Manga the Week of 6/27/18

SEAN: 65 titles. Sixty. Five. Titles. Next. Week.

MICHELLE: Holy crap.

ANNA: Yikes.

ASH: That’s amazing.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 5th To-Love-Ru Darkness and a 2nd volume of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs, thus continuing to be the “Shonen Jump Titles Too Hot For Viz” publisher.

J-Novel Club has the 6th volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord.

Kodansha’s got a lot. Print-wise we see some series we haven’t seen for a looooooong time. Air Gear (last seen one year ago) finally comes to an end with its 37th volume. L♥DK (last seen 10 months ago) has its 11th volume. And Missions of Love (last seen 13 months ago) has a 15th volume. This doesn’t seem to be “caught up with Japan”, so who knows why it’s been so long.

ASH: Oh, Missions of Love! I guess it has been a while, but I do find the series addictive.

SEAN: Other print volumes include a 4th Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, a 10th Fire Force, and theoretically the print debut of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, though this isn’t on Kodansha’s own site, so don’t be surprised if there’s a last minute date change.

ASH: I’m very excited for the print debut of Tokyo Tarareba Girls, so I hope there won’t be much of a delay if there is one. I’m still reading Clear Card, too, even though I think the original Cardcaptor Sakura is the stronger series at this point.

SEAN: On the digital front, there’s another debut with the wonderfully titled The Quintessential Quintuplets (Go-Toubun no Hanayome). It’s a Weekly Shonen Magazine series about a kid who has to tutor… well, you can probably guess. Expect comedy.

And there is Ace of the Diamond 12, Beauty Bunny 6, Liar x Liar 3, My Brother the Shut-In 6 (this is a final, I think), The Prince’s Black Poison 6, and Tsuredure Children 10.

MICHELLE: Someday I’ll read My Brother the Shut-In, but predictably, it’s Ace of the Diamond that I’m most excited about.

SEAN: Seven Seas rarely buries us in piles of titles in the same week. Next week is an exception. We’ve got the final Captive Hearts of Oz (Vol. 4), a 13th volume of A Certain Scientific Railgun, the 2nd novel of Clockwork Planet in print (digital from J-Novel Club), a 3rd Devilman Grimoire, Freezing 21-22, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 9, Mononoke Sharing 2, My Monster Secret 11, Not Lives 9, and NTR – Netsuzou Trap 5.

ASH: It’ll be interesting to compare Devilman Grimoire to the classic Devilman manga now that that’s starting to be released in English, too.

SEAN: Not only that, but also several debuts! The big one is Claudine, the classic Riyoko Ikeda 70s shoujo manga. Complete in one short volume, it’s a fantastic read.

MICHELLE: I believe I detect a pick of the week contender!

MJ: Ooooooooh, yes, this.

ANNA: YAY!!!!

ASH: It’s one of my most anticipated releases of the year!

SEAN: Getter Robo Devolution is another take on the classic Getter Robo series. It runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion, and is by the team responsible for the Ultraman manga.

If you like the How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord novel but wished you could see more of the fanservice, good news for you! Here’s the first volume of the manga adaptation.

If you love Monster Musume so much it drives you to create, then even better news – Monster Girl Papercrafts is coming out next week, presumably featuring designs from the ever-popular series.

ASH: Huh. I didn’t know this existed!

SEAN: And if you’re an old-school fan, enjoy a license that frankly no one was expecting. True Tenchi Muyo! is a series of three light novels that expand on the extended universe of the Tenchi OAVs that were so popular with your parents’ generation. (I know, shut up, Sean.) This first book focuses on Ayeka and Sasami’s parents.

On to Vertical. Speaking of novels, they have Hanamonogatari: Flower Tale. This is the 2nd book in the series not to be narrated by Koyomi Araragi. This story is narrated by Suruga Kanbaru, and has her dealing with a devil.

We have a 3rd omnibus of The Flowers of Evil as well.

Viz has a 4th digital release of The Emperor and I.

And the rest is Yen, but don’t even think that we’re done. Digitally we have a 6th Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, a 17th Corpse Princess, and a 7th IM: Great Priest Imhotep.

Yen On has two debuts this month, both spinoffs. If you like Sword Art Online but wish it didn’t star Kirito and were written by someone else, I have great news. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is a new spinoff series by the creator of Kino’s Journey, and focuses on original characters playing the game introduced in the 5th and 6th SAO books.

MJ: I wasn’t really interested until you said Kino’s Journey, and now I’m like… MUST HAVE.

ASH: That does add some promise!

SEAN: The other is Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu. This focuses on the elf with the tragic past we’ve seen in several books of the main series.

Speaking of DanMachi, we also have a 6th volume of the Sword Oratoria spinoff novel that looks at Loki’s group.

And there’s also a 14th Accel World, an 8th Irregular at Magic High School, a 4th volume of The Isolator, and a 7th Re: Zero, which should be a whale of a time. (I’m sorry.)

Yen Press also has several debuts this month. Caterpillar Girl and Bad Texter Boy (Imomushi Shoujo to Komyushou Danshi) is complete in one volume, and stars a boy who has trouble communicating and the girl he rejected, who is now a caterpillar. I must admit, I want to know more.

MICHELLE: That is quite the concept.

ANNA: Hmmmm.

ASH: My curiosity is piqued.

SEAN: Hatsu*Haru is a long-running shoujo title from Shogakukan’s BetsuComi, about a popular boy who finds himself falling for someone for the first time. Anna should be very interested, I expect.

MICHELLE: My ears always perk up when Yen Press releases some shoujo.

MJ: I’m interested too, I think.

ANNA: A shoujo manga about popular boy falling for someone for the first time????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEAN: Little Witch Academia is best known for its popular anime. Yen has licensed the manga, which runs in Shonen Ace. This is being marketed as part of the children’s line, but should also definitely appeal to manga fans.

Shibuya Goldfish is a pure horror title from Square Enix’s Gangan Joker. If you think the world being eaten by goldfish is a silly premise, this book will soon set you straight. It looks creepy as hell.

MJ: Wow.

ASH: That’s right up there with some of Junji Ito’s concepts; I guess we’ll see if it’s executed as well!

SEAN: The Strange Creature at Kuroyuri Apartments (Kuroyuri-sou no Henna Wikimono) is also supernatural, but this falls more into the pure comedy end. A demon needs life experience. A young landlord needs to not be bored. Can they get along?

Stupid Love Comedy (Rabukome no Baka) is an omnibus collecting all three volumes of this shoujo series from Kodansha’s Aria. It’s a reverse harem series, this time starring a manga writer.

MICHELLE: Hm.

ANNA: I sure do enjoy reverse harem.

SEAN: Think we’re done? There’s also ongoing Yen titles! On the ‘spinoff of light novel’ front, we see only two contenders next week: Goblin Slayer’s 3rd manga volume and Kagerou Daze’s 10th.

But there is also Aoharu x Machinegun 11, As Miss Beelzebub Likes 2, Big Order 5, BTOOOM! 21, Bungo Stray Dogs 7, The Elder Sister-Like One 2, Horimiya 11, Mermaid Boys 2, Monster Tamer Girls 2 (final volume there), One Week Friends 3, Prison School 10, Silver Spoon 3, Smokin’ Parade 4, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School 3, Though You May Burn to Ash 2, and Today’s Cerberus 9.

MICHELLE: Yay for Horimiya and Silver Spoon!

MJ: Silver Spoon! Silver Spoon!

ANNA: Wooo!!!!

ASH: I’m following quite a few of these series, but Silver Spoon is the one that I’m most looking forward to reading this time around!

SEAN: Assuming you haven’t aged to death after reading all that, are there any titles you’re getting? One? Two? Twenty-five?

ASH: I’m afraid to count.