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Anna N

Beastars, Vol. 1

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Beastars Volume 1 by Paru Itagaki

I’m always curious to see what Viz will decide to publish in their Viz Signature line, and I wasn’t really aware of Beastars other than just knowing that the initial license announcement was greeted with plenty of enthusiasm. Beastars takes place in an anthropomorphic high school where carnivores and herbivores are thrown together in their classes and clubs, but generally seem to stick to their own kind for dormitory arrangements.

beastars vol 1

It is made very clear in the opening panels that not all is well in this high school as Tem, an alpaca student is hunted down and murdered by a mysterious carnivore in the opening panels. Suspicion lands on the grey wolf Legoshi, who was in drama club with Tem. The herbivores are mostly terrified and the carnivores are resentful at being under suspicion. A lot of the plot of Beastars seems fairly typical for any manga with a high school setting, but the animalistic nature of the students puts a bit of a spin on drama club shenanigans and random meetings across different animal families. Legoshi struggles with his own instincts and seems to be resigned to his status as an outcast. Seeing the twists of the animal nature of the students on fairly typical student roles can be amusing, as the imperious head of the drama club turns out to be the literal king of the forest in the form of Louis, a majestic red deer.

The art for Beastars is really well done, with somber grey tones that give the high school a bit of a dangerous noir vibe. In times of extreme emotion, Itagaki often fills the panel with just a character’s eyes surrounded by a dark background as a way of punctuating the intense instincts that the student body rarely acts on. The story sometimes shifts points of view, and it is interesting to learn more of the backstories of the student body. The idea of a “Beastsar,” an animal who is raised to have dominion over both carnivores and herbivores is raised briefly, and I expect the political jockying to be more intense in future volumes. I’m still a bit mystified as to why the students aren’t caught up more in an actual investigation of Tem’s murder, but I’m hoping this will be explored more in future volumes as well. The first volume of Beastars was very intriguing, and it capably set up Legoshi as a complex protagonist.

Manga the Week of 10/9/19

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SEAN: A relatively light week? Could be.

Denpa gives us the 5th volume of Inside Mari.

ASH: Still a compelling read.

SEAN: J-Novel Club has no debuts, but we get the 2nd and final Middle-Aged Businessman, Arise in Another World!. There’s also Crest of the Stars 3, which wraps up that “arc”, though stay tuned for more “of the Stars”.

On the manga front, J-Novel Club has Infinite Dendrogram 2 and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 2.

Kodansha’s print lineup has the debut of Granblue Fantasy. Based on the game, this series runs in the obscure Cycomics, and should be fun for those who like fantasy manga.

ASH: Manga based on games can sometimes be hit-or-miss, but I’ve read some very good ones and I do like fantasy series…

SEAN: There’s also Boarding School Juliet 8 in print.

Digitally, it’s another Cells at Work! spinoff. Cells at Work and Friends, fittingly, runs in Betsufure (Bessatsu Friend), so is a shoujo take on the franchise. The plot involves a Killer T Cell who has an intimidating expression, and as a result… Doesn’t Have Many Friends. Where have I seen this plot before?

We also have new digital volumes of Farewell My Dear Cramer (3), The Knight Cartoonist and Her Orc Editor (3), My Pink Is Overflowing (4), Queen Bee (2), and Tokyo Revengers (12).

MICHELLE: I will at least be reading a couple of these.

SEAN: Seven Seas debuts How to Train Your Devil (Maou no Mama ni Narundayo!). which runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade. Our heroine is tasked with defeating the Demon King… but he’s a baby. She resolves to reform him… and promptly gets named his primary caregiver. Hijinks, as they say, ensue.

Not technically manga but of interest to fans is Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love. This yuri comic was funded by donors, and is apparently really good. I can think of one Manga Bookshelf peep who will be all over this.

ASH: Is it me? Because I’m really looking forward to this one!

MJ: I am interested in this as well!

SEAN: We also get the 11th Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash in print, If It’s for My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord’s 4th manga volume, the 4th Mushoku Tensei novel digitally, and Plus-sized Elf 3.

SuBLime has an 8th volume of Don’t Be Cruel.

And Vertical gives us a 3rd Master Edition of Knights of Sidonia.

Viz has a good lineup for Week 2, aka the Shonen Sunday week. Case Closed 72, Komi Can’t Communicate 3, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle 9, and That Blue-Sky Feeling 3.

MICHELLE: It’s the final volume of That Blue Sky Feeling, as well, and I’ll definitely be picking that up.

ASH: That Blue Sky Feeling has been such a lovely series so far; I’m very glad it got an English-language release.

MJ: What they said.

ANNA: I need to catch up on this!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen On gives us a 2nd volume of better-than-it-sounds light novel Torture Princess. (The writing is better than it sounds. The plot is still as dark and torture-y as you’d expect.)

Anything leap out at you here?

Pick of the Week: Ease on Down the Road

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MICHELLE: There’s a new volume of My Hero Academia plus a lot of VIZ shoujo coming out this week that I will absolutely be reading, including a particular favorite in Natsume’s Book of Friends, but my pick this week is The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms. I literally know nothing about it other than it’s by Nagabe, creator of The Girl from the Other Side, but that’s quite enough.

KATE: What Michelle said! I’d read just about anything by Nagabe, as he’s such a terrific artist and storyteller. If people buy The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms, maybe Seven Seas will get around to licensing Nagabe’s older work, too; this collection of short stories looks amazing.

SEAN: I am very interested in the new josei manga from Shojo Beat, but I have to go with Sexiled this week. The standard light novel fantasy is absolutely filled with tropes best described as problematic (read: misogynist), and I long to read a book pinning them to a wall and then stabbing them over and over.

ASH: As intrigued and delighted as I am by what I know about Sexiled, I’m with Michelle and Kate this week – The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms is without question my pick.

ANNA: I’m also intrigued by The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms and An Incurable Case of Love but I’m not going to pass up a chance to celebrate another volume of Kaze Hikaru which is by far one of my favorite historical shoujo series.

MJ: I’m jumping on what apparently is the majority pick this week: The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms. Everything about it—from the artist to the magical creatures to the magazine it runs in—screams that it’s for me. So what other choice do I have?

Manga the Week of 10/2/19

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SEAN: Welcome to October. Here’s your giant pile of manga.

ASH: Huzzah!

SEAN: Cross Infinite World gives us a light novel adapting a visual novel. Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- √After is the first of (I believe) five books that delve into this story, which is apparently a variation on “we are trapped and people are dying”. And yes, that apparently is its real title.

J-Novel Club has a ludicrous amount of new releases. On the manga side, we debut Animeta! 1 in print, and also have the 2nd volume digitally. Also debuting (print and digital, I think) is Marginal Operation, a military thriller that runs in Kodansha’s Afternoon.

MICHELLE: Hooray for Animeta!.

ASH: Oh, that does look good!

SEAN: On the novel end, the digital debut is the highly awaited Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress!. Despite the “Sexiled” in the title, this is apparently more a feminist (and also yuri) take on light novel fantasies, written after the Japanese medial school scandals showing they were fudging results to admit fewer women. I’ve seen bits quoted and it sounds fantastic.

ASH: I’ll admit, the quoted bits that I’ve seen make me want to give the entire book a read.

MJ: I read very few light novels, but I might have to at least *think* about this one.

SEAN: There are also print volumes for How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord (6), If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord (5), In Another World with My Smartphone (6), and The Magic in This Other World Is Too Far Behind! (5). Digitally, we also get a 7th Lazy Dungeon Master.

Kodansha’s one debut is digital this week, another sequel. Cells NOT at Work! runs in Shonen Sirius, and is about immature red blood cells who want to be NEETs.

MICHELLE: There’s at least one more of these spinoffs in the works, too.

SEAN: In print, we get Again!! 11 and The Heroic Legend of Arslan 11.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying Again!! immensely. I’ve sadly fallen behind with Arslan, but I’ve generally liked what I’ve read.

SEAN: And the usual pile digitally. Drifting Dragons 4, Goodbye I’m Being Reincarnated 3, My Sweet Girl 7, Smile Down the Runway 2, and The Tales of Genji: Dreams at Dusk 8.

Seven Seas has two debuts. Ghostly Things (Ayashi Kotogatari) is a Mag Garden title about a girl and a bunch of spirits. The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms (Wizdoms no Kemonotachi) also deals with magical creatures, but runs in Akaneshinsha’s Opera, so my guess is it’s more on a BL tip.

MICHELLE: Wize Wize Beasts is by Nagabe, of The Girl from the Other Side fame! I’m really looking forward to it.

ASH: YES! YES IT IS! I’m very excited to get my hands on it.

MJ: I’m always into spirits, so I might check out Ghostly Things. But also, yes on Wize Wize Beasts.

SEAN: Vertical debuts the manga version of Bakemonogatari. It runs in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and is drawn by Oh Great!, the author of fanservice laden Tenjo Tenghe. Normally I might carp, but honestly he’s the perfect creator to give us Araragi’s teenage perversions as well as making monologues EXTRA dramatic.

Viz has one debut this week, and it’s a new josei title. An Incurable Case of Love (Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Doko Made mo) is another title from the pen of Maki Enjoji, author of Happy Marriage, and ran in Petit Comic. Expect her usual: male lead that’s standoffish at first, lots of bickering. This one’s a doctor-nurse variant.

ANNA: I am here for this.

ASH: Hooray for josei!

SEAN: Viz has a LOT of shonen out next week. Food Wars! 32, My Hero Academia 21, My Hero Academia Vigilantes 6, My Hero Academia: School Briefs 3, the One Piece Color Walk artbook that takes in Water Seven and surrounding arcs, The Promised Neverland 12, We Never Learn 6, and World Trigger 19.

MICHELLE: So much good stuff!

SEAN: On the shoujo side, we have Ao Haru Ride 7, Kaze Hikaru 27 (a couple months late, but still at its one volume a year pace!), Natsume’s Book of Friends 23, Takane & Hana 11, and Yona of the Dawn 20.

ANNA: Nice! I love Yona and I’m always happy for a new volume of Kaze Hikaru.

MICHELLE: I am literally reading every single one of those.

ASH: I’m reading most of them!

MJ: Even I am reading some of these!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has a few September stragglers now coming out in early October. This includes the 13th and final volume of Durarara!!, the 20th A Certain Magical Index and the 8th Goblin Slayer on the light novel side, and Laid-Back Camp 7 and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 7 on the manga side.

ASH: I enjoyed the opening volumes of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts; I should make a point to catch up.

SEAN: That’s a lot, and it’s a lot of debuts. What are you getting?

Pick of the Week: Ramen Noodles and Golden Sheep

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SEAN: While it’s tempting to go for the Ramen Noodles, or the Golden Sheep, both of which I suspect will be talked about by my fellow Manga Bookshelf peeps, it’s no surprise that I’m going with the 3rd volume of the Zaregoto series, SUSPENSION: Kubitsuri High School. When you get the third in a series after the first and second came out about ten years ago, it’s an event. Also, Ii-chan’s irritating, deliberately inscrutability is fun.

KATE: I’m torn between Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, which sounds like a carbohydrate lover’s dream, and Our Dreams at Dusk, which continues to be one of the best new series of 2019, offering a frank, thoughtful look at gender and sexual identity, so my pick is… both. Get ’em both. You won’t be disappointed.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely here for the ramen noodles and the golden sheep, but I’m most excited by a new volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride!

ANNA: I’m very curious about Golden Sheep, The God’s Lie was so good, I’m excited to read more Ozaki.

ASH: It’s another great week of great releases! I can get behind everyone’s picks for the reasons already mentioned, but I’d like to take this opportunity to add The Miracles of the Namiya General Store to the mix as well. It’s a novel rather than a manga series, so this is really the only chance that I’ll get to pick it.

MJ: I’m not one hundred percent sold on anything this week, so I find myself waffling between The Golden Sheep and Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, but the melancholy does tend to have an extra pull for me, so I guess I’ll join Anna in choosing The Golden Sheep!

Witch Hat Atelier, Vols 1-3

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Witch Hat Atelier Volumes 1-3 by Kamome Shirahama

It is rare to find a series that is so fully realized in terms of both art and story that there is absolutely nothing to nitpick, but Witch Hat Atelier is one of those manga. Coco is a young girl who helps her mother who is a seamstress. Coco lives in a world where magic is practiced only by a select few, but she’s extremely curious about how it all works. Her life is changed when she sees a flying carriage land near her mother’s shop and she runs into a mysterious gentleman who wears glasses with one tinted lens. Coco ends up cutting a length of cloth for the man, and she recounts a story that ties in with her fascination for magic. When she was younger, she encountered an enchanter who wore a hat decorated with a single eye, fringed with fabric that obscured his face. He offered to sell Coco a book of magic spells and even gave her a wand. Coco soon found out that people need to be born to magic, and gave up on her dream. When the flying carriage is damaged, the mysterious man identifies himself as Qifrey the Witch, and he decides to fix it. Coco spies on him and discovers that magic isn’t something one is born with, it relies on careful drawing with a pen. She promptly decides to experiment.

witch hat atelier

Like most books that feature a child adventurer and inconvenient parents, Coco’s mother is quickly dispatched when Coco’s first spell goes awry, turning her into a statue. The only solution is for Coco to dedicate herself to learning magic in order to reverse the spell. She becomes Qifrey’s newest apprentice, and travels with him to his school where he is already teaching several other girls her age. Coco has an enthusiasm for knowledge and a unique way of looking at magic but her fellow apprentices are suspicious of her. Coco’s roommate Agott in particular has a cranky attitude which backed up with unusual expertise in magic. The world of magic can be dangerous, for example when Agott goads Coco into taking a test that she’s unprepared for. The girls later get whisked away to a labyrinth guarded by a dragon due to some machinations of the witch with the eyeball hat, and later help with a rescue. The world is filled with odd magical contraptions that take the place of technology, like a water bubble for transporting water, bricks that light up under people’s feet, and shoes that are enchanted to give the power of flight.

Shirahama has a detailed style that is reminiscent of illustrations that might be in a classic childrens’ book. Panels are occasionally decorated with botanical motifs, with a nod to art nouveau. The various costumes of the witches have elaborate decoration, and spells look intricate, causing effects that look both elegant and unnatural. The worldbuilding and illustrations are lovely, but there’s an undercurrent of menace, as the one-eyed hat magical practitioner is intervening in Coco’s life for an unknown reason. The secretiveness of the witches also causes Coco to be threatened with a memory wipe spell multiple times. Her status as an outsider gives her an innovative and instinctive feel for magic, and she often manages to improvise spells due to her unique mindset. Coco’s new found family keeps expanding as the series develops, and it seems like she’s meeting other magic practitioners that ultimately will help her if there’s a confrontation with the dark witches who seem to be far too interested in her. There’s certainly some Harry Potter parallels, but not enough to make it seem like Witch Hat Atelier isn’t original. I’m equally entertained by both the art and the story in Witch Hat Atelier, and highly recommend it if you are looking for a fantasy series that lets the reader disappear into another world for a little while.

The Way of the Househusband

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The Way of the Househusband Volume 1 by Kousuke Oono

I was looking forward to The Way of the Househusband very much, because the title, premise, and subtly menacing cover art made it seem like just the type of action and humor manga I would enjoy. The househusband in question is a former yakuza member whose nickname was “The Immortal Dragon.” I think it is easy for a reader to tell if they will like this series from the first few pages, which show the househusband waking up, clothing himself grimly in all black, putting on an apron, and then making an adorable bento box for his wife. The househusband loves coupons, sales, and going to grocery stores while wearing his shibainu apron. Unfortunately his past has a tendency to catch up with him. While the Immortal Dragon still has the skills to administer a severe beatdown, often he disarms situations with his househusband hobbies by breaking through people’s emotional barriers with homemade cookies or a pair of deeply discounted gloves.

househusband

I particularly enjoyed the marriage scenes in this manga. The househusband’s wife is a designer who loves anime, and the lengths to which he will go to make her happy display the same relentless attitude that I’m sure helped helped him ruthlessly dispatch his enemies. It would be hard to pull off this title without solid art, and Oono excels at showing the househusband with epic resting bitch face that basically means that regular people find him terrifying. He seems to always be surrounded by film noir shadow effect lighting that throws his features in stark contrast. The larger format of the Viz Signature line makes it easier to appreciate the fight scenes taking place in mundane locations. I had high expectations for this title and I wasn’t disappointed.

Manga the Week of 9/25/19

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SEAN: Even with Yen Press moving a lot of its release dates, this is still a pretty heavy week. Lotsa stuff.

Debuting from Dark Horse is Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles (Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san), another in the series of foodie manga to be brought over here. High school girl is secretly a RAMEN MASTER. This runs in Takeshobo’s Manga Life Storia.

MICHELLE: Oh, this sounds neat!

ANNA: I do enjoy a food manga.

MJ: I’m interested…

ASH: So am I! Plus, I am particularly fond of ramen.

SEAN: Dark Horse also has Berserk 40 (I believe that’s Vol. 40, not the 40th anniversary of the last volume), and the 2nd Elfen Lied omnibus.

ASH: I am now actively reading Berserk in parallel with itself.

SEAN: Ghost Ship not only has the 6th World’s End Harem, but also debuts World’s End Harem: Fantasia. Also running online in Shonen Jump +, it’s basically the premise of the series set in a fantasy isekai-ish world.

J-Novel Club debuts Otherside Picnic (Urasekai Picnic), another in the “yuri sci-fi” genre that we’ve seen recently. I suspect, as with previous entries, this will be of more interest for the sci-fi than the yuri. It’s from the author of Side-By-Side Dreamers, but will be more than one volume.

ASH: I like sci-fi and yuri!

SEAN: J-Novel Club also gives us Record of Wortenia War 2, by the way, if you want something more traditionally “fantasy for guys”.

In print, Kodansha tries to catch up with quite a few titles. We get the debut of the Fairy Tail Manga Box Set, with the first eleven volumes. We also get Interviews with Monster Girls 7, Land of the Lustrous 9, Missions of Love 18, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 5.

ASH: Land of the Lustrous is still incredibly striking.

SEAN: Speaking of Fairy Tail, another spinoff debuts digitally with Fairy Tail: City Hero. This is basically an AU with Natsu and Lucy as cops. It runs in Magazine Pocket.

We also see new digital volumes for Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-Be (2), Domestic Girlfriend (21), Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (17), I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die (5), and Lovesick Ellie (9).

MICHELLE: I liked Atsumori-kun more than I expected, and have consistently enjoyed Lovesick Ellie.

SEAN: Seven Seas has no debuts but plenty of ongoing series. The Ancient Magus’ Bride 11, Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends 17, High-Rise Invasion 9-10, How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord’s 5th manga volume, How to Build a Dungeon 5, Nameless Asterism 4, Our Dreams at Dusk 3, and print volumes for light novels Reincarnated As a Sword (2) and Skeleton Knight in Another World (also 2).

MICHELLE: Somehow I had not noticed a new volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride was coming out so soon! Huzzah!

ASH: Yes! I’m always happy for more of The Ancient Magus’ Bride! And Our Dreams at Dusk is SO GOOD.

SEAN: Sol Press snuck in a release this week that I’ll put in next week’s Manga the Week of, even if they should know better than to flout my whims. Why Shouldn’t a Detestable Demon Lord Fall in Love? is their new light novel, and its premise is its title.

ASH: Why shouldn’t, indeed.

SEAN: Vertical’s manga debut is The Golden Sheep (Kin no Hitsuji), from the author of The Gods Lie. It runs in Afternoon, and is about a group of friends growing apart. Expect melancholy galore.

ANNA: The Gods Lie was so good. Looking forward to this.

MJ: Always here for “melancholy.”

ASH: The creator, Kaori Ozaki, is a favorite of mine.

SEAN: Vertical also has the first newly translated volume of the Zaregoto novel series since 2010. SUSPENSION: Kubitsuri High School sees Ii-chan dragged by Jun to a girls’ high school that has a dark secret. Will we get another tight-knit mystery? Or will it all be nonsense?

Viz has no print titles, but is debuting Golgo 13 Vols. 1-13 digitally. This came out a while back in the Signature line, and is basically a “best of” collection for the assassin whose lovemaking gets its own endnotes. Fans of MANLY manga will want this.

ASH: Oh, that’s good! Some of the print volumes are very hard to find these days.

SEAN: Yen On has a couple of debuts. The Miracles of the Namiya General Store is another one-shot whimsical title with a movie tie-in. as well as Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World (Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen), which appears to be Romeo & Juliet among a war-torn fantasy world.

ASH: I was very surprised, but happy (as I am a fan), to see Yen pick up The Miracles of Namiya General Store. It’s by Keigo Higashino, most of whose novels have been published in English by Minotaur Books.

SEAN: There’s also light novels for Accel World 19 and Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 9.

On the manga side, Yen debuts Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, a manga adaptation of the light novel we saw debut earlier this month. It runs in my nemesis, Comic Alive. Yen also has As Miss Beelzebub Likes 7, Bungo Stray Dogs 12, Goblin Slayer (manga version) 6, the 2nd manga volume of the KonoSuba Explosion spinoff, Love at Fourteen 9, the 11th volume of the Overlord manga adaptation, and Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops 6.

Quite a lot of stuff. What’s got you most excited?

Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 2

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Daytime Shooting Star Volume 2 by Mika Yamamori

I can usually tell if I’ll like a series after I read the first volume, but after two volumes I can more easily decide if I really like it. The second volume of Daytime Shooting Star still features plenty of angst over a potential student-teacher romance, but the supporting cast was featured a little more and I started to find this series endearingly quirky.

The second volume opens with the shoujo staple of a school trip, and when Suzume finds herself accidentally trapped in a ravine with Mamura the boy who is pathologically afraid of being touched by a girl, they actually have a couple moments of conversation. Suzume passes out just in time for Mr. Shishio to come to the rescue, and Yuyuka quickly figures out that Suzume has a crush when she visits her in the aftermath of the forest adventure. Yuyuka’s offhand gestures of friendship and blunt personality are a useful contrast to Suzume’s tendency to get lost in thought about her new life. There’s a hilarious scene when Suzume is studying and Yuyuka’s usual social mask slips as she launches into a tirade and Suzume grabs Mamura’s arm in a desperate attempt at distraction. Yuyuka then finds herself beset with a group of boys who follow her around in hopes of being berated. In the meantime, Mamura seems to have gotten over his fear of girls, but only with Suzume.

This volume sets up an entertaining soap opera with plenty of humor as well as more quiet moments of reflection. I’m also enjoying the art in Daytime Shooting Star, Yamamori’s character designs have a touch of whimsy, and she easily shifts from more cartoonish exaggeration to panels that highlight contemplation and internal emotion.

Pick of the Week: Cats, Lizards, and Househusbands

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MICHELLE: It’s really tough to choose between the debuts of The Way of the Househusband and Cats of the Louvre, but since the latter is complete in one volume and I won’t have the chance to choose it again, I’ll go with that. There really is a lot of good stuff coming out this week, though!

SEAN: Again, I’d love to pick both Househusband AND Cats of the Louvre. But this is the last chance I’ll get to sing the praises of Dorohedoro, whose combination of gore, gratuitous nudity, and fantastic art, plotting and characterization has been a joy to read. Thank you to Viz Media for sticking with it while other Ikki titles died on the vine (remember Kingyo Used Books?).

ANNA: Househusband for me! The premise sounds hilarious and I’m looking forward to it.

KATE: It’s Cats of the Louvre and Way of the Househusband for me, too; it’s been too long since we had a new Taiyo Matsumoto release in English!

ASH: Viz in particular has SO MANY great releases this week! Cats of the Louvre is a definite must, I can’t wait for the debut of Way of the Househusband, and Dorohedoro is a longtime favorite of mine. So, I guess my pick this week is Viz?

MJ: Okay, I gotta go with the cats. Cats of the Louvre is by far my top choice this week.

Manga the Week of 9/18/19

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SEAN: It’s time to do the list in reverse! Why?

Because I wanted to start with Viz’s ridiculous amount of new titles out next week. We begin with the eagerly anticipated The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudou), a series about a former yakuza who is trying to stay straight, nut… stuff keeps happening. It runs in Shinchosha’s Kurage Bunch.

ANNA: I am excited for this!

MICHELLE: I love the cover for the first volume.

ASH: Personally, this is one of my most anticipated debuts of the year!

SEAN: No Guns Life is a science fantasy series from Ultra Jump, and is apparently much like many other Ultra Jump titles in that vein.

Speaking of Ultra Jump, we also get Levius, a done-in-one series that actually ran in the late lamented Ikki, but has moved to Ultra Jump after this volume. It looks like Battle Angel Alita for MEN.

ASH: I generally enjoy Ikki titles, so I’ll be giving this one a look.

SEAN: And for those who wanted Taiyou Matsumoto, author of Tekkon Kinkreet and Sunny, to draw cats, here is Cats of the Louvre, a Big Comic Original series that’s also done in one.

MICHELLE: I am here for this.

ASH: Yes! More Taiyou Matsumoto is always a good thing. This is also part of the same series that brought us Hirohiko Araki’s Rohan at the Louvre and Jiro Taniguchi’s Guardians of the Louvre.

MJ: Okay, this is necessary in my life.

SEAN: As if that weren’t enough, Dorohedoro is ending with its 23rd and final volume. I’m amazed how obsessed I became with this violent series about a busty sorcerer and her lizard-headed pal, but I love it to bits.

ASH: As do I. I’m so glad this series survived the unfortunate fall of Ikki.

SEAN: And Viz also has Children of the Whales 12, Beastars 2, and 20th Century Boys Perfect Edition 5.

ASH: Wow! It really is a great week for Viz manga! I am really looking forward to seeing where Beastars goes next.

Vertical also ends a series with the final omnibus of May-December romance After the Rain, and they also have the 13th Ajin.

MICHELLE: I’ve been meaning to read After the Rain. One of these days.

SEAN: Seven Seas’ debut looks trashy but I am well-informed is more slice-of-life than anything else: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out (Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai!) runs in Kadokawa’s Dra-Dra-Dragon Age, a spinoff magazine to the already trashy Dragon Age, and is about an aggravated college student and his teasing busty underclassman.

They also have a 3rd volume (digital for now) of Restaurant to Another World’s light novel; Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 7, Magical Girl Site 10, Made in Abyss 7, The Ideal Sponger Life 3, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom’s 4th print light novel, and Dragon Quest Monster + 4. Of that pile, Ideal Sponger Life is most interesting.

One Peace has a 2nd volume of I Hear the Sunspot: Limit.

ANNA: I need to read the first volume!

ASH: It’s good! I’m happy to get to read more of the series.

MJ: There can never be too much of I Hear the Sunspot!

SEAN: Kodansha’s print debut is If I Could Reach You (Tatoe Todokanu Ito da to Shite mo), a more drama-laced series than usual from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime, about a teenage girl in love with her brother’s wife.

In print, Kodansha also has The Seven Deadly Sins 34, Magus of the Library 2, and I’m Standing on a Million Lives 3.

ASH: Oops, I haven’t read the first Magus of the Library yet. Better get on that before I get too far behind.

SEAN: Digitally the debut is the first of FOUR digital-only spinoffs of exiting franchises. Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure is what it sounds like.

There’s also Tokyo Alice 15, The Quintessential Quintuplets 10, Living-Room Matsunaga-san 6, The Great Cleric 2, and Defying Kurosaki-kun 12.

J-Novel Club “debuts” The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, a series previously exclusively released through Bookwalker. It’s had another editing pass, and now is available on all platforms.

There’s also The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar 9 and Amagi Brilliant Park 7.

Lastly, Dark Horse has Dangan Ronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, an adaptation of the side story game starring Naegi’s little sister. It ran in Famitsu Comic Clear.

I assume you’re getting something from Viz this week. What else?

Pick of the Week: Manga Becomes You

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SEAN: It’s always tempting to pick Hayate the Combat Butler, if only to remind people it exists, and Become You looks promising. That said, the retro shoujo fan in me wants to read Queen Bee, the next-gen sequel to Love Attack!, which Tokyopop released back in 1839. I’ll pick that.

MICHELLE: I am very happy to see more Giant Killing at last, as its seinen take on sports manga is something different, but I am really looking forward to the debut of Become You. I loved orange very much and although Dreamin’ Sun (an earlier work) wasn’t as good, I still enjoyed it. This is Ichigo Takano’s latest series, so I am hoping for great things.

KATE: Hot guys playing the guitar–sign me up! My pick is Become You.

ASH: Eyup! I’m here for the musicians of Become You, too! Though if Queen Bee ever sees a print release, that’s another debut I’d be interested in.

ANNA: I’m going to be relentless in my love for shoujo, and pick Queen Bee as well!

MJ: Okay, I’ve gotta go with Become You. There’s a kid on the cover with a guitar. I’ve been promised childhood dreams. This is a winning combination.

Manga the Week of 9/11/19

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SEAN: No time to talk! Manga is coming!

J-Novel Club have new volumes for Cooking with Wild Game (4) and How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord (10).

Kodansha debuts the “official” adaptation of Fate/Grand Order, called mortalis:stella. It’s one of many FGO manga out, but this is the “story” one, apparently. That said, it only ran two volumes, so I suspect the story is compressed, though there is a sequel of sorts. It ran in Ichijinsha’s Zero-Sum.

ASH: Oh, interesting! That makes it on the shoujo and josei end of things, doesn’t it?

SEAN: In print, Kodansha also has Eden’s Zero 4.

Digitally the debut is Queen Bee (Seishun Otome Banchou!), from an author familiar to readers with long memories, Shizuru Seino. She did Heaven!!, Power!!, and Love Attack!. Love Attack! never finished over here, which is a shame, as this is about the daughter of the leads from that series. She has a scary face… and disposition… but is still a girl in love. This ran in Betsufure.

MICHELLE: Oh, I actually read all of Power!! (released by TOKYOPOP as Girl Got Game) back in the day! I failed to make the connection.

ANNA: I read some of Love Attack! back in the day, and I think I have a couple volumes of Girl Got Game somewhere in my stacks of unread manga.

ASH: I rather enjoyed what I read of Love Attack!.

SEAN: We also get Giant Killing 16, The Knight Cartoonist and Her Orc Editor 2, Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice 3 (this is a final volume), The Slime Diaries 2, and Tokyo Revengers 11.

MICHELLE: Hooray for more Giant Killing! It’s been quite a while.

SEAN: Seven Seas has THREE debuts. The first is a spinoff, Arifureta Zero, adapting the spinoff light novel with the same title. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo.

Become You (Kimi ni Nare) is the latest series from the author of orange. Like orange, it’s likely “shoujo in a man’s magazine”, as this runs in Futabasha’s Monthly Action. It’s got guys, and bands, and childhood dreams.

MICHELLE: I hope this is as good as orange.

ASH: Me, too! I’m also interested in it for the music aspects.

SEAN: The Brave-Tuber (Haishin Yuusha) is your standard fantasy world with adventurers, etc… except it has the Internet. Two guys try to find a way to build subscribers and defeat monsters. This runs in Mag Garden’s Comic Blade and is also a short, two-volume series.

Seven Seas also gives us Mushoku Tensei: Roxy Gets Serious 2 and There’s a Demon Lord on the Floor 7.

SuBLime has Candy Color Paradox and the 9th Deluxe Edition of Finder for its BL readers.

ASH: I finally picked up a copy of the first volume of Candy Color Paradox! (Now I just have to read it.)

SEAN: Vertical has the 5th volume of My Boy.

Viz gives us the 34th volume of Hayate the Combat Butler, still entertaining readers in the West thanks to the wonders of contractual obligation. They also have Radiant 7, Splatoon 7, and Yo-Kai Watch 12.

Lastly, Yen Press has a 5th volume of Chio’s School Road. It’s not like those OTHER roads.

ASH: Nope, not at all like those other roads.

SEAN: Thoughts? Concerns? Complaints?

Idol Dreams Vol. 6

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Idol Dreams Volume 6 by Arina Tanemura

Idol Dreams! The manga that I read compulsively but also dread a little bit every time I pick it up because I wonder in the back of my mind if something truly problematic is going to happen in this story of an emotionally stunted office lady who returns to her youth in the form of an idol singer with the aid of magic pills who then becomes romantically entangled with some of her teen contemporaries from the music world.

Idol Dreams 6

One of the reasons why I enjoy Tanemura so much is that she brings the melodrama in a way that few other manga creators can aspire to. In this volume alone, there’s a death, a pregnancy, and a wedding crisis. Few other series can hit these heights of melodrama in just six chapters. All of these things happen to friends of Chikage’s and it is interesting to see how she reacts as the people she is closest to suffer through some severe emotional trauma. The volume kicks off with an illness followed by a death in Hibiki’s family. Chikage in her Akari persona tries to support him as best she can, but the pressures of Hibiki’s idol career cause him to not take time off work because he doesn’t want to disappoint the fans who support him. He doesn’t have the luxury of taking time to grieve, and I wonder in some ways if his professionalism is a way for him to escape confronting tragedy.

In the adult side of her life, Chikage is way too invested in the success of Tokita and Hanami’s wedding. As I read this volume I was reflecting on the ways that Chikage has changed as a character, from having almost no emotional connection with other people, to now having far too much invested in seeing a particular relationship succeed. Part of this is due to the fact that she’s still repressing her own deeper emotions. There is a moment where she runs into Haru when she is actually able to relate to him as a potential friend without becoming flustered, which made me think that while she’s come pretty far in terms of becoming more self-possessed since her teen adventures. I left this volume wondering how Chikage is going to come out on the other side of these tragedies, but she’s shown enough personal growth that I’m hoping she continues to become stronger. Tanemura’s art is always best when she has an opportunity to be unabashedly girly, and the illustrations of many wedding dresses in this volume are a real treat, in addition to the dramatics of all the tear-stained faces.

Pick of the Week: Phantom Tales and Other Stories

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KATE: Last week’s INSANE manga haul has left me scarred: there was so much good stuff to choose from that I felt paralyzed when trying to choose one or two for our weekly round-up. This week, by contrast, I only have eyes for one series: Phantom Tales of the Night, which sounds a lot like Pet Shop of Horrors and has a pretty snazzy-looking cover to boot.

SEAN: I’ll go with a digital debut this week. Everything I’ve heard about Smile Down the Runway suggests it’s a josei title in shonen’s clothing, and apparently it has a terrific look at fashion and the struggle between doing what you love and earning a living. I want to take a look.

MICHELLE: There’s lots of Shojo Beat goodness, but for me this week is all about the sports boys. When Yowamushi Pedal is pitted against Haikyu!!, much as I love the former, I have to go with the volleyball kids. They’re just so dang endearing!

ASH: I certainly enjoy both Haikyu!! and Yowamushi Pedal, but I’m with Kate this week for my pick. I generally like horror manga, but I find shoujo horror particularly difficult to resist, so <Phantom Tales of the Night it is!

ANNA: There’s so much to choose from! I’m going to go with Daytime Shooting Star just because we don’t get much teacher-student romance shoujo here.