Silver Spoon, Vol. 13

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

There’s always a careful balancing act that an author has to keep up when writing a character whose failures are hilarious. On the one hand, you can’t overegg the pudding – you need to contrast this hilarity with moments where they actually succeed. If done right, this can be extremely heartwarming. The first half of the manga deals with the equestrian competition, with Hachiken actually competing this time, and his “slow, steady and have fun” approach actually does pretty well, especially as it allows Mikage to dazzle. And of course the beauty of it is that it sets things up for the much larger stage where Hachiken again competes… and fails so badly that it turns into 20 pages of “lol”. You feel bad for him, but thinking as an author, the reason for this is obvious: Hachiken when he’s suffering is very, very funny. What’s more, there’s been less and less of that as he’s matured, so it’s nice to see he can still be a national laughingstock when appropriate.

Speaking of which, Hachiken, in his despair after doing so badly, wonders if Mikage won’t love him as he’s bad at horse racing. This is a callback to earlier in the book, when Mikage smiles as she recalls him saying he’ll ask her out after she passes her exams… then realizes that might mean if she fails, he won’t ask her out! Does he hate “stupid” girls? Now that the two of them have made it clear how they feel about each other, all that’s left is to actually get together. But it’s not as simple as that – they have goals to achieve first, Mikage’s father is watching Hachiken like a hawk, and his own father just seems to get in the way of any romantic resolution. What’s more, as the above jokes indicate, the two of them are still too insecure for a strong romantic relationship to happen. Mikage doesn’t need to pass her exams to date Hachiken – but it certainly would help her see herself as a success.

Elsewhere in the book, it’s pigs and pizza once again. I like the idea that the head of the school is willing to go the extra mile for these kids provided they can actually justify it as learning things and being educational. As a result – more pizza ovens! Which leads to a good competition where they try out various kinds of three-cheese pizza to see which one proves the most popular. Likewise, even in the midst of despair at his equestrian performance, he’s still able to do some pig research while in a different area of Japan (sadly, he finds that the pigs raised there would not do well in the northern climes of his school.) And, for once, there’s not even any long series of chapters devoted to butchering and slaughtering animals, so even the squeamish can enjoy this one.

We’re nearing the finish line for Silver Spoon, and I expect the next volume to mostly be about Mikage passing (or not) her exams. Will that also lead to romance? God, I hope so. I feel like Sakae – Just do it already!

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 9

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By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

As this series has gone on and become a reasonable success, the author has sensibly decided to widen its brief. As such, the “will they actually do anything?” parts get smaller and less relevant as time goes on. This is not to say that they’re absent, however, and we do get possibly the funniest moment in this volume when Zagan thinks that he and Nephy are literally cursed to never get closer to each other rather than, as everyone else around them can see, just being two socially awkward dorks in love. Still, at least the two of them share a honeymoon suite. That’s progress? And they sleep in each other’s arms, and call each other (as they are under cover) as “honey” and “dear”. But yeah, that’s all you’re going to get. Honestly, even Chastille and Barbatos make more progress in this book than Zagan and Nephy, who are adorable but really should grow up the teensiest bit. That said, they’re ahead of Shax, Mr. “I had your underwear in my pocket for a reason”.

The main thrust of the plot sees everyone converging on the Holy City for various reasons. That’s where Azazel’s Staff is, which is highly important to every single faction in the series. So we get the Angelic Knights, who don’t know much about it but know it should not fall into the wrong hands; Bifrons and Shere Khan, who have sent two minions to destroy the holy treasure room to get it; and Zagan and Nephy, who are actually there to try to find Orias, who might be able to help her cure Kuroka’s blindness, but end up looking for the staff as well. As you might imagine, there’s a lot of fighting towards the end of the book, mostly involving everyone attacking Zagan and his mopping the floor with them. That said, in the final battle against one of the stronger Angelic Knights, he has to use martial arts, rather than sorcery, to win. He regards this as a loss. Everyone else thinks he’s simply ridiculously overpowered.

It is amusing to see how many of the characters are leading double lives. There’s a traitor among the Angelic Knights, and you might briefly be worried for Chastille, but everyone agrees her alliance with Zagan is far too open and honest; she’s not tricky enough to be the real traitor. Then there’s Michael, who is secretly an Archdemon, but is also not the actual traitor. We also continue to get more insight on Alshiera, who continues to stay true to the course of “blond underage vampire mistress” in modern Japanese works, i.e. she’s pretending to be an irredeemable bad guy but really fits the caring mentor role better. And props to Foll, who is growing powerful enough to take on Bifrons and deal him actual damage. Our little dragon girl is growing up.

We’ve now caught up with Japan, as the 10th volume came out there two weeks ago, so it might be a bit till we get it here. Till then, though, this is a good, solid entry in the series, provided you don’t care that Zagan and Nephy are the most awkward couple ever – still.

Toradora!, Vol. 9

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By Yuyuko Takemiya and Yasu. Released in Japan by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jan Cash & Vincent Castaneda. Adapted by Will Holcomb.

The character arc of Toradora! as a whole has generally been each of the characters trying to save each other from jumping off a cliff by jumping off the same cliff first, and that reaches a crescendo here, in a volume that might as well be called “Toradora!: Everyone Hates Themselves SO MUCH”. Ryuuji is the poster child here, of course, shouting into the void that no one will let him sacrifice his life and future. To be fair, he has very real concerns. His family are indeed poor, and his mother, despite being a comedy character for almost the entire series to date, is working herself sick so that he can have a better life. But his solution in the course of “realistic ideas” is stubborn, petulant and bad, and you want to strangle him. Things are not helped by Taiga being absent from the first part of the book, dealing with her own drama, which doesn’t become apparent till the climax. Hell, even Ami is super angsty here. Everyone wants to run away.

We’re back at school after the events of the last volume, but everything is not back to normal, no matter how much Ryuuji tries to make it happen. He’s having nightmares about Taiga dying at the ski slopes… while in class. The class is sympathetic, but this is a far cry from the Ryuuji of the start of the series. His main concern is the career survey he hasn’t turned in, though: he’s determined to get a job so that his mother can take it easy, and he might do college later. His mother is adamant that no, he will be doing college, even if she has to work a second job to earn more money. Taiga does eventually show up, having recovered from a head wound she got from her fall, but she too is reluctant to complete the career survey, and, when it’s eventually revealed that it was Ryuuji who saved her and heard her confession, shows she’s just as unable to deal with the fallout. The book ends with the two, confronted by their mothers, literally running away from everything.

As for the supporting cast, aside from one of Those Two Guys showing off he’s had a girlfriend all this time (which reads as somewhat out of nowhere), it’s all about Ami and Minori. Ami is almost as bad as our two leads in the “why am I so terrible?” sweepstakes, bemoaning that she let things like friendship stop her from transferring out like she planned to earlier in the year… and is now planning to do again, without confessing to Ryuuji or patching things up with Minori. As for Minori, she admits (in an extended rant while chasing Taiga) that she’s loved Ryuuji all this time, but that’s no excuse for Taiga to sacrifice everything for her. In fact, that’s the theme of the whole book: Self-sacrifice for the sake of others is painful and dumb.

The next book is the last in the main series (there are three side-story novels as well, but I wouldn’t hold my breath), and I’ve no doubt things will eventually work out. For now, though, enjoy everyone being very, very sad and flagellating themselves.