Manga Review: RWBY Official Manga Anthology, Volume 2: Mirror, Mirror

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: August 2018

Volumes: 4.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Straight from Rooster Teeth’s hit animation series, a new four-volume anthology series featuring stories from various manga creators, each focusing on a different member of Team RWBY!

The world of Remnant is filled with horrific monsters bent on the destruction of humanity. Fortunately, the kingdoms of the world have risen to combat these forces by training powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses at academies around the planet. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long are four such Huntresses in training.

All new short stories set in the world of RWBY from no less than twenty different manga creators in one single volume!

Includes a full color four-page story and four full-color illustrations. This volume focuses on Weiss Schnee from TEAM RWBY.

Plus, bonus messages from the illustrators and creators included in this volume, with longer notes from RWBY character designer Ein Lee and actress Kate Eberle, the voice of Weiss Schnee!

Review:

The second RWBY anthology, featuring all stories about Weiss, the ice queen of the team. While I haven't watched the anime, she seemed like the character I might like the most, so I was curious.

This is a lot of one-shot stories featuring Weiss. A lot of them focus on how alone she's been until now, some star her relationship with Ruby and others focus more on her relationship with her older sister Winter. There were a lot of odd artstyles, and I'll admit I didn't love a lot of them, but they were okay. There were a couple of really cute ones, though. Aside form Umiya's art, in the last story; I really don't understand the appeal or what's happening in those panel comics.

I can't help but wonder if a lot of these authors are mostly from webcomics? The author names sound more web comic than real mangaka names, but I might just be unfamiliar with them.

There were some cute stories, there were some meh stories. If you're a RWBY fan, I'm sure you'll love it more than I did, though.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Volume 2, by Aidalro

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: March 2020

Volumes: 13+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nene Yashiro has made a pact with "Hanako-san of the Toilet," aka Hanako-kun, to hold off the curse that has been placed on her. To rescue her friend from the clutches of one of the school's infamous Seven Mysteries, she and Hanako-kun infiltrate the Misaki Stairs. The second volume of the retro horror romantic comedy about an occult girl and an inhuman supernatural boy is finally in print!

Review:

The first half of this volume continues the stair-case ghost story. It gets a little dangerous, and rather sad/disturbing when we discover the reason. It's rather fun to follow, though, but maybe it's just been a while since I've had a good high school ghost series.

In between the next plot, we get a little romance-inspired chapter between Yashiro and Hanako. He's giving her mixed signals, and she's very romance-focused, so she jumps to conclusions. It was a cute chapter, but it also ends in a really sweet way. After that, we meet Minamoto's older brother, who is a surprise, but also is very against ghosts and wants them all exorcised. It's a bit conflicting here, because Minamoto is having second thoughts about his first motivation to exorcise Hanako. This plot is definitely going to get deeper, since we're briefly introduced to couple other characters but not given much about them.

We're getting lots of mixed signals from Hanako, and I'm curious what it means. He generally acts light-hearted, but he's shown equal moments of vulnerability and of violence, and it's hard to tell which ones are real and what they actually mean. He's clearly hiding things, including how he ended up here, and I'm curious when we'll learn more and what it all means.

I hadn't expected to be interested in this series, and I'm really not a fan of the name, but I'm surprisingly hooked. This was another really fun and interesting volume, and I want to read more.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: One-Punch Man, Volume 18, by One and Yusuke Murata

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: December 2019

Volumes: 21+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 17. 19.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Life gets pretty boring when you can beat the snot out of any villain with just one punch.

Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem—he just can’t seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on!

Garo has just left the Monster Association’s hideout when he crosses paths with Saitama, who’s in quite a pinch, but Saitama still doesn't know Garo is the Hero Hunter. Later, King the Ripper can no longer hold back his murderous urges and confronts Garo himself!

Review:

Garo wants to be an evil villain, but he's also not quite the same as the other villains. He doesn't want to do what they tell him to, just because they told him to. And after saving this little kid, he kinds of forms a soft spot for the boy.

Garo is also a very intense character. This is contrasted very nicely when he comes upon Saitama, who doesn't even mean to punch him but is actually just trying to hide his face.

Honestly, I still rather enjoy the humor of Saitama's straight-faced reactions and anti-climactic fights, and the silly reasons he reacts in certain ways. At this point, though, we're not getting a whole lot of that. Saitama's group of heroes are building to go fight the monsters, but that plot point is taking its time, and instead we're getting a lot of weird monster fights, and in this volume, a lot of time of Garo with the other monsters. Those scenes are just meh to me. I understand why, since this series has expanded so much and they had to throw in other content, but still.

These volumes are easy to read, for the most part, and I don't mind them. I'm not following the main plot too closely, though.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Volume 9, by Aya Megumu, Hiro Ainana, and Shri

Rating (Out of 5): ~2

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: May 2020

Volumes: 10+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 8.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Looking to deliver a letter from the Witch of the Forest of Illusions, Satou and his party decide to visit the village of the forest giants. He soon finds the villagers are still recovering from hydra attacks, including three children who were poisoned by the hydra's toxic breath. As Satou gets to work on brewing an antidote, Karina ponders how she can enlist the giants' assistance in ridding her hometown of the demonic presence that plagues it...

Review:

Satou and his harem group are joined by Karina as this volume starts. She's welcomed in relatively comfortably, aside from a bit of jealousy for her big breasts. She has a brooch that talks to her, and has a bad rep because of her family. They all continue along their journey, meeting new people and helping out different towns and peoples.

This book was terribly boring to me. There isn't a whole lot of action or showing happening, instead we're just informed with lots of text what is happening, the politics of the matter, how Satou knows things and what he's doing to fix all of these problems. If you're a big fan of high fantasy, this might be interesting. I am not, so this was very much not for me.

I also didn't really care for the characters, and Satou's “children” who are all relatively in love with him was a little uncomfortable to me, plus how Karina is portrayed because of her figure. Even the interactions between Satou and Karina felt rather one-dimensional to me.

I was not a fan, but this was not for me.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: I'm a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl's Pet, Volume 1, by Taro Shinonome, Nozomi Ginyoku, and Mitsuki Yano

Rating (Out of 5): ~2

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: April 2020

Volumes: 4+

Spoilers?: Yes.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. Rightstuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Syopsis:

You've got to be kitten me!
A proud knight, slain in battle, finds himself alive once more-reincarnated in the body of a fearsome behemoth. As if he wasn't confused enough by this turn of events, apparently behemoth cubs look exactly like adorable kittens?! Even if the rest of the world sees him as soft and cuddly, he has the honor of a noble warrior and the strength of an unstoppable S-ranked monster, both of which will be put to the test as he fights to protect the beautiful elf who has taken him as her pet!

Review:

Tama was a proud knight, but now he's been reincarnated as a highly powerful monster, only he looks like a tiny little kitten. When Aria, an elf girl, is going through a dungeon and stumbles upon him, she takes him home with her. Thus starts his life as her pet cat, and his devotion to protect her.

This was very weird.

Not even to mention the fact that Aria is objectified by every male in her vicinity, and how they're all jealous of this tiny kitten laying in her cleavage—which why. And how there's this knight who is obsessed with her and puts out an order to exterminate her cat in order to claim her as his bride—in a very Gaston-like fashion.

But then there's the fact that Aria gets aroused by Tama, in his little kitten form. This isn't even hinted at, it's very blatant and even discussed, since apparently they might be able to crossbreed, and she likes that.

I will say that I'm glad some of the time is spent on Aria fighting and getting higher level, and even on Tama's history. But there's also just so much sexualization, and Aria is leered at constantly. The sexual harassment is real in this series. She does also partake in that, though, since she kind of gropes Tama at one point.

There's a lot wrong with this volume. I'm mostly very confused on why this whole idea was chosen. I guess it's for a very specific audience? But somehow I didn't hate it, and I'm even more confused by that.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir!, Volume 2, by Koikuchi Kiki, Inumajin, and Kochimo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: May 2020

Volumes: 2+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

"That...wouldn't be anything like the fun pet life I wanted!!"
Now that Mary's fallen ill, Routa's pampered-pooch life is in jeopardy! In order to cure her once and for all, he'll need to do some actual work for a change! The medicinal flower he seeks, however, is guarded by a fearsome dragon, and he's got a lot of ground to cover if he wants to make it to its lair. Will he be able to overcome his trauma for the one he loves most, or is Mary doomed to relive this cycle of sickness every year?

Review:

Having missed the first volume, it was very unclear why certain characters treated Routa in certain ways. I slowly figured out that they didn't know what he was saying, which only made the way that Zenobia treats Routa as a pervert even more confusing.

I was relieved to discover that Routa's relationship with Mary, his owner of sorts, is actually very sweet. They have a special bond, kind of an oddly close one, even. But he truly just wants her to be okay, which is why he gives in to search for the herb she needs.

Routa being Fenrir is a bit underwhelming here. He wants a relaxing life, but helps when he's forced to. But his being Fenrir doesn't seem to include a crazy ability to be strong or intimidating, he's still kind of a dumb dog, whether he's acting it or not.

I'm guessing Routa is growing feelings for Zenobia, which is okay, but I really don't care for her. Characters that jump so quickly to violence by claiming someone is a pervert is a big annoyance to me. I'm very much over that plot device or use of comedy. It's just unnecessary.

Overall an okay volume. There's a good amount of fanservice that I don't care for, and I don't really care for the characters, but the plot wasn't bad and there was quite a bit of focus on it, so that helped.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Volume 1, by Light Tuchihi, Koyuki, and Saori Toyota

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: January 2020

Volumes: 2+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ristarte summons a hero who excels in every area to assist her. He's everything she expected him to be except for one, tiny thing: this anxious hero can't do anything unless he's absolutely sure nothing can go wrong! The manga adaptation of the break-out hit is finally here!

Review:

Ristarte is a goddess, and they have to save worlds in order to grow and rank up. She gets to choose a new hero for a new, harder world that needs saving. Struggling to choose, suddenly she sees Seiya, who looks to be much too overpowered, and thus a perfect choice. Immediately upon summoning him, though, he declares that he needs to power up more, he's not ready yet.

The idea of this is quite interesting to me. Ristarte lives in a between-world place, where the time moves much faster than a normal world. Which means Seiya can spend a long time practicing and working out, when only ten minutes have passed in the other world. But when Seiya finally goes to the world to help, he starts getting thrown much crazier leveled enemies, and thus needs even more powering up. He's very cautious and has a need to be stronger than his enemy before even meeting them, so he does this a lot.

Ristarte is an okay character. She's a bit dramatic, though I think that works since Seiya is very straight-faced, and actually quite uncaring. He claims that he cares for the people he's saving, but he definitely doesn't seem caring for them from how he acts. He's very untrusting, too, though I found some of that quite funny.

The artwork is nice in this, and while there is some fanservice, it's mostly just large boobs and there isn't too much focus on it, or use of it in the plot. That was nice.

This was actually a pretty fun first volume.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Happy Sugar Life, Volume 5, by Tomiyaki Kagisora

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: May 2020

Volumes: 10.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volumes: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

If you love someone...
...you want to eat sweets with them.
You want to bathe with them.
You want to hold them. To kiss them.
You want to be with them tomorrow and the next day.
Isn't that how everybody feels?

Does it exist...
...in this world?
Love...
...that's not...
...arrogant?

Review:

I knew this was going to have a creepy vibe when going into it. I didn't quite know how much, clearly.

Without any prior knowledge of this series, I'm introduced to Mitsuboshi, who's appearing to have a life crisis, because he wants to change himself and stop these weird thoughts, but also apparently he's obsessed with Shio and needs her praise and to know she's okay. Matsuzaka shows up, similarly slightly crazy, and seems to know how to talk Mitsuboshi down enough to get what she wants, which also involves having Shio all to herself.

For a while I didn't know what Shio's part in all of this is, and I'm still a bit concerned. She doesn't seem to realize that what Matsuzaka is doing to her is crazy and wrong, and that other people are worried about her. And Matsuzaka is clearly in love with her, so that's a surprising LGBT element I didn't expect.

This whole volume felt very demented and unsafe, and that ending only cements those feelings to be correct. There were also some really interesting story-telling uses, like a chapter that features a narrator we're not even shown, up to a surprise ending. Helped with the ominous creep factor, as well.

This was a twisted roller coaster of psychological issues, some of which I didn't realize I was walking into. I don't think it's something I would normally pick up, but it is something I could see myself bingeing and getting caught up in just to see how it all ends, because it's crazy af and sometimes those stories are interesting in how twisted they can be. Kind of like School Days, honestly.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Komi Can't Communicate, Volume 3, by Tomohito Oda

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Shonen Sunday (VIZ Media)

Release Date: October 2019

Volumes: 17+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The journey to 100 friends begins with a single conversation.

Socially anxious high school student Shoko Komi’s greatest dream is to make some friends, but everyone at school mistakes her crippling social anxiety for cool reserve. With the whole student body keeping its distance and Komi unable to utter a single word, friendship might be forever beyond her reach.

Summer is about to begin, and Komi would love to be able to spend the long, hot days of vacation hanging out with her new friends. But even though she’s made great strides in her personal quest, her communication issues are still strong enough to ruin her fun. Thankfully just thinking of her dear friend Tadano is enough to help her calm down!

Review:

If nothing else, Komi will always be a perfect example of how a truly introverted person feels at all times. We see this as a big example as the volume starts, and Komi can't help but re-agonize over previous conversations and seem unable to even send a text to her new friends, let alone say words when they call her.

We follow Komi more closely in this volume. There's summer meet-ups, a beach arc, and school tests. But we also follow Komi as she gets ready for these things, as she debates on going on a swing set, and when she visits family for Obon. There's even a really cute chapter between her and her father as they silently communicate to go get shaved ice and we see that he's very much where she gets it from.

There are still some crazy classmates, and we weren't introduced to any new characters in this volume, but her list of friends is still slowly growing, and her struggles are continuing as she slowly overcomes them one step at a time.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: After School Bitchcraft, Volume 1, by Yu Shimizu and Kazuma Ichihara

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: March 2020

Volumes: 2+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Science teacher Renji Fuyumi is secretly a sorcerer, but after his barriers are accidentally broken by the fashion-obsessed Ririka Kirise, he decides to make her his disciple. Looks can be deceiving in this titillating tale of the occult!

Review:

Honestly, I don't know what I expected with this volume.

Renji has just taken up a high school teaching position, but he's bored to death of the job, and so are his students, since he couldn't care less about them. He's a sorcerer, and he's much more interested in that. Ririka is his student, she's a fashionable teenager, but she also wants to be a vet and thus wants to get better grades since she's struggling so hard. When she goes to Renji for help, he discovers she has some witchy powers in her heritage.

Renji is a bit of an ass, and I don't really care for him. Ririka is a bubbly, naive schoolgirl, who wears very revealing clothing (because they're comfier, even in the woods), and yet yells at Renji for being a perv when he doesn't even indicate interest.

There were moments of this volume where I could see what the authors are doing, and I can see what kind of audience this is for. But I also kind of hated parts of it. Ririka is naked several times in this volume, and her deciding to wear a tiny skirt out in the woods to search for wood for her wand was extremely unrealistic. Her yelling at the teacher for being a perv is also a trope that I've been over for a very long time.

I like the idea of this, but the execution is just not for me. Including how Ririka using her powers made her feel weirdly aroused. Also, the art is kind of odd to me. Mostly just the angles. There are really weird zoom-in angles, like upskirt shots of Ririka when they're talking normally, that were just very odd placements to me. It felt a bit like School Days to me, though maybe that's just a technique in this genre that I'm not familiar with.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Black Lagoon, Volume 11, by Rei Hiroe

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 2020

Volumes: 11+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 10.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Four hardcore heroes. One high-speed torpedo boat. Ten thousand bullets!

Lock n' load with the baddest group of mercenaries ever to hit the high seas of Southeast Asia! Aboard their World War II torpedo boat, the Black Lagoon, Dutch the Boss, Benny the Mechanic, Revy Two Hand, and Rock, the salaryman from Japan, deliver anything, anywhere. In the dangerous underworld of the Russian Mafia, Chinese triads, Colombian drug cartels, crazed assassins, and ruthless mercenaries, it's hard to know who to trust. But if you've got a delivery to make, and you don't mind a little property damage along the way, you can count on the crew of the Black Lagoon!

Disavowed by the Chinese government and now hunted as a traitor, Feng Yifei has turned to Rock and Revy for help. While dodging the PRC’s four hired guns from one side of Roanapur to the other, Feng presses Rock to make an important decision. Things get even more complicated when Eda shows an interest in the situation, and if she’s involved, it means the CIA isn’t far behind…

Review:

Having not read or watched any of this series, I wasn't quite sure what I was starting. It's more Cowboy Bebop than I had expected.

Feng and Rock are attempting to save some hard drive and de-encrypt some kind of information, and since Feng has a price on her head, there's a lot of shooting happening because of it. That's fine with Revy, who's all for having a gun fight, up until she gets arrested.

There's a lot of shooting up in this volume, and a lot more deaths than I expected. I didn't realize this was such a bloody series. There's also quite a bit of politics, which I was surprised by, and found interesting, actually.

I didn't mind some of the characters, and even find the idea of the story interesting, but I don't think I'd be all that interested this far in depth into the political matters. I didn't mind Revy's character. I think that Eda might have been the most interesting of the characters to me, honestly, and we only saw her briefly a couple of times. But I liked her. I can get behind some badass females.

I don't think this is a series I'd really search out, so I'm not sure if I'll be watching the anime any time soon, but I didn't mind this.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: A Witch's Printing Office, Volume 1, by Mochinchi and Yasuhiro Miyama

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: December 2019

Volumes: 4+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mika Kamiya was a completely average girl on her way back home from Japan's biggest amateur comics and book-selling event, Comic Market...until she got whisked off to a parallel fantasy world! To get back home, Mika is going to have to look for transportation magic at the magic tome-selling event, Magic Market!

Review:

This is about a girl protagonist who has been transported to another world. Mika is from modern day Tokyo, only she's been transported to a DnD-type world, where everyone knows at least some type of magic. In her efforts to find a way back home, and since she was on her way to Comiket when she was transported, she starts up the Magic Market and her very own printing press. It's quite innovative for a girl on her own in a new world.

I didn't really get much of a feel for the actual characters. Mika is okay, a little odd and rather normal. She is pretty smart, quick on her feet, and optimistic. She has the witch Claire at her side all the time, who seems to just follow along to humor what Mika is doing, in a nice way. We meet a handful of other characters. Broadway, the knight who guards Mika and seems to admire her, was sweet. There's a tiny bit of fanservice, but mostly this was a safe, more pg volume.

I'm not a big high fantasy reader, and this was a little slow and word-heavy, but it was kind of fun and very pretty. It's an interesting mix of DnD, isekai, and comic convention that I definitely don't mind.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!