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Reviews

Idol Dreams, Vol. 5

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Idol Dreams Volume 5 by Arina Tanemura

Idol Dreams is a fun, if a bit uneven, soapy series about a repressed office lady reliving her youth in the best way by occasionally taking magic pills that turn her into a teenage aspiring teen idol singer! People fall in and out of love and deal with show business shenanigans, but will Chikage’s teenage adventures translate into any newfound maturity in the real world? Indications in this fifth volume are promising!

Chikage is much more assertive and resourceful in her teen idol persona as Akari. She’s trying to gain more recognition through a sing-off battle and manages to dodge a series of mean girl attacks and come out on the other side victorious even though she’s just a slightly better known aspiring idol singer. One of the things I’ve been wondering about is when Chikage’s old classmate and magical teen pill supplier Tokita was going to get a bit more focus, because so far he seems to be mainly pining in silence. My patience was rewarded with this volume, as it focuses on him. The real world is much more complex than teen idolland, as Chikage learns that Hanami who one of her workplace mean girls is also Tokita’s girlfriend, and she’s been cheating on him. Chikage is able to stick up for Tokita in a way that she’s never managed for herself, but she doesn’t realize what her own feelings are for Tokita until it is far too late. There is more time spent on the characters’ backstory in this volume, especially Tokita, which was a nice change of pace. I’m a bit worried that Chikage is going to bury herself in her teen persona in the next volume to distract herself from her pain as an adult.

It is all breezy fun although I’m slightly terrified about what might happen with Akari and Hibiki. I think that the series would also seem a bit less disjointed if I was reading it all with less time in between volumes, where the quick pace of people falling in and out of love might be less noticeable in a larger chunk of story. Still, I’m always up for an Arina Tanemura manga, and I’m hoping that Chikage becomes a more self-assured woman by the end of the series, and I’m glad that she’s showing some signs of assertiveness, even though she still needs more self-awareness to match.

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 1

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By Riku Misora, Sacraneco and Kotaro Yamada. Released in Japan as “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!” by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Caleb D. Cook.

I’ve talked before about whether we’ve reached isekai critical mass in terms of the sheer number of titles. If you went by message boards and forums, you’d think the trend was long over and that fans were desperate for something else. But from what I understand, sales don’t really support that – in fact, they seem to support the opposite, and it’s “anything but isekai” that is suffering. That said, I certainly understand feeling a little burned out by the variations on a theme. This new title, based on a light novel (unlicensed here in North America) hits a lot of the standard fantasy isekai buttons, and reminds me quite a bit of Realist Hero. But the very title itself implies that there will be a minimal amount of conflict, and warns the reader in advance that these are not your “average harem hero” isekai students – they’re top tier. OP is what they have for morning coffee.

We’re briefly introduced to the titular group in their own element – seven teen geniuses who between them control most of Japan. They also all know each other from school, which is why they’re all together on a plane that has a fateful plane crash. When they wake up, they’re in another world, with magic and dragons and overendowed elf girls like the one on the cover, who is absolutely not one of the teen geniuses, but she’s cute, right? They’re not sure if they can get back, but looking around at the poor farming village and the folks who saved them from the wreckage, they are sure they can do something to repay them by bettering their life. But they’ll have to deal with tributes to the local lord, and bandits, and merchants who control the economy, and (inevitably) slavery. Can they turn things in their favor? Easily.

As you’d expect in a series supposedly starring seven kids, not all of them get focus here. Also unsurprisingly, it’s two of the guys who get the bulk of it in this first volume. Tsukasa is Japan’s prime minister (yes, he’s still in high school) and seems the “sensible yet compassionate bishonen” sort, and is also clearly being romantically paired with the elf girl, as if the “I’ll feed you by mouth” wasn’t obvious enough. There’s also Masato, a genius businessman who’s the perfect person to help the village sell their wares and not knuckle under to gougers. They’re both likeable types, but they’re also very obviously types, not people yet. As for the others, the only other one who makes an impact is Shinobu, the reporter/ninja girl who’s there to be perky (and also punish Masato when he reveals she isn’t a virgin, in a tired gag that is nevertheless the best gag in the book). This is very much a first volume, and we’re waiting for more depth.

I suspect I might have enjoyed this more in prose, but it’s all right. If you’re looking for another isekai with cute girls, this is perfectly serviceable. But like its premise, it promises absolutely nothing to the reader who dislikes overpowered heroes who cruise through everything. That is what these kids are. But they invent mayonnaise, so we’re good.

Kokoro Connect: Kizu Random

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By Sadanatsu Anda and Shiromizakana. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Molly Lee.

The current fashion in North American releases seems to be not to translate something if it’s already better known to fans by the Japanese. I suspect that’s why we see each subtitle in the Kokoro Connect series this way: Hito Random meant Random People, which fits well with the bodyswapping nature of the book. Now we have Kizu Random, which I personally think might have had a greater impact were it translated, as it means Random Wounds. Likewise, due to the nature of the bodyswap, the first book out of necessity had to keep the group as mostly a tight-knit group of friends. This book, however, is darker in tone, and shows how easily such friendships can be sabotaged – mostly by overthinking things, or self-loathing, or any number of details that add up to “we are teenagers”. Indeed, what Heartseed is doing is something I think ideally suited for teenagers, who are going through this kind of thing anyway, and you could argue it’s just helping them along. Of course, you could also argue Heartseed is a sadistic jerk.

A couple of weeks after the events of the first book, our five heroes are told by the alien that is toying with them that they’re going to have moments where they suddenly lose control of their emotions and desires and act on them. Having experienced this sort of thing before, and not looking forward to it at all (mostly as she was the first to be affected, stripping and getting on top of Taichi in the clubroom), Inaba convinces the others that they can get through this as long as they keep an even emotional keel and just try really hard. That… doesn’t work, and soon Yui’s beating up delinquents (which causes her to shut herself at home), Taichi has a lot more desire to “save” people than he normally does (which is amusing, given it’s quite high to begin with), and Inaba is forced to deal with a fact that she’s been avoiding for quite some time. Friendships can be fragile, especially at this time of your life, and by halfway through the book no one is speaking to anyone.

The strengths of this book are once again the writing of the characters, who feels their age and also sound it. There’s a lot of angst and melodrama here, but it’s never really overwrought except where it’s supposed to be. For the most part the book is 3rd person Taichi POV, but we also have several chunks where it’s first-person Inaba, and those show off how screwed up her mindset is and how easy it can be to filter everything you say or do through a negative, self-loathing filter. And then there’s the “love triangle”. Taichi and Iori like each other, but don’t want to date while Heartseed is messing with them. Inaba finally admits she loves Taichi and confesses, but is rejected – for the moment. It’s a very “mature” rivalry so far, but that’s mostly because it resolves itself after a huge outpouring of emotional release from both Iori and Inaba, and I’m curious as to how messy it might get in the future.

Kokoro Connect remains a well-written teen drama, and is a refreshing change of pace for those who are bored by the idea of yet another isekai. Even if you’ve seen the anime, you should pick it up.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 8

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

The last few reviews I’ve talked about Hajime as Christ figure, Hajime as overpowered author fantasy, and Hajime as nerd. Given the events in this volume, particularly near the end, it seems appropriate to talk about Hajime as asshole. Hajime’s experience in the dungeon in the first volume broke him in many ways, and aside from his power levels the most obvious has been in his attitude towards… well, almost everything. And while we’ve seen occasional nudges back towards non-sociopathy, particularly thanks to Aiko, there’s still an awful lot of Hajime making the choice that will upset people the most, either because he wants to or, more frequently, because he can’t be bothered. And the main reason he does this, of course, is that the author (and I assume readers) find it funny. Honestly, given all the attention focused on humiliation being a subset of arousal in this book, I suspect we learn a bit TOO much about the author’s mind here. But at the end of the book, Hajime seems to genuinely mellow out.

The bunny girl on the cover is one of the big reasons, to be honest. Much has been made by Hajime of the fact that Yue is the girl he loves and the rest of his harem are far, far below her. And while that’s still fairly true, Shea’s actions over the course of the series, and particularly in the last two books, have led Hajime to realize that he does, in fact, love her as well. Not the same way he loves Yue – there’s no sex here, much to Shea’s disappointment, though I’m not sure “platonic” is how Hajime feels either. But Shea makes Hajime happy, and he wants her to be with him – and not with anyone else. This is helped along by the other big thing that mellows Hajime out, which is that he gains magic that should finally lead him to being able to return home to Japan. Just the idea that he can escape this, let’s face it, pretty dystopian world makes him smile like his old self, much to everyone’s surprise.

Speaking of ‘harem tiers’, the majority of this book is spent clearing another dungeon, this one designed to tend the bonds of love, friendship, and teamwork. Along for the ride are the B-team Japanese group, and let’s just say they don’t do really well. Dungeon-wise, the ‘tiers are Hajime & Yue -> Shea, Kaori and Tio -> big gap -> Shizuku -> Kouki, Ryutarou, and Suzu. You’ll notice Shizuku is a level higher than the others, and indeed we also see it becoming more obvious that she’ll be part of the harem eventually, which everyone else seems to have accepted but her. Indeed, at the end of the dungeon the bottom three don’t get the reward for clearing it – they weren’t good enough. That said, props to Suzu for stepping up and asking to go try the next one anyway, especially because she tells Hajime her reasoning is to be powerful enough to try to talk sense into Eri when they next see her. I suspect the reader knows this is futile, given the epilogue, but I was honestly surprised that the whole group is going to stick around. Even Kouki, who was on his best behavior in this book.

The author says we’re in the home stretch, though I suspect that still means about 3-4 more books. Till then, this volume is very long but satisfying, particularly if you like sweet, heartfelt scenes – that last short story was almost pure sugar. On the other hand, when you get to the scenes with the “slime creatures”, take my advice and skip a few pages. What is it with Japan and “fake bukkake”?

Magi, Vol. 32

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By Shinobu Ohtaka. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

Once again, I finished a volume of Magi and thought about how to convey what I felt about it into a 150-word brief only to realize that I would need a bit more space. And so here we are, with Magi heading into what proved to be its final arc. You get the sense of a lot of strings being drawn back together here, as Sinbad’s ambiguity is becoming a bit less ambiguous – is he going to be the final Big Bad? – and we also get some excellent political drama. And yes, cynical readers will be shaking their heads and saying “you just wanted to gush that another of your ships is canon, didn’t you?”. And there is a bit of that, yes. I have been very fortunate – or perhaps my tastes are merely dull – in that most of my shonen ship preferences have tended to work out over the years. So I am happy to see Alibaba and Morgiana happy, no doubt. But there’s more to this volume.

Shinobu Ohtaka has come a long way as a shonen author from the days when I was reading Sumomomo Momomo and was thoroughly unimpressed. The fight scene that opens this volume is one of the best in the series, with lots of dynamic action and plot twists that are entertaining but don’t verge on ridiculous. It’s always hard to find a way to amp up the drama in scenes like these without heading into meme territory, with “this isn’t even my final form!”, etc. In fact, we even seem to make fun of that sort of thing, as Hakuryu makes a big dramatic deal of being stung by Arba’s possessive scorpion only for it to be him essentially mocking her (and the audience). It also helps that Arba is wearing Hakumei’s body here, as it’s entertaining to see so many insane and evil expressions on such a pretty face.

The second half of the book is romance and politics, as Alibaba and Morgiana reunite (though, in one of the few ‘bad art’ parts of the book, Morgiana looks about twelve years old in the panel where Alibaba sees her) and he almost immediately proposes. It’s a good proposal, as he draws on the fact that peace has returned to the land and many are starting families to express the desire to start his own. We also get judicious flashbacks that show off just how far Morgiana and Alibaba have come from the start of the series (Morgiana also gets in some awesome kicks in the fight scene I mentioned earlier, by the way). Still, the spotlight may be taken away from them a little by Kogyoku, who is struggling with being the leader of the Kou Empire but finds her inner resolve and decides to break away from Sinbad and have the nation struggle on its own. It’s a brave decision, and I suspect Sinbad is really not going to like it.

Magi does not get as much attention as the other big shonen series out there, possibly as it’s in Shonen Sunday and thus couldn’t get the buzz of weekly updates that Jump subscribers get. But it’s really stayed at a high level of quality for some time. With only five volumes to go, readers should look forward to seeing how the series handles its big finish.

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Vol. 3

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By Yu Okano and Jaian. Released in Japan as “Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha” by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

Last time I complained about the dullness of Rentt’s POV, and though the cast remains as small as ever, it appears the author remains cognizant of it, as we get Rentt thinking about the fact that since he became undead, he’s become relatively flat and emotionless. Fortunately, though Rentt is still undead, he does level up a bit here, so at least we don’t have to read his halting, shambolic speech anymore in the second half of the book. In fact, I found the book very much felt like an inverted U as I read it. The middle two sections are easily the best, and I genuinely enjoyed them. I was not as enamored with the first section, which was essentially wrapping up events from the last book and meandered quite a bit, and the final section, which features far too many magic lessons. There are times when you can tell that the author is still learning the craft.

As I noted earlier, we pick up where we left off, with Rentt getting the flower that will help heal the woman in charge of the orphanage. While there, he meets an adventurer who turns out to be a butler (not named Sebastian, alas) and gets a request to visit the butler’s master… or mistress, as it turns out. This second section sees Rentt navigate a confusing hedge maze and then search through a pile of valuable magic artifacts for his “reward”, as well as making a contract to get more of that healing flower. Due to events in that section, Rentt is able to evolve further, becoming… sort of vampire-ish? He has bat wings, and is very pale. But he’s not QUITE exactly what the textbooks say, and he can still use his divinity, mana, etc. Finally, the young girl at the orphanage who hired Rentt to cure their caretaker is made a magic pupil of Lorraine’s, and she and Rentt attend a magic class which is made up of equal parts amusing pettiness and boring worldbuilding.

The best parts of the book are the ones where Rentt is allowed to wander outside the “boring old undead adventurer” narration. The sequence with the toy airship, and Rentt’s nerd infatuation with it, made me smile, and is absolutely terrific. That whole section was good, as Laura, the head of the family hiring Rentt, is intelligent and fun without being a brat (and knows the value of good tea). I also liked the aftermath of Rentt becoming a vampire-like being, as he and Lorraine take turns going over his body and exactly what he can and cannot do now. (I was disappointed that Lorraine didn’t ask if he was “fully functional”, so to speak, but then she seems just as shy as he is in many ways.) This was one of the sections where the worldbuilding and back and forth conversations worked quite well.

The end of this volume implies things may not go nearly as well for Rentt in the fourth volume, as we’re getting new characters who I suspect won’t take kindly to heroic vampire adventurers. That said, it may be a bit of a wait – the 4th volume is out in Japan in November, so I expect at least 3 or 4 months. Till then, The Unwanted Undead and Uneven Adventurer is still mostly keeping my attention.

Black Torch, Vol 1

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Black Torch, Vol 1 by Tsuyoshi Takaki

I was surveying my stacks of manga and decided that I needed to make more of an effort to get into the Halloween spirit. I figured that Black Torch was an ideal candidate since it features supernatural beings and a black cat, who is also a supernatural being. Spooky!

Jiro is the plucky protagonist of this manga, who has some unique abilities. He has the ability to talk to animals and is descended from a long line of ninjas. He also has absolutely no tolerance for animal cruelty, as the opening scene in the manga shows him driving of a gang that was bugging a stray cat and raven. Jiro’s Grandfather seems to mainly enjoy yelling at his grandson about ninja traditions. Jiro finds out about a cat in distress and goes to rescue it. He finds Rago, a demon (or mononoke) trapped in the form of a black cat. Jiro learns that Rago was caught up in a demonic struggle, and doesn’t remember all the details of his past. Jiro is determined to help Rago, even though the demon attempts to leave Jiro, he is relentless in his desire to help. This is one of the more endearing aspects of Black Torch, even though Jiro ends up getting trapped in a deadly mononoke battle. Rago and Jiro end up being fused together, as Rago goes to help his reckless ninja friend. There are elements that are somewhat predictable in most shonen manga, like a supernatural protection agency and the hints that Rago and Jiro will soon join a team fighting evil.

Black Torch 1

The art in Black Torch has a slightly scratchy quality that I enjoyed. Rago’s surprised cat faces were hilarious, and when his mystical powers manifest in the form of swirling black tendrils surrounding his cat form, the effect is suitably dramatic and mystical. The action scenes are dynamic. While Black Torch doesn’t stray far from the typical shonen manga formula, Jiro’s devotion to animals, the odd couple relationship between him and Rago, and Rago’s hilarious cat expressions go pretty far in making it an enjoyable supernatural action manga.

Futaribeya: A Room for Two, Vol. 1

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By Yukiko. Released in Japan by Gentosha, serialized in the magazine Comic Birz. Released in North America by Tokyopop. Translated by Katie McLendon.

I haven’t reviewed a Tokyopop title in nearly seven years, I believe, ever since its founder decided to rearrange his priorities. But the priorities are rearranging themselves back a bit, it would seem, and so here we are with a new Japanese manga. Futaribeya seems to be a fairly safe choice to leap back on this train (given they’re doing a massive Aria release next year that may, God Willing, actually finish the series, I was always going to board the train eventually) as it’s light, fluffy, slice of life with a few yuri tease bits. There actually are more of the latter than I was expecting – honestly, given the number of series that folks say are yuri that merely feature two girls who stand near each other, my expectations were low. But this series is pleasant and amusing enough, mostly due to the strength of its two leads, who may not be a couple but who bounce off each other perfectly.

Sakurako is a nice, upright, studious young woman who’s starting high school and given the choice of living in a dorm or in an apartment complex nearby. There she meets Kasumi, who is beautiful but pretty much lives in the dictionary under the definition of “my pace”. The two get along much better than you’d expect, and the first volume seems rather Sunshine Sketch-y, reasonably free of major drama and content to have us watch the two girls live their high school life. We get to see everyone struggling to study, except Sakurako, who apparently has a photographic memory and gets straight A’s (except the one time she fills in the answers all over one place by accident). We see Kasumi struggle to… well, stay awake and exert energy, really, but she’s also the one I bonded most with over the course of the volume. We also meet some relatives and fellow classmates, but honestly the series is mostly about these two girls and their growing friendship.

As I said above, the yuri in this one is there, but if you don’t want to see it you won’t. Sakurako and Kasumi have a very close friendship, sleep together in the one bed, and Kasumi rejects guys who ask her out by saying she’s dating someone while describing Sakurako. That said, I certainly wouldn’t mind if the yuri actually went somewhere. It would not take a lot for these two to go from high school to college to just living together as a couple. Both girls admit they’re each other’s “type”, at least to themselves. And there’s a valentine’s day chapter and a subsequent white day chapter, which features Kasumi buying Sakurako… well, not a refrigerator, and they don’t shop for it together, but it’s a microwave oven/toaster oven combo that is a really serious thing to get a girl for White Day. I was impressed.

This is cute, mild yuri that left a smile on my face and I liked everyone. I’ll read more.

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 2

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

The color illustrations of most light novels tend to spoil, and a lot of readers who hate spoilers know that they should avoid them before reading the book. That said, even if you looked at the color pages for the second volume of Archdemon’s Dilemma, you can’t have been TOO surprised. Having used Vol. 1 to set up the premise of adorable ‘villain’ and his even more adorable ‘slave’, with them essentially being a married couple, the fact that they gain an adopted daughter is not exactly a surprise if you’ve read any sort of manga or light novels. Seeing Chastille dressed up as a maid might be more of a surprise, but given what happened to her in Book 1, and the fact that this volume begins with her execution being discussed, it’s not hard to connect the dots either. Archdemon’s Dilemma is trying to balance out the cute found family stuff with the badass archdemon stuff, and so far… well, so far it’s a bit overbalanced on one side, I will admit.

Speaking of Chastille, I hadn’t mentioned her at all in the last review, probably as she very nicely filled the ‘other girl who likes him but isn’t going to get anywhere’ slot. That said, Zagan was impressed with her power, and I appreciated the fact that although she spends most of this book either at the peril of the Church, an Archangel who has supposedly arrived to kill her, or a dragon girl with a grudge against Archangels who keeps pranking her, she eventually does get over her deep depression and manage to take up her sword again – and once she does, she manages to kick ass. (It was also nice to see that it was Nephy, not Zagan, who was the one to talk her out of her funk.) I’m not sure how well she’s going to do at trying to get the angels and demons to talk to each other, but I’m rooting for her, despite her basically being Emilia from The Devil Is a Part-Timer! with a few serial numbers filed off.

As for Zagan, there are a few moments in the book where we get him and Nephy being adorable together (helped along by the illustrations, which do a much better job than the text of conveying his emotional awkwardness), but I wish there were more of them, as most of the rest of this book is devoted to showing off how super-ungodly powerful Zagan is. He’s still saying the wrong thing most of the time, but the things he says are designed to make him sound cool and brooding, and there’s not enough of his inner self NOT being cool and brooding. In other words, he feels too much like an OP protagonist. Things aren’t helped by the fact that the final battle sees Nephy staying behind at the castle like a dutiful wife, waiting up and preparing his dinner. Nephy helps make Zagan more down to earth.

Still, overall it was a good book, provided you don’t mind the battles being a bit boring because Zagan is always in control. And we even get a butler at the end, who I’ve decided I will call Sebastian. As with most fantasy light novels, recommended for those who like these sorts of books.

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 10

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By Namekojirushi and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mana Z.

More volumes, more girls. And perhaps a sneak peek at the bad future that R keeps talking about. No, we’re not actually seeing said future – since the author is nothing if not predictable, I suspect that we’ll get that in Books 15 or 16, the final ones – but thanks to a ditzy and morally questionable angel, we do get a sneak preview of what the war of Rekka’s fiancees would be like. It’s not a pretty sight. Rekka’s girls have never been as tight-knit a group as, say, Rokujouma, but jealous glaring is all we’ve previously been a party to. Unfortunately, the girls he’s saved who are in love with him also happen to possess insane amounts of power, power which could easily be destructive in nature. And so when the limiters are taken off… well, thank goodness it’s limited to property damage this time. As for Rekka? Still acting clueless, though even he is finding that front hard to keep up with Iris in full throttle mode.

The girls in this book are: the aforementioned Angel, who needs “love energy” to survive, though “jealousy” might be more accurate, and too much of it leads to the plot; an intergalactic producer trying to have another big hit by producing a sentai show, which sounds like a good idea till Rekka falls on her lead actor and puts his back out; and a magical girl dedicated to love and justice, not in that order (at least not at first), who is somewhat started to find herself in the wrong genre when a kaiju starts to wreak havoc. Unlike the last big and dramatic arc, this one is fairly easy to resolve – indeed, the book’s very much on the short side, so one might say it’s a bit too easy to resolve. Since Little Apocalypse runs on cliches, it’s good to see they’re all present and correct here, as the magical girl, now in a sentai/kaiju story, powers up by others believing in her, a la “clap for Tinkerbell”. Unsurprisingly, Rekka believing in her has far greater an effect.

How much you enjoy this book might depend on how much you enjoy harem antics at their most obvious. This takes place on the first day of school, but we don’t even make it there, as Iris (helped along by the love angel) decides to take Rekka on a date to an interstellar amusement park. Iris hasn’t gotten as much to do lately, so this gives her some good face time, and as one of the most “forward” of the heroines she comes very close to actually, if not scoring with him, at least making him acknowledge her love. But it’s Vol. 10, not Vol. 16, so instead we get half a volumes of girls attacking each other (and Rekka). R spends much of the volume frustrated, and you can see why.

We have six books to go till the end, and I think even the author knows he can’t string this along forever. But he’s strung it along enough. This is a decent Little Apocalypse, with two of the three heroines being pretty likeable. I also enjoyed the theater references. Sides!

Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection, Vol. 2

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By Leiji Matsumoto. Released in Japan as “Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock” by Akita Shoten, serialized in the magazine Play Comic. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson. Adapted by Snati Whitesides.

This second omnibus of Captain Harlock settles down a bit, with a lot less goofy comedy but also without the tragedy that I was expecting. What we end up getting are a series of scenes/arcs of the Arcadia and its crew going after the Mazon in deep space, and having adventures. It reminds you that manga titles back in the day were far more concerned about any casual reader being able to pick up and follow along even after missing the previous seven months. There’s not a lot of intercontinuity here. That said, it’s certainly not dull; once you get your head around the Harlock pacing and remind yourself that these characters don’t speak, they declaim, you can see why Captain Harlock is still a beloved character today, even as he spends the entire book talking with his computer or getting upset about (seemingly) being saved by his hated enemies.

The cover art has the Mazon Queen, who spends most of this volume standing in her place of power and trying to get more inside information on Harlock and company. At one point a Mazon pilot, who seems to be not quite as fanatical as the others, boards the ship and speaks briefly to the crew, finding them “united in body and heart”, much to the horror of the seemingly heartless Mazon Queen, who in reality is about as cold and ruthless as the Cybermen in Doctor Who’s 80s period, which is to say not at all. A lot of the conflict in Harlock tends to be glossed as “men” (Harlock and his crew) vs. “women” (the all-female Mazon), and we get to see the men be the ones who are stronger because of their emotions and bonds, while the cool, heartless women are doomed to never understand. Harlock’s crew does have two women in it, of course, and possibly my favorite sequence of the book was seeing Kei pretending to be in trouble and letting herself get rescued by Daiba to satisfy his grumpy male ego. This is laid out explicitly so that the reader gets it. That said, I’d feel better about Matsumoto’s handling of women if he didn’t draw most of them looking the same.

At one point the Arcadia is almost destroyed by a gravity planet, and is rescued at the last second. Harlock thinks it was the Mazon who did it, and is suitably angry and humiliated – it’s not just Daiba, Harlock too has an ego that is easily bruised. The Mazon Queen, though, is also wondering who it was that saved Harlock, because it didn’t seem to be them either. As a result, there is a tiny bit of forward plot motion in this volume that is otherwise a series of static paintings. I think there’s one more omnibus of this series, and I’m interested to see if it wraps up nicely and neatly, or if its ending is open. In the meantime, if you like classic manga, you should give this a read.

Added bonus for Doctor Who fans: the Sontaran fighter who makes an appearance. (OK, he’s not meant to be Sontaran, but come on, look at him.)

Clockwork Planet, Vol. 4

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By Yuu Kamiya, Tsubaki Himana, and Sino. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by fofi.

This volume gives a lot of attention to Halter, who has tended to serve as the realist and voice of reason for our little band of terrorists. To be fair, this role seems to be his by default; Naoto and Marie are such shiny idealists it’s a wonder you can look straight at them without going blind, RyuZU would destroy the world if Naoto asked her to, and as for Vermouth… yeah, let’s not. So it’s fallen to Halter to explain that, in fact, the world does not end up being sweet and caring just because you wish really hard. Especially when they’re in the steampunk Thailand, where anything and anyone can be bought and sold. So it’s not a big surprise when he turns out to “betray” Naoto and Marie in order to make sure that they aren’t, well, killed in eighteen different ways. That said, while Halter may be the sensible one of the goup, that’s only by a matter of degrees. Because this group is, to a man, utterly broken. In a gaming sense.

The cover girl is TemP, the newest of RyuZU’s siblings to show up, but she’s arguably the weak point of the book, being something of an airhead and lacking a purpose in life beyond “get revenge on her sister” and “be silly”. No, as ever, it’s the main group that commands the most attention, particularly the way that they react to each other. We’ve seen this before, but it’s spelled out explicitly here: Naoto, Marie, AND Halter all think of themselves as being “normal” people surrounded by insane geniuses who do the impossible every day. Since Naoto thinks of his hearing as something that’s typical, he can’t appreciate that he does what no one else can do. Marie’s own self-deprecation frequently gets in her way whenever she runs into a fresh new obstacle. And, as we really see in this volume, Halter is not merely a bodyguard and mercenary, he is possibly THE bodyguard and mercenary, able to take out whole divisions by himself with ease. Each of the three help each other in this book (indeed, Marie helping Halter is almost framed religiously), and are reminded that they can’t stop chasing in Y’s footsteps, but have to create something new. Be artists, not artisans.

At the end of the book we’re headed further west, and it’s definitely open ended. The afterword talks about the anime that was being made, and does mention the 5th book being written in among its goofiness. That said, it’s now nearly three years on, and there’s still no 5th book in Japan. One of the two authors has been dealing with health issues, and also writing the (more popular) No Game No Life books, which have also had lots of delays. The other author (who you get the sense wrote most of this book, if only as it’s slightly less lewd than the other three) started another series for Kodansha in 2017, but that also seems to have stalled out. And so we may be left with this as the final volume, and it’s not too bad a way to go out. You get the sense that Naoto and Marie will eventually achieve the heights they dream of, and manage to have the whole of RyuZU’s siblings around them. As to how that happens… well, the reader is invited to spin their own tale.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 14

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 14 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I always put down each volume of Yona of the Dawn feeling like Kusanagi has just served up a master class in plot and character development, but I felt that way even more in this volume, which shows Yona traveling to visit the Water Tribe and confronting some very serious issues along the way. As soon as they arrive on Water Tribe land, Jaeha takes the opportunity to invite Hak along to visit the Red Light District, because the women of the Water Tribe are legendary for their beauty. Yona’s cloaked reactions as this conversation unfolds underscores how much she cares. Hak turns Jaeha down, and Jaeha heads out to explore the city solo, sensing that something is very wrong with the town. He meets up with a couple ladies, who burn some suspicious incense and offer him some of the special local rice wine. Jaeha goes along with everything, as he suspects that someone is watching both him and the girls.

Yona of the Dawn 14

Yona and her crew rescue Jaeha and go out to investigate, learning that the Kai empire is flooding the town with a drug called Nadai. Yona is determined to stay and fight the drug traffickers, even though Jaeha urges her to leave. The leadership and confidence Yona has developed over the course of 14 volumes has me confident that she’ll leave the Water Tribe lands in a better state than when she arrived. Yona’s group also attracts the attention of some local dignitaries, Ladi Riri and her two companions Ayura and Tetra. Riri first thinks that Yona is suspicious, but eventually realizes that the groups have similar goals. Seeing Riri’s assessment of Yona shifting as she learns more about her just serves to underscore Yona’s strength. There’s time for a little bit of situational comedy as Riri is horrified that Yona routinely sleeps outside, surrounded by men.

After some army battles in the last volume, there’s a return to close action sequences featuring Yona’s determination as well as the unique abilities of her protectors. This volume ends on a cliffhanger, but I’m very curious to see how Yona and her companions change and grow after being challenged by the situation in the Water Tribe kingdom. I’m also happy to see Yona getting some more female friends as she continues her travels.

MachiMaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl!, Vol. 1

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By Souryu. Released in Japan as “Machigatta ko wo Mahou Shoujo ni Shite Shimatta” by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Kurage Bunch. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by David Musto and Wesley Bridges. Adapted by Jennifer Geisbrecht.

Longtime readers may be rather surprised I’m reviewing this at all, as I’ve made no secret of my distaste for the current genre of “Magical Girl Splatter”. Technically starting with Madoka Magica (which I have far less of a problem with), the more recent Magical Girl titles – all meant to be read by teen or adult men – seem to have an audience that wants to see cute girls get mentally broken and then killed off in gory ways. It’s not so much a deconstruction of the genre as a carpet bombing of it – “see, girls? THIS is what happens to magical girls! Dream of something else!” So I was not all that thrilled when I saw that Seven Seas had picked up another take on “magical girls for men”. And indeed, for the most part that’s exactly what this is. Still, there’s at least something here that made me finish the title and be curious for more.

Myu, one of those classical magical girl mascots who speaks cutely and acts as a catalyst for the plot, is being chased by a killer demon. Myu needs to find a magical girl fast, and spots a seemingly cute young girl with princess girls. Quickly it makes her the chosen one… whereupon she pulls out a cigarette and starts smoking, complaining about her teacher and acting like a stereotypical delinquent. Whoops! The demon shows up, and honestly she’s able to give it a good pounding just using her own power and lust for violence. She’s not really all that happy with the transformation either, given it strips her in the classic magical girl tradition. Now Myu has to deal with a grumpy, video-game obsessed heroine and continue to fight the bad guys… whose attacks now center entirely on Earth, allowing other mascots to take a vacation and leave it all to Myu. Even worse, the class president of another school has been turned into a dark magical girl… maybe? Who’s the dark one here?

First things first: after reading only about 15 pages of this title, you will have more panty shots than most other series put in an entire volume. If you thought “this is one of those authors where everything else he’s ever done has been porn”, you’d be absolutely correct. There’s also a relatively high body count, as (typically for the “male” magical girl genre) there are lots of victims gorily killed by the demons… or indeed by the magical girls… who don’t magically come back to life later. All of that said… it is nice to see that Kayo, the titular magical girl, is not here to be anyone’s tragic victim, and the delinquent guy who’s in love with her is essentially her lackey and whipping boy. (As a sign that this is not meant to be taken entirely seriously, the “pointy delinquent hairstyle” he sports is a wig, and he’s actually a bishonen underneath it.)

I don’t recommend this to anyone but the intended audience, let’s get that straight. That said, if you’d like a somewhat lighter, or at least more amusing, tone of nihilism in your magical girl splatter manga, MachiMaho is entirely up your alley.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 16

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

We’re now in the 2nd half of this long series of light novels, and the author is taking the time to wrap up the plots. Sanae was first, mostly as her plot tied into others and was fairly easily resolved. Yurika and Maki’s has honestly barely been touched beyond introducing various strata of evil magical girls, and there’s a sense there’s much more to it. Theia’s is, most like, the main plotline, and thus is not wrapping up anytime soon. And that leaves Kiriha’s, and unfortunately, it’s really not as good a climax as I’d like. I mentioned last time that Kiriha’s antagonist was a classic laughing villain type, and thus he’s pretty dull. He’s so dull that the more interesting villains assisting him just wander off when it becomes clear he’s going down. We’re also introduced to “surprise villain”, but he barely ties into the cast and no one really cares. The battle scenes are cool, though.

The plot is divided into two parts, as Kiriha and Koutarou head underground to deal with the villains trying to use a giant earthquake machine to destroy the world (the fact that I had to type that sentence out in a review that is not about MST3K says a lot about this arc), while Theia and her group head to the machine itself to try to destroy it. Everyone gets to use their powers to do something cool, and we get to see that the reason our heroes are always able to succeed so easily is their empathy and compassion. There’s a lost of discussion of justice in this book (actually, there’s a lot of lecturing about justice in this book), and the idea that justice means you are doing the right thing only works if you’re not, say, a cackling madman convinced that the right thing is to RULE THE WORLD!

Honestly, when all is said and done this feels like the ending to a sentai series or something like that. Even Kiriha is not immune to the tropes, giving Koutarou her trading card back in a blatant “I am going to sacrifice myself and die so that you can all be happy” ploy, which the reader will be unsurprised to hear gets her yelled at by EVERYONE afterwards. The addition of the sentai rangers also helps to sell this as being along the lines of a pastiche, which is fine in and of itself, but if we’re genuinely resolving the issues that make up Kiriha’s arc in the series (as we seem to here), it feels rather undercooked. There is a very nice scene at the end, despite some Yurika abuse for comedic affect again (could be a concussion… eeeeh, she’ll be fine) where Kiriha essentially proposes while admitting the status quo has to stay the way it does. The romance in this series is still well handled.

The next volume appears to be a “let’s do a lighter book” type, as it’s summer and we’re all going on a vacation. I look forward to that, but I also look forw3ard to getting back to the alien and magical girl plots, both of which seems to have more dramatic heft than the underground dwellers did.