Katherine Dacey

ASH: This week features the debuts of several series which I have been looking forward to a great deal — Diamond Is Unbreakable, Snow White with the Red Hair, Emanon — but Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare happens to be one of my most anticipated releases of the entire year, so that’s my pick! I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the series.

SEAN: Having just read the first volume, the hype is entirely valid. I really want to read Snow White with the Red Hair as well, but the pick has to be Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare.

MICHELLE: I plan to read both in the week they are released, which is saying something given the towering size of my to-read stacks, but yes, the edge must go to Our Dreams at Dusk this time.

KATE: I’ll carry the banner for Kenji Tsurata’s Emanon, which debuts this week. It’s a shame that Tsurata’s work isn’t better known in the US; though he isn’t prolific, his manga are beautifully drawn and populated by the kind of feisty, independent female characters that make any kind of story — mystery, adventure, romance — more enjoyable for grumpy old feminists like me.

ANNA: I’m not going to pass up the chance to celebrate a new shoujo title, so Snow White with the Red Hair for me!

MELINDA: There are a number of interesting titles debuting this week, but Sean is pretty persuasive, and I think I’ve gotta go with Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare. I am a sheep.

SEAN: There’s a ton coming out, mostly Yen Press. I suspect MB will focus on Silver Spoon and YowaPeda, so I will go with the first omnibus of the 8th and final arc of Umineko When They Cry. Barring a side story license (don’t hold your breath), this is the end for Battler, Beatrice and company, but the final arc – both game and manga versions – is very controversial among fans. Can’t wait to read it – despite the cover art from hell.

MICHELLE: It’s gotta be Yowamushi Pedal for me, although Sean has informed us that the Inter High *still* isn’t over.

ASH: Yup, Sean knows us well. Yowamushi Pedal is one of the releases I’m particularly looking forward to this week, but I’m even more excited for more Silver Spoon. I greatly enjoyed the anime adaptation of Silver Spoon and the original manga remains just as strong if not stronger.

MELINDA: I mean. Obviously it’s Silver Spoon. I hate being so predictable, but there it is.

KATE: You and me both! I’m 100% on team Silver Spoon this week, as it’s quickly become one of my all-time favorite coming-of-age stories with great cartooning, great characters, and great dialogue. I know I sound like a broken record, but I want more people to read this delightful series, if only so that Yen Press (or another publisher) will rescue Arakawa’s other farm manga from licensing purgatory.

MICHELLE: I’ve wanted to read Saint Young Men for probably a decade. I had given up all hope of it being licensed here, so my gratitude to Kodansha is immense. I simply can’t even consider picking anything else.

ANNA: Me too, I’m absolutely amazed it is being translated.

SEAN: Yeah, Saint Young Men is my pick this week because it’s an Easter Miracle we’re even getting it.

KATE: I’m 200% on board with Saint Young Men, but I also think it’s worth reminding MB readers that VIZ will be releasing digital versions of the first seven volumes of Banana Fish. For folks who missed it the first time around, or who saw the anime and wondered how it compared with the source material, the new digital edition is a wallet-friendly way to dive into the manga.

ASH: Typically I can safely ignore digital releases since I have more than enough print manga to keep me busy, but when something like Saint Young Men is licensed even I have to take note! It’s definitely my pick, but I sincerely hope it might get a physical release in the future. We’ve proof that miracles can happen!

MELINDA: I feel like me choosing Saint Young Men while Kate is the one to bring up Banana Fish is the shocking plot twist nobody saw coming, but that is what’s actually happening, right now, today. I’m very happy that Viz is releasing digital versions of Banana Fish (though what I really want is a fancy, deluxe print edition), but Saint Young Men is something I genuinely thought we could never see in North America, and I can’t let that go. Not even for Eiji Okumura. And that’s saying something.

SEAN: Some good stuff this week: a 2nd Ran the Peerless Beauty, the Restaurant to Another World novel, a new Dead Dead Demon’s Dededededestruction and Golden Kamuy, but I’m going with the pretty debut, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, because man, it looks pretty.

MICHELLE: And it appears to be a mystery! Thus, it’s my pick as well.

ANNA: I’m halfway into the second volume of Ran and the Grey World and I’m probably going to drop that series, so I’m hoping that Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest has a better story to go with the beautiful art.

ASH: While I’m certainly interested in Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, a new Junji Ito collection is being released upon the world in English this week. I can’t help it, Smashed is my pick! (Though I would guess it will likewise be visually striking, but for entirely different reasons…)

KATE: I’m gonna need a bigger boat–that’s an amazing manga haul! Ran and the Gray World didn’t do much for me, but I’m loving just about everything else on the MB Battle Robot’s shopping list, from the latest Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction to Go With the Clouds, North-by-Northwest and Smashed.

MELINDA: I was a huge fan of the artwork in Ran and the Gray World, so I’ll join a number of my colleagues here and go with Go With the Clouds, North-by-Northwest as my pick this week! I’m very interested in this!

MICHELLE: Well, I guess I’ll be predictable and go for the big debut this week—Witch Hat Atelier looks very charming. I desperately hope that, unlike a certain other seinen series with a young female protagonist with magical powers, there are no adult creepers in sight!

SEAN: I agree, but I think the rest of MB will as well, so I’ll go for O Maidens in Your Savage Season, though I may be jumping the gun as only Kodansha’s own site lists it as coming out this week. It has a great pedigree, though, and I can’t resist a title like that.

ASH: There are plenty releases this week that I’m looking forward to, including the two that have been mentioned so far, but my pick actually goes to Kitaro’s Yokai Battles. It’s been so long since the last volume was released, and I’m always delighted by the series.

KATE: My comic shop got Witch Hat Atelier last week and it’s every bit as good as I hoped it would be. I’m getting a strong Miyazaki vibe from it — no squicky seinen overtones, no sappiness. If anything, it reminded me of Howl’s Moving Castle, as it has the rhythms and dramatic conflicts of a great children’s fantasy novel.

MICHELLE: That’s a very encouraging comparison!

ANNA: I think I’m going to throw in for Witch Hat Atelier as well, it sounds very appealing!

MELINDA: I feel like a sheep, but honestly I’m all about Witch Hat Atelier, especially since Kate has confirmed an absence of smarm which, like Michelle, was the only question giving me pause. So that’s my pick, too!

SEAN: I mean, can I pick Viz’s releases as a unit? If not, I will certainly pick My Hero Academia as a unit. With Vol. 18 of the main series (which wraps up the “Overhaul” arc), the 4th Vigilantes, and the debut of the light novels, there’s enough here to satisfy any fan.

ASH: Viz really has most of my attention this week, too! But as previously mentioned, it’s the Shojo Beat fantasy titles that are holding my heart. If I can only pick one of them it would be Yona of the Dawn, but I’m also very much enjoying The Water Dragon’s Bride.

MICHELLE: Oh, man. Decisions! I really do love both of the shoujo titles singled out by Ash, but my Academia love knows no bounds. Ultimately, I have to go with “What Sean said.”

KATE: I won’t lie: The Promised Neverland is 100% pure manga crack, and I’m jonesing for my next fix. The story gets darker with every turn, but Emma’s pluck, brains, and heart make me optimistic that at least SOME of the escapees will eventually find their way to safety.

ANNA: I’m with Ash, Viz’s shoujo fantasy titles are always something to celebrate.

MELINDA: I’m going to go with the latest volume of Ao Haru Ride! I feel like I should be on the Promised Neverland bandwagon, but I’m a sucker for Viz shoujo, so here we are.

SEAN: I have not been able to remotely keep up with Kodansha’s digital-only titles, but I do appreciate them when they give us lots of series that may not have sales that justify a print license. So I’ll make my pick this week Ran the Peerless Beauty, a shoujo series that looks cool and cute. Let’s hope that’s not the slang term for “peerless”, though.

ASH: I’m always happy to see a new volume of Gangsta, but this week the release I’m most excited about is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart. I adored Go For It, Nakamura!, so I’m thrilled to see more of the creator’s work in translation.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely going to be checking out both of the titles mentioned already, but I’ll go with the debut of Love in Focus this time. I enjoyed the mangaka’s previous series much more than I expected to. Too bad this one is also quite short!

KATE: Again with Again!! for me. I love the way Mitsurou Kubo resists tidy resolutions for her characters’ dilemmas. Everyone learns lessons in Again!!, but no one has the kind of radical epiphanies that lead to big moments of triumph or change; seven volumes in, it’s still an open question whether the ouendan will survive Imamura and Usami’s tempestuous leadership. Crack pacing and a great cast of supporting characters make this uncertain state of affairs something to savor, rather than something to endure, and crisp artwork helps sell the time-travel angle. I can’t recommend this enough! (Or should that be Enough!!?)

MELINDA: There are a number of releases that intrigue me this week, including Ran the Peerless Beauty and Love in Focus, but BL horror from Opera wins the day for me. My pick is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart.

ANNA: There are so many interesting manga series coming out this week, but it has been such a long time since I’ve seen a new volume of Gangsta. That’s my pick!

MICHELLE: I’ve already awarded my pick to The Girl from the Other Side a time or two, so though I’m definitely happy to read more, I should probably branch out a bit. There are several other titles I’m interested in this week, but I’ll award my official pick to That Blue Sky Feeling, which I admittedly haven’t read yet but which looks right up my street.

KATE: At the risk of being Manga Bookshelf’s most predictable member, I’m voting for the latest volume of The Girl From the Other Side.

SEAN: Quite a few titles I’m interested in but nothing I’m devoted to, so I’ll go with the title I plan to read first, which is Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete 4-panel Comics. I love Arakawa being silly.

ASH: I’m curious about Candy Color Paradox and I really enjoyed the debut of That Blue Sky Feeling, but The Girl From the Other Side easily remains one of the best series that I’ve read so it gets my pick this week.

ANNA: At the risk of being overly predictable, I’m going to pick The Girl From the Other Side too!

MELINDA: And I’m going to be absolutely predictable and go for Fullmetal Alchemist: The Complete 4-panel Comics! Arakawa always wins with me, and her comic… uh, comics are a sublime treasure.

MICHELLE: I thought it’d be an easy choice for The Tale of Genji, but now Maiden Railways is up in the mix, too. Guess I’ll just have to get both. Darn.

ANNA: Why not both? It seems like a good decision to me!

SEAN: There are many worthy choices, including the two titles mentioned above. That said, I have to go with Today’s Menu with the Emiya Family, the happy-ending-for-everyone series that every Fate fan wants deep down.

KATE: I’m stoked for The Tale of Genji! Waki Yamato is a shojo pioneer who has a flair for melodrama. If Genji is a hit with American readers, I hope that we’ll also see an English-language edition of Haikara-san: Here Comes Miss Modern, the series that won her the Kodansha Manga Award back in 1977. Hey, a reader can dream, can’t she?

ASH: The Tale of Genji has my official pick this week, too. Particularly impressive from me considering the fact that at the moment the series is only being released digitally.

MELINDA: I think my pick is probably pretty obvious. With my deep love for vintage shoujo manga, there’s no choice for me but The Tale of Genji. I am so excited to pick it up!

SEAN: I am, of course, picking Urusei Yatsura. For reasons I have already stated. That said, I suspect I know where the other picks will be headed. Again. Which is fine, as I love that too.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read that title in question yet, and thus feel weird picking it, so I’m actually going for the second volume of Ran and the Gray World. Although there’s one character I could entirely do without, the premise is neat, Ran’s brother is pretty awesome, and the art is freaking gorgeous. I just hope the story goes in a direction that isn’t creepy.

MELINDA: I mean, do you even have to ask? There’s some good stuff on the list, but y’know. Silver Spoon. Always Silver Spoon.

ANNA: I feel the same way about Michelle about Ran and the Grey World, but I have read a little bit of Urusei Yatsura before, and while it might not be as polished as Takahashi’s other works, it is a true manga classic. I’m glad it is going to be in print again, so it is my pick.

KATE: I’m going to be predictable and recommend Silver Spoon again, but I’m also going to back Sean’s play with Urusei Yatsura. Hiromu Arakawa and Rumiko Takahashi are the undisputed Queens of Shonen and deserve some love from American readers!

ASH: I’m looking forward to reading more of Ran and the Gray World and of course Silver Spoon, too. But all else being equal, I tend to favor debuts for my official picks, so this week I’ll be choosing Urusei Yatsura. Though, I suppose technically it’s not a really a debut… but it will be the first time I’m reading it!

MICHELLE: Although it may not have the most original premise, the digital debut of My Sweet Girl appeals to me the most this week. I think that the word “boyish” is largely responsible for my interest.

SEAN: There’s an awful lot of yuri out this week. My Solo Exchange Diary is certainly on my list. But I think I’ll make Kase-san and Cherry Blossoms my pick this week, as it’s just that sweet.

KATE: Hmmmm… this is one of those weeks where I feel torn between recommending something fun and frivolous — here’s looking at you, Sleepy Princess — and recommending something more serious like the second installment of My Solo Exchange Diary. So I’ll split the difference and recommend the latest volume of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, a josei title that vividly captures the anxiety that single, unmarried women can feel in a coupled-up culture. It’s witty, rueful, and often cringe-inducing — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yelled at the characters — but worth a read.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by My Sweet Girl, I’m always up for more shoujo and it looks cute.

ASH: Kate has pretty much summed up my own feelings about this week’s releases! (And has phrased it better than I could have, too.) I’ll join her in recommending Tokyo Tarareba Girls as my official pick, but I’m sure that I’ll be reading Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle and My Solo Exchange Diary pretty soon, too.

MELINDA: I’m don’t have a really obvious pick this week, so I think I’ll go along with Michelle and cling to the word “boyish” in that description of My Sweet Girl. Count me in for that.

SEAN: There’s a ton coming out that I’m interested in. Light Novel-wise, we have the 2nd Bakarina and the debut of Classroom of the Elite. And there’s the new Kino’s Journey manga. But yeah, there’s also a ridiculous amount of Viz. Including Oresama Teacher, which I still love to bits. It’s my pick.

MICHELLE: There are lots and lots of shoujo releases that I’ll be eagerly devouring, but since volume seventeen of My Hero Academia will mark the first time I’m all caught up on the series, I’m going with that!

ASH: It’s not manga, but I’m very excited for the chance to finally read the fourth and fifth Boogiepop novels, so the second omnibus in the series is my pick this week!

KATE: Yikes–that’s a lot of good stuff arriving in stores next week! If I had to single out one title for praise, it would be Inside Mari, a body-swapping story that takes the idea of waking up in someone else’s body seriously, rather than a set-up for tacky jokes about anatomy and clothing. The first volume was honest to the point of squirm-inducing, but it was also compulsively readable — just like Shuzo Oshimi’s other work (The Flowers of Evil, Happiness, The Drifting Net Cafe.)

MELINDA: I am a huge fan of the anime adaptation of Kino’s Journey and was devastated about the cancellation of the novel series way back when, so that has to be my pick this week. I don’t always love manga adaptations, but in this case, I can’t feel anything but excitement and so much hope. Maybe too much hope. Time will tell.

ANNA: I have to go for the shoujo, but I can’t choose between Ao Haru Ride and Shortcake Cake because they are both so good! They are my picks of the week!

SEAN: It’s rare that I dive into BL, much less make it a Pick of the Week. And I am, I admit, really excited for delinquent/cat manga Nyankees. But the cover and premise of 10 Dance just looks SO good that it’s turned my head. I’m buying it, and it’s my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I absolutely concur. Anytime we get BL about grown men pursuing their professional goals, I will be 1000% here for it.

ASH: That all pretty much sums it up for me, too! I’m prepared to be delighted by the debut of Nyankees (and the most recent volume of Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun), but it’s 10 Dance that has really caught my attention this week.

KATE: Word.

ANNA: I concur!

MELINDA: I only have eyes for 10 Dance. Sorry, cats!

MICHELLE: It’s been eight months since our last serving of father-daughter culinary adventures, so my enthusiastic pick this week is for volume eleven of Sweetness & Lightning, a series I once described as “eyebleach in manga form.”

SEAN: It has to be Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction for me, a series that gets more riveting with each volume, though I think the ‘lighter and fluffier’ promise the author made about this one may be leaving town soon.

KATE: Since Sean has beat the drum for Dead Dead Demon’s Dedededestruction, I’ll recommend the second volume of Wandering Island instead. The first volume arrived in stores way back in 2016, and barely registered with manga readers. That’s a shame, because Kenji Tsurata’s artwork is flat-out terrific, as is his plucky aviator heroine Mikura. A few critics caviled about the fanservice and the plot, but this Grumpy Old Feminist gives it two thumbs way up.

ASH: There are a lot of great manga being released this week; I’ve got my eye on every series that’s been mentioned so far. I’ll take the opportunity to highlight one more, though, since it’s been more than three years since the release of the first volume of Die Wergelder in English. The series is essentially a pinky violence film in manga form. Steeped in extreme brutality and exploitative eroticism, it’s understandably not for everyone.

ANNA: I’m going to joint with Sean in picking Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction. I procrastinated reading this series for a long time, and once I tried it I was absolutely riveted.

MELINDA: I’ll admit that I don’t have a solid pick this week, and even with the title I’m most interested in, I’m already eleven volumes behind. But I’ll just go ahead and back Michelle up here on Sweetness and Lightning. I think I really do need to check it out.