Reviews

Otome Game Review: Love! Sushi Rangers

September 12, 2014 by Anna N

I think I’ve figured out why I originally burnt out on Otome Games when I started playing them a year ago for just a few months. I generally tend towards games of the “freemium” variety, but they are so slow to progress that I end up playing a bunch of them at once, which then results in me deciding that I’ve been playing far too many otome games, so I just stop and go back to more productive pursuits like knitting, watching k-dramas, and not putting away the laundry. So this time around I’m going to give up on games I find a bit boring a bit earlier in the process, and just go ahead and write a review. I figure playing one storyline all the way to the end is enough, if the game isn’t that great, right?

All that being said, this game Love! Sushi Rangers is bonkers, because it features the typical reverse harem scenario of any otome game but with sushi ingredients. Sushi ingredients given human form and personalities. Japan, everybody!!!!!!

Love! Sushi Rangers is available on android and iPhone

This game starts out with a premise familiar to any manga fan – someone’s parent is going crazy and abandoning them for no logical reason. It is almost as good as the plot device where a sudden marriage where the heroine gets an annoyingly attractive new sibling. In this particular case the heroine’s father, a world class sushi chef, announces that he is going to walk the earth to bring the gospel of sushi to foreign lands, leaving the family restaurant in the hands of his daughter, who is absolutely inept at making sushi. Yukari, who is a sensible girl except for her habit of falling in love with sushi ingredients, is angry and upset about this turn of events. She finds some unlikely helpers, as the sushi ingredients her father left behind turn into handsome young men, prepared to help her keep the restaurant running.

Other than the nutty aspect of dating sushi ingredients, this game is pretty boring. There isn’t really much of a plot to speak of in either of the routes I tried. Salmon and Tuna are engaged in a petulant rivalry with each other.

This rivalry sometimes becomes violent. Sushi fight!!!!!

While there is no plot to speak of, this game did at least have a sense of humor, as when the sushi ingredients ponder the morality of sushi ingredients eating sushi.

I did appreciate the heroine’s tendencies to yell in all caps when she’s upset.

As a free game, I think you can play up to three character’s story lines for free. I only played through all of Tuna and part of Salmon. It is very very unfortunate that Shrimp and Avocado don’t have routes. The power expended to get through the game for free is about the slowest to regenerate that I’ve ever encountered in a freemium otome game. You basically get only 2 chapters a day, which is a very slow pace. I didn’t think that the character designs were very attractive. Often the game presents you with empty rooms and subtitles, I’m assuming to save on the costs of doing additional illustrations. Lackluster art combined with almost no plot to speak of doesn’t really add up to a game that I’d be interested in playing much further, even though there are flashes of humor due to the wacky premise.

Between the Sheets

September 12, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Erica Sakurazawa
U.S. publisher: Tokyopop
ISBN: 9781591823230
Released: May 2003
Original release: 1996

Between 2003 and 2004, Tokyopop published six manga by Erica Sakurazawa, some of the very first josei manga to be released in English. More than a decade later josei has still yet to establish a firm foothold in North America, though things seem to be improving and publishers continue to make an effort. Most of the josei that I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed. I wish that there was more available in English, but in the meantime I make the point to support what is currently available and to track down those titles, like Sakurazawa’s, that have gone out of print. The first of Sakurazawa’s manga to be translated was Between the Sheets, which was originally published in Japan in 1996. The volume was not my introduction to her work but out of all of Sakurazawa’s manga that I have so far read, I feel that it is one of the strongest in terms of storytelling. Between the Sheets was initially brought to my attention due to the elements of same-sex desire that play a critical role in the manga’s story.

Minako and Saki are extraordinarily close friends. They frequently hang out together, enjoying the bars and party scene where Saki, despite having a boyfriend, is constantly on the lookout for men. But when Saki and Minako share a drunken kiss in order to convince an undesirable suitor that they’re a couple and to leave them alone, Minako finds her feelings for her best friend beginning to change. Minako had always admired and cared deeply for Saki, but now her love has turned obsessive. She wants to be with Saki. In some ways she wants to be Saki. Saki views Minako as an extremely important person in her life but nothing more than a friend while Minako wants to be everything for Saki: her lover, her protector, her one and only. Convinced she knows what’s best for Saki, Minako will do anything to get closer to her and to drive others away, including sleeping with Saki’s boyfriends.

Frankly, Between the Sheets is an exceptionally disturbing and even horrifying work. Minako’s obsession with Saki creates an ominous and foreboding atmosphere. Each turn of the page seems as though it could reveal some sort of horrible tragedy worse than what has already occurred. Minako’s feelings become self-destructive and her way of dealing with them hurt not only herself but Saki and the men in their lives as well. Often in fiction and romance one person’s utter devotion to another is held as an ideal. However, Between the Sheets takes a much more realistic approach to this sort of extreme, obsessive desire. Minako’s fixation on Saki becomes all-consuming. It’s not flattering and it’s not romantic. In fact, it can hardly even be called love anymore. Her friendship with Saki has evolved into something much darker and much more dangerous. The damage done may be irreparable.

Because of its subject matter Between the Sheets can be a tough and uncomfortable read; it is not at all a feel-good story and there is very little happiness to be found. The characters are entangled in a web of lies, cheating, and betrayal. Unpleasant emotions like hatred, anger, and jealously overshadow those of adoration, love, and affection. However, Sakurazawa handles the intensity of those feelings in a believable way. That realism is probably one of the reasons that Between the Sheets is so troubling. Minako appears to be normal and innocent, her twisted way of thinking hidden safely from view. Sakurazawa’s artwork reflects this–on the surface nothing seems amiss. If readers weren’t privy to Minako’s inner thoughts, they might never suspect the unhealthiness of her state of mind. But eventually her actions and their tragic consequences cannot be ignored and make it quite clear to everyone involved how unbalanced she has become.

Phantom Thief Jeanne, Vol. 4

September 11, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Arina Tanemura. Released in Japan as “Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Ribon. Released in North America by Viz.

Before I get started, I want to note that I remain immensely pleased with this series. It has a lot of what magical girl series should have, a nice sense of humor even in its darkest moments, a good deal of cuteness, and the ongoing plot is fascinating. Everyone should be picking this up. With that said, let me spend this review dwelling a bit on things that felt problematic to me in this volume.

To be fair, one of these things is sort of unavoidable. In her massive villain rant at the start of the series, Finn Fish reveals that Maron has been manipulated, not just since she met Finn, but since birth, as it was the influence of Satan that led to her parents breaking up. I dislike the agency that this removes, and feel that it makes her parents less interesting people – their almost shallow horribleness was a large part of what made Maron so strong and interesting. But then that’s Finn’s point, and certainly if you’re in a series where God and Satan are real, you have to expect temptation to have more concrete forms.

Less excusable is Maron’s forgiveness of Noin’s actions once they go back in time to meet Jeanne D’Arc. She immediately rationalizes the attempted rape by noting that if he’d meant to go through with it, he would have done it while she slept, and also points out that it was due to both being possessed by a demon and his love for Jeanne. Which, yes, is true, but the whole “It’s OK, you were just overcome in the heat of the moment” forgiveness rankles in many shoujo titles. We also have several moments in the second half where Chiaki is attracted to Maron so much that he forces himself on her multiple times. This is meant to be half-amusing, and he beats himself up over it, but that doesn’t actually stop the attempts, even when he knows she’s in a fragile state.

And then there’s Miyako. She gets less of a role to play in this volume until the end, clearly upset that the “phantom thief” isn’t appearing anymore. The problem is that her plotline is mostly resolved – she’s realized that Chiaki loves Maron, and that she can’t really do anything to change that. So, as she herself notes, all that’s left to do is confess to him, get rejected and move on. She is, therefore, too nice to be an antagonist anymore. And that has to be fixed, so at the end of the volume we see her abducted by Finn, and she later pops up, I suspect, clearly possessed by evil. I wish there were a more natural way to do this.

That said, there’s still so much to love about this volume, don’t get me wrong. Everything about Finn’s past and her relationship with Access is beautifully tragic, and (typical for Japan) paints God as being not all that much better when it comes to forgiveness. Yamato’s confession to Maron, and subsequent rejection, plays out beautifully, and is likely why Tanemura wanted to avoid repeating it with Miyako. And the time travel arc is handled surprisingly well and logically, and among its questionable forgiveness does have Maron assuring Jeanne that being raped does not make you less good of a person.

To sum up, see the start of this review. Even with my issues, it’s still far and away by favorite Tanemura series.

Boogiepop and Others

September 10, 2014 by Ash Brown

Author: Kouhei Kadono
Illustrator: Kouji Ogata
Translator: Andrew Cunningham
U.S. publisher: Seven Seas
ISBN: 9781933164168
Released: January 2006
Original release: 1998
Awards: Dengeki Novel Prize

Boogiepop and Others is the first volume in a series of light novels written by Kouhei Kadono and illustrated by Kouji Ogata. The novel was originally released in Japan in 1998 after winning the Dengeki Game Novel Prize (now known simply as the Dengeki Novel Prize). Boogiepop and Others has been credited with igniting the light novel trend in Japan. Whether that is true or not, the novel has inspired more than a dozen other volumes in the Boogiepop novel series as well as other books, short stories, manga, music, a live-action film adaptation, an anime, and more. Out of the fairly large franchise, four of the light novels–including Boogiepop and Others–two short manga series, the anime, and the film have been released in English. The English-language edition of Boogiepop and Others, translated by Andrew Cunningham, was published by Seven Seas in 2006. Although I had been aware of the Boogiepop Phantom anime series for quite some time, Boogiepop and Others was actually my introduction to the franchise and is set before the events of the anime.

No one is entirely sure who or what Boogiepop is, but there are several rumors and theories among the students of Shinyo Academy. Stories are told about a spirit of death, an assassin who can kill instantly and painlessly. When a number of female students at Shinyo Academy go missing, many naturally assume that Boogiepop must have had something to do with their disappearances. Others believe Boogiepop to be nothing more than a myth or urban legend, but they can’t deny that something very strange and very wrong is going on at their school. Most of the missing girls are written off as runaways by the police and their cases are quickly dropped. And so a few of their classmates take it upon themselves to investigate since they can’t rely on the adults to pursue the matter. But it’s already too late. Some of the girls who have disappeared have lost their lives and there will be even more deaths before those who are responsible can be stopped. If they can be stopped. Any survivors will be left struggling to comprehend everything that occurred at Shinyo Academy.

Boogiepop and Others isn’t told from a single point of view, within a single time frame, or even through a single narrative. Instead, each chapter is seen from the perspective of a different student. Some of the characters are directly involved with the events unfolding at Shinyo Academy while others are only tangentially related. However, none of them know everything about what is going on, though they may have their suspicions. There’s Takeda Keiji, who becomes one of the people closest to Boogiepop, Suema Kazuko, who once was almost the victim of a serial killer herself, Saotome Masami, a deceptively unassuming underclassman, Kimura Akio, one of several boyfriends of one of the missing students, and Niitoki Kei, the president of the discipline committee. They each have their own story to tell, and each version of the events is accurate, but the complete truth can only be understood when all of the individual accounts have been completely disclosed and are then considered and taken together as a whole.

The narrative structure of Boogiepop and Others is actually quite effective in creating and sustaining the mystery and mood of the novel. It’s a slow build as little by little information is revealed and connections are made between characters and their stories. Piecing together everything is an incredibly engaging part of the novel. At times, Boogiepop and Others can be legitimately creepy and disconcerting. The elements of horror in the novel are just as strong as those of science fiction and mystery. Several of the characters are dealing with extreme mental and psychological disturbances and unfortunate family circumstances in addition to the apparent supernatural occurrences. Personally, I preferred Kadono’s exploration of the more reality-based issues over the more outrageous ideas, but in combination even those could be oddly compelling in their strangeness. I thoroughly enjoyed Boogiepop and Others, perhaps even more than I initially anticipated. I definitely plan on reading more of the series.

Gangsta, Vol. 3

September 9, 2014 by Anna N

Gangsta Volume 3 by Kohske

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I continue to thoroughly enjoy this seinen title set in a world where two men with a brotherly bond make money doing odd jobs for the mafia, in a world where genetically enhanced humans are both fearsome soldiers and a disrespected underclass. I thought after reading volume 2 and getting a peak at the cover for this volume that the reader would be getting a bit more backstory on how Nic and Worick first met, and I wasn’t disappointed.

We get a glimpse of Worick’s life before he became a handyman at large and sometime gigolo. He was brought up by a wealthy family with an abusive father who never hesitated to remind him of his illegitimacy. He’s all alone until he gets assigned an unconventional bodyguard Nic, who is working through his own problems as a deaf Twilighter with few communication skills. The two young men gradually grow closer together, with Worick acting as a bit of a tutor. They pour over a sign language book together. This isn’t an idyll by any means, as Worick is beaten by his father, and Nic is abused by the mercenary troop that just wants to take advantage of his skills and dump him when he’s useless.

In the present day Alex finds herself more drawn in to the daily lives of the two handymen and their friends at the nearby medical clinic. There are some mafia conspiracies going on that I’m sure will be drawing in everybody into a violent confrontation. More Twilighters are popping up, and I think things are going to get even more bloody in the volumes ahead The violence in this manga contrasts with some of the slice of life pacing and the strong relationships that develop as the characters intersect. The art manages to be both stylish and dynamic, and the action scenes are effective in showing the enhances powers of the Twilights, and the aftereffects of their actions. Kohske is building an interesting world. If you enjoy seinen with an edge, you can’t go wrong with this manga.

One Piece, Vol. 72

September 9, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

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

When I reviewed the last volume, I said that there was a bit too much going on for me to get a handle on all of it, and that goes double for this volume, which rarely stays on one character for longer than a few pages. As such, I think it’s time to bring out the bullet point review style, which I haven’t done in some time.

— So we get to see Sanji’s reputation as a loser who is easily manipulated by women, but this is undercut a great deal by having him actually be right about her needing help, of course. Sigh. One day I’d like to see a pretty girl who isn’t swayed by Sanji’s annoying chivalry. (Well, one can argue Nami and Robin perform this function…)
— I like the reveal that Donflamingo had the press send a retraction on this quitting the Warlords 12 hours later, right after all his enemies would have taken the bait. It’s quite clever. I also like that Law, given an easy chance, still respects Luffy enough to not take it, and proclaims that they are equal allies.
— Naturally, Usopp playing the hero is getting him into all sorts of trouble, as now he has to lead a Tontatta army to rescue their missing princess (who is apparently a horrible person, but is one of them, so must be rescued). Meanwhile, Robin is resting after using up her one big surprised face last volume, so she’s mostly stoic here.
— Nami, Chopper, and Brook get very little to do, but I have to admit that Oda still knows how to use fruit powers to his advantage. The Picasso fruit allows him to try styles for the characters that are both horrifying and hilarious.
— As I suspected last volume, the big reveal about the toys is that they were once people – and, tragically, they remember this, but the people who they were connected to (wives, children) do not. This is incredibly sad if you think about it, especially as it’s been going on for years. I wonder how this will fall out once the Straw Hat Pirates save the day?
— Much of Luffy’s fight in the ring is taken up by a bunch of seemingly awesome fighters who get taken out by a slew of other even more awesome fighters, as in most tournament arcs. I did like the Ideon ref. The one to note here is Chin Jao, who, as per One Piece tradition, has a backstory both extraordinarily sad and extraordinarily stupid at the same time. (Seriously, without his head being pointy, nothing can happen? He’s that much of a can opener?) That said, in the end it’s Luffy punching the grudge out of him.
–And then there’s Rebecca, who has an even more tragic backstory, which resembles Nami and Robin’s a bit too much for my liking. She’s going out their to kick ass, but I have a sinking feeling that she’s going to need saving. There was much discussion when she appeared that she might join the crew, but her tragic past flashback is only a few pages, so chances aren’t good. We shall see.

Oda is still doing what he does best, and tehre are some very clever twists in this volume. One Piece fans should be quite satisfied.

Otome Game Review: Love Letter from Thief X

September 7, 2014 by Anna N

Love Letter from Thief x is availabe on Android and iPhone.

I played a few Otome games a year ago, and I’m playing a couple again. Perhaps there is something about fall that makes me want to play Otome games. Before I move on to the games I am currently playing (spoiler alert! there might be sushi and ninjas involved), I thought I would go back and write about my favorite game to date, Love Letter from Thief X.

There’s something about the premise that really appeals to me, even more than games involving pirates and ninjas, as hard as it may seem. In this game, the heroine works in a museum and finds herself caught up in a ring of Robin Hood-like thieves. It is vaguely like that great Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole move “How to Steal a Million”, except there’s no Givenchy costumes and instead of Peter O’Toole, you get six Japanese dudes.

The heroine of this game works in a museum. Her great-grandfather was the Japanese equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci. One day when she’s at work after hours, she runs into two thieves. She bumps into a display case as she chases after them, almost toppling a statute on top of her. One of the thieves saves her from being brained by the bronze. They notice that she’s wearing an heirloom ring from her great-grandfather, then quickly run away as the police approach. There are rumors floating around about a ring of thieves known as the Black Foxes, and the heroine wonders if the strange men she encountered are part of the group.

The next day the heroine finds herself meeting two other strange men who are also part of the secret band of thieves. She finds herself at a bar where they all hang out, told that she’s the key to unlocking the secret of her great-grandfather’s legacy, and has to pick a thief to accompany her at all times in her new role as a member of the Black Foxes.

There’s Riki, the arrogant leader:

Takuto, a socially inept computer genius.

Takuto and the heroine often get into fights over who ate the last serving of pork noodles.

Hiro, an androgynous art student and master of disguise:

and Kenshi, the boy next door:

You can also play storylines with Atsumu, the oddly superstitious older boss of the gang, and Tatsuro, an old childhood friend of the heroine’s who happens to be a police detective tracking down the Black Foxes.

Depending on the route you pick, you get a different scenario for the mystery the Black Foxes need the heroine to solve. Sometimes they are chasing paintings, an advanced scientific invention, an Indiana Jones style lost city, or a precious artifact. I played through all the routes on this game, although I haven’t invested the time and money to play the many sequels, epilogues, and special stories.

There are a lot of similarities in the personalities of the characters to Pirates in Love. In particular, Riki and Eduardo and Atsumu and Morgan were a bit similar. This was the first Otome game where I’ve been interested in playing every route, and it was interesting to see the variations on the story with each character. Riki’s story is good if you enjoy the whole clumsy maiden with a chaebol dynamic that pops up so often in k-dramas, and there’s even a bit of second lead syndrome as Riki and Takuto struggle a bit over the heroine’s affections. Takuto’s story was probably the most emotionally intense. Kenshi’s storyline was simple but sweet. Atsumu’s storyline delves into issues that unfold when you have a leading man who is superficial on the service because he’s dealing with a tragic past. I was happy to play through all the stories, but Hiro and Tatsuro were a bit less entertaining for me.

There’s plenty of humor throughout. I know that many otome game aficionados aren’t necessarily the biggest fans of Voltage Games, but if you aren’t able to play games in Japanese, at least the translation quality is good, you do get plenty of chapters for the $4.99 per game route you’re playing, and the storylines are generally entertaining. This has been my favorite otome game so far, and I would rank Pirates in Love second. I always meant for these reviews to turn into a regular feature! We’ll see what I can manage with the few games I just started playing recently. If you have suggestions for games for me to check out, please let me know. I know that Alice in the Country of Hearts was just released in English, but the translation quality seems so bad, I’m not sure if I can stomach paying for any chapters.

Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 1

September 7, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Adachitoka. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

It’s rare to see the word ‘Monthly’ next to Shonen Magazine in North American licenses. Between the licenses from the regular Weekly publication (Fairy Tail, UQ Holder, etc.) and the ‘cool’ alternative of Bessatsu (Attack on Titan, Sankarea, Flowers of Evil), Monthly doesn’t really get much of a look. It tends towards longer series, which may be a primary reason, and there’s also a lot of sports titles, including long-runner Dear Boys. Del Rey tried out Pumpkin Scissors, but it fell victim to The Great Del Rey Cull of 2010 (as seen in all good history books). But now we have Noragami: Stray God, a fantasy featuring a god who’s somewhat full of himself and a young girl who struggles to deal with her new-found brush with death.

As I read Noragami, I was struck by its similarity to another title I follow, Rin-Ne. Another spiritual odd jobs man who helps out people in need, even if they may turn out to not really deserve the help they get, and does so despite being on the edge of poverty. Takahashui’s series, though, has fairly mild characters in the lead roles. That’s not the cast with Noragami. I was struck after finishing the first chapter how hard it was to latch onto anything, which makes it a relief that it was a sort of prologue. A victim of class bullying, Mutsumi comes across as somewhat passive and shallow, and even though I am not fond of ‘it’s the victim’s fault for not standing up for herself’ plotlines, you can see Yato’s point.

As for Yato, he’s a very quirky sort of hero, coming across as a bit of a jerk, to the extent that his old Shinki, the only one in the first chapter who seemed like a decent person, abandons him. Of course, this is not the end. Yato is a decent person at heart, it’s just he keeps up a shell of over-the-top dramatics and uncaring dialogue. Things perk up when we meet Hiyori, who does end up taking the role of the audience identification character. She’s a little weird herself (her obsession with pro wrestling is her character introduction), but comes across as nice and sympathetic, and attempts to figure out what to do after an impulsive attempt to save Yato from a care crash leaves her in the realm between life and death (complete with tail for added service).

At the end of the series we meet Yato’s supposed new ShinkiYukine… who seems very ungrateful to be in this position, and whose discussion of Yato’s faults reminds me a lot of the original Shinki we met. Will he stick around long enough to see Volume 3? More to the point, will I? This is an intriguing new series, but it’s hard to really bond with anyone in it, and its plot is being done elsewhere as well. Those who enjoy fantasy comedies should like Noragami, but it can be as hard to take as its hero most of the time.

Checking out Sparkler Monthly

September 6, 2014 by Anna N

Sparkler Monthly has a membership drive currently happening, and I was given access as a reviewer to poke around and check out what this unique magazine has to offer. I browsed around the site a bit, and while I realize the flagship title is Jen Lee Quick’s Off*Beat, my attention was first captured by the currently running series Dire Hearts and the selection of short stories.

Dire Hearts

Dire Hearts is by Christy Lijewski, and currently has 2 chapters available. Rose attends a special school for Casters, girls with magical abilities who are paired up with Knights. Rose has a severe case of amnesia, a slightly obnoxious roommate, and angsty problems because Sir Shur has chosen her as his caster, even though her abilities aren’t up to speed. Rose is an entertaining, somewhat caustic heroine, who is struggling to regain her memories and not fitting in well to the overly mannered society at her school. Something about all the school uniforms and undercurrents of psychological trauma reminded me a tiny bit of Revolutionary Girl Utena. The standout aspect of this title is Lijewski’s art, which combines the pretty and the grotesque in stylized lines and good panel composition. This was my favorite of the titles that I sampled, but unfortunately this series is now on hiatus.

Windrose

Windrose is by Studio Konsen, it has a more conventional pretty shoujo art style, and I found myself intrigued by the first two chapters, which launch heroine Daniela into an adventure filled with pirates, as she searches for the truth about her father. She falls in with with brother and sister mercenaries Angeline and Leon. Angeline is predatory and sneaky and Leon seems to be silently sympathetic but without much personality yet, so it will be interesting to see if this somewhat random group is able to fulfill Daniela’s quest. I enjoyed the art and the story for this comic, but it is a bit tricky to judge a comic based on only two chapters.

Gatesmith

Gatesmith is by Jen Lee Quick, who is I suppose the flagship creator for Chromatic Press, since her title Off*Beat is available in all three volumes, including the first two previously published by Tokyopop, and the final third volume published by Chromatic Press. This series is a western with supernatural and horror elements. The first chapter shows a wagon journey gone awry, as the travelers are robbed and killed, and the only surviving robber ends up dying in the desert, only to have his corpse be reanimated by a skinwalker. The following chapter shows a mysterious stranger sharing a meal with some ranchers, only to head out alone to track down a supernatural manifestation. I think I’ll be able to get a better feel for the series after reading a couple more chapters, but so far this title does seem very intriguing. Quick’s art is expressive, clear, and easy to follow.

There are short stories available too. Of the three short story series available, Ring of Saturn was the standout for me. I enjoyed the story about a struggling pianist. The historical setting and aspects of the art reminded me a bit of the manga Emma. Before You Go was a meet cute story about two girls who strike up a relationship after sharing the same commute for several weeks.

Sparkler Monthly has put together an impressive amount of content for such a new venture. I was just checking out the comics and didn’t even start reading the prose or audio dramas. I wish that there had been a few more chapters available for the non-Off*Beat series, but I appreciate that it takes a lot of work to issue a chapter of a comic, and many of these comics have just been recently launched.

If you’re interested in Sparkler Monthly, you can download a Sampler Issue and contribute to their membership drive!

No. 6, Vol. 8

September 5, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Hinoki Kino
Original story: Atsuko Asano
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781612625782
Released: August 2014
Original release: 2013

Hinoki Kino’s manga series No. 6 is an adaptation of Atsuko Asano’s No. 6 science fiction novels. I’ve wanted to read the original series ever since I watched the No. 6 anime adaptation, but I am quite aware of how unlikely it is that the novels will be licensed any time soon, if ever. Still, I was very pleased when Kodansha Comics announced that Kino’s manga adaptation would be officially translated into English. No. 6, Volume 8 was originally released in 2013 while Kodansha’s edition was published in 2014. The English-language edition is actually based on the Japanese special edition of the volume, which means that it contains a bonus story as well as some additional material. Of particular note is a sixteen-page color illustration gallery which will most likely be limited to the first printing of No. 6, Volume 8 (at least in color). This is the first time that color pages have been included in the English-language version of No. 6; it’s Kodansha’s way of thanking readers for the strong support that they have shown the series.

Rat and Shion have been able to successfully infiltrate No. 6’s Correctional Facility, but it hasn’t been easy. The two young men have faced off with the building’s security forces and survived, but not without injury and not without taking the lives of some of those who would do them harm. It’s been a traumatizing experience for both Shion and Rat, but they are determined to complete their mission at whatever cost. Shion’s goal is to rescue his close friend Safu, who has been arrested and is being held within the Correctional Facility; Rat aspires to completely destroy No. 6 and anything and anyone associated with it. Sadly, Shion’s reunion with Safu isn’t all that he hoped for and now that Rat and Shion have reached the most secure and heavily guarded areas of the Correctional Facility they must find a way to escape–something that will prove to be even more dangerous than their initial assault on the building. With time quickly running out, it will be all that they can do just to survive.

Even though I am already familiar with the story of No. 6 it is still astounding and incredibly heart-wrenching to see just how much Shion has changed over the course of the series. And it’s not change without cause. He has seen and been put through terrible, horrifying things. Some harsh truths and decisions have been forced upon him while other choices have been entirely his own, either consciously or subconsciously. Glimmers of who Shion once was can still be seen–even when in utter despair he can somehow find beauty in life and in other people–but it’s likely only a matter of time before reality completely breaks him. Over the last few volumes he has been slipping further and further away; by this point in the series Shion’s mental state is extremely precarious. He is desperately trying, and failing, to process and make sense of everything that has happened. Tragically, Shion is no longer even capable of saving himself. It’s only when Rat’s life is in mortal danger that Shion is temporarily torn away from his inner turmoil and crisis.

No. 6, Volume 8 focuses almost entirely on the escape from the Correctional Facility. Kino’s action sequences have improved immensely since the beginning of the series, which is especially important for a volume which relies so heavily on them. Kino has started using some very interesting and effective angles of perspective, which adds to the dynamic nature of Rat and Shion’s flight. While there isn’t much plot advancement in the eighth volume of No. 6, there are still some crucial and defining character moments for both Rat and Shion. The changes that Shion has been going through have had a tremendous impact on Rat and as a result he is struggling, too. Although there is excitement and drama to be found within the story itself, it’s ultimately the characters and their evolution as the series steadily progresses that make No. 6 so gripping. With only one more volume to go there is still plenty that could happen, but no matter which direction No. 6 takes Rat and Shion will never be the same.

Wandering Son, Vol. 7

September 5, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialized in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

Childhood and growing up is all about making big mistakes and then trying to deal with them, or make up for them, or (most often) realize that you can’t really make up for some things. This volume of Wandering Son definitely feels like that’s what’s happening with Takatsuki, who lets a secret blurt out in an impetuous moment and then has to deal with the fallout. Meanwhile, Nitori seems to have moved on from Takatsuki himself, as he’s started to date – and no big surprise who it is. This may be a heartwarming cutting edge coming of age manga, but if a girl says she hates a guy in Book 4, she’s going to be dating him in Book 7.

We’ve focused mainly on Nitori and his desires, but Takatsuki is the other half of this story, and her gender issues have not gone away. It’s harder for her to accomplish what she wants, though. There are little victories, such as leaving her ribbon off at school or binding her chest to hide her growing breasts. But there’s also Chiba, who proclaims her dislike of Takatsuki but can’t stop dealing with her. Takatsuki is not helping things either. Her revelation that Nitori is dating Anna is pure spite, and she knows how Chiba feels, so should not be surprised at the devastation that follows. It ends up forcing the two of them to deal with each other more directly, though. I wonder if Takatsuki will follow Chiba’s suggestion towards the end of the volume.

Meanwhile, as noted, Nitori and Anna have started going out. They’re very cute together, though Nitori’s gender issues have not yet really come between them, and it’s critical to note that he goes out with her and confesses to her as a male. He’s really come a long way, though, and I feel happy for him. All is not sunshine and rainbows, of course; puberty brings its own problems, in this case acne, and the fact that some cleansers simply work differently for different types of faces. And there’s Seya, forced together with Nitori on a skiing trip, who’s still having issues with how cute Nitori is and dealing with the reaction to that.

And I keep coming back to Chiba. She actually stays home for a considerable period after the Anna revelation, and is considering dropping out entirely. All of Nitori and Takatsuki’s friends seem to grate on her these days, and I am reminded what a difficult thing it is to get everyone in a young peer group to get along, or even communicate with each other properly. Things are looking up as she goes with the class on the ski trip, but even there she can’t really stop trying to influence people to change the way she wants them to change, something I think she has regretted before and will regret again. She’s a giant mess, and still my favorite character in the series.

Wandering Son is a nostalgic look back at what it was like to go through childhood, and if that sounds painful and discomfiting, it’s probably meant to be. But there’s a lot of warmth and affection here as well, and we long to see the cast struggle, make more mistakes, and continue to move forward. Highly recommended.

Sword Art Online, Vol. 2

September 2, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Reki Kawahara and abec. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press.

The author of this novel admits in his afterword that the first book was an excellent stand alone, but did not really make for much of an ongoing series. So, in order to fix that, he’s going back and adding a few elements that might a) expand the cast and draw in a few more fans of those ‘types’, b) expand the world of Aincrad a bit more before everyone is free of it, and c) give a bit more depth to Kirito’s mental and emotional issues while continuing to show off how amazing he is (really, if Kirito bothers you as a super awesome guy, you should probably find some other series to read. I’ve no real issues with it.)

This novel consists of four short stories, and while they all achieve something, I’d have to see it’s the last two that hold more emotional weight and are better written. In the first story we meet Silica, a young girl who has a rare beast and has let it go to her head, with potentially tragic circumstances. Kirito straight up admits (though later he reveals that part of this was a ploy) that he’s helping her as she reminds him of his younger sister. Having read Fairy Dance’s manga, I don’t really see it, but again, ploy. We see a bit of how criminal activity works in the world of SAO, and also how a young girl on her own would have to deal with creepers – Silica is well-known, popular, and underage, a dangerous combination even in a MMORPG.

Next we meet Lisbeth, a blacksmith who is friends with Asuna and indeed shares many of her qualities. Kirito comes to her looking for a second sword, and so they have to go on a quest for the mystery metal that can make it. I found this the weakest story in a few ways, but it does manage to highlight what it must be like for an outsider on coming across the relationship between Kirito and Asuna. The author may be adding more cute girls to fall for Kirito (we get three in this book alone), but never lets us forget that Kirito and Asuna are THE couple, and Lisbeth, much as it hurts, can’t bring herself to try to come between them. (She also gets first person narration, the first we’ve seen that isn’t Kirito’s.)

The third story was my favorite, and not coincidentally focused on Kirito and Asuna right after they get married, when they come across a young girl in the forest. The manga adapted this, but I hadn’t realized how much it was compressed – here we meet several more cast, and it’s revealed that most of the young kids in the game are not leveling up like Silica, but just wanting to survive. Sasha corralling them is a definite good thing. It’s also nice seeing a romantic couple that isn’t the main one – Yuriel attempts to frame Thinker as her commanding officer, but it becomes clear early on she’s deeply in love with him. Mostly, though, this is the heartbreaking story of an AI who overcomes mental blocks to help her parents, and a coulpe that experience the exquisite pain of losing their child.

The last short story is the shortest, and is the only story in first-person Kirito narration. It expands on the story he’d told us in the first book about the guild he joined that was wiped out – in particular Sachi, the young woman he reassures but can’t quite save. This is Kirito at his darkest and most driven, and it’s stated several times that he’s in a suicidal state. It’s stark and emotional, though the actual guild and their fate is more of a catalyst than anything else – this is not about them, it’s about how Kirito can get over his grief and start to recover.

As you’d expect, this was a lot more uneven than the first book, but I enjoy its leads, and I like the expanded worldbuilding. Now that we’ve done that, hopefully Book 3 will show us Kirito and Asuna happily reuniting in the real world. Well, unless something goes horribly wrong…

Malice

August 31, 2014 by Ash Brown

Author: Keigo Higashino
Translator: Alexander O. Smith and Elye Alexander
U.S. publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 9781250035608
Released: October 2014
Original release: 1996

Ever since reading The Devotion of Suspect X I have steadily been devouring Keigo Higashino’s other novels available in English. I really enjoy his style of clever and unusual mysteries. I was thrilled to learn that Malice would be the next of his works to be translated. Technically, Malice is the fourth novel in Higashino’s series of books featuring Detective Kyoichiro Kaga. However, in English, it is the first volume of that particular series to be released. (Before Malice only select Detective Galileo novels and Himitsu, published in English as Naoko, had been translated.) But, as with many mystery series, it is not necessary to have read every volume in order to make sense of each installment; Malice holds up very well as its own work. Malice was originally published in Japan in 1996 while the English translation by Alexander O. Smith and Elye Alexander was released by the Minotaur Books imprint of St. Martin’s Press In 2014. When offered an early copy of the novel for review, I leapt at the chance to read it.

Kunihiko Hidaka is a best-selling, award-winning novelist who, soon before he moves from Japan to Canada, is murdered in his home. His body is found in his office behind a door locked from the inside. The house, too, is locked. Only three people are known to have seen Hidaka before his death: Rie Hidaka, his second wife; Osamu Nonoguchi, his friend and fellow author; and Miyako Fujio, the sister of a man who was vilified in one of Hidaka’s novels. All three have alibis and their motives, if they even exist, are unclear at best. Kyoichiro Kaga is one of the police detectives assigned to the investigation of Hidaka’s murder. It just so happens that he knows Nonoguchi. The two men used to be teachers at the same middle school before Kaga left to join the police force and Nonoguchi left to write full-time. Kaga’s intuition and his previous acquaintance with Nonoguchi correctly leads him to believe that something isn’t quite right with the other man’s story. Digging deeper he discovers that Nonoguchi and Hidaka’s relationship was much more complicated than it first appeared.

Higashino takes a different approach in each work, but much like the two Detective Galileo novels in English–The Devotion of Suspect X and Salvation of a Saint—who the murderer is in Malice becomes quite clear early on in the work. It doesn’t take very long at all for Nonoguchi to confess. The real mystery is the reason behind Hidaka’s murder and Nonoguchi’s motives. The confession is really all that the police department needs to close the case, but human curiosity demands to know the reasons why. To some extent, Nonoguchi is counting on this; he needs Kaga to investigate. Nonoguchi leads and misleads the detectives in order to create the narrative that he wants the world to believe about Hidaka and his murder. Malice is extraordinarily clever. Nonoguchi’s novelist mindset enables him to manipulate others in ways that are unexpected and yet completely reasonable. As an author he is quite skilled in creating fictions that people are willing to believe and knows how to play into their expectations.

As a whole, Malice is an extremely engaging mystery, but one of the most interesting and intriguing things about the novel is its structure. I’ve never come across something quite like it before. Some of the chapters are told by Nonoguchi, essentially forming a novel within a novel, while other chapters are devoted to Kaga’s notes on his investigation as well as the interviews he conducts as a part of it. Nonoguchi is an inherently unreliable narrator, freely mixing select facts into the fiction of his written account. Kaga’s task is to tease the truth out of Nonoguchi’s writing. Kaga is working with the same material that is presented to the readers of Malice; it is fascinating to see his thought processes and theories develop in response to the information that Nonoguchi is deliberately providing him. I’ve come to expect smart and clever writing from Higashino and I was not at all disappointed with Malice. I hope to see even more of his work translated, and perhaps even more stories featuring Kyoichiro Kaga, in the future.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of Malice for review.

Off*Beat, Vol. 3

August 29, 2014 by Ash Brown

Creator: Jen Lee Quick
Publisher: Chromatic Press
ISBN: 9780991946648
Released: August 2014
Original run: 2013-2014

Nearly a decade after the series first began it’s finally here–the third and final volume in Jen Lee Quick’s Off*Beat. The first two graphic novels in the series were published by Tokyopop in 2005 and 2006, but the planned third volume never materialized and the first two volumes went out of print. For years fans were left languishing with one heck of a cliffhanger and with little hope of ever seeing the ending of Off*Beat. But then along comes a brand new publisher, Chromatic Press, to save the series, reprinting new editions of the first two volumes in 2013 and serializing the third in its digital multimedia magazine Sparkler Monthly. Off*Beat, Volume 3 made its debut in the first issue of Sparkler Monthly in 2013, reaching its conclusion in the ninth issue in 2014. The collected print edition of Off*Beat, Volume 3, which includes additional material not serialized online, was published later in 2014. As a long time fan of Off*Beat, I am absolutely thrilled to finally have the completed series.

With the next stage of the Gaia Project about to begin, Colin must make a decision. He knows that Tory has been spying on him–he even has one of Tory’s many notebooks recording his activities as proof–and despite Colin being drawn to the other young man, Tory seems to be lacking the attunement that Colin is hoping to find in another person. Though somewhat reluctant, Colin is preparing himself to end his strange relationship with Tory. As for Tory, what started out as a dubious obsession with his neighbor has grown into genuine affection. Although he is still intensely curious about the top-secret Gaia Project, he has begun to care less and less about it and more and more about Colin. He can’t seem to help himself. And so when Colin disappears without a word, Tory momentarily finds himself at a loss before applying all of his investigative skills into searching for him. He has very few clues to work with, but if nothing else Tory is meticulous and determined.

I really love the slow, natural development of Tory and Colin’s awkward relationship over the course of Off*Beat. It takes them all three volumes to recognize and come to terms with their complicated feelings for each other and matters are made even more difficult by Colin’s peculiar circumstances. They both have to figure out what to do about Colin’s devotion to the Gaia Project and how that will impact their budding relationship. One of the things that is never called into question in Off*Beat is the legitimacy of Colin and Tory’s liking each other–something about the series that makes me extraordinarily happy. If the two young men can somehow find a way to make their relationship work despite the strangeness of their situation, they have the ready support of family, friends, and classmates. That they would even be interested in another person romantically is what the drama stems from; a big deal is never made over the fact that they both happen to be guys. Their close relationships with the other characters in the series are another very important part of Off*Beat as well.

Off*Beat reaches a very satisfying conclusion with the third volume and yet at the same time it is open-ended enough that readers are left imagining all of the possibilities presented by the last few pages. Quick’s ending, like real life, is messy and complicated, but most of the plot threads are tied up in some fashion. Which is not to say that all of the questions have been answered–more has been revealed about the Gaia Project, but there is still plenty about it and about Colin himself that remains hidden and unknown even by the series’ end. The needed speculation may frustrate some readers, but I found it to be a believable and engaging aspect of the story. Despite all of the curious mysteries and top-secret projects, the characters’ relationships and feelings are both realistic and authentic. They all have their quirks, flaws, and strengths. It’s this beautifully strong human element in Off*Beat that really makes the series work. With the final volume of Off*Beat I find that I love the series more than ever. I am so incredibly happy to have finally been able to see the completion of such a wonderful story.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol. 1

August 26, 2014 by Sean Gaffney

By Yoshiki Tanaka and Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Arslan Senki” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

I must admit to being unfamiliar with the original Arslan fantasy novels this is based on. Published since the 1980s by Kadokawa, they also spawned a manga in the early 1990s, which ran in Asuka and was drawn by Chisato Nakamura, famous over here for many Harlequin manga adaptations. But now the series is being rebooted for a new generation, with the art being done by Hiromu Arakawa of Fullmetal Alchemist fame. This means that the action scenes are superbly handled, and also that our hero, Arslan, just happens to look like the child Ed and Winry would have had in FMA. Which is pretty much what you’d expect. If you hire an artist, you get their art style.

The story itself is about a fantasy kingdom that seems to be defined as “not quite Persia”, and its young prince who is having difficulty living up to the expectations placed on him, particularly since he doesn’t get much love from either of his parents. He does have some awesome advisors, though, one or two of whom even survive past this first book. After a prologue showing him getting into a prolonged chase with an escaped prisoner from Lusitania, whose country is a bit more democratic and less dependent on slaves than Arslan’s own, we move forward to seeing Arslan at 14 or so, getting ready to fight in his first battle, not knowing how much of a disaster it will be.

As you’d expect for a fantasy series, much of this first volume is devoted to worldbuilding, though there’s also some healthy character development. Arslan has a bit of a complex about wanting to impress his stern and cold parents, neither of whom seem to hold him in much regard – there may be an answer for that, it’s hinted later, as Arslan may not be the King’s real son. He’s the sort of nice, earnest, naive protagonist you enjoy seeing grow to maturity in stories like these. His main ally seems to be Daryun, who is also stern but actually cares about Arslan, even if he has to be prodded to do so on occasion by his father.

I imagine that the next couple of volumes will be trying to figure out how to retake the kingdom now that it has fallen, and attempting to reassess their enemies. The enemies themselves don’t get much of a look-in here – the child who drags Arslan around in Chapter 1 did not return, much to my surprise, in the battle. As for the masked man who appears to be the main villain, he’s driven by a hatred of the King (who, I will admit, is not a caricatured bad King/bad father as I’d expected – he’s a decent King who likely is aware his wife is having affairs and that Arslan isn’t his, and this galls him, as it’s also clear he’d do anything for her). Like a lot of Volume 1s, this seems to be mostly setup, but I’m definitely on board with what is shaping up to be a thought-provoking and exciting new action series.