Wolfsmund Vol 1

Wolfsmund is a very dark manga where the separate stories all come together at the border castle at St. Gotthard Pass.  Set in during an oppressive time period where Switzerland was under Austria’s iron thumb, the border castle guards the mountain pass between the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps.  From rebels and bodyguards to Wilhelm Tell and his son, all are forced to have to cross the high mountain pass guarded by a ruthless bailiff known as the Wolf of the Maw who revels in interrogation and torture of dissidents.  He’s a genius at spotting lies and forgeries, and then he exploits that weakness which usually ends quite terribly for our poor waylaid heroes.  Its to the point where Wolfram is even angering his allies with his callous and cruel nature because they fear he is helping inspire the rebellion by being excessively cruel in his actions.

The artwork has a very dark and mature tone of it perfectly matching with the even darker storylines.  For people who have only read typical shonen manga, this lesser known sienen series will shock people with the lack of good endings for the characters in the stories.  Made up of about 3 separate stories that tie together; the protagonists are left usually trapped in the twisted web that Wolfram has set up among Gottard Pass town and border crossing where he is able to anticapte the actions of people and predict accordingly.  I am excited to see what awaits in the later volumes.

I enjoy the separate stories that all focus on the actions of the bailiff known as the wolf of the maw.  The way the manga has built up Wolfram’s villainous and cruel nature was enjoyable as we learned in each chapter just how far he will go to instill fear into the hearts of the Swiss countryside.  Its exciting to see American manga publishers starting to print these lesser known sienen mangas that are a huge jump from the normal cookie cutter shonen and shoujo mangas you can find on most store shelves.  this shows the growth of the manga market in the United States that smaller lesser known mangas like this, Dorohedoro, and Uzumaki which I should have reviews for soon.

Author - Mitsuhisa Kuji
Publisher - Vertical
Date - July 2013

Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma Vol 2 Review

   

 The second volume of Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, continues the story of Yukihira Soma in Tootuski Academy as he starts life at his new school.  After completing his first assignment in the school, he has to search for the on campus housings and is forced to make a dish by the headmistress Fumio.  Forced to cook only leftover ingredients, Yukihira uses his masterful skill to prepare a dish that gains him entry into the Polar Star Dormitory on his first attempt.  From there he has welcome party given to him by the other member of the dorm, including Tadokoro Megumi, his partner from class.  He learns that his resident junior, Isshiki, is actually the 7th best chef in the entire school and bestowed with title the 7th Seat similar to how Erina Nakiri is 10 seat of Tootsuki High School.  Although he challenged the Isshiki for the position of the 7th seat, Yukihira learns he can’t actually challenged someone unless he has the weight or something to give in return and then its hosted on campus in a shokugeki match.  Soon thereafter Yukihira finally has his first shokugeki match with Ikumi Mito, one of Erina’s cronies, over the fate of the Donburi Research Society club.  Although a tough match, Soma emerged victorious and saved the club forcing Ikumi to join.  The manga volumes closes with the first years of the Polar Star Dormitory preparing for the Tootsuki Cooking Camp which has been known to have an expulsion rate of over 50%.

    As usual the artwork by Shun Saeki does not fail to disappoint, especially during the “foodgasms” sequences people have when they food made by Soma and the other aspiring young chefs.  As usual its filled with great comedic moments and throwback parodies to other series that you have to have some knowledge of old anime series and whatnot.   Meanwhile Yuto Tsukuda has done a great job of crafting a compelling story that continues from it first volume and is great in its 3rd.  

    With the recent news that this great manga series is being adapted into an anime for next year, I hope more people take the time to start reading the manga before it premiers on tv.  It is one of the lesser known gems being published by Weekly Shonen Jump at the moment but with its continued success both in Japan and its successful  American release probably helped with the greenlighting of the anime project.  This delay is a blessing in disguise because it has given time for the manga to have of the story published so we can either have a longer more complete tv series, or one that just doesn’t add un-needed or unwanted filler.  this has been a pet peeve i have had with many new mangas and light novels, is I feel they have gotten a tv series way too soon and then never got a second season so you are left at a cliffhanger as the main plot of the only starts to be revealed.  That was the case with Aesthetica of the Rogue Hero and So I Can’t Play H among others.  That or you get something akin to the Rosario II Vampire anime series almost completely disregarded the manga series and just had filler original stories which when compared to the main story of the manga were ultimately disappointing.  With almost over 100 chapters published, and with the conclusion of the cooking festival arc to be wrapped up in the upcoming months, here’s hoping we get an anime series that does this great manga series justice.

Story - Yuto Tsukada

Art  - Shun Saeki

Publisher - Viz Media

Date - October 2014