Anna N

SEAN: The end of August, a time when most people think back on the good things about summer. Like manga!

ASH: At least some things were good!

SEAN: We start off with Ghost Ship, which has a 3rd volume of Destiny Lovers.

J-Novel Club debuts Monster Tamer (Monster no Goshujinsama), which comes from the Monster Bunko label, so it’s a specialty. The plot sounds like Arifureta. A lot like Arifureta, honestly. Perhaps a bit less dungeons and more forests, but…

They also have the 4th Demon Lord, Retry! and a 3rd manga volume for Sweet Reincarnation.

Kodansha has quite a bit. In print, we see Drifting Dragons 5; Fire Force 19; In/Spectre 12; Rent-a-Girlfriend 2; and Wave, Listen to Me! 3.

MICHELLE: I’m happy about Wave, Listen to Me! but mostly can’t wait ’til the end of September, when volume four (with material I haven’t already read digitally) comes out!

ANNA: I’m also happy about Wave, Listen to Me!.

ASH: Likewise! I’ve also been enjoying Drifting Dragons.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is ASHIDAKA – The Iron Hero (Tekkai no Senshi). This has been getting a simulpub release, but now the first volume is out. Hope you like metal arms. It runs in Monthly Shonen Magazine, and appears to be very old-school shonen. I’m hoping for big eyebrows.

ASH: Heh.

SEAN: You can also enjoy digital volumes for Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 3, Altair: A Record of Battles 21, Guilty 6, Hotaru’s Way 15 (a final volume), I Fell in Love After School 7, Kounodori: Dr. Stork 16, Love Massage: Melting Beauty Treatment 6, Waiting for Spring 13, and When We Shout for Love 3 (also a final volume).

MICHELLE: I think this was originally the final volume of Waiting for Spring, too, but now there’s a fourteenth one with side stories and bonus content. In any case, I’m reading a bunch of these.

SEAN: Seven Seas is still doing the “yay, we can print books again!” thing. No print debuts, but we get Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 6, Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 9, Arifureta Zero 3 (manga version), A Centaur’s Life 18, Magika Swordsman and Summoner 13, My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop 3, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anima 3, Non Non Biyori 13, and Re: Monster 5. A lot of those had their digital version out already.

ASH: I’m not following many of these very closely, but I am glad to see print starting back up again.

SEAN: Digitally there are some debuts. Sazan and Comet Girl (Sazan to Suisei no Shoujo) is a done-in-1 omnibus from LEED Magazine’s Torch, and, despite being a LEED publication, does not appear to be in the style of Golgo 13. It’s a sci-fi story. It’s also in full color.

ASH: I’m curious about this one, though I’ll likely wait for the print volume.

MJ: That sounds interesting.

MICHELLE: It does!

SEAN: In light novels, we have The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu). An OL gets summoned to be the Saint… but gets rejected. Now she’s trying to live a slow life, but it quickly becomes apparent that maybe she is a saint after all.

Also digitally we have Adachi and Shimamura‘s 3rd light novel, D-Frag! 14, and Monster Girl Doctor 6.

Square Enix gives us The Misfit of Demon King Academy 2 and Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town 2 (manga version).

Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of Koimonogatari: Love Stories.

Vertical has quite a bit. They haven’t publicly announced most of it, but given it’s there on their web page for all to see, I don’t feel guilty talking about it. They’re debuting some digital NISIOISIN novels. We get Owarimonogatari 1 & 2, Katanagatari 1-3, and Zaregoto 1-3. This would catch us up with the print releases… except they’re also putting out the 4th and final Katanagatari omnibus in print only. Oh yes, and a 4th Bakemonogatari manga volume in print.

They also, in non-NISIOISIN products, have The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home box set.

ASH: I still really love Chi’s Sweet Home.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has some titles that slid back a week. Including The Garden of Words, the latest Makoto Shinkai multimedia emotional gutcruncher novel. Yen On also has Goblin Slayer 10, which is… not a Makoto Shinkai title.

ASH: Nope. It most definitely is not

SEAN: On the manga end, Yen debuts Fiancee of the Wizard (Mahoutsukai no Konyakusha), a Kadokawa title from one of their shoujo fantasy magazines. It’s a reincarnation isekai, but with a female lead, and is based on an as-yet unlicensed light novel.

MICHELLE: This seems pretty romance-heavy, at least by its description: “When a woman is reborn into a world of swords and sorcery as a young girl, her new life takes a turn for the fantastic as she meets an impossibly handsome yet surly son of a wizard. A future of magic, adventure, and romance awaits!”

ANNA: OK, I’m now much more intrigued by this description!

ASH: Potentially promising, for sure. (Even if I am well beyond burned out on most isekai.)

SEAN: We also get A Certain Magical Index 22 (manga version), High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 8 (manga version), IM: Great Priest Imhotep 4, Interspecies Reviewers 4, Laid-Back Camp 9, Murcielago 15, School-Live! 12 (the final volume, though there’s a sequel out in Japan), Smokin’ Parade 8, Val x Love 9, and The World’s Strongest Rearguard 2 (manga version).

Typing ‘manga version’ a lot. It’s a multimedia world. What media are you consuming?

SEAN: The Yen Press juggernaut is back.

Let’s start with Yen. They have a couple manga debuts. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai is the manga version of the popular light novel. This arc is a done-in-1 omnibus.

I Love You So Much I Hate You (Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru) is an office romance yuri about two professional working women with a rivalry… or is it?

MICHELLE: I hope this is something kind of complicated, but I guess we shall see.

ASH: I do like that we’re starting to see more yuri with adult characters.

MJ: Yes, I do too.

SEAN: I Don’t Know How to Give Birth! (Shussan no Shikata ga Wakaranai!) is a comedic essay manga about the author struggling with her first-time pregnancy. It looks fun.

ASH: I’m super-curious about this one.

ANNA: I am too!

SEAN: Also from Yen this week: Teasing Master Takagi-san 9; Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization 6 (the final volume); Spirits and Cat Ears 9; So I’m a Spider, So What? 8 (manga version); an omnibus version of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica manga; Phantom Tales of the Night 5; Overlord: The Undead King-Oh! 4; Magia Record 2; Kakegurui 12; Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 12 (manga version); Hinowa Ga CRUSH! 4; Black Butler 29; As Miss Beelzebub Likes 10; Aoharu x Machinegun 18 (the final volume); and Angels of Death 10.

ASH: You weren’t kidding about the return of the juggernaut! And this is just the manga. Out of these, Phantom Tales of the Night is what has most of my attention.

SEAN: As for Yen On, it also has some debuts. Interspecies Reviewers should already be familiar from the manga and anime: this is a light novel version.

The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (Seiken Gakuin no Maken Tsukai)… yup, another demon lord in a magical academy.

MICHELLE: How many does that make now? At least three.

SEAN: Also: Sword Art Online 20, Rascal Does Not Dream of Petite Devil Kouhai, Final Fantasy I*II*III: Memory of Heroes, Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 6, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 4, Bottom-Tier Tomozaki-kun 4, and 86 ~Eighty-Six~ 5.

From Viz: Venus in the Blind Spot is a best of collection from Junji Ito, and also has the exact same meter as “Mirror in the Bathroom” by The English Beat.

MICHELLE: My brain automatically went to “Heroes in a Half-Shell.” Which is strange, considering I never watched that show.

ASH: Hahaha! Whatever the meter, I’m always glad for more Ito in English.

ANNA: Always a good thing.

MJ: I’m on board for this!

SEAN: Also from Viz: Urusei Yatsura 7, Ooku: The Inner Chambers 17, Golden Kamuy 17, and Blue Flag 3.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Ooku, but after the cliffhanger at the end of volume two, it’s Blue Flag I am desperate for.

ASH: Oh! This is a good week for Viz. And a bad week for my wallet; I’m reading most of these.

ANNA: Yes, super anxious to read the next volume of Blue Flag.

MJ: Ooku! And okay, I’m behind on Blue Flag, but I definitely want to know what all the fuss is about.

SEAN: Vertical has the 3rd Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.

Udon has a 3rd Rose of Versailles omnibus, meaning I’m already behind.

MICHELLE: I only just got volume two last Friday!

ASH: I got the second volume on Saturday, but go ahead and bring on the third!

ANNA: Me too!!!

MJ: Help!

SEAN: Tokyopop has a 2nd volume of The Fox and Little Tanuki.

Sol Press has the 3rd Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy novel.

Seven Seas debuts a spinoff. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash & Faerie Case Files (Mahou Tsukai no Yome Shihen.75 – Inazuma Jack to Yousei Jiken), which should be a lot of fun for fans of the main series.

MICHELLE: Huh! I’ll have to check this out.

ASH: I’m a fan of The Ancient Magus’ Bride and I’m a fan of the writer Yu Godai, so I’m doubly-excited for this release.

SEAN: Also from Seven Seas: Toradora! 9 (manga version), Skeleton Knight in Another World 5 (print), Reincarnated As a Sword 3 (manga version), Plus-Sized Elf 5, How to Train Your Devil 3, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 8 (manga version), Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends 18 (print), and Bloom Into You 8.

MICHELLE: I believe that’s the final volume of Bloom Into You, as well. I need to get caught up.

SEAN: No debuts from Kodansha. But we get, in print, Sweat and Soap 3, Saiyuki 2, O Maidens in Your Savage Season 7 and 8, Love and Lies 9, Gleipnir 7, and the 5th Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition.

ASH: I’m a little behind, but O Maidens in Your Savage Season is so good.

SEAN: Digitally we get That Blue Summer 8 (final volume), Space Brothers 37, Shojo FIGHT! 12, Orient 5, Mikami-sensei’s Way of Love 8 (final volume), Living-Room Matsunaga-san 8, Kakushigoto 6, GE: Good Ending 8, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 5, Dolly Kill Kill 5, and Cells NOT at Work 3.

MICHELLE: I have been enjoying That Blue Summer. Hard to believe it’ll be over so quickly!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has one debut, but it’s a biggie: Slayers!. The classic fantasy light novel has been rescued and is coming out with a new translation. The first volume is out next week.

Also out from J-NC: Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess 2 and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 12.

Ghost Ship gives us To-Love-Ru Darkness 16, Saki the Succubus Hungers Tonight 3, and Parallel Paradise 2.

Lastly, Dark Horse has the 2nd volume of Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.

Mo’ volumes, mo’ problems. What’s weighing you down?

SEAN: The dog days of August are on us, and the manga keeps piling up like a conveyor belt with Lucille Ball at the end of it.

MICHELLE: That’s an evocative image!

MJ: Indeed!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has two debuts next week. The Epic Tale of the Reincarnated Prince Herscherik (just “Hersherik” in Japan) has an otaku die and get reincarnated in a fantasy world, as one expects these days. Ryoko was a 35-year-old hardcore otaku woman. Now, she’s the villainess… wait, no, she isn’t! She’s a prince! Sadly, said prince has no talent for combat… or magic… and the rest of the family is more handsome… but Ryoko has her otaku smarts.

The other debut, When the Clock Strikes Z (Z no Jikan) is by the author of Outbreak Company and Wild Times with a Fake Fake Princess, Ichiro Sakaki. This is his zombie book. Gamer teams up with horror fanatic to fight off the zombies.

Also from J-Novel Club: a double dose of Myne, as we have the 8th Ascendance of a Bookworm novel and the 5th manga volume. There’s The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress 7, The Beloved of Marielle Clarac, The White Cat’s Revenge As Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap 2, and The World’s Least Interesting Master Swordsman 4.

ASH: I haven’t tried the manga yet, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read of Ascendance of a Bookworm so far!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is the 20th Anniversary Edition of Chobits.

Also out in print: Beyond the Clouds 2, Cells at Work: CODE BLACK 5, Eden’s Zero 8, Fairy Tail: 100 Year’s Quest 4, Granblue Fantasy 6, Perfect World 2, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime 13.

ASH: This reminds me I need to read the first volume of Beyond the Clouds.

SEAN: Digitally? Well, there’s All-Out!! 15, Cells at Work and Friends 3, Cosplay Animal 13, Domestic Girlfriend 26, Fairy Tail: City Hero 4 (the final volume), Men’s Life —Her Secret Life in The Boys’ Dormitory— 3, The Prince’s Romance Gambit 7, The Quintessential Quintuplets 14 (also a final volume), and Ran the Peerless Beauty 8.

MICHELLE: I really need to get caught up on Ran the Peerless Beauty and to start All-Out!!.

SEAN: Seven Seas has two debuts. The first we’ve seen the digital version of: Syrup, a Girls’ Love Anthology. It focuses on adult women.

ASH: I’ll probably pick this up now that it’s in print.

SEAN: The other is Failed Princesses (Dekisokonai no Himegimi Tachi), a yuri manga from Takeshobo’s Manga Life STORIA Dash. This is high school girl yuri, and also apparently a bit darker than most.

In print, we see the 2nd Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka light novel, Machimaho 6, Reincarnated As a Sword‘s 5th light novel, and Skeleton Knight in Another World‘s 4th manga.

In early digital releases, we see a debut as well. The Sorcerer King of Destruction and the Golem of the Barbarian Queen (Hametsu no Madou Ou to Golem no Banhi) is an isekai fantasy, though apparently the guy who is isekaied has no memory of his former life. He’s being asked to destroy the world, which he wants no part of. So he’s given a powerful and dangerous partner.

And we get Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear 3 and Sarazanmai 2.

ASH: I need to begin my Sarazanmai journey soon.

SEAN: Square Enix has the print debut of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest, a title whose plot is so familiar it’s already being made fun of.

SuBLime debuts Toritan: Birds of a Feather, a new BL series from Rutile about a man with the power to talk to birds.

They also have a 3rd volume of Given.

MICHELLE: I might be into Toritan and am certainly excited for more Given!

MJ: I’m kind of into the concept where a man talks to birds? I guess both of these are potentially for me!

ANNA: I ordered the second volume of Given and don’t have it yet, but I’m also excited for more volumes in this series!

ASH: Yup! I’m here for both of these, too.

SEAN: Tokyopop debuts A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (Odayaka Kizoku no Kyuuka no Susume), a manga from TO Books’ Comic Corona. A man is transported to another world and decides to life a slow and easy life is a title we’ve seen before. This man, however, was the prime minister in a fantasy world before he was transported, which is interesting. It’s also one of those titles where everyone has to insist it’s not BL despite what it looks like.

ANNA: Honestly, I’d be intrigued by this if it was coming out from a different publisher.

ASH: Likewise.

MJ: Yep.

SEAN: Vertical has the 8th volume of CITY (in print) and the 15th Ajin (digitally).

Viz has two debuts, one of which probably falls outside the scope of Manga the Week of. BTS: Blood, Sweat and Tears is a biography of the popular band – no, not the 60s/70s jazz rock band, but BTS, the incredibly popular Korean boy band.

ASH: Huh! Viz has done a nice job with other biographical works, so this should hit the spot for BTS fans.

MJ: This does sound like it will be perfect for the right audience.

SEAN: There’s also an artbook. Monster Hunter: World – Official Complete Works should delight fans of Monster Hunter. (Note: ask rest of Manga Bookshelf what Monster Hunter is.)

ASH: Oooh, I know this! I’ve actually played and really enjoyed one of the games in the franchise before (despite being pretty terrible at it).

SEAN: Viz also has some ongoing titles. We get Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition 10, Hayate the Combat Butler 36 (only 16 more to go! That’s only 8 short years!), Komi Can’t Communicate 8, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 7, and A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow 4.

ASH: A solid shounen (and seinen) showing from Viz.

MJ: Always ready to push Fullmetal Alchemist on another generation.

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has one light novel debut – we hope, this book was delayed 6 times over the course of the past year. The Eminence in Shadow (Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!) is a comedic isekai about a guy who likes to make up backstories and finds that the one he’s made up is getting out of his control. Let’s hope we can finally enjoy it.

ASH: I’m not hugely interested in isekai, but that sounds like it could be fun.

SEAN: See? SO MUCH STUFF. What manga are you desperately stuffing in your mouth as it comes down the conveyor belt?

SEAN: Get ready for a brutal month. Every week in August is huge. Soooo much stuff.

ASH: Let’s go!

SEAN: First of all, hey, remember when I somehow missed that Soul Eater: The Perfect Edition started from Square Enix on 7/28? That was 100% a thing I missed, because I am basically terrible. Soul Eater is fun. Please ignore the boobie ending.

We start with J-Novel Club, which has several print volumes. We see Animeta! 4, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord 11, the debut of the I Shall Survive Using Potions! light novel, and In Another World with My Smartphone 11.

ASH: I plan on picking up Animeta! out of this group.

SEAN: Digitally, there is Altina the Sword Princess 5, Campfire Cooking in Another World 7, Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On? 3, Der Werwolf 8, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 15 (hey, it finally hit 15), In Another World with My Smartphone 20, and Record of Wortenia War 7.

Kaiten Books has another manga debut: UzaMaid: Our Maid is Way Too Annoying (Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!). This Manga Action title from Futabasha had an anime recently, and I can confirm that its title is not just for show.

Kodansha had to push back its Shaman King rollout, so no debuts this week. In print, we get Boarding School Juliet 12.

Digitally we get Are You Lost? 6, Cells at Work: Bacteria! 2, Chihayafuru 21, Drifting Dragons 8, GTO Paradise Lost 12, Our Fake Marriage 3, Peach Girl NEXT 8 (the final volume), Smile Down the Runway 12, and To Be Next to You 8.

MICHELLE: I will never not be grateful for Chihayafuru!

ANNA: One day I will catch up! One day!!!

SEAN: One Peace has a one-off for us: My Papa’s Persimmon Tree, which is 45 pages long, seemingly based on real-life events, and award winning.

ASH: Interesting! It’s so easy for One Peace’s releases to slip under the radar; I wasn’t previously aware of this one.

MJ: Same here!

SEAN: Seven Seas has the print debut of Peter Grill and the Philosopher’s Time, the 2020 award winner for most “humorous” euphemisms for semen in a single manga volume.

MICHELLE: Ew.

ANNA: No thank you!

MJ: I hate everything.

SEAN: Also in print: Arifureta Zero’s 3rd light novel, Gal Gohan 3, GIGANT 2, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Elma’s OL Diary 3, and the 10th and final Toradora! light novel.

As for early digital releases, we have the 11th Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho.

Udon has the 2nd Rose of Versailles at last. Cannot wait.

MICHELLE: Huzzah!

ANNA: I have mine, yay!

ASH: Yes!! Still so glad this series is being released.

MJ: Okay, I don’t hate EVERYTHING. So excited!!

SEAN: Vertical has a manga debut: The Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou), an episodic comedy manga from Gangan Online that also became an anime and a film. It’s pretty highly regarded.

And lastly, ALL THE VIZ. The debut is a sequel. Fushigi Yugi: Byakko Senki, a sequel to Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, but still a prequel to the main series proper. It runs in Flowers, meaning we finally have another Flowers series from Viz that isn’t Kaze Hikaru. Also, this manga is so old I have to remind myself every time not to use two u’s in Yugi. Because fandom.

MICHELLE: I am all about this.

ANNA: I am so excited for this series. Trying to emotionally prepare myself.

MJ: Okay, I absolutely loved Fushigi Yugi – Genbu Kaiden, probably more than the original series, if I’m being honest. So this is a welcome addition to that universe!

SEAN: Naruto has a new light novel (at 136 pages, a very light novel) called Naruto’s Story: Family Day. It shows him bonding with Himawari, and I think was animated.

Shonen Jump? We got you. There’s Black Clover 22, Blue Exorcist 24, Boruto 9, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 15, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 Volume 6, Jujutsu Kaisen 5, the 5th and final My Hero Academia SMASH!, One Piece 94, The Promised Neverland 16, the third Samurai 8, Twin Star Exorcists 19, and We Never Learn 11.

ASH: JoJo! So far, this arc has’t been my favorite, but I’m still getting a huge kick out of it.

SEAN: Shojo Beat? We have you covered as well. Ao Haru Ride 12, Kaze Hikaru 28 (the yearly volume, which means TWO Flowers series on the same day from Viz! Can 7SEEDS be far behind?), Oresama Teacher 27, Shortcake Cake 9, and Yona of the Dawn 25.

MICHELLE: I would even be super happy if 7SEEDS was digital-only. Heck, if Kaze Hikaru moved in that direction but came out more frequently, that’d be okay too.

ANNA: If only we got 7SEEDS. I’m happy for the annual volume of Kaze Hikaru. . So much great shoujo this week!

ASH: It’s a very good week for shoujo!

MJ: That 7SEEDS tease seems cruel, Sean! So much false hope! I weep.

SEAN: As tends to happen in Week Ones, Viz is most fascinating to me (well, that and Rose of Versailles). How about you?

SEAN: It’s another one of those weeks. Get ready to be buried.

ASH: It’s good to see some things returning to normal!

SEAN: First, some late additions; these are out this week, but the release date was only just confirmed. They’re both Bookwalker titles. The first is Tenpuru, an ecchi harem manga from Kodansha’s Comic Days (I think Tenpuru is meant to be Temple). The second is Why the Hell Are You Here, Teacher?! (Nande koko ni sensei ga!?), an ecchi not-harem title about a guy who can’t stop getting into risque situations with his teacher. It runs in Kodansha’s Young Magazine. Both titles recommended for horny guys.

As for next week, Dark Horse debuts its deluxe edition of Hellsing. The manga was always a lot more… bonkers than the anime, so I’m not sure if I’m going to reread it, but it’s worth checking out.

ASH: If it’s anything like the Berserk deluxe edition, this should be a great release of Hellsing for those interested in the series.

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us the long-awaited second volume of Tearmoon Empire, as well as the 3rd Teagonia.

Kaiten Books debuts a new digital manga license, My Dad’s the Queen of All VTubers?! (Oyaji ga Bishoujo ni Natteta Hanashi). It’s a Manga Action series from Futabasha, seems to be a comedy. Title is likely the plot, as we see a lot these days.

Kodansha’s latest digital debut, Cells at Work: Baby!, is not about Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell finally getting their groove on, alas. It’s about the newest cells and what their job is. It runs, believe it or not, in Kodansha’s Morning magazine.

ASH: I hadn’t realized just how many spinoffs of Cells at Work there already were!

SEAN: Also debuting is Sue and Tai-chan, which was delayed from a previous Manga the Week of, so let me go copy and paste. It’s another cat manga from the creator of Chi’s Sweet Home. This one runs in Be Love magazine, so seems more for housewives than kids. But… I mean, it’s still a cute cat manga.

MJ: I love Chi, so I’d always take more cat manga from this creator!

SEAN: In print? Living-Room Matsunaga-san 3, Something’s Wrong with Us 2, and The Seven Deadly Sins 38.

Digitally, we get Abe-kun’s Got Me Now! 2, Dolly Kill Kill 4, GE: Good Ending 7, Gleipnir 7, Kakushigoto 5, MabuSasa 4, Something’s Wrong with Us 3, That Blue Summer 7 and The Seven Deadly Sins 39.

One Peace has a 9th volume of Hinamatsuri.

Seven Seas debuts, in print, Buck Naked in Another World, a light novel that does not live up to its title.

ASH: Ha!

MJ: Also got a laugh out of this.

SEAN: Also out in print: Classroom of the Elite 5, Dragon Goes House-Hunting 5, Goodbye My Rose Garden 2, Himouto Umaru-chan! 10, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Kanna’s Daily Life 7, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s 2, Our Wonderful Days 3, and Primitive Boyfriend 2.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Goodbye My Rose Garden a try; better get on that before I get too far behind!

SEAN: There’s also an early digital release for Classroom of the Elite 6.

Sol Press has a 3rd digital volume for the light novel Why Can’t a Detestable Demon Lord Fall in Love?.

Tokyopop has a new print BL title: There Are Things I Can’t Tell You (Kimi ni Ienai Koto ga Aru). It’s from the publisher Printemps Shuppan, runs in their magazine Canna, and is about childhood friends growing up and realizing they love each other.

MJ: I have to admit this sounds like my kind of title.

SEAN: Vertical, in print, has the 6th Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

They also have digital editions of Bakemonogatari 5 and CITY 9.

The big debut from Viz is Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams. This is complete in one volume, ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Original, and is a father/daughter psychological drama.

ASH: Not only that, it’s by Naoki Urasawa, one of the creators who solidified my love of manga. I’ll definitely be checking this one out.

ANNA: Oh! This might be the one thing I’m interested in this week.

MJ: Oooooo.

SEAN: Viz also gave us a series of RWBY anthologies before, but now we have RWBY: The Official Manga. This is a prequel to the animated series, and ran in Shonen Jump’s online app.

Also from Viz: Beastars 7, Children of the Whales 15, Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku 3, Levius/est 5, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt 14, and No Guns Life 6.

ASH: Beastars and Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku are my priorities out of this bunch.

SEAN: Yen On has three different light novel debuts. High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! (Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!) is one where we’ve seen the manga before, and it’s had an anime as well. This is the isekai you get when only geniuses are summoned.

I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet (S-Rank Monster no Behemoth Dakedo, Neko to Machigawarete Erufu Musume no Kishi (Pet) Toshite Kurashitemasu) is what it sounds like, but it’s also notable for being the first Yen On light novel to have a Parental Advisory warning. From what I hear, it’s simply because of the constant mention of boobs in the series. Sigh.

ASH: Huh. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an advisory warning on a novel before.

SEAN: May These Leaden Battlegrounds Leave No Trace (Uchinukareta Senjou wa, Soko de Kieteiro) is a more serious, war-torn drama type of story, along the lines of 86.

Also out in light novels: Bungo Stray Dogs 4, The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody 3, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious 4, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria 12, the second volume of Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel, the third and final volume of KonoSuba: An Explosion on this Wonderful World! (don’t worry, there’s a sequel to this side story in a couple of months), Magical Girl Raising Project 9, Re: Zero 13, and the WorldEnd EX side novel.

Yen’s manga side has two debuts, and the first is… oh dear. To Save the World, Can You Wake Up the Morning After with a Demi-Human? (Sekai wo Sukuu Tame ni Ajin to Asa-chun Dekimasenka?) is the latest in a series of not-quite-porn-but-pretty-close licenses Yen has picked up, this one runs in Young Dragon Age (which, judging by its title, is for series TOO RACY for Dragon Age, a terrifying thought). The plot involves… well, I can probably guess.

MJ: Why, Yen, WHYYYYYYYY?

SEAN: The second is a spinoff. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Ways of the Monster Nation. It runs in Micro Magazine’s Comic Ride.

Yen also has some less appalling titles. Barakamon 18 + 1 is a welcome return to that series. There’s also The Case Study of Vanitas 7, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 5, Goblin Slayer Side Story: Year One 5, The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious 2 (the manga version), Horimiya 14, I’m a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl’s Pet 2 (the manga version), Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls 3, No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! 16, RaW Hero 2, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 10, and the 4th print volume of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun.

ASH: I’m mostly here for Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.

MJ: Has anyone kept up with The Case Study of Vanitas? I was such a big fan of Pandora Hearts, but the beginning of this series wasn’t as strong as I hoped. Has it gotten better?

SEAN: Yen’s release schedule always seems to exhaust me. Are you picking anything up?