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Skip Beat!, Vol. 38

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By Yoshiki Nakamura. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Tomo Kimura.

This volume has been a long time coming. 38 volumes, to be precise. And I’ve sort of known in the back of my head that we would eventually have to deal with it, and I’ve been half dreading and and… well, no, all dreading it. Because Kyoko is a child of abuse. Not physical abuse – as this volume takes pains to point out, by the way – but mental and emotional abuse. Along with Sho’s casual cruelty, it’s what has shaped Kyoko’s actions to this day. Her mother was cold, always regarded her with scorn, and later on insisted she had no child. Kyoko has had nervous breakdowns just thinking about her. And now we’re finally getting the backstory and explanation for what happened with Saena in the past and how, presumably, she came to have Kyoko. And of course it’s very well written, because Nakamura is excellent at this sort of thing. But I will stay worried till the 39th volume comes out. Thinking “will this be another easily forgiven abusive parent?”.

As I mentioned earlier, the writing in this volume is top notch. 38 volumes in, we know these characters better than almost any other translated shoujo manga out there, and we’re still getting new depth and layers. (Watch for Maria here, who I don’t think we’ve even seen in over a dozen volumes, being mature enough to realize that now is not the time to talk to Ren.) Oddly, it’s Ren who provides most of the lighthearted comedy in this otherwise serious volume, as his reactions to Kyoko’s moodswing flipouts are brilliant, and his teasing of Yashiro is also wonderful. But the volume is subsumed by the confrontation between Kyoko and her mother. Again, we get to see Kyoko’s growth and maturity in action – in fact, Nakamura lampshades it, showing that Kyoko is now able to look at Saena’s seemingly cold face filled with hatred and see nuance and layers that she had missed as a child. This comes from her observational skills as an actress, and I feel proud of her.

It just so happens that it was Kyoko running off to be with Sho at the start of the series that really set Saena off, as it reminded her of her own manipulation by a man in the past. (Speaking of which, Misonoi is a top tier smiling villain, and I hope he gets the shit kicked out of him in the next volume, though am realistic enough to know he likely gets away with everything.) Saena is really well done here, much as my teeth were grinding at times. “I was terrified that I would hurt you” made me want to reach out and slap a “YOU TRIED” sticker on her forehead. But of course, the main issue with this otherwise excellent volume is that we end mid-flashback, and I don’t know how things will ultimately be between Kyoko and Saena. And since we’re caught up with Japan, I have till September to cool my heels. But either way, this volume is a must read for any shoujo fan.

Off the Shelf: Battles, ballrooms, & a baffling noise

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MICHELLE: Hey, MJ! What do a plum and an elephant have in common?

MJ: Wow, Michelle, I have no idea! What do a plum and an elephant have in common?

MICHELLE: They’re both purple! (Except for the elephant.)

MJ: Ahhhhhh, now this feels right. Starting off with a bad joke. That’s the stuff Off the Shelf is made of.

MICHELLE: Quite possibly nobody else enjoys it, but it is tradition, after all!

We’ve dusted off the shelf to discuss a few recent series, including one title that we both read. But would you like to go first with your solo read?

MJ: I’d love to!

So, nobody will be surprised to hear this, unless they’re just surprised that it took so long, but I’ve been reading the first two volumes of Platinum End, the latest from one of my favorite manga artists, Takeshi Obata, and his frequent collaborator, Tsugumi Ohba of whom I am historically much less fond. But, y’know, I love Obata and I’ll take what I can get, so here we go.

Mirai is graduating from middle school, but he couldn’t be more miserable. Orphaned at a young age and forced to live with abusive relatives, all he wants is to end it all. But when he tries to do that by jumping off his roof, the intervention of an angel, Nasse, drags him instead into a deadly, Highlander-style tournament in which he is competing with 12 other humans to win the chance to become the next God. Armed with a few special powers—angel’s wings, red arrows that work like a love spell, and white arrows that kill on contact—Mirai must prove that he’s worthy of inheriting the power of God.

Okay, so besides humiliatingly showing my age, the Highlander reference is also somewhat inaccurate, at least in theory. There is no rule in the angels’ truly weird competition that requires the God contestants to kill each other in order to win. But in Ohba’s pessimistic (and probably depressingly accurate) view of humanity, there is inevitably a candidate who immediately decides that the surest path to victory is to kill the other candidates, creating an atmosphere of terror and violence in the competition right from the start. Just as typical of an Ohba manga is the specificity of the powers’ rules—the red arrows only work for 30 days, for instance—and the competition’s built-in inequity. The angels choosing the candidates from among the downtrodden are not all created equal, and their contestants only inherit whatever powers their personal angel can also wield. Mirai, luckily, has a special-rank angel who can give him all three, but he’s a rarity in the bunch.

I’m talking a lot of plot here—also an Ohba trademark, of course—so let’s get down to the business of reviewing this thing. I generally expect to have a love-hate relationship with an Ohba/Obata manga, and my expectations were even lower going into this one, since I tend to be bored by angel stories. Interestingly, I get the sense that Obata might feel the same way, as his angel characters are the least imaginatively drawn in the series so far. But that said, I came away from these first two volumes actually hating very little.

Like most of Obata’s collaborations with Ohba, the story leans very heavily on plotting and strategy, but the real story seems to be about Mirai figuring out the point of living. Though his new wings give him a taste of personal freedom he’s never before enjoyed, his true liberation comes from the destruction of his abusive family, which he unwittingly causes, sending him into a guilt spiral and forcing him to confront questions of morality on a level most middle-schoolers are years away from having to think about outside of YA novels and video games. He’s made immediately aware of the consequences of his anger, and the cost of manipulating others with his new powers. Meanwhile, he’s learning to forgive the manipulation perpetrated by those weaker than he is, starting with his middle-school crush—herself a God candidate—whose weaker angel advises her to take pre-emptive actions against Mirai in order to protect herself.

Obviously I can’t be sure where this series is headed, but getting to read a new Takeshi Obata manga that doesn’t present me with either an utterly hateful protagonist or outrageous sexism right from the get-go feels like a treat.

MICHELLE: I, too, am bored by angel stories and I confess that I expected you were going to say you disliked it. Now my curiosity is piqued!

It seems, too, like there might be some symbolism in Mirai’s name, as “mirai” means future. And that’s really what’s on the line for him.

MJ: I think it might help on the angel front that the story is really not about them. Also, they are pretty strange, amoral beings who seem perfectly comfortable advancing a sort of hyper-selfish, Ayn Rand vision of individual happiness over all on behalf of their candidates, one of whom uses his newfound power to make swaths of female idols fall in love with him, so that he can spend his life immersed in a 24-7 orgy. Meanwhile, Mirai’s angel is utterly unable to comprehend why enacting bloody revenge on his horrible relatives, despite their Dickens-level villainy, does not make him happy.

The nature of God is equally ambiguous, especially since we’ve seen that only those who have already given up on humanity are actually eligible for the post. All of this plays into the creative team’s strengths, as it gives them a lot of morally gray material to work with (and lots of shonen-friendly competitiveness), while avoiding some of the things that sometimes makes their work unreadable (for me, anyway) by letting Mirai be our gateway character who is just as weirded out by most of this as we are.

It works for me, at least so far, which is a bit of a relief!

MICHELLE: Yeah, it really does sound pretty interesting! I will have to check it out.

MJ: I think the rest of the Battle Robot so far has not enjoyed it as much as I, so ymmv. But for me, this is a win.

So what have you been reading, Michelle? Something less morally ambiguous?

MICHELLE: Oh, indeed. Nothing is ambiguous about Welcome to the Ballroom, after all. It’s all about passion and determination!

Specifically, I’ve been reading volume three, but I’ll give you a short introduction to the series in case you’re not familiar. Fifteen-year-old Tatara Fujita had nothing that he was especially good at. When he is saved from bullies by a champion ballroom dancer named Sengoku, he doesn’t have the courage to tell the other man that he was actually looking at a part-time job advertisement and not a flyer for the dance studio. Once he sees a recording of Sengoku in action, looking confident and self-assured, he vows to change himself by also entering into the world of dancesport. It doesn’t hurt that his lovely classmate, Shizuka Hanaoka, is also one of the top amateurs.

In volume three, Fujita is competing in his first tournament. He’s also got a wager on the line with Shizuka’s bellicose new partner, Gaju, who has tossed aside his sister and longtime partner, Mako. Because he’s a newcomer, he lacks the stamina and repertoire of the others, and his attempts to beat Gaju are not successful. However, once he realizes that his real goal ought to be helping Mako outshine Shizuka (and thus convincing Gaju to partner with her once more), there’s a palpable shift in his performance. He goes from merely leading to becoming the “frame” for the “flower,” executing moves that allow Mako to shine to her best advantage.

I really enjoyed seeing how a ballroom dancing competition works, but what I found especially impressive was that Tomo Takeuchi’s art actually conveys this change in Tatara’s attitude. There was a tension in his earlier performances, when he was essentially taking full responsibility upon himself, and once he internalizes the notion of becoming the “frame,” his whole body language changes. It’s difficult to explain in words, but to be able to depict that difference in a way that even an utterly ignorant-of-dance person like me could pick up on is seriously cool.

MJ: For some truly unfathomable reason, I have yet to pick up this series, and I really can’t believe it. Everything you describe just sounds both dramatically exciting and fun. Making a story about dance work with only still drawings is a huge challenge, but when it works, it’s just spectacular. The visual storytelling sounds incredible, from what you describe.

MICHELLE: I think you’d like it quite a bit. Another thing that’s neat is that, unlike a lot of sports manga with a male protagonist, the female characters aren’t cheering on the sidelines or serving as the team manager. They’re co-competitors. And, in fact, it’s by Tatara allowing Mako full agency and achieving nonverbal yet total communication with her that the pair really attracts notice.

MJ: That’s definitely a welcome feature in a “sports” manga, and possibly the push I needed to get me to the bookstore!

MICHELLE: I hope you do check it out. And, of course, one generally doesn’t dance without music, which is my not-so-subtle segue into discussing our mutual read for this column. Would you like to do the introductory honors?

MJ: I will give it a go, sure! Our mutual read this week was the first volume of Ryoko Fukuyama’s Anonymous Noise, recently released on Viz’s Shojo Beat imprint.

Nino loves to sing with her best friend, neighbor, and habitual punster, Momo, but when his family suddenly moves away, she’s left with the fear of using her voice at all, as all she wants to do is scream. She finds momentary salvation in the company of Yuzu (who nicknames her “Alice” as a shortened version of her surname “Arisugawa”), a kid she finds writing songs on the beach, but he ends up disappearing on her, too, after he realizes he has no shot at living up to her dreamy memory of Momo.

Flash forward a few years, and these three are thrown back together in high school, where Yuzu is the main songwriter for an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed pop band, Nino is destined to become their new lead singer, and Momo is a mysterious dude befriended by Yuzu whom Nino hasn’t yet recognized. Also, the pop band (who sing all their songs while wearing face masks?) is operating incognito as the pop music club at their school, and Yuzu has super-long eyelashes, which is somehow a plot point.

I think that’s the best I can do, here. Michelle?

MICHELLE: That about sums it up! (The repeated eyelash references were especially odd.)

Anyway, I’m not really sure what I expected from Anonymous Noise, but it wasn’t quite this. To me, it reads almost breezy (with dumb jokes and kooky supporting characters) and a bit muddled, though it’s possible the storytelling will calm down some now that everyone is at high school together. Some elements of the story come through clearly, like Nino’s longing to see Momo and Yuzu again and the way that singing eases her pain. But unlike, say, NANA, I’m not getting much sense of what Yuzu’s band sounds like, or what Nino’s singing voice sounds like. We are shown its power to transfix others, but is it high? Is it low? Is it raw? Is it pure? No idea!

Another slightly muddled area for me was Momo’s and Yuzu’s reactions to seeing Nino again. Yuzu, it seems, didn’t want to see her because he has been wanting to escape his obsession with her, but there’s some disembodied narration that I think is Momo, also wishing that he could escape being in Nino’s thrall. Or something? How did you read that part?

MJ: I, too, found myself comparing it to NANA, which really isn’t fair at all. And, like you, I couldn’t exactly say what my expectations were for this manga, but whatever they were, I didn’t expect what we got, and what we got was largely disappointing. I’m willing to give it more time to come together, and I think it still could end up being interesting, but so far it’s kind of a vague mess, with a few clear elements as you describe. I feel like I’m the most interested in Yuzu at this point, but it’s really because he’s the character we’ve gotten the clearest read on so far. His needs and desires are fairly transparent, and he ends up being my favorite character just by default. I don’t think that was the author’s intention, though.

As for that section of narration near the end… I read it the same way as you did, but I didn’t really understand it. Is Nino’s voice the cage? And if so, why? Or was that Yuzu’s narration? I was pretty confused by that sequence, I have to admit.

Maybe the expectation that wasn’t met was an idea that somehow this was written for an older audience than it actually was?

MICHELLE: That may be it. I think I was expecting a story about a determined girl who’s serious about her band. And that’s not what this is, at all. Now, maybe Nino will grow into that kind of girl—Fukuyama does make a point of showing how terrible she is singing with others, and maybe that was laying a foundation for growth—but I kind of doubt it at this point. It seems like “music leads to Momo” will always be her true obsession rather than music for its own sake.

MJ: I long for that, I admit, and also perhaps a clearer idea of what any of the music sounds like, besides her childhood obsession with “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” In my mind, it’s all kind of “Twinkle, Twinkle” at this point, and that is just not very compelling.

That said, I’ll definitely read the next installment.

MICHELLE: Haha, yes, exactly. I agree on all points.

MJ: And so we live in hope. Until next time?

MICHELLE: ‘Til then!

Spirits & Cat Ears, Vol. 1

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By Miyuki Nakayama. Released in Japan “Kudamimi no Neko” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Leighann Harvey.

Sometimes, when you read a series, you are inevitably reminded of another earlier series, to the point where you can’t escape thinking about the similarities. Early volumes of Fairy Tail scream “this is One Piece, but at Kodansha”, for example. returning the favor, Black Clover’s early volumes have a very Fairy Tail quality to them. And this new series from Yen, Spirits & Cat Ears, has the same problem, as it’s hard to start reading it without thinking of another, recently completed series that Yen put out, Inu x Boku SS. In fact, given the really obvious similarities and the fate that the late Cocoa Fujiwara even has fanart at the end of the volume, I wonder if Nakayama-san is a former assistant of Fujiwara-san. That said, while there are obvious similarities, Spirits & Cat ears runs in Comic Alive, not Gangan Joker. And you know what that means: fanservice.

It’s actually rather surreal in many ways. Inu x Boku SS, like a lot of Gangan titles, had a large crossover female audience, and you can tell the series would not seem out of place in, say, Zero-Sum or Asuka. Spirits & Cat Ears has a similar premise – young people with powers paired up with attractive older men – but Comic Alive is decidedly a male-oriented magazine, and so… well, take a look at that cover. Neneko is also the “shy, constantly apologizing” sort of heroine, which unfortunately means she’s a pushover when she tries to stand up to her familiar, Shichikage. Ririchiyo could also be manipulated by her own lover/bodyguard, but at least she could not be described as a pushover. A lot of the plot to Spirits & Cat Ears revolves around “bring Neneko out of her shell”, which involves enforced socialization and annoying “punishment outfits”.

This is a ghosts and exorcism manga, and so you get the occasional tale of possession and the like, but the focus is firmly on Neneko rather than the situations she gets herself into. She’s joined by a seemingly sullen but really just shy fellow exorcist, and after the predictable misunderstanding the two become close fast. As for Shichikage, he too feels very much like the sort of guy you’d meet in a shoujo manga. Unfortunately, it’s more the Black Bird sort of shoujo manga hero. He’s right to think that Neneko firming her resolve and stating clearly what she needs him to do will increase her power (and his strength), but his sexualization and fetishization of her is just distasteful, especially as, thanks to the art style, she’s another girl who looks about nine but has a large bust and is really in high school.

This wasn’t completely terrible, but unfortunately the parts of it that were good are the sort of things I get in other, better manga series, and the parts that were bad seemed to stand out more. I’d recommend it to those who like nekomimis or series with a teasing sort-of boyfriend who likes dressing his girl in sexy outfits.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/13/17

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Haikyu!!, Vol. 9 | By Haruchi Furudate | VIZ Media – While the boys set their sights on the spring tournament and prepare for a field trip to Tokyo for practice games, Shimizu looks for someone who can take over as manager of the volleyball club after she retires. She ends up finding Hitoka Yachi, a girl in advanced classes (this comes in handy when several of the boys need help to pass finals before being allowed to go to Tokyo) who has never before felt needed, but who is impressed by the team’s passion. I like Yachi quite a bit, including how Furudate shows how smart she is without beating readers over the head with it. There’s also much talk about how Karasuno needs to evolve if they are going to have a chance at making it to nationals, and by the end of the volume, Hinata seems ready to do just that. Fun and addictive, as ever! – Michelle Smith

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 3 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – After talking about the lack of romance in my last brief, the author apparently heard me and decided to add some sparks. Thankfully it’s between the adults, as our still-a-virgin succubus seems to think she’s found the one guy who isn’t sexually excited by her in Takahashi. And when it’s pointed out he likely really is getting turned on and just is good at hiding it… well, that just makes her want him all the more. In the meantime, there’s more discussion of demis, as we hear about how to deal with molesters on the train when it’s a succubus, how people taste differently to a vampire, and the care and attention a dullahan needs to have to protect her head. Cute and fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 26 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – Seemingly even more so than usual, this volume of Kimi ni Todoke is cover-to-cover feelings. It’s especially gratifying that Sawako has finally gained enough confidence in her relationships that she’s able to speak freely and honestly without fear. Because of that, she’s able to explain herself clearly to Kazehaya, and they reconcile. The most riveting moment, however, comes during a sleepover with one-time rival Kurumi in which the latter reveals how absolutely horrible she feels about how she once treated Sawako, and how she doesn’t feel deserving to be called her friend, while Sawako attests that they are already friends. It’s very moving. And then, to top it all off, we get a chapter wherein Ayane seems to realize that she’s in love with Pin. I don’t think I’ve ever rooted for a student-teacher romance before, but this might be the exception! – Michelle Smith

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vols. 26 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – I will freely admit it—in the early days of this series, I totally shipped Ayane and Pin in a “this will never actually happen but I love their back-and-forth” sort of way. Then Kento arrived, and then Kento left (he’s not even in this volume), and Ayane is starting to realize that she is really, really falling for Pin, and I’m starting to worry, as it is a teacher/student thing. I’m fairly sure Pin won’t let this get anywhere, but in the meantime, at least we have some amusing faces from Ayane. We also get Kazehaya and Sawako fighting and making up, though I’m going to be honest most of the ship tease in this volume was between Sawako and Kurumi, who have a study sleepover and go over some extremely old and guilty memories. Very strong volume. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 9 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – This series has a tendency to remind me of The Wallflower, and not just because of its reverse harem. Both authors seem far more comfortable and successful when they go for comedy. The first half of this book is absolutely hilarious, as Shinomiya is not only now on his own but also being stalked by a truly ridiculous number of people, and we also get the attempts to fulfill Kae’s ridiculous birthday wishes. The second half gets more serious, as an old upperclassman Igarashi liked shows up again and hears about the guys hanging around Kae, and urges her to make a decision. Which, spoiler, is not going to happen. This is a bit less fun, but does have some heartwarming mixed in among the comedy. Decent. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 20 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – The author herself notes how much Natsume has changed over the course of the series, and it’s certainly true—he’s far more proactive and compassionate, even if he still occasionally tries to get away from obvious yokai with issues. This is most obvious in the first story, where a yokai “rewards” Natsume’s help by turning him back into a child—memories and all. Thankfully, Tanuma and Taki find him, and can be sensible about it. Seeing his somewhat stoic, untrusting self react to the obvious love and affection his two friends have for him is heartwarming. The series continues to be more episodic than anything else, but that’s fine—it plays to the author’s strong sense of character.-Sean Gaffney

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life, Vol. 7 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – Even for a volume of Nichijou this volume is really, really surreal. Some of the “jokes” are barely funny at all, seemingly designed to make the reader stare as blankly at the page as Sekiguchi stares at her manga. (That’s her on the cover with the rest of the Go Soccer Club, by the way.) The highlight may be Yukko and Mai’s long conversation on the hill, which was so popular the anime animated it very early, possibly as it has fake yuri confessions from Mai, who still takes honest joy in making Yukko freak out. Word of warning: those who dislike the Professor acting like a bratty child aren’t going to like this volume much. But for the rest of us, Nichijou remains a rewarding and very strange experience. – Sean Gaffney

One-Punch Man, Vol. 11 | By ONE and Yusuke Marata | Viz Media – I was worried that this volume would consist entirely of a tournament arc, but thankfully there’s only about 1/3 tournament. The rest is spent dealing with both the kidnapping monster from the last volume, which is battling Metal Bat, and Garo, who interrupts the fight because it’s all about him. We’re not meant to like Garo, and I don’t, but I especially dislike the way that he’s not particularly funny, and when the others are around him they get more serious as well, which can be deadly in a manga that relies so much on not taking itself seriously. Luckily, Saitama is always there for a deadpan one-liner. Also, Metal Bat’s little sister is adorable. Not as good as before, but still good. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 38 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – In this volume, bolstered by various good-luck charms given to her by Ren, Kyoko finally decides to confront her mother. Only, on the way there she learns some information that changes everything and goes a long way toward explaining her mother’s treatment of her. I honestly never thought I would feel even a little sympathetic towards Saena Mogami, but the entire second half of the volume is a flashback to Saena at age 28 and the circumstances under which she came to be pregnant with Kyoko, and it is very compelling. Alas, it all ends on another cliffhanger that we’ll have to wait six months to see resolved, but I’m very pleased that the truth ends up being more nuanced than I expected and yet still fascinating. I guess I should’ve known it’d be great. – Michelle Smith

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 2 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – For the most part, the focus in the second volume (comprising volumes three and four of the original release) is on the developing relationship between Sakuya and Chihiro—who initially ignores her pain, telling himself he can’t save her, only to have regrets that compel him to act at a crucial moment—and the stargazing club’s participation in summer camp, which concludes on a truly lovely moment orchestrated by Yuuri. There’s some interesting foreshadowing about Chihiro’s mysterious past, but the most powerful scenes are Sakuya’s present-day interaction with her terrible stepmother and the reveal of the circumstances that drove her from home. Her anguish is heartwrenching; it’s no wonder she feels like there’s a black hole inside her that sometimes threatens to swallow her. I hope for a nice story where she and Chihiro help heal each other, but I expect more darkness ahead. – Michelle Smith

My Week in Manga: March 6-March 12, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Every month I post a Bookshelf Overload feature which takes a quick look at some of the manga and other media that make their way onto my shelves at home. And so last week I published February’s Bookshelf Overload. As I mentioned in that post, I’m currently working on an in-depth review of Kazuto Tatsuta’s Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. I expect that it should be ready to post later this week (that’s my intention anyway), but I’m also incredibly busy right now getting ready to change jobs. Taiko performance season is also steadily ramping up, and the Lion Dance troupe is still getting regular performance requests, so I’ve had a bunch of extra rehearsals and less downtime in general, too. Still, the writing is slowly but surely happening!

Despite being so busy and not being online as much as usual, I did come across a few interesting reads last week. Jennifer Robertson (who I’ve actually briefly met before) recently wrote for Salon about Japan’s long history of blurred sexualities and gender-bending. Brian Hibbs takes his annual look at the BookScan numbers for comics and graphic novels for The Beat. The analysis includes a section specifically devoted to the manga being released in English. Finally, in what I think is terrific news, more of Yen Press’ digital-only titles will now be getting print editions, too! Look out later this year for Homura Kawamoto and Toru Naomura’s Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Higasa Akai’s The Royal Tutor, and Sakurako Gokurakuin’s Sekirei. Finally, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to publish anime director Yasuhiro Irie’s manga Halloween Pajama in English.

Quick Takes

Ghost in the Shell, Volume 1The Ghost in the Shell, Volume 1 by Masamune Shirow. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Shirow’s The Ghost in the Shell. The series was actually among one of the first manga that I encountered. My introduction to the franchise was through Mamorou Oshii’s animated film Ghost in the Shell which probably remains my favorite interpretation of the story and characters. I actually often find the manga to be very difficult to follow. Shirow has some great, thought-provoking and intriguing ideas, but the flow of the story can be extremely disjointed at times. A live-action American Ghost in the Shell film will soon be hitting theaters, so it makes sense that Kodansha Comics would take advantage of the opportunity to re-release the original The Ghost in the Shell manga in a beautifully-produced deluxe hardcover edition. This “definitive” version is being presented in right-to-left format with Japanese sound effects for the first time. I’m fairly certain there are more color pages included, too, but the volume does lack some of the additional textual content found in previous English editions. The controversial lesbian sex scene has also been excluded at the creator’s request which does cause some slight narrative confusion.

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Volume 5Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volumes 5-6 by Izumi Tsubaki. I love Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun so incredibly much. This series, along with My Love Story!!, is something that I can always count on to make me happy. I find myself constantly smiling while reading Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun and on more than one occasion have even caught myself laughing out loud. At this point the manga series is far enough along that almost all of the content is new to me. (My introduction to Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun was through the anime adaptation which is likewise an absolutely wonderful series.) There are new scenarios and even new characters–Nozaki’s younger brother and his judo teammates have become more prominent as one example–but those that were previously established are never forgotten. The good-natured humor in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun remains consistent throughout the manga. Most of the hilarity is the result of the fact that none of the characters quite manage to be on the same page as any of the others and the ridiculousness that ensues because of it. The quirky characters themselves are incredibly endearing, too, even if they’re not particularly nuanced.

Ten Count, Volume 2Ten Count, Volume 2-3 by Rihito Takarai. Well now, that escalated quickly. From the very first volume Ten Count presented itself as a dark psychological drama, but if anything its intensity only increases as the series progresses. The relationship between Shirotani and Kurose is an incredibly unhealthy one which only becomes more troubling as sexual elements are introduced to it. Kurose, whether or not he realizes it or intends to be, is abusive, manipulative, and controlling. He pushes Shirotani, often without consent or consideration, to his limits and beyond. Shirotani does have some personal breakthroughs but heartbreaking glimpses into his past and into his current emotional and mental states reveal a man who is conflicted and struggling with his own self-worth. Frankly, I find Ten Count to be disturbing and unsettling, verging on psychological horror rather than romance. At this point I can’t really envision things turning out well. (Honestly, I’d probably feel disappointed or even somewhat betrayed if Takarai manages some sort of romanticized happy ending.) To me Ten Count is still immensely engrossing, but I certainly can’t blame anyone who would want to avoid the series.

Dragnet GirlDragnet Girl by Yasujiro Ozu. I recently had the opportunity to see Ozu’s silent film Dragnet Girl in a theater narrated by a professional benshi and accompanied by music cued by a prominent local DJ. There was even a brief lecture beforehand which I wasn’t expecting but found interesting. I enjoyed the production as a whole immensely–it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events–but I also specifically enjoyed the film itself. (I really ought to seek out more of Ozu’s work.) Dragnet Girl is a gangster film which largely follows Tokiko and her boyfriend Joji, a retired boxing champion and current small-time crime boss. Hiroshi, a promising young hoodlum, joins the boxing gym and their gang. His older sister Kazuko worries about him and so tries to convince Joji to make her brother leave. Some romantic entanglements and turmoil ensue, but eventually Tokiko and Joji decide to leave their life of crime together but only after they pull off one last heist for the sake of Kazuko. Dragnet Girl is available from Criterion, collected together with two more of Ozu’s silent crime films, Walk Cheerfully and That Night’s Wife. It won’t quite be the same as watching it “live,” but it’s wonderful that there’s a home release readily available at all.

Kase-san and Morning Glories

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By Hiromi Takashima. Released in Japan “Asagao to Kase-san” by Shinshokan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hirari. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jocelyne Allen, Adapted by Jenn Grunigen.

I’ve always said (perhaps a bit too often) that as long as something is well-written and enjoyable, it doesn’t matter that it’s a hoary old cliche. And likewise, with the yuri genre, just because something is as Story A as it gets does not mean its sweetness and cuteness are in any way diminished. This series is no exception, being light as air but ever so tasty. The girls are nice, their incipient romance is nice, and there is a shot of someone silhouetted against the setting sun, because if you’re going to throw in romantic tropes, you may as well use the kitchen sink as well. All of this adds up to a fun series that will make you smile.

As the author notes in the afterword, the magazine this series runs in is generally about yuri one-shots, and its very easy to tell this is a series of shorts about the same two people. (In fact, future volumes will be “Kase-san and _______” rather than a Vol. 2 or 3.) Kase-san is the tall sporty girl on the cover, a track star and school idol who also has some odd rumors hanging around her. The other girl is Yamada, who is shy and fretful and has a very low self-opinion of herself. You know the sort – there’s no way they could ever be interested in little old me. They bond over flowers, which Yamada is planting at the school, and then there are bike rides and shopping for shoes and blushing. So much blushing. Because, of course, these two girls are really into each other.

Most of the drama, such as it is, revolves around Yamada’s low self-esteem and how it leads her to almost sabotage her own friendship. Luckily, Kase-san is not as clueless as some of these archetypes can get, and so is able to, if not realize what is going on, at least rescue Yamada from being desperately sad. I liked the idea of the marathon, as it allows Yamada to work to improve herself, even though that gets torpedoed by a bunch of jerks running over first her flowers and then her. The volume is done from Yamada’s perspective, though I’m hoping a future volume may have a flasghback showing Kase’s own thoughts on their relationship. It all builts up to a confession and kiss in the nurse’s office, with Kase uncharacteristically unapologetic and Yamada crying in relief.

It’s safe to say that not much happens here – honestly, I’m having trouble filling out my word count. But I’m just so pleased to see Seven Seas putting out stories like these and Kindred Spirits on the Roof rather than “yuri for guys” like Netsuzou Trap. Cute girls meet and like each other. In the end, they kiss. Thankfully, this is not the end, as we’ll see Kase-san and Bento soon. for now, just revel in the adorable.

Manga the Week of 3/15/17

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SEAN: A relatively light week next week, relatively being the operative term. But first, let’s double back and look at titles out THIS week that weren’t announced till the weekend.

Remember how we used to say you couldn’t sell sports manga over here? Or 40+-volume series? Clearly digital-only is a good way to test the waters on flouting that rule. Case in point: The debut of Ace of the Diamond, a baseball manga that ran in Shonen Magazine from 2016-2015, and then, like many baseball manga, started up again with Season 2. It will be interesting reading a non-Adachi baseball series.

MICHELLE: !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

ANNA: Interesting. I don’t know if I’m up for 40+ volumes but I will check it out.

SEAN: All-Rounder Meguru is a mixed martial arts manga from the creator of Eden: It’s An Endless World, though hopefully a bit less bleak. It ran for 19 volumes in Evening magazine.

And Giant Killing is another 40+ volume manga, this time about soccer, that runs in Weekly Morning. Naturally, being long-running sports manga, the primary audience in the West for these titles will be female BL fans.

MICHELLE: !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! I might even try All-Rounder Meguru, while I’m at it.

ASH: Wow! Kodansha is really killing it (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) with the recent digital releases! I’m very excited to see Giant Killing and All-Rounder Meguru being added to the mix.

MJ: I doubt I have the patience for either of the epic sports manga on this list, but I like watching Michelle’s squee.

MICHELLE: I will likely always have an abundance of squee for sports manga.

SEAN: Also, Persona 3’s 3rd volume from Udon moved up a week without me noticing. Whoops.

ASH: Can’t really blame you for that; sometimes I wonder if Udon even knows when it will be releasing something…

SEAN: Now onto titles actually out next week. J-Novel Club has some more volume twos, as we get another I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, which presumably adds more girls.

We also get the 2nd Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which is probably the biggest surprise of all J-Novel’s titles for me as I really enjoyed it.

Kodansha has a 4th Complex Age, which mixes cosplay and drama quite well.

ASH: I’ve been fairly consistently surprised and impressed by Complex Age.

SEAN: They also have the 2nd digital volume of House of the Sun, which seems to be on a much faster publishing schedule than the other new digital volumes.

MICHELLE: Ooh! I’ll definitely be checking out these two.

SEAN: One Peace has a 9th volume of not-really-yuri series Maria Holic.

Seven Seas has the debut of Hana & Hina After School, which is really yuri. It’s by Milk Morinaga, probably the most prolific yuri manga artist in terms of North American licenses.

They also have a 2nd Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth, which hopefully continues to be, as I called it, “the most Comic Zero-Sum series ever”.

ASH: That really does seem to be an apt description.

SEAN: SuBLime gives us a new side story for Don’t Be Cruel, subtitled Akira Takanashi’s Story, though it’s unclear who this volume will focus on. (How’s my deadpan?)

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: And they have the 8th volume of the Finder Deluxe Edition.

ASH: While this is the eighth volume, it’s the first one to be released since SuBLime took over the series. (Previously, it was released by Digital Manga.) The actually first volume in this edition will be released later this year; it’s nice that SuBLime isn’t making readers wait for the most recent content.

SEAN: Vertical has a 5th volume of Mysterious Girlfriend X, which I think is approaching its climax.

Viz not only has the 3rd Legendary Edition of The Legend of Zelda, which has both Majora’s Mask and A Link to the Past, but also the first volume of the latest in the series, Twilight Princess.

ASH: Unlike some of the other games (I’m a bad Zelda fan), I’ve actually played Twilight Princess. I’m looking forward to its adaptation.

SEAN: At last, the final omnibus of Viz’s re-release of Ranma 1/2! It even ends with a wedding! Don’t let that fool you, though, this is still Takahashi at her most Takahashi. Still well worth reading.

ASH: I’m still very happy that Viz found a way to keep Ranma 1/2 in print.

SEAN: And there’s a 23rd volume of Rin-Ne, which apparently will have a surprise announcement in Japan soon. New anime season? Spinoff? They found Sakura’s repressed rage?

As I said, light week is relative. What’ll you be getting next week?

Anonymous Noise Vol. 1

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Anonymous Noise Volume 1 by Ryoko Fukuyama

I read Anonymous Noise a few days ago, and I’ve had a hard time writing about it, I think because I ended up feeling very conflicted about whether or not I actually enjoyed reading it. It was stylish looking, which I appreciated. The author deployed a great deal of typical shoujo manga plot elements, which I was less than enthusiastic about. Finally, there was a level of angst involved in the relationships between the characters that I actually found intriguing, and will likely keep me hanging on to reading this series in the hopes that it gets a bit better in the second volume.

Childhood friends who are separated and meet again only to fall in love is such a shoujo staple plot element, that I get weary of it if it isn’t executed well. Nino Arisugawa has a habit of developing close childhood friendships with boys only for them to utterly disappear, which will make it very handy for her to have a love triangle as a teenager. Her first friend is Momo, a next door neighbor boy with a habit of making terrible puns. They’re in the habit of singing together. Momo abruptly moves away with his family and while Nino is visiting the sea to scream her agony into it, she stumbles across Yuzu, a kid composer who likes to write musical compositions in the sand. Yuzu is also a very familiar character type seen in manga, the short kid who drinks a ton of milk in hopes of triggering a growth spurt. Nino finds a bit of peace when singing Yuzu’s compositions, but she still longs for her lost friend Momo.

Switching gears to the future, Nino starts attending a school where Yuzu is a student. He’s very busy, because he also has the time to be in a rock band called In No Hurry, which performs wearing face masks and eyepatches. Nino and Yuzu reconnect, but it is clear that she’s still nurturing her feelings for Momo. The part of this manga that I found most interesting, and I’m not sure if it was intentional on the part of the author, is that Yuzu’s obsession with Nino as a muse is so clearly unhealthy. He has a girl singer in his band called Alice who is designed with his memories of Nino in mind, and he likens his feelings for Nino as being trapped under the spell of a canary. Yuzu ends up being the most compelling character in this manga, just because he wears his emotional agony on his sleeve. No surprise, Momo is attending the same high school, and shows up around Yuzu to make a few bad puns and then disappear in an enigmatic fashion.

The art is stylish, if a bit generic. I enjoyed the edgy costumes for Yuzu’s band. A couple moments in the manga that stood out to be as being particularly well-executed were a scene of Nino and Yuzu reconnecting through music in a practice room, and an encounter with Yuzu’s band mates that hints at a whole different story of unrequited love. I often feel like some manga series need at least two volumes before passing judgement on them, and I’m hoping that the second volume of Anonymous Noise has less shoujo cliches and more teen angst because the potential is there for an entertaining music infused teen soap opera, but I’m not quite seeing that yet.

Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Vol. 1

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By Akiko Higashimura | Published digitally by Kodansha Comics

I spent all my time wondering “what if,” then one day I woke up and I was 33.

Thirty-something Rinko Kamata and her two best friends from high school, Kaori and Koyuki, are still single. They’ve happily spent the last decade getting together regularly for girls’ nights out, during which they get sloshed and speculate on what might’ve happened with past romances or how they might meet Mr. Right in the future. When it’s announced that Tokyo will be hosting the Olympics in 2020 and it dawns on the trio that they might still be single amidst all the celebrating, they abruptly realize that they might have missed their chance to snag husbands.

Ten years ago, Rinko had a chance with Mr. Hayasaka, a dull but sweet coworker, but rejected him. Their work—she’s a scriptwriter and he’s a producer for a television production company—still brings them together, however, and when she seemingly has a second chance, she considers accepting this time, wondering if women must choose being loved over being in love once they’re over thirty. Of course, she’s drunk at the time, so her thoughts are whimsically presented in the form of conversation with her snacks! Specifically, tara (milt) and reba (liver), whose names combine to mean “what if” and thus supply the pun of the series title. They’re cute little creatures, and tara especially gives me some Little Fluffy Gigolo PELU flashbacks (in the best way).

Of course, we wouldn’t have a series if things worked out with Mr. Hayasaka, and losing out to younger women in romance, work, and at a courtship party, where the “tarareba girls” discover that even schlubby guys their age have pretty young things competing for them (because the younger guys are all under- or unemployed), sends her somewhat off the rails, hopping in a taxi to capture some blackmail evidence and winding up at a hot springs resort, drinking alone and feeling unwanted until Key, a snarky male model who’s observed the rowdy trio at their favorite pub and was critical of Rinko’s writing—essentially unrealistic wish-fulfillment fare for daydreaming middle-aged women—shows up to forestall disaster and ends up proving himself to be the ultimate “what if” scenario that Rinko hadn’t even considered. Plus, he encourages her to see her recent failures as a chance instead of a setback, and I hope this means we’ll see her write what she claims she really wants to write and achieve success after all.

This is quite a madcap volume, what with the talking food, and there are also several quick cuts to Rinko guzzling alcohol that make me think this would be extremely amusing in either animated or live-action format. I also really like the way we her conversations with friends via text are depicted. Ordinarily, I might be bothered that these ladies are so fixated on husbands, but Higashimura-sensei has some author’s notes at the back wherein she makes it absolutely clear that she does not think that marriage is the key to happiness or that it’s a requirement for women. It’s just that she had some friends who were beginning to experience some of these things, and she decided to write about them.

Before Kodansha’s announcement, this series hadn’t even been on my radar, so in addition to being grateful for more josei in any format, I’m especially glad to be introduced to this fun story. I’m looking forward to volume two!

Tokyo Tarareba Girls is ongoing in Japan where it is up to seven volumes.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Chihayafuru, Vol. 1

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By Yuki Suetsugi | Published digitally by Kodansha Comics

Chihayafuru is a long-running josei sports manga series about a girl who discovers a passion for the Japanese card game, karuta. The very factors that made me sure I’d love the series also made it an unlikely licensing prospect. Happily, Kodansha Comics has started releasing it digitally! I still can’t quite believe that it’s really happened.

In the opening pages, we get a glimpse of a teenage Chihaya Amase during an intense match, then promptly travel six years into the past. At twelve, Chihaya had no dream other than seeing her older pageant-entering sister, Chitose, become “number one in Japan.” When she befriends transfer student Arata Wataya, who’s been shunned by classmates for his poverty and regional dialect, he tells her that her dreams should be about herself. Fired up by Wataya’s speed and intensity at karuta, Chihaya can’t help but attempt to score at least one card off of him, and the delight on Wataya’s face as he finally makes a friend who shares his passion is poignant.

As Chihaya (and the audience) learns more about karuta, Wataya eventually gains the respect of his classmates for his skill, prompting Taichi Mashima, the ringleader of the bullies, to cheat against him in a school tournament. I quite liked that we see Mashima’s motivations—his horrid mother flat out tells him that if you don’t think you can win at something, you shouldn’t even try—and that, afterwards, he makes his own decisions about what is right and what is important to him. The three kids become friends and, after joining a karuta club in their neighborhood, conclude the first volume by entering an elementary tournament as a team.

In several ways, Chihayafuru reminds me of Hikaru no Go. You’ve got the sixth-grade protagonist discovering enthusiasm for a traditional game. She makes a small group of friends who share a deep love of the game, and they compete together as a team. And yet, there is the inescapable fact that they won’t be able to stay together forever. Mashima’s path will take him to a prestigious middle school while the ill health of Wataya’s grandfather compels him to return to his hometown. Will Chihaya continue on her own? Presumably, like Hikaru, she will make new friends at each stage of her journey, and potentially face Wataya again as a rival in future.

As usual, what I really loved most was Chihaya finding the place she belonged, and the outlet in which her specific skills—quick reaction time, acute vision, and an extremely keen sense of hearing—are recognized and appreciated. Her sister becomes positively odious as she realizes Chihaya now has something in her life to work towards besides Chitose’s fame—“All Chihaya needs to do is look at me and tell me how amazing I am”—and I wonder how far she’ll go to sabotage her little sister’s ambitions, but the opening pages show us a Chihaya still deeply dedicated to the game, so I’m sure she’ll remain undeterred.

I really, really loved this debut volume and eagerly look forward to more!

Chihayafuru is ongoing in Japan, where the 34th volume will be published next week.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Bakemonogatari: Monster Tale, Part 2

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By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Ko Ransom.

One of the things I enjoy about the first few volumes of the Monogatari books is that each new story begins with the girl from the previous story having a long conversation with Araragi where they basically take on the role they’ll play in the books from this point forward. In the previous volume’s Mayoi Snail, Senjogahara showers Araragi with abuse and teasing affection. And here we have Suruga Money, in which Mayoi reappears and begins to function as Araragi’s sounding board and life advice coach, and Nadeko Snake, in which Kanbaru shows off that she was actually holding back in her own story, and becomes the only person in the cast who can be more perverse than he can. (This works in Japanese publication order, by the way, and continues at least through Nekomonogatari Black, which starts with a long scene with Araragi and his sister Tsukihi.) The first two books introduced Araragi and began to give him a “harem”, so to speak – this second book expands on that.

The stories in Bakemonogatari were originally written as short stories for a magazine, and it shows – each story has the introduction at some point of Araragi, Shinobu and Meme Oshino and explains his nature, for readers who had not read the previous stories. Not that Shinobu plays a part in this book – she’s still silent, apparently sulking as Oshino is stealing her Mister Donuts stash, and functions mostly as a maguffin to power up Araragi so he can battle oddities. For the most part, each story in this is devoted to showing us the new girl. This works quite well in Kanbaru’s case. Her overly solicitous politeness is perfectly translated, and you also see the frustration and rage she normally keeps well-hidden. She’s a good kid. She’s also a “pervert”, i.e. happy to talk about sexual matters with Araragi till she’s blue in the face. And she’s a lesbian, something she admits herself, though the text goes on to use the alternate term “sapphist”, which, as Araragi points out, is the same thing. (One could argue she flirts incessantly with Araragi in the following story, but I maintain that she mostly does this for appearance – much like many other characters in Monogatari, especially Araragi himself.) Her story is the strongest, flagging only when we have to read a very long battle scene from Araragi’s narrative POV – it gets tedious, and makes you realize why Nisioisin does so much dialogue – he’s better at it.

As for Nadeko… without spoiling anything about future volumes, we’re left with an okay story that works best when Nadeko isn’t in it. Araragi and Kanbaru’s banter at the start is probably the high point of the book. Nadeko herself is painted entirely as a shy, innocent victim, forever looking down or away from the two of them. Her “monster” problem is quite sexualized, which is uncomfortable given she’s only in junior high, but if that really makes you uncomfortable you’d better jump off now before we get to Nisemonogatari, as it will only get worse. In the context of future volumes, there’s lots of subtle clues and hints in here, a few of which I think are deliberate. But without that context, this story sometimes just lies there. It’s the weak link of the five.

The third volume will contain only one story, Tsubasa Cat, and you can probably guess who stars, though if you read these two volumes and think we’re finally getting a flashback to what happened during Golden Week, you’d be wrong. It also doesn’t have quite as much Kanbaru, which is a relief even though I love her. The translation is, on the whole, excellent throughout, but Vertical has decided not to have honorifics, and as such Kanbaru’s constant “Araragi-sempai” is turned into “My senior Araragi”, which is fine initially, but after the first hundred or so times you realize how OFTEN she uses his name, and it begins to wear. (Mayoi’s “Mister Araragi” works better.) I understand why they chose not to have the honorifics, but I suspect I might find it a bit more comfortable if Kanbaru’s use of -sempai was removed rather than adapted, even if that affected the politeness level. Other than that, though, this is good volume of Monogatari, if not quite as good as the other two.

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 1

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Anonymous Noise is to manga what “Talk Dirty to Me” is to contemporary hit radio: both have a killer hook — that plot! that sax! — and inane lyrics.

The story begins with a vorspiel of sorts. Nino, a tot with a golden voice, bonds with her next-door neighbor Momo, who shares her enthusiasm for singing, if not her sense of pitch. The two are inseparable until Momo’s family abruptly moves away. While pining for her lost friend, Nino crosses paths with Yuzu, a short, feisty songwriter whose tunes help Nino discover her true potential as a vocalist. He, too, unexpectedly skips town, leaving Nino despondent once again — so despondent, in fact, that she begins wearing a surgical mask to prevent herself from screaming. (No, I’m not making that up.)

Flash forward to the present: Nino is now in middle school, roaming the halls in a mask and obsessing about Momo. A chance encounter reunites her with Yuzu, who’s penning tunes for the school’s struggling Popular Music Club. What Nino doesn’t realize is that Yuzu’s bandmates are, in fact, members of In No Hurry to Shout, a pop act as famous for their identity-concealing costumes as their chart-topping songs. (Apparently no one else has put two and two together, either, as the snotty school council president regularly threatens the club with termination.) Nino agrees to sit in for the club’s vocalist, unwittingly auditioning for In No Hurry to Shout in the process.

Despite its soap-opera plotting, Anonymous Noise never gels into a compelling story. One contributing factor is the characters, who are barely fleshed out. Nino, for example, is defined almost exclusively by her capacity for self-pity; she mopes incessantly, mooning over Momo as if he’d just moved away. (Six years have elapsed since Momo’s family skipped town.) Her romantic prospects are also one-note characters: Yuzu is a blustery jerk who yells, cajoles, and insults Nino, while Momo is sweetly chivalrous, the perfect boyfriend-in-training.

Another contributing factor is the lackluster artwork. Though other characters gush about Nino’s voice, Ryoko Fukuyama never *shows* us that Nino has the goods. We see close-ups of Nino’s gaping mouth and a smattering of musical notes whenever she warbles a tune, but we could just as easily infer that she was shouting, yodeling, or yawning from the lifeless, unimaginative way in which she’s drawn. A quick glance at Nodame Cantabile, Your Lie in April, Ludwig B., solanin, or Nana, demonstrates that it *is* possible to show how much physical effort it takes to produce a good sound, and what effect that sound is having on the audience. While such gestures don’t replicate the full experience of hearing a great band in person, they suggest what it might be like — something that Anonymous Noise fails to do on any level.

The bottom line: Anonymous Noise is too bland to be memorable, and too earnest to be fun. Not recommended.

ANONYMOUS NOISE, VOL. 1 • BY RYOKO FUKUYAMA • VIZ MEDIA • RATED T, FOR TEEN

Fate/Complete Material, Vol. 2: Character Material

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By Type Moon. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Udon Entertainment. Translated by M. Kirie Hayashi.

I didn’t review the first of these artbooks when it came out three years ago for several good reasons. I wasn’t really into Fate then, I almost never buy artbooks in general, and I’m not sure exactly how I’d have reviewed it, except to point at it and say “Oooooh, pretty!”. The first volume is subtitled “Art Material”, and is what it says, showing off the big cutscenes and promotional materials for the visual novel. It’s gorgeous, and I recommend it, but you can’t talk about it for 500 words. That’s not a problem with the second artbook just released by Udon. This gets deeper into each of the characters in the original game, showing all their sprites, discussing their character with the writer and illustrator in great detail, talking about the weapons used in the VN, and also showing off the original character sketches and commenting on them. There’s a lot more text here.

For the most part, this book limits itself to the characters from the original Fate, though it does assume that the reader is at least aware of its sequel, Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, as Bazett comes up in the ‘character relationship’ charts and is mentioned once or twice. We get long sections devoted to each of the three heroines, reminding you just how many sprites there are of each of them. Shirou, obviously, gets far less page time, as being the player character his sprites were rarely seen. We discuss why everyone loves Saber and how on earth she does her hair up like that (they agree she uses magic to achieve it), how much the strength of Rin as a complete character took the creators by surprise, and also how difficult they found it to distinguish Sakura and not make her main design “too boring” (the dangers of being the good, sweet girl).

Other surprises that I found within were the fact that Taiga, one of the most comedic characters in the game, was originally going to be a mature “big sister” type – and also get killed off, potentially. Needless to say, when the Taiga we know came into being the death got deep-sixed, and instead we get things like the Tiger Dojo. If you look at the character sketch section, you can see Taiga’s original design, and in fact it’s Ayako – something the authors readily admit, the illustrator just repurposed the old Taiga sketches for Rin’s friend. I was also amused at the discussion of Rin’s other friends, who only appear in the opening prologue. You wonder why they bothered to have sprites at all, and the creators explain they were told to add some as it was felt there just weren’t enough characters.

There’s three more artbooks after this, though I don’t know if Udon has licensed them all. The third shows us backgrounds, Tiger Dojo stuff, and the new CG and sprites added for the PS2 version; the fourth goes into all the other Fate spinoffs that aren’t Ataraxia (at least, spinoffs at the time the book came out, which was six years ago), and the 5th is the Ataraxia-focused book. If they’re anything like the job Udon has done with this artbook, they’ll be a treat. Essential for Fate fans.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/6/17

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A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 5 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamachi| Seven Seas – A lot of the Science side of the Index series involves trying to break past impossibilities, and death is always one of the biggest of those. We get some villain motive here with Hishigata, who is doing all this to make sure his dead little sister can return to life. Of course, as Estelle tries and fails to get across, that is NOT his dead sister but an evil force possessing her corpse (the reader knows this as she grins evilly when he’s not looking). As for Accelerator himself, he finally manages to save Misaka 10046 with only massive property damage in his wake, but we still have the final fight. Which Estelle will be joining as well. Excitement and adventure and really wild things, as always. – Sean Gaffney

Masamune-kun’s Revenge, Vol. 4 | By Hazuki Takeoka and Tiv | Seven Seas – Masamune makes great strides here, but a lot of it is by accident, and he’s got absolutely nothing on Neko when it comes to manipulation, mostly as despite his professed motive of horrible revenge on Aki, he’s still a nice guy for the most part who you know is never going to be able to go through with it. Indeed, he’s poking at Aki’s memories trying to see if she recalls “Pig-Legs,” though the cliffhanger suggests that will backfire on him spectacularly. The scene in Neko’s bedroom between her and Masamune is the best in the manga so far, and shows off the hero at his best. As for humor, there’s Aki’s foul-mouthed secretary and a hysterical test of courage gone wrong. Better than it looks. – Sean Gaffney

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Vol. 2 | By coolkyousinnjya | Seven Seas – It’s honestly hard to find much to say about this even in brief format, as it’s light as air. That’s not to say it’s not good—I actually enjoyed it quite a bit—but it wears its slice-of-life monster series agenda on its sleeve. We do get to hear a bit about how, even if this series does end up with a yuri relationship between Kobayashi and her dragon, it’s still only transitory, owing to the lifespan of dragons and humans. We’re also reminded that Tohru is not the typical dragon by the appearance of her father, which allows Kobayashi to actually take a stand and show some real emotion for a change. But for the most part we get equal amount of comedy, heartwarming, cute monsters, and yuri tease. For fans of those. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 20 | By Yuki Midorikawa | VIZ Media – I hope describing a manga as “lovely” doesn’t suggest that it is also dull, because this volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends is very much the former and not at all the latter. In this installment, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei (who is looking especially adorable!) help a yokai with a jar stuck on his head, find a lost hairpin for a heartbroken mountain god, protect a house from scarecrow yokai who want to make it their own, and beautify a tiny shrine to entice a traveling god to visit. I continue to love how sympathetic Natsume is to the plight of yokai—a trait that earns him the notice of a mysterious man Natori consults on the scarecrow case—as well as how he’s still so grateful to have friends who know his secret and help him out. I hope we don’t have to wait another year for the next volume! – Michelle Smith

The Prince in His Dark Days, Vol. 3 | By Hico Yamanaka | Kodansha Comics – After spending some time with Itaru in volume two, volume three brings us back to Atsuko’s point of view. After learning her secret, a rich guy named Daigo demands that Ryo let him have her for the night. Ryo agrees, but luckily Daigo is only trying to be a rich jerk, and is utterly undone by Atsuko’s tears. Ryo, meanwhile, is obviously being changed by his association with Atsuko, for even though he still puts Itaru first and foremost—as demonstrated by his zeal in tracking down the parties responsible for spreading vicious rumors about Itaru online—he still feels an impulsive need to rescue her that he ultimately heeds. I can only assume they will end up a couple, since the next volume is also the last, but covering that much ground in one volume will probably be tricky. We shall see! – Michelle Smith

Rose Guns Days Season Two, Vol. 2 | By Ryukishi07 and Nana Natsunishi | Yen Press – We continue to deal with the fallout from Season One, as it becomes clear that the Chinese are moving in on Rose and company, even if it means going against Lee. And what’s more, they have a pawn in Rapunzel, who has regained her memories after a traumatic incident, though she’s keeping that from the rest of our gang of Roaming Wolves. Of course, that doesn’t mean that she’s suddenly turned evil, and in any case Rose’s empathy means that any attempted assassinations are not going to be happening regardless. I suspect the next volume will involve a lot more violence and more things going wrong, and it’s questionable if our new protagonists will even survive. Gripping at times, but very variable. – Sean Gaffney

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 4 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – The approachable-yet-delicious fare featured in this volume includes pork shougayaki (which looks amazing), sweet potato crepes, kinpira gobou, okonomiyaki, and beef stew. I like how, almost in the background, we see Kotori making friends at school, as they’ve noticed her love of food and ask her to help with their festival booth. Tsumugi, too, navigates some pre-school friendship drama, and I predict that one grumpy-looking little boy will be cheered by food in the next volume. What I love best, though, is how conscientiously Inuzuka-sensei takes his role as father, carefully demonstrating for Tsumugi that you don’t give up when things are hard, and always explaining why she’s being scolded. Another lovely title for me this week! – Michelle Smith

My Week in Manga: February 27-March 5, 2017

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My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga the winner of the Tokyo ESP manga giveaway was announced. The post also includes a list of some of the manga available in English about psychics and/or espers. That was it for the blog, but as I previously mentioned, I had an all-day job interview last week which took up a fair amount of my time and attentions. Well, it turns out that they liked me, and I liked them, so it looks like I’ll be starting in a new position at a different library in May. It’s both very exciting and very nerve-wracking, but I think (hope!) it’s a good move for me. My day job will still have absolutely nothing to do with manga, though.

Elsewhere online last week there was ICv2’s annual Manga Week. A number of interesting manga-focused articles and interviews were posted, including a mention of some of Vertical Comics’ most recent licensing announcements: Arakawa Under the Bridge by Hikari Nakamura (the one I’m most excited for), Gundam Wing: The Glory of Losers by Tomofumi Ogasawara, Helvetica Standard by Keiichi Arawi, and Voices of a Distant Star by Makoto Shinkai and Mizu Sahara (technically a rescue as the manga was originally published in English by TokyoPop back in the day). Kodansha Comics recently made some announcements at ECCC. In addition to adding even more fantastic series to its digital initiative, Kodansha Comics is working on a Ghost in the Shell anthology similar to the Attack on Titan Anthology released last year. Should be interesting!

Quick Takes

Anonymous Noise, Volume 1Anonymous Noise, Volume 1 by Ryoko Fukuyama. I will pretty much give any manga a try if it’s even tangentially related to music, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that I would be interested in Anonymous Noise. The series follows Nino Arisugawa (called Alice, by some) who loves to sing. Expressing herself through music is an important part of who she is, but perhaps more importantly it’s how she connects to the people who mean the most to her. First there was Momo, Nino’s close childhood friend with a proclivity for making bad puns, and then there was Yuzu, who helped soothe Nino’s heartbreak with his own music when Momo’s family unexpectedly moves away. But after developing feelings for Nino, Yuzu suddenly disappears from her life, too. Fast forward a few years and the three of them are attending the same high school, although initially they don’t realize it. Most of the first volume feels like a prologue more than anything else, so I’m curious to see the direction the story proper will take from here. In addition to music, it seems that unrequited love will also be a major theme of Anonymous Noise. Complicated feelings of love, longing, loss, and loneliness set the tone for the series.

Big KidsBig Kids by Michael DeForge. Due to my interest in alternative and independent comics, I’ve been aware of DeForge’s work for quite some time. However, I’ve never actually read any of DeForge’s comics until picking up Big Kids. To be honest, I think I was probably a little intimidated since DeForge is such a highly acclaimed and well-regarded artist. I recently came across Big Kids on display at my local comic book shop where flipped through a few pages before putting it back. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and so ultimately brought a copy home with me. The small volume’s bright yellow cover burned itself onto my retinas, and it’s content has burned itself onto my soul. I’ve read through the comic several times now and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t know that I completely understand everything about it, but Big Kids is a work that is both surreal, verging on abstract, and powerful. In part, the comic about growing up. After being dumped by his boyfriend, Adam wakes up one day to discover that he has become a tree. The world itself is still the same, it’s just that Adam now views it from a vastly different perspective. But while being a tree has its benefits, there’s also a sense of sadness and loss associated with it.

Haikyu!!, Volume 6Haikyu!!, Volumes 6-9 by Haruichi Furudate. Out of all of the sports manga currently being released in print in English, Haikyu!! is definitely one of my favorites. Admittedly, I was a little worried that as the series entered its first tournament arc and became more focused on the games themselves I would lose some of my enthusiasm (I’m not especially interested in volleyball), but my fears appear to have been mostly unfounded. Occasionally Haikyu!! will get a little bogged down in the particulars of volleyball, but this is usually completely offset by the series’ incredibly engaging characters. I’m immensely enjoying seeing them grow and evolve not just as players, but as people. I absolutely love the manga’s approach to and emphasis on teamwork. Some of the characters are prodigies, but it is made very clear that a single person cannot win on their own. Often it’s the unassuming, “ordinary” players who dramatically shift the course and tone of a game. Everyone has their own talents and abilities and everyone has an important role to play. Haikyu!! may be a series about volleyball, but its themes and message are much more universal than that. The manga has great positivity and energy which makes it fun to read, too.