Monthly Archives: June 2019

After the Rain, Vol. 3

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By Jun Mayuzuki. Released in Japan as “Koi wa Ameagari no You ni” in two separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Big Comic Spirits. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.

The third omnibus of this series shows off a few of the characters beginning to realize that Akira’s love for Kondo is not just some easily swayed crush, and that they may need to take it seriously. This includes the smarmy chef who’s been hitting on her, who it turns out is a lot less smarmy when he’s around his sister. They run into our lead “couple” and Kondo’s kid and go on a sort of double date from hell, featuring the dorkiest sweatshirt ever, a lot of phallic plants with no symbolism intended at all no sirree, and Tamako, the sister, who is a LOT in a series that’s driven by introverts most of the time. It also has an odd moment where Kase tells Akira that she is the sort to “bend towards the light”, like plants, implying a depth that she hadn’t seen before but which we don’t really get deeper into because, well, sister.

That said, the most interesting part of this book is that Akira’s tortured feelings about Kondo take a back seat to Akira’s tortured feelings about track. I had assumed, and the text implied up until now, that Akira’s injury was very much the “career ending” sort of injury. But no, with physical therapy, she could easily regain her powerful running ways. She just ISN’T. And this is annoying not just Haruka but also a lot of her fans, including one very angry underclassman who I’m pretty sure we’ll see again. Akira loves working at the restaurant so she can be around Kondo, but is that really all a girl like her wants to do? And how can she run after her perpetually forgetful boss with a bum leg? Akira’s issues are not just related to love, there’s more going on here.

As usual with this series, there are a number of gorgeous scenes with people simply staring at each other, and I admit that as much as I like the story of After the Rain, I wonder sometimes how it would read without any dialogue at all. I’m not sure it could tell everything in silence, but I think the majority of it could be implied. And honestly, when you finish the book and then go back to look at your favorite facial expressions, that’s a good book. We’re over halfway through the series now, and I’m still not entirely sure where it’s going, but it’s become clear that the story is not just about Akira and Kondo but about Akira maturing… or not maturing, as there are several points in this book where, as with previous volumes, she throws a bit of a tantrum when reality gets in her way.

I had fallen behind on this series, so the 4th volume is out very soon. It will be interesting to see where it goes. We saw Haruka meeting Kondo towards the end of the book, and I wonder how close the ‘love story’ and ‘track injury’ subplots are going to come. In any case, keep reading this very pretty series.

Another World’s Zombie Apocalypse Is NOT My Problem!

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By Haru Yayari and Fuyuki. Released in Japan as “Zombie Darake no Kusatta Sekai wo Seijo no Chikara de Jōka Shimasu!” by the author on a webnovel site. Released in North America digitally by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Charis Messier.

As the title might suggest, this novel combines zombies and “transported to another world”, two of the hottest current trends, or at least hot in 2016, when this was originally published. Unlike some of CIW’s other titles, I think this one could be marketed to both male and female readers, but the star is definitely a young girl. The first half of the book leans heavily on the zombie end of things, while the second, after the crisis is slowly being averted, feels more like an isekai proper, as Mizuha wanders around the kingdom, meets eccentric characters, etc. It’s just that the adventuring she does is zombie-purifying, that’s all. It’s also definitely a book that’s just about the right length – this is done in one, and I don’t think would make a good series. As a single volume, it’s pretty decent, with its main flaw being that ‘pretty decent’ is as far as it goes.

Given her appearance, as seen on the cover, and the fact that she uses her right hand to purify zombies, it’s hard not to think of Mizuha as the daughter of Touma and Mikoto from A Certain Magical Index. She wakes up on a deserted island surrounded by toxic, foul-smelling sludge. Even worse, a zombie emerges from said sludge and goes after her. But when she smacks its chest, the zombie turns into a handsome blond knight! It turns out that by hitting the zombies she can return them to their living selves. On a more humiliating note, her saliva can also be used to magically purify the sludge, making it water again. (This leads to the book’s running gag, with her being referred to as the “Holy Priestess of Spit”, and her despair at this title.) Escaping the island, she finds herself in a kingdom that’s overrun with zombies, and has to slowly heal each one, not get converted herself, and try to figure out how to get back home.

Mizuha is the best part of the book. She’s fun, and her narration feels, with a few exceptions, like she’s in a YA novel rather than a standard isekai light novel. She comes to terms with everything pretty quickly, bonds with the young princess who is the second zombie she saves, and theoretically falls for Lex, the young blond knight. I say theoretically as the romance feels kind of last-minute and minimal, at least on Mizuha’s end. Lex is strong and powerful but also sort of a weirdo and a dimbulb, and he would not look out of place if you handed him a Sword of Light and sent him off with Lina Inverse. The zombie sections of the book are reasonably action-packed, and there are several good laughs in here. Sometimes the book feels like a webnovel that needed more editing (Cia’s parents needed one or two more “where on earth are they?” mentions, as an example), but it holds together well.

As I said, the book’s main flaw is that there was no one scene or moment that elevated it to “OK, this just got terrific.” It’s a decent zombie novel with a fun heroine, worth your time, but it may not stick in the memory afterwards.

I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up

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By Kodama Naoko. Released in Japan as “Oya ga Urusai Node Kohai to Gisou Kekkon Shitemita” by Ichijinsha, serialized in the magazine Comic Yuri Hime. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Amber Tamosaitis. Adapted by Lora Gray.

I admit, when this was first announced, I said NOPE really hard. But that was mostly due to the author of the series, whose previous series I had sort of hated. But a few people reassured me that this was not along the lines of Netsuzou Trap, and indeed in the afterword the author jokes about their ‘light’ and ‘dark’ modes, and this is definitely on the light side. Indeed, very light – it’s complete in one volume, and also has an unrelated one-shot short story at the end. The main story is also pretty much described in the title, though I think the relationship between the two leads is more like the original Japanese – Agaya is a friend, but she’s definitely framed more as a kohai, with Morimoto as the sempai. They’re out of school now, but end up together as, well, read the title. What follows is cute, and both leads had more depth than I was expecting.

Morimoto is dealing with problems on several fronts. Her parents want her to get married. Her workplace is fairly sexist, resisting giving her any big projects as it’s assumed that women are there until they find husbands and that’s it. And she’s also a somewhat repressed, introverted sort to begin with. Agaya, on the other hand, is bright, bubbly, extroverted, and can be a bit much at times. She’s also gay, and in fact asked Morimoto out when they were in school, though she was rejected. So when she points out that gay marriage is legal in their prefecture, and that it would be a great way to stop her parents nagging her, Morimoto goes along with it. Then Agaya moves in, as she’s saving to get a new apartment and this helps. As the volume goes on, Morimoto gains confidence and realizes just how much she’s enjoying the married life. But can she hold on to Agaya, who is pretty convinced that her senpai is “super-straight”?

This is not the most complicated story in the world, but there were little touches I liked a lot. One early scene shows Morimoto flashing back to her childhood, an endless string of being nagged to excel in everything or else she’s a failure. The interesting part was seeing it start with her father accusing her mother of being a “bad mother” for a poor grade that Morimoto got – which of course is bound to show off why she does NOT want to get married. Agaya is also mostly well handled. She’s very “out”, personality-wise, and is not above sneaking in to bathe together with her new “wife”, or leering her her boobs. But she does not, for the most part, make any advances on Morimoto that she’s not comfortable with, and at the end she’s the one who has to be convinced that they could actually make this into something real. She also has her own career as well – this is not a “breadwinner and housewife” sort of relationship.

The short story afterwards, about a girl in an athletic school who got injured, so has to get great grades to maintain her scholarship, and her rude track girl friend, is a bit too slight to really go anywhere. The meat of the title is in the main story, and at three chapters it’s just about the right length. Worth a look for yuri fans.