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The Manga Review: Turnover at Tokyopop

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In a recent interview with ICv2, Tokyopop’s Kae Winters confirmed that Stu Levy is transitioning out of his long-time leadership role at the company. “Stu’s been a major part of Tokyopop for so long, but with his own family now – and his move to Germany – we knew he’d step back eventually,” she said. She praised new COO & Publisher Marc Visnick as “a natural fit with our team” as Tokyopop continues to solidify its place in the current US market. “When we returned to publishing back in 2016 we released seven new titles; in 2022 we published almost ten times as many,” Winters noted. “We consider ourselves a boutique publisher now, with plans to expand modestly in an effort to maintain quality over quantity, and continue to bring titles to fans that we personally believe in.” Visnick echoed Winters’ sentiments, stating that he is “cautiously optimistic” about manga sales since Tokyopop has “witnessed steady growth across all trade channels” including independent booksellers and libraries.

NEWS….

On the tenth anniversary of Saturday AM‘s founding, Brigid Alverson sat down for a conversation with publisher Frederick Jones to discuss the magazine’s history, as well as its recent pivot into book publishing. “We refer to our works as diverse manga to normalize content that is both by creators of various ethnic origins and features various heroes of similarly broad racial backgrounds,” Jones explains. “While most young people will never make it to Japan and even fewer won’t learn Japanese, Saturday AM’s diverse manga stands as a key brand for their works to be discovered, featured, and celebrated.” [ICv2]

Kristin offers practical tips for assembling the full run of Berserk. [Anime Collective]

Bill Curtis compiles a master list of all this month’s new manga and light novels. [Yatta-Tachi]

R.I.P. Leiji Matsumoto. [The Beat]

Yamada Murasaki’s Talk to My Back has been nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award. [The Beat]

Last year was the highest grossing year for manga sales in Japanese history. [Otaku USA]

Chainsaw Man was 2022’s best selling manga according to two separate charts: NPD Bookscan and ComicsHub. Both lists are heavily dominated by VIZ Media properties, with only a handful of titles from Dark Horse and Kodansha making the cut. [ICv2]

If you love cats, Brigid Alverson has good news for you: Seven Seas has five new cat manga in the pipeline, including Cat on a Hero’s Lap, My New Life As a Cat, and A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch. [ICv2]

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival just announced its inaugural Sophie Castille Award, which recognizes outstanding work in the field of translation. The award was created in honor of the late Mediatoon executive who was “a key figure in the growth of translation of comics and graphic novels around the world.” This year’s prize will go to the translator of “a comic translated from any language into English,” but LICAF organizers hope “to widen the scope of these awards and have partners all over the world so that there will be Sophie Castille Awards for many languages” in the future. [LICAF]

…AND VIEWS

Please join me in congratulating Tony Yao on thirteen years of manga blogging! Tony has been posting thoughtful articles about manga and mental health for years, first at Manga Therapy, and more recently at Drop-In to Manga. [Drop-In to Manga]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to teach–or take–a college survey course on manga? If so, you’ll want to check out the syllabus for Martin de la Iglesia’s Manga – Introduction to History and Theory, which he taught last year at Heidelberg University. [The 650-Cent Plague]

David Brothers leads the Mangasplainers in a lively discussion of Under Ninja, a series about a ninja who “sets his sights set hilariously low.” [Mangasplaining]

Looking for a great new series? Laura Grace adds a new chapter to her ABCs of Shojo Manga with a survey of titles beginning with the letter G. [Beneath the Tangles]

If you love a great accessory or a well-tailored frock, you’ll want to read Jocelyne Allen’s review of Fashion, a manga about the garment industry. Author Lemon Haruna “does a great job of portraying clothes in motion, and making them feel both unique and a part of everyday life,” Allen observes. “Haruna also has an extremely clean, but totally expressive style that reminds me somehow of a cross between Kondoh Akino and Chris Ware.” [Brain vs. Book]

REVIEWS

This week’s must-read review comes to us from Adam Symchuk, who praises Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand for its thoughtful depiction of a young girl on the cusp of adolescence. “Exploring themes of ‘family’ is where Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand excels,” he observes. “Tokiko’s relationship with her father paints a portrait of a young girl with a unique intuition and empathetic nature.” Over at The OASG, Helen and Krystallina compare notes on volume seven of The Apothecary Diaries, while the staff at Beneath the Tangles post short reviews of Ayashimon, Guardian of Fukushima, and Tezcatlipoca, and my Manga Bookshelf colleague Sean Gaffney reminds us that he doesn’t just review light novels; he also writes pithy, hilarious manga reviews.

New and Noteworthy

Complete and Ongoing Series

Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel!, Vol. 9

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By Rhythm Aida and nauribon. Released in Japan as “Buta Koushaku ni Tensei shita kara, Kondo wa Kimi ni Suki to Iitai” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Zihan Gao.

For today’s reading we have Exhibit A in “the suspension bridge effect is bullshit”. Slowe and Alicia are put into a situation where they’re supposed to band together to survive and slowly realize their feelings for each other. There are, however, a few minor problems with this scenario. 1) Slowe is in love with Charlotte. 2) Alicia is MUCH more stubborn than even those who knew her imagined. And, most importantly, 3) They’re just not that into each other. This book starts with the cliffhanger of the last volume, which has the rumor about Slowe and Alicia being engaged again, and both are determined to break it off – Slowe for obvious reasons, and Alicia because, even if she does think Slowe is not as bad as he used to be now, an arranged marriage is anathema to her. I really like Slowe and Alicia’s dynamic, but as “put upon heirs”, not as a couple.

So yes, the campus is abuzz with the rumor about Slowe and Alicia, to the point that neither of them can even have a moment’s peace without the gossip reaching their ears. And a lot of the gossip is nasty, on both sides. Plus Slowe is now having nightmares where he’s married to Alicia and Charlotte is crying. Theoretically, they should team up, but Alicia is not that sort of person. Instead, Slowe and Charlotte have to sneak off after her when she flees the campus. She’s going to one of the most dangerous dungeons in the world to get back a priceless royal heirloom that was taken by a slime monster. If she can return it to the royal family, she’ll have enough clout to get the engagement called off. To help she’ll have Slowe, Charlotte, Charlotte’s “pet cat”, and the world’s most suspicious guide.

The weak point in this book is Blau. She’s a good character, but a lot of her felt underdeveloped. Given what she’s got planned for Alicia in the dungeon, I expected her to be a lot more morally grey than she ended up being, but she was more of a dumbass than anything else. Also, her character really needed a cathartic last meeting with the one she’s been searching for, and just did not get it. Honestly, both of those problems seem like poor editing – I wonder if she was meant to be a villain but that was rejected? Charlotte is also much stronger here than in previous books, which is good, because given the cliffhanger to THIS book she’ll need that strength. And I also appreciated the repetition of Slowe never quite realizing what his reputation is with the kingdom now that he’s saved the day multiple times. He’s still trapped in that damn anime.

The next book promises a confrontation we’ve wanted to see since the start – Slowe vs. his family. Till then, this was a strong volume of Piggy Duke, and had a bunch of cool fights as well. Plus, skeleton warriors. Always terrific.

Manga the Week of 3/8/22

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SEAN: It’s March, and to celebrate New England is finally getting a bit of snow. But what manga are we getting?

Airship has no print releases, but they do have an early digital one: Reincarnated as a Sword 12.

Dark Horse gives us a 13th volume of Berserk Deluxe Edition.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up, surprising no one at this point.

SEAN: Denpa Books has a second omnibus volume of Nana & Kaoru.

There’s a debut from Ghost Ship. Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His Wild S-Rank Cat Girl (Dappou Tamer no Nariagari Boukentan ~S Rank Bishoujo Boukensha ga Ore no Juuma ni Natteimasu~) is a Comic Ride series. A low-ranked tamer is asked by a high-ranking catgirl to “tame” her in hopes she’ll evolve. In reality, it’ll probably just lead to horniness.

ASH: Sounds about right.

SEAN: Also from Ghost Ship: World’s End Harem: Fantasia Academy 2.

J-Novel Club has a debut, but it’s one of the Sol Press rescues: Let This Grieving Soul Retire (Nageki no Bourei wa Intai Shitai – Saijaku Hunter ni Yoru Saikyou Party Ikuseijutsu). Our hero’s friends have cool powers. He does not. But for some reason they keep expecting things from him.

Also from J-Novel Club: Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 9, D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared 3, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 2, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 41, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 8, the 4th manga volume of Tearmoon Empire, and the 7th manga volume of Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Am I Actually the Strongest?, which has been out in digital since 2020, but I think is either getting or just got an anime.

Also in print: As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 4, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 4, Magus of the Library 6 (!!!), and SHAMAN KING Omnibus 12 (the final volume).

ASH: Ooh! Magus of the Library!

SEAN: The digital debut will be familiar to old school Tokyopop fans. Life is a shoujo manga from Betsufure, and TP published 9 volumes of it before cancelling it. Now Kodansha is doing a digital version, which hopefully will go the distance. This is an award-winning manga, but be warned, it’s a tough one: our heroine starts cutting herself in the first book.

MICHELLE: Amazon shows I purchased the first volume back in 2006, but I don’t think I ever actually read it, so now’s my chance!

ANNA: Maybe this is an indication (Silver Diamond) of other (Demon Sacred) Tokyopop (Immortal Rain) series getting picked up.

ASH: I live in perpetual hope!

MELINDA: My well of hope runs dry, but… maybe?

SEAN: Digitally we see Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 10, Doing His Best to Confess 4, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 7, MF Ghost 11, Raised by the Demon Kings! 6, Shangri-La Frontier 10, The Shape-Shifting Witch’s Kiss 4 (the final volume), and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 7.

MICHELLE: Doing His Best to Confess looks cute. I’ve been meaning to try it out.

SEAN: From Seven Seas, we see Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi The Comic, the webtoon adaptation of the popular danmei series, in full color.

ASH: Looking forward to giving this one a try!

SEAN: We also see orange -to you, dear one-, the final epilogue to the orange series, which tells the story of the rest of the main cast in this new future.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ANNA: I still have the first volume of orange lurking around my house, unread!

MICHELLE: It’s so good!

ASH: It really is. Very glad to see the epilogues being released.

MELINDA: !!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has The Ancient Magus’ Bride 17, The Girl in the Arcade 3, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 5, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 16, and Yokai Cats 3.

MICHELLE: It’s been 84 years since I read any of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. I’ve really been missing it.

ASH: I’m somehow behind in my reading, but I enjoy this series so much.

SEAN: Square Enix debuts My Clueless First Friend (Jijou o Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru), a Gangan Joker series which is getting an anime. A bullied elementary school girl is startled when a new transfer student arrives and finds that all the things people bully her for are, to him, cool!

From Steamship, we get Ladies on Top 2.

ASH: Which reminds me I still need to read the first volume.

Udon debuts Persona 4 Arena, a Dengeki Maoh series for all you folks who wished Persona 4 were a fighting game. This is, in fact, an adaptation of a video game.

Viz Media debuts Ayashimon, a Shonen Jump series from the creator of Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku. A guy who wanted to grow up to be strong like a manga hero does his job a bit TOO well.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Black Clover 32, Blue Box 3, The Elusive Samurai 5, Ghost Reaper Girl 4, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 5, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 8, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 6, and Yona of the Dawn 38.

MICHELLE: Must have a Yona binge soon!

ANNA: Need to get caught up on Ima Koi and always excited for new Yona!

SEAN: That’s it! What will you read if you’re snowed in?

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 8

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By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Andria Cheng.

This has been an oddly paced series, mostly due to the prequel being almost as long as the main series itself. We do get an epilogue showing Iris and Dean’s kids at the end, but for the most part Iris’ story ended in the 5th volume, and the last three have just been her listening to her mother finally explain her past. The reason for the secrecy ends up being the fact that most of how she and Iris’ father got together revolves around treaties, state secrets, and nearly averted war, so it’s not something that makes for great anecdotes to tell the kids. It’s also darker than Iris’ story, with more deaths – Iris very much had the fairytale “villainess” story, where almost all obstacles were overcome and they all live happily ever after. Merellis’ story shows that peace was temporarily won, but they didn’t ALL live happily ever after, and there are future tragedies shaping up that she can also do nothing about.

There’s trouble brewing in a neighboring principality, and the first quarter of this book shows us Louis’ father visiting all the lords of said principality and seeing how their power structure works. Some are pawns, some are noble, some are secretly led by their spouse, etc. In order to try to avoid being tricked into war, there’s a huge party held in Tasmeria, inviting all the neighboring lords, and Merellis attends as well… which is good, as it turns out there are also planted guards there to kill off most of the attendees. Fortunately, Merellis is able to stop this with a little help. Unfortunately, it turns out that when all the secret plots are unraveled, one of the main forces behind it is a lot closer to Merellis and her family than anyone would like, and may lead to her being unable to marry Louis.

I did worry that this book would completely slide into political battles and that we would not see Merellis fighting anymore, but no need on that score, as not only do we get her saving the day at the ball through judicious use of murdering the bad guys, but we also see her leading a private army to kill more bad guys, though that does not go nearly as smoothly, and does lead to deaths of some named characters. For the most part, though, the lesson of this book is that you CAN marry the true love of your life, but the politics has to line up as well. With Louis and Merellis it does. For Edgar and Sharia, they get what they want, but are tricked/forced into a compromise that will lead to massive tragedy down the road. And also to the events that kickstarted Iris’ story itself. Being a duchess is hard.

And so this series has come to an end. It took a while, and we got the manga first, so it seems longer, but this was a good example of the “sensible” end of the villainess scale, and had lots of fun worldbuilding. Just be prepared for the extended prologue.

Bookshelf Briefs 3/1/23

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Blue Box, Vol. 2 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – The combination of sports manga and romcom is the series’ main strength, as we saw from the first volume, but it can also be a weakness, as right now I’m frankly more invested in the sports than I am in the romance. It doesn’t help that in this second volume Chinatsu is literally fought over as a prize in a badminton match, a subplot that I always hope will be left dead and buried but never is. Clearly she is going to get her own focus in the series at some point in the future, but this is a Jump title, so there’s always the chance that she won’t, and this is going to be the Taiki show. And Taiki is fine, he’s a perfectly good protagonist, but this is being sold as a two-person book but isn’t yet. – Sean Gaffney

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 7 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – Folks who were a bit put off by what amounted to a tournament arc for two+ volumes will be relieved to hear that it ends with this volume, and we get back to the main cast wandering the world, and Frieren slowly learning all the things that she never quite got when she was traveling with the hero. Fern is not quite as bad as her master, but she does seem to suffer from an inability to come to terms with her feelings, which mostly amounts to what she wants from Stark. Most of this comes out as tsundere romcom schtick, but in the context of the series as a whole, I find I enjoy it better. Still one of the better fantasy manga out there. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 33 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – It’s no secret to anyone who follows my various fandom things that Uraraka is my favorite character in this series, so this entire volume was like catnip to me. Of course, that does not mean that I’m ignoring The Apology That Broke MHA Fandom, which I think was about as good as we were going to get given that, unlike many fan writers, Horikoshi is not really interested in having Bakugo suffer for his childhood crimes. In any case, now that Izuku is back at his home base and the general public are reluctantly willing to give him a chance, what could possibly happen next? Well, I’m afraid we have to call in the marines. But that’s next volume’s problem, and oh, I will have things to say. This volume, though, was excellent. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 5 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship I mostly love this series, so let’s get the annoying bad thing out of the way first off: Japan has far more interest in girls peeing themselves than I ever will. That said, it’s as part of a gag, as is this entire series, so I’ll handwave it. We get two more girlfriends in this book. One is a high school baseball player trying to save her club who turns out to be a masochist, and the other is a rich ojou with a destined rivalry with Nano, as well as a love of beauty. There’s fourth wall breaking, there’s unabashed horniness, but as always, there really is a heartwarming polycule at the center of this, which is why I love it. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 16 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – This is, at the very least, slightly less depressing than the previous book, which is good. That said, I think I have to face up to the fact that this does not come out often enough that I can keep up with anything anymore, and it’s hard for me to remember anyone in the cast who isn’t Fumi and Kyutaro. But to be honest, that’s not as big a problem as you’d expect. This series has come to run on vibe and coolness, and if you don’t remember who anyone is or what’s happening, there’s plenty of good dialogue, supernatural battles, and shoujo romantic tease. But counting QQ Sweeper, we’re nearly twenty volumes in, and oof, I’m starting to get exhausted. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 23 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I am afraid that our heroes are getting Known. This was always the case with Zen, who sits this book out for the most part, but Shirayuki and Obi are pretty famous now, which means that they might be asked to solve mysteries, in the best detective story fashion. Given that Obi is basically a ninja and Shirayuki specializes in medicine, it’s not a bad combination, so we get the start of an arc asking who the noble is that’s going around to various fancy dress balls, and why no one can quite remember what happened at the ball afterwards. Good stuff, though we’ll have to wait till next time to see who’s actually behind it. Plus we get to see Angry Shirayuki, always a treat. – Sean Gaffney

Marmalade Boy: Collector’s Edition, Vol. 1

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One of shojo manga’s most time-honored plot lines goes something like this: a young girl’s life is turned upside down when her mother or father remarries someone with a teenager of their own, usually a cute boy who’s smart, athletic, and insufferable. Over the course of six or ten volumes, however, the heroine gradually moves from indignation to infatuation, finally admitting to herself what everyone else could plainly see: she likes her stepbrother. There are a usually a few complications on the way to a blissful relationship—say, a crazy ex-girlfriend who won’t go away—but the step-siblings eventually realize that they’re meant to be together.

Wataru Yoshizumi’s Marmalade Boy adds a new wrinkle to the formula, however, by engineering a crazy scenario for bringing her romantic antagonists under the same roof. In the opening pages of volume one, fifteen-year-old Miki Koishikawa’s parents come back from a trip with shocking news: they’re getting divorced. Making matters worse is that the Koishikawas have decided to swap partners with the Matsuras, a couple they met while traveling, and combine their families into a single household that includes both Miki and the Matsuras’ son Yuu. Yuu, of course, is a quintessential shojo prince: he’s gifted at tennis, an ace at math, and popular at school and—naturally—Miki hates him. She finds him smug in his refusal to criticize their parents’ impulsive behavior, and is furious that no one seems to understand her reservations about their new living situation. 

Their blended family life is established with great efficiency, setting the stage for plenty of misunderstandings and fights between Miki and Yuu. Yoshizumi also wastes no time in introducing other romantic prospects for both leads; a good part of volume one, in fact, follows the complicated friendship between Miki and Ginta, a cute tennis player who Miki used to like. Yuu, meanwhile, has his own romantic travails when his ex-girlfriend Arimi tracks him down at his new school, determined to rekindle their relationship by any means necessary. And if all those potential entanglements weren’t enough to fill thirty or forty chapters, Miki’s best friend Meiko starts hooking up with her hot homeroom teacher in the school library.

If I’m reading the story in Responsible Adult Mode™, it’s hard to ignore all the WTF? shenanigans. In one of the weirdest scenes in volume one, for example, the Matsuras and Koishikawas stage a fight to see whether Miki truly disapproves of their living arrangement, confessing their deceit only after a tearful Miki begs them to follow their hearts. The sight of all four parents gaslighting their daughter is comically awful; I’d be the first to admit that I’m on Team Miki, as she seems to be the only person who grasps the impulsiveness of the adults’ spouse-swapping arrangement. Then there are the usual shojo red flags: student-teacher relationships, stolen kisses, and characters whose behavior sails over the line between friendly interest and stalking.

If I allow myself to reconnect with my inner twelve-year-old, however, I have to admit that Marmalade Boy is funny, silly, and engrossing, offering a teenage gloss on Dynasty or Melrose Place. It’s the kind of manga in which two romantic rivals settle their differences with a high-stakes tennis match—in front of the whole school, of course—and characters state their intentions in a bald fashion: “I won’t lose you to him,” Arimi cheerfully warns Miki over a sundae. (A sundae!) Yoshizumi’s ability to balance the absurd with the everyday lends an air of plausibility to these scenarios; there’s always a kernel of emotional truth to the interactions between the characters, even when they’re dreaming up soap-worthy schemes.

Though the plotting is intricate, the artwork is clean and unfussy; backgrounds, hairdos, and clothing are rendered in a style that keeps the focus on the characters’ faces and body language. Miki has big, dramatic reactions to everything, but Yoshizumi avoids too much deformation or mugging to convey Miki’s distress. More surprising is how gracefully the artwork has aged, aside from an errant headband here and there; it wouldn’t look out of place at Barnes & Noble in 2023. (Well, that’s not entirely true; Yuu has a major case of 90s Shojo Prince Hair™, notable for its height and for the artful way it flops to one side of his face.)

All of this is to say that I enjoyed Marmalade Boy waaaaaaaaaay more than I expected, given my advanced age and my strong preference for stories about, y’know, adults. I cheerfully recommend it to anyone looking to recapture the feeling of reading their first shojo manga, or the palpable excitement of being a manga fan in the early 2000s, when Tokyopop published these kind of stories by the truckfull. Recommended.

MARMALADE BOY: COLLECTOR’S EDITION, VOL. 1 • BY WATARU YOSHIZUMI • TRANSLATED BY AMBER TAMOSAITIS • ADAPTED BY KRISTA GRANDY • LETTERING BY JENNIFER SKARUPA • SEVEN SEAS • RATED TEEN+ 

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 5

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By Saekisan and Hanekoto. Released in Japan as “Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

There is a trope sometimes known as Moonlighting Syndrome, named after the 80s TV show, which refers to a series failing because the romantic couple got together and all the tension was removed from the show. Leaving aside that this is not at all why Moonlighting failed, I think it’s a trope that is honored more in the breach than in the observance. It also depends on the genre. If this were a standard harem comedy, with Amane attracting the love of five or six different girls, then the one where he picks one would definitely be the final volume. Fortunately, this is not that, it’s a syrupy sweet relationship book. In fact, the thing that separates this from the pack is how long it’s actually taken Amane and Mahiru to get together. But at last Mahiru has managed to convey her feelings and the two of them are dating, and so now we can finally answer the age old question the above trope asks: now what?

Well, first of all, they’ve got to let the school know that they’re dating. OK, they don’t HAVE to do this, but given how much they accidentally flirt with each other constantly now, it will become rapidly apparent anyway. Surprisingly, it goes very smoothly – Amane is serious and withdrawn rather than a “loser protagonist”, so doesn’t get as much backlash as expected for dating the Angel of the school. Plus she’ll kill anyone who tries to get on his case about it with an angelic (fake) smile. After this there’s two more important relationship goals to conquer. Going to the local pool, which will involve swimsuits and attractive bodies. And going back home to visit Amane’s parents, which will involve a lot of Amane getting teased, but also an encounter that will hopefully let him close the book on his past trauma.

Generally speaking, whenever you have these “my personality is broken because of kids in my past”, you are inevitably going to meet those kids again. So the question is will it be the “it turns out we were really sad about what we did and want to apologize” version or the “no, we really are massive assholes” version. Angel Next Door takes the latter tack, and it’s probably for the best. Amane’s psychological damage has been what’s held the romance back in the first place, so having it be due to a misunderstanding wouldn’t have worked. That said, instead of a past trauma, we have a new enemy for readers: Amane and Mahiru’s own innate pureness. It takes the entire volume for them to get around to a kiss on the lips, and you get the sense that any sexual activity will be long after this series has finished. This is syrupy sweet romance, but that means you have to put up with them being two massive cinnamon rolls.

So still decent, if you can put up with the two leads being gaga over each other but rarely getting past the “holding hands” part.

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Vol. 2

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By Sunsunsun and Momoco. Released in Japan as “Tokidoki Bosotto Russia-go de Dereru Tonari no Alya-san” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matthew Rutsohn.

When this was licensed, I jokingly called it “The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Russian”, and my review of the first volume talks about this being in that “syrupy sweet romance” genre, but this second volume seems to have shed a lot of that, and it feels much more like a standard romcom now, complete with other potential romantic interests and a better look at Masachika’s backstory that shows it was not, in fact, as normal and mundane as I thought it was. Basically, the first volume was a bigger success than the author expected, o now we have to go back and make things a bit harder for our couple. Admittedly, given Alya’s deep embarrassment at, well, anything, that’s not too hard. The goal for the series seems to have changed as well, going from “get this tsundere girl to admit she likes the guy” to “get the guy to take up what he had abandoned and also kick his family in the teeth”. Which, yes, may include his sister, who’s happy to play the villain.

The last book ended with Masachika deciding to help Alya become student council president, and most of this book is about the fallout from that decision, as a lot of people have feelings about it. There’s Yuki, who is conflicted, but mostly seems to be happy that Alya has finally gotten Masachika to care about something again, even if it isn’t Yuki. There’s Ayano, who is Yuki’s maid (and used to be Masachika’s), and who is mostly comedy relief but also feels a bit betrayed by Masachika abandoning Yuki. And there’s Sayaka, the girl that Yuki and Masachika beat our for the student council in middle school, who is furious with Alya for using her looks and feminine wiles to steal Masachika away from the OTP. (Said OTP being his blood-related sister, I remind you, which is why he finds this so baffling.) Clearly there’s only one thing left to do. Debate.

This is decent. There’s one line from Ayano that I could very much have done without (I mentioned it on Twitter), but for the most part she’s an amusing “ninja maid” addition to the cast, and I hope she gains actual depth. As for Masachika, it’s now clear that his issues are not just “my parents split up”, but that he was the scion, and deliberately abandoned that role, pushing it onto his sister and adapting a “whatever” personality that everyone around him hates. Alya has been the only one who can really get him to break out of that, and he’s also proving to be the best thing for Alya in return, giving her confidence and the drive to succeed in her goals. (She too has a sister sacrificing things for her – the series is not ashamed to have its thematic parallels hit you in the face.)

So they’re a good couple… except they’re not a couple yet, and this series being the kind it is, I expect that won’t change soon. But will we have the student council election next time? If you like romcoms, this is solid.

The Disowned Queen’s Consulting Detective Agency

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By Sasara Nagase and Hatipisuwan. Released in Japan as “Kandō Sareta no de Tantei-ya Hajimemasu! Jitsu wa Bōkoku no Joōda Nante Naisho Desu” by Earth Star Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Joshua Douglass-Molloy.

Sarasa Nagase is having a pretty good year. I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss is ongoing both here and in Japan, and had a mildly successful anime. The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor is also ongoing in Japan, and will be coming out here from Cross Infinite World in a month or so. And then there’s this one-shot, which might become a series, about a young woman whose life starts off in a very familiar (for readers) way but then very quickly goes off the rails. In fact, the best part of this book may be the way that it slowly squeezes out backstory bit by bit. Now, you might say “Sean, the very beginning of the book has her conversing with her talking magical hat”, and you’d be right, but even so, I was expecting a bit more standard villainess stuff than this ended up being. I suppose villainess is like isekai now – you use it to get readers.

The book opens with Octavia, the young heir to the earldom, being kicked out of her family home for being illegitimate – or so it’s claimed. Octavia herself is pretty blase about the whole thing, mostly as she knows that her destiny lies elsewhere. She was raised by her late grandmother, who has just died (which prompts the disowning) but when she lived was a famous detective. Now Octavia is off to the big city to go live in her grandmother’s house filled with mysterious items… that is if she’s not ambushed on the way there. Fortunately, she runs into a charming and suspicious young man, Raven. Unfortunately, she also meets a charming and suspicious Phantom Thief, Crow. These two are absolutely not the same person, and you’d be a fool to think so. Plus there’s no evidence. In any case, together, they fight crime!

Actually, they don’t fight crime. Octavia is a magical detective, and her main job is to find Imperial Heirlooms and register them with her magic hat before they become Demonic Heirlooms, which can wreak havoc. And honestly, there’s only one actual case, which involves a little girl and her supposedly cursed doll. The first third of the book is about Octavia escaping her family and setting up shop, and the last third is about the family trying to destroy her (and failing, because this is not a downer sort of book). It’s decent – Raven/Crow is not really the sort of shoujo boyfriend that I enjoy, but I can tolerate him. Octavia is balanced between “serious minded” and “a bit flakey”, perhaps a bit more towards the serious, but she’s entertaining. There is also a police inspector, who has the only accent in the entire book, and it’s very distracting. He doesn’t go so far as to say “Crikey, guv’ner”, but it’s close.

There might be more in the series – the webnovel finished, but this only came out last year, so who knows? As a one-shot, though, it’s a good one for those who like ladies doing cool things, though villainess fans might not find enough here to satisfy them.

Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, Vol. 3

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By Hiromu and raemz. Released in Japan as “Chitose-kun wa Ramune Bin no Naka” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Evie Lund.

One problem I have with reading light novels that are “high school romcoms”, is that I tend to regard them as taking place in “generic Tokyo suburb”. That’s actually rarely the case. There are a few exceptions – My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected will not shut up about Chiba long enough for me to put it anywhere else – but most of them fall into “generic place”. So I was a bit surprised with the subplot here, which is that our hero and heroine-of-the-book head off from their “big city”, Fukui, which has about 275,000 people, to Tokyo, which is 14 million people. I was even more surprised with the message that the story was giving us, which is that the big city can be awesome, despite its huge number of people and occasional creep. If your dream requires you to be in the biggest city in Japan, go there. Because chasing dreams is important. Even if it means giving up on a potential series-killing romance.

Our cast of second years are getting guidance from their seniors as to what to expect in regards to future plans, and one of those seniors is Chitose’s friend/crush Asuka. She has a dream of being an editor at a Japanese publishing house, but there’s just no way that you can do something like that in someplace like Fukui. Her parents are also dead set against it, and want her to become a librarian or civil servant. Chitose is determined to help her, even though he knows that her heading to Tokyo likely means that any relationship they might have would be dead in the water. So he comes up with an idea: visit Tokyo, and see what it’s really like, to find out if it’s overwhelming to her. Of course, to do that, he’s going to have to essentially kidnap her.

The back half of this book finally gives us the full backstory, with one exception, of Chitose, and we also see why much of it was elided – it was being saved for the book focusing on Asuka. I can certainly see why the author is writing Asuka out of the series (though she doesn’t quite leave for Tokyo yet, as it’s still months before graduation), as in a series that prides itself on Chitose balancing his “harem” of four girls fairly equally, Asuka is simply too powerful. That said, there are a few flaws here, The book is much longer than it needed to be, for one. And Asuka gaining all of her strength and coolness that we’ve seen in the series to date by essentially imitating the boy she liked may not sit well with some viewers, though Chitose is quick to point out that that sort of imitation is what everyone does, and eventually it becomes second nature.

In any case, Asuka may not be in Tokyo yet, but she and Chitose have “broken up”, which leaves him free to solve someone else’s problems in the next book. And that also seems to answer my question from last time about the plot of this series: Chitose solves problems, at great expense (his own).

Outbreak Company: Gaiden

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By Ichiro Sakaki and Yuugen. Released in Japan by Kodansha Light Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

This book feels like an apology, frankly. I was very grumpy with the final volume of the series, and judging by some of the reviews I saw on Amazon Japan, fans of the series there were also unhappy. So now we get the “Gaiden”, or “Side Story”, volume of the series, the actual final volume, and it feels like it’s giving fans what they wanted all along. Well, at least the first half is. The second half of the series is there to highlight Minori, who has always been the least developed character in the series (insert joke about her breast size here), but this final chapter allows us to see a BIT more into her inner psyche and how she really feels about things. Unfortunately, it’s still Outbreak Company, and she’s still Minori, so in the end the plot cannot quiet thread the serious needle and goes back to its running gag. But it tried. The first half of the book does a better job, and uses “fantasy world” as a way to resolve the love interests.

After the events of the final volume (minus the epilogue, which is thankfully ignored), Shinichi returns to the castle… to find Petralka announcing that she’s marrying him, and the wedding will be as soon as possible. Given that he struggled to make a choice and chose Myusel, he’s a little pole-axed by this. The nobility doesn’t like it either… and might also be the reason Petralka is pushing things. After this, we see the secondary pairing, as Hikaru very publicly confesses to Elvia… who still loves Shinichi, and is not really sure how romance works to begin with. A lot of awkwardness follows. Finally, a suitor arrives to marry Garius whether he likes it or not, despite his sexual preferences. Can he find a replacement? And what are BL lover Minori’s thoughts on all this?

Gonna be honest, even though I felt the book was trying to “fix” the last book, it only partly succeeds. The first chapter works best, being Shinichi focused, and with a good intrigue sideplot. I don’t mind the polycule resolution, and obviously the three of them don’t mind it either, though that’s more because we’ve seen it a LOT more in recent light novels. The Hikaru and Elvia story is hampered (as is the Minori story) by multiple narrators, and it’s not always clear who’s meant to be our POV until several paragraphs in. It also feels a bit too quickly resolved. As for the Minori story, as with a number of stories focusing on her in this series, it looks like it’s going to finally be serious and sober, and then heads down into BL alley again. Which is fine, it’s her gag. It just felt a bit too jokey for me. And the treatment of trans and gay issues is… attempted, I will grant you.

So a side story that’s highly variable, which I’m OK with because it’s a side story. A must read for Petralka fans, but for the rest of us it’s another reminder that this series was excellent and annoying in just about equal measure.

The Manga Review: RIP Leiji Matsumoto

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On February 20th, Leiji Matsumoto passed away at the age of 85. Matsumoto made his professional debut in the pages of Manga Shonen magazine in 1954, dabbling in a variety of genres over the next fifteen years before discovering his true calling: space operas. In the 1970s, he directed Space Battleship Yamato, and penned some of his most influential work, including Space Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Queen Emeraldas. In later years, he collaborated with Daft Punk on a series of music videos for their 2001 album Discovery, and rebooted Space Captain Harlock with illustrator Koichi Shimahoshi. Anime News Network, the BBC, ICv2, and The Japan Times have all published thoughtful reflections on Matsumoto’s legacy, as did translator Zach Davisson, who shared vivid memories of watching Yamato on American television in the 1970s:

NEWS AND VIEWS

Over at Comicosity, Allen Thomas dedicates his latest Health and Inclusivity column to Okura’s I Think Our Son Is Gay. “I appreciate this manga because it is a helpful guide for approaching the queer and trans kids in our lives,” he observes. “Hell, it’s great for cishet kids too because they can see what their queer and trans peers may likely experience in school, at home, or in life in general. This manga also shows us how to be there for the people in our lives by responding to their needs without projecting our own.” [Comicosity]

Anime Feminist has compiled a directory “spotlighting Black writers, artists, and media outlets that cover or create art inspired by Japanese pop culture.” [Anime Feminist]

If you’ve been curious about The Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend, click over to Honey’s Anime to read Brett Michael Orr’s interview with author Hiranishi Mieri. [Honey’s Anime]

Seven Seas just announced that it will be publishing Chi: On the Movements of the Earth, Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat, Dungeon Friends Forever, and I Married My Female Friend. All four series are slated for a late 2023 release. [Seven Seas]

Asher and Ashley revisit an early work from the CLAMP canon: Man of Many Faces. [Shojo & Tell]

There’s a reason you probably haven’t heard of Tricks Dedicated to Witches. [Shonen Flop]

Wondering what to read in 2023? Book Riot has you covered with a breakdown of the best completed, ongoing, and upcoming shonen manga. [Book Riot]

John Holt and Teppei Fukuda translate yet another essay by manga critic Natsume Fusanosuke: “Pig Gourd: The Meaning of Tezuka’s Playing Around with Form.” The essay, which was originally published in 1992, focuses “on Osamu Tezuka’s trademark Pig Gourd character, who will pop up or even decimate panel borders to show not only Tezuka’s embarrassment at being unable to resist a sight gag but also his bold desire to play with panel possibilities.” [Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics]

REVIEWS

Erica Friedman bestows a rare 9 out 10 stars to The Girl Who Can’t Get a Girlfriend, “a beautiful, heart-breaking and hilarious book about queer life and love.”

New and Noteworthy

Complete and Ongoing Series

Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense, Vol. 8

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By Yuumikan and KOIN. Released in Japan as “Itai no wa Iya nano de Bōgyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

I think the author knows why we’re here by now. The reader is here to see if Maple will do something crazy (yes), if she’ll get new abilities that are bizarre and yet very adaptable (yes), and if she’ll finally make out with Sally (no, though the two do go on a date where they ride a horse together). But we do have a lot of other members of Maple Tree, and at times the guild does sort of feel like “Maple, Sally, and the rest”. This book, more than any other before it, looks to fix that. Some get more attention than others (sorry, Chrome, there’s really not much we can do with your type), but for the most part everyone gets a spotlight that helps to show off one thing: they deserve to be in Maple Tree because they, too, are an eccentric powerhouse. The guild has a reputation for weirdos, and it is 100% leaning into that.

There’s a new floor, and a new goal: everyone’s getting their own companion monster. This means that Maple and Sally are sitting this one out for the most part, as they got theirs way back at the start of the series – in fact, the mods likely put this in the game to fix that. So everyone goes off to quests. Mai and Yui go hunting bears, which is difficult giving they’re living in a glass house… erm, cannon. (Sorry, Radiohead got into my head there for some reason.) Kanade finds an NPC he’s never seen before, which leads him to battle a slime with unique abilities. Kasumi takes on a night unkillable snake. Chrome goes on a long game of “this hint leads to this next hint” etc till he battles undead pirate ghosts. And Iz gets Maple and Mii to help her gather enough materials to make something to get the favor of crafting spirits. The reward for all of this is an event where they can kill monsters and/or players to advance, and Maple Tree are absolutely terrifying.

So yes, the anime has passed the books again, so in case you wondered: this is the one with the tentacles. That said, I think it’s Maple’s toxic monster swamp, as well as her hilarious actions near the end of the book, that are the highlight, and I hope we see it animated well when the series returns from COVID hiatus. Elsewhere, I enjoyed seeing Iz showing off that she’s not just support gal by effectively napalming an entire forest. Kanade… look, I know Anime News Network made this joke already, but there’s no getting around it: Kanade now has his own clone to bang. The smug smirks they each have at the end of the scene only adds to that impression. And I also liked seeing how the pets worked with the Twins, who are both Maple-ettes only with offense – a mild buff becomes a huge, huge advantage. They can now splatter most anything.

So yeah, another fun volume. If you’re wondering if the anime cut a lot from here, well, a fair amount. Anime-onlies who think the series is rushing should definitely read the books. The rest of us will enjoy Maple’s quest for octopus.

Manga the Week of 3/1/23

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SEAN: Technically March, but it’s still February for most of our list.

Yen On’s sole release next week is Tezcatlipoca, a crime novel featuring a Mexican drug lord and his Japanese boy protege getting involved in organ donation. It is award-winning, and also not for the squeamish.

ASH: I am very curious about this one (but probably not in the mood to read it right this moment).

SEAN: And from Yen Press we see The Beginning After the End 2, Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 5, and The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 5.

Viz Media has a 2nd Demon Slayer light novel, One-Winged Butterfly. There’s also JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 7, the 17th and final omnibus of Urusei Yatsura, and WITCH WATCH 5 digitally. Thank you, Viz, for finally releasing all of UY for its fans.

ASH: It really is great to see these longer classic series being released.

SEAN: Square Enix has By the Grace of the Gods 7 and The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 2.

Seven Seas had been quiet the last couple of weeks. That ends now. There’s so much. That said, there’s only one debut, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife (Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni Naru Futari), a Futabasha series about an invisible man and a blind woman who find love while running a detective agency. Gotta say, this sounds fantastic. The author also wrote The Country Without Humans.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this very much!

ANNA: OK, this sounds cool.

ASH: It does seem worth a look!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: A Chinese Fantasy: Law of the Fox (the 2nd in this series), The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace 4, Karate Survivor in Another World 4, Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More 4, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 4, My Deer Friend Nokotan 3, My Wife Has No Emotion 4, Otaku Elf 5, Pompo: The Cinéphile 3, Ramen Wolf and Curry Tiger 2, ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 3, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 7, SPRIGGAN: Deluxe Edition 3, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 5, and Versailles of the Dead 3.

ASH: You weren’t kidding! That is quite a bit. It’s been literal years since the last volume of Versailles of the Dead was released, but I do vaguely recollect getting a kick out of it.

SEAN: KUMA debuts A Home Far Away (Haruka Tooki Ie), a one-shot from Canna about a directionless young man looking for a purpose, and his encounter with a young cook.

MICHELLE: Judging purely by the cover, this looks good!

ANNA: Sounds interesting.

SEAN: Kodansha Books has another digital release of an old Vertical crime drama from the 00s, this one Kenzo Kitakata’s Winter Sleep.

ASH: Another one I haven’t managed to read yet, but am glad is being made more broadly available.

SEAN: In print, Kodansha Manga gives us BAKEMONOGATARI 17, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Manga Box Set 1 (the first six volumes), EDENS ZERO 21, Hitorijime My Hero 13, Peach Boy Riverside 10, Rent-A-Girlfriend 17, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 7, Shonen Note: Boy Soprano 2, Something’s Wrong with Us 13, and The Witch and the Beast 10.

MICHELLE: I need to get started on Shonen Note.

ASH: As do I, I’ll have to admit.

SEAN: The digital debut is My Home Hero, a drama about a salaryman who finds himself embroiled in crime syndicates and murder. It runs in Young Magazine.

Also digital: Am I Actually the Strongest? 7, Boss Bride Days 2, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 25, The Food Diary of Miss Maid 4, Gamaran: Shura 5, Heaven’s Design Team 8, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 12, My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! 6, The Prince’s Romance Gambit 12 (the final volume), The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 6, We’re New at This 12, and With You and the Rain 4.

Kaiten Books has a print volume of My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?! 3.

J-Novel Club have some digital debuts. Enough with This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I’m Bored (Tensei Shite High Elf ni Narimashitaga, Slow Life wa 120-nen de Akimashita) is one of those reincarnation books. Sadly, the life of an elf involves staying put and being a vegetarian… and also living for a thousand years! After a century of this, our hero decides to go on a journey.

Grand Sumo Villainess (Ouzumou Reijou ~Seijo ni Hirateuchi wo Kuratta Shunkan Sumō Budatta Zense wo Omoidashita Akuyaku Reijō no Watashi wa sute Neko Ōji ni Chanko wo Furumaitai Haadosukoidosukoi~) is a “reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game” book, and our heroine is already at her doom. Fortunately, she knows sumo!

ASH: That’s a new twist to the genre I wasn’t expecting!

SEAN: I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! (Ore wa Subete o “Parry” Suru: Gyaku Kanchigai no Sekai Saikyou wa Boukensha ni Naritai) is one of those books about an OP hero who doesn’t realize he’s OP, in the style of Last Dungeon Kid.

And one manga digital debut, I’m Capped at Level 1?! Thus Begins My Journey to Become the World’s Strongest Badass! (Genkai Level 1 kara no Nariagari: Saijaku Level no Ore ga Isekai Saikyou ni Naru made) is a Comic Walker title. It begins with our hero being summoned, given powers, condemned for having weak powers, and sentenced to death. So, one of those series.

Also from J-Novel Club: The Apothecary Diaries 7, An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 15, Cooking with Wild Game 20, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 6, Doll-Kara 4, John Sinclair: Demon Hunter 9, Maddrax 5, Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 2, the 4th manga volume of Oversummoned, Overpowered, and Over It!, and Rebuild World 2 Part 1.

Ghost Ship gives us The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 5 and Manga Diary of a Male Porn Star 3.

Cross Infinite World debuts The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess (Kon’yaku Hakida, Hatsujou Seijou). A hardworking young woman is engaged to a prince and working as a priestess! Unfortunately, her powers have a bad side effect. As a result, you guessed it, broken engagement, ruined reputation, shunned, etc. Fortunately, the next country over needs her powers!

They also have Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes: Hide and Seek in the Wintry Mountains 2 and the 5th and final volume of Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind.

Airship has the print debut of I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, the spinoff series giving us Claire’s POV.

Also in print: The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 3, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 13, and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 4.

And in early digital we see Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 7.

What interests you? What arouses you? What appalls you?

Haibara’s Teenage New Game+, Vol. 2

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By Kazuki Amamiya and Gin. Released in Japan as “Haibara-kun no Tsuyokute Seishun New Game” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Esther Sun.

After the first volume of this series was more Com than Rom, this second volume flips it. Natsuki is a guy who is in love with another girl and trying, with stuttering, shaky steps, to get to the point he can do something about it. But he’s got another girl who’s confessed to him and is coming on strong, a third girl who I suspect is waiting for a future volume to get her spotlight, and his childhood friend, who is definitely Love Interest #4, even if neither of them are ready to admit it yet. It’s been a while since we’ve had a book series that’s solely about “which girl will he pick?”. The genre these days has shifted to “sweet adorable romance between a couple who get together right away”. Unfortunately for Natsuki, that’s not the genre he’s in, and this series is unlikely to have polyamory be the answer, so he’s going to have to break someone’s heart. And he’s not ready to do that.

Natsuki is still attempting to get together with the girl he likes, Hikari. And his childhood friend Miori is still trying to get together with his hot friend Reita. the solution is obvious – a double date, with careful subterfuge to make it look like they’re just all going to the movies as a group. It actually doesn’t go that badly, though progress stalls when Miori runs into her upperclassmen from the basketball team, and it becomes apparent that they are Not Getting Along ™. That said, Natsuki’s bigger problem is Sakura, who still has a massive crush on him, and is very cute and likeable in her own right. He’d probably be quite happy if he just decided to date her. But he can’t make that decision… though he CAN agree to accept her invitation to go to a festival together. Boy, this book really consists entirely of Not Dates.

The author talks in the afterword about how, despite all the drama surrounding the book, everything is pretty easily fixed, and I quite liked that as well. This is a series about typical teens with typical problems, and it doesn’t need a dramatic climax, it just needs to have people talk about what’s really bothering them. This is difficult with Miori, who likes to present a front of “I’m fine and don’t need any help”, and because Natsuki has known her a long time, he just accepts that – it takes Sakura asking him to help the team to galvanize him. (By the way, what the hell was the coach doing in all of this? Worst coach ever.) As for Natsuki’s love problems, well, that’s not a function of him going back in time, and he knows it. He’s wrestling with things a lot of kids do at that age. Miori suggests just giving up and dating Sakura, but this IS where the book functions as a light novel – our hero will not give up on his first love so easily. And this leads to sadness, but so far it’s an ambiguous sadness.

The next volume in this series came out only three months ago in Japan, so we may have to wait for more. Till then, if you’re nostalgic for romcoms where you’re not sure who Winning Girl is going to be, this is a good choice.