かんなぎ Volume 03
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens Volume 3

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Highlights from this third volume of the manga start with Daitetsu being afraid and worried about Nagi after his experience with her. However, Daitetsu’s words for Jin start rumors, which are made worse when Tsumugi accidentally says something loudly that makes everyone think Jin is a “homo.” Tsumugi ends up consulting with Zange-chan, causing both to pretend to be Jin’s boyfriend, but that just makes things even worse.

Jin demands answers of Nagi about who she really is, her lack of memories and her lack of knowledge regarding the impurities that are showing up as black insects. Nagi gets upset and leaves, frustrated with Jin and with her own lack of understanding. Jin consults Zange, after witnessing her take out a group of thugs, and discovers that Zange has the same lack of memories and knowledge as Nagi. Jin consults the family that takes care of the local shrine, meeting the elderly lady there as well, but not getting a lot of info.

Jin discovers Nagi has run away from home, not realizing she’s staying with the shrine family. Eventually, he finds her after the death of the old lady, with Nagi dressed in black. The ghost of the old lady, now appearing as a young woman, tells a tale of how Kannagi-sama saved her life during World War II after the woman tried to commit suicide upon learning of the death of her soldier husband. Jin reassures Nagi of his belief in her despite the gaps in her memory and knowledge, and she returns home with him.

Reading this volume is a partial exercise in frustration since Bandai Entertainment picked up their toys and went home, all because we gaijin bastards didn’t want to pay through the nose for anime (or manga for that matter).  As such, even though there are three more volumes in Japan, I seriously wonder if we’ll see the series license-rescued, to say nothing of Takenashi-sensei’s very sporadic chapter releases since she returned to drawing (she’s only done two chapters since her return last August, and no chapters have been done in 2012).

As to the volume itself, everything was covered quite well in the anime, though I think the anime story for the karaoke side-story is funnier.

The discussion of whether Jin and Daitetsu were a homosexual couple brought up yaoi/boy’s love manga terms such as seme (and its variants) as well as uke, which thankfully are left untranslated. Granted, the flow of the dialog wouldn’t have made sense if characters are asking, “I don’t know what ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ means” whereas asking what the Japanese terms audience members might not know does make sense.  Plus, the whole issue on Daitetsu and Jin possibly being “homo” reminded me of both Genshiken and Genshiken Nidaime, where this type of thing is discussed a lot.  In the official Genshiken translations, all of the otaku terms were removed, including doujinshi for a while, but here, all the otaku terms remain, and that’s how it should be.

The comedic aspects of the story aside, I liked how Jin had to make a decision on how to deal with Nagi’s apparent memory loss and the like as well as Nagi’s own confrontation of her hidden past. Hopefully, Takenashi-sensei will return full time to the series and finish telling this tale.

On the Bandai side of things, I’ve already had positive comments on William Flanagan’s handling of things.  The Japanese honorifics are retained, which you guys know is a big plus for me.  There are some translator notes as well, which are also nice.

So, no more Kannagi for the foreseeable future, but I’m probably going to dig up the unofficial translations and have done.  If some company, preferably Seven Seas or Yen Press, rescues this, I’ll be back to purchase again.