#what is so hard about “start with fate/stay night and then pick the spinoff of your choice”

[actual-haise]

When Youtubers say that Fate is soooo difficult to get into and the watch order is sooo confusing

[deltaengineering]

summer anime 2017 part 1: we can rebuild it

This season isn’t very hot so far, but since I have a bunch of stuff carrying over, I’m not exactly complaining. Let’s go. We have three shows that share a curious theme, two that curiously do not, and one that’s actually good. Somehow that adds up to ten.

See also:

• part 2: bunch of fools

Battle Girl High School

We start the season with the possibly blandest title for an anime in quite a while. And the show itself easily manages to match the expectations the title raises: It's a high school with a bunch of girls that do battle. And by "a bunch" I mean more than I can offhandedly recall; the spiritual predecessor to this all-you-can-eat buffet of archetypes is clearly Girl Friend Beta (and it's also based on some waifu-collectathon mobile game) - only now with more magical girl henshins and hitting things with stupidly elaborate sticks. Oh and some of them are idols, because of course they are. Honestly there's nothing too objectionable in here, but it's just still an anonymous 24 minutes of mass manufactured anime-shaped packing peanuts.

Enmusubi no Youko-chan

...or "Fox Spirit Matchmaker". I've heard some positive rumblings about the quality of the source material in the run-up to this season, but that just goes to show that you can't trust people who read Chinese webcomics. Fox Spirit Matchmaker is a "romantic action comedy" (i.e., idiotic glutton/lecher guy and naive foxblob get matchmade by happenstance, hilarity and wuxia skirmishes ensue) of the kind that Japan thankfully got tired of a decade ago. The jokes are bad, the execution is so clumsy that they wouldn't land even if they were, and the action is pretty laughable too. There’s a whole bizarre universe that nobody could possibly give a fuck about around it as well, and boy does it want to tell you about it. If that sounds familiar: Why yes, Haoliners is indeed at it again and this is by no means their finest hour either.

Fate/Apocrypha

With the massive amounts of Fate spinoffs around, it can be quite hard to keep track. Apocrypha is an "alternative retelling" of a grail war in a world where Fate/Zero and subsequently Fate/stay night did not happen and everyone decides to have a team deathmatch in Romania instead. Among TRUE FATE MURDERHEADS Apocrypha is mostly known as "the really stupid one", or, if that is ambiguous (which it may well be, given that the competition includes gems such as “Fate, but on the moon”), "the one where one of the Casters is Shakespeare". It's Fate adapted to the sensibilities of a mid-2010 light novel, and while this gives it a certain... exuberance, I don't know if I really care for more slightly different Fate with no less than two Saberclones. The first episode certainly does not help because it spends half the time explaining what a grail war is (and everyone who knows Fate has heard that a hundred times), and the other half on how it's different from the main canon (and everyone who doesn't know Fate would not care about that in the slightest). I still feel tempted to find out how truly dumb this can get, but realistically it would have to be much, much better than it is for me to get over my severe Fate burnout.

Hina Logi - From Luck & Logic

Speaking of established (well, kinda) things getting retooled to other tastes, remember Luck & Logic? It was a pretty pedestrian battle harem that I only remember because it was made by Doga Kobo and looked pretty distinctly cool as a result. Well, now it has a sequel, even though you couldn't tell. Hina Logi goes out of its way to be as different as possible from L&L, and just to start with it's no longer a battle harem, but a Kirara imitator. Of course, the concept of superpowers injected into a cute girls doing fuck all anime would turn out to be mahou shoujo-ish, and the writing even points out how much an universe can change in just a few years - I see what you did there. Doga Kobo excels at exactly this type of show, so this just aligns the franchise more to their strengths, but even in this aspect there's a twist: it looks entirely different, more or less like the sort of glossy but unmemorable show JC Staff would churn out. In any case, I'm talking so much about this franchise mutation because it's really the only interesting thing about it; it's a basic Kiraralike, and you've seen these before. If you watched Hinako Note last season, you might also like Hina Logi. It has fights now.

Isekai Shokudou

The term "isekai" has turned into a very dirty word in the last few years. But one should not forget that it's still a perfectly normal word, and doesn't necessarily refer to the light novel subgenre that has grown around it like a tumor. Just because it's in the title, that doesn't mean Isekai Shokudou is also a light no- Well, okay, it is one. But! It's not in fact about an otaku shitter that gets hit by a car and is reborn in a world where nerds stuff the jocks into lockers with the power of nerd knowledge. Instead it's about a magic restaurant that sometimes connects to a fantasy world, and then the cook serves the fantasy creatures delicious Terran meals. He picks up a demon girl that has fallen on hard times as a waitress. By the way, said cook is voiced by Junichi Suwabe, and Suwabe + cute girl is a classic winning combination that almost managed to save Demi-chan on its own. So Isekai Shokudou is pretty damn cute, and it has a leisurely pace that makes it quite relaxing too. On top of that, it's also funny just because of the absurdity of its concept, without this being played for ha-ha comedy. You can still tell that there's a light novel underneath it by the characteristic over-reliance on flat exposition, but based on episode 1 alone, it's a charming little show and my first real pick of the season.

Kakegurui

Hey guys, do you like Kaiji? Do you like Prison School? Do you like crazy faces? Oh boy have I got the show for you. Kakegurui is about a high school where the entire student body is way into high-stakes gambling, and when the money runs out, there's always femdom to be had instead. Kakegurui is unabashedly sleazy and extremely over the top, and MAPPA bring a lot of skill in direction, animation, editing, music, etc. to the table as well. The thing is just... as ostentatious everything about it is, the core of the show isn't very convincing on a writing level. The gambling mindgames are actually far less complicated than the show would lead you to believe, and the characters are not very profound either when they're just tripping balls and going 150% crazy all the time. The show would need at least one of these to hold up in the long run, and it's not out of the question that it might acquire it; As it is, it's a cool wacky short movie but I have my doubts whether this can carry a whole TV show. But the production values are good enough to give it at least a chance.

Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu

And here we have the third radical reinterpretation of a source material: Touken Ranbu, the sword boyfriend simulator, already had an adaptation by Doga Kobo - and of course that was just Cute Swords Doing Cute Things. Now ufotable is doing their take on it, so it's, believe it or not, a lot like Fate UBW all of a sudden, character design, heavyhanded color correction, 3D CG effects and all - It's a real anime now, with things like plot and characters, and very competently made action show at that, and for some that may be enough. But not only that, it also has the tone and word vomit writing of Fate now, and that's where it gets sketchier. Without affinity for the source material, I find it hard to care about the exploits of big sword man and his small swordsexual life partner, and I care even less about their convoluted, nonsensical time travel scheme that gets explained way past the breaking point. And the action being great doesn't really matter if all they do is effortlessly style all over mass produced smoke monsters with a blade sticking out of them. I also can't shake the feeling that Doga Kobo's version was just a bit closer to the true fujo meaning of Touken Ranbu, if you know what I mean. K/tr seems watchable, but behind the premium production there just doesn't seem to be anything interesting.

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

"Keppeki" means "neat freak", and congratulations, you have discovered The Joke. What if a neurotic germophobe was also an extremely talented soccer player? So many opportunities to make the same joke over and over again! It's really quite a shame that this one is so one-note, because the sports show holding it together is actually one of the better soccer anime I've seen - it has good direction and a good pace once the game is on. I also like that the character design looks a lot like ACCA’s. But overall there's not much of that and a lot of The Joke, and even the better bits (like the character design) are marred by egregious overuse of SD comedy that doesn't fit stylistically at all. If I wanted this kind of comedy, I'd rather watch Sakamoto desu ga, and not a less stylish Sakamoto desu ga with frustrating glimpses of a good soccer anime in between.

Knight's & Magic

So, about that isekai. What if I told you that Knight's (the apostrophe is important) & Magic is in fact about an otaku shitter that gets hit by a car and is reborn in a world where nerds stuff the jocks into lockers with the power of nerd knowledge? It's true! Knight's & Magic is probably not the worst of this ilk I've seen, but that's a largely academic distinction. In fact it's quite bizarre that it even is an isekai story; Yeah, a gunpla nerd gets reborn into a world where mechas are real (and it's a fantasy world, which doesn't really make much sense but hey, robots), but there's really no reason he couldn't have come from this world in the first place, especially since he literally gets reborn and we have to watch a boring series of timeskips throughout his whole childhood anyway. Maybe him being a programmer with pop culture hobbies just like you and me will become relevant eventually, but I really don't care to find out.

Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou

And finally, here's a show that reminds us that Haoliners are not the only ones that can create an uncanny valley of competence that is eerily similar to "real" anime but not quite there. And this is a special case - usually this sort of production is attached to very bad ideas, but there's really nothing wrong with the story of a guy who moves into a house that turns out to be co-inhabited by ghosts and other assorted spiritual critters. Nothing, apart from everything: The directing is sluggish, the animation is conspicuously cheap, the writing takes forever just to get to the point that there's g-g-g-ghosts, and the characters are devoid of any personality apart from being scared/not being scared of the youkai menagerie. Do yourself a favor and watch Spirited Away again instead, because this bargain basement TV version with a high school loser up front has nothing to add and a lot to subtract.

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 6/24/20

SEAN: Look out, folks. The danger of COVID-19 may still be here, but the dam has broken. There are SO MANY BOOKS next week.

ASH: Woo!

SEAN: We’ll start with Dark Horse, who have a 5th volume of Mob Psycho 100.

ASH: I’ll be picking this up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club’s debut is Deathbound Duke’s Daughter, which is another in the “I’ve been reincarnated as a villainess in an otome game” genre. Really nice artwork for this novel series. It’s from Futabasha’s M Novels.

Also from J-Novel Club: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 10, Ascendance of a Bookworm 7 (which finishes the 2nd arc, the one currently being animated), the 2nd Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga, and a 4th Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Kodansha has a lot. Debuts? We have three. One even is in print: the first volume of The Ghost in the Shell: Human Algorithm, a spinoff of the legendary manga/anime franchise.

ASH: It’s always interesting to see how various creators envision Ghost in the Shell.

SEAN: A new digital-only title is Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! (Abe-kun ni Nerawaretemasu), a shoujo title from the online replacement for Aria, Palcy. A comedy manga about a girl who finds the school’s karate champ confessing to her… and he’s not going to take no for an answer.

Also digital (at least for now) is Sue & Tai-chan, another cat manga from the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. This one runs in Be Love magazine, so seems more for housewives than kids. But… I mean, it’s still a cute cat manga.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to it!

SEAN: Scheduled (at the moment) for Digital next week and print later, we see Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 5 (along with 3 and 4, whose print are out already), Fire Force 19, Love and Lies 9, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7, and Yuri Is My Job! 6.

ASH: As usual, I’ll be waiting for the print release, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is really good.

SEAN: Digital-only titles out next week? Altair: A Record of Battles 19 (I swear this is now weekly), Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 7 (the final volume), Hotaru’s Way 14, I Fell in Love After School 5, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 15, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 7 (which also feels like it’s out every week).

MICHELLE: Of these, I’m only currently reading I Fell in Love After School, but I do enjoy it.

SEAN: KUMA has a digital-first, print later debut: Canis: Dear Mr. Rain. This BL title originally ran in Opera a few years back, but is now in Takeshobo’s Reijin. It’s about picking up a stray on the side of the road, only this is a human, not a dog.

MELINDA: Maybe?

SEAN: One Peace has a 13th Rising of the Shield Hero (manga version).

Seven Seas, in print, has New Game! 9.

Seven Seas, digitally, has a bit more. We have two debuts. Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time (Peter Grill to Kenja no Jikan) runs in Futabasha’s Manga Action, which means it can’t be full-on porn, but it sounds like it. Peter Grill has a lovely fiancee and has just won a tournament pronouncing him the World’s Strongest. Unfortunately, this means all the women in the world – elves, ogres – want to bone him. Poor guy, can he escape his horrible fate?

MELINDA: …wow.

SEAN: The other digital debut is Syrup, another yuri anthology of short stories – this one from Futabasha – and featuring the creators of I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up and Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink.

ASH: Oh! That sounds like it has promise!

MELINDA: This might be good!

SEAN: There’s also the 3rd Arifureta manga, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, a 2nd Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard light novel, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s Office Lady Diary 3, Non Non Biyori 13, the 3rd Reincarnated As a Sword manga, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel. (Yes, I know there are short story volumes. No, they aren’t. No, it’s unlikely they will be.)

Square Enix has – digital first – the 3nd Hi Score Girl manga and the 2nd Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town manga.

Tokyopop has two new series. Don’t Call Me Daddy (Daddy Darlin’) is a BL manga, sequel to Don’t Call Me Dirty.

The other is No Vampire, No Happy Ending (Ringo to Bara to Kyuuketsuki (Kari)), a goofy Mag Garden comedy about a vampire enthusiast who finally meets one and discovers they’re not up to snuff.

MELINDA: This actually sounds fun, maybe in a What We Do in the Shadows kind of way, but …Tokyopop. Not sure I’m ready.

Vertical has (digitally) Bakemonogatari’s 4th manga, APOSIMZ 5, and Kino’s Journey 6.

MELINDA: I’ve been kind of out of it and have lost touch with the Kino’s Journey manga adaptation. I should try to fix that.

SEAN: That’s it! We’re done! Wait… (giant pile of Yen Press falls on Sean) Riiiiiight. Yen’s back in town.

ASH: Whoa! Hang on for the ride!

SEAN: All of the light novel debuts got moved to July. But there’s still a lot of Yen On. We get The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 7, Last Round Arthurs 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 6.5 (yes, the numbering is deliberate), Overlord 12, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 7, A Sister’s All You Need 7, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 8, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 2, Woof Woof Story 4, and World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 3. Guh. So many books, so many long titles.

ASH: For sure!

SEAN: Manga? Well, there we have a few debuts. Bestia is a fantasy series about magical beasts, looks cute, and runs in Kadokawa’s Shonen Ace.

Breasts Are My Favorite Things in the World (Sekai de Ichiban Oppai Ga Suki!) is sort of Knight of the Ice if the knight was a girl and instead of wanting to hear magical girl songs she had to fondle huge breasts in order to do well in competitions. It looks… a bit over the top. This runs in Media Factory’s Comic Cune.

MELINDA: What is happening??

SEAN: Lust Geass is from the creator of Evangelion spinoff The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, runs in Kadokawa’s Young Ace, and seems to be Death Note only with sex instead of death.

MELINDA: Yen Press is really losing me lately.

SEAN: And there’s Restaurant in Another World, the manga version of the light novel. Old-school Crunchyroll manga readers may recall this title.

ASH: Oh, I may need to check this one out.

SEAN: Lastly, Sekiro Side Story: Hanbei the Undying seems to be a side story to something I don’t know (it’s certainly not Sekirei), and I guess is based off a game.

Ongoing titles? Well, Umineko: When They Cry comes to an end with the 3rd and final omnibus of Twilight of the Golden Witch. We’ve figured out by now that most everyone in the cast is really, genuinely dead. But did ANYONE other than Ange survive? Read to find out.

And… Bungo Stray Dogs 15, Chio’s School Road 9, Dead Mount Death Play 4, Divine Raiment Magical Girl Howling Moon 2, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 3 (manga version), Eclair Bleau (another yuri anthology volume) Goblin Slayer 8 (manga version), KonoSuba Explosion 5 (manga version, technically a final volume but there’s a sequel), Little Miss P: The Second Day, Phantom Tales of the Night 4, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 10 (manga version), and A Witch’s Printing Office 3.

MICHELLE: So many paragraphs of things I’m not reading, with the probable exception of Eclair Bleue.

ANNA: I’m going to have a hard time doing pick of the week this week, despite this deluge of manga.

ASH: I’m glad to see publishers getting their books out there, but that is certainly a lot all at once!

MELINDA: A lot of… what?

SEAN: Stay masked even though all the manga is back! What are you getting?

By: Sean Gaffney

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

'Black Panther' Review: Marvel's First Black Superhero Movie Is More Than Just Lit

The hashtag #BlackPantherSoLIT started trending in March of 2016 -- nearly two years before Black Panther would arrive in theaters. Each casting announcement, teaser and trailer was heavily scrutinized as fans searched for clues about Wakanda – all of which were shrouded in secrecy, because, truly, everything about this movie is a spoiler. Black Panther smashed records for advanced ticket sales -- even Lupita Nyong’o, who is in the cast, couldn’t get a ticket for opening night. It’s pretty safe to say that people are geeked on Black Panther! Now, the big question: Can the movie possibly live up to all that hype?

Simple answer: Yes -- and then some.

Since the first footage of Black Panther debuted, each glimpse has been more spectacular than the last, from the incredible costumes to the awe-inspiring special effects. But when the audience gets their first look at the secretive, Afrofuturistic country of Wakanda in the film, it is truly breathtaking, with stunning aerial views of waterfalls and lush trees and hills. "This never gets old," T'Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman) says of the view. And it sure doesn't. The entire film is inexpressibly beautiful, both in the scenic visuals and the parade of beautiful black faces.

Black Panther picks up shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War, with T’Challa mourning the loss of his father (who was killed during Civil War) and adjusting to what it means to be both a superhero and King of Wakanda while facing threats from the outside world. Boseman takes up the mantle and is in fine form as the title character, a feat that is not surprising considering he’s played so many real life black superheroes -- James Brown, Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall -- but he is not charged with carrying the film.

In fact, it’s the supporting characters that give the movie its color, especially the badass women of Wakanda, led by Nakia, Okoye and Shuri (Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira and Letitia White, respectively). Princess Shuri -- yes, we've got a new Disney Princess, y'all -- is a 16-year-old tech genius, who is equal parts sassy and smart and is responsible for Wakanda's technological advancements and weapons development. Essentially, Shuri is the Q to T'Challa's James Bond and it's a delight to witness their playful brother-sister dynamic. Nyong'o's Nakia is a war dog (Wakanda's version of a spy), torn between love for her work, love for her country and her feelings for its new king. Quite thankfully, Nakia is more than just T'Challa's love interest, though. She is a strong and capable warrior, and Nyong'o really seizes that opportunity to make her a fully-realized character.

On T'Challa's other side is Okoye, played by The Walking Dead's Gurira. While Nakia is a bit of a rebel, Okoye is a firm traditionalist and the two women have an especially poignant scene in the film in which they argue over what loyalty really means. (Yes, Black Panther passes the Bechdel Test.) Okoye is head of the Dora Milaje, the King of Wakanda's all-female task force of warrior bodyguards. While Okoye's bald head and attitude may recall Grace Jones, this woman is one of a kind. What Gurira can do with a snap of her eyes, a toss of a wig or a cutting comment is incredible, but it's her fighting that is truly unparalleled. At times, she is fighting so quickly, it looks like she is moving in fast-forward. All hail Okoye, the Queen of Side Eye!

Marvel Studios

Created in the late '60s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character of Black Panther has a long road to the screen. In the decades it took for Black Panther to make it to the screen, Marvel reportedly approached a number of prominent directors about helming the film -- including John Singleton (Boyz in the Hood), F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, Fate of the Furious) and Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time) -- before finally landing on Ryan Coogler. As a show of respect and likely curiosity, all three directors were in attendance to see what the 31-year-old visionary had in store at the film’s world premiere and participated in the standing ovation the director received before a single frame appeared on the screen.

Watching the movie, it's clear why Coogler was the right fit to direct. Coogler is able to masterfully balance the action with humor, the comic book icon with the black touchstone, futurism and cultural relevance. He knows what he wants to say with the film and knows what a big opportunity this is to say it, especially for a black filmmaker. Early on in the film, T’Challa is told that he's a "good man with a good heart and it’s hard for a good man to be king" and is given the advice to surround himself with people he trusts. This rang true for Coogler, too, who enlisted a trusted team to take on this massive undertaking, from his usual composer, Ludwig Göransson, to his cinematographer, Oscar-nominated Rachel Morrison, to his frequent collaborator, Michael B. Jordan.

Fans were thrilled about a third collaboration between Coogler and the actor, after their success with 2013’s Fruitvale Station (which shed light on police brutality years before it became daily conversation) and 2015’s Rocky-spinoff, Creed. This time, instead of playing the hero, Jordan is taking on the role of the villain. It’s important to note that the greatest and most prevalent criticisms of Marvel films and superhero movies in general has been the strength (or lack thereof) of their bad guys. Often, the villains are one note, under-developed or simply ridiculous. Rest assured, Jordan’s Erik Killmonger is arguably the best antagonist the Marvel Cinematic Universe has offered up.

Killmonger is just as charismatic as Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, but has more easily accessible motivations that ultimately make the character relatable. So relatable, in fact, that many in the audience were brought to tears by the end. Tears for the villain. We’re not supposed to root for Killmonger -- whose name is literally taken from his expertise in killing --- but, because of Jordan, we do. Jordan rightly compares T'Challa and Killmonger to X-Men's Magneto and Professor X -- they are two men with the same goal, but vastly different methods. It may be a stretch to compare them to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the more militant Malcolm X, but it is also somewhat works. It is through Erik's eyes that we understand the larger social commentary of the most political Marvel film yet: Understanding that the world needs a change and oppressed people need our support to do it, but also asking how can that be done?

Jordan has said that Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight was an inspiration for his work here. "As an actor, you watch certain performances that motivate you and inspire," he told ET’s Nischelle Turner. "Heath’s performance as a villain was so captivating, I couldn't stop watching. And I was like man, okay, if I can get into that rare space of a character, where people empathize but still kind of understand [his motives], but still are taken aback by...it will all work out." And work out it does. Keep in mind Ledger won an Oscar for his performance as the Joker. Could Jordan follow suit?

Speaking of the Academy, I want to make a bold prediction: Black Panther could be the superhero movie to break into the Best Picture race at the Oscars. Stay with me here. The Dark Knight getting snubbed is one of the reasons we now have the potential for 10 Best Picture nominees each year, and audiences were very upset by this year's snub of Wonder Woman -- a film that became a cultural revelation last summer.

Between the cultural importance of this film, which features Marvel’s first black superhero, the push to legitimize superhero films as art, as well as recent snubs of black films like Straight Outta Compton in 2016, Black Panther very well could make waves with the Academy. Loganbroke through this year as the first superhero film to be recognized for a writing award (Best Adapted Screenplay), while Morrison made history as the first woman to be nominated for Best Cinematography. The cast also boasts two Oscar-winners (Nyong’o and Forest Whitaker) and another two nominees (Angela Bassett and the newly-minted Best Actor nominee, Daniel Kaluuya) -- not to mention the walking trophy case that is Sterling K. Brown. So, might we see a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole in 2019? Another cinematography nomination for Morrison? Best Costume Design for Ruth E. Carter? Best Original Song for Kendrick Lamar and SZA's anthemic "All the Stars"? It feels like the visual effects categories are a given, but perhaps Best Supporting Actor recognition for Jordan? Best Director for Coogler? Best Picture for everyone?

All I'm saying is that things could get interesting come next year's awards season. For now, just be satisfied with the best the MCU has to offer. Wakanda forever!

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Lupita Nyong'o Says 'Black Panther' Is 'Writing the Rule Book' for Future Marvel Movies (Exclusive)

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Manga the Week of 6/26/19

SEAN: The last week in June is just as packed as the one before, believe it or not.

Bookwalker starts us off with the 8th volume of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done.

Dark Horse has the 2nd Berserk Deluxe Edition and a new HP Lovecraft Collection, At the Mountains of Madness.

ASH: Both the first Lovecraft collection and the first deluxe edition of Berserk were great!

SEAN: Denpa’s debut is actually a reissue of sort. Super Dimensional Love Gun, by cult favorite Shintaro Kago, was put out a couple of years ago by hentai publisher Fakku. Now Denpa is re-releasing it, and we get a digital version to book. It’s a collection of Kago’s work, meaning it’s trippy as hell.

ASH: It really is.

MELINDA: I tend not to go for hentai, but the title of this collection is hard to resist, as is its description as “trippy as hell.”

SEAN: I’m not sure Super Dimensional Love Gun is hentai, despite its old publisher. Kago is not really something that arouses so much as morbidly fascinates.

Denpa also has the 2nd Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, for those who want more of the Fate/Stay Night Golden Ending.

J-Novel Club, novel-wise, has An Archdemon’s Dilemma 6 and In Another World with My Smartphone 15.

On the manga end, they debut A Very Fairy Apartment, an Overlap title that has the protagonist discover, well, the apartment is full of fairies. It’s a 4-koma, and going for cute, I suspect.

There’s also the debut of the manga adaptation of I Shall Survive Using Potions!.

Kodansha has a print debut, sort of, with Card Captor Sakura: Collector’s Edition 1. New translation, new scans, new bells and whistles, etc.

MICHELLE: Different still from the Dark Horse translation? Sheesh.

ASH: From what I’ve seen, it does look like a really nice release. I haven’t decided if I’m going to double-dip or not yet, though.

ANNA: Yeah, I’m glad when series can stay in print but sometimes I wonder what the point is.

MELINDA: I really loved the Dark Horse edition, and it’s hard to justify buying it again as much as I adore the series. It’s SO TEMPTING, though.

SEAN: Also in print is Fire Force 16, a complete box set of Princess Jellyfish, the 5th Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and (for real, I think) Tokyo Tarareba Girls 7.

ASH: Akiko Higashimura’s work is so good! I’m glad that Princess Jellyfish is getting even more love.

And also Witch Hat Atelier 2, which deserves its own line as it’s so awesome.

MICHELLE: It’s definitely on my list!

ASH: The first volume was gorgeous. I’m looking forward to the next volume.

ANNA: I still need to unearth and read the first volume, the stacks of manga in my house are out of control.

SEAN: Digitally we see Ao-chan Can’t Study 8, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 4, Can You Just Die My Darling? 9, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 14, My Boy in Blue 10, Tokyo Alice 12, and the 7th and final The Walls Between Us.

One Peace has a 3rd Hinamatsuri.

ASH: The first two volumes were ridiculous in a good way.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts, but quite a bit of ongoing. We see the 2nd Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement, the 4th Arifureta manga, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 3, Hour of the Zombie 9, the print edition of the 6th Make My Abilities Average! novel, The Ideal Sponger Life 2, the 2nd Reincarnated as a Sword novel digitally, and Satoko and Nada 2. Been waiting for more of Satoko and Nada.

MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be picking up Satoko and Nada and I remain curious about Dragon Goes House-Hunting, as well.

ASH: Satoko and Nada is so good! I’ll be picking up the Ancient Magus’ Bride supplement, too.

ANNA: Haven’t read Satoko and Nada, but I did get it for my library!

SEAN: Vertical has a new Monogatari Series, this one a short story collection so big it got split in two. Koyomimonogatari: Calendar Tale 1 has the first six short stories.

The Comics end of Vertical has To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 8.

Viz has a digital-only debut with The Right Way to Make Jump!, a series that is about… well… creating manga in a Jump! style.

Yen digital has a 23rd Corpse Princess. They’ve also got Vols. 1-7.5 of My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong As I Expected’s novel out digitally as a catchup.

Yen has FOUR new debuts. The first is Little Miss P (Seiri-chan), a josei title from Enterbrain about the adventures of an anthropomorphic period. As in menstruation. It is apparently quite fun.

MICHELLE: …

ASH: I’ll admit, I’m curious. I do tend to like Enterbrain titles, and I’m always looking for more josei.

ANNA: Huh. I wonder, it could be good or terrible with that premise.

MELINDA: I don’t know how to feel about this. I mean, it probably is fun, but I dislike periods quite a lot, so it’s hard to feel jovial about them.

SEAN: Kaiju Girl Caramelise is a new title from the creator of Beasts of Abigaile, though this one runs in seinen magazine Comic Alive. It’s about a girl with an illness that makes her body do weird things, and they guy she falls for hard.

ANNA: Beasts of Abigaile was pretty fun so I am curious about this.

SEAN: KonoSuba is quite popular, and the most popular character is arguably Megumin, so why not have a spinoff? Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! is based on the light novel (due out from Yen later in the year), and features Megumin and all the rest of your favorites from the Crimson Magic Clan! And Yunyun.

And The Monster and the Beast (Bakemono to Kedamono) is not by Natsume Ono, though the art style may fool you. It’s a BL title from Kadokawa’s Asuka Ciel, and seems to be the male equivalent of Beauty and the Beast Girl.

MICHELLE: This one looks really nifty.

ASH: I plan on checking it out!

MELINDA: It sounds like my thing just from the art style alone.

SEAN: And lastly, there’s a 3rd manga volume for Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online.

What manga are you sitting and reading immediately?

By: Sean Gaffney