Manga Bookshelf's Weekly Features

KATE: I’m going out on a limb by picking Cthulhu Cat (Neko no Cthulhu), which could be seriously cute or just plain weird, so my back-up plan is Thunder 3. Sean’s description of the series as “a Weekly Shonen Magazine title that looks like it’s from 1965 but is in reality from 2022” piqued my interest.

MICHELLE: I’m going with Colette Decides to Die this week, primarily because I am amused by the prissy, snooty boy on the cover.

SEAN: Anytime Viz decides to license a 10-year-old shoujo series with 20 volumes out of the blue, I sit up and take notice. (Yes, I know it’s probably getting an anime soon.) So Colette Decides to Die is my pick as well.

ANNA: For sure curious about Colette Decides to Die!

ASH: Colette Decides to Die is my pick this week, too, but I’ll admit to being curious about Cthulhu Cat and Thunder 3 as well.

SEAN: This is another “sometimes you just want McDonald’s” week for me, as my pick is the debut of the Lycoris Recoil manga. Guaranteed to be less yuri than the fandom wants!

MICHELLE: I wish that the cover of Tiger & Dragon were more encouraging, but alas. I think I’m gonna go with Even Though We’re Adults this time.

ANNA: I’m going to go with the latest volume of Nina the Starry Brida as a reminder to myself to get caught up on the manga and actually check out the anime.

KATE: My vote goes to Even Though We’re Adults (or “Good Luck Babe: The Manga”).

ASH: Even Though We’re Adults is a solid pick, for sure. Debut-wise, I’ll have to admit to being curious about The Lady Knight and the Beast-Eared Child and JoJo A-Go!Go! is definitely worth mentioning, too.

MICHELLE: I’m quite interested in two debuts this week. Diary of a Female Lead and The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All both appeal to me, but I will give the edge to the latter for that absolutely striking front cover!

SEAN: Absolutely no question, it’s The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All. Get hype, this is gonna be great.

KATE: I second those picks–both covers look promising!

ANNA: I’m not going to go against the consensus this week!

ASH: The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All is defiantly the debut I’m most interested in this week, but did you know that Yokai, a full-color artbook of Shigeru Mizuki’s illustrations, was just released last week? It is SO GOOD.

SEAN: Just as kids these days have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention watching a cartoon “in syndication”, I imagine there are manga readers who don’t know what old-school shoujo releases were like back in 2004 (when Shojo Beat was a magazine!). But now they can! My pick goes to the omnibus edition of Red River, aka Anatolia Story. It’s a classic about a Japanese girl who is called to… ancient Egypt? To be used as a sacrifice. Because her blood is special. Wow, did isekais all get their ideas from Red River?

KATE: I second Sean’s pick! Red River is old school shoujo at its best: it’s got a handsome male lead, a power-hungry queen, magic spells a-plenty, and enough plot twists to satisfactorily fill out its 28 volume run. It’s the perfect way to waste an entire weekend when you should be doing something else–like raking the leaves or putting away your patio furniture.

MICHELLE: It’s gotta be Red River!

ANNA: I agree, it is wonderful that Red River is coming back into print. It is epic in scale that only a very few manga manage to pull off.

ASH: I haven’t read Red River yet, but I’ve been wanting to. And you all make it sound amazing, so old school epic shoujo is my pick this week, too!

KATE: For anyone who missed My Dear Detective: Mitsuko’s Case Files when it was on the Azuki platform, Seven Seas is putting out a print edition this week. The series will appeal to readers who like kinder, gentler mysteries in the vein of Miss Marple or Columbo, as it’s blissfully free of gruesome serial killers or brilliant investigators with messy personal lives.

MICHELLE: Actually, Kate, that sounds marvelous. I will join you in picking My Dear Detective!

SEAN: An excellent, sensible pick, and one I will try to balance out by picking utter trash. When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine is, let’s face it, what we all wanted from Bakarina but never got. It’s not good, but it’s funny.

ANNA: I’m going to pick Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga not because I think I’m going to read it but because I think it is amazing that there’s a manga based on a MTG card.

ASH: While I am likewise amazed at the existence of a MTG manga of this type, My Dear Detective is the (print) debut that has captured most of my attention this week and am most looking forward to reading.

SEAN: I’ve loved Julietta Suzuki ever since the Karakuri Odette days, so my pick this week is definitely the debut of Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite.

MICHELLE: “Big same!” to everything Sean said.

ANNA: I agree, a new Julietta Suzuki series is something to celebrate!

KATE: This week, I’m taking a chance on Manga Biographies: Charles M. Schulz, The Creator of Snoopy and Peanuts ; if nothing else, it will put me in the right frame of mind for my annual viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!.

ASH: I’ll have to admit, the release that I’m most interested in this week is probably KinnPorsche. Less because it’s a BL novel (granted, I really enjoy those!), but more because it’s being translated from Thai; very few Thai works of any genre have made it into English translation.

ASH: Any week that has a new volume of both Fist of the North Star and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is going to please me, but as far as the debut that I’m most curious about, my pick goes to The Boy I Loved Became the Jaded Emperor. I’ll always give a new fantasy josei manga a try!

MICHELLE: I’m still a little troubled by the “I took care of you when you were little and now I’ve been reincarnated and, probably, will be romantically interested in you” aspect, but yeah, going with the josei this week!

ANNA: It is more of a gamble than I usually take, but I will always be happy for more josei.

SEAN: I’ll be picking the debut of Victoria of Many Faces, whose author has written other series I greatly enjoy. Spies trying to live a quiet life and failing appeals to me.

SEAN: There are a pile of titles that I’m interested in this week, including some shoujo stuff that sounds old school (as I joked in manga the Week of), but yeah, just as Michelle goes “OMG, a Margaret title!”, I can’t help but go “OMG, a Big Comic Superior title!”. The creators are just gravy. My pick is Trillion Game.

KATE: I would read a phone book illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami–no, really, I would!–so I’m also picking Trillion Game.

MICHELLE: Same! I will probably also check out the feels-old-but-isn’t shoujo debuts, but the concept of this one’s just too unique to ignore.

ANNA: I’m very tempted by any new Margaret title, but the siren song of Ikegami illustrations is too much for me to resist, so I’m going to go with Trillion Game as well.

ASH: Likewise! While there are several debuts that have at least nominally caught my attention, Trillion Game is without question my pick this week.

MICHELLE: Otonari Complex for sure. True, the premise of a couple with confusing gender presentations is not new, but I haven’t personally read one in ages. Also, Makoto on this cover is reminding me of Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish, and I am here for it.

SEAN: Tempted as I am to ride the current meme and choose the Hatsune Miku title, I have to agree that Otonari Complex looks like the most interesting debut this week.

ASH: I’m not going to be the one to break this trend! Otonari Complex is definitely the debut that most intrigues me this week.

ANNA: All in for Otonari Complex!

SEAN: Apologies to Ai Yazawa, and I’m sure someone will pick her later on. But this is the final volume of Ascendance of a Bookworm, and I have to pick it. It’s made choices I wouldn’t, but it’s a series that has had some of the best worldbuilding in light novels for the last few years, and Myne/Rozemyne is a fantastic main character. Long May She Read.

MICHELLE: I’ll gladly accept that responsibility. *Last Quarter* for me! I don’t know anything about it but it’s Ai Yazawa and that’s enough for me.

ASH: I wholeheartedly support both of those picks, but I’m still going to add a third one into the mix; Giga Town: The Guide to Manga Iconography is a release that I’ve been very curious about since I first heard about it. I’m looking forward to some educational reading.

ANNA: New Ai Yazawa for me!

KATE: I’m joining Ash in making Giga Town my pick of the week; I’ve been excited about this title since the Mangasplainers first announced it last year.

MICHELLE: I’ll cast my vote for the fourth and final volume of Glitch. Not that I have managed to read any of the earlier volumes yet, but it’s still the most compelling release for me this week.

SEAN: There’s a new Tearmoon Empire, tra-la, tra-la, let’s avoid the guillotine together!

ASH: This week I’m going to go with raunchy romantic comedy danmei with a delightfully ridiculous premise. It’s You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post for me!

KATE: This is one of those weeks where I’m overwhelmed by how many titles are being released but underwhelmed at the selection. If I had to make a choice, though, my vote would go to volume four of the new deluxe edition of Tokyo Babylon. Yes, Dark Horse and Tokyopop have both issued their own editions of this CLAMP classic, but the new Yen Press version looks pretty snazzy and is giving me Borders-in-2006 vibes.

SEAN: My pick this week is the final manga volume of Bakemonogatari. Starting off as an impossible attempt to have a manga version live up to NISIOISIN’s prose and SHAFT’s anime style, the author and Oh!Great managed to make a unique story that, especially in the last half of the series, carved out its own path, trying to show the fates of almost everyone in the series (it would be very hard to show all of Nadeko’s fate, can’t blame it there) since it can’t go on for 40 more books. Oh, and kept it absolutely filled with blatant fanservice. I really loved this series.

MICHELLE: Of course I am happy about Don’t Call It Mystery, but the most intriguing release this week is Even If There’s No Rainbow Tomorrow. The retro vibes of its cover are lovely, too.

KATE: I’m torn between two titles this week: The Summer Hikaru Died, an atmospheric blend of body horror, BL, and fantasy with fabulous artwork, and Don’t Call It a Mystery, a series that defies easy description, but reminds me a little of Columbo (with better hair).

ASH: All excellent choices, for sure! (As well as some excellent descriptions.) I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention Oba Electroplating Factory since I had somehow forgot about it until my comic shop let me know it was in my box to pick up. But as for this week’s debuts, I’m most intrigued by the prospect of reading Hell Is Dark with No Flowers. A horror novel series featuring yokai? Yup, that one has my name on it.

ANNA: I’m going to make Don’t Call It Mystery my pick, in the hope that will prompt me to get caught up on it!

MICHELLE: Kaze Hikaru! I am tempted to say “Enough said,” but there’s also the third and final volume of Guardian that’s very high on my list.

SEAN: Yeah, we only get to do this once a year, so it’s definitely Kaze Hikaru this week. Though I am also interested in <Guardian.

ANNA: Kaze Hikaru, no question!

ASH: As far as debuts go, I find The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store is the one that intrigues me the most. But, yeah, I shall also join in with a hearty Kaze Hikaru!

KATE: Do I even need to say it? Kaze Hikaru! The release schedule is frustrating, but I’m grateful that VIZ has stayed the course with this lovely, lively, and sometimes heartbreaking series.

SEAN: My pick this week is the final volume of Yokohama Kaidachi Kikou, a series that I never thought would get licensed and I am delighted that it did.

MICHELLE: I’ve been playing a lot of Monster of the Week lately, so a story about a supernatural consultant who’s investigating a creepy house with a creepy room is right up my street. The Strange House for me!

KATE: I second Sean’s pick: Yokohama Kaidachi Kikou was on my radar for YEARS before it was licensed, and it’s better than I’d hope it would be. Like Station Eleven, this is a story about a post-apocalyptic world where the few survivors find meaning by hanging on to small but important rituals. I know I’m making it sound like a major downer, but Yokohama Kaidachi Kikou isn’t the least bit depressing; if anything, I find each new volume makes me feel just a little more hopeful about the future.

ASH: Yokohama Kaidachi Kikou is absolutely a solid choice. And now that the series has been fully released, I plan on spending some time with it. But I’m also going to second Michelle’s pick; The Strange House sounds like something I should be reading, too.

ANNA: I’m convinced to give Yokohama Kaidachi Kikou a try!

MICHELLE: I don’t have the best track record in terms of actually reading the danmei titles that interest me, but Peerless is really appealing. Bonus points if it has a satisfying mystery element.

SEAN: I’m going to go with a rare pick I know absolutely nothing about. But the cover is just so darn cute! Noss and Zakuro is my vampire mom and daughter pick.

ASH: I’m with you both… and for many of the same reasons. But if I have to pick only one, the cuteness of the Noss and Zakuro cover has me slightly more interested in vampires this week.

ANNA: I’m going to pick Let’s Get to Villainessin’: Stratagems of a Former Commoner just because I like the word Villainessin’.