Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san / Mr. Villain’s Day Off by Morikawa Yuu

If you’ve ever asked yourself “I wonder what Dr. Doom [fill-in other favorite villain] does on his day off? Does he go shopping in his full armor and cape or what? What’s he like when he relaxes?” then Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san / Mr. Villain’s Day Off is for you.

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If you’re looking for something fun and light, with a tiny bit of a heart, this manga is nearly perfect. There are a couple of weird subplots that I skim when I hit them (namely a very out of place story of a friendship between an oak tree spirit and a cherry tree spirit, but also some of the origin stories of the Good Guys–oh, and, of course, the weird Santa stuff), but, otherwise, I’m fully sold on this concept.

I tend to like really like fictional villains, however.

Over Easter weekend, I was on a panel at MiniCON that was meant to plumb the depth of this question, “Why do we like to ship dark with light?” but it got derailed by a fellow panelist insistent on shaming us for enjoying immoral and “cruel” characters. I’ve since spent a lot of time pondering the questions we were never allowed to fully consider. One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that it is inherently sexy to consider, “What is this person like when they’re at home, relaxed?” It unveils them, right? Being shown this intimate moment makes the person automatically more vulnerable, exposed, and authentic.

Thus, with villains, the stakes are higher. Vulnerable is something they are never meant to be.

The villain is also someone who is often larger-than-life. Thus, the instant we start to imagine them as “real” people who need to do their laundry or decide which ice cream to buy at a 7/11, they just become ridiculous. It’s just funny to think about. Cute. This is the same reason why Way of the House Husband doesn’t have to work that hard to be funny. The situation is already hilarious. Gangsters doing battle with the dishes (or, famously, a roomba), is just… it’s absurd and ridiculous and fun.

As soon as you take the villain off the battlefield, strip him of the costume of his office, he becomes… something else. More human, certainly, but possibly even, this guy:

I also love that he’s gracing the convenience store with his presence. That’s some prime villainy, right there.

One of the things I ended up liking about this manga is that we aren’t expected to believe that The General is anyone all that terribly different when he’s “on,” as opposed to when he is “off.” In fact, we get a very early scene in one first chapters in which we see the The General entirely from the point of view of a new recruit. The General is terrible to behold (and if you watch the anime in Japanese, the voice actor is great at sounding completely evil and threatening when just saying “hello,”) but he sees this overworked subordinate and says, “Listen, this war won’t be won overnight. Leave some of this work for tomorrow. Go home, relax.” And… this scene does a couple of things. First, as I noted, it establishes that The General is really just a guy who values time off, not only for himself, but for everyone, including his lowliest subordinate. Second, when we later see The General being kind to strangers and animals, it feels believable. Like, maybe The General is a good guy, deep down, being Evil is just his job.

But he is good at his job.

And I really appreciate that. Half way through what’s out on the scanlations so far, I found myself craving more and more of the “on” persona. This guy–

The one with the tail and the claws.

I was glad to see more of The General “at work,” because I think this story works best where there’s a bit of a balance. There are times both in the manga and the anime where, if I’m not reminded that this guy is the Big Bad, it could stray into boring.

Except that I’m also a fan of manga where the entire plot is, “and we go camping.” I think it helps that The General is not from Earth. You can see the ears, but we also see that the headquarters is on some dark shadow moon and the characters often speak of a far away, Mother Star. As an aside: This may be a direct reference to The Power Rangers, but I never watched because I am a fake fan. The Rangers clearly ARE the Power Rangers, they all go by color names and the one adult female character is, in fact, the Pink Ranger. My point is, slice-of-life stuff often works better for me when the characters are doing something uniquely Japanese-feeling, such as finding wonder in nature.

Like, there’s an entire chapter where The General just goes to the beach.

I can’t believe I got this far without noting that The General is also weirdly obsessed with pandas. This is actually a huge part of the humor.

Anyway, I love the art, particularly whenever we get a glimpse of The General’s darker persona beneath the hair.

As the anime is how I found this manga, I would recommend, weird Santa Claus stuff included

Hate no Shoutsuushin / Correspondence from the End of the Universe by Menota

I guess I was in a quirky mood when I was at Barnes & Noble, because the other manga I picked up was Hate no Shoutsuushin / Correspondence from the End of the Universe. It’s even weirder than Box of Light? But, the characters got me, and so now I’m hooked.

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This manga actually kind of hard to explain because it requires the reader to buy into a very ridiculous premise. Namely, that the Clockwork God (the idea of a god that set creation in motion, like a clock, and then wandered off to do something else) is real and there is a department of creation that has taken over building new planets in his (or, I guess, His) absence.

Weirder still, the people who work at this star/planet laboratory are conscripted.

They’re just going about their lives, until one day, they are dematerialized and rematerialized at Mosly Station, where they’re assigned for ten years, like it or not, no escaping. In fact, we discover that our hero’s predecessor was abducted on her wedding night and spent several of her first days just sobbing and weeping.

!!

Our hero is a young Russian (why Russian? I have no idea, except that maybe it was easier to slot a Russian into a world where that implies the existence of the Christian god.) Marko has felt haunted by aliens from the age of eleven when he was struck by a freak bolt of lightning on a clear, sunny day. He has a kind of Harry Potter scar that he’s always tried to hide.

At any rate, Marko is now graduating college and is ready to set off into the world with the love of his life (whose gender and name we never know–the only thing we know about them is that they’re older than Marko, have been a childhood friend, and never learned to swim). Suddenly, just as he’s made plans to meet his lover and propose marriage, he’s dematerialized.

And rematerializes beyond the stars to this star/planet factory at the end of the universe.

Honestly, it only gets progressively weirder from there?

All of Marko’s colleagues are aliens. There’s a girl with slug hands, there’s the typical red oni buddy, who can transform his hands into giant lobster claws; and the Director who has to always wear a mask because otherwise he transforms into whatever the person looking at him is most afraid of.

Yet, despite the very oddball cast and even stranger premise, Marko is a compelling hero because he’s incredibly kindhearted. On his first outing, the Director (who isn’t really in charge, but he’s from a planet has longer years, and so his “ten year sentence” passes in a hundred years, to most of the other people’s ten) and Marko end up on a spaceship in need of repairs and first aid. Even though Marko initially hoped to escape to Earth by stowing away on this ship, he ends up adopting a child whose twin gets killed in an accident.

The relationship between Marko and his adoptee is incredibly heartwarming. Marko lost his parents in a car accident and so he and this small child alien, Muu, relate a lot on the topic of grief in ways that, given how stupid the premise is, are really poignant, like, seriously made me tear up kind of poignant.

Oof. And, that’s not even the hardest scene with Muu.

At this point, I was kind of all in. There are at least five volumes out there, all available from Seven Seas. I highly recommend this one? I loved the art and found the story weird, but deeply compelling.

This one is a winner.

AI no Idenshi / The Gene of AI by Yamada Kyuuri

Apparently, according to the anime friend I met at CONvergence, The Gene of AI / Ai no Idenshi is one of this season’s new anime on Crunchyroll. As the first volume is available via scanlators, I thought I’d check it out.

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This award-winning manga was first serialized in Weekly Shounen Champion in 2015. I suspect the anime got greenlighted because Yamada-sensei has gone on to write several spin-offs, including the most recent one (2020) AI no Idenshi: Blue Age, which is on-going.

My point being that I find all of this popularity a trifle baffling. The art, as you can see from the panel above, is very simplistic, almost retro. The stories themselves, at least in the first volume, are… moderately interesting? But, so far, there have been none that have blown my socks off.

The manga’s stories, which are a series of episodic chapters, take place in a world where humans and perfectly-passing android-AIs, called humanoids, co-exist more or less peacefully. Humanoids have all of the same rights as regular humans, though they operate under some extra restrictions–for example, we learn in the first chapter that it’s illegal for humanoids to make back-ups of themselves. Humans, too, are modified in many ways, so the line between “robot” and “human” has become a very thin line, indeed. Though in one chapter we learn that not all humanoids are created equal. Some have biological bodies and others, mechanical. The mechanical bodies can’t taste, feel hunger, etc. So, there is also a wide range of humanoid experience.

Our main character is a medical doctor named Sudō Hikaru, who has a secret life as “Moggadeet.” As Moggadeet, Sudō treats humanoids who maybe need a bit of help outside of the law.

What is weird to me is that this set-up should make for some super-fascinating scenarios, like, an underground doctor? Dealing with outlaw AIs? YES, PLEASE. Sign me up, right? Except… I think the problem is that while we see Sudō treating humanoids with complicated problems, so far–in the manga at least–we have never experienced (or even really learned what) the consequences would be if Sudō were caught doing this extra legal work. So, like, I sympathize with the situations, but I don’t get a sense of urgency? Like, what’s at stake for Sudō by doing this work illegally? Would he go to jail? Be executed? What happens to the humanoids who’ve hired him if they get caught? I mean, this is made even murkier because at times, in various chapters, it seems that Sudō can bring these illegal patients into his clinic and operate on them there.

So, for me, at this point, the story lacks a certain amount of tension. Like, a lot of the chapters tell very lovely, slice-of-life problems that get fixed by the end, but I’m left feeling like this world is oddly toothless?

I can’t imagine, however, that this series, which spawned so many spin-offs, including one that has our white-haired hero, Dr. Sudō, sporting a GUN, is going to stay so calm and collected….

So, maybe it’s worth sticking with?

As far as my recommendation goes, I would say that if you are a fan of science fiction that explores the intersections between machine and humans, this might be for you. The art is very crude? But, in some ways, that helps the reader focus entirely on the story. As I’ve said, my initial impression of that story is kind of ‘meh’ and it has been categorized as ‘slice-of-life,’ but the set-up promises something that I suspect will be delivered at some point… even if I’m not sure exactly when.

Psycho-Pass: Providence directed by Shiotani Naoyoshi

Last time I logged into Crunchyroll, a little ad popped up telling me that there was an exclusive fan screening of the newest Psycho-Pass movie, Psycho-Pass: Providence, in a theater local to me. I normally don’t review movies on this site, but I could hardly pass up the opportunity to see this show on “the big screen.”

I immediately bought myself a ticket for last night’s 7 pm showing.

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And discovered it was dubbed!

I will confess that in the great fan schism, I tend to fall on the side of subtitles. However, I am not the sort of person who will judge my fellow anime fans if they want (or need!) to watch their shows in whatever language they speak. I’m just happy we’re all into the same stuff! Consume it how you consume things best!

I only bring this up in my review because the dub actually affected my viewing experience. Psycho-Pass, for those of you familiar with it will know, is a subtle, adult show where the art director will fully make use of shadows or the tension of having two characters talk about something vaguely treasonous with their backs to the audience or their faces otherwise turned “away” from the “camera.” It’s the kind of show where an Important Clue might be dropped via the sound of someone’s voice on the phone/video com. Because I was unfamiliar with the English-speaking voice actors, in scenes like that, I couldn’t distinguish who was talking. Several of the male voices were in the same vocal range, had the same affect, and the same accent.

I actually had trouble tracking what was being said by whom IN ENGLISH.

A language I speak natively.

Supposedly.

But, that strange experience aside, I felt that Psycho-Pass: Providence did what it set out to do, which was forge a narrative link between the OVA, Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System, and the beginning of Psycho-Pass: Season 3.

In case you were unaware, in release order, here are all seven Psycho Pass shows:

‘Psycho-Pass’ (anime, 2012–2013)
‘Psycho-Pass 2′ (anime, 2014)
‘Psycho-Pass: The Movie’ (movie, 2015)
‘Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System’ (movie trilogy, 2019)
‘Psycho-Pass 3′ (anime, 2019)
‘Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector’ (movie, 2020)
‘Psycho-Pass: PROVIDENCE’ (2023)

But this is not how you should be watching it…. and so, looking at this massive, complicated list of things, you’re probably wondering, would a casual fan of this show enjoy the newest release? I’m going to say: honestly probably NOT.

One of the things that I’ve always appreciated about anime movies is that they just assume that you’ve been paying CLOSE attention from the start. There are rarely any attempts at recaps. You’re just expected to know who is who and what’s gone before. In the case of Psycho-Pass: Providence, if you didn’t see Sinners of the System and have only a vague sense that Sugo Teppei was a rando Enforcer in the second season, you’re going to be Very Surprised to discover he’s an ace pilot and can, with a nod and a wink, get the entire Japanese military to back up a clandestine, para-legal operation, based on one of Inspector Tsunemori’s hunches.

Likewise, if the last season you watched was the first where Kogami goes rogue, you’re going to be mightily confused how it is he’s allowed back in Japan and not executed on sight. For those spoilers, you need to have tracked down Psycho-Pass: The Movie.

And I do mean, “tracked down.” It may be different now, but when I recently wanted to rewatch everything in order, I had to shift between a whole boatload of streaming services: Crunchyroll, Funimation (before the merge), Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

So, it’s not EASY to be a Psycho-Pass fan.

So, did I like it? All my trauma around English aside, I did. Like, I said, for me it solved some puzzles that the opening of Season 3 had presented, like how the hell Inspector Tsunemori ended up imprisoned? And what exactly happened to Arata Shindo’s dad? What is up with  Kei Mikhail Ignatov’s mysterious, missing brother Akira? How did Kogami end up working with Foreign Affairs? Why the f*ck are the Bifrost people suddenly part of the political world?

Do I recommend it?

Mmmm, much harder question.

Absolutely, yes, if you’re already a hardcore fan. If you’re not, I’d want to know what you like about Psycho-Pass. If what you like is the dystopian, well-crafted world-building, then, yes. Even if some of the events are head scratchers, the main action, which revolves around a cryptic group of mercenaries calling themselves the Peace Breakers, who seem almost zombie like in their ability to keep fighting, and their AI General is pretty cool all on its own. If you can ignore social dynamics that might not make sense without context (the above ability to call in the army and why Ginoza HATES Kogami so damn much), then by all means enjoy this movie for its cool cyberpunk vibe and storyline.

I will confess to you all that one of the things that made the first season of Psycho-Pass so compelling for me is the dynamic of a guy who was once in a position of power as an Inspector suddenly finding himself straining against the restraints in his new position as an Enforcer. Once Kogami breaks free of that, he becomes, for me, a lot less interesting personally? I still enjoy the relationship that he and Inspector Tsunemori have, but, like, there’s a power dynamic missing that kind of never is replaced by anything nearly as sexy (for me)? So, if you’re hoping for more of that kind of thing from any of the following seasons, OVA, or movies, there really isn’t much. When Ginoza flips and becomes part of the Enforcers in season 2, there’s some of that vibe, but, for whatever reason, Gino remains a very under-utilized character in a lot of ways, despite being a perfect foil for Kogami.

So, you know, if you’re watching for moments like where, in the first episode of season one, tiny little, meek-seeming Tsunemori “dominates” Kogami Shinya… they just never fully go there again in any of the following shows.

If that’s what you’re hoping for, you can pass.

However, in the category of sexiness? Kei’s brother, Akira = SUPER hot. Movie is almost worth it for all the scenes he’s in.

From Far Away / Kanata Kara (Volume 5) by Hikawa Kyouko

Continuing with the theme of isekai from the 1990s pulled from my pile of random volumes I’ve picked up over the years is From Far Away / Kanata Kara…

…Volume 5.

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Thank goodness that From Far Away is popular enough that not only has it been scanned, but you can also still find all of it online, because I don’t know what happened to me that I picked up the fifth volume in a series.

But, I’m all caught up, so here goes–

Like all isekai, From Far Away starts in the modern world. Average high schooler, Noriko, has been dreaming of a distant land. Every day at lunch, she tells her friends about her crazy nighttime adventures.

Meanwhile, the town she lives in has been under the pall of terrorist attacks. On this fateful day, thinking she’s following an errant ball that someone kicked, Noriko stumbles across a bomb. Is she blown to pieces? Maybe? But, something happens in that moment to carry her bodily into another world. Even her school bag arrives with her.

Almost immediately upon arriving in this strange new world, Noriko is attacked. Luckily, a broodingly handsome (by 1990s standards, anyway) rescuer appears from the shadows.

Not gonna lie. I love the 1990s anime hottie mullet.

After defeating the carnivorous plant with his superhuman speed and strength, the handsome stranger then introduces himself as Isark kia Tarj. Well, actually, it takes some pages before they actually exchange names, because for the first two volumes of this manga Noriko doesn’t understand a word of the language of this new world.

In fact, nine tenths of their interactions go like this:

But, of course, despite this language barrier, a bond begins to grow as the two of them as they begin to travel together. It helps that Isark has some built in hurt/comfort. It seems that whenever he’s overextended himself, he collapses and Noriko must take care of him.

Over the course of the story, we learn that Noriko fell from the sky on the very day that The Awakening was meant to begin. Isark, and many other factions, had been hunting the Awakening, as it a harbinger of doom. It is said that when the Awakening appears it will draw out the Sky Serpent and the world will change.

Savvy readers will probably only need the fifth or sixth time that someone watches Isark fight and says something to the effect of, “He’s superhuman!” or “He’s like a monster!” to realize JUST WHO the Sky Serpent likely is.

If you don’t catch on to those clues, Hikawa-sensei helpfully draws Isark’s teeth as fangs whenever he’s close to overextending himself.

I should probably not find all these tropes endearing, but I kind of do. I did quit once I reached the end of volume 5, but I enjoyed the entire ride up to that point. There are lots of little side quests and interesting characters that Noriko and Isark find along the way, and while Isark is clearly the more interesting of the pair, effort is eventually made into letting Noriko come into her own as a magical girl. By the time I quit, Noriko had learned to telepathically link with Isark and bravely kissed him even after he had fully transformed into the Sky Serpent.

I think my favorite little throwaway trivia about Noriko is that her dad is a science fiction novelist, so she’s fully aware of the idea of the multiverse.

So, I mean, there’s a lot of enjoy here, if what you’re looking for is a light romantic adventure story.

Especially if you’re into the mullet look. I hear it’s coming back into style.

Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu / Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man 17-21



My dream is to be so famous that publishers will print literally anything I wrote, ever, including my juvenilia. I guess this means that my dream is to be Fujimoto Tatsuki, the author of Chainsaw Man.

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I should start this review with a confession, however.

In January of 2021, I reviewed the first volume of Chainsaw Man and basically panned it. I have since watched the entirety of the first season of the anime and have been made to realize the error of my ways. Denji won my heart over with his ridiculous hero speech about how it’s okay to fight for no reason. He’s dumb and brave and I love him.

There you go. Proof that people can change and grow.

None of my new found appreciation of Chainsaw Man, however, precludes me from being deeply jealous of Fujimoto’s fame and by the concept of Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu / Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man 17-21 which appears to be a print version of the Netflix algorithm: “If you liked that, you might also enjoy this!” or maybe, more precisely: “we knew him back when.”

I should be so lucky.

Collected in this manga are four shorts. “A Couple of Chickens Were Just Kickin’ in the Schoolyard” about two kids who are hiding from an alien invasion by dressing up like chickens, “Sosuki Stopped a Bullet” about a high schooler who performs a miracle either by the power of puppy love or possibly due to divine intervention, “Love is Blind,” about the most intense love confession, ever, and “Shikkuka” about love that springs up between a sociopathic killer and a vampire.





Of the four, my favorite is probably “Love is Blind” because the sheer absurdity. Ibuki, the incredibly driven and focused high school student council president keeps being thwarted in his love confession to Yuri. First, his own awkwardness is a stumbling block, but then more and more outrageous things try to come between Ibuki and Yuri, culminating in an actual alien invasion. Long time readers of Mangakast know that I sometimes have trouble with humor, but this story worked for me. I actually laughed out loud.

The chicken one had some good world-building, but was actually, otherwise, a bit grim-dark for me. The basic concept is that most of humanity has been wiped out because the aliens that invaded Earth found humans, in particular, to be delicious. They basically ate all of us. But, for some reason, chicken is off the menu. The part I liked was the moment when one of the aliens reveals that they can’t actually tell the other animals on the planet apart very well, so even though the two humans are dressed in what are basically mascot outfits, the aliens are convinced that they’re real chickens. This one has a surprise ending that… didn’t entirely work for me? Not because of the surprise, per se, but because it doesn’t work.. as in, they don’t get away with it, no one wins. No one lives through this one. On the other hand, it was probably Fujimoto’s first ever completed story, and who among us hasn’t considered, “and then everyone dies” as a desperate, running-out-of-better ideas ending?

The vampire one was just silly. Plus, because the humor was so broad, it didn’t make a lot of sense. Again, though, the concept intrigued me: “What if a murderous sociopath met up with an unkillable vampire?” It is telling, however, that Fujimoto confesses in his author’s notes on this one that he wrote it while suffering from a fever of 102 F.

Probably my second favorite short was “Sosuki Stopped a Bullet.” It was also absurdist, but the story is framed around a fairly interesting philosophical question: can we really know another person’s reality? Several times this is used to clever advantage, while also leaving the possibility open that maybe “I am secretly a God” is, actually, someone truth.

Would I recommend this? It’s short, free, and my public library had it, which is how I ended up reading it, so sure, why not? I mean, it’s not the kind of manga I would ever suggest to someone whose never read a single one before in their lives, because it is, ultimately, VERY WEIRD. But, the art is decent, and if you’re already a fan of Fujimoto, I say, go for it.



Dinosaur Sanctuary, Volume 1 by Kinoshita Itaru

I happened to be at my library again before all the snow hit and saw that they had a few new manga in their collection. One of them was Dinosaur Sanctuary (or Dino-san, as it is known in Japan–now why the f*ck they didn’t call it Mr. Dino here is beyond me!) If you click on the link I’ve provided, you’ll see that the scanlators only have a few chapters available for you. I’m kind of unsurprised that this mega-researched slice-of-life is not a super hot draw for the pirates, but more on that in a second.

Seven Seas is the official English-language publisher and you can buy the first two volumes directly from them, if you’d like.

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If you have ever said to yourself, “You know what I want in my manga!? I want strangely sexy, sweaty dudes and scientifically realistic dinosaurs!” then this manga might be perfect for you, particularly if one of your favorite slice-of-life sub-categories is “struggling animal care facility,” ala Shiroi Suna no Aquatope/The Aquatope on White Sand and probably others?

Like Shiroi Suna no Aquatope, Dinosaur Sanctuary follows new hire, Suma Suzume, as she learns the ropes of dinosaur care and feeding. Suma exists in an alternate universe where, in 1946, as the back cover copy says, “someone discovered an island where dinosaurs had survived into the present. Through breeding and genetic manipulation, humans managed to increase their population and supercharge their popularity!”

I mean, I’m down? But, I did have to laugh when jaded veteran dinosaur caretaker, Kaidou is introduced like this:

I mean, hello, handsome!

The rest of the story really does follow the “struggling animal care facility” plot. If that’s unfamiliar to you, it basically goes like this: animal care facility (aquarium, zoo, dinosaur sanctuary) has a really devoted, underpaid staff who love their animals and their work. They are experts in their animals and treat them with respect and kindness, but that isn’t enough! The local population just isn’t all that interested in this amazing, if small collection and wonderful creatures and so the facility is doomed to close unless they can somehow drum up admissions. What will happen to the animals if they are forced to shutter? How can they possibly drum up enough ticket sales to save the small animal care facility??? Plucky newbie tries homemade signs, her deep knowledge, and enthusiasm (possibly introducing this tiny facility to this thing called “the internet”) and is partly successful. Yet even more effort from the whole team is needed if the facility is to survive! Meanwhile, health crises among the animals continue–some of them quite dire and/or possibly heartbreaking. Plucky newbie learns that caring for animals on a large scale like that which the animal care facility is involved in is far more complicated than she originally thought. She might fall in love along the way, but her heart will always belong to [fill-in animal type.]

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I am a giant fan of slice-of-life. So, as long as I’m learning interesting animal facts, I’m 100% in for the ride–even if it takes me down roads I’ve already been on. To that end, Dinosaur Sanctuary has an actual paleontologist consulting on the manga who adds a LOT of dino facts at the end of each chapter.

I was, for whatever reason, not all that into it this time, despite Kaidou’s hot sweaty body and bedroom eyes. However, if you’ve never seen this trope before and are a big dinosaur fan, don’t let me convince you that it’s not worth trying. I watched way too many episodes of the Aquatrope anime, so I can not pretend that this scenario doesn’t honestly captivate me. It absolutely does, and every manga, even one following a similar script, is going to have its own twists and turns.

And you know what? This one has dinosaurs!

So, do I recommend it? Sure, why not? Just don’t be expecting anything mind-blowing or action-packed. And, you know, that’s fine?

Did I mention that there are dinosaurs?

At Home Happy System by Kobato Mebaru and Ogura Muku

I found this odd-ball little one-shot (actually more of a two-shot) At Home Happy System while noodling around looking for yaoi about robots.

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Actually, this is Kyouichi, a frustrated novelist. The robot is the guy speaking in “hearts”

The story here is pretty cute, though not at all sexy. Kyouichi really wanted the cute, female maid ‘bot, but she was on back order so he ended up with Silom. Despite being a robot, Silom is feeling pretty darned under appreciated and explains to Kyouichi that if he doesn’t get some appreciation, he might just stop moving. When Kyouichi’s smart-ass reply seems to cause Silom to stop, this sends Kyoichi to thumbing through the owners manual.

Where he discovers that maybe Silom isn’t actually a ‘housekeeping’ model, after all, but might just be doing all the housework because… well, it makes Kyouichi happy.

Hilarity and a very chaste kiss ensue.

Despite this being billed as a one-shot, there is actually a second story about an antique robot that is inherited by a man named Akira. This one is less successful in my opinion. The robot is apparently no good at housekeeping and keep dropping things since it seems to be falling apart (at first I thought maybe Akira was abusing it, but reading it a second time, I think it’s just getting loose in the joints?) There is a kiss between the two again, but it comes out of nowhere and then the only thing that comes from it seems to be grudging acceptance from Akira.

Would I recommend this? Eh, not really. The art isn’t that great and the stories are almost too short to actually work very well, in my opinion. I think the first could have been funnier if the authors had gone harder into the joke, because it seems like the implication is that Kyoiuichi doesn’t realize he bought himself a sex bot, who is just doing laundry because he seems to think that maybe laundry is Kyouichi’s kink.

The second one also needed something more, like, I wanted Akira to solicit stories of his grandfather or something so that their growing connection would make a bit more sense.

Alas.

Off to go see what other robot love stories I can find….

Dom/Sub Verse Introduction

There is seriously something wrong with me.

I have, for the most part, scrupulously avoided the Omegaverse (also known as ABO, or Alpha/Beta/Omega) in yaoi, because I was snobbish I guess? I tended to be baffled why you’d want some biological reason to slot people into various sexual roles, possibly against their will.

BUT OKAY NO ONE TOLD ME THERE WAS A DOM/SUB UNIVERSE!!

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The Dom/Sub universe operates on a lot of the same rules as the Omegaverse, in that, it takes place in a parallel universe where a kind of “third sex” has been uncovered/discovered. In this case, rather than slotting into Alpha, Beta, or Omega, you are either Dom, Sub, or Switch. Like in the Omegaverse, Doms, Subs, and Switches can subvert their nature with drugs and are often trying to blend into mundane society, which exists around them.

Interestingly, some safe sex kink traditions have, in this universe, become codified. For instance, just as Subs are compelled–physically and emotionally–to follow any order given to them by a Dom, Doms are physically and emotionally bound to stop if a designated safe word is used by the Sub. The trick here is that the safe word does have to be pre-negotiated between Dom and Sub, so there are still plenty of opportunities for abuse and non-con. However, once the safe word has been established, it works on the same pheromonal magic.

Also, there are some cultural taboos. If, for instance, a Sub is wearing a collar, that means he’s off limits to anyone but his (or her? I guess I am only reading the yaoi, it’s possible hentai and yuri exists of this,) Dom. But, again, like any taboo, it can be broken. You just have to feel bad about yourself, I guess, since it’s unclear to me so far if there are any governing bodies for the Dom/Sub subclass of humans.

This review is only going to include the two of these that I read last night, but… and I kind of hate this about myself, there will most definitely be more of Dom/Sub ‘verse in future reviews. But, rather than subjecting you all to the various individual titles that I find and read, I will do one of my big round-ups now that I’ve introduced you to the concept.

Inu wa Kogarete Hizamazuku/A Good Dog Gets Down on His Knees by Warabi Mochi.

OMG, this one, you guys.

First of all, the power dynamics in this manga are literally everything I love. We have Mr. Warden, Asahina Akira, who, upon first impression seems like the dominate sort. He loves his job at the prison because he gets to bully around other guys. Except, Asahina has a secret. He’s recently been diagnosed as a Sub. This is bad, since his job requires him to be, you know, aggressively in charge at all times.

Look at this Evil Bastard Twink. I love him.

Enter hardened criminal, Suzuhara, a convict that’s been transferred to not only Asahina’s prison, but is specifically put in his care.

Wouldn’t you know it, Suzuhara is a Dom.

So, now Asahina has a problem because it turns out that (and I kind of hate this trope, usually,) not only is Suzuhara a Dom, but he’s Asahina’s “Fated Pair,” so, you know, like soulmate, only entirely biologically based. The issue is that because of this extra entanglement, the over-the-counter Sub blockers that Asahira has been gobbling like candy to control his desires don’t work in the presence of Suzuhara’s overwhelming Dom-ness/pheromones.

The rest of the manga, which is, it appears, complete, is basically a lot of prison porn? I mean, if there is character development at all, it’s that we learn that Asahira is so closeted that he has done no research into his diagnosis and so he’s unaware that he can use a safe word, until he’s finally desperate to actually read up on it all. The introduction of the safe word into their “relationship,” such as it is, softens Suzuhara tremendously. I think, honestly, one of the things I like about Suzuhara is that he’s definitely the alpha-male type, and an actual killer to boot, but he’s just more morose than murderous, you know? So, you end up getting a reverse personality situation, where the Sub is actually very aggressive (and, honestly, abusive of his power) outside of the bedroom, and the Dom is submissive and obedient… until they’re in private.

I kind of dig it.

But, as has been noted, I am kind of perverted old lady.

Collar Kiss / Collar ni Kuchizuke by Ooy.

This one was completely sweet.

It is, in point of fact, literal “kidfic,” in that our kind-hearted Dom, Moriya, is a single dad, who hires Miki Koroda to be a babysitter while he tries to make deadline on his latest erotic novel.

The cute-meet here is that Miki has been a secret fan of a series of “unrealistic” romances that feature sweet and kind Doms. Miki has a kind of unexplored tragic past in which he developed as a Sub early in life and was abused because of it. He is, in fact, a runaway from the Dom who collared him, and so Miki can not imagine that the kind of Dom featured in these erotic novels can possibly exist in real life.

In a surprise to no one but Miki, the author who hired him is, pseudonymously, this very author whose novels he treasures.

Moriya is an interesting character in that he seems to have developed his Dom nature late in life. It’s unclear where mom is in this picture, but I get divorcee vibes rather than widower, and so my presumption is that once Moriya came out as a Dom, mom left town. (In an odd connection, in A Good Dog… Asakita’s dad ended up splitting from their family when he came out, only he left his family for a female Dom…. so I guess they exist?) At any rate, apparently, Moriya started writing these erotic novels in order to explore his queerness, if you will. He knows the stereotypes, but isn’t sure how who he is fits into the supposed boxes that Dom culture messages to him. Basically, he’s dealing with internalized homophobia, only it’s about this weird Dom/Sub universe? I mean, it kind of works for me, honestly, because as a lesbian of a certain age, I also had to contend with “Am I the butch? I think I am, so what does that mean when I’m very giggly and wiggly?”

Basically, this is Moriya, only as a Dom.

The story of Collar Kiss/Collar ni Kuchizuke is basically Moriya finally finding a partner who will let him be nice, and Miki finding a Dom that doesn’t abuse him.

We actually meet Miki’s ex and discover that he’s actually a Switch who is desperately trying not to be, also due to childhood trauma? To be fair, the rules of this universe is that a Sub is compelled to follow a Dom’s order–any Dom. Like, when we see it happen with Asakita in A Good Dog… he is shocked how suddenly and absolutely he obeys. In both these manga, the Subs describe it as their bodies betraying them, that it is entirely out of their control, which is legitimately terrifying. So, it is surprisingly sympathetic that someone who has been diagnosed as a Switch might go overboard in the Dom direction if they have to worry about also being capable of being a Sub.

The thing I will say about both of these stories is that, like the Omegaverse, you do have to be willing to accept the society and the constraints of how it is all supposed to work, while also not thinking too hard about how it is all supposed to work, if that makes sense. The art in both of these is quite good, though Collar Kiss tends towards the ‘wispy’ as I call it.

Thus, I hesitate to recommend this to anyone. As I say in my opening, I probably shouldn’t admit that this Dom/Sub universe stuff totally hits my groove…. but I read it and now you know about it. Consider this an educational review, if nothing else.

And, of course, as always enjoy responsibly, because I will note that this universe is obviously set up to be sexy times all the time. This is smutty McSmuttyville. It is not safe for work, though both of these were censored where I read them. Condom use only shows up in Collar Kiss, anuses seem to self-lubricate (though at least with this “third sex” idea, there is a universe-plausible reason for it,) and dubious to non-consent is kind of the name of the game.

So, yes, enter this universe at your own risk.

The Walking Cat: A Cat’s-Eye View of the Zombie Apocalypse by Tomo Kitaoka

I picked The Walking Cat: A Cat’s-Eye View of the Zombie Apocalypse (omnibus edition) on my travels because: cats. I will say that it might have been a mistake to read it immediately after the first volume of Sue & Tai-chan (which I will review later and which is also about cats, no surprise given that it is by the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home.)

The Walking Cat is not a light and fluffy story about cats and apocalypses. It’s about, strangely enough, the loyalty and kindness of cats.

SPOILERS

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Most of my readers are probably familiar with the story of Hachiko, though many of you know may know the story through an American movie starring Richard Gere called “Hatchi.” If you are not familiar, grab a box of tissues before you even read the summary of this story! Hatchi is heartbreakingly loyal, and I do mean HEART BREAKING. Yet, his story is somewhat unsurprising because Hatchi is a dog. Dogs–at least in the West–are known for their unwavering loyalty.

There’s a lot going on in The Walking Cat, which I will get into in a moment, but what fascinated me about the titular cat character, Yuki, is that he is given this very same characteristic, which is usually, in the West NEVER attributed to his species: loyalty.

There is, in fact, a scene–several, actually, once Yuki has been deposited on ‘The Island’–that are a direct callback to Hatchi.

But this is a cat.

Americans tend to consider cats wonderful, but also assholes. We hardly ever are asked to remember that a cat can be loyal and loving as its core personality.

And yet in this story it is fully believable to me, the owner of several cats over the years, that Yuki waits, every day by the shore, for his beloved person to return. Believable to me, but if I wrote a cat like that here in the States, I would be laughed out of the publishing business. (On a side note: I will never understand where this Western mistrust and dislike of cats comes from. Clearly, it is not universal world-wide, so it’s not the cat or its nature, but something about us.)

That being said, let me prepare you right now: Yuki is the hero of this story. So, don’t expect him not to go though human companions during this very dangerous zombie apocalypse like Kleenex. We discover early that, while zombies will eat animals, they are driven by the virus that consumes them to transfer their disease by biting other humans. “Zombism” as a disease is a fairly common zombie trope, if you are any kind of zombie aficionado. This somewhat explains Yuki’s ability to keep on keeping on.

Also, humans are softies, and almost always go back for the cat, like Ripley in “Alien.”

This story, however, doesn’t ONLY focus on the cat. The people Yuki interacts with slowly reveal interconnected storylines. Yuki’s first human is searching for his wife; she ends up being connected to a whole community of survivors living on an island and who also become Yuki’s people. When things go south, as things inevitably do in an apocalypse, on the island, Yuki ends up as the companion of someone who then devotes their lives to finding someone else connected to both Yuki and the island. Even when things seem to come to a somewhat happy (or at least stable) conclusion, Yuki (and his offspring) seem destined for adventures ‘on the road.’

Even though the story is deeply disheartening in places, I rather liked The Walking Cat. The art style is a bit crude, but, for me at least, the rough edges fit the mood of the piece. The apocalypse isn’t supposed to be pretty. Survival is brutal. Which reminds me–the story is violent, though it never feels especially gratuitous to me. It’s a zombie story. It just also happens to have a cat.

Would I recommend it? Obviously, I bought it, but if you want to dip your toes in just to check it out, the link provided will take you to scanlations. See what you think. But, I am a sucker for any story about cats.