Furuhashi continues strong in this second installment of this Marvel-savvy, yet totally unique, manga.

As the schoolgirls’ and the supervillain’s tale unfolds Furuhashi continues to play well off of Doc Oct’s duel nature, giving him a pragmatic form of virtue while keeping constantly in sight the fact he is not a functional individual. With the addition of Superior Octopus to the narrative we get to see that same personality turned ideologically inside out and how little change that actually makes. The battle with a running commentary of octo-pontification vs. octo-pontification in the first half of the volume is particularly great fun.

This volume almost completely sidelines Deirogi (apart from a very nice battle scene) in order to expand on the story of Maruko, but hopefully we can get equal billing from here on out as all the major characters now have backstories. A new character is introduced with the somewhat cringeworthy trope of the humorous stalker, yet even in this case we have a nice bit of time devoted to them going about life in normal mode. The octopus talk interchapter comments are sometimes interesting to explain the Marvel references which are at times a bit dense, but sometimes these notes feel a bit too eager to explain every storytelling decision.

The ending, alongside the illumination of Toma‘s backstory, seems to be bringing us towards an interesting antagonist and an even more interesting team-up, as the power of “Friendship, is it?” (to quote Doc Ock) begins to slowly dissolve away both manga-style and Marvel-style dysfunctionalities.

VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.

The first volume of this manga was a lot of fun. I was hoping for that to continue here with volume 2 which serves up the next eight chapters of the serial.

The story really ramps up with this one, especially on the action front. The stakes are raised as Okutamiya's world and Ock's coming crashing together. The confrontations are intense with the dynamic art carrying the reader on this roller-coaster ride. The themes of friendship and relationships are also very strong and universal.

I appreciate that each chapter ends with an "Octopus Talk" page by Furuhashi that gives more insight into the characters and story line.

Lastly, the additional bonus material of "The Marvels" was a feast for the eyes.

I look forward to the Octo-Girl story continuing in the next volume.