SEAN: We’re finally officially hitting summer, despite it feeling like we’ve been here a while. What’s up in the world of manga?
ASH: Hopefully less humidity.
SEAN: Viz Media have two debuts. Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Tales of Iga runs in Young Magazine Web, and is, well, a video game spinoff. For those who like ninjas.
cocoon is a one-shot josei historical manga that ran in Elegance Eve, and is based on the true story of the student nurses pressed into service during World War II.
MICHELLE: Ooh! That is very much my kind of thing.
ASH: This one’s been on my radar! Looking forward to reading it.
ANNA: This sounds cool!
SEAN: Also from Viz: Fool Night 9, Haikyu!! 3-in-1 9, Kingdom 8, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 13, Mission: Yozakura Family 23, One Piece 3-in-1 36, Rainbows After Storms 10, Seraph of the End 34, Steel of the Celestial Shadows 10, and Undead Unluck 25.
Tokyopop debuts Beneath the Falling Camellia Blooms (Koizome wa Ochiyuku Tsubaki no Shita de), a josei manga about a man tortured by the mysterious death of his parents getting a job caring for a young girl whose family may have been involved.
MICHELLE: Intriguing!
ASH: I am likewise intrigued.
ANNA: Me too!
SEAN: Also from Tokyopop: Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko! 3 (the final volume) and Touched by Twilight 2.
Titan Manga debut The One. Later On… (Sono Mono. Nochi ni…), based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel. A guy rejected by the hero’s party goes off to get stronger, and returns to find the girl he grew up with engaged to his tormentor. Time to go off and learn what else has changed in the world. This runs in Comic Earth Star.
ASH: I suspect a few things might be a little different at this point.
ANNA: Things are tough in Battle Arenas.
SEAN: Square Enix Manga gives us By the Grace of the Gods 14, Mechanical Buddy Universe 1.0 2, and Wash It All Away 8.
One danmei for Seven Seas, the third volume of Thrice Married to a Salted Fish.
Two manga debuts. Gladiator Battle Life (Teikoku Kizoku no Kentoushi Seikatsu) is a Young Animal Web series. A guy is determined to control his own fate in the Battle Arena, even if this means being a despicable person.
ASH: I’ve known people who have made worse life decisions.
SEAN: Wild Love: A BL Guide to the Animal Kingdom (Ikimono BL Zukan: Sekai wa XX ni Michiteiru) is a done-in-2 omnibus that ran in Pureri. If you love animals but wish they looked like hot guys who have lots of sexual tension and desire for each other, great news.
MICHELLE: Huh.
ASH: It’s filled with ecology trivia!… among other things.
SEAN: Seven Seas also has Aharen-san is Indecipherable 3-4, Berserk of Gluttony 14, Chainsmoker Cat 3, Fluffy Café in Another World 2, Get Married So I Can Curse Your Firstborn and Finally Be Free! 2, I’m the Heroic Knight of an Intergalactic Empire! 3, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife 7, Let Me See the Real You, Senpai! 3, This Is Screwed Up, but I Was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World! 19, and Too Many Losing Heroines! 5.
One Peace Books has a 2nd volume of Tamer: Trash-Tier to Top-Tier.
Kodansha has a big print debut next week: MARS 30th Anniversary. This classic shoujo manga, as Kodansha points out, was once as beloved as Nana, but has been out of print forever. Broken girl meets broken boy, in the best 90s shoujo tradition. This is coming out in 2-in-1 omnibuses, print only (Kodansha released it digitally in 2019) and hardcover, with new covers and a new translation.
MICHELLE: Nice! I still have my original editions, but this is tempting.
ASH: I’m so glad to see this series in print again!
ANNA: I have the original series too, it is so good. Great that this is coming back in print.
SEAN: Also in print: Nezumi’s First Love 4 and Parasyte Paperback Collection 7.
ASH: Parasyte is still one of my favorites.
SEAN: And for digital they have Blue Lock 38, I Have a Crush at Work 14, and My Home Hero 25.
No debuts for J-Novel Club. We do get, for light novels, The Boy Who Ruled the Monsters 6 (the final volume), Dahlia in Bloom 12, and The Diary of a Middle-Aged Sage’s Carefree Life in Another World 10.
And for manga there is The Eternal Fool’s Words of Wisdom 9 and The Water Magician 7.
Dark Horse Books have The Art of Star Wars: A New Hope–The Manga. Going back to the original storyboards, this is both a manga and an artbook, and a must for Star Wars fans.
Dark Horse Manga have the third and final volume of Adabana.
ASH: I should get around to reading this.
SEAN: Airship debuts The Confession Strategy (Kokuhakugeki), another angsty light novel from Yoru Sumino. A woman is getting married, but before she does, she wants her old friend, who she knows is in love with her, to confess and get rejected, so he can move on. So she plots to have this happen… and it goes as well as you’d expect.
MICHELLE: Hm.
ASH: Drama!
SEAN: Also in print: Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 2.
There’s one early digital debut: History of the Kingdom of Orcsen: How the Barbarian Orcish Nation Came to Burn Down the Peaceful Elfland (Orcsen Oukokushi: Yaban na Orc no Kuni wa, Ikanishite Heiwa na Elf no Kuni wo Yakiharau ni Itatta ka). The orcs and the elves are at war, and you’d expect the elves to be the good guys, but they’re doing ethnic cleansing of the dark elves. So one dark elf decides to join the orcs and get her revenge.
ASH: Good for her!
SEAN: Also in early digital: I Got Married to the Girl I Hate Most in Class 3 and A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO 5.
And that’s it! Happy for a smaller week?