As I feared, just like with Full Metal Alchemist, the cast list just keeps growing -- by a dozen every volume right now! And no character is so minor they aren't worthy of a backstory and left in the lineup to be called back for later volumes.

Still, the slow untangling of the plot and the many forces working against each other is engaging. I just fear I'll be totally lost by the time I get my hands on the next volume and have to piece this all together again and be ready to identify any of the four dozen characters already in play.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapter 9. Asa and Break -- Chapter 10. Ink and Whiteout -- Chapter 11. Suspicion and Conviction -- Chapter 12. Embrace and Whisper -- Cowshed Diaries. The Tale of the Higashi Village Conquest Strategy -- Entombed -- Black and Triangular -- Black, Triangular, and Cool -- [Assailants' Daemons] -- Kagemori Manor, Gabby and Asa's Bedroom -- Translation Notes -- Author Commentary ( )