Twelve Days: Ten Lords-a-Leaping

Or: On Late Discoveries

On the whole, the fellows at Yen Press are fairly decent chaps. They have recently completed their occidental publication of all Haruhi Suzumiya light novels written to date. Book Girl^[1] is silly but fun, and is set to similarly conclude it’s main story early in the new year. Nor can we forget their publication of Spice and Wolf^[2], A Bride’s Story, Bunny Drop, Kobato, Olympos, Inu x Boku SS^[3], Thermae Romae, or Yotsuba.

Aside those mentioned above lies a style of manga one would not immediately assume anyone in their right mind would publish on this side of the world. Yet they have, and I’m immensely happy they do.

I probably broke Postie’s back ordering all of Hidamari Sketch and GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class in one fell swoop. I fell across Azumanga Daioh in the Piccadilly Circus Waterstone’s one summer afternoon. I pre-ordered each K-On! as they were listed. I read SS Astro and Suzunari, having cottoned on to the fact that Yen Press tend to publish the sort of series I like. Aye, ’tis the humble 4-koma.

I missed one, however. I missed Ichiroh! each and every time I perused Yen Press’ list of publications. I’m not entirely certain how, but then again, such things are not difficult. I discovered it on 7 August this year – I only know the exact date because a certain online rainforest tells me that was when I ordered all five volumes.

Ichiroh!, to the best of my knowledge, does not have an anime adaptation, and nor is it likely to get one. It is not the best manga ever written, but neither is it as bad as many out there – Suzunari for instance. It is fun. It has a certain je ne sais quoi. I can’t help but find myself rather fond of Nanako.

Of course, it could be argued that reading a manga about failing to get into university was not the best of ideas when waiting for my own fate to be decided. Yet, that it was capable of distracting me from fateful funding decisions is very much another feather in its cap.

Irrespective of all this, that there was still something worthwhile left to find makes this moment a Moment. I rather suspect it like finding a cavern full of gold, despite a bunch of pirates with parrots on their shoulders getting there before you. Indeed, it rather made my week. It was like discovering Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro all over again.

Footnotes

1. It doesn’t matter terribly much, but I still prefer Literature Girl over Book Girl for Bungaku Shoujo.  ↩
2. We especially cannot forget their changing the cover design half-way through the series.  ↩
3. Not a word; thank you kindly.  ↩