Pick of the Week: Outside the Box

MJ: Midtown’s list is pretty limited, and though Sean’s roundup includes more, I’m going to stray off of both lists and go with Amazon, who tells me we’ll get the second volume of Paradise Kiss this week, in its lovely new edition from Vertical. I had a few reservations about the English adaptation in Vertical’s first omnibus, but those are squashed by volume two, which is really just fantastic from start to finish. I’ve been a fan of this series for a long time, and have reread it more than once, yet this gorgeous edition still manages to bring out new highlights, especially in this volume. It’s well worth picking up, for old fans and new!

MICHELLE: I am sorry to say that there’s nothing on Midtown’s list that particularly appeals to me. However, Sean’s list provides some more likely offerings. Of them, I’m going to have to go with Kekkaishi, which finally reaches its 35th and final volume. I’ve been hoarding this series for some time, and look forward to using some holiday vacation time to immerse myself in it at long last!

SEAN: This week seems to feature a lot of series I pretty much enjoy, but nothing I’m absolutely over the moon over. Some decent Jump, some decent comedy, some decent horror. As a result, I’ll take my chance and pick a short story collection by Kaoru Mori, Anything and Something. I admit I have some trouble getting into Mori’s mild style a lot of the time, but then I have the same issues with Natsume Ono and like several of her series. I’m hoping that the switch to shorter stories will help me to appreciate what everyone else loves about this artist (aside from the gorgeous art, which trust me has already enraptured me.) and that this collection will be a winner.

ANNA: If we are veering off lists, I am going to veer even further and choose as my pick the anime adaptation of Rose of Versailles, now streaming on Viki. I long for the day that we have the manga translated here, but I will console myself with watching all the fencing, cross dressing, and aristocratic scheming in the anime.

Readers, what looks good to you this week?