A darker version of My Hero Academia? A middle-aged guy working for magical girls? A cookbook straight out of Laputa? Yeah, we’ve got all the insanity and creativity you expect out of manga and anime in today’s column, with new releases including the latest volume of Uncle from Another World and brand new series as well!

Castle in the Sky: The Official Cookbook • It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love (Vol. 3) • Magical Midlifer (Vol. 1) • The Raven Dark Hero: From White Knight to Villain (Vol. 1) • Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim (Vol. 1) • Uncle from Another World (Vol. 12)

Magical Midlifer, Manga Vol. 1

Just looking at the cover of Magical Midlifer, you gotta assume that it’s gonna be a hoot, right? Well, yes, it is that—but surprisingly much more as well. Tanaka, the middle-aged cover boy for the volume, is a behind-the-scenes support employee for magical girls, who are strong enough to take on witches (and if they’re stylish enough, to build a social media following by filming their fights), but not nearly powerful enough to combat the evil demons that arise from a witch’s defeat. That’s where Tanaka comes in. There’s already a lot of depth in just that basic introduction—Tanaka’s role and powers, the social media influence on superhero mahou shoujo, the creepy horror element involved (and as is later shown, unexpectedly violent and gory scenes)—and although none of it is original per se, it’s woven well together. I was impressed too by the world-building. Also, Tanaka is super fun to root for. But the last third of volume one keeps expanding the tropes and elements of the story more and more, including further transformations, corporate bad guys, and cross-dressing magical boys that really extend the story too far, and in doing so, reveal that there might not be as much depth to this world as I first perceived. Sometimes when you aim for everything, you get nothing. And while it’s too early to bag on the series that much (and we’ve yet to see the other middle-aged OP guys who are apparently part of the main cast, based on the manga’s description), I was admittedly disappointed by these final chapters after whipping through the initial ones, and I’m not particularly optimistic about the series moving forward. Here’s hoping that Magical Midlifer grounds its series just a little bit in a few key ideas, instead of continuing to expand them until, like magic, all the readers have disappeared. ~ Twwk

Magical Midlifer is published by Yen Press.

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Uncle from Another World, Manga Vol. 12

There comes a point in any outrageously funny manga series where the humor becomes old hat. It’s not quite so “outrageous” anymore. At that point, the questions become: Can this series remain funny with the element of surprise gone? The answer for Uncle from Another World is a resounding yes. The humor in this series is just so good and can be met in a variety of ways—Uncle is so awkward that he acts weird or misinterprets things in a dark fantasy universe, but also remains awkward (but lovable) in our universe; the mangaka is endlessly creative in filling in these gags. They never get tiresome. Meanwhile, we care about Uncle (as well as his nephew and “niece”), and it’s so much fun to see his relationship dynamics with other characters in the series. In volume twelve, that means between him and Alicia, as Uncle makes an appearance in her city to ask her to exorcise the Corpse King from him. Of course, nothing goes as planned, leading to an adventure and many, many, often dark laughs. Even after all these volumes, Uncle from Another World continues to prove that it can deliver consistent and strong humor, page after page, and a story that matches the series’s weird sensibilities while leading us to care about what happens. What an excellent manga! ~ Twwk

Uncle from Another World is published by Yen Press.

^{READ Reviews of Uncle from Another World: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol. 8 // Vol. 9 // Vol. 10 // Vol. 11}

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The Raven Dark Hero: From White Knight to Villain, Manga Vol. 1

Kouki Suou is an unpowered high schooler in a world where most people have powers—think My Hero Academia, but darker. Quite a bit darker. Still, like Midoriya of MHA, Kouki has a dream of being a hero and upholding justice, by joining the National Defense Force. Since this path is only open to the “Gifted,” however, he takes to low-key vigilante work downtown, seeking to make the world a better place in his own small way. But when this leads him to cross paths with a superpowered villain, Kouki ends up dead—a massive hole punched right through his torso. Shortly thereafter, however, Kouki awakes once more—alive, healed, and now in possession of the villain’s ability. Turns out Kouki had an ability of his own all along…it just requires him to die to use it. But his next clash with a villain leaves him injured, and in compromising circumstances to boot. Now the NDF is after him, and as Kouki seeks refuge from them, he begins to learn about the dark side of the so-called good guys… Despite the clichéd-sounding title, this was a fun read. The story takes a more cynical view of the world than MHA (or even MHA: Vigilantes), but so far hasn’t been as nihilistic as, say, Watchmen. Kouki’s gift has potential to make him very OP, allowing him to collect ability after ability, but it also comes with some hefty downsides, so he is far from being Superman at this point. The story thus manages to be dark but not depressing, “fundark” instead of ”grimdark,” if you will. My one complaint, and it’s a small one, is that Kouki himself is a pretty bland anti-hero. But the draw of this story will be the plot, not the characters, so I’m okay with that. I’ll be back for more. ~ Dr. Steve

The Raven Dark Hero: From White Knight to Villain is published by Titan Comics.

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Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim, Manga Vol. 1

Francesca has one wish: to have friends and live a normal life. However, that’s something that’s been far out of her reach, from her past life as a granddaughter of a yakuza boss to her present as the reincarnated heroine in a mafia dating sim. Fortunately, she knows how the plot unfolds and should be able to easily call off her engagement to the “final boss” of the game, Leonardo, and leave the crime world for good. So, it shouldn’t be all that hard, right? Right? This is easily one of my favorite things I’ve read all year, and it has lived up to all my expectations and more! I’m not even sure where to start, because there were so many elements that I found deeply refreshing! Maybe, since this is sort of thrown in with villainess manga, I would say I loved that Francesca did not follow the whole reincarnated trope of trying to keep the plot the same (minus the “red flag” ending for herself), but instead purposely changed it so she could hopefully make friends outside of the potential love interests. Yes, friends! Not so she wouldn’t meet her doom at the very end at the hand of the villain, but instead so she could have a normal and peaceful life! I admired her for that as well as for how cool she was! And when I say cool, I mean that, yes, she is such a cool and awesome heroine, but also that she doesn’t panic when she’s kidnapped! She literally does her best in every situation to stay calm when her life could be on the line, and I was incredibly blown away by that! Overall, I loved everything about this! The mafia aspect was fantastic, all the characters are so cool, and I enjoyed finding myself on the edge of my seat one moment and then laughing the next! Truly, it was a wonderful reading experience, and I will for sure be getting volume two! Highly recommend! ~ Laura A. Grace

Reincarnated in a Mafia Dating Sim is published by TokyoPop.

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It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love, Manga Vol. 3

Sana and Kanato-senpai have met the social media milestone! Now they both can finally start moving forward romantically with those very obvious romantic feelings, right? It would seem so, but of course, nothing is ever that easy in a shoujo manga, so hopefully progress can be made at the upcoming school trip! Yet wait a minute, there is another pretty face being revealed?! I think this is the first time in a very long time that I felt some strong second male lead syndrome! Don’t get me wrong! I love Sana and Kanato, but when things happened about halfway through, I was shocked! I felt just as captivated as Sana, and I fear for my heart because this character may have a piece of it. Ha! Rewinding, though, I did struggle a little bit with this volume. I loved the opening chapter and was excited for what was to come, but then I didn’t feel quite as excited after it? Once the class trip happens, though, my excitement returned, and I enjoyed seeing Sana on edge (please forgive me, sweet heroine!!) because there is the fun “danger” of her and Kanato trying to sneak off and be together! Hehe! But the things with her friend were intense for this series, and I’m worried about what will happen later. I truly hope there will be no fallout at any point! With the other guy, all I can say is I am happily excited to see what happens next there! Ha! I truly hope everything will be okay for Sana, though, because despite all of what I’ve shared, Sana loves Kanato, and I want her to be happy by his side. I hope that Kanato will see this and that everything will be okay! ~ Laura A. Grace

It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love is published by Seven Seas.

READ Reviews of It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2

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Castle in the Sky: The Official Cookbook

As any Studio Ghibli fan knows, cooking plays a major in almost every film of theirs—from illustrating economics and politics in Princess Mononoke to making us salivate (and demonstrating gluttony) in Spirited Away, the sumptuous food that the animators put on screen always comes alive. With VIZ Media’s Studio Ghibli cookbooks, you get the opportunity to transfer some of those meals to your own table. I tried making “Working-Late Meatball Soup,” one of the recipes from the new Castle in the Sky cookbook, and the final result was quite tasty, if I say so myself (check out this short reel of me making said dish below)! I got the feeling that this might have been what hardworking men would have wanted to eat at the end of a long day in the 19th-century, Europeanish setting of the film. It wasn’t too hard to make either, though complicated enough that you still felt a sense of accomplishment upon finishing. The rest of the book features many other recipes, as well as a ton of screenshots and explanations from the film. Ghibli fans will enjoy collecting this work even if they don’t make the recipes. It’s a lovely cookbook for otaku to own! ~ Twwk

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Castle in the Sky: The Official Cookbook 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.