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Reviews

JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World

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By Ko Hiratori. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Shoten. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Emily Balistrieri.

Before I begin, let’s state the obvious: this book is for those over the age of eighteen. The review will not have strong language itself, but reader discretion is advised.

Wow. I didn’t know much about this going into it. When I first heard about the license, I thought it sounded absolutely dreadful, but I was assured that it was not actually meant to be a servicey title and that it would reward the patient and tolerant reader. The assurance was correct, as I am very grateful to have read this title, which I thought was excellent. That said, I know several people who started to read this and were unable to get past the first two sections or so, and I can understand why. The premise sounds like your standard isekai: two kids are run over by a truck and die, meet God, and the buy gets cheat powers because this is an adventuring isekai sort of world they’re going to be dropped in. Unfortunately, it’s also virulently misogynistic. The basic roles for adult women are slave, wife, or sex worker. Haru chooses the last.

What follows is Haru going about her daily life, which involves blunt descriptions of the sex work she does. Haru’s narration is one of the main reason to get the book, as she pulls no punches about the sort of life she has to lead. The boy she came from Japan with is an absolute creep, the sort of guy who thinks he would be doing Haru a favor by letting her become his maid. This is not, by the way, a book to read for those who want to be aroused by talk of sex. There IS a lot of talk of sex, but it’s not meant to arouse you in the slightest. There are several rape scenes throughout the book, and they are as horrible as you can imagine. Haru tends to “dull her emotions” a bit during them, but as a reader you’re still horrified. That said, you do also learn to enjoy the happier times in her life as well, such as tea with her colleagues and, in the most positive and fun chapter in the book, playing “Kick the Can” with a group of kids.

About 2/3 of the way through the book there is a spoiler, which I won’t disclose, but it does tie into the main plotline and also makes sense in terms of what’s come before. Aside from Haru and Chiba (the Japanese guy), the most interesting character to me was Kiyori, a pure Japanese priestess type who wants to go adventuring, but is not allowed to without a guy. Kiyori’s the only other one whose narrative perspective we get in the book (which is otherwise Haru’s), and you get the sense as you get to the end of the book that she’d much rather be in a relationship with Haru than with any of the horrible adventurer creeps who are trying to team up with her. Unfortunately, that is not a very likely option either because, as I said earlier, virulently misogynistic world.

There are a bunch of other things in the book I enjoyed, at times the writing is very subtle. (Discussion of a reincarnation made me smile a bit, especially given the plot that leads up to it.) It apparently was a polarizing book in Japan, though not so much for the explicit sex worker content as for being an isekai at all – this is a novel, not a light novel, and fans of the publisher were upset they sank to publishing one. It’s a novel that needs warnings before you read it, but I feel that overall it ends on a positive and forward-looking note. Indeed, it feels a bit open-ended, and the final short story implies the author has a lot more they’d like to write about. If you’re tired of the standard “hero goes to another world and gets superpowers and a harem of girls” stories, this is a grim yet well-told response to it.

Satoko and Nada, Vol. 1

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By Yupechika and Marie Nishimori. Released in Japan by Seikaisha, serialization ongoing on the online site Twi 4. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jenny McKeon. Adapted by Lianne Sentar.

The premise of Satoko and Nada feels a bit fresher because it has an extra twist to it. When you see the series takes place at an American university, and features two roommates learning more about each other, you’d expect that one of them would be a stereotypical American. In fact, Nada is Saudi Arabian, and her new roommate Satoko is Japanese. Thus they’re not only learning about their own culture and personal foibles, but also learning about life as a foreign woman in America. It’s the sort of premise that works well as a 4-koma, as I think in extended chapters the lessons of “no matter what nationality, religion, or culture you are, you can still be friends” might be a bit didactic. Here each new strip resets things, and the result is a manga that’s light and funny while also making its aims very clear. And, if you’re just here to be entertained, Satoko and Nada does that as well.

A large number of these pages are typical “college roommate life” filtered though the culture of both women. We see Satoko gradually opening up and becoming more confident. It helps that Nada is the extrovert of the two, which also helps to show that the woman under the Niqab is not going to be the stereotype you’d expect. Satoko’s food is too bland, Nada’s food is too spicy. Satoko also seems to lack a sense of self-awareness at some points, leading to the one serious scene in the book where she accepts a ride with a sketchy guy and is thankfully rescued by Nada. Even on campus, America is not Japan (and it doesn’t seem they live on-campus, but in housing somewhere else.) Thankfully, most of the time the “life lessons” are more humorous, such as when Nada lectures Satoko about the different kinds of Muslim women and the outfits they wear, then berates her for an unfashionable dress.

The cast is fairly minimal. Nada has a few other Muslim friends, who sometimes come over for a “girls’ night out” and prove to be just as extroverted as Nada. Of course, this is just in comparison with the introverted Satoko – I do wonder how much of this story is based on real life experiences, as it can sometimes feel like a biographical comic with added punchlines. We also meet an American girl called Miracle (she apologizes for her parents’ “phase” when she was named), who’s a Christian church-goer, to add to the religious balance. (Satoko, as a typical Japanese woman, is technically Buddhist but in reality not all that religious, which leads to some amazement among her other friends.) I was also amused and sympathetic to Kevin, an American who’s trying to get a job teaching in Japan… but he’s Asian-American, and they only want Americans who “look white” to teach.

Satoko and Nada is not revolutionary, but I spent my time reading it with a smile on my face, and I did learn a thing or two as well. (Praying towards Mecca now has an app to help with the direction.) It’s something I’d recommend to any fan of slice-of-life manga, or those who enjoy seeing manga starring and about women.

Accel World: The End and the Beginning

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By Reki Kawahara and Hima. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

The past coming back to haunt people is a running theme in Accel World. In real life, past trauma is how you get Incarnate attacks to use in the game. And events that have happened in the game have also had traumatic repercussions, particularly for Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki. Still, as our heroes continue to attempt to try to defeat the ISS kits, I was not prepared for the past to literally come back. Everyone’s still feeling out why this is happening, but in a meta way, I think part of it is that Reki Kawahara knows when he has a good idea, but then proceeds to come back to that good idea over and over again like a favorite toy until everyone else involved just wants to move on. In Sword Art Online that idea is Laughing Coffin, the Guild filled with player killers who have proved to be behind almost everything in the series. And in Accel World its’… well, that’s the cliffhanger ending, isn’t it? Is it a real cliffhanger if the reader groans?

This is another volume that is essentially one big fight, staying inside the Accelerated World as Haruyuki and company take on the Accelerated Research Society, which is not only destroying Ash Roller with its ISS kits but has also kidnapped Nico, planning to use her for some nefarious scheme. (Nico stays unconscious for 95% of the book, though thankfully she does at least wake up and get angry for the last few pages.) Our heroes divide into two groups of four, as half go after Nico’s kidnappers while the other half stay to try to get to an exit point to unplug Nico in the real world. Unfortunately, the kidnappers are very good at what they do, and the battle is mostly fought to a standstill throughout. Also unfortunately, the exit to the real world turns out to be inside a monster… a monster that is capable of a lot of awful stuff. And, as I noted before, bringing back bad memories. Literally.

This leads to the most interesting part of the book. The killing of Red Rider was sort of the spark of everything that happened in the series, and we’ve seen it in flashbacks a few times. Now we get to see Red Rider “return” as sort of a memory copy, and you can see why everyone was upset – he’s a nice guy, and seems like the shoujo hero of a book starring a shy, insecure girl. His presence, though, allows Kuroyukihime to show how she’s grown past who she used to be and has reforged her bonds, and found new ones. It’s cool to see, and the emotional beats on her side of the book are more satisfying. As for Haru and company, they get a lot less sympathetic memory copy to deal with. The first really nasty villain of Accel World is here to chew bubblegum and be snide, and he’s all out of bubblegum. Unfortunately, he’s just a memory copy, and so unable to control combining with Nico’s stolen equipment very well, which leads to… well, the cliffhanger I was carping about.

This is still a good volume of Accel World, particularly if you like action sequences. We still have more to go, as once again the arc is not finished. Will Nico be permanently depowered? Will our heroes save Ash Roller? Will Kawahara keep playing his Greatest Hits? Only one of these is certain.

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 1

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By Io Sakisaka. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Margaret (“Betsuma”). Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Emi Louie-Nishikawa.

This is a shoujo manga, so most of you should probably be unsurprised that it is about teenage kids in high school falling in love. Actually, it starts off in middle school where we meet our hero and heroine, who meet cute, work up to going on a date… and then he never shows up, and transfers soon after, and it all falls apart. It almost feels like a one-shot, but that would be far too bitter a pill, I think, so instead we jump forward to high school, where Futaba is now slightly more outgoing and “one of the girls” (though it’s clear that she’s forcing herself), Kou returns, only he too is different from the young boy he was, and seems uncomfortable with seeing Futaba once more. Or is it just that he’s uncomfortable with seeing the company Futaba is keeping?

High school is a difficult period, and many people are still finding out who they really want to be. This is especially true in Japan, where your high school cast can be completely different from the people you knew in middle school. Futaba is a “nice normal girl”, but high school being what it is, this means that she has to smile and nod while her friends pick on the ostracized girl for being too cute and attracting the attention of the guys too much. Honestly, even without Kou breaking in and saying that her friends are fake, this was not a friendship built on a strong foundation. It’s clear that the two other girls (who I suspect we may simply never see again) were also feeling uncomfortable with Futaba in the group, and were waiting for it to break up. I really liked that the author made it clear that even though the cliche is that this is what young girls are like, she got the idea from two guys working in an office. Twisting the cliche to use it for good.

Speaking of good, the highlight of this first volume is the relationship between Futaba and Kou. Even after they reunite and she realizes that he’s become incredibly moody, standoffidh, and, well, teenage boy-ey, the chemistry between them really resonates well. This was also true of Strobe Edge, Sakisaka’s previous series, which I also enjoye4d. Futaba is seeing working to try to improve and stay true to herself, at first befriending the bullied girl “on the sly”, then defending her despite what it costs her. As for Kou, clearly the issues surrounding his family’s split are going to be resonating through the volumes to come. Hopefully then we will also get more information on the bullied girl, who seems like a sweetie pie, as well as the standard shoujo ice queen with long black hair, who seems to have an overenthusiastic boy trying to get her to make friends.

In other words, this is just the start of a long ride, which fits in nicely with the title. Fans of shoujo romance should absolutely check this out, as it’s got interesting characters and a sweet nature to it.

The Irregular at Magic High School: Visitor Arc, Part 1

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By Tsutomu Sato and Kana Ishida. Released in Japan as “Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei” by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Prowse.

Nothing quite says “The irregular at Magic High School” quite like introducing one of North American’s top magician agents, almost ungodly in her strength, speed, and power, and then having her get crushed by Tatsuya and Miyuki as a reminder that it’s their series. There are various “outs” given for Miyuki, as Tatsuya has to remove the limiter she has on him to let her fight with the strength to defeat Lina, and the occasional reminder that North America does have the occasional magic tech that Japan does not have (to Tatsuya’s irritation), but for the most part the first of this three-volume arc is meant to introduce a new girl and then show how she’s not QUITE as good as the dynamic duo. This is not something limited to this series, of course, it’s pretty standard in light novels/anime/manga. But there is a certain smugness in Irregular at Magic High School’s narration that makes it grate just a bit more.

As you can see by the cover, Lina is out new American transfer student, who is also not so secretly a soldier with the North American forces sent to Japan to try to find out who was responsible for what happened in Yokohama two volumes ago. She’s a terrible spy, as she herself admits, but she’s better as a supersoldier, complete with secret identity superhero costume, which helps her feel very “American”, along with her stubbornness and desire to see everything as a competition. It’s more of an exchange program, so we also see Shizuku leave the stage and go off to UC Berkeley for (I assume) the remainder of this arc. This is a shame, as I quite like Shizuku, and also with her gone Honoka does not get much to do except have a crush on Tatsuya. The plot is about a “vampire” who is killing magicians, though it turns out that it may be more than one.

Irregular at Magic High School is not at the point (and I don’t think it ever will be) where it can kill off one of its regulars to amp up the drama. But some drama is required, so Leo runs afoul of the ‘vampire’ folks and is hospitalized for the rest of the book, and it’s noted that without his monstrous (and bioengineered) constitution he’d likely be a lot more dead. This leads Erika to start prowling the streets as revenge for what happened. The relationship between Erika and Leo continues to be very odd – the rest of the group seems to treat them like they’re going to be a couple and are just in denial about it, but if that’s the case there’s a curious complete lack of romantic tension between them. We see Erika flush in embarrassment later on, but that’s when she gets her outfit torn to shreds in a fight and is showing off to Tatsuya and Mikihiko a bit more than she feels comfortable with.

The Irregular at Magic High School continues to be a series that’s easy to read but hard to like. At times it feels like, just like its main character, the author seems unable to write strong emotions beyond the surface. Still, this is just the first part of a long arc, and I’m hoping for stronger depth next time. Mahouka fans should enjoy this – or enjoy complaining about this.

Eromanga-sensei, Vol. 1

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By Tsukasa Fushimi, rin, and Kanzakihiro. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Dinky Spatz.

I’m pretty sure most of my regular readers are surprised to see me reviewing this title at all. I do try to give most Vol. 1s a chance, but let’s face it, this is by the author of OreImo, which reminded fans that yes, incest ships CAN sometimes piss off a fanbase. It features another brother/sister romance combo, only they’re stepsiblings so it’s “safer”… but they’re also far younger. There’s an obnoxious princess-type rival, also very young. If I’m going to be honest, my favorite character in the first volume is the editor, and that’s half because she resembled Bazett from Fate. And of course the final indignity, I have to type “Translated by Dinky Spatz” with a straight face. Even the pseudonyms are mocking me. Now, with all of that said… if this IS your sort of thing, I see nothing wrong with reading it aside from the occasional “Christ, how old are they?”. It does its job.

The premise has a young high school writer, Masamune, trying to deal with the fact that his stepsister Sagiri hasn’t left her room in about a year. He brings her food and attempts to get her to leave the room, but no dice. He’s also dealing with the fact that he recently ended his light novel series and has to start another one, despite mediocre sales and a 4-chan style board that is tearing him apart. In fact, it turns out that the instigator of the online abuse is none other than his illustrator, who goes by the name Eromanga-sensei. I will now pause to see if the reader can guess the stunning plot twist. (pauses, sips tea) Yes, that’s right, the illustrator is none other than his shut-in sister. After discovering this, he slowly attempts to break her out of her shell, and she starts to open up to him, though her heavy tsundere personality is not really helping. Can he get her to school? Can he establish a familial bond. Or… something more?

Please God, not something more, though I know I’m likely fighting a losing battle there. In any case, I was not entirely grumpy. Masamune’s approach to getting Sagiri out of her room is respectful and subtle, and he seems a lot more “with it” than most protagonists of this sort. Nor does he have an immediately obvious little girl/little sister fetish, which is sadly refreshing in this genre. The classmate of Sagiri’s who goes to the house to try to get her into school takes a refuge in audacity that made me laugh in a horrible sort of way, and her solution on how to get Sagiri out of her room was dead on. And the ojou rival girl is also over the top in an amusing way, and I liked the way not-Bazett shut her down and threw her out when she grew too arrogant.

This is based on a light novel series, which mercifully is not licensed here. I think it may work better in manga format anyway. There is an audience for this sort of title, and if you are that audience, or enjoyed OreImo, then this is definitely a title worth picking up. It just hit all the wrong buttons for me.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 10

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

I debated copying and pasting the start of my review of the 9th volume of Strike the Blood into this one, because the verses and chorus are the same. We get a new girl in peril, this time a Latin American girl (or the Strike the Blood equivalent) who is the titular Bride of the Dark God, and who gets mailed to Kojou in a suitcase to keep safe. She’s abusive and rude to Koujo, but gradually warms up to him after he keeps trying to save her life. Meanwhile, we get a new girl added to the “help Kojou summon a new Beast Vassal and regenerate to 100% health” rack, as Kanon (and Astarte, for added erotic appeal) allows him to drink her blood. And he and Yukina spend the entire book avowing that they aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, while acting exactly like a couple would. There are no surprises, there is no ambition. It’s a predictable story, well told.

The cast is starting to get a little large and unwieldy, and so we winnow it down a bit for this book. Kojou and Nagisa’s dad takes Nagisa off for a shrine visit for the duration of the book, and Sayaka doesn’t even get mentioned, much less make an appearance. As for Asagi, who can’t actually leave the island, she ends up being locked in the computer room for her own safety, much to her annoyance. This allows Kanon and Astarte, who had not really done much at all lately, to make more of an impact. And then there’s Vattler, who sparks the plot here but doesn’t really show up till almost 2/3 of the way through the book. You get the sense he’s trying to be a trickster mentor to Kojou, putting him in life-or-death situations so that he can finally come into his own as the Fourth Primogenitor.

There’s also Celesta, the new girl I mentioned above. Her fury towards Kojou has a bit of the “Latin Spitfire” cliche to it, but she’s also the weak point of the book, as she’s a normal girl, so mostly exists to get into peril. Unlike a lot of the other heroines we’ve met in previous books, I’m not sure if we’ll actually end up seeing her again. Her peril does lead to some well-choreographed fights, though, and I expect that when this was animated it turned out quite well, given (as I’ve also said before) this reads like an anime novelization. She also resonates with Yukina in the “call Kojou a pervert” running gags, which are as tiresome as ever – I wouldn’t even mind the standard shonen jealous girl stuff if it were done well, but it’s tedious. The author is much better at drama than comedy, as most authors are.

So, in the end, Strike the Blood 10 doesn’t bring much new to the table. It’s a book to read if you’ve read the previous nine. But if you’ve read the previous nine, you won’t be too disappointed.

After the Rain, Vol. 1

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By Jun Mayuzuki. Released in Japan as “Koi wa Ameagari no You ni” in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

In general, when reviewing manga that involves a relationship between a young girl and a much older guy, I have been pretty wary. This is because for the most part it’s either had the older guy be a replacement father who ends up with his adopted daughter, a trope I can’t stand, or the guy exists in a position of power over her, such as the classic student/teacher romances that litter shoujo manga. But After the Rain’s restaurant manager and waitress is not all that big of a power imbalance. In addition, the discomfort involved in such a relationship seems to be the point with this series – Masami is well aware that Akira is still only 17 years old, and that he is 45. What’s more, the audience sees that Akira is desperately searching for a purpose in life after an injury forced her to quit sports. Is this romance just a passing thing?

I’d mentioned that Akira’s face on the cover reminded me a lot of School Rumble’s Yakumo. It gets even worse when I read the series itself, as Masami is a very close match to Captain Goto from Patlabor. It feels a but like I’m reading someone’s AU crossover fanfic. That said, behind the character designs is some very pretty art and deft panel work, and you can see why this title won awards when it was coming out in Japan. Akira starts off dealing with her crush and trying to hide it, but resolves herself to confessing fairly quickly – especially for a series like this. That leaves the latter half of this omnibus for us to see how Masami (entirely referred to as “Boss” throughout by Akira, in case you wanted the power imbalance shoved in your face) deals with it – as he is very well aware what the world would think. That said, he’s not exactly unattracted to Akura either.

The audience is helped by Akira’s other romantic options, which range from pathetic (her hopeless male classmate) to loathsome (the playboy chef, who blackmails her into going on a date with him, smugly creeps on her throughout fully knowing she dislikes it, and straight up says that he feels that her love for the manager is not going to work out. The fact that he’s likely right about the last one is particularly galling, and nicely sets up the audience to root for the couple despite the age difference – we want them to prove this smug ass wrong. Unfortunately, I really don’t think Akira is in a position where romance is good for her right now. A scene where she sees her track friends running and having fun, and flees in raw shame and self-hatred when they try to resume their friendship – shows she’s in a very delicate place now. I think Masami knows this – so what does he plan to do about it?

We’ve got four more omnibuses to go, so I think the drama will play out for a while to come. What’s more, this apparently was made into an anime at some point, so I think most readers are well ahead of me in knowing what happens. Still, this was good solid seinen drama, deftly handling an uncomfortable subject. I want to see what happens next.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Second Squad Jam: Start

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

If you read the first volume of this series and thought “I’m here to read deep characterization and cool gun battles, and I’m all out of deep characterization”, then I’ve got some good news for you. Now, there is some attempt at character, which I’ll get into later on, but for the most part you are not here to see what makes Pitohui tick or reading about Llenn’s desire to save her. You are here to read about guns, and fights, and gunfights. And in this regard, the Second Squad Jam offers just what the first did, and does a very good job of it. There may be a few too many long descriptions of makes and models for my taste, but the concept and strategy of what’s going on here is top notch. You can tell this is the main thing Sigsawa wants to write – in fact, he wrote so much of it that this is a two-parter, with the second half due out early next year.

On the cover we see Llenn with a new partner, Fukaziroh, who is Karen’s real-life best friend Miyu. Miyu is not meant, so far, to have much depth. She is in this book to be FUN, and she succeeds admirably. She’s bubbly, extroverted, acts before thinking, and is also hellaciously strong in game, so is a good contrast to Llenn’s speed and agility. Llenn’s former partner, M, can’t pair up with her as he is pairing up with Pitohui, and this Squad Jam is – stop me if you’re surprised in a SAO title – a matter of life or death for the both of them. Why that is has a lot to do with Pitohui’s twisted personality, and also a lot to do with the original Sword Art Online, which Pitohui was not involved with – in fact, that’s the problem. This is handled pretty well, though if I hear yet another thing tying into Laughing Coffin again I may scream. M has a plan to fix things, though we don’t hear the specifics, for the sake of suspense.

These are not the only returning characters, of course. The squad of huge muscular women who turned out to be cute Japanese schoolgirls is back, and anxious to have a rematch with Llenn. That may have to wait, though, as Llenn is on a direct course to confront Pitohui, who we finally see in action, and it is both amazing and terrifying. She’s sort of broken, but the fact that this really IS just a game means that her cruelty and callousness comes off merely as cool rather than as any form of sociopathy. We also see the paramilitary unit, as well as the machine gun idiots. Now that we’ve gotten the plot out of the way, I expect the back half of this two-parter to be incredibly cool fights from beginning to end. As this is the first volume, there’s a lot of necessary setup that gets in the way.

Still, this is frothy fun. It’s never going to win awards for depth or emotion, but if you need a light novel equivalent of Pixy Stix, then by all means this SAO spinoff is absolutely the title for you.

Dr. Stone, Vol. 1

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Dr. Stone Volume 1 by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi

Dr. Stone is a shonen series that is entertaining due to the combination of post-apocalyptic setting and mad scientist hero. The first chapter opens with overly enthusiastic high schooler Taiju vowing to confess his love to the girl he’s had a crush on for the past five years. His cynical scientist friend Senku wishes him well in a backhanded fashion. Just as Taiju is about to launch into his confession a mysterious light appears in the sky and all the people in the world get turned into stone, frozen in place for several thousand years.

When Taiju wakes up again, he comes to in an overgrown area littered with stone fragments of people. He wanders around and sees one of his most powerful classmates, Tsukasa, also frozen in place. Senku pops up and tells Taiju that he overslept terribly, because he’s been awake and on his own for the past year and a half. Senku is determined to restart civilization, but he needs additional help, and Taiju is going to serve as the muscle in his scientific endeavors. Senku has a habit of making grand pronouncements about the rate of his ability to reconstruct stone-age scientific discoveries by yelling “Get Excited!”

There’s certainly a lot of yelling, naked men wearing leaves, and hazardous attacks from both animals and other survivors in Dr. Stone, but I enjoyed the emphasis on adventures driven by ancient science. The dynamic between the two protagonists, with one of them being super smart and the one mainly having enthusiasm on his side also set up plenty of amusing side scenes in between all the fighting and scrabbling for survival. I tend to not always be that enthusiastic about non-sports shonen manga, but I was definitely intrigued by the first volume of this series.

Dr Stone

Last and First Idol

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By Gengen Kusano. Released in Japan by Hayakawa Publishing. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Cunningham.

It needs to be said right up front, this is not remotely a light novel. In fact, it’s not even a novel, but rather, a collection of three large-ish short stories. The first one, which gives the book its title, won the Japanese Seiun Award, their equivalent of the Hugos, and the other two are essentially variations on a theme. This is not to say that they aren’t related to anime and manga – each of the three short stories revolves around a different otaku obsession, and indeed the first story is a repurposed NicoMaki fanfic (as explicitly stated in the afterword). But this is at its core science fiction. Even more importantly it’s of the genre known as hard science fiction. The majority of all three stories is made up of long, detailed, and mostly fascinating discussion of science concepts and themes, sometimes related to our own sciences, and sometimes off on a different tangent (such as the aether in the final story). To enjoy this book, you REALLY need to love science.

It’s not quite accurate to call the three stories in here “variations on a theme”, but they are definitely of a piece. In Last and First Idol, a young girl obsessed with idols finds reality impossible to accept, but her friend is there to ensure that she fulfills her dreams, even after death. In Evolution Girls, a young woman obsessed with Gatcha games is killed and reincarnated in a gatcha-themed world, where she has to fight to survive. And in Dark Seiyuu, we follow a murderous sociopath and her ditzy partner as they kill seiyuu, travel through space, and try to discover the meaning of life. All three stories, to a greater or lesser degree, feature “yuri” sort of relationships, though, appropriately given the inspiration for these stories are shows like Love Live and Madoka Magica, they don’t really progress beyond akogare all that much. All three stories also feature a grotesque amount of violence, laid out in loving and bloody description.

I was impressed with the premise and development of the stories. The characters may not have been all that likeable some of the time, but they were easy to follow as protagonists, and a couple of the stories even had stabs at a happy ending. I was expecting a bit more satire – honestly, despite the concept of things like “immortal idol girls”, “gatcha games that consume your soul”, and “seiyuu piloting spaceships with their evolved uvulas”, there’s not really much commentary on said industries, as the author is more interested in exploring science using the otaku-esque premises as a springboard. The science, it has to be said, can be deadly. I never really did get into hard science fiction as a genre, and my academic career is strictly humanities, so my eyes were glazing over a lot. Also, it has to be said, a great deal of this book involves cute girls killing other cute girls in very detailed ways. There’s a reason I don’t read the Magical Girl Kill ‘Em All books, you know?

So in the end, this is a book that is easy for me to admire and be impressed by, but I can’t really say I enjoyed it. That said, if you are the sort who likes hard SF and Madoka Magica knockoffs, this is absolutely something for you to pick up.

Pop Team Epic

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By Bkub Okawa. Released in Japan by Takeshobo, serialized in the magazine Manga Life Win. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Yota Okutani.

Many who read my reviews are familiar with me saying “This was made into a popular anime, which I haven’t actually seen.” That’s not the case here, as I am very, very familiar with the Pop Team Epic anime. In fact, this manga may be operating at a slight disadvantage in that I think almost every single person who buys it will be someone who has seen the anime that came out at the start of 2018. So, the question here is not so much “is this book funny?” (it is, in a PTE sort of way) or “is this book worth my money?” (yes it is, if only for the cover not having mosaics like the CR anime OP did) but more “what does this book have that the anime didn’t?”. There are several comics that weren’t adapted into anime gags, of course, and I will admit that for the most part you can easily see why they chose what they did. But the gags are still fun and worth reading, and it’s interesting to see hwow one gets translated into the other.

In case you are that rare person who bought this sight unseen (and given that cover, I can imagine it), Pop Team Epic is a 4-koma gag strip about two girls, Popuko (the short one) and Pipimi (the tall one). They’re dressed in school uniforms, but we never see them attending any classes. Instead, the strip is an excuse for various pop culture gags, fourth wall breaking exercises, and whatever random humor Bkub thinks of to throw at us. A good comparison might be Nichijou or CITY, though I worry comparing Pop Team Epic to anything just invites criticism. For anyone who’s seen the anime, all the most famous gags are present and correct: “Are you upset?”, “Beef or Chicken”, “Doesn’t get it at all”, etc. In fact, some of the gags look odd for an anime watcher, as Bob Epic Team used them for their own distorted art, and seeing things like the scorpion or zoo scenes as normal quick gag strips is actually a bit unnerving.

For those who had been wondering about how they would translate possibly the most memed of the PTE memes, “You Are Mother Fucker?” is left as is, which might be seen as cheating but is probably the safest option. The translation is, appropriately for a series like this, a bit of a mish-mash. Translation notes are minimal, with the occasional explanation of things like the Slit-Mouthed Woman. For the most part the pop culture gags are left alone, relying on the reader being as big a nerd as the author. There is the occasional adaptation that I noticed – in particular, I’m pretty sure the M*A*S*H reference wasn’t in the original comic – but for the most part the translation is fairly straightforward. Popuko swears quite a bit, though again, not as much as I think the “fan” reading the manga would like.

If you enjoyed the Pop Team Epic anime and want to read how it began, this is an excellent manga to buy. If you didn’t watch the PTE anime and are just curious, I’d make sure you like gag comics with a liberal definition of what “humor” is first. And if you’re a yuri fan, yes, “I wuv you lots” is in here, though don’t expect any hegemony.

The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, Vol. 6

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By Gamei Hitsuji and himesuz. Released in Japan by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

Last time I said that it wasn’t all that surprising that another hero came from Japan, and now after this volume we find that there’s actually a close connection between this fantasy world and Suimei’s own. Given the sheer amount of backstory we’ve gotten on Suimei and his own magic studies, this isn’t too surprising. It’s not good news for anyone who isn’t as powerful as Suimei, though, and there’s some genuine concern at the end of the volume over his splitting with Hatsumi and heading off to once again research a way to return to his own world. Fortunately, through the magic power of trauma, Hatsumi has finally regained her old memories, and so now she recalls enough awesome sword experience… to know that she can run away if need be. Not win. These new enemies are tough. The old enemies are pretty tough too, actually, and the book itself is essentially devoted to three huge fights and an epilogue.

The most interesting of the three fights, though not necessarily the most enjoyable, is the one on Reiji’s side. Reiji is a fairly dull hero, but he’s also pretty pure and noble and cliched as a hero as well. This is why the bad guys seem to think that he, rather than Hatsumi, is going to be the one they make their “main hero” to save the world – he’ll inspire the little people more. Of course, that assumes he’s actually doing heroic things, rather than yelling at Mizuki. Mizuki has been a flat character for a while now, and I wanted her to develop and be able to do more. But not like this. Weaponizing her chuuni tendencies makes her just as annoying as it sounds, and I fear we may have to deal with this version of her for some time. (Combining this with Lefille becoming a little girl again, it’s like the author was asking what things I dislike the most in Too Far Behind and then leaving heavily on them.)

Suimei does get a bit more complicated in this volume, not always for the better. Seeing him terrified of fighting the dragonewt because of past trauma involving his father was interesting, but in the end it didn’t really seem to hamper his battle abilities. More interesting was the discussion at the end with whatever entity is possessing Mizuki and making her fantasies reality. We get a glimpse of a Suimei who did something very nasty, and I’m fairly certain that it’s going to come out in the next book or two and have horrible consequences. Mostly, through this book, Suimei has been a pretty nice guy despite pretending that he isn’t. But he’s not perfect, and he’s a teenager. That said, it’s sort of hard to square this backstory with him and Mizuki and the “dur hur, I don’t know why all these girls are mad at me” harem idiot except “convenience of the plot”.

Overall, this is a good volume of Too Far Behind! if you like fights, and there’s some good plot-related stuff as well. It just had a couple of issues that kept niggling at me through the book. It also had no interstitial illustrations, the second volume to be missing them. Someone should have a chat with the illustrator.

Ao Haru Ride, Volume 1

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I remember when Io Sakisaka’s series Strobe Edge was announced initially there was plenty of excitement, but also many many people wondering, “What about Ao Haru Ride?” So I was excited when I heard that this series was being added to the Shojo Beat lineup, even though I wasn’t terribly familiar with it. The story opens with a bit of a prequel as Futaba spends her time in the junior high hallways attempting to escape any attention from boys, because she thinks they are loud and obnoxious. The only exception to her “No Boys Allowed” rule is Kou Tanaka, who is short, quiet, and gentle. After a couple random close encounters they agree to go on a date, but Tanaka overhears Futaba proclaiming her hatred of all men when she gets teased. Futaba waits alone for her date, and then Tanaka moves over the summer, so she’s never able to find out what has happened to him.

Fast forward into the present time and Futaba still wonders about Tanaka as she attends high school, where’s she’s determined to reinvent herself after being ostracized in junior high. She tries to play down her good looks and attractiveness, because she doesn’t want her new “friends” to think that she’s attempting to look cute for boys. There’s a classmate named Mabuchi who dimly reminds Futuba of Tanaka, but she tells herself that he’s too tall to be her long-lost friend. While Futaba continues to go through her tomboyish charade to fit in with the mean girls, she takes notice of a couple different girls in her class who are all alone, who actually seems interesting. While Futaba tells herself that she’s better off with her girl group, I think she’s unconsciously drawn to people who would be much better friends, given the chance.

Tanaka/Mabuchi is very intriguing in this first volume. He smirks at Futuba a bit, and when she starts to realize who he might be, reveals himself to her by leading her back to a shrine where they waited out a rainstorm when they were younger. He seems like a snarkier, more cynical version of his younger self, even though it seems like he can’t help himself from occasionally being kind. His kind actions are immediately balanced out by his habit of bluntly commenting on Futaba’s life, for example by telling her that she has “fake friends”. Sakikasa has a winning way with facial expressions, but one of the things I loved in this first volume was the sense of place, seeing Futuba and Tanaka having charged encounters in the shrine many years apart evoked the themes of both future and nostalgia that Ao Haru Ride is touching upon.

Unusually for a shoujo manga, this first volume covers the first year of high school, but it shows Futuba making some important decisions about who she wants to be as a person, helped along by Tanaka’s blunt prodding. Ao Haru Ride reminded me most of series like We Were There and the Sand Chronicles, just in terms of having the potential to develop into a very sensitive and emotional love story as the characters work through various complex issues. I feel like it has been some time since we’ve seen a series with such a strong emotional core story, and Ao Haru Ride seems like it has exactly that type of potential.

Falling Behind the Shojo Beat

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In which I catch up with several series that have recently debuted under VIZ’s Shojo Beat imprint.

Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale, Vols. 1-2 by Chie Shimada
Based on the game created by Spike Chunsoft, Kenka Bancho Otome is the frothy tale of Hinako Nakayama, a friendless orphan who is accosted on the way to her first day of high school by her heretofore-unknown twin brother, Hikaru Onigashima, heir to a yakuza family. He’s supposed to be attending Shishiku Academy, famous for its delinquents, but he hates fighting, so he prevails upon Hinako—toughened by her orphan experience—to switch places with him. Once she begins attending Shishiku, she makes friends and has various adventures while becoming the boss of her year and fending off challengers.

I didn’t enjoy this series much, and mostly that is due to how shallow the storytelling is. Now, I realize this manga is based on an otome game, so perhaps I shouldn’t get hung up on the details and just appreciate theoretically hunky guys, but still… a little bit of effort would’ve gone a long way. The most glaring example of missed opportunities is the fact that Hinako never once stops to wonder “Hey, if I had a rich family, including an identical twin, why on earth did I grow up in an orphanage?!” Another drawback was that Hikaru has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and his omnipresent minion is just plain creepy.

Really, the best thing I can say about Kenka Bancho Otome is “at least it’s short.”

Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale is complete in two volumes.

Takane & Hana, Vols. 1-4 by Yuki Shiwasu
When her older sister flakes on an arranged marriage meeting with her dad’s boss’s 26-year-old grandson, sixteen-year-old Hana agrees to go in her place. Takane Saibara is arrogant and critical and is surprised and intrigued when Hana tells him, “I don’t have even an ounce of interest in you.” From then on, he keeps turning up at her house and school, expecting her to cry for joy at his attention and gifts, but little by little he shows his good qualities. Although he’s a successful businessman, he does have an awkward side, and the ease with which Hana is able to push his buttons makes the age difference between them a lot easier to accept.

Over the course of these four volumes, Hana goes from zero interest in Takane to realizing that he’s a reliable, honest person whom she wants to keep seeing, despite the possibility that his career will be harmed by further association with a high-school girl. She hasn’t quite accepted that she has feelings for him, partly because their relationship is so competitive (and tsundere to the max) that admitting such a thing would be a major defeat. Indeed, the final page of the fourth volume depicts a gleefully gloating Takane who has just learned that, in the interest of keeping things simple, Hana has been telling her classmates he’s her boyfriend.

I really like both Hana and Takane a lot, and Shiwasu-sensei does great things with their facial expressions, particularly how Hana can be all smiles one moment and then blank the next (as she delivers the latest blow to Takane’s ego). Takane in smirk mode is fun, but I love the palpable sense of relief that emanates from him when he’s able to relax and just be himself around Hana. It’ll probably take a very long time for these two to get together, but if the road there is going to be this entertaining, then I’m in for the long haul!

Takane & Hana is ongoing in Japan; volume twelve comes out there later this month. VIZ will release the fifth volume in English tomorrow.

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vols. 1-3 by Meca Tanaka
As a child, Leo Tachibana was encouraged to befriend Tenma Tsuwabuki, the daughter of wealthy department store owners. She was a tomboy and frequently involved him in her escapades, which culminated in an incident where he fell into a turtle pond and was bitten on his butt by a pair of turtles, leaving scars that have become the symbol of his burning hatred for Tenma. Newly returned to Japan after living abroad for ten years, Leo is determined to get his revenge by making Tenma fall for him and then rejecting her. Yes, our hero has spent a decade obsessing over this plan all because some baby turtles chomped his butt checks.

Initially, Leo has a bunch of inner monologues about how he’ll discard Tenma like a used rag or shatter her heart to pieces, but at the same time he’s protecting her and helping her out. The Tsuwabuki store has gone bankrupt, so when the relatives she’s living with pressure her into an arranged marriage, Leo rescues her and provides her a place to stay. When she’s ostracized by her rich classmates, it’s Leo who eats lunch with her every day. Soon, Tenma learns that Leo holds her responsible for his turtle trauma, and she’s willing to let him torment her as a form of atonement. Of course, it’s obvious that he loves her, but it takes him a while to acknowledge the fact. After that point, he’s got to try to undo all the damage he did previously and try to convince Tenma he no longer has any intention of hurting her.

Leo is not especially endearing as a character, but to his credit, I will say that he very much supports and respects Tenma’s goal of becoming a veterinarian. Tenma is much more likable, being positive and dignified and with a clear-eyed goal in mind. I also liked the little subplot wherein the sheltered rich girl develops skills like cleaning house and understanding the value of money.

Ultimately, The Young Master’s Revenge is one of those shoujo series that has some truly ludicrous moments and one-note recurring characters but is somehow captivating enough to make one want to complete the series.

The Young Master’s Revenge is complete in four volumes. The final volume is due in December.

Review copies provided by the publisher.