manga the week of

SEAN: Warning: Yen Press week.

ASH: The heads up is appreciated.

SEAN: In fact, we start with Yen On. They have several debuts… well, and sort-of debuts. Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! Fantastic Days (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! Fantastic Days!), a spinoff written by the author of Reborn As a Vending Machine, who has done several KonoSuba spinoff LNs, all unlicensed. This is licensed, probably as it’s based on a game also coming out in the West soon. It’s… well, a standard KonoSuba story.

Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: Secret File (Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjō, Arui wa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen Secret File) is a short story spinoff of the main series, with 100% more wacky and 100% less weird cliffhangers.

The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō) is a novel, rather than a light novel, written by an author best known for Hyouka, and this new book has won awards. It’s a historical mystery novel revolving around a real-life person, Kuroda Kanbei.

MICHELLE: Potentially interesting!

ANNA: Hmm, this does sound interesting.

ASH: Oh! Yes, it does!

SEAN: Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (Cider no Yō ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru) is based on a movie, and we also saw the manga last month. It’s the same plot as every other Japanese anime movie ever since Your Name came out.

ASH: I thought it sounded familiar.

SEAN: They also have The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?) 10, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway 4, Ishura 4, Magical Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim 5, Overlord 16, Sabikui Bisco 5, Solo Leveling 8, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina 11, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 7.

Debuting from Yen Press is I Want to Be a Receptionist in This Magical World (Mahousekai no Uketsukejou ni Naritai desu!), a shoujo manga from Flos Comic based on a light novel that J-Novel Club released here as The Sorcerer’s Receptionist. Nunnally is a first-rate mage, but she’s going to be a receptionist who helps others. There’s just one problem… the annoying guy in class is always better than her at everything!

Imitation is a manwha, but not based on a webcomic or webnovel, which means it’s not on the Ize Press imprint. An idol humiliates herself on a talk show… and now a member of the top male idol group is angry with her!

ANNA: Oh no!

SEAN: My Mate Is a Feline Gentleman (Boku no Tsugai wa Neko Shinshi) is an A/B/O title (should that be a separate genre from BL?) about an omega hired by a beastman, who turns out to be appalled at the way omegas are treated in Japan. Is our hero finally going to have people be nice while having sex with him?

Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer!: The Invincible Saint and the Quest for Fluff (Seijo-sama? Iie, Toorisugari no Mamono Tsukai desu! – Zettai Muteki no Seijo wa Mofumofu to Tabi wo suru), which is another manga based on a light novel J-Novel Club is already putting out. This runs in Comic Walker, and is about a girl who is determined to NOT be the Saint that will save the world.

Secrets of the Silent Witch (Silent Witch – Chinmoku no Majo no Kakushigoto) is the manga adaptation of a light novel that Yen puts out themselves. It’s from B’s Log Comic, and is about an introverted but extremely powerful witch forced to be the secret bodyguard to a prince.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! Official Comic Anthology is a collection by various artists of short manga based around the popular series.

ASH: It’s been a while since I’ve thought of that franchise, but I had fun with it.

SEAN: The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) is a BL-ish manga that runs in Young Ace Up. Two boys have always been best friends… but one day one of them comes back from the mountainside… and he’s DIFFERENT. I am not sure if The Summer Hikaru Died is the same time as The Night Chicago Died. Probably not.

MICHELLE: Glory be!

ASH: I’ve heard very good things about this one.

SEAN: Also from Yen Press: Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 5, The Beginning After the End 3, Black Butler 32, The Boxer 3, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! 5, Call the Name of the Night 2, Can’t Stop Cursing You 4 (the final volume), Cheeky Brat 7, Coffee Moon 3, Dead Mount Death Play 9, The Eminence in Shadow 7, Final Fantasy Lost Stranger 9, Goblin Slayer 12, Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 8 (the final volume), Hirano and Kagiura 3, Horimiya Memorial Book Page. 100 (an art book), I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 3, In Another World with My Smartphone 9, Kakegurui Twin 13, Kowloon Generic Romance 4, Love and Heart 8, Love of Kill 12, Mint Chocolate 8, My Gently Raised Beast 3, Please Put Them On, Takamine-san 6, Run on Your New Legs 5 (the final volume), Shadows House 4, Shy 3, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School! 13, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 18, Touring After the Apocalypse 3, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? 2, Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion 4, and The World After the Fall 3.

MICHELLE: I continually forget Black Butler is still going.

ANNA: 32 volumes is something!

SEAN: It’s OK, you can come out now, Yen is done. On to Viz. Continuing their partnership with Marvel, we get Marvel Comics: A Manga Tribute, an artbook featuring several famous Japanese artists drawing Marvel characters.

ASH: I’ll have to see who all contributed to this one.

SEAN: Viz also has Boy’s Abyss 2, Dark Gathering 2, Record of Ragnarok 7, Seraph of the End 27, and Undead Unluck 12.

Udon Entertainment has Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant 2.

Square Enix Manga has The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 4 and My Dress-Up Darling 9.

Seven Seas debuts The Great Snake’s Bride (Daija ni Totsuida Musume), a horror manga from Comic Marche. This has won awards, and is apparently very dark and filled with interesting themes, but I will just say that it is about a marriage between a woman and a giant snake.

ASH: I’ll readily admit that I’m intrigued.

SEAN: There’s also Bite Maker: The King’s Omega 8, The Dangers in My Heart 6, The Evil Secret Society of Cats 3, Ex-Yakuza and Stray Kitten 3, My Senpai is Annoying 10, Namekawa-san Won’t Take a Licking! 4 (the final volume), The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 2, and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 9.

Kodansha Books has Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement 2, the third volume in the series. (The first was an omnibus of the first two Japanese novels because it was a license rescue, so this will not be going away.)

Kodansha Manga has no debuts, but has some print. We get Attack on Titan Omnibus 11, A Condition Called Love 4, FAIRY TAIL: 100 Years Quest 13, The Great Cleric 4, Phantom of the Idol 6 (look, Kodansha is now putting out ebooks 1-2 weeks before print, and it’s confusing), When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 12, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 5.

Digitally they’ve got Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You 6, Blue Lock 20, Gamaran 11, Medalist 7, Messiah -CODE EDGE- 2, Small Nozomi and Big Yume 3 (the final volume), Ya Boy Kongming! 12, and You’re My Cutie 6.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up with Blue Lock and Medalist. I enjoyed what I’ve read of both very much.

ANNA: I need to order Blue Lock for one of my kids, I’m likely going to start collecting Medalist in print.

SEAN: The debut from J-Novel Club is Stuck in a Time Loop: When All Else Fails, Be a Villainess (Loop kara Nukedasenai Akuyaku Reijō wa, Akiramete Sukikatte Ikirukoto ni Kimemashita). For once, we have a nice girl who, after being killed over and over for not having the RIGHT power, decides to give up and be a villainess. That’ll go well.

ASH: It usually does.

SEAN: There’s also A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills! 2, The Game Master Has Logged In to Another World 3, Holmes of Kyoto 15, I’m Capped at Level 1?! Thus Begins My Journey to Become the World’s Strongest Badass! 2, Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 5, Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire 9, and Seventh 4.

Ghost Ship has Desire Pandora 4 and Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time 10.

And Airship, in print, has The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 8 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 6.

While in early digital, if they can get the retailer links up in time, we should see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 14 and Modern Villainess: It’s Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash 3.

Tired. Manga? Buy?

SEAN: (bad white blues singer voice) Well I woke up this morning, with some manga near my bed…

Airship has lots of print. Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 5, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 19, The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 6, and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 4.

ASH: Always a fan of print!

SEAN: And there’s an early digital release for Loner Life in Another World 6.

Ghost Ship gives us Parallel Paradise 14.

It’s print week for J-Novel Club! Debuting is the manga version of Tearmoon Empire, which is just as good as the novels. It runs in Comic Corona.

ASH: I should give this a look.

SEAN: We also see Ascendance of a Bookworm 19, the 5th Infinite Dendrogram manga omnibus, and the 4th Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles manga omnibus.

ASH: I’ve got some catching up to do with Ascendance of a Bookworm, but I do really enjoy the series.

SEAN: Digitally J-Novel Club has Black Summoner 13, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill: Sui’s Great Adventure 4, Earl and Fairy 2, The Skull Dragon’s Precious Daughter 3, VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream 5, Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster 2, and Yuri Tama: From Third Wheel to Trifecta 3.

Kodansha has no debuts, but we do see print volumes for A Galaxy Next Door 5, SHAMAN KING: FLOWERS 3, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 3, and Twilight Out of Focus 2.

The digital debut is one that made anime fandom very happy when it quietly appeared on bookstore sites. Teppu ran in good! Afternoon about 15 years ago, and is about mixed martial arts, which means it’s filled with very well-drawn hot teenagers beating the hell out of each other. That said, I hear this is more character-driven than, say, Baki the Grappler is.

MICHELLE: I’m always willing to give a new sports manga series a chance!

ANNA: Hmmmm…..

ASH: Count me curious!

SEAN: And also digitally we have Ace of the Diamond 44, The Fable 16, Gang King 7, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 14, A Kiss with a Cat 6 (the final volume), Life 2: Giver/Taker 5, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 7, Phantom of the Idol 6, and Watari-kun’s ****** Is About to Collapse 14.

One Peace Books has the 8th manga volume of The Reprise of the Spear Hero.

From Seven Seas we get BARBARITIES III, Cinderella Closet 2, Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 6, I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me 3, Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari 3, MoMo -the blood taker- 5, My Girlfriend’s Child 2, My New Life as a Cat 2, My [Repair] Skill Became a Versatile Cheat, So I Think I’ll Open a Weapon Shop 4, and No Longer Allowed In Another World 3.

Square Enix Manga has The Apothecary Diaries 8 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 13.

ASH: The Apothecary Diaries is another series I enjoy but need to catch up on.

SEAN: SuBLime has Finder Deluxe Edition 12 and The World’s Greatest First Love 16.

ASH: I’ll admit, I’d forgotten that both of these series were ongoing.

SEAN: Tokyopop gives us a 2nd volume of Sengoku Youko.

Udon Entertainment has Persona 4 Arena 3 (the final volume).

Viz debuts Disney Twisted-Wonderland, based on the Japanese game, and running in GFantasy. Yu is at a magical academy… despite having no magic. And no way to leave campus.

Also from Viz: Case Closed 87, Dandadan 4, Devil’s Candy 3, Fly Me to the Moon 18, Helck 4, Kaiju No. 8 7, Kirby Manga Mania 6, Mao 12, and Wolf Girl and Black Prince 2.

(bad white blues singer voice) I was asking what you were buying… and then a demon slayer from another world with a harem of catgirls cut me dead.

MICHELLE: *tosses a buck in Sean’s guitar case*

SEAN: Hot hot heat. Must be July.

Viz gives us a debut, Like a Butterfly (Hibi Chouchou) is the latest from the author of A Sign of Affection and Short Cake Cake… except it’s not, it actually came out before both of those. A gorgeous high school girl is also shy and doesn’t like attention… so promptly falls for the boy who refuses to look at her. This looks sweet.

MICHELLE: I’m here for it.

ANNA: Surprising no one, so am I!

ASH: Likewise interested.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Blue Box 5, Dr. STONE 26, The Elusive Samurai 7, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 8, Moriarty the Patriot 12, My Love Mix-Up! 8, One Piece 103, Romantic Killer 4 (the final volume), Tista 2 (the final volume), and Vampire Knight: Memories 8.

Square Enix has A Man and His Cat 8.

ASH: I should probably catch up with this series; I did enjoy what I have managed to read.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts Classroom of the Elite: Horikita (Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e √Horkita), a spinoff AU series that focuses on Horikita, which may surprise anime fans who thought the series already focused too much on her. It ran in my nemesis, Comic Alive.

They’ve also got The Ancient Magus’ Bride 18, Berserk of Gluttony 8, Gap Papa: Daddy at Work and at Home 2, Kemono Jihen 6, Let’s Buy the Land and Cultivate It in a Different World 4, Made in Abyss 11, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 16, and Versailles of the Dead 4.

MICHELLE: I didn’t realize volume 18 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride was coming out so soon; I’ve been working my way to getting caught up to 17!

ASH: Always glad to see a new volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

SEAN: There’s some print from Kodansha. Drifting Dragons 14, EDENS ZERO 23, In/Spectre 18, Lovely Muco! 2, Noragami Omnibus 6, To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts 14, and Yuri is My Job! 11.

ASH: Drifting Dragons is another series that I’ve been enjoying but need to catch up on.

SEAN: The digital debut is My Wife is a Little Intimidating (Boku no Oku-san wa Chotto Kowai), a Comic Days series based on a Twitter comic. The description reminds me a bit of We’re New at This if the wife were… well… intimidating, rather than stoic.

And there’s digital for The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 9, How to Grill Our Love 3, Life 5, MF Ghost 15, Matcha Made in Heaven 6, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch: Aqua 2, Sakura’s Dedication 4, The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch 3, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 9.

ANNA: I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next Matcha Made in Heaven!

ASH: I haven’t read the first volume yet, but I still love the series’ title.

SEAN: No new series for J-Novel Club, but a whole lot of ongoing ones. The 100th Time’s the Charm: She Was Executed 99 Times, So How Did She Unlock “Super Love” Mode?! 2, The Apothecary Witch Turned Divorce Agent 2, An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 16, the 2nd manga volume of A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills!, Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte Disc EX (the final volume), Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers 8, the 5th manga volume of Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers, Let This Grieving Soul Retire 2, Magic Knight of the Old Ways 5 (the final volume), The Misfit of Demon King Academy 4 Part 2, My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex 7, the 4th manga volume of Rebuild World, A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince! 2, and To Another World… with Land Mines! 7.

ASH: Wow! That is a whole lot!

SEAN: Ghost Ship has Love is an Illusion! 3 (OK, not technically Ghost Ship), Please Go Home, Miss Akutsu! 2, and World’s End Harem: Fantasia 9.

Apologies, missed this last week. Fantagraphics has a one-shot, Minami’s Lover (Minami-kun no Koibito), a Garo manga from 1986 about a high school couple who struggle with everything when she becomes six inches tall!

ASH: Oh, yes! I just got my hands on that one!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the 9th Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition. (It got bumped.)

ASH: I’ll be picking it up whenever it’s actually released.

SEAN: And Airship, in print, gives us Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 3 and Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut 5.

We also get early digital for The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 5 and Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 23.

That’s it? Not too bad!

SEAN: June is almost over, so let’s get those last books out before the fiscal year ends.

ASH: I am unfortunately very aware of these deadlines.

SEAN: Airship has one print light novel: Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 7.

We also see early digital releases of I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 5 and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 2.

No debuts from Cross Infinite World, but we get two ongoing series: Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin 5 and The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor 2.

Denpa says this should be sold at AX, so I’ll stick it here, though I’m sure it will retail later. Fate/Grand Order: Chaldea Scrapbook (Fate/Grand Order Caldeas Clap) ran in Type-Moon Comic Ace, and is a series of shorts dealing with the FGO cast, including Mash’s backstory!

Ghost Ship brings us Call Girl in Another World 7.

No debuts from J-Novel Club, but lots of ongoing titles. We get Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill 13, Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 10, Grand Sumo Villainess Z (the final volume?), The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 16, the 5th Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! manga volume, I Only Have Six Months to Live, So I’m Gonna Break the Curse with Light Magic or Die Trying 2, The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes 8 (the final volume), and When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace 6.

Kodansha Books has a 2nd volume of As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World.

Kodansha Manga has a one-shot debut from Kyoko Okazaki, author of Helter Skelter. River’s Edge is a dark tale showing us the lives of six emotionally stunted students, and it ran in CUTIE.

ANNA: Alright, I’m likely going to check this out.

ASH: Absolutely! I am very much looking forward to this release. Okazaki’s work is tremendous.

SEAN: Also in print: Blue Lock 7, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 6, Saint Young Men Omnibus 10, Shangri-La Frontier 6, and Shonen Note: Boy Soprano 4.

ANNA: Need to remember to pick up Blue Lock for one of my kids.

ASH: I’m still here for Saint Young Men!

SEAN: And we get digital volumes of Boss Bride Days 6, Gamaran: Shura 9, Getting Closer to You 5, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 14, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 10, Lightning and Romance 4, My Home Hero 5, Saint Young Men 20, That’s My Atypical Girl 9, and The World of Summoning 2.

KUMA is here for the same reason Denpa is: this should be available at AX. Eiji and Shiro: From Zeroes to Heroes (Mobyama Aji to Mobtani Crou no Kareinaru Nichijou e no Chousen) is a BL title from Takeshobo’s Reijin! about two “background characters” trying to change their destiny of being “those two guys”.

MICHELLE: This might be silly fun.

ASH: It does look that way!

SEAN: And they should also have Happy of the End 2.

One Peace Books has a 3rd volume of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (the manga version).

Seven Seas debuts Homunculus, which inspired a Netflix series. Coming out as an oversized omnibus of the first two volumes, it’s by the creator of Ichi the Killer. It’s part psychological suspense and part just plain horror, and it ran in Big Comic Spirits. A homeless man is offered money to be the subject of a mysterious experiment…

MICHELLE: “Psychological suspense” is up my alley.

ASH: Same. And I’ve heard good things about this one.

SEAN: Also debuting is Obnoxious Hero-kun: The Complete Collection. This is a BL webtoon collection, which we’ve seen an awful lot of lately. Hope you like bondage!

ASH: There seem to be a few bondage-related manga out these days.

SEAN: There’s also 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 3, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 5, Failed Princesses 6.5 (a 50-page digital only extra with a couple bonus chapters), I Think I Turned My Childhood Friend Into a Girl 3, Killing Stalking: Deluxe Edition 3, The NPCs in this Village Sim Game Must Be Real! 4, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 5, SPRIGGAN: Deluxe Edition 4 (the final volume), Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit 5 (the final volume), There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… 2, and Tokyo Revengers 11-12.

ASH: Need to catch up on (or start) some of these.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga gives us Otherside Picnic 5 and Ragna Crimson 9.

Steamship has Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 4.

Tokyopop debuts Delivery for You! (Kime e Otodoke), a BL oneshot about a guy who collects figures falling in love with his deliveryman. It ran in Chara.

They’ve also got On or Off 4 (the final volume).

Viz debuts Goodbye, Eri, from the creator of Chainsaw Man. This one-shot about a filmmaker and how he deals with grief was beloved by everyone I know when it appeared digitally.

ANNA: OK, I’m curious.

Also they also have Wolverine: Snikt!, a 136-page Marvel collaboration I would normally ignore except it’s by the creator of Knights of Sidonia.

MICHELLE: Huh.

ANNA: ….still curious.

ASH: Oh!

SEAN: They’ve also got a second Demon Slayer novel, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Signs From the Wind. And Fist of the North Star 9.

ASH: Still very happy to be able to collect more of Fist of the North Star.

Lastly, Yen Press has a couple stragglers, as we see Phantom Tales of the Night 11, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Chapter 4: The Sanctuary and the Witch of Greed 6, and Triage X 25.

That’s a lot more “end of June” than I was expecting. Anything for you?

SEAN: Manga the Week of is happy to celebrate Juneteenth, and hopes the day off lets you read more manga.

It’s Yen week, so there’s plenty of it. Starting with Yen On. There are two debuts. The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey (Setsuna no Fūkei) is one of those “summoned as a hero” books that tries to take a long look at what that sort of thing would do to the psyche of a person. The description makes it almost sound like Frieren.

Yami-hara is a one-shot novel. The author is famous for her mysteries, but this seems more horror than anything. The plot description… does not really reveal anything.

MICHELLE: Indeed not!

ASH: Oh, I am intrigued, though! (And had somehow missed that another of Mizuki Tsujimura’s novels was being translated…)

SEAN: We’ve also got Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 3, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 10, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 4, Date a Live 9, Gods’ Games We Play 2, My Happy Marriage 4, Rascal Does Not Dream of a Nightingale (11th in the series), Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- 22, So I’m a Spider, So What? 16 (the final volume), Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 12, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 8.

Yen Press has a bunch of new series as well. Appare-Ranman! is a 3-in-1 omnibus, and thus done-in-one. It ran in Young Ace, and is based on an anime of the same name. A young man decides to do a cross-country race to earn money so he can go to the moon.

ASH: This seems like it could be fun.

SEAN: Bloody Sweet is a Korean title based off a webcomic (is that the word? Those “read as a long strip on your phone” comics), about a bullied shaman’s daughter who gets rescued by an ancient vampire.

The Essence of Being a Muse (Muse no Shinzui) is a Comic Beam title. A girl who’s always stuck to the path that her mother has laid out for her as an artist finally snaps, runs away from home, and resolves to try to find her own way of doing things.

ASH: My curiosity has been piqued; I often find artist stories interesting.

SEAN: Handyman Saito in Another World (Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku) runs on Comic Walker, and was adapted into an anime recently. A jack-of-all-trades who finds himself underappreciated in Japan ends up in a fantasy world, and realizes that jack-of-all-trades is an awesome power!

ASH: Never underappreciate a jack-of-all-trades.

SEAN: Higurashi When They Cry: GOU was framed initially as a reboot of the series, but by now everyone has been spoiled that it’s a pure sequel. Who can possibly completely destroy our heroes’ lives now? This ran in Young Ace Up, and is an omnibus of the first two books in the series.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese (Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka ~ Memoria Frese) runs on Manga Up!, and seems to be an adaptation of the mobile game.

My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! —AO— (Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou Sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranai n desu ga) is the print edition of J-Novel Club’s manga.

A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom (Tensei Majo wa Horobi wo Tsugeru) features the ever-popular Truck-kun, who kills our heroine and sends her to the next world. Sadly, she’s a witch there, so everyone hates and fears her. This runs in shoujo magazine Flos Comic.

MICHELLE: Truck-kun, why must you be this way?!

SEAN: Scribbles is a collection of sketches by Kaoru Mori, and as such is must-buy.

ANNA: Cool!

ASH: Very excited for this one!

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night (Sword Art Online: Progressive – Kuraki Yuuyami no Scherzo) starts the new arc of the Progressive manga.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (Cider no you ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru) is a Comic Alive (my nemesis!) title based on the feature film. It’s also an omnibus. She was a streamer girl, he was a haiku boy, could I make it any more obvious?

ASH: Haiku! I apparently need to catch up on my film watching.

SEAN: Yen Press has non-debuts as well! We get Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 2, Assorted Entanglements 2, Chained Soldier 4, Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 4, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 14, Gahi-chan! 2, The Holy Grail of Eris 4, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 4, Monster and the Beast 4 (the final volume), No Longer Heroine 3, The Otherworlder, Exploring the Dungeon 2, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 6, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 10, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 2, So I’m a Spider, So What? 12, SOTUS 2, The Splendid Work of a Monster Maid 5 (the final volume), Uncle from Another World 7, Unnamed Memory 3, Val x Love 14, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 6.

ASH: I enjoyed the earlier volumes of Monster and the Beast, so I guess I should finish out the series!

SEAN: Viz has a new Signature title, Until I Love Myself (Jibun no Karada wo Yurusu made). It’s an autobiographical manga about coming to terms with being nonbinary. It ran in seinen magazine Yawaraka Spirits.

ASH: Signature titles are always a good bet and I am particularly interested in this subject matter.

SEAN: Also from Viz: Alice in Borderland 6, Beast Complex 3, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End 8, Golden Kamuy 29, Insomniacs After School 2, Love’s in Sight! 2, Mission: Yozakura Family 5, Persona 5 10, and Requiem of the Rose King 17 (the final volume).

MICHELLE: Very excited to see how Requiem of the Rose King ends.

SEAN: Technically we’ve known how it ends since the 16th century.

MICHELLE: Snerk. Valid point, though I expect Bosworth Field with a twist.

ANNA: I need to catch up.

ASH: I am absolutely here for the finale of Requiem of the Rose King.

SEAN: From Square Enix we see Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 7 and Wandering Witch 4. Not sure what happened there, I could swear these were last week.

MICHELLE: I thought so, too.

ASH: Hmmm…

SEAN: Seven Seas has one debut. What He Who Doesn’t Believe in Fate Says (Unmei wo Shinjinai Kare ga Iu ni wa) runs in pixiv Sylph, and is a story of college students and the “red strings of fate” that determine love.

MICHELLE: Apparently, the red strings will occasionally be printed in color!

ASH: That is very cool.

SEAN: There is also The Dragon Knight’s Beloved 5, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 7, Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 3, Time Stop Hero 7, and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! 9.

Kodansha Books has a 3rd volume of The Dawn of the Witch.

Kodansha Manga has a print debut of a title they’ve been putting out digitally, Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms (Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsuujinai), a Weekly Shonen Magazine story about a girl trying to get a monk in training to fall for her.

Also in print: Drifting Dragons 13, Fire Force 33, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 5, Something’s Wrong With Us 15 (the final volume, though I think there’s after stories), and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 7.

ASH: I need to catch up with Drifting Dragons; I was really enjoying that series but got distracted by other things.

SEAN: And in digital the debut is Messiah -CODE EDGE-. This runs in Aria, and is based on another project that I know nothing about. Basically, it’s spies, in pairs, with romance. And they’re all guys, so I guess it’s BL romance?

MICHELLE: The blurb says, “Mysterious, handsome young men working as spy-pairs for a secret agency, the Church, are forbidden to love anyone but their partners.” So… yeah. :)

ANNA: Heh.

SEAN: There’s also The Café Terrace and its Goddesses 8, The Dawn of the Witch 3, Gamaran 10, Mr. Bride 8, Small Nozomi and Big Yume 2, This Vampire Won’t Give Up! 5 (the final volume – I guess they gave up), and Vampire Dormitory 10.

MICHELLE: LOL. Maybe they moved into the dormitory.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a 5th volume of Gacha Girls Corps digitally.

J-Novel Club has a debut in its Heart line. Safe & Sound in the Arms of an Elite Knight (Doinaka no Hakugai Reijо̄ wa О̄to Elite Kishi ni Dekiai Sareru). Not isekai’d or reincarnated, but the heroine is still abused by her family. When she runs away and is rescued by a knight, will things improve?

ASH: I’m still delighted that the Heart line exists.

SEAN: We also see By the Grace of the Gods 12, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 4, Doll-Kara 5, An Introvert’s Hookup Hiccups: This Gyaru Is Head Over Heels for Me! 3, the 4th Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World manga volume, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 23, Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter 8, Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 3, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer 11, Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf! 8, and the 3rd Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster manga.

From Ghost Ship we have Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon 6 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 4.

Airship has just one print title, the 5th volume of Loner Life in Another World.

And for early digital we see She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 8 and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 4.

I know, you likely stopped halfway through Yen Press. But what are you getting regardless?

SEAN: A moon, a spoon, in June, Mang…oon. Nope, sorry, try again.

MICHELLE: Black Lagoon?

SEAN: We start with Airship. In print, they have Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells 7 and Vivy Prototype 4 (the final volume).

And in early digital we see Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 6 and The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 6.

Dark Horse has the 9th Blade of the Immortal Deluxe Edition.

ASH: At this point, I’m sure nobody is surprised that I’ll be picking it up.

SEAN: There’s Ghost Ship as well, with Welcome to Succubus High! 4 and Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? 5.

It’s print week for J-Novel Club! We see Ascendance of a Bookworm: Royal Academy Stories – First Year, In Another World With My Smartphone 26, and Marginal Operation 14.

ASH: Yay, print!

SEAN: The digital debut for J-Novel Club is Fake Saint of the Year: You Wanted the Perfect Saint? Too Bad! (Risō no Seijo? Zannen, Nise Seijo Deshita! Kuso of the Year to Yobareta Akuyaku ni Tensei Shitanda ga). A lazy NEET wakes up one day to find he’s in the otome game he loves so much… but yeah, he’s not reincarnated as his “waifu”, but as the terrible “Fake Saint”. Now he has to try to fix things to get a happy ending for all. I’m not sure how much this leans into “guy in a girl’s body”, but it definitely seems to lean comedy.

Other digital titles: The 12th Black Summoner manga volume, the 2nd Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte manga volume, the 2nd I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! manga volume, Lady Rose Just Wants to Be a Commoner! 3, Rebuild World 2 Part 2, and Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes: Breezing through the Future as an Oppressed Ex-Hero 2.

The first print debut for Kodansha is Prophecy Complete Omnibus Edition, which is what it says, an omnibus of the manga released by Vertical a while back. It’s a psychological thriller.

MICHELLE: Ooh. Somehow this was not on my radar when it was initially released.

ASH: It’s definitely worth checking out! (If I recall correctly… it’s been a while since I first read it.)

SEAN: Also debuting is the manga version of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement (Rougo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-manmai no Kinka o Tamemasu), which runs in Suiyoubi no Sirius. For FUNA fans only.

Also in print: Last Gender 3 (the final volume), Rent-A-Girlfriend 19, The Seven Deadly Sins Omnibus 10, and Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun 2.

MICHELLE: Yay!

SEAN: And digitally we have The Fable 15, Gang King 6, Giant Killing 37, Life 2: Giver/Taker 4, Police in a Pod 23 (the final volume, though the blurb says “end of the first part”), Tokyo Revengers 31 (the final volume, though a side story is ongoing on Kodansha’s online manga app), and WIND BREAKER 10.

MICHELLE: At first I wondered, “Are we getting close to the end of Giant Killing?” So I checked and no. No we are not. Not that I’m complaining!

SEAN: One Peace Books has the 7th and final volume of I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School and Usotoki Rhetoric 3.

Seven Seas debuts Qualia the Purple: The Complete Manga Collection (Murasakiiro no Qualia). Based on the light novel, it ran in Dengeki Daioh.

Seven Seas also has Correspondence from the End of the Universe 3, The Eccentric Doctor of the Moon Flower Kingdom 2, Even Though We’re Adults 6, His Majesty the Demon King’s Housekeeper 4, Kageki Shojo!! 9, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today 6, The Summer You Were There 3, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes: Ultramarine 4 (the final volume), and X-Gender 2.

ASH: There are some really good series in that list.

SEAN: From Square Enix we see Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! 7 and Wandering Witch 4.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Cherry Magic!.

ASH: Same! I really enjoyed the earlier volumes in the series.

SEAN: SuBLime debuts Old-Fashioned Cupcake, a BL title from ihr HertZ. A middle-aged salaryman finds romance… and pancakes… with a much younger co-worker.

ASH: I do love when BL manga crosses with food manga.

SEAN: There is also a 2nd volume of The Dragon’s Betrothed.

Three debuts from Tokyopop. At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender: Life Lessons From a 50-Year-Old After Two Decades of Self-Discovery (30-sai de “Seibetsu ga, Nai!” to Hanmei shita Ore ga Around Fifty ni Natte Wakatta Koto) is a one-shot biographical manga published by Bunkasha. It explores the difficulties in being agender in Japanese society.

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die (Oshi ga Budoukan Itte Kuretara Shinu) is a long-running yuri-ish series from Comic Ryu, it also had an anime. It’s the story of a minor member of an idol group and her #1 fan.

Why I Adopted My Husband: The True Story of a Gay Couple Seeking Legal Recognition in Japan (Douseikon de Oyako ni Narimashita) is another biographical manga from Bunkasha, and examines the same sorts of issues, only for a gay couple rather than an agender person.

ASH: If only I wasn’t avoiding Tokyopop! So many of its recent releases are absolutely up my alley.

SEAN: Viz Media debuts Spider-Man: Fake Red (Spider-Man: Itsuwari no Aka), a complete in one volume about a young man in Japan who comes across a Spider-Man costume. It ran in Magazine Pocket, and is a Marvel tie-in as well, of course.

ASH: I might have to check this out; Spider-Man is very popular in my household.

SEAN: Viz also has Call of the Night 12, Komi Can’t Communicate 25, Yakuza Lover 9, and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 3.

Lastly, Yen Press has the 2nd and final volume of Rose Guns Days Sorrowful Cross Knife out digitally.

ASH: Wait, there are weeks in which Yen only releases a single volume?

SEAN: Any manga have you feeling poetic?

SEAN: Oh dear, June is busting out all over. Better call a plumber.

Yen On has two debuts – sort of. They have a deal with J-Novel Club to do print releases of some of their more popular series. As such, debuting in print are Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing and My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!. Both popular enough to get print, and both very much in a genre that people are vocally divided about these days.

ASH: I’m not particularly interested in these specific titles myself, but I do like to see these sorts of publisher collaborations.

SEAN: And Yen Press gives us The Case Study of Vanitas 9.

No debuts or final volumes for Viz, but a bunch of books. We see Ayashimon 2, Dragon Ball Super 18, Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love 6, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 12, Rainbow Days 4, Sakamoto Days 8, and Snow White with the Red Hair 25.

Udon Entertainment have Persona 5: Comic À La Carte, an anthology of manga and short stories based in the Persona 5 world, by various artists.

Square Enix has a 2nd volume of My Clueless First Friend.

I normally don’t mention OEL in this list, but Seven Seas is debuting Tiger, Tiger, an Eisner-nominated webcomic, so I will note it’s out next week. Looks good!

ASH: Oh! Speaking of collaborations between publishers, this one should be great!

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 6, Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 4, Futari Escape 3, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Comic) 2, I’m Kinda Chubby and I’m Your Hero 2 (the final volume), The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This 3, Yakuza Reincarnation 6, Yokai Cats 4, and You Like Me, Not My Daughter?! 3.

MICHELLE: I didn’t realize I’m Kinda Chubby and I’m Your Hero was so short! Better get on it.

SEAN: No debuts for Kodansha either, but we see Grand Blue Dreaming 19, In the Clear Moonlit Dusk 4, Lovesick Ellie 10, Orient 15, and Quality Assurance in Another World 2 in print.

MICHELLE: I got up to volume nine in my previous gush-filled read of Lovesick Ellie, so this one will actually be new to me! Very excite.

ANNA: I need to get caught up!

ASH: Likewise!

SEAN: Debuting digitally is Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch: Aqua, a sequel to the original Pichi Pichi Pitch that Del Rey put out years ago here. It runs in Nakayoshi, and stars the daughter of the original heroine.

Also digital: Chihayafuru 38, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 8, How to Grill Our Love 2, Life 4, MF Ghost 14, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 10, and Quality Assurance in Another World 8.

MICHELLE: Obligatory Chihayafuru squee!

ANNA: One day I will read it!!!

SEAN: Kaiten Books has a 7th manga volume of Loner Life in Another World.

One debut from J-Novel Club: Magic Stone Gourmet: Eating Magical Power Made Me The Strongest (Maseki Gourmet: Mamono no Chikara wo Tabeta Ore wa Saikyō!), which has reincarnated into a fantasy world, hero’s family hates him (except his mom here), useless powers that turn out to be awesome, all the bells and whistles you’re used to.

ASH: I continue to be surprised; I was not expecting a pica-based fantasy.

SEAN: We also see the 15th Ascendance of a Bookworm manga volume, which starts the 3rd arc, BLADE & BASTARD 2, Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower 10, Full Metal Panic! Short Stories 6, The Ideal Sponger Life 12, In Another World With My Smartphone 27, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World 4, Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World 6, and Record of Wortenia War 19.

ASH: Bookworm!

SEAN: From Ghost Ship we get Do You Like Big Girls? 7 and the 24th and final volume of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.

Airship has a debut… or two debuts, depending how you look at it. To Every You I’ve Loved Before (Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e) and To Me, The One Who Loved You (Kimi o Aishita Hitori no Boku e) are a paired duo of books that were recently made into a paired duo of movies, and feature a teenage couple dealing with parallel worlds. They can be read in any order.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: Also in print we see Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 22 and Raven of the Inner Palace 2.

ASH: I really need to get around to reading Raven of the Inner Palace.

SEAN: And there’s an early digital release of 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 4.

Did we finish cleaning June up? Or is there more June still to come?

SEAN: It’s the 31st of May, so get back indoors, you filthy people. (Sorry, Jonathan Coulton joke.)

ASH: I lol’d.

SEAN: Airship debuts, in print, There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… (Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Naijan, Muri Muri! Muri Janakatta!?), whose digital edition came out last month. If you like protagonists who tell you how much they dislike themselves, you’ll love this.

Also in print: Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 5, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 7, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 8.

In early digital, we see Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 3 and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 4.

A debut from Cross Infinite World, as we see The Invisible Wallflower Marries an Upstart Aristocrat After Getting Dumped for Her Sister! (Kon’yaku Haki Sareta “Kūki” na Watashi, Nariagari no Dan’na-sama ni Totsugimashita). This too seems to feature a protagonist who puts herself down a lot, but this genre tends to bear that more than the “high school yuri comedy” genre, so I’m a bit more hopeful.

Also from CIW, we see Since I Was Abandoned After Reincarnating, I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends: The Figurehead Queen Is Strongest At Her Own Pace 5.

From Ghost Ship, we see The Witches of Adamas 5.

J-Novel Club has one debut next week: Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord (Akuyaku Reijō Level 99: Watashi wa Ura Boss Desu ga Maō dewa Arimasen). This one’s already getting an anime soon. An introverted gamer is reincarnated as the villainess, and does the sensible thing of avoiding most of the cast. The trouble is… man, her stats are so awesome! Her gamer instinct awakens! So she grinds till she’s Level 99, and, well, now she can’t avoid attention.

Also out next week: The Apothecary Diaries 9, Ascendance of a Bookworm 25, Cooking with Wild Game 21, Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools 7, Enough with This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I’m Bored 2, Gushing Over Magical Girls 6, and I Parry Everything: What Do You Mean I’m the Strongest? I’m Not Even an Adventurer Yet! 2.

ASH: I somehow missed that Cooking with Wild Game was already in the 20s. Probably because I was distracted by apothecaries and bookworms.

SEAN: Kodansha Books gives us another gorgeously illustrated Japanese short story, The Surgery Room, as well as the second volume of My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1, which is slightly less prestigious.

ASH: Very much looking forward to The Surgery Room.

SEAN: Kodansha Books has some print manga. Am I Actually the Strongest? 3, Blue Period 13, A Condition Called Love 3, Fire Force Omnibus 4, The Great Cleric 3, and I’m Standing on a Million Lives 14.

The digital debut is The World of Summoning (Shoukan Suru Sekai). It’s a Bessatsu Shonen series from the creator of Blood Lad. A boy trying his best to be a summoner, who can bring things from other worlds to his own, finds the job is not as popular as he expected.

And we also see Having an Idol-Loving Boyfriend is the Best! 3, My Master Has No Tail 9, Otherworldly Munchkin: Let’s Speedrun the Dungeon with Only 1 HP! 7, The Untouchable Midori-kun 4, and Yozakura Quartet 30.

Debuting from One Peace Books is Parallel World Pharmacy (Isekai Yakkyoku), based on a webnovel (not licensed) and also with an anime. It runs on Comic Walker. A man dies in Japan from overwork, and finds himself in medieval fantasy land, where medicine is the province of shysters and frauds. Time to overwork himself some more, I guess, but at least he has the usual OP cheats…

ASH: I’ll admit to being intrigued by this one.

SEAN: Seven Seas’ danmei line has Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu 6.

Debuting from Seven Seas is Don’t Call it Mystery (Mystery to Iunakare), which will be an omnibus of the first two volumes. This josei series from Flowers (pause for Michelle and Anna to freak out)…

ANNA: YES! I AM INDEED FREAKING OUT! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

MICHELLE: Kyaaaaaaa~!

ASH: Oh!

SEAN: By the author of 7 Seeds and Basara (pausing even longer for the same reason)…

ANNA: WHY WILL SOMEONE NOT LICENSE 7 SEEDS, WHY WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

MICHELLE: I READ A THEORY IT WAS BECAUSE THE ANIME WAS KIND OF LAME BUT I WILL HAPPILY ACCEPT THIS IN ITS PLACE!!!!

ASH: Oooh!!

SEAN: The book is about a young college student with a huge head of hair who keeps getting involved in crimes – first as the suspect, then as the detective! It’s won multiple awards.

ANNA: I AM HYPED UP FOR THIS!

MICHELLE: COULD IT BE BOTH YUMI TAMURA AND A GENUINE MYSTERY MANGA? IS THIS HEAVEN?!?!

ASH: I am here to find out!

SEAN: In non-josei from Flowers by the author of 7 Seeds news (yes, there is some), Seven Seas also has The Duke of Death and His Maid 6, My Room is a Dungeon Rest Stop 6, Polar Bear Café: Collector’s Edition 2, Sakurai-san Wants to Be Noticed 4 (the final volume), Servamp 18, and Skeleton Knight in Another World 10.

ANNA: I mean, I don’t really care if Don’t Call it Mystery coming out.

MICHELLE: Srsly. All other manga is dead to me this week.

SEAN: Square Enix Manga has The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! 5 and SINoALICE 3.

And Steamship gives us the 3rd volume of Ladies on Top.

And that’s it, because it’s the 5th week of the month, so a lot of publishers punt. What interests you?

ANNA: I’m tentatively interested in i>Don’t Call it Mystery. Perhaps.

MICHELLE: Just a smidge.

SEAN: Bad news, folks, it’s Yen Press week. Can we make it out alive?

ASH: Fingers crossed!

SEAN: We start with Yen On, who have a number of debuts. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture (Jun Kyōju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu) is a BL-adjacent series about a college student who can see if someone has been lying (which has left him ludicrously unpopular) and his folklore studies professor, who takes him under his wing to find out if things are really folklore or simply lies.

ASH: Oh! BL-adjacent and folklore studies? This pertains to my interests.

MICHELLE: Sounds potentially promising!

ANNA: OK, I’m also interested.

SEAN: Even If These Tears Disappear Tonight (Kon’ya, Sekai kara Kono Namida ga Kiete mo) is a sequel to Even If This Love Disappears Tonight, and is for people who like to read books and cry.

How to Win Her Heart on the Nth Try (n Kaime no Koi no Musubikata) is a one-shot. A young woman in her late 20s worries she’ll never have a romance. Then her childhood friend shows up… but she’s only ever seen him AS a friend. Can that change?

Maiden of the Needle (Hariko no Otome) is another one of those “I don’t have a skill, so I’m abused and disowned by my family and friends till I find out that really my skill is amazing” books, only since it stars a young woman it’s her “savior” (read: love interest) who rescues her.

ASH: It has such enchanting cover art! And I do really like the skill in this case.

SEAN: My Summoned Beast Is Dead (Ore no Shōkanjū, Shinderu) is a magic academy series. The poorest student there has to prove himself, and seems to do so by summoning a legendary god beast! There’s just one slight hitch – the title.

ASH: It does seem like that could be a problem.

ANNA: I’m imagining a Weekend at Bernie’s scenario.

SEAN: Also coming out: Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian 3, Baccano! 22, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense 9, Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin 5, High School DxD 11, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! 8, I Kept Pressing the 100-Million-Year Button and Came Out on Top 5, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 8, Sasaki and Peeps 4, and Spy Classroom 5.

ASH: So much Yen, and we’re not even done yet!

SEAN: Yen Press also has some debuts. Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree (Elden Ring: Ougonju e no Michi) is based on an obscure video game one or two people may know. It’s from Kadokawa’s Comic Hu, and is apparently a comedy spinoff starring a very odd hero.

Magical Girl Incident (Mahou Shoujo Jihen) is a seinen title from Young Ace. An office worker who wanted to be a hero as a kid… now finds he’s a magical girl? This is supposed to be quite funny.

MICHELLE: Hm.

SEAN: Manner of Death is a BL title from B’s-Lovey. It’s a murder mystery where a coroner suddenly finds himself being told that a death needs to be ruled a suicide… or else.

ASH: Haven’t seen too many coroners in licensed manga.

MICHELLE: You had me at “murder mystery.”

SEAN: Me and My Beast Boss (Kemono Jōshi ni Jitsuwa Mitome Rareteita Hanashi) is a shoujo title from B’s-Log Cheek. An office worker is bullied by her beastfolk colleagues because she’s human. Then the CEO calls her into his office… to make her his personal secretary?

MICHELLE: I say “Hm.” yet again.

ANNA: Haha!

SEAN: My Dear, Curse-Casting Vampiress (Boku no Noroi no Kyuuketsuki) is a Shonen Gangan series about an anti-vampire group who plan to kidnap a vampire known for her beauty that drives men mad.

Puella Magi Suzune Magica: The Complete Omnibus Edition is what it says. 3 volumes in 1.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun: First Stall is a boxed set collecting the first ten volumes of the manga. You can guess what the box looks like, but it’s actually quite cool.

ASH: It really is. And it’s perfect for the series.

SEAN: What This World Is Made Of (Sekai wa Are de Dekiteiru) is a news series from the creator of Monster Hunter: Flash Hunter that runs in Dengeki Maoh. Two brothers try to make money using a game app, but it has a secret…

Yokohama Station SF (Yokohama Eki SF) runs in Young Ace Up, and is a manga adaptation of the novel (also licensed by Yen). It is a science fiction manga about Yokohama Station. (Look, I can’t be funny all the time. Or even most of the time.)

ASH: Oh! I somehow missed that there was a manga adaptation!

MICHELLE: I meant to read the novel but of course never did. Maybe I’ll fare better with the manga.

SEAN: In non-debuts, we get Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense 6, Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple 3, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 3, The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess 7, Delicious in Dungeon 12, The Fiancee Chosen by the Ring 4, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 10, Gabriel Dropout 12, The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 3, Hi, I’m a Witch, and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion 2, Honey Lemon Soda 2, Horimiya 16 (the final volume), I Cannot Reach You 6, I’m the Catlords’ Manservant 4 (the final volume), Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler – 16, The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious 5, Murciélago 21, Oshi no Ko 2, The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter 3, Overlord 17, Sasaki and Miyano 8, Sasaki and Peeps 2, Spy Classroom 3, To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? 6, The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 4, and The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat 5.

And that’s just Yen! Christ!

ASH: Phew! Fortunately, I saw Delicious in Dungeon in there before my eyes started glazing over.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward on getting caught up with The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter.

ANNA: I spotted Honey Lemon Soda in that wall of text!

SEAN: From Viz Media: JoJo 6251 is the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure artbook you know you always wanted.

ASH: It’s true. I’m so glad it’s being released here; I’ve been eyeing the Japanese edition for years.

SEAN: There’s also JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5–Golden Wind 8, and WITCH WATCH 6 digitally, which is not JoJo’s, but is quite funny.

ASH: I really should check it out at some point.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts My Dear Agent, which runs in LOVE xxx BOYS pixiv, so you can guess it’s BL. A cool and serious bodyguard finds that the new guy he’s supposed to train won’t stop flirting with him!

Also from Tokyopop: Her Royal Highness Seems to Be Angry 5 (the final volume).

Square Enix gives us Beauty and the Feast 8 and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 12.

Seven Seas also has some debuts. The Dragon King’s Imperial Wrath: Falling in Love with the Bookish Princess of the Rat Clan (Ryuuou Heika no Gekirin-sama ~Hon Suki Nezumi Himedesuga, Naze ka Ryuuou no Saiai ni Narimashita~) is from Zero-Sum Online, and features a princess who tries to nope out of the “who will be my bride” sweepstakes by going to the library, but to no avail.

ASH: It was worth a try!

MICHELLE: I just want to state for the record here that Ash totally made me LOL.

ANNA: I’m always in favor of going to the library.

SEAN: Even Dogs Go to Other Worlds: Life in Another World with My Beloved Hound (Isekai Teni shitara Aiken ga Saikyou ni narimashita – Silver Fenrir to Ore ga Isekai Kurashi wo Hajimetara) is a Comic Ride adaptation of the light novel (put out here by Cross Infinite World). Man and dog reincarnated. Dog is massive legendary silver wolf. Fun times.

A Story of Seven Lives (Gojussenchi no Isshou) is a done-in-one omnibus from Comic It. A stray cat tries to help some struggling humans.

There’s also CANDY AND CIGARETTES 4, Classroom of the Elite 6, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? 11, Hunting in Another World With My Elf Wife 6, Lazy Dungeon Master 4, Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback! 5, Reborn as a Barrier Master 4, The Tale of the Outcasts 7, Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii 3, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition 2, and Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games 5.

ASH: Some good stuff in there.

SEAN: One Peace Books has Hinamatsuri 18.

Kodansha Manga has some print titles. The debut is Tsugumi Project, which runs in Young Magazine. Another post-apocalyptic action series, a group of convicts are tasked with retrieving a weapon from a ruined city. But the city is less dead than anyone thought. (I thought this was digital-only, it’s not. The digital was 2 weeks earlier.)

And there’s As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World 5, Miss Miyazen would Love to Get Closer to You 4 (the final volume), A Sign of Affection 6, Toppu GP 11, Wandance 5, and Wistoria: Wand and Sword 4.

MICHELLE: I desperately need to catch up on Wandance or I’ll be too far behind to recover!

SEAN: Digitally we see Boss Bride Days 5, A Couple of Cuckoos 11, DAYS 35, Gamaran: Shura 8, Love, That’s an Understatement 2, My Home Hero 4, and Piano Duo for the Left Hand 7.

MICHELLE: Love, That’s an Understatement isn’t winning any awards for Most Original Shoujo Series Ever, but I did enjoy the first volume. Maybe I’m just inclined to like Fujimomo’s work.

ANNA: Oh, I meant to check this out!

SEAN: Three debuts for J-Novel Club. Dragon Daddy Diaries: A Girl Grows to Greatness (Totsuzen Papa ni Natta Saikyou Dragon no Kosodate Nikki: Kawaii Musume, Honobono to Ningenkai Saikyou ni Sodatsu) is the manga adaptation of the light novel J-Novel Club has already released. It runs in Comic Ride. Girl meets dragon, heartwarming ensues.

ASH: Not a bad combination.

SEAN: Make It Stop! I’m Not Strong… It’s Just My Sword! (Yametekure, Tsuyoi no wa Ore Janakute Ken nan da……!) is basically “what if Elric were just some dude who wants an easy life, and his sword only ate bad souls?”.

ANNA: This seems less angsty. Any wanna be Elric needs more angst!

SEAN: A Pale Moon Reverie (Tsuki no Shirosa o Shirite Madoromu) is the new novel from the creator of Unnamed Memory. That alone should make you purchase it sight unseen. A supernatural courtesan meets a shadeslayer in the streets of a very special town.

ASH: I am intrigued.

SEAN: We also get the 9th manga volume of An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride, the 2nd Karate Master Isekai, Maddrax 6, and Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 3.

Ghost Ship has a 5th volume of Ero Ninja Scrolls.

And Airship has print for The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 5, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 16, and The World’s Fastest Level Up 3.

And for early digital we see The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent 8 and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 10.

Oh man, look! The Manga Bookshelf team all fell asleep trying to get through this list! See what you’ve done, Yen?

SEAN: Mid-May, and will it be a quiet week?

ASH: Is that something that exists anymore?

SEAN: From Airship, we see new volumes! The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 4 and Reincarnated as a Sword 12.

And for early digital there is Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 5 and Vivy Prototype 4 (the final volume).

Ghost Ship gives us a 6th book of 2.5 Dimensional Seduction and a 7th volume of Creature Girls: A Hands-On Field Journal in Another World.

J-Novel Club blesses us with print titles! We see An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 14, Ascendance of a Bookworm 18, and the 3rd Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles manga.

ASH: Bookworm! In print!

SEAN: Digitally there are two debuts. Accidentally in Love: The Witch, the Knight, and the Love Potion Slipup (Koisuru Majo wa Elite Kishi ni Horegusuri o Nomasete Shimaimashita: Itsuwari kara Hajimaru Watashi no Dekiai Seikatsu) is in the Heart line, as you can imagine. A girl trying to hide that she’s a witch meets the man of her dreams… but she didn’t mean to drug him, honest! I think Cross Infinite World had a series with a similar premise.

ASH: Whoops!

ANNA: An easy mistake to make, I’m sure.

SEAN: There’s also Only the Villainous Lord Wields the Power to Level Up (Ore dake Level ga Agaru Sekai de Akutoku Ryōshu ni Natteita). This is a villainess book… but since it’s a male villain, it means he needs to be trapped in an RPG world as well. There are rules, after all.

ASH: That there are.

SEAN: There’s also new volumes: Death’s Daughter and the Ebony Blade 5, Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight -Origins- 9, Haibara’s Teenage New Game+ 3, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 7.

Debuting in print from Kodansha is The Yakuza’s Bias (Yakuza no Oshigoto). This runs in Ichijinsha’s Comic Pool, but was also a popular webcomic. A yakuza hitman is also a huge K-pop stan! Hijinx no doubt ensue.

MICHELLE: This sounds potentially fun.

ASH: It really could be!

ANNA: It does sound fun.

SEAN: Also in print: Bakemonogatari 16, NO. 6 Manga Omnibus 3 (the final volume), Peach Boy Riverside 11, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse 8, SHAMAN KING: FLOWERS 2, and When Will Ayumu Make His Move? 11.

ASH: Still glad to see NO. 6 staying in print. (And still living in hope that one day the novels will be translated, too…)

SEAN: The digital debut is Small Nozomi and Big Yume (Chiisai Nozomi to Ooki na Yume), which runs in Morning Two. A high school girl wakes up one day to find she’s lost her memories… and is also about five inches tall. Fearing being eaten by a cat, she takes refuge in the apartment of a drunken NEET and must convince her that she’s not hallucinating a tiny girl.

Also digitally: Blue Lock 19, Gamaran 9, We’re New at This 13 and Ya Boy Kongming! 11.

One Peace Books has a light novel, the 2nd volume of The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic.

Three debuts from Seven Seas. Last Game is old-school shoujo from LaLa. A young man who is a winner at life (and also rich) arrives at high school and finds… a girl has beaten him! A commoner girl! At study! At sports! There’s just one thing to do: he has to make her fall for him! For those who love goofy but problematic old-school shoujo titles.

MICHELLE: It definitely gives S.A vibes.

SEAN: Shibanban: Super Cute Doggies is a spinoff manga based on the popular LINE sticker set of Shiba Inu dogs.

ASH: They really can make a manga out of anything!

ANNA: I’m amazed.

SEAN: Who Made Me a Princess is a manwha series that ran on the usual manwha online places. A girl finds herself in the story of her favorite novel… as the princess who gets executed! Still, she’s a baby, so has time to change her fate. Right?

ASH: Time will tell!

SEAN: And there’s also The Kingdoms of Ruin 6, Marmalade Boy: Collector’s Edition 2, The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 4, Re: Monster 6, Reincarnated as a Sword: Another Wish 4, The Savior’s Book Café Story in Another World 5 (the final volume), and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 3.

MICHELLE: Speaking of old-school shoujo titles, looking forward to continuing my Marmalade Boy reread!

SEAN: From Square Enix we get The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses 3.

Tokyopop has three debuts. A Complicated Omega’s Second Love (Kojirase Omega no Nidome no Koi) ran in Gentosha’s Lynx, and is complete in one volume. An omega who hates alphas and has resolved to never be mated wakes up one morning… mated with his colleague.

Ogi’s Summer Break (Ogi-kun no Natsuyasumi) is a slightly less sexual BL title from Studio C.I.’s Haruto magazine. It’s a college romance between a boy who falls hard for another boy, who is blind.

And We Can’t Do Just Plain Love (Tada no Renai Nanka de Kikkonai – Kojirase Joushi to Fechina Buka) is josei, from Taiseisha’s Love Coffre. A new office worker discovers that her boss can’t be around women without getting aroused. Fortunately for him, she has a solution… if he’ll help her with her scent fetish.

The big title from Udon Entertainment is an artbook. Hidetaka Tenjin’s Artistry of Macross: From Flash Back 2012 to Macross Frontier is a deluxe 144-page hardcover that should please any fan who hates Carl Macek.

They also have Persona 4 Arena 2.

Viz debuts another horror title, but hey, it’s not by Junji Ito. Dark Gathering runs in Jump Square, and features a young man who is trying to avoid the supernatural (he can see spirits) tutoring a young girl who is trying to find the spirit who took her mother.

ASH: Ooooh, a horror manga, you say?

SEAN: Viz also gives us Choujin X 2, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Official Coloring Book 2, Twin Star Exorcists 28, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 10.

And there’s one single title from Yen Press next week, and it’s a debut. The manga adaptation of a beloved light novel classic, requested by many over the years. Yes, it’s Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon (Jidou Hanbaiki ni Umarekawatta Ore wa Meikyuu wo Samayou). This runs in Dengeki Daioh, and features a young man reborn as a vending machine, though the “wander” part is mostly incorrect. I Now Get Carried Around The Dungeon By My Ludicrously Strong Beastgirl Friend is more accurate.

ASH: Wow!

ANNA: What will they think of next???????

SEAN: Assuming you have not been reborn as a villainess or a vending machine, what are you buying next week?

SEAN: Hopefully you are keeping your manga as dry as possible in these wet times.

We begin with Viz, who debut a new Shojo Beat title, Wolf Girl and Black Prince (Ookami Shoujo to Kuroouji). This Betsuma title is from the creator of Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love, but is actually one of their earlier stories. A girl who made up a fake boyfriend is on the verge of being called out for it. A handsome guy agrees to be her fake boyfriend. Unfortunately, he’s a sadistic type! For fans of sadistic types.

MICHELLE: Pass.

ANNA: Yes, as much as I enjoy new Shojo Beat titles this seems like Not My Thing. More time to get caught up on Ima Koi: Now I’m in Love!

SEAN: Also debuting is The Art of Haikyu!!, an artbook featuring art from Slam Dunk… no, just kidding, it’s from Haikyu!!.

ANNA: I mean, I like Haikyu!! but Slam Dunk is on a whole other level.

ASH: I am likewise an ardent supporter of both series. (And so am looking forward to this even if it isn’t Slam Dunk.)

SEAN: Viz also has Fly Me to the Moon 17, Helck 3, Mao 11, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 14, Pokémon Adventures: X•Y 5, and YO-KAI WATCH 21.

From Udon Entertainment we get a debut, Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant (Lodoss Tousenki: Seiyaku no Houkan) is a spinoff of the legendary light novel series, and ran in Shonen Ace. When a kingdom is in trouble, will Deedlit come to their aid?

SuBLime has a 2nd volume of Megumi & Tsugumi.

ASH: I’m not especially invested in Omegaverse fiction, buy I do like a good delinquent BL…

SEAN: The folks at Square Enix bring us By the Grace of the Gods 8, My Happy Marriage 3, and Tokyo Aliens 3.

One debut from Seven Seas. Soloist in a Cage (Ori no Naka no Soloist), a Shonen Jump + series, is in the “dystopian tragedy” genre. A girl born in a prison has only her younger brother to keep her going. Then she’s helped to break out… but has to leave her brother behind!

Seven Seas also has COLORLESS 4, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 8, My Secret Affection 2 (the final volume), Skip and Loafer 7, and Slow Life In Another World (I Wish!) 5.

ASH: I really need to get caught up with Skip and Loafer.

SEAN: One Peace Books debuts The Death Mage (Yondome wa Iyana Shi Zokusei Majutsushi), whose light novel they’ve already been releasing. This is the manga version, serialized online on Comic Walker. A guy with terrible luck dies horribly, is reincarnated, dies even more horribly, and is now reincarnated again in hopes he’ll just kill himself rather than go through this again. But he now has… DEATH MAGIC!

ASH: That’s a twist!

SEAN: Kodansha Comics has titles, which unfortunately their new website makes impossible to find. In print, the debut is Twilight Out of Focus (Tasogare Outfocus), a BL title from Honey Milk magazine. Two roommates have rules that they say should not be broken. Who wants to bet these rules won’t last the book?

ASH: I’d say that’s a pretty good bet.

SEAN: We also get Chasing After Aoi Koshiba 4 (the final volume) and PTSD Radio Omnibus 3.

The digital debut is Tsugumi Project, which runs in Young Magazine. Another post-apocalyptic action series, a group of convicts are tasked with retrieving a weapon from a ruined city. But the city is less dead than anyone thought.

And we also see Ace of the Diamond 43, The Dawn of the Witch 6, The Fable 14, Fungus and Iron 3, Gang King 5, and Life 2: Giver/Taker 3.

MICHELLE: We’re rapidly approaching the end of Ace of the Diamond! I hope Kodansha plans to release the sequel, too.

SEAN: Two debuts from J-Novel Club. The big light novel one is Earl and Fairy (Hakushaku to Yousei), a long-running light novel fantasy series circa twenty years ago that spawned a short-running manga version Viz licensed ages ago. A young Victorian woman with an interest in fairies teams up with a noble in a quest to retrieve a treasured sword. Get this, it’s really, really good fantasy.

ANNA: I’m intrigued and I usually don’t go in for light novels.

ASH: Wow, Earl and Fairy, that takes me back!

SEAN: The manga debut is Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon (Maou ni Natta node, Dungeon Tsukutte Jingai Musume to Honobono suru), the manga version of the light novel J-Novel Club also releases. It runs in Dra-Dra-Dragon Age, Japan’s greatest love machine. (Sorry.) (That really is the magazine title, I promise.)

And we also get Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home! 5, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 6, My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer 8, Peddler in Another World: I Can Go Back to My World Whenever I Want! 3, Perry Rhodan NEO 13, and Saint? No! I’m Just a Passing Beast Tamer! 3.

Ghost Ship has new volumes of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You 6, I’m Not a Succubus! 3, and Sundome!! Milky Way 6.

Dark Horse Comics gives us Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! 5.

ASH: Another reminder that I am behind on both my manga reading and my anime watching.

SEAN: Airship, in print, has new releases for The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 4, Classroom of the Elite: Year 2 4.5, and I Swear I Won’t Bother You Again! 3.

And for early digital releases, there is Loner Life in Another World 5, Monster Girl Doctor 10 (the final volume), and She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 7.

Sounds good! What manga of yours is getting rained on?

SEAN: It’s May, and there … may be manga! (cricket sounds) Ahem.

MICHELLE: I smiled, at least!

ASH: I absolutely did, too.

ANNA: I winced, does that count?

SEAN: We start with Airship, who give us ongoing light novels in print. There is Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 6, Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 5, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 9.

The digital debut is There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… (Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Naijan, Muri Muri! Muri Janakatta!?), whose manga adaptation came out a couple of weeks ago. One girl tries to convince the other they’re great as best friends! The other is determined that they’re great as lovers. Who will prevail?

ASH: Who, indeed!

SEAN: Also early digital: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 22.

Dark Horse Comics has the 11th volume of Mob Psycho 100.

ASH: I should get caught up with Mob Psycho one of these days.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has the 3rd and final volume of I’m Not Meat. And in not-Ghost Ship but still adult, we also have The Titan’s Bride 3.

J-Novel Club has two more debuts. On the Club side, we have I Only Have Six Months to Live, So I’m Gonna Break the Curse with Light Magic or Die Trying (Yomei Hantoshi to Senkokusareta node, Shinukide “Hikari Mahō” o Oboete Noroi wo Tokō to Omoimasu.: Noroware Ōji no Yarinaoshi). A prince with a deadly and agonizing curse finds light magic may help, so now has to learn it before he dies.

ASH: I’m imagining one of those sun lamps, but I’m not sure that’s what is intended.

SEAN: And on the J-Novel Heart side we have The 100th Time’s the Charm: She Was Executed 99 Times, So How Did She Unlock “Super Love” Mode?! (99-kai Danzaisareta Loop Reijō Desu ga Konse wa “Chōzetsu Aisare Mode” Desutte!?: Shinno Chikara ni Mezamete Hajimaru 100-kaime no Jinsei). A falsely accused noble is on her hundredth try to not be executed. Only now… she can hear their thoughts!

ASH: Uh-oh!

SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members and the World 3, DUNGEON DIVE: Aim for the Deepest Level 3, and The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 3.

Kaiten Books has a digital edition of The Bottom-Tier Baron’s Accidental Rise to the Top 2.

Kodansha has some print volumes for us. We’ve seen two debuts digitally before: dog manga Lovely Muco! and shonen spinoff SHAMAN KING: FLOWERS.

The big debut is Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun), a legendary Weekly Shonen Champion series about a human boy who’s now at a demon school.

MICHELLE: *insert Muppety flailing*

ANNA: Is this good? I’m assuming from the flailing that it is good.

SEAN: Also in print: Blood on the Tracks 13, In/Spectre 17, L*DK 19-20, Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan 4, Noragami Omnibus 5, and Run Away With Me, Girl 3.

ASH: While I’ve already read that part of Noragami, that does remind me that I should catch up with that series, too.

SEAN: Debuting digitally is How to Grill Our Love (Yaiteru Futari), a Weekly Morning series about a newlywed couple who love barbecue! This sounds like it might be for fans of We’re New at This.

ASH: Sounds like something I would enjoy (if it’s ever released in print).

SEAN: And there’s also A Condition Called Love 12, Life 3, MF Ghost 3, My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! 7, Nina the Starry Bride 9, Raised by the Demon Kings! 8 (the final volume), Shangri-La Frontier 11, and Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister 8.

Theoretically debuting from KUMA (like sister publisher Denpa, their street dates are fluid and Amazon is always wrong) is A Hero in the Demon’s Castle (Yuusha in Maounchi), a one-shot from Canna about a demon lord and adventurer becoming lovers.

KUMA also has Happy of the End 2.

Seven Seas has one debut: My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked (Ibitte Konai Gibo to Gishi). This runs in Ichijinsha’s Comic Pool, and asks what if Cinderella’s evil relatives were sweet and doting?

Seven Seas’ danmei line has the 5th and final volume of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi. This comes in a regular version, a special edition, and a Barnes and Noble exclusive edition.

MICHELLE: I’m so delinquent!

ASH: Likewise, but I’ve had a lot of fun reading what I have!

ANNA: Me too!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor 16 (the final volume), Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest ZERO 8 (also a final volume), Crossplay Love: Otaku x Punk 4, Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order 8, I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Fafnir the Recluse 2, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 9, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent: The Other Saint 2, and Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 2.

No debuts from Viz, but plenty of ongoing series. We see Blue Box 4, The Elusive Samurai 6, The King’s Beast 10, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible 7, My Hero Academia 34, My Special One 2, Natsume’s Book of Friends 28, One-Punch Man 25, Queen’s Quality 17, Show-ha Shoten! 2, and Skip Beat! 48.

MICHELLE: It’s an indication of the state of my life at present that I was unaware we were getting new <Skip Beat! next week.

ASH: Oh! An excellent week for Shojo Beat! (And Viz in general, I suppose.)

ANNA: So excited for more <Skip Beat!!

SEAN: Some of my Shojo Beat favorites, a great way to end the list. What are you getting?

SEAN: Manga the Week of is here for all of your manga needs. All of our contributors are with other customers right now. Please hold.

MICHELLE: Your position in the queue is… 7.

SEAN: We start with Yen Press, who have two stragglers from last week: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria 19 and Kowloon Generic Romance 3.

ASH: Only two, eh? I hear Kowloon Generic Romance is a good one!

SEAN: A brief detour to look at academic publisher Wiley. They’re putting out six books in a series called Manga for Success, that are basically corporate help books that use manga to break things down in an easy to follow way. They appear to be based on a set of Japanese books that came out about eight years ago.

ASH: Wow! It’s not often that academic publishers are releasing manga.

SEAN: There’s a new Viz Signature debut, Boy’s Abyss (Shounen no Abyss). It’s a Weekly Young Jump series that’s Boy Meets Girl, but also has the tags ‘psychological’, ‘drama’, and ‘tragedy’, so expect a bit more than high school hijinks. A high school boy with a very dull life finds a pop idol working at his local store one day.

MICHELLE: Hm …

ASH: The cover artwork is striking and I am intrigued.

SEAN: There’s also The Art of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (an artbook) and Jujutsu Kaisen: Thorny Road at Dawn (a light novel).

ASH: While I’ve fallen behind the Demon Slayer curve, I am glad the artbook was licensed.

SEAN: Two BL one-shots from Tokyopop. Cut Over Criteria runs in a magazine titled NUUDE, and as you can imagine is a mature title. Office romance between a new recruit and a brooding systems engineer.

There’s also Platinum Blood, also running in the same magazine, about the relationship between a priest and a vampire, and it has like 5 different content warnings on he solicit.

(Yeah, I know, shut up. I swear it said 4/18 on their website last week.)

A debut from Square Enix. Daemons of the Shadow Realm (Yomi no Tsugai) is the latest title from Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Silver Spoon, etc.) and runs in Shonen Gangan. A boy lives a quiet life in his quiet mountain village… until his younger sister is called to work at the local jail. Which also means being confined in the local jail. What’s going on here?

ANNA: OK, I’m curious now!

ASH: Hiromu Arakawa, you say!

SEAN: We also get Otherside Picnic 4 and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 8.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. My Girlfriend’s Child (Ano Ko no Kodomo) is a shoujo series from Betsufure. A young couple in high school have to deal with the fact that she’s now pregnant. This has been nominated for some awards.

MICHELLE: The art on the cover is interesting!

ANNA: Also intrigued.

ASH: Likewise.

SEAN: And there’s a new danmei novel, Remnants of Filth: Yuwu. This is set in the same world as The Husky and His White Cat Shizun. Two commanders in love are torn apart when one betrays their nation. But what’s the real story?

ANNA: I need to read so many other danmei novels.

ASH: I am so glad these are coming out, but I am so far behind.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 3, The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún Deluxe Edition III, The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 3, My Lovey-Dovey Wife is a Stone Cold Killer 4, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 4, Reincarnated as a Sword 10, Succubus and Hitman 3, and Yakuza Reincarnation 5.

ASH: The deluxe editions of The Girl From the Other Side are so pretty.

SEAN: Kodansha Books has the second volume of Am I Actually the Strongest?.

Kodansha Manga has more. In print: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 13, EDENS ZERO 22, Fire Force 32, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 17, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 5, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World 5, Phantom of the Idol 5, and Shangri-La Frontier 5. (That’s a lot of 5s.)

Debuting digitally is Love, That’s an Understatement (Hikaeme ni Itte mo, Kore wa Ai). This is a new Dessert series from the Lovesick Ellie creator. A high school girl saves a delinquent she finds beaten up in the park. She refuses any repayment… but suddenly finds that this guy and his minions are all around her now!

MICHELLE: Having adored Lovesick Ellie, I’m really interested in this one!

ANNA: Oh, as a fan of Lovesick Ellie I am intrigued but I wish it was coming out in print.

SEAN: Other digital titles: Boss Bride Days 4, Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest 7, Gamaran: Shura 7, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 13, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 13, Koigakubo-kun Stole My First Time 4, Love After World Domination 6 (the final volume), My Home Hero 3, Our Bodies, Entwining, Entwined 5, and Space Brothers 42.

There’s three debuts and one side story debut from J-Novel Club. The side story is Ascendance of a Bookworm: Short Story Collection, which is just what it sounds like, and covers everything from Myne’s early days making paper to Rozemyne’s academy adventures.

ASH: Yay!

SEAN: The Apothecary Witch Turned Divorce Agent (Kusushi no Majo Desu ga, Nazeka Fukugyō de Rikon Daikō Shiteimasu) is sadly not about a crusading woman going after asshole husbands, which is what I thought it would be. Carla’s not a very good witch, which is why she runs the divorce agency. Though… everyone who sees her for a divorce ends up getting back together?

ANNA: I wish it was about encouraging divorce, that sounds much more interesting.

SEAN: A Cave King’s Road to Paradise: Climbing to the Top with My Almighty Mining Skills! (Dōkutsu Ō kara Hajimeru Rakuen Life: Bannō no Saikutsu Skill de Saikyō ni!?) is one of those “I have a power everyone thinks is useless, so suddenly I am hated, exiled, and left to die series. Spoiler, it’s not useless.

There’s also A Royal Rebound: Forget My Ex-Fiancé, I’m Being Pampered by the Prince! (Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu). A young woman is happily engaged and studying to be a mage… but when she gets to the academy, suddenly her fiance is shunning her? What’s going on here?

And we get I Surrendered My Sword for a New Life as a Mage 2, Monster Tamer 13, Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke: This Time I’m Gonna Tell Her How I Feel! 10 (the final volume), and The Tales of Marielle Clarac’s 6th manga volume.

From Ghost Ship we get Ayakashi Triangle 3, JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World 5, SUPER HXEROS 10, and Wicked Trapper: Hunter of Heroes 2.

Two debuts from Cross Infinite World. Lovestruck Prince! I’ll Fight the Heroine for My Villainess Fiancée! (Betabore no Kon’yakusha ga Akuyaku Reijou ni Sare sou na no de Heroine-gawa ni wa Sore Souou no Mukui wo Ukete Morau) is both a “someone is trying to make a non-evil girl into a villainess” book as well as a rare villainess book with a male protagonist.

The Reincarnated Villainess Won’t Seek Revenge (Tensei Shita Akuyaku Reijou wa Fukushuu wo Nozomanai) is also a Villainess book, of course. A young noble is hanged for a crime she didn’t commit. Now reincarnated, all her new self wants to do is live a quiet life away from politics. Sadly, she’s not the only one reincarnated, and everyone ELSE around her wants to get her revenge for her.

Airship gives us 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! 3, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! 15, and I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 4.

And in early digital, they have Disciple of the Lich: Or How I Was Cursed by the Gods and Dropped Into the Abyss! 5 and The Haunted Bookstore – Gateway to a Parallel Universe 5.

Thank you for holding, how may we assist you?

SEAN: Spring is rapidly becoming summer in April here, I dunno about you. Will my manga wilt in the heat?

ASH: I’m enjoying the change in weather at the moment, but if this is spring I worry about what summer will feel like.

ANNA: The snow here only melted last weekend!

SEAN: Airship, in print, has the 8th and final volume of Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter and The World’s Fastest Level Up 2.

And early digital volumes of The Case Files of Jeweler Richard 4, The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan 4, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 8.

Dark Horse has a 12th omnibus volume of Gantz.

Ghost Ship has nothing next week, but Seven Seas has a Mature-rated BL title, so I’ll put it here. We see Love is an Illusion! 2.

ASH: Seems appropriate.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has some print next week. Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Vol. 6 (this is the manga), My Friend’s Little Sister Has It in For Me! 7, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 9.

ASH: Bookworm! (I really do need to catch up.)

SEAN: Digitally we get two debuts. Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (Tsundere Akuyaku Reijou Liselotte to Jikkyou no Endo-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san) is the manga adaptation of the light novel series that also got an anime recently. It runs in B’s-Log Comic.

The other debut is a light novel coming after J-Novel Club licensed the manga version. Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster (Albert-ke no Reijou wa Botsuraku wo Goshomou desu) and has the interesting premise where a “reincarnated in an otome game” noble tries her hardest to be the villainess and harass the heroine… she’s just terrible at being bad.

Also from J-Novel Club: Black Summoner’s 11th manga volume, The Coppersmith’s Bride 2, Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers 7, and Now I’m a Demon Lord! Happily Ever After with Monster Girls in My Dungeon 4.

Kodansha Books has a light novel debut: Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for my Retirement (Rougo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-manmai no Kinka o Tamemasu). Sol Press had released two volumes of this before, but this is (I presume) a new translation. It’s from the creator of Make My Abilities Average, and got an anime recently.

ASH: I find it interesting how these titles move around.

SEAN: From Kodansha Manga we see print books for Blue Lock 6, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 4, Rent-a-Girlfriend 18, and Something’s Wrong With Us 14.

ASH: I really ought to give Blue Lock a try sooner rather than later.

ANNA: Going to pick this up for one of my kids.

SEAN: And digitally we see Boss Wife 6, The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 7, Gamaran 8, Our Fake Marriage 11, and SHAMAN KING: MARCOS 5 (the final volume).

One Peace Books has a new sequel, I Hear the Sunspot: Four Seasons (Hidamari ga Kikoeru: Shunkashuutou). This Canna release continues the story from previous volumes.

MICHELLE: Ooh, I didn’t know about this one!

ASH: Always happy to see more of this series!

ANNA: I am also surprised and delighted although I need to catch up.

SEAN: Seven Seas has one debut, a yuri title. Does it Count if You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? (Android wa Keiken Ninzuu ni Hairimasu ka??), a Comic Yuri Hime title featuring a robotics engineer who’s brilliant but also can barely take care of herself. She orders an android to help clean up… but the android has designs on her.

ASH: I’ll admit to being intrigued.

SEAN: Seven Seas also gives us Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Party Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to an Infinite Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge 2, BARBARITIES 2, THE EXO-DRIVE REINCARNATION GAMES: All-Japan Isekai Battle Tournament! 3 (the final volume), The Invincible Shovel 5, Kemono Jihen 5, Namekawa-san Won’t Take a Licking! 3, Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 2, and Tokyo Revengers 9-10.

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on Kemono Jihen before it gets away from me entirely.

SEAN: Tentai Books has Turning the Tables on the Seatmate Killer 2 (yes, I know, it’s out already… like Denpa, I treat Tentai’s release dates with a grain of salt, so I tend to put it on the list once I see it on retail sites.)

Two BL one-shots from Tokyopop. Cut Over Criteria runs in a magazine titled NUUDE, and as you can imagine is a mature title. Office romance between a new recruit and a brooding systems engineer.

There’s also Platinum Blood, also running in the same magazine, about the relationship between a priest and a vampire, and it has like 5 different content warnings on he solicit.

Viz has a debut comedic romance from Media Factory’s Niconico Seiga. Love’s in Sight! (Yankee-kun to Hakujou Girl) is the story of a delinquent who’s won countless fights, but now faces his greatest challenge when he falls for a blind girl.

ASH: I do like a good delinquent story.

ANNA: I also enjoy delinquents.

SEAN: Viz also has the 12th and final volume of Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Mission: Yozakura Family 4, Record of Ragnarok 6, Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 22–26 (also a final volume), Ultraman 18, and Undead Unluck 11.

And finally there is Yen. Yen On has two debuts that are sequels or side stories. Sasaki and Miyano: First-Years is the sequel … OK, prequel. Spy Classroom Short Story Collection is the side collection.

Also from Yen On: Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie 4, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 8, The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time 5, I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too 2, I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss 5, In the Land of Leadale 8, King’s Proposal 2, Magical Explorer 4, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady 4, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 2, Sugar Apple Fairy Tale 3, Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 12, and The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess 4.

ASH: So many!

SEAN: Yen Press also has debuts. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya is a manga spinoff based on the light novel spinoff. It runs in Manga Up!.

K-ON! Shuffle is a new spinoff of K-On!, starring a completely different cast. But the plot is the same.

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale is the 2nd manga adaptation of the light novel series. It got a 2-volume shoujo one 10 years ago, but this is the seinen one from Young Ace.

Sunbeams in the Sky (Sunbeams in the Sky) is a romance from GFantasy, so theoretically could be shonen or shoujo. Twin sisters are about to start at a new high school… then circumstances cause one of them to hide in her room for the foreseeable future. Can the other twin convince her to come out by pretending to be her?

What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? is a manwha title about an arrogant boss who is startled to find the perfect secretary, who’s kept his life together for almost a decade, is quitting! This is based on a novel, and I’d slot it in as josei.

MICHELLE: Hm. I am kind of in a manhwa mood lately…

ASH: There have been some good ones coming out recently!

ANNA: I’m curious about this.

SEAN: The Witch and the Knight Will Survive (Majo to Kishi wa Ikinokoru) is a seinen title from Young Ace Up. A knight finds his home village wiped out, allegedly the cause of a witch. He vows revenge… but is she really responsible?

ASH: That’s a fair number of debuts.

SEAN: Yen also has non-debuts, believe it or not. Catch These Hands! 4 (the final volume), Cheeky Brat 6, Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 8, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 2, Doomsday with My Dog 2, The Eminence in Shadow 6, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 2, From the Red Fog 4, I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too 3, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 6, I’m Quitting Heroing 2, In Another World with My Smartphone 8, Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! 15, Laid-Back Camp 13, Let This Grieving Soul Retire 5, Love and Heart 7, Mieruko-chan 7, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected @ comic, 19, A Returner’s Magic Should be Special 2, Run on Your New Legs 4, The Saga of Tanya the Evil 19, Slasher Maidens 7, So I’m a Spider, So What? The Daily Lives of the Kumoko Sisters 5, Tales of the Kingdom 3, Teasing Master Takagi-san 17, Trinity Seven 27, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet 3, and Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion 3.

MICHELLE: Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet is the one on my list!

ASH: So much Yen!

ANNA: Looking forward to more Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet.

SEAN: I miss Yen’s date slips, I reiterate. What are you picking up?

SEAN: April continues apace!

ASH: That it does!

SEAN: We start with Yen On finally getting a trailing aspidistra of a release, the 4th volume of Magical Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim.

From Viz Media we see Case Closed 86, Dandadan 3, The Hunters Guild: Red Hood 3 (the final volume), Kaiju No. 8 6, Komi Can’t Communicate 24, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 11 (the final volume), Pokémon: Sword & Shield 6, Sakamoto Days 7, and Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 20.

ASH: I need to catch up on quite a few of these! Most likely starting with Twilight Princess.

SEAN: Udon debuts Persona 4 Arena, a Dengeki Maoh series for all you folks who wished Persona 4 were a fighting game. This is, in fact, an adaptation of a video game. (It got bumped. Again. I will keep doing this over and over, I warn them.)

ASH: (It’s only fair.)

SEAN: They also have a 5th volume of Daigo The Beast: Umehara Fighting Gamers! (which also got bumped).

Some interesting debuts from Tokyopop, which is now Stu Levy-free. My Coworker Has a Secret (Wakeari Danjo no Secret Days) is a josei title from Comic Qurie. A young woman works in a bookstore and tries to hide her huge otaku secret. Then her coworker finds out… but he also has a secret.

MICHELLE: Hm. The cover is kind of cute and it is josei…

ANNA: Ok, this might break my vow to ignore Tokyopop releases…..

ASH: I am cautiously curious, for sure.

SEAN: There’s also Sengoku Youko, an older shonen title by the creator of The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle. It ran in Comic Blade, and features two demon siblings trying to right wrongs.

MICHELLE: This cover is the TOKYOPOPiest thing I have seen in years.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Lastly, the inevitable BL title from Canna, another one-shot, Snow Fairy (Yuki no Yousei). A photographer trying to photograph fairies ends up stranded in the snow, and is taken in by a country farm boy.

Titan Manga has the 4th volume of ATOM: The Beginning.

From SuBLime we get the 6th volume of Black or White and the 11th volume of Don’t Be Cruel.

Square Enix Manga gives us My Dress-Up Darling 8 and My Isekai Life 6.

ASH: My Dress-Up Darling is another series I need to catch up on; I rather enjoyed its earlier volumes.

SEAN: Two debuts from Seven Seas. First we have My New Life as a Cat (Neko, Hajimemashita: Nyantomo Ki ni Naru Nyao). It’s reincarnation isekai (high school student hit by a car), but he’s a cat. It runs in Ciao Deluxe, so is probably written for tween girls. (His owner is a girl.)

ASH: I guess this technically counts as a cat manga?

SEAN: The other debut is There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless… (Watashi ga Koibito ni Nareru Wake Naijan, Muri Muri! (*Muri Janakatta!?)), the manga adaptation of a light novel Seven Seas will be releasing in a couple months. A gloomy girl is trying to reinvent herself in high school… with limited success. She then forms a friendship with the school idol. Then things go pear-shaped when the idol confesses to her! This runs in Dash x Comic.

Also from Seven Seas: Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 6, Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! 7, The Ideal Sponger Life 13, Kingdom of Z 6 (the final volume), Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari 2, MoMo -the blood taker- 4, No Longer Allowed In Another World 2, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 6, and Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 7.

From One Peace Books we see Multi-Mind Mayhem 7.

Kodansha Books has some print titles. We get Am I Actually the Strongest? 2, Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro 14, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 13, Orient 14, Real Account 21-22, Shonen Note: Boy Soprano 3, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 12, To Your Eternity 18, and the 17th and final volume of Witchcraft Works.

MICHELLE: I really need to read Shonen Note.

ASH: A good Kodansha print week!

SEAN: Digitally, we see The Fable 13, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 12, Gang King 4, Giant Killing 36, Girlfriend, Girlfriend 13, Life 2: Giver/Taker 2, Police in a Pod 22, Space Brothers 42, and Tokyo Revengers 30.

We have some debuts from J-Novel Club. Reincarnated Mage with Inferior Eyes: Breezing through the Future as an Oppressed Ex-Hero (Rettougan no Tensei Majutsushi – Shiitagerareta Moto Yuusha wa Mirai no Sekai o Yoyuu de Ikinuku). A strong and powerful mage is hated and feared by everyone around him because his eyes show just how powerful he is. He sends himself into the future in hopes there won’t be the same prejudice. This is J-Novel Club’s first novel license from Shueisha, which is the only reason I’ll be trying it.

Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat (Akutoku Kizoku no Seizon Senryaku) is a relatively new title from their partner Drecom. A guy burying himself in games after his wife betrayed him ends up inside the game as Jack… whose life is far, far worse. Fortunately, our hero knows how the game turns out, and also knows the strongest support character. Can he turn his life around? I’ll be honest, I decided not to read this when I saw the word betrayed.

Also from J-Novel Club: Chillin’ in Another World with Level 2 Super Cheat Powers 9, The Game Master Has Logged In to Another World 2, The Invincible Little Lady 2, Rebuild World’s 3rd manga volume, The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes 7, and Seventh 3.

Ghost Ship has several titles next week. Call Girl in Another World 6, GUNBURED × SISTERS 4 (the final volume), Parallel Paradise 13, World’s End Harem Vol. 14 – After World, World’s End Harem: Fantasia 8, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 23.

Denpa has said this should be available next week, so here we go. March Comes in Like a Lion (Sangatsu no Lion) is a legendary manga from the creator of Honey and Clover. It’s about a teenage boy with a very troubled life, and it’s also about shogi. It runs in Young Animal.

MICHELLE: Fingers crossed!

ANNA: Yay!!!

ASH: Here for it whenever it’s here!

SEAN: In print from Airship, we see Free Life Fantasy Online: Immortal Princess 2, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 6, Skeleton Knight in Another World 10, and The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary 7.

And for early digital we get Raven of the Inner Palace 2, Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 6, and Survival in Another World with My Mistress! 5.

That’s a whole lot. I’m exhausted, how about you?

ASH: Utterly.