Her Majesty’s Dog 8 by Mick Takeuchi: B-

From the back cover:
At least one Kamori family enemy has been revealed, but Amane’s and Hyoue’s troubles are far from over. Forces from all sides are closing in on our heroes, determined to drive a wedge of doubt and distrust between them. Is their bond strong enough to keep them together?

Review:
It seems we’ve arrived at the promised over-arching story at last, though I’m having trouble making sense of it. Basically, it seems someone from within the Kamori family is trying to make them look bad by arranging with an escaped koma-oni to commit murders and other dastardly deeds. Hyoue is suspected, and while he sticks close to the koma-oni in order to get clues as to who his master might be, Amane begins to have doubts about his trustworthiness.

This volume is actually pretty serious throughout, which I prefer, even though the plot is kind of confusing at times. I don’t understand why this person has it in for the Kamori clan, for example, nor do I get why Hyoue wants to help the murderous koma-oni despite multiple betrayals.

Quality wise, things are looking up until the final pages, which peeve me tremendously. Amane is on the verge of telling Hyoue she wants more than the typical master-servant relationship, but is interrupted by an attack from the renegade koma-oni. After he runs off, Hyoue asks Amane what it was that she was going to say. She says, “I forgot.” Hyoue crouches dejectedly under the words, “Oh, that’s right. That’s the kind of manga this is.”

Indeed.