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Mar 3, 2024
This is a preliminary review for Watashi wa Gotsugou Shugi na Kaiketsu Tantou no Oujo de Aru, henceforth referred to as WataGo, that covers the first volume. The first book is about 160 pages, and can be finished in a few days.
The best way to describe the novel is that it feels like it was written from a fan— which is to say that it feels like fanfiction. I don’t use that term negatively, mind you; I believe that in this novel, the author expresses their love of tropes commonly seen in BL, while also offering criticisms for how fiction of this nature tends to
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be written. In the novel’s afterward, the author even notes how they specifically wrote about her special interests. While reading WataGo, I couldn’t help but think that this novel had a lot of passion behind it.
The novel is primarily written in first person perspective, and the protagonist, Octavia (formerly Maki Tazawa, 16 year old fujoshi), though it has additional chapters from the perspective of other characters. These chapters lend some additional light on how mysterious Octavia appears, and does a good job illuminating the ways other characters may see Octavia as someone far more cunning than she really is.
However, the novel is at its best when the reader is inside the head of Octavia. The reader is always made aware of how Octavia feels, so each scene is navigated with a humorous touch that only a fujoshi could provide. For example, one of Octavia’s main gripes in the world that she lives in is that while the world is that tropes are applied completely arbitrary. As one might expect from reincarnating into a BL novel, the world is very accepting of gay romance, but it doesn’t mean much when you also happen to be reincarnated as a princess who is expected to conceive heirs for a couple who can’t biologically reproduce. In the novel “The Noble King”, The book Octavia reincarnated in, magic potions exist that could get people pregnant on their first attempt, and yet it has no potion for letting two men conceive with each other.
How contrived, right? One of WataGo’s greatest draws is how it highlights how lopsided fictional worlds end up being when worldbuilding isn’t fully fleshed out. WataGo also makes reference to how the author’s lived experiences may affect the world they create, such as how a European setting in “The Noble King” ends up having a lot of parallels to Japanese culture.
This book is a must read for anyone who likes the uniquely charming tropes that are best utilized in fanfiction spaces. The first novel is humorous and doesn’t take itself completely seriously, but it also sets up future plot points that could have incredible pay off!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 9, 2023
This is a preliminary review that covers the first volume, “Folklore Studies”, as it was the only one available in English at the time of writing. At just over 200 pages long, it’s a short read anyone can finish in a day or two.
As it’s the first novel, Folklore Studies spends a lot of its time laying the groundwork to establish the characters, setting, and story structure. Most interestingly, in spite of the fact that the titular character has a fascination with the supernatural, the novel takes great care to depict how unknown phenomena can have quite normal explanations. Of course, through the protagonists’ unique
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abilities the novel suggests that folklore such as tengu existing might be true.
Speaking of, the novel has a cool way of depicting the abilities of one of the protagonists. As written in the synopsis, Naoya Fukamachi has the ability to hear lies, and the novel depicts this ability by changing the font at certain moments during dialogue. Throughout the novel key pieces of dialogue will be visually different, and from there the reader can figure out what’s a lie and piece together the truth. Although it doesn’t happen very often, it’s fun to predict how the story develops based on this information!
Overall, the first novel is a fun read that’s very easy to end up binge reading. With its short length and its monster-of-the-week format for each chapter, the first novel is something that can be easily enjoyed by anyone without needing to get heavily invested.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 7, 2023
This is a preliminary review of the first two novels in the Onmyouji to Tengugan series. At the time of writing, there happens to be a third volume that hasn’t been translated to English yet, which I imagine will be just as good (If not even better) than what is already available.
On that note, Onmyouji to Tengugan is a story about two exorcists in the fictional town of Tomoe, which is based on Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Over the course of the two novels, the reader is given plenty of descriptions about the town and surrounding area, which depicts Tomoe as a rustic town rich with
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culture. Adding to this feeling is that the novel is written in third person, so while reading you can’t help but feel that you’ve just moved into town as well.
Speaking of, the story of Onmyouji to Tengugan begins with Misato Miyazawa as he moves into town to start a new job at the Abnormal Disaster Unit in Tomoe’s Town Hall. That said, Misato has difficulties finding a place to move into which leads to his encounter with Ryouji Karnio, a freelance monk, who offers him a place to stay. From there, the novels’ story becomes both about Misato’s time at the Abnormal Disaster Unit taking on cases, along with his relationship with Ryouji. The novel also shifts to following Ryouji around at various points, which then the novel is usually about his time working on freelance jobs.
The first novel is a collection of smaller incidents that happen in Tomoe, which usually has Misato and Ryouji working separate from each other. It effectively sets the tone, setting, and characters, which makes the second novel all the more engaging with all this setup out of the way, but may make the first novel feel rather lacking by itself. Still, the second novel absolutely makes up for any shortcomings you’d potentially feel with the first novel. It starts by having our protagonists work on separate cases but as the story evolves, both the characters and the reader start to realize that their assignments are more interconnected than it first seemed. It’s incredibly engrossing and I found it hard to put down at times!
In conclusion, if you’re in the mood to pick up a new novel series that deals with paranormal happenings, or maybe looking for something that naturally depicts a growing friendship between an unlikely pair, you should check out Onmyouji to Tengugan! With around 500 pages split between the first two books, the novels are very approachable and are worth it to read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 12, 2023
As you might be able to glean from the title, The Witch's Servant and the Demon Lord's Horns (henceforth Witch & Horns), this manga is about a witch’s servant and their quest to obtain the Demon Lord’s horns. At the same time, Witch & Horns also explores gender identity and tolerance among different cultures.
The way Witch & Horns best explores these themes is through the characters. In the beginning of the manga, the reader is introduced to characters who are from different countries, may or may not practice religion, and are of different species. But, the main thing Witch & Horns focuses on is gender,
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which has multiple characters change their gender through magic. It’s such a relevant theme that it isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that one of the characters practically faces the reader when describing their own gender fluidity. Similarly, Witch & Horns also deals with romance between characters who can magically change their sexes, which is explored with the protagonist, Arsenio, and their potential suitors. Questions like “What gender should Arsenio be?” or “Which love interest will they pick?” end up being just as much as an important driving force for Arsenio along with still needing to obtain the Demon Lord’s horns.
And that is to say nothing about the world building! The ealry world building in Witch & Horns is done subtly, as it is effectively a magic version of Earth with countries that all have different views on the magic system, while basing it off of the same framework. The countries each have their own sets of tradition, such as Hispania being more theocratic compared to Eriland or Hyperborea. This goes a long way in making the setting of the manga feel lived in, and gives a lot of charm to the backgrounds.
On that note, the art of the series is something that’s difficult to segue naturally to. Over the course of the series, the mangaka makes many improvements in their art (which you could see by looking at the manga covers), but the early portion is undeniably stiff. For instance, side profiles always have an ‘off’ look to them, but it improves over time. This manga also has instances of going a little bit too horny with the art; which I didn’t enjoy, but I realize your mileage may vary.
Overall, Witch & Horns is a manga that is worth reading. While the initial premise and early chapters may be pretty rough to get through, once the manga gets going it becomes something special. The moral of accepting yourself and not putting others down is something that resonated with me, so if this sounds like something you might enjoy I recommend you give it a try!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 18, 2022
Netflix’s Spriggan was the anime that I was looking forward to the most this year, while also being a show that I had very low expectations for.
Story: 7/10 Good
Each episode is a self contained story that acts as a vignette to the protagonist's life. There is neither an origin story or a proper finale, but instead each episode is a different case that needs to be tackled. In fact, each episode ends by showing the last frame as a picture, which adds to the effect that each episode is just another chapter in Ominae Yu's Life. Generally speaking, each episode is pretty similar as well.
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Basically, there is an ancient relic that needs to be captured and only Yu can do it. There are additional supporting characters that do help him, but these characters are usually confined to the episode they appear in. Speaking of…
Character: 6/10 Fine
Simply put, each character fulfills their purpose, while also not having much of a backstory. They exist for the episode they exist in and don’t offer much else. Excluding the side characters at Yu’s school, the only other character that shows up for more than one episode is Yoshino, a young girl who is after the relics for their monetary value. Yu himself is also pretty enjoyable, and he’s the only one who really gets any character development.
Art and Sound: 6.5/10 Good Enough
What I liked most from Spriggan were the different locations. Each episode took place in their own contained setting that gave it a unique feel, my personal favorite being the bunker in episode 4. How the characters blended into the set is a different story. While most characters are in 2D, which is fine, people who are in armor get animated in 3D, which creates a really weird effect where 2D and 3D characters interact with each other and neither feels like they belong. After a while I got used to it, but your mileage may vary.
I don’t really have much to write about for the sound though, which is why I'm lumping it with the art. There aren’t any memorable OSTs and even though I’m writing this just after I finished it, I can’t even remember the OP or ED. At least the sound effects were handled well and never felt distracting.
Enjoyment: 7/10 Good
Personally, I liked Spriggan. It’s not trying to accomplish any grand overarching story, but instead having each episode be a self contained story. I think that each episode was handled well and there isn’t an episode that I can point to and say it’s the worst, though I do have a personal favorite episode.
Overall: 7/10 Good
Overall, I think that Spriggan is watchable, and if you're looking for something fun and bloody to watch that doesn’t need a lot of commitment than you should give it a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 17, 2022
Allie yo Juu wo Ute! is a one-shot written by Akimoto Osamu, whose most notable work is a little series called Kochikame. The general feel of this one-shot would later be used in another series of his called Black Tiger. On that note, here's what I thought of the one-shot:
Story: 5/10 Average
There isn't much going on in terms of story. A town out west gets attacked by bandits, and so Allie must defend everyone!
Art: 8/10 Very Good
The art of this one-shot is a lot of fun. It has a timeless feel to it so while reading you might not be able to tell when it
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was made. Noticeably, screen tones were never used in this one-shot, so the art uses a lot of hatching and other old-style techniques. It creates the same old-timey feel to it as you might get by watching old black and white westerns.
Character: 6/10 Fair
This One-shot doesn't have much in the way of character development, but in the 40 pages this one-shot does have the characters do about as much as they could. First there's Allie, who is a school teacher turned gunslinger. Then there's Jess, who is one of Allie's students. And finally there's Allie's Grandfather, who owns a Gunsmith shop and taught Allie how to shoot.
I'd also like to mention the setting of this one-shot, which is just your everyday wild west boom town. It's mainly inhabited by women, children, and the elderly because all of the men have gone to work in a gold mine. If you've seen any western you probably know what Gold Town looks like.
Enjoyment: 6/10 Fair
This is a pretty simple western one-shot. I really liked the art of the one-shot the most, which gave special attention to the weapons and backgrounds. I really enjoyed the feel of it.
Overall: 6/10 Fair
If you like westerns and want something short to read, this is the one-shot for you. While it may lack in story and characters I think the art makes this read worth while.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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