manga the week of

SEAN: This may be the smallest week I’ve seen in years. Under 20 titles!

ASH: I’m astonished!

SEAN: Haikasoru has the 9th Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

ASH: The penultimate volume!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a trio of popular series, with How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 9, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 8, and My Next Life As a Villainess! 4.

In print, Kodansha has the 4th Quintessential Quintuplets (which is getting a 2nd season of anime soon) and a 4th Yuri Is My Job!.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to get around to Yuri Is My Job! at some point. Maybe the time has come.

SEAN: Digitally there is Altair: A Record of Battles 11, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 6, The Quintessential Quintuplets (yes, again) 9, and Tokyo Revengers 9.

Classroom of the Elite 3 is out digitally from Seven Seas. Yup, that’s it. They backloaded all their releases to the end of the month, Yen style.

Tokyopop has a 5th Futaribeya and a 5th Konohana Kitan.

The big debut this week is from Viz: Beastars. This award-winning manga runs in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion, and takes the idea of anthropomorphic herbivores and carnivores battling it out and transplants it to high school. It’s apparently the Next Big Thing, so get right on this one.

ANNA: OK, I’m not going to argue with this.

MICHELLE: I’m not entirely sure it’s for me, but I intend to at least give it a try!

ASH: I’m very curious about this series as I have heard very good things about it.

SEAN: Viz also has Children of the Whales 11, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 6, Fire Punch 7 (I thought it had ended. I was sadly wrong), and Terra Formars 21.

ANNA: More Dededede is always good!

ASH: Truth! Asano’s work really does leave an impression.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen had a bunch of stuff here when originally solicited, but it all drifted to later in July, leaving Gabriel Dropout 7 as the only non-rescheduled title. Which makes it the winner!

Still catching up on stuff? Or does something catch your attention?

MELINDA: I’m directing an opera, so I won’t be reading anything that isn’t an adaptation of Giacomo Rossi adapting Aaron Hill adapting Torquato Tasso. But it looks like I’m not missing that much.

SEAN: This is the first of two relatively quieter weeks, manga-wise. Relatively.

Blade of the Immortal has its 9th Omnibus edition from Dark Horse.

ASH: Still a great way to get into the series; some of the individual volumes are getting really hard to find!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some more print debuts. Last and First Idol and JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World, both very much off the beaten path from the usual harem isekai, are out in print. I recommend Last and First Idol to hard SF fans, and JK Haru to isekai fans who are prepared something a bit darker and more mature.

ASH: I don’t have a particular interest in idols, but I do have an particular interest in winners of the Seiun Award, so I might have to get around to reading Last and First Idol now that it will be available in print.

SEAN: Debuting digitally is Record of Wortenia War, which from what I understand is very much ON the beaten path – but hey, fans love to read that sort of thing these days.

They’ve also got Ascendance of a Bookworm 2, Full Metal Panic! 2, and Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 2. It’s a Volume 2 bonanza!

Kodansha debuts Magus of the Library (Toshokan no Daimajutsushi), which is from good! Afternoon. The author also does 7th Garden. Elf kids meet librarians in a manga that reminds me a bit of Magi in its feel.

ASH: I’m always ready to read about fantasy librarians!

ANNA: Is the art the same as 7th Garden? Because I dig manga librarians, but not so much male gaze…

SEAN: Writer is artist here, yes, same as 7th Garden.

In print, there’s a 4th Hitorijime My Hero.

MICHELLE: I’m happy that this series has improved a lot since its first volume.

SEAN: On the digital-only front, we have Kira-kun Today 9 (which I think is the last?), Ran the Peerless Beauty 5 (which is not the last but is caught up to Japan), and World’s End and Apricot Jam 6 (which is definitely the last).

MICHELLE: Ran is so very charming. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of World’s End, too, which I liked more than anticipated.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Mythical Beast Investigator (Genjuu Chousain), the latest in a string of “mild supernatural world” titles along the lines of How to Treat Magical Beasts and the like… except it’s apparently by the author of Torture Princess. It ran in Kadokawa’s Famitsu Comic Clear.

ASH: Huh, I hadn’t made the author connection yet, but I am curious about the series.

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga adaptation of Skeleton Knight in Another World.

And we get the 6th Arifureta novel in print, Himouto! Umaru-chan 6, the 7th Make My Abilities Average! Novel digitally, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 4, one of my favorite new series.

SuBLime has the 2nd volume of Coyote and the 6th volume of Roadrunner… erm, I mean Crimson Spell.

ASH: I actually really like Crimson Spell in all its drama-filled, smutty ridiculousness.

ANNA: That has been low key on my radar but I haven’t checked it out yet.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 2nd volume of the Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

From Viz, we have Case Closed 71, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 5, Radiant 6 and Rin-Ne 30.

ASH: I need to catch up with Twilight Princess. (I’d also really like to see some of Akira Himekawa’s original works licensed at some point.)

SEAN: And we get the last of Yen’s delays from June, as The Irregular at Magic High School 12 and Sword Art Online Progressive 6 are both out from Yen On.

Turns out relatively quiet still has an awful lot. What are you getting?

SEAN: July begins with, as you may be used to by now, a pile of manga. Let’s take a look.

Cross Infinite World has another novel debut with Labyrinth Angel, a supernatural thriller with a psychic woman and her butler assassin.

ASH: I do have a soft spot for butler assassins…

SEAN: There’s no Seven Seas next week, oddly enough, but we have two Ghost Ship titles. To-Love-Ru Darkness 11 and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 6 are both out.

J-Novel Club debuts a one-shot yuri novel, Side-by-Side Dreamers. Like JK Haru, this is from Hayakawa, a publisher known more for their science fiction than their light novels. An insomniac and a girl who can influence dreams battle against outside forces trying to destroy everyone’s sleep.

ASH: That’s a great premise. I hope this one is eventually released in print!

SEAN: They’ve also got Cooking with Wild Game 3, Infinite Stratos 8, and Kokoro Connect 6.

Kodansha has only one print title out next week, the 7th Grand Blue Dreaming.

Digitally, they have My Sweet Girl 4, Our Precious Conversations 3, Perfect World 9, and The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn 5.

MICHELLE: I keep meaning to check out Our Precious Conversations, as it’s by Robico, whose My Little Monster I enjoyed.

SEAN: Now we drop all the way from K to V, with Vertical’s 13th Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

There’s plenty of Viz, though – in fact it’s the bulk of the list. Debuting is Daytime Shooting Star (Hirunaka no Ryuusei), a Margaret title! Yes, regular Margaret, not Betsuma – a rarity for Western licenses. Country girl moves to the city, and finds the hot guy who she met the other day is her homeroom teacher. Student/teacher romance is not normally my thing, but I’m still gonna check it out.

MICHELLE: I unfailingly love Margaret titles, so despite the student/teacher aspect, I will also be reading this one.

ANNA: Me too, psyched for anything Margaret.

ASH: Count me as curious.

SEAN: Other shoujo titles include Anonymous Noise 15, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 4, Oresama Teacher 26 (the ending was just announced in Japan! Noooooo!), Snow White with the Red Hair 2, Vampire Knight: Memories 3, and The Water Dragon’s Bride 10.

MICHELLE: Lots of good stuff in this list! I especially vote for Snow White with the Red Hair, the first volume of which was a lot of fun and had seriously likeable leads.

ANNA: This is a good week for me. Also excited for Snow White with the Red Hair and Water Dragon’s Bride.

ASH: Yup! Hooray for shoujo fantasy!

SEAN: On the Jump end, there is Black Clover 16, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 7, Dr. STONE 6, Haikyu!! 33, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 9, the 2nd My Hero Academia School Briefs light novel, as well as the 5th Vigilantes spinoff volume, and Platinum End 9.

ASH: Hooray for Haikyu!!, too!

SEAN: Lastly, a couple of Yen titles got pushed back a bit. Bungo Stray Dogs gets its first novel, a prequel taking place two years before the manga. And we also get the 11th and final Alice in Murderland, which means that we are once again in an odd, Kaori Yuki-less time period in our lives.

There’s plenty in this list to interest everyone. What about you?

SEAN: The last week in June is just as packed as the one before, believe it or not.

Bookwalker starts us off with the 8th volume of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done.

Dark Horse has the 2nd Berserk Deluxe Edition and a new HP Lovecraft Collection, At the Mountains of Madness.

ASH: Both the first Lovecraft collection and the first deluxe edition of Berserk were great!

SEAN: Denpa’s debut is actually a reissue of sort. Super Dimensional Love Gun, by cult favorite Shintaro Kago, was put out a couple of years ago by hentai publisher Fakku. Now Denpa is re-releasing it, and we get a digital version to boot. It’s a collection of Kago’s work, meaning it’s trippy as hell.

ASH: It really is.

MELINDA: I tend not to go for hentai, but the title of this collection is hard to resist, as is its description as “trippy as hell.”

SEAN: I’m not sure Super Dimensional Love Gun is hentai, despite its old publisher. Kago is not really something that arouses so much as morbidly fascinates.

Denpa also has the 2nd Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, for those who want more of the Fate/Stay Night Golden Ending.

J-Novel Club, novel-wise, has An Archdemon’s Dilemma 6 and In Another World with My Smartphone 15.

On the manga end, they debut A Very Fairy Apartment, an Overlap title that has the protagonist discover, well, the apartment is full of fairies. It’s a 4-koma, and going for cute, I suspect.

There’s also the debut of the manga adaptation of I Shall Survive Using Potions!.

Kodansha has a print debut, sort of, with Card Captor Sakura: Collector’s Edition 1. New translation, new scans, new bells and whistles, etc.

MICHELLE: Different still from the Dark Horse translation? Sheesh.

ASH: From what I’ve seen, it does look like a really nice release. I haven’t decided if I’m going to double-dip or not yet, though.

ANNA: Yeah, I’m glad when series can stay in print but sometimes I wonder what the point is.

MELINDA: I really loved the Dark Horse edition, and it’s hard to justify buying it again as much as I adore the series. It’s SO TEMPTING, though.

SEAN: Also in print is Fire Force 16, a complete box set of Princess Jellyfish, the 5th Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and (for real, I think) Tokyo Tarareba Girls 7.

ASH: Akiko Higashimura’s work is so good! I’m glad that Princess Jellyfish is getting even more love.

And also Witch Hat Atelier 2, which deserves its own line as it’s so awesome.

MICHELLE: It’s definitely on my list!

ASH: The first volume was gorgeous. I’m looking forward to the next volume.

ANNA: I still need to unearth and read the first volume, the stacks of manga in my house are out of control.

SEAN: Digitally we see Ao-chan Can’t Study 8, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 4, Can You Just Die My Darling? 9, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 14, My Boy in Blue 10, Tokyo Alice 12, and the 7th and final The Walls Between Us.

One Peace has a 3rd Hinamatsuri.

ASH: The first two volumes were ridiculous in a good way.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts, but quite a bit of ongoing. We see the 2nd Ancient Magus’ Bride Supplement, the 4th Arifureta manga, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 3, Hour of the Zombie 9, the print edition of the 6th Make My Abilities Average! novel, The Ideal Sponger Life 2, the 2nd Reincarnated as a Sword novel digitally, and Satoko and Nada 2. Been waiting for more of Satoko and Nada.

MICHELLE: I’ll definitely be picking up Satoko and Nada and I remain curious about Dragon Goes House-Hunting, as well.

ASH: Satoko and Nada is so good! I’ll be picking up the Ancient Magus’ Bride supplement, too.

ANNA: Haven’t read Satoko and Nada, but I did get it for my library!

SEAN: Vertical has a new Monogatari Series, this one a short story collection so big it got split in two. Koyomimonogatari: Calendar Tale 1 has the first six short stories.

The Comics end of Vertical has To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 8.

Viz has a digital-only debut with The Right Way to Make Jump!, a series that is about… well… creating manga in a Jump! style.

Yen digital has a 23rd Corpse Princess. They’ve also got Vols. 1-7.5 of My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong As I Expected’s novel out digitally as a catchup.

Yen has FOUR new debuts. The first is Little Miss P (Seiri-chan), a josei title from Enterbrain about the adventures of an anthropomorphic period. As in menstruation. It is apparently quite fun.

MICHELLE: …

ASH: I’ll admit, I’m curious. I do tend to like Enterbrain titles, and I’m always looking for more josei.

ANNA: Huh. I wonder, it could be good or terrible with that premise.

MELINDA: I don’t know how to feel about this. I mean, it probably is fun, but I dislike periods quite a lot, so it’s hard to feel jovial about them.

SEAN: Kaiju Girl Caramelise is a new title from the creator of Beasts of Abigaile, though this one runs in seinen magazine Comic Alive. It’s about a girl with an illness that makes her body do weird things, and they guy she falls for hard.

ANNA: Beasts of Abigaile was pretty fun so I am curious about this.

SEAN: KonoSuba is quite popular, and the most popular character is arguably Megumin, so why not have a spinoff? Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! is based on the light novel (due out from Yen later in the year), and features Megumin and all the rest of your favorites from the Crimson Magic Clan! And Yunyun.

And The Monster and the Beast (Bakemono to Kedamono) is not by Natsume Ono, though the art style may fool you. It’s a BL title from Kadokawa’s Asuka Ciel, and seems to be the male equivalent of Beauty and the Beast Girl.

MICHELLE: This one looks really nifty.

ASH: I plan on checking it out!

MELINDA: It sounds like my thing just from the art style alone.

SEAN: And lastly, there’s a 3rd manga volume for Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online.

What manga are you sitting and reading immediately?

SEAN: OK, I double checked the Kodansha list this time, so we should be good to go.

We’ll start off with Dark Horse, who has the 10th I Am A Hero omnibus. I think the 11th is the last.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind in my reading so I’m not sure how things have progressed, but the series started out very strongly.

SEAN: Apologies to J-Novel Club, who have a bunch of digital manga debuts, including ones I missed that came out this week. First what I missed: An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! and Seirei Gensouki all have Vol. 1s drop this week. (They’re not on Kindle or Nook because of various reasons, but are on all other digital platforms.)

Next week the big digital debut is Animeta!, a Morning Two title (always a good thing) that isn’t based on a light novel (even better) about a girl trying to be an animator. I want to read this.

MICHELLE: That sounds potentially good! I await your review!

SEAN: They also do have more manga adaptations of light novels, as we also see Ascendance of a Bookworm, Infinite Dendrogram, and The Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar get Vol. 1s digitally.

And lest you think they’ve abandoned light novels, we see I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse 14, Infinite Dendrogram 9, and Outbreak Company 9.

Kodansha has no debuts, but has a lot of stuff. That is coming out next week. I promise. Print? We’ve got Again!! 9, Happiness 9, and O Maidens in Your Savage Season 2.

ASH: Oh, hey! I’m reading all those series.

SEAN: Digitally there is Are You Lost? 4, DAYS 14, Defying Kurosaki-kun 10, Heaven’s Design Team 3, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 5, Saint Young Men 2, and Starving Anonymous 7.

MICHELLE: Again!! and DAYS for sure. I hang my head in shame that I haven’t yet managed to read the first volume of Saint Young Men. I really will, I swear!

ANNA: I am sad that I am behind on Again!! and Saint Young Men.

MELINDA: Saint Young Men!!

SEAN: Seven Seas has the print debut of Restaurant to Another World, which is very good but you’d better be a foodie.

ASH: I’ll be picking this up now that it’s coming out in print. It seems like it’ll be right up my alley.

SEAN: There’s also A Certain Scientific Accelerator 9, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 9, and (digitally) the 2nd Skeleton Knight in Another World.

Tokyopop has the 2nd Aria the Masterpiece omnibus and Yuri Bear Storm 3. You may have seen both these volumes in prior lists. Kodansha’s not the only one with surprise last-minute delays.

Vertical gives us a 3rd APOSIMZ. And the Inc. side has the 2nd omnibus (Vol. 4-6) of Katanagatari’s novels.

Viz has a 4th 20th Century Boys: Perfect Edition, the 5th Gangsta: Cursed (as well as a digital catch-up), Golden Kamuy 10, Tokyo Ghoul: re 11, and Ultraman 12.

ANNA: Need to get caught up on Gangsta too!

ASH: Since I read the first edition of 20th Century Boys, it’s Gangsta and Golden Kamuy that have most of my attention from this list.

SEAN: Yen Press moved all but one of its manga debuts to the last week of June, but we do have one light novel debut. The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious is one of those “the title is the plot” books, but at least has a novel twist by having the hero not be the narrator – from what I understand it’s the summoner.

Also coming out on the novel side: Accel World 18, The Asterisk War 10, A Certain Magical Index 19, The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria 6, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Sword Oratoria 9, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 7.5 (a short story collection), Re: ZERO 10, and Woof Woof Story 2.

On the manga side… let’s start with the news that not only do we get the 11th My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected manga, but we also get Vols. 1-11 digitally. The Shogakukan dam is breaking!

There’s also a yuri one-shot: Whenever Our Eyes Meet: A Women’s Love Anthology. The gimmick here being that the romances are office and workplace rather than middle and high school.

MICHELLE: Hooray for grown-ups.

ASH: Indeed!

MELINDA: That does sound wonderful!

SEAN: And lastly (well, sort of… there’s a lot of lastly), we get As Miss Beelzebub Likes 6, Bungo Stray Dogs 11, Dead Mount Death Play 2, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 2, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 2, Hakumei & Mikochi 6, Hatsu*Haru 7, Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler 10, One Week Friends 7, Prison School omnibus 13, Silver Spoon 9, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 7, and The Witch’s House: the Diary of Ellen 2.

MICHELLE: Insert obligatory Silver Spoon deliquency admission and apology here.

ASH: You’re going to have a great time ahead of you once you get a chance to catch up! Silver Spoon is terrific.

MELINDA: Oh, hi, Silver Spoon, you own my heart and soul.

SEAN: Years ago I used to break these down one line per book. I am so glad I don’t do that anymore. What’re you drowning yourself in?

SEAN: Usually the 2nd week of the month is the smallest one. NOT NEXT WEEK.

ASH: Yeah, let’s do this!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a To-Love-Ru omnibus, Vols. 13-14, and the 5th World’s End Harem.

J-Novel Club debuts Crest of the Stars. Tokyopop released this way back in the day, but it’s been out of print forever, and I’m very happy to see it back with new translation and cover art. It’s also great science fiction.

MICHELLE: Oh, neat!

ASH: I have at least one of the Tokyopop editions floating around somewhere; nice to see this series being revived.

ANNA: I think I missed this the first time!

MELINDA: I missed it, too!

SEAN: It also has How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 9, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 5.

Kodansha, print-wise, has Boarding School Juliet 6, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 10, Tokyo Tarareba Girls 7, and, for those with long memories, Noragami: Stray God 20. This was the HOT NEW SERIES till it hit the “caught up with Japan” wall.

MICHELLE: I watched a bit of the anime recently and it was pretty intriguing.

ASH: I haven’t seen the anime, but I’ve largely enjoyed what I’ve read of Noragami manga. Tokyo Tarareba Girls is a must-read series for me, though it packs quite a punch.

SEAN: Digitally Kodansha has Drowning Love 12, Kira-kun Today 8, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 4, Ran the Peerless Beauty 4, and Tokyo Revengers 8. Ran needs a print release stat.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

ASH: I’d likewise like to see it in print!

SEAN: One Peace has an 11th volume of The Rise of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas debuts I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up (Oya ga Urusai Node Kouhai to Gisou Kekkon Shitemita), which if nothing else has a very eye-catching title. It’s a yuri one-shot, which I reviewed here. It ran in Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime.

ASH: I’ve been curious about this one, and appreciated Sean’s review, so I’ll likely be picking the manga up.

MELINDA: Same here!

SEAN: There’s also the print debut of Skeleton Knight in Another World, a light novel I was unable to finish the first volume of when it came out digitally.

Seven Seas also has Dragon Quest Monster + 2, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 11, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 5, and the 2nd digital volume of Restaurant in Another World. I’ll take the Restaurant over the Skeleton Knight, easily.

SuBLime has Candy Color Paradox 2 and Escape Journey 3.

ASH: Which reminds me I still need to read the first volume of Candy Color Paradox!

MELINDA: Oh, oops, so do I!

SEAN: Vertical has a 7th Flying Witch.

Vertical also announced that the first seven Monogatari Series novels are now available digitally! Great news for those of us phone readers. These are already out, so go get them.

Viz’s manga debut is Komi Can’t Communicate (Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu), a Shonen Sunday title that I’ve really been looking forward to. Its premise may seem familiar: the cool and aloof beauty of the school is just really poor at socialization. It’s also a 4-koma, for those who seek out/avoid those.

MICHELLE: The covers for this series are really cute! It runs in Shounen Sunday, and I’ve liked slice-of-life shounen from that magazine before, so I’m hopeful about this one, 4-koma or not. (The best 4-koma is still Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, though!)

ASH: Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is the best of a lot of things.

ANNA: I’ll check it out.

MELINDA: I’m very hit-or-miss with 4-koma, but I’ll usually give it a chance.

SEAN: Viz also has a giant Evangelion artbook, with illustrations from 2007-2017.

And there’s Magi 36, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 7, and Splatoon 6.

MICHELLE: I am hoarding Magi until the final volume. Just two more months!

ANNA: One of these days I’m going to do a full Magi marathon.

SEAN: See? Not a small week at all. What’s here for you?

SEAN: June is bustin’ out all over, with lots and lots of manga.

Dark Horse has the third and final volume of their Dangan Ronpa 2 manga.

Ghost Ship, Seven Seas’ mature line, debuts Creature Girls: A Field Journal in Another World (Kagaku-teki ni Sonzai Shiuru Creature Musume no Kansatsu Nisshi), which certainly fits. It’s an isekai AND a monster girl series, devoted to deep analysis of their naked bodies, followed by… well, deeper analysis, ifyouknowwhatImean. It runs in Akita Shoten’s Champion Cross.

J-Novel Club has several new print volumes. How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord and In Another World with My Smartphone get 4s, and Daughter Demon Lord and Too Far Behind (look, the titles are too damn long) get 3s.

Digitally, they have a 9th Arifureta and a 14th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

ASH: I do a double-take every time I read that last title.

SEAN: Kodansha has some print and digital as well next week. In print we have Eden’s Zero 3, Missions of Love 17, and Sweetness and Lightning 12, which is the final volume.

ASH: I’ve got a couple of volumes of Sweetness and Lightning stacked up to read; I’ve really been enjoying the series.

MICHELLE: Me, too. I’ll miss it when it’s over.

SEAN: Digitally we see Alicia’s Diet Quest 3, Chihayafuru 17, My Sweet Girl 3, The Quintessential Quintuplets 8, The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Dawn 4, and World’s End and Apricot Jam 5. Several titles that the MB folks enjoy there.

MICHELLE: Forsooth. I wish I liked The Tale of Genji more. I was all happy about retro manga and forgot how awful Genji is.

MELINDA: I echo Michelle’s regret.

SEAN: Seven Seas has another debut that folks have wanted for years… though technically we did see it digitally several years ago from JManga. Classmates: Dou Kyu Sei is a BL title that’s one volume long, but they also have the sequel, which is likely why this says Vol. 1. It ran in Akaneshinsha’s Opera.

ASH: Digital Manga also published it digitally. I’m thrilled Seven Seas rescued the title and am so happy that the manga is getting a print release!

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this one!

MELINDA: I reviewed Classmates: Dou Kyu Sei when JManga offered it (then just called “Doukyusei” and loved it, so I’m pretty thrilled to see that it’s been rescued, along with a sequel!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has the first Division Maneuver light novel in print, as well as Made in Abyss 6.

Vertical gives us After the Rain 4, reminding me that I need to read After the Rain 3.

MICHELLE: I need to read After the Rain 1-3!

And now it’s Viz time, because first week means SO MUCH SHUEISHA. No debuts this week, but we do get complete box sets for both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Buy it again for the 7th time.

Want some shonen? There’s Boruto 6, Food Wars! 30, My Hero Academia 19 (which has the start of the Culture Festival arc, one of my favorites – especially get it if you like Kyouka Jirou), One Piece’s 28th 3-in-1, The Promised Neverland 10, Seraph of the End 17, and We Never Learn 4.

MICHELLE: The cover of My Hero Academia 19 is my very favorite. I would buy it in poster size, for sure.

SEAN: And on the shoujo end we see Ao Haru Ride 5, Queen’s Quality 7, Takane & Hana 9, and Yona of the Dawn 18.

ASH: Lots of good stuff from Viz this week!

MICHELLE: Indeed!

ANNA: This is my happy week!

SEAN: I once again have to choose between three of the most amazing manga currently running for Pick of the Week, and that’s not even counting Dou Kyu Sei. Which ones are you getting?

SEAN: 5th weeks are always awkward, aren’t they?

Bookwalker has the 9th volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress.

Cross Infinite World has another done-in-one light novel with Another World’s Zombie Apocalypse Is Not My Problem!. I haven’t read too many CIW titles, but I always enjoy them when I do.

Denpa has a 4th volume of Inside Mari.

ASH: Oshimi’s manga are always a fascinating mix of compelling and uncomfortable.

SEAN: From J-Novel Club, we have Demon King Daimaou 11, Der Werwolf 4, and Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 21.

Kodansha has a lot of titles. A whole lot. The print debut is I’m Standing on a Million Lives, which we’ve already seen digitally. It’s an isekai, which may explain why it got a print edition, and runs in Betsushonen.

They also have Gleipnir 2. Insert your own Electric Boogaloo joke here.

Digitally, there’s a lot more. All Out!! 10, All-Rounder Meguru 10, Asahi-senpai’s Favorite 3, Back Street Girls 11, Boarding School Juliet 10, Domestic Girlfriend 18, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 13, Hotaru’s Way 9, My Boy in Blue 9, Tokyo Alice 11, and The Walls Between Us 6. So many series to say “whoah, I should read that someday but don’t have the time!” to.

MICHELLE: Yeah, at this point I just keep updating volume numbers on to the list of stuff I mean to read. I’ve seen parts of the animes for All Out!! and Elegant Yokai Apartment Life and enjoyed them, and then two of those titles—Hotaru’s Way and Tokyo Alice—are josei, which is obviously a big draw. It’s just a time problem! (I note that The Walls Between Us looks pretty cute, too.)

ANNA: I am SO far behind in the digital manga I want to read, it is sad. I’m also far behind in the physical manga I want to read as well.

SEAN: One Peace has an 11th volume of the Rising of the Shield Hero manga.

Seven Seas debuts Eve x Eve, a yuri anthology of short stories by the same author, which interconnect towards the end. It’s fairly explicit as these sorts of things go, and you’d better like magical yuri pregnancies, but it’s a good pickup for a fan of the genre.

ASH: I’m particularly interested in the speculative fiction aspect of the collection.

SEAN: There’s also the 2nd (and final) Division Maneuver light novel digitally, Holy Corpse Rising 7, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom light novel 3 (print edition), Magical Girl Site 9, Masamune-kun’s Revenge 10, Monster Girl Doctor’s 4th light novel, My Monster Secret 16, the 2nd and final omnibus of Ojojojo (which is great), and Servamp 12.

Vertical has a 4th Chi’s Sweet Adventures.

And Yen has the rest of the May lineup that didn’t already come out, as we get Forbidden Scrollery 7, Kakegurui Twin 2, Kiniro Mosaic 9, Shiboya Goldfish 4, Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization 3, Tales of Wedding Rings 6, and Trinity Seven 16.

MELINDA: I really want to be interested in something here. I really want to be. Um.

SEAN: Nothing really groundbreaking (and I expect the Manga Bookshelf peeps to have trouble with Pick of the Week), but a wide variety. What seems good for you?

SEAN: Buckle up, kids, it’s another one of THOSE weeks next week.

Dark Horse debuts a new series in omnibus form, Elfen Lied. This one may actually be more familiar to older anime fans, as it had an infamous anime in 2004, and the manga is apparently just as noteworthy. It ran in Weekly Young Jump, and this has the first three volumes. It’s a brutal, violent, dark manga. But it has a lot of fans.

MICHELLE: I seem to recall hearing that a lot of amputations occur in this series, so that’ll be a pass for me.

ANNA: Yeah, amputations are not my thing.

MELINDA: I watched the anime way back and survived, so maybe?

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Ascendance of a Bookworm (Honzuki no Gekokujou), one of the more begged-for LN license requests of the last year or so. The subtitle has “I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!”, so this one may also appeal to the Manga Bookshelf folks too. A book-loving girl gets her dream job as a librarian… only to be killed and reincarnated in a fantasy world with low literacy. So to fulfill her dream of being surrounded by books, well… that’s the plot. I really want to read this. The print version is coming in the fall, but digital is out next week.

ASH: Perhaps because I’m a librarian, I really want to read this, too! I’m always interested in fantasy interpretations of my chosen profession. (I’ll probably wait for the print edition, though.)

ANNA: I am also interested in this as a librarian, but I tend to only like certain kinds of light novels. I’m definitely curious though!

MELINDA: This does sound kind of interesting.

SEAN: Kodansha, making up for two light weeks, has quite a bit next week. In print we have 10 Dance 3, Grand Blue Dreaming 6, Love in Focus 2, The Quintessential Quintuplets 3, and Yuri Is My Job! 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more 10 Dance! I did enjoy the low-key shoujo title Love in Focus, too.

ASH: 10 Dance definitely has most of my attention out of that bunch. Though, like Michelle, I also enjoyed the first volume of Love in Focus.

SEAN: Digitally, there’s Ao-chan Can’t Study! 7, Defying Kurosaki-kun 9, Kakafukaka 7, and Tokyo Revengers 7.

Seven Seas debuts an autobiographical manga by Akiko Higashimura, creator of Princess Jellyfish. Called Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artistic Journey (Kakukaku Shikajika), I reviewed it earlier this week, and it’s a must-read for fans of her work.

MICHELLE: SO EXCITE.

ASH: I got my hands on the first volume and it is VERY GOOD. I really love Higashimura’s work.

ANNA: OOH, this wasn’t on my radar at all.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has the print debut of Mushoku Tensei, as well as the 2nd volume digitally. There’s also the 3rd Make My Abilities Average! manga, and Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 6.

Udon has a 10th Persona 4. We are apparently getting close to the end.

Vertical has the 4th volume of My Boy.

Viz has Children of the Whales 10, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 11, Ooku 15, Ran and the Gray World 3, and Urusei Yatsura 2. I’m most interested in the last, but I know the MB team wants its yearly dose of Ooku.

MICHELLE: I do, but I’ll also be reading Uruseu Yatsura one of these days.

ASH: Yes, I need more Ooku! While I’m following a couple of the other series, too, Ooku is the priority for me.

ANNA: I’m excited about both Ooku and Uresei Yatsura.

SEAN: And now we have Yen. So much Yen. And not even all the Yen, as they delayed 7 titles to the week after next.

JY has the third and final volume of the Little Witch Academia manga.

Yen On debuts Torture Princess (Fremd Torturchen), which is (try to contain your surprise) where our hero ends up contracted to the title princess, who has to kill demons. The artist also does Black Bullet’s art. I hope this is slightly less bleak than Black Bullet.

In lighter fare, we also have Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki, whose manga already came out via Yen. It’s another in the ‘adaptations of movies’ line.

There’s also Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 8, Goblin Slayer 7, Overlord 10, A Sister’s All You Need 4, Strike the Blood 12, and Sword Art Online 16.

As for manga, the debut is Happy Sugar Life, which… I hate to use the word “yandere” in describing a manga, as it’s very over-and-badly used, but this series about a high school girls who falls for a sweet and pure kid and makes sure nothing gets in the way of their happy life, even if it means murder, probably justifies the term. It runs in Gangan Joker.

MICHELLE: Ugh.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Ending with its 7th volume is Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro, a series which debuted in 2006 but has only just now reached its 7th volume, which tells you a lot about its erratic publishing history. I love each volume, though I must admit “will Kuro survive?” is my primary question.

In other Yen manga news, we have Angels of Death Episode.0 2, Anne Happy! 9, Chio’s School Road 4, Dimension W 14, Graineliers 3, Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 2, DanMachi Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu 3 (manga version), Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl 9, Laid-Back Camp 6, Overlord 10 (manga version, out the same day as Overlord 10 the light novel, no doubt causing Amazon to have an aneurysm), Re: ZERO Arc 3 Volume 7, and Though You May Burn to Ash 5.

ASH: That is a fair bit!

SEAN: Aside from everything, what are you getting next week?

SEAN: This is… a relatively light week, at least compared to the rest of May.

Dark Horse has the 3rd Gantz Omnibus.

J-Novel Club has another debut, with The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan. A teen prodigy retires from the military, but is still the greatest magician in the land, so winds up teaching his gorgeous young successors at a magic school. I’m getting Bastard Magical Instructor vibes here.

They also have Amagi Brilliant Park 5 and In Another World with My Smartphone 14.

Kodansha has, believe it or not, no debuts. They have Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 4 (which has been on this list before, it keeps getting delayed) and The Seven Deadly Sins 32 in print.

And in digital, we have Kira-kun Today 7, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 3, Ran the Peerless Beauty 3, and Tokyo Revengers 7. Definitely getting more Ran.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen manga, based on the recently licensed light novels. No, this isn’t the manga ADV put out eons ago. It’s a 2016 version that runs in Famitsu Comic Clear.

They’ve also got Classroom of the Elite’s 2nd novel digitally, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 4th manga volume, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 6, and the 5th Toradora! novel.

Sol Press has a 3rd volume of Battle Divas, reassuring readers it will not be a full year between each book.

SuBLime has a debut with Love in Limbo, about an ex-soldier who’s not a shikigami in limbo. It runs in Frontier Works’ Daria, which may be the most unintentionally hilarious title for a BL magazine I’ve ever seen.

And there’s also Vol. 7 of A Strange and Mystifying Story.

MICHELLE: It’s also the final volume.

ASH: I’m still happy that the license for this series was rescued, though I am a couple volumes behind in my reading.

SEAN: Vertical has a 2nd manga volume of Kino’s Journey.

MELINDA: Hello, THIS.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely reading this one.

SEAN: Viz has no debuts, but who cares, because Requiem of the Rose King 10, baby. There’s also the 5th Fullmetal Edition of Fullmetal Alchemist, Radiant 5, Record of Grancest War 3, and YO-KAI WATCH 11, whose title doesn’t know not to use all caps.

MELINDA: REQUIEM OF THE ROSE KING FOREVER because I apparently also have an all caps problem. Also, totally into any edition of Fullmetal Alchemist, anytime, so there’s that.

MICHELLE: I haven’t read volume nine yet so now I get to have a fun little mini-marathon.

ANNA: Me too, it is such a great series!

ASH: I’m always happy to see more Requiem of the Rose King!

SEAN: I believe MB will breath a sigh of relief, Pick of the Week-wise, to see Rose King. But what are you getting?

SEAN: Sometimes one book sort of takes all the attention, like a black hole. We’ll do our best to mention everything else as well, though.

Dark Horse debuts Emanon, by the artist of Spirit of Wonder (anyone remember that series?) and based on an award-winning novel. It looks quiet and mysterious. It runs in Comic Ryu, so that may not be the case, but…

MELINDA: Hm. Interested.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Wandering Island, the creator’s other series in English, so I’ll likely be giving this one a look.

SEAN: They also have a World Guide for the NieR: Automata series.

J-Novel Club debuts Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, another in a series of light novels whose plot is in its title.

They also give us I Shall Survive Using Potions! 2, Kokoro Connect 5, and Lazy Dungeon Master 5.

Kodansha does not have a debut, though the first week of the month is always dangerous to say that about – apologies if they announce something after I post this. In the meantime, in print we get Hitorijime My Hero 3.

And digitally there is Blissful Land 3, Can You Just Die, My Darling? 8, Momo’s Iron Will 2, and World’s End and Apricot Jam 4.

Seven Seas has, technically, other things out next week. Let’s actually mention those first. There’s the print debut of Classroom of the Elite, The Dungeon of Black Company 3, High-Rise Invasion 7-8, and Mononoke Sharing 4.

But no one cares at all, because they are debuting Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare. One of the most highly anticipated manga debuts since I don’t know when (well, OK, since Saint Young Men two weeks ago), this manga deals seriously with LGBTA themes, contains superb writing and character work, and is highly recommended by everyone I know. I can’t wait to start it.

MELINDA: Okay, want, want, WANT. WANT. WANT.

MICHELLE: SAME.

ASH: YUP!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a third Yuri Bear Storm, which… is not quite the same sort of series.

Vertical has a 12th volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

I feel badly for Viz, as any other week I’d be falling over myself praising them for picking up Snow White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayukihime), which has similar plot and characters as Yona of the Dawn but is its own delightful series. (And honestly, who wouldn’t want to be compared to Yona of the Dawn?). It runs in LaLa.

MELINDA: I’m in!

MICHELLE: Same again!

ANNA: Me too!!!

ASH: I’m also looking forward to this!

SEAN: Other shoujo? Anonymous Noise 14, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast 3, and Shortcake Cake 4.

MICHELLE: I’ll read all of these eventually!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: On the shonen end we debut the new arc for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Unlike other new arcs for JoJo’s, this has the same cast as the previous arc.

ASH: I am incredibly pleased that this is being released, especially since it’s a fancy hardcover edition.

SEAN: There’s Black Clover 15, Black Torch 4, Demon Slayer 6, Dr. STONE 5, Dragon Ball Super 5, Haikyu!! 32, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 8 (I’m giving in and making it shonen, as that’s how it’s marketed here), One Piece 90 (Christ, ONE PIECE NINETY!!!), One-Punch Man 16, and Twin Star Exorcists 15.

Seriously, buy Shimanami Tasogare. I want to see it sell like hotcakes. What are you getting besides that?

SEAN: Please join us for next week’s crush of titles. Yes, another one.

Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 10 and Yokai Girls 7.

J-Novel Club has a lot of debuts coming up, but this one is a license rescue. Tokyopop released a few of the Full Metal Panic! novels back in 2007 or so, but only got five books in. Now J-Novel Club has the rights, and is releasing new translations. The first volume is out digitally next week, with print omnibuses coming early next year. Please enjoy the only angry tsundere male anime fans never tore apart, Kaname Chidori.

J-Novel Club also has How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8, Infinite Stratos 7, My Next Life as a Villainess 3, and The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 4. Everyone should be reading Bakarina.

Kodansha has quite a bit. There’s Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle 6, Fire Force 15, and Toppu GP 4 on the print side.

ASH: As a whole, I think I’ve been enjoying Mars Chronicle more than I ended up enjoying Last Order. If nothing else, the action sequences are engaging.

SEAN: Digitally we see Kounodori: Dr. Stork 11, Lovesick Ellie 8, The Prince’s Black Poison 9, Princess Resurrection Nightmare 3, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 7.

Seven Seas has a light novel digital debut with Reincarnated as a Sword, which… aw, you can guess. He’s reincarnated. As a sword! There’s also a catgirl, apparently.

ASH: There have been so many of this particular type of ridiculous premise of late!

SEAN: There’s also a spinoff manga debut with the first volume of Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious. With a soundtrack by Jon Astley.

Seven Seas also has Generation Witch 4 and Plus-Sized Elf 2.

Vertical has Arakawa Under the Bridge 6, the title that ISN’T Saint Young Men.

ANNA: I’m STILL EXCITED for Saint Young Men!

ASH: Same! Though, I do enjoy Arakawa Under the Bridge, too.

SEAN: They also have Tsukimonogatari: Possession Tale, the latest in Nisioisin’s fan-friendly novel series, this time focusing on deadpan corpse Ononoki.

Viz has a picture book. Why mention it here? It’s a Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind picture book.

ANNA: I am confident it will be gorgeous.

SEAN: Yen time. JY has a 3rd volume of Zo-Zo-Zombie.

Yen On gives us another of the seemingly endless Final Fantasy novels, this one Final Fantasy XIII: Episode Zero: Promise.

The closest thing Yen has to a manga debut this month is the start of the 8th and final arc of Umineko When They Cry. Titled Twilight of the Golden Witch, this omnibus has the first three volumes, and features some of the best and worst of the series.

And then there is… to the tune of some Gilbert and Sullivan song…

Akame Ga KILL! ZERO 9
Angels of Death 6
Aoharu x Machinegun 15
A Certain Magical Index (manga) 17
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody (manga) 7
DIVE!! 2
The Elder Sister-Like One 3

(takes breath)

Goblin Slayer (manga) 5.
Hakumei & Mikochi 5
Hatsu*Haru 6
High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 3
Is It Wrong to Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria (manga) 7

(I hope you’re taking notes, there will be a quiz next period)

Kagerou Daze (manga) 12
Murcielago 10
Nyankees 2
The Royal Tutor 11
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 5
The Saga of Tanya the Evil 6 (manga)

(we’re in the home stretch, folks)

Sekirei Omnibus 8
Silver Spoon 8

(pause for Melinda to scream “SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOON!”)

MELINDA: SILVER SPOOOOOOOOOOON!

SEAN: Teasing Master Takagi-san 4
Today’s Cerberus 12
Yowamushi Pedal 11

MICHELLE: Yen’s releases are where my attention is this week. Most of that goes to Yowamushi Pedal, of course, but I continue to have the best intentions for reading Silver Spoon and a couple of their shoujo offerings, too. One of these days!

MELINDA: I’m a little stunned by how little there is for me here in a week with SO many releases. But Sean made it all better with his G&S joke. Honestly, that’s worth the weirdly uninteresting (to me) glut.

ASH: I was likewise greatly amused! Out of the bunch Silver Spoon and Yowamushi Pedal are what interest me the most. I’ve also been enjoying Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. And while I wasn’t as taken with their debuts as I had hoped, I would love to see DIVE!! and Nyankees live up to their promise.

SEAN: And that’s it! See? You can probably buy all of it easily. What will you be getting?

SEAN: Sometimes publishers surprise you.

But before we get to the surprise, Cross Infinite World has the 2nd novel for Obsessions of an Otome Gamer. I found the first volume far better than expected… and far longer than expected. I look forward to this, but may have to set aside extra time for it.

J-Novel Club has a 5th volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride.

Kodansha, print-wise, has Attack on Titan: Before the Fall 16, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 10, and To Your Eternity 9.

ASH: To Your Eternity continues to be an excellent series.

SEAN: But let’s face it, it’s all about the digitals this week. Another “this will never get licensed” title has been licensed, digital-only. Saint Young Men is a typical slice-of-life comedy about two men sharing a small apartment in modern Japan. Oh, yes, and they’re Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha. Which explains why this was not licensed for so long. It’s by the creator of Arakawa Under the Bridge, and is (believe it or not) far less weird than that title.

MICHELLE: Finally! I’m so excited for this.

MELINDA: I can’t remember the last time I was so surprised/thrilled about a release. I mean, I never thought this could happen in the US, even as a digital release.

ANNA: Me too! It is so nice to be surprised like this!

ASH: This really is fantastic news! Kodansha is technically calling this a digital-first release, so there may be a slim possibility that a print edition may eventually be released. It’s like a miracle that it was licensed at all, so I’m hoping for another one!

SEAN: In less controversial digital titles, we see Ace of the Diamond 22, Ao-chan Can’t Study! 6, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 2, Blissful Land 3, Defying Kurosaki-kun 8, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 12, Kakafukaka 6, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 4, My Boy in Blue 8, and Tokyo Alice 10. That’s a lot.

MICHELLE: Forsooth.

SEAN: Oh yes, and Kodansha license rescued Initial D and are releasing about 30 million volumes of it digitally. Which is, as Initial D fans known, only about 1/4 of the total volumes.

MICHELLE: I was literally thinking about Initial D earlier today!

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 3, Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage 8, How to Train Magical Beasts 3, Sorry for My Familiar 4, and Species Domain 6.

ASH: How to Train Magical Beasts has been a nice series so far.

SEAN: Tokyopop lists Aria the Masterpiece 2 and Konohana Kitan 4 as coming out next week, though Amazon seems to disagree.

Viz has, in a digital debut, the first seven volumes of Banana Fish, a somewhat obscure old shoujo series that I’m sure the rest of Manga Bookshelf has never heard of.

MICHELLE: *snerk*

MELINDA: What kind of title is that? “Banana Fish.” Huh. Though, okay, I wish we were getting a deluxe print reissue instead.

ANNA: Sweet, maybe I will finally read it!

ASH: I would absolutely buy the series again if it was getting a new print deluxe edition. But I’m really happy that it’s back in print at all, and now available digitally, too.

SEAN: It also has a 9th volume, digital-only, of élDLIVE, from the creator of Reborn! (remember Reborn!? Years ago? Cancelled by Viz?).

MICHELLE: I am really hoping VIZ does more digital-only titles.

SEAN: Yen has a digital debut of its own, as if to say that those other two aren’t good enough. ALL of Fruits Basket is out next week digitally. That’s twelve omnibuses. Now you can read it on your phone (and also probably start crying in public, so don’t do that).

MELINDA: This is pretty sweet.

SEAN: Yen’s print manga is the week after next, but we do get this month’s novels. The debut is Penguin Highway, another in Yen’s ongoing series of “license the novel with a recent popular movie”. The novel is apparently really good, though, and has won the Nihon SF Taisho Award. Expect coming-of-age adventure!

ASH: I’ll be picking this one up!

There’s also Baccano! 10 (we promise, Monica is in the one after this, Baccano! fans), The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 13, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years 4, KonoSuba 8, Re: ZERO EX 3, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime 5.

Jesus Christ, that’s some good manga. (Sorry.) (OK, not that sorry.)

SEAN: A Week of much excitement and prizes!

Dark Horse has a Berserk light novel (light? Berserk?) called The Flame Dragon Knight.

ASH: Ha! Surprising no one, I’ll be picking this up.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a 13th Little Apocalypse and an 8th Outbreak Company.

Kodansha doesn’t seem to have any debuts, but we do get Aho-Girl 12 and Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 4.

Digitally there is All Out!! 9, Altair: A Record of Battles 10, Back Street Girls 10, DAYS 13, Kira-kun Today 6, Ran he Peerless Beauty 2, and Tokyo Revengers 6. I’m definitely reading another Ran.

MICHELLE: Me, too!

MELINDA: Okay, I still haven’t read the first Ran, but I need to!

MICHELLE: It has a certain Kimi ni Todoke quality about it.

One Peace has a 10th manga volume for polarizing title The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Seven Seas has a digital light novel debut with Restaurant to Another World (Isekai Shokudou). I’ve read the manga on Crunchyroll’s site, so am looking forward to a prose version. You can probably guess the premise.

ASH: You can probably guess that I’ll be giving the series a try later this year (when it debuts in print).

SEAN: They’ve also got the 4th Clockwork Planet novel (print edition), Getter Robo Devolution 3, Himouto Umaru-chan 5, and If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord 3 (manga version).

This should have been on last week’s list, but Sol Press have 2nd volumes for their light novels Battle Divas and Strongest Gamer.

ASH: I’d forgotten about Sol Press!

SEAN: Vertical Comics debuts Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest (Hokuhokusei ni Kumo to Ike), the newest series from the creator of Ran and the Gray World, runs in Harta magazine, and is apparently as gorgeous as its older sister manga.

MICHELLE: Ooh, neat!

ANNA: I haven’t read the second volume of Ran and the Gray World yet, but I suspect that series is going to be too male gazey for me, I’ll be checking out reviews of North-by-Northwest.

MELINDA: Sign me up for this!

SEAN: Viz, as if to say to hold off on Pick of the Week till they show up, debuts a Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind artbook, as well as a new Junji Ito Story Collection, Smashed.

ASH: Smashing!

MELINDA: Oooooooh that artbook…

SEAN: And they have the 5th Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, the 6th and mercifully final Fire Punch, a 9th Golden Kamuy (which can be as disturbing as Fire Punch was at times, but draws me in far more), and Tokyo Ghoul;re 10.

ASH: More Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction and Golden Kamuy for me!

ANNA: I’m excited for more Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction!

SEAN: Are you excited. I’m excited. (And I just can’t hide… sorry.)

SEAN: Last week we gushed about Viz, I suspect this week will be Kodansha, with two killer debuts. (Debuts reflect release date on Kodansha’s website, not Amazon)

But first, Drawn & Quarterly has a new Kitaro volume, Kitaro’s Yokai Battles.

ASH: Yes! It seems like forever since the last Kitaro release.

SEAN: J-Novel Club snuck Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 20 out on me for this week, plus we also have Cooking with Wild Game 2 and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 4 next week.

Kodansha has a bevy of digital, including a debut. The title is My Pink Is Overflowing (Atashi no Pink ga Afurechau), which sounds filthy, and runs in Ane Friend. It’s about a girl who finds out her manager at work is a virgin, which excites her to no end. This sounds so trashy that I have to read it.

MICHELLE: After having given in to trashy temptations with Love Massage, I think I’ll sit this one out. :)

ANNA: Me too, there’s plenty of other things to catch up on instead.

MELINDA: Yeah, so not into this. Probably. Well, maybe.

SEAN: Also digitally? The third and final Crocodile Baron, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 6, Love Massage! Melting Beauty Treatment 2, My Sweet Girl 2, The Walls Between Us 5, and World’s End and Apricot Jam 3.

MICHELLE: I’m reading several of these (hint: not Love Massage). World’s End in particular is better than I thought it would be, given its premise.

SEAN: We also have some print releases from Kodansha. O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Araburu Kisetsu no Otomedomo yo) is written by Mari Okada, famed anime screenwriter whose autobiography was put out by J-Novel Club, and drawn by Nao Emoto, who did Forget Me Not. It’s a Bessatsu Shonen title with an anime coming out this summer, and is a coming of age drama starring five high school girls.

ASH: I’m particularly interested in this due to Okada’s involvement.

MELINDA: That sounds interesting!

SEAN: There’s also Witch Hat Atelier, which runs in Morning Two, looks AMAZING, is award-winning, and follows a girl who becomes a witch’s apprentice so she can learn magic to save her mother from… um… well, her own impetuousness.

MICHELLE: It’ll be interesting to compare this to Ran and the Gray World.

ASH: I’ve heard really good things about this title.

ANNA: I’m officially intrigued.

MELINDA: I mean, even just the title. Definitely interested in this.

SEAN: And we have Attack on Titan 27, Grand Blue Dreaming 5, Land of the Lustrous 8, and Tokyo Tarareba Girls 6.

ASH: I’ll definitely be picking up those last two!

Seven Seas gives us Space Battleship Yamato: The Complete Collection. It’s so old it ran in Akita Shoten’s Bouken Ou, which no longer exists, and is better known in North America for its adaptation as a cartoon, Star Blazers. As with all Matsumoto, it’s a must-buy hardcover.

ASH: Yup. Picking this one up, too.

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: And they also have, digitally, the 6th Make My Abilities Average! novel. Print will come later.

Tokyopop has a 4th Konohana Kitan.

Vertical has the first Knights of Sidonia Master Edition, with larger size, 2.5 volumes per omnibus, and colored inserts. Come for the bear, stay for the strangest harem manga ever.

And Viz ends things next week, as we have a NeiR:Aotomata short story volume called Short Story Long.

As well as Case Closed 70, Magi 35, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 6.

ASH: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is a consistently fun series.

ANNA: I need to get caught up!

SEAN: There’s some heavy hitters out next week. What’ve you got?