What I read in June: Digest Version, part 1 of 3

Natsume's Book of Friends has been licensed to be released on DVD!!!!  Eeeeeee!!!!!!  Ahem.  I am excited.

b 13th Boy 8: As many others have said, I should not enjoy this as much as I do.  I mean, the protagonist is kind of a horrible person, and I don't really like her and am not really rooting for her, but that doesn't necessarily matter because this is fiction.  And, c'mon, sentient cactus that transforms into pretty boy?  And what's this, a couple sides of the love pentagon might be leaving?!  Well, anyway, I'm in it for the long haul.

b Blood Blockade Battlefront 2: Just as bloody and action-packed as volume 1.  Dark and weird, yet somehow lighthearted, full of mystery and mayhem and weird demonic powers.  The character designs are distinctive, and it is nothing like Trigun.  It's a wild, fun, scary ride.

b Boys Over Flowers 31: It's been a long time since the last volume, and I am looking forward to a marathon when I collect them all.  Maybe things will be more coherent, but I suspect they will also be more annoying.  Oh, long-running shojo full of ridiculous misunderstandings and escalations: why do I still love you as much as I do?

b Dawn of the Arcana 4: The cast expands a bit here, and the heroine really starts developing a spine, as does her husband.  Danger swirls; secrets are revealed.  I hope this gets better and better because it seems to have worked out a lot of its early jitters.

b A Devil and Her Love Song 3: Can I punch the teacher in the face?  Or talk to another teacher to point out what's going on?  This is really pushing the bounds of what I'm willing to accept.  Through it all, these awkward, quirky characters continue to swirl around each other and smash into each other and do unpredictable things.  Oh, the lovely spin . . .  I have no idea where this one is going.  Part of me hopes the teachers are irredeemable and all get fired, but that's unlikely.  I don't really want them to be redeemed . . .

b Ghost Hunt 2: Oh, this is the one with the super creepy doll!!  It is super creepy in a way that a static medium should not be able to be creepy.

b Gon 5: Okay.  Bugs.  Huge, prehistoric bugs and spiders.  Gross, gross, gross.  Beautiful and lively and amazingly able to tell a coherent (if yucky) story with NO WORDS AT ALL.