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Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 14

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 14 by Mizuho Kusanagi

I always put down each volume of Yona of the Dawn feeling like Kusanagi has just served up a master class in plot and character development, but I felt that way even more in this volume, which shows Yona traveling to visit the Water Tribe and confronting some very serious issues along the way. As soon as they arrive on Water Tribe land, Jaeha takes the opportunity to invite Hak along to visit the Red Light District, because the women of the Water Tribe are legendary for their beauty. Yona’s cloaked reactions as this conversation unfolds underscores how much she cares. Hak turns Jaeha down, and Jaeha heads out to explore the city solo, sensing that something is very wrong with the town. He meets up with a couple ladies, who burn some suspicious incense and offer him some of the special local rice wine. Jaeha goes along with everything, as he suspects that someone is watching both him and the girls.

Yona of the Dawn 14

Yona and her crew rescue Jaeha and go out to investigate, learning that the Kai empire is flooding the town with a drug called Nadai. Yona is determined to stay and fight the drug traffickers, even though Jaeha urges her to leave. The leadership and confidence Yona has developed over the course of 14 volumes has me confident that she’ll leave the Water Tribe lands in a better state than when she arrived. Yona’s group also attracts the attention of some local dignitaries, Ladi Riri and her two companions Ayura and Tetra. Riri first thinks that Yona is suspicious, but eventually realizes that the groups have similar goals. Seeing Riri’s assessment of Yona shifting as she learns more about her just serves to underscore Yona’s strength. There’s time for a little bit of situational comedy as Riri is horrified that Yona routinely sleeps outside, surrounded by men.

After some army battles in the last volume, there’s a return to close action sequences featuring Yona’s determination as well as the unique abilities of her protectors. This volume ends on a cliffhanger, but I’m very curious to see how Yona and her companions change and grow after being challenged by the situation in the Water Tribe kingdom. I’m also happy to see Yona getting some more female friends as she continues her travels.

MachiMaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl!, Vol. 1

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By Souryu. Released in Japan as “Machigatta ko wo Mahou Shoujo ni Shite Shimatta” by Shinchosha, serialization ongoing in the online magazine Kurage Bunch. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by David Musto and Wesley Bridges. Adapted by Jennifer Geisbrecht.

Longtime readers may be rather surprised I’m reviewing this at all, as I’ve made no secret of my distaste for the current genre of “Magical Girl Splatter”. Technically starting with Madoka Magica (which I have far less of a problem with), the more recent Magical Girl titles – all meant to be read by teen or adult men – seem to have an audience that wants to see cute girls get mentally broken and then killed off in gory ways. It’s not so much a deconstruction of the genre as a carpet bombing of it – “see, girls? THIS is what happens to magical girls! Dream of something else!” So I was not all that thrilled when I saw that Seven Seas had picked up another take on “magical girls for men”. And indeed, for the most part that’s exactly what this is. Still, there’s at least something here that made me finish the title and be curious for more.

Myu, one of those classical magical girl mascots who speaks cutely and acts as a catalyst for the plot, is being chased by a killer demon. Myu needs to find a magical girl fast, and spots a seemingly cute young girl with princess girls. Quickly it makes her the chosen one… whereupon she pulls out a cigarette and starts smoking, complaining about her teacher and acting like a stereotypical delinquent. Whoops! The demon shows up, and honestly she’s able to give it a good pounding just using her own power and lust for violence. She’s not really all that happy with the transformation either, given it strips her in the classic magical girl tradition. Now Myu has to deal with a grumpy, video-game obsessed heroine and continue to fight the bad guys… whose attacks now center entirely on Earth, allowing other mascots to take a vacation and leave it all to Myu. Even worse, the class president of another school has been turned into a dark magical girl… maybe? Who’s the dark one here?

First things first: after reading only about 15 pages of this title, you will have more panty shots than most other series put in an entire volume. If you thought “this is one of those authors where everything else he’s ever done has been porn”, you’d be absolutely correct. There’s also a relatively high body count, as (typically for the “male” magical girl genre) there are lots of victims gorily killed by the demons… or indeed by the magical girls… who don’t magically come back to life later. All of that said… it is nice to see that Kayo, the titular magical girl, is not here to be anyone’s tragic victim, and the delinquent guy who’s in love with her is essentially her lackey and whipping boy. (As a sign that this is not meant to be taken entirely seriously, the “pointy delinquent hairstyle” he sports is a wig, and he’s actually a bishonen underneath it.)

I don’t recommend this to anyone but the intended audience, let’s get that straight. That said, if you’d like a somewhat lighter, or at least more amusing, tone of nihilism in your magical girl splatter manga, MachiMaho is entirely up your alley.

Invaders of the Rokujouma!?, Vol. 16

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By Takehaya and Poco. Released in Japan as “Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Warnis.

We’re now in the 2nd half of this long series of light novels, and the author is taking the time to wrap up the plots. Sanae was first, mostly as her plot tied into others and was fairly easily resolved. Yurika and Maki’s has honestly barely been touched beyond introducing various strata of evil magical girls, and there’s a sense there’s much more to it. Theia’s is, most like, the main plotline, and thus is not wrapping up anytime soon. And that leaves Kiriha’s, and unfortunately, it’s really not as good a climax as I’d like. I mentioned last time that Kiriha’s antagonist was a classic laughing villain type, and thus he’s pretty dull. He’s so dull that the more interesting villains assisting him just wander off when it becomes clear he’s going down. We’re also introduced to “surprise villain”, but he barely ties into the cast and no one really cares. The battle scenes are cool, though.

The plot is divided into two parts, as Kiriha and Koutarou head underground to deal with the villains trying to use a giant earthquake machine to destroy the world (the fact that I had to type that sentence out in a review that is not about MST3K says a lot about this arc), while Theia and her group head to the machine itself to try to destroy it. Everyone gets to use their powers to do something cool, and we get to see that the reason our heroes are always able to succeed so easily is their empathy and compassion. There’s a lost of discussion of justice in this book (actually, there’s a lot of lecturing about justice in this book), and the idea that justice means you are doing the right thing only works if you’re not, say, a cackling madman convinced that the right thing is to RULE THE WORLD!

Honestly, when all is said and done this feels like the ending to a sentai series or something like that. Even Kiriha is not immune to the tropes, giving Koutarou her trading card back in a blatant “I am going to sacrifice myself and die so that you can all be happy” ploy, which the reader will be unsurprised to hear gets her yelled at by EVERYONE afterwards. The addition of the sentai rangers also helps to sell this as being along the lines of a pastiche, which is fine in and of itself, but if we’re genuinely resolving the issues that make up Kiriha’s arc in the series (as we seem to here), it feels rather undercooked. There is a very nice scene at the end, despite some Yurika abuse for comedic affect again (could be a concussion… eeeeh, she’ll be fine) where Kiriha essentially proposes while admitting the status quo has to stay the way it does. The romance in this series is still well handled.

The next volume appears to be a “let’s do a lighter book” type, as it’s summer and we’re all going on a vacation. I look forward to that, but I also look forw3ard to getting back to the alien and magical girl plots, both of which seems to have more dramatic heft than the underground dwellers did.

Plus-Sized Elf, Vol. 1

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By Synecdoche. Released in Japan as “Elf-san wa Yaserarenai” by Wani Books, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Gum. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jennifer O’Donnell. Adapted by David Lumsdon.

As those who follow me on Twitter know, I frequently make comments about manga as I’m reading them, before I do a review. This are usually glib, off-the-cuff, and not meant to be taken seriously. Case in point: while reading Plus-Sized Elf, I noted that it was an odd combination of a fetish manga and an exercise manual, and several people actually sounded more interested in it than they were. So I want to clarify here: we’re talking about 85% fetish manga and 15% exercise here. You have to really, really like seeing large breasts, large butts, and the women who possess them, as they’re on pretty much every page. That said, when I heard that this was a title that ran in Comic Gum, I was actually expecting much worse than I actually got. Plus-Sized Elf is, in the end, goofy fun, and far more interested in gazing at plump girls than in doing anything sexual with them.

That’s our heroine on the cover, clutching her McDonald’s fries and glaring at us. She’s Elfuda, an elf (the names are not exactly world-beaters in this title) who has come to the human world to eat, because additives and preservatives are unheard of in fantasy land, and things TASTE SO GOOD with them. Unfortunately, this means she’s gained more weight than she’d really like. She ends up at an osteopath clinic and meets Naoe, a young man who does a combination of massage therapy and diet/exercise advice. After taking care of her horribly out-of-alignment bones, he recommends a diet that works… at first, but Elfuda quickly backslides. As the title goes on, we meet more fantasy creatures that are hanging out in Naoe’s town, all of whom have various reasons for being on the hefty side: a dark elf who’s standing at her job all day, a mandragora girl whose large flower on her head (and possibly other large things) leads to poor posture, an ogre who loves booze, etc.

As I said above, there’s something that so far is very obviously missing from this title, and that’s any sense that it’s a “harem” series. Naoe clearly appreciates full-figured women, and he can be seen blushing a number of times. But none of the girls who he helps and meets up with really seem to be that into him. This is not about a guy amassing a bunch of women, it’s about a bunch of women and the guy who hangs around them. The manga also manages to walk that fine line between finding amusement in Elfuda’s inability to resist junk food and keep weight off without actively mocking her for it. And a lot of Naoe’s advice is pretty good, too – there is a BIT of exercise manual in here, as I said. Again, this is still a title you should only get if you don’t mind fanservice – there’s several shots of the women eating food and getting massages that are basically orgasm face art. But if you don’t, Plus-sized Elf proved to be more fun than I expected.

Manga the Week of 10/24/18

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SEAN: October continues to push out new titles to break our banks.

First, I missed another release in last week’s list. Out tomorrow is the 6th Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress from Bookwalker.

Dark Horse has a debut I’m excited about. Mob Psycho 100 is by the author of One-Punch Man, and this time he’s also the artist. It runs in Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday, is based off the webcomic, and is about a psychic boy.

MICHELLE: Ooh, interesting!

MJ: This also sounds interesting to me!

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Yup, count me in!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some ongoing series, with a 4th Infinite Stratos, a 2nd Kokoro Connect, and a 3rd volume of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha print debuts another Fairy Tail spinoff, Lightning Gods.

Kodansha digital is a different story. We begin with Forest of Piano, a series I never thought would make it over here. A long-running award-winning story about a piano prodigy, it ran in Morning magazine (actually, it debuted in Uppers, which tells you how old it is) and has its first seven omnibuses all debut digital-only next week. Will this be the title that forces Ash to buy digitally?

MICHELLE: Woot!

MJ: I don’t often buy digital either, but I kind of want this. Like, a lot.

ANNA: Wow, that sounds like something I should pick up.

ASH: Aaaaah, I really am going to start buying digital titles one of these days, aren’t I?

SEAN: On a more shoujo note, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love is a Betsufure title about a girl who hasn’t had a love affair yet and her persistently annoying teacher who is likely the reason why. For those who like amusing jerk heroes.

And we have Ace of the Diamond 16, Defying Kurosaki-kun 5, Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live? 4, Liar x Liar 7, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 5.

MICHELLE: I love Ace of the Diamond and one of these days I’ll read Kichijoji.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. Machimaho: I Missed Up and Made the Wrong Person into a Magical Girl! is not based on a light novel, despite the lengthy title. It runs in Shinchosha’s Kurage Bunch, and does not seem to be quite as dark as Seven Seas’ other Magical Girl titles. Violent delinquent turned magical girl is the premise.

Plus-Sized Elf is the other debut, from Wani Books’ Comic Gum. Given that it’s from Comic Gum, I would expect the fanservice to also be plus-sized. Also, despite the titular elf, I have a suspicion this is a monster girl title in general. It’s seemingly about an elf hooked on junk food.

ASH: I’ll admit I’m curious. Also, I will be very disappointed if there aren’t French fries.

Seven Seas also has Harukana Receive 2, Made in Abyss 4, Magical Girl Apocalypse 16, Nameless Asterism 3, and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 6.

Vertical Comics has a 4th omnibus of The Flowers of Evil.

Lastly, Viz has a 7th digital-only volume of élDLIVE.

I suspect Manga Bookshelf is thinking of pianos next week. How about you?

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Vol. 7

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By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan by Overlap, Inc. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

This is a strong volume of Realist Hero, getting back to what most people reading the series are here for. No, not harems, though there’s a lot of that going around. No, not sex, there’s none of that here. But diplomacy gets to be front and center again, as Souma and his entourage end up traveling to not-Turkey to see what that nation is all about. There they find themselves designing syringes and scalpels, dealing with a boisterous yet forward-thinking young prince, heading off the discovery of quite a nasty dungeon (and seeing what it does to the poor villagers who lived next to it), and negotiating a three-way trade agreement involving doctors, drugs, medical tools, and the power of HOVERCRAFTS! And all this is only in the first two-thirds of the book, so there’s plenty of time for short stories involving things like dragon meteorologists and Juno (from the group of adventurers) finally learning the truth about her mysterious adventuring companion.

Sadly, our main heroine, Liscia, is totally absent from the story. She’s pregnant, you see, and so has gone off to live away from all society in case something should happen to the child. In reality, I do sort of wonder if she’s been exiled due to her Saberface. Probably not, though, given that this volume sees the introduction of Yuki and Mikuru from the Haruhi Suzumiya series. Well, OK, not really, but close enough. They’re childhood friend and bodyguard, respectively, of the Turgis prince, who is filled with fresh new ideas and also a head full of teenage stupid, which is what leads him to doing things like proposing to 12-year-old fox girls. You’re meant to get the sense that when he matures he’ll be an excellent leader, and there’s hints of that here, though you can also see why not-Yuki calls him dumb all the time. You also get the sense his polyamorous relationships are shaping up nicely. Speaking of which, Hal has recovered nicely from accidentally getting a dragon bride last book, only for us to find that he’s adding an elf soon as well. the book does not have to pair off Souma with EVERYONE.

The worldbuilding is the highlight of the book, once more. There’s a real feel that the author remembers what he wrote before and is building on and adding to it constantly, which is not only the case in books adapted from webnovels, where often you get the sense the author is just thinking “what is the next cool thing?”. Admittedly, sometimes I could do without the worldbuilding – Komain’s refugees are meant to echo the plight of Native Americans, but having her literally look like a Native American stereotype, complete with war paint and feathers, is a bit much. Still, for the most part I am happy and content to see where the book leads me next. Will we finally deal with the demons? Will Souma be reaching out to yet another country? Will he ever work up the nerve to go to bed with another one of his fiancees? This is apparently a big seller for J-Novel Club, and it’s easy to see why. Go get it.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 14

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By Mizuho Kusanagi. Released in Japan as “Akatsuki no Yona” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by JN Productions, Adapted by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane.

As I’ve mentioned before, Jaeha is my favorite of the Dragons, and I suspect I’m not alone there. He fits into a lot of characterization buckets that appeal to me. Indeed, he frequently puts himself in those buckets, behaving a specific way either because he wants to be seen that way, or in order to distract from how he’s really feeling. And traveling with Yona and company is troubling him, as he’s falling for Yona hard, which would be fine except that a) he totally sees the writing on the wall with Yona and Hak, and b) he worries that it’s his dragon blood MAKING him feel this way for her. As a result, in this volume we see Jaeha at his most reckless, sneaking off to a brothel partly to piss off Hal but mostly as he senses there’s something wrong about the new town they’re in. And unfortunately, Jaeha’s “always save the girl” mode also kicks in, leading him to be drugged with something quite potent.

Fortunately for Jaeha, his attempts at acting like everything is TOTALLY FINE and he is just being a horndog are doomed to failure, so Yona ends up rescuing him. Unfortunately, rescuing the town will take some doing, as its residents are in various stages of addition. Once again, Yona decides to stick around to see if this is something that can be fixed, with relatively little argument for once. Indeed, for part of the volume Yona and company are seen as they might be from the outside – as the most obviously suspicious ones. This is because we’re introduced to the young and idealistic princess of the water tribe, Riri, who is there to remind us of what Yona used to be like back at the beginning of this series. Indeed, she’s even got her own female equivalents of Hak and Jaeha as her bodyguards, though one of them might not survive an end-of-volume stabbing.

I do find it amusing that no one seems to recognize Yona, but instead Hak is the one that they find familiar – he’s not exactly an unknown face either. This ia a fantasy world with little modern technology, which is probably why The Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch can get away with as much as they do, but they’re getting famous too, and eventually Su-Won is not going to be able to run into Yona on the battlefield and just go “whoops”. This series is long-running, and we’re nowhere near finished, but I am wondering what the endgame for it is going to be. In the meantime, Yona is far more concerned with saving Tetra (the Jaeha-ish bodyguard who was stabbed) and showing off that, even if her sword skills are rough and unpolished, facing off against Hak is a lot harder than facing off against nameless goon #2.

I feel like I’m ending each review the same way, but it’s always true. Yona of the Dawn is one of the best series Viz is putting out. You should be reading it.

In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 10

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By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Three-fourths of this volume is a fairly typical Smartphone volume, with the added bonus of actually resolving some long-standing plot developments and introducing a “new” character who, while I may not love her, certainly has the ability to put a lot of things in motion. Unfortunately, that leaves one-fourth of Smartphone which is absolute garbage, having all the worst tendencies of this series wrapped up in an awful bow. Touya’s sociopathy, villains who sneer and cackle but are also cowardly and ugly, barely disguised hatred of China. It’s all here, and it sucks. I’ve talked before about how I sometimes wonder if Touya is meant to occasionally be a deconstruction of some sort, but it just doesn’t hold up all that well. The author thinks that having the occasional character remind Touya that he’s in danger of becoming a monster, and Touya essentially going “Oh, OK”, will take the curse off of it. It does not.

The cover features Sakura, whose backstory is finally revealed as Touya, hilariously, realizes he could have cured her amnesia all along with a simple spell. The recovery of memories allows us to be introduced to yet another smothering father type, a running gag in this series (to the point where the girls all admit that Touya will certainly become one of those as well), and also allows Sakura to join the harem, which is now “complete” at nine wives, though some of them girls are a bit wary of accepting that it’s a closed circle now, given Touya is, well, Touya. They’re more concerned about succession than actually jealous, though. The cover also features a young girl who, I’m sad to say, is Professor Regina Babylon, now in the present day and also in the body of a child-sized gynoid because, I think, the author finds it amusing. She’s just as perverse as ever, and when she and Cesca team up it’s bad news for everyone. I could have easily done without the spanking, though.

Touya also finally admits to his wives that he’s not from this world, something which they accept fairly easily. He also starts to show them anime, which may be a mistake, especially with the Professor watching Gundam. We also get a short story developing Ende and the Phrase, and explaining what happened in the past and why the Phrase keep on attacking Touya’s world. It is, at heart, a love story, and I liked Touya admitting that, despite the hideous loss of life, if it were him he may have been the same. (This is not hard to imagine given how much Touya doesn’t care about Yulong or anyone in it, though admittedly he only seems to meet bad guys there due to the whims of the author.) I suspect the majority of the Phrase are still evil, though, which means expect to have more giant robot battles in the near future. Which now include Sue, who is getting into the swing of things very fast.

Despite wanting to punch Touya and the author in the face for the Daydream Believer chapter (which also ruins one of my favorite Monkees songs), I’m still somehow still reading Smartphone. It’s one of the rare series which is at its best when doing dumb harem slice-of-life, as Touya needs to be constantly belittled by near everyone or else he becomes a monstrosity. Oh yes, added points to the illustrator, as the first three black and white illustrations in the book each made me laugh out loud, combining the text and a picture perfectly.

Bookshelf Briefs 10/15/18

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Bleach, Vol. 74 | By Tite Kubo | Viz Media – I have never actually reviewed Bleach as a brief… or indeed at all. I followed its periphery, keeping track of what was going on and trying not to be too invested. The final volume shows off many of its strengths and weaknesses… I enjoyed seeing Ichigo and Orihime fighting together, and the finale was sweet, but far too often the volume was Yhwach screaming “can’t you see your powers are USELESS against me!” like an MST3K villain. Still, say what you will about Bleach, it was always itself. It may feel like it was cancelled for not getting on with it (it probably was), but changing anything seems churlish. It’s that middle son who’s always a hot mess, who always gets forgiven. – Sean Gaffney

Dragon Half, Omnibus 2 | By Ryusuke Mita | Seven Seas – This continues to be a giant nostalgia trip, feeling very much like the sort of anime and manga that North America was getting in the early 1990s. Which it essentially is. Even the translation and adaptation feels like it’s a “dub,” and a good one like Shinesman. It’s not easy to analyze—aside from one or two heartwarming moments that last about one panel, it’s balls to the wall comedy every single page. But the comedy is ridiculous fun, with Mink shedding her skin and becoming stronger (and bustier), the villains still being 100% useless, and Lufa being 100% DTF. I think there’s one more omnibus to go, and theoretically this is coming to an ending, but the plot is irrelevant compared to the laughs. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 26 | By Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki | Viz Media – Eventually, theoretically, this arc will end. But it’s not this volume, or indeed the one after that. That said, it is nice to see Soma punted to the side here so that we can focus on some of the other cast. Kuga has a grudge, and wants to make his name remembered—I suspect the name will be remembered but he’ll lose. As for Mimasaka, it’s quite interesting to see his stereotypical evil cheat powers used in the name of good. And then there’s Megishima, and though we find out why he’s helping Soma and company in this book, I have to admit I simply like Rindo more, and I hope that she pulls it off. So yes, a good volume, but pretty sure the bad guys are gonna win, which means… more tournament arc. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 28 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – We are nearly caught up with Haikyu!!, which goes to “once every three months” starting with the new year. It’s been fun reading this volleyball title every week, and it helped me keep track of what’s going on better. The bout against Inarizaki takes up much of the second half, and is up to the usual high standards. I was also amused to see a hint of boy/girl romance in this book, as Ryunosuke’s childhood friend—there with her women’s volleyball team—clearly has a thing for him, but in the end, like a lot of shonen titles, she decides to emulate his SPORTS PASSION rather than confess. Besides, he’s still crushing on the manager (has she retired or not?). Haikyu!! is great fun. – Sean Gaffney

Himouto! Umaru-chan, Vol. 3 | By Sankakuhead | Seven Seas – We are reminded several times in this volume why the two siblings are the way they are—they’re very much on their own in the apartment. Here we learn their mother has passed away, and it seems there’s no father either. This explains a lot of Umaru’s immaturity, as well as Taihei’s tendency to let her do what she wants. I think I like the series best when it shows off the occasional sweet moment. Still, it’s because it’s occasional that it works so well—most of the time this series is content to rely on funny “Umaru is lazy” humor, such as accidentally screwing up the modem and having… NO INTERNET!… or forgetting about her New Year’s Resolution to be less slothful. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Vol. 2 | By Kaziya | Seven Seas – There’s not much here beyond “heartwarming stories of a magical vet,” but sometimes that’s all you need, and if this is going to be manga’s equivalent of All Creatures Great and Small I’m content to be along for the ride. The chapters are named after either the magical beast or their ailment, and despite involving supernatural creatures manage to be rather educational—the discussion of rye bread was particularly fascinating. Ziska is cute, Niko is patient and caring, and you root for both of them, even as some of the situations prove to be a lot more difficult to solve than others. This is the sort of title that will run as long as the audience is there to enjoy its peaceful, relaxed mood, and I’m one of that audience. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 22 | By Yuki Midorikawa | VIZ Media – Twenty-two volumes in, and Natsume’s Book of Friends is just getting better and better. The first two stories involve Natsume’s classmates—first, the story of an inn beloved by good yokai where the staff forget to display the curtain to ward off bad yokai one night, and second, the story of a mysterious nightly visitor who uses Natsume’s face to befriend Nishimura—and seeing events from their perspective ramps up the creepy atmosphere tenfold. As if those weren’t enough, the final story involves Natsume meeting the first yokai whose name appears in the book and learning more about Reiko in the process. It’s a tale both melancholy and lovely and I loved it very much. The twenty-third volume only came out in Japan last month, so sadly we’ve probably got a long wait for our next installment. – Michelle Smith

New Game!, Vol. 3 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – There’s some workplace development here—with Kou’s promotion, Hifumi is also encouraged to take a step forward, which she does shyly and reluctantly. Kou and Aoba also manage to collaborate on a character design, after some brief but well done drama, and the game looks ridiculously cute. For the most part, though, this continues to be about a group of girls and their everyday life, the same as many of these 4-koma titles. I had honestly thought there would be more yuri, but it’s mostly invisible—Rin clearly as a thing for Kou, but there’s no forward movement there. If you enjoyed the anime, or just like this style of manga, it’s a good volume. Needs to have the cast holding hands and jumping in the air. – Sean Gaffney

To Your Eternity, Vol. 6 | By Yoshitoki Oima | Kodansha Comics – Every single volume of this series has managed to shatter my heart and the sixth is no exception. To Your Eternity remains a manga that is both astonishingly beautiful and incredibly devastating. Oima utilizes a fantastical narrative to explore deeply philosophical and existential themes. Even as an immortal, Fushi struggles to survive in a world full of death. Fushi continues to learn, grow, and evolve, but the process is an exceptionally painful one requiring difficult decisions to be made over and over. The sixth volume dramatically concludes the Jananda arc–on an island populated by exiled criminals, Fushi is forced yet again to confront the complexities of human morality and mortality. Yes, there are crushing losses, but along with the sadness comes some amount of hope. The strength of the relationships that Fushi develops with others is a shining, guiding light in a life frequently punctuated with darkness and tragedy. – Ash Brown

Pick of the Week: Loving the Demon

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SEAN: There’s nothing that screams BUY ME! this week, but there are some ongoing titles I quite like. I will go with the 3rd Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededdestruction as my pick, as it’s reliably excellent so far.

MICHELLE: I’ve already sung the praises of Giant Killing several times, but I continue to enjoy this seinen take on sports manga very much. It’s my pick this week.

KATE: I’m going to shill for Dead Dead Demon again, since it’s currently one of my favorite new series of 2018. For anyone who’s been on the fence about this title, I encourage you to give it a try; it’s dark and funny without ever tipping into misery porn, a la Goodnight Pun-Pun or The Girl on the Shore.

ANNA: I haven’t read Dead Dead Demon yet, but I’ve been stockpiling the volumes. I expect I will like it just as much as Kate does, so that’s my pick too!

ASH: Dead Dead Demon is absolutely worth picking up (and I certainly will be), but for me this week the series also has to contend with the newest Junji Ito manga to be released in English–Frankenstein.