SEAN: It’s Earth Wind & Fire Week, sort of. Let’s see what manga we have coming.
Yen On has three light novels: The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 12, Hollow Regalia 6, and Spy Classroom Short Story Collection 4.
While Yen Press just has Excellent Property, Rejects for Residents 4.
No debuts for Viz, but we do get Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Manga – Book of Heartslabyul Complete Box Set, which is just what it says, and comes with a mini-poster.
Also from Viz: #DRCL midnight children 5, After God 6, Dogsred 3, Fool Night 6, Haikyu! 3-in-1 6, Heart Gear 6, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 24, Trillion Game 7, and Undead Unluck 21.
ASH: I really need to get around to reading #DRCL midnight children before I get too far behind. I can confirm that Dogsred has been a lot of fun, though!
ANNA: I enjoyed the first volume of Dogsred!
SEAN: Tokyopop has two titles. I Was Reincarnated as the Heroine on the Verge of a Bad Ending, and I’m Determined to Fall in Love! 5, and The Unwanted Bride Loves the Crown Prince With All Her Heart 2.
Titan Manga debut Saint Seiya: Dark Wing (Saint Seiya: Meiou Iden – Dark Wing), a Champion RED title that’s a sequel to the classic manga.
Steamship has a fourth volume of A Suitable Fetish.
Square Enix has Always a Catch!: How I Punched My Way into Marrying a Prince 4 and On and Off: Work-Life Imbalance 2.
Two debuts for Seven Seas. The Handsome Catboy Wants to be His Pet (Ikemen Oneko wa Haruta ni Kawaretai) is a one-shot shoujo title from Zero-Zum Online. A sad sack with bad luck ends up attracting a cat… who is also a handsome man! This is apparently “non-BL with two male leads”.
ASH: And also somehow a cat manga?
ANNA: I’m confused by both the genre and the plot summary!
SEAN: Roses and Champagne is a BL webtoon based on a Korean novel. A lawyer, who is half-Korean and half-Russian, runs afoul of the Russian mob! Can the handsome stranger he’s been avoiding help? Or is the stranger the problem?
ASH: Objection! One does not necessarily preclude the other.
SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Home Sweet Home 3 (the final volume), I Get the Feeling That Nobukuni-san Likes Me 7 (the final volume), Last Game 10, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 5, Reincarnated as a Sword 15, Servamp 22, and vs. LOVE 2 (the final volume).
And for danmei, we get Joyful Reunion 2.
One Peace Books has a release that is not manga, but is of interest: Retrograde is a collection of three short stories by Osamu Dazai, featuring the title story, Das Gemeine, and Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle. Expect tortured but gorgeous writing.
ASH: Oh, very nice! I’ve enjoyed One Peace Books’ other Japanese literature offerings and Osamu Dazai’s work always catches my attention.
SEAN: New York Review Comics have Miss Ruki, a 1980s josei one-shot title that ran in a weekly women’s magazine called Hanako. A young woman decides to spurn the fast-paced, consumer-centric life of 80s Japan for a stress-free laid-back life! Fortunately she has a pragmatic friend for balance. Read about this landmark title here.
ASH: I am very much looking forward to this release.
ANNA: I was utterly unaware of this but now I too am very much looking forward to it!
SEAN: Nakama Press has Infini-T Force 4.
Kodansha has one debut, In Love’s Key, Reprised (Kurikaeshi Ai no Oto), a BL one-shot from ihr HertZ. A grumpy conductor known for being cold and remote meets a cheerful grocer.
ASH: Vaguely music-related BL? I’m in.
ANNA: Sounds cute!
SEAN: Also in print: Am I Actually the Strongest? 11, Blue Lock 22, The Ghost in the Shell: The Human Algorithm 6, Kei X Yaku: Bound By Law 8, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 9, Tower Dungeon 2, and Whisper Me a Love Song 9.
And digitally we see My Home Hero 22 and You’re My Cutie! 10.
J-Novel Club has three debuts, all light novels. Blade Skill Online: Crushing the Competition with My Abysmal Stats, Useless Class, and Garbage Weapon! (Blade Skill Online: Gomi Shokugyou de Saijaku Buki de Kuso Status no Ore, Itsunomanika “Last Boss” ni Nariagarimasu!) features a guy who’s ready to play the hot new game… only he’s tricked into picking the worst classes, and his avatar is a girl! Ah well, time to show everyone who’s boss anyway, as this is a light novel.
Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! (Isekai ni Otosareta… Jouka wa Kihon!) is the light novel that JNC’s already licensed manga is based on. Normal dude gets truck-kun’d, ends up in a fantasy forest where he befriends vicious wolves and tries to lift a curse of “black mist of evil”.
Worthless at Home, Whiz to the World (Ie de Munou to Iwaretsuzuketa Ore desu ga, Sekai Teki ni wa Chou Yuunou Datta You desu) stars a young boy who sets out to prove to his family he’s not worthless after all! Then we discover his family are the strongest people in the world… and he’s right up there with them, even though they think he’s a newbie.
Also out from JNC in light novels: From Two-Bit Baddie to Total Heartthrob 4, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 10, In Another World with Household Spells 2, Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain 5, Management of a Novice Alchemist 6, and The Mythical Hero’s Otherworld Chronicles 12.
And for manga we get Ascendance of a Bookworm Arc Four 5, The Banished Former Hero Lives As He Pleases 8, Demon Lord Retry R 8, Flung into a New World 3, and A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life 7.
Ghost Ship debuts Rebel Hero: I Will Use My Skills to Control the Scheming Princess’s Heart and Body (Hangyaku no Yuusha – Skill wo Tsukatte Haraguro Oujo no Kokoro to Karada wo Shouakuseyo) runs in Comic Ride Advance. Based on an unlikely to ever be licensed light novel, it stars a summoned hero who discovers that the princess hides evil cunning and uses heroes like pawns! How will he manage to best her? (It’s a Ghost Ship title, we know how.)
ASH: Yeah, it probably won’t be too surprising, that.
SEAN: Their other debut is a digital-first light novel, so maybe I was wrong about unlikely licenses. This is a different title, though. Virgin Knight: I Became the Frontier Lord in a World Ruled by Women (Teisou Gyakuten Sekai no Doutei Henkyou Ryoushu Kishi) features a world where sexual norms between men and women are reversed, and women are dominant! Into this comes our reincarnated hero, and he’s not standing for that! I deeply hope this is less misogynist than it sounds.
Also from Ghost Ship: Creature Girls 13 and The Cursed Sword Master’s Harem Life 4.
Aloha Comics has an artbook for us. The Art of Heaven Official’s Blessing is what it sounds like. 450-page hardcover.
ASH: It looks so pretty!
SEAN: Airship has, in print, Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero’s Friend 5.
And for early digital we see Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō 11 and The Villainess and the Demon Knight 4.
And to think, this is a slow week! What are you getting?