A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 12 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – I was surprised that this is the final volume. It wraps things up pretty well, tying things off as well as tying into the eighth Index novel, showing us Accelerator’s side of his walking up to Awaki and punching her suitcase full of badness into tiny bits. It works well as a capper for the whole series, which is filled with what Accelerator does best: saving the day while thinking to himself Touma could have done it better. We also get to see Yomikawa once again show she is the only sensible goddamn person in the entire City, and also the only one trying to help the kids grow up to not be monsters. Good luck with that; Railgun shows it’s not going well. – Sean Gaffney
Fist of the North Star, Vol. 1 | By Buronson and Tetsuo Hara | Viz Media – It’s hard to get a good read on this series, because it’s become so influential and referenced that you feel like you’ve already read it before you have. The author’s name could also be “Bronson,” as in Charles, and that tells you about the sort of story we get here. Kenshiro walks across an apocalyptic waste, finds injustice being done and innocents being killed, and starts exploding folks and saying things like “You Are Already Dead.” The humor is almost zero, it’s tremendously violent, and yet it’s also really compelling and readable. You can see why it became an ’80s classic. Don’t read this unless you know what you’re getting, but if you do, it’s essential. – Sean Gaffney
Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 1 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – The series had moved from Shueisha’s Jump Kai to Hakusensha’s Melody with this volume, so, despite the renumbering, I was expecting a bit of a reintroduction to everyone. Nope. You’d better have read the omnibus or you’ll be wondering what the heck happened. This seems to be several months after the omnibus, and shows that Ai in particular has mellowed out a lot. Fans of the anime running this summer will note that several scenes from this volume were folded in with the adaptation of the omnibus, but they work well here too. Especially the cliffhanger ending, where Sarasa does an absolutely brilliant acting job in class… and the teacher explains if she continues to do it that way, she’ll never be a star. Fantastic. – Sean Gaffney
Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 13 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Last time we were introduced to a young girl who’s staying with Komi’s family who has communication issues herself, though not the same as Komi’s. The majority of this book is her fighting with and bonding with Komi, who not only proves to be a sweetie pie but can also rally the entire town, Hinamizawa-style, when there’s a crisis. Meanwhile, she’s been improving so much lately that she hasn’t been needing Tadano… which upsets both of them. Then we get some of the class teaming up for a night out… which includes a test of courage, where Tadano is paired with first Komi and then Manbagi. Who is trying hard to push Tadano away, and it’s just not working. We’re headed for a crisis soon. – Sean Gaffney
New Game!, Vol. 11 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – After a fanservice-laden start that reminds you that, while the series may not have any men in it, the reader is definitely meant to be a man, we’re back to business as usual in New Game!. Hotarui returns to France, finding that it’s the best place for her art to grow. We see how difficult it can be to communicate the issue when something is just slightly off in the game designs and you’re not sure why. The big development, though, is that the team decides to make every NPC more playable than usual, meaning they all need unique designs and attention. The designs end up looking very much like our New Game! cast… with the exception of Rin, who wants to avoid her yuri crush becoming canon elsewhere. Cute as always. – Sean Gaffney
Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops, Vol. 7 | By Neko Nekobyou and Reki Kawahara | Yen Press I’m not entirely certain how horrified the reader is supposed to be here, but certainly “the souls of those who died in Sword Art Online are being used to inhabit NPCs in the new game” is creepy as hell to me. And to Luz, who of course has someone dear to her that has now shown up again. There’s also a lot of clever fights here, and we get to see Luz use her Kirito-copy mod in order to fight as well. I also laughed at Argo trying her best to help everyone out… but nothing worked, so she ran off. And of course this whole arc ties in to one of Kawahara’s biggest themes, “what defines an NPC.” This ends with the next volume, and I hope the girls all get something cool to do. Even Leafa, the Zoidberg of SAO. – Sean Gaffney
Takane & Hana, Vol. 17 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – OK, that turned out to be far less dramatic than I expected, and indeed less dramatic than Hana and her family expected as well. Turns out everything is fine… well, at least once Takane actually confronts his grandfather and admits what’s been obvious all along. There’s even time for a ski trip with a dramatic death-defying cliffhanger… well, it would be death defying if it were not the world’s tiniest cliff. Takane & Hana, despite the occasional dramatic turn, knows what its readers are here for, and that’s laughs and sentimentality. We get plenty of both here, and we even end with a wedding… well, with a marriage license, I assume the wedding will come in volume eighteen, which is the final one. Recommended for fans of snarky girls mocking jerky guys. – Sean Gaffney
Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 9 | By Maybe | Yen Press – Thankfully, after a break of over a year, this volume of the series has precisely zero “are they going to bone?” scenes in it, mostly as the hero and heroine are separated for most of the book. Satou is still trying to gain a few advantages in fighting, and seeing that legendary swords are not all they’re cracked up to be, while Hime struggles in trying to learn magic that seems to come easily to everyone else. Luckily, she’s helped out by what, to her, seems like a kindly woman who is very similar to her late mother. Unfortunately, to everyone else, it appears she’s talking to a black cloud of pure evil, and it’s no great surprise that everyone else is correct here. This was a stronger volume than previous ones, mostly due to the lack of “will they get it on?” to the plot. – Sean Gaffney
Those Not-So-Sweet Boys, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – Although Midori Nanami originally only became involved with a trio of truant boys to preserve her own scholarship, they’ve genuinely become friends. The more Midori has gotten to know Rei Ichijo, the thoughtful and lonely son of a rich, negligent father, the more she has fallen for him. By the end of this volume, it would appear her feelings are reciprocated. On paper, this series looks like pretty formulaic shoujo romance, but Yoko Nogiri has a way of imbuing her stories with realism and intriguing complications. Here, the main obstacle is Rei’s friend Yuki, who objects to Midori and Rei getting closer, but encourages his other bestie, Chihiro, to go after her. Does Yuki have feelings for Rei, or is he just deeply dependent on him? I’m really enjoying this series so far and am especially looking forward to further exploration of Yuki’s motivations. – Michelle Smith
We’re New at This, Vol. 7 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Having achieved stability in their relationship, our favorite cute and sexy couple decide to get a bigger place. There’s some nice discussion about finances and give-and-take, and I like that it shows that constant communication is what makes this couple work so well, and when they don’t communicate well things tend to go badly. This ends up leading to the next major problem, which is that Ikuma’s client he was working for goes under, meaning money he had assumed was coming in is now most definitely NOT coming in. He manages to find a quick solution, but doesn’t talk to Sumika about it first, which does not go over well. Can the marriage survive salaryman Ikuma over contracter Ikuma? Dunno, but I bet it’ll be cute and sweet. – Sean Gaffney