Blue Box, Vol. 2 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – The combination of sports manga and romcom is the series’ main strength, as we saw from the first volume, but it can also be a weakness, as right now I’m frankly more invested in the sports than I am in the romance. It doesn’t help that in this second volume Chinatsu is literally fought over as a prize in a badminton match, a subplot that I always hope will be left dead and buried but never is. Clearly she is going to get her own focus in the series at some point in the future, but this is a Jump title, so there’s always the chance that she won’t, and this is going to be the Taiki show. And Taiki is fine, he’s a perfectly good protagonist, but this is being sold as a two-person book but isn’t yet. – Sean Gaffney
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 7 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe| Viz Media – Folks who were a bit put off by what amounted to a tournament arc for two+ volumes will be relieved to hear that it ends with this volume, and we get back to the main cast wandering the world, and Frieren slowly learning all the things that she never quite got when she was traveling with the hero. Fern is not quite as bad as her master, but she does seem to suffer from an inability to come to terms with her feelings, which mostly amounts to what she wants from Stark. Most of this comes out as tsundere romcom schtick, but in the context of the series as a whole, I find I enjoy it better. Still one of the better fantasy manga out there. – Sean Gaffney
My Hero Academia, Vol. 33 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – It’s no secret to anyone who follows my various fandom things that Uraraka is my favorite character in this series, so this entire volume was like catnip to me. Of course, that does not mean that I’m ignoring The Apology That Broke MHA Fandom, which I think was about as good as we were going to get given that, unlike many fan writers, Horikoshi is not really interested in having Bakugo suffer for his childhood crimes. In any case, now that Izuku is back at his home base and the general public are reluctantly willing to give him a chance, what could possibly happen next? Well, I’m afraid we have to call in the marines. But that’s next volume’s problem, and oh, I will have things to say. This volume, though, was excellent. – Sean Gaffney
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 5 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship I mostly love this series, so let’s get the annoying bad thing out of the way first off: Japan has far more interest in girls peeing themselves than I ever will. That said, it’s as part of a gag, as is this entire series, so I’ll handwave it. We get two more girlfriends in this book. One is a high school baseball player trying to save her club who turns out to be a masochist, and the other is a rich ojou with a destined rivalry with Nano, as well as a love of beauty. There’s fourth wall breaking, there’s unabashed horniness, but as always, there really is a heartwarming polycule at the center of this, which is why I love it. – Sean Gaffney
Queen’s Quality, Vol. 16 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – This is, at the very least, slightly less depressing than the previous book, which is good. That said, I think I have to face up to the fact that this does not come out often enough that I can keep up with anything anymore, and it’s hard for me to remember anyone in the cast who isn’t Fumi and Kyutaro. But to be honest, that’s not as big a problem as you’d expect. This series has come to run on vibe and coolness, and if you don’t remember who anyone is or what’s happening, there’s plenty of good dialogue, supernatural battles, and shoujo romantic tease. But counting QQ Sweeper, we’re nearly twenty volumes in, and oof, I’m starting to get exhausted. – Sean Gaffney
Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 23 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I am afraid that our heroes are getting Known. This was always the case with Zen, who sits this book out for the most part, but Shirayuki and Obi are pretty famous now, which means that they might be asked to solve mysteries, in the best detective story fashion. Given that Obi is basically a ninja and Shirayuki specializes in medicine, it’s not a bad combination, so we get the start of an arc asking who the noble is that’s going around to various fancy dress balls, and why no one can quite remember what happened at the ball afterwards. Good stuff, though we’ll have to wait till next time to see who’s actually behind it. Plus we get to see Angry Shirayuki, always a treat. – Sean Gaffney