Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Latest Picks

LATEST FEATURES, ESSAYS, COLUMNS, ROUNDTABLES, & REVIEWS

By , , , and

Manga the Week of 10/27/21

SEAN: BOO! ASH: Aaah! MICHELLE: Ack! ANNA: EEK! MELINDA: … erk? SEAN: We start with Yen On, which has The Detective Is Already Dead 2, the 15th KonoSuba, and Solo Leveling 3. ASH: I really ought to give Solo Leveling a try before I get too far behind. Two new series from Yen Press. The first is the manga version of I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, whose light novel came out earlier this month. The other is Never Open It: The Taboo Trilogy, a short story collection by famed creator Ken Niimura. ASH: I am so excited for this one! I really enjoy Niimura’s work. ANNA: This looks interesting. SEAN: Also from Yen: Gabriel Dropout 10, Mint Chocolate 4, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As…

Read More

By

An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, Vol. 12

By Fuminori Teshima and COMTA. Released in Japan as “Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii?” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki. Usually when I’m reading books that I’m going to be reviewing I try to come up with a theme for the review so that it doesn’t end up just being me babbling on for 500 words. (Sometimes I can’t, as longtime readers who have read my babble know.) With this volume of Archdemon’s Dilemma, watching everyone suddenly obsessed with birthdays, it was going to be about how this series tries to balance out the cute romance aspect of it with the much darker plot and backstory part, and how that can be difficult…

Read More

By

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, Vol. 4

By Yu Shimizu and Asagi Tosaka. Released in Japan as “Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai” by MF Bunko J. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Roman Lampert. There’s a lot of things to love about found family situations, but one of my favorites is that everyone seems to know that everyone else has *a* secret, but doesn’t know what it is, and doesn’t really care. That’s shown off to good effect here, as everyone in our main cast seems to be hiding something. Leonis is a Demon Lord, of course, which only Riselia knows, but the others clearly know he’s not just a normal 10-year-old prodigy. Riselia, of course, has to hide that she’s now basically a vampire queen. Regina and Elfine both have their secrets, though…

Read More

By

Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Vol. 4

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia. The author promises a lot more slow life to come, which is good, because this volume absolutely did not have it. That’s not unexpected, given the end of the previous volume, but yes, this book wraps up almost all the plots that we had flailing around. Indeed, it was supposed to be the final book in the series, but, well, you know how it is. Fortunately the author is also good at writing desperate battles in underground caves, which is what a good 75% of this is. The Hero’s…

Read More

By

Holmes of Kyoto, Vol. 6

By Mai Mochizuki and Shizu Yamauchi. Released in Japan by Futabasha. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Minna Lin. After five books that are essentially interlocked short story collections, this volume is the first to have one story for the entire book. It has a lot that it’s trying to do at once. Holmes and Aoi are now a couple (her 18th birthday comes at the very end of this book, though these two are not going to be getting more intimate anytime soon), and are negotiating contact and embarrassment. Someone is stealing a bunch of minor pieces of art, the only connection between them seemingly being a link with Buddhism. And Komatsu, the detective we saw in a previous volume, tries to go to Holmes for…

Read More

By

My Love Mix-Up! Vol 1

My Love Mix-Up Volume 1 by Wataru Hinekure and Aruko I was curious about My Love Mix-Up since I’m always up for a new shoujo series and Aruko illustrated the astoundingly good My Love Story!!. While this new series doesn’t have the innate hilarity of My Love Story!!, it is a light, warm-hearted unconventional love triangle with protagonists who are all kind to each other. Aoki has a long-term crush on Hashimoto, the girl who sits next to him in class. On a fateful day he borrows her eraser and sees the name of another boy, Ida, with a heart symbol next to it. When Aoki drops the eraser and Ida picks it up, Ida assumes that Aoki has a crush on him. Aoki plays along with this assumption because…

Read More

By

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 3

By Reia and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Koushaku Reijou no Tashinami” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andria Cheng. You can try to take the otome game aspect of your book out of the book, but it still might be coming back regardless. As I said back with the first volume, this feels very much like a book that wanted to just be political intrigue, but Villainess stories were blowing up, so this is an easy way to tie it into that fad. But the author has done a good job of tying it in regardless. Iris may have escaped the fate she had in the game, and also escaped being excommunicated in the last volume, but that doesn’t mean that danger…

Read More

By

The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious, Vol. 7

By Light Tuchihi and Saori Toyota. Released in Japan as “Kono Yuusha Ga Ore TUEEE Kuse Ni Shinchou Sugiru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Matt Rutsohn. And so, after a series that should have ended with the second volume keeps going, and manages to do a three-book arc that mostly justified its continuation, we get the conclusion of this two-book arc where it all falls apart. I’m not sure if I blame the author as much as the publisher. You may have an anime coming out, and a cameo in Isekai Quartet, but that doesn’t mean that a series should continue when it’s run out of things to do with the premise. When that sort of thing happens, you only have two choices:…

Read More

By , , , and

Manga the Week of 10/20/21

SEAN: As we inch ever closer to Halloween, beware of the manga yokai, which look like Shonen Jump volumes but lure children to their doom. ASH: I absolutely believe this tale to be true. MELINDA: Okay, I lol’d. SEAN: Airship has two print light novel debuts. We get print versions of The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe and The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real!. ASH: Looking forward to giving The Haunted Bookstore a try now that it’ll be in print! SEAN: Also in print (and same-day digital): Monster Girl Doctor 8. Early digital volumes include Adachi and Shimamura 7, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Lily’s Miracle (a side-story), and Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life…

Read More

More Features & Reviews