Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Manga the Week of 7/18/18

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SEAN: Mid-July. It’s hot. But there is manga for you.

ASH: Yay, manga!

SEAN: Bookwalker has a 4th light novel of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done.

Dark Horse gives us a 6th Blade of the Immortal omnibus and the 6th Fate/Zero.

J-Novel Club has new volumes for Demon King Daimaou (6), The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! (4) and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (2).

Kodansha has a digital debut, as we see Kakafukaka, the 2nd debut from josei magazine Kiss in two weeks. It’s about a girl who just had a break-up moving in with an old school boyfriend, but he has his own issue – erectile dysfunction. I am intrigued.

MICHELLE: Somehow I totally missed the ED angle on this one! But hooray for josei!

ANNA: Huh. OK!

SEAN: Kodansha also has a pile of ongoing digital. All Out!! 6, Fuuka 19, Love’s Reach 10, Perfect World 4, and The Wizard and His Fairy 2.

MICHELLE: Man, I’m falling so far behind on these.

SEAN: On the print side, we have new volumes as well. There’s a 2nd Golosseum, a 6th Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, a 6th Land of the Lustrous, and a 5th. Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty.

MICHELLE: The last volume of Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty ended on quite a dramatic note, so I’m keen to see what happens next.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty as well, but Land of the Lustrous is what really catches my eye out of that bunch.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a debut in The Bride & the Exorcist Knight (Hanayome to Futsuma no Kishi). This is a relatively short (4 volumes) series from Hakusensha’s LaLa by the author of The Heiress and the Chauffeur. Warning: one of the male leads falls below the comfort line in terms of age.

MICHELLE: Hm. I think I’ll wait to see some reviews of this one.

ANNA: Yeah, I don’t know. Heiress and the Chauffeur was pretty cute, but not sure about this.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a digital-only light novel with the 4th Boogiepop book, Boogiepop in the Mirror. This is the first one that is new to North America, I believe.

ASH: It is! I’ll be waiting for next year’s omnibus print edition, but I’m very glad for Boogiepop‘s return.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd volume of Himouto! Umaru-chan.

Tokyopop debuts Hanger, a Gentosha title (bet you guessed that) from their BL magazine Rutile. A cop teams up with a criminal to catch people using performance-enhancing drugs. The author also did Innocent Bird back in the day.

Vertical has a 2nd volume of My Boy, which I found less uncomfortable than I expected.

Viz gives us Children of the Whales (5), Dead Dead Demon’s DededeDe Destruction (2), and Fire Punch (3). Dededede is my pick from this.

ASH: Same! I need to catch up with Children of the Whales, too.

SEAN: And most of Yen’s stuff got pushed back a week or two, but we still have two light novels, with the 10th Durarara!! and the 4th Magical Girl Raising Project. More dead magical girls, or Izaya? It’s a tough choice…

Manga? Or air conditioning? You decide.

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 6

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The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 6 by Rei Toma

One would not normally expect a fantasy series about a girl from modern day Japan falling through worlds to end up in a quasi-medieval land where the lives of humans revolve around appeasing gods to contain a dense philosophical exploration of what it means to be human, with a side meditation on man’s inhumanity to man, but that’s exactly what the reader gets in The Water Dragon’s Bride. Toma’s masterful storytelling is on full display in the 6th volume, where there’s a dramatic emotional breakthrough with Asahi and her Water Dragon God.

All along the Water Dragon God has been transformed bit by bit due to his close exposure to humans. He doesn’t exactly understand humanity yet, but he’s a great deal more sensitive and caring than the person he was in the first volume who just sat back and let a young Asahi starve to death because the concept of providing food did not occur to him. When the Water Dragon God continues to see that the other humans are going to still persist in trying to control Asahi due to her standing as priestess, he decides that she can’t remain in the human world, and she needs to exist by his side with no more pain. The solution the Water Dragon God hits on is to trap Asagi in a bubble in his world, where she experiences a day of her being a normal high school girl with Subaru over and over again until she begins to sense that something is wrong with her fake new existence. I’m always in awe at what Toma can do with her minimalist yet highly effective approach to illustration. Seeing Asagi trapped in her bubble in the world of the Gods while they discuss her is visually arresting, as the formless world is intercut with scenes of the dream in modern Japan that Asagi slowly realizes is not real.

The power dynamic between Asagi and the Water Dragon God is so unequal, but she manages to break his spell, raising a question about how much power she actually has over him. So much of this volume is expressed through the internal thoughts of the characters, with brief dialog that evokes all of the unsaid emotions as seen Asagi and the Water Dragon God share a “Good Morning” greeting after she breaks out of her water bubble. He decides after his attempt to trap Asagi in a dream that he will set things back on their original path, but can Asagi really go home again after everything she’s experienced? I’m genuinely not sure what to expect from this series next, which makes it such a pleasure to read.

Pick of the Week: Alice in the City of Tokyo

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ASH: It seems like I only get the chance to make Berserk my pick of the week once every three years or so, so I’ll once again take this opportunity to pick the most recent volume. (Plus, the characters are finally off the boat…)

MICHELLE: I’m not especially into shopping but I can’t pass up new josei, so I’m going with Tokyo Alice this week.

SEAN: Yeah, I too am going to go with Tokyo Alice, which looks intriguing.

KATE: At the risk of sounding like an old grump, I’m going to pass on this week’s bounty and hold out for next week, when a new volume of Dead Dead Demon’s DeDeDeDestruction hits shelves.

ANNA: I’m always up for more josei so Tokyo Alice is my pick, of course!

MJ: Okay, I admit I’m not super enthused by any of this week’s offerings, though probably I’d read Tokyo Alice and maybe Little Devils, so I’m going to instead make sure all our interested readers are aware that the new Banana Fish anime has begun! I was able to catch the first episode (available now via Amazon Prime Video) and it really hit the spot. It was definitely a little disorienting at first for the folks who watched it with me (neither of whom had read the manga), but by the end of the episode things were coming together for them, and we’re all looking forward to the next installment. As a long-time fan of the manga who has talked about it a lot over the years, this is honestly something I never imagined could happen, ever, so just the fact that someone is even making this anime of a weird shojo manga from the 80s is enough to send me over the moon. But I’m here to report that it’s also being really well done (even if we don’t get to enjoy the awful 80s fashions from the original).

KATE: VIZ announced that they will be republishing OOP volumes of the Banana Fish manga, FWIW. Anime News Network has the details.

MJ: Oooooh, amazing news! Thanks, Kate!

Takane & Hana, Vol 3

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Takane & Hana Volume 3 by Yuki Shiwasu

Takane & Hana continues to be a bit of a guilty pleasure read for me. It might not be all that deep, but the humor and Shiwasu’s ability to draw hilarious facial expressions make it a great light summer read, even as it steps through some fairly typical plot points for shoujo manga.

The volume starts off with Hana brokering peace between Takane and his friend Nicola, who promises to be a semi-regular presence in future stories with his womanizing ways and ability to tease Takane. One of the things that has be rooting for this relationship between a CEO and a high schooler against all logic is the way each half of the couple springs into action whenever their partner needs support. In this case, Hana’s grades take a nosedive, and she’s irritated at the presumption people make that it is because she has a new boyfriend. She tells Takane that she needs a break to study and can’t see him for awhile, but of course he takes this as an excuse to turn himself into the perfect tutor, and they spend the time before her big exams studying together. Hana then returns the favor when Takane gets sick. There are possible hints of a potential love triangle ahead, as Hana’s friend Okamon monitors Takane closely when they go on a beach summer vacation trip. Overall this was a fun volume as always, enlivened by Takane’s overwrought reactions to normal life events.

Manga the Week of 7/11/18

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SEAN: Manga, manga, manga! Last chance sale! Everything must go!

Dark Horse gives us a 39th volume of Berserk, a series that without hiatuses might have 139 volumes.

ASH: Ha! That may be true. I still greatly anticipate this one, though!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has the 9th volume of guilty pleasure In Another World With My Smartphone.

Kodansha did it again, releasing their new digital manga press release just after I posted Manga the Week of. So, already released, we have I’m Standing on a Million Lives (100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatte Iru), an isekai fantasy that runs in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. The artist may be familiar for Psycho Busters.

Meanwhile, next week’s debut is Tokyo Alice, a long-runing josei series from Kiss magazine that recently got a live-action series. The heroine is looking for love and looking to shop, possibly not in that order.

MICHELLE: I’m not especially into shopping, but who can resist long-running josei?

ANNA: Did someone say long-running josei!?

SEAN: Also digitally we have Kamikamikaeshi 2 and Starving Anonymous 5.

Print-wise, we have another digital debut that’s now getting a print release. Grand Blue Dreaming is a romantic comedy from the creator of Bakas, Tests and Summoned Beasts. It runs in good! Afternoon.

ASH: I’m curious about this one! What could possibly go wrong when mixing drinking and diving? (Plus, I’m always happy when one of Kodansha’s digital titles makes its way into print.)

SEAN: Amazon also tells me that there is an Attack on Titan Character Encyclopedia coming out next week, though I don’t see that on Kodansha’s site. Learn more about your favorite characters who are now dead. NOT THAT I’M BITTER.

Kiss Him, Not Me! comes to an end with its 14th volume. The series had its ups and downs, but overall I enjoyed it.

And there is a 7th Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I always enjoy this series.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Little Devils (Maou Kyoudai), the latest in a long line of slice-of-monster-girl life. Or monster kids, in this case, as a hero has to raise demon children to become model citizens. It runs in Tokuma Shoten’s Comic Ryu, and looks more cutesy than pervey.

ASH: It does look really cute. I plan on giving it a try.

MJ: This sounds pretty cute.

SEAN: There’s also a 7th print novel for Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, a 2nd Sorry for My Familiar, and a 4th Spirit Circle. I’ll definitely be getting the last of those.

ASH: Same!

SEAN: Vertical gives us a 7th volume of the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing manga.

Lastly, there is Viz, which has a 67th Case Closed (still not over in Japan), and a 27th Rin-Ne (which has ended, but we have a long way to go to catch up.)

MICHELLE: I had no idea RIN-NE had ended! It makes me wonder if there was some actual plot there at the end.

MJ: *snort*

SEAN: Not too bad, right? Which of these MANGA BARGAINS are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Going For It

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MICHELLE: There are many things coming out that I am interested in this week, particularly ongoing shoujo and shounen from VIZ and a slew of digital shoujo from Kodansha, but I find that what I most look forward to is some BL comedy in the vein of Go For It, Nakamura!. I just love that cover so much.

SEAN: I had never expected to see it over here, mostly as it’s years old now, so my pick of the week is definitely the One Piece Color Walk artbook. Seeing these beloved characters back in the old days will be great, especially with Oda commentary on the artwork.

KATE: Looking over this week’s list, I’m having a hard time limiting myself to just one title. I’ll be picking up the second volume of Kenka Bancho Otome, which is dumb as rocks, but in a delightful, cheeky way, and the second volume of Giant Spider & Me, which is also a delightful bit of escapism. I’m always down for new sports manga, so Harakuna Receive is on my list, despite the ever-present threat of fan service. And heck, while I’m at it, why not join Michelle in recommending Go For It, Nakamura!, which does indeed have an awesome cover.

ASH: It’s a Seven Seas sort of week for me, as well! I’m curious about Harukana Receive and Mushroom Girls, and am looking forward to reading more of Giant Spider & Me, but the release I really have my sights on is Go For It, Nakamura!, the publisher’s first real foray into BL.

ANNA: Water Dragon’s Bride 6 is coming out, so I’m so happy about that I can’t even think about anything else!

Manga the Week of 7/4/18

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SEAN: Next week is July. It’s hot. But there is manga! Let’s keep it short and sweet.

MICHELLE: Our heat index today is 102. :(

SEAN: Dark Horse has a spiffy Gallery Edition of Lone Wolf and Cub, which I sometimes feel is the only title they really still love.

ASH: It does seem that way sometimes; this edition should be gorgeous.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of World’s End Harem.

J-Novel Club has a 14th Invaders of the Rokujouma!?.

In print, Kodansha has a 25th Attack on Titan, and a 27th volume of The Seven Deadly Sins.

ASH: I somehow missed that The Seven Deadly Sins had surpassed Attack on Titan in length!

SEAN: Digitally, we see new volumes of Beware the Kamiki Brothers! (3), A Kiss, For Real (2) Those Summer Days (2), and You Got Me, Sempai (3).

MICHELLE: Eventually, I really will get around to checking out all of these.

ANNA: That’s too much. Too much digital!

SEAN: Seven Seas has three debut titles next week. Go For It, Nakamura! is a cute romantic comedy that’s being marketed more as that than as BL. It is done in one, and ran in Akaneshinsha’s BL-oriented magazine Opera.

MICHELLE: I love the retro-looking art on the cover!

ASH: I’m really looking forward to this release!

SEAN: Harukana Receive is a beach volleyball series, and features lots of girls in minimal clothing. Despite both these things, it runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward, so I’m expecting strong female friendships.

Mushroom Girls in Love (Kinoko Ningen no Kekkon) is a one-shot from the creator of A Centaur’s Life, and is just as weird as that long-running series is. It ran in Ohta Shuppan’s Pocopoco, which is a seinen magazine.

ASH: Weird can be good; I’ll admit to being curious.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has a 2nd volume of the Arifureta manga, and a 2nd volume of Giant Spider & Me.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ASH: I greatly enjoyed the first volume of Gian Spider & Me, so I’ll definitely be picking up the second!

SEAN: Vertical has the 2nd and last Moteki omnibus. Will the protagonist get together with one of the girls? I wouldn’t count on it.

Viz time. One debut, one spinoff debut, and one artbook debut. The new series is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, a Weekly Shonen Jump title. I’ve heart it’s heartwarming. I’ve also heard it’s dark and FILLED with violence.

ASH: I’ve heard similar things about the series.

SEAN: The spinoff is My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, and you can probably guess the plot given MHA is a series about licensed heroes. These are not those heroes. The artist is better known for Harukaze Bitter Bop over here, one of the many series that died when Tokyopop first did. The writer has also done the K manga.

MICHELLE: I’m a little hesitant about this one, since it’s not by the original creator, but I suppose it could be good.

SEAN: The artbook is Color Walk, the first One Piece artbook to actually come out over here. Experience the very beginning of the series, looking gorgeous and with commentary by Oda.

Ongoing shonen? We’ve got it. Bleach 73, Dragon Ball Super 3, Haikyu!! 25, Naruto’s 23rd 3-in-1, One-Punch Man 14, Rurouni Kenshin’s 7th 3-in-1, and a 9th Yo-kai Watch.

ASH: Look at that! Two volleyball titles in one week!

SEAN: Ongoing shoujo? Plenty of that too. Anonymous Noise 9, The Demon Prince of Momochi House 12, the 2nd and final Kenka Bancho Otome, and the 6th Water Dragon’s Bride.

MICHELLE: Definitely several in both categories that I’m following!

ANNA: YAY!!!!

SEAN: Ongoing seinen marketed as shonen? Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 3 is for you.

MICHELLE: Heh.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On has a 3rd volume of The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria.

Beating the heat? Celebrating the Fourth? What manga are you doing it with?

Pick of the Week: Claudine

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KATE: The obvious pick of the week is Riyoko Ikeda’s three-hanky drama Claudine, a sensitive (if sometimes melodramatic) story about a transgender man who struggles to find his place in society. As Sean pointed out in his terrific review, Claudine is surprisingly woke for a manga written in 1977, even if the ending is a major downer. In addition to Claudine, I’m also making space on my shelf for Shibuya Goldfish, a manga that dares ask the question, what really happens when you flush your pet fish down the toilet. (Spoiler alert: bad stuff.)

SEAN: It’s an embarrassment of riches this week, and I feel bad for not highlighting True Tenchi Muyo, one of the titles that got me into anime, or Little Witch Academia, a fun adaptation of a great (and kid-friendly) series. But yes, obvious, the pick is Claudine, which was worth the wait and reminds you why Riyoko Ikeda is still one of the most loved creators in Japan.

MICHELLE: I, too, am picking Claudine this week, but I do want to take a moment to highlight the print debut of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, which is really a terrific and fun josei series.

ANNA: Claudine Claudine Claudine, Claudine Claudine. CLAUDINE!

ASH: Yes! Absolutely no question about it! Claudine is my pick, too! (Of course, Tokyo Tarareba Girls and Silver Spoon are pretty high on my reading list as well…)

MJ: What they all said! Claudine it is!

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol 1

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Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Volume 1 by Kagiji Kumanomata

This manga was an unexpected delight. I was initially curious about Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle due to it being a Shonen Sunday title, which is a bit of a rarity. I feel like fantasy comedy series can be a bit hit or miss, but I found this title quite entertaining, mostly due to the way it subverts the whole idea of kidnapped princesses.

Syalis is the kidnapped princes in question and while the people in her kingdom pine for her and a idiotic knight vows to rescue her at the start of each chapter, she is solely concerned with getting some good rest. The demon castle lacks high quality pillows and bedding, and she is determined to secure what she needs by any means necessary. Syalis casually embarks on a reign of terror in the castle as she locates unique demons to use for her own purposes. She harvests fur from her guards, who look like fluffy teddy bears. She locates giant scissors and cuts off the body of ghosts in order to get some high quality fabric. Throughout most of the manga, her facial expressions are totally stoic, in contrast to the demons who are being driven frantic by her casual escape attempts. She also seems to have a knack for finding rare magical objects and repurposing them as sleep aids. There’s really only one joke in this manga, but it is executed very well. The unique character designs of the demons and the expanding cast of characters keeps the manga entertaining, even though the plot points in each chapter are so similar. I’m not sure how long the central joke can be sustained, as this series lasts for several volumes, but the first volume was so entertaining I’m definitely going to give it a try.

Manga the Week of 6/27/18

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SEAN: 65 titles. Sixty. Five. Titles. Next. Week.

MICHELLE: Holy crap.

ANNA: Yikes.

ASH: That’s amazing.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 5th To-Love-Ru Darkness and a 2nd volume of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, thus continuing to be the “Shonen Jump Titles Too Hot For Viz” publisher.

J-Novel Club has the 6th volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.

Kodansha’s got a lot. Print-wise we see some series we haven’t seen for a looooooong time. Air Gear (last seen one year ago) finally comes to an end with its 37th volume. L♥DK (last seen 10 months ago) has its 11th volume. And Missions of Love (last seen 13 months ago) has a 15th volume. This doesn’t seem to be “caught up with Japan”, so who knows why it’s been so long.

ASH: Oh, Missions of Love! I guess it has been a while, but I do find the series addictive.

SEAN: Other print volumes include a 4th Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, a 10th Fire Force, and theoretically the print debut of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, though this isn’t on Kodansha’s own site, so don’t be surprised if there’s a last minute date change.

ASH: I’m very excited for the print debut of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, so I hope there won’t be much of a delay if there is one. I’m still reading Clear Card, too, even though I think the original Cardcaptor Sakura is the stronger series at this point.

SEAN: On the digital front, there’s another debut with the wonderfully titled The Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Toubun no Hanayome). It’s a Weekly Shonen Magazine series about a kid who has to tutor… well, you can probably guess. Expect comedy.

And there is Ace of the Diamond 12, Beauty Bunny 6, Liar x Liar 3, My Brother the Shut-In 6 (this is a final, I think), The Prince’s Black Poison 6, and Tsuredure Children 10.

MICHELLE: Someday I’ll read My Brother the Shut-In, but predictably, it’s Ace of the Diamond that I’m most excited about.

SEAN: Seven Seas rarely buries us in piles of titles in the same week. Next week is an exception. We’ve got the final Captive Hearts of Oz (Vol. 4), a 13th volume of A Certain Scientific Railgun, the 2nd novel of Clockwork Planet in print (digital from J-Novel Club), a 3rd Devilman Grimoire, Freezing 21-22, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 9, Mononoke Sharing 2, My Monster Secret 11, Not Lives 9, and NTR – Netsuzou Trap 5.

ASH: It’ll be interesting to compare Devilman Grimoire to the classic Devilman manga now that that’s starting to be released in English, too.

SEAN: Not only that, but also several debuts! The big one is Claudine, the classic Riyoko Ikeda 70s shoujo manga. Complete in one short volume, it’s a fantastic read.

MICHELLE: I believe I detect a pick of the week contender!

MJ: Ooooooooh, yes, this.

ANNA: YAY!!!!

ASH: It’s one of my most anticipated releases of the year!

SEAN: Getter Robo Devolution is another take on the classic Getter Robo series. It runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion, and is by the team responsible for the Ultraman manga.

If you like the How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord novel but wished you could see more of the fanservice, good news for you! Here’s the first volume of the manga adaptation.

If you love Monster Musume so much it drives you to create, then even better news – Monster Girl Papercrafts is coming out next week, presumably featuring designs from the ever-popular series.

ASH: Huh. I didn’t know this existed!

SEAN: And if you’re an old-school fan, enjoy a license that frankly no one was expecting. True Tenchi Muyo! is a series of three light novels that expand on the extended universe of the Tenchi OAVs that were so popular with your parents’ generation. (I know, shut up, Sean.) This first book focuses on Ayeka and Sasami’s parents.

On to Vertical. Speaking of novels, they have Hanamonogatari: Flower Tale. This is the 2nd book in the series not to be narrated by Koyomi Araragi. This story is narrated by Suruga Kanbaru, and has her dealing with a devil.

We have a 3rd omnibus of The Flowers of Evil as well.

Viz has a 4th digital release of The Emperor and I.

And the rest is Yen, but don’t even think that we’re done. Digitally we have a 6th Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, a 17th Corpse Princess, and a 7th IM: Great Priest Imhotep.

Yen On has two debuts this month, both spinoffs. If you like Sword Art Online but wish it didn’t star Kirito and were written by someone else, I have great news. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is a new spinoff series by the creator of Kino’s Journey, and focuses on original characters playing the game introduced in the 5th and 6th SAO books.

MJ: I wasn’t really interested until you said Kino’s Journey, and now I’m like… MUST HAVE.

ASH: That does add some promise!

SEAN: The other is Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu. This focuses on the elf with the tragic past we’ve seen in several books of the main series.

Speaking of DanMachi, we also have a 6th volume of the Sword Oratoria spinoff novel that looks at Loki’s group.

And there’s also a 14th Accel World, an 8th Irregular at Magic High School, a 4th volume of The Isolator, and a 7th Re: Zero, which should be a whale of a time. (I’m sorry.)

Yen Press also has several debuts this month. Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy (Imomushi Shoujo to Komyushou Danshi) is complete in one volume, and stars a boy who has trouble communicating and the girl he rejected, who is now a caterpillar. I must admit, I want to know more.

MICHELLE: That is quite the concept.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

ASH: My curiosity is piqued.

SEAN: Hatsu*Haru is a long-running shoujo title from Shogakukan’s BetsuComi, about a popular boy who finds himself falling for someone for the first time. Anna should be very interested, I expect.

MICHELLE: My ears always perk up when Yen Press releases some shoujo.

MJ: I’m interested too, I think.

ANNA: A shoujo manga about popular boy falling for someone for the first time????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEAN: Little Witch Academia is best known for its popular anime. Yen has licensed the manga, which runs in Shonen Ace. This is being marketed as part of the children’s line, but should also definitely appeal to manga fans.

Shibuya Goldfish is a pure horror title from Square Enix’s Gangan Joker. If you think the world being eaten by goldfish is a silly premise, this book will soon set you straight. It looks creepy as hell.

MJ: Wow.

ASH: That’s right up there with some of Junji Ito’s concepts; I guess we’ll see if it’s executed as well!

SEAN: The Strange Creature at Kuroyuri Apartments (Kuroyuri-sou no Henna Wikimono) is also supernatural, but this falls more into the pure comedy end. A demon needs life experience. A young landlord needs to not be bored. Can they get along?

Stupid Love Comedy (Rabukome no Baka) is an omnibus collecting all three volumes of this shoujo series from Kodansha’s Aria. It’s a reverse harem series, this time starring a manga writer.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ANNA: I sure do enjoy reverse harem.

SEAN: Think we’re done? There’s also ongoing Yen titles! On the ‘spinoff of light novel’ front, we see only two contenders next week: Goblin Slayer’s 3rd manga volume and Kagerou Daze’s 10th.

But there is also Aoharu x Machinegun 11, As Miss Beelzebub Likes 2, Big Order 5, BTOOOM! 21, Bungo Stray Dogs 7, The Elder Sister-Like One 2, Horimiya 11, Mermaid Boys 2, Monster Tamer Girls 2 (final volume there), One Week Friends 3, Prison School 10, Silver Spoon 3, Smokin’ Parade 4, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 3, Though You May Burn to Ash 2, and Today’s Cerberus 9.

MICHELLE: Yay for Horimiya and Silver Spoon!

MJ: Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon!

ANNA: Wooo!!!!

ASH: I’m following quite a few of these series, but Silver Spoon is the one that I’m most looking forward to reading this time around!

SEAN: Assuming you haven’t aged to death after reading all that, are there any titles you’re getting? One? Two? Twenty-five?

ASH: I’m afraid to count.

Pick of the Week: Blue Flowers One Last Time

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SEAN: I’m not getting all that much this week, so Pick of the Week is a choice between Golden Kamuy and Sweet Blue Flowers. I’m going to go with the latter, as it’s the final volume, but ideally I’d love to see a crossover between the two.

KATE: I agree with Sean: the pick of this week’s litter is Golden Kamuy, my favorite manly cooking manga (now with 200% more bears).

MICHELLE: It’s gotta be Sweet Blue Flowers for me!

ASH: Sweet Blue Flowers is my official pick, too! I’m so happy that the series was translated and hope that it may lead to even more of Shimura’s work being released in English. (I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of Golden Kamuy, too, though!)

ANNA: Sweet Blue Flowers is also my pick. Bring on the angst!

Manga the Week of 6/20/18

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SEAN: Glory be! A small week! Is that because the last week of June is hideously huge? (peers ahead) Yup. Oh well, let’s enjoy next week anyway.

MICHELLE: Now I’m gonna have “The Night Chicago Died” in my head. Not that I’m complaining.

ANNA: OK, it is good to have a bit of a break.

SEAN: Not manga, but it’s worth mentioning that Dark Horse has the Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, a 320-page hardcover with oodles and oodles of Zelda. Click your Link and get it!

ASH: Ha! I believe I will, thank you very much!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has releases for Infinite Stratos (2) and Outbreak Company (4).

Kodansha has a few print releases. There’s Love & Lies 6 and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 6. There’s also Maga-Tsuki 9-10, which is now getting omnibus releases, I guess? Never a good sign when a series shifts from singles to doubles late in the run.

ASH: I’ve been greatly enjoying That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime; much more than I though I would!

SEAN: On the digital side, we have the debut of Karate Heat (Tenohiro no Netsu o), a short Weekly Shonen Magazine title about middle-school karate students. It only ran three volumes, so won’t run up your budget.

MICHELLE: The fact that it’s so short is not exactly a good sign for a sports manga, but you know I can’t resist that genre, so I’ll definitely be checking it out.

ASH: Oooh! Karate! That is tempting.

ANNA: Hmmmm…..

SEAN: There’s also Cosplay Animal 6 (reminding me to finish 5), Drowning Love 9, Fuuka 18, Love’s Reach 9, Perfect World 3, and Pumpkin Scissors 21. (Need to catch up on Perfect World too.)

MICHELLE: Same re: Perfect World. I also intend to read Drowning Love one of these days.

SEAN: Seven Seas just has one next week, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 8.

A new publisher debuts, calling themselves Tokyopop. This is their first title, but they may go far! Depends on the leadership, I suspect. Konohana Kitan is a not-quite-yuri not-quite-furry manga about a group of fox girls working at a hot spring, and it runs… or ran… in Gentosha’s Comic Birz, which is ceasing its print publication. I suspect it will move to digital publication.

MICHELLE: *dubious face that’s way more about the publisher than the fox girls*

ANNA: Um.

SEAN: Meanwhile, Vertical gives us a 6th To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

Viz has a 5th volume of Golden Kamuy, a 5th Tokyo Ghoul: re, and also the 4th and final omnibus of Sweet Blue Flowers. I suspect this comes as a relief to the Manga Bookshelf folks who were wondering about Pick of the Week.

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: I’m definitely glad for more Golden Kamuy and am still thrilled that Sweet Blue Flowers was translated.

ANNA: I’m with Ash.

SEAN: That does it! It’s OK, next time we’ll be here for hours. But for now, what are you picking up?

Pick of the Week: Love Is Hard, But So Is Loveless

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MICHELLE: I feel like I really should be picking Loveless, since it’s been so long, but I’m pretty sure someone else will have that covered. Instead, I’ll go with the second volume of Wotakoi. I’ve finally gotten around to reading the first one, and it’s amusing and charming and just really a lot of fun.

SEAN: I’m also ready for Wotakoi, as well as Captain Harlock. But my pick this week is Sleepy Princess in the Demon Caste;, because every Shonen Sunday license needs our support, and also because sleepy princesses sound awesome.

ANNA: I’m pretty stoked for Captain Harlock, but like Sean, I want to support Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, since Shonen Sunday series don’t come around too often.

KATE: I’m glad we’re finally getting a second volume of After Hours, one of the only licensed yuri series that focuses on adult women, but my heart belongs to Captain Harlock. Bring on the manly conversations about Loyalty, Courage, and Space!

ASH: So much great stuff is being released this week! After Hours, Captain Harlock, and Wotakoi are all very high on my list, and I’m rather curious about Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, however another tremendous series that hasn’t been mentioned yet it is To Your Eternity. The manga just started a new story arc which I’m sure will be just as devastating as the ones that preceded it, but I’ve come to expect great things from the series.

MJ: Michelle was right not to fret, because of course the only possible pick for me this week is volume thirteen of Loveless. Yun Kouga’s pretty much always got my number, with her chaotic, emotionally messy style that’s exactly my cup of tea. There can be few who don’t already know how much I adore Loveless, in particular, since I was never able to stop writing about it (and writing about it). After nearly four years since the last volume was released in English, I suspect the new installment will feel scant and less satisfying than I’d like it to be, but I’m so glad to finally see it, I can’t quite bring myself to care.

Manga the Week of 6/13/18

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SEAN: Did you know there is manga coming out next week? It’s true!

MICHELLE: Shokku!

ASH: You wa shock!

ANNA: Madness and insanity!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the first volume of Gantz G, the sequel series that serves all your lycra fetish needs. (I still want HEN, dammit.)

J-Novel Club has new digital novels for us. Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 9, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 3, and My Little Sister Can Read Kanji 4.

Kodansha has new print titles! We have the 3rd Again!!, the 7th Aho-Girl, a 5th To Your Eternity, and the 2nd omnibus of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku. Most looking forward to that last one.

MICHELLE: I am horrible and haven’t read the first Wotakoi yet. Perhaps I’ll remedy that this week.

ASH: You should! This is definitely another Kodansha week for me–I’m picking up most of these.

SEAN: Digitally we have another debut, this one is Kamikamikaeshi is a Nakayoshi shoujo series (we haven’t seen anything from them lately). It involves gods, hair, and reverse harems, and is by Ema Toyama of Missions of Love fame.

ANNA: Did someone say reverse harems??????

SEAN: There’s also a 3rd Boarding School Juliet, a 9th GTO Paradise Lost, a 3rd Living Room Matsunaga-san, and a 4th Starving Anonymous.

Seven Seas has another big blast from the past with the first Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection. First serialized in the 1970s in Akita Shoten’s Play Comic, this hardcover is filled with piracy and brooding.

ASH: Should be great.

ANNA: Wooo!!!!

SEAN: There’s a light novel debut in print, as we get the first volume of light-hearted overpowered heroine comedy Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!. In digital, meanwhile, we get the 2nd volume of the same series.

The other debut may actually be familiar to those who tried the MangaBox digital app back in the day. High-Rise Invasion (Tenkuu Shinpan) is a shonen series that started there, then moved to Weekly Shonen Magazine. Beware, beyond this point survival game manga lies.

SuBLime has a 7th Deluxe Edition of Finder.

Vertical has the 2nd volume of CITY, the spiritual successor to Nichijou.

Viz debuts a new series, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maou-jou de Oyasumi), which is, believe it or not, a new Shonen Sunday debut. Yes, the magazine still exists. The demon king has kidnapped our heroine… who just wants a nice rest. I look forward to this.

MICHELLE: I miss Shonen Sunday titles!

ASH: Indeed! And I’ve heard good things about this particular one, too.

ANNA: Looks cute!

SEAN: We also get a 2nd volume of After Hours, a 13th Loveless… oh, wait, here’s MJ.

MJ: THIS THIS THIS THIS THISY THIS THIS. Hi. There’s a new volume of Loveless. Obviously I will be devouring it.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ASH: I adored the first volume of After Hours and, yes, I’m still reading Loveless as well.

SEAN: …and there’s also a 30th Magi and a 3rd Splatoon. I’m impressed Magi has made it to 30+ volumes.

ANNA: So many volumes I am hopelessly behind on.

SEAN: Lastly, after a few delays, we finally get the 11th light novel for Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, seeing if Bell can bounce back after the disastrous events of the last book.

See? I told you there was manga. Anything for you?

ASH: Always, and then some!

Yona of the Dawn Vols 11 and 12

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Yona of the Dawn Volumes 11 and 12 by Mizuho Kusanagi

It is an indication of how busy I am that I read two volumes of Yona of the Dawn together, because usually a volume of Yona of the Dawn does not linger unread for very long in my house. Reading volumes 11 and 12 back to back enabled me to appreciate Kusanagi’s storytelling skills even more as she shifts into a new storyline for Yona and her now complete band of mystical dragon protectors. Volume 11 was a little more light-hearted and character-driven, with the opening chapter flashing back to when Yona, Hak, and Su-Won were children, with Yona reacting against the restrictions of her role as a princess and the older boys watching over her as protectors.

A very important moment occurs in the next chapter, when Hak declares his undying devotion to Yona by…kissing her on the forehead. Yona spends most of her time being perplexed. Jaeha turns into a bit of an odd cheerleader for the relationship, by acting continuing to act obnoxious and needling Hak at any opportunity. The team heads into the Kai empire in search of more sustainable food for Yona’s people, and some hilarious scenes ensure as the village maidens who are starved for the sight of handsome men swarm Yona’s companions. Yona has a key moment where she wins over the villagers, demonstrating that she has the unique diplomatic skills of a potential queen. Kusanagi handles moments of Hak’s internal turmoil, Yona’s perplexed emotions, and over the top fangirl squeeing with ease, and I’m always intrigued to see how she chooses to illustrate these important emotional moments.

In contrast, volume 12 shifts into exploring geopolitical issues as generals and lords hatch an elaborate plot to start a rebellion in Kohka. One of my favorite things in this series is seeing Yona become more self-assured and confident with each volume. Once she realizes what is happening she’s determined to return, not for any military or personal ambition of her own, but because she wants to do something to help out the people who might be crushed in a confrontation of opposing armies. At twelve volumes in, one of the great things about this series is that Kusanagi has built up the characters so much that an abrupt shift to multiple scenes of old general dudes hatching evil plots while discussing tea is not alarming at all, because the reader has full confidence that it will all come together in the end, and it totally does. I thoroughly enjoy the pacing of Yona of the Dawn, as the characters and the challenges they face continue to evolve in fascinating ways. Overall, as someone who has read a ton of shoujo fantasy, I think this series is one of the best examples of the genre.