James Nicoll Reviews

Home > Reviews > By Contributor

Reviews by Contributor: Matsuura, Daruma (2)

Slip Away

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 2

By Daruma Matsuura  (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

12 Nov, 2025

Translation

0 comments

2021’s Steel of the Celestial Shadows, Volume Two is the second tankōbon of Daruma Matsuura’s historical-fantasy manga series. The 2024 English translation is by Caleb D. Cook.

Impoverished, self-loathing samurai Ryudo Konosuke wakes in a fog, covered in wounds whose cause he does not recall. He is happy to discover that he has received a notification of employment — finally, an end to being useless! — but he cannot help but feel he has forgotten something important.

Ryudo would be better off if he were to embrace his amnesia.

Read more ➤

Touch Me Not

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 1

By Daruma Matsuura  (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

20 Aug, 2025

Translation

2 comments

2020’s Steel of the Celestial Shadows, Volume One is the first tankōbon of Daruma Matsuura’s historical fantasy manga series. The 2024 English translation is by Caleb D. Cook.

A samurai should be skilled at their designated role or they should at least die magnificently trying to do their duty. Ryudo Konosuke can do neither. He has been reduced to begging for work and selling off the last few family heirlooms, while slowly succumbing to malnutrition and starvation.

Read more ➤