Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey, Vol. 1

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By Akiko Higashimura. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Cocohana. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jenny McKeon. Adapted by Ysabet MacFarlane.

The works of Akiko Higashimura have gotten incredibly popular in North America over the last few years, and of course in Japan she’s a top josei artist. Everyone knows Princess Jellyfish, and Tokyo Tatareba Girls is at least a cult hit. So it’s great to see a publisher pick up her autobiographical tale of how she became the artist she is today. And, as with many Japanese manga biographies, the story is filtered through telling us what a mess she was in high school, and how attempts to praise everything she did led her to have an inflated sense of herself. No one wants to read the story without struggle, after all. So Akiko has terrible grades, to the point where she can’t even pass the makeup tests. This wouldn’t bother her, because she thinks she can cruise into art school… but then she finds out just how far she has to go.

While other characters drift through here and there, mostly this is a story of three people. Akiko is the hapless art student with an immense ego; Futami is her best friend who, even in high school, has perfected the jaded seen-it-all snarker; and Kenzou-sensei is their art teacher, who teaches out in the middle of nowhere, seems to be constantly shouting and screaming, and hits his students with a kendo sword when they do things wrong – which is all the time. Akiko is absolutely horrified at this, but, after a brief attempt at giving up, keeps returning to the school. And it’s a good thing, too, as college is going to be rough. She doesn’t get a recommendation. She fails the Tokyo school that was her first choice. Is she really going to be able to realize her dream of being a shoujo manga artist?

Three’s a fun feel to this volume, even as you’re watching Akiko careen down her career path, hitting obstacles all along the way. I especially liked when she started to buy the “shady” test guides to help her study, the ones that teach you how to take tests rather than what’s actually on the test… and they helped her immensely, as that’s exactly the sort of learning she needed. As for Kenzou-sensei, he’s handled perfectly, with his seemingly violent nature balanced out by hidden (and not so hidden) acts of compassion. He’s clearly talented, and we see his “draw the same thing over and over and over till you have it memorized” teaching does start to have an effect on Akiko’s work. If there’s one thing that makes me wary, it’s that the narrative is making it thuddingly clear that this manga is going to end with his death; almost every chapter has a wistful, longing ending to it that kept making me think “OK, when’s he gonna die?”. Not at the end of this volume, and it’s five volumes long, so probably not for a while. But there’s an ominous feel to the whole thing.

If you’re interested in this author’s works, or just like seeing people struggling to make it, this is a great book to get. I’m definitely going to be reading more.

Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: Axis Church vs. Eris Church

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By Natsume Akatsuki and Kurone Mishima. Released in Japan as “Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

I was expecting more comedy this time around, and I was right. There are lots of very funny moments in this volume, sure to please the fan of KonOSuba. Chris’ secret is now known, but that doesn’t mean that she and Kazuma are not playing Robin Hood on the sly, burgling evil noble estates in order to acquire sentient armor that proves to be far more trouble than it’s worth. Meanwhile, the Eris Festival is upon us, and a jealous Aqua wants to have a festival dedicated to her as well. The result is the subtitle, a parody of Pokemon Red vs. Blue, in which the traditional religious festival gets turned (mostly thanks to Kazuma) into more of a giant blowout, complete with food stalls, beauty contests, and giant killer cicadas. However, just because it’s a full-blown comedy does not mean we can’t have character development.

It feels odd to be talking about character development in a series like KonoSuba, but it’s true. Megumin has come a long way from the start of the series, and despite the occasional explosion has become the most sensible of the group (Kazuma forfeits this title enough that you can’t use it for him anymore). Meanwhile, Darkness, after the events of the last volume, is acting Governor of their town, and is thus drowning in responsibilities (including having to police Kazuma and Aqua). The gag here is that, for a moment, you think the same thing might be happening with Aqua, who spends much of the book actually being sensible and responsible. But of course it can’t last – Megumin and Darkness have room built into their characters for growth, but Aqua’s “useless goddess” properties are much harder to move on from. She’s too funny not to keep it up.

And then there’s the love triangle. It’s clear from this book that both Megumin and Darkness have come to terms with their love for Kazuma and want to take things to the next level. It’s also clear that Kazuma knows this… the question is whether he’s too immature to actually be able to take their feelings seriously, as he brags to Chris about harem ends and the like. Of course, his words are bravado for the most part, and by the end of the book, where the cliffhanger seems to imply Megumin wants to confess properly, he seems almost terrified. I do wonder if a series like KonoSuba can bake an actual relationship into its premise. Can Kazuma answer either Megumin or Darkness properly, or will there be wacky comedy confessions and then back to the status quo? As for “harem” ends, the series thankfully still seems to be avoiding that sort of thing… Chris/Eris’ relationship with Kazuma is not the “bratty siblings” that he and Aqua have, but it doesn’t feel romantic, which is a good thing.

For all the romantic potential, at the end of the day KonoSuba still runs on its comedy, and there’s lots of that here. Fans of the series will get a kick out of this book.

Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy, Vol. 1

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By Hayaken and Hika Akita. Released in Japan by Hobby Japan. Released in North America by Sol Press. Translated by Benjamin Daughety.

I have lost track of the number of times, in writing reviews of light novels, that I have said “I’m not a gamer, but…”. So many LNs these days are built about RPG builds, RPG worlds, RPG fights, and the like. Most of them try to make at least a token effort towards appealing to non-gamer fans. Sometimes, like with stat-heavy series like Reincarnated As a Slime or Spider So What, it’s a very token effort. But we may have run across a series that I think is impossible to read if you aren’t very familiar with gaming. While reading this first volume, pages and pages of text went by with my staring at my phone and blinking. “What the hell?”, I would say, as the heroes would go on about tanks and getting your HP to the right level to trigger some event or attack. Far from the first volume of a light novel, this feels like a group just took their RPG log and put it on the page. And not even the main log. This would be the side log with all the chatter.

Our hero is Ren, who’s just arrived at a virtual high school that is entirely devoted to teaching game-obsessed students through the medium. Ren is already somewhat well-known for picking the lamest, weakest class in any game and finding ways to make it awesome. He’s done that here as well, as he’s a Symbologist, which has awful attack abilities and the support isn’t great either. He’s here because he promised his gaming pal Akira they’d go to high school together. But when they finally arrive, he’s startled to find that Akira, who played as a buff, burly dude, is actually a cute, busty girl! Together with her, the class president-ish Maeda, and extroverted “gal” Yuuna, they are here to level up, take out bosses, and also take classes when they have the time.

The series is… not without its good points. I was pleased to see that after the initial “Eeeeeeeh, Akira’s a girl?” reaction, Ren and Akira settled quickly into their old friendship (though he is not above taking advantage of her assets – he asks her to take the Sword Dancer class, which most girl gamers avoid as the costume is skimpy) and there’s no tension or fighting between them. When the four main characters aren’t gaming, the dialogue can be amusing and fun. Ren likes the female form, but does not openly perv on his companions or fall into them the way a typical shonen protagonist might. But man, 85% of this book is lines like “this class combines offensive and healing magic, but right now she can’t hit multiple enemies, and doesn’t have area-of-effect healing…” and I start to flip pages till I get to something actually happening.

If you’re a gamer who reads LNs, this is right up your alley, and the premise may interest you more than it does me. As for me, I liked the characters, but as long as they’re debuffing their hit points with MP sword equips, I think I’m going to have to pass.