Her Majesty's Dog, Volume 2

As if Amane's obliviousness weren't troublesome enough, her relationship with Hyoue is dealt a nasty blow -- by another koma-oni. The second volume of "Her Majesty's Dog" takes Mick Takeuchi's supernatural odd couple into some truly nasty and fantastical situations, and extends her short horror/comedy stories into longer, more intricate ones. What's even better, we get a good idea of the bond between the koma-oni and the human master. First Takako reveals some weird dreams about Amane, which show that the memory block is starting to wear off. But if she does remember, then Amane will be dragged back to the village by her icy cousin Hayato. When Hayato's koma-oni and Hyoue clash at the school, Amane's powers may be revealed... Then Amane stumbles across a young, injured boy in the street -- turns out he's a koma-oni, Zakuro, who once served the same kindly sorcerer as Hyoue. Unfortunately he soon makes it clear that he likes Amane and intends to usurp Hyoue's place, which is all the more threatening because he remakes himself into whatever his master desires. (And he's got some deeply embarrassing blackmail material on poor Hyoue) And after Zakuro tricks Hyoue into saying that "that dumb girl is nothing more than a walking lunchbox to me," Hyoue fears that Amane is dumping him -- especially when she says that she's taking Zakuro as her koma-oni. But when she goes missing, Hayato reveals the rogue koma-oni's true intention -- getting revenge on Hyoue. "Her Majesty's Dog Volume 2" starts off relatively lightweight, with the whole question of whether Takako should be allowed to remember what happened to her. Most of this is devoted to Hyoue freaking out at her for assorted reasons ("Hyoue transforms into something... a white cow" "GIVE ME A FRIGGIN' BREAK!"). It also gives the socially inept Amane something she doesn't have -- a friendship with another girl. But then Takeuchi starts dipping into darker waters -- Zakuro's story starts innocuously, but rapidly spirals into an elaborate mind-game of murder, slavery and the rapidly fragmenting relationship between Hyoue and Amane. It all climaxes in a surreal, beautifully-drawn clash in an underwater temple, where we get to see just how warped Zakuro is after centuries of changing himself for others. Takeuchi also takes the chance to define the bond between a koma-oni and its human master -- we see how the bond affects both of them, the consequences of changing oneself for another person (even gender!), and hints of a conspiracy centering on Amane. Hyoue's backstory is also fleshed out nicely -- Takeuchi reveals why he went five centuries without a master, his past with his ancestor, and shows how unique the bond between him and Amane is ("The servant who could have been anyone... ended up being Hyoue"). And despite his iciness, Hayato is also shown in a more positive light, since we see how fond he is of his own koma-oni (and she of him). The second volume of "Her Majesty's Dog" is a darker, m