SEAN: Here is a list of what everyone except me will be getting next week in manga. I will not be getting any of this because Diamond Comics never met a street date they didn’t hate. And yes, I am incredibly bitter.
Dark Horse, which is the exception to my Diamond whining, has Blade of the Immortal 28 coming out. We’re getting near the end of this series, I believe, though I’m not sure how near.
ASH: We are indeed getting near the end. Assuming Dark Horse continues as it has been recently, there should be three more volumes after this one.
SEAN: Kodansha gives us the 12th and final volume of Arisa, which was a good attempt at combining shoujo with a mystery thriller-type story. Also, twins!
MICHELLE: Arisa gets a little ridiculous as it progresses, but I still plan to read the ending!
ASH: The series does get a little ridiculous, but I’m really curious to see how Natsumi Ando wraps everything up.
SEAN: Kodansha also has the 2nd hardcover for Vinland Saga, which hopefully will be a bit easier to order from Amazon than the first was. It has Vikings, and bloodshed.
ANNA: I love vikings and bloodshed! Really looking forward to this!
ASH: As am I! I really enjoyed the first omnibus.
SEAN: Seven Seas gives us the 5th Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends, one of the winners from the recent otaku-friendly licenses, mostly as it tends to go light on the obvious fanservice and heavy on the friendships and comedy.
There’s also Love In Hell 2. I was somewhat ambivalent about the first volume, but we’ll see if this can improve as it goes along, as many series I am ambivalent about do.
Vertical has the 2nd volume of From the New World, its dark science-fiction manga with fanservice. It’s done pretty well for them, so fans should be pleased to see more.
ASH: I loved the dark science-fiction aspects of From the New World. I was less enamored with its gratuitous fanservice.
SEAN: Viz has Vol. 9 of Ooku, which has slowed to the Japanese release schedule, meaning it comes out once every blue moon. On the bright side, this makes every new volume a bigger deal.
MICHELLE: Yay, Ooku. This inspired me to check and see when Yoshinaga’s What Did You Eat Yesterday? comes out. The answer is March 25!
ANNA: I’m behind on Ooku, but looking forward to getting caught up one day. Also looking forward to What Did You Eat Yesterday?!
ASH: More Fumi Yoshinaga manga in English is always a good thing in my book!
MJ: This is one my few highly-anticipated releases this week. I’m such a fan of this series. And I, too, am anxious to see What Did You Eat Yesterday?!
SEAN: Yen has a huge giant pile of stuff, made even higher by a few omnibuses. First we have the 16th volume of Black Butler, which must be looking at Attack on Titan and thinking “You know, I remember when I used to own 5 of the 10 places on the NYT bestseller list. Kids these days…”
MICHELLE: The recent arc, in which Ciel goes undercover at a public school and must curry favor with prefects and such, is actually rather fun.
SEAN: The final volume (of the main series; future short story collections are possible) of Book Girl is coming out, with Book Girl And The Scribe Who Faced God, Part Two. Will Konoha finally get it together? Let’s find out.
ASH: I’m behind with Book Girl, but I like the volumes that I’ve read.
SEAN: Durarara!! is another series caught up to Japan, hence the 8-month wait before we got this 3rd volume in the Saika arc. I expect a lot of red eyes and possessive swords.
MICHELLE: I didn’t expect to like Durarara!!, but I do!
SEAN: There is no Pandora Hearts this month, to the collective sadness of the MB team. However, we do get the 14th volume of Goong, that should make them happy.
MICHELLE: Very happy indeed! I’m so grateful that they started releasing this again!
ANNA: Hooray for Goong! . Is Amazon still listing the kindle volumes with the single volume numbering next to the print omnibus versions? That being out of sync is really confusing.
MJ: Yes, yes, YES!! I love this series so.
SEAN: Higurashi: When They Cry is nearly complete (barring any side-story licenses) with the 3rd Festival Accompanying Arc omnibus, as the plot to defeat Takano switches into high gear, and everyone goes from ‘horror manga’ mode to ‘shonen ACTION manga!’ mode.
Inu x Boku SS, like Haganai, proved to be far more interesting than I had expected from what looked like ‘moe yokai’. I am looking forward to the 2nd volume.
WataMote Volume 2 (OK, it’s technically No Matter How You Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! Volume 2) will continue to test the resolve of its readers who war between finding its heroine funny and finding her desperately horrifying.
ASH: The first volume was simultaneously one of the funniest and most depressing manga that I’ve read. I’ll definitely be picking up the second volume.
SEAN: Omamori Himari has hit its 11th volume, and I must admit I still don’t actually know what the hell it’s about. One day I will remedy this.
Soul Eater is at Volume 18, and will hopefully continue to pay off the excellent genderbending setup that the 17th volume left off with.
Triage X reaches Vol. 5, and yet still has enough fanservice to fill 50 more volumes without blinking an eye.
Lastly, Umineko: When They Cry returns with Banquet of the Golden Witch, which also sees the artist from the first arc return. (If you like her, you’ll be happy to hear she’ll also be back to wrap up the series when we get to Arc 8 in 2018 or so.) This arc focuses more heavily on the adults, particularly Eva, the sharp-tongued and bitter woman who graces the front cover.
Assuming you don’t order from Diamond Comics, what are you getting this week?
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