東方鈴奈庵 ~ Forbidden Scrollery. 2

Touhou Suzunaan - Forbidden Scrollery. #2

by Moe Harukawa, ZUN

不思議な貸本屋・鈴奈庵から妖怪が呼び覚まされて巻き起こる珍騒動! ゲーム最新作「東方輝針城」や「東方心綺楼」を補完するストーリーも収録!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Magic, Supernatural

169 pages, Paperback

First published February 20, 2014

Reviews

[Sol]

Take my review with a grain of salt, because I've never played any of the Touhou games so I'm not the target audience. But I found this volume much harder to follow than the first. I felt like the episodic plots of each chapter were also much more anticlimatic than before, and I didn't glean much enjoyment from them. I also could be imagining it, or it's my own lack of understanding, but I also felt like this volume had more plot holes in it.
The Noh chapters in particular were really hard for me to follow and felt like it ended in a whimper, with the conflict never really amounting to anything. I was a bit disappointed because I really wanted to keep liking this. I'm still interested in Touhou though. This is my sign to actually play the games, and then maybe I'll come back and give this a reread!

[Derek Newman-Stille]

Unlike the first book in the series, this one was completely incomprehensible

[AP]

Still a middle of the road series for me personally. Aside the neat art style, it's not particularly memorable overall unless you count it's messiness. The overall story made up by the minor stories/story parts/chapters seem all over the place at times, making the reading experience at times feel messy/disjointed/confusing.
I'm debating whether I should finish this series or not since it is just 7 volumes total and my library has all volumes available. After all it is a manga and I can read it for free and somewhat fast so it is not like I feel I will lose too much valuable time finishing the series compared to a dense 500+ page book series.

[Rickie]

Unlike the first volume, which I felt dragged on in certain parts, I enjoyed volume 2 completely. This volume starts to put the pieces of a greater conspiracy connecting to Mamizou Futatsuiwa, a character introduced in the first volume. The art style is superb, the references to previous games not as overwhelming, and has interesting stories within this volume. If you read through volume 1, you won't be disappointed with this volume!

[Victoria]

Even though I read the first volume and didn't like it. I decided to try volume 2 anyway. It still was terribly confusing and the story doesn't seem to be moving in any direction. As the reader I felt pretty confused about various aspects of the story and would like more information on the characters and their powers. It is just lacking in so many ways.

[Rebekah]

Confusing and non-linear storyline. This book introduces characters randomly with no back story, like the reader should already be familiar with them. Apparently, this series is a spin off from other manga series and games.

[☣ EMᕈRESS SERΔ ☣]

I loved the first volume and I was really excited to read the second, but it was boring and I got lost really easily. Maybe it's just not my personal style anymore. Or maybe it was just a bad time for it.

[Kurtis Burkhardt]

Pretty great manga, awesome art and great story 👌😁💕

[Kathleen]

Good for youkai fans, even if you aren't familiar with Touhou characters!

[Isabelle Ma]

It was a compilation of multiple almost pointless mysteries and adventures, all of which were solved and tied up neatly with a ribbon. At least it was cute and lighthearted though.

[Caroline]

*3.5

[Natasha]

At no point in time did I understand the story. I only read the entire thing because I do like the art style and random creatures.

[Mehsi]

I have decided to read this, I have been interested in Kosuzu for a long time, and I never knew I could find the manga this easily. :)

The first 2 volumes have been a wonderful ride. Not only do we have Kosuzu, but we also have Reimu, Marisa, Mamizou and countless of other touhou characters. We also have a few newer characters, like Kokoro from Hopeless Masquerade and Shinmyoumaru Sukuna from Double Dealing Character. I was delighted to see them all make an appearance. I was a bit worried that we would only have Kosuzu and Reimu and Marisa.

Most of the volumes are separated in arcs. Two chapters would often form one arc. It is quite important to follow the stories as they are written/drawn, since sometimes things that happened are talked about again, or something happens with a certain item that was also used in another story/arc.
The stories are all fun and supernatural filled. Most have to do with spirits or youkai.

Kosuzu’s library/book store is gorgeous. I really wish I could live in Kosuzu’s library/shop, I can see myself spending ages there, reading stuff. Translating books and having a good time. Filled to the brim with books. Old, new, imported. Yes, imported. She gets shipments from the outside world. Which leads to hilarious things like the one time when she was reading about the Berlin Wall falling down. She was saying that she hoped that no one was hurt and that the wall must be poorly constructed for it to fall down like that. And there are more references to the outside world like this. Not always from books or magazines, but also word by word stuff. For instance, Marisa telling Reimu about organic farming and that it is all the rage in the outside world. :)

Kosuzu is a really interesting character, I love her ability to translate books no matter what language. I would love that skill. Then I can read anything, anywhere. That would be lovely.

I loved how all the characters kept their original personalities. For instance, Marisa still takes stuff or is planning on it. Reimu is still in love with money and sake. I am really happy they kept these personalities. I would be sad if the characters were totally different.

And that brings me to the art. I loved it. It is cutely drawn, but at the same time it is also serious looking. I enjoyed the character designs, everyone looks so pretty. The backgrounds are also gorgeous with a great big deal of details.

I will be sure to read the rest of the manga. One volume to go, and then it is waiting for the next one to come out.

I would recommend this to everyone, however I would also recommend that you read a bit on the touhou world. This way you will get the references and you will also know the characters.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Christie B]

I didn't know when I started reading this that it is a spin-off of other series. Without having read any part of those series (which are Double Dealing Character and Hopeless Masquerade) this volume made little sense and at times seemed to have no story at all. When it did have a story, it was busy referring to events that had never been mentioned before and were not explained at all. There were a few good moments though, so I'm giving it 2 stars and enough of a benefit of the doubt to start on the third volume.

[Jillian -always aspiring-]

This story would be so much better if it were character-driven rather than meandering on silly plots where the “mystery” is just caused by a certain type of book demon. A bit boring too, sad to say.