Bookshelf Briefs

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 5 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – A book of two halves, the first half is the usual 4-koma stuff, as the live house gains two new employees and presumably new supporting cast. One is an energetic short girl who reminds me of Kita, probably deliberately. The other is a yuri fanfic writer who writes self-inserts with herself and Ryou, to the horror and confusion of both Ryou and Bocchi. The second half of the volume is an extended flashback showing the relationship between Nijika and her older sister, and how the 12-year-difference between them led to Seika resenting her little sister for getting in the way of her band career. Unfortunately, their mother braids her hair in a side ponytail, and you know what that means. Tragedy is a-comin’. This was a nice change of pace for the comedic manga, and very touching. – Sean Gaffney

Colette Decides to Die, Vol. 1 | By Alto Yukimura| Viz Media – This is an excellent series, which I hope does well. It’s about a decade old, and also from formerly beloved but now shunned Hana to Yume, so I was very surprised it was licensed. (You can tell it’s a Hakusensha title because of the choppy continuity in this first omnibus, as the publisher gauges if it’s a hit or not.) The title is what I call an “artifact title,” in that it applies to the first three pages or so of the manga but not beyond that. The story is about a plucky but overworked apothecary, who one day is so tired she falls into a well she’s leaning into, and ends up attending Lord Hades in the underworld! Colette is a terrific heroine, and Hades is already warming up from his cool exterior. Any shoujo fan will love this, and it’s in omnibuses, so should only be ten volumes rather than twenty. – Sean Gaffney

Home Office Romance | By Kintetsu Yamada| Kodansha Manga – This one-shot is from the creator of Sweat & Soap, which is why I picked it up. It’s also quite cute. During COVID, our overworked, emotionally stunted hero finds working at home to his liking, and he finds he has a little more time in his day to do things, like grow his balcony garden. That attracts the attention of his next door neighbor, a freckle-faced archaeology student. The two bond quickly, though I kind of wish the narration had not spoiled the ending by reassuring readers they eventually get married. The main reason to read this is Nokoru, who a lot of folks will find very relatable in his attempts to interact with his neighbor and deal with the fact that she finds him attractive. As with the author’s previous series, sweet and sexy. – Sean Gaffney

Lycoris Recoil, Vol. 1 | By Spider Lily and Yasunori Bizen | Yen Press – Generally speaking, when the anime comes first, as it did with LycoReco, adaptations tend to either be a) wacky anthology hijinks (I think LR does have these, but this isn’t it), or b) slice-of-life light novel side stories (see next month). But this is just a straight-up adaptation of the first couple episodes of the series. It’s fun, and you can certainly see why the series got to be so popular. Chisato, in particular, drives these early stories. I also liked seeing the foreshadowing of the plot with Mika and Yoshimatsu. That said, if you watched the anime and are looking for additions or differences, there’s none of that here. This is a straight-up adaptation. As such, it’s recommended for those who haven’t seen the anime and prefer manga stories. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 30 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – Honestly, I could just say “Matoba cross-dresses” and that would be enough. No one is picking up volume 30 of this series on a whim, and those who have read it to volume 30 know what they’re about, and they’re about this. I mentioned on Discord that this series manages to somehow be BL, yuri, poly, and aro/ace at the same time, and I think that still holds up. The first story is good, but it’s all about the back half of the book, where Natsume and Tanuma attend a special auction that turns out to be a lot more mysterious than we’d guessed… well, no, this is Natsume’s Book of Friends, so we likely guessed that immediately. I am, however, totally here for more of Matoba’s screwed-up family, which we’ll likely get next time. – Sean Gaffney

Sheltering Eaves, Vol. 1 | By Rie Aruga | Kodansha Comics – When Yoru Tono was ten, she was removed from the custody of her verbally abusive mother and placed in a children’s home, where she met a kind and brave boy named Tenjaku Narita. We see how the bond between them formed, and then fast forward to 2018, when they are both sixteen, and trying to come to terms with the fact that they’ll be forced to leave the home when they turn eighteen. Tenjaku is pragmatic, trying to earn money and dreaming of travel, whereas all that Yoru seems to want to do is to be near him. Tenjaku’s troubled by this, and it’s unclear currently whether he has romantic feelings for her at all, which is quite refreshing. He doesn’t want to push her away—especially given their shared history of abandonment—but also encourages her to do her own thing. This could get quite interesting, and I look forward to the second volume, due out soon! – Michelle Smith

Spring Storm and Monster, Vol. 1 | By Mitsubachi Miyuki | Yen Press – Ranko Haruno, a high school first year without any friends, runs into a delinquent beating someone up in an alley, who then turns out to be her new stepbrother, Amamine Kaya. Shoujo bingo ensues. There’s promptly a naked kabe-don. There are street thugs. Ranko gets lost on a family camping trip and is menaced by a bear (and is rescued by Kaya). Then, on the way home, the car goes over a pothole or something and the teens accidentally kiss. I rolled my eyes several times. And yet. I liked that Kaya sees in Ranko someone genuinely good, after a lifetime of being mistreated by people—it is implied this includes statutory rape—and I liked her awkward attempts to help him, and that the plot does not rely on preventable misunderstandings. It may not be groundbreaking, but I am interested to see how it develops from here. – Michelle Smith

365 Days to the Wedding, Vols. 4-5 | By Tamiki Wakaki | Seven Seas I somehow forgot to buy four when it came out, which is why this is a double-volume review. This takes us to the end of the anime season that just aired, but the manga itself is only halfway done. Most of these two volumes are the main couple accepting that they really are falling in love with each other This is much easier for Takuya than it is for Rika, who decides the best thing to do is to demonstrate to Takuya how boring she is by drowning him in her hobby… which he loves, so task failed successfully. And then there’s the assignment to Siberia, as they both come to the horrific realization that if they are pretending to be married to avoid it, some other sucker will be assigned. Christ, these two are awkward. But now together for real? Maybe? – Sean Gaffney

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 4 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – This is not a sports series, but there are certain plot beats that make it FEEL like a sports series, and none more so than the Band Competition arc. It relies on a lot of word of mouth and help from others in order to have Kessoku Band make it into the preliminaries. And then, like a whole lot of sports manga that have our first-year kids discover that there’s always a higher mountain, they do really well… but lose, and are forced to watch their rivals perform at the festival while they remain in the audience. That said, a lot of bands lost, and Bocchi and company got their name out there. (Which is more than I can say for Sick Hack… I must say I’m kind of dreading the spinoff as I find Hiroi almost unreadable, but oh well, this is the main series.) Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Diary of a Female Lead: Shujinkou Nikki, Vol. 1 | By Yuu Yoshinaga | Seven Seas – It’s been a while since I’ve read a straight-up normal shoujo title, like this one from Betsucomi. That said, it’s normal, but it’s also deconstructing shoujo manga. Our heroine is a shy, glasses-wearing girl who feels intimidated by her outgoing jock brother and her driven shoujo-manga-writing mother. Then when seats change in class, she’s next to the class hottie—best friend of her brother—and things start to change. Her brother and his friend decide that what she needs to change herself is to fall in love, and they read a lot of shoujo manga to figure out how to make that work. There’s an obvious guy chosen as her target… but we, the reader, know that it’s gonna be the friend, who reeks of male lead. This was fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 11 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – Everything I said in my review of the last volume a year ago (yeah, this is the trouble with catching up) applies here. Sarasa is still overpowering the scene with her own performance, and the other actresses are needing to change the way they approach the scene to try to salvage it. Ai, meanwhile, is still trying to figure out if she wants to play male or female leads, and which she’d be best at. Given that the series works best when it’s focusing on the two of them, and that Sarasa’s height makes it next to impossible for her to play a female lead, I can see narratively where this should go, but honestly in terms of character I think Ai would be best served playing the male parts. Needless to say, this remains terrific, and I love reading it. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 31 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Let’s face it, this is the most back-loaded volume of Komi ever, as a whole lot of festival antics, some focusing on Komi and Tadano and a whole lot more focusing on characters we’ve seen only once or twice before ends with the two of them, trying to have a real festival date on their own, being met with so many disasters that ruin everything that they can’t help but laugh. After that, though, we get the payoff, as the two of them kiss! But there’s a question about if it was accidental or on purpose, and both of them are so flustered that they can’t quite agree on what it is. Given that we spent so long getting to them becoming a couple, it was clear that this was the next step. Will they go all the way? Likely not in Shonen Sunday, but you never know. Cute as a button. – Sean Gaffney

Laid-Back Camp, Vol. 15 | By Afro | Yen Press – We’ve got newbies in the cast again, which means that we can have them learning new things like “it’s really hard to bike uphill.” Because yes, this series is about camping, but it’s just as much about getting to and from the camp, be that testing your strength by biking up a huge hill (really a small mountain) to the camp, or the frustration when you realize that your journey ends here because you don’t have a car and only cars are allowed in the tunnel between prefectures. There are, once again, minimal appearances by the two I’m reading this for, though we see Nadeshiko show off her cooking talents in “imagine sequences,” and there are a few scenes of Rin once again solo camping. This is always enjoyable and always hard to review. – Sean Gaffney

Qualia Under the Snow | By Kanna Kii | KUMA – Kobayashi Akio prefers the company of plants, but makes the acquaintance of his boarding house neighbor, Oohashi Umi, who keeps coming home in disarray after one-night stands. They’re attending the same university and become friends (and, later, roommates), and we gradually learn more about how each was affected by someone they loved disappearing from their lives (Akio’s father, and Umi’s first love). I enjoyed reading Qualia Under the Snow, but thought it was all kind of… vague. There’s no real access to the characters’ inner thoughts, so I still don’t understand what made Akio’s feelings about Umi change, and I don’t know the significance of what he whispers to him at the end (or even, honestly, exactly what it was). This was good, but it wasn’t great. – Michelle Smith

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 10 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – OK, the secret continues to linger, and is not addressed in this volume either. What does occur in this volume is a) The two of them moving in, making the house a home, and trying to get a bit more intimate—or at least prepare for more intimacy; b) Itsuomi continuing to try to reach out to Oushi and let him know Yuki wants him in their life, despite Oushi wanting nothing to do with him; and c) introducing new neighbors, sometimes with overdramatic head injuries and sometimes with surprise “oh hey, it’s you!” run-ins on the street. This is still very good, but that’s now two volumes worth of ‘transition to the next arc,’ and I’m not sure all the moving in is enough to carry it right now. I want more meat on these bones. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 10 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – We finish up the vacation arc, with Shima still at sixes and sevens. At least Mitsumi has confessed her aborted relationship to the other girls, which frankly stuns them (particularly Mika, who is really starting to feel a bit inadequate over this, especially after she spends the vacation getting over her lingering feelings). And then it’s time for the new semester, and a big surprise—their teacher is taking maternity leave, and no, she’s not married. Skip and Loafer has proved that it’s willing to bring in controversial subjects and treat them exactly the same as everything else in the story—and that it’s willing to move away from the main cast, as the back half focuses on Kazakami, who has his future all laid out for him, and hates it. Still amazing. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Box, Vol. 12 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – Of course, I was right. This is the confession volume. But that’s not really a spoiler, because the nature of this book—it’s still half sports, in case anyone has forgotten—is not going to allow it to wrap up here. Indeed, the nature of both their lives and their current living situation means they actually have to hide their budding relationship. Still, just because we know that further complications and torment will be coming along does not mean that we cannot revel in this sweet and earned confession, which ends up being even sooner than either had anticipated thanks to the sort of coincidence that always happens in manga. They’re really good kids, and I’m glad they’re together. Now, let’s have basketball and badminton angst. – Sean Gaffney

The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All, Vol. 1 | By Sumiko Arai | Yen Press – The sheer amount of buzz this title got was ridiculous—possibly the most I’ve ever seen for a yuri series—and I am delighted to say that it absolutely lives up to the hype. A trendy high school girl has a crush on the guy who works at her favorite used CD store, who shares her taste in 1990s American rock. What she doesn’t know is that this “guy” is the nerdy girl who sits next to her in class! It’s amazing what a face mask and hoodie can do. Some series play up the handsomeness or beauty of a character and the art never quite captures it. That’s not the case here—Mitsuki is absolutely 100% hot, and you immediately see why Aya falls for her. Add to this the green color scheme, which makes the art pop, and you have a total winner. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Vol. 15 | By Sorata Akiduki | Yen Press – Given the type of series we are in, it’s not a big surprise that Ryousuke and Miyako are unsure whether they’re dating, even after a confession. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of wacky gags for them to actually get to the “we *are* dating” point. As for the other couples, situation much the same. Seo and Wakamatsu are sorta kinda there, Hori and Kashima have to deal with an accidental first kiss but can’t help but turn every single event of their lives into theater improv, and Sakura… well, Sakura knows that any resolution for her and Nozaki is going to have to wait till the final chapter of the manga, and at the moment the manga doesn’t show a sign of coming to a close. So Sakura is the same Nozaki-centric stalker we know and love. Worth the wait. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 39 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I have made no secret of the fact that I ship Izuku and Ochako. That said, I’m not militant about it, and this volume isn’t for that pairing, despite Ochako literally saying she loves Izuku out loud. No, this is for the Togachako shippers, and oh my God, what a way to go out. Toxic yuri becomes redemptive but still ultimately doomed yuri, it’s as if he read the minds of all the fans as to their favorite AO3 tags. Oh yes, and in case you don’t care about those three, there’s also the Todorokis, who have their own little doomed but redemptive thing going on, as everyone kills themselves (almost literally) trying to apologize at Dabi harder. So much going on it’s hard to remember that we also get All Might’s powered suit, with its attacks based on 1-A hero names. Fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, Vol. 1 | By Julietta Suzuki | Viz Media – It took a while for me to warm up to this one, as it very much leans hard on the otaku side of the equation at first. This despite the heroine being named “Hina Alucard.” Ironically, whereas a lot of these supernatural series find an innocent human unaware her friend is involved with the supernatural, here Hina is already a vampire, she just doesn’t know that her new best fan friend/possible love interest is already being loved by other vampires and the like. That changes in one scene where one mook tries to kill her off, not realizing that she’s not just ANY vampire. When she points to her feet and says “Now kneel,” I went OK, we’re back, everyone. Definitely want to read more of this, which seems to be very fluffy, as fits its author—with a sharp edge, as fits its author. – Sean Gaffney

Pink & Habanero, Vol. 1 | By Mika Satonaka | Yen Press – Although the premise of this series didn’t immediately grab me, I will pretty much give anything published in Margaret a chance. And it’s true that Pink & Habanero is largely paint-by-numbers shoujo. Mugi Miyao has just started high school and would like a boyfriend. She discovers that the prickly hottie in her class, Kei Kosuke, has a part-time job at a knight café, and subsequently proves to him that she’s a good person by not even considering divulging his secret, leading him to defend her from creeps (twice) and help her make a friend when she’s been struggling to do so. While much of this first volume was predictable, I liked their dynamic, especially that Mugi continues to be forthright in her communication with Kei, heading off tiresome plots built on misunderstandings. I will be back for volume two! – Michelle Smith

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 14 | By Maybe | Yen Press – So much for the victory lap. Well, not true. Nefritis’ first time went swimmingly, and Hime ended up coming along for moral support/extra sexiness. Saphir just isn’t into Satou in that way, so doesn’t care. And Amber is also mostly in the “whatever” category. That leaves Granart, and she is finding that getting across to Satou that she wants the same sexual relationship that he has with Hime and Nefritis is going very badly. She’s simply too aggressive, and attempts to try a softer, more subtle attempt at his heart also fail miserably, leading to her running away in despair. Satou is still not really getting the “harem” part of this harem, to be honest, though I do appreciate that there are wives who are just in it for the politics. That said… in the end, Granart gets what she wants. Ecchi fun. – Sean Gaffney

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 5 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – Last time I said this wouldn’t get an anime, and whoops! They’ve announced one for next year. This possibly explains why we come close to ending the series with this volume but back away, ending up resetting things after a confession that almost, kinda, but not quite gets through to our heroine who for once isn’t dense about it—she doesn’t WANT to “get it” as it will interfere with the roles she has in her head. That said, if there is an anime the best part will be the comedy and not the romance, as this is still hysterical. At one point Utage gets so excited she jumps THROUGH the ceiling, and in the next panel we see Tamon sponging the blood off her head. Given that Nozaki-kun is not a shoujo book despite appearances, this may be the funniest shoujo running right now. – Sean Gaffney

This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Vol. 2 | By Sai Naekawa | Yen Press – I kinda guessed that there would be more to Miko than it seemed, what with her mysterious absences from school all the time and her possessiveness towards Hinako, but I wasn’t quite sure what sort of monster she would turn out to be. That ends up being the big reveal of the second volume—not that she’s supernatural, but what type. As you can imagine, when you have two very possessive monster girls fighting over the one they love, sparks are going to fly. I do appreciate, though, that the series never gets away from its core premise, which is that Hinako has a lot of suicidal thoughts, and those don’t magically go away when she meets Shiori any more than they do when she met Miko. This is still compelling, and is apparently getting an anime soon. – Sean Gaffney

The Troublesome Guest of Sotomura Detective Agency | By Sakae Kusama | TOKYOPOP – It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a BL one-shot as much as I enjoyed this one. (It took me about halfway through to remember I’d read something else by Sakae Kusama long ago.) Serious and high-strung Kei Matsuda runs a detective agency and when a case brings him back in contact with high school acquaintance and serial freeloader Ryouji Kamiko, the two embark upon a physical relationship that gradually becomes something more. The romance angle is certainly good, but I loved that the cases Matsuda and Kamiko investigate receive even more page time than the steamy scenes and are genuinely interesting. This is one of those times where part of me wishes there were just plain more of a story, even as I concede that the ending here is wholly satisfying. Heartily recommended. – Michelle Smith

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 11 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – I suspect that the Frieren author’s attempts at explaining the worldview of demons in this series is never really going to 100% appeal to the core audience, who are simply uncomfortable with “there’s no chance of reconciling, kill them all.” Indeed, we find out here that the whole demon vs. human war ages ago was because the Demon Lord wanted to understand humans better. Fortunately, this volume is mostly a giant battle, and Frieren and Denken acquit themselves well, with help at the end from Fern. Which means it’s time to start a new arc at the end of the volume, as Frieren, traveling again, accidentally activates an artifact that sends her mind back to her old body—and Himmel. Essential. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 14 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Given that there are literally no men in this series, it should not be too big a surprise to find out that Michael is—gasp!—a girl, and furthermore has a desire to be a cutesy idol, a desire that is somewhat hampered by crippling shyness. Fortunately, Gab can steamroller over any problem with the power of “well, whatever.” Elsewhere, Raphael takes a break from tormenting Satanya to torment Vigne, who is feeling all at sea without anyone to mother in her classroom. That said, she also suffers here, as we learn that she tends to gain weight, while the others don’t. And we meet Gabriel’s sister Haniel, who is small and cute and finds everything fascinating, even Satanya being tied-up bondage style. In any case, please enjoy more of “These Bitches Gay! Good for Them!” The Manga. – Sean Gaffney

I Was Sold Dirt Cheap But My Power Level Is Off the Charts, Vol. 1 | By Cambria Bakuhatsu Tarou | One Peace Books – I’m not really the target audience for most isekai manga being translated these days, but I was curious about I Was Sold Dirt Cheap But My Power Level Is Off the Charts, mostly because of the use of mecha within a fantasy context. After reading the debut of Tarou’s adaptation of Ryoma’s light novels, I definitely understand the genre’s general appeal. Like so many stories of its type, the premise is already outlined in the title. The basic plot isn’t particularly unique—the protagonist becomes a hero because he’s much more powerful than anyone assumed. The art isn’t particularly spectacular, although I do like the look of the mechs. To distinguish itself, the series has to rely on its specific combination of story elements. It’s fun and I appreciate its humor; the series doesn’t take itself too seriously. Nuanced literature it’s not, but sometimes simple fantasy is all that’s needed. – Ash Brown

In/Spectre, Vol. 20 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Manga – Last time I talked about the great humor of this series, and it’s still here, including the return of Robot Kotoko, now with added kittens. But I also want to highlight that the series is primarily a mystery series—well, more accurately, it’s a detective series. The detection is far more important than the mystery, and it’s always wonderful to see Kotoko propose solutions, then discard them, then come up with other solutions. Usually she arrives at what SOUNDS like the truth, but there’s usually a sting in the tail, and we see that here to a degree. We also see that no one but Kuro should be in love with Kotoko, because holy crap, she is still the most annoying person in the entire world. Kuro, please bed your weird yokai-adjacent girlfriend soon and calm her down. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Vol. 3 | By Yodokawa | Yen Press – The first half of this volume shows Miyako realizing that she really is in love with Ayako, and trying to get it across subtly, and then less subtly. The issue, unfortunately, is that Ayako has had a lot of bad relationships with women in the past, and what’s more, she was always the one who fell in love first. As such, Miyako confessing to her (which does happen here, and well done for not dragging that out) is a first for her, and she’s not sure how to take it, asking for more time to think about it. In the meantime, they may not be a couple romantically, but as landlord and tenant, the two of them are basically married at this point. We’ve got two volumes to go, I believe, which is hopefully just enough time for these two to make it work. – Sean Gaffney

Oba Electroplating Factory | By Tsuge Yoshiharu | Drawn & Quarterly – Considering the provocative impact of the manga included in Nejishiki, the third volume in Drawn & Quarterly’s collected works of Tsuge Yoshiharu, other volumes, no matter how masterful, will to some extent always be compared to that one. The fourth volume, Oba Electroplating Factory, collects seven of Tsuge’s manga from 1973 and 1974 in addition to an essay by the translator and comics scholar Ryan Holmberg examining their historical context. While the manga collected in the previous volumes of the series were predominantly drawn for avant-garde manga anthologies like Garo, the works in Oba Electroplating Factory were largely originally published in more commercial, mainstream venues. As a whole, they are less surreal and arguably more approachable than Tsuge’s previous works, often utilizing autobiographical elements akin to those found in I-novel literature. But while potentially more realistic, they can still carry a bite; Tsuge doesn’t shy away from shadier aspects of human nature. – Ash Brown

When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine, Vol. 1 | By Kasai Fujii | Yen Press – The first two-third of this is clearly showing its origin as a pixiv/Twitter sort of story, with most chapters being 2-3 pages. Our villainess, Akuya Kreijou, and the heroine, Sei Hi Roin, hook up after a two-page denouement of the prince, and spend much of the book either screwing each other or being embarrassingly lovey-dovey. The last third or so attempts to actually give depth to this: we see how Sei got to the point where she was at the start of the book, and also that she’s not afraid to use sex (which she loves) to get out of difficult jams like being kidnapped. We also see how she’s a genuinely good person, and so is Akuya, who spread her OWN rumors of her being evil just to get away from the prince. We get a second volume, but I expect that’s the last. Good, if horny. – Sean Gaffney

Friday at the Atelier, Vol. 2 | By Sakura Hamada | Yen Press – The weirdness gets dialed back a lot in this second volume, though we still see our lead woman posing nude with fish on top of her an awful lot. Both of them are growing and changing, and in good ways. She’s slow to realize this; he does realize it, and it’s making him a little nervous, to be honest. He’s used to being an avant-garde artist, so doing ad work is… well, the money’s good, but is this OK? As for Tamaki, she’s no longer a typical wasted pale OL, and everyone is happy she’s feeling better but also worried about why, because she’s the sort to get taken in by scammers. That’s not what has happened, but I get it—if I were her friend, I’d be just as worried. I wonder if we might actually get a confession in the next book? – Sean Gaffney

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies | By Cocoa Fujiwara | Yen Press – I’m very happy that Yen is releasing this at all, and I was a big fan of the author’s previous series, Inu x Boku SS. This one suffers a bit from the format—4-koma series are always a tough sell, and putting it into a massive omnibus makes it even worse, as after a while it becomes a slog to get through, no matter how cute and adorable the lead couple are. (Also, gotta love the magical girl who says “f*ck” constantly.) That said, this is one giant omnibus due to the unfortunate nature of the manga—it ended abruptly when the author passed away, and even here it’s padded out by another short story of hers. It’s a shame, as I think I’d like to have seen this one come to a conclusion, and that it would have been sweet and funny. – Sean Gaffney

Medalist, Vol. 10 | By Tsurumaikada | Kodansha Comics (digital) – Inori’s in junior high now, which means she’s not only dealing with crushing self-doubt (she’s still struggling with that triple lutz), but also growing pains, which every teen has to deal with but they’re not usually skating in major competitions in the evening while doing so. All this means that she’s unconsciously ignoring her coach’s advice and trying to find an answer on her own. I very much empathize with Inori’s tendency to make friends with adults rather than kids her own age, as that was literally me. I also liked seeing Tsukasa realize that he still has skills that he can teach her, even if it may be too late for him to use them for his own career. All this plus truly stunning artwork, as always. Did I mention this is getting an anime soon? Can’t wait. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 11 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship There’s two girlfriends introduced here, so not as much room for wacky one-shot antics, though we do see the Gundam made of girlfriends and also the obligatory glasses chapter. The two girlfriends are Ahko, who is a nice gyaru but whose face has trouble emoting (she has a permanent lazy smile), which has led to trouble with her friends before, and Uto, a self-proclaimed “wandering bard” who is very good at making dramatic proclamations but very bad at actual singing. She’s definitely on the more eccentric side of the girlfriend spectrum. That said, as ever this series is dedicated to showing us it’s not just about Rentaro—the chapter with Ahko and Karane bonding was my favorite. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 12 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – This starts off slow, as it’s in between serious arcs. We do get to see that Handler is a mess, and a reminder that it’s mostly for tragic reasons. We also get another reminder not to let Yor get drunk. But the bulk of the back half deals with one of those questions that we’re eventually going to get whenever this comes to an end, which is what happens if Loid’s cover is blown? It’s not blown YET here, as this ends with a cliffhanger, but Loid is going to have to do some clever scheming to try to dissuade Yuri that he isn’t a spy this time. Assuming Loid lives to do anything about it. Or Yuri, for that matter. The enemy spy we’re dealing with here is a cut above what we’ve seen before. That said, we have Fiona, and her yandere love, so I’m not too worried. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 17 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The manga ends with the eighteenth volume, and it feels a bit like, now that the author has decided to do a pregnancy arc, they’re speeding through it a bit. The book starts with the pregnancy, ends with the birth, and seems to imply that the final volume will take place about 16-17 years later. All that, plus the inevitable “surprise” in trying-to-have-a-baby series, the fact that it’s twins. Despite all this, this remains a cute and fun series. Ikuma has sort of a dream-time travel thing to talk with his late dad about how to be a father, and finds his late dad was far more unprepared. Meanwhile, Sumika meets other mothers who are in the “at risk” category, and we’re reminded how stoic and off-putting she is to strangers. I’m gonna miss this when it ends. – Sean Gaffney

Bakemonogatari, Vol. 22 | By NISIOISIN and Oh!great | Kodansha Manga – The manga ends here, but of course, the novels are ongoing, and there’s almost twenty more that were never adapted. As such, this book tries to tell you what happens. Some are quick and obvious (Tsubasa becomes a terrorist FOR PEACE; Karen is a cop like her parents), some are relatively static (Tsukihi is forever unchanging), and some can’t be summed up in the manga no matter what (Nadeko’s descent into evil is hinted at, but there’s nothing about her ascent into specialist life). And then there’s Ougi, who shows up here and almost causes Araragi to fall several stories to his death, leading to more fantastic art. If you avoided the manga as you’d read the books and seen the anime, give it another chance. It’s worthy of standing beside them. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Box, Vol. 11 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – The bulk of this volume is resolving Yumeka’s past relationship with Chinatsu, and showing her what it’s like to love playing basketball again. The over-competitive feel to sports is one reason I always hated participating in them myself, so some of this rings true to me, but I definitely appreciate them making up and crying and Chinatsu’s simple desire just to play basketball with her friend. That said, I’m not sure if the next volume will be the “they get together” volume, but it sure feels like it. Everyone who doesn’t know them thinks they’re a couple, Chinatsu is ludicrously happy with everything he did for her the last two volumes, and of course Yumeka calls him a great big coward. Sounds like it’s headed for a confession to me. This remains must-read Jump. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 14 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – I do appreciate the best joke of this final volume, which is that Laios’ greatest desire is not “rescue my beloved dead sister” but “see cool monsters!” Honestly, Falin fans who watched the anime may end up a bit disappointed with how little she gets to do, as after her resurrection and happy ending we get an epilogue, a quick story set after the end, and that’s it. The best part of the book is actually Izutsumi, who is forced to figure out what to do next, and does this by touring the rest of the cast to ask what *they’re* doing next. It fits her character and is cute. I also appreciate that Marcille is not going to elf jail forever, or even the elf crime army, though her relationship with Falin will forever be vague, alas. This was an amazing series; I adored it. – Sean Gaffney

I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Vol. 3 | By Kashikaze| Kodansha Manga – Last time I said these two would work it out, and that would still be true, if it were not for the fact that parents exist in the world, and it’s not a guarantee that they’re going to care much about their child’s burgeoning lesbian desires. So yes, Sora’s mom appears, announces they’re moving to a different city, and does not really appear to even like Sora all that much. Cue cliffhanger. Fortunately, that’s just the end of the book, and the rest is good yuri romance stuff, and also features Ayaka wondering why she’s so hung up on the scholarship, and whether she even wants to be a teacher at all. Teenage years are where people can realize that maybe there’s a different path. Hopefully Sora will be allowed to continue on hers. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 30 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – This is a transitional volume, which means as usual it’s hard to review because it’s a bunch of short vignettes. It’s also very much anti-OT3, possibly as it’s been reading my reviews. Kawai blatantly asks if she can marry both Komi and Tadano, and while they still remain friends, spouses is out of the question. As for Manbagi, she and her Pair the Spares not-quite-boyfriend get the cliffhanger ending where a confession means that status may change soon. Other than that, it’s a lot of goofy comedy, which is hit or miss, and a lot of really sweet blushing and romance, which is usually a hit. As with most recent volumes of this series that coast along, though, I keep looking at my watch wondering how many volumes till the end. – Sean Gaffney

March Comes in Like a Lion, Vol. 2 | By Chica Umino | Denpa – I really like Rei Kiriyama, the protagonist of March Comes in Like a Lion. Shogi is all he has. It’s a literal lifeline that he’s using to create a place where he belongs, and I loved seeing his reaction to two back-to-back victories over opponents who essentially just resigned themselves to losing partway through. That said, there are truly some terrible people in Rei’s orbit. Those defeated opponents make the list in separate ways, but Rei’s adoptive sister Kyoko absolutely takes the cake. She takes perverse delight in informing Rei about the hardships awaiting his opponents should he defeat them, and I wish he wasn’t so receptive to her words, because she’s a major piece of trash whom I hope gets hit by a fictional bus in the next volume. – Michelle Smith

My Journey to Her | By Yuna Hirasawa | Kodansha Manga (digital only) – We’ve seen quite a bit of biographical manga lately, especially of the LGBTQ variety. This one is about the author’s gender-affirming surgery, as well as her gender dysphoria and everything surrounding that which came before it. It’s quite well done, presenting a ton of information while always remembering that it has to keep us entertained and not simply present gobs of text. Yuna emphasizes that this is her own journey, and not a typical or average one, and a lot of what happens to her is unique. There’s also frank discussion of the surgery itself, so be prepared for that, but again, it’s presented in a way that keeps the reader wanting to know more and it has a few really good jokes. I just feel really good for Yuna by the end, even as she realizes that this is only the beginning. – Sean Gaffney

Noss & Zakuro, Vol. 1 | By Rariatto | Seven Seas – Well, this was delightful. It does appear to be an actual manga that runs in an online manga magazine, albeit a very obscure one. (It’s best known for that “skateboarding maids” series.) This stars Noss (aka Nosferatu), an introverted vampire who has that Morticia Addams look, and Zakuro (aka Dracula), a cheerful, happy vampire teen. Together, they have adorably cute slice-of-life adventures. Sometimes they meet zombies; sometimes they meet weird robot girls. The whole thing has the feel of a story you’d happily show to kids, and I think that’s likely the best audience, and the one Seven Seas is going for. It’s just cute as the dickens. And I appreciate how Noss’s clear massive introversion is not used for comedy all that much. – Sean Gaffney

Pupposites Attract, Vol. 1 | By Hono Natsuna | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – I will admit, the dogs are definitely the best reason to read what is otherwise a pretty typical romance. Our lead guy is a firefighter who’s pretty meek and mild, and he has an excitable, tiny little dog. Our heroine is a teacher who has trouble controlling her own strength, and she has a huge but very passive, introverted dog. They both make each other feel happy, but neither one is really sure if it’s anything beyond “good friends and dog buddies,” though his younger brother can certainly see where things are going. It’s a definite great title for dog lovers, but romance fans may need to wait another volume or two to see if this is going to be a fast romance or a slow burn. I really hope it’s not a slow burn. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 9 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – There’s a weird feeling during this whole volume. For the most part, it’s sweet as pie, with our leads searching for an apartment to move into and doing so. There’s discussion of the needs that a deaf person would have for things like smoke alarms, etc. And we get to see the secondary couple and how they moved in together, which I kind of wish got a chapter of its own but is also sweet. What’s more, we almost get a sex scene, but it’s pretty apparent that Yuki’s not ready for it, so they both hold off. That said… there’s a secret hanging out there that she doesn’t know, and I suspect it will make life more difficult for them in the next volume. It can’t ALL be sweet fluff, though the sweet fluff is lovely to read. – Sean Gaffney

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 4 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The best part of this volume is seeing all the “we’re on a beach trip!” romcom shenanigans run up against the fact that Utage is not a romantic lead. Well, she *is*, yes, but she’s a fan first and foremost, and therefore all of these situations just run up against the fact that she doesn’t even think of the idea of being in a relationship with Tamon or any of them… mostly. We’re seeing a couple of cracks in the wall. But it’s a big wall. Fortunately, as with the author’s previous series, this runs on comedy overreactions and shouting at people, and it does that very well. This won’t get an anime, but if it did it would be fast and loud (and probably have an animation budget of $1.98). That said… the takeaway from this book is THAT BLUSH at the end. Cute! – Sean Gaffney

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Vol. 5 | By Hitoshi Ashinano | Seven Seas – I was right that this series is not quite dark enough to kill off its elderly cast on-screen, but it’s a near thing. This last omnibus moves the timeline even faster than the previous one, as we start with Makki working part-time at the cafe and struggling to work out what to do, then doing a job separate from Takahiro, then living with Takahiro but he says she’s his sister, to visiting Alpha with her kid. Fortunately for Alpha, she manages to get the cafe back to what it used to look like, and things are back to where they were… except Alpha now realizes that she doesn’t like being lonely, and wants someone else around. How it happens is merely suggested, but by the end of the book, Kokone is there as well. We all saw this coming. A fantastic book, and I hope they have a wonderful post-apocalypse. – Sean Gaffney

Adults’ Picture Book: New Edition, Vol. 2 | By Kei Itoi | Yen Press – This continues to be really well-written provided that you can deal with awkward introverts who don’t like talking trying to raise a ball of fun who is nevertheless far more clever than her father wants her to be. Now married, Fusako is trying to figure out what that means… though before she does that, she might want to invest in a GPS so she doesn’t walk over an hour to get home after work. Meanwhile, Kudou’s colleagues bring him gifts (that he doesn’t want) and also muse on his sexuality, which is still very ambiguous. He states he’s not gay, but it’s pretty clear he was in love with Jinno. The premise of this manga seems to be defining “normal”… or more accurately, asking why people have to try really hard to be normal at all. Fascinating. – Sean Gaffney

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 3 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – Make no mistake, Bocchi is the main reason to read this series, but I do appreciate that the other three girls in the main cast are not just there to react to her. They’ve each got their own issues. Kita worries her voice isn’t conveying the song as well as it could, worries that don’t go away when the singer from a rival band confirms it for her. Nijika is the leader of the band, so of course wants it to go far, even if that means playing at bad venues and having to face up to the fact that she’s a drummer and can’t do a cool pose. Even Ryo gets stuff to do, though I admit of the four leads hers is the one that most often comes down to “the stoic but weird one” most often. As for Bocchi herself, she’s still a mess, but far less than volume one. She’s coming along. – Sean Gaffney

Captain Momo’s Secret Base, Vol. 1 | By Kenji Tsuruta | Dark Horse – It’s 3019 CE and Captain Momo and her first officer, a tuxedo cat named Grandpa John, are escorting a space freighter on a years-long journey. This manga chronicles their daily adventures, by which I mean the distinct lack of same. These include using the meal replicator to create a toy mouse for Grandpa John, napping, and dealing with massive piles of stuff everywhere. She’s also naked the whole time. It’s not salacious, unless you count the time she flashes her coworker, but it’s definitely inescapable. Towards the end, somewhat of a plot develops, in that Momo currently doesn’t have enough energy reserves to complete her journey successfully, and must find a way to make up the deficit. I’m just not sure I’m interested enough to see how that turns out for her. – Michelle Smith

Chasing Spica, Vol. 1 | By Chihiro Orihi | Seven Seas – I was looking at comments about this manga, and I saw someone asking whether it was really OK to be rooting for the blackmailer in this series? Well, are we supposed to? Honestly, both leads are damaged in some way, shape or form. The blackmailer, Serika, is the “protagonist” mostly as the story comes from her perspective in this book, and it’s her own struggles that kickstart the plot. That said, I can’t deny that I’m more interested in Reiko, who is seemingly the prim and proper opposite to Serika but in reality is something much more complex, and grounded in apparent past family trauma. Plus we get “I’m good at something too. Sex.”, which is one of those over-the-top lines that makes me hope this eventually sees an anime. I was intrigued. I’ll read more. – Sean Gaffney

I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Vol. 2 | By Kashikaze| Kodansha Manga – It’s always tricky when two girls are in love but one of them isn’t quite aware that’s what this is. Sora definitely knows what this is—she’s been in love with Ayaka from the moment she first saw her. Unfortunately, not only does Ayaka not remember that, but she’s also perhaps unaware of her own feelings—since she sees her relationship with Sora as being based around the request from the teacher (and explaining about her perfect older brother helps explain more why she took it), the burgeoning feelings inside her can’t be romantic—they’ve got to be the TRUE friendship that exists beyond the commodity that they had before! If this seems frustrating, welcome to yuri manga, but it’s cute and they’re great kids. They’ll work it out. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 38 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – A definite step up from the last volume, here we see the heroes starting to have a comeback. There is a bit of shonen eye-rolling to get through, as EVERYONE has to come back for one last appearance to help out. This includes Lady Nagant, whom we last saw exploded but with her death unconfirmed, sniping All for One despite her massive wounds. It also includes the cast of Shiketesu, leading to the best callback of the series, where Camie does her “shojo manga” duplicate of Hawks, which manages to fool AFO enough for the real, injured Hawks to get away. And yes, that means it’s also the chapter with the translated footnotes that a very annoying fandom thought were made up by the translator. No, you missed the joke. Try again, folks. – Sean Gaffney

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 19 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – The danger of long-running suspense series, especially ones with a supernatural bent like QueQua, is that there needs to be escalation to keep the reader interested. Shonen does this too, of course, but there it’s bigger and stronger villains, whereas here it’s bigger and more personal villains. Fumi has struggled with past memories for the entirety of the series, even back when it was QQ Sweeper, and the revelations that come up here are less “oh my God, we had no idea” and more “oh my God, she’s going to be depressed even more now.” But Fumi is made of sterner stuff (well, she is in the hospital—again—in this book) and is prepared, if necessary, to make this fight even more personal than it’s already been. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Sister and Giant: A Young Lady Is Reborn in Another World, Vol. 1 | By Be-Con | Yen Press – “Sister” is used here in the Maria-sama Ga Miteru vein—indeed, they seem to explicitly have the same uniforms. Sadly, the sisterly relationship we see seems to have gone sour, in a lethal way—not a truck, but a train. The “Giant,” however, is very real, a young woman who is belittled and abandoned by everyone else in her tribe, but finds this isekai’d girl with no powers (she explicitly rejected them) is her savior. Together the two of them struggle to do adventuring jobs, fight off evil rapists from (of course) the Church, and look for those who abandoned them. Unfortunately, the other girl who got hit by the train was not proud enough to reject cool powers, and I think that might come back to bite her. A good take on isekai. – Sean Gaffney

Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 26 | By Sorata Akiduki | Viz Media – It’s been a YEAR since the last volume, and I have, of course, forgotten everything. My last review notes Ryu’s character growth, and now we see why—he’s staying behind while Shirayuki moves on, and the new arc, whatever it may be, begins in earnest. At least she has Zen with her for now. We also get to see more of Kiki and Hisame, and I think the reader may finally be coming to terms with the fact that, now that they’ve both grown up a lot, they’re a very good couple. So are Shirayuki and Zen, but that has to advance at a snail’s pace due to the nature of this manga, and it doesn’t help that it’s on a yearly schedule in Japan now as well, so we’re going to wait just as long for the next book. I’ll always be buying it, though. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 19 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – The only teasing going on here is teasing the reader, as we get a chapter where newlyweds Takagi and Nishikata (yes, another flashforward) resolve to use each other’s first names… but WE don’t hear what they are. Other than that, this is the penultimate volume of the series, so it’s setting up for the ending… except I suspect the ending will be pretty vague, so instead it’s sort of meandering along with more heartwarming than funny, including the scene where Takagi gets sick and he visits her home, and more scenes showing that Nishikata and Takagi are basically dating, and would be making out every day if he could work up the nerve. (He can’t even touch her back without having a breakdown.) The next one’s the last, should be fun. – Sean Gaffney

This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Vol. 1 | By Sai Naekawa | Yen Press – I read this suspecting it would be a bit depressing, and it is a bit, but the overly of mystery and horror helps to distract you. Hinako lives alone in a seaside town, and dwells on her parents and brother, who were killed at some point in the past. As a word of warning, she pretty much as suicidal thoughts throughout this volume, and I don’t see that changing. She ends up meeting a girl who turns out to be a mermaid, who wants to eat Hinako… but not yet, as she’s not tasty enough. The implication seems to be Hinako is too depressed to taste good, so as metaphors go it’s not bad. I’m most intrigued by Hinako’s friend Miko, who is her bestest bestest friend and does not like this new girl (the mermaid transfers in) at all. This is a riveting title. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Box, Vol. 10 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – There is, thankfully, a bit more sports in this sports-based romance this time around. Chinatsu’s team is headed for a tournament, so they’re practicing harder than ever. Actually, Chinatsu’s practice habits may be starting to affect the rest of the team. Indeed, that’s the plot of this volume, where we hear about her childhood friend and mentor Yumeka, who quit basketball after junior high and departed on bad terms. Taiki being who he is, he finds out what really happened… though that gets him a healthy slap across the face from Yumeka, who does not need another shiny paragon of sports in her life, as it turns out that it was the pressure to be Chinatsu’s hero that broke her. This remains one of Jump‘s best series, and I hope the upcoming anime does really well. – Sean Gaffney

Cocoon Entwined, Vol. 6 | By Yuriko Hara | Yen Press – The large gap between each volume and the tendency of some of the characters to look the same has sort of dimmed my desire to review Cocoon Entwined, which I haven’t done since the second volume. But this is the final one, and it again succeeds better when read for pure mood than it does for plot reasons. That said, I did enjoy the burning of the hair and the realization that a tradition that had been optional and fun suddenly became this required chain around every student. And yes, there’s a yuri ending, which makes me happy, though it requires a breakup as well—a love triangle will tend to do that. I’ll still think “hair” whenever I think of this series, but it was a stylistically striking manga in the end. – Sean Gaffney

Friday at the Atelier, Vol. 1 | By Sakura Hamada | Yen Press – I was looking forward to this as I’d heard that it was very weird, but I don’t think I was quite ready for how weird it was. At its heart, this is a vague romance between two people who are bad at communicating and also possibly bad at life. Ishihara is a popular artist who draws nudes with fish surrounding them. He needs a model to pose on a couch with fish draped over her. He finds Tamaki, an office lady who, when we meet her, cannot decide if she should get the groceries and then kill herself, or vice versa. There’s a lot of amusing stuff going on here, and Tamaki’s obliviousness is amusing given that we usually see it coming from the guy. But her attitude towards life is terrifying, and Ishihara agrees with me. Lots of nudity, and some odd situations, but compelling. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Yamada, Vol. 3 | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – These volumes are coming out every two years. On the good side, that means that the artist is presumably not being dragged through the hedge that is the Japanese manga experience, so I’m glad they are able to relax a bit. On the down side, it means I don’t get as much of Kase-san and Yamada, which is a shame, as these two are adorable. Much of this volume is dedicated to Yamada’s gardening club, which has a celebrity guest joining them from a pro gardening show—and he’s a gorgeous guy! Naturally, Kase-san is jealous, but at least is cognizant of it immediately. That said, she should have more faith in Yamada’s love for her, as it’s clear the only feelings between her and the guy are plant-based. Always sweet and cute. – Sean Gaffney

Magus of the Library, Vol. 7 | By Mitsu Izumi | Kodansha Comics – Somehow I did not review the sixth volume of this series, possibly as I had forgotten its main cast of 752 people once more. But it remains compelling. The first half of the volume is taken up by librarians deciding whether to ban a violent book that’s popular with children but also possibly an allegory for racism. It doesn’t help that those who want war and unrest are inciting riots about the book. Mixed in with this are the adventures of Theo and the library trainees, who are learning lots of cool things… and also that it can be hard to tell truth from lies, even if they’re written down. I also really liked an examination of one of the trainees who seems to be autistic, and how they’re (relatively) accepting of her. Always worth a read. – Sean Gaffney

My Next Life As a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Vol. 9 | By Satoru Yamaguchi and Nami Hidaka | Seven Seas – We’re transitioning into the new arc, which starts towards the end of this volume. That means new hot guys, but also a “sequel” to the Fortune Lover game, which Katarina sees in a dream. Theoretically getting executed should be impossible given all she’s done so far… but we know how fate and otome games go, so it’s best she try hard to avoid it anyway. On the down side, this has the “Keith pushes Katarina down on the bed” scene, which Western fandom liked about as well as an appendectomy when it was in the anime, and unfortunately gives the sleepover bits short shrift. In any case, we’re now firmly in the second arc in the series, for better or worse, which is bad news is you like Mary, Sophia, Alan, or Nicol. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 10 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship Another volume, another girlfriend, another fetish. For the most part, Kishika seems to be on the relatively normal side of the girlfriend spectrum, as an upright, mature kendo captain. But that maturity has been forced on her since she was a little girl, and inside her is a desire to be babied. Which is fine, that’s the heartwarming part. It also leads to a desire to suck on Hahari’s breasts. That’s the fetish part. Aside from this, it’s the usual 100 Girlfriends toxin of heartwarming romance, ridiculous comedy, jaw-dropping ecchi stuff, and shattering the fourth wall. Oh yes, and Hakari and Karane kiss again. Twice. At this point they’re practically an official couple on their own. For the fan. – Sean Gaffney

Second Hand Love | By Yamada Murasaki | Drawn & Quarterly The second volume of Yamada Murasaki’s manga to be released in English, Second Hand Love, makes a marvelous companion to the first, Talk to My Back, in its compelling and honest examinations of the lives of women. But this time, Yamada intentionally turns her creative focus towards the “other woman”—the leads of the two manga collected in the volume, “A Blue Flame” (serialized 1983-1984) and the titular “Second Hand Love” (serialized 1986-1987), are both women who are having affairs with married men. Yamada’s characters are complex, with nuanced but largely sympathetic portrayals which recognize both the emotional freedoms and tolls brought about by relationships of this type. Also included in the collection are Yamada’s illustrations for Mita Masahiro’s novel A Loving Family as well as an interview from 1985. Second Hand Love is an exceptional work and extraordinarily easy to recommend. – Ash Brown

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 4 | By Sakaomi Yuzaki | Yen Press – Last time I called Yako the normal one in the series, but as much as I love this series when its characters sit around and eat food, it also has an agenda, and it’s one I love. Yako is a lesbian but also asexual, and that’s upset people in her life. As for our main couple, well, Kasuga is finally ready to move on from her abusive family entirely, but that will also mean moving out of her apartment. Could this be the impetus to finally force Nomoto to admit her feelings and confess? And there’s also tons of delicious food, which looks great when it’s cooked and great when it’s eaten. We even get more of Nagumo, who is starting to narrow down the specifics of her hatred of eating. This is one of my favorite manga to read whenever it comes out. – Sean Gaffney

A Sign of Affection, Vol. 8 | By Suu Morishita | Kodansha Comics – Yuki is ready to introduce her parents to Itsuomi, given that they’re about to move in together. That said, it turns out there’s family stuff that’s been kept from her, but is told to Itsuomi, who needs to understand that this is why they’re wary of him. He handles it as you’d expect—this is not a series to read if you want the romantic male lead to be imperfect and flawed. Meanwhile, there’s also Emma and Shin, who are at a hot spring and going through the most awkward “wait, shit, he loves me? What do I do now?” stuff. Theoretically they’re going to get together, but I suspect it’s too soon for her to get over Itsuomi for this to go anywhere. This remains a charming, if somewhat lackadaisical, shoujo manga. – Sean Gaffney

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 9 | By Misaki Takamatsu | Seven Seas – Shima likes Mitsumi, something that is relatively obvious to everyone around the two of them. Unfortunately, his past experiences have also left him with a somewhat ass-backwards idea of what loving someone else is, to the point where he needs a powerpoint presentation in the sauna (one of the funniest scenes in this series) to get it. More to the point, he has Mitsumi on a pedestal as someone who knows what she’s doing. In this volume, which shows the main cast visiting Mitsumi’s home for the break, he sees what she’s like in her own environment, and moreover meets her best friend Fumi, who’s able to clue him in: what makes him think Mitsumi understands love and her own heart? “She’s good at book smarts and nothing else.” I adore this series too. – Sean Gaffney

365 Days to the Wedding, Vol. 3 | By Tamiki Wakaki | Seven Seas After finally managing to get to Takuya’s hometown and let his family know why they’re doing this fake marriage thing, everything seems to be solved… except Rika runs into what appears to be a classic “childhood friend romance” that the oblivious Takuya is already involved in. Is this true? Probably not. Does it fill Rika with anxiety? Yup. By the end of the volume, the two of them have finally gotten to the point where they realize they’re actually attracted to each other, and he asks her on a date. But what will this mean for the fake marriage, which has to keep moving towards happening or their workplace will send them to Russia ASAP. I enjoy seeing how these are two people who are bad at communicating in very different ways. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 16 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The odd balance between heartwarming, overly syrupy romance between a husband and wife and their sexual exploits remains what makes this series interesting, and it’s nice to see Ikuma gradually realize that you don’t necessarily get pregnant the very first time you don’t use a condom. The ending to the volume seems to imply that it doesn’t take long after that, though. And we’ve also gotten word that this series will end with the eighteenth volume, which I guess answers my questions about whether the author can keep it horny despite a newborn child. In the meantime, these two really are blessed—we see how well they bonded even as little kids, and other couples around them break up even as they cruise along. – Sean Gaffney

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 12 | By Kamome Shirahama | Kodansha Comics – For all that we’ve been having fun watching our girls learn cool witch stuff, there is still a definite schism between things a witch does and things a doctor does, and if the witches try to cross that line, as we see here, they’ll be threatened at best. Which is kind of a shame, as there’s black leech tentacle beasts ravaging the city, and I think they need all the healing they can get. Coco once again proves to be able to come up with clever ideas on the fly, but she also has a nagging tendency to have bad luck, which means that she sees the evil witch who started all this, and now she has to be killed so that no one can know. Fortunately, she has teachers, and in this series, they’re definitely good guys. Still a fantastic and fascinating fantasy. – Sean Gaffney

You and I Are Polar Opposites, Vol. 1 | By Kocha Agasawa | Viz Media – Every once in a while you get one of those titles that decides to thrive on lack of conflict, and the media usually hype it up as not being like those other girls… erm, manga. I saw a lot of that with this series, a shonen romance that apparently avoids shoujo tropes, mostly as, well, it’s a shonen series. It is, however, pretty sweet. Loud goofy Suzuki likes quiet, stoic Tani. He likes her too. They date, and any conflicts they have barely last half the chapter. They’ve got fun friends as well. The art is very “busy,” and reminded me at times of the old messy Hana to Yume style of the early 00s. But if you do like romantic comedies, this is a good one to pick up, even if it doesn’t have all the drama folks assume regular manga has. – Sean Gaffney

Bakemonogatari, Vol. 21 | By NISIOISIN and Oh!great | Kodansha Manga – Gonna say something controversial here: is the manga the best version of this series? The anime is great, but can sometimes get too caught up in SHAFT being SHAFT. The light novel suffers massively from “lost in translation” and no character being able to shut their mouth unless they’re monologuing. That’s true here as well, but at least with manga you can have amazing background visuals going on as it happens. And, of course, Oh!great is who he is, so the massive tiger also turns out to take the form of a hot dark-skinned woman to satisfy fanservice fans. We see Senjogahara pretending not to see, we see Hanekawa suffering but also winning, and we also see Hanekawa demand Araragi grab her boobs with hilarious artwork. This is the purest form of this series. I can’t believe the next book is the last. – Sean Gaffney

Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way with You, Vol. 1 | By Takako Midori and Selen| Steamship – There were two recent Steamship debuts, and of the two, this is definitely the darker one. Our protagonist is, of course, publicly dumped and shamed by the prince, who is dropping her for a (somewhat manipulative) other girl. Before accepting this, however, she decides to kidnap and sexually assault him. Her goal is to have everyone think she might be pregnant, so that she won’t be quietly killed (though she did take contraceptives). Unfortunately, what ends up happening is the prince now has a taste for non-consensual sex, only with him as the lead. How much you enjoy this depends entirely on your taste for non-con, but if that is your taste, then this should be right up your alley, as it does that well. – Sean Gaffney

Bless, Vol. 1 | By Yukino Sonoyama| Kodansha Manga – This is one of those “wait, this is shonen?” titles, as everything about it screams that it should be running in Betsufure or Be Love. A pretty boy model has a different dream—he wants to do makeup for others. His classmate Jun is introverted and hunched, as her face is full of freckles, but when she smiles and stands straight she’s gorgeous. Suddenly he has a model he wants to make even more beautiful. I liked how clear this series was about what makes success possible in the cutthroat world—yes, talent is important, but it helps to have the money and popularity to be able to get what you want, and even then that may not be enough, because there’s also an element of luck and je ne sais quoi. I’ll be checking out more of this. For fans of fashion. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 28 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – Each of the chapters here, until the final one, are basically “what happens to this supporting/main character.” The funniest is the resolution of the Nagisa/Tsubasa/Maki love triangle, which reminds you this ran in Young Jump, not Shonen Jump. The yuriest is Ai’s flashforward finale, showing that she’s essentially moved in with Chika and is living like a leech (runner up goes to Kaguya’s reaction to Chika possibly getting married). The most predictable is Ishigami and Iino, who have turned into the next generation in more ways than one. And the most heartwarming is the finale, where Miyuki tries to sneak into graduation and realizes how important he was to the entire school. I will miss this wonderful series. – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You: Soulmate, Vol. 1 | By Karuho Shiina | Viz Media – Kurumi is the star of this sequel/side story, and how much you enjoy it likely depends on how much of her you can take, because she is A LOT in this volume. She’s glommed onto Sawako in college, practically living with her, but things get difficult when she’s invited to a mixer. Not being ready to do this alone, she forces Sawako to pretend she does not have a boyfriend and go along… and attracts the attention of a total creep. Fortunately, a savior arrives. It’s Sawako’s cousin Eiji, who is cool, handsome, and immediately attracted to Kurumi, which freaks her out. The Soulmate of the title is likely eventually going to refer to Eiji, but at the moment it definitely refers to Sawako, as the main series may not be yuri but it sure does lean into it. Exhausting. – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You: Soulmate, Vol. 1 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – Sean found this exhausting, but I actually really liked it. Kurumi, or Ume-chan as she is beginning to accept to being called, has put up a lot of walls because people only ever saw her for her looks. Sawako’s cousin Eiji, dashing as befits a shoujo hero, sees how protective she is of Sawako and challenges her own narrative that she’s a bad person. To him, she’s cute on the inside, much more so than the outside. I suppose this story does require a certain amount of tolerance for pricky tsundere heroines, but I enjoyed seeing Kurumi have to learn to accept that someone nice really does like her and that she’s come a long way from the person she used to be. I look forward to the remaining two volumes of this sequel. – Michelle Smith

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 29 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – The author finally introduces a new character who’s meant to be important and whose name isn’t an immediately obvious pun on her personality. Unsurprisingly, she’s from another school. She knew Tadano in middle school, when he was a massive chuuni, and rejected him as she wanted him to change. Now he has, great news! Unfortunately, he’s dating Komi. Most of the book is made up of Kawai challenging Komi to various games, implying that the loser is not good enough and should give up on Tadano. Komi doesn’t win the games, but does not give up on Tadano, because the world does not run on bullshit, not even the world of Komi Can’t Communicate. Still, Kawai made the volume stronger than the later ones have been, so well done. – Sean Gaffney

My Gemini | By Yuu Morikawa | Yen Press – I had hopes for this book, and sadly they were only half fulfilled. The manga starts from the POV of John, an Izuku Midoriya lookalike who is friend to the incredibly popular identical twins Jekyll and Hyde, and is the only one who seems to be able to tell them apart. Then one twin dies, leaving the other one devastated and searching for answers. First of all, and it’s rare that you’re hearing me say this, this would have worked better as BL. John appears throughout, but most of the emotional heft comes from the surviving twin, leaving him more as a sounding board and emotional teddy bear. The book also could have used more chapters to build up its angst—either it was cancelled fast, or the author found Mr. Villain’s Day Off was the stronger horse. That leaves this sadly half-baked. – Sean Gaffney

Neighborhood Story, Vol. 2 | By Ai Yazawa | Viz Media This volume is a lot more serious than the first one, and you can see Yazawa starting to struggle against the restrictions of shoujo that will lead her towards titles like Paradise Kiss and NANA. The romance—for Miwako, at least—is the easiest part, as it’s mostly just Miwako realizing her own feelings and actually acting on them. More difficult is her career, as she’s given a harsh lesson that fashion is for the consumer, not the designer. And then there’s her family issues, as her father comes back into her life… and turns out to have been trying to contact her. She wants to confront her mother about it… but now her mother has collapsed with an ulcer! This is starting to get the “tortured soap opera” feel of her later works, but is still silly and fun. – Sean Gaffney

Sketchy, Vol. 1 | By MAKIHIROSHI | Kodansha Manga – I want to love realistic josei titles a hell of a lot more than I tend to do in practice, so it’s great to see a book that grabbed me as fast as Sketchy does. Ako works a dead-end job in a video rental store, all her school friends are married with kids, and her boyfriend has made it clear that, though he’s not breaking up with her, there’s no way they’re getting married. Then she spots a young woman skateboarding, and can’t stop thinking about it. Towards the end of this volume the cast expands, and we see other young women in crisis, either of their own making or by happenstance, also reaching out to the ways of the skateboard. Yes, I want to see them doing cool tricked-out jumps, but I also really want to see them bond and realize that romance is not the only way to find fulfillment. Excellent. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 49 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | Viz Media – The funniest bits in this volume have to do with Kyoko, juggling a few secret identities, having to hide the fact that she finally, FINALLY understands Ren’s feelings… and of course now that she’s had to deny it he wants to have another chat with her. Elsewhere, we see Kanae’s ongoing concerns with her acting and her English, to the point that Kyoko goes along with her as a PA. Of course, this also means that Kyoko is brought in as an actor as well, because we’ve already seen that she can Jackie Chan it up with the best of them. This comes out so infrequently that I really should do a massive reread, but I don’t have the time, so let’s hope I remember what’s going on by the time the 50th volume comes out in ten months or so. – Sean Gaffney

Skip Beat!, Vol. 49 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – Kanae has been cast in a movie requiring her to act in English, and it’s nice to see her sharing her insecurity regarding that with Kyoko. Their agency, LME, not only assigns Kyoko to accompany her but also basically produces a practice film, giving many of its actors the opportunity to work in English. Unfortunately, during the course of filming, Kyoko is forced to say she now despises Ren for the tawdry tabloid romance he is allegedly having. When he later asks to speak with her, she’s worried he’s misunderstood, but I love that this concern does not keep her from turning in a stellar action sequence. And, then, of course, what he wants to talk about turns about to be something minor and yet kind of a big step for their relationship. It looks like it will be nearly an entire year before we see what happens, though. Sigh. – Michelle Smith

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 3 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – Utage’s dedication to being a fan rather than a real human being to these idols she knows has done well so far, but it’s starting to be pushed to its limits. It’s pretty clear that Tamon is becoming obsessed with her… and while this is a romance manga, it’s not entirely a healthy obsession. As for the raging asshole from the last volume, surprise, he’s also fallen for her, and is a lot less raging once he and Tamon resolve their issues. That said, there’s always a bigger fish, and it turns out that the sweet airhead of the group is really a calculating manipulator who does not like Utage at ALL. That said, the main reason to get this is still the humor, as Utage’s reactions are hysterical much of the time, especially when she’s proselytizing. – Sean Gaffney

Adults’ Picture Book: New Edition, Vol. 1 | By Kei Itoi | Yen Press – Boy, this was weird. And I was already expecting it to be weird. The premise is that a man suddenly has a daughter, thanks to the wishes of his dead college friend. He has no real idea how to take care of her, and while going through the adoption process impulsively proposes to the woman helping him… who impulsively says yes. The reason it’s weird is that Kudou is heavily implied to have been in love with his old college buddy… and that his new wife looks an awful lot like him. I’d feel a little more worried if I were not fairly confident that this is far more interested in the found family than in any love hangups like that. The cast aren’t that likeable, aside from the adorable child, but they’re very relatable and interesting. I want to read more. – Sean Gaffney

Healer for the Shadow Hero, Vol. 1 | By Kyu Azagishi and Ako| Steamship – This seems to be based on a light novel, which is possibly why it’s a lot less concerned with the smut than some other Steamship titles I’ve read. Oh, it’s there, fear not… in fact, it’s the actual plot device… but for the most part, this series is here more for the budding romance than for the hot sex. Our heroine, an indentured servant at a bullying noble family’s house, is discovered to have fantastic healing powers… but it’s only triggered when she has sex. Now she has to lose her virginity to the hero so that he can continue to save the land. Unfortunately, the hero is under a curse causing him great pain. Also unfortunately, the hero is also a virgin, and very shy. This isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it’s cute and inoffensive smut. – Sean Gaffney

I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Vol. 1 | By Kashikaze| Kodansha Manga – I will admit the start of this had me going “uh-oh.” A top student, who is nevertheless at a non-top school because she freezes up during big tests, is offered a teacher recommendation (a big thing to get into the college of choice)… if she will convince the girl who has never gone to school to start going. Said girl agrees to go… if she gets one wish from Ayaka every day, and her first wish is a kiss. It’s a premise that has a lot of questionable stuff to it, especially as the teacher is played as somewhat creepy comedy relief. Fortunately, this is a lot fluffier than that, and it helps that Ayaka immediately falls for Sora, though she isn’t aware of this herself just yet. As such, it’s a cute little read, once you get through chapter one. – Sean Gaffney

Magilumiere: Magical Girls, Inc., Vol. 1 | By Sekka Iwata and Yu Aoki | Viz Media – We’ve seen quite a few workplace sentai series lately, and so a workplace magical girl series makes sense. Kana is a girl with a near-perfect memory who nevertheless struggles with getting a job, till she runs into a professional magical girl. Suddenly Kana finds herself in at the ground floor of a new startup, with a generous salary, a new “broom” to learn, and immediate crises to solve. The manga mostly tries to showcase the differences between the methodical and book-smart Kana and her sempai at the company, the intuitive but loose cannon Hitomi. There’s also her boss, a middle-aged guy who likes to dress as Card Captor Sakura, but the manga does not appear to be here to mock him as much as show he’s as eccentric as the others. Should be cute. – Sean Gaffney

Medalist, Vol. 9 | By Tsurumaikada | Kodansha Comics (digital) – This is a hopefully long-running sports story, and we’re still in elementary school, so I had a secret premonition as to where this was going. The good news is that Inori pulls off her amazing quadruple salchow. The bad news is that she falls doing a triple lutz, and while she tries to make up for it with a triple axel that she had not really prepared for, which she actually pulls off… it also shows she did not actually prepare for it. So yeah, she does not end up on the podium, everything is over, please enjoy the artist’s next work… OK, no, not true. Sure, everyone’s super depressed for a while, and coach goes off on a journey to find himself, but we’re ready for the Junior High School arc to start now, and it’s going to be filled with great skating and amazing art. Love this. – Sean Gaffney

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Vol. 2 | By Yodokawa | Yen Press – Last time I noted that this didn’t seem like a yuri series, and it’s starting to with this book. There’s an internet meme that shows two women making out, and a bystander saying “they seem to be really good friends.” This volume’s final couple of chapters feel like the reverse of that. When Miyako attends the concert for her ex-idol group, who are carrying on without her, they catch up afterwards at karaoke. Miyako, of course, brings Asako along. To the two of them, they’re just good friends who get along great. To the idol group (including its new leader, who appears to be a bit horrified and I think has a crush on Miyako), it reads like the two of them are confessing in front of each other casually. This is proving to be a lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 11 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – The bulk of this volume is devoted to Anya and the other Eden Academy kids getting caught up in a terrorist attack, with them being held hostage on a school bus. It’s a good chance to really dig into how Anya is not a typical kid, while also showing off when she really, really is a typical kid. It’s also a great opportunity to sideline Loid (who is seemingly away from the city) and Yor (who only hears about this near the end of its resolution) from the action. This is a situation that Anya needs to resolve… along with perhaps, Mister Henderson and Becky’s minder Martha, who seem to have a history together. And as a bonus we get to see Emlinda come to pick up Damien, and oh boy, her inner thoughts are even more terrifying than last time. Terrific. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Box, Vol. 9 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – This is still a sports-lite volume of the series, which is good news for the reader but very bad news for Hina, who desperately insists she does not need an answer to her confession but she’s gonna get one anyway. Blue Box is, at nine volumes, assured of being a Jump success story, so you’d expect the author to start extending plotlines. As such, I really appreciate it’s not done here. Taiki knows that he’s starting to see Hina as a girl rather than a friend, and her confession is just making him stress. So he has to be fair to Chinatsu and reject her, because Chinatsu is the girl that he loves. Which we also see here, and the manga helpfully underlines that they already look like an old married couple. To my surprise, the next volume promises more melodrama. Where’s the sports? – Sean Gaffney

D-Frag!, Vol. 17 | By Tomoya Haruno | Seven Seas – It’s been a year and a half, and that’s a problem given that this is already a series that likely reads better when read month to month rather than in volume format. There’s just too much tsukkomi humor packed in here, and I honestly think if you put it by your bed and read a chapter a month you’d like it more. It doesn’t help that the “annoying group of adults” that follow Kazuma around are even more annoying than usual. The plot (such as it is) involves Chitose saying she wants to be an exorcist after graduation, which ties into an old childhood fear that it turns out Roka and Kazuma were also involved in causing/helping. I was amused at the brief suggestion that this will end with a polyamorous living arrangement (it won’t), but again, mostly exhausting. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 13 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that they managed to trick the Lion/Marcille into letting go of her as lord of the dungeon, and (so far) she is not being arrested and executed. The bad news is that they did this by having Laios become lord of the dungeon. Now, honestly, we’ve all been expecting this almost from Chapter One, but it still allows for a whole lot of evil and terrifying artwork, as all of Laios’ plans to make sure he does not get possessed and turn evil are for naught. Well, except for that last plan. That was pretty good, actually. Unfortunately, he’s cursed by the Lion by the cliffhanger ending of the book, and worries now that he’ll never be able to bring Falin back. Those who know Laios well will see that won’t be an issue. Fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

God Bless the Mistaken, Vol. 1 | By Nakatani Nio | Yen Press – This is from the creator of Bloom Into You, but while it has the same sort of vibe it isn’t yuri, sorry about that. This features more of a mentor relationship (I hope it does not turn romantic, but am prepared to be bitterly disappointed again) between Kon, a 14-year-old schoolboy, and Kasane, his landlord and a researcher into bugs, as in computer bugs, only these bugs affect reality, so that one day plant life grows over the entire city, and the next day that’s gone but everyone can walk on air, etc. She’s unaffected by any bug, which is handy but also a bit bittersweet. If you enjoyed Bloom Into You‘s tendency towards characters smiling wryly at each other, this is much the same, but the plot and characters were quite enjoyable to me. I’ll read more. – Sean Gaffney

Murciélago, Vol. 23 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – For the second book in a row the explicit lesbian sex scene goes to someone other than Kuroko, who is sadly far too busy investigating our latest villain. But this is a series that runs on vibe, not plot, so as long as it has great fistfights (check), really hot muscley women (check), traumatized teens (check), incredible car chases (check), ludicrous parkour from Hinako (check), Kuroko doing feats so ludicrous that even comic books would say “this is too much” (check), and the aforementioned sex scene, we can put up with the fact that the plot is irrelevant and I’ve forgotten the role of a lot of the cast. It’s a shame that this has far too much explicit sex and violence to get an anime, as it would absolutely soar if it was made (with a proper budget). – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 37 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – As with all long-running insanely popular Jump titles, as this series has gone along it’s had more and more fans saying that they hate it now and that everything is terrible. Normally I tune this sort of thing out, but honestly? With this particular volume, I kind of see their point. It’s a combination of “the villains are winning and everything will be lost, feel sad, feel fear!”—which is exhausting and irritating—with “I never got around to this in the main series before now, but I have to include it even though it feels shoehorned in and pointless.” The fact that in rural areas those with mutant quirks are persecuted has been lightly touched upon before, but not enough to have this dramatic scene that gives Koda and Shoji something to do for the first time in the entire series. Sigh. – Sean Gaffney

Teasing Master Takagi-san, Vol. 18 | By Soichiro Yamamoto | Yen Press – I had not realized that it’s been about ten months since the last volume of this came out over here, and in that time the series finished in Japan. So we’ve only got two more volumes after this one, which… well, feels much the same, but you can tell the author and publisher have planned the ending and know when it’s coming. Not only do we get another flash-forward to their marriage and child (which is an ad for the unlicensed Teasing Master (Former) Takagi-san manga that is still ongoing), but everything’s a lot milder. Nishikata is not hung up on winning to rub it in her face anymore, he wants to win so that he can be around her all the time. She also seems to realize this, and is very content to wait for him to get it. Still heartwarming. – Sean Gaffney

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Vol. 4 | By Hitoshi Ashinano | Seven Seas – As with the previous omnibus, time passing and humanity declining is the subject of this volume. Alpha’s cafe repairs amount to making it more of an outdoor cafeshe— simply doesn’t have the resources. Takahiro is preparing to leave, so it’s probably for the best that Alpha’s “you’re like a little brother to me” hopefully puts paid to his crush. As for Maruko, she gets the incredibly dumb idea of taking Kokone to Alpha’s cafe and trying to pretend that she and Kokone are really close. The trouble with this is that once they’re together, Alpha and Kokone can’t even take their eyes off each other a little bit. It’s honestly hysterical. I believe the next volume is the last, and while I doubt it will kill any of the cast off, we have been seeing the older folks less and less… – Sean Gaffney

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 10 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – Ah, Macht. He may be trying to be a demon who understands human emotions, but that does not mean that he’s not going to massacre humanity whenever it’s convenient for him. We also meet another demon who seems to be Serie’s evil twin, and she absolutely LOVES Fern and Stark, hoping to pick their brains about humanity before she mercilessly slaughters them. Unfortunately, Frieren is down for the count this entire book, as she has to analyze Macht’s memories to figure out how to counteract the “turn everything into gold” spell. So in the end it may be up to Denken to save everyone—though he’s also troubled, as Macht is his beloved mentor too. Frieren, in the last six months, went from being a hit to a phenomenon. This volume helps to explain why. – Sean Gaffney

In/Spectre, Vol. 19 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Manga – There’s some interesting stories here, but it’s hard to get past the robot Kotoko, one of the funniest things this series has ever done. The fact that it’s just a tank with a Kotoko head. The fact that it’s got just as perverse a mind and filthy a mouth as the real Kotoko. The fact that the series uses it to take potshots at AI. Or the fact that Rikka is devastated at the loss of her robot, far more so than she would be for Kotoko herself. Indeed, far more so than Kotoko is when Kuro manages to accidentally kill himself making pizza. This is the other great gag of the volume, showing us that just because you can come back from the dead all the time doesn’t mean it’s harder for you to die—in fact it’s super easy. Wonderful fun. – Sean Gaffney

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 12 | By Nene Yukimori | Viz Media – This really did drag things out as much as possible. Everything suggested that the big confession was going to happen on the school trip, and we even got to see them interact with an elderly couple who are clearly meant to be similar to them, but a lost child, a lost timetable, and Shiraishi putting things off one more time means it waits till they’re back at school. The outcome of this is obvious to everyone except the two of them, and the manga is very good at showing the deep insecurities that come with first love. Eventually it all works out and they’re a couple… and then the manga ends, though the author thankfully adds an epilogue for the volume release showing a future proposal. This ran on adorable, and remains so to the end. – Sean Gaffney

Natsume’s Book of Friends, Vol. 29 | By Yuki Midorikawa | Viz Media – The first story wraps up the arc from last time, and again, reminds us that perhaps working with yokai all the time is not what Natsume should be doing for the rest of his life. He can’t help but sympathize too much with them, which is why he’s so popular, but it’s gonna get him in trouble some day. It doesn’t help that the last story in this book has him literally cosplaying as Reiko, the generations coming together far more than he probably would like. In between we get a locked room murder mystery type thing involving a box that supposedly has a yokai trapped inside. Guess what happens to the box. Generally speaking I like the series more when it has a bit more hardcore main plot to it, and his is more ‘yokai short stories,’ but it’s still very good. – Sean Gaffney

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 9 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship This is another one of those volumes that separates the casual 100 Girlfriends fan from the hardcore fan, as we add to the list Kusuri’s grandmother, who is in her 80s but is permanently locked as a child due to excessive use of drug-taking. If this makes your jaw drop in horror, please read some more normal series. If you said “Of course she is,” welcome to the club. The other new girlfriend, Momiji, is not as interesting, and her gimmick is using her love of massage techniques as an excuse to grope anyone and everyone. Still, the girls don’t matter as much as the gags, and 100 Girlfriends remains very, very funny, provided you do not mind it scampering over every fetish ever. – Sean Gaffney

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, Vol. 2 | By Kanata Hoshi and Chika Mizube| Kodansha Manga – Last time I noted that these two goofy monster kids were made for each other, and in this volume we see that they truly need each other. Duke Galbraith is forced to fight monsters constantly because they overrun his territory, and he is not at all fond of his bloodthirsty reputation. As for Melfiera, her own family has been helping sell her terrifying image, and her stepmother is an absolute bitch (and, it’s implied, may have been a losing rival to Melfiera’s late mother back in the past). The idea that she can come to their territory and help them with things like “make the evil monster fish taste like fish and not magic garbage” is a huge plus, and I hope that she flourishes in her new land. Definitely reading more. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of the Tendo Family, Vol. 1 | By Ken Saito | One Peace Books – A nameless young woman has one remaining wish in her life—to die while saving the life of another. And so she finds herself taking the place of Hojo Ran, a noblewoman betrothed to Masato Tendo, a man embroiled in a deadly battle of succession. “Ran” is a surprising and unusual heroine. Her seemingly carefree and slightly oblivious nature is at odds with her astonishing ability to survive—whether by accident or ingrained reflex. Masato isn’t quite sure what to make of her either, but recognizes that she may be useful in his own familial struggles. Admittedly, he can be cruel and manipulative, but there seems to be more to his story than has currently been revealed. So far, I am intrigued by Tales of the Tendo Family and its lead characters; I look forward to reading more of the series and seeing how their uneasy relationship develops. – Ash Brown

365 Days to the Wedding, Vol. 2 | By Tamiki Wakaki | Seven Seas As you can imagine, it’s not enough to just say you’re getting married and have it magically solve everything. Or so Rika and Takuya are finding out. Someone is leaking that they’re engaged, and they’re not sure who. But now Takuya’s father is storming down to see him, trying to impress on him what a serious, involved thing a wedding will be (and, no doubt, trying to see his fiancee). Meanwhile, work continues, and a foreign princess with a reputation as a maneater is assigned Takuya as a guide, as he’s, well, a bit wet. And also engaged. As all this goes on, Rika (who, we find out in a flashback, was a latchkey kid who lived in maps more than she ever did in her own apartment) is trying to figure out why seeing him with other women bothers her so much. Oh yes, and the princess is gay. Greatly enjoying this. – Sean Gaffney

Bocchi the Rock!, Vol. 2 | By Aki Hamazi | Yen Press – I did not realize that the Bocchi anime only adapted about 1.5 volumes, so the school festival chapters took me by surprise at how quickly they came. It makes sense, though, as does Bocchi’s (seeming) character development—with someone with her personality flaws, it’s harder to read in a 4-koma style book, so we need to eventually have her grow a LITTLE more confident, though I’m sure she will relapse when the humor requires it. (I also remember the internet getting a bit upset that the anime toned down Bocchi’s breasts, which makes sense as I think it was only used for a gag and doesn’t really come up again.) In any case, without the music and voice acting this is merely “pleasant” rather than groundbreaking, but the cliffhanger ending promises more. – Sean Gaffney

A Certain Scientific Railgun, Vol. 18 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa | Seven Seas – I was not expecting the Railgun manga to turn into Bleach, but here we are. The Index series certainly has a lot of similarities to that famous shonen manga, and now its spinoff does as well. Mainly it’s the fact that this arc will likely read very well if you read all of it in one gulp, but since it’s been over a year since the previous volume I’ve forgotten everything that happened before. Making things more annoying, Mikoto is mostly entirely absent from this book except near the end, meaning that we hope you like the new cast herd that we introduced all in one gulp and counted on you checking the wiki to remember them. What’s worse, there’s likely another year till the next book. Sigh. – Sean Gaffney

I Don’t Know Which Is Love, Vol. 2 | By Tamamushi Oku | Yen Press – This continues to be lighthearted and fun, and you’re not really meant to be thinking of Mei as “cheating” on anyone by getting involved in steamy situations with every other girl around her. They may all be very attracted to her, but Mei knows deep down she’s too immature for anything more serious (though a cliffhanger implies she may have to mature fast). Basically, this series feels a lot like being next to a sushi conveyor belt, where each chapter focuses on a different “best girl” and shows off how well they bond with Mei and how easily she manages to hook them deeper… even if it’s clearly all accidental on her part. If you don’t care that she’s the yuri version of the “clueless harem protagonist,” this is definitely for you. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 28 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – As has become the case with this series’ final arc, the bits of the manga that star Komi and Tadano are fantastic, and interest me greatly. Komi wants to take their relationship further, but can’t get that across to Tadano, who is fine with taking things slowly—far too slowly, in her opinion. The rest of the manga is made up of the huge cast herd, with even more new characters being introduced this book, and I’ve long since stopped trying to remember who they are. It also has Yamai in a chapter, and that’s always a minus. Basically, the manga is too popular to end, but the creator has mostly run out of things to do. I expect the Manbagi romance to be resolved soon, which saddens my OT3-loving heart but I get it For the hardcore Komi fans. – Sean Gaffney

Minami Nanami Wants to Shine, Vol. 3 | By Bana Yoshida and Yuki Yaku | Yen Press – This was a good spinoff looking at Mimimi’s personality and goals by giving her something new to strive for. The modeling parts worked best, and I appreciate that the series doesn’t end with her backsliding and deciding it’s not for her. That said, I think the spinoff runs into the issue that the main series is still ongoing, and its romance, while killing off the Mimimi option, has not actually resolved yet. As such, this series is also not really allowed to resolve it beyond “maybe ever after,” making the ending feel a bit lukewarm. But I suppose that fits with Mimimi, who is fun and nice and has always been the “romantic runner-up” sort, so even when she gets a series where she’s the love interest it makes you look towards Hinami or Kikuchi. – Sean Gaffney

My Boss Is a Giant: He Manages My Every Need with *Enormous* Skill | By KamuC | Ghost Ship – I will grant this series this much: since it’s written for women and not for men, it does not really dwell for too long on the enormous thing being implied in the title, and there are few issues with big guy and tiny girl having sex. And they do have an awful lot of sex. This is complete in two volumes, both of which are in this omnibus, and each chapter is basically “half plot, half sex.” Unfortunately, a lot of sex dips into consent problems—for a while he seems to see their relationship as “only” sex, and she has to make it clear to him that sometimes she wants to, y’know, go to a nice restaurant or something. There’s also romantic rivals for her hand, both male and female, who are somewhat predatory. Mildly recommended for josei fans. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 15 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Last time I said that this couple wasn’t quite ready for children, but apparently they are disagreeing with me, as by the end of the book they have both agreed to try for a child. At least both of them realize what a big step that is and how difficult it’s going to be. Elsewhere in the book, we see more of their sexual antics, this time involving whether Sumika is too loud in bed or not, and there’s a very amusing chapter where they both realize that their incredibly satisfying and loving relationship can come across as just bragging when they talk about it with friends whose relationships are not as sweet, loving, and filled with hot sex. If the series is going down the baby route, I predict it ends at the birth—then again, the title will still work for parenthood. – Sean Gaffney

Blue Box, Vol. 8 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – After a couple of volumes that have been heavy on the sports, it makes sense that we get one heavy on the romance. Sadly, that also comes with the most dreaded of romcom manga tropes: the “helpful” friend who vows to get the couple together but has the wrong idea who the couple is. This is already leading to a heaping helping of misunderstandings… except those were already off the charts because Taiki was forced to play the Prince during the culture festival, and ended up accidentally kissing Hina because of a stage issue and because of the manga author wanting it. I think we’ve got at least another two-three more volumes now before the actual couple we want to see gets together. And that’s assuming we don’t just get another tournament arc instead. Good stuff, but man. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 13 | By Ukami | Yen Press – Oh no, it’s time for a new school year, which means it’s time to change classes. This is devastating news for Vigne, who discovers that she can’t survive thirty seconds without Gab next to her, but it’s not great news for Gabriel either, as Michael has transferred to the school, and is cozying up to Gabriel and saying they’re “more than friends.” Vigne is devastated by this new guy who’s taking her place in Gabriel’s life. Fortunately, we have Raphiel watching this with us, and she not only finds the whole thing hilarious, but decides not to spoil the “guy” thing as that will just make things funnier. Needless to say, everyone’s favorite gay angels and demons do not appear to have to worry about anything just yet. Also, snowball fights and common colds, but c’mon. It’s all about Vigne. – Sean Gaffney

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Vol. 11 | By Nene Yukimori | Viz Media – The penultimate volume of this series continues to walk very, very slowly towards its ending, which is clearly going to be happening on the upcoming class trip. I do appreciate all the struggle that Shiraishi has had in the past, so seeing him manage to successfully say “no, I don’t want to spend our free time with our gang of friends, I want to spend it with you specifically” is nice to see. I also liked seeing Saki and Akina discussing Kubo’s tortured romance—she has at last admitted that she does like someone, which… well, they already knew—and Saki’s realization, like so many other younger relatives, that jealousy of Shiraishi actually stems from her fear of Kubo abandoning her. There damn well better be a confession in the end. – Sean Gaffney

Like a Butterfly, Vol. 4 | By suu Morishita | Viz Media – I love this author, but boy, you really have to have a lot of patience if you’re going to enjoy these two introverted goobers try to have a simple conversation. It gets the anguish of teenage romance, where even asking to walk someone home is filled with peril and danger. But this does mean that the asking can take 10-15 pages, as this is not a Hana to Yume title and the panels are beautiful but uncluttered. This is the culture festival volume, and I am a bit disappointed we did not see more of Suiren’s class, whose “bowling” puzzled me till I realized the pins were the size of a person. That must have been a lot of fun. There’s also a haunted house, misunderstandings because of embarrassment, all the usual. For fans of this author. – Sean Gaffney

Marriage Toxin, Vol. 1 | By Joumyaku and Mizuki Yoda | Viz Media – I’m not quite sure what to call this genre, mostly as I don’t want to spoil the twist within it, but let’s go with Romcom. An assassin specializing in poisons, who is great at his job but terrible at social interaction, finds that his sister is being forced to get married and carry on the family’s line… despite being gay and having a girlfriend. Now Gero decides, for the sake of her happiness, to try to get a partner. The trouble is… he really IS very terrible at social interaction. Fortunately, his next job has his target turn out to be an expert matchmaker, one who will absolutely set him up with the perfect partner. This proves to be an adept combination of humor and action, with perhaps the latter better than the former. Worth a look. – Sean Gaffney

The Secret of Friendship | By Kazune Kawahara and Aiji Yamakawa | Seven Seas –I love Kazune Kawahara and Margaret titles, so it was a foregone conclusion that I’d like this very much. Eiko and Moe are best friends. Outwardly, Moe is the cute one, though her personality made it difficult for her to make friends until Eiko came along and appreciated her straightforward nature. Eiko, meanwhile, is kind, sincere, and very insecure. When Moe breaks it off with her latest boyfriend, Tsuchida, his friend Narugami decides that Eiko is to blame and starts to harass her, only to end up falling for her instead. I liked the parallels between Moe and Narugami, two prickly people each trying to protect their friend and each, ultimately, beguiled by Eiko’s radiant inner beauty. The story is perfect as it is, but I can’t help but wish there was more of it. – Michelle Smith

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 13 | By Maybe | Yen Press – I believe this was originally supposed to be the last volume, but apparently it did well enough to warrant a final arc. Having defeated the bad guy, and realizing that politics is going to take up most of his time now, the Ring King and his brides all head on back to Japan for a honeymoon. Part of this involves, amusingly, all of them transferring into his class at school, just in case anyone is reading this title for that sort of genre. But they aren’t. They’re reading this to see him boff his remaining wives, and we’re likely going to go in order of appearance, as Nefritis is getting everything just right for her to have a perfect first time, including a hot springs holiday. Honestly, the epilogue really should just be a lot of “and then they had sex.” Frustrated readers deserve that much. – Sean Gaffney

Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 2 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – The most interesting part of this may be Utage’s utter devotion to being a FAN and not a girl/stalker/what have you. Sure, she’ll be his housekeeper, give him advice, and try to lift his spirits, but those are all part of the love she has for Tamon as an idol figure that she worships. When it sometimes seems that he might actually be starting to think of her as a real woman, she backs off and shuts him out to an extent. We also meet another member of his idol group, whose personality in this volume at least is “raging asshole.” I’m sure that will change—we already see signs he’s thinking of Utage because she’s rude to him rather than idolizing him—but at the moment I want him to fall off a cliff. The humor is still the main reason to read this—it’s hysterical much of the time. – Sean Gaffney

Bakemonogatari, Vol. 20 | By NISIOISIN and Oh!Great | Kodansha Manga – This continues to take all the remaining arcs that Oh!Great wasn’t going to have time to get to and throwing them ALL into Tsubasa Cat. So we get the bulk of Shinobu Mail here, And we also get a great deal of Tsubasa Tiger. The mangaka and writer are clearly working quite closely on this, and NISIOISIN is taking the opportunity to clean up and improve some stuff. The scene between Senjougahara and Hanekawa in Tsubasa Tiger the book is great, but here it’s great and makes much more sense. (And also gives us the shower scene as much as it can—NISIOISIN and Oh!Great both love their fanservice.) The manga version may be ending in two books’ time, but it’s going out with a bang. Highly recommended for fans of the franchise. – Sean Gaffney

Doomsday Cleaning | By zaki | Star Fruit Books – This charming short story may remind you a little—OK, a lot—of Wall-E, as its main protagonist is a robot tasked with cleaning up trash on a seemingly uninhabited planet. When the robot crosses paths with an animated pig, however, the robot gets swept up in an unexpected quest to retrieve a piece of junk that holds special meaning for its new porcine companion. Their journey to the bottom of an enormous trash pit is both suspenseful and surprisingly touching, while a third-act twist adds a dash of humor that pushes the story in a new, delightful direction that invites the reader to view the robot’s mission in a new light. Crisp artwork is the icing on the cupcake. – Katherine Dacey

I Married My Female Friend, Vol. 1 | By Shio Usui | Seven Seas – I was surprised how much I enjoyed this, given what I was expecting. The basic plot is that two best friends promise, if they’re still single in five years, they’ll marry each other. Well, it’s five years later, and gay marriage is now legal, so they’re now married, and one of them is writing about the experience for a column. Of course, the twist is that one of the two actually IS romantically attracted… or at least, I certainly seem to think so. What makes this so much fun is that the other half of the partnership is not framed as clueless or thick for missing this, it really is hard to pick up. Still, they grow closer anyway, and things come to a head with a hospital visit. This is from the Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon artist, and is just as good. I really like Kurumi especially. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 27 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – We start the epilogue to this series with this volume. The main crisis is “resolved,” but that doesn’t mean everything’s hunky-dory. For one thing, Shirogane is off to Stanford, and Kaguya oversleeps and misses telling him goodbye, which leads to one of the funniest gags in the entire series. Elsewhere, Shirogane is also told what kind of man he’ll have to become in order to protect someone like Kaguya—he’s got to get much better with money, for one—and Kaguya decides what she wants to do for her career, but runs into a slight problem in trying to put it into motion, a problem not helped by Ishigami’s presence. All this plus the final (?) chapter in the Chika Fujiwara, Ramen Master side story. This is still great fun. – Sean Gaffney

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, Vol. 1 | By Kanata Hoshi and Chika Mizube | Kodansha Manga – Based on an as-yet-unlicensed light novel, this is another villainess story—but instead of an “Akuyaku Reijou,” we get an “Akujiki Reijou,” because our heroine absolutely terrifies people. Melfiera has been told, after several years of failure, to get a husband or she’ll be sent to a convent. The trouble is… she loves to eat the meat from monsters, which, while normally poisonous, is tasty when properly prepared. Shunned by most, she then runs into her soulmate, Duke Galbraith, the “Mad Duke,” who glories in killing monsters. He falls for her immediately, she falls almost as hard. And they’re honestly made for each other. This is fun, with two eccentric people complementing each other’s foibles. – Sean Gaffney