SEAN: Most of the rest of Yen is next week, though some got delayed to August. And lots of other publishers as well.
Dark Horse has the 3rd volume of Mob Psycho 100. Actually, that may have come out this week. Dark Horse release dates are ephemeral things.
MICHELLE: This is a pretty fun series.
ASH: I really like it so far!
SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 11.
J-Novel Club only has one release next week, but its title is so long it counts as three. Seriously Seeking Sister! Ultimate Vampire Princess Just Wants Little Sister – Plenty of Service Will Be Provided! (Tonikaku Imouto ga Hoshii Saikyou no Kyuuketsuki wa Mujikaku Gohoushichuu) is a one-volume light novel about a vampire princess and her desire for a cute little sister. It sounds dire, but who knows?
MICHELLE: Dire, indeed.
ANNA: I feel confident about forgetting this exists.
SEAN: Kodansha, in print, has UQ Holder 17.
Kodansha, digitally, has much much more. First, we have a debut, The Slime Diaries. This is a comedy spinoff of the Reincarnated as a Slime series.
ASH: I did enjoy much of the original series more than expected.
SEAN: Also debuting in volume form (individual chapters have been released previously) is Farewell, My Dear Cramer. A sports manga that’s a sequel to Sayonara Football (which got no attention over here) and by the creator of Your Lie in April (which certainly did), I’ve heard good things about it. Girls’ soccer, in case you were wondering.
MICHELLE: I hadn’t realized the history of this series or its creator. I was just, all, “Ooh, sports manga.”
ANNA: Did someone say sports manga?
ASH: Indeed!
SEAN: And we have new volumes for Asahi-sempai’s Favorite (5), Back Street Girls (12 and final), Domestic Girlfriend (19), Drowning Love (13), Hotaru’s Way (10), Kakafukaka (8), and My Boy in Blue (11). Kakafukaka is hard to read but highly underrated.
MICHELLE: Hooray for more digital josei!
ANNA: One day I might catch up….one day…..
SEAN: Seven Seas makes up for barely having any releases at the start of the month. Debuting is the manga version of My Next Life as a Villainess! All Routes Lead to Doom!, based on the light novel. I love Katarina, and want to see her in any format. (Also, anime next year!)
We also see D-Frag! 13, Fairy Tale Battle Royale 3, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 10 (print version), Harukana Receive 4, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 8, Mushoku Tensei’s light novel 2 (print) and 3 (digital), and the 4th Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General.
Sol Press announced something that’s out this week, but I wasn’t able to get it into last week’s MtWo so here it is. Two manga titles. How to Treat a Lady Knight Right (Ima made Ichido mo Onna Atsukaisareta Koto ga nai Jokishi wo Onna Atsukai Suru) runs in Kodansha’s Suiyoubi no Sirius, and is about a knight who’s always been seen as a muscley sort getting treated as an attractive women. She spends the next 3+ volumes of the manga looking shy and blushing heavily, from what I can tell. This screams “not for me”.
ASH: I mean, I’m definitely a fan of knights who are women, but…
SEAN: They also have The Ride-On King, from the creator of Golosseum, which is about a Putin with the serial numbers filed off and his adventures being awesome. It’s for those who want more titles like Golosseum or those who think Russia is awesome.
Vertical has the novel version of Voices of a Distant Star, subtitled Words of Love/Across the Stars. I seem to recall this wasn’t as depressing as the creator’s other movies. Slightly.
JY, Yen’s young adult line, has the Little Witch Academia light novel. Enjoy Akko being Akko in prose form as well!
ASH: I somehow missed or completely forgot that Yen has a young adult line???
SEAN: They also have the 4th Zo Zo Zombie.
Yen On gives us three new debuts. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is for all those who want gaming but without the fantasy isekai aspect. Tomozaki is an awesome gamer, but fails at real life, which he describes as a horrible game. Then he meets a girl who’s not only as good a gamer as he is, but explains how to win at life too. Fans of My Youth Romantic Comedy Etc. should like this.
The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’s Heroes is not as naughty as the title makes it sound. A demon King, who wants to live in peace but heroes keep attacking him, hires a Japanese boy to take care of them. This proves to be a mistake, as the boy goes a bit overboard.
ASH: That could be entertaining.
SEAN: Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur and Heretic Merlin has a very Magical Index feel, possibly as they share the same artist. Our hero is tired of his boring life, so teams up with a girl to become the next successor to King Arthur.
There’s also another Final Fantasy tie-in novel, Final Fantasy XIII-2: Fragments Before, as well as The Saga of Tanya the Evil 6 and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 4, which starts a new arc.
Print manga debuts. There’s The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life (Ikinokori Renkinjutsushi wa Machi de Shizuka ni Kurashitai), whose light novel is out in September. It’s about a run-of-the-mill alchemist who ends up in stasis to save herself, and after coming out of it finds there aren’t any more alchemists in the world! How will she live her quiet, boring life? Sounds like it’s for fans of Killing Slimes for 300 Years. It runs in B’S LOG Gomic.
ASH: This could be interesting, too.
SEAN: Secretly I’ve Been Suffering About Being Sexless (Jitsu wa Watashi Sexless de Nayandemashita) is done in one, and ran in Comic Flapper. It’s about a married woman trying to figure out what to do when her libido is much larger than her husband’s.
ASH: I’ll admit, I’m curious to see how this premise is handled.
Manga Bookshelf’s Pick of the Week (OK, I’m just guessing, but pretty sure I’m right) is debuting next week as well. Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san (Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san) already has a cult classic anime, and this is the manga, which ran in Gene Pixiv. It’s about… well, the title says it all. This looks fantastic.
MICHELLE: Well, your guess is right on my end, at least. I’ve only seen a little of the anime, but it is charming and I’m really looking forward to reading this.
ANNA: Me too!
ASH: I am so, so looking forward to this series!!
SEAN: We also get first volumes of light novel adaptations with Torture Princess (an omnibus, done in one) and Woof Woof Story.
A lot of ongoing titles moved to August, but we do see Interspecies Reviewers 2 (bleah) and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 6 (yay!).
ASH: Shoujo fantasy for the win!
SEAN: Lots of new series next week. Perhaps you could ask a skull-faced bookseller what works for you?