Tag: Manga

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5702-1
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume has a mini-poster inside, like volumes elven, eight, seven, and five, it’s a fold out. The poster features Kahlua and Koko sweeping up leaves.

I didn’t recognize Kuhlua on the cover right away. She looks obviously tan in the panels of the manga, and she even looks tan on the color fold out mini-poster. I’m not sure why she looks so pale on the cover. It makes her look like a completely different person.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Aqua is Moka’s oldest sister. She is has an obsession with Moka.

Kahlua is one of Moka’s many sisters. She participates in the family profession of assassination.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Gin and Haiji tend to be tag team fighters. We finally find out what monster Haiji is.

Gyokuro is Kahlua and Koko’s mother, and the leading member of Fairy Tale.

Story & Thoughts

Things get intense in this volume as everything that can go wrong does. Everybody is fighting somebody. It’s so close to the end of the series now, that everything is combat. Unfortunately, Mizore and Kurumu are benched for the volume. We see them unconscious toward the beginning from the events of volume eleven, but that’s about it. Yukari and Fangfang aren’t in this one much either. They appear for maybe a page and that’s it.

The first fight that takes up a large chunk of the book is the confrontation with Aqua. Tsukune finally gets his chance to use his training against her dimension sword. Moka and Tsukune fight together for this battle. It’s nice to see him be a relatively competent fighter compared to how he originally started off in the series as a whole. He’s had a tremendous amount of growth in such a short time.

Koko, whom we haven’t seen much of in a while, finally gets a chance to shine. She gets to show her improvement in skill and confidence with a battle of her own. I get that she’s been spending a lot of time training and everything, but I think it would have been nice to have her in the story more with the main group. She’s one of my favorite characters.

The bonus comics feature Kahlua. She is given a mission by her mother that requires seduction, which apparently is one of the few skills she did not learn in her assassin training.

I think there was a typo on one page when Gyokuro says, “the tide of battle is already turning against us.” I’m pretty sure she means, “against you,” because the following panels show supporting evidence of the typo.

What I Love About You, Vol. 1

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What I Love About You, Vol. 1 by Rurihara Zurachi
Series Name: What I Love About You
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781646598717
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker

Description

Tatsu Yunoki has a hair fetish. One day, when he wakes up with Kotoka Hatsushima in his bed, his life is turned upside down. Kotoka claims destiny has thrown them together due to their mutual fetishistic interest in each other and the ability to tolerate the other’s interests. Can they make a relationship work?

Personal & Info

I got this ebook for free from a BookWalker sale. It seems most of the books I got this way are available as digital only.

I have no idea why the author name on the cover is spelled different than the name for the listings.

Characters

Tatsu Yunoki is the leading man, and he has a hair fetish.

Kotoka Hatsushima is the leading lady. She is twenty three, and works as a copywriter for a publishing house. Supposedly, she fell in love with Yunoki’s back at first sight.

Eno Yunoki is Tatsu’s younger sister. She has a leg fetish, and does not seem to care if they belong to a man or a woman.

Story & Thoughts

I find myself pleasantly surprised after going into this without so much as reading the description. The first few pages were enough to hook me. The premise itself is amusing. Two people with different fetishes are attracted to each other, and decide to try to make a relationship work. But these aren’t the obvious fetishes you would expect.

Tatsu likes hair, long, pretty, silky hair, which Kotoka just happens to have. Kotoka likes backs, and apparently she can determine personality characteristics just by looking at someone’s back. She likes the characteristics she sees in Tatsu’s back, and that’s what leads to everything.

The story focuses on the two of them navigating their unique relationship. They start off relying heavily on their fetishes to bond, and quickly move in together. Their relationship is surprisingly wholesome. Although, it seems like Kotoka would like to be loved for more than just her hair. She constantly tries to get Tatsu to look at parts of her other than her hair.

The most wholesome part is that they are both learning to love someone for more than just their fetish. Both of them are used to being attracted to people purely because they fit their fetish, but the longer they are together, the more they start to like each other for other reasons. One of the most blatant indicators as an example is when Kotoko hugs Tatsu from the front instead of the behind. She ALWAYS hugs him from behind. Watching them grow closer is so heartwarming.

It’s fast paced and silly. The story is continuous, but some segments are only a page long before it jumps to a different day. There are captions at the top of almost every page identifying the subject of what goes on in those panels. I don’t think they’re necessary, and I almost forgot to read them a few times.

I don’t think I would buy this series for my shelf, but I definitely wouldn’t mind reading more of it. If you want a funny, romantic, light hearted read, give it a try.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4 by Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe
Series Name: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Genres: Adventure, Elves, Fantasy, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Sunday
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2725-4
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

The village priest Sein has no intention of becoming an adventurer, but his desire to find a long-lost friend may lead him to join Frieren’s party on their journey north. They are headed for the magical city of Äußerst, where Frieren can obtain the first-class mage certification needed to enter the Northern Plateau region. At Fieren’s urging, Fern decides to take the certification exam as well, and faces some unexpected competition…

Personal & Info

I’m slowly catching up on this series. I want to be up to current volumes before I watch the anime, which is supposed to come out sometime later this year.

Characters

Frieren is an elf mage famous for defeating the demon king with her companions around 80 years ago. She’s a bit of a slob and rather lazy. Her hobby is collecting any and all types of magic spells, no matter how useless they may seem.

Fern is Frieren’s mage companion and apprentice. She seems to take a motherly role in caring for Frieren.

Stark is Eisen’s apprentice. He has low self confidence, but great skill as a warrior.

Sein is the party’s new priest. He seems to be the peacemaker of the party.

Story & Thoughts

The story picks up where volume three left off. The group is in a village trying to recruit a priest for their travels. Of course, the guys also get their stuff back. It doesn’t seem like they learn their lesson, though, because there’s a panel later that implies they lose it again. Sein and Stark shouldn’t gamble. They obviously aren’t good at it.

After they leave the village, they continue their travels to Äußerst. This series is the best I’ve seen at actually portraying travel. I mean, aside from a few gems, like maybe Inuyasha, for example. It takes a certain kind of skill to cover travel without it getting dull. There are plenty of random encounters and towns to visit.

It always seems like someone learns something, or some of them grow closer from the events of their journey. None of it feels insignificant, and the characters themselves are wonderfully portrayed enough to make their interactions entertaining. Stark and Fern are lucky to have Sein with them, because they appear to be navigating some difficult times communicating with each other due to their young ages. Frieren is not one to assist in mediating things like that.

Based on their interactions, I’m starting to ship Stark and Fern. They always want to apologize to each other, but don’t know how. They have definitely gotten more comfortable with each other compared to when Stark first joined the party. Fern seemed almost mean to him back then.

Near the end of the volume, they finally make it to Äußerst, where they can take the first class mage exam. Either Fern or Frieren will need to pass. They need one first class mage certification to get permission to continue their main quest of going to Ende in search of Aureole. The test itself will be in the next volume.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5240-8
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster inside. Like volumes eight, seven and five, it’s a fold out. This one features Mizore and Kurumu in a sort of spy pose theme. They are wearing nice clothes and posing with guns.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up with Fangfang’s fight scene. The first two chapters finish that off. All in all, it’s not a long battle compared to others. I’m glad Fangfang gets to shine at least a little bit. It seems like his main problem in life is he doesn’t know what he is good at. However, it must be devastating to find out Yukari can essentially master anything he can’t do within the timespan of only a month. Geniuses can really make a person feel inferior without intending to.

We see a few returning villainous faces from season one. Some we already know about, and some are a surprise. This leads to Tsukune getting a fight scene that spans about three chapters, with many cut-aways to keep up with what others are doing. There’s some recap here as well in case the reader doesn’t remember who he is fighting and what their previous interaction was.

Kurumu and Mizore get to fight, too. I think it’s cool and interesting that Mizore and Kurumu have become a team duo for combat. That has been slowly building up over time, because they seem to train specifically with each other quite a lot.

Basically, this is another high combat content volume. We’re at the tail end of the series, so it’s not that surprising. I’m fully expecting even more combat encounters in the three volumes after this. We are far away from the light hearted romantic comedy the series started out as, but the characters are showing their depth and skills, proving how hard they have trained, and how strong their friendships have become.

The bonus comics are a little random. They feature Ludie of all people, and her crush on Xilong.

Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! Vol. 1

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Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! Vol. 1 by Aki Iwai
Series Name: Abe-kun’s Got Me Now!
Genres: Romance
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781646595594
Rating: 2/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker

Description

Akari thinks her school karate team is just a bunch of macho gorillas. When her best friend Takuto decides he wants to join the karate club, and the school’s karate champion Abe confesses to her, Akari finds herself spending more time around the team. Will her opinion of the so called gorillas change?

Personal & Info

I got this for free from a massive BookWalker sale. I don’t normally list them in my links, but because that’s where I got this ebook, I will be including them in the listing. They had a sale not that long ago where you could get a ton of volume ones for free, so I have a huge list of them I can read when I need to post something and haven’t finished whichever novel I’m reading.

I have nothing against BookWalker. It’s just that my personal preference tends to be print books, so I usually only list links where people can find print editions. BookWalker is purely ebooks from what I can tell. If you like your manga and light novels digital, maybe check them out sometime.

Characters

Akari Yae is the main character. She refers to the karate team as gorillas and prefers guys who are more like her sweet and charming childhood friend Takuto.

Takuto is Akari’s childhood friend. He is kind and sweet, and he wants to be stronger and more athletic like Abe.

Kazune Abe is the star karate athlete at school. He likes Akari, and goes out of his way to express it and try to win her love.

Story & Thoughts

The story primarily focuses on Abe pursuing Akari as a love interest. However, Akari insistently and consistently states she is has no interest in him. This leads the plot to have quite a few red flags in the relationship department.

Abe is forceful in many ways. He often doesn’t let Akari leave when she wants to, and there are multiple times where he just picks her up and walks off with her to go somewhere. He’s also rude in ways that cut her down. He calls her stupid and an idiot on multiple occasions. Abe is so possessive he won’t even let her manage the karate team for more than a weekend. He referred to her as a thing that he owns, and would not let her make her own decision.

If you like the whole possessive, dominant, old fashioned guy, who doesn’t respect a no trope, you’ll probably like this just fine. But for me, I just see red flags all over the place. It’s also super weird that Akari’s best friend Takuto supports the whole thing. Abe is practically a god in his eyes.

Despite all the red flags and denials, it does seem like Akari likes Abe. It’s hard to tell if it’s just physical or not, because she is definitely attracted to his muscles. She doesn’t get a chance to figure out her own feelings because Abe just won’t leave her alone.

I’m not interested in reading more of this series, so this is probably the only volume of it I’ll be reviewing. This particular style of romance doesn’t interest me. I don’t like the whole guy chases girl until she eventually caves in style of story.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4879-1
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. Like volumes nine and six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. The first one is Tsukune with some kind of circuit board pattern on his arm, and the second one is a pretty picture of Ruby with a magic circle on her abdomen.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Many members of Moka’s family make appearances.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is combat heavy, so don’t expect a lot of humor and fan service. Most of the book is a single fight scene, and the start of another. The good thing about this, though, is we get to see Ruby shine. She doesn’t usually get to do much, but she’s the star of the volume. I find it surprising she’s not the one on the cover.

The gang has spent a whole month training, and it’s finally time to go save Moka. We don’t get to see what everyone has learned, but we do get to see some of Tsukune’s new abilities, and a substantial amount of Ruby’s. I don’t think I ever thought about what kind of spell caster Ruby is before. Apparently she’s a conjurer, and that’s pretty cool.

I do think this volume is a bit stereotypical. It follows the final dungeon trope of everyone taking turns fighting the strongest foes while crunched for time. I like the trope because it gives the characters a chance to show off their skills, but at the same time, it’s a cliché.

There are only three bonus comics at the end of the book, because there weren’t enough pages. They are mostly about Moka’s time in captivity.

Can You Just Die, My Darling? Vol. 1

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Can You Just Die, My Darling? Vol. 1 by Majuro Kaname, Sousou Sakakibara
Series Name: Can You Just Die, My Darling?
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Thriller
Intended Age Group: Mature
Publisher: Kodansha
Edition: ebook
ISBN: 9781642122725
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble BookWalker

Description

Neat freak Taku Kamishiro has a crush on his childhood friend, Mika Hanazono. Unfortunately for him, so does everyone else in town. After an incident outside his home, Kamishiro finds his romantic feelings have become murderous. Kamishiro fights to control his new urges in this morbid and gory romance.

Personal & Info

I got this for free from a massive BookWalker sale. I don’t normally list them in my links, but because that’s where I got this ebook, I will be including them in the listing. They had a sale not that long ago where you could get a ton of volume ones for free, so I have a huge list of them I can read when I need to post something and haven’t finished what I’m working on.

I have nothing against BookWalker. It’s just that my personal preference tends to be print books, so I usually only list links where people can find print editions. BookWalker is purely ebooks from what I can tell. If you like your manga and light novels digital, maybe check them out sometime.

This book has four stars as the rating because I docked one for the gore and general content I don’t usually enjoy. I thought everything else in the story was well done and amazing.

Characters

Taku Kamishiro is the main character. He likes cleaning for no reason, and has a sister who seems to wear her shirt backwards frequently. People call him captain clean, because he is always cleaning.

Mika Hanazono is Kamishiro’s childhood friend and crush. She seems mean and abusive hitting and kicking him all the time. It seems like she was mean to him when they were kids too.

Koji Shinomiya is captain of the soccer team. He is considered handsome and smart, and he wears a unique earring. Like everyone else, he has a crush on Hanazono.

Ms. Tanaka is Kamishiro’s neighbor.

Koki Atsumi is Hanazono’s homeroom teacher. He is popular with the students because he is kind and earnest.

Yamada is the ace pitcher of the baseball team. I don’t think we get his first name.

Story & Thoughts

Okay, so this book is…something else. I’m typing this shortly after finishing, and my nerves are just…definitely rattled. The thriller part of the story is definitely done well. The finale of the volume put me on the edge of my seat.

I didn’t know what to expect going into it, but it certainly was not what I got. There are numerous gory scenes. I don’t normally read or watch things with substantial amounts of gore. Despite the unsettling content, the story is actually more engaging than one would expect. I don’t plan on reading more of the series, but if I came across more volumes for free, I would probably read them. That’s saying a lot for something outside of my usual genre preference.

This book gives me similar vibes to zombie fiction, but it’s a little different. Basically, there is some kind of contagion that causes people to have murderous impulses. They seem to be directed at those they care about most, but not exclusively. The side effects also include super human strength, among other things. I get the feeling it’s more like an increase on all of the body’s base abilities, like making a murderous super soldier.

I cheated a little since I don’t plan on getting any more volumes. The ending of this one was a huge punch in the gut and I needed some answers, so I looked for an answer to one specific question just to quell my curiosity. If I end up reading more later, knowing this answer is not going to spoil the story for me. I just really wanted to know this one thing. If you have read this volume, you probably know what I looked up.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4209-6
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. As with volume six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. One is Mizore and Kurumu is their swimsuits, and the other is Moka and Tsukune standing back to back.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s big sister.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She works for a branch of Fairy Tale and absolutely adores Moka.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

Story & Thoughts

This volume has more chapters than usual. There are six. The first third finishes the events of combat with Aqua. There are some epic and dramatic moments there.

I think the most important section is the last half of the book. It focuses heavily on Kurumu. She shines here, but at the same time it’s so emotionally tragic it almost made me cry. Kurumu does not give herself enough credit. She doesn’t get many chances to shine, so I love that for her in this one, even if it’s in an unpleasant situation.

Gin arrives at some point with Ruby and a few others when the story switches focus to training. I don’t usually pay attention to how people talk, but Gin’s speech drove me up the wall in this book. I had to read it without the…What would it be? An accent, maybe? Gin speaks in an annoying way in this volume, and I just can’t help wondering if I just didn’t notice before, or if it was a new translation choice. He says things like, “yer” instead of your and, “purty,” instead of pretty. It makes him sound really annoying, and I hate it. I swear he did not speak like that before.

Overall, this volume is another serious one. There is very little comedy, if any, but it covers a significant amount of content. As a whole, I think it might be one of the best volumes, but that’s just my personal opinion. Everything in it is important.

Dick Fight Island

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Dick Fight Island by Reibun Ike
Genres: Action, BL, Comedy, Erotica, Romance
Intended Age Group: Mature
Publisher: SuBlime/Libre
Volumes: 2
Series Rating: 5/5
See my individual reviews here:
Volume 1 – Volume 2
Get your own copies here:
1 – Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks
2 – Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description

The archipelago islands of Pulau Yang Indah are hosting their quadrennial tournament to choose the king for the next political term. But, this isn’t just any normal tournament. The archipelago’s traditions are strange and different. The competition consists of one on one matches of man against man, with the first to ejaculate being the loser.

Harto, of the jewel clan, returns from abroad to participate as his clan’s chosen warrior. He’s brought a new technique from the mainland, taught by his college roommate, Matthew. Will this new skill be enough to win him the tournament? And what about after, would Harto even want to be king?

Find out what heartwarming and erotic love stories result from this unique island tradition.

About

As far as I know, this series is only two volumes long. There appears to be some short story publication as well, but it’s a Japanese release only.

This is very much an erotic series. There are dicks and butts all over the place in both volumes. It is censored, but minorly. The books use a gray/black bar method. The bar is small, and doesn’t obscure much of anything. It’s not even used consistently. Some pictures don’t have it at all. I think it depends how detailed the image is and possibly what angle.

The consent of the tournament is a little sketchy. By entering the tournament as warriors, they’re basically consenting to the possibility of things happening, but the goal is to avoid it. Use your own discretion to decide if you’re okay with that.

Personal

I’ve been a fan of BL stories for a long time, but I haven’t been able to start a collection until recently. After hearing all the positive feedback about this one, I decided to get it and try it for myself. I’m glad I did. It’s short, sweet, and hilariously silly.

Characters

Harto is the main character. He’s from the jewel clan, and he attends college abroad. Matthew is his roommate.

Matthew Manami is Harto’s roommate from college abroad.

Pisau is from the sun clan. He trains for the tournament with Yudha.

Roro is chief of the earth clan. He has emotional history regarding Rej.

Yudha is from the warrior clan. Yudha has a crush on Pisau.

Taring is the son of the leader of the matrilineal fang clan. He is the youngest in the competition because his clan doesn’t produce many men.

Naga is from the dragon clan. He has history with Vampir regarding his eye.

Vampir is from the healer clan. He has shaman powers, and he tends to get a little intense.

Bulan is from the moon clan. The moon clan is in the northernmost island, and the members tend to be known for their beauty. Bulan has a thing for chief Roro.

Safir is the chief of the jewel clan. He currently rules as co-king with Rej.

Rej is the chief of the healer clan and rules as co-king with Safir.

Story & Thoughts

Volume one focuses on the events of the tournament. Eight warriors from the eight different islands of the archipelago come together to battle it out in the erotic competition to determine their king. Of course, romances are going on in the background. The most obvious one being Matthew following Harto all the way to his home country.

Volume two focuses on Harto and Matthew’s backstory, followed by jumping ahead to check on how everyone is doing after the tournament. Everyone has essentially paired up, whether for romance or training. This one seems to have much more “action” in it than the first one.

Negatives

Honestly, there are few negatives. I guess if you don’t like dubious consent, that’s likely the big one. Aside from that, all I can think of is probably the weirdness of Taring dating his uncle. That only gets a page or two of attention, though. It’s gross, but it’s extremely minor, so it’s easy to overlook.

I don’t consider this a negative, but apparently other people do, so I’m going to list it here and address it. The people of the archipelago do not seem to know what a prostate or anal sex are. It sounds ridiculous, but that’s the point. It’s part of the humor, and not everyone is ignorant about it. There are characters who do know about it. It’s just the ones who are inexperienced or never thought of trying something like that who don’t know about it. Just roll with it, it’s not meant to be taken seriously.

Positives

The biggest positive, in my opinion, is basically everyone gets a happy ending. Everyone is paired with somebody, and each individual relationship gets attention. The story leaves nobody out.

There are lots of dicks and butts, that’s important for this kind of story.

It’s hilarious. The story is serious without taking itself seriously. The determination of the characters during the tournament is part of why it’s so funny.

The story is so heartwarming. Characters overcome cultural differences and hidden feelings to be with people they might not have thought possible in wholesome ways. A few of the relationships might seem a little strange or possibly toxic, but that’s mostly because the characters are so quirky. It’s like a few of them don’t know how to act around the people they like. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It just means they still need to grow a little as people.

There’s also way more detail than you would expect. Not only does each character have a backstory and romance of their own, but each island has some lore.

Manga Haul April 2023

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About

My haul is a little small this month. This is closer to what it is usually like, though. There are only five books this month. All of these are either new or used from Amazon, or from my local book store.

Flame of Recca, Vol. 16 & 17

I’m still slowly working my way through getting the volumes for this series. These put me approximately half way through the total volume count. It looks like they might be more expensive from here on out, so they might not pop up in my hauls as frequently.

What is it?

An action adventure featuring supernatural powers and magic items with a similar vibe to Yu Yu Hakusho.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 4

I love this series. I’m a little behind on the English releases, but I’m trying to catch up. My goal is to catch up to the current releases before I watch the anime. There’s still time before that airs, and I don’t think there is a release date, yet, aside from just, “this year,” so I’m not too worried about it.

Reviews for volumes, one, two, and three, are already available.

What is it?

A fantasy story about an Elf mage coming to terms with how long her lifespan is compared to those around her.

Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 1

I love Soul Eater, but my first exposure was the anime. I hear the manga is significantly better. Either way, I already planned on getting the manga eventually. The perfect editions are hardcovers, and I see no reason not to get a favorite series in hardcover, so these are the ones I will be going with.

What is it?

A fantasy setting where people are trained to be warriors called meisters and wield weapons, that are actually people who become the weapon. They collect tainted souls in hopes of someday turning their weapons into their ultimate form to be used by Death himself. Sometimes this task involves saving the world.

This series is said to be in the same universe as Fire Force, which I have not yet read.

The Titan’s Bride, Vol. 1

I’ve heard good things about this series. I didn’t think it would get a localization, so I’m glad it did. If it didn’t, I was set on ordering a Japanese copy after I learned enough of the language to be able to read it. My BL collection is slowly expanding.

What is it?

An erotic, uncensored, BL isekai with a size difference theme.