Bookshelf Briefs

In which Sean solos yet again.

HIRAETH -The End of the Journey-, Vol. 1 | By Yuhki Kamatani | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – This does not end up being quite as depressing as the warning at the start might indicate, but the warning is appreciated, as this book starts with a young woman trying to kill herself, and her suicidal thoughts are present throughout the volume. She meets a god who is dying, and is taking a tour of Japan (and being a bit of a brat about it), as well as a man who CAN’T die, and on their journey we get a lot of different perspectives. That said, as always with this author, if you’re only here to look at the lush, gorgeous art, you will not be disappointed either—even the panel composition is amazing. It’s absolutely not for everyone, but if you liked Our Dreams at Dusk this is a must-read. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 2 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship We add two more girls in this volume, and really the impressive thing about it is not how he keeps managing to convince each girl to go along with this, but the fact that they really do almost all get along. Hell, some of them may get along a little too well—if for some reason he can’t actually marry 100 girls, and they don’t all die, Hakari and Karane may be able to make things work. As for the new girlfriends, we have the stoic and intellectual one, and the mad scientist who mostly looks like a child one, which is hilarious even if it toes the line of offensiveness. That said, that’s one nasty cliffhanger. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch | By Various Artists | Seven Seas – This anthology asks the question: don’t you wish Bakarina was a yuri series? (There was an equivalent for the guys, but don’t expect Seven Seas to license that anytime soon.) A lot of the Western audience for the series was more into Mary, Sophia and Maria than any of the actual love interests—and indeed have abandoned the series for the most part after realizing it’s veering too het. That said, while this doesn’t have any weddings or alternate universes where Katarina suddenly gets it, it has lots of sweet scenes between the quartet, as well as a brief one with Anne, which is not really shown as romantic so it’s fine. It’s an anthology, so variable, but is mostly perfectly pleasant. – Sean Gaffney

Run on Your New Legs, Vol. 1 | By Wataru Midori| Yen Press – For the most part this is a very good story about a former star athlete who lost a leg finding that he can still compete with the help of prosthetics, even if it’s not soccer (his former sport). That said, I could not help but spend much of the first half of this book feeling a bit creeped out by the way he was sort of stalked and manipulated by the guy who is designing said prosthetics, who turns out to basically be a start-up trying to drum up work. Consent is given, but it doesn’t feel earned, if you know what I mean. Other than that, this is a strong sports manga with lots of past trauma to overcome, a guy who is being forced to reopen his world to other people, and some nifty art. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 14 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The question on my mind as I read this volume of Takagi-san is essentially: what is the difference between this and a normal couple who go on dates? Honestly, the answer may actually be “normal couples aren’t together quite as much as these two.” Here we see Nishikata challenging Takagi to guess the number of steps to a shrine, not realizing the shrine is a famous couples’ shrine, so everyone but him knows already. They eat lunch together, and she offers to feed him. They coincidentally do a New Year’s shrine visit together. And, in the best chapter, we see Takagi, briefly jealous after Nishikata helps another girl, actually picking on him. She does apologize. He can’t see the difference. – Sean Gaffney

Minami Nanami Wants to Shine, Vol. 1 | By Bana Yoshida and Yuki Yaku | Yen Press – For most of the volume, this feels like a typical side-story spin-off from Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, focusing on perpetual second-best Minami, and her frustration with being the perpetual second-best. The plot involves her mother, who works at a modeling agency, suggesting that her daughter model for them. Minami is a bit taken aback by this, partly as I don’t think she really sees herself as pretty, but also because it’s not anything she had thought about before. The surprise comes when she chooses NOT to run against Aoi for student council—as in the books—and goes for the modeling instead. Will she succeed? Will she start to like herself? Can’t wait to find out. – Sean Gaffney

My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 3 | By Wataru Hinekure and Aruko | Viz Media – This series has settled into a groove of being a heartwarming romantic farce and I am here for it. Aoki and Hashimoto deal with a survival-style ski instructor on a school trip and manage to get a little closer to their respective crushes. Aoki in particular manages to experience the heights of romantic hope and crushing despair as he pursues the perpetually stoic yet still sympathetic Ida. The illustrations easily capture Aoki’s ugly crying, joy, and the time when he feels so depressed he metaphorically turns into a slime. Highly recommended for anyone enjoying romance hijinks. – Anna N

New Game!, Vol. 12 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – This is the penultimate volume, and you know what that means: it means we’re going out with some drama. The team finds out that their game has lost its funding and they need to either find a new company to bankroll them or give up entirely. The obvious answer is Catherine’s company, even if that means groveling a bit. But the carrot comes with a stick, and this means that, once AGAIN, Aoba will not be the lead character designer. As this is about the third time this has happened, I suspect the final volume is probably going to have her questioning her ongoing life choices—she’s a perpetual “not good enough” designer. With all this drama, will we ever find out if Kou and Rin are a canon couple? – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 46 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – Skip Beat! is still nowhere near finished, and so the fact that Ren has confessed to Kyoko does not mean that things are wrapping up in a neat bow. Kyoko is stressed about anyone loving her—still—and also has not told him that she is Bo—still. Fortunately, the author knows the other reason that we’re reading this, which is the acting, and the next volume promises to focus more on that. Unfortunately, there are still many parts of Ren’s past that have yet to come to light, and they also promise to show up in the next volume. With all this going on, can Kyoko still find time to go on a date to an amusement park with her real true love, Moko? This was shorter than most volumes, but still worth the wait. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 18 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – It’s really a rare shoujo series that makes me wonder “OK, maybe they *are* going for a threesome ending?”, but Snow White with the Red Hair comes close. The romance between Zen and Shirayuki gets some more focus here, as they get to reunite in a big romantic scene. That said, Obi is not only intertwined damn near permanently with Shirayuki, but also with Zen, and it doesn’t help that the end of this volume has the author teasing about the two of them sleeping in the same bed. This series has a whole lot of Teasing Creator to it when it comes to the romance, and while I doubt Obi will be an official partner with Shirayuki—or indeed Zen—he’s still one of the best reasons to read this. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 7 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – I feel like a bit of a bad fan for saying this, but I will admit that I love Spy x Family better when it’s focusing on the antics of Loid and Yor than when it’s Anya’s Adventures at the Academy, and that’s what the majority of this volume is. That said, it does give some much-needed depth to Damian (and also a cover shot), as we see how much his insecurities stem from a desperate need to please and be noticed by his uncaring father. Elsewhere, Bond helps Loid to survive a mission, and we see that Yuri, while dedicated to stamping out subversives, is not without a heart. Most importantly, we kick off the next arc, at last focusing on Yor, who must protect rather than kill. Keep reading this great and extremely popular series. – Sean Gaffney

The Walking Cat: A Cat’s Eye View of the Apocalypse | By Tomo Kitaoka | Seven Seas – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a virus ravages humanity, turning millions of people into zombies and leaving small, scrappy bands of survivors to fend for themselves. That’s the basic premise of The Walking Cat: A Cat’s Eye View of the Apocalypse, a middling horror story by newcomer Tomo Hideoka. The idea of depicting a zombie plague from an animal’s perspective sounds promising, but in practice, Yuki feels more like a gimmick than a thoughtful vehicle for exploring how a human pandemic might effect other species. Yuki is barely a character; he functions mostly as a plot device, providing continuity between the series’ three main storylines and chasing the occasional butterfly. The humans aren’t very compelling either, as their stories are too rushed—and cliché—for the reader to feel much investment in their fate. Personally, I’m rooting for the zombies. – Katherine Dacey

Catch These Hands!, Vol. 1 | By murata | Yen Press – I’ve been enjoying the recent upswing in yuri manga starring actual adults and aimed at adults. That said, just because you’re now old enough to be an adult does not automatically give you a free “you won” pass. A former gang leader at her local high school is seeing all her comrades getting married and having children, while she’s still working whatever job she can find. Her resting bitch face is also probably not helping. Then she runs into her old rival, now working at a clothing store… and gets asked out! What? Weren’t they supposed to be fighting? Now they’re dating? The fun of this series is in seeing Takebe’s baffled reaction to literally everything, and I hope that she continues to grump her way through future books. – Sean Gaffney

Chieko Show | By Momoto Makiru and Fukumimi Noburo | Star Fruit Books – Don’t be fooled by the cover: Chieko Show is not a forgotten shojo masterpiece, but a raunchy comedy in the manner of Mad Magazine or Beavis and Butthead. The central joke of Chieko Show is that its galaxy-eyed heroine loves making salacious comments and gestures that elicit horrified reactions from adults. Adding some extra “ick” to the punchlines is that Chieko often sounds as if she’s propositioning her family members. As someone who’s reading this work in translation, it’s hard to know if this is an affectionate spoof of Yoshiko Nishitani’s work or just a gross-out gag manga, but the author’s strenuous attempts to shock and amuse didn’t work on me. Your mileage may vary. – Katherine Dacey

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 10 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The wonderful thing about Delicious in Dungeon, as everyone who’s become a fan of it knows, is how it can go from the silliest comedy to the most terrifying horror at the drop of a hat, and sometimes over the course of only a page or two. And we even get some drama here, seeing the backstory of our “villain,” who unsurprisingly is not merely evil for the sake of it. And everyone is still trying to save Falin, which I approve of, as every single flashback we see of her shows off what a wonderful person she was. There’s even attention paid to biology, as Laios notes how hungry she must be given her human head vs. her monster body that has to be nourished. Still essential reading, even if it’s yearly now. – Sean Gaffney

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 20 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – So it turns out you can only go so far in changing the ending. The author apparently had a falling out with his editors, publishers, and readers, all of whom were reading the book to see who ended up together rather than reading it to see the bonds of friendship between them. So he kicked most everyone to the curb (bar Sena, the only one who is not definitively rejected, though they’re still not a couple) and ends with graduation coming and going and the friendship being the impact. The manga did a good thing in taking out the Yukimura plotline of death, but, with apologies to the author, we WERE reading this for the romance, so it feels unsatisfying. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 22 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – I knew we were headed towards a climax with these characters, but I didn’t think we would get a literal one in this volume. Things start off extremely silly, with Miyuki and Kaguya’s discussion of boobs and sex being very much “only virgins have these discussions!” But then one thing leads to another, and the two are alone in his new apartment with the rest of his family out for the evening, and, well… it’s actually refreshing to see a series as popular and as funny as this one showing us that yes, teenagers still do have sex. Of course, there is still the overall “Kaguya’s family” problem to solve… as well as the fact that Kaguya has still not told Chika that she and Miyuki are a couple. That may go badly. – Sean Gaffney

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 1 | By Naoya Matsumoto | VIZ Media – Meet Kafka Nibiro: he belongs to Monster Sweeper, Inc., a dedicated crew of professionals who clean up the streets of Japan in the aftermath of monster rampages. Though Kafka would rather be fighting monsters than disposing of their remains, he’s repeatedly failed the entrance exam for the elite Defense Forces Unit. A freak accident endows Kafka with kaiju-like strength, however, emboldening him to take the test one last time. Up until this moment in Kafka’s journey, Kaiju No. 8 feels like it’s headed somewhere new, but the exam chapters follow an all-too-familiar formula in which an ordinary person discovers his hidden strength through competition with snottier, less principled rivals. The paint-by-numbers quality of these scenes doesn’t bode well for future volumes, as its seems like Naoya Matsumoto is more interested in writing a monster-fighting manga than writing a thoughtful story about a man who unwittingly becomes a monster. – Katherine Dacey

My Wandering Warrior Existence | By Nagata Kabi | Seven Seas – This is probably the easiest to read of Nagata Kabi’s biographical manga essays, but that’s only by a matter of degree—one chapter in here is jaw-droppingly horrible in terms of something that happens to her and the aftermath of how it is dealt with. That said, most of this is the author seeing others fall in love, get married and have children and wondering how she can do this, if she wants to do this, and why would ANYONE do this? The answers do have some humor and heart in them, but they also make excellent points, and I really enjoyed the journey she takes to finding out that this is not necessarily something that has to happen NOW, and also that sometimes buying a fridge is far more fulfilling. – Sean Gaffney

The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Vol. 10 | By Tomoko Yamashita | SuBLime (digital only) – It’s always a little sad when a beloved series comes to its end, but at least The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window does so in very satisfying fashion. In this final volume, Mikado and the others infiltrate the Professor’s compound and work together to bring him down and rescue Hiyakawa. Really, the Big Bad here is hatred, or specifically clinging to hatred and using it as a power source to hurt others. Ultimately, Mikado rather easily unravels the Professor’s hatred while Hiyakawa finally relinquishes his own, confessing that what he really wants is to be with Mikado. There’s not even a smooch, but the fact that they emerge from the compound holding hands speaks volumes. Mikado tears up his contract, symbolizing that he’s Hiyakawa’s partner now rather than his employee, and in the final pages they get back to work, together. Happy sigh. – Michelle Smith

Skip Beat!, Vol. 46 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – Even though I was extremely eager for Ren and Kyoko to finally admit their feelings for one another, I must say it’s kind of a relief that they agree their relationship shouldn’t change yet, not when they’re still on the way to achieving their ambitions. (Still, “No matter where I am, my heart will always belong to you” is some squeeworthy progress!) The latter half of this volume reminds readers that Kyoko still has no idea about Ren’s troubled past, and it seems more movement on this plot point will be forthcoming. Too, there’s the threat of internet sleuths and what they might find out about Ren and Kyoko. These potential complications are certainly compelling, but what interests me most is seeing Kyoko in costume as Momiji and about to start filming that role. I’m down for a career-focused arc! – Michelle Smith

Falling Drowning, Vol. 1 | By Yuko Inari | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – On the surface, Falling Drowning looks like cookie-cutter shoujo. Our protagonist, a high school student named Honatsu, is part of a love triangle with her protective childhood friend Toma and the surly new transfer student, Shun. There’s even a scene where Honatsu and Shun get stuck in a storeroom! However, there’s an element of mystery to this title that’s quite appealing. Six years ago, Honatsu lost her father in an accident (or was it an accident?) along with eleven years of memories. Now, she’s trying to learn as much as possible and become independent. She feels at ease around Toma, and it’s clear he likes her, but what he offers is the promise of safety. Shun, on the other hand, instinctively understands her desire to challenge herself. I enjoyed this first volume quite a bit and look forward to seeing how it develops from here. – Michelle Smith

Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, Vol. 19 | By Yomi Hirasaka and Itachi | Seven Seas – At last, we get the answer to the question that every Haganai fan who despised the light novel ending has been asking: will the manga be different? Well, I’m not sure the actual ending will differ (he’s still avoiding all romance), but it’s definitely different on the Yukimura end, as he shoots her down here. Indeed, she’s not the only one he shoots down, as he admits to Yozora, who finally confesses, that he sees her only as a friend. I can’t wait to see how this ends when it comes out in… erm, what? I forgot to read this volume? The final volume is already out? Whoopsie! Well, in any case, even if it ends with him picking no one, it avoided the biggest hate sink of the novels, so that’s a plus. – Sean Gaffney

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 11 | By Fuka Mizutani | Yen Press – Remember when I said I liked the sad lesbian helping out her sad high-school equivalent? Well, the author did, and they then pulled the rug right out from under us. That said, it feels a lot like “I am pretending to be a terrible person for your own good” than “I was secretly evil all along,” so it would fit right in with the rest of this somewhat cursed manga, which is all about not acting on relationships that might be considered taboo in one way or another. As for Kanata and Kazuki, well, the ending is a sort of “lady or the tiger” cliffhanger, where we’re given an indirect answer to the question of “did these two finally go all the way.” Likely will be another six months till we get it confirmed. Sketchy soap opera. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 30 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Whoops, it’s not just Haganai. I forgot this came out a month ago as well. Still, at least we’ve finally reached the end of the Paranormal Liberation War arc…. what’s that? We haven’t? It’s still going on? Well then. We do get some setup for villain-saving for both Shigaraki and Toga, though both seem to be of the “but we won’t actually be saved” variety. And we finally get all of Dabi’s tragic backstory, which might be a bit more tragic if it did not also feature liberal applications of “I am laughing like a madman.” In the end, I agree with Uraraka: if you want a chance at redemption, perhaps do a bit less murder when asking for it. It should end next time? Right? – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 10 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – In this volume of sweetness and light, the closest we get to conflict is Sumika having to face up to the fact that Ikuma can be attracted to other women who aren’t her (he doesn’t remotely act on it; it’s a TV show host), Ikuma’s mom dealing with the melancholy of her family having finally all moved out… and the despair when all three daughters end up moving back, and a fake tropical vacation (in their living room) that leads to oily massages and oily sex. The author really has done a good job of making this a series where the leads have a very active love life, that we see, but also making them a wonderful couple whose lives other than sex we also want to see. Sweat and Soap fans might try this one. – Sean Gaffney

When Pink Rain Falls | By Youyi | Star Fruit Books – In the opening pages of When Pink Rain Falls, twenty-something Hanao flees the church where his best friend (and longtime crush) is getting married. As luck would have it, Hanao bumps into Touma, a sensitive but hunky florist who just so happens to need an apprentice. But do they share more than just a passion for flower arrangement, or is their budding relationship strictly professional? This delightful one-shot is only 37 pages, but Star Fruit Books has given it the deluxe treatment with oversize trim (7” x 10”), glossy covers, and high-quality paper—a smart decision, I think, since it allows the reader to appreciate how much of the story is told through glances, gestures, and artfully designed bouquets. Though the plot hits familiar beats, the sincerity and simplicity with which Touma and Hanao’s romance unfolds more than compensates for a few cliché moments. – Katherine Dacey

WITCH WATCH, Vol. 1 | By Kenta Shinohara| Viz Media The author of this new Shonen Jump series is best known in North America for Astra: Lost in Space, but reading the first volume of WITCH WATCH tells you this is more like a return to his breakout hit (never licensed here), Sket Dance. Morihito is a sullen young man with fighting skills far too powerful for his own good. He’s somewhat horrified by the return of his ditzy childhood friend Nico, a witch-in-training who needs a bodyguard. Fortunately, Morihito (aka Moi) is an ogre, which is why he’s so strong. That said… this is a wonderful manga, but the plot is pointless. It’s an excuse for comedy, and the author does some very good comedy. Read this if you love laughs in your Weekly Jump. – Sean Gaffney

Young, Alive, In Love, Vol. 1 | By Daisuke Nishijima | Star Fruit Books – This minimalist comic focuses on two teenagers: Makoto, a teen who owns a Geiger counter, and Mana, a teen who sees spirits. After a meet-cute that’s anything but cute—Mana pukes on Makoto—the two become inseparable as they try to solve the mystery of the enormous power plant that looms over their town. My summary sounds relatively straightforward, but the story unfolds in a circular, sometimes cryptic manner that raises more questions than it answers. Contributing to the aura of mystery is the artwork, which borders on the abstract; the characters and their environment have a kind of studied naïveté that makes them look more like stick figures than people, an impression compounded by the elliptical dialogue. I can’t say that that this was My Thing, but I have a feeling that someone will find the unique rhythms of this story right up their alley. – Katherine Dacey

Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You, Vol. 2 | By Haruka Mitsui | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – For the most part Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You is your standard shoujo romance manga. Somewhat derpy protagonist is surrounded by several male childhood friends who have all grown into bishounen, and two of them have feelings for her. She, of course, is clueless in the way of love. What makes this series slightly different, though, is that it’s set in 2020 and the characters are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the cancelation of school events they’d really been looking forward to. (I note, though, that nobody wears a mask or socially distances at any point.) Another unusual aspect is that we’ve now glimpsed a couple of the characters ten years in the future, which is pretty neat. I will likely continue with this one, though I hope it’s a short series as that would probably work best. – Michelle Smith

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard, Vol. 1 | By Mika Akatsuki, Nanako Tsujimura, and Utako Yukihiro | Seven Seas – I didn’t know much about The Case Files of Jeweler Richard going in, but I’d seen it described as a mystery, so that plus the title plus what looked to be a somewhat eccentric protagonist with an earnest helper lead me to expect something Sherlockian. I thought somehow that Richard and Seigi would be solving murders. That is not the case, however. In the first half of this volume, Richard helps Seigi track down the woman from whom his grandmother stole a pink sapphire ring 50 years ago. In the second half, a client’s request for a valuation of a ruby leads only to some resolution in her romantic life. Is… is that it? Is that all this series is? I did learn some stuff about gemstones, but I must admit I’m disappointed. I’ll give it another volume in case this one’s just a warmup. – Michelle Smith

Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 1 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas There have been quite a few band club manga out there, and I dare say one or two yuri band club manga. But the trombone taking a starring role is a new one to me. Minato is huge, plays a huge instrument, and is a bundle of introverted, cringing nerves, having had a traumatic experience in her past that has left her trying to fit in in high school… and failing, just like everyone else who has to try to fit in rather than just doing it. Fortunately, she meets Hibiki, who is a positive, excitable bundle of energy, and wants Minato in her band no matter what. But that will mean getting past Minato’s walls… something that might be helped a bit by Minato clearly crushing on her sempai! This was cute and fun, and Minato’s introversion is well-handled. – Sean Gaffney

I’m a Wolf, But My Boss Is a Sheep, Vol. 1 | By Shino Shimizu | Seven Seas – For the most part, this reads like a pretty standard office romance between two very awkward people, but it’s the animal characteristics and instincts that make it unique. Oogami is new to the department, which consists almost entirely of sheep… and he’s a wolf, which means they already think he’s going to go after them. He certainly does have the instincts to, but does an admirable job of holding back. As for Mitsuji, she has similar issues—in a board room filled with carnivores, she struggles not to be held back by her fear instinct. The two of them are clearly perfect for each other, but this is not the sort of series that wants to get them together right away, especially as we meet two possible “past romances” for both of them. Cute—Beastars but fluffier. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 4 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – In this volume Sarasa runs into a problem that many actors have a tremendous problem with, which is what to do when you’re told to act it “as yourself.” She’s running in the relay race for the sports festival, unheard of for a first-year student, and the pressure gets to her till she realizes that the audience is not there to watch athletes race, it is there for a performance. After that, everything comes together. Meanwhile, Ai is forced to face up to the fact that not only does she now have friends, but she’s actually happy with that fact, something that blows her mind. We’re a long way away from the Ai of the first volume. There’s also a long side story showing what happens when a student longing to be a musumeyaku suddenly grows too tall… dreams are dashed. Very very good. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Yamada, Vol. 2 | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – It’s been two years since the last volume, but I was able to pick up right where these two left off—still trying to be in a long-distance relationship and finding out it works best if you still see each other a lot of the time. So we have Kase taking a day off from practice to go to the festival and see fireworks with Yamada, and Yamada going to the beach lodge where Kase and her team are working to stay there as well. This actually leads to a scene where they are intimate with each other, which surprised me as I’d thought that when the series rebooted itself it was going to walk that back—nice to see the continuity is the same. As for Kase and Yamada, they’re an adorably sweet couple, as you’d expect—the readers would not want anything less. – Sean Gaffney

Rosen Blood, Vol. 2 | Kachiru Ishizue | Viz Media – In the second volume of this series I remain confused about the methods of vampirific human consumption, which involves a mysterious crystallization process, but this volume does deliver on providing even more gothic vibes as Stella needs to enter Levi’s brain for various reasons and is able to discover more about his past in a surreal dream sequence. Levi’s companions are revealed to be even more evil, and there’s plenty of dark seduction to go around. This series is best for readers who aren’t picky about plot details but enjoy pretty brooding vampires. – Anna N

Sex Ed 120%, Vol. 3 | By Kikiki Tataki and Hotomura | Yen Press – Last time I described the two teachers in this series as lesbians, but it turns out they’re both bi, and we do get discussion of the difficulties that bi folks face from others. As for Tsuji and Nakazawa, well, Nakazawa is only just coming to terms with her feelings, and Tsuji doesn’t want to ruin the friendship they have, so things are slow going. As for the Sex Ed part of the book, it’s still top notch, with excellent discussions of abortion and pregnancy, transgender people, and a deeper look into how LGBT culture works, particularly in Japan. I think they’d be great books to assign to high schoolers, though you might run into a few issues. The characters remain fun if slight, and I was rooting for the teachers in the end. This is the final volume, and the series in recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 3 | By Misaki Takamatsu |Seven Seas – Mitsumi is starting to actually do things right, and her core circle of friends no longer has to be amazed at her newbie-ness. Honestly, her character journey may be done, which is good, as Shima still has a long way to go. He has A PAST, capital letters, and it’s getting in the way of his present, and also probably impacting the fact that he’s clearly falling for Mitsumi. That said, I’m not too sure that the plot matters too much to me, as this is a series that I enjoy reading for the vibe more than anything else. I also love Nao, Mitsumi’s aunt, who has clearly read other “wacky” manga before and makes sure that Mitsumi reminds her friends that Nao is biologically male in case of unfortunate assumptions. She’s also there to give good advice. – Sean Gaffney

Hello, Melancholic!, Vol. 1 | By Yayoi Ohsawa | Seven Seas – Minato Asano is great at playing the trombone, but ostracization in junior high has rendered her timid and terrified of offending people or asserting herself. She can’t give up on music, though, so she uses her exceptionally good ear to just blend in with whatever others are doing. Hibiki Sugawa persistently recruits Minato for the school band she’s been working to reinstate, and though her pushy tactics are a bit much, she’s genuinely compelled to help Minato enjoy music again. This is a yuri series but it’s taking its time, which I appreciate. The most pivotal moments are when Minato can’t stand to see Hibiki enraptured by the skills of another girl and when she alone can detect subtle differences in Hibiki’s playing that reveal she’s been hiding an injury. I really enjoyed this first volume and these characters, and look forward to volume two! – Michelle Smith

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 1 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship – The premise and the imprint for this book made me go in expecting the worst, but this turned out to actually be really great. I assume the Ghost Ship content is in future books, as there’s not much naughtiness here. Our male lead is a thoughtful, kind and loving young man, who tries his best to have multiple girlfriends without pissing them off or prioritizing any of them. The girls are all types, but work well together. And the series leans hard on the fourth wall, making references to it being a manga. I assume as we get more girls involved things will go off the rails, but in this book there’s only three, and I quite liked it. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 17 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – This is the one, folks. Most fans of the series regard this volume as the high point of the entire series. It’s easy to see why. For one thing, Komi speaks—really speaks—more in this volume than the previous sixteen combined. And there’s a good reason for that, as Manbagi, her best friend, is trying to throw herself and her love for Tadano under the bus so that Komi can be happy. But it doesn’t work that way, and it requires all of Komi’s newfound communication skills to convey this to her. You will cry, you will also laugh, and you will see Tadano in drag an awful lot. So yes, the love triangle is now official, and sure, we all know Manbagi is doomed, but damn, it doesn’t matter, because this is so sweet and heartwarming. – Sean Gaffney

Lovesick Ellie, Vol. 2 | By Fujimomo | Kodansha Comics – “Cute shoujo manga continues to be cute” isn’t the most surprising assessment, but Lovesick Ellie continues to build on the slightly off-kilter relationship dynamics of the first volume as the teenage protagonists miss the last bus away from the school festival only to end up in close proximity to (what else?) a love hotel, which is the perfect setup for Eriko to engage in more of her thirsty fantasies about Ohmi. Ohmi’s old friend Aoba keeps popping up in this volume which prompts her to wonder, “Am I in a hottie sandwich?” While the premise of the manga is plenty goofy, Eriko’s insistence on getting to know the real Ohmi shows that she’s starting to be able to navigate relationships in the real world despite her first reactions to most situations being firmly rooted in fantasy. Lovesick Ellie provides a refreshing spin on shoujo romance. – Anna N

The Mermaid and the Prince | By Tada Yumi | Glacier Bay Books – Though not a strict retelling of The Little Mermaid, Tada Yumi’s short manga The Mermaid and the Prince does take clear inspiration from that classic fairy tale. What’s immediately most striking about the manga is its artwork, the full-color illustrations with their gentle hues and soft lines. (Other examples of Tada Yumi’s luscious, languid artwork are included in a small illustration gallery at the end of the volume.) Narrative-wise, the plot is less important than the overall mood and atmosphere of the manga. Tada Yumi creates a beautiful, dream-like story that is intimately melancholic and tragically romantic, but that is also not without moments of humor. The mermaid declaring “what a useless fellow” in exasperation while aiding the shipwrecked prince in particular brought me great delight. (Also, she’s not wrong.) The Mermaid and the Prince is a lovely manga; I hope to see more of Tada Yumi’s work released in English. – Ash Brown

Murcielago, Vol. 18 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – The previous volume, despite being filled with violence, was fairly light and fluffy. This is not. The main story involves Noel, a young girl arriving at the classroom of child killer (trying to do better) Rinko, who wonders why the girl seems so familiar, then realizes that he literally murdered Noel’s father. This leads to her having a breakdown and running off. Unfortunately, that’s NOT the darkest part of this book, which also features Noel getting kidnapped by a man who wants to make her into his new daughter. This is portrayed without the usual goofy parts of the manga that offset its morbid moments. As such, it’s merely terrifying and awful. And, of course, we now have to wait to see how it’s resolved—cliffhanger! – Sean Gaffney

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 2 | By Wataru Hinekure and Aruko | VIZ Media – For those who liked the first volume of this series, the second volume delivers more of the same, with further mix-ups in the developing love quadrangle that is sure to prompt plenty of ongoing misunderstandings. As the volume opens Aoki, Ida, Aida, and Hashimoto decide to have a study session together which provides plenty of opportunities for anguished teen internal monologues due to the close proximity of all the characters. Aruko continues to be a great comedic artist. While little can match the hilarity of the sight gags in My Love Story!!, Aoki’s over-the-top reactions and expressions as he announces that he’s going to exile himself to a lonely mountaintop only to take refuge on a jungle gym were a highlight of this volume. While the reader might need a complex diagram to document all the misunderstandings and awkward moments in this volume, all of the romantic drama is unfolding with a group of friends who are genuinely supportive and understanding of each other, which makes this series both wholesome and extremely funny. – Anna N

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 14 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – This volume might best be read with the one after it, as it’s very much ‘the big finale.’ That said, as you might guess, this is all the bad stuff happening to people volume. Our king is outed as—gasp!—partly human, and Set is taking advantage of this to start up his own kingdom where the haves and the have-nots know their place. Fortunately, Sariphi is a complete badass, and has spent most of the series slowly winning over strong allies, so she has the support of most of the regular cast. Unfortunately, that may not be enough right now, especially as the King himself is suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. Can’t wait to see how this ends next time. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 17 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – This really is not Mitsuhide’s arc, though he is taking the attempt to frame him for multiple murders with far more aplomb than is in fact deserved. Indeed, he, Kiki and Zen seem to have all of this pretty well in hand, though it feels a lot like the ‘calm rage’ you tend to see in such characters. As for Tariga and Tsuruba, well, unsurprisingly they’re the focus of this arc, and we get a few explanations why they are the way they are and why they’re doing what they’re doing. It’s all quite tense. As for Shirayuki, she does appear a bit, but for the most part she’s absent here—even Obi, now returned to Zen’s side, gets more to do here. This is up there with Yona of the Dawn as one of Shojo Beat’s best. – Sean Gaffney

Species Domain, Vol. 12 | By Shunsuke Noro | Seven Seas – The final volume wraps everything up in a nice bow while also going in directions I did not remotely anticipate, such as having a massive flying tree city be where our epilogue takes place. As you’d expect with a series like this, most of the main couples get together, there’s some marriages and children, and everything has worked out for the best. I also enjoyed seeing how magic and science have finally managed to understand each other and work together, though magic honestly has the advantage here. This was one of my favorite quiet yet fun comedies of recent years, and while it sagged a bit near the end, I’m happy to see it had a solid ending. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 13 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – This series continues to do what it does best, which is make any situation between our lead couple adorable. Nishikata tries to sense Takagi’s presence, fails at making a wish due to modern road construction, tries to guess the prince of Takagi’s school supplies, goes back to retrieve something after school and is horrified to find only couples hang out then, finds out at the beach that he’s unable to lip read from a distance very well, fails to be a star pitcher during cleanup time, etc. The cutest is probably the rock/paper/scissors match where she gets away with kissing his forehead as she knows he’ll never admit to it having happened. Honestly, Takagi has the patience of a saint. – Sean Gaffney

Boy Meets Maria | By PEYO | Seven Seas – Taiga is a high school student who falls in love at first sight with a fellow drama club member. Initially he assumes the person is a girl, but is later told his new crush is a boy. Delightfully, he promptly decides it doesn’t matter to him one way or another. It should be noted, however, that at least some of his classmate’s complicated relationship with gender is deeply rooted in psychological abuse and sexual assault, and these are things that are shown and not just hinted at in the manga. Ultimately though, Boy Meets Maria focuses on hope and love while acknowledging past traumas. What really makes the manga work so well is its cast, but Taiga in particular. He has a sort of ridiculous personality and an oblivious nature, allowing him to be inherently honest with and open to others, which in turn allows them to be free. – Ash Brown

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 3 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – Having spent a while introducing us to the two leads, we now get to flesh out the rest of the cast of Kageki Shojo!! in this volume, starting with the twins, who are, needless to say, dealing with twin issues. Which is to say that Chiaki is feeling down about being unable to get into the school on the first try like her sister, and her sister then gets mistaken for her, and… it’s a mess, but you can probably guess how it goes. There’s also some friction among the second years, as Sarasa’s flakiness is starting to upset the others, who are taking it out on her mentor for not disciplining her more. Basically, it’s a big Takarazuka soap opera, and that’s exactly what we signed up for, so I’m happy. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 17 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – I forgot to review this when it came out, only noticing when eighteen was released. The dangers of getting everything digital thanks to COVID now. In any case, my favorite part of this volume is probably the relationship between Chiyo and Kuroko. It looked a bit questionable at the start of the series, but as we’ve gotten to know both of them (OK, mostly Kuroko) we see that Chiyo is a bit different from her usual bedmates. Most of this volume revolves around a yakuza ally of Chiyo’s who is out of prison… and another man from a rival gang who now wants to fight him. It uses Kuroko more as a spice, which works very well. This is still filled with sex and violence, but I still enjoy it. – Sean Gaffney

The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World, Vol. 1 | By Kyouka Izumi, Oumiya, and Reiko Sakurada | Seven Seas There’s not much in this we haven’t seen in other shoujo isekai series: a woman gets chosen by God to save the world, is given awesome powers… and uses them to open a book cafe in the middle of nowhere, because she’s thirty years old, not sixteen. Meanwhile, the other savior chosen is busy being an absolute nightmare in the palace, but has the ear of the prince. Which means much as I’d love for us to stay at the cafe and watch Tsukina clean the shelves using incredibly powerful magic, I think she’s going to get dragged into things. That said, overall the vibe to this book is peaceful and relaxing, and I recommend it to fans of the genre. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 5 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics (digital) – Just as readers are here pretty much for the cute and adorable romance between our two leads, any love rivals that may be on the table are also flummoxed by them. Sure, there’s worry, and jealousy, and a lot of “why is that not me?,” but honestly I think they simply run into the fact that the couple is so wonderful together that trying to intervene would be like kicking a puppy. And, again I love the way the lettering is handled here, with the grey text and the occasional backwards phrase showing Yuki’s hearing loss in a way that’s very comprehensible to us all. It really is one of my favorite shoujo series, and I always make time for it when a new volume comes out. – Sean Gaffney

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 16 | By Kagiji Kumanomata | Viz Media The bulk of this volume is devoted to Princess Syalis and the Cursed Musician/pastry chef accidentally being sent back in time via grimoire… only to find, after Syalis steals a down comforter that is legendary for helping with sleep, that the world is now totally different… and the demons are a lot more competent. This is terrible news for Syalis, who might actually start to get treated like a prisoner. That said, the message is pretty clear, and I too prefer my demons goofy and a bit hapless. In other news, Syalis gets a massage… though not a sexy massage, this is not that kind of series. But if it’s comedy you like, with a dash of heartwarming, it’s hard to go wrong with this. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 16 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – This is definitely a volume that is heavier on the back half. We get the culture festival, and eventually it’s decided to do a play. Naturally, it’s mostly as everyone wants to see Komi act. Unfortunately, Komi Can’t Communicate, so acting as a beautiful princess is a bit of an issue… UNLESS it’s opposite Tadano. Then she can get the words out. Meanwhile, Manbagi is still trying to deal with her burgeoning feelings for Tadano and why she gets so frustrated and embarrassed around him. Unfortunately, right as she’s about to finally make a move, she sees the play, and gets what everyone else doesn’t. The past panel of the volume is heartbreaking. We’re in the middle of a great arc, folks. – Sean Gaffney

Lupin III: Greatest Heists | By Monkey Punch | Seven Seas – A collection—and it’s not even chronological—of some of the best Lupin III manga stories, this is definitely NOT one for fans of The Castle of Cagliostro. This is raw, unfiltered Lupin, and sexual assault is used like a comma towards the start of the book. At the same time, it also does show off the reason that the series remains so popular—Lupin is a wonderful rogue, complete with allies who turn on him a lot more than they ever do in the animated version. We get disguises galore, lots of fakeouts and “wait, let me turn back and check the previous pages,” and an art style that clearly riffs on Sergio Aragones. Hardcore Lupin fans will have to get this. For the rest, it’s fun but has several content warnings. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions, Vol. 2 | By Yoko Akiyama and Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Last time I said this used the main cast too much and could be a lot better, and clearly they listened to me, as this has far more cast variety and is a lot better. This is mostly due to two of the stories, I admit. One has Ojiro and Hagakure going to teach some kids and trying to deal with Ojiro’s running gag of being “ordinary.” It has more ship tease and more Hagakure than the rest of the main series. The second has Bakugou, Todoroki and Kirishima team up with Camie from the other high school to do a sentai performance in order to save an amusement park, and it is hilarious. Also, I have a new OT4. There’s also some stuff that is less good, but those two tales made me rate this high.-Sean Gaffney

My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: On the Verge of Doom!, Vol. 1 | By nishi, Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – A spinoff that asks: what if Katarina ended up trying to escape the otome game on hard mode? In the regular series, she regains her memories as a child, and has years to win over the entire cast. Here, she’s already in school and bullying Maria when she regains them. That’s… a lot harder, and some, like Keith, won’t even give her the time of day to try to change. But change she does, winning over Anne and Mary, and possibly Jeord, by dint of… well, being exactly like she was in Japan. Other people would try not to change so much they attract attention, but Katarina has the sensibilities of a bull. All this and new cast members for her to seduce! – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 12 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – It may be second year now for our middle-schoolers, but everything is exactly the same in Teasing Master Takagi-san. She proposes contests. He goes along with them thinking he’s sure to win. He overthinks everything. He loses. Hell, half the time she directly confesses and he misses it. It’s not really a series that invites long reviews, but it’s so peaceful and smile-inducing. Anyone thinking Takagi is being mean to him simply isn’t reading this properly, as she’s clearly over the moon for him—and he for her. They even blush around each other, then get to blame how dark it is outside. And if they’re only fourteen now, how much sweeter will this be in high school? File under: totes adorbs. – Sean Gaffney

Therapy Game Restart, Vol. 1 | By Meguru Hinohara | SuBLime Manga – Therapy Game Restart picks up where its precursor Therapy Game (itself a sequel/spinoff to Secret XXX) left off. Prickly Minato (new to love and prone to worry) and devoted Shizuma are an established couple now, but Shizuma’s demanding new job at an animal clinic is keeping them apart. A lot of the volume is Minato being down on himself for feeling so needy and trying not to cause any problems for Shizuma. He wants to be okay alone, but then Shizuma suggests moving in together, and taking a step that big is pretty scary. What I love about this series is the character depth. Sure, there are explicit scenes, but the real point is these guys and their growth, together and separately. Minato is one of my favorite BL characters so I’m very happy to have more of his and Shizuma’s story. – Michelle Smith

F | By Imai Arata | Glacier Bay Books – Japan’s triple disaster of 2011 has understandably influenced the creative output of the country’s artists, both directly and indirectly, but I haven’t encountered anything quite like the underground manga F before. Originally self-published under the title I Am John Cantlie, Imai portrays a Japan in which the devastated Tōhoku region has declared its independence but struggles to maintain it amidst increasing violence and terrorist influences. The story follows a war photographer who gains entry to the area using a fake passport and is ultimately taken hostage. The horror of what he witnesses and is subjected to is chilling, especially knowing that Imai is drawing upon the reality of actual events. Accompanying the manga is an extensive essay by the volume’s translator Ryan Holmberg which places it within larger historical and political contexts, examining the underlying sources and development of Imai’s F. It’s an intense and astonishing work, thought-provoking and impactful. – Ash Brown

In/Spectre, Vol. 14 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – The promise shown by the previous book, which ended with Kotoko and Rikka having to team up on a murder case. This sees a lot of Kotoko suggesting a very plausible way that the crime could have happened, and then kicking her castle down and saying no, that’s not how it went after all. The actual crime turns out to be rather prosaic—and the killer thoroughly unlikable—but Rikka has a point when she says that Kotoko is playing at being a detective—or, more accurately, playing at being a human. Something which none of the main cast are anymore. Despite that, I can’t see In/Spectre stop being a detective manga—that’s its bread and butter, after all. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 21 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – This book very much shows us the end of one section and the start of the next. The end comes between Tsubame and Ishigami, who finally gets why getting rejected by the woman you love hurts so much. The start of a new arc comes both from Kaguya, who informs Shirogane that she will NOT be going to Stanford with him but staying to fight her family, and the school itself, who have put every single major character—even Shindo!—in the same class. And yes, this includes a new transfer, Maki’s twin brother and Shirogane’s nemesis. Again, there’s still great comedy here, mostly from Fujiwara (who will never get a serious arc), but the drama is still not going away anytime soon. – Sean Gaffney

Magus of the Library, Vol. 5 | By Mitsu Izumi | Kodansha Comics – Last time I said that we met about 25 new characters, but would not have to remember them all at once. I was wrong. We do, and I am struggling. For all that folks yell at My Hero Academia or Negima for not using all its cast, there’s a reason classes of 20-30 don’t have 20-30 main characters. Especially as we see another character introduced in this volume as well, along with their minder. Fortunately, Magus of the Library is the sort of story where, even if I can’t remember a lick about the plot or the characters, it will get by anyway entirely on art and coolness. Which is probably a good thing, because I can’t remember jack, especially with nine months between volumes. Needs a reread. – Sean Gaffney

Medalist, Vols. 3 | By Tsurumaikada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Given that I recently had this as my pick for 2021, you can imagine how I felt about this third volume, which builds on the first two and becomes truly fantastic. The first reason to get it is still the artwork, which looks fast and furious, just like the ice skating that it’s depicting. It has an energy that propels you forward. The other reason to read it is if you’re a fan of sports manga, which this absolutely is, despite—in fact, it’s even better because—the main character is a ten-year-old girl rather than a sixteen-year-old boy. Seeing each of the competitors do their routines and get judged, each surpassing the next, was so good I forgive the artist for the “whoops, I forgot my skates, have to run to get them” bit. This needs print. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 26 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – The first half of this volume sees the resolution of the very long arc involving the multiple cat statues, which ties into the horror aspect of the title and shows off our favorite antiheroes being antiheroic. After this the second half moves more towards mystery, as a retired expert Natsume has met before is going to visit the house of a late friend that he lost touch with. The trouble is that his friend is supposed to have two daughters… so why are there three there? This is a quieter, more moody piece about words that are not said, and I felt it was stronger. That said, this series has basically become an anthology—when is the last time we saw Natsume using the Book of Friends anyway? – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 13 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – As with Magus of the Library, I’ve sort of given up on trying to remember who is who or what is actually happening with all of the factions and snakes. Fortunately, as with Magus of the Library, the series is able to get by anyway on sheer moxie. We sort of resolve the arc from last time, though we get a new villainess in this one who reminds me a bit of similar types I’ve seen in Black Clover and Negima. The other recurring plotline is the fact that our two leads are very horny for each other, but something keeps interrupting them before coitus can ensue. Given that I think that something is “the editor,” I suspect they may have to wait till the end of the series, but it’s amusing and also sexy to see them try. – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 11 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – The final volume of this series does not, in fact, feature any crisis management at all, mostly as our leads are too competent to really screw much up. The only thing Asako forgets is to shave her back before the wedding, but that just leads to a sexy scene. The rest of the book is mostly a victory lap/epilogue, though there is a very interesting section where we see the POV of Kotaro’s mother, which is basically a bunch of blurs, but is still rather sweet. After the wedding we see a few scenes showing Asako getting pregnant and the two of them raising their daughter. From a manga that started with a premise that made me go “ew,” this has become one of my favorite adult romance manga ever. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 18 | By Yuki Shiwasu | VIZ Media – With the major conflict of the series having wrapped up (rather anticlimactically) in the previous volume, this one is basically one more dose of cute for the road. The Chairman gifts Takane and Hana with a condo and instructs them to move in together and deepen their bond. Takane doesn’t want being married to interfere with Hana’s high school life or studying for entrance exams, but she enjoys doing wifely things when she has the time. Hana gets into college. They eventually announce their marriage to the Takaba family and hold a wedding ceremony. The limited edition version comes with a pamphlet of bonus stories, including one that shows where everyone is seven years later. It’s a very satisfying conclusion for a series I’ve loved a lot, and I’ll miss these characters very much. Mostly, though, I think I’ll miss Takane’s facial expressions. – Michelle Smith

In which Sean valiantly goes it alone yet again.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 1 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – This is award-winning, which piqued my interest, and also a rare Shonen Sunday license, which did as well. Turns out the hype is justified. This is a beautiful and poignant story about the elf of a hero’s party who, after they slay the demon lord and break up to go their separate ways, discovers that she has no idea how people who are not her think, be they human, dwarf, or what. She realizes this too late to talk with the hero, and almost too late to talk to the party’s priest, but eventually decides that she needs to experience more in life, and learn how people who don’t have thousand-year lifespans live. The first volume spans about 6-7 years, so our own sense of time may be skewed. It has humor and heart. – Sean Gaffney

My Lovey-Dovey Wife Is a Stone Cold Killer, Vol. 1 | By Donten Kosaka | Seven Seas – This manga is here for one reason and one reason alone, and that’s the lovey-dovey part of the title. It absolutely does not want the reader to think too hard about her other job beyond as a means for comedy. Certainly the husband doesn’t—as the title begins, he already knows his wife kills people for a living, and is absolutely fine with it. The book itself is filled with romcom staples—though it’s worth noting that, as with apparently quite a few Japanese couples—these two have been married for months and their sex life is still 100% absent. But that’s OK, we still have disapproving sister-in-laws, going out to shop, and trying to understand your partner’s needs even when they’re a husband, not a target. For fans of We’re New at This. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 6 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – This is pretty much the same as what I said about the series last time: if you’ve read the novels and seen the anime, it’s almost unnecessary. The ‘almost’ part is because Nami Hidaka (who also illustrates the light novels) is clearly having fun doing a full manga version, and the expressions that she gives everyone can be highly entertaining. This especially goes for Susanna/Lana/Larna, who manages to make “I am first in line to be the Queen” easily the least interesting of the jobs she’s currently doing. This wraps up the third novel, and I assume volumes seven and eight will take on the fourth, which is… well, not a popular book, shall we say. But hey, it’s Bakarina. You know you have to take the bad with the good. – Sean Gaffney

Skip & Loafer, Vol. 2 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – Still enjoying the general mood of this title more than anything else. Mitsumi is the sort of character who would simply be an airheaded flake in lesser series, but here she’s not only quite smart and studious, but also good at figuring out ways that she may have accidentally screwed up socially and trying to fix them. This is good, as her not-yet love interest Shima is a very tough nut to crack—a childhood acting career has left him adrift, and he seems to be perfectly happy to stay that way. An upcoming volleyball game is also handled well—Mitsumi is bad at sports, and has to be trained by Egashira, who is still angry at Mitsumi for bad reasons, but does it anyway. The result… is that Mitsumi noticeably improves, but isn’t great. Best realism in Manic Pixie Dream Girl manga. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 16 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – This arc with Shirayuki being away is, frankly, taking forever, so it’s no real surprise that it shifts its focus for most of it to Mitsuhide and Kiki. They’re a popular fan pairing, they get ship tease here and there, but… honestly, it does not seem as if the author is all that into them. Things are not helped by her primary husband candidate seeming to clean up his act and pursue her hand with greater effort. That said, the largest problem might be that her other candidates for marriage keep getting attacked. There are a few candidates, but the cliffhanger tells us that the prime suspect is … well, just who we don’t want it to be. If Shirayuki and Zen’s romance is obvious and forthright, Mitsuhide and Kiki’s is deceptive and fluid. Great stuff, though. – Sean Gaffney

Species Domain, Vol. 11 | By Shunsuke Noro | Seven Seas – Having crushed Kazanori’s spirit, and suggested that Ohki might in fact be asexual, we now need to remember how this manga initially started and work on getting the two of them together. It’s going to be tough, but Ohki starts to get a clue here and there as the manga goes on, which is more than he’s done the previous ten, so that’s good. In fact, all the pairings look close to becoming official by the end of the book, which is likely why a cliffhanger is thrown in with Jin and Hanei being in danger from an unknown assailant. This book should have ended a while back—its humor is not quite as sharp anymore, and some of these romances have dragged—but I still enjoy it as a unique sort of title that manages to go several places without actually offending. – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 10 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – The start of the book is entirely dedicated to defusing the situation we had in the last volume, and it’s handled, as the rest of the series has done, with love, communication, and reaching across to help each other. With a good dose of loving sex at the end as a reward, of course. Now that Asako’s issues with her body odor have mostly been taken care of, it’s wedding time. The actual marriage is a quick license ceremony, with the wedding itself being done months later. That said, they chose a date which leaves them very little time in which to plan, and I suspect the final volume (the next) may feature some crises. Still, at least we get Asako in not one but THREE wedding dresses—all of which are wrong for her, alas. Still fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 18 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – As with the last volume, this final volume of Takane & Hana is here to remind you that all the drama and conflict have been dealt with beforehand, and we can just enjoy the two leads playfully at each other’s throats. My favorite part may be during the wedding reception, when guests wonder if Hana really thinks she deserves to be Takane’s wife, and she responds point blank “I absolutely do.” Hana’s self-confidence and ability to tear Takane a new one when he needs it have been the main reason to read this. There’s also a limited-edition volume with a different cover and a 30-page booklet with a “7 years later,” showing Hana had triplets (!!!) and that everyone else is doing fine. This was one of the funniest shoujo manga I’ve read in years. I’ll miss it. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 10 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Possibly the best chapters in this volume of Gabriel Dropout are the ones dealing with hypnosis, as (to no one’s surprise) Satanya is very vulnerable to it. That said, what happens is more like the Looney Tune where Elmer is hypnotized by Bugs Bunny—all of a sudden it’s Raphael who has to be the boke in order to get her back to normal, and the results are hilarious mostly as it’s so rare to see her as the victim in all of this. In fact, Raphael has a bad volume in general, as we also meet her butler back in heaven, who is, well, a bit of a perverted stalker. hat said, Satanya does not escape being the buttmonkey all volume… though, as we see in the back half, her parents are not really that much better. Still funny. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 9 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – Sorry, everyone, still no major focus on the teachers and why they are not banging each other like drums, though at least we get the date. Instead the focus is on Hikari and her sister Himari, as we finally get their backstory here and it’s a lot more serious than you’d expect. Indeed, Hikari is out of character the whole book, being in a depressive funk as she tries to (somewhat) fight against her vampire heritage, not really accepting that drinking blood is gonna have to be like other people taking a daily pill—something she can’t get away from. As always, the writing is sensitive and caring, with the monster girl as metaphor coming across strongly. I just hope we don’t wait another sixteen months for the next book. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 15 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – The majority of this volume is devoted to Isagi, a girl running for student council president despite the fact that (like most of the cast in this series) she has terrible communication skills, and comes off as brusque and rude. Fortunately, Komi needs friends, dammit, and she’s not going to let rejection get in her way. She also has Ase, her closest friend, who gives the best anti-campaign speech ever, and (as with a lot in this manga) it turns really heartwarming. And of course we continue to crawl towards drama as Manbagi gets closer to admitting she likes Tadano. If you saw the anime and thought twice about buying the manga, Yamai’s barely in the series anymore. Give it another shot. – Sean Gaffney

Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy | By Ken Niimura | Yen Press – Having greatly enjoyed Niimura’s previous work, including but not limited to Henshin, I was thrilled to find out about Never Open It. The volume collects three distinct stories of varying lengths, Niimura retelling and reimagining three traditional Japanese folk tales: “Urashima Taro,” “Ikkyu-san,” and “The Crane Wife.” While the tales are independent from one another, they do all share a central plot element in which the characters are instructed to never open something—a chest, a pot, a door. Niimura’s artwork and narratives meld European, American, and Japanese influences in beautifully expressive ways. The illustrations are primarily black and white, but Niimura uses red as a spot color to spectacular effect. Red is the color of blood and fate in these comics, heightening the drama and impact of Niimura’s visual storytelling. Never Open It is a marvelous collection; Niimura’s talent for creating engaging and striking comics is clear. – Ash Brown

No Matter What You Say, Furi-san Is Scary!, Vol. 1 | By Seiichi Kinoue | Seven Seas – If you like Komi Can’t Communicate, this has a very similar premise, though the personalities are not the same. Furi-san has a harsh, “yanki girl” face but is really a sweet girl who has to take care of her siblings a lot. She has a crush on her seatmate… but all he sees is her looking terrifying! “Misunderstandings happen” is literally the entire plot, but it’s cute enough, and it opens up a bit more when Furi actually makes a friend who realizes that she isn’t really as scary as all that. There’s a plethora of this sort of manga around lately, so only read it if you like the genre, but it’s good if you do. Plus, who can resist those blushing faces? – Sean Gaffney

Sex Ed 120%, Vol. 2 | By Kikiki Tataki and Hotomura | Yen Press – This continues to be much better than expected, and gives some excellent advice throughout. This is not only advice that reminds you that real life is not like porn fanfics, but also how to deal with pick-up artists (and define them) and long discussion of how to negotiate consent and how it’s not as easy as yes or no. The main cast continues to be small but varied, with a teen lesbian couple (who get a chapter to themselves explaining how they got together), an adult lesbian tease couple (the two teachers, who also get a chapter to themselves, though it’s just one-sided for now), an asexual student, and… well, and the BL fan, who seems to be the default goofy one. Give it a try, much better than you’d expect. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 9 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – There’s a clever resolution to the cliffhanger from last time, as it turns out that everyone is right and everyone is wrong—Ikuma’s coworker is ready for a more serious relationship, but he’s NOT ready for cohabitation. It’s handled quite well. Other than that, we get more of what we read this series for—these two being absolutely syrupy sweet. There’s a costume party where Ikuma is easily able to identify his wife despite their best attempts to disguise it, and memories of holidays past, with Sumika being somewhat envious of Ikuma’s loud and boisterous yet loving family. We’ve caught up to this series so it’s not out as often, but it’s still a great read. – Sean Gaffney

Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Vol. 1 | By Eri Ejima | Seven Seas – The school and uniforms reminded me a lot of Maria-sama Ga Miteru, and that’s not by accident—this is definitely a yuri manga. The gorgeous queen of the school turns out to be a game addict, and the commoner girl trying to start over and be an “upright young lady” discovers this… but she’s a former game addict herself. The trouble is, games are very, very banned at this boarding school. As the two of them try to find a way to play each other while also hiding from THE LAW (aka house mothers), will they also realize that they’re also really attracted to each other? Another one of those “better than it sounds” yuri titles, this one relies on excellent pacing and two great leads. – Sean Gaffney

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 10 | By Inio Asano | Viz Media – The end of this volume states in big, bold letters that there’s twelve hours till the end of humanity, and nothing we see in this volume contradicts that at all. Even seeming antagonists like TV reporters in it for the ratings come to tragic, heartfelt ends here. The plot is expanding so much, in fact, that it’s hard to keep it focused entirely on our main cast, though Oran continues to essentially take over the heroine title from Kadode. It makes sense that the teens all have a final day on the beach with fireworks at the end… this is it, there’s no magic wand. That said, the series goes on hiatus at the drop of a hat, so the final end may be a bit. Still worth reading. – Sean Gaffney

If You Could See Love, Vol. 1 | By Teren Mikami and Yuuki Nanaji | Yen Press (digital only) – A good gimmick is always good when you’re starting a manga. This series stars Mei, who can see little pink arrows (they’re colored throughout the entire volume, which is probably why this is digital only) showing who people love. After a disastrous middle school life where she tried to use this power to help others and just ended up hated, she is now at an all-girls’ school… but now two girls are in love with HER. This works well because Mei has a lot to her backstory that makes her more than a standard romance protagonist. She was ill a lot as a child and also has bad experiences with love, meaning she can see love but can’t read it very well. Looking forward to more of this. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 2 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – After the cliffhanger from the last volume, this one takes place mostly over break, where Sarasa invites Ai to come home with her and meet her family and friends… and also find out, obliquely, why she is who she is. The answer, unsurprisingly, is in kabuki, which Sarasa is fantastic at but which is an all-male profession, despite her being drafted in as a young child to fill in in the chorus. It also shows why she’s struggling with her acting in the troupe—kabuki depends on precise imitation of someone else, whereas the acting required where she is now requires a new interpretation for each actress. Given Sarasa’s drive and innate talent, I think she’ll pick it up fast. This is excellent, even if you’ve already seen the anime. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia: Ultra Analysis | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – The first guidebook for the series to come out in North America, this is actually the second one to be released in Japan. That said, no worries, this one covers all the chapters up through about volume 23. It’s got introductions to the cast framed as tradable cards, so you know some cast members are more important than others—they’re SR, others are N. It also goes over most of the highlights of each arc, and gives little tidbits of information that might otherwise never come out. It’s particularly useful for Class 1-B (and also Yui Kodai gets the best gag in the volume with her “quotable lines” section). If you’re a fan of the series, there’s no reason not to pick this up. – Sean Gaffney

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 1 | By Aruko and Wataru Hinekure | VIZ Media – Aoki discovers that his crush, Hashimoto, likes another boy, Ida. After pledging to protect her secret (and intending to root for her happiness), he ends up confessing to Ida in her stead. He expects a swift rejection, but Ida says he wants to get to know Aoki better before giving him an answer. I was worried for a minute there that Ida was going to fall in love with Aoki and end up feeling like an idiot when the truth was revealed. Happily, the story doesn’t go that route, as Ida is continually such a wonderful person that by the end of the volume, Aoki begins to think he actually may like him after all! It’s definitely silly and has already trotted out some tropes like the cultural festival performance of Cinderella, but these really are good kids that I already care about. Looking forward to volume two! – Michelle Smith

When Pink Rain Falls | By Yoiyu | Star Fruit Books – As the first print release from Star Fruit Books, a new small publisher generally focusing on indie manga, When Pink Rain Falls immediately caught my attention. Also notable is the fact that the story was originally created for J.GARDEN, a BL doujinshi festival—it is very uncommon for self-published manga to be licensed in English, so I was thrilled to see this translation. When Pink Rain Falls is a short, quickly paced manga just under forty pages. However, it still manages to convey a heartfelt story with satisfying emotional arcs. Yoiyu describes the manga as a “bromance,” but the BL tensions are real. The opening sequence alone shows Hanao, a budding florist, fleeing with the bouquet he was asked to make for the wedding of a male friend for whom he obviously has feelings. Throughout the manga humor balances the bittersweet, silliness the seriousness; When Pink Rain Falls is delightfully charming. – Ash Brown

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 8 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – The nature of witches, and how much they can and cannot do to help others, comes up quite a bit in this book. Things may be very tough for our heroes, but they are still witches, meaning they have options other people don’t. At the same time, the danger of creation is also shown—if you make a spell that creates a fake flame and give it to a child, will they end up not realizing you should not touch flames? We’re also introduced to a new witch, who exudes ‘ominous’ from every pore, but might also be able to help Coco with her most pressing issue. Oh, and did I mention the artwork is amazing? We’ve caught up with Japan, so these don’t come out as often, but that makes them all the sweeter. – Sean Gaffney

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 5 | By Fujita | Kodansha Comics – I never reviewed the fourth omnibus of this series—I think Kodansha had an issue getting it on the platform I read their titles on—but it’s not because I dropped it or anything. This volume is not a great one if you love the two “main” leads, as they get less to do, but it’s wonderful if you like the other main characters. (I will say I am grumpy that we did not get the cover art with the wedding couple as the ‘main’ cover for the omnibus.) Hanako and Taro are getting married, and we learn about the difference between compromising and spoiling—and why it’s not that bad to do either. Meanwhile, Ko and Naoya are still shy and fumbling and running away from each other… well, OK, it’s one-sided running. Great stuff. – Sean Gaffney

BL Metamorphosis, Vol. 5 | By Kaori Tsurutani | Seven Seas – The bonds that Urara made with Ichinoi don’t have to end here, but they are going to be a bit stretched, as Ichinoi comes to the realization that living alone at her age in a house like hers is just not a smart thing to do. It helps that she and her daughter are more on the same page now. So she’s off to America, leaving Urara behind. That said, they can still text or email each other, Urara is still able to go to her old house and send things (manga) to her, and they still enjoy the series that first introduced them to each other. I also like that we saw the doujinshi that they sold at the Comiket at the end of this volume. It felt very real. As for Urara herself, she got into the college she wanted, and that’s a big plus. This was great. – Sean Gaffney

Bloom into You Anthology, Vol. 1 | By Various Artists | Seven Seas – An anthology series is always going to be hard to review, as it’s basically just a bunch of vignettes. There were a few here I quite liked. My favorite for the sheer mood of it was probably “Fleeting Cherry Blossoms,” which is by the Cocoon Entwined author and seemed to show off their ongoing obsession with hair. Some of the stories here take place after the end of the series, but for the most part they’re during its run. “Bitter Coffee Time” was also a very good story, showing the relationship between Riko and Miyako, showing the balance between cute teasing and pointed jabs. I think this is a good buy for anyone who enjoyed the original series, but there’s nothing here that’s truly essential. – Sean Gaffney

Haikyu!!, Vol. 45 | By Haruichi Furudate | VIZ Media – This is the final volume of Haikyu!! and I cried, like, four times. Furudate-sensei is so good at showing the significance of things, and in this volume that takes the form of acknowledging the importance of high school volleyball and trusted teammates in all of the characters’ lives, even those who didn’t pursue volleyball after graduation. And what a smart decision it was not to end the series with a spring tournament victory, because in addition to getting to see how Hinata has become undeniably great, the best possible happy ending for Kageyama and Hinata is to keep playing lots of volleyball together, whether that be as opponents or occasional teammates. Even as we look away, these guys will never quit striving. I’ll miss this series so much. – Michelle Smith

Red Flowers | By Yoshiharu Tsuge | Drawn & Quarterly – Red Flowers is the second volume in Drawn & Quarterly’s series collecting the complete mature work of Yoshiharu Tsuge. The volume compiles twelve short manga originally released between 1967 and 1968, all but one previously published in the prominent avant-garde anthology magazine Garo. Accompanying these stories is an essay co-authored by Mitsuhiro Asakawa and the series’ translator Ryan Holmberg which examines the historical context of Tsuge’s work as well as the influences of both literature and life experiences on his manga, including his connections to Shigeru Mizuki. (As a fan of Mizuki’s work, this essay and volume were therefore doubly interesting to me.) Many of the manga collected in Red Flowers are travelogues, although the people are just as important as the places in the stories as Tsuge explores humanity’s compassion as well as its darkness. Only two volumes in and it’s easy to declare that this series, and Tsuge’s work, is fantastic. – Ash Brown

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 15 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – Last time I mentioned that I appreciated the attention this series pays to medical research. This volume ends up being almost entirely medical research, and a lot of trial and error. It remains a great series to give a young kid who wants to get into the sciences. That said, there is SOME romance here, and I was amused at the rest of the cast pondering the possibility that Zen and Shirayuki might actually have done something in the bedroom together. (They slept—this series is very pure.) But really, it’s about trying to come up with a way to make better things, which mostly involves making bad things and things that are broken until you figure it out. It’s a very refreshing shoujo series, a change of pace from the typical. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 6 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – I did appreciate the fact that we saw that Loid and Fiona work very well together and are totally sympatico—as spies. That does not necessarily apply to being a fake wife, especially given Fiona has a massive crush on Loid to begin with. Best to leave it to someone like Yor, who worries a lot about whether she’s doing a good job as a spouse and parent and also has the strength to literally cut a tennis ball to shreds with her racket. That’s a bit terrifying, and I can see why Fiona ran off to undergo more training. I’m sure she’ll be back. As for the main mission, it may actually be coming together faster than planned, as we see Loid meeting his target. That said, this is too insanely popular to end just yet—and with good reason. – Sean Gaffney

Sunshine Sketch, Vol. 10 | By Ume Aoki | Yen Press – It’s been three years since the last volume, and you get the sense the author is trying to avoid bringing the manga to a close. I’m not sure why—it can’t be the money; they did character designs for Madoka Magica; they must have gotten something for that. In any case, this is more of Yuno and Miyako’s senior year. There’s some art advice, as the girls are still learning—yes, even Miyako gets some advice, despite being a ‘natural.’ There’s a school festival, which involves Sae and Hiro coming back, possibly as no one would really want to read this series without its iconic “are they gay or not?” couple. Still, while it’s still cute and fun, I do think it’s about time to let these two graduate and put a lid on it. – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 9 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – I knew we would not be able to get to the end of the series without SOME conflict. For the most part, any arguments these two had have been brief, and we’ve focused more on the sweet end of things. But we now get a reminder of where the series began—even as Asako is pondering motherhood (and thus marriage), an old schoolmate of hers comes along and presses all her “you sweat too much and stink” buttons. The scene is very hard to read, but also quite realistic—her other friend doesn’t really do anything to stop this torrent of nastiness, nor does Asako; it’s just a beatdown, even if it’s “unintentional.” Hopefully Kotaro will be able to get through to her again soon. – Sean Gaffney

Yakuza Lover, Vol. 2 | By Nozomi Mino | Viz Media – This volume opens with an intense debate between Yuri and Oya about sexual stamina and it gets a little weirder from there. I do find this type of series intrinsically entertaining because of how over-the-top it is. The main focus of this volume is Yuri’s kidnapping by a rival mob boss named Semilio, who seems more than a little deranged as well as obsessed with Oya. Yuri manages to endure her captivity, and her rescue by Oya isn’t a surprise, although his method of exacting his vengeance is a bit prolonged. Post-kidnapping, the couple has to deal with the aftermath of all their emotions. Fortunately they always have sex as the tool to make everything better, although I wonder if most psychologists would agree with this method of therapy. Will the next volume involve drug addiction or amnesia? Is Yuri actually going to attend any of her college classes or is she a full-time mob girlfriend now? These are the questions that kept me diverted for at least five minutes after finishing this volume. – Anna N

Yotsuba&!, Vol. 15 | By Kiyohiko Azuma | Yen Press – For all that this series now comes out about three times a decade, it is slowly moving forward, and the last part of this volume suggests that it’s moving forward faster than Yotsuba’s dad would really like. Buying a school backpack, even though school is not for several months yet, shows that Yotsuba is going to grow up, and causes her father to reflect on how much he really DOES feel like a father now, as opposed to “hey, here’s this abandoned kid I found” feelings he had to start with. It was also nice to see Fuuka again, and be reminded that she’s easily the smartest and most together of the cast while at the same time mocking her mercilessly. This series will always be a joy. – Sean Gaffney

Do You Like Big Girls?, Vol. 1 | By Goro Aizome | Ghost Ship – The cover art and publisher of this particular title tells you exactly what’s going to happen, and that’s what happens. The premise is that a short college guy takes over managing his sister’s girls’ volleyball team, and they’re almost all very tall, big-breasted women. The actual premise is that he screws through the entire team, one chapter and one girl at a time, with the exception of his sister, but you get the sense that that exception will fly out the window when the second volume comes around. That said, the sex is consensual all around, the girls are fun, and the coach of the team is bi, something he has to repeat twice because our hero assumes bi = gay. If you’re looking for fun softcore porn, this is pretty good. – Sean Gaffney

I Wish I Could Say “Thank You” | By Yukari Takinami | Fanfare/Ponent Mon – When I think of Fanfare/Ponent Mon, I tend to first think of Jiro Taniguchi, but the publisher does in fact release work by other manga creators, all of which are also worth a look. I Wish I Could Say “Thank You” is one such volume, an autobiographical comic about the experiences of the creator and her family after her mother is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. With this diagnosis also comes the knowledge that her mother does not have long to live, a shadow with which they will all have to come to terms. I Wish I Could Say “Thank You” is an honest work, simply but effectively told and illustrated. And though its subject matter is obviously serious, the manga is also not without humor, Takinami skillfully balancing hard-hitting moments with light-hearted ones as she delves into the complexities of familial relationships made even more complicated by an incurable illness. – Ash Brown

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 10 | By Afro | Yen Press – Rin frequently takes off from the main cast to do her own thing, but this time around she’s almost absent for a good chunk of the manga, as the rest of our camping kids all have fun without her, doing things like making makeshift stoves and homemade sausages. The back half does have Rin, but without Nadeshiko, who is taking a train towards their destination—instead Rin and Sakura do a little mini-tour of the area they’re going to, showing off once again how much the author loves the Japanese countryside, as well as the country 80 million suspension bridges. That said, discussion of the prices of camping equipment in this volume reminded me how expensive a hobby this really is. Can they keep up the financial pace? – Sean Gaffney

Mr. Bride, Vol. 1 | By Natsumi Shiba | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Boy, I wanted to like this more than I did. It has a cute premise, as a woman who has it together at work but is a complete mess at home ends up having her horrified co-worker move in and become a “wife” as he’s actually really hardcore about cooking and cleaning properly. It even runs in Kiss! The trouble is… I really don’t like the female lead, who seems to be taking this very much for granted. I admit that it’s exactly the sort of thing I’d also hate if the genders were reversed, and I can see this appealing to women who want a little fantasy of being cared for, but I think this relationship, such as it is, is a bit too unbalanced to really appeal to me. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 29 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – Sometimes, as heroes, you can come up with a brilliant plan, execute it perfectly… and it turns out not to work after all. This is what we see with our 1-A kids here, as between Yaoyorozu, Ashido and Kirishima they deliver a sleep dose right into Gigantomachia’s mouth… which is then pretty much shrugged off, as he continues to head for the heart of the city. Things aren’t much better there either, as Shigaraki and Izuku battle to see who can kill who the fastest, and the collateral damage gets wider and wider. And isn’t the named hero body count a bit small so far? Even if the heroes do win this battle, they may never be able to recover from the fallout. And it’s still going on. – Sean Gaffney

Ran the Peerless Beauty, Vol. 10 | By Ammitsu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I am a bit disappointed, I will admit, that the cover art is the only bit we get showing our hero and heroine getting married—the actual final volume itself is simply content to end at graduation. There’s one last problem left to solve, as Ran has to confront the guy who caused her to not get into the right school and assure him that it’s OK. He turns out to have his own issues, being the only med school student in a family of doctors who isn’t a natural born talent. But honestly, most of what we get here is Ran being gorgeous and kind, with the occasional full-page shot reminding us how gorgeous and kind she really is. This is Kimi ni Todoke-lite, and the lite is a flaw, but I still greatly enjoyed it. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 4 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics (digital version, print due in December) – One of the great things about A Sign of Affection is that, while Yuki is deaf, the manga is not about her being deaf, nor is it about how deaf people do romance. It’s simply a cute and budding romance between two college kids, one of whom is deaf. They’re finally a couple here, and are doing things like going on camping trips where they can point at things and learn what the sign language is for that particular object. We also get a bit more happening with our beta couple, as Rin and Kyouya are clearly into each other but reluctant to take the next step, though after the events of this volume that may start to change. We’ve been getting a lot of really sweet shoujo lately, and I for one love it. – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 8 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Kotaro ad Asako are still a brand new couple, and they got together very fast, so there are still a few things they get very embarrassed about, ranging from Asako’s worries that she’s gaining weight to the joys (?) of taking a bath together. That said, as the cover art may indicate, the main chunk of this book is taken up with a company beach party, which allows everyone to show off their swimsuit (or to wear a hoodie over it because you’re shy) and demonstrate their beach volleyball skills. The most important chapter, though, may be the one where they see a family while out shopping and both imagine how good a parent the other one would be. Two volumes still to go in this sweet romance. – Sean Gaffney

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 4 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Yasuhito Nogi |Seven Seas – Despite the cliffhanger from the last book, Junko and Gunha are too similar to really be enemies, and are both quite happy to resolve things via punching and GUTS!. Other than that, this is a good final volume to this unlikely spinoff, hitting on the best moral lessons from Railgun. (Everyone on the science side is terrible, but no one is truly irredeemable, especially the kids.) There’s also a PILE of yuri here, between Misaki and Junko, of course, but also Misaki and Kuroko, of all people, who is reminded that, at the end of the day, she will never be able to do anything but watch Mikoto’s back. Well worth the time for any fan of Railgun and its ilk. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl Without a Face | By tearontaron | Yen Press – I’m always interested in manga that feature yokai, so naturally I was intrigued by The Girl Without a Face, one of the most wholesome examples that I’ve read so far. The volume collects a series of short manga originally released by the creator on Twitter which focus on an extremely lovely-dovey couple living together as boyfriend and girlfriend. He’s a human while she’s a noppera-bo, a yokai that looks human except for the lack of facial features. (Granted, it appears as though the boyfriend’s the only human resident in a town full of yokai, so he’s arguably the stranger one of the two.) Most of the short vignettes follow very similar patterns and beats, the stories focusing on the power of the couple’s love and devotion to see them through any sort of communication challenge. The Girl Without a Face is admittedly repetitive, but it’s also very cute and sweet. – Ash Brown

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 1 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – This story about a girl from way out in the country and her adventures in the city shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it DOES work very well, being an incredibly strong debut. Mitsumi may have a lot of Manic Pixie Dream Girl to her, but instead of just one guy (Sousuke, who is clearly the Cheerful Guy With A Bittersweet Past), it’s an entire group from her school—the desperate social climber, the easygoing popular girl, and the shy nerdy girl. All of them are trying hard to deal with the ins and outs of high school cliques and pressures, only to watch Mitsumi sail right over it all. All this plus some excellent subtle trans representation make this a definite one to buy. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 14 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – I have expressed my displeasure before with Hakusensha shoujo seies padding out a volume by only having the main title for 2/3 of it and then putting in older, one-shots by the same artist to pad things out. We get that again here, and it’s still annoying. Especially because I’m really enjoying the actual story we get here. Despite the threat of Shirayuki and Zen being separated for a long stretch, they reunite here, if only temporarily. The bond between them reminds me that Obi fans really have a long way to go to convince the author. I also really appreciate the attention paid to medical research, how hard it is, and how often it doesn’t work. It gives this series a depth beyond the romance. – Sean Gaffney

Sweat and Soap, Vol. 7 | By Kintetsu Yamada | Kodansha Comics – Asako may sweat a lot naturally, but she also tends to sweat a lot because of her tendency to get stressed out. Thus the idea of finally meeting Kotaro’s parents has her wiping herself down multiple times a day. That said, this is not really a manga for extended drama, so no surprises to hear that the visit goes pretty well. The surprise is that Kotaro’s mother is blind, having gradually lost her site after she got married, but this is handled subtly and without calling too much attention to it. Kotaro also runs into the guy who hit on Asako earlier, but even then they end up bonding and discussing the importance of floral arrangements at a convention dedicated to scented products. This runs on pure sweetness. – Sean Gaffney