Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Vol. 11 | By Ark Performance | Seven Seas – One of the good things about this series is the way that not all of the ‘traitor’ mental models are changing sides due to love on Gunzou—in fact, almost none of them are. We’re gradually seeing that the mental models, as they gain more experience, are becoming more and more like humans. Which means they can screw up—I laughed out loud at Haruna’s “fake name.” But it also means they can bond with other humans, like Iona and her crew, or save other humans when it doesn’t gain them anything, like the two chibis who help Iori to not die in the engine room. As you can see, I may be very bad at names in this series, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it every time. – Sean Gaffney
Barakamon, Vol. 14 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – We’re back on the island for this volume, as Handa goes forward with his decision to start a calligraphy school rather than try to follow in his father’s footsteps. That said, trying to make a real living at a school on an island where no one wants to pay that much money is going to be tough. Meanwhile, Miwa’s family is also having issues with finances, as her father decides to close the liquor store as he’s losing to the larger chain. Miwa’s frustration and indecisiveness is quite realistically shown—she doesn’t just go “I’ll take over for you, Dad” but has to be led there slowly because her future hasn’t really occurred to her. And the best news of all, Kanzaki goes back to Tokyo, and will not hopefully irritate future volumes with his presence. – Sean Gaffney
Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 3 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – After Zen infuriating me in the second volume, I’m pleased to state that he’s much more tolerable here, possibly as I’m now sure that he’s not going to be endgame. That said, I do now suspect that endgame is going to be her landlord, which… well, on the bright side, he’s not her teacher. Much of this volume follows a theme of ‘dramatic shoujo,’ with the desire to chase your dreams warring with the reality of needing to actually deal with life crises, which may mean abandoning those dreams. Zen works much better in this plot than he did getting really angry at Shimana because he had no idea how to deal with love. This isn’t my favorite series by this author (I prefer orange), but it’s nice and solid shoujo. – Sean Gaffney
Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 6 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – While I’d appreciate this even more if Kamiya weren’t a creep and stalker, I do like the fact that the author is well aware of it and not really playing it as oh-so-sexy. In fact, sometimes it manages to be funny. A large part of this book involves Asuka and Ryu, still not getting married, deciding to get an apartment together—and naturally guess who their neighbor is. I also really enjoyed Asuka’s family, as her mom explains the reasoning behind why she got married, and her brother manages to be protective but not a brat. More to the point, I just really love Asuka and Ryu as a couple, married or not. The cliffhanger implies fresh disasters, but that’s OK. This series has really leveled up. – Sean Gaffney
Honey So Sweet, Vol. 8 | By Amu Meguro | VIZ Media – It feels like so many shoujo series have ended recently, and here’s one more. It doesn’t quite take the pair-the-spares approach, as one guy in the group remains single, but I do admit the sudden love interest for Sou is out of left field. However, seeing Yashiro and Misaki finally get together was freakin’ adorable, as is Onise’s crying when he realizes how much Sou loves Nao, followed by Sou actually laughing at Onise’s blinding honestly. A brief glimpse at the future six years hence is followed by the original short story that was the basis for the series. It’s cute, it’s frothy, and I’m totally okay with that. – Michelle Smith
Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 12 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – On the bright side, the couple I wanted to get together actually got together, and the author’s notes implied this was something she actually planned in advance (never a guarantee with this series). On the other hand, I’m always wary in a reverse harem (or indeed a regular harem) when the couple gets together and the series is still ongoing. Is this really going to last? It also doesn’t help that we get a lot of backstory of how they got to know each other in a flashback after the fact. Still, it’s sweet enough, The comedy comes from them behaving like a newlywed couple in class, much to the frustration of nearly everyone. As for the drama, god help us, we have another pissed off third party breaking things up. Variable even when it’s good. – Sean Gaffney
Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 23 | By Naoshi Komi | Viz Media – Well, it’s finally become clear what the endgame is, as Raku realizes what his feelings really are. That said, we’ve got two more volumes after this, and he isn’t sure if his love for Chitoge is greater than his love for Onodera, even if the audience is. And so all the heroines who are still in Japan get one last lap around the track so show off why they would also be an awesome choice for any guy reading this series. What interested me most was 1) Fu-chan, Haru’s friend, who is as close to a girl in love with her female best friend as you can get in a Jump series, and 2) the ongoing beta pairing, which seems to get closer and closer to reality the more violent Ruri gets. (She’s not a lead girl, so isn’t attacked for violence, I guess.) Good but dragging on. – Sean Gaffney
Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi, Vol. 8 | By nanao and HaccaWorks* | Yen Press – I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the euphemisms “eating” and “taking a meal” in this series, so it’s nice to see that it’s made more explicit here—no, they don’t say “kill,” but you literally see the endgame happening on a pile of corpses that are the previous “meals.” We also see Tougo getting guilt-tripped into accepting his own sacrifice, showing him flashbacks that give us a lot more context regarding Akane’s disappearance. Combine that with the role his younger sister played now being complete, and what can he do except be eaten? That said, we have two more volumes to go after this, so I’m fairly confident that this isn’t the endgame. How do we avoid the meal, though? – Sean Gaffney
Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 8 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – Tsumugi has started elementary school, which means tasty school lunches that she and her father replicate at home and a field day for which Tsumugi powers up by eating tonkatsu (lucky!) the night before and during which she runs with such determination that it actually made me cry. Meanwhile, Kotori has managed to convince her parents that she’s serious about taking over the restaurant. It looks like the series might be doing something new going forward—now that Inuzuka has enough skill to tackle new things on his own, he might be doing that while Kotori trains with her mother. That’d be interesting, too! Also, I am seriously considering attempting to make my own tonkatsu! – Michelle Smith