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Bookshelf Briefs 1/30/17

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Alice in Matchaland | By Mosoko Miyatsuki | Manga University – This slim volume is both picture and cook book, offering readers a playful riff on Lewis Carroll’s most famous work as well as recipes for matcha-infused snacks. For tween manga lovers, the button-cute character designs, Technicolor palette, and gentle pokes at manga cliche may be enough to justify purchasing Alice in Matchaland. Anyone intent on making Matcha Energy Bites, however, will need a conversion table handy, as the recipes freely mix teaspoons with grams and milliliters. The book doesn’t offer any tips for procuring matcha powder, either—a curious omission, since many Americans won’t find it on the shelves of their local grocery stores. A little more attention to the recipes would have made this book less of a stocking stuffer and more of a must-buy for tea-drinking manga enthusiasts. (The publisher provided a review copy.) -Kate Dacey

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 3 | By Bisco Hatori | VIZ Media – It’s not that Behind the Scenes!! is awful, but that every chapter is essentially filler. In this volume, there’s the one about the bratty child actor whom the team helps emote, the one about protecting a group filming in a park, the one about fundraising through shrinky dinks (yes, really), and the one about creating a haunted house. At times, attempts are made to flesh out the other members of the art squad, but it’s never building on character traits previously established and then paying off in a satisfying way. It’s always Ranmaru noticing on one page that Ruka gives in too easily and then on the next page encouraging her not to give in because shrinky dinks (yes, really). Probably it’s time to accept that this series is just not for me and move on. – Michelle Smith

Behind the Scenes!!, Vol. 3 | By Bisco Hatori | Viz Media – There isn’t a ton of plot or character development in Behind the Scenes!!, but it does reliably deliver a pleasant escape in the adventures of a college art club that supports various film projects. The first story line in this volume deals with the redemption of a child actor who at first seems spoiled, then there is detour into the value of crafts as the gentle rich girl Ruka stands up for herself. The gang also has to fine tune a haunted house, when they make it dangerously realistic. Even if this series isn’t the most memorable thing Hatori has created, it still is diverting in the moment. I enjoy the interactions between all the characters, and this volume also featured several bonus one page manga at end. – Anna N

Horimiya, Vol. 6 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – I said last time that Hori and Miyamura hadn’t quite taken the next step in their relationship yet. They do that here, but blink sand you’ll miss it—unlike most manga of this type, their first time—while sweet—is not earth-shattering and does not really change either of them. Indeed, Miyamura is far more concerned about the required swimming event, mostly as it could get him expelled. We also see Hori being jealous again, but she’s at least cognizant of how annoying it is, and it’s funnier when she uses her anger against other people, like Miyamura’s old teasing classmates from junior high. This is not particularly going anywhere, even with the sex, but it’s still a well-written leisurely ride. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 2 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – This is sort of a harem series—there’s certainly enough students and one teacher in love with Takahashi-sensei. But it feels so laid-back and leisurely, and he’s so non-sexual in general, that I can’t really define it as a classic harem comedy. At heart, it’s about the girls and their monster issues—though the best chapter in the volume has the teacher pointing out that you can’t just think of them as monsters OR girls, but you have to balance both sides. Much of the volume deals with a yuki-onna who worries she may live up to her stereotype, and she’s just as sweet and cute (and somewhat boring) as the other girls. This is a nice series, and monster girl fans will like it. It is, however, not a book that will get your pulse racing. Leisurely. – Sean Gaffney

Liselotte & Witch’s Forest, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – At last, a volume of Liselotte I can honestly say was excellent throughout. The bargain that she has to strike to save Engetsu’s life essentially resets things to square one, but that’s really for the best, as I think the baggage was crushing them both a bit. We also get more flashes to what Lise was like before the rebellion, and it’s rather sad and also a bit eerie. There’s also still some comedy, mostly coming from Alto and Anna, though the return of a witch from the previous volume also helps. I suspect things may not stay comedic for long, though, as it appears that Lise is not going to be allowed to be merely exiled for much longer. The less fluffy this gets the more I like it, though the fluff is still fun. – Sean Gaffney

Liselotte & Witch’s Forest, Vol. 3 | By Natsuki Takaya | VIZ Media – Man, I can already tell that it’s going to be pretty painful when Liselotte goes on hiatus after two more volumes. Although some of what happens in this installment feels like things I’ve seen before—the heroine who unhesitatingly hacks off her own long hair, the love interest who loses his memories of the heroine, the determined optimism and welcoming spirit—there are some unique things about this story, chief among them the reveal in the final pages that someone has been watching Liselotte and reporting back to her brother, who is being pressured to do something about her. It’d be an interesting development if her world were to get a bit darker; the Akito vibes I got from the tree spirit in this volume were pretty fantastic. – Michelle Smith

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 2 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – I have to say, so far this is currently at the top of my “most surprising new series” list, as the second volume is just as strong as the first was. Even as it appears that Mugi and Hanabi may have deeper feelings for each other than they expected, it is shown over and over again how bad this relationship really is, and how much they’re hurting from it. Of course, not having the relationship would not ease the source of the hurt. Meanwhile, we also meet Ebato, Hanabi’s friend who turns out to be in love with her, something that gets revealed a lot more than she’d like at a sleepover, and ends just as ambiguously as you’d expect. This is a fantastic car crash of a romance manga, where even the omake extra is tragic and sad. Well-written and brutal. – Sean Gaffney

Scum’s Wish, Vol. 2 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – After making a brief appearance in volume one, a lot of this volume focuses on Hanabi’s only female friend, Ecchan, who has been in love with her ever since the day they took the entrance exam. When she’s invited to a sleepover, she’s unable to contain her feelings anymore and confesses, but more importantly gets Hanabi to confirm that she doesn’t love Mugi. Ecchan offers to be the surrogate herself, but by volume’s end, Hanabi’s in bed with Mugi, seemingly ready to have sex with him. One thing I particularly liked about this volume is though her relationship with Mugi might seem twisted and strange, in a way she’s more pure than other classmates, because she’s acting out of love and not merely juggling two guys, trying to decide who has more to offer her. Looking forward to volume three! – Michelle Smith

My Week in Manga: January 23-January 29, 2017

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My News and Reviews

The end of the month is approaching which means it’s time for Experiments in Manga’s monthly giveaway. The winner of the most recent giveaway will be announced on Wednesday, so there’s still a little time left to enter for a chance to win the first volume of Kenya Suzuki’s delightful full-color manga series Please Tell Me! Galko-chan. Speaking of manga giveaways, there’s also an opportunity to win a copy of the first omnibus in Kei Sanbe’s Erased over at The OASG.

Elsewhere online, I came the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2017 Great Graphic Novels for Teens. As usual, the list includes a fair number of manga along with all of the other excellent comics. Ichigo Takano’s Orange (which was also one of my notable manga from 2016) even made the top ten list. Out of the many other manga included as part of YALSA’s larger list, I have in-depth reviews of Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu and Akiko Higashimura’s Princess Jellyfish, Omnibus 1, both of which I loved.

Another list I came across recently was BookRiot’s feature on Japanese speculative fiction in translation. Overall, I think it’s a great list–I’ve previously reviewed three of the books included (Miyuki Miyabe’s The Book of Heroes, Yusuke Kishi’s The Crimson Labyrinth, and Taiyo Fujii’s Gene Mapper) and most of the others I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time or were already high on my list of books to read in the near future.

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Kickstarter projects here, but there are a few campaigns for print comics that have caught my eye lately: Maya Kern is looking to print the second volume of the adorable webcomic Monster Pop; Amanda Lafrenais is campaigning to release the second Titty-Time print collection of erotic comics; and Deandra Tan is hoping to release a print edition of her graphic novel Love Debut!.

Quick Takes

Aoharu X Machinegun, Volume 1Aoharu X Machinegun, Volume 1 by Naoe. I picked up the first volume of Aoharu X Machinegun more on a whim than anything else but I ended up enjoying it much more than I expected. On the surface there are a few things about the beginning of Aoharu X Machinegun that are oddly reminiscent of Ouran High School Host Club–Masamune works in a host club and Hotaru, who is often mistaken for a boy, gets wrapped up in his schemes after she needs to earn some money for damaging the club’s property–but the similarities mostly end there. Hotaru has an overly-strong sense of of justice and has a tendency to get into fights because of it. Masamune is the leader of a competitive survival/war game team and has decided the Hotaru should become its third member after her aggressiveness leaves a distinct impression on him. Initially, the team’s second member Tooru, who also happens to be well-known hentai mangaka, is less than thrilled about this. They’re both completely unaware that Hotaru is a girl, too, which could cause some trouble later on. Aoharu X Machinegun is kind of ridiculous but fun. I enjoyed its action and sense of humor and this point would be interested in reading more.

Bakune Young, Volume 1Bakune Young, Volumes 1-3 by Toyokazu Matsunaga. I’ve been meaning to read Bakune Young for quite a while now but the short series is long out-of-print and can be somewhat difficult to find. (Fortunately, it turned out that my library actually owns a complete set.) Reading Bakune Young is quite an experience to say the least. Matsunaga’s artwork, while it’s frequently and deliberately grotesque and at times could even be described as ugly, is tremendous. The story itself is nearly nonsensical, but it does manage to have a bizarre sort of logic to it. The series opens with the titular Bakune Young in a pachinko parlor before he begins targeting yakuza in a killing spree. His rampage quickly escalates and eventually not only the yakuza, but Japanese police, a ninja assassin from the French Foreign Legion, psychics, and even the American military all become involved as the death count increases exponentially. Bakune Young is certainly not for the faint of heart. It’s incredibly violent, viciously dark, and legitimately absurd, but assuming one isn’t bothered by all that, it can also be extraordinarily funny. I suspect Bakune Young is a manga that readers either love or hate without there being much middle ground.

The Encyclopedia of Early EarthThe Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg. I recently read and absolutely loved Greenberg’s The One Hundred Nights of Hero and so immediately made a point to seek out more of her work. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth was Greenberg’s first graphic novel and received great acclaim when it was published. The comic’s premise is simple: a nameless storyteller as travels the world in search of a missing piece of his soul. The graphic novel shares some obvious similarities to The One  Hundred Nights of Hero in its structure, themes, artwork, and setting. Both comics take place in the pre-prehistoric Early Earth and utilize the same mythologies, cosmologies, and pantheons. Both comics, in addition to love, are also about the importance of stories and storytellers; they find inspiration in and retell existing folktales while intertwining them with those of Greenberg’s own making. Otherwise, the two comics aren’t directly related. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth feels less politically-charged than The One Hundred Nights of Hero which may make it more palatable to some audiences but as a result it isn’t nearly as powerful a work overall in comparison. Even so, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth is wonderful.

Wolf MagicWolf Magic by Natsuki Zippo. So far, Wolf Magic is the only manga by Zippo to have been released in English. As far as I can tell, Wolf Magic is also Zippo’s first professional work. Especially considering that, it’s a very strong collection of boys’ love manga, and I’d certainly be interested in seeing more from Zippo translated. Wolf Magic opens with “The Water of Love for the Withered Flower” which is about Hanasaki, a florist whose severe appearance is at complete odds with what most people would associate with his profession. However, he still manages to unintentionally catch the eye of Hata. The manga then turns to the various “Wolf Magic” stories which follow Nagase, a young gay man, as he falls in and out of love during high school and then continues to look for “the one” in college. In the process, he develops a surprising relationship with Higuchi. While the two story arcs are unrelated and are quite different from each other, thematically they are very similar. Both Hanasaki and Nagase are searching for love and acceptance and both ultimately find it in unexpected places and ways. Overall, with its attractive artwork and excellent characterizations, Wolf Magic is quite well done.

United States of JapanUnited States of Japan by Peter Tieryas. I’ve often heard United States of Japan described as a spiritual sequel or successor to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. In some ways that is certainly true–Tieryas’ novel probably would not have existed were it not for Dick’s and makes multiple references to The Man in the High Castle–but the two novels are drastically different from each other in tone and style. The underlying premise, however, is the same. Emerging victorious from World War II, Japan now controls a significant portion of what was once the United States of America. The grim cyberpunk alternate history presented in United States of Japan (complete with mecha battles and graphic torture) can be extraordinarily brutal and gruesome. The lead characters aren’t exactly the most likeable or sympathetic people, either, though they become slightly more so as the novel progresses. Captain Ben Ishimura, whose only talent seems to be hacking and programming, is a censor who comes to the attention of Agent Akiko Tsukino when an illegal video game which imagines America winning the Second World War threatens to embolden resistance against the rule of Japan.

Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle

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By NISIOISIN, illustrations by take. Released in Japan as “Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregototsukai” by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Greg Moore.

I had thought that I had reviewed this volume when it first came out almost ten years ago from Del Rey books. But no, I hadn’t quite begun my blog yet, though I have reviewed the second (and sadly last) book in the series. But of course that was almost ten years ago. Since then I’ve gotten obsessed with Medaka Box, and I finally joined the herd in getting obsessed with the Monogatari series. So I was ready to revisit the first in Nisioisin’s Zaregoto series, which is finally getting an anime in Japan after so many years. (It also never had a manga, except for an original story spinoff.) If you’re familiar with Nisio’s later works, you’ll find much here that’s familiar, particularly the idea of what “geniuses” are. But those works lack the most important element of these books, and that’s the narrator, Ii-chan.

Nisio loves to take his main characters and have them disparaged, either by the narration himself or by other characters. But usually it’s the other characters that get all the attention. In Medaka Box Medaka is not remotely the most popular character with fans, and I doubt you’ll find many Monogatari fans saying Koyomi is “best girl” either. Zaregoto is all about Ii-chan, though. His seemingly deadpan narration, his seeming stoicism, his seeming need to not care about anything that happens to him or what anyone thinks of him. Seeming being the repeated word, because it’s pointed out repeatedly by the entire cast just how much nonsense his entire attitude is. Which is, of course, the point: he is the “nonsense user” of the subtitle, and at times he almost seems to utter it like a mantra, usually when it’s becoming too apparent that’s he’s slipping out of character.

Ii-chan (real name never given throughout the series, much like Kyon) is the friend and minder of a technological genius, Tomo Kunagisa, who’s been invited to a remote island by an eccentric ex-heiress who likes surrounding herself with these sorts of types. Of course, if the words “remote island” seem suspicious to you, you’ve probably guessed that someone is murdered while they’re there. Now Ii-chan, who is merely a normal boy among all these geniuses, must solve the crime. And that’s a lie as well, as we’re told that Ii-chan himself went to an exclusive school in America just for geniuses, though he maintains that it doesn’t count because he dropped out. Also, despite professing a bad memory and ignorance of many basic principles, he’s quoting obscure philosophy and literature throughout. He is a lying liar who lies, and by the end of the book you can see why many in the story are disgusted with him. He won’t try. He refuses to strive. He goes with the flow. Except of course that is not completely true either. He just wishes it was.

There is a lot of backstory given here, some of which comes up again later in the series and some of which does not. Ii-chan talks about a child who was not allowed to have any contact with the outside world for the first ten years of their life, but it’s unclear if he means Kunagisa or himself. Certainly Kunagisa seems to suffer from a case of arrested development – she’s supposedly the same age as Ii-chan, who’s about to start college, but looks and acts about eleven years old. She’s also the head of a former cyber-terrorist group that terrified the world while also advancing its tech beyond most people’s wildest dreams. And she and Ii-chan are clearly used to corpses and investigating – one of the funniest parts of the book is their blank disbelief at why Yayoi is so upset and edgy – after all, it’s just a murder.

Honestly, the murder mystery is possibly the least interesting part of the book – again, not uncommon with this author, where frequently you read things for the dialogue or narrative tone rather than what’s actually happening. I’d actually say it’s overly complex, with two too many twists and turns at the very end – I think Nisio agreed with me, as around the 3rd book in the series he simply stopped making the books mysteries at all. That said, I still love and highly recommend the book, if only for its fascinating and frustrating narrator. And I’m hoping it does well enough that Vertical might put out the second in the series, which is even better.

Happiness, Vols. 1-2

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The first chapter of Happiness reads like a teenage boy’s answer to Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. Makoto, the principle character, is doing his best to cope with the indignities of being fourteen: he’s bullied by the popular kids, pestered by his well-meaning but clueless mother, and embarrassed by his lustful reactions to pretty girls. Though he has one friend — the equally uncool Nunota — Makoto spends most of his time alone.

A nighttime trip to the convenience store, however, jolts Makoto out of his routine. In a dark alley, a female vampire tackles and pins him to the ground, offering the following ultimatum: “Do you want to die like this, or do you want to be like me?” With tears and snot streaming down his face, Makoto whimpers, “I don’t want to die,” thus beginning his transformation from ordinary teen to bloodsucker.

If Makoto thought that wet dreams and wedgies were awful, he soon discovers that they pale in comparison with the first stages of vampirism. He suffers from an unquenchable, almost violent thirst and finds direct sunlight blisteringly painful. Worse still, his sense of smell is now so acute that he swoons and sweats in the presence of bloody noses, cuts, and girls, a symptom that sends him into an even deeper spiral of shame. The only potential upside to his condition is his supernatural strength: though he still looks like a 100-pound weakling, he can leap from great heights and deliver a lethal karate chop when the scent of blood is in the air.

Given Makoto’s age, it’s not surprising that author Shizuno Oshimi treats his hero’s transformation as a metaphor for puberty itself. In the manga’s earliest scenes, Oshimi frankly documents Makoto’s efforts to cope with hormonal surges and maternal helicoptering, capturing Makoto’s discomfort in his own skin. As Makoto begins turning into a vampire, however, his increasingly urgent thirst for blood amplifies the very aspects of puberty that most embarrass him — his keen interest in sex, his inability to conceal his arousal from others — making him feel even more powerless.

To capture Makoto’s turbulent emotions, Oshimi employs a variety of artistic styles. Some panels are rendered in smudgy pastels, suggestive of a foggy evening, while other panels are rendered in swirling, pulsating lines reminiscent of The Scream. These visual interludes last only a page or two, but vividly capture the nausea, pain, and confusion Makoto experiences in the grips of bloodlust.

Perhaps no scene is as evocative as that first encounter between Makoto and the female vampire. Oshimi uses rapid shifts in perspective and a few fleeting images — a shadowy figure plunging through space, a dark smear of blood — to indicate what’s happening. The extreme close-ups and feverish pacing neatly mimic Makoto’s growing sense of panic as he considers the possibility of dying in an alleyway — and not just any death, but a potentially humiliating one. (And really, what could be worse than that from a fourteen-year-old’s perspective?)

The pacing, like the artwork, is expertly handled. Oshimi has a knack for lulling readers into a false sense of security that Makoto will transcend (or master) his vampirism and silence his tormentors. Then — bam! Oshimi inserts a twist or introduces a new character who contradicts our sense of how socially maladroit or invulnerable Makoto really is. The appearance in volume two of a new bloodsucker, for example, reveals the extent to which vampires pose an active threat to one another — something that Makoto in his solipsistic misery never considered when he agreed to become a vampire himself.

And speaking of volume two, Oshimi does an excellent job of expanding and developing the cast of characters. By volume’s end, there’s more at stake than Makoto’s desire to escape humiliation; Makoto must decide whether to become a full-fledged vampire or fight for his humanity, a decision complicated by his budding friendship with a female classmate. How Makoto resolves this dilemma remains to be seen, though his struggle should provide plenty of dramatic grist for volume 3 (available February 14th).

The bottom line: Happiness is a rare vampire manga with bite: it’s smart, stylish, and unsettling, drawing readers into Makoto’s world with an honest look at the horrors of being fourteen. And what could be scarier than that?

HAPPINESS, VOLS. 1-2 • BY SHIZUNO OSHIMI • KODANSHA COMICS • RATING: OT, for OLDER TEENS (16+)

Manga the Week of 2/1/17

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SEAN: For a ‘5th week’, this is a pretty huge one. Longtime readers know that when the 1st falls on a Wednesday, it’s not really the first week, but there’s still tons of stuff.

J-Novel Club has made its name mostly with typical “light novel” fare for standard anime fans. That said, the release of The Faraway Paladin is really being touted by them as a good novel in general. It’s a dark fantasy, and they’re REALLY pushing it as not your typical light novel fare.

They are also releasing Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which is absolutely your typical light novel fare.

If you enjoyed the first volumes of Deathtopia and Wave, Listen to Me! when they came out digitally Tuesday, well, Kodansha is releasing the 2nd volumes next week.

MICHELLE: Hooray!

ASH: I’m hoping we’ll eventually see a print edition, but I might not be able to wait for it.

ANNA: Nice! Preparing for a good digital only edition of manga binge.

SEAN: Many may remember the Alice in the Country of Hearts series coming out primarily from Seven Seas. It’s not anymore, for reasons that remain murky, but Seven Seas has tried to retain the spirit by doing Captive Hearts of Oz, which is an original manga series based on the Oz books with art by Mamenosuke Fujimaru, the most popular Alice in the Country of artist.

ASH: I’m actually really curious about this collaboration!

ANNA: I’m a little curious, but also wary because I’m burnt out on both Oz and Country of Hearts stuff. The art should at least be very pretty!

SEAN: I really enjoyed the visual novel Kindred Spirits on the Roof when it came out here last year, being a “yuri” title that actually cared about character depth and not just bodies squishing. There was a short manga spinoff as well, and Seven Seas is putting it out as one omnibus. The good news is it’s NOT an adaptation of the game – these are new stories, and stars some new cast members (it takes place after the game proper, I believe). If you like “non-skeezy” yuri, you must pick this up.

MICHELLE: This one was definitely on my list.

MJ: I’ll put it on mine as well.

ASH: Oh, interesting! I had assumed that it was an adaptation. I guess I’ll need to move it up on my list.

SEAN: And there is also a 2nd and final volume of the Love in Hell spinoff Death Life.

Udon’s Persona schedule has been slipping a bit, but here’s the 2nd volume of Persona 3.

ASH: Since I’ve actually played some of Persona 3, I’ve been meaning to check this series out. Apparently I’ve already fallen behind, though.

Vertical has a 1-volume Junji Ito title, Dissolving Classroom, which comes from a series of stories that ran in Motto!, Akita Shoten’s josei horror title. It’s Junji Ito, so it should be great (and also gross) (and also terrifying).

MJ: I like the sound of that!

ASH: I’m very excited for this release! I like josei, I like horror, I like Ito, so I expect that I’ll like Dissolving Classroom, too.

ANNA: Also curious to check this out.

SEAN: Yen has some new digital only releases. Aphorism 8, Corpse Princess 8, and Sekirei 8.

They also have their light novel titles for the month, beginning with the debut. Death March in the Parallel World Rhapsody had its manga adaptation come out this week, meaning I already discussed it in last week’s Manga the Week of. But hey, prose!

There is a 6th volume of cult favorite Kagerou Daze, which if nothing else promises to be short, and also hopefully clear up a few more mysteries.

The 3rd Overlord novel is unlikely to be short, and will continue to feature our evil protagonists having evil adventures.

Spice & Wolf has its 2nd and 3rd books released digitally for those (like me) who never read it in print years ago.

And Strike the Blood’s 5th volume hopes to resolve the cliffhanger from the last volume and also astound me with its originality. I suspect it will achieve one of those. But the fights will be cool.

Yen also held over two titles to next week. Alice in Murderland gives you more Kaori Yuki goodness (is the entire cast dead yet?).

And they debut Big Order in omnibus format. I had hoped this was a baseball manga, but alas. It’s from the creator of Future Diary.

MICHELLE: I wish it had been a baseball manga, too!

SEAN: Do you have a favorite title you’re picking up?

Wave, Listen to Me!, Vol. 1

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By Hiroaki Samura. Released in Japan as “Nami yo Kiite Kure” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Adam Hirsch.

The digital-only manga is something we’ve seen pop up quite a bit over the last few years, and now the big print companies are getting into it as well. Hiroaki Samura is well-known and beloved for his classic samurai series Blade of the Immortal, so you’d think that his next project would be an obvious get. But just like you don’t necessarily pick up the Fullmetal Alchemist creator’s new work when it’s a farming manga, you don’t necessarily have a built in audience for the samurai guy writing about a brash young woman who finds herself recruited for the wonders of the local radio station. Luckily, Kodansha is releasing this digitally, and I think it’s strong enough that with good word of mouth, it could warrant a print release.

Wave, Listen to Me! runs 100% on its heroine, and if you don’t like her, you’re not going to like the book. She doesn’t exactly make it easy to like her, either. When we meet Minare she’s drunk, talking to an older guy in a bar simply because he’s there, and bemoaning her recent failed relationship. You’d expect that this is the sort of behavior that would only come out when she’s drunk, and that she’ll regret it later. This is only partially true – she regrets some of the whining and bad relationship talk she gave, but it turns out that she’s pretty much like this when sober as well. Why is she regretting what she said to some guy in a bar? Well, turns out he recorded her… and that he’s a radio producer. When she hears her ranting monologue on the air, it leads to the possibility of a brand-new career. Which is good, because Minare’s life right now is a hot mess.

This is a fun, funny manga, and I enjoyed that it allowed us to be amused at all of Minare’s horribly wrong choices without actually making her look pathetic or annoying. (Also, ten points for her athleticism in taking out the guy who supposedly is assaulting her – though again, this turns out to be an error in judgment.) Minare says what she thinks and tends to act impulsively, which is why she’s a walking disaster, but is also why she has guys like Nakahara who are totally smitten with her. The parts of the book dealing with her radio career are more interesting than the romance, and I am very wary of the “other woman” who shows up to allegedly help at the restaurant Minare works at to make up for her brother’s running over the owner (as is Minare). But honestly, I would read 200 pages of this woman reading the phone book to us. It is very much a one-character title, and I really love the character.

Luckily, I won’t have too long to wait – the second volume is out next week. If you enjoy manga about strong, loud, flawed adult women and their misadventures in living, or even if you just love radio, this is a winner. Go buy it so we can get it in print.

Demon Prince of Momochi House Vols. 5 and 6

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As I was trying to get caught up on this series one of the things that struck me about Demon Prince of Momochi House is that Aya Shouoto has developed a unique sensibility for the series. It manages to blend warm heartfelt moments about a found family (even if that family is a house of beautiful spirits) with moments of unsettling menace and a general lingering sense of unease due to the fact that as the human in Momochi house, a wrong decision by Himari might have profound consequences. The tension between these two themes is part of what makes reading this series so rewarding.

Demon Prince of Momochi House Volume 5 by Aya Shouoto

One of the things I appreciate about manga series with an expanded cast of characters is the chance to delve into the motivations and feelings of characters who aren’t as central to the main story. This volume opens with a story centering on Yukari. The house is sweltering, but he seems to be unaffected. Yukari reveals that he used to be human, but this revelation isn’t followed up on very much as the gang decide to travel somewhere to escape the horrible weather. They visit a spring from Yukari’s past where the dragon god Ryujin used to be a guardian. There’s something wrong with the water though, and Yukari wonders if if it might be an indication of trouble for Ryujin. Himari is quick to jump in and offer to help. They call the god Ryujin and he takes Himari away. Aoi in his spiritual form as the Nue goes after her immediately. In the end, Yukari and Ryujin renew their connection and the found family in Momochi House feels as though it has expanded once again.

One thing I was intrigued by was the continuing presence of Aoi’s old childhood friend Hayato. His memories of the supernatural and Aoi were erased, but he continues to be a bit of a melancholy presence at school, and he does represent a possible friend for Yukari who isn’t tied to the supernatural world. He and Yukari get thrown together at school, but she ends up openly talking about her feelings with Aoi, and he denies thinking of her romantically.

Demon Prince of Momochi House Volume 6 by Aya Shouoto

The next volume finds Yukari and Aoi dealing with the aftermath of her confession. She wakes up in the morning to a teenage girl’s worst nightmare as everyone at Momochi house knows that her feelings have been rejected. They start throwing a party to commemorate her rejection. Even school isn’t a refuge, as Hayato guesses what’s wrong and starts patting Yukari on the head in commiseration. There’s some distraction in the form of a new teacher, who looks suspiciously like Aoi, and who happens to have a mysterious mirror that sends Yukari into a dream of a mirror dimension comprised of her own thought projections and feelings.

Back at Momochi house, Aoi is distracted and Ayakashi are starting to pop up from all over. A giant malicious cat spirit who seems to be a bit emotionally fixated on Aoi moves in temporarily and sets up a number of tests designed to torment Yukari, except she sails through them with her usual good cheer and indefatigable work ethic.

While at times this manga seems like a series of short episodes, at the end of each volume the relationships between the characters have shifted, sometimes in a dramatic fashion and sometimes in more subtle ways. The mysterious ties of Aoi to Momochi house continue to make the reader feel uneasy for the young couple and intrigued to see their next adventures.

Manga Giveaway: Please Tell Me! Galko-chan Giveaway

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I realize that it’s the end of the month rather than the beginning, and that I’ve probably already said this, but happy new year, everyone! I’d like to help get 2017 off to a good start with a great giveaway at Experiments in Manga. And so, this month you will all have the chance to win the first volume of Kenya Suzuki’s delightful manga series Please Tell Me! Galko-chan as published in English by Seven Seas. As usual, the giveaway is open worldwide!

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1

I really enjoyed the first volume of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, perhaps even more than I expected that I would. It’s a bright and cheerful manga, in part because it’s artwork is bright and cheerful, too. Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is somewhat unusual in that it’s completely in color. Although it isn’t uncommon for a manga to include a few color pages here or there, relatively few full-color manga have been licensed in English. While I love the monochromatic illustrations typical of most manga, the deliberate but sparing use of color can create a tremendous narrative impact (I’m thinking of a specific scene in Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto) and full-color manga can be very appealing as well.

So, you may be wondering, how can you a copy of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1?

1) In the comments below, tell me a little about a manga with color artwork that you’ve read, whether color was used for an entire volume or only a few pages. (If you haven’t encountered any, you can simply mention that.)
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting, or retweeting, about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).

That’s all there is to it. Participants in the giveaway can earn up to two entries and have one week to submit comments. If needed or preferred, comments can also be sent via email to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com and I will then post them here in your name. The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on February 1, 2017. Good luck!

VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address in the comment form, a link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.

Contest winner announced–Manga Giveaway: Please Tell Me! Galko-chan Giveaway Winner

Bookshelf Briefs 1/23/17

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Golden Time, Vol. 6 | By Yuyuko Takemiya and Umechazuke | Seven Seas – Getting past the fanservice of the volume—and not necessarily for guys, that’s Banri in the maid outfit on the cover—Golden Time always works best when it focuses on developing its leads, and it does a very good job. Banri is terrified the “old him” will take over again, Kouko is trying to change her old obsessive ways but it’s really hard, especially when she sees Bari and Linda pocky-kissing, and as for Linda, she’s trying to let go of her love for Banri without actually telling him about it, and just like Kouko, this is proving to be really hard. As you’d expect from this author, the manga does a really good job of providing depth to its romantic triangle. Recommended for romantic dramedy fans. – Sean Gaffney

Honey So Sweet, Vol. 5 | By Amu Meguro | Viz Media – I talked last time about how much I enjoyed the fluffy angst, and I do, but I feel that it doesn’t work as well when it’s obviously manufactured by the writer to create conflict that shouldn’t be there. Taiga’s mother pretending to be “a mean person” so that Nao could show her resolve was entirely unnecessary, especially since it only lasted about three pages. The rest of the volume fares better, especially with Nao’s fight with her brother, which spins its conflict very well indeed. And as with so many shoujo manga, we get to see the seasons pass, so get ready for Christmas dates and Valentine’s chocolate. Always good, but sometimes tries a bit too hard. – Sean Gaffney

Horimiya, Vol. 6 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – We’ve reached the stage where the lead couple is reasonably happy, so it’s time to focus on their friends’ romantic prospects. I was unexpectedly entertained by spending more time with Sengoku, who is every bit as scrawny and weak as Miyamura is, which doesn’t bother the girl who likes him one bit. Speaking of Miyamura, I think he and Hori manage to sleep together in this volume, but the fade-to-black is so demure that I’m not 100% sure. While I do celebrate how naturally the moment occurred, it does still trouble me that by the end of the volume he’s wearing a bandage because Hori went berserk when she thought a girl had called him. At least their friends are both telling Hori she’s to blame and Miyamura not to just let it go, but I wish her violent tendencies would be treated a little more seriously. – Michelle Smith

In/Spectre, Vol. 2 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – There is a mystery here, and it’s a decent one, delving into the sordid business world of gravure idols and showing us how hard things can be for a practical girl who wants to get ahead in the business starting with “spunk” (and large breasts). But as with the first volume, the reader is likely more inclined to follow the hilarious back and forth between Kuro’s ex-girlfriend and his current girlfriend. As with the last volume, Kotoko is so comical in her arrogance and jealousy it’s actually hilarious, and Saki’s not much better. Kuro, being (mostly) a stoic, is the weak link. There’s also some cool fighting and amusing monsters. It’s a greatly enjoyable yokai series. – Sean Gaffney

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life, Vol. 6 | By Keiichi Arawi | Vertical Comics – In between volumes of Nichijou, I forget how passionately I hate the professor. And then I read chapters where she whines and throws a trantrum over getting an undeserved treat and Nano tries to stand firm, but eventually gives in and rewards her awful behavior. Or a chapter in which Sakamoto objects to, say, being put in the washing machine, but she won’t listen and eventually falls asleep and he just gives up on talking to her. I mean, she’s just a little kid. Why do I want to see a violent fate befall her?! It feels so wrong. There are a few other surreal and/or vaguely amusing stories this volume, but I honestly don’t think I even smiled. Perhaps it’s time to give up on Nichijou. – Michelle Smith

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Vol. 12 | By Miki Yoshikawa | Kodansha Comics – Now that it’s clear that the series is trundling along with a whole set of new witches, new powers, but the same old Yamada-kun, I will try to get over my annoyance and find things to enjoy. I liked the first new Witch we meet, a basketball jock who finds that power corrupts. We don’t see much of Shiraishi, but what little we do see shows how much she’s struggling with Yamada-kun having to go around kissing all these girls, and unfortunately her stoicism is not helping. And the two new Student Council members are amusingly dumb. But again, this really seems like it’s spinning through the same old tricks, and it’s not as good as the first time around. – Sean Gaffney

My Week in Manga: January 16-January 22, 2017

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My News and Reviews

It’s been several months since my last in-depth review, but over the weekend I actually managed to post one delving into the eighth omnibus of Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga. I really love this series so I am thrilled that Kodansha Comics was able to continue publishing it. The eighth omnibus marks the start of an exciting new story arc and introduces some great new characters. On a personal note, it also felt good to actually finish writing a review since it’s been so long. I’d like to continue posting at least one long-form review or feature every month in addition to the usual My Week in Manga, Bookshelf Overload, and Giveaway features. On the surface it seems to be a reasonable goal, so I guess I’ll see how it goes!

Elsewhere online, Sparkler Monthly‘s first issue of 2017 has been released. As can be expected, all of the content is great, but this issue specifically features Denise Schroeder and her delightful lesbian-themed comic Before You Go. I took a look at the first installment of Before You Go as part of my Year of Yuri review project a couple of years ago. It’s a great comic, so I’m glad so see more of it. And if things go well, there should be a collected edition in the near future as well! Also last week, Seven Seas announced its collaboration with J-Novel Club to release Ao Jyumonji’s Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Chiyomaru Shikura’s Occultic;Nine in print.

Quick Takes

Dimension W, Volume 2Dimension W, Volumes 1-2 by Yuji Iwahara. Several of Iwahara’s manga series have been released in English. I’ve read and enjoyed both Cat Paradise and King of Thorn, but there’s also Chikyu Misaki and most recently Dimension W. I’ve come to expect a few things from Iwahara’s manga: great artwork and action, large and diverse casts, intriguing settings and premises, and entertaining stories that take numerous twists and turns (and which often end up rather convoluted as a result). So far, it seems as though Dimension W will also follow this pattern and, being Iwahara’s longest series, I suspect that the plot will go in some truly bizarre directions. But even considering that Iwahara seems to be constantly making up and changing the rules when it’s convenient just to make the story work, I’m actually really enjoying Dimension W. In the series, New Tesla is a company that has gained a tremendous amount of political and social influence due to the fact that it monopolizes a nearly limitless source of energy and the technology needed to use it. The power could be dangerous in the wrong hands, and New Tesla may very well be the wrong hands.

Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M, Volume 11Firefighter! Daigo of Fire Company M, Volumes 11-20 by Masahito Soda. One of the things about Firefighter! is that once I start reading it, I can’t seem to put it down. It’s a fantastic action series that’s firmly based in reality, although some of the scenarios are so completely over-the-top that they strain believability. Even so, the drama and intensity of Firefighter! is thrilling. With every rescue Soda keeps increasing the stakes, finding ways to make each one even more daring and astonishing than the last. And seeing as the first half of Firefighter! ends with Daigo intentionally crashing a fire engine into a building, that’s a pretty impressive feat. Admittedly, the series can get pretty absurd, but it’s always entertaining as well as engaging. The character development is excellent, too. In the heat of the moment, Daigo has the tendency to make some incredibly dangerous although ultimately life-saving decisions, but afterwards he struggles to come to terms with his actions and underlying motives. Firefighter! is a great series and well-worth a look. The manga is currently out-of-print, but fortunately it is readily available digitally.

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Volume 1 by Kenya Suzuki. I first learned about the Please Tell Me! Galko-chan manga due to its recent anime adaptation (which I haven’t actually seen yet), but I was still very curious about the original series. What I didn’t realize until I picked up the first volume was that the manga is actually completely illustrated in color; the palette and style that Suzuki uses for the cover illustration is pretty much what is used for the interior artwork as well. Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is a surprisingly sweet, funny, and charming series, especially considering that it frankly deals with issues surrounding puberty, sex, and so on. Some of the subject matter is more innocent, but there’s plenty of  dirty humor and jokes, too. Though the framing of the series is fictional, the largely short and episodic manga of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan do incorporate a fair amount of factual information. What I really appreciate about Please Tell Me! Galko-chan is that while the topics covered often embarrass the characters–frequently they’re discussing breasts, menstruation, and sex in a deliberate attempt to make each other blush–there’s never a sense that they or their bodies are shameful.

Ze, Volumes 10-11 by Yuki Shimizu. Despite at one point being rather fond of Shimizu’s supernatural boys’ love Ze, it’s taken me a while to actually get around to reading the main manga’s last story arc and conclusion. (Granted, that may have also been partly due to the numerous delays and unreliability of Digital Manga’s release schedule.) As a whole Ze tends to be fairly sexually explicit, but these two volumes are for the most part relatively tame and include very little sex at all. The relationships and power dynamics in the series are still pretty intense, though. The final story arc of Ze is almost entirely devoted to revealing the backstory of Waki and his connection to the Mitou family. In an interesting twist, it turns out that Waki has always been an asshole and there was nothing in particular that made him that way; although unfortunate things have certainly happened to him, his depraved personality is completely his own. The Mitou family’s past is certainly a strange and tragic one that has resulted in a great deal of suffering over time, but Shimizu does manage to end the series on a positive and redemptive note.

One-Punch Man, Vols. 1-11

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By ONE and Yusuke Murata | Published by VIZ Media

opm1My name is Saitama. I am a hero. My hobby is heroic exploits. I got too strong. And that makes me sad. I can defeat any enemy with one blow. I lost my hair. And I lost all feeling. I want to feel the rush of battle. I would like to meet an incredibly strong enemy. And I would like to defeat it with one blow. That’s because I am One-Punch Man.

One-Punch Man is much loved on Manga Bookshelf, and now I can finally be included in the group singing its praises!

Three years ago, depressed after botching a job interview, Saitama encountered a crab monster. Defeating it was much more enjoyable than looking for a job, so he decided to become a hero for fun. Since then, he’s been vanquishing the monsters that plague his city but not getting any credit for it. (Who is receiving the credit is a later plot point.) Overwhelming strength has become boring, but when he meets Genos, a cyborg driven by revenge, he gains a disciple and also learns about the Hero Association, which employs heroes of various classes and dispatches them as needed to counter various monstrous threats, which have been on the rise.

opm6The balancing act ONE and Murata achieve here is impressive. On the one hand, One-Punch Man is gloriously silly. Heroes and foes alike are apt to be ludicrous, and some of the former have terrific names like Tank Top Vegetarian or Spring Mustachio (although I actually think he’s pretty cool). On the other hand, there is a lot of excellent shounen manga storytelling going on. The way Saitama lives his life without criticism for others makes me think he’d get along well with One Piece‘s Luffy, and the devotion his pupil Genos shows for him means they can always rely on each other. Too, after Saitama joins the Hero Association, we get regular updates on how his rank is improving, and this puts him in contact with even more heroes, some of whom are inept, some of whom are capable, and one of whom might actually be an enemy. He doesn’t seek glory, so many are unaware of his true strength, but I assume that eventually he will attain the rank he deserves (currently, due to poor performance on the written test, he’s far below Genos).

Although I don’t ordinarily comment much on art, Murata employs quite a few innovative tricks that make reading One-Punch Man different than the average manga. For one thing, Saitama is almost always drawn with a simple, bland expression, making the few times he looks determined or actually heroic a nice treat. Plus, I love how we get back-to-back two-page spreads from time to time. Some of these depict combatants exchanging blows, first with one landing a punch and then the other, but he also uses them to zoom in from, say, an attack that is heading Saitama’s way down to his fist that is about to get serious. It’s a fun way of depicting the action while continuing to incorporate humor. (Oh, incidentally, Saitama’s special attack, almost never required, is awesomely called “Consecutive Normal Punches.” We’ve only seen the finishing move—Serious Punch!!!—once so far.)

As of volume eleven, there are several plotlines in play. Monsters are appearing everywhere, and appear to be organizing. Is this tied in with the prediction of an extinction-level event within the next six months? What about that hint of a possible traitor that was dropped a few volumes back? While a rogue martial artist named Garo is hunting heroes, Saitama is off at a martial arts tournament to learn more how to defeat Garo (not knowing that he totally already did) and seems destined to face off against another strong fighter who is desperate for a challenge. I admire how this story has widened in scope in a natural way, without compromising the balance of narrative and humor. It could conceivably go on for a very long time, and I deeply hope it does.

One-Punch Man is ongoing in Japan, where it is up to twelve volumes. Currently, VIZ has released ten volumes in print and eleven digitally.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

Dorohedoro, Vol. 20

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By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hibana. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by AltJapan Co., Ltd. (Hiroko Yoda + Matt Alt).

The first thing a reader will notice when they pick up this volume of Dorohedoro is how much bigger it is than previous ones. I’m not sure if it’s due to the move from Ikki to Hibana, or if it’s because they’re trying to pack more chapters in per volume so that it doesn’t get above a certain volume count (Hayashida was supposed to have the series end at 20, which clearly isn’t happening), but extra content is always welcome, especially when it brings us a lot of shocking and surprising plot twists. And yes, some incredibly confusing ones as well, to be fair. Add the return of some fan favorites, and a great big heaping of fanservice, and the average Dorohedoro fan should be quite content.

The shocking plot twists (OK, maybe not shocking for some, but I honestly have trouble keeping up with everything in this series, so I was shocked) involves the true nature of The Hole, as revealed by Chidaruma as he waits for his delicious gyoza (and I can’t tell you how happy I was to see gyoza coming back into play in this series, even if it wasn’t Nikaido making it). The Hole’s creation is tragic and sickening, and it helps to show why the battle between sorcerers and everyone else is such a big deal. We also get a lot more about the true nature of Caiman/Kai/Aikawa/Ai, and the slashes there aren’t just for show, as he seems to be cycling through several of those people (and several of those heads) throughout the book, trying to figure out what exactly happened to him when he fell into the Hole so many years ago.

Then there’s the return of En and company, though honestly it’s mostly En – Shin, Noi and the others play only minor roles here (it is nice to see Shin is no longer controlled by evil, though). I was initially rather startled at how uncaring En was to Ebisu, given how much she’s worked towards resurrecting him, but then again, this is En, and he has no idea what happened while he was gone. Plus, to be fair, Ebisu *is* really annoying, partly as a function of the brain damage she’s suffered but also partly as the author just finds it amusing. Speaking of finding things amusing, most of the fanservice in this series has tended to involve Nikaido and her large breasts, and this volume milks that for all it’s worth, as she gets taken out fairly early in a fight and spends the entire rest of the volume topless and helpless. That too also seems to be the author having fun, especially given that the cliffhanger ending is “OMG, what happened to Nikaido’s boobs?”. I’m not making this up.

In any case, there’s a ton of stuff going on in this volume, and I was mostly able to follow along. Of course, we’re mostly caught up with Japan, so don’t expect the next volume till June. But in the meantime, a strong example of why this series continues to be the SigIkki flagship, even if Ikki is no more.

Vinland Saga, Vol. 8

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Vinland Saga, Omnibus 8Creator: Makoto Yukimura
Translator: Stephen Paul
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781682335406
Released: December 2016
Original release: 2014-2015
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award, Kodansha Manga Award

For a time it seemed as though the fate of the English-language edition of Makoto Yukimura’s epic award-winning manga series Vinland Saga was in question. Happily though, Kodansha Comics has been able to continue releasing the series. While the seventh omnibus reached a satisfying conclusion to one of the series’ major story arcs, it was still obvious that Yukimura had more to tell. I honestly believe that Vinland Saga is one of the strongest manga currently being released in English. It is also a personal favorite of mine, so I was thrilled when the eighth hardcover omnibus was finally released in 2016, collecting the fifteenth and sixteenth volumes of the original Japanese edition published between 2014 and 2015. Unlike the past few omnibuses of Vinland Saga, there is no additional content directly relating to the series (I was sad not to see the continuation of the “Ask Yukimura” section), but it does include an extensive preview of Kazuhiro Fujita’s The Ghost and the Lady, another historically-inspired manga available from Kodansha.

Finally free from his life of slavery but still bound by the violence of his past, Thorfinn travels back to Iceland in order to briefly reunite with his family before setting into motion his plans for the future. Accompanied by Einar, Leif, and “Bug-Eyes,” Thorfinn intends to colonize Vinland in an attempt to create a peaceful settlement far removed from the wars and violence seemingly inherent to the Norse way of life. But before that they must first secure the resources and supplies needed for the venture and support from others will be hard to come by–Thorfinn has very little to offer a potential investor except for ideals and his own life. Initially it seemed that they could secure the aid of Halfdan, a wealthy landowner who was already planning to become a relative of Leif’s by marrying his son to the widow of Lief’s brother, but then the wedding doesn’t go quite as planned. Thorfinn and the others may very well have gained themselves a few new enemies when they flee Iceland with Gudrid, the runaway bride.

Vinland Saga, Omnibus 8, page 50From the beginning, many of the women in Vinland Saga have been strong, memorable characters (Thorfinn’s sister and mother in particular are marvelous), but for the most part the focus of the series has been on the stories of the men. However, with the eighth omnibus there is a notable change in the manga with he introduction of Gudrid who becomes one of the main characters of Vinland Saga. In fact, a great deal of the plot currently directly revolves around her. I absolutely adore Gudrid. Like Thorfinn, she is struggling against the constraints of what is considered acceptable by the culture and traditions of their society. She has absolutely no interest in marriage or in behaving like a “proper” woman; her heart has always been set on exploring the world around her and expanding her horizons. Gudrid repeatedly proves that her worth is equal to or even greater than that of a man. Eventually, her persistence and brashness pays off although the circumstances surrounding her becoming a sailor are admittedly less than ideal.

Gudrid isn’t the only great female character to be introduced in the eighth Vinland Saga omnibus. Among others, there is also Astrid, Halfdan’s wife, and Hild, a young woman who proves once more that Thorfinn can never truly escape his past misdeeds. While many of the previous omnibuses have been battle-oriented, the eight omnibus tends to pay more attention to the characters themselves and their relationships. However, there are still a few excellent action sequences and Yukimura’s artwork continues to be dynamic and dramatic even when physical violence is not as prominent. For example, Halfdan exudes an aura of intensity and power–the way he is drawn and visually framed is frequently reminiscent of the way King Canute was portrayed, emphasizing his status and influence. This, of course, makes it even more satisfying when Astrid calmly, quietly, and fearlessly puts her husband in his place. (I really hope to see more of Astrid in the future.) Vinland Saga remains an incredibly well-done manga. With a growing cast of fantastic, complex characters, an engrossing story exploring themes of freedom and violence, and excellent artwork, I can’t wait to read more.

Manga the Week of 1/25/17

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SEAN: For a Yen week, this is actually pretty reasonable. Mostly as Yen moved a bunch of titles to the week after next, but hey.

Kodansha first, though. They’ve recently announced several new titles as digital releases. Deathtopia debuts next week, from the creator of Cage of Eden. This is a seinen title from Evening Magazine, and we’ll see if it’s as fanservice-laden as its shonen predecessor. It’s a thriller.

Wave, Listen to Me! gets the award for best title of the week. It’s an Afternoon manga from the creator of Blade of the Immortal. Fans of that series will be happy to hear this new one takes place… at a radio station?

ASH: I just found out about this series and I am incredibly curious about it.

MICHELLE: Oooooh! I especially like that the Kodansha site mentions “the beginning of an aggressive ramp-up in new digital manga series!”

KATE: Count me in for Wave, Listen to Me!, too. I’m a little biased — I teach a class on radio and television history — but I’m delighted to see a few grown-up options in the mix.

MJ: Oh, interesting.

ANNA: I am officially intrigued.

SEAN: And this isn’t out in volume form yet, but a new series from the creator of A Silent Voice debuts next week with 10 individual chapters, which catches us up with Weekly Shonen Magazine. Called To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e), it’s more supernaturally tinged than A Silent Voice but apparently just as depressing.

Kodansha also has an 8th print volume of Forget Me Not.

Seven Seas surprisingly only has one title out this week, given how much they’ve been piling on the books lately. It’s the 5th volume of Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

Vertical Inc. has the first volume of Nisioisin’s popular Zaregoto series, Decapitation: Kubikiri Cycle, though they emphasize they’ve only licensed this one volume, to tie in with the current Japanese OAV adaptation. It was actually released by Del Rey years ago; this is a re-edited version, and hopefully now that Bakemonogatari is popular it should see more readers.

Vertical Comics also gives us a third Immortal Hounds.

And the rest is Yen Press. First off, a 9th volume of capital letter and punctuation loving Akame Ga KILL!.

The 8th manga volume of A Certain Magical Index wraps up the adaptation of the 6th novel.

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody is the runner-up for best title of the week. As for the content, it’s a story where a guy finds himself transported to another world, gaining impressive powers, and surrounded by beautiful… wait, why are you running away? “Transported to another world” is this year’s vampires! This is the manga, the novel is out one week later.

First Love Monster has a 6th volume.

Fruits’ Basket Collector’s Edition reached Vol. 9, and get ready, because this is the one with THAT spoiler which shattered Furuba fandom forever.

MICHELLE: I continue to boggle that we’re up to this point already. But I also love that we’re still maintaining the secrecy of that spoiler.

SEAN: Horimiya has a 6th volume, and we’ll see if things advance on the romance front.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Horimiya a great deal.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: I’ve enjoyed the light novel The Isolator, dark as it’s been, and so am pleased to see the manga adaptation is now coming out over here.

And there’s a 3rd volume of fantasy Liselotte & Witch’s Forest.

MICHELLE: I’ll be picking up this one, too.

SEAN: Murciélago also debuts this month from Yen Press. It’s a Young Gangan title that is apparently SUPER violent, and has humor so black it causes you to redefine “funny”. And it also has a lesbian lead, though this isn’t your cute high school girls sort of lesbian. I’ve heard good things about it (it has the Erica Friedman seal of approval), but with lots of “it’s pretty sick” warnings.

ASH: I’ve heard good things, too, but it definitely won’t be a series for everybody.

MJ: I would describe myself as interested, but skeptical.

SEAN: Rokka: Brave of the Six Flowers also has its manga adaptation debut (the novel arrives in April). It’s a fantasy series with strong word of mouth – real fantasy, rather than light novel fantasy. This adaptation ran in Shueisha’s now defunct Super Dash & Go!.

ANNA: Huh, I am always up for more fantasy manga.

SEAN: I was pleasantly surprised at how good I found the first volume of Scum’s Wish, though ‘pleasant’ is perhaps the wrong word for what’s going on with these kids. I look forward to the second volume.

MICHELLE: Same. Dark and complex, but not ecchi like the cover of volume one might suggest.

SEAN: Taboo Tattoo has a 5th volume, and is very Monthly Comic Alive.

Today’s Cerberus sees a 2nd print volume, and is still cute and silly.

You can’t have a long list of manga without at least one survival game title, and there is is: the 2nd volume of Tohyo Game.

Lastly, we wrap up the 6th Umineko arc with the 3rd and final omnibus of Dawn of the Golden Witch. I’m not sure when the 7th arc will begin – Yen hasn’t scheduled it – but this volume at least resolves Erika Furudo’s role in the series… at least for the time being.

A lot of new stuff this week. What appeals to you most?

BL Bookrack: Ten Count, Vols. 1-2

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MJ: Wow, it’s been… a long time hasn’t it, my friend?

MICHELLE: I am scared to even verify how long it has been. A couple of years, at least!

MJ: So what’s brought us here today is the boys’ love series Ten Count (volumes one and two ) by Rihito Takarai, published here by SuBLime. From what I understand, the series has reached five volumes (ongoing) in Japan. The third volume is due out from SuBLime next month.

MICHELLE: Would you like to start?

MJ: Sure!

Shirotani is a lifelong germaphobe, resigned to his condition, though it keeps him isolated from others. Fortunately, with the help of his understanding employer, he is able to tolerate his job as secretary to a corporate CEO. It is in the corporate line of duty, then, that he first meets Kurose, a therapist at a local mental health clinic. Kurose notices Shirotani’s condition immediately, and suggests he seek help, but though Shirotani is able to make his way to the clinic, he can’t bring himself to go inside. Acknowledging this difficulty, Kurose offers to help him in a non-clinical capacity, as a friend, an arrangement to which Shirotani eventually agrees. As Kurose slowly helps him accomplish progressively difficult tasks (touching a doorknob with his bare hand, buying a book from a bookstore), the two become close in ways that complicates their relationship and threatens the fragile boundaries between them.

Fans of BL manga don’t need me to explain what that means, or probably why my greatest fear with this series would be that the therapist/patient dynamic (even in the context of them being “friends”) would create a problematic imbalance of power. And it does, though not right away. Had I read only the first volume, this paragraph would be a very different one, gratefully dismissing my fears and filled with satisfied discussion of their slowly-evolving relationship and lots of talk about how that kind of careful development is so rare and wonderful in this genre. Had I read only the first volume, I would have declared a lot of love for this series. Unfortunately, Kurose’s careful handling of Shirotani is abandoned less than two chapters into the second volume, when after declaring his love for Shirotani, he mercilessly forces him into accepting sexual contact (against Shirotani’s clear protestations), which only escalates as the volume continues. In fact, Shirotani’s germaphobia makes the situation even more brutal, as Kurose is not only performing non-consensual sexual acts with Shirotani, but also blatantly ignoring Shirotani’s boundaries regarding skin-to-skin contact without any of the thoughtful consideration he promised as part of their initial arrangement. It’s obvious that the author intended the germaphobia as a metaphorical stand-in for the typical uke resistance so popular in BL, but instead it just feels like piling on.

MICHELLE: What I found most interesting to contemplate is that Kurose does, in fact, give Shirotani opportunity to object. He warns him that he’s going to attempt these kinds of things if they continue to see each other, and asks questions like, “Did you really not like what we did a moment ago?” Sometimes, Shirotani is able to give voice to his objections, but he also holds back his disgust, and I have to think that’s because he doesn’t want to drive Kurose, the only person to whom he has any kind of close relationship, away. How much, then, does Shirotani actually reciprocate and how much is he just desperate to keep Kurose in his life?

If I had faith that Takarai was wanting us to consider this question in a thoughtful way, I’d be fairly happy. But there are a few comments, mostly in bonus stories or author asides, that make me think she is setting up a dominant/submissive paradigm in which Kurose simply enjoys seeing Shirotani squirm, and that is very troubling indeed.

MJ: Yeah, you’re right—he often does ask Shirotani for permission to do something, or for confirmation that he’s enjoying himself, but those check-ins feel pretty empty, considering the fact that he generally moves on with what he’s doing without anything resembling actual enthusiastic consent. And if she’s trying to set up a dominant/submissive relationship, she’s doing it 50 Shades style, which only furthers my discomfort. Kurose’s behavior becomes increasingly controlling over the course of the second volume, by the end of which he has not only violated most of Shirotani’s personal and sexual boundaries, but also has begun infantilizing him to a truly creepy degree. Between declaring a preference for a “childlike” hairstyle and outright asking Shirotani to agree to be “dependent” on him, Kurose has basically given up any pretense of respect or even basic acknowledgement of Shirotani’s agency as an (older!!) adult man. It is a testament to the strength of the series’ first volume that I’m even still reading this thing. But I would be lying if I said that it hadn’t broken my heart.

I understand that rape fantasy is a thing, and that it’s in poor taste to judge other people (especially femme-identified people, who are this genre’s target audience) for such fantasies. And on some level, I even understand a bit why someone’s fantasy might include giving up control, though I’d probably understand that better if we lived in a world where acknowledgement of a woman’s control over her own body was not considered a radical political act. I also understand that it’s, at the very least, pointless to wish for a story to be a different one than what its author wants to tell. I know that I should simply accept that something is not for me and move on. But after a full volume of something that *seems* to be for me, that truth can be difficult to swallow.

MICHELLE: Another thing that strikes me about the questions Kurose poses is how detached and clinical they can seem, even after a sexual act. One example is, “Were you more concerned with the possibility that I found you unpleasant than whether or not you found the situation itself unpleasant?” Leaving aside the tacit admission that he knows Shirotani could’ve been finding the situation unpleasant, attempting to reassert the therapist/patient dynamic at such a moment is, well, kind of creepy.

I’m not ready to give up on the series yet. Like I said, I want to believe Takarai is trying to make a more subtle point here, but I just don’t know. If volume three is more of the same, it might be too much for me, too.

MJ: Upsides of this series that extend beyond its fairly awesome first volume include Shirotani’s sweet, understanding boss, whose constant mindfulness regarding Shirotani’s discomfort and physical boundaries paint a picture of a pretty awesome guy. Similarly, Shirotani’s acquaintance from his company’s sales department, Mikami, proves himself over and over to be a good friend and a stand-up guy. It’s a shame that these characters, who operate without personal motive and truly seem to have Shirotani’s best interests at heart aren’t the people he trusts most. I can’t help but think that if either of them knew what was going on, they’d be the first to jump to Shirotani’s defense and help him get the hell out of the abusive relationship he’s been lured into by Kurose.

MICHELLE: I liked them, too! I really wanted to believe that Shirotani was indeed able to make progress in his therapy with Mikami, as he initially claimed to do, though we later learn he was lying in hopes that he could resume seeing Kurose. Perhaps it was some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way. Like, he tried with Mikami, and had no success, and now he believes that Kurose is the key to moving forward, thus increasing his dependence. He is able to achieve some things for these people in his life, though, like when his desire to find a book to entertain his hospitalized boss results in a successful purchase at a bookstore.

Regarding Kurose and his motivations, do you think there’s still some reveal to come? When he has Shirotani write out the list of ten activities he feels aversion for, with ten being something he thinks he could never do, Shirotani leaves that one blank. Kurose refuses to divulge his reasons for helping Shirotani on his own time until Shirotani fills in that tenth item. Do we already know that it’s because he was falling in love? Or is it something like, “I’m secretly a major sadist”?

MJ: That’s a really good question! I feel like I have no idea. I mean, on one hand, things have gone so far at this point I’m sort of just expecting the usual “tortured uke” trope to continue from this point, with more and more uncomfortable sex scenes and less and less real storytelling. So I’m not as optimistic as I’d like. On one hand, the series obviously continues beyond this, but I wonder if it will continue to really explore and examine this relationship or whether it will just turn to side characters like so many deceivingly-long BL series do.

Your whole first paragraph, though, just reminds me how much I loved the first volume! Gah! I want to be optimistic!

MICHELLE: So do I, and part of me thinks there’s still room for something great to evolve from this. I’m thinking of Tomoko Yamashita’s marvelous The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, actually, in which no sexual contact has occurred, but in which one lead (Hiyakawa) casually appropriates the body of the other (Mikado) in a way that alarms others but which the affected party chooses not to think too deeply about because with Hiyakawa around, he no longer feels alone or potentially crazy for his ability to see spirits. There are some definite parallels to Ten Count there, but Yamashita is more clearly going into a psychological direction with her story, whereas Takarai seems to be taking a more traditional, explicit route.

I will still read volume three, though. How about you?

MJ: I will probably give this series one more volume, yes, even though I don’t feel as optimistic as I wish I did. Also, I’ll second your shout-out to The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, which manages to talk about consent more thoughtfully, despite its supernatural premise. In that series, there is at least another character screaming out, “THIS IS NOT OKAY” all the time, so that we’re aware that the author knows there is a problem. It makes all the difference in the world.

MICHELLE: Indeed it does.

MJ: Bottom line, though this series starts off as a thoughtful look at the slow development of a tricky but potentially important relationship between a lonely professional who becomes friendly with a younger mental health specialist, its second volume takes a dark turn, devolving into a tale of emotional abuse, sexual assault, and deeply broken trust. We’ll probably keep reading it, but buyer beware.