Read the behest of a friend who is also into sports anime - I had initially hesitated because I know very little about American football.

The art is surprisingly good! When our main character (Sena) gets in ~the zone~, the style minutely changes along with it.




There are also some cute rival upperclassmen from other schools, which is always fun. I might keep up with this series.

Junji Ito is a master of the creepy and horrifying.

The art in this series is truly phenomenal. I doubt the upcoming anime will be able to do it justice.

This is even cuter than I was led to believe! Despite their classmate's assumptions that they would be a "weird couple", Hori and Miyamura have such great chemistry because they can be honest with each other right from the start. Their interactions often trade off from being unbearably adorable:



to strangely hilarious:



Also, enjoy a bonus kitty!Miyamura omake because it is incredibly cute and it makes me happy.

Soma is a fabulous character if only because he irritates Ciel so much. That boy needs to loosen up.



I do enjoy the contrast between the realistic linework and their exaggerated chibi reaction figures. This mangaka has excellent style, no doubt about it.

In the last chapter we discover a bit more of how Ciel came to meet Sebastian and strike his disturbing Faustian contract, done with both intense artistic flair and horrifying background context. This was inserted into the narrative much more cohesively than the scene in Volume 1 with Elizabeth and the Phantomhive ring; that was a little too crass for my tastes. Ciel softens a tiny bit in the telling (lord knows the kid never really shared his trauma with anyone but those who dealt it out) and Soma is given new purpose.

Onward and upward. Or downward, given we're speaking of demons.

Excuse me while I nitpick this translation, but Victoria's husband Albert was a Prince Consort, not king. It's a very important distinction re: power dynamics within the Court and the relationship. Maybe I should bug Duo-La to translate a raw copy of this panel for me so I can know who fucked it up. someone is WRONG on the internet and must be brought to JUSTICE

ahem, anyway. We establish in this volume that English people fuck up curry on the regular due to their bland palates. Sebastian eventually proves himself as "one hell of a butler" with the cunning use of chocolate and pageantry.



Sebastian has such a high opinion of Ciel, it's so heart-warming.

Ah, the circus. Tightrope walking, fire eaters, knife throwing, dangerous wild anim-



oh.

So Sebastian and Ciel infiltrate a circus on the Queen's orders in search of a large number of missing children. Ciel has to pass an "entrance test" to prove that he is worth taking on and Sebastian, wonder butler that is he, is all too happy to help Ciel keep his balance on the tightrope.



And then a wild reaper appears! As quite possibly the world's worst "spy". I legit snorted aloud when I saw this panel, though - they look so incredibly horrified to be put together as "roommates".



Through a pratfall, Ciel's brand is exposed and we're treated to what is essentially a minor panic attack on his part, where he is brought low by the memories of his captors. Sebastian wordslaps him out of it with a few well-chosen phrases needling at the one thing Ciel clings to, his pride as Earl of Phantomhive.



I suppose Ciel's soul will be tastier if he is constantly dipped in and out of abject misery, like a nice crusty sourdough with fondue. Gruyere, with some aged cheddar and maybe swiss? Yum.

Get yourself into an embarrassing moment? That's fine, you have a perfect solution!



Hori is a girl after my own heart.



I really need them to confess their feelings (note: not love) to one another soon because I desperately hate drawn out waffling. I understand that as a inexperienced teenager this sort of thing seems SO monumental but ... just fucking talk to your crush, goddamn.