Manga the Week of 12/20/17

SEAN: Are you ready? 3-2-1 let’s jam.

MICHELLE: *cracks knuckles in a preparatory fashion*

ASH: Get everybody and the stuff together, because there’s a lot of it!

KATE: There is SO MUCH MANGA that even I had to chime in.

SEAN: We start with Bookwalker, who has the second volume of their light novel The Combat Baker and the Automaton Waitress. I felt it was a good series for them to pick up (certainly better than their other LN series), and will be getting this volume.

J-Novel Club has the 4th volume of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, which remains the top choice for those who like overpowered isekai and take it Very Seriously Indeed.

Kodansha has many, many things, both digital and print, which I will tackle alphabetically, starting with a 4th All Out!!.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: Attack on Titan has a big change coming with the 23rd volume, one that (like everything Attack on Titan has ever done) has gotten a mixed reaction.

Cardcaptor Sakura remains one of CLAMP’s most beloved franchise, despite age, appalling Nelvana dubs, and Tsubasa World Chronicle. Now we finally get a sequel with Clear Card, which apparently picks up where the old series left off. I will give it a shot, though I warn you I’m mostly reading for Tomoyo.

MICHELLE: This has been available digitally for a while, and I read it in that format. It’s a cute start, and I loved seeing Kero-chan again.

MJ: I’m obviously on board for this.

ANNA: I enjoy early CLAMP, and am leery of recent CLAMP. That being said, due to my love of Cardcaptor Sakura, I will check this out.

ASH: Same! I really do love Cardcaptor Sakura, though.

SEAN: DEATHTOPIA has its 7th and penultimate volume coming out next week.

And there’s also a 4th volume of Elegant Yokai Apartment Life.

If you haven’t yet picked up Ghost in the Shell’s hardcover deluxe editions, why not get them in a handy box set?

We’ve caught up with Japan for Happiness, so it’s nice to see a 6th volume drop.

ASH: I need to catch up with this series, myself!

KATE: The last volume of Happiness had a big time jump and shift in emphasis — something that worked surprisingly well, and and promoted one of the most interesting (and resourceful) supporting characters to a leading role.

SEAN: Inuyashiki comes to an end with its 10th and final volume. It’s always been a bit too weird for me, but then I felt the same way about Gantz.

Kasane has an 8th volume of suspense and horror.

The digital debut next week is The Prince’s Black Poison, a Betsufure romance that honestly sounds like exactly the sort of title I avoid, but what the hey. Recommended for those who like handsome manipulative men. It’s by the author of Gakuen Prince, which was also very much filled with those.

MICHELLE: Oh dear.

ANNA: Feeling sort of meh on this.

SEAN: And Real Girl has a 9th volume of whatever it is Real Girl does, besides remind me how many of these Kodansha digital titles I have yet to sample.

Say “I Love You” has come to its 18th and final volume. Despite the occasional overdose of melodrama, I greatly enjoyed this series, and am happy to see the conclusion after a long wait (we had, again, caught up with Japan).

MICHELLE: I’ve been awaiting this release for a long time!

SEAN: If you haven’t picked up A Silent Voice’s 7 volumes, Kodansha has a box set for you! (Both this and the Ghost in the Shell box are clearly meant for Christmas purchases.)

Speaking of the author of A Silent Voice, we’re getting a 2nd To Your Eternity next week as well.

ASH: Definitely picking this one up. The first volume was very good and surprising in ways that I didn’t expect.

KATE: What Ash said; To Your Eternity is definitely on my short list of Best Sci-Fi manga of 2017.

SEAN: A 6th Tsuredure Children has more 4-koma romance.

And Until Your Bones Rot has a 3rd volume of what is, let’s face it, NOT 4-koma romance.

Seven Seas is next. Arpeggio of Blue Steel is up to its 12th volume, and I’m still really interested in it, which is surprising given it’s about a bunch of cute girls who are really boats.

There’s also a 3rd “not Alice in the Country of Hearts, but the next best thing” series Captive Hearts of Oz.

Unlucky it may be, but the fact that Magical Girl Apocalypse has gotten to Vol. 13 means it’s popular as well.

Seven Seas is starting to pick up light novels that aren’t J-Novel Club print editions, and we begin with Monster Girl Doctor, whose title speaks for itself, though I’m not sure how this falls on the scale between ‘fetishey’ and ‘spooky’ monster girls.

And if that’s too millennial for you, how about a series from the 1980s? We get the first in the Record of Lodoss Wars novels, The Grey Witch, in a fancy hardcover edition.

MJ: It’s hard for me to dismiss something from the 80s…

ASH: It really is fancy! I’m looking forward to giving the Lodoss novels a try.

SEAN: Chi’s Sweet Coloring Book is a spinoff from Vertical featuring lots and lots of pictures of Chi to color.

Speaking of cats, Nekomonogatari (Black): Cat Tale is the first of a two-part set in the Monogatari series that finally resolves most of Tsubasa Hanekawa’s ongoing issues.

And there’s also a 4th Flying Witch.

Viz gives us a 3rd Golden Kamuy, which I suspect will have a bit less cooking and a bit more life-threatening violence this time around, but who knows?

ASH: I plan on finding out!

KATE: I seem to be stalking you through this week’s column, Ash! I’m butting in to say GOLDEN KAMUY IS AWESOME. I think Asirpa deserves her own damn series. Heck, it could be a cooking manga and I’d read it.

SEAN: If you want to get someone something terrifying for Christmas, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Shiver, a collection of stories selected by the author, Junji Ito.

ASH: I’m always happy to see more Ito being released! This collection should be great.

KATE: Nothing says “Deck the halls” than a little Junji Ito, I always say.

SEAN: And if you want to give some yuri manga, there’s a 2nd Sweet Blue Flowers omnibus.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ANNA: Behind on this already but I’m gonna read it!

ASH: You absolutely should! I’m so glad this series is finally getting the treatment it deserves in English.

SEAN: Lastly (for Viz only, trust me – we’re not even halfway), we have the 2nd Tokyo Ghoul: re.

And now on to Yen Press, pausing only to scream until our throats are raw and we are coughing up blood. (pause) There we go. Onward.

First off, we have the digital-only titles. Aphorism 13 is the second to last volume, and is for fans of survival manga.

Corpse Princess is up to its 14th volume, but it still has a long way to go. It should appeal to fans of fanservice and zombies.

And Saki 13 means we’re close to catching up, but that’s an ongoing series, so no worries there either. Recommended to those who like mahjong and breasts, not in that order.

On the Yen On side, we finish the digital catch-up for Accel World (9-11) and Irregular at Magic High School (5).

There’s also a new digital release of an older, pre-Yen On title. Kieli was a 2009 series of novels about a girl who can see ghosts, and it had an associated manga as well. Yen now has the digital rights to the novels, so we get the first one next week.

There are also a GIANT number of ongoing and new light novels in print. We get a 12th Accel World, which is in the midst of Haruyuki dealing with another mysterious threat.

The Asterisk War’s 5th volume wraps up its tournament arc, I believe… or should I say, it’s first tournament arc.

Baccano! starts a new 2-volume arc taking place in 1933 and subtitled The Slash. This first volume will show us what happened to that Mexican stereotype of an assassin from the Drug & the Dominoes book.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 9 has far less part-time work than expected, as the devil has returned to his homeland to rescue Emi and Alas Ramus.

Goblin Slayer 4 will feature what sounds like a collection of short stories judging from the description. And probably goblins being slayed.

The Irregular at Magic High School’s 6th volume starts a new arc called the Yokohama Disturbance Arc, which I think was the final arc adapted for the anime.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? asks the same question again, only this time it’s Monsters. Bell says no, others think differently. Vol. 10 drops next week.

KonoSuba’s 4th volume has the inevitable Hot Springs arc.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has a 3rd volume, and I must admit if the storyline is “who’s the traitor” I may bail.

The first light novel debut is The Saga of Tanya the Evil, which is another isekai. A Japanese HR manager with a cold, ruthless reputation is killed, and then reincarnated by God. Not with the best intentions, though – God dislikes his logical attitude and so puts him in a world where magic exists and there is constant warfare. Oh, and he’s in the body of a little girl.

Sword Art Online has reached a dozen volumes, and we’re still in the midst of the epic Alicization arc. We finally see Alice again, but is she brainwashed? Can Kirito and Eugeo save her?

The other light novel debut this month already has its manga coming out from Kodansha, and is the 2nd of the three ‘ridiculous’ light novels Yen licensed recently. That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime arrives next week.

We’re nearly at the end! Only 28 more titles to go! And they’re all Yen Press. We start with a 6th volume of spinoff Akame Ga KILL! ZERO.

Angels of Death is a survival manga with psychological overtimes, which comes from the oddball Comic Gene. I’m not sure what to think of it.

An 8th Aoharu x Machinegun is shipping next week.

And a 5th Bungo Stray Dogs will give us literary references galore.

Light novel adaptations galore! Starting with a 4th manga of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody.

Dragons Rioting has a 9th volume, which is also its final volume.

If you like the idea of Goblin Slaying but hate prose, I have good news, the first volume of Goblin Slayer is for you.

I know little about Graineliers except it’s from GFantasy, it has two male leads, and it’s not BL but feels like it should be.

MJ: Did you say GFantasy? Count me in!

ASH: It’s also by Rihito Takarai (of Ten Count fame) so I’m very curious to see how this series develops. If nothing else, the artwork should be great.

SEAN: Manga based on an unlicensed light novel, part one: the 10th volume of High School DxD.

Manga based on an unlicensed light novel, part two: the 8th and final volume of How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.

After a year’s hiatus, the Kagerou Daze manga picks up again with Vol. 7, and should be arriving more regularly from now on. For light novel fans, the story here is different from the LN (and indeed the Mekakucity Actors anime.)

A 5th Kiniro Mosaic gives you vague yuri galore.

If you liked the idea of Magical Girls dying tragically but hate prose… well, you know. Magical Girl Raising Project, now in manga form.

The 11th Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan is the last, which I’m pretty sure means there are no current ongoing projects for this franchise, be it anime, manga, spinoff manga, spinoff anime, or the original novels. We should take off our hats and mourn the end of an era.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected gets a 7th manga volume, though I’m not sure which novel volume it’s adapting.

No Matter How Much I… sigh. WataMote gives us an 11th volume. Sorry, I’m exhausted.

Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi ends with its 9th volume, though I believe there is a Volume 10 with side/after stories.

ASH: Another series that I’ve been enjoying but need to catch up on!

MICHELLE: Aha! I had been thinking it was complete in 9, and then recently noticed there’s actually a tenth. Nice to have an explanation for that!

SEAN: One Week Friends is a Gangan Joker title about a cute friendship and the amnesia that threatens to tear it apart.

Re: Zero finishes its adaptation of the 2nd arc with the 4th A Week at the Mansion volume.

Rose Guns Days has a 2nd volume of its 3rd arc.

School-Live! does not come to an end with this 9th volume per se, but I think the series is on hiatus right now, so this may be the last for some time.

And a 3rd Smokin’ Parade arrives as well.

I enjoyed the first novel of So I’m a Spider, So What?, though am curious as to how a book that’s half internal dialogue will translate to manga. We’ll see with this first manga volume.

Strike the Blood’s manga has a Vol. 9, which, like the light novels, has Yukina and only Yukina on each cover.

Sword Art Online has the manga adaptation of the Calibur arc complete in one volume. It’s a great arc if you like the supporting cast, who all play a role – for the last time to date, in fact.

If you feel that yokai manga have gotten too serious lately, you should enjoy A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, a GFantasy title that is terminally ridiculous.

ASH: Yokai comedy, you say? Count me in!

Umineko When They Cry begins its 7th arc, Requiem of the Golden Witch. Battler is nowhere to be found. Nor is Beatrice. Instead meet Kinzo’s heir Lion Ushiromiya. Oh, did I mention this first omnibus is 826 pages?

Lastly (yes, I promise, we are at the end), there’s a 7th omnibus of Yowamushi Pedal, which should be SUPER EXCITING.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: I know I’m excited!

SEAN: (falls over) So are you getting everything on this list, or just most of it?