Library Wars: Love & War Volume 2

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By Kiiro Yumi, based on the novel by Hiro Arikawa. Released in Japan as “Toshokan Sensou: Love & War” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Viz.

Usually when I review a new volume of a series I’ve already covered, I go back and read my last couple of reviews to make sure I don’t accidentally repeat myself. This was especially amusing for me as my review of Volume 1 of Love & War went on about how the series was not about the romance between Iku and Dojo, but about their futuristic world of censorship and military intrigue.

Ahahahaha. Sorry, I spoke too soon. Not that it’s a bad thing. This is a great, light and easy read, filled with lots of blushing looks and people insisting that their love is merely tremendous respect. But yes, I had forgotten why this series was created. It’s not to tell Library Wars all over again. One can assume fans of this series would be reading the light novels for that. It’s to tell the story filtered through the pages of LaLa magazine, which also features vampire romance, reverse harems, Class Presidents dressed as Maids, and whatever Natsume’s Book of Friends is. When you read a shoujo magazine, you want shoujo.

We do certainly get enough of it here. Not only is Iku dealing with the fact that Dojo seems to show a special interest in her, and why it makes her heart beat so fast, but now Tezuka, who was demanding Iku be discharged from the Library Forces only a chapter or so ago, is asking her out! What’s a girl to do? Luckily, Iku is in the classic mold of Hakusensha heroines, which means that she’s strong like an ox but idiotic in terms of love matters, so she doesn’t really have to do much except get progressively more frustrated that she can’t figure out what these guys want. She’s perfect for Dojo, really, who is doing the exact same thing, insisting that he’s only interested in her development as a soldier.

This is not to say that there is no political intrigue in this volume. In fact, I was surprised at how serious it got. Ripping stories from today’s headlines (despite apparently taking place at least 30 years in the future), the government is up in arms about a serial killer being caught who had a number of ‘questionable books’ in his bedroom. Naturally, the evil books made him kill people, so it’s time to ban them. Our heroes aren’t having any of that, though. We get our first big raid with Iku on the job, and she performs exactly as you’d expect – disobeying orders and going off on her own, but saving the day. (If this weren’t a fictional shoujo manga, she’d never have even made the squadron, but hey, I don’t want realism in my Library Wars.) We also get to see their big boss, the head librarian, stand up to the police and insist on the privacy of their borrowers. The manga definitely takes a stand against censorship full force.

I also can’t believe I haven’t mentioned Asako, Iku’s roommate, who spends this entire volume being amazing. She figures out who’s been stealing library books, she works out that the giant raid is just a fakeout, *and* she tries hard to get Iku and Dojo closer together. Even for ‘best friend of the heroine’ characters, she goes above and beyond. And she’s hot, too.

My favorite moment in the manga was one that combined the simmering romance with the intrigue, as Iku is enraged to discover that even among Library Forces, there are those who still think censoring ‘the bad titles’ is OK. She gets ready to go mouth off, but is stopped by Dojo, who once again reams her out for her uncontrollable temper. But then, continuing his growth from Volume 1, we see him note that her honesty and sense of justice are her strength. It’s a great line, and exactly what she needed to hear. When these two get together as a couple, they’ll be awesome.

Not that I expect that to happen anytime soon. The series is up to Volume 6 in Japan, and is still running monthly in LaLa. Assuming there is a romantic resolution, it probably won’t happen till the final chapters. Still, this remains a great read, combining frustrating romance with nice action scenes. The heroine may annoy some readers, in that her temper and inability to do things a soldier has to do can rankle, but that’s why she has Dojo there to make her shape up. Recommended.

Manga the week of 9/15

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It’s a pretty busy week at Midtown Comics. First of all, they’re getting in all the Viz the rest of us got this week. So I already covered a lot of it.

In the Viz that Diamond and Midtown are getting at the same time, we have a new Hayate the Combat Butler, a great silly comedy manga I enjoy. This may be the last pure silly volume of that, as 17 begins a very serious arc. I’m also very fond of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage, which pretty much delivers what its subtitle suggests. And there’s another volume of the light (somewhat too light) Takahashi comedy Rin-Ne.

Digital Manga Publishing has been quiet lately, but are making up for it with a giant pile of books, 13 in all. The majority are yaoi, which is mostly a genre I don’t follow as much, but even I’ve heard of Finder, one of the titles listed. They also have the 3rd volume of the classic shoujo manga Itazura Na Kiss, inspiration for approximately 80 billion other shoujo titles that came after it.

And Dark Horse has the 34th volume of Berserk, a title that we’ve discovered sells perpetually well. Which is good, as it subsidizes the awesome yet poor selling Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which celebrates its 11th volume by switching from beige to black covers. One of the best horror titles out there, with a wicked sense of humor and the legendary endnotes of Carl Horn. (Which sounds like a bad RPG quest. “Traverse the Mountains of Despair to get me the Endnotes of Carl Horn!”) Everyone should get this, even if you think you hate horror. It’s fantastic.

Oh My Goddess! Volume 15

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By Kosuke Fujishima. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

It’s interesting to go back and read these early volumes of Oh My Goddess, if only to see what hasn’t changed. The cast has graduated, and as a result has shrunk, but by this volume everyone was essentially in place, and Belldandy and Keiichi were firmly entrenched in their loving yet utterly chaste relationship. Likewise, Dark Horse has unflipped the art and put the TPB in the correct chapter order, but the translation is, I believe, still the same one from their old version. Not that there was much that needed to be changed – Studio Proteus are excellent.

The first part of this volume finished off the Queen Sayoko arc. I found this most interesting for Sayoko herself, who tries hard to be the villain of the whole thing but just isn’t nasty enough. This has been the case through the series, as she and her cousin Aoshima try to break up Bell and K1. She tries to do it through honest (mostly) means of seduction, though, wanting to lord it over Belldandy that she’s better rather than for any desire for Keiichi (though she does get why he’s a chick magnet). Aoshima, by contrast, tries to date rape Belldandy. Not in the same league. So in this volume, with Mara giving Sayoko powers over reality, Sayoko finds that ‘victory is boring’. After having Belldandy bow before her, clean the floors, tell stupid jokes… what more is there to do? She could tell her to break up with Keiichi, but she’s not going to use force or compulsion. I admire that in a villain. Of course, this is her final stand – she’s one of the cast who disappear once everyone graduates.

The second part of the volume features Keiichi’s sister Megumi, a favorite of mine for some time, and her race with the so-called “Queen of Nekomi Tech”, a female motorcycle rider who enjoys trouncing students who are late, or nearly late, for class. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a manga about motorcycles that happens to have some goddesses as supporting players, so these chapters are lovingly detailed bike porn. “You got *Showa* titanium shocks on the front and a *quantum* gas cart for the rear mono! *Brembo* magnesium racing brakes! Hey, is that swing arm magnesium too?” This chapter also gives us a change to see K1 and Bell riding as a motorcycle with sidecar team, and we see that this is basically what they replace sex with. They are so perfectly in sync that it’s mind-numbing, and get a beautiful double-page spread. In the end, the Queen surrenders and gives Megumi her title… which is ironic, as in OMG 35, the newest release over here, Megumi is finding that title leading to nothing but heartbreak.

The remainder of the volume deals with Skuld and her angel angst (she’s still pretty bratty here), as well as Urd’s own discomfort with her half-demon self (which will pretty much be a major plot point in many volumes to come). The final part has the dumbest premise (Belldandy, who can drink gallons of sake and not notice, gets drunk on Coca-Cola and goes around using her powers on everyone), but has the typical sweet romantic ending, where a creepy guy asking her to sleep with him, and she comes out of the drunk coma enough to note that she can’t as she’s in love with Keiichi. I go on a lot about how frustrating this couple is, and why they haven’t progressed. The frustration wouldn’t be there without these scenes that show what a fantastic love exists between the two of them, though. They’re both fairly idealized, but you just love seeing them in love.

Oh My Goddess has long been a success here, and recent sales figures courtesy Matt Blind at Rocket Bomber show that its sales are consistent and decent, even after 35 volumes and a complete reprint of 1-20 with unflipped art. That’s impressive, and reminds you that the series can still be worth it for fans, despite the frustrations.