Choking on Love, Vol. 2 | By Keiko Iwashita| Seven Seas – The title continues to be very apt for this shoujo series, as Hibari has fallen for Gaku hard, but is unaware of her own feelings and very uncomfortable with the idea that she could love a free-spirited bad boy like him. He, on the other hand, is 100% fine with loving a girl like her, even to the point of injuring himself because he really wants to see her as soon as possible. That said, I do wish there was a bit more of her college design stuff and a bit less boy band. I sense the third volume won’t help there, as our heroes have met their competition, and not only does it crush them but one of them may know Hibari better than Gaku does. Good solid shoujo. – Sean Gaffney
Colette Decides to Die, Vol. 3 | By Alto Yukimura| Viz Media – I’m continuing to love this old-school shoujo series which screams Tokyopop circa 2008. In this omnibus, which is Vols. 5-6 of the original, we meet new gods (drunken layabout Dionysus and airheaded Demeter); Colette’s old mentor comes to help and has to fend off the fact that he is Available ™; and Those Two Apothecaries continue to exist, with Pola getting a spotlight chapter that tries (and fails, mostly) to have her be anything other than black-haired Colette, Jr. But it’s Colette and Hades that are the reason to read this, especially Colette, who will be the perfect partner for Hades if they can get over the human/god thing and she can stop working so hard she runs her body ragged… literally. Everyone needs to read this. – Sean Gaffney
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 13 | By Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe | Viz Media – The joy and tragedy of Frieren is that she has realized how she and Himmel are on the same wavelength, and perfect for each other, only now that Himmel is dead. As such, it’s great to see that, even in the past with a Himmel who you would think would be less experienced than his companion, they still work perfectly together. We then get to start up the NEXT arc, which looks like a “prevent an assassination” plotline, but more importantly, gives us more of everyone’s favorite crack pairing, Ubel and Land. He can’t stand her, she’s fascinated by him, and their chemistry is off the charts. Best of all, they’re totally different from Fern and Stark. Let’s now hope they can survive till the end of this arc. Always recommended. – Sean Gaffney
Magus of the Library, Vol. 8 | By Mitsu Izumi | Kodansha Comics – The fact that this series only comes out once a year can be a real problem, as I just cannot keep up with its monstrous cast. Things are not helped by the fact that this book is mostly an action manga, as a huge spirit monster invades the city… and sits there, a distraction while someone tries to steal the book Theo has been taking care of, and a quirky masked guy is wandering around the city insisting the entire world belongs to him. Always a dangerous thing to say in a shonen manga, and his cynical take on caring for the old people in the world (his take: don’t, let them die) is contrasted by Theo’s sunny optimism. All this plus a hypnotic possession of one of the cuter members of the cast, which doesn’t sound good. I hope I remember who she is by next year. – Sean Gaffney
My Hero Academia, Vol. 41 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – When we were getting the chapters week by week on the Jump app, the chapters in this volume, or at least the first half, really made a lot of fans furious. We suspected it might happen—it’s kind of thematically appropriate—but everything in this volume points to Izuku losing One for All at the end of this fight and being quirkless again. Now, I admit that is kind of a bummer, but as we see in the last half of this book, at least he’s not alone, and has friends and allies who are there to save him. Well, those friends and allies who aren’t in a coma and near death. If you had forgotten who Sato and Sero were, as most of us had, here’s the chance to see them have one last cool thing. Next time is the finale. – Sean Gaffney
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You, Vol. 14 | By Rikito Nakamura and Yukiko Nozawa | Ghost Ship – There’s a new girlfriend in this volume, who has a great “gimmick” (violins/violence), but it’s also great to see how quickly everyone accepts her love of blood and gore and welcomes her into the group, to the point where she gets to be part of a group of four battling some jerks at a gaming/toy store. I also loved the chapter where Naddy is accused of talking in incoherent Americanisms, where it turns out that not only do Rentaro and his girlfriends understand her perfectly, but when she talks in normal Japanese, the class does WORSE. All this and lines like “take me on an oral rodeo” are why 100GF works as both a heartwarming, progressive polycule and a funny ecchi manga. – Sean Gaffney
Skip Beat!, Vol. 50 | By Yoshiki Nakamura | VIZ Media – I have been an ardent fan of Skip Beat! since 2008, so it pains me to say that this volume was boring. I assign most of the blame to the fact that we have caught up with Japan, so new releases are infrequent. In this one, Kanae travels to America to appear in a film with Cedric D. Bennett, big star whom I had entirely forgotten about, with Kyoko along as her personal assistant. We encounter Cedric’s famous grandfather, whom I had entirely forgotten about. There are possible sightings of Ren’s parents, but I’ve almost entirely forgotten about them, too. And even some of the other Japanese actors that we see more often are pretty much indistinguishable to me. It’s a bummer. However, I’m hopeful this setting might spur some revelations for Kyoko about Corn’s true identity and Ren’s past in general. We shall see. – Michelle Smith
0 Comments