Features & Reviews

Manga the Week of 6/24

June 18, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Ash Brown, Michelle Smith, MJ and Anna N 2 Comments

SEAN: The end of the month always brings a deluge from Yen, and if you add on the other publishers doing stuff it can get rather expensive. Let’s see what might be worth your hard-earned cash.

Ze, from 801 Media, has finally hit Volume 10, despite a particularly irregular release schedule.

ASH: I just recently caught up with Ze and am ready for more, even if some of the characters are jerks.

MICHELLE: I read the first few volumes of Ze and then drifted away when there was a lull between volumes. I seem to recall some plot I wasn’t wild about, also, but the details escape me now.

MJ: I *do* remember pretty clearly why I drifted away from Ze, but I’m fairly impressed that it has gone on this long. Long BL series seem so rare.

SEAN: If it seems like it’s been forever since the last Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, that’s because it has been – Vol. 13 was out in December 2012. But things are looking up, as not only do we get Vol. 14 next week, but there’s an omnibus re-release in the fall.

ASH: They may not come out very frequently, but I’m always glad to see another volume of this series.

MICHELLE: Oh, that’s a pleasant surprise!

SEAN: Let’s Dance a Waltz hit all the right buttons except one – but it was a big wrong button. Now that our heroine has magically lost weight and become cute through the power of dance, can Vol. 2 hold on to an audience that all groaned when that happened?

MICHELLE: I am avoiding this one just on general principle. It makes me really wish The Stellar Six of Gingacho could’ve continued, because I ended up buying the final volume in Japanese and let’s just say this particular trope is avoided quite satisfactorily.

MJ: Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. Ugh. Also, ugh.

ANNA: The Stellar Six of Gingacho was really good!

SEAN: Noragami is a series that just didn’t catch on with me, but others from the Manga Bookshelf team can tell you about its 5th volume.

Your Lie in April’s first volume didn’t completely wow me, but had a lot of promise. Vol. 2 should build on that.

ASH: Music manga! I’m looking forward to reading more.

MICHELLE: As a pianist, I should want to read this but somehow I feel kind of “meh” about it.

MJ: I’m behind, here, but still interested!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts a new manwha with an omnibus of Freezing 1 and 2. This has been highly anticipated by many readers, despite not having any monster girls that I know of. The blurb calls it “Ultra violent and sexy”, so the usual Seven Seas warnings apply.

No monster girls is not a problem with the 2nd volume of goofy comedy Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary.

Vertical has the 10th volume of mechstravaganza Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. (I give permission for Vertical to use ‘mechstravaganza’ in their blurbs, if they’d like.)

ASH: Still one of the best looking manga being released in English right now.

SEAN: Given the huge popularity of Sword Art Online, and the slightly less huge but still pretty good popularity of Accel World, Yen On licensing a new Reki Kawahara novel series seems obvious. This one’s even in hardcover, so is getting the deluxe treatment. It’s called The Isolator, and seems a bit more sci-fi/aliens than his other series.

Pandora Hearts has some light novels as well, and we get the first in the Caucus Race series next week. MJ?

MJ: Honestly, I had no idea about these! Well, count me in!

SEAN: As for Sword Art Online itself, Vol. 2 of the Progressive novel series takes us into uncharted waters: this hasn’t been adapted in anime or manga form yet. It apparently has elves!

On Yen Press’s manga front, we have the first volume of Alice in Murderland. Given it’s Kaori Yuki, I’m sure the pile of corpses that will no doubt stack up as the series goes on will be exquisite.

ANNA: This title sounds amusing.

SEAN: And continuing with Alices, Are You Alice? has hit nine volumes and still doesn’t know.

Barakamon has its 5th volume of small town life and occasional calligraphy.

ASH: Barakamon has really started to grow on me.

SEAN: Bloody Cross just announced it’s ending in Japan, but I think we still have a few volumes to go here. This is the 7th.

From the author of Scrapped Princess comes another kind, Chaika the Coffin Princess, a fantasy series about a young girl who carries a coffin on her back. No relation to Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, though one has to be side-eyeing Yen a bit here.

A double shot of Kaoru Yuki this month, with the 3rd Demon from Afar.

And a 3rd He’s My Only Vampire, a series I’ve become quite fond of.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading this one.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Love at Fourteen’s third volume will have adorable and heartwarming 14-year-old romance, I imagine.

ASH: I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two volumes. Definitely plan on reading more.

MICHELLE: And this one, too!

MJ: I really enjoy this series, so I’m definitely on board here!

SEAN: Secret has a 2nd volume, no doubt filled with survival games and animal masks. I wish the artist would go back to drawing Higurashi spinoffs, honestly.

Lastly, there’s a long-awaited 2nd volume of Void’s Enigmatic Mansion, which will hopefully become a bit more opaque this time around.

Are you feeling excited? Or merely buried in stuff?

Wandering Son, Vol. 8

June 18, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialized in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

It’s always interesting to see which expectations this series plays into and which ones it subverts. Nitori and Anna are still dating throughout this volume, and it’s really, really cute. I adore them as a couple. And when Nitori confesses about wanting to wear girl’s clothing, Anna is not only seemingly fine with it but by the end of the volume is getting them matching accessories. But the question is, is this where the series is actually going to go? Because I think a lot of folks are expecting that Nitori and Takatsuki will end up together, because they’re the leads, and because that’s the sort of things that happen in romance titles like this. Except Wandering Son isn’t really a romance title.

Speaking of Takatsuki, after last volume’s explosions with Chiba, it’s interesting to see that they’ve patched things up to a degree, though this does lead to the most awkward foursome ever when they come across Nitori and Anna on a date and everyone ends up at a karaoke booth. Takatsuki is trying to fittle victories this time around. Sarashina is the sort who can wear a boys’ uniform to school and not fear consequences. Takatsuki has to make do with things like wearing a tie rather than the school ribbon. And then there’s the hair, which is starting to grow out and “become more feminine”. Takatsuki’s gender identity has always felt more ambiguous and conflicted than Nitori’s, and that’s evident here, as we’re dealing with a child who’s still trying to decide between two states.

I was surprised to see the addition of Doi, who seems to be starting to move on from his ‘bully’ stage, but it was a nice moment, as it led to a) some very funny business for when he actually meets Yuki, and b) the revelation to him that yes, trans people an be incredibly attractive and are not the stereotypical drag queens with stubble that Japanese entertainment enjoys showing them as (see One Piece as an example of this). Doi and Nitori’s scenes together are filled with awkwardness, but it’s also his desire to see Nitori dressed as a girl, compounded on top of Nitori’s budding relationship with Anna and some well-meant advice from Sarashina, that leads to the cliffhanger ending of this volume.

Last time I wrote a review of this title, I talked about how it was harder for Takatsuki to do this, and now we’re seeing the inverse of that. Takatsuki can, in a pinch, get away with dressing in a boy’s uniform at school and get off with nothing more than mild scoldings. When Nitori goes to school dressed in a girl’s uniform, there’s immediate punishment – Nitori’s parents are called. We don’t see what happens next – we’ll have to wait for the as-yet unscheduled Vol. 9 for that – but I can’t imagine it’s going to be anything good. The first 3/4 of this volume were perhaps the lightest this series has gotten. The next one is, I suspect, going to be deeply unpleasant and yet utterly fascinating. Still highly recommended.

After School Nightmare, Vol. 4

June 17, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Setona Mizushiro
U.S. publisher: Go! Comi
ISBN: 9781933617336
Released: July 2007
Original release: 2006

Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare is a ten-volume manga series, an intense psychological drama that explores issues of gender identity and sexuality in a fantastical sort of way. The manga incorporates elements of horror and is an effectively disconcerting work. Up until now, I had only ever read the first three volumes of After School Nightmare. Those volumes, initially borrowed from the library, left a significant impression on me and I immediately sought out a complete set of the entire series for my own. (Fortunately, though out-of-print in English, After School Nightmare is still relatively easy to find.) But while I found the start of the series to be compelling, years passed before I was able to gather the courage to read more of the manga. After School Nightmare, Volume 4 was first published in Japan in 2006 while Go! Comi released the English-language edition in 2007.

Mashiro is conflicted and confused, no longer certain of who he is as a person and struggling to determine just that. The special class that he must complete in order to graduate isn’t doing anything to ease his personal turmoil. In fact, it’s forcing him to confront his insecurities and fears. But the class is also making him stronger, encouraging him to face his feelings head on both inside the shared dreams of the class and outside of them. This also means facing Sou and his relentless advances without running away. While Mashiro is becoming more confident, he is also opening himself up to Sou’s aggressiveness and influence. Matters become even more complicated when their classmate Shinbashi witnesses them sharing a kiss. Shinbashi is in love with Mashiro’s girlfriend Kureha and cares for her more deeply than her boyfriend seems to. After seeing Sou and Mashiro together, Shinbashi mistakenly assumes Mashiro’s indecisiveness in his relationship with Kureha is due to his sexual orientation, never guessing that Mashiro’s true struggle is with his gender identity.

Shinbashi has been an increasingly important character in After School Nightmare ever since he was introduced in the second volume, but the role he plays in the fourth volume is absolutely crucial. At this point in the series it doesn’t seem as though any of the characters will get a happy ending, and Shinbashi is no exception. While he may not be dealing with the repercussions of extreme physical, emotional, and mental abuse like those experienced by his fellow classmates, his story is still a tragic one. Shinbashi has become a friend and confidante of sorts to both Mashiro, who ought to be something more like a rival, and Kureha, despite her fear and hatred of men. It’s heartbreaking to see that because Kureha’s aversion is so severe, she and Shinbashi can only communicate through their cell phones; she can’t even stand to be in the same room with him. And while by nature Shinbashi is passive, he loves Kureha completely and would do anything for her, even to the point of self-destruction.

A large part of After School Nightmare is focused on Mashiro’s search for self identity and how that identity is effected by the people around him and influenced by their relationships with him. Mashiro’s friendship with Shinbashi is a rather peculiar one that, oddly enough, somehow works. Where Shinbashi is self-sacrificing to a fault, Mashiro is incredibly self-centered, so concerned with and tangled up in his own problems that he often forgets to take into consideration how his actions may hurt others. An interesting thing about After School Nightmare is that while very few of the characters are easily likeable, I still find that I can empathize with them and can even identify with some of their plights. After School Nightmare continues to be an unsettling work with an intense and ominous atmosphere—I wouldn’t hesitate at all to describe it as a type of quiet, psychological horror—but there are occasional glimmers of hope that at least some of the characters will be able to overcome their troubles and fears.

My Week in Manga: June 8-June 14, 2015

June 15, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Two reviews were posted last week at Experiments in Manga. First up was my review of the short comic The Ring of Saturn by Kaiju, a creative team made up of Kate Rhodes and Jennifer Xu. I had previously read the comic online at Sparkler Monthly and loved it, but now it’s available in print! The second review was of Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, Volume 8. The series is an incredibly important one to me, and I’m very glad that it’s being released in English. The eighth volume ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I have no idea when the ninth volume will be released, so now I’m doubly anxious.

Elsewhere online, the MASSIVE/Gay Manga tumblr talks a bit about the success of Gengoroh Tagame’s first manga for a general audience, My Brother’s Husband. It sounds like there’s an ongoing effort to license the series for an English-language release, which I really hope happens! Drawn & Quarterly made an interesting licensing announcement of its own, Yeon-sik Hong’s Uncomfortably, Happily. You don’t hear about many new manhwa being released in English these days. (Although Netcomics does seem to be making a quiet comeback.) Frederik L. Schodt spoke briefly on To the Best of Our Knowledge about Osamu Tezuka and his works. Finally, Organization Anti-Social Geniuses continues its Manga Advice series, this time interviewing four manga designers.

Quick Takes

My Little Monster, Volume 8 by Robico. The last volume of My Little Monster got my hopes up as the series seemed to be regaining its momentum. I wouldn’t say my hopes were dashed reading the eight volume since there were plenty of funny and dramatic moments, not to mention the introduction of a new character as well as several confessions of love, but the series still isn’t going anywhere fast. Both Robico and the characters know this, too, and even comment on the fact that nothing has really changed all that much from the beginning of the story. Although, I do suppose that it’s an important development that Shizuku and Haru are now officially a couple. (Except that I thought they already were? Guess I was wrong.) My Little Monster does frustrate me a little with all of its one step forward, one step back approach to storytelling and relationships, and it seems to have forgotten some of the major plot threads that were started earlier, but I do still like the series as a whole. My Little Monster can be very funny at times and the quirky characters continue to amuse me. So, I’ll likely keep reading.

Say I Love You, Volume 7 by Kanae Hazuki. Although Mei and Yamato are clearly the main characters of Say I Love You, large portions of the series are actually devoted to their friends, classmates, and families. After showing the outcome of Mei and Yamato’s date (which his sister crashed before his older brother was able to drag her away) and the result of their first night spent completely alone together, the seventh volume largely focuses on Megumi’s story. After Megumi was rejected by Yamato, who remains devoted to Mei, she has been trying to ruin all of Mei’s new-found friendships. She actually ends up making herself miserable in the process and ends up withdrawing more and more from the people who legitimately care about her. Like many of the characters in Say I Love You, Megumi is dealing with some pretty serious personal issues. Her self-confidence has been destroyed, she doesn’t trust other people, and her relationships are falling apart. As unlikeable as she can be at times, it’s still heartbreaking to see her intense unhappiness. But the growth and development of the characters in Say I Love You is excellent.

Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce. I was introduced to Ed Luce and his work thanks to TCAF 2014’s Queer Mixer where I learned that Fantagraphics would be releasing a collection of his most well-known creation, Wuvable Oaf. The volume opens with “Music Is My Boyfriend,” the first major Wuvable Oaf story arc which follows the titular Oaf, an ex-pro wrestler who now spends his time crafting handmade dolls (stuffed with his own body hair) and working at Oaf’s Home for Wayward Kitties Who Are Really Cute & Need Lotsa Love, and his relationship with Eiffel, a much smaller and extremely surly fellow who is the lead singer of Ejaculoid, a disco grindcore band. The volume also includes a collection of Wuvable Oaf short stories and “The Official Handbook to the Oafiverse,” which contains detailed (and humorous) character profiles among other things. Oaf himself is adorable and an absolute sweetheart. Although occasionally kind of gross, Wuvable Oaf can be surprisingly sweet and charming, filled with all sorts of marvelous queerness. Wuvable Oaf is also very, very funny. And it just so happens to be a cat comic, too!

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Volume 2 by Miki Yoshikawa. Despite the manga’s title, the witches of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches have yet to make their presence known, though I’m assuming it’s only a matter of time. I enjoyed the first volume Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches a great deal. I enjoyed the second as well, but it didn’t manage to leave as big of an impression on me. The fanservice seemed a little more forced in the second volume, too. Still, the series is a comedy more than anything else and I continue to find it to be highly entertaining. (But then again, I do have a proclivity towards stories that include body-swapping and gender play.) Yamada has discovered that he has a strange ability that allows him to switch bodies with another person if they kiss. He doesn’t know why he has this power, nor does he completely understand how it works. But even so, he and the few people who know about it are more than willing to use Yamada’s peculiar skill to their advantage, whether it’s appropriate or not. (Often it’s not.) This of course means there’s all sorts of kissing and other antics going on.

The Manga Revue: One-Punch Man

June 12, 2015 by Katherine Dacey

Here in the US, VIZ has been in the vanguard of digital manga initiatives. VIZ was among the first publishers to make its catalog available across a variety of platforms, allowing readers to enjoy Dragon Ball and Vampire Knight on their device of choice. VIZ has also been using its app and website to re-release older titles, both from its own catalog–hello again, Basara!–and from Tokyopop’s. More recently, VIZ has experimented with digital-first titles such as Tokyo Ghoul, releasing two or three volumes online before introducing a print edition. Today’s column focuses on another digital-first title, ONE and Yusuke Murata’s tokusatsu spoof One-Punch Man.

One-Punch Man, Vols. 1-2
Story by ONE, Art by Yusuke Murata
Rated T, for teens
VIZ Media, $6.99 (digital)

In a scene that would surely please Jack Kirby, One-Punch Man opens with a pow! splat! and boom!, as Saitama, the eponymous hero, goes mano-a-mano with the powerful Vaccine Man, a three-story menace with razor-sharp claws. Though Vaccine Man is formidable, he has a pronounced Achilles’ heel: chattiness. “I exist because of humankind’s constant pollution of the environment!” he tells Saitama. “The Earth is a single living organism! And you humans are the disease-causing germs killing it! The will of the earth gave birth to me so that I may destroy humanity and their insidious civilization!” Vaccine Man is so stunned that Saitama lacks an equally dramatic origin story that he lets down his guard, allowing Saitama to land a deadly right hook.

And so it goes with the other villains in One-Punch Man: Saitama’s unassuming appearance and matter-of-fact demeanor give him a strategic advantage over the preening scientists, cyborg gorillas, were-lions, and giant crabmen who terrorize City Z. Saitama’s sangfroid comes at a cost, however: the media never credit his alter ego with saving the day, instead attributing these victories to more improbable heroes such as Mumen Rider, a timid, helmet-wearing cyclist. Even the acquisition of a sidekick, Genos, does little to boost Saitama’s visibility in a city crawling with would-be heroes and monsters.

If it sounds as if One-Punch Man is shooting fish in a barrel, it is; supermen and shonen heroes, by definition, are a self-parodying lot. (See: capes, spandex, “Wind Scar.”) What inoculates One-Punch Man against snarky superiority is its ability to toe the line between straightforward action and affectionate spoof. It’s jokey and sincere, a combination that proves infectious.

Saitama is key to ONE’s strategy for bridging the action/satire divide: the character dutifully acknowledges tokusatsu cliches while refusing to capitulate to the ones he deems most ridiculous. (In one scene, Saitama counters an opponent’s “Lion Slash: Meteor Power Shower” attack with a burst of “Consecutive Normal Punches.”) ONE’s script is complemented by bold, polished artwork; even if the outcome of a battle is never in question, artist Yusuke Murata dreams up imaginative obstacles to prevent Saitama from defeating his opponents too quickly, or rehashing an earlier confrontation.

Is One-Punch Man worthy of its Eisner nomination? Based on what I’ve read so far, I’d say yes: it’s brisk, breezy, and executed with consummate skill. It may not be the “best” title in the bunch–I’d give the honor to Moyocco Anno’s In Clothes Called Fat–but it’s a lot more fun than either volume of Showa: A History of Japan… Scout’s honor.

The verdict: Highly recommended. Binge-readers take note: seven digital volumes are now available. The first two print volumes arrive in stores in September.

Reviews: Are you crafty? If so, then Jocelyn Allen’s glowing appraisal of sewing manga Tsukuroitatsu Hito will be right in your wheelhouse. Here at Manga Bookshelf, Michelle Smith, Anna N. and Sean Gaffney post short reviews of new releases, from D. Frag! to Seraph of the End.

Nick Creamer on vol. 1 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride (ANN)
Allen Kesinger on vol. 1 of Big Hero 6 (No Flying No Tights)
Megan R. on Death Note (The Manga Test Drive)
Joe McCulloch on Dream Fossil (The Comics Journal)
Helen and Justin S. on Father and Son (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 12 of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (Comic Book Bin)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 12 of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (Sequential Tart)
Lori Henderson on vol. 3 of Manga Dogs (Manga Xanadu)
ebooksgirl on vol. 2 of My Neighbor Seki (Geek Lit Etc.)
Ash Brown on The Ring of Saturn (Experiments in Manga)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 5 of Seraph of the End (Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 1 of So Cute It Hurts! (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 1 of So Cute It Hurts! (Sequential Tart)
Ian Wolf on vol. 1 of So Cute It Hurts! (Anime UK News)
Hillary Brown on Trash Market (Paste Magazine)
Shea Hennum on Trash Market (This Is Infamous)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 8 of Voice Over! Seiyu Academy (Sequential Tart)
Ash Brown on vol. 8 of Wandering Son (Experiments in Manga)
Ken H. on vol. 3 of Witchcraft Works (Sequential Ink)

The internet is a big place, and it’s easy to miss a good manga review! If you’d like to see your work featured in our weekly link round-up, leave a comment below.

Wandering Son, Vol. 8

June 12, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Takako Shimura
U.S. publisher: Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 9781606998311
Released: May 2015
Original release: 2008

Wandering Son by Takako Shimura is a manga series that is incredibly important to me on a very personal level. The series’ exploration of personal identity, especially in regards to gender and sexual identity, is beautifully done with great sensitivity. It’s a rare comic in which gender expression and other issues relating to gender are treated realistically and not as a joke. Wandering Son is an authentically meaningful series. Fantagraphics Books has been releasing the manga in English in a lovely hardcover edition; I only wish that the individual volumes were able to be released more frequently. Wandering Son, Volume 8 was first published in Japan in 2008 while the English translation was published in 2015. Wandering Son concluded in 2013 with its fifteenth volume, meaning that the eighth volume marks the beginning of the second half of the series. I am so incredibly grateful that Wandering Son is being translated and look forward to reading the remaining volumes.

Spring has come, which means a new school year is about to begin. Shuichi, Takatsuki, and their classmates are entering the eighth grade, but with a new year comes new class assignments. The students, whose often precarious friendships and relationships were at least temporarily stable, once more find themselves confronted with new and changing group dynamics. Some friends are separated while others are reunited. And of course, not-quite-friends and past bullies are included in the mix as well, creating some challenging and awkward situations for everyone involved. Springtime has come for some of the young people in a more figurative sort of way as well. Anna and Shuichi continue to date each other and enjoy being together despite Shuichi’s lingering affections for Takatsuki. Everyone has mostly come to terms with this development in their relationship, but more than one person has commented that Takatsuki and Shuichi would make an ideal couple.

I’ve come to really like Anna as a character. When she was first introduced in the series, she came across as aloof and perhaps even a bit mean-spirited, but as Wandering Son has progressed, more about Anna has been revealed. It’s not exactly that she’s bad-natured, she just doesn’t have a high tolerance for people who don’t approach their lives and work seriously. Anna can be surprisingly mature for her age—something that may probably be true for many of the younger characters in Wandering Son—but I still find her personality and character to be a believable. She is extraordinarily accepting and kind in her own fashion, seeming to lack the jealous tendencies that cause so many problems for her peers. But what I love most about Anna in Wandering Son, Volume 8 is her acceptance and support of Shuichi through their relationship as a couple. She is perfectly content to go on dates as two girls if that’s what Shuichi wants and she never denigrates Shuichi’s interests or feelings.

For the most part, Wandering Son tends to be a fairly quiet series, which is not to say there isn’t drama. And I certainly don’t intend to downplay the very real and intense emotions experienced by the characters as they struggle through their adolescence and personal turmoils. Those are central to Wandering Son. However, the eighth volume is the first volume that really ends with a dramatic turn of events that could be described as a cliffhanger. Throughout Wandering Son, Shuichi and Takatsuki have become more comfortable and increasingly bolder with how they express themselves in the clothes they wear, largely because they’ve received encouragement from their classmates and friends. But up until this volume, that outward expression has mostly been limited to their private lives; now they’ve begun to push the boundaries in how they dress at school, which has an explicit dress codes and uniforms based on gender. I am very glad to see the two of them developing a firmer understanding and acceptance of who they are, but I also worry for them because, as Wandering Son honestly portrays, the world can sometime be a very cruel place.

Manga the Week of 6/17

June 12, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ 1 Comment

SEAN: A second small week in a row! This is getting creepy. Where’s that manga boom?

Fans of Eden: It’s an Endless World will be more disappointed than ever see see that a new manga called Eden is not what they think. Fans of Gen Manga’s alternative stuff, though, will be delighted with Eden Vol. 1.

xxxHOLIC Omnibus 6 is a bit smaller than previous ones, as they had 4 volumes to go so had to divide it 2 and 2. Also, we’re at peak Syaoran levels. This is not a drill. Please protect yourself from further Syoaoran outbreaks.

MICHELLE: *snerk* Someday I really will finish this series and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

ASH: And thanks to the omnibuses, you can! (I’m on the same reading program)

ANNA: I enjoy Clamp, but I gave up on xxxHOLIC and Tsubasa. Also I am still bitter that X/1999 is unfinished.

MJ: Sean, you hurt me. Also. You people. What.

SEAN: Not only does the cast of Haganai still not have many friends as of Vol. 11, but the cover shows that Yozora is looking more sullen than ever.

And Servamp’s protagonist is probably looking sleepy in this 2nd volume, if Vol. 1 was any indication.

Viz has Dogs reaching double-digits with Vol. 10. Man, remember when this was the new Black Lagoon, as opposed to Gangsta? Also, is it me or is this out before its traditional one-per-year release?

MICHELLE: I think it is.

ANNA: Just wanted to mention how much I like Gangsta!

SEAN: Junji Ito time, with Fragments of Horror, a short story collection that will no doubt scare the bejabbers out of everyone. It’s in hardcover, too.

ASH: Very much looking forward to seeing more of Junji Ito’s work in English!

SEAN: Master Keaton’s 3rd volume will continue to show why Keaton is a brilliant investigator and a less-than-brilliant husband and father.

MICHELLE: I am terrible because I haven’t managed to find time to read 1-2 yet!

ANNA: I agree that you are being terrible to yourself for not reading these books already!

SEAN: Lastly, there is the much anticipated Tokyo Ghoul, which seems to be making fans of the anime very happy, but is not as pleasing to the manga blogger crowd. We shall see.

ANNA: I am going to check this out.

MJ: What she said.

SEAN: Are you getting something, or saving your money for the following week’s deluge of Yen?

The Ring of Saturn

June 10, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: KaiJu
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9780993861178
Released: May 2015
Original run: 2014

The Ring of Saturn was the first work that I read by KaiJu, a creative team made up of animator Jennifer Xu and cartoonist Kate Rhodes. A short three-part comic, The Ring of Saturn was first serialized online in Chromatic Press’ multimedia magazine Sparkler Monthly in 2014. The comic was collected as an ebook soon after and then in 2015 the print edition was released. I initially read The Ring of Saturn online as it was being serialized and was very impressed by the comic, so I was looking forward owning a physical copy. The gorgeous cover artwork was what first caught my attention, but the comic’s musical elements and historical drama immediately appealed to me as well. Although The Ring of Saturn stands completely on its own, the comic is actually a side story, a pilot of sorts, for a much larger work pitched by KaiJu to Chromatic Press. Based on the strength of The Ring of Saturn alone, I hope to one day see that project come to fruition. In the meantime, I’m very happy to have The Ring of Saturn.

Miriam Frayne is a student of Gustav Holst, the Director of Music at the prestigious St. Paul’s Girls’ School. Although a skilled pianist with a passion for music, she is confounded by the solo arrangement of Holst’s “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age.” She simply can’t seem to grasp its meaning or feeling, much preferring the rousing “Jupiter” movement of the suite which better suits her exuberant temperament and style of playing. It’s that energy that captures the attention of Rasim Rahal, a young astronomer who is intrigued by Holst’s work. At first Miriam is annoyed by Raz, but she soon finds herself warming up to him. Although he’s not the only one to express enjoyment of Miriam’s performance of “The Bringer of Old Age,” she herself continues to be dissatisfied and frustrated with it. And while Miriam continues to struggle with “Saturn” her country is locked in a struggle of its own—The Great War. Though seemingly far removed from her quiet life at school, the war is something that will affect everyone, including Miriam.

One of the things that I love about The Ring of Saturn is how the music forms a parallel to the narrative of the comic and to Miriam’s development as a character. The music serves as a metaphor for growth and change in a way that is remarkably effective and which never comes across as trite. “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” is a flashy piece with a sense of brilliance. As Miriam describes it, it steadily moves forward with purpose. “The Bringer of Jollity” captures Miriam as she is at the beginning of the comic—youthful and fervent, though perhaps a little naive when it comes to some of the harsher realities of life and of war. But by the end of The Ring of Saturn, Miriam is finally able to understand and even identify with “The Bringer of Old Age.” She has had to grow up, and with that maturity she is able to approach the music and her life more fully. She is no longer the person she once was, which can be seen in both how she acts and in how she plays. Miriam has become wiser with age and with experience.

Music, which is beautifully conveyed visually throughout The Ring of Saturn, is a critical component of the work. The Ring of Saturn also one of the few comics that I know of in which a composer, and a historical one at that, plays an important role. And it’s certainly the only one that I’m aware of that features Holst. While the details in The Ring of Saturn aren’t quite as intricate, KaiJu’s work in the comic reminds me of some of the manga by Kaoru Mori in both its artwork and in how history is incorporated into its setting and story. The Ring of Saturn is historical fiction and so some freedom has been taken with historical fact, but the feeling of era is there. I also enjoyed the comic’s witty and poetic dialogue. The Ring of Saturn is a short comic, well under a hundred pages, but it is also satisfyingly complete. Reading it again I love it just as much as I did the first time and have perhaps come to appreciate even more what KaiJu has accomplished with The Ring of Saturn.

So Cute It Hurts!!, Vol. 1

June 10, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Go Ikeyamada. Released in Japan as “Kobayashi ga Kawai Sugite Tsurai!!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shoujo Comic (“Sho-Comi”). Released in North America by Viz.

In general, I’m a sucker for over-the-top comedic shenanigans in a shoujo manga, but it can be very difficult to actually achieve this. The author has to be ridiculous while still keeping the reader interested, and suspend disbelief without hanging it by the neck. It can also be very easy to slide into drama, particularly if you run in a magazine like Sho-Comi. When done right, though, it can be pure fun. I think the first volume of So Cute It Hurts!! shows a lot of promise, and while not perfect, has enough fun that I will be reading more.

The author was previously best knows for Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!!, an 18-volume series that I thought might be licensed by Viz but never was. (Not that you’d know that by the back of this book – all the extras are included, including the cast of SDSK talking to us about the new title.) This new one is 11 volumes and counting, and for once actually feels like it was planned out to be a long series rather than a short one that catches on and gains plot points afterwards. Our heroes are identical twins, one male and one female. Mitsuru is good at athletic things, a bit of a playboy, and a bit of a delinquent. Megumu is a history otaku who plays Edo-period datesims. Together, they do not fight crime at all – in fact, they don’t really interact as much as you’d expect. But when Mitsuru’s grades are in danger, he asks his lookalike sister to swap with him for the week and take the tests for him.

To her credit, she refuses. Of course, he then proceeds to switch anyway, as he’s that sort. Mitsuru spent the first volume annoying me, to be honest, and I had to occasionally remind myself that his character development is part of the point. He does despise bullying, of course, like all manga heroes, and when he comes across a deaf girl who is being harassed by the queen of the school, he not only falls head over heels but starts to study sign language. As for Megumu, she’s in at the deep end at the boys’ school, not even trying to act like her brother and accidentally winning fights by tripping and headbutting the opponent’s crotch. She does meet a sexy aloof guy, though. With an eyepatch.

If all of this sounds melodramatic, you are absolutely correct. Naturally, the deaf girl seems to be in love with the eyepatch guy. Naturally, the Queen of the School ends up falling for Mitsuru (in another disguise), and absolutely everyone is completely amazed at the feelings in their heart! The humor is broad but fun. I like that the twins never even bother to try to imitate each other beyond the outfit swap, and how it works anyway. I like Mitsuru’s cocky ‘I can’t believe I’m this cute’ persona, which provides the title for us but also tells me he’s being set up for a fall. I like how Megumu may be a shy girl falling in love, but she’s still happy to rabbit on about Masamune for minutes on end in front of her crush.

this first volume doesn’t knock it out of the park. It’s fun but slight, and I hope it will continue to develop its characters as it goes along. If you’re a Shojo Beat fan, this should please you.

Bookshelf Briefs 6/9/15

June 9, 2015 by Michelle Smith, Sean Gaffney and Anna N Leave a Comment

This week, Michelle, Sean, & Anna look at recent releases from Seven Seas and Viz Media.

D-Frag!, Vol. 5 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – I must admit we got off to a slow start with this volume, as the lunchbox plot was dull, and yet another Momotaro parody never took off. But once we introduced our new adversary, Tama, D-Frag! goes back to doing what it does best – humiliating its entire cast for the sake of comedy, while at the same time allowing them to be completely awesome. Tama fits right into the manga, and shows off a surprising childhood side of the seemingly indomitable Chitose (and Roka being an adorable yet incredibly weird baby). Actually, it’s Sakura who now gets the role of the indomitable fighter. Add in a few jokes about Takao’s chest (because without those, how would you know you were reading D-Frag!?), and it adds up to a strong finish. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 6 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – It’s time for a new arc, and Totsuki Institute’s Fall Classic, a “grand stage for fierce cooking battles,” seems poised to offer some tremendous shounen tournament fun featuring quite a few new characters. Before it kicks off, though, Soma’s dad stops by to encourage his son by trouncing him in an invigorating breakfast challenge (it’s nice to see Soma lose for a change!) and Soma realizes his scent-fu is not up to par when confronted with a master of spices. I’d forgotten how much this series reminds me of The Prince of Tennis, but volume six evoked those feels once again. It also, alas, evoked some ews with ickier-than-usual fanservice, though even Soma had his clothes blown off by some potent curry, so I guess that evens things out a bit. The volume ends just as the classic begins, so I am definitely looking forward to volume seven! – Michelle Smith

Girls Und Panzer, Vol. 4 | By Girls Und Panzer Projekt and Ryohichi Saitaniya | Seven Seas – This is a franchise, of course, and most of those who are buying the manga will already be familiar with the anime, which ends in the same way. (I imagine the light novel, which focuses on Saori, ends the same – don’t expect it licensed anytime soon.) So the manga, unlikely to show off more thrilling action scenes (though they are done very well indeed) shows us instead more of its focus character, Yukari, and her love of tankery. It can sometimes feel a bit odd – the emotional core of the story is Niho’s, and seeing it viewed through Yukari’s prism feels off. But overall, I think this was an excellent adaptation, and I’m surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Sweet and fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 18 | By Julietta Suzuki | Viz Media – It almost felt like this series could end at the conclusion of the time-traveling arc, what with Nanami and Tomoe officially becoming a couple, but I’m glad it didn’t. It’s actually refreshing for her to get back to her old life, studying for finals so that she can go on the class trip to Okinawa. While I don’t love that Nanami is another in the long line of scholastically challenged shoujo heroines, I did like her being motivated by Tomoe’s resolve to absorb human knowledge, since he intends to be a more permanent part of her world. Too, the class trip brings greater definition to Nanami’s closest school friends and affords Nanami the opportunity to be very brave in attempting to save one of them from an aggrieved yokai. I admit to being a little lost about this whole Kirihito storyline, but was nonetheless thoroughly entertained. – Michelle Smith

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 21 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – Sometimes, narratives I am consuming for entertainment purposes portray the agonies of youth so acutely that said consumption becomes a bit stressful. Such is the case with Kimi ni Todoke’s 21st volume, in which the cast enters their final year of high school and must decide what to do about their futures. I absolutely love that Sawako is nudged into pursuing her own goals more aggressively—it’s great to see her feeling energized about something—and the idea of Ayane going off alone to see new things and become the confident person she knows she isn’t, even though others think differently, is great. (We can has spinoff?!) But there are some hints that at least one relationship might end (and if it doesn’t, that’s probably worse) and many exciting yet bittersweet days are to come. It’s great, but it hurts. It’s great because it hurts. – Michelle Smith

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, Vol. 5 | By Takaya Kagami and Yamato Yamamoto – I continue to enjoy the worldbuilding in this manga. The past two volumes were mostly concerned with training and fighting, so I was interested to see some of the backstory of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army get filled in when Yuichiro is called before some members of the high-ranking Hiragi family and subjected to an interrogation. The leader learns why Shinoa is disaffected from her family and also why despite his rank, Gurren is a target of suspicion. Yuichiro is determined to master his demonic weapons, hold on to his new found family, and try to turn his long-lost friend Mika into a human again. We’ll see if he can pull that off in the next few volumes. Seraph of the End is still an engaging series five volumes in. – Anna N

My Week in Manga: June 1-June 7, 2015

June 8, 2015 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Happy June, everyone! I’ve been super busy (I seem to say that a lot, don’t I?) but was still able to post a few things here at Experiments in Manga last week. The winner of the Ema Toyama Twosome manga giveaway was announced. That post also includes a list of manga available in English that feature novelists and other writers. The honor of the first in-depth manga review for the month of June goes to Masayuki Ishikawa’s Maria the Virgin Witch, Volume 2. Ishikawa seems to be trying to do a lot with such a short series (it’s only three volumes), maybe a bit too much. Even if he’s not able to successfully pull everything off, I still find Maria the Virgin Witch to be an intriguing series and want to read the rest of it. Finally, over the weekend I posted the Bookshelf Overload for May. I had a pretty big haul of manga and comics last month; I largely blame TCAF.

Elsewhere online there’s been some interesting reading to be found. Justin interviewed Kate Dacey (aka The Manga Critic) over at Organization Anti-Social Geniuses. Kate was one of my biggest manga blogging inspirations, so I’ve been very happy to see her recent return. Sean Kleefeld brought my attention to a panel on the history of manhwa. Drawn & Quarterly recently released the massive anthology Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty-Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels. Joe McCulloch specifically looks at the volume’s manga content. Mangabrog has a translation of a conversation between Naoki Urasawa and Hisashi Eguchi. Last but not least, two licensing announcements were made last week that I’m very excited about: Viz Media is finally releasing a print edition of One-Punch Man by ONE and Yusuke Murata and Drawn & Quarterly is releasing more of Shigeru Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitaro! (I loved the publisher’s first Kitaro collection.)

Quick Takes

Welcome to the N.H.K., Volumes 1-4 by Kendi Oiwa. Originally published in print by Tokyopop, Viz Media recently announced that it would be releasing Welcome to the N.H.K. digitally in the very near future. Tatsuhiko Takimoto’s original Welcome to the N.H.K. light novel was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the anime adaptation, too. It was only a matter of time before I read Kendi Oiwa’s manga adaptation, though I am a little surprised that it’s taken me this long to get around to it. It has been a while since I’ve read or watched the other versions of Welcome to the N.H.K., but so far the manga is closer to the anime than it is to the novel, except that it seems a little more streamlined and perhaps even a little raunchier. Satou is a college dropout and hikikomori who has been targeted by Misaki, a young woman who is determined to rehabilitate him despite her own oddities and personal issues. In some ways, the more recent Watamote is reminiscent of Welcome to the N.H.K. Both series feature protagonists who are extremely socially awkward and both series can be hilarious, but they can also be somewhat depressing and painful to read at times, too. But, I am enjoying the manga version of Welcome to the N.H.K. a great deal.

xxxHolic: Rei, Volume 3 by CLAMP. Initially, I felt that it wasn’t necessary to have read xxxHolic in order to enjoy xxxHolic: Rei. However after reading the third volume, I feel I need to revise that opinion. It’s still not absolutely necessary to have read xxxHolic, but Rei makes a lot more sense and is much more meaningful if a reader has that background. I’ve actually not finished reading the entirety of xxxHolic, so while I was able to get the basic gist of what was going on in Rei, I did feel I was missing out on some important context while reading the third volume. However, I really like what CLAMP is doing with the series and I’m looking forward to reading the part of xxxHolic where Rei ties in directly. Rei has developed a marvelously ominous atmosphere that has a surreal, dreamlike quality to it. CLAMP’s high-contrast artwork in the series is great, too. At first, Rei felt directionless as though CLAMP didn’t really know what to do with the series, but the third volume begins to bring everything together in a way that actually makes sense. Of course, this also means the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles connection is becoming more pronounced as well, which can sometimes feel forced.

Ze, Volumes 7-9 by Yuki Shimizu. Despite it being a series that I tend to enjoy, it’s actually been a few years since I’ve read any of Shimizu’s supernatural boys’ love manga Ze. Although there is some dubious content (which doesn’t really surprise me much at this point), these three volumes reminded me what it is about Ze that I like so much: Shimizu has a knack for creating fascinatingly intense and complex relationship and power dynamics. The seventh and eighth volumes explore the backstories of Kotoha and Konoe; I was very satisfied with the explanation of their peculiar relationship and personalities. (Granted, most of the characters and relationships in Ze are pretty strange.) Ze, Volume 8 focuses on Shoui and Asari. Most of the story arcs have been two volumes long, but perhaps because their relationship has been developing in the background over the course of the series, the eighth volume is the only one specifically devoted to the couple. These three volumes are also very important in setting up the next and what I believe is the final story arc which will reveal more of Waki’s tragic history. I had forgotten how much of an asshole he can be, so I am curious to find out what made him the person he is.

Kimi ni Todoke, Vol. 21

June 7, 2015 by Sean Gaffney

By Karuho Shiina. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (“Betsuma”). Released in North America by Viz.

I’ve been reviewing this title in the ‘Bookshelf Briefs’ section for a long time. There’s been a lot going on since my last review, but one thing that amused me is that I was discussing Kento never shutting up, saying the wrong thing, and generally being extroverted all over the pages of what’s trying to be a quiet, peaceful manga. And hey, guess what’s still happening! After a brief period where I was beginning to like him and hoping he and Yano would work out, he’s back to being my least favorite. Meanwhile, another old villain makes a reappearance, and as she has in the past, spurs Sawako to try to apply herself and chase her dreams.

Given how Kurumi was originally introduced to act as a contrast to Sawako’s purity and general niceness, it’s highly amusing to see that they both want to pursue similar careers – though only Kurumi really gets this, and she is properly annoyed by it. In fact, Kurumi spends most of the volume on a low boil, possibly as all the main characters have hooked up with each other and she’s watching them all be happy. But Sawako has bigger concerns – she’s finally found happiness with Kazehaya, and while she doesn’t want to leave the town, she does envision going to a college that would temporarily separate them. While Kazehaya knows this and decides to try to pull his grades up so that he can go to college as well, he makes it clear to Sawako that this is her choice and she should feel confident in it. As always, they’re both really sweet.

Yano has never been described as sweet, but she’s usually tried to be the most mature of the bunch, and the most level-headed. Now we’re starting to see that facade crumble, particularly around Pin, who is easily able to see through her facade to the anxious teenager beneath it. And it’s fairly clear that, while Yano is happy with what she currently has with Kento, he’s not really factoring in what she really wants – college in Tokyo, a much farther distance away than the others are talking. It’s also far more difficult, and Pin admits she needs to pull her grades even higher if she wants sure success. (Pin is pure awesome in this volume, by the way, and while teacher/student romances are iffy, I totally get why this is also a ship.)

So while Yano frets, Kento is there… to propose to her, saying he wants to spend the rest of his life waking up next to her. Kento has always been forward and blunt, but my jaw actually dropped at this moment, and I wondered if it was a setup for something more. I got my answer later in the volume, where Pin has a disastrous meeting with him, where Kento admits he’d like to study interior design, but going to the same college as Yano is more important. His face in this scene is a sort of goofy, happy-go-lucky type that makes me want to hit it, as he’s not thinking about Yano here at all. To make things worse, she actually hears this outside the teacher’s office. Kento wants Yano as his girlfriend/wife, but seems to take it as read that she’ll be OK with this. And she isn’t.

A cliffhanger seems to show Kento starting to realize that something is wrong, but we’ll have to wait for a bit to see if it sinks in, or if things continue to go south. In the meantime, this remains must-read shoujo, and if you dislike angst, there’s always Sawako and Kazehaya, whose stressful situations are resolved through honest communication. Funny, that.

The Manga Revue: The Ancient Magus’ Bride and Evergreen

June 5, 2015 by Katherine Dacey

Are there publishers whose work you avoid? I’ll cop to feeling that way about Seven Seas, a company whose manga generally tilt too far towards the ecchi end of the spectrum for an old broad like me. In the last few months, however, the company has made some unexpected licensing announcements–The Ancient Magus’ Bride and Orange among them–that made me wonder if I’d unfairly dismissed their catalog. In an exploratory spirit, therefore, I’m dedicating this week’s column to two new Seven Seas titles: The Ancient Magus’ Bride and Evergreen.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 1
By Kore Yamazaki
Rated OT, for Older Teens
Seven Seas, $12.99

One part The Name of the Flower, one part Apothecarius Argentum, The Ancient Magus’ Bride freely commingles elements of romance, fantasy and horror, then seasons the mix with old-fashioned melodrama. The title refers to Chitose, a fifteen-year-old orphan with an unwanted gift: she can see fairies, ghosts, and other supernatural beings. For most of her life, she’s been passed between relatives and shunned by her peers. When sorcerer Ellias Ainsworth purchases her from an unscrupulous aunt and uncle, however, Chitose embarks on a new life as his apprentice and, perhaps, his bride-to-be.

I’d be the first to admit that the storylines often feel like they’ve been pinched from other fantasy manga, right down to a scene in which Ainsworth rescues Chitose from a malicious fairy. (Quick–name two Shojo Beat titles with a similar plot twist!) Though the plot has a been-there, read-that quality, Kore Yamazaki’s imaginative character designs and meticulously rendered backgrounds do not; his vision is so particular that the reader is plunged into Ainsworth and Chitose’s world as a participant, not a casual observer. The series’ other redeeming strength is its emotional honesty. Yamazaki convincingly depicts the characters’ grief and isolation without resorting to voice-overs or pointed dialogue–an impressive feat, given the plot’s reliance on such Victorian-lit staples as dead mothers and callous relatives.

The verdict: Although I’m not wild about the prospect of a May-December relationship between Chitose and Ainsworth, I’ll gladly soldier through another volume.

Evergreen, Vol. 1
Story by Yuyuko Takemiya, Art by Akira Kasukabe
Rated OT, for Older Teens
Seven Seas, $12.99

Full disclosure: I usually loathe the costume failures, manic pixie dream girls, and improbable harems that are stock-in-trade of shonen romances. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered Evergreen, a smart coming-of-age story that devotes twice as many pages to the hero’s complicated emotional life than it does the heroine’s predilection for wearing swimsuits.

What distinguishes Evergreen from, say, Suzuka, is its principal character’s palpable angst. Hotaka bears a figurative and literal scar from childhood: not only did he lose his father at an early age, Hotaka also had open-heart surgery to treat the very condition that claimed his father’s life. (In other words, he’s earned the right to be unhappy, unlike the heroes of Suzuka, Love Hina, and countless other shonen romantic comedies who brood without real cause.) As a result, Hotaka vacillates between fierce self-loathing and cautious optimism in a way that seems genuinely adolescent. His conversations, nightmares, and interior monologues reveal the degree to which Hotaka’s fear of being judged prevents him from forging a meaningful connection with dream girl Niki Awaya, the “tawny haired” captain of the girls’ swim club.

Lest I make Evergreen sound like a colossal bummer, rest assured that Hotaka’s angsty monologues are balanced by slapstick and jokes. Hotaka’s fellow manga club members, for example, bring a welcome jolt of comic energy to the proceedings, functioning as the series’ low-rent Greek chorus. There’s also a soupçon of fanservice for folks who like that sort of thing; artist Akira Kasukabe never misses an opportunity to depict Awaya in her bathing suit. (Actually, it’s a pretty chaste suit by shonen manga standards; you could swim laps in it without flashing anyone.) Awaya’s objectification is balanced by a positive portrayal of On-Chan, the sole female member of the manga club and Hotaka’s self-appointed wingman. On-Chan’s can-do attitude, enthusiasm for manga, and mean left hook aren’t novel traits, exactly, but taken as a whole, make her one of the more appealing, empowered female characters in the Seven Seas catalog.

The verdict: A pleasant surprise; count me in for volume two.

Reviews: TCJ columnist Joe McCulloch takes an in-depth look at Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty-Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics and Graphic Novels, focusing on contributions from Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Shigeru Mizuki. Elsewhere on the web, Ken H. reviews Dream Fossil, a collection of short stories by Satoshi Kon, while Tony Yao tackles Orange, a time-traveling drama that offers a candid look at teen depression.

Sarah on vol. 1 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride (Anime UK News)
Tessa Barber on Anomal (No Flying No Tights)
Wolfen Moondaughter on vol. 4 of Black Rose Alice (Sequential Tart)
Megan R. on Bloody Monday (The Manga Test Drive)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 6 of Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (Comic Book Bin)
Megan R. on Girl Friends (The Manga Test Drive)
Lori Henderson on vols. 9-10 of Goong: The Royal Palace (Manga Xanadu)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 3 of Hide and Seek (Sequential Tart)
Joseph Luster on vol. 13 of Knights of Sidonia (Otaku USA)
Seth Hahne on vol. 1 of Last Man (Good OK Bad)
Alice Vernon on vol. 1 of Log Horizon (Girls Like Comics)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 5-6 of Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Ash Brown on vol. 2 of Maria the Virgin Witch (Experiments in Manga)
Jason Thompson on vols. 1-2 of Meteor Prince (ANN)
Joseph Luster on vol. 2 of My Neighbor Seki (Otaku USA)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 70 of Naruto (Comic Book Bin)
Amanda Vail on vols. 1-4 of Noragami: Stray God (Women Write About Comics)
Ian Wolf on vol. 1 of A Silent Voice (Anime UK News)
Theron Martin on vol. 1 of Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops (ANN)
Rebecca Silverman on vol. 1 of Tokyo Ghoul (ANN)
Sheena McNeil on vol. 27 of Toriko (Sequential Tart)
Terry Hong on vol. 8 of What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Book Dragon)
Sakura Eries on vol. 2 of Yukarism (The Fandom Post)

Are you a blogger who regularly reviews manga? Want to see your reviews included in our weekly round-ups? Leave a comment below so we can keep tabs on your latest reviews!

Maria the Virgin Witch, Vol. 2

June 5, 2015 by Ash Brown

Creator: Masayuki Ishikawa
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781632360816
Released: April 2015
Original release: 2011

I was somewhat wary when I picked up Masayuki Ishikawa’s manga series Maria the Virgin Witch to read. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it, especially considering part of the story is explicitly focused on the heroine’s virginity and sexuality. No that that is necessarily a bad thing, it just has the potential to go very wrong, very quickly. But because the series is by Ishikawa, whose Moyasimon I enjoy immensely, in the end I decided to give Maria the Virgin Witch a try. (At some point, I’ll likely take the time to watch the manga’s recent anime adaptation as well.) Although there were a few things that bothered me about the series’ first volume, by and large I was intrigued and enjoyed the manga, certainly more so than I had initially anticipated that I would. I liked the basic premise of the manga, particularly the quirky characters, and so I wanted to see what Ishikawa would do with the rest of the series. Maria the Virgin Witch, Volume 2 was first released in Japan in 2011. The English-language edition of the volume was published by Kodansha Comics in 2015.

Having drawn too much attention to herself by dramatically interfering with the affairs and wars of humankind, the young, idealistic witch Maria has been given an ultimatum by the Archangel Michael. Maria as been forbidden to display her powerful magic in front of humans or else forfeit her life. Additionally, should she ever lose her virginity she will lose her powers as a witch, putting her in a position where she must either choose her own happiness or the happiness of others. Since Michael has better things to do than spend all his time watching over a rogue witch, he leaves his messenger Ezekiel behind to ensure that Maria follows the rules. Whether Ezekiel is actually successful is another matter entirely. Maria still feels very strongly about aiding those who ask for her help and bringing an end to the war between England and France. With some assistance from her familiars Artemis and Priapus, she is able to take advantage of a few loopholes in Ezekiel’s charge, but it’s likely only a matter of time before Michael puts a stop to that, too.

Maria the Virgin Witch continues to be a strange combination of crude humor largely revolving around sex (or the lack thereof) and more serious philosophical and theological questioning. The introduction of Ezekiel allows Ishikawa to more fully explore Maria’s motivations and her view of the world and all that she believe is wrong with it. If God and his angels won’t step in to put an end to humanity’s wars and violence—even when people are praying for just that—Maria sees it as her responsibility to fulfill that role since it is within her power, albeit in a much more limited fashion. She acknowledges that she is no god; she is not omnipotent, neither is she omniscient. She can only do what she can. The second volume of Maria the Virgin Witch reveals that Maria is very much an outlier in her way of thinking. Other people and other witches who have the ability to influence the course of the war actually want to drag it out as long as possible. To do so is to their advantage. They believe the position held by Maria to be incomprehensible and incredibly naive. But some, including Ezekiel, find that their assumptions and beliefs are challenged by Maria’s idealism and earnestness and are forced to reexamine them.

Although the series is set during the Hundred Years War and references actual events and people, the second volume of Maria the Virgin Witch makes it very clear that the manga is less historical fiction and more fantasy fiction. While interesting, the worldbuilding of the series is actually a little confused, or at least not thoroughly explained. Magic has always been a large part of Maria the Virgin Witch, as have demons, monsters, angels, and other divine beings (including Valkyries for some reason), but the second volume introduces a mythical and mortal non-human race to the mix. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it seems to come out of nowhere and means that the manga loses some if its focus, which is something that is particularly important for a short series like Maria the Virgin Witch to maintain. With only one volume in the main series remaining, I’m afraid that Ishikawa may not be able to fully develop all of the elements and themes that he is trying to incorporate. Even so, I still find Maria the Virgin Witch to be an intriguing although somewhat uneven series; I’m very curious to see how it ends.

Manga the Week of 6/10

June 5, 2015 by Sean Gaffney, Michelle Smith, Ash Brown, Anna N and MJ Leave a Comment

SEAN: Thank you for all those who bought manga to bring rain to the Northeast. You can stop now (keep buying manga, I just mean no more flash flood warnings). Meanwhile, what have we in this small week?

Kodansha gives us an 8th volume of shosei (I just coined it, whaddya think?) romance Say “I Love You”.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: Shosei. I like it.

ANNA: I’m behind on this series, but I do enjoy it!

SEAN: Something that could not remotely be mistaken for an angsty teen romance is the 5th volume of D-Frag! from Seven Seas. Betcha it’ll be funnier, though.

Barring any further spinoff licensing (unlikely, I suspect), we also get the 4th and final volume of sweeter than I expected tank manga Girls Und Panzer.

Sublime is still Starting with a Kiss, but it’s Vol. 3, so perhaps they’ve gone further.

ASH: Perhaps, perhaps…

SEAN: (Amazon lists The World’s Greatest First Love 2 as well, but I understand from a Viz press release that this has been delayed to late July.)

Viz proper, meanwhile, has the 22nd Arata the Legend volume. Man. So many more volumes than Fushigi Yuugi.

MICHELLE: Yeah, that is really hard to believe. I like Arata, but it’ll never approach Fushigi Yuugi‘s iconic status.

ANNA: I feel bad constantly comparing Arata to Fushigi Yuugi, but I can’t help it.

SEAN: And a 9th volume of slice-of-life prison comedy Deadman Wonderland. (Spoiler: it is not a slice-of-life prison comedy).

MICHELLE: Heh.

MJ: Wow, I have fallen behind!

SEAN: Lastly, Magi hits a dozen volumes. And hasn’t slowed down its release schedule, a major accomplishment for Shonen Sunday titles.

MICHELLE: Yay, Magi! This one is already in my Amazon cart!

ANNA: Nice! I enjoyed the first few volumes of this series a bunch.

SEAN: Do you have a favorite here?