Archive for the Series Category


I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 5

May 3rd, 2024

Two women, one with long blonde hair, one with medium length dark brown hair, wearing lab coats, hold hands and smile gently into each other's eyes, while sparks of lightening flash behind them.In I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 5, Rae, Claire, the main cast and we, the listeners, learn the “Truth of the World,” and it is not anything we could have expected.

But, first, the combined power of Rae and Claire and their children, Aleah and May, will unlock powerful magic, will complete a coup, and remake the world entirely…. and then they will take on the three Archdemons and finally the powerful Demon Queen herself.

And we will marvel as this fantasy isekai turns into something else, entirely.

And, then, they will all go home to live, one presumes, happily every after.

This final volume of inori’s epic fantasy series pulls in a lot of the random loose ends that had been strewn about the narrative. Why, for instance, does Rae keep running into people with her exact face? Why does magic work the way it does? Why does the Demon Queen want to destroy humanity? All these questions will be answered. If you have not yet read the ending, I expect it will surprise you. It certainly made me rethink everything I knew about this story and the characters.

Once again, the whole has been narrated by Courtney Shaw and she has done a fine job. She committed to the choices made in earlier volumes, so anything that rubbed me the wrong way remained, and, once again, a choice was made for pronunciation that was at odds with my choice, but I’ll get over that. ^_^ I hope inori-sensei was happy with the choices made and that really is all that matters.^_^

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 10

If you haven’t been moved to read the books (and I am not the person to insist you do) or you have, and really love them,  I highly recommend listening to the audiobooks for a new way to appreciate them, to engage with the story or just to sit back and hear the characters come to life.

And the story is not quite done with! Next moth will see the debut of I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner Audiobook, Volume 1, the first of three volume telling the story from Claire and others’ points of view. As I said with the LN editions, these contain a lot of original content, so don’t skip them. There is a lot happening from other people’s perspectives. Only the Google Play link is available so far, but I’ll add the rest as they become available.

 





Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 8 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ )

May 2nd, 2024

A young woman wears an elaborate costume of faux-miltary-style uniform with lavender sash and gold brooch, her hair done up with flowers and a veil. She wears fancy white glove, ear piercing and heavy white makeup. A few weeks ago, I reviewed HabuCore F, the 10-years-later epilogue to Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード), which I described as “a gonzo battle/school manga series.” I really meant “one of the greatest gonzo battle/school manga series ever written.” Today, I am about to revisit the other.

Hana no Asuka-gumi is the other greatest gonzo battle/school manga series ever written. Where HxB is hilarious and everyone is an idiot is the most delightful ways, in Hana no Asuka-gumi, everyone is deadly serious. Hardly anyone ever smiles.  To remember where we were, and why I was screaming at a volume of manga, please go back and read my review of Volume 7. It is critical that you understand that I began this volume in mid-scream.

Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 8 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ ) begins with former Area Master Kanae having completely broken Asuka’s cool (something that never happens, but happened twice last volume) by appearing to look like the dead and gone love of Asuka’s life, Yohko. It throws Asuka off a notch and….she loses a fight.

For reasons, Kanae lies and tells everyone that Asuka won. Asuka is, finally, done. She’s done with being the target of Hibari-sama’s gangs and all her little weird groups and she tired of seeing decent kids ruining their lives. So she decides to face Hibari-sama and peace out of the Zenchuu Ura’s bullshit, at last.

The cover image you see, is the costume Asuka is dressed in when she faces Hibari-sama for what Asuka expects to the be the last time.

Hibari-sama, enraged at Asuka’s refusal to come back to her, still, slaps Asuka across the face with her fan. Asuka gets to walk away, but she does manage to kick the shit out of Kurenai on her way out. Snort.

This is the whackest love triangle ever. A 14-year old warlord, the 16-year old empress of the girl gangs of Tokyo and a dead two-bit teenaged criminal who talks to Asuka from the great beyond.  Asuka walks away, still done.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

The School Wars are over, but the Battle of the deities has begun and undoubtedly, Asuka will be at the center of it, once again. One more volume to go.

I’m on Team Dead Yohko.





Kase-san and Yamada. Volume 3

April 29th, 2024

Two young women, a tall one one with short brown hair and a shorter one with collar length pale hair, dressed in white berets and red coats, surrounded by images of pastel christmas tree balls College life has become a little more normalized for both Kase-san and Yamada. Yamada’s got a job, and loves her classes. Kase-san is still struggling with her unregulated emotions about Yamada, and with her so focused on Yamada, she’s not really noticing what’s going on in her her own dorm room, where Kase-san’s roommate, Fukami, is going through some stuff on her own.

When the school festivals collide, Kase-san finds herself making bad choices – again – but this time it’s Yamada who stands up and talks Kase-san down. And it’s Yamada who asks Kase-san to move in together. It’s pretty clear that Kase-san’s imagination is still a problem, but Yamada…she’s grown. And in doing so, she’s going to help Kase-san do so as well.

It’s so interesting that we still have this manga, more than a decade after it began. As a result, we’re still watching Kase-san and Yamada mature in slower-than-real time. As a result, this manga retains the sweet, slow style we became familiar with originally and we’re just that much happier when these two find a moment of special joy.

Now we just need Kase-san to get over that issue with jealousy. She’s about to feel what it’s like on the other side of that equation.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8, Yamada is a 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

As always, the team at Seven Seas has done a bang-up join in bringing over a manga that I am still amazed continues! I kind of want to see them both graduate and move into the adult world together…and still keep growing together.





Whisper Me A Love Song Anime Campaigns in Tokyo & Kyoto, Guest Post by Roxie

April 12th, 2024

Tomorrow, the anime for Whisper Me A Love Song / Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau (ささやくように恋を唄う) debuts on Japanese TV and streaming on HIDIVE. Our intrepid  Correspondent Roxie is in Japan right now and has found any number of adorable promotional campaigns and items for sale. She’s graciously traipsed all over to grab us pictures of the largest Yuri anime marketing campaign I have ever seen. Settle in for the utter cuteness of Takeshima Eku’s charming first love story. Take it away, Roxie!

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We came to Japan for the cherry blossoms, and were rewarded with a big surprise campaign of Whisper Me A Love Song, or known as Sasakoi over here.

Our first surprise was reported by a friend who saw the trailer being advertised on the Yunika Vision screen in Shinjuku on the Alpen Tower. Sadly, we never caught it again after April 1st during our tight schedule…

The second surprise was at Animate HQ in Ikebukuro with an entire staircase wall level dedicated to Sasakoi. Lots of cute large panels for us to take in.

Large banner advertising Whisper Me A Love Song" Yuri anime at Ikebukuro Animate.

 


 


 

Participating Gratte Cafes, found at Animate stores across various cities, has included a Sasakoi drink and cookie campaign. You can pick any design for the drink, where they will print them onto the thick cream. They look rather stunning and sharp to our surprise.

 A purchase of either allows you to add ¥500 for a coaster of 7 options! Because of luck being a factor for getting these gacha coasters, it took us roughly 10 tries to collect them all! The green tea lattes were the sweetest, with coffee being the least, and the milk tea as in-between. I’m sadly sick of green tea lattes now.


 

 

If you don’t want to drink your sugar, feel free to pick one of the cute cookies instead. Since I can’t eat cute faces, I cannot give any commentary on how it tastes.

 


 

Melonbooks did have a poster for the latest volume at various stores.

 

 

All three chain shops offered add-on goods to the manga volumes. Animate edition offered a cute illustration card for their 9th volume. Melonbooks went all out and offered a unique clear file for each specific volume purchased. Gamers are also offering individualized illustration cards for each volume as well.

 

Not to be outdone by Ikebukuro, Akihabara gave us the chance encounter of seeing the book and anime advertised on multiple pillars in a prime spot in front of Atre at the Electric town exit.

 

Our journey still continues to Kyoto where there is a special collab event with Eiden Railways and limited merch goods. The girls are dressed in cute train station hats and outfit as can badges and acrylic stands. The station master apologized that they were all sold out! Being in Kyoto, there is also a yukata edition for the main pair as a tapestry and clear file folders. Eiden even has a small image of the girls in front of the train!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animate Kyoto also collaborated the event with some yukata acrylics, canvas, and pass holders. There was only the latter two left, but we got to admire the shikishi board at least.

 

 

 

Compared to other recent yuri animes of the last year, this has been an amazing push the higher ups have put into this campaign. We hope you’re excited for this series’ anime adaptation!





HabuCore F

April 4th, 2024

On the right, a stern-faced woman with short dark hair and glasses, wearing a suit. On the left a red-haired woman in a scarf and red jacket over yellow tee shirt, smiling. Today’s post is less of a review than a story of how a chance encounter changed my life. ^_^

In the early 2000s, a reader of Okazu, touko_no_doriru_san was kind enough to gift me the very first issue of a series that would take up a lot of space in my brain for the next almost 20 years. Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード) was a gonzo battle/school manga series by someone whose art I  already loved as the doujinshi circle JESUS DRUG, Hayashiya Shizuru.

The original story was as follows: Kurogane Hayate, an energetic doofus enters Tenchi Academy (under, it turns out, false pretenses) in order to compete for money to wipe out the debt at the orphanage that took care of her and her twin sister, Nagi. To win, Hayate must find a partner to combat other teams with. Hayate ends up partnering with Mudo Ayana, a girl whose breakup with her last partner has traumatized her and made her swear off fighting. 

This all sounds very heavy – and, honestly, it is! There is a ton of deep, dark stuff here, but also so much more crazy, goofy nonsense and high-powered swordfighting action and quite a lot of violence. Gouting blood is a thing, but so are banana peel gags and the chairwoman of the school fighting to a song made famous by a real-world roller-blading boy band. The action was good, but what made this series shine was the characters. There are too many amazing characters to name – by 2015, there were 40 main characters in this series. Honestly, I was going to list out just a few, but in the end, I really can’t. ^_^

The series went through a lot of changes. A publisher shift in Japan meant that we only got the first 6 volumes in English. The series initially ended in 2013, with Hayate clearing the orphanage’s debt. In 2014, it began anew as Hayate x Blade 2 (Nyan), in which the school chairwoman Amachi Hitsugi creates an even nuttier battle royale, pitching all the students at the school, including an outsider group determined to take the school down completely, against one another. Students were split into “Heaven” and “Earth” teams and given dangerous and weirdly bizarre scenarios in order to fight one another. There was never any doubt who would win.

There were also 9(!) Drama CDs which live in my head rent-free, as masterworks of writing and voice-acting.

In 2018, we said good-bye to Hayate x Blade. As I said at the time, statistically speaking, one volume should have been less good than the others, but none of them were anything other than fantastic. The story ended, I was very happy with where and how it ended, which was on a gag that made me snort my drink out my nose. A perfect ending for this series.

But, selfishly, I want more. ^_^ I love epilogues in manga. I especially adore 10-years-later epilogues, to see what became of these people. I wanted that for this series.

Well last year, I got it. As part of the Habu Core, (Hayate x Buraydo Collection), Hayashiya-sensei put together a doujinshi of commission art of the HxB characters (squee) and a series of 10 years later sketches of all 40 (plus 1) of the main characters, plus some high-school-era comics for those pairs. And once again, it ends on a gag so utterly out of the pale, but completely in character for Amachi Hitsugi, that I choked on my drink. 

Habu Core F is the perfect epilogue to the perfect manga series.

I’ll never forget this series. At least in part because when Hayashiya-sensei was dissolving her backlog of manuscript pages, I purchased some of the panels for myself and plan on having them framed and added to my art gallery in my office this year.  ^_^

Once again, we say good bye to Hayate x Blade. I’m glad that Sid and Nancy seem pretty happy with their choices. ^_^