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Reviews

Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? On The Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 2

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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? Gaiden – Sword Oratoria” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Andrew Gaippe.

After a first volume that was good but a bit too much side story by the numbers, the second volume of Aiz’s book series ups the ante, and really shows us how similar and yet totally different Aiz and Bell both are. This is less tied into the main series than the first book was – we can tell it’s at the same time as Book 2 due to Aiz giving Bell a lap pillow (at the suggestion of her companion) when they find him collapsed. And that’s all for the best, as we begin to develop the rest of Loki’s badass crew, including Loki herself, who is allowed to become a bit of a detective as she tries to track down who’s responsible for the plant monsters we saw in the prior book. That said, the core of this book is all Aiz, as she finally finds someone she can’t defeat, and it nearly breaks her.

Frustratingly, at last for the reader, we never get a name for this mystery assailant, who is clearly set up to be an ongoing antagonist. She’s definitely in charge of the plant monsters, though, and is strong enough to take out Aiz, though to be fair she’s already injured when they fight. Their main battle happens barely halfway through the book, though, so it’s not the point. The point is not just that Aiz lost but that Aiz lost to someone who knows the name of her mother, Aria. Aiz’s past is a mystery to the reader, though we know she’s been dungeon crawling since she was seven. Here we see a flashback to happy family times before that, and can sense there’s a tragedy here we haven’t quite heard about. More to the point, that trauma combined with the loss drives Aiz to make a suicidal charge on one of the lower floor bosses, which she insists on taking out all by herself. It’s an absolutely brutal sequence, and it’s also fascinating to see Aiz actually struggle given how perfect she’s seen to be in the main series.

As for the rest of the cast, they all get their cool moments. Lefiya still has a tendency to need rescuing, but is less self-deprecating here, and helps out Aiz more than once. (She’s also still very gay for Aiz, something I doubt will ever go anywhere but I also suspect will continue as the books go on.) They have their own murder mystery to solve, but unlike Loki’s the murder is not that mysterious, just gruesome, and the culprit shows herself almost immediately. There’s also some nice little world building and ties to prior books – Hermes’ follower who pops up here as an incidental part of the murder investigation reveals that Hermes is having her hide her higher status, something that doesn’t surprise me at all knowing him, and we meet Ouranos, the God who rules the city, and he’s one mysterious character.

Honestly, not much else to say beyond this is a really good, enjoyable book from one of my favorite light novel authors. Also, lots and lots of cool fights. Fans of the series have to pick it up. It does have a typo in regards to Lefiya’s level at the very end (she’s a 3, not a 5), but I’m ignoring that because the book was so much fun.

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 10

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

Yen Press’ rush release of these omnibuses has been a bit disorienting at times, and because I’m giving each of them full reviews it sometimes feels like I was only just talking about the last book and here’s another one. (It’s been about 3 1/2 weeks since I reviewed Vol. 9). That said, one can never, ever run out of things to talk about when discussing Fruits Basket, so no worries on that end. As Takaya herself says, we’re beginning the home stretch here, and many mysteries are being cleared up now that the biggest of them all has been revealed. We see why Kakeru has been so on edge around Tohru, and finally meat his semi-mythical girlfriend Komaki (who for a moment looks as if she may stay with a ‘hidden face’ before getting revealed a bit later), and we get Kyo starting to explain exactly why he feels tremendous guilt and pain when he thinks about Tohru’s mother.

Speaking of Tohru, this volume is probably her low ebb. Her inability to reveal the fact that she loves Kyo is shown to have explicit ties to her idolization of her mother and the trauma of her passing, as well as a somewhat understandable complete misunderstanding of how loving someone actually works. Shigure, who in the past gave her nice, calm, friendly advice, is perhaps getting a bit too attached to her, as he now proceeds to slam at all of her buttons at once, trying to break past her traumas and get her to admit what she doesn’t want to. It hasn’t worked on Akito, and there’s no reason it’d work on Tohru, but it does show how he may feels about her now, and winds up with Shigure wondering, to the reader’s horror, what might have happened if he’d dreamt of Tohru rather than Akito.

As for Akito, well, much of the book is spent with her holed up and avoiding everyone, having a massive sulk after recent events. We finally get some backstory regarding his father (who reminds me of Yuki quite a bit, something I think Akito herself is also aware of), as well as, unfortunately, more insight into Ren, who we see Akito seems to get her selfishness and tendency towards insane tantrums from. Akito at least is seeing the cursed Sohmas gradually break away from her – more on that later – but Ren is given no real reason for her abusive nature beyond being a petty, selfish and violent person. Her attack on Akito is unfortunately, not so much for her as because it gives Akito a knife, which leads to bad things later on.

I’d mentioned two more curses break here, one right after the other – Momiji and Hiro’s. Hiro, possessing an actual warm and loving home life and with his angst over Kisa and Rin mostly being resolved, is not much of a surprise, and the revelation is quite heartwarming. Momiji is more startling, particularly in the somewhat unrealistic way he’s grown up and, frankly, become almost unrecognizable – I’ve talked before about when Takaya’s art morphed from its early Furuba faces to late ones, and despite her hurting her hand after Vol. 8, I think it’s more around here that we see it. Momiji is no longer cursed, but of course he can’t return to his family, and he already knows he’s not going to win Tohru’s love, despite his words to Kyo. So what’s left is a deep loneliness, but also a yearning to make a brilliant future for himself.

More to discuss, as always! Ayame angering an already angry BL fandom by admitting that Mine is his girlfriend, and showing off some casual cruelty towards a love confession when he was in high school that will make your jaw drop (Hatori is appalled, Shigure just amused). Kagura may barely appear in the series anymore, but she makes her appearance count, getting upset at Tohru waffling about her love for Kyo to the point where she belts Tohru in the head – which a) should give Tohru a concussion and possibly hospitalize her, given this is Kagura, and b) leads to a wonderful bit where Rin witnesses this and loses her shit, screaming that Kagura has no right to hit anyone. (Kagura, very pointedly, apologizes to Rin but not Tohru.)

And now everything is terrible, basically. (I didn’t even talk about Shigure’s scenes with Ren, in which acid meets… well, even more corrosive acid.) Kureno is stabbed (and hey, that maid wasn’t fired after all!), Akito is walking around town with a knife and not in the best frame of mind, and Kyo is telling Tohru that he a) thinks he killed his mother, and b) thinks he killed HER mother. Can things possibly get worse? Hell yes. In any case, Fruits Basket: still wonderful.

Psycome: Murder Maiden and the Fatal Final

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By Mizuki Mizushiro and Namanie. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

The good news is that this is a much more tonally consistent book than the first two, and has a better idea – most of the time – as to when to be over the top funny and when to have the reader genuinely disturbed. Renko remains the best character, getting in so many hilarious lines I can’t even bother to count them but also getting a really surprising amount of character depth (though I could have done without the epilogue telling rather than showing us all that character depth). Eiri continues to be the girl that Kyousuke SHOULD end up with, and I am very happy to hear that she’s the focus of the next book. Maina was less annoying as well this time around, and though Shamaya is back she seems to have lost the unpleasant implications of the end of the last book and just become another garden variety psycho. What I’m trying to say here is that I enjoyed everything about this except for the two lead characters and the main plot.

I knew going in that I wasn’t going to warm up to Ayaka. The “little sister obsessed with her big brother to an unnerving degree” is something already greatly exaggerated and overused by anime in general, and so turning the dial to 11 is not as successful as I think the author wants it to be. We’re meant to be amused at first and then gradually horrified as we realize that Ayaka is far more mentally unbalanced than she really should be for a “comedy” light novel, but since she enters the book hitting the high note and then only gets higher after that, we’re merely exhausted. That said, the larger issue here is Kyousuke.

There are hints, particularly at the end of the book, that Kyousuke’s entire family is, shall we say, a bit unusual, but even so, his reactions to Ayaka’s behavior beggar belief. I could be wrong here by dint of being an only child, but I’m fairly certain even the most doting brother would have noticed what was going on with Ayaka long before he did. It’s one of those cases where the revelation can’t come until the climax of the book, and so the hero ends up being unnecessarily stupid. The plot – when it arrived – was actually quite interesting, involving Ayaka deliberately being recruited into the school by their teacher, who can see a future assassin in her no doubt, but the fact that we didn’t find out about that until 90% of the way through the book is frustrating. And the subplot – involving everyone studying for finals, which have awful punishments for the bad students and setups for the next volume for the good students – was simply dropped at the end, making the “Fatal Final” a giant anticlimax.

And so, having spent much of this review being annoyed, let’s return to my original paragraph. This is a better book than the first two. The writing is more consistent, and there were some nice heartfelt scenes almost despite itself. But I don’t think Psycome will ever stop teetering on the edge of being a flaming ball of disaster, as seen in the Kamiya Family this time around. As long as it teeters and doesn’t fall off, I’ll keep reading.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 2

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By Hirohiko Araki. Released in Japan as “Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Evan Galloway, original translation and adaptation by Alexis Kirsch and Fred Burke.

I had worried with the last volume if I wasn’t going to like Jotaro as much as his predecessors, and indeed that still seems to be the case, though I’ve somewhat come to terms with it. Things are still “we must do as many cool things as possible”, but there’s a notable element of humanity missing from this new series, instead relying on set piece after set piece and slowly moving the story around the globe, presumably ending up confronting Dio, though he barely shows up here. I also noticed the first major “we have to change this or the band will sue us” adaptation fix, as Soul Survivor (a Santana reference, so clearly the translators did an excellent job there) replacing the Japanese Devo. (Couldn’t they just say Deevo or Divo or something? They did with Kars, after all.)

It’s always worrying when I’m discussing translation choices in the first paragraph of a review. JoJo’s is one of those series I decided to write full reviews for every volume, but that was much easier in the days of Jonathan’s histrionics and Joseph’s amusing banter. The trouble with Stardust Crusaders is that while it’s not exactly bad, there’s nothing to really grasp and think deeply about. It’s all surface. Now, to be fair, Araki does surface very well. There are some striking fights here, and some of the gory deaths are both horrifying and somewhat amusing, in the best JoJo’s tradition. But even when a major plot point does appear, such as Kakyoin supposedly still being under the influence of Dio, it ends up being a bit too confusing for its own good, as it turns out that the Kakyoin that’s betraying them is actually a spy. (Also, is he named Rubber Soul or Yellow Temperance? Was the name adapted out as well?)

We also pick up a bratty little kid along the way, which I don’t really have too much of an objection to – bratty kids hanging out with heroes is very much a shonen manga trope. I was rather annoyed when she randomly decided to take a shower in the face of ever-present danger, which seems to have been solely to have her be named when faced with such danger. She looks to be about 11 years old, so this was especially annoying. We don’t need that kind of fanservice. I’m not sure how long into the series she’ll last – she doesn’t even have a name to date – but she certainly seems to have taken a shine to Jotaro. As for everyone else, they pose, they shout, and I can’t even remember most of their names.

After spending its first two volumes influencing the majority of modern Jump manga, Stardust Crusaders seems to be coasting, confident that it’s popular enough not to worry about getting cancelled, and relying on violence, set pieces, and attempting to look cool. I miss the earlier style.

A Springtime With Ninjas Vol. 1

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A Springtime with Ninjas Volume 1 by Narumi Hasegaki

I had high hopes for this title because I greatly enjoy both ninjas and shoujo manga, but I was underwhelmed by A Springtime With Ninjas. I think part of my disappointment was because I was hoping that the heroine and hero of the manga were both ninjas, but it turned out to be a decently executed manga that had some funny moments with a very conventional clueless rich girl heroine who was unfortunately not a ninja at all.

Benio is a sheltered rich girl who lives with the a horrible curse – she has to marry the first man who kisses her. She’s trapped in her home, at the mercy of a procession of tutors and she longs to go to school and experience normal life as a high schooler. Her uncle announces that he’s found a friend for her, and produces Tamaki, a flirtatious ninja bodyguard. Benio immediately finds him offputting, cherishing the memory of a friendship she had as a child when a boy who came over to play with her. Surprising no one who has read a shoujo manga before, it is pretty clear that Tamaki is her long lost friend.

Benio and Tamaki eventually get clearance to go to school, and he fends off Benio’s would-be suitors with his elite ninja skills. There were some amusing lines of dialogue like “The sanctity of this princess’s lips bears more weight to me than your lives.” Also, it was fun to see random high school club presidents suddenly manifest ninja abilities. The art is attractive, and the action scenes are clear and easy to follow. But there isn’t really any distinct quality or style to the art that would help offset storylines that kept giving me a sense of deja vu. I ended up putting down this manga being reminded of all the other shoujo manga that I’ve read that cover some of the same story tropes but end up being a little bit more funny, or have a more interesting take on ninjas or sheltered heiresses.

A First Look at We Never Learn

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We Never Learn follows a tried-and-true shonen formula: an ordinary joe finds himself at the apex of a love triangle with two pretty girls. The points of this particular triangle are Yuiga, a bright, hard-working student from a poor family; Ogata, a math whiz whose classmates call her “Thumbelina Calculator”; and Furahashi, a budding literary talent whose classmates call her “Sleeping Beauty of the Literary Forest.” (Something tells me those nicknames were funnier in the original Japanese.) In keeping with the dictates of the genre, Ogata and Furahashi are physical and temperamental opposites: Ogata is petite, cold, and disdainful, while Furahashi is lanky, spazzy, and cheerful. Both girls initially appear to be out of Yuiga’s league, as they outperform him in the classroom and outclass him in looks.

The story takes an interesting turn midway through chapter one: Yuiga’s school hires him to tutor Ogata and Furahashi, both of whom are blissfully unaware of their natural strengths. Ogata dreams of enrolling in a prestigious liberal arts school, while Furahashi hopes to attend an engineering college. In trying to help Ogata and Furahashi achieve their goals, Yuiga discovers that his high EQ is a better asset than his book smarts. Yuiga knows how to cope with failure: as we learn in a flashback, he was once a mediocre student who gradually improved through trial and error. Ogata and Furahashi, by contrast, are portrayed as naturally brilliant in their respective fields but lacking the experience or maturity to master their weaker subjects.

Of course, there are plenty of elements you’d expect to see in a shonen rom-com: gratuitous shower and bath scenes, melodramatic proclamations, and a supporting cast of interchangeable classmates, none of whom make much of an impression. The manga’s generous portrayal of its principle characters and its genuine sincerity, however, suggest that We Never Learn has the potential to be sweetly funny without making Yuiga into an insufferable know-it-all or a dweeby doormat.

The bottom line: Try before you buy! The first chapter is available free on the VIZ website; readers wishing to continue the story can do so through the digital version of Shonen Jump. 

WE NEVER LEARN • BY TAISHI TSUTUI • VIZ MEDIA • RATED T, for teen (13+)

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: Oh My Useless Goddess!

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By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!: Aa, Damegami-sama” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

In the current light novel boom that North America has been experiencing, there have been many novels that fall under the broad category of ‘funny’. They either take a relatively serious plot and give it a funny touch (The Devil Is a Part-timer!), expand on a completely ludicrous situation (Psycome), or are an outright parody (I Saved Too Many Girls And Caused the Apocalypse). KonoSuba’s first volume is most like the latter of these options, but I have to say as I was reading it that I can’t think of a single series, even Little Apocalypse, that was as dedicated to wringing as many laughs out of everything as KonoSuba is. Never mind plot complications or depth of characterization. This series is damned funny, and that’s why you should read it.

The archetype being parodied will be most familiar to readers of the manga Mushoku Tensei. A young man who is something of a loser dies performing one noble act, and is given an option to reincarnate in a fantasy world so he can be a hero. Except here, Kazuma’s death turns out to be so pathetic that even the doctors who tried to save him and his own parents laughed when they heard about it, and the young goddess who wants to send him to a fantasy world seems to be doing it so that she can fill her quota more than anything else. She’s so annoying, in fact, that Kazuma, rather than wishing for a fantastic sword or unbeatable magic powers to go along with him into this world, wishes for… the goddess herself. Fans of Oh My Goddess will be especially amused, showing that the subtitle of the first volume isn’t just for show. Kazuma and Aqua could not be more different than Keiichi and Belldandy, though, and when they both arrive in Generic Fantasy world X, he finds this goddess to be a lot less help than he’d hoped.

Everything that follows amps up the comedy, as it should be. Kazuma, because he didn’t pick an insane superweapon but a useless goddess, as average stats and minimal weapons to defeat a giant demon king. He has luck… but that merely seems to allow him to use thief abilities to steal girl’s panties. (Yeah, sorry about that, it’s still written for guys.) We meet Megumin, a teenage overdramatic girl who likes explosions and not much else. We meet Darkness, a knight with elite defensive powers who can’t hit the side of a barn door with her sword, and who seems to get off on just about anything. Together, these four take on giant frogs (which I won’t spoil), supposedly evil lichs (another great scene), and in the end a demon general who is a dullahan (were these always in anime even before Celty, or is their resurgence all Ryohgo Narita’s fault?). And what’s more, they win!

It’s tricky to review this, because I don’t want to give away the best gags. I will note that, while I’m sure this will change, I was pleasantly surprised at the utter lack of romance in this first book. Kazuma and Aqua act like bratty siblings, Megumin is too young for him, and while Darkness is basically what he finds attractive, her masochism creeps him out. That plus his tendency to yell at everyone and everything makes this party dynamic more family than harem, and I appreciated that. But when all is said and done, you read this book because it will make you laugh. Even if you aren’t familiar with the tropes of isekai and reincarnation novels, you’ll still like this.

Chihayafuru Vol. 1

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Chihayafuru Volume 1 by Yuki Suetsugu

Around a month ago, there were a few things I knew about Chihayafuru. It was a josei title about a Japanese card game. It has had an anime adaptation. I was interested in reading this, but I was convinced it would never be licensed. I have also been living under a rock, or at least totally unaware of what Kodansha was doing because I didn’t realize until several days ago that Chihayafuru was being released in English albeit just in digital format. I clicked the preorder button so quickly!

Chihayafuru is a josei manga, but it also is a sports manga centered around karuta, a poetry matching game that requires literary knowledge, memorization, quick reflexes, and strategy. From the start, the reader gets a few panels of the middle of an exciting game. Then the manga catapults into the past, to six years earlier. The main character is Chihaya, a girl who has buried her ambitions in supporting her older sister’s dream of becoming a supermodel. While Chihaya doesn’t seem to have any goals for herself, it is clear that she’s kind and a bit of tomboy at school. When a new kid arrives in her classroom and is promptly bullied, Chihaya sticks up for him. Wataya might talk funny and be poor, but he is a master at the game karuta, which the class plays from time to time. Wataya’s first enemy is Taichi, a popular boy who is dedicated to his studies and comfortable always winning the school kuruta tournament.

Wataya is a genius level kuruta player, and when he gets put at a disadvantage in a challenge match because his glasses were stolen, Chihaya substitutes herself for him. She doesn’t have all the poems memorized, but she has an incredibly dynamic and aggressive playing style that when combined with her reflexes enables her to eke out a win. She becomes inspired to pursue kuruta as her own interest. Taichi, Wataya, and Chihaya end up forming an odd friend group centered around kuruta, even visiting a local club to play practice matches and learn from a local teacher. The personalities of the three main characters create an interesting dynamic and dramatic tension.

I’m assuming with the flashback opening to this volume, the characters will be shown at their current ages soon, but the reader is set up to being able to feel all nostalgic when the trio gets together again outside of middle school. Chihayafuru reminds me of Hikaru No Go in the best way, because it takes a topic that might seem overly cerebral and invests it with a great sense of pacing and action. Chihaya’s dynamic personality and habit of slapping down cards whenever she gets a sudden insight makes everything exciting. Suetsugu’s paneling using multiple perspectives as angles on the game action also creates plenty of visual interest. I also liked the way romanized Japanese was presented along with the translations for the poems, because it was easier to get a sense of the rythm of the game, and how the players greet matched poems as “old friends”. In a digital release I suppose one can’t expect too many extras, but if print volumes of this series ever come out, it would be fun to have some of the poems and cards featured in more depth in notes at the back of each volume.

Paying to Win in a VRMMO, Vol. 1

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By Blitz Kiva and Kuwashima rein. Released in Japan as “VRMMO wo Kane no Chikara de Musou suru” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

You would think after reading all of the light novels currently out in North America about games, either with people trapped in them, transported to them, or having worlds based on them, that I would be used to things by now, but Paying to Win in a VRMMO reminds me once again: I’m not really a gamer. I get the aggressiveness of microtransactions due to playing Candy Crush Saga, but that’s as far as it goes. And while it’s refreshing to actually see a book where people play a game they can actually log out of at the end of the day, it also means that more than the usual amount of prose was expended in regards to items, levels, attack names and types, and the like. Don’t get me wrong, the fights were exciting, especially the final one, it’s just hard for me to get into it as much when I’m seeing “he swiped his inventory to grab another sword”. But I suppose that’s VR for you.

Our hero is the man on the right, Ichiro, a young obscenely rich man who is also a genius, having graduated Harvard at age 13 (which is the usual requirement for fictional geniuses). Sadly, the fact that he can easily do anything has led him to be bored by almost everything. Then his second cousin Asuha asks for his help with a problem she has, one that needs to be solved by playing the popular VRMMO “Narrow Fantasy Online”. Ichiro has no reason to refuse, so agrees, pays an obscene amount of money to get an arcade version of the game put into his highrise penthouse, pays an obscene amount of money to get the cool character traits he wants, and pays an obscene amount of money to level up to obscene levels. He does all this rather coolly and stoicly, with the occasional bemused grin. Luckily, he finds something in the game that, for the first time perhaps ever, really challenges him. That someone… is Kirito.

Pardon me, my apologies. That someone… is Kirihito, one of many gamers who base their stats and appearance on “a certain famous light novel hero”. The main reason to get this book is probably for the almost-litigious-but-not-quite parodies of Sword Art Online, which keep coming fast and furious – the idea that most newbies play as Kirihito (this book’s version of WcDonald’s), the high-level Kirihitos who team up and become a sentai team, complete with pose (the illustration alone is worth the price of the book), all the way to “King Kirihito”, who may not like that nickname, but is the only other person in this game who can challenge Ichiro, and is also the source of the problem that Asuha would like to solve. (Also, if you’re going to be broadly satirizing SAO that much, perhaps choose a name other than “Asuha”, maybe?)

To be honest, while I enjoyed the book somewhat, I found the characters wanting. Kirihito’s real-life self was probably the most interesting, and I approve of the author leaving it up to the reader to choose their gender. Ichiro unfortunately grates a little too much with his “I earned this money myself, so can use it to solve all life’s problems and none can complain” ways, which get called out a bit in-book, but are mostly shrugged off. Asuha is very passive throughout the book, which is very frustrating given that one of the major cores of the book is getting her to stop being so passive – I didn’t really feel the satisfaction I was supposed to. And the otaku maid just wasn’t over the top enough for me to find amusing. The writing is good, and the jokes are excellent, but Paying to Win needs some better character development stat.

Captive Hearts of Oz, Vol. 1

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By Ryo Maruya and Mamenosuke Fujimaru, loosely based on the novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Angela Liu. Adapted by Lianne Sentar

One of the big sellers about 5-6 years ago on the late lamented New York Times Manga Bestseller charts was Alice in the Country of Hearts and its 87 billion spinoffs, based on a number of otome visual novels by creator QuinRose. In fact, one might argue that for a while the market was a bit glutted with Alice manga. Sadly, when QuinRose’s business went under, so did the rights to her series, and therefore we’re not seeing any more Alices over here. That said, they were a big hit for Seven Seas in particular, and they decided to reach out to the most popular artist for the series, Mamenosuke Fujimaru, and ask her if she could create a similar styled manga based on the Oz series by L. Frank Baum, which Seven Seas had recently done a version of with manga-style illustrations. And so we have this new manga, in which Dorothy finds herself in a mysterious new world and is soon surrounded by handsome men.

The strengths of this book are somewhat similar to Fujimaru’s Alice titles. Her art is excellent, and the pacing and action flows very well. The characters are mostly likeable if not all that fleshed out yet, as is typical for Volume Ones. We get the addition of a brother-sister team of Crows, who have a complicated tsundere-ish relationship with the scarecrow that I quite liked, and led to the best moment of the book, in which Dorothy pretends to be an evil villain in order to lure them out. Best of all is the hint that one of the witches, Locasta (you know, the one who no one remembers) is trying to change the way that the story goes, and we get the suggestion that the Land of Oz is something that runs on rules of storytelling rather than logic, in a very similar way to the Alice books.

The weaknesses of the book also crop up. It’s wearing its heart on its sleeve, frankly – we can’t do Wonderland, so here’s Oz with very similar attempts at dark themes and a harem of young guys. Unfortunately, the premise, at least so far, seems to lack the Alice series’ caustic and complicated heroine. While she has her moments, Dorothy is simply too nice and sweet, and you’re reminded that the best Alice books showed us the truth behind everything in the world – that the world was created as an escape to help her run away with a reality too tragic to deal with. I’m not entirely sure whether something similar is going on here, but if so, there need to be more hints that Dorothy is more than what she seems, rather than just Oz being more than what it seems.

That said, this is still the first volume, and I’m perfectly happy to get the next one to see how things developed. In the meantime, Alice fans will definitely enjoy this, I think, even if it feels a bit “lite” compared to its inspiration.

My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World: The Half-Baked Vampire vs. the Strongest Little Sister?!

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By Tsuyoshi Fujitaka and An2A. Released in Japan as “Neechan wa Chuunibyou” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

The second volume of a series like this one was always going to be tricky. The seeming big reveal of the first book was that Yuichi, the supposed “average high school student” protagonist you get in these sorts of harem stories, was not remotely average. In fact, given the oddballs we saw in the first book, I had mentioned that the closest we had to a normal person in the cast was Aiko, who happened to be a vampire but was otherwise the fairly typical “shy cute girl” stereotype. Of course, as we find in this second volume, Aiko is far from normal either, even if she towers over the other eccentrics in her family in that regard. “Half-Baked Vampire” is your first impression, and the book tries hard to make it stick at the end, but I’m not buying it.

I’d argue this book isn’t as good as the first. The character of Yuichi’s younger sister Yoriko seems to be added for the sole reason that series like these always have little sisters who love their big brother just a little too much, and she doesn’t play any role in the plot besides getting jealous of Aiko and being too clingy. (You’d think she was the “Little Sister” in the second part of the subtitle, but no, as we find out, that is not the case.) There’s a lot of rambling discussion of the nature of murder and various other thought experiments by Mutsuko, whose tendency to exposit whenever it’s needed is her worst character trait. Girl who likes isekai continues to get so little to do that I can’t even remember her name. And poor Natsuki, the villain of the first book, is now reduced to playing the straight man role that Aiko played in the first book, as Aiko is too busy being the heroine.

Where the book succeeds is in analyzing the plot and character tropes you find in “Middle School Syndrome” types and, if not exactly deconstructing them, at least making you think about them in a different way. Honestly, much of the time the book reads as if it was written by Mutsuko herself, being the sort of self-insert you get from first time fanfic writers in their teens. Mutsuko may be the most interesting character in the series, which is fitting given she’s in the main title. I loved her discussion with Natsuki of those downbeat endings that seek to be dark for the sake of gritty realism, and how much she hates them – I agree 100%. At the same time, as Natsuki gradually realizes just what training Mutsuko has given her little brother, and how little it occurs to her to wonder if this is actually abusive or insane, we begin to see a dark core to Mutsuko, which I’m not sure if the author intends or not. She gets the final scene to herself, taking out the “power behind the throne” villain with a literal railgun, as suits her personality. She’s horrible and fascinating, which is fitting given that she’s an expy of Haruhi Suzumiya, who was the same.

In the end, this is still a silly harem series, but I enjoy it best when it’s taking a look at the stereotypes of such series, or asking us to examine the characters further to see how seriously we’re supposed to take them.

One Piece, Vol. 81

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

In almost all respects, this volume of One Piece is leagues better than the last one. It’s the start of a new arc, which means that the chaos that Oda now writes as a matter of course is a bit more tightly controlled. There’s amazing fights, mostly in flashback. There’s great humor, mostly involving the two leaders of Zou and their animal characteristics. Our heroes get to actually be heroes, and we are reminded once again that Luffy’s piracy is not about raping and pillaging. There’s also surprising drama, as we find out about the extent of Big Mom’s power (complete with a shout-out to the movie Se7en) and her reach. And, perhaps most important of all, Sanji gets a last name.

This is more important than it sounds. Of the original ‘main’ cast of One Piece, it was noteworthy that three of them were never given family names, which might imply there’s some lingering backstory to be had in the future. After all, we never met Nami’s birth parents, and Usopp’s father is still presumably bumming around with Shanks. And then there’s Sanji – or rather, Sanji Vinsmoke, who happens to be one of a family of famous assassins. We don’t actually get too many details here, and I’ve no doubt we’ll be meeting them soon, but I like that Oda is able to riff on details that he wrote literally over 70 volumes ago in an “I meant to do that” way – namely that Sanji was born in North Blue, and getting from North to East (where he met Luffy and the others) is not an easy thing, As for Sanji’s decision to leave the Straw Hats in order to forcibly be married off… well, that’s what this arc is about, no doubt, and I don’t doubt he’d sacrifice himself to save the crew. (Note Capone threatens Nami first – he knows Sanji well.)

We also see the Sanji side of the Strsaw Hats arriving at Zou in the aftermath of the battle with Kaido’s underlings (we’ve still not really dealt with Kaido much, but as is pointed out, no doubt they will need to face him soon – along with Big Mom), and right away they’re making a humanitarian effort to save lives and help people. I always enjoy it when the Straw Hat Pirates show off their innate goodness, and this isn’t even in a “we’re saving the kingdom” way – if that had been the case they’d have arrived earlier. There’s also a tremendous reveal right at the end of the volume, which I won’t spoil, but Usopp and Nami’s tears, as well as Luffy’s huge grin, pretty much spell out how I felt about it. It was amazing.

So all in all we’re back to excellent volumes of One Piece, and I couldn’t be happier. Next time we get more anthropomorphs, and try to decide which direction the plot will go next – there are many ways it could go.

Gatesmith, Vol. 1

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Gatesmith, Volume 1Creator: Jen Lee Quick
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9781987988079
Released: July 2016
Original run: 2014-2015

My introduction to the work of Jen Lee Quick was through her comic Off*Beat. The first two volumes of the series were originally published by Tokyopop after which the comic sadly languished unresolved until it was rescued by Chromatic Press, becoming one of the publisher’s flagship titles. After completing Off*Beat with Chromatic Press, Quick began working on a second comic series with the publisher called Gatesmith. The origins of Gatesmith actually date back to Quick’s Tokyopop days as well, but the ideas for comic have significantly changed since then. At least one thing has remained the same though–Gatesmith is a dark fantasy Western drastically different from Off*Beat. Gatesmith began serialization in Chromatic Press’ digital magazine Sparkler Monthly in 2014. The first volume concluded in 2015 and the serialized content was subsequently collected as an ebook along with an exclusive epilogue comic and the short prequel comic “Hungry.” A small print run of Gatesmith, Volume 1 was released in 2016. As a fan of Quick’s work, I was very happy to snag a copy.

Edgeward is a western frontier town undergoing a transformation as its residents slowly build it into a successful mining city. But Edgeward is also the home to numerous strange happenings, phenomena which some people attribute to the area’s large deposits of mythrilite, a promising but potentially dangerous new energy source which hasn’t yet been thoroughly studied. Modernization can carry along with it tremendous risks, but there seems to be something even more primal, ancient, and bizarre at work in Edgeward. On the outskirts of town, strange lights can be seen in the middle of the desert. Peculiar trees spontaneously emerge where no tree has any right growing. Rumors circulate about monsters and creatures of legend roaming about. Ranchers are losing livestock and are uncertain whether or not to blame humans or something much more diabolical. Whatever it is that is going on in Edgeward may very well have a greater meaning and far-reaching impact than anyone realizes.

Gatesmith, Volume 1, page 72The setting of Gatesmith, while beautiful, is also a harsh and frequently brutal one. Survival is certainly not guaranteed in such an unforgiving environment. The comic opens with an attack on a covered wagon that leaves everyone directly involved in the incident dead and the violence in the story doesn’t end there. At this point virtually everything is unknown in Gatesmith, and the unknown is very apt to get someone killed. Gatesmith, Volume 1 offers very few answers as Quick layers mystery upon mystery. In the series, myth, folklore, and the supernatural are closely intertwined with scientific, social, and technological progress. The anxieties surrounding the changing times are very real and sometimes manifest in unexpected ways. When humans are attempting to deal with things that they don’t completely comprehend or understand trouble naturally follows, but it’s not always the inhuman that people have to worry about–unintentionally or not, civilization can be just as destructive and isn’t necessarily always a positive force. Tremendous resilience and adaptability will be required of any of the characters who hope to reach the end of Gatesmith alive.

Gatesmith is off to an incredibly intriguing start with its first volume; I am intensely curious to see how the comic continues to develop from here. However, part of what makes Gatesmith so appealing and engrossing is also what makes the comic somewhat frustrating. Quick is working with several storylines and a marvelously diverse cast of characters, but this early on in the series the connections between them all are not immediately clear. With the many strange occurrences and often stranger characters involved in Gatesmith, the ultimate direction and drive of the story is somewhat obscured at the moment and the worldbuilding hasn’t yet been established in its entirety. What has been revealed so far is enticing and tantalizing, though. Gatesmith is an interesting blend of genres. Quick draws on traditions of Westerns, folklore, horror, and other speculative fiction without relying heavily on preexisting elements or well-worn tropes, combining them together in striking ways. Currently Gatesmith is on a break as Quick concentrates on a few other creative projects, but I hope to see more of the weirdly wonderful and wonderfully weird Western soon.

Chihayafuru, Vol. 1

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By Yuki Suetsugu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Be Love. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Ko Ransom.

It has become very difficult these days, as manga fandom expands and grows more varied, to state outright that a series will “never be licensed”. Sure, there’s still a few holdouts that can boast that – I’m looking at you, Hajime to Ippo – but for the last few years we have lived in a renaissance of “oh my God I never thought we would get this title!”. In particular, seeing josei series on a regular basis is something that is welcome and heartwarming. And, in fact, Chihayafuru pulls off a troika. It’s josei, running in Kodansha’s Be Love, which has almost never been mined for licenses; it’s a big comeback for the author, whose career was on ice after a plagiarism scandal – this is her magnificent return. And it’s also a sports manga, something which may not be obvious when you look at its cover, but really sinks in after reading the first couple of chapters.

Of course, you could argue we’re overlooking another big reason why this was an unlikely license, which is the subject matter. This is a manga about a group of kids and their love for Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, a Japanese game that combines memory with one hundred famous poems – you’re given the start of the poem, and need to find the card with the second half of it. It requires speed, smarts, and a certain amount of guile – there’s a lot of smacking of cards here that made me raise an eyebrow and wait for a foul to be called, but that never happened. Playing this game is our heroine, Chihaya, whose name is similar to the start of one of the poems. She’s a brash tomboy who tends to always say what she’s thinking, which gets her in trouble. She’s friends with Taichi, a smart young kid with an oppressive mother – he carries both a chip on his shoulder and a crush on Chihaya. And then there’s the new student Arata, made fun of for his heavy local dialect (which is nicely adapted here by Ko Ransom – I’m reminded somewhat of the way Sweden has been translated in Hetalia, only more coherent) but a whiz at karuta. He gets the other two kids involved, and Chihaya in particular discovers that her speed and acute hearing are a boon.

Fans of the anime may be surprised to see that this entire volume takes place in elementary school – the adaptation made this a flashback after introducing her in high school. It’s still a good start, introducing the strengths and weaknesses of our leads, and having a romantic triangle that pretty much isn’t yet because they’re kids, but you can see it bubbling anyway. Unfortunately, everything comes to an end with Taichi going to a different middle school, and Arata having to move again due to the health of his grandfather (a world-famous karuta player). Will they ever meet again? Signs point to yes. In the meantime, with its engaging characters, dynamic art, and the ability to explain a complex sport/game without getting bogged down in exposition, Chihayafuru is a must read. It’s digital only, but if enough people get it, print may be feasible. Go get it, it’s worth it.

Sweetness & Lightning, Vols. 1-3

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By Gido Amagakure | Published by Kodansha Comics

sweetness1Widowed math teacher Kohei Inuzuka wants to do his best when it comes to raising his daughter, Tsumugi. It’s been six months since his wife passed away, and because he has never had much of an appetite and hasn’t fared well with cooking in the past, he mostly relies on store-bought fare for Tsumugi. However, after they run into one of his students, Kotori Iida, while looking at cherry blossoms, he can’t help but notice how fascinated Tsumugi is by the home-cooked lunch Kotori’s been eating. To make his daughter happy, he ends up taking her to Kotori’s family restaurant, which leads to regular dinner parties where they experiment with making different things together.

Sweetness & Lightning is not the only food manga currently being released in English, but it does offer something a bit different. Whereas Food Wars! features students enrolled at an elite culinary academy and What Did You Eat Yesterday? focuses on an accomplished home cook, Sweetness & Lightning is about neophytes. Almost everything is new to Inuzuka, and though Kotori is an enthusiastic fan of food with a chef for a mother, her own fear of knives has prevented her from doing much beyond making rice. With her busy mother helping with recipes and easy-to-follow instructions, the trio learns how to make things like Salisbury steak, sweetness2chawanmushi, and some seriously drool-inducing gyoza. Recipes are included, and for the first time, I feel like they’re actually something I might attempt.

The secondary focus of the story is on Inuzuka’s life as a single parent. Between having to leave work to pick a sick Tsumugi up from preschool, or losing sight of her at a crowded festival, or reacting to her leaving the apartment while he’s sick, he does his best to parent her in a loving and rational way. After being reunited at the festival, for example, I love the way he shows her that he’s been scared and upset, and yet recognizes that she feels bad about running off and is not a bad kid at heart. Tsumugi is a girl with a great deal of enthusiasm for life, and Inuzuka wants to preserve that as much as possible. Their bond is very sweet.

Of course, the questionable propriety of afterhours teacher-student socializing isn’t lost on Inuzuka, who consults with a colleague (and Kotori’s mother) prior to agreeing to the arrangement. sweetness3He and Kotori maintain their distance at school, and he frequently worries about inconveniencing her mother. And yet, the gatherings make Tsumugi so happy—and even lift her spirits when she begins to truly comprehend the permanence of her mother’s absence—that he gratefully accepts the Iidas’ hospitality. He behaves professionally at all times. Kotori, however, seems to be developing feelings for him, though it’s all mixed up as she sees him as both a guy and as a father figure. I wouldn’t be surprised if the manga ends with them getting married, but I hope nothing romantic ensues for a very long time.

Ultimately, this is a sweet, occasionally poignant, slice-of-life story about a father learning to prepare food for his daughter. It’s adorable in a non-treacly sort of way and I very much look forward to continuing.

Sweetness & Lightning is ongoing in Japan, where it is up to eight volumes. Kodansha will release volume four in English later this month.