SEAN: A lot. A whole lot.
Kodansha has some print manga delights. We get a 6th Aho-Girl, a 2nd Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, and a 4th To Your Eternity.
ASH: I’ll definitely be picking up To Your Eternity. The series is certainly heartwrenching at time, but it’s very well done.
ANNA: Bought but haven’t read the first volume of this so I am already hopelessly behind.
SEAN: There’s also a box set collecting manga Vols. 1-4 of Attack on Titan, or Season One as they’re calling it.
On the digital front, the debut this week is Defying Kurosaki-kun (Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai), a Betsufure shoujo title about (sigh) a plain girl at a high school who ends up in a love triangle between a princely guy and a super sadist type. I may try it, but it sounds not my bag.
MICHELLE: Yeah. Not really into super sadists, personally.
MJ: Ugh. Lots of ugh.
SEAN: There’s also a 5th Beauty Bunny, a 7th Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, a 4th My Brother the Shut-In, a 5th PTSD Radio, and a 6th Until Your Bones Rot.
MICHELLE: I think Beauty Bunny also involves a jerk who called the lead girl ugly before “transforming” her via makeup. No, thanks.
MJ: MORE UGH.
SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the 2nd Perfect Blue novel, Awaken from a Dream.
ASH: I’m glad to see this being released! It’s a collection of stories that take place in the same setting as the original Perfect Blue.
SEAN: They’ve also got a 4th volume of Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, a 3rd Hatsune Miku’s Everyday Vocaloid Paradise, a 2nd Made in Abyss, a 7th Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and we have somehow reached double digits for Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn.
ASH: I’ve been enjoying Dimensional Voyage. I’m looking forward to the release of the original Captain Harlock, too.
SEAN: Vertical gives us the 2nd volume in Nisioisin’s Zaregoto novels, Strangulation: Kubishime Romanticist. This was released by Del Rey about 10 years ago, so is nice to have. Will they continue the series? I suspect sales will determine that.
Vertical also has an 11th Witchcraft Works.
Viz gives us a 5th volume (digital only) of élDLIVE, whose formatting always makes me cry.
And Yen. SO MUCH YEN. Let’s start with the ongoing light novels. There’s a 6th Asterisk War, which has finished its (first?) tournament arc. Baccano! has a 7th volume, the 2nd of a two-parter. The Devil Is a Part-Timer! is at Vol. 10, and there’s a 5th KonoSuba. Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers remains one of the few print-only Yen On titles with Vol. 4, Sword Art Online hits lucky 13, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is at Vol. 2.
There are two debuts, and we’ll begin with the less silly one. I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level. Yes, I promise, that is the less silly one. Notable for a female protagonist, but it is an isekai with an overpowered hero(ine). That said, I hear the mood is meant to be “relaxed”.
And we also have the apex of silly light novels coming out, at least until the hot spring one gets licensed. Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon is exactly what it sounds, and I hope it will succeed on pure moxie, because come on. Really? REALLY?
MICHELLE: Hahaha. I would like to see the adventures of a wandering vending machine depicted in manga form.
ASH: Sometimes a premise is just so ridiculous I can’t help but take a look despite genre fatigue.
MJ: I feel like I have to check this out just to witness it for myself.
SEAN: Yen also has a giant pile of manga, which I will divide into three. First, ongoing manga titles not based on light novels. Akame Ga KILL! 14, Aoharu x Machinegun 10, Gabriel Dropout 3, Kiniro Mosaic 6, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 9, Murcielago 6, Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi 10 (this is its final volume), a 4th Sekirei omnibus, the second Silver Spoon (Manga Bookshelf folks breathe a sigh of relief that they at least get something to pick this week), Taboo Tattoo 10, Today’s Cerberus 8, Val x Love 2, and the 8th Yowamushi Pedal omnibus.
MICHELLE: Hooray for Nozaki-kun, Silver Spoon, and Yowamushi Pedal! I’ll also be picking up the final Of the Red… volume, but although I kept up with this series, I never really fell in love with it.
ASH: Ditto what Michelle said! And if I’m honest, I’ll probably be picking up Murcielago, too.
MJ: Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon!
SEAN: There are also new manga titles. We have As Miss Beelzebub Likes (Beelzebub-jou no Oki ni Mesu mama), a 4-koma where the demon lord is not quite as expected. It’s a Shonen Gangan title.
We also see the debut of Napping Princess, a manga adaptation (it ran in Newtype) of the novel that’s based on the anime. It’s this year’s The Boy and the Beast, I think? And I would wager is about a princess. Napping may also be involved.
There are also a lot of manga based on light novels. We see A Certain Magical Index 13, The Honor Student at Magic High School 8, Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia 3, Magical Girl Raising Project 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 8, Overlord 6, and the 3rd volume of Re: Zero’s 3rd arc.
Not as much banter this time as there were simply too many titles to discuss. Are you getting any of them?
To Your Eternity is my must! I only just got in and quickly devoured vol 3, and I’m glad that I still love it with each new volume!
Seven Seas, I’ll need Made in Abyss and Mushoku Tensei.
I’m behind on collecting them, but I’d like to get Akame ga Kill, Yowamushi Pedal, and Aoharu X Machinegun, when I can. And I’ll also need Re:Zero and A Certain Magical Index (also a bit behind on them, but Re:Zero’s manga release is strange and hectic, with both part 2 and part 3 being released simultaneously, which is kind of silly since it’s not like Higurashi, part 3 directly continues on from part 2, but I guess they just wanted to pump more out there).