Manga Review: Demon Love Spell Vol 2 by Mayu Shinjo

Title: Demon Love Spell Volume 2
Author: Mayu Shinjo
Publisher: VIZ Media
ISBN: 1421550776
Release Date: 03/05/2013





I have to say that this series is starting to bring me closer to the type of fan I was when I began reading Shinjo's work with Sensual Phrase. You could argue, and be correct, that her work suffered due to various companies forcing her to churn out SP clones, but it's taken her a while to really get her creative juices flowing again. This has to be one of her strongest works lately, in my opinion.

A supernatural romance by the creator of Ai Ore! and Sensual Phrase 

Miko is a shrine maiden who has never had much success at seeing or banishing spirits. Then she meets Kagura, a sexy demon who feeds off women’s feelings of passion and love. Kagura’s insatiable appetite has left many girls at school brokenhearted, so Miko casts a spell to seal his powers. Surprisingly the spell works—sort of—but now Kagura is after her! 

Shrine maiden Miko has sealed the powers of the sexy incubus Kagura, who has vowed to protect her. But now a fox spirit has transformed himself into a human to proclaim his love to Miko, making Kagura jealous. Miko relents and allows Kagura to enter her dreams again, but now he can no longer regain his incubus powers?!

I think part of what makes this volume work is that the romance between Kagura and Miko is being built relatively slowly while still having plenty of nice steamy situations for them to tumble into. Miko does want Kagura, more so than she's really ready to admit, so most of the romance development in this stems from that aspect. Kagura's rather patient for a demon so much older than Miko is, but at the same time it kind of hammers in that Miko's still an inexperienced teenage girl. I kind of like that because this type of series is better when you have to make the two main characters work through their own personal issues before getting together. There are other plot points that come in and try to separate them, but the biggest issues are the ones that come directly from themselves and their own hangups or problems. This is part of what made Sensual Phrase so good, that even though the plot d'jour might have been sparked by some guy/girl/potted plant out to take one of the two people in the couple for themselves, the main problem was really some pre-existing insecurities or issues that the rival brought to the surface. I'm starting to see where this will be the case with this series and I'm pretty excited about that.

The artwork is, of course, top notch. Fans of Shinjo's steamier works will be a little sad to see that there isn't anything graphic in here, meaning no sex, but there are still a lot of pulse pounding scenes to be had. The artwork does a great job of bringing across the emotions. I'll admit that some of it is typical Shinjo and it'll be the same type of character designs that you've seen before, but the nice story lines help keep it from being too familiar.

I really loved this volume and when it ended, I was sad that I didn't have at least another chapter to flip through. This is turning out to be a series that I'd recommend to fans of steamier stuff and to older fans. Since Kagura is an incubus I wouldn't recommend it to younger readers for obvious reasons, as much of his actions are sexually driven. Incubi gotta eat, after all. There are no sex scenes, but there are sexual-ish situations and it's referred to frequently. Older teens would be fine with this, although parents will probably want to exercise some caution. You know what you want your kids reading, after all.

4 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by VIZ Media)

Manga Review: Strobe Edge Vol 1 by Io Sakisaka

Title: Strobe Edge Volume 1
Author: Io Sakisaka
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: 11/06/2012
ISBN: 1421550687





There are some definite pros and cons to this manga. The pro is that quite obviously, the artwork is rather nice. One of the cons is that at times I felt that the lead character of Ninako was a little overly dippy. Luckily for you, the reader, the two sort of balance each other out and the promise of more character development kept me interested.

Having no experience in romance, the vibrant Ninako curiously explores the meaning of what "love" really is, and is surprised to feel a colorful range of emotions as she grows closer to the school heartthrob, the quiet yet gentle Ren, who also happens to be involved in a longtime relationship. With every intention of keeping her head held high, Ninako prepares to face the mental pain of this one-sided love that she had allowed to take root, facing a series of trials that would either contribute to her growth as a headstrong woman, or break her as it did with other girls. However, is this really a one-sided love? Or had something been silently sown in the most hidden part of Ren's heart?

Ninako is a huge trusting ditz in this book. She's far too trusting and while part of me wonders how she survived this far in life without being mugged or smacked around by irritated peers, Ninako also has sort of a cute charm to her that kept me from being truly irritated by her to the point where I'd stop reading. It's also part of the story line, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but I'll warn potential readers that if you have a low tolerance for happy-go-lucky ditzes, you'll either want to approach this with caution or avoid it. It'd be a shame to completely dismiss  it for this factor alone, as the artwork in this really is nicely done. The other big problem is that there are a lot of traditional manga tropes. I've peeked around on the internet for reviews of the later volumes and I've been reassured by them that the series will improve.

Although at the end of it all, there's still a charm to this manga that convinces me that many of the manga's initial faults won't really bother that many people and that this will more than likely get a nice following. There's a lot of potential here to grow and despite all of this, I can't help but get drawn into the cuteness of everything. This won't bring in people looking for series with more edge to it, at least not yet, but it's something that I'll keep my eyes on as far as future volumes go. The artwork is really what I love the most about this and I've bought entire series of manga just because the artwork hit some sort of quirk with me.

Overall, my recommendation is that this is something that die-hard fans of shoujo should absolutely get. The rest of us? Other than the groups that obviously wouldn't like it, this will be something that I'd recommend flipping through at the bookstore first, although don't be surprised if you end up getting it.

3.9 out of 5 stars

(Review copy provided by publisher)

Manga Review: Demon Love Spell Vol 1 by Mayu Shinjo

Title: Demon Love Spell Volume 1
Author: Mayu Shinjo
Publisher: Viz Media
Release Date: 12/04/2012
ISBN: 142154945X






I've liked Shinjo's work in the past, although I'll admit that after a while some of her work just seemed to be a little bland, too much of a copy of Sensual Phrase. This was partially due to a publisher Shinjo had been working with, but for a while afterwards I just couldn't seem to get into the stuff she'd released even after she broke off with her old publisher. I'm officially digging her work with Demon Love Spell, though.

Miko has a lot of problems. She's the daughter of a prestigious family that's known for having an impressive ability to see and dispel demons, yet Miko herself lacks the power to even see the supernatural. So when she manages to bind the super sexy incubus Kagara, no one is more stunned than her, especially when she traps him in a chibified version of himself. The two soon discover that Miko does have power, but it only seems to manifest when she's touching him. With extremely powerful demons beginning to circle the now weakened Kagura, Miko must find a way to restore him to his true power as well as to find a way to confront her own increasingly complicated feelings towards him.

If you're wondering, the smut level in this actually isn't that bad when you consider how mature some of her other works are. It's relatively tame at this point in time, with sex being referred to and there being sexually charged moments but no actual depictions of sex to the degree that you see in some of her other works. This doesn't mean that this won't change as the relationship between our two main characters changes, so if you're someone who doesn't like seeing smut in your manga then I'd approach this with a degree of caution.

The story here is rather straight forward. It's your typical "boy meets girl, enter the supernatural creatures and romantic entanglements" stuff that you've come to expect from manga and Shinjo, but it's just so incredibly cute that you won't really mind that you've seen a lot of this before in various incarnations. The chibified version of Kagura is fairly cute and it's one of the first things that drew me into the volume so quickly. It hits a lot of my manga quirks pretty hard (chibi versions of things, romance, a little light smut, etc), and I have a feeling that this will do the same for a lot of other readers. My only true complaint is that this does seem to suffer from "first volume-itis" because there's one or two tedious parts where the action slows down so we can have some groundwork laid for future story lines and plot arcs. It doesn't ruin the overall fun of the volume, but it is slightly noticeable.

Now when it comes to the artwork, I'll warn you: it's your typical Shinjo. By this I mean that the artwork is well done and the guys are all suitably hunky bishies, but that they also all look like various incarnations of male characters from her other works. Shinjo's style is fairly distinctive and her habit of making the main romantic lead resemble the main romantic lead from other works still applies here. As the series pretty obviously makes a point to show that Miko will eventually end up with Kagura at some point, I can overlook this for the most part. I would like some variety, but I do love the way she draws her men.

I have to say that I'll undoubtedly collect this series and store it next to my Sensual Phrase books. It's fairly well done and I couldn't help but love the setup. It's fun, it's cute, but most of all, it's something that I want to read the next volume of.

4 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided through Edelweiss)

Manga Review: Oreimo by Tsukasa Fushimi and Sakura Ikeda

Title: Oreimo Vol 1
Authors: Tsukasa Fushimi, Sakura Ikeda
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: Not soon enough 9/18/2012
ISBN: 1595829563






If you're a manga fan, odds are you've heard of this manga under the fan translation title of My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute. If you haven't (but are still a manga fan) then you really ought to check this out. It's quite possibly one of my personal "most anticipated" manga releases for fall 2012 aside from more Sailor Moon and volume 13 of the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. (Incidentally, KCDS is also available from Dark Horse and is freaking awesome if you like mystery/thriller/horror manga.) It's one of my "must buy" releases for the fall.

High-school student Kyousuke doesn't get along with his cranky, dismissive, and secretive fourteen-year-old litter sister Kirino, but he suddenly finds himself forced to protect Kirino's secrets--she's not only a gorgeous fashion model, a track star, and an accomplished student, but she's also obsessed with naughty video games and little kids' fantasy anime! How can Kirino maintain her complicated lifestyle--and how can Kyousuke maintain his sanity? And might the tow of them, some how, just maybe, ever become friends?

This really has to be one of the cuter mangas out there and at only four volumes, it isn't going to break your bank account to collect them. Oreimo's primary charm is that it doesn't try to go too overboard with very much and lets the story unfold as it will. You just can't help but be charmed by the various characters here. I have to say that it's fairly easy for me to get interested with any manga that deals with otaku life, especially when it tries to take a look at the social stigma that being an otaku still has in Japan. (Especially if you're female.) Oreimo's primary goal is to entertain so there's still quite a bit of comedy in what it does, but there's also a good dollop of drama sprinkled within.  There is a bit of fanservice here and there that's a little naughty, but overall it's rather innocent.

The only thing that might give some pause is the relationship between Kirino and Kyousuke. She has a bit of a fixation on incest manga, anime, and games, which brings up the question as to whether or not there will be anything going on between the two of them. If you're someone who likes to avoid this subject matter, rest easy. To my knowledge there's no incest and the relationship between the two of them is predominantly that of two siblings reconnecting with each other.

Overall I really enjoyed this and I also enjoyed the letters column in the back of the manga run by the fictional Saori. It's a nice touch and one that I'm sure others will enjoy. One change I noted with this volume is that Dark Horse included their translation notes in the actual manga pages (akin to how other companies do it). It threw me a little, as I'm used to them collecting them all in the back of the book, but not something that would disrupt my read. Again, this is something that is on my "to buy" list for my fall and if you're looking for something cute, it should be on your "to buy" and/or "to read" lists as well. I can only hope that if we're lucky, a company will put out the light novels that this series is based on as well.

Five out of five stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Manga Review: Sailor Moon and Sailor V, volumes 1

Title: Sailor Moon, Sailor V Volumes 1

Author: Naoko Takeuchi

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: 09/13/2011

ISBN: 1935429744

ISBN: 1935429779

If you're a manga fan like me, you've been eagerly awaiting these releases for years. Not days or months, but years. Ever since the now defunct Tokyopop lost their licence to Sailor Moon, this manga has been something that you could only find via eBay or scanned onto the internet. Sailor V never got an official release, so you could really only hope to find an untranslated copy or hope that a scanlated copy got released from someone. Now you don't have to wait anymore. Kodansha has released Takeuchi's most famous work to the English speaking audience.

Art-wise, these books are absolutely gorgeous. One look at the covers should show you that you're in for a treat. I don't have any scans of the new translations, but the artwork has been cleaned up for this reprint. It's been a while since I've seen the Tokyopop translation, so at some point I'm going to have to find a copy to compare it to. (Or look for pictures that people have posted on the net.)

Story-wise, the Sailor Moon volume was stronger than the Sailor V manga was. I'm sort of chalking this up to the Sailor V manga being more of a sporadic release than the Sailor Moon story was. One thing that's absolutely cool about reading the Sailor V manga was seeing how Takeuchi began to brainstorm characters and designs for Sailor Moon as well as to see the gradual change in how the series was presented. Over time the Sailor V manga started changing to show it as a prequel to Sailor Moon. (Sailor V started before Sailor Moon started being made, but continued to be sporadically released while Sailor Moon was running.) It's a glimpse into Takeuchi's thought processes and it's incredibly fun to see which designs made it into Sailor Moon and which ones didn't.

Translation-wise this is much more faithful than the Tokyopop/Mixx translations and fans who have poured over the TP releases will instantly notice a few translation differences. One thing that I couldn't help but notice was that while the translation was more faithful, it's just a little clunky. I loved that there were honorifics in here, but I'd be lying if I said that the honorifics occasionally hurt more than they helped. One such instance is the usage of "Princess-Sama", which just seemed a little redundant and clunky. I have to admit that I'd almost prefer that the honorifics were dropped entirely for flow reasons, although at times they do help to show some character interactions a little better.

This is something that I'd absolutely recommend for any Sailor Moon or Takeuchi fan as well as any fan of shoujo manga. It's worth looking at for the nostalgia value as well as to get a gander at the series that introduced a lot of the American and English speaking audience to anime and manga as a whole. (Sailor Moon was the first television series I watched where I knew that I was watching anime.)

4 out of 5 stars for both volumes

Manga Review: Gate 7 by CLAMP

Title: Gate 7
Artist/Author: CLAMP
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: 10/25/2011
ISBN: 1595828060







Before I go any further with this review I have to state that I've only read the first chapter of Gate 7, the oneshot that started everything with this series. CLAMP works tend to have plots that reach far beyond one chapter, so I want to stress that all I can do is give my impressions of what I have.

Get ready for another exciting new series from best-selling manga creators, CLAMP (Chobits, Clover, Cardcaptor Sakura)! Chikahito Takamoto has always read about the beauty and mystique of Japan's ancient capital city, Kyoto. Now, two years into high school, he's finally visiting there for real. But wandering the grounds of Kyoto's legendary Shinto shrine of Kita no Tenmangu, he chances upon a mystery that his guidebooks didn't prepare him for - two handsome men and an attractive woman, all strangely-garbed, wielding powers...and fighting monsters! The two men treat poor Chikahito with suspicion - but the girl seems to like him. They aren't worried about what Chikahito's just seen, because they have the power to erase his memory...except for some reason, that power doesn't work! And why does the girl kiss him before sending him away? One thing's for sure: Chikahito is going to be seeing a lot more of these three strangers...

You can't read any CLAMP manga without admiring the gorgeous style that is their trademark. It might change as members come and go, but it's always beautiful and worth looking at on its own merit. This doesn't really change in Gate 7. I absolutely loved looking at the art in this story. It might not be their strongest work (their earliest works will always be my favorite), but this is beautiful. I can't say enough about it.

Story-wise, I can see where this will draw in a lot of readers. It's not entirely my style, but there's a decent base here to expand upon. It's a little on the vague side, but since this was just the first chapter I don't feel right giving any final judgement on the storyline of this series. (Supposedly what I read was just a oneshot but it looks like it was definitely intended to be a promo for a series.) I've done a little snooping on the internet for information and it looks like this series will get pretty interesting as the volume progresses. It just doesn't seem to be my cup of tea, but that's OK. I'll just wait for Dark Horse to release the inevitable artbook. (Hopefully they'll re-release some of the out of print artbooks TokyoPop used to carry.)

I have to say, this will definitely find an easy audience here in the states. CLAMP can rarely go wrong in my opinion and they're giving us more of what they do best. Gate 7 will definitely appeal to those who loved X and xxxHolic.

3.5 out of 5 stars

(Reader copy provided by Netgalley)

JManga: First opinions

Hi everyone! I just discovered a new site a little bit ago called JManga where (to put it bluntly) you can read e-manga online.

I have to admit, I've got mixed emotions about this. Offhand I'm going to say that I'm really irritated that you can't download any of the manga you purchase. You can only view it via the website, which takes away the whole convenience factor. Even if they release an app there's still the whole inconvenience of knowing that you're reliant on the website being up and being in an area where you can access the app/website.

The cool factor lies in the titles the site has to offer. JManga brings in some titles that have never been officially released in the US as well as titles by defunct publishers such as CMX. Some of the bigger titles are limited to 1-2 chapters, possibly because many of the bigger publishers are offering their titles via similar storefronts. I was more excited to see how many different series they have and the variety.There's a lot of selection, although I was slightly disappointed to see that there's listings for manga that aren't available on the site. (My pulse quickened to see a Higurashi manga listed, only to get let down when there wasn't even so much as a preview available.)

Here's something that might put a damper on some of the excitement, though: while the site does list industry heavyweights such as Naruto and Haruhi Suzumiya, most of these pages only have preview chapters available... if they have anything listed at all. This might be due to many of these publishers moving towards similar business models as JManga and preferring to keep their manga on their personal sites. It's just a little frustrating to see so many of these series come up and end up being previews only. The previews are all free, but it's still frustrating nonetheless.

The translation is a little on the wonky side. It works and won't leave you wondering what they were trying to get across, but it just doesn't flow like some of the other translations out there. I don't see this being a big problem and I figure that as the company's translators get more comfortable with translations it'll become a little more smooth. Right now though, the translations come across as a little too overly literal at times or like the translator isn't entirely comfortable with the English language jut yet.

JManga's final point worth mentioning is that you pay via "points" rather than a set price point, which seems a little unnecessary to me. For $10 you get 1000 points so I can't help but wonder why they don't just list it at its dollar equivalent. I doubt that this will really irk people as much as that there's no way to just purchase points when you choose. To purchase manga you have to submit a credit card and have a monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime you choose, but it just seems a little overly complicated to have to constantly have to sign up and cancel if you're the type that doesn't really want to make purchases each month. The points last for about a year after they're applied to the account and you do get bonus points (these only last for 3 months), but I'd rather have the option of applying points without having to go the subscription route. On a plus side, if you're a subscriber who plans on reading a lot of manga there is the option of buying more points per month.

Overall I'm just a little underwhelmed by this site. I love that you can preview things for free but so far there's not a huge amount of wow factor to this site and not being able to buy points without a subscription is incredibly irritating. It's worth keeping an eye on since I like the idea of a company that brings over titles that might not otherwise have been picked up.

Kodansha's website is up!

I'm intruding on the CIO series to let my fellow manga fans know that the Kodansha website it up. I'm horribly late at remarking on this, but it's exciting to see what the website has to offer. It's also interesting to see that they aren't stopping at manga- there's another Kodansha website that has book offerings in many various fields!

Previously the Kodansha site only had a list of various manga they were going to be releasing, so this is really nice to look at. Still no sign of what the Sailor Moon covers will look like, but I've heard that they'll probably resemble the newer released volumes in Japan that collect multiple volumes in one binding. (The shinsōban editions.)


What's interesting is that the site has covers up for the manga that had previously been released in the US. It makes me think that perhaps Kodansha will continue to release the series in similar themed covers, which is pretty cool for those of us who love to have all of their manga matching one another. I'm pretty excited to see what their manga will look like- I've got a few of their manga on order through amazon, so I'll definitely let you guys know when it comes in!

Now I need an iPad: Viz releases a manga app!

Hi everyone! I've always thought that we needed more mangas available in ebook format & while this isn't exactly the "manga released for my sony ereader" I was hoping for, it's still a whole lot of awesome.

Viz Media has decided to jump on the app bandwagon, releasing an app that will allow you to download hundreds of volumes of their manga at the touch of a button. So far this is only available for iPad, iPhone, & iPod Touch, although I'm sure it won't be long until this shows up on some of the other products out there. (Or until someone finds a way to upload this app onto their phone.)

As an extra bit of awesomeness, Viz has lowered the prices of some of the first volumes of the offered manga to $2.99, which any manga lover can tell you is pretty dirt cheap.

Not only can you read a ton of their biggest series, but you can also download samples, which is an awesome feature. No longer will you have to fight past the hordes of teenagers that have decided to camp out on the floors in front of the bookstore's manga section. (By the way, this actually happens. I've actually had to step over someone in order to put books away.) Now you can show all of them up by looking up these titles on your phone while you sit in the cafe sipping your coffee. Or on the bus. The sky's really the limit as far as "places I can read manga" goes.

Own more than one i-product? You can bookmark & browse on any of your devices without having to sign up with various different accounts.

While I don't (yet) have any of these products, this gives me a new reason to want one & I can't hope that Viz branches out to the various ereaders. I know that I love reading mangas on my ereader since it's sometimes easier to collect things digitally to save on room. There are some titles I want to collect in paper format but there's just as many that I'd rather have on my ereader to peruse at my leisure. Hopefully this app will show Viz & some of the other publishers out there (for both manga, graphic novels, & "regular" comics) that there is an ereader market to be seized.

(Info taken from Viz's site as well as from the ANN news article)

Good news for manga: Kodansha opening a US branch

The other day I mentioned that TokyoPop was closing its US branch, something that I'm still pretty sad over. However, I've also heard something that I'm also pretty pleased to mention, something that's pretty old news as far as the manga industry goes. (My head's been stuck in books & I haven't been as news savvy as I usually am as far as manga goes.)

Kodansha is opening a branch here in the US, which means that there's a very good chance that any of the Kodansha titles that were translated by TokyoPop will see new life with this company. They've already announced plans for two titles that are incredibly popular here in the US, one of which is incredibly exciting for myself personally. Those two titles? Sailor Moon & Love Hina.




That's right, after being out of print for many years the series is now going to be reprinted in the US. This is good news for those of you who didn't have the money to plunk down for the Mixx versions of the manga. (However it also means that the value of the Mixx manga on eBay will plummet because now it'll only have value for collectors, but that's a downfall I'm willing to embrace.)

If that's not good enough then you'll also be happy to know that the Sailor V series will also be seeing an English translation. This is the manga series that started it all for Takeuchi & I'll admit that I'm really curious to read it. Hopefully this also means that we'll see some of Takeuchi's other work come to the US markets as well.

Fans of other series such as The Wallflower will be glad to know that Kodansha will continue to publish this series (starting with 25 & presumably going back to re-issue previous volumes) as well as other popular series that were published by other companies.

Here's a list of some of the manga you can expect to see: (but by no means the complete listing)

Until the Full Moon
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Negima?!
Negima?! Neo
Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
Shugo Chara!
I am Here!
Air Gear
Cage of Eden
Bloody Monday
And more!

What this means is that perhaps the future of English language manga isn't as dim as I was previously thinking it might be. It's not a clear future but it does give me some hope that it won't go back to the old days of 1-2 titles on the average bookstore shelf & special orders from the comic book stores. (Not that there's anything wrong with going to the comic book stores, but I'm spoiled by being able to go to work & see manga everywhere.)

Now if I could only get someone to pick up the manga Saint Marie then I'd be a happy camper!


Expect to see Sailor Moon & Sailor V on the shelves this September!

Is the US manga market in trouble? TokyoPop closes its North America offices

If you're a manga fan then you might want to start watching the shelves. A few days ago TokyoPop officially announced that it was closing shop in North America. That's right, one of the biggest names in manga publishing just announced that it couldn't afford to stay open. Supposedly this is just after the company went from having a few hundred employees to six.

While TokyoPop has had a somewhat controversial past (Mixx anyone?), I have to admit that I never would have imagined that the company would ever run into enough financial trouble to where they'd have to close. Now I'm scratching my head & trying to figure out exactly what the company did to put itself in so much danger.

Maybe it was that the company just bit off more than they could chew, picking up just a few too many licenses, some of which might have been a little hard to justify as far as sales went. (I know that some of the original American manga sat on my BAM shelves like last year's fruitcake.) Maybe it was that the release schedules were erratic at times. Perhaps it was the rise of online scanlation sites that (despite being told to stop) still released their own translations of the some of the manga that TokyoPop released.

No matter what the reasons were, I'm awfully sad to see this company go. It's just one of MANY manga companies that have been closing in the last 5-10 years. CMX, ADV manga... even the smaller companies such as CPM & others whose names I can't remember off the top of my head. There's been a lot of manga companies that have ended up having to close, but few have been as big as TokyoPop was. I know that at my store at least 1/3 of the titles are TokyoPop titles.

I can't help but worry that this is a very bad trend as far as manga goes, especially since it's still a very profitable market for the most part. So if you're a fan of any of the TokyoPop series then I recommend you look into whether or not it's going to be completed or picked up by another company. I also recommend that if you've been debating whether or not to pick up one of their completed series, you'd better get it now before they're completely out of stock & you have to either pay a fortune to get it elsewhere or learn another language (Japanese or German, since TP's German offices are still open) in order to read them.