Tag: Fantasy

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 6

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 6 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3831-0
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

I can tell I’m getting close to the parts I have not read before, because my memory of some of this stuff is foggier. For example, I didn’t remember who Fangfang was. I am absolutely certain I still remember some events that have not yet to occur, so I still have some to go before I actually catch up to that point.

The cover advertises two free mini-posters inside. Honestly, these are no different than the standard color images we see in every volume. These ones aren’t even fold out like the last one. They are both Halloween in theme. One is Inner Moka reading a book, and the other is Yukari watering a plant. However, these “mini-posters” are not perforated for easy removal, nor are they actually two separate posters. They are back to back, so if you choose to tear them out, you can only display one side of it.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe. This now also entails supervising Tsukune’s training.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s big sister.

Three of the girls’ parents show up for sports day: Fujiko Sendo, Ageha Kurono, and Tsurara Shirayuki.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is more chill and fun than most of the others. There are no super serious adventures, but a couple new monster types are casually introduced as the story progresses. The tone at the end of the volume, however, is more serious.

The first two chapters introduce the Huang family, primarily Fangfang. Tsukune has a well known reputation now, so a representative of a Chinese mafia wants to recruit him. Jokes and shenanigans ensue from there.

The third chapter focuses mostly on Yukari. She gets a real look at herself from a different perspective and must deal with feeling self-conscious for the first time ever. Fangfang is just along for the ride in this chapter.

We get to see more of inner Moka in the final chapter. It’s another rare opportunity to see her out for a whole day. This time, she attends school for a full day, and her rivals in love try to analyze her skills to find a weakness.

After the usual end of the volume four panel comics in the back, there are a few pages of extra ones. The additional comics address fan mail concerns about the series regarding moe. Things like if the series has enough of it, if the creator even knows what it is, and drawing the characters in that type of style.

I think this volume is a little funnier than usual, since nothing particularly serious happens. It’s all shenanigans and chaos. Gin shows up a few times. We hardly ever see him in general, so it’s nice when he’s involved in something, even if it’s silly.

Spice & Wolf, Vol. 7 (LN)

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Spice & Wolf, Vol. 7: Side Colors by Isuna Hasekura
Series Name: Spice & Wolf (Light Novel)
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Commerce
Intended Age Group: 15+
Publisher: Yen On/Yen Press
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-316-22912-8
Rating: 3/5
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Description from the Book

In a break from Lawrence and Holo’s ongoing adventures, author Isuna Hasekura presents Side Colors, a series of short vignettes focusing on the series’ favorite characters.

Personal & Info

There are three short stories in this volume, so I will be breaking them up into their own sections for the review. I will post the overall rating in the usual place above, but the individual story ratings will go in this section.

The Boy and the Girl and the White Flowers: 2/5

The Red of the Apple, The Blue of the Sky: 3/5

Wolf and Amber Melancholy: 4/5

Characters

Holo is in all three stories.

Lawrence is in the second and third short stories.

Aryes Belange, which I assume is pronounced as Aries, is a religious girl with little to no knowledge of the world outside her house. I mean this to the extreme. She doesn’t even know flowers normally grow from the ground. Aryes is in the first and longest story, The Boy and the Girl and the White Flowers.

Klass is a boy younger than Aryes. He worked in the estate that housed Aryes. Klass is also in The Boy and the Girl and the White Flowers.

Norah is the shepherdess from volume two. She is in the third story, Wolf and Amber Melancholy.

Story & Thoughts

The Boy and the Girl and the White Flowers

Klass and Aryes, two children of varying ages, were living in an estate out in the middle of nowhere. Klass worked there and slept in the barn. Aryes was basically sequestered away in a building all by herself. Her situation so unusual to the staff that she was always the gossip of the place.

The lord owning the estate supposedly died, and some relative, I think his brother, came to stake his claim of the property. He evicted anyone he considered unnecessary, including Klass and Aryes. Hardly any traveling supplies were given, so the evicted were essentially doomed to struggle to survive or die on the road.

The story starts with Klass and Aryes, maybe two days travel from the estate, and proceeds to cover a portion of their journey. Of course, being part of Spice & Wolf, they end up meeting Holo at some point.

I don’t like this story much. To me, it just comes off as Holo being mean to a young boy for one hundred and twenty pages. She spends the entire story teasing, bullying, and pranking Klass for her own amusement. Her prank went so overboard it could be considered cruel.

We only get to see Klass’ perspective, though, so we don’t get an accurate idea of how Holo treats Aryes. It seems like she’s nothing but nice to her, but with how ignorant Aryes is of everything, we can’t possibly know what kinds of things Holo tells her. Especially since the two of them are always speaking where and when Klass can’t hear them.

The story is definitely not flattering for Holo. There are a few instances in the series where I feel she has been particularly cruel, and this is definitely one of them. Sometimes I just really don’t like her at all.

The Red of the Apple, The Blue of the Sky

This story seems to take place after volume one, but before volume two. Lawrence and Holo appear to still be in Pazzio, and for some reason Lawrence wants them to burn through as much money as possible. I don’t know why, and I didn’t see an explanation for it anywhere.

The plot primarily focuses on that, but at the same time, they are buying clothes for Holo. Lawrence explains a relations tactic regarding buying and selling clothing. The story is only about thirty pages, so it’s short, but I like it much better than the first one. Holo is not nearly as mean in this one as she is in the first one.

Wolf and Amber Melancholy

This is a short story from Holo’s perspective. It takes place after the events of volume two. Holo takes ill, and Lawrence must take care of her. While she is sick, Holo struggles with possessive thoughts regarding Lawrence due to jealousy of his friendly relationship with the shepherdess Norah.

I like this story. It’s interesting to see how things work on Holo’s sides of the conversations. She might not seem so mean if we saw her side more often. It is unfortunate that a lot of her side is hiding her feelings and manipulation, but it explains a lot about how she acts and why.

Overall

Generally speaking, I like this volume. There are things I like, and things I don’t. I think the first story makes Holo look bad, but the third story significantly makes up for that in my opinion. The Red of the Apple, The Blue of the Sky is okay, but I don’t see anything special about it. Wolf and Amber Melancholy is my favorite of the three. I think it gives significant insight into how Holo thinks, since it’s the only part in the series so far that covers anything in her perspective.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 5

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 5 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3691-0
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

This volume includes a small fold out poster of Moka holding a watermelon carved like a jack-o’-lantern. Do people actually tear these out? It’s not even perforated. I feel like I’m ruining the book if I remove it.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe. This now also entails supervising Tsukune’s training.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

San Otonashi is an alumnus of Yokai Academy. She was the president of the Newspaper Club when Gin was a freshman.

Story & Thoughts

This entire volume encompasses one event. I think it’s the first volume in the entire series to do that. It’s summer vacation time again, and this whole volume is “the beach episode.” But don’t let that fool you, some cool stuff actually happens, so it’s not just fan service.

The Newspaper Club goes on another one of their vacation trips to the human world. This time, they go to the beach. Everything is all arranged so they will be staying with a former member of the Newspaper Club, San. San is also the main focus of the book. Using her as an example, we get to see what it’s like for a monster who has graduated from Yokai Academy and continued on to live in the human world.

Fairy Tale shows up, being the main villain for the season. And so does Gin! We hardly ever see Gin, so this is a pleasant surprise. He even sticks around for the whole book. Well, sort of. He’s off doing something else while the main group is dealing with their own problems.

I think this volume has more typos than usual. Aside from that, it has a great story. The insight into a monster living in the human world among humans is something the gang is curious about as they all wonder what their own futures will be like. Obviously this is only one example, so they can’t base expectations off it, but it gives them hope, and it’s good insight for the reader, too.

We also get to see a new monster type. Unlike the usual set ups, we get to see a good version and bad version of them. Normally we only see one, and the gang beats them up, end of story. There’s a little more to it this time.

Bofuri, Vol. 1 (LN)

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Bofuri, Vol. 1 by Yuumikan, Koin
Series Name: Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. (Light Novel)
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Magic, Sci-Fi, Slice of Life, Video Games
Intended Age Group: 13+
Publisher: Yen On/Yen Press
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9753-2273-1
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Though she doesn’t play many MMOs, Maple has either a natural talent or impossibly good luck, because by pouring every last stat point she has into Vitality, she’s created a character who can’t be hurt! Whether it’s physical attacks or magic or status effects, nothing poses a real threat. In no time at all, news spreads across the server about the adorable terror who can’t be defeated. While Maple may just be having fun, her broken build is sure to attract lots of unexpected attention…

Personal & Info

This is a title I’ve seen around frequently, but when it comes to isekai or video game theme series, I like to be careful with my selections. Those genres are so popular right now, it can be hard to figure out which ones are worth trying. I didn’t decide to try the series until a friend recommended it, and I didn’t get around to having a copy until that same friend sent me one for my birthday.

I’m trying to expand my light novel collection, so for things that have them, I choose to get the light novel versions. The manga for this is probably amusing. The light novel is funny enough, but seeing more visuals must be hilarious. I’ll probably get the manga eventually to have both.

For others getting the light novels, the cover style of the book is the papery kind, not the glossy kind. Because of this, I think it’s a little more flimsy. Mine has a small tear on it just from picking it up and setting it down a few times. I don’t recall doing anything rough enough to cause that, so you might want to be careful with how you handle it. Or maybe I was just unlucky, who knows.

Characters

Kaede Honjou, player name Maple, is the main character. She does not know how to play video games, which leads to her putting all points into her defense.

Risa Shiromine, player name Sally, is Maple’s friend. She introduces her to the game, but she doesn’t join her until about halfway through the book, because her parents are making her study to get her grades up.

Story & Thoughts

I wasn’t sure if this was an isekai or not going into it. It is not. This series is about a VR game with the title New World Online, and Kaede’s time playing it.

The chapters are short, and the story is funny with a fast pace. The prologue and chapter one were all I needed to get hooked. Now I have to add this series to the list of many that I need to buy.

I love how much creativity the game allows. I wish games really had this many realistic options. It’s like anything you can think of can be applied to the game mechanics, even if it’s a little ridiculous. Maple’s gameplay experience proves this time and time again.

The gaming community for NWO is so wholesome. Everyone in the forum wants to watch over Maple, because regardless of her build, she’s still new to the game. That is so much better than most of the gaming communities I hear about.

Some of the conversations are not entirely clear about who is speaking, so you have to pay attention to the context.

There’s a bonus chapter at the end. It mostly covers some sightseeing and things Maple does to get materials for her white shield.

If I have to complain about something, I think it’s how much time the grinding at the end takes. By then, they are both just trying to obtain skills and items while time is elapsing until the second event. That felt a little draggy to me.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 4

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 4 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3544-9
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Kahlua Shuzen is Moka and Koko’s older sister. This volume spells her name “Kalua” but two and the internet spells it the other way. I don’t know why they are different. Someone must have made an editing mistake somewhere.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up where three left off in Mizore’s village. It takes two chapters to wrap up that event. We get some foreboding warnings as foreshadowing for things to look forward to.

The next two chapters are some I think are highly memorable. My first time reading this was years ago, and I still remember pieces of these chapters vividly. Inner Moka gets to come out to play more as Tsukune is beginning his training to control his power. It’s nice to see more of her outside of purely combat.

There’s a Castlevania reference in that section I never noticed before. I didn’t know much of anything about Castlevania back when I first read this, but I know enough now to recognize the name of the whip. It’s a pretty obvious reference, so you’ll know it when you see it.

The last chapter of the book focuses on Kurumu. She’s at her wit’s end regarding how to improve her chances with Tsukune. This chapter brings up her ability that we haven’t seen in a long time, her charm mind control. It mostly shows she can still do that, but the chapter is also a bit sad as we see Kurumu struggle with her emotions.

What do we learn from this volume? According to the combination of chapters and bonus comics, we learn which characters are masochists.

Season II is focusing more on the characters themselves, rather than monster of the week like season one. I love season one, but I also love how connected to the characters this season feels.

The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12)

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The King by J.R. Ward
Series Name: Black Dagger Brotherhood
Genres: Contemporary, Erotica, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Urban, Vampires
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Berkley/Penguin
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-41706-0
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath finally assumed his father’s mantle – with the help of his beloved mate. But the crown sits heavily on his head. As the war with the Lessoning Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything – and everyone – at risk.

Beth Randall thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure-blooded vampire on the planet. But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response – or the distance it creates between them.

The question is, will true love win out…or will Wrath’s tortured legacy take over?

Personal & Info

I need to find time to circle back to this series more often. Between the main series and the spin-offs, it’s long. I like reading it, and I still have a lot to get through. It just takes more time than my other books because these are around six hundred pages each. I shall strive to shorten my gap between volumes, but I promise nothing.

Characters

Wrath, the king, and Beth, his queen, are the lead couple for the book. This is the first book that readdresses a couple instead of focusing on one getting together for a happily ever after.

Wrath’s father, and his mate Anha are important backstory characters.

Assail, I don’t remember if his last name was ever said, is vampire nobility who chose to become a drug dealer. He doesn’t care what anybody does, as long as it does not interfere with his business.

Ehric and Evale are Assail’s cousins. They act as his assistants, bodyguards, and enforcers.

Sola Morte is the human woman who fascinates Assail. She specializes in things like thievery and breaking and entering.

Sola’s grandmother is also technically a character worth listing. She’s mostly referred to as Vovo, and I love her. I can’t find the words to explain why, but it involves how she interacts with people.

Trez is something they call a Shadow, and part of a civilization by the name of s’Hisbe. From the sounds of it, they are vampires with different abilities and rules from the norm. Trez runs the night clubs, and he is promised to a princess he wants nothing to do with. The previous book establishes his crush on Selena.

iAm is Trez’s brother. He owns a restaurant, and he cooks to relieve stress. We get to know his character a little better in this book, and I’m starting to like him.

Selena is a Chosen who regularly services the Brotherhood for their blood needs. She has a crush on Trez, as well as some issues she keeps to herself.

Layla is a Chosen carrying Qhuinn’s child. She is infatuated with Xcor, but does not let that affect her judgement for what is right.

Xcor is the leader of the Band of Bastards. He is infatuated with Layla, and causes problems for the Wrath and the Brotherhood.

Story & Thoughts

As per usual with this series, there’s a lot going on in this book. Every book in this series has a ton of perspectives and jumping around to various plot pieces. It can be a lot to follow, but I love it.

The main focus of the book is Wrath and Beth. Beth wants a baby, but Wrath does not. Drama ensues, and they have to deal with political nightmares at the same time. It’s nice to see Beth play a larger role in a book again. She’s been stuck in the background ever since she had her love story as the first book in the series.

There’s also a historical perspective. Not all of the books have this kind of perspective, but they are good for lore and background. This one specifically is about Wrath’s parents. You can sort of think of it as a short story. It takes place while Wrath’s mother, Anha, is pregnant with him, and essentially proves the politics never seem to change. Someone is always trying to take or manipulate the throne.

My favorite part of the side content is Assail and Sola’s story. Their romance was introduced in Lover at Last. I didn’t care for it when it came up back then, until the later parts in that book. However, I absolutely love it in this one.

The ground work has been set in the previous volume, so this book has all the juicy parts. Assail gets to show off his alpha male instincts as well as his sweeter side. Sola gets to show off how capable she is in a pinch. I love these two characters, and I think they make an excellent couple. I look forward to seeing where it goes, if it goes anywhere. Their section is likely not complete, yet. I just can’t see it ending like this. There has to be more.

The most important side content is probably Trez and Selena’s story. The next book in this series, volume 13, The Shadows, looks like it will be their novel. The ground work for that also began in Lover at Last. Qhuinn and Blay were the main focus of that book, though, so I didn’t think much of the introduction at the time.

The last perspective worth mentioning is Xcor and Layla. Their complicated Romeo and Juliet feelings for each other continue to be complicated. They don’t gain much traction here, but their story continues to build. I suspect they will eventually get their own book, but I don’t know for sure. I try not to look too far ahead, so I can avoid potential spoilers.

Something I think is worth mentioning, the lessers have been a very minor part of the story for the past several books. Lately the focus is on the internal vampire problems. I think the reason is because the lessers are struggling for cash, so they are busy focusing on drug dealing to rekindle their funding. We only seem to see the odd lesser here or there, either when the Band of Bastards takes them out, or someone stumbles across one on the street.

I feel like I’m forgetting something I want to say, but I can’t think of what it might be, so quick recap of my thoughts. It’s good to see more of Beth again. Vovo is awesome. I love Assail and Sola’s romance, but there has to be more. Selena is great, but her circumstances are unfortunate. Trez needs to get his life together. I don’t like how his downward spiral is turning into a different kind of downward spiral. iAm is growing on me. Layla and Xcor are complicated. I love this series. The characters and writing are so engaging and comfortable.

Trigger Warnings

I’m just keeping a running list of trigger warnings that have been in the series so far, from what I can remember. If you’re reading the series, or considering reading the series, and you have sensitivities, you might want to know these. The list so far: abuse, attempted rape, pregnancy problems(ex: miscarriages), drugs, kidnapping, sexual themes, rape, mutilation, torture, and violence.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 3

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 3 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3268-4
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Tsurara, Mizore’s mother, appears in this volume. Her last appearance was in Rosario+Vampire volume nine during the school festival.

Story & Thoughts

This book starts off with a random chapter involving Gin. It’s been a good while seen we’ve seen him. He is rather useless as club leader, since he is basically never around. The chapter paints him as a villain yet again. Girls at Yokai Academy are targets for a prankster going around tearing up their clothes.

The rest of the chapters focus on Mizore. Big surprise considering she is on the cover, right? The gang goes to Mizore’s village for the weekend. There is some kind of ceremony she is going to attend, and her mother requests she bring guests.

This section covers some information on Mizore’s childhood, as well as her culture. At one point, I said Mizore’s parts of the story tend to be unsettling and sad. That comes out significantly in this volume. It always pulls at my heart strings.

There is a cliff hanger. As with most volumes, the events are cut off to be finished in the next volume. The cliff hanger is not huge. It’s the kind where someone unexpected shows up.

Kurumu really shines in this volume. Her passion and determination are important to the drama of the story and holding the group together. She always seems to be on an emotional rollercoaster, acting like she is furious and hates someone, and then expressing her compassion for them two minutes later. I think she significantly outshines Moka here. Moka and Yukari and the rest seemed to take a back seat to Mizore, Tsukune, and Kurumu.

The bonus comics at the end are silly, as usual. No questions, mostly a bunch of sillies about what happened in the last few pages.

The volumes that focus on Mizore always tend to be my personal favorites, but she is my favorite character, so it’s not surprising.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 2

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 2 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3137-3
Rating: 4.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is Moka’s little sister. She thinks Tsukune’s only redeeming quality is the taste of his blood, but she doesn’t go around biting him like Moka does.

Ruby Tojo is a witch met in season one. She currently works for the school to help keep the students safe.

Story & Thoughts

The story continues the mistaken phantom plot from volume one for the first two chapters. The combat is actually more amusing than usual. There’s comedy thrown into it, and this is the first time in Season II that we see Tsukune’s transformation.

I think the second half of the book is the best part. These two chapters focus heavily on Koko, which is fitting since she is on the cover of this volume. She befriends Yukari, which is not that surprising since they aren’t that far apart in age. They seem to have a lot in common.

It’s club recruitment time again, and Koko wants to get stronger She debates which club to join, which leads to various shenanigans. Koko is insistent on not joining the news club, even though she doesn’t have a good reason. These two chapters are adorable and funny. They revolve around Yukari and Koko wanting to grow up because they are tired of being considered young and small.

The four panel bonus comics in back of the book also focus on Koko. The first two highlight how blatantly tsundere she is, and the other two are about her pet Batty. He is unexpectedly heavy.

This is not relevant to the story, but I love how all the people in Moka’s family seem to be named after drinks. Moka. Koko. Kahlua. We don’t meet Kahlua in this volume, but her name comes up in a flashback.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 1

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Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 1 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3136-6
Rating: 3.5/5
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Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This manga continues from Rosario + Vampire. It’s been almost six months since the school got wrecked, and repairs have been made. I don’t see many manga that start over at volume one for new “seasons,” so this is a little unusual.

Since I’ve already read a large chunk of the series before, I’m giving the volumes I’ve already read a slight bump in rating to show how much I liked it my first time through. I don’t want my familiarity with the series to hurt the score. There is less thrill when you already know what happens, so I’m accounting for that. The bump is only about a half star.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the main character. He is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch. She was eleven in season one.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Koko Shuzen is a new character this volume introduces. She is Moka’s little sister, and boy is she feisty.

Story & Thoughts

The story in this volume is set up to both welcome back readers, and make things easy for new readers who are using this as a starting point. I don’t know why anyone would start with season two, though, that just seems weird. Go back and read part one. It’s pretty great.

The first chapter heavily readdresses character details and the premise of the story. We relearn everyone’s names, their monster types, and what powers they have. Inner Moka even takes a minute to rehash the fact the two Moka’s are basically split personalities. This isn’t a spoiler. We already know all this.

Tsukune is demoted back down to a weakling. He doesn’t do anything outstanding in this book. Aside from the visual representation of the lock on his wrist, there is no sign anything ever happened to him in the first season. Nobody so much as mentions it.

There’s a lot of bickering and arguing, more so than usual. The volume seems to be going a little over the top with all that to really drive the refresher/introduction home.

The big news in the volume is Moka has a sister! We meet Koko halfway through. I love her. She’s great. She has her issues, but unlike everyone else, she doesn’t fawn over Tsukune. I can’t remember if that changes or not later.

As usual, there are bonus comics in the back. These ones take place in the time between seasons one and two. They just cover a little of what everyone was up to over their break.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 3

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Vol. 3 by Kanehito Yamada, Tsukasa Abe
Series Name: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
Genres: Adventure, Elves, Fantasy, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Sunday
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2724-7
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book

Elf mage Frieren and her courageous fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?

An old enemy returns as Frieren continues her journey north. Decades ago, Frieren and her party defeated a servant of the Demon King called Aura the Guillotine, one of the powerful demons known as the Seven Sages of Destruction. Now Aura is back with a score to settle. But what price did Frieren pay for victory in the past, and how will the choices she made then affect the present?

Personal & Info

I haven’t been to the bookstore in a while due to holidays and various other reasons. I grabbed this on my birthday while going around to a couple different stores. This is definitely a series I intend to read long term.

Characters

Frieren is an elf mage famous for defeating the demon king with her companions around 80 years ago. She’s a bit of a slob and rather lazy. Her hobby is collecting any and all types of magic spells, no matter how useless they may seem.

Fern is Frieren’s mage companion and apprentice. She seems to take a motherly role in caring for Frieren.

Stark is Eisen’s apprentice. He has low self confidence, but great skill as a warrior.

Story & Thoughts

The story here picks up where the previous volume left off dealing with the demons. Those events take up more than half the book. It’s the first really serious battle in the series so far. Not necessarily serious for Frieren, but definitely for Fern and Stark.

There are several flashbacks. The story uses them to show how Frieren originally learns certain skills or advice. They come up frequently for showing what affects her decisions in handling her traveling companions, too. It seems like she had little to no social skills before she became an adventurer.

I love the dramatic moment where Frieren reveals her true strength to Aura. Stark and Fern’s first battle with demons is pretty great, too. The advice Stark applies from Eisen is amusing, but also not wrong.

For an Elf who claims an adventure was only a measly ten years long, that adventure seems to have changed her significantly and drastically affected her thinking and morals.

It looks like the group might be getting a new party member. That will likely be solidified in the next volume.