Category Archives: reviews

True Tenchi Muyo!: Jurai

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By Yousuke Kuroda and Masaki Kajishima. Released in Japan as “Shin Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-o-ki” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Lillian Olsen. Adapted by AstroNerdBoy.

There have been a lot of things licensed and brought out in North America that surprised me, but honestly, “spinoff light novels for a series that hasn’t really been popular here since about 2002” takes the cake. To be fair, when Tenchi was big here it was VERY big. Along with Ranma 1/2 and Oh My Goddess!, Tenchi Muyo was one of the gateway anime for many fans, and also received one of the better known dubs out there. In Japan, it’s remained as popular as ever, with multiple animes, infinite doujinshi by the creators, and spinoffs galore. A lot of those have come out here as well, but it would not be exaggerating to say that Tenchi’s time was thought to be past. Enter Seven Seas, who have now licensed three volumes of a spinoff novel series that fills in important backstory for the OAV series. And this is definitely based on the OAVs, so don’t expect Kiyone here. Indeed, most of the main cast are relegated to cameos or smaller roles, as this book focuses on Ayeka and Sasami’s father, Azusa.

Yes, that’s Ryoko on the cover, and she does have a small role in this book, but she’s still basically Kagato’s puppet at this point. The main thrust of the book is seeing Azusa’s youth, as well as how he ended up married to Funaho and Masaki. To my relief, Azusa as overprotective Dad from hell is reserved for the prologue, showing yet another fiancee coming down to battle Tenchi only to be taken out by the force of nature that is Mihoshi’s luck. We then flash back to scenes of his youth, which range from seeing him growing up and being taken to Jurai by Masaki’s mother Seto (who really deserves a book or two to herself, frankly) to having the traditional tragic teenage romance, and finally ending up near Earth while chasing pirates – of course, this is Earth around 1250 CE, so there’s a lot less fish out of water antics than you’d expect – and dealing with the aftermath of telling Jurai that he’s not only marrying an offworlder but she’s going to be First Empress.

As I said, Azusa is serious-minded here and has flashes of temper, but is far more likeable and tolerable than the guy we see in the OAVs who exists to get pushed around by his wives and daughters. It’s also nice to see a less stoic “yamato nadesico” and more teenage Funaho. And, as I alluded to above, Seto makes a great mentor, and I definitely want to see more of her. The narrative is mostly straightforward, though I could have done without the annoying intrusive narrative voice name checking events in the Tenchi timeline – “little did they know this was their fated first meeting”, etc. This is especially annoying in one aside regarding Azusa’s second wife Masaki, which spoils a bit too much a future event that I was unaware of. That said, these books are clearly for Tenchi fanatics, and as such I can’t really be too grumpy about it.

Obviously, if you are a newbie to the Tenchi universe, this is a terrible introduction. Go watch the first two anime OAV series. But for those who are still fans, or people like me who hadn’t thought about it in years but still have fond memories, this book is a lot of fun. Plus it’s pretty short, so likely you can knock it back in an afternoon.

Harukana Receive, Vol. 1

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By Nyoijizai. Released in Japan by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Forward. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by David Musto and Amanda Haley. Adapted by Claudie Summers.

Sometimes when you see a new title, you’re never quite sure what it’s going to be. Harukana Receive in particular could slot into any number of categories. First and foremost, it’s a sports manga, with lots of beach volleyball advice and analysis, and the typical sports manga tropes, such as the newcomer with promising talent and the person who quit and has to be coaxed back. There’s also a healthy amount of fanservice, which honestly is to be expected in a title about beach volleyball, thoguh the service does not appear to be very skeezy. Most importantly, though, it’s a Kirara title, so we see a group of two girls meet up with another group of two girls, and they have discusssions and do things. In this case, the thing they do is beach volleyball. Which, of course, gets back to: this is a sports manga.

Haruka is a tall girl who’s recently moved to Okinawa to live with her cousin Kanata, who is… not tall. They are, as you may have gathered, the ‘Harukana’ of the title. Okinawa has beaches, and beaches means beach volleyball. Haruka immediately runs into two players, Narumi and Ayasa, and finds herself fascinated by the game. That said, beach volleyball is not regular colleyball. What’s more, Kanata seems strangely torn about participating in a game, and seems to have a past with Narumi. Can Haruka’s bright sunny attitude and innate talent (and height) help to bring everyone together? If you don’t know the answer to this, you haven’t been reading manga very much. Then, when Haruka finally goes to her new school, she runs into two sisters who also play the sport, despite the fact that, by definition, beach volleyball means running around in bathing suits. How embarrassing!

You can definitely tell that Harukana Receive is on the sports end of the seesaw rather than the service end because of the large amount of advice and instruction given about beach volleyball within its pages. From learning that the court is smaller to the ball not being fully inflated, Haruka has to take in a lot in a short period. Kanata, meanwhile, is dealing with an issue that might be familiar to Haikyu!! readers: she’s not tall enough, which is what led to her breakup with Narumi and her dropping of volleyball in the first place. Fortunately, she and Haruka seem to mesh well together. (I say breakup, but honestly if there is yuri in this title it’s so subtle as to be near nonexistent.)

This is a cute title, and it has an anime coming out in a week or so. I’d say fans of shonen sports manga would get the most out of it – if these were guys, it would fit right into Weekly shonen Jump. But since it’s a group of girls, it pretty much fits right into Manga Time Kirara. I’m definitely interested in more.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu

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By Fujino Omori and NIRITSU. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

Given that the DanMachi series has, of late, been getting pretty dark, and even Sword Oratoria is going to some dark places when it’s not busy showing Lefiya being jealous, the average reader would not have been surprised to see this new spinoff, focusing on Lyu Leon, to be a description of her tragic past and the horrible deaths of everyone she knew and loved. Fortunately, we don’t get that. While Lyu’s past certainly affects her throughout this book, and the second half delves into the immediate aftermath of her revenge, this is an altogether more lighthearted affair. A tale told in two parts, the first half deals with Lyu and Syr disguising themselves and entering a fabulous casino to try to rescue a young woman gambled away by her father. The second story, as I hinted, deals with how Lyu ended up working at the Benevolent Mistress, as well as giving some backstory for two of the other waitresses. It’s a breezy, fun read.

The first story was my favorite, because come on, CASINO CAPER! Lyu and Syr listen to some schmuck of a dad’s story about his gambling addiction and how he ended up losing his daughter. Because Lyu burns with a sense of righteousness despite herself, she decides to rescue the girl. Because Syr is Syr, she tags along as well. Actually, Syr gets the most awesome moments of the story. I suspect the author had heard about the fan rumors that Syr was secretly Freya in disguise, and while not quite true, Syr certainly has a strong connection to Freya, and seeing her destroy the denizens of the casino in poker is worth the price of the entire book. We also get to see Lyu’s attempt to adopt a cool billionaire disguise, and how quickly it falls by the wayside as soon as she sees something that invokes her fury.

As for the other story, because it’s dealing with the tragic backstories of not only Lyu, who is found by Syr near death after finishing up her revenge against those who slaughtered her Familia, but also two of the other waitresses, Runoa and Chloe, who turn out to have been teenage bounty hunters/assassins in their youth. Both are ready to call it quits, but there’s one last job that has to be done: killing Lyu on behalf of the mysterious group paying them. The moment that you see they’re going to try to do this at the pub late at night, you know you’re in for some fun fights, amazing property damage, and seeing Mia go off on everyone present. Mia, like Syr, is tied in to the Freya family (you get the feeling they started the pub with just the two of them), and the pub itself seems more like a “home for wayward girls” after this story.

For those wondering if this is a Bell-free book, nope, he shows up in the casino, and plays a small role in the chaos that follows. But for the most part this book does exactly what it set out to do: expand on Lyu’s character and have a really good time. I’d like to see more in the series focusing on other supporting characters some day.