Is there a word in the English language more perfectly suited to bringing forth titillated giggles from 12-year old boys than “boobies?
Don’t answer that – it was meant as a rhetorical question.
In Volume 3 of Ninin ga Shinobuden, Onsokomaru is a jerk, the various Sasukes are a freakish kind of “noble savage,” and Shinobu is still sweet with a little light lechery on the side. Kaede is, of course, still living in hell having all sorts of fun with the ninjas.
This volume is more of the same kind of thing as usual: Shinobu gets small, the ninjas all help Onsokomaru “clear” the levels of a game in his mind, Shinobu finds a baby elephant in her bed, the Ninjas get lost in a forest, a typhoon comes and other nonsense.
For Yuri fans there’s more Shinobu/Kaede time, and the usual sorts of hints that Shinobu’s feelings are what they are. In the chapter where female ninja instructor Izumi shows up looking for someone to pose as a finacee – and we learn what we already knew – that Shinobu’s the best man – and in a later chapter, the best ninja – of the bunch. :-) And we have to wonder…if Kaede doesn’t like Shinobu “that way,” you know, why on earth is she still coming to the ninja school at all? Because I don’t know too many “friends” who would make visits to Bedlam. Every day.
The reproduction is much more consistent than previous volumes, the tones all reproduce nice enough, and the translation seems tight. Because this book is drawn practically border to border, the translation notesget crammed in to the tight spaces between panels. But you know, it works okay. No complaint from me.
Best of all, there’s the riveting author’s notes about Koga chewing a lot of gum to lose weight.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 6 – this volume at least has a variety of set-ups for the usual chaos
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 3
Overall – 6
Unfortunately, we probably won’t be seeing Volume 4 in print. I only care because it has the best Kaede x Shinobu chapter in the series. Oh well.
Super thanks to Michela W for sponsoring today’s review!
Ah, the perfect bathroom reading. The 8-page stories are short enough to get through quickly, there’s nothing vaguely thought-provoking or emotionally-wrenching, it’s frequently laugh-out-loud funny, which in turn provides entertainment for the rest of the household wondering what you’re doing in there, and hey, a good one-third of the jokes belong there anyway.
But on a more serious note, it’s bad enough that 2×2 4 probably won’t see the light of day, but the descent of Infinity into either raving insanity or financial hell (given their general good taste in titles, I’m willing to suggest that they haven’t completely gone stark raving bonkers) means we’ll never see Iono-sama vol. 2!!
“Unfortunately, we probably won’t be seeing Volume 4 in print.”
Huh? Wait a minute, where did that come from? Did the publishing company fold?
Infinity has already stated that they are cutting their printing way back and moving to ebooks for many titles. This is most likely a combination of cost and distribution issues.
My guess is that you’ll see Iono 2 in ebook form and not see Shinobuden 4 at all. However, this is just a guess. I have no problem being wrong about either of these.
OT: I was pretty excited about buying Iono, but now I’m reconsidering it. The guys at Infinity obviously can’t recognise the bibliophiliac joy of holding a brand new book in your hands, something e-copies can never give you.
They *do* understand it. They can’t afford to print books that no one buys. So, if you don’t buy a book, because they won’t print a different book, you’re part of the problem, and you’re sending the very opposite message to the one you want to send.
Buy Iono 1 and tell them you’d buy 2.
That is why i always say that the only way to “support” Yuri is to buy. Everything else is just wasted effort. The way to prove that a book is worth printing is to buy it.
I come from the year 2020
Anyway I was just wondering when you say… “Best Kaede x Shinobu chapter in the series. Oh well.”
Do you mind describing it? Because i’ll never get to read it and i’m dying to know
Sorry, that post is from 7 years ago and I barely remember the series. Undoubtedly they were very cute with each other.
Ah it’s okay, thanks for responding! I was hoping for some conclusive ending on their relationship (like Kaede maybe reciprocating Shinobu’s feelings?) but that doesn’t seem likely.
Gosh… 7 years. I know this is old but wow, i’m late. Thanks again for responding though!
It’s a comedy and Kaede’s cluelessness is one of the jokes, so no, no resolution. ^_^