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Reviews

Spirit Circle, Vol. 1

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By Satoshi Mizukami. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialized in the magazine Young King Ours. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jocelyne Allen, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

I greatly enjoyed Mizukami’s last series to be published over here, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, and so was definitely looking forward to this. The first volume is very much a manga of two halves. In the first half we set up the situation and meet out heroes and find out what grudges they may have against each other. That said, this is also a tale of reincarnation. And so the second half of the manga is seeing Fuuta’s past lives, which are various types of tragic so far, and seeing him grow as he slowly starts to remember things. Being a first volume, I’m unsure whether the bulk of the series will be the war between Fuuta and Kouko or the flashback lives – hopefully it will continue to be somewhat balanced – but it’s off to a pretty good start, and is only six volumes, so is unlikely to wear out its welcome.

Our hero, as seen on the cover, is Fuuta, a nebbish dude who can see spirits. Our heroine is the girl on the BACK cover, Kouko, a new mysterious transfer student ™ who initially seems rather cool and standoffish but once Fuuta gets to know her proves to be much worse. Because after she throws him headfirst down a flight of stairs (as you do), he suddenly finds himself flashing back to his previous lives, reincarnation style. No, they aren’t long-lost soulmates – in fact, long-lost enemies is a better term for it, and in the two lives that we see in this initial volume, Fuuta’s past selves make life miserable for Kouko’s past selves – or in some cases simply kill her outright. Helping the two of them are two ghostly familiars – hers is older and serene, his is the bubble pinkette on the cover.

The familiars are a weak part of the book so far – Juno, the pink girl, seems to fulfill no function Except to be bubbly and cute in a series with two rather dour leads. The strong part of the book are the previous lives – the second one in particular could almost be a different, separate manga, and shows Fuuta’s rather bitter and cynical past self, cursed by the witch he killed (Kouko, of course, who was literally making a medicine to save a village, but hey, witch) and living a rather desolate and depressing life, till he is redeemed to an extent by an abandoned child. I’m not actually sure if Kouko and Fuuta will get set up romantically, by the way – certainly she’s not fond of him right now, and the past lives both seem to hint of a connection to some other girl (who, if she’s in the present, we haven’t seen yet). Indeed, a romance may not be the point of this at all.

This first volume does its job quite well – it’s good, and I want to read the next one. That’s really all you can ask for in a new series.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 8

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 8 by Mizuho Kusanagi

If I had to come up with a brief phrase to describe this volume of Yona of the Dawn, it would be “clever subverted expectations”. Kusanagi explores this theme in a couple ways, first with a brief introductory story focusing on the Yellow Dragon, and then followed by a closer look at King Su-Won.

I was fully expecting another detailed quest storyline as Yona and her companions sit around debating how to search for the Yellow Dragon, but then a mysterious man shows up at their campsite, announcing himself due to his intense stomach gurgling. It is Zeno, the Yellow Dragon, and he is hungry! What follows is one of the comedic interludes that livens up the series as everyone attempts to adjust to the new stranger in their midst and try to figure out what to do next once all the guardian dragons are gathered together. While Zeno initially acts goofy and mysterious, as Yona is trying to figure out what to do next he switches over to serious mode and is incredibly insightful. As one naturally expects from this series Yona’s next direction is not to take back the throne in a grab for power, she wants to help her people who are currently repressed.

The first part of the manga played with the reader’s expectations by subverting the quest narrative that they have come to expect. The second half focuses on king Su-Won and his relationship with his greatest general, Yi Guen-Tae. The general isn’t sure what sort of king Su-Won is, and he’s initially not impressed, as Su-Won appears to be cheerful and ineffectual, without the emphasis on force as a means to an end that Yi Guen-Tae would expect. Reports keep arriving of little problems within the kingdom, and Su-Won appears to be unconcerned. Su-Won ends up proposing an elaborate war game to give the general the action he craves, and Yi Guen-Tae gradually realizes that he’s severely underestimated his king. In this story particularly Kusanagi’s ability to shift between different moods from panel to panel and her facility with facial expressions showcases the real Su-Won as opposed to the mask that usually hides his emotions.

I always put down each volume of Yona of the Dawn feeling a little in awe of Kusanagi’s storytelling abilities. She’s always able to pack so much character development into a single volume, while still giving the reader the feeling that the plot is unfolding in an unhurried, natural way. This is quite tricky to pull off successfully, and one of the reasons why Yona of the Dawn always ends up at the top of my to-read pile as soon as it comes out.

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, Vol. 3

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

This was a relatively good volume of Arifureta provided you understand what genre you are reading – it’s a teenage power fantasy of the strongest kind – so let me get the weak point out of the way straight away. It’s not hard, she’s sitting on the cover. Judging by Arifureta fans’ reaction, I’d expected to dislike Shea, introduced last time, but instead I really found myself taken with her. Tio, introduced in this volume, is not nearly as fortunate, mostly as she’s a walking sex joke (it’s a sad state of affairs when the buxom bunny girl is NOT the walking sex joke). She’s a dragon person who is mind controlled to kill the party that Hajime and company are tasked to rescue, and is unsurprisingly very hard to kill. Hajime, who as we know prefers overkill anyway, ends things by shoving a giant spike up the dragon’s bottom… which apparently not only dispels the mind control, but triggers her masochistic side. She spends the rest of the book making the standard “your abuse turns me on” jokes. Also, if you’re going to develop a heroine, don’t do it at the end in an extra story. It just looks like you forgot to.

Leaving Tio aside, the rest of the book is much better. The teacher of this sent to another world bunch, Aiko, gets the bulk of the development, and honestly probably should have gotten the cover, especially as I suspect she’s eventually going to be part of the inevitable harem, though I’m not happy about that. She still has a tendency to be a bit too much of a ripoff of Komoe-sensei from Index, but her desperate idealism and desire to help everyone she meets – as well as all her students, even when they’ve turned totally insane or (in Hajime’s case) become cynical and bitter. In fact, she’s far stronger than you’d expect, and when she goes up against Hajime to convince him to do the right thing and save the town, it’s him who blinks first. Yue also helps here, saying that the Hajime she fell in love with is not someone who will kill for no reason. Having taken the hero as dark as we can, it’s time to start bringing him back to the light.

That will take some time, and may never completely happen, though I particularly liked his reasoning for killing the villain at the end, even though he was dying anyway. Hajime, Yue and Shea continue to be the most broken trio ever, and Shea has now fully integrated herself into their little group (though he still won’t sleep with her.) If you read a series in order to see the hero overcome hardships and struggles, this is so not the book for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy seeing a ridiculously overpowered twink waltz his way through a fantasy world and occasionally be reminded that he once had an actual soul, and don’t mind him abusing nearly the entire cast, you should enjoy this quite a bit. I would not go as far as Yue and say that Hajime is a tsundere, though. Maybe he’s a tundra.

Anonymous Noise Vol. 4

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Anonymous Noise, Volume 4 by Ryoko Fukuyama

I feel a bit conflicted about this series. I found the first volume a bit uneven, but was gradually won over by all the performance scenes in the manga, even though some of the drama in the manga seems a bit far-fetched at times. This volume featured fewer performances, which maybe accounts for me feeling somewhat impatient in some of the plot resets that happened. In the first few pages of the book an event occurred that made me think, “Hell no!” and then I put the manga down and proceeded to read a few other things before picking it up again. Yuzu kisses Nino when she’s in the throes of emotional turmoil (her usual condition), and her reaction is to say “Don’t talk to me for awhile.”

Just a few pages later Yuzu clarifies that she was upset because she didn’t realize that being with her was causing Nino so much pain, and yet she continues to be fundamentally clueless about the idea that someone might have a crush on her. Yuzu promptly walks back on the idea that he has any romantic feelings for Nino, telling her that it is her voice that’s important to him. This type of emotional reset button with the storyline is what I find frustrating sometimes about this series. It just doesn’t seem like there’s a great deal of character change or growth five volumes in. In Everyone’s Getting Married, for example, no one is getting married, but the relationships between the main characters has grown and evolved so much over just a few volumes, I’m confident that the series is going somewhere, and all the drama will pay off for the reader in the end. I don’t have that same feeling for Anonymous Noise, but at the same time, it is still compelling to read.

Once I got past the romantic drama, I was able to settle down more with the secret backstory of the formation of Yuzu’s band. The next volume promises to have more of a focus on music, as everyone is gearing up for a battle of the bands. I think I enjoy this series most when it is emphasizing music more than romance, so I’m hoping for some dramatic scenes of Nino doing her rock star scream soon.

Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 25

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By Julietta Suzuki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Tomo Kimura

I haven’t done a full review of Kamisama Kiss in over 7 years, but it’s always been near the top of my want to read shoujo titles, and I’m impressed with it for lasting 25 volumes, which is more than four sets of Karakuri Odette. (Does anyone recall that series? It’s been about one fandom generation since it came out.) I was wondering what the author was going to do with this final volume, given that almost everything was resolved in the previous book. And it’s true, this is a victory lap of a sort, a light and cheerful final volume devoting itself to wrapping up the romances and getting Nanami and Tomoe married and living in the human world. It’s well worth the read, though, as it’s a well-told victory lap, and will put a smile on your face.

You’ll note the cover art is a bit different from the ‘wedding pose’ cover that the regular edition had. I picked up the Limited Edition, which comes with this alternate cover and a separate, hardcover minibook that features all the color pages from the series, as well as an epilogue chapter taking place several years later. I think it’s worth shelling out for the extra edition – the art is gorgeous, even if pretty small (this is still the size of a regular manga volume) and we also get one of those ‘extra chapters’ that always tend to happen in Hana to Yume series but so rarely get collected into North American (or indeed Japanese) volumes. Without spoiling anything, fans of Akura-Oh and Ami will absolutely want to pick up the Limited Edition.

As for the main event, I like how it shows that even after all this time, Nanami still has a tendency to sublimate her own desires if she thinks Tomoe will be uncomfortable or dislike anything, and I like the fact that the entire cast serves to clamp down on that and give her the epic wedding that she (and the series) deserves. As for the other human x supernatural pairings, Ami and Kurama is left up in the air, mostly as Kurama has not gained as much experience with human emotion as Tomoe has, but it’s pretty clear that she’s not going to be moving on. As for Himemiko and Kotaro, they’ve got a few more things conspiring to keep them apart, including some of what Nanami has dealt with before (the “they must be unhappy, it would be best if I left them” feelings), but they also have a very good reason to stay together, and the result is dealt with subtly but will put a smile on your face.

As will the entire volume, really. Kamisama Kiss has had its fair share of drama, and so after all the near deaths and trips to the afterlife it’s a relief to see such a sweet ending. Admittedly Mizuki may not agree with me, as Nanami and Tomoe becoming human means a parting from the spirit wold, but even that may be only a temporary thing, we discover. As with most really good manga, finishing this series makes a reader want to go back and start over from the beginning.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 7

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

For the most part this book is just a straight up sequel to the fourth volume, with the drama club getting together with our heroes to put on a second play featuring the Blue Knight and the Silver Princess. Like the fourth book, there’s a lot of focus on Theia and Harumi, who compare and contrast even more with each other. And like the fourth book, everything gets derailed by Theia’s rival Clan, who’s out for revenge and has a better gun now. Oh yes, and can fly. That said, for about 4/5 of this book there’s not really all that much happening, and it seems to be content to be a Christmas-themed book showing how well everyone gets along now while seeding possible things for future books, such as Ruth pointing out that serving Theia as her Knight would involve Koutarou moving off-planet.

Ruth is on the cover of this volume, so you might expect to see her get a story in Vol. 8. That said, she does get plenty to do here, mostly acting as support for Theia and trying to nudge Koutarou in the right direction, though there is an amusing side plot of her wanting to get stronger so she can defeat the sentai warrior from last book – who was, of course, Shizuka, who feels uncomfortable about all this. That said, neither Ruth or Shizuka are part of the harem (yet), and so the bulk of the development goes to Harumi and Theia. Harumi is still trying to get Koutarou to treat her as less of a sempai and more of a friend – i.e., the way he treats Theia, which she explicitly is jealous of. Theia does not think about Harumi that much, but that’s likely because she’s unaware of the plot twist we all saw coming: Harumi is in some way possessed by or a reincarnation of the Silver Princess from Theia’s past, and as the end of the book makes clear, Koutarou is literally the Blue Knight.

The climax of the book involves the performance of the 2nd play, complete with Yurika as the most pathetic dragon ever (she’s back to being useless here, though smartens up when actual danger arrives, and the fact that she hasn’t realized her feelings for Koutarou yet helps her keep it together more). The play is, as I said above, interrupted by Clan, who remains petty, spiteful, and very easy to dislike. And then comes the climax of the book, which was a big surprise. Not the actual events, those were the least surprising thing ever. No, I was surprised that the book kept going past where I expected it to. Let’s just say there was a really obvious place for a cliffhanger, but the book chose to go a few more pages and actually resolve most of its built-up tension. It actually worked quite well.

I’m enjoying reading each volume of this series as it really puts an effort into showing how each of the characters is slowly maturing and gaining confidence and strength, as well as bonding with each other. Technically it’s a harem comedy, but the harem all get along, and there’s no real rush to confess, mostly as few of them have even admitted their feelings to themselves. It works very well as an ongoing series, doing the #1 thing such series should do: make you want to read more. That said, I’m pretty sure the next volume won’t feature Ruth, as it’s Vol. 7.5, and tells the story of what happened to Koutarou and Clan during the climax of this book. Be careful when searching Amazon to get the right order.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 8

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

This volume of Yona can be divided into two parts. The first sees Yona finally fulfill the first part of the prophecy, gathering the last dragon, and then trying to figure out where to go from here. The second takes us back to the kingdom where we see what Su-Won is up to, and figure out that he’s a far more ambiguous figure than everyone may thing (both reader and characters within the series). Both parts work equally well, and you get the sense that the author is declaring this the “end of Part 1/start of Part 2′ for the series, as Yona gets a new purpose that will still manage to keep her wandering around from town to town, and Su-Won shows that he is not a pacifist like Yona’s father, but that doesn’t mean that he’s gearing up for blood and carnage either.

After the epic adventures to find the various Dragons in prior books, it is very much an anticlimax to have the last one, Zeno, just pop up and say “OH HAI!” to our heroes, then join them on a whim. It’s intended on the author’s part, of course, and the rest of the cast are just as thrown off their game by this guy who seems like a giant flake but can occasionally show a flair for the serious, and also does not seem to have the deep emotional bond with Yona that the others do. Honestly, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if he turned out to not be what he seemed later on, but for now I’m content to go along with Zeno as he’s fun. We also return to Ik-Su the priest once Yun realizes that they’ve fulfilled the prophecy but nothing has actually happened. This leads to Yona questioning what she wants to do – does she want to regain the kingdom for her father? Well, no, she wants to help other towns in need. I suspect that’s what we’ll be doing for a while.

Meanwhile, back in the kingdom, we see a rather grumpy general, Geun-Tae, who is depressed that even though there’s a new, supposedly not pacifist king, he’s STILL not fighting in great battles. This allows us to see Su-Won’s too clever by half manipulation from another point of view, and that other point of view paints Su-Won as a clueless idiot. The audience already knows that’s not true, of course, so the chapters instead show how, in a mock war game, Su-Won can win the trust of an important ally, and also how he listens and pays attention to everything and uses it to better the kingdom. Su-Won is turning out to be a really good king, and therefore Yona’s decision is going to be even more difficult. (Also, I must resist calling Su-Won Henry IV.)

As always, there’s even more that I didn’t get to talk about, like Geun-Tae’s adorable tea-loving wife, and Yona deciding to learn how to swordfight by stealing Hak’s sword in his sleep, which goes about as well as you’d expect. The series remains compulsively readable, and even though it’s on the fasttrack with a release every two months, it still feels too long between volumes. More!

Bluesteel Blasphemer, Vol. 3

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By Ichirou Sakaki and Tera Akai. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

In general, authors do not read my reviews and listen to my suggestions, mostly as they’re Japanese and the book has already come out several years ago (and also because I rarely have anything constructive to recommend). But sometimes I can’t help but read a book and think to myself “wow, the author listened to me!” even if it’s not true. Such a book is this volume of Bluesteel Blasphemer, which I called ‘highly adequate’ last time. It still is, but the harem stuff I didn’t like is lessened (though watch out for the ‘tee hee everyone thinks he’s a lolicon’ scene at the start), Yukinari is getting more character development and a better class of villain going up against him, there’s some well thought out setup for the final book, and most of all, after suggesting last time that Berta needed a hobby, she gets one here. I wasn’t expecting it to be crack sniper, but hey, needs must as the devil drives.

The girl on the cover is Angela, a Holy Knight who’s there to be even more zealous and driven and to show off how much Arlen has changed, despite his still being mostly a jerk. She mostly faces off against Veronika, a former princess turned mercenary whose past… absolutely does not catch up with her in any way, so I assume that it’s being saved for Book 4. It does give her interesting backstory, though, which I suspect is its main function. Yukinari, meanwhile, is having to adjust his thinking, as he’s been solely devoted to protecting himself and Dasa and that’s about it. Now that he has to protect two villages and the denizens thereof, his fighting style has to change, and he has to rely on others far more. He seems to come to terms with this fairly quickly, though he’s of the stoic, no real personality style of Japanese light novel heroes, so heavy angst is not really going to come into it.

Berta’s development really pleased me, and is the highlight of the book. She’d been there in the first book as the sacrifice who wasn’t, and then in the second feeling rather useless and trying to offer her body to Yukinari mostly as she had no idea what to do with her life. You got the sense she was in the book to be the large-breasted option in the harem. But here Yukinari tries to make a sniper rifle, and because of its awkward design (he’s working from memories of his past in Japan, and is not as familiar with this type of gun) neither he nor Dasa are really very good with it. But Berta, who has never shot anything in her life and thus has no bad habits to overcome, turns out to be a crack shot… provided she’s shooting non-living targets. She’s just too sweet. Fortunately the threat of her friends being killed and getting shouted at by Arlen help steel her resolve, and she’s able to save part of the day. She also, after a talk with Veronika, realizes that hey, she is doing all this for Yukinari as she loves him, rather than because of a misguided sense of duty. Honestly, she should have been on the cover.

So overall, a bit better than the previous two books, and worth your time if you’re following the series. That said, I’m ready for it to come to an end in Book 4, which will feature the most obvious villain of all time – so obvious, in fact, that the author assumes in his afterword that we’ve already guessed who she is. I’ll be here to read it.

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 18

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By Yusei Matsui. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Tetsuichiro Miyaki. Adapted by Bryant Turnage.

Jump series tend to be highly variable in how they handle romance in the titles (discarding actual romance series such as Nisekoi). Some series are happy to have romance as part of the character’s motivations, such as Naruto or Bleach. Some are proud of the fact that they eschew normal romance in their titles, such as One Piece or Gintama. A lot of series go for the in between, where romance sometimes crops up but it’s never really the focus and you aren’t really gunning for pairings. Toriko, My Hero Academia… and Assassination Classroom, where we’ve previously seen that Kayano is sort of crushing on Nagisa and that Irina has a thing for Karasuma, but that’s about it. Of course, sometimes those series will then take the opportunity to leap into the romance waters head-first… and what better opportunity than Valentine’s Day?

Before that, though, let’s wrap up the “space station” arc, one which if I recall correctly was one suspension of disbelief too many for a lot of readers. The author does try to keep things as ridiculous as the premise (I love Nagisa’s bomb with ‘BOMB’ written on it), but it is a bit anti-climactic that the whole thing is resolved in one chapter, though it’s nice to see Ritsu actually doing something again. That said, this is all a setup for the main thrust of the first half of the book, which is that these are idealistic middle schoolers, assassins or no. They think because Koro-sensei exploding is now a less than 1% chance, that those odds mean they can save him. In the real world, that’s not how things work, and it’s no surprise that the bad guys are working hard on plan B. Even Irina is concerned, thinking that someone killing Koro-sensei in front of them will ruin the kids’ innocence.

But then there’s the Valentine’s chapters. Again, the author blissfully ignores the most popular fan pairing – Nagisa and Karma – but there’s still plenty to draw on here. We see the class playboy screw things up and then try valiantly to fix them, especially as Koro-sensei says his recommendation to a high school depends on it. We see Kayano, who not only has to work up the courage to give Nagisa chocolates, but has to do it without Koro-sensei spying on her and with the “help” of Rio and Karma, who turn into literal devils in some panels as if it weren’t obvious enough. (We also see Rio quietly admitting she likes Nagisa too, but feels Kayano made the better showing here.) If it’s frustrating, that’s because this is one of those ‘middling’ Jump romance series; hence, there won’t be a pairing because Nagisa needs to focus solely on the future. And the adults also get in on this, with Irina’s worries that I mentioned above prompting Karasuma to tell her to stop being an assassin and join the defense agency. Her compassion for the students also prompts him to give in to her affections… though it’s done Karasuma-style, with a subtle, almost non-existent proposal that he refuses to repeat. Irina’s facial reaction is the best reason to buy this book.

In short this novel is a shipper’s paradise, but we’re also told we’re not going to be getting a get Koro-sensei out of jail free card. It’s becoming more and more clear that Koro-sensei being killed is the endgame. As we get to the final volumes, will the kids keep their youthful innocence? I can’t wait to find out.

Shojo Fight, Vol. 1

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Shojo FIGHT! Volume 1 by Yoko Nihonbashi

I’m very happy about Kodansha’s recent investment in digital manga, since it means that some titles that might be not commercial enough to get a print release are being translated. At the same time, I’ve been burned by digital manga in the past, and I only have so much budgeted for digital comics a month, so I’ve been a little picky with my purchases. I was very interested to see a girls volleyball title coming out from Kodansha, because I do enjoy a good sports manga. The first volume of Shojo FIGHT! is largely set-up for the whole series, and it packs an impressive amount of drama in one short volume.

Neri spends her time on the bench for her middle school volleyball team. She seems to be content to be incredibly unassertive and dismissed, but she has a group of friends and fans who look after her. The manga starts by showing the dynamics of Neri’s current team. Koyuki seems to be noticed as much for her looks as her volleyball talent, while Chiyo is the seemingly evil teem member who is comfortable saying horrible things to everyone. While Neri doesn’t do much in the way of athletics in the first few pages, it is clear that she has the aura of somebody special. Neri has a built in fanclub that includes Odagiri, a girl who spends her time drawing volleyball manga. There are also the brothers Shikishima. The younger blond Shikishima is a carefree volleyball player while his his older brother with the dark hair has the burden of being the heir to his family’s osteopathic clinic, having magic injury soothing fingers, and also playing volleyball.

When Neri does get off the bench, it is clear that she’s been hiding her skills as well as her single-minded intensity towards the sport of volleyball. Part of the reason why she’s been able to hide so long is because her school tends to give starting positions based on the height of the players. Neri becomes aggressive and vocal, yelling at Koyuki to get her head in the game. Neri and Koyuki end up colliding when they go after the same ball. Neri’s travails in volleyball would be enough to carry this volume, but she also has a family tragedy that she’s dealing with as well. Slowly the details are revealed as the story progresses, and while Neri’s set up for a different type of volleyball career as she enters high school, she’s still dealing with plenty of baggage. It seems like her friends are always going to be around to support her, especially Shikishima the elder.

Part of my enjoyment of Shojo FIGHT! is due to the novelty factor. Perhaps because I haven’t been able to read many female-oriented sports manga, I found Neri’s portrayal as a volleyball hero with athletic prowess and intensity that could cause situations to get out of control refreshing, just because I’m much more used to seeing this type of character as a male protagonist. If this had been the 5th female volleyball manga that I’d read instead of the 2nd, I might not find it quite as charming though. Other reviewers have noted that the art of this volume looks very similar to OEL manga, with smooth dark lines, sparse backgrounds, and lacking the delicacy that most shoujo fans might expect. I was halfway wondering if it was as I was reading it if it was OEL, but as I looked up Shojo FIGHT, it indeed came out in Japan originally in the mid 2000s. Nihonbashi’s style made me wonder if it really was that unique, or if it comes down to just the type of series that tend to get translated for a North American audience. Nihonbashi’s high contrast style gives Shojo FIGHT a more graphic, less flowery sort of look, and while she is good at facial expressions, I did find myself wondering at times if Neri had variants of her stunned and shell shocked look as she grapples with her emotions. I did enjoy all the distinctive character designs. With such a large cast, having distinct looks for the characters helps the reader greatly.

There was enough drama for two volumes in the first volume of Shojo FIGHT!, but at the same time I’m reserving judgement a bit, because I expect the narrative to settle down in the second volume. I’m hoping to see if Neri is able to fight off her inner demons a bit for the sake of volleyball.

I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 5

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

After a couple of books where I was fairly dissatisfied with the series, this is a much stronger volume of Little Apocalypse. It still has its cliches that it falls into, and has pretty much given up being a parody, but that also means the plot gets much more serious and thrilling. Rekka actually manages to achieve cool things, and his wishy-washyness about the heroines is a bit less frustrating. Also R has a lot more to do, and has become the reader stand-in, admiring the girls and tweaking Rekka. We also get a second book in a row where one of the heroines turns out to be not what they seem, but this one actually comes as a bit of a surprise, one of quite a few genuine surprises I had reading this book. There are still a few major problems with it (more on that below), but rating it against other books in the series, it’s the best since the first.

The plot kicks off when Iris invites Rekka to a water planet for the weekend to do some swimming. By now Iris has gotten used to the fact that she can’t have Rekka all to herself as much as she wants, so she even goes as far as to invite the others as well. (The revolving heroine door revolves again this time – Lea can’t make it, but instead Tetra gets a much larger role, to make up for being absent in the prior book.) Upon arrival, they find the planet, in order to survive, has basically become a resort, with the mermaid palace a glorified hotel. Unfortunately, the palace is soon attacked by pirates, whose motive is murky but who seem prepared to kill. Rekka teams up with his usual crew, along with Rain, the princess of the mermaid planet; Shirley, a scientist who seemingly was simply there on holiday as well; and Fam, one of the pirates who’s noticed that the captain has not been himself lately. Interestingly, only the last two are identified as ‘heroines’ by R; I wasn’t sure why Rain wasn’t, but in the end she ends up being one anyway.

As I said, for the most part I enjoyed this. The first at the end was quite good, and the villain’s broken motivation was treated with sensitivity by Rekka when almost any other hero would have simply taken them out. That said, I had two big problems. The first is Raul, a Lupin wannabe who seems to be there to do all the things that the author realized would be impossible for Rekka to achieve, which is nice except that seeing how Rekka achieves impossible things is the main reason to read the series. He’s a deus ex machina character. The other is the ending, which I knew was coming but still cringed at. If you’re going to have a villain threaten an entire planet with death and be well advanced in actually achieving this, even if the motivations do turn out to be “I have never had friends and am desperately lonely”, I’m pretty sure you still have to serve time. The Get Out Of Jail Free Because I’m A Heroine card works far less well here than it does for Rosalind.

But oh well. Little Apocalypse is never going to be perfect, particularly as it keeps advancing its ridiculous premise. Most of the book works pretty well, some neglected heroines get things to do (and no doubt will be neglected again while others rotate in), Rekka gets to be cool and yet still unaware that people are attracted to him, and R is snarky. We’re almost a third of the way through the series, and I’m starting to be curious as to how the author can keep this up without it collapsing.

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon?, Vol. 9

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By Fujino Omori and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Gaippe.

DanMachi is not a game world per se, but it runs on game mechanics. Adventurer’s levels are literally written on them, and most of the plot involves killing monsters, drinking healing potions, etc. And this means that the villains tend to be mindless, unthinking monsters. Which makes for good fight scenes – in fact, it has to. If you hesitate or lose it for a moment, you’re dead. We’ve seen Bell Cranel and his group come perilously close to this several times. Be swift, be strong, and kill the monsters. That’s how you survive. So when Bell comes across a newborn monster that not only is not trying to kill him, but is crying – and can talk! – his world is upended a bit. And so is the reader’s, as it’s made clear that this is a game-changer.

The girl on the cover is the monster in question, a vouivre, which may require a little googling – it seems to be related to wyverns. In any case, she shows consciousness, awareness, and intelligence, something previously unknown in the dungeons. Bell being Bell, he decides to take her back to the mansion with him, much to the chagrin of everyone else, who would probably protest more if it weren’t for the fact that they’ve all been rescued from bad situations by him in the exact same manner. Naming her Wiene (not sure how this is pronounced – I went with “vine-uh” while reading), she learns incredibly rapidly, and also bonds with most of the family (sorry, Lilly, you’re destined forever to be the grumpy suspicious one) very quickly. The difficulty is with what she is. If monsters have intelligence now and can be nice, will that make adventurers think twice before killing them? That will lead to a lot of dead adventurers. How do you tell a populace born and raised on ‘monsters are evil’ that some aren’t? And if you spend your life devoted to killing monsters, and now some are folks like Wiene, are you a murderer?

DanMachi 9 doesn’t focus on these questions quite as much as I’d like, but it’s also not finished – the author apologizes for this being a two-parter, and says that the next volume will resolve the subplot. It becomes clear that this is an ongoing thing, and that some of the gods are trying to advance it – using Bell’s ever-loving kindness as a catalyst – so that monsters and humans can live together. Easier said than done, though. Speaking of catalysts, Hestia serves once more as an exposition catalyst, though honestly that’s preferable to some of her former jealous antics. She learns what’s going on, and what price her family could now pay… a price that I think the next volume may deal with.

As always, DanMachi is well-written, with excellent fights, nice characterization (less fanservice than usual this time), and smooth prose, so that you don’t tend to notice how much larger these books are compared to some other light novels. Is this new development going to change the course of the series? Or will everything turn tragic in Book 10? Luckily, as Vol. 9 was pushed back a month, we only have a 3-month wait to find out. Ignore the gimmickey title – this is one of Yen On’s best series.

Shojo Fight!, Vol. 1

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By Yoko Nihonbashi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Evening. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Rose Padgett.

One of the benefits of the wave of digital-only titles we’re seeing in 2017 is the glut of a genre that was almost invisible until a few years ago – sports manga. Kodansha in particular has been pouring out titles devoted to soccer, baseball, soccer, rugby, soccer… and now we have women’s volleyball, with the emotionally gripping Shojo Fight!. You’d expect, given that all the male-oriented soccer manga run in either shonen or seinen magazines, that this might be a shoujo title. The title might also make you think that. But no, this runs in Kodansha’s Evening magazine, a counterpart of the mainstream Weekly Morning and the otaku-oriented Afternoon. So Shojo Fight! is reaching an older male audience. Fortunately, this does not mean that the series is filled with cheesecake. Shojo Fight! is a sports title first and foremost.

The series seems to begin in medias res, but it turns out that the first volume is about the end of middle school, and we’re setting up for high school to be the main event. Our hero is Neri, a strong but short young woman with a natural talent for volleyball and a tragic past, which keeps her mostly benchwarming. Her teammates include Koyuki, who is the school idol but whose volleyball skills don’t measure up as much, and Chiyo, who is absolutely furious at Neri and yells at her all the time in that “I am only angry because I see you have given up” sort of way. Neri is in danger of getting cut from the team, which prioritizes tall girls, and she seems to be OK with that, despite pushback from various others. One accidental injury later, however, and Neri is playing in a real game. Can she keep her emotions under control and not let the driving need to play volleyball take over?

It seems to be a sort of cliche to mention that the art in this looks a bit like OEL, so I will say that as well. More to the point, though, the art fits the subject matter. The volleyball matches that we see are straightforward, lacking the ‘cool’ art that we see from titles such as Haikyu!, but being quite understandable and easy on the eyes. I also really liked Neri’s facial expressions, particularly when she’s traumatized in the second half of the book. That dazed, emotionally hollow look makes your heart ache, and you’re grateful for her future coach (I assume) from coming by to stop her making a choice that would be terrible. I’d mentioned the lack of cheesecake: Neri’s male friend Shigeru is a massage therapist, and when Neri strains her back he massages her – in the girl’s bathroom stall, as student’s aren’t supposed to fraternize. It’s quite innocent, but turns into a nasty rumor that gets people punished, and the art shows both the innocent act while signposting how it’s going to be viewed.

It looks like the cast is going to expand vastly in the second volume, not unusual with sports titles. There are some eccentrics in the high school team, and I have to admit the idea of a barbed-wire volleyball net made me laugh. The series isn’t perfect (some of the exposition about the tragedy was really shoehorned in), but it was highly enjoyable, and I can’t wait for future volumes to see if Neri comes into her own as a player.

A First Look at Shojo FIGHT!

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We’re in the middle of a sports-manga renaissance in the US, with publishers offering an unprecedented range of titles from Kurokuro’s Basketball and Haikyu!! to Yowamushi Pedal and Welcome to the Ballroom. Leading the pack is Kodansha Comics, which is making an astonishing range of titles available through their digital-only and digital-first initiatives. And astonishing it is: alongside obvious choices like the baseball-centric Ace of the Diamond, you’ll also find soccer manga (Days, Giant Killing, Sayanora, Football), rugby manga (All Out!!), mixed-martial arts manga (All-Rounder Meguru), and card game manga (Chihayafuru). Kodansha’s latest acquisition is Shojo FIGHT!, a volleyball series that reads like Dynasty with knee pads.

I mean that as a compliment.

The first chapter briskly introduces us to the three principle members of the Hakuumzan Private Academy Middle School volleyball team: Neri, a talented but difficult personality who has trouble playing well with others (literally and figuratively); Koyuki, a telegenic setter who moonlights on the Junior National team; and Chiyo, a jealous teammate who slots into the Joan Collins role of Queen Bitch. As we learn in the opening pages, Neri’s temper frequently relegates her to the bench, even though her teammates firmly believe that she’s in a league of her own as both a setter and a hitter — a point that Chiyo lords over the emotionally vulnerable Koyuki. Koyuki, for her part, feels isolated from her teammates who say nice things to her face but trash her playing when she’s not around. Though Chiyo bluntly dismisses Neri as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Koyuki makes a concerted effort to befriend Neri, whom she views as a peer on the court.

The dynamic between these three players would be enough for an entire series, but Yoko Nihonbashi surrounds them with a boisterous cast of supporting characters who run the gamut from Odagiri, a shy Neri fangirl, to the Shikisama brothers, two gifted volleyball players who are, of course, handsome, sharp-witted, and fiercely loyal to their childhood friend… well, I’ll let you figure out that particular triangle on your own, though it’s not hard to guess who she is. While these figures are sketched more hastily than the principle trio, Nihonbashi offers tantalizing clues about how they will figure into the conflict between Neri and her teammates.

What will make or break this series for most readers is the art. As numerous folks have observed, Nihonbashi’s thick lines, wide-eyed characters, and computer-generated fills more closely conform to Americans’ perception of what OEL manga looks like — think Peach Fuzz or Van Von Hunter — than a licensed seinen or shojo title. I think that’s a valid observation, though it’s worth noting that Nihonbashi is a Japanese artist writing for Evening magazine, not a Tokyopop Rising Star of Manga. The boldness of Nihonbashi’s linework, and her dense but well structured layouts, aren’t the least bit amateurish or unpolished. If anything, they demonstrate a good understanding of game mechanics and a flair for drawing expressive, animated faces that telegraph the characters’ emotional states; the malicious twinkle in Chiyo’s eye speaks more loudly than her poisonous words — and that’s saying something.

My suggestion: try before you buy! The first 50 pages of Shojo FIGHT! can be viewed for free at the Kodansha Comics website. There’s enough drama packed into that opening chapter to hook any soap opera fan or sports enthusiast, and if the sudsy plotting isn’t enough to pique your interest, Neri will be: she’s prickly and complicated but appealing, not least because she seems like a real teenage athlete struggling to reconcile her desire to dominate the court with her desire to be part of the team.

The entire first volume goes on sale today (September 26th) via Amazon, B&N, ComiXology, and other digital book platforms.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 3

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

In many ways this third volume of OreGairu actually moves backwards: having seen Hachiman seemingly blow up his burgeoning friendship with Yui in the second book, much of this third one consists of he and Yukino trying to get Yui to return to the Service Club, if only as the teacher demands a certain number of people in the club. They are impeded by Yui’s hurt awkwardness, Yukino’s inability to really interact with people normally, and above all Hachiman being who he is. The point of this series to a degree is amusing the reader with Hachiman’s narration and analysis of himself and others, and I am frequently amused. But I do hope that eventually we get some sort of deconstruction of this mindset or attempt to take it apart, because it also reminds you how incredibly annoying this kind of guy really is. For someone in their late teens, Hachiman must seem awesome. He frequently exhausts me.

Yukino, on the other hand, does get quite a bit of attention devoted to her as well, and we start to see a few reasons why she is the way she is, first and foremost being the appearance of her older sister. Haruno is bright, vivacious, communicative, and seemingly nothing whatsoever like Yukino… except Hachiman, who is quite clever in ways that don’t involve himself, realizes is a false front. I’m not sure if Haruno is meant to be a villainous character here – she doesn’t actually seem to be secretly needling Yukino as you’d expect if she were, and the delight over Yukino having a boyfriend seems genuine, false front or no. Yukino is also more apparently making an effort to get closer to Hachiman, though because of who he is and who she is, this doesn’t go far at all, even with Hachiman’s sister trying to set them up.

The book ends with a “bonus chapter” that is the novelization of a drama CD included with the volume, but you get the sense that if it hadn’t come with a drama CD the author would have included it anyway, as it’s in no way irrelevant. By the end of the story Hachiman and Yui have made up and gone back to baseline, they’ve all had a cute birthday party at a karaoke place, and Hachiman has had romantic thoughts about his cute male friend Saika about 80,000 times, which has gotten less amusing as the book go on, and I wasn’t all that amused by it to start with. That said, there are also some very funny jokes here as well – I loved Yui completely misreading Hachiman’s present to her, as well as the brief narrative from Shizuka’s POV, showing that the teacher is every bit as bad as the students who she’s trying to rehabilitate.

The main reason to read this is still Hachiman’s first person snark and the jokes. But so far if I wanted to read a series about a quirky cynical narrator and a frosty socially awkward brunette beauty, I have the Monogatari Series. I’m hoping that in the next book we try to do a bit more with these people than just circling each other warily and grudgingly getting along.