Weekly Shounen Sunday #51

It's getting cold outside but Sunday is heating up!! We're only one issue away from Shougakukan's shounen magazine doing it's own "daylight savings" and setting back the issue numbers to #1 so a proverbal "changing of the guard" so to speak! Issue 51 is here, and it's time to take it live.

On the cover this week is Motoyuki Tanaka's soccer story --Be Blues! It's weird that despite this being a pretty big seller in the magazine, and having more than enough chapters for an anime, that it still doesn't have one and this cover isn't announcing one. Sunday works in mysterious ways, it seems...also, on the side are K.O.I and Tochinogi Nodoka's Idol gigs. I really think the timing of running Nodoka in the mag along with K.O.I getting a color page was purposefully done although I do know the idea behind Nodoka appearing the print mag is to advertise it's first volume. Evans is also here to talk up his color page this week so it's an issue full of advertisements --as in, business as usual. 

TOC Time! Let's examine the who's who of issue #51!

Be Blues by Motoyuki Tanaka (Cover and Lead color)

Tenshi & Akuto!! by Aya Hirakawa

Aozakura Bouei daigakkou monogatari by Hikaru Nikaido

Komi-san wa komyushou desu by Tomohito Oda

Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ by Mizuki Kuriyama (Color page)

Hatsukoi zombie by Ryou Minenami

Amano Megumi wa Suki darake! By Nekoguchi

Shinobi no by Rokurou Ogaki

K.O.I  -King of Idol by Tamaki Wakaki (Color page)

Kyoukai no RINNE by Rumiko Takahashi

Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san by Aiko Koyama

Souboutei Kowasubeshi by Kazuhiro Fujita

Maoujo de Oyasumi by Kagiji Kumanomata

Saike Matashitemo by Tsubasa Fukuchi

Zettai Karen Children by Takashi Shiina

Tochinoki Nodoka no Idol nichijou by Takeshi Kojima (Special chapter)

Dagashikashi by KOTOYAMA

Kanojo no umitate nama tamago by Chihiro Kurachi (part 2 of 3)

Daiku no Hatou by Michiteru Kusaba

Hiiragi-sama wa jibun wo sagashiteru by Hiroyuki Nishimori

Yuugami-kun ni wa tomodachi ga inai by Jun Sakurai

Meteor Girl by Reach Ishiyama

Tenshou no Quadrable by Takahiro Arai

Youkai Giga by Satsuki Satou.

Not around this week are the following:

RYOKO

Detective Conan

Major 2nd 

Small changes lead to big reverberations this week. Dagashikashi is really close to the basement crew, Souboutei is riding higher, and Akuto somehow rises to the very top of the magazine where he looks down upon the other bugs and probably thinks "This is how it should be." I can't even necessarily blame the one shots since there's only two (technically). My buddy Saike is doing a lot better after his fall last week, but he continues to yo-yo around the middle and the bottom of the mag. I'm happy to report that Shinobi no is doing pretty well for itself with okay-ish sales and a good TOC ranking --guess Pops will be around a lot longer than I would have thought. Meanwhile I know there are quite a few Quadrable fans here and...my condolences --it doesn't look good for it to be consistently above the cellar where the youkai live. Speaking of which, having Satou's short story collection back on the bottom feels...right. Natural even. 

On it's 312th chapter is Be Blues! There isn't any indication of why it received both the cover and a pretty cool color page but I'm not complaining! If I did want to complain, it'd be more about how with so much material and sales to boot that it doesn't have an anime of any kind by now. More than just being a little strange, it's downright nonsensical in this magazine that only has one ongoing anime at the moment. I know anime is a risky business, but no venture no gain, shougakukan editorial department! Another thing that's hard to believe is behind Conan and the perennially on hiatus Arata, Be Blues is now the third oldest manga in the magazine --and the second longest. Granted hiatuses, and weird serializations run this mag. Saike for example is actually gearing up for his 4th year, but the chapter count is closer to a serial reaching it's 2nd. Sunday's progressive in giving it's artists a little more room to grow, but I have to wonder if it's having a strange effect on the magazine overall.

Whoops! Sorry to get off on a tangent there for a bit! This chapter is the climax ah, so that's probably the reason it got a cover and color page of the game Ryuu and his team have been playing in, and Tanaka scores with that final goal kick above this paragraph. Meanwhile Ryuu's sudden health concerns are more or less treated very quickly putting him back in the game, but Takatora who was the guy who put him in a bad way in the first place isn't the least bit apologetic even as his team berates him for pushing Ryuu so far ---he wants to win! It's admirable even if the means of which he intends to win are remarkably less so. I'm a little surprised, honestly that Ryuu's condition was treated almost immediately but not disappointed --yet, as this could be the precursor to something much bigger later, plus who wants to see protagonists suffer? Certainly not me, nope. For now at least the team has scored a victory and things couldn't be better for them. I do wonder what the "endgame" for Be Blues is? Most sports manga in shounen magazines aim for the characters graduation form high school, but I don't see that being the case for Be Blues, though I probably don't read it as closely as I should in all honesty. I do believe Major followed the protagonist through his entire life (and now continues with his son) so it's not out the realm of possibility that Be Blues could do the same, however.

Love tends to complicate things --which is really why I'm not too interested in romance as a genre. Tenshi and Akuto isn't an exception to this rule as Nari has the birds not the bees yet at any rate explained to her by Shou. She had been feeling weird around Akuto for some time now, but figured she was only suffering from a cold until the proverbial cold water is dumped on her --she's probably in love with him. A none too pleasing prospect as Akuto seems to only love his career and himself, and Shou is also crusing for him. Considering that the two, Shou and Akuto are around the same age and professional VAs, while Nari as much potential as she has --and she is good at what she does, is still merely a high school student, doesn't seem to stand a chance. Akuto's performance in the net anime has got the attention of the director which means he might get more and better roles in the future --so his career is shining bright, but his personal life is all over the place with Shou trying to push a relationship, and Nari suddenly acting cold toward him as she realizes her feelings might just be unrequited, leading to an argument between the two and Nari asking Akuto flat out why he's going so far if he's not interested in meeting girls?

It's because he needs her. As he says himself, he's always been chasing after her because he wants her at his side --that's why he's come so far and is where he is now --because of Nari. The side text at the end of the chapter asks if this is Akuto's confession to Nari --sounds like one to me! Though I'm sure Hirakawa will find a means to string us along a little further. The chapter itself served as nice reminder that Akuto is still rising through the ranks and I really like that we're seeing where his career could go with a bit more time though I'm not so enthusiastic about the love route the series is taking. Still the promise of more voice acting battles is enough to keep me interested, so bring it on!

If you were getting tired of all the girly shenanigans in Komi over the last few weeks then this is the chapter for you! After weeks and weeks of girls being cute, we get guys being guys which is apparently posing almost nude in the hot springs. The chapter was again very short this week --shorter than the normal short manga like Maoujo which makes me wonder what the next volume of Komi is going to look like...it's also the type of chapter I like since there's really not much more to comment on since the pictures tell a pretty concrete story of their own. I'm serious, it is literally the guys checking each other out for 8 pages, and my job here to translate is done. 

Evans is up next with an admittedly disappointing (To me) color page, though the chapter itself more than makes up for the frontispiece being lacking. Picking up from last week's chapter, Evans is the target of an assassination plot by one of the guys he busted in chapter one, but unbeknownst to all of them, Evans is in on planning his own assassination --along with Pheebs. The motley crew decide to go to Evans house and assassinate him while he's unaware except well, he is aware for obvious reasons and while the plan is to snuff the group out there, Evans realizes he left his porn out, and the last thing he wants is for Pheebs to see his shame out in the open. Aww, he does care!

Evans suggests that he be the first one into the place to "stake things out". Pheebs simultaneously correctly and incorrectly reads his intentions --she thinks he wants to get there first to sort things out and give them alone time. The bad guys are impressed with the new guy's moxy and give him his desired position in front which Evans takes advantage of right away --running in to dump his porn under the floorboards in a meager attempt to hide it before the others enter. 

Pheebs being inappropriately happy to see Evans room is probably the cutest thing this chapter has to offer. Even the text beside her says she's satisfied. Meanwhile the baddies are looking for Evans and growing more frustrated when he doesn't show up, going as far to blast holes in the celing thinking he's hiding up there. When that doesn't work, the leader turns to dynamite to blow the house to smithereens, but Evans can't have his place becoming a crater, so he takes the only way out --throwing the explosive down upon his porn in order to fool the group into thinking he's the one down there and he's ending himself. Yes, Evans blew up his porn to save his life, and I cannot believe I'm typing this with a straight face right now. 

It's a wonderful plan --Evans keeps his lfie and his house for the most part, (though on the inside he's crying over the loss of his newly bought porn), though a little snag occurs when the leader asks to see his corpse as proof of a job done well. Guess no one thought to bring an extra dead body just in case? Yeah, I thought not. To my surprise it appears this will continue another week making this legitimately a mini-arc! It's been splendid so far and allows Kuriyama to flex his muscle in a story that isn't just sheriff-meets-girl. Though, Evans is in trouble and we'll have to hope he can get out of it next week. 

Pops and Evans tend to get stuck with one another in my writeups quite often, I notice. Western and Eastern influences attract I guess?? This week, the fated showdown between Yoshida and Pops starts and you'd be crazy to miss it! Pops is glad to see the ring-leader of the group that made his quasi-straightforward assassination another thing that he and Evans have in common!  turn into the nightmare from hell in the flesh, and Yoshida isn't quite sure what to make of this old shinobi. I mentioned on another chapter that I thought the two might know each other, but it doesn't seem so in the dialog on this page as they sniff around each other wondering what could possibly bring the opposite party on the boat. Yoshida sees Pops's gear and seemingly comes to a conclusion, however...

While he --Yoshida celebrates difficulties --unexpected events that challenge his calculations, he wasn't expecting a smelly old shinobi to be on the list of things that could go wrong tonight. Pops is none too pleased with this description of himself  Yoshida goes on to state that Japan and the shogunate are smelly fossils of a decprit era --why they're still doing things like sending shinobi for infiltration, how gauche! This is exactly why he has to be rid of them and usher in the future. To that end he uses one of his retainers to deal with pops and he does --with dynamite. Seriously what is with all of these similarities to Evans this week?

Pops is apparently blown up, and Yoshida takes this victory to mean that he is indeed the man chosen by the heavens to do this job no one else can. What is rotten must be destroyed and the new must be ushered in --a job befitting a madma--er, forward thinker like himself! He will lead the revolution and no one can stop him...he says.

We all knew Pops wouldn't be dead so easily, but the mild annoyance in which he shakes off fire is still great to behold. Meanwhile in a bid for more dark humor, Yoshida's fiery spirit isn't the only thing lit by this entire situation --it's his face as well. His retainer seeks to put the fire out, but Yoshida ain't having any of that. They have a heavenly edict to pursue. 

If they aren't willing to abandon themselves then they can't possibly achieve their dreams, he remarks. Poor retainer just wants to see "sensei" live, but sensei is more interested in results than his own life, and even after another bomb blast, Pops walks out unscathed thanks to his shinobi garb that are more than just really cool threads. 

Pops says that guys like Yoshida who are willing to burn and be burned will not be able to change the world which gets Yoshida's attention. Now that the henchmen are out of the way, the battle between the two can begin in earnest --is what I'd like to say, but Ogaki has so far taken all of my expectations and flipped them around so I can't even predict what will happen next --just anticipate it. 

Part two of the two weeks of K.O.I color pages defies my expectations in being much better than the first, though the chapter let me down a little as it was basically a training chapter in the vein of other shounen manga, except with more singing. At least now it is clear that K.O.I is very much a shounen manga in it's approach even if it isn't in it's subject matter. This week has the girls singing in in enclosed space to strengthen their ability to summon "objects" with their voices. I'm uh, not sure either. While last week's chapter indicated that Kisara would be the lead in for this arc, she really doesn't get too much attention till the end when another girl --presumptuously her rival appears. K.O.I is doing well for itself in the magazine so I doubt we'll be seeing it go anywhere, but it would have been nice to see some more progression in these two chapters since I don't think the series will be back on the blog for a while, but sadly it didn't happen. 

The suddenly very long arc of RINNE scoots on along with this installment where Rinne's old man tries to use the gift he made for Sakura and himself to open up a line to the Sanzu river, so that he can have a bevy of beauties to party with. The summon seems to work well enough, but then the opposite thing happens --rather than spirits flocking to his shindig, they're...leaving? Apparently Renge knows what's going on here --because she's behind it! The river flow that attracts spirits to this world can be also used to return spirits to our world ruining Sabato's grand party scheme. 

Which is to say Sakura's safe as she's in the world she belongs in, so that cliffhanger from last week is addressed rather neatly. On the right is one of my favorite Takahashi tropes --check out the very last panel when Renge kicks Sabato into the portal he created. That kick and pose of the kickee are classic Takahashi and I never tire of seeing them. Ah, you want to know why Renge suddenly turned on Sabato? Well the latter promised to pay the former a higher wage, but Renge replies to this with "How about you pay me a regular wage first?!" So she's not in his pocket after all, thank goodness. She did quit the damashigami company, but intends to destroy it from the inside out before leaving for good. 

Rinne remembers about his present to Sakura just in time to chase his Dad through the portal to retrieve it where he meets up with Ageha who's on her way to the living world. Meanwhile Tsubasa and Sakura are finding the spirits are clamoring --probably due to the sanzu river showing up in the living world which connects back to Ageha being on her way there --she's been asked by the shinigami group to put a stop to the spirits restlessness. 

Rokumon manages to track down Rinne to ask what he meant by the letter he sent, and he replies that he meant exactly what he wrote --and that Rokumon should tell her that. Meanwhile the teacher Annette approaches Tsubasa and Sakura with an idea of Rinne's whereabouts and apparently where he is or where he's headed is an unlikely place. Sadly the chapter ends there, but I'm wondering --and stay with me here --is Rinne heading toward some kind of conclusion? Now this might just be a gathering of faces due to the 400th chapter milestone coming soon which would make sense as well, but with so much going on at once and Rinne's narrative not requiring a whole big climatic final battle to conclude, I do have to wonder if the series is slowly packing up? It is at 39 volumes now so it's definitely no youngster,  and while Inuyasha is still quite a bit longer, does Rinne need to match it in length? I don't think so, honestly. With Takahashi's clout the series could run indefinitely independent of sales, but at some point I'd imagine the editorial staff would want to try their luck with something else since Rinne isn't exactly a hot seller at this point of it's life cycle. Anyway for now at least this arc marches on for one more week. 

When we last left the touching sibling reunion on Souboutei, there was an edge of uncertainty emanating from the duo of Rokurou and Kurenai in the aqueous shape of Shino who has taken the former's body to gain his "courage", though it's seemingly more likely that she's out to use Rokurou's body to destroy anyone who'd seek to destroy the souboutei. As Kurenai weeps happily at finding her brother amongst the chaos in the house, Shino does some exploring within Rokurou's body to find out just what makes the boy tick. 

And what she finds is what we've known for some time --adding a sense of urgency to the series. It's a sense of odd disconnect when the reader/viewer knows something the characters don't and therefore has to wait for them to catch up in order for the story to really progress to another possibly more interesting point. What we've known for some time now is Rokurou's growth was spurned on by the souboutei taking and eating his father, and then by his encountering Seiichi --who has the power to destroy the house and thus give him the revenge he seeks. Shino discovering this now leads us to the next point of the story --what to do with Seiichi? She goes through several different scenarios of killing him outright to talking him out of destroying the house by using Rokurou's body to declare how much he loathes him therefore breaking down his mental walls and allowing the souboutei to take his soul. 

While this is going on we see the family during a happier time --Mother, Father, older sister and  younger brother sitting around the TV and having dinner. At first it's not clear whether this is something Shino is manipulating Rokurou into seeing, or an actual memory he owns, but the right page all but makes that clear --this is a section of Rokuro's mind not touched by Shino's blight as he gets up from the table and bids his family farewell. This moment made sad by Rokurou's Dad allowing his son to go, bidding him farewell and asking him to come back safely. The look on his face of both sadness that he has to leave --it's likely he won't see his father again, and the knowledge that what he has to do might result with the inability to return ever again is heartbreaking and what Fujita knows how to do best. 

On the outside, Rokurou opens up the liquid nitrogen which keeps Shino at bay. It's the only weakness Shino's liquid form has, and the only thing stopping her from completely wreaking havoc in the boy's body. Shino can't understand why her manipulations aren't working, until she returns to the memory of Rokurou's dinner where she sees it all too late --the gleam of determination in his eyes. He hasn't been taken over at all --and has the mental acumen that Sakamaki showed. It's then that the nitrogen bursts into flames ending the chapter. Was the boy's plan to take the souboutei's malignant master down with him? It's hard to tell at this point so I hope the next chapter comes with answers. 

On a much needed lighter note is Maoujou where the monsters gather around to find out why the normally rested princess seems to be having nightmares that keep her up. Apparently she's dreaming about the hero who's supposed to come save her --Akatsuki, except she sees him as nothing more than a nuisance. This is a send up of a chapter I covered before where it was revealed that the two used to play together as children, although the princess didn't realize at the time that the annoying (to her) kid of back then is the hero of right now who is trying to save her --until now. She makes the connection and in her dreams beats the ever-living stuffing out of him, allowing her to have rested dreams again, heh. The onsided beating is so bad that the monsters start to feel bad for the hero, and more importantly fear for themselves as who knows what she's capable of if she doesn't get her beauty rest? The thing I think I enjoy most about Maoujo is how deftly it flips the whole "princess to be saved" upside down and gives us this cute bruiser who only stays kidnapped because she's too lazy to leave. Though with this realization, I wonder what will happen when the hero actually shows up to save her? 

After this week, Saike will only have one more chapter till he bids farewell to the double digits and welcomes in the triple ones. Though that's not the only thing that bid farewell in this week's chapter --Hi got away while he, Kuroda, Mako and Ming-Ming were fighting --and ended up in the hands of one Uuzura who happens to be in the company of a three girl team looking for the lesser panda, made up of Yuki, Yuuko, and Ana. It's a fine day for a hot battle ladies --now go!

Yuki is up first using her "world" ability --Silent Mist which robs anyone in her immediate surroundings of sound --which is pretty terrifying except Uuzura is the one oracle user who's compatibility with her ability is really high --to her detriment. He can make propellers appear on any part of his body --or anything he touches which easily blows the silent mist --and Yuki herself away knocking one of the ladies out of commission before the battle is truly underway. 

Yuuko activates her ability "axe" which multiplies her strength 10 fold for a total of three minutes, but Uuzura's got the advantage due to his oracle making a distance battle favorable for him. Ana needs to touch a person to turn them into tape, and if Yuuko can't reach her opponent then all the strength in the world doesn't matter. Uuzura makes the mistake of underestimating them because they're girls however, and whoooo boy, that was a big mistake. 

That being said, his propeller power is still the real deal, and once Yuuko's time limit runs out she can't use her power again for a while, so the clock is ticking and not in their favor. Ana quickly comes up with a plan --they only need a second for this to work. She commands Yuuko to come in her direction --and Uuzura thinking that he's got it made since there are only 10 seconds left for Yuuko's ability to stay active makes the mistake of bringing his arms together...

Though there's a reason why things with propellers have distance between them Uuzura-kun, as he finds out in the left page. Uuzura can make propellers appear almost instantly, but one second is all the girls need to bring him down --Ana turns the ground around him into tape-- something she can do now that she's not struggling to stand up against the torrential winds of Uuzura's propellers, which keeps him strapped down long enough for Yuuko to use the final 10 seconds of her ability to nail him with a brutal kick to the face. Normally Fukuchi is one I don't associate with fanservice --but there you go in that final panel. Arguably he could have illustrated it from a different angle to get the same effect and that would have been fair, though Saike --and his works in general tend to be light on this kind of thing and for the most part it isn't so much to titillate but to show Yuuko's ability in action so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but Fukuchi don't fall into that hole man. Keep action above the belt for now on. That being said, it was a really good chapter --girl power is always fun in shounen manga, and that the ladies here have abilities usually attributed to men in this demographic made it all that much better. The question is since Uuzura attached a propeller to Hi and sent him flying, who will be the lucky or unlucky recipients of the red panda next week? 

Next up is Takeshi Kojima's "Tochinoki Nodoka no Idol Nichijou". Or "Nodoka Tochinoki's Everyday Idol life". It appears to me that rather than being two special chapters, that it's the first two chapters of the serial that runs in Sunday's online magazine "Sunday Webry". Interestingly enough despite the title it actually is about a girl --Nodoka who aspires to be an idol rather than how she lives her life as an idol. By now my lack of knowledge of the industry is pretty legendary so I can't comment on that aspect, but I can say that Kojima's art is probably among some of the most adorable I've seen in the manga I've read. It's endearing enough that I'd probably read more of this manga based on how cute the art is even if I don't have much of an interest in the subject matter. Nodoka herself is equally precious --narrating her life as if she's an idol in training and her energy is infectious. 

The second part of the two chapter special serial has Nodoka off to do a swimsuit photography session where she meets with who I'd assume would be other characters in the series --Maria who seems to be acquainted with Nodoka, and Chika Sawamura who appears to be a top idol in the world that the series takes place in. The chapter ends with the pictures being launched in a shounen periodical (sort of like this one, I like that meta) but we don't exactly find out how the two did --a hook to buy volume one. It's a cute enough series and a little more realistically grounded than K.O.I, so if idols are your thing then by all means give it a shot. I can't recommend it based on the subject matter, but the art makes it at least worth a look. 

Dagashikashi surprised me by being really funny this week --allowing it to make the cut into what I cover. Hotaru suddenly announces that the ladies of the series will have a "girls gathering" which is fin and dandy enough, but then when Koko's Dad shows up, she nominates him as well saying that "For today we'll consider you a woman too." There's no equivalent in English, sadly but his reaction is to use a rough, but girly "I" pronoun "Atai" in his shock of being accepted into the girls circle. Their gathering of sorts complete, the next topic is obviously....what does one do at a girls gathering? Saya suggests that they eat, but no one knows what to eat at one of these things either. Hajime suggests drinking Sparkling Wine, but where do they get that? And so on --while Koko and Tou are out playing baseball (Not pictured) perhaps the least productive girls gathering is beginning! I hope I can make space to cover it next week as this has all he markings of being really amusing. 

Chihiro Kurachi's three part oneshot continues with the middle of the story this week where after googling the habits of Peacocks, Ken realizes his love interest Miwako might have a more "carnal" interest in him than he initially thought. Admittedly there's a kind of normal audacity in googling how to tell if a girl likes you that this series sort of eschews while embracing?  Ken confronts Miwako away from prying eyes, but she still insists on keeping her distance from him because she finds him(?) embarrassing, though she does seem to like him back which leads to a full out confession from the boy, as well as a promise that he'll protect her. Miwako's body takes a sudden turn however, leaving Ken to wonder what exactly is going on when...

....She lays an egg. 

I uh, well, that's a thing that happened. Ken is confused and hurt by this since y'know, they didn't do anything so it can't possibly be his kid, so who's kid is it? After all this time he thought Miwako liked him, but she's been the bird to someone else's bee? Who could it beeee? This got weird in a hurry, and I'm not sure if the short length of the chapter helps or hurts it honestly. Though on that note, it is weird in an amusing way, and it's only one more chapter after this too, and I wonder how Kurachi will bring this all together in the end, as well as why this couldn't have been one longer oneshot? I suppose we'll get answer to some of these questions in the finale next week. 

Daiku no Hatou is cruising along on the bottom with another chapter that does reveal a surprising amount of character background. First, the girls --Nagiko and Ena realize the lady in the photo is actually the editor of the "Can't Cam" magazine who had run into them earlier and given Nagiko a girly makeover --as well as being Minato's mom Namiko. While they're having a conversation about that, the aforementioned duo are talking about the son's run in with Nagiko. Namiko seems strangely intense when Minato implies he might have an interest in Nagiko...

And she tells him to give up on her. When Minato asks his mom why she'd say that, she instead tries to convince him to stay in Tokyo with her. Minato admits he thought about it on the outset of going to aquatics school in Nagasaki, but after some time grew to enjoy being out there --and a man of the sea. He also remarks on how his mother has never really discussed the circumstances around his father's death --he doesn't even know where he died at this point. Namiko then drops the bomb that his father died at sea, and while she wants to hate the sea that stole her beloved from her, she knows this would only make her husband --Wataru sad in the afterlife. Minato too thinks the ocean is the one thing he and his father have in common, so despite his mother's initial preference for him to stay on land, the young man has made his decision to head out to sea. 

As Minato heads out, the lyrics from "Mouko Houro ka" are overlaid on the panels. From as far as I can tell, the original song is by Kouji Tsuruta. The song is about a man's troubles and overcoming them through his travels, which is fitting for Minato setting off again, this time with a renewed sense of self. Sadly, I wasn't able to find translated lyrics, but if you want to read the Japanese ones, head out here.

Sadly all of that is pretty much for naught when he heads to the airport and sees Nagiko there heading in the opposite direction. Looks like these starcrossed lovers(?) have crossed each other and missed completely, heh. There's no Hatou in the next issue so we'll have to wait a little longer to find out if they cross paths again. 

Yuugami's up for his monthly visit, and this time he's doing what he loves most --playing baseball! The chapter starts off innocently enough --Chihiro is watching TV and her mom being like most moms says that she should do something other than spending time with the boob tube on her time off. Interestingly enough when mom spies Yuugami on TV she comments that Chihiro's "boyfriend" seems to have gotten a TV spot --and rather doing the comically over the top denial of their relationship, Chihiro simply says "Yuugami has no friends." She didn't deny it though, folks. Though she does ask herself why someone who clearly enjoys being alone would bother being on a baseball team --a pretty good question, actually.

According to the text on the left, a pitcher is a solitary creature that only other pitchers can possibly understand. This edgy description of the field position heralds in the introduction of Masaki Hayashiyama who is the ace of Amagi high school, and a pretty big deal from the reaction of everyone when he shows up to talk to Yuugami who says that he's no friend of his. (Also the other members of the team admit they've actually never really seen him before, and how his hair looks funny. --Guess his reputation doesn't precede him that much, huh? 

Hayashiyama admires Yuugami, but that's because the latter is able to shake off people's expectations of him like they're nothing --mostly because to Yuugami they are nothing. He does what he likes without really being worried about what others think because he doesn't care to hang out with them anyway --which is a little admirable in a messed up way. Hayashiyama feels so much pressure in his life that he can't focus on playing baseball which is a thing he's supposed to like! It's then he notices another player on Yuugami's team  that glares at him with an intense aura of hatred and wonders who he is. This is Nidou (who apparently everyone calls Nitaku?) Who's bad news due to his extreme selfishness and how he looks at everything around him as a threat to his superiority. In this case, Yuugami is in his crosshairs because he was chosen to be pitcher. On the right, when Nitaku I'll call him that too, I suppose asks Yuugami why he was chosen to be pitcher, the former answers with "trade secret" --mostly because he can't be arsed to come up with a real reason. 

Nogami (red head on left) is in the same class as Nitaku, and describes him as someone with an intensely hateful aura --enough that flowers wilt in his presence. Chihiro wonders if Yuugami having a person like this out for his blood is okay, while Nitaku continues to stew over not being chosen as pitcher, thinking that Kadota who is Yuugami's friend is the reason why the former got picked over him. Nitaku then figures the way to get to the heart of this problem is to target Kadota directly...by being so overwhelmingly nice to him that Kadota feels awkward being around him. (Not his plan, but it sort of works?) as Kadota acqueses to him, but that doesn't get him the position he wants because it turns out Kadota and Yuugami aren't that close since as the series title suggests, he has no friends. (Also it's not pictured, but when Chihiro asks Yuugami why he likes being pitcher, he explains that the pitcher is in the unique position of being able to win games on his own if he's good enough as they can strike out batters. Seems a bit off, but Yuugami himself is a bit off, so.) 

Nitaku is at a loss of what to do next since his plan has been sunk when he runs into Yuugami making an uncharacteristic expression while retelling an old story to Chihiro (who's expression at the end of the chapter is telling as to how many times she's heard this story and how sick of it she is.) Nitaku then changes the target of his schemes to Chihiro who's clearly closer to Yuugami than Kadota, which closes this chapter. Chihiro, you'd better watch your back, as an evil spirit has you in it's sights! 

After an arc that shakes up the status quo, what's a series like MG to do but to keep the hits coming? After Chihiro's attack on humanity, people have taken to the streets to attack meteor girls indiscriminately, as the opening of the chapter shows with a mother reuniting with her dead daughter. Tetto steps in to stop the guys from beating them both down allowing the mother to escape --though his problems are much bigger than that as a video uploaded to the net of Chihiro and her actions is on the web has sparked massive reverberations. 

The trio from last week have decided to meet in an empty classroom as the news sweeps the internet. Now how MG's are gathered and disposed has come into question  

Ikeyama and Hane show up --the former in an uncharacteristic school uniform. It's then that the news playing on Tetto's phone gives us a bit to unpack --they're questioning what Chihiro is, even though as Ikeyama points out she's clearly a MG. The news caster then says that fear has spread among the populace along with the number of victims, going on to state that everyone should stay away from MGs, a warning that while fair has a profound effect on Hane who quasi emotes on the right page --which Tetto notices. Hane changes the subject and asks about Ryoko who we haven't seen in a while, actually. Tetto reveals she's been under close investigation, and even if that weren't the case, as a nurse she'd be rather busy in this situation with many injured being born from Chihiro's actions. The trio have gathered, but they don't have the foggiest idea of what to do --and while Ikeyama used to be part of Chihiro's gang, she doesn't really know what's going on in the tiny terrorist's head. 

It's at that moment that a breaking news story erupts --the "Sebus Tower" is being attacked by meteor girls! There's a mad exodus of people running for their lives from these metallic menaces, but to what end would they do something like this? Hane points out that this building houses the HQ of the anti MG unit, and that if it should fall to this attack then the entire world will be thrown into a state of chaos that it won't soon recover from, as they're also the one who developed the app that shows where and when MG's will fall. Tetto runs without a plan toward the tower, as Ikeyama complains about not having any sort of plan or preparations. 

In the tower, Chihiro asks very cutely amongst all the carnage she's causing if she can have a meeting with the president of the company, and upon making her way up, she greets the president seemingly glad that her father is doing well. Didn't think we'd get any focus on her family, but here we are. Dad seems none too surprised to see his killer daughter in the flesh which is even more telling. The man who probably knows the most about MG's and the girl who controls them are blood related? Can fate be any more cruel and....intriguing? 

It was only a week for the series, but three for Kuro as the little youkai returns this week...sort of. This chapter is mainly about Makoto, and how she's taking a chance on love by turning down Toshiyuki --the man she works for, and quitting her job at his farm --despite how much it hurts to do so. She has decided to finally embrace what her heart desires and go to Kuro's master after a final day of finishing her job and wrapping up all her engagements and obligations. In fact, Kuro and his master don't appear at all this week as Makoto comes to terms with her feelings and decides to act upon them, thanks to the strange youkai and cow it loves. It was a chapter where not much happened but actually a whole lot moved forward, and probably the most youkai light chapter of the series, yet Satou's great writing still shines despite the premise taking a backseat to story this week. I'm not sure if Kuro will be the subject of the next chapter, and on that note it does feel like this story is slowly coming to an end, but either way Satou's world has me completely absorbed and eagerly anticipating what will happen next. 

And that's it for issue #51! Next week, Megumi celebrates her 100th chapter with a lead color page, Quadrable and Birdmen receive color pages for their respective new volumes, and Wakabi Asayama returns for another oneshot --"Dootan Shibou chuu" a title of which I can't really make heads or tails out of since it can mean something like "Dotan's death to internet trolls" or "Dotan's death kitchen". (Japanese slang is a heck of a thing, let me tell you.) It's about an undead bird according to the blurb on the side and will be a tragedy story --though this is the same author who brought us "Death Kamakiri", so I dunno what to expect, really. You all can expect to see the issue up this time next week though, so look forward to it! Until then!