By Banri Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Sekai De Ichiban Daikirai!” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by CMX.

At long last, I have caught up with IHYMTA. Volume 9 came out in North America last month, and Volume 10 isn’t due till July. Not to worry, for those who enjoy seeing me ramble on enthusiastically about titles no one else reads; there’s still a lot of Excel Saga to go.

This volume (and isn’t that just a fantastic cover, btw? One of the most striking I’ve seen in a shoujo manga) finishes off Maki’s long flashback detailing his past with Saki and the tragic backstory therein. Saki, of course, rather than being an evil villain, turns out to merely have been a lonely teenager lashing out in an effort to get attention and love. Unfortunately, this leads indirectly to a suicide attempt by Maki’s crush, Azumi.

I still don’t *like* Saki at all, but there are some things that temper my dislike a bit here. First of all, other characters are clearly trying to show forgiveness and allow him to try to move on, namely Kazuha and Maki’s mother Karen. If they can show kindness, why can’t I? Secondly, we get our first big look at Maki’s father Kichii, and oh my God what a louse. He’s clearly a fantastic and devoted hairstylist, but his inability to keep it in his pants has ruined several lives, and his incessant whining about things in his discussions with Karen makes you wonder what the hell she sees in him. Still, we have 4 books to go after this, so I’m sure we’ll see more of him, especially if the blurb for Vol. 10 is any indication.

As for Saki, the whole thing with him and Maki reminded me a bit of Fruits Basket, which was running at the same time as I Hate You in Hana to Yume. Saki sees Maki as having the loving family and friends that he never got, leading to a repressed hatred. It brought back memories of Yuki, watching Kyo the ‘wretched cat’ end up making friends and getting along with people far more easily than he was able to. The grass on the other side of the fence is always greener?

We then get a brief flashback (yes, again) detailing how Maki first ‘met’ Kazuha, when he was in his car waiting outside Mizushima’s day care and saw her coming to pick up Rei. It’s a very good sequence, as it shows off the difference in upbringing between Maki’s multiple fractured families and Kazuha’s loving, huge one. Seeing her with love and support, and having a hideously obvious crush on Mizushima, who he knows is engaged, makes Maki feel angry.

Luckily, Mizushima (who will apparently not get the character backstory I was waiting for, apparently by editorial fiat as things were running too long) is able to convince Maki that, as we know from reading this series, very strong feelings for someone does not always equal dislike. This last sequence is very sweet, finally ending the epic series of flashbacks. And so now, after 9 volumes, the two are dating.

Of course, things aren’t over yet. The fashion show is almost on us, and Senko has now agreed to model. When Kazuha tries to find out more, a mortified Senko pushes her out of the 4th story window where she plunges to her death. The end. Oh wait, I forgot this is still cartoon violence central. Kazuha is back upstairs in about 10 seconds, merely bleeding excessively from the forehead. The expressions on the rest of the class (who react as you would if you saw one friend push another out of a high window) are a stitch. Hidaka-san is really starting to parody herself now:

Senko: Welcome back, miracle survivor!
Kazuha: Thanks, bashful murderer.
Asako: You guys are scaring us. Hurry on back to your own country.

After this the rest of the volume isn’t as good, but that’s mostly as the high point came early. Everyone’s getting ready for the fashion show (and thank God Honjo has stated he’ll merely style Senko’s hair – I totally agree with him, cutting it would be horrible), and we get to see Maki and Honjo looking sweaty and bishie. The whole family’s here as well, as Maki’s parents and Saki both show up, and stepmother and prodigal son have a muted if touching reunion.

As for the fashion show itself, we’ll have to wait till Volume 10. In July. Waaaaah! I need my fix!

By Banri Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Sekai De Ichiban Daikirai!” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by CMX.

We’re up to Eight Hate, and the revelations are coming thick and fast. Saki has come over to Maki’s place to essentially be smug at him and make threats. We hear about “Azumi”, who seems to be a girl in Maki’s past with much tragedy behind her. Maki is certain that Saki is going to do the same thing to Kazuha that he did to Azumi, so – oh, shades of Sailor Moon here – he breaks up with Kazuha for her own good, to protect her. Luckily, EVERYONE realizes how stupid this is, and it barely lasts a chapter.

This leads into the majority of the volume, which is a flashback into Maki’s past when he was in middle school. Every major series by Banri Hidaka has an extended flashback sequence, and this is no exception (we’ll see one in V.B. Rose 8 as well). The flashback is told partially by Honjo and partially by Maki, giving us multiple points of view, and introduces us to Azumi, the spunky yet fragile young woman that Maki was crushing on.

Big points to Kazuha, who grows up a LOT over the course of this volume. Yes, she spends a while crying and feeling unworthy (Honjo says, in one of the better moments, that this is the second time he’s told her to have more faith in herself), but she quickly snaps out of this and goes to confront Saki. Saki, meanwhile, is a truly efficient jerkass villain character. Once he realizes that Kazuha knows he’s the bad guy, he drops all pretense and starts being nasty to her. This leads to the best moment of the volume, which I won’t spoil, but which had me punching the air.

Kazuha continues to be mature by immediately going to Maki’s apartment (he’s hiding from the world) and confronting him. This is quite sweet, and leads to Maki telling her the rest of what happened, which will bleed into Volume 9, as we’re left with an ominous flashback. (I again note how Hidaka-san tends to undercut herself a lot. Much of the flashback is narrated in an ominous tone of doom, heavily implying Azumi is dead. Except we know, almost immediately, that she isn’t as Honjo tells us this. It removes some of the drama, but then again I don’t think I want dead girls in my fluffy shoujo.)

The majority of this volume is far more serious than the previous ones, though we still get some great humor. I was very fond of a subtle gag when Honjo is telling Kazuha and Chizuru about his discussion with Maki, and jokes about Azumi being dead. It’s a dark joke, and Kazuha, on hearing it, whacks her brother’s chest in an offhand “Osaka humor” way. Tiny little things that I love in this series. And she mocks the cartoon violence from previous volumes by having Maki be ready for it – Kazuha actually seems to CHOP OFF HIS HEAD, only to realize he’s replaced himself with a shop dummy Maki.

And, due to this volume being almost all Maki’s past, there’s very little Senko. However, we do get one fantastic Senko/Honjo bit where she goes to him to say that she’ll volunteer to be his cut model for the upcoming fashion show. Honjo’s reaction to this is so stunning that the rest of the customers in the salon break the fourth wall to boggle at it. “What was that smile on the last page? He’s never smiled like that before!” Of course, he’s quickly back to teasing her again, and it’s notable that she completely misses the smile. Their relationship has a couple volumes to go to resolve.

A good volume, with many things we’ve been waiting for since Volume 1 finally resolved. The next one will wrap up the flashback, and will catch me up on the series, as it only came out in North America 2 weeks ago.

By Banri Hidaka. Released in Japan as “Sekai De Ichiban Daikirai!” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by CMX.

First of all, I note that the cover art for each successive volume of this series is improving by leaps and bounds. This cover, featuring Maki and Honjo, just looks cool and sexy. Hidaka-san will get more experimental in the future as well, as the covers for Volumes 9 and 11 show.

This volume is mostly devoted to expanding on the Saki Sugimoto subplot, while simultaneously starting a new subplot with Kazuha and Senko agreeing to be models for a college fashion show. (For those who read V.B. Rose, note that the fashion designer, Eiko, is introduced in the EXACT same way that the bead worker, Ichihashi, is in V.B. Rose. It even has the same ‘cliffhanger’.)

We get to see Saki in his natural ‘complete jerkass’ persona here, and it’s clear that he’s very good at manipulation. Admittedly, it’s not all that hard to manipulate someone like Kazuha, who wears all of her emotions on her sleeve and wouldn’t know the meaning of the word pretense. Saki doesn’t even have to be pretending to be able to get what he wants, as his interactions with Senko show. He gives the impression of being truly dangerous, and is trying to get Akiyoshi to mistrust Maki.

It almost works. The fight in the car between Kazuha and Maki is one of the more serious moments in the series to date, with Maki reluctant to open up about his past and telling Kazuha that because she grew up in a happy family she thinks that all families are happy. We see one of the rare instances in this series of violence that isn’t over the top and comic, as when Kazuha tries to get out of the car he autolocks the door, and she smashes her head against the car window glass. It’s a rather depressing scene, and does not fill you with love for Saki.

Luckily, balancing this is the interaction between Senko and Honjo. They get more scenes together here than they have to date, as Senko takes it upon herself to quiz Honjo about exactly who Saki is… once she can get him to wake up, and after he takes her out for lunch. Honjo can’t resist mocking Senko’s inability to get to the point for all it’s worth, and these scenes are the funniest in the book. Intriguingly, they end on a serious note, as when Senko finally does ask about Saki, we see Honjo’s face get upset… possibly the first time we’ve EVER seen him react to something with an expression other than grumpy or smirky. It helps to underline Saki’s threat.

There’s not as much Akiyoshi Family here, though we get some cartoon violence against Ichihisa (always welcome), and Chizuru stressing out about his new friend Nijo attempting to bond with him. We also get to briefly see a shot of Mizumisha as he once was (threatening to strangle Saki after hearing that he’s returned), and a brief cameo by Arata and Miharu (who gets a hysterical line when she greets Honjo: “Yay, villain face!”). Also note that I didn’t have the reproduction problems with CMX’s volume that I had with 6.

The volume ends on a cliffhanger with Saki going to Maki’s apartment to confront him… or more likely, just to torture him. What will happen next? Find out in Volume 8!