Manga Bookshelf's Weekly Features

SEAN: As always, there’s been so much this year that it’s hard to choose. Honestly, my pick of the year is an anime, and one that ran in 2022 as well: Birdie Wing: Golf Girls Story. The perfect sports anime, the perfect (almost) yuri anime, and totally, one hundred percent gonzo and ridiculous. I hope it gets a series of light novels, manga, and a sequel.

MICHELLE: For various reasons, I haven’t read much of *anything* this year, so instead of picking a title, I will pick a publisher. Seven Seas keeps licensing things I *want* to read, like Guardian and Don’t Call It Mystery, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

KATE: My vote goes to the Mangasplainers, both for their awesome podcast and for their publishing efforts. Okinawa was a terrific first project, and bodes well for the other titles they have in the pipeline for 2024.

ASH: Like Michelle, I haven’t had the chance this year to read nearly as much as I would have liked, but I am still very grateful for the variety publishers releasing such a wide range of materials that I will have plenty to keep me busy for a very long time. That being said, I have managed to follow Drawn & Quarterly pretty closely this year and have been very pleased with its 2023 catalog, from the new and improved edition of the previously out-of-print Kitaro anthology, to contemporary indie comics by Woshibai, to alternative works by Japanese women, to classics of avant-garde manga, there’s been so much to appreciate and enjoy.

ANNA: I’m terribly behind in my manga reading as well, but for this year I want to highlight two titles that I thought would never be licensed – Don’t Call it a Mystery and Neighborhood Story. It is great that I can still be pleasantly surprised by licensing decisions! I also want to give a shout out to March comes in Like a Lion which I was eagerly anticipating.

SEAN: As I said in Manga the Week of, I do like a good military fantasy. And with the series I like either about to finish or on hiatus, it’s a good time to grab a new one. The Crown of Rutile Quartz is my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I like food manga and I like cats, so my choice is clear: Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat!

ASH: Same! And yokai, too. I somehow hadn’t even heard of Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat before Sean mentioned the manga; I immediately placed a pre-order for the first volume.

KATE: A new volume of Insomniacs After School is always cause for celebration!

MICHELLE: Anything by the author of My Love Story!! automatically receives my endorsement, so it’s The Secret of Friendship for me this week!

SEAN: I’m very tempted by Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, which sounds right up my street. But yeah, of course my pick is going to be the glorious (?) return of the A Certain Magical Index franchise with its second season of light novels.

KATE: This is one of those rare weeks when I can’t limit myself to just one pick! There are new installments of Akane-Banashi, Glitch, and Marmalade Boy AND several intriguing new titles. If I had to narrow down my list to a single title, though, I’d join Michelle in choosing The Secret of Friendship.

ANNA: The Secret of Friendship it is for me!

ASH: I’m leaning towards The Secret of Friendship, too, since I adored My Love Story!!, but I’ll have to admit to being greatly intrigued by the debut of Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!, too.

SEAN: I mean, it’s Neighborhood Story, no question. A mere 21 years after Paradise Kiss came out in North America, we get its predecessor, and even more amazing fashion. Cannot wait.

MICHELLE: Yep. No question.

ANNA: I might pick it a few extra times!

ASH: There’s no doubt about it. Any Ai Yazawa manga is going to be an auto-pick for me, so Neighborhood Story it is!

MICHELLE: It’s 100% My Lovesick Life as a ’90s Otaku for me. So much josei nowadays!

SEAN: I’ll pick the other josei title, then. Not only do I always want to support anything that comes from Flowers, but Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom looks cute and compact as well.

ANNA: Can I pick both? Why not both!?

ASH: Both it is! I love that josei is becoming more common in translation. (Though I must admit that I’m pretty excited for Stone Ocean, too.)

KATE: At the risk of being the most predictable member of the Battle Robot, I’m going to recommend the 30th edition of Tekkonkinkreet, a weird, glorious, head-trippy manga from Taiyo Matsumoto that’s a little more coherent than No. 5, and a lot less depressing than Sunny. If you’re never read anything by Matsumoto, it’s a great introduction to his unique visual style.

SEAN: There’s a clear 100% pick for me. Dark Horse’s release of Innocent is something I’ve been waiting for since it was announced. That it’s coming in three massive 650-age omnibuses makes it even better. The story of Charles-Henri Sanson is masterfully adapted in this, and the art is amazing.

KATE: I’m curious about Innocent, though the preview I read at The Comics Journal made me wonder if the exposition-heavy dialogue would drive me bananas. (Show don’t tell, people!) My vote goes for Team Phoenix instead; when Sean described it as “a Bessatsu Shonen Champion series that asks the question “what if the most iconic characters in Tezuka’s manga became space pirates?” I immediately pre-ordered a copy.

MICHELLE: I’m intrigued by the space pirates, no doubt, but yes: Innocent all the way.

ASH: Innocent is my pick this week, too. I’ve actually been waiting for it even before it was announced. It was one of those series that regularly popped up on my radar; I would invariably be left wishing that it would be licensed. And now its release is nigh!

ANNA: There’s lots of great manga coming out this week, and I’m very intrigued by the prospect of a new Io Sakisaka series with Sakura, Saku. However I think everyone should be reading A Sign of Affection, so the 7th print volume is my official pick this week.

MICHELLE: I am in complete agreement with Anna!

ASH: I’ll join in with support for these selections, too, but will make Sakura, Saku my official pick since it’s the debut. (And I’ll also be making sure to move A Sign of Affection much higher up on my to-be-read pile!)

SEAN: I’m gonna join in too, A Sign of Affection is the top flight shoujo manga title of the week.

SEAN: The thing that oddly interests me most this week is Black Night Parade. Hikaru Nakamura specializes for me in series with great ideas that tend to not hold up the longer they go on. But that means her Vol. 1s are always fantastic.

MICHELLE: I suppose I’ll vote for volume four of Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. Maybe this’ll be the time I actually read it!

ASH: It’s a little early in the season for me for a manga that’s at least tangentially if not explicitly related to Christmas, but I do find it difficult to pass up Hikaru Nakamura, so Black Night Parade is my pick, too.

ANNA: Did you know that the sequel to Fourth Wing, Iron Flame is coming out this week too? It is not manga but that’s my pick!

MICHELLE: 1000% My Cat Is Such a Weirdo. I mean, how could I not?

SEAN: Still can’t resist a heroine called Princess That, so I’m going with Third Loop: The Nameless Princess and the Cruel Emperor for my pick.

ANNA: My pick is Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen it sounds so amazingly random.

ASH: I’m with Anna this week! As soon as I was reminded that Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen existed, I made sure that I had a pre-order in place.

SEAN: “Yuri with actual adults” never gets old, so my pick this week will be just that, with Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord.

MICHELLE: There isn’t a whole lot that appeals to me personally, so I will celebrate the print release of Nina the Starry Bride, which I’ve been meaning to check out.

ANNA: I’m very happy that Nina the Starry Bride is getting a print release, it deserves it!

ASH: Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord is definitely of interest to me, but then so is Nina the Starry Bride, especially now that it is in print!

ASH: Blade of the Immortal certainly isn’t a new series, the deluxe edition being at least the fourth time it’s been released in English, but this is probably(?) the last time I’ll be able to make it my pick, and so I will! One of the first manga I ever read and made a point to start collecting (and then recollecting), the series continues to hold significant meaning for me.

SEAN: I wasn’t able to watch the anime of Bocchi the Rock! because Bocchi’s social anxiety was a bit too much for me with sound and motion. I’m hoping that on paper it will be more tolerable, so Bocchi is my pick this week.

MICHELLE: I’m a little iffy on the premise of Searching for My Perfect Brother, but it *is* josei and I like the cover, so I suppose it can have my (admittedly tentative) endorsement this week.

ANNA: I have similar feelings as Michelle about Searching for My Perfect Brother, but I am a little curious to check it out.

SEAN: It’s a new season of anime, and several of my favorites are finally getting a chance to shine. As such, my dual pick of the week is the 9th volume of The Apothecary Diaries and the 2nd manga volume of Tearmoon Empire. Go watch the anime, please.

MICHELLE: Super Morning Star looks like fun, so that gets my vote this week!

ASH: Had I not completely misremembered its release date, Nejishiki would have definitely been my pick last week seeing that it collects some important and influential alternative manga touchstones. But if I am to limit myself to this week’s releases, I’ll have to admit that I am rather curious about The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl, so I’ll make that my pick as well.

ASH: I’ll have to admit, the releases I’m most excited about are ongoing series like Witch Hat Atelier. That being said, I’m interested enough in the debut of That Time the Manga Editor Started a New Life in the Countryside that I’m already hoping that it gets a print release. It looks like something I’d really enjoy!

KATE: I’m also excited for That Time the Manga Editor Started a New Life in the Countryside, not least because it sounds like a realistic gloss on a fantasy I’ve had for years: quitting my job and starting my own alpaca farm!

SEAN: Honestly, it will take more than a farming manga editor to turn my head, so I will agree with Ash’s first point. Any week with new Witch Hat Atelier is a week which is marvelous.

MICHELLE: I’m all about the finales of My Love Mix-Up! and Lovesick Ellie this week, with a side of “new series by Yuki Shiwasu!”

ANNA: It is sort of amazing that both those series are concluding! I’m going to join in on the pick for Witch Hat Atelier, that series is so special.

SEAN: Can we pick something that came out over 10 years ago? Because honestly it’s the new digital edition of Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka that’s most interesting to me this week.

ANNA: Same! Glad that this title is more accessible.

MICHELLE: I am always willing to endorse Pluto!

ASH: Pluto is such an important touchstone series for me and is absolutely my top choice this week, too. (Plus, I didn’t have the opportunity to pick it the first time around…)

KATE: I’m making a plug for volume six of Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest, a shambolic, gorgeous, and sometimes suspenseful mystery set in Iceland. New volumes come out about as frequently as new installments of A Bride’s Story, but the wait is always worth it.

MICHELLE: It’s absolutely Glitch for me this week. Siblings investigating a weird town would be enough on its own even without the goodwill Lost Lad London engendered, honestly, but the fact that it’s by the same creator is extra enticing.

ASH: Generally when selecting my pick, I look towards debut or one-off volumes, but I do have to at least mention two ongoing series I’m particularly glad to see new volumes of this week: Emanon and Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. But my official pick goes to #DRCL midnight children which, if nothing else, should have phenomenal artwork.

SEAN: It will probably be a bit too dark for me, but I have to go with #DRCL midnight children as well, because art.

KATE: What everyone else said: bloodsuckers and mystery manga for me, too!