manga the week of

SEAN: The end of April, and the daffodils are blooming. What manga do we have?

Airship gives us a print version of the 10th Mushoku Tensei novel and digital versions of The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 4 and PENGUINDRUM 3 (the final volume).

ASH: I still need to read PENGUINDRUM.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has new digital volumes, as we get Full Metal Panic! 11, The Great Cleric 2, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 15, and My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me 2.

In print… theoretically… Kodansha Manga has the 7th volume of My Boy, a former Vertical title. It’s nowhere on their website, but all the major outlets list it.

The digital debut is The Honey-blood Beauty & Her Vampire (Mitsugetsuhime to Vampire), a shoujo title from Palcy about a vampire and his charge, a girl whose blood tastes amazing. This comes with the usual “lead guy is pervert and sadist” warning that a lot of these shoujo titles do. I’m sure he will get better, it’s only 4 volumes.

MICHELLE: I’ll be passing on this one.

ANNA: Me too.

MELINDA: Ugh.

SEAN: There’s also Blue Lock 2, Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist- 4, A Girl & Her Guard Dog 3, Orient 11, We’re New at This 5, and Will It Be the World or Her? 4.

The big debut for Seven Seas is SUPER SENTAI: Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. This manga ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday in the mid-1970s, and almost every sentai series since owes a debt to it. You may recognize the author from Cyborg 009 or Kamen Rider. It’s in one big deluxe hardcover, containing the whole manga.

ANNA: Sounds cool, I’m glad that we’re getting more retro manga!

ASH: I really enjoyed what we got of Cyborg 009, and I’m likewise excited to see older titles being licensed!

MELINDA: Same here!

SEAN: The other debut also involves heroics, but in a more yuri way. Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit (Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san) is a Yuri Hime title about a villainess who can’t defeat her arch-nemesis… as she finally sees her face and is in love! Cast out of her villain society, she ends up moving in with the hero. I’ve heard very good things about this.

ASH: I’m not particularly interested in superheroics, but my curiosity is piqued.

MELINDA: I’m intrigued!

SEAN: Digitally we get Alice in the Country of Joker: The Nightmare Trilogy, which as you might guess is three volumes.

There’s also the 4th Arifureta Zero manga, Blue Giant Omnibus 3-4, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 14, PENGUINDRUM 4 (the manga this time), and Tamamo-chan’s a Fox! 2.

ANNA: I still have the fist volume of Blue Giant sitting on my bookshelf unread but I’m looking forward to reading it!

ASH: I actually have read the first omnibus and am definitely looking forward to reading more of Blue Giant.

SEAN: Tokyopop has three debuts. I Was Reincarnated as the Villainess in an Otome Game but the Boys Love Me Anyway! (Akuyaku Reijou Desu ga, Kouyaku Taishou no Yousu ga Ijou Sugiru) is from TO Books’ Corona Comics, is based on a light novel, and the plot you can probably guess. That said, it’s surprisingly serious-minded.

Laughing Under the Clouds (Donten ni Warau) is a new shoujo series from Mag Garden’s Comic Avarus. This historical tragedy has spawned many sequels, and deals with three brothers hired to bring criminals to a prison.

The last debut is Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide (Bokura no Chikyuu no Arukikata), another Mag Garden title about two men taking a vacation around the world before they marry each other. The vacation is the point of the manga.

MICHELLE: Huh. That might be interesting.

MELINDA: This does sound interesting.

SEAN: The debut for Viz is a new Junji Ito story collection, this one called Lovesickness. it’s a 400-page hardcover of more of the author’s scariest works.

ASH: I’m always here for Junji Ito manga.

MELINDA: Count me in!

SEAN: Also coming out: Asadora 2, the 3rd and final novel for Bleach: Can’t Fear Your Own World, Blue Flag 7, Golden Kamuy 21, and Ultraman 15.

ANNA: I need to get caught up on Blue Flag.

ASH: I just recently caught up on it myself; it’s good!

SEAN: Yen On has reprints of Haruhi Suzumiya 7 & 8, the third and final volume of A Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga, and Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 6.

Yen Press debuts Hana and the Shape of the World (Hana-chan to, Sekai no Katachi), a one-shot collection revolving around a young girl exploring her town. This ran in Comic Beam.

ASH: I’m expecting this one to be good – it was one of the jury selections from last year’s Japan Media Arts Festival.

MELINDA: This sounds lovely.

SEAN: There’s also a 2nd Cirque du Freak omnibus, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 2, Mint Chocolate 2, Plunderer 7, RaW Hero 4, Sasaki and Miyano 2, So I’m a Spider, So What? 9, and Yowamushi Pedal 17.

Vampires? Sentai? Villainesses? Vacationing gay men? What holds your interest the most?

SEAN: There certainly is a lot of manga coming out. Remember years ago when some weeks had three or four titles?

ASH: It’s almost unimaginable any more.

SEAN: Airship has the 11th Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest in print, and the 4th volume of The Invincible Shovel in early digital.

Cross Infinite World has another villainess reincarnation story with Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook with My Fluffy Friends: the Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace (Tenseisaki de Suterareta no de, Mofumofu-tachi to Oryouri Shimasu: Okazari Ouhi wa My Pace ni Saikyou desu). A woman newly shunned by her fiance, the prince, finds herself now married to a different prince – one who hates women! But… his kingdom is filled with adorable creatures, and she doesn’t have to do anything but her hobby – cooking! No death flags here, just fluff.

ASH: I mean, I do like cooking stories?

SEAN: Denpa’s website lists femme fatale: The Art of Shuzo Oshimi for next week. An artbook dedicated to the creator of Flowers of Evil, Blood on the Tracks and more.

J-Novel Club has a veritable plethora of digital releases. Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? 2, Banner of the Stars 6, Black Summoner 4, Der Werwolf 11, The Ideal Sponger Life 2, Slayers 7, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: the Wayward Journey 11, The Tales of Marielle Clarac 6, and Tearmoon Empire 4.

Kodansha Manga has one print release, which is Witchcraft Works 15. Kodansha Books also has the 3rd volume in the Pretty Boy Detectives Club series. Thus all the Kodansha print releases next week are ex-Vertical.

MICHELLE: I didn’t love the first Pretty Boy Detective Club as a novel, but I’m still looking forward to the forthcoming anime!

SEAN: The digital debut next week is a full-blown josei title. It even runs in Be Love! Nina the Starry Bride (Hoshi Furu Oukoku no Nina) is an orphan girl who ends up being sold as a slave… to the royal family? Turns out she looks a lot like the recently deceased princess. Now she has to live her new princess life… no matter how much she does NOT want to. I’m interested in this, despite the well-worn premise.

ANNA: I am too, but I have a very poor track record with digital titles.

ASH: Likewise.

SEAN: Also out digitally: the final 16th volume of GE: Good Ending, Peach Boy Riverside 6, Shojo FIGHT! 16, Tokyo Revengers 20, and the 27th and final volume of Yozakura Quartet, whose first volume was put out by Del Rey in 2008.

ASH: Oh, wow, Yozakura Quartet is a series I haven’t thought about in a long while.

SEAN: One Peace has the third and final volume of I Hear the Sunspot: Limit.

MICHELLE: Oooh.

ASH: It’s a big one, too! (I got my hands on an early copy.)

SEAN: Seven Seas has some debuts, both based on light novels they’ve also released. Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells (Hazure Waku no [Joutai Ijou Skill] de Saikyou ni Natta Ore ga Subete wo Juurin Suru Made) runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo, and Muscles Are Better Than Magic (Mahou? Sonna Koto Yori Kinniku da!) runs in Kadokawa’s Comic Walker.

ASH: For some reason I was expecting Failure Frame to be about windows and defenestration.

SEAN: We also get Gal Gohan 7, The Girl from the Other Side 10, Harukana Receive 7, How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 6, Love Me for Who I Am 3, My Next Life As a Villainess! 5 (manga version), and Reincarnated As a Sword 5 (also manga version).

ASH: Always glad to see a new volume of The Girl from the Other Side (although I will admit to being behind in my reading).

SEAN: And there’s three more Alice books – Nightmare, The Lizard Aide, and Toy Box – that get digital releases.

SuBLime has a 5th Candy Colored Paradox and The World’s Greatest First Love 14.

ASH: I’ve largely been enjoying Candy Colored Paradox.

SEAN: Viz debuts a new Shonen Sunday series, a phrase not heard often these days. Call of the Night (Yofukashi no Uta) seems to combine romcom and vampire stories together, and looks fun.

ANNA: Always up for more manga vampires.

SEAN: Viz also has more Shonen Sunday! Case Closed 78, Komi Can’t Communicate 12, Persona 5 6, Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition 7, Pokemon Adventures: Black 2 and White 2 3 (that title hurts me to type), Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 14, and Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 3.

ASH: Yay, Sleepy Princess!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press debuts the manga version of the beloved light novel In Another World with My Smartphone. This early in the series there’s far less genocide to worry about, so I will cautiously recommend it. It runs in Kadokawa Shoten’s Comp Ace.

What manga will you read while waiting for your vaccination appointment?

SEAN: April! Maple! Let’s do the list backwards this time!

This means starting with Yen Press, who have precisely one manga out, but it is a debut. Please Put Them On, Takamine-san! (Haite Kudasai, Takamine-san) is a bizarre high school comedy with SF elements, about a girl who can redo her past actions to achieve the best result… but only by taking off her underwear. This runs in Gangan Joker, and is by the author of the delightfully titled Is a Zombie Bitch Considered a Bitch?, which thankfully is not licensed.

MICHELLE: Pass!

MELINDA: I. No. Yen Press, why is this your brand now? Seriously, why?

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Yen On has two debuts. First off we have Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin (Hazure Skill “Kage ga Usui” o Motsu Guild Shokuin ga, Jitsuha Densetsu no Ansatsusha), which I’ve heard is better than it sounds, but I’m trying to avoid taking on any new “my skill everyone hates is actually the best” sort of books.

ASH: I feel that.

SEAN: The other debut… at long last… is Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense (Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu), the light novel that inspired the popular anime. Kaede is ready to play the new game her friend recommends… but has no real gaming experience, and also it’s a VR game, meaning she could feel pain! As such, she sinks ALL her points into defense. Playing as “Maple” (a pun on her name), she rapidly gets ludicrously overpowered in the most adorable way possible. I suspect these books will be a bit more gamer-talk than I’d really like, but… Maple.

MELINDA: This actually sounds kind of fun.

ASH: It does!

SEAN: No debuts for Viz, just some heavy hitters. There’s Yona of the Dawn 29, We Never Learn 15, One Piece 96, Natsume’s Book of Friends 25, My Hero Academia 27, Moriarty the Patriot 4, Jujutsu Kaisen 9, the 7th and final volume of An Incurable Case of Love, Dr. STONE 16, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 21, and Chainsaw Man 4.

ASH: I’m reading quite a few of these series, but I’m especially glad to see Natsume’s Book of Friends in the list.

ANNA: Some good stuff here for sure.

SEAN: Udon should – for real this time – have The Rose of Versailles 4.

MELINDA: 🎉

ASH: Hooray!

ANNA: Yay!!!!

SEAN: Three titles for Seven Seas: Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 12, Magical Girl Site 14, and The Kingdoms of Ruin 2. They also have the last 3 volumes of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game.

Kodansha Manga debuts A School Frozen in Time (Tsumetai Kousha no Toki wa Todomaru), which seems to combine an eerie high school tragedy with a death game atmosphere. It ran in Monthly Shonen Magazine.

MICHELLE: I’m really looking forward to this one!

MELINDA: I think I am, too!

ASH: I wasn’t previously aware of this one, but now I’m looking forward to it, too!

SEAN: Also in print: Orient 2 and Fire Force 22.

Debuting digitally is Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Kanojo mo Kanojo), a comedy from Weekly Shonen Magazine and the creator of Aho Girl. It’s about a boy who is confessed to by two girls, so asks if he can date both of them. Expect a lot of hyperactive silliness.

There’s also Vampire Dormitory 5, Those Snow-White Notes 2, Our Fake Marriage 6, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 4, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 3, the 5th and final volume of The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu, and Chihayafuru 25.

MICHELLE: I better get on Those Snow-White Notes before I fall too far behind.

ASH: It’s likely a futile wish, but I’d love to see Those Snow-White Notes released in print.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has no debuts, but oodles of titles. In print, there’s the 2nd Infinite Dendrogram manga omnibus, In Another World with My Smartphone 15, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 3 (manga version), By the Grace of the Gods 3, Ascendance of a Bookworm 8, Ascendance of a Bookworm 4 (manga version), and Animeta! 5.

ASH: I need to catch up on Ascendance of a Bookworm, but I’ve really been enjoying the series.

SEAN: Digital titles are A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 4, Outbreak Company 17, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 4, Infinite Dendrogram 7 (manga), I Love Yuri and Got Bodyswapped with a Fujoshi 2, and Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village 3.

Dark Horse has a 3rd volume of Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles.

Lastly, Airship has 3 print titles: Berserk of Gluttony 2, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average 12, and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 11. They’ve also got a digital-first version of Reincarnated As a Sword 8.

Are you maxing out your defense with manga?

SEAN: March ain’t going out like a lamb when it comes to manga.

ASH: True, that!

SEAN: Airship has two print books; Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 14.5 and Mushoku Tensei 9.

Denpa’s website lists femme fatale: The Art of Shuzo Oshimi for next week. An artbook dedicated to the creator of Flowers of Evil, Blood on the Tracks and more.

They’ve also got The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes 2 listed.

Ghost Ship has Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 13.

No debuts from J-Novel Club, but we do get the 10th and final volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress. We also see Demon Lord, Retry! 6, The Epic Tale of Reincarnated Prince Herscherik 4, Holmes of Kyoto 4, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 4, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 4. Desu.

Kaiten Books has a 2nd volume of My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?!.

Debuting in print for Kodansha is Chasing After Aoi Koshiba (Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara), a yuri manga from Ichijinsha’s Comic REX. It’s got the writer of Masamune-kun’s Revenge (ehh…) and the artist of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (yay!). A girl hopes to meet up with her first love at a reunion.

ASH: Seems like it has potential.

MELINDA: Agreed.

Also in print: Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 6, Heaven’s Design Team 4, The Quintessential Quintuplets 13, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 3.

Digitally we get two debuts. The first is She’s My Knight (Ikemen Kanojo to Heroine na Ore!?), which runs in Kodansha’s Palcy, and features a popular young man having to deal with falling in love with a girl more popular AND more manly than he is!

ANNA: This sounds amusing.

SEAN: We also get Those Snow-White Notes (Mashiro no Oto). This is a biggie, as it’s already 27 volumes in Japan. It’s multi-award winning, runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine, is by the author of Baby & Me and A Vampire and His Pleasant Companions, and is for the Shamisen what Chihayafuru is for Hyakunin Isshu. It also has an anime this spring!

MICHELLE: I’m super excited about this one!

ASH: I love shamisen so much.

MELINDA: Okay, I’m ready!

SEAN: And we get A Condition Called Love 7, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 21, How Do You Do, Koharu? 2, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 7, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 3, and Saint Young Men 11.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on several of these.

MELINDA: Same here.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts two manga based on light novels they also have. Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore) runs in Takeshobo’s Web Comic Gamma Plus, and is about… well, the title.

ASH: So many titles these days are helpful like that, perhaps overly so.

SEAN: And there is also ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! (“Omae Gotoki ga Maou ni Kateru to Omou na” to Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta node, Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai), which runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride, and combines yuri and gore-filled grimdark quite nicely.

Seven Seas also has the digital debut of four more Alice books, which focus on Elliot March and Tweedle Dee/Dum. If I recall correctly, the Twins books were the smuttiest in the series.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: They’ve also got BL Metamorphosis 4, the third and final volume of Ghostly Things, High-Rise Invasion 17-18, Himouto! Umaru-chan Vol. G1 (also a final volume, sort of – it’s a one-shot continuation), the fifth and final volume of How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Made in Abyss 9, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 10, and Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 6.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will read BL Metamorphosis.

ASH: You really should! It is wonderful.

MELINDA: I also need to read it!

SEAN: Two debuts for Yen On. The first is a spinoff. I Was a Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat for 1,500 Years, and the Demon King Made Me a Minister (Hira Yakunin Yatte 1500-nen, Maou no Chikara de Daijin ni Sare Chaimashita) features Beelzebub and her demonic crew from I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years having adventures of their own.

The other is Yokohama Station SF, the story of a boy who is allowed to search the giant subway terminal that the world of Japan has become. This looks pretty cool, actually.

MICHELLE: It looks super cool! I always love stories about exploring sprawling structures (like BLAME, for example).

ASH: I’m definitely picking this one up! It looks like it should help fill the SF hole left by Viz’s Haikasoru imprint being on hiatus.

MELINDA: This one sounds so interesting!

Also out next week: 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 7, new reprints of the 5th and 6th Haruhi Suzumiya novels, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 6, and Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol (the 4th in the series).

Yen Press has many manga debuts next week. We start with Can’t Stop Cursing You (Dareka o Norawazu ni Irarenai Kono Sekai de), a dark little horror title from Gangan Online. A curse detective uses their powers to track down killers.

ASH: I’m curious about this one.

MELINDA: This actually does sound like my kind of thing.

Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana gets a manga version of its light novel. It runs in Square Enix’s Manga Up!.

Love and Heart (Koi to Shinzou) is a shoujo horror title from Hakusensha’s Manga Park. A college woman recovering from a breakup now finds she has a new roommate, who says he’s her old childhood friend. But… is he?

ANNA: I’m intrigued by the idea of shoujo horror.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this could be interesting.

ASH: Shoujo horror is one of my faves.

MELINDA: Ooooooooo.

SEAN: Love of Kill (Koroshi Ai) runs in Media Factory’s Comic Gene, and is about a pair of assassins engaging in… sigh… a deadly game of cat and mouse. (No, they’re not cats and mice, I just sighed at the cliche.) I’ve actually heard this is pretty cool.

ANNA: Sometimes I enjoy assassins!

ASH: Likewise!

MELINDA: Me too!

SEAN: Lastly, we see When a Magician’s Pupil Smiles (Mahou Tsukai no Deshi ga Warau Toki), a 3-in-1 omnibus collecting the entire manga. It ran in Shonen Gangan, and also seems to fall into the horror suspense theme Yen’s March debuts are falling into.

ASH: I tend to enjoy a fair amount of the subgenre, so I’m okay with the trend.

SEAN: In non-debuts, we get 86 ~Eighty-Six~’s second manga volume, Bungo Stray Dogs 18, Carole & Tuesday 2, Do You Love Your Mom? 4 (manga version), Fiancee of the Wizard 3, Im – Great Priest Imhotep 8, Kaiju Girl Caramelize 4, Karneval 11, Last Round Arthurs 2 (manga version), Lust Geass 3, Reborn As a Polar Bear 5, Strawberry Fields Once Again 2, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation 4, and The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 2.

ASH: I am so far behind on my Yen reading!

SEAN: Oof. There is a lot there. Do you see favorites?

SEAN: Oh no, the March winds are blowing over all the stacks of manga you have around you! Shore them up with MORE manga!

ASH: This is a solid plan.

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 3 and Classroom of the Elite 7.5. They’ve also got an early digital release for Mushoku Tensei 10.

J-Novel Club has the third and final volume of The Sorcerer’s Receptionist, as well as I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 5 and Our Crappy Social Game Club Is Gonna Make the Most Epic Game 2.

In print, Kodansha has In/Spectre 13.

ASH: I really ought to catch up on this series.

SEAN: Digitally, our debut is The Dawn of the Witch (Mahoutsukai no Reimeiki), a Shonen Sirius title about a young man with amnesia at a magic school.

There’s also Farewell My Dear Cramer 13 (the digital version is keeping that title), Harem Marriage 3, My Best (♀) Butler 7, Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 9, What I Love About You 4, and When We’re in Love 6.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Magical Angel Creamy Mami and the Spoiled Princess (Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami: Fukigen na o Hime-sama) is an update of the classic magical girl series, a Comic Zenon title that does not star Mami but rather the spoiled princess, who is unhappy that Mami is now getting all the attention.

ANNA: I enjoy magical girls, think I would be more amused if this did focus on Mami though.

SEAN: The other is Otaku Elf (Edomae Elf), a comedy about a spoiled shrine deity who would rather stay inside, thank you. This runs in Shonen Magazine Edge.

Also from Seven Seas next week: Kingdom of Z 3, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 5, Our Teachers Are Dating! 3, Rainbow and Black 2, and Species Domain 9.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Rainbow and Black a try – better get on that before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Two titles from Square Enix. Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders is a novel based on an upcoming platform game, coming out in digital format.

The other is Beauty and the Feast (Yakumo-san wa Edzuke ga Shitai), the story of a widow who can’t stop making food even after her husband has died, so she ends up feeding the teenage boy next door. This runs in Young Gangan, and is apparently one of those relaxed, mellow sort of series.

MICHELLE: I’ve kind of missed having a mellow cooking series to read, now that Sweetness & Lightning has ended.

ANNA: Might be amusing!

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Lots of Tokyopop next week. BL Fans LOVE My Brother?! (Kusatte mo Ani) is about a girl whose big brother locks himself in his room and draws BL doujinshi. Can she get him outside again? This one-shot ran in Mag Garden’s MAGCOMI.

This Wonderful Season with You (Subarashii Kiseki ni Yasashii Kimi to) is another BL title, from Gentosha’s Love xxx BOYS Pixiv. Nerd. Jock. Romance. Also a one-shot.

MICHELLE: The cover for this is very cute!

SEAN: And there’s a third volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Yen Press moved the majority of its March titles to the last week of the month, but there’s some light novels still due out 3/23 from Yen On. The debut is Date a Live, a relatively obscure light novel series that may have gotten an anime as well, I’ll have to check. A boy is required to save the world from destructive spirits… by making them fall in love with him? It’s 22+ volumes in Japan but only just got licensed, probably because no one was really asking for it. Ow. Sorry, my mouth got cut from all the sarcasm I was using.

ASH: Oh, I hadn’t noticed!

SEAN: Also getting new volumes: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 6 (the final volume), Goblin Slayer 11, Last Round Arthurs 4, Magical Girl Raising Project 11, So I’m a Spider, So What? 11, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 5, Unnamed Memory 2, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 5.

Lastly, the one manga title from Yen next week is Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8.

ASH: I’ll be picking that one up!

SEAN: Even with Yen shifting everything one week, it’s still a fair bit. What are you getting?

SEAN: Middle of March, and still manga out there in the wild.

ASH: And plenty of it, too!

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, as we see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 5 and The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen 2.

Cross Infinite World has a new one-shot light novel, Hey! You’ve Kidnapped the Wrong Royal!. The Demon Lord has arrived, and he’s kidnapped… our heroine’s brother? That can’t be right! Wait, he thinks her brother is CUTER? OK, this means war! This sounds deeply silly.

ASH: Possibly delightfully silly?

SEAN: Dark Horse has the third and final volume of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

Only one J-Novel Club title next week, Monster Tamer 3.

Three print books from Kodansha Manga next week: I’m Standing on a Million Lives 9, Perfect World 5, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 3. Oh, and Blood on the Tracks 5, I guess that’s Kodansha Manga now? Rebrands confuse me.

MICHELLE: Man, I just cannot get caught up on Blood on the Tracks!

ASH: I need to catch up on Perfect World, myself!

SEAN: Digital debuts? There’s two! One is Attack on Titan: No Regrets, the Complete Color Edition! Endure Levi’s tragic past all over again… IN COLOR. There’s new bonus content too, so be sure to double dip.

ASH: I’m so used to digital coming out before print these days, I hadn’t realized this wasn’t already available!

Also debuting is Blue Lock, a soccer manga from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The covers make the leads look slightly unbalanced, though I suspect it won’t play out as a soccer-horror title.

MICHELLE: You know I will be all over a new shounen sports series.

ANNA: Also looking forward to more sports manga!

SEAN: We also get A Girl and Her Guard Dog 2, GE: Good Ending 15, We’re New at This 4, and Will It Be the World or Her? 3.

One Peace has a light novel – The Reprise of the Spear Hero 3 – and a manga – The Rising of the Shield Hero 15.

Seven Seas has Shomin Sample 14 in print.

And there’s more digital Alice in the Country of Hearts. This time we get Ace of Hearts and Knight’s Knowledge 1-3, so for those who love Ace, this is your week.

ASH: I’m still glad to see the Alice books being made available again.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment should – hopefully – have the 4th volume of The Rose of Versailles.

MICHELLE: That would be nice!

ANNA: Looking forward to it!

ASH: Ditto!

SEAN: Vertical… erm, Kodansha Books… has an ebook version of Zoku-Owarimonogatari, the “final” volume of the Monogatari series.

Viz has one debut, a spinoff from BEASTARS called Beast Complex. It seems by the description to be a short story collection set in the world. It runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind reading BEASTARS, but that probably won’t stop me from picking this one up.

20th Century Boys: Perfect Edition comes to an end with Vol. 11. There’s also BEASTARS 11, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 7, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 3, No Guns Life 9, and RWBY: The Official Manga 2.

MICHELLE: Gah, I am so behind on so much.

SEAN: Lastly, though still Viz, Hayao Miyazaki’s two autobiographies, which came out in print some time ago, will be digital! Starting Point: 1979-1996 and Turning Point: 1997-2008. Both must-reads.

Is this not enough? Good thing there’s more March to go.

SEAN: Has anyone else run out of time to read things? You’d think I’d be reading MORE in a pandemic, but…

MICHELLE: I have run out of brain to read things.

ANNA: My non-work reading and writing have suffered.

ASH: It’s strange but true.

MELINDA: What is time?

SEAN: Airship has the print debut of Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells. Also in print is the second ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword!, and digital-first gives us the 2nd Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

Dark Horse has a 7th Deluxe Hardcover edition of Berserk.

ASH: It’s probably no surprise that I’ll be picking that up.

SEAN: Drawn & Quarterly has a biggie: the late Shigeru Mizuki’s adaptation of Tono Monogatari, a famous collection of folklore. It ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic.

ASH: My recent brief doesn’t truly do it justice, but I love this book.

MELINDA: Ash is persuasive!

SEAN: No debuts for J-Novel Club, but a lot of new volumes of beloved series. We see Ascendance of a Bookworm 11, Bibliophile Princess 5, the 2nd manga volume of The Engagement of Marielle Clarac, Girls Kingdom 2, Infinite Dendrogram 14, the 5th manga volume of The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar, and Slayers 6.

ASH: Yay, Bookworm!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a debut with Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant, a manga version of the light novel we’ve seen released here by Tentai Books. A strong adventurer, banished by his party, starts a restaurant, and has to deal with his customers’ varied issues.

ASH: There seems to be a surprising number of these types of restaurants.

SEAN: Kodansha has some print. There’s Grand Blue Dreaming 12, Rent-a-Girlfriend 5, Saint Young Men 5 (in hardcover omnibus), and the 14th and final Waiting for Spring.

MICHELLE: I’ve been waiting for Waiting for Spring‘s finale for ages!

ANNA: I have the first volume and I still haven’t read it!

ASH: I’ve liked what I’ve read of Waiting for Spring so far, but Saint Young Men has most of my attention from this batch.

MELINDA: Same here!

SEAN: For digital, the debut is Shaman King: Marcos, which runs in Shonen Magazine Edge, and is MORE SHAMAN KING.

Also digital: A Couple of Cuckoos 3, Ace of the Diamond 31, Peach Boy Riverside 5, Saint Young Men 10, Seven Shakespeares 15, and We Must Never Fall in Love 7.

MICHELLE: A baseball binge is in store for me!

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first had an anime recently, and it’s called Super HxEros (Dokyuu Hentai HxEros). Despite the Japanese title, this isn’t quite porn, but it does run on fanservice. Aliens are sapping the world’s lust, and only superheroes who can use their own lust to power up can stop them. This runs in Jump Square, home of Blue Exorcist, believe it or not, and is 11+ volumes in Japan.

The other debut is Wonder Cat Kyuu-chan (Fushigi Neko no Kyuu-chan), a 4-koma about an office worker who finds an abandoned cat that proves to be… a wonder cat! This looks very cute.

ANNA: That does sound cute.

ASH: It does.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 11, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest 6 (manga), Arpeggio of Blue Steel 17, Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 4, The Ideal Sponger Life 8 (manga), The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 2 (manga), and We Swore to Meet in the Next Life and That’s When Things Got Weird! 2.

SuBLime gives us Caste Heaven 5 and the 2nd and final volume of Toritan – Birds of a Feather.

MICHELLE: I need to check out Toritan. Caste Heaven was not for me.

ASH: I haven’t tried Caste Heaven yet, but I really liked the first volume of Toritan. I didn’t realize it was only two volumes long.

SEAN: Tokyopop has Katakoi Lamp, a BL title from Rutile. A young man working at a coffee shop falls for a customer, but can he work up the courage to confess?

They also have the 2nd volume of Ossan Idol!.

Vertical has a 9th volume of Flying Witch and a 3rd With a Dog AND a Cat, Every Day is Fun.

Viz has Tokyo Fashion: A Comic Book, an illustrated guide to building your wardrobe and looking good.

ASH: Oh, that could be interesting!

SEAN: We also have Fly Me to the Moon 4, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 8, RIN-NE 38, and Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show 3.

Yen On has a debut, with The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Shokei Shoujo no Ikirumichi), about a woman whose job it is to STOP isekai protagonists – they keep bringing chaos whenever they arrive! Unfortunately, the girl she meets may be more than she can handle. Nice seeing more yuri light novels.

ASH: That is kind of a delightful and cathartic twist to the isekai deluge. And it’s yuri, too? I may have to check it out!

SEAN: Yen On also has Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 5.

Three debuts from Yen Press. I Cannot Reach You (Kimi ni wa Todokanai) is a BL series from Media Factory’s Gene Pixiv, and is a childhood friend romance sort of story. It looks sweet.

MICHELLE: I’m really looking forward to this one!

ASH: Me, too!

MELINDA: Okay, yes, THIS.

SEAN: SEAN: Play It Cool, Guys (Cool Doji Danshi) runs in Square Enix’s Gangan Pixiv, and features a bunch of cool guys who are secretly… awkward dorks! This seems more on the funny side.

ASH: Could be fun!

SEAN: Penguin Gentlemen (Penguin Shinshi) is a done-in-one hardcover about a group of penguins who run a bar. Sometimes they’re drawn as penguins… and sometimes they’re drawn as buff hot guys. This ran in Kadokawa’s Pixiv Essay.

ANNA: This sounds hilarious.

ASH: It really does, in the best sort of way.

MELINDA: This sounds amazing.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has Happy Sugar Life 8, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 5 (manga), Kakegurui Twin 9, and Restaurant to Another World 4.

What series are you falling more and more behind on?

MICHELLE: ALL OF THEM.

ANNA: SO MANY SERIES!

MELINDA: I REPEAT, WHAT IS TIME?

SEAN: March comes in like a lion with a pile of new manga, though sadly none of them are March Comes in Like a Lion. Get on that, Viz.

MICHELLE: Seriously!

ASH: Right??

SEAN: Airship debuts a new light novel with Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life ~ Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore ~). It’s getting an anime in the summer, and gets an early digital release next week. Our hero reincarnates in a fantasy world with a potion maker ability, and treats various folks, including a werewolf girl who falls for him.

ASH: I’m largely isekai-ed out, but this variation intrigues me.

SEAN: Ghost Ship, meanwhile, has the 5th and final volume of Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight.

J-Novel Club has a lot of new print titles. The debut is Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, which is coming out as 2-volume omnibuses.

Also in print: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 10, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4, Infinite Dendrogram 11, and Marginal Operation 5.

On the digital side we get Altina the Sword Princess 7, the 5th manga volume of Demon Lord, Retry!, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 13, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 6, Marginal Operation 6, and the 3rd manga volume for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

In print, Kodansha Comics has Hitorijima My Hero 9 and Wave, Listen to Me! 5.

MICHELLE: I enjoy both of these for utterly different reasons.

ANNA: I’m so behind on Wave, Listen to Me!

ASH: I’m looking forward to catching up, myself!

SEAN: The digital debut is Araki Won’t Be Tamed (Araki-kun wa Kai Narasenai), a Dessert title about a young woman whose older sister is a famous actress. Now a famous actor declares his love for her… no, not her sister, her! She doesn’t buy this, but he’ll do anything to convince her… even be her pet. YMMV was invented for series like these.

MICHELLE: Yeeeeah.

ANNA: LOLOL

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: All-Rounder Meguru comes to an end with its 19th volume. There’s also The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu 4, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 2, My Sweet Girl 12, Smile Down the Runway 18, and the 4th and final volume of Star⇄Crossed!!.

MICHELLE: At some point I should check back in with My Sweet Girl and see how it’s going.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the Berserk of Gluttony manga, based on the light novel. The story of a boy who gains people’s skills when he kills them, it runs in Comic Ride.

There’s also the 3rd and final Who Says Warriors Can’t Be Babes?.

Digitally, Seven Seas has the first four volumes of Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, which features Boris, and was one of the better series of the endless spinoffs.

ASH: I really liked this particular spinoff.

Viz has, as usual for the first week of the month, a lot of stuff. The first debut is a spinoff, Dr. Stone Reboot: Byakuya. Not an actual reboot but a prequel to the main series, showing us what actually happened with Senku’s father.

The second debut is also a spinoff, My Hero Academia: Team Up Missions. It runs in Saikyou Jump, a magazine devoted to spinoffs of Jump titles, and features the cast of Class 1-A teaming up with various pro heroes.

MICHELLE: I will read this, but I’d be ridiculously excited if this was Class 1-B doing the teaming up!

SEAN: And we also get: Daytime Shooting Star 11, Dragon Ball Super 12, Haikyuu!! 43, Love Me, Love Me Not 7, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 9, Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story (yes, I know, it got bumped), Oresama Teacher 28, Queen’s Quality 11, Skip Beat! 45, Snow White with the Red Hair 12, Spy x Family 4, and Twin Star Exorcists 21. I’m getting over half that list.

MICHELLE: Big same. I’m, of course, especially excited for a new volume of Skip Beat!.

ANNA: Tons of good stuff, I agree any week with Skip Beat! is a good week.

ASH: I agree – a really good Viz week!

SEAN: A lot of Yen’s February light novels got bumped to this week, making them March light novels. We get Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Love a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2, A Certain Magical Index SS 2, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 13, Re: Zero 15 (which ends the 4th arc), A Sister’s All You Need 9, and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 8.

On the Yen Press side, there’s two debuts. Do You Like the Nerdy Nurse? (Hokenshitsu no Otaku Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?), a seinen title from Shogakukan’s Yawaraka Spirits. The school nurse is gorgeous… but also a massive otaku, as one student finds out. Can he get her to fall in love with non-fictional people? This is a done-in-one omnibus.

Yen also has the manga adaptation of the Solo Leveling novel.

Lastly, there’s the 2nd volume of Sword Art Online’s manga adaptation of Project: Alicization.

What title catches your eye?

SEAN: As I write this, Texas is being hit with blizzards. Why not curl up… in your dark house with no power… with some manga?

Airship gives us the print volume of the 2nd I’m in Love with the Villainess, and also a print volume for Skeleton Knight in Another World 8.

ASH: I haven’t finished reading the first volume of I’m in Love with the Villainess quite yet, but I suspect I’ll want to pick up the second.

SEAN: Denpa’s site says that The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes 2 is out next week.

J-Novel Club has a trio of light novels. By the Grace of the Gods 6, Campfire Cooking in Another World 9, and The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 8.

On the manga side, they have The Faraway Paladin 4 and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 5.

Kodansha has two print debuts, though we’ve seen them both digitally before. Cells at Work: Baby! is essentially the superdeformed version of the series.

ASH: I enjoyed the original series, but haven’t managed to keep up with all the spinoffs!

SEAN: A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to Renren) is one that I’ve gushed about before, but here I am gushing about it again. This story of a boy and girl meeting and falling in love, it’s all about communication, as our heroine is hearing impaired, and our globe trotting hero does not know sign language. Fans of Kimi ni Todoke should check this out.

MICHELLE: I missed this when it was a digital debut, so I’m grateful for a second chance at it.

ANNA: Amazingly, this is one of the very few Kodansha digital titles that I have read, and it is absolutely wonderful. It is by suu Morishita, so fans of Shortcake Cake should absolutely pick it up. I’m sure I bought the first couple volumes digitally due to Sean’s gushing and just never posted about it. Morishita does some wonderfully innovative storytelling as the two main characters figure out how to communicate with each other, and the hearing-impaired heroine is portrayed with great sensitivity. I’m so rooting for Yuki and her first real romance!!

ASH: I’m really looking forward to reading this one now that it’s in print. Can’t pass it up with recommendations like that.

MELINDA: Well, how can I possibly resist after that glowing recommendation?

SEAN: Also in print: Heaven’s Design Team 3. The anime is currently airing.

ASH: I have legitimately learned things about animal life reading this series.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is How Do You Do, Koharu? (Gokigenyou, Koharu-san), by the author of (and in the same universe as) Say I Love You. Koharu (the younger sister of Yamato, the male lead in Say I Love You) prefers to keep her friends solely on the digital side… till she’s tempted by a follower who she might want to be more than just friends with. This runs, of course, in Dessert. I hope it is a bit less drama-filled than its parent series.

MICHELLE: I’d seen this one on the release calendar but didn’t realize it had any connection to Say I Love You. Interesting!

SEAN: We also see DAYS 22, Harem Marriage 2, Maid in Honey 6 (the final volume), My Best (♀) Butler 6, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 2, Shangri-La Frontier 2, What I Love About You 3, and When We’re in Love 5.

Seven Seas’s biggest debut may be one that came out first nearly 10 years ago. After a period where it seemed that you couldn’t go a week without a new volume, the Alice in the Country of _________ series vanished, allegedly due to licensing difficulties with the original creator. But now it’s back… in digital form! It’s getting rolled out over several weeks. This week we get The Clockmaker’s Story and Love Labyrinth of Thorns (Julius) and The Mad Hatter’s Late Night Tea Party 1 & 2 (Blood).

ANNA: I think I’m tapped out of Alice in the Country of stories but I’m amused to see these being released again.

ASH: Oh, wow! I had somehow previously missed this news.

SEAN: In actual new titles, the debut is Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon (Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts), a yuri office romance story that runs in Comic Yuri Hime. Always happy to see more non-high school students.

And there is The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue 2, Days of Love at Seagull Villa 2, Failed Princesses 3, and How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? 5.

MICHELLE: I still haven’t even read volume 1 of Seagull Villa!

SEAN: Square Enix Manga debuts Ragna Crimson, a Gangan Joker title whose summary has the words “dark fantasy” and “revenge-fueled quest” and I stopped caring.

In much better Square Enix manga news, we get A Man and His Cat 3.

MICHELLE: Yay!

MELINDA: Yes!

SEAN: Apologies to Tentai Books, I missed their debut light novel which is actually out later this week. World Teacher: Special Agent in Another World (World Teacher: Isekaishiki Kyouiku Agent) is another of those books where the plot is described by the title.

Tokyopop has a debut. The Cat Proposed (Bakeneko Katatte Sourou) is a one-shot BL title from Canna. A man watches a play and sees one of the actors has cat ears. Turns out he’s a bakeneko, and has chosen our protagonist as his spouse!

There’s also the 3rd and final volume of Still Sick.

Vertical has Ajin: Demi-Human 16 and Bakemonogatari’s 7th manga volume.

Yen On has had a few date shifts (try to contain your shock), but we do get a few new volumes this week… and two old ones, as Haruhi Suzumiya 3 and 4 get reprints. 4 is considered the series’ high point.

And there is Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 8, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody 5, In the Land of Leadale 2, Konosuba 13, and May These Leaden Battlegrounds Leave No Trace 3.

There’s also a Yen Press title I missed last week, as it’s out this Saturday. Megumi Hayashibara’s The Characters Taught Me Everything: Living Life One Episode at a Time is her new memoir, and Yen is putting it out digitally the same day it comes out in Japan!

ASH: I really hope this is released in print at some point, too! It should be really good.

SEAN: Because of various delays and date shifts, Yen Press has FIVE manga debuts next week. We start with Adachi & Shimamura, the manga version of which we’ve already seen the light novel and the anime. Please enjoy Adachi’s gay panic and Shimamura’s attempts to be a functioning human being in a new medium. This runs in Dengeki Daioh.

Days on Fes is a series about two friends going to rock festivals, and that’s about all it is, from what I hear. Sounds like a Laid-Back Camp vibe. This runs in Comic Newtype.

ASH: Oh, that could fun.

MELINDA: I might be into this? As someone who used to go to a lot of music festivals, that is.

SEAN: The Girl without a Face (Kao ga Nai Onnanoko) is a one-shot from Comic Beam. A boy and girl are in love. She’s a bit… expressionless – literally – but that’s just fine. This looks both cute and spooky?

ASH: This could be fun, too!

SEAN: Golden Japanesque – A Splendid Yokohama Romance is the sort of josei title folks were BEGGING for ten years ago. It runs in Flowers’ online magazine, and its author did Kare First Love, for Viz fans with long memories. A Meiji-era title about a half-Japanese girl who’s discriminated against and the boy who thinks she’s a fairy-tale character.

MICHELLE: Ooh! I actually do own all of Kare First Love, as it happens.

ANNA: I am a Viz fan with a long memory and I think I own most of Kare First Love too. I am officially intrigued and will be picking this up.

ASH: Same!

MELINDA: Same here!

SEAN: Lastly there is ID:Invaded #Brake-Broken, a title which hurts me when I try to say it out loud. It’s the sequel to the anime, and runs in Young Ace.

We also get Eniale & Dewiela 2, Mieruko-chan 2, Overlord: The Undead King-Oh! 6, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 13, Slasher Maidens 2, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 7, The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 2, and A Witch’s Love at the End of the World 2.

ASH: I’ll likely be picking up a few of those, too.

SEAN: What manga melts the weather all around you?

SEAN: Valentine Week is here! Looking for some sweet romance? Or bitter breakups? Manga is here for you.

As are light novels. Airship debuts Ride Your Wave (Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara), based on the anime film from the Eizouken director. It will likely be happy yet also sad.

ASH: I enjoy Masaaki Yuasa’s anime, but haven’t actually watched Ride Your Wave yet. Even so, I’m curious about the novelization.

MELINDA: I have watched it, and I’m absolutely interested in a novelization!

SEAN: Airship also has the print debut of Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs.

And they have How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 10, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 4 (print) and 5 (digital), Restaurant to Another World 5, and The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 2.

Dark Horse has the 2nd Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition.

ASH: I was surprised to find the Blade of the Immortal deluxe edition was ever so slightly smaller than the Berserk deluxe edition, but they are still impressive tomes.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two digital debuts. The first we’ve seen the manga of already: The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto), the story of a young woman sold to the Emperor’s Palace, and full of politics and intrigue.

ASH: I’m glad to see The Apothecary Diaries being translated.

SEAN: The other is The Magician Who Rose from Failure (Shikkaku Kara Hajimeru Nariagari Madō Shidō! ~ Jumon Kaihatsu Tokidoki Senki ~), which features a seeming failure who turns out to be brilliant after remembering his former life. The premise made me sigh, but I enjoyed this author’s The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind!!, so will give this a shot.

Also from J-Novel Club: Full Metal Panic! 10 and I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! 2.

Kodansha has two print debuts, one of which we’ve seen digitally. Star⇄Crossed!! (Oshi ga Watashi de Watashi ga Oshi de) is the new series from the Kiss Him, Not Me creator, and is a soul-swapping comedy. It runs in Betsufure.

MICHELLE: I am finally gonna check this out.

ASH: Same!

MELINDA: Sounds interesting!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: The other debut is Those Not-So-Sweet Boys (Amakunai Karera no Nichijo wa), the latest Yoko Nogiri series. A hardworking young girl has to reform a group of seeming bad boys. This runs in Dessert.

MICHELLE: I really like Yoko Nogiri’s style, and will probably like this one, too.

ANNA: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also in print: Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 7, Chobits 20th Anniversary Edition 3, and Sayonara Football 3 (which is a rebranded version of Farewell, My Dear Cramer 1 – The title will be Sayonara Football going forward).

MICHELLE: Meanwhile, they’re still calling the digital version Farewell, My Dear Cramer? That’s nice and confusing.

ASH: I was wondering what was going on with that.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is A Girl & Her Guard Dog (Ojou to Banken-kun), the story of a yakuza daughter trying to have a normal school life… and her guardian, who is not about to let her fall in love. This runs in Betsufure.

MICHELLE: This potentially could be fun.

ANNA: A lot of this sounds great, but given the stacks of unread manga in my house will I actually get around to reading digital shoujo? Probably not.

SEAN: Also digital: The 11th and final volume of Dolly Kill Kill, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 8 (also a final volume), GE: Good Ending 14, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 3, Lovesick Ellie 12 (also a final volume), Shojo FIGHT! 15, We’re New at This 3, and Will It Be the World or Her? 2.

MICHELLE: I have really enjoyed Lovesick Ellie and though I’m sad to see it end, better now than before it drags on too long.

SEAN: One Peace gives us My Pointless Struggle (Waruagaki), a done-in-one title which is… biography? Sports? I’m not really sure, but it looks manly.

ASH: That it does!

SEAN: From Seven Seas, we get Cube Arts 3 (the final volume), Dragon Goes House-Hunting 6, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 10, Mushoku Tensei 12, My Senpai Is Annoying 4, and The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen 2 (also a final volume).

Square Enix has the 3rd Perfect Edition of Soul Eater.

Vertical debuts Haru’s Curse (Haru no Noroi), a josei title about a woman grieving for the death of her little sister from cancer. It’s a Zero-Sum title, and looks heavy but good.

MICHELLE: Looking forward to this one.

MELINDA: I am too.

ANNA: I’m always up for more josei, but maybe not heavy titles right now.

SEAN: Vertical also has The Daily Lives of High School Boys 4.

Viz debuts Assassin’s Creed: Legend of Shao Jun, which runs in Shogakukan’s Sunday GX. It follows the protagonist of the Assassin’s Creed: China game.

ASH: It’s interesting when franchises get split up between publishers like this. If you’re looking for other Assassin’s Creed manga, you have to look to Titan Comics.

SEAN: Going from A to Z, Viz also has Zom 100 – Bucket List of the Dead (Zom 100 – Zombie ni Naru Made ni Shitai 100 no Koto), also from Sunday GX. A corporate drone is exhausted and depressed. Then one day, he wakes up to a zombie apocalypse. His thoughts? “AWESOME!” This has some good buzz.

Also from Viz: Blue Flag 6, Golden Kamuy 20, Mermaid Saga Collector’s Edition 2, and Urusei Yatsura omnibus 9.

MICHELLE: Yay, Blue Flag!

ANNA: Yes!

ASH: Indeed! And yay to the second half of Mermaid Saga!

SEAN: Lastly, from Yen On, we get Solo Leveling. It’s a weak-to-strong dungeon crawl sort of book, which runs on the common trope these days of being able to see your stats like a game. It’s Korean, I believe, not Japanese.

Any of these pierce your heart with a shot of love?

SEAN: Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the manga is so delightful.

Airship has an early digital release of Berserk of Gluttony 2 and the print release of Adachi and Shimamura 4.

Cross Infinite World has a one-shot shoujo light novel, As The Villainess, I Reject These Happy-Bad Endings! (Watashi, Tensei Akuyaku Reijōnanode, Meribaendo wa Soshi sa Sete Itadakimasu!). You can probably guess the plot from the title. This also has material in it that was not in the Japanese volume.

J-Novel Club has two digital debuts. Are You Okay With a Slightly Older Girlfriend? (Choppiri Toshiue Demo Kanojo ni Shite Kuremasu ka?) is from GA Bunko, and is about a couple of high school kids who get together… then he finds she’s actually 12 years older than him. This… could be bad, to be honest, but Japan does love those age gap romances.

ASH: That is true; those stories have been around since at least the 11th century.

SEAN: The other debut just had an anime announced. My Friend’s Little Sister Has It In for Me! (Tomodachi no Imouto ga Ore ni dake Uzai) is also GA Bunko, which seems to have given J-Novel Club its non-fantasy romcom titles. A guy is constantly belittled by his friend’s sister. But, when he has to pretend to be the boyfriend of the daughter of his boss, will her real feelings come out? Erm… yeah, I’ll try this too, but these two debuts summarize badly.

Also from J-Novel Club, we get The Bloodline 2, Cooking with Wild Game 11, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 13.

Kaiten Books has a new digital manga release, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting (Kumichou Musume to Sewagakari). This runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride. It seems like one of those “bruiser guy brought to heel by a tiny little girl” sorts of titles. Cute and funny, in other words.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ASH: Oh, I often enjoy that particular sub-genre.

SEAN: No print debuts for Kodansha, but we do get A Couple of Cuckoos 2, Knight of the Ice 5, Something’s Wrong with Us 5, and The Witch and the Beast 4.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught back up on Knight of the Ice!

ANNA: Me too, I really enjoy this series.

ASH: It has been fun, so far!

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is Boss’s Wife (Gokukon ~Chou Dekiai Yakuza to Keiyaku Kekkon!?~), which runs in Ane Friend. A girl with a huge debt runs into a former classmate… who turns out to be a yakuza. He’ll buy her debt if she becomes his bride. Can she be a Yakuza wife? Man, the summaries this week are just brutal.

MICHELLE: I swore I thought this one looked kind of fun, but this summary is making me rethink that assessment.

SEAN: Also digitally: Ashidaka: The Iron Hero 2, the 28th and final volume of Domestic Girlfriend, the 12th and final volume of Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Peach Boy Riverside 4, Saint Young Men 9, Tokyo Revengers 19, and We Must Never Fall in Love 6.

One Peace has a 12th volume of Hinamatsuri.

A debut yuri manga from Seven Seas, Even Though We’re Adults (Otona ni Natte mo). From the creator of Aoi Hana and Wandering Son, this josei title runs in Kodansha’s Kiss magazine. A woman meets an old friend, they go out and more… then she finds the friend has a husband. Didn’t this sort of drama stop in high school? This one I’m definitely excited for.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

ANNA: This sounds interesting.

ASH: I’ve really been looking forward to this one.

MELINDA: I’d read anything from this creator, so count me in!

SEAN: There’s also a 12th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Square Enix has a 2nd volume of The Apothecary Diaries manga.

ASH: I still need to read the first volume, but i’m fairly confident this is a series I will greatly enjoy.

MELINDA: I have a soft spot for Square Enix basically always, and I need to get around to this, too.

SEAN: SuBLime has a new title, MADK. It runs in Printemps Shuppan’s BL magazine Canna, and MADK stands for Motsu Akuma to Danshi Koukousei. Seems to be rather bloody and violent, and has demons.

ASH: I am intrigued!

MELINDA: I like everything in this description, so yes!

SEAN: There’s a 10th volume of Finder’s Deluxe Edition, subtitled Honeymoon, and Given 5 from SuBLime as well.

ASH: I’m a volume or so behind on Given; this would be a good opportunity for me to catch up.

SEAN: Viz has Frozen 2: the Manga, a tie-in I would normally ignore except it’s by Arina Tanemura. Don’t expect an Idol Dreams crossover.

ANNA: I’m normally all about any Arina Tanemura manga but not sure I’m super stoked for a Frozen adaptation.

SEAN: Viz also has Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 12, Hayate the Combat Butler 37, Komi Can’t Communicate 11, Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition 6, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 6.

MELINDA: Always here for new readers getting into Fullmetal Alchemist (or long-time fans expanding their collections), so I’ll always cheer for that!

SEAN: And Yen has some stragglers from January that got bumped. Including a debut, the manga version of The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat. The LN of this came out at the end of December. The manga runs in Kadokawa’s Young Ace Up.

And finally, after what I swear were 6 or 7 delays, the 4th manga volume of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level.

Since we’ve no place to go, what manga are you reading?

SEAN: February! The most depressing month of the year! Let’s cheer ourselves up with some new titles!

Airship has two digital-first light novels: Classroom of the Elite 7.5 and The Saint’s Magic Power Is Omnipotent 3.

J-Novel Club has LOTS of stuff. Let’s start with print, as we get two new omnibuses. Banner of the Stars 1-3 is the light novel series, while How A Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 1-2 is a collection of the manga.

ASH: The Banner of the Stars omnibus looks nice.

SEAN: Also in print: Ascendance of a Bookworm 7 (the final volume of the 2nd arc), By the Grace of the Gods 2, and In Another World with My Smartphone 14.

ASH: Hooray for more Bookworm!

SEAN: Digitally, J-Novel Club has two debuts. The Great Cleric (Seija Musou – Salaryman, Isekai de Ikinokoru Tame ni Ayumu Michi), whose manga adaptation Kodansha is already putting out here, is the first. A reincarnated Salaryman decides to try to live to a nice old age by being a healer. Little does he know…

The other debut is She’s the Cutest… But We’re Just Friends! (Ore no Onna Tomodachi ga Saikou ni Kawaii), a relatively recent series. A guy finds that the hottest girl in the school shares the same gaming hobbies he does. They quickly become best friends… so why does everyone think they’re dating? This looks cute and fun.

Also out digitally: Animeta! 5, An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 4 (manga version), Banner of the Stars 5, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4 (manga version), Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 35, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen 10, and The World’s Least Interesting Magic Swordsman 5.

MICHELLE: Animeta! is pretty fun.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the series, too.

SEAN: No debuts in print for Kodansha, but we do get Eden’s Zero 10, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 2, and Witch Hat Atelier 7.

ANNA: Always happy for more Witch Hat Atelier.

ASH: Yes, indeed!

MELINDA: I realize it’s probably a very different slime, but after playing a lot of Genshin Impact, is it weird that I’m suddenly interested in that dude’s reincarnation?

The digital debut is My Dearest Self With Malice Aforethought (Shin’ai naru Boku e Satsui o Komete), a dark title from Young Magazine. Virgin Eiji wakes up one day to find a girlfriend in his bed, his friend saying he got in a fight, and no memory of the last three days. What’s going on?

Also digital: Chihayafuru 24, Otherworldly Munchkin: Let’s Speedrun the Dungeon with Only 1 HP! 3, Our Fake Marriage 5, and The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu 3.

MICHELLE: I can’t let a mention of Chihayafuru go by without saying “Yay!”.

ANNA: Wooo!!!

SEAN: Believe it or not, we now move to Viz. The debut is The King’s Beast (Ou no Kemono), the latest Rei Touma series, and set in the same universe as Dawn of the Arcana. The world isn’t great: those who are half-beast, half-human are discriminated against. So our heroine serves under the king disguised as a man. This runs in Cheese!.

MICHELLE: I really liked Dawn of the Arcana and The Water Dragon’s Bride, so I expect I will like this, too!

ANNA: I like both of those series, and I enjoy it when a heroine has to disguise herself as a man, so I have high hopes for this.

ASH: Ditto what you both said! I’m looking forward to giving this manga a try.

MELINDA: I admit I’m a little tapped out on “heroine disguises herself as a man” when it’s not actually about a trans person, but I’ll give it a shot.

SEAN: Shonen! Blue Exorcist 25, Boruto 10, Chainsaw Man 3, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 20, Dr. STONE 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 4–Diamond Is Unbreakable 8, Jujutsu Kaisen 8, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 18, Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story (a light novel), the 5th and final volume of Samurai 8, Seraph of the End 20, and We Never Learn 14.

ASH: I somehow missed reading the second volume of Chainsaw Man, so I’ll need to fix that. Also need to play some catch up with JoJo, too.

SEAN: Shoujo! Far fewer titles here. Shortcake Cake 11 and Yona of the Dawn 28. (Then again, Yona should count as 4 normal shoujo titles.)

MICHELLE: I’m happy about both of these.

ANNA: Me too!

ASH: Yay, Yona!

SEAN: Yen Press has two debuts. Sasaki and Miyano runs in Gene Pixiv, is based off a webcomic, and sounds sort of like the BL version of Horimiya.

MICHELLE: That’s intriguing!

ASH: Ooooh, when you describe it like that, I may need to check it out!

MELINDA: Sounds like this could be great!

SEAN: The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions (Kyuuketsuki to Yukai na Nakama-tachi) is a title that runs in Bessatsu Hana to Yume. A BL title based off of a novel, with art by the creator of Baby & Me, for those who recall that old Viz series. This is nothing like Baby & Me, but has lots of hot men, hot vampires, and hot vampire men.

MICHELLE: I was just reading about this mangaka yesterday because Kodansha announced their March debits and one of them is Ragawa-sensei’s Those Snow White Notes (Mashiro no Oto). Must be her time to shine.

ANNA: I have to admit, I’m intrigued by all these combinations of hotness.

MELINDA: There are some things that never get old. And by “some things” I mean “hot vampires”.

SEAN: Also out next week: Bungo Stray Dogs 17, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 10 (manga version), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 14 (manga version), and Sword Art Online Progressive Barcarolle of Froth 2 (also a manga version, though the LN doesn’t have the subtitle).

Chilled to the bone this winter? Heat up with some manga. What are you buying?

SEAN: The end of January still has some choice titles coming out.

Seven Seas has rolled out its Airship imprint, so given I separate Ghost Ship titles I should probably do the same with Airship. Next week we get ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! 2 in a digital-first edition.

ASH: I’m really curious to see how the Airship imprint evolves.

SEAN: Cross Infinite world has the 2nd volume of Hello, I am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!.

A bunch of Ghost Ship titles, including Destiny Lovers 5, Parallel Paradise 4, Welcome to Succubus High! 2, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 12.

J-Novel Club’s debut is one that manga fans will have seen before, as Seven Seas has been releasing the manga. The Ideal Sponger Life, where a young man gets isekai’d to another world so that he can be the husband of the reigning Queen. This is definitely one of those “come for the romance, stay for the politics” titles, and I look forward to it.

Also from J-Novel Club: Black Summoner 3, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 3, and My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 3. Three is a magic number?

Kodansha has two print debuts, though one has been out before digitally. Orient is the newest title from the creator of Magi, Shinobu Ohtaka. They’re in Shonen Magazine rather than Shonen Sunday, but despite that, it doesn’t seem to have more fanservice…

ASH: I plan on giving this one a look eventually; I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Magi.

ANNA: One of these days I need to read all of Magi.

SEAN: The other debut is Sachi’s Monstrous Appetite (Ano Hito no i Ni Wa Boku Ga Tarinai), which runs in Morning Two. A boy loves his tall classmate, and she likes him too… because he smells delicious! Turns out she’s a monster, and monsters are drawn to his scent. Fortunately, she agrees to protect him rather than eat him. I admit I might pass on this if it weren’t in Morning Two, a magazine I respect.

ASH: There is that!

SEAN: Also in print: Fire Force 21, Magus of the Library 4, The Seven Deadly Sins 41 (the final volume), and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 23-24, which is not only in 2-in-1 status but is also now on a YEARLY schedule. Does it really sell that badly now?

ASH: Magus of the Library has impressed me with how much reality has been accurately incorporated into its fantasy. It looks good doing it, too!

SEAN: Digitally our debut is My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 (Level 1 Dakedo Unique Skill de Saikyou Desu), which runs in Suiyoubi no Sirius. There’s a bunny girl on the cover, and the “hero” is way in the background. Should tell you everything you want to know about this.

Also out digitally: Am I Actually the Strongest? 3, Maid in Honey 5, My Best (♀) Butler 5, The Great Cleric 6, What I Love About You 2, and When We’re in Love 4.

Seven Seas’ debut manga is The Demon Girl Next Door (Machikado Mazoku), a 4-koma series that runs in Manga Time Kirara Carat. A teenage girl wakes up one morning with demon horns and a tail, and is told her job is to defeat the magical girl. Unfortunately, her power is… kind of like that of the first boss who gets killed off in Episode 3. Could be cute, could be dull.

Also from Seven Seas: The Conditions of Paradise: Azure Dreams (the third in that series), Cutie and the Beast 2, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 10th manga volume, and Our Teachers Are Dating! 2.

MICHELLE: I hadn’t even managed to read the first Cutie and the Beast yet!

ASH: I’m liking the series, so far, and will be picking up the second volume to see where it goes.

ANNA: I’m with Michelle, I’m already behind on Cutie and the Beast.

SEAN: Square Enix tries to blast us with long titles, as we get The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants 3 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 3. (What is it with Vol. 3s next week?)

Vertical has the 11th volume of To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts.

Yen On has the 2nd light novel volume of High School DxD. Still banned from Kindle!

Yen Press did a lot of very last minute delays when I did Manga the Week of last week, and then un-delayed them even more last-minute, so some titles I didn’t mention are already out. Angels of Death 11, IM: Great Priest Imhotep 7, and the debut of Re: Zero’s 4th arc, The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed, in manga form. Don’t be surprised if I say the same thing next week.

For actual next week stuff, Yen Press has a sort-of debut – this was released chapter by chapter ages ago, and is now getting a collected-in-one omnibus. Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends (Shinigami-sama to 4-nin no Kanojo) ran in Gangan Joker. A nebbish guy avoids being killed by the Grim Reaper by declaring he’ll live life to the fullest from now on. He writes a confession letter… in fact, he writes four of them, knowing they’ll turn him down. They all accept. Welcome to four-timing! Gotta say, this does not sound great.

ASH: Hmmm.

SEAN: Speaking of omnibuses, there’s also Cirque du Freak: The Manga, which is getting a new omnibus edition. Warning: Darren Shan. (Indeed, in Japan the manga was CALLED Darren Shan, as the author’s pen name is also the main character’s name.)

Also from Yen Press: Fiancée of the Wizard 2 and Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods 8.

ASH: I meant to give the first volume of Fiancée of the Wizard a read, but haven’t actually done that yet. Better get to it before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Lotsa interesting stuff. Anything for you?

SEAN: Well, that was a nice break this week, huh? Next week is back to a giant pile, I’m afraid.

J-Novel Club has a quintet of light novels. We get Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 5, Holmes of Kyoto 3, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 14, Outbreak Company 16, and Slayers 5.

In print, Kodansha just has Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan 2.

Digitally, of course, there is far more. The debut is Will It Be the World or Her? (Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai), a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title. A guy tries to confess to his childhood friend… but another girl shows up and says she’s his girlfriend. What’s more, he has to forget about the other girl… or else the world will end! This sounds like an updated UY, but the cover art sort of puts me off.

We also get Dolly Kill Kill 10, Dr. Ramune – Mysterious Disease Specialist – 3, GE: Good Ending 13, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 2, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 10, Kakushigoto 11, Orient 10, Saiyuki 4, and We’re New at This 2.

ASH: I’m still pleased that Saiyuki is being re-released; I’d love to see even more of Minekura’s work in English.

ANNA: I’m glad that Saiyuki is being re-released too!

MELINDA: I am, too!

SEAN: Two debut manga from Seven Seas. The first is Rozi in the Labyrinth (Roji Meikyuu no Rozi), from Mag Garden’s Comic Garden. It’s another “innocent girl in a world of supernatural beings” series along the lines of Nicola Traveling the Demon’s World.

ASH: This is a sub-genre that appeals to me. Nicola is a delight, so I’ll probably give this series a try, too.

MELINDA: Same here.

SEAN: Tamamo-chan’s a Fox! (High School Inari Tamamo-chan!) runs in Niconico Seiga, and has a fox spirit try to blend in as a human so that she can enjoy high school life. Unfortunately, her disguise is not all that great. This looks cute?

ASH: I’m intrigued?

MELINDA: This does sound potentially adorable.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files 2, A Centaur’s Life 19, Classroom of the Elite 7 (in print), GIGANT 4, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 2 (manga version), Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 4 (manga version), Monster Girl Doctor 7, and Mushoku Tensei 9 (digitally).

ASH: I haven’t actually read the first volume yet, but I’m definitely interested in Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files.

SEAN: Tokyopop has two volume 2s. BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Roselia Stage (a final volume) and A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (not a final volume).

Vertical has a number of titles. APOSIMZ 6, Blood on the Tracks 4, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 5, and Weathering with You 2.

Viz’s debut is Asadora!, a new series from Naoki Urasawa that runs in Big Comic Spirits. This seems to be one of those “follow a girl from childhood into her adult life” series, so this first volume should be full of adorable little scamps.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this!

ASH: Likewise!

ANNA: Me too!

MELINDA: Hurray!! Totally into this.

SEAN: There’s also BEASTARS 10, Children of the Whales 16, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 9, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 6, and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 15.

ASH: I need to catch up on BEASTARS.

ANNA: I need to catch up on Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

SEAN: Yen On has a debut light novel: King of the Labyrinth (Meikyu no Ou). This seems to be a dungeon crawl light novel, only from the perspective of the monster, a powerful minotaur.

ASH: Okay, I do like a good minotaur story…

SEAN: They’re also reprinting the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, in paperback but with the original cover art that was used for the hardcovers. The first two are out next week.

ASH: I’d somehow missed that particular news!

Yen On also has The Asterisk War 15, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 9, Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel 3, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 10.5, Strike the Blood 17, Sword Art Online 21, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 10, and Wandering Witch 4. Phew.

Yen Press has no fewer than four debuts next week. Wow! We’ll start with The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess (Tensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi). This runs in LaLa, and has an amusing and also horrifying premise: our heroine is, yes, reincarnated as the villainess… but it’s from her own story she wrote in middle school!

MICHELLE: Huh. The premise and the fact it runs in LaLa piques my interest a little.

ASH: That does sound like one of the better variations on the theme I’ve heard lately.

MELINDA: This sounds kind of great, potentially.

SEAN: Dear NOMAN is from Kadokawa’s Comic Walker, and it’s about a girl who can see supernatural creatures but pretends not to. Then, one day, it becomes impossible to keep pretending. This is semi-yuri, and also only two volumes long.

ASH: Count me as curious.

MELINDA: Same!

SEAN: Mama Akuma (Akuma no Mama) is a Gangan Online title about a demon who prides himself on granting any wish… then a fourth-grader wishes for him to be her mama? Well, if that’s the wish, then that’s how it’s got to be. This looks fun.

MICHELLE: I will probably have to check this out.

MELINDA: This sounds very much like my thing. FYI, Sean totally called this in my DMs.

SEAN: Mint Chocolate is from HanaLaLa Online, and is the old standard “oh no, the guy I like is now my step-brother, how will we live under the same roof?” sort of series. Sounds like the classic “jerk slowly becomes not jerk” shoujo title, too…

In non-debuts, we get Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 4 (manga version), Delicious in Dungeon 9, Heterogenia Linguistico 2, Interspecies Reviewers Comic Anthology: Darkness, Trinity Seven 22, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard 3 (manga version).

Lots of debuts nxt week. What catches your eye?

SEAN: Next week is a very quiet week. I’ll take it!

ASH: A chance to at least pretend I can catch up on my reading!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World has a debut light novel, Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance! (Torawareta Ōjo wa Nido, Shiawasena Yume o Miru), a “Peggy Sue” style story along the lines of Tearmoon Empire, about a princess whose life and kingdom are destroyed finding herself a 12-year-old once more.

J-Novel Club has quite a few ongoing titles. Campfire Cooking in Another World’s 2nd manga volume, Der Werwolf 10, The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik 3, Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts with a Village 2, Record of Wortenia War 9, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Youthful Journey 2 (this is the manga), and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 3.

In print, Kodansha has Beyond the Clouds 3 and The Quintessential Quintuplets 12.

Digitally, the debut is A Couple of Cuckoos (Kakkou no Īnazuke), the new series from the creator of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. It combines “accidentally switched at birth” and “arranged marriage”, and sounds sort of like an updated Marmalade Boy.

ANNA: Hmmmm…

SEAN: Also digitally: Ace of the Diamond 30, Peach Boy Riverside 3, Practice Makes Perfect 4 (the final volume), Saint Young Men 9, The Story of Our Unlikely Love 2 (also a final volume), and We Must Never Fall in Love! 5.

MICHELLE: At last here are a few I plan to read!

SEAN: One Peace has Hinamatsuri 11.

ASH: Speaking of needing to catch up – I enjoyed the first few volumes of Hinamatsuri but keep falling further behind with the series.

SEAN: SuBLime has two Volume 3s, Coyote and Jealousy.

Lastly, we have Viz, who have Case Closed 77, Fly Me to the Moon 3, Persona 5… erm… 5, Pokemon Sun & Moon 9, Rin-Ne 37, Splatoon 11, and Yo-Kai Watch 16.

ANNA: My kids like Splatoon!

SEAN: See? Super short. Anything here for you?