Features & Reviews

By Satoshi Mizukami. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialized in the magazine Young King Ours. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

This final volume has a lot of fighting and backstory in it – in fact, a good 4/5 of the book could be described as fighting and backstory, even the epilogue with Akane. But it’s a credit to the author that the backstory always feels natural and not like an infodump, and the fights never wear out their welcome, even when they’re supposed to. We get the villain’s main motivation (delusions of godhood), the relationship between him and Anima, and why Samidare is so desperate to smash the world. And, spoiler, the world is not smashed, which means that we also find out what happens afterwards – we hear in an afterword that Mizukammi always wanted to find out what happened to characters after the final battle ends, and that’s what we see here. It’s heartwarming as heck.

With the exception of Nagumo, our cast have for the most part been from middle-school to early college age, and their mindset and problems have stemmed from that – immaturity, frustration, pent-up emotions, and budding sexuality. We now see that Animus and Anima’s battle has remained what it is again due to a very childish reason – Animus has psychic powers, as does his sister, and when a doctor calls him a god, Animus gets one of the most creepy ‘insane grin’ faces I’ve seen in manga, and proceeds to prove his godhood by destroying first the space station they’re on, then the Earth. Anima, who was trying to convince him that powers or no he’s still a human, is desperate to stop him.

If this sounds vaguely familiar it’s because it’s mirrored in the relationship between Samidare and Yuuhi, who as I predicted is not really going to let her smash the world with her giant projected fist after all. That said, he does pretend he is for some time, which leads to a number of battles where he shows off how much he’s been holding back until now, and basically curbstomps all the other knights bar Mikazuki, who’s still down from the battle against Animus. Samidare goes on like a lovestruck girl (which she is) about how cool Yuuhi has become, and it’s true – his emotional growth in this series has been nothing short of stunning. And now with Samidare, who has discovered that she has something to live for after all, the emotional growth is a catharsis.

The 10 years in the future epilogue is a bit Harry Potter-esque, particularly the part where we find out that Shimaki and Yayoi got married despite very little interaction in the main series at all – Anima’s “Hmm?’ and blank stare reminds me of my own when I heard Luna was marrying some offscreen guy I’d never heard of. But as Yuuhi points out, that’s how life works, and is the nature of ‘where are they now?’ epilogues. More importantly, Samidare is healthy again, and everyone has been moving forward. Even Akane, in many respects the most emotionally broken of the group, gets a separate section to show off how much he’s changed – though the Hawaiian shirt is perhaps a bit much. (He also gets the best “love confession”.) The fighting is dine, our heroes are content, and so am I. This was a great ending to a terrific series, one of the more realistic takes on superhero battles out there. Get someone all of it for Christmas.

By Fujikawa Yuka and Rifuin Na Maganote. Released in Japan as “Mushoku Tensei – Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu” by Media factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Flapper. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Never let it be said that companies don’t know their core audience. Someone like Viz might have simply called this ‘Jobless Reincarnation’ and be done with it, but Seven Seas knows that the folks most interested in it also wouldn’t recognize it unless it had its original Japanese title. Hence the hyphenated name. And Media factory knows their audience as well, which is why the front cover stars the cute teenage girl who’s a mere mentor for our hero, with our hero himself in the back. That said, some of the editorial decisions, while I can sort of guess why they happened, baffle me a little bit, the first one being why we have this story’s framing device at all.

Our story starts off with a chubby goateed guy at his computer eating instant ramen. He’s quickly kicked out on the streets by his family, as it turns out he’s a NEET with no job or desire to get one. As he bemoans his useless life, he sees a truck barreling towards an arguing young couple and decides to rescue them, even as it means the truck kills him. He dies with a desire to do his life over properly. We next cut to a standard ‘fantasy’ world, where Rudy, our hero, is a 3-year-old precocious brat learning swordfighting, but he can also do magic. He’s that guy reincarnated, but he still has all his prior memories. Now he buckles down and learns as fast as possible, so that he can live a life he’s proud of.

This is all very well and good, but aside from creepy moments when we see a little kid perving on a young teenage girl, or the odd traumatic reference to his death from the start of the book, there’s no real reason why this had to happen at all. Why not just have it be a story of a bright and precocious young kid in a fantasy universe? I fear the answer may be that ‘ordinary guy gets trapped in a fantasy universe’ is the in thing right now, and the author knew it. It’s based on a series of light novels, so that wouldn’t surprise me. It could also be a way to ward off criticism of his hero, who’s doing things at 3 years old that most folks can’t pull off till their teens.

That niggle aside, this was better than I expected, and shows off Rudy’s boyish young charms (when he’s not being a 34-year-old otaku) very well. His conflict resolution is also based off his prior memories, and while this does give him a vocabulary no little kid should have yet, it does actually resolve the conflicts to some degree. There’s also a suggestion that this might get into some darker areas, not least of which is the cliffhanger. I’ll check out the second volume, but I wish the series had simply dumped the wraparound and been a straight up fantasy.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 1 by Izumi Tsubaki

This was by far one of my most anticipated new manga titles of the year. I generally don’t get into 4-koma manga all that much, but Oresama Teacher is one of my favorite shoujo comedy titles, so I was looking forward to reading this.

Poor Chiyo has a crush on the handsome yet mysterious Nozaki. When she confesses her affection to him, he assumes that she’s a rabid fan and hands her an autograph – as it turns out he’s secretly a successful shoujo manga-ka. Chiyo soon finds herself serving as his assistant, along with a quirky supporting cast. Nozaki is incredibily odd, as the main thing that he’s an expert in are shoujo manga tropes, which causes plenty of real-life confusion. He also finds inspiration from his classmates, turning one awkward boy nicknamed Mikorin into his shoujo heroine and making a tomboyish girl his inspiration for a new male character. Shoujo and manga conventions are constantly lampooned, for example Nozaki has a habit of always drawing his favorite face, making his characters indistinguishable from each other. Also, his relationship with his deadpan editor is hilarious, as Nozaki is always determined to believe the best of his editor, even when his drawings get a lukewarm or negative response.

One of the things I like about Tsubaki’s work is that she’s able to quickly assemble a large and exceedingly quirky supporting cast, providing plenty of fodder for humor. That she’s able to go from two characters to over half a dozen within the constraints of a 4-koma strip in one volume is impressive. This is a genuinely funny manga, and the perfect thing to get for a manga fan for the holidays if they haven’t snagged it already. I will never think about tanuki the same way again after reading this volume!

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

It is not particularly surprising that, having resolved its main relationship in this volume, Nagato Yuki-chan continues. After all, the main Haruhi novels are still in limbo, and may remain there permanently. The anime, unlike this spinoff manga, is not allowed to use Sasaki (indeed, the anime of the Nagato Yuki-chan manga took pains to avoid having her appear). And Haruhi-chan, while fun, is still just a gag manga. Thus is is this title which has almost become the series flagship, despite featuring characters who remain, at heart, really nice and sweet. And so we continue to toddle along, vaguely discussing graduation plans and learning how to cook, and occasionally teasing the main continuity, such as when Yuki gets sick.

Now that Kyon and Yuki have resolved their affections, most of the stress in this volume is carried by Ryouko, who remains my favorite and gets a lot of face time this time around. She’s not made aware that anything has changed till the very end of the book, mostly as Kyon and Yuki are too embarrassed to say anything. And it’s honestly easier, when repurposing material that may have been used in prior spinoffs or the main series, to use Ryouko’s POV, as she wasn’t in them by virtue of being evil and erased. She goes back and forth between being a mom, a big sister, a shipper, and a nervous wreck here, and once again it’s Haruhi who is forced to play the minder to the minder and comfort Ryouko when she begins to cry in happiness at Kyon and Yuki’s relationship.

Speaking of Haruhi, she’s still trying to do interesting things, but she’s also the one who, along with Tsuruya, actually has her act together and is thinking about what comes next. She’s given up on Kyon, but in this title is OK with that, and appears to be content to move on. (Koizumi is still sticking with her, but again she appears to regard him more as a useful tool than anything else). Mikuru is useless in the original series, adult form aside, but here Tsuruya admits that she’s genuinely trying to change that, and give Mikuru the experience with people she desperately needs to move forward when Tsuruya can’t be there to take care of her.

And so it looks as if the next volume of the series (and yes, there is one) will discuss graduation plans. Ryouko is undecided, mostly as she really hasn’t focused on her own life as much as living vicariously through Yuki. As for everyone saying Yuki is the housewife type, given Kyon’s less than zero ambition, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. But of course this is a mild, sweet, happy title, so I suspect any crises of faith will be resolved in about 50 pages or so. It may not be the Haruhi we’d like to see, but if all we can get now is this continuity, I’m perfectly happy, and want to see what the cast will do in the future.

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

After two reasonably stand-alone novels, Log Horizon now has the first of the ever popular ‘2-volume arc’ books, as seen in SAO, Accel World, and Index has a few soon as well. This does allow for a leisurely pace throughout the book, with only a token cliffhanger at the end. But that’s fine, as this book is doing what Log Horizon does best, which is to showly explain how its world works and how the mechanics of gaming fit into “real” battles. Of course, as Shiroe finds out towards the end of this book, things may not be as simple as all that, particularly when it comes to death in this world.

I’ve said earlier that these books get into game mechanics far too much, and I admit at times I was getting a little bored at all the exposition. At the same time, however, the mechanics are far more important here than they are in SAO, where Kirito may as well just be genuinely using his sword as a sword. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, something that takes our newbie heroes (the twins from last book, Serara, and two new kids) the entire volume to really understand. I suspect a few gamers may be a bit frustrated by the “gosh, we need teamwork” lesson being drilled in here, but it’s cute, and serves the purpose of the actual book, which is to develop these five kids into deeper characters, particularly Minori. And we even get a mini-cliffhanger of our own with them, as Rudy seems to have a secret he’s been keeping from everyone.

As for Shiroe and company, instead of dungeon crawling they’re worrying about diplomacy. The other big function of this book is to set up the “people of the land”, which is to say the NPCs – as genuine characters with hopes, dreams, and desires, rather than “I’d love it if you could get that cat out of the tree for me” quest points. They have a history, one that is long and rather dark, as Shiroe finds out. And they have goals that may not mesh well with the adventurers, who they seems to regard as dangerous unknowns. Luckily, we meet Reinesia, the princess of one of the main capitols, who would much rather just lie against a table and be moody all day. I can identify with that. Her interaction with Crusty, who reminds me a lot of Heathcliff from SAO only hopefully without the evil, is one of teh funniest parts of the entire book.

There are also a few suggested romances, though I’m not sure if any of them will actually come off. Isuzu searches her feelings and realizes she likes Rudy as a big dog sort of guy. Akatsuki searches her feelings and comes up empty, though the more experienced reader can tell she’s in love with Shiroe and as yet unaware of it. In any case, romance may take a back seat in the next book, as evil creatures from the black lagoon are coming out from the sea all over the continent. Well, they’re in a game world, you can’t just turn off the bad guys. Log Horizon remains a well thought out series with relatable characters (so many introverts!), and is easy to recommend.

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

After four novels that were basically one plotline, this fifth book gathers up three interlocking stories, one a novella and two short stories, all taking place on the last day before the school semester begins. Indeed, it’s a bit startling as you get into Index to see how fast everything is moving. The 4th book, and the Angel Fall arc, took place only a few days before this. These stories also share a certain theme, which I suspect was sort of shoehorned into the non-Accelerator ones to make it work better as a book, or people choosing to do the right thing rather than let someone else do it. It’s what makes a ‘superhero’, and given that Index is in many ways about a city filled with superheroes, it rings thematically true, though in some places more than others.

Introduced in this volume: Last Order, Kikyou Yoshikawa, Eztali (as Mitsuki Unabara). There’s no real equivalent to this in the Railgun timeline, mostly as Misaka features in two of these stories. It’s still right after the final battle in the SS anime.

There’s no getting around the fact that one of these stories is much, much better than the other two, so let’s deal with the other two perfunctorily here. The scenes with Mikoto, Touma and the fake Mitsuki look to have been editorially mandated owing to a certain Railgun’s overwhelming popularity, and if you like Mikoto being the tsunnest dere in the city, there’s plenty for you to like here. But it’s very slight, and fake Mitsuki (we don’t actually learn his real name here) seems to fall for Mikoto for no real reason other than to allow the story to vaguely tie into the novels’ theme. As for the final story with Touma, Index, and Ouma, it’s even slighter (the villain is even Touma with one letter removed, though I suspect the Japanese name is suitably different). It does allow Index fans (are there Index fans?) to brag that that she’s actually a smart cookie when not whining at Touma about food or his harem hero tendencies.

But the main reason to read this, as you might guess from the cover, is the beginning of Accelerator’s journey from a mass-murdering villain to a broken anti-hero. He does a lot of soul searching here, and doesn’t like what he sees, but he can’t really see any way to redeem himself for what he’s done, and has no real reason to do so. Enter Last Order, who despite fandom’s best efforts (and the artist’s, let’s be frank) to sexualize her is pretty much written here as a “little sister” figure for Accelerator. She’s tied heavily into the Sisters project, and is able to offer him as much forgiveness as she can given the circumstances, and show off that he was not being as sociopathic as he thought. In the end, he does manage to save the girl and save the day, though it gets him shot in the head for his troubles, thus solving the other problem with Accelerator, which is that he was simply far too powerful for this series. We haven’t seen the last of him, though.

The translation continues to have the usual strengths and weaknesses, but I really have to highlight two issues. First off, Last Order’s speech quirks are very hard to translate into English at all. I don’t mind the ‘like’ inserted into her words, as it’s a casualness the other Misakas (and Mikoto herself) don’t have that works well with Last Order. But the doubling of the ‘says Misaka’ makes it look more like someone accidentally screwed up the find-and-replace rather than a genuine adaptation choice. Secondly, did Touma really say the word ‘Japanimation’? In 2015?

The three stories in this novel are of variable quality, but the Accelerator one is excellent, and it’s also the longest, so it’s definitely worth reading the book for.