I finished this month’s Harta already!
ハルタ ８９号
This one was especially cool to me, maybe partly because I ended up talking up my investment in the magazine a lot in this thread, but also because I recognized the name of author the short I liked so much to the point of translating couple issues ago, 田沼朝, in the solicit for the issue on Twitter, so it’s the first time with one of these magazines I had an actual cycle of anticipation and then enjoying it when it comes out, and it’s cool that I’m starting to recognize some authors who show up in the shorts.
Their new short, 桃と道行き lived up to expectations! It’s more ambitious than the previous one and I think executes it really well! It’ll be a lot harder to translate, but I’d like to give it a try too sometime!
It’s about distance to a sibling and seeing them in a new light through the people they’re close to. It sounds like whoever fills in the reader polls agreed with me about liking the author’s last contribution so hopefully I’ll see more of their work as well.
The issue opened with Dungeon Meshi, which usually means there’s a big weird setpiece moment, and while like I said last time I don’t think a new reader would understand anything that’s going on, I do think skimming the chapter as it goes by might make a tantalizing case for figuring out.
Words or pictures out of context probably don’t do it justice but I don’t have anyone to share it with so I just gotta: it involves getting stuck inside of a giant bird made up of many smaller magic birds and having to poke at it from the inside out to try to attract the attention of and get eaten by a giant quetzalcoatl-style winged serpent decorated with pretty flowers.
I thought a lot of established series had strong showings this issue (like, yep, the zombie one and the hotel one), but I’ll mention 司書正 by 丸山薫, which I think now has established a really strong premise that’s a little like… what if Johnny Mnemonic was set in a fictional old Chinese monarchy? And it’s certainly shown me a lot of new kanji.
And 希釈王 by 須川佳 is still proving to be weird in the best way. It’s not ever really outright zany, and the emotions are ultimately grounded, and ostensibly the world is built with some familiar fantasy tropes, all the details are just… deeply strange. I don’t really have anything to compare it too - maybe the work of Michael DeForge would be the closest.
There’s a new series: FOOLPROOF by 久方標, and that one IS outright zany for sure. There’s a girl that can fly for no obvious reason, a giraffe, a whale, etc. I’ve read barely any Gintama so it’s probably not a fair comparison but that’s what it reminds me of a little - feels a little more conventionally shonen-y than usual for Harta but I may well warm up to it.
Another short story standout is FUN FUN CUT by 野澤佑季恵
It’s about crushes and warming up to new friends, told through a focus on hair.
Two series I wasn’t caught up on ended… one of them is actually the one I had randomly drawn to try to catch up on, so I think this just teaches me I should let time do that for me, and read manga in volumes how I normally would - no need to rush specifically to catch up on those, as the magazine is plenty fun on it’s own. I’ll keep reading the one I’m in the middle of in volumes though and I guess talk about it when I finish.
Finally the back of the magazine has the first selection of winners from their second 八咫烏杯 manga contest. I get sucked into reading these late at night, so I’m always exhausted and manga-addled by the time I get to the end, so I don’t really give the contest winners quite as much attention as they deserve, but there’s definitely some good stuff in there too.
