By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

After the heavy plot arcs of the last volume, this one is back to more ghost-of-the-week type stories. Sadly, that means there’s far less to talk about. So let me ponder about Sakura again.

Last review I noted that I was wondering if Sakura’s complete passivity was a plot point rather than simply Takahashi rebelling against her stereotype. This volume makes it perfectly clear that this is the case, as situations are designed to get Sakura to react in the extreme, but she simply doesn’t. A lot of it is straight out of the pages of Romantic Comedy 101 – Rinne is discussing a clingy jealous girl and notes he doesn’t dislike her, and Sakura only hears the last part; not to mention said girl telling Sakura to stop getting so close to Rinne. Throughout it all, Sakura just sort of stands there, though at one point she clearly thinks to herself that she doesn’t want to lose Rinne, but is at a loss to explain why.

Clearly something happened to Sakura that’s left her like this, and I suspect in the future it won’t be a good thing. In the present, though, it means that almost all the comedic moments go to the ancillary characters as always. Ageha, introduced last volume, is now following Rinne around the real world, determined to get his attention, and she’s an excellent edition to the cast, being someone who will overreact when needed. Most of the comedy here, though, goes to the ghosts and/or problems of the day.

After wrapping up the lost sister plot from last volume (in an incredibly unsurprising plot twist), and seeing what a naive idiot Ageha can be, we get back to school, and back to ghosts with problems. In a nice switch, though, the first person with a problem is actually Rinne, who’s been given a bento by Ageha that’s actually sealing an evil wish-granting spirit. Of course, since it’s sealed in a bento, it’s become a giant octopus-shaped hot dog evil spirit. This is one of the funniest sight gags of the book, and reminds you how good Takahashi is at taking a situation and stepping up its lunacy.

Other situations here involve a mysterious protector of a library aisle and its master who’s rewriting her own memories; a tale of two guilty track stars and the smoldering attraction between them (well, OK, not really, but come on, the ho yay in these chapters was SO THERE); and a cedar tree that’s haunted by the spirit of a boy who turns out to be familiar to Sakura. The last chapter was the most interesting to me, if only as it showed that Sakura was still pretty nice (and passive) even as a little girl.

I still enjoy Rin-Ne for its inherent Takahashiness, but once again the main issue with it is her two leads. I wish that she’d step up her game and either have Rinne realize to himself that he loves Sakura, or have her stunted emotions become more of a plot point. But until then, this still appears to be a title where Takahashi can coast along, exhausted after 56 volumes of Inu-Yasha and wanting to relax and draw random ghost stuff. Which is nice, but not fantastic.

By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

As if to answer my prayers for more flawed and annoying characters, this volume of Rin-Ne brings the big guns. Here we meet his father Sabato. It’s always a pleasure seeing Takahashi draw parents. They’re so aggressively horrible, and totally play to her strengths, as the more awful a character is the better the comedic potential. From UY with Ataru’s parents constantly wishing he’d never been born and Ryuunosuke’s psychotic and abusive dad to Genma ‘why yes, I traumatized my son over and over as a child to make him grow stronger’ Saotome, Takahashi’s fathers are unrivaled.

And here we have Sabato Rokudo, who manages to set new lows. If this manga wasn’t essentially a lighthearted fantasy comedy, it would be grotesque. (Fans of Hayate the Combat Butler, and his parents, know what I’m talking about here.) Here we have a man who tells his young son that his mother is dead, then holds a competition to see who can be his “new mom”. He’s liberally stealing money from his son’s bank account and leaving huge debts with IOUs in his son’s name. And best of all, he’s desperately trying to get his son to become a MURDERER in order to hold up his failing company of murderers.

We’d seen Rinne get upset about damashigamis in the previous volume, and this one goes further into explaining why. It blithely discusses the fact that damishigamis go after the souls of humans who aren’t supposed to die yet, and take them to the afterlife. Um… that’s killing them. No two ways around it. And his father is one of the top damishigamis around, and wants his son to take over the family business? If I weren’t already so used to ‘hilarious’ Takahashi plots that are stunningly horrific when looked at seriously, I’d be disgusted.

Luckily, the funny is also brought. There’s tons of silliness here, ranging from Sabato’s various weapons of debt (I wonder if the debt/death puns are solely a Western coincidence?), to the side chatter from all the various girls and demons Sabato has charmed into wanting to marry him, and of course the simple one-liner gags, like Sakura’s cell having not only a barred jail door but an easily walked-through sliding panel door. It’s a froth of silly that’s not going to make anyone gasp or cheer, but is fun and relaxing.

As for our two leads, Rinne is getting a little better, especially as he seems to finally be realizing that he’s falling in love with Sakura. In fact, the rest of the cast all seem to be acting on the basic idea that they’re already a couple. Which would be great, if only we knew what Sakura felt about it. Or indeed at all. If anything, she gets even WORSE here, being the most implacable and unemotional Takahashi girl I’ve seen since Kasumi Tendou. I actually have to wonder if it’s getting to be a plot point, rather than a deliberate choice. This was especially noticeable at the end of the arc with Rinne’s father, where she’s asked if the statement about her dating Rinne is a lie. Her reply is “Hmmm… I guess so” with a blithe smile on her face. Later we see her in her room thinking she was happy Rinne wasn’t forced into a marriage, but again her face is so implacable it’s suspicious. Did she leave her temper in the afterlife?

I enjoyed this book more than the previous two. Even though this can be a very frustrating series, I’m prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt. And I hope we can see more of Rinne’s horrible father soon – he adds much needed spice.

By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

Once again, we get another cute, fun volume of the manga where everyone is interesting except our two leads. I’m still not quite sure why that is. Certainly we know that Takahashi can create memorable females – this is the creator of Lum, after all – but Sakura is just so even-tempered and sweet that you wonder what on Earth she’s doing starring in this. Rinne too tends to be a lot less jerk-like and shallow than her previous male leads.

Do you think Takahashi has been reading her own negative press? Perhaps someone translated TV Tropes for her, and she decided to stop working with the violent short-tempered girl and the unthinking jerk with a heart of gold guy. It’s good to see her stepping out of the boxes, I suppose, but it’s kind of like a world-class curry chef deciding his next world-class meal will avoid curry. Sometimes people should stick with what they do best.

That’s not to say Rin-Ne Volume 3 is bad in any way. Any Takahashi manga is at least readable, and this goes way above that, mostly due to the fact that, aside from the two leads, everyone in it is a fun goof. We get a new rival introduced, this one a romantic rival (not that there’s been much romance so far), who has loved Sakura since they were kids. Naturally, she doesn’t recall him at all. He’s also an exorcist, and (surprise) his methods clash with Rinne’s.

The best chapters are the silliest, showing things such as the ever-popular Toilet Hanako (here a young girl) being manipulated by an evil spirit (which splits into balls much like an old console game), or the chapter with the Damashigami, who lures all the females of Sakura’s class into an underworld trap. There’s the occasional dollop of plot and foreshadowing as well, as Rinne clearly despises Damashigamis for reasons yet unstated, and is starting to note that Sakura is cute.

This is decent Takahashi, and no one will regret purchasing it. But it still feels like she’s running in neutral, and I’d really like the story to amp up into something bigger, soon. A personality for Sakura would be nice, too.