Michelle Smith

Crocodile Baron, Vol. 2 | By Takuya Okada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Crocodile Baron was initially part food manga, part whimsical story about a gentlemanly crocodile novelist named Alfardo J. Donson (a stellar name). In its second volume, the food is still there—I mean, technically, Alfardo and his pal Rabbit Boy travel around and eat various foods—but there’s even less focus on it than before, and it wasn’t much to start with. Now, it’s more about the quirky characters they meet, from a chameleon who wants to get the scoop on Alfardo’s wild side to a lonely jackal to a spoiled rich bunny girl to a competitive beaver. It’s good for a few chuckles, but there’s not much about it’s that’s exciting or compelling. The third volume is its last, and that’s the right length for this offbeat series. – Michelle Smith

Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – This seems to be a transitional volume of Kase-san, telling a few stories from around the high school years but also putting things in place to get our girls into college, which they do. There’s a certain intentional disconnect between Yamada the emotional girl who cries at everything, which we certainly see at several points here, and Yamada the mature young woman, which she is slowly coming with the help of Kase. This may also be why we get another love scene towards the end, which shows us that “cherry blossoms” is also a metaphor. And they agree to use first names, which I suspect is not going to lead to a series name change. Still adorable and sweet. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 17 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Superpowers/quirks can be awesome and empowering, but they can also be terrifying. Usually they’re both. That’s especially the case with Eri, whose quirk literally erased her father from existence. Fortunately, she has folks like Mirio and Izuku trying to save her. Unfortunately, Mirio’s quirk is erased, and I get the feeling (the cover doesn’t help) that it’s going to be permanent. In amongst all the chaos (which features Toga impersonating Deku, something you’d think she’d have saved for a less pointless moment), the goal seems to be to get Eri to believe in them and reach out her hand to be saved. Which she eventually does, and just in time, as Izuku almost kills himself. Again. Fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Oresama Teacher, Vol. 25 | By Izumi Tsubaki | Viz Media – The most interesting part of this volume to me is how it handled Mafuyu’s memory loss of large parts of her childhood. For a while it was almost a joke—”lol, head trauma from falling off a jungle gym”—but now it appears that mental trauma may be a cause. What’s more, it appears to have had an effect on Takaomi, who was not always the smiling sadist Mafuyu is used to. It all seems to come down to the new teacher, who turns out (like everyone else in this series) to be connected to the delinquent battles of West and East High. Oh, and there’s also Hanabusa’s little sister, who I’d almost forgotten about. Lots of funny jokes, here, don’t get me wrong, but this is a very plot-heavy Oresama Teacher. – Sean Gaffney

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Vol. 5 | By Kenya Suzuki | Seven Seas – There’s more of what everyone wants from a Galko volume here. Lots of random discussions, a few sex-related but some not. There’s the “we watch foreign movies and discuss them” mini-chapters, which I guess are a thing now. There’s the author’s artstyle, which still makes this a series I really wouldn’t recommend to kids —there’s no actual nudity, but there’s lots of extremely large breasts and butts. To my surprise, there’s even a serious storyline near the end, as Galko’s older sister goes on a date with Otako’s older brother, planning to take his virginity, but it turns out his purity actually makes her feel bad about it (and it doesn’t happen in any case.) Still interested. – Sean Gaffney

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 3 | By Suu Morishita | Viz Media – It turns out that I never reviewed the first two volumes of this series. I certainly enjoy it enough, but my guess is that this is going to be one of those shoujo series where I don’t have much to say. There’s a love triangle. The heroes are 1) quiet intellectual and 2) seeming playboy. The heroine has a few issues as well (and a nice set of nightmares, which may have been my favorite part of the book). The cast is likable. That said, if I currently have titles like Yona of the Dawn and The Water Dragon’s Bride at the top of my Shojo Beat list, this one sits comfortable at the end of the middle tier. It’s quite enjoyable, you won’t regret purchasing it, and you will totally forget about it till the next book comes along. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 7 | By Yuki Shiwasu | VIZ Media – Takane’s coping better with being poor, helped by Hana providing regular meals and Kirigasaki requesting a transfer to help maximize Takane’s efficiency at work. He’s slowly regaining ground and it’s clear he appreciates what Hana has done for him. When he gives her a key to his new apartment, it’s not just that he trusts her but that he also finally understands that all the extravagant gifts really were meaningless to her but this will be a significant one. For her part, Hana’s still determined to keep the fact that she’s in love with Takane a secret from him—ostensibly because he’d be insufferable but partly because she’s afraid how their relationship would change if it came to light. I do look forward to some fun gloating when that day arrives, but the best moments are always the sweet ones. I continue to enjoy this series a lot. – Michelle Smith

The Voynich Hotel, Vol. 3 | By Douman Seiman | Seven Seas – By the third and final volume of The Voynich Hotel, all the seemingly disparate storylines and characters converge in a rather dramatic and admittedly violent fashion, which honestly is not all that unusual for the series. Even the gags that initially appeared to be one-off throwaways are ultimately revealed to be of great significance to the plot. Astonishingly, Seiman manages to combine ancient goddesses, witches, demons, undead, yakuza, hitmen, serial killers, drug dealers, tourists, amusement parks, maids, wrestlers, pop culture references and so much more in ways that somehow make weird and darkly amusing sense. The manga’s humor ranges from the completely random to the decidedly risqué. Along with quirky characters, peculiar settings, and bizarre happenings, The Voynich Hotel makes for an exceptionally strange but engaging and sometimes even surprisingly endearing series. I greatly enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind seeing more of Seiman’s work translated in the future. – Ash Brown

We Never Learn, Vol. 2 | By Taishi Tsutsui | Viz Media – Much to my relief, the core “three girls” seems to stay the same by the end of this volume. Not that we don’t meet more characters—Sawako is a self-proclaimed rival to Rizu who, like most self-proclaimed rivals in anime and manga, turns out to be a really good friend who just expresses it through rivalry. More intriguing is a teacher in the school, Kirisu, who seems determined to show the girls that they’re not playing to their strengths this way, and that Nariyuki’s study help will hurt them in the long run. She has a very valid point, but it’s not a point that you should be making within the confines of Shonen Jump, so they’re allowed to continue, despite the constant threat of mild fanservice. – Sean Gaffney

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 3 | By Io Sakisaka | Viz Media – There we go, that horrible realization that you’re in a love triangle. Futaba’s not sure if she loves Kou, though she’s definitely leaning that way, but when she finds that Yuri also loves Kou—and says so—she’s determined to bury her feelings for the sake of her friendship. Given this is a shoujo manga, you can imagine how well that goes, and thankfully by the end of the book all has been confessed—and Futaba is at least telling herself she loves Kou. I am less thrilled with the plotline involving Shoko, which is, groan, a teacher-student romance, and one where the student is coming on really strongly. We’ve seen this in many shoujo manga before, and sometimes it’s handled well (Kimi ni Todoke), so we shall see. – Sean Gaffney

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 3 | By Io Sakisaka | VIZ Media – For the sake of her friend, Yuki, Futaba tries not to like Kou, but it’s no use. I really liked that it was important to her to be honest with Yuki, especially since readers are spared a plot that hinges on misunderstandings and secrets. Oh, there’s still a bit of jealousy, but both girls are trying to play fair and maintain their friendship. Meanwhile, Kou’s still got a lot of angst and is doing his best not to care about anything, but Kominato can’t stand that members of the honors class snub Kou for his abysmal midterm scores, so organizes a study group on his behalf. More than being invested in Kou and Futaba’s relationship, I hope he gets over whatever it is in time to go rescue the cute stray cat he’s been petting. – Michelle Smith

Arakawa Under the Bridge, Vol. 5 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Vertical Comics – It’s not just Rec—anyone who ends up under the bridge seems to lose it a little bit, including his assistant Shimazaki, who has gone full-on cultist by the time we get halfway through this omnibus. But more importantly, is the series ending soon? Things are getting far more serious and we’re getting closer and closer to Nino leaving for Venus. Of course, this is literally lampshaded in a fourth-wall break by the characters, who say whenever a gag series turns serious, the end is near. I’m not entirely convinced they’re correct, but enjoy the drama while you can. And also a rare moment of Maria actually being on the losing end for once (but nice white-line-hopping nonetheless). – Sean Gaffney

Dangan Ronpa 2, Vol. 2 | By Kyousuke Suga | Dark Horse Comics – This is definitely turning into one of those titles that’s only truly enjoyable if you’ve played the game it’s based on—which I haven’t. As such, I feel it’s really, really rushing the pacing, a problem I didn’t have as much with the adaptation of the first game. It also has to be said—Komaeda is really, really annoying, and while I know that’s his schtick, it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. In the meantime, we have more murders, more discussion of said murders, and our first “ironic” execution. I think Dangan Ronpa fans will get a kick out of this, and enjoy seeing their favorites animated. But I can’t possibly recommend it to newbies of the franchise—which I could with the prior series. – Sean Gaffney

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 4 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – Since, after the events of the last volume, we are short a main cast member, we get introduced to two new characters here, both arriving from the countryside to the big city. Interestingly, Makoto is transgender (though they’re not really sure if that’s the right label), choosing to go to Tokyo in an effort to be more accepted for dressing up and looking cute. It’s quite well handled, and I look forward to seeing how both they and Futaba move forward. As for my favorite character, Oran, we get an odd flashback that I’m not sure I completely believe showing a very different side to both her and her brother. And then there’s that cliffhanger. This is still riveting. – Sean Gaffney

The Delinquent Housewife!, Vol. 3 | By Nemu Yoko | Vertical Comics – The volume starts with Dai’s classmate and friend Yoshino kissing him, and it only ramps up from there. Yoshino knows that Dai has a crush on Komugi, and she hates it—sadly, her answer to this is to blame Komugi and try to destroy the relationship she has with Dai’s family, which makes me want her to fail where I would otherwise be rooting for her, because I’m sorry, Dai and Komugi’s ongoing tension still makes me uncomfortable. Especially as Komugi really is doing better—she’s gotten much better at the normal housewife stuff, as we see in a montage. I want her to be part of the family—but not with Dai. Next volume is the last, so we’ll see how this plays out. – Sean Gaffney

Die Wergelder, Vol. 2 | By Hiroaki Samura | Kodansha Comics – Because the English-language edition of Die Wergelder is being released as two-volume omnibuses, it’s been a long while since the last one was published. I’d forgotten some of the finer details of the manga’s plot, but that didn’t pose too much of a problem as it mostly serves as a vehicle for stunningly drawn action, astonishing depravity, and unapologetic violence and brutality. Die Wergelder is deliberately disturbing, its roots firmly established in the tradition of 1970s Pinky Violence films. (This is not a series to be lightly recommended.) One of the focal points of Die Wergelder, and one of the areas in which the series excels, is what Samura terms as “Flashy And Pretentious Martial Arts.” Among others, kung fu, capoeira, and kalaripayattu are all featured in this particular omnibus. The manga’s fight sequences are glorious. Die Wergelder is still not for the faint of stomach or heart, though. – Ash Brown

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 28 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I’m starting to get pretty weary of Food Wars!. Maybe it’s just this Central Arc, but this whole volume—in which Yukihira, Takumi, and Tadokoro go up against three members of the Council of Ten—has this formula: 1) Central member presents their dish, wish they are convinced is the winning one. 1a) Judges’ clothes blow off. 2) Resistance member presents their dish and it’s more awesome than anyone expected. 2a) Judges’ clothes blow off. Repeat three times. There are some slight variations, like Takumi predicting exactly how Eizan would scheme to interfere with his dish, or Tadokoro not actually succeeding in her matchup, but it’s getting to the point that when I see a judge tasting something in the bottom panel of the left-side page I just sigh because I know exactly what’s coming next. Can’t we go to an internship or something different soon, please? – Michelle Smith

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 3 | By suu Morishita | VIZ Media – The pace of Shortcake Cake is hard to describe. It’s at once leisurely and swift. The former is exemplified by some nice scenes we get in this volume of all the students at Hoshino Boardinghouse studying together for their midterm exams. The latter comes into play with Ten’s relationship with Riku. Because she didn’t know him well, she initially rejected his feelings. He’s been conscientious about not making things awkward for her and this, plus just spending more time with him, is making her reconsider. I really like the emphasis on friendships in this series and I really do like Riku very much, but I’m not sure I buy into the romance progressing this swiftly. It makes me think it’ll end quickly and Ten will end up with Chiaki instead. This series is ten volumes and counting, after all! – Michelle Smith

Takane & Hana, Vol. 7 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – Having shifted the power balance back towards Hana the last time, we’re headed back in the other direction now. Not that Takane is back in the money or anything, but he’s adjusting thanks to Hana essentially being his live-in chef for a while. What’s more, Hana has finally realized her own feelings, and sort of hates them. Which makes sense—Takane is a lot, and loving him can be a giant pain in the ass. There’s also an obligatory Valentine’s chapter, which mostly revolves around Nicola’s smooth playboy persona and how much this can be a giant pain in the ass for Mizuki, whose family we see are essentially a bunch of trolls. Takane & Hana isn’t as constantly funny as the early volumes, but it’s still really good. – Sean Gaffney

DIVE!!, Vol. 1 | By Eto Mori and Ruzuru Akashiba | Yen Press – Tomoki Sakai has loved diving since the second grade, when he was awed by the diving of another boy named Youichi Fujitani. Now, six years later, he and Youichi are both members of Mizuki Diving Club, which is in trouble as the new president of the sporting goods company that sponsors it is considering shutting it down. Enter their new coach, Kayoko Asaki, who hopes to keep the MDC open by sending one of its members to the Olympics. To this end, she starts training Tomoki hard since his natural flexibility gives him an advantage. So too does his work ethic, but this does little to soothe the wounded pride of his long-time teammates Ryou and Reiji, who think the coach is playing favorites and refuse to acknowledge that they’re slacking off in comparison to Tomoki. There’s not much else to say about DIVE!! at this point, but I’m intrigued. – Michelle Smith

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas: The Complete Manga Collection | By Yoru Sumino and Idumi Kirihara | Seven Seas – Out of all of the versions of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, including Yoru Sumino’s original novel and its various film adaptations, it was the manga series that provided my introduction to the story. A touching friendship develops between two high school students—Sakura, who has a terminal illness she is hiding from everyone but her family, and an extremely introverted classmate who discovers her secret. The end of the story is known from the beginning, but I Want to Eat Your Pancreas takes a startling turn to get there. Even though it’s foreshadowed, initially it feels a little unfair, but that’s exactly the point and the characters have to come to terms with it, too. So far I’m unfamiliar with the other incarnations of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and therefore can’t offer a comparison, but the manga adaptation is a pretty solid work on its own. – Ash Brown

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas: The Complete Manga Collection | By Yoru Sumino and Idumi Kirihara | Seven Seas – Shiga Haruki is an introverted kid who claims to have no interest in other people. Odd, then, that for the majority of the series he substitutes his own name with whatever he assumes other people are thinking about him. His outgoing classmate Yamauchi Sakura is intrigued, and when she comes upon Shiga reading the diary in which she has written about her terminal illness, she seizes the chance to get to know him. Gradually, she draws him out of his shell, and it’s really gratifying to see him start to display passionate emotion when he senses that her diagnosis has gotten worse. Knowing her changed him for the better. My one complaint is that, after a pretty random plot twist, the story just speeds along to the end. I might have to check out the original novel to see if the pace is any more leisurely. Definitely recommended. – Michelle Smith

Manga Plus | By Various Artists | Shueisha – I’ve never reviewed an app here before, but this is a biggie. Shueisha how has all of Shonen Jump out Sunday afternoon—yes, including the tiny “unlicensed” series—as well as selected Jump Plus and Square titles, such as Blue Exorcist. This is day/date with Japan (it really is—don’t make me explain it again). It allows you to see obscure series you’d never expect over here, like theatre nerd series Curtains Up, I’m Off. And you can see the latest popular Jump chapters too, and marvel at how freaking awesome (and strong!) Uraraka was in the latest Academia, or the snugglepiles in the new Neverland. This is basically the app all of us have been waiting for, and it’s free! Go read it now. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 9 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – The first third of this volume wraps up the previous arc, and does it pretty well. It also gives us even more hints that Hinako is some sort of experimental child a la A Certain Magical Index‘s darker volumes. The majority of the book, though, is much lighter in tone, with Kuroko and Chiyo’s relationship resolved much faster than I expected (Chiyo admits she sort of likes Kuroko when she’s being… well, Kuroko), and also a beach episode that then segues into giant robots that destroy the apartment complex! It’s very silly and filled with large-breasted women acting cool, which is two of the things that people read Murcielago for, and has a an over the top lesbian sex scene with Kuroko and Chiyo, which is another. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

Now Loading…! | By Mikan Uji | Seven Seas – This is a new yuri series from Seven Seas, and given it’s also the final volume you know not to expect too much. It’s cute. It’s basically New Game if they actually went in that direction explicitly. We see a game company with a bright-eyed newbie and a game designer with a tragic past… well, OK, it’s not tragic, it’s just “reality happens, this is Gametown.” Sakurazuki ends up kissing Takagi at the end of the first chapter, and the rest of the book shows how they slowly talk about how and why that happened and maneuver their way into being a couple. There’s also a beta couple of two other employees, which is cute. This will make you smile, but you’ll likely forget what happens in a day. – Sean Gaffney

Spirit Circle, Vol. 6 | By Satoshi Mizukami | Seven Seas – This final volume wraps up the Fortuna life, which is as terrible as possible, and then heads back to the present, where unfortunately Fortuna has hijacked Fuuta’s body. Things are not looking good for this not ending in death. But then a tragic prediction ends up going horribly… not tragic at all, and the day is saved by a butterfly net that the alien couple gave our heroes, which is a sentence that only makes sense if you’ve read this series. Kouko theoretically gives Fuuta a final kiss and then leaves him to Nono, but let’s face it, given those last wishes from Rune and East, we know what’s really going to happen. This was an awesome series, just the right length—just like the author’s prior series, in fact. – Sean Gaffney

The Voynich Hotel, Vol. 3 | By Douman Seiman | Seven Seas – The series continues to veer between terribly silly, terribly dark, and somewhat nauseating. There’s a sense of everything coming to a head here, and that’s the case, but honestly I was struck by how many more people survived than I was expecting. This is probably as close to a happy ending as The Voynich Hotel was going to get, and there’s potential in both the adventures of the now adult detective gang as well as Elena (who I keep thinking of as Maria because she looks just like Maria in Zetsubou-sensei) and Tarou ending up as a couple and opening up to one another. Not for the faint of heart, but if you like weird and heartwarming, this is a good series to check out. – Sean Gaffney

Yuri Is My Job!, Vol. 1 | By miman | Kodansha Comics – I’m very happy that Kodansha has begun licensing yuri titles (or, yuri-adjacent, at least), but I really wish they’d started with anything other than this. Hime Shiraki is a cute first-year high school student who has cultivated an angelic façade in order to snag a billionaire husband. But aside from her looks, she has nothing going for her, so when she’s manipulated into helping out at a café where the waitresses pretend to be prim and proper ladies from an all-girls private school, she proves largely incompetent. What’s worse (and supremely frustrating) is that she fails to comprehend that anyone other than her might be putting on an act, so when a coworker speaks harshly to her in private but gently in front of customers, she is utterly baffled. Honestly, it’s just bad. I liked no one and it was a chore to make it through a single volume. – Michelle Smith

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 19 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It’s the West Tokyo finals, determining which team will represent that region at Koshien. Seido is up against the team that barred their path the previous year, Inashiro Industrial, and since it’s a hugely pivotal game, it spans several volumes. This particular installment covers the fourth through seventh innings, during which Seido loses its early one-point lead and eventually falls even further behind when Tanba, ostensibly the ace, takes over pitching duties from a struggling Furuya and immediately gives away a home run. Seido’s not completely out—there are some excellent plays by Furuya (in outfield, trying to atone) and Kuramochi—but it’s definitely going to be a nail-biter. It was also pretty neat that our protagonist, Eijun, only appears when he’s cheering on his teammates. I’m so glad that he finally matured and learned some humility. – Michelle Smith

Dive!!, Vol. 1 | By Eto Mori and Ruzuru Akashiba | Yen Press – This was pretty good, but not good enough for me to have a full review’s worth of things to say about it. It hits all the right sports manga beats, and has some nice pictures of handsome high school boys diving. Their club is about to be shut down, though, unless they can get one of the divers to the Olympics. Enter Kayoko, their new coach, who is ready to make them fantastic divers even if it kills them. There’s a few really good kids there, but our hero is no doubt the one everyone will be watching—he has a very flexible body—and don’t forget the guy trying to get over a head injury while diving in the past. It’s a sports manga, and if you’re a lover of the genre, or like diving, check it out. – Sean Gaffney

Dr. STONE, Vol. 3 | By Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi | Viz Media – A much stronger volume of Dr. STONE here, which has ditched the boring part of its cast and reboots itself around its science hero and the village that he’s going to lead into the future. Everything about this works better—there’s a lot more humor now that we’re not dealing with a guy going around shattering humans all the time, and Senku’s mastery of science leads to some great Bobobo-esque faces from the other cast members. Also, there’s a little girl who wears a watermelon on her head, and who promptly ends up on Senku’s side because he doesn’t ask her why she’s doing this. I liked that. This series has gotten a lot more ludicrous, which is all for the better. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 30 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – Lots of volleyball here, and not much else, meaning as always I’m struggling with things to say other than “that looked pretty cool.” I liked the focus on Tanaka in this book, and how his ability to bounce back from getting down on himself is a big strength. (That said, I think his attempt to hook up with the childhood friend may have just died.) We also get a good long look at Nekoma, who do end up advancing, much to my surprise (they had a few death flags). Who will they be facing? Oh, probably Karasuno, but that game is still going on, and the other team has figured out a weakness in Nishinoya, who’s usually one of the best on the team. How is he going to bounce back? For once, we have a month or two to wait to find out. – Sean Gaffney

High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Vol. 2 | By Riku Misora and Kotaro Yamada | Yen Press – First of all, this manga desperately needs a character sheet at the front, as I’d already forgotten half the cast. Secondly, what is it with isekais needing to show that the local feudal lord is the evilest of all evil guys? So let’s roll out the usual tropes, including a sneering advisor and the jus prima noctis run wild, which allows them to try to rape Lyrule. Of course, it doesn’t happen, because all our heroes are ridiculously brilliant and awesome and can do things like creating nuclear power within their first week of arrival. I assume this is the sort of series for folks who don’t care about OP heroes—if you do, you may burn this. It’s deeply ridiculous. – Sean Gaffney

Himouto! Umaru-chan, Vol. 4 | By Sankakuhead | Seven Seas – There’s a lot of focus on Umaru’s school rival, Tachibana, in this volume. As is fast becoming a trend, Tachibana is seemingly an arrogant ojousama type but in reality is quite a nice person, even if she has a major grudge against Umaru. Fortunately, a easy to see through disguise is able to fool her. There’s also a beach trip, which focuses on the fact that Umaru’s outside persona and her indoor sloth persona are apparently not merely mental states—she literally seems to shrink. This is probably for humor value, but still… it reminds me of The Wallflower. Actually, the whole series does, though in Umaru’s case there are no hot guys coming along anytime soon to rescue her. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 10 | by Izumi Tsubaki | Yen Press – I enjoyed this volume a lot, largely because we got very good scenes between my favorite not-quite-couple, Hori and Kashima, at the beginning and end. They’re great, and the school trip stuff is pretty good too, especially Nozaki realizing he has some kind of special feelings for Sakura (even though it might just be maternal instinct), but what really surprised me was that a scene between Ryousuke (Seo’s older brother) and Miyako (the tanuki-drawing mangaka), two characters I care nothing about, ended up yielding a couple of laugh-out-loud moments as Ryousuke dramatically misunderstands her job and relationships and ends up concluding that Nozaki’s editor, Ken, has a… very interesting occupation. Ken’s reaction to this is priceless and executed with perfect comic timing. Bravo, Tsubaki-sensei! – Michelle Smith

No Game No Life, Vol. 2 | By Yuu Kamiya and Mashiro Hiiragi | Seven Seas – This is the second volume of the manga. Since the first came out, we’ve seen seven volumes of the light novel and four spinoff volumes of a different manga. It’s been over four years—both here and in Japan—between volumes. As such, a review seems almost irrelevant here. If you want a continued adaptation of the first novel in manga form, this is the book for you. The art pretty much still seems like Kamiya’s (I’m assuming his health problems are one reason why it’s so late). and there are some nice designs in the battlefield chess that [ ] has to play. Still, given that there’s no sign of the third volume anytime soon, I’d suggest fans either read the books or watch the anime instead. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 4 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – There’s a nice fakeout here, which I sort of suspected halfway through but was pleased with in any case. It reminds you yet again that Sariphi is not simply going to be able to be pure and sweet and win over everyone who goes against her… except she totally is, because this is that sort of shoujo manga, and she’s basically Tohru without the mother issues. Here we see her practicing a ritual dance that needs to be done perfectly, and when she fails to do so she just requests a do-over and everyone just lets her do it, likely as they’re stunned that she’s even trying to. This is a series that weaponizes the Pollyanna for good, and it’s still a great deal of fun. Shoujo fans will love it. – Sean Gaffney

10 Dance, Vol. 1 | By Inouesatoh | Kodansha Comics – Along with Memeko Arii’s Hitorijime My Hero, Inouesatoh’s 10 Dance marks Kodansha Comics’ initial foray into the BL genre in print. (It is not, however, the first time that the publisher has released a manga about ballroom dancing.) 10 Dance is a series I’ve had my eyes on for a while, so I was absolutely thrilled when it was licensed. The story follows the relationship between two men, Shinya Sugiki and Shinya Suzuki, both exceptionally skilled ballroom dancers. Sugiki specializes in standard while Suzuki focuses on Latin, their contrasting personalities mirroring their chosen dances—Suzuki is generally fiery and bombastic while Sugiki tends to be cool and reserved. Sugiki goads Suzuki into entering the 10-Dance Competition, requiring each of them to master the other’s style. Dancing demands a certain amount of physical intimacy and trust and as they begin training with each other their dancing and complicated rivalry evolves in unexpected ways. – Ash Brown