in their own way, as Yuzu buries himself in songwriting, and Momo attempts to get Yuzu to slip one of his songs to Nino. The circular nature of the love triangle leads back to Nino yet again having to choose between the two songwriters.

I don’t know, as I put down this volume I found myself much more invested in the Miou/Haruyoshi romance, because it at least seems to be progressing somewhere! I still read this for the reliable angst and rock band poses, but I would really really like to see a little more progression for the main characters. Also, I miss cranky Nino, and hope she will manifest the snarkiness she exhibited during her band’s radio interview. Will that happen in volume 7????


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Beasts of Abigaile, Vols. 1-2

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By Spica Aoki | Published by Seven Seas

After having been bullied in school back home in Japan, Tsukishiro Nina comes to live with her uncle in the tiny principality of Ruberia, famous for its roses. Outwardly, it’s an affluent place, but Nina soon learns—after being bitten by a luga and taking on some of their characteristics—that wolf-like people known as luga serve as slave labor for the humans in Ruberia, and that young luga are all rounded up and sent to an island prison/school called Abigaile, where they learn how to serve humans. Nina is sent there after her transformation and must try to blend in, because if the other luga find out she’s human, they’ll turn on her.

I wasn’t sure I would like this at first because Nina’s character blurb contains the phrase “sometimes lets her emotions drive her to dangerous behavior,” which is definitely not my favorite personality type. And, it’s true, she does require a bit of rescuing due to her impulsive actions, usually by handsome luga named Gilles (who’s on the student council and seemingly devoted to its mysterious president) and Dario (the effeminate alpha who dreams of becoming a fashion designer). However, I like that, because she comes from a place where teenagers are able to pursue their aspirations, she becomes determined that the luga should have the same right, and thus wants to unite them and get them out of there.

That said, Nina is actually the least interesting character to me. I probably shouldn’t like Roy, the luga who bit her and who is the alpha of the most dangerous “home” (basically a pack) in Abigaile. He enjoys tormenting Nina but he’s definitely the most fascinating character so far, especially when we learn at the end of volume two that he himself had hoped to unite the luga but couldn’t. Nina and Roy actually remind me of Clarke and Bellamy in The 100—two teens who emerged as leaders from among a disenfranchised group of youth who disagree with each other’s methods, but if they could trust each other and become a team, then they might really have a chance. (Granted, I haven’t seen more than a handful of episodes at this point.) I like that dynamic between them and look forward to Roy eventually coming to trust Nina.

Meanwhile, Roy’s “beta,” Eva, is possessive of him in the extreme and jealous of Nina, so contrives to attack and/or expose her at every turn. She’s a great antagonist because her motives are so strong, and by the end of volume two she’s convinced Poe, a lowly “omega” whom Nina has been trying hard to protect, to turn on Nina and deliver unto her the rose perfume that disguises Nina’s human scent. Dun dun dun!

In addition to hoping Roy and Nina team up and successfully escape Abigaile, there are some other plot points I hope get fleshed out. What’s the deal with the student council president? Why is the chief instructor such a bishounen? Surely the mangaka wouldn’t waste such a character design on someone who wasn’t going to be significant down the road. And, perhaps most importantly, why did being bit by Roy cause Nina to take on luga characteristics, when that never happened to any of the other humans he’s bitten?

I’m glad I took a chance on this one.

Beasts of Abigaile is ongoing in Japan, where three volumes have been released so far. The third comes out in English on Tuesday.

Review copy for volume one provided by the publisher.

Yona of the Dawn Vol. 10

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 10 by Mizuho Kusanagi

It is a sign of a good long-running fantasy series, when at 10 volumes in I feel like the story is barely getting started and I just want it to go on forever! Part of the reason why I’m finding this manga so compelling to read is the inherent niceness of the characters. It might be cheesy, but this manga helps me maintain some hope for humanity. Yona’s ability to spread compassion throughout her immediate surroundings by demonstrating her own compassion gets featured often in Yona of the Dawn, but each time it is with a special twist that has me immediately captivated.

In this case, the target of Yona’s transformation through compassion is Kang Tae-Jun, second son of the fire chief and all around unpleasant person, as shown in his actions in earlier volumes when he thought he killed Yona by throwing her off a cliff. His obsession has continued, and he’s consumed with guilt when he realizes that Yona might be in the company of the fearsome bandits that are occupying a village. Tae-Jun’s trauma is played for laughs at first, as he lingers in bed and plots to return to Katan village where he thought he heard Yona’s voice. He declares that he finally has a reason for living and his men are bewildered, but supportive. Tae-Jun’s undercover attempts involve an inept disguise as a commoner. When he encounters members of Yona’s band, he assumes that they are evil, but they scoop him up and take him for medical treatment.

Tae-Jun learns that conditions in the town for the citizens are terrible, and the things he’s been told about the lands of the Fire Tribe were lies. Tae-Jun’s encounter with an enigmatic Hak is hilarious, as Hak maintains an enigmatic expression while Tae-Jun is inwardly dying as he realizes that he’s sharing a fire with the dreaded “Thunder Beast”. Kusanagi could teach a master class in drawing overwrought facial expressions as Tae-Jun goes through such an extreme of emotions in this volume. When Tae-Jun finally encounters Yona, she forgives him, and he then decides on a covert campaign to improve the lives of the Katan villagers, while leveraging the resources of the military under his command. Tae Jun keeps helping more and more, until he’s been transformed in his outlook and abilities by the end of the volume. This was a satisfying, more self-contained volume of Yona of the Dawn, but it seems clear that another adventure is about to begin. I’m excited to see what happens next for Yona and her band of mystical warriors.

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Venice

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Venice — one of the last projects Jiro Taniguchi completed before his death in 2017 — is perhaps the most beautiful work he produced, a paean not only to the great Italian city, but to his own superb command of light, color, and line. Rendered in watercolor and ink, Venice‘s subtle palette and expansive treatment of the page are reminiscent of Taniguchi’s Guardians of the Louvre, while its premise recalls The Walking Man, Furari, and The Solitary Gourmet, three manga in which an unnamed male character strolls through the thoroughfares and byways of a major city, stopping to admire a blossoming tree or duck into an unassuming noodle shop.

Taniguchi makes an agreeable guide to Venice, frequently pausing to luxuriate in the very places that a visitor would find most charming: an outdoor marketplace filled with fruit and vegetable vendors, a moonlit promenade dotted with strolling couples, a faded but elegant hotel. Though Taniguchi renders these locations with the utmost precision, his most striking images are of canals and harbors. He captures the play of light on water with the same authority as a great maritime painter like Homer Winslow, using a watercolor palette of greens, blues, grays, blacks, and pinks to pinpoint the time of day and weather, as well as the tide — a small but potent reminder of Venice’s precarious relationship with the sea.

Though framed as a travelogue, Venice also explores similar thematic terrain as Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood. Like the protagonist of Neighborhood, the Venetian wanderer is a middle-aged man making sense of his family’s past, a quest triggered by the discovery of a small lacquer box among his late mother’s possessions. A single image — a photo of a dapper Japanese couple feeding pigeons at the San Marco Piazza — leads him to Venice, where he retraces the couple’s steps. Taniguchi handles the mystery in an elegant fashion, eschewing pointed dialogue or voice-overs in favor of evocative imagery: a sepia-toned portrait of a family, a hand-drawn postcard of the Grand Canal. By focusing on these artifacts, Taniguchi provides just enough information for the reader to figure out who this young couple was without baldly explaining what drove them apart; only a brief inscription on the back of a postcard suggests the length and anguish of the couple’s separation.

These temporal shifts in the narrative are echoed in the way Taniguchi draws Venice itself. On several pages, for example, Taniguchi shows us familiar Venetian streetscapes as they looked in the 1930s, when the mystery couple lived there. On other pages, Taniguchi achieves a similar effect through the juxtaposition of the traditional with the modern: kayakers bob alongside gondoliers, floating past Renaissance merchants’ grand homes, while the mouth of the Canal de la Galeazze frames the arrival of a giant cruise ship. (In a nice touch, Taniguchi tracks the ocean liner’s stately progress over several panels, allowing us to appreciate its enormous size and sleek lines.) Even the most prosaic scenes emphasize the degree to which Venetians’ daily routines are shaped by its lengthy history; we see young children in baseball jackets sipping water from a fountain built in the 17th century and dog walkers chatting in the shadow of Venice’s great Campanille, unawed or unaware of these landmarks’ significance.

And while such sensuous images are fundamental to Venice‘s appeal, Taniguchi does more than recreate Venice’s great architecture; he conveys the rhythms and emotions of a journey, the experience of savoring new places while realizing in the moment that the place where you stand will be different the next time you visit. He evokes the curious sensation of déjà vu you experience in an unfamiliar city, as you see small elements of your own life reflected in the way that strangers live theirs. And he conveys the profound sense of discovery that comes from visiting a place that holds significance for a parent, lover, or friend, as you see the landscape through their eyes for the first time. That Taniguchi evokes these emotions primarily through the artful use of color and detail, rather than character development or dialogue, is testament to the depth of his artistry. Highly recommended.

For more insight into Venice, I encourage you to watch this brief video in which Taniguchi discusses the genesis of the story, and how he created some of the book’s most arresting images:

VENICE • BY JIRO TANIGUCHI • FANFARE/PONENT MON • NO RATING • 128 pp. 

A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 14

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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.

It’s hard, as this series goes on, not to feel that we are headed towards a certain point of no return. Indeed, Touma’s job in this book is to try to stop the world from descending into total war, and he only just manages to keep it in check. Both sides, magic and science, are clearly cruising for a bruising, so to speak, and I’m pretty sure that eventually there’s going to be no way to stop everything blowing up. This time around the French city of Avignon is completely destroyed, and though there are attempts to try to say “oh, they’re only knocking people unconscious”, there’s clearly significant innocent casualties. This is not helped by the Roman Cathol… Orthodox Church’s mid control weapon, or the fact that Touma and Accelerator are both used here as the equivalent of nuclear weapons dropped on the enemy. Despite Touma’s best efforts, things are getting worse, not better.

Introduced in this volume: Suama Oyafune, Monaka Oyafume. Terra of the Left also makes his first proper appearance here, though of course it’s also his last. We’re into October now, 3 months after the start of the Index series. Since the last book the Railgun cast has been busy, as most of the Dream Ranker arc has happened, and Saten and Frenda have continued to bond and become good friends. This assumes that you ignore the actual text of Index 14, in which Mikoto sees Uiharu and thinks “oh, that friend of Kuroko’s I don’t know”. On the bright side, in real life, the Index and Railgun mangas have both started, meaning hopefully that continuity will start to match up with them. And don’t worry, Uiharu, I bet you get a big scene soon! We’ve also seen the first Index short story collection come out. These sadly are not licensed by Yen, which is a shame, as sometimes they tie into the plot of the main storyline more than most short story collections. More on that next time. And, most significantly, this is the first volume that has not been made into an anime.

As for this book, Index is completely absent, and it’s Itsuwa who plays the heroine, as you might have guessed from the cover. Aside from the hand towel joke, which has already gotten old (as with almost all jokes the author attempts), I quite like Itsuwa. She’s capable, cute, and clearly meant to contrast with all the girls Touma knows who get angry and hit him at the drop of a hat. When he points out her top has become see-through due to rescuing him from a river, she just blushes and rushes off to change. No surprise that she rapidly became a fan favorite, and we’ll see her back soon. Tsuchimikado is also around in this book, mostly serving as Touma’s backup and deliverer of exposition, although we’ve reached the point in the series where Touma can figure most things out on his own. The plot is, to be honest, slight. Touma is sent to stop a magical maguffin that is causing Roman Orthodox believers to riot and want to destroy Academy City. He does, eventually. The end.

That said, there are important things going on here, not least of which is realizing that Touma’s last name, Kamijou, may be a lot more significant than we had previously expected. Touma’s right hand power, Imagine Breaker, is clearly a giant mystery still, and he hasn’t harnessed most of its power. Terra fo the Left implies that he knew more about it before the memory loss, but I’m not really sure that’s the case. More importantly, thanks to accidentally leaving his cell phone on during a battle, Mikoto also now knows about his memory loss – but not WHEN it happened. Given that she’s been worried lately that he’s been ignoring her, I suspect she thinks he may have forgotten the Sisters arc.

In any case, it looks as if Acqua of the Back, who has proven to be the most reasonable of the antagonists du jour, is up next. Before that, however, we’ll flip back to the Science side, which is having its own chaotic power struggles. Index fans will enjoy this one, although I suspect most of them are looking towards the next volume…

Manga the Week of 3/7/18

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SEAN: We continue to bring you Manga the Week of, despite the danger of last-minute announcements from Kodansha, despite the near-constant release date shifts from Yen Press. We are here for you, the reader.

Dark Horse has the 4th volume of that Psycho Pass prequel, Inspector Shinya Kogami.

Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of Yokai Girls, which considering its genre I found better than expected.

It’s a J-Novel Club release bonanza next week. We get a 5th Arifureta, a 7th In Another World with My Smartphone, a 5th Infinite Dendrogram, and a 10th Invaders of the Rokujouma?!. Something for everyone.

Kodansha has some print novels next week. They’ve got a 2nd hardcover of their re-release of Battle Angel Alita in a Deluxe Edition. (No, she’s still not Gally. Why confuse readers now?) and a 4th volume of Frau Faust.

MICHELLE: Yay, Frau Faust!

ASH: Indeed! I know a lot of people who are very excited about the deluxe edition of Battle Angel Alita, too.

SEAN: There’s also ongoing digital series, with Ace of the Diamond 9, All-Rounder Meguru 6, Black Panther and Sweet 16 7, Drifting Dragons 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 19.

MICHELLE: I do so love Ace of the Diamond.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us 3rd volumes of more interesting than I expected Beasts of Abigaile, and less interesting than I expected Red Riding Hood and the Big Sad Wolf (this may be the final volume of the latter).

Vertical has a 10th Devils’ Line.

And the rest is Viz, I’d normally say, but we do have some Yen holdouts at the end. For Viz, though, there’s lots of fun stuff.

On the shonen front, we have Astra: Lost in Space 2, Bleach 72, Boruto 3, Haikyu!! 21, Hunter x Hunter 34 (yes, it still exists), One Piece’s 23rd 3-in-1, One-Punch Man 13, And Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V 3, which is still a very awkward title.

MICHELLE: I’ve missed One-Punch Man.

ASH: I’m probably most excited for more One-Punch Man and Haikyu!!.

ANNA: Haikyu!! is a favorite in my household, and I need to get caught up on One-Punch Man.

SEAN: Seinen debuts! Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai – Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen) is a Weekly Young Jump comedy/drama about two student council members who have fallen for each other but are determined NOT to be the first to admit it. I am looking forward to this one a lot.

Ongoing shoujo series include Anonymous Noise 7, Bloody Mary 10 (another final volume, I believe), The Demon Prince of Momochi House 11, Queen’s Quality 3, and Skip Beat! 40. (Is Skip Beat North America’s longest shoujo manga by now?)

MICHELLE: Yes, it has surpassed Boys Over Flowers, which had 37.

ASH: Lots of great shoujo coming out next week! I have some catching up to do.

ANNA: Very excited for shoujo!!!!

SEAN: Shoujo debuts! The Young Master’s Revenge (Kimi no Koto nado Zettai ni) is a LaLa series by Meca Tanaka, author of Meteor Prince and the “whoops, schoolteacher romance, can’t license this” series Faster Than a Kiss. A young man had a childhood where he was run ragged by his childhood friend. He’s now back to take revenge on her… but are things still the same?

MICHELLE: And a couple of older series like Omukae desu. and Pearl Pink. I haven’t read those yet, but I did enjoy Meteor Prince.

ANNA: I have Pearl Pink stockpiled somewhere in my house, but haven’t read it yet. Am looking forward to this series.

SEAN: We also have some Yen runoff from February… in fact, we’ll be having that all month. BTOOOM! is up to Vol. 20. Sigh. Dimension W is at 9, there’s a 7th Today’s Cerberus, and a 12th Trinity Seven.

Yen’s debut next week is Tales of Wedding Rings, which has already been running digitally on Crunchyroll. It appears to be a standard high school romance, but isn’t. Think fantasy with lots of fanservice. It runs in Big Gangan, so falls under seinen.

March is coming in like a lion! (though alas, March Comes in Like a Lion remains unlicensed). What are you getting?

Again!!, Vol. 1

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By Mitsurou Kubo. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Rose Padgett.

Yuri!! on Ice was a bit of a phenomenon, not just here but worldwide. But yes, also here, which is why we’re seeing two series that are by the writer of the famous ice skating anime. Again!! is the less surprising of the two licenses, though its subject matter means that it was fairly easily passed over back in the 2011-12 days when it was coming out weekly. (The other series, Moteki, is an even more unlikely license, but we’ll get to that when it comes out.) Again!! actually has a premise that seemingly would be quite popular over here: a young man with a scary face who has gone through high school with minimal interaction with people is graduating, having accomplished very few happy high school memories. He recalls the club that he was asked to join (but never did) when he started school, and goes to look at its now deserted clubroom, as the club died that year. While there, he accidentally terrifies a young girl who’s there to see her boyfriend, and she falls down a stairwell and cracks her head open. He then slips on a graduation bouquet and joins her.

The End! OK, not the end. He wakes up and suddenly begins to realize he’s back three years in the past, and is starting his school life all over again. Thinking this is a dream of some sort, he runs across the girl who invited him to join her club back then, and this time tries to give a different answer. And here we come to the elephant in the room: the club is an ouendan club. This is likely why the series was not licensed until YOI took off, as even fans of Elite Beat Agents may not have heard of ouendan. Kodansha’s notes list it as being sort of like a pep squad, and that’s not a bad analogy. Its members are usually male, but Usami, the lone remaining member, is a young girl. Now, if you’re thinking that this is going to be a sweet, heartwarming manga about a boy who rapidly discovers a love for ouendan and life that he never thought he had… well, it still could be, I suppose. But this first volume is here to tell you things will not be that simple. Usami is a hot mess with a difficult past, and it’s easy to see from ten seconds in her presence why the club died. Also, time travel is not as easy as it sounds, as both Imamura (our hero) and Fujieda (the girl who also fell down the stairs and went back in time, who is a walking disaster and the funniest part of the manga) discover. Oh yes, and the cheerleading squad leader is determined the end the ouendan.

This may not end up being my sort of manga – it relies somewhat on “watch people do embarrassing things” scenes that always make me cringe – but it’s absolutely compelling, and the lead manages to hold my interest despite being another in a long line of “guys with scary faces who aren’t really that scary”. I also do wonder how the time travel part is going to work out – is it just a one-way road? And can anyone convince Usami to turn the intenseness down to about an 8? There’s a lot developing here, but the series ran for twelve volumes in Japan, which seems to me just about the right length for a series like this. If you liked Yuri!! on Ice, you’ll obviously want to check this out, but it also appeals to readers with a taste for the quirky.

[New Life+] Young Again in Another World, Vol. 1

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By Mine and Kabocha. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by David Teng.

This was the first of two new licenses from J-Novel Club where my reaction was somewhat… muted, shall we say? The description of New Life Plus (Which is how I’ll be abbreviating it) did not really make it stand out among the Smartphones of this world. And as I began to read it, I started to tick off the usual isekai boxes. Here’s God, yup. Somewhat eccentric – in this case, God’s given herself the body and personality of a hyperactive young girl. Lead who has been chosen to go to another world for vague reasons. He ends up stupidly overpowered because God doesn’t really pay attention well, so that’s in order. He rescues two girls from attempted assault by the male companions they were traveling with, and then helps to stave off a goblin raid (goblins, check). Finally, after arriving at the adventurer’s guild (check) and getting ID cards (check), he is convinced to join the two girls on their adventures, against his better judgment. Check. Sigh.

I will break this down into bad and good again, though in this case it’s more bad and “has potential”. A lot – in fact, the majority – of J-Novel Club’s series are light novels that were originally on the internet as self-published web novels, but I don’t think I’ve seen a single series where it’s more obvious than this one. The writing quality is highly variable, to the point where I was actually wishing it was worse in places just so that it would be more consistent. Our hero is the ‘grim, realistic” sort as opposed to the “kind, helpful” and “perverted but doesn’t do anything” sorts, which sadly means I started to compare him to the hero of Death March. It’s never a good sign when you’re trying to clear Death March’s low bar. The author also has a running gag where he (the lead character, but also the author) gets lost in describing the immense breasts of one of the characters – in fact, at one point he seems to get so lost that he starts mixing up the names. The book also does that webnovel thing where it enjoys making fun of isekai tropes, but never quite does it enough to make it a deliberate satire – it’s having its cake and eating it too.

Am I dropping the series? No, at least not yet. Why? Well, there were one or two moments where I genuinely laughed out loud, I will admit. These usually involved the eccentric God or the “so naive it’s bordering on hilarious” adventurer Shion Femme-Fatale, whose name alone made me slap my head. The gimmick – our hero was a former Chinese Mafia assassin and wartime hero who killed 5000 men with his sword, founded schools of fighting, and died peacefully at 94, THEN was reincarnated in another world – is a clever one, though I’d be more impressed if God hadn’t wiped his memories of his life on Earth. But yeah, mostly I’m reading this because of that one character type I really like. Rona Chevalier (take a wild guess what her secret is) is the owner of the large breasts I mentioned before, but I was far more interested in her as a scheming, intelligent woman whose “I’m not angry” face is absolutely terrifying. She is able to convince our hero that keeping Shion’s naivete from killing her is more than a one-person job. Basically, the two women in the cast are far more interesting than the male lead. Not uncommon in isekai, but I liked Rona enough that I will try the second volume.

This is now up to 17+ volumes in Japan, and I am hoping that as the writer gains more experience – or perhaps better editors – it settles down a bit and reads less like “I am typing words and then immediately posting them, done”. If you enjoy isekai, give it a shot. The cast oddly made me think of Library Wars – If you wanted to see Iku and Shibasaki fighting fantasy adventures with a super-powered Doujima at their side, this is definitely the book for you.

Also, illustrator, if the author describes the hero’s face as perfectly average, try not to make it so that you look at the cover and want to punch him.

One Piece, Vol. 85

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

It goes without saying that the revelation about Charlotte Pudding in this volume does not come as a complete surprise. It will also not come as a surprise to me if she reverts later on, as Oda’s general treatment of women has gotten a lot more sexist and predictable over the years. The best thing about said revelation is Sanji’s reaction from outside the building, which is a simple grim silence. Oda’s panels can verge on chaos much of the time, and certainly do here, from Luffy trying to rip his hands off in order to escape to Chopper and Carrot’s pell-mell running through the mirrors, everything is traveling at 100MPH. So when Oda pauses to let a scene breathe, it has that much more impact. Charlotte’s ability is also a clever use of Devil Fruit to make what amounts to “memory erasure” look cool and also creepy at the same time. I tend to read One Piece slowly because little details always matter in it.

Reading One Piece slowly also helps you to notice the repeated themes Oda uses in his work, though to be fair this theme could be noticed from quite a ways away. Like Nami in the Arlong Park arc, and like Robin in the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji is desperate to get everyone to abandon him and save themselves. And of course when Luffy confronts him about it, his response is the same as the others: yes, I want to go with you. Please save me. I’m not entirely certain how many of the Vinsmokes are actually going to survive this arc, particularly after learning what Big Mom’s real wedding plans are. As I’ve said before, Reiju has “tragic sacrifice” written all over here. Still, I’m confident Sanji will survive, as he is a crew member. Speaking of which, will we get a new crew member at the end of this arc (which is still going in Japan)? Will it be Carrot? Or Jimbei, who rescues Luffy and Nami and joins the fun here.

Other things I noticed: I am vastly impressed with Brook for how he hid the poneglyph copies. That was clever thinking, and also clever on the part of Oda, who had to figure out where to hide a mass of paper on someone like Brook. Nami’s top takes some fire damage as part of her being rescued, and there’s some brief “will we see a breast? No.” fanservice, but I was amused she simply tied it back immediately – I wonder if she chooses her outfits so they can easily be fixed in case of ludicrous fighting? The alliance with Capone and Caesar Clown (who we simply can’t seem to get away from – Oda must love him as comedy relief) seems like it will be a disaster, but it does give us the opportunity to see Luffy in a nice mob suit. And why does Oda’s version of American football have the women wearing hot pants… wait, I know the answer to that one.

One Piece is not what it once was, but it’s still compelling, and should remain on your reading list for the foreseeable future.

Giant Spider & Me, Vol. 1

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Giant Spider & Me is a gentle fantasy that’s tinged with whimsy and rue. The story focuses on Nagi, a perky tween who lives by herself in a well-appointed cottage, awaiting the return of her father from a mysterious trip. In his absence, she’s proved remarkably self-sufficient, growing and foraging for her own food and preparing delicious meals for herself. Our first hint that something is amiss occurs early in chapter one, when she stumbles across a mastiff-sized spider in the woods. Their initial encounter doesn’t go well — Nagi is understandably terrified — but her apprehension soon gives way to a unique interspecies friendship when she discovers Asa (her name for the spider) shares her passion for pumpkin dumplings and leisurely picnics.

What inoculates Giant Spider & Me from a terminal case of the cutes is the specificity of Kikori Morino’s vision. On a superficial level, Giant Spider & Me is a culinary manga that walks the reader through the process of making turnip soup and miso ratatouille while conveying the joy of sharing food with others. (And yes, recipes appear at the end of each chapter.) On a deeper level, however, Giant Spider & Me is a thoughtful reflection on what it means to share your home with an intelligent creature, recognizing the pleasures of such an arrangement while acknowledging the communication gap between species. Asa proves a lively and willful guest in Nagi’s house, scaling walls and punching a hole in the roof in its quest for greater freedom — a detail that frustrated cat owners will appreciate.

The other secret to Morino’s success is her artwork, which strikes an elegant balance between clarity and detail. She never explains what caused the apocalypse of the title, but hints at its devastation with small but important clues: a partially submerged city, a vigilante in a gas mask and military-issue poncho. Morino applies that same mixture of restraint and exactitude to her character designs; Asa is both menacing and cute, an eight-eyed, eight-legged creature whose terrible mandibles are balanced by a feather-soft abdomen and a puppy-like demeanor. By emphasizing Asa’s duality as pet and monster, Morino helps us see Asa as Nagi does while also helping us understand why other survivors take a dimmer view of Asa. Something tells me I might need a tissue or two before the series finishes its run. Recommended.

Giant Spider & Me: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale, Vol. 1
Story & Art by Kikori Morino
Translation by Adrienne Beck; Adaptation by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
Seven Seas, 180 pp.
Rating: Teen