Koyuki Tanaka.....HUG

I know I know, it's manga scan day and I'm just now getting around to the Beck review. I had a test on Friday and quite a bit of stuff going on this weekend. As with most things (so as not to fall into the path of an otaku who's in too deep) I chose social life over nerding. And so, you just have to wait. Pretty sure no one cares anyway. But, whatever, let's talk Beck.

For the first time one of these books ended with me really really really wanting to read the next one and see what happens. Also, they really fleshed out the soundtrack in this book. They also really made me want to see how this all goes in the anime so I can officially see which song goes where. Ok. So we start with them playing a show. Apparently a crappy one and apparently Koyuki blames himself. Taira lost his "feeling". We'll come back to this later. Good quote from this part between Maho and Koyuki: M: "Ryusuke said you did good." K: "He meant Saku". Ok, but Ryusuke isn't gonna give up on Koyuki. As a matter of fact none of them are except stupid Taira. I'm actually really surprised at Chiba. I thought he would have a completely different personality than he really does. He's way better than I thought of him being. There are quite a few times that he totally comes through for Koyuki in a big way both here and in another instance later. Although it was Chiba (being the way I expected Chiba to be) who set things up for Koyuki to sing the new song that Ryusuke wrote. Chiba and the band think it's too depressing of a song to sing. The quote here: "Gimme a break, that depressing song? How am I supposed to sing that? I'm gonna search for personnel..." Oh Chiba. However, this opens the door for Koyuki to step in and timidly ask if he could sing it. And they let him. Although, this brings up a quandry. I wonder how in the anime they get around the fact that Ryusuke wrote the song in English and Koyuki definitely couldn't read it. This wasn't so much of an issue in the manga as they don't print the song words and they definitely don't make it very clear that the song is in english, but it is. Just curious to see how they did this in the anime. Also, the song is Sister (or Face by the band Sister in the soundtrack/anime) and Ryusuke wrote it for/about Maho. So it's only appropriate that Koyuki is singing it really as things between those two are progressing nicely....to the date stage even. The problem here is that while he's realizing that Koyuki is thinking of Maho in a swimsuit. He does that a lot....thinks of her in a swimsuit, thinks of her when they were swimming naked. Koyuki's got a crush. Only he STILL won't really admit it...stupid stupid boy. Any rate, so Koyuki sings and it's amazing...as we all figured. Which prompts another quote from Chiba (a more un-what I pictured Chiba-like quote from Chiba). The band is amazed, Chiba turns to Taira and says, "What do you think, anti-Koyuki-joining Taira-kun?" Oh...that made me laugh. Maybe I'm a dork. Ok ok I know....there's no need for a maybe. Any rate, Taira's "feeling" is back. Maybe they shoulda made HIM sing the Beatles "I've Got a Feeling" cover.

Of more interest is Koyuki running into bully supreme Rikiya when he's trying to get to his first show where he'll be singing. Of course Rikiya says something, then he breaks Koyuki's good luck pick from Maho. And FINALLY the kid tries to stand up for himself. As expected, he has no hope of winning. Enter Chiba coming through HUGE again. HUGE. This is SO not how I pictured Chiba. Chiba pretty much tries to take the fight, then HE starts losing, then the rest of the band gets in there. It was like...everyone stick up for Koyuki. It was an awesome band moment. I enjoyed it much. This ended with Rikiya recognizing Ryusuke from his last band....and then he calls him the "Japanese Jimmy Page" HAHAHAHAHA. Oh man.

More shows played, appearances by Dying Breed themselves. They too are amazed at Koyuki's voice. Good things happen. Taira quote: "Your singing was good, but your guitar went to shit." And just as I'm wondering where Izumi is, especially with all the Dying Breed action...there she is. And now Koyuki is in a predicament. And Izumi certainly doesn't help it at all by taking him swimsuit shopping and then swimming in the city pool on the year mark of when he went swimming there with Maho. She even ASKS about Maho. And then says, "Oh, well I guess I was too late to realize my own feelings." Poor poor poor poor Koyuki. He's had a thing for Izumi for SO long. And now he's got Maho and he's really starting to like her. But he figures NEITHER of them could like him. And now they both do.......and now I'm really really wanting to find out what happens in volume 6.

As usual, likes and dislikes....a short list this time.

Dislikes:
-WAY WAY WAY unneccessary pin-up pics of Maho to start the book.
-WAY WAY WAY too much of Maho in a swimsuit
-The teacher using sex appeal to get her STUDENTS to play in the school festival
-The Dying Breed song they sing is SO "Moon on the Water" and they manga SO calls it something else.
-Izumi being a STUPID GIRL and putting Koyuki in a terrible place

Likes:
-BAND!!!! Finally. And everyone loves Koyuki
-Koyuki and Maho's date...soooo cute. Though I'm glad he didn't get a cold.
-See above quotes
-WTF is Taira's job??? His uniform looks like some weird conglomeration of construction worker, crossing guard, and military
-The band (especially Chiba) loving Koyuki at last
-Saku's face never changes
-Koyuki uses the Momoko-sensei card to get Saitou-san to come to his show

Ok....that's Beck 5. Things are going nicely and I'm SOOOOOO hanging in suspense for a continuation of the relationship and to see how our poor boy gets out of his predicament in volume 6. But I'm a girl. If you're not into girly stuff the end will probably just make you want to stab something in your eye. But there is good rocking...so read this one anyway.

We're in the Band.....Beck 5

Let me just get this out of the way right now; Stop making ridiculous pin-ups of Maho!! (the one at the beginning of chapter 13 is especially awful) Also stop drawing Momoko-sensei in way too much detail. Look she's a teacher, I don't care if she's the hot teacher, and I don't care if she's nipping out, I don't want to see it. Lastly, granted I can't draw anything, but please please please Mr. Sakuishi work on your mouths. Again, largely because of the mouth we have ridiculous to awful facial expressions. Ok glad we got that out of the way.

Beck Volume 5. Thank you lord the band is together and playing a show! It's time for Koyuki's debut. It's just that well...it doesn't go so well. The crowd isn't into it, and you can see Ray and Taira giving each other looks like, “Why did we ask this kid to play with us again?” Koyuki himself exclaims that he sucks while listening to a recording of the show. Fear not though salvation is around the corner! Koyuki gets a chance to sing a new song Ray is working on called “Sister” (this song is called “Face” on the Anime soundtrack). Koyuki's voice blows everyone away, and Taira has is good mojo feeling back so Koyuki and Saku are in the band for good. It's nice that finally after four and a third volumes that we finally have our band together. Don't take this to mean that the first four volumes are by any means a waste or filler. They are fairly vital for character development, and to set up the relationships amongst the different characters, it's just that you want Koyuki to get into the bad the whole time, and it's a relief that he finally is. From this point on the plot runs at an almost whirlwind pace. In the remaining 140 pages or so I don't think more than a dozen pages is given to any particular scene or plot point. This has both a good and a bad affect. The good being that, to an extent, we get to feel a little of Koyuki's sense that he is in a surreal and chaotic present, because his world is changing so rapidly. The flipside to this is there are some really quality scenes that I was dying to see more of, and I think to an extent lose a little of their emotional impact, because we get rushed through them.

Speaking of the plot this volume, especially towards the end suffers a lot from the painfully convenient plot devices that we encountered in the 2nd Volume. One glaring example of this is Koyuki feeling uneasy about one of Maho's rich English speaking school friends. He is a rich pretty boy and Koyuki wonders if he means anything to Maho at all. Conveniently three pages later Izumi-chan returns after a long absence of doing anything significant. On top of this she has just happened to recently broken up with her high school boyfriend. Blah! There are a couple more of these occurrences, but this is the most glaring example, and the one, that while it “fuels the plot”, annoys me the most. Also disappointing is Koyuki acting like a stupid stupid boy at the end of the volume.

All in all Beck 5 is a solid effort for advancing the plot and does do a good job of getting you involved emotionally (varying from pissed off annoyance to yay for Koyuki). The end too does a good job of setting up the next volume. It is still worth your time to read, and to continue to read the series, but it does suffer from some pacing issues, as well as some all too convenient plot devices.

Tereno Empireo Rapidmova Reakcii Armeo.

It's great being a nerd. For more than just the obvious reasons. For the reason that there are now countless little things in life that no one notices that you find incredibly entertaining because it relates to something in your nerd realm. What I am talking about maybe some of you, my fellow nerds, may also not get. In which case. I am sorry. And watch RahXephon.



These are from the warzone-like construction site to build the new Bacteriology building across from Russell Labs. I see it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And it makes me happy every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Also....the construction company truck has the license plate "TERRA3". That's priceless.

Separated at Birth.....or, Brian IS anime

Well...I know it's manga scan day, but I've been noticing lately that since I've developed this regimental system where I actually try to use the blog to do productive things it gets kinda boring. So....I've made a website. It's not done yet. It's getting on done. This Saturday I'm taking a "Dreamweaver in a Day" class....4.5 hours of learning to build delicious websiteness. Then, when I get more time after this week of classes and exams and projects and homework......it will get even more done. There are a lot of pages linked to pages linked to pages....so it's sort of a tedious process in a lot of ways. Any rate.....the reason for all of this is that manga scans are now moved to the "Manga Scans and Bishounen" page (which will eventually feature "bishounen of the month" when I get it to that point) which you can find at http://cranberryjam.bravehost.com/mangascans.html

The links off the main page have no content yet. I hope they will soon. But if you want to see this week's scan, go there.

For now....I want to do a special Honey and Clover --SORRY the opening animation is in that....it's frightening--(a series which I've seen up to episode 8 of now and I like very very much---almost to the Fruits Basket level. The soundtrack is awesome too. I'll review it sometime....prolly when I'm done watching, or midway point) comparison segment. So....Mayama....my favorite character even though he's by far not the most entertaining....is my favorite because.........................

HE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE BRIAN!!! You want proof........I shall give it to you.

I ask you...twins separated at birth???? Hagen's anime alter ego (HA...it ISN'T white Haru!!)??? Granted he ACTS nothing like Bri, but damned if he doesn't look like him. He looks like him so much that when Brian and I were watching an episode together where Mayama was a total jerk to Yamada (the girl that likes him) because he's in love with this older woman he works for....I actually got a little mad at Brian for it. It's THAT SIMILAR.....ok...look for yourselves.....







That's what I thought. And for good measure (even though Mayama isn't the kind of guy to ever GIVE the "gomen".......)

Thought you'd all enjoy that. Bri's anime twin. I heart them both.

Short, Sweet, Rambling....Beck 4 "Review"

Beck 4. Well thank the lord that the band known as Beck finally is together. Now, having watched the anime I knew it was going to take awhile to develop, but still you can't help but want Koyuki to get in the band sooner. Oh yeah, so Koyuki finally gets to be in the band, at least for practice in this volume. Yes this also mean that Koyuki and Ray have made up. In fact at one point seeing Koyuki and Maho together he gives Koyuki a condom, just in case. This leads to one of the funnier parts of the book, so I'll spare you.

Actually with the exception of the seemingly mandatory Hyodou acts like a dick and bullies Koyuki most of the volume is truly amusing and has some great lines in it. In addition we get my favorite supporting character this volume, that being Saku. Why do I love Saku? The simple answer is he's a drummer, and drummers like to see drummers who are cool, even if it is in fiction. Also he's a really good guy, nice, friendly, stand up kind of person. Lastly the kid is permanently drawn with a grin and his eyes closed. How can you not like him?

The volume actually ends at a really good place, with Saku and Koyuki about to play their first show with Beck. Also the story line again seems to be heading somewhere rather than meandering through days and months. Which is good, because the story is actually good, and the characters themselves are great, but it's always better to see them doing something.

As SK mentioned the volume is not without its problems. The too gratuitous Maho and the saving a tea bag from the trash being the two ickiest. Also facial expressions are still bad. Though I think part of the reason is Sakuishi draws people's lips too big and in too much detail. Ok that's it for this time, I'll do better next time I promise.

I shall review Beck 4

Well, this book was about on par with the last book. Though we do get a bit more character development, a bit less beating on Koyuki, and a new loveable character.

Things are progressing nicely with the band, and now that Koyuki isn't terrified to face Ryusuke anymore the two of them are hanging out. After Saitou-san comes through again in a huge way and indefinitely loans Koyuki one of the most beautiful guitars ever made, the Gretsch Falcon (on the clause that Koyuki arrange more meetings between Saitou-san and Momoko-sensei introduced in last volume), Ryusuke even invites Koyuki to practice with his band at the studio. Maho and Ryusuke see that Koyuki has huge potential, but the other guys are a bit more skeptical. Don't worry though, the soundtrack tells me that they'll come around. The new character addition of Saku is great too. He's a third year like Koyuki, but he's a transfer student and he's not in Koyuki's class. Actually, Koyuki meets him because of a highly amusing set of circumstances involving having to come up with 50,000 yen in 3 days to pay for Rikiya's guitar that he broke (according to Hyodou). In order to do this, Koyuki uses the fact that Saitou-san likes his teacher to convince him to let Koyuki get rid of his porn magazine collection. After selling that Koyuki came up with 46,000 yen (that's a lot of porn) to pay Hyodou. He also got a tape of a very rare Dying Breed CD from Maho (that's a whole other set of hilarious events that will be mentioned later) to appease Hyodou. But....Koyuki decides to stand up for himself and when Hyodou isn't satisfied with 46,000 and gets the entire school to completely shun Koyuki, Koyuki gets pissed and goes to listen to the Dying Breed tape instead of giving it to Hyodou. This somehow leads to him accidentally broadcasting it over the school loudspeaker system....which of course he gets in trouble for, but everyone in the school loves. So now, Saku is his friend, and the two of them talk music all the time. When he takes Saku to the studio to see the band, Saku pretty much tells him that the drummer is holding them back, and that Chiba's vocals aren't very good, but he's got good presence. It was an amusing analysis of the band at least. And he was wearing a Rage Against the Machine shirt.....yet another Rage reference for a band that sounds like Rage. I believe Saku actually compares Ryusuke's guitar sound to Rage. Which he should. He should ACTUALLY compare the base to Rage, but comparing Ryusuke is good enough. Anyway.........Koyuki has a new friend, Todo (the drummer) quits the band and everyone thinks Beck will break up, Saku steps up to the plate. Koyuki somehow manages to save the day yet again.

On to Koyuki and Maho. These two are STILL funny. Koyuki might kinda be starting to get it. Though he's still got his thing for Izumi even though she's gone now and in high school. Funniest thing here is that the band is noticing that Koyuki and Maho are together a lot. At which point they tell Ryusuke that he might have a new brother in law soon. Ryusuke laughs, but his actions show that he's acknowledged this too. In that....he gives Koyuki a condom cause he's been hanging out with his sister a lot. This is HILARIOUS because it's Koyuki and he's SO not going to do anything. It also gets Koyuki into trouble later on when he's at Maho's house getting the Dying Breed tape and he accidentally drops the condom out of his pocket. And then she tries to beat him to death with a chair (I believe it was a chair). Oh silly awkward Koyuki. She forgives him though, and even goes to his swim tournament where Saitou-san uses her as bait and incentive for Koyuki to win his last race. If Koyuki wins he gets to make Maho do whatever he wants. So, at first Koyuki is swimming to make Saitou-san proud....but then he see's Maho (who's wearing a bikini for no good reason) and starts swimming for his goal. See, he's coming around to liking the girl.

Alright....well, that's done. Now...random things I liked and disliked:

Disliked:
-Koyuki testing guitars that he can't afford and playing the Gibson SG (which really does stand for "Solid Guitar") then deciding it's an "instant buy"...even though he can't buy it. I mean, you know you can't buy them....why go in. Though, I'd totally do it to...and I do. Go in to look at things you can't afford even though you know it will make you depressed. It's like Wayne's World where everytime they drove by the Strat in the window Wayne would get out of the car and look at it or play it. Yes, I just compared manga to Wayne's World.
-Saitou-san and the teacher. Kinda creepy.
-Hyodou....still a dick. Still don't like him
-The fact that I can pretty much see through their plot devices. ie they want you to think that Koyuki is gonna get another ass kicking......I know he won't. Things like that.
-Koyuki practicing karate on a tree because another guy asked Izumi out even though she didn't say yes and she asked Koyuki what he thought about it. OK...I understand that sucks, but still.
-Maho wearing a bikini to WATCH Koyuki's swim meet. And the gratuitous crotch shots that ensued. I know they did it to make the you win Maho part more of an incentive, but who wears a bikini to watch a swim meet when they aren't even getting in the damn pool. Put some clothes on.

Liked:
-Koyuki testing guitars that he can't afford and playing the Gibson SG (which really does stand for "Solid Guitar") then deciding it's an "instant buy"...even though he can't buy it. See above regarding the Wayne's World reference.
-Saitou-san's withdrawal when Koyuki takes away his porn AND cigarettes AND alcohol.
-Saitou-san giving K the Falcon...it's sorta like Koyuki got his Gibson.
-The first person Koyuki runs into (yes, he's running with a guitar again) when he gets the Falcon is Ryusuke...so he gets to show it off
-Ryusuke telling the band that Koyuki is playing with them
-Koyuki and Maho...a little more
-Ryusuke giving Koyuki a condom cause he's hanging out with his sister all the time
-Koyuki scheming on how to get money and convincing Saitou-san to let him sell the porn
-Maho beating Koyuki for having the condom that her brother gave him
-Maho calling Koyuki a "nutless wuss" even though I still don't know what he did to make her say that.
-Saku with the Rage shirt AND the Rage reference
-End dialogue between Koyuki and Ryusuke about Saku's drumming:
-R: "When I asked him, 'Do you play?' he said, 'A little'."
-K: "What's little about it?!"

Ok...Beck 4...things are happening. Good read. Finally we're putting together the band as I know it.....soon soon there will be awesome rocking.

This ends Beck 4 review.

Here is Greenwood!!! Here is awesome!!!

Seriously people, this OVA/manga is AWESOME. Seriously read it. And buy the 6 ep OVA for like the 20 bucks it will cost you. Also.....this picture CUTE!!! These are our main characters (Hasukawa (Suka-chan) Kazuyo, and Kisaragi Shun). They're roommates in the dorm...at an all boys school. What's that, Shun's TOTALLY a girl??? Read/watch and find out what that's about!!! As for Suka-chan.....he pretty much just takes shit from EVERYONE. And hilarity ensues. Still doubtful....read the reviews, ask Brian Hagen.

HERE IS GREENWOOD!!!!!

A Slightly Triumphant Return

Beck 3. Better. Although I don't think I'll sound like it was in my review....it was. I've just been coming off as really annoyed lately, even though I'm not. So. I'll start by telling you....I LIKED IT. It's worth a read. Ok..that said....here we go:

So, if you remember at the end of last volume Koyuki and Maho were swimming naked in the pool. This means that we start this volume with Koyuki and Maho still swimming naked in the pool. I like how the series is so continuous like that actually. A lot of time passes WITHIN each book, but they don't jump time from one book to another. It picks up EXACTLY where we left off. This is nice. Also, I was starting to wonder if each book was going to end with Koyuki and Maho hanging out while doing something kinda weird and singing "Moon on the Water", but it doesn't appear that way. Any rate, what we learn more of from this opening scene and throughout this book is how HUGE of a crush Maho has on Koyuki. And how HUGELY oblivious Koyuki is to it. If I may use an outside reference....this may supercede Saki/Kohsaka proportions. Or maybe not, but at least Kohsaka in his obliviousness ACTED as though he valued Saki. Not that Koyuki is capable of treating anyone like crap, he just totally thinks of Maho as just another person. Though it seems like MAYBE his thing for Izumi has gone away.

Speaking of Izumi....she's in this book like 3 times. She does nothing. There was little to no character development outside of Maho and Koyuki and the new guy they introduce, Hyodou (I know his name from the soundtrack, but I don't remember what song is his), who's really just a complete ass....and a petty one at that. I guess Chiba gets a LITTLE development, but not much. I mean, things HAPPEN, Ryusuke's band (BECK, remember) is recording and playing shows....but you don't really see that. The only thing you see of the band is like 4-6 page spreads of them rocking out. Which is ok, but in a manga doesn't really do anything for you. There aren't even lyrics on the pages...just pictures of them rocking. Now, I know it's hard to do this in a manga. Gravitation got around it by the fact that they hardly focused on the band actually performing in the manga. They just made mention of the performances and counted on the boy lovin' and the hilarious dialogue to get them through. And that worked for them, but Beck doesn't have that to fall on...so we endure 5 pages of slightly over the top facial expressions and Ryusuke looking like he's at the verge of orgasm. The other thing we see a lot of is Koyuki getting the shit kicked out of him by one person or the other. Usually having something to do with Hyodou. We also get to see Koyuki breaking even more guitars. Sometimes that kid does REALLY STUPID things. He's avoiding seeing Ryusuke until he gets the guitar fixed that he broke. Which entails him working for Saitou-san for more or less free for like the rest of his life. But it's cute really, and Koyuki defends Saitou-san in the face of all adversity, so he's being a loyal student and friend. Which I like. I also like that this means that when Maho drags him to Ryusuke's shows he goes in disguise. Which more or less looks like he's wearing full ninja dress. It makes me laugh every time. Anyway, the big thing here, which I did see coming, is that the guitar is fixed and immediately Koyuki takes off (running with the guitar again....he almost deserves to drop it again...idiot) to take it to Ryusuke and before he gets there it gets broken again. This time because he ran into Hyodou and his super bully friend Rikiya (Koyuki broke Rikiya's guitar too, but he broke it when Hyodou tackled him and Rikiya doesn't know cause Hyodou made Koyuki his servant to ensure that Rikiya doesn't find out). Hyodou wants to play the guitar....yeah, see where this goes. Only Hyodou doesn't break it, Rikiya breaks it cause he really really sucks and Koyuki was trying to hold in his laughter and failed. I've SO been there. So....now poor Koyuki is SUPER depressed and thinks he'll never see Ryusuke again. But....there is of course redemption. And it comes in the form of Minami Maho. So, we come back around to her.

Things I didn't like:
-Koyuki's facial expressions again.....TERRIBLE
-The story is moving REALLY SLOWLY. Like I know Koyuki eventually sings for Beck, but.....so far he sings with NO ONE.
-The substitute teacher the middle school music class gets.....too much information sometimes. Too much with the drawings. She's a TEACHER for the love of God.
-Hyodou
-Ryusuke's guitar with the bullet holes being named "Lucille". They BETTER explain that reference instead of making themselves look cool for coming up with that. It's sort of disgraceful if you don't honor the man.

Things that amused me:
-Return of Koyuki's pervy friend
-Scene 2 after Taira meets Chiba he goes to tell Eiji that he's joining Beck based on "intuition" and the "magic he's been searching for"---or Chiba, either one. This, of course, is going to cause the shit to hit the fan, cause why wouldn't it.
-Koyuki seems to finally have shaken that negative attitude that he'll never be anything important. This is good and kinda like me this semester, so I like it. However, him saying that makes you know that he's setting the tone for failure and/or complete misery. Enter Hyodou
-The "Kiyaki Against the Machine" band poster that's in the recording studio. This is funny, cause one of the bands in the anime TOTALLY sounds like Rage. Completely. Absolutely.
-Koyuki giving the "gomen" pose to the teacher when she asks him to take control of her class because she can't.
-Maho picking Koyuki up from school
-Koyuki in ninja-wear
-Maho in general

Ok...see, the positives outweigh the negatives. This was a good book. I'm now the proud owner of the anime on real DVD's instead of burned CD-R's so I think I should start watching it. Though I don't want it to skew my manga reviews. So maybe I'll hang on for like 20 more weeks while we review the manga........maybe not.

Beck 3

Beck volume 3 thank you for bouncing back. Yes some of the events are still a little contrived, but it has calmed down quite a bit. The major happenings in this volume include: Koyuki's continued estrangement from Ray, a new teacher (Momoko-sensei) for Koyuki and friends, Beck's first show, and bullying, bullying bullying.

The story starts to progress again, and in a direction that is entertaining and interesting. Granted to a certain extent it seems to be more of a school life story this time around, then a story about a band, it's still very good, and the band is not absent all together. Still it is strange that the character development in this particular volume has almost nothing to do with what previously appeared to be the primary supporting characters (Ray, Chiba, Taira, Eiji(the “villain”), Izumi, and Saitou-san). This is not to say that these characters don't get any pages, they do, it just that it seems that there presence is nothing more than a plot device. Yes there are two of Beck's shows, and all the band members have their bits of conversation, but it doesn't really seem to advance our understanding of the character. Thankfully there's a little bit with Maho (my first girl manga crush), and even though she kind of toys with Koyuki, it's cute that she likes him. So, who are the major players in this volume? Well obviously Koyuki, we get to see him develop a little bit. At the beginning he's working hard to make money to fix Ray's guitar, and refuses to see him until the guitar is fixed. This again shows Koyuki being a stand up guy. He's cute and you can't help but like him. Now the next part where you think you'd see some character development is from the new teacher Momoko-sensei, but this is not the case. Other than establishing the fact that she's young, a not very good new teacher, and a bit of a crybaby. The most character development is in the form of Hyodou, the new bully. So, basically for whatever reason Hyodou has decided that Koyuki has been too happy lately and sets out to more or less make his life hell. Yes, Hyodou is that much of an ass. There, as of yet, does not appear to be any deeper reason for his torturing of of poor cute hero. So, I guess from that view there isn't a ton of development of Hyodou, but he does take up a lot of pages.

A few things artwise that I just didn't like:

1. Ryusuke looks dumb, and unattractive with his hair pulled back, don't like it at all.

2. There are a few they went to far drawings involving Momoko-sensei.

3. Koyuki's facial expressions are still over the top and bad.

Now despite how it sounds I really did enjoy the volume. I read it pretty quick because I enjoyed it. I absolutely love Koyuki and Maho. The interactions between the characters really is very realistic and well done. Though it seems a little unfocused at times the story really is good. So, keep reading!