Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Manga the Week of 1/22/20

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SEAN: More January, More Manga.

ASH: Huzzah!

SEAN: J-Novel Club gives us another debut, Her Majesty’s Swarm (Joou Heika no Isekai Senryaku), again from Kodansha’s new Legend Novels imprint, and by the author “616th Special Information Battalion”. Yes, that’s the real pen name. A college woman who plays a game as an evil character is now trapped in a very similar world… as said evil character.

We also get Altina the Sword Princess 2 and Ascendance of A Bookworm 5.

ASH: I need to catch up on Bookworm.

Kodansha, in print, gives us Cells at Work! Code BLACK 3, I’m Standing on a Million Lives 5, Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 7, and The Seven Deadly Sins 36.

In digital releases, the debut is MabuSasa (Mabuichi-kun to Sasagawa-san), which runs in Kodansha’s shoujo title Palcy. a BL loving girl and a scary guy… can they bond?

MICHELLE: It could be cute!

ANNA: It does sound potentially cute!

MJ: I’d give this a look!

SEAN: There’s also Cosplay Animal 10, Defying Kurosaki-kun 14, My Boss’s Kitten 4, My Boy in Blue 14, and The Quintessential Quintuplets 11.

No debuts for Seven Seas, but they have the 5th Arifureta manga, Magical Girl Site 11, Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary 10, and Sorry for My Familiar 6.

Tokyopop has a 7th Konohana Kitan.

And Vertical has the 7th CITY.

Viz has Black Lagoon 11. Black Lagoon 9 came out in 2010. I think this series may have a bit of a problem.

MICHELLE: I really loved the first three volumes when I read them long ago, and this release makes me want to get caught up. But then I’ll be waiting years again for the next, most likely.

ASH: Black Lagoon can be really great, but the long wait between volumes can be really hard.

MJ: My memories of Black Lagoon are so fuzzy now…

SEAN: They also have Beastars 4, Children of the Whales 14, Levius/Est 2, No Guns Life 3, and The Way of the Househusband 2.

MICHELLE: Hooray for The Way of the Househusband! I need to check out Beastars, too.

ANNA: I need to catch up on Beastars, and I’m happy about Way of the Househusband 2, the first volume was hilarious.

ASH: Beastars and The Way of the Househusband are what I’m particularly excited about this week.

MJ: I need to catch up with both!

SEAN: And there’s a bunch of Yen. Yen On gives us The Asterisk War 12, Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody 10, and Strike the Blood 14.

Yen also has, on the manga side, Angels of Death 9, A Certain Magical Index 20 (manga), Hatsu*Haru 10, DanMachi: Sword Oratoria 10, Karneval 9, Nyankees 5, Overlord: The Undead King Oh! 2, Reborn As a Polar Bear 2, and Teasing Master Takagi-san 7.

Manga? Manga!

An Incurable Case of Love, Vol. 2

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An Incurable Case of Love, Volume 2 by Maki Enjoji

As with most romance manga I was totally expecting an additional antagonist to show up to further complicate the non-relationship between Dr. Tendo and nurse Nanase. Dr Kusagi is unfailingly smiling, with a focus on his outward demeanor that seems suspicious. Kusagi quickly keys in to the budding relationship between Nanase and Tendo and attempts to subvert it by plying Nanase with alcohol, even though after an earlier outburst and piggybacking episode with Dr Tendo, she is determined to cut down on her consumption.

Tendo immediately starts acting irrationally territorial, and if you enjoy grouchy and withholding heroes, this manga has plenty of scenes of Tendo attempting to object to things and then realizing that he has little standing to interfere in Nanase’s life. This doesn’t stop him though!

While the story is developing with a very familiar formula, Enjoji is executing it extremely well, with little touches that make the series unique. I continue to be amused by the workplace culture at the hospital, and the gang of nurses who continue on with their nicknames of “Valiant One” for Nanase and “Dark Lord” for Tendo. Their support of this unconventional mentoring relationship developing into a friendship is mainly because no one wants to be the target of the Dark Lord’s criticism, but it all still manages to seem like a relatively supportive and friendly workplace! The hospital setting also feels a bit fresh to me after reading plenty of manga series set in offices. Enjoji doesn’t have a ton of variation in her character designs, but she does draw with great expression as Nanase struggles to deal with her romantic life and move ahead with her goals as a new nurse.

Nanase and Tendo keep getting thrown together for various reasons, and the volume closes with a take on a serious situation that can befall any woman who might be easily targeted in a helping or service profession. The main workplace romance combined with side stories dealing with more serious topics seems like a promising way for this series to develop. I’m also enjoying Nanase’s personality, she’s young but still sometimes blunt about expressing what she wants, and I’m curious about how her character will develop as she becomes more comfortable with her new profession. We might only get one josei disguised as shoujo series being released at a time from Shojo Beat, but An Incurable Case of Love fits in well with the rest of the line, and I’m enjoying it while I wait for even more josei releases.

Pick of the Week: Sports and Wine

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MICHELLE: There are several volumes of sports manga coming out this week, which delights me to no end. I will happily read all of them, but my pick goes to the one with a premise slightly different from the rest. Giant Killing, that means you. In this seinen title, we’re dealing with a pro soccer club, not a high school team, and I’m loving it.

SEAN: Speaking of sports manga, will the race that can never end finally end in this Yowamushi Pedal? It’s my pick for this week.

KATE: We’re still six or so weeks out from Lent, so my pick is Liquor and Cigarettes.

ASH: As it appears Yowamushi Pedal is covered, I’ll make Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess my pick this week. This adaptation has been a bit more involved than Himekawa’s other Zelda manga; I’ve been enjoying seeing the team’s skills applied to a longer series.

ANNA: There’s not a ton that appeals to me this week so I’m going to trust Kate’s manga instincts and pick Liquor and Cigarettes as well.

MJ: I’m pretty much exactly where Anna is this week, so I’ll also go along with Kate! Liquor and Cigarettes it is!

Manga the Week of 1/15/20

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SEAN: Remember when January was the smallest month of the year? No more!

ASH: Ha!

SEAN: Ghost Ship gives us a 14th volume of To-Love-Ru Darkness.

J-Novel Club has three debuts, the first of their massive wave of Anime NYC licenses. The Economics of Prophecy (Yogen no Keizaigaku) is from Legend Novels, a Kodansha fantasy imprint. Can an ignored oracle and a reincarnated economist save the kingdom?

Kobold King is also from Legend Novels. A famous warrior who has become so powerful that everyone is too afraid of him tries to show a tribe of kobolds that he’s really a sweetie at heart.

ASH: I was previously unaware of Legend Novels, but with these two titles make the imprint seems like it could be a source with some potential.

ANNA: Ok, light novels featuring economists does sound amusing, but I am not a light novel person.

SEAN: The Underdog of the Eight Greater Tribes (Hachi Dai Shuzoku no Saijaku Kettousha) is from HJ Bunko, and is a battle fantasy, though apparently not involving literal magical academies this time.

Also from J-Novel is the 9th volume of If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, Infinite Stratos 11 and Seirei Gensouki 8.

In print, Kodansha has Hitorijime My Hero 6, If I Could Reach You 3, and Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches 21-22.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give If I Could Reach You a try at some point.

SEAN: Digitally, the debut is GE: Good Ending, which has been rumored to get a license over here since it began, but never did. Now it’s over, and we have a digital license. It’s by the creator of Domestic Girlfriend, ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine, and is a potboiler, just like its successor.

We also have digital volumes for 1122: For a Happy Marriage (4), Ace of the Diamond (24), Domestic Girlfriend (23), Ex-Enthusiasts: Motokare Mania (2), Farewell My Dear Cramer (6), and Giant Killing (18).

MICHELLE: So much sports manga! *rubs hands together in anticipation*

SEAN: One Peace Books has a 6th volume of Hinamatsuri.

ASH: I’m a few volumes behind, but this series continues to amuse me.

SEAN: Seven Seas gives us an 8th Himouto Umaru-chan, the 5th Mushoku Tensei novel digitally, and a 2nd volume of Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!!.

Debuting from SuBLime is Liquor and Cigarettes, a title from Gentosha’s Lynx magazine. It’s by the author of Coyote. They smoke. They drink. They smoke and smoke and drink… OK, sorry.

Vertical has a 4th volume of the Knights of Sidonia Master Edition.

Viz has a debut title. You thrilled to Persona 3, you cried at Persona 4, now, at last, we see Persona 5! This runs in Shogakukan’s Ura Sunday, and (surprise!) adapts the game.

Viz also gives us Case Closed 73, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 6, Radiant 9, and Splatoon 8.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying the Twilight Princess adaptation!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen Press has a 2nd Do You Love Your Mom (and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?) manga, and a 13th Yowamushi Pedal omnibus. I suspect Manga Bookshelf folks will have little trouble choosing between these two.

ASH: Yup. It’s definitely Yowamushi Pedal for me!

MICHELLE: See above re: anticipatory hands.

SEAN: Do you like any of these titles? Or do you not like manga at all, but read this column just for the hell of it?

KATE: I don’t like (much) manga, but I always enjoy this column. :D

Pick of the Week: Jump to the Beat

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SEAN: It’s Jump/Beat week, so we have an embarrassment of titles. I’ll pick the final Anonymous Noise, which is not quite as gripping now that it’s not showing its heroine screaming her song at the reader, but still a very good read.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely going to read the finale of Anonymous Noise, which won me over after the first few volumes but never quite captured my heart, but what I’m really jonesing for is a hit of some volleyball action in Haikyu!!.

KATE: Lest anyone accuse me of being predictable, I’m going to pick… actually, I’m going to stay on brand and choose volume 13 of The Promised Neverland. Why break my streak?!

ANNA: I’m never going to pass up a chance to highlight some josei, so my pick is An Incurable Case of Love Volume 2. The first volume featured a few twists on the workplace romance genre, so I’m curious to see what happens next.

ASH: This really is a good week for Viz releases! But to be contrary, and because I just finished reading and liked the first volume, I’m going to pick Animeta!.

MJ: It doesn’t seem like this should be a difficult week to come up with something, but I admit it’s been a struggle! But I have finally started getting into Snow White with the Red Hair, so I think I’ll toss my vote in for that. I need to read more manga in 2020!

Takane & Hana, Vols 11 and 12

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Takane & Hana, Volumes 11 and 12 by Yuki Shiwasu

Sometimes my interest tends to wane a bit at more long-running comedic series, but Takane and Hana is still going strong, even when some of the plot points tend to get repetitive. The main way this manga manages to actually get me rooting for a romance between an emotionally stunted businessman and a high school girl is the way it deliberately shies away from things progressing very far physically. As the 11th volume opens Takane and Hana are dealing with the emotional fallout from when Takane got carried away….and kissed Hana on the nose. The over-the-top angst combined with Shiwasu’s dynamic rendering of psychological turmoil makes the opening chapter extremely amusing. Things aren’t kept light for long, as Takane’s evil cousin Yakumo figures out the relationship between Takane and Hana and decides to kidnap her. I’m trying to remember if this is the second or third kidnapping in this series, but it does provide the opportunity for some impressive, action-movie heroics as Takane and Okamon attempt to rescue Hana.

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Volume 12 features my favorite cover so for this series, Takane’s twisted grin combined with heart hands captures the wacky appeal of this manga. Takane is recuperating from his dramatic rescue attempt, and Hana is determined to put more distance between them again because she doesn’t want their relationship to cause issues for Takane. This is circling back to a reset of their previous relationship dynamic, where Takane is bombarding Hana with an endless stream of unsuitable gifts and she’s growing more and more frustrated. Okamon ends up enlisting himself as Hana’s beard as he prevents Takane from grabbing Hana and carrying her out of a diner by proclaiming that he and Hana just recently started going out.

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Takane ends up getting relationship advice from Nicola on a speedboat, and his attempts to rehearse speaking to Hana as well as “chill out” feature the emotional anguish and hilariously tortured facial expressions that Shiwasu is so excellent at portraying. These two volumes continue doing what Takane & Hana does so well – set up over the top comedic situations combined with a core relationship that is actually very sweet.

Manga the Week of 1/8/20

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SEAN: OK, now it’s actually January. You can tell as the Viz books are all pouring in. But first…

J-Novel Club has a giant pile of things due out. For print books, we have Animeta! 2, An Archdemon’s Dilemma 3, Ascendance of a Bookworm 3, and Infinite Dendrogram 4.

ASH: I’ve been meaning to give Animeta! a try now that it’s available in print.

MICHELLE: I thought the first volume was pretty fun.

SEAN: On the digital side, there’s Animata! 3, Demon Lord Retry! 2, Der Werwolf 6, In Another World with My Smartphone 18, the 2nd Marginal Operation manga, Otherside Picnic 2, and There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF! 2.

From Kodansha Comcis, we get, in print, Grand Blue Dreaming 9 and Tales of Berseria 2.

There’s a lot more digitally. The debut is That Blue Summer (Ao Natsu), a Betsufure series from the creator of To Be Next To You, which we saw debut digitally this week. That’s a big grin that girl has on the cover.

And we get All-Rounder Meguru 12, Chihayafuru 18, Magical Sempai 6, My Sweet Girl 10, Smile Down the Runway 5, and To Write Your Words 2.

ASH: Both J-Novel Club and Kodansha Comics have some great digital offerings this week.

ANNA: Nice, maybe I’ll use my remaining week of vacation to get more caught up on Chihayafuru.

MICHELLE: Yay for more shoujo and super yay for more Chihayafuru!

SEAN: Seven Seas has quite a bit, including a couple of debuts. Dungeon Builder: The Demon King’s Labyrinth is a Modern City! (Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~) is a manga adaptation of a light novel (which I don’t believe is licensed) that runs in Overlap’s Comic Gardo. Demon Lords create labyrinths to trap people and consume their despair… but this one just wants to be super nice.

ASH: That actually sounds kind of amusing.

SEAN: My Room Is a Dungeon Rest Stop (Boku no Heya ga Dungeon no Kyuukeijo ni Natteshimatta Ken) is also based on a light novel… which again I don’t think we have here… that runs in Takeshobo’s Web Comic Gamma. A guy buys a dirt-cheap apartment, then finds that it also leads to a fantasy dungeon. Can he help adventurers in trouble and show them the wonders of modern plumbing?

Also out from Seven Seas: Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor 8, the print edition of the 2nd Arifureta ZERO novel, the print edition of Vol. 1 of Magic User: Reborn in Another World as a Max Level Wizard, the print version of the 4th Mushoku Tensei novel, and Tomo-chan Is a Girl! 6.

Vertical has a 2nd volume of the Bakemonogatari story, which finishes up Senjogahara’s story and starts Hachikuji’s.

Viz has no debuts next week, but it does have the 18th and final volume of Anonymous Noise. Will the romantic triangle resolve?

MICHELLE: I mean, it’s gotta, right?

SEAN: We also get, on the shonen/seinen side, Black Clover 19, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 10, Dr. STONE 9, Haikyu!! 36, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 12, and The Promised Neverland 13.

ANNA: Good stuff!

On the shoujo/josei side, we get Daytime Shooting Star 4, An Incurable Case of Love 2, and Snow White with the Red Hair 5.

ASH: I’ll read all of those, honestly.

ANNA: Nice! It is a week for Anna!

MICHELLE: I enjoy quite a few of these but am most excited about Snow White with the Red Hair and Haikyu!!.

MJ: I can’t believe this is the first time I’m speaking up here with all this manga, but I’m here for Snow White with the Red Hair!

SEAN: Lastly, Yen has two stragglers that got delayed from December. Yen On gives us the 18th and NOT final volume of Sword Art Online, though this does wrap up the giant massive-10-volume Alicization arc.

For manga, we get Chio’s School Road 7.

Some interesting stuff there. What are you picking up?

Manga the Week of 1/1/20

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SEAN: Happy New Year! And yes, I know most of the titles I’m mentioning here go with the OLD year, coming out on 12/31. What do we have?

J-Novel Club has a new debut, The Holy Knight’s Dark Road (Seinaru Kishi no Ankokudou). Our hero is a holy knight beloved by his people and his goddess… but he feels he’s starring in the wrong light novel archetype, and so goes to join a magical academy! Hijinks no doubt ensue.

J-Novel Club also has Full Metal Panic! 5 and Outbreak Academy 12.

In print, Kodansha gives us 10 Dance 5 and Waiting for Spring 12.

ASH: I’ve been enjoying 10 Dance a great deal. I’ve liked what I’ve read of Waiting for Spring, too, though I’ve fallen behind.

MICHELLE: I’m looking forward to both of these!

MJ: I’m incredibly behind on 10 Dance but I really need to catch up!

SEAN: Digitally, we get another debut with To Be Next To You (Tonari no Atashi), a Betsufure shoujo title about a girl in love with her neighbor who is horrified one day to find him kissing another woman! Maybe she should finally confess?

MICHELLE: There are a whole bunch of shoujo debuts happening digitally for Kodansha over the next couple of months. I approve.

MJ: Same.

ANNA: I also approve, although I have given up on keeping up on them.

SEAN: There is also GTO Paradise Lost 11, Hotaru’s Way 11, Kakafukaka 9, and Kounodori: Dr. Stork 12. (Lotta Vol. 12s this week.)

MICHELLE: One day I’ll read Hotaru’s Way.

SEAN: Seven Seas has but a single title with Machimaho: I Messed Up and Made the Wrong Person Into a Magical Girl! 4.

Tokyopop (at least according to Amazon – don’t be surprised if this is bumped) has a new BL title, Don’t Call Me Dirty (Dirty Darling), from Mag Garden’s UVU. A man trying to get over his crush (who turns out not to be gay) takes in a vagrant, and things go from there. This actually sounds kind of sweet. It’s complete in one volume.

MJ: That… title.

SEAN: Vertical has quite a bit. Owarimonogatari: End Tale is the latest (and last?) in the Monogatari Series, and is divided into three parts. This first book in the series delves into just WHY Araragi got to be the misanthrope we saw at the start of the series.

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose, Resurrection at Nineteen sure is the latest light novel spinoff series from Seraph of the End – in fact, it’s a sequel to the first light novel spinoff.

And Manga Bookshelf will be delighted to hear we get What Did You Eat Yesterday? 14, the first volume in almost a year and a half.

ASH: Excellent! I most certainly am delighted!

MICHELLE: Me, too!

MJ: I, too, am delighted! So exciting!

ANNA: Yay!

SEAN: And we end of Yen. On the Yen On side, no debuts, but we get The Alchemist Who Survived Now Dreams of a Quiet City Life 2, The Irregular at Magic High School 14, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 14 (yes, at last, after three long delays), Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World 2, and Spice & Wolf 21.

On the manga end, the debut is Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, another in the endless series of Madoka Magica spinoffs. This one adapts a mobile game, and runs in Manga Time Kirara Forward.

There’s also Kakegurui -Compulsive Gambler- 11 and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts 8.

And that’s it! What manga come to mind in these days of Auld Lang Syne?

Pick of the Year: It Was a Very Good Year

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MICHELLE: When declaring a pick of the year, I feel some self-induced pressure to choose something highbrow, but the fact is that the the title that I loved the most, cared about the most, was from Shounen Jump. And that, of course, is My Hero Academia. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s got a lovable cast. It’s also got trauma, kids struggling with feelings of inadequacy, a great and gradual redemption arc for the protagonist’s childhood bully, and scenes that make one cry. I love it to bits.

SEAN: There’s a lot of titles I really loved this year (including MHA), but the one that caught my eye the most, as I said last week for Pick of the Week, was Our Dreams at Dusk. One of the best LGBTQ titles to hit these shores, it scores in characterization, art, mood, just about everything. It was simply amazing.

ASH: Our Dreams at Dusk really is a phenomenal series, and one of my top picks of the year, too. The other debut that made a big impression on me this year was the beautiful hardcover release of Moto Hagio’s The Poe Clan. It’s a marvelously dark and dramatic shoujo classic; I can definitely understand why it became such an influential work.

KATE: My favorite manga of 2019 was Taiyo Matsumoto’s gorgeous, weird, and trippy Cats of the Louvre, which is both a meditation on purpose of art, and a meditation on what it means to close the door on your childhood and face the uncertainty of being an adult. I’m still thinking about it more two months after I read it—something I can’t say about most of the books I read this year.

ANNA: My pick of the year is Witch Hat Atelier. It combines stunningly detailed art with classic world building, creating a manga that reminds me of fantasy stories I read as a child.

Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 21

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Yona of the Dawn Volume 21 by Mizuho Kusanagi

This is the last volume of the Sei story arc, and it has plenty of action interspersed with great quiet moments where bonds between the characters are affirmed. Everyone joins together to rescue Riri, leading to some surprising alliances. One of the highlights for me was seeing Hak’s reunion with the Wind Tribe, especially his adoptive grandfather Mundok. As Zeno and Jaeha search for Yona and find her cornered in the woods by enemy soldiers, Zeno comes to the rescue by literally dropping out of the sky to defend her. Su-Won is also inspecting the area and getting a full picture of the atrocities being committed. Riri shows her strength of character by being defiant even as the evil Lord Kushibi orders her execution. The attack begins as Su-Won’s group and Yona’s companions both stage parallel rescue missions, and the old bond between Su-Won and Hak is reactivated as they are able to wordlessly communicate across the battlefield in support of a single objective.

Kusanagi’s skills with drawing action are particularly showcased in this volume, as the dynamic paneling for the action scenes ramps up the tension of the battle, with pauses that highlight the emotional stakes for everything that Yona and her friends are fighting for. I also appreciated all the battlefield banter between enemies as Hak and Guen-Tae get snarky with each other. As Kushibi realizes the full extent of his hubris, a shadow is cast over his face that mirrors the dark tones used in portraying the body count of the fight. As everyone recovers from the battle, Zeno has a hilariously off-kilter encounter with Su-Won, and Yona and Hak have a random encounter in the middle of the night that is equal parts hilarious and touching. As always, this was an extremely satisfying volume of Yona of the Dawn. It sets such a high standard, it almost seems impossible for it to keep getting better with each volume, but it does.

Pick of the Week: Still Dreaming

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SEAN: An embarrassment of amazing stuff this week. I could choose any one of half a dozen books. But I’ll go with the 4th and final Our Dreams at Dusk, which has been such an amazing series. Recommended for everyone.

MICHELLE: I definitely look forward to reading Our Dreams at Dusk, but this week I’ll award my pick to Our Dining Table, which looks absolutely adorable. Seven Seas really is putting out some stellar titles these days!

KATE: I whole-heartedly agree with Sean: Our Dreams at Dusk is a genuinely moving story, told with nuance and grace. If the Manga Bookshelf team’s ringing endorsement isn’t enough to persuade you to read this series, check out Sean’s thoughtful reviews of volumes 1-3 at A Case Suitable for Treatment.

ASH: Wow! This week really is full of amazing releases, which makes it incredibly hard to choose just one as my pick. Our Dreams at Dusk is an incredible series, as is Vinland Saga and To Your Eternity. I’m also really looking forward to Our Dining Table and the debut of the previously unlicensable Saint Young Men. But the first thing that I’ll be reading – and therefore my pick this week – is Junji Ito’s manga adaptation of No Longer Human.

ANNA: I totally plan on reading Our Dreams at Dusk one day, and I’m excited for more Vinland Saga. The manga I’m most excited about reading this week though is Saint Young Men, I’ve been holding out for the print edition for a long time.

MJ: I’ve absolutely got Our Dreams at Dusk on my to-buy list, and I’m also pretty excited about Junji Ito’s No Longer Human, but like Anna, I’ve waited so long for a US print release of Saint Young Men, that just has to be my pick for the week.

Pick of the Week: Pick of the Seven Days

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MICHELLE: Confident that MJwill choose Seven Days, I’ll instead cast my vote for the fifth volume of Farewell, My Dear Cramer. The best part about any sports manga is when the members of the team find the place they belong, and that’s beginning to happen here. Players who were formerly alone, or at least alone in the amount of love they had for soccer, are finally among like-minded individuals. I was a little unsure about this series at first, but now I’m fully hooked.

SEAN: My love for this series has been very variable, and there’s no question it ran too long, but I’ll go with Mission of Love’s final volume as my pick this week. Certainly if you pick one Ema Toyama series, this is the one to get.

ASH: While I’m very happy that Seven Days is getting a well deserved re-release, my pick this week goes to Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji. I really wasn’t expecting this series to be licensed, but I’m really looking forward to reading the original manga after greatly enjoying its anime adaptation. (Zawa zawa zawa…)

ANNA: I’m going to pick The Golden Sheep Volume 2, because I hope it will spur me to finally read the first volume.

MJ: I hate that I’m so predictable, but YES OF COURSE my pick this week is Seven Days: Monday-Sunday. I enjoyed this so much when it was originally released by DMP, and I’m thrilled to see it back again. Hurray!

KATE: I second Ash’s pick; I’ve been curious about Kaiji since Denpa made this licensing announcement in 2018, and am looking forward to finally getting to read it!

The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 11

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The Water Dragon’s Bride Volume 11 by Rei Toma

I was genuinely not sure what to expect in the final volume of The Water Dragon’s Bride. While I naturally tend to assume that a happy ending is a given in a shoujo series, this series has explored the nature of humanity through the slowly changing personality of a god. It has also been unflinching about portraying all the petty and dark aspects of human nature, especially the machinations of humans who attempt to take advantage of the divine.

Water Dragon Bride 11

In the end, the final volume of this series has an elegantly constructed ending that allows for multiple moments of closure, another opportunity to ponder the nature of immortality, and some flashbacks that add additional resonance and meaning to the previous volumes. The Water Dragon God’s power is now fading after investing power into Asahi. Before he becomes too weak and disappears, he announces that he will send her back to her world. Asahi decides that she wants to spend time enjoying regular activities like picking berries and going fishing. Asahi, Subaru, and the Water Dragon God enjoy some brief lyrical moments just doing basic human activities. Toma’s skills in paneling and illustration are shown off to great advantage throughout this final volume, as brief wordless scenes convey a depth of emotion that make dialog and description unnecessary.

As the Water Dragon God prepares his farewell, Subaru gets a chance to be heroic yet again, looking out for Asahi and her future in a way that she might not immediately appreciate. Themes of longing and loss are explored as The Water Dragon God moves into a new plane of existence and Asahi integrates back into the life that she’s left behind twice. Overall, this was a tremendously affecting series, with a mystical and elegiac quality that sets it apart from other fantasy shoujo that I’ve read. I hope more of Toma’s manga makes it over here.

Pick of the Week: Old Friends And New

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SEAN: There’s always an embarrassment of riches when it’s Viz week. That said, I can see no reason not to pick one of my favorite manga series of all time yet again. Yona of the Dawn is my pick.

ASH: Yona of the Dawn is a fine choice! (And one of my favorite shoujo series currently being released.) However, the debut I’m most curious about this week is Jujutsu Kaisen, also from Viz, so that’s what’ll get my official pick this week.

MICHELLE: I love Yona of the Dawn but since that’s covered I’ll go with volume 22 of My Hero Academia. Long have I wanted to get more of class 1-B and their various Quirks, as well as more Shinsou, and this arc of the manga delivers on both accounts.

KATE: Holy manga haul, Batman! I could recommend at least eight titles from this week’s new arrival list. If I had to narrow it down to just two, my nominations would be Drifting Dragons, a gorgeously illustrated adventure story about a team of whalers—er, dragon hunters—and the digital edition of Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon, which I reviewed a few years ago.

MJ: There’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out this week, but since the rest of the Battle Robot seems to have it covered, I’ll speak up for Vertical’s 20th Anniversary Edition of Paradise Kiss. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over wanting more Ai Yazawa, but I’m also pretty sure that’s something I’ll have to content myself with wanting forever. Meanwhile, I love the fact that we’re repeatedly celebrating what’s already there.

ANNA: I can’t pick anything else other than Yona of the Dawn, it is such a great series.

Manga the Week of 12/3/19

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SEAN: Last month of the year. Gotta squeeze in all the manga and novels you can.

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?