ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 5 | By Natsume Ono | Yen Press – Jean’s identity is, if not in the open explicitly, at least well known among the cast. This is a big problem, of course, especially for his sister, who is the very definition of hostage bait. Fortunately, Jean also has friends that can help him out there—his sister is pretty much the one ray of sunshine in the series, so I don’t want to see her sacrificed. That doesn’t mean that it’s depressing tragedy, mind you—it just means that, as with most Ono titles, the majority consists of discussions among middle-aged men (and one woman). This being ACCA, they’re political discussions, though there’s a bit of food thrown in. As always, a good read if you’re an Ono fan. – Sean Gaffney
Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 2 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Since the first volume came out, we’ve seen the appearance of the My Life as a Villainess series, which has essentially the exact same premise. That series is more focused on Katarina changing her fate and bonding with the cast of the VN, though. Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter is more like Realist Hero, wanting to change the world and advance it towards modern times. So we’re not only inventing chocolate, but also coffee, and concentrating on good roads and educating the youth. There’s not really much in terms of antagonists so far—Iris explains what she wants to do precisely and effectively, and everyone agrees with her. This makes it a tad dull, sadly. – Sean Gaffney
Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 4 | By Spica Aoki | Seven Seas – I didn’t know when I started this volume that it’s the final volume of the series. It was only when one of the central hunky boys got definitively crossed off the list romantically that I was spurred to look it up and, yep, this is it. In her notes afterwards, Aoki-sensei says there was much she wanted and needed to draw that she couldn’t include, which makes me wonder if the series got canceled. Still, it hangs together reasonably well. Nina’s origins are explained, the king makes an appearance, there’s a big escape, noble sacrifice, and one person who seems to entirely lose touch with reality. What we don’t see is how any of the luga fare once they are out in the world but we’re encouraged to imagine a happy ending. Overall, this series was far from deep but still pretty fun. – Michelle Smith
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 5 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – There are interesting things going on in this volume of Clear Card. We meet Sakura’s great-grandfather, who apparently fell out with Nadeshiko when she got married (possibly as she married her teacher), but now regrets it because she’s dead. Speaking of that, Nadeshiko explicitly tells Sakura she should stop summoning her spirit for visions as it’s unhealthy. And Eriol finally coughs up a bit of info, revealing that Sakura is making her own cards using her magic and imagination—and that’s super dangerous if she knows about it. So let’s keep everything from her some more. I’d be more invested in this sequel if it weren’t so dull—the interesting plot points are conveyed tediously. – Sean Gaffney
Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – The way that Frau Faust ends is surprising to no one, but it’s done with a lot of style and feeling. Even the villains in this story get a chance to show off how they got that way, and for Marion, it’s an attempt to show off how much he’s grown. Despite that, this wasn’t going to be his story in the end—Johanna is who the reader is invested in. (Sarah is also pretty invested in Johanna, and the way her story resolves is touching but also very sad.) I actually wish that the series had gone on a bit longer—the action sequences here are even better than in The Ancient Magus’ Bride—but I’m also fine with this ending, which is final and yet the teensiest bit ambiguous. Let’s license more Yamazaki. – Sean Gaffney
Frau Faust, Vol. 5 | By Kore Yamazaki | Kodansha Comics – As the volume begins, Johanna has let herself be captured by the church in order to gain access to the holy city, where Mephisto’s final parts are. A lot of the stuff that follows isn’t exactly clear, but the gist of it is that all of Johanna’s friends are there to help her get to Mephisto’s head and there is a lot of action that culminates with her telling him, “I win.” Quite a few aspects of the ending are open to interpretation, which I’m not exactly fond of, but which fits the spirit of the series pretty well. Chief among them—did Johanna actually intend for that to happen all along? I do love how inspired by her everyone else was, and am especially fond the quiet love story between two characters. In the end, I enjoyed this series very much, though I do wish it had been longer. – Michelle Smith
Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 5 | By Ukami |Yen Press – We get another new character this time around, in the form of Kurona. She’s a demon who wants to make friends, but is rather awful at it, and it doesn’t help that she’s trying to befriend Taplis, who is an airhead even by the standards of Gabriel Dropout, a series dripping with airheads. Speaking of which, Satanya’s new attempt to defeat Gabriel works quite well, but not in the way she intended. (Yuri fans may like it, though.) We also get more backstory showing how Gabriel became what she is now, which was… exactly what you’d expect, to be honest. There weren’t quite as many laughs in this volume of Gabriel Dropout, but it’s still a cute, fun series. – Sean Gaffney
Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 3 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – I guess we do need to pair at least some of the spares already, as Miki and Kiyo, the pure cute boy-girl team from last time, end up becoming a couple in this volume in an utterly pure, cute and adorable way. Unfortunately, Kai is the hero, so he’s not going to have nearly as easy a time of it. On the bright side, Riko’s crush on Satoshi pretty much gets kicked to the curb this volume, as we confirm that he’s getting married. Which she knew was coming, but it still hurts. This allows Kai to man up and confess to Riko, though given this series is thirteen volumes and this is volume three, I suspect it may go badly. Still, while this breaks no new ground, it’s a good shoujo story, well told. – Sean Gaffney
Murcielago, Vol. 8 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – There’s pretty much a volume full of action here. Some of it is Kuroko and Hinako, who pair up again to try to take out the big bad (and we actually get some backstory for Hinako! It’s as blood-filled as you’d expect.) and some of it is Urara, Kuroko’s hugely muscled and somewhat dim bartender friend, who’s on the cover but is mostly there to be comedy relief. It’s also nice to see Reiko, the cool assassin from previous books, who is still very good at her job but gets very angry if you think she’s a boy. (She also gets the sex scene at the end of the volume, meaning it’s pretty tasteful.) But let’s face it—we read Murcielago for the ridiculous violence. There’s a lot of it here. – Sean Gaffney
One Piece, Vol. 88 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – Having successfully rescued Sanji, the Straw Hat crew is now attempting to escape the clutches of Big Mom, who is rampaging because she didn’t get to eat any wedding cake. I really appreciated the spotlight on female characters in this volume. Nami has actually been extremely smart and capable this whole arc, but now we see super tsundere Pudding stepping up to make a new cake to satisfy Big Mom’s hunger as well as Carrot the mink briefly becoming a badass as she transforms under the full moon. I also like that Pudding seems really into Sanji; I kind of hope they end up an official couple! Luffy’s fight with Katakuri is entertaining, as well, since their powers are so similar. All in all, this is a very well-paced and exciting installment. – Michelle Smith
Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 9 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – We continue to stagger onwards towards the events of Richard III, though honestly neither Kanno or the reader are all that interested in matching up with Shakespeare precisely. We also lose Richard’s older brother George, who is done in by a lot of political machinations and Richard essentially being a triple agent. That said, Richard may be in trouble soon, as Buckinghan, the classic “bespectacled bastard,” has learned his body has a secret to it. Fortunately, he also has a mysterious bodyguard, who readers will immediately recognize but Richard doesn’t quite—yet. This is basically Kanno’s best series. Buy it. – Sean Gaffney