Afterschool Charisma #8

Volume 8 of Kumiko Suekane's *Afterschool Charisma* presents a confident, grinning young man in a crisp military-style uniform, one hand raised in a salute — identified on the cover as Ikkyū Sōjun (1394–1481) — while a shadowy, more ominous figure looms in the background behind him. The contrast between the character's bright, almost carefree bravado and the dark presence at his back gives this 2013 Ki-oon release an irresistible tension before you've even opened the cover.