I’m a big fan of Julietta Suzuki. I hosted the Manga Moveable Feast for Karikuri Odette, so it isn’t a surprise that I’m finding her latest series Kamisama Kiss absolutely delightful. In some ways Karakuri Odette, with its android protagonist and the way it explored romance without leading to a typical shoujo manga conclusion, was an anti-shoujo shoujo manga. Kamisama Kiss is a little more typical as Nanami, the human girl turned shrine goddess struggles with her feelings towards her shrine’s protector, the fox spirit Tomoe. While the storyline may be a bit more expected, Suzuki seems to be stretching her artistic skills a little bit more in this series. The characters are cute, with a bit of an edge. The opportunities to portray spirits attached to different types of landscapes allows for some refreshing character designs from Suzuki.

The third volume shows Nanami struggling with the realization of her feelings for Tomoe. They have to go on a visit to see swamp goddess Himeneko, but Nanami opts to attend in her school uniform instead of taking fashion advice from Tomoe. Himeneko’s underwater palace is bright and luxurious, with fish swimming by as Nanami admires the decor. Three bitchy carp princesses immediately attach themselves to Tomoe, while Himeneko takes Nanami aside for a bit of a makeover. Tomoe tells Nanami that she’s beautiful and she’s overcome with emotion. He keeps vowing to never fall in love with a human, so Nanami continues to suffer. A rival for Nanami soon appears when she gets rid of a white snake at her shrine. It leaves a mark around her wrist which is the equivalent of a snake engagement ring. Mizuki is a lonely snake spirit, and he’s selected Nanami as his new companion. There’s a hilarious story later in this volume, as Tomoe uses his powers of disguise to attend school as Nanami when she’s back at the shrine nursing a cold. Tomoe-Nanami has some interesting encounters with Nanami’s school friends, and Nanami’s hair starts whipping around almost like tentacles when Tomoe’s temper accidentally shows through his disguise.

Nanami continues to struggle with her feelings for Tomoe in somewhat superficial ways, testing his devotion to her and trying to get him to go out on a date with her. But when she asks Tomoe to go into the sea even when it is forbidden to him in order to rescue one of her friends, she starts displaying her feelings for him in a very substantial way. When Tomoe enters the sea he alerts a vengeful god who he tangled with years ago. The sea god promptly kidnaps Tomoe as payment for past wrongdoings, but agrees to a bargain with Nanami. If she can find the eye that Tomoe stole from him long ago, he will restore Tomoe to her. Mizuki the snake comes along on Nanami’s quest and she shows how far she’s willing to go to protect Tomoe. It seems like Mizuki is going to be sticking around for some time, so I’ll be looking forward to Tomoe’s reaction to that in the next volume.

The textiles of the yokai outfits and the undersea backgrounds in this volume were very detailed. When combined with Suzuki’s charming knack of rendering her facial expressions just exaggerated enough for humor but still realistic enough to inspire sympathy from the reader, Kamisama Kiss provides great summer escape reading.

Review copy of volume 4 provided by the publisher.

It was a happy day in my house when I realized I had two volumes of Story of Saiunkoku stacked up to read. This manga featuring a heroine who is dedicated to her dream of becoming a civil servant and the quirky men who surround her is one of my favorite current series. I’ve seen a bit of the anime adaptation of this series, so these early volumes have a feeling of pleasant nostalgia as I see characters I’m already familiar with in manga form.

As the third volume opens Shurei has left her position as royal consort and is back to her old life with her family, worrying about repairing her house and studying again for the civil service exam that she’s unable to take because she’s a woman. The emperor Ryuki sends her letters signed “Lord Anonymous” every day, along with ridiculous presents like buckets of flowers, a giant block of ice, and far too many hard boiled eggs. It is summer, the season when Shurei’s mother died. Shurei doesn’t respond to the Emperor’s overtures, thinking “If I get too worked up I’ll just overheat myself in this weather. It’s a waste of energy and of sweat…which means a waste of household resources!” Shurei stumbles across a scruffy bearded man who has collapsed near her house. She invites him inside for a meal, and when he exhibits superior staff-fighting skills when subduing an errant chicken, Seiran recognizes him as a man named Ensei. Ensei and Seiran have the type of bickering relationship that I think is only exhibited by people who’ve been through a war together. Ensei decides to stick around for awhile. Shurei gets a taste of the civil servant’s life when she’s given the opportunity to work for the Minister of the Treasury in the Outer Palace. She has to masquerade as a boy, but she’s delighted to be given the opportunity to work even if it is only temporary.

Shurei’s new boss is the incredibly strict Minister Ko, who always wears an elaborate mask whenever he is in the presence of other people. Ryuki continues to be an intriguing mixture of innocence and cleverness. While he’s imagining the horror of Shurei marrying Seiran, he is actually working hard to change the laws in his country that limit Shurei’s opportunities. His enthusiasm might derail the entire process. Shurei struggles through the summer month, dealing with her fears of thunderstorms that trigger memories of the day her mother died. Ensei’s lighthearted personality goes a long way in making sure she doesn’t get too depressed. One of the reasons why I like this series so much is that even though it might sound like a typical reverse harem scenario, Story of Saiunkoku has so much depth. The idea of romance is a burden more than anything else to Shurei, because she’s so focused on achieving her goals. While she’s surrounded by cute men who want to support her, they all have their own concerns as well as their own friendships to deal with.

There’s some intrigue and action as Ensei’s true identity is revealed. Ensei and Shurei take refuge from bandits in the house of a nobleman who is almost distractingly beautiful. They are aiding a pair of Sa bandit children who attempted to rob the treasury earlier. Their mysterious benefactor doesn’t seem to mind being invaded by sudden house guests, and Shurei notices that his hair and mannerisms seem a little familiar. Ryuki shows up at Shurei’s house for a “Midnight Tryst” only to find out that she’s gone somewhere with the mysterious Ensei. Ryuki, Seiran, Koyu, and Shuei decide to crash the party too, since Ensei is still being targeted for attack.

I like that there are so many side stories that aren’t centered on the heroine. We get a glimpse of the possibility of romance for Shurei’s father as he spends time talking to a noblewoman who is willing to drink his horrible tea in order to converse with him. The relationship between Shurei’s uncle and Minister Ko has hints of a long shared past, and Ensei undergoes a transformation that isn’t only confined to his physical appearance when he shaves off his beard and decides to start applying himself to his work. Even Shurei’s opportunity to take the civil service exam isn’t only for her, as Koyu informs her that she has to pass with extremely high marks in order to be an example that will help other women follow in her footsteps. One of the things I like about the adaptation is the way so many of the characters have a distinctive way of speaking. Ryuki’s speech is the most formal, as you would expect from his position as emperor. The ragamuffin Sa bandit children speak in grand excited tones, as though their actions and thoughts are the most important and dramatic things in the world.

These volumes were very satisfying, and I’m looking forward to reading more. This is the type of series that I know I’ll keep on my shelves for a long time because I know I’ll enjoy reading it.

Review copy of Volume 4 provided by the publisher.

I will concede that there are many shoujo series out there that are better executed than Library Wars, but I will always love this manga because I am a librarian and this manga is about paramilitary librarians falling in love. While some of the plot contrivances in Library Wars are a bit on the thin side, it still functions wonderfully for me as a cute fluffy read. The main story in this volume centers around the enigmatic Komaki and a young deaf girl who he picks out library books for. Komaki might be deluding himself that he’s only performing reader’s advisory services for an old family friend, but as Marie grows up she falls in love with him. Their relationship is totally innocent, but this doesn’t stop the Media Betterment Committee from making false accusations, kidnapping Komaki, and tying him up and torturing him. Because that’s what happens if you are accused of making insensitive book recommendations. With the eyes of a young girl in love herself, Iku clearly sees that Marie cares for Komaki and takes her along on a rescue mission, even though Dojo objects.

I do wish that Dojo would stop slapping Iku whenever she’s trying to strike out on her own to do her job. He usually does this just before she’s supposed to rush into danger, but it suggests an unhealthy relationship dynamic, which I don’t think the author is going for. Aside from foiling the Media Betterment Committee and dodging her parents, Iku does have a great moment where she gets a surprise makeover as part of her guard duty at a literary event and Dojo spends most of his time fending off other men. So nothing earth shattering in volume 5, this installment is pretty much exactly what the previous volumes delivered but it is good enough for me. I was amused that when Dojo was chiding Iku about her reference duties, he called it “referencing,” which I thought was a bizarre but charming way of referring to the classic reference interview.

I love the cover for this volume! Most of the previous volumes had daytime scenes, so it seemed like a nice change to feature the characters against a night time backdrop. I’m a little concerned about Kaze Hikaru. I’d been behind on this manga but then decided to read a good chunk of the most recent volumes. I hadn’t realized that there was a year between volumes 18 and 19. Now there are 28 or so volumes out in Japan and the series is still ongoing, and I’m wondering if we really will get the complete series out here. Kaze Hikaru isn’t a manga that clobbers the reader over the head with tortured vampire bishonen but it is exceedingly well-crafted, with plenty of historic charm and angsty cross-dressing.

As always, Kaze Hikaru blends historic details with the drama provided by the slowly developing relationship between Sei, disguised as a boy to enter the Shinsengumi and her mentor Okita who knows her true identity. This volume was a little more heavy on the historic politics front, as it detailed some of the maneuvering from the arrival of foreign ships outside Japan. Sei is on a mission to locate a mysterious geisha Captain Kondo fell for, as he is overcome with illness. Sei’s girlish good looks become a problem for her mission, as she heads into a confrontation with a man named Ukinosuke who appears to be a dissolute drunkard. Okita arrives just in time to help out, and Kondo is able to finally meet the woman he fell in love with. Ukinosuke is revealed to be an alias for a very important man, and Kondo’s devotion to his duty ends up influencing a critical decision from the shogun. Sei ends up comforting and supporting Okita for a change, when he thinks he’s been put aside by the captain. The volume concludes with a delightful stand-alone story where Sei and Okita confront the bad reputation of the Shinsengumi and meet a pioneer of photography in Japan.

I’m always amazed at how much story Watanabe is able to pack into one volume and the fact that even though the relationship between Sei and Okita is progressing at such a slow pace, I don’t feel impatient about the idea of the story of Kaze Hikaru needing to resolve anytime soon. I think I’ll start to get impatient if I have to wait a year for volume 20 though!

Review copy of Kaze Hikaru provided by the publisher.