What if you made friends with the second prettiest girl in the class? What if your championship-hopeful soccer team was lacking in manpower? And what if the party members were the ones who killed the hero? All those questions—a whole lot more—are answered in the titles we’re reviewing in this week’s column! Dive right in!

The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom (Vol. 9) • Giant Killing (Vols. 10-12) • I Made Friends with the 2nd Prettiest Girl in My Class (Vol. 1) • A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom (Vol. 6) • Vagabond Definitive Edition (Vol. 2) • Who Killed the Hero?

The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom, Manga Vol. 9

If Koyou thought things would go back to “normal” after returning to her clinic with her friends, she couldn’t have been more wrong! Now that her father has discovered that she is not only running her own clinic but that she has performed surgery as well, he is determined to get her to come back home. Is there anything Prince Keiun can do or say to convince Koyou’s father to let her stay? Fantastic volume! It didn’t feel quite as intense as the previous volume, but I think this was a really great volume to show Prince Keiun “in his element” and how he is fighting in the realm of politics. As someone who really struggles with politics in fiction, I was surprised to find how engaged I was in these chapters and how I was able to easily remember and track everything about why Prince Keiun wanted the upper hand in this situation. Despite what another character said, I really think he is doing a great job, and I’m glad he has found another potential ally! When it comes to Koyou, her dad seems sort of scary. Ha! Great doctor and extremely knowledgeable, but he definitely isn’t kidding about Koyou coming back home. Cue nervous laughter. One thing I found really interesting is the flashback in this volume! I agree with the creator in her afterward that Koyou and Sing have both been mysterious characters, so I’m excited that we’re going to learn more about how they met and how Koyou was as a child! Just from what we’ve seen, I feel Koyou’s mannerisms around other people when it comes to her being a doctor makes a lot of sense, and understand her anger a lot better. I’m continuing to deeply love this series and very much look forward to what’s to come, because between more flashbacks, Koyou trying to convince her father to stay with Prince Keiun, and a new character on the scene, it’s sure to be a fun time! ~ Laura A. Grace

The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom is published by Seven Seas.

^{READ Reviews of The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol. 7}

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A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom, Manga Vol. 6

Sena and Keith thought things couldn’t get any worse, but they quickly realize things have in fact gotten worse, as not even Sealiene could stop her fellow dragons from attacking the humans! In desperation, Keith encourages Sena to use her abilities as a caller to hopefully make the dragons stop attacking and stop the battle from escalating! Will she find the magic in her to change the tides in Ciepla? It is such a shame this series is so underrated because once again this volume was extremely action-packed, especially for a shoujo! I was on the edge of my seat and had goosebumps breaking out because I was fearful of what would happen next, but then I completely cheered when I saw a certain dragon! That. Was. Epic! I loved Sena using her abilities as a caller and how she changed the battle happening in Ciepla! I’m upset, though, that someone called Keith a bad steerer because Sena exhausted her mana! How is that Keith’s fault?! Keith did what he could by encouraging Sena to use some kind of magical ability to help everyone, but it’s not like he knew what she would do! I really liked the second half of the volume because I was sort of unsure where the story would go after wrapping up the previous arc. (I’m with the artist that I’m going to miss being in Ciepla!) The chapter about Keith’s resolve was very, very good, and I’m glad that he is standing his ground even if I feel he’s not admitting his romantic feelings for Sena, but I feel like it couldn’t be more obvious in this volume… Once again I read this volume wayyy too fast, but it is just so good with the action and the storytelling! I can’t wait to see what happens next! ~ Laura A. Grace

A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom is published by Yen Press.

READ Reviews of A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 // Vol. 5

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Giant Killing, Manga Vols. 10-12

The problems of success are a fascinating novelty for East Tokyo United, but they are problems all the same. Their stunning comeback against “invincible” Osaka made the entire league take notice—which means no more catching opponents off-guard. An ETU player has been given the rare honor of an invitation to join the Japanese Olympic team—which leaves a major hole in the starting lineup. The brewing trouble between ETU’s supporter groups hasn’t gone anywhere. And as the attritional grind of a long soccer season sets in, the roster is increasingly being held together by guts and duct tape. A particular area of concern is the first-year midfielder Tsubaki. He randomly flips between looking like a future World Cup hero in one match and looking like a hopelessly overwhelmed kid from the boondocks in the next. Coach Tatsumi has been waiting for the rookie to sort things out himself, but ETU is facing a critical manpower shortage for the final matches before the midseason break. It looks like it’s time to kick this little bird out of the nest and make him fly… It’s an old but effective manga writing trick that varying the type of challenge can be just as interesting as increasing the strength of the challenge. Throwing another “unstoppable super team” at East Tokyo United would just feel repetitive right now (and how many such teams can one league genuinely have, anyway?). Now ETU has to face the challenge of talented, hungry opponents who want a piece of them when they are far below full strength. The road ahead for ETU isn’t guaranteed to be one long series of flashy victories. That keeps things interesting. As a point of comparison, while I do enjoy the famed boxing series Hajime no Ippo, so many of Ippo’s bouts end with him dramatically turning the tables for a last minute win that even other characters in-story jokingly call him a “comeback artist.” Giant Killing doesn’t lock itself into such a repetitive pattern, and is a better manga for it. And with several key cast members temporarily out of action, the story also uses this opportunity to do its first true character deep-dive into what drives Tsubaki. It’s not a staggeringly original backstory or character arc, but it does give the manga a stronger emotional core to build around. This is the only sports manga I’ve ever followed for so long, and it looks like I will continue to do so. ~ WacOtaku

Giant Killing is published by Kodansha.

READ Reviews of Giant Killing: Vols. 1-3 // Vols. 4-5 // Vols. 6-9

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I Made Friends with the 2nd Prettiest Girl in My Class, Manga Vol. 1

You never can tell with volume titles these days. A manga with a title like I Made Friends with the 2nd Prettiest Girl in My Class sounds like it could be trashy, or at least belittling. But this adaptation of a light novel (that doesn’t seem to be available in English—get on it, Yen Press!) is sweet, cute, and a very fun read. The “2nd prettiest girl” is Umi Asanagi, relegated by the boys in her class to that role because, from the first day of school, she’s been supporting her best friend, who is considered the class’s idol. But no matter to Maki Maehara; from day one, he’s been situated as a quiet loner, finding solace mostly in Friday nights spent eating pizza and watching B movies. Well, I think you know what happens next. Friendship blooms between two people who have different social positions but who are quite similar—and both of whom are quite kind and thoughtful. Despite not breaking any new ground, I found volume one to be fairly smart; Maehara and Asanagi have what feel like genuine interactions, with even the shy boy dropping all sorts of phrases and thoughts that a teenage boy would around a friend, and the popular girl being fairly transparent with her emotions. There’s definitely “more than friendship” at play here, but I’m here for both the romance and this current “friendship” role; it’s all great fun. I burned right through this volume and am as eager as can be to see how the duo’s friendship continues to develop in volume two! ~ Twwk

I Made Friends with the 2nd Prettiest Girl in My Class is published by Yen Press.

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Who Killed the Hero?, Light Novel

I picked up this novel because I was intrigued by the premise—the party returns from slaying the Demon Lord and saving humanity, but the Hero does not. He perished…could it be by the hands of his own party members? What I expected was a dark mystery, and indeed, it starts that way. An interviewer speaks to the party members, who all talk about some of the Ares’s good qualities, but mostly dump on him; they also show themselves to be deeply flawed—hypocritical, arrogant, rude. It took me a while to get into the flow of the volume, which seemed overly ambitious, going one by one through the party members while also turning back toward the Hero’s thoughts; a switch in first person from chapter to chapter while featuring a mystery is a difficult task to accomplish! But can I tell you? Once the story blows open about the halfway point, I went from eagerly reading to absolutely eating the book up. I could not put it down, and it moved me, both by its creativity and by the characters’ thoughts and actions. The ending, too, felt just perfect. What a wonderful, thoughtful work! Perhaps the reason so it that the writer was in his mid-forties when he released this, his second light novel. There’s a maturity here that’s too seldom found among LNs, but as I mentioned, it still doesn’t lack for heart. What a wonderful novel! ~ Twwk

Who Killed the Hero? is published by Yen Press.

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Vagabond Definitive Edition, Manga Vol. 2

As much as I enjoyed volume one of this hardcover, extra-packed edition of Vagabond, upon completion, I wondered if I could maintain interest in a series whose hero felt as morally lacking as Miyamoto Musashi is. But volume two does wonders in shaping his character; it makes him less cold and more human, as he expresses emotions like longing, cowardice, and even lovesickness. Don’t get me wrong, Musashi remains a wild and near-untamable protagonist, but his journey in this volume to Nara, where he intends to grow stronger by challenging the Hozoin Temple’s warrior monks, makes him more deeply interesting than he was in the introductory chapters. The duality is fascinating; Musashi is coming to terms with his desire for his childhood friend Otsu while challenging himself to enter a violent fight in which he’s unlikely to survive. Both halves are fascinating, though I admit that I found the incredible fight at the heart of this volume to be most intriguing. The artwork remains wonderful, with Takehiko Inoue especially doing a marvelous job designing realistic faces for the characters, adding to the “realistic” and historic atmosphere of Vagabond. The several full-color pages are also wonderful; they look like paintings, once again fitting well into the series setting. There are a couple of extras too, but the value of this “Definitive Edition” is in the extra-large, hardbound copy. I don’t doubt that super fans of this famed series will love it—I’m new to Vagabond, and I know I do! This special release adds further weight to a series that’s already provocative and suspenseful. Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, volume two of Vagabond is thrilling and a perfect picture of how manga can uniquely make history come alive. ~ Twwk

Vagabond Definitive Edition is published by VIZ Media.

Read Vagabond Definitive Edition Vol. 1 Review

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“Reader’s Corner” is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works they’re reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works, and those older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.