Michelle Smith

SEAN: No, it’s not Halloween yet.

MICHELLE: It’s Halloween in my heart.

ANNA: It is also Halloween in my heart!

ASH: One does not just limit Halloween to the end of October.

SEAN: There are no print releases for Airship next week. There is an Only Digital debut. Reborn as an Aristocratic Scoundrel, I Broke the Game and Mastered Magic Beyond Limits! (Taida na Akujoku Kizoku ni Tensei Shita Ore, Scenario o Bukkowashitara Kikakugai no Maryoku de Saikyou ni Natta) is a story we’ve seen a lot recently. He’s a villain mook. He wants to stop being a villain mook. He gets OP.

Also only digital, we see Fluffy Café in Another World 2.

And in early digital, we get The Devil Princess 5.

Alien Books debuts Badducks, a manga from Web Action about a cyborg, a desperate lady, and a baby, on the run.

ASH: Now that’s an interesting and somewhat unexpected combo!

SEAN: AlphaPolis has a print release for A Gatherer’s Adventure in Isekai 3, May I Ask for One Final Thing? 3, and Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time 3.

Ghost Ship gives us Lilia’s Pregnancy Spells the World’s End 3.

There’s a light novel debut from Hanashi Media. The Capital’s One-Man Golem Master Got Kicked Out!? Now Free, I’m Traveling the World with My Beautiful Heroine Disciples to Build the Ultimate Golem! Don’t Ask Me to Come Back. I’m Done! (Outo Wan’ope Golem Master. Masaka no Tsuihou!? ~Jiyuu no Mi ni Natta node Deshi no Bijin Yuusha-tachi to Issho ni Saikyou Golem Tsukurimasu. Modotte Koi to Iwarete mo Mou Shiran!~). The title is the plot.

ASH: Considering the length of the title, I would think so!

SEAN: Ink Pop debuts I Shall Master This Family, a webtoon about a noble girl who dies after her family comes to ruin, then wakes up as a child and tries to avoid that fate. I’ve heard this sort of story before somewhere…

ASH: It does seem familiar, doesn’t it.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a pile of print. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 7, Black Summoner 8, Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill Omnibus 7, Infinite Dendrogram (manga) Omnibus 7, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World (manga) 8, My Friend’s Little Sister Has It in For Me! 11, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 12, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles (manga) 12, and Tearmoon Empire (manga) 9.

ASH: I need to catch up with the various Bookworm and Tearmoon iterations.

SEAN: Two debuts for JNC digitally, both light novels. Genius in the Library: This Bookish Rookie Will Save the Day! (Toshokan no Tensai Shoujo ~Honzuki no Shinjin Kanri wa Boudai na Chishiki de Kuni o Sukuimasu!~) stars a girl who wants nothing more than to sit in a dark library reading books all day. Sadly, she lives in a world with monster attacks! And bureaucracy! Can she defeat both those things?

ANNA: I would also like to sit in a dark library reading books all day, yet my job involves a lot of bureaucracy. Maybe I need to work in the monster attacks somehow.

ASH: Saaaaaame.

SEAN: God Sleeps in Seafoam (Utakata ni Kami wa Madoromu) stars a guy who (try to contain your shock) is born without the cool power everyone in his world has, is thrown out of his family, but discovers a really AWESOME power and finds a new life. It is apparently a bit more serious than I made it sound.

Other light novels: The Amazing Village Creator: Slow Living with the Village Building Cheat Skill 5, The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place 6, Haibara’s Teenage New Game+ 10, Infinite Dendrogram SP 3, and Zero Damage Sword Saint: I Enrolled in a Magic School and Wound Up in a Contract with the Demon Queen 5.

And one manga: A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 11.

Kana debuts Hideout, a one-volume horror manga from Big Comic Spirits. A man and his wife, grieving the loss of their son, go on a journey to find a fabled waterfall. Unfortunately, well, horror manga.

ASH: I should probably read it, then.

SEAN: Kana also has a 4th City Hunter omnibus.

MICHELLE: Ooh.

ANNA: Nice.

ASH: Always.

SEAN: No debuts for Kodansha Manga, but they do have Gachiakuta Dumpster Season 1 Manga Box Set, which has the first 10 volumes and a tote bag.

ASH: Love a good tote bag.

SEAN: Other print volumes: Drawing From Your Memory 3, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 15, Honey Bee & Lemon Balm sweet moment (the third in the series), How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 6, Kirio Fan Club 4, Last Samurai 6, Love, That’s an Understatement 8, Shimazaki in the Land of Peace 10, To Your Eternity 25 (the final volume), and Vinland Saga 15 (also the final volume, it got bumped, though digital is out this week).

ASH: I will take Vinland Saga whenever I can get it. And To Your Eternity, too, for that matter.

SEAN: And digitally we have Am I Actually the Strongest? 20, Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 12, and Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 10.

Last Gasp has a new edition of Barefoot Gen, 572 pages, with new lettering and some new color pages. You don’t need me to tell you to read Barefoot Gen.

ASH: I’m not sure how many editions this makes now, but I’m glad to see this series remain available.

SEAN: One Peace Books has a manga debut. The Delinquent Girl Beside Me Suddenly Dyed Her Hair Black (Tonari no Seki no Yankee Shimizu-san ga Kami wo Kuroku Somete Kita) is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel, and ran in Shonen Ace. A guy mentions he likes refined black-haired girls. The next day, the blonde delinquent who sits next to him shows up with black hair, and acting refined. What could it be? He’s a high school guy, so he’ll never figure it out, trust me.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Seven Seas has one danmei release, the 2nd and final volume of Golden Terrace.

They have two manga debuts. Are You a Landmine, Chihara-san? (Jirai Nan desu ka? Chihara-san) runs in Ganma!, and has an anime coming soon. A guy finds his new seatmate is a girl with long black hair, goth loli fashion, and a tendency to stare. Is she one of those obsessive weirdos? As it turns out, she’s one of those sweet weirdos.

Living with My Old Cat (Jiji Neko Kurashi) is a cat manga about life with an older cat. (Sometimes I got nothin’.)

MICHELLE: Heh.

ASH: But you’ve got cat manga!

SEAN: They also have The Babe at My Back Has Her Eye on Me. I’m Done For. 2, The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 10, Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 14, It Takes More Than a Pretty Face to Fall in Love 7, The Kingdoms of Ruin 13, Nagahama to Be, or Not to Be: The Second Voyage (or, as normal people would say, 2), and This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 20.

Square Enix Manga has Assassin & Cinderella 4, The Emperor’s Caretaker 7, My Favorite VTuber Is Scary IRL 3, and My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! 27.

SuBLime gives us Black or White 13, Forest of the Rabbits 2 (the final volume), and May I Have a Taste? 3.

Titan Manga debuts Resident Evil: Death Island, a manga adaptation of the CG film. It ran in Comic Hu.

Tokyopop debuts another yuri webtoon. She Is Still Cute Today stars a top student who is rumored to be in love with the #1 boy in class. To stop this, she says she’s in love with the bottom ranked student. Who’s a girl. And was listening to all this. And is now following her around…

Vassalord Deluxe Edition, meanwhile, is exactly what it sounds like, a deluxe hardcover version of the dark BL series.

ASH: Now that’s a blast from the past! This series is somewhat absurd, but I enjoyed what was previously released, so I am pleased by this. (Maybe it means we’ll see the rest of the series translated, too?)

SEAN: Uncivilized Books debut Fire!, a classic shoujo manga from the 1960s that ran in Weekly Seventeen. Aaron Browning is an Ohio teenager in juvie who meets a delinquent who has big music talent. This 900-page book collects all four volumes of his rise and fall. He’s apparently based on Scott Walker. Oh, there’s also an essay on Pink Floyd in here. The manga won an award. Everything about this screams “buy me now”.

MICHELLE: Or else the sun ain’t gonna shine any more!

SEAN: Yes, make it easy on yourself!

ANNA: Well, this sounds amazing.

ASH: Yup. I preorderd this as soon as I learned it was licensed.

SEAN: Viz Media has My Hero Academia: Ultra Artworks, a hardcover artbook dedicated to the popular series.

We also see Beyblade X 7, Case Closed 100, Chainsaw Man 22, Firefly Wedding 8, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Seen 3, Pokémon: Scarlet & Violet 6, Rainbows After Storms 12, Splatoon 3: Splatlands 7, and Yaiba: Samurai Legend 6.

Three debuts for Yen On. Buying a Classmate Once a Week: Our Time Together and the Five-Thousand-Yen Excuse (Shuu ni Ichido Classmate o Kau Hanashi ~Futari no Jikan, Iiwake no Gosen En~) is a yuri light novel about a high school girl who pays her classmate to do things like go get juice, etc… then decides to make the requests more risque. If you liked Adachi and Shimamura but thought their personalities were too normal, this is for you. (BEEP sarcasm BEEP)

See You at That Site of Grace After Work (Shigoto ga Owareba, Ano Shukufuku de) is a one-shot video game tie-in… sort of. A guy who is non-communicative with his co-workers and would rather play games finds his life changing when a young woman asks him to help her get good in Elden Ring. Not a romance, apparently, but a “isn’t Elden Ring great!” sort of book. Note Yen Press releases the Elden Ring manga.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Your Castle’s Little Helper: Please Feed Me, I’ll Work! (Anata no Oshiro no Kobito-san ~Gohan Kudasai, Hatarakimasu ~) stars a starving young girl who suddenly finds she remembers her life as a Japanese woman. She tries to stay alive doing odd jobs, and lucky for her she’s in a “isn’t this lovable orphan adorable?” series.

Also from Yen On: Agents of the Four Seasons 7, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 9.5, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture 7, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 18, Even a Replica Can Fall in Love 5, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End -Prelude– 2, How to Eat Life 3, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 15, King’s Proposal 8, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 15, Witch’s Can’t Be Collared 3, and You Can Have My Back 5.

And Yen Press have one book, a debut. Isshiki-san Wants to Know About Love (Isshiki-san wa Koi wo Shiritai) is an ecchi manga from Shonen Ace. (If you don’t know what ecchi means, ask your father.) A cop finds herself very flustered around her colleague, and decides to date him to figure out what this whole love thing really is. This is getting an anime soon.

No, it’s still not Halloween yet. What are you buying?

SEAN: Despite the best efforts of rain and wind, Manga the Week of is here for you.

ASH: It’s good to have something that can be relied upon.

SEAN: Yen Press has some stragglers still. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 5: The City of Water and the Ode on Heroes (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu: Dai-5 Shou – Mizu no Miyako to Eiyuu no Uta) is the start of the 5th arc in the series. It runs in Comic Alive+.

There’s also Visions 2024__Illustrators Book. This is the annual Pixiv Collective artbook, filled with gorgeous stuff.

ASH: Oh, that does look lovely.

SEAN: No new series from Viz Media, but we do see Boruto: Two Blue Vortex 6, The Bugle Call: Song of War 9, Dandadan 21, The Demon Prince of Momochi House: Succession 3 (the final volume), Fushigi Yûgi: Byakko Senki 5, Ichi the Witch 5, Kill Blue 9, Marriage Toxin 15, Phantom Busters 5, and Shinobi Undercover 3.

MICHELLE: Somehow, there is suddenly quite a backlog of Byakko Senki for me to delve into!

ANNA: Oh wow, me too! That’s the best kind of backlog.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts three titles. The Lion Dances With a Loved One (Shishi no Odoriko) is a BL oneshot from Equal. A man was betrayed and sold to a brothel. And now he’s become the favorite of a rude beastman customer!

ASH: And here I was hoping for something about competitive lion dance.

SEAN: Sanctuary Priestess: I’ll Live in Peace by Feigning Incompetence! (Shiniki no Miko: Munou no Furi wo Shite, Kyou mo Heiwa ni Sugoshimasu), an online manga series from CMOA Comics. A priestess in training is shunned by her family for being inadequate… but she’s hiding her too powerful talents!

ASH: Not a bad idea if you want to be left alone, I guess?

SEAN: Unnie, I Like You! is a yuri webtoon series about a girl with memories of her past life who discovers her past love is teaching university… and has no memory of her!

They’ve also got Merry Witches’ Life: The Three Widows of Berlebagille 4, Monster and Ghost 3, and Yuri Espoir 5.

Titan Manga has the 2nd 3-in-1 omnibus of Aoashi.

MICHELLE: Already pre-ordered!

ASH: Very nice.

SEAN: Steamship has a 3rd and final volume of His Sensual Whisper: The Voice That Sets Me On Fire.

Square Enix Manga debuts The Apothecary Diaries: Xiaolan’s Story (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Gaiden: Xiaolan Kaisouroku). What is Maomao’s story like from the perspective of her bestie who’s never around when the important stuff happens?

ASH: Hahaha! Good to see more of The Apothecary Diaries.

SEAN: Seven Seas has some danmei. There’s Something Wrong with the Chief: Du Zhu You Bing 4 (the final volume) and The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post 3 (the final volume).

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Reborn as an Aristocratic Scoundrel, I Broke the Game and Mastered Magic Beyond Limits! (Taida na Akujoku Kizoku ni Tensei shita Ore, Scenario wo Bukkowashitara Kikakugai no Maryoku de Saikyou ni Natta) is a manga based on a light novel out… next week from Seven Seas. It runs in Dra Dra Flat ♭. It’s a typical Villain book. He’s reincarnated as a bad guy. Tries to avoid his inglorious death by being super powerful.

Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami (Unexpectedly Naughty Fukami) runs in BL Screamo, a magazine title I will never get tired of. It also has an anime AND a live-action series. A hot guy is uninterested in his frumpy co-worker… till they have to share a room for a business trip and he reveals the stud within.

ASH: Oh, my!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System 3-4, Grim Night Tales 3, Kase-san and Yamada 5, Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary 6, Kemono Jihen 22, Kitayama and Minamiya 3, The Legend of Dororo and Hyakkimaru 12, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today 12, Monster Cats 4, My Deer Friend Nokotan 8, and Yokai Cats 11.

Kodansha’s sole print debut had its digital out a while ago. My Journey to Her (Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni) is a complete in one volume series that ran in Weekly Morning. It’s a memoir of Yuna receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and the journey to getting gender-affirming surgery that Yuna, with her family and friends, goes through.

ASH: Definitely curious about this one now it’s in print.

SEAN: OK, technically this is new as well. Blue Lock Full Color Selection contains seven chapters, from various points in the series, in full color.

ASH: That’s an interesting approach.

SEAN: Other print releases: The Magnificent Bastard 4, MF Ghost 8, the 16th and final volume of Peach Boy Riverside, Secondhand Sisters 3, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 23, the 15th and final volume of Vinland Saga, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 22.

ANNA: Oh, I need to get caught up on Vinland Saga too.

ASH: It is so very good and I’m so very glad all of it made it into English.

SEAN: And digitally we get How to Grill Our Love 22 and Giant Killing 59.

MICHELLE: Obligatory yays for Iruma and Giant Killing.

ASH: Indeed!

SEAN: No debuts for JNC after all the Vol. 1s in September. For light novels we see Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 13, Earl and Fairy 13, Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! 13, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 28.

And for manga we get Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?! 8, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AΩ— 13, and The Otome Heroine’s Fight for Survival 8.

Ghost Ship has two debuts. Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! (Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru!) is a Weekly Shonen Magazine title Kodansha Manga doesn’t want to touch, so here it is with Ghost Ship. It also has an anime. A guy who thinks joining the student council will be easy realizes the other members are all weirdos. This sounds a LOT like Seitokai Yakuindomo, to be honest, another Shonen Magazine title that got an anime.

ASH: That title is rather suggestive if taken a certain way… Which I’m assuming is intentional, being a Ghost Ship release.

SEAN: Harem Camp! also has an anime, and runs in Comic Goichi. A guy camping out runs into a bunch of drunk women, and they all have fun in their tent. Then he finds out he’s their new high school teacher.

ASH: Uh-oh.

SEAN: They also have a 19th volume of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You.

Dark Horse Manga has a 2nd volume of The Credits Roll into the Sea.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to pick this series up.

SEAN: Airship debuts The Neverending Winter, the Land of Broken Dreams (Owaranai Fuyu, Kowareta Yume no Kuni), the 4th in the The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes collection.

Also in print for Airship: I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 5, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 16, and Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I’m Hunting Heroes in Another World 2.

They also have early digital for Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 11, The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside By My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom 7, and Witch and Mercenary 7.

Someone left the manga out in the rain. What are you reading?

SEAN: Autumn, and an old man’s thoughts turn to manga.

No print releases for Airship, but we get early digital for My Girlfriend Cheated on Me, and Now My Flirty Underclassman Won’t Leave Me Alone 3 and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 11, and only digital for When a Clueless First-Person Shooter Player Falls into Another World 3 (the final volume).

Cross Infinite World debut From Bumbling Prodigy to Villainess: Will the Duke’s Love Go Unnoticed? (Munou Saijo wa Akujo ni Naritai ~Gimai no Migawari de Totsuida Reijou, Koushaku-sama no Dekiai ni Kizukanai~). A girl has an exceptional talent, but her family see her as useless. Now a Duke needs a fiancée he can dump in three years, and our heroine sees this as an opportunity for freedom.

ASH: That description seems oddly familiar.

SEAN: They also have How I Became King by Eating Monsters 6 and Fluffy Paradise 10.

Dark Horse Manga have the 8th volume of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!.

DK has a big artbook, The Art of Junji Ito Collection. Scary but well-packaged art!

ASH: Oh! That’s a nice surprise.

ANNA: Good for the holiday and spooky seasons!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 27th volume of Parallel Paradise.

Glacier Bay Books has Five Worms on a Line, a shoujo-horror shot story collection.

As well as Give Her Back to Me, by the same author, about a family curse.

ASH: Expect excellence from both of these. I love shoujo horror.

ANNA: I’m less of an aficionado, but absolutely agree that these are intriguing releases this week.

SEAN: Hanashi Media gives us The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made! 14, GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There 2-1, Reincarnated as a Poor Farmer in Another World: I’ll Use My Modern Knowledge to Build My Own Kingdom 2, and Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy 20.

Two J-Novel Club digital debuts, both light novels. Sorry Darling, but You Won’t Kill Me Again! (Konse mo Todome o Sasareru no wa Gomen nanode, Saiai no Otto wa Mou Iranai) is a Heart title. A young queen is killed by her husband… then wakes up in the past! Now she can change her fate… assuming she’s the only one with memories of her old life.

A Wicked Lady’s Guide to Accidentally Saving the Kingdom (Gokuaku Reijou no Kanchigai Kyuukokuki) is a Club series, despite the “Wicked Lady” part, so expect less romance here. It stars another woman who thinks that “being a villainess” is more important than anything else, even if she keeps doing good deeds.

ASH: That’s a thing that happens sometimes.

SEAN: Other light novels: Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid 4, Pens Down, Swords Up: Throw Your Studies to the Wind 7, Rebuild World 8-2, and You Were Experienced, I Was Not 9.

For manga, we see A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires 9 and Rebuild World 15.

MICHELLE: First, wicked lady and now a livid one!

ANNA: Maybe the wicked and livid ladies need to team up!

SEAN: Kana debuts Jagaaan, a seinen manga from the author of Blue Lock. A cop has a good career, long-term girlfriend, things going well. Sure, he’s a bit UNSTABLE, but hey. Then he gets a supernatural monstrous power. What could go wrong? For fans of titles with lots of violence and death.

MICHELLE: The blurb says, “a superpower drama of carnal desires and primal violence.” So… a pass for me.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: They also have Blades of the Guardians 3.

Kodama has a 4th volume of Sun-Ken Rock Perfect Edition.

No debuts for Kodansha Manga. In print we get Dragon Head Omnibus 3, I Have a Crush at Work 7, Omega Megaera 6, Omega of the Divine 2, That’s Not Love 3, Whoever You Are, I Love You 2, and You Can’t Bluff the Sharp-Eyed Sister 5 (the final volume).

ASH: I should really revisit Dragon Head; I’m still glad to see it back in print.

SEAN: And digitally we get Am I Actually the Strongest? 19 and I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 11.

Manga Mavericks debuts The Pipe Machine, the story of a boy who ends up in weird adventures due to a time-traveling pipe. (It got bumped.)

ASH: Even with some bumps, Manga Mavericks releases some great stuff.

SEAN: They also have Vegetable Sandwich, which seems to ask what if Yu Yu Hakusho and Ranma 1/2 had a baby? Fans of old-school shonen will eat this up.

MICHELLE: This looks goofy and yet somehow appealing.

ASH: Agreed!

ANNA: I enjoy some old school shonen sometimes!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. Can You Kiss Me First? (Omae no Hou kara Kiss shitekure yo) is a BL manga from Moment. Two co-workers are good friends. Then one says he’s gay… but it’s OK, the other guy isn’t his type. Wait, what? Why not?

MICHELLE: Hm.

SEAN: The Lord-Magear’s Apprentice (Lord Magear no Deshi) is a shonen series from Sunday Web Every. A boy is saved by a mage as a child. He grows up to be a powerful swordsman… whose ends up being the only survivor, and also rescued AGAIN by the SAME mage. Apprentice time?

Also from Seven Seas: the 5th and final volume of I Ship My Rival x Me.

Shueisha – and yes, it seems to be the Japanese publisher – releases Happiness Theories: A Manga Artist & An Art Historian Find Wisdom in 3,000 Years and in Life. A manga artist and art historian have a discussion about human history.

ASH: Oooooooh! I’m here for it.

ANNA: This does sound interesting!

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has a 3rd Otaku x Gal.

Titan Manga debut When I Was Reincarnated in Another World, I Was a Heroine and He Was a Hero (Tensei Shitara Ore ga Heroine de Aitsu ga Yuusha datta) is a… erm, genderbendy?… title from Comic Gardo. A guy dies and is reincarnated… as a heroine! And his friend from Japan is the hero! Can they defeat the demon lord? Will there be romance?

They also have Eko Eko Azarak Reborn 2 and Welcome to Ghost Mansion 3.

Tokyopop debuts The Devil’s in the Lunch Deals (Jashin no Bentouya-san), a slice-of-life fantasy from Comic Days. A goddess is banished to the human world, and decides to start a bento store. As one does.

But what of BL, you ask? No worries, that’s still Tokyopop’s bread and butter. Caught in Your Web (Kumo no Otoko) is a one-shot BL thriller that ran in… sigh… from RED. A man is happy being the boytoy of a mafia boss… till the boss dies. Now he’s left the mob, but meets a man who seems to be the old boss’s son!

My One-Sided Love (Shuraba no One Side Love) is also a manga in from RED. A manga artist and his editor are friends! Buds! Cuddly! Um, what’s going on here? There are content warnings on this one, so I suspect “sexual assault, but in a sexy way” is the answer.

MICHELLE: Great.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Retailers say Udon Entertainment has Blue Archive: Comic Anthology 3 out next week.

And we end with Yen Press, which has some straggler manga. The Succubus Meets Her Match (Moteharu nee, Ashiya-kun) is a seinen comedy manga from Dra Dra Sharp #. A succubus has taken over as queen of her high school… except for that one dude. Who’s not into her. What’s worse, the other demi-humans want him too. This shall not stand!

And they have How to Love a Loser 2 and Nomi x Shiba 4.

Pretty packed for a 5th week. What interests you?

SEAN: Can’t talk, manga.

ASH: For real.

SEAN: Yen On moved about half its books to this week, including the debuts. Ayakashi à la Mode is a one-shot fantasy novel. A girl abandoned at a shrine is raised by the spirits that dwell around it, most of whom are quite nice. Sadly, this girl also needs to learn not all spirits are nice.

ASH: This absolutely sounds like something I would read.

SEAN: Scarlet is the latest book by Mamoru Hosoda, who wrote Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, etc. A princess trying to revenge her father fails, and ends up in the world of the dead. Can she get her revenge anyway?

ASH: I have enjoyed Hosoda’s previous works and I do appreciate a good revenge story.

SEAN: Why Run? My Summoned Beast Is Cute! (Naze Nigerundai? Boku no Shoukanjuu wa Kawaii yo) asks “what if the cute summoned familiar was actually a terrifying tentancled monstrosity? No one gets our hero’s aesthetic at all.

ASH: Awwwww.

SEAN: Also out in light novels: The Holy Grail of Eris 5 (the first volume since 2023, as the series switched publishers in Japan), I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too 8, Secrets of the Silent Witch 8, Sentenced to Be a Hero 6, and Your Forma 7.

And now we get Yen Press and its 38 volumes of manga. Starting with How to Handle My Sassy Big Sis (Namaiki na Gyaru Ane wo Wakaraseru Hanashi), a seinen series from Tonari no Young Jump. A guy has an older stepsister who constantly disparages him. Then he’s told she may be the sort who’s secretly a tsundere, so he tries to actively cause that.

It’s Strictly Business (Eigyou desu kara) is a BL manga by the author of Cheeky Brat, Spring Storm & Monster, and Stray Cat & Wolf. No het romance this time, though! This runs in Hana to Yume’s BL spinoff Trifle. A guy tries to pick up the girls at his college, but fails miserably. Maybe if he contrasts himself with his cool clubmate? Or will that lead to something COMPLETELY different?

ASH: It just might!

SEAN: JUDGE Ultimate Verdict Edition is an omnibus of the previously released manga. Death game, creepy stuff, etc.

Let’s Go Nirvana! (Joubutsusasete yo!) stars a young yakuza trying to make a name for himself… till killers murder everyone in the family but him and the boss’ daughter! Now he has to hide by posing as a Buddhist monk! This runs in Kurage Bunch.

ANNA: OK, I find this premise amusing.

ASH: Right?! I am absolutely here for this.

SEAN: Mage of Leda (Leda no Majutsushi) is a fantasy manga from Aokishi. A pathetic orphan teen has had a terrible life. He knows the “I’ll teach you magic!” offer is shady. He takes it anyway.

ASH: Sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do.

SEAN: Pardon the Intrusion, I’m Home! (Tadaima, Ojamasaremasu!) is a shoujo manga from Koisuru Soiree. A young woman who tries to escape her OL life by otaku pursuits finds… her tiny apartment has been expanded, and now has two roommates! We have hot guy (kind ver.) and hot guy (annoying ver.) What’s a girl to do?

MICHELLE: Fall for the annoying one, I predict.

ANNA: I would like parts of my house to be magically expanded but do not need any more roommates.

ASH: Oooooooh.

SEAN: Servant Beasts is a Harta manga, meaning it’s sui generis. A beast man is bought by a witch who uses him like a servant, but his innate niceness gradually wears him down.

Spy Classroom 4th Period: Bonfire (Spy Kyoushitsu 4-bu: Kagaribi) starts adapting the next arc in the series. It runs in Comic Alive+.

Three Days of Happiness: The Complete Omnibus (Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen ni Tsuki, Ichimanen de) collects all three volumes of the manga adapting the novel also released by Yen. It ran in Media Works Bunko. A young man sells thirty years of his life for a happy present day.

ASH: There is a sad logic to that.

SEAN: Thus Spoke the Rabbit (Usagi wa Kaku Katariki) is a fantasy manga from Comic Fuz. Man-eating rabbits have ravaged a city. Only a wolf girl and a bunny girl can save them now.

What Six Survivors Told… (Ikinokotta 6-nin ni Yoru to) is a horror manga from Harta. During a zombie crisis, six people hide in a mall.

MICHELLE: Intriguing.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: The Adventure of Black Cat Nyango 2 (the final volume), Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring 5, Assorted Entanglements 10 (the final volume), Blade & Bastard 5, Daughter of the Emperor 14 (the final volume), Dead Mount Death Play Side Story: Phantom Solitaire’s Art of Disguising Oneself as a Supernatural Being 3, The Eminence in Shadow 15, The Failure at God School 4, From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman 6, The Holy Grail of Eris 12, Land 3, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story 8, Merit and the Egyptian God 2 (the final volume), Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury—Vanadis Heart 2, Murciélago 27, My Lover Is Just Too Innocent to Handle 2, My Super-Cute Black Mage! 2, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 14, A Pen, Handcuffs, and a Common-Law Marriage 2, Scenes from Awajima 3, Sentenced to Be a Hero 2, Shino & Ren 2, The Terrifying Students at Ghoul School! 2, Unnamed Memory 8, Victoria of Many Faces 4, Void: No. Nine 2, and Yowamushi Pedal 29.

MICHELLE: I need to read Scenes from Awajima.

ASH: I’ve picked up my copies! (But haven’t actually read them yet…)

SEAN: Meanwhile, in non-Yen manga, There’s Viz, and the Black Torch Complete Box Set, collecting all five volumes.

And Pokémon: Sun & Moon Complete Manga Box Set, which has 12 volumes.

And in non-box sets, we get Dorohedoro Illustrations: Mud and Sludge, a 350-page hardcover guide to Dorohedoro.

ASH: I never expected this to be licensed here and so went out of my way to track down a copy of the Japanese edition when it was first released. Really good stuff.

And we also see JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 7–Steel Ball Run 9 and Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 6 (the final volume).

Retailers say Udon Entertainment has Hidetaka Tenjin’s Artistry of Gundam, an artbook. They said this in April too.

ASH: Hmmm.

Tokyopop debuts Aoharu Once More, a BL title that’s from from Red (still the most annoyingly titled magazine ever). Two boys almost get together in high school, but don’t. Now they’re adults, can they finally fix things?

They also have Apprentice Nail Artist in a Foreign Land 2, Beneath the Falling Camellia Blooms 2, and My Contract With the Apothecary Monster 3.

Square Enix debuts Boyish Girlfriend (Boyish Kanojo ga Kawaisugiru). A guy is surprised to find his tomboyish, male clothes wearing girlfriend in cat ears and a maid outfit for the school festival. Now he’s hooked on her looking girly. This runs on the Manga Up! app.

ASH: I’m cautiously curious.

SEAN: Seven Seas has some danmei. Joyful Reunion 5 and Silent Reading: Mo Du 4.

They also have a non-Airship novel, Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea 2.

Give Me a Hug, Mr. Frog! (Hug Shite! Kaeru-san) is a one-shot BL manga from Kurofune Pixiv. A student council president falls for the mystery boy in the frog mascot costume at a local cafe.

ASH: No judgement here.

SEAN: The Misdeeds of an Extremely Arrogant Villain Aristocrat (Kiwamete Gouman Taru Akuyaku Kizoku no Shogyou) runs in Kadocomi, and adapts the light novel also released by Seven Seas.

Uesugi-kun Wants to Quit Being a Girl (Uesugi-kun wa Onnanoko wo Yametai) is a shoujo manga from Ciao Plus. A short, cute boy finds girls don’t even see him as a male. He prays at a shrine… and wakes up transformed INTO a girl! This could go one of two ways, I’m hoping for the good way.

ANNA: I mean, it is good to be cautious.

ASH: Agreed on all points.

SEAN: Yuri Yuri Panic: A Case of Extreme Cuteness Has Occurred! (Yuri Yuri Panic: Toutosugiru Jian ga Hasseishiteimasu!) is a yuri manga from Monthly Web Action. An introverted, plain Jane girl suddenly finds the most popular girl in school… wants to marry her!

ASH: Oh, my!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: DEAR. DOOR 4, The Delinquent and the Transfer Student 2, Kageki Shojo!! 16, Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 7, Roses and Champagne 4, and What It Means to Be You 5.

One Peace Books has Teppeki Honeymoon 3, which they advertise, in the blurb, “Readers can enjoy a character-driven romance featuring exciting action, clean language, and content that remains free of sexual material, nudity, and fan service.” Which makes me wonder who is now paying for One Peace Books to stay alive, and if they’re Evangelicals or something. O_o

MICHELLE: Wow.

ANNA: Yikes. I dunno, anytime I see “clean” in the marketing I am dubious.

ASH: Huh.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga’s print debut is another spinoff. Cells at Work! Cat (Hataraku Saibou Neko) seems to be half “blood cells inside a cat” and half the owners of the cat. It ran in Shonen Sirius.

ASH: I was not expecting Cells at Work to cross with a cat manga, but I am also not complaining.

SEAN: Also in print: Blue Lock 34, Cells at Work! Lady 5 (the final volume), Gachiakuta 12, Mushishi Collector’s Edition 3, and What If I Said, “I Love You”? 2.

ASH: I’m still ecstatic that Mushishi is back in print.

SEAN: And guess what got bumped? Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition 2 should be next week, maybe?

ANNA: I just got the first one a few days ago (not sure what the delay was) and it is gorgeous.

ASH: It really is!

SEAN: For digital we get A Couple of Cuckoos 30, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 23, and Yamaguchi-kun Isn’t So Bad 13.

J-Novel Club has some print titles. We see The Misfit of Demon King Academy 8, Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight 2 (manga version), and The Water Magician Arc 1 2.

The debut is a manga, seemingly a one-shot, but there’s definitely a sequel. Reset is a J-Novel Knight title, ergo BL, and ran in Chara. Two basketball players get into a relationship, but the codependency may be ruining everything.

ASH: Codependency does have that tendency.

Other manga out next week: Fluffy-Eared Realm Restoration: Taking It Slow with My Cool Big Brother 2 (the final volume), Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived 5, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 13.

Digital light novels from JNC include By the Grace of the Gods 18, Cooking with Wild Game 35, EXP Is Golden 5, Finding My Way to (You) in This MMO World 2, From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob: This Villainess Will Cross-Dress to Impress! 6, From Villainess to Healer 7, The Poison King: Now that I’ve Gained Ultimate Power, the Bewitching Beauties in My Harem Can’t Get Enough of Me 8, and The Tiny Witch from the Deep Woods 5.

Hanashi Media also has a light novel: I’m Just a Villager, So What? 5.

Airship has one print light novel, Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 3.

And for digital they have I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 4 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 10.

Assuming you kept reading after the Yen Press stuff, what are you buying?

SEAN: As the leaves start to change and Sean longs for the end of poison ivy season, what does next week bring us for manga?

23rd Street Books, who may be First Second under a new name, are reprinting Shuna’s Journey (Shuna no Tabi), the manga Hayao Miyazaki drew right before he founded Ghibli. A prince goes on a journey to help his people.

ASH: Oh! I had totally missed that First Second had spun off an imprint for adults.

ANNA: Interesting!!

SEAN: Airship has one print book, The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 15.

And in early digital they have Adachi and Shimamura 13 and I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 5.

Ghost Ship debuts My Useless “Cuddle” Skill Awakened, and Now I’m Building the Ultimate Harem! (Hazure Skill “Soine” ga Kakuseishi, Boku ga Saikyou Harem o Kizuku made: Micchaku Soine de Ganbou Kaihou!? Yuuwaku Saremakkutte Komattemasu!!), which runs in Gaugau Monster. A guy finds that anyone who sleeps next to him recovers all health. Naturally, girls want to sleep next to him… among other things.

ASH: That is quite the talent.

SEAN: They also have The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life: By the Sword, For the Sword 7 and Virgin Knight: I Became the Frontier Lord in a World Ruled by Women 3.

Hanashi Media debuts The Side Character Who Thought He Was the Protagonist Mistook the Real Hero for a Side Character and Accidentally Won Everything (Jibun no Koto o Shujinkou da to Shinjite Yamanai Fumidai ga, Shujinkou o Fumidai da to Kanchigai Shite, Yuushou Shite Shimau Ohanashi desu). The title is the plot.

Inklore has the third and final volume of King’s Maker.

No debuts for Ize Press, but they do have Jungle Juice 8, Marriage of Convenience 5, Men of the Harem 7, Murderous Lewellyn’s Candlelit Dinner 6 (the final volume), and Villains Are Destined to Die (the novel) 4.

J-Novel Club has a debut. I’ll Become an Elegant Villainess! Time to Enjoy My Second Life to the Fullest (Karei naru Akujo ni Naritai wa! ~Aisare Tensei Shoujo wa, Tanoshii Nidome no Jinsei o Okurimasu~) has a plot you may be able to guess. Yes, she’s reincarnated, she only knows household magic, but she has no Patience whatsoever.

Also in light novels: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon 13, Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 9 (the final volume), D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared 10, The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage’s Carefree Life in Another World 11, Imperial Reincarnation: I Came, I Saw, I Survived 7, The Invincible Little Lady 8 (the final volume), The Petty Villain Plays by the Rules: Rewriting This Otome Game with Honest Work! 3, The Reincarnated Mastermind: Sundering Fate with Magic Swords 2, and The Water Magician Arc 1 7.

Kana has Cat’s Eye Omnibus 4.

ASH: I need to catch up with this and the other series from Kana.

SEAN: Kodansha is looking out for your kids next week, as they debut Cells at Work! Picture Book, an edutainment manga dedicated to laying out the human body for the little munchkin in your life.

ASH: I truly appreciate the range of Cells at Work!; no matter your age, there’s something to learn.

ANNA: I’m always surprised by the greater Cells at Work! universe!

SEAN: Also in print: Dead Rock 5, How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 5, Kaijin Fugeki: Kindled Spirits 5, Love, That’s an Understatement 7, Mars 30th Anniversary Edition 2, MF Ghost 7, Sheltering Eaves 5, Snow & Ink 6, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 13.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on Sheltering Eaves!

SEAN: Digitally they have Blue Lock 39 and Ya Boy Kongming! 25.

One Peace Books has a manga debut. The Villainess Who Came to Marry Into the Frontier Noble’s Household Is an Exceptionally Capable Wife, Isn’t She? (Henkyo Mob Kizoku no Uchi ni Totsuidekita Akuyaku Reijo ga, Mechakucha Dekiru Yoi Yome nanda ga?) is an adaptation of an as-yet unlicensed light novel. it runs in Dra Dra Flat ♭. An isekai’d guy finds his new wife is the villainess of the otome game, but she’s actually a sweetie… right now. He has to stop events turning her evil.

ASH: He better be helping out with keeping the household, then.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a danmei debut, Panguan: The Twelfth Gate. This is in the same world as Copper Coins and Three Hundred Years of Longing. There’s cultivation. There’s homoerotic longing. There’s… actually, I think that’s all danmei needs.

MICHELLE: Pretty much!

ASH: It’s certainly a solid start.

SEAN: And in not-danmei-but-nearly, we see Lout of Count’s Family 9.

Two manga debuts. Gilded Seven is a seinen manga from Comic Zenon. What if the Wild West was riding high, but Lincoln was never assassinated? This action series seems to ask that question.

ASH: It does seem like at least a few things would have been different.

ANNA: Is Lincoln also a vampire hunter????

SEAN: I Like Cat Butts (Neko no Oshiri ga Suki Nan Desu) is the story of a cat owner and her chaotic cat and his chaotic butt. It ran in Comic Ruelle. And yes, OK, fine: I like cat butts and I cannot lie, you other owners can’t deny, that when a kitty walks in with an itty bitty… OK, that’s enough.

MICHELLE: Snerk.

ASH: That is immediately where my brain went.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Chainsmoker Cat 4, Exotic Animal Doctor 2, Fluffy Café in Another World 3, Hope You’re Happy, Lemon 4, I’m in Love with the Villainess 11, The Lady and Her Butler 6, Time Stop Hero 15, Wolf’s Daughter: A Werewolf’s Tale 4, and A Yuri Love Story That Begins with Getting Dumped in a Dream 3.

Square Enix debuts My Ex-Boyfriend Loves Boys’ Love (Motokare ga Fudanshi ni Natte Orimashite), which ran in Gangan Pixiv. A girl looking for manga discovers her old high school boyfriend… in the BL section! But he wasn’t interested in BL in high school! What happened?

ASH: I love when fudanshi get a chance to shine.

SEAN: They’ve also got Holoearth Chronicles Side:E Yamato Phantasia 3, A Starlit Darkness 2, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 32.

Takumigraphics are trying to make sure Gary Groth isn’t a liar by trying again with Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko), and this time it’s coming out in two-volume paperback omnibuses and a digital version. The story may be a bit less cutting edge than it was twenty years ago, but it’s still really good stuff.

MICHELLE: Ooh! Somehow, this was not on my radar!

ASH: I hope we might be able to get the rest of the series with this release, too.

ANNA: Good, glad it is being released again.

SEAN: Titan Manga debut The Assassin Laughs at Twilight (Ansatsusha wa Tasogare ni Warau), a manga based on an as-yet-unlicensed light novel, this ran in Comic Gardo. A doctor killed in an earthquake while operating on his sister finds himself in a fantasy world… where he’s a killer.

ASH: That was somewhat unexpected.

SEAN: Titan Manga also have a second volume of Strange Pictures and a third of Villain Actor.

Three debuts for Viz. And Then There Were None (Soshite Dare mo Inakunatta) is a manga based on the famous Agatha Christie novel, and ran in HayaComic, which seems to be devoted to manga adaptations of novels. The cover features a handsome young man, a pretty woman, and eight background folks. Some are more None than others.

MICHELLE: Huh! I have read the novel, so might have to see how this compares.

SEAN: Nobuo Uematsu: On the Record is a biography of the famous Final Fantasy composer.

ASH: Oooooooh, very nice.

SEAN: Sound of a Blink (Mabataki no Oto) is the latest from Shuzo Oshimi, and it runs in Big Comic Superior. A young man seems to have it all, till his younger brother is diagnosed with a brain tumor and he finds you can’t escape family.

Viz also has Choujin X 13, Fool Night 10, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 10, Kingdom 11, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 26, Not So Shoujo Love Story 4, One-Punch Man 34, Sakamoto Days 23, and Taika’s Reason 2.

Some pretty damn good titles in there. What are you buying?

SEAN: As September crawls along, let’s see what manga and light novels offer us.

Yen On moved half its releases back two weeks, so we don’t have quite as much as usual. We get Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 25, The Irregular at Magic High School 27, Legend of the Far East’s Savior 2, Lord of Mysteries 4, Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table 6, Spy Classroom 11, To Sir Without Love, I’m Divorcing You 2 Part 1, and The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess 11.

ASH: I imagine sharing the wealth with the other weeks of the month will make some things easier for some people somewhere.

SEAN: Viz debuts The Amazing Digital Circus, a manga adaptation of the popular web series. It runs in CoroCoro Comic. A young woman puts on a weird headset and finds herself trapped in a strange cartoon world… and she’s a cartoon as well!

ASH: I’m not sure I realized there was a manga adaptation.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Akira Falling in Love 4, Animal Crossing: New Horizons 11, Fly Me to the Moon 33, Hayate the Combat Butler 49, Minecraft: the Manga 7, Spider-Man: Kizuna 4, and the 10th and final volume of Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon.

Titan Manga have Working for God in a Godless World 6.

SuBLime debuts Sunshine in Hades (Cerberus wa Shisai ni Kuraitsuku), A gladiator has been told to breed powerful warriors… but he’s a virgin. Fortunately, a priest is here to give him intimate lessons.

ASH: That is fortunate.

ANNA: Education is important!

SEAN: They also have Bride of the Shark Clam: Married Life (basically Volume 2, and the final volume), and Candy Color Paradox 7.

ASH: I vaguely remember enjoying earlier volumes of this series; I should probably read more.

SEAN: Steamship has the 4th volume of I’ll Never Be Your Crown Princess! – Betrothed and the 5th and final volume of Sweet Heat Before Falling in Love: The CEO and His Fated Omega.

No debuts for Seven Seas next week. We do get Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 13, Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist 13, I Quit My Apprenticeship as a Royal Court Wizard to Become a Magic Item Craftswoman 6, I’m Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck! 4, Lost in the Cloud 4, A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof 4, and Re:Monster 13.

One Peace Books has the 27th manga volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Kodansha Manga’s print debut is Say Hello to Mr. Wallaby! (Kyou mo Ashita mo Wallaby-sensei), a josei series from Kiss. A professor on a tour of Australia meets a wallaby who’s also an otaku, and takes him back to Japan with him.

MICHELLE: I was into the josei part, but am kind of dubious about the otaku wallaby.

ASH: That definitely went a direction I wasn’t expecting.

ANNA: Yeah, I am not sure about this one too.

SEAN: Also in print: A-DO 10, Blue Summer Haze 2, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 21, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 18, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 23, Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow 4, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 16, Medalist 13, Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns 2 6 (the final volume), and Wind Breaker 23.

MICHELLE: I’m literally reading the first volume of Blue Summer Haze today!

SEAN: Digital next week: Giant Killing 58, Manchuria Opium Squad 14, Parasyte Reversi 8 (the final volume), and Wind Breaker 26.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Giant Killing, as per uzsh.

ASH: For sure.

SEAN: Print for J-Novel Club is Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill 7 (the manga).

After a long hot summer, J-Novel Club finally has debuts again. Two light novels. Father, Have You Sinned? An Assassin in Priest’s Robes (Moto Saikyou Ansatsusha wa Inaka de Hissori Shinpu ni Naru ~Daishusse Shita Oshiego-tachi ni Shitawareru Ossan ga An’yaku Suru Hanashi~) stars a former assassin now having a humble life, teaching orphans life lessons and combat skills. Then one of his former students returns, and she wants to drag him into the light.

ASH: I’ll admit, my first thought was of Sister from Arakawa Under the Bridge, but that’s decidedly a different series.

ANNA: Continuing the theme of education being important this week!

SEAN: A Young Maiden’s Growing Pains: I Reincarnated and All I Got Was This 100X Stat Buff! (Seichouritsu 100 Bai Cheat no Tensei Youjo ~Heion ni Kurashitai no ni, Mawari ga Sou Sasete Kuremasen~) stars a tiny girl who gets truck-kun’d and ends up isekai’d. She wishes for a powerful body. She means tall and alluring. The gods keep her tiny, but now she can beat up most men. Worse, unless she finds love, she’s cursed to be a child forever!

Also, in not-quite-debuts, there’s the first volume of Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 0, which is – at long last – the prequel we’ve been begging for showing us how Allen met Lydia.

Other J-Novel Club light novels: Blade & Bastard 6, Chivalry of a Failed Knight 11, DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level 13, Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! 5, I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic 11, The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman 5 Part 1, and Worthless at Home, Whiz to the World 6.

And for manga they have The Eternal Fool’s Words of Wisdom: A Pawsitively Fantastic Adventure 10, Looks like a Job for a Maid! The Tales of a Dismissed Supermaid 5, Make It Stop! I’m Not Strong… It’s Just My Sword! 3, and Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 12.

Ghost Ship has a 4th volume of Makina-san’s a Love Bot?!.

Denpa, according to retailers, have Nana & Kaoru: Last Year (Nana to Kaoru: Last Year), the final series in the erotic comedy-drama showing them about to graduate high school. It ran in Harem (yes, that’s the magazine name).

Dark Horse Manga has a giant, 800-page hardcover omnibus of Appleseed, and boy it looks amazing. It ran in Comic Gaia. If you don’t know what it is, please buy this. The translation by Dana Lewis and Toren Smith is still the same, as you don’t mess with perfection.

MICHELLE: This looks fabulous.

ASH: That it does!

ANNA: Oh man, I think I collected this back in the day when it was the fashion to release 32 and 48 page comic book size manga chapters in translation.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 3, Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 7, and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 17.

There’s a digital-only debut. Predator Witches (Hoshokusha-kei Mahou Shoujo) is another one of those “what if magical girls but it’s grim and depressing?” series.

And in early digital they have Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 3 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 11.

And Ablaze have Gannibal 7… one week after Gannibal 6. I feel the need to add “retailers say”, in that case.

Still crawling? If so, what are you buying?

SEAN: As August drifts into September, new college freshmen get their very first internet account… wait, it’s not the early 1990s, nevermind.

MICHELLE: I didn’t get mine ’til grad school in the mid-’90s!

ASH: What’s the Internet?

ANNA: In retrospect, a huge mistake!

SEAN: Ablaze has the 6th volume of Gannibal.

Airship has the 2nd volume of Classroom of the Elite: Year 3 and the 20th and final (barring any short story collections) volume of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom in print.

In early digital they have Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 7 and The Neverending Winter, the Land of Broken Dreams (the 4th in the The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes collection).

And in only digital, there is Reborn as an Assassin’s Apprentice 2.

Two debuts from Cross Infinite World. Assassin Empress Bellreuge (Ansatsu Jotei Bellreuge ~Shiitagerareshi Koujo wa Ai o Ete Nariagaru~) is a one-shot about a girl who gets a proposal from a margrave with a nasty reputation. This makes her half-sister… the princess… simply furious. Fortunately, Bellreuge is good at avoiding assassins.

ASH: That is a good skill to have!

ANNA: Better than the alternative!

SEAN: From Corporate Drone to Mincemaster! One Order of Dragon Coming Right Up! (Makikomarete Shoukan Sareta Genkai OL, Guild Shozoku no [Mamono Kaitai Jou] toshite Funtouchuu ~Dragon desu ka? Mochiron Sabakemasu!~) is a story about a girl summoned to another world!… or rather, the girl next to her is. Out goes the useless girl they accidentally summoned onto the street. Fortunately, someone finds a use for her weird skill.

ASH: Another series for the monster menu subgenre!

SEAN: They also have a 5th volume of Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes.

Ghost Ship have Tamamori’s Fantasies Never Stop! 5.

Glacier Bay Books have Akari, a oneshot that ran in Flat Hero’s. After his wife dies, a man loses interest in anything. Then his granddaughter shows up.

And they have Baku-chan, a manga about a tapir coming to Japan and facing prejudice.

And they have Box Garden Beetle (Hakoniwa Mushi), which ran in AX (not the convention). This is a collection of stories by a famous alternative manga artist.

ASH: Releases from Glacier Bay Books are always worth checking out!

ANNA: Just cool to have more publishers in the mix!

SEAN: Hanashi Media gives us The Disfavored Prince is a Genius Alchemist 2 and Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy 19.

A quiet week for J-Novel Club. On the light novel side, they have Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 48, Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden 10, Revenge of the Soul Eater: Cast Out as a Weakling by My Sword Saint Father 6, and Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance 4.

And for manga they have The Banished Former Hero Does As He Pleases 9 and Hell Mode 11.

Kana has Billy Bat 2.

MICHELLE: I still need to read the first one!

ASH: Same! I’ve got quite the backlog.

ANNA: Me too! I did buy it.

SEAN: Kodama have a giant Baki the Grappler box set, with the first 8 omnibuses. They also have Omnibuses 23 and 24 of Baki the Grappler as well.

ASH: The release schedule of this series is truly impressive.

SEAN: And there’s a 5th volume of Smile!.

ASH: I feel like I blinked and missed three volumes.

SEAN: Kodansha Manga has one print debut, How to Grill Our Love (Yaiteru Futari), a Weekly Morning series about a newlywed couple who love barbecue! We’ve had the digital of this for some time.

Also in print: Initial D Omnibus 11, MF Ghost 6, Nina the Starry Bride 17, Shugo Chara! 20th Anniversary Edition 3, Tune In to the Midnight Heart 9, and The World Is Dancing 4.

ANNA: Obligatory yay on my part for Nina the Starry Bride!

SEAN: Seven Seas, for danmei, has a 5th Dinghai Fusheng Records.

Seven Seas, for non-Airship Japanese novels, has a 6th The Twelve Kingdoms.

ASH: I still love this series so much.

SEAN: As for manga debuts, there are three. Cheeky Devil Cop! (Akuma de Fukei!) is a Weekly Young Magazine series about a cute demon who wants an evil minion, and the evil-looking human cop she meets seems perfect. But he wants to send her back to hell!

Luna Knight runs in Monthly Young Magazine. A girl runs a flower shop and waits for her missing sister to return. Then when the shop burns down, she regains lost memories.

Printernia Nippon: My Squishy Bio-Printed Pet runs in Matogrosso. In the future, you can 3D print your pets! But our lead guy screws up, and doesn’t get a dog, he gets… what is that anyway?

There’s also a deluxe hardcover version of Dai Dark coming out, covering the first three books.

ASH: It even glows in the dark!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 2, BASTARD 5, Dungeon Elf: What’s a Dungeon without Treasure Chests? 2, I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 7, The Ideal Sponger Life 22, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 17, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 11, Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 13 (the final volume), Seaside Stranger 7, The Strange House 6, The Tale of a Little Alchemist Blessed by the Spirits 2, The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 8, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 8.

MICHELLE: Oh, I had forgotten about Seaside Stranger!

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has Always a Catch! 8.

Steamship debuts The Obsessed Mage and His Beloved Statue Bride: She Cannot Resist His Seductive Voice (Yandere Mahoutsukai wa Sekizou no Otome shika Aisenai: Majo wa Manadeshi no Atsui Kuchizuke de Tokeru), the manga version of the light novel, already published by Seven Seas. Our heroine, to save the country, turns herself to stone for twenty years. Now her cute teenage assistant is an older, sexier man, and still totally in love with her.

ASH: Cue drama.

ANNA: Whoops!

SEAN: Takumigraphics (Fantagraphics’ new manga imprint) debut On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides (Senba no Hito). This 350-page book details the lives of four people shortly after the war. I’ve heard REALLY good things about this, and it’s also a bit LGBTQ?

ASH: I have likewise heard very encouraging things about this release.

ANNA: Wow, sounds interesting for sure.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment has – take this with a grain of salt – three titles out next week. In the Manga Biographies series we get Amelia Earhart and Momofuku Ando (the guy who invented cup noodles). There’s also Blue Archive: Comic Anthology 3.

Viz have a debut. Shiba Inu Rooms (Shiba-tsuki Bukken) stars a young woman who gets an apartment dirt cheap… because it’s haunted by the ghost of a Shiba Inu! Think wacky comedy.

ASH: I’m not sure I can resist a Shiba Inu manga! Even without being a ghost, they can be delightfully extra.

ANNA: This sounds cute!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Hima-Ten! 2, I’m No Angel 2, Kaiju No. 8 16 (the final volume), Magical Girl Dandelion 3, Nana 25th Anniversary Edition 5, Nue’s Exorcist 8, RuriDragon 4, Spy x Family 16, A Star Brighter than the Sun 7, Super Psychic Policeman Chojo 5, and Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi 3.

MICHELLE: I really do need to read A Star Brighter than the Sun.

ASH: Reading Nana again is a great option, too!

SEAN: What are you reading in this perpetual September?

SEAN: It’s time for the end of Aug-AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! (is buried in manga)

ASH: Can you still breathe in there?

SEAN: Yen Press start with The Blood-Crawling Princess of a Ruined Country (Chi wo Hau Boukoku no Oujo), a dark fantasy manga from Gangan Online. A princess finds her country invaded, her family killed, and herself sold into sex work. Now, years later, she’s after revenge.

ANNA: Those sound like good reasons for revenge.

ASH: That they do.

SEAN: Clevatess: The King of Dark Beasts, the Baby, and the Undead Hero (Clevatess: Majuu no Ou to Akago to Kabane no Yuusha) is a webtoon that also runs in Comic Alive +. A dark beast finds his life complicated by, well, a baby and an undead hero. The anime of this is currently running.

Deep-Sea Aquarium Magmell (MagMell Shinkai Suizokukan) is a seinen title from Kurage Bunch. A shy kid who loves the sea gets his dream job working part-time at an aquarium.

ASH: I’ve been curious about this one. And that cover is so pretty.

SEAN: The Demon Consort: “I Love You” Are Frightening Words (Kihi: “Aishiteru” wa, Kowai Koto) is also from Kurage Bunch. A young woman returns home for the first time in years for her friend’s funeral only to find everyone accusing her of killing her friend by revealing a curse.

ASH: That sounds like it could be a problem.

SEAN: Don’t Confuse Me, Yamori-kun (Madowasenaide Yamori-kun) runs in Young Champion. A guy decides to have an image change, and his friend agrees and says he’ll do that too. Um… why is his friend now in a girl’s uniform? And being a tease? Huh? Also, is this BL or LGBTQ?

ANNA: I guess it does sound confusing!

ASH: Guess someone will have to read it to find out.

SEAN: Elden Ring: Distant Tales Between is a spinoff of the main Elden Ring manga Yen Press has, and seems to be a “what if this happened instead” AU sort of book.

Girls’ Last Tour Collector’s Edition: 1st Ration Pack is the Girls’ Last Tour manga in a big hardcover deluxe omnibus.

ASH: Fancy!

Golden Man is a superhero manga from Weekly Young Magazine. One day Golden Man, the protector of New York, disappears! In his place is a young man with amnesia! This is from the writer of Interviews with Monster Girls and the artist behind Bloody Monday.

Hand in Hand with Mu-chan: Lessons from My Autistic Daughter (Muu-chan to Te wo Tsunaide: Jiheishou no Musume ga Oshietekureta koto) is based on a real-life story of the author’s experience discovering their child is autistic. It runs in Elegance Eve.

ANNA: This sounds interesting.

ASH: Agreed!

SEAN: Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury―Vanadis Heart (Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo – Vanadis Heart) is a spinoff of the popular Gundam anime, and runs in Gundam Ace. Taking place 5 years after the anime, it stars two women dealing with forbidden cargo. This came out digitally in July, here’s the print.

ASH: Someone was just telling me about this iteration of Gundam the other day.

SEAN: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table (Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu) is, well, a death game manga, running in Comp Ace. It’s based on the light novel, also published by Yen.

Then Shall I Kill in Your Stead? (Jaa, Kimi no Kawari ni Korosou ka?) is a mystery manga from Bessatsu Young Champion. A bullied high schooler finds a welcome ally. But this ally may be a bit too scary.

MICHELLE: This one’s kinda intriguing.

SEAN: What Does the Fox Say? is a yuri manhwa, it ran as a webtoon. A woman with a bad love history starts at a game company. She falls for her new boss… but the company president falls for her!

ASH: That song will be stuck in my head forever.

SEAN: Also from Yen: Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra 6, Bad Girl 2, Battle Royale Deluxe Edition 2, The Beginning After the End 11, Bungo Stray Dogs: The Official Comic Anthology 6, A Certain Magical Index 32, The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse 4, Common-Sense Monster 3 (the final volume), Demi-Human Sharehouse 2 (the final volume), Dungeons That Surely Slaughter Adventurers 2, Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 13, I Don’t Know Which Is Love 5, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 28, Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 21, Mechanical Marie 3, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun 17, My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress 8, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 27, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed 11, Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty 3, Shy 13, Sister and Giant 6, Stray Cat & Wolf 5, Sword Art Online Unital Ring 3, and The War of Greedy Witches 5.

MICHELLE: I spy some Nozaki-kun in there.

ASH: I did, too! (Also, dang, that really is a ton coming out from Yen next week!)

SEAN: Viz Media time (no, we’re nowhere near done). The JoJo author has a sequel to his how to manga book. Manga in Theory and Practice: How to Create Villains tells you how to create characters as memetic as DIO!

ANNA: Is that even possible????

ASH: Maybe not, but people can try!

SEAN: And there’s a 6th volume of Cosmos.

Tokyopop debuts The Arrival of Spring and Love (Kimi ga Tomoshite Kureta nara), a BL oneshot from LiQulle. A shy young man meets an outgoing young man at university, and romance blossoms.

Tokyopop also has a 2nd volume of Honkai Impact 3rd: Second Eruption and The Tale of Luvelia Kingdom 3.

Titan Manga debuts Colori Colore Creare, the latest from Kozue Amano, the creator of Aria. It runs in MAGCOMI, and is basically “what if the bits of Aria that were Akari running into that cat and ending up in a fantasy world were the main plot?”.

ASH: I enjoyedAria and appreciate cats.

SEAN: Titan also gives us Kamen Rider Kuuga 12 and Toxic Super Beasts 4 (the final volume).

Seven Seas has a danmei debut. The Lucky Egg Game: Cai Dan You Xi has two college students trapped in a death game… wait, is this really danmei? Where’s the cultivation? Where’s the demons?

ANNA: Are they handsome at least? I’m assuming that they are handsome.

MICHELLE: Presumably, it’ll have supernatural elements (a la Guardian) that qualify for it being danmei.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Also in danmei: Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben 9.

Seven Seas also has a manga debut. Raul and His Vampire Prince (Raul to Kyuuketsuki) is a BL title from Sunday Web Every. Rescued by a rare male vampire who’s 800 years old but looks 8, a guy has grown up buff and strong to protect his savior… but his savior still sees him as a kid.

ASH: Understandably so.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Dangers in My Heart 13, The Last Elf 3, The Long Summer of August 31 6, Nakamura-san, the Uninvited Gyaru 6, and Painter of the Night 4.

Manga Mavericks debut The Pipe Machine, the story of a boy who ends up in weird adventures due to a time-traveling pipe.

ASH: I’m at least curious. Manga Mavericks has been releasing some great stuff.

SEAN: Retailers say Mahjong Pros has Crybaby Mermaid : Illustrated Memoir of Yuumi Uotani, Getter Robo High, and Vermilion Stella: Illustrated Memoir of Arisa Date. I’ve mentioned them here before, but they got bumped.

ASH: Still excited for mahjong manga!

SEAN: Kodansha Manga’s debut is Comeback After Fate (Comeback After Fate), an omegaverse one-shot from Honey Milk. A guy’s boy band has just made its big debut. And he’s an alpha, gotta be good. Then he meets a famous all-alpha band… and one of their members has a secret you’ll never guess unless you’ve read anything in this genre ever.

ANNA: He’s really into crochet?

ASH: How did you guess?!

SEAN: Also in print: Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 11, Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow 6, The Ayakashi Hunter’s Tainted Bride 7, Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 4, Blue Lock Omnibus 4, GALAXIAS 3, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 18, I Have a Crush at Work 6, Senpai Is an Otokonoko: My Crossdressing Classmate 7, Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns 2 6 (the final volume), Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition 5, and Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition 2.

ASH: Some great series in that list.

SEAN: And digitally we see Fate/Grand Order -Epic of Remnant- Pseudo-Singularity III: The Stage of Carnage, Shimousa – Seven Duels of Swordmasters 6 and I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 10.

Kaze has the 4th volume of Plus-Sized Misadventures in Love!.

J-Novel Club has a print debut for the light novel The Water Magician (Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai). It features an isekai’d boy who’s just trying to learn how to use his newfound water magic, but sadly finds this world is not Slow Life.

Also in print is the 2nd manga volume of The 100th Time’s the Charm: She Was Executed 99 Times, So How Did She Unlock “Super Love” Mode?!.

Digitally, J-Novel Club has some light novels. The Canon Fodder’s Ascension from Pawn to World Unifier 3, In Another World with Household Spells 6, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 14, Isekai Walking 7, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! This White Mage Is One Heck of a Healer 4.

And there is a digital manga debut, in the Knight line. Last Summer Sparkle is a BL one-shot from Chara Selection. It stars two guys. One has no idea what to do after he finishes high school. The other one has no idea what would happen if he confesses to the first guy.

ASH: I’m guessing we get to find out!

SEAN: And for other manga there is Ascendance of a Bookworm Arc 4 Volume 7, The Crown of Rutile Quartz 3 (the final volume), The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World 10, Sweet Reincarnation 13, Tearmoon Empire 10, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 11.

Inklore debuts Daughter of a Thousand Faces, a webtoon. Daughter has many suitors reject her, her mother is executed, and her life is awful. Then she frees a demon guy and becomes his disciple.

Hanashi Media, who surely must be annoyed with me always forgetting about them, has new titles. The debut already out is The Vampire and the Chocolatier, a BL fantasy light novel about the supernatural, servitude, and sweets.

ASH: I enjoy chocolate. And BL. Could be a delectable combination.

SEAN: Out this week is the 5th and final (?) volume of The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage.

And out next week is the 4th volume of The New Gate.

Airship, in print, has the 14th and final volume of Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō, as well as The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 13.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Sword of the Demon Hunter a try.

They also have a digital-only debut, no print here. Liar’s Journey: Reborn as a False Hero – I’ll Save the Tragic Heroine from Every Death Route! (Usotsuki wa Yuusha no Hajimari: Nisemono Yuusha ni Tensei Shita kedo Daisuki na Game no Shibou Route shika Nai Higeki no Heroine o Sukuidasu), another in what is becoming a genre of “guy reincarnated into game tries to save his favorite, the girl who dies in every route”.

And for early digital there is Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord: Production Magic Turns a Nameless Village into the Strongest Fortified City 8 and Virgin Knight: I Became the Frontier Lord in a World Ruled by Women 4.

I died by being buried in manga, so cannot say anything here.

MICHELLE: Let’s all pour one out for Sean.

ASH: His efforts were not in vain.