Hotaru The Hyper Swindler Series Vol 4 -

But in this series, hope is just another variable to be manipulated. Hotaru the Hyper Swindler is serialized in Weekly Morning magazine since 2022. It has won the Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga (2024) and has a live-action adaptation in development at TBS.

It’s less immediately fun than Volume 2. There are fewer laugh-out-loud moments and more gut punches. But it’s also the most literary volume. Longtime fans will appreciate the callbacks—a minor character from Chapter 3 reappears as a wealthy patron; a con from Volume 1’s “phone scam” is referenced as a rookie mistake. hotaru the hyper swindler series vol 4

A brilliant side plot involves Hotaru trying to apologize to a victim from Volume 1—a elderly bookstore owner she conned out of a rare first edition. When she tracks him down, he doesn’t remember her. Or does he? The ambiguity is agonizing. This is not a redemption arc. It’s a reckoning. If Volume 1 was the origin story (the “how she learned to lie”), and Volume 2 was the world-building (the “Tokyo underground of grift”), and Volume 3 was the empire-strikes-back tragedy—then Volume 4 is the dark night of the soul before the final act. But in this series, hope is just another

New readers should absolutely not start here. The emotional beats depend on your investment in Nezu, The Auditor, and Hotaru’s fractured psyche. Start from Volume 1. You’ll thank yourself. The English translation by the Nibley sisters is superb. Japanese honorifics are preserved where necessary (“Nezu-san” carries weight), but idioms are smartly localized. When Hotaru says, “I’m not a fox. I’m the whole henhouse,” it lands perfectly. The one critique? A few of the hacking terms feel slightly dated (a reference to “tapping fiber optics” instead of more modern exploits), but given the series’ timeline is deliberately ambiguous, it’s forgivable. Final Verdict: Is Hotaru the Hyper Swindler Series Vol 4 Worth It? Rating: 9.2/10 It’s less immediately fun than Volume 2

The subtitle of this volume (in the Japanese edition) is “Uso no Naka no Shinjitsu” — “Truth Within the Lie.” The central question isn’t whether Hotaru can swindle her enemies. It’s whether she can stop swindling herself.

It’s absurd. It’s brilliant. And it perfectly encapsulates the series’ thesis: The best way to fight a broken system is to break it better. Renji Fukunaga’s art has always been sharp, but Vol 4 elevates it. The character designs remain expressive—Hotaru’s eyes shift from saucer-wide innocence to razor-thin menace in a single panel. However, the real evolution is in the panel layouts.

For fans who have waited patiently (or impatiently) since the cliffhanger of Volume 3, the question isn’t whether this volume delivers—it’s whether you’ll be able to trust your own eyes by the final page. Let’s break down everything you need to know about the latest installment. Before diving into Volume 4, it’s crucial to remember the wreckage of Volume 3. Hotaru—the hyper-competent, hyper-anxious, hyper-charismatic swindler—had just executed her riskiest con yet: infiltrating the “Kaminari Zaibatsu,” a family-run electronics empire laundering money through cryptocurrency. She succeeded in siphoning ¥3 billion, but at a cost. Her partner-in-crime, the stoic hacker known only as “Nezu,” was seemingly captured. Worse, her secret identity was compromised to a mysterious new antagonist known as "The Auditor"—a forensic accountant with a vendetta against con artists.