Weekly Shounen Sunday #48

As the seasons turn our need for Sundays remains unchanging. Welcome back again to my humble abode in this quaint part of the internet! After the amazing issue that was issue #47 does #48 stack up? Well...whether it does or does not doesn't matter really as I'm not rating issues. Let's just read along and see what awaits us!

#48 is off to a strong start with this color page featuring Komi in Kyoto. Shinobi no and Maoujo are on the cover as they get color pages, and really the composition of this week's cover is sublime, right down to the WSS logo being a healthy forest green. Although this blog is my hidey-hole from the juggernaut that is Weekly Shounen Jump, I do wish that Sunday would follow suit and have more actual manga on the covers than models but I guess you have to attract fans somehow when you're the underdog of underdogs.

The TOC for this week has the following!

Shinobi no by Rokuro Ogaki (Color page)

Komi-san wa komyushou desu by Tomohito Oda

Kyoukai no RINNE by Rumiko Takahashi

Maiko-san chi no makanai san by Aiko Koyama

Maoujou de oyasumi by Kagiji Kumanomata (Color page)

Aozakura Bouei daigakkou no monogatari by Hikaru Nikaido

Hatsukoi zombie by Ryou Minenami

Be Blues! By Motoyuki Tanaka

Amano Megumi Suki darake! by Nekoguchi

Major 2nd by Mitsuya Takeda

Tenshi to Akuto! by Aya Hirakawa

Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ by Mizuki Kuriyama

Saike matashitemo by Tsubasa Fukuchi

Dagashikashi by KOTOYAMA

Jukensei/Otonatte, Kodomotte by Masaya Jiki (oneshots)

Hiiragi-sama wa Jibun wo sagashiteru by Hiroyuki Nishimori

Birdmen by Yellow Tanabe

Souboutei Kowasubeshi by Kazuhiro Fujita

Daiku no Hatou by Michiteru Kusaba

Tenshou no Quadrable by Takahiro Arai

Meteor Girl by Reach Ishiyama

Sunday Higaku Kenkyujou by Yuuji Yokoyama

Youkai Giga by Satsuki Satou

Not in this issue are these series:

Detective Conan

RYOKO

K.O.I King of Idol 

Zettai Karen Children

I won't hide my thoroughly biased nature as I shout a cheer for Saike being higher than usual two weeks in a row. Though this does come with the caveat of knowing my boy is probably only that high because two longer and higher-ish profile series have ended since he was last around. Still I'll take what I can get. Shinobi no is rocking the top part of the magazine --what with it's first volume being out and all (and the prognosis on this is it's doing okay but not great. It debuted higher than Quadrable, Meteor Girl Daiku and even Ryoko back in it's heyday, but lower than certified hits like Evans. Still pops has the chance to rise with his second volume so one can't ask for more.) Otherwise this TOC is looking pretty normal, if not a bit sad since it's clear three of the newer series are destined for failure at this point. One thing I did notice only now because I don't read the series on a regular basis is that K.O.I has been absent for two issues, and browsing the preview for next week seems to imply that it's going for a third. This is exactly how RYOKO's hiatus began way back in March so I can't help but worry for Wakaki even if I'm not reading his work. I hope he's doing okay...also, the unscientific lab returns "shamefully" (their words, not mine) for a single chapter. Perhaps to cover for K.O.I not being around?

Shinobi no's up first with the second of two weeks of Color pages! As I mentioned in the TOC section above, the series opened up to middling sales --nothing too bad, but nothing amazing. Which in this case is probably better than doing abysmally bad. For now at least Pops is safe to be a shinobi in Sunday, except when Toudou Heisuke uses his age as a gambit to get a sneak attack on him. This kid might be aiming to be the best Samurai, but it seems he's not above using dirty tricks. 

Except Pops is up on his game too, and Toudou doesn't see him coming. The parallel between the elderly and the young being underestimated in manga like this is a trope as old as time. Here however, we've got two warriors who aren't going to cut each other any slack. 

There's a bit of banter here, and Pops invokes the whole "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you" thing when Toudou asks for his name. I know this is Pops's show, but I'm really interested in Toudou who espouses the typical "fight ready" trope in  shounen manga but in a thoroughly creepy way. Even when pops gives him that warning, Toudou finds this intriguing and agrees. It's here that Pops drops the series title, --he introduces himself as as an Iga shinobi --Sawamura Jinsaburo. The "shinobi no" here is akin to "The Shinobi" as the translation would be "Sawamura Jinsaburo the Shinobi".So there you go, my loyal fans. Toudou has no idea what to make of this though, heh, he just finds it boring. Pops obliges by multiplying himself and the fun by a few more, but...

Toudou's able to see through him immediately. Pops is taken aback slightly, but lectures Toudou on his sloppy form and approach. He doesn't know himself and therefore he's not sword-ing right. (I paraphrased.) Pops is able to knock him out (Though it is implied that he meant to kill Toudou), but the latter gets up feeling slighted that Pops would dare imply that he's weak. He then demands that Pops take it back, as he's no weakling! This exchange reminds Pops of his own youth, (not pictured) and this makes me think that Toudou and Pops association will go a lot further than this initial skirmish. 

Unfortunately things take a turn for the worse on this already taxing evening when Perry rasies the sails on his ship and rushes off to a location Pops is almost immediately able to identify --Edo! Perry's on the move and the mission to assassinate him has taken on a whole new level of importance. 

Pops wants to go deal with this immediately, but Toudou wants him to take back what he said, and brat or not, he's strong enough to hold down the veteran Shinobi. Pops insists that he didn't mean to call him weak, but Toudou ain't having it. There are only three hours until the Sasukehana reaches Edo's shores, so Pops has gotta deal with Toudou and make his way to Perry in a hurry! Of course it wouldn't be any fun if he got his way without any issues --and on that note we'l'l have to wait until issue 49 to see how things develop from here. Now that Shinobi no's first volume has come out to fairly okay-ish response, I do wonder what Ogaki has planned with the speed of which events are occurring, but hey short serials have happened before --except usually the magazines are very upfront about that. In any case I hope the Shinobi will stick around. 

Komi's still in Kyoto on a school trip! I was in Kyoto for a brief time two years ago, --a little too brief if you ask me, hopefully I'll be able to rectify this soon.  So I know how pretty it can be! What's not so pretty not that I'm trying to judge  is Ren Yamai's uh....fascination with getting in the public baths with Komi so that she can experience her boo, er, soft skin. I don't know if I ever spoke about her name, but the "Ren" is spelled with the same kanji as "love" and "Yamai" is "mountain well" but it's homologous with the word for "sickness".  Which is also "yamai". (I think you can tell where I'm heading with this.) It really describes her relationship with Komi, even if the attention isn't wholly desired. On the bottom two pages, Oda (not that one) brings back his time tested storyboarding work with Komi getting into the bath. I'd imagine drawing anything on a weekly basis is painstaking, but he somehow takes it to a whole new level. I hope a future anime (make it happen, Japan!) takes this into consideration. 

Yamai asks to cop a feel of her boobs, though the surrounding Hunter X Hunter ish narration is what makes this whole moment a whole lot more profound than it should be. I won't go through each bubble word for word, but it essentially says that while she's making an extremely wrong request, she's doing it out of pure innocence and a lack of ill will. She wants to cop a feel because she has such deep and pure feelings for Komi! By asking directly it's not at all because she's ---and ah, the narration basically cuts off asking what Komi would respond and not surprisingly she declines "normally" as it states. 

The second chapter of this set is pretty straightforward, the girls have a pillow fight to determine who will be the one to sleep closest to Komi-san, and when she gets smacked in the face by a pillow, Komi joins in. Luckily they're able to stop the shindig before the teacher comes in, and soon everyone is asleep. It's at the end however that Komi realizes she can't sleep --because she's having so much fun. It's not outright said, but the side text (not written by the author themselves of course) implies that this is the first time she's had so much fun with others, which is well deserved character development for her. I do hope the fun times keep rolling for Komi next week!

Rinne is up with it's 391st chapter (almost at 400!) and the chapter begins where the last left off --with Rokumon being fired by Rinne for reasons assumed but not actually known. Rokumon assumes it's because Rinne wants to keep his newfound money to himself and surprisingly enough...or not, if you know her well enough, Sakura agrees with him and goes as far as saying that Rinne is their enemy for choosing money over friendship. Meanwhile things get more complicated when Rinne finishes a busy day of work and wonders why Rokumon didn't show up, making it clear that he was not the one to put the kibosh on his contract. 

Rinne's grandmo--er, the young lady associated with Rinne almost got noogied' there. Is investigating the poster that he picked up around the time that his fortunes turned around. It appears that the mice in the picture are actually the familiars of the God of wealth --Daikokuten, known for their handiwork and severing bonds. So it was actually them who fired Rokumon all without Rinne being the wiser! They do this so that one can accumulate luck in their life without the regret of other people, but would one really want to have prosperity at the behest of friendships and personal relationships? Hmm..

It's misdeeds discovered, the wall scroll tries to make a break for it, but Rinne and Rokumon (who returned to get his severance package) end up fighting over being fired and not being fired, until Rinne spits out the truth that Rokumon is still employed by him, and manages to exorcise the spirit in the wall scroll, saving the day! Though I should say that it was Sakura egging Rokumon on saying that he should demand recompensation. After everything is said and done, she claims she said it without meaning it, but hrm...I'm used to Sakura being kind of blase towards everything but this is the first time she's seemed outright...not malicious per say, but antagonistic? It's intriguing to see this side of her --immediately assuming the worst without first deciding to ask Rinne. Of course, this is probably played for laughs...or is it? 

A little while later, Sakura is hanging with her friends when they  notice her bracelet. While her past actions are kind of questionable, the genuine happiness that comes from having a matching bracelet with Rinne is really cute until her friends reveal they saw the bracelet at a pawnshop and..Sakura is speechless as it looks like Rinne sold it. I'm not entirely sure of what happened as it's vague but it looks as if Rinne gave Rokumon the bracelet to sell so he could get food as an "I'm sorry for you thinking I fired you" gesture. With Sakura seeming to show genuine emotion toward him and their relationship making an advancement, (also with the series almost reaching a new milestone), I'm of the impression something big is on the horizon.

Following Shinobi no's second of two color pages is Maoujo's with a cute spread of mirror match proportions. Except the not princess girl in that color page is actually a succubus who wants to be popular and who better to ask about such a subject than a kidnapped princess in a demon castle who gets all of the attention? It seems the little succubus happened to see the princess at the Halloween party, and upon seeing how similar they look to each other figured it would be great to learn from her! The princess completely misunderstands and thinks that the former wants to be her body double for whatever reason, so she puts her through all sorts of crazy training, including teaching her not to fear death which involves hanging out near a cliff and taking a plunge --and after a struggle it's actually the princess who takes a fall while...falling asleep. In the end she's okay, and introduces the succubus as her body double to others much to her chagrin. The side text even says the princess has one more "friend" now, so I assume we'll be seeing more of her body double soon enough. 

With a dual page spread like that,  you know I had to talk at least a little bit about Be Blues this week! The characters are in the middle of a game so there's not too much I can say about it outside of the art work, but it seems since the last time we checked in with Ryuu, he's working his way into the good graces of his team after being seen as a third wheel of sorts (or well...an extra wheel to a soccer team?) but the end of the chapter indicates that the current ace isn't going to take the threat to his seat lying down. Like Oda (not that one), It's amazing to see Tanaka able to pull off artwork like this week to week. If I were more of a sports person I'd take more than a cursory interest in the series, but this incredible artwork is worth taking a peek at from time to time! 

Akuto brings the ladies to his yard in this week's chapter. He's managed to score a new role in another anime after Sugar Girls ended and to his delight he'll actually be playing a boy this time around! Not only that, he'll be sharing the spotlight with Shou Amahisa who works out of the same voice acting agency as Akuto and has a major crush on him. Meanwhile Nari has come to check on Akuto after everything that occurred during his "home visit", it being abundantly clear that she too is nursing feelings toward him that may not be completely unrequited. Though the highlight of this chapter for me is Akuto realizing that while he is indeed playing a boy in a new anime, it's a mousy introverted boy that'd might as well be a girl. His reaction to being type-cast --on the bottom right is classic. 

Shou takes the initiative and asks if Akuto would like to stay with her --like the siblings they're playing in this new anime. (The anime itself is about a pushy older sister-in-law and the little brother who ends up having to share a place with the former due to their parents being on an overseas trip.) Of course Akuto turns her down at first, but then reconsiders when he remembers that she has a place near (or on) a private beach. If that's the case he can move in tomorrow! Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for them) Nari overhears this and not surprisingly is shocked to hear that Akuto and Shou are going to be living together. Akuto's turn to love comedy has got me a little cold, but the character writing has me wanting to stick around to see where things spin out from here. 

Evans is up next with his 28th exploit and this time he's defending a lady from neer-do-wells who would dare gang up on her. He decides that he'll take their bout outside, and seems to valiantly take Bill Rohos and his brother on --despite the pleas of Natalie Benny --the girl he's trying to save to the contrary. However, there's something Evans is missing...an insignificant, very little, but really vital something. 

His gun.

Surprisingly enough Kuriyama decides to pick up where last week's chapter left off....Evans doesn't have a gun because he broke it on purpose trying to help Pheebs fend of a pesky suitor, so at the moment he's barking up a tree with two very tough hombres without a piece to defend himself. Bill starts off the battle with a friggin' gattling gun, which Evans wouldn't be able to take down even if he had his piece! Luckily his Dad's lessons remain in his head and it's through those this week we find out how Mama and Papa Evans met each other --in a situation similar to this one, and back then Papa Evans was scared but didn't want to show his lovely future wife that he's a man held back by a thing like fear. So the advice he gives is essentially "keep a poker face", which Evans adopts --and it sort of works. He berates Bill for being a coward who has to rely on a gattling gun which he abandons to look tough, going for a gun next.

Evans belittles him again for taking him on two-on-two, and he even rids himself of his brother to even things up. Natalie is quick to see through Evan's bluff and asks if he intends to fight Bill mano-a-mano? She confesses that since the start she's been confused as to how Evans can seem so strong willed when he doesn't have a gun?? Oops, turns out she noticed he was without weapon from the very start. Evans thought she was protesting due to it just not being safe, but she was actually pointing out that he's gunless and shouldn't take this fight at all. 

Though, Natalie...you really shouldn't have said that out loud....Bill hears this and realizes the same thing confused as to why Evans would possibly start a fight with him when he's unarmed. Evans declares that he's giving Bill a handicap, and whether you want to call it bravado or just plan stupidity, Bill buys into this and drops his gun giving Evans the mano-a-mano fight he had been hoping for. Evans manages to win, (and as a side note Bill says he lost but doesn't feel bad about it --I love his brother's expression that's akin to "You are such an idiot.".) and asks if Natalie saw how brave he was. Natalie thanks him --though the narration notes that the mood has been completely ruined. Better luck next time Evans --oh and don't shoot your mouth off if you can't actually shoot things. 

Ming-Ming (or Min-min? I'm not at all sure since I feel like the former would be the proper reading since it's all but stated she's of Chinese origin, but Fukuchi spells it the latter way. I'll stick with the former unless someone wants to come in and correct me?) takes the cover of Saike this week with the creepy invitation to "play".  She's adorable, but her-soon-to-be-revealed ability is bound to twist that perception, I'm sure. In any case the chapter begins with a slightly more detailed breakdown of the abilities --or oracles that characters in Saike can have and for the second time I reference Hunter X Hunter in this blog entry, as the breakdown does sound similar to the "nen" used in that series. I do wonder how Kuroda got all of this information, and whether Fukuchi will reveal his sources, but for now what you need to know is the five ability classes are "Change" which is what Ana and Hizu use to change things into other things like Styrofoam and Packing tape, "Control" which is what Saike uses to control the flow of time and Will uses to control people, "Sense" which is what Kuroda uses in his precognitive dreams, "Plus/Minus" which is what the healing god uses to heal (by removing sicknesses) and Kuroda uses to delete abilities, and last "World" which is apparently able to take others and force them to bend to specific "rules" in an alternate realty --this is the ability Ming-Ming Chan has, and Kuroda once again makes it clear that she is dangerous. Admittedly I didn't think we'd get a breakdown of the abilities this late in the game from Fukuchi but I think it grounds Saike -- and implies a more uniform sense of development in the abilities from here on in --exciting developments in my opinion. 

Mako who's ability is to create hamsters to do her bidding has one of her henchsters (heh) scout around and find Hi, who immediately pitches it aside. I find this extremely hilarious for reasons even I don't fully understand. Anyway, after a bit of a pursuit, the ever ready Kuroda captures the Red Panda in a net launcher bringing this pursuit to an unlikely and speedy conclusion.

Fukuchi hits up his inner cartoon (and a little bit of storyboarding) with this fun sequence of Saike calling Hizu and the others to report their success as Ming-Ming waltzes in, pokes Hi and takes him away without a word as Saike looks on, dumbfounded. 

Against Kuroda's warnings, Saike runs to grab their prey back from her, but Ming-Ming declares that it's game time and with a pretty cool looking sequence drags Saike into an alternate and very festive looking world? I'd like to note that while the "reading" for Ming-Ming's ability is "Ming-Ming world" the Japanese kanji is something more like "Playground of Death". Yikes. 

The first game is "acchi muite don". To give a brief summary, Acchi Muite is a game that combines "rock paper scissors" with "look over yonder". The one who picks the winning move in RPS chooses a direction for the loser to look in, and if they look that way then they end up losing that match. Saike unfortunately does just that, and....

And lives out a scene from "IT" I presume because I haven't actually seen the movie. when a clown decks him in the face. It's on that bottom panel that you see what I mean about Ming-Ming's name. Though it's interesting her English seems to be a little better than her Japanese, but I guess that's more for effect than it is anything meaningful. Ming-Ming says this is a death game, but so far it just seems silly. Still, I'm sure the stakes will rise as the game continues. The main draw of this chapter is knowing the different powers involved in Saike, and what this implies in the future. 

Dagashikashi goes from treats to tricks this week by borrowing a page from Youkai giga by invoking the name of a yokai -- the "Kuchisake Onna" or "Slit mouth woman." One of the young patrons of the shop comes in to tell them of a sighting he had of the woman. Tou and Koko both run out to see the youkai while Hajime interrogates the boy. Meanwhile Saya and Hotaru have their own conversation where Hotaru reveals she knows the true identity of the woman. The two conversations overlap when it's revealed that the woman's favorite food is hard candy and it seems like this is a hoax, until Tou and Koko run into what seems to be the real deal on their search....something I just noticed as I write this up is how the kid looks really similar to Kitarou of Gegege Kitaro fame, but that's probably just a coincidence, right? Anyway this will probably(?) continue next issue, but I'm not sure I'll be able to cover it. Either way I really like how the flow of the conversations really enhanced the pacing of this chapter. Hope KOTOYAMA can keep it up next week. 

Next up is the first of two oneshots by Masaya Jiki --this one is called "Jukensei" or "Test Taking Students". One thing about both oneshots that Jiki pens in this issue are how ordinary they are. Rather than having a hook that leaves the audience wanting more, they tell simple stories and keep it moving. While usually this would be a point against them, I think Jiki's artwork and sense of pacing makes them delightful light reading --though they do lack a bit of substance. Anyway, this first one as the title suggests is about two boys who are studying for tests during summer vacation --one is very serious about making the grade, while the other complains about their wasted time on this. They get into an argument about how Tanaka (the kid with glasses) used to be more cool and play during summer with Suzuki (blondie) which leads into an almost fist fight that ends when everyone in the library gives them evil eyes. Suzuki changes up and say they play a word association game. (And probably my favorite line of the chapter is Tanaka's response. "Do you have a sickness where you'll die if you don't keep talking?") 

I really enjoy how this two page spread looks like a snapshot --even more so than usual. While most manga action scenes done like this are usually to capture a cool scene, there's something about how symmetrically sound this page looks that's enticing. You can't even tell that I failed to stitch it together! That being said, the two are playing this word association game and it turns into listing all the foods and things that make summer fun. So much for concentrating. 

Jiki's still a newbie and the set up of this page shows it, but still there's a lot of promise. Essentially here Suzuki comments that they study for their adulthood, but when they're adults they won't be able to hang out like this anymore. That's enough for Tanaka to admit defeat and suggest they go to the beach for an afternoon of fun rather than studying in the library. It's a quick, fun story that really takes advantage of it's short runtime, which I particularly enjoyed. 

The second of the oneshots is just as straightforward as the first --it's called "Otonatte? Kodomotte?" Or "Adult or Child"? And it is as the title suggests about a child and an adult comparing their lives --from the child complaining about making his mom angry unintentionally while the adult muses on doing the same to her boss, to both complaining about not having much spending money to friendships and well...essentially as we all find out as we grow up there are limitations no matter how old you are. The panel above on t he right sums it up nicely where the kid says "I can't wait to hurry up and become...." while the lady says "I wish I could for just a bit longer be..." Again, simple idea, and good execution. It is hard to get a feel for whether Jiki would be able to handle a normal serialization, but I think an onmibus of short stories like this would be wonderful to see. The side text at the end states Jiki is working on something else (which I've almost gotten used to not seeing) so perhaps we'll be reunited sooner rather than later. 

Birdmen swoops in for it's once a month visit, and I still haven't had time to catch up on past events to know exactly what's going on and why it's relevant now, so I think I'll just talk about what I'm seeing here instead the best I can. This is the chapter where Sarkul finally leaves his country to be with the group who have come gathering birdpeople for the ultimate battle. 

A rare snow falls over the landscape, and it reminds the group that there are people out there dreaming all over the world --and if only they could see a scene like this in their dreams. I do really like the layout for the page on the left, from the up down view of the palace to the eye zoom in...Tanabe's really taking the monthly format and making it work for her. 

They've been here for the past few chapters, so when the time comes to finally say farewell, Sarkul who's been staying back for his brother finds it hard to leave. It's hard to describe exactly what he's doing, and his brother even asks if he's being abandoned, but the nature of the mission comes first. The group is heading to their next target in Africa, and as the bottom text says, --saying farewell is tough, but it leads to a future encounter. Birdmen is headed overseas next month when it returns in issue #52 and I think I'll probably be covering it in quick snippets like this if I don't finally get some time to sit down and roost with the past manga chapters. 

Sakamaki is still having an out of mind...or well in mind experience with Souboutei opens up this week --the aqueous life form is probing his mind for weaknesses, and he can't have that. 

In a horrifyingly cool spectacle of intense artwork, Sakamaki dips into his own mind and rips apart the illusion that the aqueous life form was trying to serve up to him, taking the allegory of him possibly killing his own sister and amping it up a notch where he instead uses this opportunity to subjugate it by choking it to death, leaving the life form completely confused as to what the heck Sakamaki actually is. Sunday says that Souboutei is a "modern horror manga", but it's really only at times like this with pages like the one on the right that the horror aspect really comes into play, and boy does Fujita rise to the occasion. Though I admit I get a dark laugh out of the image of Sakamaki choking aliens into submission. 

This week's chapter really doesn't have much in the way for me to comment on --Sakamaki takes the life form and teaches it that he's the one in control using all kinds of amazing artwork to belabor the point. Sakamaki: 1, Life form: 0. Here Sakamaki basically says "You're only good enough to be fodder for my canvas....and even then you're far too thin." 

After this, Sakamaki decides to talk to his new slave, demanding that it take human form so it's easier to hold a discussion --and it's this that gives birth to Shino as pictured on the left. On the right is Takoha's reaction to being told all of this which is the second dark laugh I got out of this chapter. Right on Takoha! That's the correct reaction to have when a guy confesses he just choked an alien until it did his bidding! But no, more importantly this swings riiiiight back to first base in regard to who's controlling who in the Souboutei. Fujita spent these past weeks portraying Sakamaki as the victim, just to bait and switch and flip that notion right on it's head, but if this is the truth then....

Takoha is in trouble. If Sakamaki is actually the guy who invaded the Souboutei that means he's the one in charge and Takoha is completely defenseless. Next week can't come soon enough! 

Next up is a clever advertisement for Sunday Webry's site using the comedic spin off to Detective Conan by Mayuko Kanba called "Detective Conan: Hanin no Hanzawa-san". or "Hanzawa-san the criminal." "Hanzawa" uses the same Japanese kanji as the "han" in "hanin" or "criminal" as a little aside. Essentially the series takes the characteristic "clad-in-black" criminal archetype from Conan and makes it (or him in this case) the main character in a quasi slice of life manga. This time around however, it's more advertising the fact that there are free manga (and some you have to pay for) on the Webry app --probably the funniest thing here is Hanzawa commenting that "free things have to be a trap!! Someone's out to kill me for using this app aren't they?!" Though essentially when you read manga on the site, you get "coins" that make it possible to read other manga without actually paying. 15 mins = 1 free coin, and so on. There are free manga on the site of course --in fact most of the newer manga are free, but to get the paid content you gotta keep reading. There is a limit to how long you can do this without paying like most pay-to-play apps, but consider my translation (and this manga) a primer. 

I threw this in essentially because after doing a second read-through I found out that not only is K.O.I's second volume coming out November 17th, but the manga is indeed set to return in Issue 49, and not only that Wakaki has spoken out on twitter about the sudden hiatus and worries that he is unwell, but confirms that he is fine and just got a little behind schedule. I'll probably leave the top entry as is, just because it was something I noticed earlier on, but K.O.I fans needn't worry, Wakaki is doing fine and will be back next issue! 

Not quite soaring but still fighting as hard as it can is Quadrable this week. Miguel and Shun are up against Mephisto, and along with a few blows being traded, there's a little bit of character development! I have to say I've quite enjoyed Shun these last few weeks, even as Miguel has been less than kind to her. While on one hand it would be nice if she didn't take his rudeness in stride, I do like that rather than sulk about it she decides to instead rise to the occasion. That's the kind of resolve I like to see in characters, and she espouses it well. In the first page Shun is striving to be closer to what her brother represented, and thus will not allow for anymore sacrifices. Miguel acquiesces to her desires to fight off the "germ clown" Mephisto, and asks what he should be doing and she asks him to believe in her as she tries to work out Mephisto's magic. it's on the right that Miguel sees his partner Julian's image over his sister's and acknowledges that she's more than just an assistant --and it's here Shun realizes that as all powerful as Mephisto likes to think he is, he's no different from anyone else --if he can't see he can't catch them. 

Using a smoke screen cover of fog in the room, Miguel and Shun attack separately, with Miguel taking a head on germ from Mephisto to give Shun the opportunity to strike that she's been looking for, and as pictured on the left, she strikes down Mephisto with impunity, ending this clown's circus indefinitely. Since he's immortal, Shun shoves him into his own machinery that'll drain him for all eternity --quite the poetic end, no? And it's here that Miguel admits he thought Julian was a weakling and Shun represented all of the things he thought little of in the former --his gentleness, selfishness and so on...but he then goes on to say that it's those qualities that make him an amazing person, and he wishes he had been able to see that before it was too late --though he can see it now  because Shun has inherited all of his best qualities. It's nice that he got this development now, but I do worry that because it happened so quickly it's another sign of Quadrable struggling against it's mortality. 

Faust wants to thank his saviors and Miguel introduces himself as he did on the outset of this arc. Shun starts to say she's simply a disciple of his, but Miguel corrects her and gives the permission she was seeking...to introduce herself using her brother's name. The tender moment doesn't last as Faust says he knows where their bitter enemy is as well as the King of the End who is the boss of Mephisto. Quadrable is soaring toward something, but is it another battle, or the final one? 

Hane's bringing the pain in Meteor Girl this week which confirms something that has only been implied up until now --that she is in fact a Meteor Girl. Granted, this isn't said outright by anyone in the chapter, so take my assumption with a grain of salt, but swinging around that sign leaves little room for doubt. Ikeyama yells out in pain and Hane comments on how she's jealous that as a MG she's able to still feel pain --another interesting implication. Sakamoto (the girl with the glasses) steps in to defend Ikeyama and loses an arm in the process. 

Sakamoto begs Hane to spare Ikeyama, going as far as apologizing for everything that has happened. Hane responds by asking again ---"Do you want to live or die?" And both girls respond with an immediate and resounding "we want to live". This is enough to quell Hane's rage-ish emotion which Ikeyama is puzzled with, and intrigues me as well --does Hane see herself as some kind of reaper who grants the wishes --death and otherwise of Meteor Girls? This is even somewhat referenced in the manga itself as we get a flashback of the girl who asked to die only a chapter earlier. 

Unfortunately the men in black catch up with the group and being under the impression that Ikeyama and Hane are normal human beings command them to get away from Sakamoto the Meteor Girl. Sakamoto is resigned to her fate, and requests that Ikeyama find Chihiro and get out of here before the men in black catch up with her --with them. 

The teacher who was after MG's before --and seemingly got away with Ryoko's older sister Sachi a few chapters ago has once again got his memory back and wants to go MG hunting. Hane uses her super strength to pick up Sakamoto and Ikeyama to make a break for it as the men in black gather and plan their next move while a few of their ranks chase after the fleeing trio. Meanwhile Tetto is trying to rationalize the situation he's seeing before his eyes unsure if this is really the kind older girl he knew from his youth. This "Chihiro" still likes gazing up at the night sky and is fond of him, but this disturbing fondness for being among and causing corpses puts him off his game --understandably. He begs this "Chihiro" to stop acting like the one he knows --she'd never kill anyone! Chihiro says that she's herself, her expression sad --the one person she seems to care about doesn't recognize her either, but she plays along and asks if killing or not killing is really such a big deal to him? 

She then asks if he'd like to try dying once? But not in a threatening way --no, in the way you might offer a bite of food to a friend or ask if one wants to watch a movie with you. It's creepy, kind, and gentle all at once. The trio arrive on the scene at this moment, and Ikeyama informs Chihiro of the men in black gathering in the area, and the knowledge that they know Sakamoto is a MG. Chihiro asks Ikeyama if they've figured her out too, and Ikeyama isn't quite sure....but Chihiro chastizes them, expressing her disappointment that they didn't cut and run, leaving Sakamoto to her fate which means she's involved in their problems too. The faces of the surrounding group all detail different reactions --Tetto is terrified, Ikeyama confused, and Sakamoto shocked. Meanwhile Hane seems prepared for something, but what? The text on the bottom implies that the Chihiro Tetto knew is gone forever, but most likely it's not that simple. 

So "shamefully" and "embarrassingly" returning is Sunday's Unscientific Laboratory. Their words, not mine. Yokoyama even comments that they made a big deal about the final chapter and a new serial in January a mere two weeks ago just to come back again because apparently there was extra space in the magazine, which implies that K.O.I's sudden departure was a bit of a surprise to the editorial staff. In any case, this short revisit to the laboratory has Yokoyama visiting the genius game creator behind "Nobunaga's Ambition" Shibusawa Kou. (Who the Editor-in-chief is a big fan of.) so he's off to Koei Techmo to talk to him dressed in complete Ninja garb, hahah. Apparently Shibusawa loves things like Basketball (and not Sumo wrestling like Yokoyama thought he would.) The problem is the editor in chief finds out about this outing and goes along too, stealing all of Yokoyama's glory, and conducting the interview himself. The end of the chapter basically reaffirms that Yokoyama is headed to Hokkaido in the first issue of the year and also his killing intent toward his boss has grown by 10 points. 

Kuro returns this week after two weeks away, his mission to deliver the schedule to his master complete. Now for the hard part --getting Makoto to show up as well! Master is ready to meet her, but she seems to be running late for some reason putting this loving reunion in jeopardy! Kuro scoots off to find Makoto who has all but given up on seeing him again, and despite her only being sort of aware Kuro's there, the little yokai does it's best to try and get her attention so that she'll go where she needs to be to meet the man she's fallen for! Makoto writes Kuro's antics off as her imagination until she sees a certain piece of paper that asks that she meet a certain someone behind the factory where a certain guy works. By the light in her eyes returning, I think the star-crossed reunion might just happen after all, as Makoto says she can't be even a moment late. I do wonder if Kuro is winding down in Satou's unique omnibus story? While I don't want the story to pad longer than it needs to, I admit I'd miss the little youkai. 

And that's it for Issue #48! Next week, Hatsukoi Zombie leads off with a color page celebrating it's 100th chapter, Conan returns after three weeks off, we get two more oneshots --the first called "Shuukan Shounen Shoujo Kankei" or "Weekly Boys and Girls relations" by Akihisa Maki --which will be a "short love comedy" and Desu kamakiri" which I assume is maybe "Death Mantis" by Wakabi Asayama which is a "super hard boiled" story, and Yuuri Ohta will be the cover pinup for the issue. It's a lot to look forward to and I hope you'll be here to enjoy it with me! Until then, see ya~