SEAN: Well, that was a nice break this week, huh? Next week is back to a giant pile, I’m afraid.
J-Novel Club has a quintet of light novels. We get Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?! 5, Holmes of Kyoto 3, The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 14, Outbreak Company 16, and Slayers 5.
In print, Kodansha just has Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan 2.
Digitally, of course, there is far more. The debut is Will It Be the World or Her? (Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai), a Bessatsu Shonen Magazine title. A guy tries to confess to his childhood friend… but another girl shows up and says she’s his girlfriend. What’s more, he has to forget about the other girl… or else the world will end! This sounds like an updated UY, but the cover art sort of puts me off.
We also get Dolly Kill Kill 10, Dr. Ramune – Mysterious Disease Specialist – 3, GE: Good Ending 13, I Guess I Became the Mother of the Great Demon King’s 10 Children in Another World 2, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 10, Kakushigoto 11, Orient 10, Saiyuki 4, and We’re New at This 2.
ASH: I’m still pleased that Saiyuki is being re-released; I’d love to see even more of Minekura’s work in English.
ANNA: I’m glad that Saiyuki is being re-released too!
MJ: I am, too!
SEAN: Two debut manga from Seven Seas. The first is Rozi in the Labyrinth (Roji Meikyuu no Rozi), from Mag Garden’s Comic Garden. It’s another “innocent girl in a world of supernatural beings” series along the lines of Nicola Traveling the Demon’s World.
ASH: This is a sub-genre that appeals to me. Nicola is a delight, so I’ll probably give this series a try, too.
MJ: Same here.
SEAN: Tamamo-chan’s a Fox! (High School Inari Tamamo-chan!) runs in Niconico Seiga, and has a fox spirit try to blend in as a human so that she can enjoy high school life. Unfortunately, her disguise is not all that great. This looks cute?
ASH: I’m intrigued?
MJ: This does sound potentially adorable.
SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files 2, A Centaur’s Life 19, Classroom of the Elite 7 (in print), GIGANT 4, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 2 (manga version), Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 4 (manga version), Monster Girl Doctor 7, and Mushoku Tensei 9 (digitally).
ASH: I haven’t actually read the first volume yet, but I’m definitely interested in Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files.
SEAN: Tokyopop has two volume 2s. BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Roselia Stage (a final volume) and A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (not a final volume).
Vertical has a number of titles. APOSIMZ 6, Blood on the Tracks 4, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 5, and Weathering with You 2.
Viz’s debut is Asadora!, a new series from Naoki Urasawa that runs in Big Comic Spirits. This seems to be one of those “follow a girl from childhood into her adult life” series, so this first volume should be full of adorable little scamps.
MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to this!
ASH: Likewise!
ANNA: Me too!
MJ: Hurray!! Totally into this.
SEAN: There’s also BEASTARS 10, Children of the Whales 16, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction 9, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 6, and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 15.
ASH: I need to catch up on BEASTARS.
ANNA: I need to catch up on Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.
SEAN: Yen On has a debut light novel: King of the Labyrinth (Meikyu no Ou). This seems to be a dungeon crawl light novel, only from the perspective of the monster, a powerful minotaur.
ASH: Okay, I do like a good minotaur story…
SEAN: They’re also reprinting the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, in paperback but with the original cover art that was used for the hardcovers. The first two are out next week.
ASH: I’d somehow missed that particular news!
Yen On also has The Asterisk War 15, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 3, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 9, Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel 3, My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected 10.5, Strike the Blood 17, Sword Art Online 21, That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 10, and Wandering Witch 4. Phew.
Yen Press has no fewer than four debuts next week. Wow! We’ll start with The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess (Tensei Akujo no Kuro Rekishi). This runs in LaLa, and has an amusing and also horrifying premise: our heroine is, yes, reincarnated as the villainess… but it’s from her own story she wrote in middle school!
MICHELLE: Huh. The premise and the fact it runs in LaLa piques my interest a little.
ASH: That does sound like one of the better variations on the theme I’ve heard lately.
MJ: This sounds kind of great, potentially.
SEAN: Dear NOMAN is from Kadokawa’s Comic Walker, and it’s about a girl who can see supernatural creatures but pretends not to. Then, one day, it becomes impossible to keep pretending. This is semi-yuri, and also only two volumes long.
ASH: Count me as curious.
MJ: Same!
SEAN: Mama Akuma (Akuma no Mama) is a Gangan Online title about a demon who prides himself on granting any wish… then a fourth-grader wishes for him to be her mama? Well, if that’s the wish, then that’s how it’s got to be. This looks fun.
MICHELLE: I will probably have to check this out.
MJ: This sounds very much like my thing. FYI, Sean totally called this in my DMs.
SEAN: Mint Chocolate is from HanaLaLa Online, and is the old standard “oh no, the guy I like is now my step-brother, how will we live under the same roof?” sort of series. Sounds like the classic “jerk slowly becomes not jerk” shoujo title, too…
In non-debuts, we get Combatants Will Be Dispatched! 4 (manga version), Delicious in Dungeon 9, Heterogenia Linguistico 2, Interspecies Reviewers Comic Anthology: Darkness, Trinity Seven 22, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard 3 (manga version).
Lots of debuts nxt week. What catches your eye?