Review: HEROINE? SAINT? NO, I'M AN ALL-WORKS MAID (AND PROUD OF IT)!

Alright, time to tidy things up after that long, unplanned summer absence, and that means it's time to cover another round of maid manga.

HEROINE? SAINT? NO, I'M AN ALL-WORKS MAID (AND PROUD OF IT)! (Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (Horoki)!, based on the light novels by Atekichi and character designs by Yukiko with art by Keiko.  First published in 2022 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Ritsuko was once a bright young Japanese girl who became so fascinated with maids that she wanted to be one.  Now she is Melody, a poor young orphan eager to begin her career as a maid of all work for the Rudleberg family.  It'll take a lot of hard work and powerful magic to bring the family's decrepit estate and rough-around-the-edges daughter up to to the standards of nobility, but Melody is more than up to the challenge!

Melody's life is about to get a lot more challenging as she follows her young mistress Luciana to school.  There are multiple people trying to find her, whether it's because of the secret of her parentage or those with ties to her past life.

Review: MAYO CHIKI!

 Of course, I can't talk about shonen manga without some sort of horny nonsense, and boy does this one live up to both parts of that phrase.

MAYO CHIKI!, based on the light novels by Hajime Asano and illustrations by Seiji Kikuchi, with art by NEET.  First published in 2010 and first published in North America in 2012.

PLOT:

Sakamachi Kinjiro is a teen boy with a serious problem.  He's got a terrible fear of women which tends to manifest as sudden, involuntary nosebleeds.  Through a series of accidents, he discovers that the butler serving the resident rich girl Kanade Suzutsuki is secretly a girl.  Said butler, Subaru Konoe, is all too ready to kill Kinjiro for uncovering her secret but Kanade has a better idea.  In return for keeping Subaru's secret, Kinjiro will go on dates with Suburu to cure his gynophobia.  Misadventures ensue, and Kinjiro is going to need to man up fast if he (and his blood pressure) are going to survive.

Review: YAKUZA FIANCE

 Perhaps the hardest thing about this month is finding romance manga that are messed-up enough to fit the theme but aren't awful.  

This year, I managed to find one.

YAKUZA FIANCE (Raise wa tanin ga Ii), by Asuka Konishi.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Yoshino is the granddaughter of an Osaka-area yakuza clan, but all she wants is a normal life.  That's why she's so frustrated when she learns from the local tabloids that she's being engaged against her will to Kirishima, the grandson of a Tokyo clan.  

At first, Kirishima seems too good to be true: handsome, polite, and attentive.  Then the mask slips and the real Kirishima is revealed, a cold, cruel, sadomasochistic enforcer.  At first Yoshino is frightened, but then resolves to scare him off with a stunt of her own.  Who could have guessed that it would backfire and that Kirishima would end up genuinely smitten with her as a result?

Review: I WANT TO ESCAPE FROM PRINCESS LESSONS

 It's time for another Bad Romance Month, where we cover a selection of some of the worst and weirdest romances to grace manga.  We're starting with a fairly recent title that's in the same vein as all those villainess stories, but no sausage-curled ojou-sama could devise a torment as bad as the one this story's heroine receives.

I WANT TO ESCAPE FROM PRINCESS LESSONS (Kisaki Kyoiku kara Nigetai Watashi), based on the light novels by Izumi Sawano and illustrations by Miru Yamasaki, with art by Uri Sugata.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

When Leticia was seven years old, she was engaged to the crown prince Clarke.  This meant she was torn from her family home and forced to undergo a decade's worth of lessons in deportment, etiquette, history, dancing, and more, all for the sake of a boy she barely knew and a role she never asked for.

One day she finds another woman on his arm and presumes she is free at last from her unwanted engagement.  She immediately runs off the countryside to play, roam, and do all the un-ladylike things she's been forbidden from doing for years.  Unfortunately, Clarke does not want their engagement will end and he will do anything to keep Leticia by his side, including stopping her many attempted escapes.

Holiday Review #17: ROYAL TAILOR: CLOTHIER TO THE CROWN

Of course there were plenty of lady-led fantasy titles, and this is one of the rare ones that didn't involve reincarnation or villainesses or anything like that.

ROYAL TAILOR: CLOTHIER TO THE CROWN (Royal Tailor: Okyu no Saihoshi), by Nakasane Nowaki.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Long in the past, humanity reigned supreme over the various other supernatural creatures of the world.  There was a great war and humanity lost, and those that survived are pariahs in this world.  Hana is one of those humans, a young woman who learned how to make clothes during her time in an orphanage.  She's been hired by a prestigious tailor shop to help their clients to obtain the outfits that best compliment them, be they elven nobility, lioness princesses, or undead bridegrooms.

Holiday Review #7: AFTER SCHOOL ETUDE

There was also plenty of BL to choose from this year, but when I saw the cover for this one I knew I had to talk about it.

AFTER SCHOOL ETUDE (Hokago no Etude), by Hirune Cyan.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Minobe has the build of a great ballet dancer, but his technique has always been somewhat lacking.  That's why he hopes attending a private arts high school will help him improve.  Soon after starting, he encounters Shun, a sophomore with incredible technique and a surly attitude who only recently left the ballet program for modern dance.  The two end up paired together for practice, and Minobe finds himself drawn just as much to Shun's beautiful body as he is to his beautiful dancing.  As Shun helps Minobe inject some emotion into his dancing, Minobe helps Shun break down his emotional walls.

Review: DARLING IN THE FRANXX

 This one is going to be a doozy.  What happens when you take one of the most controversial mecha shows from the last decade and combine it with one of the horniest mangaka currently working in shonen manga?  You get THIS.

DARLING IN THE FRANXX (Darin In Za Furankisu), based on the original concept by Code:000 with art by Kentaro Yabuki.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

The world has been ravaged by alien creatures known as Klaxosaurs.  What remains of humanity are locked away in mobile fortresses called Plantations, which are protected by giant robots called FRANXX that require both a boy and a girl to pilot.  Young Hiro is one of the many children raised to become a pilot, but he and his previous partner failed and he can't stop sulking over it.  Then he meets the mysterious Zero Two, a half-Klaxosaur girl with a reputation for devouring her partners.  Against all odds, she takes a liking to Hiro, declaring him her "darling" and agreeing to become his co-pilot.  

Review: YOU LIKE ME, NOT MY DAUGHTER?!

 It's time for another round of Bad Romance Month, where I look at some of the weirdest romances in manga.  We're starting off with an age-gap story, albeit one with a MILF-y twist.

YOU LIKE ME, NOT MY DAUGHTER?! (Musume Janakute, Mama ga Suki Nano?!), based on the light novels by Kota Nozomi and character designs by Giuniu, with art by Tesshin Azuma.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

For the last 10 years, Ayako Katsuragi has been happy serving as adoptive mother to her orphaned niece Miu.  The only thing that makes her happier is seeing how well Miu gets along with their college-aged neighbor Takumi, who is always hanging around.  She presumes that someday the two of them will get married...at least, until Takumi confesses that he's always loved Ayako and wants to marry her.  Takumi is completely serious, but Ayako's unsure if she's ready for romance at all at this point (much less dating a much younger man).

Holiday Review #22: MY LOVESICK LIFE AS A '90S OTAKU

 And now books set within my lifetime could technically be considered "historical."

If you'll excuse me, I just have to go sit in the corner and shrivel into a withered crone.

MY LOVESICK LIFE AS A '90S OTAKU (Inishie Otaku no Koiwazurai), by Nico Nicholson.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Megumi Sato cannot believe how readily otaku culture has integrated into the everyday life of her teen daughter Sakura and those like her.  Back when she was Sakura's age, she was transferring to a new school and desperate to hide the fact that she was a manga-reading, anime-watching fujoshi.  Then she met the class president Masamune, whose tough looks, skills at basketball, and resemblance to Megumi's favorite character from Slam Dunk won her heart almost instantly...until she learned that he hated otaku.  Everyday became a struggle for her, trying to figure out how to make her feelings known while hiding her true dorky self from him and her classmates.

Holiday Review #19: THE KNIGHT BLOOMS BEHIND CASTLE WALLS

 I love historical manga, and this year gave me quite a few of them to talk about, including this underrated little gem.

THE KNIGHT BLOOMS BEHIND CASTLE WALLS (Kishi-tan wa Joheki no Naka ni Hanahiraku), by Masanari Yuduka.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Rosa wants nothing more than to become a great knight.  Currently she's just a squire at Castle Claustra, serving the young and handsome Sir Cervus.  She's eager to start training with weapons, but before she can do that she has to learn how to tend the horses, serve the knights and the lord's family, and assist the many various servants and artisans around the castle, all while keeping her true gender under wraps.

Holiday Review #17: MY SECRET AFFECTION

 Of course, I can't talk about bad romance manga from 2023 without talking about the one that became a meme onto itself when it was licensed.

MY SECRET AFFECTION (Kiminokotoga Sukideienai), by Fumi Mikami.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

30 years ago, a strange meteor fell to earth.  On that day, seemingly everyone became gay.  Kazusa is not, though.  She's desperately in love with her childhood best friend Ayumu, and he's already under enough scrutiny for being the descendant of the last heterosexual man on Earth.  Kazusa tries to keep her distance, but the two keep getting thrown together.  What will happen, though, when one of their classmates finally figures out her secret?

STORY:

There were people who were legitimately offended when My Secret Affection was licensed.  I can't entirely blame them, considering it's operating with a premise where straight people are an oppressed social group in defiance of all reality.  There have been other fictional works that have tried to employ similar ideas that went down very badly with the public, and in some cases it did turn out that the author had homophobic beliefs.

For what it's worth, I don't think Fumi Mikami was trying to be purposefully bigoted.  I don't think they believe that heterosexuals are somehow oppressed.  I do think they used this idea to try and dress up what was otherwise a very boring, weepy shojo romance plot in a rather thoughtless manner.

She's basically taken your typical "closeted queer teen struggles with romance" plot and swapped it out with a straight girl.  You've got the intense inner monologues as Kazusa wrestles with her feelings, her poor attempts to mask said feelings anytime she's around Ayumu, and the constant, creeping fear that someone will out her and that...something will happen.  One of the big problems with this story is that it's unclear what the stakes are to Kazusa's dilemma.  What happens in this world if someone is outed as straight?  Would they face any sort of punishment?  Would they be hospitalized or otherwise detained in some misguided attempt to "fix" them?  Would they become social pariahs?  As far as I can tell, the most Kazusa has to fear would be mild judgement from her peers.  That's not even getting into the fact that Mikami never stopped to ask how magic homosexual meteors would affect the bisexuals, trans folks, and asexuals of this world, but that's a common problem with these sorts of stories.

Even putting aside the clumsy parallels, Kazusa and Ayumu just aren't a particularly interesting pair.  Kazusa spends the book in a perpetual fret, often on the verge of tears from her frustration and fear.  Part of me wonders if she wasn't suffering from a perpetual concussion, considering how many times she falls down, hits her head, or suffers from a fever in this book.  It's hard to see what she sees in Ayumu.  He's blandly pleasant and handsome, and his only move is to physically whisk Kazusa away whenever she's about to cry, faint, or stumble into something.  I swear you could make a drinking game out of it, it's that frequent.  Their conversations are full of nothing but vague platitudes about love and friendship interspersed with memories of their youth, so my only conclusion as to why Kazusa loves him is that she imprinted on him as a child, as a baby duck imprints upon their mother.  Take away the magic meteor that makes people gay and you'd have nothing but the same old schoolroom romance you could get from dozens of other books.

ART:

Fumi Mikami is a fine artist, although there's a subtle, simpering quality to her characters that I find mildly off-putting.  Like Ayumu, the art is pleasantly pretty but unchallenging.  She also tends to abuse a very particular starry screentone whenever things are (supposedly) getting romantic between our leads.  I guess that's only fair, considering otherwise there's nothing to fill the panels with except for the same old boring classroom interiors and lots of close-ups for Kazusa.

RATING:

In its clumsy attempt to put a new spin on a well-worn story, My Secret Affection only serves to raise a lot of questions it's not equipped to answer nor particularly interested in answering.  Neither the characters nor the art are good enough to rise above the questionable premise.  The whole thing feels very amateur.  With so many better queer romance manga to choose from, why would you settle for a shojo manga masquerading as one?

This manga is published by Seven Seas.  This series is complete in Japan with 2 volumes.  Both volumes have been released and are currently in print.

Only 8 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway!  Leave a comment here or on our BlueSky about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate!  Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day

Holiday Review #10: LIFE WITH AN ORDINARY GUY WHO REINCARNATED INTO A TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT

Once again, one of the best queer romance manga I read this year was also an isekai, although this one is not quite as purposeful as the last one.

LIFE WITH AN ORDINARY GUY WHO REINCARNATED INTO A TOTAL FANTASY KNOCKOUT (Fantaji Bishojo Juniku Oji-san to), written by Yu Tsurusaki with art by Shin Ikezawa.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Tachibana and Jingji have been friends forever, but Tachibana has always felt insecure about himself when compared to Jingji's good looks and general competency.  Meanwhile, Jingji could care less about all the women throwing themselves at him; he just wants to take care of Tachibana and make sure he finds a partner worthy of him.  It all comes to a head one drunken night, when Tachibana wishes he could be a beautiful blonde girl that no one could resist and a wandering goddess listens to him.  In a blink, the two of them are transported to another world, where Tachibana has been transformed as per his wish and Jingji has been granted super-strength.  Now the two are compelled to defeat the requisite demon king, but are the growing romantic feelings between them part of the goddess's curse or simply long hidden feelings coming to the surface?

Holiday Review #4: DON'T CALL IT MYSTERY

 Meanwhile, Yumi Tamura is a notable shojo mangaka who hasn't had a work released here in two decades.  Seven Seas managed to pick up her latest and most acclaimed work to date this year.

DON'T CALL IT MYSTERY (Misuteri to Iu Nakare), by Yumi Tamura.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Totonou is a young college who wants to just enjoy the simple pleasures of life, be it a hot dish of curry rice or a trip to an art museum.  It just so happens that he keeps getting himself dragged into criminal situations, be it getting framed for the murder of a classmate or caught up in a hostage situation with a potential serial killer.  Luckily, Toutounou is both an observant and philosophical person, and through his long-winded observations he's able to make connections and inadvertently solve the crimes around him.

Review: ZERO'S FAMILIAR

 September is back-to-school time and we'll be doing the same here at The Manga Test Drive with a month of school-centric manga.  I could have easily started this month with one of the countless magical school harem isekai titles available today, but instead I decided to look a little further back to one of the ancestors of that wretched little sub-genre.

ZERO'S FAMILIAR (Zero no Tsukaima), based on the light novel series by Noburo Yamaguchi with art by Nana Mochizuki.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2013.

PLOT:

Saito Hiraga was an ordinary Japanese boy who stumbled upon a strange sigil in the street one day. He walks blithely into it, whisking him away to a faraway realm and a school for magic.  The sigil was cast by the tiny, moody Louise de la Valliere, who is known by her classmates as "Louise the Zero" for her inability to successfully cast even the most basic spell.  Now Saito is bonded to Louise as her magical servant, but Saito may possess more power than anyone (even himself) could guess.

Merry Month of Shojo Manga Review #12: THE SAVIOR'S BOOK CAFE STORY IN ANOTHER WORLD

You'd think I would have loved this series, considering its older heroine and appreciation for reading as a hobby.  Alas, it's an idea that's more interesting in concept than execution...

THE SAVIOR'S BOOK CAFE STORY IN ANOTHER WORLD (Isekai ni Kyuseishu Toshite Yobaremashita ga, Arasa ni wa Muri Nanode, Hissori Bookcafe Hajimemashita), based on the light novels by Kyouka Izumi and story by Oumiya, with art by Reiko Sakurada.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Tsukina was just minding her own business at home when some pushy orb claiming to be a god whisked her away to another world.  She has no desire to be any sort of hero, so instead she uses the god's power to set herself up with a cozy home/book cafe at the edge of town with just enough magic to defend herself and keep herself well-supplied.  She soon settles into a cozy routine with Il, captain of the royal guard, who himself just wants a quiet place away from the teenage savior creating chaos at the capital.  Unfortunately, it seems that same savior has the potential to do some serious damage and Tsukina's quiet days may be numbered.

Review: BLUE GIANT

Of course, I can't spend all month ragging on music-related manga.  I also need to cover better, more earnest stories learning one's craft and embracing the love of music.

BLUE GIANT, by Shinichi Ishizuka. First published in 2013 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT: 

Dai is just another middle-class high-schooler growing up in Sendai...or would be if not for his intense love for jazz.  No one else seems to get his attraction to it and Dai himself is bad at explaining it, but he knows is that the passion and emotion of classic jazz speaks to his soul like nothing else and that he wants to capture that feeling for himself.  That's what drives him to practice his saxophone everyday on the riverbank, honing his craft until he can become the world's greatest jazz musician.

Review: THE SAINT'S MAGIC POWER IS OMNIPOTENT

OK, it's time to shake off the holiday hangover, look forward to my birthday at the end of the month and enjoy another month of Dealer's Choice reviews.  There's no theme connecting these reviews beyond "I want to talk about them," and we're starting with another lady-led slow life kind of isekai book.

THE SAINT'S MAGIC POWER IS OMNIPOTENT (Seijo no Maryoku ha Banno Desu), based on the light novels by Yuka Tachibana and character designs by Yasuyuki Syuri, with art by Fujiazuki.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT:

Sei was just another overworked office drone coming home to an empty apartment when all of a sudden she was transported to another world alongside an unknown teen girl.  While the teen girl was whisked off to become the destined Saint of legend, Sei was left to her own devices.  A trip through the castle gardens leads her to the Royal Research Institute, where Sei turns out to have a knack for potion-making.  She soon finds herself applying her skills in all sorts of new directions, winning over not just her fellow researchers but also the hunky captain of the royal guard.

Holiday Review #25: YOKOHAMA KAIDASHI KIKOU

I knew from the moment I started sorting out what manga to cover this month which series I would end it with.  It had to be the series that no one ever thought would be licensed, to the point that its unlicensability had become something of an inside joke among manga readers and reviewers.  It was too old, too odd, too obscure, and generally unmarketable to your average reader.

And yet here it is, less than a year after it was first announced, like a proper Christmas miracle.

YOKOHAMA KAIDASHI KIKOU, by Hotoshi Ashinano.  First published in 1994 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Alpha the android runs her master's coffee shop while they're away.  There's not a huge demand for it in a world where most of Japan's major cities have been swallowed by the sea, but she does have a few neighbors who regularly pop for conversation and trade.  Sometimes Alpha ventures out on her trusty scooter to faraway towns, traversing the few paved roads that haven't broken down or turned into beachfront property, enjoying the sights and hoping to get a new message from her long-absent owner.

Holiday Review: #18: WORLD END SOLTE

 But that's enough isekai - let's look at a fantasy story from one of the better (and deeply underrated mangaka) of our time!

WORLD END SOLTE (Saihate no Solte), by Satoshi Mizukami.  First published in 2020 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Solte is tired.  She's tired of missing her parents, who disappeared years ago on a quest to clean their world of magical pollution.  She's tired of being betrayed by the adults who are supposed to care for her.  She's tired of feeling powerless.  Instead, she's determined to travel on her own deep into the magical realm, all the way to the land of the dead.  Along the way she's joined by an immortal swordsman with a death wish, her uncle (now transformed into a human-sized mole), and a chatty fairy who swears she's met and traveled with them all before.

Holiday Review #14: MY [REPAIR] SKILL BECAME A VERSATILE CHEAT, SO I THINK I'LL OPEN A WEAPON SHOP

 The ongoing tsunami of fantasy light novel manga adaptations continued into 2022, although it started to take on a different quality.  Amidst the slave harems and the demon kings was a more low-key strain of stories.  These were about guys who wanted to leave the adventurer lifestyle behind, settle down, maybe start a business.

MY [REPAIR] SKILL BECAME A VERSATILE CHEAT, SO I THINK I'LL OPEN A WEAPON SHOP ("Shuufuku" Skill ga Bannou Cheat-ka shita node, Bukiya demo Hirakouka to Omoimasu), based on the light novel by Ginga Hoshikawa and character designs by Nemusuke, with art by Yukimi Enoki.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

Luke has wanted to be an adventurer since he was a child, but he has no luck.  He's useless with weapons and his only magical skill is the ability to repair items.  Abandoned by his latest party and left to die, he's forced to find innovative new ways to use his skill just so he can get out.  In the process he strengthens his sword so much that he's able to slay a dragon, saving the samurai swordswoman Sakura and her companion Sylvia.  They vow to help him in return, and together they create a second-hand weapon shop where Luke can put his skill to the best possible use.