Katherine Dacey

Box of Light, Vol. 1 | By Seiko Erisawa | Seven Seas – I’m not sure if this is meant to be a horror anthology with a minor supporting cast or a horror manga featuring the cast but also having each chapter be “the problems of one of the one-shot customers.” Unfortunately, the indecision makes it less than good. The premise has a convenience store stationed at the border between life and death, and only those who are on the verge of death can see it and shop there. This sounds darker than it is, as most of the stories are quirky rather than bittersweet, and the only customer who actually is close to dying ends up working there instead. If you like quirky supernatural stuff… there are probably more interesting titles than this. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 11 | By Ukami | Yen Press – The bulk of this volume is devoted to a single plotline, which is the class trip to Okinawa. Everyone gets to have their bit: Gabriel is grumpy and reluctant to do anything but ends up being helpful and a good person anyway, Vignette is so super hyped about the trip that when they actually return she goes into a spiral of depression, Satanya… is herself, and Raphiel shows once again that she’s trying her hardest to convince Satanya that she genuinely loves her while at the same time being a jerk and a troll about it. As you can imagine, this is not going well. That said, this series still manages to make me laugh out loud more than most other comedy manga I read these days, so is still highly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 2 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas This second volume, after the concert is done (and Minato takes a big step forward in interaction skills), focuses more on the other three members of the cast. It turns out that Chika and Sakiko are in a relationship!… or not, as Chika describes it as “friends with benefits,” somewhat awkwardly. Flashbacks show off how the two met and ended up together-ish, helped enormously by Yayoi Ohsawa’s incredible talent for facial caricature. After this we focus on Hibiki, who can’t really understand Minato so takes her on a date to try to get inside her head… but just ends up more confused. This was a great second volume of what has become a must-read yuri series. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 18 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media At some point over the course of this series, the creator was forced to answer the question “how old is Princess Syalis,” which is a question that frequently needs answering when anime girls are designed to always look like children. It turns out Syalis, while we don’t know her exact age, is “an adult,” which if nothing else makes it slightly better that she was buried in work before the demons kidnapped her. In this volume the demon castle falls to pieces, mostly due to laziness, and the princess discovers her inner talent for crisis management, which is… genuinely excellent. This is still funny, but I really enjoy seeing when the cast end up having real character development. – Sean Gaffney

Therapy Game Restart, Vol. 2 | By Meguru Hinohara | SuBLime – To simply describe the plot of this volume of Therapy Game Restart would be to miss everything that is great about it. Minato and Shizuma are planning to move in together, but Shizuma is being kept busy at the veterinary clinic. When he finally gets an opportunity to learn from the director, followed by the arrival of an emergency patient, he stands Minato up for an appointment with a realtor. Meanwhile, Minato tries to keep his insecurities and fears under control, with varying degrees of success. I adore Minato, and I think it’s the superb characterization of someone suffering from anxiety but trying to move past that and have faith in the possibility of a happy ending that makes this series so special. I already am sad thinking about this ending someday. – Michelle Smith

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 8 | By Kousuke Oono | VIZ – I hate to say it, but I think The Way of the Househusband might be running on fumes. Though this volume pulls out all the stops—a food battle, a snow storm, a movie night—the bonus material is funnier than any of the main storylines. It’s only when we get a glimpse at Miku’s favorite anime series PoliCure that volume eight comes to life. Kousuke Oono creates a deliriously silly mash-up of magical girl manga and police procedural that looks and sounds a lot like Futari wa Pretty Cure. The shift in artwork and tone are a testament to Kousuke Oono’s skills as a draftsman and parodist, and makes me wonder if he should be doing a PoliCure series instead of another installment of Househusband. – Katherine Dacey

HIRAETH ~The End of the Journey~, Vol. 2 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – In the first volume, we met a girl who’s desperate to die, so it seems only fitting that the second volume would involve another woman who is desperate to live, which unfortunately leads to her stalking poor immortal Hibino. That said, the god they’re traveling with may be in the most danger of passing on. Death is handled as realistically as you can imagine in a series that features an immortal man and a god, and the questions that the series asks are good ones—Mika nearly has an existential crisis when she tries to imagine death not having an afterlife. And, of course, there’s the fantastic art, as you expect from this author. Still recommended. – Sean Gaffney

I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess!, Vol. 1 | By Saki Tsukigami and Natsu Kuroki | Steamship – This isekai has a spicy twist. Our Japanese-heroine-reincarnated is set to marry the Crown Prince… but this world allows multiple wives! She refuses to be part of that, so resolves to lose her virginity, and thus remove herself from consideration. Two guesses who the random guy she picks is. The good thing about this title is that we get the perspective of the Crown Prince as well, which is ridiculous (“why am I cursed to be this horny?”) but makes him more sympathetic. The downside is that it makes it harder to understand why, after he proves to be a great lover and also promises not to be polygamous, she’s still so hardcore against this. For josei smut fans. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 13 | By Sorata Akiduki | Yen Press – Has it really been a year since the last volume of this? This one’s a game-changer, though… well, as much of a game-changer as this series will ever get… as, thanks to the combination of a sore throat and really, really being obvious about it, Wakamatsu admits that Seo is Lorelei. His feelings on this, though, are still up in the air. Elsewhere, we discover that Sakura can take even the bleakest situation and make it happy if Nozaki is there with her, and two more of the manga assistant club actually meet each other. This is, hands down, one of the funniest manga titles of the last decade, and every volume delivers multiple belly laughs. Just… please have SOMEONE actually hook up? Please? – Sean Gaffney

Rooster Fighter, Vol. 1 | By Shu Sakuratani | VIZ Media – Rooster Fighter is a disappointment: the premise is too slight to sustain a long series, the script is strenuously unfunny, and the storylines are numbingly predictable. In every chapter, the nameless hero wanders into a new town, antagonizes and befriends the locals in equal measure, then kills a grotesque demon that’s been terrorizing the community. About the only good joke in whole series is how the rooster kills demons; anyone who’s lived on or near a farm will enjoy a rueful laugh or two at the hero’s superpower. Otherwise, this series is a total Cock-a-Doodle-Don’t. – Katherine Dacey

Shadows House, Vol. 1 | By Somato | Yen Press – So I have not seen the anime that currently has its second season running, and I managed to remain totally unspoiled on this manga series. That said, what did I think of it? It’s cute, but also dark and weird and I worry things will turn out badly, but it’s also really cute? Which, to be fair, is the vibe that the author seems to be going for. As for the plot, a young clumsy but cheerful girl is the maid/servant/doll to a young woman who seems to be only a shadow. The two are tied to each other in some way, and we learn about how that is along with the main character. Not sure how I feel about this yet, but it certainly was riveting, and I’ll definitely be reading more. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 6 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – Last time I mentioned that any romantic rivals in the mix here are flummoxed by the pureness of our couple, but I do like that, while they are worried about the one they’re in love with who loves someone else, they (mostly) respect them enough to just accept it and angst about it on their own, rather than try to stage interventions. These are all mostly good kids. Which is probably why the end of the main volume manages to have Itsuomi and Yuki finally kiss, and it’s really sweet and wonderful and… well, it’s what you read this series for. That and the lettering. The one major drawback we have to face now is that it doesn’t come out often enough. – Sean Gaffney

Wait for Me Yesterday in Spring | By Mei Hachimoku and KUKKA | Airship – Angsty teen Kanae Funami runs away from Tokyo back to his home town on the island of Sodeshima. After visiting a local shrine and touching a cool rock (yes, really) he ends up traveling five days into the future and then reliving the intervening days, only backwards. During that gap, the older brother of Akari Hoshina, Kanae’s childhood friend and long-time crush, dies so Kanae resolves to save him. While the structure of the book is certainly neat, it’s slow going for a while, largely due to repeated and absolutely unnecessary reminders that time travel is occurring. Akito, Akari’s brother, was a rising baseball star in his youth, and after the reveal of what kind of person he’s become since an injury derailed his dreams the book got a lot more interesting. Some of it was genuinely tough to read. Overall, the final third made up for the tedious parts. – Michelle Smith

Wandance, Vol. 1 | By Coffee | Kodansha Comics – Kaboku Kotani is a sweet high school first-year who’s been trying not to stand out or go against the grain. He’s got a stutter, which sometimes dissuades him from saying the things he wants to say. After witnessing his classmate Hikari Wanda dancing with abandon, he realizes that there is a way to express himself without words. He joins the dance club, deciding that he’d rather do what he wants to do, even if that makes him weird, and although he’s very inhibited at first, it turns out he has natural talent. I loved seeing a strong friendship develop between Kabo and Wanda, especially that Wanda is so encouraging and nonjudgmental, as well as the perspective of Kabo’s friend, Hotohara, who is kind of a jealous douchebag but also realizes how much of a blast Kabo is having. I had a blast, too. Wandance is tremendous fun. – Michelle Smith