We were supposed to release new chapters of Ressentiment and The Music of Marie today, but, well, stuff happened. So, you only get three releases instead. First, we have an absolutely insane chapter of Soil that eclipses everything before it in terms of craziness. Somewhere along the way Kaneko must have thought, “Screw this shit! I’m just gonna draw whatever I feel like.” The result is a maddening tangle of plot threads that seem unrelated at first but then quickly intertwine and spiral out of control until the whole narrative frame seems to break down and give way to chaos and destruction, like it did in this chapter. Yet you can’t help but think there’s a method in the madness, a connection between everything that happened in the story so far that will eventually emerge as we continue the journey into Soil’s heart of darkness.

Compared to Soil, All-Rounder Meguru must look like the most mundane thing in the world, especially since the new chapter shifts the focus from Meguru the fighter to Meguru the teenager. But don’t worry, he’ll be back in fighting mode soon enough.

The Hour of the Mice is nearing the end of the 3rd volume which means Maki and Kiriko’s happy days will soon be over. How far will Mei go to get Maki back, and will Nagi have to pay the ultimate price? Oh the drama, it tugs the heart strings…

If the first two chapters of All-Rounder Meguru didn’t convince you that this is an entirely different beast than Eden, hopefully the next two ones will. Hiroki Endo, fresh off his existentialist sci-fi epic, decided to create a down-to-earth story that sounds deceptively simple. Boy joins a mixed martial arts gym hoping to become stronger. One day he meets his childhood friend who is practicing the same kind of martial arts (shooto) and who harbors a dark secret related to his past. They fight once, then part ways. Boy goes on to learn more about shooto… It’s the kind of set-up you’d expect to find in a typical shonen fighting manga, but this being a work by Hiroki Endo, there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

One thing that makes Meguru stand out from the crowd is its realism. Everything in here is firmly rooted in the realm of the possible. There are no secret techniques, no power-ups, no fighting prodigies. The main character is just your average teenager who tries to do the best with what he has learned. By keeping the story lean and without gimmicks, Endo has a lot more freedom to focus on the characters and their relationships, even though he does often indulge in the sport aspect as can be seen in chapter 4. I guess Meguru’s biggest selling point lies in its combination of the slice-of-life episodes and the short but intense fights that once again demonstrate Endo’s ability to draw dynamic action scenes that actually look real. We can only hope the author has some sort of a plot with a middle and an ending in mind instead of just giving us one fight after another.

Speaking of ending, today we release the “final” chapter of Shoujo Nemu. I really wish we had more of this wonderful story to scanlate. Alas, Hirosuke Kizaki, the artist, passed away before he could complete the manga. It’s a big shame because I think his premature depart rid Japan of one of the most talented young artists of this generation. Even though Shoujo Nemu didn’t get a proper ending, following Nemu’s journey as she grows up from being a shy and insecure girl to a young woman determined to follow her dream has been an extraordinary experience. One that I’m very glad to have had.

This is a public announcement: Please do not upload our releases to online viewing sites such as Mangafox and Onemanga. I have nothing against those sites per se, I just don’t want our releases there. I think Kotonoha has gone to great length to provide easy access to our files, offering both torrent and direct download links, which should eliminate the need for online viewing. After all, what’s the point of creating SHQ scanlations when our scans just end up looking the same as some horrific Jump scans?

Update: After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that it might be good PR for us to have at least one ongoing project up on those sites. I have determined this project to be All-Rounder Meguru. You may upload the first two chapters and all future ones to any online viewing site of your choice. We don’t have a waiting period.

By now those of you who are following the Inio Asano one-shots we have been cranking out recently must have caught on to the fact that they all come from the same anthology called Sekai no Owari to Yoakemae (contrary to what you might have heard elsewhere, this actually does not translate to “The Dawn Before the End of the World”).

You might be wondering why we decided to release those stories out of order, basically starting with the last one and moving backward to the beginning. Well, remember that time when I half-jokingly suggested that we should try to be more unpredictable by releasing stuff out of order? Guess which manga was called on to serve as a guinea pig to test my theory. One nice side effect of this experiment is that we get to finish this project with the first story “Before Dawn,” which I always thought would make a much stronger conclusion than “The End of the World.”

As you can see I have compiled everything into one nice package. It contains all the stories we have released so far (in the original order), plus the first story “Before Dawn,” the amazing cover (taken by Inio Asano himself), the color pages and the bonus manga at the end. Sure, it is one big SOB, weighing in at just under 150 MB. But, ladies and gentlemen, what you get might just be the finest scanlation Kotonoha has ever put together, which should be worth a few minutes of your download time.

After finishing a project of this dimension, one might expect us to take a little break or something. But no, Kotonoha has never been content to rest on our laurels, which is why we are ready to present to you our next brand-new project: All-Rounder Meguru!

Yes, it’s by the author of Eden. Yes, it’s about guys (and later girls) kicking other guys’ butts MMA-style, which I suspect will make this manga an instant hit… Or not, depending on what you expect. If you’re hoping to find another story like Eden with gratuitous amount of violence, splatter and exposed bosoms, then this manga is definitely not for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a realistic sports/martial-arts manga with some gritty human drama thrown in, I can guarantee Meguru won’t disappoint you. Check out the first two chapters and tell us what you think in the comments section.

After a few quiet weeks things are starting to look up again. I still have a sizable list of stuff that needs to be done before the holidays kick in. There will be at least one or two surprises that you won’t see coming. Meanwhile, here are new chapters of The Hour of the Mice and Owari to Hajimari no Miles, and a new short story by Inio Asano to tide you over until next week when we will hopefully return to full capacity.

As we are slowly approaching the end of the year I suddenly find that my workload has increased tenfold, so expect fewer releases from now on. Lucky for you, you don’t have to go without the weekly fix of Soil and Inio Asano just yet. Speaking of Soil, I want to highlight this week’s double releases, not only because they are the last chapters of volume 4, but also because they shed some much needed light on the back story of “Miss Sayuri” and what happened to her village. Almost tangentially, we also learn what might have happened to Yokoi. You have to wonder what Kaneko has in store for him.

Well, not really, but three chapters are still more than the usual dosage. Those of you who are wondering just how many more of these short stories there are, let me tell you the ride will be over soon.