The identity of the Red Santa who visited Miharu as a child is finally revealed as the intense testing to become a reindeer continues.
This volume also includes how other members of the cast were recruited into their current roles at the North Pole and how they relate to Miharu. I’m warming up to this series. It’s pretty fun and has some intriguing lore to keep things interesting. The humor is pretty good, too. I don’t wanna say too much to avoid spoilers. 4 out of 5
Suchan and his friends are now second years and offered extra credit by being members of an elite group: Propolis. But Suchan is still dealing with the effects of Pumpkin Carriage.
Like other series, I am growing concerned about adding yet another group. There’s Nest, Breeder, and now the Stray Dogs. Now, I love me a good training montage and lore about the source of Jungle Juice, but I will withhold judgement about adding another group to this story because as of this volume, things are balanced and the new characters are cool. I so low key winder if this whole series is a conspiracy to trick the readers into learning more about bugs and insects. 4 out of 5.
Miharu has been working hard at The North Pole in his new role of punishing bad children and while the benefits, salary, and coworkers are miles better than his previous job, his old coworker shows up to throw a wrench in the works.
While Kaiser (the old coworker) and his antics rode the fine line between funny and annoying, the best part of this volume was the latter half when we see Miharu as a child. It’s cute and heartwarming and has some cool (if not predictable) plot points that I will not spoil. It’s all still an interesting premise and it’s a decent volume once Kaiser is set aside. 3.5 out of 5.
Hino Maharu spends Christmas working as his dead end job. He’s desperate for a decent full time job. When he expresses this wish to a dark Santa Claus, he’s offered a new job: working for this dark Santa, Knecht at the North Pole.
I don’t know what to think of this yet. It’s weird, has decent comedy, and has menacing parts as well. The art style allows for some great character designs, especially Knecht. Miharu is a classic sort of protagonist and the surrounding cast contrast around him well. But I can’t say how exactly this makes me feel. It’s decent enough to keep me reading and curious though. 3 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
Gero takes a break to hang out with Beppo and they go to a restaurant run by Sota of of the Taste Masters. Then he is hired to help Chinatsu escort Nabe, former head of the Arima family.
While this feels a little bit like filler, it’s fun filler and the second part is supposed to deepen the connection between Gero and Chinatsu. As fun as they are, I’m wondering what’s going to happen now in order to make progress on the initial deal: get married to save his sister from an arranged marriage. All these hijinks are fun and entertaining but I’d like to see the field of prospective wives start to dwindle. 3 out of 5.
The cracked tooth has been removed from my mouth. The poor dentist really had to pry the thing out. I felt like I was a car with a particularly rusty stuck lug nut… Wrenching and pulling… The tearing sound way too loud in my ear… Even now, later in the day, that entire side of my face is so, SO fucking sore. And I’m hungry. At least I’ll lose weight on a liquid diet? Nah, liquid diets suck… I like real food.
But that’s not why we’re here. Here are the word counts:
It’s easy to see which one I’ve been working on the most. The first two are almost finished, actually. I bet I can get these done pretty fast if my face stops hurting. The pain is pretty distracting. I don’t want to take too many painkillers because of what happened last time. I’ll just have to muddle through.
I have been getting more steps in and walking more, but this fuckery I’ve been through about my tooth is… Fucking typical for me at this point. I had been complaining about pain, I was told the tooth was in an odd place to do anything about it, then I needed a root canal, then the endodontist told me the tooth is cracked in half, and he can’t do a root canal. It has to be extracted. I’m very lucky my job was willing to accommodate me and that I had sick time left to get that done tomorrow.
Getting back on the treadmill feels nostalgic at this point. It feels great to be moving and my knee is almost back to normal. I’d still like to keep walking for the time being. Even the weather has been good enough to walk outside if I wear a good enough hoodie. I didn’t track those… I probably should have.
I managed to snag an avocado before my kid got to it and made open BLTs with homemade fries. Yes, I made some for him, too. Very good choices. My Itaki meals have made their regular appearances, of course. Overall, the scale has been moving in the right direction again. I don’t think the food had much to do with it, it’s all about the fact that I’m moving more and burning more calories. It’d be great if I can have a run of good luck to counteract the fact the first quarter of this year has been a shitshow. I’ll take any win I can get.
Professor Lufria, a wolf, has a reputation as a strict, no-nonsense teacher. The only thing that breaks his composure is his secret kink: a desire to not only watch others eat, but to be eaten himself. Lufria is usually able to control his urges, but when one of his students, Gulla, bites him, his secret is revealed.
Yeah, this is pretty weird, but I got what I paid for: weird. It’s interesting to see odd desires explored, particularly with the extra layers of taboos: a carnivore wanting to be eaten and the herbivore craving meat, and a teacher/student relationship. There’s also a bit about how past traumas can impact physical intimacy later on in life, but that’s very brief. I think this needed a second volume to really dig into the subjects it’s trying to touch on. 3 out of 5.
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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
3-year-old calico, Mobu, is tired of being a pampered cat and wants a job to earn her own food. Despite being an introvert, she decides to work at a cat cafe.
If you like chill comics where cute animals do cute things, this is the comic for you. There are a few little side stories with other animals, but the main stars are Mobu and the other cats at the cafe. Unlike, say, A Man and His Cat, the human characters are not as involved in the plot. It’s a simple little romp with adorable characters. Perfect if you need a breath of fresh air. 4 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
Former member of the idol group Pure Club, Nina Kamiyama, now dresses as a boy after being assaulted at a fan event. She now lives as a normal student, having retired from the group until one of her classmates, Hikaru, finds out who she is.
If you’re triggered by victim blaming, maybe skip this one. While this isn’t exactly subtle when talking about harassment or assault, it works fine. This is also critiquing idol culture, but I get the feeling that this will be more about Nina dealing with her trauma and eventually finding out who attacked her. Because not only is he still at large, but he is still stalking her. 3.9 out of 5.
