SEAN: Welcome to 2022, a year unlike any other (and hopefully nothing like 2020 or 2021). What manga do we have?
Well, we start with light novels, as Yen On debuts Cross-Dressing Villainess Cecilia Sylvie (Akuyaku Reijou, Cecilia Sylvie wa Shinitakunai no de Dansou Suru Koto ni Shita). It’s an otome game villainess story, but this time our heroine, instead of changing the way she lives her life, decides to completely disguise herself… as a boy!
We also see Unnamed Memory 4.
Yen Press has just one title, and it’s an artbook. Visions 2021__Illustrators Book covers 170 artists from Pixiv, showing off their stunning artwork.
ASH: Other artbooks from Yen have been nicely done, so this definitely has potential.
SEAN: No debuts for Viz Media, but we do see the final volume of Love Me, Love Me Not.
MICHELLE: Man, already?!
ANNA: I’ve been collecting this series, but am several volumes behind. Looking forward to binge reading the rest of it.
SEAN: We do get a new side story, but as it’s one volume it’s more of a one-shot. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba–Stories of Water and Flame is a short story manga volume based on the super popular manga.
ASH: I’m far behind on Demon Slayer, but am still curious about this one.
SEAN: Also from Viz: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 13, Dragon Ball Super 15, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 7, Mashle: Magic and Muscles 4, Moriarty the Patriot 6, My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions 2, My Love Mix-Up! 2, Snow White with the Red Hair 17, Twin Star Exorcists 24, and Undead Unluck 5.
MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to more of My Love Mix-Up!.
ASH: Same!
ANNA: Me too!
SEAN: Tentai Books slipped out a release this week while I wasn’t looking. From Toxic Classmate to Girlfriend Goals (Yatarato Sasshi no Ii Ore wa, Dokuzetsu Kuudere Bishoujo no Chiisana Dere mo Minogasazu ni Guigui Iku) is another in what is almost becoming a genre, the “girl sitting next to me has a bad reputation but is really just covering up her embarrassment” genre.
ASH: I’ll admit to liking this particular subgenre.
SEAN: Square Enix Manga debuts My Isekai Life 01: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World! (Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life – Daini no Shokugyou o Ete, Sekai Saikyou ni Narimashita) has as its one thing different from all other books in the genre that our hero is not coming from Japan, but from a fantasy world where he already had a class. Just a weak one. Now he has two! And is strong!
We also see The Apothecary Diaries’ 4th manga and Ragna Crimson 4.
ASH: Looking forward to reading more of Apothecary Diaries.
MJ: I haven’t even started Apothecary Diaries but I admit to being very drawn to it for the title alone.
SEAN: Only one debut for Seven Seas, but it’s a biggie: Kamen Rider: the Classic Manga Collection. This 850-page omnibus has all 4 volumes of the original 1971 manga in hardcover format. This was the inspiration for most anything you’ve ever loved.
ASH: That’s a pretty easy sale for me.
SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor 13, Blue Giant 7-8, Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 3, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 13, Magaimono: Super Magic Action Entertainment 2 (the final volume), Manly Appetites: Minegishi Loves Otsu 3 (also a final volume), The Tale of the Outcasts 4, and Time Stop Hero 3.
MICHELLE: I’ve been meaning to check out Blue Giant and Manly Appetites.
ASH: Manly Appetites has been a delight.
SEAN: Kodansha Manga has print books! Including the debut of The Hero Life of a (Self-Proclaimed) “Mediocre” Demon!, which came out digitally last year.
We also see Battle Angel Alita 4 and Eden’s Zero 14.
Debuting digitally is My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over! (Oshi ga Tonari de Jugyou ni Shuuchuu Dekinai!), also in the ‘sweet romance with the girl sitting next to me’ genre, only this time our protagonist is also a girl.
ASH: I don’t mind that twist.
MJ: Here for it.
SEAN: ANN also reports that Kodansha has Hiraeth: The End of the Journey (Hiraeth wa Tabiji no Hate), a Morning Two title from the creator of Our Dreams at Dusk. It’s already an award winner, and starts off dark, as a woman who wants to see her friend who has died tries to kill herself. She’s stopped by two travelers who take her on a journey.
ASH: Oh!
MJ: This sounds potentially great.
SEAN: There’s also Girlfriend, Girlfriend 7, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability 4, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 19, My Darling, the Company President 2, My Master Has No Tail 2, and Princess Resurrection Nightmare 7 (the final volume).
Kaiten Books has three new print titles for books they’ve previously released digitally. We get Loner Life in Another World 4 (manga), My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?! 2, and Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! 1 (manga).
Quite a bit from J-Novel Club. The Apothecary Diaries 4, Black Summoner 7, Guide to the Perfect Otaku Girlfriend: Roomies and Romance 4, Hell Mode 2, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 7 (manga), I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! 3, Jessica Bannister and the Family Secrets (4th in the series), Marginal Operation 11, Monster Tamer 7, The Reincarnated Princess Spends Another Day Skipping Story Routes 2, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: The Wayward Journey 15, and A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 7.
ASH: That is quite a bit!
SEAN: There’s also more than usual for Ghost Ship. The debut is Into the Deepest, Most Unknowable Dungeon (Fukafuka Dungeon Kouryakuki: Ore no Isekai Tensei Boukentan), which runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade. There’s a dungeon that has repelled even the strongest armies. But our recently dead and reincarnated from Japan hero knows how to take them on: with a group of hot and powerful women.
ASH: Obviously.
SEAN: Ghost Ship also has Ero Ninja Scrolls 2, JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World 2 (manga), Parallel Paradise 8, and Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 17.
Speaking of publishers sneaking out volumes without telling me, I’m TWO weeks late in noting that Inside Mari 8 is out from Denpa Books!
Dark Horse has the 8th Gantz omnibus.
Airship, in print, has Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 4.
And digitally they give us Planet of the Orcs 2.
Which of these titles gives you a Rider Kick?