The print version of RIN-NE volume 4 hits your local manga retailer's shelves next Tuesday, September 14!

But I'd also like to remind you that, as with previous volumes, the online chapters that make up volume 4 (chapters 30 - 38 - we'll still keep chapter 29 up as a preview) will be going away on September 15.

If you haven't read those earlier chapters yet (and if not, why not - they've been there for months) be sure you do so now! 

So, make sure you catch up on your reading before the 15th, and hit your local retailer or online bookseller and get your copy of RIN-NE volume 4! Your support makes this kind of online publication possible, so thanks to all the RIN-NE fans out there!

enjoy!

RIN-NE 64

Maoh 21

 

I don't know if you've been paying attention to the weather in Tokyo, but it's been unusually hot there (and in Japan overall) this year. Temperatures over the summer reached as high as 99F (37C) in Tokyo and even higher in other parts of Japan. Humidity in the summer is around 70 - 80%. With all the concrete downtown and the buildings blocking the wind, it can feel even hotter than that. It's amazingly hot. Punishing even. Trust me, it's an oven.

The first year I lived in Japan, I had no air conditioner in my apartment. It was torture. You can bet I bought one after that! When I could, I escaped the city for the beach or the mountains - it was still hot but the forests and the ocean helped cool things off. I remember Yoyogi Park in Tokyo was always a few degrees cooler than the egg-fryingly hot concrete jungle around it as well.

In Japan, summer is the time for scary ghost stories too, kinda like Halloween is in the U.S. I think they say it's because if you hear a ghost story and get a chill down your spine, it cools you off? Well, if it takes your mind off the brain-melting summer heat, that's fine by me!

Several of the neighborhood kids have been captured by a bakeneko, a ghost cat, and their souls trapped inside a small shrine. Rinne and Sakura investigate, but when Rinne catches up to the mischievous bakeneko, the shoddy repair job on his Shinigami Scythe allows the culprit to get away. Rinne's not giving up so easily though - there has to be more than one way to skin a ghost cat! Read Chapter 64 now!

Read 'em and weep (actually, I guess that would've been more appropriate for the Cross Game 8/11 update)

RIN-NE 63

Cross Game Part 2 Chapter 2

Arata 27

Hyde 18

Sakura, Rie and Miho check out a small local shrine that's said to be haunted. Their disturbing discovery leads to an investigation of the strange behavior of a little boy. Rinne's on the job again, but can his newly repaired shinigami scythe stand up to the rigors of his work? Read Chapter 63 now!

Beat the heat...

RIN-NE 62

Cross Game 11 (or Part 2 Chapter 1 to be more precise)

Arata 26

Hyde 17

 

 

 

 

 

I won't say exactly what they have to do with this week's chapter (so go read it now and then come back) but I wanted to mention something about host clubs in Japan.

Among the various forms of nightlife entertainment in Japan, host clubs have grown in popularity in the past few years. Similar to hostess clubs, where men can go to drink and socialize with pretty girls who pour them drinks and light their cigarettes, host clubs offer the same kind of service for women, and the staff are of course, all men.

And in case you're wondering, although Sakura and Rinne are back from summer vacation, it's not the start of a new school year for them as it would be in the U.S. The Japanese school year begins in April, so summer vacation is merely a long mid-term break. Japanese kids often have to do loads of homework during summer break too.

Homework during summer vacation? Cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me!

Summer vacation is over and Sakura and her friends are back in school. But everyone seems to have brought back more than souvenirs from their vacations - ghosts are hanging over everybody's shoulders! Rinne and Sakura are going to have a busy first day back! Read Chapter 62 now!

RIN-NE 61

Arata 25

Maoh 20

Read, enjoy...