The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 8 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – I have to say, if the artist is trying to get Chise and Elias to be a romantic couple, as the title might imply, she’s doing a horrible job of it. That said, I’m pretty sure that’s not what she’s doing, and the second half of this volume certainly shows that in terms of understanding humanity and Chise’s own wishes, Elias fails dismally. Chise spends most of this volume dealing with the aftermath of the previous one, including her new arm. But it’s hard not to have the story overwhelmed by the final couple of chapters, as Chise decides it’s for the best to break with Elias—at least for now. This remains intensely addicting, though I’m not entirely certain it will have a happy ending. – Sean Gaffney
Beasts of Abigaile, Vol. 3 | By Spica Aoki | Seven Seas – Captured by Eva and with the threat of having her odiferous humanity revealed to the whole school, Nina insists she’s not like other humans. Roy intervenes, challenging her to prove it and claiming he’ll kill her himself if he’s not convinced. Initially, what follows is one of those “this is so stupidly impulsive” moments in which Nina climbs a cliff in the rain to get roses for Poe to paint with, but it turns into a pretty terrific scene with Eva in which Nina sacrifices herself for Eva’s sake and leaves the latter with no target for her anger. Plus, Roy now admits she’s not their enemy. In fact, the enemy seems to be the creepy student council president, who drugs Nina for this volume’s cliffhanger. Still way better than you’d expect. – Michelle Smith
Bloom Into You, Vol. 4 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – It’s summer vacation and the student council has a training camp to rehearse for their upcoming play. Before the camp, though, Yuu has time to really miss Nanami (who is trying to keep her distance lest Yuu get tired of her) and is a little jealous at the closeness Nanami and Sayaka share at the camp. As ever, though, Nanami and her sister complex is the most interesting thing about the series. Here, she learns from her sister’s former classmate that the idealized version she held of her sister was far from the truth. In fact, she’s probably surpassed her already in so far as being a good president is concerned. But who is she supposed to be now? Clearly not herself, because her self-loathing is very strong. I look forward to seeing whether Yuu can succeed in helping Nanami to change. – Michelle Smith
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 2 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – The main plot of Cardcaptor Sakura, besides the usual acquiring of new cards, is that Eriol and Syaoran are keeping a secret from Sakura, presumably either for her own good or so that she isn’t sad. This is intensely frustrating for the reader, who knows it will backfire in the worst way. Thankfully, the rest of the volume is exactly what you want from this series: light cute fluffyness, lots of card-capturing action, cute costumes and Tomoyo’s reactions to said costumes, and the occasional bout of silly humor. Still, the “secret” being kept from Sakura not only makes the reader edgy but makes it harder to enjoy this manga to its fullest. I hope she finds out what it is soon. (Also, please don’t let it be a crossover with Tsubasa.) – Sean Gaffney
Fukushima Devil Fish | By Katsumata Susumu | Breakdown Press – It’s been almost a decade since the award-winning Red Snow, Susumu’s first volume of manga to be translated into English, was released. Now there is a second–Fukushima Devil Fish, a terrific collection of nine of Susumu’s short manga accompanied by four essays written by Susumu himself, Abe Yukihiro, and the volume’s editor Asakawa Mitsuhiro, which provide additional context. The manga were all originally released between 1969 and 1989, most of them in the influential alternative manga magazine Garo. The stories generally fall into three categories. The first two are anti-nuclear manga using the now infamous Fukushima nuclear power plant as a setting. (They are very interesting to compare to Kazuto Tatsuta’s Ichi-F.) Kappa and tanuki feature prominently in the next four folklore-inspired tales while the final three incorporate semi-autobiographical elements. It’s a bit of a variety, but there’s a beautifully expressed sense of loneliness and melancholy that is frequently found throughout. – Ash Brown
Haikyu!!, Vol. 21 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – The game finally ends in this volume, in suitably dramatic fashion. Hate to spoil it, but our heroes win. The win takes up the majority of the volume, though, and is filled with back-and-forth, showing off the exhaustion and stubbornness of both teams, as well as giving a lesson in “short people can too be good at volleyball.” Actually, the exhaustion leapt out at me—this volume does a great job of showing how physically grueling this match was, and how deeply, deeply tired everyone is at the end of it. And so now we wait to see who Karasuno will be playing—Nekoma are their “rival” team, but there’s ominous foreshadowing showing that it’s not going to be them. I suspect the team with the smuggest bastards wins. – Sean Gaffney
Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 13 | By Junko | Kodansha Comics – When a series is about a heroine’s love of 2-D anime heroes over actual guys, and she ends up paired up with a guy, there’s going to be conflict. And given this is primarily a comedy, it takes a LOT to get it through Kae’s head that Mutsumi is her REAL boyfriend and Shion is a fictional character. (The resolution to this dilemma, I note, is so perfectly in character it hurts.) Naturally, there’s a bitter mastermind behind this. Unlike a lot of “you think I’m gay but I’m not” male shoujo rivals, Yashiro actually *is* gay, and the manga does its best not to make that a stereotype. He’s certainly a jerk, though. The series ends in the next volume, and I think it’s the right place to end it. Keep reading this if you’ve already been doing so. – Sean Gaffney
Queen’s Quality, Vol. 3 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – There’s a bit less silly humor in this volume, mostly as we’re still trying to figure out what kind of Queen Fumi is going to turn out to be. The ideal is apparently the White Queen, but frankly, all options seem to involve a certain sacrifice of self that I suspect Kyutaro is not going to appreciate—though Fumi already has a big swathe of amnesia to deal with. Fumi is a cute, hyperactive and likeable heroine, but she only really seems to come alive when the “Black Queen” in her comes out. The Black Queen needs to be killed, but is that really the best answer? As with Dengeki Daisy, the author’s previous series, each volume of Queen’s Quality makes me want to learn more about the world it inhabits. – Sean Gaffney
Scum’s Wish, Vol. 6 | By Mengo Yokoyari | Yen Press – First of all, my reaction to the male option that will prevent Ecchan from having to be a genuine lesbian is basically “BLEAH.” (I may be wrong, but I suspect I’m not—also he’s an asshole, which isn’t helping.) The core of this book involves Mugi and Hanabi both promising to break things off with their crushes so that they can finally move on. This proves far more successful in one case than it does in the other, but it does remind you that if you have a situation in Scum’s Wish and you don’t know which way it will go, the seediest route is always the correct option. I’m still reading this, but I admit it’s feeling less like a guilty pleasure and more like an endurance contest. How much more screwed up will this get? – Sean Gaffney
Skip Beat!, Vol. 40 By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – After such a long wait, it’s kind of a bummer to get only a transitional volume of Skip Beat!. By no means is it bad, as it includes Kyoko realizing that, for some reason, Ren left her off his list of White Day gift recipients (I hope this leads to some kind of confession soon!), and also acquiring Yashiro as her manager. She’s devoting herself to securing the part of a ninja in a period drama where she can work alongside Moko, but just as the auditions are about to begin, she’s culled, seemingly for failing to prepare for the role by dyeing her hair black. I can only assume that she’ll knock ’em dead in the next volume, but having to wait until September to see that makes me pout. Oh, well. #firstworldproblems – Michelle Smith