Features & Reviews

By Tsuyoshi Fujitaka and An2A. Released in Japan as “Neechan wa Chuunibyou” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

It has been well over ten years since the Haruhi Suzumiya books hit Japan, and almost exactly ten years since the animated adaptation, so it’s no big surprise that we’re beginning to find works that are clearly inspired by its ideas. Actually, much of this book sounds like it’s been pulled together from what’s popular these days. No one gets pulled into another world, but there is a girl who’s a huge fan of that genre. There’s a vampire, although she could be any other kind of supernatural creature for all the relevance it has. And of course the Japanese title itself reminds us that focusing on the phenomenon of ‘chuunibyous’ is also quite popular, and has spawned several anime. So, as a hodgepodge of things that are popular lately, as well as the usual light novel tropes that have always been popular, this should be a giant mess. Yet somehow, I quite enjoyed it.

This is one of J-Novel Club’s three debut digital titles, and I picked it to read first for a very simple reason: it’s the shortest. The premise is laid out at the start: normal high school kid Yuichi wakes up one day to find that he can see tags over people’s heads that show their ‘role’ – this starts normally with ‘big sister’, ‘office worker’, etc, but once he gets to school he runs into ‘vampire’, ‘zombie’, ‘witch’, and most ominously, ‘serial killer’. Unfortunately, this is basically the limits of Yuichi’s new power. Fortunately, he has a few tricks up his sleeve, as my earlier remark about his being a normal high school kid is a giant lie. Moreover, he has the title character, his big sister Mutsuko, who has prepared for this day her entire life, and made sure Yuichi is prepared as well.

The subtitle of this series is essentially the big reveal, and I must admit it’s quite well done. There are a few suggestions that Yuichi is not what he seems at the start – the strength equipment he uses that his new friend can’t even manage to move – but from about halfway through the book, once we gather than Yuichi IS in fact the world’s strongest, he is allowed to be as ridiculous as possible, jumping off four-story buildings, fighting oni to a standstill, and avoiding kicks to the crotch by forcing his testicles back into his body. If this sounds utterly ridiculous, it absolutely is, and only Yuichi’s blase narration really helps carry it off – to him, this is Tuesday. As for Mutsuko, this is basically her fault – imagine if Haruhi Suzumiya got a hold of Kyon at a very young age and began to train him to take on aliens, time travelers and espers with the power of MANLY STRENGTH and you’ve got the idea.

There’s nothing really subverted here – the serial killer with a lust for killing turns out to be easily distracted by Yuichi, who she can’t actually kill as he’s too good, and I suspect his harem will only grow. It’s also clearly written to be a longer series with the possibility of an anime – we don’t really find out anything about 3/4 of the class and their quirks, or Yuichi’s YOUNGER sister, who he shares a room with and doesn’t think that’s unusual at all. I’d only recommend this to light novels fans with an open mind. But if you are one, this is light, breezy, enjoyable fun, and I liked the characters. Surprisingly recommended.

By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase. Released in Japan as “Kyokou Suiri” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Magazine R. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Alethea & Athena Nibley.

I admit somewhat shamefacedly that I haven’t really read any of this author’s prior works in North America, even though he’s put out quite a bit. Supernatural detectives seem to be a running theme, and both Spiral (out from Yen Press) and Record of a Fallen Vampire (Viz, though the digital reprint is from Yen) were fairly popular. Now we have his newest series, In/Spectre, based on a novel. If I was to describe its plot in a one or two sentence fashion, you likely would not be impressed. A young girl with a connection to the supernatural meets a young man with a tragic past who also has a connection with same. If they team up, they can fight against yokai who have gotten out of hand. We’ve seen this sort of thing before many times. Luckily, a manga is not just about its plot. It’s about characterization, dialogue, and art. And in those respects, In/Spectre hits it out of the park on the very first pitch.

Kotoko is our heroine, and the main reason I enjoyed this as much as I did. She’s a 17-year-old girl who, a few years back, made a deal with the yokai to be a sort of conduit for them in exchange for losing a leg and an eye. (Amazingly, the manga does not give her a fetishey eyepatch the way literally any other author would, but gives her a perfectly serviceable prosthetic – same with the leg, the cane is mostly to pacify her parents.) While at the hospital for her exams, she meets Kuro, a young man who’s there with his girlfriend Saki, and falls in love at first sight. Of course, he has a girlfriend. A couple of years later, she meets him again, only now he’s broken up, and she immediately takes the initiative. Kotoko’s brash, pushy charm is the main reason to read this – she’s a hoot, whether it’s proposing to Kuro within five seconds of meeting him, using him in order to pacify an out of control yokai (which doesn’t work), or cheerfully admitting that getting hit with a steel beam was nothing compared to the pain of losing her virginity, Kotoko is a brat in the best way.

I haven’t mentioned Kuro much, and to be honest he’s the weakest part of the book, being a stoic type who’s still brooding about his breakup at the start. The other reason I haven’t mentioned him is that halfway through the book takes an interesting right turn and time skips again a couple years, where we see Kuro’s ex-girlfriend Saki, now a police officer, dealing with the vengeful spirit of an ex-idol who was killed by a falling I-Beam, and now walks around the town with no face attacking people with the same beam. Saki too has not taken the breakup well, and curses her own human frailties – she’s still a bit terrified of what Kuro is, but realizes that she was in the wrong. She runs into Kotoko as well, and I suspect will end up being the “straight woman” in this series – certainly she does not react well when Kotoko admits she’s now dating Kuro.

This sort of series is hard to review, because so much of it depends on the words, and I don’t just want to quote dialogue at you. The art is good, too – I don’t think the artist has done any other series, but they can sell both comedic and eerie quite well. I really want to read more immediately, a nice change of pace from most Volume 1s, where you’re waiting for the series to find its feet. None of that here – Kotoko sacrificed a leg so the series could get on its feet right away. Highly recommended (unless you dislike brats, as Kotoko is absolutely a brat.)

By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan as two separate volumes by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

This was the first series to be released after the end of the amazingly popular Fruits Basket, and everyone was on tenterhooks to see what it was going to be like, both here and in Japan. Of course, for various reasons it wasn’t actually released here till 2016, a good five years after it ended in Japan, so a bit of the bloom is off the rose. Still, it’s hard not to feel a bit of affection and excitement for a new Takaya title. After reading this first volume, I get the sense that she had a better idea of where she was going with this – there’s a lot of backstory hints dropped here that the author is content to simply drop and then leave alone for a while. I suspect it will reward a reread. In the meantime, we have the adventures of a determined girl who always seems cheery but may be hiding a deep sadness, and the boy she runs into one day.

I admit I did find it hard not to fall into the trap of “this is character X and Y from Fruits Basket mixed together!” at times. Sakuya does have a Tohru-esque sheen to her, though a lot of that is simply a similar “I will be happy and determined” attitude. I’m also thinking of Hijiri, who I will warn in advance is my favorite character. I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but let’s face it, she’s Hanajima and Shigure mixed together, and there’s no way I’m not going to love that. A mask of sweetness hiding a deeply manipulative side but still basically a good person. We also get the male best friend with a crush that is clearly doomed (blond, of course, as the clear winning guy has darker hair – you win again, shoujo cliches). And Kana, Sakuya’s guardian who seems to be a deliberate step away from a Shigure sort – from what the story tells us, he’s a struggling artist, and many question why he can even take care of Sakuya at all.

Then there’s the male lead Chihiro, who is easily the most fascinating character in this first volume. And I will admit, not always in a good way. We first met him after he invited himself into Sakuya’s house by pretending to be her boyfriend, something that seems completely out of the blue. Later, when she meets him again (she sees him on a train that she just misses, and proceeds to jump off the tracks and run after it till she hits the next stop, which may be the most Takaya thing ever), it feels a lot more unstable and dangerous, and frankly my first thought was to tell Sakuya to stay the hell away from him. Naturally, this is when she realizes she’s fallen in love. The second half of the book, where he (inevitably) shows up as a New Transfer Student, is thus filled with incredible awkwardness, fake smiles and Sakuya freaking out – but doing her best!

Basically, Twinkle Stars is exactly what you want in a new Takaya series. If you’ve read her other work, there’s a lot here that’s familiar – not just the characterizations, but the plot beats and emotional responses. But that’s actually great, as she’s so good at that. Twinkle Stars is like getting a brand new blanket that’s as warm and cozy as your last one. Settle down with it.

By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi. Released in Japan as “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Ryan Peterson. Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt McFarlane.

(Note: please do not post light novel spoilers in the comments.)

Most harem manga these days have to walk a very thin tightrope, especially in a modern, internet-forum friendly world. readers want the hero to end up with the girl they like best, and every time that things return to the status quo they are upset. Writers and editors want this to be successful for as long as possible, which means stringing things out and returning to status quo without making it look too obvious. With Haganai, the Neighbors Club has been the way to do this, as each of the cast is so socially inept that even basic interaction is a challenge, much less having a significant other. Or at least, that’s what Kodaka tells himself. In fact, Kodaka is very good at lying to himself and others, and the astute reader of Haganai has, through several books now, been feeling more and more like Rika, watching this play out and getting increasingly angry. This is the volume where that rage finally explodes.

This kicks off with a seeming resolution of the perpetual love triangle between Kodaka and the two female leads. Yes, there are more than two love interests, but at heart it’s always been about Yozora vs. Sena. More on Yozora later, but I felt that Sena’s confession was first rate. Yes, it started out as her seemingly talking to herself while gaming, as if practicing for later, but once she realizes what actually happened, she doesn’t back off. This makes a start contrast to Kodaka, who literally runs away as fast as possible and hides from the rest of the club for days. His desire for stasis has never been more contemptible than it is here, particularly given that he spends said days with the Student Council, the Neighbors’ Club’s mortal enemies. To his surprise, they don’t view him as a thug and a bad person, and we see just how much of Kodaka’s self-worth problems are his own doing.

Then comes the scene with Rika. (Yes, there’s a nice scene with Yukimura as well, but while it’s heartwarming, it’s all setup for that one gag. You know the one I mean.) Rika already confronted Kodaka last time about his perpetual “Huh? What was that?” response, and was seen to be barely holding it together. Now she explodes, and it’s glorious. Kudos to Itachi, by the way: the art in Haganai has frequently taken on a sketchy, exaggerated look at times, particularly when it’s funny, and it doubles down on that here, with some amazing faces that would not look out of place in a horror title. Rika beats the shit out of Kodaka (scientifically, of course) as she rants about what she learned from Sena. She’s absolutely right, of course. Of all the girls in the series, Sena has gotten twice the romantic subtext as anyone else. And he’s running away from this because he can’t face up to her actually liking him as more than a friend.

Haganai is caught up with Japan, so it will be many months before we see the next volume. But now that Rika and Kodaka have admitted hey are indeed friends, can he man up and listen to Sena? More importantly, what about Yozora, who seemingly heard this entire exchange, and whose devastated sobbing face ends this arc? The artist notes that the manga may be a bit different from the light novels, though it’s unclear if that means additions or actual changes. In any case, for those who were waiting for the payoff in Haganai, here’s where it starts.

By Reki Kawahara and Shimeji. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by ZephyrRz.

It is rather startling how little time the main events of The Isolator are taking place over. The eyes descended to Earth three months ago, despite the presence of what seems to be a long-standing secret organization dedicated to harnessing their power. It’s only been a day or two since the events of Book 2, as well, and this book also only takes a couple of days. And at the end, they’re discussing invading the enemy’s stronghold. I’m not sure how long Kawahara intends for this series to go, but I don’t think it’s meant to be that long. Though, given there’s an anime coming out this Winter, that may change if it gets popular enough. In any event, a new volume of The Isolator, and hey, a new cover girl.

Yes, after getting the first two covers to herself, Yumiko is forced to give way to Suu, who really should be invisible on the cover, but a) that would give the game away, and b) that would mean there is no cute girl on the cover. Yes, Suu us a teammate of the group who can turn herself invisible (with the exception of her pupils), and as with all the other characters, it stems from past personal trauma. I was wary of getting too attached to her – literally everything she did from the moment she showed up to her final sacrifice screamed “I am going to die so that the main guy can learn a valuable lesson”. Fortunately, she doesn’t quite die (though if Book 4 takes place right after 3, she may not appear much), but the lesson is still learned.

Minoru and Yumiko continue to be the stars of this book, thoguh Suu obviously steals Yumiko’s spotlight a bit, something she is keenly aware of – her discussion with Minoru about her jealousy is possibly the best hart-to-heart they’ve had so far. And Minoru continues to find new ways to use his talent, turning the ability to isolate yourself in an impenetrable sphere into an actual dangerous weapon. Which is good, because the new villain of the book we meet, Trancer, manages to get away along with his boss, who is more of an arc villain. (You can tell that we’re not done with Trancer as we still haven’t heard his tragic backstory beyond that apparently he has his childhood friend frozen in ice somewhere.)

The Isolator continues to have the same strengths and weaknesses the previous two books had. The strength is the action scenes which are really first rate – it’s a short novel, but the pacing is perfect, and there’s lots of cool superhero moves on display. The weakness continues to be that, despite best efforts to try to inject levity into the series at odd points, this is still the most straightfaced and serious of Kawahara’s books, and given the incipient tragedy at the back of everyone’s lives, it can get a bit depressing if the reader isn’t prepared for it.

I’m not sure where the series goes from here – the next volume isn’t scheduled in Japan yet, so it will likely be at least a year till we see it – but I’m still on board. I just wish we could add a goofy ditz or a perverted best friend or something to take the edge off.

By Various Artists, based on the manga created by Hitoshi Iwaaki. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

I have fond memories of Parasyte, despite never having actually read it. It was one of the first four titles that Tokyopop put out when it began, along with Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, and the long forgotten Ice Blade. Unlike Ice Blade, Tokyopop actually finished the series, but it was always a sort of cult hit over here, known mainly for its odd sense of humor and its startling decapitations. I was pleased when Kodansha decided to release the updated Japanese version in 8 volumes, and that sold considerably better than the first time around, as the market was much better prepared for it. And now we have this anthology, which on the face of it is even more bizarre: taking a horror series that runs in a seinen magazine and giving it to various Japanese shoujo creators, to see what they make of it.

Of course, anyone who knows Japanese shoujo knows that they are very familiar with the horror genre. Indeed, some of the artists in this anthology are best known over here for their shoujo gore, such as Kaori Yuki, whose tale of a twisted love triangle and a spoiled princess would not feel out of place in her other works. Parasyte filled a number of niches, and this anthology does a very good job of showing off why people liked it. There’s actually very little pure horror, as for the most part the artists try to do their own thing. As you’d expect given the genre, there are quite a few high school romances in here, some tragic, some heartwarming, and some with a twist that is both predictable yet also startling – Parasyte’s stock in trade. Miki Rinno’s story of a genki girl whose mind has broken a bit by the slaughter of her family as well as a parasyte inside her is particularly good.

That said, I think it may be the humor that draws in readers, and there’s a lot of that. From a fujoshi who uses her Parasyte to pair up hot guys (by Ema Toyama, the author of Missions of Love), to Parasyte cooking shows and otome games, there’s a lot of simply having fun with the premise. And for those who wonder if it’s all original characters, fear not: Shinichi and Migi are sprinkled throughout the book. Indeed, the story by Mikimaki of Migi shifting himself into various shoujo girls may be the funniest in the book. And sometimes I laughed even when I may not have been supposed to – Asia Watanabe’s somewhat disturbing take of a young girl in the thralls of puberty and her teacher, a priest (both of whom harbor parasytes) features a dizzy blonde girl named Luna, and it’s impossible not to see her as Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter books.

So if you loved Parasyte, you’ll get a kick out of this book. But even if, like me, you never actually read the original, you may still find something here. The art is striking throughout, and there’s a lot of really good stories – I hadn’t even talked about the story by Kashio about a telepath who runs into a transfer student with a parasyte, which is tense and thrilling. I’d love to see more of these Anthologies from Western publishers.

By Mamare Touno and Kazuhiro Hara. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

While Log Horizon is well known for its large cast, and has featured chunks showing us the viewpoint of other characters, there’s no doubt about the fact that Shiroe is the star of the series. He’s the planner, the blackmailer, the one who achieves things for the best. And yes, he also dithers and frets, mostly due to his non-outgoing nature. Still, we’ve become fairly comfortable that a new volume will have us getting inside his head again. But this volume shakes things up a bit, as Shiroe (along with Naotsugu, I assume) is away for the entire volume, off on a secret mission. And with Krusty and his group also away on a mission, Akihibara is, with the exception of the harem leader Soujiro, almost entirely female this time around. And that’s definitely a good thing.

The lost child in the title is Akatsuki, who gets the bulk of the narrative this volume. She’s still reeling from the revelations from the last volume, and the absence of Shiroe is not helping matters. Akatsuki is naturally shy and introverted, and even though gaming is, as she’s said, a way to be something that isn’t yourself, now that they’re actually IN the game, it’s still hard for her to interact with others. And that’s actually affecting her growth as an adventurer as well – she’s never done raids, and so hasn’t gotten any of the elite weapons and other loot that drop only during those group activities. She knows this, but can’t move past that wall she’s achieved, and it’s coming out as a giant pile of self-hatred. Fortunately, Shiroe has asked her to watch over Reynesia, as have several other guilds, which leads her to be forced to interact with others. Less fortunately, a murderer has come along to force her to change or die.

Of course, Log Horizon doesn’t have permanent death, but they do lose memories. And death also hurts. And, well, the idea of an unstoppable killer walking around at night is just scary. The climax is the best part of this book, as we get to see a lot of the characters we’ve come to know over the last few books (as well as some new ones, like Rieze, one of the subcommanders of Krusty’s group showing off their strengths and also showing off the character development for Akatsuki: you need to be able to ask for help, and you need to be able to accept that help from others. Akatsuki learns that, and is rewarded by being the one who gets to deliver the final blow (as well as a really cool new sword, which is nice as well.) Meanwhile, Reynesia is busy learning the opposite message: sometimes you can’t push things off onto others, but you have to take responsibility yourself. She’s maturing into an excellent leader.

Those who watch the anime of this series may be a little startled. Not only is it only the Akatsuki plot, with Shiroe absent, but the anime added a lot of comedy and a lot of extra scenes (the book ends very abruptly with the end of the murderer – the anime expands on the mentioned pajama party afterwards). But that’s the benefit of different mediums. Those who enjoy Log Horizon’s action and drama but feel that sometimes it’s a bit TOO light-hearted can revel in the angst-ridden monologues many of the characters have here, most of which didn’t make it to the screen. I think next time we’ll find out what’s up with Shiroe and have a book from his perspective, minus the Akihibara crew. But for now let’s rejoice with Akatsuki.

By Kenya Suzuki. Released in Japan as “Oshiete! Gyaruko-chan” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the online site Comic Walker. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jennifer McKeon. Adapted by Lianne Sentar.

As I’ve occasionally mentioned before, I am the opposite of most fans. Most fans, from what I gather, watch only anime, and seem rather surprised to find that a manga or light novel exist, and uninterested if they do find out. Whereas I read manga or light novels, and for the most part don’t really watch much anime at all anymore. On the bright side, this can lead to surprises. For example, this series, which I knew nothing about. At first the description made it sound fairly slice-of-lifey. However, as those who’d seen the anime know all too well, it has a lot of sex talk sprinkled throughout. This was what I discovered when I first started to read it, and my general thought was “oh dear, time to plow through this.” Luckily, as the volume went on, despite the sex talk Galko-chan proved to be more what I originally thought it would be.

The premise is light as air, as are the characters, who all have nicknames related to their specific stereotype (a flashback chapter shows it’s actually deliberate, which is amusing). Galko-chan is the titular character, a Gal in the Super Gals! vein, who is also possessed of very large breasts, which is actually one of the driving plot points as there are many discussions of said breasts. Galko-chan is not quite a 4-koma series, but it’s very much in the vein of such comedies, with little character introductions every single page offering little facts about each character. (Haruchi-chan’s manga has this as well). And because her best friends as Otako, a bookish girl who knows a lot about sex from reading about it and uses that to jump-start conversations, and Ojou, a young rich well-bred girl who’s described as an airhead but who I think is simply sheltered and goes along with any topic no matter what it is, sex comes up a lot.

Each page heading has a specific question that one would ask of high school teens, ranging from “Do friendly sisters borrow each other’s clothes a lot?” to “Is it true that intense exercise can break a girl’s hymen?”. Honestly, they’re more the latter than the former – be prepared for a lot of discussion of breasts, pubic hair, periods, labial size, etc. While this has the potential to be awful, it’s generally not, mostly as all three girls are, despite the saucy talk, really quite innocent – this isn’t even on the level of High School Girls. When not discussing sex, they do normal 4-koma things like go shopping, go to the pool, and worry about school, with the help of their other classmates, who get less attention but still have names that define their stereotype. They’re just… nice kids. Who talk about women’s bodies all the time.

I suspect those who dislike slice-of-life, ecchi stories, and 4-koma style humor already avoided this, but just in case, let me warm you it is all those things. (There isn’t much boke and tsukkomi style humor, though, which is a pleasant change.) It’s also in full color, and the colors are nicely chosen and artistically striking, and the faces are mostly also very good, though Ojou needs to stop having her default expression 90% of the time. This was a cute read, not as ecchi as you’d think t would be, and should please fans of the anime. Which I still have not seen.