Gin no Saji, a.k.a. Silver Spoon, chapter 105: Those potatoes, LOL.
And the freshman working with the horses continues to be adorable.
Karneval chapter 82:
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Whew, finally! Now to (hopefully) get some answers about Yotaka (or the person who looks like him?) soon... Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii chapters 23-24: Haha, oh wow. I loved how Nike dealt with the bullying, turning it around and getting them to like her instead.
That said, I'm not particularly fond of
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: everything that happened after that. I mean, sure, it was inevitable that the sand prince would fall in love with her; I was expecting no less, really. But to take it so far as to plan to hold her there against her will and send word to the Sun Kingdom that she'd died, knowing full well how she'd feel about such a thing... ugh. So much for me starting to like the guy. Hopefully he either comes to his senses or this arc doesn't go very long (or both)... Taiyou no Ie chapter 45: ...Well, that plot point was actually handled better than I had been expecting (thanks in part to Daiki, LOL
).
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: However, while I know it's complicated, I really don't trust Mao's mom. Hopefully Mao makes the best decision... Zetsuen no Tempest chapter 31: Loved the continuing discussion on the logic of that theory about the two 'trees,' and the (somewhat-modified) conclusion, as well as the continued weaving in of Shakespeare's works.
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Gah, though, that meeting, and that cliffhanger...! Natsume's Book Of Friends vol.'s 15-16: The little mini-arc in the former volume with Natori was really interesting, because during it Natsume found out that
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: both Taki's grandfather's and his own grandmother's uses of magic were actually forbidden, a reveal that reverberated throughout both the plot as well as Natsume's own thoughts and actions ever since (in fact, it's still hanging over both the plot and Natsume himself even at the end of the latter volume, bringing in a very light undercurrent of suspense as to when and how it will be resolved). The story with Tanuma was pretty fun at first (and rather touching at the end, of course, as usual
), but also had a rather interesting little twist to it in that
SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Tanuma was actually kinda using Natsume to find out if the old lady was a youkai. I really like Tanuma, and obviously his intentions weren't bad or anything, but that still puts a little bit of a wrinkle into their friendship, I'm thinking... Oh yeah, and then that cute bird trio... <3
Ahhh, this series is so good!
Until Death Do Us Part omnibus vol.'s 5-6 (Japanese vol.'s 9-12): Interestingly, as things have gotten more serious plot-wise, the humor has actually increased (partially due to a couple of amusing new characters), and I'm certainly not complaining.
(And then there's Mamoru's way of teaching, as well...
) I also really like the fact that Mamoru and Haruka are more like true partners now. The one downside to this section of the story (not recalling which particular volume it was ATM) was that one flashback to Juliett's past, which IMO was... a tad more graphic than necessary, to put it mildly
, and which unfortunately makes this series a bit more difficult to recommend.
Other than that, though, I'm enjoying the story, and it should be interesting to see where it goes from here.
One Week Friends, a.k.a. Isshuukan Friends., chapters 1-21 (so far): Started reading this after watching the anime, and I have to say that (out of what I've read so far) the anime was a really good adaptation of what it covered. As for the manga itself, I also really like the sort-of combination 4-koma/regular-manga style it's done in. And the one thing that wasn't in the anime (so far)-- the festival-- was completely adorbs (as expected!
). <3 Looking forward to the rest of it!
And Ryohgo Narita's
Vamp! novels 1-5 (so far): Well, I've had a Narita-shaped void that's needed filling for a good while now, as I've been (im)patiently waiting for that one volume in the middle of the fantastic
Baccano! novel series to be completely translated so I can (finally!) read the rest of it (...and don't even get me started on the scattershot translation status of the
Durarara!! + spinoff + sequel novels, which I haven't even started yet due to that very reason, along with several other works by him, too...
), so I started reading one of his other series that actually *has* been completely translated (so far) to tide me over. And oh, did it fill that role nicely!
Narita-sensei's take on vampires here is fascinating, because it encompasses pretty much every kind in fiction (plus some extremely imaginative {and entertaining} new 'types' of his own
) under a brand-new umbrella, with a completely different explanation than I've ever seen before but which makes absolutely brilliant sense. Also, he utilizes surreal humor to pretty great effect here, IMO.
And then, of course, there's the great, layered character writing, too. Looking forward to the next volume (whenever he gets around to it)!