Monthly Archives: June 2020

A Triple Dose of Terrible Titillation

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This week three titles came out all at once that made Manga Bookshelf collectively groan and hold their heads. I decided, in a rare masochistic moment, to read all three of the new volumes. It rapidly became apparent that I’d have to review them together, as they all defied my ability to spin a large number of words. So let’s get started with title #1, which is easily the scuzziest of the three.

(Please note: all three of these titles are various degrees of sexually explicit. Reader discretion is advised.)

Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time. By Daisuke Hiyama. Released in Japan as “Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan” by Futabasha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Monthly Action. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Ben Tretheway. Adapted by David Lumsdon.

First off, a brief summary: a guy wins a worldwide fighting tournament, and is recognized as the strongest in the land. He wants to marry his pretty but naive fiancee, but unfortunately as he’s the strongest every woman around wants to have sex with him. He attempts to resist, but fails. Rinse and repeat. As for a review… at least it’s not hiding what it wants to be. About 15 pages into this book, I had read as euphemisms “man yogurt”, “down-low mayo”, “cream filling”, and “man mucus”, to the point where I wanted to beg the translators to just say “cum” over and over like a normal person. They say they want to bear his strong children, but honestly, it’s all about the sex. We get two ogres and an elf in this book, and I’m sure as the series goes on more fantasy creatures will show up. As for Peter, he’s the sort of guy that creators think is likeable but is really teeth-grindingly irritating. It certainly has an audience, but that audience is “80s sex comedy”. I’m amazed the pages didn’t stick together… and I read it on a tablet.

Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World!. By Wakame Konbu. Released in Japan as “Sekai de Ichiban Oppai ga Suki!” by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Cune. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Alexandra McCullough.

This was not as offensive as Peter Grill, but does have the problem that I kept checking to see how many pages to the end. It’s possibly the most boring “sexy” manga I’ve ever seen. The premise: Chiaki is the school “prince”, an archery master and all the girls love her. Harumi, who goes to a different school, has a not-very-hidden crush on Chiaki. Chiaki has a very not hidden crush on Harumi’s large breasts. She likes to grope them, and if she can’t do so, she loses motivation in terms of her archery. It’s basically Knight of the Ice with boobs. Theoretically this is a yuri title, but honestly you end up simply angry after seeing Chiaki say over and over, in about fifteen different ways, that she loves Harumi’s boobs, not Harumi. There are various boob-grabbing situations… buying new bras, etc… but really, nothing happens but boob-groping for about 150 pages. It’s certainly a very narrow fetish. I can’t even imagine yuri fans would be pleased, as they’d no doubt tell Harumi to find someone – anyone – better than Chiaki. And the breast-grabbing, given we’re constantly told it’s not about lust or arousal, is not even sexy.

Lust Geass. By Osamu Takahashi. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

When I started reading these three, I was not expecting the erotic mind control porn story to be the best of the three – by far – but here we are. Souta and Rikka are childhood friends, and he’s in love with her, but can’t quite get the words out. Then one day he finds a mysterious bookstore with occult tomes. Rikka loves occult stuff, so he gets one for her birthday. Now, suddenly, she’s really, really horny, and needs his help to get off… though won’t go all the way. The premise of “cursed book that makes us have sex” is not really new, and you can see the direction this is going. The second volume will no doubt pull in the respectable class president girl, the volume after that the hot teacher, etc. And we also get the “if you have sex with the one you truly love, you’ll die” curse to keep the main pairing apart till death or cancellation do us part. But… honestly? This had the only likeable cast in these three books. Consent is occasionally mentioned, which is surprising given the premise. You get the sense that Souta and Rikka would likely have gotten together relatively soon even without the book. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not great. It’s possible I’m making it sound better than it is because I read it after the other two. And, well, it’s erotic mind control porn. But this is the only one of these where I though “I might actually get Vol. 2 just to see if the leads stay likeable”. It’s not terrible.

So Lust Geass is worth getting if you’re into that sort of thing, Peter Grill will likely please its very, very narrow demographic of horny teenage boys (likely why Seven Seas rated it Older Teen and not Mature), and Breasts Are My Fav… zzzzzzzz… hm? where was I? Oh, right. No.

Toradora!, Vol. 10

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By Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Will Holcomb.

It might come as a surprise to those who have read the last three or four volumes of Toradora!, but there was, at one point, a large element of comedy in this series. As things have turned far more serious that’s mostly been repressed, but there’s a wonderful moment here where it returns… and yet we also don’t let go of the soul-crushing despair that both leads are going through. This leads to my favorite scene in the book, where, after having accidentally thrown 24,000 yen into the river, Ryuuji and Taiga finally kiss… then he jumps back onto the edge of a bridge, and she suddenly thinks he’s trying to kill himself, so she grabs at him, but slips and accidentally sends him over the bridge into the river (it’s winter), and then he asks her to marry him, and then SHE jumps off the bridge, and then the two have a giant screaming fight/confession scene in the rover while slowly freezing to death. It’s a bit unnerving to read… but also very like these two.

The first half of the book made me worry that the two of them might actually make good on their running away, which is, let’s be very clear here, a VERY BAD IDEA. Their friends have gotten so invested in giving up on their own denied love and supporting the couple that they’re willing to go along with this, though at least Ami is there to point out the foolishness before giving in anyway. Even their teacher, who literally bets her job that the two won’t run away, can’t stop them from making their escape. In the end, what stops them is actually the actions of Ryuuji’s mother, herself estranged from her parents after a high school relationship ended in pregnancy, who has ALSO run away from home. This leads to Ryuuji reuniting with his grandparents, and he and Taiga seeing that nothing is unrecoverable.

One thing I very much appreciated about this final book is that it does not try to redeem Taiga’s own parents, who have both been portrayed as emotionally and mentally abusing Taiga most of her life. Her dad is finally unable to run from his creditors, and I feel grateful we don’t see him. We do see her mother, who is there to remove Taiga entirely from her friends and love. Their teacher at one point can’t help but compare mother and daughter – they have similar mannerisms, and you can certainly see the family resemblance. But, thankfully, Taiga has emotional depth and the ability to care for others that we really don’t see in her mother here, and it’s why you feel so pained when she finally gives in and leaves with her. Of course, this story is not going to have an unhappy ending, fear not. But I do like how, in the end, Taiga is able to stand up for herself and demand her own right to be happy rather than being yanked around by her parents.

Toradora! is a relatively old series in light novel years, and at times it did feel rather quaint compared to some more modern examples of the genre, which certainly would have added three or four more girls to the Ryuuji mix. But even if it did, no one would be able to get past the destiny of the main pairing. It’s literally in the title. It’s also a terrific read.

Altina the Sword Princess, Vol. 4

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By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

This book starts off with Altina and company, who are recovering from running away from the palace only to find themselves attacked by the country whose fort they overtook in the second volume. What’s more, war has just been declared between their nation and Britannia. So they’re in a pinch – can they defend what they took and ALSO send troops to defend the country? Well, we might find out next time, because this book isn’t about Altina, but her older brother Bastian, who has essentially been exiled to Britannia for being too much of a handful, and is busy going to school as a disguised noble. Unfortunately, the OTHER disguised noble at his school, Eliza, is suddenly in the middle of a nasty power struggle between those who want war and those who want peace. We know how it turns out (war is at the start of the book, after all), but getting there is entertaining and feels like a different series by the same author.

Altina sometimes had tendencies of “idiot hero” in the first three books, but could also strategize and listen to more tactical advice. Bastian, on the other hand, is absolutely the very definition of idiot hero to a ridiculous degree. He’s writing a book, you see (despite some spelling mistakes), a book of derring-do and adventure and really cool battle scenes. He is, in other words, under a severe “middle school syndrome” spell, which is even more annoying given he’s in the equivalent of high school. He’s also from a different country, though, and so has to deal with petty bullying from other guys who are asking why he’s always writing in that book, then taking the book and keeping it from him. Never let it be said the author doesn’t know his tropes. Of course, once Eliza vanishes and then needs rescuing, it turns out Bastian is really an insanely overpowered guy who can run as fast as a horse and has a magical dagger. Frankly, his own life makes the better story.

Eliza is the preferred heir that the dying queen wants, but she’s a pacifist, and the people seemingly want war – or so we’re told. Fortunately, there’s another princess who can be Queen that is more amenable to war, provided that it’s not dull. Margaret is the polar opposite of the relatively innocent, staid Eliza – she’s the seductive vamp type. The power mostly resides in her aide, Oswald, who does want war – infinite war, forever. He’s that sort of guy. The two of them actually make quite a good double act, and I hope we see them both again. Admittedly, it does also mean that this book doesn’t have a very happy ending – Eliza and Bastian are on the run, her country is at war, and the one thing she had that could prove she was the rightful heir is lost in their escape. It’s a downer all around. But hey, at least they’re not dead. The author is not quite that mean.

Despite ending on a down note, this is a fun, breezy read, and another strong entry in the series. Next time I expect we’ll get back to Altina.