Anna N

SEAN: There’s more November to come, and more manga as well.

Bookwalker gives us a 10th volume of The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!, which according to LN fans is still the best series that I’ve dropped after reading the first page.

Lots of folks seem to have this already, but Dark Horse gives us a 2nd volume of At the Mountains of Madness, the new H.P. Lovecraft manga adaptation. Expect loss of sanity.

ASH: I’ve not read the source material to know how it compares, but I found the first volume engaging and plan on reading up more.

SEAN: J-Novel Club debuts Altina the Sword Princess, which comes from the pen of How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s author, but I will try not to hold that against it. A gorgeous redhead with a big sword teams up with an apathetic soldier who reads a lot of books. Can they change the world?

We also get An Archdemon’s Dilemma 8, the 3rd Arifureta Zero spinoff, and Mixed Bathing in Another Dimension 6, the first new volume of this underrated series in two years.

Debuting from Kodansha is Tales of Berseria, another adaptation of a video game manga.

Also in print is Gleipnir 5, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 4, and The Seven Deadly Sins 35.

Digitally, there’s Cosplay Animal 9 (the first new volume of this series in over a year), Defying Kurosaki-kun 13, Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest 2, My Boss’s Kitten 2, and The Great Cleric 4.

There’s a cliche that the moment a light novel is licensed, some horny LN fan will ask if there’s sex in it. The answer, at least for licensed novels, is almost always no. But good news for horny fans! Sol Press has a new imprint called Panty Press, and they’re debuting the first 18-rated light novel in North America, Busy Wizard: This Warlock Just Wants to Provide for His Wives!. A warlock who’s grown strong in the mountains makes his way towards the imperial capital, but finds young women as he goes along.

ASH: Huh. I somehow missed the news about the new imprint.

MJ: I’m trying to figure out how to react to the name of that imprint. I don’t think it’s a great reaction.

SEAN: Seven Seas has a digital-first debut with Citrus+, the sequel to the popular yuri soap opera. Yuzu and Mei are now openly dating, what comes next?

The fourth Classroom of the Elite light novel also gets its digital-first release.

As for print, no debuts here, but we do get Classroom of the Elite 3 (in print), Generation Witch 5, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 6th manga volume, My Monster Secret 18, My Next Life As a Villainess! has a 2nd manga volume, Reincarnated As a Sword gets its third LN in print, Shomin Sample 11, and Wonderland 4.

Tokyopop debuts Still Sick, a Mag Garden series about a woman who secretly draws yuri doujinshi and her bright and sunny colleague who finds out.

Udon has the 2nd Stravaganza omnibus, which hopes to be as bananas as the first one was.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give this series a try; maybe that time has come.

MJ: Same.

SEAN: Vertical debuts Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagotoro (Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san), which is part of a hot new genre of girls teasing guys (see also Teasing Master Takagi-san and Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!). Nagotoro seems to be more aggressive about it than those others.

Viz debuts Levius/est, a continuation of the original Levius that changed names when it changes publishers – this runs in Ultra Jump.

ASH: Another manga I’ve been meaning to try! (I’ve apparently got some catching up to do…)

SEAN: They also have BEASTARS 3, Children of the Whales 13, No Guns Life 2, Ran and the Gray World 5, and the 4th Urusei Yatsura omnibus, which is the most important of those. (Look, if you want unbiased release lists, go somewhere else.)

MICHELLE: I need to catch up on BEASTARS.

ASH: The first volume was great! I just got my hands on the second, so hopefully the trend continues.

ANNA: I need to get caught up too!

SEAN: Yen On has the 3rd volume of 86.

Yen Press gives us Bungo Stray Dogs: Another Story, a spinoff manga of the light novel which is a spinoff of the original series.

ASH: That seems appropriately meta.

SEAN: They also have Kemono Friends a la Carte, a manga anthology with lots of cute stories written by various artists.

Lastly, we get Kaiju Girl Caramelise 2 and Teasing Master Takagi-san 6.

See? I told you we’d have more manga. What’s in your wishlist?

SEAN: The manga never stops.

Cross Infinite World has a new title out next week. Of Dragons and Fae: Is a Fairy Tale Ending Possible for the Princess’s Hairstylist? (Kamiyuishi wa Ryuu no Tsugai ni Narimashita (Yappari Machigai Datta Sou Desu)) is a fantasy romance, showing if nothing else that female-oriented titles can have names just as long as the male-oriented ones.

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Dark Horse gives us the 10th Blade of the Immortal omnibus.

ASH: I’ve got my (out-of-print) single volumes, but the omnibus edition is a great way for people who don’t to collect the series.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a manga debut next week: The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, based off the light novel series, also out by J-Novel Club.

There’s also a bunch of light novels. Arifureta Zero 3, Ascendance of a Bookworm 4, The Greatest Magicmaster’s Retirement Plan 3, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 14+ (note the odd numbering), and Infinite Stratos 10.

Kodansha… does not seem to have a digital debut? Is that possible? They do have 1122: For a Happy Marriage 2, Farewell My Dear Cramer 4, Giant Killing 17, My Boyfriend in Orange 8, Queen Bee 3, Ran the Peerless Beauty 6, Tokyo Revengers 13, and You Got Me Sempai! 7. Yay, Ran!

MICHELLE: I am very excited about more Ran and also more Giant Killing!

SEAN: Lest you forget they do print, there is also Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 6 and Witch Hat Atelier 4. Go get that second one, it’s a must-have.

ASH: It is truly lovely.

ANNA: I adore Witch Hat Atelier.

SEAN: One Peace debuts the manga version of The Reprise of the Spear Hero.

There’s some stuff from Seven Seas. Debuting we see Our Wonderful Days (Tsurezure Biyori), which seems to be Comic Yuri Hime’s “cute girls doing cute things” series, only because it’s Yuri Hime, they’re allowed to be more explicit about the yuri? In any case, looks very cute.

We also get Arpeggio of Blue Steel 15, Classmates 3, the 8th Make My Abilities Average! digitally, Freezing 25-26, Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho 8, and a double dose of Skeleton Knight in Another World: the 2nd manga and the 4th novel digitally.

Sol Press announced a surprise license: Chivalry of a Failed Knight, a very popular “magical academy” series that got an anime and also gets compared a lot to Asterisk War. Its first three volumes are out in a bunch next week, both in print and digitally.

SuBLime has the 8th Blue Morning, and also debuts Yarichin Bitch Club, about a very special photography club, which runs in Gentosha’s Rutile. Seems to be comedic.

MICHELLE: I have really enjoyed Blue Morning. This looks to be its final volume, too!

ASH: The eighth volume is also the final volume of Blue Morning. I’m a few volumes behind in my reading, but I’ve really been enjoying the series.

SEAN: Vertical has a 4th Kino’s Journey.

MJ: I’m behind on the manga adaptation of Kino’s Journey, but as a big fan of both the source material and the anime adaptations, I have to say, “Yay!”

SEAN: Viz has Dragon Ball: A Visual History, which seems to be an artbook as well as Transformers: A Visual History, which is probably the same.

They also debut A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow (Nettaigyo wa Yuki ni Kogareru), a Dengeki Maoh title that’s two high school girls who become friends… and maybe something more? Lotsa yuri this week.

MICHELLE: I’m super looking forward to this one! The covers are promising, at any rate.

ASH: I feel very much the same!

MJ: Sounds great!

SEAN: There’s also the 7th Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, Radiant 8, Record of Grancest War 5, and Rin-Ne 31, but most importantly Requiem of the Rose King 11.

ASH: That is important!

MJ: Okay, I have to give at least a small shout-out to anyone who is getting to read Fullmetal Alchemist for the first time with these new editions. But also, REQUIEM OF THE ROSE KING ALWAYS AND FOREVER.

ANNA: Indeed.

SEAN: Yen Press has oodles of titles, some of which are ending and one of which is beginning. Overlord: The Undead King-Oh! is a comedic 4-koma series based on the Overlord LNs.

Ending this week are Anne Happy with its 10th book, Fruits Basket Another with its 3rd, Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl (also 10), and Sekirei (also 10, albeit the 10th omnibus).

NOT ending or beginning but just ongoing are Angels of Death 8, Chio’s School Road 6, Delicious in Dungeon 7, DanMachi: Sword Oratoria’s 9th manga volume, Hatsu*Haru 9, Murcielago 12, Nyankees 4, Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san 2, and Star Wars: Lost Wars 3.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to more Honda-san!

ASH: Me, too! And I’ll definitely be picking up Delicious in Dungeon, as well.

MJ: Chiming in for Honda-san as well!

SEAN: Oof. Stuff. What are you getting?

SEAN: November brings an absolutely ludicrous amount of stuff, and December’s no better, so get used to it.

ASH: I’m ready for the cooler weather and avalanches of new manga and novels!

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a lot. Starting with Invaders of the Rokujouma!? 26, 27, and 28, which are actually out now.

The novel debut (digitally) is Demon Lord, Retry!, which had an anime recently. It seems to be Overlord with less skeleton.

The manga debut (digitally) is Discommunication, an ancient manga (it began in 1992!) that ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon, from the creator of Mysterious Girlfriend X. It’s gotten VERY good buzz, and I’ve been told does not have quite as much drool as MGX, so I’ll be taking a look.

MICHELLE: Hm. I’ll wait for the results of the drool analysis.

ANNA: I too, am concerned about drool.

ASH: Drool aside, I enjoyed what I read of Mysterious Girlfriend X.

MJ: I like early 90s manga, so I may risk the drool.

SEAN: J-Novel Club also debuts An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride in print, along with print for Ascendance of a Bookworm (2) and Infinite Dendrogram (3). Also, digital volumes for Arifureta (10), The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress (2), and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (5), and the 2nd A Very Fairy Apartment manga digitally.

ASH: I just got my hands on the first volume of Ascendance of a Bookworm. Good to know I won’t need to wait long to get my hands on the second if desired!

SEAN: In print, Kodansha has Cells at Work: Code BLACK 2 and The Quintessential Quintuplets 6.

Digitally, our debut from Kodansha is Our Fake Marriage (Usokon), a shoujo/josei title that runs in Ane Friend. 29-year-old woman, no job, nowhere to live, runs into her old childhood friend, now a handsome successful architect, and he suggests… well, look at the title.

ANNA: I enjoy faked marriages in fiction!

ASH: There are some really good ones out there.

MJ: I would like to see one where the love interest is not a handsome, successful architect, but like… a nerdy school teacher or something.

SEAN: Also digitally? Cells NOT at Work 2, Fairy Tail: City Hero 2, My Sweet Girl 8, Our Precious Conversations 5, Seven Shakespeares 12 (where had this gone?) and Smile Down the Runway 3.

MICHELLE: I’ll be reading several of these!

SEAN: Denpa Books has a new BL line, called KUMA, and their debut is a done-in-one called Melting Lover. It runs in Futabasha’s Comic Marginal, and looks pretty interesting. BL fans, support this new imprint!

MICHELLE: Nice to see a new imprint!

ASH: Melting Lover is an interesting BL collection with some speculative fiction flair to the stories. Also, KUMA will yuri in its lineup, too!

MJ: Very interested in what Denpa has to offer for BL!

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts two titles, one print, one an early digital. The print is Nicola Traveling Around the Demon’s World (Nicola no Oyururi Makai Kikou), from Kadokawa’s Harta. Adorable human child, land full of demons, just wandering around… this has become a genre by now. Still, I’ll try anything from Harta.

ASH: I like this genre a lot.

MJ: I can also get behind this genre.

SEAN: The early digital light novel is Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard (Magic User: TRPG de Sodateta Mahoutsukai wa Isekai demo Saikyou Datta), whose sole point of interest seems to be that it’s from a rare LN publisher, Gentosha. Otherwise, well, look at the title.

Seven Seas also has Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter 5, and the 7th Make My Abilities Average! in print.

Tokyopop gives us a 6th Futaribeya.

Vertical has the 14th and final volume of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Viz time! No debuts, still lots stuff. Shoujo: Anonymous Noise 17, Daytime Shooting Star 3, Shortcake Cake 6, Skip Beat! 43, Snow White with the Red Hair 4, and the 11th and final Water Dragon’s Bride.

MICHELLE: I will read every one of these! Of course, I’m particularly asquee for more Skip Beat!.

ANNA: So much great shoujo, I am excited.

ASH: We all should be!

MJ: I’m behind on many of these, but I should fix that!

SEAN: On the shonen end, we see Black Clover 18, Boruto 7, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 9, Dr. STONE 8, Haikyu!! 35, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 Vol. 3, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 11, My Hero Academia SMASH! 2, and One Piece 92.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed My Hero Academia SMASH! more than anticipated, and so look forward to volume two!

ASH: I’m getting a kick out of the Diamond Is Unbreakable arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I’ve fallen behind with the anime, so this is all new content for me!

SEAN: Finally we get Yen, who have quite a bit as well. Debuting from Yen On is Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town (Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari), which is about– whoops, ran out of space.

Ending next week is The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria, with its 7th volume. There’s also new volumes of The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious (2), Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Sword Oratoria (10), My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected (8), and Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir! 3. As you can see, long titles are the new Alice in the Country of.

On the manga end, we debut the manga version of Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World. Also getting manga volumes are A Certain Magical Index 19, Durarara!! Re;Dollars 5, and High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World 5.

I was reincarnated into another world and ended up with manga release date analysis as my only power! What are you getting next week?

MICHELLE: *snerk*

SEAN: No more small weeks anymore. All the weeks coming up are huge, huge, huge. Starting with next week.

Denpa gives us the 3rd volume of Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, with Best Girl on the cover.

Ghost Ship has the 2nd Creature Girls volume, as well as To-Love-Ru Darkness 12.

No debuts for J-Novel Club, but we do get the 16th and final volume of I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse.

There’s also Full Metal Panic! 4, In Another World with My Smartphone 17, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles 7 on the light novel side, and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! 2 and Seirei Gensouki (again) 2 on the manga side.

In print, Kodansha has erm… nothing. On to digital! The debut is Guilty (Guilty – Nakanu Hotaru ga Mi o Kogasu), a josei series that runs in Be Love, and judging by the cover seems to be Very Serious Indeed.

MICHELLE: I am intrigued.

ANNA: I am too, but I somehow almost never get around to reading the digital manga I buy.

SEAN: Digitally we also see Domestic Girlfriend 22, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 2, and The Prince’s Black Poison 10 (a final volume, I think), as well as the 10th GTO: Paradise Lost, the first volume in almost a year and a half.

Seven Seas has one debut, which digital readers will have seen already: the first of the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA novels.

Seven Seas also has a lot more, though. Alice & Zoroku 6, the 10th and final Dreamin’ Sun (yes, I know, it was here before, sorry, it slipped), Getter Robo Devolution 4, the print edition of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash 11, The High School Life of a Fudanshi 5, the 3rd Mushoku Tensei novel in print, New Game! 7, and everyone’s favorite punching bag, Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn 12.

MICHELLE: Probably I said something like I still intend to finish Dreamin’ Sun, even though I prefer orange, and that is still true.

ASH: Likewise.

SEAN: Vertical has Colorful Dreams, an artbook of VOFAN’s non-Monogatari works. It is apparently super gorgeous.

Despite a number of delays, Yen does have quite a bit out next week. Yen On has one debut, The World’s Strongest Rearguard: Labyrinth Country’s Novice Seeker (Sekai Saikyou no Kouei: Meikyuukoku no Shinjin Tansakusha). Reincarnated Japanese dude in fantasy world, dungeon game stats, picking a seemingly weak job and making it the strongest – this ticks those boxes.

Yen On also gives us Bungo Stray Dogs 2 (the novel version), Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments After, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Drop Dream Distance, Magical Girl Raising Project 7, No Game No Life 9, Overlord 11, and Sword Art Online 17. Feels like the last three of those are the most important.

ASH: I should give the Bungo Stray Dogs novels a try one of these days.

SEAN: No debuts on the manga side, though we do get the 14th and final Prison School omnibus.

And we get Akame Ga KILL! ZERO 10, Black Butler 28. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 11 (manga version), The Saga of Tanya the Evil 8 (manga version), School-Live! 11, and Silver Spoon 11.

MICHELLE: I am so far behind on Silver Spoon. Sigh.

ASH: Totally worth making a point to catch up when you have the time!

MJ: Such a huge week and I only care about Silver Spoon? How can this be? That said, I REALLY care about Silver Spoon!

SEAN: Do any of these float your boat? Or will you just ring and run?

SEAN: Mostly due to books being pushed back, this is the smallest week I’ve seen in some time. There’s barely anything! Under 20 books!

ASH: That seems almost unheard of these days!

SEAN: Dark Horse has the third hardcover deluxe edition of Berserk, which contains books 7-9. They also have the 11th and final omnibus of I Am a Hero.

ASH: Dark Horse living up to the dark in its name, I see! Both of these series are great, though.

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us Infinite Dendrogram 10 and Outbreak Company 11.

Kodansha, in print, has In/Spectre 10 and Love and Lies 8.

The digital debut is 1122: For a Happy Marriage. This is a seinen title from Morning Two, a story of a couple who’ve been married for some time but have no kids… and no sex life. They agree to see other people, but how will that really work out? This seems like a romantic drama, but anything in Morning Two interests me.

MICHELLE: It’s certainly a concept I haven’t seen before in manga, so I will give it a shot.

MJ: I’m cautiously intrigued.

ANNA: Hmmmmmm.

SEAN: The big digital debut, though, was a surprise announcement and is already out: The Drops of God will be getting a complete digital release, all 44 volumes. The first 11 are out now. If you like wine, or people talking about wine, this one is for you.

MICHELLE: Wow! Nice to see this get rescued.

ANNA: Nice!!!

SEAN: Other digital-only titles include AICO Incarnation 2, Atsumari-kun’s Bride-to-Be 3, Drowning Love 14, Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 18, and Vampire Dormitory 2.

MICHELLE: It’s true that Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be is not really breaking new shoujo ground, but I still enjoyed the first volume quite a lot. I need to catch back up.

SEAN: Seven Seas has another digital novel debut. SCP Foundation: Iris Through the Looking Glass is a done-in-one novel about a boy who sees a girl in any book that he opens. It’s by the author of ECHO, though I’m not sure if it’s also based off of a Vocaloid song.

Seven Seas also has the 7th Toradora! (print and digital) for light novels, and the 5th Tomo-chan Is a Girl! for manga.

I’ve mentioned the 4th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu in this list before – evidently it got bumped. Amazon has it out next week from Udon.

Lastly, Vertical has a 6th volume of CITY.

So small! What are you getting?