Category Archives: reviews

I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse, Vol. 6

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By Namekojirushi and Nao Watanuki. Released in Japan as “Ore ga Heroine o Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Mokushiroku!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Adam Lensenmayer.

Despite the occasional attempt to tie things together between sections, this is what we always knew was coming in a series this large: a short story collection. The good thing about this is that everything takes place around Rekka’s school and neighborhood, so we get to relax a bit after the high stakes of the last volume. The bad thing, of course, is that low stakes events sometimes don’t equal high impact. The first story in this volume deals with Lea, the human-looking leviathan from Volume 2, and her attempts to actually hold down a job and earn money so she does not have to rely on “nice young men” buying her meals. Lea’s ‘clueless yet strong’ character is not really top tier among the heroines, and the addition of a terrible gay stereotype (which I was going to give a pass until he took the perverted customer into the back room for punishment – yes, the guy was a lech, but no. don’t do that) did not help matters. Thankfully, things pick up a bit after that.

Only two heroines on the cover and added to the pile (that’s a total of 15 now, if you’re counting), but both of them are solid additions. Little Apocalypse sometimes tends to forget it’s meant to be a parody, but it’s a bit better on that front this time around – Rekka has never been more clueless about the fact that all these girls are in love with him. Given that, if you’re going to add memorable new heroines you need to make them ‘types’ so they stand out. Thus we have the teasing, large-breasted literature club girl, Midori, who is thought to be a ghost but in reality is simply quiet and weird – except around Rekka, whom she loves to hug from behind because, well, did I mention the large breasts? Despite the stereotype, she’s a lot of fun – it makes you realize we never really had a ‘tease’ among the heroines till now, and it gives a nice dynamic. The other heroine is Momone, who is not only Student Council President but also a Shrine Maiden and Demon Hunter. Honestly, you could fit three heroines in that description, but she does it all herself. Her blunt forcefulness is also something new added to the heroine lineup.

Neither one of these girls needs saving by Rekka, as R notes – they aren’t “traditional” heroines the way the rest of the group has been, they’re more like Hibiki (who gets a short story at the end dealing with a vengeful ghost, which reads like an episode of Urusei Yatsura so much that I’m going to check my DVDs to see if they actually did that one). That said, it’s fairly clear by the end of the book that they both like Rekka just as much as the rest of them. The final story here is R reporting to her superiors on her progress, which is pretty much near zero. It does have R serving to remind us that this is technically HER story – the story of how she’s stopping the Apocalypse by going back in time and helping Rekka. Which so far seems to involve dragging him around then house as he sleeps so that she can watch TV late at night.

So overall a decent addition to the series, and these books are always so short that they’re a light, snack-like read as you wait for the next Arifuerta or something similar to come down the pike.

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 1

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By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. Released in Japan as “Yakusoku no Neverland” by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media. Translated by Satsuki Yamashita.

This review, out of necessity, talks about the first volume of The Promised Neverland. If you want to be unspoiled, go read it first.

Holy Mother of God. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a manga, particularly a Jump manga (which tend to be slow starters), make my jaw drop quite as much as The Promised Neverland did. Everything seemingly comes together in this. The art style fits with the writer perfectly, there are many, many page turn reveals and amazing facial expressions. The three leads are likeable, whip-smart and yet not perfect, and you really, really want them to win out. There’s also a love of friendships and family that I will always adore when it’s handled this well. And yes, let’s just get it out of the way, there is some amazing horrific stuff here, with most of the book being a tense, nail-biting thriller but occasionally dipping its toe very effectively into pure horror. The Promised Neverland is RIVETING.

The cover and first couple of pages might lead you to believe that we’re going to be seeing some sort of warm, fluffy, Anne of Green Gables style story. We meet Emma and get her POV of the orphanage she’s spent most of her life in. Sure, the title page may look a little grim and ominous, but let’s disregard it for now as she seems so happy! Emma is one of the oldest in the orphanage, and along with her best friends Norman and Ray she spends the day herding the younger kids, having immense amounts of fun, and taking the DAILY TEST, the first of those page-turning reveals I mentioned above. At this point, the reader knows something grim is coming. Still, it’s not until we hear that one of the youngest kids is leaving that day that we think “uh oh”. And sure enough, soon we’re up to our neck in mysteries, from “what’s outside the orphanage?” to “why did that happen to Conny?” to “why are we still here even though we’re all 11 years old?”. Now Emma, Norman and Ray have to outsmart the adults – something easier said than done.

I feel like going on and on about the things I loved in this. Ray’s cynical intelligence and Emma’s boundless emotional enthusiasm are balanced nicely in the middle by Norman, and honestly I’m glad Emma is not beaten down by this (yet), as without her the title would be even grimmer than it already is. I also love the fact that Emma refuses to simply try to run away with just Ray and Norman – she absolutely won’t save herself at the expense of all the younger orphans. Again, there are some nice themes of family throughout this volume, and I appreciate that Emma’s viewpoint was allowed to carry the day. We hear that the three kids are incredibly intelligent, and see this displayed throughout the book… except they’re also outsmarted quite a bit by adults with more experience than they have.

Flaws? Well, Krone skirts the edge of being a racial stereotype, but part of that may be simply due to the fact that she’s meant to be a villain, and honestly compared to some other ways Jump has treated black people I’m willing to let it pass for now, especially as I enjoyed the way the cast is multiethnic. Mostly, though, The Promised Neverland hits it out of the park. I want it to be February already so that I can read more. Highly recommended (unless you really hate horror-based stories – it’s pretty damn dark, trust me).

your name. Another Side: Earthbound

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By Arata Kanoh, Makoto Shinkai and Hiyori Ashikawa. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Taylor Engel.

your name was an astonishingly popular movie (and I assume did OK as a novel), so it’s no surprise that there would be a desire to see more of the world. It’s also no surprise that any side stories are not going to be written by Makoto Shinkai, who has no doubt already moved on to his next great work. Instead, this collection is by Arata Kanoh, who has done this sort of thing before – he has a 5 Centimeters Per second novel out in Japan, and seems to specialize in these sorts of books. What we get here is a collection of four short stories set in the world of your name (all on the Mitsuha side of the swap – sorry, Tokyo, no one cares about your end) and expanding on the points of view of three of the side characters (in case you’re wondering, the first story is more about Taki being not very Mitsuha-ish and making people “see another side” of her with his threatening bullies and doing Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal dances while in her body). As with many side story collections, it’s a mixed bag.

The second story focuses on Teshigawara, one of Mitsuha’s friends, and his POV on what’s been going on. One of the running gags through this volume is how horrible Taki and Mitsuha are at this bodyswapping, as absolutely everyone can see something is going on but can’t figure out what. It’s put down to stress, or possession by a fox spirit, etc. We get a few of the scenes in the original novel on his end, and see his frustration at the two girls talking about leaving this dead-end village when they graduate. He’s in a family business, expected to take it over, and rather frustrated about the whole thing, and therefore hearing them going on about how boring it is there is making his teeth grind.

The best story in the collection deals with Yotsuha, Mitsuha’s younger sister who spent most of the original novel staring suspiciously at her sister groping herself. Again, she knows something’s up with her sister, but can’t quite pin it down, and is casting around for reasons for the personality change. It’s a good look at events from the persopective of a 10 to 11-year-old tomboy, and we see the love that Yotsuha has for her sister, even if it doesn’t necessarily come out the way she wants. She also gets to experience what Mitsuha’s going through in another, more mystical way.

The final story was my least favorite, though that’s not the fault of the book – I just can’t bring myself to like Toshiki, Mitsuha’s father, and this story is an effort to give us backstory and show us how he turned into such an ass, as well as expand on Mitsuha’s mother. It didn’t help that we get a terrifying amount of cultural history regarding the past of the village’s rituals and how it got wiped out, which is meant to be interesting but I found a bit exhausting. I’m not sure I buy the “perhaps it was fate’s plan that I turn into a jerk and become Mayor” idea either.

That said, if you enjoyed your name, this is a pretty good followup to it. It’s not essential, but allows you to enter into that world one more time, which is just the sort of thing some readers love.