Category Archives: reviews

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, Vol. 1

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By FUNA and Touzai. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Lukas Ruplys.

This is the third of FUNA’s series to be brought over to the West, but it was apparently the first one serialized (though they do say this and Potions debuted almost at the same time). Having now read all three, there’s no question why Make My Abilities Average! got the attention and the forthcoming anime adaptation: it’s the best of then. Potions gets by on Kaoru being somewhat terrifying rather than cute and plucky, and both it and MMAA have the heroines having to deal with situations where they’re dealing with permanently being in another world, even if they’re loaded up with ridiculous cheats. Mitsuha, though she appears to “die” and be reborn in a fantasy world, in fact has it the best of all of them. As a result, the danger level in this first book is fairly low, and it’s not as interesting as a result. That said, if you enjoy FUNA’s ridiculously OP heroines, there’s a lot to like here.

Mitsuha starts off the book pretty badly, to be honest. She’s not dead like Mile or Kaoru, but her parents and older brother are, leaving her alone and dealing with the fallout. One day at a lookout point, she’s attacked by some young creeps (she’s 18 but looks 12, in the best anime cliche tradition) and they accidentally push her off the edge onto the rocky cliffs below. She wakes up in a forest, and after walking herself to collapse finds herself in a rustic cabin… indeed, in a rustic world. Eventually she discovers that she can transport herself between this world and Japan, and, thanks to some friendly deus ex machinas who explain why she isn’t dead, she also can speak any language and has a healing factor. So what’s a young, recently orphaned young woman to do? Why, earn a pile of gold coins in the fantasy world, convert it over in Japan, and live a life of ease! Except she’s a FUNA heroine, so adventure and ridiculousness is bound to follow.

As with Mile, and especially Kaoru, there is a risk of Mitsuha coming off as uber-smug, especially when she’s doing things like bribing mercenaries to teach her how to use knives and guns, or showing off her general store with amazing inventions such as store-bought shampoo. (There’s also FAR more intrustive fourth-wall breaking in this book.) This being the case, I thought the best scene in the book is when she’s ingratiating herself with the local noble family, all of whom are taken in by her sob story (adapted for the fantasy world), and she gets carried away and calls the patriach “Father”… then starts to unconsciously cry. It’s a reminder that the author really does remember the character backstories, and this is a young woman who recently lost her entire family, who appeared to be pretty loving from what we hear (though the brother was a bit of an otaku). It’s a nice bit of grounding that helps you smile and nod when you see Mitsuha use dry ice and the power of FISH to wow everyone at a debutante ball.

This is my first Sol Press purchase. The translation was good, but the digital formatting was merely eh. They need to figure out how to make the interstitial pictures be one page on their own, rather than having text on the same page. That said, if you’re looking for silly heroines, and have run out of Make My Abilities Average!, this is a pretty good purchase.

Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare, Vol. 1

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By Yuhki Kamatani. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hibana. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jocelyne Allen. Adapted by Ysabet MacFarlane.

I had heard a great deal of buzz about this title when it was licensed and before, but hadn’t really experienced it beyond people on Tumblr posting pictures of some of the stunning artistic concepts that form part of its story. Having now read the first volume, I remain deeply impressed with the art, but also drawn in by the story and characters. Our Dreams at Dusk gives us a look at LGBT people in Japan and their attempts to deal with these feelings that society – and their own family and peers – tell them is shameful. At its heard is a community founded by the very mysterious “Someone-san”, whose name we don’t know but who has brought together people who need to be able to confess their feelings to, well, someone. It can’t keep being bottled up and repressed. As we see in this first volume, some are more successful than others. And just because you “come out” doesn’t mean your problems are over.

Tasuku is our protagonist, who is high school kid who we fist meet when he’s debating whether he should leap to his death from a high wall. Flashbacks show that someone at high school grabbed his phone and found his browser history, and now are asking if he’s into “gay porn”. He denies it, using a slur he detests, but the truth is that he is gay, though he hasn’t – and feels he cannot – tell anyone or his life will be over. Just the thought of having to return to school the next day drives him to the brink. Before he can do anything, though, he sees a person leap out of a window much higher than where he is. Rushing to the building they were in, he doesn’t find the jumper, but his blurting out that “someone fell” leads him to Someone-san and the group there. Over the course of the book, he opens up to some of them, clashes with others, and continues to go to school, where his crush is on the volleyball team.

Of course, the ensemble cast is important as well. We meet an older man who seems to love Tchaikovsky, a tween-ish child who seems to dislike Tasuku on sight, the friendly and hard-working Utsumi, and Haruko and Saki, a lesbian couple who are still having some issues – Haruko has come out to her family and friends, and dealt with the fallout, while Saki still hasn’t said anything to her family. We also see that the group is not a perfect, all-loving conclave – Saki trying to drag Tasuku into her argument with Haruko shatters the mood a bit. And there is, as I noted, the art, which for the most part is elegant and expressive, but every once in a while shows us a two-page spread of artistic abandon trying to show the torment and desires in the main characters’ hearts. It’d be worth reading the series just for that – but we’re fortunate yo have much more to it.

There’s certainly more to this story, which recently ended in Japan at its fourth volume. I suspect the second one will deal with the kid who clearly does not like Tasuku at all. In the meantime, believe the hype – this is definitely worth your time and money.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 13

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By Satoshi Wagahara and 029. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Kevin Gifford.

I’ve said for a while now that this series does a good job of having romantic interests in it but sort of keeping it on the back burner rather than being a full-blown romantic comedy. Well, that changes with this volume, which devotes a large chunk to our heroines and how they feel – in this case, Chiho, who has now confessed to Maou TWICE but still hasn’t gotten much of anything from him, and Rika, who is in love with Ashiya and decides to do something about it when he invites her out for dinner and cellphone buying. Things arguably don’t go well for either of them, but in Chiho’s case there’s a larger issue, which is that she worries that soon she’s going to have to do other human stuff – study for exams, go to college, etc. – and will not see her supernatural friends anymore. Especially given Laila is still trying to get them on board with her big project, which could take a month to complete… or a hundred years.

There are a lot of confrontations in this book, and it’s interesting that some of them we only hear about secondhand. We see a teary Chiho run into Suzuno, but their conversation is heard second-hand later on, and Maou being “punished” for upsetting Chiho is also off screen (well, the setup, anyway). I’m not sure if this is just because the author is trying to keep the books to a certain length, but it is somewhat odd. We do get a great conversation between Chiho and Rika, two characters who are both best friends with Emilia but rarely interact. I worried that Rika and Ashiya’s date would also be off screen, but we do see that, and also Ashiya rejecting her… in fact, he tries to do the “I am too scary, please never see me again” thing, but Rika’s too smart to fall for that, though he is pretty damn scary. I did enjoy seeing Rika tell Chiho that she could possibly be the exception to the “demons don’t have human lovers” thing.

As for the main plot, Laila provides most of the humor in this volume in her desperate attempts to explain why she needs Maou and Emilia’s help. We first hear about the issues via a term paper (no, really, that’s how it reads), and it helps us to understand why everyone is so wary of her – she’s been living on Earth, but is she just an angel in disguise, or is she actively trying to fit in and be human like the others? We eventually find out it’s the latter, and why she’s been so wary of taking anyone to her apartment, in a joke that you can see a mile away but is no less satisfying. It does, however, lead to the big reveal, which is that what Laila is asking will take forever, and some of the people involved are normal humans who will grow old and die. But Maou isn’t… and neither, it turns out, is Emilia, whose half-Angel background means she could live a lot longer than anticipated.

In the end, Maou tries to be nicer about it, but still hasn’t responded to Chiho’s resolve. He can’t keep avoiding it forever, and it’s not as if the answer is “I like Emilia instead”, as he doesnt. If anything, he’s in love with his work. Which is appropriate for this series. What happens next? Can’t wait to find out. Sure hope the next volume isn’t a collection of short stories or something.