Manga: Aoharu x Machinegun 9

Aoharu x Machinegun Vol 9
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

"I lost everything...I don't have anything left in this world..." 

Toy Gun Gun and Star White team up for the counter battle against 11 DOGs. While fighting alongside Midori as a two-man cell, a glimpse up at the sky brings memories rushing back to Matsuoka. 

This volume opens interestingly as we get an in depth look at Matsuoka's past and his relationship with Midori, and how it all went wrong...sort of. I have plenty of questions along the same line as Matsuoka, but we get to see how he got involved in the survival games and so on. 

Speaking of Matsuoka, he finally manages to get a grip on himself, which I've been shrieking at him to do since last volume. It's been interesting watching his little break down and how he pulls himself out of it and overcomes it. But it looks like he and Midori won't be friends ever again despite working together in this volume. 

This volume finishes off the battle with 11 Dogs, but it plants seeds for some interesting developments next volume. Yukimura has a strange memo in his hand at one point which I'm guessing is a plot set up for the next volume?! Or possibly the future. But you know...I need to know NOW! 

And damn....this volume ends on such a cliffhanger like....FINALLY the reveal is nigh, and I've been waiting for it for ages because how can Matsuoka be so dumb, but the volume's like "nah mate, wait until next volume" like.....I HAVE BEEN WAITING PATIENTLY FOR 9 VOLUMES FOR THIS ALREADY DAMMIT, I NEED IT NOW! I'm so ready for next volume, because things are certainly going to change and there's going to be some drama after this volume that set some things up and filled in some important backstory for us! It really does have an excellent plot pace!