Thank you to Netgalley and Viz Media for an advanced digital copy of Destroy All Humans: They Can't Be Regenerated Volume 2.

This volume picks up from the last volume with out main characters Hajime and Emi going to a Magic: The Gathering tournament. In this volume we get introduced to a new character. Both Hajime and Emi lose in the tournament to our new character, and I can't wait and hope to see more of these three together in later volumes.

One thing I will note, I was caught off guard with the few pages that include some fanservice towards the beginning of this volume. While I was reading those few pages, I was a bit worries that this series might take a turn and not end up fitting with the teen manga collection at the library I work at. Since it is only a few pages I will keep it in the teen collection for now. Unfortunately it we keep getting more fanservice in this series I may need to pull it and give the volumes to my coworker to move to our adult manga collection.

Besides all of that, this volume was a lot of fun. More cards, more battles, and a few pages with Unglued MTGs joke set. This series does a good job on the early years of MTG and I can't wait to see where we go next story wise with Hajime and Emi.

Picking up from the last volume with Hajime and Emi at the tournament, this second volume maintains a brisk pace, though it is rather divided though the middle by the transition between two arcs. The portrait of 90s Japan recedes into the background somewhat, to make way for the two threads of Hajime and Emi evolving as Magic: The Gathering duelists and as friends with perhaps the possibility of something more. This later plot is unfolded with the same competence, albeit with the same lack of originality as in the previous volume. A new character is introduced early in the volume who may be leading towards some interesting dynamics, or may this just as well be leading towards a fairly predictable resolution of the current plot arc. Fanservice and humorous rendered-inarticulate-by-the-sexy moments are also more common in this volume, something that may also be seen as pulling energy from the central foci.

The portrait of the 90s Magic: The Gathering scene remains the most interesting element, dealing with the named deck structures, ultra rare card trivia, M:TG’s early internet presence, and one great scene with the characters playing Unglued, M:TG’s first joke set.

The series still delivers well on its premise as a manga about the early years of Magic: The Gathering, but remains weak on most other points.

Published by Viz Media and available January 14, 2025, Destroy All Humans. continues in its second English volume (in Japan they're up to 16 volumes, as it's been going since 2018). I reviewed the first volume previously, and as a Magic: The Gathering fan, I really enjoy this series. In fact, it's my favorite new license of 2024. The second volume has more cards, more battles, and, surprisingly, fanservice (which makes me worried that maybe it won't be suitable for the teen collection, but I digress). This volume also introduces a new character and deepens the relationship between the main characters Hajime and Emi, and it looks like the rest of the series will be just as good as the first two entries.