Anna N

SEAN: J-Novel Club has a bunch of stuff, mostly print. We get print versions of An Archdemon’s Dilemma 2 (the novel) and a digital version of the same (only it’s the manga). Adventures of a Bookworm also gets a 2nd digital manga. Cooking with Wild Game has a 5th novel digitally. How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord has print (7) and digital (11) novels, which may catch us up with Japan. There’s print Vol. 6 of If It’s for My Daughter, etcetc., Etc. Smartphone, and the Magic etc. Is Too Far Behind 6. (Look, it’s hard to type those all out.) We get the print debut of the Marginal Operation manga, and the 10th Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar novel digitally. I’m sure that paragraph makes total sense.

ASH: It makes me so happy that J-Novel Club releases print editions. (Still hoping for Faraway Paladin one of these days…)

SEAN: In print, Kodansha has Attack on Titan 29 and L*DK 14.

The digital debut is To Write Your Words (Kuchiutsusu), a josei manga from Kiss about an author who is great at platonic stories asked to being write something more sexual. She ends up getting help from… a dentist?

MICHELLE: As you do.

ANNA: That sounds hilarious, but I can’t keep track of all the digital manga!

MJ: I mean, that sounds great.

SEAN: There’s also Drifting Dragons 5, My Sweet Girl 9, Our Fake Marriage 2, Smile Down the Runway 4, and The Tale of Genji: Dreams at Down 9. There’s also digital debuts for the Satoshi Kon titles Dream Fossil and Tropic of the Sea, which came out a few years ago.

Seven Seas debuts PENGUINDRUM (Mawaru Penguindrum), a manga adaptation of the famous anime. It ran in Comic Birz.

ASH: Curious to see how the adaptation plays out since sometimes manga based on Ikuhara’s works can be dramatically different than their anime counterparts.

SEAN: They also have Harukana Receive 5, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 8, and a digital edition of the 4th Reincarnated As a Sword.

Tokyopop has a 4th Aria the Masterpiece omnibus and the 3rd Hanger.

Vertical has a gorgeous omnibus 20th Anniversary Edition of Paradise Kiss, which does admittedly remind me it’s also the 20th anniversary of fans begging for Neighborhood Story to be licensed.

MICHELLE: Yep.

ANNA: I would like to beg for Neighborhood Story! I have already bought Paradise Kiss two times, so I will probably not be getting this but it is great for those who haven’t already read the series.

ASH: Paradise Kiss is really, really good. Glad to see it’s being kept in print.

MJ: What everyone else has said so far! We need all the Ai Yazawa we can get, in whatever form it happens to appear.

SEAN: Viz has its usual pile. Debuting is Jujutsu Kaisen, a new Shonen Jump series that starts with a boy eating a finger and only gets weirder from there. For dark fantasy adventure fans.

MICHELLE: Urg. I was somewhat intrigued by this but finger-eating is pretty dang gross.

ANNA: Huh. I am curious although finger-eating does give me pause.

ASH: The cover of the first volume gives me Parasyte vibes, so I’m in, finger-eating and all.

MJ: Count me in.

SEAN: More Jump? Sure. Dragon Ball Super 7, Food Wars! 33, My Hero Academia 22, One Piece’s 30th 3-in-1 (which I think catches it up), One-Punch Man 18, Platinum End 10 (which still amazingly has not killed their careers), and We Never Learn 7.

MICHELLE: Several good things here!

MJ: I have not kept up with Platinum End, and I wonder if I’ve made a mistake.

SEAN: On the Shojo Beat end, we have Ao Haru Ride 8, Queen’s Quality 8, Takane & Hana 12, and Yona of the Dawn 21. Winners, all.

MICHELLE: Indeed, *all* good things, here!

ANNA: Yay!!!!!

ASH: A good week for good shoujo!

MJ: Even I’m reading most of these!

SEAN: Yen has a few titles that drifted into the first week of December. Debuting is You Call That Service?, a light novel series from Yen On from the creator of I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years. It stars a man who winds up in the mountains and meeting a vampire girl. Expect humor.

Also from Yen On is Re: ZERO 11, So I’m a Spider, So What? 7, and Wolf & Parchment 4.

Just two manga from Yen: Happy Sugar Life 3 and KonoSuba’s 9th manga volume.

Have you finished your shopping yet?

ASH: We do, indeed.

SEAN: Ghost Ship has a 7th volume of the infamous Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs.

J-Novel Club has two debuts, both digital manga. The first is the manga adaptation of The Faraway Paladin, a favorite series of mine. It runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo, a magazine that seems to exist so that its novels can get manga adaptations.

MJ: When Sean says “a favorite series of mine” I feel like I should take note!

Sweet Reincarnation (Okashina Tensei) is a seinen manga from TO Books’ Comic Corona, which is to TO Books what Comic Gardo is to Overlap. This is the story of a boy trying to become the strongest in the world… at being a pastry chef!

MICHELLE: Huh! Sounds potentially fun.

ANNA: I will usually enjoy food manga.

ASH: Same!

MJ: Signing up to be hungry as I read, I guess.

SEAN: On the novel front, J-Novel Club has the 8th, and so far final, Amagi Brilliant Park, and the 3rd Record of Wortenia War.

Kodansha has some print releases. First among these is the Magic Knight Rayearth Box Set. This, the first of two planned sets, is a gorgeous hardcover bells and whistles edition of the manga, in larger trim size as well. It has the first three books (i.e. Season 1), which also are getting a digital release.

ANNA: Pondering this. I think I have the old Viz version in the larger size stashed somewhere in my house.

ASH: This is one of the few CLAMP works I actually haven’t read. The set looks really nice.

MJ: Here for this!

SEAN: We also get Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 6, Fire Force 17, If I Could Reach You 2, and UQ Holder 18.

MICHELLE: I enjoyed the first volume of If I Could Reach You and look forward to reading the second.

SEAN: Digitally we’re getting Altair: A Record of Battles 12, Asahi-sempai’s Favorite 6, Boarding School Juliet 13, DAYS 15, Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure 3, Guilty 2, and A Kiss For Real 9 (the final volume).

Seven Seas has two debuts, which could not be farther apart from each other. One, The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (Kyuuso wa Cheese no Yume o Miru), is one of the biggest BL titles in recent years, and much awaited. It ran in Shogakukan’s josei magazine Mobafura.

MICHELLE: So excite!

ANNA: Yay!!!

ASH: I’ve been waiting for this series for so long! For a while there, it seemed like it was going to be unlicensable. Very glad Seven Seas was able to come to the rescue.

MJ: This!!!

SEAN: The other is How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Danberu Nan Kiro Moteru?), a shonen title from Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday online magazine, just got an anime series. A girl who wants to lose weight goes to the gym, where she meets a lot of buff guys, but also the student council president, and a hot instructor. I’ve heard it takes its getting in shape quiet seriously.

ASH: I’m actually really curious about this one.

SEAN: Seven Seas also has Blank Canvas 3, the 5th Monster Girl Doctor light novel, and Servamp 13.

ASH: Blank Canvas is SO GOOD. (Granted, just about anything by Akiko Higashimura is… )

SEAN: Udon gives us a 5th Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu.

Vertical has the 3rd omnibus (containing Books 7-9) of Katanagatari: Sword Tale, from Nisioisin.

They also have the 13th Witchcraft Works.

Yen On also has a bunch of titles, though some of these are already out digitally. The debut is The Greatest Demon Lord Is Reborn As a Typical Nobody (Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei Suru). The demon lord reincarnates but lacks a sense of perspective, and does not realize how powerful he is, or how many girls are in love with him, etc.

There’s also Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki 2, The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Heroes 2, Do You Love Your Mom (and her Two-Hit, Multi-Target Attacks?) 4, and Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 5. Light novel titles are long, film at 11.

Yen Press’s manga debut is Seven Little Sons of the Dragon (Ryuu no Kawaii Nanatsu no Ko), a collection of short stories by the creator of Delicious in Dungeon. It ran in Fellows!, so is a must buy.

MICHELLE: Ooh! This hadn’t been on my radar.

ASH: I love Delicious in Dungeon, so I’m really looking forward to reading more by the creator.

SEAN: Ending next week is Kagerou Daze, whose 13th and final volume comes out. For those wondering what do do next, watch/listen to everything in order! The order is 1) songs, 2) manga, 3) light novels, 4) Mekakucity Actors anime.

Also out are Angels of Death Episode.0 3, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody’s 8th manga volume, For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams 3, The Honor Student at Magic High School 10, Is It Wrong to try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon: Familia Chronicle: Lyu’s 5th manga volume, Kakegurui Twin 4, Monster Wrestling: Interspecies Combat Girls 2, and Phantom Tales of the Night 2.

ASH: Ah, that reminds me I haven’t read first volume Phantom Tales of the Night, yet!

SEAN: Assuming you’re not too full of turkey, what are you getting next week?

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?

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?

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*