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Reviews

Der Werwolf: the Annals of Veight, Vol. 1

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By Hyougetsu and Nishi(E)da. Released in Japan by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Ningen.

As we’ve been seeing more and more isekai light novels lately, some of them are becoming very casual about the actual reincarnation/teleportation/what have you that gets our Japanese protagonist over to the fantasy world the author really wants to write about. Der Werwolf is an extreme example of this – we never find out much of ANYTHING about Veight, our hero, from before he was reborn in this world. There’s not even a flashback to his death or anything like that. We do see the occasional mention of soy sauce and tea, and this actually turns out to be a pretty interesting plot point later on, but it’s striking how little the author cares about showing Veight adapting to a new world. No, the main reason for the isekai is to show us why Veight is not like other werewolves, and why he’s very suited to be a leader of a military brigade, de facto ruler of a human city, and apprentice to a brilliant (yet stuck as a little girl… sigh) mage. He’s not like other werewolves.

With all that said, the conceit works here, mostly because Der Werwolf is not content to sit back and rest on its isekai laurels: it’s a good story, well-told. It’s not all that original, but that’s not all that important. Veight died and was reincarnated as a werwolf. As an adult, he’s joined his fellow wolves in the Demon Lord’s army, fighting back against humanity, who has hunted most of the demon races to damn near extinction. Veight’s job is to conquer a mid-sized trading village in the South, which he does quickly and relatively painlessly. Indeed, the Viceroy of the city, who is the young woman who’s on the cover because, well, a light novel needs a pretty young woman on it, is impressed and grateful to Veight that he didn’t conquer the city through mass slaughter. The other werewolves are a bit surprised as well – what’s wrong with mass slaughter? But Veight is made of sterner stuff, and wants to spare the conquered humans, not destroy them. This is easier said than done, though.

This is a book that has plot and characterization as its main positives, which is always a good sign. The scenes flow smoothly from one to the next (indeed, the entire book is one long chapter, with a short story at the end of Veight’s youth), and we also occasionally get someone else’s POV of Veight so that we can get the contrast of how he views himself versus what others think of him. Word of warning: this is a light novel, so of course Veight is a clueless harem protagonist. The Viceroy seems to have fallen for him almost immediately, and he also has a “big sister-type” werwolf and a centaur girl added to the mix. He has absolutely no idea, of course. In the end, Der Werwolf actually reminded me a bit of The Faraway Paladin, in that it’s straightforward, not concerned with the Japan the protagonist came from all that much, and the reader comes back because the story is well-told. I’ll definitely be reading more.

My Brother’s Husband, Vol. 2

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By Gengoroh Tagame. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Futabasha, serialized in the magazine Gekkan Action. Released in North America by Pantheon Books. Translated by Anne Ishii.

Last time I wondered if Mike giving advice to a young Japanese teen who was also gay would lead to larger drama, and I’m happy to report that it did not. Not that this final volume is conflict-free, but the conflict is as low-key as the first volume was, In fact, it’s almost lampshaded by the author, as Mike has apparently said that Japan is not as bigoted about homosexuality as the West. But that’s only overtly, and we see some good examples of it being something that people quietly want to go away. This leads to Yaichi having a meeting with Kana’s teacher, who is upset that Kana is mentioning a gay an to her classmates, as the teacher says being gay is “an adult topic” kids shouldn’t discuss. Yaichi’s inner monologue comes to life again, as we saw in the first volume, and once again he represses the emotion, but this time he does not repress the objection, and this leads to a great moment where he defends Kana.

Speaking of Kana, she continues to be a terrific kid, and we see her bond with Mike grow more as the book goes forward. This actually leads to a bit of an emotional climax, as of course Mike can’t stay there forever – he’s going back home, and Kana is trying her best to repress her emotions (as her father does naturally), but isn’t really making it work as well. (Earlier she was given a version of Romeo and Juliet to read by a classmate – it devastated her, and we see her sobbing.) This leads to one of the best scenes in the book, where she asks Mike if he swears he’ll come back to Japan again, and he says he can’t do that, because he swore to Ryoji they’d come to Canada, but then Ryoji died. This leads to him teaching her the English phrase “see you soon”, which immediately lightens the mood and is quite heartwarming. Each moment of emotion or turmoil in the book is quickly followed by release or a gentle scene.

We also see more of Natsuki, Yaichi’s ex-wife. There’s a few more scenes that show they still have feelings for each other, but any reunion on their part is left implied on the final page, because this is not meant to be about Yaichi, but about the relationship between Yaichi and Mike. Yaichi’s growth in a mere three weeks is great to see, as is the final hug between the two men. And I loved the pictures we saw of Ryoji and Mike’s wedding, which looked like an absolute blast, though also led to us hearing that Ryoji blamed himself for the rift between him and his twin. As with the first volume, there isn’t a lot of big emotion here – many pages go by with no dialogue and just facial expressions, and sometimes the facial expressions are ambiguous. But Tagame is such a good artist that you understand what he’s trying to convey despite the ambiguity.

This ran in a mainstream magazine for young men, and thus tries its hardest to be friendly and easy to read. It succeeds brilliantly, and I finished the second volume wanting to immediately go back and read the first. Everyone will want to read the story of Yaichi, Mike, and Kana, and I urge them to add this series to their library as soon as they are able.

Infinite Dendrogram: The Shield of Miracles

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By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

This is another second half of a two-parter where the second half is a bit too short. The author attempts to say something in the afterword about not wanting to do short-story volumes, which is why he puts them after volumes occasionally (as he does here), but it does mean that the climax of this arc feels a bit underwhelming. Ray, Nemesis and B3 finish their investigation of the Master who married and had a child with a tian, but it’s cut short by a monster from the past who has once more risen at this exact time to start killing everyone. (I will give props to the monster, as most of these ‘black shapeless thing that fires beams that kill you’ sorts are mindless, implacable types, but this monster wants to see dying people despair, and has a nice line in maniacal laughing.) Naturally, Ray and Nemesis have to save the day, and they do, pretty simply. This allows us to read a story about Rook as a detective trying to catch a egocentric Master.

One thing that Dendrogram does here is play a bit with the idea of being darker than it is. For the most part, so far this series has been as shiny as Ray, with lots of life-or-death situations but very little real death. Being an actual game rather than a “trapped in a game world” game helps, but the actual plotting lampshades itself at times. We get a master who Ray and B3 realize is, in reality, a terminal patient. It is strongly hinted that the reason he has not come back to the game world is that he is dead. And, I feel it’s OK to spoil this since it’s of no surprise whatsoever, in the end he turns out to have survived the miracle surgery and is merely recovering. This is not a book that is going to make pregnant women and young idealistic kids sad. Likewise Tsukuyo, who we met last time when she was trying to get Ray to join her Society and baiting him with healing his arm, ends up magically healing EVERYONE (including Ray, and Ray’s arm) from the monster attacks, and her reasoning is essentially “I’m such a ditz, tee hee”. She and Ray are eerily similar in mnny ways.

Of course, not everyone is as into Dendrogram as Ray is. B3 treats this game as a game, and the tians as NPCs. She also really likes to roleplay her character, and really really likes to kill other players. Since this is an actual game this time, and the players she kills are actual jerks and losers, your sympathy naturally falls with her. It’s a refreshing contrast from Ray, who is essentially the exact same person in the game as he is outside it. Here B3 actually is her “outside” self most of the time, but when she gets her killing on she puts on her mask and turns into a sneering villain sort. I hope we see more of her. I’m less excited at seeing Gerbera, Rook’s opponent in the short story who does not really come off very well until we get inside her head for the epilogue. I think Rook finds her annoying. I did too.

So not the best volume of Dendrogram, but it didn’t really do anything wrong either. A solid effort.

The Delinquent Housewife!, Vol. 1

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The Spouse With a Secret ranks among the top five narrative devices of all time, as it lends itself to so many different genres: horror stories, costume dramas, lurid thrillers. The Delinquent Housewife! puts a humorous spin on the concept, pitting a seemingly demure newlywed against her in-laws. Though her husband assures Tomugi that his family will embrace her as a cherished member, she isn’t so sure, as Tohru’s younger sister Yukari seems determined to prove to the rest of the Komukai clan that Tomugi is a poor match for Tohru.

Sustaining this premise is a delicate balancing act; if the author hides Tomugi’s secret from the reader or the other characters for too long, the story might become tedious, but if she puts that information out in the open too soon, the story might lose momentum. Nemu Yoko splits the difference, teasing the reader about Tomugi’s big secret for the first thirty pages before dropping a bombshell: Tomugi belonged to a bosozoku (bike) gang. Yoko wisely doesn’t put all her cards on the table, however, leaving the reader to guess how and why the clean-cut Tohru fell for Tomugi.

Yoko makes another smart choice in removing Tohru from the picture just a few pages into volume one, sending him on a mysterious business trip of indefinite length. Though this plot development is a capital-C contrivance, it serves two important functions: it hints that Tohru may be harboring an even bigger secret than Tomugi, and it forces Tomugi to interact with the entire Komukai clan. In particular, Tohru’s absence exacerbates the conflict between Tomugi and Yukari, who views her older brother in a hagiographic light; Yukari spends several chapters scheming ways to expose Tomugi’s culinary deficits, certain that Tomugi’s terrible cooking will be the demise of her marriage to Tohru.

While many of the comic devices are straight out of Moliere — eavesdropping at the door, sneaking around under cover of darkness — The Delinquent Housewife! never feels rote; Yoko puts just enough spin on familiar scenarios to make the jokes’ punchlines seem fresh. Grandpa Komukai, for example, presents like a befuddled old pervert but turns out to be more perceptive about his new in-law than the skeptical Yukari, while Tomugi’s bosozoku buddies prove a fount of useful information about housework. (Her friend Ami’s cooking lesson is a highlight of volume one, a gleeful marriage of foul language, insults, and no-nonsense tips for mastering kitchen basics.) Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Delinquent Housewife! is that Yoko is unsparing in her portrayal of Tomugi’s immaturity, depicting her as a self-pitying leech who’s still blaming her parents for her shortcomings. Yet Tomugi isn’t a monster; even in her worst moments, her interactions with Ami, Dai (Tohru’s kid brother), and Tohru suggest that Tomugi is, at bottom, someone who’s just looking for a family to call her own, even if she’s using questionable tactics to get one.

If I had any criticism of The Delinquent Housewife!, it’s that Tomugi’s tough-girl talk sounds stilted, see-sawing between Noo Joisey realness and teenage text-speak — a tonal problem that might be an artifact of the original script, rather than a by-product of the translation process. On the whole, however, The Delinquent Housewife! is a welcome addition to the Vertical Comics catalog, an energetic comedy that earns its laughs with thoughtful characterizations, appealing art, and juicy plot twists. Recommended.

THE DELINQUENT HOUSEWIFE!, VOL. 1 • STORY & ART BY NEMU YOKO • TRANSLATION BY DAVID MUSTO • VERTICAL COMICS • NO RATING • 192 pp.

The Champions of Justice & the Supreme Ruler of Evil

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By Kaede Kikyou and Tobari. Released in Japan as “Seigi no Mikata to Aku no Sōtō” by the author on the Syosetu website. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Jekaterina Bält.

As with Obsessions of an Otome Gamer, the other Cross Infinite World title I’ve read, I went into this because the concept intrigued me. Honestly, it sounded like Excel Saga, and I am nothing if not a fan of anything possibly related to Excel Saga. We have a young girl who is trying to take over the world but is a bit of a flake. We have an organization that essentially fills the role of a sentai team trying to stop her. That said, that’s about where the similarities end. Instead of Il Palazzo, Mia has her late father, who drilled into her daily the rules on how to use magic but seems to have forgotten (on purpose, as we later find) to tell her what being “evil” actually means. As for the Champions of Justice, they’re cops, and while they have some flaws, for the most part they are all adults who see this Supreme Ruler of Evil they’ve been assigned to stop for what she is: a lonely young girl living alone with genuine magical powers.

Changing up my usual style, I’ll start with the good and move to the bad. It’s mostly good – I was quite entertained by this, which is a LOT deeper and more dramatic than I’d really been expecting. There’s lots of humor, sure, as Mia has a tendency to act like a stereotypical cackling villain at the drop of a hat. But I loved how her attempts to “do evil” are all rather pathetic, and that at heart she is obviously meant to be catching bad guys instead – there’s a bit of Ran from Super GALS! in her, only Ran’s just in denial, whereas Mia genuinely does not seem to know what good and evil are as concepts. The five officers are divided up fairly easily: the serious one who wants to make sure Mia eats properly, the blase one who has a secret I could have done without (more on that later), the angry guy who’s trying to date someone long-distance; the romantic lead who is constantly sexually harassing Mia as a way to distance himself from the fact that he’s fallen in love at first sight (more on that later as well), and the token woman, who is there essentially to be a big sister sort. Gradually they get Mia to open up and get closer, and honestly I think the book may have been better (if less marketable) if it removed the romance and stuck with “found family”.

There are some things I didn’t like. The book was noted as being somewhat racy, and I wasn’t quite sure why till we got to the chapter dealing with Shou, the cheerful yet sneaky blonde guy. At one point, when fighting with Mia, Mia’s magical attacks tear his jacket, which seems to cause him to go dark, and he takes her back to his apartment… which is set up like a bondage fetish room. With lots of toys, lovingly described in great detail. And a rape threat (which Shou clearly doesn’t mean but I don’t care). Honestly, this entire section could be removed with no damage to the story – sure, Shou would get no development, but Aya didn’t either. As for Ren, the love interest, he’s acknowledged in story as sexually harassing Mia, a high school student who is not yet 18, from day one. It’s done in that “this is a romance title” sort of way so I wasn’t as annoyed with it as I was with Shou, but it’s there. I did like Aya at the end admitting that she let him get away with it as she could see he was working through his issues and if he screws this up now she’ll kick his ass to hell and back.

This is another of those really long books, though at least it is complete in one volume. Overall, I’m glad I read it, as I loved the bonding between this group of rough yet gentle police officers and their wayward charge who is a “Supreme Ruler of Evil” who can’t help but do good to anyone she comes across. If you like shoujo romances, I’d definitely give it a try.

Dr. STONE, Vol. 1

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By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Caleb Cook.

It’s always difficult to judge these Jump titles because the beginning feels like a prologue even when the series takes off, as this one has. Here we have the new series from the writer who brought us Eyeshield 21 and the artist who brought us Sun-Ken-Rock. So they’re both seasoned veterans, and there’s no doubt the new series feels confident. I’m just not sure who I’m supposed to be focusing on. The guy on the cover, Senku, starts the book as the seeming “intelligent sidekick” type to the classic idiot Jump hero-type guy, Taiju. That said, Inagaki has learned his lessons well from his days at Eyeshield 21 and knows that no one read that series for Sena, likeable as he was. No, Eyeshield’s popularity was entirely due to Hiruma. As such, it’s pretty clear the the intelligent, verbally abusive guy is who we need to keep an eye on. (I’m fairly certain he’s not a real doctor, though.)

Our story begins with Taiju, for whom the words ‘lovable lunk’ seem to have been invented, finally manning up and preparing to tell the cute Yuzuriha that’s he is in love with her. Sadly, as he’s about to do this, something flashes across the entire world and every single human on it is turned to stone. Their consciousnesses survive, they’re just… trapped in stone. (It’s not just humanity, some birds are caught as well, but most animals seem to have survived. Fast forward to the year 5738, and Taiju finally is able to escape his stone body. It turns out Senku, his science friend, has been awake over half a year earlier, and has big plans. Together, they’re going to find a way to un-stone people and revive humanity. Naturally, Yuzuriha is one of the first revived, as, well, you need a cute girl in a Jump series. Unfortunately, their other revival proves a bit more unfortunate.

I’m going to leave aside the likelihood of everyone being turned to stone yet alive and conscious for over four thousand years and being mostly fine when they are revived, because that’s clearly handwave plot powers. I’m also going to leave Yuzuriha aside, because as I said earlier her sole purpose seems to be pretty and female – hopefully the manga will get a few more well-defined women in it soon, but honestly, Eyeshield 21 wasn’t great on that front either. Senku and Taiju are much better defined characters – despite his Dragon Ball hair, Senku is clever (and knows it) and pragmatic, and is ready to rebuilt the world with the help of Taiju’s muscle. The antagonist is also interesting, as he points out this is the perfect time to only revive the best, while Senku, our hero, thinks they should revive everyone regardless of whether they’re evil or not. I’m not entirely sure how you can guess the morality of a person from their stone statue self, but given our antagonist seems perfectly happy to break apart little kid’s stone bodies, I suspect he’s not really meant to be much other than ‘the bad guy’.

The art here is good, and I do like Senku, but it feels very much like a prologue. I think I’ll need one or two more volumes before I see where Dr. STONE is going. Till then, Jump fans should like this. Also, Boichi seems to have studied at the Masakazu Katsura school of female character design. Yuzuhira could have stepped off the pages of Video Girl Ai.

Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 1

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By Shouji Gatou and Yuka Nakajima. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

In the beginning there was Full Metal Panic!, a long series of light novels that sadly will probably never be rescued but which spawned a long-running anime franchise. Then there was the spinoff, Fumoffu, which was FMP as a gag comedy and featured Sousuke dressed up as an amusement park mascot. As the author admits in the afterword, the design of the mascot was so perfect that the author just poached it outright (with permission) for his new series Amagi Brilliant Park. Sousuke is not inside the costume this time, but fortunately we have Isuzu, who is sort of a gender-reversed Sousuke with about the same amount of social skills and the tendency to use guns as the first and only option. Fortunately, the male protagonist is not a Kaname expy, but instead Seiya is a young man (and former child star) who is smart, handsome, athletic, and smug about all of this. He’s clearly the perfect person to take hostage and beg to save your magical theme park. Which is what Isuzu does.

For most of this book, I will admit, I was a tad underwhelmed. Isuzu and Seiya were flawed characters, but it sort of felt that the flaw was meant to be a “quirk” rather than lead to actual character development. The same applied to other characters – the other heroine is blind, but this is apparently so irrelevant the anime didn’t bother to adapt the blindness. In addition, as part of his job to save the magical amusement park, Seiya is given a magic power, but it’s hilariously useless and for the rest of the book he simply never bothers. The writing itself is solid – no surprise, given the author’s experience – and it definitely does not have the “I am adapted from a webnovel” feel that so many titles do these days. But I really wanted something more from the series, and as the deadline to save the park crept up I was wondering what weird plan our hero would come up with to save the day.

Then came the revelation of what that plan was, which I will do my darndest not to spoil. At first I was sure it was a fakeout, because there was absolutely no way that they were going to go down that dark, cynical road. But they absolutely do, and I literally said “Holy shit” out loud when I read it. It’s a horrible thing to do, and while Seiya wins the day and the amusement park is (for now) saved, both he and Moffle (one of the “mascots” who is the spitting image of Bonta-kun and also the only one we care about in this volume) feel like it is a bitter, undeserved victory. It absolutely is. And it made the book so much better for me, knowing that in among all the wackiness of Isuzu shooting things and the mascots talking about getting it on with hot moms, the author is ready to pull the rug right out from under his readers with this sort of thing. It made me sort of ill. Bravo.

The next volume is supposed to be more lighthearted, and I’m not sure that’s really what I’ll want. But for now, I recommend Amagi Brilliant Park to fans of FMP or ‘comedy workplace’ series who don’t mind the hero coming off as something of a tortured sociopath. I’ll be reading more.

Otherworldly Izakaya [Nobu], Vol. 1

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By Natsuya Semikawa and Virginia Nitouhei. Released in Japan as “Isekai Izakaya “Nobu”” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Udon Entertainment. Translated by Caleb D. Cook.

There’s a small subset of isekai series that seem to involve a restaurant that is modern Japanese and yet caters to fantasy characters. This one is particularly odd in several ways, though. It’s based on a light novel series, which makes sense if you think of it as an isekai manga but no sense whatsoever if you think of it in its real genre, which is a “everyone enjoys food and describes it” manga. (I’m not sure it’s technically a foodie manga as there are no recipes. You aren’t supposed to make these yourself.) That said, if you DO see it as an isekai manga, it’s probably one of the few I’ve seen shown almost entirely from the POV of the existing fantasy characters. The “Chief” and Shinobu are the staff of the izakaya in question, and by the end of the first book we know the same thing about them which we knew at the start – nothing. It’s about the fantasy cast, and food.

Even the isekai part of the series is a bit vague. The plot involves this izakaya (think pub) in a side street of a medieval town, which gets traffic at first mostly from the guards who are exhausted after a day’s work (just like real izakayas). They are poleaxed by things like cold beer, oden, etc. – basic Japanese pub fare. It becomes somewhat clear as the book progresses that the izakaya has a “back area” that is connected to modern-day Japan, where Shinobu and the Chief get ingredients and (presumably) live. In other words, they are the ones who are transported to another world. But, as I said earlier, this is a series about the food and the people eating it. boisterous guards, their grumpy captain, an uptight tax collector (who is not Gustav St. Germain from Baccano!, but happens to look just like him), and a spoiled rich girl wander in, think they’re not going to like the food, and like the food.

In the end, you have to think of the series as a food manga to really appreciate it. The attention given to the food is, of course, excellent, and the characters make you really want to dig in. As I said earlier, Shinobu is the waitress girl on the cover, and she’s bright and helpful and that’s about it – likewise, Chief is straightforward and somewhat stoic. There’s some sort of language barrier that isn’t quite made clear – Shinobu using untranslated Japanese at times (particularly her long, drawn-out “haaaaaiiii!”) is meant to show this, but she can also clearly communicate with everyone. The other very odd thing about this isekai is that, as far as I can tell, there’s no magic or fantasy in this world whatsoever. It’s in some sort of German medieval world, but the only isekai think is the Japanese pub. It’s a very odd combination, but the relaxed mood and food descriptions in this volume means I’ll be coming back for more. And hopefully getting at least some backstory for our staff.

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vols. 1-2

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What if the world ended not with a bang or a whimper, but a shrug of the shoulders and a TL;DR? That’s the question at the heart of Inio Asano’s Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, a dark comedy about alien invasion.

Asano buries the lede, however, initially framing his story as a coming-of-age drama about Kadode and Oran, two girls on the cusp of adulthood. We learn about the aliens’ arrival in bits and pieces, through a 2-chan thread, a news bulletin, a string of text messages, and a sign tallying the day’s casualties. We also learn that Kadode’s father — a journalist — disappeared in the immediate aftermath of the attack, an event that has pushed Kadode’s mother to the brink of insanity.

The dramatic impact of these revelations is muted by Asano’s attention to the mundane rhythms of Kadode and Oran’s life: they study for tests, shoot the shit with friends, horse around with Oran’s older brother, and play video games until the wee hours of the morning, marking time until they graduate from high school. Like most teenagers, Kadode and Oran are morbidly curious about sex, fixating on a young teacher who does a poor job of establishing professional boundaries with his students. In private conversations, the girls tease each other about seducing Mr. Watarase, but when Kadode finds herself alone with him, she’s awkward and nervous, unable to carry out her plan. It’s to Asano’s credit that nothing happens between teacher and student, as he recognizes that Kadode’s interest is not in having sex with her teacher but in speculating what it would be like — in essence, she’s trying on the idea of an adult relationship, not actively seeking one.

A similar tension between maturity and inexperience plays out in other aspects of Asano’s narrative. Kadode, for example, is deeply invested in Isobeyan, a manga starring a dim-witted girl and a time-traveling Mushroomian with an “interdimensional pouchette” that yields amazing inventions: a brain bulb, a pair of skeleton specs. Though this manga-within-a-manga offers Asano an opportunity to showcase his technical virtuosity — Isobeyan looks like a Fujiko F. Fujio original — Isobeyan also highlights Asano’s knack for creating convincing teen characters, sympathetically portraying Kadode’s interest in kiddie manga as a survival tactic; she clings to Isobeyan because its jokes and stories offer her the consistency that’s otherwise missing from her chaotic home life.

Running in tandem with these domestic interludes are scenes of the media, government, and big business co-opting the invasion through incessant television coverage, carefully orchestrated public memorials, and merchandise, all promoting the idea that Tokyo should “never forget” about the tragedy while simultaneously encouraging residents to move on with their lives. Both volumes of Dead Dead Demon thrum with the activity of radio and television newscasts; through voice-overs and field reports, we learn the official version of events, but not what really happened on the ground. That same element of hollow reassurance informs a rally celebrating the successful demonstration of a new weapon. As people begin gathering, a chant of “Nippon!” ripples through the crowd. “Why are they all yelling ‘Nippon’?” one girl asked. “I dunno,” her friend replies, “But this is fun, so who cares?”

Asano’s art plays a vital role in suggesting the way in which the ordinary and extraordinary can coexist side-by-side. In this particular image, for example, Asano draws the undercarriage of the mother ship — its cannons, landing gear, and exhaust ports — with the same shapes and lines as he uses for the city below; it’s as if we’re viewing Tokyo on the surface of a pond, upside down and slightly murky:

Then, too, there’s a tension between the hard, industrial precision of such imagery and the soft vulnerability of the principal characters, as is conveyed by this panel in which Kadode and Oran’s view of the sky is completely blocked by the mother ship:

Though Asano’s character designs are naturalistic, capturing that liminal state between adolescence and adulthood with physical accuracy, Kadode and Oran’s faces are preternatually elastic, registering the full gamut of teenage emotions with outsized intensity. Many of the adults, by contrast, resemble Noh characters with impassive, mask-like faces that make them look… well, cartoonish, emphasizing the degree to which deception and denial have robbed them of their ability to express the fear, uncertainty, and hopelessness that the invasion has undoubtedly stirred in them. It’s a technique that Asano has used in other series — most notably Goodnight, Pun-Pun — and it works beautifully here, underscoring the absurdity of the characters’ situation.

What makes Dead Dead Demon more than just a stylish exercise in nihilism is the way in which Asano recognizes the lengths to which people will go to preserve their routines and personal comforts. Asano doesn’t frame that act as heroic resistance or conscious choice, but an atavistic need for order, especially in the aftermath of a catastrophe. For Kadode and her friends, though, that quest for normalcy takes a slightly different form, as they’re not yet old enough to have their own homes, jobs, and families; the things they cling to — like pop music and video games — offer only temporary comfort, pushing them to seek deeper answers about the alien invasion.

Lest Dead Dead Demon sound like a Terribly Serious Manga, it’s worth noting that Asano never falls into the misery porn trap that made Goodnight, Punpun such a punishing experience. Dead Dead Demon is nimble, funny, and sad, buoyed by a vivid cast of characters and a densely layered plot that allows Asano to explore weighty questions without casting a pall over the reader. For my money, it’s his best work to date, the ideal showcase for his phenomenal artistry and mordant wit. Highly recommended.

DEAD DEAD DEMON’S DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION, VOLS. 1-2 • STORY & ART BY INIO ASANO • TRANSLATION BY JOHN WERRY • VIZ MEDIA • RATED M, FOR MATURE AUDIENCES (VIOLENCE AND SEXUALITY)

Outbreak Company, Vol. 5

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

Every volume of Outbreak Company seems to begin trying its best to irritate me, I swear. It’s as if the creator has to present his bonafides before he gets into the meat of what he actually wants to do. Hence we begin with Shinichi, who has just been kidnapped by this world’s equivalent of Saudi Arabia or something similar, going on and on about moe fetishes for a bit, followed by his summarizing the entire plot for those readers who may have wanted to start with Book 5. That said, this book does show us, even more than usual, that Shinichi is very fond of these fetishes AS FICTION, and when they’re given to him in real life he is reasonably creeped out by them. And given that the entire premise of this book is basically “Shinichi has done the Eldant Empire so much good and now the entire female cast (who either love him or are at least good friends with him” proceed to rescue him:”, the reminder is needed. Shinichi is a model otaku – he can separate fiction and reality.

Myusel gets her second cover, and also pretty much separates herself from the harem pack here. We get a large chunk of the book narrated by her (out of necessity, as Shinichi’s been kidnapped), and her love and devotion to Shinichi is really impressive. As is her use of automatic weapons towards the climax, which given it gets two interstitial pieces of art may have been the excuse for the plot. At this point, if she’s not Best Girl by the end of the series I’ll be very surprised. Elvia too gets a lot to do here, given that it’s her country who has kidnapped Shinichi – we get to meet her sisters, and see how the family dynamic is. It honestly looks like it’s a good thing that Elvia was captured and stayed with the main cast. That said, it was rather startling how much she was treated as ‘evil spy’ at the start of the book given that she’s pretty much lazed around drawing and occasionally firing off soccer balls. No one forgets how she first arrived.

The plot itself is quite interesting. We’ve seen for the first four or so books Shinichi dealing with a very unequal world, where humans are the ‘norm’ and elves, dwarves, beastmen etc. are considered less than human. The core of the series has been showing that this is a bad thing. Now, however, we see Elvia’s country, whose king has set things up so that everything is equal – by force. People eat the same things, work the same jobs, are married in mass ceremonies to whoever the King picks out for them… it’s pretty damn appalling. Shinichi is supposedly kidnapped so that he can write something that will make the population of Bahairam love their king the way the magical girl movie made everyone love Petralka, and after wracking his brain and avoiding the obvious, he finally gives in. He can’t do it. Equality is important, but not at the cost of individuality.

Of course, all this may have been planned all along, and we see at the end that Shinichi’s idea of fixing things may be the smartest. Overall, though, this was a very good entry in the Outbreak Company series, and should appeal to those who enjoy it and don’t mind Shinichi occasionally leaping off of otaku cliffs.

Gear Drive, Vol. 1

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By Kabayakidare and Koutaro Sugi. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Matthew Warner.

Sometimes when I am reading fiction I am looking for something with deep philosophical themes, something that takes the characters on a tremendous journey and teaches the reader something about both the author and themselves. And sometimes I just want to kick back and have a rollicking good time. Gear Drive is definitely designed to be the latter, and I spent most of the book reading with a giant grin on my face. If I didn’t know better I’d swear it was a novelization of tome shonen manga from Jump or Sunday. It’s filled with ridiculous powerups, intense fight scenes, and showing off the truly important things, which is caring about the people around you and not just trying to look cool. And its heroine, Anti, is a great narrator, sounding very much her age without being too annoying to the reader. It’s actually a series I’d be quite happy to recommend to YA readers, especially as there’s only one volume out in Japan so far (the second comes next month).

Our story begins in a small fantasy village named, erm, Cardiff, where the inhabitants spend their days, erm, mining coal. Look, it really is a fantasy land and not Wales, though I know the two can be confused easily. Everyone in this world has magic, though some come to it more easily than others. Anti, our heroine, is one who needs a little help, so at the age of 15 she goes to the church to find out what her magic ability is. Turns out… it’s gears. She has no idea what this means, and nor does anyone else. Rapidly, however, it turns out to be a far more useful ability than expected, especially combined with two other items that her parents left her before they tragically died… no, wait, both her parents are still alive and active in the story! Fake shonen! At first being somewhat unhappy with her mystery gifts, Anti has to learn how to use them on the fly when a giant bear creature attacks the woods near her village and two young kids go out to stop it to prove they’re brave.

As I said, the high points of this book are many. There’s one scene in the battle between Anti and the bear creature that features one of the best uses of a standard fantasy “infinite bag of holding” I’ve ever seen. There’s Anti’s moral sense, which is present and correct throughout the book, and which she passes on to the impulsive kids she has to save. (I loved the illustration of the kids as adults later in life, looking straight out of Log Horizon.) There’s the standard “our eyes meet and we know we are destined to fall in love later in the series” scene, only it’s between Anti and a girl her own age, and I’m not sure the series is going to go there, but it still made me smile. The book is not perfect, of course. Anti’s gear powers combined with her parent’s items sometimes lead to “whatever the plot requires”. It clearly ends Vol 1 with about 1/3 of a book to go, so we get some quick short stories from other people’s perspective, and begin book 2 early, which means it ends in an awkward place. Also, the translator clearly had the ability to have someone say “Anti are you OK?” and didn’t, which made me sad. Still, I’m carping.

This came out in Japan in February 2018, and was apparently licensed immediately. I can see why. If it keeps this up, this will become one of my favorite series. Go get it now.

Dragon Goes House-Hunting, Vol. 1

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By Kawo Tanuki and Choco Aya. Released in Japan as “Dragon, Ie wo Kau” by Mag Garden, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Blade. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nan Rymer. Adapted by T Campbell.

It can sometimes be hard for a book to live up to its premise. Some series just have such a good starting point that the imagination takes off before you even read it, and this can lead to expecting too much. Fortunately, there are a lot of funny moments in Dragon Goes House-Hunting, a book that mostly relies on the titular dragon reacting in a ridiculous manner to the various houses that he’s being shown. Because make no bones about it, the premise of the title is absolutely what happens. Every chapter the demon lord who is also the dragon’s realtor has a fresh new house to show off, and every chapter we see the ludicrously off-putti9ng reasons no one up till now has bought it. If I’m being honest, there’s only one big flaw in this series: I found Letty, the dragon himself, to be rather irritating and wussy. But that is pretty much the point.

Letty is a pampered NEET of a dragon who has been thrown out of his parents’ house for accidentally letting the dragon eggs he was watching get stolen. Letty seems to live IN a video game world, as he points out the eggs will just respawn when the next adventurer party cones along, but gets thrown out anyway. He is a young, naive dragon with lots of people who want him dead, and so, after many harrowing situations, ends up in the hands of Dearia, who is a respected architect and real estate broker… as well as a demon lord, a fact that is third on his list. Dearia is pretty mild-mannered, and seems quite happy to find Letty a house. The trouble is, this is a fantasy RPG-land. And Letty is a massive wuss. Combining these leads to things like the house with all the built-in traps, or the house that’s haunted, or the house with the portrait that reveals your deepest secrets if you don’t give the right password.

Despite Letty irritating me a lot of the time, he’s basically good at heart, and the best part of the book was the growing friendship between him and Dearia. Towards the end Dearia simply decides to build him a house to order, and while this works out fine at first, it does highlight the problem that Letty is not like other dragons, and would much rather just curl up and stay away from the hustle and bustle of the universe. Dearia seems to have been friends with another dragon in the years before he met Letty, and it’s not hard to see that the endgame here may simply be Letty staying with Dearia and going on journeys with him. But if that happens, we wouldn’t see more ridiculous houses and Letty’s reaction to them, i.e. the primary reason to read this series. It may not quite match up to the premise in my head, but it’s pretty fun.

Skip Beat!, Vol. 41

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Skip Beat!, Volume 41 by Yoshiki Nakamura

There’s something about picking up a new volume in a long-running shoujo series that is the manga equivalent of comfort food to me. It is great to settle in to a story arc, even if the situations are similar to what has happened before, seeing how the characters have grown and evolved as they encounter new challenges still makes it rewarding for the reader.

Kyoko has a big audition in this volume, and even though this has happened so many times before in Skip Beat!, this was very satisfying to read simply to see the way she’s grown into her comfort zone as an actor. Also, Skip Beat! excels at serving up sweet sweet revenge as Kyoko proves people who underestimate her wrong with her unique skill set. In this case, Kyoko is competing for the role of the ninja Momiji against the spoiled niece of the director. Kyoko is able to bring something unique to the role due to her recent training in stage fighting, combined with her skills and instincts as an actor. One of the many things that makes Skip Beat! so special after 41 volumes is Nakamura’s gifts at drawing the process of acting. Kyoko’s body language and intensity utterly change when she’s inhabiting a role, and seeing her dynamic approach to her character’s demanding physical scenes makes it clear that the executives are crazy if they cast anyone else.

Kyoko is at her best when proving herself, and her agency isn’t afraid to pile on a little extra difficulties by manipulating the situation behind the scenes, in an attempt to improve the casting possibilities for all the actors who get started as “talent” on variety shows instead of the pure acting track. Rory’s oversight and machinations doesn’t just stop at Kyoko’s career. This volume is largely Ren free, but we get a hint at what might be happening in the next few volumes as Ren returns and Rory tips him off to a situation that might actually inspire jealousy in Ren! As always I’m having it hard to manage my anticipation until the next volume.

Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, Vol. 1

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By Yuri Kitayama and Riv. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Mana Z.

Ooof. Despite the fact that this combines the hot new trends of the last few years – reincarnation into a fantasy world AND going to a magical academy – the first volume of this series felt older than its 3 or so years, like something that came out in the dregs of the late 00s. Sadly, I use the word ‘dregs’ deliberately, as I did not really enjoy this book very much. It has almost no humor, which doesn’t help. In fact, the author seems to have decided that since they’re going to be writing a hero who is overpowered and also has the ladies falling for him, the way to balance this out is to make his entire life as miserable as possible. The reincarnated hero finds out that his childhood sweetheart he promised to marry seems to have forgotten about it.. and then she disappears anyway. He’s then killed in a bus crash. And put in the body of a 7-year-old orphan working for a group of thugs. Who are then all murdered. It’s that kind of life.

The cover features the disappeared girl prominently, which is surprising as she never appears in this new world as I expected her to. It’s possible she’s in the memories of one of the other girls we see in this book, but if so she’s hiding it well. Our hero ends up in the body of Rio, and his own memories and Rio’s merge together to create one of the more staid, boring heroes I’ve ever seen in a light novel – and I’ve read Black Bullet, for God’s sake! The new merged Rio sees that his life is a constant parade of crap, and the cynicism and knowledge he gets from his Japanese part allows him to stoically endure everything. He ends up rescuing one of the princesses… only to be tortured because they think he was in on it. When cleared, he’s sent to the magic academy… filled with nobles, so everyone hates him. He works hard and doesn’t make waves… which really doesn’t help, because the first time a scapegoat is needed when a noble screws up, guess who gets blamed? It’s wearying.

So what does Rio have going for him? Well, the heritage of his parents, who were from the fantasy equivalent of Japan before being murdered (we’re in fantasy Europe, no doubt) allows him a different type of magic from the others, and it lets him enhance his body physically. His older self did kendo and the like before getting killed, so Rio is also an excellent swordsman. Everyone praises him for being mature, because, well, he has the knowledge of a whole other person in his head, and he also doesn’t get mad. Or happy. Or anything in between. Oh yes, and his teacher Celia, who’s five years older than him, has fallen in love with him in a sort of cliched anime way. As has the princess he rescued. We’re also introduced to the older princess and the class president, who haven’t fallen yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Usually there’s at least one guy introduced to be a token friend (see: Demon King Daimaou). Not here. He’s Valentino, men fear and hate him, women adore him. Or will once he grows up, he’s still only 12. But such a mature 12!

The book ends with him leaving the school (as he’s been scapegoated – again) and setting off to his parents’ homeland. An assassin is being sent after him, but she’s cute and female, so I’m not holding out high hopes. This has quite a few volumes in Japan, and there was the occasional time I was almost interested – mostly when around the teacher, Celia. Sadly, the hero is such a dull, depressing blank I can’t really recommend going any further.

Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 9

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By Ume Aoki. Released in Japan as “Hidamari Sketch” by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been thirty-three months since my last Sunshine Sketch review. This is mostly as it’s been that long since the last volume – the series is coming out at a far slower pace now, so it’s taken a while to get the new volume to these shores. That said, it really doesn’t feel like we’ve been away. There’s not quite as much art class here, though we do see several of the student doubting their art progression. The majority of the volume is devoted either to the class trip that Yuno and Miyake and company take to Kansai, as well as visiting Hiro’s college and starting to think about where they want to go to school after graduation. Yuno shares the cover with Matsuri, the new girl introduced last time, and she seems to be nice, sort of like Miyako without the weirdness. It does beg the question, though: the series survived Sae and Hiro graduating, can it survive Yuno and Miyako too?

Of course, Sae and Hiro are at their nearby colleges, so they do manage to show up here as well, when Yun o and Miyako visit for an open campus tour. This allows us to get in several “lol, Hiro is pudgy” jokes, which aren’t very funny, as well as Hiro tossing Miyako like a caber in revenge, which is. As for the school trip, the characters of Nakayama and Mami, Yuno and Miyako’s classmates, are greatly expanded on here so that we can have the standard “we are in a group of four” field trip fun. Nakayama seems to be terrified of anything “naughty”, which leads to a few amusing gags, but Mami is more “generic friend”. The group visits temples, has pillow fights, etc., and we occasionally cut back to Nazuna and Nori, who are back at the apartments missing them.

Despite Sae and Hiro’s appearance, there’s little yuri tease there. Instead it comes from Natsume, who is also at college with Hiro and whose tsundere love for Sae does not really seem to have diminished, and Miyako, who does her best “Sae-san” impression a couple of times on Yuno, and we see that the subtext may not be quite as broad as it was before but it’s still there. At one point, it’s lampshaded that no one at the school is boy crazy at all. Funny, that. It’s almost like Ume Aoki knows what would make her lose a large portion of her audience. That said, for the most part this series is still meant for those who like 4-koma slice of life stuff, and runs on the charm of its main cast. Yuna and Miyako are still the best things in it. I’m hoping it won’t be another thirty-three months before the next volume.