Reviews

By Akiko Higashimura. Released in Japan in two separate volumes as “Kuragehime” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Kiss. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

This is another one of those titles where I haven’t seen the anime that was based on it, but sheer word of mouth has made me incredibly excited for its release. First of all, it’s very rare to see Kodansha Comics taking a chance n josei over here at all – lately they’ve been licensing some Dessert, but that’s still shoujo for older teens. Kiss is for young women, and it shows – this title features adults, even if much of the cast are jobless and living off their parents. Its humor and energy are absolutely worth a read, though I found more flaws in it than I was expecting.

Our heroine is, as you may have guessed, the girl in the braids in the foreground, not the pink-haired pretty thing behind her. Tsukimi is a shy introvert with an obsession for jellyfish, who has to force herself to go outside her apartment – an apartment she shares with similar-minded women, all of whom are obsessed with something (kimonos, trains, older men, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Then one day, while trying to work up the nerve to tell a fish store employee that the ways he’s put the jellyfish into the tank will kill one of them, she runs into Kuranosuke, who she assumes is a gorgeous, extroverted young woman who helps her out and ends up back at her apartment. Then it turns out that Kuranosuke is a man.

The main reason to read this title, and it’s absolutely worth it, is the humor. Tsukimi may be a massive introvert, but her reactions are nicely over the top and horrified much of the time, especially trying to deal with this new free spirit in her life. Of the rest of the female cast, Mayaya is the one that stands out the most, something she brings on herself with all of her posing and dramatic declarations. Kuranosuke’s own frustrations at his family, his new friends, and his growing realization that he actually likes Tsukihi is also highly amusing. The art is also excellent, helping to show off the humor and being distinct but not overly busy.

That said, I do have a few issues. This is a little progressive, but not overly so – Kuranosuke emphasizes he’s not gay a couple of times, and there’s some slangy ‘homo’ refs sprinkled throughout, which the endnotes helpfully tell us isn’t as caustic as it sounds here, but is still very defensive. The main villain of the piece, meanwhile, is almost a cliche, and it doesn’t help that she uses sex as a weapon to get what she wants – this is likely meant to contrast with the ‘pure’ Tsukimi, and I was happy to see one or two times when she didn’t act like a cartoon character, but it was only once or twice. Lastly, Kuranosuke’s attempts to drag these women out of their shells and have them ‘don armor’ to deal with the real world is both inspiring and frustrating – I sense he’s of the school that feels that introverts just aren’t trying hard enough to be extroverted.

All that said, this is still a definite title for your collection. Tsukimi is sweet and a bit over the top, and I look forward to seeing her Cinderella-type story, while hoping that she still retains the parts of her that are why we fell for her in the first place. Want to see more of this.

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

One of Accel World’s strongest points is its ability to built on plot and themes from prior books without overwhelming the reader too much. The last book showed us that the Disaster Armor had not entirely left Silver Crow, and much of this volume is about the fallout from that. We worry about what such a thing would do to the game itself, and then later on find that crude copies of it may be racing out of control via other people, making the question moot. Or it would be moot if this wasn’t in may ways a desire for the others to punish Kuroyukihime through Haruyuki, as by now everyone can see their bond. We’re also asked to see one of the core tents of her past in a different light, as it’s hinted that there’s more to her killing off the Red King than just wanting to get to Level 10.

As for Haruyuki’s self-loathing, it’s gotten slightly better. We get a minimum of school here, and I was a bit faked out when we were introduced to two fellow classmates who I thought Haru would either bond with or get bullied by, but who ended up being mostly irrelevant, another way of showing that Haruyuki is not like the normal “cool” kids, who skive off their club work the first time we see them. Of course, this determination to get better and discover new things is what makes him such a success in the game world, as is pointed out by Chiyuri. One reason that Kuroyukihime, Fuko, and even Ash Roller like him to much is that he’s always seeking ways to get better, ways to play the game that are more than just “get strong and then stop”.

We also get a new character, the titular shrine maiden of the title. She’s around 9 years old, and half of the somewhat tossed off fanservice in the volume is dedicated to accidentally getting her wet with a garden hose (the other half being Kuroyukihime changing in front of Haru – and the cover, if we’re going to be honest). For once, though, it looks like the lolicon is not meant to be the primary driving force. Utai is interesting, from her game persona’s Sailor Mars-style powers, to the Incarnate she unleashed somehow being related to Noh Theater, or simply because she can’t speak – something prevents her from getting the words out, so she types all her dialogue in ways that would be very difficult if people in this universe didn’t already have neurolinkers. And, of course, by definition of the fact that she’s playing Brain burst, her home life is somewhat broken, though we get few details.

And, of course, there’s still the best reason to read Accel World: Kawahara writes excellent battle scenes. They’re understandable, easily visualized, and emotionally raw. They may also make you scream at the ending, as yes, this is a cliffhanger that will hopefully get resolved in the next book. It’s not as popular as Sword Art Online, but Kawahara’s other series quietly goes about telling its story well, and if you can get past Haru’s beating himself up narrations, well worth your time.

By Ryohgo Narita and Suzuhito Yasuda. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On.

Anyone who reads any of Narita’s two main series, Baccano! and Durarara!!, knows how much he likes his gangs and gangsters. Be it yakuza, mafia, camorra, or just kids wearing colors and yelling about territory, it’s a huge theme in his books. And with the teenage gangs he does a very good job showing off how much the desire for control and power is motivated by simple fear, and how easy it can be to let situations spiral out of control. We learned at the end of the last volume about who Masaomi Kida really is, but this third volume shows us that, of the three teens who have been our protagonists so far, he may be the weakest… which of course makes his comeback and true strength just that much more satisfying.

I think Narita’s habit of creating a bunch of divergent situations and then arranging them so that they all crash into each other at the end is something that might work better in a novel than in an anime – a lot of people have complained about the episodes of DRRR!! where nothing happens, but of course it’s all just required setup. the book doesn’t really have this problem, and so you enjoy seeing more and more information get revealed as time goes on. Both to the reader AND to the characters – the reader has been aware of the true identities of Mikado, Anri and Masaomi for some time, but it’s not till the climactic battle that each of them sees the truth.

We also meet Saki, Masaomi’s not-quite-girlfriend and the target of much hatred among the fan pairing community, mostly for existing. I like her, while acknowledging that we aren’t supposed to at first. She’s almost Izaya’s thrall, and as with everything Izaya touches, we’re automatically leery of her. Her constant smile is also not helping. It’s only towards the end of the book that we see the other side of her, the one that genuinely did fall in love with Masaomi, and see her crying and showing emotions. Honestly, it’s easier to blame Izaya here, who loves emotionally manipulating people just to see what happens and because it amuses him. He remains the most punchable person in the entire cast, and given this cast also has Namie, Seiji and Mika that’s saying something. Except wait, there’s someone more punchable.

Yes, this is the volume where we meet Shingen, Shinra’s even-more-eccentric-than-the-son father, who immediately establishes himself as an impulsive freak designed to give Celty migraines (except, of course, she does not have a head, but I suspect Shingen gives them to her anyway). As with Shinra, it’s never really clear when he’s decided to turn serious or not – or how much of his goofing was done to deliberately throw Celty off her game. In any case, a word to the wise, he can be teeth-grindingly annoying, and I know a few people who skip past him in the anime.

This is the longest book in the series to date, and the extra words work well. We get someone of the other minor characters fleshed out a bit, such as Kadota, Erika and Walker. The translation is smooth, only faltering a bit when it has to deal with the Japanese prose habit of never identifying who is speaking, so you have to make more contextual judgments than is strictly necessary. And the art is finally starting to mature a bit and be less flat-faced, with a bold, striking cover. If you enjoy DRRR!!, and can put up with Shingen, then this is definitely an excellent purchase.

By Spike Chunsoft and Takashi Tsukimi. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

I have made my opinions on the glut of ‘survival game’ manga well known by now, I hope. In general, if you’re writing a survival game manga, you need a lot to keep me interested, as teens locked in a school and killed off one by one has zoomed WAY past vampires and sadistic shoujo boyfriends in the things I avoid sweepstakes. And yet sometimes I do hear so much about a title that I feel the need to check it out anyway. Such a title is Danganronpa, which was originally a game and then got adapted to an anime. The manga wears on its sleeve that it’s adapting the anime and not the game, which is likely why it’s only 4 volumes instead of the 9-10 I’d expect otherwise. That said, what makes Danganronpa stand out?

Well, for starters it’s far more overdramatic than the usual glumness I’ve seen from survival game manga before. Monokuma, the bear lurking in the background on the cover, seems to be both the manga’s mascot and its villain. He’s a ludicrously cruel and over the top figure, making bear puns as he gleefully executes people. He’s just a lot of fun, and stands out in particular because the rest of the cast of students are stereotypes, many deliberately so. Our hero is the average “player character” type, we get the jock, the idol, the fashion plate, the overweight otaku, etc. With a cast like this, that sort of shorthand is necessary as you’ll know at a glance what they’re like and how they’ll react. Plus, of course, the cast starts getting killed off fairly quickly, so you don’t have to remember all of them.

The other interesting aspect of this title is the trial sequence. Basically the kids are told they can escape the school if they kill someone – but they have to get away with it. There’s a trial, and if the killer isn’t found, the rest of the cast will get punished. Of course, the killer is found, as our hero is very good at deductions, and is helped out by a stoic girl who seems to be a detective, and I suspect may be a love interest except this is one of those series where everyone tends to die, so I won’t commit to that just yet. And the kids aren’t complete sociopaths either, mostly killing out of terror and fear of blackmail. I was also amused at how easy it was to solve the first murder’s ‘written in blood’ clue, and the manga must have agreed with me, as the cast also figures it out immediately.

This is a title that’s pretty much marketed to fans of the gmae or anime, and they should find it quite enjoyable. If you haven’t seen either, it’s still pretty good, keeping in mind the usual irritations of the genre. The comedy and dramatics help make that less of a poison pill this time around, though.

By Kosuke Fujishima. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

For all that Fujishima’s Oh My Goddess! was a series with angels, devils, and everything in between (that is when it wasn’t just about vehicles and those who love them), there was an awful lot of what is generally termed ‘slice-of-life’ in the series. And before that we had You’re Under Arrest, which also took a basic premise (female cop buddy movie) and used it as a springboard for everyday amusing situations. As a result, it should not come as a surprise that his new series details the rather everyday, slice-of-life adventures of a girls’ dormitory way up a hill, and the eccentric characters therein. Of course, the problem with this is that the series needs to rise and fall on said eccentric characters, and so far we don’t really get a good handle on any except one or two.

Our two heroines are on the front cover posing for us, and they are very much of the Miyuki and Natsumi school of personalities. Takanashi is brash, sleeps late, loves to eat, is not very good at school but makes up for it with energy and heart. Misawa is her best friend, the straight man of the group who exists mostly to react to Takanashi’s antics and sometimes sigh. The dorm they’re in is old and tends to fall apart easily, but its residents all love it, particularly when defending it against their all-girls’ school’s other dorm, which is modern and state of the art. We get the overly sadistic sempai, the elementary schoolgirl who acts as a dorm mother (she’s the daughter of the REAL, almost never seen, dorm mother), the overseas student, the otaku, the eccentric artist, etcetera.

The volume begins pretty much in media res, showing off the group’s everyday school and dorm life. We see how Takanashi deals with dogs, heat, and typhoons, as well as what appears to be a rivalry with a stuck-up girl from the otehr dorm. After this volume, we get as an extra “Volume 0”, a collection of the initial chapters that ran as one-offs in the spinoff good!Afternoon while Fujishima was still working on Oh My Goddess!. I can see why it was put later, as the characters are not quite in character yet, but it does give a better introduction to everyone than the initial first volume does. There’s also a short story featuring Takanashi’s parents, about the springtime of youth, etc.

This is light and fluffy fun. If there’s a flaw it’s that that’s all it is. There’s not as big a hook to draw people in as there is with Oh My Goddess!, and I doubt we’ll get serious plotlines here. The pacing can be slow, as you’d expect with this genre. And sometimes there’s a gag thrown in that just doesn’t work, such as one girl comedically falling into another girl’s breasts during a blackout, as if Fujishima is reminded that fanservice has moved on since 1985 and tried to imitate it. But if you like Fujishima, and his art is very nice here, this should appeal to you. It’s also over in Japan, so should wrap up pretty soon.

By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

It’s not an ironclad rule, but in general, the longer the story arc in Ranma the better it ends up being. And this is good news for this volume, which wraps up the Herb arc from the previous omnibus, introduces a new character who brings a lot of silliness to the table, and has what may be the strongest arc in the entire series, where Takahashi learns that even though her series desperately need to be static and unchanging, sometimes you have to have the occasional character development. (Admittedly, we haven’t seen her learn that lesson with Rin-Ne just yet, but hey.) The Shinnosuke arc also manages to be strong simply by reversing the usual plotline of many a Ranma story, as this time it’s Akane who meets the stranger with a mysterious connection to her past.

Indeed, Akane is comparatively calm and peaceful compared to previous situations, possibly as, instead of dealing with a supposed errant fiancee for Ranma, she now has her own love troubles to deal with. Shinnosuke saved her when she was a child, at great cost to his own self, and has grown up to be a handsome young man who looks a bit like Ryouga. (Too much, IMO – especially when the actual Ryouga shows up, it can be difficult to tell them apart.) The trouble is that Akane loves Ranma, and even though she’ll never say it or think it she knows it as well. Thus on her end she feels an obligation to stay and help because of a life debt. Ranma, who is playing the Akane role this time around, can only see her getting cozy with this new guy. He goes through various stages of jealousy, and as ever with Ranma, the worst argument, where you know things are really bad, comes from when Ranma and Akane STOP hitting each other.

There is another half to this volume, of course. We wrap up Herb in a quick but satisfying way, and Ranma once again proves unable to sacrifice even one of his worst villains. We also meet Hinako, who is another character who transforms from one form to another, though for once it’s not due to a cursed spring but rather due to a failed attempt at a good deed by Happosai, of all people. The Hinako storyline is not going to give you the depth and romance that you see in the Shinnosuke arc. Instead we get pure comedy, as Ranma, in order to defeat the teacher, has to essentially grope her pressure points – which are exactly where you’d think they are. Oh yes, and Hinako’s transformation from bratty immature kid to statuesque stunner makes no sense except as comedy. But that’s Ranma for ya.

In short, Ranma has now turned the corner and is entering its twilight years, but can still turn out some classics, and this volume is overall excellent, provided you don’t mind some fanservice. There’s even actual romantic progress at the very end, which I won’t spoil except to again say that the real tsundere in this series is Ranma, not Akane.

By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On.

It’s always dangerous when a title that you enjoy despite its many glaring flaws has a subpar volume. Suddenly there isn’t enough to enjoy to justify wading through everything. It doesn’t help that this volume was delayed two months for unknown reasons (possibly as the translator got burnt out – it did have a 3-month schedule before this). And it’s unfortunate that this is the first volume that wasn’t adapted into an anime, so will presumably have a lot of new readers trying to see what happens next. But yes, there’s no getting around this – this is just not a great volume of No Game No Life.

Everything seems to be just that little bit tired, starting with Sora and Shiro, who in the first volume were hideously broken people who just happened to be crazy otaku, but here the otaku part is in full swing and were it not for a few casual mentions in the text, you’d never even remember how codependent they are on each other’s presence. This is the first of a two-parter again, so it’s possible the next volume will up the ante, but it also has to be said that nothing really seems to threaten our heroes. Sure, they initially refuse to play the datesim simply because it’s just like that anathema, real-life romance, but once they’re in it, merely avoiding any love points seems to be fine with them. Sora and Shiro have been shown to be invincible, and that’s ALL they are here.

The other characters don’t fare much better. There are the usual NGNL levels of perversion, this time around involving the fantasy vampires and mermaids we see here. The fact that the dhampirs can suck bodily fluids other than blood is (pardon me) milked for all it’s worth, and the Sirens are succubuses whose lack of foresight and intelligence had better be undercut when we reach Volume 5 or I’m going to be pissed off. You don’t right an entire race of bimbos anymore just because it’s fun. And then there’s Ino, the old Werebeast grandpa, whose response in regards to winning the datesim was… memorable, but I’m not sure I get the manly part, and he was also used as a sexual gag regarding all the women he’d bedded over the years.

There is one bright spot in this volume, and that was the first scene with Steph, who has been left behind to deal with the kingdom while Sora and Shiro are negotiating with the Shrine Maiden. Having been forced to play against the two for thousands of games, and losing every single time, Steph has actually become scarily good at games, particularly the card games we saw her failing at in the very first volume. Of course, she’s not aware of this – she’s constantly trying to compare herself to Sora and Shiro, rather than, say, the average citizen. We are also reminded why Sora and Shiro left her there in the firt place – she’s really good at running a country, something they would be terrible at. Sadly, she then goes back to being a figure of mockery for most of the book, but that one brief shining moment was excellent.

It’s possible the next volume will turn this around. As I said, it is a two-parter of sorts. But I must admit that after reading this volume of NGNL I just felt tired.

By Yoshiki Tanaka. Released in Japan as “Ginga Eiyū Densetsu” by Tokuma Shoten. Released in North America by Haikasoru.

It’s rare to see a book that was first published in 1982 get so much excitement, but that’s exactly what happened when Viz’s SF imprint Haikasoru announced they had the first three volumes of this legendary series. The announcement was very much meant for old-school fans, those who are now in their early 40s and grew up with questionable translated fansubs of the 100-episode OAV that adapted the books (which has also recently been licensed). Why the excitement? Because it’s a really good story, showing off epic space battles and cool military tactics while at the same time showing us why constant warfare is something we should always strive to avoid. If the title sounds grandiose and over the top, it should. That’s what we’re going for here.

The first novel divides itself fairly equally between two sides of a long-running war. The Empire are a bunch of not-quite-Germans, whose lead character is Reinhard von Lohengramm, a young, handsome and brilliant tactician who is motivated by hatred and revenge after having his sister taken as mistress to the Emperor several years ago. Luckily, he has the standard sensible best friend with him, who occasionally reminds him to not go too far. On the side of the republic, we have Yang Wen-Li, who reminds me far too much of Tylor except that Yang came first. Yang desperately wants to be a historian and not get involved in the war at all, but sadly he’s an equally amazing military tactician, so he slides upwards through the book to full Admiral, mostly by virtue of being sensible, not lusting for glory and honor, and the occasional bout of clever genius.

The book begins with a long prologue showing how the Empire came to be, with the rise of Rudolf, a Hilter expy who shows off how much worse the Empire used to be. The sympathy of the Western reader, I admit, definitely resides with Yang over Reinhard, at least at the start. As the book goes on, though, and you see the very familiar corrupt democracy who think nothing of starting a war to get votes, you realize that neither side are really able to claim to be the good guys, and there are a bunch of inept generals and foolhardy glory hounds who show off the bad sides of both groups. Halfway through the book the Empire suffers a grievous military loss, and at the end an even worse political one. The Alliance shoots itself in the foot badly and is seen at the end licking its wounds. Even worse, there’s a hint that there are other parties trying to play both sides against the middle… led by the Church. (The Church, in stories like this, is almost always evil, unless it’s run by nuns.)

Haikasoru did a good job with the translation, I feel. It’s pompous and overly formal much of the time, but that’s exactly what the author is going for, I believe – much of the volume reads like a history book, and informality would miss the point. As I said earlier, the title is not just for show. This is not a light novel – it’s an epic legend, along the lines of Wagnerian opera. The anime, in fact, used a LOT of Mahler as the background music, which is highly fitting. If you enjoy military tactics books, as well as political infighting along the lines of Game of Thrones, then this is definitely the series for you. Haikasoru has promised two more volumes (the rest depends on sales) and I will absolutely be getting them.

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Akitaka. Released in Japan in two separate volumes as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni: End of the Golden Witch” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Joker. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This review is quite late, mostly as I didn’t really want to read this volume, at all, even though I also really did. Umineko can be very difficult to read and enjoy for fun, especially if you are someone who empathizes with the pain of others. While Higurashi dealt with abuse in one of its plotlines, every single page of Umineko is about abuse on a grand scale. The daily contempt and grinding down that drives Natsuhi to the brink long before the series even begins. Erika’s joyful cruelty in removing every last shred of denial and hope in Natsuhi’s heart. And of course Bernkastel, whose loving adoption of Erika as her daughter is contrasted with the hate-filled rage seen when Erika fails, as of course she does, because there’s more of this series to go. A lot more.

As I said above, the reader is meant to empathize with Natsuhi, because the writing impels us to do so, but saying that she’s the best of the parents isn’t saying much. Besides her emotional abuse of Shannon, we find here that she is in fact a murderer herself, having been driven to it by expectations of women in the 1960s and a general sense of self-loathing pushed outwards. She gets by in life due to the poorly expressed but genuine love her husband and daughter have for her (which Erika destroys as well – note to readers, never keep a diary filled only with bad things) and a denial of reality that feels very familiar five arcs into this series. Erika destroys that as well, of course, showing us that no, Kinzo always hated her.

It’s Erika’s supposition that Natsuhi was having an affair with a deluded Kinzo that feels like one piece of sourness too many though, a further blow that is entirely unnecessary. But that’s Erika for you. There’s also Beatrice, who does finally seem to be killed off here – twice – as befits the title. She dies broken as well, as Battler still – still! – has no idea what she’s talking about with a promise that he broke, and finally begs for death. I am aware that this is the low ebb of the series, and that future arcs, while dark and depressing, have more light than this. But even for Umineko this is just hard to take.

Thankfully Battler finally comes to the rescue, a bit too late for Beatrice, but at least he gets another chance to try again. He has finally realized what Beatrice was trying to tell him, though naturally he doesn’t tell the reader that, in case there are folks who still haven’t guessed. I felt his last battle against Dlanor was a bit rushed, to be honest – it felt like they underestimated the pages needed. (This likely led to the last two arcs having EVEN MORE volumes to play around in.) And now Battler is in charge of the game board, and the next arc – Dawn of the Golden Witch – will show us how he plans to honor Beatrice’s memory.

This is a great series to read intellectually, and if you like horror and Higurashi faces (TM) it’s also excellent, but I don’t think I’ve seen a series as emotionally exhausting as Umineko in quite some time. The break between volumes is welcome.