Those last two panels were subtle but nicely done. It took me a minute, and a bit of zooming, to figure them out.

I’m pretty sure they’re meant to illustrate Ri-chan’s perception of the world changing - going from dark and simple and vague to light and complex and detailed, as she figuratively comes out of the dark and into the light.

I suspect a lot of us can relate. I know I can.

That was quite the info-dump.

I was sort of curious what was going to happen to this. Early on, it looked like the overarching plot line was going to be the search for Aki’s dad and the question of whether or not she’d be able to kill him if they found him and he was a kairi. But then they did and he was and she did and that was that.

So then… what next?

And I guess we just found out. Sort of. Though I have no idea where it’s headed next, other than, apparently, winter.

Yep - glasses guy did it, and that’s a lot of what this has all been about. I was pretty sure of that.

So has Chiaki manipulated Kouhei into this road trip for her purposes? Or is it something that Kouhei unconsciously did for her benefit? He does apparently have suppressed memories of her, so it’s possible he’s effectively tricked himself into helping her.

Odd twist that it’s even the same car. I’m not sure what to make of that.

I didn’t expect that. At least not so soon.

It’s a good sign though - I take it to mean that it’s going to focus on real issues of building a relationship rather than the typical manga bullshit of not even communicating in the first place.

And I’m looking forward to the next brain cell board meeting.

I love the brain cell board meetings.

This manga just impresses the hell out of me.

It was already good when it was self-published, but all we really saw then were scenes between Urumin and Kimiya at and after concerts. But then when it got serialized, instead of just redoing the existing chapters, the mangaka took the opportunity to basically start all over and flesh it out, and it’s so much better.

It’s especially neat that we’ve learned why and how it is that the rest of the group tolerates her clumsiness. And it’s made it so that instead of Kimiya being inexplicably obsessed with this idol with no apparent redeeming qualities, it’s Kimiya recognizing, just as her friends, fellow idols and family do, how adorable she really is underneath that awkward exterior.

Good stuff.

Even the mandrakes mock him.

Gurren Lagann