By Mat K.
Well then, now that the initial flood weeks have gone by we are left with a much shorter release list, but we will not let you down! First off, Viz is releasing a couple new Japanese novels, those special kind with the anime flavor without actually being related to any one series. Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (the writer of All You Need Is Kill) is about about boy named Etsuro who is a college freshman whose life sucks. So of course he gets drawn into the alluring world of MMORPGs where he can be an awesome karate master who can handle anything. In his digital fantasy, who will be his greatest opponent: the seemingly invisible Slasher Jack, or Etsuro’s would-be girlsfriend Fumiko?
The other novel coming out this week is The Stories Of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto. In a world where humans are the minority and androids have created their own civilization, a wandering storyteller meets a beautigul android named Ibis. Ibis tells him seven stories of human/android interaction in order to reveal the secret behind humanity’s fall. I know a lot of manga fans aren’t keen on reading things without pictures (not everyone, but a lot of us), but both of these stories are pretty awesome and are just the kind of sci-fi we love so much.
Speaking of novels and manga, a little while ago the Spice & Wolf novel was released here in the states, and I know there is a big fan base for the anime, well now the manga finally arrives. Strike a victory for cute girls with dog (wolf) ears and tails. Oh yeah, and Dogs Volume 3 by Shirow Miwa is in this week, and I love it. If you want gritty action and killing but are tired of period-piece samurai series, also if you have a sense of humor, then you need to be reading Dogs already. That is just a true statement. Oh yeah while we’re still on the subject of dogs and dog eared people, Inu Yasha Volume 47 also shows up this week, though I don’t know how excited people are anymore, since I’m asked more these days when the LAST volume is coming out, not when the NEXT volume comes.
You gotta love stream of consciousness. Anyway, on a side note Youka Nitta has finally released a new book. You might remember Embracing Love, or White Brand, or any of her other books, her new series called Otodama: Voice From The Dead has a more sci-fi mystery feel to it. Kaname Otonashi is gifted detective with a super-hearing ability. He can even hear voices from the “other side”… the dead! Having once worked as a top-notch detective specializing in Sound Engineering Investigation, Otonashi Yasuhide, a.k.a. Hide, collaborates with the police department to take on unsolved and mysterious cases. Surrounded by a string of mysterious deaths, the police turn to Kaname’s findings to identify suspects… but can Kaname handle the non-stop screaming of the dead?
So that’s the spiel for the week, and there are plenty more awesome books to check out, see you all next time!
Ja Ne!
