Eisei Otome no Tatakai-Kata

A manga about a 17 year-old high school girl who battles in the Ladies Professional Shogi League.

Another great shogi manga. This one is unique in that it focuses specifically on the Ladies Professional Shogi League and that they’re considered inferior to the Japanese Shogi Association players.

What I really like about this book is that it really emphasizes the severity of each game for professional players. Many shogi manga like 81 Diver and March Comes in like a Lion say “to lose in shogi means death” and it’s really shown through the artwork here. There’s a panel with the protagonist’s opponent strangling her underwater as she struggles to literally escape her clutches. When she finally finds a way to turn the tides it shows her lunging at their neck to bite it. It’s intense to say the least.

This is a newer series running in Big Comic Superior and I’ll definitely be reading more.

~dakazu