Cosplay Animal, Vol. 2 | By Watari Sakou | Kodansha Comics – I think I will continue to enjoy Cosplay Animal as long as the heroine remains ludicrous and the tone remains fun, both things that I can tick off with this second volume. Yes, there’s a gay guy who makes out with his employees that’s sort of a bad stereotype, but he barely stands out here next to Rika, who is dealing with not having enough stamina during sex, trying to get some with her boyfriend while being forced to work at a hot spring (she broke a vase), and, in the story that edges between the most serious and also the most ridiculous (I called “no way” a few times), trying to student-teach at Hajime’s school. Not for those easily offended, but if you like pure trash, you’ll love Cosplay Animal. – Sean Gaffney
Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 4 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – I have resolved myself to the fact that the main romance in this series is probably going to be between Shimana and the landlord, who’s getting more tsundere by the volume. This is not good news for Zen, who always looked like the sort of overeager guy who’s destined to be romantic runner-up, but I’m not sure he expected it this soon. We wrap up the boxing plotline here and start to get into Fujiwara’s past and present, including the fact that he’s a lawyer because his family wants him to be, but not particularly happy about it. Since the point of this series seems to be “don’t throw away your dreams and accept a bad reality,” I expect that to change, especially with Shimana’s basic shininess working against it. I’m still not over the moon about this series, but it’s always a solid read. – Sean Gaffney
Idol Dreams, Vol. 4 | By Arina Tanemura | VIZ Media – When we left off, 31-year-old Chikage Deguchi had decided to date a teenager (in the guise of her 15-year-old self) whom she didn’t love in order to learn about relationships. And, judging from her reaction, she hadn’t even considered telling him the truth about herself until her friend brought it up. Compounding this folly, when she realizes that he’s exhausting himself trying to impress her (he’s in a boy band, naturally) she contrives to dramatically break his heart. Way to screw with a poor kid’s head!! Are we supposed to root for this freakin’ clueless dingbat?! I don’t know why I even keep reading this, honestly. Perhaps it’s time to officially call it quits. – Michelle Smith
RIN-NE, Vol. 25 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – As per usual, nothing changes in this volume of RIN-NE. It briefly looks as though Rinne might actually have a chance at obtaining a gold shinigami license after defeating his dad but.. nope. The rest of the stories are the standard episodic fare about ghosts who need to pass on or Sabato’s hijinks. I did find it odd that there were two stories in this volume that were very similar, both involving a bespectacled spirit who was about to declare his love in a roundabout way, then discovered the girl he loved was dating a coworker/classmate, and died while rushing to prevent the message from being seen. Sakura makes a remark that suggests this might have been intentional, but it’s not at all clear. That would be a whole other level of repetitiveness for this series! – Michelle Smith
Scum’s Wish, Vol. 5 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – Cosplay Animal was gloriously fun trash. Scum’s Wish is also trash, but it’s not nearly as fun, as you continue to watch young people who are dealing with out-of-control hormones make the wrong decisions and then regret it. Moka’s date is pretty much exactly what she wanted, and yet you wince as you turn each page, as her pain and despair rip out at you (even though she’s smiling and keeping up a fairy-tale inner monologue). As for Hanabi, she finds an older guy who seems to be into her, but she’s not ready to sleep with him, and that’s exactly what he wants. The book ends with her alone, realizing she has no real friends. Two more volumes of this may be all I can take, but it’s very well written. – Sean Gaffney
Toppu GP, Vol. 2 | By Kosuke Fujishima | Kodansha Comics – It’s hard to even scrape up enough words for a brief, honestly, given that this volume is 180 pages of “motocross is cool.” But really, Fujishima is a master at what he does by now, and there’s no denying it—when you see these races, you DO think it’s really cool. Toppu suffers a loss here, and his frustration also is conveyed very well on the page —the winner is smug without being dislikable, and I like their rivalry. We also get a girl his own age who clearly likes him, and is not happy with the gorgeous, older and perfect Myne, who (at this point) can do no wrong, and has still not been killed off to advance the plot, though I wouldn’t count that out. Do you like bikes? Read this. – Sean Gaffney