SEAN: Election Day has passed! That’s good! Or bad! Delete where applicable!
ASH: Stressful, is what that was.
SEAN: Airship has a print debut. When It Rains, It Pours (Futtara Doshaburi) is a BL light novel from the creator of Yes, No or Maybe?. A guy and his girl are growing apart. Another guy has an unrequited crush on his male roommate. Can these two become friends by venting to each other?
ASH: There’s a good chance, I would suspect.
SEAN: They also have Magical Buffs: The Support Caster is Stronger Than He Realized! 3.
And for early digital, we get The Condemned Villainess Goes Back in Time and Aims to Become the Ultimate Villain 9, A Tale of the Secret Saint ZERO 6, Too Many Losing Heroines! SS, and The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash 14.
Dark Horse Comics debuts Babanba Banban Vampire, a long-running BL series from Bessatsu Shonen Champion that also got an anime. A bathhouse worker is trying to get the heir to the bathhouse to stay a virgin till he’s 18 so the vampire can have his delicious virgin blood. Unfortunately, there’s a girl in this BL manga as well, and the heir likes her!
ANNA: Whoops! Well the vampire element is novel.
SEAN: Drawn and Quarterly have A Nobody Artist, the 6th in their series collecting all of Yoshihara Tsuge. These are autobiographical pieces.
ASH: Still thrilled that this series is being released.
SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us I’m Fine With Being the Second Girlfriend 2, Imaizumi Brings All the Gals to His House 7, and Let’s Make a Harem in a Zombie World! 3.
Ink Pop has My Life as an Internet Novel 3 and Our Aimless Nights 2.
Inklore (not the same as Ink Pop) has Cherry Blossoms After Winter 5.
J-Novel Club has a bunch of print. The debut is From Villainess to Healer: I Know the Cheat to Change My Fate (Kaifukushoku no Akuyaku Reijou), which runs in Flos Comic. A woman with dark magic is dumped by her fiancé the prince as her magic is, well, dark. So she leaves the country, uses a cheat to get Healing Magic, and proceeds to have a shoujo light novel fantasy.
ANNA: I can see how that would be a relief in these trying times.
ASH: Indeed.
SEAN: We also get An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride 20, Ascendance of a Bookworm (manga) Part 2 10, The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows 8, Campfire Cooking in Another World With My Absurd Skill (manga) 8, Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Omnibus 6, and Making Magic: The Sweet Life of a Witch Who Knows an Infinite MP Loophole 8.
Two debuts for J-Novel Club digitally, one manga, one a light novel. The manga is Crybaby Love Song (Amaembo to Love Song), a one-shot in the Knight line that runs in Chara. A music-loving kid has a panic attack during a concert, and suddenly can no longer play the sax. Worse, he has a new stepbrother who plays guitar.
ASH: Music manga will always interest me.
SEAN: Fleet-Footed Dungeon Delver: Tune in for Magical Girls and Motion Blur! (Shinsoku no Dungeon Seeker ~Speed Kyokufuri Haishinsha wa Subete o Buchinuku~) is the latest from the author of Sexiled and Dragon Daddy Diaries, so don’t be surprised if there’s some yuri in this. In a fantasy Earth, dungeons are big business, and our heroine is trying to make money streaming. Then she meets up with another girl too fast for cameras to capture.
Other light novels from JNC: The Misfit of Demon King Academy 13 Act 1, Royal Spirits Are a Royal Pain! Give Me a Regular Romance 5, and Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer! This White Mage Is One Heck of a Healer 5.
Other manga from JNC: All Eyes on Nekoyashiki-kun! Notice Me, Not My Characters 3, The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom 8, I’ll Never Set Foot in That House Again! 9, Infinite Dendrogram 15, My Tiny Senpai 7, and the 4th and final volume of What’s with the Bag, Kamiyama-san?.
ANNA: I hope that cat is careful about their eating habits!!! Josei cat manga sounds intriguing for sure.
MICHELLE: Huh! There is, in fact, quite a lot that kitties shouldn’t eat.
ASH: Very true!
SEAN: Kodansha Manga debuts The Yum Cat, Nmeneko (Nmeneko), which has run in Nakayoshi (shoujo) and Be Love (josei), but is a cat manga. A cat wants to eat everything!… but is everything safe to eat? this is complete in one volume.
Also in print: Girlfriend, Girlfriend Omnibus 6, How to Treat a Lady Knight Right 7 (the final volume), Issak Omnibus 8, Love at First Memory 4, Nezumi’s First Love 5, Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! 11, Say Hello to Mr. Wallaby! 2 (the final volume), Spacewalking With You 4, Wandance 14, and You Might As Well Be the One 2.
And digitally we see Giant Killing 60, Manchuria Opium Squad 15, and ONIMAI: I’m Now Your Sister! 11.
MICHELLE: I am literally dozens of volumes behind in Giant Killing, at this point.
SEAN: One Peace Books has Villainess Level 99 5.
Random House World has a box set. Twisted-Wonderland: Book of Heartslabyul gets 1-4 in a box.
Seven Seas continues to complete all their danmei series. This time it’s the 4th and final volume of After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine.
Seven Seas has some debuts. Good Morning, Good Night, and See You Tomorrow (Ohayou, Oyasumi, Mata Ashita) is a slice-of-life drama from Souffle. Based on the author’s real-life experiences, it has a single woman battling with a cancer diagnosis.
ANNA: I’m always on the lookout for graphic medicine manga.
ASH: It’s great to see more of these being released!
SEAN: Me and the Prez, Drinking Under the Stars (Shachou to Sake to Hoshi) is a romantic comedy from Weekly Young Magazine. A young woman is now head of her family’s printing company, but is struggling. When she sits in a park and complains while drinking, her subordinate overhears and decides to help her.
ANNA: Sounds cute!
ASH: I’m intrigued.
SEAN: Wolfhound is a one-shot BL manga from Canna. A top host at a club finds his subordinate is behaving badly, and needs correcting. Sadly, the subordinate is a masochist, so this is all according to plan!
ASH: Seems like!
SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Barbarian’s Bride 8, I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons 6, It’s Just a Dream… Right?! 4, Let’s Run an Inn on Dungeon Island! (In a World Ruled by Women) 3-4, The Lord-Magear’s Apprentice 2, The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man 2, Only I Know the World Is Ending and Getting Killed by Rampaging Beasts Only Makes Me Stronger 7, Reincarnated as a Sword 18, and Tease Me Harder: A Sweet and Kinky Romance 4.
Square Enix Books has the 11th volume of The Apothecary Diaries light novel in print.
ASH: I approve.
SEAN: Debuting from Square Enix Manga is Stalker Stalks Stalker (Suto Suto: Stalker ga Stalker Sareteru Hanashi), a BL series from Gangan Pixiv. Remember that Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei gag with the chain of stalkers all stalking someone else? This is that.
MICHELLE: I had thought maybe this was something psychological and serious, but it appears to be comedic.
ASH: It really could have gone either way.
SEAN: Also from Square Enix: The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten 5, The Apothecary Diaries 16 (manga this time), and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest 33.
SuBLime have Given 10th Mix, an epilogue volume that wraps up the Given series. There’s also apparently a box set.
MICHELLE: Oooh.
ASH: Most excellent.
SEAN: And they have Scattering His Virgin Bloom: Love Frenzy 4, also a final volume.
Tokyopop have The Encyclopedia of Vegetable Fairies, which seems to be a fantasy cookbook?
ANNA: I hope the fairies are cooking vegetables, and it isn’t about cooking vegetable fairies.
ASH: That is an important distinction.
SEAN: And there’s also Imitation Play -dawn-, because BL for some reason would rather release 2 separate but connected one shots than a 2-volume series. It’s a genre thing, as far as I can tell.
ASH: I’ve noticed that, too.
SEAN: Retailers say Udon Entertainment has More than a Married Couple, but Not Lovers 4.
Two debuts for Viz Media. Albus Changes the World (Kaiten no Albus) is a fantasy manga from Weekly Shonen Sunday. A guy who saved the world and defeated the demon lord goes back in time, because he knows he can do it faster and better.
Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue, Deluxe Edition is… well, you know what it is. Hardcover, almost 500 pages.
Also from Viz: Akane-banashi 18, Akira Failing in Love 5, Hima-Ten! 3, Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits 12, Mao 26, The Marshal King 2, One Piece 113, and Seraph of the End 35.
Yen On has a pile of debuts. The Demon King Seems to Have Infiltrated the Hero’s Party (Yuusha Party no Nakama ni Maou ga Mazatteru rashii) has a guy who has NOT been thrown out of the hero’s party. It’s pretty great! Till a goddess tells him one of the party is the demon king in disguise.
ASH: A refreshing twist!
SEAN: The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria Collector’s Edition is a giant tome containing the entire series that originally came out from 2017-2019.
ASH: That’s huge.
SEAN: On the Way Home After Defeating the Demon King (Maou o Taoshita Ato no Kaerimichi de) is a one-shot from the creator of Outbreak Company. After defeating the demon king, a party member coldly leaves, and our hero realizes he knows next to nothing about any of the party.
Rise of the Lowborn: Ascending the Ranks by Crushing Incompetent Nobles (Heimin Shusshin no Teikoku Shoukan, Munou na Kizoku Joukan o Juurin Shite Nariagaru) stars a commoner who’s being sent to the front lines to deal with bratty nobles. Fortunately, he has past life memories of being a powerful mage!
The Story of the Moon Waiting for the Evening (Yoi o Matsu Tsuki no Monogatari Ichi) is another new series from the creator of My Happy Marriage. In a town full of ghosts, our heroine seemingly has no supernatural abilities. Then she runs into a young boy full of secrets.
ANNA: OOH, getting this for sure!
ASH: I would absolutely read this.
SEAN: Valkyrie Bullet is one of those “in the near future, only women can pilot the powered suits and save the world. But what if… a MAN appears who is better than them at this?” series.
ANNA: I’d rather just read about women in powered suits!
ASH: Same.
SEAN: Also from Yen On: The Azure Sword, Slayer of Distortions 2, Days with My Stepsister 8, The Executioner and Her Way of Life 11 (the final volume), High School DxD 19, I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History 5, Kusunoki’s Garden of Gods 5, Magical Explorer 12, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Short Story Collection 6, and The World’s Strongest Witch 3.
And some stragglers from Yen Press, who have Chained Soldier 15, Mad Miniscape 2, My Oh My, Atami-kun 4 and Spring Storm and Monster 6.
Did you fill in the black circle completely when you bought your manga? Can you tell this piece was written before Thursday?