A tweet from Magruder saying that "it's asexual AF" put this on my radar. I took this to mean that there was an explicitly identified asexual character. Um... If there is, then it's not in this volume. I haven't read the webcomic, which includes a fourth chapter that wasn't published in this book, so maybe it's in that chapter? That said, those looking for romance-free graphic novels may want to check this out. (I sincerely hope that Magruder didn't think "romance-free" and "asexual" are the same thing.)

The story: Jaime and his grandfather find and injured girl named Abbie and her dying moa mount just as a sandstorm is starting. They take her back to the little town of Marigold (and kill the mount as a mercy) so Jaime's aunt can fix her up. The town has been repeatedly attacked by Parasai, people with special powers who take what they want and then leave. Abbie

That's literally the whole volume. I've seen indications that this might just be the first volume of a series, and that could be the case if Magruder continues the webcomic and future chapters are published in a second volume, but there's nothing on this one physical volume to tell readers that it's just volume 1 of a larger story. It's a shame, because M.F.K. felt extremely skimpy on its own and wouldn't hold up well at all as a one-shot.

To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with this. First there was the disappointment of not getting the explicitly identified ace character that I expected, then there was the moa mount that I believe got another enthusiastic tweet, despite it dying almost immediately after it appeared. And the people of Marigold were idiots who seemed determined to doom their town to a slow and painful death.

Then there was Abbie herself (by the way, for those who are interested, Abbie wears a hearing aid, so there's explicit disability rep even if there isn't explicit ace rep). I have no clue, after reading this volume, what her goals were, or why she was traveling. Was she taking

to a particular place, or just aimlessly traveling with them? Although all the mysteries surrounding Abbie should have made me want to read more about her, I found that I was more interested in Jaime, who had a much clearer goal than Abbie (get out of dying Marigold and see the world).

I really wanted to love this, but instead I was just vaguely disappointed by it.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Another warning for those who need it: This volume contains a character who has decided he's going to commit suicide, although he ends up not going through with it.]

It's a few years later (I think? I forgot to write it in my notes). Shoya finds Shoko again. He's prepared to take whatever she dishes out, because then he plans to kill himself. Except it seems like she wants to meet again, so he can't die. He clashes with Shoko's mom, who's willing to hate him in Shoko's place, and Yuzuru, Shoko's sister, who also hates him for Shoko's sake. Yuzuru calls herself a boy, specifically Shoko's boyfriend, so she can act as Shoko's protector. She gets Shoya

but he's not really mad, because he feels he's brought this on himself.

Shoko's family is filled with people who want to protect her without asking what she wants. Shoko's mom never listens to her – we saw a prime example of this in volume 1, when she tried to insist that Shoko get a short haircut so that she'd look like a boy, despite Shoko clearly indicating that she wanted a longer cut. Shoko's sister is a bit better, but she can't understand why Shoko doesn't hate Shoya. To be honest, I'm also not entirely sure why she doesn't hate Shoya. She certainly has reason to. I kind of wish Oima let us know more about what she's thinking, because there are times I worry that she'll turn into a stereotypical saintly deaf girl. Thankfully, she does demonstrate that she gets angry, just the same as everyone else, or she wouldn't have fought with Shoya in the previous volume or her sister in this one.

Shoya has been pretty much friendless since the end of volume 1. In this volume, he gains his first friend, Tomohiro. We also learn that Shoya now has a niece that he helps his mother take care of – we still haven't seen Shoya's sister, but apparently she had a kid with the guy she hooked up with in volume 1. I liked seeing signs that Shoya has grown as a person. He's more responsible and less angry, and he actually took the time to learn sign language since the last time he saw Shoko.

The problem is that he doesn't know if he deserves forgiveness and happiness. He doesn't really know what he wants, or what Shoko wants - after all, he thought he'd be dead long before any of these questions became an issue. What is the appropriate outcome here? I'm honestly not sure. I like the guy Shoya is starting to become, even though he still has a long way to go, but that doesn't mean he deserves forgiveness. However, that seems to be the direction Shoko is taking, and, like Shoya, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Even so, I'm willing to see where Oima's going to go with this. This volume had so much in it, and I felt that Oima handled it all really well, from Shoya's aborted decision to kill himself, to his mother's reaction after she realized what he'd planned to do, to Yuzuru's anger. The only thing that I worry about is Oima's handling of Shoko.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[A quickie warning for those who need it: This manga volume deals with the prolonged bullying of a deaf girl.]

Shoya Ishida is a kid who does stupid stunts because it gets him the attention he craves. However, when his friends start to move beyond all that, he begins to feel both alone and bored. And so he picks on the new girl, Shoko Nishimiya, who is deaf. He makes fun of her, takes her hearing aids, etc., until one day the teacher goes before the class and says that Shoko's mother has complained about the eight hearing aids that have been broken or stolen in the last five months – approximately $14,000 worth of damage. Suddenly, Shoya

This is ugly and awful and feels very realistic. Shoya seems to have problems at home – his mother is nice but works constantly to provide for her family, and his sister brings a new guy home every few weeks or so. Which gives some background, but doesn't excuse Shoya's cruelty towards Shoko. Shoko, for her part, is kind enough to try to keep Shoya from knowing

Basically, this is a condensed example of just how much school can suck. The teacher was no better than his students. In fact, I'd argue that he was worse, because he was supposed to be the adult in this situation. Yes, he talked to Shoya about his behavior, but his actions were half-hearted, and he too showed frustration at another teacher saying they should all learn at least a little sign language. The panel where he snarled at Shoya was kind of terrifying and, I think, a good example of just how bad a teacher he was. Shoya interpreted it entirely as his teacher being angry at him, but I think his teacher was also terrified that he might be considered partly responsible for the damages, since he did so little to stop it, and so he turned those feelings on Shoya.

While I liked this (although I'm not sure “like” is appropriate here), I did think that there was some clarity issues. A few things were a little harder to follow than they should have been.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Warning, this manga is NOT for anyone under 18. It contains: Sex, naked women, gigolos, prostitutes, violence, people getting killed and various other things.

Now on to the reason why I picked this one up. I heard it was getting an official release in English, and I wanted to know if it was worth buying it. 

The two main characters, two guys are totally kick-ass and I can say this you wouldn't want to find them in a dark alley. Though it seems they aren't that bad (they do some things in the manga that is actually quite nice). And later we get a third character, a girl named Alex, who used to belong to some very shady figures, even having to be a prostitute. I won't tell you how she gets in the story, you will find that out. 
We slowly find out about the past of our two main males, but also see how Alex adepts to life without prostituting herself and getting her ass kicked, a life of semi-honesty. I really liked that was added. I was already worried we would just get action and action, but we also get life stories and drama.

Also a plus thing, that you don't see often, a deaf main character. That made the story more interesting. Especially for Alex who can't really do much with sign language, will have to learn it if she wants to communicate with that guy. I can't wait to see how that will go.

The art style reminded me a bit of Saraiya Goyou and Baccano. I really liked it, you also know right away this won't be a bubbly and cute manga, the lines and the whole art is quite dark and sharp, but still very pretty to look at. 

The stories (each chapter has a different tale to tale) are great and really interesting.

Will I be buying the official release? Yes, I will be sure to buy it and follow it.
Thanks Viz Manga for licensing this manga. :)