Shojo Fight!, Vol. 1

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By Yoko Nihonbashi. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Evening. Released in North America digitally by Kodansha Comics. Translated by Rose Padgett.

One of the benefits of the wave of digital-only titles we’re seeing in 2017 is the glut of a genre that was almost invisible until a few years ago – sports manga. Kodansha in particular has been pouring out titles devoted to soccer, baseball, soccer, rugby, soccer… and now we have women’s volleyball, with the emotionally gripping Shojo Fight!. You’d expect, given that all the male-oriented soccer manga run in either shonen or seinen magazines, that this might be a shoujo title. The title might also make you think that. But no, this runs in Kodansha’s Evening magazine, a counterpart of the mainstream Weekly Morning and the otaku-oriented Afternoon. So Shojo Fight! is reaching an older male audience. Fortunately, this does not mean that the series is filled with cheesecake. Shojo Fight! is a sports title first and foremost.

The series seems to begin in medias res, but it turns out that the first volume is about the end of middle school, and we’re setting up for high school to be the main event. Our hero is Neri, a strong but short young woman with a natural talent for volleyball and a tragic past, which keeps her mostly benchwarming. Her teammates include Koyuki, who is the school idol but whose volleyball skills don’t measure up as much, and Chiyo, who is absolutely furious at Neri and yells at her all the time in that “I am only angry because I see you have given up” sort of way. Neri is in danger of getting cut from the team, which prioritizes tall girls, and she seems to be OK with that, despite pushback from various others. One accidental injury later, however, and Neri is playing in a real game. Can she keep her emotions under control and not let the driving need to play volleyball take over?

It seems to be a sort of cliche to mention that the art in this looks a bit like OEL, so I will say that as well. More to the point, though, the art fits the subject matter. The volleyball matches that we see are straightforward, lacking the ‘cool’ art that we see from titles such as Haikyu!, but being quite understandable and easy on the eyes. I also really liked Neri’s facial expressions, particularly when she’s traumatized in the second half of the book. That dazed, emotionally hollow look makes your heart ache, and you’re grateful for her future coach (I assume) from coming by to stop her making a choice that would be terrible. I’d mentioned the lack of cheesecake: Neri’s male friend Shigeru is a massage therapist, and when Neri strains her back he massages her – in the girl’s bathroom stall, as student’s aren’t supposed to fraternize. It’s quite innocent, but turns into a nasty rumor that gets people punished, and the art shows both the innocent act while signposting how it’s going to be viewed.

It looks like the cast is going to expand vastly in the second volume, not unusual with sports titles. There are some eccentrics in the high school team, and I have to admit the idea of a barbed-wire volleyball net made me laugh. The series isn’t perfect (some of the exposition about the tragedy was really shoehorned in), but it was highly enjoyable, and I can’t wait for future volumes to see if Neri comes into her own as a player.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Vol. 3

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By Wataru Watari and Ponkan 8. Released in Japan as “Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatte Iru” by Shogakukan. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

In many ways this third volume of OreGairu actually moves backwards: having seen Hachiman seemingly blow up his burgeoning friendship with Yui in the second book, much of this third one consists of he and Yukino trying to get Yui to return to the Service Club, if only as the teacher demands a certain number of people in the club. They are impeded by Yui’s hurt awkwardness, Yukino’s inability to really interact with people normally, and above all Hachiman being who he is. The point of this series to a degree is amusing the reader with Hachiman’s narration and analysis of himself and others, and I am frequently amused. But I do hope that eventually we get some sort of deconstruction of this mindset or attempt to take it apart, because it also reminds you how incredibly annoying this kind of guy really is. For someone in their late teens, Hachiman must seem awesome. He frequently exhausts me.

Yukino, on the other hand, does get quite a bit of attention devoted to her as well, and we start to see a few reasons why she is the way she is, first and foremost being the appearance of her older sister. Haruno is bright, vivacious, communicative, and seemingly nothing whatsoever like Yukino… except Hachiman, who is quite clever in ways that don’t involve himself, realizes is a false front. I’m not sure if Haruno is meant to be a villainous character here – she doesn’t actually seem to be secretly needling Yukino as you’d expect if she were, and the delight over Yukino having a boyfriend seems genuine, false front or no. Yukino is also more apparently making an effort to get closer to Hachiman, though because of who he is and who she is, this doesn’t go far at all, even with Hachiman’s sister trying to set them up.

The book ends with a “bonus chapter” that is the novelization of a drama CD included with the volume, but you get the sense that if it hadn’t come with a drama CD the author would have included it anyway, as it’s in no way irrelevant. By the end of the story Hachiman and Yui have made up and gone back to baseline, they’ve all had a cute birthday party at a karaoke place, and Hachiman has had romantic thoughts about his cute male friend Saika about 80,000 times, which has gotten less amusing as the book go on, and I wasn’t all that amused by it to start with. That said, there are also some very funny jokes here as well – I loved Yui completely misreading Hachiman’s present to her, as well as the brief narrative from Shizuka’s POV, showing that the teacher is every bit as bad as the students who she’s trying to rehabilitate.

The main reason to read this is still Hachiman’s first person snark and the jokes. But so far if I wanted to read a series about a quirky cynical narrator and a frosty socially awkward brunette beauty, I have the Monogatari Series. I’m hoping that in the next book we try to do a bit more with these people than just circling each other warily and grudgingly getting along.

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 9

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By Kaoru Mori. Released in Japan as “Otoyomegatari” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine fellows!. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by William Flanagan.

Pariya gets a second cover in a row, which makes perfect sense because this book is still all about her attempts to recover from the fire that devastated her dowry, try to get closer to her possible fiance, and make readers think of her as someone other than “the tsundere somehow trapped in the nineteenth century. That she succeeds admirably is a tribute to Kaoru Mori’s writing, which continues to be excellent. In particular, Mori has a talent for wedding her story and art in a way that few manga artists these days do, something that is especially gratifying given that Pariya’s specialty is that her emotions are showing all over her face. Which makes it even more amusing that everyone seems to be misreading her, particularly Umar, her intended.

The dowry continues to be the big issue. The devastating fire from last volume really sent Pariya back to square one, which is very concerning for her family because, well, Pariya is seen as someone not all that easy to marry off. She’s loud, she’s abrasive, and she seems to spend her days in a state of perpetual rage. The well-seasoned manga reader, of course, knows that the anger is to hide her shyness and embarrassment, but I like the fact that most of the village does NOT get this immediately, not even Umar, and Pariya really has to work hard to make herself clear. There’s no revelatory moment where people work out “this is how she is”, just a series of chapters that show Pariya gritting her teeth and watching others to see if she can work out what this strange Earth concept called conversation is. A good chunk of the volume has her and Umar go on a day journey to get supplies, which ends up getting extended when they stop to help an ill woman, then suffer a broken axle. But it also helps Umar see how awesome Pariya can really be.

The rest of the cast get something to do, though obviously except for Amir and Karluk it’s a very brief something to do. There’s a series of 4-koma at the start that check in on the rest of the cast we’ve seen to date, who are mostly getting on well, aside from Mr. Smith, who’s having bandit trouble, and the girl who he had a brief liaison with, who is still alone. As for Amir, her perfection has a tendency to become her character at times (I had trouble warming up to her), but we see a few flaws here, as she makes a bow so that her husband can learn archery, but makes it for the strength of a full-grown male, not the young boy that he still is. Karluk, of course, is determined to get the arm strength to learn it anyway. These two are cute, and I’m OK with having them be the return point for the series in general.

We apparently kick off a new arc next time, which will no doubt be next year, as A Bride’s Story does not come out all that frequently. When it does, though, the reader is always in for a treat. Curl up in a comfy chair and immerse yourself in this volume.