SEAN: It’s Mother’s Day week, and Manga Bookshelf has some totally mother-appropriate manga… as well as a lot of other titles.
ASH: Seems about right.
SEAN: Airship has print volumes for Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World 2 and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 21.
And we get early digital for I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 11 and Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World 2.
Hanashi Media has a 4th volume of I Got Reincarnated as a Cultist Mob in an Eroge Full of Maniacs with Death Wishes.
Ize Press has a 3rd novel of Villains Are Destined to Die.
There is a giant pile of print for J-Novel Club, including debut volumes of three of their contest winners. We see Cogs of Time, The Dragon and the Blade Saint: This Isn’t Where We End, and Promised to a Dragon.
ASH: I’m curious to see how these will be received.
SEAN: Also out in print: Blade & Bastard 5, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 6, the 5th Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill manga, Gushing Over Magical Girls 10, Hell Mode 10, Infinite Dendrogram 22, Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 5, My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 11, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 6, My Next Life As a Villainess 14, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles Omnibus 13, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 8.
J-Novel Club has five new light novel series dropping next week digitally. Fired? But I Maintain All the Software! (E, Shanai System Subete One Operator Shiteiru Watashi wo Kaiko desu ka?) already had its manga picked up by JNC, and now we’re getting the light novel. A programmer gets fired for cosplaying in the office. Sure, without her the company is doomed, but hey. Now she’s joining a new startup where she can give advice to other coders. For fans of… this series, I can’t think of any other licensed title like it.
ASH: It does certainly stand out from a lot else being released these days.
SEAN: Proud to Be the Villainess (Akuyaku Reijou no Kyouji) stars Wellmy, who has spent most of her life tormenting her stepsister. However, there’s a method to her abuse. For those who wanted Observation Records of My Fiancee to be serious.
Reborn to Reign: Imposing My Rules with My Mastery of Magic (Mujihi na Akuyaku Kizoku ni Tenseishita Ore wa Shuuaku Mahou wo Kushishite Mahou Sekai no Chouten ni Tatsu: Heroine nante Inai to Akirameteitara Mukou kara Katte ni Yottekimashita) stars a guy who wakes up in the body of a villain and starts to try to fix that. Now all his enslaved women are falling for him! For fans of …I got nothing, this sounds dire.
ASH: I’m sure there will be fans, but I’ll be passing.
SEAN: Return of the Corpse King: Reining in My Cringe Secret Society (Shiou no Kikan: Moto Yuusha no Ore, Jibun ga Soshikishita Chuuni Himitsukessha wo Tomeru Tame ni Futatabi Isekai ni Shoukansareteshimau) stars a young man who has already been summoned as a hero, defeated the demon king, and was sent back to Japan. Three years later, he’s summoned back to deal with the evil secret society… that he secretly founded when he was being chuuni. For fans of The Eminence in Shadow.
ASH: I won’t be going out of my way to read it, but I am amused be the premise.
SEAN: Starting on Hard Mode: God Levels, Got Problems (Level Count Stop kara Hajimaru, Kamisama-teki Isekai Life: Saikyou Status ni Tenseishita node Suki ni Ikimasu) stars a reincarnated young man who finds he’s amazingly handsome and devastatingly powerful… so powerful he has trouble touching anyone. Can he live a slow life, in this world where there’s discrimination? Like hell. For fans of heroes who try to sort out the world with their OP powers.
ASH: Poor guy.
SEAN: Other light novels from JNC: The Isle of Paramounts 3, A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even 7, and My Next Life As a Villainess 15.
Other manga from JNC: Flung into a New World? Time to Lift the 200-Year Curse! 6, The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects 13, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! 4.
Kodansha Manga’s print debut is Cat-Life Balance (Kurone-san wa Nyaa to Nakanai), a seinen manga from Morning Two. A guy who happily overworks himself and takes on all his colleagues’ requests starts to rethink that when he discovers his co-worker playing with cats in the park.
ASH: Woo, cat manga!
SEAN: Also in print: The Drops of God Omnibus 4, Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow 2, Love at First Memory 2, Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind 2, and Roar: A Star in the Abyss 4.
MICHELLE: I am interested in Lonely Deaths Lie Thick as Snow, but haven’t managed to check it out yet.
ANNA: Oh same, good reminder to check it out.
ASH: Ditto.
SEAN: Digitally, we get Because I, the True Saint, was Banished, that Country is Done For! 11, Blue Lock 37, Gazing at the Star Next Door 8, The God-Tier Guardian and the Love of Six Princesses 18 (the final volume), Medalist 14, and Nina the Starry Bride 18.
MICHELLE: Woo, Medalist.
ANNA: Also, woo, Nina the Starry Bride!
SEAN: Living the Line has a one-shot manga, Hide and Seek (Keito no Pants), which ran in Nakayoshi and Shoujo Friend in the early 1970s. This short story collection is about the darker side of childhood, and definitely falls into the horror end of the shoujo spectrum.
MICHELLE: Interesting!
ANNA: I am likewise intrigued.
ASH: I’ve really been enjoying the releases from Living the Line, and shoujo horror is often the best horror.
SEAN: One Peace Books has the 3rd volume of You Talk Too Much, So Just Shut It Already!.
Seven Seas has three danmei novels out next week. We get Case File Compendium 8, There’s Something Wrong with the Chief 3, and Three Hundred Years of Longing 3.
They also have three manga debuts. Exotic Animal Doctor (Chinjuu no Oisha-san) is a seinen series from Harta. These vets are here for your weird critters (mostly lizards, judging from the cover).
ASH: And I’m here for the series.
SEAN: I Have a Secret (Kakushigoto) is based on the novel already released by Seven Seas. It’s coming out in two big omnibuses. It’s from the I Want to Eat Your Pancreas creator, so we know we’re going to be crying by the end of this.
MICHELLE: Wow, the manga cover has an entirely different energy than the light novel!
SEAN: Laughter in the Sunshine (Taiyou wa Hidamari to Warau) is a BL one-shot from Lynx. A man smuggling a cat into his apartment is caught by his building manager. Can this lead… to love?
MICHELLE: Hm. Possibly cute!
ANNA: Cats are always a good starting point for cuteness.
ASH: Agreed.
SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: 100 Ghost Stories That Will Lead to My Own Death 5, Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex 2, DEAR. DOOR 3, Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)! 6, I’m Running for Crown Princess, but All I Want is a Steady Paycheck! 3, I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! 8, Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary 5, The Long Summer of August 31 5, Magic Maker: How to Create Magic in Another World 3 (the final volume), Only I Know the World Is Ending and Getting Killed by Rampaging Beasts Only Makes Me Stronger 5, Roses and Champagne 3, and Someone’s Girlfriend 6.
Square Enix debut A Starlit Darkness (Naraku no Hoshi), a BL title from Gangan Pixiv. A suicidal writer runs into a frenetic literary group, and gets drawn into the world of literary early 20th century Japan.
MICHELLE: This is by the author of Cherry Magic, so I am looking forward to it!
ASH: Oh, good catch! And I enjoy a manga with a good literary theme.
SEAN: They also have Bride of the Death God 3, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! 11, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 30.
SuBLime has A Man Who Defies the World of BL 4 and Scattering His Virgin Bloom: Love Frenzy 2.
Titan Manga debut Eko Eko Azarak Reborn, a Champion Red title rebooting the classic 1970s manga. A young witch has to battle the forces of Hell.
ASH: Interesting! I like that more publishers seem to be releasing horror manga these days.
SEAN: Tokyopop has an 8th volume of The Margrave’s Daughter & the Enemy Prince.
Udon Entertainment has Blue Archive: Comic Anthology, a collection of short manga based on the popular franchise.
No debuts for Viz, but we get Akane-banashi 16, Akira Falling in Love 2, Devil’s Candy 5, Hayate the Combat Butler 48 (the series is speeding up as the end is near, Excel Saga was the same), Jujutsu Kaisen 30 (the final volume, assuming Viz doesn’t use Domain Expansion), Mao 24, Persona 5 15, Rai Rai Rai 4, Tsumiki Ogami’s Not-So-Ordinary Life 6, and Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon 9.
Yen On has one debut. The Alchemist’s Fluffy Island Getaway (Renkinjutsushi no Yurufuwa Ritou Kaitakuki) stars a genius alchemist assigned to the middle of nowhere, which is becoming a standard plotline. Can she help the local god?
Also from Yen On: The BS Situation of Tougetsu Umidori 4 (the final volume), Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle 8, The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy 13, Divine Incursions 2, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 10, Lord of Mysteries 3, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 7, The Summer Hikaru Died 2 (light novel version), and Sword Art Online Progressive 9.
ASH: I should give The Summer Hikaru Died novels a try; the manga series has been great.
SEAN: Yen Press debut A Long & Short Love Story (Nagaku mo Mijikaki Koi no Hanashi), a BL one-shot from Ciel. Two neighbors have always been besties as they grow up. Then one of them kisses the other…
MICHELLE: Also possibly cute!
SEAN: Yen Press also has Bocchi the Rock! Side Story: Kikuri Hiroi’s Heavy-Drinking Diary 3 and The Teen Exorcist 4.
That was more than I expected! Anything for mom?