manga the week of

SEAN: It’s the end of May, and the schedule is still not back to normal, but we soldier on regardless.

ASH: Bring on the manga!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Parallel Paradise 2 (digitally) and Yokai Girls 10 (in print).

I’m starting to give up on predicting when Kodansha’s “digital early” releases of their print books will come out. Theoretically we’ll see Cells At Work: Code BLACK 5 and Yuzu the Pet Vet 2.

That said, actually coming out in print are the first two volumes of Wave, Listen to Me!. Now with a polarizing anime!

MICHELLE: Yay!

ANNA: I want to check this out.

ASH: I’m thrilled this is being released in print!

MELINDA: Definitely ready to give this a look!

SEAN: Digital-only volumes are out for Altair: A Record of Battles 18, DAYS 18, I Fell in Love After School 4, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 6.

MICHELLE: I’ve enjoyed I Fell in Love After School thus far. And of course I am here for DAYS.

SEAN: One Peace has the 2nd volume of The New Gate.

Seven Seas have three debuts, all digital-first. Makeup is Not (Just) Magic: A Manga Guide to Cosmetics and Skin Care (Make wa Tada no Mahou Janai no Beginners) is actually a josei title from Kiss, and sounds like one of those “The Manga Guide To Quantum Mechanics” style books. A young woman learns about makeup through her glamorous friend. It’s done in one, though there is an (unlicensed) sequel that came out this year in Japan.

ANNA: I am intrigued by skin care manga.

ASH: I’ll admit, I am, too.

SEAN: My Senpai Is Annoying (Senpai ga Urusai Kouhai no Hanashi) is a comedic romance that runs on Ichijinsha’s Comic Pool site. It’s the same magazine that has Wotakoi. Let’s hope it is as good as Wotakoi: the premise of “huge guy with his tiny office coworker who looks like a child” starts with a strike against it. (He’s the annoying one.)

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: And the first PENGUINDRUM light novel is out digitally. Yes, I know I said it was back in March. It got bumped.

ASH: Will be waiting for this one to be released in print, personally.

SEAN: Also out (digitally) are Adachi and Shimamura’s 2nd light novel, A Certain Scientific Railgun 15, and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 9.

Vertical has a 4th Bakemonogatari manga out digitally, which should start the Suruga Monkey arc.

And now Yen Press, who nostalgically are releasing everything on the same week. This month is smaller than usual for them, though. And these ARE print (and mostly digital too).

ASH: Ah, remember the days?

SEAN: Yen On debuts – finally, it was originally scheduled for August 2019 – A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga. From the creator of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and You Call That Service?, this light novel seeks to answer the question “do casuals know enough about the Sengoku Period to know what this is talking about?”. It helps that the fantasy world this kid lives in doesn’t know either – when he gets “Oda Nobunaga” as his chosen calling, no one has any clue what it is. This could be a disaster, but it’s only 3 volumes long, so…

Also out from Yen On is The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 3, The Asterisk War 13, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 11, Strike the Blood 15, and Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 2.

Yen Press has no new debuts, but they are putting out the first Collector’s Edition of Nightschool, the OEL series from Svetlana Chmakova.

MICHELLE: I had this idea that Chmakova was going to continue Nightschool at some point, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. Perhaps this rerelease is to remind people about the series and gauge interest? I certainly would read more!

ASH: It’s been a while, but I do recall liking Nightschook.

MELINDA: I would read more Nightschool!

SEAN: Hey, remember when I said that The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan 11 was the final volume? Back in 2017? Possibly as it had the word ‘FINAL’ on its cover? Guess what, folks, the real final volume is out next week. You can tell it’s really finally final as they’re running away while waving to the reader on the cover.

ASH: Ha!

MELINDA: Huh.

SEAN: We also get Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 9 (manga version), Happy Sugar Life 5, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 2 (manga version), Kakugurui Twin 6, Karneval 10, the 6th and final volume of Nyankees, Overlord’s 12th manga volume, Trinity Seven 20, and the 2nd Woof Woof Story manga volume.

What manga are you reading instead of going to a parade?

SEAN: STILL no sign of land. How long is it?

Cross Infinite World has seen which way the trends are blowing and is here for you with The Weakest Manga Villainess Wants Her Freedom!. A light novel about a girl who discovers she’s been reincarnated into her favorite game as the weakest boss villain who dies early and everyone mocks after her death. Yeah, she’s not sticking around for that. She’s outta here! If you can’t wait for more Bakarina or I Refuse to Be Your Enemy, this should tide you over.

ASH: Definitely on trend there, but it sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight 2 in print.

J-Novel Club has three novels: Banner of the Stars 3, Bibliophile Princess 2, and Campfire Cooking in Another World 6.

Kodansha’s website says we’re getting digital-first versions of Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 4, Knight of the Ice 2 (postponed from this week), Saiyuki 2, The Seven Deadly Sins 38, and Something’s Wrong With Us 2. I’m assuming they will hit other retail sites soon.

MICHELLE: Hm. I’m looking forward to more of Something’s Wrong with Us!

SEAN: Digital-only titles do seem to be up on other retail sites. There’s Cosplay Animal 12, Dolly Kill Kill 2, GE: Good Ending 5, I’ll Win You Over, Senpai! 4, Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition 3, Space Brothers 36, That Blue Summer 5, and Yozakura Quartet 26.

MICHELLE: I am really enjoying I’ll Win You Over, Senpai!, somewhat to my surprise.

SEAN: One Peace says that it has The Reprise of the Spear Hero’s 2nd manga volume out next week. As with other small publishers in these COVID times, actual shipment dates may vary.

Seven Seas has early digital releases for A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy 3, New Game! 9, and Species Domain 8.

Vertical’s digital releases are now part of Kodansha’s, so I missed that CITY 8 came out digitally this week. By that logic, we should see Please Don’t Bully Me, Miss Nagotoro 3 next week.

Viz has the debut of the week, and it’s a big one. Ping Pong is an old series from Taiyo Matsumoto that ran in Big Comic Spirits back in the 1990s, and Viz is releasing it in two 500-page tomes. If you liked Sunny, or Tekkon Kinkreet, or what little we got of Number Five, you have to check this out. And yes, it really is about ping pong, it’s not a metaphor or something.

MICHELLE: I am so here for this.

ANNA: Me too, that sounds amazing.

ASH: Yes! I have been pining for a release of this series ever since Matsumoto was at TCAF back in 2013. I am so happy to finally get my hands on this.

MELINDA: I love that you had to explain that, though. “It really is about ping pong.”

SEAN: The other debut is The Kingdom of the Gods, which inspired a Netflix series called Kingdom. It’s a manwha, seems to be complete in one volume, and has a cover that looks terrifying.

ASH: I’ll be checking this one out! I’ve heard great things about the adaptation, so I’m curious about the original.

MELINDA: I’m always interested in manwha.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Beastars 6, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku 2, Levius/est 4, No Guns Life 5, Ran and the Gray World 7 (the final volume), Urusei Yatsura omnibus 6, and The Way of the Househusband 3.

MICHELLE: Some good stuff here! I really need to catch up on BEASTARS.

ASH: It’s gone in some directions that I really didn’t expect, but I’ve certainly been enjoying the series. I liked the first volume of Hell’s Paradise, too, and I’m looking forward to more of The Way of the Househusband, as well!

SEAN: Are you planning to eat your manga? Or just read it?

SEAN: Mid-May (Mother’s Day) and we’re feeling the loss of many books, though there’s still enough coming out that people should be kept busy.

ASH: Indeed! It certainly feels odd not going to TCAF this year, but I’ve still found plenty to read.

SEAN: We start with J-Novel Club, which has the 4th Ascendance of a Bookworm manga, Cooking with Wild Game 7, and Outer Ragna 2.

ASH: I’ve heard so many good things about Ascendance of a Bookworm; I really need to move it closer to the top of my to-be-read pile.

Newbie publisher Kaiten Books has its second release, which is Shed that Skin, Ryugasaki-san! (Mukasete! Ryugasaki-san), which is NOT based on a light novel but is in Overlap’s Comic Gardo anyway. It’s the sweet story of a lizard-like girl and a boy who really loves lizards. Can they find love?

Catching up on things I missed: Kodansha now has the rights to Loveless, presumably through their partnership with Ichijinsha, and has released all 13 volumes digitally as of last week.

Also out already from Kodansha via their partnership with Comixology is Drops of God Vols. 12-22.

In the “would have been print but isn’t yet” Kodansha titles, we find Beyond the Clouds 2 and Knight of the Ice 2.

MICHELLE: Knight of the Ice is so much fun.

ASH: I really liked the first volume!

ANNA: Me too, I’m looking forward to collecting this in print.

SEAN: On the actual digital front, we have Ace of the Diamond 26, The Dorm of Love and Secrets 4 (a final volume), Giant Killing 20, The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon! 2, and Tokyo Revengers 15.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading 60% of these!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts (digital, of course). The first is the Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear manga, based on the light novel we talked about a week ago. It runs in Shufu to Seikatsusha’s Comic Pash!, which is not a magazine I get to mention here very often.

More relevant to the Manga Bookshelf crowd is Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu, a single volume BL manga from Gentosha’s RUTILE. From what I can tell, this is the prequel to the Sarazanmai anime/light novel series, which is from the pen of Kunihiko Ikuhara and whose light novel version Seven Seas is releasing later this year. Um, they’re cops, they’re lovers, they adopt a kid, there’s weird supernatural shit? Sounds like Ikuhara, all right.

MICHELLE: Hmm.

ASH: I’ll be reading this at some point.

MELINDA: Count me in on this.

SEAN: Also out next week: Classroom of the Elite 5 has a early digital release. There’s also Dungeon Builder: Demon King’s Labyrinth Is a Modern City 2, Magical Girl Site 12, and the 11th and final volume of Masamune-kun’s Revenge.

Square Enix has one digital release: The manga version of Wandering Witch, whose light novel is coming out from Yen On. This manga version is from Gangan Online. For fans of Kino’s Journey.

ASH: I do like Kino’s Journey…

MELINDA: Ohhhhh, I also love Kino. Hm.

SEAN: SuBLime has a 2nd volume of Given and the 3rd Yarichin Bitch Club.

MICHELLE: Yay, Given!

ASH: Yes! Looking forward to reading more.

ANNA: Looking forward to more Given!

MELINDA: Oh, no! I’mm behind!

SEAN: Finally, we have Viz. No debuts, but we get A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 3, Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 9, Radiant 11, RIN-NE 33, Splatoon 9, Transformers: the Manga 2, and Yo-Kai Watch 14. (Yes, I know. I always forget Yo-Kai Watch exists.)

ASH: I’ve been enjoying A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow quite a bit so far.

SEAN: Some interesting things. Are you buying any manga for your mom?

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

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

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

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

MELINDA: I might consider this.

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

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

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

ASH: Why is it avoiding 15??

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

ASH: To Your Eternity is such a good series.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: I will definitely give it a shot!

ANNA: I’m curious about this one.

ASH: Same.

MELINDA: Cautiously interested.

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

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

ANNA: I’m reading all of these too!

MELINDA: I’m so far behind on everything!

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

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

MICHELLE: Volleyboys!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MELINDA: Huh.

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

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

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

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

MELINDA: SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Hi.

SEAN: Vertical has To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 10.

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

ASH: Ha!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNA: Also looking forward to this.

MELINDA: What everyone else said.

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

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

ANNA: I keep meaning to read Drifting Dragons.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manga! Get it while it lasts!

SEAN: Yes, there’s still manga. May is the apocalypse, April is packed.

Ghost Ship gives us a 2nd Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight and the 10th Yokai Girls.

No debuts, for once, for J-Novel Club, but we do get Ascendance of a Bookworm 6, The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 5, Isekai Rebuilding Project 2, Kobold King 2, and Der Werwolf 7.

Kodansha’s print debut is Perfect World, which had a digital release a while back. I enjoyed the first volume, but never did follow up on it. I should do that.

MICHELLE: Same here. It’s a tough series to marathon. Keeping pace with the print release should be easier than catching up on all the extant digital volumes.

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this one to come out in print!

SEAN: Also in print: Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 4, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card 7, Fire Force 18, and Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 8.

ASH: The collector’s edition of Cardcaptor Sakura is pretty.

MELINDA: I haven’t been picking up the new edition, but it’s sooooo tempting. It’s such a pretty manga. And Dark Horse’s mid-release shift in trim sizes damaged the prettiness of the last edition for me. (Yes, I still have not forgiven them for that.)

SEAN: The digital debut is Dolly Kill Kill, which ran on the Mangabox App back in the day. A young man’s life is destroyed by monsters that look like mascot costumes. Can he get back what he lost? For fans of weird horror.

There’s also GE: Good Ending 4, I’ll Win You Over Sempai! 3, Kakushigoto 2, The Quintessential Quintuplets 12, Saint Young Men 5, and Shojo FIGHT! 10.

MICHELLE: I have no idea how I got four volumes behind on Shojo FIGHT!, but it has somehow happened! Not that I mind having a decent chunk to devout at once.

SEAN: Seven Seas has the 2nd Bloom Into You light novel (digitally), The Ideal Sponger Life 5, If It’s for My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord 5 (manga version), My Monster Secret 20, and Shomin Sample 12.

Vertical has an 8th Flying Witch, a highly underrated series.

Viz has two debuts. The Art of Junji Ito is what it sounds like, and will probably not give TOO many nightmares.

ASH: Always glad to see more of Ito’s work released!

MELINDA: Same!

SEAN: The other debut is Blue Flag, a title with SO much buzz and hype I worry it can’t live up to it. A Shonen Jump + series, it is apparently about sweet, painful and heartrending days.

MICHELLE: I am soooooo excited for this.

ASH: Same!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Golden Kamuy 15, Tokyo Ghoul: re 16, and Ultraman 13.

ASH: Here for Golden Kamuy (though I’ve enjoyed some of the earlier volumes more than some of the later ones).

ANNA: Golden Kamuy is one of those series I keep meaning to read but there is so much manga!

SEAN: Yen On split its main April release schedule across two weeks: this is the first. We get Accel World 21, Baccano! 13, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 3, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 3, and Sword Art Online 19.

The manga debut has a light novel coming out in June. I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet (S-Rank Monster no Behemoth Dakedo, Neko to Machigawarete Erufu Musume no Kishi (Pet) Toshite Kurashitemasu) is one of THOSE series. A reincarnated as a powerful beast series, with added elf, this runs in Hakusensha’s Young Animal, so expect boobs.

MELINDA: I know every publisher has a niche, but Yen Press… I’m begging for more stuff like Silver Spoon. With a few exceptions, I’ll admit they’ve kind of lost me as a reader. Our tastes just don’t line up anymore.

MICHELLE: I’m still in it for Nozaki-kun and Yowamushi Pedal, but I’m close to being in the same boat. I’m boat-adjacent. I also miss manhwa.

MELINDA: Me too, Michelle, ME TOO.

SEAN: I have good news for you about the week after next, then, Melinda…

MELINDA: YESSSSSSSS.

SEAN: The rest? A Certain Magical Index’s 21st manga volume, Chio’s School Road 8, Gabriel Dropout 8, Kaiju Girl Caramelize 3, Plunderer 4, Reborn as a Polar Bear 3, Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro Side Story (yay!), Teasing Master Takagi-san 8 (also yay!), Val x Love 8, and A Witch’s Printing Office 2.

ASH: I finally picked up the first volume of A Witch’s Printing Office… I should probably get around to actually reading it.

SEAN: What manga cries out… for JUSTICE?

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

ASH: I appreciate some normalcy, these days.

MELINDA: God, same.

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

ASH: That sounds like it could be fun.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ASH: This one seems more up my alley.

ANNA: Sounds interesting!

MELINDA: Sign me up!

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

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

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

MELINDA: I’d consider myself cautiously interested.

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

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

MELINDA: I’m… maybe there for the rabbits?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MICHELLE: I won’t.

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

ANNA: No thank you!

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

SEAN: Anything tickling your fancy?

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

ASH: That’s good to know!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also debuting is a manga version of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNA: I am also intrigued.

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

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

ANNA: Too much!

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

MICHELLE: It does, but it could be fun!

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

ANNA: OK, this sounds funny.

MELINDA: I… am not sure.

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

Tokyopop releases an 8th volume of Konohana Kitan.

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

MICHELLE: I will definitely be checking this out.

ASH: Same!

MELINDA: I’m here for it!

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

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

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

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

ANNA: This is a week for me!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MELINDA: This sounds great!

ANNA: I agree!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEAN: What manga is raising your spirits?

SEAN: It’s getting near the end of March. Are you getting some manga delivered to you?

Dark Horse debuts the Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair manga, which I believe tells the story from the POV of the actual lead this time, as opposed to the semi-antagonist.

J-Novel Club continues its rollout of shoujo light novels with The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap (Fukushuu wo Chikatta Shironeko wa Ryuuou no Hiza no Ue de Damin wo Musaboru), another series from the Arianrose label. A young girl ends up in another world, abandoned by her “friend”, trapped on a dangerous land, and turned into a white cat. But does she let that get her down? Hell no!

ASH: It make me happy to see more shoujo novels being translated.

SEAN: They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm’s third manga volume, and Outbreak Company 13.

Kodansha’s print debut is Yuzu the Pet Vet (Yuzu no Dobutsu Karte), a Nakayoshi series about an 11-year-old who lives at her uncle’s pet hospital. She’s scared of animals, but wants to help out. Can she slowly come to love them? This looks, pardon me, goddamn adorable.

MICHELLE: It does. I wonder if it’ll be a little too cutesy for me, but I will definitely be checking it out.

ASH: I plan on giving it a look, too!

ANNA: It does sound cute!

MELINDA: Oh!

SEAN: Also out in print is Cells at Work: Code BLACK 4, If I Could Reach You 4, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 2, and The Seven Deadly Sins 37.

MICHELLE: I liked the first volume of Living-Room Matsunaga-san. I’m glad it’s getting a print release.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give it a try.

SEAN: The digital debut is Star⇄Crossed!! (Oshi ga Watashi de Watashi ga Oshi de), which is from the creator of Kiss Him, Not Me! and looks to be about as bananas as that one was. It runs in Betsufure, begins with the hero and heroine dying, and features bodyswaps via kissing.

MICHELLE: I am so down for this. I hope it doesn’t involve ludicrous, spontaneous weight loss as a plot point.

ANNA: That sounds hilarious.

MELINDA: I’m so ready for this.

SEAN: Other digital titles next week: Altair: A Record of Battles 16, Boarding School Juliet 15, DAYS 17, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 19, I Fell in Love After School 2, Vampire Dormitory 3, and Watari-kun’s ******* Is About to Collapse 4.

MICHELLE: I really need to read Elegant Yokai Apartment Life.

SEAN: Seven Seas has three debuts. The Conditions of Paradise is a short-story collection from celebrated yuri artist Akiko Morishima. The stories ran in Comic Yuri Hime.

ASH: I’m curious about this one.

MELINDA: I am, too!

SEAN: Cosmo Familia is by the artist of the Madoka Magica manga, and appears to appeal to that demographic, but replaces magical girls with alien invaders. This one runs in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward.

We’ve already seen the PENGUINDRUM manga, and the PENGIUNDRUM anime, now enjoy the first light novel volume as well. This is an early digital release.

ASH: I’m sure I’ll get around to reading this once it’s available in print.

SEAN: They’ve also got Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average?! 8 (print) and 9 (digital), Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 12 (print), Machimaho 5, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 3, and the 3rd Skeleton Knight in Another World manga.

Square Enix gives us a manga version of a light novel Yen On is releasing, Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town. The novel was a lot of fun. The manga runs in Gangan Online.

ASH: It does sound like it would be fun.

MELINDA: It does!

SEAN: Vertical has a 14th volume of Devils’ Line.

Yen On has three titles. A Certain Magical Index 22 is the final volume of the first Index series… is it the end of the Index novels in North America as well? There’s also Do You Love Your Mom? 5 and You Call That Service? 2.

And Yen Press has a pile of manga, though no debuts. Instead we get Bungo Stray Dogs 14, Cocoon Entwined 2, Hatsu*Haru 11, Kiniro Mosaic 10, KonoSuba’s 10th manga volume, Laid-Back Camp 10, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected’s 13th manga volume, Smokin’ Parade 7, So I’m a Spider, So What?’s 7th manga volume, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 2, and Triage X 19.

MICHELLE: The first volume of Cocoon Entwined was atmospheric and intriguing, and I very much look forward to more!

ASH: I just recently read the first volume of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun and kind of loved it, so I’ll definitely be picking up the second.

SEAN: Does any of this ring your chimes?

SEAN: It’s the week of St. Patrick’s Day, and yet the amount of Irish manga is thin on the ground.

Dark Horse has Mob Psycho 100 4, which I remain convinced must be 2000% better animated.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the manga, but it sounds like I should check out the anime, too!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts. Bibliophile Princess (Mushikaburi-hime) is from Ichijinsha’s Iris Bunko line, and features a princess who spots her betrothed with another man, confirming the rumors she’s heard. But this is just the start of a VAST CONSPIRACY! I’ve heard good things about this.

ASH: That does sound like it could be good.

SEAN: The other debut is also a shoujo light novel, from Frontier Works’ ArianRose label. Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! (Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumei Shite Kudasai!) has our poor noble heroine signing a marriage contract to a rich noble man to save her family. Now she’s forced to level up in being a high-class fiancee. I’ve heard less good things about this, but will absolutely give it a shot.

They also have Arifureta Short Stories, which is what it says, and the long-awaited 9th volume of The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!.

Kodansha’s print debut is Something’s Wrong with Us (Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru), a josei series from Natsumi Ando, best known as the creator of Kitchen Princess. This runs in Be Love, though, so the audience is much older. A young woman is on a quest to become a sweets maker, but the owner of the company she starts with is the childhood friend who framed her mother for murder 15 years earlier. Um… well, that went somewhere unexpected.

MICHELLE: This creator also did Arisa, which might be seen as a sort of bridge between the two series you mentioned, since it did at least have some mystery elements. I’ll definitely check out Ando doing josei!

ASH: Me, too! Ando’s work always seems to have some unexpected turns (for better and worse), but I’ve enjoyed the creator’s past manga.

ANNA: Huh, I’m curious about this for sure.

MELINDA: Okay, wow. I’m in.

SEAN: Also in print: I’m Standing on a Million Lives 6, the 2nd Saint Young Men hardcover, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 12, and Witch Hat Atelier 5, which is the one Manga Bookshelf cares about.

MICHELLE: I really must get caught up on this.

ASH: I also care about Saint Young Men, but Witch Hat Atelier is just SO GOOD.

ANNA: It really is, I am stoked for a new volume of Witch Hat Atelier

SEAN: Digitally the debut is Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, from the creator of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei (of which Kodansha put out 14 of 30 volumes. Not that I’m bitter.), a story about a writer of a very popular but very raunchy manga series… which he absolutely does not want his young impressionable daughter finding out about at all. This runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, and looks to be more realistic than either Zetsubou or Katteni Kaizo.

ASH: I’m intrigued (and hope it might get a print release at some point so I will actually read it).

MELINDA: I’m intrigued… but cautiously?

SEAN: Also out digitally: Cosplay Animal 11, Defying Kurosaki-kun 15, GE: Good Ending 3, I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! 2, MabuSasa 3, and My Boy in Blue 15.

One Peace gives us a 15th volume of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Fans of the series will be desperate for more of the main cast after their non-appearance in most of Isekai Quartet 2. Not that I’m smug.

No debuts from Seven Seas, but fear not, there is The Girl from the Other Side 8, New Game! 8, Saint Seiya Saintia Sho 9, and Wonderland 5.

MICHELLE: Yay for The Girl from the Other Side!

ASH: Yes, indeed!!

ANNA: Some good stuff coming out this week. I need to get caught up.

SEAN: Tokyopop has a debut with The Fox and the Little Tanuki (Kori Senman), a Mag Garden title from Comic Avarus, which stars a fox spirit who’s an ex-con! Out of God Jail, he has to prove he’s reformed by babysitting a tanuki. This looks cute.

And Tokyopop also has a 2nd Still Sick.

Vertical has Ajin 14.

Viz debuts Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, a Shonen Jump + title that’s been on the SJ app and has an unbelievable amount of buzz. It’s set in Edo Japan, and features a ninja assassin and an executioner searching for the secret of immortality.

MICHELLE: I will probably check this out.

ASH: Same.

ANNA: Me too.

MELINDA: Agreed.

SEAN: Also out from Viz: 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 7, BEASTARS 5, Levius/Est 3, and No Guns Life 4. Damn, Viz is grim this week.

ASH: I’ve already read all of 20th Century Boys, but I’ll be ready for more BEASTARS soon.

SEAN: Yen On gives us the 5th volume of The Isolator.

And on the manga end, there’s Delicious in Dungeon 8 (yay!) and Shibuya Goldfish 7 (ergh…).

ASH: I love Delicious in Dungeon so much.

SEAN: What manga is in your pot of gold?

SEAN: A sizable, but not overpowering, list this week.

A sole offering from J-Novel Club: The 2nd volume of the manga for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

Kodansha’s print debut is Knight of the Ice (Ginban Kishi), a josei series from Kiss about a writer whose childhood friend is not only a famous figure skater, but also a hopeless nerd dependent on her. It looks quite fun. The author has another josei series, Kiss & Never Cry, that has long been on my “when I can pay a publisher large amounts of money to license something just for me” list. This is actually a side story connected to that, but stands on its own.

MICHELLE: I am very excited for this! This is also the mangaka of Tramps Like Us/Kimi wa Pet.

ANNA: Me too, I’ve had this preordered as soon as I knew about it, happy for more Ogawa.

ASH: Same! Tramps Like Us was terrific, so I’ve really been looking forward to this series.

MELINDA: This sounds so good! Here for it.

SEAN: Also out in print is Noragami: Stray God 21 and The Quintessential Quintuplets 8.

ASH: Oh, it’s been a while since the last Noragami volume.

SEAN: Digitally we get My Roomie Is a Dino (Gyaru and Dinosaur), a Young Magazine series whose Japanese title probably sums it up better than the English.

And there is Cells at Work and Friends 2, The Dorm of Love and Secrets 2, Farewell My Dear Cramer 8, Giant Killing 19, and Tokyo Revengers 14.

Seven Seas makes up for last week’s absence with a bunch of things. Including several debuts, starting with GIGANT, from the creator of Gantz. It seems to be about a porn star who can grow to the size of a giant, and therefore has a very strong, if very specific, appeal to fans of that nature. It runs in Big Comic Superior.

The early digital light novel debut is The Invincible Shovel (Scoop Musou), about a man, his shovel, and a quest to save the kingdom. I’ve heard this is very funny.

The King of Fighters: A New Beginning has Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui and King giving up on fighting and starting a dance academy… OK, no, it’s a fighting manga.

ASH: Now I really want to read about a martial dance academy…

MELINDA: Same.

SEAN: My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s is a new manga based on an (unlicensed) light novel, and is basically Arifureta smooshed together with The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo.

Also from Seven Seas is Arifureta: I Heart Isekai 2, Gal Gohan 2, I Had the Same Dream Again digitally (yes, I already talked about it, they moved it), Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA 2 (in print), the 2nd PENGUINDRUM manga, and the 5th volume, digitally, of Reincarnated As a Sword.

Square Enix has a debut, and BL fans should be happy. Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (30-sai Made Doutei da to Mahou Tsukai ni Nareru Rashii) is about a man who can read people’s minds by touching them… only to find that his colleague has a huge crush on him! It’s a Gangan Pixiv title.

MICHELLE: That title tho…

ASH: It is quite a title, isn’t it?

MELINDA: This vaguely reminds me of a series I worked on way back during my DMG experiment, Your Gentle Hand, but more fun?

SEAN: SuBLime also has a debut, Caste Heaven, a dark psychological BL story. Looks a bit too dark for the MB crowd, but who knows? It runs in Magazine Be x Boy, a sentence I don’t think I’ve typed out since I was doing these lists on Livejournal.

MICHELLE: I actually appreciate psychological BL sometimes, so I intend to check this out.

ASH: I probably will, too, at some point.

MELINDA: I’ll tread cautiously, but maybe?

SEAN: Vertical has The Golden Sheep 3.

MICHELLE: This is the final volume.

ANNA: I need to read the whole thing.

SEAN: Viz has (last I checked) Transformers: The Manga, for all fans of 80s robot shows.

And also Radiant 10, Record of Grancest War 6, and RIN-NE 32.

And two titles from Yen. On the light novel side we’ve got Magical Girl Raising Project 8, still building up magical girls and knocking them down.

And last, but certainly not least, it’s an 11th volume of Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun!

MICHELLE: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

ASH: Yes!!! Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is the best!!!

MELINDA: Nice to see this still going.

SEAN: A lot of debuts this week. Any of them interest you?

SEAN: March is coming in like a lion, unless you mean March Comes in Like a Lion the manga, that’s still unlicensed. But what else do we have?

MICHELLE: I really want that manga!

SEAN: Denpa Books debuts a new series, Pleasure and Corruption (Tsumi to Kai). This is a Square Enix title from Young Gangan, and seems to be more on the “Fakku” end of the Denpa scale rather than the “Vertical” end, if you know what I mean.

ASH: Wink, wink; nudge, nudge.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some new print releases. Crest of the Stars Books 1-3 get a deluxe hardcover release, recommended for all space opera fans.

ASH: Oooh, I might have to check that out now that it’s (back) in print.

SEAN: There’s also An Archdemon’s Dilemma 4, Infinite Dendrogram 5, and Marginal Operation (manga) 2.

On the digital side, they debut the Demon Lord, Retry! manga, based on the light novels that they are also releasing. They’ve also got Campfire Cooking in Another World 5, The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 4, and the third A Very Fairy Apartment manga.

Kodansha has… no print releases. But there is a digital debut, A Condition Called Love (Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai). It’s a Dessert title, about a girl who ends up going out with a popular guy after his messy breakup with someone else. But is she just a rebound, or something more?

MICHELLE: This is by Megumi Morino, whose Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty I liked a lot, so I’m expecting good things.

ASH: I liked that one, too.

ANNA: Sounds interesting.

MELINDA: Oh, count me as interested.

SEAN: There’s also All-Rounder Meguru 13, Blissful Land 5, Smile Down the Runway 7, and To Be Next To You 3.

Seven Seas… also has nothing. What an odd week.

ASH: That does feel strange!

SEAN: Tokyopop is giving us Aria: The Masterpiece 5. This should be the first of the re-releases with new to English material.

Vertical has the 3rd Bakemonogatari manga, still in the midst of Mayoi’s first arc.

Fortunately, Viz still has a ton of stuff to pad out this list. The debut is Love Me, Love Me Not (Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare), a Betsuma title that is the latest from Io Sakisaka, the creator of Ao Haru Ride and Strobe Edge. It’s an award-winner. Plot? High school kids in love, of course.

MICHELLE: Of course. Still, I am here for it.

ANNA: Me too, not surprisingly.

MELINDA: Same!

SEAN: Also out on the shoujo side, we have Daytime Shooting Star 5, The Demon Prince of Momochi House 15, Snow White with the Red Hair 6, and Vampire Knight: Memories 4.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading 75% of those!

ASH: Haha, same!

ANNA: YES!

MELINDA: I’m behind on the ones I’m reading, but I need to catch up!

SEAN: The shonen end is more loaded up. The debut is Samurai 8, the new manga from the creator of Naruto (though someone else is doing the art this time). First ninjas, now samurai.

We see… wait, is that D.Gray-Man 26? I think it’s been years since the last volume of this!

ASH: It has been awhile, hasn’t it?

SEAN: And we have Black Clover 20, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 11, Dr. STONE 10, Dragon Ball Super 8, Haikyu!! 37, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 13, My Hero Academia: School Briefs 4, One-Punch Man 19, and The Promised Neverland 14.

MICHELLE: A buncha good stuff here! Last I looked, there was only a nine-chapter gap remaining in Haikyu!! chapters in VIZ’s Shonen Jump vault between collected volumes and magazine issues. Perhaps volume 37 will eradicate the gap entirely!

ASH: It very well may!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has one lone straggler due out next week… and it’s a debut! A debut with a title that is… well, eye-catching, if nothing else. After School Bitchcraft (Houkago Bitch Craft) comes from my nemesis, Comic Alive, and is about a teacher who secretly practices witchcraft at school, and the student who can walk through all his defenses. It seems like one of those “for people who like boobs” titles.

MICHELLE: :\

MELINDA: What Michelle said.

SEAN: For those who can take or leave boobs, what are you getting this week?

SEAN: It’s the end of February at last, and we celebrate with a huge pile of stuff. Are you ready?

ASH: Always!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a 2nd volume of light novel The Eccentric Master and the Fake Lover.

Dark Horse has a 4th deluxe hardcover for Berserk.

ASH: The hardcover edition really is impressive — I’m slowly replacing my paperback copies.

SEAN: A couple of Volume 2s from Ghost Ship: Destiny Lovers 2 and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 2.

J-Novel Club has another shoujo light novel out next week: Tearmoon Empire (Tearmoon Teikoku Monogatari). This is from TO Books, and stars a selfish princess who is about to be guillotined by an angry populace when suddenly she wakes up in the past! It’s time to change the future so she doesn’t die! But… that’s so much hard work… can’t she just get others to do it for her? This seems like fun.

ASH: I appreciate this foray into shoujo fantasy works.

SEAN: There’s also a 9th Lazy Dungeon Master and a 3rd Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!.

Kodansha has three debuts, two print and one digital. The print is Sweat and Soap (Ase to Sekken), a seinen title from Weekly Morning. A woman who works in a toiletry company is ashamed of the way she smells, and very grateful for her company’s products. Then she meets the company’s lead brand developer, who is fascinated by her natural scent. Romance ensues. Despite sounding like it does for sweat what Mysterious Girlfriend X did for drool, I’ll give this a try.

ASH: I’m cautious, but intrigued?

MELINDA: This could either be amazing… or really not.

SEAN: The other debut is a license rescue, coming out in deluxe omnibuses: Saiyuki! And yes, this is the original 1990s Saiyuki, not any of the modern remixes and spinoffs. A GFantasy title, it originally came out via Tokyopop. Now Kodansha is re-releasing it. Hope you like journeys to the west.

MICHELLE: I read a little of this ten years ago but never continued, so I’m looking forward to having another chance.

ANNA: I love journeys to the west! I have the old volumes but I’m seriously considering double dipping and I almost never double dip.

ASH: Nice to see this series back in print!

MELINDA: I’m so happy to see this again! It won’t get me over my eternal longing for Wild Adapter, but I’ll take it.

SEAN: Kodansha also has, in print, In/Spectre 11, Land of the Lustrous 10, and Magus of the Library 3.

ASH: I’ve fallen behind and need to catch up with In/Spectre, but I’m definitely ready for more of Land of the Lustrous and Magus of the Library!

SEAN: Digitally the debut is I Fell in Love After School (Houkago, Koishita), another Dessert title. A shy girl who lacks presence and a volleyball club she’s managing. This looks very fluffy.

ANNA: Aww, this sounds cute if only I were capable of keeping up on all these digital releases.

SEAN: Also out digitally next week: Altair: A Record of Battles 15, Drowning Love 17, Guilty 5, Hotaru’s Way 12, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 13, and Watari’s ******* Is About to Collapse 3.

KUMA has a one-volume title called Can an Otaku Like Me really Be an Idol? (Doruota no Bokudesuga Shinken ni Aidoru Mezashimasu!?). It’s a BL title about cross-dressing idols, and ran in Takeshobo’s Qpa. It was also on the Renta! site.

MICHELLE: My friend assures me it is very cute.

ASH: I’ve likewise heard good things.

SEAN: One Peace has a 7th Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas has a pile, as is becoming traditional for the last week of the month. There’s another ‘early digital’ novel release, again by the author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. This is I Had That Same Dream Again (Mata, Onaji Yume wo Miteita), and is another coming-of-age story.

We also get The Ancient Magus’ Bride 12, The Brave-Tuber 2, Classroom of the Elite’s 4th light novel (in print), How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 2, Mushoku Tensei’s 10th manga volume, Reincarnated As a Sword’s 4th light novel in print, Skeleton Knight in Another World 4 (print) and 5 (digital), and Ultra Kaiju Humanization Project 4.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more of The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ASH: Yes, indeed!

SEAN: Square Enix has the debut of Hi-Score Girl, a Big Gangan series with a quirky art style and a love of retro gaming. Two otherwise dissimilar kids share a bond over games.

ASH: I like quirky.

MELINDA: I’m up for whatever Square Enix throws at us, so count me in.

SEAN: Udon has the 3rd and final Stravaganza omnibus, as well as a 6th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

Vertical debuts Blood on the Tracks (Chi no Wadachi), another psychological drama from Shuzo Oshimi. This ran in Big Comic Superior, and is about a boy who realizes that his doting, over-affectionate mother may NOT be as normal as he’d though. If you’ve read Oshimi you know what to expect.

MICHELLE: Hm, potentially interesting.

ANNA: I’m gonna wait for a review, but I am also intrigued.

MELINDA: I’m with Anna on this.

SEAN: Yen On technically has a debut, but really it’s just more KH, as we get Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel 1.

They’ve also got Is It Wrong to try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Sword Oratoria 11, KonoSuba EXPLOSION! 2, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 9, Re: ZERO 12, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 6, and World’s Strongest Rearguard 2. Lots of heavy hitters in that lineup.

From the manga end, Yen debuts RaW Hero, which is from the creator of Prison School, and also appears to be for fans of Prison School. It runs in Kodansha’s Evening Magazine, and is about heroes, villains, and fetishes, not in that order.

ASH: That’s… the general impression that I’ve gotten, too.

SEAN: We also get Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 2 (manga), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 15 (manga), Goblin Slayer: Brand New Day 2 (manga), Happy Sugar Life 4 (also a manga, but not a light novel as well like those others), Kemono Friends a la Carte 2, Phantom Tales of the Night 3, and Trinity Seven 19.

ASH: Oh, Phantom Tales of the Night! If nothing else, it’s very pretty (and creepy); I’m interested in how the series continues to develop.

SEAN: A lot of, shall we say, saucy manga out next week. Are you getting any?

SEAN: February. I can’t believe we’re still in February.

ASH: It really does seem to be taking its time this year.

SEAN: Fantagraphics gives us the 2nd volume of Kago’s (has he dropped his first name?) Dementia 21, which promises to be disturbing in many and varied ways.

ASH: The first volume was pretty great, in true Kago fashion, so reader be warned.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has dabbled in shoujo light novels (Bakarina), but at Anime NYC they announced a big push to start a shoujo LN line. The first of those is out next week, I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! (Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen!). It’s from PASH! Books. The premise is quite similar to Bakarina: the heroine realizes that she’s the villain character in an RPG… but she’s not the villain till she gets married! When her future husband shows up, she decides to RUN AWAY!

MICHELLE: Sounds potentially fun.

ANNA: Running away from husbands is a good trope.

SEAN: J-Novel Club also have Banner of the Stars 2, Cooking with Wild Game 6, and The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 4.

In print next week, Kodansha gives us Drifting Dragons 3, Eden’s Zero 6, Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest 3, Gleipnir 6, and O Maidens in Your Savage Season 6. That’s more print than the last four weeks have had.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Drifting Dragons a try now that it’s available in print. I’m a volume or so behind, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season has been consistently excellent.

SEAN: The digital debut is I’ll Win You Over, Sempai! (Senpai! Ima Kara Kokurimasu!), a 5-volume shoujo series from Nakayoshi. A girl has lived a life when she’s always confessed successfully and never been dumped… till now. Still, she persists… because if she just keeps confessing over and over, eventually he’ll say yes! This seems like the sort of series that had better be very funny or it may be excruciating.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

SEAN: Also out digitally is GE: Good Ending 2, Living Room Matsunaga-san 7, Lovesick Ellie 10, MabuSasa 2, and Shojo FIGHT! 9.

MICHELLE: Yay for more Lovesick Ellie and Shojo FIGHT!.

ANNA: I need to get caught up.

SEAN: Seven Seas has four titles, all 2nd volumes. We get Arifureta ZERO’s 2nd manga volume, How to Train Your Devil 2, the 2nd (early digital) volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA, and Nicola Traveling Around the Demons’ World 2.

ASH: The first volume of Nicola Traveling Around the Demons’ World was an absolute delight! The second is high on my list to pick up.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us the done-in-one volume Dekoboku Sugar Days, another BL title from Gentosha, this one from LOVE xxx BOYS Pixiv. A boy who always had to be protected by our hero as a kid is now all grown up… and huge! Can there still be any protecting? What about a confession?

Vertical has the 7th Arakawa Under the Bridge and a 2nd Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.

Viz gives us Downfall, an Inio Asano title for those who think Dead Dead Demon is too light and cheery. It’s depressing, realistic, and no doubt excellent. It ran in Big Comic Superior.

MICHELLE: I’m sure it’s excellent, but I just can’t handle depressing these days.

ANNA: Me too, I’ll stick with the cheerfulness of Dead Dead Demon.

ASH: I’ll definitely be reading this, but will need to wait for the timing to be just right.

MELINDA: Wow.

SEAN: Also from Viz: The Drifting Classroom Perfect Edition 2, Golden Kamuy 14, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 13, Ran and the Gray World 6, Tokyo Ghoul: re 15, and, most importantly, Urusei Yatsura’s 5th omnibus.

ASH: Ooooh, I’ll be reading quite a few of those, too!

MELINDA: I still mourn what Ran and the Gray World was in its first volume.

SEAN: Yen On has a 10th volume of No Game No Life, the first to come out without any delays in ages. They’ve also got Log Horizon 1-11 out digitally, meaning every Yen On series is now available in both print and digital. Hooray!

As for Yen Press and the manga end, no debuts, but we do get Interspecies Reviewers 3, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Lyu 6, Kakegurui Twin 5, Overlord a La Carte 3, Re: ZERO Arc 3 Volume 10, The Royal Tutor 13, Silver Spoon 13…

MELINDA: Silver Spoooooooooooooooon!

ASH: Silver Spoon is a terrific series.

SEAN: …Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san 3, and Tales of Wedding Rings 8.

ASH: Looking forward to spending some more time with my Skull-Faced friend.

MELINDA: I’m here for Skull-Face.

SEAN: That’s quite a bit. Anything tickle your fancy?