SEAN: April continues, as does the inundation of manga. Let’s get down to business.
Ghost Ship debuts World’s End Harem. It’s about a post-apocalyptic future that’s killed nearly all the men in the world, and about a man who thus needs to impregnate as many women as he can. Needless to say, this being a mature manga and not a hentai manga, he stays true to his (missing) love and tries to find a cure rather than, say, having tons of sex. I suspect the main audience of this title will be annoyed by this, but hey.
Haikasoru has a 6th Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel.
MICHELLE: Woot. I noticed that the release schedule for these seems to have sped up a bit (unless I am imagining things). We’ll also be getting volumes seven and eight this year.
ASH: That does seem to be the plan!
SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us a 3rd volume of Outbreak Company.
They also have two debuts. Infinite Stratos is a series that most folks assumed would have been licensed years ago – in fact, most of its innovations have been done to death by other series. We’ll see if it can succeed after all this time.
There’s also The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!, an isekai where an already practicing magician gets summoned to a world… and decides not to bother saving it just yet.
Kodansha gives us a slate of digital-only titles. Cosplay Animal 5, DAYS 8, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 6, Giant Killing 12, and The Prince’s Black Poison 4.
MICHELLE: My sports-manga-loving heart is appeased.
SEAN: They also debut Peach Mermaid (Momoiro Ningyo), a Dessert title that makes me wonder if mermaids are the next hot new trend.
MICHELLE: Could be!
ANNA: OK!
ASH: Merfolk do seem to have become increasingly popular/common over the last few years.
SEAN: On the print side, we’ve got a 2nd Again!!, a 6th Descending Stories, the 2nd and final Fairy Tail S, and the 5th That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime manga adaptation.
MICHELLE: I’m definitely looking forward to the first two.
ASH: Yes, definitely!! I was also amused by the beginning of That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime, though I’ve certainly fallen behind with that series.
SEAN: The print debut (it’s also digital) is Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku (Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii), notable (at least to me) for being the first non-Kodansha title released by Kodansha Comics. It’s an Ichijinsha series that runs in the little known Comic Pool, and has an otaku and a fujoshi meet up again years after they knew each other in school. Looking forward to this shoujo/josei-ish title.
MICHELLE: Me, too!
ANNA: Interesting…
ASH: I am also intrigued!
SEAN: One Peace has everyone’s favorite bear manga, Kuma Miko 8.
Seven Seas has a 2nd volume of the Magical Girl Doctor light novel, and a 3rd Spirit Circle.
ASH: Spirit Circle has been great, so far; looking forward to more.
SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd and final volume of Nisioisin’s weird psychological drama Imperfect Girl.
Viz has a 2nd Fire Punch, which will have to try hard to top the jaw-dropping atrocities of the first volume. They also give us a 4th Tokyo Ghoul: re.
Viz also debuts another Inio Asano title, one of the weirder ones even for an artist known for his eccentric titles. Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction asks what happens when you combine aliens, political warfare, slice-of-life schoolgirls, and Asano. The answer is fascinating.
ANNA: Hmmm. Well I’m guessing weird Asano is always worth checking out.
ASH: Definitely! (And for those who may not already be aware, Asano will be visiting North America next month for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.)
MJ: Hm, might check this out.
SEAN: And Yen Press has some more titles creeping into stores. We get the 2nd Baccano! manga adaptation, the 3rd volume of The Isolator manga adaptation, a 9th Kagerou Daze (yup, adaptation of novel), the second Goblin Slayer manga adaptation, and the 10th Strike the Blood manga adaptation. Somehow, in among all these light novel spinoffs, we also get a 6th volume of The Royal Tutor, which is NOT based on a light novel.
So? What are you getting? Huh? Huh?
Spirit Circle is a must! I like it more than Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, to be honest. I’ll also be needing Tokyo Ghoul: re, Fire Punch, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Again!!, probably the Baccano! manga, and the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novel. Especially because Sentai decided that only 1000 of the richest fans who can drop $800 in one go (and don’t live outside of the US, heaven forbid) can physically own the series on a US bluray. So I need to show my support for wanting to own it physically in any way that I can! And the novels are a pretty easy solution on this one. Just imagine, being super psyched about LoGH getting a physical release since summer 2015, only to get that bombshell dropped on you? I’d rather have had it remain unlicensed.
I’m not sold on Dead Dead Demon’s Dedede Destruction though, because I’ve honestly never liked anything Asano I’ve read so far. I guess I find him too…. hipster I guess? So I’ll take a pass on more Asano.
>In October 2016, Ichijinsha was acquired by Kodansha and became its wholly owned subsidiary.
So Wotakoi is technically owned by Kodansha! I’m glad that they’re doing a release since I feel other companies would release it months after the anime which doesn’t help the hype train on the series…
Oooh, a non-Yuri Ichijinsha title. It’s been a while. I might check it out if i have any pocket money left. Anyone know the translator?