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By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialized in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

Wandering Son has ended in Japan at 15 volumes, so we are now sure that we’re entering the middle third of this story. And things sort of simmer along here. There are no major crises this time around, as we slowly develop some of the things that started in the prior volume. Chiba and Mitori continue to rewrite Romeo and Juliet to suit their tastes and desires, though in the end neither one really get what they want. Nitori makes a confession to Takatsuki, but finds the answer far more ambiguous than he’d really like. And remember when I said Chiba was now stoic rather than emotional? Yeah, nevermind.

Chiba continues to be the character that most interest me, which meant this volume was particularly suited towards me, as she stomps through it like Godzilla (Ariga even notes at one point that she walks angrily), taking offense at everything and particularly the fact that people’s feelings may not match up with her own. She gets a boy who likes her here, but the feeling does not seem to be mutual, and she’s more determined than ever to get closer to Nitori, even as he tries to get closer to Takatsuki. Both succeed about the same amount, which is to say not at all.

Speaking of Takatsuki, she’s still going through her own issues. The bra thing is really bothering her, and someone talking about wearing a chest wrapping may provide a solution. In the meantime, though, she clearly cherishes her relationship with Nitori, but gets uncomfortable when it’s made explicit that he likes her, something that I suspect will bounce back on her in a bad way in the future. They are really cute, though, going on picnics together and dates where they can each dress as they want to. It’s very cute, and very safe. Nitori is getting bolder as well, trying on his sister’s bra and panties despite his feelings of guilt – it reads as uncomfortably as it sounds, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

As for the rest of the cast, Ariga gets the most development here, as he ends up being cast as Juliet opposite Chiba’s Romeo. He seems to be the one who understands her the most, and tries occasionally to calm her raging emotions, though his success rate is low. It’s not helped by his own poor self-image, which drives Chiba nuts as she demands he have more confidence in himself. We only see bits and pieces of the play, but it’s good to see that after a bad start, he grows more confident in the role as he goes along.

Other things to note: I liked Sasa being asked about love, and noting that she hasn’t really loved anyone like that, both because I felt it realistic and also because it does sort of close her out of her immediate peer group, all of whom are dealing with crushes of one sort or another (I loved her reaction to Ariga noting he’d felt this way “a few times”). Sarashina hasn’t really advanced much beyond ‘being loud’ and ‘saying the wrong thing at the wrong time’, but I’m sure we’ll get more in the coming volumes. She does get the best gag, though, as Maho’s fellow models wear semi-obvious disguises and go to her culture festival, and Sarashina notes Anna is “the mean one”, to Maiko’s amusement.

Wandering Son continues to be a heartwarming series that is not afraid to focus on the awkward moments of teenage life and put them under a microscope. If you aren’t reading this series, you’re really missing out.

By Mamoru Hosoda, Iqura Sugimoto, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Vertical.

The second volume of Summer Wars is, by virtue of its plot, a lot more action-oriented than the first one was. All our guns have been set up, and we see them fired off. But this volume continues to give us the best parts of the first volume as well, showing the importance of family, maturing and growing up, taking responsibility for your own actions, and even throwing in a bit of a love story to boot.

I was especially pleased to see the development of Natsuki, who not only grows as a character but almost takes on a messianic role in the final showdown with the AI. She’s been fairly indecisive and uncertain so far – using Kenji as an excuse to avoid questions and conflict – well, the wrong sort of conflict – and the death of her grandmother puts her at a mental standstill for the first half of this book. Luckily, finding her grandmother’s late words galvanizes her, and she is able to do what her young cousin could not. (I actually liked that fakeout – we assumed, since King Kazma had lost once, that he would come back and defeat the AI once and for all. But no, in the end, our heroine needs an action equivalent to our hero, so instead of punching the problem to death we get a giant game of hanafuda.

I absolutely loved seeing the hanafuda game – or its variant used here, Koi Koi – in the final battle. It’s been a favorite of mine for a few years (it was included on an early Nintendo DS cartridge, Clubhouse Games) and is a good choice here as it relies on both luck AND skill in equal measure. Skill can’t always save a bad hand – but knowledge of strategy and what your opponent has discarded are a must, and we see that here. The virtual reality environment helps to dramatize what is still a card game, and we also get to have that comeback from when all is lost, as Natsuki loses all her accounts and then gains even more thanks to the trust of everyone watching her.

The 20 Minutes Into The Future aspect of this world works quite well – we do have this huge virtual reality thing that can, if taken over by a rogue AI, destroy the world. But mostly we see, things haven’t changed much, which feels right. It helps that Natsuki’s family lives out in the sticks. The rest of the family doesn’t get quite as much attention, but like Natsuki they also have to deal with the death of the family head, and we see how badly it affects the group – which splinters off into different groups before coming together. Then at the end everyone is there for the final battle of Kenji vs. the AI, even if it may mean certain death (the computer has decided to drop a satellite on everyone’s head), and they all hug each other as it descends (it gets diverted, in case you were worried).

In the end, Summer Wars is a sweet and heartwarming manga about the ties of family, becoming confident in your own abilities, and math. Definitely recommended for romance fans – or even those who like techno-thrillers.

By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Ikki. Released in North America by Viz.

I’ll be honest, it can be pretty easy when you’re reading Dorohedoro to simply forget about the plot and characters and just let yourself be led along. Not that the plot and characters aren’t terrific – they are, even if 3 volumes a year means that ti can be hard to recall who is what much of the time. No, it’s just that Dorohedoro is possibly the most sensory manga being released over here now that Children of the Sea (also an Ikki title, you’ll note) has finished. Chapter 63 in particular would be hilarious or terrifying if it weren’t just so fascinating, watching these partial corpses go about their day inside the fractal dreams of Caiman and Nikaido – well, perhaps Caiman. We’re *really* not sure about him anymore.

See, that’s Caiman on the cover – only it isn’t. He has a regular head, and is calling himself Aikawa. In fact, the similarities to Ai from flashbacks are unmistakable. And he seems to have some memories from before – he certainly wants to avoid Nikaido, and after she forcibly makes him show his face, promptly runs off again. As for whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy, let’s remember that this is Dorohedoro. There are no good guys here. I assume he will continue to be a major plot point.

As for other heroes, they’re not having the best volume either. Nikaido is back in En’s clutches, but seems determined to not help even if it means her death – her memory of her childhood past is still holding her back. It looks as if En is going to force the issue… but then comes the end of the volume. Remember last time when I said it showed off how overpowered En was? Well, he’s just run into Curse, and may be firmly dead now. Yikes. Fujita fares slightly better, managing to restore Ebisu to something resembling life… sadly, she has a lucky hairpin stuck in her brain, and so her mind is somewhat broken. Of course, that’s not really a big change from before.

In a series where no one is quite what they seem, and identities change from day to day (oh look, there’s Risu – whoops), that may be why I keep getting drawn back to the art. It seems more sinister and horror-movie than usual this time around, and even the gratuitous fanservice comes in the middle of a big action sequence. The artist recently revealed that she’s trying to end the series with Volume 20 (one volume more than planned by her publisher), so we’ve just passed the halfway mark. As such, if everything is accelerating downward, it should be no surprise.

There’s not even a lot of humor here, beyond the dark as pitch kind. As I said, the images of all the head and torsoless bodies wandering around the city, doing their daily business is sort of creepy-amusing in a Shintaro Kago sort of way. And there’s the thought process of Judas’ Ear, one of the few characters, along with Natsuki of the Cross-Eyed gang, who can still be described as innocent. (You could throw Fujita in there as well, but I find it hard to do so in a volume he spends trying to resurrect his dead crush.)

In short, reading Dorohedoro remains a head trip, and you have little choice but to let it drag you along. Even if it’s headed to hell, as is becoming increasingly apparent.