Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-80.132.99.68-20150329114408/@comment-918376-20160415054942

Well, thing is, between volumes 8-11, Mamare's had to deal with a tax evasion scandal and the investigations/charges revolving around that. I'm assuming that he's had less time to work on LH/more distracted from it as a result. Besides, this isn't really even "slow" for him, considering that there was a two-year break between volumes 5 and 6.

Also, volumes 9 and 10 don't drag at all. It picks the pace back up from volume 8, since they establish the introduction of our "main antagonists" that are only hinted at in volume 8.

When Mamare was asked during one of the interviews, he mentioned that he's already figured out how the story will end and how many volumes he would take to reach that ending (15, and then side-stories; I don't know if volumes 9 and 11 count as main volumes or as side-stories). So unless executive meddling extends the series, Mamare knows what he's writing and what pace the story's going at.