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Reviews

One Punch Man, Vol 1

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I make no secret of my affection for shoujo manga, but occasionally even I want to read shonen manga featuring kicking or punching, preferably both. One Punch Man, as one might suspect, is centered on punching. This is available on the Viz Digital site for your various devices! One Punch Man provides an amusing twist on the typical shonen manga plot about a young protagonist who has to work hard to develop his extraordinary abilities. In this case the hero of the manga, formerly unemployed salaryman turned hero Saitama has already train to develop his powers with such intensity that all his hair has fallen out. He is called “One Punch Man” because he is so strong he can easily defeat any opponent with just one punch, and as a result is incredibly bored.

In One Punch Man, Saitama’s town seems to be an unfortunate focus of giant villains or monsters with satirical origin stories. One Punch Man punches Vaccine Man, who exists due to pollution, a crustacean made angry by graffiti, and a group of subterraneans. Throughout the manga, One Punch Man is vainly hoping for a non-boring battle, only to be disappointed every time. As drawn by Yusuke Murata, One Punch Man often resembles a slightly perturbed superhero with an egg-like head, which only serves to highlight the ridiculousness of his opponents. Towards the end of middle of the volume One Punch Man even takes on a sidekick Genos, “a lone cyborg fighting for justice.”

I found One Punch Man‘s send up of superhero conventions amusing, the art was well executed, and it perfectly fit in my desire to read goofy fighting shonen manga. The send-ups of villains and heroic origin stories mixed in with some spectacular punches made this manga fun to read, and I hope it does well for Viz as a digital first release. I’d buy the next volume, for sure.

UQ Holder!, Vol. 1

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By Ken Akamatsu. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

It’s pretty easy to tell that this is a sequel to Negima right off the bat – Evangeline appears on Page 1, talking about the difficulties inherent in immortality. It’s the following page that’s the gut-punch for all those who were hoping that this new series would see a lot of the Negima cast making cameos throughout – a metaphorical shot of Eva and the Negima cast slowly parting from one another as she continues on a solitary journey (not even Chachazero?), it’s also Ken Akamatsu telling us that this is 80 years after Negima proper, and most of the girls we loved are now dead. Is this the world that the shippers fought and died for in the “who is Negi’s wife?” wars?

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Luckily, this is not a grim ‘n gritty story of how the Negima cast dies over the years – at least not so far. No, it’s pure shonen adventure, a Akamatsu has resolved whatever the issues were with Kodansha that caused Negima to end so abruptly and has finally won what he’d been working towards for years – pure adventure, no harem comedy whatsoever. Now, this is not to say we won’t have a few love triangles or fanservice scenes down the road – there’s at least two bath scenes with naked people in this volume alone. But Negima was always held back, at least at first, by Kodansha demanding Akamatsu try to replicate Love Hina, and it’s good to see that this new series is not going to be doing the same.

By the way, I had mentioned Evangeline, and she is the exception to the dead cast list above, being an immortal vampire. Indeed, immortality is the point of this entire series, as our hero is a young man, Tota Konoe (note the last name), whose parents died in a war, who has no memories before he as twelve, and who Eva, under the guise of a schoolteacher, has been raising for the last two years. It’s quite a burden for a young man to bear, but luckily Tota is very much a traditional shonen hero, complete with nonsense about a man’s dreams. (I am pleased it’s immediately pointed out as the nonsense it is.) As for Eva, she goes by Yukihime now, and it’s striking how much she has mellowed out and gotten nicer. The Eva of Negima would never, ever have gotten as close to Tota as Yukihime has – or at least would keep up a facade of disinterest.

The other main character we meet here is Kuromaru, who is an intriguing Setsuna clone. Given this is a sequel to Negima, I’m not entirely sure how much of the character’s looks are down to the fact that Akamatsu can only draw a certain number of faces and how much of it is deliberate, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt here. Tota is not too far off from Kotaro, and earlier we met a young person who was a dead ringer for Shinobu from Love Hina (which took place in the same universe as Negima). Kuromaru not only looks exactly like what Setsuna and Asuna’s child would look like, but also appears to be from the Bird Tribe that Setsuna had so many difficulties with earlier… and Kuromaru is having similar difficulties. Possibly the most intriguing thing, however, is how Kuromaru’s gender is being withheld – not only from the cast but also the reader. It’s clearly being done on purpose, and I’m wondering what’s going on here. Is Kuromaru trans? Or genderless? If so, kudos to Ken, though I suspect that will just open up a lot more questions.

We wrap up UQ Holder with a statement of the premise, which is to find aliens, time travelers and espers… wait, wrong series. To find immortal being like Yukihime and Tota and make friends with them! Luckily Yukihime seems to have her own personal yakuza to help carry this off. UQ Holder is an excellent start for both Akamatsu fans and fans of shonen manga in general, and I have no doubt will be filled with adventure and heart.

(Also, my guess on Tota is that Konoka and Setsuna’s son (via Negi helping out, so to speak) and Kotaro and Natsumi’s daughter got married and had Tota. Because forget diamonds, ship wars are eternal.)

Attack on Titan: Junior High, Vol. 1

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Attack on Titan: Junior High, Omnibus 1Creator: Saki Nakagawa
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781612629162
Released: March 2014
Original release: 2013

Attack on Titan: Junior High is one of several spin-off series inspired by Hajime Isayama’s hit manga Attack on Titan. Saki Nakagawa was selected to work on an Attack on Titan series after entering a manga contest. (Coincidentally, both Nakagawa and Isayama attended the same design school.) Although Nakagawa is the writer and artist for Attack on Titan: Junior High, Isayama has had some input into the series’ development. In fact, he was the one who suggested creating a manga along the lines of Tsutomu Nihei’s parody series Blame! Academy. And so Attack on Titan: Junior High was born–a comedy manga that somehow manages to combine Attack on Titan with contemporary Japanese school life. The manga began serialization in 2012 in Japan and the first two volumes were collected in 2013. Kodansha Comics is releasing Attack on Titan: Junior High in an omnibus edition. The first omnibus, collecting the first two Japanese volumes, was published in 2014 and Kodansha was kind enough to send me a review copy.

It has been five years since Eren was traumatized from an encounter with a Titan. Now that he’s in junior high he finally has the opportunity to seek revenge–both humans and titans are counted among the students and teachers of Attack Junior High. Of course Eren has other pressing matters to attend to even while his hatred of Titans remains at the forefront of his mind: making allies out of his classmates (which he’s not particularly good at), surviving epic games of dodgeball and choosing the perfect after-school club (which are both more dangerous than they might first appear), not to mention trying to stay on the upperclassmen’s good sides (which can actually be rather difficult). On top of all of that, Eren is a member of class four, a group of first years who all have their own quirks and issues to deal with. All together they’re a bunch of weirdos, but none of the other classes at Attack Junior High are much better. It’s really saying something when the Titans are the most normal ones at the school.

To really appreciate Attack on Titan: Junior High requires familiarity with the original Attack on Titan series and to some extent familiarity with Attack on Titan fandom as well. Some of Attack on Titan: Junior High will be funny, or at least amusing, even to those who haven’t read Attack on Titan, but the manga works best when it is directly parodying the original series and using it as its framework. All of Attack on Titan‘s most well-loved and reviled characters make an appearance in Attack on Titan: Junior High with some of their personality traits taken to a comedic extreme (although some were fairly over-the-top to begin with): Eren is a single-minded fanatic; Mikasa is overprotective of him to a fault; Sasha thinks about nothing but food; Jean is an arrogant ass; Hange succumbs to fits of ecstasy at the mere thought of Titans; Levi is obsessed with cleanliness, and so on. These characteristics were true of the original cast, too, but Nakagawa has stretched them to their limits in Attack on Titan: Junior High.

Nakagawa is clearly a fan of the original Attack on Titan series and is having a lot of fun with Attack on Titan: Junior High. In addition to using Isayama’s characters and taking them to their ludicrous yet logical conclusions, Nakagawa also uses pivotal and memorable scenes from Attack on Titan, giving them utterly ridiculous and absurd twists to emphasize their more comedic possibilities. The darkness, death, and destruction found in Attack on Titan is almost completely missing from Attack on Titan: Junior High. It can be just as frantic and frenetic, but as a parody the manga is much more lighthearted in tone. Even characters who have long been dead in the original series have an active role to play in Attack on Titan: Junior High; it seems as though no one really has to worry about dying in Nakagawa’s series. The worst thing that really happens in the first omnibus of Attack on Titan: Junior High is some stolen lunches. Granted, for students that can be an extremely tragic event, indeed.

Thank you to Kodansha for providing a copy of Attack on Titan: Junior High, Omnibus 1 for review.

Phantom Thief Jeanne, Vol. 1

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

Having almost run out of Tanemura titles to release, Viz has gone back to the early days with this one and license rescued it from the clutches of CMX. And I’m very pleased that they did, because if you were to ask me to take only one Tanemura title with me to a desert island, this would be the one. Her first really big hit, Phantom Thief Jeanne is a magical girl manga that is not afraid to examine the core of darkness that lies at its heart – and yet still be a fun magical girl title for kids. Madoka Magica this is not.

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The phantom thief subgenre of magical girls should be familiar to everyone by now – not only through Jeanne, but also via Saint Tail, which uses very similar stylings, and CLAMP School Detectives/Man of Many Faces, where Akira is the male version of this. Naturally, given the thief is a young girl, they are stealing FOR GOOD. Indeed, Maron Kusakabe, our heroine, is a descendant of Joan of Arc (hence the title), and the plot is set up as quite religious – she is using God’s Power to extract the evil from paintings, evil that is being used by Satan to gain human hearts. (This is definitely the French Joan of Arc – Shakespeare would stare in sheer horror at the myth of Joan Puzel today.)

It’s not just the religious themes that give this manga extra depth. Maron has more going on in her background than the usual chirpy magical girl. She’s living alone, her parents having split up and separately decided to leave for another country (suspicious), her magical familiar Finn dashes off her origin story in less than a page (suspicious… though it could just be I live in a post-Kyubey world), and while she does quickly fall for the boy destined to be her love interest (who is also a rival thief with a rival familiar), she absolutely does not want to deal with these feelings, her parents having convinced her that falling in love in a horrible thing to happen to someone. There’s a depth and solidity to Maron’s life that I really enjoyed here.

Of course, it’s not all sadness and broken homes. This is still a Ribon title. There’s lots of fun and silliness, mostly in the form of Maron’s best friend Miyako, whose father is a police officer and who is dedicated to capturing the thief who keeps stealing paintings (as always, the world itself is unaware of the supernatural part of things). There’s lots of love triangle shenanigans as well, with the shy kid in love with Maron leveling up due to demon possession, but amazingly staying leveled up afterwards and trying to become strong enough to court Maron properly. (He clearly doesn’t know what genre he’s in.)

Essentially, this takes the basic beats of the Phantom Thief genre and simply writes them really well. It’s paced well, the characterization is doled out at the right moments, and I can even get used to Tanemura’s trademark GIANT EYES. Anyone wanting to read this will find a cornucopia of details to enjoy, and it has excellent rereadability. Definitely worth buying, even if you already own the CMX version.

And, most importantly, the lead guy is a blond and the runner-up is a brunet! Do you know how little that happens in shoujo? More blond leads!

Ranma 1/2, Vols. 1 & 2

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

(pre-review note #1: I use ‘Ryouga’ and ‘Ukyou’ when I romanize, though otherwise stick to Viz romanization. It’s a 90s fanfic writer quirk that I am unlikely to break the habit of, as I am stubborn.)

(pre-review note #2: Few comment on my reviews anyway, but just in case: please do not character bash in the comments, at all.)

It’s quite odd seeing reviews of the new Ranma 1/2 omnibus from people who haven’t read it before, as they talk about all the craziness that simply doesn’t register with me anymore. I am almost saturated with the first two volumes of Ranma contained here. Not only have I read it when Viz first released it in 32-page pamphlet comics, and then again as collected works, but so much Ranma fanfiction uses the same opening as a springboard for its own ideas (or lack thereof) that I can almost recite some of the dialogue. “And I’m better built to boot!” “She’s really a sweet girl, she’s just a violent maniac.” And so many others. So, in a sense, there’s no real way I can review this for a newbie. As such, this is more of a look at Ranma in retrospect, and will be liberally laced with spoilers. Short review for those who don’t want to read on: Ranma 1/2 is a lot of fun, and in these first two volumes you can see Takahashi shift her characters to where they are funniest.

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For those who picked up the last iteration of Ranma, the scans used do look better – there’s still no color pages (there weren’t in the Japanese volumes either), but it’s not as dark and muddy as it once was. The translation is ‘spiffed up’ a bit, but is still essentially the same, so anyone who wants honorifics is out of luck. There’s a bubble order error on Page 1 (which everyone has noticed), but otherwise things seem well put together.

It’s worth noting that this was the new series Takahashi had in Shonen Sunday to replace her breakaway hit, Urusei Yatsura. For all that it repeatedly failed in North America, the manga was an instant classic in Japan, and I imagine there was some pressure on her to keep the comedy she did best while making things slightly different. Akane in these first couple of volumes is not all that far off from Shinobu Miyaki, Ataru’s long-suffering childhood friend and ex-girlfriend. Same general sweetness when not placed in stressful situations, same hair-trigger temper, same ability to beat up anyone who activates that hair-trigger temper. As such, it’s refreshing that Ranma is so different – at least at first. Sure, he shoots his mouth off without thinking, but he’s quite observant here, noticing people’s emotional states without commenting and playing off that. Most importantly, Ranma’s interest in scoring with women is zero, and this will not change for the next 18 omnibuses after this one. Ataru was a giant lech who wanted every cute girl in the universe. Ranma has issues dealing with girls, and tends to prefer fighting instead.

As for the others, Genma comes from a line of horrible Takahashi fathers that extends from Mr. Fujinami all the way to Rin-Ne’s horrible debt-ridden dad. Genma is obsessed with fighting and training, but is too dumb to listen when people tell him there’s a cursed spring ahead – though, to be fair, so is Ranma. He also tends to stay in his panda form almost as much as Ranma does his girl form, possibly for the same reason – he looks cuter that way. Meanwhile, Soun is something of a nonentity, and this will not change much either – his observation is the opposite of Ranma, as he is in the bath when P-chan leaps in and Ryouga leaps out, but presumably does not ever think “should I stop this man with a pig curse from sleeping with my innocent daughter every night?”.

Kasumi and Nabiki seem quite different at the start of the series. Nabiki is the ‘normal’ girl, who’s clearly OK with being engaged if the guy is cute, but is unwilling to put up with the guy being weird – which Ranma definitely is. Kasumi seems actually vexed at several points in Chapter One, and talks about how she prefers older men – clearly meant to hint at the start of her plot with Dr. Tofu that goes nowhere. As the volume moves on, though, we see the light bulb go off over Takahashi’s head as to how they’ll be handled in the future. With Nabiki it’s selling the photos to Kuno, something for which she is gleefully unapologetic. It’s the start of something big. And Kasumi gets to visit Dr. Tofu, but he’s so oblivious to anything and everything while she’s around that it’s obvious to anyone what she does to him – obvious to anyone but her. Kasumi’s breezy Yamato Nadesico-ness, and her tendency to think the best of everyone while missing the darker points, will become her standard character trait.

So far, the only supernatural aspect of Ranma we’ve seen is the curse itself, as opposed to Urusei Yatsura’s aliens bringing the excuse for any sort of plot whatsoever simply by virtue of being from another world. But that’s OK, as Ranma is far more focused on fighting. Not only are Ranma and Genma perfecting their own style of Japanese martial arts – which utilizes many different styles, most of which I suspect are ‘what looks really cool?’ – but we also get to see Akane’s kempo-influenced style (her family and Ranma’s supposedly have the same ‘anything goes’ background, but Akane has not been training around Asia for the last 10 years either) and Kuno’s kendo training with a wooden sword. Ranma is shown to be an excellent fighter, but is thankfully not perfect – he tends to underestimate his opponents, such as Kuno and Ryouga here, and ends up not giving his best effort till he’s already injured as a result.

Speaking of Kuno and Ryouga, let’s talk about them. Shutaro Mendou had his moments of complete idiocy, but could at heart behave like a normal person if pressed or girls were watching him. Tatewaki Kuno has no such normalcy filter, for reasons that we won’t find out for some time but are essentially similar to Ranma’s – “boy, my entire family is screwed up”. It’s worth noting that he and Nabiki interact purely by dint of being in the same class, and he even notes casually that he despises her at one point. Well, that’s one ship sunk. No one could possibly write Tatewaki/Nabiki after reading that. :) As for Ryouga, what most struck me wasn’t all of the anger he possesses – Ryouga is an out-of-control berserker here, with none of the sweetness and depression that will flesh him out later – but how much he looked like Ataru. It won’t be as obvious to those who haven’t seen the final few volumes of UY – Takahashi’s art evolved exponentially during that series – but put a bandana on Ataru by the end of UY and he’s basically Ryouga here. Ryouga, notably, DOES have a libido, but knows better than to do more than snuggle in Akane’s boobs as a pig – we don’t have a true lecherous pervert in the series. Yet.

I was amused at Ryouga not caring about Akane at all during the first fight – Ryouga tends to be focused only on fighting and revenge in this volume, and it’s only when Akane kisses his pig-form that he’s smitten – possibly as it’s the most affection he’s ever gotten from anyone. Ryouga’s sense of direction also comes up for the first time here, and it’s already exaggerated to its maximum – we see him at the Northern and Southern ends of Japan. As for P-chan, his arrival in the Tendo household sets up an obvious tension about how long it will be before his secret is revealed and Akane finds out who he is. The answer, of course, is never – this never comes up, likely as Takahashi knew it would require a response that would be too serious to cope with in the series.

Other characters we’re introduced to include Dr. Tofu, who’s an excellent doctor who’s useless once he sees Kasumi. This was once an amusing running gag, but seeing Tofu suffering the same effects when he sees a middle-school Kasumi show up with her elementary-school aged Akane feels horribly creepy now, and I won’t be sorry when he’s quietly phased out of the manga in a few more volumes. We also meet Kodachi, though she barely gets to appear before the omnibus ends. It’s still enough time to see that she’s a little bit crazy, and also tends to win her matches by crippling the opponent beforehand. As for her own family situation, it will have to wait till next time.

Lastly, it’s worth noting how well Ranma and Akane get along, despite the bickering and occasional misunderstandings. Usually everything is resolved in a chapter or so, and Ranma is not QUITE as thoughtless as he gets later on. They have common interests, and tend to work well when fighting together. Takahashi had gotten burned on UY when Lum became so popular she had to change the story to make her the lead girl, and though she came to approve of that, it wasn’t going to happen again. So here we get two whole volumes setting up how well Ranma and Akane go together, with the villains/rivals that we see so far mostly being comedic and/or focused entirely on revenge against Ranma for non-romance reasons. It will take a villain of a higher caliber to really create the first big rift between these two, one that will leave self-confidence and trust issues that never really get settled throughout the series. But Shampoo is in the next volume. For now, we’re introduced to Ranma Saotome and the craziness that surrounds him, and there’s a lot of it. If you’ve read Ranma, read it again. If you haven’t, go read it. And for God’s sake, please don’t take it seriously! That’s the WORST thing to do with this series! (looks up at backscroll, coughs a bit)

Real, Vol. 3

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Real, Volume 3Creator: Takehiko Inoue
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421519913
Released: January 2009
Original release: 2003
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award

Takehiko Inoue is probably best known for his basketball manga series Slam Dunk. Now, I enjoy Slam Dunk quite a bit. However, it’s another basketball manga by Inoue that is my personal favorite–Real, which specifically features wheelchair basketball. Although Real and Slam Dunk both share some similar themes, Inoue’s approach in Real tends to be much more serious and realistic, which make sense as the series is intended for a more mature audience. Real began serialization in the manga magazine Weekly Young Jump in 2001. Later that year, Inoue would win a Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize for the manga. The third volume of Real was released in Japan in 2003. Viz Media published Real under its Signature imprint, releasing the English-language edition of Real, Volume 3 in 2009. Real is a fantastic series that starts strongly and only continues to get stronger with each volume.

Things always came easily for Takahashi and he naturally excelled at both school and sports. But now he is faced with one of the most daunting challenges of his life. The question is whether or not he will be able to meet that challenge. After being hit by a truck, Takahashi has lost all feeling in his legs along with his ability to walk. He is in complete denial about his condition and is convinced that with only a little effort he’ll be back to playing basketball in no time. Takahashi is in for quite a shock when he begins his physical rehabilitation and he doesnt’ take it well. Recovery, both mental and physical, will be a long and excruciating process and in the end Takahashi will never have the mobility he once enjoyed. Coming to terms with that fact and facing reality are the first steps that Takahashi needs to take in order to move on with his life, but they may be some of the most difficult ones to accomplish.

Although Takahashi is largely the focus of the third volume of Real, he is not the only one who is facing a significant crossroads in his life. Moving forward after a traumatic experience is one of the themes addressed in Real, Volume 3. Nomiya still feels incredibly guilty over the accident that he was in which caused Natsumi to lose the use of her legs. She, like Takahashi, has begun her rehabilitation. It’s a painful and exhausting process for the body, the mind, and the spirit. Seeing this, Nomiya desperately wants to change the direction his life is heading and to become a better person. This, too, is not an easy process. At this point in the series, Togawa serves as proof that these sorts of challenges can be overcome. Things certainly aren’t perfect for him and he still harbors intense anger and frustration, but even with a missing leg he leads a full life. However, it took hard work and effort to get to where he is now. Whether or not Takahashi will be able to do the same remains to be seen.

One of the things that impresses me about Real and Inoue’s work in general is his ability to create incredibly flawed characters who are still sympathetic. Takahashi in particular can be extremely harsh and unlikeable, but I still care about him and his situation. His tormented feelings over no longer being able to walk and how he believes that makes him a lesser person are counterproductive. But he is not the only person who shares them; others struggle with those types of feelings as well. Tamura, the captain of Togawa’s basketball team, has repeatedly expressed similar sentiments which either deflates the other players or pisses them off. (Togawa is particularly sensitive to this issue and has hauled off and punched Tamura at least once because of it.) Inoue’s adept handling of these concerns, while specific to the context of Real and its characters, is also more universally applicable. Almost everyone, no matter who they are, has experienced feelings of inadequacy and disappointment at some point in their lives. Real simply shows what can happen when that reality is faced head on.

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink

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Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom PinkCreator: Milk Morinaga
U.S. publisher: Seven Seas
ISBN: 9781937867317
Released: June 2013
Original release: 2012

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink is the second yuri manga by Milk Morinaga to have been licensed in English. The first, and my introduction to her work, was her series Girl Friends. I quite enjoyed Girl Friends and so was looking forward to reading more of her manga, in this case one of her earlier series. Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink was released in English by Seven Seas in 2013 in a single-volume omnibus edition. Morinaga first began creating the stories included in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink in 2003. In Japan, the earlier stories were collected into a single volume in 2006. However, Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink was later released again in 2012 in two volumes that collected additional stories, including some that were previously unpublished. This two-volume edition of Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink is the one upon which Seven Seas’ omnibus is based. As such, the English-language edition of the manga collects nearly a decade’s worth of material into a single volume.

Nana and Hitomi were best friends who grew up together and attended the same elementary and junior high schools. Nana was looking forward to becoming a student at Sakurakai Girls’ High School, but that was when she thought Hitomi would be enrolling as well. However, Hitomi was accepted at Touhou Girls’ High School. Finding it too painful to continue to suppress her love for Nana after being rejected, Hitomi chooses to attend Touhou instead. Despite how close the two of them used to be, Nana finds Hitomi drifting away and she misses her terribly. But recognizing her own feelings is only the first step in mending their relationship as is begins to evolve into something more than just friendship. Similarly, several of the other young women at Sakurakai and Touhou are faced with their own first loves and crushes on classmates. It isn’t always easy to confess their feelings and falling in love with a person of the same gender often brings along challenges that other couples don’t have to deal with.

The stories collected in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink follow a vague chronological order, but many of them aren’t directly related to one another. They share the same setting and to some extent the same characters, but only Nana and Hitomi are the focus of multiple stories in the volume. I actually really enjoyed Morinaga’s structural approach to Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink. Nana and Hitomi’s relationship provides a more developed, ongoing narrative, creating a framework which supports the supplementary side stories about their classmates and friends. Overall, I feel this gives the manga slightly more depth. Also included in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink is a diagram that visually shows how all of the different stories and characters overlap and are connected to one another. Although they are interrelated and occasionally make references to previous developments and chapters, most of the stories do stand perfectly well on their own in addition to contributing to the manga as a whole.

Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink tends to be very cute, sweet, and romantic, which is not to say that every story is a happy one. I appreciated that some of the chapters in Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink have touches of angst, sadness, and bittersweetness to them. Nana and Hitomi’s relationship, despite having its ups and downs, does have an ending that seems to tie everything up a little too easily and nicely, but I won’t deny that it made me smile. Morinaga also addresses some very real issues and concerns, such as homophobia, that are encountered by same-gendered couples, but many of the feelings expressed are relevant for any romantic relationship. The manga may be a bit melodramatic at times, but it is emotionally resonant. Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink also incorporates a fair amount of humor. It’s a highly enjoyable and charming collection of short manga with likeable characters, a generally optimistic outlook, and a satisfying amount of realism to go along with its sweetness.

Indian Summer

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Indian SummerAuthor: Mieko Kanai
Translator: Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley
U.S. publisher: Cornell University East Asia Program
ISBN: 9781933947556
Released: August 2012
Original release: 1988

My introduction to Mieko Kanai was through her short novel Oh, Tama!, the second volume in her Mejiro series. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to read more of her work, which is how I came to pick up Indian Summer. Although Indian Summer was Kanai’s first novel to be released in English, and only the second volume of hers to be translated (the first being the short story collection The Word Book), it’s actually the third book in the Mejiro series. Each novel in the Mejiro series, though they share some of the same characters, settings, and events, largely stands on its own. While it isn’t necessary to read one novel to enjoy another, it may add some additional depth. After being serialized between 1985 and 1987, Indian Summer was collected into a single volume with some slight modifications in 1988. The English translation of Indian Summer by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley, published by Cornell University’s East Asia Program as part of its New Japanese Horizons series in 2012, is based on the later 1999 Japanese edition of the novel.

Momoko is a new student at a university in Tokyo. She’s looking forward to leaving her home in the country behind and setting out on her own in the city. Unfortunately, her overbearing mother isn’t about to let her nineteen-year-old daughter live unsupervised and plans for Momoko to stay with her aunt Chieko instead. The arrangement is meant to be temporary. In a year, Momoko’s younger brother Jun’ichi is also expected to be attending a Tokyo university and their mother intends for them to live together so that Momoko can look after him. Momoko isn’t at all interested in either of these plans, but happily she and her novelist aunt get along fairly well with each other. Chieko has her quirks, as does Momoko, but the two of them are doing what they can to make the best out of a rather awkward situation and to appease Momoko’s mother. Although the arrangement isn’t ideal, life does go on for Momoko as she beings university, makes friends (her classmate Hanako just so happens to be a huge fan of Chieko’s writing), and deals with any of the other curveballs that are thrown her way.

The structure of Indian Summer is particularly interesting. The novel is primarily told from Momoko’s point of view, but her narration is interspersed with the essays and stories that her aunt has written. Generally they are somehow related to whatever is currently going on in the story, but they do break it up somewhat. Much as in Oh, Tama!, Kanai frequently makes references to other works of literature as well as cinema in Indian Summer. Although I know there were some references that I didn’t recognize, I was delighted by those that I did, such as an homage of sorts to Nobuko Yoshiya’s Hana Monogatari. However, enjoyment of Indian Summer doesn’t depend on familiarity with the works being referenced, some of which are Kanai’s own. In Oh, Tama!, Kanai mentions that the characters in her Mejiro series are all based on real people. Indian Summer makes it fairly clear that she herself is at least partly if not primarily the inspiration for Chieko.

In Oh, Tama!, Momoko, Hanako, and Chieko were side characters. In Indian Summer, their roles are very much center stage. Momoko makes a genuinely appealing lead. She’s self-aware, a bit headstrong, forthright, and very capable of speaking her mind. Indian Summer, like Oh, Tama!, is lighthearted and humorous, focusing more on the characters themselves rather than on a complicated or involved plot. Not much actually happens in the novel. Mostly it’s about a young woman expressing herself and even venting a little as she deals with the very normal events in her life. Granted, while the actual events aren’t particularly unusual, the characters in Indian Summer all tend to be rather eccentric in one way or another. As Momoko begins to experience life away from home, the novel explores themes of family, interpersonal relationships, sexuality, and gender roles in a very amusing manner. Indian Summer was a wonderfully delightful and witty read. I can only hope that more of the Mejiro series will be translated in the future.

One Piece, Vol. 70

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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.

Sometimes you’re reading a manga and you get to one page, or even just one particular panel, that makes you grin so hard and flail around because it perfectly encapsulates everything about that series into one compressed image of fabulous. For One Piece 70, it was, believe it or not, Law giving his sandwich preferences. After everyone is setting sail again, Luffy demands food, which Sanji notes will be sandwiches today. The crew start giving their preferences, and Law briefly joins in, noting how he doesn’t want bread. He them stops and gasps, horrified. THEY’VE SUCKED HIM IN.

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Once again we see in this volume how Luffy and his crew are different from the norm. They’re contrasted with the other pirates elsewhere in the world, particularly Donflamingo. They don’t want power as such (Luffy wants to beat the Four Kings, but it’s not so that he can take their domain away, it’s for the thrill). They don’t abuse, kill, or sexually assault anyone. They are the idealized kid version of a pirate, only actually making it happen. As the Marines note, they have to constantly belittle them and talk about how evil they are, as if they didn’t the Straw Hats would be far too easy to love.

This volume wraps up Punk Hazard, so as you’d expect there’s a lot of sections where the crew does awesome things. Usopp and Nami both get to show off (it’s even lampshaded, as Law talks about how they don’t have time to fool around, then later shows his grudging respect after they both do exactly what they bragged they would), Zoro gets to cut things, and of course Luffy gets to punch Caesar Clown into next week. As I sort of expected, the deadly poison gas is not quite as immediately deadly as it looks, so we were even able to rescue the marines who were hit by it. It calls for an arc-ending giant party, this time with Straw Hats and Marines, however grudgingly.

There’s a nice scene here where Tashigi begs Nami to be allowed to take care of the recovering children, and Nami agrees to it, noting she has a soft spot for ‘lady sailors’. I like that Bellemere and her upbringing is still very much a part of her life, and it helps to make sense of some of Nami’s maternal attitude during this arc – we’re not sure of all the details about her early childhood, but she and Nojiko were adopted, so seeing these kidnapped children probably spoke to her on that level.

So now we’re off to a new adventure, this time on the island of Dressrosa. Law and the captured Caesar are coming with the crew, however, and this is an island that Donflamingo already controls. We also get a harrowing shot of him beating Smoker nearly to death (hello, Aokiji cameo! Please arrive in the nick of time more) just to show how badass he is. Is the combination of Luffy and Law enough to stop Donflamingo? Well, yeah, probably. But can it stop… a TOURNAMENT ARC? (shudder)

Real, Vol. 2

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Real, Volume 2Creator: Takehiko Inoue
U.S. publisher: Viz Media
ISBN: 9781421519906
Released: October 2008
Original release: 2002
Awards: Japan Media Arts Award

Although I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself to be a sports fan, I have come to the realization that I really enjoy sports manga. Out of all of the sports manga that I’ve so far read, Takehiko Inoue’s wheelchair basketball series Real is the one that stands out for me the most. (Actually, Real happens to be one of my favorite manga series in general.) But it’s really more than just a sports manga. Yes, basketball is an important part of the series, but to an even greater extent Real is about challenges faced in life and how people deal with them. It’s a mix of human drama, tragedy, and hope that earned Inoue a Japan Media Arts Award Excellence Prize in 2001. The second volume of Real was first published in Japan in 2002 while the English edition was released in 2008 by Viz Media under its Signature imprint. Real, Volume 1 did a fantastic job of introducing the series’ main characters and establishing some of the themes that the manga begins to explore more deeply in the second volume and those that follow.

After his accident, Takahashi no longer has the use of his legs. Confined to a hospital bed and with very few visitors he has had to come to terms with his condition largely on his own. He had good grades and excelled at whatever he applied himself to, becoming the captain of his high school’s basketball team with ease. No longer having the ability to walk is a devastating blow to Takahashi and how he is viewed by others and by himself. It won’t be an easy process to compensate for what he has lost. It’s been five years since Togawa lost one of his legs to bone cancer and that’s something he continues to struggle with. He still has most of his mobility, but having a leg amputated brought his dream of becoming the fastest sprinter in Japan, if not the world, to an abrupt end. An extremely competitive athlete he has redirected his ambitions towards wheelchair basketball, now one of the few things in his life for which he has any enthusiasm. Nomiya has a strong love for basketball as well, but as a high school dropout he currently has no outlet for that passion.

A large portion of Real, Volume 2 is devoted to Togawa and part of his backstory. The series turns to his middle school days as he is discovering his love of running, struggling with his relationship with his father, and developing strong, lasting friendships. Immensely talented, it is crushing to know that Togawa will never achieve his dream even as everything seems to be going his way. Just as Takahashi is now being forced to admit his limitations, Togawa also had to deal with events in his life that were beyond his control. The interplay between their two stories in Real is handled extraordinarily well. The two young men have never met, their only direct connection at this point is that they both know Nomiya, but Inoue draws on the parallels between their experiences to great effect. Takahashi is at the beginning of his recovery while Togawa has made years of progress, but the challenges that they face are very similar. Their personalities and how they handle things are very different, though.

Parallels also exist between Togawa and Nomiya. They are both very focused and intense, taking any and all opportunities that they can to practice and improve their game. Even when Togawa, Nomiya, and Takahashi’s stories don’t directly intersect, they are all still very closely tied together. The second volume of Real is very much about beginnings and endings. After originally leaving his basketball team, Togawa has found new drive and inspiration that brings him back. Nomiya doesn’t have the option of returning to his old team and can only watch from the sidelines as his former teammates play their last game. As for Takahashi, he can’t even do that. His denial is slowly turning into agonizing despair as he comes closer to admitting to himself that his life will never be the same. Inoue captures all three of their struggles in a very realistic way. The story is emotionally intense without being melodramatic and the artwork is fantastic, making Real and incredibly effective series.

Insufficient Direction

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By Moyoco Anno. Released in Japan as “Kantoku Fuyuki Todoki” by Shodensha, serialized in the magazine Feel Young. Released in North America by Vertical.

The North American market has been enjoying Moyoco Anno’s manga for years now, be it Happy Mania, Sugar Sugar Rune, or Sakuran. Hideaki Anno has also been a favorite over here, mostly for Evangelion but also for cult classics like Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. (And also infamous for the Kare Kano anime… and, well, Evangelion.) As a result, a volume such as this one, which is a biographical look at their married life with an otaku slant, is one that can actually be released over here and gather some interest. The book itself is a lot of fun, though it did go in a direction I wasn’t quite expecting…

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Of course, this is deliberate. Moyoco Anno frames the story to set up my expectations of a normal Japanese woman overwhelmed by her insane otaku husband. The first chapter shows her avatar, Rompers (so called as she draws herself as a baby in a sleeper outfit), stepping on Gigantor toys left around the house like they were a child’s Lego toys. And yet throughout this book, the message we get is somewhat different: Moyoco is a lot like him. It’s very easy for her to get drawn into the otaku lifestyle, and she’s a lot less ‘normal’ than she may pretend to be. As for Director-kun, his sense of self and peace with being a giant weirdo is so great that he ends up being the calm and collected one a lot of the time. It really reads like a great relationship.

A word of warning: there are a LOT of translator notes for this volume. The Anno life is cluttered with 60s Japanese TV series, be it familiar ones such as Ultraman and Star Blazers or untranslated works like A Karate-Crazy Life. And, like many obsessed fans (including myself), the couple tend to speak to each other in terms of the media consumed. Even an argument about proper use of Japanese is referencing Dragon Ball and Galaxy Express 999. This is not something that a casual reader should pick up, though if they do they can at least be reassured that there are lots of notes telling them the importance super sentai shows and George Akiyama.

I note that this series ran in the josei magazine Feel Young, and its presence there was not all that unusual. Most josei magazines (and many seinen ones as well) have these slice-of-life biographical “and here’s what my husband/child/cat did the other day” comics running through them, usually in short 5-6 page bursts in between the larger serialized stories. (And indeed, the chapters in Insufficient Direction are all about that length.) It’s a type of story we’ll almost never see over here, partly due to cultural translation issues but mostly because there’s not really a market for it – North American anime and manga fans tend to prefer their slice-of-life looking more like K-On!. As such, this title is not only an amusing look at the otaku lifestyle of the author and her husband, but also a glimpse into a genre that we are rarely privileged to witness. It’s a lot of fun.

Toradora, Vol. 6

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By Yuyuko Takemiya and Zekkyo. Released in Japan by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Given how impossible it is for most mass media to avoid cliches and tropes, the question often becomes “how well does this work manage the cliche”? This volume of Toradora! handles this in both a comedic and serious fashion. The Culture Festival rears its ugly head, and though thoughts of a maid cafe drift through our male classmates’ heads, what we end up with is far sillier, particularly after it’s subverted midway through. It’s the more serious plotline that folks will take with them, however – Taiga’s father is back in her life again, and wants her to come live with him. Something which a projecting Ryuuji can’t help but assist with.

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Ryuuji is not helped by the cover art for the volume, showing a tear-filled Taiga and Ryuuji looking askance. This clues the reader in that we are meant to be in her side in the matter. Things are not helped by the appearance of her father himself, who seems far too contrite and meek to be true. Of course he’s playing right into Ryuuji’s hands, though I don’t think that it’s deliberate on his part – her father isn’t genuinely evil, he’s just monumentally selfish. What he doesn’t know, but we do, is that Ryuuji’s lack of a father figure looms incredibly large in his life. And so naturally Ryuuji is going to move heaven and earth to see Taiga and her father reunite, just as he can never do.

On the other side we have Taiga and Minori, who have experience with her father doing all this before and know the truth. Crucially, however, neither of them tell Ryuuji that full truth. In meta terms, this is because the plot has to happen. In the story itself, though, Taiga is more understandable. She gets the reasons why Ryuuji wants this to happen, she’s in love with Ryuuji and doesn’t want to disappoint him, and she really does love her father despite everything, so she opens herself up to him one more time. Minori, though, I’m rather disappointed in, as you’d think she’d be the one to sit Ryuuji down and say ‘Hey, let me give you a timeline of the times this guy has tried this with Taiga before.’ Instead, she just gets angry, saying it’s obvious he’s being a selfish ass. And so they fight, which, Ryuuji still having lingering feelings for Minori, devastates him.

Luckily, Ami is there to be the voice of reason and get Ryuuji out of his funk. Unluckily, Taiga’s dad *is* everything they say he is, and therefore things come to a head at the culture festival with a devastating text sent to Ryuuji. And, once Ryuuji sees for himself what’s going on, he gets it all IMMEDIATELY – a sign of his maturity, even as he backslides here. Sadly, resolution will have to wait – this is the end of the volume, and so we get the horrible cliffhanger with Taiga’s appearance on stage waiting for parental acknowledgement that will never come. How is this going to be resolved? Well, Toradora! comes out about every year and a half in Japan, so we’ll likely have to wait till summer 2015 to find out. See, and folks wonder why publishers don’t want to catch up to Japan…

Blade of the Immortal, Vol. 28: Raining Chaos

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Blade of the Immortal, Volume 28: Raining ChaosCreator: Hiroaki Samura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616553210
Released: January 2014
Original release: 2011
Awards: Eisner Award, Japan Media Arts Award

Raining Chaos is the twenty-eighth volume in the English-language edition of Hiroaki Samura’s manga series Blade of the Immortal. Because of slight differences between the Japanese and English publications of the series, Raining Chaos is actually equivalent to the twenty-seventh volume of Blade of the Immortal released in Japan in 2011. The English edition was released by Dark Horse in 2014. Blade of the Immortal is a multi-award-winning series, having earned Samura honors both in Japan and in other countries. The series was one of the first manga that I made a point of following, so I am glad that Dark Horse is seeing Blade of the Immortal through to its end. Raining Chaos is part of the fifth and last major story arc in Blade of the Immortal. With only a few volumes left in the series, Blade of the Immortal is quickly approaching its final climax and Raining Chaos is part of that approach.

The majority of the remaining Ittō-ryū members have steadily been making their way to Hitachi, but it was only a matter of time before those in pursuit would catch up with them. After encountering the Rokki-dan en route, the Ittō-ryū has once again split its members into smaller groups so that some of them may have a better chance of survival. Most stay behind to face the Rokki-dan warriors, hoping to at least delay them if not destroy them, while a smaller force forges ahead attempting to keep the Ittō-ryū’s current second-in-command, Abayama Sōsuke, alive and safe. What they hadn’t counted on was the involvement of the Mugai-ryū, the predecessor of the Rokki-dan. Only two members of that group are still alive, and neither of them are the fighters that they once were, but they are both still extremely skilled and dangerous. With the Ittō-ryū occupied with both the Rokki-dan warriors and the Mugai-ryū assassins, the continued existence of the radical sword school looks increasingly grim.

The Ittō-ryū isn’t so much a specific style of fighting as it is a philosophy. The only agreed upon “rule” is that battles are nominally to be fought one-on-one. Other than that, almost anything goes. In part because of this, the school has attracted a diverse group of fighters with different backgrounds, martial abilities, and motivations. Some, like the Ittō-ryū’s leader Anotsu Kagehisa and several of the other high-ranking members, have very honorable intentions; they fight against what they see as corruption, though their methods may be questionable. Abayama, for example, is very concerned about the welfare of the men who train and serve under him. Others, however, are more interested in their own personal vendettas and selfish desires. They don’t care about others as long as they get what they want. The differences between these two types of people–those with noble and lofty ideals and those who are completely without morals–can be clearly seen in Raining Chaos. Even so, they are all still Ittō-ryū.

In addition to having different goals and reasons for joining the Ittō-ryū, the individual members also have different styles of fighting, which is put to good use in Raining Chaos. There isn’t much plot development in this particular volume of Blade of the Immortal, but there is plenty of action as the confrontation between the remnants of the Ittō-ryū and the Rokki-dan and the Mugai-ryū is largely brought to a conclusion. Happily, the battles in Raining Chaos are quite good; they’re well-choreographed and interesting to watch play out. Samura has a tendency to introduce unusual weapons and techniques in Blade of the Immortal, but even the most fantastic and strange have some basis in reality; legitimate tactics and fighting techniques are still applied to the battles in the series. In Raining Chaos, the importance of range and distancing is particularly emphasized. With excellent fights and compelling characters, Blade of the Immortal continues to be a series that I enjoy. I’m looking forward to the next volume, Beyond Good and Evil, a great deal.

Phantom Thief Jeanne, Vol 1

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Phantom Thief Jeanne Volume 1 by Arina Tanemura

Phantom Thief Jeanne is by far my favorite Arina Tanemura series. It is also one of her earlier ones, since it came out in 1998. It might be less polished than her more recent series, but I have always found it amusing because it has a certain magical girl “throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks” approach to plotting that I find amusing. It also has one of the most bonkers ending volumes I’ve experienced in shoujo manga. I already own the full set of this series from the CMX edition that came out in 2005, but this reissue from viz is based on what I assume are the Bunkoban volumes in Japan, so instead of a seven volume set, this edition will be 5 longer length volumes. There’s a new translation, a color page, and a couple extra sketches in the back.


The Jeanne in the title is in real life the ordinary high school student Maron Kusakabe, who is in the rhythmic gymnastics club at her school. At night, she magically transforms into Phantom Thief Jeanne, who fights for the forces of good in the universe by detecting demons hidden inside masterworks of art and exorcising them. The demonic possession will also extend to the owner of the piece of art, leading Maron to have plenty of encounters with oddly acting art collectors. Maron is aided in her holy quest by her helper, the tiny angel Finn. Maron’s phantom thief name is due to the fact that she’s the reincarnation of Joan of Arc, so she is extra skilled at being a art thief warrior for God. As the volume begins, Maron attempts to deflect her friend Miyako’s interest in her secret alter ego and she’s made a bit nervous by Chiaki, the flirty new boy who just moved in next door in her apartment building.

Maron has a frustrating day and heads out for her typical night out phantom thieving. Her best friend Miyako, who’s father is a police detective, is on the scene determined to capture Jeanne. Like any good phantom thief, Jeanne tends to leave warning notes with clues about where she intends to strike. Jeanne has one of the best magical girl introductions, as she proclaims “I am the Phantom Thief Jeanne…sent down before you by God!” It is hard to argue with the power of the Almighty. When she seals the demon inside the painting, she yells “Checkmate!” and a white chess piece appears. The painting changes into a depiction of an angel, and usually the owner of the painting is so happy at the quality of the new work of art and the lack of danger to their immortal soul that they don’t tend to mind Jeanne’s intervention.

Jeanne is bounding along in the night, trailing ribbons when an enemy appears! It is Phantom Thief Sinbad and he announces his intention to challenge her! Maron goes through her regular school activities, fending off Chiaki by day and dealing with Sinbad’s sudden appearance near all the works of art that she’s targeting at night. It is amazing how Sinbad basically looks just like Chiaki but with a headband and a cloth covering the lower half of his face. Sinbad has similar powers as Jeanne, but he can turn captured demons into black chess pieces and has a dark angel helper as a counterpart to Jeanne’s angel Finn. As a shoujo manga heroine, Maron is both exuberant and kind. Chiaki clearly starts developing feelings for her as he spends more time with her. Maron is also desperately lonely, because her parents went away and haven’t been in touch with her. Maron has a great deal of difficulty trusting people, but she starts opening up to Chiaki a little bit. As Jeanne’s missions continue, Sinbad acts as more of a helper than a rival, but he seems very conflicted about it.

The art in Phantom Thief Jeanne is exactly what you would expect from a Tanemura title, but maybe a tiny bit less detailed than her later works. I enjoyed having a chance to read the manga again in a new edition. I thought that the new Shojo Beat translation was a bit more subtle and smooth than the CMX editions. I also preferred the lettering in the Shojo Beat edition. The CMX version tended to use a great deal of variation in font size and font weight to convey emotional aspects of the dialog, and while that can be an interesting approach, when I was reading a few pages from each edition side by side, I thought that the CMX edition was a bit more choppy in terms of reading experience. Since this is a reissue, I almost wish that the edition had been a bit more deluxe, with a few more color pages or some other extras. I did like the new edition very much, I’m not sure I’d recommend that everyone who already has the CMX version rush out and buy it right away but it has been so long since the first edition of Phantom Thief Jeanne came out there’s a whole new group of readers that can experience this title for the first time!

Blood Lad, Vol. 4

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By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In the new Blood Lad omnibus, a lot of big things happen. We finally see what’s going on with Braz and what he’s planning; Wolf meets up with his human mother (an ex-Yanki, to boot!) and is told he may have to be the hero that saves the demon world; Staz is captured by the authorities and later reunited with Braz, who gives himself up; and a major confrontation seems to be what Vol. 5 will be all about. Despite all this, it’s the small character moments of Blood Lad that are the best, the funniest, the most heartwarming, and keep me coming back for more.

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Let’s take a look at Fuyumi. If nothing else, she continues to be the most problematic character in the series. Staz is trying to get her to be more of her own person, but this seems to have devolved into a basic shonen “I will protect you” stance that isn’t really helping. (Also, putting a rope around her and dragging her around is probably his low point. Naturally, Fuyumi points out how humiliating it is but doesn’t really object.) She does get a nice moment later on, where the cowboy outfit and accessories Staz bought her prove useful to getting her out of a perilous situation. But probably the most striking scene is seeing her addiction to Staz’s blood, and how this is shown to be VERY BAD for her and yet at the same time the most erotic scene in the entire volume. I suspect I’m reading too much into her each time, but what else am I supposed to do? Ogle the boobies? Let’s keep overanalyzing.

We meet up with a superhero team in this volume as well, who are shown on the cover. As with most superhero teams, they’re a collection of eccentric weirdos with bizarre powers that seem to bond together as a unit when the chips are down. And, as with Wolf and a number of other people, they’re pitted against Staz, who remains the “bad guy” even as he’s the hero. Can you be a good guy when the entire world views you differently? Later on, when Staz and Fuyumi are captured by the police, we see something similar. Staz is a vampire overlord with massive amounts of untapped power (so much it can apparently be used to resurrect the dead), and now is the best time to stop him, before he discovers that potential.

And then there’s the climax of the volume, which I will walk around and try not to spoil. It should be a very emotional, heartwarming moment, but it seems filled with a sort of impermanence, a sense that this isn’t going to last long. Braz seems to get this too – his open affection for Liz reads very much as a “I’m about to die and will never see you again” gesture (poor Liz, by the way – there’s some great in-text analysis of her character and how she’s starved for affection from her brother). In the end, I have a suspicion that the confrontation that is the cliffhanger to this volume will be dealt with swiftly and anticlimactically before long when we get to Volume 5.

Overall, this remains a great read. You breeze right through it, it’s filled with good humor, some creepy horror, and occasional character development. Plus the obligatory fanservice. It’s everything you could want in a shonen manga (well, except it’s seinen, running in Young Ace… shh, don’t talk to me about demographics).