Category Archives: reviews

Eromanga-sensei, Vol. 1

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By Tsukasa Fushimi, rin, and Kanzakihiro. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. Translated by Dinky Spatz.

I’m pretty sure most of my regular readers are surprised to see me reviewing this title at all. I do try to give most Vol. 1s a chance, but let’s face it, this is by the author of OreImo, which reminded fans that yes, incest ships CAN sometimes piss off a fanbase. It features another brother/sister romance combo, only they’re stepsiblings so it’s “safer”… but they’re also far younger. There’s an obnoxious princess-type rival, also very young. If I’m going to be honest, my favorite character in the first volume is the editor, and that’s half because she resembled Bazett from Fate. And of course the final indignity, I have to type “Translated by Dinky Spatz” with a straight face. Even the pseudonyms are mocking me. Now, with all of that said… if this IS your sort of thing, I see nothing wrong with reading it aside from the occasional “Christ, how old are they?”. It does its job.

The premise has a young high school writer, Masamune, trying to deal with the fact that his stepsister Sagiri hasn’t left her room in about a year. He brings her food and attempts to get her to leave the room, but no dice. He’s also dealing with the fact that he recently ended his light novel series and has to start another one, despite mediocre sales and a 4-chan style board that is tearing him apart. In fact, it turns out that the instigator of the online abuse is none other than his illustrator, who goes by the name Eromanga-sensei. I will now pause to see if the reader can guess the stunning plot twist. (pauses, sips tea) Yes, that’s right, the illustrator is none other than his shut-in sister. After discovering this, he slowly attempts to break her out of her shell, and she starts to open up to him, though her heavy tsundere personality is not really helping. Can he get her to school? Can he establish a familial bond. Or… something more?

Please God, not something more, though I know I’m likely fighting a losing battle there. In any case, I was not entirely grumpy. Masamune’s approach to getting Sagiri out of her room is respectful and subtle, and he seems a lot more “with it” than most protagonists of this sort. Nor does he have an immediately obvious little girl/little sister fetish, which is sadly refreshing in this genre. The classmate of Sagiri’s who goes to the house to try to get her into school takes a refuge in audacity that made me laugh in a horrible sort of way, and her solution on how to get Sagiri out of her room was dead on. And the ojou rival girl is also over the top in an amusing way, and I liked the way not-Bazett shut her down and threw her out when she grew too arrogant.

This is based on a light novel series, which mercifully is not licensed here. I think it may work better in manga format anyway. There is an audience for this sort of title, and if you are that audience, or enjoyed OreImo, then this is definitely a title worth picking up. It just hit all the wrong buttons for me.

Strike the Blood, Vol. 10

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By Gakuto Mikumo and Manyako. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jeremiah Bourque.

I debated copying and pasting the start of my review of the 9th volume of Strike the Blood into this one, because the verses and chorus are the same. We get a new girl in peril, this time a Latin American girl (or the Strike the Blood equivalent) who is the titular Bride of the Dark God, and who gets mailed to Kojou in a suitcase to keep safe. She’s abusive and rude to Koujo, but gradually warms up to him after he keeps trying to save her life. Meanwhile, we get a new girl added to the “help Kojou summon a new Beast Vassal and regenerate to 100% health” rack, as Kanon (and Astarte, for added erotic appeal) allows him to drink her blood. And he and Yukina spend the entire book avowing that they aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, while acting exactly like a couple would. There are no surprises, there is no ambition. It’s a predictable story, well told.

The cast is starting to get a little large and unwieldy, and so we winnow it down a bit for this book. Kojou and Nagisa’s dad takes Nagisa off for a shrine visit for the duration of the book, and Sayaka doesn’t even get mentioned, much less make an appearance. As for Asagi, who can’t actually leave the island, she ends up being locked in the computer room for her own safety, much to her annoyance. This allows Kanon and Astarte, who had not really done much at all lately, to make more of an impact. And then there’s Vattler, who sparks the plot here but doesn’t really show up till almost 2/3 of the way through the book. You get the sense he’s trying to be a trickster mentor to Kojou, putting him in life-or-death situations so that he can finally come into his own as the Fourth Primogenitor.

There’s also Celesta, the new girl I mentioned above. Her fury towards Kojou has a bit of the “Latin Spitfire” cliche to it, but she’s also the weak point of the book, as she’s a normal girl, so mostly exists to get into peril. Unlike a lot of the other heroines we’ve met in previous books, I’m not sure if we’ll actually end up seeing her again. Her peril does lead to some well-choreographed fights, though, and I expect that when this was animated it turned out quite well, given (as I’ve also said before) this reads like an anime novelization. She also resonates with Yukina in the “call Kojou a pervert” running gags, which are as tiresome as ever – I wouldn’t even mind the standard shonen jealous girl stuff if it were done well, but it’s tedious. The author is much better at drama than comedy, as most authors are.

So, in the end, Strike the Blood 10 doesn’t bring much new to the table. It’s a book to read if you’ve read the previous nine. But if you’ve read the previous nine, you won’t be too disappointed.

After the Rain, Vol. 1

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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.

In general, when reviewing manga that involves a relationship between a young girl and a much older guy, I have been pretty wary. This is because for the most part it’s either had the older guy be a replacement father who ends up with his adopted daughter, a trope I can’t stand, or the guy exists in a position of power over her, such as the classic student/teacher romances that litter shoujo manga. But After the Rain’s restaurant manager and waitress is not all that big of a power imbalance. In addition, the discomfort involved in such a relationship seems to be the point with this series – Masami is well aware that Akira is still only 17 years old, and that he is 45. What’s more, the audience sees that Akira is desperately searching for a purpose in life after an injury forced her to quit sports. Is this romance just a passing thing?

I’d mentioned that Akira’s face on the cover reminded me a lot of School Rumble’s Yakumo. It gets even worse when I read the series itself, as Masami is a very close match to Captain Goto from Patlabor. It feels a but like I’m reading someone’s AU crossover fanfic. That said, behind the character designs is some very pretty art and deft panel work, and you can see why this title won awards when it was coming out in Japan. Akira starts off dealing with her crush and trying to hide it, but resolves herself to confessing fairly quickly – especially for a series like this. That leaves the latter half of this omnibus for us to see how Masami (entirely referred to as “Boss” throughout by Akira, in case you wanted the power imbalance shoved in your face) deals with it – as he is very well aware what the world would think. That said, he’s not exactly unattracted to Akura either.

The audience is helped by Akira’s other romantic options, which range from pathetic (her hopeless male classmate) to loathsome (the playboy chef, who blackmails her into going on a date with him, smugly creeps on her throughout fully knowing she dislikes it, and straight up says that he feels that her love for the manager is not going to work out. The fact that he’s likely right about the last one is particularly galling, and nicely sets up the audience to root for the couple despite the age difference – we want them to prove this smug ass wrong. Unfortunately, I really don’t think Akira is in a position where romance is good for her right now. A scene where she sees her track friends running and having fun, and flees in raw shame and self-hatred when they try to resume their friendship – shows she’s in a very delicate place now. I think Masami knows this – so what does he plan to do about it?

We’ve got four more omnibuses to go, so I think the drama will play out for a while to come. What’s more, this apparently was made into an anime at some point, so I think most readers are well ahead of me in knowing what happens. Still, this was good solid seinen drama, deftly handling an uncomfortable subject. I want to see what happens next.