2007 in review: manga

[meganbmoore]

Backstage Prince Vol 1-2 by Kanoko Sakurakoji
Basara Vol 22 by Yumi Tamura
Black Cat Vol 7-10 by Kentaro Yabuki
Bleach Vol 17-21 by Tite Kubo
Bride of the Water God Vol 1 by Mi-Kyung Nun
Buso Renkin Vol 4-5 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Canon Vol 1-2 by Chika Shiomi
Crimson Hero Vol 5 by Mitsuba Takanashi
D.Gray-Man Vol 4-6 by Katsura Hoshino
Death Note Vol 10-12 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
Dokebi Bride Vol 1-4 by Marley
Emma Vol 1-2 by Kaoru Mori
ES: Eternal Sabbath Vol 4-5 by Fuyumi Soryo
Faeries Landing Vol 15 by You Hyun
From Far Away Vol 8-14 by Kyoko Hikawa
Fruits Basket Vol 16-17 by Natsuki Takaya
Full Metal Alchemist Vol 11-14 by Hiromu Arakawa
Ghost Hunt Vol 6-7 by Fuyumi Ono and Shiho Inada
Hana Kimi Vol 16-19 by Hisaya Nakajo
Hayate the Combat Butler Vol 1-4 by Kenjiro Hata
Her Majesty’s Dog Vol 5-6 by Mick Takeuchi
Hikaru no Go Vol 9 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata
Hikkatsu! Strike A Blow to Vivify Vol 1 by Yu Yagami
Hoshin Engi Vol 1-3 by Ryu Fujisaki
Inu Yasha Vol 28 by Rumiko Takahashi
La Corda d’Oro Vol 1-4 by Yuki Kure
Land of Silver Rain Vol 1-4 by Mira Lee
Megatokyo Vol 5 by Fred Gallagher
Mushishi Vol 1-2 by Yuki Urushibara
Mugen Spiral Vol 1-2 by Mizuho Kusanagi
Naruto Vol 11-12 by Masashi Kishimoto
Negima Vol 12-14 by Ken Akamatsu
Night of the Beasts Vol 2-4 by Chika Shiomi
Ouran High School Host Club Vol 8 by Bisco Hatori
Pearl Pink Vol 1 by Meca Tanaka
Platinum Garden Vol 3-4 by Maki Fujita
Qwan Vol 1-2 by Aki Shimizu
Rose Hip Zero Vol 2-3 by Tohru Fujisawa
Saiyuki Reload Vol 6-7 by Kazuya Minekura
Samurai Deeper Kyo Vol 21-24 by Akimine Kamijyo
Skip-Beat Vol 4-6 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning Vol 1 by Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno
Tail of the Moon Vol 2-5 by Rinko Ueda
Threads of Time Vol 9 by Mi Young Noh
Togari Vol 1-3 by Yoshinori Natsumi
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Vol 1-3 by Clamp
Vagabond Vol 24 by Takehiko Inoue
Vampire Knight Vol 1-3 by Matsuri Hino
Vision of the Other Side Vol 1 by Yu-Chin Lin
W Juliet Vol 14 by Emura
Wallflower Vol 11-13 by Tomoko Hayakawa
Wild Adapter Vol 1 by Kazuya Minekura
xXxHoLic Vol 1-6 by Clamp
Yoki Koto Kiku by Koge-Donbo
Yurara Vol 1-2 by Chika Shiomi
Zombie Loan Vol 1 by Peach-Pit
Zombie Powder Vol 3-4 by Tite Kubo

I’m only covering the new-to-me-this-year(unless I only read Vol 1 last year) titles because...well...that’s 57 titles and almost 140 volumes. As I mentioned before, it would take coming here and teaching my 11 month old nephew to say Aunt Meg, please review every single manga you read" for me to do that. Plus, unless you get me soon after I read a book, events start blending together as far as what happened what volume. I can relate the sequence of events and probably narrow it down, but to cover everything, I’d have to dig out every single book and see what happened when. That would probably keep me from doing anything else for a couple weeks. And, honestly, I don’t even have some of these anymore to check.

(Incidentally, 23 of the 57 titles are either completed or have been dropped, and it’s a fairly even split.)

Shin Angyo Onshi isn’t covered because it got too long as it is and if I included it, I’d probably end up counting up all the scanslations I’ve checked out, and then THIS POST WOULD NEVER END! But it’s excellent and very much needs to be licensed. Here’s the tag for it.

Chika Shiomi is my Shojo Manga Goddess and gets her own section.

Ok, know all those things about shojo manga that I’ve been complaining about lately? The things that have me dropping the gender left and right(yet I do remain fond of it, in general, just currently annoyed...I’m sure I’ll eventually be back to reading a ton of it)? So very much not in these books. Chika Shiomi’s books are about girls who kick butt. They don’t have TIME to waste dithering about liking a boy and does he like her, and how far should they go...they’re too busy for that stuff. Technically, her plots are within the normal shojo standards, but that technicality is along the same lines that Wallflower technically fits within the he-harem standards(err...except Chika Shiomi has darkness and action instead of sheer crack.) Night of the Beasts is a dark, myth based romance with an OTP from hell. Canon is a vampire story that makes no attempt at making the vampires sympathetic but still makes them compelling(also has an OTP from hell, of course.) Yurara...ok, Yurara has a much more conventional approach and has the shojo school/triangle setup, but it’s still great. Granted, Aria and Canon could squash the heroine like a bug, but she’s no gaspy annoying heroine, and does her best. Plus it maintains the darker themes and action, and is still very interesting. Plus, Yurara has better fashion sense. Much as I love them, Aria and Canon kinda dress like hussies at times. It’s not so bad for Aria, who’s supposed to be very brazen, but Canon is much more conservative. But I forgive them.

When I read volume one of Night of the Beasts, I figured it would soon be another "tormented hero held together by love of girl." Series, but hey, interesting setup, good hero, and the heroine was pretty cool. Then about ½ way through volume two, all my expectations were shattered into bits in the absolute best way possible. Because this was no emo drawn out romance. It’s a romance, yes, but not in the "we will cling together against the world and make heartfelt speeches the whole time" way, but in the "something has happened to you and I will now tear the world apart to get you back and destroy everything in my path" way. Oh, except the person kicking butt without bothering to take names and tearing the world apart is the heroine, not the hero. I’m sure it’s going to end in a giant ball of angst, but I don’t care. I saw Canon in the bookstore, skimmed the back, dismissed it as just another vampire book, then the mangaka’s name registered after I had moved on so I went back and got it. Such a good thing I did. Instead of emo angstmuffin gothic vampires and clingy waifs, I have a heroine who used to be a weakling but was forced to become strong by circumstance, and two seriously dark and non-emo angstmuffin gothic wannabee vampires, with the main difference between the two being who wronged who, and who has Canon’s best interests at heart. And then I get a brilliant twist in volume two that made everything 10 times better. How do I not love? Yurara? Well, homestly, if I hadn’t already been reading the other two when this one came out, I’d probably be praising it to high heaven. As it is, it was so close to conventional shojo that it felt like a bit of a letdown. But hey, snarky heroes, interesting story, buttkicking, and non-annoying heroine. And fine, Yurara is no comparison to Aria and Canon in the buttkicking department, but at least she does her best and has a butt-kicking alter ego inside.

Also? Tired of endless series? Then your in luck. Chika Shiomi tells her story and moves on to the next. She doesn’t drag a book out for all eternity. Canon is 4 volumes, Night of the Beasts is 6 and Yurara 5. Having looked through the penultimate volumes of Night of the Beasts and Canon, I can say that it looks like yes, she ended the story, not that they’re were cancelled, as both are clearly building to a climax. The brevity is a large part of why I haven’t read the two volumes...I want them to last as long as possible. And they’re incentive to work on the backlog. Honestly, I think I’ve babbled so much about Chika Shiomi’s works this year that there’s no point in repeating myself. Here is my "I love Chika Shiomi" post from a while back(when I'd only read a bit), and here is a good article on her stuff that also has sample pages.

Each title takes you to the tag for the books, because if I start talking about them, I’ll never shut up.

Canon Vol 1-2 by Chika Shiomi

Night of the Beasts Vol 2-4 by Chika Shiomi

Yurara Vol 1-2 by Chika Shiomi

Seriously, if she put out a yaoi, I’d read it. And yaoi bores me to tears.

Things almost as important as Chika Shiomi manga.

Looking at this, it seems that most manga that was not by Chika Shiomi that I latched onto the most was episodic, tradition/myth based, pure crack, or some combination.

Dokebi Bride Vol 1-4 by Marley: The manwha that got me back into manwha after being kinda annoyed with it for a couple of years. DB is about Sunbi, a young woman raised in a small village who moves to Seoul to live with her father after her grandmother’s death. Sunbi’s grandmother was a priestess and Sunbi has inherited her powers, but not her experience or training. The series follows Sunbi as she tries to reconcile the modern world with the world of the supernatural and tradition. Instead of being portrayed as the poor girl who’s always right and misused, Sunbi, while a very sympathetic character, is also a very difficult person, and many of her problems stem from her own attitude and tendency to hold herself apart and refusal to compromise. Instead of making her unlikable or annoying, as is often the case, this only serves to make her a more interesting and compelling character.

Hayate the Combat Butler Vol 1-4 by Kenjiro Hata: This manga? It’s just sheer, endearing, over the top crack. It’s about a boy whose parents sell his internal organs to the yakuza to pay off their debt, and hoping to pay them instead, he plans to kidnap a rich girl and use the ransom to pay off the debt. Except she mistakes it for a confession of love and hires him as her butler so they can "be together." He, of course, is completely oblivious to both that and the fact that she has a crush on him, and becomes her devoted servant for life because she pays off the debt. There’s family feuds, fiances, talking tiger, insane homicidal robots, giant mecha manned by weenies and the hero randomly goes "hmm...I might need a machine gun today..." and then does. Pure, pure fun that always has me in stitches...and seriously, how can anyone NOT want to at least see what that title is about?

Hikkatsu! Strike A Blow to Vivify Vol 1 by Yu Yagami: It puts Hayate the Combat Butler to shame for the crack. An utterly insane series that rips into all the conventions of shonen manga. Our emotastic hero, Shota accidentally killed his master after his master had an unfortunate encounter with a rampaging backhoe. You see, Shota had seen a man in town use a karate chop to fix an appliance, and thought the same would work on a human. Naturally, it didn’t, and ever since, Shota has lived in a cabin at the top of Mt. Fuji, practicing the One Shot No Fail Repair Blow on abandoned appliances. On one of his trips to civilzation to get more appliances, he saves a girl named Momoko, who was raised by pigeons from an evil vending machine, causing her to fall in love with him and follow him home. Through a sequence of events I can’t begin to describe, Shota uses the One Shot No Fail Repair Blow to ignite Mr. Fuji and declares that stage of his training to be complete and sets off to practice on the world at large, with Momoko faithfully following him. These and many, many more insane things are all handled in a 100% straightforward manner...the mangaka never once cracks a joke and tells it as if it were a deep, intense drama, making it 100 times better than it would be otherwise, and also almost impossible to explain The only exception to this that I can recall is a fantasy sequence where Momoko imagines that she and Shota are deeply in love and that Shota(who really may or may not even realize she’s a girl...or that girls exist) showers her with praise and affection. While the scene itself is portrayed just like everything else, there’s a small footnote reminding us that Shota isn’t really like tha, and that they aren’t married.. The important thing to remember is that it’s from the same brain that gave us Those Who Hunt Elves.

Hoshin Engi Vol 1-3 by Ryu Fujisaki: An adaptation of the Chinese novel Fengshen Banyi, specifically the story of Daji. An evil fox spirit, Dakki, is on Earth and has ensorcelled the Yin emperor, so a young immortal, Taikobo, is sent to Earth to seal away the evil and destructive spirits that have infested Earth. This, of course, brings him into direct conflict with Dakki, and Taikobo soon learns that, on his own, he is no match for Dakki, so he sets out to gain allies. The series blends mythology and technology almost seamlessly, and despite a slightly meandering approach(which actually is very similar to the wuxia adventure format) is clearly the beginning of an impressive epic. Also the hero, Taikobo, while appearing rather lazy at times, is an amazingly clever beast.

Mushishi Vol 1-2 by Yuki Urushibara: Seemingly set at any time in Japan’s history(but probably early 20^th century) the alternate historical world in mushishi is a semingly rural world plagued by creatures called Mushi. Mushi are parasites who attach themselves to human…they can live in your ears, under your eyelids, in your mouth…wherever they want to. Different mushi feed on different things, but almost all harm their host. Most humans can’t see mushi, but a few, called mushishi, can, and travel the world seeking out and destroying mushi. Our hero, Ginko, is one such man. A sardonic chainsmoker, Ginko has white hair and only one green eye thanks to an encounter with a mushi as a child, where’s fairly modern clothes(though why his clothing is far ahead of the times than anyone else’s has yet to be explained.) The series is episodic(I don’t think a single story has lasted more than a chapter, yet) and very quiet. Which is not only very effective, but pretty much makes Ginko the coolest thing ever. It’s actually a hard series to explain and I have no idea if I did a good job of it, but it’s a very, very good series.

Qwan Vol 1-2 by Aki Shimizu: Qwan is an oddly charming shonen manga based on Chinese mythology(which also includes a number of people from Chinese history.) In it, a wandering rogue and conman named Chikei stumbles across a strange young boy named Qwan. Qwan has white hair, strange eyes, dark skin, and he eats demons by literally inhaling him. He also has a headless, winged pet that resembles a hippo, and carries huge, mallet-like weapons that apparently weigh nothing to him. Recognizing a golden opportunity when he sees one, Chikei takes Qwan under his wing and strikes up a partnership with him…he’ll lead Qwan to demons he can eat by following rumors, and charge the people there to be freed of the demon. Along the way they meet Daki, a human girl raised by demons who controls bugs(and because she was raised by demons, Qwan tries to eat her, and keeps on trying even after the first few attempts fail, resulting in scenes that really shouldn’t have been as funny as they were), Shaga, a prostitute who seems to know more about Qwan than Qwan himself does, and Amon, the foster grandson of a court Eunich who may know about the "Essential Arts of Peace" that Qwan needs to learn his origins. The series is very historical and mythic, and is utterly charming and interesting, even when(especially when) the mangaka makes you go "did they really just…"

Rose Hip Zero Vol 2-3 by Tohru Fujisawa: Cops, assassins, sword, guns, explosions. How do I not love? The GTO manga didn’t work for me at all(I think the live action spoiled me) but I like this, which is about a badass cop who’s given the task of taking down the group of teen assassins that killed his sister, and is partnered with a girl who defected from the assassins. It has a character who casually picks up his hand and walks away after it gets lopped off. I love it.

Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning Vol 1 by Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno: The Spiral anime has always been one of my favorites, despite the ending, and the last few years, I’ve been driven utterly insane by the false alarms regarding the licensing of the manga. By the time I finally had it in my hands, I was worried it couldn’t possibly live up to my expectations. Thankfully, I was wrong and it could. The series is about Narumi Ayumu, a withdrawn, antisocial young man with very dry snark who has always felt he lived in the shadow of his brilliant brother, Kiyotaka. A brilliant detective(and musician and everything else he ever tried) Kiyotaka disappeared two years ago, leaving Ayumu and Kiyotaka’s wife, Madoka, with nothing more than a message saying he’s going to solve the mystery of the Blade Children. Two years later, Ayumu is accused of the murder of a classmate and sets out to prove his innocence. He is initially hindered, and then aided, by Hiyono, the chipper, energetic and determined editor(sole contributor?) of the school newspaper, who has dirt on almost everyone in existence. In the course of his investigation, Ayumu learns of a connection to the Blade Children, his first clue about his brother in two years. The anime is essentially a study of how much angst, self-doubt and opposition you can pile on a person without destroying them, with the answer apparently being "endless, as long as he has a personal cheerleader to get him past it." Having unintentionally spoiled myself for the manga a while back, I can honestly say that the anime has nothing on the manga in that department.

Togari Vol 1-3 by Yoshinori Natsumi: In his lifetime, teenaged Tobei was a serial killer on the streets of Edo, by the time he was executed at the age of 16, he had already killed 1000 people. After 300 years in Hell, Tobei is given the chance at redemption if he can find 100 escaped Toga, or sins, and return them to hell, with Ose, his keeper in Hell sent along to keep an eye on him. The problem? If he sins himself, he’ll lose his head, and any harm he causes another human, he’ll feel himself. He sets off to conquer his new life with the same reckless, bloodthirsty abandon he lived his last life, but finds himself lost and overwhelmed in the modern world. Meanwhile, after a life time of abuse and deprivation on the streets, Tobei experiences human kindness for the first time in the form of Itsuki, a girl he accidentally saves when first returning to Earth, as well as her family and the police officer who was once Itsuki’s father’s partner. Making things even more fun is the revelation that there is no real redemption, just an excuse to get rid of troublesome sinners…other sinners have been sent to earth before but have eventually been consumed by Togari, the wooden sword they use to vanquish the sins. Instead of making up excuses for Tobei and his actions, the mangaka simply explains where he’s coming from, essentially equating Tobei to a stray animal who started biting after being kicked by every human it ever met, and who has no idea what to do when it finally meets human who pets it instead, managing to convey tobei both as a ruthless killer and a lost, sympathetic boy.

xXxHoLic Vol 1-6 by Clamp: It got off to a slow start, but I was told to bear with it, so I did and it more than paid off. Watanuki is a young man who is plagued by the fact that he can see spirits…and they won’t leave him alone. One day, he "stumbles" across the shop of Yuko, the Space-Time/Dimensions Witch(I’ve seen her called both) who promises that she can help him to stop seeing spirits, but he has to provide equal payment by working for her(which, really is an excuse to keep an eye on the boy…though having a servant is nice, too.) Soon he learns that a classmate, Domeki, is able to repel and banish spirits, and they enter into something of an uneasy partnership. The series is alternate mytharc and episodic, typically dealing with customers of Yuko’s with some bad habit of the customer’s that either eventually destroys them, or that they’re able to break free of. It takes a little while to get used to(I confess to finding the first volume somewhat grating) but is an excellent series. My only complaint at this point is that Clamp constantly insists on crossing the book over with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and not only is it almost always random and unnecessary, but at this point it makes absolutely no sense that Yuko would be so incredibly fixated on one set of customers.

Yoki Koto Kiku by Koge-Donbo: A brilliant dark comedy about very cute chibis doing very dark things. When the family head dies, a set of triplets sets out to when the family fortune for themselves, while the oldest sibling’s fiancee(he’s away at war) regularly freaks out over all the insanity. There’s poison, revenge, betrayals, death traps, and cascades of axes regularly fly through the air. One sibling’s sould is so dark that the death god who gets it automatically gets a promotion, while the absentee heir is more powerful than all combined even though he’s oceans away and has the house rigged so that the house will literally defend his fiancee if her blood pressure gets too high. It’s the best dark comedy this side of Clue. I know sorrow that it was only one volume long.

Other new-to-me manga, whether it worked for me in the long run or not(and I shall tell you if it did or not).

Backstage Prince Vol 1-2 by Kanoko Sakurakoji: This is a short series about a normal girl who starts dating a kabuki actor who has severe antisocial tendencies. It’s a light and cute romance, but nothing special.

Bride of the Water God Vol 1 by Mi-Kyung Nun: This one may have ended up in the "things almost as important as Chika Shiomi manga" category had more been released this year. About a girl sacrificed to the water god, Habaek, but ends up his bride instead. It’s very interesting and it’s very heavy on mythology(and in the good way) but not enough happens in the first volume-almost nothing, really-for me to have a solid opinion on it yet.

Emma Vol 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: A charming romance between a servant and a rich man in Victorian England, the series is almost visually perfect, but the society presented bears little resemblance to actual Victorian society, and the social mores were very, very out of place. Though I found the story charming, in the end, it was far too much a case of window-dressing history, which probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much if it weren’t meant to be proper Victorian society. I think the part that finally turned me off was when the heroine was almost perfectly calm about finding herself locked alone in a building with a man(the hero, of course) who she barely knew, and fell asleep on his lap.

La Corda d’Oro Vol 1-4 by Yuki Kure: I got this during one of my "I need more shojo" weak moments, and…hrm…IIRC, it involved a girl who went to a school where the music students were the elite, but she was an art student, but there was a magical violin with a fairy that made anyone who played it good, so she was able to enter into a musical tournament. I remember liking the first couple of volumes, and then getting annoyed in the 3^rd when I realized it was one of those where the writer would toy with the idea of the heroine with all the guys andthen hook her up with whichever one the fans liked, and then I realized with volume four that I only actually liked one character, so away it went.

Land of Silver Rain Vol 1-4 by Mira Lee: A light fairy tale-like romance where a mortal girl is found under a cabbage patch and raised in the world of the dokebis, but is exiled to Earth when she’s 13 for lying to the lord of the land. She has, however, naturally captured the heart of a prince before that, and after a couple years of forced amnesia by Those Who Disapprove, he follows her to Earth, only to find that SHE now has amnesia, and tries to become part of the mortal world to be with her. A fun mix of fantasy, comedy and romance, it’s a good read if not the most amazing thing ever.

Mugen Spiral Vol 1-2 by Mizuho Kusanagi: Part of the seemingly endless stream of priestess/demon shojo, but one I like, where a demon prince tries to devour the power of a priestess, only to have her beat him and turn him into a cat, only allowing him out to help her fight other demons. He’s a grouch and she’s no slouch and I had great fun and wish it had been longer, especially as a few (major) plot threads weren’t resolved. But still, one of the better short shojo series I’ve read.

Pearl Pink Vol 1 by Meca Tanaka: I read and liked volume one but honestly don’t remember a lot(I have recently acquired vol 2-3, though.) One of those reserved/serious guy + tiny spunky girl with a crush on him shojo romances. I remember that it made me think a lot of It Started With a Kiss, and that his father made him buy porn for him, and that she had to live with his family because her mother was an actress and they didn’t want the media to know she had a teenaged daughter. Mostly I remember it being light and enjoyable and wanting to read more.

Tail of the Moon Vol 2-5 by Rinko Ueda: Clutzy ninja girl is sent to be the bride of the heir of another ninja clan but he refuses to even consider her as a bride until she becomes a decent ninja and he trains her. It was cute, but I realized in Vol 5 that while I liked it, I felt no attachment, certainly not enough to get me through another 10+ volumes, and there was nothing exceptional about it for it to make the cut.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Vol 1-3 by Clamp: Essentially an excuse for Clamp to play with alternate versions of every book and character they’ve ever written, especially Cardcaptor Sakura. I’m kind of in love with one of the original leads, kurogane, and really like the other, Fai, but don’t have much opinion yet on the actual leads. Sakura hasn’t really done anything yet, and Sayaoran doesn’t really have much characterization beyond "the boy who loves Sakura." Also, they’re so young(13? 14?) and he’s so earnest and determined that I kinda want to pat him on the head and send him on his way so Kurogane can break more things. I suspect I’ll run hot and cold on this one but like it overall.

Vampire Knight Vol 1-3 by Matsuri Hino: I liked the plot, about a school where there’s a "night class" made up of vampires at a school and the headmaster’s daughter and the son of vampire hunters who was turned into a vampire by the vampire who killed his parents kept the human and vampire students separate, and I really, REALLY like Zero, the vampire hunters’s son, but the handling of the love triangle and particularly the other guy in the love triangle-who gave off serious stalker/pedophile vibes for her-majorly turned me off.

Vision of the Other Side Vol 1 by Yu-Chin Lin: Like Bride of the Water God, it might be under "things almost as important as Chika Shiomi manga" if I’d read more. Essentially a wuxia in manga form, a princess is betrothed to the prince of another kingdom as a peace offering. She, of course, Strongly Objects, and in the market place, she rescued by a "barbarian" who falls for her, who, of course, is the prince(who is also known as a ruthless war demon.) Meanwhile, she "persuades" the leader of a dancing troupe to help her escape, and thinking she’s a dancer who’s caught the king’s eyes, he helps her get out of the palace, not knowing she’s his betrothed. I liked it a lot, but don’t have enough hold on the plot yet to know if I’ll love it in the long run.

Wild Adapter Vol 1 by Kazuya Minekura: I expected to love this due to my love of Saiyuki, but it just didn’t work for me. While I didn’t mind the incredibly dark and seedy plot, I didn’t like how Kazuya Minekura seemed to make it more about that than the story or characters and didn’t even finish the second volume.

Zombie Loan Vol 1 by Peach-Pit: There wasn’t enough plot or character development in Vol 1 for me to have a solid opinion yet. The heroine annoyed me with her gaspy shriekiness and regular freaking out, but the heroes literally swapped hands and manifested a sword and a gun to fight monsters, and they literally have mortgages on life. I suspect I’ll have enough fun with it to get over whatever problems I may have with it in the long run.

my brain is now dead and I will attempt to revive it by eating and reading Skip-Beat.  If Kyoko's insane rage does not have me laughing at work and getting strange looks, i shall be Deeply Disappointed.