Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Call of the Night Vol 1

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Call of the Night Volume 1 by Kotoyama

I’m always a little curious about Shonen Sunday titles, as they tend to be a little more sophisticated than Shonen Jump manga so I was intrigued by the idea of a shonen vampire romance like Call of the Night. Ko Yamori starts out by being the typical hapless shonen protagonist but he’s isolated and has just started having terrible insomnia. He’s not attending school regularly and one night he slips out of his house and starts wandering around in the middle of the night while searching up ideas for insomnia cures on his phone. Seeing many people posting about the benefits of alcohol he stands in front of a vending machine contemplating buying a beer when he’s suddenly accosted by a mysterious blond girl in a cloak who says she can help him if he’s having trouble sleeping. She brings Ko back to her place to crash, and he quickly discovers that his new acquaintance is a vampire named Nazuna.

Call of the Night

Ko finds the idea of becoming a vampire immediately intriguing but Nazuna finds the topic incredibly embarrassing because the only way for a human to become a vampire is to fall in love with one and let that vampire drink from them. Ko is determined to make this happen, and while Nazuna likes to joke about sex, the idea of any type of emotional intimacy is something that she shies away from. Ko and Nazuna keep finding each other in the middle of the night and hanging out. There’s an undercurrent of loneliness to this manga that makes it a little more interesting and poignant than I was expecting, as Ko and Nazuna keep seeking each other out. Ko’s not done with the human world though, as he reconnects with an old friend of his who encourages him to go back to school. Kotoyama’s art is stylized and angular, making the world of the night seem more mysterious. I definitely felt intrigued by the end of the first volume and I’m curious to see how this relationship will develop over time.

Penguin Gentlemen

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Penguin Gentlemen by Kishi Ueno

The premise of this manga – penguins who happen to run a cafe where they are all very buff men wearing tuxedos – seemed so ridiculous I couldn’t help wanting to check it out. This single volume manga certainly gets the deluxe treatment, with a hardcover edition and plenty of color pages. Now and then I really enjoy a didactic manga, and that’s what Ueno delivers. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of a storyline focusing on penguin cafe work, because I enjoy a good food manga as well, but for readers who want to dramatically up their knowledge of penguin behavior, species variants, and random facts about penguin habitats this is the book for you!

Penguin Gentlemen

The character designs are one of the most amusing aspects of the book, as Ueno showcases differences in penguin markings and size into the hair styles and tuxedo uniforms of all the waiters. The main boss of the cafe is the King penguin, who is dwarfed in size by the stoic Emperor penguin who looms over everyone. The penguin gentlemen discuss their characteristics in the setting of the cafe, with plenty of comedic bits. The characters switch back and forth often between their anthropomorphic human forms and their natural states as penguins, but Ueno is great at rendering the heightened emotions of the characters even when they are in bird form. I read this book in several sittings, simply because I was not able to absorb all the information about penguin egg hatching, body language, and markings without a break here and there. The last section of the book that focuses on penguin courtship rituals is particularly hilarious. If someone wants to learn many scientific facts about penguins and be entertained along the way, Penguin Gentlemen certainly delivers.

Moriarty the Patriot Vols 1 and 2

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Moriarty the Patriot Volume 1 by Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi

I was intrigued by the concept of Moriarty the Patriot, because I was curious how the manga would flip Moriarty from being the antagonist into being the protagonist of his own story. It turns out that Moriarty has an intrinsically sympathetic goal – full scale class warfare! This first volume details how the evil mastermind Moriarty is adopted into a family of nobles, with a slightly sociopathic older brother named Albert who is determined to wage war against the nobility with the benefit of his younger brother’s genius.

The chapters in this first volume often involve an episodic approach to plot, with Moriarty intervening in the lives of people who’ve been taken advantage of by so-called nobility. His focus on revenge is certainly satisfying, and by the end of the volume, he’s surrounded himself with a core group of companions who are similarly bent on striking back against the British class system.

Moriarty the Patriot Volume 2 Ryosuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi

I found this second volume a little less interesting because it had more of the expected story beats that I’d assume would show up in a Holmes adaptation. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more Moriarty in this volume. Here the reader sees Takeuchi’s version of Holmes meet Watson and figure out how to deal with his landlady Mrs Hudson. While it was enjoyable, there wasn’t as much dramatic tension because other than his lower class affectation, Holmes is pretty much what one would expect. As Holmes hurdles into his next case, I’m curious to see if he’s going to be at odds with Moriarty once more, and I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen when they start clashing over cases involving spectacularly murdered noblemen.

Pick of the Week: Oscar, Oscar, Oscar…

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SEAN: There’s a veritable buffet of picks this week. I could go with Yona, or Natsume, or Versailles. But let’s face it, I want my Maple! This week’s pick for me is Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense.

MICHELLE: I’m also happy for more Yona and Natsume and hopeful the fourth volume of Versailles will come out, but the most intriguing title for me this week is A School Frozen in Time. Kids trapped within an “eerily empty” campus? Sign me up!

ANNA: I’m team Rose of Versailles all the way!

ASH: Likewise! If Rose of Versailles is a choice, it will almost invariably be my pick. That being said, I’m looking forward to reading all of the titles that have been mentioned so far.

KATE: C’mon, you know what I’m going to pick… Rose of Versailles! I gotta stay on brand here; you’d be suspicious if I shilled for Fire Force or Please Put Them On, Takamine-san!

MELINDA: It’s gotta be Rose of Versailles!

Manga the Week of 4/7/21

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SEAN: April! Maple! Let’s do the list backwards this time!

This means starting with Yen Press, who have precisely one manga out, but it is a debut. Please Put Them On, Takamine-san! (Haite Kudasai, Takamine-san) is a bizarre high school comedy with SF elements, about a girl who can redo her past actions to achieve the best result… but only by taking off her underwear. This runs in Gangan Joker, and is by the author of the delightfully titled Is a Zombie Bitch Considered a Bitch?, which thankfully is not licensed.

MICHELLE: Pass!

MELINDA: I. No. Yen Press, why is this your brand now? Seriously, why?

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: Yen On has two debuts. First off we have Hazure Skill: The Guild Member with a Worthless Skill Is Actually a Legendary Assassin (Hazure Skill “Kage ga Usui” o Motsu Guild Shokuin ga, Jitsuha Densetsu no Ansatsusha), which I’ve heard is better than it sounds, but I’m trying to avoid taking on any new “my skill everyone hates is actually the best” sort of books.

ASH: I feel that.

SEAN: The other debut… at long last… is Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense (Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu), the light novel that inspired the popular anime. Kaede is ready to play the new game her friend recommends… but has no real gaming experience, and also it’s a VR game, meaning she could feel pain! As such, she sinks ALL her points into defense. Playing as “Maple” (a pun on her name), she rapidly gets ludicrously overpowered in the most adorable way possible. I suspect these books will be a bit more gamer-talk than I’d really like, but… Maple.

MELINDA: This actually sounds kind of fun.

ASH: It does!

SEAN: No debuts for Viz, just some heavy hitters. There’s Yona of the Dawn 29, We Never Learn 15, One Piece 96, Natsume’s Book of Friends 25, My Hero Academia 27, Moriarty the Patriot 4, Jujutsu Kaisen 9, the 7th and final volume of An Incurable Case of Love, Dr. STONE 16, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 21, and Chainsaw Man 4.

ASH: I’m reading quite a few of these series, but I’m especially glad to see Natsume’s Book of Friends in the list.

ANNA: Some good stuff here for sure.

SEAN: Udon should – for real this time – have The Rose of Versailles 4.

MELINDA: 🎉

ASH: Hooray!

ANNA: Yay!!!!

SEAN: Three titles for Seven Seas: Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 12, Magical Girl Site 14, and The Kingdoms of Ruin 2. They also have the last 3 volumes of Alice in the Country of Joker: Circus and Liar’s Game.

Kodansha Manga debuts A School Frozen in Time (Tsumetai Kousha no Toki wa Todomaru), which seems to combine an eerie high school tragedy with a death game atmosphere. It ran in Monthly Shonen Magazine.

MICHELLE: I’m really looking forward to this one!

MELINDA: I think I am, too!

ASH: I wasn’t previously aware of this one, but now I’m looking forward to it, too!

SEAN: Also in print: Orient 2 and Fire Force 22.

Debuting digitally is Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Kanojo mo Kanojo), a comedy from Weekly Shonen Magazine and the creator of Aho Girl. It’s about a boy who is confessed to by two girls, so asks if he can date both of them. Expect a lot of hyperactive silliness.

There’s also Vampire Dormitory 5, Those Snow-White Notes 2, Our Fake Marriage 6, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP even at Level 1 4, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 3, the 5th and final volume of The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu, and Chihayafuru 25.

MICHELLE: I better get on Those Snow-White Notes before I fall too far behind.

ASH: It’s likely a futile wish, but I’d love to see Those Snow-White Notes released in print.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has no debuts, but oodles of titles. In print, there’s the 2nd Infinite Dendrogram manga omnibus, In Another World with My Smartphone 15, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 3 (manga version), By the Grace of the Gods 3, Ascendance of a Bookworm 8, Ascendance of a Bookworm 4 (manga version), and Animeta! 5.

ASH: I need to catch up on Ascendance of a Bookworm, but I’ve really been enjoying the series.

SEAN: Digital titles are A Wild Last Boss Appeared! 4, Outbreak Company 17, Mapping: The Trash-Tier Skill That Got Me Into a Top-Tier Party 4, Infinite Dendrogram 7 (manga), I Love Yuri and Got Bodyswapped with a Fujoshi 2, and Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village 3.

Dark Horse has a 3rd volume of Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles.

Lastly, Airship has 3 print titles: Berserk of Gluttony 2, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average 12, and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 11. They’ve also got a digital-first version of Reincarnated As a Sword 8.

Are you maxing out your defense with manga?

Pick of the Week: BL, Shamisen, and Railway Stations

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KATE: I only have eyes for one series this week: BL Metamorphosis, a series that’s rueful, funny, and heart-warming without ever being sappy. One of the things I love most about BL Metamorphosis is that Kaori Tsurutani treats the main characters’ interest in BL with respect; there are no cheap jokes at either heroine’s expense, just a thoughtful and loving exploration of what it means to be a dedicated manga reader at any age.

SEAN: BL Metamorphosis is definitely on my list, and I agree with everything Kate said. My pick this week is Those Snow-White Notes, a series getting an anime soon, which is probably the only reason it got a digital release here at all, as it’s about the shamisen – no, not Kyon’s cat from Haruhi Suzumiya, but the traditional Japanese stringed instrument. This is, honestly, what “digital-only” releases were meant for.

ASH: As far as continuing series goes, BL Metamorphosis is at the top of my list this week – it’s a truly wonderful series. If Those Snow-White Notes is ever released in print, it will absolutely be my pick. (That being said, I might make an exception and read it even though I usually avoid digital releases.) While it’s not manga, my official pick this week actually goes to the novel Yokohama Station SF as I’ve been on a speculative fiction prose kick lately.

ANNA: I find the idea of shoujo horror intriguing and we haven’t had a ton of that genre translated, so I’m going to pick Love and Heart (Koi to Shinzou).

Manga the Week of 3/31/21

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SEAN: March ain’t going out like a lamb when it comes to manga.

ASH: True, that!

SEAN: Airship has two print books; Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 14.5 and Mushoku Tensei 9.

Denpa’s website lists femme fatale: The Art of Shuzo Oshimi for next week. An artbook dedicated to the creator of Flowers of Evil, Blood on the Tracks and more.

They’ve also got The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes 2 listed.

Ghost Ship has Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs 13.

No debuts from J-Novel Club, but we do get the 10th and final volume of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress. We also see Demon Lord, Retry! 6, The Epic Tale of Reincarnated Prince Herscherik 4, Holmes of Kyoto 4, My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! 4, and The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 4. Desu.

Kaiten Books has a 2nd volume of My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?!.

Debuting in print for Kodansha is Chasing After Aoi Koshiba (Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara), a yuri manga from Ichijinsha’s Comic REX. It’s got the writer of Masamune-kun’s Revenge (ehh…) and the artist of Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (yay!). A girl hopes to meet up with her first love at a reunion.

ASH: Seems like it has potential.

MELINDA: Agreed.

Also in print: Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 6, Heaven’s Design Team 4, The Quintessential Quintuplets 13, and Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie 3.

Digitally we get two debuts. The first is She’s My Knight (Ikemen Kanojo to Heroine na Ore!?), which runs in Kodansha’s Palcy, and features a popular young man having to deal with falling in love with a girl more popular AND more manly than he is!

ANNA: This sounds amusing.

SEAN: We also get Those Snow-White Notes (Mashiro no Oto). This is a biggie, as it’s already 27 volumes in Japan. It’s multi-award winning, runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine, is by the author of Baby & Me and A Vampire and His Pleasant Companions, and is for the Shamisen what Chihayafuru is for Hyakunin Isshu. It also has an anime this spring!

MICHELLE: I’m super excited about this one!

ASH: I love shamisen so much.

MELINDA: Okay, I’m ready!

SEAN: And we get A Condition Called Love 7, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 21, How Do You Do, Koharu? 2, I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die 7, My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1 3, and Saint Young Men 11.

MICHELLE: I need to get caught up on several of these.

MELINDA: Same here.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts two manga based on light novels they also have. Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore) runs in Takeshobo’s Web Comic Gamma Plus, and is about… well, the title.

ASH: So many titles these days are helpful like that, perhaps overly so.

SEAN: And there is also ROLL OVER AND DIE: I Will Fight for an Ordinary Life with My Love and Cursed Sword! (“Omae Gotoki ga Maou ni Kateru to Omou na” to Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta node, Outo de Kimama ni Kurashitai), which runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride, and combines yuri and gore-filled grimdark quite nicely.

Seven Seas also has the digital debut of four more Alice books, which focus on Elliot March and Tweedle Dee/Dum. If I recall correctly, the Twins books were the smuttiest in the series.

ANNA: No thank you!

SEAN: They’ve also got BL Metamorphosis 4, the third and final volume of Ghostly Things, High-Rise Invasion 17-18, Himouto! Umaru-chan Vol. G1 (also a final volume, sort of – it’s a one-shot continuation), the fifth and final volume of How to Treat Magical Beasts: Mine and Master’s Medical Journal, Made in Abyss 9, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid 10, and Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General 6.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will read BL Metamorphosis.

ASH: You really should! It is wonderful.

MELINDA: I also need to read it!

SEAN: Two debuts for Yen On. The first is a spinoff. I Was a Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat for 1,500 Years, and the Demon King Made Me a Minister (Hira Yakunin Yatte 1500-nen, Maou no Chikara de Daijin ni Sare Chaimashita) features Beelzebub and her demonic crew from I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years having adventures of their own.

The other is Yokohama Station SF, the story of a boy who is allowed to search the giant subway terminal that the world of Japan has become. This looks pretty cool, actually.

MICHELLE: It looks super cool! I always love stories about exploring sprawling structures (like BLAME, for example).

ASH: I’m definitely picking this one up! It looks like it should help fill the SF hole left by Viz’s Haikasoru imprint being on hiatus.

MELINDA: This one sounds so interesting!

Also out next week: 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 7, new reprints of the 5th and 6th Haruhi Suzumiya novels, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 6, and Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol (the 4th in the series).

Yen Press has many manga debuts next week. We start with Can’t Stop Cursing You (Dareka o Norawazu ni Irarenai Kono Sekai de), a dark little horror title from Gangan Online. A curse detective uses their powers to track down killers.

ASH: I’m curious about this one.

MELINDA: This actually does sound like my kind of thing.

Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana gets a manga version of its light novel. It runs in Square Enix’s Manga Up!.

Love and Heart (Koi to Shinzou) is a shoujo horror title from Hakusensha’s Manga Park. A college woman recovering from a breakup now finds she has a new roommate, who says he’s her old childhood friend. But… is he?

ANNA: I’m intrigued by the idea of shoujo horror.

MICHELLE: Yeah, this could be interesting.

ASH: Shoujo horror is one of my faves.

MELINDA: Ooooooooo.

SEAN: Love of Kill (Koroshi Ai) runs in Media Factory’s Comic Gene, and is about a pair of assassins engaging in… sigh… a deadly game of cat and mouse. (No, they’re not cats and mice, I just sighed at the cliche.) I’ve actually heard this is pretty cool.

ANNA: Sometimes I enjoy assassins!

ASH: Likewise!

MELINDA: Me too!

SEAN: Lastly, we see When a Magician’s Pupil Smiles (Mahou Tsukai no Deshi ga Warau Toki), a 3-in-1 omnibus collecting the entire manga. It ran in Shonen Gangan, and also seems to fall into the horror suspense theme Yen’s March debuts are falling into.

ASH: I tend to enjoy a fair amount of the subgenre, so I’m okay with the trend.

SEAN: In non-debuts, we get 86 ~Eighty-Six~’s second manga volume, Bungo Stray Dogs 18, Carole & Tuesday 2, Do You Love Your Mom? 4 (manga version), Fiancee of the Wizard 3, Im – Great Priest Imhotep 8, Kaiju Girl Caramelize 4, Karneval 11, Last Round Arthurs 2 (manga version), Lust Geass 3, Reborn As a Polar Bear 5, Strawberry Fields Once Again 2, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation 4, and The Vampire and His Pleasant Companions 2.

ASH: I am so far behind on my Yen reading!

SEAN: Oof. There is a lot there. Do you see favorites?

Pick of the Week: Tale As Old As Time

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SEAN: My pick this week is Beauty and the Feast, a title about a young widow who still hasn’t recovered from the loss of her husband, the teenage boy living alone next door who plays baseball, and the food that brings them together – she cooks it, he eats it. I do worry that this book – sold as a romcom, and with a mature rating – will go in a direction I’d rather it didn’t. But if it sticks with food and how to heal after a tragedy, I’ll be quite happy.

MICHELLE: I share your trepidation, but the cover for the first volume looks wholesome enough for me to also give Beauty and the Feast my pick this week.

KATE: I second Sean’s pick of the week; non-competitive food manga is my jam! (No pun intended.)

ANNA: I’m not going to be the one to break this streak!

ASH: I won’t be the one, either. Whether competitive or non-competitive, fantastical or realistic, I’m always here for another helping of food manga! Beauty and the Feast is my pick this week, too.

MELINDA: I hoped I might be the one to break the unanimity this week, but no. Beauty and the Feast is my pick, too! I’m a little worried about where it might lead, but I live in hope.

Yona of the Dawn 28 and Prince Freya 4

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I hit a bit of a pandemic wall in my manga reading, so hoping to feel less bad about my backlog by posting some quick takes on my recent reading. Maybe I’ll have more energy next month!

Yona of the Dawn 28 by Misuho Kusanagi

Yona of the Dawn

Yona of the Dawn is such a consistently satisfying fantasy series with a depth and nunace that few authors are able to pull off. This volume was extremely amusing to me because it featured Tae-jun freaking out a bunch. Tae-jun was extremely worried about his not very great covert support of Yona possibly being found out by his older brother and chief of the fire tribe Kyo-ga. Tae-jun also had the best hysterical facial expressions when he yelled about the need for separate rooms for Hak and Yona. All along as Yona has been traveling the country helping people, there have been hints of what might happen if a cult of personality develops around her as the true heir to the Crimson Dragon King and her new Four Dragon Warriors. These undercurrents were brought to the surface by Su-Won’s advisor lurking around being menacing to anyone in his vicinity. There’s clearly more conflict coming with both political maneuvering and with upcoming battles, but this was a great spacer volume with plenty of wonderful character development moments.


Prince Freya 4 by Keiko Ishihara

Prince Freya

I have come to realize that I read this manga much like I would read a Harlequin romance. Are there inexplicable plot twists? Yes! Do I care about really understanding what’s going on? Not so much! While there are no cases of pregnesia in this manga we do get the shocker of Aleksi coming back from the dead in the company of a group of forest people who express just how metal they are by wearing stag skull masks and making vague pronouncements in an odd tone of voice. Meanwhile, Julius continues to develop more feelings for his charge, and Freya as Prince Edward manages to inspire her subjects even more. An additional complication comes up when Freya has to meet the emotionally unstable king and attempt to pull off a much more complicated bit of acting. This is one of those series that I just read, let wash over me, and don’t worry about the plot twists and complications. I’m expecting some love triangle shenanigans with Julius and Aleksi in the next few volumes, along with the swashbuckling battle scenes that have become a fixture in this manga.

Manga the Week of 3/24/21

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SEAN: Oh no, the March winds are blowing over all the stacks of manga you have around you! Shore them up with MORE manga!

ASH: This is a solid plan.

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter 3 and Classroom of the Elite 7.5. They’ve also got an early digital release for Mushoku Tensei 10.

J-Novel Club has the third and final volume of The Sorcerer’s Receptionist, as well as I Refuse to Be Your Enemy! 5 and Our Crappy Social Game Club Is Gonna Make the Most Epic Game 2.

In print, Kodansha has In/Spectre 13.

ASH: I really ought to catch up on this series.

SEAN: Digitally, our debut is The Dawn of the Witch (Mahoutsukai no Reimeiki), a Shonen Sirius title about a young man with amnesia at a magic school.

There’s also Farewell My Dear Cramer 13 (the digital version is keeping that title), Harem Marriage 3, My Best (♀) Butler 7, Watari-kun’s ****** Is about to Collapse 9, What I Love About You 4, and When We’re in Love 6.

Two debuts from Seven Seas. Magical Angel Creamy Mami and the Spoiled Princess (Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami: Fukigen na o Hime-sama) is an update of the classic magical girl series, a Comic Zenon title that does not star Mami but rather the spoiled princess, who is unhappy that Mami is now getting all the attention.

ANNA: I enjoy magical girls, think I would be more amused if this did focus on Mami though.

SEAN: The other is Otaku Elf (Edomae Elf), a comedy about a spoiled shrine deity who would rather stay inside, thank you. This runs in Shonen Magazine Edge.

Also from Seven Seas next week: Kingdom of Z 3, Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 5, Our Teachers Are Dating! 3, Rainbow and Black 2, and Species Domain 9.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Rainbow and Black a try – better get on that before I get too far behind!

SEAN: Two titles from Square Enix. Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders is a novel based on an upcoming platform game, coming out in digital format.

The other is Beauty and the Feast (Yakumo-san wa Edzuke ga Shitai), the story of a widow who can’t stop making food even after her husband has died, so she ends up feeding the teenage boy next door. This runs in Young Gangan, and is apparently one of those relaxed, mellow sort of series.

MICHELLE: I’ve kind of missed having a mellow cooking series to read, now that Sweetness & Lightning has ended.

ANNA: Might be amusing!

ASH: I’ve been looking forward to this one.

SEAN: Lots of Tokyopop next week. BL Fans LOVE My Brother?! (Kusatte mo Ani) is about a girl whose big brother locks himself in his room and draws BL doujinshi. Can she get him outside again? This one-shot ran in Mag Garden’s MAGCOMI.

This Wonderful Season with You (Subarashii Kiseki ni Yasashii Kimi to) is another BL title, from Gentosha’s Love xxx BOYS Pixiv. Nerd. Jock. Romance. Also a one-shot.

MICHELLE: The cover for this is very cute!

SEAN: And there’s a third volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Yen Press moved the majority of its March titles to the last week of the month, but there’s some light novels still due out 3/23 from Yen On. The debut is Date a Live, a relatively obscure light novel series that may have gotten an anime as well, I’ll have to check. A boy is required to save the world from destructive spirits… by making them fall in love with him? It’s 22+ volumes in Japan but only just got licensed, probably because no one was really asking for it. Ow. Sorry, my mouth got cut from all the sarcasm I was using.

ASH: Oh, I hadn’t noticed!

SEAN: Also getting new volumes: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 6 (the final volume), Goblin Slayer 11, Last Round Arthurs 4, Magical Girl Raising Project 11, So I’m a Spider, So What? 11, Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 5, Unnamed Memory 2, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker 5.

Lastly, the one manga title from Yen next week is Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun 8.

ASH: I’ll be picking that one up!

SEAN: Even with Yen shifting everything one week, it’s still a fair bit. What are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Locks, Beasts, and Newlyweds

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MICHELLE: There are a handful of new volumes in series I’ve either started or intend to start, but of course I’m going to pick the new sports manga. Blue Lock isn’t a story about high school underdogs aiming for nationals, and I’m actually not sure I will like this one, given the coach’s methods, but I look forward to checking out a different twist on the genre.

SEAN: I suspect Rose of Versailles is gonna get bumped back a bit after all, release date-wise, though it is a must read – it would normally be my pick. Instead, I too will go with Kodansha Digital this week. We’re New at This has proven to be a title which emphasizes the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses from the prior work of the author, Ao-chan Can’t Study. It’s funny, it’s romantic, and it’s erotic. I want to read more of it.

ASH: Whenever Rose of Versailles ends up being available, that will definitely be my pick. But my backup pick this week is Beast Complex. I may be behind on reading the main series, but I greatly enjoyed the early volumes of BEASTARS, so I’m curious to read more stories set in the same world.

ANNA: Rose of Versailles would have been my pick, but I think my backup choice will be Blue Lock, just because it is always nice to highlight new sports manga.

Manga the Week of 3/17/21

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SEAN: Middle of March, and still manga out there in the wild.

ASH: And plenty of it, too!

SEAN: Airship has two print releases, as we see Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 5 and The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen 2.

Cross Infinite World has a new one-shot light novel, Hey! You’ve Kidnapped the Wrong Royal!. The Demon Lord has arrived, and he’s kidnapped… our heroine’s brother? That can’t be right! Wait, he thinks her brother is CUTER? OK, this means war! This sounds deeply silly.

ASH: Possibly delightfully silly?

SEAN: Dark Horse has the third and final volume of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

Only one J-Novel Club title next week, Monster Tamer 3.

Three print books from Kodansha Manga next week: I’m Standing on a Million Lives 9, Perfect World 5, and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Trinity in Tempest 3. Oh, and Blood on the Tracks 5, I guess that’s Kodansha Manga now? Rebrands confuse me.

MICHELLE: Man, I just cannot get caught up on Blood on the Tracks!

ASH: I need to catch up on Perfect World, myself!

SEAN: Digital debuts? There’s two! One is Attack on Titan: No Regrets, the Complete Color Edition! Endure Levi’s tragic past all over again… IN COLOR. There’s new bonus content too, so be sure to double dip.

ASH: I’m so used to digital coming out before print these days, I hadn’t realized this wasn’t already available!

Also debuting is Blue Lock, a soccer manga from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The covers make the leads look slightly unbalanced, though I suspect it won’t play out as a soccer-horror title.

MICHELLE: You know I will be all over a new shounen sports series.

ANNA: Also looking forward to more sports manga!

SEAN: We also get A Girl and Her Guard Dog 2, GE: Good Ending 15, We’re New at This 4, and Will It Be the World or Her? 3.

One Peace has a light novel – The Reprise of the Spear Hero 3 – and a manga – The Rising of the Shield Hero 15.

Seven Seas has Shomin Sample 14 in print.

And there’s more digital Alice in the Country of Hearts. This time we get Ace of Hearts and Knight’s Knowledge 1-3, so for those who love Ace, this is your week.

ASH: I’m still glad to see the Alice books being made available again.

SEAN: Udon Entertainment should – hopefully – have the 4th volume of The Rose of Versailles.

MICHELLE: That would be nice!

ANNA: Looking forward to it!

ASH: Ditto!

SEAN: Vertical… erm, Kodansha Books… has an ebook version of Zoku-Owarimonogatari, the “final” volume of the Monogatari series.

Viz has one debut, a spinoff from BEASTARS called Beast Complex. It seems by the description to be a short story collection set in the world. It runs in Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind reading BEASTARS, but that probably won’t stop me from picking this one up.

20th Century Boys: Perfect Edition comes to an end with Vol. 11. There’s also BEASTARS 11, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 7, Maison Ikkoku Collector’s Edition 3, No Guns Life 9, and RWBY: The Official Manga 2.

MICHELLE: Gah, I am so behind on so much.

SEAN: Lastly, though still Viz, Hayao Miyazaki’s two autobiographies, which came out in print some time ago, will be digital! Starting Point: 1979-1996 and Turning Point: 1997-2008. Both must-reads.

Is this not enough? Good thing there’s more March to go.

Pick of the Week: Penguins, Legends and Childhood Friends

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SEAN: Given that it turns out Manga Bookshelf are top-tier futurists, I’m tempted to pick March Comes in Like a Lion, but that will have to wait for 2022. And there’s plenty coming out this week anyway, including the new Shigeru Mizuki and a new volume of Rozemyne’s latest antics. But no, I am too tempted by the wonder that is Penguin Gentlemen, which wins for cover art alone. Hot damn.

MICHELLE: Penguin Gentlemen certainly has the most unique premise of this week’s batch, but I’m most drawn to some sweet Boys’ Love in the form of the first volume of I Cannot Reach You.

KATE: After reading Ash’s lovely review of Tono Monogatori, that’s my top pick for this week. But I won’t lie: a little animal-themed manga sounds pretty good, too, so add Penguin Gentlemen and Wonder Cat Kyuu-Chan to my list of “things I’m going to check out this week.”

ANNA: I’m not sure when I’ll actually get around to reading it, but Penguin Gentlemen sounds hilarious so that’s my pick.

ASH: It probably isn’t much of a surprise that Mizuki’s adaptation of Tono Monogatari is my pick this week – I’m thrilled that this manga is now available in English – but I will also admit that Penguin Gentlemen has caught my attention, too. Granted, for entirely different reasons.

Pick of the Week: Listen to Our Picks

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MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to getting caught up on Wave, Listen to Me! and Haikyu!! and Spy x Family are extremely high on my list of favorites, but there is not much that could top a new volume of Skip Beat! for me, unless it actually was an announcement about March Comes in Like a Lion.

SEAN: Agreed, March Comes in Like a Lion would be the perfect pick if it were licensed, but alas. There’s tons of great Shojo Beat titles out this week as well, including Oresama Teacher and Skip Beat!. But my pick goes to the light novel Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, which ends its fourth arc just before the anime currently airing does. I will just barely be able to finish it before I would have been spoiled.

KATE: I’m behind on SPY x Family, so I’ll plug another series I like: Wave, Listen to Me, an appealing dramedy about a twenty-something woman who discovers she has the voice and the presence to be a radio host. If you’re yearning to read about messy people getting their act together, Wave is your jam.

ANNA: If Skip Beat! is coming out that is my pick! There can be only one and Skip Beat! is it!!!!

ASH: Despite greatly enjoying the series, I’m further behind in my reading of Skip Beat than I would like to admit. So my pick this week instead goes to another series that I’ve been enjoying Wave, Listen to Me, seconding everything that Kate has already said about it.

MELINDA: I’ve been embarrassingly behind on all these series, but I’m still pretty hyped up about Wave, Listen to Me!, which is the first of these I’d catch up on. So I guess that’s my pick!

Manga the Week of 3/3/21

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SEAN: March comes in like a lion with a pile of new manga, though sadly none of them are March Comes in Like a Lion. Get on that, Viz.

MICHELLE: Seriously!

ASH: Right??

SEAN: Airship debuts a new light novel with Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life ~ Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore ~). It’s getting an anime in the summer, and gets an early digital release next week. Our hero reincarnates in a fantasy world with a potion maker ability, and treats various folks, including a werewolf girl who falls for him.

ASH: I’m largely isekai-ed out, but this variation intrigues me.

SEAN: Ghost Ship, meanwhile, has the 5th and final volume of Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight.

J-Novel Club has a lot of new print titles. The debut is Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, which is coming out as 2-volume omnibuses.

Also in print: An Archdemon’s Dilemma 10, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 4, Infinite Dendrogram 11, and Marginal Operation 5.

On the digital side we get Altina the Sword Princess 7, the 5th manga volume of Demon Lord, Retry!, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 13, I Shall Survive Using Potions! 6, Marginal Operation 6, and the 3rd manga volume for The Unwanted Undead Adventurer.

In print, Kodansha Comics has Hitorijima My Hero 9 and Wave, Listen to Me! 5.

MICHELLE: I enjoy both of these for utterly different reasons.

ANNA: I’m so behind on Wave, Listen to Me!

ASH: I’m looking forward to catching up, myself!

SEAN: The digital debut is Araki Won’t Be Tamed (Araki-kun wa Kai Narasenai), a Dessert title about a young woman whose older sister is a famous actress. Now a famous actor declares his love for her… no, not her sister, her! She doesn’t buy this, but he’ll do anything to convince her… even be her pet. YMMV was invented for series like these.

MICHELLE: Yeeeeah.

ANNA: LOLOL

ASH: We shall see!

SEAN: All-Rounder Meguru comes to an end with its 19th volume. There’s also The Invincible Reincarnated Ponkotsu 4, My Dearest Self with Malice Aforethought 2, My Sweet Girl 12, Smile Down the Runway 18, and the 4th and final volume of Star⇄Crossed!!.

MICHELLE: At some point I should check back in with My Sweet Girl and see how it’s going.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts the Berserk of Gluttony manga, based on the light novel. The story of a boy who gains people’s skills when he kills them, it runs in Comic Ride.

There’s also the 3rd and final Who Says Warriors Can’t Be Babes?.

Digitally, Seven Seas has the first four volumes of Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat Waltz, which features Boris, and was one of the better series of the endless spinoffs.

ASH: I really liked this particular spinoff.

Viz has, as usual for the first week of the month, a lot of stuff. The first debut is a spinoff, Dr. Stone Reboot: Byakuya. Not an actual reboot but a prequel to the main series, showing us what actually happened with Senku’s father.

The second debut is also a spinoff, My Hero Academia: Team Up Missions. It runs in Saikyou Jump, a magazine devoted to spinoffs of Jump titles, and features the cast of Class 1-A teaming up with various pro heroes.

MICHELLE: I will read this, but I’d be ridiculously excited if this was Class 1-B doing the teaming up!

SEAN: And we also get: Daytime Shooting Star 11, Dragon Ball Super 12, Haikyuu!! 43, Love Me, Love Me Not 7, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 9, Naruto: Shikamaru’s Story (yes, I know, it got bumped), Oresama Teacher 28, Queen’s Quality 11, Skip Beat! 45, Snow White with the Red Hair 12, Spy x Family 4, and Twin Star Exorcists 21. I’m getting over half that list.

MICHELLE: Big same. I’m, of course, especially excited for a new volume of Skip Beat!.

ANNA: Tons of good stuff, I agree any week with Skip Beat! is a good week.

ASH: I agree – a really good Viz week!

SEAN: A lot of Yen’s February light novels got bumped to this week, making them March light novels. We get Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Love a Quiet Life in the Countryside 2, A Certain Magical Index SS 2, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 13, Re: Zero 15 (which ends the 4th arc), A Sister’s All You Need 9, and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 8.

On the Yen Press side, there’s two debuts. Do You Like the Nerdy Nurse? (Hokenshitsu no Otaku Onee-san wa Suki Desu ka?), a seinen title from Shogakukan’s Yawaraka Spirits. The school nurse is gorgeous… but also a massive otaku, as one student finds out. Can he get her to fall in love with non-fictional people? This is a done-in-one omnibus.

Yen also has the manga adaptation of the Solo Leveling novel.

Lastly, there’s the 2nd volume of Sword Art Online’s manga adaptation of Project: Alicization.

What title catches your eye?