Manga: If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord, Volume 3

 

Content Warning: Racism, self harm, and Dale’s cold fury

Okay. This is it. I can do this. I know I can… Okay.

It’s time for The Incident. In a bit.

This volume opens with Latina and her friends attending school and learning things. One of the things we learn is the colors, names, and spheres of influence, which is really interesting. As I mentioned before all of this relates to the number seven. And how rainbows represent them looking down upon the world. There’s a very bitter sweet part about Latina’s father’s wish for her future. Which is only going to make the next part even harsher.

Okay. Okay. I can do this. I’m sorry but every time I read or see The Incident, and what happens after, I cry. I’m just going to power through it.

The happy times come to crashing halt when Latina gets a new teacher. The one with the scary eyes. This teacher scares Latina. Keep in mind, she’s been growing up in a tavern that caters to adventurers, who aren’t exactly the nicest looking people. So, that’s a thing. What happens next is just… Tragic. Latina drops her chalk and her new teacher sees her horn. And she flips all of her shit. Starts talking about how she’s a beast, not human, so on and so forth. Now, I’m going to tell the story in chronological order, rather than the flashbacks in the story.

When this happens, Latina just shuts down. Why? Because in the rant from the teacher, Latina learns that she will live 100 years. You might be wondering why that effects her more than anything that’s been said. Think about it: Latina has been cast out of her home, her father died trying to give her a better life. Everyone she knows now, especially Dale who’s older than her, will die longer before her. Even her friends, who are the same age as her will die as old men and women, and she will still live on for decades more. She’s eight years old and she realized that she will die alone. Thankfully, her friends come to her rescue. Chloe, the best friend ever, throws her slate at the teacher, but misses. Rudy, Marcel, and Anthony leap into action, kicking over the table and putting themselves between the teacher and Latina. The ruckus brings in the other priests, who hear the teacher call Latina “it.” So, yeah, fuck that bitch with a bundle of rusty barbed wire. Just to make this clear, never, ever, EVER refer to a person as an “it” unless they’re a corpse.

Ahem. Anyway. Latina gets back home and looks like a zombie. She goes up to her room that she shares with Dale and… This part is the hardest part to go over. I’m not even looking at it and I want to cry. Inner Strength! Ahem. So… She uses the spell Dale taught her for self defense and uses it cut off her remaining horn. What she doesn’t realize, or maybe she just doesn’t care about, is that the horn has blood vessels and nerve connections to it. When Kenneth makes his way up there, she’s passed out and bleeding. He gets one of the regulars to cast a healing spell and then rushes her to the Indio deity to get more help. When Dale gets home, Rita tells him what happened and he rushes there. After he gets there, he and Latina talk about some hard truths. Even if Latina was human, she would out live Dale, in part because he’s about ten years older than her and also because he’s an adventurer. He tells her how important she is to him and she tells him that he’s her “special person.”

After this, Dale goes on the war path. It turns out that Dale is a high ranking priest of the Yellow deity of fertility. He uses this to go to the school, run but the Green deity of knowledge, to get the whole story out of the headmistress. She tries to defend the teacher by saying that she’s from a village near the Demon lands and her family was killed in a dispute but… Yeah, that doesn’t go over well. Dale then uses his rank and status to get the teacher kicked out of the order. Which, have to say, is way better than she deserves. I’d say put her to the sword but I’m not exactly known for my kindness.

The last bits of fallout is when Chloe goes to see Latina after she recovers. And slaps her for being so stupid. I keep telling you, Chloe is the best. They talk, they cry, and things are put back to normal. Latina then goes down into the tavern and celebrates with everyone, who’s happy to see that she’s recovered. We also find out that Latina has one thing she can’t do: She can’t hold a key or a tune. So, I guess she’s not completely perfect. Just, you know, mostly perfect.

The very last bit, a comic version of a side story presented in an earlier volume, shows how Latina helps out the adventurer community. She draws pictures of missing animals, to help people identify them, and helps some new adventurers with finding work that’s suited to their experience.

This is a good volume. Most of it is about The Incident, which is important. However, one thing I find is interesting is how this stuff isn’t really brought up again in later volumes. Except for the horn. When I first read this, I was thinking that the teacher would become a foe for Latina and Dale but that hasn’t happened yet. Which I feel is a shame. Latina is amazing and seems to befriend just about everyone she meets but here’s a chance to have someone to become a low-level antagonist and it doesn’t happen. Just because you have a setting that has high adventure and monsters doesn’t mean that your enemies must be black hearted villains and monsters. Someone who hates a Latina for getting her kicked out of her order would have made for an interesting threat for her, without it being life or death. Of course, the former teacher would be going against some very rough and tumble adventurers, so…

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: An important part of the story, so far, and one of the more emotional parts of the story. Read it.

Anime: Kite

 

Content Warning: Sex, graphic violence, bloody murder, sexual assault, underage stuff. Yeah.

Oh boy… This movie is one that I’d seen around and knew it was sexy, violent, and bloody from clips here and there. But I never got around to watching it. And I knew that even if I found it in a rental store, I wouldn’t want to be seen renting it (much less buying it) so a friend of mine downloaded it in those Wild West days of the internet. And it’s been moved from drive to drive, unwatched, until now.

Our story begins with Sawa, our main character, dressed up like a schoolgirl, getting macked on by some semi-famous comedian in an elevator. He starts insulting some old lady that’s also on the elevator and knocks her glasses off. After that happens, Sawa takes out the comdian with a gun that puts shoots a bullet that lodges into the body then detonates. So, blood everywhere.

Later, the crime scene is being investigated by a detective. And, as with all detectives, he seems pretty inured to the scene before him. Even the fact that the little old lady had a heart attack when she put her glasses back on and saw what happened to the comedian. Of course, the big reveal later is that the detective is Sawa’s handler and gave her the mission to kill him. We also find out that the detective took Sawa in after her parents were murdered and has trained her to be an assassin. And been having sex with her. So… Yeah. That’s a thing.

The next mission we see is Sawa teaming up with Oburi, a male version of herself. Together, they take out three reported child molesters. We also meet Oburi’s handler, who worked with the detective to train Sawa, but Oburi and Sawa never knew about each other. And Sawa goes out of her way to get to know him. I don’t know why.

The third mission is a complete disaster. Sawa dresses up like a boy and has to kill one twin, who happens to be a Hollywood star. Well, they have three bodyguards and Sawa screws the pooch. She has to stab people, throw around an explosive, shoots the wrong twin, and gets thrown out of the hole in the wall she made and… I will say that this action scene is intense, with her fighting with a guy as they fall through the air, landing on an overpass, having the car fall through the overpass, landing on a truck, having the truck fall through the road into the subway, and then having a sign land on top, making a massive explosion. Out of everything I’ve seen so far, this was the best part of the movie. So crazy and over the top but well done.

Afterwards, we see that the detective’s partner is a rapist. Yeah. Like you thought that these people who trained orphans to be assassins were going to be good, decent people. The detective is mad at Sawa for not only screwing everything up but also for killing the wrong twin, as he was the client. She also wants to go back to the scene to find her earring, as they were made out of the blood of her murdered parents. This girl… Sigh.

Sawa goes to kill Oburi but seems to change her mind. She also knows that the detective and his partner were the ones to kill her parents. Why she keeps doing this, I have no idea. Oburi gets a job to kill a supposed prosecutor on a train. And it also goes to shit, with the target having a gun and they have a shootout. And then, you know, an explosion. Sawa shows up to save him, as he needs it at the right moment.

Oburi then tries to quit by attacking the detective. But he loses to him and his friend. Sawa again shows up to save him. And then the final confrontation happens. And they lose. The detective ends up raping Sawa in front of Oburi. I just… WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK AM I WATCHING RIGHT NOW! Why is this? What is this? I don’t know how this movie had any sort of following! It’s just way, way, WAY TOO MUCH! Oh, it was all an act. Sawa was in on it the whole time. The whole thing with Oburi was a set up. Or was it? Games within games nonsense at this point? Nope. Sawa killed the detective’s partner and then goes to kill the detective. She played along with the detective’s sick game to throw him off and then brutally guns him down, putting a round right in his balls. Which, yeah, well deserved. The movie ends with Oburi getting gunned down by a child with one of their special guns, just green this time. And Sawa waits for him…

Okay. Yeah. This is a A LOT. And it takes a lot to process. I don’t know what to make of this film. There’s some interesting things going on here, what, with the child orphan assassins and the whole thing. But the gratuitous sex and violence is too much, even for the era this move came out. Thankfully, it’s just over 50 minutes long. It tries to ram in so much exposition, and sex, and violence, and it just… It doesn’t work for me. I don’t know… I mean, this came out at the same time (roughly) as the “Holy Sci-Fi Anime Trilogy” meaning, Cowboy Bepop, Trigun, and Outlaw Star. There were so many good things coming out and then… This.

Well, I guess I get to see even more of this as next month I’m going to review the American live-action adaption of it. Hopefully, my head doesn’t explode...

Rating: 1 out of 5
Suggestion: This is probably the worst thing I have ever seen and I don’t know why it exists.

Manga: Gigant Volume 5

 

Content Warning: Nudity, blood, violence, and sex. All things near and dear to our hearts.

Are you ready for this one? It’s been a while since I’ve done a volume of this series as I’m reading and reviewing as they come out. And this one is… Interesting.

Our story picks up in the middle of the battle from the last volume, between Chiho and the two remaining Gods of Destruction. Chiho uses her trick, growing smaller and then expanding inside the Gods, killing them one after the other. The battle ends with Chiho standing naked, blood dripping off of her, in the city. And then the cheering starts. People are openly weeping and cheering her on, their savior. Rei tries to reach her but she’s taken away by the military. Rei’s mother calls him and is relieved that he’s okay.

After a bit, Chiho reaches out to Rei and asks him to return the key to her place. It’s the middle of the night but he rushes over. Chiho surprises him with a tackle hug from behind. Their reunion leads to a lot of tears, both of them talking about how much they missed each other. Chiho has her eye covered by a bandage but she’s okay, it’s just a bit swollen. The make-outs soon turn to sex and then cuddling. Chiho tells Rei that she’s quitting porn, because she loves him. She only started doing porn because she likes sex but never felt part of the industry. Due to her recent increase in popularity, she’s going to start taking other jobs in acting. She actually seems really happy at the thought of doing it. While they lay in bed, Chiho’s cellphone kicks on and starts talking about PaPiCo-san and how they “can hear” her, and how they’re going to start “looking into her” as she’s “interesting.” Who exactly this is, speaking using Siri’s voice, is unknown for now. I don’t know who it is but I’m thinking it’s whoever started E.T.E.

Speaking of E.T.E., they get their servers blocked in Japan, but not the US. As is later revealed, this takes place in 2019 and the Former Guy is in office in the US. He refuses to do anything about it, because, does that really surprise anyone? Anyway…

Meanwhile, PaPiCo “fever” seems to take over the country. Girls begin cutting and dying their hair to match Chiho’s. There’s fan magazines, the price of her AV stuff skyrockets, she’s doing ads and interviews on TV. It’s a lot. But, she still makes as much time as she can for Rei. And, after she tells him that she’s given her number out to someone, he tells her that he trusts her. Oh, Rei, could you be more 17? I mean, I want to trust Chiho but I also know that this is an easy way for the author to make some more drama down the road.

Speaking of things that pop up, we encounter a group of “Weirdos” like the one that gave Chiho her device. And we find out that America has FIVE heroes now. No previous mention of this, just all the sudden of, there’s five of them. The four new characters are dressed similarly to the first one, who finally gets a name. They also say that they’re “too late.” For what, we don’t know yet. What does happen is the five American heroes get killed by a horrific demon in New York. With the heroes dead, the demon begins crossing the US, last reported in Montana. That means that it’s headed towards the Pacific. Put it together.

There’s a few other things that happen. Chiho’s mom calls and guilts her into giving her, and her brothers, money. A lot of money. Have I mentioned how much I hate her family? Because I do. Rei doesn’t react to this at all and I want to smack him.

And that’s where this volume ends. I’m somewhat curious to see what happens next (which Wikipedia kind of ruined for me). There’s a lot here and it looks like the series is still on going, thank goodness. I do like how things develop but there’s a lot of filler in this volume. There’s a group of characters that popped up that I didn’t even mention because I can’t tell if they’re important or not yet. In the end, this is starting to feel like filler. And I keep wanting to know more about Chiho.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: I’m sticking with it but that’s my choice.

Manga: If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord, Volume 2

Content Warning: Violence, beheading, and a tragic backstory. No, I’m not kidding.

This volume is one of the most important and yet is also one of the last ones before things start getting… Intense.

This volume starts with Dale having to go to the capital for work. You see, Dale is under contract from the Duke who controls the area that Kruez, the city we’ve been in thus far, is. However, while Kruez is important, it isn’t the capital of the area. So, Dale has to catch a dragon to the capital. What is Dale doing? Well, we’ll get back to that because it’s time for Latina’s tragic backstory! Or, at least part of it. If you remember, Latina was found wandering alone in the woods, after her guardian died, and has a horn broken off, the sign of a criminal in her culture. Latina becomes depressed while Dale is away and begins talking with Kenneth about why Dale is special to her. You see, Rag, her father, was sick and went with her when she was cast out of her home. And then he died. The corpse Latina led Dale to was that of Rag, her father’s. Why Latina was cast out isn’t said, except that was a “bad girl.” That’s why she loves Dale so much, because he was the first one to tell her that was a good girl that wasn’t family. So, Kenneth gets an idea and Latina learns how to make a Shepard’s Pie (or something like that) to make for Dale when he returns. The customers, those grumpy old bastards, are given a discount to eat her first attempts (at a discount) while she learns how to make it properly.

But what has Dale been up to, during all this cuteness? Well… He’s been summonded by the Duke to investigate rumors of the forces of the Seventh Demon Lord being in the area. Dale meets with Gregor, the son of the Duke, and proceeds to gush about Latina. The change between Dale before and after Latina is stark, to say the least. During the trip to locate the enemy forces, we see how Dale is obsessing over Latina. Before long, they locate the forces of the Seventh Demon Lord, who have a dragon with them, and we see exactly why Dale is part of this group. He uses extremely powerful magic to take out most of the demon people, before cutting off the head of the woman leading them. Yeah. Intense.

Upon his return, Dale showers Latina with gifts and has one of her meals. We also find out that Latina is seven, almost eight years old. This means that she’ll be starting primary school soon. We also see that she has remained friends with Chloe, Marcel, Anthony, and Rudy and they play together in a park. We also see that Rudy has a budding crush on Latina but, like most boys, bullies her instead of saying something. I can say that because I was once a young boy and did stuff like that. I will take no comments on that at this time.

The volume ends with us learning more about the world. You see, there are seven gods, each with a sphere of influence and an associated color. There’s also seven races, Dwarves and Elves, as well as Beastmen, merfolk, and a winged race. And there’s seven spheres of magic… Starting to see the pattern yet? Anyway, we discover that Latina has an affinity for Dark and Holy magic, while Dale is able to use Dark, Earth, and Water magic. Since the language of magic is also the language used by the Demon Race, Latina can learn a lot of magic right off the bat. But Dale doesn’t teach her everything. He does teach her some magic that can be used in self defense. After this, it’s just a few little things, like Latina using magic to make ice cream and visiting Chloe, who’s mother (a tailor) has been commissioned by Dale to make something for Latina. There’s also a discussion about how Latina picks things up very quickly. Think about that time, back in the last volume, how Latina figured out that busing the tables was something that needed to be done, could use a pen, and a host of other things. And yet, she also had some gaps in her knowledge, like how to peel potatoes and wring out a washcloth. Latina drops a very cryptic line of how she “hadn’t been decided yet” and then when asked, she says “But… Ri…” and then cuts herself off.

I could drop spoilers, having read the light novels, but I do like they’re giving us just enough of her backstory to keep us interested and still having “cute girl does cute things” stuff as well. There’s even a little bonus chapter but you’ll need to pick this up to see what happens in it.

Sadly, the fun isn’t going to last forever because in the next volume, there’s The Incident...

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: Keep reading, keep enjoying, and just hang on until things get going.

Anime: Ah! My Goddess, TV Season One (overview)

 

Content Warning: Mild misogyny, attempted sexual assault, and racial caricatures. In a light-hearted comedy.

Welcome back to Magical May. This week, we’re going to visit a “dead” genre that deals with magic, the Magical Girlfriend. What is this kind of story? Well, it’s not hard to figure out: Boy meets girl that a witch, a princess, a goddess, or other magic user (or alien) that doesn’t know much about our world but is deeply in love with said boy. Sometimes they’re Tsunderes. Sometimes the boy is down for it. Sometimes, they’re really not. The formula was popular and common in the old days but has faded away in the recent era. Today, we’re going to visit one of the more wholesome and fun series in the genre. However, this is my first time watching this version of the story. You see, back in the day there was six part OVA that told an abridged version of the story and that was how I was first introduced to the characters. I even had a bootleg VHS of the first episode that had a printed out cover, the printer having begun running out of ink. After that, I tried to read the manga, checking it out from the library, but Dark Horse comics didn’t seem to believe in putting volume numbers on them back in the day so… Yeah. I didn’t really know what was going on. Anyway, let’s get started.

Our story begins with Morisato Keiichi in his dorm room, watching TV on an old TV (just to be clear this series is from 2005 and the original manga was written long before that), providing us exposition in the form of an internal monologue. The basics are that he’s enrolled in the Nekomi Technical College (or is it Institute?), likes working on motors and electronics, is short, has never had a girlfriend, and lives in the dorm with his very macho men “senpais” of the Motor Club. The flip side of this monologue is the one provided by Belldandy, about how Keiichi has been under an unlucky star his whole life. But, his luck is about to change.

Misdialing a number, he reaches the Goddess Help Line and speaks with Belldandy. Who then travels through a mirror to Keiichi’s dorm room. She’s there to offer him one wish. He doesn’t believe her for a bit but he catches on eventually. The thing I really love about this interaction is how Belldandy doesn’t see Keiichi like everyone else does. She doesn’t care that he’s poor, short, and unlucky. She sees how he takes care of old things, like his TV, VCR (for those of you who don’t know, that’s what we used to watch movies on), and a radio (I’m not going to explain that one). He sees how they can still be useful, even if they’re old and no one else wants them anymore. So, Keiichi uses his wish: For Belldandy to stay with him forever. His wish is granted, causing Belldandy to blow a hole in the roof, right when the other guys in the dorm get home. They get jealous and promptly kick both of them out. Because NO WOMEN ALLOWED in the dorm. It’s tradition. Here, we find out about the fate thing that will keep them together, no matter what. This usually takes the form of odd coincidences that prevent them from being separated, like Keiichi’s helmet getting stuck on Belldandy’s dress, but can go all the way to a tower collapsing on a car. That last one is avoided at the last minute. Eventually, they find themselves at a Buddhist temple, with a kindly and somewhat foolish priest, who takes them in. And then leaves them in charge while searching for enlightenment after seeing Belldandy’s “angel.” It’s complicated but it’s so Keiichi and Belldandy can stay together.

From this point on, the series starts off as slow romance in the college setting, with Belldandy being the “fish out of water” for a while. This also gives us some low-level enemies. The first of which is Mishima Sayoko, the college’s Queen, who turned down Keiichi some time ago. Belldandy, being a goddess, puts her looks to shame. So, after losing the beauty contest, Sayoko tries to take down Belldandy, by any means necessary, including going after Keiichi to get to her. There’s also Aoshima Toshiyuki, the school’s heart breaker. He convinces Belldandy to go with him to a love hotel, using her naive request for trying to learn about romance, which ends with him getting a face full of lightning. There’s also small stakes (in retrospect) things that happen, but this first part of the show is chance for us to learn about Keiichi and Belldandy and have them learn to love each other. And then they start introducing the more magical characters and things.

The first other goddess to show up is Urd, Belldandy’s older sister. And, boy, does she have that “Big Sister Ara Ara” energy. Thankfully, she doesn’t try to ride Keiicihi’s Baloney Pony, she just wants to see them get together. Often with disastrous results. When we first meet Urd, you assume that she’s just a comic relief character, but that changes by the end of the show. We’ll get into it. After this, we get to meet Skuld, Belldandy’s younger sister, and Urd’s youngest sister, who just wants to be with and just like her older sister. Not oldest, as Urd and Skuld are like fire and water. Literally. Skuld has a “sister complex” and can’t stand that Keiichi is going to steal her sister away. This leads to all sorts of hilarity, like when Skuld turns Keiichi into a girl and then Bellydandy gets sick when trying to help Keiichi. However, that episode does show how much Keiichi cares about and loves Belldandy. As many problems as the show has, they make it clear that Keiichi doesn’t take Belldandy for granted and cares about her deeply. Even if he can’t do anything beyond hold her hand.

If you’re familiar with this kind of show, you know that the main male character is usually bland and doesn’t really have interests or much else. This show is different. Keiichi is a gear head and it’s part of the show. There’s a desert race in one episode, the interest in mechanics allows him and Skuld to get along from time to time, and it’s always there in the background. It also leads to one of the better episodes in the show. You see, Belldandy is very much along for the ride. She just wants Keiichi to be happy and doesn’t have much to do beyond that. But, then there’s this one episode where the one girl in the motor club, Hasegawa, needs to learn how to compete in a go-kart race because the two meat heads in charge sign her up for an all-girl race. Belldandy takes the lead and not only has Skuld make a go-cart track around their home, but helps her learn how to drive and compete. Of course, Keiichi plays an important role, as he is a gear head, but this is Belldandy’s episode. And Hasegawa’s. We get to explore her character and backstory as well, which makes her one of the more fleshed out minor characters after this episode. Really, this episode is worth the wait. I just wanted more.

Now, the show really gets on the serious track when Marller turns up. She’s a demon who was sealed away by Belldandy and Urd but is probably the worst at being evil. She’s got the will but not enough competence to pull off most of her plans. She conspires with Sayoko to get Keiichi to dump Belldandy, to hurt her, but it doesn’t work. She’s actually a very funny bumbling nemesis. Until she tries to release the Lord Of Terror.

She thinks that she can be the host. Nope. It’s Urd, who’s recently lost her Goddess License because she helped Belldandy. So, she’s mad and then she gets this offer of power, all she has to do is embrace her Demon side. So she does. But, not all of her does. There’s part of her that’s still good, trying to stop the Lord of Terror.

I won’t ruin the end of the season, because it’s just that good. What you need to know is that the mythology used for the show is based on Norse stuff. Just from a Japanese point of view. One thing I find rather amusing is that we see magic and technology at use in the show, pre-dating the whole “no difference between magic and science” in the MCU.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: Give it a chance if you like romance, magical stuff, or slice of life stuff, it’s a good one.

Manga: Crescent Moon, Volume 1

 

Content Warning: Some blood, parental death.

Welcome back to “Magical May!” This week, I’m delving into another genre with magical elements, the “Urban Fantasy” genre. While much more popular in the West with Young Adult (YA) audiences, it does do fairly well in Japan, too. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll be able to pick up on the themes pretty quick.

“Princess, princess, why do you cry?” This line is etched into my mind. I stumbled across this series years ago and thought it was pretty good. But does it hold up?

Our story begins with a rather brooding looking young man threatening a young woman with death. And then we get narration from Mahiru about how unlucky she is while others glomp her to get good luck, while we get the Japanese names and portents for the phases of the moon (or the names of the characters she’s going to meet). When she falls into the water, we discover that she sees visions of a Yokai man and the moon princess. No, not THAT moon princess, the one from Japanese myth.

Anyway. The story really gets started with Mahiru talking about how she has a dream when there’s a full moon and when she’s on her period about Princess Kaguya, the aforementioned moon princess. Mahiru also scores some points on the Young Adult Protagonist Scoreboard because her parents died when she was young and now lives with her aunt. We see more about her life, with her hanging out with her friends, and discussing how unlucky she is and she scores more points on the Scoreboard. Eventually, she leaves her friends to go hang out on a sea wall around Tokyo Bay. There, she ends up getting found by the guy who said he would kill her at the beginning. They have a very brief conversation and she runs away. From here, she goes to the library and she keeps running into people that will be important later. They’re trying to layer on the myster but it gets annoying quickly. Between the fact that we have to fill in the story from the opening pages, learn a bit of a fairy tale, and have all this mystery faffing about. On the re-read, it’s rough.

Quickly, Mahiru goes with the two mysterious boys she met at the library, gets attack by the angry emo boy, and gets taken to a club by a werewolf. Yeah, a werewolf. You see, Mahiru is the descendant of the Princess and these people are all members of the “Lunar Race.” Werewolves, vampires, Tengu, Kitsune, and others, the monsters of myth and legend are what makes up the Lunar Race and they want Mahiru’s help. She says nope and runs all the way home. The group, except angry emo Mitsuru, the Tengu boy, agree to keep an eye on her and protect her.

Mahiru agrees to help the group, giving them her power to power them up, while they try to steal a Teardrop Of The Moon that’s on a dinner cruise in the bay. We’re also given an introduction to the antagonists of the series, the detectives who are chasing after the thieves (the main characters) and we get a little bit more exposition. The heist goes fairly well, due to Mahiru’s help, but the detective wasn’t effected by the magic and is heavy armed. They manage to escape but Mitsuru’s magic fails while returning to shore and Mahiru has to save him because he can’t swim.

In the next chapter, we find out what exactly the Teardrops Of The Moon are. They’re ancient gems that were stolen by humanity from the Lunar Race and now they’re being collected. The reason why will be explained later. We also see Mahiru returning to her normal, schoolgirl life, while the gang watch over her. She goes back to the Oboro’s night club and we learn about the Lunar Race and their love of music. Oboro is the group’s leader, an older man, but we don’t find out exactly what kind of “monster” he is. The group is trying to get Mahiru to move into an apartment at the club, under orders from someone, a young boy who seems to be important, but she hesitates and Mitsuru makes it quite clear that he doesn’t want her there. You see, Mitsuru was raised by humans and is still learning how to control his powers, and since Mahiru makes them get a boost, he can’t control his transformation when she touches him. Akira, the werewolf, forces them to touch and he goes berserk, transforming and flying away in broad daylight. The group, with Mahiru, go chasing after him. Using song, they’re able to calm him down and Mahiru accepts that he isn’t a monster.

And that’s where this volume ends. It really gets going in fits and starts, with that action opening, then doing a bunch of flashbacks and exposition dumps, before getting the story started. There’s a lot of gaps and things left open, most of which are explored in later volumes. I remember that it took me a while to really get into this volume, perhaps to the half way point, before I started to really enjoy it. The characters are probably the biggest selling point for me, as well as seeing YA done with a different basis for the myths, magic, and monsters compared to the ones we see in the West.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Suggestion: If you can find it, and you like urban fantasy or magical girl type stuff, it might be worth a read.

Manga: Magical Girl Spec-Ops: Asuka, Volume 1

 

Content Warning: Violence, gore, fatalism, violence towards children by cute mascots, and PTSD

This ain’t your daddy’s Magical Girl manga. Since we’re in Magical May, it’s time to cover something current. I know, some people reading my review of Sailor Moon might be younger than the show, so I think I need to cover something more recent. Don’t want to lose the younger folks. When it comes to how I came across this series, I was walking through a book store with a buddy (remember being able to do that?) and saw the cover. I glanced at the back and flipped through it and thought that it looked like an interesting read. Oh, boy, this isn’t what I expected.

Our story begins with a flashback to Mount Aso, with a ton of soldiers dead and military equipment destroyed. Two soldiers, a Russian with the GRU and a Japanese man from the Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces, encounter each other on an empty battlefield, with the Japanese soldier having lost and arm and is high as shit on the painkillers. Because he’s just that badass. We then cut to a group of Magical Girls about to engage with a large monster that looks like its made up of magma. Before throwing themselves into the final battle, we see the group motto: He who laughs last, laughs loudest.

Three years later…

We meet Nozomi and Sayako, a tomboy and nerdy girl in gym class, watching Otori Asuka kick ass in gym class. We get a bit of exposition here, with it revealed that Asuka is a recent transfer student but doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends and isn’t part of any clubs. Asuka, is of course, the title character of the manga and part of the group of magical girls we saw a few pages ago. We then follow Asuka around, getting a glimpse of the American Magical Girl, Mia Cyrus. Gee, I wonder how they picked that name? We also get one of our first glimpses of horror as Asuka mistakes a costumed mascot for one of the monsters she fought, ripping a child apart. The child is fine, Asuka just can’t forget the horrors she’s seen. I have to say, until I saw online that she has PTSD, I didn’t understand this scene, but in this context, it makes sense. As my grandfather used to say, the war is right behind her. That means to say that the war may be over, but it isn’t far away from you. Anyway. Nozomi and Sayako then have a run in with a rude adult and Asuka proceeds to take him to the ground, stopping herself from breaking his arm. Later that day during a break at school Nozomi and Sayako interrupt Asuka’s reading of Franz On The Shoreline to thank her for kicking that guy’s ass. This becomes a turning point in Asuka’s life as she starts to open up a bit about herself and adapt to a normal life, kind of. This is interrupted when Iizuka, the soldier from the opening with a badass cybernetic arm, turns up at Asuka’s school and offers her a chance to join a new Special Forces unit he’s in charge of named M Squad. Asuka turns him down and we get some more back story. The real important part is that the enemy, the Disas, kidnapped her parents. She said she’d give up everything to get them back but the cute little mascot animal things working of Disas say they’re going to return her parents to her, piece by piece. My blood went cold when I read it, every damn time. The art also changes from the standard style to this very minimalist style that reminds me of horror manga, which is a solid choice.

From here, Asuka tries to live something resembling a normal life, ignoring the problems of the world around her. She still has trouble fitting in to the normal world but it’s clear that she’s trying to forget the last few years. All that comes to a crashing halt when a terrorist group tries to free their leader as he’s being transported through town. Sayako happens to be in the area, as is Asuka, and is about to be gunned down by the terrorist when Asuka transforms and uses her knife, Karambit, to cut them to ribbons. No joke. She goes absolutely ballistic on them. And they can’t even scratch her, even with a .50 on a truck. During this, there’s a lot of explanation of magical Girls and their powers, so I had to re-read this more than once to really get it.

After this, the main plot really gets started, with the introduction of the main villainess (who doesn’t get revealed for some time), as well the first evil Magical Girl Asuka faces. They’ve teamed up with the terrorists to cause some mayhem, unleashing Disas biological weapons. This shit gets real, let me tell you. During this attack, we meet another one of the “Famous Five” Magical Girls from the beginning, War Nurse Kurumi, who has a history with Asuka. Kurumi does her best to fight the Disas monsters but she’s not exactly a combat specialist, more of a support Magical Girl. After defeating the monsters, Kurumi and Asuka catch up and we find out that Kurumi has some baggage about her life before she was made into a Magical Girl. And this is why I like this series, these characters feel a lot more human and normal than most others I’ve read in the genre. But, let’s wrap this up.

The volume ends with us following around Mia Cyrus, the American Magical Girl who’s weapon is, of course, a gun. Hey, it’s what we’re known for, I’ll leave the political commentary for the people who get elected to office. Besides, any joke I could make about gun-toting wouldn’t age well, and I’d rather not give them any of my time. Mia and her two military companions are raiding a place in Tijuana, Mexico and proceed to kill the ever living fuck out of everyone inside except for a weird old man who’s mumbling numbers. He then gets crushed into a magical cube while muttering “Babel Army Corps.”

And that’s where things end. Well, there is a bit that sets up the next volume but you can buy it yourself if you like what you’ve read here.

All in all, this is very much a “Magical Girl manga for boys” sort of thing. I really find the characters and the setting interesting but I’m no longer a teenage edgelord, so the violence and gore turns me off. That said, I did end up buying the next two volumes and might end up continuing from there. If you want me to keep reviewing the series, let me know. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Suggestion: Gritty and intense magical girl action is found here. It that’s something you like, pick it up.