Michelle Smith

Anne Happy, Vol. 3 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – The stars of Anne Happy may be in a separate class due to their horrible luck, but they also end up getting special attention, which makes the other classmates in the school (who are also in specialized programs, so you can’t really compare it to a gifted program or somesuch) upset. That’s the focus of the new teacher introduced properly in this volume, who thinks the luckless girls are being coddled. But it’s hard to be stern when merely swimming in a school pool might cost you your life, and midterm exams dependent on improving luck have Anne in the basement. This is cute, but absolutely light as air. That said, adding more dramatic stuff wouldn’t help it one bit. It is what it is. – Sean Gaffney

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 3 | By Izumi Miyazono | Viz Media – This is a josei series rather than shoujo, and it shows in the maturity of the two leads, who thankfully do not overreact to seeming disasters by running off with tears in eyes. As expected, Ryu’s married ex is back, still married, and still a giant pile of problems that Ryu can’t help but get involved in. Meanwhile, Asuka is getting a marriage proposal from a handsome, successful guy who is perfectly happy to let her achieve her dream of being a housewife. But can she still have that dream anymore without Ryu? As for Ryu, can he let go of his past… and tell Asuka about it? This is still a potboiler, but it’s a mature one, in the best sense of the word. Still totally on board. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 15 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – I keep thinking that Soma is not like other Jump protagonists, but that’s not really true. He’s enthusiastic, stubborn, talented, and tends to fail repeatedly till he works out how to win. It’s just he’s so laid-back that he feels different in comparison to the Luffys of the world. Here the school has the typical Festival arc, except being a bunch of lunatic chefs, they all compete to see whose food sells the most. Soma makes a foolhardy bet with one of the Elite Ten, and while his thoughts on winning aren’t wrong, they aren’t enough. Luckily, he has Megumi to help, and even Erina is giving good advice. It’s hard to believe this is the series I panned so hard long ago. There aren’t even any food orgasm shots this time around. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 15 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I should know better by now than to read Food Wars! while hungry, but I challenge any meat-eaters to read this volume and not salivate for the black pepper pork buns Soma creates for his booth at the School Festival! He spends most of the volume figuring out how to challenge one of the Council of Ten who’s a Chinese food expert, and all of his strategizing and flavor-testing are fun to read about, not to mention his salesmanship and the gradual improvement of his standings in the sales rankings. We’ll have to wait until the next volume for the resolution, but I’m certainly impressed how invested I am in the outcome. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 6 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – Hope you like volleyball, because it’s all tournament, all the time this arc. Sadly, that means that while it was quite good, I’m at a loss as to what to talk about. The most obvious thing is probably Kageyama, who shows that when you’re a grumpy ball of rage a lot of the time, you can be easily frustrated. Particularly when the opposing team works out your super secret signals to show what you’re going to do. On the bright side, it was nice to see Asahi get past his previous year and kick ass, as they managed to defeat Date Tech’s Iron Wall. The cliffhanger was excellent too, as the best sports manga always take pains to remind you it’s a team sport, no matter how many prodigies may be starring. – Sean Gaffney

Kuroko’s Basketball, Vols. 5-6 | By Tadatoshi Fujimaki | VIZ Media – After Kuroko prevents a buzzer-beater shot by Midorima, Seirin moves on to the finals league of the Tokyo Inter-High qualifiers. Their first game is against yet another of Kuroko’s middle-school teammates, Daiki Aomine, an incredible player (and awful person) with an unpredictable playing style. As a long-time fan of sports manga, I was chastising myself somewhat for buying into the idea that Seirin might lose. Then I thought, well, perhaps they might lose this game, thus making their ultimate perseverance that much more poignant. I was not prepared for what happened or for the desolate sentiment, “We were fooling ourselves.” I’ve enjoyed Kuroko’s Basketball up until this point, but this volume surprised me. Now I’m even more eager to see where the story goes from here. – Michelle Smith

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 13 | By Yusei Matsui | Viz Media -As this series goes on, it’s taken a turn for the dark. Not surprising given it’s about child assassins, but there honestly hasn’t been any actual assassination yet. At least not for the kids—a flashback to Irina’s past shows just how young she was when she started her seduction assassinations, and it’s clear she targeted lolicons. As if that weren’t enough, we meet Nagisa’s mother in this volume, and find out a lot about why he is the way he is—she’s a horribly abusive parent, emotionally manipulating him into having the life she didn’t—even if he’s a boy. It’s a sign of Nagisa’s growing moral sense that he doesn’t choose to give up on her. Still excellent, but this volume adds “grim” to that. – Sean Gaffney

Black Butler, Vol. 23 | By Yana Toboso | Yen Press – I don’t love Black Butler or particularly care about the characters, but I continue to follow it in a desultory fashion. In this volume, Ciel and Sebastian are tasked with investigating a music hall that enchants rich and poor alike. The chief suspect is a fortune-teller who discerns Sebastian’s nature right away, so we get lots of Ciel investigating on his own while Sebastian lurks about outside, foisting his affections onto alley cats. The highlight of the volume is an absurd, multi-page boy-band-esque performance by the prefects Ciel encountered a few volumes ago. Though there’s really nothing here that moves or interests me in any profound way, I will probably keep reading it nonetheless. – Michelle Smith

Danganronpa: The Animation, Vol. 3 | By Spike Chunsoft and Takashi Tsukimi | Dark Horse – As with the previous volume, the big weakness of this adaptation is its rushed pacing—at times it was hard to follow what was going on, such as Monokuma killing off the Chihiro AI computer, which felt out of nowhere. We winnow the cast down further, and this time the murderer is not as sympathetic—make that murderers, as we have some multiple manipulations going on here. Much of the second half revolves around us trying to believe that optimistic girl Aoi is the next murderer, which is so unlikely that I’m relieved that they didn’t bother to drag it out. As it is, though, things wrap up next volume, so is anyone else going to die? Aside from the bear that started all this. – Sean Gaffney

Magia the Ninth, Vol. 1 | By Ichiya Sazanami | Seven Seas – Given the sheer number of ‘demon hunter’ manga out now, which are all a variety on ‘groups of people hunt ghosts/yokai/demons that possess humans and turn their emotions negative,’ you really need to be unique in order to keep people reading. The creator of Magia the Ninth tries to do it by using classical music—the bishonen demon hunters in this series are all named after composers, and their magic attacks are their most famous works. There’s also some attempts at goofy humor to lighten the mood a bit. Still, apparently it wasn’t all that unique, as it wraps up in volume two, which means that a lot of the characters and foreshadowing being doled out here won’t amount to much. Something of a trifle. – Sean Gaffney

Masamune-kun’s Revenge, Vol. 3 | By Hazuki Takeoka and Tiv | Seven Seas – There aren’t any major new characters or plotlines introduced in this third volume, and as such it feels a bit like it’s coasting. Of course, there’s still a lot to play around with. Masamune can’t get his revenge if Aki hates him, so he has to work on that. As always, he fares much better when he’s not being manipulative. I wish I could say the same for Neko, but I suspect that she may be the villain here, and volume four may end up shredding a lot of plans. Other than that, there’s really not much going on here—like Masamune, the series feels like it’s backsliding a bit and getting flabby. To be fair, it was hard to top the start, which may be Aki’s most glorious rejection yet. At its best when she’s at her worst. – Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops, Vol. 2 | By Neko Nekobyou and Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – Well, last volume was very comedic, but this one certainly isn’t. It turns out we haven’t heard all of Lux’s past, and like everything else in the Sword Art Online series to date it’s intertwined with the death guild Laughing Coffin. Honestly, having them use lackeys that they brand and threaten with death—I think they’d rape her if they could get away with it in SAO, frankly—is one of those “of COURSE they did that” moments, and Lux is sweet enough that it really hurts. Now, of course, her past is being used against her by a nihilist comrade with a grudge against her magically having new friends. Guess how well Lisbeth and company will take that. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 2 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – I am very relieved that the thrilling last-minute substitution, while certainly a rush for our hero, was called out for the giant illegal move it was. Unfortunately, that would seem to sideline two of our main characters—Hyodo leaves to recover and Shizuku is somewhat upset that she wasn’t informed about Hyodo’s injury. But that’s OK, as we have new characters waiting in the wings, a brother/sister team who are opposites in personality. There’s a lot going on here comparing ballroom partners with romantic partners, and to be fair Fujita does seem to mesh faster with the new girl. And then there is the art, as always the #1 reason to read this series. Addictive. – Sean Gaffney

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 2 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – I have to wonder whether an editor suggested that Takeuchi write about dance simply because she draws motion so well. Even if one cannot envision the steps, the exhilaration is clear, and I particularly love the way she draws the male physique whilst dancing. Plot-wise, Tatara dances in public for the first time thanks to Sengoku and his machinations, and ends up demonstrating an uncanny ability to achieve unity with his partner. This skill is put to the test when he acquires a new partner (a middle-schooler named Mako) and challenges her brother/former partner to a duel for having had the temerity to cast her aside in favor of Shizuku. I hope we get a more in-depth look at dance competitions next time! – Michelle Smith

What Did You Eat Yesterday?, Vol. 11 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Vertical, Inc. – Every time Shiro Kakei admits to someone that he’s gay, my heart grows a size. It seems to be coming a little easier to him this time, too. In this case, he’s responding to his landlord’s inquiry, as the latter is worried he might move to Shibuya, where a same-sex partnership law has been passed. Also in this volume, Kenji buys a suit for a birthday dinner and looks like a yakuza, Shiro is double-booked for sakura-viewing (and makes delicious looking bento treats), two of the lead’s coworkers (Shino and Tabuchi) take turns cooking, and Shiro apologizes to yogurt. It’s as charming and entertaining as ever, with multiple things to make a hungry reader drool, though I’ll have to pass on the carrot and tuna salad. – Michelle Smith

Maid-sama!, Vols. 11-12 | By Hiro Fujiwara | Viz Media – I wonder if the author has now been told she can pursue her endgame as she pleases, as things continue to happen in these two volumes of Maid-sama!. Turns out that while Usui is the black sheep of the family, that doesn’t mean he gets to run away and settle down with some normal Japanese girl (if you can define Misaki as normal). As for Misaki herself, she’s trying to take a good look at why she’s constantly angry all the time, and it’s earning results, even if repression is likely not the answer. We’ve gotten to the point where external forces are the only thing keeping these two apart, so we get to ramp them up. (Also, is Misaki’s sister sweet on Hinata or is it me?) Recommended for Maid-sama! fans and angry girl fans .– Sean Gaffney

The Prince in His Dark Days, Vol. 2 | By Hico Yamanaka | Kodansha Comics – Atsuko Okawa is being paid a million yen to impersonate a missing rich kid named Itaru. Though Itaru spent most of the first volume “off-camera,” the possible reasons for the disappearance were still the most intriguing thing about the series. I didn’t really expect any deviation from Atsuko’s fish-out-of-water, gender-bending masquerade, so spending time with Itaru was a pleasant surprise, even if the timeline was a little confusing. Itaru is having an identity crisis, and is terrified of vulnerability after a lifetime being renowned for arrogance and toughness. It’s actually fairly captivating, which makes going back to Atsuko’s story kind of a drag (no pun intended), even if I did like the shoujo soap opera cliffhanger at the end. If you were kind of “meh” about the first volume, the second might change your mind. – Michelle Smith

Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami, Vol. 1 | By Midori Gotou and Natsuo Sai, based on a story by Gen Urobochi | Dark Horse Comics – Once again, I am reading a prequel to an anime I have never seen. I am familiar with Gen Urobochi, however, which means I’m trying not to get too attached to this cast of supernatural detectives who I assume will die in pain and agony. For the moment, however, they’re busy hunting down criminals whose emotional state has been judged to be criminal—technology can do that now, apparently. If you haven’t seen the anime, the reason to get this is that it’s a pretty good police drama with some good action scenes. If you have, then you likely know more than I do why to get it. Pretty good. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 5 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – For one of the greatest of all Shakespearean villains, Richard III makes a pretty nifty shoujo heroine… as well as a shoujo hero, fittingly enough. Here he’s romanced, somewhat unwittingly on his part, by King Henry’s son. Yes, that’s King Henry again, as he’s back on the throne, though it suits him incredibly badly. Kanno gets Henry’s disturbing religious zealotry pitch-perfect, impressing me. He’s also something of a zealot when it comes to Richard, and after Richard is wounded, their interaction takes up much of the last part of the book. If Richard has realized that he loves Henry, where can this go? Nowhere good, that’s for sure. And, as I suspect I’ll be saying a lot in the future, poor Anne! – Sean Gaffney

RIN-NE, Vol. 22 | By Rumiko Takahashi | VIZ Media – It’d been a while since I’d read any RIN-NE, but a mini-marathon this weekend really hit the spot. A few new characters have now joined the mix, most notably Anematsuri-sensei, whose “Peeking Ball” figures into several of the stories in this volume. Mostly, we get stuff like a scythe that functions like a scratch-off lottery ticket, a judo enthusiast cursed by the tree he keeps kicking, one school vending machine haunting another, etc. Probably the best chapter was the one in which we glimpse the characters’ dreams as they attempt to capture a supernatural critter. However, while I do enjoy the gentle, no-pressure read that RIN-NE offers, I can’t help wishing Takahashi were employing her talents on something with a little more plot. – Michelle Smith

Rose Guns Days Season Two, Vol. 1 | By Ryukishi07 and Nana Natsunishi | Yen Press – I mentioned the last volume left things up in the air a lot, and unfortunately, Season Two doesn’t help to answer much, as it becomes apparent we’re going to focus on a new cast for the most part. Oh sure, Rose is around, as is Wayne, and the others get brief cameos. But Leo seems to actually be gone, and taking his place at the protagonist we have “Rapunzel,” a young girl with amnesia who ends up taken in by Rose’s crew. As we get to know her and the group of three misfits assigned to protect her, Rose deals with a growing unease between the Chinese and the Japanese, which honestly we could have predicted after the last arc. Not as good as Higurashi or Umineko. – Sean Gaffney

Twinkle Stars, Vol. 1 | By Natsuki Takaya | Yen Press – I reviewed the two volumes collected here five years ago, but couldn’t let Yen’s much-anticipated release go by without even a brief to commemorate it! Happily, I think I enjoyed the story even more than last time. Star-crazy Sakuya Shiina, like Tohru Honda, hides family trauma behind a cheery disposition and does her best to understand the people in her orbit, namely her cousin/paid guardian Kanade, who has evidently burnt out on the world, and a boy named Chihiro Aoi who wants to escape from reality. Nearly everyone except for Sakuya’s forthright friend Yuuri seems to be nurturing a secret, with readers receiving brief glimpses of some of these, and I am so excited to be able to get the rest of the story! It may not be much like Fruits Basket, but I bet it’ll be very good indeed. – Michelle Smith

Barakamon, Vol. 12 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – The absence of Naru’s immediate family was always very unstated in the series, and it’s unsurprising that Handa thought they were both dead—the reader likely did as well. But her father, at least, is shown not to be dead, but to be away at sea most of the year, and his return for Christmas is what carries most of this volume. Naru is very Yotsuba-esque most of the time, but she is a seven-year-old girl with real feelings, and her need for her father is telling even as she sort of elides it. Her dad, meanwhile, is a well-meaning goof, but should really step up more, and Handa is, as always, a good bridge between the two. Barakamon is sweet and good-hearted and always puts a smile on my face. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 5 | By Izumi Tsubaki | Yen Press – I don’t normally watch the anime versions of the manga I read, but a friend introduced me to the Nozaki-kun anime and it’s pretty great. In fact, watching it gave me a better sense of the comic timing in the series, and I think that has carried over to how I read the manga, because I enjoyed it even more than before. Scenarios in this volume include Kashima having a cold and various guys volunteering to speak for her, the gang going on a drama club training camp, and Nozaki’s search for a cute merchandise-friendly mascot for his series. There is a gag relating to the latter that made me laugh out loud, but I also enjoyed a glimpse at the process for how such things are incorporated into a series, as well as a brief lesson on how cover designs come to be. A little informative, a lot amusing! – Michelle Smith

My Hero Academia, Vol. 6 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I did ask for villains, and here they are, including one who seems to be angry at people who are heroes for the wrong reason. This volume has a lot to say about what makes a good hero and what makes a villain. Midoriya gains a mentor, who is impressed at the fact that he can think on his feet and is trying to teach him how to be more intuitive. But more importantly, Ida is bent on revenge against the man who destroyed his hero brother, who will likely never walk again. This is understandable, but revenge is always a BAD reason to be a hero. Luckily, we also see Midoriya being clever here, and he not only saves Ida but also calls for help, something I wish more shonen heroes did. Excellent series. – Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 80 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – For a while now, I’ve been ready to move on from Dressrosa, but I’ll be damned if Oda’s farewell narration to the island and its inhabitants didn’t make me a little verklempt. That said, this is one of those volumes full of updates on the world at large, hints about plots to come, and glimpses at future foes. I always enjoy it when the story’s scope widens this way, though it makes me wonder exactly how long the series is going to be (and whatever happened with those obelisk things Robin was studying?). The crew reunion at the end of the volume comes as a welcome relief, and I am further manipulated by Oda into being totally invested in the Sanji cliffhanger. Still addicted after 80 volumes! – Michelle Smith

Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 12 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | VIZ Media – When last we left off, ineffectual Ienari was the shogun and his odious mother, Harusada, was capriciously poisoning those of his heirs that displeased her. In this volume, she gets her comeuppance in a satisfying way, plus Ienari grows a spine and makes perfecting and distributing the redface pox vaccine his priority. The story could almost end here, with a victory for the good guys, except that wouldn’t be nuanced enough for Ooku. Instead, time passes swiftly and we see Ienari gradually being corrupted by power and the knowledge of his (and Aonuma’s, Gennai’s, and Kuroki’s) contributions lost to history because Japan cannot admit any weakness with foreigners literally on the horizon. Captivating and bittersweet, this is a series with broad scope and I trust that Yoshinaga has a destination in mind. I’ll be waiting for volume thirteen! – Michelle Smith

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Vol. 11 | By Miki Yoshikawa | Kodansha Comics – And so Yamada-kun finally wraps things up and comes to an end. Yamada cleverly uses his wish to get rid of the witch powers, most of the witches are pretty happy with that, and most importantly, he confesses to Shiraishi and they become an official couple. This has been a terrif… wait, what? The series is still going? Yes, that’s right, welcome to “this is too popular to cancel,” the inverse of “cut short,” as we now have the adventures of the new student council, with some old friends but also some new characters. How this will develop I’m not sure, given it’s barely begun, and I’ll definitely give it a shot, but I do sort of wish that things had ended here, as it was perfect. – Sean Gaffney