Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga, Vol. 2

by Katsura Ise, Takuma Yokota (illustrator)

It's the summer of 1998, Japan. Hajime and Emi enjoy some fun in the sun at the pool and cast spells and creatures at their first official The Gathering tournament. After which, they start to see fireworks...literally and figuratively!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Graphic Novels

186 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 2025

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hajime and Emi travel with other members of their gaming group to Tokyo for a Magic: The Gathering tournament to test their skills. While at the tournament, Hajime met Yakumo and Emi faced off with Yakumo. Both Hajime and Emi learned that they had to work on their skills if they wanted to go up in the standings. But not everything is about gaming. Life goes on and relationships develop. It will be interesting to see what might come next for these characters.

Thanks Netgalley and Viz Media for a chance to read this volume!

[Steffany .O (coffee over apples) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love magic the gathering so much, and I love this series with every fiber of my body. This volume made an egregious error in 2 scenes where is sexualuzed our female protagonist and it left such a bad taste in my mouth. It's one thing to have our main characters who are the same age have crushes on each other. It's another thing to have a 20 year old character hit on a 13 year old. Even if he was turned down, it was still weird. No Bueno.

I love yakumo and can't wait to see more from her. Hajime's jealousy is adorable. This would have been 5 stars if not for what I mentioned before.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, slightly better than the first volume, but not great still. I liked the tournament matches, those were really fun. And the FMC was not quite as bad as the last volume. But a lot of the writing is still just kinda… iffy. And questionable sometimes, too.

The MTG games are definitely the strong point of this series, but I’m not an MTG fan, so I don’t think I’m gonna continue this one. If the writing and characters were better, then maybe, but… they’re not.

[Matthew Tuttle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the token Beach Episode!! Fun look at a big tournament and a trip to the water park

[becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to know what is happening with this manga bc like WHAT WAS THE FINAL FEW PAGES?!?

NEED VOL.3 ASAP

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

[Joseph R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

To improve their standing in the Magic: The Gathering world, teens Kano and Sawatari go with their local MTG store owners to Tokyo during summer break to play at the DCI Tournament Center. The center has MTG tournaments all the time. The only downside is that the center is full of adults, a bit off-putting for the teens. Kano finds another youngster, Yakumo Suwabara, at a table by himself. He strikes up a conversation and they play a casual game where Kano easily defeats Suwabara. Once the contest is started, Sawatari and Suwabara are paired off. Suwabara is a bit nervous to play a pretty girl but he plays well because he was just using a "fun deck" earlier. The tournament ends with an unacknowledged love triangle between Kano, Suwabara, and Sawatari. The drama plays out from there.

The plot moves in an expected direction. The characters are charming enough to keep it engaging. The Japanese world of MTG is interesting to see, though I really know nothing about the American world of MTG, so it is all new to me. The game play is depicted well, imagining the monsters from the cards attacking opponents. Kano and Sawatari's slow blossoming romance is fun to see. I look forward to the next volume.

Recommended.

[Vail Chester · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I told a coworker how this story about the main character loses his children's card games more often than winning, she said, "Oh! Like Yu-gi-oh but from Joey Wheeler's perspective!"
...
Hard to argue with that.

As our deuteragonists discover the wider world of MTG tournaments (and how much they need to git gud!), they also discover their feelings for each other growing despite the many issues plaguing their already shaky relationship. Culminating in a bold move for the dude to yell at her from under her balcony to study hard, get ungrounded, and come back to him so they can hang out more...ONLY FOR AN INEXPLICABLE TIMESKIP WITH THE GIRL REMINISCING ABOUT THE GOOD OL' DAYS?!
I don't have a mighty need to read the next volume, since if this volume was any indication they completely forgot about the whole Nostradamus-world-ending-prophecy-so-just-live-more aspect and the Magic the Gathering play & references also got reduced (but OMG that joke expansion sounds absolutely hilarious! Somebody who was in the scene at that time tell me that those Unglued cards really were THAT unhinged!)

[Shiritaku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Band war richtig spannend, man hat das Magic-Feeling richtig gemerkt und auch gefühlt!! Hab extrem mitgefiebert! ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

Es gab auch wieder einige witzige Momente - auch das Hajime nicht checkt, dass der neue Charakter ein Mädchen ist und er somit doch etwas auf "ihn" eifersüchtig wird.. 🤭
Natürlich bahnt sich so langsam auch ein wenig eine Romanze an, das konnte man sich eigentlich ja anfangs auch schon denken (deswegen seh ich das jetzt nicht als Spoiler an).
Gab viele schöne Momente, bei denen mein Herz auch aufging 🫶 der Schluss war dann aber sehr abrupt und hab ich in der Form nicht mit gerechnet! 😱

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our leads attend a large tournament in Shibuya. They're starting to see each other differently.

[DW]

Super cute. I'm in for the entire series for sure.

[Frank Jarome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still fun, but I guess I underestimated the amount of teenage melodrama it was going to contain. That’s not really my jam. That ending, though… now you have my attention.

[Belle Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally binged Vol 1 & 2 in one sitting and had so much fun. The story is SO cute & it revolves around a card game I love. 5/5 stars, no notes.😍🙌🏻🫶🏻

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and fun. Filled with nostalgia for a time I didn't play Magic in, but hits the same vibes I had as a kid.

[Jasmine Amoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the ending. The Unhinged mtg cards made so many laughs for me and seeing just how silly they would look on release day! It was a definite "you had to be there" moment

[Viktor Malych · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun manga about Magic the Gathering in the 90s, steeped in nostalgia and the feel of the time. Surprisingly cute romance too!

[Cara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Useless pool scene for nothing but boob shots...come on. What does that to do with card games??

[Dair · Rating 4 out of 5]

More interesting than volume number one. We get to know our characters better and add in some new people. Very sweet and fun.

[Bill Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoying this story, about a nerdy guy who is hanging out with the popular girl, who is trying to keep her obsession with Magic The Gathering secret from the rest of school.

[Catdaga Coughlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encantó, pero... ¿la sexualización innecesaria de Ito sobretodo en la parte de la piscina?
La trama no va de nada erótico. ¡Dejad de poner escenas para los incels en los mangas!