Michelle Smith

ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 3 | By Natsume Ono | Yen Press – Sometimes you have to pick a side, even when you don’t want to. Jean really doesn’t want to, and it’s getting him in a bit of trouble, whether it’s being kidnapped by a group of terrorists mostly by accident, or trying to do his job while everyone wants him to be a spy and give them intel—including his boss, who gets pissed off at him at the cliffhanger. Jean, of course, reacts to this the way a Natsume Ono hero always reacts—with a world-weary stare, and in this case a lot of cigarettes. As for the actual coup, it’s still percolating, and I suspect we won’t get any actual revolution until Jean’s toured every single province. I also don’t expect he’ll be able to retire. A good title for Ono fans. – Sean Gaffney

After Hours, Vol. 2 | By Yuhta Nishio | VIZ Media – Seldom am I in the position of wishing a story gave me more angsty drama, but that’s how I feel about this second volume of After Hours. It’s reasonably interesting watching Kei and Emi come up with an idea for a big rave event and get their friends on board, but I could have done with less of that and more of Kei learning that Emi is still technically living with a boyfriend. She’s irritated and worried after the discovery, but we just don’t see into her head enough to suit me. At one point she dares to hope that perhaps Emi will choose her, but when that does happen, the moment lacks impact. Even if there had been one pause, one panel that lingered wordlessly on Kei’s face to show us her happiness and relief, I would be content. Oh well. One volume left! – Michelle Smith

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 19 | By Kazue Kato | Viz Media – After Shiemi rejected Rin in the last volume, is she now being written out of the manga? After learning a dark and tragic secret about herself (which we the reader are not yet privy to), she opts to drop out of the exorcist course, to the horror of all her friends. She insists she’ll still be at the school, but let’s face it, she would barely see them. Clearly it’s time for an awesome Christmas party! As for the rest of the book, we’re finally getting some real answers from Mephisto about the nature of the Baal and what they’re actually trying to achieve. Does this have anything ro do with Rin? I’ll be honest, I’d worry more about Yukio. Still good, though its infrequent release means I tend to forget what happened. – Sean Gaffney

Captive Hearts of Oz, Vol. 4 | By Ryo Maruya and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – Last time I appreciated the lack of romance but felt confused by the plot. This fourth and final volume, the plot finally makes sense and I appreciate it, but I also now have a romance I really didn’t want. It’s made clear that Dorothy and Oz are not the same ones as the books by L. Frank Baum—though Dorothy is named after the Oz girl—I honestly felt the romance was added because the series is meant to be the sort that ends with a pairing. Ah well. The nature of the ending, which implies the return of Dorothy and Oz (like their namesakes) is reminiscent of the Alice in the Country of Hearts books. This is its spiritual successor, and likely the end of an era. It was decent. – Sean Gaffney

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Vol. 3 | By CLAMP | Kodansha Comics – Out of all of the manga by CLAMP that I’ve so far read, Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my favorites, so I was excited when I learned that a sequel was going to be released. For the most part though, Clear Card has yet to live up to its predecessor. The third volume of the series seems a bit more substantial than the first two, which is good, but the point of the manga remains unclear even considering the attempts at ominous foreshadowing. I’ll keep reading Clear Card though. Granted, that’s mostly out of loyalty to the original series than anything else. However, I do still love the characters and the artwork is lovely in Clear Card, too. I just hope that the manga continues to pick up a bit more momentum and weight and is able to distinguish itself as something more than just a sequel to Cardcaptor Sakura. – Ash Brown

DNA Doesn’t Tell Us, Vol. 2 | By Mintarou | Seven Seas – This is the second and final volume of the series, and it wraps up fairly quickly, trying to do its best to work in the “wild animals” even though our focus is still on our tame leads. It’s odd to realize that this is actually a school for animal girls in the basic sense—they graduate and move on to real life once they learn how to interact as a human, and the series ends with our girls as dorm leader and student council president. Other than that, the series is unambitious but not uninteresting, with several new animal girls getting attention, including a mole girl and a donkey girl. As for any suggested yuri? Nah, there’s nothing there. This was cute, but two volumes seems just about right. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 6 | By Canno | Yen Press – As this series does best, we spend some time catching up on people we’ve seen in prior volumes, and some time with new people, most of whom intermesh and entwine with each other. Jealousy is the order of the day here, as the effervescent Amane doesn’t really get why she can’t simply love more than one person, and the somewhat possessive Nina is bad at being straightforward about it. Chiharu and Izumi, meanwhile, are dealing with the uncertainty of a second love, especially when the old girlfriend is coming back. The characters in this all manage to have obvious flaws that can be mined for storylines without being annoying. (Though Nina comes close here.) Still good. – Sean Gaffney

Loveless, Vol. 13 | By Yun Kouga | VIZ Media – It’s been several years since the last Loveless volume, so I reread volume twelve before tackling this one, which helped a lot. Alas, it also served to remind me how much I like this series and wish for more. Sigh. We do get some interesting things here, though, like the conclusion of Beloved’s battle against Moonless—during which Seimei’s former friend informs him that his bond with Soubi is neither love nor strength—and Natsuo recounting the stories of Seven Voices Academy as told to him by his creator, including intriguing cameos by Soubi’s mother and Ritsuka’s father. She has information about Seimei, too, but we don’t get to see that yet. Nor do we get to see Ritsuka act on his determination to get Soubi back. I hope volume fourteen comes reasonably soon! – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia, Vol. 13 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Sometimes, with a cast this big, some people are going to have to take a back seat for a bit. For My Hero Academia, it’s going to be Todoroki and Bakugo, the only ones in the class not to pass the exam—both due to anger issues rather than because of lack of ability. Well, technically another girl may have failed the exam as well—turns out that one of the other class members was our favorite blood-sucking, blushing villain in disguise, and she got some very interesting blood. Of course, before Bakugo can take a back seat, he has to confront Deku with something we’ve suspected he’s known for a while now—Deku’s quirk and how it relates to All Might. Time for MANLY FISTS to take the lead! Amazing series. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 4 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – A lot of Queen’s Quality has to do with Fumi trying to survive with her basic personality intact, be it because of her past (involving amnesia) or her future (involving possibly being possessed by one or more queens). So honestly, the last thing she really needs is an attempt to drive her towards the dark side by putting her in Ataru’s mind, which is as bug-filled as you’d expect. She luckily has Kyutaro to help her, but honestly his love for her is as much of a hindrance as a help half the time. Still, the author is very good at making you want to see what happens next, and I don’t even mind that this isn’t a wacky comedy anymore. Also, love those Dengeki Daisy references! – Sean Gaffney

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 2 | By Meca Tanaka| Viz Media – Again, this is a Meca Tanaka series, almost by definition “good but not great.” There’s a likeable heroine filled with denseness and pluck, as well as a frustrated hero who can’t decide if he’s trying to get revenge or seduce her. The best thing about this book was Tenma trying to figure out, in conversations with others, what love means to her and what kinds of love there are. It turns out Leo may need the same lesson, as the fact that he’s head over heels for Tenma has to be pointed out by his biggest rival. Will things change now that one of the pair is actually aware of this? We shall see. In the meantime, this remains a cute but slight shoujo series. – Sean Gaffney

Arakawa Under the Bridge, Vol. 3 | By Hikaru Nakamura | Vertical Comics – It really does surprise me how invested I am in rec and Nino’s love affair, given that it’s not really an affair yet and this book is more about everyone being hopelessly weird. But in a series like that, you need something to ground you or else you risk not caring about anything, and for me it’s the moments when the two really show how devoted they are to each other. Elsewhere, a battle royale between the cast goes about how you’d expect in terms of the winner (hint: she’s on the cover), and there is also the occasional hint that these happy (sort of) days for rec won’t be able to last forever. Arakawa requires a love of gag comedy to appreciate, but if you do there are a lot of rewards here. – Sean Gaffney

Durarara!! Re;Dollars Arc, Vol. 1 | By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Aogiri | Yen Press – The last time we had a DRRR!! manga volume come out over here, we were just beginning the light novel release. Almost three years later, here’s the new arc. This starts to adapt the fifth novel, meaning that Akane and Vorona, two of my favorites, make an appearance. There’s not a whole lot of extra content here for those who have seen the anime and read the novels, though I was very appreciative of Shinra’s fantasy of why Akane would want to kill Shizuo. But for those who like following DRRR!! in manga form, this adaptation remains a good go-to choice. It’s drawn by Aogiri, who also did the Aquarion Evol manga art. Sadly, it also has Izaya being Izaya Alas. – Sean Gaffney

The Elder Sister-Like One, Vol. 1 | By Iida Pochi | Yen Press – While I was reading this, the first thing that came to mind was “this reads like porn with the sex removed.” Which indeed it is—the original was a pornographic doujinshi, but the author made the relationship non-explicit and a bit more familial (only a bit, mind you) for this mainstream release. The premise involves a young man who has been passed along from relative to relative and his demonic familiar who becomes a sort of twisted family. If you’re thinking “This sounds like Natsume’s Book of Friends only written for guys and with lots more cleavage,” you aren’t far off. It actually manages to respectably straddle the line between supernaturally sweet and supernaturally skeezy as hell. We’ll see how long it can keep that up. – Sean Gaffney

Flying Witch, Vol. 6 | By Chihiro Ishizuka | Vertical Comics – The cast expands a bit here, as we meet Sayo, a “student council president” sort who thinks that Makoto is a bit too laid-back and relaxed about her witchly duties. Which, to be fair, is 100% correct. Fortunately, they bond over a case involving a repeating town block, and Sayo shows off her shy, cute side. Elsewhere in the volume, most of the rest of the cast show up for a barbecue of sorts, as we get much discussion of giblets and just how common it is to be loving it as a delicacy. Speaking of food, turns out the school’s pork cutlets are delicious to cats as well as humans, and also that you can get winter in July provided you’re associated with witches. Flying Witch is always peaceful, but never boring. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 24 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I haven’t enjoyed this Central arc much, so it’s a relief that the end seems to be in sight. It turns out that Erina’s dad once idolized Soma’s dad and is unable to resist a challenge in which a defeated Joichiro would become his minion. Now the resisters are going up against the remaining council members, with the possibility of taking over the council themselves, and we get fun training action like a three-on-three battle during which Takumi reveals just how much he’s grown and Erina attempts unorthodox cooking for the first time. It’s a lot of fun and the air of amiable challenge that exists between Soma and Joichiro ends up inspiring Erina to stand up to her dad and publicly side with the resisters. We barely get started on the team shokugeki before the volume ends, but I’m happy to find myself once again enjoying this series immensely. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 24 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – This was one of the best volumes of Haikyu!! I’ve read yet, and it’s not a coincidence that there’s no tournament going on. I do love the games, but volume after volume of them can get exhausting (and hard to review). Here we see a jealous and driven Hinata follow Tsukishima to the all-rookie camp… where he wasn’t invited. What’s worse, the coach of this camp is Shiratorizawa, whose motto is basically “no short kids.” Still, he lets Hinata be the ball boy. This is actually really good for him, as it allows him to realize how much there is to learn by just watching. His raw instinct is combining with actual game smarts, and it’s terrific to see. I am really waiting to see how this plays out in the future. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 2 | By Afro | Yen Press – I mentioned this in my review of the first volume, but it really is striking how much the series is trying to separate the main cast. We start off with Nadeshiko and her club at a hot spring camp, and Rin… far away, looking for another hot spring (which turns out to be closed) but finding her own solitary camping experiences. It’s nice to see that the manga tells people it’s fine to have fun on your own. Still, I think I appreciated it more when Rin and Nadeshiko were actually interacting in person rather than by phone, and I do hope that in future volumes we can have the four together… or maybe five, if we can convince Rin’s weird friend to come along. Still a nice series as laid-back as its name—I just wish it had more characterization. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 3 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – Takane & Hana is still at its best when its romantic pair are snarking at each other, and there’s plenty of that here. Elsewhere, though, Hana’s grades are starting to slip, leading to a studying binge which Takane actually proves pretty adept at helping with. It’s not without cost, though, as he gets a bad cold, and she realizes just how much it is that he actually does. Meanwhile, a trip with Takane, Hana, and Hana’s friends also includes the high school boy who likes her, and he brings up the elephant in the room, which is the fact that Takane is a decade older than Hana, she’s still in high school, and this is pretty creepy if you stop and think about it. That said, I’m content right now to let the shoujo manga keep the romance on a slow simmer. – Sean Gaffney

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 12 | By Mizuho Kusanagi | VIZ Media –Yona of the Dawn is always good, but this volume is particularly so. Yona and her retinue get caught in the Fire Tribe city of Saika as an invading army from the Kai empire approaches. I appreciated the atmosphere of tension while everyone waited and also loved seeing Tae-Jun be brave, keeping his promise to protect the villagers. It turns out it’s all a traitorous plot and even though Yona would also like to get vengeance on Su-Won, she can’t let this army attack the palace lest they throw the nation into chaos. Potentially my favorite aspect of this, though, is that Kusanagi keeps showing that Su-Won actually is a better king than Yona’s father was. I expect eventually she’ll have to recognize that for herself. At turns light-hearted and intense, Yona of the Dawn really is something special. I’m glad this story exists. – Michelle Smith

Battle Angel Alita: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 | By Yukito Kishiro | Kodansha Comics – Alita has been many things since she was rescued from a scrap pile–a formidable bounty hunter, a talented motorball player, and now (of all things) a beloved bar singer and musician–but her destiny hasn’t finished playing out yet. Zapan, another cyborg and ex-bounty hunter who unfairly blames Alita for everything that has recently gone wrong in his life, is coming after her to seek revenge. He cares very little about anyone or anything else, resulting in massive casualties and destruction. As I’ve come to expect from the series, the numerous battles in this volume are intense and well-executed in addition to being incredibly gruesome. Kishiro also has a knack for creative and marvelously disconcerting cyberpunk designs. But what really makes the series work is Alita herself and the strength and depth of her character. While her circumstances are rarely very happy ones, she continues to persevere. – Ash Brown

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 5 | By Rin Mikimoto | Kodansha Comics – Last time I said that a lot of this was shoujo by numbers, and it still is to a degree, but you can feel the author fighting back against the obvious a bit. Shu spends much of the volume trying not to be the evil girl who gets between our hero and heroine, before seemingly just saying “screw it” and doing so for a good cliffhanger. That said, I continue to like the way the book is handling Kaede, who really is making an effort here in a way that most shoujo hotties, especially ones who are famous stars, wouldn’t do. It makes the butt stuff more tolerable. (It helps that both Hinana and Shu are also “pervy” to a large degree.) Add in more funny SD-faces, and it’s a pretty decent volume. – Sean Gaffney

Shojo FIGHT!, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nihonbashi | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I was very happy to see this volume on Kodansha’s release schedule! In it, one of Neri’s new teammates, Nao, has gotten herself involved in a “volleybetting” enterprise in which the audience gambles on matches between scantily clad girls. The Kokuyodani team rallies to extricate Nao from this situation, but all is not as sordid as it seems. Their efforts, in part, involve putting together an audience team to help win Nao’s freedom, and Neri’s teammates assure her that now is not the time to hold back, so she’s finally able to play her hardest with teammates in full support. Meanwhile, Takako Yui returns from overseas and seems to be fairly evil, though I liked that Michiru and Odagiri start dating as a result of her machinations. Looking forward to more! – Michelle Smith

Sweetness & Lightning, Vol. 10 | By Gido Amagakure | Kodansha Comics – Sweetness & Lightning continues to be eyebleach in manga form. In addition to cooking some classic Japanese dishes in this volume—udon, oden, and sukiyaki—Kotori and Tsumugi achieve a few more growing-up milestones. I appreciated that witnessing Tsumugi’s success in learning to ride a bike helped Kotori pass her interview for culinary school, and also liked how Tsumugi is picking up on things more now, like how their time cooking with Kotori might soon come to an end, or that, despite her best efforts to be friends with everyone, there are just some people she doesn’t like. My favorite moment, though, was when Kotori’s father tasted her food and affirmed, “You’re good at this.” Overall, it’s a very nice series about nice people cooking nice food and sometimes one needs that sort of story. – Michelle Smith

To Your Eternity, Vol. 4 | By Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – One of my favorite manga series currently being released in English is To Your Eternity. Admittedly the story can be emotionally devastating and heartbreaking, but it’s also a beautiful and compelling examination of life, love, and what it means to be human. In stark contrast to the beginning of his existence, Fushi has lived the last few years in relative peace. He’s once again become an integral part of a found family, but now he’s had the advantage of time to establish even deeper bonds with people as he grows and learns. Fushi’s language skills develop alongside his self-awareness and understanding of others. However, danger and tragedy isn’t far off–Fushi will have to face his fears and make tremendously difficult decisions in order to protect those he has come to love. He’s evolving to become more human-like even while the monstrous truth behind his creation and survival is revealed. – Ash Brown

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, Vol. 4 | By Megumi Morino | Kodansha Comics – The cliffhanger that didn’t appear last time shows up in this volume, as Shizu’s father is back and he’s evil, alas. So it’s ‘put Shizu in an institution’ vs. having her run away with the boy who loves her, and I think we know what readers are going to go with, even in spite of the fact that this is dumb and will end badly. Before that, though, we pretty much get compressed adorable, as Tetsu and Shizu buy kimonos, attend a festival, and otherwise prove that she is indeed fully capable of interacting with the outside world provided she isn’t being constantly possessed. Sadly, I doubt Dear Old Dad will see it that way, and I expect the next volume to be rather dark. Still getting this anyway. – Sean Gaffney

Waiting for Spring, Vol. 6 | By Anashin | Kodansha Comics – There’s not a whole lot that happens in this volume plot-wise. Mitsuki challenges herself by serving on the cultural festival committee and does a very good job. Meanwhile, Aya-chan arranges for his team to have a practice game against our heroes, whereupon he and Asakura get into each other’s faces a bit. Mostly, though, this volume is about feelings. Asakura freely admits to his friends that he loves Mitsuki, which causes some strife with Rui, who was maybe starting to have feelings for her and has long had an inferiority complex where Asakura is concerned. Although I really don’t care about the Aya-chan stuff—or Rui, for that matter—I really like Mitsuki and Asakura and enjoy spending time with them as they work to better themselves and get to a place where they feel worthy of love. They’re a core couple worth rooting for. – Michelle Smith

Crisis Girls, Vol. 1 | By Hiroaki Yoshikawa | Seven Seas – If My Hero Academia is the Japanese shonen take on the standard “training superheroes” story, then Crisis Girls is the “moe for guys” version. Our superhero wannabe is Kaede, who can control zombies to help her protect the city, but is unfortunately a giant flake and something of a crybaby as well. She does have a more sensible minder, who tries to lecture her on occasional about morals and ethics. Why he wears full facial bandages and a metal face mask… is something we will no doubt find out later. There are the occasional villains who drop by, most of whom are about on Kaede’s level. This is cute-ish, but you can tell it’s not really up to much given that it’s not getting a full review from me. – Sean Gaffney

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 8 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | Viz Media – This was more of a band volume than a romantic triangle volume, and I appreciated that. Momo and Yuzu have to learn here that in order to survive, they have to write songs that are for other people, as well as songs that occasionally make compromises—such as being easier to sing. They do this by running into two annoying idols whose annoyingness turns out to be half front (and half being annoying). Elsewhere, Miou is having trouble dealing with being in a relationship when she’s still in love with Yuzu, and tries to deal with both issues at the same time, with limited success. And as if that weren’t enough, BATTLE OF THE BANDS again. Shojo’s Beat’s most addictive potboiler. – Sean Gaffney