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Reviews

One Piece, Vol. 89

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Stephen Paul.

So, as I have said before, and will again, I have difficulty doing full reviews of these volumes of One Piece that are just a bunch of giant melee battles. And yet, One Piece is also one of the series where I am dedicated to giving full reviews to each volume – no Bookshelf Briefs as that would be cheating. So let’s see what we have here. First of all, I pretty much enjoyed this volume as much as I have the last few, which if anything else puts this arc above Dressrosa, where I was desperate for an ending by the second to last volume. As this manga moves towards the inevitable Volume 100, it’s nice to see that Oda really is mastering his craft, and still learning from his mistakes. The last few arcs have had him “write out” members of the Straw Hats because he doesn’t want everything to be too cluttered – in this arc that means no Zoro, Robin, Franky, or Usopp. This also allows him to introduce a truly ridiculous number of minor villains and allies.

Big Mom’s pirates are the villains here, but even among them there are varying degrees of Good and Evil. We’ve already seen Big Mom’s empathetic but also horrifying backstory, and have gotten hints that Katakuri, Luffy’s opponent throughout the volume, is a “noble villain” sort. We get that confirmed here with the peanut gallery help from Flampe, one of the many family daughters, and a brat with a brother complex that, like most brother complexes, doesn’t take much to get destroyed. Her attempts at ‘helping’ her brother in his fight by shooting needles at Luffy completely miss the point, especially if you view the fight as a “many battle between men”, which, this being Shonen Jump, it absolutely is. Naturally, when Luffy Haki’s up and gets serious, Flampe is one of the first to foam at the mouth and fall unconscious. There are rules of cool in One Piece, and only certain characters can flout them and get away with it.

Meanwhile, the replacement cake has finally been delivered, and there really is an awful lot of discussion about it being poisoned, and Big Mom possibly being affected by the poison. I’m gonna be honest, I simply cannot see Sanji poisoning a cake, at all, for any reason, so I think they’re waiting in vain here. I think it’s pretty much just pure delicious – which is at least enough to slow Big Mom down, as she has to eat it if nothing else. It even makes her nostalgic for her childhood party that went terribly wrong. That said, this also means it’s time for Sanji and Pudding to break up, at least for now. There’s no real romance in One Piece, and we were never going to get a big damn kiss, but we come as close as Oda is ever going to show us, and it was pretty cool. Again, when he’s not being a comedy lech, I really like Sanji.

There’s a cliffhanger ending to this volume, of the sort that’s “did all our heroes get killed just now?” Probably not. Still, it definitely looks like next volume we’re moving on to a new arc, and gathering up the rest of the Straw Hats. Which pleases me, but this arc has been, on the whole, very sweet.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 16

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 16 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I often put down a new volume of Yona of the Dawn thinking “this was my favorite volume”, which is a testament to Kuanagi’s storytelling abilities. I’m willing to go on the record now and forever (or at least until volume 17) that 16 is my favorite volume of Yona of the Dawn. I had high hopes when I saw that the cover featured an extremely angry looking Hak.

This is the concluding volume of the Water Tribe story arc, and things have been headed towards a major confrontation, what with all the terrible drugrunning, Riri’s seizing her father’s power of hereditary rule, Su-Won and his minions appearing and hanging out near Riri, Yona getting herself injured, and people in general being repressed. As the story opens, Yona and her companions are determined to attack the fleet of the enemy and crush the drug traffickers. Jaeha has managed to secure a mini-army of attractive female divers due to his habitual flirtatious charm to aid in the attack.

yona 16

Even though it is painfully obvious from the beginning of the series that Hak and Yona are in love, there’s so much going against their romance that Hak is an incredibly sympathetic character and somewhat in the position of the underdog. He’s not acting very much on his feelings for Yona since he’s in the position of being her protector and he’s not nobility. While Hak has some great martial arts abilities, he’s not supernaturally gifted like the Dragon Warriors, and he doesn’t share the emotional/psychic bond that binds Yona and the Dragons together. All along Kusanagi shows Hak and Yona sharing a quiet moment here or there set against the backdrop of the great adventure that they’re on, but the reader hasn’t seen multiple panels showing what Hak is actually feeling before.

Most of the action external to Hak’s journey is handled fairly quickly. Riri has found her strength thanks to Yona’s friendship, and it feels like this series has to feature a pirate ship battle every seven volumes or so. As Yona, Riri, Su-Won, and their companions are standing in town and about to be pinned down by archers sniping at them, Su-Won stands in front of Yona to protect her and cautions her not to reinjure her back by firing arrows at her would-be assassins. Yona doesn’t back down from a fight though, and she has a brief reunion with Ju-Do that causes him to reflect on his own choices in staying to support Su-Won. As the local drug kingpen tries to do away with Yona once and for all, Hak comes out of nowhere to protect her from a dagger strike. He then turns incandescent with rage when he sees Su-Won.

What follows are several nearly wordless panels that dramatically portray Hak’s rage and desire for vengeance. Hak’s pupils contract, and Kusanagi switches over to using dramatic black tone and cross-hatching as Hak goes after Su-won. Hak has to go through Ju-Do first, and Jaeha tries to stop him from continuing to fight. As expected, Hak only stops when Yona steps in front of him. The rest of the volume deals with the fall-out of the incident, as Yona’s companions heal their wounds and Su-Won returns to his palace. Kusanagi has paced the story of Yona of the Dawn so well, every few volumes an event will happen that will dial up the emotional intensity and affect the relationships between the main characters even more. Seeing the rage that Hak has masked inside for so long makes the reader contemplate how controlled he’s been up to this point. Yona of the Dawn is embarking on a new story arc as Yona and her companions say farewell to the Water Tribe and I’m eager to see what happens next.

I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Vol. 1

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By FUNA and Sukima. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Garrison Denim.

This was honestly not at all what I expected. I expected this series to be a very ‘slow life’ sort. The heroine would be reincarnated in another world, start a potion shop, get a couple of assistants, etc. Kind of like Killing Slimes for 300 Years, that sort of thing. This is 100% not that sort of series. Kaoru is not interested in a quiet life, just a life with freedom. Like Katarina from My Next Life as a Villainess, she has “evil eyes”, i.e. the sort that slant up, and wherever she goes she changes the lives of people around her. But Katarina is a sweetie pie, whereas Kaoru is more of a tactical nuclear missile. As the book moves from place to place, and Kaoru and her potions affect more and more people, the reader’s jaw begins to drop as to what will happen next. And woe betide the evil baron or sketchy gate guard who gets in the way of a really good plan. Kaoru is here for one reason alone: Kaoru.

A brief summary: Kaoru is a 20-something OL who’s on her way home on the train when she literally EXPLODES and dies. This is the fault of higher beings who were trying to do something else and she got caught up in it. They offer to reincarnate her in a medieval-style world, and she proceeds to ask/blackmail them into giving her a LOT of things. Language skills, a box of infinite holding, etc. And the ability to create any potion she can think of, along with containers for same. The kicker here is that she thinks she’s going to be in a standard light novel fantasy world. But no, there’s no magic here beyond dragons, and it’s more ‘hunting’ than ‘adventuring’. As such, when Kaoru uses her potions to heal a gravely wounded hunter, the general reaction is “WHAAAAAAAAAT?”. Now Kaoru finds herself moving from kingdom to kingdom, getting involved, healing people with potions, and trying to live a free life.

There are so many light novels out there that are male power fantasies, where the hero gets a harem of slave girls, awesome adventurer powers, etc. that it’s weird to read a female power fantasy like this. Most of the other series we’ve seen over here with female protagonists (including Make My Abilities Average!, by the same author as this) tend to have them as nice girls who are “plucky”. Kaoru is not that sort of heroine, and is almost anti-plucky. Occasionally she is in mild danger, such as when she’s captured by the evil nobles who want to get her potion abilities, but she’s got a plan, which involves knocking out the maid, dressing up as her, stealing the entire room, and walking out. (The poor maid eventually gets her dress back, and we’re reassured is not beaten or anything.) That said, most of the people whose lives Kaoru makes miserable are men, and sometimes you get the feeling she’s going out of her way to be awful to them. That said, she really does help a number of people suffering from grievous injuries, rich or poor. As well as, um, de-aging a female knight who’s too old to get married so she can try again.

By the end of this book I was enjoying it quite a bit. I will warn that it may make some readers uncomfortable. Kaoru is a lot to take, and can tease men or destroy their lives at a whim. But then, that’s what it means to live the free life, rather than the slow life.

Cooking with Wild Game, Vol. 1

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By EDA and Kochimo. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Matthew Warner.

Given that this title starts off with a young man waking up in a forest with no idea where he is, it’s time to tick off the isekai/reincarnated checklist. And actually, the series so far seems to hold up pretty well after ticking the boxes. There is no adventurer’s guild here, nor do we go dungeon crawling. While the town it takes place in seems to consist of outcasts, there don’t appear to be slaves. Our hero does not have any new and fantastic powers from entering this world. He knows how to cook, but that’s from his life in Japan, and he doesn’t have skills above “I’m seventeen and still learning from my dad”. He doesn’t even meet God! That said, his skills are certainly needed as he meets a group of people who have forgotten how delicious food can be, and his job is to help them rediscover that. He’s helped by a blond, dark-skinned… no, wait, she’s not even an elf! They’re dark-skinned from their lifestyle.

Now, to be fair, the female lead is a tsundere. If you hate tsunderes, you may want to find something else to read. I quite liked Ai Fa, though, who is dealing with a lot. Her mother died years ago. Her father, after teaching her to hunt (which women don’t really do in their village) also dies, leaving her as the sole member of the family. Of the two big families in the village, one son tries to rape her (she fends him off) and the other tries to marry her to a second son (she declines). As such, she’s something of a pariah, going into the forest to kill food so she can survive. It’s no wonder that when she finds our hero Asuta, dressed as a chef, incredibly pale, and saying he’s from Japan, she’s inclined to want nothing to do with him. But he can cook, and that fact alone warms her up quite a bit. Plus, he’s nice and doesn’t try to take advantage of her. Well, except when he was sleeping and tried to eat her.

As noted above, Asuta is a nice guy, whose only real eccentricity is a tendency to overanalyze people by what they smell like. He’s here in this world with boar-like creatures and onion-like veggies and has to improvise, and a lot of the dialogue is cooking details. If you enjoy foodie manga, you might get a kick out of this. Aside from one scene that seems designed to provide fanservice involving a giant snake, there’s not really much skeeziness here. We also meet potential rivals for any romance, but honestly, Asuta and Ai Fa look pretty smitten with each other, so they’ll have to work really hard to top it. This title isn’t going to be winning any awards for excitement and adventure. But, like most good foodie manga, it brings a smile to your face when people eat the food, especially towards the end of the book. (Which does not end so much as stop – an epilogue may have been wiser than a side story.) I’ll be reading the next volume.

Koimonogatari: Love Tale

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By NISIOISIN and VOFAN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Daniel Joseph.

Most fans of the series over here have long been spoiled, of course, but I imagine it must have been irritating to some Japanese readers, who have been teased in past books that this book will have Senjogahara’s narration and thought processes, bought the book with Senjogahara on the cover and interstitials, opened it up, and had Kaiki telling them they’ve been duped. Yes, this Love Tale is being told by Kaiki, last seen with a beard and talking with Kanbaru about her problems. This takes place about six months before that, however, and is the story of Senjogahara hiring him to help with her own problem – Sengoku and her death threat. Her god powers have meant that Araragi and Shinobu are getting nowhere in this regard, and Kaiki has saved Senjogahara’s life before – horribly so. And so Kaiki sets up to deceive Sengoku, something that he thinks will be a piece of cake after talking with her for ten minutes. But is that all just a lie?

After the deadly dullness that was Shinobu’s narration last time, I’m pleased to say that Kaiki’s narrative voice is excellent. He plays at being an arrogant jerk, but the cracks show through constantly, so that’s fine. It’s also fun to see Araragi’s life and surrounding people from the perspective of an adult not connected to him – Kaiki finds a lot of Araragi’s antics disturbing, and there’s a running gag of everyone in the book referring to Shinobu using, well, a derogatory nickname, I’ll leave it at that. Kissshot sure has fallen far. I also like to see him confused at things that the reader will get – “Swear to cat” is a good example. His discussions with Senjogahara range from hilarious to touching, and you sense him shying away from the true feelings she had for him back two years prior. It’s disappointing that we don’t get her narration (in fact, spoilers, we never will, not even some 15-odd books later), but her fans should be pleased, as there are many scenes in the book showing off how far she’s come since Araragi first caught her nine months before.

Kaiki starts the book by claiming that a good deal of it is a lie, but of course he may be lying there as well. We do get a lot more insight into Sengoku’s personality and why she is the way she is, though I do think she’s not quite as infantilized and simple as Kaiki makes her out to be – if nothing else, he underestimates her at the end, though attributes that to her inability to let anyone get close to her. The description of her home life strikes an interesting comparison to Hanewkawa’s – something Kaiki himself does when he meets Hanekawa 2/3 through the book. And, as with my review of Onimonogatari, I will skip over the best part of the book, the climax where Kaiki breaks Sengoku but also convinces her to step down as a god. It’s magical. The book should end happily for most people, but since Kaiki is narrating, and he’s a self-proclaimed “villain”, there’s one last sting in the tale.

In the end, this is one of the strongest volumes in the Monogatari series, with lots of great jokes, tons of dense prose, and some keen insight into human nature, filtered through the voice of a man who insists that we take nothing at face value. Great stuff. Next time we’ll focus on Ononoki, who gets some small scenes here (and has a new character tic, something she lampshades).

My Next Life As a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 2

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By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka. Released in Japan by Ichijinsha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

When I was reviewing the 2nd and final volume of It’s My Fault That My Husband Has the Head of a Beast, I noted that it was a very open ending for a series that wrapped up there, not resolving much of anything. The 2nd volume of Bakarina has the opposite problem – unsuspecting readers who finish this book will definitely think it’s the final volume, which isn’t true. While none of the cast have been able to get their feelings through to the dense Katarina yet, the book takes us through to the end of the “Fortune Lover” game that her prior incarnation had been playing, and she successfully navigates it without getting a horrible Bad End. We even meet Maria Campbell, the actual heroine of the game, and she’s sweet and kind and also falls head over heels for Katarina, because of course she does. Problems are solved, tragic backstories ferreted out, and they all lived happily ever after and ate lots of snacks.

I will issue a word of warning: while there are still tons of hilarious parts to this volume, the second half of the book turns serious, and one of the backstories features sacrificial murder of a loved one. It’s not played for laughs at all, nor should it be. Katarina starts her school life, meets Maria and defuses any problems there by her love of sweet, and all seems to be well… except that the same things happen that occur in the game – Katarina is accused of being a terrible bully to Maria. Fortunately, in this world it’s not true, so this is rapidly defused, but it’s clear that someone is out to get Katarina. Someone with Dark Magic, which can control a person’s mind and also means they’ve killed to get it. The culprit is not exactly a mystery, frankly, but it’s handled quite well, especially as Katarina doesn’t have any foreknowledge of the events – her past self never got to the “hidden route” before she died.

Speaking of past lives, we find here that another of the main characters turns out to be a reincarnation, though she isn’t consciously aware of it. This allows Katarina, at a time of great peril, to get advice from her former friend who HAD played the game, and allows her to try to save the villain – because remember I said tragic backstory? Plus this is Katarina, and much as she may be silly and dense a lot of the time, she’s a kind and loving heroine, to an extreme. This means that she’s allowed to talk the villain down by simply saying that she’ll listen to him and she understands his pain. Bakarina is having fun with its heroine’s personality, but it’s not really subverting or deconstructing anything except perhaps the fact that literally everyone falls in love with her. She is 100% shiny and pure.

So with everyone living happily ever after, where does the series go from here? Well, they’re all still at school (though Nicol graduated, and time definitely seems to be moving faster than these sorts of books usually do), and this world may be based on a game but clearly isn’t actually a game, so I’m sure that something will come up. And maybe Katarina will realize the others’ feelings for her!… yeah, OK, no.

Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 4

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Young Master’s Revenge Volume 4 by Meca Tanaka

Young Master’s Revenge has been a such a fun short series! I just finished reading the last and final volume this week and I found that it had much more of an emotional payoff than I was expecting from a manga with its main plot centering on turtle-inflicted butt scars. There’s never any doubt that Leo and Tenma are going to end up together, but seeing how they finally both grappled with their feelings made the ending of this series rewarding.

young master's revenge 4

Tenma and Leo are living separately, and she’s actually able to take care of herself finally now that she’s endured life as Leo’s maid. She’s moved on from being oblivious about romance to trying to figure out how to deal with her newly realized crush on Leo, which results in a bunch of protestations and slightly emotional outbursts. Leo’s secret scars are almost exposed, and Hana goes to whatever lengths she can in order to protect him. The confusing feelings of teen romance are amped up even further when Tenma reluctantly agrees to go on a date with “Rose King” Barazono, while Leo and Togo pretend to go on their own date in order to act as silent observers. Tenma finds herself unable to control her crying when she sees Leo and Tojo together, and Leo confesses his true feelings but doesn’t let Tenma say anything in return.

Tenma decides to take on the emotional labor of fixing everything herself and while she previously was more self-contained due to her upbringing and unfamiliarity with basic teen socialization, she stands up for herself and her feelings in quite a spectacular fashion. She demonstrates quite a few over the top angry faces along the way. Seeing Tenma and Leo finally get together without the specter of revenge that’s been hovering over the series brings everything to an extremely satisfying conclusion. Young Master’s Revenge might seem a little superficial and silly, but at four volumes it doesn’t feel like the plot was stretched out just for the sake of extra drama. It is a great series to use as a mini-vacation if you’ve been bogged down by reading too many angst-ridden manga.

I was able to talk about Young Master’s Revenge on the Shojo & Tell Manga Podcast recently, I’ll update this post when the episode is available!

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 8

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By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. Released in Japan as “Yakusoku no Neverland” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Satsuki Yamashita.

The cast of characters, and the first few volumes in general, try to give equal emphasis to Emma, Norman and Ray as the three protagonists, keeping a healthy balance. But… I think the readers tend to think of Emma as the ‘lead’, and she’s certainly featured more when Jump does a ‘one character from all our series’ picture. Emma fans will be quite happy with this volume, which definitely revolves around her. The first third or so finds her and Ray trying to desperately escape demons that can regenerate, trying to intuit how to kill them. They’re not helped by their guide (still nameless, which begins to get annoying towards the end of the volume), who doesn’t want to kill them but is trying to convince himself that he can easily let them die. He’s no match, however, for Emma’s shining beacon of hope, who talks him down by guessing exactly what happened to him and pointing out that his now dead) friends would never have wanted this. It’s really sweet.

Unfortunately, Emma is then kidnapped and brought to a hunting ground for demons, with kids as the prey. Emma tries her best here as well, and is remarkably clever, deadly, and optimistic. Sometimes, though, optimism can’t save you, and a couple of people that Emma promises the world to end up dead. For all that it’s a series about kids being raised to be eaten for their delicious brains, there hasn’t been much actual death so far except right at the start. (I continue to maintain that Norman is alive because we didn’t see him die.) It gives these deaths added impact, and Emma briefly falls into despair. Luckily, we get to meet a lot of new kids who are basically doing for the hunting ground what she’s done with Grace Field… helped by an adult who seems very familiar. This part of the book is probably the most heartwarming, and Emma, seeing that even in despair there’s still hope, is back to her old self.

There’s lots of little touches in this volume I liked. The author gives a lot of attention to the guide’s past friends, even if they’re all long dead, so that we can imagine what things must have been like for them, and they seem like a great group of kids. I am also very pleased at the series of faces that Ray makes as Emma tries to convince the guide to help them by being her shiniest – this is why Ray is Emma’s best friend, but he still can’t help going “what the hey” every time he sees her in action. (He should know, he’s seen it used on him.) And, in case you’d forgotten the horror part of Promised Neverland, the shot of Theo revealing that Jake and Monica were killed by the hunters then cuts to the demons having a delicious meal – and we can likely guess who it is. The author can still make you shiver.

This is a strong time from Shonen Jump series in general, and The Promised Neverland is one of the strongest. It should never be far from the top of your reading pile when it comes out. Also, Emma is amazing.

Takane & Hana, Vol. 6

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Takane & Hana Volume 6 by Yuki Shiwasu

I should have read this volume earlier this winter, because it had a great Christmas story in it! But Takane & Hana can always be counted on for some breezy shoujo antics as it explores the potentially problematic relationship between a high school student and an heir to industry who become friends after Hana subs in for her sister at an arranged marriage meeting with Takane.

The volume opens with Takane standing Hana up for a date due to his workload, so she goes out with friends instead. It turns out that he was actually planning on surprising her with a Christmas date. Takane is incapable of doing anything less than a grand gesture, so he appears before Hana in a custom designed cashmere Santa Suit. Hana realizes that he planned the whole thing after she made a random comment about how normal people celebrate Christmas, and she’s touched by the gesture.

The major storyline in this volume centers on Takane suffering a reversal of fortunes when his grandfather takes away his access to all his bank accounts, his high-powered job, and his apartment, telling him that he has to prove himself by working his way up to the top. Takane’s occasional glimpses through Hana of how common people live do not prepare him at all for being cut off from his credit card. As he slowly starts to adjust to the horror of cheap suits, convenience store lunches, and public transportation, he cuts off contact with Hana, not sure what to do if he can’t appear before her with elaborately expensive presents. Hana is mystified and confused because while he certainly is in the habit of being busy with work, he’s never cut off contact with her for such a long time before. As always, Shiwasu is a master of exaggerated facial expressions, and seeing Takane react to his changed circumstances is both sad and hilarious.

One of the things that has me rooting for this relationship between a forthright high schooler and an emotionally stunted captain of industry is Hana’s habit of confronting Takane and pointing out when he’s being an idiot. Takane rejects her offers of help, but she’s not going to back down. A rich person learning who they are after a reversal of fortune is a very common plot trope, but seeing how these particular characters take on this challenge makes it interesting in Takane & Hana.

Classroom of the Elite, Vol. 1

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By Syougo Kinugasa and Tomoseshunsaku. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Timothy MacKenzie. Adapted by Jessica Cluess.

By the end of the first volume of this new light novel series, I finally had an idea where the author was going with the series. It’s something of a thought experiment, examining a school that functions similar to the Assassination Classroom school. The school has a hierarchy, and once you find yourself in the ‘D’ class, comprised of the seeming failures, its impossible to climb back up and you are belittled and ridiculed by the rest. Naturally, our heroes are in this class. That said, it takes about half the volume to get to the point where the author does anything more than drop ominous hints. Before that, unfortunately, what we get is a painfully normal light novel with the ‘average’ hero who doesn’t stand out, the grumpy beauty who doesn’t like talking to anyone, her contrast in the perky upbeat girl who wants to be friends with everyone, and, sadly, the perverted best friends who only want to talk about sex. You have to crawl through this to get to the point.

Of course, all is not as it seems. Horikita, the grumpy, sullen heroine of this volume, is the closest thing to being exactly what she seems, fortunately – the only hidden side she has is a desperate need to please her brother. Our hero, Ayanokouji, meanwhile, takes pains to not stand out – indeed, by the end of the book it’s becoming clear that he’s going to ridiculous lengths. His scores are average, but they’re the sort of average that requires brilliance to achieve. He’s very muscular, but denies being in any sports clubs. And he seems somewhat desperate to be at the school – I smell a tragic past. Sadly, he’s also almost as stoic and unfriendly as Horikita, which means both the narrator hero and the heroine of this first volume are downers. There’s some brightness with Kushida, the typical perky upbeat girl you see in every shonen school series… only, of course, she has a secret dark side as well. I’m pretty sure they all do.

That said, I’m not entirely averse to the ideas here, provided that they also include later character development. There are hints it may happen. The premise is that the world is fundamentally unequal but we should strive to be as equal as possible anyway, something that the school is seemingly opposed to – though this could all end up being a secret test of character. By the end of the book, Horikita is marginally more social, even if she’s unaware that her very unsociability is why she’s in the class in the first place. So I’ll definitely get the second volume. That said, everyone in this is depressing to read. Even the teacher seems sadistic for no other reason than that she enjoys it. If the series slowly works to make these kids better people and to grow up, I may enjoy it a great deal. If it remains an intellectual thought experiment, though, I’m out.

I understand that the anime, which I haven’t seen, took a number of liberties with the novels, so fans of one should definitely pick up the other. I’d also pick this up if you like Dark!Grey Harry Potter/Naruto fanfics or arguing about rationality on Reddit. As for light novel fans, your mileage may vary.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 16

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

The actual resolution of the plot in this arc is treated as an afterthought, with Hyo, the villainous drug merchant, getting blithely killed off so that we may reach the real confrontation of the book. Because, having spent several chapters deliberately having Hak not meet Riri’s new bodyguard, when the moment arrives it takes pride of place above anything else that might be going on. It is truly an amazing setpiece, and shows off how good Kusanagi is at her craft. The rage that pours from Hak, his desire to kill Su-Won dripping off of him, is stunning to see. And you know that, at this point in time, it would be the absolute worst thing in the world for Hak to do that. Thank goodness for Jaeha, and later on Yona herself, for pointing out what’s important here: Yona is fine, she doesn’t need Hak to get revenge for her. Not like this. It’s only one chapter in this volume, but what a chapter.

I also definitely want to talk about the continued growth of Riri. Having stolen her father’s political seal as a means of showing that she has his power, she puts it to good use, getting the soldiers and merchants to unite to defend against Hyo’s fleet. What’s more, when events wrap up, she’s ready to take her punishment for what she did, even if that means being killed. That said, Riri’s political activism seems to have finally sunk in , as her father not only “punishes” her by exiling her to Sensui, where she can continue to do what she was planning to anyway. What’s more, he himself is now no longer content to be passive – which means that the tribes are now united in taking a more active role in the kingdom… even if that means war. All this from a young woman who was inspired by Yona (and is arguably in love with Yona, because their final scenes together really read like Riri wants to say something but chooses to hold back).

Riri is not the only woman in this volume who is awesome. Yona and Tetra are recovering from serious injuries, and are visibly exhausted, but are not letting that stop them from doing what needs to be done. Indeed, Tetra and Ayura have figured out Yona’s secret (such as it is), but are content to let her get on with what she needs to do. Heck, even the Sensui divers, who at first look to be introduced as a joke to show off “Jaeha is a player”, are swimming out towards enemy ships with bombs strapped to their heads. One of the best reasons to read Yona of the Dawn is that the cast is trying to effect change, and we see everyone who wants it step up and make that happen. It’s made explicit here with Riri’s father, but previous volumes also show that everyone Yona comes into contact to takes up her idealism… even if they’re cynics. It’s nothing to do with romance, though her own party does have guys who like her. It’s her sheer presence and drive.

I will end this review as I have many previous Yona reviews. This is possibly the best shoujo manga currently coming out in English. Everyone should be reading it.

Toradora!, Vol. 4

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By Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Will Holcomb.

This fourth volume of Toradora! does a very good job of playing to the series’ strengths. The core of it is getting the five main characters to become closer and bond as friends, and it achieves that. That said, there is also the romantic comedy/drama part of it, and that’s even better. It was always going to be hard for a series where the winning pairing is literally in the name to try to have “who will they end up with?”, but this volume comes closer than any so far. Ryuuji is still crippled by his awkwardness around Minori, but when he tries to can actually have a really meaningful conversation with her where she opens up (obliquely) about her own insecurities. As for Ami, not only does Ryuuji force her to open up a bit more (a very little bit more) about her own insecurities, but she also flat out states she thinks Minori and him would be a bad match, and that he should hook up with her. As for Taiga? Well, there’s the puppy dream.

The puppy dream is great. Starting off as ridiculous, with both Taiga and Ryuuji completely disgusted by it, the reader is immediately thinking “they’re sharing dreams now!”. By the end of the book, Ryuuji is seeing how the dream could also be taken as really sweet and familial. That said, for the most part the Taiga/Ryuuji antics take a backseat here… or at least the boil settles down to a mild simmer, as there are no shortage of scenes showing them being each other’s perfect halves. Taiga fares far less well in the romance department here, partly as she’s still cripplingly shy and partly as Kitamura is even more Kitamura than usual, complete with accidental flashing. I do sort of wonder how clued in he is to everything going on around him – like Minori, he thinks that Ryuugi and Taiga are meant to be a couple, if not already, but it’s not clear that he’s realized Taiga’s feelings.

That said, this is Minori’s book in the end, as she shows off a fragile vulnerability here, and there’s the first signs that she may feel something for Ryuuji as well. Unfortunately, both are the sort to back off at the last minute – as Ami bluntly points out, they can’t get close to each other. But we also have lots of Minori acting goofy, and of course the giant “let’s try to scare Minori” horror movie plotline, which gives us the opportunity for some great laughs. Toradora! holds up over a lot of other comedy romances in that the comedy does not feel forced or cliched, a la “whoops I just fell into your boobs”. The humor is natural, realistic, and both situational and character-driven. But it’s the drama that readers may take away from this volume. Will things change when they go back to school? Will Ami press her suit/ Will Minori do anything? Will Taiga yell at Ryuuji? At least one of those things is guaranteed to happen!

Arifureta Zero, Vol. 2

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By Ryo Shirakome and Takaya-ki. Released in Japan as “Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Rei” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

In my review of the first book in this prequel series, I said that it was Miledi’s book and Miledi’s series. Here I’ll go further: I think that Miledi is meant to compare directly with Hajime. Yes, in terms of personality, she reads more like a horrible fusion of Shea and Tio, but as we see a lot in this book, even more than the last one, she is wedded to her ideals and prepared to do anything in her power to preserve them, even if that means taking on the Church, a bunch of pirates, or even a giant seas monster with her ungodly gravity powers. (Ungodly would suit her fine, I think). As for Oscar, he has Hajime’s snark down pat, but after this book we really know who he’s meant to be. He’s Shinpachi from the Gintama series. No, really, the author even straight up ripped off the glasses joke. Oh yes, and we get a new Liberator as well. That’s her on the cover.

The author suggests that the seemingly sweet big sister type who’s really a sadistic tease is a surprise for this book, something which… isn’t true, but whatever. Meiru is a lot of fun, though, and is not only a big sister to her captured real sibling, but also to a huge pirate family that she heads up. Yes, it’s Arifureta does One Piece. Miledi and company are arriving at the city the pirates work out of to find the next Liberator, and after a host of misunderstandings that eventually get resolved, find she… doesn’t want to join them. Well, that’s fine, we went through this in the first book. Till then, there’s sea monsters that get attracted to Miledi’s magic, and casino capers, etc. Of course, eventually the Church is ordered to destroy these pirates once and for all, which leads to the last half of the book, which is one giant melee battle that is highly entertaining provided you love 120-130 pages of fights.

Honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t a much higher body count in this prequel. We already know it’s going to end badly, and it always seems like there’s going to be some dead innocents, but so far the author has done a pretty good job of having them saved at the last minute. (There are a couple of Oscar’s orphan kids who are in a coma from the last book, but Meiru may be able to save them too). In fact, despite the grim Church and the ever-present threat of death, this is a fun book – I would say of all the Arifureta books, this one balances the wacky humor and the thrilling serious plot the best. Miledi is annoying as hell, but not to the reader, just to the characters – an important development! Even the art is really good, showing off both the silly and dramatic (the picture of Miledi giving the finger to the villain may be my favorite).

This is a long book, like most of the Arifureta series, but for fans, it’s a must read. Even casual readers who are turned off by Hajime being Hajime in the main series may want to give the prequel a shot.

For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams, Vol. 1

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By Kei Sanbe. Released in Japan as “Yume de Mita Ano Ko no Tame ni” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

This author has previously written the mystery thriller Erased, a series which I could see was very well done and I could also see was probably not for me. This feels like the same sort of thing – even without a hardcover-style release to make it fancier, this manga just seems “important” as you read it. The art is compelling, the characters are, if not likeable, at least someone you want to follow. Senri is our “hero”, a young man who in his childhood had his parents brutally murdered. He also had an older twin, who hid him from this (in fact, the father was abusive, and the twin was hiding him from the abuse – the murder was incidental). Senri always had a connection with his twin, in a “psychic powers” sort of way, but shortly after this he gets a vision of his brother being killed, and that’s it for psychic connections. So how does he grow up? Consumed with vengeance, of course.

There’s a common trope in manga where you see the hero, supposedly a bad guy, who beats up other, scummier villains to show off that he’s really good deep down. The manga fakes us out by making it seem that grown up Senri is the same… but no, he’s actually in league with the bullies, and is extorting money. I mean, he needs SOMETHING else to do beyond trying to track down his parents’ and brother’s killer. (They may not, in fact, be the same killer, but I’m guessing.) He runs on suppressed rage, and is fascinating to read but also somewhat exhausting. He also seems to have little regard for human life, unsurprisingly, and there are a couple points in the book where he’s driven to almost murder in his efforts to find out what happened back then. He also gets beat up a lot. He’s a very grim protagonists, in all senses of the word.

Fortunately, we also have Enan, the saving grace in this book. She’s Senri’s childhood friend, as they were in the same orphanage after his parents were murdered. She’s from a tragic home as well, as her dad was a murderer and her mother killed herself because of the harassment – which she gets as well, because we all know that children are their parents. Senri does not believe this, and says so, possibly the one nice thing he does in the entire book. As a result, Enan is his best (and it seems only) friend, and yeah, probably likes him romantically, though that doesn’t really come up. She’s there to prevent him from turning evil, and has a ways to go, frankly. I liked her a lot. Usually these sorts of characters are fresh-faced innocent types, but Enan is a jaded “gal” sort, though she’s good with kids in her daycare job. I hope nothing horrible happens to her.

As I said, this may not be the sort of title I want to keep reading. But it’s good, and I am interested in seeing what happens next, assuming Senri doesn’t die from the skull fracture he seems to get at the end of the volume and the rest of the series is just light music played over blank pages. Fans of dark thrillers will absolutely want to check it out.

Log Horizon: Krusty, Tycoon Lord

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

It’s been a long time since the last volume of Log Horizon – almost a year. It may be even longer till the next volume as well, as there’s no sign of it in Japan. That said, this is a big volume for fans of the series, as it’s the first volume that has not actually been animated. As such, it will prove to be entirely new material. Appropriately, it focuses to a large degree on Kanami’s party, who were the subject of the 9th book (which was adapted the least by the anime), and have now reached the equivalent of Mongolia. But as you may have guessed by the title, the other major participant in this volume is Krusty, who is having memory issues but is not letting that stop him from living the easy life, as he’s essentially in the game equivalent of heaven being waited on by cute animal person servants. The book’s main thrust has a scheming villainess try to pit the two parties against each other.

The book mostly succeeds, but it is worth noting, once again, that there is a truly ridiculous amount of gaming chatter and discussion in these volumes, and that it can quickly get tedious, especially when you’re in the middle of a large battle. Classes, levels, aggro… I don’t really care. But someone cares, and that someone is Elias, who we get to know a lot more about in this book. From the last book, we know that he labors under a curse that means he never gets the last hit in – he can’t be the one to kill the monsters. Of course, since Log Horizon was a game, and he was one of the bigger NPCs, it makes sense. The players make the big kill. But here we see how this weighs heavily on him, and also how his party seems to have been broken, and possibly killed, simply by hinting at their very nature – Elias, throughout the book, seems to be shying away from thinking that he’s just an NPC in a game.

So it’s pretty easy to get him to go all out against Krusty, who’s perfectly happy to have people think he’s a villain if it gets him a good fight. We get a lot of Krusty’s own background from Earth here too, and it fits with his personality to a T. Krusty really can’t stop Elias, especially given he’s dealing with his own curse. Kanami is there to be Haruhi Suzumiya and not much else. I like her, but she’s completely at peace with everything about herself, so is terrible at this sort of thing. And Coppelia is still pretty much monotone. That leaves Leonardo, still a frog and not a turtle, to deliver the big verbal cooldown speech to Elias. I won’t spoil it, as it’s easily the best part of the book, and made me smile quite a bit. When Log Horizon isn’t pouring verbiage into its worldbuilding, it can be pretty heartwarming.

We’re almost entirely in ‘the China server’ this volume, with only one chapter back in Akiba to show us that Raynesia’s noble friends are all getting engaged, which I suspect means that an arranged marriage is in her future. Her noble friends also think she’s in a relationship with Krusty, which she’s not. In the next volume, whenever that may be, I suspect we’ll be headed back to Shiroe and company. Till then, enjoy this look at what it means to be “cursed”, and how to resolve it.