SEAN: First week of the month. You know what that means. Let’s go.
Dark Horse has the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s volume on Manga Challenges And Best Practices, which, given its authorship, I will merely leave here to let you all know it’s available. :)
ASH: Well, if you’re not going to say anything, then I will! I got my hands on an early copy a few months ago and thought it was great resource.
MJ: Thanks, Ash!
SEAN: Alice Love Fables: Toy Box is a Seven Seas anthology with stories from a) Alice in the Country of Hearts, as released (in part) by Seven Seas; b) Crimson Empire, as released by Seven Seas; and c) Arabians Lost, as not released by Seven Seas, mostly as it’s the only one of these otome game adaptations not to get an actual series.
ANNA: I have a fairly high tolerance of Alice in the Country of series, but stretching it to an anthology series might be a bit too much for me.
SEAN: Dance In The Vampire Bund has another new spinoff, this one called The Memories of Sledge Hammer. It does not feature David Rasche at all, so I am profoundly disinterested.
ASH: I…actually haven’t read any of the Dance in the Vampire Bund manga, yet.
MJ: I feel certain I never will.
ANNA: I doubt I will either.
SEAN: And Kanokon has an omnibus collecting two new volumes of this supernatural harem comedy (not to be confused with Seven Seas’ other supernatural harem comedies).
There’s also Vol. 3 of The Sacred Blacksmith, which hasn’t knocked me out, but has proven to be better than expected.
On the Viz front, there’s Vol. 5 of Demon Love Spell, which is a hell of a lot of fun and also sexy to boot.
MJ: I kinda can’t wait for this. I’m definitely hooked on this series.
ANNA: It is hilarious. I do wish more of Mayu Shinjo’s angsty series were published over here.
SEAN: Dengeki Daisy is coming to an end, but that end is not out here yet. Instead, we get lucky Vol. 13. If you like shoujo at all, you should be reading this.
MICHELLE: I’ve fallen behind with Dengeki Daisy but will be catching up soon!
ASH: I used consider Dengeki Daisy a guilty pleasure, but I’ve gotten over that and just enjoy the series.
MJ: I dropped Dengeki Daisy early on (not for any profound reason, just time) and I’ve begun to regret it.
ANNA: I always enjoy a new volume of Dengeki Daisy.
SEAN: The penultimate volume of A Devil and Her Love Song really needs to cut back on the angst and trauma and start wrapping things up happily. Do I expect this to happen here? No.
MJ: Heh.
ANNA: That being said, it is somehow weirdly refreshing along with all the angst and trauma, just because the heroine’s personality is so distinctive.
SEAN: The 3rd Dragon Ball omnibus, because there are always new generations of fans.
ASH: I’m glad that Viz is finding ways to keep this series in print–I’m one of those people who somehow missed it the first few times around.
SEAN: Vol. 3 of Happy Marriage?! will no doubt feature more fretting, worrying, and self-doubt, hopefully mixed with some nice romance and comedy.
MJ: No doubt. And no doubt I’ll read it.
ANNA: I’ve read it and it continues to be great!
SEAN: Hunter x Hunter 31 is out. The manga’s back on hiatus in Japan, so I’m not sure when it will dribble to a halt here. Again.
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan started a new arc last time, and I expect things will be quite exciting and supernatural in a “this is pretty good, but not great” way.
One Piece Vol. 69. (cough) You’d think Nami and Robin would be on the cov–(whack) Ow!
Skip Beat! is up to Vol. 32. Easily Hana to Yume’s longest running ongoing series, it may be wrapping up soon, but not yet. Still great.
MICHELLE: I’m very excited about this one!
ASH: Me, too!
ANNA: Probably my most favorite insanely long shoujo manga series.
SEAN: Slam Dunk ends with Vol. 31. A terrific sports manga, and hopefully it has whetted fans’ appetite in case Viz wants to, say, license another ongoing Jump basketball series. Hint, hint.
MICHELLE: And this one! I’ve been saving up the last five volumes to read in one big chunk. It’s gonna be awesome.
ASH: I’m behind in Slam Dunk, but it really is a great series.
ANNA: Slam Dunk is wonderful.
SEAN: Toriko is in the Meteor Garlic arc, and this is Volume 19. I like the series a lot, but it’s hard to really comment on when it comes out.
Lastly, Voice Over: Seiyuu Academy has its second volume drop. It’s classic workaday Hakusensha shoujo, with a fun if dense lead.
MJ: I’m eyeing this with a little bit of dread, but it’ll probably reel me in.
MICHELLE: It might. I definitely liked the first volume more than I expected to.
ANNA:I enjoyed the first volume much more than I expected to.
SEAN: That’s a big pile. Any choices?
Aaron says
November 29, 2013 at 10:56 amI have The Memories of Sledge Hammer on my Christmas list so that one’s off and since I buy everything through B&N online the Manga Challenges And Best Practices doesn’t come out for me till the 17th so I would go with that but it’s not out for a couple weeks for me.
Also I quit reading Devil and Her Love Song after they introduced Maria’s past and her friend from her old school their’s drama and their’s just trying to manipulate the audience and I think Devil and I think Love Song went into the manipulative territory fro me. Also I don’t mind the “color commentary” sometime but sometime I wish it’d just be a cold reporting of what’s coming out instead of what everyone thinks about what’s coming out it’s honestly distracting sometimes.
Melinda Beasi says
November 29, 2013 at 12:02 pmHi Aaron,
A plain list of what’s coming out each week can be found at numerous comic shop websites, including Midtown Comics and Comicopia. That’s what retail websites are for. They sell comics. We discuss, criticize, and generally give our opinions on comics, so the only point to repeating these lists on a website like ours is to offer readers our commentary on the list. That’s what we’re for. If our commentary is not what you’re looking for, maybe you’re in the wrong place.