Monthly Archives: November 2017

Imperfect Girl, Vol. 1

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By NISIOISIN and Mitsuru Hattori. Released in Japan as “Shōjo Fujūbun” by Houbunsha, serialized in the magazine Young Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Ko Ransom.

I first got to know the work of NISIOISIN through his series for Weekly Shonen Jump, Medaka Box, which I’ve commented on at length elsewhere, and is unlikely to ever be licensed over here. That said, I’d argue he’s better known over here for his novels, particularly the Zaregoto and Monogatari series, both of which are currently being released by Vertical’s novel side, Vertical Inc. Surprisingly, though, neither one of those very popular series ever got a manga adaptation. Zaregoto’s spinoff Zerozaki series was tipped for one instead, and both series have wildly successful (Monogatari) or noble failure (Zaregoto) anime series which are highly stylized and artistic. A straight-up manga adaptation of either series would get lost in the crushing verbiage, which was something that Medaka Box (also very verbose and metatextual) struggled with its entire run. This, however, is a quick, three-volume series based on a single novel, and the think that struck me the most is how reserved the hero is.

The narrator is a college-aged author who isn’t named, and seems to be looking back on this period of his life from the future as he writes about it. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a self-insert of NISIOISIN, but certainly he can probably identify with the struggles of an author who knows how to write but not necessarily how to write something that will sell. Out one day, he sees a traffic accident where a young girl is brutally killed by a truck. What strikes him, though, is the girl’s “best friend”, who sees the accident, carefully saves her game she was playing, puts it away… then reacts in horror and despair. She also spots our hero, though, and before he knows it he’s kidnapped by her at knifepoint and brought to her house… where she proceeds to lock him in the closet and leave him. Most of the book is his internal dialogue and analysis of U’s behavior, U being the girl.

The art may seem familiar to manga fans, as the artist has been out over here with his Sankarea zombie series. He does a good job at showing the creepy horror of several of the scenes, as well as the heavy-lidded brokenness of the titular Imperfect Girl. Our nameless hero is less successful, and may have worked better in prose – there are several points in this volume where he is forced to do something totally stupid to serve the plot, and he goes right along with each one. Worse, he lacks personality – Araragi may be intensely irritating at times, but you can never say he’s boring, and Ii-chan’s lack of personality is a mask that he wears to obscure. This guy simply seems dull, and you get the sense that “the author” telling us this story in the future wants to show how the incident forced him to stop being so nebbish. I hope it takes.

All in all, this first volume was OK, and I’ll read the other two because they’re short and I’m a NISIOISIN fan. I do wonder if it might have worked better as one omnibus, though.

Infinite Dendrogram: Clash of the Superiors

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By Sakon Kaidou and Taiki. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

It is very common, in both light novels and manga, for a volume to be augmented at times by various side stories and extra chapters. Particularly if content is running a bit short. For the most part, I’ve found that these extra stories are not as good as the main fare – either they’re totally unrelated, in which case they read as the author’s attempt to get their early work collected, or they’re a bit more fanservicey and subpar, because they’re meant to be taken as stand-alone and not have an impact on the main storyline. That said, there are exceptions, and I’m pleased to say that Infinite Dendrogram’s third volume is one of them. The main bulk of the book takes up the first 2/3 or so, and is perfectly serviceable, though the reader may be annoyed that it’s all setup, with the payoff being in the next volume. The stories afterwards range from very good to excellent.

In the main storyline, we see Ray dealing with the aftermath of his heroics in Book 2, and finding that even though most players didn’t give a rat’s ass about the piles of dead NPC children, the actual NPCs certainly did. As a result, he not only gets a huge reward, but also many tearful thanks for taking out such reprehensible killers. Ray handles this with his usual awkwardness, and then goes to see what Marie used their other reward money for, which turns out to be box seats for a fight between two Superior Players – something that’s unprecedented. As it turns out, Ray’s brother is also very involved in this, as Figaro, one of the fighters, is a good friend of his. (It’s becoming quite clear Ray’s brother is one of the top fighters in the game, but he’s hiding that from Ray for now.) The fight is quite well-written, and I liked the Chinese-styled opponent as well. But, as I noted, it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger.

The two side stories do a great deal to expand on the others Ray met in the first book. The first deals with Rook trying to get a new monster for his party. We get some hints of a disturbing backstory for Rook’s real-life person, who seems to have been through a lot, and also shows off he is far more than the cute innocent boy who is the perfect underage ‘pimp’ – Rook will go far. Even better is Marie’s story, which dovetails up with some of the other events in Book 2, i.e. the missing princess who was thought to be kidnapped by the child murdering gang. I don’t actually want to spoil this one too much, but suffice it to say that Marie shows off immense depth in both her online player persona as well as her real life character. I don’t game, but honestly the way that she created a character and built up traits based on her past felt very real to me. Plus there are many stupid thugs getting handed their asses, which never grows old. I also liked the denoument, even though the mystery wasn’t really the point of the story.

I’d been waffling back and forth about this series, which seemed to excite other readers more than me. The third volume is a definite step forward, though, and I can honestly say I’m greatly looking forward to the next one.

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, Vol. 6

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By Satoko Kiyuduki. Released in Japan as “Hitsugi Katsugi no Kuro – Kaichu Tabi no Wa” by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

It has to be said, each new volume of this series has been more ominous than the last. It began alternating somewhat unnerving stories with occasional sweet fare, and there’s still a bit of bittersweetness in here, but as the reader slowly progresses through the book they are likely wondering how the author is going to end this without making the audience cry. Kuro, who has been spending her last few years trying to find the witch so that she can return to what she was, has now realized an important truth: regaining that will mean losing Kuro, effectively killing herself. And she isn’t ready to do that, even when offered the chance midway through. Meanwhile, Nikuju and Sanju are still soaking up the world, but they’re also increasingly worried about Kuro, who may be literally coming apart. Are they the key to everything? And why do I have a bad feeling about that?

We do get the occasional ‘traditional’ Kuro tale here as well, with Kuro running into someone trying to solve problem ‘x’ and helping them out, only to turn out that the helper was part of the problem all along. The story with the ghost and the photographer brought a smile to my face, though I will admit it was a wistful smile. There is also an extended interlude in an all-girls’ school, which Kuro has infiltrated (this came out the same week as Murcielago 4, which has the same plotline, and the justaposition makes me shudder to imagine the crossover) in order to investigate something that sounds similar to her witch but is instead tied to the same sorts of things you’d expect at a Japanese school for young ladies: status, bullying, and fear. It’s a high point of the volume, and for once doesn’t seem to end in half tragedy.

That said, I suspect most people are going to have stronger feelings about the story in the middle and at the end, dealing with Kuro’s past and future. Seeing Sen and Kuro in the illusive city in the middle of nowhere is intentionally dream-like, and I had assumed the author was, as usual, not quite letting us see the ‘old’ Kuro’s face, which helped set up the impact of the panel where we do. It’s very well-drawn. And then there’s the last two sequences, which are almost pure horror, as Kuro’s confrontations with Hifumi grow more and more ominous, and Sanju decides to help her, even if it may mean sacrificing her own innocence.

The author has said that the next volume should be the last, though I’m uncertain when it will be out – this one took a year and a half, so it may be about the same. It’s probably for the best – Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro is something to savor at special occasions, like a 40-year-old scotch, rather than a manga where you drink fast and move on to the next one. I don’t think Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro is going to end with full-blown depressing misery, but I do think it will be sad, and I expect tears may gather in the eyes.