Kaguya-sama/Silver Spoon vol. 3

Enter Yu Ishigami! The student council’s elusive treasurer finally makes his appearance in Kaguya-Sama:  Love is War vol. 3 and proves to be a worthy addition to the core cast.  He’s a gloomy otaku with a gift for number crunching and an unfortunate knack for saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.  The fact that we’re introduced to him expressing his fears that Kaguya wants to kill him (after he unwittingly foiled a few of her schemes to get closer to Shirogane) should tell you all you need to know about him.  Ishigami’s appearance, along with the expanded presence of Kaguya’s personal assistant Hayasaca, also heralds a shift in the status quo that takes “Kaguya-sama” from relying on a will-they-or-won’t-they rom-com formula to being a genuine ensemble comedy.  That’s not to say that the rom-com shenanigans haven’t stopped being funny yet as bits like the mind games Kaguya and Shirogane engage in to determine who actually forgot their umbrella on a rainy day and who is using it as a ploy to get closer to the other person that open the volume are comedy gold.

Meanwhile, over in Silver Spoon vol. 3, Hachiken is wrapping up his summer vacation over at Mikage’s farm.  This includes the creation of memories both happy (quality time with Mikage, lots of good food) and not so much (the unexpected arrival of his insufferable brother, a massive milk spill).  Yet with them comes payment for the hard work he did on the farm and the decision of what to do with it. Hachiken wants to use the money for a good purpose, but it’s not clear yet if his decision will bring him any happiness.  Though the volume is rife with wackiness and slapstick, seen most prominently when the Ezo Ag students descend like locusts upon a local festival’s food stalls, it’s balanced out by these quieter moments when Hachiken tries to figure out what to do with his life.  That these sharply contrasting tones can coexist as well as they do in this manga is a testament to mangaka Hiromu Arakawa’s talent, and seeing her pull it off is all the reason I need to keep reading it.