My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected Vol. #04 Manga Review

There is no place for you here.

Creative Staff:

Original Story: Wataru Watari
Art: Naomichi Io
Character Design: Ponkan8
Translation: Jennifer Ward
Lettering: Bianca Pistillo

Cover Design: Hiroyuki Kawasome

What They Say:

Despite his best efforts, Hachiman Hikigaya is still a member of the Service Club. Whether it's resolving a spat between gamers by stripping (!) or saving the Judo Club using the power of sweat (?!). Hachiman, Yukino, and Yui can help their fellow students get a clue. However, it just might Hachiman's turn to learn a lesson. Can he mend the frayed bonds between himself and Yui, or will Hachiman's cynicism be his own worst enemy?

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

After Zaimokuza decides to ruin the heartfelt Yui x Yukino scene from the last volume, the Service Club is tossed right back into the fray as they encounter a brand new issue to tackle. Zaimokuza has given up on his dream of being a light novel author and instead wants to become a game developer. Unfortunately for him, a couple of the guys in his group of friends have started to make fun of him, saying he'll never be able to make a game and that he doesn't have what it takes. Stricken with grief, the (un)lovable otaku wants to teach them a lesson. That's where Hachiman and friends come in. Oh, and in the middle of all of this, Yuigahama finds out that Hachiman and Yukino aren't actually dating. I guess we can mark that issue down as 'resolved'.

When the Service Club pays a visit to the Gamers United Club or whatever the hell they call themselves, they are challenged to a good old-fashioned game of Millionaire (Some card game that we don't play in America). The twist thrown onto this game is that the loser of each round has to strip. Yay! Fanservice! What can possibly go wrong? Answer: Everything. The only people that wind up stripped are Hachiman and Zaimokuza after being hustled by the gamer-duo. And just as Yukino is finally about to [reluctantly] join in on the fun, Hachiman has another one of his revelations and ultimately ends up winning the game. However, he isn't the one that teaches anyone a lesson this time around -- that credit goes to Zaimokuza himself. Not afraid of letting out his feelings, the master swordsman states that he knows there isn't much hope for him in the field of game development, but that the idea of backing down on doing what he loves because of that is ludicrous. This moment actually resonates with me personally, albeit to a significantly less embarrassing margin, and is actually one of the heavier lessons in the series as a whole.

The next problem for the Service Club comes from the school's Judo team. Apparently, the former president of the team keeps coming back to their practices after graduating and is scaring away many of the new team members through harsh, verbal harassment. As is standard procedure for SNAFU, the Service Club devises a plan dedicated to having the former president stop showing up altogether. That plan: a judo tournament not limited to just the club but everyone willing to participate. This event, labelled as a fun and friendly way of uncovering the best three-man team in the school, actually goes down pretty well thanks to Yuigahama's idea of having Hayama come. Honestly, Hayama is so damn popular that the entire high school would probably join the math team if he so much as showed his face there.

There's a quick reference to the issue Hayama brought up a few volumes ago when his friends weren't exactly getting along together thrown into the mixture here. Now, all three of them have become such good friends that Hayama has rotated out of their three-man team and is competing alongside Hachiman and Zaimokuza. Thanks to Hayama's ability to be the best at anything and Zaimokuza's ungodly amount of sweat, their team makes it all the way to the final round. However, Zaimokuza loses in the first round and Hayama is forced to return to soccer practice (Via Iroha's first appearance of the manga thus far). There is nothing to worry about, however, as Yukino is apparently good at judo and Hachiman uses his spoiled outlook on society during his match with the former captain. In the end, Hachiman's team loses but accomplishes their mission in ridding the Judo team of their former president. As it turns out, the only reason he had been showing up in the first place was that he was afraid of the actual hardships out there in the real world.

Before the volume comes to a close, the awkward distance between Yuigahama and Hikigaya must be addressed. It is finally revealed that Yukino only summoned Yui to the club room to wish her a happy birthday. Of course, this gives our two recluses time to give Yui the presents they bought for her at the mall. After another monologue about how Yui shouldn't feel indebted to him, Hachiman gives the rambunxious redhead his gift and pretty much renews their 'friendship' or whatever the hell their relationship is at this point in time. In a moment of utter cuteness, Yuigahama mistakes the dog collar as a choker and puts it onto her neck, asking how it looks before finding out what it really is. This moment isn't all that important but it's so frickin' adorable that it needed to be mentioned.

One more thing to note before we round up this review is that the artwork in this volume is several steps up from the rest of the series. I'm not sure where the sudden change came from, but with more detailed character designs and heavier outlining during certain scenes, volume four was very visually impressive. Another touch added in that I absolutely loved was during one of the final chapters when Yuigahama is having a bit of an emotional breakdown. The dialogue bubbles for her speech during this scene begin to look shaky and imperfect, signalling a tremor in her voice. It was a small detail that worked wonders for the scene in the grand scheme of things. Kudos to the mangaka for this.

In Summary:

While I don't recall any of this volume happening in the anime, I can't help but feel like the two issues resolved in this instalment were some of the best thus far. The pacing was excellent and several of the loose ends from previous volumes were tied up. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the artwork has immensely stepped up and a few minor touches made to speech bubbles and outlines have worked wonders for the series. It's great seeing that the manga is clearly headed in the same direction the anime did while taking more of a scenic route there. OreGairu remains one of the best romantic-comedies to date while maintaining a deep understanding of philosophy throughout.

Content Grade: A-

Art Grade: A

Packaging Grade: B

Text/Translation Grade: A

Age Rating: 13+

Released By: Yen Press

Release Date: March 21, 2017

MSRP: $12.99

Amagi Brilliant Park Complete Collection Blu-ray Review

If you want to make dreams come true, you have to start by believing in dreams yourself.

What They Say:

When new transfer student Isuzu asks Seiya Kanie out on a date at gunpoint, he knows something odd is going on. Especially since she wants to go to Amagi Brilliant Park, where the rides are either dangerous or mind-numbingly dull and the only costumed performers who aren't rude or apathetic are the ones who didn't show up for work.

So when Isuzu asks Seiya to take over as the park's new manager, he knows she's crazy. (Well, crazy-er, given the gunpoint thing.) But when Seiya learns that Amagi Brilliant Park is a REAL Magic Kingdom, that the costumed performers aren't wearing costumes, that they live off the energy created by attendees, and that unless they can attract 250,000 attendees in three months, they'll lose their jobs and homes... he goes a little crazy himself.

The Review:

Audio:

Amagi Brilliant Park is brought to us with both an English and a Japanese dub, both of which are presented in DTS-HD 2.0. With audio quality a step above standard releases, you can expect crisp, clear voices and equalized sound all throughout its 13 episodes and OVA. There are no cut-outs or drops whatsoever. Also, make sure you turn your volume to max every time the opening song comes on. It isn't quiet or anything, it's just frickin' awesome.

Video:

The video section is where Amagi Brilliant Park shines. I mean, it is a blu-ray of a Kyoto Animation series, so expectations are already incredibly high, but there is a certain creative charm to Amaburi's visuals that can instil a sense of nostalgia almost instantaneously. Out of all of the KyoAni shows in recent years, this one may just be the prettiest (From a sheer visual perspective). Being a high definition release, video is presented in 1080p with an aspect ratio of 16x9.

Packaging:

Unlike the remarkable premium edition of this Sentai Filmworks series, the standard one comes off as a little boring overall. The front cover is detailed and polished, but the back is cluttered and distracting. The discs are fine, I suppose, but there really isn't much to them considering each one has just a single mascot on it. Though, I guess you can't really blame Sentai for not pouring themselves into designing a better cover when their resources are better spent elsewhere (Like on that beautiful premium edition).

Menu:

To piggyback off of the whole "allocated resources" thing I just mentioned, Sentai brings us another release with mediocre menus. Considering I may very well be the last person in the world that cares about blu-ray and DVD selection menus, I remain unimpressed by the normal 'Character next to a list of episodes' layout. Even accompanied by the allure of AKINO's "Extra Magic Hour," this menu scheme is not one to write home about.

Special Features:

Rejoice, special features fans, for this release comes with something more than just your typical textless opening and ending songs! This complete collection blu-ray release comes with- that's right, the English version of the textless opening song! (Heavy sigh.) There are also trailers that you will most likely not go out of your way to watch...But they're there if you want them.

Content:

Several times a year, Kyoto Animation shows up and grabs the immediate attention of the entire otaku populous and announces whatever random light novel adaptation they've been working on the past few months. Being one of the biggest and most successful animation studios in Japan, it isn't surprising that the vast majority of the anime fandom tend to automatically chalk down whatever series they license and eagerly await expected greatness. I mean, we watched a show about a frickin' marching band because KyoAni had their name on it. But can a series about a failing theme park truly satisfy the majority of the people that watch it? Hell, you can count the amount of shows tackling this subject matter on one hand. Actually, you can count it on one finger...You get the point.

Amagi Brilliant Park (Or Amaburi for short) follows Kanie Seiya, an arrogant and narcissistic former child star who is in no way, shape, or form named after the arrogant and narcissistic Kanye West. One day, Kanie is approached by the beautiful, yet trigger-happy Isuzu Sento (50 Cent), who pretty much forces him to start working at the world's worst theme park. However, this theme park is apparently owned and operated by a group of fairies that come from the magical world of "Maple Land." The women are beautiful and the males all look like college football team mascots, which is anyone's ideal picture of a magic kingdom.

Even though the story comes across as a little odd, it quickly becomes enchanting (Not a magic pun) when you find out that the princess of Maple Land and former manager of the park has a sickness that prevents her from aging and resets her memory once every year. And so Kanye Seiya West must bring in a total of 500,000 visitors in a six month period in order for the Maple Landers to keep the park open. If he does not succeed, Princess Frailty will lose all of her magic powers and ultimately die a tragic death. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. In fact, getting the staff of Amagi Brilliant Park to work at maximum potential is about as easy as training a whale to sing -- a terrible analogy I just made up that I promise to never use again.

What's disappointing about the story of Amaburi is that they throw in all of this information that seems like it's going to be important at some point in time, but then never mention it again. There's this whole thing about Kanie's past and his falling out as a child star that's made out to be such a huge deal, but everyone just forgets about it one day. We never find out exactly what happened to cause that. Sento's affections never come to fruition (Or even get let out for that matter) and ultimately become meaningless in the long run. And then Kanie goes off on this tangent about how he is terrified of heights and feels like he has to hide it from everyone but then it never even comes up again. Why?! And as if that wasn't enough, they kept trying to connect Kanie's past to Queen Latifah's as if trying to remind us that there was more to this series than just cool rides and funny mascots when, in all actuality, there wasn't. No one watched Amagi Brilliant Park because of its story -- the premise itself was enough to entrap us. Constant forced attempts at making the show deeper than it had to be were nothing more than unnecessary distractions from something that was already working.

One thing to note, though (For you dub-watchers out there), is that the series was well adapted by the English staff and the comedy hits just as hard as it does in the original script -- which is quite the feat if I do say so myself.

In Summary:

Amagi Brilliant Park is a solid, well-animated series -- but it could have been much better. You'll find that the driving force pushing you toward the next episode isn't the story, but the characters and the artwork. It's enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it's one of the weaker shows KyoAni has given us in recent years. However, that doesn't mean it isn't worth checking out. At the end of the day, Amagi Brilliant Park is fun and unique take on the theme park industry packed with a memorable cast, well-timed comedy, and the best-drawn Ferris wheel in anime history.

Features:

English DTS-HD Master 2.0 Audio, Japanese DTS-HD Master 2.0 Audio, English subtitles, clean opening/ending songs, "Extra Magic Hour" Internation version, Sentai Filmworks trailers.

Content Grade: B

Audio Grade: A

Video Grade: A+

Packaging Grade: B-

Menu Grade: B-

Extras Grade: C+

Released By: Sentai Filmworks

Release Date: February 28, 2017

MSRP: $69.98

Running Time: 350 Minutes

Video Encoding: 1080p High Definition

Aspect Ratio: 16x9

Death March To The Parallel World Rhapsody Vol. #02 Manga Review

Only the holy sword of a hero can defeat a demon lord.

Creative Staff:

Art: Ayamegumu

Story: Hiro Ainana

Character Design: Shri

Translation: Jenny McKeon

Lettering: Rochelle Gancio

What They Say:

Satou's caught in an underground labyrinth. Zena's also lost, and her only companions are three beast girls. Demons abound as Satou and Zena try to get to safety!

The Review:

Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)

After being sucked into an underground labyrinth at the end of the first volume, Satou awakens accompanied by no one other than the beastfolk this time around. Being sympathetic toward these demihumans who have experienced nothing other than the hardships of slavery for their entire life, Satou decides to take them under his wing. After observing each of their skill sets and experience bars, he discovers that none of them are over level four. In layman's terms, they're utterly useless. But considering his kind-hearted nature, Satou tends to their wounds, immediately earning their favor and sparking what is most likely the first positive interaction these beastfolk have ever had with a human. Not knowing how to deal with these circumstances, the beast girls declare Satou their new master and ask that he give them each nicknames -- which, of course, he does. Liza, Pochi, and Tama.

As the four make their way through the underground labyrinth, the encounter various types of monsters unknown to Satou. Of course, he's level 310 so he's able to cut each of them down without a worry. The main objective at this point in time is rendezvousing with Zena and her squad. However, along the way, Satou figures out that it might not be a bad idea to have the beastfolk join in on some of the fighting. After all, no one can possibly get hurt with him in the picture. From this point on, the relationship between these four is reinforced and strengthened with each and every battle. Eventually, they wind up discovering a few more survivors entrapped in webs and allow them to tag along as well. One of these survivors, however, has a predisposition toward beastfolk and becomes problematic. But after being gravely wounded and given a healing position by Satou and the others, his disposition fades and he becomes less of an issue.

Eventually, the group makes its way back to Zena's team. Unfortunately, the entire army is locked in battle with slime monsters, not understanding how to cut them down. But with the help of Liza and Satou, the army learns the weakness of said slimes and easily fends them off. After healing up, however, things take a turn for the worse.

The eyeball monster that sucked everyone into this labyrinth in the first place appears yet again, disguised as a mimic. This thrusts everyone back into battle mode while Satou is forced to retreat. He knows that if he goes all out, his disguise will be ruined and he will be banished from the city of Seiryu as a result of his farce. So, what he does is what any logical adventurer would do in this situation -- he runs away and puts on a mask, becoming a makeshift superhero in order to save the day and retain his identity. Just when things are looking up, however, the monster summons his master -- a greater hell demon. This demon then consumes his subordinate and transforms into the 'final boss' of the labyrinth. Of course, this is no problem for Satou as he switches his title to 'Godkiller' and cuts it down with the use of his divine sword and newly-acquired fire magic.

After everyone escapes from the dungeon, many of those who ventured inside were locked into containment as the event was investigated. Luckily for Satou, one of the survivors he had rescued was of noble blood, so he was allowed to take the beastfolk and seek residence inside the castle. Gaining the favor of the nobles, Satou increased the treatment toward the other prisoners of war before everyone was ultimately let loose to continue on with their lives. The only issue now was establishing that Satou was the true new master of Liza and the others. After visiting a merchant (Who was also a survivor Satou rescued) capable of handling this paperwork, it is made clear that our protagonist plans on freeing them. Of course, I don't think this is exactly going to work out considering that the girls have taken an immense liking to their new 'master'. Then, things become even more difficult when Satou is shown two new slaves that the merchant thinks he would be interested in. Before he is able to improve the conditions of his harem, the volume comes to an end.

In Summary:

Much of this volume is spent on further establishing the conditions of the world Satou has become a part of. After vanquishing a greater hell demon, he has finally gained the title of 'hero' -- which is absolutely fitting for someone as lawfully good as him. The addition of several new characters makes the world much more immersive as Death March takes on a life of its own. With such an interesting and well fleshed-out levelling system as well as a roster of characters oozing with sentiment, this series continues to stand out amongst others of similar genres. The attention to detail is clear step-up from how similar manga typically come across. In addition, the fact that this entire volume takes place in a single dungeon is a great sign for the rest of the series. I'm tired of action-fantasies that rush toward an ending as soon as they begin. Death March, in its second volume, still feels like it's just beginning and that there is much more left for Satou and the others.

Content Grade: A-

Art Grade: B+

Packaging Grade: B-

Text/Translation Grade: A-

Age Rating: 13+

Released By: Yen Press

Release Date: March 21, 2017

MSRP: $12.99