I guess it’s back to “Arakure.” The next volume of “Lala” was supposed to come out today, but I don’t see it listed on Amazon Japan. There’s an extra issue of “LaLa” out and I have special ordered that. Scanations of the extra “Vampire Knight” story from the special issue are out in the usual places. It looks like I’ll be taking a trip to Mitsuwa to buy LaLa 7 when it comes out.

Anyway … I also started reading “Saru Yama” (“Monkey High” in the US). The second volume came out two week early, so I won’t be posting a summary. If you like that one, go out and buy the second volume. That manga continues to be cute. The story ended in “Betsucomi” a month or two ago so I know how it ends. It’s a good ending :). “Houkago Houkenshitsu” (“After School Nightmare” in the US) also wrapped up in Japan recently. The US is up to volume 7. By now you should have figured out who the knight is. If not, I’ll give you a hint. It’s not Sou. And if you’ve figured out who Sou is, then you understand how deeply messed up Sou is. The big story “twist” is a really good one, so I felt very satisfied with the ending.

“Ultimate Venus” is a new manga to the US. It is by the same mangaka who did “Tenshi ja nai” and “King of the Lamp.” So far “Ultimate Venus” is not as good as “Tenshi ja nai,” but it doesn’t suck like “King of the Lamp.” I purchased volumes 2 – 4 in Japanese. They should be arriving next week.

I’m getting sad because it looks like both “Nodame Cantabile” and “The Gentlemen’s Alliance” are coming to an end … sigh … well … hopefully they will end well.

Ja mata 🙂