Monthly Archives: July 2018

Sweet Blue Flowers, Omnibus 4

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By Takako Shimura. Released in Japan as “Aoi Hana” by Ohta Shuppan, serialized in the magazine Manga Erotics F. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

The final volume of Sweet Blue Flowers shows off all the strengths and weaknesses of this particular series. Akira and Fumi make very good leads, and there are some deft story touches in this book, particularly in how their breakup is conveyed wordlessly – we’re not actually seeing it straight on, but obliquely. And yes, there’s a breakup, but don’t panic, yuri fans. Just as the reader was meant to be very wary when Akira suggested dating while she sorts out her feelings, so the reader somehow knows that the breakup isn’t going to be permanent. It is interesting, given how negative and toxic the feeling is in so many other manga out there, that it’s Akira feeling jealousy of Fumi possibly seeing other girls that makes her realize “oh, I *do* love her like that.” She also looks so much better with her hair cut it’s not even funny. Their story was the main reason to read the series, and it’s worth the read.

This does leave the rest of the book and the rest of the cast, and I was sort of up and down about that. I still say that, even if the cast list is somewhat helpful, a lot of Shimura’s characters look and act too similarly, especially the giant pile of younger students. More than that, though, at times when the narrative was focused elsewhere I felt like I was drifting through the book like at a party, catching fragments of conversation about events that should be important but don’t have time to grab me before we’ve moved on. Now, to a degree this can be refreshing. It’s clear that every girl in the cast has things going on besides what we see on the page, and I like characters with full, rich lives. But I sometimes wish the manga had more focus – its desire to flit from cast member to cast member made me feel like I was reading though a gauzy haze.

Overall, though, I’m very pleased we finally got to see this series come out in North America. It’s girls in school falling in love, yes, but the diffuseness I mentioned above also helps to separate it from the series that followed in its wake, many of which we saw here first. I also enjoyed the odd serious moments of melancholy, such as the backstory with Kyoko and her mother, which was sad and depressing without making the reader feel angry. And the teacher was a highlight of the entire series, and we saw that her own attempts to come out more publicly had both its ups and downs – I’m not sure if she’s in trouble at school, like so many plotlines in this series it gets carefully examined and then we move on – but it was great to see her imagining a double bride wedding. I do think this series ended at just the right length – it would have been exhausting to carry on for 3-4 more volumes. In the end, Sweet Blue Flowers had its bittersweet moments, but the end showed that sweetness can win out.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online: Squad Jam

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By Keiichi Sigsawa and Kouhaku Kuroboshi, based on the series created by Reki Kawahara. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Stephen Paul.

And so it’s finally here, the Sword Art Online novels for the fan who hates Sword Art Online. Or at least that’s how this is sometimes described. Sword Art Online is a very popular franchise, but it’s also the series that’s cool to hate, particularly its lead character. And so there’s a certain desire to play around in the universe but without all the baggage of Kirito and friends. Enter Alternative, where the author (best known here as the creator of Kino’s Journey, though he also is a specialist at playing in author author’s worlds) explicitly says that none of the main cast will ever be in these books. Nor is he really interested in the death game or its sequel. No, instead we have what is essentially Gunsmith Cats: the RPG, only Rally has been replaced by Goldie. The author loves guns, so do the characters, and you’d better be prepared to hear about guns.

For those who haven’t read the manga (which I reviewed last year) or seen the anime (which just ended this week), SAO Alternative stars Karen, a very tall girl who has few friends because she’s introverted and tall. Her friends tries to get her to do MMORPGs like ALO, but Karen’s character creation always gives her a really tall character – exactly what she doesn’t want. In desperation she tries to sci-fi apocalypse shooter Gun Gale Online, and finds, at last, she’s tiny! And cute! After playing around a bit, she runs into Pitohui, who is cool, gives good advice, and also seems to have a screw loose or two, though we don’t really get into that as much as I expected this book. She recommends that LLENN (as Karen names herself) participate in a new event called the Squad Jam, which is basically the BoB tournament but for teams. Sadly, Pitohui can’t make it, but she does provide LLENN with a partner, the hulking giant M, who also is there to give advice and backup. With a team of only two, can they possibly win this?

If you’re here for gun battles, then this is absolutely the book for you. The Squad Jam itself takes up two-thirds of the book, and is exciting, dramatic and fun. LLENN proves to be a natural at the game, and her headspace is also fun to follow. The purpose of the characters in this book seems to be “make them different from the real players” to contrast with the SAO crew. Karen has a short, tiny character, the stoic, invulnerable M proves to be, well, rather less stoic and invulnerable, and the team that LLENN ends up going against in the finals are a group of big burly Russian women who, it will not surprise the reader to know, are not big, burly and Russian in real life. It’s an escape. That said, while I enjoyed this book it’s not as ambitious as SAO – I’d say it’s better written but lacks the highs and lows of the original series. It feels like Sigsawa has no greater motivation than “I want to play in this sandbox”. It’s a fun sandbox, though, and if you hate SAO this may be for you.

Also, the Agatha Christie fan in me is annoyed that the team name is not “LLENN or M?”.

Silver Spoon, Vol. 3

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

Summer still takes up the first half of this book, but then it’s time to go back to school for the new semester. And Hachiken is still very much learning as he goes. He’s gotten used to the early hours and strength needed, and in fact (once again) has to be reminded to take it easy on occasion. But there’s still stuff he has to experience, like the taste of raw milk, as well as things he has to feel responsible for, like the loss of a lot of that raw milk due to a mistake he made. I use the phrase “overly serious” a lot when I’m talking about Hachiken, and while (as I said last time) he is a very realistic, well-rounded person, it is his most defining trait. In that sense, as you’d expect, he matches well with Mikage, who loves horses and wants a career in horses, but when you’re the farm’s sole heir that’s not really an option.

At the Mikage farm, we get more insight into cow births, and some wackiness involving the local prefecture’s cows getting mixed up with the farm’s. The main plot twist here, though, is the arrival of Hachiken’s brother. I love the fact that you can tell that Shingo and his brother are completely different and yet clearly were raised by the exact same family. They each deal with their father in different ways. Unfortunately for Hachiken (but fortunately for those who love Arakawa’s comedy), this means Shingo is a bit of a flake, having dropped out of Tokyo U once he got in to pursue his dreams of becoming a ramen chef. Except he’s terrible at cooking. Shingo’s presence basically serves to give us a bit more information about Hachiken’s home life without having to see him go back home, and it’s clear Shingo cares and worries about his brother in his own way.

When we get back to school, there’s an even better joke, as Tanako suffered from heat stroke over the summer and has come to school having lost all of her weight. The wonderful thing about the joke is that Tamako literally gives not one shit about this, and the first chance she gets she’s bulked right back up. Tamako knows her own gorgeousness. As for Hachiken, he’s still dealing with the piglet he named last time, who has now grown up to be a big pig – and is ready to be slaughtered. It’s impressive that everyone treats Hachiken’s angst about the pig seriously, and no one makes fun of it at all – they’ve all been there when they were younger. Hachiken’s solution, meanwhile, feels very much like something he would do. (There’s also another wacky subplot where the school things Hachiken has gotten Yoshino pregnant = which mostly serves to remind us that Tokiwa is the Mineta of this series.

I hate to keep banging the drum here (that’s a lie, I love to bang this particular drum), but every volume of Silver Spoon reminds me why we were begging for years for its license. Read this, you won’t regret it.