VOL. 8
29 – Manservant
This turned out to be
quite a funny chapter. The jokes used
were better than normal and wasn’t as contrived (well, there were still those
moments but they weren’t as frequent).
Nemesis comes to play with Rito and makes Momo jealous. I thought the whole situation was contrived. The explanation about the ‘darkness’ ability
in Yami was lame although I think that was done on purpose to make it more
funny (and it did work). If they didn’t
have that bath scene at the end, it would have been so much better.
The plots have started to diverge and the
chapters are more vague and aimless now.
Even though the author tried to tie it back, it felt weak. You get the suspicion that Nemesis has
already started falling for Rito (even though he did nothing...). Rito’s also too naive; it’s starting to get
ridiculous. You would have thought that
he’d have built some resilience to what was happening around him but nup. Still, it’s a good time passer.
30 – Resistance
It feels like more of
the same (once again), with a whole chapter dedicated to how Yami and Mea’s way
of thinking has changed for the better.
We see how they ‘puzzle’ over their feelings and find out their true
self, blah blah blah. Of course, Rito
must have his hand in things and get into weird and awkward ecchi
situations. It was really obvious in
this chapter how naive most of the characters are, and also how forced some of
the dialogue and jokes are.
It feels as
if the characters are spouting the same stuff over and over again (they are)
with nothing new added in to make it interesting or different. Oshizu makes an appearance which was nice
(although as you’d come to expect, she gets afraid in the presence of a dog and
goes psycho).
31 – Cleaning
This chapter wasn’t
too perverted, which was surprising (I guess they come in spurts). As per usual, the plot feels contrived at
times and it will somehow involve Rito getting into awkward situations. Some of the humour was good; they’ll give you
a solid chuckle. There are also a few
side characters that make a lengthy appearance like Zastin and Rin. This lets this chapter feel different and
give more variety compared to previous chapters. Then again, Momo’s plan is starting to get
too large and unwieldy with the amount of potential candidates.
If you thought that the first few pages where
Zastin was telling the story of a cursed blade to be some trivial mention, it
turns out that it wasn’t. The mentioned
blade makes an appearance at the end of the chapter (apparently a plan created
by Master) leading to a cliffhanger (something we haven’t seen for quite a
while now). The maid costumes worn were
fairly typical and feel overused by now.
Momo’s display of perversion is starting to become disturbing too.
32 – Danger
A continual of the
previous chapter’s plot (which is paper-thin anyway), which now involves Rin
getting possessed by a cursed sword. If
that isn’t repetitive enough for you, then get ready for a whole slew of reused
gags, ecchi moments and action. It’s
slightly disappointing, but there is one or two redeeming humour in there which
I thought was quite funny (the passing comment by Yami explaining how Rito is
able to dodge all those quick sword slashes despite being a human is the best
one in the chapter).
Most of the chapter
is comprised of fighting, but it isn’t terrible exciting due to the focus on extreme
focus on ecchi (although it isn’t that bad in this chapter). The cursed sword feels like another useless
plot device and doesn’t push the plot forward much. That and the continual of the cheesy saves
and selflessness of Rito make this chapter a bit monotonous.
Extra – Adhesion
This is just another typical extra. It’s starring Yami this time as she gets into one of those typical exposing poses (thanks to Rito). Hmmm, if I think about it, this chapter is really pointless since I don’t know if what happened is interesting enough to be even drawn. Anyway, the chapter is flat-lined until the final two pages, in which is actually picks up! It was funny at the end (which was unexpected) but it was also an abrupt end (it skips to another scene which at first I thought was a daydream, then something happens and that’s the final page!).
Extra – Mobile Phone
Lala actually makes a bigger appearance in this extra, which is surprising. However, as can be expected, she unintentionally stuffs some things up, in this case, she fixes Rito’s (outdated...) phone causing some disastrous consequences. It’s just another excuse though and the ecchi goes a bit further than some of the previous chapters, with some very obvious innuendoes. Is it funny? Not really. Is it boring? You can’t really say that. Is it original? Nup. It’s what you expect though. The plot of the chapter does seem shallow and pointless.
Overall
The volume is
basically more of the same, and you can’t help but think that it’s starting to
get stale. There’s barely anything here
that pushes the plot forward, rather, it’s just a whole collection of fan
service. It feels as if the author has
run out of ideas for this series (maybe they should just let it die or at least
go on a hiatus and start another series).
As per normal, the art is very nice.