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

In my last review, I noted that all the characters were just starting to reach that age where love would come into the picture, and wondered what would happen when it arrived. Well, that moment is here, and the answer is simple: a trainwreck of feelings and emotions. There’s actually not as much regarding Nitori and Takatsuki’s gender identity disorder here, but there doesn’t need to be. Takako-san has set up all the characters’ wants and needs in the first three volumes, and now can send them careening everywhere confident that we’ll follow along.

This is not to say that everyone is embracing these new-found feelings. Nitori and Anna’s feelings for each other, for example, almost read like they’re out of Bob’s Big Book Of Manga Cliches. Anna is clearly attracted to Nitori, but is still a bit weirded out by Notori’s gender issues, so this tends to come out as abuse. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Anna to be as utterly tsundere as she is here, given this is a very realistic, subtle work. And Nitori is also attracted to Anna, but she’s sending all the wrong signals, so he just ends up frustrated. And then there’s Takatsuki to consider…

Sometimes friends fall out, particularly in the elementary school/middle school years. The tragedy of what happens with Saori is that she can see it – hell, she excoriates herself for it, quoting from Anne of Green Gables again – but still can’t help what her heart feels, and this causes her to lash out at Takatsuki. Meanwhile, Takatsuki’s relationship with Nitori is all over the school – there’s a rumor they were seen kissing, and it won’t quite die down. It’s getting to the point where Nitori and Takatsuki are starting to dream of each other… erotic dreams. Takako-san’s subtleties excel here, as you clearly know that we’re seeing wet dreams without there being anything racy or suggestive.

In the end, almost everyone ends up unhappy or unfulfilled here, which is not a surprise given the age of the protagonists. Saori seems to have shut down (the unwanted attention she’s getting from a male friend at church isn’t helping), and the others are simply trying to keep it together. The other friend in their little group, Sasa, barely appears, but it’s noted a couple of times they want to try to stay on an even keel for her – she seems to be the heart of the group. There is, however, one romance that does work out, and fittingly, it’s for a slightly older couple. Maho is finally able to get over her own shyness and panic, and she and Seya become a couple. (His own feelings for Nitori-as-a-girl are still an issue, of course.)

So another solid volume that really makes me love these characters even more. My favorite part of the entire book was probably a chapter where Nitori, frustrated by his sister, Anna, and everything going on at school, decides to run away. Not being able to afford to go anywhere, though, as the day progresses Nitori just ends up at a zoo. In the end, the day passes and on Nitori’s return, no one realizes he’s even been gone. Nitori’s imagination and emotions are further along than his maturity level, and it’s causing him great pain. Will middle school help to guide him? Can’t wait to find out.

By Satoko Kiyuduki. Released in Japan by Houbunsha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I have mentioned before, there are an awful lot of 4-koma series coming out featuring a bunch of eccentric, yet cute and lovable girls around high school age. Indeed, most of them are also being put out by Yen. And yet I’ve always enjoyed reading GA the most, particularly as it rewards detail-observant readers. There’s a lot going on here, not least of which is how much this series has taught me about art. And about how to draw a panda properly.

Actually, much of this volume takes place over the summer break, meaning we get the opportunity to observe the girls outside of the school environment. (Though this does mean we get less of the ‘B’ cast, i,e, Awara and company.) We even get to see a couple more family members, particularly Namiko’s sister, who turns out to be the sort of aggressively good at everything big sister that would drive Namiko insane (which is indeed what happens). We also get a brief view (back only) of Noda’s gorgeous big sister of legend. The siblings in GA tend to show off a lot of that ‘we can’t stand each other, but love each other deep down’ dynamic you like to see in comics like these.

The ‘art’ parts of the volume focus on the four seasons, and how you get your piece to show off what spring means, or summer, etc. This includes several examples of works that do precisely thins, both Western and Japanese, so you can go to Google and look up paintings like ‘Autumn in the Village’ by Marc Chagall or ‘Beach Baskets in Holland’ by Wassily Kandinsky. The art actually helps you to understand the girls better, as you see how they might see the world, and what kind of canvas they want to create with it.

The girls, by the way, are exceedingly cute here, as you would expect. A trip to a summer festival is enlivened by a fox spirit briefly taking the place of one of the girls (Kisaragi being Kisaragi, she goes to the fox shrine the day after to thank them for having fun with the rest of the girls). A trip means postcards, which the girls hand-draw, and discussion of how to balance picture and words (it also shows Namiko and Noda talking about getting married one day – sorry, yuri fans!). Perhaps the most poignant chapter shows Noda unknowingly showing up for school the first day of summer break, and having lunch while pretending her friends are there around her. Noda surrounded by people is the best Noda, I think we all agree.

As ever, if you’re looking for a deep manga with a lot to say about the human condition, this isn’t the one for you. It’s a 4-koma about cute high school kids, and no amount of praise from me is going to change that. If you do enjoy this genre, however, GA is fantastic, balancing humor, cuteness, and an appreciation of art, even if you aren’t artistic. It doesn’t come out very often (it’s caught up with Japan), but is always recommended.

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Karin Suzuragi. Released in Japan as “Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Matsuribayashi-hen” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Joker. Released in North America by Yen Press.

And so, finally, welcome to the Good End, as well as the longest of the arcs – it’s 8 volumes, or 4 omnibuses. We’ve come a long way to get to this point, seeing most of the main characters at their worst, and then later seeing them at their best. Well, mostly. The adults in Higurashi haven’t really gotten a good backstory yet. Particularly the villain of the piece. We knows that she’s insane and sociopathic – witness her face at the end of the Massacre Arc, as well as the plot she’s cooked up – but “she’s evil like that” is not a motivation, and Ryukishi07 has gone to great pains in previous arcs to show us how important someone’s past and the way their life unfolded can be to the actions they may take in the future. So, what’s Miyo Takano’s past?

Well, it starts with a little girl named Miyoko Tanashi. That’s her on the cover, isn’t she a cutie? She lives with a loving mother and father, and her hobbies are collecting flags of the world from a local restaurant chain. She is living a great childhood. Then… there’s a train accident. Miyoko went out to play with her friends instead of going shopping with her parents. From that, comes one of the most horrific childhoods we’ve seen in all of Higurashi, even managing to top Satoko and Rena’s. Miyoko’s father, before he dies, tries to get Miyoko to contact a researcher friend of his, but to no avail – Miyoko is sent to the local orphanage instead.

Orphanages in fiction are usually never a good deal, but this one goes above and beyond. (I have no idea if this is what orphanages in Japan were like in the early 60s – I hope it’s heavily exaggerated for dramatic effect.) It’s a prison camp for children, with daily beatings and abuse. Then comes the most striking scene of the volume, where Miyoko and her three other friends make an escape attempt from the orphanage – led by Eriko, who has heard there’s another orphanage a few miles away that’s loving and happy. What follows is… bad. They don’t escape – indeed, the whole “other orphanage” doesn’t seem to even exist. They are taken back. Eriko is tortured and killed by having her unconscious body tied down and covered in chicken feed, so she is basically pecked to death. I mention this as a spoiler because it’s so grotesque and graphic – everyone who reads the manga remembers this. The other two girls are rolled into a mat (which is then beaten with sticks) or put into a metal shower cage (and then beaten with sticks till they go deaf).

As for Miyoko, before capture she was able to accomplish a few things. First, she found a phone and managed to call her father’s friend. More importantly to the story, though, she screams at God to kill her, and a lightning bolt then comes down… directly behind her, missing her body. She takes this as a sign. It doesn’t go into effect right away – I won’t spoil her punishment, except that it’s the ugliest of the four, and the only reason she isn’t killed is that her father’s friend, Hifumi Takano, shows up to adopt her. (Note there is no suggestion the orphanage is ever shut down or stopped – only Miyoko is saved. I am reminded of the fact that everyone accepts Mion will be a yakuza head when she grows up. Morality in Higurashi can be starkly realistic when it wants to be.)

So, ten points to Hifumi for rescuing Miyoko, who changes her name to Miyo Takano. However, just putting her in a loving home and having her help with his research into brain parasites is not going to do the trick. Miyo clearly has post-traumatic stress disorder – we see her reliving the events of the orphanage more than once – and really should be getting therapy that she never gets. As a result, the PTSD will never really leave her, and drives her actions and descent into madness. Especially when the government mock and ridicule his research into parasites, and this drives him into deep despair. And so Miyo makes it her life’s dream to prove her father’s research is correct and that he was right all along. His research… into Hinamizawa Syndrome.

That leads us to the second half of the omnibus, where an adult Miyo is putting all her pieces into place. She’s not going to be stopped by some nasty old government officials – indeed, at one point, she believes that bullets won’t kill her (flashing back to the lightning bolt missing her as a sign). She delves further into his research, and also makes connections, showing that she’s an up-and-coming woman whose drive is not merely frivolous. (We briefly see her fighting a bit of “but gosh, why is a girl interested in parasites?” male doctors.) And finally, she gets what she wants – a research facility in Hinamizawa, with a helpful doctor in Kyousuke Irie, and a liaison in Jiro Tomitake. she notes Tomitake looks like an easy sucker, something that does not bode well for their relationship.

Irie is more complicated, though, and our sympathy shifts to him in this second half as Takano starts to slip deeper into madness. Turns out Irie, due to his parent”s crumbling marriage after his father had a head injury, has made it his life’s work to study brain injuries. Unfortunately, he was doing this around the time lobotomies were discredited, and therefore his career was somewhat ruined. Here in Hinamizawa, he’s trying to start over – being a nice helpful doctor, encouraging a young and stress-out Satoshi to take an interest in baseball – while also researching Hinamizaqwa Syndrome and trying to stop it. He’s a good guy, mostly.

Then they bring in a live specimen. The murderer of the dam construction manager, who is at Level 5 and trying to claw out his throat. And Takano blackmails Irie into dissecting his brain – while he’s alive. This really doesn’t bode well for Satoko Hojo, as she’s also showing signs of Hinamizawa Syndrome, and her parents fell off of a bridge just now in a very suspicious manner. Miyo isn’t too bothered – more live dissections! – but with Irie draw the line and cutting open a little girl?

As you can see, there’s a lot of backstory here, but it’s presented with a lot of dramatic effect – indeed, one might argue too much at times. This is really over the top grotesque in places, and the images of Eriko, and later the live dissections, are some of the more nightmare inducing of the entire series. That said, I think we can now see how Miyo Takano got to be the way she is, even if we can’t sympathize with her. Irie’s role in the series expanding is also a good thing, taking him away from “comedy lolicon doctor” and into a man trying to hold onto his ethics while still doing surgery FOR SCIENCE.

Karin Suzuragi did the Keiichi and Rena arcs, and her art is back as well for the final arc. It’s not my favorite of the artists, but it’s pretty good – although she’s not good at showing younger versions of our leads. Satoko in 1980 looks exactly the same as Satoko in 1983, and given that’s going between age 8 and age 12 or so, I’m not sure I buy that. Overall, though, for an omnibus whose job is to pour out backstory and explanations, this remains an amazingly gripping read, though of course I only recommend it for fans who’ve read the other books.

By Yuuki Kodama. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

I’d mentioned in my previous review that Blood Lad had become a very solid shonen series (that runs in a seinen magazine, yes). I’ll go further with Vol. 3: this is really excellent. The previous volume showed us the main characters being quite clever, something which continues here. But this volume also shows us the writer being very clever. Kodama has crafted a plot that makes me want to dig deeper, with no elements so far dominating the others. The internal power struggle for the demon world, the Frankenstein monster corpse-robbing from last time, and Staz’s quest to restore Fuyumi to life all get about the right weight, with few pointless side journeys. Best of all, we have Fuyumi’s backstory, which I’ll delve into further.

I knew coming in that Fuyumi’s family was going to somehow be connected to the demon world, given all the hints we’d had in the previous book. And indeed, that turns out to be exactly the case. But there’s no secret adultery or trips to the demon world here. Instead, there’s a very clever (and fairly creepy) use of doppelganger legends to show how Fuyumi is related to Bell and her brother while still remaining completely human. What’s more, it actually plays out what happens after with Bell and Fuyumi’s fathers, and shows us that the demon world is not the only one to have scary guys. This is easily my favorite part of the book.

Of course, Fuyumi’s reaction to this is pretty much the same as it’s been since the start of the series: dull surprise. This is actually lampshaded in the series, as she notes after discovering her mother’s real identity that she’s been too overwhelmed by events to process anything since she came into the demon world, and seems to have been fairly mellow even before her death. Still, it can be frustrating, especially given how often she’s meant to be fanservice for the reader, how passive she is. Her stepfather gives Staz two very important conditions to satisfy before he’ll let Fuyumi put herself in danger by journeying with him, and both of them amount to the same thing: give Fuyumi agency to decide things herself.

Which is good, because while Staz is not your typical shonen ‘rush into fights’ dolt, he has not really given much thought to what Fuyumi wants, something else pointed out to him. He has to stop treating Fuyumi like an object (and then, perhaps, the manga itself will stop doing the same thing). Staz is already suffering from the fact that, as a vampire, he’s almost trained since birth to see himself as an evil person. So his desperate attempts to restore Fuyumi, without asking her what she really wants to do, are indicative of this. He thinks that this is something that makes him evil, and that, by listening to Fuyumi and doing what she really wants, he can become a hero for her. (This also brings up the question of whether they love each other – everyone except the two of them seem to think this is the case.)

Staz is, of course, already a hero, and I hope that this change of lifestyle for him does not involve more charging ahead and less cunning in fights. (The fanservice this volume went to Bell, by the way, and the fight between her and Staz is a great example of how to combine Staz’s intelligence and cunning and his complete lack of awareness when it comes to women’s feelings.) How all this plays out, though, is something I really am desperate to find out. Though I may have to wait a while: we’re caught up with Japan, at least as caught up as Western publishers like to get. In the meantime, read this series.