This volume was just as good as the first one, with the added bonus of interesting bits of plot. I'm curious about Shade and Ice, mostly because we haven't been told the details about the "betrayal" yet. The best part tho are the dynamics between characters and surprisingly (or maybe predictably) my favourite is the "enemies forced to work together" trope between Peony and Shade. Peony is becoming my fave and her banter and murderous attitude towards Shade is just soooo fun! And the addition to her idol childhood friend is amazing, not to mention the fact that he joins the rooster of magical girls! (Or magical boys, I guess). I didn't expect it but I loved it.
Maybe the most surprising part for me is that the relationship I feel less invested in is the most relevant one: Shade and Tanpopo. I like both characters a lot (love Shade's sarcastic nature and Tanpopo's steadfast and stubborn belief in saving everyone) and I usually enjoy the "evil dark one will protect the sunshine with their life", but there's just something that didn't click. Maybe it's because we don't know exactly why Shade is so protective of maybe because the stakes never feel too high, since everything tends to resolve almost too well. I would say that's a weakness of this work: I don't mind if during the battle every hero appears exactly at the right time (on the contrary, I get excited every time), but every fight resolves in a perfect happy ending with no injuries and that's a little too "clean" for me. We'll see how the story progresses.
After the plot and the characters, I HAVE TO talk about the artwork because some panels are stunning. The fight scenes are incredible and i love the character design of everyone: Ice is both beautiful and haunting, the contrast between Peony's and Dandelion's style is great storytelling, Blue Eyes gets an amazing costume and transformation scene. I also love how the author doesn't shy away from the very shonen-like habit of beating her protagonist bloody and once again Dandelion's eyes carry a lot of the emotional tension felt every chapter. The art alone could've made this a 5 star read.