Reviews

By Mitsuru Hattori. Released in Japan as “Sankarea” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

I have been running into the same sort of problem lately with many new manga, even though most of them are completely different on the face of it. They all seem to boil down to the same thing when I review them, which is “quite readable and even better than I expected, the big downside being crushing unoriginality”. This probably does the title a disservice, as originality, particularly in recent Japanese manga, is what DOESN’T sell. In general, what readers want is “something familiar with a slightly new spin on it”. And Sankarea provides that in a perfectly readable way.

I should note that the cover you’re seeing is one created by the artist especially for the North American market. The original Japanese cover just has Rea staring at the reader in that sort of cute seductive ‘girl posing’ way, with absolutely nothing to suggest what the content within is like. Except, of course, the title, which is a play on words based off of a very popular zombie movie (seen over here as Zombi 2, and one of the most terrifying movies of the late 70s, if I recall.) Kodansha decided that they’d need more than ‘generic cute girl staring at reader’ to sell this, so asked for the more… gruesome shot. I approve. It’s a better cover.

As for the content, it’s mostly a fairly standard romantic comedy. Nice if somewhat weird hero, who has a cousin who’s busty and secretly likes him, as well as a younger sister who’s an emotionless stoic. At his all-boys school, we see him with his two friends, one of whom is girl-crazy and overdramatic, the other pleasant and unmemorable. They are most impressed by the perfect Japanese princess girl who’s going to the all-girls’ school across the river, who is gorgeous and popular. Except that it turns out she has a secret, which our hero quickly finds out.

So far so boring, but it’s the nature of the secret, and the nature of our hero’s weirdness, that perks things up. Rea’s father is not so much possessive as disturbing. We don’t see a lot of him in this volume, but given she’s talking about him taking nude pictures of her and his increasing paranoia at Rea being touched by other men, I think Daddy’s shaping up to be our main villain here, with a side of incestuous creeper. (To the book’s credit, this ISN’T played for laughs at all – after all, he’s not an older brother.) As for Chihiro, he’s trying to resurrect his dead cat using a magic potion that turns things into zombies. Which is presented as mildly eccentric – he’s a normal guy at heart, he just wants to bring back his cat. From there, things start to go desperately wrong.

Rea is probably the best part of the title – she’s written very well. Her sheltered upbringing is warring with her desperate Attempts to get away from her father’s smothering. Her immediate attraction to Chihiro could be read as romantic, but could also be read as a little bit unnerving – fitting for a title like this. Her zombification (yeah, sorry if I spoiled that for you, as if the cover didn’t) reads almost like a rite of passage – she demands Chihiro “accept responsibility” in a seductive voice, equating death/resurrection with loss of virginity.

The question is which direction this goes in. If it continues to do fanservice and comedy (and there is quite a bit of fanservice – particularly from Chihiro’s cousin Ranko), I’m not sure it would keep my attention. But there’s a lot of potential for both depth and darkness here. If it manages to mine those two veins, Sankarea could be a real winner.

By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

First off, this review has spoilers for the volume, as it’s kind of hard to discuss it without them. Second, this volume is a first for me. I’d never seen the dubbed Sailor Moon anime, and for the most part always read the manga before I saw the subbed anime – probably one reason I like the manga so much. Stars is the one exception, and I worried that I would inevitably find the manga wanting, as I seemed to when I first read it years ago. And to be fair, there is a bit of ‘let’s drag this out for one more apocalypse’ to the story. I also found it hideously rushed, even more so than usual for Takeuchi, but am putting that down to seeing the anime first. All that said, there’s still piles of stuff I want to talk about.

I always recalled this being the most depressing arc, and there is certainly a lot of bleakness and death. But I liked how the volume began with everyone happy and content. Minako has now joined the others in high school (Rei is still at her private school), and everyone’s getting involved in club activities and various things that aren’t being senshi. It’s peaceful days, folks. Also, the introduction of the Three Lights leaves room for humor, particularly Yaten’s catty remarks to Michiru, leaving her in a rare instance of losing her cool. And much as I find Chibi-Chibi as puzzling as the rest of the cast, I was amused at everyone’s attempts to figure out who the hell she was.

And now on to the trauma. This is a vicious volume of Sailor Moon, probably the worst to date. By the end of the volume, all the senshi bar Sailor Moon are either dead or presumed dead. Indeed, Mercury and Jupiter get taken out so early they barely get a chance to appear. What’s more, these deaths look deadly, if you’ll pardon the expression. Takeuchi uses the same “flesh melting off” death mask she’s used before when minor villains are dispatched, and having it happen to folks like Mars or Venus seems wrong. Worst of all is Mamoru, who’s killed in front of Usagi at the airport, something so trauma-inducing that she blocked it out for months afterwards. And while Seiya and the others do note that if the Senshi Star Seeds survive, they can be reborn, it honestly feels like he’s talking about reincarnation. Or heaven.

Mars and Venus do get a few cool things to do before they’re dispatched. Rei infiltrates Minako’s school, a nice mirror to the short story where Minako did the reverse – or at least it would be if the re-release didn’t shuffle the short stories off to the end. They draw out the Three Lights, amusingly, by Minako going over the top about finding herself a man. Yaten calls her on this, noting that their duties to Usagi mean there will never be room for love in their lives (Minako in particular has heard this before – see Code Name: Sailor V). Minako smirks, and admits that this is true. She then leans into Rei and notes that the two of them have no use for men. It’s meant to be “duty over love” and threatening the Lights, but can easily be read as homoerotic if one chooses. And many do.

Speaking of senshi in general, one interesting thing going on here is the use of innocents from other planets as a sort of “failed Senshi” – their planets were destroyed by Galaxia and they’re being brainwashed/forced into attacking Earth. It’s interesting because of the Lights’ insistence that they’re all just as genuine as our heroines – on another planet, for example, Iron Mouse was Sailor Chu (yes, yes – it’s Nakayoshi, folks). Tying Lead Crow into Phobos and Deimos and Tin Nyanko into the cats thus works even better – I loved Luna’s accusation to Tin Nyanko that she’s defiling Planet Mau’s ‘One True Hero”, Sailor Mau. The Sailor Moons of other worlds are being used to kill off the cast of Sailor Moon. Which is really horrible if you think about it.

Even more than previous volumes, I find this one works best when you immerse yourself in it rather than try to understand each nuance. There’s too much going on here. But for the Sailor Moon fan, there are always so many rewards that the experience is never dull. It all ends next volume (except for the short stories).

By Nagaru Tanigawa and Puyo. Released in Japan as “Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This volume of Nagato Yuki-chan is pretty much impossible to review without spoiling the major plot twist that happens in the first chapter, be warned.

So, when we last left Yuki, she was about to be hit by a car, ending our cute little AU spinoff before it really began. Luckily, it doesn’t do major physical damage. That said, there’s something… odd about Yuki after the accident, which Ryouko, being the perfect best friend and oneesama, figures out right off the bat. Yuki seems more serious, speaks more precisely, isn’t a giant goofball, and acts more like another Nagato Yuki that readers may be far more familiar with. Yes, that’s right, this series that is an AU spinoff of a movie where Kyon crossed over into a world where Yuki was a shy adorable human is now crossing back over with the canon and dealing with a very different Nagato.

Please note that nowhere in the actual text does it say this. Indeed, there’s very little ‘explanation’ given at all. Yuki has an alternate personality due to the accident, which acts much like Nagato from the main Haruhi series, and everything resolves at the end of the volume with a similar lack of explanation – her mind re-orients itself and Nagato essentially says goodbye. Indeed, some may argue it’s not the canon Nagato due to the amount of emotions shown by this version – ranging from embarrassment at her stomach growling to a full-on body blush when Ryouko suggests that she may be in love with Kyon. But then again, Nagato in canon is an alien whose emotional growth is deliberately stunted by her masters. Here, she’s in a real human body and has no such tethers. So dealing with these feelings makes sense.

More to the point, Ryouko and Kyon’s reactions to this new Nagato are pitch perfect (Haruhi and Koizumi are conveniently absent for tests, so this book is pretty much just Kyon, Nagato and Ryouko). They’re both worried about what’s happened to Yuki, but both instinctively realize – even if Kyon’s much better at expressing it – that this Nagato is also her own person and shouldn’t just be treated as a clone or as if she’s “taken over” Yuki’s body. (Ryouko worries even more than usual here – also, great meta-joke about her saying she’ll just stab Kyon to relieve her stress.) There is a lack of conflict here that in most series would serve to make things rather boring – but this is the light and fluffy Suzumiya Haruhi spinoff, so it makes sense that there’s no accusations or attempts to return Yuki to her head – just calm acceptance, patience, and watching Nagato grow as a character of her own – to the point that she also falls head over heels for Kyon.

I’m not sure what the fallout from all this will be – whether Yuki will have memories of the time she spent as Nagato (it seems unlikely from what little we see) or whether Kyon will be able to deal with a love confession that wasn’t really – but I will admit that this volume really is a major step forward by Puyo, and the best in the series. Which is still light and frothy, but now deals with its characters on a level equal to its source.

By Kaito. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz Media.

Note: this is only available digitally right now.

As I have mentioned before, sports manga and North American have a very iffy relationship, with none of the contenders really hitting the heights of Naruto or One Piece sales. That said, there’s a lot of sports manga out there, and I’ll give credit to Viz (and let’s be honest, it’s pretty much just Viz, unless I count Sasameke, WHICH I DON’T) for continuing to experiment with them. Especially as such series are HUGE in Japan, and tend to run and run. Slam Dunk was 31 volumes, Eyeshield 21 was 37. Kuroko’s Basketball is 20+, and continues to succeed despite terrorist threats (though it’s sadly not licensed here, possibly as Slam Dunk is still ongoing.) And of course we’ve had Cross Game on the Sunday side of the fence.

And now we have Cross Manage, one of Viz’s ‘we’ll try a new weekly series and see if it dies in 2 volumes’ attempts they’ve had recently, and easily the most successful, given it actually seems to have survived the most recent round of cancellations in Japan. I particularly like the cover, which has Toyoguchi’s beaming face (and oh boy, does it beam – sometimes her face gets so happy it’s almost surreal) right in the foreground and Sakurai’s passive gaze in the background. Because this is about a female lacrosse team, and Sakurai is signed up/blackmailed into being their manager.

There’s a lot to love here. Toyoguchi is just great, being a perky, naive girl who looks like she could burst into a Disney song at any moment, but is also fueled by pure determination and smiles just as widely when threatening to tell everyone our hero accidentally groped her. She’s so relentlessly upbeat and caring that when Hayami shows up and attempts to guilt-trip Toyoguchi into letting Sakurai return to the soccer team (and her arms), not only does Toyoguchi not get it, but the other girl finds herself automatically trying to comfort and reassure her. That needs to be weaponized somehow.

Then there’s the team itself, which is made up of…. drum roll please… girls with all sorts of body types! Yes, the other main girl we get to know is the tall butch tomboy, but we also see pudgy girls, and tiny girls, and girls that sort of look like Sumiyoshi in Excel Saga. And they’re some of the best players. I like the fact that the team is not going to be used simply as an excuse to see a lot of hot girls changing constantly (imagine if the Cage of Eden artist drew this manga… *shudder*) and hope we get to know everyone better. And, of course, we have a classic Bad News Bears team – they’re newbies, with some ra2w skills, but mostly horrible, and they get curbstomped in their first match.

As for Sakurai, our hero, the goal of the first volume is to get him to rediscover the passion he lost to a knee injury, and mission accomplished. He’s a fairly subdued and diligent young man, which contrasts nicely with Toyoguchi’s perkiness and the hotheads and airheads that are also on the team. I think he’ll be an excellent manager, provided the soccer girl doesn’t pry him away. Not that she has any chance… she has ‘unsuccessful rival girl’ written all over her.

I’m pumped to see more of this series – its mood is pretty infectious, and it makes me want to learn more about lacrosse. Roll on Vol. 2!

By Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and GAINAX. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Shonen Ace. Released in North America by Viz Media.

Well, the party’s over. As if it weren’t obvious from the events at the end of the previous omnibus, the light and fluffy ‘everyone is slightly more tolerable’ manga antics end here, as these three volumes are a brutal kick in the teeth reminding us over and over again that humanity is desperately fighting to survive… and that most of the people in charge actually have a different agenda OTHER than fighting to survive. And, just as we finally add our last major cast member, we also get the first of our major cast deaths. There will be more.

The Evangelion fandom doesn’t use “I mustn’t run away” as a meme for no good reason. This volume sees Shinji in a constant cycle of attempting to flee from his destiny and the responsibilities being thrown at him, and constantly being drawn back as he’s unable to just let everyone else get annihilated. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he gets to accomplish anything here – he returns, but is basically “sat in the corner” by his father, who punishes him by having him watch everyone get annihilated without his help ANYWAY. The manga is less emotive than the anime, with characters at times seeming to underreact to horrible crises, but that’s unsurprising – the pace of the manga is such that there is a state of constant danger, and I imagine after a while the senses just get numbed.

There’s a lot of backstory here. Kaji’s is designed to make him both more likeable and more vulnerable. For all that we like to pretend that we wouldn’t crack under the threat of death, the reality is that we probably would. And so much of Kaji’s life has revolved around finding out the real reason that things happened the way they did – an attempt to expose what led to his own actions. Shinji at one point notes that Misato still loves him, and indeed he’s clearly in love with her, but these are two people, like the rest of the cast, who are unable to grasp at the happiness that could be theirs. As for the other flashback, Fuyutsuki seems to be the perfect “follower”, and Gendo seems even worse than we’d originally suspected. As for Yui, I suspect that she’s being idolized in the memories of both Fuyutsuki and Shinji when we see her, but I agree that it’s easy to see Gendo could have genuinely loved her.

And then there’s Asuka and Rei. I’ve said before that I find manga Asuka far more likeable, and the counter argument to that is that she’s involved in the manga plotline so much less than in the anime, so doesn’t get the time to be irritating. Asuka’s backstory is also shown to us, which is bad news for her, as backstory in this manga is always followed by trauma. Asuka’s attempts to take out the Angel are interrupted by it raping her – yes, yes, mentally, but given that she screams “don’t come inside me” at one point, I think the distinction is fairly irrelevant here. It’s the most horrific we’ve ever seen the Angel attacks, and she comes away from it basically comatose. Rei, meanwhile, is struggling with a distance growing between her and Gendo as she and Shinji grow closer. Ritsuko seems to realize that Rei is growing more human and less doll-like, something that nearly drives her to murder. This, naturally, leads up to the cliffhanger for this omnibus, showing Rei’s “last stand”.

As for Kaworu, it’s interesting that he arrives right as Kaji departs, given his presence as “the mole”. He’s shipped with Shinji a bit harder than in the anime, with Shinji’s “have some sense of personal space” going unheeded. And the scene with the kitten shows a somewhat unbreakable wall between his own value system and that of the First Child. Nevertheless, you can even see Kaworu getting caught up in the struggle against the Angels, and wonder if he’s oing to be a double/triple/quadruple agent the way Kaji was.

The plot may be going places I don’t want it to go, but the writing is still top notch, with a complete inability to put the book down. The news that the manga will end with Chapter 95 in June means that this is likely to be 5 omnibuses (14 volumes) long, and thus this volume begins the second half of the story. It’ll be hard to make things even more tense after this, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.

By Noboru Yamaguchi and Nana Mochizuki. Released in Japan as “Zero no Tsukaima” by Media Factory, serialized in the magazine Comic Alive. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

I must admit to disappointment. Again. Not with the manga itself. Zero’s Familiar actually turned out to be much better than I’d given it credit for. No, I’m disappointed with anime and manga fans, who once again have labeled a young tsundere love interest as “the worst person ever, and deserving of all the epithets thrown at her!”. I found that she’s just a normal teenager with far too much going on in her life, a spoiled background, an entire class of students calling her a failure, and her familiar is not only a disrespectful commoner, but he also tries to molest her in her sleep at one point after thinking they’d grown close enough. Honestly, I felt the most sympathy with Louise through most of this omnibus. I’m sure I will hear, as I have with Ranma 1/2 and Love Hina and other harems featuring love interests men hate, “BUT IN THE ANIME” and “SHE NEEDS TO BE NICER TO HIM” and the usual chatter. And indeed, she may be worse in the anime and in the light novels, neither of which I know. But for now, my experiment to find a harem tsundere who’s genuinely loathsome and not hyper-exaggerated by fandom continues.

I suppose I should actually get around to reviewing the manga. The basic premise cries out for crossover fanfiction – indeed, I understand there’s more Zero’s Familiar crossovers in fanfiction than there are stories with the hero. The aforementioned Louise (who *is* a spoiled brat who tends to hit Saito in frustration whenever she’s upset or embarrassed, in case people thought I read the wrong manga) is at a magic school somewhere in Fantasy Europe, trying to summon her familiar – a lifelong spell that can only be done once. To everyone’s surprise, she summons Saito, a young Japanese high school student. this is not the usual frog or owl. This is unfortunate, as Louise is well-known for being a failure as a witch, and this only expands her reputation. Now Saito has to get used to living as a familiar in a magical world, and gradually accumulate girls who fall in love with him, as this is a standard harem series. No worries, though, he’ll end up with Louise. This is not a GROUNDBREAKING harem series, after all.

Indeed, the lack of originality is the series’ main failing. Louise and Saito are straight out of the stock cliche factory, though Saito is a bit more of a smartmouth than I’m used to, and also more of a lech – that scene where he said “you smiled at me, so I assumed you loved me and we could cuddle” made my jaw drop. We get the shy young maid, the busty rival, the stoic Ayanami clone. The villains especially disappoint by being lampshaded – I think the story would have had more suspense had the two bad guys not been signposted as “SECRET BAD GUY HERE”. Particularly the mustachio’d guy. Guys with mustaches in harem manga are evil, ESPECIALLY if they’re also fiancees.

But there’s stuff here to like. The series has a good feel for humor, knowing when to be funny and when to be serious, and the comedic violence that so offends young male anime fans is actually fairly mild compared to what I had been expecting. I like the backstory and world building going on, showing it’s not just a magic school divorced from the outside world. I also liked Henrietta, who shows us that it’s not everyone vs. Louise after all, and provides a good female friend for her. And the entire action scene with the Staff of Destruction’ was fantastic, and added intrigue as you wondered how the heck it got there.

I’d still only read this if you happen to like harem series with tsunderes, but if you do enjoy that genre, this should be right up your alley, and I find myself surprisingly wanting more. Also, that cover reminds me that every Japanese fanart we got of “Hermione Granger” back in the day seems to have been Louise instead – and that this story deserves the title “Harem Potter” more than Negima ever did.

Created by Ken Akamatsu, manga by YUI. Released in Japan as “Negiho (Ito) Bun” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Some of you may recall that this is actually the 2nd Negima spinoff. Negima Neo came out in seven volumes, and was essentially a cuter, more comedic Negima with most of the action and threats to our heroes removed. Somewhere down the road, though, some editor at Kodansha must have decided that this was simply not adorable enough, and came up with this. I assume they asked Akamatsu, and he looked up from where he was creating the actual Negima manga and nodded vaguely. And so we have Negiho, which takes place in a universe where Negi and Kotaro are young adult men teaching a class of 31 five-year-old girls.

I will be fair, this series was not nearly as creepy as it sounded. There are no panty shots of pre-pubescents throughout, which I was kind of expecting. And no one gets their clothes sneezed off, mostly as magic doesn’t seem to exist here. Asuna has a giant crush on Negi, who hits her ‘older man’ buttons this time around, but it’s clearly the crush of a 5-year-old girl on a teacher, and is never meant to be serious except in a ‘look at how freaked out she’s getting’ sort of way. There’s even stickers in the front of the book! Of course, the book is still rated OT, probably because of the chapter where Asuna and Ayaka try to make their non-existent breasts grow so they can seduce their teacher… Have I mentioned it’s hard giving Japan the benefit of the doubt sometimes?

The main reason this manga exists is for the comedy. Characterization attempts to happen, and a lot of the characters are sort of like their canon selves (Setsuna still crushes on Kanoka, Kaede is a ninja, Chao invents things) but are basically slaves to the gags. Heck, gag humor is actually the point of Chachamaru this time around, who has decided that the best way to become closer to the rest of her class is to be a manzai comedian. I will give credit to the Nibleys, who as translators had to deal with this and try to work out Chachamaru’s terrible Japanese jokes and turn them into terrible English jokes. The endnotes are also helpful here, mostly as even translated it still feels that we’re missing something.

Then there are the characters who don’t translate to ‘adorable preschoolers’ so well, and that’s Evangeline. Which is ironic, given she’s an undead vampire with the body of a 10-year-old in the original. But here, in the body of a 5-year-old, she doesn’t have the ability to be evil or malicious in any successful way, and instead merely becomes the buttmonkey of the entire series. Which, in a series with Asuna in it, is impressive. That said, I suspect the number of Negima fans who thought “I like Evangeline, but wish she wasn’t as awesome and terrifying and did more anteater impressions” numbers in the single digits.

There were one of two other things I sort of smiled at – it’s nice to see Rakan and Theodora get married in some continuity, even if it isn’t the main one, and Konoka and Setsuna’s attempts at death metal are possibly the funniest thing in the book. But at the end of the day, I came away wondering who this was written for? I can’t imagine fans of the original, especially in the West, being enthralled by preschool comedy adventures. And the romance and occasional sexual gags means it’s not for kids either. Even the artist, in his afterword, notes that this series had a lot of flaws. If you love everything Negima, give it a shot. It didn’t actively offend me most of the time, but it’s pretty inconsequential.

Also, how are a 5-year-old Chao and Hakase building Chachamaru anyway? Did anyone think this through at all?

By Yumi Unita. Released in Japan as “Usagi Drop” by Shodensha, serialized in the magazine Feel Young. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This review contains spoilers for this volume. Please avoid discussing future Bunny Drop volumes in the comments.

So, right around the time Bunny Drop 3 was released in North America, you may have noticed a very quiet panic on the part of those following the Japanese release, as many fans tried to freak out while simultaneously not spoiling anything. Which is sort of impossible. I mean, what do you say? “You know that series on heartwarming parenting you read? Aaaaagh! But I can’t say why.” You know, the mind can only go to a few obvious places. I haven’t seen Vol. 9 yet, which should be out here in late summer, but I have a sneaking suspicion I know how things are going to turn out. Let’s delve.

When we last left Rin, she was pondering her future. And more importantly, pondering a future without Daikichi in it. Meanwhile, the two relationships that the reader had maybe hoped might happen – Rin and Kouki, and Daikichi and Kouki’s mom – are both torpedoed big time, and indeed Kouki’s mother is getting remarried to someone else in this volume. Kouki is trying to handle this with aplomb, but only partly succeeding – this time, rather than throw a fit, he simply flees to Rin’s house. But this is the typical reaction of a son. Rin doesn’t have to deal with something like that – Daikichi’s social life is still as empty as ever – but she’s still pondering her future.

She’s also getting into fights with Daikichi, and chafing rather uncomfortably at his continued parenting of her. It’s clear that she wants to be free of that role. They get into a fight regarding her contact with her mother (which is quietly resolved here, with Rin basically settling things in her heart) and her mother’s new baby, something she kept from Daikichi as she knew he’d freak out. Which he does. These two still clearly love each other deeply, but Rin is growing up, and they are moving into previously untouched arenas.

Which brings us to Rin’s own love life. Honestly, Rin’s realization of who she loves isn’t as interesting to me as Rin’s complete horror when trying to date someone else. Her attempted date with Yasuhara is the best part of the book to me, a trainwreck that she doesn’t want but can’t quite get out of. Rin is so passive much of the time that it’s great to see her struggling, and her facial expressions here are a stitch. But of course, Rin has realized who she’s in love with. And is dealing with that fact that it’s, well, impossible. And by the end of the volume, Kouki is pretty sure about it too, and (confronted once again with a problem he can’t really do much about) he flees.

The topic is being handled maturely, and it’s not meant to be saucy or titillating. But with all its ups and downs, what the reader takes away from Bunny Drop 8 is “Oh crap, Rin’s in love with her adopted father!” (Anna Russell voice) She’s his aunt, by the way. A story that began with an unconventional family forming looks like it may end (Vol. 9 is the final ‘story’ volume, though there is a Vol. 10 with short stories from across Rin’s life) with yet another unconventional family. And I’m pretty sure we all feel more uncomfortable about it than the author intended. But let’s see what the next book brings.