Undoubtedly this is one of my favorite volumes in the series: it managed to be heartbreakingly sad and sweetly funny and touchingly romantic, all more or less at the same time. It was great. ( )

Wow. This one was really serious and went into a lot of detail. I can tell it's definitely after the anime was done. Yuki's childhood is so sad, but it does explain a whole hell of a lot. Especially why Akito's so obsessed with him. Their version of Cinderella (Sorta Cinderella) was hilarious and definitely fit everyone much better than the actual Cinderella. It's also interesting to see how much stronger the possible Kyo/Honda relationship is versus the Kyo/Yuki/Honda mess in the anime. I am really looking forward to reading more. But it does make me sad that I'm getting much closer to the end now (23 volumes). ( )

I am getting sick of everyone feeling sorry for themselves. If it were just a couple of people, that would be one thing, but when it is EVERY single one of the Zodiac family, all feeling bad", it gets on my nerves. Probably because I want to read encouraging, positive stories and these don't seem to be. If Tohru is supposed to be some kind of Curse Breaker/Savior for them all, she is taking her sweet time doing it. It is just weepy/girly, too much so."

Even though Yuki's never been my favorite, this volume really exploited my soft spot for him. I liked seeing some details of his past and how he actually feels, and I like him interacting with his new friends.

I also really enjoyed Sorta Cinderella.

AND Kyo and Tohru. The absolute best. So cute. ( )

With the dual storylines of Yuki's past (so sad!) and the "Sorta Cinderella" play this volume was very entertaining to read. I love how the whole play came off and was chuckling throughout the practices and show itself. Kyo and Tohru have a great scene together and in between this and Yuki's declarations I'm certainly seeing where the whole love triangle theme is going. Kyo does bug me in his treatment of Yuki (even though Yuki does instigate some of it) so I'm interested to see if they ever work things out properly.

My favorite bit of artwork is the one page panel preceding the start of the show featuring Tohru and Hanajima as step-sisters and Kyo and Yuki as the Prince and fairy guardian respectively. Nicely done.

As always there were spots while reading the manga where I completely lost the train of the story. I think this has a lot to due with the volume of characters and plot threads to keep track of. This is probably why I'm not quite as addicted to this series as other people seem to be. Even with the drawback of being occasionally lost I do still enjoy this series overall and will be seeing it through to the end. ( )