On this week’s Reader’s Corner, we review two highly-anticipated premieres—the first volumes of Mono, the newest work from the mangaka behind Laid-back Camp, and bloody historical romance, Firefly Wedding. What did we think of these new works? Do they live up to the billing? That and more on this week’s column!

Brunhild the Dragonslayer (Vol. 1) • Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering (Vol. 2) • Firefly Wedding (Vol. 1) • Issak (Vol. 11) • Mono (Vol. 1) • SHY (Vol. 8)

Issak, Manga Vol. 11

Most men would not welcome being drafted for military service in the garrison of a fortress about to come under siege, but for Issak, it at least serves his purpose. Where the corpse is, the vultures—and Lorenzo—will gather. The stakes are even higher this time around, as Lorenzo now has two prototype copies of their master’s guns in hand and needs only an opportunity to prove their worth to his patron, the brutish but capable General Spinola. That Italian mercenary commander may not have General Wallenstein’s rare genius for battlefield tactics, but he’s more than sharp enough to recognize a game-changing weapon when he sees one. And Lorenzo crippling a legendary Dutch fortress with nothing more than a few snipers would certainly be game-changing. The next time Issak and his forsworn former comrade meet, something will have to give… Issak has struggled in battle without his master’s masterwork matchlock gun, and in this volume we see him facing the greatest individual mismatch of the series so far. But the hotter the heat, the stronger the steel, and this mismatch also drives his character into a corner where he has to face some crucial personal questions head-on—the greatest of which is a question of time. Any reader who’s been paying attention will have noticed by this point that Issak has already been hunting Lorenzo for five years, but it’s never been directly addressed in-story until now. In Vinland Saga, Thorfinn, son of Thors, kept blindly charging ahead on his quest for vengeance for years past any sane quitting point in the name of Viking pride, and we all know what that did to him. Will Issak do the same and cling to Samurai honor like a mad dog with a gnawed old bone, or will he find a way to reach—if perhaps not peace and enlightenment, then at least some personal growth? ~ WacOtaku

Issak is published by Kodansha.

READ Reviews of Issak: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol.6 // Vol.7 // Vol.8 // Vol.9 // Vol.10

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Mono, Manga Vol. 1

From the master of slice-of-life and creator of Laid-Back Camp, Afro, comes a new series about cute girls doing a wide variety of cute things, with a couple of irresponsible cute young women serving as instigators and chauffeurs also thrown in for good measure. Ostensibly, the series follows the Film Study Group and Photography Club, which merge due to low membership, but although some photos and videos are taken along the way (beautifully rendered and at times quite technically impressive, as with the five-point perspective of the fish-eye lens), the focus of the group is not nearly so, um, mono-centric. Instead, the girls and their adult enablers basically do a different cute thing around Yamanashi prefecture in each chapter, from visiting wineries (but not drinking of course), or finding the perfect cured ham, to entering an eating contest photo rally (where a certain slightly ditzy, perpetually hungry high schooler and her nee-san and father make a cameo!) and, of course, making a holy manga/anime pilgrimage to all the top sites from a certain camping series that seems to be wildly popular at the moment. There’s a lot of wink wink nod nodding, breaking of fourth walls, and witty scenarios that make it clear Afro firmly had their tongue in their cheek when writing this one! Together, the chapters basically make up a bucket list for any self-respecting slice-of-life mangaka, by whom I mean both Afro and the lead adult character, Haruno, who is a mangaka in perpetual search of cute high school girl material. The rest of the cast is well defined, with An standing out particularly due to her unusually pragmatic ambition in life: forget about youth and adulthood, her sights are set on retirement, which she plans to spend sipping tea, admiring a traditional Japanese garden with her best friend. I can respect that. All in all, it makes for a zany romp that is sure to delight fans of the genre and Afro in particular! (Also, there’s an anime coming soon!) ~ claire

Mono is published by Yen Press.

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Brunhild the Dragonslayer, Manga Vol. 1

The first two chapters set up a fairly fascinating alternate Earth where Eden still exists and is inhabited by dragons and other mystical beasts. When violent humans attempt to conquer the idyllic land, they are met with ruin—all save a little girl, who had been kidnapped and brought along by the bandits, and now is taken under the wing of the dragon king, who shares his own magical blood with her to save her life. In return, she wins his heart, as he discovers the joys of surrogate fatherhood and raises the little tyke. Until, that is, chapter 3, when suddenly, the girl, now aged 12, has the body of a voluptuous adult woman and no clothes with which to cover it, and after a few pages spent with her “father” in human form, makes a move on him. By the end of the volume, it becomes clear that this sudden detour to “Oh No They Didn’t Land” is a convoluted way to legitimize the girl’s single-minded determination to avenge the death of her “father”/object of her desire when he is later slain by her actual birth father, who also, incidentally, has weird sexual tension with the girl after capturing and holding her prisoner. There’s more uncomfortable stuff, but I think you get the picture. This one is needlessly going down an array of perverted paths. None of them are necessary to sell the revenge plot; children want to avenge their parents without there being pseudo-incest, pseudo-bestial undertones going on. I shudder to think what lies ahead for Brunhild and this plot. It’s a shame, because the art is really quite nice. But count me emphatically out on this one. ~ claire

Brunhild the Dragonslayer is published by Yen Press.

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SHY, Manga Vol. 8

The battle for the hearts of the Tennoji sisters continues! They now seem to have merged into a single fell being, with Ai being consumed by Mai, who remains bent on destruction and vengeance. The only one left standing in her way is Shy…and her new sword? Is that Ai’s mystical heirloom that has just materialized in our timid leader’s hands? But Shy doesn’t know the first thing about swordplay, so how can she stand against a master of the art like Mai, who has been hardened by years of serving as her clan’s assassin? Shy does what she does best and goes straight to the heart of the matter, literally! Finding herself deep in the recesses of Mai’s heart, Shy locates her friend and learns at last the full heart-breaking story of these tragic twins. We’ve been working up to this backstory reveal for quite some time now, and it’s quite satisfying to see it all come together, particularly as it involves a good dose of character growth for our lead heroine as well along the way. The art is explosive in the supernatural and martial-themed pages, but balances the quiet, innocent moments of childhood nicely too, reminding us that before her heart turned black, Mai was a sensitive little girl, too. I won’t lie and say I can always follow the philosophical meanderings of the dialogue in this series—it sometimes seems to degrade into Nice Sentiments and Words That Sound Good—but the core of the confrontation and redemption arc here is still moving. I just hope we can wrap up this battle soon and get back to some of the more character-focused, slice-of-life moments from the first few volumes. I could use a moment to catch my breath with this one! And I’m sure the heroes could too. ~ claire

SHY is published by Yen Press.

READ: Reviews of SHY Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol. 7

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Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga, Vol. 2

How cute is this series? Volume two continues with the same 90s manga vibe as volume one, as Hajime and Emi go to an MTG tournament to test their skills. Of course, Hajime is overconfident (big mistake), but Emi is challenged, too, by a new, cute character. The tourney is really an excuse to add this new friend and rival to the mix, adding another fun dimension to the series and drawing the two main characters (and potential lovebirds) closer together. Very cute. There’s other stuff to love as well. Just as with volume one, a strength of the manga is that this sweet coming-of-age story not only references the 90s (there’s a really cool callback to Daisuke Matsuzaka’s high school championship for baseball fans!), but reads like a 90s romance series, making it a throwback in tone as well as setting. The other major strength is how detailed the references to Magic: The Gathering are. I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but I will note that the mangaka grew up on the TCG and loves it; I think that passion will transfer to readers of this manga who are likewise fans of MTG. I was also intrigued by the longer stories at play here, both the look ahead toward the future, with reference to some pivotal event happening on New Year’s Eve of 1999, and the smaller, more personal story of Emi’s unhappiness at home. I am loving this manga all around—it is proving itself to be far more than some attempt to cash in on MTG’s popularity; it is an adorable and thoughtful series that embraces that card game’s community, 90s kids, and all lovers of coming-of-age and young romance manga. ~ Twwk

Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga is published by VIZ Media.

Read: Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga Vol. 1 Review

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Firefly Wedding Manga, Vol. 1

Volume one of Firefly Wedding frequently made me feel uneasy—but I finished it feeling a sense of hope for the main character and for the series as a whole. That main character is Satoko, a beautiful and diligent young woman who is working hard to make herself attractive for marriage, which is what her father desires for her. Her challenges are two-fold, living in a culture where she is treated like a commodity, and the critical fact that, because of a heart condition, Matoko has been told that it’s unlikely that she’ll make it far into adulthood. But she perseveres because of the warm relationship she has with her father (a far cry from the bitterness her stepmother and half-sister feel toward her). Plans change, however, when Satoko is kidnapped. At the mercy of violent thugs, she must rely on her would-be executioner to be her savior. While all the talk about her “value” sets the stage early on for the struggles that Satoko must endure, the kidnapping turns the series toward violence. Satoko’s world is turned upside-down as she partners with the other hero of the tale, Shinpei, who has an immense bloodlust and more than a few screws loose. But despite situations going from bad to worse, and Satoko being at the mercy of the whims of evil and violent men, mangaka Oreco Tachibana actually appears to stay her hand: while plunging her heroine into the worst of circumstances, Tachibana prevents her from being raped or mutilated and gives her an unusual bit of control in her situation. Still, the tone is frightening because Satoko—smart and kind—is a heroine we root for; we expect her to deal with societal and family expectations, not killers and a life of prostitution. Of course, that surprise is what makes the series unique and engaging. A little harder for me to enjoy is the character of the “groom” in this “firefly wedding,” Shinpei, who is shown almost entirely in a despicable light in this volume. But the bright spots in volume one—Satoko’s characterization, the fast-paced and thrilling narrative, and the Meiji Era worldbuilding—have me convinced that future volumes will have much to offer, including perhaps a groom I’ll care about as much as the bride. ~ Twwk

Firefly Wedding is published by VIZ Media.

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“Reader’s Corner” is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works they’re reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works, and those older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.