Manga: In/Spectre 11

In/Spectre Vol 11
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Both touched by spirits called yokai, Kotoko and Kuro have gained unique superhuman powers. But to gain her powers Kotoko has given up an eye and a leg, and Kuro's personal life is a shambles. So when Kotoko suggests they team up to deal with renegades from the spirit world, Kuro doesn't have many other choices, but Kotoko might just have a few ulterior motives. 

Volume 11 picks up from where we left off with the murder mystery in the process of being solved. On the surface, things seem to go quite amicably as an agreement is reached but there's too much of the volume left for it to be quite that simple as we soon find out! Volume 11 see's us dive into the nitty gritty of everyone's motivations and the skeletons lurking in their closets. 

This volume is nice and chunky, and there are a lot of solutions presented throughout the volume as is usual when it comes to this series. The trick is figuring out the right one and seemingly, the right one is easy to pick out...until a plot twist throws it right out of the window. 

Volume 11 see's the conclusion of a brilliantly done, twisty mystery that has you intrigued until the final page as you try to figure out who's lying and what really happened. I was fully engrossed into the volume and I could appreciate how it connected to the whole Rikka situation that we still have going on. I'm sure w're being smoothly driven towards the next encounter with her and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out! 

Manga: In/Spectre 10

In/Spectre Vol 10 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

It's been nearly a year, and Kotoko has yet to find Rikka Sakuragawa. Little does she know that Rikka has recently moved into a nice little apartment that came at a very affordable price...because it's thought to be cursed! What is causing the series of suicides in her new home? And can Kotoko catch her before she goes on the run again? 

The opening for this particular volume is somewhat ominous, yet it also lends a sense of curiosity and anticipation to the volume as we flashback in time for the rest of the volume to find out how our characters reached the place they're at for the start of the volume. 

The hunt is on for Rikka, Kuro's cousin, and we get a little bit of insight in to Kotoko's relationship with her. Interestingly we do get Rikka's POV for a little while, and it was intriguing to see things from her side and to see how she ticks a little bit. Thanks to Rikka we get up close and personal with a 'cursed' apartment, providing us with some shocking moments that merge smoothly in to hilarious ones. 

Once we do rejoin Kotoko and Kuro, there's plenty more of Kotoko releasing her inner Sherlock Holmes with a supernatural twist as usual. What I have been noticing in more recent volumes, this one in particular highlighted it for me, is that as much as Kuro says mean things and is quite gruff...we're seeing more and more little gestures from him and some sweet small moments between the two of them. 

This volume allows us to delve more in to Kotoko's past as we see the president of the mystery club, Manabu, once again courtesy of his uncle digging around. So we get to venture back to her high school days before taking on a new case. The first half of the volume is essentially setting the scene and building up to the next big mystery that Kotoko will face, and the next clash for she and Rikka. Said mystery is a good old fashioned murder mystery, with three heirs having to prove how someone committed a murder which should be interesting to watch play out and I can't wait to see how Kotoko handles this though as the judge it places her in a difficult position. 

There's a lot of groundwork laid in this volume, but it's still got its fantastic twists that keep you on the edge of your seat and have you gasping in shock when something's revealed. There's also still plenty of Sherlockian deducing from Kotoko and a nice progression with she and Kuro! Volume 10 is another strong volume that starts to lay the foundations for the next volume! 

Manga: In/Spectre 9

In/Spectre Vol 9 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Even the mysterious Kotoko Iwanaga was a high school student once, but could a girl like her ever fit in with regular teenagers? There is one student who thinks she would be a great addition to his club, but can he possibly convince the lone wolf to become a member of an organization? Learn how Manabu Amachi manipulated Kotoko into joining the mystery appreciation club! 

Interestingly we're travelling to the past in this volume and we see Kotoko when she was a first year at high school! Manabu is the president of the Mystery Appreciate Club and they need more members so it doesn't get pressured to shut down, and he wants Kotoko to join because she's somewhat of a celebrity at their school. People are interested in her because of what happened to her and who she is, but she doesn't hang out or talk to anyone so he figures that if she joins, curious people will join too. 

In case you thought it was going to be a slow and boring chapter, never fear. Not only do we get a glimpse of young Kotoko and what school was like for her post her little incident with the yokai, but there's a mystery to be uncovered too and I love how, once again,  everything is presented to us one way and then Kotoko reveals something and changes your entire perception before she completely annihilates poor Manabu's plan and reveals every little detail of his true intentions. It always gives me the urge to applaud when she does it. 

We then head directly in to chilling territory as we learn all about a murderer cutting the head off a corpse with a guillotine because...curiosity. I actually found the history to the guillotine and execution in Japan quite interesting, obviously I know what a guillotine is and what it was used for and who used it, but there was some information I didn't know in here. What was also interesting was Kuro doing all the talking for once....and swiftly revealing why he usually lets Kotoko doing it because saying he was bungling is being polite. 

This particular case had some interesting twists to it, and my perception of characters and what I thought had happened changed several times as I read the chapters. It was nicely wrapped up as we continue the episodic format of the recent volumes, perhaps it wan't the most exciting case, nor creepy, but as usual the storytelling drew me in, along with the urge to figure it out before Kotoko reveals everything! 

Manga: In/Spectre 8

In/Spectre Vol 8
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Totomizu was a flourishing little seaside tourist town until suddenly, thousands of dead fish started washing up on shore. No one knows what's causing it--no one, that is, but the spectres. They say a strange wooden doll is behind this unnatural phenomenon. Can Kotoko solve the mystery and save the town? 

I do really love the storytelling for this series, we hear about the problem along with Kotoko and then we head to the town and a character called Tae, who lives there along with her talking cat...who may or may not be an alcoholic. Via her we get all the speculation about what's causing, including a legend/story of the town that's almost like a ghost story. It did kind of creep me out, I won't be looking at Pinocchio the same way again. So creepy. 

But the mystery builds up and we get all the clues and threads, and Kotoko shows up to add more theories to it and give us some lore. She's kinda like a supernatural Sherlock, in my opinion. Of course no volume of this series is complete without the relationship bickering between she and Kuro. According to Kuro "boyfriend is such a strong word", would it kill him to act cute for once!? I mean he does in his own way sometimes but still! 

This time round the case is solved within a couple of chapters and it's kind of a sad one, actually. Before the volume finishes we get a cute, yet amusing chapter with Kuro and Kotoko doing a spot of sightseeing on their way home. 

I feel like we're kind of chilling out, having a couple of cases come in that are easily solved in one volume, as we build up to another big and weird case like the Steel Lady Nanase case of previous volumes! But with this volume, we're definitely getting back in to the swing of things compared to last volume! 

Manga: In/Spectre 7

In/Spectre Vol 7
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Both touched by spirits called yokai, Kotoko and Kuro have gained unique superhuman powers. But to gain her powers Kotoko has given up an eye and a leg, and Kuro's personal life is in shambles. So when Kotoko suggests they team up to deal with renegades from the spirit world, Kuro doesn't have many other choices, but Kotoko might just have a few ulterior motives...

Man I've missed this series! I wasn't sure how this volume was going to go after things wrapped up in the last volume, but it was such a fun volume to get the series going again! I seriously, so badly ship Kuro and Kotoko and it was interesting seeing their relationship from someone else's perspective in the first chapter! On the one hand I kind of long for fluff with the two of them, but on the other...the relationship they have fits the two of them, and is kinda cute in it's own way. I mean Kuro was worried in his own little way, which was sweet and it was like "ah you do care, bless"and it does seem almost like he doesn't care sometimes. 

This volume gives us another fascinating murder mystery with plenty of different theories that Kotoko talks us through and dismisses or pokes holes in as is her custom. I really love the way she presents all the options and then tears them down, and I love how its portrayed in the manga.  With the final chapter it was fun to see someone else do the deducing and Kotoko take a backseat for that final chapter. It was a fun little twist. 

While there isn't much action this volume, there's a lot of mystery and deductions as well as funny scenes and interactions between Kotoko and Kuro! I feel like after the Steel Lady Nanase case, this is a nice little volume to bridge the gap for whatever story arc is coming our way next! 

Manga: In/Spectre Vol 6

In/Spectre Volume 6
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Both touched by spirits called yokai, Kotoko and Kuro have gained unique superhuman powers. But to gain her powers Kotoko has given up an eye and a leg, and Kuro's personal life is in shambles. So when Kotoko suggests they team up to deal with renegades from the spirit world, Kuro doesn't have many other choices, but Kotoko might just have a few ulterior motives...

With the start of this volume we're coming in to the second part of the 'deductions' stage of this story arc, and Kotoko throws out her final two theories. I've actually been quite intrigued to see what she's going to come up with and it was actually quite masterful how she handled it all and brought it to an end. I really loved the smart way the ultimate solution came about and the enemy was defeated, and the way all of Kotoko's theories fed in to and contributed to what she was ultimately trying to do. It's all very Sherlock Holmes, I'm not going to lie! The way it was drawn was a lot of fun too! 

Now, this volume brings the Steel Lady Nanase case to an end as the case is solved and I'm very satisfied with how it all ends! Everything wraps up nicely with one liiiittleeee thread dangling. From what I understand, that's all of the light novels adapted to manga form and from the next volume it's all going to be original story! I'm quite intrigued to see what's going to happen, I mean I'm assuming it's going to be to do with Rika, but we'll see! 

I'm not going to lie, I ship Kotoko and Kuro pretty badly so it was nice to see some cute moments between the two of them in this volume, and get more of an insight in to what the relationship between them is like. I do find their interactions amusing as well as cute! As for Kotoko, she's my favourite character, I love her so much! She just has such a vibrant personality and you get to see just how intelligent she is in this volume, as you see just how far Kuro can push his powers!