Who Killed the Hero makes a surprising return, Hiroto and Hideki’s zombie movie premieres, and finally, after all these years, we get an art book from CLAMP! We’re thankful for all that and more on this week’s Reader’s Corner, which also features new volumes from Steel of the Celestial Shadows and Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me! Scroll down to read our reviews!
CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO • Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret (Vol. 3) • Hirayasumi (Vol. 7) • Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me (Vol. 5) • Steel of the Celestial Shadows (Vol. 8) • The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School (Vol. 1) • Who Killed the Hero?, Vol. 2: Tale of the Prophecy
Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret, Manga Vol. 3
I’m happy to report that volume three is a return to form! After getting a little too generic in both storyline and characterization in volume two, volume three of Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret leans into the series’s best qualities—its leads and its artwork. Chapters in this volume don’t focus on one particular event, moving instead to all sorts of school and idol life goings-on, including buying thank you gifts, running into fans out in the streets, and taking late-night phone calls. Mangaka Kashiko Amane wisely uses these opportunities to continue hammering home Hiruno’s lack of self-confidence and Kuromiya’s “normalness.” I really couldn’t quite explain how it happened, but the latter was severely lacking in volume two, and because of that, it made her hard fall for Hiruno feel artificial and cringey; here, the feelings she’s developing feel more authentic as we get to know her better. I also continue to absolutely love the artwork; the surreal quality that Amane-sensei adds to so many panels adds life to the series as well. I’m very happy with volume three, and hopeful that the series continues on this cute and lovely path. ~ Twwk
Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret is published by Yen Press.
Read Reviews of Everyone’s Darling Has a Secret: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2
Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me, Manga Vol. 5
Oriana still can’t wrap her mind around the truth that Vincent, in this timeline, is really going to take her to the dance! She is on cloud nine from all this, but her friend, Yana, has seen a greater number of people challenging her guard, Azaq, for her hand due to a rumor floating around. But he’s so strong she does not need to worry, right? Listen, none of these volumes have been overly fluffy, and all of them have been very angsty and emotional at different points, but that ending was downright heartbreaking! If I hadn’t been afraid of freaking out my children while reading, I would have completely sobbed on my couch! And to think the beginning was so cute! Oh my goodness! If it wasn’t already super obvious that Vincent likes Oriana, then I don’t know what is! But it is so hard to unpack my feelings with this volume without going into spoilers. It is deeply emotional and heartbreaking, and I can only hope that good things will come for several of these precious characters. I don’t think there was one person that I wasn’t hurting for in some way because nothing seemed to go as anyone planned or thought! If you are a fan of this series, please prepare your heart and have tissues on hand! You will need them! If you haven’t read this series yet, still have tissues on hand anyway because it gets emotionally rough, even if it is so good and fully worth it! ~ Laura A. Grace
Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me is published by Seven Seas.
READ Reviews of Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Remember Me: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 4
Steel of the Celestial Shadows, Manga Vol. 8
Ryudo, Bokutake, and Aki had to resort to extreme measures to survive their long and brutal battle with the Yatsugawa twins, but Ryudo finally managed to mortally wound both of them. Or at least those should have been mortal wounds, until the stress of combat awoke the spirit of an ancient shamaness inside Katsu Yatsugawa and put a wildcard third party in play. Whatever exactly Katsu is now, she’s at least willing to make a deal with our heroes: They call a truce, she leaves to heal her brother, and Ryudo and company leave with Tsuki. As winter draws near, the group retreats to the village where Aki grew up, a sanctuary for the “Gifted” deep in northern Japan. They need both to recover from past wounds and to make future plans. Tsuki is safe for the moment, but Lord Haretake isn’t going to quit hunting her just because a single gambit failed. And Aki’s hometown may not be as welcoming or safe for her friends as she hopes… Part of me is hoping that this series will start moving into its endgame in the near future. Not because I want it to be over—I’m still greatly enjoying it—but because after eight volumes, though the pacing is still moving well, I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ve grasped the gist of the mystery driving the story. Unless there’s a well-executed plot twist coming soon, Daruma Matsura should probably make like Monty Python and “Get on with it!” But concern over one possible future shouldn’t take away from the reality of the present, and Steel of the Celestial Shadows keeps going strong in volume eight. A particular point of interest is that after six volumes unwillingly apart, Ryudo and Tsuki are finally back together, and we get to see the couple at the center of this story interacting again. They promise to be a formidable pair. In short, I hope things won’t be dragged out, but VIZ’s premier ongoing seinen title continues to keep me engaged.~ WacOtaku
Steel of the Celestial Shadows is published by VIZ Media.
Read reviews of Steel of the Celestial Shadows: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol.7
Hirayasumi, Manga Vol. 7
Having long had a family and been settled, I’d forgotten what it’s like to be in your 20s—still searching for what you’re meant to do, where you’re meant to be, and who you’re meant to be with. Hirayasumi captures this stage of life so well with its characters on their various paths, with volume seven featuring Hiroto and Hideki’s movie premiere, while they each grapple with challenges of where their lives are leading them; Natsumi and Akari working through difficulties in their friendship; and Tachibana and Ishikawa’s self-loathing and will-they-or-won’t-they relationship. I love every single major character in the series, foibles and all, so there’s this warmth and familiarity in seeing them move through life, even if adulthood presents so many challenges. There are tears too. Oh, the tears! I thought we had moved past all the highly emotional parts of Hirayasumi, but volume seven has a couple of very moving moments as well. What a special series! ~ Twwk
Hirayasumi is published by VIZ Media.
READ Reviews of Hirayasumi: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6
CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO
COLOR KURO, an art book featuring more than two hundred pieces, is one of the most beautiful collections I’ve ever seen. Featuring CLAMP’s work from RG Veda, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic, and other series, this work is a vivid reminder of how talented and significant the all-female artist group is. Page after page, in carefully arranged pieces, COLOR KURO has the feel of an art exhibit; flipping through this work is like taking a stroll through a gallery meant to show an artist’s career in retrospect. What an experience! There are so many wonderful pieces for fans of the group and generally of 80s, 90s, and 00s manga. I was looking forward especially to the CCS (plenty of those!) and Angelic Layer (less so) illustrations, but found myself captivated by all the others as well. They even included two pages dedicated to Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales, which is a personal favorite of mine—an unexpected treat! I highly encourage fans of manga to pick up this lovely work and reminisce or learn about the legacy of these ladies. And stay tuned as well, because a companion piece, COLOR SHIRO, is also on the way! ~ Twwk
CLAMP Official Artbook: COLOR KURO is published by Yen Press.
Who Killed the Hero?, Vol. 2: Tale of the Prophecy, Light Novel
Pay attention, all you screenwriters, authors, and game developers: This is how you fashion a sequel that shouldn’t be, and make it into something we can’t live without. Author Daken returns to the world he created in volume one of Who Killed the Hero with a new story about death, heroism, and hope. I won’t spoil it further, because part of the fun is wondering exactly who the hero is and if and how this joins with the story and characters with volume one. I will explain, though, that as beloved as Ares was by his party and those around him in the initial offering, volume two’s character in focus, Leonard, is disliked by those he comes in contact with. That’s part of the genius of this sequel, which by all rights, should not exist—at least not in a form this well done. The original story felt like the author had decided to challenge himself by taking a gimmick—a journalist is trying to discover who killed the hero who defeated the demon king, and suspecting it was one of the hero’s own party—and turn it into a story worth reading; he not only accomplished that but also took the tale into unexpectedly personal and moving places. Volume two relies on what he did in volume one as he continues to surprise and move us. But it’s a tricky thing to stick with the titular “who killed the hero theme”, explore the storyline he created in the first volume (which seemed to be an open and closed tale), and build suspense when we seemingly know the ending already. And yet, Daken does all that. He’s an excellent and mature writer, and has written a second fulfilling book—and I believe he could do it a third one as well, if he wanted to (and he does hint at it in the afterword as a possibility). If he does, I’ll be the first in line for it, because not only have I totally fallen in love with the characters he’s created and how he writes, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what else he’ll craft. I am a fan. ~ Twwk
Who Killed the Hero? is published by Yen Press.
Read: Who Killed the Hero? Vol. 1 Review
The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School!, Manga Vol. 1
Filled with lush drawings and unique character designs, The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School should be a fun read. Unfortunately, it’s not—volume one in laborious, the exact opposite of what you’d expect from a series of this type. The initial chapters introduce Maizuka and Akisame, two first-year students at a school that, yep, you guessed it, is full of yokai. Maizuka, for instance, is a type of tanuki and Akisame is a Nekomata. One of their teachers, Hatanaka, is an even more unique type of creature, one that matches his strict and overpowering personality. The remainder of volume one introduces us to other students and teachers at this sideways school. It should be a recipe for fun, especially with creatures running the gamut of Japan’s wide world of yokai, but the volume is way too wordy. The action pauses to explain what each type of creature is like, but worse than that is that seemingly every panel has to have some sort of gag. And they’re just not funny. Maizuka and Akisame basically serve as narrators, and unnatural ones they are; I don’t get a sense that they really have any type of personality other than being the two parts of a manzai team. I didn’t laugh once. I did put down the volume multiple times, however, before returning to it to push through to the end. It took me way more time to read this than it should have, and finishing it was truly a chore. It might appeal to adolescent readers who’ll enjoy the gag-a-minute and fairly warm tone of the series, but I’m not sure they’ll find it any more humorous than I did. The new series is one better left on the ghoul school library shelves. ~ Twwk
The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School! is published by Yen Press.
“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.
