#IReadsYou Review: ORESAMA TEACHER Volume 26

ORESAMA TEACHER, VOL. 26
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Izumi Tsubaki
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: JN Productions
LETTERS: Erik Erbes
EDITOR: Pancha Diaz
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0837-6; paperback (July 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
200pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Oresama Teacher is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Izumi Tsubaki.  It was serialized in the shojo manga magazine, Hana to Yume, from July 2007 to February 2020.  VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shojo Beat” imprint since March 2011.

Oresama Teacher focuses on Mafuyu Kurosaki.  She was once the take-charge, hard-hitting leader (“bancho”) of a high school gang.  Hoping to reform her daughter of her delinquent ways, Mafuyu's mother sends Mafuyu to Midorigaoka Academy, an isolated school far off in the country.  There, Mafuyu reunites with Takaomi Saeki, the childhood friend who set her on the path of delinquency.  Now, Saeki is Mafuyu’s homeroom teacher.

As Oresama Teacher, Vol. 26 (Chapters 147 to 152) opens, Mafuyu has been kidnapped.  The kidnapper is her homeroom teacher, Mr. Seiichiro Maki, who is something of a conundrum.  He has spirited her off to some unknown place and locked her in a room.  When she discovers that she is locked in one of many rooms in a mansion, Mafuyu is happy because she loves mansions.  That aside, she will have to unravel the mystery of Mr. Maki if he is to escape and continue her bid to save her school.  But to do what she needs to do, she will have to rely on an enemy.

[This volume includes bonus manga:  “Okegawa's College Debut,” four pages of four-panel comics and a “Bonus Chapter.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Oresama Teacher manga is a bit inconsistent in tone.  It is, at its heart, a raucous high school manga featuring former delinquents and scheming high school club types.

Oresama Teacher Graphic Novel Volume 26 shows the series' other side, its best side, and that is poignant, character revealing back stories.  I find that creator Izumi Tsubaki does her best work in these flashbacks and characters pieces.  She grounds the silliness of her narrative in good storytelling with the dramatic examinations of her characters.

JN Productions also does its best work in translation and English adaptation when the story turns poignant.  Here, letterer Erik Erbes also turns his fonts into strains of haunting melodies that draw the readers into the drama before they return to the rough and tumble.  Vol. 26 is an entry in the series that longtime readers deserve.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of offbeat high school shojo manga will want to try the Shojo Beat title, Oresama Teacher.

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: HAIKYU!! Volume 33

HAIKYU!!, VOL. 33
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Haruichi Furudate
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: Erika Terriquez
EDITOR: Marlene First
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0743-0; paperback (July 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
200pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Haikyu!! is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate.  This manga was serialized in the manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from February 2012 to July 2020.  VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of Haikyu!! as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shonen Jump” imprint since July 2015.

Haikyu!! focuses on Shoyo Hinata.  As a child, Hinata saw the legendary volleyball (haikyu) player known as “the Little Giant” compete at the national volleyball finals.  From that point, Hinata began a quest to be the best volleyball player ever.  In a sport in which tall athletes dominate, however, Hinata's height of 5'4” is considered too short.  Now, he plays for Karasuno Public High School with his rival, Tobio Kageyama.  Hinata does not believe that a player needs to be tall in order to play volleyball, especially when a player can jump higher than anyone else – as he can.

As Haikyu!!, Vol. 33 (Chapters 288 to 296; entitled “Monsters' Ball”) opens, the “National Spring Tournament” continues.  Karasuno (representing Miyagi Prefecture) won its opening match and, in the second round, matches up against Inarizaki High School, one of the favorites to win the entire tournament.  Plus, Inarizaki has a set of “wonder twins,” the brothers, Osamu and Atsumu Miya, who even have their own version of Hinata and Kageyama's “freak quick.”

If underdog Karasuno gets past Inarizaki, awaiting them is Nekoma Municipal High School (Tokyo Venue Sponsor representatives).  Karasuno and Nekoma have faced each other in practice matches in the past, but Karasuno has never won any of them!

[This volume includes “Bonus Story” and “Bonus Story 2.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  I had not read the Haikyu!! manga in almost a year and a half.  Now, I have read three volumes in five months.

Haikyu!! Graphic Novel Volume 33 brings to a close the Karasuno vs. Inarizaki High story arc, which began in Vol. 29 and ran through three entire volumes (Vols. 30 to 32), before ending four chapters into Vol. 33.  It is easy to forget how really good this series is at depicting all that is fast and furious about a volleyball match... until you read it again.  In fact, Haikyu!! creator Haruichi Furudate is so good at depicting the excitement of volleyball that I am not bored even when following a match that runs through several volumes.

As usual, Adrienne Beck's translation captures the game action and, when necessary, the evolution of the characters.  Letterer Erika Terriquez shines as she continues to create the furious comic book noise of the game.  This duo keeps us going as this series approaches its end.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of sports manga will want the “Shonen Jump” title, Haikyu!!

A
8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.



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#IReadsYou Reivew: CASE CLOSED Volume 71

CASE CLOSED, VOL. 71
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Gosho Aoyama
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
LETTERS: Freeman Wong
EDITOR: Shaenon K. Garrity
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0655-6; paperback (July 2019); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
184pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Detective Conan is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama.  It has been serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday since January 1994.  VIZ Media is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series, entitled Case Closed, under its “Shonen Sunday” imprint.

Case Closed focuses on Jimmy Kudo, ace high school detective.  Kudo is trailing two suspicious men in black (named “Gin” and “Vodka”), when the nefarious duo attacks him.  The two men administer to Jimmy a mysterious substance that physically transforms the teen into a first grader.  While searching for a cure, Jimmy adopts a new identity, becoming elementary school student, Conan Edogawa.  Acting alone and sometimes with his friends, the Junior Detective League (JDL), Jimmy/Conan continues to solve criminal cases and mysteries.

As Case Closed, Vol. 71 (“The Game is Afoot”) opens, Conan and the Junior Detective League solve a rather benign mystery.  It is set at Teitan Elementary School, and it involves – first, finding a “crime prevention” VHS tape lost in the school's A.V. room, which is hardly organized at all.  Then, Conan and the JDL find themselves on the case of a second lost VHS tape containing a superhero TV show (“Samurai Boy”) made by the students; a lost love letter from 13 years earlier; Teitan alumnus, Detective Chiba; and his lost love.  Can Conan and the other kids find the tape, a lost message, and reignite the flames of puppy love?

Then Conan, Dr. Herschel Agasa, Richard Moore (“the Sleeping Detective”), and his daughter Rachel head to London after being invited on an all-expenses-paid trip by an eccentric lady millionaire.  So how does Jimmy Kudo end up in London, also?  And how do both Jimmy and Conan end up trailing a devilish serial killer whose clues reference Sherlock Holmes stories?

THE LOWDOWN:  I'll start off this review by saying the usual:  I love the Case Closed manga.  And regular readers of my reviews know that.

Case Closed Graphic Novel Volume 71 starts off with the sweet and charming two-chapter mystery involving videotape memories and 13-year-old messages.  The remaining nine chapters of this 11-chapter volume focus on the London-set mystery of Sherlock Holmes clues, a serial killer, and a Wimbledon championship tennis match that turns out to have life and death implications.  By the way, that mystery doesn't conclude in Vol.71, which leaves us with a helluva cliffhanger.

As usual, Tetsuichiro Miyaki's sharp translation skills come to the fore in this particularly dialogue-heavy volume.  There is so much dialogue in some chapters that you might think you are reading a double-sized chapter, dear readers.  Luckily, Freeman Wong's unique lettering sets the stage, as well as being clear and concise.  Well, we've got to hurry back for Vol. 72... for the end of the match.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers looking for fun mystery fiction will want to investigate the “Shonen Sunday” detective manga, Case Closed.

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.




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#IReadsYou Review: BLACK CLOVER Volume 16

BLACK CLOVER, VOL. 16
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Yuki Tabata
TRANSLATION: Sarah Neufeld, HC Language Solutions, Inc.
LETTERS: Annaliese Christman
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0513-9; paperback (July 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
200pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Tabata.  It has been serialized in the manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, since February 2015.  VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shonen Jump” imprint since 2016.

Black Clover focuses on a hopeful boy named Asta.  He and his friend, Yuno, are found abandoned in the village of Hage of the Clover Kingdom.  Asta dreams of one day being the “Wizard King,” the greatest mage in the land.  He has one big problem; he can't use magic.  When he is 15-years-old, Asta receives the rare “five-leaf-clover grimoire” (a book of magic), which gives him the power of anti-magic.  Can Asta become the Wizard King without being able to use magic, and is he worthy of being in the “Magic Knights” squad, “the Black Bulls?”

As Black Clover, Vol. 16 (Chapters 141 to 150; entitled “And End and a Beginning”) opens, both Asta and Yuno are members of the newly formed and elite “Royal Knights” brigade.  Both are now on their first mission, storming the based of the “Eye of the Midnight Sun,” which conspires against the Clover Kingdom.  Also, the Black Bulls base of operations is under attack, but a mysterious young guy named Henry is helping defend the base.

Meanwhile, at the top of “the Golden Dawn Magic Knights” headquarters, the current Wizard King, Lord Julius Novachrono, is meeting William Vangeance, a member of the Golden Dawn.  It is an encounter that will change everything.

[This volume includes bonus material:  “The Blank Page Brigade;” an “Afterword;” and sketches.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Black Clover manga continues to be one of the best shonen battle manga available to English-speaking audiences.  I have read six volumes so far this year, and I can't get enough of this exciting series.

Black Clover Graphic Novel Volume 16 moves away from the Royal Knights tournament story which has dominated much of the recent volumes.  Vol. 16 is a game-changer, and the revelations are too shocking for me to risk spoiling anything.  I can say that this blood-chilling volume contains ten chapters that are ready to rock your world.  This volume epitomizes why Black Clover is both a popular manga and an internationally beloved anime series.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of the top Weekly Shonen Jump manga will definitely want to try the “Shonen Jump” series, Black Clover.

A+
10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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