James Nicoll Reviews

Masaoki Shindo’s RuriDragon (Japanese: ルリドラゴン, Hepburn: Ruridoragon) is a Japanese modern-day manga series. Originally a one-shot published in Shueisha’s Jump Giga magazine in December 2020, RuriDragon has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump starting in June 2022. Currently, installments appear on the Viz site.

In the previous volume, half-dragon Ruri Aoki was genteelly blackmailed into joining a school committee. Ruri was surprised and a bit alarmed to discover that she had been paired with the blonde girl who openly dislikes Ruri. What possible cause could the girl (whose name Ruri couldn’t be bothered to remember) have for disliking Ruri? More importantly, how will learning the girl’s name affect slacker Ruri’s future actions?

Read more ➤

2015’s Usotoki Rhetoric Volume 6 is the sixth tankōbon in Ritsu Miyako’s historical mystery manga series. Usotoki Rhetoric was published in Bessatsu Hana to Yume from June 26, 2012, to March 26, 2018. The English translation of Volume 6 was published in 2024.

Private detective Iwai Soma and his young assistant Kanako Urabe have settled into a comfortable partnership. He provides the deductive and inductive skills needed to solve mysteries. Urabe is a living lie detector, on top of which she prods the otherwise indolent Iwai to find work and pay the bills.

This arrangement is upended.

Read more ➤

Miye Lee’s 2020 The Dallergut Dream Department Store is a stand-alone fantasy novel. The 2024 English translation is by Sandy Joosun Lee.

Penny yearns for her dream job, both figuratively and literally.

Read more ➤

2021’s Magus of the Library, Volume 5  is the fifth tankōbon in Mitsu Izumi’s secondary-universe fantasy manga series (Toshokan no Daimajutsushi in the original Japanese). Magus has been serialized in Good! Afternoon since November 2017. The English translation appeared in 2021.

In the last tankōbon, Theo learned that his mentor Sedona might be a raging racist. No mention of that in this volume. I suspect that this matter won’t resurface (but I could be wrong). In this tankōbon, Theo is fully absorbed in the struggle to succeed academically and become a licensed kafna (librarian). He is struggling.

Read more ➤

Showa: A History of Japan is Shigeru Mizuki’s epic autobiographical historical manga covering the reign of Japanese Emperor Hirohito. First serialized from 1988 to 1989, Zack Davisson’s English translation was published in four volumes: Showa 1926 – 1939 (2013), Showa 1939 – 1944 (2014), Showa 1944 – 1953 (2014), and Showa 1953 – 1989 (2015).

1922: the Mura family’s least promising son, Shigeru, is born. He is given a front row seat to many lamentable events.

Read more ➤

2021’s Kaiju Girl Caramelise, Volume 5 is the fifth tankōbon of Spica Aoki’s comedic kaiju romance manga. Titled Otome Kaijū Kyaramerize in the original Japanese, Kaiju Girl Caramelise has been serialized in Monthly Comic Alive since early 2018. The 2022 English translation of Volume 5 is by Taylor Engel.

Kuroe’s social anxiety is fueled by a medical condition she’s desperate to conceal even from her astonishingly hunky boyfriend Minami. When stressed, Kuroe transforms into the office-building-sized kaiju, Harugon.

How did Kuroe contract this unusual condition, you ask? Kuroe’s mother Rinko knows.

Read more ➤

Heterogenia Linguistico, Volume 1: An Introduction to Interspecies Linguistics is the first tankōbon for Salt Seno’s secondary-world comparative-linguistics manga. Serialized in Young Ace Up since 2018, the 2020 English translation is by Amanda Haley.

When his mentor is injured, Hakaba is dispatched to take the old linguist’s place. The subject matter — comparative linguistics — is straightforward. It is the location that might give some qualms: the Netherworld, land of monsters!

Read more ➤

Hao Jingfang’s 2021 Jumpnauts is a stand-alone science fiction novel. The 2024 English translation is by Ken Liu.

2080: all across Earth the Pacific League and Atlantic Alliance forces clash. Thus far, defensive technology suffices to fend off most attacks. Nevertheless, escalation seems inevitable, particularly if some new factor were to introduce itself.

Enter aliens.

Read more ➤

Shigeru Mizuki’s 1973 Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, is a stand-alone historical tragedy manga. Titled Sōin Gyokusai Seyo! in the original Japanese, the 2011 English translation¹ is by Jocelyne Allen.

Imperial Japan sent Private Murayama and others off to New Britain island in Papua New Guinea, there to join the Baien Battalion in tropical isolation.

New Britain proves something less than a paradise.

Read more ➤

Maria Dahvana Headley’s 2020’s Beowulf: A New Translation is… a new translation of Beowulf. This is fortuitous, as it would be terribly confusing if a book titled Beowulf: A New Translation were not a new translation of Beowulf.

Nor do the book’s positive qualities end with the title. But first, hark back to old Scandinavia.

Read more ➤