Just when things are got relaxing during the vacantion related vacation that lasted ’till end of last week it’s far love well soon through and this means back to work. So how about getting this commenced through a short write-up for a change of pace? ^_~ Whilst slightly behind schedule as planned to complete as update for last week here’s having utilized the time-off well in order to come up with a new entry filed under the much neglected category (amongst others) of this little blog of mine dedicated on Manga goodness. As usual here’s hoping this turns into a wortwhile read with comments criticism suggestions and general feedback welcomed as usual and to be dropped through the top page banner (which as some may have noticed is also trademark new in preparation/joy over the much hinted forthcoming Japan trip this summer).

• Ebiten
Tankoubon 1
Release: 2009/10/10

-Content sample shot No.1
-Content sample shot No.2 (aka Motoyone Guest art)

Chapters:
+ Chapter 1 “Tenmonbu e youkozou”
+ Chapter 2 “Cosplaychao☆”
+ Chapter 3 “Neko-sensei arawareru”
+ Chapter 4 “Shigatsu no Jinglebell”
+ Chapter 5 “Maid Attack☆”
+ Chapter 6 “Sister Wars☆”
+ Chapter 7 “Nmaibou to Tea Set”
+ Chapter 8 “Shimashima on parade”
+ Chapter 9 “Setokaichou no Yuuutsu!?”
+ Chapter 10 “Hoshi wo miyou yo (Zenpen)”

Noya Itsuki is a freshman at Ebisugawa Senior High School. Right on his first day at the new academy he looks for the school’s astronomy club which he seeks to join. To his initial surprise though the (astronomy!) club room is located at the school’s basement. Not the first surprise this club got prepaired to its wannabe-new addition as soon once Itsuki set foot into the club rooms he’s about to realize that the “astronomy” part of the club’s desciription is mere title only. An all female club with apparently the school’s most freaky girls gathered to form this club headed up by Todayama Kyoko who’s having the weirdest ways to express her hate over a boy aiming to join the “astronomy club” and got even more bizarre methods of testing whether Itsuki is truely worthy to sign-up for them. All in all literally a tough start for Itsuki at the newly enrolled school!  Welcome to the Kouritsu Ebisugawa Koukou Tenmobu or Ebiten the hilarious tale of how freshman Itsuki eventually acchieves to join this special club with the (somewhat) approval by troublemaker Todayama Kyouko. That girls appears as most crazy bird in the cage bearing initially the strongest objection towards a boy trying to join their club and so Itsuki also has to undergo an equivalent weird test before acceptance (or getting as far as to receive the form from her to enroll). Such troublemaking acts of Kyouko while apparently the other girls are used to also often causes uproar for them too. More precisely cutey Otaku girl Kanamori Hakata turns into the object of Kyouko’s ruthless teasing on continous fashion (such as tearing out a side from Hakata’s *embarrasing content* Doujin merely arrived through “Toranoanal” (!) post order and cutting it into panels just to turn the correct arrangement of the particular portrayed scene into Itsuki’s test!). Then there’s the third on board the “astronomy” club - Rikei Hiromatsu and this girl besides her rather deep fondness over cats seems to be the member who’s acting with some common sense most of the time. Whether that’s truly much to Itsuki’s help is questionable as Rikei’s actually more of a Tsukkomi between the club than someone who’d receive up the leading role. Three of these girls and you definitely need no more foe anymore especially troublemaker Kyouko muliplies that factor. Help with some common sense (that is actually using such for support) would be much needed to our submissive lead except as showcased early on during the third chapter “Neko-sensei arawareru” there seems to be no luck finding such a person on the entire campus (or at least the portion of students somewhat related to the club) - Oomori Shouko the club’s consulting Sensei arrives one day. On pretty illiterate ways once approached by the girls (and boy) she declares to them “I’m not the consultant!”. That statement is followed by Shouko displaying a cat she brought along to the club room in the front of the puzzled girls adding that “he is your consultant!”…Yes that’s wright Oomori-sensei just conferred her duty to a cat! A cute one that’s for sure or at least the little cutey makes Tsukkomi girl Rikei turning into drool mood the moment she witnesses the now gone counselor pet. Quite an uproar this causes to the already freaking combo the team consists of with the target of Neko-sensei’s trouble causing of course first and foremost turning into Kanamori (and also from that time on Rikei is mostly seen carrying along the little fellow). By now one seriously has to beg why Itsuki is not doing everything in his power to get as far away from the craze he unknowingly enrolled for especially since Kyouko shows him how much “welcomed” the boy is on each occassion (on hilarious sidenote early on it seems to turn into sort of a running joke that each new day at the club when someone asks for Itsuki it’s as if the name is unfamiliar to Kyouko - girls:”where’s Itsuki?” Kyouko:”Who?” girls:”the freshamn” ^_^). Well let’s just say Noya is fairly used to such treatment as one realizes during the first large climax moment alongside Ebiten so far. As crazy as the situation for our poor freshman turned into by now this is actually not where it remains as far bigger trouble is coming up on the horizon (or better said to the school’s basement residing club) which would not give Itsuki any more time to get used to this situation and moreso requirements of the lady squad at all! “Maid Attack☆” marking the vehement arrival of Elisabeth Margaret. A girl whom the other club members firstly mistook as Kyouko due to her quite comparable looks yet the new arrival almost completely ignores both Hiromatsu and Kanamori with the only thought and intent on the Kyouko look-alike’s mind apparently being whether Itsuki already arrived! Puzzled by this behavior of “Kyouko” (Elisabeth: “Is Noya-sama here?!” girls: “Who’s that?” Elisabeth: “Noya Itsuki..your fellow *male* club member?” ^_^). Neither have Izuki nor Kyouko arrived at the club room yet but once they *do* so this shall lead to a freaking reuinion for both of them - Elisabeth Margaret a.k.a the Noya household’s maid and coevally uncovered by Kyouko as Izumiko Todayama..her sister! Alright the 1st year student (freshman) maid coevally has family boundary with Kyouko and going by her self created stage name of “Elisabeth Margaret” neither did Itsuki realize about the backstory of his “dedicated servant”. Before you may hop onto false assumptions there that this sister duo are like day and night with one apparently can’t stand our protagonist whilst it seems he’s the most important person to the other let me tell you this ain’t the case. In fact as it soon shines through once Izumiko / Elisabeth Margaret arrives to take up her duties as loyal maid the treatment she’s providing her Goushujin-sama with makes her not that much different from her older sister’s way of acting towards Itsuki (if not worse). That even despite the family renuion at the astronomy club room initally turning into a “Sisters Wars☆” following the “Maid Attack☆” from before with Izumiko not accepting the situation of Noya-sama having joined the club since to her it’s Kyouko-nee trying to take away Itsuki from her. Ultimately though and behind much of dealing heavy blows (to Itsuki of course!) Kyouko sees only one option for everyone (except Itsuki) getting comfortable with - Izumiko / Elisabeth Margaret has to join the club as well! From that moment on things turn more upside down than as acchieved by wild-force Kyouko on her own and when it comes to going down on Noya-sama with some rough treatment the little sister doesn’t stand behind the club’s most outgoing girl at all if not even topping that state. Izumiko is somewhat of a mixed case as she really seems to take her duty as maid faithful as showcased early on past her club joining during “Nmaibou to Tea Set”. Prepairing afternoon tea for her precious Noya-sama with a Copenhagen service which as clever Rikei notes normally has a lordly pricing of round one hundred thousand Yen attached to of course leads to Kyouko’s rage why her sister is shedding as much cash for that moron. Refusing to comprehend such an approach contrary there Elisabeth Margaret is convinced that it’s reason enough ’cause she is the servant of Noya-sama. This loving side of the loyal wannabe maid easily switches to a dark/brutal side from one moment to another when she turns back to Kyouko takes a deep lovestruck (totally MOE) seem at puzzled and slightly embarrased Itsuki just to defeat the crap out of him without the boy giving her any reason for such reaction! On top of that mood switch Izumiko undergoes on continous fashion (merely interrupted by Kyouko going at the freshman on her own) she’s in fact a rather lousy maid. Here she insists on prepairing afternoon tea for her Goushujin-sama on meticulous manners and once ready for Noya-sama to enjoy this tiny piece of welfare he has to realize there’s salt in it. Izumiko stance being that salted tea is a traditional way of prepairing tea while pouring even more into it so that the cup already gains a salt dome within and actually she insists on Itsuki drinking up the tea while it’s serene hot and fresh! ^_~ By now or let’s say during the Ebiten chapters the maid is at service I’m honestly not sure whether Izumiko’s / Elisabeth Margaret’s actions are on purpose ending up with such horrendous outcome for our poor protagonist or whether she really just can’t do better. One thing is for sure though this addition to the club brings in events of the utmost crazy hilarious and coeval talent sort which makes it understandable that some of the early chapters were skipped to fit in the arrival of Kyouko’s sister for the recently (Comike77) published Ebiten Drama CD. But actually once I thought things just reached the climax collected within this first Tankoubon especially during the joint efforts by the sisters to properly turn Noya-sama into Cosplayer (read: crossdress him with almost equal poor Otaku girl Kanamori’s underwear serving this experiment!) a nice twist is coming up next. Along comes the melancholy of Iseda Yuka the student council’s president and she’s the first approaching the school’s astronomy club with a fair share of doubts and scepticism! When finding out about the club having gained a new member Yuka’s comment on the situation towards Itsuki is how regretable that is for him. Wait a moment there’s really someone on top the president of the student council who’s taking pity over the state our sole male lead found himself in ever since joining Kyouko and her gang?! Itsuki puzzled (!) by this way of approaching them them asks Yuka what exactely she’s referring to with her statement just to find out that the astronomy team is on its best course to achieve “Haibu” (abolished club) state! I guess it doesn’t actually require furtherhow’s that to come but naive Itsuki of course has to raise this question as well with Yuka (not really denied by the fellow club member girls either) merely pointing towards Todayama Kyouko or better said her behavior. Is the astronomy club really going to get its situation repealed after all or can Kyouko Itsuki Rikei Hakata and our pretty maid Izumiko save its existence in the end? Well at this point I shall really (or lastly) shut up with handing out spoilers all too much merely hinting that by the end of this chapter the gang is gaining another addition for its team which one may not expect from the starts of it.
So much for a quick glance at the setting and the charming girls (and boy) which this first Tankoubon comprises. Ebiten marks the first original themed Manga series for the duo in charge: Sukaji or Scadi (as romanized alongside the short-kept intro within the Tankoubon binding) and Inugami Kira (occasionally also romanizing herself as Kila). A talent combination which is actually destined to result in awe as last time both teamed up for goodness of this media (the H2O Manga back in 2007 *both volumes on my shelf waiting for a write-up dedicated on to follow here one day as well* ^_~) in fact initiated the latter mentioned artist (Inugami-sensei) to formally join the “club” of Sukaji/Scadi - MAKURA and its KEROQ homebase (which then again later on brought forth goodness of quite exceptional kind as reviewed here not so long ago). Utmost high bias I tend to approach works involving either and even moreso both talents combined once reaching this part of the write-up it’s lastly also time for me to come up with some summarizing thoughts and impressions this first and highly anticipated Tankoubon (it’s actually mere few Manga series nowadays I tend to keep such close eye on the publisher’s monthly release listing/schedule in order to seek out news for the particular series) for Ebiten left on this KEROQ fanboy. Given my Bishoujo Soft ventures connected to the Softhouse creator Sukaji belongs to as core/base member and furthermore main scenario writer prior to the arrival of Ebiten Tankoubon 1 my approach was more of an misbelief than I’m willing to admit at this place as I seriously thought to understand exactely how much capacity resides at Sukaji’s creative mind when it comes to crafting hilarious moments. Let me clarify just that once finished with my read through the ten chapters collected herein whilst puzzled it became aware to me that I didn’t knew anything at all! Sukaji’s sense of humor is somewhat special and the methods this is pulled off for this starting point to the astronomy club ventures of Kyouko and her gang felt as immense to me as I rarely experienced before and that statement is also somewhat taking his job on MAKURA projects on these concerns into consideration. Of course the hilarious and downright funny staging as well as story itself would not be accomplished halfway as impressive as these first few chapters showcased if it were for someone else than artistical mastermind Inugami Kira in charge of the art for Ebiten. Seriously it’s of equal outstanding quality in my degrade though biased opinion how she visualized and therewith set everything into motion for this project from Itsuki’s often naive innocent manner to the girlhood’s treatment towards him or the pure MOE eyecandy presented especially at moments involving Izumiko’s loving side. And that quality is preserved continous throughout each chapter the first Tankoubon of Ebiten collects! At least on that aspect my expectations were almost exactely met in that once these two talent would cross ways for another Manga project serialized the outcome of that would make huge waves and in fact it led to Ebiten turning into a rather popular title in no thing of time among the series line-up of monthly Comp Ace spanning special releases such as the previously mentioned Drama CD or the Special Box publicated by Kadokawa. Bias taken aside for a moment admitted some of the Ebiten basics sounds strangely familiar but I fail to really draw any strong nore lasting connection with other series (such as Seitokai no Ichizon) while fellow addicts of Scadi’s and Inugami-sensei’s producing will certainly assent here that both of them are Otaku letting these elements shine through their projects on anything else but subtle manners (from “Toranoanal” to the continous Kanamori teasing up to the title and even opening artwork for the Iseda involving chapters). There’s actually painstaking detail and attention spent on remarks and execution spread alongside the progress as much as that during (IIRC) the seventh chapter a two-page spreading talk between the creative talents is included whereat both reveal the quite hilarious and unbelievable origin for each of the main characters (such as Todayama Kazuhisa for Kyouko Tetsuji Iseda for Yuka or Noya Shigeki for Itsuki!). While it’s coevally admitted way beyond my grab where both are aiming to head with this series at all my conviction once after this starting Tankoubon is beside bias moreso strengthened that the Scadi x Inugami Kira combo will certainly acchieve to craft further goodness to keep me hooked with Ebiten. On a more release specific side of comments at this point it should also be noted that the first Tankoubon for the series is brought out as close to perfect Manga release as well. Seriously there’s little remaining one could wish for as Kadokawa or actually foremost the talents in charge enriched the bonus side of the first Tankoubon on rather extensive ways which was moreso of a surprise once finished with the great time through the main content. Besides obligatory (but not taken for granted!) starting color goodness reaching over the first three pages of the release labeled  as “illustration gallery” plus the mentioned author’s short talk inbetween the start for this final section within Tankoubon 1 is commenced through a humble titled “Guest page”. This actually representing a not too short kept section on its own which exclusively features as it’s not hard to deduce from the title given a gathering of various artists in illustrative form with their release congratulating messages as well. More precisely this guest part of Ebiten Tankoubon 1 first and foremost important marks the contributing by a neat line-up of fellow KEROQ relations with Kagome Motoyone Migiri Rentan plus 10mo presenting their take on the lovely Ebiten girls (and boy). Furthermore a two page spreading (also monochrome) guest art by freelance illustrator Munku Mutsuki signifies the end to this “Guest Page” section (honestly if only MAKURAnian Korie Riko would have joined here too this certainly would be guest galore of correct epic niveau even though it’s getting real close to that state with the goodness at hand). Given the additional beauty this release has been enriched through this part all over again the fact that all contributions were kept to b/w art is absolutely not minded (in fact I felt that talents like the by yours truly much adored Motoyone utilizes that aspect for his rendition quite well). And guess what the bonus content to end this starting Tankoubon doesn’t even conclude once past the great talent blend and continues straight on with a six (!) pages short Manga drawn and crafted by Sukaji/Scadi wherein he provides the fan with an illustrated and much like Ebiten itself downright hilarious insight on his and foremost in the frontline there Inugami Kira’s working “routine”. Sheer awe unleashed with the Cosplay fondness of Inugami-sensei all once again finding confirmation and furthermore lending itself as the funny spotlight! Not until this bonus short it’s really (and sadly) time to call it an end with two pages of postcript message by the talent duo in charge representing the conclusion for the first Tankoubon. Summarized all that’s left for me to note on Ebiten is that the wait was definitely worth and even though that oppinion of mine is ultimately judged by the very starting point for it I find myself wholeheartly agreeing with the catch-phrasing the series is sometimes described as that both Scadi and Inugami Kira truely acchieved to craft a rocking/shaking MOE Manga with Ebiten. That said it’s also time for me lastly to call it an end for today’s write-up though coevally here’s hoping the next one dedicated on this series won’t take all too long (read: hurry up Kadokawa to unleash Tankoubon 2 on us craving fans out there! ^_^) and so the mere only thing left for me to do at this point is to supply you with a shot taken of the obligatory shop exclusive bonus attached to this release (the lovely Tora no Ana illustrated Kanamori Ebiten card in my case).