SEAN: As May starts to dwindle… oh, wait, it’s Yen week. No dwindling allowed.
But first, Airship. In print, we see Modern Dungeon Capture Starting with Broken Skills 2 and Reincarnated as a Sword 14.
And early digital gives us Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! 9.
Denpa Books has a 4th volume of Vampeerz, retailers say as I type this.
ASH: I want to trust them, I really do.
SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us a 9th volume of Ayakashi Triangle.
Two digital debuts from J-Novel Club, both manga. The Eternal Fool’s Words of Wisdom: A Pawsitively Fantastic Adventure (Yuukyuu no Gusha Asley no, Kenja no Susume) is based on an unlicensed light novel, and runs in Comic Earth Star Online. A failure at the Magic Academy (they all laughed at him) spends 5000 years preparing his revenge, only to realize that everyone who mocked him is long dead. Now what? How about helping people?
MICHELLE: With this title, I was expecting him to turn into a cat or something!
SEAN: His familiar is a dog, I believe.
ASH: That would explain some things.
SEAN: I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic (Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku dakedo, Hima datta kara Mahou wo Kiwamete Mita) is based on a licensed light novel, also from J-NC, and runs in Comic Corona. A middle-aged commoner is now in the body of a nobleman, so he can finally learn magic! Sadly, see the “Brink of Ruin” in the title.
ASH: Might as well!
SEAN: Also from J-Novel Club: The Apothecary Diaries 11, Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- 3, Holmes of Kyoto 18, I Don’t Want to Be the Dragon Duke’s Maid! Serving My Ex-Fiancé from My Past Life 2 (the final volume), Record of Wortenia War 24, Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters! 5, the 11th manga volume of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, and Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster 6.
From Kodansha Books we see the 5th volume of My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1.
The print debut for Kodansha Manga is The Yearning Fox Lies in Wait (Machigitsune to Hito no Ko), a one-shot BL title from Gateau. A prodigy arrives at university, but quickly gets lost and suddenly finds himself without money. He’s saved by an eccentric with a secret.
MICHELLE: The title should’ve warned me that the premise on this one is a little icky.
ASH: And here I was hoping from the title that there were yokai involved… maybe that’s the secret.
SEAN: Also in print: BLOOD BLADE 2, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! 10, Magic Knight Rayearth 3, Nina the Starry Bride 4, Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection 8, and Witch Hat Atelier 12.
ANNA: Witch Hat!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nina the Starry Bride print edition!!!!!!!!!! I’m reserving most (if not all) of my enthusiasm this week for these titles.
ASH: I’m very excited for Witch Hat Atelier, too.
SEAN: In digital we see Boss Wife 8, Gamaran 21, Getting Closer to You 7, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 20, I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! 4, and Love, That’s an Understatement 4.
One Peace Books has a 5th manga volume of The Death Mage.
Two debuts for Seven Seas. My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today (Kyou wa Kanojo ga Inai Kara) runs in Comic Yuri Hime. A girl who has to hide her relationship with her girlfriend gets into online conversations… that become blackmail.
ASH: Oops.
SEAN: Mysterious Disappearances (Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi) has an anime coming out at the moment, and the manga runs in Yawaraka Spirits. A novelist and a demon boy go around Tokyo hunting down urban legends.
ASH: Oooh!
SEAN: We also see Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four! 6, Lazy Dungeon Master 8, My Lovey-Dovey Wife is a Stone Cold Killer 6, Skip and Loafer 9, and Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Body Swap in the Maiden Court 5.
Square Enix has the 2nd Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You.
Two debuts from Tokyopop, both (contain your surprise) one-shot BL titles. Heat x Beat: A Shut-In Omega Becomes an Idol! (Heat x Beat – Hikikomori Omega ga Idol ni!?) should not be confused with the other Heat x Beat omega as idol book from the same author, which came out in March. OK, not a one-shot. Sequel? It’s one volume, in any case.
MICHELLE: Tokyopop’s got a really specific niche these days, eh?
ANNA: We do live in a world where I don’t feel concerned about people finding extremely specific reading material.
SEAN: The Man Who Shattered My World (Ore no Sekai o Hakai Suru Otoko) is a from RED title about a top who suddenly finds that the bottom he picked up is really a top who loves destroying other tops and turning them into bottoms. Try to imagine this sentence being read aloud in 1951.
ASH: Lol.
SEAN: The Viz Media debut is Hirayasumi, a Big Comic Spirits title about an easygoing man who suddenly finds himself surrounded by troubled companions. It’s award nominated.
MICHELLE: Ooh, this looks interesting.
ANNA: OK, I’m curious!
ASH: Likewise.
SEAN: Also from Viz: Choujin X 6, Dark Gathering 7, Heart Gear 4, One-Punch Man 28, Tokyo These Days 2, Twin Star Exorcists 31, and Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead 14.
Three debuts from Yen On. Brunhild the Dragonslayer (Ryū-goroshi no Brunhild) is a fantasy novel about a girl raised by a powerful dragon… who now has to decide whether to get revenge on humanity after that dragon is murdered.
ASH: I am admittedly intrigued.
SEAN: Guillotine Bride: I’m Just a Dragon Girl Who’ll Destroy the World (Dantōdai no Hanayome: Sekai o Horobosu Futsutsukana Tatsuki Desu ga) features a dragon princess about to be executed who ends up meeting a young man… and attempting to romance him hard, because she needs to be kept in check to avoid the death of all humanity.
ASH: Lots of dragons and havoc in store this coming week, it would seem.
SEAN: The God of Nishi-Yuigahama Station (Nishi Yuigahama-eki no Kami-sama) is a novel about a deadly train accident, and a ghost that can supposedly send loved ones back to the day it happened to make peace with those they’ve lost.
ASH: Hmmm.
SEAN: Also from Yen On: Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes 2, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside 11, A Certain Magical Index NT 2, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 21, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 10, Durarara!! Side Stories?!, The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 6, Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing 4 (print version of the JN-C title), The Irregular at Magic High School 22, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 4 (print version of the JN-C title), The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 5, Reign of the Seven Spellblades 11, Spy Classroom 7, and Wolf & Parchment: New Theory Spice & Wolf 8.
And now on to Yen Press debuts. Friday at the Atelier (Kinyoubi wa Atelier de) is a Harta title about an artist who falls in love with his nude model. Unfortunately, she’s depressed and he’s a tsundere.
ASH: Well, that complicates things.
SEAN: Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life is a manga that collects the episodic short stories in the 12th light novel that the main manga skipped. It runs in Big Gangan.
The Kept Man of the Princess Knight (Hime Kishi-sama no Himo) is the manga adaptation of the light novel Yen is also releasing. It runs in Comic Walker.
She Likes Gays, but Not Me (Kanojo ga Suki na Mono wa Homo deatte Boku de wa nai) is a title from Comic Bridge about a closeted gay man who wants a “normal” life and family but isn’t attracted to women, and the BL fangirl he meets one day. This is based on a novel, and there’s also a live-action series.
ASH: I thought it sounded vaguely familiar.
SEAN: Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad asks the important question “what if we just redid the first manga adaptation?”.
Also from Yen Press (deep breath): After We Gazed at the Starry Sky 2, Angels of Death Episode.0 7 (the final volume), Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World 5, Bocchi the Rock! 3, Cheeky Brat 10, CLAMP Premium Collection Tokyo Babylon 3, Cocoon Entwined 6 (the final volume), The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend 6, Glitch 3, God Bless the Mistaken 2, Handyman Saitou in Another World 4, Higurashi When They Cry: MEGURI 2, The Holy Grail of Eris 7, Honey Trap Shared House 3, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 9, Maiden of the Needle 3, Mint Chocolate 11, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected @ comic 21, [Oshi No Ko] 6, A Reincarnated Witch Spells Doom 4, She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat 4, Trinity Seven 29, Witch Life in a Micro Room 2, and Yowamushi Pedal 25.
ASH: That is quite the list.
SEAN: As I pause to beg Yen Press to stop releasing light novels *and* manga of the same title with the same volume number on the same week, what are you buying?