Tag Archives: Ryo

Book Review: Alice in Borderland, Vol 2 by Haro Aso

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Alice in Borderland, Vol 2   

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: March 15, 2022

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Dystopian/344 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Ryo, Karube, and Chota have teamed with Saori to defeat the land of Borderland and make their escape by playing their stupid games. It’s Karube who figures out they needed to head to the Beach, wherever that is. But then they find themselves playing a game from which only one operson will emerge alive and everything changes.

Afterward, Ryo stops caring about what will happen, unable to stop thinking about his friends and what has happened to them. He is found by a girl named Usagi, who brings him back to a semblance of himself after telling him her story. He decides that they need to fight on together. They decide to carry on the search for the Beach, asking players they run across. But eventually they realize they are talking to the wrong crowd so they decide on a strategy, waiting for the games to be over and talking to the survivors. Through trial and error, and clever deductions, they eventually reach their goal, although it isn’t quite what they expected.

The Beach isn’t an actual beach, it’s a hotel where a number of the players have gathered. On arrival, they are each ranked according to the cards they possess. The goal is to collectively gather all the cards necessary to leave the island, which appears to be the entire deck. But no one knows if more than one person will be able to escape. And some cards are more difficult to acquire than others, while no one has even seen the face cards yet.

But are the players at the top manipulating the others for their own agenda? Can Ryo and Usagi survive this place, and is there any actual chance of escape?

This is certainly a dangerous place to be for all involved, but somehow there is a question that really hasn’t been addressed. Probably because they’re all too busy trying to survive. But I have to wonder who is behind this, and what purpose does this serve? This manga is certainly a dark version of Alice in Wonderland, full of twists and turns. I will have to wait for the next volume because it is just now coming out, so the library won’t have it right away. Looking forward to it.

Book Review: Boys Run the Riot, Vol 3 by Keito Gaku

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Boys Run the Riot, Vol 3     

Author: Keito Gaku

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

American release date: October 5, 2021

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/LGBTQ+/208 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The unthinkable has happened to Ryo – he has been outed in a video by the Youtuber Wing! Apprehensive about going to school, he finds that people are interested in his brand. But some of the boys think it’s funny to be vulgar, so he walks away from them. After school, Ryo and Jin approach Tsubasa and request she delete the video, but she refuses because she says it’s against her policy as a content creator. Tsubasa and her cousin think the guys should be happy, because didn’t they get sales from the video? Now what are they going to do?

Ryo begins to skip school to avoid his fellow classmates. He is surprised when Tsubasa shows up outside of his house. As Ryo explains why he is upset, Tsubasa tries to comfort him and tell him he isn’t weird. When Ryo finally faces Chika, he is upset, not because she accepts him as he is, but because she makes him feel odd, like an “other”.  Then Chika tells Ryo he should lean on Tsubasa, because she gets him, which only frustrates him, unable to tell her how he feels about her.

At school, Chihiro accuses Jin of only becoming friends with Ryo in order to get next to Wing, but Jin refuses to accept the blame. The teacher is concerned about Ryo and wonders what she can do to help. Ryo shows up in class unexpectedly and asks to address his fellow students, explaining how he feels as transgender. He is wearing a male uniform and has a surprise underneath it.

Business at Boys Run the Riot is booming, with orders pouring in, but there are also a lot of requests for more collaboration, including clothing design, with Tsubasa. They examine their motives for what they are doing and  debate the matter between the three of them and decide to make a fresh start, without Tsubasa. Tsubasa has her own problems, including the fact that although she is out as a woman, people don’t realize she is a lesbian. She is warned that could be a career killer. She envies Ryo his strength. But a moment of drunkenness that ends up on the Internet threatens her sense of self, revealing how very perilous that is.

This volume is primarily concerned with both Ryo and Tsubasa and how they deal with their gender identities, especially as they relate to the people around them. Other people have made it difficult for them to be who they really are, but Ryo is stronger, and has better support. Tsubasa is surrounded by people who don’t understand her, other than her cousin. But that’s not surprising as she is still struggling to understand herself. But Yutaka says it beautifully, that Tsubasa is Tsubasa to him, not her gender. He wonders if maybe she is genderfluid, and gives her much to think about.

The point is that people are too obsessed with placing other people in pigeonholes and the answer to gender identity is not easy and it isn’t relevant when compared to what kind of person someone is inside. It’s more important that people love, it doesn’t matter who they love. I believe there is one volume left, looking forward to it.

Book Review: Boys Run the Riot, Vol 2 by Keito Gaku

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Boys Run the Riot, Vol 2     

Author: Keito Gaku

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

American release date: July 27, 2021

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/LGBTQ+/192 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Wing is an LGBTQ Youtuber whose videos are being talked about at Ryo’s school. Elated at their first sales of Boys Run the Riot merch, Jin treats Ryo and Itsuka to a celebratory feast of burgers! He tells them they need to reach out to stores to get them to carry their line in order to boost their appeal. He arranges for a meeting with a rep from a local store, but that doesn’t go very well.

The three decide they need to get part-time jobs so they have the cash to continue to produce their merchandise. Ryo applies to a karaoke bar, and is about to get the job, but when he requests that he be treated like a boy, at first the interviewer seems to understand. But then he laughs and says that can’t happen. So Ryo ends up getting a job at a restaurant, Izakaya. Luckily the uniform isn’t gender specific. But when Ryo unthinkingly starts to undress in front of the guys, they practically shove him into the girls’ change room, where a girl named Mizuki is changing, to Ryo’s chagrin.

Ryo fits in well with the others and he likes the job. But when Mizuki asks him if he is a boy, he is suddenly uncomfortable with admitting the truth. They go out for beer after work one day, and Ryo gets to know her better and begins to relax. Some of the guys at work announce they’re having a welcome to work party for Ryo, and Mizuki agrees to go. But it turns out two of the boys have ulterior motives.

Ryo calls off sick for a couple of days after that, and meets up with Jin and Itsuka. Jin has a surprise for them. He takes them to a house where they are greeted by a girl named Tsubasa, who just happens to be the Youtuber Wing! Seriously? She introduces them to her cousin Yutaka. Turns out he was their first customer! And now Boys Run the Riot is gonna do a collab with Wing! How awesome is that?

During the course of the photo shoot, Ryo gets to know Tsubasa, and she gives him some advice. But when the video comes out, there is a huge oops moment!

I am really enjoying this series. It’s not often you see transgender stories in manga, particularly with transgender males.  The author obviously has great insight into transgender people and helps us to understand what Ryo is going through in his desire to be who he is, not who he appears to be. Gender stereotypes and misperceptions have been around forever, but now it seems as though, thanks to a more open-minded younger generation and the power of the Internet, greater knowledge is forthcoming, along with greater acceptance and understanding.

Even as we get to know and understand Ryo, Ryo is learning more about himself. Perhaps the oops moment will turn into something wonderful. Looking forward to the next volume.

Book Review: Alice in Borderland, Vol 1 by Haro Aso

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Alice in Borderland, Vol 1   

Author: Haro Aso

Publisher: Viz Media

American release date: March 15, 2022

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/Manga/Dystopian/344 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Ryohei Arisu dreams of living a different life and doing it somewhere else. He feels as if he is an NPC in his own life, and his parents always hold him up for comparison to his accomplished brother. Ryo’s friend Chota has much the same attitude, his only concern being his obsession with girls – not that he’s ever had a girlfriend. Chota laughs almost constantly and has no serious goals in life, never taking things seriously.  Their friend Karube manages a bar, and lets Ryo and Chota have free drinks. He has ambitions. Someday he wants to own a ranch in Australia and chase sheep.

One night, Ryo wishes for a huge earthquake to happen or some event where people turn into zombies. Just something. Anything that isn’t what they have now. Feeling restless, he decides they should go somewhere else. Since the trains have stopped running, they’ll have to walk. After a while, too tired to take another step, they decide to rest in a train station. From somewhere nearby they spy fireworks someone is shooting off. At four in the morning? Why? But then there is a blinding flash of light…

When they wake, they find themselves covered in dust! Heading outside, they discover everything is not only deserted, but overgrown, abandoned even, and much of the food they can find is rotten. What is going on here? There is no sign of anyone anywhere. But rather than feeling alarmed, Ryo and Chota are elated! Perhaps this is the paradise they’ve dreamed of? No one to tell them what to do or when to do it. If they look carefully, they can find some edible food. That’s not too bad, right? But suddenly they hear something. Are there other people after all? Drawn to the sound, as they are standing there, looking confused, a girl walks out from the restroom, grumbling.  When she sees them, she sighs and says they are better than nothing, and she doesn’t have a lot of choice. What does that even mean? Pegging them as newcomers, she says something about an arena. Ryo and Chota decides this sounds dangerous and want to leave, but Karube has moved in the other direction. The girl warns him not to cross over the line, but it’s too late. She tells them they’re in the game now.

Apparently the guys have managed to land in a futuristic time when survival depends on playing certain games, which are strictly structured and timed, with varying degrees of difficulty as well as rewards. The first game they find themselves in has to do with drawing fortunes. How hard can that be? They are about to find out.

This is an interesting start to what I assume will be some kind of play on Alice in Wonderland. But here, the stakes are high, as in life or death high. Sometimes you have to cooperate to win, but sometimes it’s every man for himself. Ryo is definitely an anti-hero, not your usual protagonist. I have to believe that he and Chota and Kyube will undergo some life-altering situations that will make or break them. These games are not for fun. Perhaps they will awake at some point, as Alice did, to find it was all a dream. That remains to be seen. Look forward to volume two.