Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 35

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By Kenjiro Hata. Released in Japan as “Hayate no Gotoku!” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by John Werry.

The revelation that Viz Media has licensed the newest manga by Kenjiro Hata, Tonikaku Kawaii (aka Fly Me to the Moon) for release this fall came as a big surprise to the huge number of Hayate the Combat Butler fans… OK, really, there’s just two of us now, but we were surprised! After all, Hata’s Hayate the Combat Butler still has about fifteen volumes left to release, but continues to come out at the “we won’t cancel it, but we hate you” two-volumes-per-year schedule. Fly Me to the Moon may begin and end while Hayate still coming out. Still, for those who do enjoy a new Hayate volume every spring and fall, this should give you something to sink your teeth into. It has a minimal amount of Nagi, which, let’s face it, is always a plus, and one we’ll get less and less of as Hayate barrels towards its conclusion. (I don’t hate Nagi, but she suffers from being less appealing than half the cast). Instead, Ruka is still ascendant.

I don’t think this is deliberate on Hata’s part, but as Hayate the Combat Butler rolled along, it ended up showing off a new “favorite girl” who everyone loved and was much better than Nagi… and then gradually forgetting about them till they became irrelevant. Hinagiku is the most obvious example – she may be on the cover here, but her days as lead girl are long gone, and Athena came along, stomped all over everyone else… and then became Alice, who is also barely in the plot. And now there’s Ruka, who was not as warmly welcomed by fans (who have long memories and probably guessed what would happen), but she gets the back half of this book as pure, almost serious romantic tension with Hayate, and does a very good job of it. Hinagiku does get a chapter or two here, but it’s in support of her sister Yukiji, who used to not only be cool, but play the guitar! Hinagiku is upset Yukiji abandoned her dream, Yukiji is there to remind readers dreams are not abandoned, just deferred. She promises to shape up. It likely won’t last, but is sweet to see.

Part of the problem of taking this seriously, of course, is that Hayate the Combat Butler is always first and foremost a fourth-wall breaking gag manga. Before it’s a romantic harem comedy. Before it’s a serious examination of childhood abuse and abandonment. Before it’s a supernatural action series. And the cast know it. One chapter in this volume has Risa being annoyed by the fact that she’s not “spoiled” by Hayate, and this leads into a discussion of Izumi, and the fact that her character type is inherently more popular (with both Hayate and, it’s inferred, readers). Despite what they say, it’s not just the panty flashes – it’s that Izumi blushing and helpless is funny Izumi. Also, frankly, Risa is a boke, and thus, like many of Hayate’s love interests, she’s been eclipsed by a new and better boke – Fumi, who gets her own completely ridiculous chapter. (Miki works best around Hinagiku, but since her sapphic side was revealed, has been around her less – not sure how deliberate that is).

In the end, Hata is happy to point out all the flaws in Hayate the Combat Butler directly in the text. This can be funny… and also intensely frustrating. Welcome to the experience of being a Hayate fan.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima, Vol. 2

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By Ikuto Yamashita. Released in Japan as “Shin Seiki Evangelion Anima” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Dengeki Hobby. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Nathan Collins. Adapted by Peter Adrian Behravesh.

It occurred to me as I was reading this second volume, and glancing at most of the color pages, that this was written to be serialized in Dengeki Hobby, a (now defunct) magazine devoted to fans of the plastic model kit. It therefore should come as no surprise to me that the book is a lot more concerned with the Evas and how they function than the inner workings of the actual cast. There are some moments where that’s not the case – Misato’s grief at Kaji’s fate here is well handled, as is her quick recovery, and Shinji’s raging grief in his attack near the end also rings true. But as I watched everything get worse and worse and worse, it occurred to me that the problem with this continuing on from the end of the original TV series is that there’s no way to back up and get much of what the start of the TV series had – fun. It’s a very interesting continuation, but it lacks joy.

Of course, there are very good reasons why fun is in short supply. This is an apocalypse narrative, continuing straight on from the first book, and there’s simply no time to settle down and have a penguin raiding your fridge. Shinji and Super Eva (I will never get used to that name) are trying to fight against a mind-controlled Hikari and her German Evangelion; Misato and Toji are trying to hold down the fort back at base, despite her getting kidnapped midway and his worrying about Hikari; the Reis are all dealing with the death of Cinq in various healthy and unhealthy ways, and Quatre is still a very troubled soul; Kaji stops Kensuke from putting on a possessed mask and losing his identity by… doing it first (yeah, I dunno either); we get the fabulous and somewhat bonkers adventures of Asuka… ON THE MOOOOOON!; and there are far, far more people turned into pillars of salt, to the point where you will get sick of the phrase.

Of these subplots, Asuka had my favorite, showing off a lot of smarts, gumption, and pure survival tactics. Despite this, she loses most of her hair and almost her existence; it takes Hikari and Shinji calling out to her to give her an identity again, and even then she’s… well, let’s leave that as a spoiler. Shinji, aside from his RAGE near the end, does not really get time to do much soul-searching as he’s constantly on the run and fighting; at one point he has Maya in his cockpit, and later on Rei Trois, but this Shinji is made of sterner stuff. Of course, he may have a few issues continuing on after the events in this book as well. And there is a LOT of apocalypse imagery – in addition to the pillars of salt, there’s ancient animals coming back to life and killing people, natural disasters killing people, the Lance of Longinus killing people… if you’re a resident of Earth in this book and aren’t part of the main cast, it doesn’t look good for you.

As I said, this book is quite interesting, and I do want to see what happens next – especially as they’re running out of disasters and we have three more books to go. But, as someone who never really cared about the giant robot battles in Evangelion, it can be a bit of a slog.

No Game No Life, Vol. 10

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By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Daniel Komen.

This volume begins with our heroes, [ ], having abdicated the throne (the country is now ruled by the business class, with Steph reduced to talking to potted plants – and Plum, who is about as helpful as one) and living life as sellers of medicine. In particular, their breast enhancer, although temporary, is quite popular. It also attracts the attention of the Dwarves, one of the few races we haven’t really dealt with yet, and they summon Sora and Shiro to their underground city to throw down. Fortunately, our heroes have a new dwarf ally, Tilvilg. Unfortunately, she lacks the natural genius ability that all dwarves have, and is somewhat beaten down that their answer to that seems to be “well, just keep trying anyway while we pity and belittle you”. Can Sora and Shiro show that her desire to see the sky is not merely a baseless fantasy? And, more importantly for the author, can they do it while throwing in so many references to boobs that the reader might throw up?

I will admit, when it comes to having your cake and eating it too, no one does it quite as well as Yuu Kamiya. This entire volume seems to be boob-obsessed, with both Chlammy (she and Fi are genuine allies in this book for once) and the dwarven leader Veig being particularly bad. And yet at the same time it goes out of its way to mock and belittle anyone who might have similar thoughts – Veig in particular dreams of the sort of pneumatic fantasy girl that only exists inside the head of virgins, something viciously pointed out by Sora. What’s more, his perverse behavior towards Tilvilg, which he brushes off as “I was drunk, it was a joke”, is noted to be “the top two excuses of male scum”. Kamiya fills his books with ludicrous and somewhat sickening fanservice… but also knows that’s all it is, and does not mistake it for anything else.

Steph does not have a large role in this book, but she is there, and her parts (as always) interested me the most. Once again, when asked to be a political thinker, she’s head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, and her confrontation with Emir-Einz, where she blackmails her into taking her to Sora and Shiro by threatening to disrupt the book’s fragile status quo, is brilliant. (It also shows that Steph is not as oblivious to her own feelings as it appears.) And, getting back to the book’s obsession with boobs once more, there’s a nice scene where Steph gets upset at the fact that Sora groped her when they first met, only for Jibril and Emir-Einz to call that “humblebragging”, pointing out to Steph that so far, of all the women in the entire series, Sora has only groped one by his own choice – her. The jealousy is searing.

In the end, of course, no one should be reading No Game No Life who is not already able to deal with its proclivities, and I’m not trying to say that they’re lessening – in fact, there was even more in this book. But the author is better at showing us the man behind the curtain, as we see that none of it really makes much of a difference in the end. This volume is about accepting your weaknesses, accepting that everyone is different, and going beyond the impossible. It’s also (not counting the unlicensed “Practical War Game” spinoff) the last book in the series to date, so we may have a while till we see Book 11.