SEAN: For a ‘5th week’, this is a pretty huge one. Longtime readers know that when the 1st falls on a Wednesday, it’s not really the first week, but there’s still tons of stuff.
J-Novel Club has made its name mostly with typical “light novel” fare for standard anime fans. That said, the release of The Faraway Paladin is really being touted by them as a good novel in general. It’s a dark fantasy, and they’re REALLY pushing it as not your typical light novel fare.
They are also releasing Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension, which is absolutely your typical light novel fare.
If you enjoyed the first volumes of Deathtopia and Wave, Listen to Me! when they came out digitally Tuesday, well, Kodansha is releasing the 2nd volumes next week.
MICHELLE: Hooray!
ASH: I’m hoping we’ll eventually see a print edition, but I might not be able to wait for it.
ANNA: Nice! Preparing for a good digital only edition of manga binge.
SEAN: Many may remember the Alice in the Country of Hearts series coming out primarily from Seven Seas. It’s not anymore, for reasons that remain murky, but Seven Seas has tried to retain the spirit by doing Captive Hearts of Oz, which is an original manga series based on the Oz books with art by Mamenosuke Fujimaru, the most popular Alice in the Country of artist.
ASH: I’m actually really curious about this collaboration!
ANNA: I’m a little curious, but also wary because I’m burnt out on both Oz and Country of Hearts stuff. The art should at least be very pretty!
SEAN: I really enjoyed the visual novel Kindred Spirits on the Roof when it came out here last year, being a “yuri” title that actually cared about character depth and not just bodies squishing. There was a short manga spinoff as well, and Seven Seas is putting it out as one omnibus. The good news is it’s NOT an adaptation of the game – these are new stories, and stars some new cast members (it takes place after the game proper, I believe). If you like “non-skeezy” yuri, you must pick this up.
MICHELLE: This one was definitely on my list.
MJ: I’ll put it on mine as well.
ASH: Oh, interesting! I had assumed that it was an adaptation. I guess I’ll need to move it up on my list.
SEAN: And there is also a 2nd and final volume of the Love in Hell spinoff Death Life.
Udon’s Persona schedule has been slipping a bit, but here’s the 2nd volume of Persona 3.
ASH: Since I’ve actually played some of Persona 3, I’ve been meaning to check this series out. Apparently I’ve already fallen behind, though.
Vertical has a 1-volume Junji Ito title, Dissolving Classroom, which comes from a series of stories that ran in Motto!, Akita Shoten’s josei horror title. It’s Junji Ito, so it should be great (and also gross) (and also terrifying).
MJ: I like the sound of that!
ASH: I’m very excited for this release! I like josei, I like horror, I like Ito, so I expect that I’ll like Dissolving Classroom, too.
ANNA: Also curious to check this out.
SEAN: Yen has some new digital only releases. Aphorism 8, Corpse Princess 8, and Sekirei 8.
They also have their light novel titles for the month, beginning with the debut. Death March in the Parallel World Rhapsody had its manga adaptation come out this week, meaning I already discussed it in last week’s Manga the Week of. But hey, prose!
There is a 6th volume of cult favorite Kagerou Daze, which if nothing else promises to be short, and also hopefully clear up a few more mysteries.
The 3rd Overlord novel is unlikely to be short, and will continue to feature our evil protagonists having evil adventures.
Spice & Wolf has its 2nd and 3rd books released digitally for those (like me) who never read it in print years ago.
And Strike the Blood’s 5th volume hopes to resolve the cliffhanger from the last volume and also astound me with its originality. I suspect it will achieve one of those. But the fights will be cool.
Yen also held over two titles to next week. Alice in Murderland gives you more Kaori Yuki goodness (is the entire cast dead yet?).
And they debut Big Order in omnibus format. I had hoped this was a baseball manga, but alas. It’s from the creator of Future Diary.
MICHELLE: I wish it had been a baseball manga, too!
SEAN: Do you have a favorite title you’re picking up?
It would appear that all I really need is Junji Ito. I have all his stuff that’s out in English in one form or another (a trait only shared with Fumi Yoshinaga and Osamu Tezuka on my manga shelves), and I do enjoy the fancy treatment his series have been getting lately. As a cat person though, Cat Diary is probably the one I find most amazing.
I seriously made an effort to play Kindred Spirits on the Roof, and it felt promising, but as usually happens with more or less every video game, i lost interest and gave up in ten minutes (which admittedly, is like ten minutes longer than TV can hold my interest). That being the case, I’m definitely interested in picking this one up.
I’m with Anna on Captive Hearts of OZ. I loved Country of Hearts and all of its spinoffs until the random stop without a definite explanation and the disheartening Nightmare stories. But Mamenosuke Fujimaru’s work is stunning. I’m curious if only for her artwork.