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Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, Vol. 12

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By Kumanano and 029. Released in Japan by PASH! Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda.

As you can probably tell by the cover art, the entire first half of the book sees Yuna outside of the bear suit, dressed in a school uniform so as not to attract the attention she did as a bear last time. (She still has the bear paws and feet, just in case.) And what ends up happening is one of the more fascinating psychological examinations of a character I’ve seen in some time. Yuna, throughout the series, has complained about having to wear the bear outfit all the time, as well as the fact that people can’t recognize her if she’s not dressed like that. In fact, that’s a running gag here. But as she walks around the festival looking like a cute and pretty 15-year-old girl, and more and more people stare at her, the reader starts to realize how much the bear suit is a shield she uses to avoid attention. Yes, she’s the most conspicuous thing ever, but she’s conspicuous as a bear. Yuna as a real girl is still “one step away from a NEET”.

Yuna and her group are ready for the second day of the festival, this time walking around it with Princess Teilia, who has been shooed away from her class’s booth for attracting TOO much attention. She realizes that Yuna has the same problem, so forces her to remove her bear suit and attend the festival that day as a regular girl. They watch plays, concerts, and sword dances. And they also watch a sexist knight captain trying to destroy the women attempting to be knights, which requires Yuna, bear suit or no, to fight back and teach him a lesson. After the festival ends and they all go back home, Yuna is asked by the King to take the mana crystal she got from slaying the Kraken to a desert oasis that desperately needs it, and so she moves south, fighting hornets and running into old friends along the way.

I joked on Twitter that you should take a shot every time Yuna deflects or denies when anyone calls her cute, or pretty, or is obviously staring at her in astonishment. The series rarely looks back at Yuna’s past in Japan, and I don’ really expect this to ever be anything but a character tic of sorts for her, but it really shows off how little socialization she has before meeting Fina. We’ve seen her being blase about her astonishing OP skills and deeds before, and calling acts of kindness and heroism “common sense”, but here we see how viscerally uncomfortable she is with being the center of attention, or having the idea that anyone could be attracted to her. Even when we get the “comedy” scene where she has to have her measurements taken for a swimsuit, which is filled with “lol I have small breasts and hate it” patter, there’s a sense that Yuna’s bear suit is a mask that she can use to hide from everything when she wears it. (I don’t think it’s quite at the level of “Yuna hates herself” per se. But Yuna doesn’t like herself all that much either.

Again, for the most part this series is “cute girls doing cute things”, and fans of that will be quite happy. But I do admire the jagged undercurrents in these waters, and though I don’t expect any emotional payoff, it serves to make me more interested than I might otherwise be.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 14.5

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

Generally speaking, you can’t rely on the cover art of a light novel series to tell you who’s important in that particular volume. This especially goes for romcoms, where it tends to alternate between the heroines regardless of whether they have a presence in the book. This volume of Oregairu, though, is an exception. If you’re here for Yui, expect disappointment. If you’re here for Yukino, you’ll get one really nice scene and that’s about it. No, most of this book, as the cover indicates, is about the next generation of the series. Our heroes are in their third year, talking about preparatory schools and discussing which colleges to apply to. Their mentor has moved to a new school and isn’t even mentioned in the post-ending story. This it’s up to the new generation to decide what the service club is going to be in the future: Komachi (who is a member) and Iroha (who isn’t, but might as well be). Unfortunately, they don’t seem to care.

The book consists of five stories, but only the final one is new to Japanese readers. The first two were Blu-Ray extras, and feature Komachi trying to decide who will be the best “big sister” for her – i.e., who will Hachiman end up paired up with? This takes place before the end of the series, so as you can imagine the answers are mostly comedic. We then get an adaptation of a CD drama, as Hachiman and his sister go to a music festival and run into Iroha, Yukino, Yui, and Tobe (their gofer and bodyguard). This has the most “Hachiman” narration of the book. A fourth story (written for a collaborative project) involves Iroha’s birthday, and her odd but comfortable relationship with Hachiman. Finally, we get a story set after the events of the final book, which is mostly about Hachiman worrying over his sister’s future at school.

I’ve talked a lot before about how I think the relationship between Hachiman and Komachi is one of the best written brother-sister relationships in light novels, and that continues to be true. He has to reluctantly accept that his sister is a lot more socially adept than he is, and thus her classroom life is fine. But they all have to deal with the elephant in the room, which is that Komachi joined the service club to be with her brother, Yukino, and Yui, and they’re going to have to leave it by the summer to gear up for college exams. The one bit of Hachiman/Yukino romance we get is set in a cafe near a college he’s visiting, and is (for this series) syrupy sweet, as Yukino has learned to take Hachiman’s realistic asides and roll with them, and they both have learned to accept actual affection. Just. As for Yui, she plans to go to prep school with Hachiman, but honestly, she gets the short end of the stick here. In other words, just like the series overall.

And so this series has now come to a close. I can confidently say there was not a single time in this volume I wanted Hachiman to shut the hell up, which shows how much he’s grown as a person. Fans of the series should enjoy this slight but heartwarming epilogue.

My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World, Vol. 4

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By Tamamaru and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Kajiya de Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Linda Liu.

Apologies for being a broken record in the reviews of this series, but My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World has a “boring” problem. Yes, I know, “Quiet Life”, it’s that sort of series. I get it. And I’m used to a great deal of the book being detailed descriptions of Eizo making swords or spears or what have you. But usually the second half of the book has things pick up and gives us actual plot. That technically happens here, but… look, let me sum up what happens: they go on a rescue mission. They find the person. They escape. No one ever confronts them, and there are no fights. There’s Quiet Life and then there’s Dreary Life, y’know? What’s more, Eizo once again points out that he has no plans to have sex with anyone or get romantically involved with anyone, as he doesn’t want his line to carry on, so even though we get another addition to the household this time around, harem fans are also annoyed.

The first half of the book is essentially the Quiet Blacksmith Life part. Eizo and his family meet a beastman friend of Samya’s, fight another huge bear (this time far more successfully), and make lots of swords. They even discover a new restaurant in town… though it doesn’t seem to be doing too well. Then there’s a more troublesome problem: there’s an Empire next door, and they’re about to have a revolution of the common people. The actual problem is that they somehow got Helen captured, and Eizo has been asked to help go and save her. Can they infiltrate the Empire, find Helen, rescue her, and escape without anything horrible happening? Yes. See above paragraph.

There are other things that annoyed me here as well. The author straight up states that Helen was captured so easily and acted like a stereotypical helpless kidnapping victim so that she could “show off a more feminine side”, which made my eyes roll so far back in my head I think I broke them. Given that she’s one of the strongest women in the series, and was deliberately shown to be a badass over and over again, that’s annoying, especially as the book ends with her moving in and becoming one of Eizo’s wives… OK, they’re not romantically involved, but they want to be. I’d say this is a plot point, but it’s also not going anywhere, as he has no desires and they’re not rocking any boats. The author also introduced Jolanda and Athena as “novel only” characters, separate from the webnovel, and insists they’re there to add women to Eizo’s life that aren’t living with him. I give it 2-3 books.

Basically, I think I’ve decided to step off the bus here. This is a pleasant, nice series with a number of cute young women and a male lead who is “nice”. It’s basically the standard isekai harem fantasy, only written for 40 year olds rather than 20 year olds. If you want that, great. I’ll read something else.

Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta, Vol. 1

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By Toshizou and Kuro Shina. Released in Japan as “Yuri no Ma ni Hasamareta Watashi ga, Ikioi de Futamata Shite Shimatta” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Tristan K. Hill.

One of the strong points of Japanese light novels is that most of them are written in first person singular from the point of view of the protagonist. This is especially true of high school romcoms – when reading Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai, it is immediately striking that the narration ISN’T like this. Unfortunately, this can be a double-edged sword. If your protagonist is someone whose thoughts we find ourselves entertained by, or who provides an adept running commentary, it can be quite fun. See Kyon, for example, or Koyomi Araragi. Unfortunately, when your protagonist is annoying, spending time in their head can be unrelentingly exhausting. That’s the main issue we have with Yuri Tama. Yotsuba, the main character, is a pathetic drip who hates herself, something she reminds us about every single page. Which, y’know, whatever. Except that almost every other girl in the series is in love with her. You’ll want to cry out, “WHY?”.

As noted above, our heroine is Yotsuba. The oldest of three daughters, she’s at a very prestigious high school… which she got into entirely by chance, as she used a pencil marked with A, B, C, and D to randomly choose her answers on the entrance exam. Now that she’s a second year, she’s last place in academics, and last place in athletics. However, she does have one thing that makes her stand out. She’s friends with the school’s “Sacrosanct Duo”, Rinka and Yuna. The appearances differ, but you can think “Haruka and Michiru” and you won’t be far off. They’ve also got a fan club!… one that resents Yotsuba for being near them at all. That said, Yotsuba is relatively happy with her friends… till one of them confesses to her. And then she confesses to the other one. And, brilliant girl that she is, her solution is to try to date them both and keep it a secret.

The author previously wrote “The Sidekick Never Gets the Girl, Let Alone the Protag’s Sister!”, another series where I thought it had an interesting premise but the writing choices annoyed me. I can now assume that the author and I just don’t get along. If you’re worried about the “cheating” part of the book, I would not. First of all, I figured out how this was going to resolve about two minutes after Yotsuba hooked up with her friends – it’s really very obvious if you listen to what she’s said about Yuna and Rinka. Secondly, though, this book is broad comedy, with Yotsuba’s comedy reactions to everything being the point. That’s also likely why she is how she is – the fact that everyone loves her (including her two younger sisters, something I should also probably warn readers about) because she’s so pathetic and makes you want to protect her is the comedic gag. For what it’s worth, it does land a few times. I also liked the rare moments when Yotsuba actually was good – the story of how and why she’s friends with the Sacrosanct Duo is the best part of the book.

The yuri in this book is definitely there rather than merely suggested – there’s makeout sessions, and “no, I mean I love you in a romantic way”. And, thankfully, the childhood friends are not interested in each other, so this is more of a triangle relationship rather than an OT3. That said, your enjoyment of it will depend entirely on how much you can tolerate its wet rag of a protagonist and the fact that she reminds you she’s a wet rag constantly.

In the Land of Leadale, Vol. 6

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By Ceez and Tenmaso. Released in Japan as “Leadale no Daichi nite” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jessica Lange.

Last time I wondered whether Opus’ introduction would lead to him explaining the plot a bit more, or just to him being a dick. As it turns out, it’s both. Indeed, the explanations come fast and furious, which is a bit of a surprise. We’ve occasionally thought back to Keina lying in her hospital bed, and how Leadale was created essentially for her. But this volume shows that goes MUCH deeper than we’d expected , and that Cayna is tied to Leadale in a far more significant way than I think she’d really like to be. I don’t want to get too much into spoilers, but suffice to say that Opus’ real-life identity was the least surprising part of it. That said, the real world is not an option for Cayna anymore, so best make the most of it and do what she does best – be a terrifyingly powerful mage who you never, ever want to see get angry. Sadlty, in this volume, Opus is at her side most of the time, so no luck there.

After recovering from her MP-draining rage attack on Opus from the last volume, Opus actually deigns to answers a lot of her questions about the true nature of this world. From there, she goes back to the village she’s now calling home, trailed by Opus and his Maid/Bodyguard/Tsukkomi Siren, who has definite opinions on what servants should be like but also is well aware of how much of an asshole her boss is. She then returns to the capital, where her granddaughter asks her to deal with a loose end… the player/bandit leader she put a punishment collar on several books ago, who has basically learned his lesson. As for Opus, he’s just starting to walk around and get back into the swing of things, but he certainly enjoys putting the fear of God into anyone he interacts with. This won’t change.

There’s a prologue where we see Keina at the hospital, interacting with her family and the programmer who’s there to tell her about Leadale, and it helps to hammer home how mentally exhausted she was in there, and also how truly immature she still is. I’d mentioned the reaction against her violence last time, and I think that’s because we’re told (as everyone else thinks) to see her as a 200-year-old all-powerful grandma rather than a teenage girl who get really, really excited simply by the fact that she can run around. As for her and Opus, leaving aside the various reveals, I am pleased to see that they have exactly zero romantic chemistry together… though admittedly that’s not what the rest of the cast thinks. It’s OK, sometimes you can just have a relationship be two antagonistic friends who have the power to destroy a continent. Cayna yells, Opus smugs, punches ensue, rinse and repeat. It’s fun.

Leadale is not for everyone, and if you didn’t like the anime I don’t think this adds enough value to recommend, but for those already invested, there’s a lot of payoff here you weren’t expecting.

The Manga Review, 10/21/22

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“Manga won”–that was Heidi MacDonald’s pithy assessment of New York Comic Con 2022, as she noted how much the show was tilting towards Asian comics. “We all know that anime and manga soared during the pandemic but the exhibit halls of NYCC ‘22 were the in your face proof of that,” she opined, pointing to VIZ’s giant Luffy float as an example of how manga was crowding out tights and capes. “If the NYCC show floor was a diagram of nerdworld, comics publishers were the equivalent of an abandoned storefront,” she continued. “Against these massive displays for anime and collectibles, comics publishers were often just a pipe and drape table with some people signing.” For additional perspective on NYCC ’22, check out Heidi’s more in-depth report for Publisher’s Weekly.

NEWS AND VIEWS

If you missed the Best and Worst Manga panel at New York Comic-Con, fear not: MangaInLibraries has posted the panelists’ picks and pans. [Anime Planet]

Have you filled out the October Seven Seas Reader Survey yet? [Seven Seas]

Brigid Alverson has the deets on three new Seven Seas titles, all of which are slated for release next year. [ICv2]

Good news for Hunter x Hunter fans: the series returns from a four-year hiatus in November. [Anime News Network]

REVIEWS

This week’s must-read review comes to us from Renee Scott, who praises Josee, The Tiger and The Fish for “handl[ing] ableism in a realistic way” while offering readers “a beautiful love story that shows that nothing is beyond your reach if your passion is stronger than your doubt.” Looking for a good shojo title? Laura Grace posts a new installment in the ABCs of Shojo Manga, this time focusing on titles that begin with E.

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series

Sasaki and Peeps: While I Was Dominating Modern Psychic Battles with Spells from Another World, a Magical Girl Picked a Fight with Me: ~You Mean I Have to Participate in a Death Game, Too?~

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By Buncololi and Kantoku. Released in Japan as “Sasaki to Pi-chan” by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

Content warning before we start: near the end of this volume there is an attempted rape scene of a middle schooler, and it is 100% played completely seriously. It helps to show off the strengths and weaknesses of this series in general. The author clearly wants to take several distinct genres and slam them all against each other. We’ve got isekai fantasy, esper battles, magical girls (and, because it’s the 2020s, they’re dark killer magical girls), and now we’re adding a battle between angels and demons using humans as proxy. This works pretty well when things are ridiculous, with our stoic salaryman Sasaki, his relatively stoic bird, and the amusing Futarishizuka. But it’s also trying to tell the story of an abused, suicidal middle school girl who is also deeply twisted, and it’s telling it with all the gravity it requires. Which… y’know, better than the alternative, but it GRATES against everything else.

As with the first volume of this series, things are slightly more interesting on the Japan side of the equation. This is not to say that the fantasy world doesn’t have a lot of danger, but it’s fantasy isekai danger, which means you have a lot of domineering nobles and sneering merchants. All Sasaki is trying to do is sell off all the modern things he’s bringing from Japan, but now he’s involved in a proxy war between two counts, two princes, and two companies. That said… he’s an experienced Japanese salaryman. This is what he’s GOOD at. He fares far less well when being tasked with his high school girl co-worker to try to recruit a new psychic who has fire powers. This goes disastrously wrong in ways I 100% was not expecting. That said, the most interesting part of the book was when the little princess from the fantasy world stows away when Sasaki returns to Japan… not the last time these two worlds intersect, I hope.

As for “the neighbor”, whose name, we find, is Kurosu, we get a little peek into her horrible, horrible daily life. She has to steal food from school to not starve to death, and it’s middle school, so she also has to avoid the class hottie helping her lest she be in trouble with the other girls. Her mother is sleeping with a guy who tries to rape her. Oh yes, and then there’s the corpse that drops in front of her as she’s walking home. Kurosu’s story has still not really intersected with the main one yet, but I expect that to change in the next book – the “death game” mentioned in the ludicrous subtitle of the volume is hers, not Sasaki’s. We also get a bit more about the magical girl… and it’s not really great news. She’s already killer her comedy animal mascot, she alleges that Sasaki’s employers killed her entire family and friends, and she now doesn’t know whether to trust him or not. So, y’know, just another day at the office.

If you enjoy A Certain Magical Index you might get a big kick out of this, because the chaos is the point. That said, unlike Index, there’s sometimes a realistic and very dark undertone to this series. I’ll read more, but YMMV.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/20/22

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Anti-Romance, Vol. 1 | By Shoko Hidaka | Seven Seas – I was a big fan of Shoko Hidaka’s series Blue Morning. She excels at depicting complicated relationships where obstacles and conflict come not from external sources but from within the people involved. Happily, the same skillful characterization is on display in Anti-Romance. Ryou Kakitani and Hiroki Suou were childhood friends and classmates and now they’ve been roommates for six years. Nothing has happened between them, though Ryou has, on a couple of occasions, made it obvious that his feelings for Suou go beyond mere friendship. Suou prefers to run away from this knowledge so that things can remain comfortably as they are. Urged on by a meddling coworker, Ryou finally issues an ultimatum: “Do we face each other and move forward? Or do I go ahead and move out?” This is the sort of BL where some chaste smoochies are really big progress, and I’m so here for it. – Michelle Smith

Dinosaur Sanctuary, Vol. 1 | By Itaru Kinoshita | Seven Seas – The premise of this series is a bit high-concept: once upon a time, there were popular zoos for dinosaurs, just like Jurassic Park. But now a few years later, and a few disasters onward, our heroes are at a run-down, ramshackle zoo trying to get people interested in their dinos. Fortunately, they have a plucky young new girl, whose dad is said to have ties to this whole project, as well as a grumpy young man who clearly loves the dinosaurs more than any humans he comes across (he’s clearly her love interest, but this really isn’t a manga that will ever put that front and center). What this mostly is is a love letter to dinosaurs behaving cutely, and if you’re a fan of the species this is worth a read. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 12 | By Afro | Yen Press – This volume shows us what the other three members of the club were doing while Rin and Nadeshiko are having their suspension-bridge camping adventures. That said, what it really is is an excuse for the author to simply go bananas, as the “flashback” to what actually happened is immediately filled with lies, additions, and a constantly commenting Nadeshiko, who leans in and out of a panel box meant to indicate the non-flashback portion of the narrative. Things get so surreal that the entire narrative breaks down and turns anarchic, much to the horror of Chiaki, who is trying to keep this volume vaguely sane. The closest they get there is a discussion of the best ways to chop firewood. A bizarre side step, but hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 5 | By Aruko and Wataru Hinekure | VIZ Media – In this volume, Aoki starts cram school and ends up teaching his instructor a valuable lesson about prejudice. Then it’s Valentine’s Day and Hashimoto makes cupcakes for Akkun and there’s a big misunderstanding with an eventual sweet resolution. Then Aoki gets a part-time job and Ida feels left out. Meanwhile, Aoki’s tsundere coworker seems to fancy him. Yes, My Love Mix-Up! has become somewhat more typical shoujo as it has gone along, but I still really enjoy the main characters and their interactions. I’m most impressed by how much Akkun has developed as a character—initially I couldn’t fathom at all why Hashimoto might fancy him, but he’s turned out to be pretty interesting. There are only four more volumes of this, which feels about right. – Michelle Smith

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 21 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I get the sense that the author is aware that no one really wanted what happened in the last three volumes, but she is stubbornly sticking to it and shoving it in our faces some more, as Kiki and Hisame get engaged. There’s a distinct lack of love on her part, and this is very much a political marriage. That said, hopefully we can finally put it on the back burner. More to the point, Snow White with the Red Hair is going on the road, as the King quietly (very quietly) orders Shirayuki and Obi to travel from town to town trying to sell people on the cure they’ve come up with which is unusual and will require some explanation. I think that, rather than angsty romance, is the foreseeable future. Still good. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 11 | By Maybe | Yen Press – Last time I said “more battles, less sex.” There is slightly less sex here, I admit, mostly as it’s very difficult to get your rocks off when your other ring-bearing fiancees are within listening distance. They do all get a very nice “yes, I really am in love with you, and can’t wait till I get my turn” scene. As for battles, it’s mostly just walking slowly towards the battlefield here, with a slight diversion by Amber in order to get a bit more of her backstory. This volume does not really do anything wrong, but I get the sense that the author was told to shoot for a certain volume number, and ended up short of material, because it’s astonishing how little happens here. Perhaps more battles NEXT time? – Sean Gaffney

Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, Vol. 1 | By Mika Yamamori | Yen Press – This manga has many familiar ingredients. Fumi is a plucky high school student forced to take a job as a housekeeper for a mysterious novelist. Kibikino is the mysterious novelist who ends up being young and having a tendency to collapse close to Fumi. Add in a new cranky student at Fumi’s school who bears a grudge for her beating him at a tiny tikes race ten years ago and you have a ready-made love triangle. Yamamori’s art is winsome, and Fumi’s earnest dedication to couponing is hilarious, but I wish there had been something a little more unexpected about this first volume. I’ll likely hang in there or another volume or so to see if I end up being pleasantly surprised. – Anna N.

Usotoki Rhetoric, Vol. 1 | By Ritsu Miyako | One Peace Books – Urabe Kanoko has the ability to detect lies by the sound of a person’s voice. A useful skill, it would seem, but a talent that has left her and her family ostracized in their hometown. And so she leaves, determined to hide her ability and start life anew. But things aren’t easy for a young woman on her own at the dawn of the Shōwa era. Fortunately, Urabe eventually meets Iwai Soma, a remarkably perceptive private detective who is convinced her talent can be used for good. The first volume of Usotoki Rhetoric is a strong start to a delightful series. There has already been some great character development and the leads are charming. Urabe and Iwai’s respective talents support and complement one another in entertaining and satisfying ways—while Urabe’s lie-detecting ability is helpful, Iwai’s understanding of people is just as important. I’m really looking forward to reading more. – Ash Brown

Manga the Week of 10/26/22

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SEAN: Is it Halloween yet? Still no.

Yen On has The Angel Next Door Spoilers Me Rotten 4 and Baccano! 20.

And Yen Press’s sole release is I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 5.

Viz Media’s debut is a one-shot horror manga from Junji Ito, Black Paradox. It ran in Big Comic Spirits. Four suicidal people meet up and have strange things befall them.

MICHELLE: It is the perfect season for some Junji Ito!

ASH: That it is!

ANNA: Sounds quite spooky and depressing.

SEAN: Viz also has a light novel, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Flower of Happiness. It actually looks to be a short story collection.

And we get a 7th volume of everyone’s favorite yuri trainwreck, How Do We Relationship?.

MICHELLE: I’m so far behind on this!

ASH: I am, too, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 3rd volume of I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway!.

Steamship has the 2nd volume of Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts.

Square Enix Manga gives us A Man and His Cat 7.

MICHELLE: Also so far behind on this!

SEAN: Seven Seas wraps up its month of cat manga debuts with Yokai Cats (Neko Youkai). This Takeshobo series is from the creator of The Evil Secret Society of Cats, which debuted… erm, last week. The plot is the title.

ASH: Oh, more cats! And yokai, too? I should probably give it a try, then.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Ancient Magus’ Bride 16, MoMo -the blood taker- 2, the 5th and final volume of Necromance, Reincarnated as a Sword 9, Sakurai-san Wants to Be Noticed 2, and Servamp 17.

MICHELLE: It’s also the perfect season for The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: It’s true!

SEAN: One Peace Books has Multi-Mind Mayhem 5.

Kodansha has a print debut: Skygrazer (Getenrou). This one-shot ran in Kodansha’s Mephisto, and is from the creator of Heavenly Delusion. A detective is investigating a series of inter-linked cases (and indeed inter-linked short story chapters) at a weird apartment.

MICHELLE: This sounds like it could be my sort of thing!

ASH: Count me curious, too.

ANNA: All these things sound interesting.

SEAN: Also in print: Love and Lies 12, which comes in two variations: The Lilina Ending and The Misaki Ending. Is this a new trend in harem comedies to avoid fans sending death threats to the author? We Never Learn did it as well. At least Quintuplets made a choice.

ASH: Huh, that is a rather interesting trend.

SEAN: And also also in print: Shangri-La Frontier 2, Wandance 3, and Welcome to the Ballroom 11.

MICHELLE: I really enjoyed the first volume of Wandance. I read the first eight volumes of Welcome to the Ballroom, but after releases spread out exponentially, I sort of drifted away. Perhaps it’s time to return.

SEAN: Digitally, Kodansha gives us Burn the House Down 5, Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 3, Lightning and Romance 3, the 4th and final volume of My Tentative Name, My Wonderful World 4, the 3rd and final volume of Nighttime for Just Us Two, Oh, Those Hanazono Twins 6, and ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 6.

MICHELLE: Must read Burn the House Down and Nighttime for Just Us Two in the near future!

SEAN: From J-Novel Club we see the 4th Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers manga volume, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 4 Canto II, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 5, and Slayers 16.

Ghost Ship has a 3rd volume of The Witches of Adamas.

Denpa Books debuts Nana & Kaoru, a Young Animal title that will take you right back to the horny, horny days of your teenage years. This omnibus contains the first three volumes. The premise is basically “what if BDSM play made you a better person?”.

Also from Denpa: Heavenly Delusion 4. Which was actually last week, my bad. Denpa’s calendar can be hard to divine at times.

Lots of print debuts for Airship that we discussed when they got an early digital release. The one that isn’t is TITAN, a novel from the creator of Hello World. The premise is basically “what if the AI that controls the world needs therapy”?

ASH: This is most definitely within a subgenre I tend to read.

ANNA: What if we ALL need therapy?

SEAN: And we also see debuts in print for Vivy Prototype and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash.

As well as Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 18, Loner Life in Another World 3, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 6.

Digitally, there’s Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 4 and The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 7.

No candy yet. Have some manga instead.

The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 6

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By Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino. Released in Japan as “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

It’s time for another volume of everyone’s favorite mystery series, Murder, She Grumped. We pick up where we left off, with Maomao and Jinshi at the Western Capital (and with Maomao decidedly avoiding an extremely horny Jinshi, who is so horny he’s willing to try it on with his bodyguard), but we soon get a suicide that is not what it seems. After this they finally go home (separately, Jinshi still has to wrap up investigations) and Maomao is tricked/lured by Lahan into dealing with “family business”, something that makes her very unhappy, even as we learn about how glorious potatoes can be. That said, I think the main draw of this book is not going to be Maomao but Lishu, a girl who is trapped in a series whose base qualities are set up to destroy her, and when she gets tangled up in the ongoing plot, she is very nearly destroyed. For once, I found the non-Maomao segments in the book very interesting indeed.

A chunk of this book revolves around the cultural disconnect between East and West, as one of the plot points is that the “love letter” that Lishu had been writing, which gets her in big trouble, is actually her transcribing a translated version of Romeo and Juliet, which has taken the rear palace by storm. The funniest part of the book may be when both Maomao and Jinshi find the plot of the play incredibly annoying, pointing out how miscommunication is not tragic, just frustrating, and all the sobbing young women who say they just don’t get it. Maomao is her usual excellent self here, pretending to have an uncaring, logical mind while constantly helping everyone around her. She’s still not back at the palace yet… but honestly, Jinshi visits her constantly, so that’s fine.

And poor Lishu. The concept of the “weak” Consort being bullied by everyone around her, including her own servants, is not unique to this series, but that doesn’t mean that the emotional impact is lessened. Lishu goes through a lot in this book and the previous one, from almost getting killed by a lion, to being accused of infidelity to the Emperor and locked in a tower, to (perhaps worst of all, and the lead-up even gets an illustration) having Maomao need to “verify” for the official record that she’s still a virgin. She’s not a candidate for the Emperor’s bed, and honestly, I don’t think she’s the sort to eventually win over those around her by being sweet and kind… she’s simply too ineffectual even to achieve that. Her ending here is probably the best one we can possibly expect, and I hope that she has a far better life going forward than she’s had to date.

That said, we do now have a vacant Consort position. While I briefly considered the idea of it going to Maomao, and howled with laughter (till I realized she would probably castrate me if she heard me), I suspect it will be part of the plot of future books. The part that is not about Maomao investigating crimes like the most sullen Angela Lansbury ever.

The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes, Vol. 5

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By Bisu and Yukiko. Released in Japan as “Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru” by Arian Rose. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Tom Harris.

Again, how much you like this series is going to very much depend on how much you can tolerate most of the cast being in love with a girl who is not yet “of age”. It’s been around since the start, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Leaving aside her main love interest Leonhart, who at least has the decency not to moon over her in an obvious way (i.e. the way that she’s mooning over him). there’s her brother, her two adopted mages, her bodyguard… the list goes on and on. Even when she goes to an outpost that consists of nothing but soldiers, the fact that she’s able to cook makes them all get starry-eyed. At its best it’s kind of exhausting, at its worst it’s pretty creepy. Fortunately, her father does not fall under this list, and he sets Rosemary out on a new quest directly related to the otome game she’s in: find the stone that seals the demon king. Alas, easier said than done…

Of course, first we have to wrap up the previous plotline. Rosemary has succeeded in stopping (well, at least for now) the plague that’s hit their neighboring country. After returning home and meeting all of her bright young boys (who all get scenes showing how over the moon they are by merely being near her), she is assigned, as I said above, to investigate temples where the stone from her “dreams” may be. The trouble is, those “dreams” are her memories of the otome game… and she’s already thrown it off the rails! Can she really rely on what she remembers? And does it really matter as long as she gets to spend some time with her beloved Leonhart?

Again, this is a “savior” sort of book, and if you are the sort who likes your fiction a bit more gritty and realistic it must be like drinking poison. Not only is Rosemary awesome (though, of course, when we’re in her head all she can do is think of the ways that she’s screwed up), but she also inspires everyone around her to be the best people they can be. Even the “grumpy prince” is forced to admit that he really does want to rule after all (which is good, as I’m pretty sure his people would not have anyone else). Of course, not EVERYONE immediately falls in love with our princess. Some people are married. Some people are assassins. And some people are restauranteurs… OR ARE THEY? That said, a good deal of this book is “Rosemary investigates and things happen around her”. Unfortunately, the ending of this volume reads very much like “the book is going to press, just finish the last page you’re on and we’ll call it the final chapter.” An epilogue would be nice.

I enjoy this series. I like Rosemary, and want to see her succeed. I frankly am 100% not invested in who she ends up with, mostly as she’s still in her early teens. If you can get past the fact that the book is very invested in that, it’s a good read.

I’d Rather Have a Cat Than a Harem! Reincarnated into the World of an Otome Game as a Cat Loving Villainess, Vol. 2

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By Kosuzu Kobato and Hinano Chano. Released in Japan as “Sonna Koto yori, Neko ga Kaitai ~ Otome Game no Sekai ni Tensei Shimashita ~” on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jenny Murphy.

This second and final volume in the series is mostly sweet, romantic, and nice to read, but it has a slight problem. There’s almost no conflict at all. Indeed, the main conflict is similar to the early volumes of Bibliophile Princess, in that we have to convince our heroine that she really is famous and awesome, whereas she sees herself as sort of a random schlub. But yeah, no one is kidnapped or threatened with exile. In fact, the fact that this is NOT going to run along otome game rails is part of the plot, as Amy has to accept that, in fact, bad stuff ISN’T going to happen and she can actually settle down and be happy. Well, once she gets past the fighting tournament, where her wannabe fiancee is fighting. Oh yes, and finally meeting the heroine. Who’s Maria Campbell, so much so that they had to think of a reason to change her name.

After a brief diversion where we set up Couple #3 in this series which, despite Amy’s misgivings, has virtually no “harem” aspects to it, we get to the main plot of the series, which is… erm… well, following Amy around. She manages to help with a sick foal, she helps at the fighting tournament when people are injured, and she occasionally deals with a few of the remaining nobles who believe that they can sneer at her. (This goes very badly for them later on.) She also hears from her brother, who is finally heading home from his fighting monsters job, and is bringing a new friend!… and a new reincarnation, as Yasmine (real name: Maria… no, really) turns out to have also come from Japan. In fact… Yasmine is the heroine of Amy’s otome game! Does this mean she’s on the route to doom?

As indicated above, no. The heroine is sweet as pie, in denial about her feelings for Amy’s brother, and also gives out an interesting tidbit – to her, this world is based on an RPG game she and Amy’s brother played back in Japan. She’s never even heard of Amy’s otome game. This is what allows Amy to finally settle down and admit that she’s not going to end up in a Villainess book. As for her relationship with Edward, most of the conflict there is to get Amy, a girl who has never been in love either here OR in Japan, to understand what these feelings are. Once she does, things move pretty fast, even though her father has to at least pretend to be a difficult dad. (It’s been a lifelong dream of his, you see.) Tsundere girl gets far less to do here, but ends up with her foreign prince. Amy’s best friend ends up marrying Edward’s best friend, once he is able to get through to her. Everything’s fine.

This is a good book, and I’m glad I read the series, but “turns out I was fine” is the summary. If you enjoy actual conflict, you may want to look elsewhere.

My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me!, Vol. 8

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By mikawaghost and tomari. Released in Japan as “Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai” by GA Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

This is not a bad volume in the series by any means, and I had fun reading it. But. There’s a definite sense of the volume treading water a bit, and it becomes apparent fairly early on that this is going to be a multi-volume arc, which means that the hints of bad things going down are all deferred to the next book. What we’re left with is mostly an examination of the character of Midori. We’ve seen her as a supporting character before, and she’s tied to the plot in several ways: she’s Sumire’s sister, she’s head of the drama club, and, most importantly for this volume, she’s developed a massive crush on Akiteru. Which is driving her nuts, because she’s a stickler for rules, and one of the biggest rules is “don’t fall in love with a guy when he’s dating another girl.” And Akiteru and Mashiro are totally dating. Right?

As with Strike the Blood, this is a series that has only one character on the cover art, and it’s always been Iroha. So it is here as well, but as you’d expect, she gets left behind early on as the rest of Akiteru’s class goes on their school trip. (If you thought “she’ll show up later anyway, well, you know how to write cliched romcoms, congrats.) As for the trip itself, Akiteru is in a group with Ozuma and Mashiro, but also three others that he knows less well; the hyperactive Takamiya, the shy Maihama, and the muscle guy Suzuki. They’ll visit temples, they’ll have baths at the hotel, they’ll do party games, and they’ll try in vain to help Maihama with her love life. All the while, though, Midori is having a massive crisis.

The plot with Midori is actually handled quite well, with only a minimum amount of standard romcom shenanigans. She’s a nice girl, and it takes most of the book for her to realize her feelings and act on them. Akiteru is also nice, but also a dense light novel protagonist, so he’s still working out what love is, but Midori gives him a major hint that might help things along. (If you’re wondering which girl will actually win, I advise you to look at the cover art of the 8 books you have.) That said, this ends up being an important book for Mashiro as well. She’s grown more quietly confident, and while she still hates social situations, she can actually handle them without help now. As such, she decides to level the whole playing field by asking her father to let her break up her “fake” relationship with Akiteru so she can pursue him for real. That said, she does this without clearing it with Akiteru first, so… as I said, there are still SOME shenanigans in a series like this.

We leave off with a set of double cliffhangers, all of which promise more high-stakes drama in the next book. Which leaves this book feeling rather uneventful and flat, even though it isn’t really.

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash, Vol. 1

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By Honobonoru500 and Nama. Released in Japan as “Saijaku Tamer wa Gomihiroi no Tabi wo Hajimemashita” by TO Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Benjamin Daughety. Adapted by M.B. Hare.

I appreciate that Slow Life books are slow starters and you have to give them room to breathe before they get going. I appreciate that “seems weak but is actually strong” is a well-worn genre, and that if you’re going to play in it you need to follow the rules for that genre. But wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book get the first half as wrong as this series does. Starting on page one with a situation that is so comically evil I wondered briefly if this was a parody, we follow our heroine as she survives on her own, eating what she can and having only herself and her pet “weak” slime for company. After all, she’s a no-star tamer, and the slime was near death. How interesting can she be? The answer, at least till about 2/3 of the way into the book, is “not very interesting at all”. It’s cripplingly dull.

Our heroine is introduced to us when she gets her magic rating at the age of five, as all people do in her village. It’s… a no-star, the weakest amount. And tamer, the weakest class. Her family immediately despise her, and she is forced to go live in the woods, with only a kindly fortune teller helping her to stay alive. Then she hears the village chief plotting to have her murdered, and flees. She ends up walking from RPG-named village to RPG-named village, looking through trash heaps for useful items. The only thing she can tame is a weak slime on the verge of death. That said… once the slime starts eating used potions, it quickly turns out to be a rapidly growing slime indeed. As for Ivy (as our heroine names herself), she also seems to have hidden skills… which might stem from memories of a past life.

So much is shoehorned in here. I called the towns RPG-named, and they seem to be about as shallow as a generic RPG town as well. The fact that most of the people are surviving on field mice, rabbit, and pigeon meat tells you how far out in the boonies she is. I kept forgetting about the isekai part until it was brought up again, because it’s just there to explain why Ivy can use herbs, or make tea. Things do get a bit better once she starts interacting with actual people, but again, this takes until halfway through a pretty long book. Oh yes, and there’s slavery in this book as well, and the subplot near the end involves Ivy trying to protect herself from being kidnapped and sold as a slave. Unfortunately, this is not resolved in Volume One, so… guess I’ll never know.

TO Books has done well here with Ascendance of a Bookworm and Tearmoon Empire, but man, this was an absolute zero of a first volume. I have no doubt Ivy’s life will continue to get better as she finds more allies and gradually learns how strong she no doubt is. As for me, byeeeee.

The Manga Review, 10/14/22

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Historically, New York Comic Con was the event for big licensing announcements, but in recent years manga publishers have focused more on promoting their best-selling series than on unveiling new acquisitions. While this year’s event yielded some licensing news–VIZ, for example, revealed that it would be publishing a new Spiderman manga–the bigger story is that many companies are casting their nets widely for new content. “One notable trend,” Deb Aoki observes, “is the growth of webtoons, including comics content originally from Korea and China, and original comics created by a wave of international creators featured on such mobile comics platforms such as Webtoon, Tapas Media, Manta, Lezhin, and Tappytoon.” Yen Press, in particular, was enthusiastically promoting its new Korean comics imprint Ize Press, which will release its first titles this fall. Will readers embrace Korean comics this time around? Hard to say, but given the current wave of teen interest in Korean music, television, and movies, it’s not a stretch to imagine that Yen Press will find a more receptive audience for manhwa than it did ten or fifteen years ago. Stay tuned…

NEWS AND VIEWS

For the second year in a row, Chainsaw Man won the Harvey Award for Best Manga, beating out Blood on the Tracks, Blue Lock, Cat + Gamer, Red Flowers, and Spy x Family. [The Beat]

Seven Seas announced three new additions to its spring 2023 schedule: Last Game, The Great Snake’s Bride, and A Story of Seven Lives. [Seven Seas]

Erica Friedman files a report from New York Comic Con. [Okazu]

Whether you’re new to manga or just want to refresh your library’s collection, Sara Smith has you covered. Join her for Manga 101 at this year’s SLJ Summit. [SLJ Summit 2022]

If you listen to only one podcast this week, make it the latest episode of Mangasplaining, which focuses on Jun Mayuzuki’s Kowloon Generic Romance. Come for the thoughtful commentary, stay for the fascinating history lesson on the neighborhood that inspired the story. [Mangasplaining]

Ashley and Asher jump in the WABAC machine for a look at Yuu Watase’s Absolute Boyfriend. [Shojo & Tell]

The latest Taiiku Podcast focuses on When a Cat Faces West and Reincarnated as a Sword. [Manga in Your Ears]

Ryosuke Arakane interviews Kazuo Umezu about his creative process as both as a painter and a manga artist. “Having a childlike spirit is a profound thing,” he notes. “It’s a great thing I picked up. My stories feature children, so there’s a connection… The difference between adults and children is that adults might think something is childish, but children might think the opposite.” [Tokion]

REVIEWS

Krystallina reviews Risky Business, a digital-only offering from Media Do. “Risky Business sounds like a gambling manga, but the only gamble is the one you take on this series,” she notes. “On one hand, the manga is very intriguing with all the manipulation and underhanded tricks going on. On the other hand, man, this manga has a high amount of unlikable characters.” Over at Okazu, Erica Friedman explains why she’s looking forward to more installments of She Loves to Eat, She Loves to Cook.

New and Noteworthy

Ongoing and Complete Series