SEAN: School is almost done for the year! But not yet. What manga do you buy sad kids who should be studying?
ASH: Minecraft and Kirby are the ones currently in demand at my house.
SEAN: Viz Media starts us off with Assassin’s Creed: Forgotten Temple 3, Battle Royale: Enforcers 5, Centuria 2, Choujin X 12, Hirayasumi 9, Hunter x Hunter 3-in-1 6, Kingdom 7, Mujina into the Deep 4, and One-Punch Man 33.
ASH: I really do need to start reading Kingdom.
SEAN: Tokyopop debuts Nagi & Hayasaki (Nagi-kun to Hayasaki-kun), a one-shot BL title that ran in from RED. I really don’t want to break down the summary of this one, so let’s just say rivals who hate each other find spicy common ground!
MICHELLE: Yeesh. Good call on skipping the summary.
SEAN: Shinjuku 69 Heaven is also a from RED BL title. A reporter shares a night with a sex worker, then when they become roommates is upset to discover the sex worker is only nice and open when he’s on the job and being paid!
MICHELLE: Okay, when one of the characters is described as “snarky” and “sneering,” I’m in. I choose not to examine what this might say about me, personally.
ANNA: I feel like people don’t have to be self-reflective all the time!
SEAN: Also from Tokyopop: Eternal Covenant 4, Monster and Ghost 2, and The Tale of Luvelia Kingdom 2.
Titan Manga has Farewell, My Odin 2 and Sanda 3.
ASH: I’ve not read the first volume yet, but I have been eyeing Farewell, My Odin as it does seem to be up my alley.
SEAN: Steamship has Outbride: Beauty and the Beasts 9.
Square Enix Books gives us Final Fantasy IX Picture Book: Vivi and Grandpa’s Memories for the Sky, which is self-explanatory. For the kids!
Square Enix Manga has a 2-in-1 one-shot, A Cat Is a Cat in Any Life (Tenseishitemo Neko wa Neko). This Gangan Online title has a cat reincarnated into a fantasy isekai-style world… that has no cats!
ASH: Hmmm.
SEAN: They also have Just Like Mona Lisa 9 and 10 (the final volumes) and The Otaku Love Connection 4.
Seven Seas starts us off with danmei, as they have Joyful Reunion 4.
There is a giant pile of Seven Seas, but no debuts. They have Choking on Love 5, The Demon King is Way Too Overprotective! 3 (the final volume), Dinghai Fusheng Records 3, Hope You’re Happy, Lemon 3, Level 1 Demon Lord and One Room Hero 11 (the final volume), Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 6, My Kitten is a Picky Eater 8, No Longer Allowed In Another World 11, Otaku Elf 11, Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please! 2, The Princess I Loved in My Past Life is Now a Middle-Aged Dad 3 (the final volume), She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 14, The Too-Perfect Saint 6, What It Means to Be You 4, and A Yuri Love Story That Begins with Getting Dumped in a Dream 2.
MICHELLE: I look forward to more of Our Dining Table: Seconds, Please!.
ASH: I almost missed seeing that in there!
SEAN: One Peace Books has the 9th volume of The Death Mage manga.
Noir Caesar has the 2nd volume of Deep 3.
KUMA has a one-shot, Only My Psycho, a BL title from iHertz. A guy who is recruited to be an assassin makes fast friends with another guy… but is there more going on?
ASH: Signs point to yes.
SEAN: Kodansha Manga debuts Dragon Circus, which runs in Hero’s. This is actually “Volume 0”, but it does seem to be the first released here. Dragons appear in the skies, and a motley crew has to be sent to battle them!
Magical Karina is another dark take on the magical girl drama, with a girl being called upon to save the world when she’s barely able to cope with the death of her grandmother. It runs in Comic Days.
ANNA: Ok, I’m a little curious about this!
SEAN: Also in print: Am I Actually the Strongest? 10, Blue Lock 30, How I Met My Soulmate 7, Kusunoki’s Flunking Her High School Glow-Up 6, Ninja Vs. Gokudo 13, Parasyte Paperback Collection 6, Senpai Is an Otokonoko 6, Tank Chair 8, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun: IruMafia Edition 4, and Whisper Me a Love Song 11.
The digital “debut” is Pink, the legendary Kyoko Okazaki manga that came out in print 13 years ago. It’s a one-shot, and ran in NEW Punch Zaurus. A young woman moonlights as a sex worker in order to be able to afford her pet crocodile. But it’s so much more than that. Go read it.
MICHELLE: Somehow I never read this one!
ANNA: I think I did read it back in the day? But I’m not sure. More Okazaki in print is a good thing!
ASH: Pink specifically and Okazaki’s work more generally are excellent.
SEAN: Also digital: The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses 21, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 33 (the final volume), Killing Line 5 (the final volume), Matcha Made in Heaven 14, and Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms 21.
MICHELLE: Somehow, I was expecting Elegant Yokai Apartment Life to never end.
ANNA: I need to get caught up on Matcha Made in Heaven!
ASH: I still really appreciate the title.
SEAN: J-Novel Club has more debuts, as their May is filled with Volume 1s! Miss Medic’s Diary at War (TS Eiseihei-san no Senjou Nikki) is a dark reincarnation series, as a young woman with recovery magic who loved playing FPS in a previous life finds it’s not as fun when the battlefield is real.
ASH: I’m assuming that became pretty clear pretty quickly.
SEAN: The Path of an S-Rank Adventurer: From Deadweight to Weapon Master (S-kyuu Boukensha ga Ayumu Michi: Party wo Tsuihou Sareta Shounen wa Shin no Nouryoku “Buki Master” ni Kakusei Shi, Yagate Sekai Saikyou e Itaru) is another “thrown out of the hero’s party” book. You know how those go. This is on the “revenge” end of the spectrum.
ASH: I tend to enjoy a good revenge tale, but the the “thrown out of the party” stories aren’t usually a draw for me.
SEAN: Sister Mafioso (Gisou Shishita Moto Mafia Reijou, Nidome no Jinsei wa Zettai ni Ikinobimasu) stars a woman who fakes her death and starts over, but sadly her previous life is not going to leave her alone.
ANNA: I hate it when that happens!
ASH: Right?!
SEAN: Tearmoon Empire Short Story Collection 1 is what it sounds like. Mia antics in short form.
ASH: Marvelous.
SEAN: Unsung Epics of the Hero’s Journey (Yuusha no Tabi no Uragawa de) doesn’t star the hero, who has an unfortunate prophecy that she’ll die, but rather two people who have to change fate and stop the prophecy. I have heard this is yuri?
ASH: I could be convinced to find out.
Other light novels out next week from JNC: The Fearsome Witch Teaches in Another World 3, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 19, In Another World with Household Spells 5, Isekai Walking 6, The Misfit of Demon King Academy 12 Part 1, My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World 12, Revenge of the Soul Eater 5, Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! 3, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 27.
For manga they have The Invincible Summoner Who Crawled Up from Level 1 7 and Sometimes Even Reality Is a Lie! 7.
Ize Press has no debuts, but they do have Beware the Villainess! 7, The Boxer 13 (the final volume), I Love Amy 2, Kill the Villainess 6, Lady Devil 5, Overgeared 10, Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound 2, and See You in My 19th Life 10.
Hanashi Media has a 4th and final volume of The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage.
ASH: There are so many publishers to keep track of these days! (I keep forgetting about Hanashi Media …)
SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us 2.5 Dimensional Seduction 18, Let’s Make a Harem in a Zombie World! 2, and A Reincarnated Carrier’s Strategy for Another World 2.
Alien Books has Kinryo Rock – Code Amrita 2.
Airship has print books! The debut is Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I’m Hunting Heroes in Another World (Venus Mission: Moto Koroshiya de Youhei no Chuunen, Yuusha no Ansatsu wo Iraisare Isekai Tensei!), about an assassin who can kill anything except the cancer that he has. When he dies, he wakes in another world… where he has to hunt down heroes!
Also in print: She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man 16 and A Tale of the Secret Saint 10.
Early digital has My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 5 and The Too-Perfect Saint 6.
And ONLY digital has When a Clueless First-Person Shooter Player Falls into Another World 2.
There’s something for everyone here, I think. Am I wrong?