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Here’s what I’ve been reading:

Banana Fish, Volumes 12-13 by Akimi Yoshida. I am really enjoying watching Eiji and Ash’s relationship develop and deepen. By this point it’s fairly well established, but these volumes show just how far they are willing to go for each other. Particularly interesting is Eiji, whose innocence and naiveté finally seems to have been tainted by the chaos and violence around him. In some ways it does seem like variations of the same thing keep happening over and over and there are still six more volumes to go. There are a lot of open plot lines right now, so it’ll be interesting to see how everything ties together.

Hikaru no Go, Volumes 2-3 written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. I had a feeling this was going to happen, but now I really want to learn to play Go. Fortunately for me, these early volumes actually cover the basics of the game both in the context of and apart from the story. Sai consistently makes me smile over how obsessed he is with the game and it’s nice to see Hikaru becoming more serious about playing. I’m really liking this series so far and will definitely be reading more.

Real, Volume 3 by Takehiko Inoue. Typically, I’m not into sports manga, but Real is fantastic. I picked up the series because I wanted to read something by Inoue (his art is wonderful) and Real was the only manga of his currently available at my library. It’s about wheelchair basketball and tough guys having to deal with tough issues in a very realistic way. Much of the third volume focuses on Takahashi who is struggling to accept the fact that he will never walk again. He’s always been a bit of an asshole, but I still care about him. The emotions, from anger to despair, are intense.

Vampire Knight, Volume 8 by Matsuri Hino. I waited too long between reading the seventh volume and the eighth. Fortunately this volume is mostly a huge reveal of up till now missing back story. There’s some crazy stuff introduced—some of which didn’t really make much sense or just wasn’t thoroughly explained. I will admit didn’t get all of what was going on. Still, there were some interesting plot developments and it’s nice to have some questions answered. The series has definitely taken a very serious turn and it’s missing some of the humor that could be found in the earlier volumes.