Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 21 | By Yuri Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It’s still the finals of the West Tokyo preliminaries for Koshien, and Seido is still facing off against Inashiro Industrial. Tanba is obviously in trouble, and since what trailing Seido needs is an injection of heart, it’s Eijun to the rescue. His confidence and trust in his team exude from his every pore and it’s this spirit that gets the momentum going in Seido’s favor. It’s so nice to see Eijun doing really well and exhibiting some reliability—after spending so much time with him as a hothead with poor pitching control—and that his grandfather is there to see it. Of course, there’s yet another cliffhanger, as we make it to the bottom of the ninth with two outs to go before the volume ends way too soon. Can Seido manage to hold onto their lead? Tune in next time! – Michelle Smith
A Centaur’s Life, Vol. 16 | By Kei Murayama | Seven Seas – In this volume we get: social justice discussion; historical backstory with violence and slavery; Nozomi dressed like a girl and getting hit on; volleyball fanservice complete with a double-page “swimsuit malfunction” spread; the triplets somehow traveling in time to the past and meeting their big sister as a little kid; Kyouya talking with one of her male classmates who’s pretty good-looking and nice, but she’s not really that into him; How To Centaur For Beginners; a human teacher dealing with her new job at a frog school in a very clear racism allegory; a girl telling her male date—after the date—that she’s gay, and Manami’s Daily Life. All in a day’s work for a series that is anything but predictable. – Sean Gaffney
The Delinquent Housewife!, Vol. 4 | By Nemu Yoko | Vertical Comics – Everyone gets shot down here. Yoshino is too nice to go through with her “revenge,” and gives up on Dai. Dai and Komugi takes longer, and is more problematic, but eventually he gives up on her as well. The best parts of the book deal with Komugi and her mother-in-law, who discovers the truth and has to deal with it, as well as resolving to “train” Komugi as a housewife. As expected, the series ends with Tohru coming home; also as expected, we do not see this homecoming, cutting out just before it happens. This series lived and died on its premise, and I must admit I found Komugi’s struggles as a housewife more interesting than the romantic entanglements. I’m still happy I read it, though. – Sean Gaffney
The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 6 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The good news is that Shiva and her teacher actually touch in this book, and nothing untoward happens to her, so his fears were not justified. The bad news is that, of course, he has been distancing himself from her all this time because of that. Oh yes, and also everyone else is still after them, because Shiva’s uniqueness makes her either something to kill or something to experiment on. We also get a bit of teacher’s past as a doctor, though not much, as he doesn’t recall it himself. Throughout the series, it’s been Shiva’s innocent conversation that’s kept me reading, and that’s still true here, in a lighter volume for this series—and given how dark the volume gets, that says something about the series. – Sean Gaffney
Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 8 | By Canno | Yen Press – Yukine and Ayaka crawl towards being a couple, but we’ve got two volumes after this, and it’s clearly the endgame, so it’s only a crawl. As is the case with this series, most of the focuses goes on another couple, Hikari and Nagisa, whose first names just make me think of Strawberry Panic!. They’re both running for student council president, despite living together due to circumstances. (Ayaka is ALSO asked to run, but decides against it.) As is often the case with this series, both Hikari and Nagisa are nicer than the other one thinks they are, and slowly fall in love, though given they’re the volume couple, not AS slowly as our heroines. This is good, but I’m ready for the end. – Sean Gaffney
MachiMaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl!, Vol. 2 | By Souruu | Seven Seas – How long I stay with this series depends on how much it can continue to be ridiculous. It does its best her—I liked the reporter girl who’s dragged along by events, as well as a taste of Kayo’s actual home life and what she’s rebelling against. When there’s a more serious plotline, such as when Nako’s seemingly dead classmate is possessed and Nako has to be convinced to fight against her, it can’t quite ride the cliches as fast, and gets stuck. Kayo is a very entertaining and foul-mouthed main character, though, and despite a high death count this does not seem to be “watch magical girls suffer” like some other series. Mildly recommended. – Sean Gaffney
New Game!, Vol. 5: The Spinoff! | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – This is something rare for a 4-koma series like this—a full-volume flashback, that was not serialized, that shows Aoba and Nene in high school, and how Aoba came to work at Eagle Jump straight out of it. We are introduced to two other “regulars” for this volume: Hotaru, a frail art student who is actually better than Aoba, and is going to art college; and their teacher Chinatsu, who is a “Sensei-chan” type who is one of the girls but occasionally dispenses good advice. There’s so much cute 4-koma humor that this could easily be a volume of Hidamari Sketch or GA: Art Design Class instead, but it does show us how Aoba got up the gumption to follow her dream. – Sean Gaffney
Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General, Vol. 3 | By jin | Seven Seas – I still enjoy laughing as I read this very dumb but very funny title. MVP this time around goes to the evil overlord’s secretary, who I’ve taken to calling Riza Hawkeye because of her general appearance and disposition. She’s attacked by a rival henchwoman, and also accidentally drinks a love potion. Hijinx ensue. As for the General and Braveman, situation much the same. We do get a beach episode, which shows us that even on vacation, everything still descends into chaos. The funniest chapter sees the urban legend Slit-Mouthed Woman attack some little boys… and General, trying to recruit her, instead verbally tearing her apart completely Silly, silly, silly. – Sean Gaffney
That Blue Sky Feeling, Vol. 2 | By Okura and Coma Hashii | Viz Media – I greatly enjoyed the first volume of That Blue Sky Feeling and was very pleased to find the second volume is just as strong if not stronger. The series is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, realistically addressing with compassion some of the challenges faced by gay high school students. A large part of the manga’s effectiveness is due to the exceptionally well done characterizations of its two main leads. Noshiro is an earnest if somewhat naive young man. He has such an incredibly kind heart but in his efforts to help others he still makes the occasional mistake. As for Sanada, it’s wonderful to see him start to open up a little bit more in this volume. But, because of his sadly understandable efforts to protect himself, he hasn’t yet been able to be completely honest with even his closest friends. I look forward to seeing their friendship continue to develop. – Ash Brown
Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart | By Syundei | Seven Seas – Nearly a hundred years ago, a famous novelist raped and murdered nine boys, all of whom he subsequently wrote about in one of his books. Now, Yamada Omihiko, a teen who writes exactly like that novelist, is classmates with (and on the verge of becoming more-than-friends with) a boy named Hoshino Terumichi, who keeps having a recurring dream about the death of a boy named Tsukimura Shou. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that reincarnation is a factor here. I enjoyed the bulk of the story, though the ending is a little baffling, and much of that is owing to Syundei’s easy-to-read retro-ish artwork. I’ve said previously that her style reminds me of Rumiko Takahashi, but owing to this volume’s theme, I actually got more of a Please Save My Earth vibe, which I’m not complaining about whatsoever. I’m definitely keen to see more of Syundei’s work translated in the future! – Michelle Smith