Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Pick of the Week: It’s That Manga Again

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MICHELLE: There are some pretty interesting things coming out next week, namely the debut of another digital-only josei series from Kodansha Comics, but my heart belongs to volume six of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, which actually came out last week. I love this series so very much and am always excited when a new installment pops up. Because of its creepy atmosphere, the timing is just right, too!

SEAN: There’s quite a few things I like this week, but I’m going to go with good old Silver Spoon, because I love it and it is wonderful.

MJ: I was surprised to note that, in such a full week, the only thing on my Absolute Must Buy list is Silver Spoon. But also, YAY SILVER SPOOOOON! Seriously, I could not love this series more.

KATE: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am Team Silver Spoon 100%. It’s one of most consistently funny, honest, and gut-wrenching manga being published in English right now, and it deserves waaaaay more love and support from the mangasphere.

ASH: Silver Spoon really is a tremendous series! And so, for all of the reasons that everyone else has already outlined, it gets my pick. On top of that, I always get a little nostalgic reading the manga… it reminds me a lot of the people and places in my hometown growing up.

ANNA: I am feeling so guilty for not reading Silver Spoon yet, although I think I have a couple volumes stashed around my house. I’m not going to break the streak for pick of the week. I’m going to read the first volume this week for sure!

Manga the Week of 10/30/19

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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?

Pick of the Week: Manga Sweeter Than Wine

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SEAN: A lean week, and my choices are a bit lean as well. As such, I’m fine with picking The Drops of God, which I may have picked before back in the day but now it’s digital and we have the first 11 books (or a planned 44!). Read with a nice glass of wine.

MICHELLE: Same here. It did have its ridiculous moments, but it was also pretty fun (and educational) and I was sad to see its release truncated (after a random time-jump volume). Hooray for its return!

KATE: After all these years, I’m excited to see who wins the contest to identify the “Drops of God” and the “Twelve Apostles.” (None are named John or Peter, FWIW.)

ASH: Ha! The Drops of God is definitely something to be excited about, even if it’s only a digital release. Print-wise, my pick of the week is the most recent volume of the fancy new edition of Berserk, which probably doesn’t surprise many.

ANNA: I’m always glad when good series get rescued, Drops of God for the win!

MJ: I’m going to add to this broken record here, by also declaring my excitement over the continuation of Drops of God!

Manga the Week of 10/23/19

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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?

Pick of the Week: Drifting Demons

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ASH: Portions of The Drifting Classroom have been out of print for some time, so I am thrilled that a new hardcover edition is being released. For those who appreciate horror manga, this series is a must. It’s an extremely intense work with dark psychological elements. Other great manga are being released this week, too, but this one is my pick.

SEAN: I acknowledge the brilliance of The Drifting Classroom while also wanting to stay the hell away from it. As a result, I’ll pick the new Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, which continues to be fun to read even as I fear that it will end with the entire world dead.

MICHELLE: Dreamin’ Sun has reached its conclusion, and thus I feel a bit of a pang for not choosing it, but a new volume of Shojo FIGHT! comes out this week, and that’s simply more enjoyable to me.

KATE: No surprise here–my pick is Kazuo Umezu’s batshit classic The Drifting Classroom. The new VIZ edition is an essential addition to any horror manga fan’s library. On the fence? Here’s what I had to say about volume one.

ANNA: There’s a lot of great manga coming out this week, but I have to say my loyalty lies with Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction.

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol 1

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An Incurable Case of Love Volume 1 by Maki Enjoji

I’ve been looking forward to this manga! I’m glad that the Shojo Beat imprint’s experiments in what I think of as “stealth josei” are successful enough that we reliably get titles like An Incurable Case of Love released here. Often for romance manga, I am irrationally fond of titles that embrace the ridiculousness of the genre with a touch of irony. After reading the first few pages of this manga, I was confident in Enjoji’s abilities to keep me entertained.

An Incurable Case of Love

The manga opens with a love confession going disastrously wrong, as a doctor with a grim look asks a newly minted nurse if “there is something wrong with your head.” The nurse in question is Nanase, who decided to study medicine after a fateful encounter years ago where she tried to help someone in medical distress on the street, only to attract the attention of the dangerously handsome yet kind Kairi Tendo. Of course after one brief meeting with Tendo, Nanase concludes that he is “THE PRINCE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!” and builds her entire life and educational plans around the possibility of meeting him again. Nanase soon finds out that while Tendo has an exemplary bedside manner with patents, he’s harsh and exacting with the hospital staff and there are rumors that he’s a womanizer as well. Thoroughly disillusioned, Nanase tries to throw herself into her nursing orientation activities. There have been plenty of ridiculous premises like this to start off many romance manga, but one thing I found especially charming about An Incurable Case of Love is the fact that Nanase’s love confession provokes some supportive instead of malicious teasing from her new co-workers. Her new nickname is “Valiant One” and her co-workers take to calling Tendo “The Dark Lord” after Nanase refers to him with that phrase.

The hospital setting provides a twist on on office romance antics as Nanase attempts to put her schooling into practice. While she isn’t perfect all the time, she’s often effective in emergency situations and Tendo’s mannerisms towards her begin to change. I knew I would like this series after reading the first chapter, but I found the rest of the volume equally entertaining. Recommended if you are in need of a dose of josei romance.

Pick of the Week: Nothing but Blue Skies

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SEAN: This week I feel the Manga Bookshelf eye is turning towards That Blue-Sky Feeling, and I have to agree, I really want to see how it turns out.

MICHELLE: You’re definitely right where I’m concerned. There are a couple other things I’ll check out from this week but none with the emotional impact of That Blue Sky Feeling .

KATE: I’m going to make a pitch for volume two of Queen Bee, a cute–if predictable–shojo series about a girl with a serious case of Resting Bitchface and a temper to go with it. I don’t think I’ve ever read a manga quite so… relatable.

ASH: I am absolutely here for That Blue Sky Feeling, but I’d like to give a shout out to Roadqueen, too. It’s not manga, but it looks delightful.

ANNA: I’m now curious about Queen Bee which sounds delightful. But to be honest I’m attempting to catch up on my unread manga pile instead of reading anything coming out this week. Maybe I’ll actually be able to take a volume or two off that stack!

MJ: I’m definitely intrigued by Kate’s description of Queen Bee (and I’m apparently a volume behind!) but it’s hard for me to pick anything else but the lovely and poignant That Blue Sky Feeling. It’s exactly my thing.

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?