Category Archives: reviews

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Vol. 5

Leave a reply

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

So when does one choose to end a cash cow? Particularly if the cash cow is a spinoff of an even bigger cash cow whose author seems to have dwindled down to 2 books a decade? Well, the answer is that you don’t – you need to keep the audience interested in these characters for as long as you possibly can, and if the main Suzumiya Haruhi series is on hiatus while its author deals with trying to wrap yup the monster he’s created, and the manga has to end as it can’t make up new Main Storyline stuff – well then, you keep the spinoffs going for as long as they are able.

nagato5

(For the record, I have generally assumed that when dealing with spinoff titles like these, the main plot is being created by the artist, with the writer only signing off on suggestions and censoring plots he wants to handle himself. Thus I assume that Puyo is in charge of both this and the Haruhi-chan manga, but I could be wrong.)

This volume really reads like the author was intending to wrap it up here. Yuki and her AU counterpart have a talk in her mind, after which she’s back to normal with no memories of what happened before… which is a bit of a pain to Kyon and Ryouko. Luckily it’s summer vacation and Haruhi returns to drag everyone through a series of fun activities. You can see Puyo starting to wrap things up. Haruhi reveals how things changed for her 3 years prior, and shows how she developed in a different, slightly more sedate direction due to Kyon’s unthinking response. There’s a sense she’;s moving on from him here. Likewise, Kyon manages to resolve the awkwardness he feels around Nagato, and we finally get to the big confession…

…except there are fireworks, so she doesn’t hear him. And he immediately pulls back, noting that it’s OK if he said it, and now they can go back to their happy carefree days. We then move on to a slight homework arc, and return to the school for the 2nd half of the year, which features Haruhi trying to figure out how to inveigle herself into the culture festival despite not going to that school, and the return of a very familiar face.

Yes, if you write a spinoff featuring the most popular Haruhi character in a starring role, it makes sense to bring in the big breakout character of the last few years as well. So Sasaki’s back. What will her return mean for the relationship between Yuki and Kyon? Probably not a lot, to be honest. But it will at least keep it dragged out for another couple of volumes, which is all Kadokawa asks, really.

I really do enjoy this title. I wish the art rose above mediocre, but given the popularity of Attack on Titan, mediocre art is not a big setback anymore. Puyo specializes in quiet, introspective emotional moments, and the humor here is gentle and mild – it’s probably to contrast with the Haruhi-chan 4-koma he also writes. But I simply can never get out of my head the fact that this is a cash grab for a large anime franchise, and the addition of Sasaki and pullback from an obvious ending do nothing to assuage my worries in that regard. As always, recommended for Haruhi fans.

Soul Eater, Vol. 18

1 Reply

By Atsushi Ohkubo. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Soul Eater is an ensemble cast, but as with most ensemble casts, some characters are more lead than others, and so Soul Eater really stars Maka and Soul. Throughout the series we’ve seen the growing closeness between the two, and the confidence that they now have. Which is why the chapters on Envy and Sloth that they both go through are so traumatic. It’s such a shame that Maka, deep down, really has these issues with her. Of course, Maka is all of us, and you can never quite get rid of that core of self-loathing, no matter how much confidence you have. Luckily, Maka has Soul to snap her out of it.

soul18

As for everyone else, the Lust chapter actually plays out a lot faster than everyone thought, once the basic ‘what if they all changed sexes’ gag is done. Naturally, the more repressed a person is, the longer it takes to change back, which gives us an excuse to watch Tsubaki and Liz be humiliated. Gluttony, Wrath and Pride are excuses for character-based humor, as Black*Star and Patti pig out and we have to deal with the return of the most annoying sword in the world, which even Liz can’t wield in order to save Kid. (There’s some amusing 4th wall breaking here, as it’s noted that Black*Star screaming at Excalibur is buried in the gutter of the book.)

Speaking of 4th wall breaking, the art itself undergoes a change in the Sloth chapter, fitting in with what Maka and Soul are going through. This is probably the most disturbing part of the book, as Giriko shows up and threatens to rape Maka using extremely crude language, which (being in an existential crisis) she just sits there and takes. Luckily, Soul is there to come to her rescue, and she’s able to supposedly kill Giriko, though this may prove trickier than they expected. “People don’t explode when you kill them!” Is this meant to be another commentary on shonen tropes?

And then there’s Kid. We’ve had his obsessive-compulsive disorder used for humor for so long that it’s a bit jarring to see it be so serious now. And, truth be told, it’s a great way to get Kid to turn to the side of evil – point out that the best way everything can truly be symmetrical forever is to make everything become nothing, the empty symmetry of nonexistence. It’s chilling. Luckily, we have the one man whose ego is so big that facing off against something like this is nothing, and the cliffhanger sets us up for the big fight between Kid and Black*Star. The first time they fought, Kid wiped the floor with him, but I suspect things will go differently this time.

Soul Eater is slowly makes its way towards a big confrontation, but the journey is also fun, and this continues to be one of the best shonen titles out there.

Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 23

Leave a reply

By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

This volume wasn’t really supposed to be read on its own – it came out in Japan at the same time as Vol. 24, as it’s one big epic storyline resolution. But here in North America, where Hayate’s sales sort of suck, we get this volume now and Vol. 24 in late summer. That said, it’s not like this is incoherent without the other volume, it just leaves us with another nasty cliffhanger. More to the point, everything is finally tying together as the universe sets out to make Hayate’s life miserable, and he helps it along as best he can.

hayate23

Not that Hayate is the only one suffering – we get the aftermath of Hina’s confession, as her heart is shattered into little pieces but she still manages to say the right things to Hayate. There are many characters in this series who are at their best when they’re absolutely miserable, and Hina’s is one of the bigger examples. That said, I suspect she’s not simply going to sit back at the hotel for the rest of this arc and let Athena steal the show…

Nor is Nagi, though she doesn’t really appear much in this volume. Hayate’s self-worth is tied directly to the fact that Nagi ‘saved’ him from his old life, and therefore when Mikado (who is really being a horrible old bastard here) forces him to choose between Nagi’s happiness (as losing all her wealth will destroy her) and Athena’s (as she may very well die if Hayate doesn’t intervene), it’s snot surprising that he freezes up and goes into a bit of a blue funk. It’s not so much a Lady or the Tiger choice as it is two kinds of tiger.

And then there’s Athena (who has a comedy relief servant, Makina, who is appropriately a bit of a dark Hayate to Athena’s Dark Nagi). There’s a bit of possession by evil going on, so her desire to get the King’s Jewel at all costs it wrapped up in that. Her feelings for Hayate seem to be genuine, though, and it’s telling that the evil inside her is allowed to take over when she realizes that Nagi is the one who saved him and the most important woman in his life right now. This leads to summoning giant demonic spirits to kill Hayate once and for all. Thank goodness for Isumi…

…who arrives just in time to lose her first battle in the entire series (as possessed-Athena points out to her, “You’ve never had to face someone stronger than you, have you?), so our heroes have to run away for a bit. Isumi also gets to be infodump girl, informing Hayate that even if they destroy the stone, the shock of the thing that’s currently possessing her being destroyed may kill Athena. He really does have no good options here. Well, except this is a shonen manga, so he can go back and plead with her to listen to reason some more. I suspect that’s what we’ll see next.

At the time this came out, a lot of folks were wondering if this might be the conclusion, and if Hayate would actually end up with Athena. No fear (it’s up to Vol. 39 in Japan now), but this is still an excellent buildup to something big. Can Hayate win despite his amazing powers of self-hatred?