Volume two has even more adventures in the life of a yakuza hit man trying to carry out his duties as a househusband. In this volume, we see The Immortal Dragon attend fitness classes and punish himself fiercely for accidentally entering the women’s locker room. He also puts a serious hit on laundry stains.  The cops following him into a birthday party have to eat some serious crow (and cake) when they find out the herbs he's been growing and distributing really are basil and oregano, not street oregano.  Also presented is another installment in the adventures of Gin the cat, which really could be another hilarious and entertaining series on its own.

The queen's character comes into doubt as she gets closer to Fersen. She decides to retreat to a small home within the palace and cuts herself off from all but a few of her closest nobles. This angers the noble class as they feel snubbed. At the same time, Jeanne concocts a scheme to make it look like the queen in buying an extremely expensive diamond necklace that Jeanne actually has stolen and sold the diamonds off of. She is eventually caught and stands trial but manages to convince the commoners that she has become the victim and that the queen is really at fault. Thus, the ill-will that started in volume 1 with her gambling and extravagant spending continues to build in this volume.  After pursuing a bandit called The Black Thief, Oscar decides to leave her position in the Royal Guard, and this may have disastrous consequences.

Fun, short chapters show how a former Yakuza hit man adjusts to life as a Househusband and accomplishes normal life tasks, but old habits die hard.  Hunting for bargains becomes a life or death situation.  A broken toy's "body" needs to be buried 6 feet down to destroy the evidence.  But the Immortal Dragon can't fully leave the Yakuza.  It isn't long before current gang members recognize him, but rather than sucking him back into the life, others always get dragged along on househusband duties.  

The five sailor scouts are finally all together, just in time for the Dark Kingdom, headed by the evil Queen Metalia and Queen Beryl, to start tearing them apart. Kunzite steals Tuxedo Mask away from them just as they all regain their memories of their past lives in the Moon Kingdom. The group finally finds their lost Moon Princess, and they must protect her from the Dark Kingdom. ​ A trip to the moon helps shed some light on who the enemy is and how it impacted their former lives.  

This classic shōjo manga follows the life of Marie Antionette from her childhood in Austria, to her ascent to the Throne of France, and beyond.  Volume 1 details evens up to her 22nd year of life.  Many real historical figures are woven into this narrative, but one of the main ones is a fabrication.  The General de Jarjeyes was sick of his wife birthing him only daughters, so he determines his sixth daughter he will raise as his son and heir.  Oscar François de Jarjeyes is female, but becomes Captain of the Royal Guard and dresses in the stately uniforms as a man would.  Oscar becomes the personal guard of the Dauphine Antionette, and he watches as the young Dauphine engages in court politics and intrigue.  There is also the dashing Hans Axel von Fersen, a nobleman from Sweden, with whom Antionette is enamored despite her marriage.  Mixed up in all of this are two sisters from humble backgrounds who individually plot their way into the noble class.

This review series will focus on the newly published Eternal Editions of Sailor Moon​.  I have also reviewed the entire series previously.

Usagi Tsukino is a 14-year-old 2nd-year middle school student who wants nothing more than to play games, sleep all the time, and eat delicious foods.  She's not a great student, and she's not sure about what high school she wants to go to.  One day, she meets a talking cat with a crescent moon spot on her forehead, and the cat, Luna, reveals that Usagi is a legendary guardian, Sailor Moon!  Together, Luna and Sailor Moon must track down the rest of the guardians and protect the Princess of the Moon Kingdom.  Along the way, they meet a strange figure named Tuxedo Mask, and it's not abundantly clear if he's an enemy or not.  Sailor Moon and her Guardian friends must fight against the sinister Dark Kingdom and keep the Mystical Silver Crystal from falling into their hands.

In the Forest of Silence, where magic doesn't work, the girls meet a mysterious swordsman named Ferio, who seems to also want to become a Magic Knight.  Fuu strikes a bargain with him that forces him to escort the ladies to the Spring of Eterna in order to obtain the legendary mineral, Escudo.  The Spring is nothing like they all imagined, and the trial to obtain Escudo is more challenging than they were expecting.  Ferio lets it slip that only those close to the princess know of the legend of the Magic Knights, but he fails to say how he came across this information before he disappears into the wild blue yonder.  

Satoru is a 29-year-old man trying to make it as a manga artist but stuck delivering pizza instead. He can’t get to the deeper emotions his characters need because he’s bottled up so much tragedy from his childhood. Then, his pushy mother shows up and invites herself to live with him. Satoru has these inexplicable occurrences he calls “revival” - he relives a moment 1-5 minutes prior and has to figure out who he’s supposed to save. Sometimes it’s a runaway truck, sometimes it’s kids playing in abandon buildings. When tragedy strikes close to home, he begs revival to send him back far enough to fix it, and he’s sent back much more than five minutes! Now, Satoru has to figure out how to change enough to prevent several murders.

As with many series of my childhood, Rayearth has been republished in a hardback anniversary edition with enlarged pages and beautiful covers. In honor of the 25th Anniversary, I will be providing reviews of every volume.  I have also reviewed this 6-volume series previously in one review. 

Rayearth begins with a mysterious young girl praying for the Magic Knights to save her world.  We then join several schools on a field trip to Tokyo Tower.  Three girls - Hikaru, Fuu, and Umi - from separate schools are singled out and pulled into a magical realm known as Cefiro (previously published as Cephiro).  These three ladies careen through the sky of a land that is very clearly not Japan.  They are rescued by a sorcerer, Guru Clef, who explains to them that the Pillar of Cefiro, the kidnapped Princess Emeraude, has summoned them to the world to become the legendary Magic Knights and save them all.  Clef bestows upon them magical armor and points them in the direction of a weapon-maker, just before he is overtaken by evil minions.  The three find out from Presea, the weapon maker, that they will need to adventure to obtain materials for their individual weapons, and all of this will culminate in awakening the Rune Gods in order to save Emeraude and Cefiro.

At the beginning of this novel, we get the resolution of the big reveal from the previous volume, where Ed, Alphonse, and Mustang all become privy to just how far the reach of the homunculi is within Amestris.  The rest of the novel is a major flashback to the Ishvalan Civil War. We know from previous volumes how the war started, but until this point, we have only been privy to snippets as characters try not to remember the slaughter they took part of.  Hawkeye, never one to shield Edward or treat him like a kid, is finally the one to educate him on the horror of what they were asked to do as part of the military.  We also learn a vital piece of Colonel Mustang's past, and it further explains the dynamic between Hawkeye and Mustang.