Blue Box, Vol. 13 | By Kouji Miura | Viz Media – OK, no, we’re still not back to sports. I know it’s coming, but we’ve got to bask in the honeymoon phase a bit longer. Including the “my parents aren’t home” meme, except they actually do live together. Don’t worry; nothing happens; this is not that kind of Jump manga. And we also have to have Taiki tell Hina that he and Chinatsu are a couple, which means she finally has to let go for real. Thankfully, we do get some badminton action in the back half—but not the badminton action that we the reader or Taiki want, as Yusa’s been sent on a trip abroad, meaning Taiki can’t be playing him this time around. Of course, that also means that it’s time for Taiki to realize that he really is that good, and to start to be more confident in himself. In sports, at least. – Sean Gaffney

Guilty Smile, Vol. 1 | By Kou Unazuki and Cilone | Steamship – Based on an unlicensed light novel, this is basically a dark shoujo romance with added non-consensual sex. Lailah, our heroine, is pretending to be her sister Malaika and confronting the man who destroyed their kingdom, Khalifa. Since Malaika absued him horribly, he now wants to do the same, and proceeds to rape Lailah and put a curse on her that will force her to obey him. Unfortunately for him, a) this is the wrong girl, b) he actually loved Lailah, and c) that particular curse will eventually kill the one it’s put on. It sounds unpleasant, but the writing and art are pretty good, and Malaika makes for a “laughing mad” antagonist you love to hate. As for how they’ll get out of this, I’m not sure, but I at least expect more consensual sex next volume. For fans of the genre. – Sean Gaffney

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You: Soulmate, Vol. 3 | By Karuho Shiina | VIZ Media – In this volume, we get the happy ending that we were always going to get. I’m sure to some, getting to that point felt like a frustrating slog, what with Kurumi’s raging insecurity, self-criticism, and constant need for reassurance, but honestly, I find her so relatable that it was refreshing to read a shoujo romance with a heroine like her. “My mind is full of junk,” she says at one point. Yes! I get you, Kurumi! Finally, once she has been able to accept that Eiji has seen all of her flaws and still likes her, she can relax and stop worrying. It’s genuinely nice to see her happy and at peace by the end, not to mention finally able to tell Sawako that she loves her. Maybe this sequel isn’t essential, but I’m still glad it exists. – Michelle Smith

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 12 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship I’m not Rentarou, so I don’t have to say that every girl is the best girl. (Though the manga certainly does. Forget popularity polls, this one is rigged from the start.) As such, I will admit I was not overly enamored of Mai, who is our third tsundere variant, to go with the tsundere parody and the hungry tsundere. Mai is the jealous tsundere, but I can deal with it, I guess. Better is the start of the volume, when the polycule competes with a neighboring town in various races, only the town has stacked the odds by hiring professionals. The site of the girls all bonding with each other and finding cool and hilarious ways to win (Hakari can add fanservice to ANYTHING) is still great. – Sean Gaffney

Rainbows After Storms, Vol. 1 | By Luka Kobachi | Viz Media – This isn’t technically a shoujo manga (it’s on the online platform, and if it had a genre it would be yuri), but it reminds me of those series you’d see in LaLa, where the first few chapters all reintroduced the core plot for the reader, as the series was a series of one-shots until the publisher gave the OK for it to be ongoing. That’s not the case here, but the vibe is the same. See, Chidori and Nanoha are dating. But they’re keeping it a secret from everyone else. We know this because they tell us, every single chapter. Other than that, this is cute. Nanoha is bubbly, Chidori is sullen, but they really love each other and it shows… most of the time, unless Nanoha needs validation, as one of these girls is much harder to read than the other. Not sure I can read this for thirteen volumes, but it’s cute. – Sean Gaffney

RuriDragon, Vol. 1 | By Masaoki Shindo | Viz Media – I’ve been following this series since the first chapter came out, and I have adored it almost from the first page. The story of a high school girl who wakes up one day with horns, and then hears that her dad is actually a dragon, the series works so well because it’s not about to turn into a Shonen Jump series, despite appearing in it. This is concerned with characterization and nuance, not dragon attacks, and Ruri’s biggest issues are worrying about what her class will think about it, the fact that she has new dragon powers but doesn’t know what they are, and her natural sullen introvertedness being essentially forced out of her by dealing with everything. Please read this. – Sean Gaffney

We’re New at This, Vol. 18 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics – The final volume of this series is certainly odd compared to the rest of it. It takes place about seventeen years after the rest of the series, and mostly stars Sumika and Ikuma’s twins, a girl with Ikuma’s personality and extrovertedness, and a boy with Sumika’s emotional repression and “cool” features. Unfortunately, most of their subplot is about his immaturity and desire to never be apart from his twin sister. It never gets incesty, which is good, but it wasn’t really the story I wanted to read. The best parts of the book focused on our main couple, and how they’re still basically perfect for each other, even if they’re not having quite as much sex as they used to (though we do get the obligatory scene). I’ll miss these dorks. – Sean Gaffney