Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

MJ

Pick of the Week: March in April

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ASH: While it’s the opposite of a debut, my pick this week goes to the final volume of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I’ve certainly been enjoying Akira Himekawa’s adaptation of the titular video game, but it also makes me wish that some of the team’s original work would be licensed, too.

KATE: March Comes in Like a Lion. (I mean…. what else did you think I’d pick?!)

SEAN: Apparently it came out and immediately sold out, so I won’t be able to read it yet, but my pick this week has to be March Comes in Like a Lion, the long, long, LONG awaited shogi and angst masterpiece.

ANNA: March Comes in Like a Lion! I hope one day I will be able to order and read it!

ASH: Oh! The ship actually came in? I won’t get my hands on my copy for quite some time yet it seems, but I’m excited for March Comes in Like a Lion, too!

MICHELLE: I’m kind of in “I’ll believe it when I see it” territory on this one, but what the heck. Count me in for March Comes in Like a Lion!

MJ: I mean… it’s obviously March Comes in Like a Lion.

Manga the Week of 4/5/23

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SEAN: It’s April! The best month! Let’s see what’s coming out next week.

ASH: Let’s!

SEAN: We start with Airship, which has some print releases. There’s Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut 4 and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 3.

And for early digital, we see The World’s Fastest Level Up 3.

Per Denpa’s twitter, they say that they should have Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji 4 and Heavenly Delusion 5 out next week, so we’ll go with that.

ASH: Oh! I’m reading both of those series.

SEAN: Ghost Ship debuts Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu! (Kaette Kudasai! Akutsu-san), a Young Ace Up! title that is another in the genre of “girl teases the guy she likes”. This one takes place at his apartment, though, and is apparently pretty sweet – the Ghost Ship imprint is more for nudity than actual sex, I think.

ASH: There is definitely a range when it comes to Ghost Ship titles.

SEAN: Also from Ghost Ship: Might as Well Cheat: I Got Transported to Another World Where I Can Live My Wildest Dreams! 5.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do have a large number of ongoing series. Ascendance of a Bookworm 24, Bibliophile Princess 6, Black Summoner 12, Holmes of Kyoto 14, The Ideal Sponger Life 11, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 22, The Misfit of Demon Academy 4 Part 1, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 7, The Saga of Lioncourt 4, and To Another World… with Land Mines! 6.

ASH: As always, yay, Bookworm!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a 3rd print volume for Gacha Girls Corps.

Kodansha has a print debut of a formerly released digital title, Quality Assurance in Another World (Kono Sekai wa Fukanzen Sugiru). It’s a Comic Days title about a young girl who meets a “Seeker”, someone who tries to fix problems in their world. But… just what *is* their world, anyway?

ASH: I am glad to see more of Kodansha’s digital titles released in print.

SEAN: Also in print: Attack on Titan Omnibus 10, Lovesick Ellie 9, and Sweat and Soap Manga Box Set 2 (which comes with a free thing of soap).

ASH: Ha! Hopefully it’s a good as the series itself.

SEAN: The digital debut for Kodansha is Lovely Muco! (Itoshi no Muco), the story of a dimwit Akita dog and their glass-blower owner. It comes from Evening magazine, and is based on a real dog.

We also get Chihiro-kun Only Has Eyes for Me 8, Chihayafuru 37, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 7, Life 2, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 6, MF Ghost 12, Phantom of the Idol 5, Raised by the Demon Kings! 7, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 13.

Seven Seas has one new debut. Cinderella Closet is a shoujo title from Betsuma about a plain jane girl who gets transformed by her office coworker with the power of makeup! But that same coworker has a secret…

MICHELLE: Hm…

ANNA: OK, I’m a bit intrigued.

MJ: Is the makeup… magic? I must know.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 7, The Knight Blooms Behind Castle Walls 2, Let’s Buy the Land and Cultivate It in a Different World 3, My Sister, The Cat 2, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 8, and World End Solte 2.

Steamship gives us GAME: Between the Suits 3.

Udon Entertainment has a 5th volume of Daigo The Beast: Umehara Fighting Gamers!.

Viz Media debut Tista, a title from the creator of Spy x Family, it ran in Jump Square back in 2007. A young, church-going girl turns out, in the evenings, to have a job as a deadly assassin! Spy x Family fans will recognize the subplot.

ASH: Oh, ho!

ANNA: Nice!

MJ: Here for this.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Dr. STONE 25, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 25, Moriarty the Patriot 11, My Love Mix-Up! 7, One Piece 102, Rainbow Days 3, Romantic Killer 3, and Snow White with the Red Hair 24.

MICHELLE: I look forward to catching up on My Love Mix-Up!.

ASH: Likewise! I have some reading to do.

ANNA: Oh man, I’m quite a bit behind.

SEAN: Actually relatively short for the first week of the month. Any good stuff here for you?

Pick of the Week: Not You, Manga

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MICHELLE: I really loved The Last of Us, and one thing I can enthusiastically plug this week is HBO’s official companion podcast, in which the creator of the game, his co-showrunner, and the original voice of Joel go through each episode offering up all kinds of extra detail and interpretation.

SEAN: I’m running behind on this series, which everyone I know has already read, but The Locked Tomb has been my reading in between light novels lately (which is to say, about a chapter a day). Gideon the Ninth was fantastic, and I’m halfway through Harrow the Ninth, which is confusing but also fantastic. “Lesbian necromancers in space!”, as the pull quote says.

ANNA: I’m currently watching the k-drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha on Netflix. It is about a dentist who moves to a small town and gets involved with the quirky community in unexpected ways. I’m around halfway through, which is when I assume the hero’s psychological trauma appears to make everyone start crying after several solid episodes of rom-com antics.

MICHELLE: That reminds me that live-action version of The Full-Time Wife Escapist is on Netflix now and is also a great deal of fun!

KATE: I was disappointed in the second season of Picard, but the new season is a blast; sure, it’s got plenty of fan service, but the old gang have such great chemistry together that I can forgive some of the show’s clumsier references to characters and events from the original Next Generation series.

ASH: I finally got around to reading R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War trilogy and am just about finished with the third book. An award-winning epic fantasy partly inspired by twentieth-century Chinese history, the series can be brutal but it’s also excellent. I already have more of Kuang’s work lined up ready to read (Babel: An Arcane History) and on pre-order (Yellowface).

MJ: In anticipation of its season two *hopefully* coming out in April sometime, I’ve been rewatching the first season of Link Click, a Chinese animated series about a trio who run a unique time travel service, available from Crunchyroll (originally licensed by Funimation before they merged). The English subtitles are… well. Um. But the story is so good and the characters so compelling, we’ll take what we can get. Check out the trailer for season one here and the opening theme here. It was one of our greatest finds during the pandemic and I’m pretty hyped up for the new season.

Manga the Week of 3/8/22

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SEAN: It’s March, and to celebrate New England is finally getting a bit of snow. But what manga are we getting?

Airship has no print releases, but they do have an early digital one: Reincarnated as a Sword 12.

Dark Horse gives us a 13th volume of Berserk Deluxe Edition.

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up, surprising no one at this point.

SEAN: Denpa Books has a second omnibus volume of Nana & Kaoru.

There’s a debut from Ghost Ship. Rise of the Outlaw Tamer and His Wild S-Rank Cat Girl (Dappou Tamer no Nariagari Boukentan ~S Rank Bishoujo Boukensha ga Ore no Juuma ni Natteimasu~) is a Comic Ride series. A low-ranked tamer is asked by a high-ranking catgirl to “tame” her in hopes she’ll evolve. In reality, it’ll probably just lead to horniness.

ASH: Sounds about right.

SEAN: Also from Ghost Ship: World’s End Harem: Fantasia Academy 2.

J-Novel Club has a debut, but it’s one of the Sol Press rescues: Let This Grieving Soul Retire (Nageki no Bourei wa Intai Shitai – Saijaku Hunter ni Yoru Saikyou Party Ikuseijutsu). Our hero’s friends have cool powers. He does not. But for some reason they keep expecting things from him.

Also from J-Novel Club: Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 9, D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared 3, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 2, Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 41, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 8, the 4th manga volume of Tearmoon Empire, and the 7th manga volume of Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Am I Actually the Strongest?, which has been out in digital since 2020, but I think is either getting or just got an anime.

Also in print: As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 4, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 4, Magus of the Library 6 (!!!), and SHAMAN KING Omnibus 12 (the final volume).

ASH: Ooh! Magus of the Library!

SEAN: The digital debut will be familiar to old school Tokyopop fans. Life is a shoujo manga from Betsufure, and TP published 9 volumes of it before cancelling it. Now Kodansha is doing a digital version, which hopefully will go the distance. This is an award-winning manga, but be warned, it’s a tough one: our heroine starts cutting herself in the first book.

MICHELLE: Amazon shows I purchased the first volume back in 2006, but I don’t think I ever actually read it, so now’s my chance!

ANNA: Maybe this is an indication (Silver Diamond) of other (Demon Sacred) Tokyopop (Immortal Rain) series getting picked up.

ASH: I live in perpetual hope!

MELINDA: My well of hope runs dry, but… maybe?

SEAN: Digitally we see Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 10, Doing His Best to Confess 4, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 7, MF Ghost 11, Raised by the Demon Kings! 6, Shangri-La Frontier 10, The Shape-Shifting Witch’s Kiss 4 (the final volume), and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 7.

MICHELLE: Doing His Best to Confess looks cute. I’ve been meaning to try it out.

SEAN: From Seven Seas, we see Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi The Comic, the webtoon adaptation of the popular danmei series, in full color.

ASH: Looking forward to giving this one a try!

SEAN: We also see orange -to you, dear one-, the final epilogue to the orange series, which tells the story of the rest of the main cast in this new future.

MICHELLE: So excite.

ANNA: I still have the first volume of orange lurking around my house, unread!

MICHELLE: It’s so good!

ASH: It really is. Very glad to see the epilogues being released.

MELINDA: !!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has The Ancient Magus’ Bride 17, The Girl in the Arcade 3, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 5, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 16, and Yokai Cats 3.

MICHELLE: It’s been 84 years since I read any of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. I’ve really been missing it.

ASH: I’m somehow behind in my reading, but I enjoy this series so much.

SEAN: Square Enix debuts My Clueless First Friend (Jijou o Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru), a Gangan Joker series which is getting an anime. A bullied elementary school girl is startled when a new transfer student arrives and finds that all the things people bully her for are, to him, cool!

From Steamship, we get Ladies on Top 2.

ASH: Which reminds me I still need to read the first volume.

Udon debuts Persona 4 Arena, a Dengeki Maoh series for all you folks who wished Persona 4 were a fighting game. This is, in fact, an adaptation of a video game.

Viz Media debuts Ayashimon, a Shonen Jump series from the creator of Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku. A guy who wanted to grow up to be strong like a manga hero does his job a bit TOO well.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Black Clover 32, Blue Box 3, The Elusive Samurai 5, Ghost Reaper Girl 4, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 5, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 8, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 6, and Yona of the Dawn 38.

MICHELLE: Must have a Yona binge soon!

ANNA: Need to get caught up on Ima Koi and always excited for new Yona!

SEAN: That’s it! What will you read if you’re snowed in?

Pick of the Week: Mermaid Josei

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SEAN: Josei? From a magazine we almost never see anything licensed from? Complete in one volume? Sold! Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand also looks quite pretty, and is definitely my pick this week.

KATE: My thoughts exactly, Sean–done-in-one josei? With gorgeous, stylish art? And a plucky heroine? Sold! (Literally… I pre-ordered this one.)

MICHELLE: What else is there to say besides, “I concur”!

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Ditto! (I really have been looking forward to this one and already have my pre-order in.)

MJ: Not to be predictable, but I’m going to go along with everyone else here! I’m so ready for this!

Manga the Week of 2/15/23

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SEAN: It’s Valentine’s Day, or Galentine’s Day, or whatever you might celebrate. What manga do we have?

We’re still in a kinder, gentler time when Yen Press no longer has sliding release dates, so we start with Viz. Their debut is the one shot The Girl That Can’t Get a Girlfriend (Kanojo ga Denai Onna), which ran online on various services like Tapas and pixiv, and which Viz is publishing as a collected volume. It’s an autobiographical story of love, and what to do when that love does not work out.

ASH: I’ve been curious about this one since I first heard about it.

MJ: I hadn’t heard about it, but it does sound interesting!

SEAN: Viz also has The Hunters Guild: Red Hood 2, Komi Can’t Communicate 23, Radiant 16, Sakamoto Days 6, and Splatoon 16.

Tokyopop debuts Confessions of a Shy Baker (Futari de Okashi na Kyuujitsu o) which runs in the amusingly named magazine Flat Heros. A real estate agency owner worries that advertising the agency as LGBT-friendly might out him. Fortunately, he bakes, so there are always sweets.

ASH: I generally avoid Tokyo these days, but I am seriously tempted by some of these titles.

MJ: Must… stay… strong..

SEAN: They’ve also got Formerly, the Fallen Daughter of the Duke 3.

SuBLime has a debut. Megumi & Tsugumi (Megumi to Tsugumi) runs in Qpa. It’s an Omegaverse story, so the plot is basically all about that sort of thing.

Also from SuBLime, Candy Color Paradox 6.

ASH: Though I’m a little behind, I have been enjoying this series.

SEAN: Square Enix has My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! 5 and Tokyo Aliens 2.

Seven Seas gives us two debuts. Gap Papa: Daddy at Work and at Home (Shokuba to Jitaku de Gap no Aru Papa) is a Kadokawa title based on a webcomic. It’s about a cool, distant work colleague who turns into a sweet and doting husband and father at home. The Gap is as in “gap moe”.

MICHELLE: Hm. Possibly cute!

ASH: Awkward title, but promising premise.

SEAN: The other debut is Marmalade Boy: Collector’s Edition. Originally running in Ribon in the early 1990s, getting a very popular TV anime, and then getting a Tokyopop release in 2002, it’s getting a deluxe reissue here, with color pages and a new translation. Miki is horrified to find her parents are swapping spouses with another couple! And they’re all living together! And her new stepbrother Yuu, is such a jerk! Voted “most likely to read badly in retrospect” by old-school manga fans. Don’t mention Namura.

MICHELLE: It’s been 20 years since I read Marmalade Boy so I’m really looking forward to revisiting it. I hope I won’t be too horrified.

ANNA: Ha, I still have my old edition of Marmalade Boy, maybe I’ll check out the new version.

ASH: I somehow haven’t actually read this series yet, although I definitely know about it!

MJ: I also still have my old editions of Marmalade Boy, and I’ll probably leave it at that.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: CANDY AND CIGARETTES 3, Correspondence from the End of the Universe 2, Monologue Woven For You 3 (the final volume), and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior 3 (the final manga volume).

One Peace Books has a 2nd volume of Usotoki Rhetoric.

MICHELLE: Yay! I really liked the first volume.

ASH: As did I! Really looking forward to reading more.

SEAN: Kodansha has a print debut, a 528-page done-in-one collection. Break of Dawn (Bokura no Yoake) ran in Afternoon, and it’s by the author of Alice & Zoroku. A young boy watches everyone else in the country be obsessed with a comet, but he’s found something even more out of this world.

ASH: This seems like something I would be interested in (and as a single volume, might actually have a chance of reading in a timely fashion).

SEAN: Also in print: Drifting Dragons 12, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 4, Parasyte Full Color Collection 2, Phantom of the Idol 4, Real Account 18-20, and Wandance 4.

MICHELLE: I’ve already fallen behind on Wandance.

SEAN: While digitally we see The Fable 11, Fungus and Iron 2, Gang King 2, Giant Killing 35, The Girl, the Shovel, and the Evil Eye 4, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 12, Island in a Puddle 5 (the final volume), A Kiss with a Cat 5, Police in a Pod 21, Rent-A-Girlfriend 17, Tokyo Revengers 29, and The Witch and the Beast 10.

Kaiten Books has the 8th manga volume of Loner Life in Another World out digitally.

J-Novel Club has some print titles. We see the debut of Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, the manga version, which runs in Comic Fire. We also get I Shall Survive Using Potions! manga volume 9, Infinite Dendrogram 17, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 9.

Digitally they’ve got Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World 2, Black Summoner’s 10th manga volume, Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 3, The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 2, and Reincarnated as an Apple: This Forbidden Fruit Is Forever Unblemished! 2 (the final volume).

Lastly, Airship has the print debut of Raven of the Inner Palace, which was excellent.

ASH: I really ought to pick this one up now that it’s in print!

SEAN: And we get early digital for I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 4 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 3.

What manga are you grateful for?

Pick of the Week: Get Up, Stand-Up

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SEAN: Not a lot of must-buy titles for me this week, but I will say that if you never got the original manga, the box set of Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku looks like a great buy, and has a sticky notepad as a bonus.

MICHELLE: I’ll be checking out Show-ha Shoten!. It’s less that I’m into comedy duos and more that I’m into Takeshi Obata’s artwork, though.

KATE: I second Michelle’s recommendation: comedy tonight!

ASH: Likewise! As much as I enjoy Wotakoi, my pick this week goes to the debut of Show-ha Shoten! Though I’m unfamiliar with the author, I do find myself intrigued by the series’ premise and I’m definitely looking forward to Obata’s illustrations.

ANNA: Put me down for Show-ha Shoten! as well!

MJ: As a certified Takeshi Obata superfan, there is no other choice for me this week but Show-ha Shoten! I have been a diehard fan since Hikaru no Go, and I’m admittedly happy to see him working with a new writer, so count me IN for his beautiful work.

Manga the Week of 2/8/23

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SEAN: It’s February now, everyone’s least favorite month. Let’s see what’s on tap.

ASH: At least it’s short? Which I guess could be both a good and a bad thing…

SEAN: We start with Airship, which has one print release, Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 4.

And there are early digital releases of Skeleton Knight in Another World 10 and Vivy Prototype 3.

Dark Horse Comics has Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition 8 and Mob Psycho 100 10.

ASH: Still happily double-dipping on that deluxe edition.

SEAN: DMP has the 8th Vampire Hunter D manga.

ASH: While DMP annoys me for a variety of reasons, I have been known to enjoy this manga series.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 2nd volume of “too spicy for Viz” Shonen Jump title Ayakashi Triangle.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do see Ascendance of a Bookworm’s 14th manga volume, Did I Seriously Just Get Reincarnated as My Gag Character?!’s 3rd manga volume, The Faraway Paladin’s 9th manga volume, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 5, Monster Tamer 12, The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes 6, and Yashiro-kun’s Guide to Going Solo: After Story.

Kodansha has a big print box set: Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku Complete Manga Box Set. This contains the entire series, which I found very enjoyable.

MICHELLE: I need to finish Wotakoi!

ASH: I really enjoyed it.

SEAN: Also in print: Attack on Titan Omnibus 9, Lovesick Ellie 8, Orient 13, Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Edition 6, The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 8, Vampire Dormitory 9, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 2.

Digitally we see Chihayafuru 36, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 6, Grand Blue Dreaming 18, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 8, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 32 (the final volume), Matcha Made in Heaven 4, Raised by the Demon Kings! 5, The Shape-Shifting Witch’s Kiss 3, and Shonen Note: Boy Soprano 2.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Matcha Made in Heaven!

SEAN: Kodansha Books is starting to put out digital editions of the old Japanese fiction titles Vertical released 20 years ago. Next week we get Ashes, by Kenzo Kitakata. They already released the same author’s The Cage and City of Refuge digitally back in October.

ASH: Oh, that’s good news! Some of those titles were really great and becoming hard to find.

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 20th manga volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has Tokyo Revengers Omnibus 7-8.

Steamship has Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 3.

There’s two debuts from Viz Media. My Special One (Kimi ga Tokubetsu) is a new Betsuma series from the author of No Longer Heroine, which is also being released over here by a different publisher. A high school girl hates pretty boy idols… but now one of them is trying to woo her?

ANNA: Oh no, not the pretty boy idols!

MJ: Why am I a sucker for this exact type of plot?

SEAN: Show-ha Shoten! is a Jump Square title that’s gotten a release on the Jump app but is now getting a physical book. It’s by the artist of Death Note/Bakuman/etc, but with a different writer, so I am hoping it is not a giant car crash like Platinum End was. A young man gets his friend to help him do a comedy act at their school… then begs him to help him with his dream of being part of a stand-up comedy duo!

MICHELLE: Different, at least!

ASH: In general, I do like the artist’s work.

ANNA: Me too. Here’s hoping the story is as good as the art.

MJ: OH HELLO

SEAN: Also out next week: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 16, The King’s Beast 9, My Hero Academia 33, Rainbow Days 2, and Snow White with the Red Hair 23.

ANNA: Nice to see some ongoing shoujo!

SEAN: And that’s it! What gets you through this month?

Off the Shelf: Still kicking

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MICHELLE: MJ, after we finish this one we will have done as many columns in 2019 as we did for the entirety of 2015-2018! Go us!

MJ: *laughs weakly* Yes… “go us.” Um. Wow. When you put it that way, we sound terribly unimpressive.

MICHELLE: Well, the alternative would’ve been to let it disappear, so I think we deserve a bit of credit for resuscitating it! Anyhow, I expect that you’ve been reading some manga!

MJ: I suppose you’re right! WE ARE BASICALLY GODS.

…

Okay, maybe not. But yes, I have indeed been reading some manga, or at least rereading, which is to say that I took some time this week to look at the new omnibus edition of CLAMP’s four-volume manga, Wish, originally published in Kadokawa Shoten’s Mystery DX, adapted into English in the early 2000s by TOKYOPOP, and resurrected just a few weeks ago by Dark Horse Comics, with their usual omnibus treatment—larger trim size, very nice-looking print, and a somewhat refreshed translation.

For those who missed Wish the first time around, it’s the story of an angel, Kohaku, who has been sent to Earth to find Hisui, one of the four “Master Angels” (why they don’t just say “Archangel” is a mystery to me, but maybe there’s something I don’t get), who disappeared from Heaven after a visit to the bridge between Heaven and Hell. During their mission, Kohaku—who appears human-sized during the day but reverts to tiny cherub form at night—is rescued from an attacking crow by Shuichiro, a local human doctor. Complications ensue when it turns out that Hisui actually defected to Earth in order to be with Kokuyo, the actual son of Satan, with whom they have fallen in love. Meanwhile, Kohaku becomes confused by their own growing feelings for Shuichiro.

There’s a whole lot packed into this short series, including more angels and demons, time travel, reincarnation, messenger rabbits, cats (some of whom are actually demons), and a tree fairy, but generally speaking it’s all just incredibly CLAMP from start to finish, and if you’re into that, you know what I mean. Someone even sacrifices an eye. This thing honestly couldn’t get any CLAMPier. It’s not my favorite of their series—I could live very happily never reading another manga about angels for the rest of my life—but as most CLAMP fans will know, the big deal about this edition is the translation, which is certainly what caught my attention.

In CLAMP’s original vision, there is no gender in Heaven or Hell, but in early 2000s publishing, it was unthinkable to convey that in English, especially when it came to the angels, who, in Japanese, referred to themselves with genderless pronouns. This led to a decision to choose genders for each of the angels, based on heteronormative standards regarding appearance and romantic entanglement, outraging some fans but satisfying style guides. Fast forward to 2019, when publishing has finally recalled that singular “they” is a thing, and our angels are genderless at last.

I’ve already mentioned that Wish is far from my favorite of CLAMP’s work, so I wasn’t especially eager to reread it, but I was surprised to note just how much more enjoyment I got out of it this time around. As someone who identifies as nonbinary, I realize this may be of greater importance to me than most, but whatever CLAMP’s intention really was when they filled their comic with genderless angels, it feels like representation, and for something originally published in the 1990s, that is kind of a big deal. Freeing the angels from gender expectations breathed new life into them for me, made the story richer, and opened up its universe to the notion that love and attraction might be based on something other than a person’s gender expression or whatever reproductive organs they happen to possess. These are not novel ideas for many of us, but with all the hand-wringing over this series back in 2002, it feels revolutionary. Mostly, though, what I’m struck with as I read this edition, is how easy it would have been to publish it exactly as it is now, then. The sentences are not awkward. There is nothing that feels labored or unnatural in this translation. How has it actually taken publishing this long to figure that out?

MICHELLE: It’s been a long time since I read Wish, and it was also not my favorite, but I definitely feel a greater spark of interest when I imagine a translation that represents the angels as genderless! It makes me want to shake TOKYOPOP and demand, “Would that have been so hard?!?!” (They had other similar issues back in the day, too, and not just with genderless protagonists. I distinctly remember a character in GetBackers being assigned feminine pronouns when, in fact, he is very much a dude and if anyone had actually bothered to learn anything about the series they were translating, they would’ve known that. SIGH.) I can totally see how it would make the whole story richer as a result.

MJ: Yeah, nobody could be more surprised than I am to be describing Wish as “rich” in anything other than CLAMP’s beautiful, swirly artwork, but I genuinely enjoyed rereading it, and I’d even recommend it, at least to fans of shoujo manga, and particularly to other enbies. It’s an unusual treasure of representation for the time period. And messenger bunnies! Who doesn’t love messenger bunnies?

There is one jarring panel in the first volume, where one of the demons seems to misgender Kohaku as “she,” but I don’t know if that was an editorial oversight (that’s how it’s translated in TOKYOPOP’s version, too) or if it was actually written that way in Japanese. But in over 800 pages, that one panel wasn’t significant enough to mar my enjoyment overall.

So what did you read this week, Michelle?

MICHELLE: Maybe that demon was intentionally being a jerk.

I checked out the first volume of Hitorijime My Hero by Memeco Arii, one of the first boys’ love manga published in print by Kodansha Comics. (They did release a handful of others digitally in 2018.)

As a kid, Masahiro Setagawa hated tokusatsu shows because he knew that, no matter how miserable his life was, no hero would come to save him. But when he fell in with a group of delinquents in middle school and became their gofer, a hero did come in the form of Kousuke Ohshiba, the so-called “bear killer,” who defeated the thugs and ended up with Setagawa as his new underling. Setagawa befriended Ohshiba’s younger brother, Kensuke, and as the manga begins, some time has passed. He’s dealing with the fact that Kensuke is now in a relationship with another boy named Asaya Hasekura and that Kousuke is a teacher at their high school.

Almost immediately, Kousuke is confronting Setagawa about the feelings he believes Setagawa has for him, saying, “Even if you feel that way I won’t be able to return those feelings.” Setagawa is too dumbstruck to deny it, and then Kousuke (an adult) keeps sending him (a teenager) mixed signals, like suddenly smooching him or calling him “the guy I like.” It turns out that Kousuke is basically trying to make Setagawa realize he is gay. This eventually works. And then they do it. Eyeroll.

Because this series is a spinoff from an earlier series, we’re just kind of thrown into a confusing timeline and a mix of characters without a lot of context. I’ve seen the first couple of episodes of the anime, and they handle all of this material far more clearly. The manga does a little to show why Setagawa likes Kousuke—he’s strong, smart, and capable—but none at all to show why Kousuke likes Setagawa, aside from one page where he talks about how his devotion helped him retain his humanity or something. Really, it’s all pretty disappointing so far. I know it’s a popular series, so I’m hoping it gets better.

MJ: I can’t help but roll my eyes along with you. This basically sounds like a collection of my least favorite BL tropes, though maybe (hopefully??) at least without the younger, smaller guy wincing in pain and horror every time they have sex? Please tell me it at least doesn’t have that. Though maybe it doesn’t matter. I know the student/teacher thing is a common trope too, but I really hate it, especially when it’s the main romantic plot line. I know it’s a popular series, but I honestly can’t imagine reading it by choice.

MICHELLE: To its credit, it absolutely does not have that. It’s fully a fade-to-black scenario with some evidence afterwards that Setagawa enjoyed himself tremendously. As for the student-teacher thing, this is a slightly different variation in which the two people concerned knew each other for years before Setagawa came to the school where Kousuke teaches, so the power imbalance between them is not so much that Kousuke is in an official position of authority but that Setagawa has kind of idolized him.

MJ: Either way, I’m guessing it’s not for me. I’ll wait to hear what you think of future volumes before taking the risk.

MICHELLE: Okay. I can handle at least one more. Speaking of Kodansha’s advances into the realm of print BL, would you care to do the summary honors for our mutual read this time?

MJ: Sure!

This week, we both read the first volume of the much-anticipated series 10 Dance, by Inouesatoh, also from Kodansha Comics, as Michelle mentioned above.

The story involves two ballroom dancers with similar names—Shinya Sugiki, who is an international champion in Standard Ballroom, and Shinya Suzuki, who is the Japanese national champion in Latin Dance. Their relationship with each other is both admiring and rivalrous, and when Sugiki asks Suzuki and his partner to train with with him (and his partner) for the 10-Dance Competition (combining the 5 Standard and 5 Latin dances), Suzuki finds it impossible to refuse.

Over the course of the first volume, the four dancers train together—the men in particular working to be able to lead in each other’s specialty—and that’s literally all that happens in the story, but as we watch the two of them butt heads (and other things) throughout the training, it’s honestly just riveting. This story is all about personality and relationships, and certainly we’re expecting some steamy romance between the two male leads down the line, but even in this preliminary volume, where nothing overtly romantic happens, there’s so much interpersonal entanglement to enjoy.

The two men couldn’t be more different. Suzuki, who grew up in Cuba, has been dancing with his partner since childhood, while Sugiki changes partners constantly, never quite settling in with anyone. Suzuki’s strength is showing passion on the floor, while Sugiki’s is the elegance of his form. And though things are slowly heating up a bit, I honestly believe I would be happy just watching them dance together as I learn new details about Standard and Latin ballroom rules, pretty much forever. It’s that entertaining.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed it tremendously! From the start, the cover art reminded me of est em, and the content within does, too. With est em, I was always struck by the way her characters would talk while engaged in intimate acts, and although Sugiki and Suzuki aren’t having sex, they’re still engaged in physical activity—indeed, they’ve been dancing until dawn together for months—that puts them in close proximity, gettin’ sweaty, maintaining eye contact, et cetera. And they’re talking throughout, gradually becoming closer and revealing details about their personal lives in the process. I love the slow development of their relationship and how this, in turn, makes small moments so pivotal. The one that stands out is when Sugiki has gone to London to defend a championship title. When he succeeds, it’s Suzuki that he calls, and when this reserved man actually smiles when being told “Hurry up and come home,” it has such impact! Of course, they go right back to butting heads after that.

MJ: I agree on est em, though I’d go even further and say it feels like an est em/Fumi Yoshinaga hybrid, with the additional warmth of their observations about each other’s habits and idiosyncrasies and the scene where they dance together at a restaurant, because trying to make points about dance while sitting at the table just isn’t working. It’s got all of est em’s sexiness and suave, along with Yoshinaga’s warm goofiness, and the underlying elegance of both.

MICHELLE: “Warm goofiness” is a great way to describe the scene where Sugiki, frustrated by Suzuki’s attempts to lead the waltz, gets Suzuki to adopt the woman’s role and proceeds to very thoroughly make him feel like a princess. “I feel like I could pop out a dozen babies for you right now!” And you’re absolutely right about elegance, too; these dance scenes are drawn so beautifully.

If you’ll forgive somewhat of a non-sequitur, although I don’t know the kanji used for Sugiki and Suzuki’s given names (and, indeed, it might not even be the same), one definition for “shinya” has a meaning that’s very applicable to the story. Check it out.

MJ: I believe I read somewhere that the kanji for each of their names is slightly different from the other, but I’m tickled by that meaning all the same. It certainly is appropriate!

Bottom line, I can’t wait to read more of this series, and I’m thrilled that Kodansha brought it over for us!

MICHELLE: I enthusiastically concur!

Thanks for joining us for another installment of Off the Shelf! The winner of last column’s giveaway is Joseph Miller! Joseph, send over an email or drop a message to MJ on Twitter to collect!

The Shoujo Beauty of X

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Those of you who have followed the evolution of the Manga Moveable Feast, and particularly the way in which subjects for the Feast are currently chosen (unlike the original democratic model, hosts now select topics on their own), have most likely assumed that, as the host of the CLAMP MMF, I’m a big fan of their work. This is a fair assumption, and it’s not exactly wrong, but the truth is a bit more nuanced. Though I count several of CLAMP’s manga among my very favorites (Tokyo Babylon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and xxxHolic are a few I’ve praised vocally over the past few years), my feelings for others range anywhere from general indifference to extreme impatience and even dislike.

One of the titles that originally registered with me somewhere between “impatience” and “dislike” is the very popular and tragically unfinished X (X/1999 when it was originally published in English), the first of CLAMP’s series to officially reach American shores. As a huge fan of Tokyo Babylon, my initial reaction can probably be chalked up to the fact that CLAMP waits several volumes before introducing Subaru into the story. But once I’d finally forgiven X for not being Tokyo Babylon II, I still found myself growing impatient with its sprawling cast, its convoluted plot lines, and its maddeningly repetitive exposition. Fortunately, VIZ’s new omnibus releases of X have not only reintroduced it into the North American market, they’ve also given me a second chance to try to grasp its charms—and grasp them I have, though they haven’t been at all what I expected.

Bloggers like my Manga Bookshelf cohort Kate Dacey have often referenced X‘s gory battles and body count as a major draw for readers. In one of her features for this month’s MMF, in fact, she likens X‘s apocalyptic imagery to the work of Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), and goes on to conclude, “The battle scenes are kinetic and violent, executed with a gory zest that’s difficult to resist. The dream sequences, too, are suitably shocking: characters are dismembered, crucified, impaled, and engulfed in flames, often right before their loved ones’ eyes. I hesitate to suggest that X‘s body count is a victory for women, but it is a sharp and welcome rebuke to the idea that female readers strongly prefer conversation and character development to butt-kicking and carnage.”

She’s right, of course. X is filled to the brim with bloody battles that don’t shy away from gore. But I admit that my primary reaction to VIZ’s new, larger format omnibus editions has been the realization of how astoundingly, gorgeously shoujo it all is, especially in its imagery.

Here’s a sequence from X‘s first volume, in which burgeoning dreamseer Kotori receives a disturbing dream about her childhood friend, Kamui.

(click images to enlarge)





X, Vol. 1 © 1992-1993 CLAMP, English edition published by VIZ Media

When I look at a scene like this… well, first of all, I think it’s freaking beautiful. With its flowing lines and minimal use of traditional boundaries, CLAMP creates a surreal, dreamlike landscape that manages to be remarkably easy to follow while also completely immersing the reader in Kotori’s state of mind. The evolution of the spherical images in her dream from a whimsical, globe-like ball to an apocalyptic nightmare is a genuinely striking progression, enhanced by the abstract panel placement—a collection of emotional slivers mirrored by the shattering of the earth itself.

That this type of page composition is quintessentially shoujo is no revelation of course. But its emotional resonance as well as its style of imagery reminds me immediately of other shoujo series from the same period.

Kotori’s initial descent into her dream reminds me of this section from Reiko Shimizu’s Moon Child, in which Teruto slides into the depths beneath a city fountain in order to make a deal to save his sibling’s life. Though Teruto’s journey is a waking one, in both cases, there is a sense that the main character of the scene is falling into a state that is both familiar and perhaps dangerous. Teruto’s and Kotori’s bodies are completely relaxed as they descend, while the water and the scattering fish around them create a sense of otherworldliness and tension.


Moon Child, Vol. 3 © 1988 Reiko Shimizu, English edition published by Wildstorm Productions

The second spread of this sequence is dominated by the image of Kamui, holding and standing dominant over a representation of the earth, which reminded me immediately of this scene from Saki Hiwatari’s Please Save My Earth, in which Alice ponders the emotional state of Rin, whose previous incarnation, Shion, is pictured as if holding his world in thrall. Though the POV character in both series here feel love and affection for the subject of these images, there is also a sense that the person being pictured is potentially dangerous and capable of real harm.


Please Save My Earth, Vol. 20 © 1993 Saki Hiwatari, English edition published by VIZ Media

The rapid, stream-of-consiousness images in the third spread of Kotori’s dream bears a similarity to this sequence from Keiko Nishi’s short manga Promise (note: Promise reads left-to-right). I find this particularly interesting given Promise‘s real-world setting, because it demonstrates so clearly how this type of mental imagery is just as much a part of our “real” lives as it is our dreams and fantasies. In both cases, these scattered, tumbling images create a sense of panic and impending emotional danger.


Promise © 1996 Keiko Nishi/Shogakukan, Inc., English edition published by VIZ Media

Though the content of the last bit I’ve chosen from Kotori’s dream bears very little similarity (at least in terms of plot) to what is happening in this spread (again from Please Save My Earth), Kotori’s and Mokuren’s states of mind are quite similar. They’ve both had a sudden realization about a loved one that results in complete horror. Kotori has been hit with the realization that her loved one, Kamui, may destroy her world, while Mokuren has been hit with the realization that she may be taken from the world before she’s able to tell Shion that she loves him in the first place. While the Kotori’s predicament may seem more serious and vital than Mokuren’s, the artwork tells us differently. Whatever the scope of the situations’ consequences, Mokuren and Kotori are equally devastated by their respective realizations.


Please Save My Earth, Vol. 19 © 1993 Saki Hiwatari, English edition published by VIZ Media

This kind of emotional tension combined with abstract imagery is found all over in shoujo from the late 1980s and early 1990s (here’s a beautifully rendered scene from Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon)—which is part of why it’s become my favorite era for shoujo artwork.


Sailor Moon, Vol. 2 ©2003 Naoko Takeuchi, English translation © 2011 Naoko Takeuchi

Though I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the very first scene that came to mind while pondering artwork for this article came from Moto Hagio’s They Were Eleven, which was published in the 1970s (note: these pages read left-to-right). The accelerated tumbling of the elevator buttons at the top of the first page has stuck with me since I first read this manga several years ago, and I immediately associated it with Kamui’s tumbling earth. There’s something about shoujo and circles…


They Were Eleven © 1996 Moto Hagio/Shogakukan, Inc., English edition published by VIZ Media

It doesn’t get better than this, my friends.

Time will tell, of course, if my new infatuation with the shoujo spectacularness of CLAMP’s X will help me weather its narrative messiness in the long-term, but I’m certainly enjoying myself so far. Kudos to VIZ for presenting this unfinished series in a format that finally shows it off to its best advantage. I think I may speak for all fans of 1990s shoujo when I say, “Thank you. I thank you with all my heart.”

Let’s hope this becomes a trend.

Welcome new columnists!

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Not long ago, we posted a call for contributors here at Manga Bookshelf. We got a lot of terrific submissions, and a number of new columnists have come on board, including two that debuted this week!

In her new monthly column, Comic Conversion, Angela Eastman will be comparing prose novels to their sequential art adaptations. She began this week with James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet’s Witch & Wizard, adapted by Svetlana Chmakova for Yen Press.

And moving away from (strictly) manga, Paul will be reviewing both Japanese games and non-Japanese games with a Japanese theme in his new column, Bits & Blips: Manga Bookshelf Edition. He launched his column this week with a review of the maid-centric deck building game Tanto Cuore.

Finally, I’d like to thank guest blogger Sara K. for her recent write-up of Sooyeon Won’s Mary Stayed Out All Night. This is Sara’s second contribution to the site, and we’re happy to have her back!

We have more new contributors joining us soon, so stay tuned!

PR: JManga offers free Sherlock Holmes

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Until December 27th, sign up for a paid subscription at JManga, and you’ll be awarded with the free first volume of Toya Ataka’s adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, now available on the site.

About Sherlock Holmes (from JManga’s website):

Story
Holmes is the master of deduction. His partner is just as keen. He is Watson.

About Volume 1
In a London cloaked in darkness, the Shadow Masters and their nightmarish crimes run rampant. Up against them, as they use the shadows to commit impossible crimes, is none other than the handsome young detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson. In a city controlled by evil, an overwhelming battle of logic unfolds as Holmes takes on the ethereal-like shadow creatures one by one!! Is Holmes’ shadow really his own!?

I suspect very few of you are unfamiliar with Holmes and Watson, nor is this the first graphic novel adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels. How well does this one hold up? There’s only one way to find out!

Click here for all the details from JManga.

Call for contributors

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With autumn well underway and NYCC pretty well wrapped up, it’s time to do a little gussying up here at Manga Bookshelf! We’ve got a new full-time blogger on deck to join us shortly and we aren’t seeking more, but we’ve still got ample room for regular contributors.

Join us!

Got a great idea for a weekly or monthly column? Send us your pitch! Contact us with the following:

Your name
Your pitch
Links to 2 samples of similar writing you’ve done

Your pitch should include a theme for your column, a general outline for the column’s inaugural entry, how often you’d write it (weekly or monthly), and how you envision maintaining its theme over time. If your idea is a one-shot or short series of posts, please indicate that as well. We are particularly interested in columns that offer something different than what we do now, including types of comics we don’t currently cover or other aspects of Japanese or Korean pop culture, especially if these things can be tied in to comics (example: Cathy Yan’s Don’t Fear the Adaptation). Please allow at least four weeks for a response.

At this time, we are unable to offer monetary compensation for contributors, but we look forward to doing so in the future.

If you’re not a writer, but you’d like to support the site, click here to find out how!

NYCC: What’s new in manga?

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Digital distribution was the primary thread running through announcements from manga publishers at this year’s New York Comic Con, but it wasn’t the only thing to get excited about. For detailed coverage of each day’s panels, be sure to spend some time with Sean’s write-ups of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Below is a list of highlights from attending manga publishers (Note: neither Dark Horse nor Bandai Entertainment offered any new manga announcements).

Kodansha Comics

With visiting mangaka Hiro Mashima in attendance, much of Kodansha’s panel time was spent letting him woo the crowd with his charming personality and artistic skill. Happily, they offered a wealth of new manga announcements as well. Here’s the rundown:

Attack on Titan – “Humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming humanity. Seemingly unintelligent, they have roamed the world killing off humankind for years. For the past century, what’s left of mankind has hidden in a giant, three-walled city. People believe their 100-meter-high walls will protect them from the Titans, which are 10 to 20 meters tall. But the sudden appearance of an immense Titan is about to change everything.” (June, 2012)

Genshiken Omnibus – “Welcome to the world of the Genshiken, home of the true otaku – the Japanese term for ubergeek. This is the story of a group of friends who are all members of the most hardcore anime and manga fan club in all of Tokyo – and the girls who love them.” (May, 2012)

Kitchen Princess Omnibus – “Najika has always known how to cook. She understands food, and how it touches people’s hearts. But she herself has always been looking for more. When she was a child, she met a boy who touched her heart, and now Najika has set out to find this boy. The only clue she has is a silver spoon that leads to the prestigious Seika Academy. Fitting in at Seika will be a challenge. Every kid in Najika’s class has a special talent, and the girls at the school think Najika’s not worthy. But Sora and Daichi, two popular brothers who barely speak to each other, recognize Najika’s cooking for what it is — magical. Is either boy Najika’s mysterious prince? ” (June, 2012)

Kodansha Comics iPad App – Kodansha Comics joins the digital revolution with their own iPad app, which launched officially during the convention. We’ll have a full review in our next edition of Going Digital, but in the meantime, here’s the pitch: “Kodansha USA Publishing is proud to announce the debut of the Kodansha Comics app, appearing at midnight tonight in the iTunes store. The app was created by Random House, Inc.’s digital content team on behalf of Kodansha, a Random House Publisher Services division client. It will be free to download, with most volumes priced for sale at $4.99. The Kodansha Comics iPad app will launch with 34 books covering four series: Arisa by Natsumi Ando; Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima; Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei by Koji Kumeta; and Until the Full Moon by Sanami Matoh. Additional series will be added to the app in the near future.”

Be sure to check out their special launch promotion, featuring all fifteen volumes of Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail for $2.99 each.

Vertical, Inc.

Vertical may still be lagging digitally, but they announced several exciting new licenses for 2012.

5 Centimeters Per Second – Adapted from Makoto Shinkai’s anime feature, this stands out as my favorite surprise license of the convention. When I first watched this film, all I wanted to do when it ended was to start it all over again. This story of separation and loneliness may be a bit messier than Shinkai’s earlier, similarly-themed Voices of a Distant Star, but it affected me more personally.

The first of the movie’s three sections hit me the hardest, and I wrote of it at the time, “The second and third chapters resonate deeply with me too… but it is the first I keep coming back to. It is Takaki’s journey on the train that stays with me constantly. I feel that I could watch this film over and over and it would never become tired to me.” Whether the manga adaptation is as strong remains to be seen, but it ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon, which speaks well for it indeed. (June 2012)

Sakuran – There has been twitter speculation about this license for a while, and it’s exciting to see the speculation become real! I’ll let David speak for me here. “Now, how did I go through all those license requests without ever hitting upon Moyoco (Hataraki Man) Anno’s Sakuran? Looking back, the one-volume title from Kodansha’s Evening received only a scant mention in The Seinen Alphabet. Let’s pretend that I’ve been begging for it all along, because it certainly feels like a request fulfilled.” (July, 2012)

Message to Adolph – Having come into the world of manga so late, it’s a pleasure to see publishers recently re-issuing manga I missed the first time around, especially when that manga was written by the likes of Osamu Tezuka. Originally published here by Viz (as Adolph), it has been long out of print. Now, Vertical adds this tale of three Adolphs to their impressive Tezuka library. (August, 2012)

Viz Media

Viz made the trek from the west coast this year for the first time in a while, bringing with them a number of announcements, including these licenses:

Loveless – Though I’ve never read Loveless, a popular series from Yun Kouga—already a favorite of mine—it’s apparently time to start. Viz has picked up the license where TOKYOPOP left off, starting with volume nine. As Sean says in his Day Three post, “This title runs in Ichijinsha’s Comic Zero-Sum, and is another of those ‘not quite BL but has many BL elements’ series. It’s still running in Japan, and I think fans will be excited about this.” No word at this time about whether Viz might re-release the earlier volumes at any point. (June, 2012)

Jiu Jiu – From the pages of Hana to Yume, Jiu Jiu is the story of a girl who comes from a family of demon hunters and the two werewolves who protect her. This looks to be set in high school, which wasn’t what I expected when reading the initial setup. Sounds like fun! (July, 2012)

For details on all of Viz’s NYCC announcements, manga or otherwise, check out Brigid Alverson’s coverage at MTV Geek.

Now for the really big news…

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha – Certainly one of the biggest manga revelations at the con, Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha is “a weekly serial anthology of some of the most popular manga series in the world: Bakuman｡, Bleach, Naruto, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, One Piece, and Toriko. The first issue of Weekly SJ Alpha goes on sale January 30, 2012, and will be available through VIZManga.com and the VIZ Manga apps for iPhone™, iPod™ touch and iPad™.” These chapters will be coming out just two weeks after publication in Japan. To catch fans up, Viz will be launching what they’re referring to as the “digital warp,” “a limited collection of digital graphic novel speed-ups that will bring North American readers up-to-date with Japanese releases.”

For more, read Deb Aoki’s in-depth interviews with VIZ Media Senior Vice President and General Manager Alvin Lu, Deputy Director of Shueisha’s Shonen Manga Group, Hisashi Sasaki, and VIZ Media’s Vice President of Digital Publishing, Brian Piech, at About.com.

Yen Press

In addition to a couple of new manga-style adaptations (Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters: Infinity), Yen Press made a splash with these license announcements.

Alice in the Country of Hearts – In another valiant license rescue, Yen Press picks up this popular series, to be released in quick succession. From Yen’s official announcement: “Take heart, Alice fans! Yen Press will be releasing the COMPLETE Alice in the Country of Hearts series in June 2012 as three omnibus editions each collecting two volumes of the original series!”

Puella Magi Madoka Magica – “Madoka had always thought magic was the stuff of her dreams…until she encounters an unreal cat-being at her totally normal school! The cat offers her a choice — Will Madoka become a Puella Magi in exchange for her dearest desire?”

Until Death Do Us Part – “Haruka is a young girl with precognitive abilities that allow her to predict the future with incredible accuracy. Unfortunately, these powers have made her a target for greedy corporations. Haruka uses her power to seek the one who can offer her protection, singling out Mamoru Hijikata, a blind man whose inability to see belies his skill with a sword!”

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan – “This spin-off takes place in the world of the “Disappearance” arc of the Haruhi Suzumiya novels, focusing on the high school life (and romance!) of a tentative and bashful Yuki Nagato quite unlike the one you’ve come to know and love through the usual exploits of the SOS Brigade…but no less charming!”

Soul Eater Not – Though this Soul Eater side-story might seem like a no-brainer for Yen, the real meat of this announcement is in its distribution. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Soul Eater Not will be serialized digitally in Yen Plus, but released simultaneously with chapters in Japan. Serialization begins in this month’s edition, and access is available worldwide.