Masao Ootake

It's the penultimate volume, and -- in true Bill & Ted time traveller fashion -- the girls must put on a concert to save mankind from a dystopian future. Of course, they will need the super-competent Hitomi Mishima, teen CEO, to pull it off, but Mishima has some personal issues to hash out before she can bring all her powers to bear.

Oh, and bartender Utako Sakura returns after a long absence, which was nice.

Silly fun overall. I'm sad to see the series wrapping up but agree there is no point show more in stretching it out further. show less

Final Volume!

A low-key series comes to a low-key conclusion. The fate of the world is at stake, but to save it all the protagonist has to do is put on good concert? Sure.

A good chunk of the volume is simply spent visiting the many supporting characters to see how they'll be getting on, and "more of the same" seems to be the popular response.

The author admits in the end material that not a lot of effort was put into the creation of many of the cast members, a lot of attempts to give them show more fuller lives were nixed by the editor or dumped for lack of time and space, and the volumes in the closing stretch were filler to get to some arbitrary goals (first a specific holiday date and then slipping to 100 chapters). And yeah, that lack of effort shows up on the pages as coasting, but I still enjoyed my time with these amusing characters.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapter 96. Disassemble! Destroy! Farewell! -- Chapter 97. Super Sugee Festival -- Chapter 98. Great Job, Everyone! -- Chapter 99. Their Lives Thereafter: Part 1 -- Chapter 100. Their Lives Thereafter: Part 2 -- Some Notes on the Characters from the Author -- Extra 32: May! Thy! Soul! Be! Pure! -- Afterword -- Hinamatsuri Outtake Collection show less

This series can swing from laugh out loud funny to heartbreaking very quickly. In mostly episodic chapters we rotate through all the major cast members. Their hijinks include a school play, a day at the racetrack, a yakuza succession battle, and a surprising surprise party. But in the final chapter the drama kicks into high gear as Hina is told it is time to say goodbye to Nitta and return to the secret organization that once controlled her. "This is harsh," says one character near the end, show more and the final pages truly are. show less

This series just keeps getting better! It really helps that my favorite character, Hitomi Mashimi, is showcased. She's the super-competent, super-responsible middle school sidekick who helps keep the irresponsible Hina in line at school. She also has fallen into the unlikely position of after-school bartender. Things continue to spiral further out of control for her as she finds herself unable to refuse gig work and temp jobs from bar regulars who assume she's a poor college student hustling show more to meet tuition expenses. I found myself laughing out loud while simultaneously feeling my heart break for her as her stress mounts as she tries to juggle an impossible schedule and her oblivious mother.

Other chapters introduce humorous new characters to the series: a woman who belongs to the organization that used to exploit Hina's destructive powers, a conspiracy theory believing classmate of Hina who sees her using her telekinetic powers, and a journalist wanting to make an edgy documentary about violent yakuza who finds himself following Hina's coarse but kind-hearted adoptive father through a decidedly low-key day in the life.

I'm very happy that I have three more volumes on hand for a little reading binge this week. show less