Anna N

SEAN: So, it’s May, and we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Let’s break down what that means, by publisher.

Viz/SuBLime and J-Novel Club have both indicated that their May print books are on schedule. Yen Press has moved a number of books to later months, and has a smaller May schedule that’s all in the last week of the month (the books on the list below are technically April holdovers). Tokyopop and Udon have both indicated that, despite Amazon listings, their May books are ‘TBA’ – I’m going to guess One Peace will fall in here as well, though I can’t confirm that. Dark Horse doesn’t have any May manga titles, and Denpa seems to have moved everything to June as well, though their lack of a release calendar on their site doesn’t help. Vertical moved all its May books to later in the year. Kodansha and Seven Seas have delayed their print releases to TBA (Ghost Ship is an exception), but are still releasing the books digitally on time.

Having done all that, let’s start with a publisher who’s none of the above. Fantagraphics has a box set of both volumes of Dementia 21 out next week. Definitely worth a look if you like creepy stuff.

ASH: True, that! I already have the individual volumes myself, but this is a great set for those who don’t.

MJ: I might consider this.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Vol. 9 of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.

J-Novel Club has three print releases for us. An Archdemon’s Dilemma 5, Infinite Dendrogram 6, and JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World: Summer.

On the digital end, we have the 3rd Faraway Paladin manga, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 5, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 14++ (why is it avoiding 15?), Lazy Dungeon Master 10, the 3rd Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar manga, and the 2nd Sweet Reincarnation manga.

ASH: Why is it avoiding 15??

SEAN: Kodansha is all digital, but let’s begin with what WOULD have been print, as we have L♥DK 15 and To Your Eternity 12.

ASH: To Your Eternity is such a good series.

SEAN: On the digital digital end, there’s no debut (the ‘debut a new title every week’ thing seems to be over), but we get All-Rounder Meguru 14, A Condition Called Love 3, Orient 2, Smile Down the Runway 9, and To Be Next to You 5.

MICHELLE: There may not be a weekly debut, but they really are getting out their newish shoujo titles super quickly!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a digital-first debut light novel, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear. The Japanese meaning in the multiple kumas is apparently a tortured pun, but oh well. Kuma is a young VRMMO prodigy who is otherwise a shut-in, and (stop me if you’ve heard this one) is sucked into the game for real! Even worse, her equipment – while powerful – is cutesy bear pajamas. Can she survive in the game with her dignity intact? This seems funny, and at least Kuma seems unlikely to amass a large harem.

Seven Seas also has two “no print yet, but here’s the digital on time” releases: How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 3, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 10, and an “early digital light novel” release of Restaurant to Another World 4.

ASH: It definitely has a stong fanservice element, but I’ve largely liked what I’ve read of How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? so far.

SEAN: And so we move to Viz, which has everything you’d want in a first week of May. The debut is Not Your Idol (Sayonara Miniskirt), and thank God for title changes. It’s a shoujo manga from Ribon, though it also appears on Shonen Jump +, their digital platform. This is about a former idol who was attacked and decided to live as a boy afterwards. Now someone recognizes them. It feels like the sort of manga I tend to call a “potboiler”. We’ll see.

MICHELLE: I will definitely give it a shot!

ANNA: I’m curious about this one.

ASH: Same.

MJ: Cautiously interested.

SEAN: Also coming out from Shojo Beat: Daytime Shooting Star 6, Love Me Love Me Not 2, Shortcake Cake 8, and Snow White with the Red Hair 7.

MICHELLE: I’m reading all of these, though I look forward most to catching up on Shortcake Cake and Snow White with the Red Hair, as I’m a couple volumes behind now.

ANNA: I’m reading all of these too!

MJ: I’m so far behind on everything!

SEAN: On the Shonen Jump side, the debut is One Piece: Ace’s Story, the first in a series of light novels focusing on Luffy’s older brother.

There’s also Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 12, Dr. STONE 11, Haikyu!! 38, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 14, My Hero Academia SMASH! 4, Samurai 8 2, and Twin Star Exorcists 18.

MICHELLE: Volleyboys!

ANNA: My kids are big Haikyu!! fans. One day I need to get caught up but we have every single volume.

ASH: I’m a bit behind, too, but Haikyu!! is a series I really enjoy.

MJ: Half my Twitter feed is obsessed with Haikyu!! but I must really be getting old, because my first reaction is, “Ack, so many volumes.”

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press had a few April titles that got bumped a week but aren’t affected by the pandemic. We get the 2nd manga volume of The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life, Aoharu x Machinegun 17, Éclair Blanche (the 2nd Girls’ Love anthology in that series), Murcielago 14, the 2nd Our Last Crusade manga, and Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san 4, which is its final volume.

ASH: Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san, it is so good to see you one last time!

MJ: I still need to give Skull-Faced a chance.

SEAN: See? Even in a pandemic, there’s still plenty of stuff. What are you reading from home?

SEAN: The last week of April, and the last week of normal manga releases. Also, I want to go in reverse order.

Yen On has a debut light novel, one that is long awaited and which has already had an anime. It’s a Haruhi Suzumiya-esque title scheme, so I’ll just note the first volume is called Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. It’s about a guy who discovers that his upperclassman is walking around wearing a bunny girl outfit… and no one notices except him. (I suspect it’s about far more than that.) Despite a questionable premise, it’s gotten much praise.

MJ: Huh.

SEAN: We also get The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 16, KonoSuba 11, Our Last Crusade 3, and Torture Princess 4.

No manga debuts, but there is As Miss Beelzebub Likes 9, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 4, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 7 (the manga, the LN got pushed back a bit), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 11 (manga version), Kemono Friends a La Carte 3, Overlord the Undead King-Oh! 3, Silver Spoon 14, and Yowamushi Pedal 14.

MICHELLE: Yay Yowamushi!. At this point, I’m just gonna wait ’til Silver Spoon finishes and read it in one chunk.

ASH: Silver Spoon is so good, Michelle! You’ll be in for a treat. Also, a second hooray for Yowamushi Pedal!

MJ: SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Hi.

SEAN: Vertical has To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 10.

Square Enix debuts The Misfit of Demon King Academy (Maougakuin no Futekigousha), a manga based on a light novel (no, it’s not licensed) with an anime coming this summer (unless it’s delayed). It runs in Manga UP!, and the plot… um… is about a young demon going to a magic school… and is not, amazingly, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody *or* The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, all of which seem to have very similar premises. (Haven’t I discussed this before? Possibly two weeks ago?)

ASH: Ha!

MJ: I guess when it works, it works? Or something?

SEAN: Square Enix also has the 2nd Hi Score Girl.

Seven Seas sees the print edition of At Night, I Become a Monster (Yoru no Bakemono). It’s from the author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, so expect good writing and melancholy. A boy turns into a monster during the evenings, and runs into a classmate.

ASH: I’m looking forward to giving this one a read.

SEAN: Also debuting, and I absolutely cannot wait for this, is BL Metamorphosis (Metamorphose no Engawa), from Kadokawa’s Comic Newtype. It’s about a 75-year-old and a 15-year-old who find their love of BL manga gives them something in common. It is HIGHLY recommended.

MICHELLE: I have been looking forward to this for ages!

ASH: Yes, yes, yes! One of my most anticipated debuts this year!

ANNA: Also looking forward to this.

MJ: What everyone else said.

SEAN: Also out, and not quite as highbrow, we get A Certain Scientific Accelerator 10, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 4, High-Rise Invasion 11-12, the 7th How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord manga, The King of Fighters: A New Beginning 2, and Nameless Asterism 5, the final volume.

Kodansha has, in print, Drifting Dragons 4, Grand Blue Dreaming 10, Sweat & Soap 2, and Tales of Berseria 3.

ANNA: I keep meaning to read Drifting Dragons.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Drifting Dragons so far (glad it’s being released in print!), and probably should get around to trying Sweat & Soap before too long.

SEAN: There’s no digital debut for once. But we do get Altair: A Record of Battles 17, Hotaru’s Way 13, I Fell in Love After School 3, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 14, Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow 3, Star⇄Crossed!! 2, That Blue Summer 4, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 5.

MICHELLE: I Fell in Love After School is quite good. Hotaru’s Way is close to ending (volume 15 is its last) so that’s another one where I’ve decided to just wait. But hooray for josei anyway!

SEAN: We end with J-Novel Club, which debuts a new J-Novel Heart series, The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP! (Hibon, Heibon, Shabon!). This sounds like a typical fantasy LN plot: the commoner with a dull, useless magical power suddenly finds it’s super useful after all – but the fact that it’s a heroine still interests me.

ASH: I like seeing more heroines these days, too.

SEAN: Also out next week: BEATLESS 2, the 2nd Cooking with Wild Game manga, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 11, My Next Life as a Villainess! 5, the 4th Seirei Gensouki manga, Teogonia 2, and The Underdog of the Eight Greater Tribes 2.

Manga! Get it while it lasts!

SEAN: Mid-April, and manga shipments are still, mostly, normal.

ASH: I appreciate some normalcy, these days.

MJ: God, same.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a debut, and it’s an odd one. This was a doujinshi published by 6 light novel authors, including the creators of Tanya the Evil and Re: Zero. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Isekai is as silly as it sounds, I hear, and is complete in one volume.

ASH: That sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: Also out next week is By the Grace of the Gods 2, In Another World with My Smartphone 19, Otherside Picnic 3, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 9.

Kodansha, in print, has Attack on Titan 30 and Hitorijime My Hero 7.

ASH: It’s been a while since I’ve thought about Attack on Titan.

ANNA: I generally don’t think about Attack on Titan.

MJ: Honestly, I try not to think about Attack on Titan.

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon (Jishou! Heibon Mazoku no Eiyuu Life: B-kyuu Mazoku na no ni Cheat Dungeon wo Tsukutte shimatta Kekka). Yes, it’s based on a light novel, no this is not the novel. It runs on NicoNico Seiga, and is about a young demon going to a magic school… and is not, amazingly, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody *or* The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy, both of which seem to have very similar premises.

MICHELLE: If we’re going to get a story about a demon school, why can’t it be Mairimashita! Iruma-kun? (I realize that’s Akita Shoten and not Kodansha; I’m just whining.)

SEAN: And there is also (deep breath) All-Out!! 13, Domestic Girlfriend 24, The Dorm of Love and Secrets 3, Farewell My Dear Cramer 9, My Boyfriend in Orange 9, My Roomie Is a Dino 2, Ran the Peerless Beauty 7 (I have to catch up!) and You Got Me Sempai! 8.

MICHELLE: Some good stuff here, but especially Ran the Peerless Beauty!

SEAN: One Peace has a debut with The New Gate. Yes, it’s based on a novel, no, that’s not licensed. It’s an Alpha Polis series about a guy trapped in a game who wins and frees everyone… but lingers a bit too long, and now is caught in the same game 500 years later.

Three debuts from Seven Seas. The first is a digital-first light novel, Adachi and Shimamura. This yuri series has been long requested, and fans should be happy. I believe its plot is Story A.

Fragtime is a done in one omnibus, which ran (oh dear) in Akita Shoten’s Champion Tap! (which I guess is when your work is not good enough for Champion Red) and is about (oh dear) a girl who stops time to look at her classmates’ panties. It’s hard to have lower expectations for this than I do.

MICHELLE: Ugh. Although, if they’re licensing Akita Shoten titles, maybe I should whine at them about Iruma-kun…

MJ: Seven Seas has really come a long way. This feels like old times, and not in a great way.

SEAN: Goodbye My Rose Garden (Sayonara Rose Garden) easily wins the “if I can only buy one yuri title” sweepstakes this week, and ran in Mag Garden’s MAGxiv. A young noblewoman begs her maid to kill her, and they grow closer as a result. It sounds quite good.

ASH: This one seems more up my alley.

ANNA: Sounds interesting!

MJ: Sign me up!

SEAN: Also out from Seven Seas: Ghostly Things 2, Himouto! Umaru-chan 9, the 6th light novel of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom (print), Mushoku Tensei’s 5th light novel (print), and My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop 2.

Square Enix debuts My Dress Up Darling (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru), a Young Gangan title about a reclusive boy and a Gal who end up bonding over their hobbies. This actually sounds interesting. That said, I’ve heard it’s also servicey.

ASH: I can think of a few cute but servicey series I’m enjoying; maybe this manga will join the group.

MJ: I’d consider myself cautiously interested.

SEAN: SuBLime’s debut is Secret XXX, which ran in Shinshokan’s Dear +. It’s a story of hot boys and rabbits.

ASH: Oh, there really are rabbits! (I had to double-check – hot boys I expected.)

MJ: I’m… maybe there for the rabbits?

SEAN: They’ve also got The World’s Greatest First Love 13.

Vertical gives us a 5th Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

Viz has no debuts, but does have Case Closed 74, Komi Can’t Communicate 6, the 2nd Persona 5, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 11.

ASH: I’m behind a few volumes, but Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is consistently delightful.

ANNA: I agree, getting caught up on Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle might be a nice stress-busting activity.

SEAN: Yen time. Fresh off its anime and its cameo in Isekai Quartet, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious has a 3rd volume that hopes to answer why this went more than two volumes.

Lastly, the final volume, and I can’t believe I finally get to say that, of BTOOOM!. In fact, it’s two volumes, as it comes in “Light” and “Dark” versions, which I assume have happy and sad ends. Honestly, the mere fact I don’t have to type its name anymore is a happy end. We’ll miss you, bomb-bouncing-off-boob manga.

MICHELLE: I won’t.

ASH: Okay, having two different final volumes is kind of clever… but it’s probably still not a series for me.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I suppose I can celebrate the fact that it’s finally over.

SEAN: Anything tickling your fancy?

SEAN: April is here, and the shipping list is still fine, mostly.

ASH: That’s good to know!

SEAN: The mostly is due to Dark Horse, who had two items on next week’s list, a 5th Gantz omnibus and the 2nd Star Blazers 2199 omnibus. Looking at their site now shows that the items came out on March 25th but are also on pre-order. Given DH tends to work with Diamond, who aren’t shipping books, this may be the best we can get.

ASH: I realize now that I haven’t actually read the first Star Blazers 2199 omnibus yet.

SEAN: Denpa has a 6th volume of Inside Mari.

Ghost Ship has To-Love-Ru Darkness 15, aka To-Love Ruuuu innn… SPAAAAAAACE!

J-Novel Club has a giant pile. In print we have Animeta! 3 (that’s a manga), Ascendance of a Bookworm 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 9, If It’s for My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord 8, In Another World with My Smartphone 9, and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 8.

ASH: I’ve liked Animeta! so far. I’m pretty sure I’d like Ascendance of a Bookworm, too, but I haven’t had a chance to actually read it.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is The Tales of Marielle Clarac, an Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO series which, instead of volume titles, has a different title for every book, a la Haruhi Suzumiya. The Engagement of Marielle Clarac is the first. Marielle is a noble’s daughter who’s not particularly gorgeous or famous, but who gets a proposal one day from a knight who will be an Earl one day. She’s quite happy… he’s just her type, and now she can imagine all sorts of things about him. Yes, Marielle is secretly a fangirl. This looks fun.

Also debuting is a manga version of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

Furthermore, out digitally is Altina the Sword Princess 3, Demon Lord Retry! 3, Discommuncation 3 (that’s a manga), Her Majesty’s Swarm 2, The Holy Knight’s Dark Road 2, and Infinite Dendrogram 11.

Kodansha, in print, has Boarding School Juliet 11, Eden’s Zero 7, Granblue Fantasy 4, and The Heroic Legend of Arslan 12.

ASH: Oh! I need to catch up with Arslan!

SEAN: Digitally the debut has an author familiar to many: Shinobu Ohtaka, creator of Magi. Her new series is called Orient, runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and seems to be the Sengoku period version of Magi. I’m in.

MICHELLE: Something about the blurb for this turned me off. I think I’m sitting Orient out.

ASH: I’ll admit to being intrigued by Sengoku period…

ANNA: I am also intrigued.

SEAN: There’s also A Condition Called Love 2, Chihayafuru 19, Drifting Dragons 7, Goodbye! I’m Being Reincarnated 4, Smile Down the Runway 8, and To Be Next to You 4.

MICHELLE: Those new shoujo series are racking up volumes so quickly!

ANNA: Too much!

SEAN: Seven Seas’ debut is Primitive Boyfriend (Genshijin Kareshi), a shoujo title from LaLa. Our heroine wants a guy, but they’re all wusses. Then she magically ends up in the past. Is a caveman the sort of guy who’s her type? This is three volumes long, which seems about right.

MICHELLE: It does, but it could be fun!

ASH: The premise seems ridiculous, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

ANNA: OK, this sounds funny.

MJ: I… am not sure.

SEAN: Also out from Seven Seas: 12 Beast 7, Bloom Into You 7, and the 3rd My Next Life As a Villainess! manga.

Tokyopop releases an 8th volume of Konohana Kitan.

It’s the first week of the month, so you know Viz is up next with their Jump and Beat series. The debut is Prince Freya (Itsuwari no Freya), a LaLa DX series (man, you don’t see any LaLa titles for over a year, then two come in the same week) from the creator of The Bride & the Exorcist Knight and The Heiress & the Chauffeur. Prince Freya does not have an &… yet. Possibly as she’s a lookalike for the real prince, and thus is forced to step in and impersonate him in a crisis. I admit, I always love those sorts of plots.

MICHELLE: I will definitely be checking this out.

ASH: Same!

MJ: I’m here for it!

SEAN: Jump titles include Boruto 8, Food Wars! 35, Jujutsu Kaisen 3, One Piece 93, Platinum When Will This Ever End 11, We Never Learn 9, and World Trigger 20.

On the Shojo Beat end we have Ao Haru Ride 10, An Incurable Case of Love 3, Takane & Hana 14, and Yona of the Dawn 23.

MICHELLE: Woot for 75% of those! I greatly enjoyed getting caught back up on Ao Haru Ride and Takane & Hana recently.

ASH: Yona of the Dawn is my priority, but I’m reading a fair number of these, too.

ANNA: This is a week for me!

MJ: I have fallen behind on both the series Michelle caught up on, so I have work to do!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On has another March novel slightly bumped into April: the 15th volume of The Irregular at Magic High School.

Don’t go out, read a manga! What are you reading?

SEAN: Let’s briefly talk turkey here. I try to do these lists about a week before the books come out. And given what’s going on over the world, some of these release dates are going to shift. A lot. I know one publisher has already pushed all their May and June titles to later in the summer. And Diamond Comics is not distributing to comic shops till this has passed, meaning more outlets are gone. I will continue to do my best to keep up with this, but… well, I’d expect a lot of delays. For obvious reasons.

ASH: Thanks for keeping track as best as you can! There’s a lot in flux right now.

SEAN: We start with Ghost Ship, which has two new debuts, both smutty, but with one for the ladies and one for the gentlemen. Fire in His Fingertips: A Flirty Fireman Ravishes Me with His Smoldering Gaze (Yubisaki Kara Honki no Netsujou ~ Charaotoko Shoubou-shi wa Massuguna me de Watashi o Daita ~) is a josei title from Shueisha, about our heroine (an OL) and her childhood friend (a fireman) who turns out to like her a lot more than she expected.

ASH: As Ghost Ship’s first josei title (if I recall correctly), I’m curious.

SEAN: Parallel Paradise, meanwhile, is very much for the young man. Running in Kodansha’s Young Magazine, it’s your standard “young man summoned to another world” story… except he’s the only man in a fantasy world filled with hot women.

Ghost Ship also has a 3rd volume of Creature Girls and World’s End Harem 8.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but a lengthy list of titles. We get The Economics of Prophecy 2, Full Metal Panic! 6, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4, Infinite Stratos 12, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! has a 4th manga volume, Record of Wortenia War 5, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 5, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 2.

Kaiten Books are a new entry into the publishing world, and they debut this week with Loner Life in Another World, from Overlap’s Comic Gardo. They certainly know what the hot new trend is.

Kodansha has but one print release: the 19th UQ Holder!.

Digitally there’s a lot more. A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) is a new series from the creator of Shortcake Cake, which runs in… you got it… Dessert. Our heroine is a college student, who runs into a nice young guy, who speaks three languages! Sadly, she’s deaf, so that won’t help. This actually looks really good and has gotten great buzz.

MICHELLE: I really like Shortcake Cake and tend to enjoy titles from Dessert, so I’m definitely looking forward to this!

MJ: This sounds great!

ANNA: I agree!

SEAN: And there’s also 1122: For a Happy Marriage 6, Ace of the Diamond 25, Atsomori-kun’s Bride-to-Be 4, Let’s Kiss in Secret Tomorrow 2, Space Brothers 35, and That Blue Summer 3.

MICHELLE: Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be is very cute, in an Itazura na Kiss kind of way. And, of course, I’m always keen for more Ace of the Diamond!

SEAN: Seven Seas has another spinoff, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order. It runs in Media Factory’s Comic Corona, and is, well, for fans of Dance in the Vampire Bund and its spinoffs.

There’s also Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist’s Journey 4, Made in Abyss 8, the 6th novel for Mushoku Tensei (digital), and the 2nd Reincarnated As a Sword manga.

MICHELLE: I really am going to catch up on Blank Canvas.

ASH: It is really good, so I support you in your effort!

SEAN: Vertical has two novels. Owarimmonogatari: End Tale 2 finally tells us what was going on with Araragi and Kanbaru during that very busy week in August; and Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose, Resurrection at Nineteen 2 finally tells us… um… dunno. It’s a prequel?

On the Yen On end, there’s The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 3, 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 4, and So I’m a Spider, So What? 8.

And Yen Press has Dimension W 16, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 4, Goblin Slayer (manga) 7, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 2, and Konosuba Explosion 4 (manga).

ASH: I’ve been reading but need to catch up with For the Kid I Saw In My Dreams.

SEAN: What manga is raising your spirits?