Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 2 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – Changing yourself is hard. As is high school. As a result, much of this volume revolves around Futaba’s good intentions and attempts to make everything somehow work out not succeeding very well. We are definitively introduced to what appear to be the rest of the core cast, though some of them are still mostly ciphers. The main story is still about Futaba and Kou, and they can’t really go backwards. Still, do they want to go forwards? Trying to fall in love while also trying to make friends and get through school is the reason most high school romances don’t work out. Still, this is shoujo manga, so they have a leg up on real life. I’m enjoying this series so far, even though it’s more dramatic than I expected. – Sean Gaffney
As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Vol. 4 | By Matoba | Yen Press – Since my last review, the anime has come out, and while I’m watching it and quite like it, there’s no denying it’s a bit of a bomb in the Western fandom. But I’m sorry, the series is just so cute and fluffy it can’t help but put a smile on my face, except when the shotacon shows up, when I flick pages fast till she’s gone. There is a lot of focus here on Molech, the loud and outgoing demon who is the quintessential obnoxious extrovert stereotype. Since I can be like this at times as well, though never to this level, I can sympathize. Mostly, though, you read this to see Beelzebub and Mullin have adorable crushes on each other, and to see Belphegor’s disastrous crush (and bladder issues, which I could also do without). Not good, but I don’t really care. – Sean Gaffney
The Delinquent Housewife!, Vol. 2 | By Nemu Yoko | Vertical Comics – The first volume had the focus on Komugi, the housewife who’s trying to hide her delinquent past. The second book looks more at Dai, her brother-in-law who is falling in love with her despite himself. I will admit, I’m more interested in Komugi’s past than I am Dai’s crush on an older woman. The reason that Dai’s family hates delinquents so much is one of those things that seems minor but to the people involved is a huge deal, and I like that Komugi gets that immediately. She’s just a nice girl, and I think she should eventually win over the family, assuming her husband ever returns. Will that happen? Good question, and I suspect we’ll get more love comedy chapters before it’s answered. – Sean Gaffney
The Honor Student at Magic High School, Vol. 9 | By Tsutomu Sato and Yu Mori | Yen Press – The trouble with side-story manga like these is that they eventually have to follow the plot of the main series. Which is fine, and it’s nice to see Tatsuya being cool, but watching the main cast of this series sit in the audience and cheer him on is not really the reason I want to read this manga. Fortunately, we get to see Honoka’s match before this, which was not in the novel, and it’s pretty nifty, showing off her abilities to a good extent—she’s no Miyuki, but there’s a reason she does so well. As for Miyuki, we get the scene where she mocks Erika for having a brother complex, but I dunno, I don’t feel it plays as well in this format. A lesser volume of a good series. – Sean Gaffney
Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 29-30 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | VIZ Media – Kuroko’s Basketball comes to a close in this fifteenth and final omnibus. It’s the Winter Cup finals and Seirin is facing off against Rakuzan, a formidable team that not only includes Akashi but three of the “uncrowned generals.” There is a fair bit here that is ridiculous, like spectators being able to discern when a player has activated his “wild instincts” or accessed another level of “the zone,” but there is also a lot to like, including some welcome spotlights on background players like Koganei and Izuki. I confess that I sniffled when a certain person in the stands yelled encouragement when Seirin was about to give up. And then everyone learns a valuable lesson about teamwork. Ultimately, Kuroko’s Basketball wasn’t the best sports manga I’ve ever read, but it was consistently entertaining and comes to a satisfying conclusion. – Michelle Smith
My Hero Academia, Vol. 16 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I was right about this being all action, and there’s a lot of cool fights throughout, though I wish Uraraka and Tsuyu got more to do. That said, even Midoriya doesn’t get quite as much of a spotlight. Instead we get Kirishima, who’s dealing with his quirk still being a work in progress. We get his past in this volume, where he’s a lot meeker and more indecisive guy. It’s nice to see someone like Kirishima, clearly a different person in middle school, contrast with his classmate Ashido, who is pretty much exactly the same then as now. That said, the bad guys are doing pretty well for themselves, and our heroes still aren’t anywhere near Eri. Oh, and here comes Himiko Toga and her orgasm faces again to make things creepier. Solid volume. – Sean Gaffney
The Promised Neverland, Vol. 7 | By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu | VIZ Media – The underground shelter that the kids find at the coordinates provided by William Minerva turns out to be amazing—beds, hot water, clean clothes!—but not only is the man himself not present, they’ve got to contend with a mentally unstable guy who made the escape himself thirteen years ago and whose companions all died in a mysterious manner. By the end of the volume, he’s agreed to guide Ray and Emma to the next place while plotting to kill them and has purposefully set a bunch of man-eating creatures on them. This guy is pretty fascinating, and I continue to love the problem-solving elements of the series and the intelligent lead characters, but my favorite aspect is just how badass Emma is getting. Some of the shock value in this series has subsided, but it’s still a really terrific story. – Michelle Smith
Takane & Hana, Vol. 6 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – This volume introduces a big wrench in the plot, and it’s just at the right moment, too. Takane was starting to get a bit too far ahead in the relationship, and when you have something like this, with an adult businessman and a high school girl, you just can’t let the power balance get too one-sided. So I approve highly of Takane’s grandfather’s actions, even as they seem to completely break Takane, who we see is far more reliant on having lots of money than even the reader had previously expected. As for Hana, well, she may be falling for him, and admitting it to herself, but let’s face it, it’s all about that last scene, which made me laugh with glee. I love it when these two smug at each other. – Sean Gaffney
Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, Vol. 2 | By Fumita Yanagida | Seven Seas – The expansion of the cast comes at just the right time, as we’ve got a number of volumes still to go, and I know that Tomo and Jun aren’t going to be getting together in any of them. So it’s nice to see that we also have another hilariously oblivious relationship involving Carol, who is not nearly as airheaded as she acts, and her childhood friend Kosuke, who thinks of her as a little sister, much to her exasperation. We also get to see the seemingly perfect and stoic Misuzu get jealous, something that is so unusual that everyone seems to be commenting on it. I am very happy with this series as it does not focus entirely on the romance between Tomo and Jun (or lack thereof), but Tomo’s friendships. – Sean Gaffney
Versailles of the Dead, Vol. 1 | By Kumiko Suekane | Seven Seas – I’m a little worn out on zombie fiction, so it takes a bit more to secure my interest in a series than it simply emerging from that particular subgenre. In the case of Versailles of the Dead, that something extra is cross-dressing and 18th-century French court intrigue. Albert is the twin brother of Marie Antoinette, close enough in appearance that he has on occasion served as her body double. When Marie dies while traveling on her way to become Queen, Albert once again takes her place. There is quite a bit going on in Versailles of the Dead—palace infighting, demonic possession, political and religious schemes, supernatural plots, and the beginnings of a revolution to name only a few prominent elements—so much that the series hasn’t completely found its footing yet. But it’s more than enough for this dark historical fantasy to compel me to read the second volume. – Ash Brown
The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 4 | By Meca Tanaka | VIZ Media – “All I can do is try my best to become worthy of her. In order to achieve that, I’m abandoning all my pride and learning to love turtles.” Man, I’d forgotten how dumb The Young Master’s Revenge is. Tenma loves Leo, but she’s convinced he’ll reject her once she admits it, since he told her as much earlier in the story. Leo loves Tenma, but he thinks she hates him for how he treated her. A lot of stupid misunderstandings ensue and then they finally get together—after he learns to embrace the turtle-inflicted scars on his butt as precious memories—and I just honestly could not care less. At least it’s over. – Michelle Smith