Category Archives: reviews

Toradora!, Vol. 5

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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.

This is a light novel series that is coming out in America well after both the manga and the anime (though the manga remains unfinished as it crawls along in Japan), so to a certain degree there’s very little “surprise” involved in the contents. I knew that we would eventually be dealing with the volume with Taiga’s father, and here it is. As such, a good deal of the book consists of the reader yelling at Ryuuji “NOOOOO, DON’T TRUST HIIIIIM, YOU IIIIIDDDIOOOOOTTT!”, which to be fair Minori does as well. It’s actually rather refreshing, as usually Ryuuji is the sensible, down-to-earth core of these books, so it’s somewhat startling to see him so taken in by Taiga’s dad. Of course, it’s spelled out why he is; he longs for a relationship with his father he can never have, and now he can sort of get it via Taiga. Of course, this means it’s not about what Taiga wants at all, something that he realizes in a horrified sort of way when everything goes wrong.

Before we move on, I want to note that, while Toradora! is quite funny and has some excellent gags, it does lean on one running gag through this book that I wasn’t very fond of. Yuri, the class teacher, turns thirty in this book, something that she and the author make you very aware of. There is a bit of sympathy for her near the end (bless you, Ami), but for the most part the joke is that she’s 30 and unmarried, and the constant (30 years old) tags after her name grow annoying. Of course, without that we would not have had the class wrestling play, which has to be read to be believed, although I admit I think it worked better in more visual mediums. Taiga and Ryuuji really do make an excellent evil duo. And then there’s the race at the end, where Ryuuji and Minori, both incredibly furious with themselves, get involved in a nasty little race to see who can crown Miss Taiga with a tiara of “I’m most important to you!”. The race is fantastic, though I do wonder, given the apparent injuries that occurred during it, why no one got in trouble.

Ryuuji and Minori have a huge fight here, of course, Ryuuji coming from a position of ignorance and Minori from one of having been here before. She withholds that from him, though, deliberately. Minori is upset that Taiga is not only closer to Ryuuji these days, but seems to be getting herself hurt again by making up with her father purely for Ryuuji’s sake. The series to date has been about Taiga and Ryuuji having one-sided crushes, and in the last book we wondered if Ryuuji’s was really one-sided after all. Now we see Minori wondering, out loud, after her struggle to be the one most dear to Taiga, if she’s a lesbian. Leaving aside Ryuuji’s response, which is understandable but won him zero points in the fandom, it’s an interesting question, and I wonder if the author will develop it later on or if it merely serves as an odd coda to this excellent volume.

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.