Maid-sama!, Vols. 11-12 | By Hiro Fujiwara | Viz Media – I wonder if the author has now been told she can pursue her endgame as she pleases, as things continue to happen in these two volumes of Maid-sama!. Turns out that while Usui is the black sheep of the family, that doesn’t mean he gets to run away and settle down with some normal Japanese girl (if you can define Misaki as normal). As for Misaki herself, she’s trying to take a good look at why she’s constantly angry all the time, and it’s earning results, even if repression is likely not the answer. We’ve gotten to the point where external forces are the only thing keeping these two apart, so we get to ramp them up. (Also, is Misaki’s sister sweet on Hinata or is it me?) Recommended for Maid-sama! fans and angry girl fans .– Sean Gaffney
The Prince in His Dark Days, Vol. 2 | By Hico Yamanaka | Kodansha Comics – Atsuko Okawa is being paid a million yen to impersonate a missing rich kid named Itaru. Though Itaru spent most of the first volume “off-camera,” the possible reasons for the disappearance were still the most intriguing thing about the series. I didn’t really expect any deviation from Atsuko’s fish-out-of-water, gender-bending masquerade, so spending time with Itaru was a pleasant surprise, even if the timeline was a little confusing. Itaru is having an identity crisis, and is terrified of vulnerability after a lifetime being renowned for arrogance and toughness. It’s actually fairly captivating, which makes going back to Atsuko’s story kind of a drag (no pun intended), even if I did like the shoujo soap opera cliffhanger at the end. If you were kind of “meh” about the first volume, the second might change your mind. – Michelle Smith
Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami, Vol. 1 | By Midori Gotou and Natsuo Sai, based on a story by Gen Urobochi | Dark Horse Comics – Once again, I am reading a prequel to an anime I have never seen. I am familiar with Gen Urobochi, however, which means I’m trying not to get too attached to this cast of supernatural detectives who I assume will die in pain and agony. For the moment, however, they’re busy hunting down criminals whose emotional state has been judged to be criminal—technology can do that now, apparently. If you haven’t seen the anime, the reason to get this is that it’s a pretty good police drama with some good action scenes. If you have, then you likely know more than I do why to get it. Pretty good. – Sean Gaffney
Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 5 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – For one of the greatest of all Shakespearean villains, Richard III makes a pretty nifty shoujo heroine… as well as a shoujo hero, fittingly enough. Here he’s romanced, somewhat unwittingly on his part, by King Henry’s son. Yes, that’s King Henry again, as he’s back on the throne, though it suits him incredibly badly. Kanno gets Henry’s disturbing religious zealotry pitch-perfect, impressing me. He’s also something of a zealot when it comes to Richard, and after Richard is wounded, their interaction takes up much of the last part of the book. If Richard has realized that he loves Henry, where can this go? Nowhere good, that’s for sure. And, as I suspect I’ll be saying a lot in the future, poor Anne! – Sean Gaffney
RIN-NE, Vol. 22 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – It’d been a while since I’d read any RIN-NE, but a mini-marathon this weekend really hit the spot. A few new characters have now joined the mix, most notably Anematsuri-sensei, whose “Peeking Ball” figures into several of the stories in this volume. Mostly, we get stuff like a scythe that functions like a scratch-off lottery ticket, a judo enthusiast cursed by the tree he keeps kicking, one school vending machine haunting another, etc. Probably the best chapter was the one in which we glimpse the characters’ dreams as they attempt to capture a supernatural critter. However, while I do enjoy the gentle, no-pressure read that RIN-NE offers, I can’t help wishing Takahashi were employing her talents on something with a little more plot. – Michelle Smith
Rose Guns Days Season Two, Vol. 1 | By Ryukishi07 and Nana Natsunishi | Yen Press – I mentioned the last volume left things up in the air a lot, and unfortunately, Season Two doesn’t help to answer much, as it becomes apparent we’re going to focus on a new cast for the most part. Oh sure, Rose is around, as is Wayne, and the others get brief cameos. But Leo seems to actually be gone, and taking his place at the protagonist we have “Rapunzel,” a young girl with amnesia who ends up taken in by Rose’s crew. As we get to know her and the group of three misfits assigned to protect her, Rose deals with a growing unease between the Chinese and the Japanese, which honestly we could have predicted after the last arc. Not as good as Higurashi or Umineko. – Sean Gaffney
Twinkle Stars, Vol. 1 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – I reviewed the two volumes collected here five years ago, but couldn’t let Yen’s much-anticipated release go by without even a brief to commemorate it! Happily, I think I enjoyed the story even more than last time. Star-crazy Sakuya Shiina, like Tohru Honda, hides family trauma behind a cheery disposition and does her best to understand the people in her orbit, namely her cousin/paid guardian Kanade, who has evidently burnt out on the world, and a boy named Chihiro Aoi who wants to escape from reality. Nearly everyone except for Sakuya’s forthright friend Yuuri seems to be nurturing a secret, with readers receiving brief glimpses of some of these, and I am so excited to be able to get the rest of the story! It may not be much like Fruits Basket, but I bet it’ll be very good indeed. – Michelle Smith