Flying Witch, Vol. 1

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By Chihiro Ishizuka. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical Comics. Translated by Melissa Tanaka.

Relaxed and easygoing titles have always been a thing in Japanese manga to some extent, but over the last ten years or so it really seems to look like they’re coming into their own, or at least coming to North America more often. Whether it’s school life, village life, or workplace life, there is a growing need for watching a cast of mild to strong eccentrics go about life at their own pace, usually with at last one “straight man” to boggle at their antics. And as you may have gathered, Flying Witch continues in this genre, showing us a young witch who moves out into the sticks in order to train, and her laidback adventures with a group of (mostly) normal villagers.

Makoto is the witch, and she’s a bit of an airhead, although not to the extremes that some of these series try to go. She wants to do her best to be a better witch, but is easily distracted, has a Ryouga Hibiki-like sense of direction, and also has absolutely no idea how to hide her identity as a witch, which is supposed to be a secret, from anyone at all. She’s moved in with her cousins, and on the very first day she’s trying out a new broom in front of the youngest one, not particularly noticing that she isn’t supposed to be floating in the air. The cousin, Chinatsu, is probably my favorite character in the book; at first shy and a little reluctant to like this new girl, she gradually warms up once she realizes Makoto is a witch, and is a nicely realistic young girl.

Less successful is Kei, the main male lead, who unfortunately is not straight-laced enough to be the main “tsukkomi” that this series needs. (That falls to his classmate Nao, who holds up her end of the bargain admirably, and is the recipient of the manga’s funniest and also possibly creepiest moment.) Kei is simply too laid back and relaxed, and as a result has a tendency to have no personality. He seems to be a ‘minder’ sort, like Yotsuba’s dad, but these girls are too old to really need to take charge of, so mostly he exists so that the series isn’t made up entirely of girls. I was pleased to see that the witch aspect was not forgotten – this felt like one of those series that would settle into slice-of-life and forget its roots, but each chapter does have a small element of the supernatural in it, from the terrifying mandrake root to the Harbinger of Spring (whose matter-of-fact introduction reminded me of some of the better Zetsubou-sensei chapters) to Makoto’s older and more accomplished sister, who arrives, makes chaos, and then leaves.

There’s not much to grab a hold of here, and I doubt a “real” plot will form. But who wants a real plot to form anyway? Flying Witch is filled with cute, nice, slightly weird girls living their everyday life and doing witchcraft. If you enjoy slice-of-life eccentricity, it’s right in your strike zone.

Blood Lad, Vol. 8

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By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Melissa Tanaka.

It’s been over a year since we last looked at the world of Blood Lad. Such is life when you’ve caught up to a series’ Japanese releases, even more so when Yen puts this out as an omnibus. But the manga has now finished in Japan, so we shouldn’t have quite as long to wait for the final volume. In the meantime, we get this new omnibus, which does exactly what I suspected it would, which is get taken up by a huge fight between the villain and everyone else, showing off all the minor and secondary characters to a decent degree, but putting the emphasis squarely where it’s been (more or less) since Day One: on the odd relationship between vampire leader Staz and busty newly dead ghost Fuyumi. It even gives Fuyumi something to do!… though that’s somewhat problematic as well.

If you look at my past reviews of Blood Lad, you’ll see that Fuyumi’s lack of character development has been a bit of a bugaboo for me. She’s improved, but still tends to be reactive rather than proactive. That doesn’t change here, much as I’d like it to. The solution to how to defeat the bad guy involves Staz fusing with Fuyumi’s body, effectively making her the action heroine, but since it’s really Staz in the driver’s seat, the effect is lost, no matter how often we hear ‘Super Fuyumi Kick!’. Her best moment in this volume may come in a ‘dreamscape’, as she yells at him for being tactless and not understanding her feelings while literally dressed up as a giant 50-foot bride. Fuyumi is ‘the love interest’, and sadly Blood Lad’s biggest lost opportunity.

Thankfully, we’ve got something that makes up for that: humor. A good deal of this volume is hilarious, especially towards the end. Much as I disliked the Staz/Fuyumi fusion as character development, as an homage to giant robots it’s wonderful, especially as more and more people end up getting added and Staz’s Fuyumi Gundam rapidly turns into a Fuyumi Yamato. And, let’s be honest, the sight of Fuyumi with Staz’s teeth and attitude is also highly amusing. It helps to distract a bit from the brutality of the villain, who I think we abandon all hope of ever turning back to the other villain he used to be here. He’s a good villain, but also a bit one-note. Still, he provides tension.

Blood Lad in the end works best if you view it as one of those summer action blockbusters you see in the theater. While you’re watching it you’re captivated by the cool fight scenes and great quips, but it tends to fall apart when you go home and think about the plot afterwards. So don’t think about it too hard. Just sit back and enjoy a manga written by an artist who is clearly enjoying the hell out of himself, and grin along with Staz as you pilot a giant robot version of the girl you like in order to defeat a madman.

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 2

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan as two separate volumes by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

One of Takaya’s stronger points is her ability to depict a character hiding their own emotional pain and despair, usually because they don’t want to make others worry or because it’s simply not the done thing to admit your feelings. We see more of that in this new omnibus, as we get more details on Sakuya’s depression and what led to her living away from her family with Kanade. Now to be fair, we’ve covered a lot of these sorts of situations in Fruits Basket – I mean, if you guessed emotional abuse from a parental figure, give yourself a nickel – but it can be argued that this sort of thing needs to be brought into the open as much as Takaya does. Sakuya’s repressed feelings – which she isn’t suite sure about, possibly as her new stepmother is pushing at her to hate her – are one of the highlights of the volume.

Of course, what makes Sakuya such a strong character is that it really isn’t entirely a mask to hide her emotional pain. Sakuya’s joy at being with her friends and seeing the stars is very real too, and so are her budding feelings for Chihiro, even if she finds them a bit terrifying. Chihiro is slightly less interesting in this second volume, mostly as he’s far less mercurial – he seems to have accepted Sakuya as a new friend, and therefore there’s not as much pushing back, though I suspect we’ll get that from a different angle in future volumes. Yuuri and Hijiri get the cover art, and Yuuri also gets a bit more backstory, which develops the reasons he’s fallen for Sakuya while also showing that he absolutely is not going to be the winner.

And then there’s Hijiri, who is perfect. I would like to say it’s rare I fall for a character so fast, but that’s not true, this happens all the time. But it’s always a pleasure when it does. Hijiri has a sharp tongue, but is looking out for her friends, and I am pleased to see that the very first page of this omnibus shows that she and Yuuri will not be set up into a ‘pair the spares’ romance. Of course, this also seems to be because she has a crush on her teacher, which makes me wary. Better is the amusing relationship she has with her masochistic manservant Saki, who is 100% devoted to her and has no trouble showing this in front of others, much to her dismay. Takaya’s comedy can be forced at times, but when she’s on a roll you will laugh your head off.

The preview for the next omnibus seems to show that we’ll be getting Chihiro’s backstory next – I keep thinking things are movign a bit fast, but then I recall that this series was less than half the number of volumes that fruits Basket had. That doesn’t make it any less good, though, and I look forward to intense emotional pain as only Takaya can give to readers next time around.